2001 Articles by Ray Pritchard

The God of My Future Problems (Jan 07, 2001)
What will 2001 bring? No one knows but God. Eight years ago I wrote the following column and called it "My Most Important Spiritual Discovery of 1992." It seems worth repeating as we stand on the brink of a new year. It happened not long after I returned from Belize in October. While rummaging through an accumulated mountai…

WMBI Commentaries (Feb 14, 2001)

God Bless the Boy Scouts (Feb 18, 2001)
Once again Oak Park is in the news, and this time the news isn't good. A front page story in the Chicago Sun-Times informs us that the various Boy Scout troops in Oak Park have decided to sever their ties with the national organization because here in Oak Park we don't like to discriminate against gays and lesbians and we d…

Full Speed Ahead, One Step at a Time (Feb 25, 2001)
A few days ago, Bruce Thorn called to see how thing were going. Bruce and I go back about 35 years or so to the days when we grew up together in a small town in northwest Alabama. Among other things, Bruce seems to have an uncanny ability (almost like a prophet) to call me up about once a year and say something that I find …

Overcommitters Anonymous (Mar 18, 2001)
Several weeks ago I flew to New York to teach the book of Galatians to 500 students at Word of Life Bible Institute. The young man who picked me up at the Albany airport asked a question I've heard more than once lately: "How do you get everything done that you have to do?" The question seems to assume that I am busier than…

Keep Hope Alive (Mar 25, 2001)
An old man and an old woman, childless for decades, are promised by God that someday they would have a baby. Abraham responds with total honesty. He laughs out loud at the Almighty. When Sarah hears the news, she laughs, too. How could such a thing happen? Twenty-five long years pass while they wait for God to keep his prom…

Can Homosexuals Go to Heaven? (Apr 01, 2001)
For the next few weeks I want to use this space to discuss some "hot topics." The first one is indicated by the title, although no one ever puts the question in precisely this way. Let's begin with the words of I Corinthians 6:9-10, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Ne…

Should Timothy McVeigh Die? (Apr 08, 2001)
Next month Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to be put to death for his part in the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed over 160 people. In a recently-published book he has freely admitted his own guilt and even defends what he did. This would appear to be a good test case for the debate over capi…

WMBI Easter Week Devotionals (Apr 12, 2001)

Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead? (Apr 15, 2001)
On this Easter Sunday we join with Christians around the world to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. But how do we know that 2,000 years ago a man named Jesus actually died and came back from the dead? The only way to answer that question is to examine the original documents-the four gospels of the New Testa…

Shall We Stay in Oak Park? (Apr 22, 2001)
It may interest you to know that our church has just celebrated its 86th birthday. We may not look or feel 86 years old, but that's how old we really are. Our congregation was born in the early months of 1915 when a handful of men and women met together to consider the possibility of starting an independent church in Oak Pa…

The Golden Chain of Prayer (Apr 29, 2001)
Five weeks from today our church members will meet to decide on the proposed expansion program. Within the next few days you will receive a brochure in the mail that explains the proposal in great detail. Then we will have a series of open forums where you can ask questions and get more detailed information. Eventually the …

One Step at a Time (May 06, 2001)
Several people have asked about my personal future as pastor in light of the proposed expansion program. Put bluntly, they want to know, Am I planning to stay or to leave or what am I planning to do? Let me say frankly that my staying as your pastor has nothing to do with the expansion program. I won't stay longer if we bui…

What David Hebert Told Me (May 13, 2001)
Many years ago, in another time and another place, the church I then served as a pastor was preparing to go through a major building campaign. Our program was similar in some respects to what we are attempting to do here at Calvary. In one major aspect things were quite different because that church met in rented facilities…

TO HIS OWN MASTER HE STANDS OR FALLS (May 20, 2001)
Once there was a man who became unhappy in his church and so he left it in search of something better. He told his friends that he was searching for the perfect church. Finally, he found a church that met his exacting criteria. In his eyes, it was perfect in every way-a perfect pastor, a perfect staff, a perfect building, p…

The Bulldog and the Skunk (May 27, 2001)
THE BULLDOG AND THE SKUNK by Ray Pritchard In last Sunday's sermon I mentioned that my friend Dennis Baker had told me years ago that not all hills are worth dying on. Sometimes we fight over things that don’t really matter and end up wasting lots of time and emotional energy with very little to show for it. One of the…

What the Cross Means to Me (Jun 03, 2001)
WHAT THE CROSS MEANS TO ME by Ray Pritchard “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.” Romans 5:7 Here's a good question for you to discuss over lunch today. How many people are you willing to die for? If the chips were down, the moment came, and in…

Church of the Pathetic Losers (Jun 10, 2001)
CHURCH OF THE PATHETIC LOSERS by Ray Pritchard It’s been quite a while since I’ve gotten as much response to a sermon as I received since last Sunday’s message. I mentioned Alistair Begg’s comment at the Pastor’s Conference that we are all “pathetic losers” who don’t have the power an…

