Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category
“The Last Exorcism,” a Review
“If you believe in God, you have to believe in the Devil.” Or so said the reverend Cotton Marcus in Eli Roth’s new movie, The Last Exorcism. That’s even the tagline on some of the move posters. Actually, I think he’s got it wrong. It should be the other way around: “if you believe in [...]
What’s a New Pastor to Do?
Someone asked me recently what advice I would give to a new pastor. My first thought was that there is no vice worse than ad-vice. I was ordained in 1996 and I am now six months into serving my second congregation. I have been the recipient and beneficiary of good counsel many times over. So [...]
Face it. God loves you.
Below is the message I just wrote to be included in our new upcoming church directory.
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. – 2 Corinthians 4:6
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Leap Like Calves
Below is the homily I preached this morning in Kramer Chapel at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, IN. I think I overdid it a bit with the references, quotes and illustrations. As the dean said afterward, “well that was a post-modern romp.”
Text: Malachi 4: 1-6
This is the way the world ends
This is the [...]
Paranormal Activity: Newest Nail-Biting Frightfest You Won’t Soon Forget
There is a new film called Paranormal Activity that some people are calling one of the scariest movies ever made. Produced in 2007 by unknowns with just $11,000 and shot in seven days, it’s being compared to The Blair Witch Project from ten years ago. It too was made by amateur filmmakers for a pittance [...]
Wassup with this Latest Vampire Craze?
You’d have to try pretty hard not to notice that vampires have invaded our popular culture to an astounding degree in recent years. What’s up with that? Vampire legends have existed in many cultures for many centuries and there have been quite a few variations along the way. Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, came out in [...]
C.S. Lewis on the World’s Silliness
“Talking of beasts and birds, have you ever noticed this contrast: that when you read a scientific account of any animal’s life you get an impression of laborious, incessant, almost rational economic activity (as if all animals were Germans), but when you study any animal you know, what at once strikes you is their cheerful [...]
Dr. Dean Wenthe on the Recent ELCA Decision to Ordain Unrepentant Homosexuals
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Tolerance Schmolerance
I was just viewing a lecture on iTunes University about the rise of Islam. The instructor made a point from the get-go of saying how very tolerant early Islam was toward the Jews and Christians they conquered by force. His evidence of Islam’s tolerance is that Jews and Christians were permitted to exist. He then [...]
