“Miraculin.” If you haven’t heard of it before, you’ll no doubt hear of it in the future. In fact, you will probably be invited to a “miraculin” party someday. 

“Miraculin” or “miracle fruit” is a small berry that grows on a plant in West Africa that looks like a rhododendron. The technical name is the “Synsephalum dulcificum” plant. It looks somewhat like a cranberry, or when unripe a coffee bean, and has a slightly citrusy taste.  Check out www.miraclefruitplus.com. 

But the “miracle” about this “miracle fruit” is not what it tastes like. The miracle is what it makes everything else taste like.  

Hold the berry in your mouth for thirty seconds, chew it up but keep it on your tongue, and feel a kind of tingle. After swallowing the berry take a big bite of a lemon or lime or grapefruit. Instead of sour, those fruits taste incredibly sweet. For about an hour, which is about how long miraculin lasts, you can turn raw lemons into lemonade with no sugar. Your salami sandwich can taste like Sara Lee.  

Or: Eat a miracle berry then toss down a big shot of vinegar. To your confused taste buds the vinegar tastes as sweet as Mountain Dew.  

Oh, I forgot something. When the vinegar hits your throat it burns all the way down. The glycoprotein molecule called “miraculin” only binds to the tongue’s taste buds, fooling the receptors into identifying acids as “sweet.” Your throat still knows an acid when it feels one. 

Now do you know why these berries, now in capsule form, are the new thing in parties?  

If you bite into a big lemon wedge and instead of puckering you up it floods your mouth with super sweetness, it is not just your tongue that is confused. Your brain doesn’t get it either.

Thought:  Many try to change the various “realities” of life, but there are some facts that all must come to grips with sooner or later.  We are born, we life for a brief time, and then we die (Heb. 9:27).  All will one day be judged for their lives by the everlasting God.  We may not like reality, but the facts are the facts.  Whether you ever try a miraculin berry or not, do not let the true realities of life escape you.

 Speaking some time ago with a 69-year-old woman by phone, I heard a story I will never forget.  Tearfully, she told of a 14-year-old grandson named Matthew who locked himself in his room, took a pistol, put it in his mouth, and pulled the trigger.  He survived, but the bullet was permanently lodged in his sinus cavity leaving him in constant, unmitigated pain.  The greatest pain, however, was not physical.  Matthew’s mother and father routinely flew to Las Vegas to gamble, dumping him off with anyone who was willing to take him.  They might have occasionally “won” a few thousand on some trips, but they invariably lost their winnings and then some.  Not long before Matthew’s tragic decision, his father told him, “I wish I’d never set eyes on you.”  The boy had also told his grandmother, “Nobody loves me.”  He also told her, “I want somebody to take me to church.”  When she offered, he said, “I want my daddy to come and sit beside me.”  The dear grandmother lamented that her grandson’s parents never showed much love and affection.  In the wake of such tragedy, a young man with most of his life before him could not bear the thought of continuing one more day in such a topsy, turvy, loveless circumstance.

My mind was flooded with a variety of impressions and reactions.  My heart went out to the boy.  My anger was directed at the parents.  My sympathy was reserved for the helpless grandmother.  I learned several lessons from this tragedy.

BAD DECISIONS OFTEN CARRY AWFUL CONSEQUENCES.  Every moment of that boys pain reminds him of his poor choice.  How many lives have been rewritten in tragic ways by decisions made suddenly out of lust, anger, passion, and sorrow? 
SIN DESTROYS A PROPER SENSE OF PRIORITIES.  The boy’s father loved money and chance-taking more than the precious, eternal offspring he brought into being.  He had greater joy in losing money than training a child.  They made it clear they loved money and made as painfully clear they did not love their boy.  Jesus died for that boy!

HOMES WITHOUT LOVE CRUMBLE.  What a poor example of a home this was.  “The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand” (cf. Prov. 12:7).  Apparently, there was little or no love in this home.  This reminded us of how much we need to fill our homes with deep, abiding, and unconditional love.

