Jesus Christ Archives

January 19, 2026January 17, 2026

The Curse of Minimalism

OK, you may not find “minimalism” in your dictionary, and Alexa didn’t like it. However, it is a problem in today’s world and an issue that Jesus Christ addressed. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:5: “Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, and mind.” In today’s world, that kind of statement is frowned upon by many people. We hear things like: “Do I have to go to church to be saved?” “How much do I have to give when the collection plate passes?” “Am I going to hell if I drink a beer?” etc. Questions like these show a very poor understanding of what Christianity is all about and a great ignorance of what the Bible teaches. That is what I mean by the curse of minimalism.

Minimalism can also be destructive in other areas of our lives. How many of us would think or say, “What is the least I can do to have a happy marriage?” What would be the result if a parent does the minimum required in parenting? What happens in the workplace when employees do only what’s necessary to get by? Every manager or business owner knows how harmful attitudes like that can be.

The biblical teaching is very clear about the importance of avoiding minimalism. In ancient Israel, everyone was expected to set aside one day each week for prayer, study, and worship. The Sabbath was not a day of sleep, but a day away from the demands of everyday life. Imagine the impact of a person spending one-seventh of their time in service to others. We all have 168 hours each week, and one-seventh of that is 24 hours, or nearly 4 hours each day dedicated to serving others. The remaining 20 hours could be used for work, sleep, eating, and doing things we enjoy.

Most of us don’t really know what we do with our time. Try budgeting your time for a week. Set aside time to serve God and others, and make sure you get enough sleep, eat well, work, do chores, and enjoy your hobbies. You will find great rewards in escaping the curse of minimalism and in appreciating the gift of time that God has given us.

December 19, 2025December 15, 2025

Happiness Comes from Giving, Not Possessing

One in every 10 households in the United States rents a self-storage unit. The big question is whether having that much stuff has made Americans happier than people in other cultures. Happiness comes from giving, not possessing.

Brenda and Mark Young, writing in the August 6, 2025, issue of Power for Today, describe their work in Honduras and how much happier the people there are compared to typical Americans. Those Hondurans didn’t have electricity, toilets, or running water in their homes, yet they amazed visitors with their joy. Their happiness came from the time they spent with family and friends, building strong, rich relationships. Their wealth comes from their relationships with people, not with things.

In Mark 12:41-44, Jesus is sitting opposite the temple treasury, watching as people make their donations to the temple. The wealthy are making a show of giving large amounts, but Jesus sees a poor widow who puts in two mites. That is not even enough to buy a sparrow, so two mites are insignificant as far as material goods are concerned. The poor widow gave wholeheartedly of all she had. God isn’t impressed by the amount a person gives. He looks for the heart behind it.

We overestimate the importance God places on our giving. If every Christian on the planet were to stop giving entirely, God’s work would still get done. Our giving is not for God’s benefit, but rather for ours. Our giving enriches our marriages, our kids, our friends, and our jobs when we have a heart to give. My parents were atheists, and to them, the material goods they acquired were the most important things in life. They were not happy people, and our family was in constant conflict because of their obsession with acquiring things.

Church work suffers when we decide what God wants us to build, then mount an all-out campaign to raise enough money to build it. What we need to do is look for the doors that God opens for us and do what God provides for us to do. Building enormous structures and hiring talented preachers to entertain us while people in the neighborhood are without food, medicine, and adequate shelter is not what Jesus taught us to do. Happiness comes from giving. Read Mark 12:41-44 again and pray about how your giving shows God where your heart is.

December 5, 2025November 30, 2025

Forgive and Forget

One of the most challenging teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount is the instruction in Matthew 6:12: “Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” In verses 14-15, Jesus states, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” How can we forgive and forget when someone has hurt us?

An article in National Geographic titled “Why Learning to Forget Is an Underrated Skill” included this statement: “We start to forget as soon as we begin to remember – and this is a good thing.” Forgetting prevents our minds from being overwhelmed with useless information or emotionally painful memories. It turns out we have surprisingly good control over what we choose not to remember.

God has designed our brains to forgive and forget. Jesus knew that forgetting is essential for good mental health. It’s hard for us to understand how God can forget our sins, but God is the Creator and is perfect. Our imperfections make it difficult for us to do what Jesus calls us to do.

