Various Christian denominations have dozens of doctrines often conflicting with one another, and even with God’s Word, the Holy Bible. Are your beliefs in harmony with the Bible? Do your beliefs “add to” or “take away from” God’s instructions?

God gave clear instructions about many subjects, including marriage, sex, child rearing, family relations, human relations, food, health, how and when to worship Him and how to live righteously. The Bible defines what sin is—and it also describes our destiny, and answers the big and important questions.

One day the ladies in our church group decided to get together for a luncheon, and to make it special I made invitations and designed a theme for the gathering just for fun. I have always worked with children, and am doing so now, and after raising four children of my own we have always enjoyed a variety of children’s picture books. One of my favorites was the folk story called, “Stone Soup.” So, that was the theme we used for this special afternoon.

Even though there are many versions of the story, this is the one we used:

“The UK is vulnerable to epidemics such as Ebola because of a gaping hole in the country’s ability to manufacture vaccines, a group of MPs has warned… ‘Existing [pharmaceutical] facilities are degraded… leaving the UK in a vulnerable position’” (BBC, January 25, 2016). How likely are Ebola and other new infectious diseases to make their way to the UK and the U.S.?

“Cooperation between Russia, Iran and China might signal a formation of a new world paradigm, able to re-define the global situation in the world both politically and strategically; the recent developments in the relations between the three might be more significant than many realize” (Sputnik News, January 26, 2016; Reuters, January 23, 2016).

Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister expressed his desire to see 2016 as the year “Japan will shine on the global stage and demonstrate its leadership” (Japan Times, January 1, 2016).