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Scott Hoezee One of the most mind-boggling spectacles I've ever seen is a short science movie titled "Powers of Ten." Many of us no doubt saw this movie in a high school physics class. As the film opens, you see a close-up view of a young couple spreading out a picnic blanket on a grassy section of Chicago's Grant Park. Then, every ten seconds thereafter, the camera pulls back, each time increasing its distance from the couple by a power…

APRIL 2007: ESSAY by Thomas A. Boogaart Introduction I do not remember Ascension Day ever being celebrated when I was a boy growing up in a Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I do not remember the Ascension itself ever being the subject of a sermon. In my church, we celebrated Jesus' birth--elaborate pageants complete with shepherds, wise men, and angels. We delighted in his ministry--the intriguing parables, the miraculous healings, and the bickering with the Pharisees. We mourned his…

APRIL 2007: ESSAY by Stephen T. Davis I What exactly is the Ascension of Jesus? It is a purported event, narrated only in Luke-Acts (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:1-11) but referred to or implied in very many other places in the New Testament.1 The essential claim is that the risen Jesus parted from the disciples on earth by being bodily taken up into heaven. As it says in Luke, "he withdrew from them and was carried up to heaven" (Luke 24:51).…

Billy Norden As I prepared to read Transform Your Church with Ministry Teams, I felt a healthy dose of skepticism. I was reminded of the time in my life when I became overly excited with a new diet and nutrition program that was guaranteed to result in the perfect body. After consuming the information, I excitedly told a friend about the uniqueness of the program. He looked at me with a furrowed brow and, with his signature tone of sarcasm,…

Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land. Jeremiah 32:15 In Jeremiah 32, we read that the Lord instructed Jeremiah to purchase an ancestral property in his hometown of Anathoth, just outside Jerusalem. The timing could not have been worse for a real estate transaction. The King of Babylon was even then besieging Jerusalem, and no one had any doubt about his future success. Nevertheless, Jeremiah obeyed and redeemed the land from his cousin. As God instructed…

APRIL 2007: POETRY by A.C. Fisher Encircling her heart and mind, Darkness ravished her peace and Buried her soul in its deep Hell of demon possession. What can demons do but rape The psyche until, bloodied and violent, It rears up as ugly against others As the hell that controls it? Mary wept from her depths as her Body thrashed about in its near-damned State and then... The Man approached her. His compassion shook her As her frightened eyes looked…