The design of our brains demonstrates God’s incredible creative wisdom. We need to remember useful information. For example, we avoid grabbing something hot because past experience shows it will hurt. We can forget the pain of a broken heart when falling in love again. We can work on forgetting what someone did by choosing not to dwell on the pain. Research shows that letting go of bad experiences is crucial to our well-being.

Forgive and forget go hand in hand. Jesus understood what gives us greater stability in life. How much less stress would we have if we simply followed His teachings?

Reference: “Why Learning to Forget Is An Underrated Skill” in the December 2025 issue of National Geographic, pages 102-103, and nationalgeographic.com

November 26, 2025November 23, 2025

The Prodigal Son and Modern Atheists

One of the best-known stories Jesus told was about a farmer with two sons. The story is often called the parable of the prodigal son, but I think it should be better called the parable of the father’s love. I see a similarity between the prodigal son and modern atheists.

In the story, the extravagant or wasteful son (that’s what “prodigal” means) wanted his father to give him his inheritance. Basically, he was saying, “You are as good as dead to me. Give me what’s mine so I can waste it.” That’s exactly what the father did, and the son quickly forgot about the father and showed no respect for what he had received. The pleasures of the world became all he cared about, and the father’s gifts were quickly wasted and destroyed.

The son’s attitude could be summed up as, “Give me what you have, and I will enjoy it.” Isn’t that what atheists say to God? While the son was at home with his father, he could enjoy everything the father provided, but he wanted to enjoy his father’s blessings on his own terms, without being bound by his father’s rules or expectations. The heavenly Father provides abundant blessings for us to enjoy, but many adopt the prodigal attitude. The pursuit of pleasure often becomes the main goal for those who reject God.

As the story unfolds, the prodigal realizes that the father’s loving care wasn’t so bad after all. Wasteful extravagance leads to despair and a dead end. Meanwhile, the father’s love never wavered, and he was watching for his son’s return. When he saw his son coming back, he didn’t wait for him to arrive to scold him for his foolishness. The father ran to meet his son with loving forgiveness.

The father symbolizes God, and as far as I can tell, that’s the only time in the entire Bible when God is described as being in a hurry. God runs to meet the returning son. The atheist who has rejected God’s love and comfort and refused His authority can be immediately welcomed home by the Father’s love.

The similarity between the prodigal son and modern atheists is clear. When the pleasures of the world fade and their so-called friends abandon them, God is still waiting to welcome the wasteful, unworthy, but repentant wanderers back into a loving home.

Reference: Luke 15:11-32

November 19, 2025November 18, 2025

The Rapa Nui People and the Unknown God

For many years, nearly 1000 massive statues on Easter Island have been studied by both scholars and UFO enthusiasts. The UFO proponents have claimed that it would be impossible for the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island to move these statues. Some of them weigh 130,000 pounds and stand 32 feet tall. They were transported across rugged terrain from a quarry where some unfinished statues still exist. UFO supporters have argued that only aliens with anti-gravity capabilities could have moved such large statues over long distances and around obstacles.

Anthropologists from Binghamton University in New York have found the answer to how the statues were moved. Using a 10,000-pound replica, they found that 18 people could move it 328 feet in 40 minutes across roads built by the Rapa Nui people between 1400 and 1650. Carl Lipo, an anthropologist, explains that the physics makes sense, and that “once you get it moving, it isn’t hard at all.”

The Rapa Nui people were not alone in their search for gods. Pagan cultures worldwide have realized that what they see and experience is not an accident. They understand there must be a higher power governing nature. Acts 17 records the apostle Paul, speaking in Athens, describing to his listeners a God in whom “we live and move and have our being.” Paul also pointed out that the creator is not “worshipped with men’s hands as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.”

Paul saw the idols of the people of Athens, including one dedicated to “the Unknown God.” Today in America, the God Paul described remains unknown to many people. That is shown by the fact that over 40% of Americans say “none” when asked about their religious beliefs. The purpose of the “Does God Exist?” ministry is to present evidence that there is a God and that the Bible is His word.

Knowing God through Jesus Christ offers a better life in this world and gives humans a purpose. The battle between good and evil is real, and even though atheists claim evil does not exist, thoughtful people will examine the evidence and recognize that denying evil does not make it disappear.

