Thoughts4-2day

NPR axes Christian radio programs

2009-04-30T14:53:00.001-04:00

NPR axes Christian radio programs
Pete Chagnon - OneNewsNow - 4/30/2009 8:30:00

A shocking decision has been handed down by the National Public Radio board.

In 1985, National Public Radio (NPR) adopted a policy stating that member stations had to provide "nonsectarian, non-political, noncommercial" educational programming. But in February 2009, the wording was changed to say: "NPR Member Stations shall provide ONLY [emphasis added] nonsectarian, non-political, noncommercial educational content on all broadcast channel(s) and related media distribution platforms such as member partners that use the NPR member brands."

The rule, which takes effect May 1, means that any NPR stations carrying religious programming must cease and desist that programming as of that date. In explaining its decision in a similar matter, PBS -- another federally funded media outlet -- says it "places a high value on presenting diverse perspectives, as opposed to rigidly adhering to any single political or religious point of view." Allowing such programming, it continues, "would cause the public's trust in PBS to erode, along with the value of the brand."

David McNabb is the host of "Christian Corner" on KJZZ in Phoenix, Arizona. His and several other religious programs featured on the NPR member station will be axed effective tomorrow.

"The change is labeling any Christian content as sectarian and, therefore, not to be used on NPR," he explains. "As part of their mission statement, one of the things that they are not is they are not sectarian. But up until now they haven't defined sectarian as having religious content...and so that's the change."

McNabb's program had a half-hour weekend slot and was bringing in $300 per month in revenue. The other religious programming was bringing in revenue as well and actually out-performing other weekend "nonsectarian programming."

The change in NPR policy affects all NPR affiliates in the United States.

Sex ed mandatory for 5-year-olds?

2009-04-29T08:14:00.003-04:00

Sex ed mandatory for 5-year-olds
Program outlines teaching about homosexuality

Posted: April 28, 2009
10:35 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A new government program will require that teachers in British public schools teach sex education to students starting at age 5, according to a series of published reports.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the program will include the requirement to teach teens about contraception, safe sex, homosexuality and civil partners.

But the program also allows faith-based schools to apply their values and include their perspectives in the lessons.

WND previously reported that schools in the United States have launched a program to teach "the needs of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth" without informing parents.

Also, a court ruling in the David Parker case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court concluded parents do not even have the right to withdraw their children from school sex lessons because it violates their religious faith.

The United Kingdom plan means that all secondary schools for the first time will have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teens' relationships.

The requirements cover classes for students ages 5-16 and "sets out how schools will be legally obliged to teach pupils about health and nutrition, safety, personal finance, drugs and alcohol and sex education."

Schools Secretary Ed Balls said, "It's clear that if children are going to get a well-rounded education which prepares them for life in the 21st century, [the new requirements have] a key role to play."

The London Daily Mail reported the classes are due to become part of the curriculum in September 2011.

Simon Calvert of the Christian Institute told the newspaper "pressing the virtues of homosexuality" could end up harming children.

"What we don't want to see is vulnerable young people being exploited by outside groups which want to normalize homosexuality," he told the paper. "If this guidance purports to force faith schools to teach things which go against their faith then it is profoundly illiberal and must be resisted at all costs."

"It is difficult to see how teaching children as young as 11 about same-sex relationships and civil partnerships fits in with a study of personal wellbeing, and many parents will be very concerned about the prospect of such lessons being imposed over their heads," added Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust.

Hard to Deny the Bible

2008-08-29T07:36:00.001-04:00

Even when you want to, it’s hard to deny the Bible. Writing around 150-70 AD, the Greek philosopher:

Celsus declared the first disciples of Jesus to be deceivers of the worst kind; a band of sorcerers, who fabricated and circulated the miraculous stories of the Gospels, particularly that of the resurrection of Jesus…He refers to the Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John, and makes upon the whole about eighty allusions to, or quotations from the New Testament (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 92).

Although we lack extant copies of Celsus’ diatribes, according to historians, his words have been faithfully preserved by those who had responded to him. Interestingly, Celsus indirectly acknowledged that our Gospels were long venerated by the Church. That’s why he attacks them rather than the Gnostic Gospels, which clearly, even if they were in circulation, no one venerated.

Celsus pulled no punches. He wanted to denigrate the young faith through whatever argument he could muster. Nevertheless, he also obliquely acknowledged that the Gospels were eyewitness accounts of the “first disciples of Jesus.” This is a weighty admission in light of today’s radical skeptics who claim that the Gospels reflect the editorializing and synthesizing of the early church.

Although Celsus charged that these “disciples…fabricated…the resurrection of Jesus,” no credible historian can take this charge seriously. Why not? The Apostles all died martyrs’ deaths, never veering an inch from their testimony that they had seen and touched the risen Jesus. They were such credible eyewitnesses that even the atheist historian, Gerd Ludemann, had to concede:

It may be taken as historically certain that Peter and the disciples had experiences after Jesus’ death in which Jesus appeared to them as the risen Christ (Quoted by Lee Strobel, Case for the Real Jesus).

This doesn’t mean that Ludemann has come to faith. Far from it! Instead, he claims that the disciples all succumbed to mass hallucination! For forty days? Ludemann can close his eyes, but even he can’t keep the light from penetrating through his eyelids.

Daniel Mann

Christian Culture Promotes Science

2008-08-14T07:29:00.005-04:00

Theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher argued that Christian escapism and dogmatic resistance to scholarship would serve the cause of unbelief:

“This blockade, the complete starvation of all science…will raise the flag of unbelief, compelled by you, because you have so isolated yourselves. Is the knot of history to be untied in such a way that Christianity will be left with barbarism, and scholarship with unbelief?”

The Church has characteristically responded to the threats posed by the university in either of two extreme ways---flight or accommodation. Schleiermacher warned about the dangers of the first response. Centuries later, Harold O.J. Brown documented the bad fruit that came as a result of flight:

“Although it was winning the battle for individual hearts in millions of cases throughout Christendom, Christianity was no longer winning the battle for the minds of individuals. Lives were changed, churches were transformed, some major legislative changes were introduced, but the foundations of doctrine were not consolidated. The Christian world and life view was gradually lost and Christianity became, for the first time since Constantine, primarily a private religion” (Heresies, pg. 418).

Christianity has fled the halls of academia in favor of privacy. However, today accommodation and compromise seem to pose an even greater threat to the vitality of the Church. We embrace Darwinism as we reassure ourselves that the Bible is still true, somehow. Former Pentecostal preacher, Michael Dowd, and author of Thank God for Evolution now travels the church-circuit trying to sell the idea that evolution promotes true worship and deep integrity. However, compromise results in a bland, uninspiring, and moribund faith. Other Christians demand us to rethink Christianity according to Darwin’s guidance:

“Darwinism exposes Christianity’s weakness in keeping up with the growing scientific knowledge. We use the fruits of scientific technology and blissfully ignore its implications for a contemporary and comprehensive biblical worldview.” (Academy for Christian Thought, NYC)

The pressures to privatize or compromise our faith are great. Atheists commonly charge that Christians can’t truly be scholars or scientists because they are locked into a faith that suffocates true inquiry. However, this assertion contradicts the facts. Instead, science arose because of the Christian faith and not in spite of it. In this regard, Henry Schaefer quotes the British scientist, Robert Clark:

“Scientific development has only occurred in a Christian culture. The ancients had brains as good as ours. In all civilizations…science developed to a certain point and then stopped. It is easy to argue speculatively that, perhaps, science might have been able to develop in the absence of Christianity, but, in fact, it never did. And no wonder. For the non-Christian world believed that there was something ethically wrong about science. In Greece, this conviction was enshrined in the legend of Prometheus, the fire-bearer and prototype scientist who stole fire from heaven, thus incurring the wrath of the gods.” (Science and Christianity, pg.14)

Our retreat and compromise with academia, has allowed naturalism, a dictatorial philosophy that has forbidden any consideration of supernatural causation, to hijack science. Our Harvards, Princetons and Yales had all been Bible colleges. God has not only been thrown out, but now the Darwinist claims that He never belonged there in the first place!

Daniel Mann

Enlightened Selfishness

2008-08-07T08:14:00.003-04:00

Have you heard about “enlightened selfishness?” It’s the atheistic equivalent of living by God-given moral absolutes. It seems to be the rage on the NYU campus. When I ask the students if they believe in moral absolutes like “genocide and torturing babies is wrong” or even “justice and injustice,” they usually deny that there is a moral reality independent from ourselves, but also claim that they don’t need this type of morality. Why not? Their answer usually goes something like this:

If I act according to my best interests, it will also be in the best interests of others. It feels good to love others. I don’t need a God or a holy book to tell me this!

This echoes the atheistic Humanist Manifesto II:

How are these principles [of equality, freedom, etc.] to be justified? They are not derived from a divine or natural law nor do they have a special metaphysical [beyond the material world] status. They are rules offered to govern how we shall behave. They can be justified only by reference to their results.

Indeed, there is some truth to this claim. Moral living, for whatever reason, usually brings positive results. God has wired us for moral truth, and when we act in concert with our conscience and do what is right, we usually feel good about it. When we don’t and hurt others, we feel like garbage. However, this rationale isn’t enough for us to live a consistent moral life. Living for results alone present many problems:

1. If there are no moral absolutes and there is a drug that can dull our conscience, there is no reason to listen to our conscience. It becomes no more than an accidental chemical-electrical response.

2. If there are no moral absolutes, life can have no more intrinsic purpose than getting pleasurable results. This can only lead to morbid self-absorption: “Am I enjoying myself enough?”

3. If we just regard results, we might choose to condemn an innocent man if it provides positive results for the nation. All sorts of abominations can be justified with this reasoning.

4. If we only do good when it feels good or provides benefits, our “goodness” will eventually shrivel up. Heroism requires paying a steep price for doing what is right. Sometimes going against our conscience can provide the best results (as far as we can assess them.)

5. We can’t condemn the sexual predator for a crime. All we can say is that his behavior didn’t yield positive results. But according to whom? He might have been very pleased with the results, al least until he was caught. What charge then do we bring against him? That his selfishness wasn’t “enlightened” enough?

6. Everything becomes relative to who gets results or pleasure out of what. Without an absolute standard, we can’t bring any charge against a Hitler. He was merely doing what he thought would bring good results.

7. We have no rationale to resist our feelings and lusts. If it gives me relief to take revenge, there is nothing to say that this is wrong.

8. There is no basis to resolve conflict. If one party’s best results do not coincide with the second party, conflict will arise. When a wife catches her husband cheating on her, he might simply respond that his affair feels right to him and that she has to deal with her own feelings. Without an appeal to absolute truth, the only “resolution” left is either force or emotional separation.

9. There is no basis for moral persuasion if a person feels good doing evil. They already know how to get the results they want.

10. The prospect of getting good results isn’t enough to resist temptation.

11. This will force us to lead a schizoid life—our mind tells us that “enlightened selfishness” is adequate, while our conscience tells us that there are moral absolutes.

Denying moral truth is a sophisticated way of denying God, but we pay a price for denial. The focus upon results alone is like a relationship built on benefits alone, whose emptiness eventually becomes shamefully apparent.

Daniel Mann

Deserve nothing but death!

2008-08-04T12:15:00.003-04:00

We need to remind ourselves where we’ve come from so that we can truly appreciate where we’re going! Christ’s Cross should remind us, “You are guilty and deserve nothing but death!” But then it also asserts, “Christ has died for your sins, loving you beyond belief, forgiving you, and bestowing upon you His gift of eternal righteousness.”

Now, let’s consider what this means. We’re exposed, condemned and humbled for our many sins—arrogance, denial, self-justification, self-righteousness, self-deception, our self-centered motives, self-entitlement, self-promotion, selfishness, and the abuse and manipulation of others. The Cross leaves us without excuse or rationalization.

However, Christ loves us too much to leave us to stew in our corrupt juices. He opens our minds to the radical message of the Cross and frees us from sin, self-absorption, self-elevation, the struggle of trying to prove ourselves to both self and the world, blindness, bitterness, jealousy, and the wearisome burden of image-management.

It’s God’s gift to us, and we must never suppose we can earn it. A man named Simon proposed to buy one of God’s gifts, and Peter sternly corrected him:

"May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God. Repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps he will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin" (Acts 8:20-23).

When we fail to see that we are unable to buy or earn God’s gifts, it means that we’re utterly blind to both the depths of our sins and the transcendence and love of a God who can’t be bought. It also means that we’re pretty stuck on ourselves—not a sin that God takes lightly.

Knowing that we’re so undeserving and yet so incredibly beloved, we increasingly (it’s a process!) find ourselves free to put others’ needs before our own. We no longer need to be defensive about our true status, because we’ve come to accept the fact that we’re nothing without Christ. We no longer need to denigrate others in order to lift ourselves. Because we no longer require their love and approval, we’re freed to love them. People no longer have the same power over us, and so we need not resent or fear them! Slights and rejections can now become occasions for laughter.

But how do we appropriate the healing benefits of the Cross? It always starts with trust:

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. (Psalm 37:3-6)

But don’t leave out obedience. Trust and obedience are inseparable. If we trust, we’ll obey:

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:2-3)

Trust and obedience do not exist independently, anymore than I can have a functioning brain without a heart. This doesn’t mean that we’re saved by our good deeds, as if we can earn something from God and convert His gift into a wage, something we deserve (Rom. 4:1-8). However, if we truly believe, we will act on those beliefs. Take, for example, the man who goes to a trusted doctor but throws away the prescribed pills. He then explains that he trusts his doctor so much that he doesn’t have to take the pills. This, of course, is ridiculous! If we trust God, we do what He tells us to do (John 14:21-24)! Also, if we trust God, we’re free from proving ourselves trustworthy. What a relief!

Daniel Mann

Response to MK: Tim Keller

2008-08-04T07:32:00.002-04:00

Dear MK,

Thanks for your thoughtful response. Perhaps I should have prefaced my critical remarks by acknowledging that Tim Keller is both a fine preacher and defender of the faith. So my disagreement with him must be understood within the context of appreciation for much of what he does.

I agree with your major concern. We shouldn't major in minors by thrusting in-house, contentious debates in the face of the seeker. However, there is a place for earnestly contending for the faith (Jude 3). Confronted by many who are arguing that Genesis is about Darwin, we have to be able to show that it isn't.

Why? Darwin's Genesis represents almost an entire reversal of the overall thrust of the Bible. According to the Gospel message, God created a perfect world, we screwed it up, and God then came to the rescue. It had all been "very good" (Gen. 31); even the animals had been herbivores (1:29-30) and there was no death (Rom. 8:18-22). According to Darwin, death, blood, and gore have always been with us. Theistic evolutionists claim that death-dealing struggle for survival had been part of God's initial design--not "very good!"

If the fight for survival had been God's ideal, there is no room for a Fall. In Darwin's world, Adam and Eve were simply trying to obtain a survival advantage by attempting to be like God! Who can blame them!

Death entered the world through us, not through God's institution of the bloody Darwin-design. This reversal places the blame on God and not where it belongs. Consequently, the Redemption becomes puzzling. Did Christ die to restore us to natural selection? No! Instead He died to reverse what had been lost through sin and death, not the horrors of natural selection:

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:21-22).

Likewise, Christ's return will bring restoration (Acts 3:21). According to Darwin, this can be nothing more than the return to the primordial survival-of-the-fittest--not a very pleasant hope!

I agree that there is much that is figurative in the Bible, but even a figurative interpretation is unable to find Darwin in Genesis. It would be like finding Chairman Mao in the Book of Acts, the Cosmic New-Age Jesus in the Gospels, or the A Course of Miracles in the Letters of Paul. In order to derive these philosophies from the Bible, the Bible would have to be rendered so utterly nebulous and symbolic as to make it entirely useless and meaningless. No one would ever be able to have confidence that what they were reading in the Bible was actually there. Nor could such a Bible have the necessary specificity to produce a coherent faith. Instead, making such accommodations will eventually destroy our faith.

Perhaps we will offend some by strenuously attempting to separate Darwin from Genesis. Perhaps we might appear mindless to others. However, I think that we have to trust our sovereign God for their salvation rather than taking matters into our own hands by trying to blunt the offense by suggesting that Genesis might be able to accommodate the likes of Darwin. This betrays a lack of trust in our God as the Author of salvation.

If we do nothing and remain neutral, our faith will suffer erosion. Meanwhile, The Academy for Christian Thought, (of which Keller is a board member) supported by Redeemer Pres., is aggressively promoting Darwin within the Church.

Daniel Mann

Repentance

2008-08-01T12:54:00.000-04:00

I received many responses regarding my last essay in which I questioned the viability of a salvation message without a full-bodied call to repentance. One response was from Chris, a former lesbian, who has a great heart and understanding for others caught in this lifestyle:

“We go to the PrideFest parade and picnic with a message of Radical
Love…I'm always amazed at how comfortable I feel at PrideFest. It's like, I
know these people. They're my kin. They're my family…I understand them.
I know what they want and I know how they feel. I'm not so far removed
from them that I can't remember myself there…They really just want to be normal people, but feel that it is unobtainable, so they settle for what is available, faults and all…The people I talk to there are happy to see me, though they know why I'm there. They know that I'm there to love them…”

Despite her sensitivity regarding this struggle, she still recognizes the necessity for repentance:

“I've thought a lot about the question - "By bypassing repentance, are we extending a false hope?" The answer is definitely YES, we do extend a false hope by overlooking repentance! Repentance is such a bondage-breaking experience. Laying our sins at the foot of the cross and walking from them, brings real hope!...I repent of the sins that I have committed against God…that He will not only restore innocence before Him, but also restore the innocence that I lost in my own mind to set me free to enjoy the wonders of this world!”

Salvation without repentance is a plane with one wing. It’s not going anywhere. An example will help to demonstrate this absurdity. Imagine a bigamist, who has secretly married multiple women to bilk them out of their money. He is told that Christ will forgive all his sins and grant him eternal life apart from repentance. It sounds like a great deal, so he takes it without any intention of changing his behavior. The church receives him as a brother but must immediately caste him out of their midst for being unrepentant of his bigamy—the height of absurdity!

This is absurd because it divides what is inseparable--faith and repentance--opposite sides of the same coin. We can’t have one without the other! The very same motion that turns us to God in faith, turns us away (repentance) from our former ways. We can’t truly turn to God without turning from something else! Therefore, if someone says he has faith but is unwilling to repent, his faith isn’t a true faith (James 2:14-26)!

Scripture reflects this same connection between faith and repentance. These two concepts are so closely associated that they are used interchangeably. Repentance, like faith, is preached as a prerequisite for forgiveness (Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; Luke 24:47). Consequently, in the same way that faith comes as a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-9), so too does its counterpart (2 Tim. 2:25; Acts 5:31; 11:18), so that boasting is eliminated.

We can’t turn to God without turning from sin. This doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to struggle with sin, but it does mean that we will confess our sins and turn from them, although perhaps with difficulty and backsliding. But a refusal to repent is a rejection of the gift of eternal life, while a refusal to preach repentance is a betrayal of the Gospel.

Daniel Mann

A letter to the New York Times

2008-08-01T12:44:00.002-04:00

A letter to the New York Times

(Unpublished):

Re: Laws of Nature, Source Unknown, 12/18/07. I don’t think that the origin of our laws-of- nature are entirely inexplicable when we apply some logic. For instance, let’s ask the question-- Which is more reasonable?

1. One intelligent, unexplainable Creator who created and holds all things together, or
2. Many disconnected, unexplainable, “polytheistic,” unintelligent laws, which do the same omnipotent work of holding the universe together, somehow each exercising its sovereignty in tandem with the others?

True science understandably abhors the inelegance of the latter and has struggled under Einstein’s mantle to find unity, a common principle or cause to tie everything together. We find this beauty in Monotheism, the heart and essence of science.

I like what the cosmologist Paul Davies said about the “enlightenment’s” verdict eliminating God:

“Then God got killed off and the laws just free-floated in a conceptual vacuum but retained their theological properties.”

