Jesus is universally respected. Even the followers of Islam claim him as a prophet. Mahatma Ghandi was deeply impressed with Jesus and was inspired by the Sermon on the Mount. Millions who have no use for the church still like Jesus. But the question remains, “Was Jesus right?” “Did he know what he was talking about?”
Monday, June 23, 2025
Was Jesus Right?
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
Making Sense of It All
I started writing this weekly column in 2009, reflecting on current events and life experience from a faith perspective. During these fifteen years current event have included: the attack at Fort Hood, the AME church in Charleston where 9 members were gunned down, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the massacre at Sutherland Springs, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among many others.
Monday, June 9, 2025
Is There Proof of Heaven?
Eben Alexander was convinced that there is nothing beyond this life. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1976 and received his M.D. from Duke Medical School in 1980. After he completed a fellowship in cerebrovascular neurosurgery at Newcastle-Upon Tyne, he served for 15 years on the faculty at Harvard Medical School with specialization in neurosurgery. As a physician and a scientist, he concluded that when the brain dies all consciousness ends. The person ceases to exist.
All that changed on November 10, 2008 when he suffered a severe attack of
bacterial meningitis that left him on life support and, by every measurement,
brain dead. After existing in this comatose condition for a week, Eben
Alexander miraculously woke up. When he did, all his preconceived scientific
assumptions about life and death were changed. The dramatic Near Death
Experience (NDE) left him convinced that life beyond this physical existence is
not only real, it is the greater reality.
He documented his experience in his book, Proof of Heaven. He writes, “The
physical side of the universe is as a speck of dust compared to the invisible
and spiritual part. In my past view, spiritual wasn’t a word that I would have
employed during a scientific conversation. Now I believe it is a word that we
cannot afford to leave out.”
Luke, a first century physician, after conducting exhaustive research and
extensive interviews wrote, “He also presented Himself alive after His
suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40
days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3).
Paul, arguably one of the greatest minds in history, stated, “For I delivered
to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was
raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to
Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred
brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen
asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all,
as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” (1 Cor. 15:3-8). Every other
event in history is dated by that singular life that gave the world its
greatest “proof of heaven.”
Monday, June 2, 2025
How To Remain Positive In A Negative World
Since this column reflects on current events and life experience, I am constantly searching the news for information. It is a daunting task. The headlines alone are depressing, let alone the blow-by-blow accounts of murder, theft, graft, rape, sexual abuse, prejudice, hatred, scams, suicide, mass shootings, political corruption and a looming recession. Sometimes the news seems like a black hole that drags every ray of light into its dark abyss. I spent some time this morning reading about the terrorist who set 12 peaceful protestors on fire with a flame thrower in Boulder, Colorado.
Download William Tinsley's book of poems, Sunrise Sunset, free eBook on Amazon June 3-6)
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Center of the Universe
For thousands of years we assumed the earth was the center of the universe. When Galileo advanced the proposition that the earth revolved around the sun and was, in fact, only one of many planets that did so, he was tried by the Inquisition and placed under house arrest for the remainder of his life. More recent investigations, along with Voyager’s first foray beyond our solar system, have verified that the earth is a very small speck of dust in the galaxies -- nowhere near the center of the cosmic creation.
Download Bill Tinsley's eBook, The Jesus Encounter, FREE on Amazon, May 27-29
Monday, May 19, 2025
What We Don't Know
The total of human knowledge is increasing at an astonishing rate. It is estimated that it took 300 years for knowledge to double after 1450, but only 150 years for it to double again. From 1900 to 1950 it doubled once more. It is now believed to double every 12 months and, with the build out of the internet and AI, is soon expected to double every 12 hours.
Only 200 years ago physicians thought that illness was caused by bad blood.
George Washington was virtually bled to death in 1799 as the favored treatment
for an obvious infection. One hundred years ago Henry Ford introduced the
assembly line and the Model T. Fifty years ago personal computers were unknown.
Thirty-five years ago, the World Wide Web was introduced. The first iPhone went on sale January 29,
2007. Our access to knowledge and the
world has dramatically changed. What is there that we do not know today that
will be common knowledge tomorrow? What is it that we think we know that will
be proved wrong or usless?
