What does surprise me is when a fellow-believer in Jesus tells me I'm a heretic and non-believer since I sometimes take issue with the president. The simple truth is that Donald Trump is the president, not the Messiah (and not the antimessiah, better known as the antichrist). Is this so hard to grasp?

The hearing opened with a girl in a wheelchair testifying for the prosecution. She said she didn't know Pastor Brunson, but she knew people who went to his church. She was questioned about whether these people were associated with terror groups. While such witness testimony might seem normal, an understanding of how the evidence has been manipulated in this case from the beginning helps one see that politics (not justice) is driving it.

The nations stand, again on the brink of another period of protests and demonstrations. Every incident of another shooting of an African American male sends an already racially charged city sitting on a powder keg with a match lit and bracing to set the place on fire anew. What can the congregation and should we do? What can we do?

We can never go back in time. Not for a second. The past is gone forever. Nor can we know what's going to happen in the future. We only have now. Even weather forecasters don't know what tomorrow will bring.

There's a retirement community in Fredericksburg that wants to evict a retired Lutheran minister (in his 80s) and his wife if he continues to hold Bible studies there, which many of the residents have asked him to do.

We say it all the time. Ideas have consequences, bad ideas have victims. Just look at the widows of China.

Pat Robertson semi-regularly excites controversy with provocative comments, typically made on his daily television program 700 Club. Most recently he ignited widespread denunciation for seeming to minimize journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder by Saudi operatives. Robertson stressed the importance of USA arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

The following is what I share in each encounter I have with someone who identifies as LGBT. I have seen these analogies and scenarios be very successful in lovingly conveying the truth.

People can gain access to contraceptives and abortion pills without the government forcing religious and pro-life groups to provide them. But California, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Virginia can't seem to accept that.

I know a number of people whose life's motto is that everyone out there is trying to either rob or kill them. Years ago, I would have laughed it off as paranoia. But nowadays I think it's somewhat justified.

Lately we are seeing in the news an alarming number of pastoral failures. Emotional burnout and moral infidelities among pastors keeps rising. I think it was about eighteen years ago when it hit me that God is all about team ministry.

Fifty-nine percent of millennials who grow up in the US church drop out. We've pressed on with thoughtful outreach programs, and we have been fueled with evangelistic zeal. But when it comes to interacting and engaging with millennials, time and time again the church has been criticized for coming up short.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month, and it brings to mind one clear reality: The role of the pastor in America seems to be more difficult with each passing year.

It is very important to know how to properly share the Gospel with those who would consider themselves LGBT. As Christians living in our current culture, we have a responsibility to share the Gospel with everyone, regardless of how they define their sexual identity.

Recently, a very angry man took out his frustrations on me because of pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic Church. I don't blame him for being angry. His language would curl your ear hair, but I certainly felt his pain.

Iconic Hollywood actress Shirley MacLaine caused outrage when she once asked if the Nazi Holocaust victims suffered because of their sins in past lives. "Karma" seems to give a reason as to why God allows or even sanctions suffering.

There is no hiding the ugliness of Louis Farrakhan's latest antisemitic comments, in which he likened Jews to termites. There is one thing you do with termites. Exterminate them!

Frankly, I was not surprised when Pastor Andrew Brunson said that praying and knowing people were praying for him kept him sane and hopeful after being imprisoned in Turkey.

It seems that any attempt at a discussion on abortion, especially if it forwards an alternative to the current (public) position held by the church, is akin to touching the dreaded third rail.

Reformation Sunday is coming up on October 28. In our church, each year on Reformation Sunday we sing Reformation hymns, that is, hymns that in some way connect to the Reformers and the movement they sparked.

I remember feeling something I had never expected to feel at a church; welcomed. As quickly as I had stepped into an environment that felt accepting and welcoming, the tides began to change. A pastor was preaching things out of the Bible that opposed the way I was currently living my life. He said things I didn't like. He said things that made me get defensive.

Jamal Khashoggi, a famous journalist and critic of Saudi Arabia's leadership, walked into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2 to obtain some documents. He has not been seen since. Saudi Arabia matters to the West for several reasons.

One of the greatest challenges that American Christians are currently facing concerns the question of how should they interact with present-day American culture. Many Christians are aware that there is a cultural shift occurring. Though American culture has never been fully "Christian" per se, today the culture is becoming increasingly anti-Christian.

The unholy alliance between radical Islamists and radical leftists has resulted in a modern-day America our founders would not recognize. America, despite being known for its protection of free speech, is now a country where speaking the truth will leave you labeled a bigot or the new attack word, Islamophobic.