My son’s girlfriend, Kari’s sister-in-law lost her sister, Susan Griffies, this past Wednesday. It is a devastating loss of a young wife and mother of twins who are nearly three. Her husband is the youth minister of the Highlands Church of Christ in Lakeland, Florida. He is originally from Prattville. She went in to try to have some pressure released from a vein in her brain. It was supposed to be a simple surgery. Instead, the vein collapsed and she had a fatal stroke. Wednesday morning, they had to make the decision to take her off of the machine because she had no signs of life. The pain for the family and friends is unbelievable. It makes the Bible verses seem so much more real: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (James 4:14). We need to appreciate the many blessings we have, especially our loved ones. A while back I started our kids (including in-laws and possible in-laws) reading a text before I go to bed. I do not want a single day to go by without them knowing that I love them. They say basically the same thing every night, that I love them, and hope that they have a good night. Yet, it is important to me for them to know. I know that I have been blessed so much with my family, and I …

The Christian faith stands or falls on the truthfulness of Christ’s resurrection. It is a cardinal doctrine of Christianity. Every year many people recognize and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead in special “Easter” services. Though Christians are not authorized in Scripture to celebrate Easter (or Christmas either) as special holy days, we ought to be happy attention is being given to spiritual things and that belief in the resurrection doctrine is being promoted. Easter is a word that likely comes from the name of a Teutonic goddess of spring. Easter is not a biblical term. Pascha, the Greek word for Passover, is mistranslated one time in the Authorized Version (KJV) as Easter (Acts 12:4). The other 28 times this word occurs in Scripture, it is correctly rendered Passover. Again, there is no authority in God’s Word for Christians to celebrate the resurrection on “Easter” as a religious holy day. Christians are to remember the Savior and proclaim his death till he comes again in the Lord’s Supper each first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). This does not lessen the importance of the virgin birth and the triumphant resurrection. In point of fact, the truthfulness of the miraculous birth and the reality of the resurrection are vital truths taught in God’s Word. The resurrection is important because it is proof of the power of God and proof that Jesus is the divine Son of God. The resurrection of Jesus is cause to believe and know that we will …

First, let us realize that we are not speaking of whether or not it is enjoyable. Most of us would agree that such is very enjoyable, though some enjoy one type and some another. Some prefer Rock and Roll; others prefer Jazz; still others prefer Classic Country. The question does not concern our preferences, but whether or not we are practicing things that are pleasing to God in worship. Nothing else is under consideration here. Let us realize, that our future home in eternity depends on whether or not we are pleasing to God. We are not interested in winning an argument but rather in doing what is required by God to save our own souls and those who confront us with this question are asked to always bear this in mind. All our souls are at stake for Satan wants us to violate God’s will, even as he went about convincing Eve that because that something seemed good she should eat it – and thus brought sin (separation from God) into this world, and mankind has suffered its consequences ever since. A question often heard from people is, “Why do you not use instrumental music during your worship?” Since the burden of proof is upon the shoulders of those who engage in a practice, a better question might be, “Why do you sing only?” Or, “Why do you use them?” To answer the question partially, consider that the Bible clearly teaches that sin is a transgression (going across) of the …

Some students recall hearing the principal of Plaza Towers Elementary School telling them over the intercom to go to the cafeteria and wait for their parents. Then, the tornado alarm sounded and selfless teachers of that school in Moore, Oklahoma frantically tried to secure their students’ safety. The tornado struck the school. Seven students were killed, but many were saved due to the heroic efforts of their teachers. Rhonda Crosswhite, a sixth grade teacher at Plaza Towers, and several students, sought refuge from the twister in a school bathroom. As the tornado tore through the building, she shielded three of her students with her own body. “It just started coming down so I just laid on top of some of them,” she said on NBC’s Today show. One of the students Crosswhite shielded, fourth-grader Damian Britton, said the tornado “sounded like a train coming by.” “A teacher covered us — Ms. Crosswhite,” Damian said on the show. “I told her we were fine because we were holding onto something. Then she went over to my friend Antonio and covered him. So she saved our lives.” “The whole time I just kept screaming to them, ‘Quit worrying, we’re fine, we’re fine,” she told the Today show hosts, adding that she was unsure if her attempts at reassurance could be heard over the twister. Yet, she kept reassuring them. “We’re going to be fine, I’m protecting you,” Crosswhite recalled telling the students. “Then I said a few prayers: ‘God, please take care …

If you ask a millionaire to define happiness, he might say that to be happy is to have two million dollars. If you ask a nine-year-old boy, he might answer happiness is being ten-years-old. If you ask a candidate, he might say winning an upcoming election. To the athlete, it might be winning the big game. All of these things are fleeting, but God knows how to bring lasting happiness to each of us. Happiness is found in the following: Where are you searching for happiness? Try God’s way.

