I Wonder about The End of the World

The universe seems to have been around for billions of years. It could be around for billions more years. These numbers are mind-numbing when you think that humans have only been recording history for five or six thousand years. I remember a conversation I had with my father many years ago. I must have been a small child who was shocked by the cruel treatment I had received from my friends. He reminded me ho…

It's the season of waiting in lines, waiting for packages to come in the mail, waiting for children to give you their Christmas lists, waiting in line to have your picture taken with Santa, waiting for your Christmas bonus check, waiting in traffic, waiting for a parking space, waiting, waiting, waiting.

One thing we don'…

There's an interesting quote - from an unexpected source - that applies to this First Day of Advent, from a book you may have read to your children or grandchildren, or that you may remember from your own childhood. The book is by Dr. Seuss, and is entitled ‘One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.' The quote to consider today is brief:

From there to here,
from here to there,
funny things
are everywhere.

Funny th…

While we wait and trust, we are also to put our hands to the plow. We are prepared simply by doing the work God has called us to do and doing it faithfully and with vigilance, regardless of the world's clock and the climate that it has surrounded us with.

During the Second World War there was a young boy in a small town who had to go to the drugstore for his mother. As h…

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was one of the most sought after speakers of the 20th century. Shortly before his death, he spoke for his good friend Robert Schuler in the Crystal Cathedral. Dr. Schuler began his introduction by saying: "I want to introduce you to the most dynamic person you will ever meet in…

A retired United Methodist bishop once said: "If you are at the stage of life or age of life when your back goes out more than you do, do not let your aches get in the way of your alleluias." That's a good message for us.

Dr. M. Scott Peck, in his best-selling book The Road Less Travele…

I read recently of a survey taken by a doctor who polled 3,000 people and asked them this simple question: "What are you living for?" The survey revealed that over 90 percent of the people were WAITING for something significant to change or happen in their lives and in the lives of those with whom they were involved. Let me share a few examples:

A. A middle-aged couple was waiting for their parents t…

Have you heard the story about man who lived in the Midwest, right smack in the middle of tornado alley? After several tornados came near his home, tearing up his neighbor's homes and barns, he decided to build a storm cellar.

He decided to go first-class and build a well-stocked cellar that would give him refuge in any storm. He spent an enormous amount of money.

But, as luck would have it, as soon as he spent the…

When I was a junior in Akron North High we had a substitute English teacher for a while, and she was almost always late for our class, which met on the third floor. She usually arrived with her arms full of books and papers, out of breath, scolding us, good-naturedly for the most part, into silence. One awful day she was later than usual, and the class was noisier than usual. Erasers were flying, books were sailing. It probably doesn't do any good to tell you that, truthfully, I usually did not take part in the chaos, although I can't say I didn't enjoy it. 

Anyway, on this fateful day one boy Stanley produced a cherry bomb from his pocket. The room got very quiet. Stanley lit a match and we held our …

There is a passage in the old Jewish book of Zohar, that goes like this:

"Whenever the Jews on earth rejoice in their festivals, they give praise to the Lord. They put on fine cloth…

The word "maranatha" is a Syriac expression that means: "our Lord comes." It was used as a greeting in the early church. When believers gathered or parted, they didn't say "hello" or "goodbye" but "Maranatha!" If we had the same upward look today, it would revolutionize the church. O that God's people had a deepening awareness of the imminent return of the Savior!