PARENTS HAVE A VITAL ROLE TO PLAY IN THE SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR CHILDREN.  Matthew wanted his daddy sitting next to him “in church.”  Was that too much to ask?  He was hungry for spiritual guidance from his parents.  This boy was obviously lost and in search of direction, but his dad was an improper guide.  Parents, let us be sure to prepare our children for spiritual health and survival.
There are too many young Matthews.  Empty inside.  Unsupported.  Unloved.  Unaided.  Let us “be careful how [we] walk…” (Eph. 5:15) in front of our children.  They may not try to end their physical lives, but we want to be sure they have eternal life!

 Neal Pollard

Doing the will of God 

1)    In Mt. 6:10 the KJV says “thy will be done IN earth.”

2)    The ASV says, Thy will be done, as in heaven, so ON earth.” 

3)    What is God’s will for modern man?

4)    Rom. 12:2 –  “Do not be conformed to this world.”

5)    In 1 Thess. 4:3 Paul said, “this is the will of God.”

a)     Two points are made in 1 Thess. 4:13 – READ

6)    1 Thess. 4:13 says, “abstain from fornication.”

a)     Paul said we do not want to be involved with sexual sin.

b)    We do not want to commit this sin as individuals.

c)     Neither do we want to let our mind accept thinking that tolerates this type of activity.

d)    Eph. 5:17 – READ

7)    The word “foolish” has the sense of “mindless.”

8)    There are people in life who have a “mindless” approach to Christianity.

9)    1 Thess. 5:18.

10)           Paul said it is God’s will that we be thankful people.

11)           God wants us to be grateful in our life no matter what our circumstances.

a)     Based on the preceding passages, God’s will is often NOT done on the earth.

b)    Think of how many people are NOT thankful.

c)     We live in a world of thankless people.

12)           God’s will is not done in the area of wisdom.

13)           People commit the most mindless acts that lead to death, injury, and prison.

a)     God wants people to be holy (Rom. 12:1-2), but think of the ungodliness in the world.

14)           God says pray that His will be done ON earth.

15)           This is so important it is included in what many refer to as the model prayer.

a)     Many have said a better world starts with us.    

16)           Jesus’ life did not change everyone.

17)           Our life is also going to affect others.

18)           We can help God’s will be done on the earth by first doing it in our own life.

a)     Doing God’s will falls into two different categories.

19)           We cannot start to do God’s will unless we become a Christian.

20)           Part of God’s will is becoming one of His people.

21)           Then we must be the best Christian we can possibly be.

GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, “In everything give thanks.” Constructive criticism is OK, but “moaning, groaning, and complaining” are not Christian disciplines. 

GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer, Bible study and personal devotion. 

GIVE UP looking at other people’s worst points. Instead concentrate on their best points. We all have faults. It is a lot easier to have people overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first. 

GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Why not check that sharp tongue at the door? 

GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. “Love covers a multitude of sins.” 

GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about: like tomorrow! Live today and let God’s grace be sufficient. 

GIVE UP TV one evening a week! Instead, visit some lonely or sick person. There are those who are isolated by illness or age. Why isolate yourself in front of the “tube?” Give someone a precious gift: your time! 

GIVE UP buying anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet basic needs. We are called to be stewards of God’s riches, not consumers. 

GIVE UP judging by appearances and by the standard of the world!

–Source unknown

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A couple of years ago, Ralph Williams and I were left in a parked, older model SUV in downtown Chittagong, Bangladesh, while a couple of local Christians and the driver went to get us some luchi frybread and Coca-Colas for breakfast.  It was morning rush hour, and the streets were filled with Muslims including not a few clerics and imams.  I admit that the sight and experience was unsettling.  I have heard the harrowing Muslim calls to prayer in such cities as Banderban, Nairobi, Arusha, and Dar es Salaam, and I cannot agree that it is either comforting or beautiful. 

