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The only lasting cure for idolatry is a fervent love for God. The hardest step is seeing our idols in the first place.
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If you don’t know God, it’s not God’s fault. God has already done everything necessary for you to have a relationship with him. - He Doesn’t Need Your Help (35:53)
The gospel begins with God. It doesn’t begin with Jesus or with us. The divine plan of salvation begins with the God who designed it.
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Blog entries for the category Current Events
T. D. Jakes on Homosexuality
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 25
Recently Dallas megachurch pastor T. D. Jakes was asked by Oprah Winfrey to give his stance on homosexuality. Given Oprah’s huge audience and vast popularity in our culture, it would be easy to evade that question by trying to change the subject. Here is what Jakes said:"I’m not called to give my opinion. I’m called as a pas...
Chuck Colson’s Motto
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, April 21
The news that Chuck Colson died today brought to mind a visit to his office eleven years ago.It happened a few weeks after 9/11 when a team from Calvary Memorial Church in Oak Park, IL spent the night at Prison Fellowship headquarters in Virginia. The next morning we were given a tour of the facilities, including a brief visit to Chuck Colson&rsquo...
Shine, Tebow, Shine
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, January 14
He’s faster than a speeding bullet.He’s more powerful than a locomotive.He can leap tall buildings in a single bound.But can he beat the New England Patriots?The experts say no, unanimously, loudly, repeatedly. And one supposes that they are right. The experts make their money being right most of the time. That’s why they are call...
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What Christopher Hitchens Got Right
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Christopher Hitchens died last week at the age of 62 after losing his battle with esophageal cancer. Following the publication of his bestselling God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, he toured the country debating a series of religious leaders, including some well-known evangelical thinkers. In Portland, Oregon he was interviewed by ...
The Pastor Who Didn’t Believe in Hell
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, October 23, 2011
Recently I read about a pastor who lost his faith in hell and then found it again. Having been trained in a liberal seminary, he simply dropped his belief in hell without telling anyone else. He regained his belief first by reading the Bible and then by doing some serious repenting before the Lord. When asked how a loving God could send amazingly ...
Mormonism and the Cult Question
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Dallas pastor Robert Jeffress says that Mormonism is a cult.Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary, says Mormonism is not a cult. To confuse matters further, William McGurn denounces the “cult” of Anti-Mormonism.Who’s right?The answer is, it all depends on definition and context. Some years ago Walter Martin offered the follow...
“She’s Still My Wife”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, September 17, 2011
Recently Pat Robertson made news when he declared that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is justifiable because it is “a kind of death.” The simplest thing I can say is that he didn’t get that teaching from the Bible. The very concept of Christian marriage rests upon a vow to be faithful “in sickness and in health.&r...
My Sermon on the Sunday After 9/11
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, September 11, 2011
In the last 24 hours I have an opportunity to revist the sermon I preached on the Sunday after 9/11. At that point America was still struggling with the enormity of what happened just five days earlier. In that sermon, called Living by Faith in an Uncertain World, I wrapped up by giving Five Lessons to Ponder.I share them here because ten years lat...
My 4037 Extremely Close Facebook Friends
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, August 26, 2011
In the beginning I was not a believer. At first I thought Facebook for was the kids, meaning the college-age crowd, which is in fact where it started out. Somewhat reluctantly I joined the Facebook revolution not quite two years ago. As of this moment, I have 4037 friends. That’s impressive, I suppose, until I look at the list and r...
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“The Help” Bears Witness to the Truth
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, August 25, 2011
I am not surprised that “The Help” has turned out to be a huge hit at the box office. As of August 23, the movie has earned $77 million, making it the sleeper hit of the summer.A friend called several days ago to ask how the movie is being received in Mississippi. I can tell you this much. When Marlene and I saw it last Friday nigh...
Is Tim Tebow a Blasphemer?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Gregg Doyel thinks so.You don’t have to take my word for it. Doyel, national columnist for CBSSports.com, says so in his column called Unbelievable–Tebow Believes Faith Equates to Starting in the NFL. This is Doyel’s conclusion:Tebow has been a great billboard for Christianity – just as Muhammad Ali has been a great bil...
B.C. Gets It Exactly Right
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, June 25, 2011
“In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ’coming’ he promised?” (2 Peter 3:3-4).Scoffers have always been with us.The easiest argument against a miracle is always, “Nothing like that has ever happened before, therefore nothing like that can ...
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Salt Talk
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, December 29, 2010
I’ve been thinking recently about some do’s and don’ts for Christians who want to make their voices heard in the public square. Here’s my preliminary list of ideas:1. Start with a local focus. It’s always more effective for a resident of Asheville to speak out on Asheville issues than for someone from Savannah to offer...
We’re Sending Books to Support Our Troops in Afghanistan
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, December 23, 2010
A few weeks ago I received a nice email from Heather Duff who serves as the chaplain for the 298th CSSB, a combat support battalion soon to be deployed to Afghanistan. She heard through my brother Alan that we donate books to the military. Over the years we have sent thousands of copies of An Anchor for the Soul to members of the Armed Forces servi...
Day 1 at the Values Voter Summit
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, September 17, 2010
This morning we woke up at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC. This grand old hotel has welcomed kings and queens, presidents and potentates over its storied 80-year history. This weekend several thousand eager conservative activists have gathered for the Values Voter Summit. Given the rise of the Tea Party movement and the upcoming midterm ...
Burning the Quran–A Truly Stupid Idea
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, September 7, 2010
A friend asked about my opinion of the pastor in Florida who plans to publicly burn the Quran this Saturday, September 11, the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 3000 people. You want my opinion? Okay, here it is this. This pastor is a fool, and the idea of burning the Quran is offensive on every possible level. It needless...
Q and A video – Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, August 30, 2010
The last election was mean-spirited and it was hard to discern between truth and lies. Should Christians separate from political activism and focus on “Christian work” instead?
Cracks in the Dam
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, August 5, 2010
Quickly now, a scene from a war move called Force 10 From Navarone. The good guys (led by Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw) have to blow up a bridge in Yugoslavia that is vital to the Nazis. After many harrowing adventures, including a plane crash, numerous shoot-outs and daring escapes, the good guys find and kill a German spy and then they go a...
Anne Rice Quits Christianity
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, August 2, 2010
A few days ago bestselling author Anne Rice announced on her Facebook page that she is quitting Christianity. She started the ball rolling with this announcement:For those who care, and I understand if you don’t: Today I quit being a Christian. I’m out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being “Christian” or t...
New video – Where does the world stand in the light of Bible prophecy?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, July 28, 2010
A few weeks ago, I was conducting an “Ask Pastor Ray” session at Cannon Beach Conference Center. One of the questions I received was “Where does the world stand in the light of Bible prophecy?“.This is a question many people are asking in these uncertain times! 2 Timothy 3:1 says that in the last days “terrible&rd…
Is the End Near?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, July 24, 2010
Two things made me stop and think . . . 1) This editorial cartoon by Jeff Stahler of The Columbus Dispatch seems to perfectly catch the mood of so many people today. I cannot remember a time when I have encountered as much genuine anxiety in so many places among so many places. Truly we live in unsettling times.2) Writing in Mere Comments, La...
Don’t Mention Jesus And You Won’t Get in Trouble
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, July 15, 2010
The latest news on the culture war front comes from North Carolina. It seems that Pastor Ron Baity of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem was named an “honorary chaplain” of the North Carolina House of Representatives. Although he had been invited to lead in prayer for an entire but that invitation was rescinded after he refused to o...
Listen to our radio interview with Franklin Graham
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, May 22, 2010
On the Friday edition of “Today’s Issues,” Tim Wildmon and I interviewed Franklin Graham about his father’s new book Storm Warning, which discusses the Second Coming and current events. Franklin also gave us an update on his father’s health and also talked briefly about the three Samaritan’s Purse workers who w...
Franklin Graham on the Radio Friday
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, May 20, 2010
Franklin Graham will be our special guest on American Family Radio on Friday, 10:15-11 AM CDT. He will be talking about his father’s new book Storm Warning, which takes an in-depth look at the Second Coming of Christ in light of current events. Billy Graham often preached on the Second Coming at his many crusades, and that passion comes throu...
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Praying for Leaders With Whom You Disagree
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, May 6, 2010
So how do you pray for those in power when you didn’t vote for them? Leaving all politics aside, it helps to remember that in any contested election, there will always been winners and losers. Someone is bound to be disappointed. In 1884 Democrat Grover Cleveland defeated Republican James Blaine in one of the closest elections in American his...
How Are You Different From Anyone Else?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, March 25, 2010
“If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?” (Matthew 5:47 NLT)You never know what will grab someone’s heart.Mosab Hassan Yousef grew up as a Muslim. From an early age, he studied the Koran, memorized its teachings, said the daily prayers, and followed the way of Islam as faithfully as he could....
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Talking About Tim Tebow on the Radio Today
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, February 8, 2010
I just found out (about 10 minutes ago) that I’m on the radio this morning from 10 AM-12 Noon CDT the “Today’s Issues” program on American Family Radio. We’ll start the program by airing the much-discussed Super Bowl ad featuring Tim and Pam Tebow. Later in the program we’ll talk with Tommy Newberry about his new...
