Ecclesiastes 12:10

    P.T Barnum had a problem. People were hanging around too long at his American Museum. Wanting to move more people out so he could move more in, he posted signs pointing "This Way to the Egress”.   Patrons unsure what that was but fascinated by Barnum’s unusual and varied attractions would follow the sign until they reached a door that said: “Here is the Egress”. After walking through, they were shocked to learn they had just left the building. They didn't know "egress" meant "exit"   Word matters. They have meaning. Mark Twain once said, “ The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter. ’Tis the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning .”   There are words used that we sometimes think we know what they mean, but in reality, we might not be as sure of them as we think. In the religious world, people will co-opt certain phrases and twist them into meaning something the Bible doesn’t. Words li...

    Author Herman Rosenblat wrote a heartbreaking book called The Angel at the Fence about a girl , who would become his future wife, lovingly tossing apples to him over a fence at his concentration camp. Oprah Winfrey described it as the single greatest love story she heard in over 22 years of hosting her show. The only problem was that it wasn’t true. The story was fabricated and historically impossible.    Yet that did not deter him much.  Rosenblat would later say, "It wasn't a lie. Even now, I believe it, that she was there and she threw the apples to me. In my imagination, it was true."      Unfortunately, this ability to choose fiction over fact is not an unusual phenomenon. Scripture tells us man has “ exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator ” (Romans 1:25).  The world today is full of created religions and man-made plans of salvation. Even with the truth of the word of God...

  Towards the end of the nineteenth century, men of learning argued whether or not some diseases were caused by the microscopically small creatures known as “bacteria.” The champion of the bacteriologists was Robert Koch, and that of the skeptics was Max Joseph von Pettenkofer.   To prove his point, Koch sent Petternkofer a tube that swarmed with virulent microbes that were said to be the cause of cholera.  Pettenkofer—to the great alarm of microbe hunters—swallowed the entire contents of the tube. Then he said, “Now let us see if I get cholera!”  Now there were supposedly enough cholera germs in this tube to infect a regiment but Max Joseph never got sick. Thus, he proved forever the mistaken notion that bacteria could cause infection.     Expect he was completely wrong. The failure of the Pettenkofer to come down with cholera remains to this day an enigma, maybe the vial was not tainted as thought, maybe he just got lucky but one thing is for s...

  Robert Quillen once said “Your character is built by what you stand for – your reputation by what you fall for”   The things we believe are important but the things we don’t believe are just as important.   Over and over in the Bible, we are warned “ Do not be deceived ”. Just because someone or something says something is true doesn’t mean it is. We have a responsibility to not only believe the truth but to make sure what we believe is the truth.   In our world, today there is much concern about limiting false news. Yet one part of that equation that is often not discussed is the responsibility of verifying what we are told. If I tell a lie not knowing it is a lie, I’m still accountable for the lie.  I must be careful about what I say and what I resay from others If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. James 1:26    I hate for someone not ...

  On a slow news day in December of 1917, H.L. Mencken decided to write a tongue-in-cheek ‘history’ of the bathtub for his column in the New York Daily Mail. It was intended as a satire piece that he described as “a tissue of absurdities, all of them deliberate and most of them obvious”. The tale made the bathtub a misunderstood contrivance that was derided by critics that called it elitist and dangerous.   It was vilified, over-taxed, and banned until President Filmore put one in the White House did people began to realize they were not so bad after all.  Mencken thought the tale might amuse readers during the dreary days of World War I.   Until people started to quote it as fact.     As Mencken would later right in an article explaining how the joke got out of hand, “ Pretty soon I began to encounter my preposterous ‘facts’ in the writings of other men. . . . They got into learned journals. They were alluded to on the floor of Congress. They...

     There was a big-time businessman who talked fast, thought fast, and made his choices fast. So, when it came time for him to hire an accountant, he didn’t want a long process. He had the top three candidates come to his office for a one-question interview. As each man came in, he simply asked them “What does two plus two equal?”. Well, the first man had previously worked for a science company so he was very exact in his answer “Two plus two equal 4.00000”. The second man whose earlier work was in banking answered, “Two plus two will double the sum to four “. Now the third fellow had worked for the government in the budget office, so when he was asked the same question, he turned his head looked to the left then to the right, and said” Well, how much do you want them to equal?   Some people are willing to make their answers whatever the one asking the questions wants to hear.   In 2 nd Timothy 4:3-4, we read, “ For the time will come when they will not e...

      Charles Ponzi became known in the early 1920s as a swindler for his money-making scheme. Although he didn’t invent the scheme of paying earlier investors using the investments of later investors, it still bears his name. These ‘Ponzi’ have been duplicated by swindlers like Bernie Madoff and Enron. Ponzi's original scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his "investors" $20 million at the time or about $250 million in today's dollars.     But that might not be the most audacious way he made money.   When a Boston financial writer suggested there was no way Ponzi could legally deliver such high returns in a short period of time, Ponzi sued for libel and won $500,000 in damages. While everything that the writer said was eventually proven true, the laws at the time put the burden of proof on the writer and it was still considered libel.   Truth hurts, even sometimes the one delivering it. “So have I become your enemy by tellin...

