How do you balance Christian compassion for the very real suffering Syrian refugees with the God-ordained duty of the divinely ordained civil magistrate to protect the innocent and punish evil doers? (Romans 13: 1-7).
Last year one of my seminary students asked me what turned out to be a most instructive question. The student said, "Dr. Land, if you had your life to live over and you couldn't be a minister, what would you be?"
Dr. Ben Carson has ignited a big media controversy by proclaiming he would not support a Muslim as President. Dr. Carson has since amplified his comments to explain that he would oppose an Islamist, someone who wanted to impose Sharia law on the United States.
The Ashley Madison hack reveals just how schizophrenic American society is about sex.
Have you heard about the Baptist pastors in Shelby, North Carolina, who have raised the Christian flag above the American flag at their local churches? The pastors explain that our ultimate allegiance is to God, not government or country. One of the churches has launched a website (GodBeforeGovernment.org).
The tragic events of recent days have once again focused the emotions of much of the nation on the Confederate flag and what it stands for and what it does not. I understand that for many people the Confederate flag stands for history, heritage, and the bravery and courage of their ancestors. However, the flag has been despoiled and sullied by the KKK and other white supremacists who have cloaked their evil deeds and beliefs with the "Stars and Bars."
As cultural Christianity wanes the more faithful, traditional Christianity practiced by Evangelicals will stand out in ever more vivid contrast with mere civic or "country club" Christianity in America. The shameful gap between the "orthodoxy" (sound doctrine) and "orthopraxy" (sound practice) of too many Christians has been, and is, a disgrace to the Gospel.
Taken together with the targeting and killing of Christians by Islamist militants in countries such as Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Syria, and Nigeria, the world is witnessing a slow-motion genocide of Christians in the Middle East.
What if Dr. King had been killed in 1958 instead of 1968? It almost happened. This weekend America will commemorate the life of, and mourn the assassination of, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, in Memphis. Dr. King was murdered in the prime of his life, a terrible tragedy for his family, his church, and for the entire nation.
Why do so many Evangelicals so strongly support Israel? The answer is that a significant majority of American Evangelicals believe that the Abrahamic Covenant is still in force.
