Smyrna was a wealthy city located approximately 50 miles southwest of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea. Today it is a Turkish city called Ismir. In Revelation 2:8-11 we find Jesus dictating Smyrna’s portion of the book in which, among other things, He is informing each of the seven churches of Asia Minor of their spiritual […]

Jesus Christ in all His glory has appeared to the Apostle John who has been imprisoned on the Isle of Patmos for preaching God’s Word. After a brief introduction Jesus takes John, in spirit, into the distant future to a time called the Lord’s Day–the final year of the Great Tribulation. He then tells John […]

In the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation we find that Jesus (God’s “Angel”) has appeared to the Apostle John to deliver messages from God the Father to and about the seven churches that had sprung up along a Roman mail route in Asia. Note that He calls them “churches,” meaning that they […]

“Sir, can you help me; I’m searching for spiritual Truth. I feel that there is such a thing and I want it. I’ve spoken with a number of church pastors and parishioners about this issue. I’ve asked them to tell me which church is THE church and which has THE truth. So now I’m asking […]

In the Book of Numbers chapters 22 and 23 we find the familiar story of Balaam son of Beor, a priest known as one whose words carried power, a fact voiced by one of his admirers: “I know that he whom you bless is blessed and he whom you curse is cursed” (22:6). That Balaam, […]

In the Book of Numbers, chapters 16,17 we find another episode which reveals that God sometimes uses the worst of people to perform His holy work. The scene opens with Moses and Aaron being confronted by 253 leaders of the congregation of Israel. Three of them–Korah, Dathan and Abiram–were Levites, members of the priestly tribe […]

The purpose of this series of postings is to show how God uses individuals and nations of every character type to bring about the fulfillment of His will. In the case of Moses and the Egyptians, He used the most vile man on earth at the time to make His name known to the most […]

In the previous posting we saw how God used the family of the Egyptian god known as “pharaoh” to save the life of a Levite baby whom they named Moses. This very unusual act on their part enabled the child to grow up and eventually lead his people out of Egyptian slavery. In this posting […]

In the series of postings titled I’m Okay; You’re Okay I brought out the Biblical fact that in His great love and mercy, God blesses both the churched and unchurched, true Christians and fake Christians, good and evil, obedient and disobedient. He does this for two reasons: 1) He loves all men and wants all […]

The Old Testament patriarch Abraham is called the “father of the faith” for good reason–he is. The childless man changed from heathen to saint, thereby setting the example for all of mankind to follow. What has been traditionally identified as proof of his faith revolves around one factor–his trust in God’s promise to provide a […]