  It’s one of those traditions we have seen for years, a bride and groom leaving their wedding in a shower of rice. Only we don’t do that anymore.   It's bubbles or confetti or a host of other things but not rice. Why not?     So birds won’t explode.   The story goes that baby birds eat the rice, it swells up in their stomach and those poor avian are left to die a horrible death.   It’s everywhere. Ann Landers wrote a column about, it been on TV shows and state legislatures have passed laws banning rice at weddings   Only that story isn’t true. Ornithologist having been saying so for years, rice doesn’t kill birds. Rice doesn’t swell up any more than anything else birds eat. Birds consume wild rice all the time and suffer no grotesque effects.     So why does everyone think it does.   I’d like to think some church janitor came up with the rumor after having to sweep up the mess one too many times, but we don’t know w...

   Samaria was under siege. The city was cut off from resupply. Prices for fuel and food skyrocketed. Things that would not be considered food became meals, even children (2 nd Kings 6:24-29).   It seemed all hope was lost.   Yet God had a plan. The army that threatened would be gone. Food would be cheap. However, nobody could see how that would happen.   The promise was there, even if the people in the city couldn’t see it.   Yet there were four men in even a worse spot. Lepers trapped out of the city but trapped by the invading army. With nothing to lose they stumble into the enemy camp expecting death but finding it empty. No soldiers but plenty of food, supplies, and bounty. At first, that grab all they can, reveling in the great gain they have discovered. But then they come to a realization.   Then they said to one another, "We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, but we are keeping silent; if we wait until morning lig...

  On May 11, 1846, President James K. Polk stood before Congress and declared that Mexico posed an immediate threat to the United States. Foreign troops, he said, had crossed the border and “shed American blood upon the American soil.” So Congress declared war on Mexico.    The next year a new congressman from Illinois began to question his claims. He challenged the president to show him the spot on U.S. soil where American blood had been shed. This ‘spot resolution’ was labeled by Polk as treasonous. The congressman said that we would gladly take back his statement if the President could “answer with facts and not with arguments”.  He never did.  The issue stalled out however with the war nearing a close and folks more concerned about the territory gained than the reason the conflict started. For the young congressman, the issue stunted his career. One of his constituents branded him "the Benedict Arnold of our district," and he was denied renominati...

  Before we all had phones to distract us, if you were bored had something to write on and a friend you might have played a game of Hangman. It was a word game where you had to guess a word or phrase letter by letter. Each time you picked the wrong one, a little stickman had a body part added to the gallows. If you didn’t figure out the answer before the man was assembled, he’d swing from the rope.     Recently I read a post that suggests building a snowman instead. You see the act of hanging a man was deemed too violent with too many racial undertones. So instead you assembly a snowman piece by piece. Not only was it less gruesome, it also had the benefit of having more steps and made the game less trying for children. If you lost it was not a tragedy, you made a nice little friend.     I guess we have all the other problems in the world solved so we had to get onto fixing Hangman.   Isn’t it funny how much we want everything in the wor...

   When Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492, people were fearful that he would just sail right off the Earth. But Chris proved them all wrong by discovering the new world and convincing everyone that the world was indeed round. At least that is the story.   But that is all it is a story.   More specifically it is a story written by Washington Irving. Irving’s most famous stories might be Rip Van Winkle or The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but his most enduring one might have been his 1828 history book about  Columbus. In the first chapter, Irving described a dramatic confrontation in which Columbus sought to win over a gathering of disbelieving Spanish scholars who argued that the world was flat.    Only that isn’t what happened. The truth is that Aristotle proved the earth was round two thousand years earlier by pointing out the curved shadow it casts on the moon. By Columbus's time, virtually all learned people took that ...

  Thomas Edison was a pioneer in electricity with his perfection of the light bulb but by 1887, his company that was attempting to light cites everywhere was struggling. The problem was in how the electricity was delivered. The truth was his direct current (DC) was not near as cost-effective as his bitter rival George Westinghouse’s alternate current (AC). Edison felt his current was the safer choice even if it wasn’t as cheap.   So when the state of New York came calling with a desire to buy up a generator, you might be shocked when Edison recommended his rival’s technology. He even recommended the new use be called “Westinhoused”   Why?   Because the new use was to kill. The generator was for the first electric chair.  Edison believed that DC current was dangerous and what better what to show that to the world than having it kill a man. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome med...