When modernity “killed off” God, it subsequently had to make gods out of what they hadn’t killed. What do these free-floating laws-of-nature explain? Little! These deities have been given divine, unquestioned, explanatory status, while their Maker has been stuffed into a dark closet. Perhaps we need to air out the closet!

Daniel Mann

Genesis 1:1

2008-08-01T12:28:00.002-04:00

In an interview in Christianity Today (June 2008, pg. 38), Tim Keller states:

“So I want to be noncommittal [about the arguments for intelligent design]. I don’t want the people who don’t like one creation view to feel like they can’t listen to the rest of the gospel. Instead I point out that it’s a red herring to go after that before you decide whether Jesus died and rose again…And I was trying to say, ‘Because you believe in evolution, does this mean that Jesus Christ couldn’t be raised from the dead?’ If he was raised from the dead, then you have to take seriously the Scriptures and you have to work on all this. If he wasn’t raised from the dead, who cares about Genesis 1-ll?”

Although Keller is correct in being Gospel-centered and also that it’s best to reorient some people back to the core message, others are going to balk:

“Why should I take your gospel seriously? Why should I even entertain the possibility that Jesus rose from the dead? If the Bible isn’t correct about Genesis 1-11, what reason do I have to believe that it’s correct about Jesus?”

There are times when Keller should be more committed to the viability of these chapters. I had not been able to even begin to consider the possibility that the Bible was God’s Word, because I was convinced that evolution was true. This meant that the Bible was just wrong. The Darwinist, Thomas Huxley, says virtually the same thing about the Bible’s creation account:

I am fairly at a loss to comprehend how anyone, for a moment, can doubt that Christian theology must stand or fall with the historical trustworthiness of the Jewish Scriptures…If Adam may be held to be no more real a personage than Prometheus, and if the story of the Fall is merely an instructive “type,” comparable to the Promethean mythos, what value has Paul’s dialectic. (Quoted from The New Answers Book, Ken Ham, Editor, 32-34)

Huxley is correct. If Genesis is myth, then the New Testament, which is built on it, can be no less vacuous. However, for me, this forbidding barrier came down once I read a book that persuasively critiqued the theory of evolution. Consequently, I began to consider that there was a possibility that the Bible could be God’s truth.

Meanwhile, many have testified that once they were made to see the “light” of evolution through an introductory biology course, they dumped Christ. In a sense, this is reasonable. It’s hard to believe in the rest of the Bible once one becomes convinced that Genesis 1-11 is fallacious.

If Huxley’s charge stands, it’s hard to see how many will not fall, or at least venture forth deprived of their confidence in the Word.

Daniel Mann

Miracle of the Eye

2008-07-17T16:22:00.002-04:00

“The feeblest of designers,” writes [evolutionist] Steve Jones, “could improve it (the structure of the human eye).” This and other examples, says Jones, show that complex organs are “not the work of some great composer but of an insensible drudge: an instrument, like others, built by a tinkerer [the evolutionary process] rather than by a trained engineer.” (Quoted from Cornelius Hunter, Darwin’s God, p.83.)

Jones discounts the possibility of an intelligent Designer. However, he correctly concludes that we should be able to make certain predictions about the physical world. If the world is the product of blind evolution, then, according to Jones, it should reflect the imperfect work of “the feeblest of designers.” However, if the Designer of the world is the perfect, omnipotent and omniscient God, then His workmanship should reflect this.

Let’s just take the human eye, whose design Jones so glibly disparages. If perfection is judged by what the eye can do—how it functions, repairs itself, and integrates harmoniously with the rest of the body’s systems—there only remains awe. How the eye converts light waves into millions of chemical-electrical impulses, sends them off to the brain in organized, instantaneous, sequential patterns which are then reconstructed by the mind, drawing upon memory and other centers of learning, before converting the data into the substance of decisions, goes far beyond what we can understand and anything human technology can create. It is these visual impulses that enable us to make fine distinctions among a myriad of similar faces and to make thousands of precise decisions whenever we ride a bicycle.

When do our eyes mislead us? When do they give us incorrect data? Who has invented something superior to the eye so that he would pluck it out and implant his own invention? Rather, let us compare our eye with what unintelligent natural forces are able TO fabricate. Have natural forces ever collaborated together to produce anything of complexity and functionality? Has gravity ever written poetry? Has a hurricane ever recited Shakespeare or has it ever called out your name? Has electricity ever painted your portrait or told you, “I love you?” Have the tides ever written your name on the sand? Instead, it can be persuasively argued that unintelligent forces have never produced an object with the appearance of intelligent design. It’s like throwing paint on a canvas and expecting to eventually come up with the Mona Lisa.

Does nature reflect the workmanship of the “feeblest of designers”—evolution? According to Cornelius Hunter, “bats map out objects as small as mosquitoes by sensing the echoes of their own squeaks,” hardly the workmanship of a “tinkerer!”

“[Fish] use underwater electric fields either passively or actively to sense objects around them including other fish. The details of such systems would fill books. Anyone familiar with today’s sonar or radar systems knows the immense complexity inherent in such systems: the problems of sensing the echo in the presence of the transmitted signal…Yet the bat’s detection abilities are superior to those of the best electronic sonar equipment.” (Hunter, pg. 72)

Then consider “the rattlesnake with heat-sensitive (infrared) sensors to image its prey at night.” Or consider the owl “with ears tuned to different frequencies, to better track its prey” (Hunter). Somehow, these systems are perfect enough to keep their owners from going hungry. In fact, the evidence in favor of an intelligent Designer is so striking that,

“Amherst College astronomy professor George Greenstein (a pantheist or something similar), [writes], ‘As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency, or rather Agency, must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially created the cosmos for our benefit?’” (Quoted by Henry F. Schaefer, Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence, p.62.)

Indeed, many have “stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being,” but this isn’t because the evidence is so scarce, but rather because we have set aside our spectacles.

Daniel Mann

Blind Leading the Blind

2008-07-15T15:34:00.002-04:00

In a letter to the Science Times, a professor of psychology took issue with the prevailing “wisdom” that psychotherapists should themselves undergo psychotherapy:

“Despite years of research, there is virtually no evidence to support the belief that personal therapy produces a more empathetic or a more effective therapist. Rather than lament the passing of required personal therapy for psychiatry residents, why not reserve it for those with an actual mental health problem.”

Judging from the suicide rate among psychiatrists, they have more need for counseling than most any other profession. Nevertheless, it is revealing that psychotherapy fails to produce positive results for its residents-in-training. Why is this the case? Perhaps because very different products go under the name “psychotherapy!” For instance, two psychotherapists (or counselors) can offer advice or interventions that are diametrically opposed to each other.

Let’s take an example. One friend related that he didn’t want to return to a certain supermarket because he felt uncomfortable about an altercation he had had with a clerk, even though she had started it. One psychotherapist might take a subjective view of the discomfort and try to reason that there is no rationale for the discomfort and therefore apply “systematic desensitization.” However, another therapist (generally one coming from a Judeo-Christian perspective) might take the opposite point of view—that the discomfort is signaling a real and objective problem that requires a specific solution, namely, to apologize for his part in the altercation, however small. Although the clerk might fail to reciprocate, at least my friend would do what he knew to be correct.

Feelings of guilt trouble me when I speak unlovingly to my wife and prompt me to confess. Sometimes guilt can be irrational, but I never want to dismiss these feelings until they have been given a chance to speak.

By automatically dismissing our feelings of guilt and shame as pathological, secularism has rejected the accumulated wisdom of all the major world religions in favor of permissiveness. Freud famously called religion the “enemy,” and he and his cohorts sought to weaken its hold. Nevertheless, it was inevitable that Freud would merely substitute one religion, an inferior one, for another. Dr. Al Parides, Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, observed the impact of this new religion:

“If you look at the personal lives of all of Freud’s followers—his initial disciples—these people certainly have an unbelievable amount of particular problems in the sexual area…The amount of deviancy as far as their sexual behavior and so forth is enormous. If you are saying that psychiatry promotes a certain form of morality that is a deviant morality in regard to many areas including sexual behavior—yes, I would agree.” (Quoted from Bruce Wiseman, Psychiatry—The Ultimate Betrayal, 12)

Why doesn’t psychiatry and psychotherapy work for those being trained as its practitioners? Perhaps it’s a matter of the blind leading the blind.

Daniel Mann

Evangelism

2008-07-10T12:52:00.003-04:00

Our conception of evangelism is too narrow. Usually, we think of it in terms of friendship or lifestyle evangelism to the exclusion of all other forms, especially in regards to people of other faiths. In this regards, we’re told, “Nothing should offend. Never point out contradictions, inconsistencies, or historical inaccuracies in another person’s religious beliefs.” However, in the June 2008 issue of Christianity Today, Dean Alford writes that debate can be a powerful tool:

“Partly due to this debate [between the missionary Karl Pfander and a Muslim theologian], Protestant missions gained greater credibility among Muslims and Hindus inside colonial India, and two high-profile Indians from a Muslim background were baptized less than 10 years later.”

There are definite weaknesses in lifestyle evangelism. It often communicates the wrong message—that Christianity is more about smiles and pleasantries than truth and rationality. Jay Smith, an evangelist to the Muslims, feels that this approach might be disingenuous and too vacuous to reach those who are looking for more substance:

“It is better to be straightforward (and loving) about what we believe than to be overly careful. I think more people ache for authenticity than what we want to imagine.” (Alford)

Last year, I attended an interfaith dialogue at a local church. The hosting pastor carefully followed the unspoken rules of lifestyle evangelism throughout. I was intrigued to see a 15 year- old male and approached him before the event began. “Why are you interested in this dialogue?” I asked.

The youth responded that he was very interested in what the Imam had to say. Further intrigued, I asked why? He responded that although he had grown up in church, Muslims seemed to be more zealous and outspoken about their faith and this is appealed to him.

There’s more to evangelism than being a good friend. There’s a mandate for a vigorous defense of the Gospel (Jude 3). Paul had no problem with this confrontational approach:

“As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews were persuaded” (Acts 17:2-4).

Our box should be filled with a variety of tools. Sometimes a soft cloth is called for, and sometimes the hammer. Smith concludes:

“The only way to deal with this radical form of Islam is with an equally radical form of Christianity.” (Alford)

Daniel Mann

Rich in Christ

2008-07-10T12:01:00.005-04:00

If you don’t know that you are a billionaire, you might foolishly take out a loan from the local loan-shark to cover a $10,000 debt. This is the plight of the church. We fail to realize that we’re billionaires (1 Cor. 3:21-22; Eph. 2:6; 1 Peter 2:9), and so we seek out loan-sharks. Failing to see that we already have everything we need in Him (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Col. 2:9-10), we compromise our inheritance by seeking unbiblical therapies and philosophies.

Even something as seemingly innocuous as behavioral therapy (BT) represents a betrayal of our inheritance. In a controlled and supportive setting, BT gradually and repeatedly confronts the fearful client with the object of his/her fears in an attempt to “systematically desensitize” the client to these fears. If the client fears mice, then a mouse will gradually be introduced in a relaxed environment, until the client realizes that the mouse doesn’t present a real threat.

In a new and controversial variation of behaviorism, David H. Barlow subjects his clients to the full extent of their phobias at the outset without any systematic desensitization. For example, a client who feared reading his poetry before others was required to stand up before a hostile crowd of fellow patients staging all forms of threatening behavior.

Barlow is convinced that all of the preliminaries such as relaxation techniques are unnecessary, and he has the statistics to prove it. He reckons his success rate to be “as high as 85%.” In a 12/2/03 New York Times Magazine article, Lauren Slater states that, through Barlow’s methods, one client “trained his own brain to believe (italics mine) in its strength.”

Behaviorism is, in its very essence, belief training. Nothing is accomplished apart from acquiring the belief that the client is stronger than the fear. Slater writes perceptively that

Once people disarm their terror, once they realize they (italics mine) can survive it, then you have detoxified the problem and in some senses provided a cure (pgs 34-37).

Once they realize that they can survive the terror, they can confidently resume their life without the lurking threat that the phobia will reemerge and again take control. What’s the matter with that? From a Biblical perspective—everything! BT teaches two things: that the threat isn’t that great, and, whatever it might be, you can handle it. Sometimes the threat isn’t that great. Mice aren’t particularly threatening. However, when it comes to other things, we all have our limits. We can only endure so much depravation and frustration. We can only endure the loss of air, water, or food for a limited time. Likewise, we also have our limits when it comes to rejections and failures. BT teaches an unwarranted self-confidence.

Instead, God sends us trials, afflictions, and weaknesses to show us that we have to trust in Him, not in ourselves:

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut. 8:3).

We experience brokenness, not to show us that we can handle it, but rather, that God can (2 Cor. 1:8-9)! Knowing whom we serve is the route to freedom (John 8:31-32). Instead, we resort to loan-sharks and submit to an alien theology that places upon our shoulders the unbearable weight of self-trust.

Daniel Mann

God's Strength

2008-05-05T15:10:00.001-04:00

Contrast Judaism with Christianity

2008-05-05T14:32:00.004-04:00

Wanting to contrast Judaism with Christianity, Rabbi David Rosen claims that the Hebrew Scriptures did not instruct Israel to believe in God. Therefore, a failure to believe didn’t carry any moral guilt or consequences, as did a failure to obey. In his correspondence with R.T. Kendall, he writes:

“As far as unbelief is concerned, it is questionable as to whether this can be described as a ‘transgression.’ I would call it a ‘mental block’—perhaps the result of secular conditioning. I might and do regret the fact, but I cannot imagine that God would want someone to be punished for an incapacity!” (The Christian and the Pharisee, p.43)

Although secularism might put a new spin on unbelief, biblical unbelief has nothing to do with an “incapacity.” Instead, it is culpable to-the-max. While Israel was sojourning at Kadish Barnea, Moses sent 12 spies into the Promised Land. Upon their return, ten reported back that they couldn’t conquer the land and tried to influence Israel to return to Egypt. This was in opposition to the very thing that God had promised them. He was understandably livid:

"How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them..." (Numbers 14:11-12).

Clearly, Israel’s unbelief had nothing to do with an “incapacity!” Rather than taking blind leap of faith, believing God is simply a matter of opening our eyes and looking at the overwhelming evidence—God’s “miraculous signs!” In light of this, unbelief was a matter of rebellion, a “refusal to believe” and a rejection of God!

Although today we might not see God’s miraculous signs in the same way, we still have evidence which we continue to reject. A friend told me that she was unable to “just believe,” even though she knew it would be comforting to do so. I responded that there were many compelling reasons to believe.

“Well, there’s no way that you can know for sure,” she replied.

“How is it that you know that I can’t know? Isn’t it a contradiction to claim for yourself knowledge in this area while denying this same thing to me?” I responded.

“OK, I see your point, but I don’t think I need to know about God. My life is fine without this belief.”

I tried to explain that her unwillingness to look at the evidence made her guilty. “What if you sent me a priceless gift, but I threw away your card and return address, saying to myself, ‘I don’t need to know who sent this to me.’ Wouldn’t you be upset with me? And is there any reason why God shouldn’t be upset with us, when we put our heads in the sand to avoid seeing His return address?”

We have the knowledge but are unwilling to regard it. This makes us guilty before God. Although we might not see the Nile turn red and the sea split in two, we do see the sky above, the miracles of science (Psalm 19:1-3) and have a conscience that tells us to stop being a hypocrite.

Unbelief and rebellion against the Light eventually become a way of life, so deeply embedded that we no longer see it and convince ourselves that we are really good people searching for the truth. Thirty eight years later, Moses referred to Israel’s refusal to believe in order to warn his people:

“And when the Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea, he said, ‘Go up and take possession of the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not trust him or obey him. You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you” (Deut. 9:23-24).

Forget “incapacity!” We are far guiltier than we can imagine
Daniel Mann

Resurrection

2008-05-05T13:25:00.002-04:00

Evidence for the Resurrection

by Josh McDowell

For centuries many of the world's distinguished philosophers have assaulted Christianity as being irrational, superstitious and absurd. Many have chosen simply to ignore the central issue of the resurrection. Others have tried to explain it away through various theories. But the historical evidence just can't be discounted.

A student at the University of Uruguay said to me. "Professor McDowell, why can't you refute Christianity?"

"For a very simple reason," I answered. "I am not able to explain away an event in history--the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

How can we explain the empty tomb? Can it possibly be accounted for by any natural cause?

A QUESTION OF HISTORY
After more than 700 hours of studying this subject, I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted on the minds of human beings--or it is the most remarkable fact of history.

Here are some of the facts relevant to the resurrection: Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish prophet who claimed to be the Christ prophesied in the Jewish Scriptures, was arrested, was judged a political criminal, and was crucified. Three days after His death and burial, some women who went to His tomb found the body gone. In subsequent weeks, His disciples claimed that God had raised Him from the dead and that He appeared to them various times before ascending into heaven.

From that foundation, Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and has continued to exert great influence down through the centuries.

LIVING WITNESSES
The New Testament accounts of the resurrection were being circulated within the lifetimes of men and women alive at the time of the resurrection. Those people could certainly have confirmed or denied the accuracy of such accounts.

The writers of the four Gospels either had themselves been witnesses or else were relating the accounts of eyewitnesses of the actual events. In advocating their case for the gospel, a word that means "good news," the apostles appealed (even when confronting their most severe opponents) to common knowledge concerning the facts of the resurrection.

F. F. Bruce, Rylands professor of biblical criticism and exegesis at the University of Manchester, says concerning the value of the New Testament records as primary sources: "Had there been any tendency to depart from the facts in any material respect, the possible presence of hostile witnesses in the audience would have served as a further corrective."

IS THE NEW TESTAMENT RELIABLE?
Because the New Testament provides the primary historical source for information on the resurrection, many critics during the 19th century attacked the reliability of these biblical documents.

By the end of the 1 9th century, however, archaeological discoveries had confirmed the accuracy of the New Testament manuscripts. Discoveries of early papyri bridged the gap between the time of Christ and existing manuscripts from a later date.

Those findings increased scholarly confidence in the reliability of the Bible. William F. Albright, who in his day was the world's foremost biblical archaeologist, said: "We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about A.D. 80, two full generations before the date between 130 and 150 given by the more radical New Testament critics of today."

Coinciding with the papyri discoveries, an abundance of other manuscripts came to light (over 24,000 copies of early New Testament manuscripts are known to be in existence today). The historian Luke wrote of "authentic evidence" concerning the resurrection. Sir William Ramsay, who spent 15 years attempting to undermine Luke credentials as a historian, and to refute the reliability of the New Testament, finally concluded: "Luke is a historian of the first rank . . . This author should be placed along with the very greatest of historians. "

I claim to be an historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history . . .
E. M. Blaiklock
Professor of Classics
Auckland University

BACKGROUND
The New Testament witnesses were fully aware of the background against which the resurrection took place. The body of Jesus, in accordance with Jewish burial custom, was wrapped in a linen cloth. About 100 pounds of aromatic spices, mixed together to form a gummy substance, were applied to the wrappings of cloth about the body. After the body was placed in a solid rock tomb, an extremely large stone was rolled against the entrance of the tomb. Large stones weighing approximately two tons were normally rolled (by means of levers) against a tomb entrance.

A Roman guard of strictly disciplined fighting men was stationed to guard the tomb. This guard affixed on the tomb the Roman seal, which was meant to "prevent any attempt at vandalizing the sepulcher. Anyone trying to move the stone from the tomb's entrance would have broken the seal and thus incurred the wrath of Roman law.

But three days later the tomb was empty. The followers of Jesus said He had risen from the dead. They reported that He appeared to them during a period of 40 days, showing Himself to them by many "infallible proofs." Paul the apostle recounted that Jesus appeared to more than 500 of His followers at one time, the majority of whom were still alive and who could confirm what Paul wrote. So many security precautions were taken with the trial, crucifixion, burial, entombment, sealing, and guarding of Christ's tomb that it becomes very difficult for critics to defend their position that Christ did not rise from the dead. Consider these facts:

FACT #1: BROKEN ROMAN SEAL
As we have said, the first obvious fact was the breaking of the seal that stood for the power and authority of the Roman Empire. The consequences of breaking the seal were extremely severe. The FBI and CIA of the Roman Empire were called into action to find the man or men who were responsible. If they were apprehended, it meant automatic execution by crucifixion upside down. People feared the breaking of the seal. Jesus' disciples displayed signs of cowardice when they hid themselves. Peter, one of these disciples, went out and denied Christ three times.

