Articles by Marty Kessler

“And Jesus said unto them, ‘Go forth and nit-pick’”, from the book of 1st Darkened Imaginations 13:13. Right. Nit pickers are everywhere, taking great pride in pointing out all that is wrong with the world. They can see a flaw from a mile away… in the dark. Finding fault is the lowest of human skills. The last thing I need is some self-assigned critic pointing out the woes of our existence at ever...

Perhaps you know him by the German name “Wenceslas”? He reigned as monarch in Bohemia from 922-929 and was so known for his benevolent nature that he became the patron saint of the Czech people. Mr. J.M. Neale (1818-1866) wrote a song that purports to recount one of Vaclav’s many acts of kindness. The song has long inspired me as to the beauty of those given power being influenced by the love of G...

Have you ever had to make decisions that would be considered acceptable to a few hundred people (keep reading)? This year’s circumstances have prompted your shepherds to meet on several occasions and hash out decisions we never thought we would have to make. It is one thing to cancel worship assemblies & Bible classes for ice, snow, tornaders and the like when the safety of the flock was an obviou...

About a week ago as I write this, terrorists violently beheaded three Christian men in the Indonesian village of Lemban Tongoa and burned another man and his son alive in their house. In Nigeria, West Africa, a minister & two Christian women were recently kidnapped by terrorists. Their condition and whereabouts are presently unknown. A mob of around 2,000 Hindus attacked and beat 80 people in the ...

Are you one of those “silly” maskers, or a crazed “conspiracy theorist” non-masker? Do you believe in science? Well, duh, everybody believes in science, right? But which of the multiple, mutually opposed scientific statements do you espouse about Covid? Herd immunity science? Chinese genocide science? Leftist agenda science? Vaccine research science? Medical community science? Wait, which medical ...

Literally hours before this photo was taken, this entire rose bush and each individual bloom was laying flat on the ground, not only covered, but encased in ice from a recent storm. Have you ever looked closely at a rose? Have you noted the wonderful delicacy of each silky petal? What a marvel to me that such a fragile living thing could be held in ice, but afterwards be so perfectly and completel...

If you know me, you know I don’t believe in dress codes for the church…… buuuut the subject of what we wear in public is not quite so simple as to be dismissed in the name of being against a dress code. Judging from passages that mention it (1st Timothy 2:9 & 1st Peter 3:3 for example), modesty in the first century and before seemed to be a matter of avoiding ostentation, that is the wearing or di...

I love it. Line in the water, just waiting for the first stirring of a nibble. Then “BOOM!”, they bite hard, you set the hook and feel that life on the other end of the line as you reel him in. There is just nothing else like that kind of excitement. Remember that time the apostles had fished all night and caught nothing (Luke 5:1-11)? Jesus told them to go out into the deep and let down their net...

The United States of America is not the church. We understand that, right? But is it wrong to love and honor America as our nation? “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive co...

The above is a question asked by Pontius Pilate after Jesus told him that he had come to testify to the truth (John 18:33-38). There he stood, the man “in power”, not realizing he was speaking with his own creator and Lord of all. He could never have encountered a more suitable authority for answering his question. Apparently, however, he did not ask in order to receive an answer. Reality is truth...

Dear Brethren, the City of Choctaw has mandated that masks be worn from September 6th through October 6th of this year. Here are a few particulars from the City’s document itself, Ordinance 830-2020. Actual quotes are underlined: Section B. Definitions, paragraph #1 – “Face Covering” means a covering that fully covers a person’s nose and mouth. The term “Face Covering” includes, but is not limited...

I was just reading about the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:7). They had problems with some guys there who were false apostles and liars. I wonder what kind of trouble that caused, especially among the weaker members of the church. There were also people there called “Nicolaitans” whose behavior was so bad that God said he hated it. Jesus warned the church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8) that some of ...

Boom! Everything is different now. As shepherds, we used to agonize over cancelling a worship assembly because of icy roads or stormy weather. Who ever imagined the present circumstance? We used to joke about how the back pews always filled up first, and that having to sit near the front was the penalty for coming late. Now we only have every other pew available. Our loved ones go to the hospital,...

Jesus’ apostle Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’” Romans 1:16-17 So just how is God’s righteousness revealed in the gospel? Paul returns to this idea a...

Man’s worst plagues are not of the body, but of the mind and spirit. Anxiety, guilt, fear, pessimism, negativity, hatred, apathy, depression and their cousins torment us beyond any physical malady we may face. These are the very troubles addressed by Jesus, the Great Physician. Do you see how the earth renews itself? It is not by accident that all the mechanisms necessary to produce clean air, fre...

There is only one truly great profession, and that is that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the Living God. It was made by Jesus’ apostle, the one he called “Cephas,” also known as Peter (Matthew 16:16). Whoever walked on water? Peter walked on water. Well, sure, he began to sink after a bit, but there were eleven other guys in the boat who never got out. Peter got out, and he walked on water with ...

Is kindness real? Can you touch kindness? Can you hear it or smell it? You can see an act of kindness, but you’re not really seeing the kindness itself, just an outward expression of an otherwise invisible character trait. What about joy? Is joy real? You may see someone so filled with it that they jump up and down and shout, but those are only behaviors we may exhibit when we are joyful. Is anyth...

There are four references to the God of the Bible in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. They are as follows, with emphasis being mine: 1st paragraph “…the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them…" 2nd paragraph “…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…” Last paragraph “…appealing to the Su...

Six times in the 14th chapter of 1st Corinthians, Paul speaks of the church being edified when it assembles. Edification is about people; building up people. As a member of the Lord’s church, I know I have an obligation to God to attend the assemblies of the church to worship him. No one in the universe is more deserving of my devotion and service. Isn’t it interesting though, that when we assembl...

– “The action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue” Virtue signaling is born out of the fear of public opinion. That fear will make you hypocritical and weak. Here are just a few examples. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus called out those who sounded trumpets to get f...