As the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Free Church in Minocqua, Wisconsin, for 14 years I wrote a weekly newspaper article in the Lakeland Times called Ask The Pastor. Due to the tourist destination of our community, the Lakeland Times had and has subscribers from all over the country.
People would write/e-mail with questions and I would do my best to answer them. The questions ranged from ones sent by children like, "Do dogs go to heaven?", to ones sent by grieving spouses, "What happens when a person dies?" Many sent in Bible related questions, while others sent in questions of a general spiritual or current events related nature.
Over the years it became very clear: people want answers to their spiritual questions but often are afraid to ask. Some are even afraid to ask their own pastor if they have one. Even people who like to portray themselves as not being spiritual have spiritual questions. It is just the way we are wired.
Ask The Pastor provided a "private" forum for people to read and have their questions addressed. It was private in the sense that people who didn't want anyone to know that they had spiritual questions, could access information by simply reading a newspaper.
What a nice thing it has been to have received feedback from readers over the years regarding some article that was particularly helpful to them. Some used the articles in their Bible Studies, others made copies to hand out to friends. One gentleman told me of becoming a Christian and growing in his faith as a result of reading the articles. He then wrote to ask about cloning the concept in his local community and with the local pastor that he had come to know. That local pastor and I interacted over the years and he started a similar column in his own home town.
I started this blog back in 2005 after having moved into the business world as head of Internet Marketing for the then national leader online sales of pet supplies, Drs. Foster and Smith. I did so as a way to continue try help people become followers of Jesus Christ and to help people grow in their faith who were already followers of Christ. l wrote blog articles for several years, but as often happens in life, I got busy and other things got in the way.
It is now August of 2020 as I write this and I just finished up writing a 400 page book called "Ask the Pastor," available on Amazon. My wife suggested that I take those hundreds of articles I wrote and put them into book form. Great idea Denna! So I did. A couple of months after that book came out, I remembered having started this blog years ago! How could I have forgotten?!
My hope is that as I stick my toe in the water of the Blogging world again, people will be helped in a variety of ways on their spiritual journeys.
People are asking: Are we in or rapidly approaching what is known as THE END TIMES?
Recently due to the worldwide pandemic many people have been asking, "Are we nearing the end of the age?" The announcement in mid-August 2020, of a peace treaty between Israel and the UAE is also something that raises questions in people's minds due to what the Bible says about a peace treaty being in place with Israel happening as we near the return of Christ.
To give you the short version of an answer to people's questions, the Peace Treaty between Israel and the UAE is highly significant as a precursor/hint that we are getting closer to the end of the age. It is too long to explain here right now but keep your eyes peeled over the years to come for EXACTLY this kind of peace treaty with other Arab nations.
When such a treaty brings the total of the Arab nations to 10, and likely signed around Passover time, it will mark the beginning of the last 7 years commonly called The Tribulation.
For those who are interested specifically on understanding the book of Revelation, I have started posting in this blog the audio files of some 52 sermons I preached on the book of Revelation that will take you through the book verse by verse.
As it relates to the overall purpose for this blog--helping people come to know Christ--let me say I know that some out there are atheists who don't want anyone to know that deep down inside they really do believe there is a God. They have been saying that they were atheists for so long that it is hard for them to publically change their mind.
Others are agnostics, believing that it is possible that God exists, but that either no one can know or no one does know who or what that God is.
A group of you are from a Christian background, but for whatever reason have never had the opportunity to really study the Bible. It may be that when you have tried, the people you have asked were all over you like a wet blanket trying to get you to join their church--something you might have been interested in if they had just given you some space.
Whatever your situation, Ask The Pastor might just be the forum for you. You can be a "lurker" and just see what is recorded here, or you can actually send in a question. However you plug in, my hope is that Ask The Pastor engages your mind with clear, honest answers to your questions.
Some of the answers may well be, "I have no idea!" but you'll at least know that I'm not trying to bluff through an answer. If you have suggestions, comments or questions, I hope to hear from you. And as I have time I'll do what I can to answer/comment.
You can leave your question here by clicking on the "comment" icon, or by clicking on the "e-mail your questions" link. Clicking on the small envelope at the upper left of each article provides a convenient way to e-mail an article to a friend.
Gordon
