He was born to a virgin who wasn’t even married at the time of conception. The long trip to Bethlehem, giving birth in a manger, the detour through Egypt.

But what if Jesus had been born today to a modern, 21st century woman? Imagine it, if you will.

Joseph says to Mary, “By decree of Caesar Augustus, we must travel to Bethlehem to be taxed”.

To which Mary replied, “Bethlehem? It’s not enough to be taxed, but now we have to take it them?”

“Aren’t your parents from Bethlehem? You know that they never have liked me. And you don’t believe they ever bought that Immaculate Conception story, do you?”

“Why can’t you go alone? Just leave me the credit card and I will be fine”.

But Mary goes anyway, only to find out that there is no room at the inn.

“Great!” she says. “It is not enough to drag an eight and a half month pregnant woman all this way, but now you tell me I have to sleep in a barn? That’s it! Call the airport I am going home. I’ll tell you something else, I am not voting for him in the next election.”

But soon the baby Jesus is born and people come from all around to praise and worship Him, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

“Frankincense? Myrrh? Where is the cash? Diapers and formula are not cheap, you know. How about if we exchange them for more gold?” Mary says.

Finally the time comes for them to leave. Suddenly Joseph tells Mary, “We cannot go home, yet. We must travel to Egypt.”

“Egypt?” Mary asks. “Why in the world would we want to go to Egypt?”

Joseph answers, “An angel appeared to me in a dream and said that we must flee with our baby Jesus to Egypt.”

Mary looks at Joseph, raises her eyebrows, and says, “Let me get this straight. You drag me all the way to Bethlehem, make me sleep in a barn, give birth in a manger, and now you want to take me to a country that we have never been to before, where we do not know anyone or even speak the language, all because of a DREAM? I told you not to eat that tamale before bedtime.”

The preceding tale is fictitious and hopefully, somewhat amusing. While we may not know exactly how Mary reacted, we know that she did what she was asked. She did it for the love of her husband, her son, and her God.

Furthermore, she raised and protected the young Jesus as he grew into a man. She cried for Him as He hung from the cross. And being among the first, along with Mary Magdalene, to see our newly resurrected Lord and Savior rewarded her.

Love can make one go to the ends of the earth, but with the tribulations, come great rewards.

Matthew 22: 37-39 says to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself.

By doing as Mary had done and obeying these two simple commandments, you will reap the rewards on Earth and in Heaven.

It is said that you can fix anything with duct tape and WD40, although a big hammer helps, too. On a side note, it is surprising to know that one of the things that you are not supposed to use duct tape on is a furnace duct. The name comes from the canvas it is made from, not from what it is supposed to be used for.

Actually, very few people outside of the manufacturer knows what is in WD40. It is one of the best kept secrets in the world. It was created in the 1953 by a company named the Rocket Chemical Company. The space industry was having a problem with moisture creeping into their guidance systems, causing corrosion.

Rocket Chemical tried 40 different formulas before they found the right one. The name actually means “Water Displacement 40th attempt”. To keep the moisture from getting into their systems, WD40 was invented to replace or “displace” it.

So what does this have to do with your soul? Nehemiah 8:10 says “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength”. Again in Phil. 4:4, the Apostle Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice”.

You cannot keep water from creeping into a guidance system. The only way to keep it out is to displace it. By the same token, you cannot keep Satan from injecting evil thoughts into your mind. You cannot keep the world from dumping its filth and corruption on you. You cannot keep the people around you from enticing and tempting you.

So how dies a good Christian keep these things from crowding his mind? How do you keep Satan from corrupting your soul? You cannot simply refuse to think about it. The only way is to replace or “displace” it.

Displace it with what? Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is worthy of praise. Replace these thoughts with the “joy of the Lord”, for it is your strength.

“Rejoice in the Lord always.” You might think that was easy for Paul to say. After all, he was not living in today’s evil and corrupt world. No, he was in jail. Not in a jail or prison of today, but in a Roman jail. Do you think any prisoner of today would want to trade places with him? Probably not.

Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus”. Whenever you feel overwhelmed by today’s world, just displace it with a little WD40 for the soul and fill your mind with the good things from God.

What if, for 24 hours, your actions became His actions, your thoughts became His thoughts? What would be different? Would the people around you notice a difference? What would it be like?

