Houdini’s Secret, Part One

Erich Weiss was a remarkable man. By the time of his death he was famous around the world. Never heard of him, huh? Maybe this will help. He was born of Hungarian-Jewish parentage at Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1874. He became the highest-paid entertainer of his day. That still doesn’t help much, does it? This will. When he finally got his act together, Weiss adopted a stage name: Harry Houdini . . .

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Can’t . . . or Won’t? Part One

No offense, but some of you don’t have any business reading this today. Normally, I do not restrict my words to any special group of people. But now I must. This time it is for Christians only. Everything I write from now to the end of these readings on excuses is strictly for the believer in Christ. If you’re not there yet, you can skip parts one and two because you lack a major ingredient: the power of God.

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An ”Affair,” Part Two

In Part One, we acknowledged that our society has embraced a subtle lie about affairs, believing that not only is the grass greener on the other side, it’s acceptable to hop the fence. What’s more, believers are just as likely as nonbelievers to do the hopping. But infidelity isn’t an “affair,” remember; it’s adultery. And it’s deadly to a marriage. Robert J. Levin and Alexander Lowen noted three specific ways.

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Does Anyone Care?

ON THAT ICY JANUARY MORNING, in a twenty-five-cent-a-night flophouse, a shell of a man who looked twice his age staggered to the washbasin and fell. The basin toppled and shattered. He was found lying in a heap, unclothed and bleeding from a deep gash in his throat. His forehead was badly bruised, and he was semiconscious.

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Finish Well

We have reached the end of another year and now face a new one. When we stood in this same spot 364 days ago, we looked ahead to what the Lord was going to teach us in the coming year and we anticipated the many ways we were going to see Him at work in our lives.

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Resentment

Leo Held was a paragon of respectability. He was a middle-aged, hard-working lab technician who had worked at the same Pennsylvania paper mill for nineteen years. Having been a Boy Scout leader, an affectionate father, a member of the local fire brigade, and a regular church-goer, he was admired as a model in his community. Until . . .

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The Injustice of Roman Justice

Law is the protector of justice. But when madmen make law, justice becomes perverted. When Paul was arrested, he was brought before a tribunal to determine whether sufficient evidence existed for a formal trial. This “first defense” (4:16) or prima actio included a presentation of the case against Paul, as well as his opportunity to present […]

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Melchizedek as a Type of Christ

Few persons in the Bible are shrouded in more mystery than Melchizedek, king of Salem. After the battle against the five kings in Genesis 14:17, Melchizedek stepped into the narrative as if out of nowhere . . . then vanished again. We know nothing of his ancestry, his family, or his exploits. All we know […]

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Insight

Are you ready for a surprise? You blink twenty-five times every minute. Each blink takes you about one-fifth of a second. Therefore, if you take a ten-hour automobile trip, averaging forty miles per hour, you will drive twenty miles with your eyes closed.

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Stumbling

Nothing damages our dignity like stumbling! I have seen people, dressed to the hilt, stumble and fall flat on their faces as they were walking to church. I have witnessed serious and gifted soloists, stepping up to the pulpit with music in hand, stumble and fall as the sheets of music sailed like maple leaves in an October breeze.

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