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

I’ve never written a blog like this before because I’ve never wanted this blog to be about me. But, I feel compelled to compose this now for some reason. Maybe it’ll help me; maybe it’ll help someone else. I suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I’ve had it for years. It affects me every single day. I’ve been through therapy. I’ve read books and listened to lectures. Yes, I’ve prayed about it. I pray about it nearly every single day, in fact, because I live in a low-grade constant fear and anxious state. PTSD is a debilitating anxiety disorder caused by an intense, traumatic experience (or experiences).  It actually re-wires the neural networks in your brain, so that the brain becomes “hot-wired” to freak out. This is called having “triggers.” It’s where your brain responds before your pre-frontal cortex (where your consciousness does its work) can respond to the situation. You can feel the blood leave your head, a panic attack, or gorgonizing anxiety and then th...

Imagine if you overheard two people talking about life. They were both tired. One complained and complained about how much things didn’t go the way she wanted. She was forced to get up early to go to work. People screamed at her. She had to do exercises. The other person somewhat liked it. There was real camaraderie among the people where they lived. Yet, she, too, didn’t like that life wasn’t what she expected. She didn’t know why so many things happened that caused her pain, even if she did seem to get stronger because she trained so much. What difference would it make if you were to walk up to these two people talking and say, “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Did you know that you’re in a boot camp? You’re in the Army: this is Basic Combat Training. Did you know that the reason why you’re going through all this stuff is because people are trying to get you prepared for battle?” See what a difference proper context and perspective can make? It’s like that abo...

In August or September, I am going to lead our Sunday School class in a series of lessons on homosexuality.   I ’ m starting to realize that the Wesleyan Quadrilateral that I fell in love with is not so lovable when you have to apply it to real issues. I’m having trouble drawing a box around this one and, of course, I’m starting to learn that God never stays in my boxes. So what do you think about homosexuality and how do you defend your position on that?   All humans are welcome into the family of Church X. This means that every person, no matter the person’s race, education, sexual orientation, or background is welcome to participate in the ministries of Church X. All are sinners in need of God’s grace and forgiveness. Yet, once one becomes a disciple of Jesus, that person reorients her/his entire lifestyle to the teachings of Jesus because He is Lord (= ”boss”). Therefore, we at Church X commit to doing our best to obey the teachings of Jesus (and the early Christian...

David, I have long thought that the greatest prayer written in the Bible was Daniel's prayer for his people.   I have also held that he was a great Prophet for his people.   I am struggling with your reference that you (and some modern cohorts) place his work at the time of Antiochus IV (175-164 B.C.), and place his prophesies as "after the fact".   I know there is more than one "Daniel" in Jewish history, but this rattles my cage; and belief in Prophesy.   Without Daniel I will be lost...this is huge! Then... a second email: I did not sleep last night.   My mind kept turning things over after I reviewed the outline. If I were to buy in to the theory that one word (Persia instead of Palestine) allowed re-engineering the entire book of Daniel it changes everything (I know there are other pieces of the puzzle still out, but this appears to be big).   By placing Daniel in the 2nd century BC it does separate chapters 1-6 and 7-12, but ...

David, When I think about God or pray to Him, the word I use is "Father" or "Heavenly Father." The reason I do that is that Jesus used "Father" when talking about, or to, God. However, in the two church communities with which I have relationships, First Methodist and St. Luke's Methodist, the image of God as also our mother seems to be creeping in. A couple of examples are below: (In a prayer) "God, who is both our father and mother..." (In a course book) "When we say that God is "creator" rather than "Father" (yes, Mother would work, too)... Frankly, I'm bothered by this for a number of reasons, not the least of which has to do with the radical feminist movement. So, I ask you this question. Is there a Biblical basis, especially in the New Testament, for referring to God as our Mother? What say you? In Christ (and still in my prayers), Byrom Hi Byrom, Thanks for your...

This is a piece composed by my very talented brother, Stephen. I asked to publish it here. (You can listen Stephen's powerful testimony in my podcast .) The Book of Nothing (Chapters 1-10) 1 Before Nothing existed, there existed nothing. No mind, no intelligence, no matter, no energy, no space, no time, no thing. Not even the concept of "no thing" existed, as there was nothing. But as the Prophet Lawrence Krauss hath proclaimed , since “nothing” is the opposite of “something,” Nothing must be Something. And because of that, The Multiverse came into being. Praise be to Nothing! Mighty and Majestic is It. 2 Over eons, the Multiverse, the offspring of Nothing, produced it's own pointless offspring.  The Multiverse accidentally begat Universe 1, Universe 2, and so on, until infinity. Indeed, many university chalkboards filled with numbers and mysterious symbols written by Great Prophets eager to avoid intelligent design have shown that so many Universe...