Romans Xii:ii

Humbleness

2011-01-03T17:29:00.009-05:00

Scholars boast of their knowledge. Body builders boast of their strength. Rich men boast of their wealth....The list of talents, abilities and achievements that people boast of has no end. And people find their identity in these things because it's what they're good at. But what does God say about this?

Let's start with Jeremiah 9:23-24, it says, "Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD."

From this passage it's clear that God doesn't want us to boast of ourselves...but why? We may feel we have a right to boast of our gifts, talents, skills, and abilities - but do we? God's answer is "no" and here's why: James 1:17.

It says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

Basically this passage is saying that our gifts, (or anything that we're good at) is given to us by God. Whether He created us with them or created us with the potential to learn them, every good thing we've ever had has only been because God has permitted us to have it. Only by His grace are we good at anything. God is the originator of our gifts, talents and abilities. Without him we have nothing.

Galatians 6:14 says, "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Here we see Paul makes His boast in what God has done for him and he urges us to do the same:

"Because of God you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord." - 1 Corinthians 1:26-31

This is why the apostle Paul makes His boast in the Lord! Paul realizes that He can't take credit for what he did not do. His salvation...that was God. The way in which his ministry flourished...that was God. In fact, Paul's whole life had been a work of God...and hey so is your and mine btw. The only difference is whether we'll choose to believe it.

Another great passage of Scripture to consider is 1 Corinthians 4:7, "What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"

How can the created boast of anything if the creator created him? In other words, how can we boast of anything if who we are and what we've done hasn't been us, but what God has done in and through our lives. If God is creator and God is sovereign then all the glory goes to Him!

In conclusion, what would humbleness bring about in the life of the Christian? The answer is twofold:

1. An attitude that pleases God by giving Him the glory for the skills and abilities that He's gifted us with. And

2. A lifestyle that attracts unbelievers to living for God in response to His gracious salvation (and not a boastful lifestyle that would make them think Christianity is works based toward an unattainable goal)

"I will bless the LORD at all times;

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD;

let the humble hear and be glad.

Oh, magnify the LORD with me,

and let us exalt His name together!"

- Psalm 34:1-3

Scripture:

"When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says:

"By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I remove the boundaries of peoples,

and plunder their treasures;

like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

My hand has found like a nest

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened the mouth or chirped."

Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!"

- Isaiah 10:12-15

"The LORD said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'"

- Judges 7:2

"O God, we have heard with our ears,

our fathers have told us,

what deeds you performed in their days,

in the days of old:

you with your own hand drove out the nations,

but them you planted;

you afflicted the peoples,

but them you set free;

for not by their own sword did they win the land,

nor did their own arm save them,

but your right hand and your arm,

and the light of your face,

for you delighted in them.

You are my King, O God;

ordain salvation for Jacob!

Through you we push down our foes;

through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.

For not in my bow do I trust,

nor can my sword save me.

But you have saved us from our foes

and have put to shame those who hate us.

In God we have boasted continually,

and we will give thanks to your name forever.

Selah"

- Psalm 44:1-8

"I say to the boastful, 'Do not boast,'

and to the wicked, 'Do not lift up your horn;

do not lift up your horn on high,

or speak with haughty neck.'

For not from the east or from the west

and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,

but it is God who executes judgment,

putting down one and lifting up another."

- Psalm 75:4-7

Romans 3:21-31, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law."

2 Corinthians 11:30, "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness."

2 Corinthians 12:9, "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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

James 4:10, "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."

1 Peter 5:6, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,"

Focus

2010-12-06T10:57:00.005-05:00

"Ethan finally finds Julia, tied to a chair, but before he can free her, Davian activates the bomb in Ethan's head. The result is an incapacitating noise in Ethan's head which hinders his ability to defend himself. Nonetheless, Ethan is able to best Davian in a savage fist fight - the fight spills into the street, and Davian is killed by oncoming traffic- and then Ethan frees Julia." - wikipedia

Some of you may have recognized the above picture as Tom Cruise, fewer of you will have recognized him as playing Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible III. This is the image that comes to mind when I hear the word "focus" - Ethan Hunt overcome with intense pain and a desire to give in but won't because of love.

So where am I going with this?

Well, focus is something that must be learned by the Christian to conquer sin in his life. Focus enables us to, when we are tempted by sin, stop and think about the decision we're going to make. When we focus, we are momentarily escaping our current emotions and desires to do what we want to do, and instead thinking about what we believe. It's that simple. But it's difficult because our emotions and desires to sin are so strong.

As Christians, we still have an old nature - a part of us that still wants to sin. When we want to sin, all we may think about is fulfilling what we want at that moment. But if we stop and focus on what we believe, overcoming that sin becomes possible.

How exactly can we do this? Here's an illustration

Suppose a Christian is tempted to seek revenge on a person. He must make one of two decisions: To seek revenge or leave vengeance to God. If he chose the path of revenge, why did he? What were his reasons? It's because he wanted to satisfy his own desire.

Now contrast that response to this one

What if the Christian leaves vengeance to God - why didn't he seek revenge? It's because he was convicted of his beliefs. The belief that for what Christ did for him on the cross, he'd love Him back by obedience to His commands.

So what is the core difference between these two decisions? Why is one chosen over the other?

The difference is a failure to focus or to choose to focus. To seek revenge is to think only of our own sinful desires - to ignore, and suppress what we believe about Christ - to choose to not focus.

So what about unbelievers? Understand that unbelievers don't always make morally wrong choices, they can choose to focus and do something that is morally right. But when they focus, it's not on God! Unbelievers don't have a conviction about God, they don't have a love for him. But that's what counts! (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) God looks at the heart - the motive.

In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve failed to focus. And we're still doing it today. Both Adam and Eve knew that God had told them not to eat of the tree "in the midst of the garden", but they suppressed that knowledge and were blinded by their own desires (Genesis 3:6). They weren't focusing on their beliefs about God, they were focusing on their own desires at that moment.

If the Christian holds as a conviction that Jesus Christ died for his sins by taking the penalty of sin on himself, then we realize that without Christ we would have no hope. And if there is no hope, than there is no reason to obey. But there is hope for those who trust in Christ! He has given us every good thing we will ever have, and for that we obey him out of love. So love Christ by obeying Him through focusing on what he's done for us!

In conclusion, let's sum up what it means to focus. Focus is a form of love. It's a mindset to give up what we temporarily want for what God wants for us because we value God more than ourselves - And He's given us every reason to believe that. See 1 John 4:19

Abraham and Isaac

2010-11-02T22:48:00.007-04:00

Tonight, I read this from a book by A. W. Tozer

"In the story of Abraham and Isaac we have a dramatic picture of the surrendered life as well as an excellent commentary on the first Beatitude.

Abraham was old when Isaac was born, old enough indeed to have been his grandfather, and the child became at once the delight and idol of his heart. From that moment when he first stooped to take the tiny form awkwardly in his arms he was an eager love-slave of his son. God went out of His way to comment on the strength of this affection. And it is not hard to understand. The baby repre-sented everything sacred to his father’s heart: the promises of God, the covenants, the hopes of the years and the long messianic dream. As he watched him grow from babyhood to young manhood the heart of the old man was knit closer and closer with the life of his son, till at last the relationship bordered upon the perilous. It was then that God stepped in to save both father and son from the consequences of an uncleansed love.

“Take now thy son,” said God to Abraham, “thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” The sacred writer spares us a close-up of the agony that night on the slopes near Beersheba when the aged man had it out with his God, but respectful imagination may view in awe the bent form and convulsive wrestling alone under the stars. Possibly not again until a Greater than Abraham wrestled in the Garden of Gethsemane did such mortal pain visit a human soul. If only the man himself might have been allowed to die. That would have been easier a thousand times, for he was old now, and to die would have been no great ordeal for one who had walked so long with God. Besides, it would have been a last sweet pleasure to let his dimming vision rest upon the figure of his stalwart son who would live to carry on the Abrahamic line and fulfill in himself the promises of God made long before in Ur of the Chaldees.

How should he slay the lad! Even if he could get the consent of his wounded and protesting heart, how could he reconcile the act with the promise, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”? This was Abraham’s trial by fire, and he did not fail in the crucible. While the stars still shone like sharp white points above the tent where the sleeping Isaac lay, and long before the gray dawn had begun to lighten the east, the old saint had made up his mind. He would offer his son as God had directed him to do, and then trust God to raise him from the dead. This, says the writer to the Hebrews, was the solution his aching heart found sometime in the dark night, and he rose “early in the morning” to carry out the plan. It is beautiful to see that, while he erred as to God’s method, he had correctly sensed the secret of His great heart. And the solution accords well with the New Testament Scripture, “Whosoever will lose... for my sake shall find...”

God let the suffering old man go through with it up to the point where He knew there would be no retreat, and then forbade him to lay a hand upon the boy. To the wondering patriarch He now says in effect, “It’s all right, Abraham. I never intended that you should actually slay the lad. I only wanted to remove him from the temple of your heart that I might reign unchallenged there. I wanted to correct the perversion that existed in your love. Now you may have the boy, sound and well. Take him and go back to your tent. Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.”

- A. W. Tozer, The blessedness of Possessing Nothing

Now think, what occupies "the temple of your heart"? Does God reign unchallenged there? Could you see yourself sacrificing whatever you value most? Your ipod, computer, wallet and everything in it, guitar etc....for God?

It's unlikely God's going to call you to do this - but are you willing?

When we realize the mess God has rescued us from and what He's now offered us, we can serve Him by placing Him first in our lives. Don't become "accustomed to grace" - live every day in full knowledge of what God has done for you by recognizing your own depravity and God's holiness, so that you can always serve to glorify Him. 1 John 4:19

The Easter Story According To Daniel 6

2010-04-05T00:18:00.005-04:00

I hope this post shows you the parallels between Daniel's life and Jesus' life. We'll be jumping back and forth between the book of Daniel and the gospels to study this so you'll have to switch gears as your reading through. Note the connections between Daniel and Jesus. It's really awesome once you've seen it!

Daniel 6

1 It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, to be over the whole kingdom; 2 and over these, three governors, of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. 3 Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. 4 So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him.

Now read Luke 22:2

2 And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him, for they feared the people.

and Luke 23:4
4 So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”

let's go back to Daniel 6

5 Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
6 So these governors and satraps thronged before the king, and said thus to him: “King Darius, live forever! 7 All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. 8 Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 9 Therefore King Darius signed the written decree. 10 Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

Look at Luke 22:39-42

39 Coming out, He (Jesus) went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.”

and Matthew 26:43-44

43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

back to Daniel 6

11 Then these men assembled and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 12 And they went before the king, and spoke concerning the king’s decree: “Have you not signed a decree that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter.” 13 So they answered and said before the king, “That Daniel, who is one of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.” 14 And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him.

See Luke 23:20-22

20 Pilate, therefore, wishing to release Jesus, again called out to them. 21 But they shouted, saying, “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” 22 Then he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has He done? I have found no reason for death in Him. I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go.”

back to Daniel 6

15 Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.”
16 So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions.

See Luke 23:23-25

23 But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices that He be crucified. And the voices of these men and of the chief priests prevailed. 24 So Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they requested. 25 And he released to them the one they requested, who for rebellion and murder had been thrown into prison; but he delivered Jesus to their will.

back to Daniel 6

But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.” 17 Then a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signets of his lords, that the purpose concerning Daniel might not be changed.

See Matthew 27:64-66

64 Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’ So the last deception will be worse than the first.” 65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.” 66 So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and setting the guard.

again back to Daniel 6

18 Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; and no musicians were brought before him. Also his sleep went from him. 19 Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in haste to the den of lions.

See Luke 24:1-3

1 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

Once more back to Daniel 6

20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.”

See Luke 24:4-5

4 And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

Did you see the similarities!? The story of Daniel in the lions den was to foreshadow the trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These two events when studied side by side further show the coherence and incredible complexity of the Bible!

Source - Mrs. Arnold's Bible Study

Book Review: Old Earth Creationism on Trial

2010-03-03T17:26:00.008-05:00

Today, secular scientists estimate vast periods of time for the age of the earth. We need to ask ourselves, are these ages Biblical or does it compromise the Christian's ultimate authority?

Old-Earth Creationism on Trial by Tim Chaffey and Jason Lisle is a book that will treat this topic extensively and in honesty. If you feel that the "old earth/ young earth debate" is a separate issue that is distinct from other Christian doctrines, think again. It isn't. Your position in this conflict will change your perspective on the nature of God, Christ's death, and the affects of sin. So yes, this is a subject that all Christians should decide where they stand. The main drive of this book is to establish that Christians must remain true to their ultimate authority and interpret scientific observations in the light of Scripture, not the other way around. After all, it is Scripture alone that provides justification for even knowing anything through science. Old Earth Creationism on Trial will point out Biblical, scientific, and logical reasons why you should not uphold an old earth view and instead accept the Biblical view (the young earth view). Tim and Jason will delve into such things as the Hebrew meaning for day, the Genesis flood, and the genealogies. They will refute the gap theory, the day-age theory, the framework hypothesis, theistic evolution, and progressive creation by pointing out that they all share similar fallacies (like placing death before sin).

If you are a young earth creationist going into this book, you will exit having confidence that your position is Biblical. If you embark on this book as an old earth creationist, you will be converted or at least plagued with doubt regarding your hypothesis when finished. This is not a lengthy book, and it does not use ostentatious vernacular (impressive terms) - so it is easy to understand. Even I could handle it! It is $10 at Christianbook.com.

Book Review: I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist

2010-01-26T20:39:00.012-05:00

Are you looking for a book that will present a serious challenge to the worldview of atheistic, naturalistic, evidentialistic, unbelievers - a book that takes a Biblical approach to defending the Christian worldview against vain philosophy, empty deceit, persuasive words, or plausible, and well crafted arguments (Colossians 2:2-3)? If so, I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek is NOT the book that you're looking for.

About a year ago, I would have proclaimed this book as one of the best books written on Christian apologetics. Today, it ranks 2nd to worst on my reading list - only championed by Evidence For Faith 101 by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz... yuck. So what changed what I would have thought about this book to what I think about it now? Well, I picked up 3 other books over the past year dealing with Christian apologetics. One of them was The Ultimate Proof of Creation by Jason Lisle. The other two books were great also and echo Jason's points on an even deeper level, but Jason's book in it's clear and simple manner is what really got me thinking about why I trust the Bible as my ultimate authority. So here are two books, written on the same subject - one of them I love and one of them is horrible. What could possibly be so different about them you might ask? The answer: They "prove" God's Word by two different authorities. Norman Geisler and Frank Turek use scientific evidence to DEFEND and PROVE the Bible. They've made this clear. Jason Lisle uses man's reasoning capabilities which the Bible justifies to ATTACK the atheistic worldview and PROVE the Bible. This is evidentialism vs. presuppositionalism.

So what's the problem with evidentialism and why do I favor presuppositionalism. First of all, evidentialism places science above God's word. If it didn't, then those who favor it wouldn't use the interpretations of science (interpretations are subject to change) to prove the Bible, (which is not subject to change at all). Read these quotes from Norman and Frank's book:

"The second aspect of this objection is the charge that intelligent design people don't have any evidence for their view - they're simply parroting what the Bible says. This objection doesn't work either. Intelligent Design beliefs may be consistent with the Bible, but they are not based on the Bible. As we have seen, Intelligent design is a conclusion based on empirically detectable evidence, not sacred texts." (pg. 159)

Basically, Norman and Frank are saying that we only believe in God because science says so. This is not at all the Biblical approach to apologetics. Here's another quote. This one is from Michael Behe to which they completely agree:

"The conclusion of intelligent design flows naturally from the data itself - not from sacred texts or sectarian beliefs" (pg. 160)

This quote embraces the "myth of neutrality" - that we can interpret scientific evidence neutrally. Although that sounds fair and nice, this isn't the case. Everyone brings their worldview to the table. A person's worldview is what tints the observable evidence. a person's worldview is why atheists and Christians can reach different conclusions while staring at the same evidence. Here is another quote from I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist:

"In short, regardless of what the Bible may say about the topic, Darwinism is rejected because it doesn't fit the scientific data, and Intelligent Design is accepted because it does."

This is evidentialism, and it is not Biblical or even rational. The Bible says, "In all thy ways acknowledge him (Jesus), and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:6) Not science, but Jesus. In presuppositionalism, reasoning precedes, but is not preeminent over, the Bible. Reasoning leads us to the Bible, and the Bible justifies our reasoning capabilities. Once we trust the Bible as the Word of God, our reasoning no longer takes preeminence over the Bible. If it did, Christians would be denying the resurrection which is not scientifically possible! So we see that evidentialists are inconsistent in their worldview. Science is their ultimate authority, yet they believe in the resurrection. Of course I believe that evidentialists like Norman Geisler, Frank Turek, William Lane Craig, Josh McDowell, Lee Strobel, Paul Little and Ray Comfort are Christians, but their Christian worldview is inconsistent with their commitment to evidentialism. Here's another quote from the book,

"Second, Intelligent Design scientists are open to both natural and intelligent causes. They are not opposed to continued research into a natural explanation for the first life." (pg. 157)

Yes we are! We are committed to our worldviews.