Many of the world’s trouble spots and areas of conflict center around at least one side adhering to Muslim ideology.  In its fundamental form, Muslims who are true to their book will read encouragement to be violent and oppressive.  For example, Qu’ran (8:12) says, “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”  Later, one reads, “So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them” (Qu’ran 9:5).  Some (see www.religionofpeace.com) say at least 109 verses in the Koran call for Muslims to war against those they regard as infidels (unbelievers).  

This Saturday, September 11, 2010, marks the ninth anniversary of the attack by Muslim terrorists on New York City, Washington, D.C., and another target thwarted in western Pennsylvania.  To mark this infamous date, a community church pastor named Terry Jones is going to burn a few hundred copies of the Koran.  Should we commend this response that has drawn international attention and caused many in Iraq and Afghanistan to burn this man in effigy?  Is that courage and conviction,  and is it that with which our Lord would be pleased?
While I certainly cannot speak for Him, I can look at His Words and follow His example (1 Pet. 2:21; see context).  I can read the writings of His disciples whom the Holy Spirit inspired to record His will and teaching.  I can see how John and Paul dealt with Judaism and proto-gnosticism, two of the most pervasive, troubling, and rival religions of the day.  They attacked and addressed ideas and doctrines, but they did not burn their books or their idols.

While Jesus turned over the money changers table, He did not do so as a member of a different world religion but rather as a practicer of that religion correcting corruptions He saw within it (Matt. 21:12ff).  When books were burned in Acts 19:19, it was done by people who were converted to Christianity and felt convicted in their repentance to graphically get rid of books they now knew should hold no sway over them.  Paul did not burn those books in anger or in vengeance.

By the power of the gospel and providence of God, I have been able to sit down and study with Muslims in this country and overseas.  Through His Word, I have had the joy of watching men and women leave that religion to follow Christ.  Never have I found it effective to try to persuade someone or reach their heart by affronting, offending, and provoking them.  We serve the Prince of Peace (cf. Isa. 9:6).  He has shown us the way to mature, heavenly love (cf. 1 Cor. 13:4ff).  We are to be wise as serpents, but harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16).  Jones’ action seems neither wise nor harmless.  Nor will it advance the cause of Christ or implant the word of Christ in the hearts of the lost.  We need to reach those outside of Christ, including those of the Muslim faith, but this is not the way to do it! — Neal Pollard

Mark gives a tender, powerful accounting of Jesus’ suffering in his gospel.  As one begins a survey of the details, he or she may find that there are two major categories of that suffering–emotional and physical pain.  These build our appreciation for the ugliness of sin, the love of God, and the importance of salvation.

What was involved in the emotional pain?

Judas’ kiss (14:45)

• Being spit upon (14:65; 15:19)
• The denial of Peter (14:68,70,71)
• The soldiers’ mockery (15:20)
• The passers by’s blasphemy (15:29)
• The chief priests’ mocking (15:31)
• The reviling of the two criminals crucified on either side of Him (15:32)
• The feeling of God’s having forsaken Him (15:34)
• Crying (15:34,37)

What was involved in the physical pain?

• Being blindfolded and beaten (14:65)
• Being struck by the officers (14:65)
• The immediate trial after a sleepless night (15:1)
• Being bound (15:1)
• Being scourged (15:15)
• The crown of thorns on His head (15:17)
• Being struck on the head with a reed by the soldiers (15:19)
• Being crucified (15:24)

If you go through these two chapters, you will likely find a thing or two I missed documenting.  The list above included 17 different things Jesus suffered up on the cross and the fifteen or so hours leading up to it.  The next time we sing, “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross,” what a poignant, clear imagery we have of why and how we should boast in the cross just as Paul did (Gal. 6:14).  –Neal Pollard

Our recent bout with winter weather reminds me of a story about an old railroad conductor.

It seems that on one particularly frigid night, he was ever-so-carefully punching tickets at the entrace to a train car.

Several of the passengers were huddled outside, shivering in the cold, waiting to get on board, when suddenly one of the folks said in a rather critical tone, “You’re not very popular tonight, conductor.” To which the conductor calmly replied, “I’m mainly interested in being in good standing with the superintendent of this railroad.”