While on a South Pole expedition, British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton left a few men on Elephant Island, promising that he wou…

One morning in the early 1890s, four workers were busy in a cornfield. One man with a scythe was cutting the corn and leaving it in long swathes. He was followed by a boy who was making bands of twisted cornstalks and laying them on the ground at intervals, side by side. The third worker had a small wooden rake with three six-inch teeth on it, and with this he was gat…

October 19, 1989, 5:04 PM in San Francisco. When the Loma Prieta earthquake rumbled, my uncle was on the 32nd floor of a swaying high rise. Of course the phones went dead, so he couldn't call to make sure his daughter was safe. The elevators didn't work, so when the swaying building stood straight once again, he hiked down the stairwell to his car. Out on the street, the stoplights were not functioning whereup…

The Apostle Peter, writing shortly before he was martyred, during a time when

• Nero's persecution of the church was growing in severity
• false teaching was tearing at the heart of the church
• believers were beginning to doubt that…

If you've ever vacationed at the Grand Canyon you might know that the eyes of the mule are so set that it can see where each of its four feet land. That's why it is the animal of choice for the long trek down Bright …

Augustine, a man in the 5th century who became, Bishop of the church and a saint in history, originally lead a life of sin giving himself over to whatever pleasures presented themselves. His mother had earnestly prayed for him his entire life that he would give his life to the service of Christ, but Augustine persisted in his sins until one day he sat with a friend on a bench weeping over the state of his life. It was at this moment that he heard a boy or girl--he says he does not know which it was--singing a song. The sound was coming from a neighboring house. The child was chanting over and over: "Pick it up, read it; pic…

There is an amusing Hasidic story about a rabbi who crossed a village square every morning on his way to the temple to pray. One morning, a large Russian Cossack soldier, who happened to be in a vile mood, accosted him, saying, "Hey, rabbi, where are you going?"

The rabbi simply said, "I don't know."

This infuriated the soldier. "What do you mean, you don't know? Every morning for twen…

John Phillips, in his book Exploring Revelation, tells about the return of Richard I, the Lionhearted, to England. It was during the time of the crusades. While Richard was away doing battle in the Mideast, his kingdom fell on bad times. His brother, Prince John, justly vilified in the tales of Robin Hood, usurped the kingdom and misruled the realm. The people of England suffered under John's rule and longed for the return of their rightful k…

If you were to travel with me to the southwest coast of Italy you would find that ancient city called Pompeii. It lies a short distance from Mt.Vesuvius. This volcano has produced almost a dozen destructive eruptions. In 1631 an eruption killed 18,000 people. However, the most famous eruption of Mt.Vesuvius was in 79 A.D. Not only was Pompeii destroyed but there were other cities nearby destroyed as well. We understand through geological ev…

An old pioneer traveled westward across the Great Plains until he came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He gawked in amazement. The chasm was a mile down, eighteen miles across and more than a hundred miles long. He gasped, "Wow, something big musta happened here!"

A visitor to our world at Christmas, seeing all the lights, the trees, the decorations, the parades, the festiv…

Little Benjamin sat down to write a letter to God asking for a little baby sister. He started the letter out:

Dear God, I've been a very good boy....

He stopped, thinking, "No, God won't believe that." He wadded up the paper, threw it away, and started again:

Dear God, Most of the time I've been a good boy...He stopped in the middle of the line, again thinkin…

Prudence Phillipson of England uses this analogy. When her children were young the floor of their playroom often became messy with games and toys strewn everywhere. Prudence got her children to clean up their toys and games by telling them she was going round the corner to the shop. "When I come back," she warned, "everything should be in its place." She would then give each child a task before she left. The oldest child would be given more complicated tasks while the simpler ones would go to the …

When we wait, we admit there are some things that are not under our control. Most of us like to believe that we are in control. We imagine that we are masters of our destinies. If we work hard enough, if we are sufficiently prepared, if we just concentrate, we can ma…

It's a classic Peanuts cartoon. Charlie Brown says to Lucy, "Someone has said that we should live each day as if it were the …

J.G. Morrison tells us that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, was riding along a road one day when it dawned on him that three whole days had passed in which he had suffered no persecution. Not a brick or an egg had been thrown at him for three days.