It's possible that many people have already come to faith in Christ through I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, but that doesn't mean the book is taking a Biblical approach to reaching out to the lost. Geisler and Turek's compilation of evidence is great, but it is not proof for Christianity, only interpretation of the evidence. Their worldview filters how they interpret the evidence. Unbelievers can read this book and justify every piece of evidence by some other reinterpretation (even if it is a bizarre explanation). In pressuppositional apologetics, the only way to continue in unbelief is to continue to be irrational, not just reinterpret the evidence as critics of Christian evidentialism do. I want to make it clear that I am not against siting scientific evidence that SUPPORTS the Bible - that's great that science agrees with the Bible. What I am against is siting scientific evidence to PROVE the Bible. Things can only be proven by our ultimate authorities. How can Christians accept an ultimate authority other than the Bible (like subjective human observation that changes - science). The unchanging Word of God is my ultimate authority by which I accept by faith. In summary, I Don't Have Enough Faith To Be an Atheist offers abundant SUPPORTIVE scientific evidence but takes an unbiblical approach to PROVING the Christian faith. We are not to answer the fool according to his own folly, but in Christ truth is found. (Proverbs 26:4-5)

Book Review: The Ultimate Proof of Creation

2009-08-31T23:40:00.006-04:00

Is there an ultimate proof to defending the Christian faith; an argument so logical (and Biblically based) that no rational unbeliever would reject it? After reading this book, I believe so. The author, Jason Lisle, explains that scientific evidence alone, although very convincing, is not enough to prove the reality and authenticity of God's Word to a rational thinker. A rational person will ultimately filter all scientific evidence through his worldview and shape it to his own liking - thus showing that a person's worldview is the core of the debate on origins. By explaining the steps involved in logical thinking (in the simplest way possible), Jason shows you how a Biblically based worldview is the only one that can make sense of anything: laws of logic, uniformity in nature, absolute morality, reliability of senses and memory, personal dignity and freedom, and many others. He shows that those who reject the Bible have to borrow Biblical concepts to even think about anything. There is a section in the book devoted to recognizing logical fallacies such as circular reasoning that will most likely be hidden when talking with unbelievers about the ultimate proof. To Biblically support the concept, there is a section on how apologetics were used in the Bible. At the end of the book, there are 2 chapters concerning "Answering the Critics" in which evolutionists, and old earth creationists have attempted to discredit the ultimate proof. These letters are followed by a response from Jason, answering their questions clearly, fully, and politely. Much of the points in the book are repeated throughout, making them easy to remember. As many apologetic books will do, this book will not only give you "a reason of the hope that is in you" ( I Peter 3:15) to aid in witnessing, but it will also increase your own confidence that the Christian faith is a spiritual reality to be lived out with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Countering Jehovah Wittness Arguments Part 4

2009-06-27T10:03:00.004-04:00

Part 4 of this series continues in the defense of the true deity of Christ. A popular passage that our Witness friends will bring up is Colossians 1:15-18. It says, "15 He (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence." (emphasis added) One great thing about this passage is that the passage itself refutes the very same doctrine that Jehovah's Witnesses manage to tease out of it. Jehovah's Witnesses like to emphasize "firstborn" in this passage. Understand that they not only believe that Jesus Christ was "a" god. They also believe that He was Jehovah God's "firstborn" (first one born) son. They believe God's first creation was Jesus. The question we need to be asking is, "Does 'firstborn' have another meaning." Well, let's take a look at Genesis 41:51 and 52: "51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: 'For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.' 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: 'For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.' " Who is referred to as the firstborn? Manasseh is, of course. Now read Jeremiah 31:9: "9 They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn." (emphasis added) Who is the real firstborn? You can't have two firstborns.

Well, Manasseh is the first one born, but Ephraim is the brother who found favor in God's eyes and became the preeminent one. "Firstborn" can also denote preeminence. So back to Colossians 1:15-18, is Jesus really the first one born or the preeminent one? The last word of that passage describes Him as preeminent and the context clearly reveals the emphasis is on his preeminence. What about when the passage says, "the firstborn from the dead"? Jesus wasn't the first one to be raised from the dead, Lazarus was. The Witness' interpretation can't be correct. If we substitute "preeminent one" for "firstborn" in the Colossians passage, we'll see clearly that Jesus Christ was "preeminent over all creation" for "by Him all things were created" he was the "preeminent one from the dead". Jesus was the first person ever to conquer death by being raised in a glorified body; He alone is deathless. Lazarus eventually died.

If you look back to the Colossians passage, you'll see that "all" is made bold 5 times. In the New World Translation "all things" is translated "all other things". The only problem with this is that the word "other" is not in the greek text! So why does the Watchtower translate it this way? It's because their faced with this:

Jesus Christ, being a created thing himself, can't bring into existence ALL things if He himself was created.

When we take a step back and look at the big picture, we find that the Watchtower doctrines are planted in very shallow evidence and all it takes to uproot their doctrines is a Bible student who is willing to honestly examine God's word. Jesus Christ was before all things and in possessing that quality He is by default attributed preeminence over all things. Jesus Christ has to be Jehovah God!

Source: The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin

Countering Jehovah Witness Arguments Part 3

2009-06-22T22:09:00.005-04:00

Concerning the "a" god fallacy. One verse that Jehovah's Witnesses use in support of their beliefs is John 14:28. It says, " 28 You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I." The intention of Jehovah's Witnesses is to present in your mind, "How can Jesus BE Jehovah God if Jehovah God is greater than Jesus?" When reading this verse we have to remember that although Jesus was fully God, He was also fully human, (something that we are not capable of understanding). The Witnesses argue that Jesus being one yet at the same time separate from the Father is confusing and cannot be a Biblical doctrine. After all, "God is not the author of confusion" (1 Corinthians 14:33). True, God is not the author of confusion, but let's compare scripture with scripture. Read what 1 Corinthians 2:14 says: "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." We cannot understand God's nature - his ways are higher than ours.

The Witnesses are exactly correct (for once) when they state that Jehovah God was greater than Jesus. He was! This is because the greek word for greater "meizon" imparts POSITION. And Jesus was in fact in a lower position than Jehovah God. We can see this in Hebrews 2:9 where it says "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone." Jesus was most certainly lower in position than Jehovah God. If Jesus had said "My Father is BETTER than I", this would have imparted a comparison of NATURES. I should hope everyone reading this would agree that our president, Barach Obama (whether you like him or not) is GREATER in position than almost anyone else. What you wouldn't consider saying is that he is BETTER than anyone else. All humans are equal in nature but some have greater positions of authority than others. We can again refute the Witness's case against Jesus and show them that Jesus is Jehovah God "with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15).

Source: The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin

Countering Jehovah Wittness Arguments Part 2

2009-06-13T22:57:00.006-04:00

As we've seen, Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus was only "a" god, not God the Father. Here is another series of Bible passages to refute their case: In John 8:58 and 59 we read this, "58 Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 59 Then they (the Jews) took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by." Verse 58 here is a parallel to Exodus 3:14 where Jehovah God addresses himself as "I AM" to Moses. Jesus claims the same identity as Jehovah God thus making himself one with Jehovah (John 10:30).

This presents a problem for our Witness friends. How will they avoid this one? Well, let's first answer another question: "Why did the Jews 'take up stones to throw at Jesus'?" According to Hebrew law, the Jews only had 5 legal reasons for stoning: "association with a medium" (Leviticus 20:27), "false prophesying" (Deuteronomy 13:5-10), "a rebellious son" (Deuteronomy 21:18-21), "adultery/rape" (Deuteronomy 22:21-24), and "cursing/blasphemy" (Leviticus 24:10-23). So on what ground did the Jews attempt to stone Jesus? Now understand, Jesus never broke the law, but for which violation were the Jew attempting to stone Him of? The only reasonable answer is blasphemy. Jesus literally said to them, "I am Jehovah". And this is why the Jews attempted to stone Him. In their view, Jesus was not the Messiah they had been waiting for. So we must inevitably conclude from this passage that Jesus claimed to be Jehovah God thus why the Jews took such an action as they did.

This argument presents yet another problem for the Jehovah's Witnesses. But of course, they've manage to yet again come up with a weak excuse to cling to their false doctrine of Jesus. They claim that the Jews "took up stones to throw at Him (Jesus)" not because of Jesus' claim to be Jehovah God, but because in verse 44 of the same chapter, Jesus said to them "You are of your father the devil." And this, they conclude, is why the Jews sought to stone Him.

There a number of examples that absolutely oppose this view of the situation. Logically, why didn't the Jews stone Jesus after verse 44? Why wait till verse 59? And on what ground would the Jews stone Jesus if this WAS the case - there is no ground for stoning on "offending the Jews". If we turn to Matthew 23:33, we'll find that Jesus called the Jews "serpents" and "brood of vipers" isn't this equally offensive - why didn't the Jews stone Him then? And why did the Jews attempt to stone Jesus in John 10:30-33. Read it were told why. It says "30 I and My Father are one." 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?" 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God." (emphasis added) You cannot get any clearer than that. The Witnesses translate the last phrase of verse 33, "although being a man, make yourself a god." This is the "a" god fallacy and it can be treated at length by greek scholars who know what the original documents of the New Testament record and who know greek grammatical structure. They can present a better argument than someone who doesn't know greek (me).

If you read John 8:58 in the Jehovah's Witnesses own translation (the New World Translation), you'll find that they render "ego eimi" as "I have been" when it is properly rendered "I AM". They do this to change Jesus' statement to "Most truly I say to YOU, Before Abraham came into existence, I have been." (emphasis added) This is an unfaithful interpretation of the greek scriptures as I've been told by those who know greek. In John 13:19, this same greek word "ego eimi" is used and makes no sense in its context if it is rendered "I have been". It would then read like this, "Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I have been He." This rendition makes no sense. "Ego eimi" cannot be rendered "I have been", it must be rendered "I am". The interpretation of John 13:19 above would be the correct rendering if Jehovah's Witnesses were faithful in their translation of the text. But surprisingly they've made it "I am [he]".

It seems apparent that the Watchtower translators distort greek words to fit their predetermined doctrines. We can learn a good lesson from the Watchtower society about how to approach the Bible: Don't come to the Bible with your neat little package of doctrines already sorted out and mold the Bible to your conformity, but rather come to the Bible ready to learn and know the truth. The belief system and environment in which we are born into often shape what we believe, but that shouldn't stop us from testing all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and if we realize we are wrong, being willing and humble enough to accept and embrace the things that are true.

Source: The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin

Countering Jehovah Wittness Arguments Part 1

2009-06-06T10:17:00.008-04:00

This is part 1 of a series on Christian apologetics (defense of the faith) against common Jehovah's Witness arguments. To understand the arguments presented, you must know the different doctrines of those with opposing viewpoints. In this article, we'll be dealing with Jehovah's Witnesses doctrines and BIBLE BELIEVING Christian doctrines (there's a difference). Jehovah's Witnesses have always maintained that Jesus is only "a" god, not Jehovah God (God the father), whereas Christians have. He is both fully human and fully Jehovah God. Let's take a look at John 20:24-29 where Thomas meets Jesus in the upper room. Maybe this passage will shed enough light on the subject to change some people's minds. It says,

"24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" 27 Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

What we have here is a problem for Jehovah's Witnesses. You see, Thomas addressed Jesus as Jehovah God. This verse doesn't fit in with the Witnesses' view of Jesus. Jesus is only supposed to be "a" god in their interpretation of scripture, not Jehovah God. To reconcile this, they claim that when Jesus told Thomas to "reach your hand here, and put it into My side. " it frightened Thomas. And when Thomas finally realized that it was Jesus, he yelled, "My Lord and my God!" (it would be comparable to "Oh my God!" today). In other words they believe that Thomas made a statement out of shock, not a statement addressed to Jesus.

Now, does this explanation hold any water? Is the Jehovah's Witness' viewpoint verified? Well let's take a look at the kind of situation we have here IF the Witness' interpretation is to be accepted. We have a "scared out of his pants Thomas" shouting blasphemy ("My Lord and my God!") at the realization of Jesus' resurrection. But wasn't Jesus a rabbi? (He was). What is the duty of a rabbi in the presence of blasphemy? (to rebuke). Did Jesus rebuke Thomas for taking Jehovah God's name in vain? Of course not! Right afterward, Jesus says something entirely different. He says something very unexpected if the Witnesses' interpretation is in fact the correct one. If their interpretation is correct, we have Jesus blessing blasphemy.

Thomas said, "ho kurios mou kai ho theos mou". There is no way out of it in the greek text. We either have a Jesus who blesses blasphemy, or we have a Jesus who is Jehovah God. Jesus is Jehovah God!

Source: The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin

The Chinese Language and the Genesis account.

2009-06-02T21:58:00.003-04:00

The Chinese language has preserved a confirmable account of the Genesis record within it's language. Because the language is a language of pictures, there can be no confusion on the origin of these words. A look at a few Chinese words will attest to this. Keep in mind that the Chinese language pre-dates Moses (who recorded the Genesis account) by at least 700 years.

Look at the word for "desire". It's made up of 2 trees and a woman. When was the first instance of a desire recorded in the Bible? It was when Eve, the first woman, was presented with a choice between 2 types of trees: the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the other normal fruit bearing trees.

Look at the Chinese word for "forbid". It's the pictures of 2 trees, and God commands. The first ever forbidden thing was when God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of 2 trees: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16,17) and after the fall, he forbade them to eat of the tree of life (Genesis 3:22-24).

Look at the Chinese word for "boat". It is a combination of the symbols for vessel, 8, and people/mouths. Why do you think this is? Think about the first mentioned boat in the Bible. It was a vessel; and a protection for 8 people. Isn't it incredible that we can gain a confirmation of God's Word revealed through another culture's distant heritage?

Source: Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation by Dennis R. Petersen. This book is for anyone who wants to "discover the scientific accuracy of the Biblical creation account, unveil the fundamental fallacies of evolutionistic myth, and build unshakable confidence in the reality and power of God's Word."

A Global Flood

2009-04-09T21:52:00.006-04:00

Today, some Christians believe that Noah's flood was local; that it didn't cover the entire earth. "But why?" you might ask, "What would be the purpose in denying a global flood?" Well, some Christians today have been convinced that evolution (molecules to man evolution) is a proven scientific fact. And supposedly, the greatest "evidence" to support evolution is in the fossil record (and that's where the evidence would be if there was any). Believing in a global flood undermines that principal. If the "fountains of the deep" (Genesis 7:11) really did break up on a global scale, what happens to the greatest evidence for evolution? It's gone. If the flood was global, than what paleontologists are studying today and labeling millions of years old are actually fossils that were laid down by a global flood only a few thousand years ago. So this post's purpose is to bring up Biblical and logical evidence for a global catastrophe.

The Evidence:

In Genesis 6:12 and 13 it says, "12) So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.13) And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

God mentions "all flesh" twice and again in verse 17. According to population statistics, it has been figured that "all flesh" (which is every human living on earth) could not have fit in one valley at this time. Therefore it would not have been necessary for God to have saved Noah if there were other people living outside a local flood. And there would have been no point in sending a local flood to destroy one portion of humanity if "all flesh had corrupted their ways". God doesn't judge partially.

Genesis 6:19 and 20 say, "19) And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20) Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive."

So what was the purpose of the ark? To "keep them (the animals) alive."; to preserve "two of every kind". Why two? Because it takes two to reproduce and repopulate the world after the flood destroyed "all flesh in which is the breath of life." (Genesis 7:15) If the flood was local, why couldn't animals outside the flood live. What would be the purpose in preserving "every living thing of all flesh" if the flood was local?

In Genesis 7:14,15, we find the description of the arks cargo "13) On the very same day Noah and Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark; 14) They and every beast after its kind, all cattle after their kind, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every bird of every sort. 15) And they went into the ark to Noah, two by two, of all flesh in which is the breath of life."

Did you catch the phrases, "every beast", "all cattle", "every creeping thing that creeps on the earth", "every bird of every sort", and "all flesh"? It sounds like God is saving the entire animal kingdom. Also, If the flood was local, why would God commission Noah to build an ark when Noah could have easily moved out of his valley of living to escape a local flood's torrents? It's easier than investing time into a huge boat.

Genesis 7:19 says, "19) And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered."

The illustration above shows where a local flood would fall short of the Bible's description of the flood.

Genesis 7:21 says, " 21) And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man."

Even the birds died.

Birds: Winged creatures that are usually not restricted to the ground. These creatures can easily avoid obstacles such a local floods.

Genesis 7:22 and 23, " 22) All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. 23) So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

John D. Morris, president of the Institute For Creation Research, was correct when he stated, "It seems like God went out of His way to remove every possible excuse for thinking that the flood was only local."

Genesis 8:1-5 says, "1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. 4Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen."

It took months just for the mountain tops alone to be seen. If the flood was local, by definition, Noah would have already seen the mountain tops because the mountains would be the bowl in which the water was resting. Water seeks it's own level.

Genesis 8:21 says, "21) And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, "I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done."

Did God promise never again to send a local flood. No, of course not. He would have broken His promises many times if the flood was local. God's global judgment couldn't be more clearer.

Sources: Acts & Facts April 2009 issue
http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab/really-a-flood-and-ark

A Christians View of Stem Cell Research

2009-03-10T11:34:00.007-04:00

On March 9, 2009, President Barack Obama signed papers removing the financial barriers that President Bush had set on embryonic stem cell research. This means more of your money will be spent on government research. But money's not the entire issue. What does this mean for us; for us Christians? Should we oppose or encourage stem cell research? Maybe I should first answer the question, what is a stem cell? A stem cell is an unspecialized cell that can reproduce itself to form specialized cells such as red blood cells, brain cells, and muscle cells. Scientists think that stem cells can treat diseases by restoring enough cells to replace worn out tissues in organs. Before we look at the moral issues of delving into stem cell research, it's necessary to distinguish between the two types of stem cells. First, there are embryonic stem cells. These stem cells are only available in embryos (unborn babies). And these stem cells can only be accessed by destroying the embryo, thus destroying life. Then, there are adult stem cells. These are cells that can be found in the tissues of all mature humans. Our access to these cells does not require destroying life, which is why many favor this research over the other. So what does the Bible say? In Exodus 21:22-25 we're told, "If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe." (NKJV) So does God value the life of an unborn child as much as the life of everyone else? Yes. Psalm 139:13-16 and Jeremiah 1:4-5 also offer more support for the Christian's perspective of embryonic stem cell research. But what about adult stem cell research? In Matthew 4:23-24 it says, "And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them." (NKJV) Although the Bible doesn't directly address stem cell research, we can conclude that if Jesus was concerned about our physical needs, than there is no reason to think that we shouldn't also (staying within the moral boundaries that are set for us in the Bible). Adult stem cell research (according to my sources) has uncovered that adult stem cells have the potential to regenerate almost every cell type in the human body, and that they can achieve it with even greater reproduction numbers than embryonic stem cells would. In fact, adult stem cell research has already shown to provide treatment for diseases like cancer and heart disease. Therefore, I'm not sure why scientists continue to run after embryonic stem cells since there are moral problems as well as a deficiency in function with them compared to the capabilities of adult stem cells. In conclusion, embryonic stem cell research is wrong. Adult stem cell research is a great alternative. As Horton, from Dr. Suess's Horton Hears a Who, puts it, "A person's a person, no matter how small."

