Hello friends. As news around the world are becoming more violent and dangerous, it reminds me of the book of Judges in the Bible. If you have never read this book, please read it. It’ll give you a heads up about humanity since history repeats itself. Here is an overview summary of the book of Judges: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/judges/

Whenever I am anxious and stressed, I tend to read and study the Bible. I enjoy learning about the backstories of the characters and the historical context of Bible times. I am a high strung person and so I study the Bible A LOT. It’s been my safe, hiding place in the last 13 years. As I study the Bible, there are many concepts and theology that I wrestled with and still do. But I have decided that the Bible is the Word of God for humanity. It also helps to remind myself that my brain only weighs 8 pounds. There is only so much that I can understand with my great limitations – imagine an ant 🐜 trying to understand the rainforest! 

I have decided that I am not letting go of this belief that the Bible is the Word of God. I’m 52 today and so I have maybe another 30 years or so to stand firm on this. Help me Jesus. 🙏 The reason why I am so firm about this is because of my failure to make this absolute in my mind in my 20s. I wish my college church prepared me for this pop test coming up for all believers on this. In my first corporate job after graduating college, due to overcrowding I had to share a cubicle with my immediate supervisor. He was a very smart, articulate, good-looking and caring person. In the three months we shared the cubicle, we became friends and as friends our conversations led to many topics including religion and the afterlife. He believed in a form of new age/mysticism/universalism religion (I forget the name of it) and he poked great holes in my belief system in the Bible and Christianity. He was a much better debater and logical philosopher. My faith was crumbling daily, and as I was thinking about visiting my college church one weekend to reestablish myself in the faith, I heard news that my college church was splitting up due to division in leadership. That was the last straw. I left the body of Christ, the Church. (This is the reason why I really do my very best to keep the unity within the church community. Many young people need older believers to keep the unity despite our differences.)

I’m sharing my story with you because I don’t want you to make the same mistake that I made. There will come a time when you will be challenged to believe whether or not the Bible is the Word of God. Before this test comes up, you must decide how you will answer the multiple choice question – yes or no. For me, I was not prepared and so I failed the pop test. I didn’t choose no, I just left the testing room. 

This test also came to Billy Graham as a young man but he passed it on the first round. For him, Satan used a very close ministry friend. What surprised me greatly when I read Billy Graham’s autobiography, “Just As I Am” is that his close friend’s belief about the Bible was challenged by the professors in Princeton Theological Seminary where he was a student! I was shocked to learn that. I just assumed that all seminary professors believed that the Bible is the Word of God and taught from that foundational belief. Billy Graham was enrolled in a different and less well known seminary school in Florida that believed the Bible is the Word of God. I am so glad Billy Graham passed the test when he was challenged by his close friend. I pray that Princeton Theological Seminary’s professors no longer put doubts into their students about the Bible as the Word of God. 🙏

Here is a very brief summary on what happened to Billy Graham and his close friend who challenged him. But if you can, please read Billy Graham’s autobiography. He shared so much history in his book too. He lived through the Great Depression, WWII and the civil rights movement in America. It was fascinating to read his experiences and perspectives. https://harvest.org/resources/gregs-blog/post/billy-graham-how-one-moment-of-doubt-solidified-his-commitment-to-god/

If there’s anyone in here who is taking this faith test right now, please reach out to me for prayer. 🙏 I really want to help you pass this test. Just like in real school, if you fail a test, you will get another chance to take the test again and again and again until you pass. God is like a good educator who really wants you to pass your test so that you can move forward. You can reach me at:

estherprayergroup2016@gmail.com

By the way, if you are a gifted debater who can keep a cool head under pressure, then please study the field of Christian apologetics. We need more people like you to learn and go out to the world especially in education and business marketplace. I realized that I’m too much of a hothead to be a debater. Here are a few good apologists that I learned from if you want to check out their books or speaking engagements on YouTube:

Ravi Zacharias, Nabeel Qureshi, Lee Strobel, Vince and Jo Vitale, Ray Comfort, Ken Ham

I recently learned that Pastor John Bevere has a new podcast to help prepare Christians to not abandon their faith. Please subscribe to his podcast. It’s all free on Apple Podcast App. I’m sure it’s on Spotify too. https://youtu.be/8h64Edr_o44

I have always loved Snoopy. I notice that Snoopy is super popular these days. I found this T-shirt recently and had to buy it. Oftentimes I feel like this Snoopy who wants to get Christians to the other side of safety in their faith journey. Like Snoopy I don’t bite and I’m harmless. If you have any questions about the Bible or you are wrestling with a certain topic, please reach out to me. I’ve probably wrestled through it already or I can give you guidance on Bible teachers who wrestled through it and wrote about it. 

If anyone is interested, I found another ministry that offers FREE resource for Bible study. This new one is teaching the book of Revelation. I believe it’s really important for all Christians to study the book of Revelation. If you have any questions about this book, please reach out to me. I studied it extensively during the pandemic lockdown. It helped me get through it.

https://courses.dts.edu/courses/revelation

If you are an animal lover, I think you’ll really enjoy a devotional called “All of God’s Creatures”. It’s not free but for a small price you can purchase their devotional book. I’m sure children and teenagers would love these stories too. https://www.shopguideposts.org/all-gods-creatures-daily-devotions-2025.html

Here’s an example of the type of short devotional that you will read. https://guideposts.org/angels-and-miracles/miracles/gods-grace/all-gods-creatures/

Praise the Lord Jesus for what’s he is doing in Paris! Please download CBN app and read their news report from Christian perspectives. You won’t find uplifting Christian news like this elsewhere. https://www2.cbn.com/news/cwn/games-paris-golden-opportunity-evangelistic-outreach

Soon we will start praying weekly for our children’s colleges again. Please read this newsletter by Every Campus ministry to get inspired back into your prayer position. Please sign up to pray for your child’s or nearby university. 

https://mailchi.mp/everycampus.us/july-update-2024?e=7253215692

“Never forget, Nothing is more powerful than prayer, Nothing is stronger than faith, and Nothing is greater than God.” – Corrie ten Boom 

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Theodore Roosevelt