The Singular Challenge of AI

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Don Merritt

I’m really not so sure about AI. I see it as having amazing potential, both for good and for ill. Here’s an example: Recently I saw a video on You Tube that took several old photos of New York City from the early 1900’s and brought them to life in high quality color, sound and animation. I enjoy these because they can bring the past alive like nothing ever has before; yet this one was different. It began with a very famous old photo showing a smartly dressed man in a tweed coat, tie and a newsboy hat. As the picture slowly comes alive, the man begins to speak. He is the narrator of the video and is in every scene walking around and talking to the camera… in scenes where he was not present in reality.

The effect was brilliant, but they made scenes come alive differently than they really were. Several months ago, I saw another video where they took a sound recording of Adolf Hitler’s conversational voice, used AI to clean up the recording, and then had audio of him speaking with the words he used in a speech screeching and shouting. After that, they went one more step and had him saying the same things in English. I can’t help but wonder how long it’s going to take someone to use that disgusting Hiter script in the voice of a modern politician and claim it’s a secret recording of a back room meeting somewhere and put it on the internet.

Or maybe that’s already happened… See what I mean? I’m just not so sure about AI.

However, I can report some encouraging news to you, dear readers.

This past Friday I asked Alexa what the weather would be (on Friday). The answer was “Right now it’s 30 degrees. The low will be 17 with a high of 30…” Then I said to myself, OK the high is now so today is staying cool.

Alexa said “No, the high will be later today, right now it is 30 degrees with a low of 17 and a high of 30.” So, I said Hey, if it’s 30 now, and the high today is 30, then isn’t the current temperature the high for today?

And then it happened…

AI, in this case Alexa, said, “Yes Don, you’re exactly right. I was so caught up in the weather details; I missed the obvious.”

I never knew that AI would admit being wrong and make a correction. HAL never did that when he was arguing with Dave back in 2001!

What? HAL isn’t real? Are you sure?

Maybe I should just ask AI to teach me to write better.

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Pathways- A Sunday Reflection

Posted on February 22, 2026 by Don Merritt

Have you ever walked down a sidewalk and looked down at it and wondered who has been there before you?  OK, probably not very often

This particular sidewalk is in Annapolis, Maryland right outside the State House.  The photograph was taken entirely by accident; it was an “inadvertent click” as it were, but it memorialized a pathway that has been trod by all sorts of people for going on 300 years now.  Maybe some of the greats of American history have walked here…

Here’s something that comes to mind: In early 1861 Union troops took control of the city, driving the secessionist forces out, so surely they marched in the vicinity of the State House.  See?  History was made on this sidewalk!

But mostly regular folks like you and I walk along these streets.  Where are they going?  (We were going to lunch)  What are they all about?  Are they ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’?  Are they walking down this sidewalk past the old State House following Jesus Christ, or are they following the dreams and pursuits of selfish people?

I guess what I’m really getting at here, is the need for us to share our faith.  OK, I’ll admit I’ve taken an unusual pathway to get here… Of all the people who have traveled this, or any other path, how many desperately need to hear about the Good News of the Gospel?  Probably quite a few.

So, are we going to keep the greatest news of all to ourselves?

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Harvest, Weeds and Apocalyptic Elements

Posted on February 21, 2026 by Don Merritt

Matthew 13:36-43

I posted on this text the other day in our study of the Parables of Jesus; it’s Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Weeds. As I write most posts on this site, I do my best to keep it more or less non-academic in presentation. There are several very fine blogs and web sites that explain the Scriptures in an academic fashion for an academic audience. Here, however, I try to explain the Scriptures for people who just want to understand and walk with Jesus. There are certainly times when a little extra background is helpful to our understanding, and this is one of them.

Parables, by their very nature, often fall into a category that we can label as being “Apocalyptic”.  Such passages contain bits of information that we call “Apocalyptic elements”. Parables are not literal events, but they are stories that Jesus (of someone else) told to teach a lesson or to reveal a truth indirectly. They are stories that reveal something that they don’t literally say. The key here is that parables reveal something; they arethus apocalyptic in nature.

