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January 17, 2025 @ 7:30 AM
It was upon his return from a 1938 meeting with Adolf Hitler in Munich that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain naively declared to the world, "Peace in our time." Little did this naive ninny know that right on the heels of his declaration would follow the devastation of World War II. Since time immemorial our fallen world has been waving olive branches at evil, only to watch as evil carves those olive branches into sharp stakes to drive through the hearts of its voluminous victims. It was Albert Einstein who defined insanity as doing the same thing you've always done, but expecting a different result. Well, insanely, Israel, under public pressure, as well as coercion from us, is once again doing the same thing, but ...
For most of our history America understood the necessity of laws regulating immigration. The number of immigrants annually coming to our shores or crossing our borders had to be limited and controlled, lest our nation jeopardize its economy and compromise its security. Furthermore, to safeguard our country’s culture, which was deemed without apology to be superior to all others, Congress passed the "National Origins Act" of 1925. This legislation mandated that immigrant groups be allowed into the country according to the percentage of the general U.S. population they represented. In other words, if Norwegians only made up 1% of the U.S. population, then the percentage of annual immigrants made up by Norwegians could never ...
Two words—repentance and unrepentance—the latter is our problem and the former our solution. In Luke 24:45-48, Jesus commissioned His disciples, and in doing so commissioned His church, to preach repentance to all nations. The message has never changed. The message of the Old Testament prophets was repentance. The message of John the Baptist was repentance (Matthew 3:1-2). The message of Jesus was repentance (Matthew 4:17). The message of the apostles was repentance (Acts 2:38). And the message Christ has commissioned His church to preach to the world today is still repentance (Luke 24:47).
Jesus told a parable about a “certain rich man” whose material abundance necessitated his building of bigger barns (Luke 12:16-21). Upon the completion of his barn expansion project, he sit back, put up his feet and said to himself, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” Although Smith Barney and E.F. Hutton would be proud to claim someone possessing such an impressive portfolio as their client, the eternal brokerage firm of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost considered him a “fool” for having never consulted them about his eternal investments. The very night that this rich fool figured himself fixed for life was the same night his life abruptly ended.
I’ve saved my favorite Christmas passage for last. It is a passage that tells us of one of my favorite Bible characters, a man named Simeon. Truly, this elderly saint possessed a most precious trait that we would all do well to emulate.
Contrary to popular opinion, the wise men did not arrive at the Nativity scene. They arrived sometime later, when Christ was no longer in a stable, but a house. Upon entering the house, they immediately “saw the young child with Mary his mother.” However, It was really the child that they sought, He was the real focus of their attention. Likewise, as the Scripture admonishes us, we need to make Christ the focus of our attention (Hebrews 12:1-2). According to Lilias Trotter, who served for over thirty years as a missionary to Algeria’s Muslims, if we “turn [our] eyes upon Jesus [and] look full into His ...
The wise men were heathen astrologers from the east. They had undoubtedly observed in their study of the stars the appearance of a new star in the heavens. Upon inquiring about its possible meaning, they must have been informed of the ancient prophecy of the mysterious Prophet Balaam: “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Thus, the wise men came to Jerusalem in search of Israel’s new born King.
It is most fitting that the birth of the Good Shepherd (John 10:11-18) was first announced to shepherds. The patriarchs were shepherds. David was a shepherd. The Prophet Amos was a shepherd. 
How shocking; the King of kings and Lord of lords was born in a stable. The reason, according to Luke, was that “there was no room for them in the inn.” The inn was too crowded with people and things. There was simply no available room or space left for the Savior.