Tag: Rodney D. Hall

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Defective Lighthouses

lighthouse-2372004_1280In 1970 the teenage son of a Pastor from California emerged triumphantly from the basement of The Pentecostal Tabernacle church. His family was scheduled to sing there that evening and realized they needed more material. Ronnie had excused himself for several minutes and returned carrying a trail of toilet tissue. On that unceremonious paper, were the lyrics to a brand-new song titled, “The Lighthouse.” After a little refinement in collaboration with his brother Kenny, the song was first recorded by The Happy Goodman’s and later by Elvis Presley.

Since that time, thousands of groups and soloists around the world have performed the song – including me. Although Ronnie Hinson has written many chart busting songs since that time, none have reached the awards, accolades and success of “The Lighthouse.”

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Rear-View Focus

Man looking in the rear view mirror while drivingThe rear-view mirror is a great tool. It gives us a way to see what is behind us so we can use that information to make better decisions. For example, it helps us avoid pulling out in front of that speeding little red convertible weaving in and out of traffic.

Rear-view mirrors also provide insight into obstacles and dangers in those rare instances when we are forced to backup before we can start moving forward again. Despite its great value, however, the rear-view mirror was never purposed to hold our attention for long periods of time. Too much focus on the rear-view mirror can cause us to crash and stall our forward movement.

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Exposed!

wellWhat was the woman thinking as the Jewish man moved closer to her? She knew that Jews considered her kind untouchable merely for their ancestry. Her personal secret life took her discomfort and shame to an even greater level. As he opened his mouth to speak, she was most certainly expecting some kind of put-down or curse. Instead, he asked her for a drink of water.

What was the woman’s attitude? Was she merely surprised by the unprecedented request, or was she belligerent at the audacity of a man – from a group of people known for always looking down on her race – asking her to serve him?

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Truth is Only True When Its True

Multiethnic group of thoughtful people with laptops sitting and thinkingOne of the most notorious contributions of post-modernism to our time in history is the supposed relative nature of truth. By this argument, there should be no colleges or universities teaching cultural relativism, since – according to their espoused philosophy – life has no meaning and truth is at best unknowable or at worst non-existent.

Taking these premises to their logical conclusion, college, teaching, study and even the professors themselves are all meaningless. The very statement, “truth is relative,” would be relative. The statement, “there is no meaning,” would by its own subjective rules be meaningless.

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Is Truth Dead

IsTruthDeadLast month, Time Magazine revisited their 1966 cover design where they asked, “Is God Dead?” This time the question, in the same red lettering on black background, was, “Is Truth Dead?” It is obvious to most of us that the execution of God by our culture would inevitably lead to the disappearance of truth.

Indeed, the murder of truth didn’t take place fifty-one years later, it happened the very moment that culture rebelled against the Sovereign God who is the very person of Truth. Like cut flowers, however, the full effect of the pruning would take some time before the beauty of truth faded and decayed.

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I’m Very Spiritual

light-681186_1920Often when talking to someone about God, they will say, “I’m a very spiritual person.” Usually this means that they feel some kind of connection with some undefined power that is beyond their understanding. To Christians, this kind of thinking should not be surprising. “In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1) God spoke the world into existence. (Genesis 1) Not only is the vibrations of creation still reverberating today, He is still speaking.

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Singing in the Storm

Woman and rain showerIt seems that every day I peruse Facebook, I see posts claiming health, wealth and prosperity to everyone who is reading. Some preachers even teach that if you are suffering, you are falling short of God’s will for one reason or another. I was even at a funeral once where a “Prophetess” told the daughter of the woman who died that if she had had enough faith, her Mom would still be alive. I have addressed some of this before, but today I would like to take a little different approach.

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Wonder Women

Praise in the morningAs frustrating and unfair as it may seem, Women are the champion gatekeepers of our culture. I know, I know… I can almost hear the groans of the women’s studies experts and their persuadees in our modern gender-less/gender-obsessed/gender-confused generation; but consider this: When men fall short of their moral responsibilities, women are the fail-safe.

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Does Jesus Need a Marketing Coach?

Benchmarking and market leader concept. Manager (businessman, coach, leadership)If we are to believe many of today’s top Church Growth experts, Jesus could have used a lot of help when it came to marketing and branding. Instead of capitalizing on His core strengths, successful resume and off-the-chart popularity, He can be seen time-and-again sabotaging His opportunities and alienating potential followers. Here are a few areas where a good marketing coach would have done things differently:

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