FACT #2: EMPTY TOMB
As we have already discussed, another obvious fact after the resurrection was the empty tomb. The disciples of Christ did not go off to Athens or Rome to preach that Christ was raised from the dead. Rather, they went right back to the city of Jerusalem, where, if what they were teaching was false, the falsity would be evident. The empty tomb was "too notorious to be denied." Paul Althaus states that the resurrection "could have not been maintained in Jerusalem for a single day, for a single hour, if the emptiness of the tomb had not been established as a fact for all concerned."

Both Jewish and Roman sources and traditions admit an empty tomb. Those resources range from Josephus to a compilation of fifth-century Jewish writings called the "Toledoth Jeshu." Dr. Paul Maier calls this "positive evidence from a hostile source, which is the strongest kind of historical evidence. In essence, this means that if a source admits a fact decidedly not in its favor, then that fact is genuine."

Gamaliel, who was a member of the Jewish high court, the Sanhedrin, put forth the suggestion that the rise of the Christian movement was God's doing; he could not have done that if the tomb were still occupied, or if the Sanhedrin knew the whereabouts of Christ's body.

Paul Maier observes that " . . . if all the evidence is weighed carefully and fairly, it is indeed justifiable, according to the canons of historical research, to conclude that the sepulcher of Joseph of Arimathea, in which Jesus was buried, was actually empty on the morning of the first Easter. And no shred of evidence has yet been discovered in literary sources, epigraphy, or archaeology that would disprove this statement."

Food Patterns of our Body Proof for Intelligent Design

2008-05-05T07:18:00.001-04:00

Every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ. This could only be achieved by intellectual design.

2008-05-03T12:11:00.002-04:00

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Letter from an Atheist

2008-05-02T08:26:00.002-04:00

Charles T. Studd was born in England in 1860. His father had made a fortune in India and moved back to England to retire on his wealth. C.T. was given a plush life on a silver platter. He and his brothers excelled in sports and became some of the greatest cricket players that England has ever known. However with his preoccupation with sports and materialism, he had no time for Christ until he turned 18. At the age of 18 he was converted, but continued on the path of popularity and sports for a few more years, until he came across a letter one day.....a letter from an atheist. This letter so impacted his life that he promptly quit his worldly pursuits and sailed for China as a missionary. At the age of 25 upon receiving his inheritance, he donated more than 25,000 pounds to men like D.L. Moody, George Muller, and other Godly men. A sum that would have made him nigh to a millionaire today!

That letter reads as follows: "Did I firmly believe, as millions say they do, that the knowledge and practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean everything to me. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies, and earthly thoughts and feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labour in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of Eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand nor seal my lips. Earth—its joys and its griefs—would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon Eternity alone and on the immortal souls around me soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world and preach to it in season and out of season, and my text would be, ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

Narnia

2008-05-01T14:59:00.003-04:00

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Understanding the Gospel

2008-05-01T14:41:00.002-04:00

A sinner must understand the gospel to be saved (Matt 13:15,19, 23, Acts 8:30-31, Rom 3:11). But before a sinner can understand the mercy of a loving God, he must understand the requirements of a righteous God. Now, the law is not the gospel and the gospel is not the law; but the gospel establishes the law (Rom 3:31). That law which the Gentiles have in their hearts by nature (Rom 2:15), Israel also had written on stone - and the purpose of this law is clearly stated by Paul: "by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20). Paul further states that he would never have known he was a guilty sinner without the law (Rom 7:7). Since no one can be saved without repentance (Luke 13:5) and no one can repent unless they know they are guilty, the true Biblical gospel must make proper use of the law, the chief end of which is to convince the whole world of its guilt (Rom 3:19).
Paul uses the word 'law' 38 times before he mentions the word 'love'. From Romans 1:17-3:19, Paul sets forth the case against the sinner. It is a sorry tale of condemnation, wrath and guilt. Finally, in chapter 5:8, Paul states that God commends his love towards sinners. Why does Paul present the gospel in this order? Because the gospel will not make any real sense to the sinner until he realizes he is guilty of rebellion against the law of a holy God. If we start by telling the typical Westerner "God loves you", he will puff out his chest and say in his heart "Why shouldn't He; I'm a good person?"
We must understand that simply quoting "All have sinned", followed by a quick "But the good news is..."1 will never awaken anyone. Sinners must be faced with the fact that covetousness (the love of things) is idolatry (Col 3:5), hate is murder (1 John 3:15) and lust is adultery (Matt 5:28). Driving down the motorway, there are a number of excuses one can think of to justify going at 85 mph. ..until the law enters. When you see a Police car on the side of the road, your foot hits the brakes. By the law is the knowledge of sin. That is what will make a man, rushing headlong down the highway of life to hell, sit up and listen. He simply must see his precarious position or he will never repent.
The proper initial reaction to the gospel on the part of the sinner is conviction of sin (John 16:8, Acts 2:37). But what is conviction of sin? It is more than just the ordinary smiting of the conscience (Rom 2:15). It is more than mere fear of hell. Simply being scared of the consequences of sin is not true Holy Spirit conviction. Nor is conviction 'admitting you are a sinner'. Balaam, Pharoah, Judas and many others admitted "I have sinned", but went to hell. Nor is conviction a mere head knowledge of the doctrine of the fall of Adam. Conviction is 'a proper sense of the dreadfulness of my sin against God'. Have you ever realized this? All sinners must echo David's realization in Psalm 51:4 when he said "Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." Conviction of sin is vertical, not horizontal.
But what is repentance? It is not penance or restitution (Judas paid the money back - he regretted, but never repented, Matt 27:3). It is not merely tears, fear of judgment (Felix trembled) or sorrow for sin (godly sorrow may lead to repentance, but is not the same as repentance, 2 Cor 7:10). It is not mere confession or admission of sin. The Greek word for repentance is metanoia (from meta, 'after', and nous, 'mind'). It means a complete change of mind - involving turning from sin to God, which results in a change of life. It is illustrated by David in Psalm 51 and the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. It is defined in the following text: "Let the wicked for-sake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him" (Isaiah 55:7).

The Narrow Way

2008-05-01T09:41:00.002-04:00

The Narrow Way

Matthew 7:13-23 (NIV)13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

There are two groups of people that I am writng to in the church. Do not close your ears to the Spirit today when I say that there are true and false converts today in this church. Not in the church- which is Christ’s invisible body; but in every church in America today there are many false converts. In the town where I am from, I know that this is a major problem. We call them the ‘religious lost’. They are people, who go to church, and they know about Jesus, but they are as lost as the pagan warming a seat in the local bar. The only difference in their lives is where they spend their Sunday morning. This is what Jesus is teaching about here at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He has contrasted the life of a true convert from the life of a false, albeit a real religious convert. Jesus has encouragements for his listeners:

The first is to enter through the narrow gate and to walk on the narrow road. What is the gate? In John 10, Jesus says “I AM the gate” The contrast here is the Pharisees, who like every other religion sought to please God through rituals and works (albeit the law was originally from God, and they had perverted the purpose of the law as they added to it their rules) Jesus emphasized that the broad road and wide gate that most will take. Today, in Marshall, there are maybe 2,500 people who will attend church because they feel it is their duty to God, and that by going through that process that they will improve their life here on earth, and might please God by doing good things like giving to the poor or going to confession, or performing some sacrament. But their hearts are far from God, because they have spent the rest of the week doing whatever their flesh desired! The narrow gate is trusting fully in Christ for the way to God. Then it is walking on that narrow road while we live on this earth. When a true convert takes a step off of that road, he repents (changes his mind, and changes his direction) and gets right back on.
Our faith is not something that is compartmentalized where we can believe one way on Sunday and Wednesdays and then change our behavior all the other days. We have entered in and are walking in it, or we are not. Have you walked through the gate, and having walked through the gate, are you walking on the narrow road that leads to life?

The second thing Jesus has told us to watch out for is false prophets, those who say one thing and do another. In this context, he was looking square at the Pharisees who went through ritual, lording the Law and their added regulations over the people as the only way to God, but their hearts were far from the Lord. We have many false prophets today, espousing a false Gospel. The most obvious ones are on television, speaking a prosperity gospel that promises health and wealth, and your best life now. To them, faith in Christ is nothing more than adding Him to the way that they are already living for an added chance at success. Barak Obama goes to a church where his pastor curses from the pulpit, preaching Jesus as a means of black empowerment and political advantage. This is what it was for many of the Pharisees, political and spiritual power, not life transformation.

Jesus also told us that we could determine the veracity of what these wolves preached by the fruit- their converts. Modern evangelism preaches a perverted Gospel that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, and all you have to do is to pray a prayer and receive Jesus then you become a Christian. This is heresy- it is not biblical. It promotes cheap grace, and salvation without repentance. Look in the scripture, and if you find a place where the sinners’ prayer is prayed I will eat a hymnal. This unbiblical, false teaching has become predominate over this last generation of believers. And it produces false converts in mega numbers. How do I know this? Look at these statistics from adults who consider themselves Christians:

64% believe moral truth depends on the situation;

60% believe male/female co-habitation outside of marriage is acceptable;

55% believe a good person can earn his or her salvation;

44% believe Jesus Christ committed sins while on earth.(1)

88% of students from “Christian” homes deny their faith before they graduate from college;

91% of students from evangelical churches do not believe in absolute moral truth.(3)

Herein lies the problem; we are a generation that has been overtaken by a cheap grace that is an incomplete grace. It is a grace that gives us good things that we desire from the scripture, but does not transform us into Christ-likeness. These statistics are not complete- listen to what these statistics say about those who claim to be born-again:

86% of born again Christians believe "the Bible is totally accurate in all of its teachings." (2005)

Half of born again Christians (46%) agree that Satan is "not a living being but is a symbol of evil." (2005)

About one-third of born agains (33%) believe that if a person is good enough they can earn a place in Heaven. (2005)

Born again Christians are more likely than non-born again individuals to accept moral absolutes. Specifically, 32% of born agains said they believe in moral absolutes, compared to just half as many (15%) among non-born agains. (2002)

Additionally, we see that statistically, people who attend church have the same percentage of divorces, abortions, sexual addictions, alcoholism, and very little difference in what they see as entertainment. Is it any wonder that many believe that we are in the last days? Look with me in 2 Timothy 3:1-6:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

The fruit of those without Christ are clear- and more and more these characteristics are showing up in our churches! At least eighteen different characteristics are listed here, and Paul probably could have listed more. There is an emphasis on love: “lovers of themselves,” lovers of money (“covetous”), “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” The heart of every problem is a problem in the heart. God commands us to Love him above all others, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. However, all too often, we love ourselves supremely, and we do not love God or our neighbors. In this universe there is God, and there are people and things. We should worship God, love people, and use things. But if we start worshiping ourselves, we will ignore God and start loving things and using people. So the scripture here appropriately teaches us that we are ‘without love’ and that we ‘do not love what is good’ because we love things above God and people-thus making us idolatrous.

The fruit of loving ones self is pride, which was the first sin of Satan, and a temptation to Eve. When a man has pride, he becomes boastful, encouraging people to look at him and his accomplishments rather than the focus being on what God has done. Man has become a god unto himself, and many churches have responded to this in the emergent generation, elevating felt needs above what God has said in his Word in our ultimate need: to repent and to be Born-again. This is why we hear many more ‘feel good’ messages from our pulpits today, because we do not want to hurt anybody’s feelings. Those considering or involved with “seeker” services should reflect on a distinction made centuries ago by St. Thomas Aquinas. “we confuse two similar yet different human actions. We see people searching desperately for peace of mind, relief from guilt, meaning, and purpose to their lives, and loving acceptance. We know that ultimately these things can only be found in God. Therefore, we conclude that since people are seeking these things they must be seeking after God. People do not seek God. They seek after the benefits that only God can give them. The sin of fallen man is this: Man seeks the benefits of God while at the same time fleeing from God himself. We are, by nature, fugitives.”

This fruit has attacked even the family. The phrase “Disobedient to parents” is reflected in the fact that even Christian kids are becoming more and more rebellious, breeding an “unthankful” attitude that does not appreciate what their parents have done for them. This is an “unholy” in their attitude toward their parents, preferring the world’s teaching to what God’s Word says. James writes that friendship with the world is hatred towards God! Yet, we allow our children to dress like the world, watch worldly movies, and television, and wonder why they are the way that they are! Kids, the world teaches that we should only respect our parents if they respect you, and if they always do the right thing, and they treat you right. That is unbiblical! “Honor thy father and thy mother” is not a suggestion, it is a command. The phrase “without natural affection” is the translation of one word that describes “family love.” The family is under attack these days, and, as go its families, so goes the nation. Parents in the church need to remember that they are parents, and their kids will follow their lead. Kids do not need another buddy, they need parents that will bring them up in the nurture AND the admonition of the Lord.

The fruit of the spirit includes self-control, however, in today’s church; many are “without self-control.” The motto of our society today is “Do your own thing and enjoy it!” Many in the church simply add the term Christian to it so we can justify doing what we want to do. Lack of self-control reveals itself in a number of ways. Some are “brutal.” when these people cannot have their way, they become much like savage beasts. “Treacherous” (2 Tim. 3:4) describes people who betray others and cannot be trusted. Rash describes people who act without careful thought. “Conceited” describes a person who is “puffed up” with his importance. “Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” suggests that we love pleasure more than we love God. This is a major problem in today’s church; we desire growth at all costs, so we use marketing strategies that abandon words like hell, judgment, sin, and death in favor of people having purpose, their best life now, where God is there for fire insurance and not to change our lives, where repentance is a byword, and sin is flippantly addressed and lived in. The result is that we are a generation that “Has a form of godliness” (2 Tim. 3:5) which is an outward appearance of religion, not true Christian faith; for many have never experienced the transformational power of God in their lives.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit- and a tree that produces bad fruit JESUS says is worthless and is only good for being burned in a fire! So our convenient, casual Christianity that is being experienced in most American churches today, this form of godliness with no power is an abomination to Jesus! He warns the church in Laodecia that he would spew this lukewarm church out of his mouth! Paul reminds us that we are to have nothing to do with religious people who have only a form of godliness- which is a false religion! The fruit is bad, and therefore it will be destroyed. Does that scare you? It should, if you are walking in hypocrisy and in a fruitless Christian life. So what does the fruit of your life reflect?

Finally, Jesus closes this passage with a very stern warning. There are many who will call him Lord, and He will respond that ‘I never knew you’. These are those who I see in Marshall, who believe that they are Christians, knowing all about the story of Jesus, but having only a form of godliness. They would call Jesus Lord, but are they true believers? This past Wednesday, I was talking with two different guys who claimed to be Christians, and identified themselves as Lutherans. Both of them had no idea where they were going when they die. Neither of them identified as a reason of going to church as following Christ, rather, it was about their family and their friends. When asked about how they get into heaven, they responded that they would just continue to do good things and hoped that God would think it is good enough. Neither one was really concerned with the possibility of death- because they believed that being Lutheran was somehow enough. Just knowing about Jesus is not enough. What does Jesus say is enough? We must call Him Lord, yes. But we must repent- See what Paul says to us in 2 Timothy 2:19

2 Timothy 2:19 19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”

What is more fearful to me is those words that Jesus says regarding those who call him Lord, even do miracles in His name, but he says I never knew you. If I walk to the White House today, and ask to see the president, I would be denied. I might even say “But I know him” I would still be denied. What would matter is if W came outside and told his secret service agents that he knew me. Then I could get in. Paul says in this reference that the Lord knows who are his, and that everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness- True conversion requires a change of life. It requires a turning from self and sin and placing all of our trust in Christ by faith. And that is not the end of the story- now we spend the remainder of our lives purposefully walking on that narrow road, and when we step off we repent- change our direction again and again by the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot be Christians and live on that broad road. A true Christian will not be comfortable there-because what fellowship does darkness have with light? Does Jesus truly know you?

The message as I close is this: Examine yourselves. This is what Paul tells us to do in 2 Corinthians 13:5 5 examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? Paul does not instruct us to pray a magic prayer and somehow ‘receive Christ’ and live the way in which we desire to live. Ask yourselves: What gate did I come through? Which road do I most travel on? What kind of fruit does my life bear? Does Jesus know me? The scripture says that we need to examine ourselves by reading the Word of God, and allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate the word in such a way that it goes to the point of our need, cutting out any thought, word or deed that is not pleasing to God.

Originally From: One Christians View

Blindness of Evolution

2008-04-30T09:11:00.000-04:00

Intelligent Design Video

Intelligent Design - Machines

2008-04-30T09:06:00.001-04:00

Intelligent Design - Machines

Intelligent Design is obvious upon close examination of any machine. The concept and design inherent in a machine, whether simple or complex, is self-evident. Whether a machine is high quality or low quality, its designer is both necessary and apparent. Information Theory states that concept and design can only result from a mind. Even the diminished quality of a poorly constructed machine cannot obscure the necessity of an intelligent designer. Machines, as defined by French Biochemist and Nobel Laureate Jacques Lucien Monod (1910-1976), are "purposeful aggregates of matter that, utilizing energy, perform specific tasks." By this authoritative definition, living systems are recognized as machines. A living organism fulfills the definition of a machine all the way down to the molecular level. And yet, because of the philosophical and religious implications of life resulting from Intelligent Design, a surprisingly large portion of the intelligentsia seek to find a mechanism by which life may arise naturally by random chance. Evolutionists admit the inconsistency. George Wald, an evolutionist, states, "When it comes to the origin of life there are only two possibilities: creation or spontaneous generation. There is no third way. Spontaneous generation was disproved one hundred years ago, but that leads us to only one other conclusion, that of supernatural creation. We cannot accept that on philosophical grounds; therefore, we choose to believe the impossible: that life arose spontaneously by chance!" ("The Origin of Life," Scientific American, 191:48. May 1954).

Originally from: All about Science

Expelled: A Review of the Movie

2008-04-30T07:15:00.001-04:00

Expelled: A Review

I recently went to see Ben Stein's Movie Expelled. We went on Sunday with the Youth Group. It was definitely worth seeing. There were a few things that I took with me mentally as I left the theater. The first was the amount of passion, anger and scoffing the evolutionists had toward those in their profession who would dare evoke Intelligent Design as a viable option to evolution. The other was that those who were evolutionists/atheists at one point may have believed in God but, had that thought destroyed by the theory of evolution. Evolution is not merely a theory but a "religion" that works completely against what the Bible says about the formation of all we see around us. It's based on Materialism and the lie the serpent gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The lie is that we as humans could become like gods knowing good and evil. So ultimately evolution states there is no God and that we as humans are the ultimate authority of our lives. In essence we are the gods of our own lives, we make the rules and do what we wish.
There were some pointed questions that were directed to the evolutionist as to what was the catalyst that brought about the cell. They had no answers, just suggestions such as coming from the backs of crystals or as Richard Dawkins suggested, aliens that could have "seeded" the world we live in.
Dawkins suggests that there is freedom in his choice to reject the Judeo Christian God. I believe instead there is bondage and eventual destruction.

H.C.

Two Faced Dawkins?

2008-04-29T13:16:00.002-04:00

Richard Dawkins is clearly disturbed by the documentary, Expelled, so disturbed that he wrote a letter (http://richarddawkins.net/article,2488,Open-Letter-to-a-victim-of-Ben-Steins-lying-propaganda,Richard-Dawkins) to a Jewish man who became indignant about Darwinism when he saw its connection with euthanasia and the Nazi death camps. In response, Dawkins tried to separate the theory from its social implications:

“I have many times written…that I am a passionate Darwinian when it comes to the science of how life has actually evolved, but a passionate ANTI-Darwinian when it comes to the politics of how humans ought to behave. I have several times said that a society based on Darwinian principles would be a very unpleasant society in which to live.”

