You’ve heard it and so have I. “Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. That’s simply Catholic tradition or the celebration of a Druid festival.” I don’t agree. The December 25th date for Christ’s birth is not a date arbitrarily chosen because it coincides with a Catholic or pagan tradition. There are solid grounds for believing that the church venerated that date for good reason. Jesus Christ was actually born in Bethlehem of Judea on the 25th of December.

You ask, “Okay, Irv, what are your grounds for believing that?” Let me share them with you. Probably no one has given more thought to the date of Christ’s birth than Alfred Edersheim. Alfred Edersheim (March 7, 1825 – March ...

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 the Apostle Paul writes an intriguing verse.  Here's what it says,  "We are destroying arguments and all arrogance raised against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." I want to zero in on the last phase of this verse, "we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."      

Clearly the "we" in this passage is referring to believers in Christ but what does it mean by "taking every thought captive?" Then the next question becomes how do we do that? First let's define terms.  What is a thought anyway? A thought is something about which your mind thinks.  It might be ...

Last August Elsie and I went on vacation to Charleston, SC. We saw some old friends, toured the historical sites, explored a working plantation, and enjoyed our time there immensely except . . . the day before we were to depart, I accidentally spilled a full cup of scalding hot coffee on my right foot. The coffee was hot enough to produce second degree burns. Burns like those don’t heal quickly because of the thinness of the skin on top of the foot and the difficulty of preventing infection. Here we are nearly three months since the accident and my foot is just about healed! I can finally wear real shoes instead of slippers.

Have you ever experienced a slow healing wound? Perhaps it was physical like mine. Those wounds are painful ...

“Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up.

The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: ‘I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I’ll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!’

The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on its way to the ocean. ‘I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I’ll be the strongest ship in the world.’

The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. ‘I don’t want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall ...