Articles by Marty Kessler
Solomon said we are all crazy. “This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one fate for all men. Furthermore, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards they go to the dead. For whoever is joined with the living, there is hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.” Ecclesiastes 9:3-4 He was talki...
Everyone has a standard by which they gauge right and wrong. Their standard may be as simple as their own opinion, or it could be popular opinion, their parents or some named ideology, but everyone has a standard. When someone tells you not to “impose your religion” on them, they are judging by their standard that it is wrong for you to try to influence their thinking with your own. Imagine, howev...
It is finally 2020. Yes, you made it to the new year! But not everyone made it. We lost a bunch in 2019 (just like every year). Peter Mayhew, the man who brought Chewbacca to life in the Star Wars movies, is gone. Chewie “lives on”, and Peter would be the man to thank for introducing us to him, but thank him we cannot. Eddie Money may have had “Two Tickets to Paradise”, but his life touched down i...
Light is the first thing Genesis records God speaking into existence (Genesis 1:3). He did not need the light, but we do, even to imagine all the rest of his creative acts. Later, he would create what were referred to as “lights” in the heavens; the “greater light” to rule the day, the “lesser light” for the night (1:14-19), and we still need these lights. God’s greatest and most needed light, how...
Jesus was conceived within Mary by God’s Holy Spirit (Matthew’s gospel 1:18).With his last words from the cross, Jesus yielded his own spirit back to God (Luke’s gospel 23:46) Jesus is the lion of the tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5) but also the Passover lamb whose sacrifice reconciled both Jews & Gentiles to God (1st Corinthians 5:7 & Ephesians 2:11-18) At Jesus’ birth, a heavenly host said, “Pea...
This is what the Magi told King Herod when they came to Jerusalem looking for Jesus. The star that led them to Jerusalem, would later lead them to Bethlehem. These men had seen Jesus’ star and somehow knew that it was His, and that it signified His arrival as the King of the Jews. Centuries before, an unlikely prophet uttered the following: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A st...
Behavior is influenced by companions. Do you choose friends based on what you want to see in your behavior? If I want to succeed in life, I must choose friends who also value success; but I ‘d better know what I consider to be success. Paul told the church at Corinth that evil companions corrupt good morals (1st Corinthians 15:33). In this case, evil companions had influenced some members of the c...
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...