What About the Ecumenical Movement? (Jun 17, 2001)
HOT TOPICS #4: WHAT ABOUT THE ECUMENICAL MOVEMENT? by Ray Pritchard The following question comes from Shawn in Houston, Texas. He posted it on the “Ask Pastor Ray” question board on Calvary’s website. “Do you believe that the ecumenical movement is a good thing?” Here is an abbreviated version of my…

WMBI Commentaries (Aug 23, 2001)

Calvary in the Park: Faith/Hope/Love (Sep 02, 2001)

What is Saving Faith? (Sep 05, 2001)

A Hard Question (Sep 23, 2001)
A HARD QUESTION by Ray Pritchard We were just a few seconds away from a station break during a live radio interview two days after the terrorist attacks on September 11. The host, wanting to keep his audience tuned in, announced that he had a hard question for me, and that he would ask it before the break and let me answer …

Shattered Innocence (Oct 07, 2001)
SHATTERED INNOCENCE by Ray Pritchard I met Bill last Tuesday morning when he picked me up at the Pittsburgh airport. As he drove me to the television studio, I noticed that his right arm was limp. Almost as an aside, he mentioned that he had injured it in a motorcycle accident about 16 years ago. Coming around a curve too f…

The Last Days According to Jesus (Oct 14, 2001)
THE LAST DAYS ACCORDING TO JESUS by Ray Pritchard Not long after the terrorist attacks on September 11, Christians (and many non-Christians) began asking how the current world crisis relates to Bible prophecy and the Second Coming of Christ. The early answer goes like this: “We don’t know yet.” I am not aware…

Saved on I-88 (Oct 21, 2001)
SAVED ON I-88 by Ray Pritchard I don't know all the details of her story, but I do know that she was raised in the South and her family moved around quite a bit. When I asked about her spiritual background, she surprised me by saying, “None.” She's the only person I've ever met from the South who didn't have a rel…

What We Saw in Chuck Colson's Office (Oct 28, 2001)
WHAT WE SAW IN CHUCK COLSON’S OFFICE by Ray Pritchard During our recent trip to Washington, DC and New York City, the Calvary “Anchor” Team spent the night at Prison Fellowship headquarters in Reston, Virginia. The next morning we were given a tour of the facilities, including a brief visit to Chuck Colson
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The Changing Seasons of Life (Nov 04, 2001)
THE CHANGING SEASONS OF LIFE by Ray Pritchard I received a letter from a friend who detailed some of the challenges facing her family right now. The specifics are personal and private but it can be said that the trials are real and not likely to go away any time soon. She added this PS to her letter: “I was listening t…

The Preacher and the Muslim Leaders (Nov 11, 2001)
THE PREACHER AND THE MUSLIM LEADERS by Ray Pritchard Last week a noted television preacher came to Chicago for an interfaith meeting with several African-American Muslim leaders. I have chosen not to mention his name because I don’t wish to make this a personal issue and also because I am quoting from a Chicago Tribune…

Repaying an Old Debt (Nov 18, 2001)
REPAYING AN OLD DEBT By Ray Pritchard February, 1865. The Union army, led by General William Tecumseh Sherman, stands poised at the outskirts of Columbia, South Carolina. For months the army has burned its way across Georgia, cutting a wide destructive swath through the heart of the Confederacy. Now at last they have come t…

Ground Zero (Nov 20, 2001)

The Jesus Prayer (Dec 02, 2001)
THE JESUS PRAYER by Ray Pritchard Recently I read Elisabeth Elliott’s fine book, Keep a Quiet Heart. One of her chapters describes the “Jesus Prayer.” It is a prayer that arose in the Orthodox tradition over 1,000 years ago. Though the prayer appears in various wordings, its most basic form goes like this: &#…

Do Christians and Muslims Pray to the Same God? (Dec 09, 2001)
DO CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS PRAY TO THE SAME GOD? by Ray Pritchard Many times in the last few months we have heard it said that Christians and Muslims pray to the same God. We pray to Jesus, Muslims pray to Allah. It’s all the same, or so we are told. I heard about a deacon who prayed, “Lord, Yahweh, Allah, or by wh…

Doubt and Faith at Christmastime (Dec 16, 2001)
DOUBT AND FAITH AT CHRISTMASTIME By Ray Pritchard An e-mail arrived a few days ago from someone who wanted to know how to deal with doubt. I wrote back and said not to worry, we all doubt from time to time and doubt can actually be good for the soul. A second message arrived a day later: “I wanted to tell you that I ve…

Christmas in Eden (Dec 23, 2001)
CHRISTMAS IN EDEN by Ray Pritchard “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This is the first promise given after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. It is also the first gos…

Read It Through in 2002 (Dec 30, 2001)
READ IT THROUGH IN 2002 by Ray Pritchard When was the last time you read through the whole Bible? Before you answer, let me be right up front with my answer and say that it’s been a long, long time. It’s been longer than ten years and probably longer than 20 years since I read through the entire Bible, cover to co…