The heartless medieval practice of castrating little boy singers in order to preserve their prepubescent voices was horrifying. A boy singer thus maimed was called a “castrato.” How, we ask ourselves, could society, even in the so-called “Dark Ages,” ever have condoned such heartless mutilations for music’s sake? One may be tempted to believe a …
Perhaps when historians paste the final label on 2020, it will be “The Year of Anger.” This has been the angriest year in American history in a century and a half. The murder rate in our inner cities has skyrocketed. Violent riots have done billions of dollars of destruction. Depression, suicide, drug use and divorce …
This column ends with the report of a college professor who should be severely reprimanded, at the very least, for a new grading policy he has announced. I’m telling you that here at the beginning of this column but I’m withholding the details to the end. His students should rise up as one and demand …
How Baby Boomers Created Today’s Millennial Snowflakes Read More »
Note: Saturday is Valentine’s Day, an occasion to celebrate the wonderful gift of God’s blessing of love and marriage. As told by their son, Mark, the following is the story Don and Rosemary Rutland and a marriage that began under great duress. However, it is one that has endured and thrived for over three quarters …
Against the Odds, This Incredible Love Story Has Persevered For 75 Years Read More »
Blind and frail, her wiry, white hair stirred ever so slightly by a faint, hot breeze, the old German missionary came slowly toward me. She could not possibly have known I was there with two Africans, watching her tap her way slowly across the baked, grassless “lawn” of the guesthouse. “Who is she?” I asked. …
In 1628, the king of Sweden was Gustavus Adolphus. Intimidated by the great naval powers of Europe, he decided Sweden should burst onto the stage with a resounding statement. King Adolphus commissioned the Vasa ship and ordered that it be one of the greatest seagoing vessels of the day. Furthermore, he wanted it to be a veritable …
Mark Rutland: Obamacare Rollout and the Vasa Ship Syndrome Read More »
The arrogance of making experience into a theology that trumps Scripture is exceeded only by the arrogance of making lack of experience into a theology that trumps Scripture. In Irvine Welsh’s dark Scottish novel Trainspotting, a bum living in an abandoned train station tells others he is watching for trains. Of course it is useless. …
John MacArthur, Cessation Theology and Trainspotting for Cave Dwellers Read More »
Some years ago I was counseling a teenager who had been
raised from infancy by his grandparents. The boy’s father had been killed in an
automobile accident, and subsequently his mother disappeared. The grandparents
had been doing all they could for him at great expense to themselves. It is
difficult for anyone to raise a teenager, and people in their 60s and
70s ought not to have to go through it a second time around.
For several years he rewarded them with unfathomable
rebellion, anger and sin until he made his grandparents miserable. I told him,
“They did not have to take you in. You could have gone to an orphanage. You
could have been a ward of the court. They got up with you in the middle of the
night. They changed your diapers and fed you and clothed you. They raised you
at great sacrifice to themselves. Nobody would have blamed them if they had
said, “We just can’t handle it at our age.”
He replied bitterly, “Do you think this is the first time
I’ve ever thought of all that? I know what they’ve done. What am I supposed to
do, spend the rest of my life saying ‘thank you’?”
You might think you’re smart when you get out of college, but I suggest that the real education is only just the beginning. In an Amish kitchen in Bird-in-Hand, Pa., in the heart of Dutch country, I saw a sign I’ll never forget: “Too soon old, too late smart.” When I saw it, I thought …
Mark Rutland: 10 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Was 21 Read More »
John Wesley said, “Money is an excellent gift of God if it is used excellently, answering the noblest needs of humanity.” To Wesley, you see, money was not the enemy. The enemy is my own sinful nature. Therefore, in order to arrive at a balanced view of money, I must ask myself frugality’s simple questions: …
Our character is revealed in the way we handle the finances God entrusts to us.
Some Christians are ‘too spiritual’ for higher education. Take my advice: God can use a few sharp minds.
Jesus overturned every worldly idea about power when He introduced the concept of servant leadership. The Master’s question was breath-catchingly direct, and upon the tender flesh of their innermost unspoken desires it fell like a glowing coal. He said to them: “Do you wish to be the greatest in My kingdom?” Unprepared, they hesitated momentarily, …
