GuineaField

Of course, everyone knows what we celebrate October 31st -- an anti-establishment day if there ever was one… Reformation Day! It was October 31st over 500 years ago (1517 wow!) that Martin Luther nailed 95 grievances (theses) on the church door in Whittenburg Castle. These were not meant to overthrow the political establishment of the day to bring a renewed zeal to hold conscience to the Bible and the Bible alone (sola scriptura). But that’s what God did with them. Truly, "The weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor. 1:25)." The posting of grievances was more than just a challenge of the Roman Catholic Church’s authority, it was an appeal to a public debate. He was saying, “I think that Scripture has 95 clear problems with what is being taught today, and here they are. Please, show me if I am wrong.”  Most of the grievances dealt with the Catholic church’s practice of selling “indulgences” for the dead. In effect they were saying, “If you pay this much, you can purchase t

“Everyone’s moving away from NYC!” I hear that. Scratch that; I see that narrative all over. The nations’ urban centers are hurting right now on so many fronts: COVID dangers; shut down businesses; crime; societal unrest. All these strangle the life of the city. And yet, I find in this scenario a great reason to stay, or even to move to NYC, connect with a local church, and continue to make disciples. I could give a many other reasons to be here. But at least consider these five new reasons since COVID-19 has taken hold over the past 7 months. 1. COVID Conditions NYC has about 20,000 COVID related deaths to date, taking a 10% bite out of the nation’s numbers. [1] This is not a reason to leave, but a reason to come and make disciples.   “When the going gets tough, the tough finally begin to think about their mortality.” That’s how it goes, right? Fear of disease actually spikes a population’s interest in spiritual things. A fellow Pastor shared with me recently about a young lady whos