Dr. Robert Owens Chronicles the History of the Future

An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens September 6, 2024

The right word at the right time is a beautiful thing.

This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at

A Golden Sunset in the Promised Land September 5, 2024

An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens September 5, 2024

No matter how long life lasts we shouldn’t take even one day for granted, for once they’re gone … they’re gone.

This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at

The Two Witnesses who Helped Change My Life September 4, 2024

If it’s my way or the highway I choose the real High Way, God’s way.  You see I tried my way, and it led to depression, despair, and loneliness.  The best I could figure out is if this is all there is let’s roll out the barrels and have a party.  My life before Christ was like the meaningless forever party at The Restaurant at The End Of The Universe in Douglas Adam’s iconic Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  The band plays on, the people careen through life in a mad dash to nowhere, everyone is laughing, smiling, miserable, and heading toward oblivion. 

In the doomed life without Christ people mistake happiness and laughter for joy, and waste their lives trying to tickle themselves to death. 

So, after thirty wasted years sacrificed on an altar of senseless, self-indulgent, self-destructive tickling I chose the God’s High Way.  I chose to make Jesus the Lord of my life because I believe in my heart God has raised Him from the dead.  I came to believe Jesus offered Himself up as a sinless sacrifice to pay the price of not just my sin but of everyone’s sin.  I came to understand that the wall of separation caused by sin between humanity and God was broken down and we can all be united with Him.  I embraced the truth that we can become His children.  We no longer are strangers but members of His family welcome to walk boldly into our Daddy’s throne room. 

Have you ever felt as if there’s no hope?  Don’t be fooled by the god of this world.^[1]  There is hope.  Have you ever felt like you were too far gone, too wrong to ever be right again?  Don’t be fooled by the confusing systems of laws that litter this world, or by gnawing feelings of guilt.  We can be right with God.   

Christ told us to take His light to the world and in our finite wisdom we constantly attempt to build lamps.  They may provide light but it’s not His light.  The bewildering mazes of religious laws are paths built by men.  The feelings of guilt that inform us we have a consciousness of sin are themselves pinpricks and poundings delivered by God to prod us into the way, His way, the High Way.  They don’t mean we’re lost forever.  It’s just the opposite.  They mean God hasn’t given up on us yet.   

And if God hasn’t given up on us, why should we give up on God? 

Happiness can be affected by what we had for dinner last night.  Did it taste good?  Did it sit well, or did it give us indigestion? Happiness can be impacted by whether we’re rich or poor, sick or healthy or any combination of things that are here today and gone tomorrow.  Laughter can be a mask to hide the tears. 

But joy is something else again.  Joy is rooted in our relationship with God, and since the world didn’t give it to us the world can’t take it away.  That’s why it’s called the joy that passes all understanding.^[2] 

This God given joy is a powerful life changing thing. 

Seeing this joy in action when I was an unbeliever is one of the things that eventually convinced me the Bible was true, salvation was real, and I could have it if I wanted it. 

When I was at the depth of my unbelief, calling myself an atheist and a hater of all things godly I witnessed people live through the birth of a very special child.  One whose physical challenges led to a short life among us but a life having a major impact on at least one life I know of: mine.  His parents loved that child.  They praised God for that child.  They gave all they had to care for that child.  And when that child passed leaving them physically, emotionally, and financially drained they held a celebration to praise God for blessing them in such a great way. 

I can remember thinking they were crazy.  I shook my head and wondered how anyone could be so different from everyone else I’d ever known.  I didn’t know it at the time, but I was a witness to people living out the reality of a passage from the book of Job who was the greatest of all the people of the East.^[3]   

After Job lost everything; his home, his children, and all his wealth, he was struck with painful boils from the sole of his feet to the crown of his head.  While sitting amid the ashes of his life he took a broken piece of pottery to scrape off the scabs his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” which is what the world was screaming at the two followers of Christ with their family disrupted, their finances destroyed, and their child dead.  These born-again believers said with their actions to the world what Job replied to his wife, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.  Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” 

Years later as I reflected upon whether or not it was possible to live for God in a fallen world the memory of those two saints, Judy and Harry, praising God for blessings in the middle of what the fallen world saw as a curse I knew it was possible.  Now after forty years of walking with my hand in the hand of the Man who stilled the sea, I know it from personal experience. 

Choose God and accept His gift of salvation not for what we’ve done but because of what Jesus did.  He paid the price for our lifetime membership in the family of God, but we still may have to pay some dues down here.  If we trust in Him when the wind and the waves smash against us, we’ll stand like a house built on a rock.^[4]  If we choose to give our lives to God in Jesus, we get them back again better and brighter than we could ever imagine.  If we instead try to keep our lives for ourselves, we lose everything, and when the wind and the waves smash against us, we’ll crumble like a house built upon the sand.^[5]

We never know who’s watching.  We never know what someone else may see.  So, let’s quit tickling ourselves to death, find the joy of the Lord which is our strength and let the joy, joy, joy of the Lord down in our souls and watch our lives become the witness He’s called us to be.^[6] 

Thank you, Judy and Harry, for being two witnesses who helped change my life.  I praise God for you both, and I love you with the love of the Lord. 