Each of us can comprehend only a small segment of the vast ocean of human
knowledge. And, when all our knowledge is compiled and computed it only
scratches the surface of the limitless universe. We are still confined to this
tiny spec of a planet. Humans have not been able to travel any further than the
moon. The vastness of the universe remains far beyond our reach. The closest
star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.33 light years away. Traveling at the fastest
speed imaginable with current technology, scientists estimate it would take
19,000 years to reach it. At our very best we can only observe the vast reaches
of the universe through our telescopes as though looking through a glass
darkly.
Regarding God, we debate our axioms and truths as if we have complete and
comprehensive knowledge about God. We must always be reminded by the words of
the prophet when God says, “My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your
thoughts. As the heavens are above the earth, so are my thoughts above your
thoughts.”
This is one of the reasons God sent his Son, simply because God is
incomprehensible. Knowledge of his universe is too vast. Knowledge of his
nature and character is too far beyond our mortal minds. As with his creation,
we can only observe and stand in awe.
We are like newborn babes first opening their eyes to a new world they have
never seen. We are like children giggling over newfound discoveries on the playground:
a stick, a flower, a worm, a caterpillar. I think God takes joy in this. He
takes pleasure in our discoveries of his intricate, complex and mysterious
creation.
At the same time, he is grieved by our blindness. The violence, cruelty, abuse and conflict that exists on the earth bears witness that for all our advance in scientific and technological knowledge, we are still unable to focus on the truths that matter most.
Jesus was the
only one who has ever known and seen all things clearly. For all of our
advances we have yet to learn the Sermon on the Mount and put it into practice.
Order Tinsley' book, The Jesus Encounter, FREE eBook May 27-29 on Amazon.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
We Are All Born By God's Design
Ten years ago Kensington Palace made the announcement: “Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8:34 am. The baby weighs 8 lbs 3 oz.” It was a typical British announcement with little more flair than the weigh-in of jockeys at the Kentucky Derby. But Prince William and Kate beamed with joy when, seven hours later, they presented their newborn daughter to the world.
Princess Charlotte is who she is by birth
and by choice. She was born a Princess because Prince William chose Kate
Middleton to be his bride. And she was born a Princess because she is the
daughter of their union.
Monday, May 5, 2025
Celebrating Diversity
Last Saturday, like millions of others, my wife and I sat back and watched the Kentucky Derby, an American tradition. Simone Biles, the Olympic gymnast gave the call, “Riders Up!” The top thoroughbreds in the world pranced onto the track. Everyone sang, “My Old Kentucky Home,” including my wife. They introduced the jockeys that would vie for the coveted prize. And there it was, right in the middle of the Kentucky Derby, “diversity!” Three of the jockeys were from the U.S., 2 from Brazil, 2 from Venezuela, 3 from Puerto Rico, 1 from Mexico, 3 from France, 1 from Italy, 1 from the Dominican Republic and 1 from Panama.
Tinsley's eBook We Beheld His Glory is free on Amazon May 6-7..
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
The Fast That God Desires
Thirteen years ago, I served as the pastor of an English-speaking church in Nuremberg, Germany. It was a fascinating experience. The church was small, only 30 or so, and composed mostly of young adults starting their careers in Nuremberg. They came from Cameroon, South Africa, India, Japan, Ukraine, Poland, Ireland, UK and, of course Germany. There were even a couple from the United States. Nuremberg, once shrouded under the dark cloud of Nazi history, has emerged in the twenty-first century as a cosmopolitan city welcoming people from around the globe.
Monday, April 21, 2025
Pope Francis
White smoke curled from a chimney over the Sistine Chapel at 7:06 pm on March 13, 2013. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina had been chosen as the new Pope. Within an hour he had selected his new name: Pope Francis.
In 2008 our family rented an apartment in Rome overlooking St
Peter’s Basilica. We strolled through St
Peter’s Square, the open plaza where a standing-room-only crowd of more than
one hundred thousand gathered to welcome the new Pope. We visited the Sistine
Chapel and stood beneath Michelangelo’s images of Creation and the Last
Judgment, where cardinals have gathered to choose the next Pope since
1846.