The Pitfall of a Circular Reasoning Based Faith: Jehovah's Witnesses...again.

2009-02-12T18:44:00.008-05:00

While researching for this article, I was amazed to find how well some verses in the Bible speak directly against the teachings of the Watchtower Society. This is no doubt why the organization encourages its followers to "live in a bubble"; emphasizing the importance of putting their full trust in the society and its teachings without considering outside influences. The Watchtower Society is a perfect example of the pitfall of a circular reasoning based faith. When people base their conclusions from their evaluating process and assume claims are truthful from the same source that discourages them from questioning their own beliefs, you know something's up. The Watchtower's claims are equivalent to someone saying, "I'm always right, I never lie, and don't doubt or question me when I say that." The faith of circular reasoning and its necessary intolerance of other beliefs ensures that you will never be sure whether what you believe is true. Any type of circular reasoning will always blind you from absolute certainty, because you must assume that your source is reliable by its own standards. I'm so glad that believing the Bible IS NOT this type of belief. God's existence is so credible from studying the intricate parts of His creation and the brilliant design that we see throughout his creatures. The Bible is also credible, from it's perfectly fulfilled prophesies to it's description of historical events that agree with modern archeology, to it's very existence; surviving so much opposition and oppression. More on this in a later post, hopefully.

Listen to these claims by the Watchtower Society that confirm it's a circular reasoning based faith. The numbers before the paragraphs refer to the numbers below where the paragraphs were taken from.

In a resource of the Jehovah's Witnesses, What Does God Require of Us?, Jehovah Witness congregational leaders are portrayed as, 1 "These men are not elevated above the rest of the congregation (Matthew 23:8-10). They are not given special titles (2 Corinthians 1:24). They do not dress differently from others. Neither are they paid for their work." THOSE attributes may be true. But these men are actually given much more control than could be recognized from their titles or clothing. Listen to these excerpts from Watchtower publications that will steadily build up to a circular reasoning based faith.

2: "So Jehovah's visible organization under Christ is a channel for bringing the divine interpretation of his word to his devoted people."
3: "We acknowledge as the visible organization of Jehovah on earth the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, and recognize the Society as the channel or instrument through which Jehovah and Christ Jesus give instruction and meat in due season."
4: "If we are to walk in the light of truth we must recognize not only Jehovah God as our father but his organization as our 'Mother'. "
5: "Make haste to identify the visible theocratic organization of God that represents his king, Jesus Christ. It is essential for life. Doing so, be complete in accepting its every aspect.
6: "They (Witnesses) must adhere absolutely to the decisions and scriptural understanding of the Society because God has given it this authority over his people."
7: "Avoid independent thinking ... questioning the council that is provided by God's visible organization ... Fight against independent thinking.
8: "To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise, we must identify that organization and serve God as a part of it."

When a Jehovah's Witness is disfellowshiped from the congregation, he is to be avoided. This may not always be because he was involved in some type of immorality, but this can happen even for simply questioning the authenticity of the society.

9: "A disfellowshiped person is cut off from the congregation, and the congregation has nothing to do with him. Those in the congregation will not extend the hand of fellowship to this one, nor will they so much as say 'hello' or 'good-bye' to him ... (The congregation members) will not converse with such a one or show him recognition in any way. If the disfellowshiped person attempts to talk to others in the congregation, they should walk away from him. In this way he will feel the full power of his sin ... The disfellowshiped person who wants to do what is right should inform any approaching him that he is disfellowshiped and they should not be conversing with him."

Not only is a Jehovah's Witness told to avoid former Jehovah's Witnesses, he is also told to avoid any individual with an opposing viewpoint to what the Watchtower society teaches. Therefore, anyone who poses a threat to the society's teachings is to be avoided.

10: "Have no dealings with apostates ... For example, what will you do if you receive a letter or some literature, open it, and see right away that it is from an apostate? Will curiosity cause you to read it, just to see what he has to say? You may even reason: 'It won't affect me; I'm too strong in the truth. And besides, if we have the truth, we have nothing to fear. The truth will stand the test.' In thinking this way, some have fed their minds upon apostate reasoning and have fallen prey to serious questioning and doubt."

Again, there seems to be a constant reminder of stay in the "truth" by avoiding opposition. The suggestion that "The truth will stand the test" adds credibility to the warning, while still maintaining that the Jehovah's Witnesses have the truth without seeming to be cautious about a compromise with another belief. The phrase serves as a good support for simply avoiding other beliefs for their "apostate reasoning", not as much for their truthful claims (as we know Christianity would be). I'm assuming that when the phrase refers to, "apostate reasoning", it is referring to anything but circular reasoning (the pitfall of reasoning confidently and safely). It's odd that Jehovah's Witnesses discourage their believers from studying other faiths, but they strongly emphasize that non-Jehovah's Witnesses should study opposing faiths using the same concept that "The truth will stand the test" and "there is nothing to fear from such an examination." The following excerpt is from an introduction to a study addressed to prospective members.

11: "We need to examine not only what we personally believe but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are it's teachings in full harmony with God's word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination. It should be the sincere desire of every one of us to learn what God's will is for us, and then to do it."

Do you see what's happening here? I sense a contradiction as well as a religious scheme for prospective members. It seems that non-Witnesses are encouraged to seek the truth (obviously to increase the chance for converts to the Witnesses faith) while Jehovah's Witnesses themselves are told to remain in what they believe because they already have the truth, and it is not necessary for them to dive into researching other beliefs for the possibility of leaving the faith (but how could the truth lead us away?). The problem is that the Jehovah's Witnesses are reliant on what they assume is a God inspired organization. As we'll see in the next quotes, they place their full trust in the Watchtower Society and are limited to their own religious studies by the very same organization that stresses the importance of knowing why and what you believe. It seems to me that this literature should not only be addressed to non-Witnesses, but also to the Witnesses themselves. They need it more than anybody else; they need to study their own out-reach resources.

12: "Rather we should seek for dependent Bible study, rather than for independent Bible study." 13: "He does not impart his holy spirit and understanding and appreciation of his Word apart from his visible organization."
14: "The Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as a whole, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah's visible organization in mind."
15: "We all need help to understand the Bible, and we cannot find the scriptural guidance we need outside the 'faithful and discreet slave' organization."
16: "They (questioners) say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But strangely, through such 'Bible reading,' they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom's clergy were teaching 100 years ago."

Here, it is evident that what the Jehovah's Witnesses believe is circular and relies completely on the reliability of the society's filtering system in which it indoctrinates it's believers through a circular, deceptive, and autocratic method. By revealing the assumptions that are made in their faith, we Christians can attempt to show the witnesses what all their faith is held in: the organization. Though I'm sure they would agree with me that they've placed their full trust in the society's decisions. There would be no problem with this if the society truly was divinely inspired, but the problem is, it's not! The Bible is the only true revelation from God. The society makes its interpretations with the presupposed notion that the Bible has become fallible through history from the work of Satan. Therefore we would expect this new "inspired Bible" (the organization and its doctrines) to have its teachings set in stone just like the Bible has throughout the ages. Looking at it from a Witness's standpoint, why would God allow the Bible to be diluted by Satan and then leave us with no hope. In their view, this is where the organization comes in. But there are major problems with this. Examining the society (the new"inspired Bible"/"truth"), we see that it has changed its opinions on some issues, sometimes drastically. Consider the failed prophesies, and the many times that the organization changed the dates to avoid embarrassment. They were inspired doctrines taught by the inspired society, weren't they? By claiming that the Bible is no longer profitable without the proper interpretation, the Watchtower society automatically claims the aspects that characterized the "old revelation" (the Bible). Yet the Bible never changed throughout history, the society did. By analyzing the society much like in the previous post, the motives are made clear and the society's history provides us with a confirmative case for the truth of the organization as well as the character of its "inspired" founder.

I was breezing the official website of the Watchtower Society and stumbled upon this very interesting paragraph under an article entitled, "Can You Trust the Bible?":

17: "THE words of Shakespeare echo the sentiments of wise King Solomon of ancient Israel, who some 3,000 years ago wrote: "A fool will believe anything; smart people watch their step." (Proverbs 14:15, Today’s English Version) Yes, only a fool would go through life blindly accepting everything he hears, basing his decisions and actions on frivolous advice or baseless teachings. Misplacing our trust—like stepping onto rotten planks—can lead to disaster. You may wonder, ‘Is there any source of guidance that is worthy of our trust?’ Millions of people the world over place their full trust in an ancient book called the Holy Bible. They look to this book to direct their steps. They base their decisions on its advice and pattern their actions after its teachings. Are such individuals stepping, as it were, onto rotten planks? The answer to that question depends greatly on the answer to another question, Are there sound reasons to trust the Bible? This special issue of Awake! examines the evidence."

I find this paragraph very interesting. Why would Jehovah's Witnesses try to validate the Bible if the Bible itself passes through the "Watchtower filter"? If it's the Watchtower's interpretation that the Jehovah's Witnesses end up practicing and believing, why not question the society's reasoning and the way they determine what God's revelation is? In other words, a trustworthy source serves no purpose until we begin to examine what truths are found in the reliable source. Since it's up to the Watchtower Society to determine those truths that are taught in the reliable source (the Bible), isn't it equally important to question the society's reliability and reasoning when it comes to their interpretation of the Bible's revelation? Since Jehovah's Witnesses are forbidden to do so, they're trapped in believing a lie unless they can recognize the circular reasoning that is inevitable when putting their faith in the society's doctrines.

Obviously, Jehovah's Witnesses would ignore the following Bible verses because they (the verses) were supposedly contaminated by Satan. But for those of us who believe that the Bible is God's infallible word, we can take our stand in these words and hold fast to them as we travel through these times of progressing opposition to the truth. The Bible speaks directly against cults like Jehovah's Witnesses, and you should "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15);

Ephesians 4:11-15, says "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

Isn't the Watchtower society "human cunning, and craftiness in deceitful schemes"? The Watchtower society speaks against opposers described in this verse, yet the organization is itself one.

2 Timothy 2:15, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

There is no need for a filtering society to tell us what the Bible truly says. We can accept it at face value for what it really says.

2 Peter 1:20-21, "Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

After reading this verse, a witness might say that it's obvious that the officials of the Watchtower Society "were carried along by the Holy Spirit." But giving just one example (out of many), why would the Holy Spirit move men to predict prophesies that eventually fail? As we've seen, if the Bible was diluted by Satan, than the Watchtower Society assumes the place of the Bible with presenting it's infallible doctrines. Infallible!? What about all the failed prophesies by the organization "carried along by the Holy Spirit", as they must inevitably claim.

John 4:1-6, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

I hope this article has inspired you to Witness to the Witnesses and to also research your own faith. After all, "A fool will believe anything; smart people watch their step."

Source: The Kingdom of the Cults by Walter Martin

Numbered sources:

1: What does God Require of Us? (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, 1997 electronic edition): 2.

2: The Watchtower (June 1, 1938): 169.
3: Ibid. (April 15,1939): 125.
4: Ibid. (May 1957): 274.
5: Ibid. (October 1, 1967): 591.
6: Ibid. (May 1, 1972): 272.
7: Ibid. (January 15, 1983): 22,27.
8: Ibid. (February 15,1983): 12.
9: The Watchtower (July 1, 1963): 411-13.
10: Ibid. (March 15, 1986): 12.
11: The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (Brooklyn: Watchtower Bible and Tract society, 1968), 13.

12: The Watchtower (September 15, 1911): 4885
13: Ibid. (July 1, 1965): 391.
14: Ibid. (October 1, 1967): 587.
15: Ibid. (February 15, 1981): 19.
16: Ibid. (August 15, 1981): 29.
17: (Internet source) http://www.watchtower.org/e/200711/article_01.htm

"If then you have been raised with Christ..."

2009-01-30T19:12:00.005-05:00

Take a look at Colossians 3:1-4. It says, "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This week, my pastor taught from this verse. These verses have a great message to offer. Let's take a look at verse one:

Here, Paul is saying that if you've spiritually been raised with Christ then seek the things of Heaven. That is our life's destination - our finish line. It's become our new reality because we can have assurance that that's where we'll be someday. When we embrace our new reality, we have no choice but to devote our lives to serving Christ. Some of you may remember those persistent little green aliens from Toy Story 2 who kept thanking Mr. Potato Head, saying, "You have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful." We should be the same way. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

Verse two is a reminder that if we're to live lives evidenced with Christ's atonement and as fully functioning followers of Christ, we should be setting our minds on the things above; living with eternity in perspective. This is when everything can change, when our minds are focused on someone other than ourselves and we realize we have a purpose and a future, we can suddenly start living transformed lives that aren't afraid to "do hard things" as my friends Alex and Brett put it. To "run the opposite way" as Leeland put it. To "Live lives with our minds in Heaven and our feet on earth," as my pastor put it. And to "...be transformed by the renewal of your mind..." as the apostle Paul has put it. When our minds are focused on the present state, the only thing to live for is ourselves and our own desires. When in reality, we should be living in the future for a greater cause. The truth is, "We can begin living a heavenly existence here on earth!"

Verse three will offer us hope as we "do hard things" and "run the opposite way" when we face struggles. When we live for the cause of Christ and sometimes suffer the temporary consequences here on earth, we can be comforted that our life is hidden with Christ and that is where our true future is held. Although we have not physically died, our spiritual future is secure in Christ, and that's the future that will really count. As we continue to journey and follow and advance the kingdom of God here on earth, we won't have to always worry about things being perfect, because someday, they will be. It's comforting to know that our spiritual lives are not dependent on the decisions of the world and the schemes of man. No man can pluck me from his hand! As Christians, we need to realize that the limited opportunity that we've been given here on earth was given for a specific purpose.

Verse four: Again, we are reminded that Christ is our life. He is who we abide in. He is our new motive. He is the one voice that we follow. Here we are given a glimpse of what that day will be like; when Christ appears and we also will appear with him. Christ will then no longer be seen as in his first coming as a human and savior but as the King of kings coming to claim his rightful place on the throne. Paul's reminding us that throughout our suffering here in this temporary life, we can rejoice because it will all pay off some day. We can look toward our future and be assured that what we're doing now will someday actually matter.

We now have a purpose to live for and a limited time to act upon it. Will you live a life evidenced with Christ "having been raised with Christ"?

A deeper look into the life and ministry of "pastor" Charles Taze Russell

2009-01-14T17:11:00.011-05:00

Key:

Little Bob's writing: "pastor" Russell

Excerpts from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "pastor" Russell

Quotes from other sources published by The Brooklyn Daily Eagle: "pastor" Russell

Other quoted sources: "pastor Russel"

Bible verses: "pastor" Russell

Charles Taze Russell was the founder of the now popular cult, Jehovah's Witnesses. He was born on February 16, 1852, and, at an early age, rejected many of the key doctrinal teachings of modern Christianity. Here are just a few principals that he denied, the trinity, Christ's deity, the physical resurrection of Christ and His second coming, eternal punishment and the reality of hell, the eternal existence of souls, and Christ's infinite atonement for sins. In this post, I'd like to further examine his ministry and who He really was behind who the Watchtower Society made him to be.

Galatians 1:8-9, "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed."

To start out, at the age of 18 he started a Bible class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Six years later in 1876, his congregation officially elected him "pastor" Russell (remember that). He edited for a small magazine for 2 years, but later resigned when a disagreement arose concerning Christ atonement. Shortly after his resignment, he started his own magazine called The Herald of the Morning, which expanded to be the magazine what we now call, The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom. Today, the publication of this magazine nears 18 million copies per month. It's had the unfortunate advantage of publishing itself in 106 languages. In 1886, Russell started writing and publishing his 7 books of "commentary on the Bible", which we now call, Studies in the Scriptures (his seventh book was edited from his previous writings after his death and finally completed his series being published in 1917). The seventh volume caused much controversy and split Russell's followers into two clean parts, the majority followed a former baptist named J. F. Rutherford who was influenced by Russell's books and became an important member of the Watchtower Society. The last book caused controversy and skepticism because it was written in a rather harsh manner and seemed to contradict how Russell had portrayed the spirit throughout his ministry as a "pastor".

J. F.Rutherford was a former baptist who converted to atheism after his minister told him that his Presbyterian wife had not been baptized so she would go to hell. His occupation was selling encyclopedias by going from door to door. He found it very difficult to sell his books so he decided that if ever anyone came to his home buying books, he would buy them. So after a bookseller came to his house publicizing "pastor" Russell's books, Rutherford bought the whole series, and he and his wife found them persuasive. So after a few years of researching the new found belief, he became baptized as a member of the Watchtower Society in 1906, and in 1907 he was elected a part of the legal counsel of the Watchtower Society. His election and eventual loyalty to the 7th volume of "pastor" Russell's series earned him and his followers the suitable name of Jehovah's Witnesses. Those who chose not to accept the 7th book were left and they are now called the Dawn Bible Students Association. Charles Taze Russell died in 1916, and as in the words of the late Walter Martin in his book The Kingdom Of The Cults, I also wish to,

"authenticate beyond a doubt the true history of Russell so that even his most devoted followers might realize the character of the man to whose teachings they have entrusted their eternal destiny."

A year after Charles Russell started the Watchtower society, he married Maria Ackley, who also was also involved in the Watch Tower society. Two years later, the couple started the agency called "The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society" through which Charles would publish his sermons (advertisements) world wide. Unfortunately, Mrs.Russell left her husband 6 years later and then 6 years after that in 1903, she sued for separation. The litigation ended in Mrs. Russell's favor, and the court awarded her a sum of $6,036. This litigation also unexpectedly showed that "pastor" Russell's varieties of ministries within his field of occupation were run through a few subsidiary companies, and that all those subsidiary companies had a common holding company in which "pastor" Russell owned 990 of the 1000 shares that the company offered. So it was evident that the "pastor's" society was owned almost completely by him, therefore making him accountable to no one.

