Treasure In Clay Jars

In the Book of Revelation, we marvel at the implication of taking the mark (666) as seen in Revelation 14:9-11 , where such a person is condemned to eternal damnation unable to ever turn to the Lord as is available to most people still alive. However in Romans Chapter 1, the Bible also discusses the condition of people today, where as the scripture says three times because of their behavior, "The Lord game them over..." Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. Romans 1:24 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Romans 1:26-27 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not ...

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...

I did something today that I normally don’t do: I ventured into a place I consider hostile territory – I went to the movies. Those who know me well (admittedly a crowd of one – my wife) know that I abhor the environment of the modern movie theater. If it wasn’t for the movie that we were going to see, the $3.50 bottle of water would have surely tipped me into another soapbox on the absurdity of the modern theater environment. However, I was anticipating the pleasure of the movie “The Nativity Story”, so being a grump about having to endure the movie theater seemed at odds with the message of Jesus. After viewing “The Nativity Story”, I can clearly see why the City of Chicago was so quick to ban public excerpts of the film from being shown at a street festival in the city a few weeks ago. This movie is all about JESUS! We really can’t have that going on freely in the American public square now can we? This movie is a wonderful reminder of why Christians should love Christmas. This was n...

There is this incredibly annoying commercial that appears frequently on TV advertising a reality show by illusionist Criss Angel. It shows this young man predictably dressed in gothic black performing all kind of "apparent miracles" while an incredulous public looks on in amazement and wonderment. One of the scenes shows the dark Mr. Angel (pun intended) walking on water. As I watched the commercial recently, the below passage of scripture came to my mind which I think fittingly captures the lure and presumed success of Mr. Angel's presentations: 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 man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God; For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back wi...

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...