Dr. Chuck Missler is the founder of Koinonia House ministries, or K-House as it is affectionately called.  K-House is dedicated to the development and distribution of materials for encouraging and facilitating serious study of the Bible as the inerrant Word of God.  K-House reaches tens of thousands through its monthly newsletter, radio shows, cassette tapes, and conferences. More than eight million study tapes have been distributed in the U.S. and in over 35 countries around the world.

If we did not have enough reasons for dreading Sharia law, Iran has given us another one; dog ownership is out. Iran banned all advertisements for pets on Friday, including ads for pet food, pet shops, and other pet products. Why? Because Iranian dog owners care entirely too much about Fido, and that infatuation could lead to "evil outcomes" of some mysterious nature, besides the fact that dogs are unclean animals in Islam.

Most of us are convinced we already "walk by faith." We teach these principles to others and we encourage our families and our friends to do likewise. But, if we are really honest with ourselves, we'd have to admit that most of the time, we don't walk by faith, but by what we see, think, feel and want to do. Unfortunately, these natural components of our makeup (seeing, thinking, and feeling) determine most aspects of our lives, even as believers.

It's that time of year again, when moms can buy four boxes of crayons for a buck, and students around the country are starting to pile books into their lockers and desks.  If you are a proud parent, now is the perfect time to have a discussion with your children about their faith and some of the challenges they may face in the coming months.

A recent Pew Research Poll reports that as many as 20 percent of Americans - and as many as 31 percent of Republicans - consider President Barack Obama to be a Muslim. Only one-third of the populace thinks he is a Christian, and 43 percent do not know what religion Obama upholds. The doubts about Obama's Christianity have mounted since March 2009, when Pew estimated that 11 percent of Americans considered Obama a Muslim.

Prayer has been a part of public life in America since long before the drafting of the Constitution, and has continued to be important to Americans in the centuries since. But not without contention. Even now, in the 21st century, lively battles over public prayer are mussing the hairs of city councils and hometowns across the country. The issue these days, however, isn't whether prayer is permitted under the First Amendment; it absolutely is permitted. The issue is whether those who pray can mention Jesus by name when they pray.

The Bible is not alone. Around the world, legends can be found of a global flood. Many of the details are different, but the essential elements tend to be there; a massive flood wiped out everybody but a particular righteous man. Often boats and animals are involved. The use of animals and birds to check the receding of the waters, and the violence of the flood are common themes.

It's a proven fact that Jesus did come and that He did die on that cross 2,000 years ago. Flavius Josephus, who was a Jewish authority, a Roman scholar and who lived from A.D. 37 to A.D. 100, has recorded this for us in his work, The Antiquities of The Jews. Josephus verifies that Jesus was an historical figure who was called Christ, who was crucified by Pontius Pilate, and who rose again on the third day.

All public transportation silenced, all restaurants closed in Jerusalem on Monday evening as the sun set. The Hebrew day of great tragedies, Tisha b'Av, fell at sundown. In remembrance, tens of thousands of Jews gathered at the Western Wall to pray and petition the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.

It is critical to know God loves us, not just in our heads, but in our every day life experience. We need to know God loves us "experientially" so that no matter what happens to us circumstantially, emotionally or physically, the security of His Love is always there.  We also need to have the assurance of His Love in order to move ahead in our Christian walk. Not knowing if He loves us or not, will hinder our being able to-moment-by-moment-surrender our wills and our lives to Him and love others as He desires.

While prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah are well-known, many Christians know little about the shorter prophetic books of the Old Testament.  The books written by Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Malachi may be infrequently read, but are nonethless powerful voices from men through whom the Spirit of God breathed.  The following overviews of each of these books will hopefully inspire further study.

Many people may not realize that there are at least three prophets in the Old Testament that were called specifically to prophesy regarding the Gentiles. Obviously, most of the Bible deals with history - both past and future - through the "lens" of Israel. But there are three short books that focus on Gentile history and each has specific application to you and me today.

When Moses asked Pharaoh to "Let my people go," Pharaoh responded, "Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?" If Pharaoh could have jumped into the future to read the book of Hosea, he would have known that the Lord was a sovereign God (Chapters 1-3); a holy God (Chapters 4-7); a just God (Chapters 8-10); and a loving God (Chapters 11-14).

While the Fasts of Tammuz and Av (the 4th and 5th months) are a time of mourning, many Jews believe that after the future redemption of Israel, these days of mourning will be turned into days of feasts and rejoicing.

The 104th Psalm is a beautiful hymn about creation that complements the information given to us in Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible. Here, as in other Scriptures, the origin of the universe and our planet is not pictured as a massive explosion (such as a Big Bang) but as an orderly series of events in which everything was crafted by the hands of an artisan, a Master Builder.

The images are familiar; listless, skeletal faces of starving adults and children; broken bones and burned flesh; forced labor in barren government prisons; entire families tortured, experimented on and publicly executed for the flimsiest of suspicions of disloyalty to the regime. Yet, these are not pictures from Auschwitz or Dachau 65 years ago. These are images that leak to the outside world from present-day North Korea, the domain of Kim Jung-Il.

There are twelve "minor" prophets that are yet to be really discovered by most Christians. (They are called "minor" simply because they are smaller - shorter, more terse, and concise.) Yet they contain some of the most fascinating and provocative prophecies you'll find anywhere in the Scriptures. Here's a glimpse of two of them.

Ten people died in a series of bombings across Iraq June 7, reminding the world that the violence there has not ended. On May 2, a roadside bomb exploded near buses carrying Christian students to Mosul University. Minutes later, a car bomb detonated near those same busses. One bystander was killed and over 100 people were injured in the bombings in this northern city that boasts a large Christian population. While many attacks in Iraq are meant to cause general instability, a significant number purposely target Christians.

he minister at Toronto's West Hill United Church, Rev. Gretta Vosper, does not teach her congregation to recite the Apostle's Creed. She does not believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit or born of a virgin. She does not believe that Jesus rose again from the dead or ascended into heaven... or most of the basic tenets of Biblical Christianity. In fact, when her congregation sings famous hymns, the references to Christ and God are removed.

When the Irish Christian band Bluetree sneaked into Burma (Myanmar) to play music to the Karen Christians there, the band members believed they were doing something dangerous. They did not appreciate until they got back into Thailand that they had come very close to being slaughtered.

The Book of Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a special blessing to the reader (Revelation 1:3; 22:7).  Many verses in the Bible encourage reading God's Word--in general--but only one book has the "audacity" to claim, in effect, "Read me, I'm special."