“I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem…
“I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless. ’Laughter,’ I said, ‘is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?’ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly-my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted …
Recently a new friend discovered us on the Internet. I’m still not sure exactly how he found us, but he did, and he liked what he saw on the KBM website. After two or three emails back and forth, he wrote me this nice note:I am very proud I am part of your team and want to be more active as soon as I find out like membership, ETC. $$$ and I w…
“I thought to myself, ‘Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.’ Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For w…
Today I was interviewed on American Family Radio by Tim Wildmon and Jim Stanley about the church in China. They asked me why the church has grown so dramatically in spite of decades of crushing persecution. The numbers are indeed staggering:1949: 700,000 Christians1974: 2,500,000 Christians1980: 10,000,000 Christians2012: 130,000,000 ChristiansHow …
“What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.” Ecclesiastes 1:15Here are two stories to ponder. One comes from the Civil War, the other from the Vietnam War. In Charles Bracelen Flood’s book Lee: The Last Years, Flood tells of a time after the Civil War when Robert E. Lee visited a woman who took…
“I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Ecclesiastes 1:12-14Over the years I have come…
“There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.” Ecclesiastes 1:11There is good news and bad news in this verse. The good news is for those people who worry about what others think about them. In the end no one will think about you at all. The bad news is for those wh…
“What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.” Ecclesiastes 1:9-10Commentators on Ecclesiastes remark that this early portion of the …
“Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there …