In Philippians 2:5 it says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” We have all heard the saying, “what would Jesus do”, but how many people actually follow their own advice? How many let the heart of Jesus rule their lives?

When people read about the scandals of the various churches and spiritual leaders, it is no wonder that they want nothing to do with Christianity. What kind of example is that?

If you are a Christian, you have probably encountered others who have attacked you and your faith. The natural response would be to fight back. But you have to remember that Jesus stayed on the cross for this person. The least you can do is to remain seated.

You do not know what events have influences their opinions of religion. Many people only know what they have seen or read. What they need to see is the difference between religion, as defined in the world, and Christianity, as defined in God’s word.

What people need to see in this world is Christ in you. The hope and glory. Because a world without Christ is a world without hope.

In Eph 4:23-24, it says, “And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness”. God wants you to have a whole new heart.

The beauty is even without a new heart, God loves you anyway, but refuses to leave you that way. Your heart is no different from a broken leg. Without Christ, there is pain.

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (JN 12:32). We do not call out to people to join a church, we call out to people to become part of Christ and He will add them to His church.

If you call out to people to join a church, it will not be long before they are disappointed, because people are not perfect.

Jesus’ heart is pure and not affected by His environment. Let the heart of Jesus live within you and your heart will live within Him.

Whenever she would visit, the family would dig out the Monopoly board and, by the end of the game, she would take his very last dollar.

One year, a boy moved next door who was also an expert player and by the end of the summer, James was a Monopoly master.

When Grandma returned, he was ready for her. By the end of the game, he had taken her for everything she had. But while he was gloating, Grandma told him that he had one more lesson to learn about playing the game. She said that when the game is over, no matter what the outcome, it all goes back in the box.

In Ecclesiastes 1, King Solomon, one of the wisest and richest men who ever lived, reminds us of the futility of accumulation of possessions.

“What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.” (Ecc 1: 3-4)

Again in chapter 12, he paints a rather depressing picture of the twilight years. He speaks of a time when our eyes grow dim and our ears cannot hear as well, when the joints and muscles of even the strongest men weaken and they cannot stand straight.

In Luke, chapter 12, Jesus is confronted by a man who is squabbling with his brother over an inheritance. What was Jesus’ response?

“Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (LK 12: 14-15)

He goes on to tell a parable about a rich man who would tear down his barns to build bigger ones, because he had amassed such abundant crops. He had good things to last him for years.

Jesus goes on to say, “But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ (LK 12: 20)

The rich man had enough to last him for years, yet would not live through the night. Most people would consider this to be rather depressing. But to the Christian, they are just incidentals. The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 TIM 6: 6-8)

This doesn’t mean we have to live as paupers, but the true Christian keeps his priorities straight. They know that when it is all said and done, when your life is over, no matter how much or how little you may have accumulated, it all goes back in the box.

If we could go back to the beginning of time, what would we see? There are two different sides debating the beginning of the universe, science and religion.

Science would have us believe that due to natural selection and pure dumb luck, everything fell into perfect place for life to begin. The odds of this happening are so great that it would take several massive hard drives to hold all the zeros, but since it is not mathematically impossible, we will not dismiss it.

Religion, on the other hand, wants us to believe that everything and everyone were created by an all-powerful God. Scientists tell us that the odds of this are at least as high. But again, it is not impossible, so let us not dismiss this either.

Neither one of us were there at the time, so let us discuss which one is more likely.

As to the beginning of the universe, according to one scientific theory, and there are many, there was this big bang. Since this seems to be the most popular theory, let’s examine it.

Supposedly, there was this miniscule bit of matter no bigger than the head of a pin, that was so dense that it collapsed upon itself and exploded in a bang beyond belief.

This matter spread far and wide, creating the stars, planets, and everything else in existence. This would explain why the universe is constantly expanding.

From that point, everything fell into place by chance until we ended up where we are today.

However, one thing that science has not been able to explain is where that miniscule bit of highly dense matter came from in the first place.

The laws of physics states that matter cannot be created or destroyed. In other words, you cannot make something out of nothing. Hence, the problem with this theory, or any scientific theory for that matter, is that they are all scientifically impossible.

I believe that it was Sherlock Holmes who once stated that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be true. That being the case, what about intelligent design?

Since God is an omnipotent being, He exists beyond the laws of physics. In other words, He doesn’t play by the same rules that we do.

