Articles
Two millenniums ago in a shepherd’s field, A Heavenly Host sang—as God willed— “Peace on earth,” the Almighty decreed: A Savior was born to meet our need! That Heavenly Host was “praising God,” For His response where human’s trod; From the beginning blood had flowed, As Cain—like conduct growed and growed! Jesus, that Savior, solemnly warned You and me, That “wars an...
“Behold, My servant will prosper, He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted. Just as many were astonished at you, My People, so His appearance was marred more than any man and His form more than the sons of men. Thus He will sprinkle many nations, kings will shut their mouths on account of Him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will...
Our natural Human delight for Holidays, Unfolds for people in multiple ways; So many sights and seasons for which we long; Family visits and trips, oft’ captured in song; But, if God should for a Holiday try, How sobering the fact—All folks would die! If He were to shut down His air supply, Twould instantly launch as international cry! Plants, Animals, Humans—life in every shape and fo...
I know that you are just like me and have never or would never judge anyone. We don't pay any attention to their appearance, or skin color, or religious convictions, etc. That's us, right? But I find myself GUILTY. I catch myself passing judgment on all sorts of situations involving people. As the old saying goes, "You gonna believe your lying eyes, or...?' Regrettabl...
It is a principle as old as creation, and which is stated ten separate times in the Biblical creation account (Genesis 1:11-12, 21 & 24-25). Everything reproduces after its kind. Reproduction in kind is not limited to biology. Similarly, Isaac Newton observed that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. So consistent is this truth that he identified it as the t...
It was in a context dealing with freedom that Paul issued the sober warning, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other” (Galatians 5:15 NIV). Paul used graphic terms of inhuman behavior in the words “Biting” (Greek - dakno, which means “to wound the soul, cut, lacerate, rend with reproaches”¹) and “devouring” (Greek - katesthio—”...to c...
Amber alerts are for missing children. Silver alerts are now understood to mean an older person is missing. Our ears perk up when we hear of these announcements because we care. What alert do we have for sheep that are missing from the Lord’s fold? Who do you know whose name needs to be plastered across a screen somewhere within sight for all of the “spiritual” saints to see? Tha...
Acts 5:27-29: “When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.’ But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” In spite of the dange...
The clamor of “separation of church and state” over the last several decades has served to condition many saints into thinking that religious views have no place in our nation’s lawmaking or in the selection of our leaders. Nothing, I repeat, Nothing could be farther from the truth. How could we come to believe that God would ordain governments to exist (See Romans 13:1-5 for examp...
A few years ago this was the slogan of the phone company. The idea of course was to use the telephone to call someone far away so they could collect a little more money from your account. They no longer use that slogan (perhaps they figured out a better way to collect more money thru "fees"). But the original idea, touching someone through contact was a good one. I believe it sho...
The September 11, 2016 Parade poll presented 25 responses of prominent—well known—U.S. citizens, finishing out the lead line of “If I Were President…” Parade gave a summary of 6,500 polled without specific percentage (from the largest to the smallest) given on their “pie chart.” The National emphasis was charted over 6 areas: “Economic Growth; Health care; Defense; Immigration; ...
Day dawned again this morning, the light is spreading still, as it has since God’s creation, his order to fulfill (Psalm 19:4-6) The world is going crazy, but then that is a lie, because it’s long been crazy and will be ‘til we die (1st John 2:15-17) The nations in an uproar, fools devising their vain things, taking counsel with one another against the King of Kings (Psalm 2:1-3) But God stil...
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 Paul defined the gospel in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 when he writes that it is the death, burial and resurrection ...
That’s it, I’m tired of paying my electric and water bills and so I’m sending a letter to OG&E and to the City of Midwest City informing them that I’ll no longer be paying my bills. And while I’m at it, I’m going to let my bank know that I’m no longer going to pay my mortgage. Why you might ask? Because I don’t want to! Can you imagine someone being serious and saying that to you? You’d think...
HURT is no respecter of persons. All ages and stages of people are attacked by hurt (from disease; broken bones; broken hearts; loss of loved ones; unfairness; loneliness, etc.). All ages may be heard to say: “I’m not ready for this;” “I asked for it—what I did was stupid;” “I didn’t do anything wrong, but look what happened;” I don’t understand any of this;” “I’ve tried everything I know, but I’m...
We read about the first worship offered to God, as well as the first murder in Genesis 4:1-8. Coincidence? I don’t believe so. Abel honored God with an acceptable sacrifice. Not Cain. Cain had plenty of opportunity to make a proper offering and even had encouragement from God himself to do so. He deliberately refused. Instead of listening to God’s personal appeal to correct his behavior, Cain...
Your body, or flesh, is made from the stuff of this earth, so it wants the stuff of this earth. Your spirit, however, which makes you a sentient being, is from God and longs for him. Your flesh constantly compels you to satisfy its appetites which, incidentally, neither you nor I get to decide. The worst desires of your flesh are in conflict with the best desires of your spirit. That will nev...
In Ecclesiastes 11:9, God counsels Young People, wanting them to be happy, assuring them that they have choices, while warning them that He will bring them into judgment. Carefully note that verse: The Appeal: “Be happy, O Young Man, while you are young.” Happy young people are a blessing to other young people, parents, teachers, neighbors—society in general. So God’s appeal is, “Let your hea...
The dictionary defines sanctity as “The state of being sanctified; holiness, sacredness”. What is sacred to those of us whom the rest of the world calls “Americans”? Is human life sacred? How can we claim that we believe life is sacred to us when we sanction the killing of children by their mothers? What place should we hold more sacred than a mother’s womb? The womb is the seat of ...
You are very likely someone who wants to influence others for God. What is one of your best opportunities to do that? How about Sunday?Every Sunday we have visitors to our worship assemblies. I want to encourage you to plan to make a positive impact on them. What can you do?1) Speak to them! Let them know with certainty that you are glad they are here.2) Introduce yourself and they will probably r...