By Ken Pierce Each Fourth of July, many of my neighbors spend a chunk of change on fireworks purchased from pop-up vendors along the main road through town. The buying starts in late June. People really look forward to the holiday, many of them mainly because of the fireworks. Sporadic launches start a few days

By Philippe R. Sterling Saul was Israel’s first king. The Bible’s first mention of him paints a picture of physical perfection: “… choice and handsome…There was not a more handsome person…he was taller than any of the people” (1 Sam 9:2). His physical stature fit the ideal king’s description and was a significant factor in

By Bob Wilkin About twenty years ago, at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, I heard a speaker present a message about the Angel of the Lord (Malak Yahweh). The speaker suggested that the Scriptures show that the Angel of the Lord is never the preincarnate Lord Jesus Christ. After the talk, I

By Ken Yates INTRODUCTION When I was a boy, I was really thin. In fact, some called me “Skinny Kenny.” The nickname didn’t bother me because it was never said in a mean way. It was simply stating a fact. There were times, however, when I did not like being skinny. Back then, some advertisements

By Mike Lii In my family, I’m notorious for being a bargain hunter. I get a thrill when I can purchase a high-value item at a heavily discounted price. For example, my wife and son get hot during parts of the day during the summer months here in Texas. Why? I selected a nights-free electricity

By Bob Wilkin Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43). Casey sent me an actual handwritten letter. He asked a series of super questions about this exchange: Did

By Art Farstadi Many have heard the story of the man whose devotional reading consisted of cracking his Bible at random and reading the first verse his finger touched. One morning this was his verse for the day: “And Judas went out and hanged himself.” That can’t be it, he thought. So he tried again.

By Brad Doskocil The Bible has a lot to say about the importance of a virtue called patience. The words patient and patiently occur fourteen times in twelve verses in the Bible. We are to “wait patiently for Him” (Ps 37:7; 40:1; Eccles 7:8). We are to be “patient in tribulation” (Rom 12:12; cf. Heb

By Bob Wilkin It is well known that the expressions everlasting life and eternal life occur often in John’s Gospel. In the NKJV and KJV translations, everlasting life occurs eight times and eternal life nine times. But in all seventeen places, the Greek it translates is the same: zōēn aiōnion. The NASB, NET, HCSB, ESV,

By Iheanyi Njokui Introduction Romans 8 is one of the great chapters in the Bible. Its teaching about how the Holy Spirit operates in enabling the believer to defeat the forces of evil has always been recognized as of the utmost importance. Leon Morris suggested that while there are problems in understanding some of the