Introducing Evil Into the World

God's work in creation was perfect. He designed the universe so that all the physical and chemical conditions necessary for life on earth would be present according to His design. He created man and gave him work, gave him provisions, and gave him a companion. God gave man authority to rule over all the earth, under God. However, man's status was conditional, not permanent. If he obeyed, then he could eat of the Tree of Life and live forever, untainted by sin. If he disobeyed by breaking the one command, the result would be death and all that it implied. Genesis Chapter 3 reveals how it all unfolded.

The serpent of Genesis Chapter 3 is the devil or Satan (Revelation 12:9). He deceives the woman with cunning, attacking God's word and impugning God's character suggesting to Eve that God was holding out on them. Satan's temptation was laced with the truth. They would know good and evil. It was also a brazen lie in telling them that they would not die.

The introduction of evil had the following immediate and permanent consequences:

1. A disruption of the perfect unity between man and wife, between male and female - a feeling of shame at being naked. Woman and man would try to rule over each other.

2. A disruption of the perfect unity between man and God. - a feeling of unworthiness to be in God's presence.

3. A disruption of the perfect provision of God.- Thorns and thistles instead of abundance; pain in childbearing and childbirth. Labor and sweat at maintaining health and life.

4. A disruption of man's authority. - Man would experience death. There would be a godly line and there would be those who are the seed of the serpent. A promise that the godly line would ultimately defeat the serpent.

Prose and Poetry of Creation

When something is important, we often repeat reading it or saying it to make sure that it is understood. The Bible repeats the creation of man and woman in Genesis chapter two because of its supreme importance to our understanding of who we are and where we came from. The following are my insights from reading Genesis Chapters one and two. Genesis chapter two is prose and poetry while Genesis chapter one is more didactic and like a textbook. Chapters one and two cannot contradict each other because there is one Author and the Bible is inerrant and infallible.

1. Not all plants sprang up on the third day. They must have been created in seed form and were awaiting moisture in order to germinate and grow. Some small plants and bushes were in this category.

2. Rain did not come from clouds in the original creation. The earth was more like a greenhouse, where moisture from the land and the seas would rise like mist and condense as moisture to water the whole earth. Therefore, some plants may not have germinated until after the fourth day when the sun was created and its heat caused evaporation of moisture and condensation to water the earth. It must have started "raining" by the fifth day.

3. The Garden of Eden was planted by God. Its trees and plants grew after the fourth day, and on into the sixth day and beyond. "Rain" occurred after the fourth day, and with underground springs of water, caused rivers to flow, adding to the geographical features of the earth, defining Eden. There were two trees which were one-of-a-kind in their species. One was called the Tree of Life, and the other, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

4. Just as He did with the plants and animals, God assembled man's physical body from the earth. The DNA, molecules and cells, all came from the same elements that make up plants and animals. Only when God breathed into man did he become a living creature. On the sixth day, He created man full grown, with language and intelligence, and accountable to God. After creating man, God placed him in the garden and gave him one command.

5. Woman was also created on the sixth day. Eve must have learned of the command from Adam. It is also possible that God spoke the command again so that both of them could hear it.

6. Genesis chapter one defines man's purpose and authority on the earth. Genesis chapter two defines man's responsibilities to God and his family. God gave man work. God gave man provisions. God gave man companionship.

Everything Was Very Good

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds — livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

(Genesis 1:24-31)

God had formed the earth and the plant kingdom, and the universe for the earth, and had created the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air. With the same power, he created the animals that live on the earth. The staggering diversity of animals is such that the estimate of the known number of species is from 3 to 30 million, with 97% of them invertebrates, and 3% vertebrates.

The pinnacle of creation is man, whom the Creator made in His image, after His likeness. The pre-existent Christ who was there at creation as the second person of the Trinity became the pattern for man. Man as male and female, with their attributes of relationship, community, and intimacy is a reflection of the relationship and unity within the Godhead. Maleness and femaleness is mentioned first with reference to man, and not to the rest of the animal or plant kingdoms. With man, sex is not primarily biological as it is with the rest of creation, where the sex of plants and animals is not even mentioned.

Man and animals were to feed on fruit and vegetation. God gave dominion to man over all the earth, as another component of the image of God in man. Everything was very good.

God Fills the Seas and the Air With His Creatures

And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind.

And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

(Genesis 1:20-23)

The creation of the sun, moon and the stars came after the creation of the plants and trees. The process of photosynthesis now began in the living plants.

Next God created the birds and sea creatures after their kinds. "Birds, as a group, have been extensively studied. Scientists believe that the estimated number of bird species alive today (between 9,000 to 10,000) is a relatively good approximation of the actual number", writes Laura Klappenbach. Some of the best estimates of the number of species of fish puts it at 32,500. Since the Bible uses the term "great sea creatures," the whales and aquatic and marine mammals were also created then, including sea-dwelling dinosaurs and avian dinosaurs

Each species of fish and bird, marine and aquatic mammal, avian dinosaur, and aquatic dinosaur was created on day 5. The Creator programmed each species to be fruitful and to multiply.

