Our congregation offers numerous opportunities for members to get involved. We have a Bible class on Sunday morning, a worship service, another Bible class on Sunday night, and a Bible class on Wednesday night. We also have an area-wide devotional at another preacher’s home on Thursday night. Plus, we have a variety of work projects, including highway clean-up, food pantry activity, and phone calls when a member or their loved one is sick or has died. A member recently asked me, “Do I have to attend all services of the church?” I responded with an article by Steve Higginbotham that I think answers that question very well. We all need to consider this:
Do you have to hug and kiss your little children?
Do you have to remember your wife’s birthday?
Do you have to call home when you are going to be working late?
Do you have to buy Christmas presents for your family?
Do you have to attend programs your kids are in?
Do you have to attend the funeral of a close friend or relative?
Do I have to say “I love you” to my spouse?
We don’t have to do many of those things, but we are blessed to be able to do them. We get a great deal of personal joy and/or satisfaction from these things.The same is true of church activities. Steve comments, “When my relationship with God is based on what I have to do and what I do not have to do, I need to take a look at that relationship.”
Genesis 1:1 declares, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” John 1:1–3 echoes that opening: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.” These passages share not only their opening phrase—“In the beginning”—but also a profound theological link: the Creator is revealed as the Word. In Genesis, God acts; in John, we learn who was acting—the eternal Word, fully divine and co-eternal with the Father. Then John 1:14 unveils the wonderful truth: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus Christ is the Word.
So God created the world “by His Word”—and that Word spoke each day of creation into being: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light,” and so on. But the Word is far more than speech. John reveals Him as a divine Person—the very essence of God—who entered time and space to become our Savior. Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh.
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on how the founders of many of the world’s major religions compare with Jesus Christ. Confucius, who lived five centuries before Christ, founded not a religion per se, but a moral philosophy—a system of ethics that has shaped Chinese and Southeast Asian cultures. Confucius was a moral teacher, but he was just a man. History records that he didn’t always live up to his own ideals.
The man who became known as the Buddha supposedly attained enlightenment around the fifth century B.C. He drew countless followers across Asia, but he never claimed divinity. In fact, Buddhism is essentially a godless religion.
Hinduism is often traced to Krishna, who may have existed around 3,200 B.C. Hinduism boasts millions of followers, especially in India, which is officially a Hindu nation. Those who teach Christianity there face persecution. Unlike Buddhism, which doesn’t have a god, Hinduism has millions of gods. Hindu followers can choose their gods, fashion idols, and worship them—a practice that echoes Isaiah’s scathing portrait of idolatry (Isaiah 44:9-20).
Islam was founded by Muhammad much later, around 600 years after Christ. Today, it is the world’s fastest-growing religion. Its number of followers is second only to Christianity—and, by some estimates, is projected to equal or surpass Christianity in the coming decades. It has made strong inroads into the United States.
But contrast the religious founders’ teachings. Muhammad commanded violence against “infidels”—anyone outside Islam. Jesus commanded, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:43-48). The Buddha taught that one can escape suffering through self-effort by attaining nirvana, essentially a state of non-being. Hinduism teaches reincarnation. Moral conduct in this life determines one’s next life. Perhaps you might come back as a cow if you are really good, or as an insect if you are not so good. Some Hindus won’t till the soil, fearing they might crush an ancestor reborn as a bug.
Jesus Christ is the Word who came not only to model virtue and teach love. Because He knew we cannot keep God’s commands perfectly, He paid the penalty for our sins to restore our broken relationship with God. Our Creator entered human history—not as a philosopher, prophet, or enlightened teacher—but as the incarnate Word, bearing our guilt, conquering death, and securing eternal life for all who trust in Him.
One common factor among all the religious founders is that they all died. Only one, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead and is alive today. Those who die in Christ do not cease to exist. We will live with Him because of Him.
We received the following from one of our followers, Pete Shaw, titled “There Are Girls in Here!” He was responding to our article on September 30, 2026. It shows how the times, and girls, have changed over the years. The story has a good twist at the end, showing that even college professors can change:
“In 1965, I was 21 years old, a junior in college, taking American Literature under a professor at Southeast Missouri State University. On the first day, he announced that we would be studying The Scarlet Letter by Nathanael Hawthorne. After we all read the book, he led a discussion of the text. Almost immediately, he began using curse words such as hell and damn. I was surprised, but I waited until the end of the class to talk to him. As the other students were filing out, I approached him in a very serious but quiet tone. I said, ‘You shouldn’t be using curse words in class! There are girls in here!’ I wish someone had taken a photo of his face when I said that. It was like I had hit him with a bolt of lightning. He could not believe what he was hearing.