This word, apocalyptic, can be quite confusing for people in our time, because in common usage, it has come to mean something quite different than its meaning in a Biblical context. In common usage, it usually refers to the end of something, usually catastrophic, even the end of the world. In a Biblical context, it is an adaptation of a Greek word which is apokalypsis. Mounce defines it this way:

ἀποκάλυψις (apokalypsis)

Strong: G602

GK: G637

a disclosure, revelation, Rom. 2:5; manifestation, appearance, Rom. 8:19; 1 Cor. 1:7; 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Pet. 1:7, 13; 4:13; met. spiritual enlightenment, Lk. 2:32 1

In the Parable of the Weeds Jesus used a few apocalyptic elements that He explained in the text above, and when we recognize the larger implications, we can learn some important things about the Kingdom, the larger community of believers, the Church.

With all of this said, I would offer an “editorial opinion”:

I hear and read a great deal of criticism of the church today, and I also offer some of my own periodically. These weeds have created chaos to a certain degree, filling the church with hierarchies, forms, rules, ceremonies, rituals, and many other abuses, arguments, discord and divisions that tear people away from Christ. Yet I grow weary of those who blame the Kingdom (Church) for the subversion of the weeds planted by Satan. Can’t they see that they are playing Satan’s game?

Look carefully: The harvest, the ones who “will shine in the Kingdom of their Father” are not the ones who allow themselves to be choked off and separated from the Kingdom, they are ones who persevere, who resist the devil to the end.

We might ask ourselves where the constant critics are in this picture…

You see, dear reader, these old parables, in spite of their ancient agricultural metaphors, hit just as close to home today as they did when Jesus taught them, especially if we recognize the significance of the apocalyptic elements they contain.

1 Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament edited by William D. Mounce. Copyright ©2011 by William D. Mounce. All rights reserved.

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Parable of the Lost Sheep

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Don Merritt

Matthew 18:10-14

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

Luke 15:1-7

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders  and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Looking at these two versions of the story, it is interesting that Matthew doesn’t mention the presence of the Pharisees in this gathering, while Luke does. Whether they were there or not really doesn’t affect the meaning or significance of the parable, yet Luke’s mention of them adds a bit more flavor to the scene.

It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the Pharisees and teachers of the law are grumbling about Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners, when He has so recently eaten with Pharisees and teachers of the law; do you suppose they were the “sinners” in the equation?

Probably not, but they easily could have been.

Matthew begins as Jesus was using a little child as an illustration of the greatest citizen of the Kingdom of heaven; in this passage, the “little one” transitions into the metaphor of sheep which represents someone in the Kingdom. Matthew 18:10 is the transitional verse; we must not disdain or “despise” one of these “little ones”.

What this means is that we must never have an attitude that would devalue anyone, for they are precious, sacred really, in God’s sight. The reason given is that they have an angel in heaven with direct access to the Father. Unfortunately, this concept isn’t developed here into a “doctrine” and we are left to figure out exactly what Jesus was referring to, and the result is that there are many ideas on this subject. The old Jewish tradition has a complex doctrine on angels; angels are directly associated with the nation of Israel. In the New Testament, angels are associated with individual churches in Revelation 2-3 and are referred to as “ministering spirits” by the author of Hebrews. This verse (18:10) is the one cited by those who believe in the concept of “guardian angels”. How ever you might view this, one thing is certainly clear; if we devalue our brother or sister, our action will come to the attention of the Father in heaven.

Jesus goes on in the remaining verses to underscore this using the metaphor of a shepherd and a wandering sheep. In the parable, a sheep wanders off from the flock, and the shepherd leaves the flock to find the lost sheep. When he finds the sheep, he is filled with joy for the lost sheep, having more joy over finding the lost sheep than he does for the remainder that didn’t wander off.  The message is clear enough; God does not want a single one of His children to perish, and He is concerned with even the least of His children. If we are the cause of another to fall away or wander from the “flock” God will not be amused.

On a practical level, there is quite a lot for us to think about here, in fact, there is some sober reflection that we should engage in on this subject. Do we treat our brother or sister as sacred? Are we attentive when they are hurting? Do we demand that others agree with us on every issue? Do we pass judgment on the circumstances of others to avoid reaching out to them?

I suppose that we can add quite a few questions to this list of things we should ask ourselves, but the bottom line is: Do we treat others as God’s sacred “little ones”?

