Making a Happy Marriage
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
Recent scholarship has demonstrated that stronger marriages tend to focus on connection to one’s mate rather than self-enhancement. Studies in the past have emphasized relationship satisfaction models which tended to focus on the individual in the marriage rather than the quality of the marital union. People who research issues such as marital happiness have tended to focus on the satisfaction of the individual due to the nature of the society one lives in—a society that stresses individualism and personal fulfillment as the highest virtues to be achieved. One source avers, “If personal happiness is the ultimate outcome of marriage, then marriage will become a consumer good for individuals, evaluated and appraised through the lens of personal happiness.”1
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A Call for Help
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
The call came in at two o’clock in the morning. When the phone rings at that hour, it is almost never good news on the other end of the line. The person on the other end of the line was clearly drunk. For the most part, they were unintelligible apart from a few phrases that they were able to string together. The main words that I could make out were, “Johnny, help me, help me please.”
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Murder Justified?
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
The word of God is very plain about murder. It is a clear violation of God’s law for one to murder another human being. While the Bible does make distinctions between capital punishment and killing in self-defense, murdering someone “in cold blood” is sinful.
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Let’s Skip a Few Steps
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
We have a gentleman in our congregation who is a retired pilot from a major American airline. While teaching, he noted that there are things a pilot must do before he can take off in a plane. He noted, “There are 179 items on my checklist, and for my forty-year career, I checked every one of those items every time.” When you listen to people speak, you often learn something you did not know.
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Before You Ever Get There
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
Over the years, I have done a significant amount of concrete work. I learned how to create forms, pour, and finish concrete from my father. He was a concrete mason at the Air Force Base in Tullahoma, Tennessee for several years before his job changed. Learning his profession taught me many lessons about preparation and planning.
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It Leaves Scars
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
My father was one of thirteen children. Three children were premature and did not survive for very long. Altogether, there were ten, seven boys and three girls, who survived to adulthood. All were born or living around the time of the Great Depression. They grew up hard and were very rough with one another.
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Being Lost
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
I always endeavored to be on time for my dates. This date was scheduled during hunting season, and I knew what time I needed to leave the woods to shower and arrive on time for my evening rendezvous. I left the stand in plenty of time after spending most of the evening enjoying the beauty of nature. Unfortunately, this was an area that I had not hunted very often, so I became turned around in the woods. Being lost was a bad feeling, but I knew enough to seek out the light of a farmhouse and that fact would give me direction.
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It is not a Myth!
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
Just recently a preacher in our brotherhood recommended an article entitled, “The Multiple Truths of Myths.” This came after commenting on an article entitled, “Should We Take Creation Stories in Genesis Literally.” After being asked, “Are you saying we shouldn’t take the creation account literally?” He responded “yessir.” Such a response is sad but deserves some treatment and rebuttal.
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“I Knew You to be a Hard Man”
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
The Bible contains examples of people who attempted to blame God for their shortcomings. While God is not the source of temptation, He allows us to be tempted. James 1:13-15 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God" for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
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One is as Good as Another
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
Have you ever invited someone to church only to hear them say that “one church is just as good as another”? This creates much frustration in doing evangelism with people from denominations or even with those who have no church affiliation. The Bible teaches that there is one body or church (Ephesians 4:4), and this stands in stark contrast to what the world teaches about the topic of church affiliation.
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Refusing God’s Grace
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
A peculiar story is related regarding the refusal of a pardon that was offered by Andrew Jackson in 1829. There was a man named George Wilson who had been convicted of murder in connection with a robbery he committed. Wilson was good friends with someone who knew President Jackson, and that friend asked him to pardon Wilson.
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Polytheism is Okay?!
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
The Bible teaches that there is one God. Exodus 20:3-5 says, "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.” Much of the Old Testament deals with the idolatry of the Israelite people and God’s displeasure with their spiritual adultery. The word of God teaches that their national tragedies were tied to their pursuit of pagan worship practices and obeisance to foreign Gods.
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A Fisherman of Men
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
When I was younger, I always looked forward to fishing with my father. Sometimes people would ask about the type of fish that we would be angling for during our outings at the lake. My father would reply, “Any fish that will bite the end of our hook is good.” There are many parallels between fishing and doing evangelism.
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Seared with a Hot Iron
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
When I was in high school, I was an active member of our FFA chapter. In addition to being in the Future Farmers of America, I had classes in high school that taught skills that could be used on the farm and many other facets of vocational work. One such skill was welding.
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The Fight Is Not Over
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
The Bible teaches that God is aware of human beings before they are ever born. While theologians and scientists debate the moment a person has a soul, it appears that one is given a soul at the very moment of conception. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Instead of a unborn child being described as a “fetus,” scripture describes it as a “baby” (Luke 1:41).
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Olympic Mistake
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
By now, most people have heard about the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Paris. The responses over social media have varied from complete outrage to complete shock that the followers of Christ would respond in such a manner. Some have argued that the scene depicted by several drag queens was nothing more than the recreation of a pagan feast depicting Dionysus, the god of wine, fertility, and ecstasy. One of the creators of the scene even made this assertion.1 Still, many people viewed it as a recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the “The Last Supper.”
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Word Games with God
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus confronts the hypocrisy of the scribes and pharisees. Their perverted leadership had led some astray. Matthew 15:12-14 says, “Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
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Was Peter the First Pope?
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
Roman Catholic tradition places Peter in Rome and names him as the first pope. An immediate question might be, “How does Roman Catholic tradition measure up to scripture and historical facts relating to Peter’s travels during his lifetime?” For one to have a fuller understanding of the papacy, some examination of how the pope is view by certain Catholic Apologists might be in order.
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Month Long Pride Goes Before the Fall
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
In case you have not noticed from the coverage on television, June is gay pride month. This is offered “tongue in cheek,” because one cannot seem to get away from this “celebration.” It seems funny that it takes an entire month to celebrate “gay pride.” Perhaps it is more about celebrating the myriads of sexual genders and orientations that people have invented over the last few decades, and it takes an entire month to get them celebrated. After all, there are at least seventy-two genders!1 Perhaps supporters of these orientations and genders need about two and a half months to show their pride instead of just one.
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Various Sacrifices and Their Purposes
by Dr. Johnny O. Trail, LMFT
One cannot approach God without the shedding of blood. This was true in the Old Testament regarding sacrifices, and it is true in the New Testament when one considers the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
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