Pastor's Blog

One of the many blessings that God promises faithful man is that he will bless the work of his hands. This is a promise that appears several times over in Deuteronomy alone ( e.g. 14:29 ; 15:10 ; 16:15 ; 24:19; 28:12). This is a very rich blessing indeed when we consider just how central work is to life in this world. It’s important to understand that we are called by God to work. When God made Adam, the very first thing he did was to give him a job to do. He gave him the task of exercising dominion on his behalf (Gen. 1:26-28). This included such things as “working” and “keeping” the garden and naming the animals (Gen. 2:15, 19-20a). Some people assume that life for Adam and Eve in Eden was a life of inactivity—lounging beside the pool, sipping lemonade, and working on their tan. Not so. God gave Adam a job to do. It’s vitally important to understand that God commands us to work and that this command is not a post fall commandment. In other words, work is not a part...

What do you think of the idea of separation of church and state? It all depends on what you mean by it. If you mean, “Do I believe in institutional separation, i.e., that the government of the church should be kept separate from the government of the state ”, then yes I’m all for it. The church should not be a department of the state nor the state a ministry of the church. Each has its own officers and its own sphere of responsibility. But if you mean, “Do I believe in the separation of God from government,” which is what so many people mean who cry “Separation of church and state!” then no, I don’t believe it for moment. The state, no less than the church, has a responsibility to acknowledge God and to be subject to him. Now therefore, O kings, be wise;             be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the L ord with fear,             and rejoice with tre...

This is a very timely question seeing as how we are witnessing a proliferation of all kinds of body modification, including piercings and cuttings and tattoos. The Bible actually mentions these things very directly in Leviticus 19:28. The Lord says, “You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves.” A couple of interpretive questions arise. The first concerns the words “for the dead”.  “ You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead …” It was a practice among the pagans to cut themselves for a variety of reasons, one of which was as an expression of mourning for the dead. In the Ugaritic story of Baal and Anat, the god Baal is killed and the other gods, his friends, cut their cheeks and chins and lacerate their forearms, chests and backs. [1] We find, too, that the priests of Baal, in their contest with Elijah, “cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them” (1 Ki. 18:28). The ques...