Baptism of the Spirit is a topic of confusion because there are those who will say that (almost?) every mention of baptism in the New Testament is Spirit baptism, not water baptism. In a Bible passage discussing baptism, it often does not specify whether it is Spirit or water baptism that is being considered. When we read such a passage, how are we to know which is the issue? Joel 2:28 states, “It shall come to pass that afterward I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.” On

Scrolling in FaceBook, I came across a preacher passionately holding forth about people who would answer to God at the judgment for spreading the falsehood that baptism was connected to the forgiveness of sin. The evidence he offered that baptism was not connected to the forgiveness of sin was from Acts 2:38. If we trim Acts 2:38 down to the basics, Peter responds to the question of “What shall we do,” with the instruction, “Repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.”

There are a substantial number of people in our world who claim to have a “good feeling” towards Jesus. They see Him as a good person who loved people and taught many good lessons. He went about doing good, being nice and kind. Their understanding of Jesus makes them feel good. It gives them a warm feeling inside. However, they are not interested in being aligned with other people trying to follow Jesus. Many others will go even farther than this. They additionally perceive J

The first time in the Bible that we read of armed conflict between nations is in Genesis 14. The king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah joined forces with three other kings in a rebellion against Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and three other kings that were allied with Chedorlaomer. The five kings and their nations had been in subjugation to Chedorlaomer for 13 years and decided to end it the only way they knew how. They engaged in battle to defeat their subjugators and free th

In Genesis 12:1-3, God said unto a young Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation.” It almost seems that God is trying to make this choice as hard as possible on Abram. First, leave your country. To go where? How many of us could, would, just pack up and leave at such a call without even knowing where we’re going? But it gets worse. Leave your kinfolk. Can

According to Luke 5:1-11, Jesus asked a young man named Simon and his brother Andrew to take their boat out into the Sea of Galilee and drop their nets. Although they had fished without success all night they caught so many fish that they couldn't manage and called out to their partners to come help. Their partners, the sons of Zebedee, responded to help and even then the number of fish almost caused both boats to sink. The four young men were astonished at what they caught,

Throughout church history there have been those promoting unscriptural teaching, but there have also been those who stand foursquare, and risk their life defending truth. Stephen, was martyred for defending the truth in Acts 7. Polycarp of Smyrna, an apparent acquaintance of the apostle, John, was commanded to deny Jesus by Roman officials, but famously said, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and My Savior?”

A mother of twin boys who were not yet ready for prime time talking tells of an incident that is illustrative. As the two boys were standing together Boy A said some impossible to understand gibberish, but complete with inflection, enunciation (apparently,) and even hand gestures as would accompany adult speech. He waved his hand and pointed toward the door as if he wanted to go that direction. Boy B said, “no” and then uttered his own version of unintelligible speech and poi

There were those in the Roman church of the first century who decided it was good to sin more so that God would provide more grace. Paul pointedly puts a stop to such thinking. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer therein? Are you ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus wear baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him through baptism into death: tha

In the movie version of the 1844 novel, The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas, Edmond Durant, who would later assume the title of the count, risks his own life to save a pirate named Jacobo from death. Jacobo is so overwhelmed by appreciation for Edmond’s act of kindness that he dedicates the remainder of his life to the service of Edmond. He constantly and tirelessly attempts to be of service in every situation. This is done out of a sense of gratitude and a debt owe

The more thought I give to the universe around me, the more preposterous I realize it is to argue that this came into existence by random happenstance. Yes, I’ve said all this before. We must never forget that removing God from the picture removes any concept of plan, design, purpose or instigator for any of what you see around you. There can be no “why?” There is no reason for anything that ever happened to have happened. The idea that a billion changes all took place, leadi

On October 31, 1517, an, at that time, relatively obscure Catholic priest nailed a document containing 95 theses onto the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. These theses were really propositions for debate. Having no idea at the time what he had unintentionally done, Martin Luther is credited for thus starting what would become the Protestant Reformation. The spark of contention between Luther and the Roman Catholic Church was the sale of Indulgences by which t

When was the last time you wanted to do something, but you just couldn’t get it done? Maybe you wanted to go to a concert or a football game, but you just didn’t have the money. Maybe you wanted to spend a week in the Smoky Mountains but you weren’t able to schedule that many days away from work. Even God is not able to do all the things He might want to do. 2 Peter 3:9, tells us, “The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

I have just spent the weekend at the 2026 Challenge Youth Conference in Pigeon Forge, TN. Those of you who were there as I was heard David Shannon suggest the idea that I have borrowed for the title of this blog. I start by giving credit to David Shannon for offering the concept we will be discussing. Do we believe in God? Do we believe God? These are two different concepts. One can consent to the idea that there is a God, and even that the one true God is the God of the Bib

I was asked by a subscriber to write about various world religions that we might say are “competing” with Christianity. This is quite a challenge for a 1200 - 1600 word article. There is not space to “make a deep dive,” so my goal is to present enough information to see why I have chosen Christianity. Yes, I will be quite partial . Hindu Hindu is the oldest of these religions, some say orginating about 2000 BC. However, it is actually very difficult to put a date on it becaus

In 1866, American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, wrote a lengthy poem entitled “Snow-Bound.” I’m not sure if this is taught in school anymore, but I remember studying about it during my high school days. Whittier was born in Massachusetts and died in New Hampshire so I’m guessing he was well acquainted with snow. Whittier was an important figure in American literature. (As such, he deserves much more serious treatment than this, but forgive me for noticing that this man who’

[ Trying to Walk will now be published biweekly, 1st and 3rd Monday of every month.] If you read my prior blog, you are aware that I spent a good bit of time in the hospital recently. This blog is not about that time, but it is born out of that time. During almost a week of that time, I was confined to a bed in the CCICU. I observed much of the activities in the ICU in that week. It was a busy place with nurses tending to the patients in every way imaginable, and other hosp

The year under consideration is 1972, and the day is the very first day of that year, New Year's Day. It was a day that the college football picture would be completely colored in and we would know who was number one and who was number two and so on. It was a day when many men, and some women, would be comfortably settled in their favorite chairs to watch football games all day long. The 1971 football season, as many others, had been a great one for Alabama. They were undefea

For the past few days I have been in the hospital undergoing tests and procedures. I have not been able to focus on writing an article so there will be no blog this week. Also I am making the decision not to publish an article during the month of December. Look for my next blog on the first Monday of January. I will be fine. I hope you will be as well. I’ll leave you with some beautiful mountain scenery.

In Colossians 2 Paul begins a section on baptism by mentioning circumcision. He makes a puzzling reference to a circumcision not made with hands. This is curious because by definition circumcision is something done "with hands," in particular, the cutting off and removal of a section of skin from a male human. How, especially in the first century AD, could anyone accomplish this without hands? What is Paul talking about? In Ephesians 2 Paul also mentions circumcision in a ver