Alarmed, he stopped his…

One night a thief broke into the single-room apartment of French novelist Honoré de Balzac. Trying to avoid waking Balzac, the intruder quietly picked t…

The first perversion of the doctrine of the second coming of Christ is perpetrated by those I'm going to call "prophecy mongers." You know these people. They come with their charts and graphs, with their predictions and projections, claiming to have special insight into the workings of God in the world, so that they're able to cue us in on just where we are in the divine timetable. And somehow, every political event of the past fifty years fits neatly into their scheme of things. But Jesus said that no one not even himself knew the day or the hour of his co…

Family life teaches you loyalty, patience, und…

These words by Martin Luther should stand as reminder to us all that end times forecasting is worthless - unless you are viewing the "End Times" as the whole period after His Resurrection. First published in 1522, the excerpts are the 6th and 7th paragraphs of his sermon titled: Christ's Second Coming: or the Signs of the Day of Judgment; and the Comforts Christians Have From Them:

I do not wish to force any one to believe as I do; neither will I permit anyone to deny me the right to believe that the last day is near at hand. These words and signs of Christ compel me to believe that such is the case. For the history of the centuries that have passed since the birth of Christ nowhere reveals conditions lik…

Marriage teaches you loyalty, patience, under…

When evangelist John Wesley (1703-1791) was returning home from a service one night, he was robbed. The thief, however, found his victim to have only a little money and some Christian literature. As the bandit was leaving, Wesley called out, "Stop! I have something more to give you." The surprised robber paused. "My frien…

There is nothing that so takes the joy out of life like unconfessed sin on the conscience.

I once heard the late Dr. F.E. Marsh tell that on one occasion he was preaching on this question and urging upon his hearers the importance of confession of sin and wherever possible of restitution for wrong done to others.

At the close a young man, a member of the church, came up to him with a troubled countenance. "Pastor," he explained, "you have put me in a sad fix. I have wronged another and I am ashamed to confess it or to try to put it right. You see, I am a boat builder and the man I work for is an infidel. I have talked to him often about his need of Christ and urged him to come and hear you preach, but he scoffs and ridicules it all. Now, I have been guilty of something that, if I should …

The fall of Haile Selassie in 1974 did not bring the kind of peace that the Ethiopians had hoped might follow their somewhat "benevolent" dictator. They had hoped for democracy. They had hoped for freedom. What they got, instead, was a Marxist state that ruled with an iron hand. Repression was everywhere. Persecution was everywhere. The Christian church became a target of this repression and persecution. The almost 20 years of Marxist rule was a very difficult time for the Christians of Ethiopia. During the waning years of this Marxist rule an Ethiopian pastor named Yadessa addressed an American audience concerning this persecution. He told of churches being closed and of many Christians and Christian leaders being put in prison. He said that there were hardly any churches left open in the…

Not everybody who takes up a life of crime is all that smart. Sometimes movies or television glorify criminals. They make them appear sophisticated, even cool. Most criminals do not fall in that category.

Like the guy who walked into a little corner store in England with a shotgun and demanded all the cash from the cash drawer. After the cashier put the cash in a bag, the robber saw a bottle of scotch that he wanted behind the counter on the shelf. He told the cashier to put it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and said, "I don't believe you are over 21."

The robber said he was, but the clerk still refused to give it to him because he didn't believe him. At this point the robber took his driver's license out of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. The clerk looked it over, and …

Victor Hugo begins Les Miserables with the story of Jean Valjean. He is an ex-convict who has just been released from nineteen years in prison for stealing bread to feed his sister's children. As he reenters society, no one will house him or give him work because of his criminal record – that is until he stumbles into the bishop's house. Much to Valjean's bewilderment, the bishop treats him with kindness and hospitality. Seizing the moment, Valjean steals the bishop's silver …

A little boy offered up a Thanksgiving Day prayer for the family and prayed: "Dear God, this is Jimmy. Thank you for Thanksgiving and Christmas and all of the holidays. Thank you for the turkey and dressing and Mom and Dad and even for my little sister, even though some times she …

This is how C.S. Lewis understands the doctrine of the Second Coming of our Lord. He said that when the author appears on the stage, you know the play is over. That's good isn't it? When the author appears on the stage - the play is over. No one has ever claimed that this planet ear…