Tuesday, April 15, 2025
Persistence
Some of you will remember that we adopted Buddy, a tri-color corgi, 16 years ago after he was found starving on the streets of Fort Worth. I wrote his story for my grandkids, “just the way Buddy told it to me”: how Barney the Blood Hound helped him survive on the streets until they were picked up by the dog police. I named the story, Buddy the Floppy Ear Corgi because his left ear flopped when we first met. Unfortunately, the lifespan of our pets is much shorter than our own. We had to “lay him down” in 2022.
This must have been what Jesus was getting at when He said, “Suppose
one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend,
lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to
me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and
from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been
shut and my children [e]and I are in
bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’”
“I tell you, even though he will not get up and
give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his
persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you,ask, and it will be given to
you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks,
finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” (Luke 11:5-10).
Be persistent. Be
patient. Don’t get upset. Don’t give up. A better day is coming.
Buddy the Floppy Ear Corgi is free April 15-16 as am eBppl pm Amazon.
Monday, April 7, 2025
Liberty and Justice For All
I am not sure when I first learned the pledge of allegiance to our American flag. I did not attend kindergarten, though most of my friends did. So, I guess I learned it in first grade at Robert E. Lee elementary. With a portrait of the Civil War general peering over my shoulder, I faced the flag and tried my best, pledging to one nation “invisible.” That made sense. The nation seemed pretty “invisible” to me at the time. Later, I learned the word was “indivisible” and had deep meaning related to my school’s namesake.
Monday, March 31, 2025
Good and Evil in the Garden
The first blossoms and blooms have appeared on the trees. Seedlings have raised their heads from the soil. Spring is coming! There is something therapeutic about digging in the dirt, sifting the soil through our fingers, planting seeds and seedlings that flourish in the sun,
Tinsley's Civil War Novel, Bold Springs, is Free as an eBook on Amazon April 1-5. Chosen Best Christian Historical Fiction by Readers Favorite 2022.
Tuesday, March 25, 2025
Choosing The Better Portion
We love celebrating birthdays with our grandchildren. After the candles are blown out and we have all joined in singing “happy birthday,” it is time to cut the cake. The birthday celebrant gets to choose the “better portion,” usually the corner slice or the one with the most icing. The younger the child, the more likely they are to make an honest choice. As we grow older, we defer, out of a desire to be polite or to conceal our gluttony.
Dinner was approaching and Martha was doing her best to cook up enough food to feed fifteen people, Jesus, his 12 followers and her own family. Outside, the men were deep in conversation and, in their midst sat Mary, Martha’s sister. Finally, Martha had enough. She burst through the door and demanded Jesus tell her sister to come help in the kitchen. But Jesus shocked everyone in the room with his response. “Martha, Martha you are anxious and worried about so many things and Mary has chosen the better portion,” (Luke 10:41).
Tuesday, March 18, 2025
What We Learned From Covid
It is hard to believe it has been 5 years since Covid brought the world to its knees. On March 21, 2020 my wife and I invited a group of our neighbors to bring their lawn chairs and meet in our driveway. Ten of us showed up and positioned our chairs 6 feet apart. A few had met, but most did not know each other. Our neighborhood was typical of most suburbs. We passed each other coming and going to work, then disappeared into our garages. We occasionally saw each other walking our dogs, but we rarely spoke. Faces might be familiar, but we didn’t know each other’s names. But that Saturday was different. Under the ominous cloud of the Coronavirus, our neighbors were hungry to meet each other, to talk and to share.
The group included a widow in her 70s, two young couples in their 20s, a couple in their 30s recently moved from Philadelphia and a couple in their late 40s, recently married and adjusting to a blended family. My wife and I had been married more than 50 years. The gathering was not somber. There was much laughter. One couple brought gifts of toilet paper with a card: “Just a little something to show that we got your back.” But there was a serious undercurrent, not knowing what comes next. We each introduced ourselves and shared how the COVID crisis was affecting us and our families. At the end, I led the group in prayer.
Bill's book, Bold Springs, is Free as an eBook on Amazon March 18-19. Chosen best Christian Historical Fiction by Reader's Favorite in 2022.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
What We Can Learn From the Birds
I grew up in Texas, often wakened by the rasp of blue jays outside my window, frequently entertained by mockingbirds with their collection of stolen songs. Buzzards circled in the sky, high overhead on hot summer days, riding the wind, barely moving their wings.
