Category Archives: Blog

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Deeds that Determine Destinies

Agnostic and celebrity astronomer Carl Sagan used to keep a framed postcard near his shaving mirror—just so he could see it every morning. On the back was a penciled message to a Mr. James Day of Swansea Valley, Wales.

It read:

Dear Friend,
Just a line to show that I am alive and kicking and going grand. It’s a treat.
Yours, WJR

On the opposite side of the postcard was a color photo of a sleek, four-funneled steamer captioned, “White Star Liner Titanic.” The postmark was dated April 12, 1912, just two days before the Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank with the loss of 1,500 lives, including that of WJR—William John Rogers.

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An Inconvenient Truth

Provocative communicator Tony Campolo has been known to begin sermons with the following words:

I have three things I want to tell you. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 children died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition.

Second, most of you don’t give a sh**.

Then, after a pause to allow some inward reaction to his first two statements, Tony drops the bomb:

What is even worse is that you are more upset that I used the word sh** than you are that 30,000 children died last night.

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Who Can We Trust?

Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being (Psalm 51:6).

Last month when I was in Sri Lanka, I made a point to visit a world-famous orphanage director. He told me about ominous dreams he’d had some days before the Indian Ocean tsunami swept ashore on Sunday morning, December 26, 2004. He knew something was going to happen that would submerge his orphanage. But before December 26, 2004, the concept of a tsunami was foreign to him, as it was to most people in the world.

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A Prophet Among Profits

It was pointed out to me that the title of last month’s E-teaching, Jesus, the Greatest Prosperity Preacher, was a phrase also used by a popular prosperity preacher in one of his teaching articles. He used that phrase, however, not as I did, but rather as a serious claim that Jesus was in fact just like him and other modern prosperity preachers—but Jesus was the greatest! This, in my opinion, was a terrible slur against Jesus. Jesus was the absolute antithesis of greedy prosperity preachers.

Since that particular prosperity preacher has duped so many people into helping him live his opulent lifestyle, I thought it might be worthwhile this month to examine his entire article in which he makes his outrageous claim. By so doing, it will not only reveal how he has abused Scripture to prove that Jesus was like modern day prosperity preachers, but it will also be a lesson in what questions should be going through our minds when we listen to any Bible teacher, so that we may avoid being duped by anyone about anything.

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Jesus, the Greatest Prosperity Preacher

“Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” — Jesus (Luke 6:38).

The primary reason that Scripture is misinterpreted is because context is ignored. Every verse must be interpreted in light of its surrounding scriptures and within the context of the entire Bible. If our interpretation of any verse does not harmonize with the rest of Scripture, our interpretation needs adjusted.

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A Parable about Frank, the Wise Investor

The following parable was sent to me from a friend in France, who received it from a friend of his. It is a short story of a man named Frank who became very rich by investing in Microsoft stock. (If you had purchased one share of Microsoft when it first went for sale in 1986 for less than $25, your investment would be worth 300 times that today.)

Although some of the decisions that Frank made on his way to becoming a billionaire may have seemed foolish at the time, in the end, he would prove all of his critics wrong.

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It’s Time to Try Pond #2!

Dear Friends,

Last month I received a letter from an enthusiastic reader who told me that he has been downloading the first chapters of my evangelistic book, Forgive Me for Waiting so Long to Tell You This, printing them, and leaving them in the men’s bathroom stalls where he works. He said they are being read, and no negative comments so far!

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Oh, the Luck that Saves Us?

God chooses people. He chose a man named David, for example, to be a king of Israel.

Quite obviously, God’s choice of David was not a random choice. He didn’t draw straws up in heaven. Rather, God’s choice of David was a calculated, intelligent choice. He saw something in David that He liked. Specifically, He liked David’s heart, and for that reason, God chose him (see 1 Sam. 13:13-14, 16:6-12; Acts 13:22).

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The Snack We Call Supper

At the last church that I pastored, I required that our ushers wear a coat and tie on those once-a-month Sundays when we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. It seemed to me that those who distributed the elements of Jesus’ body and blood should demonstrate at least that much respect in performing their sacred duty.

On one of those Communion Sundays, while an usher was driving his family to the church, his five-year-old son noticed that he was wearing a coat and tie. He innocently asked, “Dad, is this the Sunday that we all eat God’s holy snack?”

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Lessons from Children

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:1-6).

Jesus’ disciples did not ask the question, “Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” from a purely academic concern. They were all personally interested, hoping to be great in the soon-coming kingdom. It was obvious to them that they had a winning candidate in Jesus, and they believed it wouldn’t be long before He would be ruling the world. Opportunity was knocking for those with ambition!