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Tim Tebow’s Super Bowl Ad
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, February 6, 2010
By now virtually the whole world knows that Tim Tebow and his mother will be featured in a 30-second ad appearing during the first quarter of the Super Bowl. The ad itself is sponsored by Focus on the Family and cost around $3 million. What message could be so important that supporters quickly raised the three million dollars? And why has the ad sp...
Haiti-How You Can Help
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, January 14, 2010
By now everyone has heard about the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti around 5 PM on Tuesday. At this writing no one knows the full extent of the damage. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it a catastrophe of “biblical” proportion. That seems like an apt description for the earthquake that struck the poorest nation in the ...
Brit Hume Doubles Down
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, January 7, 2010
On Sunday Brit Hume made headlines when he said that Tiger Woods needs to convert from Buddhism to Christianity because Buddhism doesn’t offer forgiveness and redemption from sin. As a simple statement of fact, that happens to be entirely correct. Buddhists don’t believe in “sin” in the sense that “all have sinned and …
Brit Hume on Why Tiger Needs Jesus
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Check out this clip featuring Brit Hume on “The O’Reilly Factor” last night. Brit flat lays down some seriously good theology regarding conversion, redemption, and the life-changing power of Jesus Christ.Stay tuned to the part at the end where he comments in passing on how the name of Jesus always stirs up controversy. It was true…
Scattershooting
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Scattershooting hither and yon . . . *If you haven’t been to see “The Blind Side,” do it this week. The movie has been the surprise hit of the Christmas season and may end up at #1 in box office receipts after this weekend. *Sandra Bullock plays the strong-minded Leigh Anne Tuohy who along with her husband Sean took Michael O...
Why I Signed “The Manhattan Declaration”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, November 23, 2009
Last Friday a group of Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christian leaders released The Manhattan Declaration, a ringing statement regarding the dignity of human life, the importance of marriage as the conjugal union of one man and one woman, and the rights of conscience and human liberty in our increasingly diverse society. I used the word &ldqu...
Michelle Malkin on the Radio at 11 AM
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, November 23, 2009
I’m co-hosting “Today’s Issues” on American Family Radio Monday-Wednesday 10 AM-12 Noon CDT. Today we’ve got quite a varied lineup. We start with Abby Johnson, the former Planned Parenthood director who became pro-life and quit the abortion business when she viewed an ultrasound abortion. Then we&rs...
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Growing Up Too Fast?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, November 8, 2009
This morning I’m speaking on “As for Me and My House: Winning the Battle for Your Family” at Faith Bible Church in Vineland, New Jersey based on Joshua’s stirring words in Joshua 24:14-15. In order to show the challenge we face in raising our children to serve the Lord, I compiled a list of things that have changed over the ...
The Ten-Year Century
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, August 12, 2009
In a fascinating article published this week, Tom Hayes and Michael S. Malone argue that we have entered the era of the “ten-year century,” by which they mean that the pace of life has so rapidly accelerated that what used to happen in a century now happens in a decade. Changes that used to take generations—economic cycles, cultur...
Get Your Financial House in Order
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Yesterday I ate supper with a man who has spent the last 50 years in the banking business. During that time he has made thousands of loans to various people for various reasons. He has also started numerous banks, bought others, and sold some. Suffice it to say that he is well connected in the banking world, to the point that he knows some of the k...
“It Was Providential”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, July 4, 2009
Yesterday Peggy Noonan published a column called Making History in which she reflected on the events that led up to the publication of the Declaration of Independence 233 years ago today. As historian David McCullough makes clear in books 1776 and John Adams, it was no sure thing that the colonies would actually vote to form the United States or th...
Jesus Not Welcome in PA House
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, June 26, 2009
Several weeks ago I wrote about Jamie Mitchell’s bold prayer at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Today Jamie updated the story on his blog. Not only did some members not like his prayer, they protested so strongly that the Speaker of the Pennsylvania House issued a new policy:1. All prayers must be submitted and approved in advance.…
How to Catch a Stolen Snake
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, June 26, 2009
Here’s a story from Perth, Australia sent along by my friend Pat Sullivan. Seems that someone stole a python from a wildlife center in Perth. The thieves no doubt thought they had made a clean job of it, but the snake did not cooperate. The six-foot long python swallowed a woylie, which this article describes as an endangered marsupial. Turns...
Pro-Marriage Senator Has Affair
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, June 17, 2009
The news from Nevada is not good. Republican Senator admitted yesterday to having an affair with a female campaign staffer. According to this Wikipedia article, he is a member of a Foursquare church in Las Vegas. He is a born again Christian, and he was active in the Promise Keepers movement. He made a public confession and asked for forgiveness. T...
Jamie Mitchell’s Prayer at the Pennsylvania House
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, June 15, 2009
Last Wednesday Jamie Mitchell, pastor of NewSong Fellowship Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was asked to give the opening prayer at the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Usually these prayers are so bland as to be utterly forgettable. Jamie’s prayer was definitely not bland. By way of full disclosure, I should add that Jamie is ...
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Four Unrelated Links
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, June 4, 2009
Here are four unrelated links. I thought I would pass them along because each one is useful in its own way. The Gospel and the Gosselins Pooped Pastors.com The Loudest Cheers in Heaven Chinese Calvinism Flourishes ...
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Should We Be Glad George Tiller is Dead?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, June 1, 2009
A thoughtful person wrote a note asking how pro-life Christians should feel about the murder of Dr. George Tiller, the late-term abortionist who was gunned down while serving as an usher in his church in Wichita, Kansas. The writer frames the question this way: Do you think it’s a sin to feel relief that he is dead? While I would never condon...
Saturday Sundries
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, May 30, 2009
It happened entirely by accident, but yesterday I watched Amazing Grace, the story of William Wilburforce, the man who led the fight to end slavery in the British Empire. Somehow I missed seeing it when the movie came out in 2007, but yesterday Marlene found it on TV and we watched it together. If you need some encouragement to believe in the power...
Straight Talk About Homosexuality and the Church
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, May 21, 2009
What will the evangelical churches do in response to the rising tide of the gay rights movement in our society? There is no use denying that long-held attitudes are changing in our culture. Is anyone out there prepared to guarantee that we won’t have gay marriage in every state in the next fifteen years? It might not happen, but that’s ...
No, Mr. President
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, May 16, 2009
Here is John Piper’s plea to President Obama to turn away from his support for abortion. This is powerful, prophetic preaching at its best. I am posting it today in light President Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame tomorrow. ...
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Joanne Kemp
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, May 8, 2009
Peggy Noonan has written a wonderful tribute to Jack Kemp who died of cancer last Saturday at the age of 73. The entire column deserves careful reading because, as Noonan puts it, Jack Kemp “had the power of a happy man.” Something worth remembering in this all-too-cynical age. The article ends with a glowing tribute to Joanne Kemp. I r…
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“Much Work for Us Yet to Do”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, May 7, 2009
On this National Day of Prayer we need to remind ourselves that God works through history to accomplish his purposes. During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln often drew on his faith in God sometimes to comfort, sometimes to challenge his countrymen. During the early days of the war, at a moment when there was no news from the front and many feared the...
God of Our Fathers
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, May 7, 2009
Did you know that America has a “National Hymn"? Most people don’t know that, but we do, and I’m not speaking about the National Anthem. I’m talking about the hymn God of Our Fathers. We don’t hear it or sing it very often nowadays, and that’s a pity because in many ways, it is an ideal marriage of tune and ...
President Obama and His Evangelical Supporters
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Much has been written about Notre Dame inviting President Obama to be the speaker for its upcoming commencement service, at which time the university will award the president an honorary degree in recognition of his various accomplishments. John Armstrong weighed in today with a fine statement about the whole controversy. He notes that Obama is the…
Miss USA (almost)
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 22, 2009
By now the whole inhabited world, by which I mean those who watch TV and follow the Internet, knows about Carrie Prejean who almost became Miss USA the other night but ended up in second place presumably because of how she answered a question from a strange fellow named Perez Hilton about gay marriage. Although Miss Prejean’s answer was not a...
Paul Harvey Died Today
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, February 28, 2009
Legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey died today at the age of 90. Besides virtually creating his own medium that combined reporting with news commentary, he also knew how to tell a story. He gave the tease, paused, told a bit more, paused, let the story unravel a bit at a time, pausing along the way, then he would hit the punch line. He was a ma...
Taking Chance
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, February 22, 2009
Tonight Marlene and I watched Taking Chance, a brand-new HBO movie starring Kevin Bacon. Based on real-life events, “Taking Chance” tells how Lt. Col. Michael Strobl (Bacon), a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming....
Is America Becoming Hostile to Children?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, February 21, 2009
The always provocative Keith Drury has written a new article called How Dare You Have Eight Children! Despite the title, it’s not really about the “octuplet mom” in California. Drury is writing about a larger social trend in which having children is viewed as a purely personal choice and not as the natural outcome of the marriage ...
