Islam teaches that on the “last day” (which literally cannot come until Muslims have murdered all Jews on earth) all Muslims whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds will enter Paradise. Following the example of their prophet Muhammad, killing non-Muslims, especially Jews, is among a Muslim’s best deeds. Dying in the process of killing any non-Muslim in jihad is the only assurance of Paradise that Islam offers. This is the tragic lie that motivates suicide bombers in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere to deliberately target defenseless women and children.

A few years ago, I was in a major supermarket and I was shocked by what I heard coming from the store's sound system. “Shocked” doesn't describe my reaction unless you can find abundant joy in the term. What I was hearing were words like these: "I need Thee; O, I need Thee; Every hour I need Thee! O bless me now, my Saviour, I come to Thee."

To my utter delight, that hymn was followed by other ones also glorifying Jesus. Wow! I wouldn't have been surprised to see the fruit and vegetables section "celebrating" His birth. After all, He's their Creator! I spent a good part of the morning that day listening to the hymns that I'm sure I heard dozens of times. But this time I couldn't help but focus on what the spiritual lyrics were teaching.

As you know, hymns, unless they are directly from the Scriptures, are not inspired (God-breathed). Nevertheless, they do teach biblical truth and comfort when they are indeed true to His Word. What the Lord put on my heart for this newsletter is to share with you some of my favorite hymns and I'm sure you'll be blessed by how they glorify our Savior.

November 2024 Newsletter

I recently received a newsletter from a ministry which contained the exhortation: “The Bible says there is a season for everything. This is our season to fight hard—to battle back—to win."

The timeliness of their statement could not have been better fitting with the main point of this TBC article. We without doubt are in the “last days” (possibly even the last hours) battle before Jesus returns. Scripture warns us that Satan knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12) and he's unleashing every wrathful and wicked device he has upon "the inhabiters of the earth."

Therefore, we need every insight we can find in God's Word that sheds light on how we are to "fight the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). In this article, we're featuring a man of God who embodies the qualities sorely needed in the church today. His name is Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah, who wrote most of the Book named after him. He certainly made himself aware of the times, and the Holy Spirit gave him tremendous insights in what the children of Israel ought to do regarding a variety of very difficult conditions.

For example, when Nehemiah first became aware of the dire circumstances "concerning the Jews that had escaped" and were living in Jerusalem, his reaction was: he "sat down and wept... and prayed before the God of heaven…." Furthermore, he humbly confessed "the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned" (Nehemiah 1:2-6).