Building on the Foundation

  The Big Question Let me get started by asking all of you a question. No, it’s not that big question. This question is a little more awkward than that. Show of hands. How many of you have ever committed adultery? How about murder? Idol worship? I can imagine not too many of your hands went up, but honestly, I didn’t expect them to. All of you who are reading this are probably good solid Christians horrified at the thought of committing adultery or murder, so why would I even expect any hands to go up? This isn’t a fair question, though, because I already know that most of you have committed adultery, and if you are a guy, you certainly have for our natural sinful state with no conscious effort to the opposite is adultery. Wait! Before you get upset with me, just hear me out a little longer, and I think it will all make sense!  Let’s Define Adultery To discuss any subject effectively, we need to all start with the same definition of what we are talking about; otherwise, confu...

Since the invention of the Internet, innumerable calendars have popped up to challenge the Hebrew calendar, each one claiming to be the true calendar of the Bible. This includes numerous "sighted" calendars, that is, calendars that call for gazing up at the night sky and searching for the first visible crescent of the moon. This first visible crescent is said to be the "new moon" of the Bible and to mark the beginning of each month and, in turn, determine the dates of the holy days. First of all, if anyone can point to even one Bible verse that says we must look up at the sky and find the first visible crescent of the moon, I would love to see it. I have never found such a verse, nor have I ever seen anyone else point to such a verse. Secondly, the "new moon" doesn't appear in the Hebrew text of the Bible, as explained in this post . Neither is such a "new moon" defined; some define the new moon as the conjunction, when the moon is dark, and ...

Have you ever wondered what will become of the billions who lived and died without ever hearing the name of Jesus or seeing a Bible? The miscarried and the stillborn? The young children who died of smallpox, starvation, or abuse? Eskimos, Chinese, Pacific islanders, Australian aborigines, Africans, and South American tribes who lived and died long before anyone could tell them about Jesus? Acts 4:12 and John 3:16 show us that only by accepting Jesus Christ can we be saved; no one of any other belief will be in His Kingdom. So how could ancient Pacific islanders accept Jesus Christ when they had never heard of Him? How could the stillborn child of unbelieving parents accept Jesus Christ? This is a point that the Apostle Paul also made in Rom. 10:14. First, let's consider that during the 6,000-odd years God has given man on this earth, few will be saved. Very few indeed. That doesn't mean the others are lost; more on that in a moment. But very few will be saved initially. The Apo...

Long ago, King Solomon wrote that we must take death to heart (Eccl. 7:2). His father King David expressed a similar thought (Psa. 39:4), and so did Moses (Deut. 32:29). Every one of us will die one day (Heb. 9:27), no one can escape death (Psa. 89:48), and not one of us knows the day of his or her own death (Eccl. 9:12). Let us, as Solomon advised, take it to heart while we have opportunity! What happens when we die? Do good people go to heaven, floating among the clouds, playing harps, and watching over their loved ones? Do bad people go to hell to be tormented forever and ever, writhing and screaming in the flames, being stabbed over and over again by pitchfork-wielding demons? Do we simply cease to exist? God’s Word tells us plainly that all go to one place: the grave (Eccl. 6:6). Wise, foolish, rich, poor, kings, beggars — all will end up in basically the same place: lowered into a hole and covered with earth (Eccl. 2:14-16). Everyone’s body will return to dust, and everyone’s spi...

  In chicken soup for the soul, there is a story of a huge biker, the toughest guy you’d ever want to meet, covered in tattoos, piercings, and a vast scruffy beard, arrayed in leather vest and chaps and sporting heavy black boots. He has a face only a mother could love. Looking at him, you think to yourself, “This is one bad dude. He probably chews up cans for breakfast and spits out nails.” If you’d happen to get close to him and look closely, not at his eyes, of course. He isn’t the kind of person you want to make eye contact with. If you look closely at his vest, however, you might notice it wiggling, and if you watched it for a bit longer, you might see a tiny white kitten poke his head out of this biker’s vest. Astonished, you do a double-take and shake your head in wonder as this mountain of a man gently draws this tiny kitten out of his vest and cradles it in his palm while feeding it from his hand. This man radiates power and brute force, yet he cradles and cares for this k...