It is interesting to note that even Dawkins acknowledges a relationship between Darwinism and social engineering. However, he adamantly stands on the findings of Darwin, while rejecting its social implications. Dawkins assumes that he can simply turn Darwin on and off at will, pulling him out in the science classroom, while rejecting him when it comes to social policy. It’s like denying that the human embryo is human while, at the same time, denying that this position will adversely affect abortion rates. The two can’t go together. The way we believe will affect the way we live. They can’t be easily separated.

If we believe that one race is less human or evolved than another, it is foolish to expect that this will have no social impact. It’s easier to expect that lightening will not be followed by thunder.

In contrast, Dawkins claims that:

“Darwinism gives NO support to racism of any kind. Quite the contrary. It is emphatically NOT about natural selection between races. It is about natural selection between individuals. It is true that the subtitle of The Origin of Species is ‘Of the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life’ but Darwin was using the word ‘race’ in a very different sense from ours. It is totaly clear, if you read past the title to the book itself, that a ‘favoured race’ meant something like 'that set of individuals who possess a certain favoured genetic mutation.’”

However, what makes “that set of individuals who possess a certain favoured genetic mutation” any different from race? Nothing! Does a race only become a race after it acquires more than one “favoured genetic mutation?” Or two? Besides, if Darwin favored a group that had only one beneficial mutation, he would certainly favor the group that had two beneficial mutations! If Darwin was about preserving a group having one beneficial mutation, he would even more want to preserve the racial group with two or more! Wouldn’t he?

In today’s political climate, the Darwinist must denounce any interest in racial engineering or politics. Recently, the Darwinist James Watson made a controversial statement about racial superiority, and, as a result, his speaking engagement was cancelled and he was widely denounced, as he should have been. Although the Darwinist might loudly protest that he will not apply Darwin to the social context, this might not reflect his true sentiments.

Dawkins oddly asserts that natural selection isn’t about races but individuals! However, if natural selection is about preserving a male and a female, it is also about preserving their lineage (or race)! There can be no rational basis for such a distinction, despite his protests to the contrary.

Daniel Mann

Proof of God in Nature

2008-04-29T07:02:00.001-04:00

Proof of God - Nature
So where's the proof of God's existence? In accordance with our familiar axiom and in light of the tremendous advances we've made in molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics and information theory, the proof of God is all around us!

Through the microscope, we observe the E. coli bacterial flagellum. The bacterial flagellum is what propels E. coli bacteria through its microscopic world. It consists of about 40 individual protein parts including a stator, rotor, drive-shaft, U-joint, and propeller. It's a microscopic outboard motor! The individual parts come into focus when magnified 50,000 times (using electron micrographs). And even though these microscopic outboard motors run at an incredible 100,000 rpm, they can stop on a microscopic dime. It takes only a quarter turn for them to stop, shift directions and start spinning 100,000 rpm in the opposite direction! The flagellar motor has two gears (forward and reverse), is water-cooled, and is hardwired into a signal transduction (sensory mechanism) so that it receives feedback from its environment. ("Unlocking the Mystery of Life," video documentary by Illustra Media, 2002.)

When we apply the general principles of detecting specified complexity to biologic systems (living creatures), we find it reasonable to infer the presence intelligent design. Take, for example, the bacterial flagellum's stator, rotor, drive-shaft, U-joint, and propeller. It is not convenient that we've given these parts these names - that's truly their function. If you were to find a stator, rotor, drive-shaft, U-joint, or propeller in any vehicle, machine, toy or model, you would recognize them as the product of an intelligent source. No one would expect an outboard motor -- much less one as incredible as the flagellar motor -- to be the product of a chance assemblage of parts. Motors are the product of intelligent design.

Furthermore, the E. coli bacterial flagellum simply could not have evolved gradually over time. The bacterial flagellum is an "irreducibly complex" system. An irreducibly complex system is one composed of multiple parts, all of which are necessary for the system to function. If you remove any one part, the entire system will fail to function. Every individual part is integral. There is absolutely no naturalistic, gradual, evolutionary explanation for the bacterial flagellum. (Michael Behe, Darwin's Black Box, 1996.)

The bacterial flagellum (not to mention the irreducibly complex molecular machines responsible for the flagellum's assembly) is just one example of the specified complexity that pervades the microscopic biological world. Molecular biologist Michael Denton wrote, "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10^-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world." (Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, 1986, p. 250.)

Proof of God - His Fingerprints are Everywhere
Where is the proof of God? If we're willing to open our eyes, we'll see the fingerprints of God all around us and all throughout us. Our very existence proves the existence of a Creator God.

Originally From: All About Creation

8 Reasons...

2008-04-24T16:02:00.000-04:00

8 Reasons I Don't Share My Faith.

Witnessing In Ireland

2008-04-24T14:59:00.000-04:00

Classic Witnessing Encounter

Detrimental Colleagues

2008-04-24T14:46:00.004-04:00

Ideas are powerful! They silently direct us as if we had a bridal in our mouth. Take Darwin’s idea:

“The weak members of civilized societies propagate their kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this has been highly injurious to the race of man…Hardly anyone is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.” (The Descent of Man)

Make sense? It’s an idea that hardly seems to represent any danger, right? Well, let’s look at a similar statement:

“If nature does not wish that weaker individuals should mate with the stronger, she wishes even less that a superior race should intermingle with an inferior one; because in such a case all her efforts, throughout hundreds of thousands of years, to establish an evolutionary higher stage of being, may thus be rendered futile.”

This quote is so similar to Darwin’s. Although it introduces the concept of “race,” it is virtually saying the same thing. However, the latter statement came from the pen of Adolph Hitler in Mein Kampf!

Darwinism played an unmistakable supporting role in life and direction of Nazism. Therefore, historian Richard Weikart’s conclusion seems justified:

“Darwinism by itself did not produce the Holocaust, but without Darwinism, especially in its social Darwinist and eugenics permutations, neither Hitler nor his Nazi followers would have had the necessary scientific underpinnings to convince themselves and their collaborators that one of the world’s greatest atrocities was really morally praiseworthy.” (From Darwin to Hitler, All the above quotations are taken from the “Expelled Leader’s Guide.”)

Ideas are not only the mortar of society, they are also its building blocks, or perhaps its termites!

(There’s still time to see Expelled!)

Daniel Mann

Heaven, Our Real Home

2008-04-24T14:40:00.000-04:00

Heaven - An Awesome Description!

Hearing God's Voice

2008-04-23T08:13:00.003-04:00

Hearing God's Voice - Are You Ready to Listen?
Hearing God's voice is something we all long for-but did you know that it's not hard to do? In fact, God wants you to hear His voice! He doesn't speak to us through a quiver in our liver or through vibes or mediums. Hearing the voice of God is as natural as hearing your best friend talk to you. What's more, we can hear Him everyday and not just on special occasions or by chanting special incantations. He speaks to us in the natural moments of life. Do you want to hear God's voice? Then you must be ready to listen.

Hearing God's Voice - Why Do You Want to Hear Him?
Why do you want to hear God's voice? That may sound like a silly question, but motives are important in anything we do. The Bible says this about God's Word: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Do you want to hear God's voice? If you do, it's possible you're hearing Him already, for He may be the one giving you the longing to hear Him.

Hearing God's Voice in the Bible
In his book Knowing God, J. I. Packer says, "God has spoken to man, and the Bible is His Word, given to us to make us wise unto salvation."

The Bible itself declares, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). In another place, we read: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16).

You may hear people say that the Bible is just a book written by men, but the Bible itself claims to be God's Word! Can we rely on it? The evidence of history, archaeology, fulfilled prophecy and personal testimony over thousands of years is overwhelming that the Bible is, indeed, God's Word. Do you want to hear God's voice? Then read the Bible. Find a good daily reading plan, and stick to it.

Hearing God's Voice through Prayer
When you want to have a conversation with someone, how do you begin? Do you stand in front of the person and hope they will talk to you? That might work, if the other person is outgoing enough, but usually we begin a conversation by opening our own mouths and talking, engaging the other person's attention. It's the same with God! He loves to hear us talk to Him, and it's in those moments that we prepare ourselves to hear the voice of God. Prayer is like saying, "Hello, God, it's me. I believe You created me and that You know way more about how I should live my life than I do. I'd like to get to know You better. Here's what's going on in my life, and I'd sure like Your thoughts on how to handle it. Would You please speak to me about this today?"

In an ordinary conversation, we speak, then listen for the response of the other person. It's the same with God! Once we've prepared our hearts to listen through prayer, we're more likely to hear the voice of God. Does He speak to us through an audible voice? Some claim He does, but usually that's not the case. We may not actually "hear" the voice of God, but He speaks to us in many ways. Here are some of them:

God speaks through His Word
God speaks through our thoughts
God speaks through conversations with others
God speaks through circumstances

Hearing God's Voice through Jesus
The Bible also tells us that Jesus is God in the flesh. Therefore, if you want to hear the voice of God, you must study and know the teachings of Jesus. Here's how John describes Him: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." (1 John 1:1). You must also have a personal relationship with Jesus. Have you ever tried to carry on a conversation of any depth with a person you did not know? It doesn't usually go very far.

Shortly before He was crucified, Jesus met with His disciples to reassure them of what would happen after He was gone. He promised them a helper: "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." (John 14:16-17). The Holy Spirit, then, is the fulfillment of the way we hear God's voice!

Hearing God's Voice with the Help of the Holy Spirit
"But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26). The second chapter of Acts describes the events that occurred on the day of Pentecost, after Jesus ascended into Heaven. Verse 3 says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, the Counselor promised by Jesus. This unique aspect of God's personality did not come to them as someone they could see and touch, but rather He came to live inside them. That same Spirit is available to you and me today. Are you a Christian? If so, you already have the Holy Spirit available to you. Ask God for a fresh filling everyday, and He will prepare your heart to hear God's voice. His Spirit, that still, small voice inside you, is the One who will remind you of what God said, and help you recognize God's opportunities in your life.

Hearing God's Voice - Conclusion of the Matter
So we have the Bible, prayer, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and our own hearts to help us in hearing God's voice. Do you want to hear God's voice? That is the final question, for God responds to willing hearts. In the book of Revelation, we read: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20). God will never force you to obey Him, but waits for your willing response to His call. Are you hearing His voice right now? Don't let your final answer be the wrong one.

Grow More Now And Make Sure You Know God's

Originally From: All about Prayer

Josh McDowell (Part 2)

2008-04-23T07:55:00.000-04:00

Authenticity of the Bible - Josh McDowell (Part 2)

Authenticity of the Bible

2008-04-22T12:21:00.001-04:00

Authenticity of the Bible - Josh McDowell
(Part 1)

The Moment of Truth

2008-04-22T12:02:00.000-04:00

A Lesson From The Moment of Truth

Story of Ignatius

2008-04-22T11:57:00.000-04:00

Christian Apologetics (Story of Ignatius) - Lee Strobel

Foolishness of the Cross

2008-04-22T10:19:00.005-04:00

The Foolishness of the Cross, Part One

Monday, April 24, 2006

The foolishness of the cross underlines the scandalous nature of the Christian ministry. In 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, the apostle Paul reminds us of the fact that the Christian ministry is a scandalous business. It always has been and it always will be. If you are looking for a non-scandalous life, if you hope to preach a non-scandalous message, then the Christian ministry is the wrong place for you. You have heard the wrong call. In this particular passage, Paul's great theme is the foolishness of the word of the Cross. Paul's language is familiar to us because we have read and heard these words so many times. In fact, we have probably become too familiar with them, because what Paul says here, as the Corinthians would have heard it, is a revolutionary message, a counterintuitive message, a counter-cultural message, and in all probability, the Corinthians were not quite prepared to hear this. For what Paul says is that the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.

Rhetorically, Paul is up to something here. Martin Hengel is no doubt right when he suggests that the word translated in English here as foolishness, might be more properly understood as something like madness or insanity. The word of the cross, the very substance of the Christian gospel, is absolute madness to those who are perishing. It is irrationality. It is insanity. It makes no sense whatsoever. It is not just that this message is a little off balance; it is not simply that it is in need of a bit of polishing. It is sheer madness. And yet this message of the cross, for all its foolishness, is the very essence of our identity. This is who we are. It may be foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

In verse 19, Paul reaches back to Isaiah 29:14, where the Lord says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside." This indictment of human pretentious wisdom or human pretentious intelligence is crucial for us in this age of information.

What kind of wisdom are we looking for? What kind of wisdom should we represent? What kind of wisdom are we teaching? It is not the wisdom of the scoffer, nor the wisdom of the wise man. It is not the wisdom of the scribe or the debater of this age, nor the wisdom of the professional intellectual. It is the wisdom of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is but one wisdom, for the Lord says He will destroy all other wisdom, all other artificial, creative, pretentious, humanistic wisdom. "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside." One of the most dangerous and besetting sins that can fall upon a Christian is the belief that he or she is clever. Cleverness is a danger. Cleverness is a trap which can lead us to re-translate the cross into something a little less offensive, a little more sophisticated, and thus rob it of its power.

In verse 20, it is as if the apostle Paul is looking around the church of the Lord Jesus Christ and saying, "Where are they--the intellectual, the cultural elite, the wise man, the scribe, the debater of this age?" They are not here. And why? Because God has made foolish the wisdom of the world.

In verse 21, the apostle explains, "For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." We read these words, and yet as we look around the world, it does not much look like this has happened. In all honesty, it does not yet look like God has made foolish the wisdom of the world, or at least the world does not think so. The fact is, the wise men of the world are not lined up outside our churches to apologize. No one is saying, "We were so wrong--how did we miss all of that?" What Paul gives us here is a word of faith, and yet it is not merely an eschatological promise. Of course it is that, but it is also a present reality, because we must have the gospel audacity to affirm that from inside the arena of faith--to those who are in Christ Jesus--the wisdom of the world does look foolish.

This is also a process of what we might call intellectual sanctification. Over time, as we come out of the world and into the church, we are increasingly and embarrassingly aware of just how foolish our previous thoughts really were. How could we have bought that? How could that have looked so enticing, so exciting?

In verse 21, Paul reminds us of an essential gospel understanding: God did not save the world through its own wisdom. It was not through cleverness or wisdom or intelligence that anyone has come to Christ, including any of us. It is often tempting to think that we were simply smart enough to understand this gospel. When the gospel was preached, we were intelligent enough to grasp it, smart enough to recognize it for what it was. As tempting as such thoughts may be, however, none of us came to the gospel by intelligence. We came because of God's power working in "the foolishness of the message preached."

Look a bit more closely at verse 21: "God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe." Many a bad sermon has been launched from a mistranslation of this verse. The King James Version translates the verse to say "the foolishness of preaching." But it is not the act of preaching that is said to be foolish. It is the message of what is preached. It is the preached Word, the preached gospel that is foolishness. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached--that is, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ--to save those who believe. This is what is well pleasing to God.

There is no "gifted program" in heaven. There is no fast track. There is no special education class. When we get to heaven, we will have a perfected knowledge. We will no longer see through a glass darkly, but once glorified, we shall see Him face to face. But until then, we have to recognize that God uses intelligence, God uses wisdom, but only the intelligence that He would sanctify and only the wisdom He would give. It is a counter-intuitive wisdom--a wisdom that runs entirely counter to the wisdom of the age.

Originally From: AlbertMohler.Com

Freedom in Christ

2008-04-21T14:41:00.001-04:00

Although the Gospel of our Lord is the power of God to save us (Rom. 1:16), it also serves as His key to unlock our prison doors (John 8:31-32; Isaiah 61:1-2). When I was a youth, others used to think me “tough” or “brave.” I’d never walk away from a fight, but they didn’t understand that it wasn’t because of my bravery, but rather cowardice. I just couldn’t loose face. Being disrespected and not doing anything to regain that respect was more painful for me than getting bloodied. I was addicted to the need to prove myself and couldn’t live with myself without this. I was in a virtual prison, addicted to the drug of self respect.

However, the Gospel introduced me to an alternative, user-friendly form of self-acceptance, one that freed me from obsessional doubts about my own worthiness with His own “robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10; Gal. 2:20; 2 Cor. 3:5).

Last week, Anita and I were waiting for a bus on a cold New Jersey night. It failed to come, and so we waited there for the next bus, one hour later. When it came, I asked the driver, “What happened to the earlier bus? We’ve been waiting here an hour and 10 minutes?”

Disdainfully, he fired back, “I’m on time. If you got a problem, call the bus company.” Anita and I found a seat behind the driver, and I added, “If the company is going to treat its passengers this way, it’s going to loose them!”

The driver abruptly pulled the bus to a stop and informed us to get out if we are going to continue to complain. Not to be outdone, I responded, “I’m free to complain, and I’m not getting off!”

Things escalated, and the driver got out of his seat and began heading for me in a menacing manner. “Get out!” he demanded. Fortunately, the Gospel seized my tongue, and I raised my hand and responded, “It’s OK!” Some battles aren’t worth fighting.

Afterwards, I reflected that it truly had been OK! Although it wasn’t a pleasant encounter, I knew that I was no less of a person as a result of backing down. Christ is our righteousness. This means that we no longer need to become defensive about our honor. He is also our liberty and freedom from the many forms of psychological addiction. Free at last!

Daniel Mann

A Sober Reality...

2008-04-21T07:04:00.001-04:00

MEN ARE PROUD, ARROGANT, REBELLIOUS TOWARD GOD

An Interview with an Atheist

2008-04-21T06:56:00.001-04:00

The Interview

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

2008-04-19T11:37:00.003-04:00

The Cross

This is officially known as the “X Structure at the core of the M51 Whirlpool Galaxy”. I’ll pause a minute to let that sink in, because it’s pretty clear what it really is. Mind you, this galaxy is approximately 31 billion light years away. That’s billion, with a ‘b’.

For believers, this image makes the heart race. Your spirit literally cries out in joy and reverence. God is declaring Himself in the heavens! It’s like He’s saying “Here it is, crystal clear. I am the Lord your God.” It’s significant that this isn’t in the shape of a crescent, a buddha, or anything else. It’s a cross! I still don’t see an “X” here, but I guess political correctness demanded that name be used. We wouldn’t want to offend all those who don’t want to see the clear Cross here, after all.

I am of the personal opinion that not all the signs in the stars as mentioned in the Bible are going to be only impending doom. Some will make us simply marvel, and for the believer, simply bring us joy. I firmly believe that God intended some of the signs to be discoveries made when mankind reached the proper level of advancement to see them. Now is such a time, as we can see billions upon billions of light years into the universe. God’s handiwork, if you let yourself see it, is all over the place. I believe this image is just one of many such “signs in the stars”.

To hold to the belief that the entire universe just “happened” or that a great explosion at the beginning of time somehow created perfect order is such a depressing thought, particularly when one views this single image. God is real, He is alive, and He is omnipotent. The entire universe was created by Him, and He knows where every molecule in creation resides. He has named the very stars in the heavens and knows each by name!

I can never grow tired of images such as the one above. They only cause my desire to know and to worship God to grow stronger. All praise and glory go to Him! Amen!

Originally From: Watch the Sky

Hell - What is it?

