Do you really believe that what you believe is really real? If you did or do, it would be or is transforming the way you behave in every area of your life-your family life, your work, your friendships, your politics…everything. If what you believe isn’t doing that, isn’t it about time you looked for something real to believe in?

Homosexuals expect Christians to accept their homosexual behavior, despite the fact that the Bible calls it sin. The expectation being placed on Christians is that if we claim to love homosexuals, we should accept, tolerate, or at least not “judge” their behavior. If we really love them, then it is expected we should stay silent about how they live.

Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California has given us the idea of the purpose driven church and the purpose driven life. So, what are “the five basic fundamentals” of the Christian faith? Where did they come from?

The “Chinese curse”, “May you live in interesting times,” apparently has gained control of our minds. As if drugged or hypnotized, we stared, blinking at television screens as the President of the United States of America told us, “ISIS is not Islamic. No religion condones the killing of innocents.” The fact that it was the president who said this convinces me the lunatic fringe is no longer on the fringe. It’s right there in the heart of the matter, ensconced in the seat of power. Indeed, these are interesting times.

On June 26th an article appeared in Stars And Stripes (the newspaper “authorized for publication by the Department of Defense for members of the military community”) which reported on US personnel in Bahrain being required to abide by Ramadan practices. hat bothers me most about our own government requiring certain behavior for religious reasons is that if someone back home in the USA says, “Merry Christmas”, the politically correct response is that he is forcing his religion on others.

What is peace? What does it mean? How do we define it? And how do we obtain it? Don’t assume everyone understands or agrees. Peace is a vital concept. To some, peace is simply the cessation of violence — an end to the killing. No more bombs or rockets. No more shooting.

While immigrants of previous generations worked hard to become inculcated as Americans, an opposite trend has developed. The number of illegal immigrants (people who simply walk across the border) has become so great, no one really knows how many there are. Those who come from Spanish-speaking nations aren’t as motivated as their legal predecessors to learn the English language, obey American laws or “melt” into our American culture.

In February of 1993, a young man named Michael New enlisted in the U.S. Army. In October of 1995 he was removed from his battalion formation, read his rights and told he faced a court-marshal for refusing to wear a U.N. uniform. And in July of 1996, Michael received a “Bad Conduct Discharge”. Ever since that time he has been fighting in the courts to clear his good name and to set the record straight — that a President doesn’t have the legal right to order American troops to fight under a foreign banner or under foreign officers.

Despite all the knowledge gained through scientific study, our understanding of the physical universe we live in (our reality) is still basically a mystery. One of the questions string theory introduces is how many dimensions there are. My generation was told space has three dimensions and time was the fourth. In 1969 I heard the 5th Dimension sing the Age of Aquarius, and I mistakenly thought my consciousness was expanding.

This year, on April 20th Christians will celebrate Easter — that is, in most Western churches. In 325 the Roman Emperor Constantine assembled the First Council of Nicaea, consisting of approximately 318 bishops, each of whom was allowed to bring two priests and three deacons with him, making the total number in attendance perhaps 1800 or more. One of the items on their agenda was to agree on when to celebrate Easter.