From The Testament, by John Grisham, pages 244-246, Doubleday, 1999. ————————— Â Â Â This novel begins with the death of Troy Phelan, the tenth richest man in America. Â Phelan despises all six of his contemptible children from three marriages, and leaves none of his eleven billion dollar estate to any of them. Â Instead, he leaves […]
1550) Eleven Billion Dollars? No Thanks. Read More »
By John Piper ———————— Romans 12:19  —  Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”    Why is this such a crucial promise in overcoming our bent toward bitterness and revenge?  The reason is that this promise
1548) Revenge Not Allowed Read More »
Painting above: Christ on the Cross, 1874, Leon Bonnat (1833-1922) —————– What I know about sinners I know chiefly about me.  We did not mean to do the deed, of course.  What we have done wrong— they seemed, or mostly seemed, small things at the time.  The word of encouragement withheld, the touch of kindness
Voice of the Martyrs magazine, April 2017, page 11, (www.persecution.com) ————————— Â Â Â As Roberto Santo Gomez looked back on his life, he felt like he hadn’t amounted to much. Â He was empty inside and his heart was filled with hate. Â As a member of the leftist Zapatista rebel group, his work involved shaking down
1450) “God, Give Me Another Chance” Read More »
   There once was a little boy who had a bad temper.  His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.    The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the
1412) Nails in the Fence Read More »
By Stephen Marmer of UCLA Medical School, for Prager University. Â Read the transcript below or view this five minute video (it is excellent!): https://www.prageru.com/video/forgiveness ——————————— Â Â Â Anyone familiar with Italian opera or the plays of Shakespeare knows the terrible price paid for grudges, vendetta, and revenge. Â Under the sway of these emotions painful incidents
1330) Three Types of Forgiveness Read More »
From The Clergy of America: Anecdotes, 1869, pages 169-170    A sermon illustration from a New England minister in the 1700’s. ————————–    A clergyman sitting in his study, saw some boys in his garden stealing melons.  He quietly arose, and walking into his garden, called out to them, “Boys, boys.”  They immediately
On October 2, 2006, ten years ago yesterday, Charles Roberts walked into an Amish school house in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, took hostages, and then shot ten school girls (ages 6-13), killing five of them. Â He then killed himself. Â The senseless and horrific mass murder became a national news story. Â Then, almost immediately, followed another kind
   (…continued)  What about you?  Have you always understood all of your own actions?  Or do you perhaps sometimes say to yourself, “I wonder whatever made me do that?” or, “I wonder what got into me to say that?”  Did you ever say anything stupid or mean or sinful or immoral or unkind, and
1217) Beyond Cure (part two of two) Read More »
From The Road to Character, by David Brooks, (Random House, 2015), 53-54:    Today, the word “sin” has lost its power and awesome intensity.  It’s used most frequently in the context of fattening desserts.  Most people in daily conversation don’t talk much about individual sin.  If they talk about human evil at all, that evil is
1149) Do We Have to Talk About Sin? Read More »