2008-04-19T10:42:00.001-04:00

Ravi Zacharias Speaks of What is Hell

Jesus and the Passover

2008-04-19T07:57:00.003-04:00

How the Passover Reveals Jesus Christ
by Rich Deem

Introduction

The festival of the Passover has been celebrated by Jews for thousands of years. It is the retelling of the great story of how God redeemed the Jewish nation from enslavement in Egypt.¹ The celebration itself was given to the Jews while they were still in Egypt.² The original celebration centered around the Passover lamb, which was sacrificed and its blood put over the doorposts as a sign of faith, so that the Lord passed over the houses of the Jews during the last plague poured out on the Egyptians - the killing of every firstborn.³ To a large degree, the Passover lamb has been eliminated from the Passover festival (with the only remnant being the roasted lamb shank bone).⁴ The New Testament says that Jesus is our sacrificial Lamb.⁵ The Passover lamb was to be a "male without defect,"⁶ which is the same description given to Jesus.⁷ In addition, when the lamb was roasted and eaten, none of its bones were to be broken.⁸ This fact was also prophesized for the Messiah, whose bones were not to be broken.⁹ It was customary during crucifixion to break the leg bones of the person after a few hours in order to hasten their death. The only way a person could breathe when hanging on a cross was to push up with his legs, which was very exhausting. By breaking the legs, death followed soon by asphyxiation. However, in the case of Jesus, they broke the legs of the other two men, but did not break His, since He was already dead.¹⁰

Passover symbolism

Much of the symbolism of Jesus' last Passover week is lost to us because we are unaware of the customs of the time. For example, Jesus came into the city of Jerusalem five days before the lamb was killed in the temple as the Passover sacrifice for the sins of the people of Israel. Five days before the lamb was to be sacrificed, it was chosen. Therefore, Jesus entered Jerusalem on lamb selection day as the lamb of God.¹¹ The people did not understand the significance of this, since they greeted Him with palm branches¹² and hailed Him as King,¹³ shouting "Hosanna,"¹⁴ which means "save us." However, they were not looking for a spiritual Savior, but a political savior. Palm branches were a symbol of freedom and defiance, since Simon Maccabeus had entered Jerusalem with that symbolism.¹⁵ Jesus' reaction was to weep,¹⁶ since He realized that they did not understand the Messiah's purpose in coming.

Passover sacrifice

Good Friday was the day of the Passover celebration and the day that the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. For the previous 1,200 years, the priest would blow the shophar (ram's horn) at 3:00 p.m. - the moment the lamb was sacrificed, and all the people would pause to contemplate the sacrifice for sins on behalf of the people of Israel. On Good Friday at 3:00,¹⁷ when Jesus was being crucified, He said, "It is finished"¹⁸ - at the moment that the Passover lamb was sacrificed and the shophar was blown from the Temple. The sacrifice of the lamb of God was fulfilled at the hour that the symbolic animal sacrifice usually took place. At the same time, the veil of the Temple (a three-inch thick, several story high cloth that demarked the Holy of Holies¹⁹) tore from top to bottom²⁰ - representing a removal of the separation between God and man. Fifty days later, on the anniversary of the giving of the law (Pentecost), God left the earthly temple to inhabit those who call on the name of Jesus through His Holy Spirit.²¹

Burial

The festival of unleavened bread began Friday evening (at sunset). As part of the festival, the Jews would take some of the grain - the "first fruits" of their harvest - to the Temple to offer as a sacrifice. In so doing, they were offering God all they had and trusting Him to proved the rest of the harvest. It was at this point that Jesus was buried - planted in the ground - as He said right before His death.²² Paul refers to Jesus as the first fruits of those raised from the dead in 1 Corinthians.²³ As such, Jesus represents the fulfillment of God's promise to provide the rest of the harvest - resurrection of those who follow the Messiah.

Resurrection

Christian symbolism in the Passover occurs early in the Seder (the Passover dinner). Three matzahs are put together (representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). The middle matzah is broken,²⁴ wrapped in a white cloth, and hidden, representing the death and burial of Jesus.²⁵ The matzah itself is designed to represent Jesus, since it is striped and pierced, which was prophesized by Isaiah, ²⁶ David,²⁷ and Zechariah.²⁸ Following the Seder meal, the "buried" matzah is "resurrected," which was foretold in the prophecies of David.²⁹

Christian communion

It was during a Passover seder³⁰ that Jesus proclaimed that the meal represented Himself and that He was instituting the New Covenant, which was foretold by Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.³¹ The celebration of this covenant has become the ordinance of communion in the Christian Church. At the end of the meal, Jesus took the unleavened bread, broke it, and said that it represented His body.³² Then He took the cup of wine, which would have been the third cup of the Seder - the cup of redemption. He said that it was the new covenant in His blood "poured out for you."³³ It is through the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we are declared clean before God, allowing those of us who choose to accept the pardon, to commune with Him - both now and forevermore through the eternal life He offers.

Conclusion

If you are a Christian, I encourage you to celebrate the Passover with your friends and neighbors. Our family has been doing this for the last six years and have used the celebration as a way of sharing the gospel of Christ in a fun and non-threatening manner.

Originally From :God and Science

Defining God

2008-04-19T07:24:00.003-04:00

How Should We Define God?

30 January 2006

Many nonbelievers have made the claim that “God” is an incoherent concept that is never really defined. Unfortunately, it is true that theists often have difficulty ascribing characteristics to God. Thus, in this article I will describe the attributes that, I believe, make God.

First, I must mention an important distinction to make about the definition of God. There are, in my mind, two different ways to define Him. The first way is a vague and nonspecific definition. This definition only seeks to understand what necessary characteristics or attributes God displays. This I will refer to as the “minimalist” definition. The second way to define God is according to a specific religion. For example, a Hinduist may mention all the characteristics of the God in which they believe. Since I am a Christian, I will seek to mention the characteristics of the Christian God.

What is the “minimalist” definition?

I believe God is an entity that is above and beyond the universe. This means that God is not subject to the laws of the universe. In addition, He created the universe and the physical laws that govern it. He has existed eternally, which is why He had no cause for His existence. Moreover, God is able to make decisions. He is not merely a robot, but instead has the ability to decide to do certain things.

This definition admittedly is very vague, but that is why I refer to it as the minimalist definition.

What is the Christian definition?

I believe that the Christian God has all of the aforementioned characteristics, as well as many others. Among these are omnibenevolence (all-loving), omniscience (all-knowing), immutability (unchanging), and interest in human beings. He is also omnipotent (all-powerful). He is perfectly just, and He is the basis for all morality. In fact, He created a moral code, which is imbedded within all humans. He is three persons in one God (known as the Trinity), consisting of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son, Jesus Christ, sacrificed himself in order to allow us to live in heaven for eternity should we place our faith in Him.

What are the uses of these definitions?

Everybody may vary on what they believe defines God. However, it is important that everybody has at least some idea of what they believe defines Him. The minimalist definition is most important when arguing for the existence of God (see Cosmological Argument and Teleological Argument). The Christian definition is most important to know for inquiring nonbelievers and for one’s own personal convictions.

Proving God

It is interesting to note that nontheists will often criticize theistic arguments for failing to show that God is omnipotent, omniscient, omni-benevolent, and so on. As I point out, I think that most theistic arguments should only be concerned with establishing the existence of God as described by the minimalist definition. However, I feel that the expectations are impossibly high, for I think that it is impossible for us to really know that God is omnipotent, for example, on the basis of naturalistic evidence alone. To see this, imagine that you asked God to demonstrate that He is all-powerful. You may ask Him to perform some amazing act, such as instantaneously creating a million universes. However, such a demonstration would not prove omnipotence, for you could then ask Him to simultaneously create a million and one universes. This process could be repeated indefinitely- no matter how many universes you asked God to make, you could always ask for Him to make one more. Thus, it is impossible, strictly speaking, for omnipotence to be demonstrated. The same holds true for omniscience, omni-benevolence, and so forth.

It follows that the expectation that one “prove” that God is omnipotent is absurd. Nevertheless, belief that God really does possess such qualities can still be rationally maintained in a couple of ways. First of all, personal experience (see here) could testify to God’s perfection. Secondly, Richard Swinburne has argued that the hypothesis that God is all-powerful is simpler than the hypothesis that He is somewhat powerful. ¹ Therefore, all things being equal, we should prefer the hypothesis that God is perfect.

NOTES:

1. Swinburne, Richard. The Existence of God. (New York: Oxford) 1991.

The Deep Places

2008-04-18T15:25:00.006-04:00

God Holds the Deep Places...

The Bible says, "For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also" (Psalm 95:3,4). How hard to conceive that the hand that made and reigns over His universe submitted to the cross of Calvary and the treatment surrounding it. Then those hands were bound and finally pierced through for our sins.

"Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once..." (Romans 6:9,10). Sad as it is, Christ’s death has caused the death of death, which has provided eternal redemption for us. Even here in His death the hand of God is holding the deep places of the earth. It is not said that the earth has our Lord - most emphatically, our Lord has the earth! Psalm 89:4 says, “In his hand are the deep places of the earth….” "The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them" (Psalm 89:11). "The LORD reigneth; let the earth rejoice..." (Psalm 97:1).

1. God holds the deep places where I cannot stand.

In every area of life and nowhere more than the matter of salvation, Christ had interceded for you and me and given us a standing. If it had not been for God’s grace that took His Son to Calvary, we would all have been lost and doomed to an eternity without Him, without heaven to come and without peace on earth in the present time. Do you feel you once had life under control and it has become a monster and is taking you under its control? Through God’s power, stand where you have not been standing.

"I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me" (Psalm 69:2,14,15).

2. God holds the deep places I cannot see.

As children, most of us experienced the fear of the dark. Even as adults the dark can be unnerving, for in the dark we cannot see where we are going. The Bible teaches that the light and the dark are the same to God; He can see just as easily in one as the other. The Lord is afraid of nothing, not even the dark. He lives there and makes even the darkest, most remote a place of purpose and illumination. "And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Exodus 20:21).

Am I addressing someone who is stumbling because you cannot find your way? I’ve got some good news for you! God sees the places you cannot see and will be very happy to lead you to your personal destiny of bright and shining future! You have tried your way without Him; try and trust God. "He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death" (Job 12:22). God’s wonders are waiting for you if you will trust Him with your life! "They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep" (Psalm 107:23,24). In the midst of the world’s waste, God will show us wonderful things!

3. God holds the far off places I have not been.

The Bible says, "Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (Psalm 42:7). In the picture God has before us in this passage of Scripture, the idea of a churning waterspout, a tornado over water, if you please. As the winds expose a depth that normally is not experienced, He is reminding us even there He is in control. Do you feel your dream has turned into a nightmare? When you are drowning financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually and you cannot go any deeper, then the Lord in His sovereignty sends the waterspout over you and you are plunged to even deeper depths. At the very moment of your deepest, darkest desperation, God is holding you who trust Him, and yes, even the waves beneath you. God does much more than become a bridge over our troubled waters; He lifts us up when the bridge has washed out beneath us and we have no human lifeboats nearby. In your calamity you cry out, “Somebody help me; I’ve never been here before!” Please be aware, God has. The Psalmist said, "If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee" (Psalm 139:9-12).

Pastor Leon Aguilera

Word of Life : History

2008-04-18T09:21:00.001-04:00

Word of Life: History

Salvation

2008-04-18T07:57:00.002-04:00

A Man Fell into a Hole...

Conformed or Transformed?

2008-04-18T07:39:00.004-04:00

Conformed or Transformed?

Charles Stanley

Christian Post Contributor

Sat, Apr. 12 2008 12:44 PM ET

Romans 12:1-2

If you want a little snapshot of what the world considers “normal,” just glance at magazine covers near the grocery store checkout. You will find racks of lies, rumors, indecency, adultery, and betrayal. A movie star leaves his wife for another woman. A pop-singer mom loses custody of her children because of drug use.

Young girls are taught their self-worth is based on outward appearance. These don’t sound like traditional family values, do they? But as a culture, we aren’t shocked by what we see. Even worse, we enjoy it. We read articles and watch TV shows about such perversion, as if intoxicated by the “glamour” of such lifestyles. We fill our homes with a million little pictures of this distorted reality and then pack it neatly away when it’s time for church. Sadly, some of us are living two separate lives. The one we show God, and the one we show the world.

Romans chapter 12:2 confronts us with this contradiction head-on. As you think about the images above, consider the words of the apostle Paul.

He said “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so you may prove what the will of God is, which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Is your home being conformed to the world, or is it being transformed by the Holy Spirit? Would others see you as a blind follower of culture’s ambitions? Or would they see the “good and acceptable and perfect” will of God in your life? Be honest with yourself as you talk to the Lord today.

Originally from: The Christian Post

God's Will

2008-04-18T07:12:00.002-04:00

God’s Will: The Great Discovery

Charles Stanley

Christian Post Contributor

Fri, Apr. 11 2008 12:01 PM ET

Jeremiah 29:11

The Lord has a plan for your life. He has a perfect will and a specific course in mind for you. Some believers are frightened of God’s will. The idea of a divine plan isn’t attractive, because it requires a great deal of trust and faith in the Father.

We’re usually quick to trust God with someone else’s needs. But, we’re often slow to trust Him with ours. To make things more confusing, some people misunderstand what the Lord’s will actually is. Some believe it’s a special bit of knowledge that He imparts only to super-spiritual people. Others think, it’s simply His call to do something dangerous, painful, or uncomfortable. Too often, God’s will is seen as something we have to do, whether we want to or not.

God’s will isn’t something to fear. It’s meant to give us clarity of purpose and power to live a life of many blessings. It provides us with direction at every turn. It gives us answers to important questions. In a time, where even our cars can get real-time, turn-by-turn directions from satellites in space, some people resist that kind of guidance for their lives.

Most likely, it’s because we want some advice about how to proceed but prefer to do the driving ourselves. We may let God suggest where we should go, but we want to be the ones holding the steering wheel. God knows where you’re going and how to get you there safely. Don’t trust Him with just the final destination. Let Him guide each step of the journey.

Originally from: The Christian Post

Cheap Religion

2008-04-18T07:06:00.002-04:00

Cheap Religion

A.W. Tozer

Wed, Apr. 16 2008 01:10 PM ET

Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. (2 Samuel 24:24)

What passes for Christianity in our day is cheap religion! To listen to the current concepts of Christianity, we would conclude it is little more than bits of beautiful poetry, a man-made bouquet of fragrant flowers, a kindly smile for our neighbor and a couple of good deeds on behalf of a brother or sister. When I consider some of the elements now offered in Christianity as acceptable religion, I have to restrain myself lest I speak too disapprovingly. I fear my words would be so strong that I would have to repent of them! And I read in the Scriptures that there are some things God does not want us to say even about the devil. What do we find surfacing in much of our Christian fellowship? The complaint that God takes a long time to work out His will. We do not want to take the time to plow and cultivate. We want the fruit and the harvest right away. We do not want to be engaged in any spiritual battle that takes us into the long night. We want the morning light right now! We do not want the cross-we are more interested in the crown!

Prayer
Lord, Thank you for the reminder that I have a job to do, and I pray for the grace to complete it.

Thought
We want the fruit and the harvest right away. We do not want to be engaged in any spiritual battle that takes us into the long night.

Originally From: The Christian Post

Evidence in favor of God

2008-04-17T11:59:00.002-04:00

The noted physicist, Stephen Hawkings, declared,

“We are such insignificant creatures on a minor planet of a very average star in the outer suburbs of one of a hundred billion galaxies. So it is difficult to believe in a God that could care about us or even notice our existence.”

Let’s enter into Hawkings’ reasoning. According to his thinking, if the prosaic or the “average” argues against the existence of God, then the special or the unlikely should constitute evidence in favor of God! And this is just what we find! Henry Schaefer writes,

“In their recent writings, Hugh Ross and Guillermo Gonzalez have demonstrated that our solar system, and in particular the sun and planet earth, are in fact quite extraordinary in many respects.” (Science and Christianity, 66)

Indeed, we could point to our moon as a stabilizing influence, the distance, size, and specific emissions of our sun, and many salutary aspects of the earth, including plate tectonics, magnetism, carbon-oxygen cycle, etc. We call this confluence of all the right features as the “fine-tuning.” Paul Davies writes,

“There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all…It seems as though somebody has fine tuned nature’s numbers to make the Universe. The impression of design is overwhelming.” (Science and Christianity, 63)

If it is so “overwhelming,” why doesn’t everyone see this? Why does Hawkings call the earth a “minor planet” and the sun “an average star?” How is it that so many remain skeptical in light of the evidence?

Perhaps Hawkings’ main concern regards our smallness in the midst of such a colossal universe? However, should this fact rule against “…a God that could care about us?” As a child, I would always choose the biggest and heaviest gift out of the grab-bag, believing that I’d get the best gift this way. But as adults, we also learn to value tiny things like diamonds, even intangible thoughts. Would Hawkings more easily believe in God if the universe were only a hundredth its size? I think not! Perhaps this glorious universe is one of God’s ways of demonstrating His unfathomable love for us? This was David’s thought:

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4).

It’s the vastness of the universe that highlights the glory of God’s love for each one of us specks. Is this too much to expect of God—that He could love a speck like me and along with everyone else? Even the unthinking universe is coerced into saying “no.” Wherever I go in this universe, gravity finds me with its force of attraction. If a blind, unknowing force like gravity can exert such reach, why not the Creator Himself! So what of Hawkings’ objection? Bias or baloney?

Daniel Mann

Trusting in God

2008-04-17T09:48:00.006-04:00

When you trust in God, there is no need to fear.
2 Chronicles 20:1-37

When you trust in God, there is no need to fear.

Introduction
Life can be difficult. Being a Christian in a non-Christian world poses all kinds of problems. The world does not know Jesus. The world does not love Him. The world does not understand why He came. You, on the other hand, do know Jesus. You do love Him. And, you do understand why He came. He came to save you from your sins and to give you new life. He came to bring you peace and joy in the Spirit. He came so you might have fellowship with God.
These things you already know. And you also know that though you are saved from sin and filled with the Spirit of God, life in this world still is not perfect. It is still difficult.
The Christian is, in a sense, in a battle with the world. And the world is at war with the Christian -- with you. The world offers vices, self-fulfillment, and greed. The world wants to convert you to its paganism, to its ungodly devotion to the unholy. And if you don't conform, if you don't bend the knee to its idols and sacrifices, you will be ridiculed, mocked, and attacked.
So the world is against you. The evil one is at war with you. And in the battle there are all sorts of struggles. On the inside, you struggle against sin: pride, lust, greed, boasting, and various wantings. On the outside, you struggle against illness, poverty, marriage problems, job difficulties, an unsure future, and more. Maybe right now you are facing a serious struggle. Or maybe you've recently had to deal with a difficult situation. Maybe you fear that one is coming.
As a Christian, what do you do when life is coming down on you hard, when there seems to be no way out, when your relationship with God is being affected? When you are worried or afraid? When you are in distress?
What do you do when you are facing such monumental obstacles? How do your resist temptation, flee from evil, or believe beyond your ability to understand how your problems can be solved?
The answer lies in the Word of God.

Context: Israel and Judah were divided.

Jehoshaphat was the 4th king of the separated kingdom of Judah around 850 to 875 B.C. He was a zealous follower of the commandments of God. In his 3rd year he sent out certain princes, priests, and Levites, to go through all the cities of Judah, teaching the people out of the Book of the Law. Because he sought the Lord, riches and honors increased around him. "Jehoshaphat sought the Lord with all his heart" (2 Chr. 22:9).
Moab, Ammon, and the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was afraid; and rightly so, for the army approaching him was indeed a mighty one, beyond what he would be able to handle. He was in trouble.

Read 2 Chronicles 20, verses 1-9, 14-15, 22-23, 30

You should trust God and not fear because of who He is. Please look with me at v. 6.
"and he [Jehoshaphat] said, 'O Lord, the God of our fathers, art Thou not God in the heavens? And art Thou not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Thy hand so that no one can stand against Thee.'"

Jehovah is:

"...the God of our Fathers"; therefore, He is the God of History.

of Adam and Eve.
of Noah
of Abraham
of Moses

He also lives in heaven;

Therefore, He is the God of Holiness. Heaven is the holy dwelling place of God.
Therefore, He is above all things. He is pure, righteous, and incapable of sin.

He is also the ruler of all the nations; therefore, He is the God of Sovereignty. All kings and peoples are His. And as such He has the right to rule them as He pleases.
He is all powerful; therefore, He is the God of power.

He can do as He wishes. He can create or destroy. Raise up or tear down.

Who is God to you?

Is He big or small?
Is He all powerful or is He a wimp?
Does He love you or does He just put up with you?

How you perceive God affects how you respond to Him.

The people of Judah knew who God was and that is why they looked to Him and trusted Him.
In other words, you should trust God because He is holy; He is a King; and He is all powerful, and because He loves you very much.

