By Mary Carothers God is the creator of all things. He alone can design and bring into being something out of nothing. God creates the original. On the other hand, Satan is a created being. As such, he cannot create; he can only counterfeit. In other words, he has to fake it. In I Peter 5:8, the Lord tells us …
Take A Look at Your Orders!
Civilians who are employed on a military base often do the same work as soldiers. But soldiers are a separate class of citizen. The civilian employee can quit. A soldier may dislike the working hours, the pay, the boss, or working conditions, but he must work until his enlistment ends. The civilian employee can leave if a war starts but …
The Beauty of the Beast
By Mary Carothers On a coast-to-coast flight I was reading a Christian novel. The main character was hunting – in order to destroy – a beast that was terrorizing people in a local town. After wounding it, he approached the beast to finish the job. But as he drew near, he found himself drawn to it. He even began to …
Heaven Bound?
I’ve asked thousands of people if they expect to go to Heaven. Some of them have said, “Yes.” My next question is often, “Why do you believe you will go to Heaven? Many times, their answers have been: “Because I try to keep the Ten Commandments.” Or, “I try to live a good life.” Or, “I attend church and try …
Understanding Our Destiny
Pharaoh’s daughter drew Moses out of the river and adopted him as her own. However, while he was very young, she had him stay with his own family. Daily, at his mother’s knee, he must have heard the story of God’s Divine intervention in saving him from death. At a very early age he must have been fully persuaded that …
Have You Heard About…?
Being a busybody (better known as a gossip) and prying into other people’s affairs are listed along with the sins of murder, stealing, and making trouble (see I Peter 4:15 TLB). Christians sometimes fall into the sin of prying into other people’s affairs and then gossiping about them. Apparently, God considers this as serious a sin as stealing or murder! …
Storms
By Mary Carothers Luke 8 tells us about Jesus and His disciples crossing the lake in their boat. While Jesus slept, a storm swept down on them so violently that the boat was being swamped. Verse 23 tells us…they were in great danger. When they woke Jesus, pleading with Him to save them, they were not overreacting. Their fear was …
We Just Can’t Lose
Recently I heard the testimony of a man, a new convert, who was striving to live a godly life, but was wrestling with his ungodly past. He had spent much of his fifty-five years in drinking, swearing and in immorality. Although God had forgiven him, he wrestled with his past. Old profane words kept shoving their way into his mind, …
Eternity
A man traveled thousands of miles to see me and said, “Merlin, I want to tell you how thankful I am that God used you to help me know Jesus as my Savior.” As he shared his heart with me, he broke down in tears of joy. I was greatly blessed by his visit. His visit caused me to meditate …
Little by Little
By Mary Carothers Lot had lived for many years in close relationship with Abraham. Doubtless he had known about Abraham’s relationship with God. Free from the stress of today’s hurried pace, they probably spent many hours talking about God. The New Testament speaks of Lot as a righteous man (see II Peter 2:7,8). We can therefore assume that he instructed …