There is no reason to believe that God did not use the laws of physics to create the universe. The Bible says that He created the world in seven days and most people believe that to mean seven earth days. However, an Earth day is based on one revolution of the Earth, using our sun as a guide. But God did not create the Sun until the fourth day.
2 Peter, 3:8 says that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. We do not even know if that is literal or figurative. In other words, seven days to the Lord could span millions of years to us.

Science prides itself on logic and fact. They claim that the idea of a supreme being is so ridiculously unlikely that it is ludicrous to believe in such a thing.

But then they choose to believe something that is not just unlikely, but impossible.

So ask yourself this. Who is crazier, the one who believes in something that cannot be proven or the one who believes in something that can be proven wrong?

Why do people feel the need to criticize? Many people criticize because they feel a loss of control. They would rather do a task wrong than to do it someone else’s way.

In Neh:4, we read that Nehamiah has taken on the task of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. When Sanballet heard this, he immediately began criticizing. “Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building–if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” (NEH 4:3)

How do you feel when you are criticized? Angry? Depressed? Betrayed? Not everyone feels the same way. More than that, how do you respond? Temper? Violence?

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” How you respond to criticism tells more about you than the critic. You should consider the possible influences that could be causing their behavior.

Unless you own your own business, you probably have had to deal with bosses at your job. While some are fair and reasonable, some seem to relish in ridicule and criticism. Have you ever considered why?

Perhaps they are feeling pressure from the top. Or maybe their personal lives are falling apart. Many times, the pursuit of advancement overcomes them and allows Satan to influence their behavior.

It is possible that they need your prayers instead of your anger. At the very least, you can help defuse a situation with a gentle answer instead of harsh words.

But what if the roles are reversed? Instead of being criticized, many of us become the critic, often without even realizing it.

In Matthew 27, when Jesus was brought before Pilate for judgment, he washed his hands of the responsibility because he found no evidence to convict Jesus (Matt 27:24). Yet Jesus was crucified anyway based on hearsay and false testimony.

Every human is a creation of God and deserves to be treated fairly. Before you spread that rumor criticizing someone, check out the facts first. Without doing so, you become no better than the ones who crucified Jesus.

Dealing with criticism is a two way street. Do not get caught going the wrong way.

Journalist Bill Moyers had this to say. “The bible is the book of fairy tales. Bible believers have a neurological disorder.” And Ted Turner claims that Christianity is a religion for weaklings and people who are mentally deranged.

How do we even know that the bible is really the word of God?

How do we know what the bible says is what it said in the first century? More importantly, how do we respond to the questions and accusations of those non believers? In 1 Peter 3:15, it says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”

When someone says the bible is full of contradictions, ask them for an example. Most likely they cannot, because most people who deny the bible have never studied it.

There are two questions that need to be asked.

1. Is the bible today reliable?

Since we no longer have the original copies of the books of the bible, how can we be sure that the bible is accurate?

What about the gospel of Judas or the gospel of Thomas? Many people claim that there are actually 30 gospels, but only four were included in the bible because of political pressure.

Yes there are 30 books people claim to be gospel, but only four were written in the first century. The Apostles and all the witnesses were long dead before the other books were written.

2. Is the bible the word of God?

The most powerful proof that the bible is the word of God is fulfilled prophecy. There are four criteria to qualify fulfilled prophecy.

1: It can be proved that it was written before it happened.
2: A large time gap occurred between the prophecy and the time it happened.
3: It was something that was highly unlikely to happen.
4: It was impossible for the person writing it to manipulate the event.

The book of Mormon made many prophecies, but most occurred before 1830 when the book came into existence. But what about the prophecies of the future?

In 1836, they predicted that the coming of the Lord would happen within 36 years. We are still waiting. In 1838, they predicted that David W. Patten would go on a great mission for God, but he died six months later before he left the country.

What about the Quran? There are many prophecies in the Quran about the end of time, but none that have been fulfilled.

That brings us to the bible. In Isa 44:28, it says, “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”

This was given 125 years before the temple was even destroyed. Cyrus had not even been born yet. Yet Cyrus was called out by name to rebuild the temple. This was too far from the prophecy to manipulate.

There are over 400 fulfilled prophecies about the life, death, and burial of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, but let us consider just eight.

The statistical probabilities of just eight of the fulfilled prophecies of Jesus is over ten to the seventeenth power to one. What does mean to us?

