Short Meditations on the Bible and Peanuts
By Editorial Staff
Published April 2008
By Robert L. Short
Q. What’s the best thing you can do for yourself and others?
A. Know the Bible!
“Jesus answered them, ‘How wrong you are! It is because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power.’” – Matthew 22:29 TEV
When Jesus made this statement to the Sadducees, they weren’t discussing little questions. They were discussing some really big ones. These are the only questions the Bible and Jesus are interested in – the really big ones. For the most part, they are interested in meaning, not means. They discuss ultimates, not penultimates. The author of the book of Revelation talks about “the four corners of the earth” (Rev. 7:1, 20:8). Does this mean that John thought that the earth was shaped like this page, with flat corners? Maybe so. Maybe not.
Apparently the question didn’t bother him very much, or he would have mentioned it. No, John wasn’t interested in the physical shape of the world but in the spiritual shape the world was in. We’re asking the Bible the wrong questions when we come to it with our little questions. Its purpose is to answer the questions that really bother us the most and are the hardest for us to handle.
None of us can escape these big questions any more than we can escape seeing Woodstock’s single giant question mark here. These questions are to us what this question is to Woodstock: bigger than we are. They are also over our heads. Nevertheless, most of us are forced to come up with at least some provisional answers for these big non-provisional questions.
But what if our answers are wrong? This would mean we’d be basing our entire lives on something that wasn’t true. We’d be embarking on a long trip, but sailing on the wrong ship. And in the case of others, we’d constantly be suppling them with incorrect information.
When Snoopy attempts to write a book on theology, he hits on what he considers the perfect title: “Has It Ever Occurred to You That You Might Be Wrong?” Good question. This is the first question of all good theology. “How do we know right from wrong?” “How do we know the truth?” Or “Can we know the truth?”
Also notice this: Jesus didn’t say, “In my humble opinion, it seems to me that you may be somewhat mistaken;” or, “Perhaps we should all think about this a little more.” No, he said bluntly, “How wrong you are!” You are wrong because your knowledge is inadequate; “You don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power.” Evidently, for Jesus, these were the two sources that held the answers to life’s really big questions. If he’s right, and we don’t want to be wrong, then obviously this is the best thing we can do for ourselves: Know the scriptures!
Shouldn’t we also know God’s power? Yes. But this is not anything we can do for ourselves. If it were, this would be a power we could control. It would not be God’s power but ours.
- Robert L. Short
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A timely and provocative conversation between faith and culture, Short Meditations on the Bible and Peanuts is Robert L. Short’s follow-up to the 25th anniversary of the best seller The Gospel According to Peanuts. Charles M. Schulz, who became a Christian after his mother’s death in his early twenties, and Short, a theologian, team up using humor to make us think seriously.
Like The Gospel According to Peanuts and Parables of Peanuts, Short uses Peanuts comic strips to provide us with insightful glimpses into Truth. This was a perilous experiment that came off.
Short Meditations on the Bible and Peanuts, by Robert L. Short, will be available beginning in October through Westminster/Knox Press for $7.95.
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The Real Jesus: A Defense of the Historicity and Divinity of Christ (DVD)
Who is the Real Jesus?
Ever since the dawn of modern rationalism, skeptics have sought to use textual criticism, archeology and historical reconstructions to uncover the “historical Jesus” — a wise teacher who said many wonderful things, but fulfilled no prophecies, performed no miracles and certainly did not rise from the dead in triumph over sin.
Over the past 100 years, however, startling discoveries in biblical archeology and scholarship have all but vanquished the faulty assumptions of these doubting modernists. Regrettably, these discoveries have often been ignored by the skeptics as well as by the popular media. As a result, the liberal view still holds sway in universities and impacts the culture and even much of the church.
The Real Jesus explodes the myths of these critics and the movies, books and television programs that have popularized their views. Presented in ten parts — perfect for individual, family and classroom study — viewers will be challenged to go deeper in their knowledge of Christ in order to be able to defend their faith and present the truth to a skeptical modern world – that the Jesus of the Gospels is the Jesus of history — “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). He is the real Jesus.