The theme of God’s redemptive plan runs through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. At its heart is Calvary, the place where Jesus died so we could be forgiven. Isaiah foretold that Christ would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). As we look to Calvary, we see three crosses. The Cross of REBELLION (Luke 23:39) This man was dying because of crimes he had committed. Jesus had done nothing against him, yet this man used some of his last minutes in life to mock and scorn Jesus. As death approached, he was not moved to sorrow by thoughts of being punished forever for his wicked life. He was returning another’s love with bitterness. Jesus was dying for him also. Even the solemnity of death could not restrain the blasphemies from his lips. This man died scoffing; he died in sin. The Cross of REPENTANCE (LUKE 23:40-43) This man saw his horrible situation and considered his eternal fate (i.e., Remorse is moral anguish arising from repentance for past misdeeds; it is bitter regret.). He was moved to repentance, and Jesus rewarded him with forgiveness. Before he died physically, this man died to sin. The Cross of REDEMPTION On this cross was the sinless Son of God. His mission on earth was to seek and save the lost, climaxing in the sacrifice of His life to pay the price for our sins. Jesus “committed no sin,” but He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:22, 24). Many people taunted and …

Very often people want to know what the phrases “church fathers,” “fathers of the church” or “early church fathers” mean. The use of the terms “father” and “son” to refer to a relationship other than a biological one is ancient. It is found in the Old Testament and the New Testament (e.g. 2 Kings 2:12; 6:21; 1 Corinthians 4:17; Galatians 4:19; Philippians 2:22; 1 Timothy 1:2, 18; 2 Timothy 1:2; 2:1; Titus 1:4). Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). The use of “father” and “son” or similar terminology for a “teacher” or a “mentor” to a “student” relationship was common in the ancient world, even beyond Judaism and Christianity. It was found, for example, among the philosophical schools. In Christian circles the idea of a “church father” brought to mind a great teacher of theology in the past who guided the church in sound doctrine. These theologians, teachers and scholars were thought to have preserved the Christian faith against heresy and to have passed good teaching along to the next generation. Who in particular were considered to be the “church fathers” in the era of the early church after the apostolic age? Four key criteria were generally used to designate someone as a church father (see Christopher A. Hall. Learning Theology with the Church Fathers. Downers Grove: InterVarsity P., 2002, 20-21). Antiquity – To be a church father one needed to have lived in the earlier centuries from …

One could make a case that Saul of Tarsus (Paul) was the most remarkable follower Jesus ever had. He is mentioned more often than any other Christian in the New Testament (202 times1). He got a late start (1 Corinthians 15:8), but he made up for it by laboring more diligently (1 Corinthians 15:10). Before or since, no other person ever came so far and did so much. Background Facts Name: In Hebrew Saul means “desired.” His Roman name was Paul, which means “little.” Because one of the ancients called him Homo tricubitalis2, tradition says he was but four and a half feet in height. If this is true, he was as remarkably little in stature as his namesake King Saul was remarkably tall. King Saul stood physically head and shoulders above the soldiers of Israel (1 Samuel 9:2); the apostle Saul stands spiritually head and shoulders above the soldiers of the Lord’s army. Birthplace/Family: Saul was born in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, a free city of the Romans. He was a free man in that city (Acts 22:28), which was not usual for Jews in Roman provinces. In the Roman Empire, citizenship outside of Italy was reserved for those who made significant contributions to the Empire; so it is thought that perhaps Saul’s family was wealthy and philanthropic. We can say with certainty that Saul’s father and mother were native Jews; therefore, Paul calls himself a “Hebrew of the Hebrews” (Philippians 3:5). He was of the tribe of Benjamin (the kingly tribe), which …

“Grief is like being in a deep dark pit with no way out,” the couple from a grief support class wrote. In asking my class participants to write down in their own words the meaning of grief, the couple added, “Grief is a feeling of being under a dark veil that you cannot lift. There is a feeling that there is something heavy across your heart and a tight band that is around your head. Grief is total despair. Grief is a feeling of helplessness that seems unbearable.” The above-mentioned definition is a heart-felt meaning of what happens when grief invades a person’s or a family’s life. Grief, from the Latin word, gravis, means “heavy.” Indeed, if there has ever been an understatement for a word, that has to be one! Grief is one of the most debilitating expressions of emotion that a person or family can ever imagine. Grief is an all-encompassing emotion that can cause families to feel as if all of the problems of the world have suddenly been placed upon their backs and on their hearts! Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines grief as a “deep and poignant distress caused by or as if by bereavement.” In my twenty plus years of working with people that have dealt with the loss of something or someone precious to them, I have found grief to be an individual experience, generally a painful feeling of sadness that usually follows an actual loss or precedes an anticipated loss. For families affected by grief, …

