Kerry Duke

No Young People at Church?

[519 words] “It’s sad because they have no young people at that congregation.” How many times have you heard or made that comment? It’s understandable. When you see a church or you are in a church of mostly older people, you fear for its future. In some cases the older members may be at fault.…

Phone Home?

[569 words] “Mr. Duke, what do you think about the question of life on other planets?” More than one Russian student asked me this question in a Moscow university over thirty years ago. I had expected questions about God, and there were many. But I was surprised at the number of times they asked about…

A Truly Global Outlook

[602 words] The world is getting smaller. We constantly hear about globalism—global economics, global politics, global environmentalism, and a host of other world interests. It is time that we tell others how to look at the world rather than letting people who are not even Christians and who don’t know the Bible lecture us about…

The Year Ahead

[544 words] “For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 6:12). An issue of Time magazine almost thirty years ago gave examples of men who tried to do what man cannot do—predict the future. Here are some of these predictions made in the 1900’s as listed in Time,…

The Devil’s Asset

[577 words] Samson was an incredibly strong man. The Lord gave him his strength, and as long as he kept his vow secret he was safe. No man or band of men could defeat him, but a woman named Delilah did. The Bible says, “And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with…

The Conflict Within

[520 words] “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). All of us struggle with our feelings. They give us joy, but they also bring grief. A Christian woman was talking about these bad feelings and said, “I believe everybody has trouble with these inner demons.”…

Are We That Helpless?

[548 words] I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Of course, we say that about a lot of what we hear these days. This time I was in a waiting room where health tips were given on a screen—how to lower blood sugar, getting better sleep and dealing with other common problems. Then a lady…

Two Battlefronts

[581 words] A Christian friend from a third world country told me, “America is in a war.” That war is inside our land. It is a moral and spiritual conflict. We have been saying this for years, and we sense it now more than ever. To hear someone who was raised in such a different…

Equal Before God

[510 words] “There is no partiality with God” (Rom. 2:11). “All men are created equal” (Declaration of Independence). People are different and life is not fair. No government program can change this. These may be cold hard facts but they are the truth. God did not make everyone the same. He could have made us…

Darwin’s Arch Collapses

[502 words] So the headlines read when a massive stone bridge in the Galapagos islands named after the famous biologist broke in the middle and left two towers of solid rock jutting out of the ocean. But the recent fall of this monument was not merely the loss of a reminder of the work of…

God Can’t Do Everything

[518 words] These words can sound discouraging. Doesn’t the Bible say, “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37)? Which way is it? The same Bible that says nothing is impossible with God also says there is something He cannot do. “It is impossible for God to lie” (Heb. 6:18). God “cannot lie” (Titus…

For Your Heirs

[515 words] “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22). The good side of an inheritance is that it gives children a start in life. It is one of the most effective forms of compound interest ever devised. The bad side is that children often fight over an inheritance. One man…

It’s Just Not Fair

[582 words] A question that has troubled mankind for thousands of years is this: Why is life so unfair? From start to finish the books of the Bible talk about it. Saints and sinners alike feel they have been wronged for no reason but want to know why, and both of them point their finger…

Unshakeable Faith in the Immoveable Kingdom

[489 words] In the heat of the Civil War, Moses Lard penned this “Note to the Brotherhood” to encourage Christians: “More now than ever before in this country; do even Christians need to be placed completely under the influence of Christianity. In mind and heart they are deeply and painfully agitated. Christianity alone can tranquillize…

To The End

[471 words] I was looking at a display in a Civil War Museum when I noticed an old letter. A Confederate soldier wrote the letter to his wife in August 1864. He mentioned some interesting things about the war and the times, but what really impressed me was how he closed the letter. I expected…

Light for the Road Ahead

[496 words] Change is stressful. Our country is torn apart and the world seems turned upside down. The Bible is balm for our hearts in these troubled times. One book in particular shows us how to think as we adjust. It is the book of Ecclesiastes. Here are some verses that will give us peace…

Is This Why America is in Trouble?

[566 words] Why did God overthrow governments in the Old Testament? Was it because of idolatry? Bloodshed? Oppression of the poor? Sexual sins and perversion? These sins stand out as reasons for the downfall of nations. But one evil was beneath these sins, and it often goes unnoticed as the cause of the demise of…

Perils in Church Buildings?

[533 words] I was touring one of the oldest log church buildings in America when I noticed holes in the walls. “What are these holes?” I asked. A guide explained that they were drilled so men could put their rifles through the holes to shoot at indians if they attacked while the church was meeting.…

Fighting in Our Streets and God

[414 words] Nations reap what they sow just as individuals do. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God” (Psa. 9:17). This happens partly because rebellion against God is by nature self-destructive and partly because God providentially intervenes to chastise evil societies. In terms of the latter, one of…

How To Destroy A Country

[362 words] “One university after another is bowing before the violent demands of a small minority of radicals who intend to overthrow the existing government…The radicals fully intend to overthrow the national government and replace it according to their own fuzzy, undefined lines which they cannot explain. They have decided to seek as many confrontations…

