Yesterday, the first day of June, kicked off one of our culture’s new and blasphemous holidays. June is pride month, so says the godless corporate world. One day before that, on the last day of May, NorthStone Baptist Church hosted gubernatorial candidate Paul Renner for a question-and-answer. Mr. Renner answered my questions, questions from the NorthStone faith family, and questions from the community on a variety of moral issues facing Florida.

If you want to make some money in the Christian world, write a book about simple Christianity. Tell us what the basics are; describe the core of the Christian life. True Christians want to be good disciples, and questions about “the essential practices of the faith” are essentially discipleship questions. To avoid the buzzword of simplicity, we can ask the question this way. It helped me understand what we are hungry for, and maybe it will help you too.

In Galatians 6:1, when a man falls in an unexpected and unforeseen way, a certain kind of brother in the faith is given the responsibility of restoring him. It is not the most compassionate or empathetic that God approves. Neither is it the most confrontational or uncompromising. The only qualified brother in that moment is the spiritual man: "ye which are spiritual, restore such an one." This of course begs the question: What is the measure of spirituality? Is it acts of ser

Scripture frequently uses the image of a tree to illustrate truths about the life of a man. Visible actions are fruit that identifies the type and condition of the person’s life. Roots are thoughts, beliefs, and desires in the heart that eventually cause the visible fruit that people observe. Of the two, which is more important: the root or the fruit? Certainly, the root is more fundamental to the life and health of the tree.

It feels as if every day there is an update about war or potential war. Tensions are rising in the US conflict with Iran and could erupt. China seems poised to invade Taiwan, and the US may intervene. Uktraine and Russia are still deploying drones against each other. Pick a part of the world and there is an ongoing war there.