A Leftover Thought
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, February 21, 2009
A leftover thought from our Thursday night Men’s Bible study:You find out how much you love money when you have less of it today than you had six months ago. …
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Will Allen Iverson Go to Heaven?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, February 17, 2009
I confess to not having given any thought as to the eternal destination of Allen Iverson, a premier professional basketball player with the Detroit Pistons, and I would not have thought about it at all if Mr. Iverson had not raised the topic himself. During a press conference in connection with the NBA All-Star Weekend, Allen Iverson brought up the...
Lincoln and Darwin
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, February 12, 2009
A number of writers have been drawing comparisons between Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin since both were born 200 years ago today. Here is my favorite so far, taken from the comments section of the Mere Comments weblog (scroll down to the 3rd comment after the article):Two men whose lives had great impact on the lives of millions, even billions…
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Tuesday News and Notes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, February 10, 2009
*The February edition of the KBM February 2009 newsletter is now online. The headline reads “Keep Believing Goes to the Philippines.” *Did you know that you can know make comments on any of the 800+ sermons in our database? We just added that feature a few weeks ago. *We’ve added two new blogs to our Blogroll—Post-Darwi...
“And Now I Say Farewell”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, January 31, 2009
Kay Yow, coach of the North Carolina State University women’s basketball team, died last Saturday after a long battle with recurring breast cancer. During her long career as a coach, she won over 700 games, including leading the U.S. women to an Olympic gold medal in the 1988 Summer Games. In 2000 she was inducted into the Women’s Baske...
Why Interfaith Services Don’t Work
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, January 17, 2009
Yesterday we learned more details about the interfaith National Prayer Service that takes place on Wednesday morning at the National Cathedral in Washington. This particular event marks the end of the inaugural events for President Barack Obama. It seems as if the organizers tried to include everyone. Several evangelicals are taking part, including...
Russian Predicts USA Breakup
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, December 30, 2008
A Russian professor named Igor Parnarin has been predicting for a decade that the U.S. will fall apart in 2010. It will happen, he says, because of unrestrained immigration, economic decline and a moral degradation that will fracture the United States and lead to massive unrest leading to a civil war, the collapse of the dollar, and the breaking ap...
I’m Glad Rick Warren Said Yes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, December 20, 2008
All in all, I’m glad Barack Obama invited Rick Warren to lead the opening prayer at next month’s presidential inauguration. I say that even though I share some of the reservations raised by other evangelicals. But weighing everything, I’m glad that the president-elect asked him, and I’m glad Rick Warren said yes. Here’...
Bob Jones University Apologizes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 21, 2008
Bob Jones University has just posted a statement about race that contains the following confession:For almost two centuries American Christianity, including BJU in its early stages, was characterized by the segregationist ethos of American culture. Consequently, for far too long, we allowed institutional policies regarding race to be shaped more di…
Put Marriage in Your Church Constitution
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 14, 2008
Last Sunday a group of radical gay activists disrupted a church service in Lansing, Michigan. One group of protesters demonstrated outside the church while another group actually disrupted the worship service, shouting, throwing fliers, and even pulling the fire alarm so the sanctuary would be evacuated.In California gay-rights activists have picke...
Sarah Palin is Right
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, November 8, 2008
No, this isn’t about politics. This is about the unbelievable torrent of anonymous criticism unleashed upon Sarah Palin by certain unnamed sources within the McCain campaign since the election on Tuesday night. Yesterday she fired back in an interview from the governor’s office in Anchorage, she said of the anonymous criticism, “i...
Despair is Not an Option
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, November 5, 2008
On one of his speaking tours, Richard Neuhaus was picked up at the airport by a man who kept talking about how bad things were in America and how difficult these times are. Finally Rev. Neuhaus had had enough of the doom and gloom talk. “These may be bad times, but they are only times we are given. And despair is a mortal sin.” He&rsquo...
Something Good Happened Last Night
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, November 5, 2008
It can’t be denied that something good happened in America last night. Those of us who supported John McCain would be wrong to deny it and we would, quite simply, be denying reality. The good thing that happened was the election of the first African-American president in our history. That in itself is remarkable because even a few years ago, ...
I Just Wrote My First Check of the Year
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
File this in the “Department of Useless Trivia,” but this morning a man came by to repair the gas heating system in our fireplace. Because Marlene is at her Explorer’s Bible Study, I met the man and chatted with him while he cleaned the unit and got it in good working order. When I wrote him a check in payment, it occurred to me t...
Mississippi Votes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Well, not all of Mississippi, just the part that votes at Precinct 302 in Tupelo, Mississippi. Our polling place happens to be a local Baptist church. When we arrived about 7:30 AM, the parking lot was jammed with cars. We found a parking spot and went to the church gym, which for today has been transformed into a polling place. The first thing you...
One Man’s Vote
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, October 30, 2008
You know it must be a momentous occasion when James Dobson and the New York Times agree on anything. On moral and political issues, they disagree almost completely, but on one major point they are united. This is a turning point election in American history. In its endorsement of Barack Obama, the New York Times says that “this year the natio...
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Time to Pray for “the Other Guy”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, October 18, 2008
Last night during my sermon on loving your enemies, I was convicted about something. That doesn’t happen very often—conviction while I’m preaching, I mean. I’m usually convicted about my shortcomings during the ongoing, ordinary, day-to-day stuff of life. But lats night while I was preaching, the thought occurred to me that ...
Time to Close Our Eyes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, October 10, 2008
In these confusing, uncertain times, I found this quote from John Calvin (HT Of First Importance) reassuring:Our circumstances are all in opposition to the promises of God. He promises us immortality: yet we are surrounded by mortality and corruption. He declares that He accounts us just: yet we are covered with sins. He testifies that He is propit…
Should Pastors Endorse Candidates from the Pulpit?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, September 28, 2008
Today is Pulpit Freedom Sunday, a fact you may have missed in the avalanche of news about the Wall Street bailout and the presidential campaign. Even if you went to church this morning, chances are you didn’t hear anything about Pulpit Freedom Sunday. You probably heard a sermon on a biblical text that related in some way or another to your l...
Yes, Lord, Yes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Last night I began and ended my sermon with the challenge to pray, “Lord, do things I’m not used to.” When the pastor gave the invitation, the front of the church was filled with people—30-40, maybe more—kneeling and praying. The pastor said that he had challenged the congregation to say, “Yes, Lord, yes,” ...
If You Lose Your Cool, You Can’t Win
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, September 13, 2008
Several times this week I started to write something about the presidential race, but I haven’t been able to do it properly, mostly because I find myself getting irritated by the comments I read on the Internet and the statements made by certain members of the media. To be honest, more than once this week I’ve found myself getting angry...
New Podcast—Asymmetric Spiritual Warfare
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, September 11, 2008
Earlier today we posted a brand-new podcast called Asymmetric Spiritual Warfare. It seems appropriate that this podcast should come on 9/11 because the treacherous attack that occurred seven years ago is the classic modern example of asymmetric warfare. Although the War on Terror didn’t start that day, our understanding of it changed forever ...
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Sarah Palin’s Daughter—What Should We Think?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, September 6, 2008
A friend asked me why evangelicals think it’s okay that Sarah Palin’s seventeen-year-old daughter got pregnant by her boyfriend. I think the exact wording was, “Why are we so excited about it?” Hmmmm. That’s not exactly the way I would put it.I don’t know anyone who is “excited” about a teenage girl g...
Tracking Hurricane Gustav
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, August 31, 2008
For the last 36 hours, all eyes have been focused on the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Gustav slowly makes it way toward the northern gulf coast, probably making landfall just west of New Orleans sometime tomorrow. Three years ago Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Louisiana and the Mississippi coast. With rebuilding far from complete, another mas...
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Blogspotting
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, August 14, 2008
Here are a handful of useful articles and blog entries:Joe McKeever writes about three things to look for when you trying to find a good church. Steve Furtick reminds us that good opportunities must be seized because they don’t last forever. John Piper offers wise words about the Lakeland “revival."Ron Ethridge reminds us why...
John Edwards and Us
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, August 9, 2008
In March 2007 I wrote a blog entry called Why John Edwards Stays in the Race about his decision to continue running for president even though his wife’s cancer had returned. Though incurable, it has evidently been under control through a course of medical treatment. The blog entry makes clear that I have a personal interest in the subject. In...
Cannon Beach Q&A
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, August 6, 2008
During my week at Cannon Beach, we devoted the Friday morning session to questions from the audience. They could either write their questions down or ask them live. Mark Rice moderated, I answered as many questions as I could, and Jim Altizer handled questions relating to worship and trends in the contemporary church. Here are some of the questions...
Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, July 13, 2008
I was saddened to hear of the death yesterday of Tony Snow, former Press Secretary to the President and well-known news anchor and commentator. He died of colon cancer at the age of 53. After he was diagnosed in 2005, he sought treatment and went into remission. When the cancer returned in 2007, he wrote an article for Christianity Today called ...
