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December 11, 2025

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Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Obedience, Wisdom & Guidance

THE PUPPET KING (Part 2)

Joash did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight throughout the lifetime of Jehoiada the priest. … But after Jehoiada’s death, the leaders of Judah came and bowed before King Joash and persuaded him to listen to their advice. [2 Chronicles 24: 2,17 (NLT)]

binding hempvineEarlier this week, I wrote of the Levites’ failure to protect Judah from idolatry but one Levite stands out in his loyalty to God and commitment to the temple: Jehoiada the priest. When Judah’s King Ahaziah died, his mother, Queen Athaliah seized Judah’s throne. The daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, she was as evil as her parents and tried to kill all of her son’s heirs. Unknown to her, Ahaziah’s infant son Joash was hidden by his aunt and survived. Raised by the high priest Jehoiada, the boy’s existence was kept secret while the priest plotted to put him on the throne. When the boy was seven, Jehoiada made a pact with five army commanders who covertly travelled throughout Judah to summon the Levites and leaders to a meeting at the Temple.

At that meeting, Jehoiada declared that the king’s son should reign. Once he introduced Joash, the rightful heir, the men planned to depose his wicked Athaliah. As they guarded the child, he was anointed and the crown placed on his head. After presenting him with a copy of the law, Joash was proclaimed king, Queen Athaliah was slain, the temple of Baal demolished, and its pagan priests killed.

With this successful rebellion, Jehoiada led the people and the new king in rededicating themselves to the Lord. The temple was restored, the priests and Levites again followed David’s instructions, and the gatekeepers returned to the temple. Unfortunately, after Jehoiada’s death, Joash made the same mistake his ancestor Rehoboam did—the young king listened to the wrong people and followed bad advice. The nation returned to idolatry, the temple fell into disrepair, and the temple’s treasures were used to pay tribute to the King of Aram. As the Chronicler wrote: “Because of this sin, divine anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem.” [24:18] The Lord’s judgment took the form of an invasion by the Arameans.

Sadly, even though the Judeans cleaned the temple of idols, they never scoured the idolatry from their hearts and the story only gets worse. The Lord sent prophets advising Judah to repent but they wouldn’t listen. Then, when Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah, prophesized that they were headed for destruction, Joash added murder and desecration of the temple to his sins. He had the son of the priest who saved his life stoned to death in the temple courtyard. Later, during battle with the Arameans, Joash was wounded, but his wounds were not what killed him. He died at the hands of his servants in retaliation for the murder of Jehoiada’s son, Zechariah.

Joash was a puppet king and only as good as his advisors. He may have held the book of law in his hands but he never placed it in his heart. As a result, Joash was dependent on man’s word rather than God’s. Let us learn from this story and take our advice from God rather than man.

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. [Psalm 1:1-3 (NLT)]

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. [James 3:17 (NLT)]

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December 8, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Obedience, Temptation & Sin

DEFILED (Part 1)

“The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes,” says the Lord. “They have set up their abominable idols right in the Temple that bears my name, defiling it.” [Jeremiah 7:30 (NLT)]

The Levites (descendants of Jacob’s son Levi) were set aside for religious service. While all priests were Levites, not all Levites were priests. The most sacred tasks, like offering the sacrifices and conducting ceremonies, were reserved for the priests (kohanim) who were descendants of Aaron; the rest of the Levites supported the priests in their duties.

The Levites were not meek men. It was Levi and his brother Simeon who killed all the men of Shechem in retaliation for the rape of their sister. After the Israelites worshipped the golden calf, it was the Levites who gathered at Moses’ side. At his command, they slaughtered 3,000 of their fellow Israelites for their idolatry. [Exodus 32:26,28] Hardly what we’d think of as typical church workers, the Levites were a tribe of warriors.

In the last year of David’s reign, he gathered 38,000 Levite men and assigned them their duties. The first group oversaw the work of the house of the Lord. This included Aaron’s descendants who acted as priests while other Levites acted as caretakers, baked the sacred bread, checked weights and measures, and assisted the priests. Acting as officers, judges, and administrative officials, a second group of Levites were given duties away from the temple. A third group of Levites served as the Temple’s musicians and singers. As the gatekeepers, a fourth group of Levites guarded the Temple and its treasures and protected the it from theft, desecration, and impurity. On a rotating basis, they spent the night at the Temple safeguarding its treasures and then opened the Temple in the morning. No one, not even the king, was allowed to defile the temple.