Doing what is right is not always popular, but our primary goal ought to be to place our “Heavenly Superintendent” and not to worry so much about what other people say.

The Bible urges, “Therefore we make it our aim … to be pleasing to Him” (1 Corinthians 5:9).

Good reader, which is more important to you: to be pleasing to God, or to be pleasing to men? Think about it.

–Mike Benson

Today, while visiting a local detention center, I witnessed some female inmates attempting to woo a guard.  These ladies seemed to know all the right moves and they really turned on the charm to get what they wanted.  As these women sought to entice an officer to do their bidding I could not help but think of Prov. 31:30:  “Grace is deceitful, and beauty is vain; (But) a woman that feareth Jehovah, she shall be praised.”

The wise man knew charm can be deceptive; hopefully the guard was wise enough to realize this truth.  The wise man also said beauty does not last.

Good looks, charm, money, fame…many manage to use these items to their advantage.  In the end what really matters is whether or not we are right with God.  Are you, dear reader, right with Him?

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The right answer to this question is found in the following brief study

1) The Romans were known for people putting people to death by crucifixion.
2) As bad as this process was, this was just part of the death process.
3) There was a preliminary step before a person was crucified.
4) This initial step was a flogging. Jesus was beaten in a way that most cannot imagine.
5) Mt. 20:17-19 – READ
6) Mk. 10:32-34 – READ.
7) Jesus said He was going to be flogged and He was not going to recover.
8) He was not going to go be taken to a hospital and receive treatment.
9) He would not be stopping His evangelistic work for six months and then return.
10) It has been said the whip was for punishment and the cross and nails were for execution.
11) The whip was not just punishment; it was about the worst punishment a person can endure.
12) A good whipping (beating) helped heighten the pain of crucifixion.
a) When we look at what happened to Jesus, we get some insight about how awful sin is.
b) If Jesus has not been the one who came in our place, we would deserve that flogging.
13) As our nation has a time of year that focuses on Thanksgiving, we have a big reason to be thankful.
14) Paul said in 2 Cor. 9:15, THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT.

A PERSON CAN BE WOUNDED IN FIVE DIFFERENT WAYS AND JESUS EXPERIENCED ALL FIVE OF THESE WOUNDS.

1) Some wounds are “contusions” (these do not break the skin, but they show up as bruises/discoloration).
a) Jesus was hit with both fists and blunt instruments.
b) Mt. 26:67 says Jesus was hit with the “palms” of people’s hands.
c) This type of hitting does not normally break the skin.
2) A second type of wound is classified as a “laceration.”
3) With lacerations, a person’s flesh is torn or punctured.
4) The scourging fell into this category.
5) Jesus flesh was torn from His body with the whip that was used on Him.
6) The third category of wounds would fell into the “penetration” category.
a) A crown of thorns was placed on His head (Mt. 27:29).
b) Then Jesus was beaten on the head (Mt. 27:30).
c) A “reed” was used to hit Jesus on the head.
7) Imagine a crown of thumb tacks.
8) Someone puts it on our head and then drives that crown of tacks into our head.
9) The fourth of wound was a “perforated” wound.
10) In Ps. 22:16 the Old Testament predicted that Jesus “hands and feet” were pierced.
11) The final type of wound was an “incised wound.”
12) This means there was some type of cutting; a deep cut from a sharp instrument.
13) A soldier took a spear and pierced Jesus body with it (Jn. 19:34).
14) Jesus was beaten and crucified and the process was worse than we can imagine.
15) We are not saved by Jesus’ pain; we are saved by His death.
16) Are we saved?
17) Without faith we cannot please God (Heb. 11:6).
18) We cannot be a child of God without repentance (Lk. 13:3).
19) We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God (1 Tim. 6:12; Acts 8:36-38).
20) Finally we must be baptized into Christ (Gal. 3:27) for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16).
21) Have we done these things and are we living a faithful Christian life?

“So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs” (John 21:15).

Do We Love the Lord More Than Our Kinsmen?

