Dr. Matthew V. Johnson's Blog (3)

I Still Believe

Luke 2:14



The greatest weapon in evil’s arsenal against the advance of the good, the holy and the true is to make us believe that the achievement of the same is impossible. People feel stupid for believing and embarrassed to try what is deemed impossible by others. The desire for world peace, a noble and needed ideal, is often associated with the stereotypical air-headed answer given in beauty pageants, suggesting that it is not only impossible, but silly,… Continue

Another Christmas, “And we are not Saved”



Isaiah 9:6-7



We tend to think of sin as indulgence in sensual pleasure. Consequently we think of temptation, almost exhaustively, as the lure of self-indulgence in things that titillate our senses. This unfortunate and almost adolescent cheapening of a category so fundamental to the Christian faith and self understanding is both ruefully unfortunate and characteristically American. At the heart of this superficiality is the… Continue

The Cry of the Wilderness

Isaiah 40:3-11

On the eve of yet another dress rehearsal for “peace on earth and goodwill toward all men,” I wonder about the troops making ready for yet another deployment on foreign soil, tasked to kill or be killed. This is not the change I had hoped for. I wonder if in this season of hope, the hope of the moment is fading in yet another sacrifice on the altar of hidden agendas and escalating violence. Once again we enter another season of peace finding… Continue