[1] 2 Corinthians 4:4

[2] Philippians 4:5-7

[3] Job 2:9-10

[4] Matthew 7:24-27

[5] Luke 6:46-49

[6] Acts 1:8

Season Three Episode Twenty-seven September 3, 2024

In Episode Twenty-seven / Season Three of I Took a Right Turn: We once again share some old worship songs: Joy is the Flag, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, and Keep On Keeping On.  The homegrown song for this episode is: Do What He Said.  In our Bible study this week we dive into Philippians 4:6-7 and II Corinthians 4:3-4 looking at how we should dismiss anxiety and believe God.  Robert reads another essay from his series of books on Christian living, (Faith, Hope, and Love) reading Essay # 22 from the book, Hope: “The Two Witnesses Who Helped Change My Life.”

The text of this essay will be posted the day after the release of this episode at www.itookarighturn.com and www.drrobertowens.com  All of Robert’s thirty-six books are available in paper back and kindle through Amazon.  We also invite everyone to visit our online art store, The Pair a Docs Shop where we offer our original paintings, prints and merchandise.

An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens August 31, 2024

For people who try to pry miracles from God’s hands religion becomes the technology of the supernatural, a series of magic formulas and incantations hidden behind a façade of rituals and a smoke screen of greed.

This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at

An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens August 30, 2024

God will do things in us and for us that we never imagined possible if we’ll let Him.

This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at

A Prisoner in My Own Mind August 29, 2024

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An excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens August 29, 2024

This world isn’t a machine operated by pulleys and levers.  It isn’t a roulette wheel operated by chance.  It’s a staging area prepared by God as an onramp to heaven if we follow His directions.

This is an excerpt from the book New Old Sayings Volume Two by Dr. Robert Owens. This and all his books are available from Amazon in paperback or kindle at

The Ambassador Comes to Call August 28, 2024

When my wife and I were students at Regent University working on our doctorates we often had gatherings at our large Victorian home in South Norfolk.  I’ll never forget when a man from Africa attended for the first time.  He arrived with several of our usual guests and was a very engaging and likable person, “A hale fellow well met,” as he would’ve said in his elegant British accent.

As always, we sat around our big table in the large kitchen talking, laughing, and sharing what the Lord was doing in our lives.  After a few hours our new friend received a call and told us he was sorry but pressing business required his immediate attention.  The people he’d come with offered to drive him home but he said, “No worries, I’ll call my driver.”

We went back to visiting until we were interrupted by a knock on the front door.  You can imagine my surprise when I opened the door and there stood a tall man in a chauffeur’s uniform.  Over his shoulder I could see one of the longest limos I’d ever seen with pennant flags of black, red, and green flying from the front fenders.  I asked the man in and went back to the kitchen to alert our new friend that his ride was here.  On the way back I asked him, “What do you do?”

He answered, “I’m the Ambassador from Kenya.”

You can imagine my surprise.  There were some heavy hitters in that program, CEO’s for large corporations, command grade military officers, and pastors from some remarkable churches.  However, this made me think, “An ambassador was among us, and we didn’t even know it.”

Since then, I’ve thought, “Ambassadors are sent to represent the interests of another.  If they don’t make this aspect of their presence known, how can they fulfill their mandate?”  And “Every believer is called to be an Ambassador for Christ.  How many of His ambassadors walk through this world and no one even knows this aspect of our presence?” 

Sad to say the world is filled with undercover Christians.  For most of us it’s a relevant question to ask, “If we were indicted for being a Christian is there enough evidence to convict?”  Or would the charge be dropped with prejudice, which means it was dropped for a lack of evidence.

God’s Word is specific about this responsibility, “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.”^[1]

Or to put it another way, “Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”^[2]

So many people say the Bible is filled with vague mysterious sayings open to almost any interpretation, like the I Ching or Tarot Cards but this operator’s manual for life on Earth gives us direct and real-time directions.  Those of us who have confessed Jesus as our Commander-in-Chief and who believe that God raised Him from the dead are his twice-born children.  As such these instructions apply directly to us.

We’re called to be Ambassadors for Christ.  We’re called to share the message of his life, death, and resurrection and all that it means.  As so often is the case the words of an old hymn sung for generations delivers the good news.^[3]

One day when heaven was filled with His praises, one day when sin was as black as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin He dwelt among men, my example is He!

Living He loved me, dying he saved me, buried He carried my sins far away, Rising, He justified freely forever: One day He’s coming—O glorious day!

One day they led Him up Calvary’s mountain, one day they nailed Him to die on the tree; suffering anguish, despised and rejected; bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He.

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer, one day the stone rolled away from the door; then He arose, over death He had conquered; now is ascended, my Lord evermore.

One day the trumpet will sound for His coming, one day the skies with His glory will shine; wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing; glorious   Savior, this Jesus is mine!

Which all adds up to our ambassadorial message, the one we’ve all been born-again to share: Living He loved me, dying he saved me, buried He carried my sins far away, rising, He justified freely forever: One day He’s coming—O glorious day!

Or, as one more contemporary song puts it, “It’s not good news.  It’s the best news ever.”^[4]

[1] 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

[2] Ibid.

[3] One Day by J. W. Chapman & C. H. Marsh, 1910, Hymnal.net, accessed 12-10-19, https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/987

[4] Best News Ever by Mercy Me, AZLyrics.com, accessed 12-10-19, https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mercyme/bestnewsever.html