Reference: The Week for November 7, 2025, page 21, and academia.edu

November 7, 2025November 4, 2025

Religion Is Essential for America’s Survival

Can a political system survive without religion? The founders of America and the writers of the Constitution did not think so. George Washington wrote, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to a political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.” The question for us is whether America survives as our population and our leaders increasingly reject religion and embrace immorality. Our founders clearly believed that religion is essential for America’s survival.

John Adams, our second president and who helped Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence, wrote, “We have no government in power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.” It’s clear why religion is essential for America’s survival when you look at the Declaration of Independence, which states that our rights are endowed by the Creator and that all men are created equal. The atheist claims that men are not inherently equal and that only the fittest survive. Historically, slavery was justified by whites who argued they were superior and that people of color were inferior at birth. Any honest reading of the biblical account shows that since all humans are made in the image of God, we are inherently equal.

Religion is Essential for America’s survival, and the architects of our modern society understood that the vital foundation of any stable political and economic system relies heavily on religion, morality, family life, and love. A society that lacks these core elements will eventually fall apart, and we are witnessing that collapse accelerate today. Making America great again depends on restoring its moral health. Christ laid the foundation for stability when He sacrificed Himself for the Church, emphasizing its importance. That’s why the “Does God Exist?” program works tirelessly to share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.

October 8, 2025October 8, 2025

Who Created Slavery?

On June 17, 2025, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine stood before the United States Senate and said, “The United States didn’t inherit slavery from anybody. We created it.” That shocking statement shows a complete lack of historical knowledge. Slavery goes far back in history, predating the formation of the United States. Who created slavery? Let’s examine that question.

During the 16th and 17th centuries, Muslim pirates from the Barbary Coast of North Africa captured white Europeans and Americans, taking more than one million into slavery. By 1800, over 20% of the United States’ revenue was used to pay slave ransoms and tributes to Muslim leaders. This ended when the newly established U.S. Navy defeated the Barbary pirates in 1815.

Going further back in time, when English settlers arrived in the early American colonies, Africans were enslaving other Africans, and they sold their own brothers to the Americans and Europeans. The English first abolished slavery, but it took the Americans more time to remove this evil.

Farther back in history, slavery was common in ancient Rome and Greek culture. Earlier still, the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. Exodus 1:12b-14 (ESV) says, “And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and all kinds of work in the field. In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.”

There are many other examples of slavery throughout history, but the question remains: who created slavery? Let’s go all the way back to Eden in Genesis chapter 2. Satan lied to the woman and led her and the man into his trap of sin. So, who created slavery? The originator of slavery was Satan. Adam and Eve thought they were gaining new freedom by eating the forbidden fruit, but they became slaves. In John 8:34, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

However, the key question is not who created slavery, but who can free us from this slavery to sin? There is a path to freedom described in Romans 6:3-6 (ESV): “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”

Those who have been released from slavery to sin should share that message with others. We should also do all we can to bring an end to physical slavery, which still exists in many regions of the world.

September 2, 2025September 1, 2025

Cana and the Wedding Feast

We read in John’s gospel that Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus turned six large stone jars of water into wine. But where exactly was Cana? We know it was in Galilee because John mentions it, but the exact location has long been disputed. An archaeologist believes he has found the site of Cana and the wedding feast.

Jesus was present at the wedding with His first disciples, who had been followers of John the Baptist just days before. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also there, so this wedding was likely for a close friend or family member. The reason for Jesus performing this miracle might have been sympathy for the embarrassment of the wedding host, but it could also have been to help His new disciples develop faith. (See John 2:1-11.)

Natural processes can turn rainwater into grape juice over time, but Jesus had the power to accelerate this without a grapevine. There was no reason for Him to ferment the grape juice to cause intoxication. When the master of the feast tasted it, he remarked, “You have kept the good wine until now.” That suggests the wine at this feast was not intoxicating.

Since the 18th century, the location of Cana and the wedding feast has generally been identified as Kafr Kanna, an Israeli town in Galilee. This is because, following the Crusades, the Franciscans chose it as a convenient place to establish a pilgrimage site, rather than based on historical evidence. Now, archaeologist and historian Tom McCollough suggests that Cana was actually located five miles north of Kafr Kanna, at a site called Khirbet Qana. This was a Jewish village from 323 B.C. to 324 A.D.

