Tommy Mann

Is Satan powerful? We place a lot of blame on him for the problems in this life, and deservedly so. He is responsible for the entrance of sin into the world, and since sin is the reason for all our problems, Satan bears much of the responsibility for the fallen condition of humanity.  But just how powerful is the devil? The Bible identifies him as the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), and the god or ruler of this world (John 12:31). He certainly is strong, and to underestimate his power is a grave mistake. Some people choose to play around with occultic activities, and I believe this only gives Satan an even greater opening to temp us.  Paul gives us a glimpse into the devil’s power in II Corinthians 4:4 when he wrote, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” According to that verse, our adversary has the ability to blind people to the truth of God

Throughout the Bible God tells us that He is the grandest being in existence, and that we are to love Him, praise Him, and serve Him. This has long been used as a negative critique of God, as atheists tell us that God is a giant narcissist demanding to not only be loved, but to be constantly told how great He is.  People that demand to be treated as if they are superior are off putting, and those who insist on being lauded with praise are downright annoying. It comes across as childish, like a person who is insecure and thus needs to be reaffirmed by everyone else. Is this really how God is? And if so, wouldn’t that be a character flaw, and thus make Him imperfect? Is God like the Evil Queen who asks, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”  God said through Isaiah that He will not share His glory with anyone else. When giving the Ten Commands God said, “You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything

One of the most powerful and feared Muslim rulers of the Roman era was Abdalrahman. According to the classic book The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, there is a monument in his honor that bears this inscription from his own mouth: “I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to fourteen. O man! Place not thy confidence in this present world!” It is hard to imagine that such a wealthy and powerful ruler would say at the end of his life that he only had fourteen total days of happiness. From the outside looking in one might think the life of the rich and famous is all happy all the time, but this shocking confession blows that thought out of the water.  All people have a desire for happiness, and we certainly want more than fourteen days of it over the course of our lifetime. When we are experiencing moments of happiness we hope that it will last forever, but inevitably it ends. A child spending a day at Disney World ex

Have you ever shot a bow and arrow? I remember the plastic bow and the suction cup tipped arrows from my childhood, but I also remember the actual bow and arrow set we got in Cherokee, North Carolina. I remember setting up targets with my brother and trying to hit the bullseye. I never mastered the bow and arrow but I remember having fun as I tried. There are two interesting archery terms in the Bible that we often miss because one word is Hebrew and the other is Old English. One of the most popular Hebrew words that we possibly use without fully understanding is torah. We use this word because it refers to our Old Testament, and is often translated as law. When Jews today speak of the Torah they are referring to the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible, Genesis-Deuteronomy. But the word torah comes up throughout the Old Testament and speaks of God’s law. Psalm 1 describes the person who wants to be happy, and verse 2 says, “But his delight is in the law (torah) of the Lor