IT'S GRADUAL

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable..." - Martin Luther 

It's Gradual

To cut down a tree, you you do it, one strike after another. Each strike in themselves won't bring down the tree, but you cut the tree without each individual strike. Being transformed, is a gradual process of one step today, and another strike tomorrow and before long you're a completely different person - good or bad - be patient.

One of the most dramatic examples of the Bible's divine ability to transform men and women involved the famous mutiny on the "Bounty." Following their rebellion against the notorious Captain Bligh, nine mutineers...found their way to Pitcairn Island, a tiny dot in the South Pacific...Ten years later, drinking and fighting had left only one man alive - John Adams. Eleven women and 23 children made up the rest of the Island's population...But the rest of the story is even more remarkable. About this time, Adams came across the "Bounty's" Bible in the bottom of an old chest. He began to read it, and the divine power of God's Word reached into the heart of that hardened murderer...and changed his life forever...He began to teach the children from the Bible until every person on the island

BENEFIT OF INSUFFICIENCE

"Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises." - Samuel Butler 

BOI

The common excuse as to why we aren't succeeding, is that of how much we lack: many of us cite 'lack' as a major hindrance, but I beg to differ.

Noted Bible teacher E. Schuyler English told of Michael Billester, a Bible distributor who visited a small hamlet in Poland shortly before World War II. Billester gave a Bible to a villager, who was converted by reading it. The new believer then passed the Book on to others. The cycle of conversions and sharing continued until 200 people had become believers through that one Bible. When Billester returned in 1940, this group of Christians met together for a worship service in which he was to preach the Word. He normally asked for testimonies, but this time he suggested that several in the audience recite verses of Scripture. One man stood and said, "Perhaps we have misunderstood. Did you mean verses or chapters?" These villagers had not memorized a few select verses of the Bible but whole chapters and books. Thirteen people knew Matthew, Luke, and half of

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

"One rare and exceptional deed is worth far more than a thousand commonplace ones." - Saint Ignatius

In Christianity, you are either hot or your cold. You're either black or white. There are no shades of grey, else you'll become a casualty. As a child of God, how much exceptional deed are you doing that shows your allegiance? Are you a serious, die-hard, committed Christian or you're a laid back, seasonal church -goer?

Jack Kuhatschek, in Taking The Guesswork Out of Applying The Bible narrates the following story. While studying in the Holy Lands, a seminary professor of mine met a man who claimed to have memorized the Old Testament - in Hebrew! Needless to say, the astonished professor asked for a demonstration. A few days later they sat together in the man's home. "Where shall we begin?" asked the man. "Psalm 1," replied my professor, who was an avid student of the Psalms. Beginning with Psalm 1:1, the man began to recite from memory, while my professor followed along in his Hebrew Bible. For two hours the man continued word for word without a mistake as the professor sat in stunned silence. When the demonstration was over, my

YOU DIDN'T LOSE ALL

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough." - Og Mandino 

YDLA

Many times in life we go through issues, and we assume that we have been so badly dealt with, that life has left us, in the boxing ring bereft of anything useful. Usually, at such times most people give up on life because it seems as if nothing's left on which to hope, or survive.

A man in Kansas City was severely injured in an explosion. Evangelist Robert L. Sumner tells about him in his book 'The Wonders of the Word of God.' The victim's face was badly disfigured, and he lost his eyes as well as both hands. He was just a new Christian, and one of his greatest disappointments was that he could no longer read the Bible. Then he heard about a lady in England who read braille with her lips. Hoping to do the same, he sent for some books of the Bible in braille. Much to his dismay, however, he discovered that the nerve endings in his lips had been destroyed by the explosion. One day, as

THE BIBLE X

"The Christian's Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same, but the medical practice changes." - Mark Twain

A theological student whom later I knew as a senior friend had committed himself to starting his ministry in the north of England when he received a very attractive invitation to join a teaching institution in South Wales instead. He did not feel able to withdraw from his commitments, but one day he read in Isaiah 43:6 (Authorized Version), "I will say to the north, Give up", and concluded that this was God telling him that he would be providentially released from his promise and so set free to accept the second invitation. No such thing happened, however, so he went north after all wondering what had gone wrong. Then he reread Isaiah 43:6 and noticed that it continued, "...and to the south, Do not withhold." At this point it dawned on him that he had been finding meaning in the text that was never really there. Instead, the concerns which he brought to his reading of the text had governed his interpretation of it.

At the height of her fame, Marla Maples spoke of her religious roots. She believed in the Bible, she told interviewers, then added the disclaimer, "but you can't always take [it]