There’s a curious note at the end of the book of Deuteronomy describing the death and burial of Moses. As you remember, God allowed him to see an overview of the Promised Land from a perch on top of Mount Nebo, then he passed away. “And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.” (Deut.34:6) Continue reading
Dust
Dr. Edwin Slessor said, “The greatest miracle of the Bible is its chemical accuracy.” The Book of Genesis says, “The Lord formed man of the dust of the earth.” (Gen.2:7) This statement is literally true.
In the general area where the beginning of civilization is thought to have taken place, a soil sample consists of 16 different chemical elements. All these are found in the body of man. How could the writers Moses, Job and David have known this? Yet before the science of chemistry was born this truth was declared as a fact. Christians have no difficulty believing these Bible writers were inspired by God. Continue reading
Thankfulness, From Beginning to End
The New Testament is full of thankfulness, from start to finish. Each of Paul’s letters seem to begin with gratefulness for the church he was writing to, and they usually end with his thanks for individuals among them. See Phil.1:3-4 or Col.1:3, among many. Most of these churches had serious problems that threatened their undoing, but along with reproof the apostle found things about them for which he was thankful. And how about us? Perhaps there are things about our congregation that one could grumble about, but are we thankful for the many more things that are positive? Continue reading
Doctor Luke
While Luke is only mentioned by name three times in the Bible, his reputation is huge. We would know very little about him if it wasn’t for his authorship of the gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts (in both, he does not name himself). He wrote them about 30 years after the church began (a.d.60-62), but what do we know about him before that? Continue reading
The Power of Honesty
When the sons of Jacob returned home from Egypt they found a bonus in their sacks of grain. The money they had spent had been returned. Genesis 42 reveals this was part of the manipulations of their brother Joseph – now a powerful Egyptian official – to motivate them to return to Egypt. But they didn’t understand this, and they could have easily just put the cash back in their pockets. Continue reading