A Prayer of Healing for Sick Family and Friends By Wendy van Eyck Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. – Jeremiah 17:14 Some time ago, I sat in an office where an oncologist told my husband after three battles with cancer that sometimes you just have to have faith. I sat there and thought about how the burden of healing sickness is never on the patient, how it is never even on a doctor, but how it is always, always, on God. The burden of healing rests on the shoulders of my big, gracious God who turns when I touch the hem of his garment. The burden of healing falls on my God who knows the plans he has for me even when my own hopes collapse around me. The burden of healing doesn’t lie in saying just the right words or praying s...

Many Bible Versions from Many Manuscripts One of the reasons we see different versions of the Bible is because of the number of manuscripts available. There are over 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts known to date, along with over 10,000 Hebrew Old Testament manuscripts and over 19,000 copies in Syriac, Coptic, Latin & Aramaic languages. The Oldest papyrus fragment is in England at the John Rylands Library of Manchester University called, P52. The fragment dates no later than AD 150 and as early as AD 100. Manuscript Families Scholars have divided these ancient manuscripts into two main families: Alexandrian text type (also called Neutral or Egyptian) and the Byzantine text type (also called the Majority Text). The Byzantine text type looks at all the manuscripts and determines the...

If you’ve been in almost any Christian bookstore or card shop, you’ve probably seen a plaque or bookmark, print or wall-hanging, featuring a story called “Footprints in the Sand.” It tells of a man who dreamed that he saw his life in terms of a walk along the beach with God. Throughout the years, there were two sets of footprints. One was his, and the other was God’s. Yet he noticed that during the most difficult times of his life, only one set of footprints appeared in the sand. In his dream, he asks God about the single set of footprints and is told that those were the times God carried him. “Awww.” Let me give you a new and improved version that a friend once e-mailed me:   One night I had a wondrous dream, One set of footprints there was seen, The footprints of my precious Lo...

Defeating the Devil’s Strategies John 21:15-19 All of us make tracks through the valley of failure. Then the key question is, What we will do next? Sadly, many believers who stumble give up a vibrant kingdom-serving life for a defeated existence. But failure can also be a chance for a new beginning of living in Christ‘s strength. In pride, Peter thought his faith was the strongest of all the disciples’ and swore that even if the others left Jesus, he never would (Mark 14:29). Yet when the time of testing came, he denied even knowing Christ–and did so three times (Matt. 26:69-75). Satan hoped the disciple would be so wounded by his own disloyalty that his faith would be undermined by shame, condemnation, and despair. Likewise, when the Enemy sifts believers toda...

“The poor you will always have with you . . .” (Matthew 26:11a). Poverty is like a black hole in the space of humanity. This enigmatic darkness of poverty among us, around us, has a gravitational pull on one side. We are thus drawn by poverty’s own forces to help those in its chains by the power of self-interest. The black hole of poverty simultaneously exudes a magnetized repulsion on another side. We are revolted by its potential to uncover our own pretense. So, we bounce off the gravitational field with relief. Still, the prolific darkness of poverty expands like cancerous cells. What do we do? Mary Anointing Jesus: An Act of Lavish Love or Wasted Relief of the Poor? In John 12:1-8, the betrayer, Judas Iscariot, the treasurer to the disciples, scolded Mary for anointing Jesus’ feet...

August 1, 2019Some Encouragement Just For YouGwen Smith Today’s Truth “Long ago the Lord said to Israel: ‘I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.’” (Jeremiah 31:3, NLT) Friend to Friend When our kids were younger, we had gathered as a family around the pull up bar in the upstairs hall to see our oldest son, Preston, display his thirteen year old man-cub strength. Like a chimpanzee, he pulled his lanky frame up and down with ease, impressing us all. When he tired to exhaustion, Preston dropped down and met our enthusiastic applause with a satisfied grin. As the clapping and praise died down, my then nine-year old daughter, Kennedy, decided to give the pull up bar a try. Lifted to the high metal pole by her strong daddy, she...

Many skeptics today will say the Bible is not reliable. In most cases when skeptics use the term reliable, they mean trustworthy or accurate. They wonder: Is the Bible historically accurate? Do we have the correct books in the Bible today? Hasn’t the Bible been changed by men over time? As Christians, we believe the ultimate authority is the word of God. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will lead us in all truth (John 16:13). It also affirms that God will preserve his Word, meaning his Word will supernaturally be kept pure (Psalm 12:6-7). There are many things Christians can research, both in God’s word and externally, to build a good case for the reliability of the Bible. Namely, canonization of the Bible, historical accuracy of the Bible, Messianic prophecies, and New ...

Meaning of Missio Dei The English word “mission” comes from the Latin, “missio.” The missio Dei is, thus, the “mission of God.” For many years, Christians understood the mission of the Church to reflect the mission of God in the world, summarily, by the Great Commission of Jesus at His ascension (Matthew 28:18-20). Most properly, the word “missional” is an adjective to describe the Church’s foremost enterprise of pursuing the missio Dei in the world. Meaning of a Missional Church As in many other examples, “missional” can be “hijacked” and “repurposed” for a particular theological or sociological agenda. So, acknowledging that the term “missional” may be interpreted by others in the Church in several other ways, we believe that the phrase has merit when understood in traditiona...

The idea of a grim reaper has not only pervaded popular culture, such as in books like The Book Thief and Scythe, but it has also taken a featured spot in many religions. Judaism, for instance, attributes this role to Azrael, an angel of destruction. Islam has a name for this figure, “Malak Almawt,” as do other religions such as Hinduism. Does Christianity have a similar figure by a different name? Does a sole Angel of Death exist, realizing the idea of the Grim Reaper? Some say the Archangel Michael plays some role in the process from passing from this world to the next, but no Bible verse or passage supports this notion. In Scripture, Michael appears to fight spiritual battles and carry out the commands of God, none of which seem to indicate a grim reaper role. The name Azrael never appe...