Articles
Articles from Sola 5 Pastors
Holy Hatred: A Lying Tongue
On 11 September 2001, Tania Head was working for Merrill Lynch in the south tower of the World Trade Centre. After the second Boeing 767 ploughed into her floor, a dying colleague pleaded desperately with her to return his wedding ring to his wife. She agreed, but...
Holy Hatred: Haughty Eyes
Finish this sentence: God hates … What is the first thing that comes to your mind? Adultery? Murder? Blasphemy? If you were to rank sins in terms of heinousness, what would your list look like? It is true, of course, that Christians should hate and seek to avoid all...
Where Have All the Pastors Gone? (Part 2)
In my last post, I lamented the loss of pastoral integrity, as I observe it from the viewpoint of the Namibian church. In this brief blog, I want to focus on the other side of the coin—namely the contribution of church members to the attrition or loss of men from the...
Holy hatred: Introduction
Jesus was once asked what is the greatest command in Scripture. His answer was simple: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” He said that this is “the great and first commandment” (Matthew 27:36–40). Love...
Profaning the Name
There is a misnomer in Christian circles that all sin is equal in the eyes of God. This is perhaps based on a misunderstanding of texts like James 2:10, which reads, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” James’s point is...
Where Have All the Pastors Gone?
“Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the...
Good News!
What a week it’s been! Since last Thursday’s “night of the long knives,” South Africa has been battered on the financial markets, downgraded to junk status by one financial institution, moved to a vote of no confidence concerning our State President, called upon to...
Tight-Lipped
I have at times been chided for being tight-lipped about my family. That is, since I am careful to prudently guard my family’s privacy, I have historically been cautious about what I share with others concerning family matters. Of course, when I have sensed that we...
Pastoring, Not Pestering
There is perhaps a fine line between pastoring and pestering. If so, I want to work hard on staying on the correct side of that line. But it is not always easy. One man’s concern is another man’s violation of their conscience. How does a pastor avoid being a bother,...