By Joe McKeever “…so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Preachers used to say ours was a “cut flower generation.”  The bloom was still there, all the blessings of our godly heritage, in the same way the floral arrangement on the dining room table carried the colors and delights of the garden.  However, preachers would point out, this generation has cut itself off from the faith of our fathers and while we enjoy the blessings of their faith and their labors, we are doing nothing to keep the faith. The next generation would pay for our failure. We’re there now. For most of the decades of my life–I arrived in 1940–Christians were in a majority in this country and it was pretty much agreed that ours was a Christian nation.  If anyone countered that, we never heard it. We sang hymns in school and decorated for Christmas and even dismissed classes so those who wished could attend a local church service or see a religious film. As a young pastor, I was invited to preach Christian messages to student bodies of public high schools.  No one mentioned a limitation of any kind. Those days … [Read more...]

By Jack Graham There’s something in our human spirit that never wants to give up. Each of us is like that little train engine in the children’s book, bravely chanting, “I think I can!” to conquer the mountains in our lives. But most of us will eventually meet a set of circumstances that seems hell-bent on taking us down. And that’s when we can begin to think, “Can I really get over this hill?” If ever there was a “Can I?” sort of person, Gideon was that guy. We read in Judges chapter 6 that Gideon was hiding away from his enemies… threshing wheat in a winepress… when an angel sent from God turned up and called Gideon a “mighty man of valor” (v. 12). He also said Gideon was going to spearhead God’s plan to free Israel from Midianite oppression. Looking at the odds against him, Gideon replied, “How can I save Israel?” (v. 15). What he didn’t know was that the Spirit of the Lord was about to clothe him. This forlorn farmer was going to wear God like a suit. Judges 6:33-34 says: “Now all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together…. But the Spirit of the LORD clothed Gideon, and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites [Gideon’s family] were called out to follow him.” Just when things … [Read more...]