Last month, we jump-started a new series of articles by asking the question: "Have you ever experienced a time where you became so confused, so discouraged and so disheartened in your Christian walk that you just wanted to let go, give in and give up?"

Thanksgiving is intended to be the most spiritual of our national holidays. It is a time to reassess our situation, ask forgiveness for failures, reestablish our priorities, and to give thanks to God for our heritage - the vision and the commitment of our founders for the liberty and freedoms that have resulted from their commitment and devotion to us, their posterity.

The Hebrew approach to hermeneutics (the theories of interpretation) views four levels of interpretation: 1) Peshat, the literal, direct meaning; 2) Remez, an allegorical significance; a hint of something deeper; 3) Derash, the homiletical, or practical application; and 4) Sod, the mystical or hidden meaning.

We tend to presume linearity in our environment: we assume that tomorrow will be like yesterday; next month like last month, etc. It's understandable and it makes a workable hypothesis for most of the practical priorities we face in life.

October this year includes the Fall Feasts of Israel, which occur in the first 15 days of the month of Tishri. Each of the seven Feasts of Moses commemorate historical events of the nation Israel, but they also have prophetic significance as well.

One of the strangest episodes recorded in the Word of God is King Saul's consulting a witch (after having ostensibly cleansed the land of Israel from this occultic practice). The forthcoming Halloween "holiday" seems like an appropriate time to review the implications of this puzzling tale.

The American nation was built on the vast farmlands that stretch from the Alleghenies to the Rockies, and it was that farmland which produced the wealth that funded American industrialization.

How would you like to embark on the ultimate literary adventure? An excursion that will result in practical, strategic awareness of the entire Bible - a perspective from which you can navigate your own personal adventure that will enrich a lifetime and even more? It's not just a fascinating study; it's a participation that will determine your eternal destiny.

What do you do when your dreams, your plans and your hopes blow up in your face? Who do you blame when everything in the Bible gave you hope, but then, out of the blue, all was destroyed? How do you react when difficult and trying circumstances seem to go on and on and on?

This will be our final article on Private Worship - The Key to Joy. I pray the Lord has used these articles to stimulate you not only to "do your own homework" in the subject of worship, as my Chuck always says, but also to prompt you to begin your own daily time of intimacy with the Lord.

As Bible students, we all are aware of the allusions to the "Kings of the East" in the prophetic scenario:

We have just returned from the most impressive trip we have ever taken: an inside look at Israel's security and their battle against terrorism! Our trip included briefings by top-level leaders from the Shin Bet, the Mossad, and the Israel Defense Force. This was all arranged by Shurat HaDin, the Israel Law Center.

In the not-too-distant future, wars will be fought over natural resources. Last year China consumed nearly half of the world's cement, 2/3 of total world consumption of copper, nearly 1/3 of the world's coal, and 90% of the world's steel (plus huge quantities of nearly every other commodity).

This month and next, we will be wrapping up our series on Private Worship: The Key to Joy. I pray the Lord has used these articles to encourage you and provide you with practical steps to experiencing His joy through worship.

On August 14th, our Jewish friends will observe Tisha B'Av ("The Ninth Day of Av"). This is a special day of mourning, since on this day four tragedies occurred:

The current issue of Scientific American includes an article that details the pursuit by physicists of the nature - and ostensible stability - of the "constants" of our physical reality. The velocity of light, c; the constant of gravitation, G; the mass of the electron, me, etc., all have been assumed to be the same at all places and times in the universe.

Last month, we shared a little about spiritual warfare and its connection to worship. We said that if we are going to learn to worship on a daily (and deeper) basis, then we must be knowledgeable in the art of warfare.

Hal Lindsey called it "the greatest betrayal of Israel committed by any American president in history."

Spiritual warfare? What does this have to do with learning to worship the Lord on an intimate basis?

The dispute over Iran's nuclear program has held a prominent place in the news in recent months - and for good reason. It is a considerable threat to our national security and will most likely have disastrous consequences in the Middle East.