In 1998, Michael Crichton, author of the best-seller Jurassic Park, wrote a book entitled State of Fear, a fictional look at a global disaster caused by eco-terrorists. To prepare for the writing of the book, Crichton researched global disasters. He was particularly intrigued with what happened in Chernobyl, one of the worst man-made disasters in history. He was surprised to find, though, that Chernobyl ...

In his book The Unexpected Journey, Thom Rainer shares the story of Kathi, a woman who left behind a life of witchcraft and Wiccan paganism to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Immediately after her decision to become a Christian, she describes to Thom how God delivered her from the powers of evil in her life, as well as her physical deafness (Kathi had been suffering progressive hearing loss for ...

Seatbelts can be a hassle. Some people just don't want to be bothered even when the law requires them to buckle up. According to the Associated Press, a New Zealander named Ivan Segedin took it to an extreme. The police ticketed him 32 times over five years for failing to use his seat belt. Even though this was costing him big money, Segedin refused to buckle up. Finally, instead of obeying the law, ...

The percentage of Americans who have never known

• a Buddhist: 59 percent
  
  
• an undocumented immigrant: 54 percent
  
  
• a Muslim: 46 percent
  
  
• a homeless person: 45 percent
  
  
• an evangelical Christian: 40 percent
  
  
• a political liberal: 25 percent
  
  
• a political conservative: 24 percent
  
  
• a former inmate: 15 percent
  
  
• a wealthy person: 12 percent
  
  

In his book Organic Church, Neil Cole describes a number of missional communities that go where the people are, rather than have the people come to them. Such church communities meet in various places, including pubs, community centers, and simple living rooms. One particular church Cole describes meets in a coffeehouse. After the small band of people experienced some growth, they immediately decided ...

In a video based on his book 3:16 Stories of Hope, Max Lucado illustrates the odd nature of the statement that "all religions lead to God":

All roads lead to heaven. Well, the sentence makes good talk-show fodder, but does it make sense? Can all approaches to God be correct? How can all religions lead to God when they are so different? We don't tolerate such logic in other matters. We don't pretend ...

The 1996 bestseller Conversations with God has sold over 2.5 million copies.

The author, Neale Donald Walsch, says that one day he simply started writing down his direct conversations with God. The God he speaks to is not Christian, nor identified with any other major religion. Walsch presents a God who satisfies the spiritual yearnings of our culture. The following conversation between Walsch and ...

Kim Peek is the man who inspired the 1988 film Rain Man about an autistic savant with astounding mathematical skills. Peek is what doctors call a mega-savant. A savant possesses remarkable expertise in 1 to 3 subjects. Peek is an expert in at least 15, including history, sports, space, music, and geography. No one in the world is thought to possess a brain as extraordinary as Peek's. He has total ...

Trail magazine, with 37,000 readers, is one of the most widely distributed climbing magazines.

The February 2004 issue provided directions for climbers descending Britain's highest peak, Ben Nevis. Returning from the 4,409 foot summit in bad weather requires explicit instruction. The article gave step by step advice on navigating the trial down. The directions were wrong.

Roger Wild, the mountain safety ...

Hank Hanegraaff writes:

In 1980, Harvest House published a book by Larry Parker entitled We Let Our Son Die. The book tells the tragic story of how Larry and his wife—after being influenced by one of America's numerous "word of faith" (or "word-faith") teachers—withheld insulin from their diabetic son, Wesley. Predictably, Wesley went into a diabetic coma. The Parkers, warned about the impropriety ...