The Devil’s Beatitudes
Our Lord spoke some of His most precious words in Matthew 5:3-12, also known as the Beatitudes. Have you ever wondered, though, what it would be like if Satan had his own Beatitudes? Maybe they would sound similar to these: If you read this and think it is only about other people, the devil has […]
The Devil’s Advocates
One of the most foolish things a warrior can do is go to battle without first knowing his enemy. Satan has planted many of his best agents among us. We need to expose a few of them. Make sure you’re not part of the devil’s advocates. Churches have enough difficulty spreading the gospel without these […]
The Deceitfulness of Sin
Adolf Hitler once said, “If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, and often enough, people will believe it.” The Hebrew writer said, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called today; lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). The Holy Spirit tells us that sin is […]
The Dangers of Summer
Now that school is out and we are in the middle of summer, we will be going on vacation, visiting family and friends, and doing things we don’t have time for the rest of the year. While we go about these activities, we may not realize that Satan could be hard at work trying to […]
The Cross and Crown
In Mark 8:34, when Jesus was in the region of Caesarea Philippi and Peter made his great confession of Christ, Jesus told His disciples that He would suffer, be killed, and rise after three days. After an exchange with Peter Jesus called the multitude to Him and said, “And when he had called the people […]
The Cost of Being a Christian
Mainline Liberal Protestant denominations such as Episcopalian, Unitarian, Congregationalist, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches have been losing members since the 1960s. In the past 30 years, these groups have lost between 1/5 and 1/3 of their total membership. Declines have been especially steep among younger members. Why has this happened? Several factors can be cited: (1) […]
The Citizens of the Kingdom
John Hess-Yoder wrote, “While serving as a missionary in Laos, I discovered an illustration of the kingdom of God. Before the colonialists imposed national boundaries, the kings of Laos and Vietnam reached an agreement on taxation in the border areas. Those who ate short-grain rice, built their houses on stilts, and decorated them with Indian-style […]
The Christian’s Race
Comparing the Christian life with a race, Hebrews 12:1 urges us to “lay aside every weight …” Every disciple of Jesus who expects to win the Christian race must weed from his life that which hinders his running. You have never seen an overweight marathon runner win a race or a fit marathon runner win […]
The Christian Home
A lady stood crying as the judge read the sentence which sent her fifteen year old son to prison for five years. “Why?”, she cried. “What went wrong your Honor,” she sobbed. “Who’s responsible for this happening to my son?”, she asked. “Ma’am,” replied the judge, “you and your husband are responsible. You failed to […]
The Chameleon Christian
Often times, if we look closely at a passage in the Bible, we notice things not just about the material, but the author himself. Scripture comes alive as we see the context surrounding the word, and the reasons that these words were written to these specific people. One such example of this is in the […]