Excavations at Khirbet Qana have uncovered a veneration cave complex used by Christian pilgrims until the 12th-century Crusader period. Artifacts and inscriptions on the cave walls indicate this was the original location. McCollough also notes that rabbinic texts and the writings of first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus support this site. After Jesus faced resistance in Judea and ministered in Samaria, He returned to Cana, where He healed a nobleman’s son. (See John 4:43-54.)

The significance of identifying the location of Jesus’ first miracle is not for pilgrims to visit and venerate the site. Instead, it shows that the gospels describe real historical locations and events. Jesus is a real person, and Cana was a real place. Historian Tom McCollough believes that his excavations at Khirbet Qana strengthen the historical reliability of the Bible.

Reference: foxnews.com

August 15, 2025August 14, 2025

Not a Forced Religion

The teachings of Jesus Christ are radically different from those of other religions. Perhaps the most notable are the teachings about how to gain converts. In the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5–7), Jesus clearly states that those who follow Him do so voluntarily. Following Him is not a forced religion, and Christ’s disciples emphasized this as the Church rapidly grew.

In Acts 17:22-34, Paul describes the Christian faith and concludes in verses 29–30 that people should not think God’s nature is physical. In Acts 17:30, Paul writes, “God has looked with indulgence on the days of man’s ignorance, but now He is announcing to everyone everywhere the need to think differently.” Paul uses the word “repent,” meaning to think differently. Following Christ is a personal decision, not a forced religion or cult. This contrasts sharply with other religious belief systems.

Some individuals claiming to be Christians have violated Christ’s teachings by resorting to violence to force others to convert. The Crusades, the teachings of the Mormon Church, and various cult leaders all engaged in violence that directly contradicts Christ’s teachings. There is not a single statement by Christ or the Apostles advocating the use of force to gain converts.

An English translation of the Koran by N.J. Dawood, a Muslim, is available from Penguin Classics. Reading it reveals a stark contrast to Christ’s teachings. Mohammed 47:3-5 instructs Muslims to strike off the heads of unbelievers. The passages in 2:178 and 2:179 state that fighting and bloodshed are ordained for Muslims. Repentance 9:4-7 and 122-125 command Muslims to wage war. Claims that these are mistranslations are untrue; Muslims have followed these teachings for centuries, and fundamentalists still do today.

Hinduism also involves coercion. Since 2014, India’s Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party has been in power, arresting individuals they believe are proselytizing Hindus. Government violence against non-Hindus has led to the killing of Christians and Muslims and the confiscation of their property.

The teachings of Christ shine brightly in a world filled with violence. The word “gospel” means “good news,” and the good news is that Christianity is not a forced religion. Jesus Christ offers the freedom, peace, and hope that people desire to have in their lives.

July 25, 2025July 23, 2025

An Attack on Love

The famous Italian poet Dante Alighieri, writing around the year 1300, wrote that “all of the seven deadly sins are an attack on love. Pride, envy, and anger result from perverted love, sloth from insufficient love, and greed, gluttony, and lust from an excessive love of earthly goods.”

The Bible teaches us that God is love (1 John 4:8), and Jesus instructed that Christians should have a special kind of love, expressed in the Greek word “agape.” Christians should see every human being as worthy of love because they are created in the image of God. Dante’s observation that the things God hates are an attack on love resonates with the current state of the world, as many turn away from God.

The Bible uses various Greek words to describe how God wants us to love. The one Greek word that is NOT used is “eros,” from which our English word “erotic” is derived. Those who reject God often turn to a distorted form of love that is more than destructive. It results in frustration and prevents those involved from experiencing the true joy that God created in physical love.

Other religious systems promote what amounts to an attack on love. Practices such as polygamy, polyandry, incestuous relationships, and pedophilia all lead to abuse and frustration for everyone involved. In Matthew 19:8-9 and Mark 10:5-9, Jesus speaks of the hardness of men’s hearts, which results in women being treated as pawns and obstructs God’s plan for the nuclear family.

Hard-heartedness fosters greed, war, violence, and abuse. Ultimately, political systems that endorse such behavior will collapse. You either learn from history or repeat it. The question is, what will happen to America as atheism, naturalism, and secularism replace the teachings of Christ, and as the sins God hates bear their bitter fruit? Only time will tell.

Reference: Power for Today for September 12, 2025, by Andy Wall and Wikipedia.