You should trust God and not fear not only because of who He is but also because of what He has already done.
Please look with me at verse 7, "Did Thou not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Thy people Israel, and give it to the descendants of Abraham Thy friend forever?"

God has already accomplished great things:

He gave the land of Canaan to the descendants of Abraham.

God chose Abraham and promised him he would be a great nation.
God raised up Moses and, through many miracles, delivered His people from the bondage of the Egyptians.

He parted the Red Sea; He destroyed the Egyptians.

God raised up Joshua and the Hebrew armies to take the land of Canaan. And there, God planted them in the land that they might bear fruit as His chosen people so they could worship Him, honor Him, serve Him, and prepare the way of the Messiah.

The Hebrew could reach down, grab a hand full of dirt, and touch the promise, feel the reality of God's accomplishments. He could touch the promise!
*** Because the Hebrews knew God and what He had already done for them, they sought Him again.
Then look at what they did...

They sought God, v. 12, "O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on Thee."

They praised God, v. 19, "And the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel, with a very loud voice."

They put their trust in God, v. 20, "...Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Listen to Me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the LORD your God, and you will be upheld....'"

They gave thanks to God, v. 21, "And he said, 'Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting."

What do you do when you face trials and tribulations? Do you praise God? Do you put your trust in Him? Do you give thanks to God?

Did you know that a Christian's true character is often revealed when he faces a real problem. How do you handle your problems? Do you panic? do you complain? do you raise your fist in the air and shout at God? do you begin to doubt and then run for a quick fix (run to a sin, the television, or "not talk about it")?, or do you go the Lord in prayer, humility, praise, and trust, and refuse to give fear and worry any place?

As you can see, God had already done great things for the Hebrew people. He has already done great things for you as well...and more.

He has delivered you from the enemy called sin, by redeeming you through His Son.
He has brought you out of the land of the Valley of the Shadows of Death and given you a place to rest, and caused you to lie down on green pastures.
He has taken your heart, at one time the home of evil, and delivered it into the hands of His Son, Jesus.

The cross is the only reason you have for any hope of deliverance from any conflict, problem, battle, or worry.
The cross is the absolute guarantee of God's commitment to you. You will never be forsaken. You cannot be forsaken; you cannot be forgotten by God.

They were delivered from the mere threat of mortal death. You have been delivered from the threat of eternal death.

They were delivered from an enemy that sought to kill them.
You have been delivered from an enemy that has sought to have you damned.
The cross, the blood, the pain, the humiliation of Jesus 2000 years ago has bought you peace, safety, and security in the land of promise: eternal life with God.

This battle so long ago was not only an attempt by Satan to destroy God's people then, but it was also an attempt to destroy you now. No messianic line, no Messiah, no salvation. Then you are lost, too.
God has given you salvation.

Will He do any less for you when you face difficulties in your life? Will He let you be destroyed? No!

How do you handle sin, sickness, heartbreak, pain, uncertainty, etc...
Do you trust God or do you doubt?

Hasn't He fed you, clothed you, warmed you?
Hasn't He freed you from your sin?

God has called you not that He might forsake you, but that He might sanctify you, make you holy, and that you might enjoy Him forever.
Because He loves you...very much.

You should trust in the Lord and not fear not only because of who He is and what He has already done, but also because of what He will do.

The people of Judah did not know what would happen. But they trusted in the Lord.
Please look with me at:

v. 15 - Do not fear or be dismayed...for the battle is not yours but God's.

v. 17 - Stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf (v. 17).
These were statements in the future tense. These were God's words of Promise!!

So they people rested, they feared not.
1. v. 30 - So the kingdom of Jehoshaphat was at peace, for his God gave him rest on all sides

Conclusion
Is God any different now? Are His words of Promise any less true?
Jesus said,

Come to Me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28).

"I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth" (Matt. 28:19).
He said that His words will not pass away (Mark 13:31).
He said that He would raise you up on the last day (John 6:40).
He said that whatever you asked in His name would be give to you. (John 14:14).
He said He would disclose Himself to you (John 14:21).
He said that He would reveal the Father to you (Matt. 11:27)
And He said He would return in the clouds and that every eye will see Him (Mark 13:27).

Because of who God is and what He has already done for you, you can trust Him even more for the future and have no fear that He will continue to uphold you, love you, and continue His wonderful loving plan in your life.
Will you trust Him? How much will you trust Him? How much will you rest in Him? Its up to you.

Originally From: CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY

For the Kids

2008-04-17T08:25:00.000-04:00

Pirates Who Don't do Anything...

Apologetix Please Stand Up...

2008-04-16T16:00:00.001-04:00

The Real Sin Savior:

Richard Dawkins stumped by creationists' question

2008-04-16T10:02:00.003-04:00

Skeptics choke on Frog

Was Dawkins caught on the hop?

First published in
Prayer News (both Australia and UK)
November 1998

[See also Addendum (28 June 2007): Interview Analysis and Timeline, and Was Dawkins Stumped? Frog to a Prince critics refuted again, a further response to a critic, raw footage and timeline.]

GB: That question actually came at the end of the interview. At the beginning, Philip Hohnen asked several general questions on the origin of new information. These questions are recorded on tape and may be viewed, either on tape or transcripted, by anyone interested in the exact nature of the questions. Dawkins objected to the questions and stopped the recording. He claimed that questions on the origin of new information were invalid, and that nobody ever asked him such questions. I responded that the question of information was perfectly valid, and very important to the evolution-creation debate.

RD: ‘The tape having stopped, I explained to them my suspicions, and asked them to leave my house.’

GB: At no time did Dr Dawkins ask us to leave his house. A second camera (newly purchased, which we were testing) was inadvertently not switched off until later, so it recorded most of the ensuing conversation. This remains on record to clarify supposed ‘lapses of memory’.

RD: ‘As it happens, my forthcoming book, Unweaving the Rainbow, has an entire chapter (“The Genetic Book of the Dead”) devoted to a much more interesting version of the idea that natural selection gathers up information from the environment, and builds it into the genome. At the time of the interview, the book was almost finished (it is to be published in November, 1998). That chapter would have been in the forefront of my mind, and it is therefore especially ludicrous to suggest that I would have evaded the question by talking about fish and amphibians.’ [Ed. note: see refutation of this book]

GB: After he asked for the camera to be switched off, Dawkins asked that his answers to the first few questions would not be used (and they have not been used). He then agreed to make a statement,but refused to take more questions from Philip.

We resumed recording, then after he finished his statement I asked for a concrete example in which an evolutionary process can be seen to have increased information on the genome. The long pause seen on the video immediately followed my question, he then asked me to switch off the camera so he could think, which I did.

After some thought he permitted the camera to be switched on again and his final answer was recorded, the answer which appears in the video, which, as can be seen, does not answer the question. Because my question was off-camera and off-mike (though clearly audible on the tape), it could not be used in the finished production. That is why the presenter was recorded later, repeating my question as I had asked it.

Your concern is that the pause was fabricated. No, the pause followed by an irrelevant answer was in response to that exact question, a question which Dr Dawkins could not answer and would have preferred not to even discuss. ‘Ludicrous’ perhaps, but the question was indeed evaded. If you would care to view the unedited tape you will be able to confirm my account.

RD: ‘If I’d wanted to turn the question into more congenial channels, all I had to do was talk about ‘The Genetic Book of the Dead’. It is a chapter I am particularly pleased with. I’d have welcomed the opportunity to expound it. Why on earth, when faced with such an opportunity, would I have kept totally silent? Unless, once again, I was actually thinking about something quite different while struggling to keep my temper?’

GB: Whatever he may have been thinking about I don’t know, but it is clear that he did not answer the question.

[From here, Gillian responds to Barry Williams’ article in The Skeptic² (his comments are marked by BW) – Ed.]

BW: ‘If it had been left at that, it might merely have been evidence of professional incompetence on the part of the producer and editor of the tape …’

GB: Before making charges of ‘incompetence’, the original tape should be viewed … The question, asked by myself (not Geoffrey Smith) was off camera, and that’s why the question was re-recorded by the narrator, the pause and the answer which follows is exactly the response from Prof. Dawkins.

The actual pause was in fact shortened from 19 seconds to 11 seconds, and Dawkins’ request to switch off the camera so that he could think was also cut out. So, there was no malicious intent whatsoever, what is seen is Dawkins’ exact response, with a shortened pause, and the (merciful not malicious) removal of his request for time to think.

BW: ‘Certainly this is by no means the first occasion on which the creation “science” movement has sought to misrepresent the words of eminent scientists to bolster their own inept grasp of scientific matters, and to mislead their own unfortunate followers.’

GB: This accusation is beneath contempt now that your willingness to make accusations without doing your homework has surfaced. Another skeptic of creation, Glenn Morton, made similar charges on the internet. He asked Richard Dawkins about it and Dawkins denied recollection of the interview. Finally, after listening to an audio tape of the interview, Dr Morton posted the following apology:

‘… I had originally questioned whether there was some doctoring going on in the tape because of certain technical details that were amiss. The shadows on the narrator were not the shadows from the room in which Dawkins sat. And the room appeared to be different. I wrote Dawkins and asked him about this. He denied having any recollection of this event. I suspected a video hatchet job. After Gillian established contact with me in June, I found that my suspicions were correct that the narrator was not in the same room as Dawkins. Gillian admitted that she had the narrator re-dub the question but contended that she had asked exactly that question and that Dawkins was shown exactly as he performed at the filming [a practice that Williams stated was acceptable — Ed.]. Gillian sent a copy of the original audio tape of the interview with Dawkins to a friend of mine. He sent the tape to me.

‘I will state categorically that the audio tape of the interview 100% supports Gillian Brown’s contention that Dawkins couldn’t answer the question.’

Originally from: Creation on the Web

Few Tithe to Churches...

2008-04-16T07:26:00.008-04:00

Study: Few Born Agains Tithe to Churches

Audrey Barrick

Christian Post Reporter

Mon, Apr. 14 2008 06:32 PM ET

Only 9 percent of all born again adults gave 10 percent of their income to churches and charitable groups, a new survey revealed.

While the practice of tithing and whether it is a biblical responsibility is still debated today, The Barna Group found that very few Americans, including Christians, give tithe.

Overall, only 5 percent of U.S. adults tithed in 2007, the survey released Monday showed. Since 2000, the proportion of adults who tithed has remained in the 5 percent to 7 percent range.

The most generous group was the evangelicals, with 24 percent having tithed last year. Other groups who were more likely to give at least 10 percent of their income include conservatives (12 percent); people who had prayed, read the Bible and attended a church service during the past week (12 percent); charismatic or Pentecostal Christians (11 percent); and registered Republicans (10 percent).

Evangelical Christians gave high donations with 83 percent contributing at least $1000 to churches and non-profit entities in 2007. Among all adults, only 34 percent gave away $1000 or more that year.

Regarding donations only to religious centers – church, synagogue or other place of worship – 25 percent of all adults contributed at least $1000. Ninety-six percent of evangelicals gave money to a church and 81 percent of them donated at least $1000.

Despite the generous contributions to churches by evangelicals, an earlier study released by Ellison Research last month revealed that only a minority of evangelicals believe it is a sin to not tithe 10 percent of their income. Over four out of 10 evangelicals believe it is a sin not to tithe, but other studies show relatively few evangelicals actually do so.

The March study also showed that more Protestants than Roman Catholics considered the failure to tithe a sin. According to this week’s Barna study, Protestants were more likely to tithe compared to Catholics (8 percent vs. 2 percent of Catholics) in 2007.

Donations by the aggregate born again community (both evangelicals and on-evangelical born again adults) reached the highest level this decade. The mean donation to non-profits and churches was $1971. But the new study was quick to note that the percentage of born again adults who gave any money to churches dropped to 76 percent – its lowest level this decade.

"Born again adults remain the most generous givers in a country acknowledged to be the most generous on the planet," said George Barna, head of the research group. "But their donation decisions must be seen in the larger context of the changes occurring in a wide range of religious behaviors.

"With millions of people shifting their allegiance to different forms of church experience, and a more participatory society altering how people interact and serve others, many Christians are now giving their money to different types of organizations instead of a church," he continued. "They attend conventional churches less often. They are expanding their circle of Christian relationships beyond local church boundaries. And they are investing greater amounts of their time and money in service organizations that are not connected with a conventional church. That doesn’t make such giving inappropriate or less significant, it’s just a different way of addressing social needs."

Of all the money born agains have donated, the proportion given to the churches has dropped over the past three years. The proportion born again adults give to churches declined from 84 cents out of every donated dollar during the first five years of the decade to 76 cents.

"The choices being made by born again donors have huge implications for the non-profit sector," said Barna. "Realize that a majority of the money donated by individuals in the U.S. comes from the born again constituency. If this transition in the perceptions and giving behavior of born again adults continues to accelerate, the service functions of conventional churches will be redefined within the next eight to 10 years, and conventional churches will have to adopt new ways of assisting people in need."

Originally from: The Christian Post

When we worship, Who is it really for?

2008-04-16T07:03:00.001-04:00

The Gift of Worship

Accidental Masterpiece?

2008-04-16T06:52:00.001-04:00

Does an Explosion make Masterpieces?

See how the Moral Law (Ten Commandments) humbles a young man as Ray shares with him at Seal Beach in Southern California.

2008-04-15T12:29:00.000-04:00

Limbless Evangelist Preaches Joy In Christ

2008-04-15T11:59:00.001-04:00

Preaching Joy in Christ.

By

Jennifer Riley

Christian Post Reporter

Sun, Mar. 30 2008 08:57 AM ET

Nick Vujicic is a 25-year-old evangelist whose message about being content in all circumstances takes on new meaning when people see his physical condition – he was born without limbs.

Enlarge this Image

(Photo: Life Withtout Limbs)

But rather than blaming God for his unique physical condition, he credits his Creator for allowing him to connect with a wide range of audiences including insecure teenagers, unmotivated corporate executives, and hopeless prisoners.

Through his ministry, Life Without Limbs, Vujicic travels around the world to share his inspiring personal testimony about how he found joy and hope in Jesus Christ despite his difficult and painful circumstances.

“No matter who you are, no matter what you’re going through, God knows it,” said the Australian-born motivational speaker , according to ABC News, which aired his story Friday on “20/20.” “He is with you. He is going to pull you through.”

As a young boy, Vujicic was teased by other children because of his absent limbs. He recalled contemplating committing suicide at one point in his life by flipping himself off a kitchen bench and hoping to break his neck.

“I used to think that I needed my circumstance to change before I had any hope," he said. "I wanted to know that there was someone else out there in my position, to know that there is hope, that there is more than just the little box that I see in my life."

He noted that in some Third World countries, his condition would be seen as a curse or shame on the family, and that he would have been killed at his birth. But Vujicic’s parents did not see him as such and raised him to look at the bright side of life. His father is pastor of a local church in Brisbane, Australia.

After Vujicic’s birth, his parents did spend months in grief and confusion as to why their son was born without limbs and only a small foot with two toes on his left side. They wondered if they or the doctors had made a mistake, but no answer was to be found. To this day, doctors still do not know what caused Vujicic’s condition.

Vujicic can recall praying for arms and legs before hitting his teens.

"It said in the Bible, 'Ask and you shall receive.' I had faith, and I was actually very angry at God. I didn't understand it,” Vujicic said. “And I thought maybe I wasn't good enough. Maybe that's the reason why He's not answering my prayer. I mean, arms and legs are nothing for God, the Creator of the universe. And so, I prayed for my circumstance to change, but it didn't happen."

Vujicic’s mother, understanding her son’s heart, advised him to focus on his good qualities – his charming personality and friendly gaze.

"Because when people see me talking and speaking, they forget that I have no arms and no legs, and they just treat me like any other person,” he explained. “And I remember ... when I was 6 or 7 years old, I looked at myself in the mirror one day. I wanted to pick out something of my physical features that I knew was good. And I looked at my eyes, and I said, 'You know what? No one can change my eyes.'"

At 17, Vujicic began giving inspirational speeches at school and church-sponsored events. He said his message is especially understood by teenagers, who often feel lonely, rejected, confused and broken.

“That's the level that I come in on, and they (teenagers) can see that straight away,” the evangelist said. “When I get up onstage, they know that I've been broken."

Speaking from his own personal experience, the preacher urges people to not go by the world’s definition of who can have a productive life, a sense of humor, or who can love life.

"We stereotype people in this world. And so ... if the world thinks you're not good enough, it's a lie, you know. Get a second opinion."

Vujicic’s non-profit ministry is now based in southern California where he lives. The limbless preacher said he has made 1,600 speaking appearances in 12 nations.

"I would be obviously elated if I had arms and legs right now ... but I know that God's in full control,” Vujicic said. “And do I believe that He can give me arms and legs? Yes, sir ... The world doesn't understand how you can have these two parallel thoughts, where you can say, on one hand ... 'yes, I believe in the miracle,' and on the other ... say, 'You know what? I'm fully content. I'm not discouraged if He doesn't give me arms and legs.'

"That's where I am,” he added. “That's the freedom and victory I have. I believe in a God who can do all things, but if He chooses not to give me arms and legs, I know it's for the better. And I may not understand it, but all I need to know is that He's going to carry me through – that there is a purpose for it."

Originally from The Christian Post

Quotes from Ravi

2008-04-15T09:15:00.005-04:00

Ravi Zacharias:

One of the most staggering truths of the Scriptures is to understand that we do not earn our way to heaven. ...works have a place-but as a demonstration of having received God's forgiveness, not as a badge of merit of having earned it.

A man rejects God neither because of intellectual demands nor because of the scarcity of evidence. A man rejects God because of a moral resistance that refuses to admit his need for God.

The anti-theist is quick to excoriate all religious belief by generically laying the blame at the door of all who claim to be religious, without distinction. By the same measure, why is there not an equal enthusiasm to distribute blame for violence engendered by some of the irreligious?

When the sharp edges of reality are exposed - from infancy to maturity - the 'whys' of life proliferate, silencing the scientific voice and stumping the philosophical mind.

The older you get, the more it takes to fill your heart with wonder, and only God is big enough to do that.

Expelled Trailer

2008-04-15T08:38:00.006-04:00

Click the Poster for more..

T-Rex Soft Tissue Found

2008-04-15T08:32:00.002-04:00

Dinosaur soft tissue find—a stunning rebuttal of “millions of years”

by Dr Carl Wieland, AiG–Australia

25 March 2005

We previously announced the discovery of what seemed to be microscopic red blood cells (and immunological evidence of hemoglobin) in dinosaur bone (see Sensational dinosaur blood report! and response to critic).¹ Now a further announcement, involving the same scientist (Montana State University’s Dr Mary Schweitzer ²) stretches (pun intentional) the long-age paradigm beyond belief.

Not only have more blood cells been found, but also soft, fibrous tissue, and complete blood vessels. The fact that this really is unfossilized soft tissue from a dinosaur is in this instance so obvious to the naked eye that any scepticism directed at the previous discovery is completely “history”.

Originally taken from Answers in Genesis

Science via AP
(From www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7285683/)

A: The arrow points to a tissue fragment that is still elastic. It beggars belief that elastic tissue like this could have lasted for 65 million years.
B: Another instance of “fresh appearance” which similarly makes it hard to believe in the “millions of years”.
C: Regions of bone showing where the fibrous structure is still present, compared to most fossil bones which lack this structure. But these bones are claimed to be 65 million years old, yet they manage to retain this structure.

One description of a portion of the tissue was that it is “flexible and resilient and when stretched returns to its original shape”.³

The exciting discovery was apparently made when researchers were forced to break open the leg bone of a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil to lift it by helicopter. The bone was still largely hollow and not filled up with minerals as is usual. Dr Schweitzer used chemicals to dissolve the bony matrix, revealing the soft tissue still present.⁴

She has been cited as saying that the blood vessels were flexible, and that in some instances, one could squeeze out their contents. Furthermore, she said, “The microstructures that look like cells are preserved in every way.” She also is reported as commenting that “preservation of this extent, where you still have this flexibility and transparency, has never been seen in a dinosaur before.”

