Today the ruins of the biblical City of Smyrna have been swallowed up by the bustling city of Izmir on turkey's West Coast; two thousand years ago, there was a thriving Christian community there. Jesus tells that church they'll suffer dreadful [...]

In Revelation, Jesus tells the church in Ephesus they're in danger of losing everything, spiritually speaking, but that they can retain their standing with God. Jesus says, "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the [...]

The letters to the seven churches in Revelation aren't for the faint of heart. The messages were to real churches in real locations, in what's now Western Turkey. Ephesus was an important city located on the Aegean Sea, and Jesus warned the [...]

In the first of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, Jesus commends the church in Ephesus, then he says he has something against the Ephesian church because the believers there, "Have left your first love," Revelation 2:4. Now [...]

Reports from Argentina said a rubbish dump was closed after locals began finding 100$ bills there, as much as $75,000 in all. Seems the money was in a closet discarded after its owner died. Free money, and people come running in the hope that [...]

It's interesting to see what passes for sophistication. People who drink in wine bars are seen as fashionable and chic, nightclubs are trendy hot spots. Many high-profile celebrities move from one partner to another, clocking up notches on their [...]

People forget, don't they? It's hard to know how you could forget something like this, but they did. God told Solomon that if the time should come that there was no rain, well let's look at this. 1 Chronicles 7:13 and 14, God said, "If I shut [...]

So, God has Elijah confront king Ahab, and tell him there won't be any rain for three and a half years. How desperate would things be after a drought that long? Would people suffer? Oh yes, they would. So why would God be so tough? People struggle [...]

Well, that had to be uncomfortable. A report said the once famous actor was dead, reports apparently from the man's wife and management team. But although he was in decline and died a couple of days later, at the time he was very much alive. When [...]

Temptation is a fact of life. You can put yourself where you're less likely to be tempted, but temptation will find you. It has the ability to wear you down. At first you might be strong in the face of a certain sin, but if you're not firm about [...]

A lot of people are looking for stability, many lives are marked by insecurity, that person with rent to pay who just lost their job, people taking a step forward and then slipping right back to where they started for various reasons. Illness can be [...]

In 1956 a judge in Florida threatened Elvis Presley with jail time if he didn't tone down the suggestive nature of a stage act. Seems almost quaint today, but at the risk of sounding terribly old-fashioned, the judge had a point, not that Presley [...]

Some years ago, a financial advisor wrote that "If you can't afford to buy a house, just stop buying lattes". His theory was that if you took the money, you fritted away, and invested that money, you'd get ahead. The idea, whether you [...]

If you had less than stellar parents, the good news is that you don't have to repeat their mistakes. You might inherit their hair color or eye color, but while you might be naturally predisposed to acting like them, you don't have to be angry like [...]

Youth, young people, kids, yeah, they're an easy target, and that's because they have more energy than experience; they're still learning. Growing up is an actual thing, and that road isn't especially easy. So the question is, do older people get it [...]

Leaders have a great amount of influence, but followers also have power, and they really ought to use it. It's mystifying, but it's true that, "It came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, he forsook [...]

The split in Israel that divided Israel and Judah happened when Rehoboam became king right after Solomon's death. The people asked King Rehoboam to lighten their burdens. Solomon had worked them severely and taxed them unreasonably, but they told [...]

Have you ever done something we have really sort of blown it, and it needn't have happened? Let's be honest, of course you have. Something you said, a rash act, something you did under pressure or in the heat of the moment. It might have cost you a [...]

If anyone was qualified to speak to young people about their life and faith, it was Solomon. He wasn't a young man when he wrote Ecclesiastes, which is why he could write with clarity. He understood young people have it rough, they're still figuring [...]

Imagine you're the third King in Israel's history, the son of a mighty man. You've given incredible wisdom, and you become very powerful. And then you blow it, turning your back on the God who appeared to you twice, trashing God's name, marinating [...]

When king Solomon married the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh, it seemed like a good strategic move. The Bible says he made affinity with Pharaoh. It was good in terms of international relations, but you read later that, "When Solomon was [...]

Think of Solomon and his fall from grace, and you'll think naturally enough about his 700 wives and 300 concubines. But it's almost never the case that there's just one weakness, because when you open the door to sin you open the floodgates. Solomon [...]

How do you go from being the king of God's people, to being a train wreck. Solomon was called by God to the throne of Israel, and right from the start he was a model King. When given a chance to ask for anything he wished, Solomon asked for an [...]

I'll tell you what sin does: sin drew King Solomon away from God, it led him into idolatry and degrading practices. But this is what Solomon said sin led him to, we get this straight from the horse's mouth. After saying that he turned himself to [...]

When my friends land wouldn't sell, he increased the price three times, and then it sold for much more than he originally asked. In 2010 an Italian Village, two hours from Rome, attracted 40.000 visitors a year, but when an entrance fee was imposed, [...]

On busy days Venice, Italy attracts more than a hundred thousand tourists. And news reports routinely state that Venetians are sick of tourists. Now, Venice is imposing an entry fee of as much as 10 Euros for day trippers, because it's overwhelmed. [...]

You could just about imagine the awe, the wonder Hiram Bingham experienced. Went on an exhibition in Peru, he came across Machu Picchu, ruins of what was once a magnificent Inca settlement high in the Andes. Bingham was an historian, and a lecturer [...]

Pamplona in northeastern Spain is home to the annual running of the bulls. Between 6 and 10 Bulls are released into the streets of the old city, and people run in front of them, all beside them, for a little over half a mile to a bull ring. Every [...]

The Statue of Liberty is one of the most iconic structures in the world. 300 feet tall standing on a 15-acre island in New York, Harbor, it's visited by three and a half million people a year. It was dedicated in 1886, when Grover Cleveland was [...]

People from all over the world travel to Sydney, Australia to visit the Sydney Opera House. It's a Performing Arts Center, one of the most well-known buildings in the world, owing to its distinctive design. The roof is shaped to resemble the sails [...]

The statue known as Christ the Redeemer in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil sits atop a mountain on the outskirts of City, depicting Jesus with his arms outstretched. The 125 feet tall statue is an icon in Brazil, it's said to symbolize peace. Jesus is the [...]

After the Green Bay Packers lost the NFL championship game against Philadelphia in 1960, head coach Vince Lombardi started training camp in the summer of 1961, by Going Back to Basics. Standing before the players with a football in his hand, [...]

In 1982, the unthinkable happened on a British Airways flight. As the Jumbo Jet cruised at 37.000 feet, one by one all four engines failed. After it flew through a cloud of volcanic ash, which emanated from an Indonesian volcano about a hundred [...]

The story of king Solomon is a tragic tale, but it has a happy ending, his father, David, abdicated, allowing Solomon to ascend the throne, and his early reign was distinguished by peace and prosperity. God's blessing rested on Solomon, but he [...]

When he came to the throne of Israel, Solomon couldn't have been more blessed. He was given great wisdom, Israel prospered, and the man whose God-given name, Jedediah, meant beloved of the Lord, was a model leader. So what happened that led him to [...]