Current Affairs and Causes on Celebrities

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A Case of Mistaken Celebrities

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Scripture

Genesis 42:8, Exodus 3:11 , 1 Samuel 16:7, John 1:10-11, Matthew 16:13-14, Psalm 139:1-2

Years ago, the legendary tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921) was driving through New Jersey when his car unexpectedly broke down. While a mechanic worked on the repairs, Caruso struck up a conversation wi...

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The Well-Intentioned Couple and the Vagabond

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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When I was in college I sometimes visited Bel Air Presbyterian Church, as did many of my friends. At that time Bel Air was known for being a place celebrities liked to visit. (This was not my favorite...

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Not Addicted

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

John 8:36, Romans 6:16, Galatians 5:1, 1 Corinthians 6:12, Proverbs 14:12, Isaiah 5:20

Tallulah Bankhead (1903-1968) was a flamboyant actress, whom one critic called “more an act than an actress.” At the opening-night party for a play in which she was performing, she got into an argumen...

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Author

Bette Dickinson

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Scripture

Luke 2:8-11, Matthew 5:3, Philippians 2:6-8, Isaiah 57:15, Micah 5:2

The shepherds show us that we don’t prepare to receive the king of heaven the same way we prepare to meet the celebrities of our day, through earthly displays of showiness. In fact, receiving our King...

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We are Better Together: Moving from Empire to Kingdom

Author

Angie Ward

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A Multi-faceted Church Who loses by the church and parachurch’s lack of unity and cooperation? Absolutely everyone : congregations, ministry organizations, ministry leaders, individual believers . ....

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#Blessed

Author

Uche Anizor

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I have a nagging sense that when we read the word blessed , we either feel indifferent or suspicious. Both of these responses are likely the result of the way the term is (over)used in our day-to...

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Trying to Keep Up with the Jones’ in the 21st Century

Author

David Zahl

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Scripture

Exodus 18:13–27, Ecclesiastes 2:22–23 , Isaiah 40:28–31 , Luke 10:38–42, Matthew 11:28–30, Psalm 127:1–2

The picture shows cartoon villain Cruella de Vil, bloodshot eyes staring straight ahead, hands clutching the wheel of her infamous coupe, black-and-white hair waving wildly in the wind, oversi...

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Born to Give

Author

Randy Alcorn

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Scripture

Galatians 6:9-10, Ecclesiastes 11:1-2, Matthew 6:3-4, Acts 20:35, Proverbs 11:25, Luke 19:8, 1 Timothy 6:17-18

Investor T. Boone Pickens talked about how good it feels to give. He said, “I was put here to make money so I could give it away.” I heard a nearly giddy Warren Buffet, then the second or third riches...

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Author

Abraham Joshua Heschel

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Scripture

Leviticus 23:, Exodus 15:1-21, Nehemiah 8:9-12, Luke 15:22-24, John 2:1-11, Psalm 100:1-2

People of our time are losing the power of celebration. Instead of celebrating we seek to be amused or entertained. Celebration is an active state, an act of expressing reverence or appreciation. To b...

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Author

Bono

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Scripture

Proverbs 14:23, Deuteronomy 8:18, 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12, Colossians 3:23-24, Psalm 128:2

[A] rock-star preaches capitalism. Wow. Sometimes I hear myself and I just can’t believe it. But commerce is real. . . . Aid is just a stopgap. Commerce—entrepreneurial capitalism—takes more people ou...

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An Unexpected Friendship

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, Psalm 34:18, Proverbs 19:11, Colossians 3:13, Ephesians 4:32, Luke 6:37

Sometimes moments of forgiveness and friendship come from unexpected places. In 2018, the comedian Pete Davidson appeared on the “Weekend Update” segment of Saturday Night Live (SNL). Davidson made a ...

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The Worship of the god "Success"

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

1 Samuel 15:10-23 , 2 Chronicles 26:16-21 , Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, Mark 10:35-45 , Luke 18:9-14 , Psalm 49:16-20

William James, in a famous letter to H. G. Wells in 1906, credited what he called American “moral flabbiness” to “the exclusive worship of the bitch-goddess Success. That—with the squalid cash interpr...

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Changing Portraits

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Scripture

Philippians 2:3-4, Matthew 23:11-12, Galatians 5:13, 1 Corinthians 10:24

Writer Philip Yancey notes that toward the end of his life, Albert Einstein removed the portraits of two scientists–Newton and Maxwell–from his wall. He replaced those with portraits of Gandhi and Sch...