News About The Persecuted Church
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, June 21, 2008
If you are looking for updated and reliable news about the the persecution of Christians around the world, check out these websites: Christian Monitor, Compass Direct, Voice of the Martyrs, Christian Freedom International, Persecution.org, Persecution Blog ...
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The 500-Year Flood and the Kingdom of Christ
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, June 18, 2008
It’s always a challenge to rightly relate natural disasters like the current flooding in Iowa, Missouri and Illinois to the larger themes of the Bible. Last Sunday Eric Schumacher, pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, gave a fine sermon called The 500-Year Flood and the Kingdom of Christ. I commend it…
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Surprise Me by Joy Today
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, June 4, 2008
A friend ended a recent email with this helpful paragraph: Finally, may I share with you a prayer request that I have been asking of the Lord for the last few months. Lord, surprise me by joy today. Then I look forward all day long for something joyful each new day, and I thank God for his goodness. I am thinking about adding the other fruit …
Put Marriage in Your Church Constitution
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, June 3, 2008
How should evangelical churches respond to the growing movement toward same-sex marriage? Here’s one answer. Put a statement about marriage in your church constitution.
Two Things Pastors Should Learn From Barack Obama
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, June 1, 2008
Yesterday Barack Obama bowed to inevitable reality and resigned his membership at Trinity United Church in Chicago. He did what he had to do given a) his desire to be president, and b) all the publicity swirling around the controversial statements of his former pastor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, and last Sunday’s guest prea ...
Climbing Kilimanjaro
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, May 31, 2008
That awesome mountain in the photograph is Kilimanjaro, tallest peak on the African continent. I have a particular interest in this mountain because one of my sons, two of my brothers, and a sister-in-law and two nieces will soon be climbing it. As I write these words all of them are en route to the great mountain.It all s ...
Be Still and Know
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 20, 2008
We have posted a new sermon called Be Still and Know. The sermon came in response to a question from a friend in China who wondered why God sent the terrible earthquake that took so many lives in the Sichuan province last week. As I considered his question, my mind was drawn to Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God. ...
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WMBI Interview with Nancy Turner on Tuesday Morning
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, May 19, 2008
On Tuesday morning I am doing a radio interview with Nancy Turner on WMBI-FM in Chicago from 10-11 AM CDT. We’ll be talking about my new book Fire and Rain: The Wild-Hearted Faith of Elijah. We’re going to focus on what it means to be a risk-taker for God.
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First Tell Them What You Are For
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, May 19, 2008
Before the week just past fades away, I want to make a comment on last Tuesday’s runoff special election in the Mississippi 1st Congressional District, won by a Democrat named Travis Childers. This is big news. I know it because the national commentators have been talking about it all week long. Let me put it this way ...
Earthquake Damage in China
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, May 18, 2008
The New York Times has published this interactive map showing the earthquake damage in China. Click on the camera icons to see photos from the region. The death toll now stands at over 32,000, with the final numbers expected to be much higher. A friend in China told us that for the first time, the government is concerned ab ...
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Tuesday Morning Scattershooting
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Various, mostly unrelated notes from hither and yon . . .William McGurn has some nice words about Wheaton College in the Wall Street Journal.Speaking of Wheaton, Eric Rubio had a great freshman year there.Several people have called or written to ask about Josh and Leah who teach English in Nanchang, China. After the devasta ...
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We Shall Behold Him
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, May 12, 2008
Legendary gospel singer and songwriter Dottie Rambo died yesterday morning when her tour bus ran off a road in southwest Missouri and struck an embankment. She was 74 years old. She had more than 2500 published songs, among them a song of great hope called “We Shall Behold Him.” When I woke up this morning, I thought about ...
William Blackstone and the 60th Birthday of Israel
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, May 9, 2008
Yesterday marked the 60th anniversary of the founding of the modern nation of Israel, an event that seemed unlikely and even impossible a century ago. Yet well before 1948, and long before the two great world wars that dominated the 20th-century, and long before the current geopolitical crises in the Middle East, there was ...
Chicago Hope Academy
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, April 21, 2008
Last night’s final episode of Oprah’s Big Give featured Chicago Hope Academy, a Christian high school on Chicago’s West Side, founded by Bob and Tina Muzikowski. I remember when Bob showed me the building they were renovating for the school. It seemed like such an impossible dream—and apart from God, it w ...
A Very Happy Wedding Day
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, April 20, 2008
On Friday Marlene and I drove to Memphis for the wedding of Beth Hoeksema and Brandon Tierce. We had the rehearsal on Friday night and the wedding yesterday at 6 PM. After the reception we drove back to Tupelo (85 miles), arriving a few minutes past 11 PM. This morning Marlene remarked how much fun it was. I agree. I rememb ...
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, April 18, 2008
Ben Stein’s new movie called Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed opens today in theaters across America. Because the movie dares to challenges the prevailing Darwinian orthodoxy that has a stranglehold on American education, it has already generated a great deal of discussion in the blogosphere. Predictably, the major ...
“How Can I Pray For You?”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, April 17, 2008
“How can I pray for you?"When several friends asked that question during our visit to Chicago last weekend, I gave the same answer every time."Pray Philippians 1:9-11 for us."That’s Paul’s prayer for the Christians at Philippi. I discovered it when I preached a sermon series called Praying With Paul in 2003. Of ...
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40 Years Ago
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, April 4, 2008
Forty years ago today Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, TN. This morning’s Tupelo Daily Journal contains two articles relating to his legacy:Forty Years LaterOn Wednesday Dr. King’s niece, Alveda King, visited Tupelo. She has gained considerable attention for her work on behalf of the unborn. ...
Where Does Brian Bill Get His Illustrations?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, April 4, 2008
Brian Bill is one of my favorite preachers. I say that because a) I have know him for almost 20 years, b) I have seen his pastoral work up close and personal, and c) I read his sermons every week. Brian serves as pastor of Pontiac Bible Church, a growing congregation located about 80 miles south of Chicago. On his sermon pa ...
Friend Wheel
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 2, 2008
This neat little drawing is called a Friend Wheel. It’s one of the applications you can add to your Facebook page. Vanessa told me about it over the weekend, and so of course I signed up for it. According to the data supplied with the drawing, it contains an amazing 375 “nodes” and 3054 links. Each of those “nodes” a ...
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China Updates
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Check out these China-related items . .Anthony Bollback and his son Jonathan run an informative website called Church in China.You can subscribe to ZGBriefs and receive a free weekly digest of China-related news.Our son Josh has been doing some China Chopstick Math. Each year the Chinese use enough disposable chopsticks (45 ...
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Eliot Spitzer and Us
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, March 15, 2008
It is widely remarked this week, in the wake of the scandal that brought down the governor of New York, that Eliot Spitzer is a victim of his own arrogance. Hubris is the word most often used, it being a fine old word that comes to us from the classical Greek of ancient Athens. Hubris means something more than sinful pride. ...
Glad to Be Home Again
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, March 14, 2008
We are home again after a whirlwind trip to New York where we had a wonderful time with the students at Word of Life Bible Institute. It’s always fun to teach there, but this year’s class seemed unusually attentive and extremely receptive. The Lord seemed to create a good connection. Part of it may stem from the ...
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William F. Buckley
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I can’t remember exactly when I first heard of William F. Buckley or when I first saw an issue of National Review, but I know it must have been in 1966 or thereabouts. I was a teenager at the time and far disconnected from life outside the small town in Alabama where I grew up. This is what I do remember. David Neal a ...
Josh’s China Video
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, February 26, 2008
At this moment we are somewhere in the air over the Pacific Ocean on our way back to Chicago and then on to Memphis and then back to Tupelo. Total time from Shanghai to Tupelo is about 21 hours. We have had a wonderful time in China, and we have seen the Father’s hand at work in so many unexpected ways. If you wonder ...
The Next 1000 Years of Christianity
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, February 6, 2008
In a recent edition of Willow Creek magazine, Kevin Kelly tries to imagine the next 1000 years of Christianity. To put that in perspective, suppose we took a Christian in 1008 (maybe from Africa or Spain or India) and asked him to imagine what the church would look like in 2008. No matter what he said, he would be unlikely ...
What Is Your Only Comfort in Life and in Death?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Here is the first question and answer from the Heidelberg Catechism, written in 1563:Question 1: What is your only comfort in life and in death?Answer: That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious bloo ...
Why We Shouldn’t Give Up the Fight
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Today marks the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized abortion in America. Since then over 40 million unborn babies have been legally killed in our country.I can still remember when abortion first gripped my heart as a moral issue that Christians cannot avoid. It happened in 1 ...
Quickies
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, January 22, 2008
1) Last night we started the Bible conference in Indio. Wow! What a service we had. A combination of a camp meeting, county fair, and a revival service. I think we’re going to have a great week. I hope to post some pictures by the end of the week.2) This week’s email sermon went out to exactly 4000 addresses—ou ...
