Articles for tag: Terry O’Casey

February 7, 2014

By Terry O’Casey Biblical illiteracy is as great a problem inside the church as out. But preachers””and preaching””can make aÂ difference. An unchurched neighbor heard me preach about David and Goliath. Afterwards, she said, “Great talk. No stem, no seeds, no sticks, just good stuff!” Baffled, I thanked her and turned to an elder who was doing a miserable job of suppressing laughter. My elder translated, “She was complimenting you by saying your sermon was like the best marijuana.” Ah, the joy of being culturally illiterate! What is our world coming to? A recent British newspaper lamented our lack of biblical

December 20, 2010

Christian Standard

Devotionals

Worthy of Honor

By Terry O”Casey She was nearly divorced, forced to become an immigrant in her teens, welfare poor, left alone with seven kids, and witnessed her oldest boy”s gruesome execution. Eventually, her descendants split up. In a heated custody battle lasting to this day, some of them still aren”t allowed much time with Mom.Â Who is she? Join me, Bible in hand, for some holy imagineering. Two families: Joe and his dad, Jacob (Matthew 1:16), headed over to her dad”s house. Jacob spoke: “Heli1, my son would like to marry your daughter. If you agree, we”ll draw up the ketubah for

June 6, 2010

Christian Standard

Church Life

Status Quo

By Terry O’Casey The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is one of the world”s holiest sites, at the place where many believe Jesus rose from the dead. On that sacred spot, a stalemate has occurred between warring Christians. A ladder rests on the Greek Orthodox Church portion of the building, beneath the right window that is controlled by the Armenian Church. A drawing from 1834 shows the ladder fossilizing even back then. The ladder is a statement ofÂ power and control. A law called “the status quo” enacted in Palestine, first by the Turkish Ottomans in 1757 and reaffirmed

October 4, 2009

Christian Standard

Restoration Movement History

It”s Simple!

Â by Terry O’Casey We simply don”t get it! If we did, more people would get Jesus. Thomas Campbell wrote his Declaration and Address in 1809 in part because he had witnessed the fractured and frightened denominations destroying a simple faith. Campbell himself was a member of the fractured Old Light, Anti-Burgher, Seceder Presbyterian Church. Ah, nothing like simple biblical names to attract the unchurched! Repeatedly in his Declaration, Campbell uses a word that transcends 200 years, simple. All he wanted was a simple Christianity that works. Look on as Campbell lifts his ink-dipped quill and scribes the same word

June 22, 2008

Christian Standard

Church Life

Lord, Help, I Am Hearing Voices!

By Terry O’Casey I can still picture the elder and his wife playing “footsie” beneath the folding fellowship hall tables at a board meeting at one of my first churches. It was in the days when the 18 deacons could outvote the six elders. Voting for some was by “secret” ballot, in the form of a swift kick. Seriously! The elders had just finished sharing a unified vision with the rest of those at the meeting. Then I saw it, plain as day, beneath the cheap tablecloth. She kicked her husband . . . hard””so hard he had to change

June 1, 2008

Christian Standard

Mission & Evangelism

Up a Creek . . . with a Paddle-Wheeler!

By Terry O’Casey In June 1908, missionaries Royal Dye, MD, and his wife, Eva, captivated Oregon with tales of adventure in the Congo. But no trains reached the deepest realms in the African nation where they wanted yet to share the gospel. No roads could penetrate the crocodile-infested swamps. Handmade, arm-powered dugouts were the only means of getting hundreds of miles upriver. The Dyes made a simple request at the 56th Oregon Christian Convention. The request was so great it was bound to fail . . . unless God be in it. Dr. Dye opened the morning session: “We need