Posts by John Staiger (Page 44)

On one occasion, Jesus’ brothers treated him as if he were running for public office. They told him that those looking for popular support could best find it in Jerusalem during the annual Feasts. Ironically, though they didn’t believe in him at that point, they knew that the work of their miracle-working brother could attract more disciples in the capital than in Galilee (see John 7:1-5). No serious reader of the Four Gospels will mistake Jesus for someone trying to…

Back in the late 1980s, I sat in a circle with other twenty-somethings as a lady demonstrated the wonders of the latest “Whey Health Products.” I had not yet eaten dinner, so the modest demonstration servings she distributed to each of us were just enough to make me hungrier still. However, everyone was complimentary of the lady’s efforts and extolled the virtues of her products. But one person in the room, though no one would have noticed, skipped the taste…

Few things on earth are more beautiful to witness than one brother restoring friendship with another. It is an act that reflects the most beautiful of divine acts, that of Jesus restoring friendship with us: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Trying to get our minds around the thought that our Eternal God would go to such extreme lengths to bring us back into sweet fellowship with Himself…

What a man really believes about God comes out in the quantity and quality of his prayers. That, of course, might be a fact rather avoided than contemplated, given that prayer remains a problem area for most Christians. But even the mightiest of prayer warriors are keenly aware that the struggle never goes away. They know that the more determined they are to build a meaningful prayer life, the more determined Satan is to tear it down. That does not…

General Eisenhower, when seeing the horrors left behind by the Nazis at the Ohrdruf Concentration Camp, was determined to make sure that there would be as many eyewitnesses as possible. It is said that the citizens of the nearby town of Gotha claimed they did not know what was happening in the camp. Obviously unconvinced, Eisenhower ordered all the able-bodied citizens of Gotha, Germany to go to Ohrdruf and dig graves for the hundreds of bodies left behind. After witnessing…

If there is a book that has had more impact on civilization in the last 400 years than the King James Version of the Bible, I would like to know what it is. But that being said, the English language has moved on. And just as the KJV was the “new translation” of its day, each generation needs a “new translation” in its day too. I know brethren whose personal preference is the KJV, and I know others who proudly…

Any thoughts that the prophet Balaam may have been a “misunderstood” man of God who got caught up in the affairs of Israel (Numbers 22-24) are dashed in Numbers 25. Although all of us are sinful to one degree or another, Balaam was guilty of leading God’s people into immorality and idolatry in an incident that Moses called “the matter of Peor” (Num.25; 31:16). Balak, king of Moab, wanted the prophet Balaam to come and curse Israel. It was commonly…

Good comedians are experts at challenging tightly held beliefs. They can make everybody laugh at themselves for holding on to ideas that have long since passed their use-by dates. But not every man is going to sit and laugh as his long-held beliefs are challenged; least of all by a man who makes light of everything. To this man, his beliefs are no sacred cows to be slaughtered on the altar of humour, but instead are well-established facts! However, even…

What do Charles Manson (the criminally insane murderer), Pricilla Presley (actress and wife of Elvis), and Tom Cruise (the A-List Hollywood actor), have in common? The answer is, of course, The Church of Scientology. Ironically, Charles Manson, after completing 150 hours of Scientologist “Auditing” in prison declared the religion: “too crazy.” When removing the thin veneer, Scientology is just another cult. But what makes it especially dangerous is its focus on “Turning off one’s emotions.” Thus, it makes sense that…

I once heard a radio discussion about “Jesus and tolerance,” and was unsurprised at the direction of the conversation. The first guest presented Jesus as a “good man who accepted anyone, no matter what their beliefs.” The second guest, emboldened by this first, eagerly added, “I believe Christians misrepresent Jesus when they claim that he is the only way to heaven.” Now, the New Zealand public radio network is as secular as any other that I have heard elsewhere, so…