Anchor in Iraq
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, December 8, 2007
A few years ago we sent 5000 copies of An Anchor for the Soul to Word of Life in New York where they were bundled with a New Testament and a Quiet Time Diary. These Solider Quiet Time Packs were then sent to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. We just received this report (via Wayne Lewis) from a soldier serving in Iraq:I j ...
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Happy Birthday, Mark!
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, December 8, 2007
Today Mark celebrates his 26th birthday. Back in 1981 I was pastoring Redeemer Covenant Church in Downey, California (a Los Angeles suburb). Mark was born in nearby Whittier. Two years later we moved to Garland, Texas (a Dallas suburb) where I became the pastor of Northeast Bible Church. Soon thereafter we enrolled Mark in ...
Should a Candidate’s Religious Faith Matter?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 23, 2007
Peggy Noonan argues persuasively (and correctly, in my opinion) that we are making too much of the religious faith of those running for public office. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, partly because of my travels around the country and partly because of the widely reported divide within the evangelical camp ...
How God Revealed the Ingratitude of My Own Heart
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, November 22, 2007
We have just posted a new sermon called How God Revealed the Ingratitude of My Own Heart. Here’s an excerpt:A few years ago if you had asked me, “Are you a grateful person?” I suppose I would have said that I am about as grateful as the next person. And from the standpoint of our text, that would be a true statement. ...
Panera Bread and Facebook
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, November 8, 2007
This morning I decided to go to Panera Bread to pick up some bagels for breakfast. I ended up coming back with bagels plus a few other goodies, enough for maybe 8 people, certainly more than Marlene and me and Dave and Lynette. But that’s part of the fun. You start looking at the display case and you end up buying mor ...
If I Believe, Why Do I Doubt?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, November 8, 2007
We have just posted a new sermon on the website called If I Believe, Why Do I Doubt? Here’s an excerpt:In times of trouble, keep going back to what you know to be true. When I hit my 50th birthday five years ago, I realized that I believe less now than I did 30 years ago. Back then I thought I had everything totally f ...
Ann Coulter Got It Mostly Right
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, October 14, 2007
A few days ago Ann Coulter had a dust-up with Donny Deutsch on his CNBC program “The Big Idea.” Ostensibly she was being interviewed about her new book “If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans.” But the interview turned into a discussion about how the Jews need to accept Christ in order to be “perfected,” a ...
Anchor in a Laundromat
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, October 13, 2007
Several years ago we donated copies of An Anchor for the Soul to the “Glory to Thee” missionary boat run by John and Gaydean Nolte. Their unique ministry takes them to various ports on the Gulf Coast and also along the inland waterways (including the Great Lakes), sharing the Good News of Jesus. John left a copy of the book ...
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Where Were You on 9/11?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Where were you when you heard the news six years ago today? And what do you remember about that day?I was in my basement office at home, preparing for the staff meeting that would start at church at 9 AM. Around 8:30 AM Marlene called to say, “Turn on the TV. A plane has hit the World Trade Center.” I remember watching the ...
What’s in My Library?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, September 10, 2007
During the Keep Believing board retreat this weekend, I was asked what books I have been reading lately. That led to a discussion of books in general. When I graduated from seminary in 1978, I had already amassed a nice-sized library of basic reference books—lots of Greek and Hebrew commentaries, heavy tomes on theology a ...
D. James Kennedy Now With the Lord
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Sad news out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Famed pastor D. James Kennedy died this morning at the age of 76. After suffering cardiac arrest last December, he underwent a rigorous program of physical therapy but never returned to the pulpit. During his long and fruitful ministry at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, he wrote ma ...
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Why Churches Change So Slowly
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, September 4, 2007
During lunch with a friend, the conversation drifted to the question of why churches get stuck in a rut and never seem to change. Eventually one key insight emerged. Every organization is perfectly calibrated to produce exactly the results it is producing. That “calibration” is mostly invisible, but it is there, and it is h ...
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Are We Weak or Are We Hypocrites—or both?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, August 31, 2007
All week long we’ve heard the sad, sordid story of the senator from Idaho who has been accused of hypocrisy because he was allegedly soliciting gay sex even though he voted against gay marriage. Chief among the complaints is that the senator practiced in private what he condemned in public, and that complaint is stret ...
Teen People of the Bible
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, August 31, 2007
Yesterday I received my copy of Teen People of the Bible by Daniel Darling. Subtitled “Celebrity Profiles of Real Faith and Tragic Failure,” this book examines some of the better-known “teen people” of the Bible, starting with Cain and Abel, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Samson, David, Jonathan, S ...
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Why Sin Shouldn’t Surprise Us
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, July 21, 2007
I suppose most of us hardly recognized the name of Louisiana Senator David Vitter until his name popped up on the phone list of a Washington “escort service.” He made a public confession and, with his wife by his side, asked for forgiveness. That much was unremarkable. It turns out that he was an outspoken leader in the cru ...
China—Crackdowns, Conversions, Hungry Hearts
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, July 20, 2007
So what is the state of the church in China these days? It all depends on who you ask. I have heard several knowledgeable people say the same thing. “Everything you hear about China is true somewhere.” It’s a big country with 1.3 billion people. Everyone agrees the church is growing at a phenomenal rate. That obviousl ...
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Life International
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, July 8, 2007
Each week during the Gull Lake summer conference season, a different missionary organization shares its ministry. This week the missions focus is Life International, a relatively new organization in Grand Rapids, MI, that reaches out to what they call the largest and most unreached people group in the world—the unborn. The ...
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On the Road to Michigan
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, July 7, 2007
8:16 PM We made it to Kalamazoo only a few minutes late. A young man named Joel picked me up. He’s a senior counselor at Gull Lake and a 2007 graduate of Wheaton College. He told me that attendance is up at the conference center this summer. Here’s one immediate and obvious difference between Gull Lake and Camp ...
Bits and Pieces
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, June 20, 2007
*Here are three blogs worth checking out:The Normal Christian BlogBiblicalStudies.org.ukDigiTrail Blaze*Good News from China. There has been a Christian explosion among Chinese intellectuals. Read the whole article and you’ll discover that the term explosion is not an exaggeration. The church is China continues to gro ...
Just Do It
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Over the weekend we talked with someone (A) who told us about a friend of hers (B), someone she has known for many years. It seems that this friend (B) offended someone else (C) eight or nine years ago. The precise details don’t matter, except that what was done was petty and meanspirited. Now the course of life has c ...
Jordin!
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Tonight I broke down and did something I haven’t done in six years of watching American Idol. I picked up the phone and voted for Jordin Sparks. I hope she wins. After tonight’s performance, she certainly deserves it.
25 Years Ago Today
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Do you remember where you were 25 years ago today—May 22, 1982? I didn’t until I talked with my sister-in-law Betty who told me that she and Andy got married 25 years ago today. I had no idea it had been that long. When Andy got on the phone, I commented that it’s hard to believe that 25 years have passed. “Yea ...
What is a Christian?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, May 20, 2007
Last Sunday I preached at Calvary Baptist Church in Tupelo on What is a Christian? I actually started thinking about the topic when Al Sharpton stirred up a theological kerfuffle during a debate with atheist Christopher Hitchens. During one exchange he said something that seemed to imply that Mormons don’t believe in ...
At Home in Tupelo
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, May 19, 2007
The big news is that we bought a home in Tupelo this week. Marlene and I are both amazed at how God brought all the pieces together. Because we are here for only a couple of weeks, we wanted to get a contract before we left again. In just a few days . . .We found a realtor we liked,Marlene looked at a lot of homes, andI loo ...
Dr. Falwell’s Final Quote
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, May 16, 2007
A few days ago Jerry Falwell penned his final “Falwell Confidential” column called Bible History, Prophecy, and World War III. The closing paragraph serves as a good summary of his life:With the world on the brink of pandemonium, it is our responsibility to point people -no matter their heritage, ethnicity or religion - to ...
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Thought for the Day
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, May 16, 2007
“You can be right about everything all the time or you can have friends. But you can’t do both."That thought comes from this column by John Armstrong.
Jerry Falwell’s Legacy
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Jerry Falwell died today at the age of 73. He will be chiefly remembered for two enormous accomplishments:First, he led the fundamentalist movement out of the wilderness and won for it a seat at the table of public discourse. Looking back, it is hard to remember what things were like 35 years ago. Mainstream evangelicals ha ...
Online Interviews for Stealth Attack
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 15, 2007
In the last several weeks I’ve done a number of radio interviews relating to Stealth Attack, my new book on spiritual warfare. Here are three that you can hear online:Open Line with Chris FabryThe Don Kroah ShowToday’s Issues on American Family Radio
Should Christian Leaders Receive Public Immunity?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, May 4, 2007
Last week I wrote an entry called Bill O’Reilly Doesn’t Quite Get It. My post drew quite a bit of comment and even stirred up a bit of debate about the existence of God. But the most fascinating response had nothing to do with what I wrote but with the fact that I wrote it at all. Someone sent an email objecting ...
Why We Should Pray and Never Give Up
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, May 2, 2007
An email arrived with some common questions about prayer:I teach a Bible Study course at my local church. The question that was asked, “Should I pray for something (believing the prayer will be answered) and then the next time I pray thank God for answering my prayer (although it has not come to fruition) or should I pray ...