The Creator Lights Up Space

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so.

And God made the two great lights — the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night — and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

(Genesis 1:14-19)

On the second day, God created space. He carved out the earth and fashioned it on the third day. In carving out the earth, there was plenty of "waters" left outside the firmament (space). This is the same "waters" out of which the earth was made. God now turns His attention back to those waters, and turns them into the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars.

The sun and the moon are to implement His definition of time periods which He established on the first day. The orbit of the planets, the distance of the earth from the sun, and of the moon from the earth, and the placement of the earth in the Milky Way galaxy, the rotation of the earth on its axis, everything, is fine-tuned to make the earth just right for life, and implement His design and purpose. In God's grand scheme, the earth is the "center" of the universe.

All this took place on the fourth day.

The Creator Fashions The Earth

And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

(Genesis 1:9-13)

God created space. He now focuses on the earth. "let the dry land appear" implies that the land was already there, and that water covered them. When did that happen?

Before Day 1 there was only matter. It was "void", i.e, it had no energy.

Then on Day 1 God created light. Light is a form of energy and God imparted it into matter. Matter and energy were combined to form the elements, the atomic structure of matter was defined. The periodic table of the elements was defined. Time was defined.

On Day 2 God created space. He created three dimensional space. On a macro scale, the elements combined into molecules, crystals, suspensions, and various solid, liquid, and gaseous forms. The earth took on a spherical shape. The earth is no longer "formless" and "void."

On Day 3 the Creator caused the waters that cover the earth to recede. All this rapid action of water, happening in less than a day, to be stored in the labyrinths of the earth leave the various stratification of rocks and hills and mountains that we see today. The dry land appears. The shape of the land and the seas, caused by the action of water happened by design.

The Designer was not finished yet. He made the dry land appear. He then caused the right atoms to combine into molecules to form amino acids, protein, and plant DNA. He then embedded these DNA into the complex cells and structures that make up a plant. We know of over 300,000 species of plants today but God only knows how many species He made. More species are being discovered everyday. God formed them out of the elements in the earth after he separated the land from the seas. All of these happened on Day 3.

God Creates Outer Space

And God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

(Genesis 1:6-8)

In the language of Genesis formless matter is described as "waters." God first created matter without energy. Then, He created light which energized matter and did so at an atomic level, forming the elements. The mass of the material universe is finite, as implied by the description "face of the waters" or "face of the deep." The energy imparted to matter is also finite. In creating light, God also defined time. The basic unit of time is to be the 24-hour cycle of day and night.

In Genesis 1:6-8, God forms the earth. He does so by creating space. He "carves out" the earth by placing an expanse around it, separating it from the rest of the "waters." The name given to outer space is "heaven." This is not the same "heavens" mentioned in Genesis 1:1. (In the New Testament, Paul speaks of the "third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2)).

The special "waters" for which space was created would become the earth. We can understand that the "waters" beyond in space is the same material as the "waters" that would comprise the earth. Those "waters" outside the expanse would later become the sun, moon, and planets, and stars.

With the creation of space, God also created the three dimensions, length, width, and height. We can also understand, that the earth took on its spherical shape, surrounded by space. It was no longer "formless" and "void."

It wasn't until the end of the second day that the most important physical quantities were present in the creation: mass, energy, time, and space.

God Starts The Clock

And God said,"Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

(Genesis 1:3-5)

The second thing that God created was energy in the form of light. God created light/energy and imparted it into the material universe. The atomic structure of matter, with its delicate balance between mass and energy, electrons, photons, and sub-atomic particles began to take shape. Matter combined with energy and formed the elements. We cannot begin to imagine the amount of light/energy that God packed into matter. Nuclear reactions can produce catastrophic amounts of energy.

In creating light/energy, there is to be a cycle, alternating light and darkness. The universe is full of cyclical events. The behavior of mass and energy would follow the basic cycles established by the Creator of mass and energy. It would not be random and unpredictable. There would be order in the universe, and patterns discernible to the intelligent, among the most basic, being the alternating pattern of day and night. With the creation of light/energy, God started the clock. He defined the durations of day and night, from which we derive all other units of time.

Today, the international standard for time, the second, is kept by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The NIST developed a clock which is based on the natural resonance frequency of the cesium atom, (9,192,631,770 Hz) which is used in the definition of 1 second. The cesium clock is so accurate and the uncertainty is so small that it would neither gain nor lose a second in more than 60 million years!

On the first day, the first cesium atoms resonated the equivalent of 86,400 seconds before God spoke again.

