Arguably, the most intractable Middle Eastern challenge is finding a way to settle the Israeli-Palestinian debate over land. Since Israel?s victorious 1967 War, it has controlled the West Bank and Old Jerusalem, and, since the Oslo Accords of 1993 and 1995, both the Palestinian Authority and the state of Israel have accepted the premise of and have been working towards what is called a ?two-state? solution, where Israel would retain its sovereignty over much of the land it has held since 1967 but negotiate to create a Palestinian state out of the West Bank and Gaza strip. As 2017 ended and as 2018 has begun, there is speculation that the two-state solution is dead. Why?

Because of what Christ has done for us, Peter reaffirms that we are called to act: Dr. Eckman discusses 7 responsibilities for a believer to supplement & grow their Faith.

Late in year 2016, the Oxford Dictionaries selected ?post-truth? as the 2016 international word of the year. The dictionary defined ?post-truth? as ?relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.?

Peter’s writings at the beginning of his 2nd letter are a summary of how we should look at our lives:
God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life & godliness through the knowledge of Him.

Peter reaffirms personal humility & dependence on God and His grace, even when He appears to be silent. This grows & tests our faith and builds our hope, that we can be more dependent on Him & become all that He wants us to be.

The 20th century witnessed two World Wars, the Holocaust and the rise of atheistic communism. That century changed the role of the United States in world affairs. Since the administration of George Washington, the US largely followed the doctrine of isolationism, which was forcefully articulated in the 1823 Monroe Doctrine. But it was Woodrow Wilson?s decision to enter World War I and his subsequent 14 Points, which championed the principle of national self-determination and set the agenda for the 1919 Versailles Treaty, which challenged this isolationism. The US was going to ?make the world safe for democracy.?

Peter gives particular directions, first to the elders, how to behave themselves towards their flock; then to the younger, to be obedient and humble, & to cast their care upon God.

History demonstrates that a democracy is very fragile and the American democratic-republic is no exception. As we begin 2018, it is important to remember several salient facts about the American experiment. In a non-ideological way, I believe the case can be made that the American experiment is unique and exceptional, both in terms of its origin and its development.

As we begin 2018, I believe it is appropriate to give focus to a critical cultural issue that is destroying men, marriages and contributing in no small way to the denigration of women and children in our society. Several years ago, a local church in Omaha, Nebraska, where I live, asked me to do a presentation on pornography. I called the presentation ?Pornography: Adultery of the Heart.? I believe that the pornography crisis in our country has much more to do with what it means to be a man than simply an issue of lust and gross immorality. It is a result of the disastrous lies that our culture promotes about manhood. Joe Ehrmann has summarized those three lies:

Dr. Eckman discusses Spiritual Gifts, and Trials vs Temptation, as Peter’s writes about Living for God, and Suffering for being a Christian.