The Bad Samaritan

[533 words] “Which one?” That’s what a typical Jew in Jesus’ time would have asked about this title. To many Jewish people, all Samaritans were bad. There was no such thing as a good Samaritan. The truth, of course, is that Samaritans were like other people. Some were good and some were bad. Although the…

‘My’ Religion

[565 words] A famous country singer told how she got religion. When she was a child, her mother said the Holy Spirit told her that her daughter had a special gift. When she grew up and started singing, she said the gift had to come from God because she didn’t get it from her mother…

A Marriage to Consider

[455 words] Marriages in the Bible were like marriages today. Some were better than others and some were worse, but all of them had their ups and downs. We can relate to their joys and struggles and learn from these old stories. Consider the marriage of Isaac and Rebekah. Isaac was the son of promise.…

Elements of a Depraved Culture

[500 words] No God. People have many gods, but not God. They have the god of pleasure. They worship the god of money. Their “god is their belly” (Phil. 3:19). Though the creation plainly declares God (Psa. 19:1), they still refuse to acknowledge Him. No Fear. When men turn to themselves, they become presumptuous, self-willed,…

Abide in the Same Calling

[621 words] Do the best you can in whatever circumstance you face. Your situation in life is never completely ideal. Make the most of it regardless of the obstacles. There are some circumstances you can change, there are some you cannot. But you can live the Christian life either way. Earthly conditions don’t last. Even…

The Path to Peace

[502 words] One of the great passages in the Bible on having peace of mind is in Philippians 4. Here are the keys: Make up your mind to be happy. “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (v.4). Abraham Lincoln said a man is about as happy as he makes up his…

To Have and to Lose

[542 words] There is “a time to get, and a time to lose” (Ecc. 3:6). Suffering loss is a part of living. We lose money. We lose health. We lose friends. We lose loved ones. We lose our happiness. Life is a constant cycle of ups and downs, gains and losses. Circumstances beyond our control…

Our Spokesmen?

[534 words] Being ridiculed for our beliefs is a burden Christians must bear. This is not easy but it should not be a surprise. If Jesus was mocked and the early church was called a sect, why should we expect the world to understand us? It is natural to feel frustrated at times. Christians are…

Can Any Good Come From Stress?

[549 words] Samuel was one of the best men in the Bible. We read about his good life of faith and justice in 1 Samuel, but it is a statement made hundreds of years later about him that tells us just how godly a man he was. In Jeremiah’s day the people of Judah were…

Sobriety Tests

[600 words] The Bible says Christians are to be sober. We must “be sober” if we are to face our adversary the devil (1 Pet. 5:8). Young and old and men and women alike must “live soberly” in this sinful world (Titus 2:1-12). Like many other virtues we read in the New Testament, this word…

Hungry? Really?

[458 words] “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet” (Prov. 27:7). When you are full you don’t want anything else to eat. Even a delicious dessert has no appeal. If you are really hungry, however, you will eat what you can even if it is something…

Therapy for Offenders

[475 words] A newspaper headline read, “Man Gets 176 years for Sex Trafficking.” The man pleaded guilty to 33 counts ranging from trafficking for sexual servitude to statutory rape. Such headlines are common today. Though they pale in comparison to the life sentence plus 1,000 years that Ariel Castro received for h.is unspeakable crimes of…

Your Example Still Matters

[458 words] In this wicked age we may be tempted to think that people no longer care or even notice immorality. Even in evil times, however, there is usually enough of a sense of decency in a community for people to recognize a shameful act. The period of the judges was a corrupt and dangerous…

How Could They?

[404 words] One of the sins of the dark world of the Gentiles in the first century was being “without natural affection” (Rom. 1:31). This is the natural love we have for our kin, especially for our parents and our children. It is not just being “unloving” as the New King James translates this verse.…

Stay Away From These People

  [537 words] The wise man himself, Solomon, tells us not to get close to: People who are always changing their mind. “Meddle not with them that are given to change” (Prov. 24:21). You can’t depend on these people. You can’t trust them. They have no convictions or principles. They change with the situation. They…

Portraits of Endurance

  [579 words] Barton W. Stone was born in 1772. In his autobiography he wrote, “My father, John Stone, died when I was very young. I have no recollection of him in life.” He grew up without his father, but he never used his loss as an excuse to rebel or quit. When soldiers returned…

Heavenly Sunlight

  [459 words] “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” (Matt. 4:16). The world can be a dark place. “The whole world,” John wrote, “lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19). Satan, the “prince of this world” (John…

A Few Gray Hairs

[565 words] “Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not” (Hos. 7:9). “I see some gray hair!” We all hear these Words eventually. The hoary head is one of creation’s Way of reminding us that our lives are like a flower. They bloom and fade quickly. Hosea did not bring up…

Conforming to the World

[562 words] One of the most horrific crimes in the history of Israel took place in the days of the weeping prophet Jeremiah. The people built “the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal” (Jer. 19:5). How could God’s people have done something this barbaric? The Lord…

How Do You Feel?

[596 words] God gave us feelings. We feel joy and sadness, anger and fear. These emotions test us. They can help or hinder us in our choice between right and wrong. Who we are and where we spend eternity depends on how we handle them. It feels good to be happy. God wants us to…
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