NOT FOR SUNDAY ONLY

Commentary by David Sisler

Columns from 2000

Your comment is welcome.
Write to me at: n4so@hotmail.com




  • GOODBYE, FAREWELL, AND AMEN

    • Personal thoughts as a ten and one-half year run in print ends.
    (December 30, 2000)

  • CHRISTMAS AS IT WAS ORIGINALLY CELEBRATED

    • "Get a free printer, scanner or webcam," the Dell computer ad shouts. "Hurry, before the spirit of giving leaves us." You buy our product before the spirit of giving leaves us! Christmas used to mean more.
    (December 23, 2000)

  • THE DEATH OF THE INNOCENT: WHEN LIFE IS NO LONGER PRECIOUS

    • Abortion. Female Infanticide. Euthanasia. Life has always been cheap. Life has always been precious.
    (December 16, 2000)

  • HONORABLE MEN DO HONORABLE THINGS

    • Presidential elections stymied in America and Moldova. No controlling legal authority. Where there is no divine revelation, no vision of God, the nation casts off all restraint.
    (December 9, 2000)

  • WHEN DID CHRISTMAS STOP BEING A HOLY DAY AND BECOME A HOLIDAY?

    • Once there was no room for him in the Inn, now there is no room for him in Christmas advertising. Once Christians appropriated December 25th for their own holy day, now it seems to be reverting to its previous owners.
    (December 2, 2000)

  • THY KINGDOM COME – DOES THAT INCLUDE RECOUNTS?

    • Thy will be done! Even if Father's will means that my business fails, even if it means that my sickness is not healed, even if it means that my candidate for president loses!
    (November 25, 2000)

  • THANKSGIVING: EVERY DAY, NOT JUST ONE DAY

    • I earn neither $4.71 per month, nor $25 million a year, but there is still plenty for which to give thanks.
    (November 18, 2000)

  • GOSSIP: A CALCULATING, ANONYMOUS DESTROYER

    • It is as deadly as a bomb, rifle bullet, or knife, but its destructive power continues almost without limit. And some of its practitioners call themselves "Christians."
    (November 11, 2000)

  • SINGLE ISSUE POLITICS: WHEN ONE ISSUE IS PARAMOUNT

    • How can we trust a candidate to courageously serve all of his constituents if he supports and promotes the deliberate murder of the weakest among us?
    (November 4, 2000)

  • RU-486 AND CHINA: THE CLINTON LEGACY OF SHAME CONTINUES

    • One of the enduring legacies of the Clinton Presidency is his continual degradation of women: the willing and the unwilling. Now comes the president's ultimate degradation of women – William Jefferson Clinton and RU-486.
    (October 28, 2000)

  • HE MEANT WHAT HE SAID AND HE SAID WHAT HE MEANT, OR DID HE?

    • "I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant is faithful 100 percent!" Horton, the Elephant, could be trusted that his statement was true. What about the rest of us?
    (October 21, 2000)

  • IF THE FOUNDATIONS ARE ABANDONED, CAN WE RELY ON "IT DEPENDS"?

    • Truth has no expiration date. Moral principles have not changed, only our adherence to them.
    (October 14, 2000)

  • MARRIAGE: WHEN THE WRONG AUDIENCE IS LISTENING

    • The most exacting set of instructions on living a successful marriage was written by a bachelor who advised celibacy. But when actually lived by a man and a woman, Paul's instructions to the church at Ephesus produce marriage-changing results. The trouble is, when we hear it, most of us listen to the wrong parts.
    (October 7, 2000)

  • THE BOY SCOUTS: WHEN THERE WAS NO ONE LEFT

    • Forgotten in the rush to strip the Boy Scouts of their historic position is one simple fact: respect does not automatically mean approval, and defense does not automatically mean ratification.
    (September 30, 2000)

  • OTHER THAN IN HORSESHOES, DOES ALMOST EVER COUNT?

