Preaching in the Wilderness

06/01/2026

06/01/2026

👍

06/01/2026

I have preached this for 50 years. You are never more like the Devil than when you are looking for people’s sins. You are just human if you see people’s sins.

05/30/2026

Is your tranquility a conscious choice, or is it merely a byproduct of your inability to fight back? Does your peace stand on its own foundation, or is it rented from the goodwill of others?

Miyamoto Musashi was a master swordsman who went undefeated in sixty-one duels, often using a wooden practice sword against lethal steel. He eventually retired to a cave to write the Book of Five Rings, a text on strategy that remains a staple for leaders today. He taught that a warrior must master all things, for a man who cannot defend his values does not truly own them.

A peaceful man must still know violence, or his peace belongs to whoever threatens it. - Miyamoto Musashi

The insight here is that harmlessness is not a virtue. True peace belongs to the person who has the capacity for destruction but chooses restraint. When you develop the strength to handle life's storms, your inner calm becomes an unshakeable possession rather than a fragile state of mind.

05/28/2026

True intelligence is often measured by what we can prove, but Plato suggests it should be measured by what we can feel.

The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. — Plato

Plato was an Olympic-level wrestler in his youth, and his name is actually a nickname meaning broad, likely referring to his physical build or the breadth of his intellect. He believed that the body and mind had to be trained with equal intensity. For him, philosophy was not just an abstract theory; it was a grueling practice of stripping away the illusions of the ego to see the world as it truly is.

In a modern culture that rewards being right over being receptive, we often mistake our own biases for objective truth. Plato’s insight serves as a reminder that we remain ignorant as long as we remain centered entirely in ourselves. True knowledge is found in the space between people, not just within the isolated mind.

- Empathy is an active, intellectual pursuit.
- It demands the temporary suspension of personal judgment.
- It allows us to access dimensions of reality that logic alone cannot reach.

05/27/2026

Ezr 10:1 Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.

05/27/2026

You don’t find many of Gods men praying this way enough for our country!
Ezr 9:4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
Ezr 9:5 And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God,
Ezr 9:6 And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.
Ezr 9:7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.
Ezr 9:8 And now for a little space grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bo***ge.
Ezr 9:9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bo***ge, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.
Ezr 9:10 And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,
Ezr 9:11 Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.
Ezr 9:12 Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.
Ezr 9:13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
Ezr 9:14 Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?
Ezr 9:15 O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.