Tuesday, March 4, 2025
God's Metrics
We
live in a world of metrics. We are obsessed with measuring progress in almost
every area of life. The business world has created an entire glossary of terms
for measuring CPM (Corporate Performance Management), ROI (Return on
Investment), Churn Rate (the measure of customer or employee attrition over a
specified time), EBITDA. (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and
Amortization), to name a few.
Our most recent metric seems to be money measured in the billions and trillions
of dollars. Thousands of Federal
employees have been laid off in what DOGE claims to be cost-savings
efforts. The three-year war in the
Ukraine seems to have come down to billions of dollars in mineral rights. A trade war over tariffs has erupted between
the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China.
Education has long used measurements to determine a student’s future. Any student with ambitions beyond secondary
education is familiar with the stress and importance of the SAT, ACT or, to
enter graduate school, the GMAT, GRE, LSAT and MCAT.
Sports is filled with metrics. Hundredths of a second separate sprinters,
downhill skiers, bobsledders and speed skaters on the podium. PGA golfers are rated by average score,
percentage of fairways hit, greens in regulation, putts per round and many
others. Baseball is synonymous with statistics: RBI, OPS, BA, BB/K, ERA, etc.
The list is long.
If measurements are so important in other areas of life, it might be good to know God’s metrics. How does God measure success or failure?
Most of us assume that God’s measurements are limited to religion: church
attendance, offerings, budgets, building, religious ceremonies and service.
Surprisingly, according to the Bible, these things are not God’s primary
concern.
The prophets taught that God could care less about religious ceremonies. In
Amos, God says, “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain
offerings, I will not accept them; …Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down
like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
In Isaiah, God says, “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to Me; … when you spread out your hands in prayer, I
will hide My eyes from you; … Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove
the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek
justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”
When Jesus confronted the religious leaders of his day, he reproved them for
focusing on religious disciplines. “You
have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and
faithfulness. These are the things you
should have done.” (Matthew 23:23).
Monday, February 24, 2025
Cemetery
Cemeteries can be fascinating places. The monuments and tomb stones bear record to generations who inhabited the spaces we now inhabit, walked the same streets, climbed the same hills, breathed the same air. I once walked through the cemetery with my father-in-law and listened as he told stories about his friends and family who were buried there. My wife and I now visit his grave and her mother’s buried side-by-side in that same cemetery.
Bill Tinsley's book of poems, People Places and Things is FREE February 25-27 on Amazon Kindle.
Monday, February 17, 2025
The Viral Gospel
The power and potential of anything “going viral” is mind boggling. “Going viral” was once limited to communicable diseases, the kinds that are so easily transmitted that they can rapidly escalate into an epidemic, or, as with Covid, a pandemic. In our day the term means something quite different. With the aid of the Internet, email, X, Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp, text messaging and You Tube, what was obscure can “go viral” and become suddenly famous.
The Swedish teenage climate activist, Greta Thornberg, was catapulted to fame after she posted her first protest as a 15-year-old on Instagram and twitter. Within a week she gained international attention. Her actions went viral on Facebook and other media and in December 2019 Time named her the youngest ever “Person of the Year.”
Paul spoke of.”the gospel which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly
bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also
since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth.” (Colossians1:6). And again, “For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace
which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to
abound to the glory of God.” 2 Cor 4:15, “I
thank my God through Jesus Christ … because your faith is being
proclaimed throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8).
When the Gospel goes viral, it requires more than posting a few sentences or
a video clip on the internet, more than “clicking” and forwarding
information. The Kingdom of God goes
viral when lives are transformed by faith in Jesus Christ so that society is
saturated with honesty, integrity, justice and generosity. Changed lives change the lives of those
around them. The Gospel has gone viral in previous generations. It could “go viral” in ours.
Monday, February 10, 2025
A "Christian" Nation
Throughout my lifetime I have always been grateful and proud of our American reputation as a “Christian” nation that cares for the disadvantaged, the poor and the oppressed. In 2005 I visited Indonesia following the tsunami that decimated the islands in that region of the world. I stood on the beach at Banda Aceh and listened to the gentle waves on the shore while the Indonesian people strolled along the jetties. It was a beautiful and peaceful afternoon. Behind me stood a lighthouse that had been erected as a beacon to passing ships. It now stood as a monument to the tragedy that struck on December 26, 2004. The top of the lighthouse towering above me had been blown apart by the powerful surge of water.