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True Perspectives of Life

Posted on February 20, 2026 by Don Merritt

Proverbs 13

This second batch of proverbs extends from 13:4-15:19. Chapter 13 has as its theme the need for us to accept instruction and discipline. It breaks into two sections: Instruction from a father to his son (13:1-13) and then instruction from the wise (13:14-25).  As we will see, most of these proverbs are Antithetical Parallelisms in which the second half of the statement is in deliberate contrast to the first half.  Looking at the first three verses, we can clearly see how this section is going to go:

A wise son heeds his father’s instruction,
    but a mocker does not respond to rebukes.

From the fruit of their lips people enjoy good things,
    but the unfaithful have an appetite for violence.

Those who guard their lips preserve their lives,
    but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.

Proverbs 13:1-3

Here is a more in-depth look at verse 10,,,

Where there is strife, there is pride,
    but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

Provers 13:10

Have you ever known someone who is always involved in controversy, arguments and disputes? Have you ever wondered why they have so much trouble?

Your answer might just be found in this proverb: Pride.

My way or the highway, you can’t say that to me, I’m right and you’re wrong… Yes, these all come from pride, the continual belief that you are somehow more worthy of respect, more valuable or just “better” than the other person.  Does everybody really need your opinion on everything; must we all hear and agree with your thoughts?

If you want a life chock full of struggle and hassle, then say “yes” to those questions, but if you prefer a little peace and harmony, think again.

A person who is willing to take advice from another is a person who doesn’t just assume they are always right, for they are humble enough to recognize that others have valuable insights too. Such a person might even come to understand that they too can be wrong sometimes.

Next time we’ll take a look at the second half of this chapter, instruction from the wise. See you then!

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Jesus Wraps Up the Discourse

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Don Merritt

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 13:44-50

Jesus continued His discourse with two very short and very similar little parables, each dealing with someone who found something of exceedingly great value and who sold everything he had in this life to buy what he had found. The thing that was found, the treasure or the pearl was far more valuable than the entire net worth of the one who found it.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that!

Do you remember when Jesus said that the person who loses his life will find it, and the one who finds his life will lose it? These two parables provide us with an explanation of that statement, for in both cases the one who found the treasure divested himself of his life’s savings, belongings, possessions; everything… to obtain the one real treasure that made the effort worth it. In the end, each one was enriched beyond measure.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that.

I wonder how many other people might have come upon these same treasures, but were afraid to sell everything to acquire them? I wonder how many came along and said, yes, I would love to have this, but the price is much too high.

Yes, the Kingdom of heaven is just like that!

Jesus tells another parable, the last in this series of parables. This one has some similarity to the Parable of the Weeds, for its conclusion reveals something about the end of the age. Here we have fishermen as the example; they cast their nets and haul in a big catch. They drag their nets to the shore and sort their catch, for there are good fish, ready for market, and there are fish to throw back; Jesus likens this process to what will happen on the last day, when the angels of God will sort out the Kingdom. The “good fish” will enter, and the “bad fish” will be tossed out. To put it another way, the Kingdom of Heaven is open to everyone, but not all will choose to enter, and when the day comes, many will find that they waited too long, and that the doors are now closed.

The main point of the passage comes next:

“Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked.

“Yes,” they replied.

He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Matthew 13:51-52

Jesus asked the disciples if they followed His lesson; they said that they did. After His explanation of the Parable of the Weeds (13:36-40) they would have needed to work hard not to understand. Jesus continued with His remark about a “teacher of the law” becoming a disciple; he would have both old and new treasures to share.

The old treasures are the treasures of the Scriptures that we would call the Old Testament, including the story of Israel, the Law and the Prophets, along with the wisdom literature; the entire Word of God that pointed the people to Jesus, the Messiah. The new treasures would be the story of Jesus, the Kingdom of heaven, the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, and the message of salvation and redemption for humanity that Jesus embodied.

In our time many of us attempt to teach the wonders and riches of God’s Word, and we have in our storerooms abundant treasure to share with our guests, but what do we share with them? Do we share His Kingdom, or do we discuss rules and regulations as though we were still awaiting His coming? Do we share the message of redemption and the glory of His Kingdom in our midst, or do we get so caught up in forms, rituals and even future events, that we cannot see the Kingdom right in front of us?

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Discipline, Knowledge and Stupidity

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Don Merritt

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but whoever hates correction is stupid.