Later on, "pastor" Russell's society publicized an ingenious marketing campaign labeled "Miracle Wheat" that sold for a $1 a pound. It was written in an advertisement that this wheat would grow 5 times larger than any others. Other sources encouraged any followers of the Watchtower to buy the wheat and claimed that the proceeds would go to help distributing "pastor" Russell's sermons. Behind the scenes, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle brought forth "pastor" Russell's new scheme and published a cartoon featuring him and his "Miracle Wheat" so that in some way, "Miracle Wheat" appeared to be something it wasn't. "Pastor" Russell had problems with the cartoon and brought suit for libel, demanding $100,000 in "damages". The Government tested the wheat and said that they found it was low in the test. Therefore in 1913, the Eagle won the trial. The Watchtower society has covered up the wheat scandal by claiming that all of the proceeds went to the watchtower ORGANIZATION, they fail to mention that "pastor" Russell was the organization, owning 990 of the 1000 shares offered by the holding company. In other words, how would you feel if the founder of your faith asked you to support him by purchasing a "somewhat counterfeit" product of his to support his organization that spread His doctrinal teachings (in this example the content of the doctrine itself, is irrelevant) throughout the world. While in reality, your money was going directly to your founder. (despite you possibly not having a problem with supporting the leader of your faith, he just lied to you!)

Before the wheat trial had begun, the The Brooklyn Daily Eagle also made the daring claim that it would reveal that "pastor" Russell's ministry and religious teachings were no more than a money-making cult. Throughout these hard times for "pastor" Russell, His sermons of 1912 were still being printed all over the world telling of his many trips to places such as China, Japan, and tropical islands. Readers of "The Watchtower announcing Jehovah's Kingdom" were gathering that "pastor" Russell was "delivering" sermons to "audiences".

The many quotations you see around the previous words are a result of what the audience or reader would have gathered, but in reality, Charles Russell wasn't a pastor, many of his sermons were never delivered, and many times, there was no audience.

Listen to the words of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of February 19, 1912, quoting a newspaper ad in which pastor Russel tells those reading it how his "mission work" is going:

His ("pastor" Russell's) first stop after sailing from the Pacific Coast was Honolulu. And presto! - the newspapers in which advertising space had been engaged printed long cable dispatches that presented the "Pastors" discourses. In one paper that printed the advertisement the opening sentence read, "Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands: The International Bible Students Committee of Foreign Mission investigation stopped at Honolulu and made observations. Pastor Russell, Chairman of the committee, delivered a public address. He had a large audience and attentive hearing."
Then follows the sermon, full of local color and allusions to the "Paradise of the Pacific": "I can now well understand (the printed report makes the 'pastor' say) why your beautiful island is 'The Paradise of the Pacific'. I note your wonderful climate and everything which contributes to bring about this paradise likeness"

The column of the ad in the paper continues on to paint the picture in which "pastor" Russell "imagines" himself in. Consider this following reply from the Hawaiian Star, a newspaper published through out Honolulu, regarding a question asked by the The Brooklyn Daily Eagle about "what "pastor" Russell's scheduled "sermon" in Honolulu was really like:

"In answer to your inquiry of December 19, concerning Pastor Russell, I would say that he was here for a few hours with a Bible students' committee of foreign mission investigation, but did not make a public address as was anticipated." - Walter G. Smith, Editor, Star

And pay close attention to this excerpt taken from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle of January 11, 1913 concerning how "pastor" Rusell's sermon went in Tokyo, Japan, in the words of her own people:

Tour of Orient Branded Huge Advertising Scheme

As to the "Pastors" methods of carrying Russellism to the heathen and the speed with which his searching investigations into the missions of the world are being conducted, the Japan Weekly Chronicle of January 11 supplies some interesting information. After explaining how the office of the paper had for weeks been bombarded with Russell literature and advance agents with contracts "just as if the Reverand gentleman were an unregenerated theatrical company," the Chronicle says:
"These gentlemen arrived in Japan on Saturday the 30th December. On the following day 'Pastor' Russell delivered a sermon in Tokyo entitled: 'Where Are the Dead?' which, though the title is a little ambiguous, does not seem to have any special connection with the mission work. On Monday it is assumed that the mission work in Japan was begun and finished, for the next day seems to have been devoted to traveling, and on Wednesday 'pastor' Russell and his coadjutors left Kobe for China in the same vessel in which they had arrived in Yokohama....The truth is that the whole expedition is merely a huge advertising scheme!"

The following trial is an account of an embarrassing episode for "pastor" Russell where he is faced to deny charges and prove who he's claimed to be for years. This record reminds me of the scene in The Pirates of the Caribbean, where Jack Sparrow is reminded by Davie Jones, himself, "Have you not introduced yourself all these years as captain Jack Sparrow?" This trial reveals much about the character of "pastor" Russell and proves him an under qualified man, unworthy of bearing the label, "pastor" for the lack of credentials that it begs. It all started when a reverend by the name of J.J. Ross, pastor of the James Street Baptist Church of Hamilton, Ontario, printed two offensive pamphlets that sparked controversy between him and Russell by claiming the following:

"never attended the higher schools of learning, knows comparitively nothing of philosophy,systematic or historical theology, and is totally ignorant of the dead languages...."

Obviously, "pastor" Russell, without hesitation, filed suit for libel against this seemingly outrageous individual who sought to destroy his reputation. Though filing suit for libel in a case like this, "pastor" Russell automatically claimed to obtain proof to support his denial against every "fact" about him that was published by Reverand Ross. Pastor Russell thought he could do it. So, his cross examination began some time around March 17, 1913, and ended up lasting 5 hours, that is, 5 very successful hours. During the early part of the interview, the only thing that "pastor" Russell addmitted true was that he had only attended school for 7 years of his life. Here is a small portion of what was said presented from a reliable copy of the trial held in the headquarters of Brooklyn:

Question (Attorney Staunton): "Do you know the Greek alphabet?

Answer (Russell): "Oh yes"

Question (Staunton): "Can you tell me the correct letters if you see them?"

Answer (Russell): "Some of them; I might make a mistake on some of them."

Question (Staunton): "Would you tell me the names of those on top of the page, page 447, I have got here?"

Answer (Russell): "Well, I don't know that I would be able to."

Question (Staunton): "You can't tell what those letters are? Look at them and see if you know."

Answer (Russell): "My way" (he was interupted at this point and not allowed to explain)

Question (Staunton): "Are you familiar with the Greek language?"

Answer (Russell): "No."

It seems confirmably evident at this point of who "pastor" Russel really was. I'm guessing that he probably thought he was in control up until Attorney Staunton said, "Would you tell me the names of those on top of the page..." After that point, I believe he was dreading the rest of the conversation. His words in answer to the same basic question, "Do you know the Greek alphabet?" in order, were as follows,

"Oh yes"

"Some of them; I might make a mistake on some of them."

"Well, I don't know that I would be able to."
(he makes a failed attempt)

"No."

How can anyone trust a man who is certain that he knows a language and then 4 sentences later contradicts himself and is sure that he doesn't know that same language? Because many of us don't know greek, we may be more prone to "let 'pastor' Russell slide" on this one because knowing even a little bit of Greek is an accomplishment, isn't it? Well, if you feel this way, imagine that "pastor" Russell actually speaks Greek and then substitute, "Greek" in the above trial, for, "English". It will make much more sense to give reason why "pastor" Russell really didn't KNOW the Greek language, if you can picture it that way.
Moving right along, Attorney Staunton then questioned "pastor" Russell about his ordination:

Question (Staunton): "Is it true you were never ordained?"

Answer (Russell): "It is not true"

Question (Staunton): "Now you never were ordained by a bishop, clergyman, presbytery, council, or any body of living men?"

Answer (Russell after a long pause): "I never was"

Obviously, this opens up two possibilities, either he was ordained by a body of men that were not living, or he was never ordained at all. I'm sticking with the latter.

At this point, it seems clear that "pastor" Russell wasn't a pastor at all, at least not a good one. Jesus compared a pastor or leader as playing the role of a shepherd many times through out His ministry. Although it's not necessary to have taken any college courses to become a pastor or even necessary to have stuck through the higher grades of learning, I feel that if you reject every major biblical teaching, you should at least have good reasons for making your decisions. "Pastor" Russell didn't. This is not an exuse for those who still follow his teaching though. We're all accountable to God individually, and we all should feel obligated to research our faith, even a little bit. In short, we shouldn't be blind followers of anything. "Pastor" Russell was no doubt being a shepherd (leading his flock), but there's no question that he was being a deceitful one, since he was leading his flock astray and lying to them.

Further on in the trial, attorney Staunton eventually questioned the "pastor" about his knowledge in Latin, Hebrew, philosophy, and systematic theology. Well, I'll just say that the "pastor" walked into the trial as a very knowledgable man, but when he left, he seemed to have never learned all three languages that he had previously said that he knew and it seemed as though he had never attended courses on philosophy or systematic theology.

After looking at this kind of evidence, the character of the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses is clearly revealed. It is now obvious why the Jehovah's Witnesses like to discount "pastor" Russell's work pertaining to their beliefs. After all, who would want their founder to be caught guilty of key points like these in his personal life; attributes describing him that would have required years of studying and learning that could not have been mistaken, or forgotten in a matter of seconds?

1 Timothy 3:1-7, "The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil."

There were many more things that "pastor" Russell said and did throughout his ministry that were simply astonishing. He took every chance to make money, and his deals often ended in legal crashes. In the Watchtower publication of September 15, 1910, page 298, he made the bold statement that it would be better to read his books and put away the scriptures than to read the scriptures and put away his books. From a Christian's standpoint, he's saying that his series, Studies in the Scriptures, (which were not just a commentary but an actual "rewritten" copy of the Bible) would be of more help to people than reading the Bible itself. This statement not only claims that "pastor" Russell wrote the only, one, true interpretation of the Bible, it claims that he is superior to God! I guess that his main point in that statement is if (1) you're a scholar who has attended the higher grades of learning (higher than "pastor" Russell's seven years), (2) you know Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, and (3) have taken a courses in systematic theology and philosophy, then your study of the God-inspired Bible is not profitable without the help of someone (Russell), who has no basis of interpreting the Bible at all, (1) having never attended the higher grades of learning (highschool and beyond), (2) having not known Latin, Hebrew, and Greek, and (3) having never taken a course in systematic theology or philosophy.

All of the information above is without mention of The Watchtower Society's failed predictions concerning Christ's return and the end of Armageddon. "Pastor" Russell, predicted that in 1914, Christ would return to kingdom power and this date would mark the end of Armageddon and the end of the Gentiles (the proof for this was supposedly World War I). When this date passed seemingly without occurence, "pastor" Russell changed the date to the year later, in 1915. This prediction also came and went without fufilment. After "pastor" Russell's death in 1916, Joseph Rutherford then emerged and recalculated his former leader's prediction and he then predicted that in 1918, Armageddon would occur. When this prophesy failed, Rutherford changed the date to 1925 and stated that ancient worthies such as Abraham, Issac, and Jacob would be resurrected and present to usher in the new world. Even when 1925 passed, Rutherford still had hope and built a house for the "late comers" in San Diego. Rutherford died in 1942, still claiming that the end of the world was near. After the failed prophesys the Watchtower always claimed that the end was near. In the mid 1960's The Watchtower Society made another prediction and expected it to happen in 1975. This one also failed just like all the others and the The Watchtower Society claimed to have never made the prediction and blamed it on "over-enthusiastic" members. It was at this time that The Watchtower Society had to do something about what the actual words in the prediction meant. After the prediction of 1914, the society claimed that the prediction only marked the begining of the fufilment, therefore, January 1, 1914 marked the begining of the fufilment of Christ return. When this didn't happen, the society said that the generation of people that saw the events of 1914 would see the end of the world. In 1995, time for the fufilment was running down. When hope for this prediction was lost, the society manipulated the word generation. Therefore, generation now only referred to a certain amount of time, making the prophecies occurences indefinite. This was the perfect solution for The Watchtower Society, and I think they made the best move that they could in a situation like that. If you didn't understand anything above and got confused with the dates, than in short, The Watchtower Society predicted major events to occur 5 separate times, and none of them ever happened.

Deuteronomy 18:21-22, "And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?' when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him."

All of this information has no value if the Jehovah's Witnesses discount "pastor" Russell's influence on them. So I'd like to reveal that they do rely on his teachings. The Jehovah's Witnesses have quoted Russell many times. Why would the people in the society quote him if he had no influence on what they believe? One such example can be found in a 50 some page booklet called World Distress: Why and the Remedy by Joseph Rutherford, published in 1923. Rutherford quotes Russell at least 16 different times, refers to Russell's series 12 times, and the back of the book devotes 6 pages to advertise the series. Another booklet of Rutherford's called, Comfort for the People published in 1925 with 57 pages, quotes "pastor" Russel's prophetic calculations concerning 1914, and then allows 4 pages in the back to advertise the "pastor's" series, again. From here, it looks as though the Jehovah's Witnesses will need to discount Joseph Rutherford's work on the subject as well. They'll also need to discount the next Watchtower leader, Nathan Homer Knorr's, influence also, considering he followed closely behind the footsteps of both former leaders. The Jehovah's Witnesses will need to discount the Watchtower society's influence also. It seems as though they have quoted and credited "pastor" Russell numerous times throughout their publications. In 1927, the society published an article that was written by Joseph Rutherford called, Creation, and a portion of it spoke about "pastor" Russell's great influence on the Jehovah's Witnesses faith:

"As William Tyndale was used to bring the Bible to the attention of the people, so the Lord used Charles T. Russell to bring to the attention of the people an understanding of the Bible, particularly of those truths that had been taken away by the machinations of the devil and his agencies. Because it was the Lord's due time to restore these truths, he used Charles T. Russell to write and publish books known as Studies in the Scriptures, by which the great fundamental truths of the divine plan are clarified. Satan has done his best to destroy these books because they explain the Scriptures. Even as Tyndale's Version of the Bible was destroyed by the clergy, so the clergy in various parts of the earth have gathered together thousands of volumes of Studies in the Scriptures and burned them publicly. But such wickedness has only served to advertise the truth of the divine plan."

I'm sure that there are many more instances like this one throughout Watchtower publications. It's amazing that people today still follow the teachings of people like "pastor" Russell. It's undeniable that they owe all of their beliefs to this man. Where else did they originate from if Joseph Rutherford and everyone preceeding him taught the same basic teachings of the men before them? Jehovah's Witnesses might accept that their beliefs did originate from "pastor" Russell, but they might continue to deny any association with his character. Of course they would. But if this man's calling WAS to "restore" the gospel message (the truth) to humanity and he's been spewing out lies throughout his whole ministry, how can we trust that his understanding of the scriptures are correct? It's circular reasoning.

As Christians, we need to be aware of what cults like this one teach, not only in order to explain to Jehovah's Witnesses why they need to accept the Bible as the only true word of God, but also to completely understand our own faith, for our own benefits. Studying cults like this one reveal how reasonable the Christian faith is and how every other faith doesn't compare in any way. Finding out the truth of the Bible is almost like process of elimination. It can't be found through this cult, and it can't be found through that cult, so it has to found here - right where God's has clearly said it - in the Bible.

Romans 12:2, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Sources:

The Kingdom of The Cults by Walter Martin
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah
I Am A Wittness, (a tract), published by American Tract Society

(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Miracle Wheat Scandal" January 1, 1913, pages 1-2
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Russellite Beliefs," January 22, 1913, page 2
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Testimony on Wheat" January 23, 1913, page 2
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Financial Statments Proving Russell's Absolute Control" by Secretary-Treasurer Van Amberg, January 25, 1913, page 16
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Government Experts Testify on 'Miracle Wheat' and Ascertain It's Ordinariness" January 27, 1913, page 3
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Prosecution and Defense Closing Arguments" January 28, 1913, page 2
(The Brooklyn Daily Eagle) "Russel Loses Libel Suit" January 29, 1913, page 16

You can read your Bible!

2008-12-30T17:57:00.014-05:00

Are you interested in reading through the Bible this year? Click on the title of this post, it will lead you to a site that has a link to a set of charts with dates that correspond to chapters of the Bible. If you do visit the site, click on the words: "Schedule to Read the Bible in a Year (.pdf) *" to view it in an Adobe reader and print it out if you'd like. Besides, then you won't have to make a new years resolution to lose weight (like my Dad). By the way, that's not a good reason to read your Bible (so you don't have to lose weight).

The chart you'll see will be a "beginning to end" chart, as opposed to an "Old/New Testament" chart, "historical" chart, or "chronological" chart. The differences between these scheduled readings is how they walk you through the Bible.

The "beginning to end" plan leads you through the Bible as if you were turning it's pages from left to right. In other words, it takes you right through the Bible, beginning with Genesis, then Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers...

The "Old/New Testament" planner takes you through both the Old and New Testament at the same time. For example, if you used this method you would begin reading Genesis, and Matthew on the same day.

The "historical" schedule for reading advises you to read the books of the Bible in order of the estimated times when they were written.

The "chronological" chart walks you right through the history of the Bible, presenting to you the books in the order of their occurrence. Because Job lived after creation yet before Abraham was born, (Genesis chapter 12) the book of Job is read in between the book of Genesis.

I'm not sure why all these methods are used. But they're out there if you ever want to read the Bible in those ways, whatever suits your fancy. Happy New year, and if you don't decide to read the Bible through, losing weight is a pretty good idea.

