Tommy Mann

“We pass over the silly remarks of the President; for the credit of the nation we are willing that the veil of oblivion shall be dropped over them.” Those words served as a poor prophecy. They were part of an editorial written in the  Harrisburg Patriot and Union,  and they were in regards to Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address.    Imagine: one of the most iconic speeches in American history—possibly world history—being dismissed as silly remarks, destined to be covered by the veil of oblivion. That newspaper is still in existence today, although under a different name. Their 1863 prediction was so egregious that in 2024 the paper actually issued a retraction…161 years after it was written!   The writer of that piece demonstrated an arrogance that adds humor to his grave miscalculation. As much as we might snicker at his words today, it makes me think of the people now who are just as arrogant—and just as wrong—in their assertion that Jesus will be...

  The anonymous writer of Psalm 119 asked and answered this question in v.9: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your Word.”   Guarding does not mean haphazardly. Think about a soldier on guard duty; he must be vigilant or else many people can suffer. The King James Version renders this verse as, “By taking heed” according to God’s Word. Guarding, or taking heed, is a thoughtful, intentional process.    It is kind of like following a map. These days I rely on my GPS, but there was a time when we had to unfold a paper map and plot out our course like we were Louis and Clark. I hate getting lost, so I used to make sure I had solid directions before I went somewhere for the first time. One time I had to go into Fort Worth, and I wrote down each step for the journey, but I had an old map. Roads had been updated, but the map didn’t reflect it. I learned that no matter how carefully I followed the map, the wrong map will not get me where I n...

  Over several chapters in the book of Genesis we see some ironic repetitions. There is an old saying that tells us, “What goes around comes around,” meaning that a person’s actions usually have consequences for that person. Consider how things “come full circle” for these people:   Abraham lies to Abimelech, telling him Sarah is his sister rather than his wife. Abraham’s son Isaac lies to (possibly the same) Abimelech, telling him Rebekah is his sister rather than his wife.    Jacob deceived his father Isaac in order to get a blessing. Jacob was deceived by his uncle Laban, who gave him Leah instead of Rachel.   Rachel sent Bilhah to Jacob to make Leah jealous. Leah sent Zilpah to Jacob to make Rachel jealous.    Jacob used a coat and a slaughtered animal to trick his father into believing he was Esau.  Jacob’s sons used a coat and a slaughtered animal to trick him into believing Joseph was dead.     There is so much childishness i...

The Old Testament, specifically in books like Exodus and Deuteronomy, contains numerous laws that might seem pointless to us today. What can we glean by reading these ancient commands given to the Jews? Please allow me to offer one important truth.  The Jews were not the only ancient people to have laws. For example, the Law Code of Hammurabi, established in 1726 BC, states that if a man commits murder, his daughter can be executed in his stead. The Laws of Eshunna (circa 1800 BC) says that if a man kills someone’s female slave, he must make restitution by giving the slave owner two new female slaves. These law codes make it quite clear that men were of far greater value than women, and slaves were property. When we compare those Babylonian and Akkadian law codes with the law of God in the Old Testament, we see a completely different picture. Far from the modern claims that the Bible is chauvinistic, the Scriptures stand in stark contrast to the nations around them. Consider Deuter...

  The birth of Jesus is a story of paradox, where the incarnation demonstrates the humiliation of the greatest person in history. This is where Jesus “humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).”  The God from eternity past was born. In that moment Immanuel became an infant. The Creator was crying. The Savior was swaddled. The Messiah was in a manger. The Healer was helpless. The Divine was dependent.  The God from eternity past was born. The Omnipotent One who spoke the universe into existence would not say His first word for another year. He would nurse from the breast of a woman He made. Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emanuel.    Jesus was exactly what the world needed. If the world needed a soldier, God would have sent a five-star general.  If the world needed a monarch, God would have sent a dynastic king. If the world needed a fighter, God would have sent a heavyweight champion.  If...

In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel we are introduced to three important people. They each have a great story, but their names tell an even better story. The three people are John the Baptist, and his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth. All three of their names appear together in one verse: “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John (v.13).”     Zechariah (or Zacharias in some translations) means “Yahweh has remembered;” Elizabeth means “God has promised;” John, or Yochanan in their language, means “Yahweh is gracious.”    Their names tell a great story because they come on the scene at the end of the Silent Era, the 400 year span where God did not speak through angels or prophets. The last time an angel was sent with a message from God was to a minor prophet named Zechariah, and now, 500 years later, God sent Gabriel to speak to another Zechari...

  In Luke 15 Jesus gave three parables that had essentially the same meaning. They are the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (commonly called the prodigal son). In those parables someone lost something of value, and the parable shows the joy of the person finding what was lost.   In the first parable one sheep wandered off, and the shepherd left his 99 other sheep to find the one. In the second parable a lady lost one of the ten coins that made up her dowry. In the third parable a father watched as one of his two sons left home for a far country.    Think about those percentages. The father lost fifty percent of his sons, and he was broken. The housewife lost ten percent of her coins, and she turned the house upside down. The shepherd lost just one percent of his sheep, and he risked his life to find it. He could have said, “Oh well; I’ve got 99 more. What’s one lamb?”    That is not the attitude of the shepherd; neither was it that...