Nevertheless, during the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt carried off the temple’s treasures. 50 years after that, Judah’s King Asa sent what was left of the Temple’s riches to the King of Aram as tribute. Less than 40 years later, during Queen Athaliah’s reign, the temple was ransacked by her followers and parts of it were used to build a temple to Baal. About 100 years after that, King Ahaz presented temple treasures to the king of Assyria, moved the original bronze altar, replaced it with a replica of an Assyrian altar, and made offerings to the gods of Damascus. By the time of King Hezekiah (716-687 BC), people were worshipping the bronze serpent made by Moses. Although Hezekiah destroyed the serpent and had the Levites purify the Temple, his son, King Manasseh, desecrated the temple by erecting an Asherah pole and altars for star worship. By the time Josiah became king 75 years later, the Temple had fallen into disrepair, Baal and Asherah were worshipped there, the Ark had been removed, and the book of the law had been misplaced. Josiah again cleansed the temple but his reforms did not last and both the Temple and nation were defiled by sin.

Where were the gatekeepers and what were the rest of the Levites doing during 300 years of Temple sacrilege? They were the ancient version of pastors, elders, deacons, assistants, choir members, worship leaders, custodians, repairmen, security team, and church councils. While a few Levite prophets spoke in condemnation of the various abominations, other than their rebellion against Queen Athaliah, the Levites’ silence and apparent compliance throughout the books of Kings and Chronicles is reprehensible. What happened?

Today’s temple of God is Christ’s church and, sadly, His temple continues to be violated. Rather than Asherah poles and images of Baal, today’s defilement is far more subtle. It includes things like sexual exploitation, abuse of power, cover-ups, misuse of funds, false doctrine, hypocrisy, ignoring sin, putting numbers before discipleship or entertainment before worship, seeking financial gain rather than the glory of God, neglecting the call to service, replacing the gospel with pop psychology and feel good messages, overlooking malicious behavior, following personality rather than Christ, neglecting the sacraments, and allowing prayer or Bible study to be an afterthought. Nowadays, it’s not just the Levites who have been called to guard the gates of Christ’s church and protect its sanctity. As a part of the body of Christ, we all are called to keep His Church from being defiled, misused, or corrupted.

For the most part, the Levites silently stood by as they saw God’s temple being defiled. Let us never make the same mistake.

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise. [1 Corinthians 3:16-18 (NLT)]

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December 1, 2025

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Attitudes & Behavior, Bible Stories, Fear & Doubt, God's Plan, God's Promises, Miracles, Trusting God

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE 

Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” [Luke 1:34,38 (NLT)]

Angels taking on bodily form and appearing to people certainly wasn’t an everyday occurrence. Although they are God’s messengers, the message angels bring can be good news or bad. While they may help God’s people as they did for Elijah and Daniel, angels also execute God’s judgment as they did when striking down the firstborn males in Egypt. I suspect Gabriel looked fiercer and more powerful than the elegant sweet angels hanging on our Christmas trees. When he arrived unannounced in the empty Temple sanctuary, Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear and, when he suddenly appeared in an empty room in Nazareth, Mary was troubled and perplexed. Not knowing whether he was on a mission of judgment or mercy, it’s no wonder both Zechariah and Mary were fearful. Gabriel began his visits by telling them both not to be afraid.

After being told his elderly barren wife would bear him a son, Zechariah’s response was one of doubt: “How can I be sure this will happen?” Rather than rejoicing at the divine promise of a son, Zechariah focused on the impossibility of such a thing happening. When Mary was given the startling news that she would conceive and give birth, she knew that babies weren’t brought by the stork or found in a cabbage patch. As a virgin, a pregnancy seemed impossible, but she didn’t question the veracity of the angel’s words. Although Zechariah questioned the truth of Gabriel’s revelation, Mary didn’t express doubt that she would bear a son. Her response was that of wonder. Wanting to know the process by which this miracle would happen, she simply asked “But how?”

