Articles by Marty Kessler

Our best opportunity for reaching out with the gospel of Jesus happens every time we assemble. There is almost always someone here from the community and they are paying us a great compliment when they come among us. In the world, people we don’t know are strangers to us. But this must not be true when we get together as the Lord’s people. I am convinced that out heavenly Father doesn&...

The Bible says so: There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God’ all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving, the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness&helli...

Years ago I owned an old pickup truck. The worm gear in the steering box was so worn that when driving, you had to continually steer from left to right just to drive in a straight line. It drove all right, you just had to stay on top of it and make continual corrections. The brakes worked ok too, as long as you pumped them up a cou-ple of times before you really needed them. Otherwise, you might e...

Consider this past Friday. On the other side of the world, a huge and devastating earthquake hit Japan and was soon followed by an even more disastrous tsunami. We still don’t know how many have been killed. The damage to the Japanese economy, infrastructure and the everyday workings of life are inestimable. While such an incomprehensible tragedy was taking place there, here at home in Oklah...

In the floor of Carlisle Cathedral in Carlisle England, is the tomb of Bishop Richard Bell who died in 1496. Engraved into the brass that covers his tomb are depictions of animals such as a dog, a pig, a bird, an eel, a fish and a weasel. In addition to these “usual” animals, however, are what appear to be obvious representations of two large quadruped type dinosaurs. Even more interes...

For years we have been told and our children have been taught in our schools that dinosaurs have been extinct for around 65,000,000 years. I have to wonder then, why there is no consideration given to the huge body of evidence that says otherwise. I would like to highly recommend to you, the book, The Dinosaur Delusion, by Eric Lyons and Kyle Butt, from which most of the following information has ...

In other words, don’t be too quick to make someone a leader in the church, 1st Timothy 5:22. To do so, is to share responsibility for the evil they would do. This warning brings to light the gravity of selecting and appointing the shepherds that will provide the care and leadership a congregation needs. Consider also that such leaders are likely the ones who will set the tone in a church fam...

The above is a quote from the twentieth chapter of the book of Acts at verse twenty-eight. The apostle Paul is here recorded addressing the elders from the church at Ephesus. I have often wondered exactly what he meant when he said this. As I see it, there are at least four possibilities, neither of which is necessarily exclusive of the others. #1. Perhaps these men had all of their lives followed...

When the apostle Paul wrote to Titus he told him that he had left him in Crete, directing him to set in order what remained and appoint elders in every city, Titus 1:5. Immediately following this, the apostle wrote that men who would qualify must be among other things, the husband of one wife and have believing children. He must also be above reproach, or blameless, a lover of good, sensible, just...

Only one was prophesied. Both Isaiah and Micah spoke of The Mountain of the Lord’s House being established in the last days in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:1-3 & Micah 4:1-2). That’s one mountain, and one house unto which all nations would come. Daniel also spoke of God establishing His kingdom. Both Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter two and Daniel himself as recorded in chapter seven had dr...

We believe in freedom. We believe in it so much that as a nation we have sent our brothers and sons… and now sisters and daughters, to fight and die not only to preserve our freedoms, but to secure them for those of other nations. Freedom was and remains the purpose behind our Constitution. We the People of the United States, in Order to………. Secure the Blessings of Libe...

Another “Christian” group is claiming to know the day of Jesus’ return, citing May 21st, 2011 as the day of judgment. How can they know? Jesus Himself said of that day: But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Matthew 24:36 & Mark 13:32 When He said this, He also drove home His point by further saying “Be o...

Owners of the Vdara hotel in Las Vegas are confronting a serious problem. The south-facing side of their building is both concave and covered with energy efficient window glass designed to reflect the sun’s heat and keep temperatures down inside the hotel. Problem is that the rays reflected from the windows arc across the pool area outside in what has been dubbed a “death ray” wi...

An interesting part of my wife’s history is that she graduated high school with Garth Brooks. They were class-mates and knew each other from classes they took together and from having been involved in some of the same school activities. Shortly after Garth’s first hit single came out we got to visit with him on his bus in Saltville, Virginia. He and his band were playing a free concert...

Through a simple exercise of eating and drinking together, Jesus gave us a means of remembering His sacrifice each week. My belief is that He provided this “supper” knowing we would need to be reminded often of this life-changing legacy of love. As things that are truly good have great value, reminders of such things will also be valuable. That’s one of the reasons I like to see ...

It is December. The Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone and Christmas is now coming into broader focus. With the season comes the Christmas carols, now being played regularly over the airwaves. Soon will come the television specials, many of which will feature current talent performing more carols. As a matter of fact, for most of this month our entire nation will be inundated with the songs of...

Once when I was nineteen I found myself pushing my motorcycle along the side of the road because I had run out of gas. Imagine my surprise when a tanker truck pulled off of the highway in front of me. The driver jumped out and came back and asked if I was out of gas. Learning that I was, he quickly produced a plastic container from somewhere, climbed up on top of that big tank, opened a hatch and ...

It is believed that most of the ideas behind the night we now call “Halloween” originated with the Celtic religion of Druidism which flourished for around 300-350 years between the second centuries BC and AD. For the Druids, this night meant that the “lighter” part of the year was coming to an end and the “darker” part was beginning. They further believed that o...

One of the greatest teachings in all of the Bible is often the one some folks have the most trouble believing. I’m writing about the fact that many struggle with believing that God forgives them based solely on their faith in His Son. This is a great irony, since forgiving us is the whole reason why He sent Jesus and then provided the Bible to show us that this has been His intention through...

One of the clearest teachings in Jesus‘ New Testament is that all of us have sinned and fallen short of God‘s glory. Several passages such as Romans 3:23, James 3:2 and 1st John 1:8 & 10 make this clear. But what does this teaching mean to you? Some want to make this teaching mean that since everyone has sinned, no one has the right to correct or even address sin in another person&...