The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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It was the closest I ever came to my “big showbiz break,” as Rush Limbaugh called it. I got through to Kit Carson, EIB’s call screener (after about 50 tries!). It was my birthday, so I hoped it would be a good ploy to get online with Maha Rushie. I also said I’d like to ask him about a book he talked of writing called “The Back Nine.” Screener Kit said they were jammed for the afternoon, but he’d call the next day. Alas, it was not to be since I never got the call-back, nor did Rush write th...
A Journey Through the Most Important Week in Christianity Holy Week is the most important week in Christianity. This week of great reverence and reflection spans the final eight days of Jesus' life-from His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, to His Last Supper with His Apostles, to His execution as an enemy of the state, to His rising from the dead on the third day as He foretold to his disciples. It is astounding how much wisdom, insight, and inspiration are available to us during this one week...
It was “Good Friday”, the day that Jesus the Christ was crucified just outside the city of Jerusalem on a hill called Golgotha, "The Place of the Skull". Jesus was nailed to one cross and two criminals were crucified on either side of him. This whole story is found in Luke 23:32-43. In Luke 23:39-43, we can read about and visualize the dramatic scene as it unfolds as the three of them are dying on their crosses next to each other: One of the criminals beside Jesus scoffed at him and said, "So...
Jesus Christ died on the cross in 32 A.D. According to the Bible, he rose on the third day and spent weeks with his Apostles before ascending into Heaven. His Apostles took over where he left off and started the early Church. Marty Matulia spoke to the Adult lecture series at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Shelby County about the early Church fathers who spread the Gospel in the decades after Jesus and the generations that came after the Apostles passed on. Matulia is with Guadalupe...
March 30, 2025 – BIRMINGHAM, AL – Guadalupe Radio Director Marty Matulia completed his lecture series at St. Mark the Evangelist Con the Early Church Fathers who collectively defined Christianity and helped establish our current understanding of the nature of Jesus Christ and our faith. The Guadalupe Radio Network operates several EWTN affiliated radio station in Texas, Alabama, and Florida. https://www.grnonline.com/home?station=GRN Matulia explained that the first age of Christian Fathers was...
I was thinking lately about when phone calls were segregated by “local” and “long distance.” This segregation sometimes was strange, since I knew some who lived on different phone exchanges--when they talked, one paid a toll and the other didn’t. And then I remembered two incidents in churches when long distance charges became an issue. I served a church in Indiana while a student in Louisville, and we made the 75-mile trip every weekend. The nearest mid-sized town where the emergency clinic an...
Admiral James Stockdale faced the nation at the vice-presidential debate in October 1992. Businessman Ross Perot named him as his running mate, so Stockdale stood with Vice President Dan Quayle and Sen. Al Gore in Atlanta. When it was his first time to speak, Stockdale said, “Who am I? Why am I here?” This turned out to be a laugh line and parody, which is unfortunate. Stockdale was a decorated soldier who spent seven years as a POW in Vietnam. But his questions are good ones for us in the chu...
March 20, 2025 – MOUNTAIN BROOK, AL. – Nationally known radio host and podcaster David Gornoski addressed the Gathering at Olexa's Tearoom in Mountain Brook. Gornoski is an evangelical Christian who believes that the U.S. should seek to be more Christlike and is skeptical of many of the institutions of the federal government and the corporate culture. "If you are waiting around for politicians to save your life you are not doing Jesus," said Gornoski. "We cannot stand here and wait around for...
The presidential campaign in 1976 was a bitter one pitting the incumbent, Gerald R. Ford, against the challenger, Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter. Ford was named vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, and became president after the resignation of Richard Nixon, making him our only unelected vice president and president. Within weeks of his swearing-in, Ford issued a controversial pardon for the former president. He argued the time for healing had come, and he didn't want to put the...
It Takes A Team To Reach Your Goals! At 29,035 feet, Mount Everest is one of the most inhospitable places on earth. Everest is very remote and the altitude incapacitates all but the hardiest and most experienced climbers. On top of that the weather is ruthlessly unforgiving and extreme. Because Everest is the highest mountain in the world many have tried to summit the great peak. Between 1920 and 1952, seven major expeditions tried to summit Mount Everest and all of them failed. In fact, the mou...
Social researcher Frank Luntz published “Words That Work” in 2007. He explained words have a denotative meaning, a concrete and “dictionary” definition, but also a connotative meaning since words can transport images to our minds. Luntz used three prime advertising examples. The alcohol industry changed their name to “spirits.” Many restaurant menus now have a “spirits” page and don’t use “alcohol” since it can bring images of darkness, drunkenness and despair. Spirits is a happy word that spe...
He’s a skilled college football player and a committed believer. He said recently he trusted God to help him score points on the field. It reminded me of a church member years ago who was exulting in his team’s victory the day before. The losing team missed an end-of-the-game field goal, and my friend said, “And the hand of God appeared and pushed the football to the left a few inches!” My friend was joking, but the aforementioned player was serious, I think. So, the question raised is how eff...