After explaining that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, Gabriel told Mary that her elderly cousin Elizabeth was pregnant and that, “Nothing is impossible with God!” Knowing that her barren cousin was with child may have reassured Mary that what seems impossible can happen. Nevertheless, their situations were different; Elizabeth was married and Mary was not! Mary’s response, however, was that of willing submission. Putting her unknown future into God’s hands, she said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” [Luke 1:38]

Our typical response when God calls us to His work is often one of disbelief. Abraham couldn’t see how his people would possess Canaan, Sarah couldn’t see how God could give her a child when her child-bearing days were over, Moses couldn’t believe he could convince both the Israelites and Pharaoh, Gideon even demanded signs before questioning his ability to rescue Israel, Samuel couldn’t see how he could anoint a new king without being killed by Saul, and Zechariah asked how he could believe the angel. Initially, none of them believed that our all-powerful God, the creator of the universe, can do the impossible!

Unlike Moses, Mary didn’t try to squirm out of this unexpected turn of events with excuses; unlike Sarah, she didn’t laugh in unbelief; unlike Gideon, she didn’t ask for a series of signs; unlike Samuel, she didn’t point out the problems she was sure to face; and, unlike Zechariah, she believed the angel’s words and left the details to the One for whom nothing is unachievable!

Do we forget that God doesn’t have the limitations we have? He can make manna appear, feed 5,000 with a few fish and loaves, part the sea, walk on water, still storms, restore sight to the blind, put babies in barren wombs, and raise the dead. Nevertheless, when called by God to serve, do we allow the unfeasibility, impracticality, or size of His task to keep us from stepping out in faith and doing His work? Could we be missing God’s blessings because we’re too busy focusing on the human problems instead of responding in faith and trusting God with the details? Let us never forget that nothing is impossible with God. He will work out the how; we just need to submit as readily as did Mary.

You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said. [Luke 1:45 (NLT)]

Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.” [Matthew 19:26 (NLT)]

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November 27, 2025

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Bible Stories, Holidays & Holy Days, Thanks & Praise

THE BREAD OF LIFE – THANKSGIVING DAY 2025

“Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered about 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. [John 6:10-13 (NLT)]

In all probability, you’re not having more than 5,000 guests for dinner today and they won’t be dining al fresco on a hillside. Nevertheless, John’s description of that miraculous meal sounds a bit like Thanksgiving dinner at any number of homes today. There will be lots of people and more than enough to eat but, instead of all the leftovers being gathered in baskets, we’ll pack them into storage containers made by Rubbermaid, Glad, Tupperware, and Pyrex.

After dinner, some people might take a stroll around the block to work off a few of those extra calories while others will settle into comfortable chairs and probably snooze a bit while watching football. Although “I can’t eat another bite!” will be repeated at tables far and wide, sooner or later, our stomachs will empty and start rumbling. Our brains will pick up the message that it’s time for our next meal and we’ll be hungry again. Regardless of much we eat today, just like those people on the hillside nearly 2,000 years ago, we’ll get hungry and want to eat again tomorrow. No matter how much turkey, gravy, and potatoes we eat at our Thanksgiving feast, today’s meal won’t satisfy tomorrow’s hunger.

After Jesus fed the multitude, the crowd followed after Him. More interested in perishable food for the body than everlasting food for the soul, they asked for another miracle—one like the manna Moses gave their ancestors. Correcting them, Jesus said that bread wasn’t from Moses, it was from His Father and that He now was offering them, “the true bread from heaven.” When the people said they wanted it, Jesus identified Himself as “the bread of life…the living bread that came down from heaven.” Seeing Jesus only as a carpenter from Nazareth, they protested His claim to divinity. [John 6:30-58]

Unlike the manna their ancestors ate in the wilderness, the bread of which Jesus was speaking was not physical, temporal, or perishable. While the bread Jesus offers won’t ease our tummy’s hunger pangs, it will the ease the hunger in our souls—not just for today but forever. As the true bread of life, Jesus offers us a meal that is more than satisfying. We won’t ever feel stuffed or need to unbutton our pants to enjoy His bread because it is free of calories, fats, carbohydrates, gluten, and allergens. Rather than offering sustenance for a day, the Bread of Life offers us eternal life! As you pass the basket of rolls today, remember that Jesus is the true Bread of Life and give Him thanks.

