In this podcast, I talk about two Old Testament prophecies that point to Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. One of them even suggests, that the Messiah will show up in the first century AD.
In this podcast, I ask the question: Did Jesus curse the temple? And if so what impact does this have on end-times prophecy today?
In this podcast, I talk about the importance of healing our rejection wounds.
I was reading an article about a young teen, William Cornick, 15, from England who stabbed his teacher to death in front of his classmates in 2014. The incident shocked people across England. William was doing exceptionally well academically. He seemed like a normal, well-adjusted boy. Police found the family to be loving, caring and involved in William’s life. They could find no reason that would explain the murder of a teacher. I had to read several articles before I discovered a single line, buried at the bottom of an article that said his parents had divorced. Is it possible, this one fact hidden in dozens of pages written on this horrific attack was the reason for this violent murder? In a previous article, Studies reveal the negative impact of divorce on children, I looked at the impact of divorce on children from a report written by Rebecca O’Neill in 2001 for England’s Institute for the Study of Civil Society based in London. O’Neill looked at the vast amount of research on the profound impact absent fathers …
It hasn’t received much press. I guess if there is no blood or gore, most in the media are not that interested. Two churches in La Cruces, New Mexico had bombs explode outside their buildings a half an hour part on Sunday morning, August 2, 2015. With a population of 101,000, La Cruces also called the “City of the Crosses” is the second largest city in New Mexico. The first bomb exploded in the mail box of Calvary Baptist Church at about 8:20 am. The service hadn’t started yet and though there were 30 people inside, no one was injured. The second bomb exploded about a half an hour later at the nearby Holy Cross Catholic Church. This bomb detonated in front of the church’s heavy glass doors shattering the glass as a communion service was underway attended by Monseigneur John Anderson. Dennis Llewellyn who attends Calvary Baptist is a former member of the US Marine’s special forces. He knew immediately it was bomb stating, “it was a real bomb, I saw all the parts,” …
When the magi came to Judah looking for the Messiah, they first dropped in to visit King Herod to find out more information about a new king, who’s star they had seen. After hearing their story, Herod sent them on their way but asked his visitors to drop back to report on their findings. After tracking down Jesus in Bethlehem, God warned the magi through a dream not to return to Herod (Matthew 2:12), so they took a different route home. God spoke to them and by simply obeying this prompting, it provided a very practical way of avoiding danger to both themselves and even Christ from a king who many consider a psychopath. In an interview with NewsChannel 5, the unnamed St. Louis police officer told his story of how the Holy Spirit prompted him to do something and because the officer obeyed he is alive today. During the interview the policeman’s identity was purposefully hidden to avoid retribution on his family as a case is pending in court. On July 14, 2015, the …
On July 31, 2015, temperatures in the city of Bandar Mahshahr, Iran hit a blistering 165F (74C), once you factored in the humid “feels-like” index. The air temperature was (115F) or 46C. In terms of actual temperatures the hottest spot that day was Kuwait City where the temperature reached 118F (48C). Despite the Middle East’s largely desert-like condition, most countries have high humidity due to the Persian Gulf. The heat blast covered several Middle Eastern countries including Iraq, Egypt, Unite Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and even Israel. After 8 days of heat exceeding 120 degrees, the Iraqi government declared a four-day holiday for all employees, no exceptions. In an interview with the New York Post, AccuWeather meteorologist Anthony Sagliani described the unusual heat this way: “That was one of the most incredible temperature observations I have ever seen and it is one of the most extreme readings ever in the world.” The Middle East is not the only regions experiencing extreme heat. In June, a heat wave resulted in 600 people dying in Pakistan. …
[by Dean Smith] The large Hadron Collider, located in Cern, just outside Geneva Switzerland, is 27 kms (15 miles long) and buried 100 meters underground. The machine which has been idle for two years for renovation and repair was just turned on June 2, 2015 with increased capacity. Also called a particle smasher, it now has the potential to send proton beams around its circular track with the force of 13 trillion electron volts (TEV) up from 8 (TEV) two years back. They plan to have it running at maximum power by summer or early fall. It is hoped the Collider will answer many questions about physics. Using super magnets, it sends proton beams containing billions of particles around its track at close to the speed of light with the goal of having them collide with each other. Only a handful of particles in the beams would crash together. When that happens, the physicists believe it will create the mini-energy equivalent of what took place shortly after the Big Bang.
[by Dean Smith] You may have heard the recent announcement by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) that 2014 was the warmest year on record. Though news organizations broadcast the story around the world, the Daily Mail reported there was a bit of fine print and funny math missing from GISS’ news release sent out Friday, January 17th, suggesting all is not what it seems.
[by Dean Smith] For the average person in first century AD, mummy masks used to cover the face of the deceased were made from layers of papyri, glued together and shaped to look like the person’s face. Only the rich and famous could afford the finer plaster masks. And with papyrus being pricey, previously used papyrus was the material of choice. Nothing was sacred. They would use everything from philosophical discussions to letters, business documents and apparently even Biblical texts.
If you ever wander into the Colorado Desert, Northeast of Niland, California, you will come across a strange place called Salvation Mountain. It testifies of one man’s faith, dream and determination. (Click here to view photos of Salvation Mountain.) After accepting Christ in 1967, Leonard Knight (1931 – 2014) had a dream to build a hot air balloon with the message “God is Love” emblazoned in bold red color on the fabric. After failing to raise enough money to buy one, he decided to sew his own. While working as a truck driver in Quartzite, Arizona in 1984, Leonard tried to fly it, but the balloon wouldn’t hold air. Defeated, he was preparing to move on when he decided to stay an extra week and build a small monument to Christ along the banks of a now dried river bed across the border in California. He grabbed a bag of cement, some paint and set to work. This was the beginning of Salvation Mountain and until his death, Leonard never left.
[by Dean Smith] Bacteria wasn’t discovered until 1676, when using a single-lens microscope he had built, Anton van Leeuwenhoek saw the world of microscopic creatures. At the time, some wondered if these invisible creatures could be responsible for disease transmission. This theory was not fully developed until Italian Agostino Bassi conducted a series of tests between 1808 and 1813 that showed these invisible creatures or bacteria were directly responsible for disease. However, centuries earlier when you look at the Old Testament we see an understanding of Leeuwenhoek’s discovery in practice through clean and unclean.
Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6 NKJV) [by Dean Smith] The Book of Proverbs gives a word of encouragement to parents about their children. The Bible tells us if we train a child in the ways of God that this faith and beliefs would continue to influence them well into old age. But notice how it says “when they are old” they won’t depart. In between, we can watch, often with concern, as our children seem to grow cold to their faith and in some ways even back away from it or even fall away. But Bible says the faith developed in their hearts as a child is still there and as they grow older it will begin to reassert itself. Researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey, USA, have discovered a very interesting thing about beliefs. They found that despite what university students were saying openly about God or heaven, the beliefs of these students were very …
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