Well, this year I did not get everything I wanted, so I have made a list of the missed goodies, hoped-fors that did not arrive. Please take note. Feel free to clip this column and remember where you put it when it comes Christmas shopping time next year.
(December 27, 1997)
One of the best things about the Christmas season is receiving Christmas cards. I have a card for you, the same one I'm sending -- personally -- to tens of thousands of other people, but it is just for you.
(December 20, 1997)
You know the verse — "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Does that also apply in Paducah, Kentucky?
(December 13, 1997)
Bobbi McCaughey of Carlisle, Iowa, wouldn't be the center-of-the-universe that she is this week if she had done what hundreds of other multiply pregnant women in America now do.
(November 29, 1997)
Another minister has fallen. The sin was grievous, but then in the eyes of God, they are all grievous, each one, every one, demanding the death of His only Son, Jesus of Nazareth.
(November 22, 1997)
Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world today. And America, the largest "Christian nation," is strangely silent.
(November 15, 1997)
Nashawn Williams didn't use them. Jane Fonda says our kids should use them. 57 million of them were just recalled. Two out of every 100 fail. And upon them, we are to trust the lives of our children?
(November 8, 1997)
One month after the Promise Keepers gathered in our nation's capital to "stand in the gap," have any cracks appeared in the earth's surface? Is the nation crumbling under the weight of the "religious right?" Or did the critics, whose bias and blinders allowed them to see in only one direction, miss the message they saw in action?
(November 1, 1997)
Freedom of religion has taken a drastic turn in Russia. On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations was passed with only six "nyet" votes and signed into law by President Boris Yeltsin. What happens now?
(October 11, 1997)
I am a very infrequent listener to Dr. Laura Schlessinger's daily three-hour radio talk show, but a recent caller who identified herself as a Christian caused me to stop and listen.
(September 27, 1997)
It is a curious bit of Russian humor, but it reveals a national paranoia with secrecy. In the help wanted section of Pravda, appeared this ad: "Wanted: illiterate person to type top secret documents."
(September 20, 1997)
In Swahili, it is wardi. In Welsh, it is rhosyn." The Finnish word is ruusu. "What's in a name?" William Shakespeare asked. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Was the Bard correct?
(September 13, 1997)
There is plenty of blame to go around in the death of Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales. But the single greatest factor in her death is largely being ignored, although "it" kills tens of thousands of people every year.
(September 6, 1997)
Imagine having a line of credit and being penalized for not using it. Imagine paying your debt in full and without any interest being charged and being penalized for accepting the good graces of the bank.
(August 30, 1997)
Most of us would like to be God and some time or another. I know I have been the President of the United States on several occasions, as well as a member of Congress.
(August 16, 1997)
This is the story of what might have been. And what might be again. That's the tragedy of it. It is also proof that religious freedom is a tenuous right.
(August 2, 1997)
I have worked in retail for the last twelve years (with two years off for good behavior). I have held positions of everything from the last-hired part-timer through manager of a million dollar store. Therefore, I have absolutely no patience for people who treat retail workers shabbily. Equally, I have no patience for retailers who forget that they are customers, too.
(July 19, 1997)
Zip code envy is nothing new — Greenwich, Chevy Chase, Beverly Hills, Palm Springs — you don't even need to name the states — are all coveted cities in which to promote the lifestyle of the rich and would-be famous.
(July 12, 1997)
After last week-end's sporting farce — an irresistible contest, the rematch that had fans chomping at the bit, a fight to sink your teeth into — you may have forgotten that the Chicago Bulls defeated the Utah Jazz a few weeks ago, and won their fifth NBA crown in seven years.
(July 5, 1997)
Baptists Boycott Disney! Film at eleven! But you can not watch it if it is broadcast on ABC, ESPN, A&E or Lifetime, or read about it if it is published in Discover, Skin and Allergy News, or Family Fun magazine.
(June 28, 1997)
One evening several years ago, I was standing in a department store, people watching. The most interesting folks were two little boys and their fathers.
(June 7, 1997)
The armored car flipped over, bursting open the doors and the money was free for the taking. The armored car company offered amnesty. That is a better offer than forgiveness.
(May 31, 1997)
Since the days of the "Tylenol Murders," manufacturers have looked for undefeatable ways to secure their packages. The Los Alamos National Laboratory's Seal Vulnerability Assessment Team aids the research by attempting to break seals without detection. There is virtually no seal which they cannot defeat.
