The Stain Of Sin

Consumer Reports put out a little book entitled "How to Clean Practically Anything." It tells you, what solvent to use for a particular stain. Glycerin will remove the stain from a ball point pen. Boiling water will remove berry stains. Vinegar will remove crayon stains. Ammonia will remove blood stains. Alcohol will remove grass...

Light

Old and new are always relative terms, especially when an American visits Europe. For example, in Delft in the Netherlands there is a New church built in 1420! The new church was built on the site of the old church. The site for the old church was chosen for an odd reason. The land is swampy and swamp gas could sometimes...

Identification with Christ

Last year in Boone, NC, Shelby Jean White was found guilty of murder in the first degree. It was a bizarre case. She murdered a local woman, buried the body, and then took that woman's identity. For some months she pretended to be the other woman, writing checks in her name, using her name when she answered the...

Cross

In the Sixth century the Emperor Justin II presented to the Vatican a cross. It was made of gold and covered with precious stones. The value of it is beyond calculating. In the center was a splinter of wood. That splinter seems out of place in such a jeweled cross until you know that Justin believed it was a splinter of...

Death of Christ

When silent film star Rudolf Valentino died, nine thousand people passed by his casket every hour and the viewing lasted for three days! The Lord Jesus knew no such homage. Those who passed by His cross only taunted Him. There were only a few who came to His tomb: Nicodemus, a few faithful women and two apostles...

Attitide

Recently the comic strip Family Circus by Bill Keane reflected the enormous difference one's attitude makes. The strip shows an ambulance going by with siren screaming. The little boy is putting his hands over his ears and saying, "Oh no! That siren means somebody's in trouble." The little girl, on the other hand, has her...

Water Of Life

The city of Bath, England is famous for its mineral waters and hot springs. It is thought that the springs were formed from rain water that fell ten thousand years ago. The water penetrated the earth and soaked down to the deep geothermal interior. There it was heated and then came at last to the surface again. Long ago Jesus...

Viewpoint

A London newspaper, The Guardian, carried this headline in a story about the game of rugby: Wales Thrashes France. Then it gave the score -- Wales 3 France 30! For centuries people have been reporting the defeat of Christianity and preaching the victory of secularism, but the final score will tell a different story.

Steps to Character

A penitent monk single-handedly carved steps in the stones leading to the top of Mt. Sinai where Moses received the Law from God. There are 1,360 steps to the pinnacle. Pilgrims still climb those steps today. There are only eight steps to the pinnacle of Christian character, according to 2 Peter 1:5-7. The steps are faith...

Riches

On Friday April 14, 2000 the stock market took a dramatic fall. Hardest hit were the technology stocks. In that one day Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and the world's richest man, lost eleven billion dollars. He lost eleven billion dollars in one day! It was dramatic proof of the Biblical text in Proverbs 23:5: "Riches certainly...