“Well, he toned his language down for the rest of the course, seeing how serious (and naïve) I was. On the last day of class, he called me aside and said, ‘I want you to come back and see me in 20 years, and tell me if you are still like this.’ It turned out that I had forgotten his request until 25 years had passed. So I called the university and found that he was retired. I managed to get his phone number and called him. I told him who I was and asked if he remembered me. He said he did, and we had a good conversation about our lives over the past 25 years. I told him, ‘Yes, I am still like that.’ I had had ups and downs over the years, but I am still a serious Christian. Then he pleasantly surprised me by saying he wasn’t the same. Over the years, he had become a Christian, too!”
We received a question about kangaroos on Noah’s ark. I want to share my response here because others probably have similar questions about the biblical flood story.
I think there were no kangaroos on the ark. Let me explain. The biblical evidence indicates that the flood was universal, covering the populated Earth, but not global, covering the entire globe. “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). For that reason, God decided to send a flood to destroy the evil people, but He spared Noah and his family.
God would have had no reason to flood Australia, the North and South Poles, or the top of Mount Everest, because no people lived there. You can read the biblical flood story in Genesis chapters 6-8. After the flood, Genesis 9 tells us that God made a covenant with Noah and promised, “never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth” (verse 11). Noah’s obligation in this covenant is summarized in Genesis 9:7: “As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.”
Noah’s descendants failed to carry out their obligation in the covenant. Genesis 11 shows that they went only to the plain of Babylon (Shinar) and devised a plan to glorify themselves instead of obeying God’s instructions. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:4).
Because of their defiance, God was forced to find a solution while keeping His promise to never again destroy the human population with a flood. Instead, God confounded them with different languages, ending their plans and causing them to follow His instructions by scattering them “over the face of the whole earth” (Genesis 11:9).
When you examine the biblical flood story, you can see that God had no reason to flood the entire globe, since humans were limited to a relatively small geographical area. Then why does God say in Genesis 6:17, “I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.” He does not mean every creature literally, because He commanded Noah, “You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you” (Genesis 6:19). He also did not refer to every fish and sea creature. He told Noah to take seven (or seven pairs) of every kind of clean animal (Genesis 7:2) so they could be used as sacrifices to God after the flood, as we see in Genesis 8:20.
There would not have been enough water on Earth to cover the entire globe above the height of Mount Everest. There was no need to flood areas where no humans lived or to kill all the animals on the planet. Then why do cultures around the world have flood legends? Every person on Earth is descended from the family that survived the flood, so the story has been passed down in every culture, with modifications. The biblical flood story is the accurate account of the event that changed the entire world. In His mercy, after the flood, God gave humanity another chance while keeping His promise. He scattered the people around the globe by confounding their languages, preventing a corrupt one-world government.
Even today, God in His mercy offers each person on Earth a second chance through the sacrifice of God’s only Son. (See John 3:16-17.) Be wise and don’t pass up the grace God offers.
In his book Unanswered, Jeremiah Johnston wrote that the number-one reason people walk away from faith in God is experiencing an unexpected personal tragedy. He described interviewing atheists who had once been believers. They told him that the reason they doubt the existence of God is “the world is not as it ought to be.” That raises the question of how the world ought to be and how we can know.
As Johnston wrote, stating that the world is not as it ought to be “infers a standard of objective worldwide virtue and goodness.” Where does that standard come from? From an atheist viewpoint, where could it come from? If the world is a cosmic accident that just happened and we are an evolving collection of molecules we call life, what is the criterion for deciding how the world ought to be? Who gives us the right to make that judgment?
Why should we expect anything good in this world? How can we define good, and how can we know the difference between good and evil? Skeptics can’t accept the idea of a God who cares when there is so much evil in the world. The question is: how can there be evil unless there is good, and how can there be good without God? What is the atheist using to define evil—or good?
Going beyond the existence of good and evil, why is there love? What is the source of love? Nobody can truthfully say that there is no such thing as love. The Bible tells us that God IS Love. (See 1John 4:8 and 16.) Love comes from God, in whose image we are made. God is also good, and without goodness, how can we define evil?
