We want the cliff notes. Cut-to-the-chase—make it short—dumb it down. We’ve lost sight of the holiness, sanctity, and accuracy of the Word of God in order to bring His Word down to our level of understanding, without the help of the Spirit of God.

“I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore, I shall call upon Him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:1-2 NAS)

The Holidays can be a difficult and poignant time as the seasons of life change due to loss of loved ones, children and grandchildren being unable to make it home for the holidays, lack of money to buy gifts, or harvesting seeds we’ve planted the past year.

I understand and have wasted too many holidays wallpapering my mind with the if-only moments. Mother always quoted, when any of us began that bottomless trek through the quagmire of if-only with one of her favorite retorts. “If wishes were fishes, we’d all have a fry.”

But we don’t need stale, unhelpful, sayings. We need help. Real and lasting help from the Helper of our souls.

Jesus listed certain signs in the 24th chapter of Matthew which would signal the end of the age and His soon return to set up His millennial kingdom on planet earth. The Old and New Testaments record the certainty of His return to claim His bride, make an end to sin, and fulfill His covenant promise with Israel.

“You’re not supposed to judge.” And fingers waggle in the face of believers bold enough to confront the current world rebellion against God’s Word. Those finger-shakers cherry-pick—lifting Scripture out of context to squelch our rebukes. But does Scripture really prohibit differentiating right from wrong? Every believer is to judge him or herself according to the Word of God. But many of us don’t know enough of the Word to correctly judge ourselves much less anyone else. Jesus instructed us to snatch the beam out of our own eye before we attempt to rip the speck from someone else’s eye. God, however, gives authority within the body of believers to rebuke and correct when His Word and His righteousness are violated. “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables” (2 Timothy 4:2-4 NKJV).

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The Apocalypse? What does that word mean? According to Dictionary.com, it means “revelation, disclosure, uncover, reveal.” I found the title page to my mother’s 1982, Holman Bible Publishers, King James Version, it reads: “THE REVELATION TO JOHN (The Apocalypse)." Or in today’s vernacular, an account the Lord Jesus Christ gave of Himself to the Church and events that will occur at the end of this age.

A topical look at what scriptures have to say about divorce.

Twelve-year-old Jimmy wore wounded eyes. A Huckleberry Finn lookin’ kid with a loud mouth and language that fried air. Angry should be his nickname. His mama was an addict who lived with men who weren’t Jimmy’s father. The boy’s life was a volcano waiting to explode. But Jimmy needed Jesus.

God’s Word tells the good, the bad, and the ugly concerning events and people. Nobody can predict the impact that these harsh reality stories might have on the heart and mind of a grade school boy or girl, especially kids who don’t have a clue about God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. Vacation Bible School is a place where kids, church kids, and never-been-there kids should hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But what about those other stories?

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