John the Baptist: His Purpose and Passion
In 1906, a new land-speed record of 127 miles per hour was set by Fred Marriott on Ormond Beach in Daytona, Florida…
In 1906, a new land-speed record of 127 miles per hour was set by Fred Marriott on Ormond Beach in Daytona, Florida…
John the Baptist’s ministry and message bear striking similarities to a sect of Judaism active in the 1st century called the Essenes. Like John, the Essenes lived…
John the Baptist is one of the strangest, most unusual, and most interesting people found in the pages of the Bible. From the predicted forerunner of the…
While preaching in the Judean wilderness, John the Baptist proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt. 3:2)…
Celebrated Jewish cartoonist Bob Mankoff once said in an interview, “I know everybody wants humor to be subversive and…
Many people misinterpret Jesus’ statements concerning His promise to do…
The wine flowed freely throughout the lavish banquet hall. The occasion was the pagan birthday celebration of Herod Antipas…
We live in a changing, decaying, unraveling world. A general increase in lawlessness and crime, government regulations, high taxes, poor education, and a…
God designed and ordained marriage as the natural order of a man and a woman becoming one flesh. The first marriage occurred at the beginning of human history…
It was dubbed the “Miracle on Ice.” On February 22, 1980, the United States Olympic hockey team defeated the…
Genesis, the first book of the Bible, describes the beginning of everything. It opens with the creation of the universe…
In his letter to the Ephesian believers in Christ, the apostle Paul paralleled the marital relationship between a man and a woman…
When Adam and Eve first sinned, God promised that one of Eve’s…
The writers of Scripture often used the word walk to describe the Christian’s conduct or manner of life. The apostle Paul instructed Christians to…
Many Christians are not certain they will enjoy eternal life when they die. Some doubt because they have neglected to…
Ezekiel said, “So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward” (39:22). Israel will…
The Battle of Gog and Magog will mark a dark time in Israel’s history. Facing a united attack from a coalition of powerful nations, Israel may feel helplessly alone…
Professional athletes devote their lives to the pursuit of a prize. They focus all their efforts on reaching their goals, putting aside all distractions…
In Revelation 3:5, the apostle John wrote, “He who overcomes shall be…
Israel is always at the center of conflict. Will there ever be true peace—shalom—in the Middle East?..
Contending for the faith is not easy. It’s an unpopular, perilous, thankless job. It is more pleasant to be an appeaser than an opposer…
The world is filled with iniquity. The evil we see overtaking the world today proves yet again the truth of Scripture: “The heart is deceitful…
Today we don’t associate blood with cleansing. In fact, bleeding is often the result of an injury or disease. So, it’s natural to wonder why…
Scripture places much emphasis on Israel’s reconciliation with God through faith in His promised Son. Beginning in Genesis 12, we see God working…
When Jesus was on Earth, He told His disciples, “Do not go into the way of…
Most people fear something. Some fear heights, others fear wild animals, and others fear spiders or snakes or sharks. In Australia, where I live, you can experience…
Theologians hold two positions on the nature of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1–11). One position teaches…
Corrie ten Boom couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It was 1947, two years after World War II had ended; and Corrie just finished talking to…
If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you may be wondering about the practical implications…
Few believers in Jesus Christ will deny that we have been swept up in a period of chaos and confusion that threatens the survival of our nation…
“How do I become right with God?” is neither a Jewish question nor a Gentile one. It is a human question…
Life is full of warnings. The Internet, TV, and billboards bombard us regularly with warnings, telling us what to think, believe, and do…
How do you encapsulate the biblical hero David? The “man after [God’s] own heart” (Acts 13:22) was a…
My first encounter with King David came in a Sunday-school kindergarten class. We learned a peppy little song called “Only a Boy Named David”…
The acronym SERE refers to military training for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape. It prepares U.S. combatants for wilderness survival, enemy evasion, and…
Imagine an aging, frail King David (1 Ki. 1:1) reflecting back on his life—his mind flooded with moments of joy and sadness…
The “key of the house of David” or “key of David” is mentioned only twice in the Bible (Isa. 22:22; Rev. 3:7). Possessing the key…
It’s easy to imagine the men who became America’s Founding Fathers in 1776 hard at work in the small east room…
Hollywood often makes a mess of things when it takes on the Bible. Its multiple renditions of David’s battle with Goliath are frustrating…
The most contested piece of real estate on Earth is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Today, its 36 acres house a…
The apostle Paul personally discipled several committed men who partnered with him in spreading the gospel. Most of them came to salvation in Christ during…
I’m sure he meant well, but the president of the United States was not supposed to kiss the Queen Mother of the United Kingdom…
What an experience it must have been. For 400 years, the Israelites lived in Egypt, a land whose gods were as numerous as the…
God’s revelation concerning the Israelites’ Tabernacle covers 50 chapters in the Old Testament, while His revelation about the creation of the world…
Christ commended the Ephesian church for its zeal and service to God. He recognized the believers’ devotion in…
God chose Israel to be a holy nation. He told the Israelites, “You shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy…
Many godly men and women in the Bible serve as examples for us of how to live for Christ. They trusted God’s…
Recently, I have had trouble seeing clearly. My doctor attributes my struggles with vision to advancing cataracts, which must be removed…
