OUT OF THE BOX

Samaritans Purse set up a tent hospital in Central Park in New York City to help with the overflow of patients from the hospitals there during the corona virus pandemic. I read an article at that time stating that New York’s mayor De Blasio expressed concern that Samaritan’s purse is operated by Franklin Graham who is accused of having a “virulent hatred of homosexuals and is Islamophobic” and that Samaritan’s Purse will discriminate against  homosexuals and anyone who “disagrees with their fundamentalist beliefs.” Some had even expressed concern that the Christian organization would deliberately refuse to aid those who disagree with the organization’s beliefs, or that they would intentionally spread the disease. How foolish and erroneous are such charges! You and I know the sincerity and love that motivates this organization. But we are living in a culture where this type of false accusation and unwarranted hate and prejudice will be directed at those who have the testimony of Jes...

No matter what your religion or spiritual belief system is, it logically must bring you to the intellectual and philosophical conclusion that there has to be a creator and a Sovereign manager over it all. For instance, reincarnation is a complicated process, if it were true. If you believe in reincarnation, I would have to ask you, “Who manages and directs it? Where did the spirits come from that keep reincarnating upward or downward? Who does the evaluating regarding good and bad and which ones move upward and which ones move downward?” You always come back to the necessity of a creator and manager. Even the dynamics of pantheism that pervades eastern religions and the New Age movement require the existence of an all-powerful, higher power to create and manage the processes.   Therefore, all religions bring you back to the need for a personal God who created and manages His creation. However, all  “roads” and philosophies do not lead to God, but all “roads” point to the fact ...

What blessing, strength, encouragement, and life we receive from those who serve the Lord faithfully and without complaint! How our hearts are touched by those whose lives demonstrate such surrender to God’s will, and whose love for the Lord is revealed in their willingness to lay down self, take up their cross, and follow Him. OUR LOAD MIGHT REPRESENT GOD'S CONFIDENCE IN US. In our limited knowledge we often misunderstand the deeper mysteries of God in the way He works in our lives? God disciplines those He loves and He requires more from those He favors. He asks more from those upon whom He has placed a high calling and from those who have been given more. It is an honor for God to ask of you more than He asks of others. The early Christians did not complain and say, “Why me?” when they were persecuted and beaten for Christ’s sake, but rather they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for His sake. They knew they were being honored as “worthy to drink the cup” (Mark 10...

   Roy Rogers   Billy Long   1967.   It was September 1967, my freshman year at ORU. There was a prayer chapel on the ground floor of the men’s dorm. It was a small room with an altar and a few short benches. I would often enter it at night to pray. The only light I needed was coming from the lobby and shining through the stain glass windows of the door. The first time I went in there to pray, I discovered there was another student, Roy Rogers, lying on the floor at the altar. He was wrestling with God much like Jacob in Genesis 32 and was in deep intercession and literally groaning before the Lord. I don’t think he realized I was there. He was passionate but not emotional. His spirit was in travail and crying out to the Lord regarding some serious issue. His intensity reminded me of the agony Jesus went through in the Garden of Gethsemane. His prayers were deeper than simple intellect or the shallowness of typical prayers we often hear. We became good friends. ...

  Dear Friends I don't normally write articles that are mainly political, but because of current issues being discussed in our country  today , I decided to post an article I wrote on Free Enterprise vs Socialism.  Our universities are teaching Marxism and socialism, and are producing a generation of young people who are being "taken in" by it. I think you'll find this article informative. Pass it on to your college friends. Billy Long WHY I BELIEVE IN FREE ENTERPRISE RATHER THAN SOCIALISM Jimmy Carter made this statement: “If you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying that you want a country based on Christian values, because you don’t.” Let me begin by saying I know that there are people with genuine needs and there is a place for government action and help. But Jimmy Carter’s statement is not true because it is too simplistic and does not accurately reflect conservative philosophy. It fails to acknowledge the various aspects of the issue.  ...

  Have you ever had to deal with relational conflict? Here are some Biblical principles that will help you come through the fire without becoming spiritually derailed and disabled. The principles discussed are basic to our success in all areas of our spiritual walk. I am re-posting this for my newer readers who may have missed it the first time.   -Billy Long DON'T ARGUE WITH THE DONKEY! ENGAGE THE LORD FIRST We encounter various trials in our Christian walk. Some we can't explain and some are indicative of the “roaring lion” seeking to devour the righteous. But there are also times when adversities are the result of our own foolishness, disobedience, or sin, times when our adversaries are instruments of God designed to get our attention, teach a lesson, interrupt our wrong path, or to discipline us. God raised up adversaries against Solomon because of his idolatry (1 Kings 11). Balaam’s donkey balked and fell underneath him because his way was co...