“When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, But when a wicked man rules, people groan.” (Proverbs 29:2) The sight of Russian tanks rolling into Ukraine will never be forgotten by many of us. Incredibly, Russian President Vladimir Putin, now a war criminal, asserted that Ukraine does not truly exist as a nation. The sense of entitlement and the implicit return to the mindset of the old USSR, dismantled 31 years ago, was and is stunning. Here’s a video of a Ukrainian... Read more
The book of Nehemiah records God’s sovereign plan to rebuild Jerusalem. Yet it repeatedly shows Nehemiah’s strategic positioning of his people to counter the building project’s many enemies: “We prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” (Nehemiah 4:9, NIV). Their prayer acknowledged God’s sovereignty. Their preparations recognized their responsibility to act wisely. Likewise, our actions should be in concert with our prayers—we should pray to find happiness in God and then take... Read more
I’m encouraged when I see believers focused on getting out of debt. My book Money, Possessions and Eternity has a whole chapter on debt. My little book Managing God’s Money has a couple of chapters related to debt. I also talk about debt briefly in The Treasure Principle and again in my newer book Giving Is the Good Life. According to CreditCards.com, the average American has $5,111 in credit card debt. Slightly more than 40 percent of Americans carry credit card debt month to month, continuing to spend more... Read more
Last fall I had the privilege of being on a Zoom call talking about Heaven and the New Earth with a dozen or so moms who had lost children to the same kind of brain cancer. It was an unforgettable 2 1/2 hours, looking into the faces of all these dear women, most of them close to the camera where the tears and the pain were clearly visible. One of their children had died 14 days before we talked, one... Read more
A reader recently wrote us to ask, “In your book you state that when a Christian dies part goes to the grave and part goes to the feet of Jesus Christ. Where can I find that in the Bible?” Jesus told the dying thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). The apostle Paul said that to die was to be with Christ (Philippians 1:23), and to be absent from the body was to... Read more
During the 2008 Summer Olympics, I wrote about the ethical concerns with Beijing hosting the games. Just as I did then, I have mixed feelings about these Olympics. Certainly I enjoy watching the athletes, and celebrating the cooperation between the nations that’s demonstrated. But are a number of the countries represented doing unethical things? Yes. (Including, by the way, the USA, since we are the leading proponents of child-killing in the world, funding abortions not only in our own country... Read more
Countless myths have been attached to the pro-life movement. One example is the oft-repeated statement, “Pro-lifers don’t really care about pregnant women, or about children once they’re born.” A television reporter, with cameras rolling, once approached me at a pro-life event and asked for my response to that accusation. I said, “Well, my wife and I opened our home to a pregnant girl and paid her expenses while she lived with us. We supported her when she decided to give... Read more
What if you could ask God any question you wanted about money and get an answer? The truth is, you won’t know until you try. Start with these seven questions, and see where God leads you from there. The Bible is full of teachings about money, because money tends to wrestle for first place in our hearts. But God knows our hearts, and if we ask Him, He will guide us. Consider all you’ve been given by praying through the... Read more
If we recognize God’s sovereignty even over Satan’s work, it changes our perspective about our lives and suffering. Satan and God intend the same suffering for entirely different purposes, but God’s purpose triumphs. Satan sought Job’s ruin and loss of faith; God sought Job’s refining and faith-building. The very thing Satan intended for Job’s destruction, God intended for his betterment and ultimate reward (though certainly at a terrible cost). Second Corinthians 12:7 gives us a striking picture. We see God... Read more
Forty-five years ago when I was in Bible college, we used to pray for Nepal, a country that was synonymous with the most closed and unreached and unlikely place for Christians to be. Someone who had lived there for many years came and spoke to us about how very few people were followers of Jesus. He urged us to pray for believers there. The very small number of Christians made it seem incredible that a Christian book would ever be... Read more
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