Dr. J.D. Gray served for many years as pastor at First Baptist Church, New Orleans. He often delighted in telling a Civil War story from 1865. The First Baptist Church, Columbia, S.C., was a seedbed for secessionists, so it was one of the first places Federal cavalry went when Gen. Sherman was busy torching Georgia and South Carolina. The cavalry officer asked a man in front of the church, who happened to be the church sexton, or custodian, if this were, indeed, the First Baptist Church. The...
She called to report the death of a lady in our former church, and I thought about several things. I was saddened to learn the deceased had been in declining health and in a care facility not too far away. I could have, and should have, found a reason to stop by to visit. I suppose we all have regrets thinking about people for whom we’ve lost touch. And it’s true that maintaining friendships in former churches used to be frowned on by some. I remember a minister from my teenage years who was rel...
I got a little good-natured blowback recently when I introduced the death angel to our congregation. I took as my text Paul's final visit with the Ephesian elders in Act 20. I extemporized about the uncertainty of life. The apostle said, "I will see your face no more." He had a premonition that chains and imprisonment awaited him in Jerusalem. Paul was, indeed, arrested in the city and Rome sent him as a prisoner to the capital. It was in Rome, we believe, he was killed at Nero's order. I...
February 6, 2025 - When studying The Bible and the life of Jesus Christ, one of the powerfully stirring aspects about Jesus and His ministry is how He healed the blind, the paralytic, the lepers, women's health issues, and even restored life into people who were deceased. With The Bible being so replete with miracles, Christians and even nonChristians who long for a reprieve from conditions that seemingly have no cure in the present era, find themselves longing for such sacred restorative...
February 13, 2025 - "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci is considered the most important mural painting in the world. And both religious and artistic enthusiasts around the world were horrified at how it was mocked in the Paris Olympics' opening ceremony last year. However, in a sign that modernity has not lost all of its sense of artistry, "The Chosen" series will be releasing its lavish and respectful three-part installment of "The Last Supper" in movie theaters across the country...
My cousin laughingly told me about attending a product demonstration event years ago in Nashville. Reba Rambo, daughter of well-known Christian artist, Dottie Rambo, sang some of the new music along with the recordings the company offered. One of the numbers was quite lively, and Ms. Rambo began to clap to the music and asked the assembled ministers to clap with her. Someone in the front row refused and sat stone faced. Ms. Rambo stopped the tape and peered down at him from atop the stage....
February 18, 2025 - ROME, ITALY - The recent health challenges faced by Pope Francis have raised significant concerns within the Catholic Church and the global community. The 88-year-old pontiff, who was hospitalized due to a respiratory tract infection, is reportedly in substantial pain. According to sources cited by Politico, Pope Francis has privately expressed his belief that he may not survive this illness, prompting him to address unfinished matters within the Church. One of the notable...
While it might seem like the days of Christians being sent to the slaughter in the coliseum during the times of the Ancient Roman Empire are in the realm of the distant past, new research from the global network known as Open Doors reveals that on average twelve Christians are killed every day for their faith in Jesus throughout the world. The sobering statistic comes from the Open Doors' 2025 World Watch List which was compiled from October 01st, 2023 through September 30th, 2024. With eight...
The pastor search committee invited me to consider moving to their town and hosted a get-acquainted meeting with leadership. A man introduced himself, abruptly announcing that a staff minister needed to be terminated. He predicted this would be among my first challenges. I didn’t think more about this in the swirl of decisions we faced with the move. But a few weeks later the man came and renewed his commitment to fire the minister. From his position of leadership he persuaded other committee m...
Let’s face it! After this election there is a lot of tension, division and mistrust in our culture, in our communities and in our country right now. On the political front, we are so divided! More divided than I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. We negatively label each other as Democrats, Republicans, Socialists or Libertarians. We are stereotyped as liberals or conservatives or moderates. It seems we have a hard time having civil conversations about things that matter deeply to us. This i...
It was a church slogan used in many places years ago: “The end of your search for a friendly church.” But let’s think about a new slogan: “The end of your search for a perfect church.” I remember a lady who presented herself for membership at the church I pastored at the time. I’d met her about two years before at a neighboring church when I led a Bible study. She came to us and quickly presented herself for membership, but from a different church than where we’d met. Thus she’d been a member a...
We grew up as high school friends and he became a music leader for church congregations. He told me the most embarrassing day was when he mounted the steps to the platform to begin worship, tripped and fell headlong onto the floor. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt, but there are better ways to begin worship. I thought of this lately when another pastor told a group of us about a famous pulpiteer from another generation who said as he mounted each stair that he would pray, “Fill me. Fill me,” besee...
The prison warden circulated a note to inmates asking for suggestions on the kind of party they'd recommend for his 25th anniversary. The prisoners all had the same idea: open house! Christmas is the season when many people have “open house” parties. But “open house” is misnamed, isn’t it? When you plan an open house, do you invite everyone? I rather doubt it. We must be exclusive, for there isn’t enough food, or space or time to invite everyone. Some folks by necessity get left out. This i...
