For a presumably enlightened culture, our lives - and schoolbooks - are littered with an astonishing array of beliefs that pose as being scientific, but are actually in contradiction to available evidence. We need to regard many of our cherished myths with cautious skepticism and not allow conjectures to masquerade as proven facts.

In the last article, we began an exploration of the four essential steps that God has laid out for us in Scripture in order to deal with our sin, be reconciled with Him and allow His Life to once again flow through us. This is our "readiness to revenge all disobedience" as 2 Corinthians 10:6 exhorts us.

There are twelve "minor" prophets that are yet to be really discovered by most Christians. (They are called "minor" simply because they are smaller - shorter, more terse, and concise.) Yet they contain some of the most fascinating and provocative prophecies you'll find anywhere in the Scriptures. Here's a glimpse of two of them.

Israel and the PLO have been sliding toward full-blown war since September 2000, as the last shreds of the Oslo Peace Process dissolved into an intifada and successive terrorist activities.

For over twenty years we have guided Bible study tours to Israel. There is nothing that compares to a visit to the Holy Land. As my daughter once remarked, "It turns your black-and-white Bible into living color."

I have come here to voice what I believe is an urgently needed reminder: that the war on terror can be won with clarity and courage, or lost with confusion and vacillation.

How does one go about giving things to God? It's so easy to say with our words, "Oh, just give it to God." Well, how exactly does one do that in action?

Do heavenly bodies have any influence over our lives? (Millions of people consult their horoscopes every day. In the U.S. alone, 1220 of the 1750 newspapers carry astrological data.) Is there any relationship between diet and spiritual living? Do the Eastern religions have anything to offer the evangelical Christian?

An internationally recognized war is being fought against terrorism everywhere on earth, except in one place. Here, one rationale after another is found for "evenhandedness" while Israelis are murdered in a deliberately terrorist, unprovoked and totally unnecessary war.

Incoming! "Kahwump!" Few Americans have connected the collapse of Enron with the collapse of the World Trade Center and with the collapse of Argentina's currency. However, they are all opening salvos in the first war of the 21st century, which may well be recorded as World War III when the dust settles and the dead are tallied.

Over the last two months we have been exploring the four attitudes or predispositions that we must have "on" each day in order to be willing to do God's will on a moment-by-moment basis.

Over the past year and a half, BASE Institute has been involved in painstaking research into Luke's amazingly detailed account of Paul's voyage and shipwreck off the coast of Malta, as recorded in Acts 27.

Several months ago, we began a new series entitled The Key, which explores how we give ourselves or surrender ourselves to the Lord on a moment-by-moment basis. Understanding this principle is an essential foundation block for a blessed walk with the Lord. Maturity in Christ is simply recognizing our self-life and knowing how to give it over to the Lord.

Many of us who have visited Israel regard the visit to the "Garden Tomb" as one of the major highlights of the trip.  It invariably ranks highest on our feedback surveys. The people in charge of the British trust that manages the site always present it as simply "representative," rather than insisting that it is the actual tomb.

The shocking events of the past few months have dramatically impacted every one of us. Across our land we see an almost universal openness and searching for meaning. In reviewing this amazingly changed horizon, I was startled to recall an event that had occurred in the early days of our relocation to Coeur d'Alene.

Last month we explored the recent experiments which appear to have succeeded in the "teleportation" of subatomic particles, suggestive of the "Beam-me-up-Scotty" episodes from the popular Star Trek TV series. These phenomena shatter our traditional conceptions of the material universe and what we perceive as reality.

In 2 Corinthians 3:19 Paul writes, "We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord" Having an open face means being totally committed to allowing God to expose every hidden thing in your heart - for the purpose of being delivered and set free, so that you can show forth Christ.

Recently, we began a new series entitled The Key, which explores what I believe is the most important principle in our Christian walk - how we surrender ourselves to the Lord on a moment-by-moment basis. Over the last several months, I shared my own story of how this basic principle has impacted my life more than anything else. As I mentioned, it has become the "bread and butter" of my Christianity.

The new year is always a perfect time to review our priorities - personal, professional, family, and community - and make a renewed commitment to those things which we determine, with careful deliberation, to be the most fruitful paths toward growth and fulfillment.

"Freedom is under attack" has been the battle cry since 9/11. Freedom is indeed under attack, but our intelligence sources indicate Osama bin Laden is not the chief culprit. The attacks on 9/11 were on America, not freedom. In reality, freedom has long been under attack by those in the West who have sought to destroy the foundations upon which Western thought, culture and law rest.