Philip Dampier's Blog

When God sent Joseph, Mary and Jesus out of Bethlehem he could have directed them in almost any direction. The danger was in Bethlehem. All the male children two and under were murdered only in that one city. The family of Jesus was led not to Nazareth, or Cana or…

Herod did his best to rid the world of its savior. He was the first but not the last to attempt murder of God’s only Son. Just imagine the greed it took to kill all the male children in a village. Symbolic of the hearts of man who would rather…

Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, NASU Christmas is finally here. It seemed like it would never arrive, didn’t it? Today we celebrate the birth of Jesus. While it is true that we don’t…

Oh little town of Bethlehem, too crowded for the Son of God. But you do have a stable to offer. A place built to shelter and feed the oxen and donkeys. Yes, there’s a manger inside. A wooden box to hold the animal’s food. It will make a perfect bed for…

When did the star appear in the East?  Was it when Mary conceived the Holy Child, or was it the night of our dear Savior’s birth? Which ever, it led wise men to seek the awaited king. It doesn’t matter when you see his star, either, early or late it…

I remember the first time I was in a cave and they turned the lights off. To say it was dark is an understatement of the grandest sort. It was that kind of darkness that people say you can cut with a knife. It was the kind of darkness the world…

Ever been faced with a difficult decision that you knew would probably be costly in one way or another? Chances are that along with the costly decision you were presented with an easy way out. Many of us have been tempted to take the course of least resistance and the…

When God first announced the birth of his only son he also announce his death. The very reason the Word would become a baby in the flesh was the same reason he would have to end his life. God’s relationship with humans was damaged because of the evil one and…

This passage is a great place to learn about the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian. The work of the Spirit is to set Christians free from the law of sin and death. The Spirit brings a new law of life through the work of…

The fourth and final step in sacred reading is contemplation. Many feel there is no difference between meditation and contemplation but we would like to point out that there are some important things about contemplation. These two ideas acting like bookends to prayer to exactly that. The prayer that goes…