Problems with Santa

2008-12-19T10:12:00.003-05:00

Over the years, "Santa" has convinced a wide majority of the world that Christmas is all about him. He's kinda taken over CHRISTmas. Being the tubby genius that he is, Santa realized that he had to capture our attention by being more than just a jolly old man in a red suit. He added toys to that reputation. He figured toys would surely outweigh Jesus' gift of salvation. Well sadly, he was right. He stole the world away in a toy filled sleigh. While everyone is happy playing with Santa's gifts, the world has yet to realize that the greatest gift was missed. So there is America on Christmas day, summed up in just a few sentences. I realize that some of America remembers this forgotten Savior on Christmas day, but many have forgotten and have let this big jolly guy take over. While researching for this post, I came upon a poll that asked, "What's your favorite thing about Christmas? The options listed were:

1. Festive spirit

2. Christmas shopping

3. Presents

4. Giving nice things to other people

5. Decorating your home

6. Seeing your relatives (that you only see at holidays)

7. Songs/movies

8. Everything

9. Nothing. Bah humbug

10. Other - please state

They didn't even list Jesus. Unless number 10 is him. Well, the point is that people have forgotten. All of these choices aren't bad (except choice 9), but they are far from the truth of what Christmas is all about. The questionnaire was able to get 20 comments from relatively normal people, and here's what some of them had to say:

"Everything you list and colder weather, coming into a warm house and seeing the tree. Father Christmas, and happy good feelings that when remembered can keep us happy all year round. For me 'everything' is an understatement. I love all of it from the run up to the after glow lasting way past the last 12th night celebrations."

and this other person said,

" the best thing about christmas is the time you get to do nice stuff -- go for a walk in the country, watch an old movie and catch up with your own self and presents, of course! good times."

and this one crazy person said,

"Haha, everything about Christmas is magical."

Yeah, magical. Whatever. As you can see not many people mentioned Santa. But remember, if this were a younger age group, say 2-10, you'd be hearing a lot about Santa, and his elves, and the toys, and santa's workshop and...you get the picture. But out of all those comments, no one mentioned anything about God's perfect sacrifice. It's amazing how the reason for a very important holiday that practically everyone looks forward to could be jaded by a man who hires elves to make toys that get delivered to at least 2 billion homes in less than 24 hours. I realize that Santa is "the fun part of Christmas", but can't we as Christians at least even tell the story of the shepherds, wise men, and Jesus, the true purpose of the Christmas holiday?

You can click on this post's title for the rest of the comments if your interested.

Intelligent Design?

2008-12-16T14:01:00.021-05:00

A new movie called Expelled has just been released. It's about Ben Stein's quest to find the truth about science and how it's effected modern day Christianity. His search brings him to the conclusion that we are losing freeedom in one of our most important aspects of freedom, science. Ben recalls that He has always pictured science as a subject where anyone could ask any question. Now he thinks differently. Although He still believes science should be a "free" subject, the reality of the matter is changing. Even non-Christian scientists are now losing their jobs for just considering intelligent design. This is very unscientific. Scientists should be able to observe and examine their data and come with any reasonable conclusion that the evidence points toward. Unfortunately, it's not "intelligent design" that's hindering the scientific community from accepting the truth...no they can believe that... it's the idea of a higher authority. Consider this short section of dialogue taken from near the end of the movie between Ben Stein (Jewish), and Richard Dawkins ("smart" atheist).

Ben Stein: What do you think is the possibility that there is an intelligent design might turn out to be, uh, the answers to some issues in, uh, genetics or evolution?

Richard Dawkins: Well, it could come about in the following way. It could be that at some earlier time, somewhere in the universe a civilization evolved by probably some kind of Darwinian means to a very very high level of technology and designed the form of life that we seeded on to, perhaps this planet. Um, now, that is a possibility, and an intriguing possibility, and I suppose it's possible that you might find evidence for that if you look at the...um...at the details of biochemistry, molecularbiology you might find a signature...of some sort of designer. Um, and that designer well could be a higher intelligence from elsewhere...in the universe. But that higher intelligence would itself have had to have come about by some...explisible...or ultimately explisible process, it couldn't have just jumped into existence spontaniously, that's the point.

Ben Stein (now narrating): So professor Dawkins was not against intelligent design, just certain types of designers, such as God.

Ben Stein: So, the Hebrew God, the God of the Old Testament, He doesn't exist in your view?

Richard Dawkins: Uh, certainly, I mean, that would be a very unpleasent prospect.

Ben Stein: And the Holy Trinity of the New Testament?

Richard Dawkins: Nothing like that.

Ben Stein: Do you believe in any of the Hindu gods?

Richard Dawkins: How can you ask such a question. How could I? Why would I, given I don't believe in any others?

Ben Stein: You don't believe in the Muslim God?

Richard Dawkins: No. Why do you even need to ask?

Ben Stein: Well, I just wanted to be sure. So you don't believe in any god anywhere?

Richard Dawkins: Any god...anywhere...would be completely incompatable with...with with anything I've just said.

I think you've figured out that Richard Dawkins wants to account for the amazing complexity found in nature, but still refuse God. Why? Because (this is what I think) a god requires our submission and obedience. Without a God, there are no rules to follow. In his view, "aliens" are the perfect answer. One, they can perfectly account for our creation in our ignorance of God's word, because we are incapable of observing them directly. And two, although they supposedly combined the necesary elements for our development, there is no reason to submit to or obey them, because they haven't told us anything!

So as advancements in science are made, it seems as though it leads atheists closer and closer to God. Yet they still choose a different interpretation of evidence and deny God's existence. God created what we observe, how could it lead people away from Him? It's the willingly ignorant who choose not to believe. Not because of a lack of reasons for faith, but because of a lack of humility in their lives. There's more to life than yourself, especially since everyone's creator went out of His way to die for us all.

The Bible: A Book Like No Other

2008-12-01T11:51:00.016-05:00

This is a book worth reading. It's unlike any other book that has ever existed. It was written by 40 men thousands of miles apart, over a span of 1600 years. The authors were quite different from each other.....

Solomon was a king
Peter, a fisherman
Joshua, a military general
Luke was a doctor
Amos was a herds man
Nehemiah, a cupbearer
Daniel, a prime minister
Matthew was a tax collector
Moses was a political leader
and Paul was a rabbi.

These men wrote their portion of the Bible in very different places.

Moses wrote in the wilderness
Jeremiah in a dungeon
Daniel wrote on a hill and in a palace
Paul was in prison when he wrote
and Luke wrote while traveling
Daniel wrote in times of war
while Solomon wrote in times of peace

The Bible was written by people who were, (at the time of their writing) despairing, and also by people who were rejoicing.

It contains about 2500 prophecies, 2000 of which have been fulfilled with no errors. Most can be backed up by historical records outside the Bible. The remaining 500 prophecies are yet to come. Hugh Ross calculates that the probability of the fulfilled prophecies happening is less than 1 in ten to the 2000th power (that's 10 followed by 2000 zeros.)

It is unique in it's translation: It was one of the first books ever translated, and now, it has been translated in more than 1,280 languages. It is also still the world's best seller.

It is unique in it's survival: It was written on "cheap" material by hand. It needed to be copied over and over again with no errors (printing presses were not around back then). If you compare the entire Bible we have today with the "dead sea scrolls" discovered in 1947 written in approximately the first century, you'll find that there are only 19 "errors". Most are spelling errors.

It was written on three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe.

It was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

It was written in different styles: history, law, religious poetry, parable and allegory, biographical, personal correspondence, personal memoir, diary, action, romance, philosophy, prophetic, and even some science.

And yet it was written with harmonious agreement on hundreds of controversial topics. (How likely is that when you have over 40 men, some of them who never even knew each other, all writing the same book.)

It was written by many, to many, but contains one key message: God loves you so He sent His son to die for you.

sources: Evidence That Demands A Verdict by Josh McDowell
Know Your Bible published by Barbour
Know Why You Believe by Paul E. Little

The Cosmological Argument

2008-11-26T17:24:00.006-05:00

The cosmological argument focuses in on the origin of the universe and provides great philosophical evidence for God's creation of the universe. First I'll ask you a question about everything around you, "Why is there something, rather than nothing?" It's a simple yet very cool question to think about. Normally when we think of nothing, we're still referring to something that is absent in the universe. Here, you need to try to picture the actual universe as non-existent. Not just as empty space but even space itself as non-existent. With that in mind, I'll ask you another question, "Where did the chair that your sitting on come from?" Take it back step by step. The store, the factory, the other factories, then it can be traced back to the natural resources found in the earth. Now, for each of those previous locations of the the chair, there was a cause that affected it by arriving at a new location or appear differently than before. Whether it was a truck, a conveyor belt, or you, those are the causes and every cause has an effect (contingency). Now, "Why should it be any different many steps before those (still a cause and effect)?" I'm talking about the universe's origin. With the universe's design, complexity, and purpose out of mind, let's consider the options here. It could have been in a big bang, or God could have made it. As everyone can agree upon, the universe (the chair) is an effect, either of chance or of God (cause). The Big Bang claims to be an eternal process of exploding, expanding, continuing, and contracting. If it is an eternal process that means that there has to always have been a cause for every effect it's given. Though if it's eternal, that would also mean that we could have never arrived at the place in time that we are now. To illustrate the point, take a look at the simple illustration above, the place in time that you are at right now is the vertical line marked zero. The horizontal line to the left is the past (negative numbers) , and the line to the right is the future (positive numbers). If the universe has been, is, and always will be eternal, we'll represent our eternal past with a negative infinity (which I don't have enough space to write out). That is expressed as a line going continually to the left. If you "start" at negative infinity, will you ever reach the point in time where we are now (zero)? No! In other words, if you continue to ADD positive numbers (lets say each number represents a year) to the negative infinity will you ever reach where we are now (zero)? No, infinite cause and effect is impossible. There must be a creator. And not only that, this creator would have to have supernatural qualities. The God of the Bible happens to have them:

being self existent - Genesis 1:1

being eternal - Psalm 90:2

being uncaused - Psalm 90:2

source: Evidence for Faith 101 by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz

You're Not Good Enough

2008-11-04T13:59:00.007-05:00

The most widely held "Christian's" false assumption is that you must do something to get to Heaven. Going to church, giving money to the church, not killing anyone, and other "good moral standards" aren't bad, but to tell you the truth, they're not going to get you to Heaven. "Your ticket to Heaven has been bought entirely by someone else" is a very hard concept to believe. Not because the Bible does not make it clear, but because things these days (like getting to Heaven for example) are usually costly, or they require you to do something, or you have be eligible. The point is, it's hard to grasp that anything in this day and age can be free, let alone getting to Heaven. But you see, the Bible makes it very clear that your good works will profit you nothing and that there is only one way. Isaiah 64: 5 - 6 says, "You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. You are indeed angry, for we have sinned - In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." Yup, that verse means that walking that older woman across the street may earn you something in boy scouts, but it's not going to get you to Heaven. Righteousnesses in this verse is referring to good works. In light of the context (...we need to be saved...), it's saying that righteousness won't earn you a place in Heaven. It's not saying that doing good things is wrong, as it can easily be taken to be. In John 14:6 it says, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" Here, Jesus himself says that he is the only way. Besides people who base their whole salvation upon good works, there are also those who believe that "Well... you know, doing good works won't hurt, right?" You know, the half way type who figure, "Well, I think I'm saved, but if I'm not, God will probably let me into Heaven because I followed the ten commandments, I gave money to the church, and I definitely haven't killed anyone." That is still a wrong view, even if your saved from your sins, you shouldn't be relying on your good works to "help out" your salvation. Why? Because it totally ruins God's sacrifice. When you believe good things help out even a little bit, you are saying that God's PERFECT sacrifice wasn't enough. If you believe that your good works are all it takes, you're ignoring (maybe knowingly, maybe not) why Jesus had to die, entirely. Jesus' death is probably the most well known story of Christianity. Ask anyone, they'll probably know a little bit about it. Yet many of us (in this "Christian" nation) still hold to a works based salvation despite the reason why Christ came to die. Christ came to die because we sinned. Since we sinned, we're not perfect, so we could not save ourselves from the penalty of that sin, death. Since Christ was perfect, he could save us from the penalty of sin by dying in our place. If you know why Christ died and you are still relying on your works, that is an illogical belief. The only way to Heaven is through Jesus.

The Price of Choice

2008-11-03T17:09:00.028-05:00

Why is there suffering. How could the God of the Bible allow so much plague, famine, modern day slavery, natural disasters, and death? How can anyone claim that God is love when the world is falling apart? This is the question that destroyed Charles Darwin's faith. The death of his daughter, Annie, ended his belief in a loving God. I'm sure this question has destroyed other's beliefs in a loving God also. So why? Why does God allow death and suffering? To answer that, we need to know a little bit of background information. When God created Adam in the garden of Eden, He created him with free will. He created someone who would have a choice to obey His commands and to love Him. The reason for giving us humans this choice was so that we could demonstrate love for ourselves. Think about this. If God had programed us to love Him and obey what he commanded like robots with no choice, what kind of love would that be? Well, it wouldn't be love at all. Why? Because those robots wouldn't have even had a choice. It was programed to do whatever the master commanded it to do. In other words, would you score an A+ on your math test's multiple choice section if all that was listed after each question was one answer? Well yes, but at the same time no. You had no other choice so there is no reason to think that you might have gotten all the answers correct if more choices had been listed. The joy from creating free-willed human beings is that we have a choice: To love God (which is what He wants) or to love sin (which is what we want by our nature). That is the choice here. The point God is trying to make is that we should think of Him instead of ourselves, to let go of our pride. So what was the motive for Adam to choose obeying God? Well, perfect harmony with Him. No sin. When that choice of harmony with God no longer sounded appealing to Adam, he gave into temptation, and rebelled against God by eating the forbidden fruit. Sin entered the world. You may be claiming right now that you never had a choice, you were born into your sin nature. Well take a look at Romans 5:18-19 "Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." In other words, just as Adam's sin nature passes on to you, so does God's gift of salvation, which is free to all who will believe. In verse 12 of that chapter it says that "sin entered the world.....because all sinned." In other words Adam was like a representative of every man and every woman who was yet to come. So we all chose that path. When I say that, I do believe Adam was an actual human being that existed, not just a symbolic illustration of every man. I'm sure God was very disappointed with Adam's (and our) choice but because of His grace, He gave us ALL a second chance by dying for us at Calvary. God didn't have to die, but because of His love for the sinner, He willingly went to the cross. His sacrifice was necessary for us to have eternal life (Romans 3:23). We couldn't have been able to get there by ourselves. Although sin is still in the world and works to destroy everything good, God's gift is still there for you to reach out and take. It's a gift so it's free. All you have to do is accept it by acknowledging that you're a sinner, believe that Jesus(God) paid your penalty for sin on the cross, and start following Him. Put Him first in your life, because that's what He did for you. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." There is nothing magical in those words, you don't even have to say them out loud, all you have to do is believe in it's message. God knows your heart. Even though we are still living with the affects of sin which have caused suffering and have also caused God to "let go" of things a bit (Romans 1:18-32), we don't need to fear these things because we are saved. Psalm 56:11 says, "In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me." This is the reason why Christians can rejoice in any circumstance. Though we are saddened and affected by the penalty of sin that takes it's toll in our lives, we can still live in security because we have the assurance that we will be with Christ when we die. John 5:24, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."Jesus paid the ultimate penalty and temporarily we must live in this lost and dying world to further the truth to others who desperately need it. God longs for our salvation. He is not the cause of sin but wants to save us from it. It's like if your math teacher gave you a test and you failed in every question. Was it your teachers fault that you failed? No, your teacher gave you a choice. So you failed the test, and usually, that's the end, there is no retry, your grade is now set in stone. Well, God gave us all a second chance on that test by dying for us. He could have "graded" us right then and there, but He didn't. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." Don't fail the test this time around.

source: Ken Ham's pamphlet - "Why is there death and suffering?"

A Basis for Christian Doctrine

2008-10-31T13:50:00.018-04:00

As a Christian, everything you believe rests on the Bible. If the Bible was a book full of errors and make believe stories, our faith wouldn't matter. The Bible claims to be the word of God, and because self description can often deceive others, it's rational to question and examine the Bible's claim. So if the Bible is God inspired, we would expect to find supernatural prophesies fulfilled through out history, scientific reasons for unexplainable events in the past, and archaeological finds that prove the Bible is not only reliable, but God's word. And that is exactly what we find. The following information is taken from http://www.inplainsite.org/. It seems like a pretty cool website and I encourage you to check it out by clicking on the title. Here are many scientific reasons to believe that the Bible is supernatural in origin. This kind of stuff interests me, and I'm sure it will interest you, too. I might give evidence about prophecy and archeology surrounding the Bible in later posts.

Science and the Bible

Genesis 1:1,3 (written 3,450 years ago):

"In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth . . . And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power and motion. "In the beginning (time) God created (power) the Heaven (space) and the earth (matter) . . . And the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters."

Genesis 2:1 (after creation): "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them."

The Hebrew word used here is the past definite tense for the verb "finished," indicating an action completed in the past, never again to occur. The creation was "finished" -- once and for all. That is what the First Law of Thermodynamics says. It states that neither matter nor energy can be either created or destroyed. There is no "creation" ongoing today. It is "finished" exactly as the Bible states.

Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

This verse reveals that a female possesses the "seed of life." This was not the common knowledge until a few centuries ago. It was widely believed that the male only possessed the "seed of life" and that the woman was nothing more than a glorified incubator.

Genesis 17:12: "And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed."

Why was circumcision to be carried out on the eighth day? Medical science has discovered that the eighth day is the only day in the entire life of the newborn that the blood clotting element prothrombin is above 100%.

Leviticus 17:11 (written 3000 years ago): "For the life of the flesh is in the blood."

The Scriptures declare that blood is the source of life. Up until 120 years ago, sick people were "bled", and many died because of the practice. We now know that blood is the source of life. If you lose your blood, you will lose your life.

Leviticus 15:13 (written 3000 years ago): "And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean."

The Bible said that when dealing with disease, hands should be washed under running water. Up until 100 years ago doctors washed their hands in a basin of still water, resulting in the death of multitudes. We now know that doctors must wash their hands under running water. The Encyclopedia Britannica documents that in 1845, a young doctor in Vienna named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was horrified at the terrible death rate of women who were dying after giving birth in hospitals. As many as 30% of those giving birth died. The Doctor noted that doctors would examine the bodies of those who had died, then, without washing their hands, go straight to the next wards and examine expectant mothers. This was their normal practice, because the presence of microscopic diseases was unknown. Doctor Semmelweis insisted that doctors wash their hands before examinations, and the death rate immediately dropped down to 2%.

