The Pastor's Perspective

  King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Bolevn  "I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me to obtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail or find a place in your affections" .      Those words, penned by a king to his soon-to-be bride, might lead you to believe they were written from a heart full of deep affection and admiration. However, history reveals a far harsher truth . The author of those romantic words was none other than King Henry VIII, and the recipient was Anne Boleyn . For those who fell asleep in history class this was not a love struck power couple. You see y ears later, when Queen Anne Boleyn failed to give him a male heir, he accused her of adultery, incest, and treason, which led to her eventual execution . Looks like King Henry VIII got over his "dart of love"  This tragic story is a stark reminder of a painful reality: some pe...

      There was once a  rich man who had a son who left home to live a life of crime and immorality, bringing disgrace and shame upon his family and father . Despite the pain, the father loved his son deeply and mourned his absence for years . One day, the son received a notice that his father had passed away and his final wish was for the son to attend the reading of his will . The son decided to honor his father's request and went to the lawyer's office .      As the lawyer began to read the will, it started with a list of the son's moral and ethical failures, systematically detailing the actions that had hurt his father deeply in his life . Agitated and unable to sit through the painful litany of his sins being read out, the son stood up and left the room before the lawyer could finish reading the will.      Sadly, he left too soon. The will concluded with the father's expression of love and a declaration that he had forgiven his son ...

       As believers in Christ, we are called to a unique and profound kind of love. You see while we are to show kindness and compassion to all people, there is a specific love that is reserved for our brothers and sisters in Christ—the family of God. This isn't a love that excludes others, but one that is deeper and richer, much like the way you love your own family.  Fellowship Service at Ashmore Baptist Church with Impact Ministries Church     Last Sunday our church and Impact Ministries ( a local Haitian Church) came together to worship and fellowship together. It was a beautiful thing to hear us all singing to the Lord. Worshiping and praising God together. It really was a taste of what Heaven will be like. We laid aside our differences and the things that divides us and focus on the one thing that unities us together. Though our language is different our cultures are different, yet we were able to come together all because of our faith in Jesus C...

  There’s a powerful, raw letter that once captured significant attention, penned by a girl named Anna. She wrote: "I wish I could say that I believe in Jesus Christ, that He loves me and cares, but I no longer believe that. From a mother who is vicious and has wrecked my adoptive family, to the death of my adoptive brother, I no longer believe. I even find myself wondering if God really exists. I look around at all the Christians who say that they help people who don't know how to ask for it but they have not even noticed my pain. IF GOD LOVED OR EVEN CARED FOR ME, HE'D AT LEAST HELP WOULDN'T HE? BUT NO HELP HAS COME! GOD DOESN'T LOVE ME – ANNA"      Those concluding words resonate deeply with countless individuals who have experienced profound pain or trauma. Perhaps you've heard the well-intentioned but often unhelpful religious clichés, like "God will never give you more than you can handle." Yet, for many, the questions linger: "Why is ...

       Imagine going to a garage sale and finding a unique item and buying for a few bucks only to later find out what you bought was not just some worthless item but one that was worth far more than you paid for it. That is one of the things I love about watching shows like the Antique Roadshow. I love hearing individuals who have found some item for a few dollars, thinking it was worth very little. Then learning that what they had in there possessions was museum worthy.       That’s precisely what happened to a man by the name of  Donald Scheer. He purchased a picture for a mere four dollars. He was drawn by the attractiveness of the frame and really did not care much for the picture that it held. Little did he know, tucked away inside, was an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. Of the approximately 300 copies made on July 5, 1776, only 24 remain today. Donald's discovery was one of them, eventually selling at auction for a st...

            As w e navigate this world it does not take long before you realize that the world is teeming with hurting people . Look around, and you’ll find individuals silently battling unseen struggles.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted this stark reality in a 2010 report, noting that deaths by suicide surpassed those from car accidents . The numbers have only risen, especially in the wake of global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic . As sad as these statistics is, I believe it highlights a  sobering truth: many are enduring profound difficulties in their lives .      Sometimes, we fail to recognize the depth of pain hidden behind a smile .  When we face arduous times, it's common to feel utterly alone, as if no one else has ever experienced such a unique struggle . This is due in part to the mask that we all wear. Very few people are willing to open up to express the struggles and the...

      Have you ever had a  moment when something pushes your buttons, and you feel your blood begin to boil . Perhaps you’ve said something in a fit of rage you immediately regretted, or acted in a way you wished you could take back . Personally I think we have all had moments like that to one degree or another. Truth is a nger is a powerful, very real human emotion that we all encounter from time to time.      It might surprise you to learn that anger is an emotion attributed to both God and Jesus throughout scripture.   The Bible speaks of God's wrath and we read of moments where Jesus Himself expressed His anger .       However, there's a crucial distinction between righteous anger and what we  might call "unbridled anger" . As Aristotle wisely put it, "Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way—that is ...

     Idol worship  When you hear the word "idol," what comes to your mind? I think for most people when we hear the word idol we think of ancient statues in faraway lands, or rituals from a bygone era.  Certainly there are places in the world today that have statues that people worship. Even in America there are people who's religion involves offering sacrifices or offerings to some sort of sculpted image.     However for many of us especially in the Western societies when we hear the word Idol we  often think, "That's not me. I don't bow down to carved images."  The average person in the United States does not have shrine where they offers prayers towards a wooden object. So many times when we hear the word Idol we are quickly dismissive and think this has nothing to with me.      But what if I told you that idolatry is far more subtle, and far more pervasive, than we often imagine? What if I told you that some idols are not a...