3/8/2026 Message

Good Sunday evening LifePoint family,

One would think that after preaching and teaching for 50 yrs, I’d get some things figured out.  I guess not!

So, I’m taking personal privilege in this email to correct a couple of mess ups in my messages the past two weeks.  One of them would be funny if it wasn’t so dumb/stupid and the other is what I see as a necessary clarification.

First, the dumb/stupid one.  Last week I misspoke and said Joseph’s bones were the cause of a man being brought back from the dead.  Anyone who knows an ounce of Old Testament history (obviously not me), knows that it was Elisha’s bones that caused a man to rise from the dead (2 Kings 13:20-21).  However, today, in trying to correct my faux pas from last week, I made things worse by saying they were Elijah’s bones.  What’s even worse, I had written the name “Elisha” in my notes!  So not only does it appear that my memory is failing, I apparently am losing my ability to read as well.  A "so-called" friend jokingly asked me at lunch how Elijah’s bones brought someone back from the dead since Elijah was taken up to heaven.  That is a rather astute observation and question.  Since Elijah was “translated” directly into heaven, there would obviously have been no bones left behind to raise anyone from the dead.  So, I would like to make one final stab at this - it was Elisha’s bones that raised a man from the dead!  There - I said it!

Second, I really was asked a good question this morning after the service about Samson that I do think deserves some clarification.  The question was concerning whether Samson actually committed suicide or if his death was more “in the line of duty” in his ongoing “holy war” with the Philistines.  After further study, I would like to alter my comments from the last two messages.  Although some consider Samson's death a suicide, it was certainly not a suicide in the “traditional” sense.  Although he knew that by tearing down the Philistine temple of Dagon he would die in the process, Samson was not actually trying to kill himself - thus his death really wasn’t a suicide.  Therefore, I think we must remove Samson’s name from the suicide list (at least in the traditional sense) since his death really does appear to be more an “act of war” than a suicide.  Tragically, even though the circumstances surrounding Samson’s death were certainly the result of catastrophic spiritual failure in his life (one of the causes I listed for suicide), Scripture does seem to indicate he died as a casualty of war:   

Jud 16:28-30 “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.’ 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life.”   

I would like to thank the person who asked that very valid question about Samson (not my so-called friend who made fun of me because I could not get the Elisha story right).  The question caused me to dig a little deeper and correct the record.  It simply reminds me that, when handling Scripture, we need to be extremely careful with the text.

There, now I can rest easier tonight!
Dan Fisher