China Clippings
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Anthony Bollback has just posted the latest edition of China Clippings. A Chinese government official recently estimated the total number of Christians in China at an astounding 130 million. Perhaps the greatest need is for trained leaders in the local churches to disciple the estimated 7-10,000 new converts every day.
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Bill O’Reilly Doesn’t Quite Get It
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Last night Bill O’Reilly interviewed atheist Richard Dawkins, author of the current bestseller The God Delusion. Here is the video of the interview. It wasn’t a particularly illuminating debate, given that it only lasted four minutes and O’Reilly did most of the talking. As most people know, besides a good ...
Create in Me a Clean Heart
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 25, 2007
We have just posted a new sermon called Create in Me a Clean Heart: A Serious Call to Sexual Purity. Here’s an excerpt:Purity is worth it because the pure in heart see God. They know him deeply, personally, intimately. They have an inner peace that others do not have. They see God and know the comfort of his presence ...
Two Radio Interviews
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, April 19, 2007
This afternoon I taped a radio interview regarding the spiritual warfare aspects of the shootings at Virginia Tech. You can hear the interview on WINA (Charlotteville, VA) this Saturday between 6-9 AM EDT on the morning program with Jay James.Tomorrow morning I am doing a live interview on the same topic on WFLA (Orlando, F ...
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The Evil in Our Midst
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Yesterday I was asked during a radio broadcast why bad things happen to good people. I answered by saying that no one really knows the answer to that question, that the best minds in history have grappled with the problem of evil, and that we can’t draw a straight line from our knowledge to a troubled young man with t ...
The Satanic Nature of Evil
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, April 17, 2007
This morning I received an email from someone in Virginia who has been reading Stealth Attack. As part of her message, she quoted a passage that I wrote a few months ago. It speaks to the Satanic nature of evil that has been let loose in the world."I recently purchased your book Stealth Attack and Sunday night I read a bit ...
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Chinese Translation of “The Incredible Journey of Faith”
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Chinese version of The Incredible Journey of Faith has just been released. For other Chinese translations, click here and here.
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Don Imus and Us
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Don Imus, the hugely popular radio shock jock, made headlines last week for using a racial epithet to describe the Rutgers University women’s basketball team. There is no need to repeat what he said here. Everyone has read it and heard it numerous times. And there is no need to attempt a defense for the indefensible. ...
Sargeant Dudley and the Raccoon
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Last night about 9:30 PM I put Dudley out so he could take care of his business before we put him to bed for the night. When I opened the door, instead of walking out as he usually does, he bounded out the door of the cabin, veered to the left and then ran down the hill that leads to the lake. Before I could follow him outd ...
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First Interview for Stealth Attack
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 4, 2007
At 10:30 AM CDT I am doing my first radio interview for Stealth Attack, my new book on spiritual warfare. You can listen live on KDOV in Medford, Oregon.The book develops the concept of “asymmetric spiritual warfare,” in which a weaker power uses unconventional tactics to counter the overwhelming conventional military super ...
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Hell and Holy Week
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, April 2, 2007
Last week the Pope made headlines when he said that hell is a real place. Addressing a parish gathering in a suburb of Rome, he said noted that hell “really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more.” He’s definitely right that we don’t talk about it very much, even in church.When was th ...
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Scattershooting
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, March 29, 2007
Scattershooting on a beautiful day in northeast Mississippi . . .1) Josh, Mark and Nick have started a three-brothers blog called A Thousand Words. Mark is the prophet, Nick is the humorist, and Josh is the philosopher.2) You can listen online to my sermon called “Ballistic Christianity” preached last Sunday at Pontiac Bibl ...
Christianity Lives Because He Lives
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, March 4, 2007
Here’s a quote to keep in mind as millions of people prepare to watch the Lost Tomb of Jesus on the Discovery Channel tonight: “Christianity is a religion of facts, not of ideas. It rests upon the being of a personal God. It stands or falls with the reality of the statements in the Apostle’s creed. Its doctrines ...
What Harry Ironside Told Jack Wyrtzen
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, February 5, 2007
Tonight at Word of Life Florida Harry Bollback preached for the Monday night missionary service. For those who don’t know him, Harry is 83 years old and has been with Word of Life for 66 years, which if you do the math means that he started as Jack Wyrtzen’s piano player in 1941. He is full of energy, enthusiasm ...
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Herod Then and Now
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, January 28, 2007
When we boarded the plane in Tel Aviv on Friday morning, I picked up a copy of the English edition of the Jerusalem Post. The headlines reported that the president of Israel is taking a leave of absence because of serious accusations of sexual misconduct. One story noted that should he eventually step down or be impeached, ...
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A Few of My Favorite Pictures
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, January 28, 2007
When I asked the tour members to share their digital photos with me, I ended up with over 7000 images. Here are a few of my favorites:
Love on the Great Wall
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Shortly after midnight on Sunday night, the phone rang, jarring us awake. We had been expecting the call but it came as a surprise anyway because we were already asleep. On the other end of the phone, I heard Mark’s voice, “Mom and Dad, we’re engaged.” He was using a cell phone to call us from the Great Wall of ...
Sermons for Sanctity of Human Life Sunday
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, January 16, 2007
On January 21 thousands of churches will observe Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Since 1973 this observance has taken place annually on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion in America. Here are some sermons that may help you in your preaching and Bible teaching this week. T ...
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Bible Map
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, January 15, 2007
Check out the Bible Map—a remarkable new tool that uses modern technology to bridge the gap between the ancient world and the 21st century. Here’s how it works. You enter a Bible chapter that contains a geographic reference or the name of a region or a people group. When you click on the highlighted words in the text ...
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A Restaurant, A Movie and a Very Decent Man
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, December 28, 2006
1) If you ever come to Gulf Shores, be sure to eat at Doc’s Seafood Shack in nearby Orange Beach. The sign out front says they have have the World’s Best Gumbo. With that kind of confidence, how could you resist? The place doesn’t exactly look like a shack; it’s more of a rundown, retro-50s kind of l ...
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Should Evangelicals “Fast” From Politics?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, December 28, 2006
In light of the recent mid-term elections, should evangelicals take a two-year “fast” from being involved in politics?David Kuo says yes and offers two main reasons: 1) It turns off the people we’re trying to reach for Christ. 2) It doesn’t work anyway. He concludes his column with these words:We will have to wa ...
Sermons for New Year’s Day
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Here are twelve sermons with themes appropriate for New Year’s Day. Feel free to use this material in any way that may be helpful to you either in your own personal study or as you prepare to teach and preach this Sunday.You Can Stumble But You Won’t Fall One Word You Shouldn’t Say in 2007 Three Things Not ...
My Highest Honor—Person of the Year
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, December 21, 2006
I don’t know if you heard, but I was just named Person of the Year by Time Magazine. No kidding. You would think that in a year filled with international tension that they would have chosen someone like President Bush or the president of Iran or that crazy guy who runs North Korea. Or you might think they would have g ...
After Jesus
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Tonight CNN presented a two-hour special called After Jesus: The First Christians. The program traces the beginnings of the Christian religion from its days as a sect within Judaism to its recognition as a favored religion by Emperor Constantine in AD 313. It attempts to grapple with a question that is both historical and t ...
Jay Bakker’s Strange Religion
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Until last week I had never paid any attention to Jay Bakker, the son of Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner. Then someone sent me a link to a CNN article called What the Hell Happened to Christianity? It turns out that Jay is the pastor/founder of a church called the Revolution, with branches in Atlanta, New York and Charlot ...
China Tidbits
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, December 19, 2006
1) Do they celebrate Christmas in China? The answer is yes and no. The Chinese (especially in the larger cities) recognize the holiday and enjoy the bright lights, gift-giving and the part about Santa Claus but do not understand the message of the birth of Jesus. 2) Mark has posted some new pictures from his recent birthday ...
Knowing What Matters Most
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, December 15, 2006
All year long Christianity Today has been publishing a series of articles exploring how Christians can be a counterculture for the common good. Andy Crouch concludes the series with a penetrating article at the importance of knowing what’s important. In these days of enormous cultural confusion when we as Christians l ...
Dear Sarah
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, December 14, 2006
A few days ago I received a letter that took over a month to finally reach me. It came from someone I have never met. Because of the unusual nature of the letter, I began to think about the question, “What does forgiveness mean at Christmastime?” This week’s message is actually the letter I wrote to her. To protect he ...
New KBM Brochure
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, November 30, 2006
Check out the new brochure for Keep Believing Ministries .
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How to Apologize in Public
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, November 18, 2006
Marvin Olasky writes in the current issue of World magazine about apologizing in public (Click here to read comments on the World Magazine blog). Taking as his starting point that confession and repentance should accompany thanksgiving (a helpful fact to keep in mind five days before Thanksgiving), Olasky points out how har ...