Proverbs 12:1

I wanted to focus on this verse today because it contains a pearl of wisdom which, in our highly sophisticated time, we tend to look right past the obvious. Check this out: A person who loves discipline loves knowledge. I never really thought of it that way. I would have pegged discipline with success, but not necessarily with knowledge, although they go together nicely. To put it another way, I always thought of discipline more in connection with football coaches.

Now that I think about it, there is quite a lot of discipline involved in acquiring knowledge. Yet, to the extent that I have ever learned anything, it came by doing things that I enjoyed doing and never thought of as work, unlike in football, where everything involved work, sweat and pain which are not on my list of favorite things.

Now we come to the stupid part. Notice that this verse compares and contrasts discipline leading to knowledge, with dislike of being corrected, resulting in stupidity; let’s think about that.

Off hand, I can’t think of anyone I’ve ever known who set about their day trying to be corrected; no one likes it, including me. Many will fight correction and argue and shout for hours rather than admit they could have been wrong about something. In my own experience, I have been corrected by people in error, and I have been corrected when I was in error. To figure out the difference, I eventually realized that it can be a good idea to listen with an open mind, and carefully consider what is being said before making a judgment about who is right. When I am the one who is mistaken, the other person has just done me a favor: I gained knowledge. If we always reject any correction out of hand, we will never gain knowledge; our choice perpetuates our ignorance, and that is a stupid choice.

Yet, no one really likes being corrected. Could it be that accepting correction is the greatest discipline of all?

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Photo of the Week: February 18, 2026

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Don Merritt
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Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Don Merritt

Matthew 13:36-43

Jesus told the Parable of the Weeds to the crowd in 13:24-30, and we covered it a couple posts back. At the end, I gave a simplified and “practical” or “every day” kind of explanation. For the most part, I just left it at that, knowing that A) you might not believe me if I went into it further, and B) that Jesus spoke about in this passage. Jesus isn’t as easy to argue with as I am.

Everything about the Kingdom is apocalyptic, both because it reveals things in the here and now, and because it has eternal significance, as you will shortly see.

The disciples ask about the parable and Jesus holds nothing back:

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. (13:37-39)

Can you see the “here and now” in this? The here and now is everything except for the last sentence, which is the end, when Jesus returns. We are living in that messed up field, in which good seed has been planted by the Gospel, and in which the weeds planted by the nasty neighbor, the enemy of the farmer (Jesus) has sought to sabotage the crop (Satan). Like the wheat of the field, we struggle with the weeds that try to choke us off. But when the harvest comes…

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (13:40-43)

Sometimes apocalyptic passages reveal things about the present that have future implications. These verses, however, do the opposite; they speak of the future in a way that has implications about the present. Take special notice of the weeds in the Kingdom in 41b:

…and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.

Are there “weeds” in the Kingdom today that cause “sin “? Are there “weeds” in the Kingdom today who do evil?

At this point, we might run into a problem if we don’t recognize the fact that there is another Biblical term for the Kingdom, and that term is the “Church”. Are there such “weeds” in the midst of the Church today?

I would have to say that there are weeds in the Church today, and that these ‘weeds’ cause tremendous harm to both the citizens of the Kingdom, and to the very Kingdom itself.

OK dear reader, are you getting the hang of this whole “apocalyptic” business now? Present things have future implications, and future things have present implications, for both reveal considerably more than it would seem at first. Apocalyptic = Revelation.

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All Flash and No Cash

Posted on February 18, 2026 by Don Merritt

Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant
    than pretend to be somebody and have no food.

Proverbs 12:9

Many years ago, a man called me and wanted to meet for lunch; he had a business proposition to discuss.

He showed up in a white limousine all dressed up in the latest style… and had a busty blonde “escort” on his arm. He took me to a fancy restaurant, and I was “wined and dined” as he made his big pitch; there was big money to be made, and this guy was tossing millions into the deal. All I had to do to make my share of the millions was…

When the bill came, his credit card was declined, all of his cards were declined, and I had to pick up the check; how embarrassing. This guy was all flash and no cash! Another person who was acquainted with the guy told me that he lived off money invested for his big deals, and that he spent so much on appearances that there was never anything left for the business. I’ve met quite a few people like that.

My guess is that there were people just like that in Solomon’s day too, for as Solomon would have said, “there is nothing new under the sun.”

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