Farmers everywhere provide bread for all humanity, but it is Christ alone who is the bread of life…Even if all the physical hunger of the world were satisfied, even if everyone who is hungry were fed by his or her own labor or by the generosity of others, the deepest hunger of man would still exist…Therefore, I say, Come, all of you, to Christ. He is the bread of life. Come to Christ and you will never be hungry again. [Pope John Paul II]

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. … I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. Yes, I am the bread of life! Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die.” [John 6:35, 47-50 (NLT)]

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November 13, 2025

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Bible Stories, God's Word: The Bible, Sharing Our Faith, Trusting God, Wisdom & Guidance

KNOWING IT’S TRUE

As was Paul’s custom, he went to the synagogue service, and for three Sabbaths in a row he used the Scriptures to reason with the people. He explained the prophecies and proved that the Messiah must suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus I’m telling you about is the Messiah.” … they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men. [Acts 17:2-3, 11b-12 (NLT)]

St. MatthewProof of the truth is no substitute for our faith; nevertheless, it is important to know the truth of what we believe. At some point, we will ask ourselves how we can believe the validity of what we’re reading in our Bibles. Fortunately, we have Christian apologists to help us see its truth. Rather than offering apologies for the wrongs committed by evil people in the name of Jesus, apologists share the objective reasons and evidence that Christianity is true and should be believed. The Apostle Paul was probably the first apologist when he showed that Jesus’ fulfillment of Scripture’s prophecies proved He was the Messiah. Paul knew that the truth could stand up to scrutiny and it still does today. As for those prophecies: by conservative estimate, Jesus fulfilled at least 300 prophecies while on earth.

Most ancient works were written on perishable papyrus so we don’t have the originals of any ancient secular or sacred manuscript. But, with the New Testament, we do have more than 25,000 manuscript copies and fragments with a gap of less than 25 years between the time of the original manuscripts and the first existing copies! About 5,800 of these ancient copies were written in Greek and over 19,000 copies are in Latin and other languages. Running a distant second to the New Testament is Homer’s Iliad with fewer than 1,800 copies and a 500-year gap between the original manuscript and the first existing copy.

Unlike the Iliad copies, the New Testament’s manuscripts are remarkably alike. When those 25,000 plus copies and fragments are compared, they agree 99.5% of the time! As you’d expect with handwritten copies, there are some minor variations, most of which can be attributed to scribal error. Out of the 8,000 verses in the New Testament, only about two dozen (.3%) are in dispute and none of them affect doctrine. Moreover, even though we don’t have the original manuscripts or even the first copies, 2nd century church fathers, like Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, and Polycarp quoted from scripture so frequently that we could piece together about 95% of the New Testament just from their writings! We can be sure that the gospels and epistles we read today are nearly identical to those being circulated by the end of the 1st century AD.

How can we know Christianity isn’t more myth than reality? We can trust the writers because none of them had any motivation for perpetuating a lie. Rather than getting rich and powerful, they were persecuted and punished. They abandoned their long-held beliefs and practices, were banished from their synagogues, and (like the Apostles) suffered and died for their faith! Their words were written and circulated where Christ’s miracles occurred when witnesses to the events were still alive; they wouldn’t have succeeded if they were passing along a lie! Unlike the authors, liars wouldn’t put themselves in a bad-light by writing of denials, doubt, disagreements, and failures. Moreover, we have plenty of extra-Biblical documentation for Jesus in the ancient writings of Roman historian Tacitus, Roman governor Pliny the Younger, 1st century Jewish historian Josephus, Greek satirist Lucian, and even the Babylonian Talmud! In all, 39 ancient secular sources corroborate more than 100 facts concerning Jesus.

I’m not a religious scholar, historian, or an archeologist and I haven’t examined the Dead Sea scrolls or ancient papyri. Nevertheless, I do read the work of those who have. The more I study Scripture and the work of Christian apologists, the more certain I am that there is nothing unreasonable, irrational, or unfounded about my belief. The Bible can stand up to intense archeological and historical investigation so we have nothing to fear (and much to gain) when we look closely at God’s word.

