Head-dibs

This is New Year’s Eve, the day before New Year’s Day. Congratulations, you made it! Make this day (and the next) meaningful by taking time for personal reflection. Someone once likened our lives to be like a stirred-up pond--murky, cloudy. When the sediment settles, the bottom can be clearly seen. Perhaps you need to get to the bottom of something with God or with someone else. There is no better time than the present to take care of business, to work toward peace and reconciliation with someone. If you need peace with God, no work is required as He's already made the way by the cross of Christ if you will repent. New Years 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted. What freedoms do you need in your life? While fireworks are a common feature of New Years, some magazine and newspaper publishers burn publications of the past year, really putting behind everything that happened the previous year. What do you need to finally put behind you on the cusp of a new year? Ancie...

Anyone who has read the book of Revelation has met the woman sitting on a scarlet beast, in chapter 17. She is dressed in purple and scarlet, is adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls, has a cup and something written on her forehead. Right after this John says, “ And when I saw her, I wondered greatly .” (17:3-6) The woman is, for the sake of explanation, like a “cartoon” version of something else—she is explained to be “the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth” (17:18). Much like Daniel saw a “cartoon” of the empires of the world in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, John saw this woman as a representation. John was astonished by what he saw, and when I saw through John’s eyes, please know that I was astonished, too. I’ve been studying the Bible for years and this passage is one that has been a matter of discussion for centuries. Many, many interpretations and explanations have been offered. Please understand that I am making no claim at “new understan...

This helps me better understand what is meant by, "the whole earth is full of His Glory " (Isaiah 6:3) and the rainbow imagery of Revelation ( 4:3 ; 10:1 ) (scroll down for photo gallery). "The nearer I approach the end of my pilgrimage, the clearer is the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible. The grandeur and sublimity of God's remedy for fallen man are more appreciated and the future is illuminated with hope and glory." (Samuel Morse, 1791 - 1872, inventor) Recommended Reading (click on image):

A witness of the gospel lays his life down because of the gospel—this is inherent by the very word from which we derive our word for “witness” (“martyr”). A martyr is a witness and this requires faithfulness to the very end, whatever that may be. When we witness for Christ, we are taking a stand against all that is not for Christ; contrariwise, a witness for all that is not Christ is setting himself against all that is Christ. There is no middle ground. Flesh and blood is not our enemy. The Lord Jesus Christ spent His flesh and blood to redeem flesh and blood that will repent. Our witness of what Christ accomplished is to flesh and blood, so this is not our enemy. Our adversary is the devil, who is always opposed to Christ and His glory. John’s revelatory vision communicates several vital principles in this regard that we would do well to attend. Revelation 12 describes the vision of a great red dragon with seven heads, seven crowns, and ten horns. This dragon is standing before a woma...

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." So reads the Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776. Members of the American Colonies were declaring themselves free from British rule, free to make their own decisions, free to buy and sell as they wished, and free to make their own laws and impose justice as they saw fit. The important document ends thus: " And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our Sacred Honor ." What stirring words! No doubt much thought, and even prayer, went into the writing of them. Our early fathers believed in the all-powerful God and we can be thankful that our nation was founded by men who read their Bibles and put Scriptural principles into pra...

Stunned. That's the only word that can describe my reaction the first time I read through Revelation. As a junior-high school boy, the imagination was fertile and the curiosity insatiable. There may have been a book or two around the house that received a measure of consultation as my mind tried to absorb the imagery, action and statements of the Revelation, but that was not enough. Once I was so overwhelmed by the six and seventh chapters that I called my pastor, made an appointment and rode my bike the short few miles to the church so I could sit down with him to perhaps gain even a small measure of understanding. I've been dwelling on this ever since, and have by no means concluded my contemplations. These two chapters of Revelation have been the object of much consideration and debate. Many of the problems solve themselves when we reconsider "how" the book is to be read--and our Western way of reading will not help. Everything described in these chapters po...

