Tommy Mann

It is that time of year again where there is plenty of work to be done outside. Just yesterday I was weed eating and got myself into a tangled web of thorny vines, which poked me through my clothes, and stuck into my skin. I am yet to meet a person who likes thorns; instead, I hear people jokingly blame Adam for the very existence of these nuisances.  There is someone in the Bible who notoriously disliked thorns, and that was Paul. In 2 Corinthians 12:7 he wrote, "So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited." What was this thorn in his flesh? There has been much speculation over the centuries, but the truth is we do not know. Using a thorn as a metaphor, Paul complained that something was bothering him. This thorn "was given to" him from God to keep him humble, and yet it was a messenger of Satan. It seems that Go...

We don't use the word naughty very often, but when we do, we are usually thinking of one of the two lists found in the North Pole. "He's making a list, he's checking it twice, he's gonna find out who's naughty and nice." We associate the word with disobedience, or the opposite of being nice. But naughty actually derives from the Old English naught, which means zero, or having no value. The King James uses that word in Proverbs 6:12: "A naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a froward mouth." The ESV says worthless rather than naughty.  A person who is naught-y is a worthless person, someone who contributes nothing because he is living in sin.   On the other end of the spectrum, just a few verses later, is the haughty person. Verse 16 says there are seven things the Lord hates, and the first one on the list is haughty eyes, which is an old way of referring to pride and arrogance, someone who never drops his gaze, but turns his nose up in the a...

Have you ever heard someone ask that? "What gives you the right?" They can be asking that about any number of things:  What gives you the right to tell me what to do? What gives you the right to take that? What gives you the right to go in there? When that question is asked, it is because someone has done something they probably did not have permission to do; they are overstepping, and got called on it. Someone has assumed a right for himself that he did not have. Now imagine someone claiming to be a child of God. That is an audacious claim, teetering on blasphemy. A mere mortal saying he is God's child. What gives you the right to say you are God's child!?  The Bible tells us where we get that right: it is our faith. John 1:12 says, "But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." The word "believed" is better understood as trusted in. This is more than just intellectually agreeing to a fact;...

An old lazy couple was sitting in their rocking chairs and staring into the fireplace. The wife, believing it was raining but too lazy to get up and look out the window, told her husband to go see if rain really was falling. Too lazy to get up himself, the husband thought about it for a moment and then said, "Ah, just call in the dog and see if he's wet."  Some people will do anything to get out of doing something. In his proverbs, King Solomon had nothing good to say about lazy people, and nothing but good to say about those who work hard. The lazy he called slothful and sluggards, and the workers he called diligent and wise.  In Proverbs 14:23 Solomon said "In all toil there is profit." In 10:26 he compared said lazy people are as irritating as vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes.  But my favorite anecdote about the slothful person is found in 19:24--"The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it to his mouth."  In a simi...

With all the attention surrounding James Talarico after his recent primary win, I want to share my thoughts on why I believe he is dangerous. Because the media is hailing Talarico as a Bible scholar, and because he is a seminary student who often preaches in churches, many people view him as a trusted authority on God’s Word. While he certainly says some true things, I want to address some troubling statements he has made because I fear he is leading people astray. First, after stating that Christianity “points to” the truth, Talarico went on to say “other religions of love point to the same truth.” Which religions? He specifically mentioned Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and even Islam as “circling the same truth about the universe, about the cosmos. And that truth is inherently a mystery.” This is nothing new. This universalism may feel good because it is inclusive, but it is demonstrably false. These religions cannot all point to the “same truth” because they teach different things. T...

I have never been a night owl. I am not a lazy person, but I do enjoy my sleep. When evening comes, my body starts shutting down. New Year's Eve is the worst day on the calendar. There are times when I have to force myself to stay awake. Sometimes it is a work requirement, or maybe a road trip, and yes, New Year's Eve.  But in reality, I have to stay awake every day because that is what Jesus commanded us to do, just in a metaphorical sense. In Mark 13 Jesus spoke of His return to earth, and in verse 33 He said, "Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come." We do not know when Jesus will come back, so we must stay awake. I don't want to be found sleeping when He comes. The goal should be to live every day as if He is coming back in the next hour, because there is a lot of work to be done. When we lull ourselves to sleep thinking we have plenty of time, we are not carrying out the Great Commission. But if we truly live as if His return is ...