In the old days, an atheist might present his atheism as a better alternative to belief; he might even mourn the loss of meaning in life by his rejection of God but claim it to be an honest conclusion. The new atheist, as exemplified by Dr. Richard Dawkins, turns the tables against the believer. The believer is the one who is to be feared. Atheism is needed to calm the God-intoxicated wars and hatred of society (we presume not the kind of atheism purported by China's Mao or Russia's Stalin). Children need to be protected from religious parents. Dawkins calls the religious training of children a "form of child abuse." Believers need to be shunned as stupid and dangerous. We who believe need to prepare ourselves and our children for this kind of attack. It is not around the corner; it is now. Note: information taken from editorial in Friday's "Wall Street Journal."

In a great essay on the current path of fundamentalists, the editor of Straightway magazine, Dr. H.T. Spence, makes this greatly enlightening statement : "Though Fundamentalism has endeavored to be strong historically in ecclesiastical separation, one of its great weaknesses from its beginning has been its lack of personal separation." This can be found in the June-July 2005 issue of the magazine in an article entitled "Ask for the Old Paths."

As Bible believers, we are tired of hearing the liberals say that the King James Bible is archaic and is no longer relevant. Yet I would like to encourage Bible believers to ask themselves if they could be part of the reason for this problem.

This chapter is called

Paul has already condemned the Gentiles for their wickedness in the first chapter of Romans. Here, he blasts the Jews because of their pride and false sense of righteousness. They are absolutely confident of their special position with God, but their confidence is in themselves and not in God.

In this chapter, the temple is nearing completion (compare Ezra 6:15 with Zechariah 7:1). Two men are sent to the house of God to pray and seek God

In this chapter, Isaiah describes difficult times in the history of God

The history of Israel demonstrates that they were often a people of doubt and rebellion against God. But that is also the history of all of God

In this passage, David takes up an offering for building of the temple. He uses the youth of Solomon, the greatness of the project, and his own example of giving as incentives for the people to give freely. The people respond and bring a generous offering for which David blesses the Lord before the entire congregation.

The Lord promises that He will restore the scattered Israelites to the land of promise when they repent and return to Him. Continued possession of the land is based on obedience to the commandments of God. This day the Israelites have a choice to make between blessing and cursing; between life and death. God pleads with them to choose life.