The end is near. Are you ready? Will you be found in obedience when the Master returns? Are you holy, set apart from the ways of the world? Does the whole of your life belong the Lord alone? Will ישוע (Jesus) the King recognize you as His servant? Time is short. Now is the time to make your chosen allegiance clear for all time.

Please pray for Dan, my friend and brother in the Lord. He suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, and he recently experienced the worst attack of his life. It has had some severe effects that greatly affect the quality of his life and that of his family. The doctors have said that there is little to nothing that they can do at this point, but we do not place our faith in doctors. Please pray for the Lord to intervene and restore Dan to full strength. If you know any other prayer warriors or groups, please pass this request along to them. Praise God for the healing He is working in Dan's life!

Phrases like "family values" and "focus on the family" have become platitudes (or worse, epithets), but there is something behind them. The family is, in many ways, a petri dish for growing disciples. At the risk of mixing my metaphors, I propose the following recipe:

• Start with a husband and wife.

• Add a child.
• Apply heat.
• When mixture boils over, add Holy Spirit to bring back to a simmer.
• Add children to taste.
• Stir constantly.

After a generation or so, voila! Disciples! (And I'm not talking about just the children, either.)

I was going to post about this, but Chuck Colson beat me to it. You can read his commentary here.

In the Olivet Discourse, recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, the Lord prophecied about the signs that will mark the beginning of the last days. One of those signs is widespread famine:

⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Matthew 24:7-8 (NKJV) » read more »

A passage from Deuteronomy recently struck me: » read more »

You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.
Deuteronomy 8:5 (NKJV) » read more »

What is a Christian? Is it anyone who claims the title, attends such a labeled church, or lives in the West? Of course not! But what does it take to be known legitimately as Christian? Why is this important? In one particular way, it is very important. Churches, ministries, and individuals often identify themselves as Christian but fail every Biblical hallmark—these are false believers. In short, these are wolves in sheep's clothing, surely more dangerous to believers than wolves openly known as such. » read more »

I received a forwarded message sent by a self-anointed Messianic rabbi. Here is a portion of it referring to an expensive conference he is commanding his yeshiva's students to attend. » read more »

I recently saw an episode of “House, M.D.” Entitled “Fidelity.” In this episode, the patient was the wife of a married couple, each of whom was very dedicated to, and clearly in love with, the other. As it happened, the diagnosis of the wife's ailment depended upon whether she or the husband had ever had sex outside of their marriage. In a minor subplot, Wilson, a doctor on the show who was married at the time, had been seen having lunch with a nurse from his department. During the course of the show, three characters—the husband, the wife, and Wilson—were confronted about whether they had committed adultery. In all three cases, the response was a variation of: "Of course, not; I love my wife/husband." This is a typical, almost cliche, response in mainstream American culture. However, the more I considered it, the more I realized that it is wanting. In fact, it encapsulates and reflects a core problem with the institution of marriage in modern America. » read more »