It appears that this sort of thing has not been found before mainly because it was never looked for. Schweitzer was probably alert to the possibility because of her previous serendipitous discovery of T. rex blood cells. (It appears that the fossils were sent to her to look for soft tissues, prior to preservative being applied, because of her known interest.) In fact, Schweitzer has since found similar soft tissue in several other dinosaur specimens!

CREDIT: M. H. Schweitzer

Left: The flexible branching structures in the T. rex bone were justifiably identified as “blood vessels”. Soft tissues like blood vessels should not be there if the bones were 65 million years old.
Right: These microscopic structures were able to be squeezed out of some of the blood vessels, and can be seen to “look like cells” as the researchers said. So once again there is scope for Dr Schweitzer to ask the same question, “How could these cells last for 65 million years?”

The reason that this possibility has long been overlooked seems obvious: the overriding belief in “millions of years”. The long-age paradigm (dominant belief system) blinded researchers to the possibility, as it were. It is inconceivable that such things should be preserved for (in this case) “70 million years”.

Will they now be convinced?

Unfortunately, the long-age paradigm is so dominant that facts alone will not readily overturn it. As philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn pointed out,⁵ what generally happens when a discovery contradicts a paradigm is that the paradigm is not discarded but modified, usually by making secondary assumptions, to accommodate the new evidence.

That’s just what appears to have happened in this case. When Schweitzer first found what appeared to be blood cells in a T. Rex specimen, she said, “It was exactly like looking at a slice of modern bone. But, of course, I couldn’t believe it. I said to the lab technician: “The bones, after all, are 65 million years old. How could blood cells survive that long?’”⁶ Notice that her first reaction was to question the evidence, not the paradigm. That is in a way quite understandable and human, and is how science works in reality (though when creationists do that, it’s caricatured as non-scientific).

So will this new evidence cause anyone to stand up and say there’s something funny about the emperor’s clothes? Not likely. Instead, it will almost certainly become an “accepted” phenomenon that even “stretchy” soft tissues must be somehow capable of surviving for millions of years. (Because, after all, we “know” that this specimen is “70 million years old”.) See how it works?

Schweitzer’s mentor, the famous “Dinosaur Jack” Horner (upon whom Sam Neill’s lead character in the Jurassic Park movies was modeled) is already urging museums to consider cracking open some of the bones in their existing dinosaur fossils in the hope of finding more such “Squishosaurus” remains. He is excited about the potential to learn more about dinosaurs, of course. But—nothing about questioning the millions of years—sigh!

I invite the reader to step back and contemplate the obvious. This discovery gives immensely powerful support to the proposition that dinosaur fossils are not millions of years old at all, but were mostly fossilized under catastrophic conditions a few thousand years ago at most.⁷

BASICALLY THE SAME?

2008-04-14T15:06:00.003-04:00

AREN'T ALL RELIGIONS BASICALLY THE SAME?

We've both worked with middle school students a long time, and this question is one that we've heard over and over again. It's a good question. One that deserves an answer: NO! Now, that may sound a bit harsh, but it makes total sense when you stop to think about it.

Almost nothing in this world is "all the same." When you go to Baskin-Robbins to get ice cream, the flavors aren't all the same. You have 31 different types of ice cream to choose from! Starbucks sells all kinds of coffee. You can get a one-dollar cup of plain ol' stuff or pay five dollars for one with mocha, caramel, and whipped cream. Try going to a bike shop and saying, "I'd like to buy a bike, please. Any bike will do since they're all the same." The mullet-headed, nose-pierced, bike-shop-owner dude would look at you as if you looked weird or something.

Religions aren't all the same, either. They may have some things in common, but they aren't all the same. Some of the ways religions are different from each other include what they teach about God, what they teach about Jesus, what they teach about getting to heaven, and what they teach about the Bible. There are other differences, but those are the biggies.

Another question we hear a lot is, "Are all religions true?" Again, another good question that deserves an answer: NO! The reason all religions can't be true isn't just because they're different. Different types of coffee are still true coffees, and different ice cream flavors are still true ice creams. The reason all religions can't all be true is because they all hold different beliefs that they claim as truth...beliefs that are totally opposite from each other. If beliefs about the same thing are opposite from each other, they can't both be true.

A simple example is how somebody gets to heaven. Christianity says that heaven is a free gift. Many other religions believe a ticket to heaven must be earned. Christianity believes that the gift of heaven is given to us through Jesus, God's Son. Many other religions believe that Jesus was a good guy but wasn't God's Son and has nothing to do with heaven. How can both be true?

Another difference between Christianity and other religions? Christianity isn't just a religion. Most religions make a big deal out of making sure you say the right stuff, do the right stuff, and stay away from the wrong stuff. Most religions focus on looking good on the outside. And while Christianity holds outward behavior as important, it's not the most important thing--it's about friendship with Jesus. And a true friendship with Jesus doesn't have a whole lot in common with religion.

**

Taken from "My Faith" by Kurt Johnston and Mark Oestreicher, copyright 2006, Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.
https://shop.youthspecialties.com/store/product.php?productid=323

Also available in your local Christian bookstore.

Find a Christian bookstore near you:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/store/dealers/

Taken Originally from Youth Specialties

psychological cure?

2008-04-13T22:12:00.009-04:00

What does a psychological cure look like? Here’s a classic example: Betty has been raised by critical, perfectionistic parents. She learned that she had to be near-perfect in order to think of herself as a “good” or a deserving person. When she failed to make the grade, she’d punish herself to “atone” for the guilt she felt. Therefore, psychotherapy strove to show her how arbitrary her standards were by helping her to see that they were merely a product of the way she was raised. Meanwhile, the therapy assured her that she was a good and worthy person even if she failed to meet these standards.

There are many problems with this model. For one thing, reconstruction of one’s past can be a very uncertain expedition. For another, even if it can be accurately reconstructed, there are many questions about this “knowledge” improving the quality of our lives. If a shark bites off my leg, even if I learn with certainty why he did this, it will not restore my leg nor help me live with my loss. In her introduction to Against Therapy by Jeffrey Masson, Dorothy Rowe writes,

“David Small, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Nottingham University, head of Clinical Psychological services at Nottingham University, and once a practicing psychotherapist, has proposed an alternative to therapy in his book Taking Care. He wrote, ‘Psychological distress occurs for reasons which make it incurable by therapy but which are certainly not beyond the powers of human beings to influence. We suffer pain because we do damage to each other, and we shall continue to suffer pain as long as we continue to do damage. The way to alleviate and mitigate distresses is for us to take care of the world and the other people in it, not to treat them.’”

Is psychotherapy trying to rearrange wiring that has already been fixed in place? Perhaps! Instead of trying to undo the past, we spend our time more fruitfully by learning to live with its consequences. Larry Crabb suggests that our preoccupation with our past may even interfere with any beneficial adjustment:

“The demand to know what’s causing our difficulties may actually be preventing us from finding a pathway through them toward joy” (Hope When Your Hurting, p.23).

Looking for relief from the past by turning to the past might prove to be a vain witch-hunt, resulting in morbid self-obsessions. Besides, this might take our attention away from fruitful interventions. When lost in a maze, we need a compass and a trustworthy map, not ruminations about what got us lost.

Another problem with the psychotherapy model is its use of the “disease model.” According to this model, suffering is an unwanted disease that must be cured ASAP. In contrast, sociologist David Karp writes,

“In one of those striking reversals of conventional [Western] wisdom…the Buddhist idea [is] that illness is an opportunity for enlightenment; that seen the right way, we do not cure illnesses—instead they have the potential to cure us” (emphasis mine! Speaking of Sadness, p. 191).

Affliction-as-cure is also a Christian idea. God places us under sin and suffering in order to bless us (Rom. 11:32)! For our own good, we must first be humbled before God will lift us up and enlighten us with His Gospel (Luke 18:14). Indeed, God wants us to be happy, but it has to be His way and in His timing. Only new wineskins can hold the new wine. Peace can give birth to arrogance as long as self-righteousness rules the heart.

I hope this doesn’t sound as if I’m demeaning the psychological traumas many of us carry. Instead, I’m trying to give prominence to a Biblical truth that puts the reverse spin on our traumas:

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

With God present, weakness trumps strength and hardships are preferable to basking in the sun! And there are many studies to support his contention. One recent one revealed that those who were rated highest on the “happiness scale” fail to grow or accomplish much. I’m sure we’ve met many who have learned compassion through the things they’ve suffered. These findings suggest that the understanding of secular therapy is at best very limited.

Often, the cure is the disease! Even when psychotherapy “helps,” in the long run, it might actually be hurting. Jesus suggested that when a house is emptied of its garbage but is not filled with the right spiritual stuff, the final state will be worse than the initial affliction:

"When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation" (Matthew 12:43-45).

This calls into question the ultimate goal of psychotherapy—happiness rather than faithfulness, the quick fix rather than spiritual transformation! A cistern must be treated from within if it is going to hold water. When happiness or peace is achieved in the wrong way or in the wrong order, it might be destructive. Betty’s self-confidence might get a boost, but it might only lead to the “pride goes before destruction!” She may well experience some relief in “knowing” the reasons for her pain, but this might simply be a temporary palliative. Even worse, Betty might even conclude that her moral perfectionism is entirely pathological and injure her conscience by ignoring its voice.

Focus on Betty’s symptoms is blindness to the real problem—self-righteousness, the rejection of God and His righteousness in favor of our own! Although Betty might have learned self-punishment from her family, self-righteousness is as old as a garment of fig leaves and equally as problematic.

Daniel Mann

Fool's Gold

2008-04-12T11:12:00.004-04:00

All that glitters isn’t gold. The New Age religions certainly contain a lot of glitter, but gold is another matter. In particular, A Course in Miracles, allegedly channeled by Jesus Himself, contains a lot that dazzles. Here are some glittering quotes I picked up from an essay by Warren Smith (http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/007/smith-oprah.htm):

"There is no sin . . .The journey to the cross should be the last ' useless journey’…Do not make the pathetic error of 'clinging to the old rugged cross’…The Name of Jesus Christ as such is but a symbol... It is a symbol that is safely used as a replacement for the many names of all the gods to which you pray…The recognition of God is the recognition of yourself…The Atonement is the final lesson he [man] need learn, for it teaches him that, never having sinned, he has no need of salvation.”

Sound familiar? It’s all about self! It’s your choice, it’s your ability, your purity and your wisdom! What a burden! What denial and what an illusion to have to maintain! But I think my dear friend, Tammy, says it best:

I'm not too surprised about Oprah [who is promoting the Course]. People will try anything to avoid facing their sin and the problem of evil if they reject Christ. Jesus Christ is the only person who can deal with the problem of sin and evil...There is no way to deal with sin without Christ. Without Christ, I had the choice of judging everyone who hurt me and say I was better than them, or I could say that they really didn't hurt me that badly and I was okay - neither of which was true. With Christ, I could admit that I was hurt very badly by sinners, but I was the same as them. If I'd been through what they'd been through, I would have done the same thing as them. Hallelujah - Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins, and forgives us and heals us of sin and the results of it.

I have been healed of a personality disorder, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue - you name it - since coming back to Christ. It sure wasn't by saying that none of these things existed!!

Tammy had pursued many therapies that glittered, at least to the passer-by. She revolved through their doors of promise to finally settle upon the Gold.

“You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:17-20).

Check out this Opra video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA
Daniel Mann

Troubled

2008-04-11T09:51:00.003-04:00

I was troubled by what I saw in the Christian book store. Snuggling innocently, at least seemingly so, next to exemplary books by Billy Graham, Ravi Zacharias, and R.C. Sproul were those by Elaine Pagels, Marcus Borg, and Bart Ehrman, each denying the reliability of Scripture. I wouldn’t have been so disturbed about this unholy sight had the latter three been tucked away in the back room, where the “adult” literature is usually sequestered, with a posted warning, “Read at your own risk!!”

I don’t want to seem alarmist. Our faith has weathered many such assaults, but only the smallest number of Christians have the tools to read Pagels, Borg, and Ehrman profitably. My favorite seminary professor didn’t have those tools, even after graduating from a Bible-based seminary! He confided that it took him a decade to recover from the skepticism he encountered in his PhD studies.

A decade is too long! As faith can build up and edify, bad theology can devastate and corrupt. It should be no surprise to us that Jesus felt it imperative to warn his flock about the threatening theological influences swimming around them, like hungry sharks:

Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1).

Of course, Jesus was warning against the teachings of the Pharisees, not their cuisine! Sadly, we often fail to recognize the toxin which can overtake us so slowly and imperceptibly. Perhaps we think too much of ourselves; perhaps we chafe at the restrictions of the faith? In any case, we are often theologically naïve and therefore vulnerable. Jesus saw this in His followers and was moved by compassion for them:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).

To remedy this, Jesus taught them His Gospel. However, in many churches, doctrine has become a dirty word, an embarrassment! But it’s doctrine that fortifies against mind-rape! Unsurprisingly, Paul taught that an elder must be able to:

Hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For there are many rebellious people, mere talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision group. They must be silenced, because they are ruining whole households by teaching things they ought not to teach (Titus 1:9-11).

Bad doctrine can ruin “whole households,” while true doctrine can rescue. Some argue that it’s all about loving relationships and community building, but actions must follow beliefs as thunder does lightening. Therefore, Paul prays first for understanding:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding [#1]. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord [#2] and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God (Col. 1:9-10).

Daniel Mann

Do not Drift from Truth.

2008-04-11T08:52:00.006-04:00

f it could be proved to be, as certain cultivated teachers would have us believe, that there is nothing very sure, that although black is black it is not very black, and though white is white it is not very white, and from certain standpoints no doubt black is white and white is black, if it could be proved, I say, that there are no eternal verities, no divine certainties, no infallible truths, then might we willingly surrender what we know or think we know, and wander about on the ocean of speculation, the waifs and strays of mere opinion.

But while we have the truth, taught to our very souls by the Holy Ghost, we cannot drift from it, nor will we though men count us fools for our stedfastness.

Brethren, aspire not to the "charity" which grows out of uncertainty; there are saving truths and there are "damnable heresies"; Jesus Christ is not yea and nay; his gospel is not a cunning mixture of the gall of hell and the honey of heaven, flavoured to the taste of bad and good. There are fixed principles and revealed facts. Those who know anything experientially about divine things have cast their anchor down, and as they heard the chain running out, they joyfully said, "This I know, and have believed. In this truth I stand fast and immovable. Blow winds and crack your cheeks, you will never move me from this anchorage: whatsoever I have attained by the teaching of the Spirit, I will hold fast as long as I live."

Depart from Me

2008-04-11T08:43:00.003-04:00

"I never knew you: Depart from me." Can you imagine standing before God and hearing those words? Can you imagine the fear and terror that would grip your heart when you realize that you were never saved after all?

I believe that, sadly, many people will die and will be told those words by God. These people are those who have a false sense of security as far as their salvation in concerned. These people mistakenly thought that they had a "get-out-of-hell-free card," and they were playing a dangerous game when it came to matters of their eternal destination.

What am I talking about? I am talking about those people who somewhere along the way got the notion in their head that to make it into heaven, all they had to do was say some meaningless words.

There is an ad campaign going on from the dairy industry. The campaign's slogan is "got milk?" I think that for many people that slogan pretty much epitomizes their so-called salvation experience. It is as though people believe that all they have to do is recite a few choice words and then presto-chango, now they have "got saved." And then the mentality of these people is, "Hey, I can do whatever I want -- all the fornicating I want, all the lying I want, all the cheating I want, break all of the commandments I want. Why? Because I said the magic words, and I now have 'got saved.'"

Well, being saved is not just having an emotional moment when the preacher gives the altar call. Being saved is not just lifting up your hand at your buddy's funeral when you are feeling your own immortality. Being saved is not something you "get," as though you can pick up a quart of "saved" from the corner market and then just go home and store it away on a shelf for emergency use only.

How can you say, "Jesus, come into my life and be my Savior and Lord," or whatever the words were, and then continue on willfully living a life of sinful rebellion? Friend, if you have zero interest in pleasing the Lord, following the Lord's commands, learning of the Lord, or turning from your sins, you are probably not saved!

Here is an example of how foolish the notion is of believing that some mere words makes all the difference: Let's say I decide to "get married." Maybe I like the idea of being Mrs. Jim Stevens. Or maybe everybody else is getting married, so I want to be a married woman, too. So Mr. Stevens and I go to a church and exchange vows. We promise to love, honor, and cherish, and end with a hearty "I do." The preacher announces, "You are now man and wife."

Well, after our little ceremony, I then drive back to my little one-bedroom apartment alone. I decide that I don't want to live with my new husband. As a matter of fact, I think I still want to date other men. So I phone up all of my old boyfriends and go out with them whenever I want. I fornicate and party just like back when I was single.

And, hey, I don't care what my husband has to say about anything. His opinions and directions are unimportant to me. I'm busy doing my own thing.

As a matter of fact, I don't even bother to call my husband, let alone go see him. And if he writes anything to me, it goes unread. His words are not important to me either.

Now, even though I said those wonderful words at the altar and ended it with a boisterous, "I do," am I really married? In the eyes of human law, the farce that my marriage is could easily be annulled because my so-called marriage is a joke. I said the words, but my actions show that they meant nothing.

So why would someone deceive himself or herself into believing that saying a few quick words at an altar call is any indication that they are saved? Yet many do just that. If you are truly saved, there should be some indication of that in your life. We cannot add to what Christ did on the cross, but if Christ is your Savior and Lord and the Holy Spirit is living inside of you, that should manifest itself in some way, shape, and form. You should want to do the will of your Heavenly Father. You should love Jesus' name. You should crave His Word. You should hate sin. You should not see salvation as something that gives you a license to sin. Here are just a few verses that tell you what true salvation is all about:

Matthew 7:21-23 not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Luke 13:5, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

1 John 2:4, "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."

Again, if you have truly been adopted into God's family and the Holy Spirit is living inside of you, there should be some evidence of that in your life. It is not just a matter of meaningless words. My friend, think about those words, "I never knew you: Depart from me."

"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26-27).

Originally from Jesusisthelight.net

Jesus Film

2008-04-10T08:33:00.010-04:00

With the World's Population Exploding and the Powers of Spiritual Darkness Spreading, can the Great Commission Ever Really be Fulfilled?

How is it even possible for the gospel to reach every person on earth in a language they can understand?

Many believe the answer could be the powerful film "JESUS," based completely on the Word of God, and available now in more than 1,000 languages. When people experience "JESUS," it's as though the gospel comes to life on the film or video screen--the Word of God heard in a person's heart language.

Click Here to See the film!

Quotations:

2008-04-10T08:16:00.005-04:00

ALBERT EINSTEIN

One thing I have learned in a long life: that all our science, measured against reality, is primitive and childlike - and yet it is the most precious thing we have.

We should take care not to make the intellect our god; it has, of course, powerful muscles, but no personality.

THOMAS ALVA EDISON

We do not know one millionth of one percent about anything.

Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so-called scientific knowledge.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE

Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love, and at this hour millions of men would die for him.

DR. WERNHER VON BRAUN

Atheists all over the world have... called upon science as their crown witness against the existence of God. But as they try, with arrogant abuse of scientific reasoning, to render proof there is no God, the simple and enlightening truth is that their arguments boomerang. For one of the most fundamental laws of natural science is that nothing in the physical world ever happens without a cause. There simply cannot be a creation without some kind of Spiritual Creator.
I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.

Moral Failure

2008-04-10T07:48:00.003-04:00

How do we reconcile our considerable moral failures and those of the Church with our new status in Christ? Aren’t we supposed to be new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17)? In The Reason for God, Tim Keller writes about this troubling paradox:

“There are many formally irreligious people who live morally exemplary lives. If Christianity is all it claims to be, shouldn’t Christians on the whole be much better people than everyone else?...A central message of the Bible is that we can only have a relationship with God by sheer grace. Our moral efforts are too feeble and falsely motivated to ever merit salvation…This means that the church will be filled with immature and broken people who still have a long way to go emotionally, morally, and spiritually. As the saying has it: ‘The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints’” (pgs. 54-55).

