August Article

G. Thomas Sharp • September 7, 2018

Sometime ago (about 50 or so years ago), I read the well-written, heart-driven book, The Making of a Man of God , authored by the British born, Dr. Alan Redpath (1907-1989). Dr. Redpath, an outstanding preacher in his own right, herein examines salient aspects in the life to king David, and in one of the chapters, he discusses the signs, the behavior and the attitude of “ How the Mighty are Fallen.” A must read for anyone seeking a closer walk with their God.

Second Samuel 11 is the Scriptural guide for this chapter and through it Redpath’s pens a passionate, heart rending commentary that continues to impact my thinking to this very day. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a spiritual challenge, especially if you sense yourself drifting from Biblical conviction, disengaged from intercessory prayer and generally lackadaisical in your relationship with Jesus Christ.

The chapter opens by informing the reader that it was the time when kings normally go forth to battle, but David was content for some devious reason, for which we will soon discover, to remain in Jerusalem, and to send Joab, the commander of the army, in his place. The important point is that David stayed home when he should have been at war with the enemies of God and Israel! That was certainly one of his primary tasks!

And then, one evening, finding himself sleepless, he met “the traveler!” (2 Samuel 12:4) But who this mysterious “ traveler ?” Let’s go back into chapter 11 and notice that David, due to his insomnia, “ …arose from his bed, and walked upon the roof of his house: and from the roof he saw a gorgeously beautiful woman washing herself …and the KJV says, “… the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” Here it is, between verse 2 and 3, David thinks to himself, “ I wonder who she is?

David knows that the kings of Israel are not to add horses, or wives, or silver and gold to themselves. (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) But the “traveler” says, “No, it’s okay, you can ask her name!” Remember, David should have been in battle with his army! He sought her name, and because he did there were three continuous tragedies that befell Israel. But who is this traveler? It’s the continual working of our mind. Paul warns us to only allow thoughts that are good, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. (Philippians 4:8)

G. Thomas Sharp

By Bob Dugas May 23, 2025
NS-29 Launch
By Matt Miles May 22, 2025
As many of you may know, I appreciate space. Not space around me, although the older I get the more I appreciate that as well. The things in the heavens fascinate me and have for a large chunk of my life. I love working with our telescopes, allowing people to see for themselves objects that the Lord made on the 4th day of history. When I was younger I followed our Space Shuttle program, and over the years I have had the opportunity to see a couple of those shuttles around the country. Now it is great to see all the renewed interest in exploring the heavenly creation. I know most of it is for evolutionary reasons, yet over and over again something is discovered that points to the trustworthiness of God’s Word. After all, we are to study His creation as Genesis 1:28 states. On a recent trip to El Paso, it occurred to me that Blue Origin’s launch facility is in west Texas somewhere. After some quick searching I realized we were within an hour and half of it, and there was a rescheduled launch window during the time of our meeting. So, with some persuading of my colleagues, we arose early one morning to make the launch. We made it with just minutes to spare. It was spectacular! The whole launch to just beyond the Karman Line (space boundary, 62 miles/100km) and return of the rocket and capsule is about ten minutes total. While Blue Origin is best known for its New Shepherd rocket that carries paying customers to space and back with the biggest windows ever in a capsule, this NS-29 launch was purely experimental with a payload of instruments to measure simulated lunar gravity. Even though it was not a Saturn V, Space Shuttle, Starship or Falcon launch, it was great to hear and feel a launch for the first time, from blast off to the sonic boom return. It has piqued my desire to see a bigger launch now. As I began to reflect on what I experienced, the Lord reminded me of His design. Earth, our home planet, is so well designed for life. There is literally nowhere in all the universe like it. Yet He gave us the ability to discover creation beyond it. The only reason we can launch rockets and do space exploration is because He set it up in an orderly way. Physics works because He established it to work in a predictable fashion. As much as we may never understand everything in the universe from our position here, it works on an ordered reality that is reinforced by God’s Word. This is what drove Sir Isaac Newton in his understanding of physics. He wrote, “The motions which the planets now have could not spring from any natural cause alone but were by an intelligent Agent.” Evolutionists may come up with theories about the origin of things in the heavens, but over and over again they are being shown through experimentation and observation to be wrong. The Lord set the order of everything in the beginning and sustains it by His Word (Hebrews 1:3). So as you look to the heavens tonight, gaze into the depths of space and observe the different facets the Lord placed up there for our eyes (Genesis 1:17). Peer through a telescope at the lesser light of the moon with marvel and anticipation of further human study in the coming years. Check out the amazing observations being made by the James Webb telescope from deep in space. All of these place a perspective of how awesome our Creator is and how much we depend on Him. Our design becomes more and more obvious with every discovery, yet in our universe we appear so minuscule and fragile. Thanks be to God that His infinite focus has, is and always will be here on us! Blessings.
By Ryan Cox May 22, 2025
Moses & History (part 2)
Show More