Yes, the world is not what it ought to be, but we cannot deny God’s existence because of that fact. Evil is obvious because good exists. Good and love exist because God exists. When someone asks why God allows evil, remember that evil exists because humans allow it. It is humans who have brought evil into the world, and it is up to the followers of Jesus to combat that evil with love.
We must begin by accepting God’s love, demonstrated by the sacrifice of His Son. When we become followers of Jesus Christ, we can share God’s love with others. Love and goodness, which come from God, can overcome the problem of evil. Those who deny the existence of God have no basis to know how the world ought to be.
The late priest, professor, and author, Dr. Stanley Yaqui, told about a 17-year-old German student who wrote to Charles Darwin with questions of faith. He was confused and filled with doubt after the death of a friend
The young student was W. Mengden, and his letter to Darwin said, “I make bold to ask you whether strong belief in your theory is compatible with belief in God?” Darwin replied that his theory was compatible with belief. Mengden was not satisfied with that answer, so he pressed the question further in a second letter. Again, not satisfied with Darwin’s reply, he wrote again, “I therefore come to you for the third time, asking and begging, so that your kind reply may provide a directive that tells me what I should believe… I know not where apart from you, I can get hold get hold of the truth… Please tell me, can one believe in Christ as described in the Bible?”
Thinking about his best friend’s recent death, Mengden further asked, “If you, however, are kind enough to be generous with your answer, would you please tell me what one should think about life after death and whether one should expect to meet others in afterlife?”
Because Darwin’s health was failing, his son Frances pinned the reply on his father’s behalf. He wrote, “I am much engaged, an old man, and out of health, and I cannot spare time to answer your questions fully, — nor indeed can they be answered. Science has nothing to do with Christ, except insofar as the habit of scientific research makes a man cautious in admitting evidence. For myself, I do not believe that there ever has been any revelation. As for future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.”
As I read that correspondence from a young man seeking answers to some of life’s most important questions of faith, I can only think that Charles Darwin, a man who had given up his faith, would not be a good source for answers. All Darwin could say is that there are “conflicting vague probabilities.”
If you have questions of faith concerning the existence of God, the afterlife, and whether you can believe in Christ and the Bible, seek out the wisdom of a Christian who has a strong faith. And if you’re a Christian who can’t answer those questions, perhaps you need to study the scriptures and materials available from this ministry, along with information you can find on our websites. Christians should never fear questions, and we should never leave them unanswered.
Entertainer Dolly Parton recently passed away from cancer at age 80. Her singing career began when she was only ten years old and continued for the next 70 years. I read an article about an interview she had with journalist Barbara Walters in 1978. The article was written by Dorie Clark, who taught communication at Columbia and Duke Universities. She praised Dolly Parton’s grace in handling a situation where someone talked down to her.
Barbara Walters was a prominent TV journalist, and Dolly Parton was a young rising star. Walters asked questions that could be considered insulting put-downs, criticizing her lower-class origins in Tennessee. Parton handled it with poise and grace while preserving her dignity. Parton began by briefly talking about growing up as one of twelve siblings in Tennessee. Walters interrupted by asking, “Dolly, where I come from, would I have called you a hillbilly?” Walters was obviously demeaning her at the very beginning of the interview.
Dolly Parton’s grace comes across when she responds to an insult by accepting the “hillbilly” label. She didn’t become offended or argue. She reframed the label by saying her people are proud, practical, and wise rather than backward or ignorant. I thought about how skeptics often try to demean Christians. “You mean to tell me you are one of those ignorant people who believe in Jesus, God, and the Bible?”
When we are confronted by an unbeliever in that way, do we cower, become angry, or strike back? Perhaps we should follow Dolly Parton’s grace when someone tries to put us down. Dolly’s response was, “We were very proud people, people with a lot of class. It was country class, but it was a great deal of class… Most of my people were not that educated, but they are very, very intelligent. Good common sense, horse sense, we called it.” Walters went on to ask Parton if she felt that she was a joke. Dolly took it in stride, when others would take offense. She said, “I am sure of myself as a person. I am sure of my talent.”
You can criticize her for her actions and style, or you can love her for her talent, confidence, and charity. My point is that we should demonstrate Dolly Parton’s grace when someone criticizes us for being one of “those ignorant Christians.” By being confident in what we believe and ready to defend it with facts and evidence, we can stand up to those who try to insult us for our faith. Instead of getting angry, we can show skeptics that Christians are intelligent, common-sense people who demonstrate God’s love for everyone, even those who criticize us for our faith. Soon in the interview, Barbara seemed to have a new respect for Dolly. Christians should learn from Dolly Parton’s grace to face criticism with confidence and truth.