    • Almost only counts in horse shoes, quoits, hand grenades, and atomic bombs. Are there any other times?
    (September 23, 2000)

  • WORSHIPING A GOD NO ONE KNOWS

    • When world religions meet.
    (September 16, 2000)

  • RU-486: DEATH AND PROFIT BY PRESCRIPTION

    • Question: What does the drug RU-486 and Susan Smith have in common? Answer: Both are proven baby killers.
    (September 9, 2000)

  • THE LORD'S PRAYER MAY BE "OUT OF BOUNDS" AT FOOTBALL GAMES

    • Is a prayer, prayed as a political protest, still a prayer? God is listening, but will he answer?
    (September 2, 2000)

  • LESSONS IN LIFE TAUGHT IN THE NEWS

    • In the news this week were three stories about life and death which are all too familiar commentaries about, well, life and death.
    (August 26, 2000)

  • THE CERTAINTY OF THE WORDS OF TRUTH

    • "Look out how you use proud words. When you let proud words go, it is not easy to call them back. They wear long boots, hard boots" (Carl Sandburg, Primer Lesson).
    (August 19, 2000)

  • YOU CAN PRAY ANYWHERE, EXCEPT IN CHURCH

    • "Let's remember Brother Joe in prayer today." On second thought, better not. Brother Joe might sue.
    (August 12, 2000)

  • THE BIBLE IS OFFENSIVE! THANK GOD!

    • Evangelical Christians unite! Buy cereal! Be offensive!
    (August 5, 2000)

  • IT'S EVERYONE'S FAULT EXCEPT MY OWN!

    • How refreshing it would be to hear someone, a baseball player, a politician, a sales clerk, anyone, say, "I did it. I was wrong. Please forgive me."
    (July 29, 2000)

  • IF EVIDENCE IS GATHERED, WOULD THERE BE A CONVICTION?

    • If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? If so charged, would you have the courage to plead "Guilty," knowing a death sentence awaited?
    (July 22, 2000)

  • THINGS OFTEN ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM

    • When is pilot error not pilot error? How can the New Testament be guilty of "establishment of relgion" and the Old Testament not be guilty?
    (July 15, 2000)

  • NEBRASKA TRIES TO PROTECT HELPLESS, SUPREME COURT OVERRULES

    • A baby is just inches away from birth, but the Supreme Court says it is constitutionally okay to murder her.
    (July 8, 2000)

  • "THE SEARCH FOR JESUS" IS A MATTER OF FAITH

    • I did not expect Peter Jennings to find Jesus on Monday night, certainly not the Jesus of the Bible, not with members of the Jesus Seminar as his primary guides.
    (July 1, 2000)

  • IF TIGER WOODS PRACTICES, WHY DON'T CHRISTIANS?

    • Practice makes perfect "they" say. In golf, perhaps. In life, perhaps not. But it will at least let observers will know where we stand.
    (June 24, 2000)

  • ARE SOME RIGHTS MORE RIGHT THAN OTHER RIGHTS?

    • I am tired of my rights being trampled, of my membership in a faith group being totally discounted. I am tired of someone as powerful as Procter and Gamble saying, through their corporate decisions, that my adherence to the Jesus of the Bible is insignificant.
    (June 17, 2000)

  • PROCTER & GAMBLE: WHY EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS CAN BE DISCOUNTED

    • The saga of "Procter & Gamble and the Dr. Laura Schlessinger Television Show" is easily outlined. Understanding P&G's unfolding corporate strategy is puzzling. Maybe evangelical Christians are to blame.
    (June 10, 2000)

  • THE WAKE-UP CALL OR THE SNOOZE BUTTON?

    • When Anna and Charles Stanely divorced, Paige Patterson called it a "wake-up call for America." The wake-up call has been ringing "off the hook" for decades. We have just pulled the pillows up over our heads and gone back to sleep.
    (June 3, 2000)

  • MEMORIAL DAY

    • Question: what does a furniture sale have to do with Memorial Day? Answer: abso-blooming-lutely nothing!
    (May 27, 2000)

  • WHO DOES HOLLYWOOD SAY THAT I AM?

    • The reel Jesus and the real Jesus.
    (May 20, 2000)

  • THE LAST VISIT TO HOME – FOR NOW

    • Homes – temporary and permanent.
    (May 13, 2000)

  • THE TONE OF THE CONVERSATION

    • When we've been warned.
    (May 6, 2000)

  • FINALLY IS ALWAYS RIGHT ON TIME

    • Delays? Changes of plans?
    (April 29, 2000)

  • GOOD NIGHT, IRENE

    • It was one of those memories which springs to mind for no apparent reason. Reflections on Easter.
    (April 22, 2000)

  • PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY? ABSOLUTELY NOT. LET'S SUE SOMEONE!

