The 2024 United States presidential election is over, and the President-elect has a unique vantage point: He is also an ex-president. This is only the second time in US history that a man served two non-consecutive terms (the other was Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President 1885-1889; 1893-1897). The winner, Donald Trump, is in a class of his own. Colourful and controversial, a ‘street fighter in a suit,’ few people are neutral when he is the topic of conversation. It is important to ask the question: Will a second Trump administration be markedly different from the first? This article will offer some reflections. The road to obscurity: It has been said that Trump’s reelection is the greatest political comeback in American history. It is hard to argue against this point. Four years ago, Trump was heading into the political wilderness. Though he had some stunning successes in his first term, like a roaring economy, appointing a third of US Supreme Court justices, and four Middl...
It is the most celebrated holiday on the Western calendar. It is popular even in nations where Christians are in the minority. Christmas is one time of the year when you get the best opportunity to tell the story of Christ. The following article tells the Biblical story in harmony, drawing from the birth narratives of the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Great Announcement (Luke 1:26-38) For centuries, the Israelites waited for the promised king from the lineage of David. Like the shepherd king, this God-sent man would fight their battles, overcome their foes, and lead them to liberty and a ‘golden age.’ That special person heir of David was known as The Messiah: The Anointed One (Greek: Christ). God kept His promises - He always does - but not in the way they expected. The Lord sent no one less than the angel Gabriel, who stands in God’s presence, to a teenage girl named Mary (Hebrew: Miriam). She lived in an obscure Galilean village of no more than three hundred residents called Naza...