A Voice From the Cutting Edge
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 17, 2006
Yesterday I wrote about how the Internet is changing the way we do ministry. Derek Taylor wrote a thoughtful follow-up that deserves a wide reading. Here is the heart of what he wrote:I want to echo what you said on today’s post about technology. Yesterday at work we had a very interesting speaker who is on the cuttin ...
Three Noteworthy Articles
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Here are three articles only loosely connected . . . USA Today reports that blogging has now entered the classroom as an educational tool.Keith Drury has written a helpful analysis of how the Internet is changing the church. Church leaders would do well to consider all six points he raises. Click here to read responses to D ...
Signs of a Restorable Spirit
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 10, 2006
It has been enlightening to read the many comments on the weblog this week. It’s clear that the Ted Haggard situation has touched a nerve inside the Christian community. Along that line, Eric Hogue asks, What is the appropriate “rehabilitation” for Ted Haggard? Marshall Shelley discusses the signs of a restorable spi ...
Friday News and Notes
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 10, 2006
We’re wrapping up a good week at the SIM Retirement Village in Sebring, FL. Tonight I preach the last message in the Elijah series. Our flight from Orlando leaves at 6:20 AM, which means that we will need to leave Sebring about 3:30 AM to arrive at the airport in time to turn in our rental car and check in for the fli ...
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If Sin Were Blue
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, November 6, 2006
David Klinghoffer offers a wise perspective on Ted Haggard’s fall. The entire article deserves a close reading because he deals forthrightly with the question of whether or not homosexuality is inborn. In a sense, he answers yes, because all humans are born with a bias toward sin. Theologians call this the doctrine of ...
Ted Haggard Removed as Pastor of New Life Church
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, November 5, 2006
Kudos to the leaders at New Life Church for acting quickly to remove Ted Haggard from his position as senior pastor. Here is their letter to the congregation explaining the decision. When the facts are clear, as they evidently were to those doing the investigation, nothing is gained (and much is lost) by delaying the final ...
Where Have All the Pastors Gone?
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, November 3, 2006
The email began very simply: “I am so discouraged.” The day before her pastor had resigned. Twelve years ago she had been brought back to the Lord by a pastor who seemed to be a godly man. Later he left his wife to enter the homosexual lifestyle. Then came a good pastor who was falsely accused of financial wrongdoing. Thoug ...
Married Couples Now a Minority
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, October 16, 2006
Here’s a significant statistic every church leader should know about . . . Married couples are now a minority in the U.S. For the first time ever, less than 50% of American households are made up of married couples. Here is the money quote:The numbers by no means suggest marriage is dead or necessarily that a tipping ...
Another Perspective on the Perfect Church
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, October 16, 2006
A friend sent this in an email and I thought it was so good that it ought to be shared with everyone. My friend hopes for . . .1) A church that prays for and supports their Pastor and Board (not because they are perfect)…but in obedience to God.2) A church where forgiveness is more important than being right.3) A ch ...
Mark Driscoll Explains the Mainline
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, October 7, 2006
Mark Driscoll explains why the mainline denominations are in such a mess. He then offers these ten steps to destroying a denomination:1) Have a low view of Scripture and, consequently, the deity of Jesus. 2) Deny that we were made male and female by God, equal but with distinct roles in the home and church. 3) Ordain libera ...
Repent!
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, October 6, 2006
I just posted the sermon from last week: Repent! The Forgotten Doctrine of Salvation. This particular message has drawn more comments than any sermon in the last month.
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Podcast of Interview re: Amish Schoolhouse Shooting
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Today Kevin McCullough and I had a very honest, wide-ranging discussion of the issues raised by the tragic shooting of ten students at an Amish schoolhouse yesterday. Click on this link to listen to the interview that included calls from listeners. We discussed the role of spiritual warfare, the reality of sin, why anger wi ...
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Last-Second Radio Interview This Afternoon
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, October 3, 2006
I am going to do an interview with Kevin McCullough on WMCA at 1:20 PM CDT to discuss yesterday’s tragic shooting of the Amish schoolchildren.
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New Pictures From China
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Mark has posted some new pictures from China.
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My Ten Favorite Gospel Songs
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, September 17, 2006
A few weeks ago I wrote about my ten favorite hymns. Today I’m offering this list of my ten favorite gospel songs. Two quick notes are in order. First, I find it difficult to define what I mean by “gospel song” so I won’t even try, and I’m not where exactly how to demarcate between a hymn and a gospel song ...
Wash For Life
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, September 16, 2006
Today is Wash for Life . I hope this great idea spreads to thousands of youth groups next year.
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Yes, We’re Still Going to the Holy Land
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, September 15, 2006
Yes, we are still going to Israel for our Holy Land tour, January 17-26, 2007. Since the ceasefire in July, the situation has become increasingly calm. The Go Israel site contains a wealth of information for travelers. I hope you will join us for this trip of a lifetime. You will see Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Caesarea, Tiberius ...
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Anchor for China Project Nears Completion
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, September 13, 2006
In June we announced the Anchor for China project. We asked the Lord to help us equip 25,000 Chinese pastors and church leaders will free copies of Anchor for the Soul, a simple presentation of the gospel. Even though the book has only been in print since March, it has already been widely distributed. Several bookstores hav ...
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Saturday Shout Out
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, September 9, 2006
A big Saturday shout out to Dave and Anita Eger, Ryan and Melissa Williamson, Chris and Jeanie Brown, Doug Armbrecht, Marshall Wick, Pastor Greg and Marcia Lanzen, Pastor Jim and Becky Shrock, Don Todd, Terry White, Melinda Toler, Nikki Grubb, Dawn Merrit, Laura Smith in Lancaster, PA, Abby Cramton who had a fantastic summe ...
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Mark Comes Home
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, June 29, 2006
It took Mark a little over three days to make it home from China so by the time he arrived at the Birmingham Airport a few minutes before 9 AM, he was pretty tired. He had flown with his team from Beijing to Los Angeles where he and the others who are returning to China for a second year spent a day doing their initial orie ...
Lost Luggage
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, June 18, 2006
I am writing this note from our motel room in Colorado Springs. Outside I can see Pikes Peak just a few miles away. Marlene and I are here for the MEF Bible Conference that starts tomorrow morning. So far our trip has been an unexpected adventure. When we left the cabin in Mississippi yesterday, we thought it would take us ...
Helpful Feedback on Congregational Singing
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Here is some feedback I’ve been getting from my series on congregational singing. The first comes from a friend who recently started attending a new church:One of the things that I have loved about Word of Life from the start is when we all sing together at the meeting house. The first year we were there, I was bowle ...
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Two Interviews Today
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, May 8, 2006
I’m doing two interviews today. . .Radio: Prime Time America on the Moody Broadcasting Network at 4:15 PM CDT. We’ll be talking about “Praying for Your Prodigal” that appeared in Part 1 and Part 2 as weblog entries.That topic has drawn the most response of anything I’ve written in the last month.TV: TLN Li ...
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John Piper on Preaching
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, May 5, 2006
John Piper has just posted the message he preached at the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville, KY a week ago. His message is called Preaching as Expository Exultation for the Glory of God. He began his message with this quotation from George Whitefield:Oh…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more ...
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Welcome KPRZ Listeners
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, May 3, 2006
We welcome everyone who listened to my interview with Dr. Keith Olson on KPRZ in San Diego on Tuesday night. Dr. Olson founded Family Consultation Services in 1971 to provide counseling based on a biblical worldview. During our hour together, we delved into the issue of forgiveness and why it is so important if we want to b ...
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Check It Out
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, May 1, 2006
Brian Bill has posted his latest sermon on the Da Vinci Code: Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?Alex Chediak (with his wife Marni) has written a new book on singleness, dating and marriage called With One Voice.Anthony Bollback has posted the May edition of China Clippings.
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The Cross and the Swastika
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, April 25, 2006
On Easter Sunday evening, Dr. Robert Rayburn of Faith Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, Washington preached a remarkable sermon about a Lutheran minister named Henry Gerecke who served as a Army chaplain during World War II. Before the war, he served as a pastor in St. Louis and then became the director of the St. Louis Luther ...
Thorpe Schoenle, Rich Pirate With Nerves of Steel
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, April 24, 2006
I just got through watching Thorpe Schoenle win $464,000 on the hit game show Deal or No Deal. On his way to winning the most money anyone has ever won on the game, Thorpe twice turned down the most money anyone had ever turned down. I’m glad Case # 2 didn’t have $1 million in it. Thorpe would have been walkin ...
Separating Fact From Fiction
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, April 23, 2006
Brian Bill began a new series on the Da Vinci Code this morning with a message entitled Separating Fact From Fiction.Today I received an email from a friend asking about Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that is edited by the readers. The English version contains over one million articles that are constantly being upd ...
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Praying for Your Prodigal, Part 1
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, April 17, 2006
I received an email with a heartrending question:I have a daughter that I don’t believe is saved. I pray for her but often times I can’t. I suppose that I’m angry she isn’t responding and feel incapable of helping her. What can I pray for on a daily basis so that she will come to Christ? At times ...
