Category: Blog

One of the most important disciplines I learned while pursuing my education was peer review. All assignments were graded by my professors. Occasionally, a professor would submit assignments to fellow classmates for their review. In fact, in the preaching class I teach at Pentecostal Theological Seminary the final project, the student’s presentation of a sermon, is graded through the process of peer review in which fellow students listen and critique the sermon.

Continue reading “The Discipline of Peer Review”

This month, August 2022, I celebrate five years serving at Pentecostal Theological Seminary. After 37 years serving as a local church pastor, 22 years serving in ministerial development, terms of service on the South Georgia Church of God State Council and State Ministries Board, and 12 years on the denominational Division of Education board, I was invited to join the staff and faculty at PTS. I was honored then, and I remain honored to serve the church at PTS as Assistant Professor of Pastoral Ministries and Executive Director of PTS Thrive.

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Jesus declared, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25–26 NRSV).

Even so, our hearts are broken. The grief is bitter. I will not offer superficial platitudes in an effort to comfort hearts that cannot be comforted. Nor will I try to answer questions that are beyond comprehension. Instead, I will try to give voice to the bitter sorrow all of us are experiencing. I will try to speak for Carmen and share with you her fears and her faith. Finally, I will try to give voice to our hope that is in Christ Jesus.

Continue reading “Celebrating the Life of Carmen Rodgers Murray”

Last year, I prepared a series of short presentations on human sexuality to be produced by DOE1. The manuscripts of those presentations are presented here. As you read each one, you will see that my presentations are faithful to Holy Scripture and the practical commitments of the Church of God. The video presentations are available at the DOE1 website.

Continue reading “A Conversation about Sex, Parts 1-9”

I have written six articles in an effort to engage dialogue about the nature and character of God . My presentations are faithful to the historic confessions of the Faith. I have consistently appealed to inspired scripture. Furthermore, I have sought to demonstrate continuity with the historic Christian tradition. At no time have I suggested that the creedal language of Father, Son, and Spirit should be changed. Rather, I consistently affirm the traditional confession of the Faith. I do not seek to compromise with or capitulate to the postmodern deconstruction of Christian doctrine. I am convinced that sound doctrine transcends the winds and waves of socio-political concerns and will stand the tests of time.

Continue reading “This is what I believe about God…”

Warning… this is an explicit post!

According to ancient Egyptian mythology, the chief god rose out of the primordial swamps as a male deity. He then masturbated and with his semen he created the other gods and goddesses. The gods and goddesses copulated together, with humans, and even with animals. The sexualization of the gods was understood as a fertility cult. The Pharaoh of Egypt was the son of the great sun god. That’s what happens when we imagine that the gods are like ourselves – creatures with bodies and genitalia. It was the sexualized fertility cults that were strictly forbidden by the God of Israel. Images of Baal (male god) and Asherah (female god) were to be burned.

Continue reading “Why I Oppose the Sexualization of God”

Joseph McCarthy was a United States senator (1947-1957) from Wisconsin who became notorious by making largely unfounded allegations that communist spies from the Soviet Union had infiltrated the highest levels of the United States federal government. He even accused members of President Eisenhower‘s cabinet of being communist sympathizers. Because of fears stirred by the Cold War, he found a receptive audience among many Americans. He utilized a campaign known today as McCarthyism – making reckless and unsubstantiated accusations, and publicly attacking the character of one’s political opponents. In the end, McCarthy was proved to be nothing more than a demagogue and was censured by the United States Senate.

Continue reading “McCarthyism in the Church of God”