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The CNN Effect

Author

Ryan Holiday

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:8, Romans 12:2, Luke 21:34, Psalm 46:10, Matthew 6:22-23

In the 1990s, political scientists began to study what they called the “CNN Effect.” Breathless, twenty-four-hour media coverage makes it considerably harder for politicians and CEOs to be anything bu...

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On Winning? Considering Kevin Durant and Anthony Bourdain

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Albert Camus Two events recently collided in my mind and coalesced into this short essay: The first was a relatively in...

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Author

Margaret Mead

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Changing the World

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

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Christians in Politics: Often Our Own Worst Enemies

Author

Jake Meador

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Though American Christians do have genuine opponents in the public square and in elite institutions, they have often been their own worst enemies, making disastrous political compromises and looking t...

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Where’s the Value?

Author

Mia Levetan

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 1:2, Isaiah 55:2, Proverbs 23:4–5, Luke 16:13, Matthew 6:19–21, Psalm 62:10

It’s not that unusual for a painting by a famous artist to go for over a million dollars at Sotheby’s in London. It is very unusual that, as soon as the deal is done, the painting immediately “s...

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Author

Peter Maurin

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The Greeks used to say that people in need are ambassadors of the gods.

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Disney Princesses & Body Image

Author

Craig Detweiler

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A study led by Brigham Young University found that 96 percent of girls and 87 percent of boys had interacted with Disney princesses by age four. Girls who engaged the most with princess culture (via m...

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Creating Christian Consumers

Author

Jay Y. Kim

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:22-25, Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, Isaiah 55:8-8, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

I’ve served on staff at a few different churches throughout Silicon Valley for the last decade and a half, including a medium-sized church, a young church plant, and a multisite megachurch. At each, w...

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Author

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 3:11, Song of Solomon 4:7, Romans 10:15, Isaiah 61:3, Proverbs 31:30

Beauty will save the world.

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Author

Jay Leno

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Scripture

Genesis 22:1-14, Exodus 14:21-31 , Daniel 6:16-23 , Luke 15:11-32, John 6:1-14, Psalm 23:

“Here’s something to think about: How come you never see a headline like ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?”

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The Mayor in the Projects

Author

Melinda Joy Mingo

Keywords

Scripture

Revelation 21:3, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8:3, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 2:14-15, Matthew 1:23

During spring 1981, one of my favorite persons at the time, Chicago mayor Jane Byrne, made the announcement that she and her husband were going to move into my old neighborhood: the Cabrini-Green hous...

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Heroes Depend on Others

Author

John M. Perkins

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People like me, Martin Luther King Jr., and a few others sometimes earn a hero status for things we did during the civil rights movement, but really the daily, faithful acts of ordinary black and whit...

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Struggling with Charity

Author

Kent Annan

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 13:16, Micah 6:8, Luke 6:38, Proverbs 19:17, James 1:27

On the fifteenth of each month, Alicia has thirty dollars withdrawn from her checking account to sponsor Belyse, a beautiful, brown-eyed girl from Kenya, who then gets school and a hot meal each day. ...

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Two Sketches

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:3-4, 2 Samuel 11:, 2 Samuel 12:, 1 Kings 1:, 1 Kings 2:, Proverbs 31:30, 1 Samuel 16:7, Genesis 26:7

Have you ever noticed that we often see ourselves, specifically our bodies, our facial features differently? In 2013 the soap company Dove decided to explore this phenomenon by hiring an FBI-trained f...

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The Justice System for the Rich and Poor

Author

Jonathan Walton

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 2:11, James 2:1-4, Psalm 82:3-4, Zechariah 7:9-10, Proverbs 21:15

Robert H. Richards and Ethan Couch illustrate how opportunity bends toward affluent white males. Richards was found guilty of raping his three-year-old daughter, but because of his connection to the D...

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The Dark Side of the Web

Author

Andy Crouch

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 25:40, Romans 12:21, Luke 4:18-19, James 1:27, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17

In October 2014 Wired magazine reported on the dirty work every social media company must somehow handle: moderating the deluge of exploitative, degrading content posted in unimaginable quantities aro...

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They Keep Going and Going…

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:8-10, Isaiah 40:29-31, 1 Kings 19:4-8, Matthew 11:28-30, Mark 6:31, Psalm 23:1-3

In 1989, the advertising world welcomed a new icon into the world. It was pink, it was furry, it wore sunglasses, and sported a drum-set. Can you picture him? It’s the Energizer bunny. Television scre...

current affairs and causes on Celebrities

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