Speakers include: George Grant, Ted Baehr, Stephen Mansfield, Raymond Ortlund, Phil Kayser, David Lutzweiler, Jay Grimstead, J.P. Holding, and Eric Holmberg.
Ten parts, over two hours of instruction!
Running Time: 130 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
The Four Keys to the Millennium (Book)
Foundations in Biblical Eschatology
By Jay Rogers, Larry Waugh, Rodney Stortz, Joseph Meiring. High quality paperback, 167 pages.
All Christians believe that their great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will one day return. Although we cannot know the exact time of His return, what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of the signs of His coming (Mat. 24)? How are we to interpret the prophecies in Isaiah regarding the time when “the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isa. 11:19)? Should we expect a time of great tribulation and apostasy or revival and reformation before the Lord returns? Is the devil bound now, and are the saints reigning with Christ? Did you know that there are four hermeneutical approaches to the book of Daniel and Revelation?
These and many more questions are dealt with by four authors as they present the four views on the millennium. Each view is then critiqued by the other three authors.
$9.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
Go Stand Speak (DVD)
With “preaching to the lost” being such a basic foundation of Christianity, why do many in the church seem to be apathetic on this issue of preaching in highways and byways of towns and cities?
Is it biblical to stand in the public places of the world and proclaim the gospel, regardless if people want to hear it or not?
Does the Bible really call church pastors, leaders and evangelists to proclaim the gospel in the public square as part of obedience to the Great Commission, or is public preaching something that is outdated and not applicable for our day and age?
These any many other questions are answered in this documentary.
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
Massacre of Innocence (DVD)
Exposing The Occult Roots of Abortion
This presentation looks at the spiritual roots of abortion and exposes the myths surrounding child killing. Little known historical facts about abortion and how they relate to modern feminism are presented logically and accurately. Has been effective in converting many to a pro-life position.
Massacre of Innocence goes where no pro-life presentation has gone before in “tearing the lid off abortion” to reveal the spiritual realities we must battle if we will bring an end to this crime. The presentation is absorbing, fast-paced, informative and incredibly devastating to any attempt to justify abortion.
“… an extraordinary statement … a powerfully articulate presentation about what abortion really means, and why a great and moral nation like the United States must not allow the slaughter to continue.”
— Congressman Robert K. Dornan
Running time: 85 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
The Abortion Matrix: Defeating Child Sacrifice and the Culture of Death (DVD)
Download the free Study Guide!
Is there a connection between pagan religion and the abortion industry?
This powerful presentation traces the biblical roots of child sacrifice and then delves into the social, political and cultural fall-out that this sin against God and crime against humanity has produced in our beleaguered society.
Conceived as a sequel and update to the 1988 classic, The Massacre of Innocence, the new title, The Abortion Matrix, is entirely fitting. It not only references abortion’s specific target – the sacred matrix where human beings are formed in the womb in the very image of God, but it also implies the existence of a conspiracy, a matrix of seemingly disparate forces that are driving this holocaust.
The occult activity surrounding the abortion industry is exposed with numerous examples. But are these just aberrations, bizarre yet anomalous examples of abortionists who just happen to have ties to modern day witchcraft? Or is this representative of something deeper, more sinister and even endemic to the entire abortion movement?
As the allusion to the film of over a decade ago suggests, the viewer may learn that things are not always as they appear to be. The Abortion Matrix reveals the reality of child-killing and strikes the proper moral chord to move hearts to fulfill the biblical responsibility to rescue those unjustly sentenced to death and to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 24:11,12; 31:8,9).
Speakers include: George Grant, Peter Hammond, RC Sproul Jr., Paul Jehle, Lou Engle, Rusty Thomas, Flip Benham, Janet Porter and many more.
Ten parts, over three hours of instruction!
Running Time: 195 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)