Aceh is perhaps the most rigid Muslim state in the world, governed by strict
Sharia law. It is ruled by the Koran and the Muslim Imams. It prides itself as
the “gateway to Mecca.” Prior to the tsunami Christians were not allowed
entrance into the region. But the day the tsunami struck, everything changed.
The city of Aceh was virtually wiped out by the massive wall of water.
I was visiting with a group of Americans attempting to assist the
Non-Governmental-Organizations that had been allowed into the country to help
the people rebuild. Separated from the rest of the world and taught that
Christianity is evil, many of the people were asking why Christians were the
ones who responded the most to their disaster. President Bush immediately
pledged $350 million to help with the recovery. Like many Muslim countries, the
people of Aceh equate America with Christianity.
I noticed a woman watching us. She was sitting on her motorcycle. Almost all
Indonesians rode motorcycles. The streets were filled with them. For days I had
watched them leaving for work in the early morning, weaving their way along the
streets, whole families balanced on two wheels, the father driving, one or two
children in his lap, the mother behind him with another child. I watched young
women, their blue and green hijabs flying in the wind. Through an interpreter I
struck up a conversation with the woman.
She asked if we were Americans. We said yes. She told us that she was at this
very spot when the tsunami hit. She said it carried her and her two children
more than two miles inland. One child was separated and drowned. Her husband
and the rest of her family were killed. Only she and her son survived, but he
was badly injured. His wounds were infected and he was dying. She said an
American doctor came and treated her son and he lived. In spite of her deep
sorrow and loss, she smiled, not just her face, but with her eyes, and said, “I
want to thank you for coming.”
… Is it not to break your bread with the
hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see
the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own
flesh? Then your light will break out like the
dawn, and your recovery will spring up quickly; and
your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will
be your rear guard,” (Isaiah 58:6-8).
Monday, February 3, 2025
A Healthy Heart
According to the American Heart Association, “The epidemic increase in heart disease mortality ended in the 1960s or 1970s.” Deaths from heart disease have fallen dramatically over the last 50 years. Heart-healthy alternatives are produced in almost every food category. Restaurants include heart-healthy menus. Smoking has been banned in most public places. Cheerios and oatmeal both claim to help with a healthy heart. Physicians and non-profits promote diet-and-exercise. Nevertheless, both of my wife’s brothers died of heart attacks. One brother collapsed in his garden. The other made it to a hospital.
I first read Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s book, Aerobics,
in 1982. It was a groundbreaking book that opened the eyes of millions to the
benefits of aerobic exercise and a healthy diet for a healthy heart. When I
visited Brazil, I was fascinated to find hundreds of Brazilians walking and
jogging every morning to get in their “Cooper.” The doctor’s name had found its
way into Portuguese as a synonym for heart-healthy aerobic exercise.
When I followed Cooper’s regimen, I experienced the benefits: lost weight, increased
strength and stamina. Unfortunately, I have not always followed those
disciplines, and it shows. Developing a healthy heart requires more than
knowledge.
As important as it is to maintain a healthy heart physically, it is even more
important for us to develop a healthy heart spiritually. The Bible clearly sets
forth the disciplines and characteristics of a healthy spiritual heart. They
include gratitude, hope, forgiveness and love. If we discipline ourselves to be
grateful every day for what God has done, if we hope when things look hopeless,
if we forgive those who injure us, if we love those of other nationalities,
ethnicities and languages, like the Good Samaritan, we will have a healthy
heart.
But, like our physical heart, having a spiritually healthy heart requires more
than knowledge. We may know that we need to be grateful, hopeful, forgiving and
loving. But how do you create heartfelt gratitude, hope, forgiveness and love?
In the spiritual realm, this requires a spiritual heart transplant. God must
create a new heart within us, something that He is more than willing to do. We
are all born with spiritual heart disease. Jeremiah says, “The heart is more
deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer.
17:9). But later he writes, “I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the
Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God.” (Jer. 24:7). And in
Ezekiel He says, “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit
within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh.” (Ez. 36:26).
God sent His son Jesus so that He might create in us a healthy heart. He
changes the heart that has grown callous, bitter and resentful into one that
overflows in gratitude. Someday our physical heart will beat its last beat and
our bodies will die. But the spiritually healthy heart that God creates will
live forever.