Job 26:7 (written 3500 years ago): "He stretches out the north over the empty place, and hangs the earth upon nothing."

Less than 200 years ago, through the advent of massive telescopes, science learned about the great empty space in the north. Also the Bible claimed that the earth freely floated in space, but science then thought that the earth sat on a large animal. We now know that the earth has a free float in space.
(The first scientist having this understanding would appear to be Copernicus around 1500. Examples of Scientific Accuracy in the Bible By David Pyles)

Job 28:25 "To establish a weight for the wind, And apportion the waters by measure. "

The fact that air has weight was proven scientifically only about 300 years ago. The relative weights of air and water are needed for the efficient functioning of the world’s hydrologic cycle, which in turn sustains life on the earth.

Job 38:12, 14, (written 3500 years ago) God Himself says: "Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? It [the earth] is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment."

Modern science has come to understand that the earth's rotation on its axis is responsible for the sun's rising and setting. The picture here is of a vessel of clay being turned or rotated upon the potter's wheel -- an accurate analogy of the earth's rotation.

Job 38:16 speaks of springs in the sea. It is now known that there are indeed such springs on the ocean floor.
The earliest literature indicating an understanding of hydrological cycle was apparently around the third or fourth century BC. However, the essential details of this cycle were all revealed in the Bible well before this time. This may be seen from the following texts:
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again. - Eccl 1:6,7
For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof: which the clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly. - Job 36:27,28
It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. - Amos 9:6 (Examples of Scientific Accuracy in the Bible By David Pyles)

Job 38:19 (written 3500 years ago). "Where is the way where light dwells?"

Modern man has only just discovered that light (electromagnetic radiation) has a "way," involving motion traveling at 186,000 miles per second.

Job 38:22 (written 3,500 years ago). God says: "Have you entered into the treasures of the snow?"

It wasn't until the advent of the microscope that man discovered that each and every single snowflake is uniquely a symmetrical "treasure."

Job 38:35 (written 3,500 years ago. God Himself speaking): "Can you send lightnings, that they may go and say unto you, Here we are?"

The Bible here is saying a scientifically ludicrous statement -- that light can be sent, and then manifest itself in speech. But did you know that radio waves move at the speed of light? This is why you can have instantaneous wireless communication with someone on the other side of the earth. Science didn't discover this until 1864 when "the British scientist James Clerk Maxwell suggested that electricity and light waves were two forms of the same thing" (Modern Century Illustrated Encyclopedia, Vol. 12).

Psalm 8:8: "And the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the seas."

What does the Bible mean by "paths" of the seas? The sea is just a huge mass of water, how then could it have "paths?" Man discovered the existence of ocean currents in the 1850's, but the Bible declared the science of oceanography 2,800 years ago. Matthew Maury (1806- 1873) is considered to be the father of oceanography. He was bedridden during a serious illness and asked his son to read a portion of the Bible to him. While listening, he noticed the expression "paths of the sea." Upon his recovery, Maury took God at His word and went looking for these paths. His book on oceanography is still considered a basic text on the subject and is still used in universities.

Psalm 19:4-6: "In them has He set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His [the sun's] going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof."

Bible critics have scoffed at these verses, saying that they teach that the sun revolves around the earth. Science told them that the sun was stationary. Then they discovered that the sun is in fact moving through space at approximately 600,000 miles per hour. It is traveling through the heavens and has a "circuit" just as the Bible says. It is estimated that its circuit is so large, it would take 200 million years to complete one orbit.

Ecclesiastes 1:6 "The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit."

The Bible describes the circulation of the atmosphere.
The Bible includes some principles of fluid dynamics.

Jonah 2:6 (written 2,800 years ago): "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God."

When Jonah was in the depths of the ocean, he spoke of going down to the "bottoms of the mountains." Only in recent years has man discovered that there are mountains on the ocean floor. The greatest ocean depth has been sounded in the Challenger Deep of the Mariana's Trench, a distance of 35,798 feet below sea level. Mount Everest is 29,035 feet high.

(Genesis 10:25 speaks of one Peleg whose name means division. The text then explains that he was so named because in his days the earth was divided. It is now commonly believed that all continents of the earth were once combined into a single continent called Pangaea. This belief is based upon the fact that present continents appear somewhat as pieces out of a puzzle. There are also other evidences, including several geological similarities on matching continental edges. {Examples of Scientific Accuracy in the Bible By David Pyles})

Amos 9:6 (written 2,800 years ago): "He . . . calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth; the Lord is His name."

The Mississippi River dumps over six million gallons of water per second into the Gulf of Mexico. Where does all that water go? That's just one of thousands of rivers. The answer lies in the hydrologic cycle, something that was not fully accepted until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 2500 years after the Bible said that God takes the waters of the sea, and pours them upon the face of the earth.

Jeremiah 33:22 (written 2500 years ago): "As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured."

The Bible claimed that there are billions of stars ("host of heaven" is the biblical term for the stars). When it made this statement, no one knew how vast the numbers of stars were as only about 1,100 were observable. Now we know that there are billions of stars, and that they cannot be numbered. (The Bible asserts that the stars are innumerable (Gen 15:5, Gen 17:7, Heb 11:12). This does not necessarily mean that we are incapable of mathematically expressing their number. It means that no human has the ability to count them individually so as to achieve their sum. It is claimed that there are 100 billion stars in our galaxy alone. If stars were counted around the clock at one star per second, then it would take over 3000 years just to count these. Add to this the fact that there are as many as 100 billion galaxies. However, there were many scholars prior to Galileo who believed that the stars could be counted, and several attempts were made to do so. Many of these counts arrived at around 1000 stars. Examples of Scientific Accuracy in the Bible By David Pyles).

Isaiah 40:12 (written 2,800 years ago): "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand . . ."

We are told that God has measured the waters and set a proper amount of water on the earth. Modern science has proved that the quantity of water on earth is just enough for our needs. If the sea became three meters deeper, the water would absorb all the carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and no creature could live any longer.

Isaiah 40:22 (written 2800 years ago): "It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth."

The Bible informs us here that the earth is round. At a time when science believed that the earth was flat, it was the Scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world. He wrote: "It was the Lord who put it into my mind. I could feel His hand upon me . . . there is no question the inspiration was from the Holy Spirit because He comforted me with rays of marvelous illumination from the Holy Scriptures . . ." (From his diary, in reference to his discovery of "the New World").
(Other statements in the Bible also indicate that God revealed this truth long ago. For example, David said that God has removed our transgression from us as far as the east is from the west (Ps 103:12). On a spherical surface, east and west are infinitely separated in the sense that one can travel indefinitely in either direction without ever attaining the other. However, Solomon described the wind as blowing in circuits, first towards the south and then turning toward the north. North and south are not infinitely separated as east and west, because a southward traveler on a spherical surface will be heading north after crossing the south pole. Examples of Scientific Accuracy in the Bible By David Pyles )

Isaiah 40:22 (written 2,800 years ago): "It is He that . . . stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in."

Scientists are beginning to understand that the universe is expanding, or stretching out. At least seven times in Scripture we are clearly told that God stretches out the heavens like a curtain.

Hebrews 1:10,11 (written 2000 years ago): ". . . And, You, Lord, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands: They shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment."

The Bible tells us that the earth is wearing out. This is what the Second Law of Thermodynamics states. This wasn't discovered by science until comparatively recently.

Hebrews 11:3 (written 2000 years ago): "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

The Bible claims that all creation is made of invisible material. Science then was ignorant of the subject. We now know that the entire creation is made of invisible elements called "atoms."

The Dinosaur (There is reasonable evidence that the scriptures speak of dinosaurs. As should be expected, this evidence comes from Genesis, the book of origins, and from the book of Job, generally believed to be the oldest book in the Bible.

First, Genesis 1:21 speaks of God creating whales on the fifth day of creation. The Hebrew word translated here as whales is generally translated dragons. It is translated as monsters once, whale(s) twice, serpent(s) thrice, and dragon(s) 21 times.
Second, Job's statements concerning the behemoth (Job 40:15-24) might be referring to dinosaurs. Its tail is compared to a cedar tree. Its strength, and apparently its bulk, is in its loins. It is said to be the chief of the ways of God, and is described as having the ability to drink up a river. No modern animal meets this description in all points.
Third, Job's description of the leviathan (Job 41) very much resembles a dinosaur. Some would dismiss this description as fictitious because the leviathan is described as breathing fire; however, some creation scientists believe this could have happened. The creature would merely need glands to produce a chemical which would combust when exposed to air. The bombardier beetle does in fact have this ability. The fact that nearly every major culture of the world has traditions about such dragons lends yet further credibility to the possibility of their existence in the past. Examples of Scientific Accuracy in the Bible By David Pyles)

Why did the dinosaur disappear? This is something that has modern science mystified, but the Bible may have the answer (written 3500 years ago. God Himself is speaking):

"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eats grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moves his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together. His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron. He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. He lies under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens. The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about. Behold, he drinks up a river, and hastens not: he trusts that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth. He takes it with his eyes: his nose pierces through snares. (Job 40:15-24).

This was the Largest of all creatures He made.It was plant-eating (herbivorous).It had its strength in its hips.Its tail was like a large tree (a cedar).It had very strong bones.Its habitat was among the trees.Drank massive amounts of water.His nose pierced through snares.
Then Scripture says, " . . . He that made him can make his sword approach to him." In other words, God caused this, the largest of all the creatures He had made, to become extinct.

source: Scientific Facts in The Bible

Be The Moon

2008-10-20T14:40:00.010-04:00

As Christians, every action we take should portray a Christ centered life. A life that strives to become more like Jesus and less like the world. To be set apart and living God's way, that should be our goal. We're a bit like ambassadors, representing our king in this world. Everything we do should be reflecting Christ and his love for His spiritually drifting people, and to show them that someone does care. That is the reason why it is so important to develop Christ-like character; because what is on the inside shows on the outside. Why do we need to develop Christ-like character? Because CHRISTians are followers of Christ and need to be following the leader by living His commandments. Deuteronomy 13:4 says, "It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him." This week, or rather for the rest of your life, work on that verse by studying what made His Son, Jesus, different from other people (besides being God), and how you can apply that to your life.

What You Need To Know

2008-10-14T22:39:00.018-04:00

Recently, I have been reading small pamphlets published by Harvest House Publishers. Harvest House also published The Power of a Praying Teen, and A Young Man After God's Own Heart which I've reviewed previously. These short, easy to read, quick reference guides are a part of a series of small informative pages that touch on different beliefs and compare them to Christianity. I've learned about Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Creation vs. Evolution and I plan on getting the rest of the series. As in the title, it only gives information that you need to know. Each pamphlet is organized into different sections. First, you are presented with the common errors of these religions and these views are compared with what the Bible has to say. Since each pamphlet varies after the primary errors' section, you'll just have to buy them to find out the rest. Yeah, I know that's a horrible way to end a review, but still, check them out any way. Click on the title to view them. They are sold for $3.00 each at Christianbook.com. Other religions included in the set are Roman Catholicism, Islam, The Masonic Lodge, World Religions, and other controversial topics that Christians need to know about like Halloween and Christian Views Of War. I hope you decide to get them because it's important to know about other's views to fully understand your own. "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" - 1 Peter 3:15

Oprah and her church

2008-10-08T15:05:00.005-04:00

If you haven't yet heard about Oprah and her church, watch the short video to the left, before you read this article.

Ok, I'm guessing your pretty curious about a lot of things in that video but I'd like to touch on the part where Oprah said, "God is jealous? God is jealous of me?(referring to her success?)" Obviously, Oprah must have missed the verse before this passage of scripture. One key to studying the Bible is to look at the context, and that's what we'll do. These verses in Exodus 20:4-5 say “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God." Normally, when we think of jealousy, it's in a bad sense. It's something that should be discouraged. God's jealousy is different though. He's jealous for our love, which was His to begin with. When He speaks about jealousy, it's in the sense that He wants to reclaim, and re own our love. It would be different if our love was not intended for him in the first place. That would be stealing our love from something it was not made to be given to. But because He created us for his glory, our love belongs to him. So Oprah, here's my question for you. Why would God go from talking about the commandments for us to keep, to describing His characteristics? Hmmm, lets see, Maybe it's because God isn't jealous of us "privileged, blessed, successful" human beings, but rather jealous of our love. Maybe He put these commandments here to remind us that we should only be focused on loving and pleasing him and nothing else. If Oprah's interpretation is what God intended to say, than we would expect to find information of how privileged us humans are. Then that would tie into why God is jealous of us. But since that's not what we find, I'm sticking with this interpretation: He created us to love Him and He's jealous of our love. I may not have the answer to everything about difficult Bible passages, but this seems pretty clear. God being jealous of us is like us being jealous of that cockroach over there, or that fly on the wall. Think about this verse, Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." It sounds to me like God wants us to succeed. He's not jealous.

Homework: Find a portion of scripture that gives indication of God's jealousy over man's PRIVILEGES. I know, it's a hard assignment.

http://romansnewsletter.blogspot.com/

Devotion: Grace Changes Everything

2008-10-07T19:28:00.014-04:00

God created Adam to love Him. When Adam sinned, rightly he and all of his descendants were bound to an eternal state without God and endless torment. But rather let us die in our sin, God provided a way out by sending the only sacrifice that would satisfy sin's penalty. The perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ. Why though? Why would a God like that send His son die for us? He is by definition perfect. Whatever He did would be right. Well, He chose to suffer for us because He wanted us to know His love and in return, for us to love Him. Love is a choice. If God had created us to love and obey Him like robots, it would not be true love. True love is a choice. When we have a choice there are consequences. One choice gives us a happy ending, the other gives us suffering. But there's not much of a choice you may say, I'd follow God any day, I wouldn't want to suffer. Well actually there are those who have chosen that path in spite of knowing that the God of the Bible is real. These people view their struggles in life as hardships that come from God. They find no way to overlook these hardships and think about what God has given them; a choice to accept eternal life. Besides that, they want to live life for themselves; they have no place for God in their lives. But God wants our life, our love, devoted to him. Which is why He went out of His "comfort zone"... to save us. He's done all He will do to win the unsaved back to Him by letting His son pay the penalty for our sin and offering salvation to us . But in the end, it's up to us to accept this gift. God can truly change everything if we accept His offer of grace. Grace offers us a purpose in life, a life that has potential to matter, and another chance. People reflect on the bad things and blame them on God. What we need to remember is that God gave us more than we deserve and the sin in the world causes death and suffering. I view death as a gift though. I mean, who would want to live in a sinful state for eternity; struggling with the problems of this world? I don't know about you, but that's not how I would want to live the rest of time: stuck in a constant state of a nature to rebel. I strive for a cross centered life where Christ' grace is something that I remember all the time. Every time I do something, I try to realize that it's only by God's grace that anything I ever do will really have a lasting impact. Reflect on grace at the cross and you'll realize just how much God loves you and cares for you.... enough to die for you.

It's ok to run the opposite way

2008-09-29T13:39:00.010-04:00

Leeland's newest album, opposite way, has a song that says, "And it seems like you're lock in a cage, and you need to find a way of escape. When everyone is setting the pace, it's okay to run the opposite way." This song sums up our society. Everyone wants you to be like him or her. The fight is hard but you do have a choice, to fly with the the flock, or to run the opposite way. Leeland also talks about this in another one of their songs, "It's like you got to walk like him, got to talk like her, got to be like them, everybody knows you follow the crowd or get singled out. But God says who you are, not the world or movie stars. Don't you know, He holds the answers in His hands." This is the picture here. The world wants you to become like them, but God wants you to be yourself because He created you unique to suit His purpose for you. Which will you choose to be. This is the point of Paul's letters to Rome, this is the point of my blog, this is what every teen struggling with peer pressure needs to hear. The world doesn't need more of the same, and that statement doesn't mean I'm for Obama, it just means that the world is sinful and needs a savior in place of an ipod. Or as C. J. Mahaney put it, "If we're to have any possibility of becoming truly great in God's eyes, it means turning upside down our entrenched worldly ideas on the definition of greatness." Going the opposite way may mean not being liked by others, but that doesn't matter in perspective of God's love for you. That's all that really matters anyway. Even if you've been going along with the crowd for a long time, God still loves you. It's not to late to break the mold and live a life different from the rest. God hates the sin but loves the sinner. Going the opposite way is one example of displaying our love for Him. It's just another way to show how the love of Christ can transform a person.

The More

2008-09-27T15:41:00.007-04:00

The more I look at these pictures, the more I wonder how someone can claim that there is no God. It's common sense that zero (creator), plus zero (matter) can't equal billions (of creations). And that's just what we see, billions of billions of creations each with their own special design and purpose. There must be a God, and their is. The God of the Bible.

The Grand Canyon

The Miky Way Galaxy
The Grand Canyon Again

Glory Revealed

2008-09-27T12:29:00.015-04:00

Sit back and enjoy God's marvelous Creation. He created it for our enjoyment and His glory. Click on the title to view more pictures, they are amazing.

Giant Sequoia

"Glory Revealed"

Sharing The Ultimate Gift

2008-09-22T17:48:00.012-04:00

If you had the most life saving news in the world would you share it? If you designed a stronger bridge or building to withstand hurricanes, or if you found a cure for cancer, wouldn't you want to tell everyone about it? Your new idea would save millions. But from what? Death? You might save them physically but how about spiritually? When they eventually died where would they stand before God. Discovering cures for cancer and designing better structures are great ways to save a persons life here on earth, but how about when they stand before the Great White Throne. Will they have been prepared. If we're really going to make an impact on this spiritually drifting world it will be by spreading the good news of eternal life. Bought back by our Savior and Redeemer, He rescued us from eternal punishment and offered us a gift that is beyond what we deserve. Unfortunately many have rejected this gift and need... well... some redirecting. That's where you come in. As a Christian it's your job to one, glorify God, and two, lead others to Him. If we as Christians are going to see any progress in Heaven it's going to need to start here on earth. That means witnessing. All of us have the same feeling about witnessing including me. Don't let someone who's been on your mind slip through your fingers because you were unwilling to step out of your comfort zone to witness to them. Don't stop because of what others say. If your not good with words you can still witness. Here's an idea, become a witnessing blogger. Add Islam, Buddhism, religion, and other belief centered topics to your interest. Every time you have spare time, click on one and offer hope and truth to those who "happen to share the same interest as you" It's time to live with eternity in perspective, and see new faces in Heaven.