As thinking Christians, we must never be afraid to ask questions and seek answers. When we seek the truth, as did Lee Strobel, we’ll be able to make a case for Christ. Like Josh McDowell, we’ll discover that Jesus was more than a carpenter and, like Tim Keller, we’ll know the reason for God. After atheist turned apologist C.S. Lewis examined the faith, he made the case for Christianity. After their research, Norman Geisler and Frank Turek didn’t have enough faith to be atheists! When forensic scientist J. Warner Wallace examined the claims of the Gospel as he would a cold case and lawyer David Limbaugh put Jesus on trial, our Lord withstood their intense scrutiny and cross examination. The closer we examine Scripture, the more we’ll believe that Jesus really is the way, the truth, and the life!

Socrates once said that the unexamined life is not worth having. We believe that the unexamined faith is not worth believing. [Norman Geisler & Frank Turek]

All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. [2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)]

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. [1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)]

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November 10, 2025

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Bible Stories, Church & Worship, Faith & Hope, Salvation: A New You, Sharing Our Faith, Wisdom & Guidance

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?

Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. [1 Corinthians 15:1-5 (NIV)]

I came across an article questioning whether we have to believe certain things to be a Christian or is it enough just to trust God. The author believed that Christians don’t have to “assent intellectually” to the facts of traditional Christian teaching or agree with the Christian creeds. “Faith” to the author is simply placing one’s confidence in “Spirit” (not the Holy Spirit) and following Jesus’ teaching is more important than believing certain things about Him. Having nothing to do with dogma or creeds, Christianity was seen as a wisdom tradition and way of life rather than a belief. Claiming they were “man-made” and date from the 4th century and Emperor Constantine, the author believed Christianity’s creeds should be disregarded.

A creed (or confession of faith) is simply a statement of what we believe; every time we share what we believe with others, we are confessing a creed. The first creed predates Constantine by at least 1,600 years and was given to us by God. The Hebrew Shema, found in Deuteronomy, declares the fundamental belief of Judaism: “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” [6:4] To be recited every morning and night, this declaration of belief remains the cornerstone of the Jewish faith. Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we find worshippers recalling the Lord’s faithfulness with confessions of faith like that in 1 Kings 18:39 that, “The Lord—he is God! Yes, the Lord is God!” The belief that, “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone,” is a cornerstone of Christianity, as well!

In the New Testament, we also find confessions of faith or creeds. Christianity’s fundamental belief was confessed by Peter when he stated that Jesus was “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” [Mat 16:16] and again when Nathaneal acknowledged Jesus as “the Son of God…the King of Israel!” [John 1:49] When other followers deserted Jesus, the Lord asked the twelve if they would leave. Peter responded, “You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” [John 7:68-69] Although short, these confessions of faith were creeds.

The earliest creeds of the church can be found in the epistles of Paul. His words in today’s verse from 1 Corinthians 15 appear to be an early creed. That he “received it,” means Paul wasn’t the original author and, since he’s reminding them, it predates Paul’s first trip to Corinth (49-50 AD)! In his first letter to Timothy, Paul emphasized the importance of preserving and proclaiming the truth and includes what historians believe to be an early hymn summarizing the theology of the incarnation.[3:16] In Philippians 2:5-11, we find another early hymn explaining the dual nature of Jesus. It’s believed that Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all,” were an early creed that was recited by new converts when they were baptized. If we believe Scripture is God-breathed, those words of belief aren’t man’s—they’re God’s!

The article’s author contends that belief and faith are two different things and that belief is not essential for faith. I think the Apostle Paul would disagree. Belief is intellectual acceptance that something is true and faith is trusting in the promise of that belief and they seem to be two sides of the same coin. If I believe the boat is sea-worthy, it’s my faith in it that gets me to sail it out to sea. On the other hand, if I don’t believe it’s sea-worthy, I wouldn’t have faith enough to take it sailing. Faith involves trust, commitment, and action and, without knowing and believing the promises of God, how will we have faith enough to trust them? Our creeds are the foundation of Christianity and help us know exactly what it is in which we have faith! It’s that knowledge that keeps us from falling for the false “feel-good-anything-goes” theology we find in the world today!

Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. [Timothy 3:16  (ESV)]

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