The Value Of 'Vermin'
Homeless children who wander the streets of the world's great cities are often called "vermin." They are branded as such because they beg, steal, sell their bodies; and if they survive, they grow up to be hardened criminals. To eliminate this social cancer, unscrupulous business leaders in some cities have even hired people to kill them. Imagine! Killing homeless children because they are a social problem!
A Life Worth Living
What makes life worth living? Is it popularity, power, and influence? Not according to Harold Hughes, who after serving as Iowa's governor was elected to the United States Senate. What makes life worth living, according to this distinguished American, is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Light Of The World
Scholar and historian Will Durant wrote11 volumes titled The Story Of Civilization. Across the pages of that monumental work moves a procession of the world's outstanding persons—rulers, philosophers, military heroes, artists, scientists, and explorers.
Religion Or Relationship?
Two kinds of religion exist in our world: Religion A and Religion B. The first is "faith" in name only (2 Tim. 3:5). It's the outward practice of Christianity without genuine faith in the living Lord.
News From The Graveyard
What's the foundation of our Christian faith? An empty tomb! Yes, the cornerstone of the gospel is that grave which held no corpse on that first resurrection morning.
The Unfailing Spring
Joseph Campbell, a well-known authority on mythology, said that his friends were living "wasteland lives." He said they were "just baffled; they're wandering in the wasteland without any sense of where the water is—the Source that makes everything green."
The Book Of Hope
Sometimes I am puzzled by the shortsightedness of intelligent people. I recall, for example, when once-noted American psychologist John B. Watson (1878-1958) published theories about human nature that inspired widespread excitement in academic circles. Watson contended that we can control behavior and make people act in any way we desire. He scoffed at the biblical teaching that we are made in God's image. He argued that we are essentially the same as animals and can be manipulated like puppets.
Our Basic Need
Field Marshal William Slim was leading the British forces during the Burma campaign of World War II. Concerned about the men under his command, he learned that one soldier was extremely despondent over bad news from home. So the commander asked his senior chaplain to have a member of his staff talk to the soldier.
The Iron Collar
A missionary in West Africa was trying to convey the meaning of the word redeem in the Bambara language. So he asked his African assistant to express it in his native tongue. "We say," the assistant replied, "that God took our heads out." "But how does that explain redemption?" the perplexed missionary asked.
