“Speak, Lord, Your Servant Hears”

( 1 Sam. 3:9, 10)

The book of First Samuel begins with the story of Samuel’s birth and youth.
Many of us first heard it in our own young years in Bible class. As told to
children, the story focuses on the child Samuel. We learned how Hannah his
mother grieved over being childless, and how she promised God that, if he gave
her a son, she would give the boy back for God’s service. We learned that Samuel
was turned over to Eli the priest and spent his youth “ministering to the LORD (1
Sam. 3:1).”…

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Victimless Sin?

“Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled;
but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” – Hebrews 13:4
In recent years our society has taken a very libertine stance toward sexual sins.
“What is the big deal?” we are asked. “When two consenting adults engage in
sexual intercourse no one is harmed. It is a victimless sin.” We are told that what
two people do in private is no one else’s business. They tell us that the traditional
religious requirement that sex be confined to marriage is outdated.
Fornication is not, in fact, a victimless sin. The ills…

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Do Scientists Believe in God?

Atheists are sometimes heard to say, “All real scientists reject the notion that
there is a God.” If that were true it would not prove whether God exists. History
is filled with times when the consensus of the “experts” later proved to be wrong.
In reality, many of the world’s best scientific minds have believed that there is
compelling evidence to support belief in an intelligent creator. The so-called
“Scientific Revolution” actually began because men believed that the physical
universe is governed by laws which can be studied and understood – laws
established by a great…

Writing to the Corinthians, Paul expressed fear that they might be taken in by false teachers. “For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted — you may well put up with it!” (2 Co­rinthians 11:4, NKJV).

Paul’s concern wasn’t just hypothetical. The letter of 2 Corinthians reveals that false teachers were already at work in Corinth, and some of the disciples were al­ready putting up with…

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Seeing the Unseen

As schoolchildren, we learn about the five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and
touch. We use these senses to perceive the world around us, and it’s easy to think
that nothing goes unnoticed. But did you know that there’s a world beyond
human perception? Dogs can hear high-frequency whistles that are completely
silent to human ears, and bees can see ultraviolet patterns on flowers that are
invisible to us. There’s yet another world that’s invisible to us: the spiritual world,
and we often fail to see it.
This unseen spiritual world exists outside our direct senses, but we…

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Cultural Mantras

Our modern culture is filled with short sayings, motivational quotes, and mantras
that sound wise and uplifting. For most, they are easy to remember, comforting
in times of stress, and often repeated as though they line up with truths we can
find in God’s word. But many of them do not come from God’s Word at all. Some
even actually contradict it. Paul warned in Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest anyone
cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of
men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.”
If we want…

Twenty years ago today, Americans were focused on the scene in New Orleans, which had just been hit by Hurricane Katrina. In terms of damage done, it remains the costliest U.S. storm ever.

One memory that stands out to me: watching the early news from the flood-ravaged city, I was mystified by reports that a few stranded residents were actually shooting at rescue workers. What on earth would make you shoot at someone who’s trying to help you? Then again…

When Jeremiah was called to prophesy, God told him,…