Tommy Mann

Matthew, Mark, and Luke each contain the account of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil. Satan told Jesus to turn stones into bread in order to feed Himself; he told Jesus to bow down to him; and he told Jesus to dive off of the temple and see if the angels would save Him. Jesus responded to each temptation by quoting Scripture, saying, "It is written...Again, it is written...for it is written..." (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) The devil does not tempt us in those exact ways because we do not have the ability to turn stones to bread, and no guardian angels are waiting to catch us if we do a swan dive from a sky rise. He rarely tells people to bow down to him; there are very few devil worshippers.  And yet those are the basic temptations he uses because they follow the same framework. He tempts us to turn stones into bread when he tries to get us to doubt that God will provide for our needs. He tempts us to bow to him when he tries to get us to live life for ourselves rat...

The book of Proverbs equates living right with living long. 10:27 says, “The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short.” 14:27 says, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.”  19:23 says, “The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.” But we probably all know people who lived for God and yet didn’t live as long as we would have liked. Is the Bible wrong? This is one of those times we have to remember that proverbs are rules of thumb. Sometimes wicked people live long, and sometimes righteous people don’t. Don’t you ever think less of a believer who lived a short life, thinking it must have been God’s punishment. More often than not, though, fearing God leads to prolonging our days. Part of that is because, if you fear God, you will make better choices. Those who fear God are not as likely to get drunk and drive their car off a bridge, or de...

Baptism is an important ordinance in the church, but it is often misunderstood. Many people view it as a religious relic or superstition, treating it like a lucky rabbit's foot. I have seen quite a few videos on social media of celebrities getting baptized, including athletes at their team practices. While I hope these are sincere, part of me wonders how many players hope the baptism will help them score touchdowns, and how many celebrities hope the baptism will further their career.  Baptism is not something we do to hedge our bets, like Pascal's wager (if the Christian is wrong, no harm done, but if the atheist is wrong, heaven and hell hang in the balance; therefore, trust in God). Neither is baptism something we do in hopes that God will bless us. Baptism is a picture of what a person professes to believe. When the Ethiopian eunuch believed, he was baptized on the spot. Baptism publicly proclaims the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as the candidate goes under the w...

Christians should be joyful people. Unfortunately we often present ourselves to the world as angry or sourpusses, and the world understandably will not find our faith attractive.  We should be joyful because God has been good to us. We will certainly face hardships just like everyone else, but God has supplied us with eternal blessings. On our worst day we still have our sins forgiven, God's Holy Spirit within us, and a future home with the Lord.  So we should be joyful. And if we are joyful, we should make a noise. Psalm 100 begins with these words: "Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!" We typically associate this "noise" with singing.  Some people act as if the instruction is to make a solemn noise to the Lord. Church, they say, is a place of quiet reverence. No instruments, no clapping, no raising of the hands. But the Bible frequently tells us to praise God with shouts, with clapping, and with instruments (even percussion!). Around God's thro...

Although we don’t know the date that Jesus was born, December 25 th is when we celebrate the event, where God came near in order to make salvation available. In Matthew 1:21 an angel visited Joseph and told him, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Christmas is a big deal. Without it there would be no Calvary, no empty tomb, and no hope of heaven. It is great news for us. We have everything to gain because of Christmas. It is the celebration of the incarnation—where God put on flesh and made His dwelling among us. It is Immanuel—God with us. Salvation is a free gift to us, but it cost Jesus tremendously. Think about the cost of Christmas, what Jesus gave up in order to come save His people from their sins.   He traded the comfort of angels for the company of animals He traded the dignity of heaven for the drabness of earth He traded splendor for squalor   He went from adore to abhor He went from being served...

 I found an app called We Croak. It is not a game, a platform, or any kind of useful tool. We Croak is an app that reminds you that you are going to die.  For those interested, this app will send you five notifications throughout the day reminding you that everyone dies ("We croak," it says). With each alert comes a quote from a poet or philosopher with some allegedly profound thought to accompany this invited reminder of mortality.  I downloaded the app out of morbid curiosity, but I uninstalled it when I realized it costs $19.99 a year. People are actually paying twenty bucks for their phone to interrupt them five times a day telling them they will die. I tried to find the positive element in this, so I will offer two. One, if you are not ready to die, this can be a good reminder to make any changes you need to make before it is too late. But don't wait for the next notification. They just become white noise after so long. If you do not know that heaven would be your ho...