In the last article, we examined the origins of the Scythians, the descendants of Magog who terrorized the southern steppes of Russia from the 10th to the 3rd century b.c.

In my opinion the "key" to the Christian walk is knowing how, moment by moment, to give things over to God-how to acknowledge and confess our sin and self; how to repent of it; and then, how to give it over to Him.

An outstanding salesman is one who can tell another to go to hell and make him feel very happy that he is on his way. Such a feat requires intense creativity, deceptive semantics, and the ability to lie creatively and utter warm, loving words to the victim while concealing the intense hatred the perpetrator feels for him.

There's a huge difference between simply knowing that we possess God's Life in our hearts and actually experiencing it in our lives. The key to being able to do this, moment by moment, is understanding how to surrender ourselves to the Lord. This process is what we have been exploring over these last several months in Personal UPDATE.

It may come as a surprise to discover that there are a number of Biblical experts who regard the Book of Leviticus as the most important book of the Bible! (Dr. Samuel H. Kellogg, Dr. Albert C. Dudley, J. Vernon McGee, et al.)

So begins this classic passage in which Gog and Magog, with their allies, are drawn into an invasion of Israel only to have the God of Israel use the occasion to show Himself strong by intervening on behalf of His people and destroying the invading forces.

Last month, we reviewed a couple of the "minor prophets" (so labeled simply because they are smaller - shorter, more terse and concise): Joel and Amos. This month we'll take a glimpse at a few more.

As diligent Bible students, most of us are familiar with the emergence of the empires that were profiled, in advance, in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7: the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman Empires.

How do we give things over to the Lord and leave them there? This has been our topic of discussion for the last two months. We briefly talked about the four essential steps to doing this:

World events seem to press forward in a confusing whirl of exhilarating noise and babble, leaving the average onlooker confused as to its significance. In reality, these reports only haunt those viewing world events through the filters of post-WWII and Cold War assumptions, rather than the new global paradigm in play, which is global governance.

[Ed Note: We have been following Barry Setterfield's research on the speed of light since 1993. It is interesting that both evolutionists and creation scientists can be blinded by their own presuppositions...]

It seems astonishing that in our "enlightened" culture, despite our space-age sophistication, many people still believe in astrology! A Gallup poll concluded that 55% of teenagers believe in astrology; 1220 of the 1750 newspapers include a horoscope column of some kind to serve their readers.

Israel and the PLO have been sliding toward full-blown war since September 2000, as the last shreds of the Oslo Peace Process dissolved into an intifada and successive terrorist activities.

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.

In the last article, we began an exploration of the four essential steps that God has laid out for us in Scripture in order to deal with our sin, be reconciled with Him and allow His Life to once again flow through us. This is our "readiness to revenge all disobedience" as 2 Corinthians 10:6 exhorts us.

For a presumably enlightened culture, our lives - and schoolbooks - are littered with an astonishing array of beliefs that pose as being scientific, but are actually in contradiction to available evidence. We need to regard many of our cherished myths with cautious skepticism and not allow conjectures to masquerade as proven facts.

How does one go about giving things to God? It's so easy to say with our words, "Oh, just give it to God." Well, how exactly does one do that in action?

I have come here to voice what I believe is an urgently needed reminder: that the war on terror can be won with clarity and courage, or lost with confusion and vacillation.

Do heavenly bodies have any influence over our lives? (Millions of people consult their horoscopes every day. In the U.S. alone, 1220 of the 1750 newspapers carry astrological data.) Is there any relationship between diet and spiritual living? Do the Eastern religions have anything to offer the evangelical Christian?

For over twenty years we have guided Bible study tours to Israel. There is nothing that compares to a visit to the Holy Land. As my daughter once remarked, "It turns your black-and-white Bible into living color."