Will Vaus

Listen for God’s word to you from Matthew 1:18-25… This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.   Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet   did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce   her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel   of the Lord appeared to him in a dream   and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.   She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,   because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill   what the Lord had said through the prophet:   “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). When Joseph woke up...

A few years ago, a Christian friend of mine gave me a CD to listen to. The CD was given to him by a mutual non-Christian acquaintance of ours. My Christian friend was disturbed by the teaching he heard on this CD and wanted my thoughts on it which he could, in turn, share with our non-Christian friend. While I was on the road, I popped the CD into my player. It turned out to be the beginning of  A Course in Miracles , a popular New Age teaching. The teaching is laid out in dramatic fashion as a dialogue between different characters.   A Course in Miracles  purports to be a revelation of two “ascended masters” who were, two thousand years ago, two of Jesus’ disciples. They claim, among other things, to present the true teaching of Jesus which has supposedly been distorted by the Bible. My Christian friend asked me to write down my thoughts about the CD. But after listening to the whole thing, I could think of only one question: Why believe it? Why should we believe th...

Because of my father’s friendship with Billy Graham, I got to meet and spend time with Mr. Graham on several occasions. One of those times was at Anaheim Stadium where Mr. Graham spoke in to over 80,000 people one night in 1985. I was astonished to see the elaborate preparations that were made for his arrival. Mr. Graham had a police escort. There was an ambulance at the ready just in case an attempt was made on his life. The route that Mr. Graham took through the stadium was planned out, his every move accompanied by an entourage. Now, I invite you to transfer your mind back 2000 years. We are in the hot and dusty desert of Israel and the way is being prepared for another preacher, but not just any preacher, for this is the preacher who will be the Messiah, the King. How should the people get ready? There is not even a road. So, here comes a forerunner, shouting to the people in the desert: the king is coming! Make a road for him! Make it good and straight. This is the message that h...

When my wife, Becky, got pregnant the first time we read everything we could about what was happening in the womb during each month of the pregnancy. But as we approached her due date, we were especially looking for signs of her going into labor: her water breaking and/or the pains of contractions.   It’s sort of funny now looking back on it, but none of the three births worked themselves out in textbook fashion.  In Matthew 24:8, Jesus compares the signs of the end of the age to birth pangs. However, I think many people over the course of the last two thousand years have misread these signs, just as we misread the signs of birth, when we were new to the whole parenting thing. The key verse in Matthew 24 is verse 34. Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” Jesus gives us several signs of the end of the age in this passage. But I don’t think he is talking about the end of world history as many h...