Thankful

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Verse of the Day

by A.A. Neale Some Internet services provide by email or online a Verse of the Day or Daily Verse or whatever they style it. I confess to both liking and despising them, simultaneously. These little snippets of verse appear all...

Sameness

Pretty much the same faces greet me each week. The same preacher gets behind the same pulpit every Sunday. The same Bible school teachers take their turns in front of the class. ...

Where Are the Spiritual Giants?

by A.A. Neale The maudlin sentiment gets spoken and written here and there among my good brethren. They ask, Where are the spiritual giants of yesterday? Who will replace people like Cline Paden, Reuel Lemmons, Johnny Ramsey, and Batsell Barrett...

Discount Victories

General Dwight Eisenhower said, "There are no victories at discount prices." Churches and Christians win no spiritual victories at discount prices, either. Churches like to cut corners. Go the easy route. Play up the audience. Cater to the common denominator....

There

Places mean much to us. Where we were born. Where we got married. The first house we lived in as newlyweds. Where we were baptized. Where we had our first job. Places of memories, of special moments, of important connections...

Better Bedside Manners

Medical students in the U.S. must now take another test to get their licence to practice medicine. The National Board of Medical Examiners is giving the would-be doctors six chances to prove they have good bedside manners. The students are...

The Tally Tells

Time to do some math: outside of meetings on Sundays and mid-week, and not counting your personal devotional time, how many hours do you spend a week in personal evangelism? Count'em up. How many hours INVITING people to a Bible...

Piercing

I've done some piercing in my day. I've stapled my fingers a few times with a staple gun. A needle has pricked my thumb when I had to sew buttons on my shirt. A know-it-all doctor pierced my skin once...

Serves Them Right

by A. A. Neale When the traffic light turned green in Allentown, Penn., Dwight Steidel watched the driver in front of him continue to chat with a pedestrian. Steidel rolled down his window and told him to move or pull...

No Harm -- An Important Litotes

Nosiree, I didn't commit a grammatical error in the title. A litotes* is a figure of speech, and a common one at that. It is, according to a Webster clone, an "understatement for effect", especially when expressed by a negative...

Before and Behind

Though it's not politically correct to use military language in religious talk, I'm going to do it today. If a Muslim is reading, here's my disclaimer: I don't want to kill any single human being; I want to overcome Satan's...

Happy New, New Year!

December 31st is a special day to me. It means I have finished up one more year of life chocked full of love and blessings and family and friends. The Lord has been good to me in every sense of...

Finding Him

"Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!" (Job 23:3, NJKV). Dear Friend Job, You certainly had a rough time of it, my old man. And who can blame you for the...

Thankful for So Many

I have so many things to be thankful for, but THINGS are the least of my blessings. The greatest of my blessings, after my salvation in Jesus Christ, the loving presence of our divine Father, and the aid of his...

The Astonishment of Sorcery

I assume that Simon was sincere when he became a Christian. When Philip preached Christ, performed miracles, and expelled unclean spirits, the Great Sorcerer of Samaria knew this was for real. One greater than he was had arrived. "But there...

He Will Do It

There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel -- that will stand. Prov. 19:21 NKJV I'm just full of plans, but there's no guarantee that any of them will come to fruition. (A plan details a...

The Common Denominator

"The rich and the poor have this in common, The LORD is the maker of them all" (Prov. 22:2, NKJV). We all belong in the same class. The blue bloods just don't exist. The rich and famous have nothing on...

Young and Old

There's a lot of difference between the young and the old. I came up with a few items that distinguish the two groups. You might even want to add to this list. * The young are in a hurry to...

Smile! You're on Camera!

After Ben Moore of Cincinnati had more than $30,000 worth of goods stolen from a building he owned, he'd had enough. He and his partner researched options and set up Citywatch.com, an e-surveillance monitoring system using cameras controlled by the...

Victory for Him

"Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! For He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have gained Him the victory" (Psalm 98:1, NKJV). This new song of Psalm 98 wasn't so new. Commentators point...

Hillary Tells All ... Well, Her Doctored Version

The big to-do in the U.S. these days roils around Hillary Clinton's new book of old tales. For eight million dollars up front and bunches more to be doled out later, the former First Lady spills the beans. But it's...

The God Who Never Disappoints

People will eventually disappoint me, but not God. He may not do everything I want or expect him to do, but he never breaks his word nor acts against his character. I may not always understand his ways or purposes,...

The Joy of Thanksgiving

Excuse the cliché, but gratitude and gladness are two peas in a pod. You can be a partygoer and whoop it up all night long, but only the thankful heart knows real joy. To get a thankful heart, you have...