If you were to cover the entire land surface of the earth with one and one-half inch square tiles and paint the bottom of one tile red, the odds of someone picking up that one tile on the first try has about the same odds.

When someone questions your faith, hopefully this can help you respond in a language that they understand.

Do you remember the last time you lost the TV remote control? Wasn’t it a nuisance to have to get out of your chair, walk all the way over to the TV, and push the button? Some folks are old enough to remember when TV’s did not even have buttons. They had a knob to turn the channel and another, bigger knob to fine tune the station.

Today we push a button on a hand-held remote and, voila, the channel changes to one of several hundred stations.

We have microwaves, remote car starters, computers, and calculators. When was the last time you did long division on paper?

Has life today become so convenient that we are looking for a convenient God? A God that will give us things on our schedule and make things as easy as possible for us?

Many years ago, there was a Christian man, John, who was vice president for a highly successful construction company. One day he discovered that the reason the company was so successful was that they were cheating. They were paying off inspectors and using shoddy material. That is how they could underbid all the other companies and still make a profit.

When John discovered what was happening, he confronted his boss. John was given two choices: cooperate or resign. The convenient thing to do would have been to keep his mouth shut, but he left his resignation and walked out the door, knowing that all the money he had was what he had saved up.

His former boss could have blackballed him in the industry, but he trusted in God and that somehow, things would work out.

One day his former boss called him and asked him to come back to work for him. He told John that federal agents were in his office at that moment, that he expected to go to jail, and that John was the only person he knew that he could trust to run his business until he returned.

John knew that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.(Heb 11:6) How far are you willing to drive to worship God? How much time are you willing to invest to study His word?

We all reach a point in our lives that, even though we know what God wants us to do, in our heart, we do not see how it can possibly work out.

When your own heart says, “this is the only way this will work”, but God says differently, that is when you find out how much faith you have. Follow His commandments and know that God will provide. Do not disobey Him for the sake of convenience.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

According to recent surveys, 225 million people in America claim to be Christian. Out of that 225 million, only 100 million claim to be a member of a church. And out of that 100 million, only 50 million attend church on at least a semi-regular basis.

Another study reports that teen pregnancy is nearly identical in the church as to those who do not attend. And the divorce rate is actually slightly higher in the church as that of those who do not belong.

Put another way, 225 million people believe Jesus lived. 100 million people have made a decision about Christ.

But consider this. If the 225 million or the 100 million, or even the 50 million were actually committed to Christ, would the world be different? Would there be less teen pregnancy, fewer divorces, less adultery? Would there not be less pornography and drug use?

Jesus once said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” (Matthew 7:13, New American Standard)

And in Luke:14:26, he states, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (New American Standard)

Does this mean you literally have to hate your parents? No. It simply means that your love of Christ must be so great that your love for others pales in comparison. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37) God either must be placed first in your life or have no place at all. You either trust in God or you do not.

The next question many ask is, “Why should I? What is in it for me?” That is a fair question. The Apostle Paul gives the answer in Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

And what is the result of this? John 3:15 states, “so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” A commitment to Christ means eternal life in paradise. Without Christ, there is only death.

“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause” (Job 5:8).

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” 1 Tim 4:1. (NIV)

Have you ever considered what the Apostle Paul meant by this scripture? First we need to determine what he meant by later days. Many, if not most people today believe that to mean the end days after the second coming of Christ. But is it really?

In Acts 2, Peter tells us of a prophecy spoken by the prophet Joel. “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” Acts 2:17

Joel spoke of the last days, yet the prophecy was being fulfilled that day. Clearly they were already in the last days, as we are today. The last days and the beginning of Christianity began on that day of Pentecost.

Since we are in the last days, who was Paul referring to in his letter to Timothy? Was it atheists, science, the government? No, he was referring to men who had begun corrupting the word of God, yet remained in the Church. Today they come teaching earthly things and traditions handed down over generations.

“They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.” (1 Tim 4:3) Does this sound familiar? Does it sound like anyone you know?

So-called men of God today will have you believe many false doctrine traditions and know how to manipulate scripture to support it. They give you only a small part of the story. “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29-30)

So how can we tell the false teachers from the real ones? They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. You must become a good servant of Christ first and the people second. You must follow His commandments. And the only place you can be sure of discovering the truth is from the original source, the bible.

By becoming a good servant of Christ, he will be a good servant to you.