VIDEO Down To The River To Pray, Alison Krauss

Mar 12, 2009

Just A Reminder Something Still Cannot Come From Nothing

As an advocate of creationism for at least the last decade, I find myself in dialogue with other like-minded individuals.

By advocate, I mean I am somewhat studied and understand not only the theological reasons as to why the universe could not just appear out of nowhere, but I am fairly versed in other non-religious reasons why naturalism just doesn’t work, as well.

Likewise, I read some of the articles on the other side of the fence. I read to try and understand why and how non-theists think (or don’t).

Before entering the clergy, I was preparing for a medical career. And I really was just in the beginning stages before God spoke clearly for me to turn my attention towards Seminary.

But I remember as I was getting prepared, the biology courses that I would have to complete before I could enter even into the preparatory courses. Of course, the premise of such courses are,

“How can I understand medicine, till I understand the way the body works biologically”?

And it’s while recounting this that I realized the hypocrisy that naturalists and most of the scientific community defend.

Maybe some of you remember Ben Stein’s “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed!”

Stein cornered angry little Richard Dawkins on how life came to be from non-matter? Richard became very uncomfortable, stammered a bit and to the amazement of Stein, offered the suggestion of Extra Terrestrial seeding (which just takes the problem to another planet, nothing more).

It was clear that he didn’t know.

When cornered on the early universe’s magical appearance from out of nowhere, he usually subscribes to its mystery being such a wonderful opportunity to explore science.

Cardinal George Pell laughed (while in debate with Dawkins) at how the famed atheist was so excited about, what in essence, was nothing (literally nothing).

Likewise brilliant Stephen Hawking has changed his position from belief in higher intelligence as he now believes gravity is the answer to the beginning of the universe and that a deity is not needed.

But alas, instead of getting to floor one of the argument by starting at stair one, Hawking himself jumps a flight of stairs by not addressing the very need for something to even create gravity or the laws that bind it in order for his hypothesis to work. Stunning considering how smart he is.

The truth is folks that naturalism doesn’t get off the ground from even the very beginning.

The Naturalist has interpreted science through an empirically impossible scenario:

Something cannot come from nothing.
It’s impossible.
It defies every bit of naturalism there is to yawn at.

The naturalist demands that we take the transcendent out of science and yet starts everything they do with the fact the something just came from nothing.

They defy the second law of thermodynamics.

Whether it’s abiogenesis or the Big Bang, naturalism has been interpreting science upon the idea that something can come from nothing…without intelligence for decade upon decade.

The very thing they have attempted with every mocking, spitting syllable; with every quadratic equation, with every fossil found; the very thing they build their findings on is in reality, transcendent.

But when you tell them this, their eyes start to cross and their toes start to curl. A blank look comes upon their face, and they move on without an acceptable answer.

So folks, I’m almost at the point of demanding an appropriate answer for the beginning. I want an answer from you that tells me that you can explain how the universe could spring from nothing, and how life could come from non-matter.

Imagine starting every Creation Evolution debate like so. No long intros, no five to ten minute rebuttals just:

“Mr Atheist before getting started, I’d like you to show me that you understand the first premise of what you are proposing. I need to know that you understand the first thing when referring to the beginning of the universe. Because Mr. Atheist, if you don’t even understand the beginning of what you are coming to defend, then it’s more than likely you have interpreted your information wrongly.”

I mean why go on in debate if the naturalist cannot produce any such reasonable response to the absolute genesis of their argument?

Right from go, they are done.

It’s like building a house on a Jell-O foundation.

They continually ignore that and go on to other supposed problems for the creationist.
I say, don’t let them!

When sparring with a naturalist over the universe’s beginning, don’t let them ignore that the very first idea of naturalism can only; ONLY work if a transcendent creator is in control. Insist they respond to you within the framework of their own beliefs.

When arguing against macroevolution, don’t let them continue on until they tell you how naturalism accounts for life from non-matter.