If we do, we will not let them keep us from obeying the gospel. We will be willing to leave the religion they have accepted if it is proven wrong. We will not let them keep us from attending the services of the Lord’s church. Remember, Jesus said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37).

Do We Love the Lord More Than Money?

If we do, we will not make the heaping of riches the chief object of our living. We will give liberally of our means to the Lord (2 Corinthians 8:1-5). Remember, the Lord said, “For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Do We Love the Lord More Than Pleasure?

If we do, we will not engage in that which is forbidden, that which will hurt our influence for Christ. Remember, the Lord, in speaking of perilous times, said men shall be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).

Do We Love the Lord More Than Praise of Men?

If we do, we will be willing to stand for the Lord and the right, though we must stand alone (2 Timothy 4:16-17). The chief rulers “did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God” (John 12:42-43).

The Lord should be the supreme object of our affection (Matthew 22:37). May we learn to sing, and mean it, “More love to thee, O Christ, more love to Thee!” -Wendell Winkler

THE SALMON NEARLY leaped onto to their hooks…

That was a far cry from the day before when the four anglers couldn’t even seem to catch an old boot.

Disappointed but not discouraged, they had climbed aboard their small seaplane and skimmed over the Alaskan mountains to a pristine, secluded bay where the fish were sure to bite.

They parked their aircraft and waded upstream, where the water teemed with ready-to-catch salmon. Later that afternoon, when they returned to their camp, they were surprised to find the seaplane high and dry. The tides fluctuated twenty-three feet in the particular bay, and the pontoons rested on a bed of gravel. Since they couldn’t fly out till morning, they settled in for the night and enjoyed some of their catch for dinner, then slept in the plane. In the morning the seaplane was adrift, so they promptly cranked the engine and started to take off. Too late, they discovered one of the pontoons had been punctured and was filled with water. The extra weight threw the plane into a circular pattern. Within moments from liftoff the seaplane careened into the sea and capsized.

Dr. Phil Littleford determined that everyone was alive, including his twelve-year-old son, Mark. He suggested that they pray, which the other two men quickly endorsed. No safety equipment could be found on board–no life vests, no flares, nothing. The plane gurgled and submerged into the blackness of the icy morning sea. The frigid Alaskan water chilled their breath.

They all began to swim for shore, but the rip-tide countered every stroke. The two men alongside Phil and Mark were strong swimmers and they both made shore, one just catching the tip of land as the tides pulled them out toward sea.

Their two companions last saw Phil and Mark as a disappearing dot on the horizon, swept arm-in-arm out to sea. The Coast Guard reported they probably lasted no more than an hour in the freezing waters–hypothermia would chill the body functions and they would go to sleep. Mark, with a smaller body mass, would fall asleep first in his father’s arms. Phil could have made the shoreline, too, but that would have meant abandoning his son. Their bodies were never found. (Patrick Morley)

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8; cf. Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34

–Mike Benson

Former President Harry Truman was a dyed-in-the-wool romantic. He pursued his wife, Bess, for many years before she agreed to marry him. He first asked her in 1911 and they were finally married in 1919.

But once he married her, Mr. Truman continued to romance his wife. When he was away from her he wrote love letters. When Bess Truman died in the early 1980’s, more than 1,200 letters from her husband were discovered in her home. Harry never stopped courting Bess. (H. Norman Wright, Romancing Your Marriage, 169, 170).

“Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed.” Prov. 27:5

–Mike Benson

A man who thought he had lung cancer went to a doctor; rather than being diagnosed with cancer, a physician found a pea growing inside him.

Ron Sveden, a 75 year-old from Massachusetts, is the man who had a pea sprouting in his lung. Sveden’s symptoms of fatigue, coughing and a loss of appetite were caused by a single pea that “went to the wrong place and sprouted.” Thankfully the sprouted pea has been removed and Sveden is recovering.

Speaking of peas and growth, how are you doing? Are you “growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18)? Are some things “growing” (sprouting) in your life that need to be removed? Make sure you have the “right things” growing in the “right places.”