A Glimpse of the Kingdom by David W. Pendergrass, Ph.D.

Being rejected is incredibly painful and neurology demonstrates it. MRI studies demonstrate that the pain we experience during social ostracism, or one might say rejection, activates the same region of our brain as physical pain. That is, our brain processes social pain the same as physical pain.* No one likes rejection. In fact, repeated instances of rejection can be devastating to us humans. Depression, anxiety, rage, and other powerful negative emotions will often arise. Of course, without healthy coping mechanisms, humans will do whatever possible to end those powerful negative emotions. This is typically the cause of numerous addictive behaviors, whatever you choose to abuse: alcohol, food, sex, etc.. Most people are desperate to medicate and numb those terrible feelings. No one likes rejection. Rejection leads to loneliness. And prolonged loneliness is incredibly painful and destructive to humans. This is so very important to recognize in your life. Why? Becau...

Why do some Christians seem to live with more spiritual sense and some never grow out of infancy? Why is the desire more profound than for others? Why do some people seem to have a deeper revelation while others speak of being a Christian but bear no fruit?  Free will I guess. I just feel like there is more to it than that. What about regeneration? If our eyes have been open and we are truly regenerated then wouldn't there be a change in everyone? Maybe not at the same pace. I feel like the spiritual side of us is the only thing that can understand the things of God right? It's foolishness to the world. So if we are regenerated, would not the spirit have new revelation? In the parable of the sower were the ones that got choked by the thorns etc, were they never really regenerated? These are great questions. Let me commence by exploring some points about the Holy Spirit. I do this because I wonder if you assume some roles to the Spirit that are not attributed in the Bib...

David, I do not usually think about the possibility that I could be persecuted because of my faith in God and Jesus Christ. However, our study of Revelation reminds us that persecution for our faith is a very real possibility, and we are admonished to stand firm in our faith, even to the point of death. This brought to mind an incident in our Bible study that happened a while back. I think we were still studying Hebrews at the time. The subject of persecution came up, and I made comments that were not well received by some in the class. I said that Jesus told His followers not "if" you are persecuted, but "when" you are persecuted. While I said I do not think about it all the time, I said that I fully expect I could be persecuted for my faith in God and Jesus at some point in my life. I recall that the response to that was that I should not be thinking that way, especially in the United States. I do not think that there was anything wrong with what I s...