Born to Win Podcast - with Ronald L. Dart

When you think about it, it is a logical question. Why didn’t Jesus write his own book? For that matter, why didn’t an angel hand the prophets a golden plate with prophecies written by the hand of God himself? (The Ten Commandments, after all, were written with the finger of God on tables of s...

It is of some interest that the New Testament church soldiered on for some 20 years before anyone wrote down anything that has remained for us to look at. (The fact that transitory papyrus was often used as a writing medium certainly didn’t help.)

So, looking at your Bible, what is your best guess as to which of the ...

When you sit down to read the New Testament, you encounter a strange cast of characters. I say strange—but only strange to us. The New Testament writers didn’t bother to explain, because all these characters were well known to their initial audience.

If I may digress, it is important to keep in mi...

Imagine that you are in a room, all by yourself. No one else is there. No one else is supposed to be there. You are in the process of carrying out a rather simple task, but one that requires you to pay attention to what you are doing. All you have to do is ca...

I forget where I first saw the book title, How to Read the Bible, but I recall a certain, what shall we say, amusement. I thought, Find a comfortable chair, open the book and read. I think there may be a dozen books in print with that title, but a short review by the features editor of First Things ...

God forbid we, as a nation, should ever stop caring about the children and about the poor, but real care should lead us to call a failure what it is—a failure. I’ve listened with fascination to the debate and I’ve heard the calls for compassion being handed down from politicians. Now, as a Christian, I believe in ...

No word from the Bible conjures up more dread than the word Antichrist. It is kind of unfortunate, because the word is not used in the Bible in the sense that we use the word. It is John who introduces the word in his first New Testament letter.

Little children, it is the last time: and as you have hea...

Early in the 2^nd century BC, a truly vile man came on the scene in the Middle East. What is it about planet earth that our soil periodically brings forth such singular men—men of consummate evil? That they recur again and again is clear enough. What you may not realize is that the prophet...

One of the most fascinating prophecies in the Book of Daniel (and one that raises as many questions as it answers) is the 70 weeks prophecy at the end of the ninth chapter. Frankly, explaining the implications of this prophecy will stretch my abilities to the limit. But maybe, if we concentrate, we can study this ...

What did the First Christians believe and practice about Christmas? I know in a way that is a loaded question, because the word Christmas is found nowhere in the New Testament, nor is any noticeable celebration of Christmas as we know it.

Among many Jews, birthday observance is eschewed as originatin...

One of the things that puzzles me about the Book of Daniel is the question, Why now? Why did God, at this particular juncture in history, lay out the prophecies that he did? The visions that he gave to Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar span a panorama of prophecy that goes from their day all the way to the very end.

And as you ...

What was it about Daniel? Through at least three major administration changes in Babylon, he kept coming out on top. For the believer, it makes perfect sense. God gave Daniel and his companions favor through these hard and dangerous times for his own purposes. But you have to wonder what this looked like from the perspective ...

Did you know that Nebuchadnezzar, the mighty king of Babylon, wrote one chapter of the Book of Daniel? Initially, I couldn’t help but wonder why God would allow a writing from a pagan king to enter the Bible. But then the answer occurred to me.

Yes, the Bible is the word of God—and inspired by God—but it many...

Daniel may be the most important prophet in the Bible. He is easily the most fascinating. And he is the one that most tempts us to offer interpretations. And his work is of singular value in providing a framework for understanding those who would come later.

The dream of Nebuchadnezzar in the second chapter is an excellent exampl...

The prophecies of Zechariah are among the most difficult in the Bible. It’s not only that Zechariah is so rich in imagery and symbols; it’s a strange mixture of the past and the future—an odd mixture of events in history, of people, personages, places, things that happened…and o...

Of all the major prophets of the Old Testament, one stands out as the most fascinating. One has had a hold on the imaginations of men from time immemorial. One has more fulfilled prophecies that any of the rest. In New Testament prophecy, this man is referred to more than any other. His name is Daniel.

Daniel was captured and ...

The last days of Jerusalem and Judah were hard times. When a nation, a people, begin to lose their identity—their sense of who they are and where they are going—when a nation becomes morally bankrupt, indolent, self-indulgent—sooner or later, the nations around then sense the weakness and begin t...

Almost any kingdom will get a little tired and old in 300 years. The House of Israel only made it a little more than 250 years. And Israel must have been worn out by the end of the long reign of King Manasseh. No one did more to corrupt the worship of God than did Manasseh in his day.

The strange thing...