(May 24, 1997)
Joe Camel is scared and on the run. Those who represent the rest of us are finally in a position of strength. Now is not the time to deal.
(May 17, 1997)
When you were a child, you probably said, after one of your mother's famous statements, "I will never say that to my kids!" If you have youngsters of your own, you have probably stopped in mid-sentence and said, "I sound just like my mother!" Your Mom would be so proud.
(May 10, 1997)
A photograph of yours truly runs each week with the print version of NFSO. You can check out the old visage and then get ready for a shocker. I love fried chicken.
(May 3, 1997)
You may never have heard of an organization called "SARCASM." In truth, only its creator and the six members of the group know of its existence and they wore the official T-shirt to only one gathering.
(April 26, 1997)
TV stars, and the characters they play, are coming out, declaring their homosexuality. Much is being said about the causes of homosexuality, and whether or not gays can go straight. Some thoughts.
(April 19, 1997)
One of my dearest friends was on the telephone. He said he was going to killing himself. He said he would, if necessary, enlist a doctor's help.
(April 12, 1997)
Any attempt to understand the thirty-nine deaths at Rancho Sante Fe, California, must start with Marshall Herff Applewhite. A fitting "Amen" is given by his son, Mark.
(April 5, 1997)
It was one of those memories that spring to mind for no apparent reason. I was lured in by a newspaper article entitled, "Twins are making money on the Internet."
(March 29, 1997)
Four of your five children and their grandfather are killed in a highway tragedy. What do you do? How do you respond to God? Read the moving story of Judy and Gary Darby -- they have lived it.
(March 22, 1997)
Defending his fabrications and additions to the story of the tragedy of Rosewood, Director John Singleton said, "I wanted to make a film that everybody will want to see, to satisfy a hunger and a need." Does his film produce the results he had in mind?
(March 15, 1997)
"Hello, Dolly!" the headlines shouted, and for a few moments our national attention was distracted from court room spectacles, sexual harassment claims, political sleep-ins, and White House denials which continually attempt to pull the wool over our eyes.
(March 8, 1997)
Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Diana Culp Bork, a former Justice Department attorney says, "It [is] too easy to walk away from debt." It is even easier than she thinks.
(March 1, 1997)
Employer, patient and easy to work with, seeks dedicated and enthusiastic people for position of Christian. The hours are long and the work is frequently difficult, but the fulfillment makes up for the investment. Interested and qualified applicants are invited to consider this position.
(February 22, 1997)
Three years ago President Bill Clinton signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Now the Supreme Court will take up the issue of its constitutionality, and this time, religious freedom really does hang in the balance.
(February 15, 1997)
On June 12, 1994, Ronald Lyle Goldman, a 25-year-old waiter at a popular California restaurant, and Nicole Brown Simpson, a 35-year-old mother of two children and a former waitress, were knifed to death. Some thoughts about the events which followed their deaths.
(February 8, 1997)
You have not heard a cigarette jingle since the Jets defeated the Colts in Super Bowl III, January 12, 1969. But if you're a Boomer, you can hum the Marlboro song or fill in the blanks: "Winston tastes good like a BLANK BLANK." Perhaps, you can understand my skepticism when I read, "Research has yet to document a strong relationship between alcohol advertising and alcohol consumption."
(February 1, 1997)
Inside my mailbox, the over-sized ugly pink envelope almost screamed. "Important: You have been issued a special color-coded reply envelope. Open at once to find it! Return immediately — $11,000,000 at stake!" And this was the one with the picture of Ed and Dick! Oh, joy! My lucky day!
(January 25, 1997)
The Fellows of the Jesus Seminar, a 200-member study group without ties to a single academic community with recognized New Testament facilities, publicly state that they do not believe that the New Testament is a document which is literally true. Does it surprise you, therefore, that when they released The Five Gospels, a 500-page volume billed as "the search for the authentic words of Jesus," they attributed none of the sayings of Jesus about his Second Coming or his victorious death and resurrection to actually having been said by Jesus?
(January 18, 1997)
The Jesus Seminar would have you believe that the Bible has been held captive by the church and by television evangelists, and that they are the chosen few to liberate it.
(January 11, 1997)
The world of the Christian church is currently experiencing a spiritual movement which is distinguished by frenzied laughter, boisterous noise, and uncontrollable behavior. Proponents are sincere and devout. Those inside of the movement unquestioningly declare that it is from God. Others, and include me in this category, are not convinced.
(January 4, 1997)