Book Review - The Power of a Praying Teen

2008-09-17T17:19:00.011-04:00

"Discover the power. Change your life. Change the world." that is what the book The Power of a Praying Teen does. In this book I've learned that praying is absolutely essential to a Christians life. It is one of only a few ways to express our needs and thanks to God, the one who gave us everything we have, even more than we deserve. It also includes other chapters on different topics that all come back to prayer. A few are, Have a closer walk with God, Say goodbye to negative emotions, Attract good relationships, stand free of peer pressure, and be a light for others. This is a great book for anyone who's struggling with praying daily and whether God even hears us. All through out the book, Stormie Omartian (cool name), the author, list why, when, and what teens like you pray for. She even includes her own experiences at the beginning of each chapter to tie into her lesson. And at the end of each chapter, there is a Prayer Power section that suggest a basic guideline for what you could pray for after reading the chapter. After that, there is a Word Power section where there are passages of scripture to read. Then you can write down answers to questions about the lesson in the Giving It Some Further Thought section. I got a lot out of this book by writing down a summary of each chapter on a note card. It was hard righting really small, but I managed to cram it all in. Here's what I got. Be wise... read the Bible, pray for God to give you wisdom, bring God into everything you do, have reverence in your heart for God, pay attention to what wise people do, value wisdom more than anything else, live God's way, be humble, love others and be kind to them, and seek God's wisdom not the worlds. A good friend... tells truth in love, gives sound advice, helps teach, helps you become a better person, remains a friend in tough times, loves you when your stupid, and helps you get through life's problems. Don't be negative... do not be anxious, do not let anger rule your life, stop complaining, do not be envious, do not allow depression to rule your life, don't hold onto past hurts; just let it go, don't feel rejected, do not lose hope; there is hope in God, and don't live in fear. Remember temptation... It can happen to anyone; don't be prideful, you can be tempted by anything; don't be deceived, temptation can happen anytime; usually in your weakest moment, temptation can happen anywhere; run from it, Satan thinks you'll sacrifice one moment in your weakest time for a bit of pleasure; he'll try to deceive others, and pray to resist temptation. Bad times happen because... God can be revealed in and through us while we're suffering, God can use that time to strengthen and teach you, God could be disciplining you; disciplining is training; training is hard, or the enemy might be trying to make your life miserable. Speak words that give life. Think on things that are... true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and worthy of praise. The Power of a Praying Teen will change your life, it will not only teach you how life changing prayer can be, it will show you.

Devotion - A Newish Oldish Approach

2008-09-15T13:47:00.011-04:00

Believe it or not, I think many youth outreach programs could be taking a better approach to presenting the gospel. Sure it's good to teach young people that age about how Jesus died on the cross and paid their price for sinning, and that the gift of salvation is free to all who will believe. But remember, the teen years are a reexamination of what and why you believe what you do. For those who have no belief, they're still looking for truth. I think it's crucial to present the evidence that supports the Bible's claim to be inspired by the true God at youth festivals. Teens that come to large youth rallies aren't just looking for hope, their also looking for truth. What good is Jesus gift if it isn't true. He could just be another Buddha or Allah without considering the evidence. As far as I can tell, no evidence is given at most of these rallies to support the speakers message. The lost teen could be thinking, "I want this gift of salvation, but how can I tell if it's true? There are so many other religions that claim truth, but how can I be sure I'm choosing the right one? Do I really want to devote my life to a belief that may not have any evidence to support it? I could ask a leader but they're probably biased, and will give me their interpretation of evidence if there is any." In my opinion, teens don't want to hear hope and be let down. They want to hear truth and study about it for themselves from there. It is their responsibility to study all religion and search for truth, but you can't blame them for not looking into Christianity if no evidence is given to support it's amazing claim to be God inspired. I have thought of an objection to a system like this even though it is my own idea and I think it would work effectively. The objection: Teens would rather discover the evidence for themselves, just like I did. It was my family's, and pastor's job to introduce me to the claim of the Bible and what it taught. It was my job to discover why I believed what I did, and decide from there whether Christianity was even rational, just another religion, or the truth. But from a lost persons perspective, everything can be very confusing. A thousand thoughts can go through their mind about what they're hearing from the speaker. From a Christian's point of view, of course the speaker isn't lying about anything, he himself is a Christian. But remember, people who became Christians early in life, who were born into Christian homes, have had a much greater advantage over the unsaved at examining the truth of Christianity. Jesus demonstrated miracles as evidence to prove He was telling the truth. I believe this was Jesus way of witnessing. Today we seemed to have abandoned this unique style of witnessing (giving proof to support the claim). We're just standing around with the loads of evidence that support the Bible. Other religions (Humanism and Evolution are religions) are claiming to be scientifically correct, and Bible believing Christians are being left in the dust. We need to wake up, and give the unsaved more than just another religious belief filled with do's and don'ts. We need to give them something that will capture their attention and draw them in. Scientific facts will do that. Click on the title to to view evidence that supports the Bible in small readable portions. I'd love to hear any comments you have.

Devotion - Battleing Temptation

2008-09-14T15:35:00.006-04:00

It's important to know about temptation. It happens to all of us in different ways and at different times in our life. It makes sense to know as much about it as we can. The first step to fighting temptation is to relize that it can happen to anyone. No one is immune to the circumstances that Satan throws in our path that cause us to stumble. Those who crumble under the pressure of temptation usually all have one thing in common. Their Pride. Robert Burton worded it like this, "They are proud in humility; proud that they are not proud." You see pride is the key motivation to sin. Those who think they're to perfect to stumble in sin often end up getting hooked, and dragged down because they were unwilling to accept that thay are a sinner just like everyone else and that they can't conqueor temptation on their own. They need God. Pride is the surest way to garrentee you'll live a miserable unfufilled life full of regrets. Not only can temptation happen to anyone, it can be disgused as anything. Satan knows where your weak points are, he'll try anything to get you caught up in sin. Be ready for it. Satan has a way of tempting you when you least expect it, he'll attack you in your weakest moment. He thinks that you are careless enough to sacrifice one moment for the pleasure that you've wanted for so long. He knows that once your hooked, that sin will engulf your life. It will keep you from accomplishing God's specially designed plan for you. All because of a desire to have earthly pleasure in place of an amazing plan, you will not only ruin your life, you'll make others miserable too! Jesus was tempted right before the greatest breakthrough in His life, chances are you will also. Temptations are everywhere, it seems as though we can never get away from them. Never let your guard down, you can even be tempted in church. If you know you'll be tempted in a certain place, stop attending. Or if you hang aroung ungodly influences that may tempt you, flee! Joseph did. So can you. Don't be decieved. As we've learned, Satan can use the most unlikely person, object, time, and place to cause you to stumble in sin. Remember you always have a choice, to love sin, or to love God. These two cannot co-exist in a Christians life. Remember what Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey me."

Thanks to all of you who read my post and comment. You're a big encouragment!

Source: The Power of a Praying Teen

The Greatest Single Cause Of Atheism...

2008-09-13T21:41:00.004-04:00

"The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door, and deny him with their lifestyle, that is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." - Brennan Manning. Why are so many Christians leaving the church, and abandoning their faith? It's estimated that 70% of the churches college age students leave the church every year. Wonder why? Here's why they do. One reason can be because the pastor's message is driven by social and political views instead of basic theology. Passages of scripture are left out or ignored because of the seemingly insignificant parts they play in teaching what's "most important" in this day in age. These kinds of pastors are clearly ignoring certain areas of the Bible for various reasons. It could be because they want to please the audience, it could be because they are deceiving themselves into thinking that skipping some parts of the Bible isn't going to hurt anyone. Either way, it's unhealthy for the congregation. Another reason why college students are turned off is because the message is not revealed in the lives of the listeners who claim to be saved and growing spiritually. It's Hypocrisy. No wonder college age students leave. Who would want to claim that Jesus can transform lives, yet they themselves are unaffected by the most influential man in history. They figure Christianity is just another myth, conspiracy, whatever isn't truth. Yet truth is exactly what the Bible is. So, now the big question is, how can churches keep their college age students? Or should I say, how can parents? At an early age it's the parents duty to make church a necessity in their kid's and teen's life. When they become involved in the church, they realize just how much the church effects their life. Missions,VBS, and youth groups are just a few examples of church activities that can change a teens life. In order to have a weekly attending young person, it's important that the pastor connects, and directs the message to the youth's life as well as everyone elses. No person in that age range wants to hear about things that are only directed toward an older age group. He'll just figure that church isn't for him and leave. It's also important that parents are involved in the church. In a poll, it was found that half of young adults ages 13-24 had spending time with the family as the most important thing in their life. 20% more young adults stay with the church because of church going parents. The right presentation and upbringing of the gospel in a youth's life is crucial to his spiritual growth in the future. Remember, the teen years are a launchpad for life as my friends Alex and Brett put it.

Devotion - Like most teens...

2008-09-09T13:59:00.011-04:00

You, like most teens, probably have some kind of portable music device and a cell phone. You most likely spend a few hours a week on your game system and computer, and have some type of computer website that you update frequently and talk about life. Chances are, you spend a great amount of time on the phone (hence the cell phone). The list could go on. All these items you are associated with are in a way, determined by your priorities. These items define who you are. Think about it. If you have a job, the money that you spend will probably reflect what matters most in your life. You'll want to buy your most favorite items first. It's just the way you are. You'll want to get that item soon so that you can begin enjoying,using, and studying it sooner. If you have spare time in your highly busy life, you'll probably spend that time on what you value most. It could be watching TV, going for a bike ride around the block. What comes first in your life is usually how you can tell what you value most. One of the first things I bought after getting my first job was a whole bunch of Christian books. Why? Because I value wisdom and my faith. It's very important to me. Therefore it comes first in my life. When I have extra time, I'll work on an article for the blog, because I want you to learn what I've learned. Having a portable sound device, and playing video games isn't wrong, but if you value these things first in your life, you'll be having a lot of problems. I'm not telling you to get rid of these, but what's first comes first. Besides, you might have a little fun in the process of putting your faith first. If we put our faith in God and know him as savior then we will be like "a tree planted by the waters" as the Bible put it. When you value material items more than God, you're in a way founding your life on things that could be gone tomorrow. You never know what could happen. With God, your basing your life on someone who will always be there for you, even through hard times when it seems like He's not. You don't have to be like most teens, you can choose to follow God and live a prioritized life despite what everyone else is doing. Click on the title to visit Alex and Brett's blog and to read there perspective of what matters most.

Source: Some help from The Purpose Driven Life

We need to WAKE UP WAKE UP!

2008-09-04T22:44:00.011-04:00

This is a much needed message! It may sound like I'm trying to make you feel bad about having fun in life. But that's not my point. My point is to teach you that what's most important needs to come first in our lives. Have you ever had any regrets about your past? The older you are the more likely you'll regret past decisions you've made (just because your older and more experienced in life). From that point in time you've learned more. You'll know not to make the same mistakes again. Now picture yourself in Heaven and ask the same question. Will you have any regrets? I know that there won't be any sadness in Heaven, but think about it. If you had all your memories from earth but you were living in Heaven, do you think you might want to change your past. Maybe witness to someone you knew was unsaved. Spend less time on things that wouldn't make an everlasting impact. These are crucial decision that cannot be changed in Heaven. You only have one time around to witness, to change lives, to live a life devoted to God. Don't wait until it's to late! Don't regret your life in the future because you knew that you could have done more in the past. As Christians we need to live every day as if it was our last in perspective of important priorities that need to be done before we "go". We also need to live every day as if it was the first day of the rest of our lives in perspective of the passion necessary for the much needed message that so many are missing. We're letting precious souls and high potential time slip through our fingers. That's why I've really been working at educating myself this summer. Mostly through the books I read. What better way to learn? 1 Peter 3:15 says,"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." That's what I press for. How about you? Don't live a life wishing you could have done more. Start today! Learn, witness, and live a life that will please God and bring glory to him alone.

Source: Some help from The Purpose Driven Life

Pride. It ruins everything!

2008-08-28T15:05:00.007-04:00

Pride is a sin that God really hates. It is evident all through out the Bible that God hates this one more than any other. It speaks mostly about it in Proverbs. In Proverbs 8:13 it says, "I hate pride and arrogance." Proverbs 16:5 says " Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished." All sin does deserve equal judgment (death), but this sin is especially offensive to him. Why? What could be so bad about Pride. A prideful attitude can be very annoying, but what is it about Pride that angers God so much? What makes it stick out more than any other sin? Well, when we are prideful, we are pressing toward the position that God holds. Yikes! And Remember He's in charge. Not only that, we are also being ignorant of God's provisions he's given to us and ignoring how much we actually rely on him. When we have a prideful attitude, all we're thinking about is ourselves (looking out for #1), this is the exact opposite of what Jesus did for us (dying on the cross), he was thinking of others. When we demonstrate Pride in any way, the end result is always to glorify ourselves. ALWAYS! Yet the whole purpose of everything, the only reason why the universe even exists is to glorify God. When we're Prideful we're robing God of the glory he deserves to bring glory to ourselves. No wonder God hates it so much. Pride ruins everything. Take the first sin for example, not the one in the Garden of Eden, but when Satan wanted to become like God. Look where Satan's Pride has gotten him now. It's very evident that those who live prideful lives are the most unhappy. If were going to live lives that the lost will admire and want to have, we'll need to be putting others first all the time. Here are a few more verses where the Bible talks about pride. Psalm 10:4 says," The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts." Proverbs 11:2 says,"When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom." Proverbs 16:18 says,"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Proverbs 29:23 says,"A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit."

Source: Humility: True Greatness

Book Review - A Young Man After God's Own Heart

2008-08-15T19:21:00.005-04:00

This book is great if your a young man in pursuit of God's purpose for your life. This book will show you how to turn your life into an extreme adventure. It all starts with learning God's word and applying it to your life. In this book you'll build your faith, choose the right friends, learn to get along at home (it does matter), make wise choices concerning the future, and fight temptation. Jim George is an excellent writer and really knows how to approach the topics in this book since he's been through them. He recalls a lot of the memories he's had in his military career and a few other experiences through out his life and gives a lesson following each one. If you do read this book, I suggest writing the key points or hard hitting truths down on a bookmark/note card. Then when you've finished the book, stick the paper in your wallet or some other place where you'll see it a lot so you won't forget what you've learned. "Once you get started on the journey, you'll never be the same!" The book also includes a read through your Bible in a year schedule. A "Tough Decisions for Today" section where you get to act on what you've learned by writing answers to the questions asked. Then there's a "Cutting Edge" section where you read a section out of the Bible and then answer questions about it. Sometimes you'll read about men of the Bible who chose two separate paths, and sometimes you'll read verses concerning the topic you just read about. This book has really impacted my life and I try to apply all it teaches to my life every day. If you really do want to become a man after God's own heart this book will show you how to get started. I already knew about some of the topics covered and things talked about in this book. So it was a good reminder that I was on the right track. Here are a few things I got out of this book. A young man after God's own heart...1. Obeys 2. Prays 3. Praises 4. Serves. A true friend... 1. Is growing spiritually 2. Acts himself 3. Stays loyal 4. Is understanding 5. Is Honest 6. Is "Careful"(with girls:) 7. Encourages 8. is involved 9. is a prayer. God has a plan for your life, Acknowledge, Welcome, Excel in, and Model it. Remember your family, friends, education, goals, church, purity, and your witness. And also remember, the Lord is looking for "a few good men"

James 2:10-22

2008-08-11T12:06:00.005-04:00

James 2:10-22 says, "10For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. 14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?" In these verses, it seems as though God is telling us that we must earn ourselves to Heaven, for "faith without works is dead" right? Just look at verses 14, 17, and 20. Each one of these seems to point to a works based salvation. Yet take a look back at verse 10 (the beginning verse). It says that if you commit one sin, you are guilty of all. Therefore you are a sinner. God cannot allow sin in Heaven so he sent his son to pay the price. When you accept a works based salvation it destroys the purpose of why Jesus had to die. If we could earn ourselves to Heaven Jesus didn't have to die. So, why did God say faith without works is dead, if Jesus paid it all. The answer is that works doesn't earn our salvation it proves it. This is his point here. It is true that faith is dead without works because Obeying God is the identity of our salvation. It's one way you and others can identfy a true Christian. When Studying a passage like this, it's important to look at the context. Without considering context, a verse can seem to say something complely different than it means. Besides this verse, there are many other reasons to believe that works won't earn us salvation. One is Isaiah 64:5-7 says,"But we are all like an unclean thing,And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away." Another is Titus 3:5 "... not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit." Again in Galatians 2:16 "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." Has the Bible convinced you that you're are not judged by works, but by faith alone. In John 14:6 it says,"... I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Convinced?

Source: Pastor Andy's lesson

Study In Romans - #1

2008-08-10T17:48:00.005-04:00

I will hopefully be writing a whole study on the book of Romans, guided from a book that I recently bought called I AM NOT ASHAMED. Hopefully we'll be able to study the whole book of Romans before 2009! The book of Romans is basically letters from Paul to Rome. Paul wrote them to change the people of Rome, and along the journey they may end up changing your life too! So here it is. Romans 1:1-10 says "1Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. 6And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
7To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's Longing to Visit Rome 8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God's will the way may be opened for me to come to you." Paul's experience here is a bit like a collect call. When God called him to write to Rome, he had a choice. To pick up and pay the charges, or to just let it ring. He chose to pick up. When he did pay the charges, it wasn't just with money, he paid with his life. Pretty expensive call, huh? When Paul chose to follow God's plan, he wasn't inviting God to come into HIS plan. He was asking God to lead him in the plans HE(God) had for him. There is a difference. In this same way, every Christian will receive God's call. So the decision is yours. Will you pick up, or let it ring. If you pick up, you need to be willing to accept the consequences for living your faith. But remember, God isn't just calling you for your time, energy, and money, he's calling you for your life also. That doesn't mean you will die for your faith if you follow God's calling, but what it does mean is that you'll need to be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish Gods will for your life. Will you submit yourself to God and live a life that has an everlasting impact like Paul? A life that truly matters. God created us ultimatly to Glorify him. That is our purpose. Live it.

