Treasure In Clay Jars

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many… (Hebrews 9:27-28 NIV) My wife and I were talking about a celebrity who we learned had died recently. One of my first thoughts (as is customary) was “were they saved”? Did that person accept that Jesus died for their sins so that they could live forever in Heaven? Though neither my wife nor I could know the real answer to that question, if we went by the “evidence” of how that person lived their public life, then it appeared highly unlikely that a salvation conversion would have occurred in their life. If so, then their death was indeed a tragedy. Acceptance of Jesus is indeed the difference between life and death (for eternity). Look at this diagram below (taken from a previous publication by author Bruce Wilkinson). The size of the circle denotes the average life span of our present life on earth. The length of the line denotes the first .000...

It was with sadness that I read about the death of famed atheist Christopher Hitchens who died after a battle with cancer on Thursday December 15 th . As a Christian and a very flawed one at that, my “natural” instinct was to muse about how Mr. Hitchens is now face to face with the test of his theory of atheism. However I find myself praying for him and what he actually did with his waning days than anything else. Not many people are given an opportunity by God to basically know for some time that they are about to die before the actual moment of death. For most, death comes unexpectedly i.e. accidents, violence etc. rather than via protracted illness the latter stages of which are spent in Hospice care. According to the Bible, for those who die with minimal or little warning, a life lived apart from accepting salvation through Christ is followed in rapid fashion by death and then judgment from God on that life: …as man is destined to die once, and after that to face...

Such is the undercurrent of a very telling article written on the USA Today website in which the specter of the exclusivist “evangelical” Christianity movement is suspiciously evaluated within the context of big time American sports. To be sure, the author is clearly not being objective in his representation. Despite his “credentials” as a presumably objective journalist, the fact of the matter is that Jesus’ claim that "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 NIV) leaves no room for objectivity. Either you believe what Jesus says or you don’t. Of course you could try to avoid having to choose by “believing” that Jesus never uttered this declaration. However, at least for the USA Today writer, he decides not to try to be evasive or "clever" on the issue. He clearly feels that if Jesus made the statement, then He must have been wrong. The author writes: These sports stars, like all Americans, have a right to ...

I was listening to the radio this morning when the song “One Love” from Bob Marley came on. It is a wonderful song with a great message of love. However there is a line in the song that got me to thinking…the line goes something like this: “give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel alright...” Now it’s rare that you hear a major mainstream artist like Marley incorporating praise to the Lord in their lyrics. In fact, I am certain if any established artist of today were to dare to incorporate praise “to the Lord” in their songs a) it would not be heard liberally in the media and b) that artist would probably be vilified for offending others. But alas, Bob Marley lived in a time where “the Lord” when uttered in the mainstream of public consciousness was not considered akin to a curse word. Good for him; in a way thankfully for Marley, he died before the foolishness of today's media culture truly began. The song also got me to thinking about the phrase “the Lord”. It is no...

Never let it be said that the devil is unaware of how to “make friends and influence people”. Take the case of Oprah Winfrey (who I am not calling "the devil"). I will say that I know little about her life, except to say that it appears that at one point, prior to her current mega financial success story, she was a young woman from apparently humble beginnings (by the world's standards) who was once exposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since then, she has worked her way up the media ladder to the lofty position she now holds. However the “power” that comes with her current position along with the compromises about Christ that must be made in order to maintain a celebrated relationship with the entertainment industry, leads to the inevitable presentation that is captured from her show in the following clip: "Jesus not the only way" - Oprah Winfrey In this clip Oprah indirectly suggests that Jesus was a liar when He said the following in John 14:6 - Jesus answe...

The power and omnipresence of Jesus Christ was on full display recently in the Mel Gibson drunk driving episode. Moral “outrage” has followed, with most outlets piling on the criticism of Mr. Gibson for his ridiculous anti-Semitic tirade during his drunken state. I submit however that the “moral” outcry is far more about Jesus Christ than it is about Mel Gibson. All of this is no doubt venomous residue remaining within several subgroups from Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ”. With that film, Mel Gibson made a lot of enemies in the anti-Jesus-as-Messiah crowd including many Jewish groups, his Hollywood contemporaries, the left leaning media and secularists everywhere. As a result, these groups have had vitriolic animosity toward Mr. Gibson ever since. I can guarantee you that had Mr. Gibson’s hit movie have been “Lethal Weapon 5” or “Mad Max 10”, his drunk driving tirade would have gone completely under the radar, with him remaining firmly ensconced within the bosom of Holly...

The widespread publicity afforded to Warren Buffet last week when he announced his intention to leave his billions to charity coupled with a somewhat similar announcement a few weeks earlier by Bill Gates regarding his intention to step down as leader of Microsoft to focus on his humanitarian foundation illustrates a very deceptive flaw in our global human thinking. These very caring people are to be lauded for their giving spirit to others, but at the same time, the outpouring of attention continues to cement the myth of human “goodness” to combat the evil of this world, when in fact such “goodness” is nothing more than a deception that we can cure ourselves. We as human beings are selfish, depraved and self centered; that is how God describes us in Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? The generosity of billionaires cannot cure it. God presents only one cure for the human heart: If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ours...