In chapters 2 and 3 of the book of Revelation, Jesus addresses seven churches in Asia Minor, today’s Turkey. Archaeology in modern Turkey has uncovered artifacts in the ruins of those ancient cities, including Sardis.
Sardis was one of the seven cities Jesus addressed, and archaeologists recently uncovered a statue of a young man with well-preserved details. The statue is more than seven feet tall and dates to the fifth century B.C. Because it was buried face down, the face’s details were preserved. Although the statue was carved 2,500 years ago, during the Roman period it was used as part of street paving, with its back and the back of its head serving as paving stones. Details of the clothing are visible, and he appears to be holding a fruit in his hand.
Sardis was once the capital of the Lydian Kingdom and later became an important city in the Persian Empire. In the first century, when Revelation was written, it was part of the Roman Empire known as Asia Minor. Sardis was home to a Christian church that Jesus addressed in Revelation 3:1-6.
Jesus told the church in Sardis that they had a reputation for being alive, but they were dead. He said, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die.” He calls for them to obey and repent. Jesus reminded them that they did not know when He would come, but it was certain and would be like a thief taking them by surprise.
What would Jesus say to the Church today? He told the church in Sardis that a few people had not “soiled their clothes,” and they would walk with Him dressed in white. To those who overcome the world (are victorious in their faith), Jesus said He “will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels.”
Today, when our faith in God is tested by things of the world, Jesus encourages us to have a victorious faith. No matter how bad things may seem, God is still in control.
A major challenge the Church faces is how to address young people with gender dysphoria. This issue has been complicated by medical experts and counselors who encourage young people to undergo drug treatments and surgeries for gender change. The American Medical Association and the Society of Plastic Surgeons have led the medical establishment in promoting sex-change procedures, and public-school counselors have encouraged primary and secondary students to change their gender identification and pronouns.
The long-term consequences of gender change are becoming more apparent. Males who choose to identify as women have dominated women’s sports. Men and women who have undergone gender-change surgeries are finding, years later, that they made a mistake. Recently, a New York woman sued her psychologist and plastic surgeon and was awarded two million dollars by a jury. She was pressured into a mastectomy at age 16 and put on hormone therapy. As an adult, she realized she wanted to live by her birth gender and was either not told or did not understand the consequences that would arise later in life.
The Bible makes it clear that God created man and woman with distinct gender identities. Undoing what God created is to challenge God and the biblical directives. It is essential for the Church to address gender dysphoria in young people. The cause is psychological and, in most cases, rooted in environmental problems.
The Church is not just a place to worship but a fellowship of Christ followers who must address all human needs. In Matthew 25:34-40, we see Jesus challenging those who want to enter “the kingdom prepared for them since the creation of the world.” Among the things expected of them was to take care of those who were sick. Gender dysphoria is a sickness, and like all of Satan’s attacks, it calls for loving care from His people.
Americans are a culture of cowards. We should have the courage to help someone in need. What do we feel when we see a homeless person, or someone on a street corner holding a cardboard sign that says, “Need Food”? Of course, some people make a business of begging and have no real need, but we cannot let that fact keep us from doing what Jesus called His followers to do.
Matthew 9:35-36 tells us: “Jesus went through all the towns and villages …healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” What is your reaction to needs? In Michael Clemen’s book Why Aren’t Christians More Like Jesus, he points out that real Christianity is doing what Jesus would do. James 2:14-26 points out that faith without compassion is useless (verse 20). Our faith must have feet. Going to a building where you sit in a pew once a week is not what being a Christian is about. Clemens calls that “Churchianity.”
Every person we read about in the Bible who was converted to Christ had the courage to help someone in need. In Acts 9, Dorcas was making garments for the needy. In Acts 16, Lydia opened her home for people who needed lodging, including Paul. Throughout the book of Acts, Barnabas was an encourager. Today, the opportunities for service include caring for people who can’t care for themselves, helping care for children, or getting groceries or medicine for a shut-in. If you have the skills, it might be maintaining or repairing a vehicle for someone who can’t afford it. It could even be visiting or using your phone to encourage someone who needs a friend.
A living, dynamic faith is a faith of action. Read James 2:14-26 and be like Christ. Jesus was not a wimp, and neither can His followers be.
