I've recently been thinking about the names of God. The things He calls Himself, and the references He makes throughout the Bible that tell us about Who He is and what His character is. This task was entirely too large for me to do alone, so I employed the help of ChatGPT. I asked it to search the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and compile every name, title, and description God gives of Himself, along with the original Hebrew or Greek, its literal meaning, and where it appears in Scripture. As I started reading through the list, I realized something I had never really thought about before. God rarely reveals Himself with just one name. Instead, throughout Scripture He reveals different aspects of His character to different people in different moments. To Abraham, He is the God who provides. To Moses, He is the great I AM. To Hagar, He is the God who sees. To David, He is Shepherd. To Israel, He is Healer, Banner, Peace, and Righteousness. Each name tells us something about ...
In March, executive orders from governors across the country forced us to stay home, to close schools and churches and to shut down private businesses. Businesses were classified as either "essential" or "non-essential." All businesses deemed "non-essential" were forced to close. This included markets, clothing stores, boutiques, dine-in restaurants, and beauty salons. State parks, city parks, beaches, walking trails, lakes, and other wide open spaces were closed as well. Many people feel that the "social distancing," as it has come to be known, and stay at home executive orders violate their constitutional rights, such as our First Amendment right to freely exercise our religion, our right to peaceably assemble, and that we shall not be deprived of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Some of the people who feel their rights have been violated have decided to exercise their First Amendment right to protest. Some have even chosen...