    • You chose the course of action. You knew it would harm you. You did it anyway. And now you want to sue?
    (April 15, 2000)

  • MASTERING THE SENIOR MOMENTS

    • So you think you're getting old?
    (April 8, 2000)

  • DON'T BE THE FIRST ONE TO STOP CLAPPING

    • To whom do we address the title, "Your Royal Majesty?" And how often?
    (April 1, 2000)

  • THE YELLOW PAGES

    • When I let my fingers do the walking through the "church" section.
    (March 25, 2000)

  • PRETTY PARK – A LESSON IN DISCERNMENT

    • "The letter did not sound like you," the writer said. And that discernment saved him exposure to a virus.
    (March 18, 2000)

  • HUMPTY DUMPTY

    • Breach of trust and other things, which cannot be fixed.
    (March 11, 2000)

  • THE BIBLE: OK IN THE CLASSROOM?

    • The Georgia Legislature has two bills to return the Bible to the class room. Is this the answer?
    (March 4, 2000)

  • Y2K AND BEYOND

    • Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water. Y2K revisited.
    (February 26, 2000)

  • CONDOMS AND CHASTITY

    • This week we witnessed the most unusual convergence of "national weeks" imaginable. Valentine's Day was the first day of the National Week of Chastity and National Condom Week.
    (February 19, 2000)

  • GORILLA DIES, THOUSANDS MOURN. BABIES MURDERED, MILLIONS APATHETIC.

    • On the death of gorillas and unborn babies.
    (February 12, 2000)

  • THE STEELERS ARE WAITING FOR NEXT YEAR, BUT IT WAS STILL A GREAT SUPER BOWL!

    • Don't let your dreams be shelved. And give credit, where credit is due.
    (February 5, 2000)

  • LOOK. YAWN. IT'S SNOWING.

    • Thoughts on things we take for granted.
    (January 29, 2000)

  • THIS TIME IT'S REAL AND IT ISN'T MADALYN'S FAULT

    • Preaching does not serve the general public, the FCC said recently. And their newest "religion" ruling does?
    (January 22, 2000)

  • SUE GOD!

    • In our litigious society, probably everyone has been sued except for God. An old "nemesis" suggests a few avenues to pursue.
    (January 15, 2000)

  • WHAT WOULD JESUS THINK?

    • If Jesus were to appear at a press conference today and a reporter were to ask him what he thinks of the church which carries his name, what would he say?
    (January 8, 2000)

  • MEANWHILE: HAPPY NEW YEAR?

    • A new year dawns, full of new hopes, new dreams. Meanwhile...
    (January 1, 2000)

  • ANTONINA, RUSSIAN BELIEVER

    • Meet a mother who prayed for twenty years before she received the answer to her prayer that her son would come to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
    (Special from 1993 – Reflections from my first trip to Russia)

  • WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?

    • In Samara in 1991, girls up to 18 years old had a total of 500 abortions. In 1992 the number of murdered babies sky-rocketed to 5000. In women over 18, there were so many abortions, the number could not be tabulated. Abortion is now the "preferred" method of birth control in Samara and throughout Russia.
    (Special from 1993 – Reflections from my first trip to Russia)

  • MISSION TO VOLGAGRAD

    • Going to Volgagrad (briefly named Stalingrad), I thought about a harvest field called Russia. God has called Americans to help harvest the crop faithful Russians have been planting for 70 years. This is not our revival, it is theirs. And I suspect that it is not so much our prayers which has brought on the harvest, but theirs.
    (Special from 1993 – Reflections from my first trip to Russia)

  • LENA

    • When I wrote this column, Lena Borisenka was 19. I've never seen anyone win my wife's heart so quickly. There was an instant attraction between Lena and Bonnie. The young Russian Christian had long been one of my favorites. She is a precious young lady, full of life and the love of Jesus. Today she is married to Sergei Groodson, the mother of two precious children, Ann and Zechariah, and an active member of her church. Meet my "Russian daughter."
    (Special from 1993 – Reflections from my first trip to Russia)

  • Click here for columns from 2005.

  • Click here for columns from 2004.

  • Click here for columns from 2003.

  • Click here for columns from 2002.

  • Click here for columns from 2001.

  • Click here for columns from 1999.

  • Click here for columns from 1998.

  • Click here for columns from 1997.

  • Click here for columns from 1996.

  • Click here for columns from 1995.

  • Click here for columns from 1994.
    Back to David Sisler's Home Page

    These commentaries may not be reprinted or republished without permission.
    Contact n4so@hotmail.com if you are an editor or publisher
    interested in running these editorials.

    Hit Counter by Digits