What about this one? “Man has no advantage over the animal.” Anyone who knows their Bible knows they are both wrong. The destiny of those born-again, the sheep, is with the Lord; that of the goats—eternal destruction. And unlike the animals, mankind is made in the image of God. So both statements are false. But both are in the Bible! […]
One thousand women has the flavor of fiction. Even Casanova is only credited with 120. Many believe the size of King Solomon’s harem is posthumous, political spin. But the Bible is true. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines . . . (1 Kings 11:3). Solomon was rich with a well-equipped army, and the local […]
My father’s best man divorced his wife. Shocked to the core, my parents whispered the news so we children wouldn’t hear. Divorce was a dirty word. So was “illegitimate”—a child born out of wedlock in the fifties carried the stigma for life. A decade later we—I identified but wasn’t brave enough to join— embraced the hippie movement: long hair, pop […]
Is the BMW in the driveway? The house larger than your neighbors’? Is it finally achieving your fitness goal—losing that weight, running that marathon, climbing that mountain, being selected for that team/job? Prosperity? Or is it, as King Solomon of Israel believed, that the Lord has prospered the nation? The message of the book of Judges in the Bible is […]
Visiting a South African mine in 1969, our guide placed a tapered ingot on a table between us. “This bar weighs 30 pounds. It’s worth US$20,000 (about $650,000 today). If anyone can pick it up, they can have it.” My fingers slipped right off as though the metal was glued to the table. The guide grinned. “It’s slippery as an […]
The Ten Commandments begin: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol.” Pretty stern, but what exactly is an idol? Other gods are things we’ve not made, like the sun, moon, angels or people. An idol is something we’ve made, images or art, sport or entertainment, as long as we worship it. […]
He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. Did he ignore them? No, because he held fast to them in love (1 Kings 11:2). He loved them! Was he infertile? No! He had a son and two daughters. There was another, much greater, problem. Perhaps he had unrecorded children? In those days many sons was a sign of strength […]
King Solomon of Israel was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. It was to prove deadly. Worse still its long shadow still cripples us today. His father, King David, promoted him to the monarchy above his brothers. Barely eighteen, he asked the Lord for wisdom. In a dream, the Lord promised he would establish his throne forever, if […]
Seven hundred, of royal birth? And three hundred concubines? Do the math: he must have had a wedding a week, unless he married them a dozen at a time. It seems so unlikely many commentators have dismissed the figures as political spin. Fake news. But the Bible isn’t fake. Solomon reigned for forty years. According to 1 Kings 14:21, his […]