Articles by Marty Kessler
Do you ever find yourself wanting to ask God for something but believe that it is too small or insignificant to “bother” him about? I know I do. But I’ve been a dad long enough to know how pleased I am when one of my children asks for my input about anything in their lives; even when they think they need to apologize about its seeming insignificance. Our sun is approximately 864,938 miles in diame...
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 on this night the veil between the li...
The serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’”, Genesis 3:4-5 The above reveals for us the most profound struggle of our own existence; which is our desire to govern ourselves as though we are our own god. Intellectually, it makes no sense. We know that we did not cre...
Sunday, November 24 2019, has been designated by the shepherds here at Choctaw as “Every Member Present Sunday”. That’s what’s up ahead! On a given Lord’s day, folks will be absent from our assembly for any number of reasons. Kids get sick, work schedules interfere, vacations come along, and well, you know. It is difficult to get everyone together at the same time; but how neat would it be if we d...
My thanks to the Competitive Enterprise Institute for a compilation of news articles predicting dooms of various types. Below are some of the foreboding conclusions reached by scientists in the recent past that were noted in their piece. 17 November 1967 – The Salt Lake Tribune published an article by George Getze, a writer for the Los Angeles Times, with the headline, “Dire Famine Forecast by ‘75...
The most important information the church could provide is how to be eternally saved from your sins through Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that we are all created in God’s image, but that through our own sins we have fallen short of His glory and become separated from Him. Since the penalty for sin is death, Jesus took on flesh so that He could die in our place, paying that penalty for each of us...
All too often I hear of someone tragically taking their own life. Having presided over funerals for such folks and having attempted to comfort survivors, I want to put something out there again, to encourage anyone who may be considering suicide to reconsider. Please, reconsider. I haven’t been where you are, so I don’t pretend to understand all you are going through. I would like to hear your sid...
Three things I read recently with which I absolutely concur: “Children died in the great flood of Noah’s day because their parents failed to get them on the ark”“If our children have to ask us if we are going to church, we are doing it wrong”“Christians should not have to be badgered into attending Bible classes and worship” Ouch! Those hurt! Well, only if they are true. Truth is, living as a Chri...
Technology is improving. More and more jobs that once were done by humans are now being done by machines. Some are even speculating that robots will soon be able to function much like living beings. As a matter of fact, in October of 2017, a robot named “Sophia” was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia. Can we legitimately give such status to a machine? The biggest question to me ...
Of course it was part of God’s great plan to redeem man, but how was it that people came to hate him so much that they begged the Romans to crucify him? Simply put, Jesus made people uncomfortable, because he told the truth. In a world that hates truth, truth is hate. Folks were told that believing Jesus would get them thrown out of the synagogue (John 9:22 & 12:42). Those who loved the appr...
“The supreme test of any civilization is whether or not it can teach men to be good fathers”- Margaret Meade, cultural anthropologist “Every social ill that we are dealing with is directly or indirectly related to fatherlessness”- Otto Kelly, executive director of Crisis Pregnancy Center, Reno Nevada Do the above quotes reflect the truth? Consider the statistics below… 1 out of every 3 child...
Bunker Hill, Fork McHenry, Gettysburg, San Juan Hill, the Argonne Forest, Normandy, Truk, Iwo Jima, Chosin Reservoir, Ia Drang, Fallujah, are just a few of the places where American servicemen have paid the ultimate price for our freedom. We remember those who’ve fallen this weekend. That’s what Memorial Day is for. I am convinced, however, that if we could speak with those who have pa...
“Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living”, Genesis 3:20 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you”, Exodus 20:12 “Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father”, Leviticus 19:3 “Who is like the Lord our God…. He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyf...
I’m going on vacation, to relieve my tired mind, I can’t wait to start forgetting, all the stuff I’ll leave behind My job with all its stress will be the first thing that will go, and maybe then those constant bills that to my mailbox flow I’ll forget about those people who always bring me strife, their caustic negativity is just a blight on life I’ll turn off tv, twitter & surely facebook t...
Where I grew up, when someone died, older men would simply take off work and younger men would skip a day of school to dig the grave. It was my privilege to help dig several graves. Almost all of them were for people I knew. Grave digging starts our relatively easy. Someone with some know-how and experience marks out the rectangular shape of the grave on the surface in the exact ...
Metaphysics – “1. The branch of philosophy that investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science, traditionally including cosmology and ontology 2. All speculative philosophy” – From the Funk & Wagnall’s Standard Desk Dictionary Does it seem odd to you that the metaphysical is relegated simply to the realm of philosophy, even speculative philosophy? I ask this ...
This has become a fairly popular question due to modern denominational teachings. The question is answered in several passages and in several ways. First we see it in the use of the passive voice. Active voice in NT Greek as well as in English means that the subject does something. Passive voice, however, means that something is being done to the subject, with the subject being o...
Jesus healed the sick, made the lame walk, gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf and enabled the mute to speak. Thousands were fed by this man who carried no stores of food. He even raised the dead. What right-thinking being would not want such a beneficial man to live and walk among those they loved? But he was called “ruler of demons” by his enemies; those who had invest...
You and I had a sin problem that was personal to each of us as individuals. My sins were my sins, yours were yours, and we were on a fast track to paying for our sins with our souls. What did God do? He sent Jesus who would “taste death for everyone” (as Hebrews 2:9 says). Now I have eternal life through him, and this life is available to everyone who wants it. But nations still ...
If you are familiar at all with Naaman, captain of the Syrian (Aramean) host, you may think first of his miraculous cure from leprosy. While that cure is truly remarkable, it was merely a change in his flesh, which God can easily affect. Did you notice, however, the change that was made in his heart? Naaman arrived at Elisha’s doorstep with a grand assumption of what the prophet would ...