Author: martinsmanuelbooks

Was Jesus a pacifist?  There were no guns in the first century, but the sword was a prevalent weapon of self-defense.  The Gospels make no mention of Jesus having or carrying a sword.  But in His discussion with His disciples the evening of His arrest, He said, if you don’t have a sword, sell your […]

Introductory Thoughts… to be Fully Addressed in Future Blogs: Increasingly, it seems to me that our society in the United States of America is crazy.  I chose that word for a good reason.  According to Miriam Webster’s Dictionary, the two top definitions of crazy are: 1) full of cracks or flaws: unsound and 2) not […]

Consider: what is wrong with the following two pictures? One. A married woman consults with her church pastor about her husband’s ongoing verbal and physical abuse.  “Pastor,” she says, “what should I do?”  He replies, “The Bible tells us to forgive those who sin against us.  To be a Christian, you have to forgive your […]

Some things obviously essential to our existence as humans – air, food, water, shelter, and sleep – we understand and can explain in relatively simple terms.  But one essential we have difficulty explaining is love – both the need to love and to be loved.  Why is it difficult to explain? The 2015 science-fiction movie, […]

A surprising outcome of the political struggle in the USA between Democrats and Republicans came when Jessica Tyson and Monica Sparks, identical twins, ran against each other for local office in Michigan, one as a Democrat and the other as a Republican.  As expected, only one won, but after the election these two unveiled their […]

A large part of reconciliation needs to be along racial lines.  To help, let’s return to the story of Joseph and his brothers as described above.  The Israelite family was torn by the evil act of the ten brothers against Joseph – selling him into slavery and deceiving their father.  As long as that act […]

Members of American minority populations who have received the Gospel of Jesus Christ have wrestled with the implications of America’s sin to their faith.  African Americans, rejecting discriminatory practices in established churches in the 18th and 19th centuries, formed their own churches and denominations that remain largely segregated to this day.  There is little conflict […]

I would like here to consider Joseph’s and his brother’s stories, with their lessons, in light of the history of human oppression in the United States of America by people of European origin against non-European peoples.  This history is no secret, but it is usually seen by a majority of Americans as so far in […]

When Joseph was seventeen, his ten brothers, motivated by envy and resentment, captured him, considered killing him, and ultimately sold him into slavery.  They lied to their father, Jacob, leading him to believe that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.  In doing this, they conspired and carried out a great evil against their […]

Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob and first son of Jacob’s chosen wife Rachel, served God’s purpose in the history of His covenant-people Israel by living as Jacob’s favorite son, being the oppressed son (by his brothers), becoming the son of his father’s sorrows, having the help of God through it all, and inheriting the […]