Fresh from the Garden

The Scala Sancta are the steps that Jesus supposedly climbed on his way to Pontius Pilate that Friday morning. The 28 steps are nearby one of the most sacred Chatolic church, St. John Lateran in Rome. The steps were supposedly brought from Jerusalem by Helen, the mother of the emperor Constantine. A forgery… I stood at the bottom, wondering; was there any reason to believe someone would bring a staircase here all the way from Jerusalem? Until today, thousands are going up in their knees, mumbling prayers and hoping to be forgiven. The Scala Sancta made me feel revolted and angry. Even my daughter, Ingrid (15 years old) exclaimed in surprise: I kan’t believe they still doing this!”... I remembered that Luther, the devout pilgrim, had climbed these steps on his knees, feeling ever more hopeless and confused as he climbed. He should have been going up to freedom; instead, his feelings went into the depths of self-doubt. As he hobbled up the steps, he was praying to get his grandparents o...

  Suddenly Armageddon is trending again. Every few years the same headlines return: Conflict in the Middle East. Rumors about rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. John Haggee type of preachers with a chart and yelling in a microphone full of confidence. Many Christians are plugged into a familiar script: the temple must be rebuilt, a 7-year tribulation must begin, prophetic dominoes must fall in a very specific order, and then finally Jesus returns. The problem is not enthusiasm about the Second Coming. Scripture invites that hope. The problem is when speculation replaces careful Bible study. And here is where things become complicated for the Seventh-day Adventist Christians. Because of this constant rush to label every political tremor as the final signal, our mission actually becomes harder. When people hear “Jesus is coming soon,” many no longer hear hope. They hear noise and fear and speculations. Some will eventually loathe the very subject of the Second Comin...

I was standing in line at Walgreens, dressed on my way to AU, minding my pastoral business (which at Walgreens usually means toothpaste and mints). The gentleman next to me kept staring. Finally, he said, “You look familiar. Are you a lawyer?” “No.” “A doctor?” I did shake my head. “A professor?” “No.” He paused. “I give up.” So, I asked him, “Why didn’t you ask if I’m a janitor? Or a cashier? Or a plumber?” He shrugged. “Because of the way you are dressed.” Aha. So, it still matters. Like it or not, appearance still speaks. A suit suggests degrees. A uniform suggests skill. A hard hat suggests strength. Clothing is a language, and we are all fluent in it. But here’s the other side of the Walgreens’ interaction. A suit can also deceive. A sharp jacket can hide a dull character. A polished shoe can cover shaky integrity. History and recent headlines have shown us that a well-tailored outfit can belong to a con artist as easily as to a respected professional.   ...

On a freezing January day in 1889, in Carlo Alberto Square in Turin, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche witnessed a horse being brutally beaten by its driver. Overcome, he reportedly ran to the animal, threw his arms around its neck, wept, and collapsed. From that day forward, his mind never recovered. He spent the last decade of his life in a mental asylum. Something in him seemed to snap under the crushing weight of reality. All his brilliance, culture, and intellectual firepower had not reduced the cruelty of the human heart by even a fraction. Intelligence could diagnose the sickness - but it could not cure it. There are days when we understand that feeling. When headlines grow heavier by the hour. When compassion feels rare, truth negotiable, and violence excusable. When scandal piles upon scandal - like files stacked high, dirt accumulating faster than it can be cleared. We’ve heard it said, “If you pray for rain, you have to deal with the mud.” But what do we do when ...

Once upon a time - not in ancient Jerusalem, but somewhere between NW Indiana traffic and Chicago unholy wind and wicked road tolls - there lived a modern Solomon by the name… Solomon, of course. Surrounded by podcasts, push notifications, hot takes, AI-generated “facts,” and relatives who “did their research,” Solomon prayed: “Lord, I don’t need more money, more followers, or more arguments on social media. What I really need… is wisdom.” Then the answer came in as a voice saying: - Since this is your heart’s desire, and you have not asked for wealth, possessions, or honor, nor for the downfall of your enemies, nor even for a longer lifespan, but for wisdom and discernment in an age of fake news, deceptive information, artificial intelligence, and very strong opinions with very little listening… I am sending you somewhere special - Go to the Seventh-day Adventist Church , where Pastor Ovidiu is pastoring. There you will receive not only information , but biblical c...

First came WIKILEAKS and the PANAMA PAPERS massive data leaks exposing corruption, incompetence, and the way power-hungry humans quietly pull the strings of wars and alliances, while stashing money in offshore havens and giving speeches about “shared sacrifice” and “tightening our belts.” Turns out the only belts being tightened were ours. Fast-forward a few years, and now we’re dealing with something far darker: EPSTEIN FILES. WikiLeaks exposed power and political deception. Panama scandal exposed financial lies. Epstein files exposed moral rot. Not just greed, but abuse. Not just sin, but silence. Not just evil, but protection. Power shielding power. The problem isn’t only that some elites are corrupt. The problem is how many knew - and how few spoke. Different scandals. Same class. Same pattern. Money hidden offshore.  Sins hidden behind NDAs.  Truth buried under influence, lawyers, and “nothing to see here.” And here’s the uncomfortable part: these aren’t fringe figures. T...