This type of message might be comforting, but I always struggled to find consolation in it. Aren’t we supposed to be children of the light? Doesn’t our righteousness have to exceed that of the Pharisees (Mat. 5:20)? Isn’t a good, born-again (John 3:3) tree supposed to bear good fruit, and a bad tree bear bad fruit (Mat. 7:15-20)? Hebrews 12 is particularly disturbing, because it associates this concern with the ultimate threat---eternal separation from God:

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (NKJV--Hebrews 12:14-15).

This always troubled me. How much peace and holiness did I have to achieve in order to secure a place in heaven? It didn’t satisfy me to know that Christ had become my holiness and peace. This verse (along with many others) clearly states that I have to “pursue” these things in order to make it into God’s presence. Was God giving me double messages? This command seemed to be clearly rooted in my performance. I had to make sure that I had no “root of bitterness!” Forgetaboutit!

To illustrate this truth, Hebrews then gives us the example of godless Esau:

“…lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears” (Hebrews 12:16-17).

Esau too had screwed up. He put had food before his inheritance in the Lord. But which one of us doesn’t succumb to our misplaced, hungry priorities!! Don’t we too, on many occasions, place our appetites before all else!! What assurance of salvation can we then have?

However, Esau’s problem wasn’t his moral failings. Instead, it was his refusal to repent! Indeed, he wanted his father’s blessing and grieved when he didn’t receive it, but he steadfastly refused to acknowledge his own sin in this matter. Instead, he held on to his own self-righteous conviction of entitlement and tried to kill his brother Jacob—hardly evidence of a repentant spirit.

What makes us children of the light? Certainly not our moral superiority! John explains it this way:

“No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God” (NIV; 1 John 3:9; 5:18).

If we continue in our former ways without repentance, it proves that we don’t have His seed within us. Repentance is the sure and necessary fruit of the Spirit. It is also pleasing to God. Through it, God is always faithful to cleanse us (1 John 1:9). For this reason, everything hangs on it:

“So watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him" (Luke 17:3-4).

It is also repentance that best shows off the work and glory of Christ. It takes us out of the limelight and says, “My hope and righteousness are in my Savior alone and not in myself!” and extends this same hope to others. The church is indeed a hospital for sinners, but only for those who avail themselves of the cure through repentance.

Daniel Mann

Christian Growth

2008-04-09T15:14:00.003-04:00

Christian growth is not a matter of emptying the mind, but of renewing it through God-authorized soul-food (Rom 12:2; Heb. 5:11-14; 1 Peter 4:11). Neither is it a matter of learning some new or venerable contemplative technique, but of meditating upon the Word both day and night (Psalm 1; Joshua 1:8). Nor is it fundamentally a matter of “loving” relationships, but of abiding in the only One who is the source of all love (John 15:5-8). The relationships will follow!

It’s the Gospel alone that will nourish our troubled souls. Elyse Fitzpatrick, director of Women Helping Women Ministries, writes:

“Every step we take in our Christianity…depends upon an intentional revisiting of the Gospel. After all, what does a sad person need more than to be gently, yet continually, reminded of the good news?”

This might sound trite--merely a matter of words and stale doctrines that fail to impact the heart. But please reconsider how words can exercise tremendous power, especially as they are applied to the heart by the Holy Spirit. Fitzpatrick continues:

“Bathing our soul in the Gospel message will powerfully transform…It’s true that I’m more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe, and that truth frees me from the delusion that I’ll ever be able to approve of myself [and from the internal strife of trying to maintain this delusion]; but I’m also more loved and welcomed than I ever dared hope, and that truth comforts and encourages me when my heart condemns me…It assures me that although I struggle with accepting myself, the Holy King has declared me righteous. What I’ve really needed – forgiveness, welcome, and enduring love, have all been given to me in Christ.” (The Gospel Cure, TableTalk, March 2008, p.17)

My heart had been painfully condemning me for years, telling me that I was a nothing and unworthy of any Christian service, let alone the love of Christ. Many times, these condemning words brought me to the point of giving up entirely. However, I found that there were other words that would overwhelm the words of condemnation. they were the words of the Gospel and not the kindly words of my five psychologists.

While the Gospel told me I was totally unworthy, it also announced that God loved me profoundly and would never stop doing so, that nothing would ever deprive me of His love (Rom. 8:38-39)--the very things I needed to know! I don’t need to learn any meditative techniques, nor enter into any contemplative states. Nor do I have to learn how to tune into my alpha waves. Christ is all we need!

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority” (Col. 2:9-10).

Daniel Mann

Probability

2008-04-09T14:30:00.003-04:00

The Law of Probability

After examining only eight different prophecies (even though he could have used 456) Professor Emeritus of Science at Westmont College, Peter Stoner, has calculated the probability of one man fulfilling the major prophecies made concerning the Messiah. The estimates were worked out by twelve different classes of 600 college students. The students carefully weighed all the factors, discussed each prophecy at length, and examined the various circumstances which might indicate that men had conspired together to fulfill a particular prophecy. They made their estimates conservative enough so that there was finally unanimous agreement among even the most skeptical students. Not only that, but when Professor Stoner took their estimates and made them even more conservative, he also encouraged other skeptics and scientist to make their own estimates to prove that his conclusions were more than fair.

Finally, he submitted his figures for review to a Committee of the American Scientific Affiliation. Upon examination, they verified that his calculations were dependable and accurate in regard to the scientific material presented. For example, concerning Micah 5:2, where it states that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, Stoner and his students determined the average population of Bethlehem from the time of Micah to the present; then they divided it by the average population of the earth during the same period. They concluded that the chance of one man being born in Bethlehem was one in 2.8 x 10 to the 5th power - or rounded, one in 300,000.

After examining eight different prophecies, they conservatively estimated that the chance of one man fulfilling all eight prophecies was one in 10 to the 17th power. To illustrate how large the number 10 to the 17th power is (a figure with 17 zeros) Stoner gave this illustration… Imagine covering the entire state of Texas with silver dollars to a level of two feet deep. The total number of silver dollars needed to cover the whole state would be 10 to the 17th power. Now, choose just one of those silver dollars, mark it and drop it from an airplane. Thoroughly stir all the silver dollars all over the state. When this has been done, blindfold one man. Tell him he can travel wherever he wishes in the state of Texas. Tell him that somewhere along the way, he must stop and reach down into the two feet of silver dollars and try to pull up the one specific silver dollar that has been marked. What do you think his chances are? Well, the chance of his finding that one silver dollar in the state of Texas is the same chance the prophets had of eight of their prophecies being fulfilled in any one man in the future.

In financial terms, is there anyone who would not invest in a financial venture if the chance of failure were only one in 10 to the 17th power? This kind of sure investment we are offered by God for belief in Christ His Messiah. Professor Stoner concludes: "The fulfillment of these eight prophecies alone proves that God inspired the writing of those prophecies to a definiteness which lacks only one chance in 10 to the 17th power of being absolute".

Another way of saying this is that any person who minimizes or ignores the significance of the Biblical identifying signs concerning the Messiah would be foolish. Of course though, there are many more than eight prophecies. In another calculation Stoner used 48 prophecies (even though he could have used 456) and arrived at the extremely conservative estimate that the probability of 48 prophecies being fulfilled in one person is 10 to 157th power. How large is the number 10 to the 157th power? 10 to the 157th power contains 157 zeros!

Let us try to illustrate this number using electrons... Electrons are very small objects. They are smaller than atoms. It would take 2.5 times 10 to the 15th power of them, laid side by side, to make one inch. Even if we counted four electrons every second and counted day and night, it would still take us 19 million years just to count a line of electrons one-inch long.

How many electrons would there be if we were dealing with 10 to the 157th power of electrons?

Imagine building a solid ball of electrons that would extend in all directions from the earth of 6 billion light years. The distance in miles of just one light year is 6.4 trillion miles. That would be a big ball! But not big enough to measure 10 to the 157th power of electrons! In order to do that, you must take that big ball of electrons reaching the length of 6 billion light years long in all directions and multiply it by 6 x 10 to the 28th power! How big is that? It's the length of the space required to store trillions and trillions and trillions of the same gigantic balls and more. In fact the space required to store all of these balls combined together would just start to "scratch the surface" of the number of electrons we would need to really accurately speak about 10 to the 157th power!

Assuming you have some idea of the number of electrons we are talking about; imagine marking just one of those electrons in that huge number. Stirring them all up. Then appointing one person to travel in a rocket for as long as he wants, anywhere he wants to go. Now tell him to stop the rocket, segment a part of space, take a high-powered microscope, and find that one marked electron. What do you think his chances of being successful would be? It would be one in 10 to the 157th power. Remember; this number represents the chances of only 48 prophecies coming true in one person.

All this illustrates why it is absolutely impossible for anyone to have fulfilled the Messianic prophecies by chance. In fact, a leading authority on the probability theory, Emile Borel, states in his book Probabilities and Life, that once we go past one chance in 10 to the 50th power, the probabilities are so small it's impossible to think they will ever occur.

Here is one last illustration of the immensity of the number 10 to the 157th power and why the science of probability shows we are dealing with the miraculous… Imagine one ant traveling at the speed of only one inch every 15 billion years. If he could only carry one atom at a time, how many atoms could he move in 10 to the 157th power of years? He would, even at that incredibly slow speed, be able to move all the atoms in 600,000 trillion trillion trillion trillion universes the size for our universe, a distance of 30 billion light years! Again, by the laws of probability, all of this means that it is simply impossible for 48 prophecies to be fulfilled by chance.

This is the kind of evidence that proves there must be a God who supernaturally gave us this information. Let's keep in mind that we’ve only illustrated 48 out of over 456 Messianic prophecies out of over 8000 total verses in Bible prophecy, of which thousands of verses have been fulfilled already. God challenges us; He really really challenges us!

From: Answering Islam

Supernatural

2008-04-09T13:57:00.003-04:00

The Bible is a supernatural book. Here’s one indication of this—the Bible can’t be properly understood without the assistance of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 2:14)! An atheistic website provides a good example:

“From Genesis to Revelation prominent individuals abound. But are they really worthy of respect and admiration? Was their behavior such that you would want to awaken your children on Sunday morning to read about their exploits?”

The article proceeds to line up, like bowling pins to be bowled down, all the misdeeds about these “prominent individuals” without understanding that it’s our unrighteousness that shows off God’s righteousness. For instance, the atheist writes that Abraham…

“Told his wife to lie, debauched Hagar, his maidservant, sent his maidservant and her child into the wilderness, lied, and married his half-sister.”

This is supposed to prove that the Bible is utterly unworthy of any serious consideration. However, the author misses the real dirt about Abraham—that he pimped off Sarah on several occasions! But this atheist misses far more—the grace of God for sinners like us! The article concludes, “Anyone approaching the Bible for goodness, decency, role models, and morality, enters at his own peril.” This, of course, is true, but they fail to grasp that Christ is the actual role model and not the wretches He stoops to save.

Orthodox Judaism fares little better, and surprisingly has a lot in common with atheism. Both think that the Bible is ultimately about human role models. In the Jewish Talmud, Abraham is reinterpreted and emerges sinless. Isaac and Jacob also come out without a wrinkle. Recently, an Orthodox Jew informed me that I was misinformed about King David and his “sin” with Bathsheba. Uriah, her husband, had already divorced her. Besides, he was an evil man and David had done righteously by plotting Uriah’s death. No need for a Savior in these lives!

We humans like to exalt our forefathers and, by doing so, we exalt ourselves. The Talmud is all too human in this regard. As a new Christian, this too was my tendency. I was deeply disturbed to read about the blemishes of Abraham and David. These seemed to detract from my new-found religion. However, as God continued to reveal my own unworthiness along with His forgiveness, I learned to delight in the incredible love and patience He demonstrated to His Old Testament “saints.” But my eyes had first to be opened!

It is perhaps one of the great ironies—the more the skeptic battles against the Faith, the more he inevitably demonstrates its veracity.

Daniel Mann

Tainted Water

2008-04-09T09:43:00.008-04:00

Study Finds Traces of Drugs in Drinking Water in 24 Major U.S. Regions

Associated Press: Photo from Taj

A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows.

More and more we have become a nation that treats our malady's with drugs and psychological therapy. In themselves there may be some benefit but to the extent that some trace amounts can actually be measured in our drinking water points to a more serious underlying condition. That condition is sin. Tracing back to the book of Genesis we see the Garden of Eden and the purity in which God put Adam and Eve to live in. In fact after God creates everything He says that it is very good.
The description of Eden is of a paradise. The Bible says in Genesis - 8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food... Gen 2:8-9 (KJV)
In James Chapter 1 the Bible says, 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
God's intention all along was to bless His creation. It is when we doubt, deny, and deify ourselves, we lose the blessing God wants to impart to us. Eve doubted God's intentions and decided with Adam to agreeing that God was short changing them and holding them back something they "needed". They doubted God's character. With that the natural progression was to deny God's word as having any validity in their lives. We have inherited this sin nature. This permeates in the way we spend our time,our thought life, and our money. As a result of denying God's word over our lives, sin enters and taints all that we touch. We elevate ourselves to deifying our thoughts and rights above what the word of God clearly shows us how we should live.
James 1:14 makes this crystal clear: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Jesus asks us to acknowledge this and asks us to repent, to turn away from our selfish desires and to turn to Him and accept His sacrifice on the cross to blot out our transgressions. What God offers is pure, Holy, and satisfies eternally.
14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 4:14 (KJV)
God's ultimate purpose is to bring us back one day to a place where as it says in Revelation Chapter 22 1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Rev 22:1 (KJV)

God's intention is that one day we will no longer live in a place where even our water shows the effect of sin but instead to live with Him forever given pure water who source is from God Himself.

And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Rev 22:17 (KJV)

HC

2008-04-09T08:14:00.003-04:00

Here is an Interesting Post originally from Jesus is Lord website:

Preface

This provocative question comes from a Christian who is training to be a missionary. It was good to ponder this issue about my Lord Jesus Who created everything--

For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him.

Why Were We Created?

This is a good starting point. Why were we created? Look at us--dust. What could we possibly offer God Almighty? Solomon said that the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him--He's too big, too awesome, too fantastic to be contained. We are like grasshoppers in His sight. What is man that God is mindful of him? Our answer lies in the Bible which is God's word. Let Him explain why He created us:

...thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Revelation 4:11

We were created for God's pleasure! Don't you know that God loves you and wants you? It was His whole purpose in creating mankind.

The Bible draws an analogy between our relationship with our earthly parents and God, our heavenly Father. Let us therefore consider why a man and his wife desire to have children: the joy of a little child, to replicate themselves through creation, to have fellowship with that little kid, to have life. God uses the family relationship to illustrate our relationship to Him, our Father in heaven.

But What About Hell?

Know ye not that hell was not created for people? God tells us who it was created for:

...everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Matthew 25:41

Hell was created for the devil and his angels. It was not created for man! God doesn't want anybody to go there, it was not His purpose for men to go there. God knew that we would sin so He made provision for us by coming to this earth in the form of a man and paying the penalty for our sins with His own blood.

Nonetheless, humans do indeed go there because many say as the citizens in the parable of the nobleman in Luke 19, "We will not have Him to reign over us." When such people are cast in hell, it is literally what they asked for. Nonetheless, God is not pleased that they should perish:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Jeremiah 29:11

As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die...?

Ezekiel 33:11

The Lord is...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 But Was it Fair to Create Us?

This is the bottom line in my mind--it would not have been fair for Him NOT to create us. God knew that many people would be cast in hellfire for their rebellion towards Him, but He also knew that there would be a multitude that would bask in His glory and love Him and want to be with Him forever.

Would it have been fair for me, Tracy, to miss out on knowing Jesus Christ because of the actions of the wicked? Would it have been fair for me to have been aborted of the opportunity to know my God and His pleasures forevermore? Would it have been fair for me to not have known love and bliss?

I say a resounding NO!!!! If God, in His Sovereignty had said, "There are going to be too many evil people, so I will not create man," He would have been overcome with evil! Evil would have dictated what He was going to do, would have denied life to the righteous and it would have stripped Him of His power as Lord of the Universe. Read what the scriptures say:

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21

If God had not created us, He would have been overcome with evil, for it would have dictated that the righteous would never have an opportunity to love and be loved by the One who is everlasting and full of pleasures forevermore. If the righteous were to miss out on the Magnificent God, would that be fair? That would be folly.

2008-04-09T07:59:00.004-04:00

Great article from Answers in Genesis

The Moon is Still Alive . . .

The moon is very much alive, geologically speaking. Ever since telescopes have been available, observers have been reporting many color changes, bright and colored spots and streaks, clouds, hazes, veils, and other phenomena on the moon. Since these phenomena are short lived, they are called Transient Lunar Phenomena (TLP). These speak of geologic activity.

Aristarchus Region of the Moon

Photo courtesy NASA

Over 300 transient lunar phenomena have occurred in the Aristarchus region of the moon, indicating that the moon is young, just as the Bible says.

From 1900 to 1960, many of these observations were dismissed and ignored because the prevailing belief was that the moon is 4.5 billion years old and has been geologically dead for the last 3 billion years. (As the argument went, since the moon is about one-fourth of the size of the earth, heavy masses would fall to the center, the moon would cool much faster than the earth, and no magma would be left.) But the number of TLP observations became so overwhelming that mainline publications began to discuss them. In 1968, NASA published the Chronological Catalog of Reported Lunar Events.

As early as March 1787, William Herschel, the discoverer of Uranus and an ardent lunar observer, reported, “I perceive three volcanoes in different places of the dark side of the moon. Two of them are either extinct, or otherwise in a state of going to break out. . . . The third shows an actual erupt ion of fire, or luminous matter.” The next night he continued, “The volcano burns with greater violence than last night. I believe the diameter . . . to be about three miles.” More than 300 TLP’s have been seen in the Aristarchus region alone. This and hundreds of similar observations point to the youthfulness of the moon, as the Bible tells us.

2008-04-09T07:50:00.002-04:00

Thoughts4-2day

NPR axes Christian radio programs

Sex ed mandatory for 5-year-olds?

Hard to Deny the Bible

Christian Culture Promotes Science

Enlightened Selfishness

Deserve nothing but death!

Response to MK: Tim Keller

Repentance

A letter to the New York Times

Genesis 1:1

Miracle of the Eye

Blind Leading the Blind

Evangelism

Rich in Christ

God's Strength

Contrast Judaism with Christianity

Resurrection

Evidence for the Resurrection

Food Patterns of our Body Proof for Intelligent Design

Letter from an Atheist

Narnia

Understanding the Gospel

The Narrow Way

The Narrow Way

Blindness of Evolution

Intelligent Design - Machines

Expelled: A Review of the Movie

Two Faced Dawkins?

Proof of God in Nature

8 Reasons...

Witnessing In Ireland

Detrimental Colleagues

Heaven, Our Real Home

Hearing God's Voice

Josh McDowell (Part 2)

Authenticity of the Bible

The Moment of Truth

Story of Ignatius

Foolishness of the Cross

The Foolishness of the Cross, Part One

Freedom in Christ

A Sober Reality...

An Interview with an Atheist

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God

Hell - What is it?

Jesus and the Passover

How the Passover Reveals Jesus Christby Rich Deem

Introduction

Passover symbolism

Passover sacrifice

Burial

Resurrection

Christian communion

Conclusion

Defining God

How Should We Define God?

NOTES:

Recommended Further Reading

The Deep Places

Word of Life : History

Salvation

Conformed or Transformed?

Conformed or Transformed?

God's Will

God’s Will: The Great Discovery

Cheap Religion

Cheap Religion

Evidence in favor of God

Trusting in God

For the Kids

Apologetix Please Stand Up...

Richard Dawkins stumped by creationists' question

Skeptics choke on Frog

Was Dawkins caught on the hop?

Few Tithe to Churches...

Study: Few Born Agains Tithe to Churches

When we worship, Who is it really for?

Accidental Masterpiece?

See how the Moral Law (Ten Commandments) humbles a young man as Ray shares with him at Seal Beach in Southern California.

How the Passover Reveals Jesus Christ
by Rich Deem