Treasure In Clay Jars

In the continuing one-sided dialogue between God and the Middle East “Peacemakers”, God once again spoke very eloquently yesterday. In the Palestinian elections – which was pushed very hard by the Bush Administration as a key component to the peace process – God allowed not the so-called moderate political party (Fatah) to win, instead He allowed the most brutal anti-Israel terrorist organization Hamas to achieve a landslide victory …thus throwing the so-called “peace-process” into total disarray. Hamas has been responsible for countless suicide bombings inside Israel, and has as its core intent “the destruction of the state of Israel” . Now they become the official ruling government of the Palestinian people. It will be interesting to see what the so-called “peacemakers” try next. They will be best served to realize that the true roadmap to Middle-East peace lies not in their man-driven diplomacy, but in God’s written Bible. The Bible is clear: God is working on His Israel project, an...

One of the more common themes that arise out of horrific events in life is the “how could a loving God allow that to happen” syndrome. I usually find it interesting that many of folks who take this position are the same people who claim to have no belief in or regard for God either directly (atheists) or by behavior (the uncommitted fence-sitters). The latter group intellectually believe in the all powerful God, but refuse to bend their knees to Him…which will inevitably occur at a later point either in worship or in unimaginable fear - prior to their final judgment: Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 NLT). The most disheartening group however who also ascribe to the “how could God…” syndrome described above a...

So I’m on an airplane looking through one of those in-flight magazines, and I happen to come across an article on a well-known actress. As I’m reading the article I happen to glance over more closely at the picture of the actress, and it is at that point came the epiphany that became this post. With her dress comes a relatively revealing v-neck, and like a human lapdog, my eyes are drawn to her cleavage, which was (for the times we live in) customarily visible in the middle of her dress. It is there that I notice just above her cleavage, a cross dangling from a chain. Immediately, my first thought was…this scene just doesn’t add up. What is the religious significance of a cross being displayed prominently a mere inch or so away from the very revealing private area of a woman. My righteous indignation immediately kicked in. It was then that the Holy Spirit invaded my sense of defending His honor with this rejoinder in my ear: “why were you looking at her cleavage in the first place?”. A...

As a general rule, we live in a world that is made up mostly of people who either a) believe that God exists, but will not submit to his commands as stated in the Bible; b) does not believe that God exists; or c) believes that God exists and have accepted God’s Word as truth. Group ‘c’ comprises the smallest percentage of these three groups and is made up mostly of believers in Jesus Christ. The task that believers have in life is to present their belief to the other two groups in the hope of persuading them to change. Many do so to varying degrees of success, but oftentimes their methods and more importantly their motivation is a hindrance to true evangelism. One character trait used by some believers that appear to be an instant sign of non-credibility with unbelievers is the utterance of the phrase “…and God said to me” or “God told me to say…” The continuation of any statements after the use of these phrases is usually met with extreme pessimism or ridicule by a non-believing wor...

Tomorrow the nation celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King day. It is a fitting memorial to one of the most significant men in American history. By the sheer force of his will, intellect, love for his fellow man and (by today’s standards) an uncharacteristic adherence to the Word of God, Dr. King blazed the trail for the social and economic improvements that African Americans now enjoy. He rightfully should be honored by an entire nation whose sense of self was made better due to his efforts. As I read the transcript of his 1968 speech “I See the Promised Land” it was remarkable to feel his eloquence and humility as he addressed a public audience for the final time the day before his assassination. His was a movement grounded in the ways of God. His call for social justice for African Americans was based on the spiritual law of God that all men are created equal in the eyes of God, and as such should be treated equally without regard to race. But I am sure that the freedom that Dr. King es...

As one who loves reading God’s Word in the Bible, I find it fascinating to see the ultimate conflict that plays out from Genesis to Revelation between The Lord Jesus Christ and Satan His enemy, for the soul of every human being. Historically, for those who even give this topic any thought, it is usually assumed that God’s direct adversary is Satan, but that is clearly not the case. Satan is God’s indirect enemy, but it is with Jesus where the battle is truly played out. In the Book of Matthew, Satan knowing Jesus’ reason for being born into the world tries immediately to subvert him with three temptations (Matthew 4). Each time, Jesus rebuked him with the phrase “It is written”. Where is it written? In the Word (the scriptures). Who is the scripture? The disciple John answers this question in the Book of John Chapter 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing ...

I did a post on God’s Holy Spirit a few weeks ago and received a very interesting email from one reader: “Wow This is Deep...I know all of this sounds good but if you really want to change yourself or someone important to you. If you need online tarot in your life. If You can say no to all this (tarot reading weblink deleted)...I am changing the way I live today ...Think it and believe it... You can Change Your Life and Start Living Your Dreams Today…(tarot reading weblink deleted)” Signed Anonymous I must say I’m not terribly surprised that this particular post generated this particular response, given that the Holy Spirit is in fact the power that is at work here on earth in the lives of God’s people, and is the restrainer that God uses to hold back the complete work of the devil. The Apostle Paul wrote about this struggle in 2 Thessalonians: Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the...

A television interview with a Jewish Rabbi last night highlighted a growing fear among many in the United States of the possibility that the US government may be moving ‘dangerously’ towards theocratic rule – where religious fervor (of the Christian bent) becomes the dominant form of public policy. This ‘fear’ harkens back to the pre-US era where migrants fled religious persecution from colonial Europe to make a home of freedom from government-imposed religion in the United States. The new concern stems primarily from the rise of red-state dominance in recent US politics particularly during the administration of George W. Bush and the resulting influence of Christian oriented groups such as James Dobson’s Focus on the Family . The interesting note here is that groups opposed to religious influence in society are having difficulty defeating such influence at the ballot box. Rank and file Americans (those in inconsequential fly-over country) don’t seem to share their concern about the v...

The unspeakable tragedy that was endured by the families of the men who died in the coal mining tragedy in West Virginia will undoubtedly expose their faith in God to ridicule and scorn by some unbelievers, and may even shake the faith of some believers. How could a loving God allow the chain of events to occur in such a cruel way where the families were led to believe that their loved ones were alive only to find out that all except one was dead? This has to be one of the mysteries of God that is hard to figure out. However what kind of faith would we have if we are to turn on God because we don’t understand? Man has an enemy in the devil who is trying to destroy us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. His relentless attacks never cease. Yet by and large we get though each day unscathed! We do so only by the hand of a loving, protecting and faithful God. Always remember, man is what is wrong in the world, not God. We are directly or indirectly responsible for the tragedies ...

In the summer of 2005 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (with the encouragement of President Bush) agreed to forceably withdraw Israeli citizens from the Gaza strip and turn the area in southwest Israel over to the Palestinian Authority as part of the state of Palestine. This was hailed by many governments as a critical step towards ending the war between Palestinian militants and Israel. "Land for Peace" was the slogan of choice. Given that Israel was established by God as documented in the Old Testament of the Bible, I wondered what God would think of this arrangement brought about by modern day wisdom. Some history would be useful here: When Joshua (the leader of Israel) was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, "You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over. This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the n...

When I was a brand new Christian and first studied the Book of Revelation one section of scripture jumped out at me as being very odd – in a book full of very unusual situations: The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Revelation 16:8-9 NIV) Here was God pouring out his wrath on mankind during the last days on earth, after repeatedly judging them with twelve previous plagues and yet they still cursed him rather than bow before Him to ask for forgiveness. At the time I found this behavior quite inexplicable because I thought how could people be so obstinate and rebellious in the face of obvious displays of God’s reality and power? It's not like they could argue anymore about the actual existence of God! Over the years I’ve pondered how the heart of man could get so har...