Although I encourage a person to learn as much as they can as to why naturalism alone doesn’t work, it doesn’t take a microbiologist or astrophysicist to respond to such a ridiculous theory. You can be any old Joe and respond to any lab coat championing a Godless universe.

It is they who have trapped themselves with the prudishness of denying a creator.

original here

No Exceptions to God’s Love

Romans 5:6-9

Oftentimes I preach, “God loves you, and He has a plan and a purpose for your life.” Yet whenever I do, it seems someone in the crowd believes that he or she is an exception. I have heard many reasons why people decide verses like “For God so loved the world …” (John 3:16) don’t apply to them. Sadly, they have bought into the devil’s lie that they aren’t important enough to be singled out for blessing from among the billions on earth. Or they listen to Satan’s deceiving voice when he insists that they are too weak, sinful, or scarred to merit the Lord’s love.

How do I know that God thinks you are special? Jesus Christ died for you. Because of the heavenly Father’s love for the world, He sent His Son to die on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of everyone living in the past, present, or future. None of us deserve the Father’s care and protection, but thankfully, deserving isn’t the basis for His love. In fact, God’s very nature is love, which He demonstrated through Christ’s death “while we were yet sinners” (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:8).

God cares so much for His children that He gives each one a place in His plan for the world. Believers are gifted with the talents and attributes needed to carry out His purpose (1 Cor. 12:11). However, Christians who consider themselves exempt from His love aren’t looking for the opportunities He sends. They are too distracted by Satan’s lying voice.

The Lord loves you. He says so again and again in the Scriptures. But don’t take my word for it. Read His Word for yourself and see how much He cares.

I Am

“And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:62)

After His arrest, “the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none” (Mark 14:55). Then they got their sought-after witness from Jesus Himself when the high priest asked Him: “Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (v. 61), and it only took two words from Him. “I Am!”

As a matter of fact, this was not the first time He had thus identified Himself as the self-existent, eternal God. On an earlier occasion in Jerusalem, He had told the Pharisees: “I am the light of the world,” and then, “I am from above: . . . I am not of this world. . . . If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins” (John 8:12, 23-24; the “he” in verse 24 is not in the Greek original).

He made this especially clear a few minutes later when He asserted: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). But when He finally made this wonderfully truthful claim in the presence of the council, “they all condemned him to be guilty of death” (Mark 14:64). He had committed the capital crime of blasphemy in their opinion, by claiming to be God.

“I am” is, in fact, the very name of God. When Moses, at the burning bush, was called by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery, God said His name was “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). The name Jehovah (or Yahweh), the most frequently used name of the Lord in the Old Testament, is essentially this name.

One can count at least 196 “I am” claims of God in Christ (“I am the way, the truth, and the life,” for example—John 14:6) in the Bible. Truly, our Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal, self-existent God, “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13). HMM

He Is a Person

Quench not the Spirit. —1 Thessalonians 5:19

I think you will agree with me when I say that many people are confused about the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit, for instance, is not enthusiasm. Some people get enthusiasm, and they imagine it is the Holy Spirit….

Spell this out in capital letters: THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A PERSON. He is not enthusiasm. He is not courage. He is not energy. He is not the personification of all good qualities, like Jack Frost is the personification of cold weather. Actually, the Holy Spirit is not the personification of anything. He is a Person, the same as you are a person, but not material substance. He has individuality. He is one being and not another. He has will and intelligence. He has hearing. He has knowledge and sympathy and ability to love and see and think. He can hear, speak, desire, grieve and rejoice. He is a Person.

The Holy Spirit can communicate with you and can love you. He can be grieved when you resist and ignore Him. He can be quenched as any friend can be shut up if you turn on Him when He is in your home as a guest. Of course, He will be hushed into hurt silence if you wound Him, and we can wound the Holy Spirit.

Oh, Lord, may I not quench the power of the Holy Spirit by neglect or by wounding. Instead, help me to know His intimate fellowship. Amen.