  In recent years, there has been a shift into a postmodern mindset that disallows any absolute truth.  Everything is relative and what is ‘right’ for one person may not be ‘right’ for others.  Feeling have as much substance as facts.   You may have also noticed how now it seems everything must be argued about. Any statement, any choice is subject to scrutiny to the nth degree. One would think that a more ‘flexible’ world that accepts all points of view equally would be much more tolerant.   However, real life doesn’t work that way.  Since no one can hold to facts, the currency of debate is about who cares the most. To be on top one must be fully committed to an insane emotional degree.  It might not make much sense what you believe but if you believe it enough, it is ‘right’.  So the worst thing you can do is to give over to the temptation to even listen to someone else's point of view.  Opposition is to be crushed, lest it li...

  If you ask most people about Napoleon Bonaparte and they will tells you two things. He was a French general and he was short.   Any movie, show, or cartoon that has Napoleon in it is real big on pointing out he was rather diminutive.  We even have the so called “Napoleon Complex” named after him, describing men who have an inferiority complex because of their height.  It seems his height was a defining characteristic of the “little corporal”.    Expect he wasn’t all that short.   The myth that he was short stems primarily from the fact that he is listed as 5 feet 2 inches tall at the time of his death.  However, this is 5 feet 2 inches in French units.  In modern international units, he was just shy of 5 feet 7 inches.  At the time in France, the average height for an adult male was about 5 feet 5 inches in modern international units.  So in fact, he was quite tall for his day.   His nickname Little Corpor...

   They say you should never watch a legal drama with a lawyer or medical show with a doctor; they just can’t get over all the little things that are wrong.  I guess you can say the same thing about a preacher.  I’m probably insufferable to be around when people talk the Bible and religion in public forums.  If it is movies about the Bible or TV shows referencing scripture, it always amazes me how many details they get wrong.  It isn't just the media that does it.  Sometimes it is people that are attempting to preach and teach. The “pastor” in a funeral that called Lazarus Jesus’ cousin. The devotional message that referenced the blind man Jesus healed on the way to the cross.  The Bible verse that isn't a Bible verse (God helps those that help themselves?). When they says “it says in the Bible” when it never comes close to saying that.       I’ll be the first to say (and show) that sometimes speakers misspeak.  W...

   It happened again.  Some news story came out about a ( Pick One, Celebrity Death, New Law, Hollywood Scandal, Wonder Drug, New Research, Shocking Story ) that spreads like wild fire until someone bothers to check the facts and see that it wasn't true.  It is now getting to the point that any story I see on Facebook, Twitter, news sites, or the like, I instantly think the opposite is true.  It seems the media is so eager to be first with a story they never bother to check if the story is true.  If it is sensational enough or shocking enough why bother if it is true enough?  Now before we get to quick to blame them let’s remember who is forwarding and reposting all those stories!  I admit I am little  upset and worried at how quickly so many people are to buying into the half-truths and gossip in our world today. Without batting an eye, we will give our acceptance to things that are not so.      Now we all will ge...

As John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence .”  In our world today, we hear a lot of opinions and thought on many subjects without a lot of facts.  But what is the truth on those matters?  Jesus told us that God’s word is truth (John 17:17).  With that in mind here are a few facts to consider: We can't become more Godly by becoming more worldly. James 4:4 The amount of your faith will not save you if your faith is wrong person.  John 14:6 You will be persecuted if you do the right thing. 2 nd Timothy 3:12 What you say matters even if you don’t “mean it” Matthew 12:36 Those that are engaging in sin will not go to heaven. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Baptism is an essential part of salvation. Mark 16:16; 1 st Peter 3:21 We are not saved by faith alone James 2:24 Most people won’t go to heaven....

    In his book “ How Do You Kill 11 Million People?”  , author Andy Andrews asked that question about the Holocaust that occurred in Nazi Germany. It was not asked about why that it happened but rather how it occurred. He asks the question this way: “ Why, for month after month and year after year, did millions of intelligent human beings –guarded by relatively few Nazi soldiers– willingly load their families into cattle cars to be transported by rail to one of the many death camps scattered across Europe? How can a condemned group of people headed for a gas chamber be compelled to act in a docile manner? ”   The answer was surprisingly simple. In short, they lied to them. And, sadly, they believed it.  The Jews were told it was for their protection.  First, as barbed-wire fences were erected, encircling entire neighborhoods, leaders assured them that the physical restrictions being placed upon their community were only temporary necessities of war...

Crazy hypothetical: Swallowing the Blarney stone* What if you had the power to convince anyone to do anything with the power of your words?  Whatever you tell someone they will blindly follow without any of their own thinking.  So anything you said will greatly affect the people around you.  Any fact you tell them they will accept as truth, any command you give will be followed.  You then will then be held responsible for anything that comes from what you tell people.  How would this change how you speak? *Crazy Hypothetical is a mental game that gives you a conditional choice that gets you thinking about a subject. I used these for several years as discussion starters in Bible class. This is a good way to think about the power of the tongue