Samuel Feldman is the world’s most famous bread vandal. He did $8,000 worth of damage to bread and cookies throughout the Yardley, Pennsylvania area. He was going around “squeezing, smashing, and poking” bags of bread and packages of cookies. Finally, one store, suspecting Feldman, put him under surveillance and caught him in the act three times. He is charged with one count of criminal mischief. Three years of aggravation and loss were caused by an idle person with a mean streak. There is a bread squeezer in any group. The church even sometimes harbors a few bread squeezers. These are those sore tails and nitpickers, the storm clouds who live to rain on others’ parades, those who seem to enjoy causing friction and irritating others, those who hold petty grudges, and general pot-stirrers. They are the busybodies (2 Thessalonians 3:11; 1 Timothy 5:13). Solomon described one as a worthless and wicked person who “soweth discord” (Proverbs 6:14, 19). Paul lamented lovers of controversy because they provoke “envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds” (1 Timothy 6:4-5). Bread squeezers flatten a congregation’s morale, squeeze the worst side out of others, and pick and poke at everyone from the church’s leaders to any other Christian whose name comes into their crosshairs. They taint the productivity, good will, good deeds, attitude and joy of a congregation. They brighten entire rooms just by making an exit. Are you a bread squeezer? How well do you speak of other Christians? …

While reading Psalm 19, I was struck by a simple truth that most of us may know, but which needs to be emphasized again. The last part of verse 8 says, “The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” Since that is so, one might expect this also to be true: “The commandments of men are impure, confusing and blinding the eyes.” As I meditated on that, I thought of many denominational doctrines that do exactly that, whether they are commandments or supposed exegeses of passages of scripture. A classical case in point is found in The Standard Manual for Baptist Churches by Edward Hiscox. Under the subject of “Regeneration” on page 63, it says, “We believe the Scriptures teach that in order to be saved, men must be regenerated, or born again; that regeneration consists in giving a holy disposition to the mind; that it is effected in a manner above our comprehension by the Holy Spirit, in connection with divine truth, so as to secure our voluntary obedience to the gospel; and that its proper evidence appears in the holy fruits of repentance, faith, and newness of life.” If you have a friend who is a genius, with a Ph.D. in language or communication, or a Th.D. in Theology, see if you can get him to explain that sentence in terms of anything the Bible says, or anything you can understand. Note that Jesus says in John 3:7, “Ye must be born again.” So, here is an imperative …

We have heard about Mount Everest because it is the highest mountain on earth at the height of 29,029 feet, but did you know that there are seven mountains in its vicinity that reach from less than 21,000 feet and some which are over 27,000 feet in altitude? They are less known because of the reputation of Mount Everest and its height. Did you realize that there were six other miracles that occurred at the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord? Because of the importance and significance of the Savior’s death and resurrection, these miracles are less known because of the greatest events pertaining to Jesus Christ. Three Hours of Darkness: Matthew 27:45 reads, “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.” The darkness came during Passover when the moon was full so it was not an eclipse of the moon. Luke 23:45 says, “Then the sun was darkened [obscured].” Tertullian said, “In the same hour too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.” Pontius Pilate sent the following report to Tiberius, emperor of Rome: “And when he had been crucified, there was darkness over the whole earth, the sun having been completely hidden, and the heaven appearing dark, so that the …

God said unto him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou has provided?” I would ask that you read Luke 12:15-21. Here we find the parable of the foolish rich man. Here we find a rich man who had lived by a philosophy of life that many have unfortunately adopted today. It is as follows, “I am not concerned about the future from the standpoint of the wellbeing of my soul. I am going to live for the satisfaction of my fleshly passions today. I am going to live for self. I will eat, drink and be merry. My belly is full. I have enjoyed an abundant harvest. I will continue to build to have room for my material blessings.” One can readily see this man showed absolutely no interest in spiritual matters. As worldly people look at things, they would have deemed him a wise and a successful man. God called such a man a fool. His lack of concern about his soul came home to haunt him, as it will for all who follow in his steps. This parable is a challenge to all of us to examine our purposes and goals in life. All opportunities to correct the wrongs in his life were about to come to a sudden and tragic end. God said to him, “This night shall thy soul be required of thee” (Luke 12:20). What a sobering reality! Do we seek to …

Interesting, isn’t it, what children learn to say at a young age. What joy fills the heart of a parent to hear the words “mommy” and “daddy” from their little ones. There is not as much joy, however, when close on the heels of such endearing terms follows terms like “mine!” Selfishness seems to start at an early age in life, and parents are challenged to instill the concept of sacrifice into their children, rather than allow such attitudes to go unchecked. It is unfortunate that our society seems to revel in selfishness, and many young people behave inappropriately, not having been taught and shown a more noble way to live. As sad as this may be, it is just as sad to see this behavior in adults. In this case, it usually goes by other terms, like “I am just looking out for my best interests,” or “It makes good business sense” or “If you do not look out for yourself, who will?” Using such phrases as these, instead of saying, “I want it for myself” or “I’m being self-centered–so what?” is more socially acceptable, but the attitude of heart it reveals is no less undesirable. What does it say about a person who has become conditioned to getting what one wants, no matter the cost to others? Sadder still is when such attitudes happen in those who are children of God. I do not know of too many Christians who would admit to being selfish. The practice of …