Our Love for God In Deed

Let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)

The taking over of the romantic love ideal into our relation to God has been extremely injurious to our Christian lives. The idea that we should “fall in love” with God is ignoble, unscriptural, unworthy of us and certainly does no honor to the Most High God!

We do not come to love God by a sudden emotional visitation. Love for God results from repentance, amendment of life and a fixed determination to love Him. Then as God moves more perfectly into the focus of our hearts, our love for Him may indeed rise and swell within us till like a flood it sweeps everything before it.

But we should not wait for this intensity of feeling. We are not responsible to feel but we are responsible to love, and true spiritual love begins in the will.

We should set our hearts to love God supremely, however cold or hard they may seem to be, and go on to confirm our love by happy and careful obedience to His Word. Enjoyable emotions are sure to follow!

Be not content with an interview now and then

Be not content with an interview now and then, but seek always to retain his company, for only in his presence hast thou either comfort or safety. Jesus should not be unto us a friend who calls upon us now and then, but one with whom we walk evermore Thou hast a difficult road before thee; see, O traveler to heaven, that thou go not without thy guide. Thou hast to pass through the fiery furnace; enter ft not, unless, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thou hast the Son of God to be thy companion. In every condition thou wilt need Jesus. Keep close to thy Best Friend, and he will refresh and cheer thee

VIDEO While I’m Waiting On You God

May 20, 2010

WHILE I’M WAITING

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting
I will serve You
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait

I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it’s not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve You while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting
I will serve you while I’m waiting
I will worship while I’m waiting on You, Lord

JOHN WALLER
While I’m Waiting
STElordbONE Christian Music Collection

Plans and Purposes

And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, [Job] is in your hand, but spare his life.” Job 2:6

For purposes of illustration it is helpful to compare Job and Jesus. Both were “blameless and upright” and both “feared God and shunned evil” (Job 1:1; Hebrews 4:15). And both were attacked by Satan (Job 1-2; Matthew 4:1-11). But there was one stark difference between the two: Job’s life was spared by God while Jesus was killed “by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).

What does that say? First, it says that God is in control. God allowed Satan to attack Job without taking his life while He allowed Satan’s attack on Jesus to culminate in His death. Second, it says that God’s purposes are different for different people at different times and in different circumstances. Obviously, it was God’s purpose for Jesus to die as a sacrifice for sin with the clear intent to raise Him from the dead as a sign of victory over Satan, sin, and death (Acts 2:24). Applying those two lessons to our lives, we have every good reason to trust in God when in the midst of trials in our life. He is in control; He has a purpose for our life.

Whether now or in the future, let trials strengthen your faith in God, not weaken it.

God has the sovereign right to do what He wishes, and no other explanation is necessary. John M. Frame

God’s Surprise Visits

Exodus 3:1-6

I recall a time when I was faced with a particularly difficult decision. The timing, the circumstances—everything about the opportunity in front of me seemed wrong. Choosing to pursue the prospect didn’t really make sense at all. Though I simply wanted to turn it down, I understood the importance of praying first. As I spent time with the Lord, He gave me a clear vision of what He expected next from my life. I accepted that seemingly illogical, ill-timed offer and reaped great blessing for my obedience.

As Christians, we expect the Holy Spirit to direct our thoughts through prayer and Scripture. But sometimes He may choose to intervene more directly in a person’s life, as He did with me that day.

God has been visiting people since the beginning, when He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:8). The way He reveals Himself is different in each instance. Moses saw a burning bush (Ex. 3:2), whereas Samuel heard a voice at night (1 Sam. 3:1-14). Yet each was clearly a divine encounter.

When the Lord visits someone, He comes for a purpose. Joshua received specific—and unusual—instructions for defeating Jericho (Josh. 5:13-6:5). Saul of Tarsus was called into ministry (Acts 9). Others were warned of danger through dreams (Matt. 2:12-13).

God’s personal calls are rare and unexpected. We cannot pray or fast to make Him come. He simply makes His presence known in a believer’s life when He chooses. So be prepared with an open heart and willing spirit if He visits you.