And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28, NKJV) I grew up in the small town of Bakersville, North Carolina. I would call it Mayberry, but Mayberry looks bigger on television. Nationally speaking, Bakersville’s claim to fame is that it lies at the foot of the North Carolina side of Roan Mountain, a well-known tourist site. And what is it that makes tourists want to come see Roan Mountain? Rhododendrons. The mountain is home to the largest display of blooming rhododendrons in the world, and the disp ..read more

When I think of physical beauty in women, I think of the Bible’s Esther. She won a national beauty contest and became the Queen of Medo-Persia, the most powerful empire of that day (Esther 2:1-18). Working from that position she became the vessel through which God kept Haman (an Old Testament version of Adolf Hitler) from wiping out the entire Jewish race. Do you know what that shows? It shows that God can use physical beauty to accomplish His work. Unfortunately, Satan can use it to accomplish his work too, right? Every pornographic film, dirty magazine, scantily clad model, and “sex object ..read more

Memorial Day in America has long been called “the unofficial beginning of summer.” With that in mind, I’d like to talk to you about the “summer slump” most churches experience in regards to attendance in June, July, and August. I doubt there is a pastor alive who doesn’t have to deal with this issue at least to some degree. Vacations, family reunions, camps, travel ball, etc. all take their toll on church attendance this time of year despite the fact that pastors try everything to keep folks coming. We’ll start a series on marriage or prophecy, two subjects which are always popular. Some pasto ..read more

When it comes to carrying a good attitude into a class (including the class of prayer), nothing will help you more than seeing the value of the class. In my last post, I told you about a French class I took in high school. Now let me tell you about another class from my days of academia. In college my major required me to take an introductory class into the application of computers. At that time, computers were just on the brink of taking over the world, and my college was wise to mandate a basic class in how to use them. But to a young man who was still equating the electronic typewriter with ..read more

In Luke 11:1, we read: Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” (N.K.J.V.) Let me draw your attention to three things from this verse. First, it was after Jesus had finished praying that His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” Obviously, there was something uncommonly different about Christ’s prayer life. The disciples knew they didn’t pray as effectively and as powerfully as He did. Has anyone ever heard you pra ..read more

Suppose a man marries a woman, but after sleeping with her, he turns against her and publicly accuses her of shameful conduct, saying, “When I married this woman, I discovered she was not a virgin.” Then the woman’s father and mother must bring the proof of her virginity to the elders as they hold court at the town gate. Her father must say to them, “I gave my daughter to this man to be his wife, and now he has turned against her. He has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ But here is the proof of my daughter’s virgi ..read more

In March of 2024, the United States Census Bureau released its 2023 county population estimates for North Carolina. Of North Carolina’s 100 counties, 85 of them had either grown in population or at least remained almost identically the same in terms of population since the previous year’s census. The other 15 counties had experienced a loss in population. Guess which list my county, Mitchell, made. As has been the trend for the past several years, we experienced a loss in population (-.03, a decrease of 49 people). By contrast, the counties that surround us experienced gains: Avery (+.01, an i ..read more

Kent Crockett is a Bible teacher who is the President of Making Life Count Ministries. Like many of us, he is old enough to understand what the terms “8mm home movie camera,” “VHS,” and “VCR” mean. In reference to these items, he tells the following story from his past: Years ago my wife and I recorded many of our family highlights using an 8mm home movie camera. We collected years of precious memories in numerous spools of film, which became antiquated after the invention of video cameras. Some friends living in another state offered to combine all our films into one videotape. We gladly acc ..read more

Here’s a piece that was written some time ago by the late Donald E. Wildmon, who at the time was the President of the American Family Association. The piece has been passed around for several years now, and so maybe you’ve read it. If you haven’t, I hope you will find it thought-provoking. Wildmon writes: In 1973 The Supreme Court said it was ok to kill unborn babies. Since then, we have killed more than the entire population of Canada. And it continues. A woman’s choice? Half of those who have died in their mothers’ wombs have been women. They didn’t have a choice. It is called abortion. Me ..read more

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen. (1 John 5:21, N.K.J.V.) The Old Testament’s history of Israel is dominated by the Jews committing the sin of idolatry. Even though the first two commandments of Israel’s law prohibited idolatry, the Jews still succumbed with shocking frequency to the worship of false gods. These false gods were the gods of the inhabitants of Canaan, the people the Jews were supposed to have eradicated from the land before taking possession of it. The fact that the Jews didn’t do a thorough enough job in regards to that assignment set them up for centuries of ..read more