Summer camp is on many people’s minds this time of year, and I am certain each person has a few special memories of their own camp experiences. The first camp I remember has an extra special memory with me: we slept in old Army tents and the smell made a lasting impression that revisits, but only under certain conditions. Each summer camp has the standard activities: swimming, crafts, games, archery, Bible lessons, horseback riding, midnight pillow fights, etc.. There was not a single bug in our Texas camps (each was married and had a large family) we were constantly drenching ourselves with a fresh cloak of "Off, even after taking showers to wash off the sweat and dirt before lining up for dinner. How appetizing! The Campfire sessions were most memorable. There were those camp songs--songs that seem to stay with camps and are never sung again in life. It never occurred to me then that all the people living on the lake were hearing the gospel from 10 year olds every night from Jun...

This verse was used on a Christmas card: "They exchanged gifts and made merry." (Revelation 11:10). The context of the verse? rejoicing over the deaths of God's two witnesses at the hand of the beast.

The way the Bible deals with open frankness about all matters is reminscent of an incident which took place when Ray Stedman was being discharged from the United States Navy at the end of World War II. In common with thousands of others who were leaving the services at that time, he had to undergo a physical examination. Anyone who has been subjected to this knows that it is always done enmasse. Two or three hundred young men were stripped absolutely naked and were all standing in line in a room were they had to endure a very intimate and thorough examination. One cannot read the Bible without seeing how intimately Jesus is concerned with His Church. God is concerned about His people and how He is being represented to the world by them. These churches stand exposed not only in space (one can visit their geographic locations) but across time. Through this examination, one gets the idea very quickly that Christ is the head of a living organism and if we are going to be part, we mus...

Approaching this set of churches in Jesus' letters is not been easy. Reading the letters is easy, but the application of scripture is not, for one is not only able to diagnose one's own church body, but there are the greater applications that face the individual. This is the beauty of God's plan in Christ Jesus, to let us know what's on His heart concerning those who represent Him to the world. The world notices the church, but the church seems to have difficulty noticing the world. The kinds of things churches tend to do to get unbelievers to notice them either make the unbeliever scoff and look with scorn on the church, or shakes the unbeliever to the core and draws them into a life of discipleship. Consider the personal level: I was sharing the law and gospel with some college students the other night and one girl could not understand why a Christian would have a tattoo (I have one on my arm). She had a problem because she saw someone claiming the name of Christ, yet...

You know the saying, "A picture is worth a thousand words;" or, as Ivan S. Turgenev wrote in his 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, "The drawing shows me at one glance what might be spread over ten pages in a book." Pictures communicate. Back in the old days (young 'uns, listen up) we used to take pictures and put them in large books called "photo albums." From time to time, especially at family gatherings, we would pull out these tomes and as we flipped pages we would point and laugh and enjoy remembering the days gone by together. Most photos captured the joyous moments (birthdays, weddings, parties) and from time to time would contain a few momentoes of other occasions (postcards, newspaper clippings of announcements or special articles). Photos help us remember. The Old Testament book of Ezekiel contains a photo album of sorts. God is reminiscing with Israel: "remember that time . . ." I passed by and saw you there wallowing in your own ...

The first chapter of the Revelation of Jesus Christ closed with a visionary description of Jesus among the churches, pictured as lampstands. This section of the book is the address of our Lord Jesus Christ to seven churches. Once in a while I get tough questions, hard questions from two kinds of people: those who really want an answer; and, those who like to stir things up--or at least try to. I enjoy searching out meaningful answers with those who genuinely ask. The rarest occasion from time to time brings questions I really don't like. These are the most difficult questions, the kind of question I really wish had never been asked. Approaching this section of the book of Revelation, I find myself face to face with the first of these two questions. The question posed is, "what modern-day church, in your experience and opinion, is most vibrant and God-honoring, and why?" ((**Sigh**)). I would like to say it is "this" church or "that" church, but ...

I remember playing in the backyard, climbing on my jungle gym, climbing the tree, playing "Space 1999" and "Star Trek" with my friends. The universe seemed to be a much safer place back then as we jetted around our backyard assisting our space captains in capturing aliens and promoting the good morals of Planetary Federations. Ah, the future. One particular weekend trip to my grandparents house (a six-hour drive), I was laying on the top of the back seat of the car against the rear window gazing out watching the stars, Star Trek communicator in my hand, talking with my fleet in orbit . . . I never dreamed that communicators would be so readily available as an adult with pre-paid calling plans from Alltel and that our atmosphere would be choked with satellites. I never saw the future coming, though Gene certainly did. The most outstanding memory I have concerning future dreams came at the World's Fair in 1982--touch screen technology! It blew my mind (and e...