Most people want a stamp of affirmation when they complete a transaction. All types of affirmation exist…
If you’re like me, you examine the guarantee offered when you buy a product. The better the guarantee, the more confident you are…
For many who come to faith in Jesus Christ, the phrase once saved, always saved plays an integral part in their discipleship. For others, eternal security is a false teaching…
Originally, humanity was created perfect by God. People possessed a perfect…
Paul and Peter wrote 59 percent of the New Testament’s 27 books. Paul wrote 14 (some people believe he also wrote Hebrews), and Peter wrote two…
In Philippians 2:3–4, Paul admonished Christians to live in spiritual unity with one another. Nothing was to be done within the church through selfish ambition…
The Bible Jesus and the apostles used was the Old Testament because no New Testament existed in the…
The oldest translation of the Hebrew Scriptures is called the Septuagint, usually identified as the LXX, Roman numerals that stand for 70…
Newsflash: The apostle Simon Peter was not a Roman Catholic. He did not consider Rome his homeland, and he certainly…
It was well attested in the early church that Peter was the source of Mark’s Gospel. Papias of Hierapolis…
Have you ever wondered why Jesus used the phrase from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah (Mt. 23:35) when He…
A mystery is something that is difficult or impossible to understand or explain. It has a secret quality whose meaning is…
Many people are confused by the relationship between the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the New Testament. Both were penned by Jewish men…
One of the most often-quoted passages in the New Testament is Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Mt. 5—7). Delivered to His disciples atop a mountain near Capernaum…
When the apostle Paul’s epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews were written in the 1st century AD, the only Holy Scriptures accepted in the synagogues and churches were…
Throughout the ages, some Christians have claimed the negligible number of Jewish people who possess…
The 6th-century BC Greek storyteller Aesop, whose oral tales compose the famous Aesop’s Fables, has been credited with the origin of the…
The answer to the title’s question is an unequivocal yes! God is omniscient and knows everything about your life…
An old martyr once told his executioners, “You take a life from me that I cannot keep and bestow a life upon me that I cannot lose…”
The popular musical Hello Dolly! had many memorable lines; but my favorite is this one: “Money,” said Dolly Levi, “pardon the expression, is like manure…
Reading the book of Esther is like reading a novel filled with suspense. Chock-full of intrigue, heroism, pathos, and deception, it holds your attention from beginning to end…
King Solomon wrote, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He [God] turns it wherever He wishes” (Prov. 21:1)…
Providence is God’s active care, control, and governance over everything in His created universe by His…
Occasionally, my second son and I dabble in the hobby of polishing rocks. With lots of time and patience, rough-hewn stones placed into a rock tumbler…
When I was a kid, watching the Miss America Pageant on TV was a big deal in our home. The competition symbolized everything we knew back then about beauty…
Villains! Where would literature, movies, or old-time radio serials be without them? From Sherlock Holmes’s Professor Moriarty to Peter Pan’s Captain Hook…
A humorous quip describes most of Jewish history: “They tried to kill us. They failed. Let’s eat…”
If anyone had a reason to ask, “Why me?” it was the apostle Paul. No one who followed Christ suffered more for the gospel than he did…
Imagine you’re on your way to Sabbath morning services at your local synagogue. For you, this is a day of tradition. It may…
Omniscience means having complete and unlimited knowledge and understanding of all things. No one fits this description but God…
This world is not a pleasant place. Between global pandemics, social unrest, sky-rocketing costs, and rampant…
Have the blessings God promised to the Chosen People of Israel been redirected to all believers in the church? Will the…
Several years ago, we received a Thanksgiving Day card titled “Blessed and Grateful.” The sender wrote, “We hope your celebration of God’s blessings is…
Christians around the world eagerly await the Christmas season, and my wife and I are no exception. One of our favorite activities this time of year is to take a…
How exciting was it when you knew your dad was on his way home when you were…
Following a 2020 Democratic presidential debate, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) approached Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who reached out his hand to shake hers…
Jesus’ Second Coming will bring to completion scores of prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures, as well as many predictions and promises Jesus made…
“I want your room cleaned up before I get home!” Sound familiar? Parents often leave directives like these for their children before leaving the house…
How can people hate someone who died for them? After all, the whole world celebrates heroes, people who selflessly “pay the ultimate price” for a noble cause…
Remember Y2K, the colossal, highly anticipated computer catastrophe that was supposed to paralyze the universe the moment we…
On December 25, much of the world will pause to celebrate Christmas. And though it is a well-documented fact that Jesus was not born on that date…
In biblical times, a judgment seat (called the bema) was a raised platform erected at…
Christian leaders often create ministry strategies, only to discover God’s will is different…
Did you know people can be disciples of just about anything? Sports teams, fitness programs, and celebrities all have…
It was a scandal many find hard to stomach even today. The king God chose to govern His people committed adultery with another man’s wife…
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” These words of wisdom, falsely attributed to…
King Solomon’s reign has been called Israel’s Golden Age. Under him, the Israelites possessed almost all of the land God promised them…
When people think of King Solomon, they usually recall his great wisdom and the magnificent Jewish Temple he built…