Deal or No Deal
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, April 13, 2006
Like approximately 100 million other Americans, Marlene and I have gotten hooked on NBC’s hit show Deal or No Deal. If you haven’t seen the show, I really can’t explain it to you, but it has to with opening suitcases that contain various amounts of money, ranging from 1 cent to $1 million. Contestants have ...
My First Podcast
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, April 12, 2006
This morning I recorded my first podcast with Stacy Lynn Harp, the president of Active Christian Media in Orange, CA. For those who don’t know, podcasting is the latest technological innovation that allows anyone to become an Internet broadcaster. The neat thing about podcasting is that it is really “media on demand.” ...
The Couples Retreat
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, April 8, 2006
9:58 PM The couples retreat seemed to go very well. I spoke three times, on “Respect: The Foundation of a Strong Marriage,” “A Judgmental Spirit: The Enemy of a Happy Marriage,” and “Commitment: The Key to a Lasting Marriage.” There was lots of chatter and laughter before and after the sessions, and a good bit of give-and-t ...
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Resignation Fever Revisited
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, March 29, 2006
I received more feedback from last week’s entry called Resignation Fever than anything I’ve written since starting this weblog. Evidently I touched a nerve by raising a topic we all acknowledge but rarely talk about. Here are few sample responses (with all identifying details removed):I continue to be extremely ...
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Keith Yates, Tenth-Degree Black Belt
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, March 24, 2006
*The current issue of Kindred Spirit, published by Dallas Theological Seminary, has a fine article on tenth-degree black belt Keith Yates. Keith writes for various martial-arts magazines and is a leader in Chuck Norris’s Kick-Start Foundation. Keith has written over 400 articles and ten books. When I met him, he was p ...
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Jet-Lagged
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, January 25, 2006
11:47 AM Yes, I’m totally jet-lagged. I think the flight from west to east is harder. Or maybe it’s just than the trip is over. Anyway, my body clock is all messed up right now.11:46 AM We were right. It took almost exactly 26 hours to get from the hotel in Beijing to our cabin in Mississippi.
Countdown to China
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, January 9, 2006
7:12 PM Special thanks to Randy Birkey and the team at Birkey.com for developing the Keep Believing site over the last few months. Since late September my main weblog has been on the Crosswalk website. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to migrate the daily weblog to this website. But it will take a while to make the ...
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Sunday, August 15, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Sunday, August 15, 2004
12:15 AM I'm supposed to be in bed by now, but I'm not, so I think I'll do my weblog entry right now. This is a big day for our family. Fifteen years ago today I became the pastor of Calvary Memorial Church. August 15, 1989, was a Tuesday morning. I remember walking into my office—the largest pastor's office I had eve...
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Saturday, August 14, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, August 14, 2004
8:23 PM Late this afternoon I hopped on my bike, intending to do my usual 11.1 mile loop. On a whim, I decided to ride Augusta Avenue into Chicago. As I pedaled through the Austin neighborhood, I saw lots of block parties. Eventually I had to turn off Augusta because a gospel choir had set up risers in the middle of the str...
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Monday, July 26, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, July 26, 2004
2:12 PM Mark and his friend Dave McKee have been visiting my brother Alan in Tupelo, Mississippi. When we talked to him several hours ago, they were just leving Tupelo on their way home to Oak Park. Mark said they will not arrive until late tonight because they are stopping for dinner at Lambert's Restaurant in Sikeston, Mi...
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Friday, July 9, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, July 9, 2004
7:42 PM Another nice note—this one from the Philippines:Dear Pastor Ray, Thank you very much for the availability of your free download sermons, I'm happy that this will help me easier when given a time to speak and share the word of God. I am Emmanuel B. Badulis, a civil engineering graduate and working as a college ...
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Thursday, June 17, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, June 17, 2004
7:06 AM The Civil War Tour—Day 3 I am writing these notes from my motel room in Camp Springs, Maryland, across the street from the main entrance to Edwards Air Force Base. Today we’re taking a Christian Heritage Tour of Washington, DC, tomorrow it’s on to Richmond, then Saturday we head back to Oak Park, God...
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Monday, April 26, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, April 26, 2004
10:53 AM Just about ready to leave for the airport to fly to New York. I fly to Albany where someone from Word of Life picks me up. The Bible Institute is located in Pottersville, a tiny town about 75 miles north of Albany, on the southern edge of Schroon Lake, in the Adirondack Mountains. Usually I'm there in January or Fe...
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Saturday, April 10, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, April 10, 2004
8:41 PM Rabbi Daniel Lapin explains why so many Jewish groups passionately hate Mel Gibson. Instead of following the Torah (which we call the Old Testament), they are infected by "secular fundamentalism." The entire article is well worth reading. Here is his conclusion: Once Mel Gibson revealed himself to be, like the p...
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Monday, April 5, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, April 5, 2004
8:29 PM An e-mail arrived with a question many people have wondered about: "If you believe that Jesus is your Lord and you kill yourself, will you still go to heaven?" Here is my answer: We are saved by what Jesus did for us in his life, death and resurrection. He paid the full price and opened the door to heaven to all...
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Thursday, March 11, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, March 11, 2004
10:15 PM If you live in the Chicago area, don’t forget that Open House Sunday is only three days away. We’ll be dedicating our renovations in all four services and we’re inviting the entire congregation to walk through the new portico, the new nursery, the renovated gym, plus the two stories of classrooms and...
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Thursday, February 26, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, February 26, 2004
9:50 PM Okay, I've got my answer to the question Seth raised below. This just in from Pastor Bob Boerman in Costa Rica:Hey Ray, The guys and I are having a terrific time in Costa Rica. A great Band of Brothers time. Much laughter. Much prayer. Much growing with Christ and each other. It´s Thursday night and the work is don...
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Tuesday, February 3, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, February 3, 2004
6:43 AM Michael Medved defends Mel Gibson and The Passion of Jesus Christ. 6:39 AM Here's a good overview of the controversy over the word "evolution" in Georgia. For those interested in the scientific evidence for creation, here's the entire online version of a book called Refuting Evolution. 6:34 AM "There is nothin...
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Friday, January 30, 2004
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, January 30, 2004
10:28 PM Many Chicago-area churches are promoting Mel Gibson's The Passion of Jesus Christ 9:44 PM Craig Hammond reports that almost 120 high schoolers came to Allied Force last night. The youth room on the third floor was filled to overflowing. God is doing great things among our young people. They are hungry to know the L...
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Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, November 18, 2003
3:49 PM Barb King writes from New York with some helpful thoughts on prayer:I looked at the referenced article on glancing prayers and wanted to share with you something that my friend Susan does. We used to own a brown van and every time she saw a brown van on the road she would say a quick prayer for the Kings. She tries ...
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Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Tuesday, August 26, 2003
9:31 PM Another excellent column by David Limbaugh on why Judge Roy Moore is both right and wrong. In my opinion, he correctly frames the issue when he asks, “Is the hill you want to die on?” For me, at the present time, the answer is no. He’s also quite correct when he says the problem is not an activist judiciary but ...
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Monday, August 25, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, August 25, 2003
5:52 PM Last week during our stay in Alabama, we heard a great deal about Judge Roy Moore and his refusal to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Judicial Building in Montgomery. I hadn’t paid much attention to the controversy, but it’s the number-one story in Alabama—and now is getting considera...
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Monday, July 28, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Monday, July 28, 2003
8:08 PM It looks like the Costa Rica will arrive at O’Hare around 10 PM. 3:25 PM The Allied Force Costa Rica team is en route home today. 3:19 PM Speaking of Bean-hole beans, I just got an e-mail from Judy Cleaves who runs the First Settler’s Lodge in Weston, Maine. She reports that the Bean-hole beans were a great success ...
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Saturday, July 12, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Saturday, July 12, 2003
8:45 PM Greetings from Word of Life Inn in beautiful Schroon Lake, high in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York (about 50 miles south of Lake Placid where the Winter Olympics were held in 1980). We had an excellent flight from Chicago to Albany on an American Eagle jet, then rented a car for the 80 mile trip up Int...
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Friday, June 6, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Friday, June 6, 2003
This is the 59th anniversary of the invasion of Europe by Allied Forces on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Have you ever wondered what heaven will be like? Check out this excellent collection of articles on heaven at Christianity Today Online. This is also graduation weekend at our house. David and Colleen Axberg arrived from Boston y...
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Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Wednesday, June 4, 2003
This is the last day of classes at Oak Park Christian Academy. The school wraps up its 8th year with graduation ceremonies tonight at 7 PM. If you wonder whether its worth it to speak out on behalf of the unborn when America is legally pro-abortion, read this article about Senator Rick Santorum’s late-night speech on C-SPAN...
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Thursday, March 20, 2003
Posted by Ray Pritchard on Thursday, March 20, 2003
Thursday, March 20 Wonderful prayer service night. Well attended, deeply moving. One person told me afterwards, “I didn’t know how much I needed this service until it was over.” I was touched by how many people stood to share Scripture verses. Special thanks to WMAQ TV (NBC 5) for broadcasting live from our sanctuary at...
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