Source: I AM NOT ASHAMED

My Shopping Cart from Christian Book

2008-08-09T13:28:00.008-04:00

Here's my shopping cart from Christianbook.com. I breezed through the pamphlets and have read most of the books. These are the best resources for, knowing your faith, living your faith, and sharing your faith, all for $99. Trust me, I've spent hours on this site determining the best combinations of books to suit someone who, like myself, wants to know, live, and share their faith. You'll probably start seeing reviews of those books popping up here on the blog. Most of them are five star books. Click on the title (My Shopping Cart) to view them or even buy them.

Devotion - What drives your life?

2008-08-06T12:26:00.006-04:00

I started reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren this week. This book of 40 devotions is amazing. One that really stuck out to me and one that would easily sum up the whole book is the devotion entitled What Drives Your Life. Mr. Warren points out five common "idols" that most people let drive their life. The first is guilt. A lot of people let their past rule their future. They live like they are enslaved by their past decisions, and that their purpose in life is limited by their bad choices or mistakes. The truth is that God's purpose for your life is not limited by your past. Christian artist Big Daddy Weave sums this up in one of his songs, "I want to forget who I use to be and embrace your (God's) truth." The second thing that drives people is resentment and anger. Some people never forget how others have hurt them. They rehearse this over and over in their minds. Some may "clam up" some may "blow up", either way is unhelpful to the people around them. When you hold a grudge, the only person you're hurting is yourself and God. When anger and resentment drive your life you are not living for the purpose of why God created you, for him. In a way, your living for yourself. The Bible says, "What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven!....What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record." The third thing that drives people is fear. They may be afraid of doing anything for God because of a traumatic experience they've had, a fear of being different from others. The list goes on. Usually, fear driven people miss opportunities because they're afraid of failure, getting hurt, teased, or whatever is outside of their comfort zone. They need to realize that when they turn down great opportunities, and refuse to leave their comfort zone, they are stealthily avoiding God's purpose and plan for their lives. They may not have thought of it like that, but that is what's happening. The Bible says "To worry yourself to death with resentment would be a foolish, senseless thing to do." Christian band Leeland sums it up in their song Let It Out Now, "God's looking for a people with a passion in their hearts. We're God's children we need to shine bright." The fourth desire that drives people is materialism. The more I get the more happy, the more secure, the more important I'll be. Wrong! New, expensive, Big, and better things will eventually become old, useless,broken, and boring things. You will never truly become important with more material items because your possessions values do not determine your self worth. They are two different things. Others may think that you're more important, but really, would you agree with them? Have these possessions really changed your "self worth"? How about security? Money is a form of security. But is it truly reliable. All of it could be gone tomorrow through a series of rather unfortunate, but not impossible events. The only reliable security comes from God, the one who cannot be taken away from you. The last is a need for approval. I think this is the most common purpose that most people live for. Everyone wants to be accepted. No one wants to be the outsider. Some people are driven by the peer pressure they're given from their friends, others allow things to happen that they know are wrong but they're to ashamed to do anything about it for fear of getting "kicked out"of the group. The key to failure is trying to please everyone, and that's exactly what a lot of kids these days are doing. Trying to be someone they're not. Following the crowd is a sure way of missing God's purpose entirely, and rebelling against the plan He had in store for you. Without a purpose, life is pointless. The purpose driven life has really opened my eyes to that and has taught me many things already. I recommend this book to anybody who really wants to grow in their faith. It only takes 10 minutes a day, and it's 40 days in all.

Book Review - Scientific Facts in the BIBLE

2008-07-31T12:07:00.011-04:00

I just ordered $100 worth of books of of Christianbook.com this past week. So I'm going to be writing a lot of book reviews on the books I'm reading. One of them is Scientific Facts in the BIBLE by Ray Comfort. This book is amazing. It's shown me that the things that were "discovered" HUNDREDS of years ago, were actually predicted by the Bible THOUSANDS of years ago. One of the most interesting things in this book, in my opinion is in the paragraph entitled Genesis and the Universe. It explains that today, scientist define the universe in five terms. Time, power, space, matter, and motion. Well don't you know, In Genesis 1:1-2 it says, " In the beginning (time) God created (power) the heaven (space) and the earth (matter)... And the Spirit of God moved (motion) upon the face of the waters." Interesting? I'd really encourage you to get this book. It gives short, clear, easy to read paragraphs on scientific facts the Bible holds. Each chapter is focused on a particular field in science like Astronomy and the Bible, Biology in the Bible, and Medical Science and the Bible. It's $4.50 at Christianbook.com. You can click on the title to read a few pages in the book or even buy it there.

Lesson-Humor and the Gospel

2008-07-25T21:07:00.006-04:00

Have you ever noticed that many pastors tell a humorous story before presenting their sermon. Here's why they do, and why it can be quite important in presenting the gospel message. First, Humor breaks down barriers between the lost and unsaved that might cause them otherwise to think of us as "holy Joes" boring, or too serious. Second, humorous stories are often times very memorable, and it may bring to mind the lesson just from hearing the joke again. Thirdly, but most importantly, Jesus used humorous examples all the time. He talked about the two brothers, one was criticizing the other for having a speck of saw dust in his eye, while he himself had a log in his own. Your probably not laughing at that right now, because humor these days is a lot different than it used to be, but try to understand that this was a very funny joke in Jesus day. I don't think many people wouldn't be laughing at this in his day. The many examples of humorous parables that Jesus told weren't just told for people to laugh at, but also to teach us that humor in presenting the Gospel to people can be pretty important. He demonstrated this when he said, "Does anyone bring a lamp home and put it under a washtub or beneath the bed? Don't you put it up on a table or on the mantel?" (Mark 4:21). When he told this example, I think he was trying to communicate that his ministry would not be as effective if it wasn't presented and "used" the right way(one of these approaches being humor). Now you can see how important the role of humor can be in presenting the Gospel message.

Book review: The Lie Evolution

2008-07-19T13:34:00.007-04:00

I recently read, The Lie Evolution, written by Ken Ham. It is a great book,...well anything written by Ken Ham is great. His book has given me the answers to defend the Christian faith against the attacks of evolution. It was very simple to read which makes it really appeal to the average person who wants answers to those difficult questions. It gave clear understandable answers to why creation took 6 literal days and named all the problems with the belief that the creation period took millions of years. It revealed why evolution is the root of the many problems we have today, like racism, drugs, and abortion. You might ask, "What does evolution have to do with drugs?" Well everything. But all those topics above come down to one answer. If there is no superior athority who sets the rules, than there is no point in following anybody. You set the rules. It's every man, woman and ape for himself. This book has really opened my eyes to why creation makes so much sense and evolution doesn't. It points to why there must be a creator for anything to exist. One of the things I really like about this book is that Ken Ham recalls many of the arguments he's had with people on the creation evolution topic through out his carreer. It's so cool to read his opponents reaction when he answers thier question and wins the argument. This book is for you if you're a wittnessing Christian searching for answers to reach the lost and unsaved. Note: I was reading evolutionist reviews of this book on amazon.com and they really hated it. I found that most of them didn't like the book because he doesn't use mathmatical equations to figure the outcome of all his work. But really, he doesn't have to. Common sense will do that. Something from nothing? how does that fit in with their mathmatical equations?

What do you believe?

2008-07-14T11:49:00.004-04:00

I've had a little paper tacked on my wall for a few years. I thought it had a very good message so here it is. "We are a part of the fellowship of the unashamed, we have the Holy Spirits power, the dye has been cast, we have stepped over the line, the decision has been made. We are disciples of Jesus Christ; we won't let up, slow down, back away, or be still. Our past is redeemed, our present makes sense, our future is secure. We are finished and done with the sight walking, small planting, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tainted visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. We no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotion, or popularity. We don't have to be first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. We now learn by faith, love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power; our pace is set, our gate is fast, our goal is Heaven, our road is narrow, our way is rough, our companions are few, but our God is reliable, and our mission is clear. We cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. We will not flinch in the face of sacrifices, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate in the table of the enemy, ponder in the pool of popularity, or meander in in the maze of mediocrity. We won't give up, back up, let up, or shut up, until we have preached up, prayed up, stored up, and stayed up in the cause of Christ. Because we are disciples of Jesus Christ, we must go until Christ returns, give until we drop, preach until all know, and work until until he comes. And when He comes to get his Own. He will have no problem recognizing us, for our colors will be clear."

Movie Review - The Chronicles of Narnia "Prince Caspian"

2008-06-05T18:15:00.009-04:00

If you enjoyed the first one you should really enjoy the second. Prince Caspian was so much greater than I had expected, yet so different from the first. And it should be. After all it has been 1300 hundred years in Narnia. The second is filled with so many more battle scenes, and the special effects were great. In the second movie, it teaches a few biblical principals, but the main one that is learned is to call on God through life's trials, because we can't pull through without him on our side. If you haven't yet figured it out, many of the characters symbolizes biblical ones, such as Aslan, he symbolizes God. There are so many other hidden secrets that are embedded in the books as well as the movies. This one didn't portray as many biblical scenes and "Christian content" as the first one, so I suppose it will appeal to more secular crowds. But over all, it was a great movie. "You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember"Click on the title and you can read a longer review of it from Christian spotlight on entertainment.

Lesson - The #1 mission of the church

2008-06-04T21:18:00.007-04:00

This is a message that my youth pastor taught this week. I thought it was really great and that every youth should here it. So, back to the title question, what is the #1 mission of the church? Think about your own church and where it is spending it's time, money and effort. That's usually how you can tell where their focus is. If you said reaching out to the lost and unsaved, you'd be correct. I mean what else is more important. In the end what else will matter. I would definitely have to say that spiritual growth is second. If we can't help our own church members learn to live like Christ and share the gospel how are we ever going to assist and draw in those outside the church. Every time your church starts a new ministry, think about where their focus is. Is it assisting those who need the truth or on something that won't matter? That doesn't mean that other missions of the church are unimportant like free car washes. Or If your church hasn't gotten new toilets in 200 years then maybe their focus should be somewhere else. But otherwise the church's main focus should be on ministry. In the end it all comes down to appealing to the lost yet keeping to the standards that the Bible sets.

Source: Pastor Andy's message

Book Review - Do Hard Things

2008-05-28T12:24:00.006-04:00

I think this book has the potential to change many teens' lives. It's called "Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris. These 19 year old twin brothers from Oregon are revealing the truth behind the many lies that our culture has accepted. I am not allowed to quote the book without the authors' permission, so I will do my best to explain its purpose. This book will give you a new perspective of our society that we live in, and the low expectations that people accept. Others accept it, but Alex and Brett don't. They believe that the potential for teens these days is at its peak, but because our society is so focused on how our hair looks and if we're wearing the right shoes, most teens don't live up to their full potential, and we may be losing out on the best years of our lives. We are so bogged down with ourselves that we have missed the point of why God created us. Alex and Brett explain that they are no better that other teens, and they've made their share of mistakes. They have accomplished amazing things throughout their lives, and they say that the only reason why they are different is because they were motivated by a simple but big idea. They've seen this idea transform other teens into living their full potential and going beyond the expectations that society accepts and expects from them. I think Alex and Brett wrote this book because they care about others and they want others to experience the same joy that they have (all for only $16.99!). They want everyone to be a part of it. In this book Alex and Brett challenge their readers to think about interesting questions that will challenge something we may take for granted every day. I think this book is really great, and you can read the first chapter and learn more about it by clicking on the title of this article. Their blog is called the "rebelution" (rebeling against low expectations). It is the most visited blog in the world.

Christian Artist Review - Mercy Me

2008-05-21T16:06:00.008-04:00

One pop and rock band that has been very uplifting and puts your mind on God is Mercy Me. Although they tend to be a slower type of band there music is still very good. Not that slow is a bad thing. The lead singer, Bart Millard, has a very distinct voice and the violins in the backround usually tie it all together. And naturally he's from Texas. Bart says that he and the band like to sing about life experiences they've had(which is probably why their music is so good.) What better way to share thier' message than through the trials that they have previously endured.

Christian Artist Review - Toby Mac

2008-05-21T15:43:00.006-04:00

Toby Mac is one of todays' top Christian artist. He sings a variety of different types of music, including Rap, Punk, and Hip-hop. One of his biggest concerns is for the lost and unsaved. That is why his music sounds the way it does. He wants it to appeal to the ones who really need the message. Another concern of his is focusing his music on God. Pretty much every Christian artist struggles with this. It's hard not to take all the glory for yourself. His prayer is to not become that jaded man but be clay in the potters hand. He never wants to just be "going through the motions." He wants to remain fresh. One of my favorite songs that he's written says "I don't want to gain the whole world but lose my soul." What is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul? Think about that.

Christian Artist Review - Casting Crowns

2008-05-20T13:22:00.004-04:00

In my opinion, Casting Crowns is the most life changing artist out there. Their songs have great words and many of us can relate to what they're teaching. Mostly it talks about a Christians duty to set exaples for others . I'm not sure if I hit the mark on that because they're songs teach such a variety of different principles, but I know that has to be one of them. The lead singer, Mark Hall, is a youth pastor and worship leader. If you read his bio on his web page, it really gives you a feel for the way he acts. If you like Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Third Day, Jars of Clay, Mark Shultz, Mercy me, or John Waller, I would definetly reccomend buying one of Casting Crowns albums. These cds' aren't just meant for enjoyment, they're meant to change your' life.

Christian Artist Review - Leeland

2008-05-16T18:50:00.012-04:00

Leeland is one of many Christian artist spreading hope and encouragement to many. The lead singers name is Leeland Mooring, He goes a bit high on a lot of his songs, but that's one of the things I like about him. One of his latest albums, Opposite way, speaks mostly to kids who attend school every day and get teased for being different from others because they're Christian. If you like the Christian artist Fee or the secular artist Coldplay, I think you'll like these guys too. They were recently touring with Casting Crowns and John Waller, which are two other very well known Christian Artist.

Book Review - The 100 Most Important Bible Verses For Teens

2008-05-14T23:06:00.007-04:00

I bought a book called The 100 Most Important Bible Verses For Teens off of christianbook.com for $5. Most of the devotional articles in the blog will be taken from this book. The large words and double spacings make the book very inviting to read, but it is 223 pages. If you don’t like reading, this is a great book for you. So for those of you who are reading this, tell your friends who aren’t reading this, who don’t like to read, to buy this book. Each devotional is only 2 pages long and it uses a lot of metaphors to convey it’s point to the reader. It talks a lot about the struggles that teens will go through in life, and how to overcome them. Like Love your enemies; If you want to be first, be last; forgive because he forgave you; God’s plans are good; and Do the good thing. these are just a few of the many principles that this book will teach you. I read a few every night.

Devotion - "A Real Man"

2008-05-14T22:36:00.011-04:00

men like this do exist

written by Lori Hainline & Rebecca Chandler. Posted by Alex and Brett Harris (authors of "Do Hard Things") on their blog.

A real man...

Lives for God by worshiping, honoring and serving him.

Values the Bible and studies it carefully.

doesn’t take pride In knowing the sinful ways of the world.

Isn’t embarrassed of his faith in a different group of people.

Has knowledge, but is humble.

Takes leadership to protect others.

Is kind toward others.

Doesn’t try to prove himself, but walks where the Lord leads him.

He encourages others, and doesn’t discourage them.

Treats his mother and sister as he would treat his future bride.

Appriciates a woman’s purity.

Is not ashamed to act differently from others in order to keep himself pure.

Can look a woman in the eye without any sign of impurity.

Isn’t ashamed to relate himself with his family.

Is polite by doing small things such as opening doors for others.

Doesn’t impress other men by acting manly around them (swearing, or burping).

Loves children.

Realizes that being manly doesn’t mean you always have to be sullen.

Takes responsibility for his own problems, and doesn’t blame others.

Is able to accept correction.

Can deal with struggles through out his life by acting with the wisdom that he has. Not acting on his emotions.

Understands the importants of work and deals with financial situations.

Expresses his thoughts using intelligent words. Not street talk.

If you'd like to see "A Real Woman" you can click on the title "A Real Man" or go to Alex and Brett Harris' blog which is The Rebulution link over on my links column. Their blog is the most visited blog in the world.

A little bit about the blog you're on now

2008-05-14T13:49:00.006-04:00

I started this blog because I wanted teens to be able to read interesting things written from other Christian teens’ perspectives. I also wanted to make a small difference in the world by influencing teens to follow God. The potential was there, so why not take it. A blog is a free way to express your thoughts and feeling on the world around you. This is just one ministry of many others. Since taking the Newsletter class taught by Mrs Farrell at my homeschool co-op, I’ve found that I really enjoy writing. I decided I should use the resources and the little bit of knowledge that I have about publishing (16 hours worth) to design a teen web page. I don’t want this newsletter to be about me, which is why I need to hear from you guys. If you're a Cristian and would like to tell others about a life changing experience you’ve had, a new Christian book that’s been released, a devotion that other teens need to hear, or anything else that would be acceptable. Write an article about it, and I'll review and publish it here. I'll also include your name under the article and any links that go with it will be able to be reached by clicking on the title of it. I will see what God does to fit this ministry into his plan. This is a Christian based web site so even though it may be interesting to read about another one of Hilary Clintons slip-ups I'd rather include Christian based articles. You can find news reports and other things like that on another blog. Send articles that you’d like to share to thomsonfamily1988@comcast.net. If you could include a link with the article that would be great. I'd be happy to hear from you if you have any ideas, comments, questions, or advice. Thanks. Bob