The Beginning of the World

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

(Genesis 1:1-2)

The first thing that God created was the universe. The scripture does not say how God did it. He may have spoken it into existence, but the Scriptures show that the first created thing that God spoke into existence was light. (Genesis 1:3). There was no time. It is futile to speculate how long the universe existed before the creation of light because God had not defined time. Time did not exist. We just know that it was a beginning. The universe did not come into being by itself. God, the self-existent Being created it.

The first distinction we notice is the distinction between earth and heaven. They are both created, but they are distinct. The earth is the material world. Heavens is the spiritual world. Heavens is plural. The earth is singular. I believe that heavens includes the angels, and that the angels were created at this "time."

The earth was formless and void. It was undifferentiated matter - matter without energy. There was no solid or liquid or gas, no space, no dimensions. The physical laws did not yet come into being. There were no Laws of Thermodynamics because there was only matter without energy. The formless earth is described as "waters". This does not necessarily imply the "water" (hydrogen and oxygen) we are familiar with. The atomic structure of matter was not formed yet. Light had not been created. There was no energy. The material world was "void" and "dark" without energy.

The material world had a limit. It had a "surface" or "face of the deep," or "face of the waters" as the English Standard Version renders it. That boundary was where the Spirit of God was. This is the second distinction we notice, the distinction between the creation and God. God is transcendent. The earth was not, and is not God, nor is the earth a part of God. God is totally separate from His creation.

Happy Fourth

Three Killers All In A Row

On Monday June 1, Carlos Bledsoe drove to a military recruiting center in Little Rock, Arkansas and fired at two soldiers in uniform. Bledsoe, a U.S. citizen from Memphis is a convert to Islam and changed his name to Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad. He trained in Yemen to be a jihadist. William Long, 23, died, and Quinton Ezeagwula, 18, was wounded and in stable condition. Both were standing outside the recruiting center when Bledsoe shot them.

The day before, on Sunday May 31, Scott Roeder drove to the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kansas and shot in the head one of the ushers who was serving at the morning worship services, killing him. The murdered man was Dr. George Tiller (see below). Roeder is a 51-year old anti-abortion activist from Kansas City.


George Tiller is one of the few providers of a medical procedure known as late-term abortion. He studied at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He took over his father's medical practice which included abortions. In his practice, he typically guides a long needle through a pregnant woman's abdomen into the baby's heart, injecting a drug lethal to the baby. He then induces labor so the woman can deliver the dead baby. He has been performing this procedure since 1980.


What do these killings have in common?

1. They ambushed the defenseless. William Long was just doing his job, serving the military. George Tiller was serving his church on a Sunday morning. A baby is peacefully at rest in his or her mother's womb. All the victims had no way to defend themselves.

2. No place is safe. William Long was killed at a United States military recruiting center. George Tiller was killed at a house of worship. A baby is killed inside another human being, its mother.

3. Human life is subordinated to other values. Jihadists teach that infidels are inferior and rewards await those who kill them. Scott Roeder placed no value on Tiller. Tiller's life was valuable regardless of what he did. Pro-Choice advocates including Tiller treat the unborn human life as worthless tissue, a "product of conception", totally disposable, subordinate to the political rights of women.

4. All the killers thought they were doing the right thing. The Muslim terrorist was doing the will of Allah. Scott Roeder believed he killed Tiller in defense of the unborn. Tiller believed he was helping women implement a political right granted by the state.

How are these killings different?

Perpetrators of terrorism are often punished. Their killings are murders. Carlos Bledsoe will most likely get the death penalty. Scott Roeder will probably get life imprisonment, although I believe he should pay with his life. Aborted babies have no avenger. Terrorism is against the law but abortion is legal and not regarded as murder. That is the only difference. Abortion is the legalized killing of the unborn. Abortion and terrorism both rob their victims of the right to life. Abortion is legalized terrorism against the unborn.

Trying Too Hard to Please

Barack Hussein Obama, president of the United States, said in an interview in France that the U.S. is one of the biggest Muslim nations in the world.

Considering that there are only 1.8 Muslims in America, according to some estimates, either the President just betrayed his ignorance of the U.S. population, or he counts himself and American Muslims more than the ordinary Muslims of other countries.

I guess if you don't really believe that all men are created equal, then Obama is right. He probably counts himself worth several million more than an ordinary Muslim. Liberal elitists tend to think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.

At any rate, such revising of America to make it conform to his image and to please Europe and appease Muslims is in keeping with Obama foreign policy.

Osama Bin Ladin issued a statement warning the U.S. to stay out of Pakistan if the U.S. wants to keep from being attacked again. Let's see how compliant the U.S. under Obama's leadership will be.

Dressing Up Darwinism

This year evolutionists and secular fundamentalists the world over are celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of Charles Darwin. In 1859, Darwin published "The Origin of Species," which is the foundation of the modern theory of evolution.

The theory of evolution is imposing. It dominates the intellectual and scientific landscape. No aspiring scientist or university professor may hope to get any serious audience unless he or she demonstrates an allegiance to the theory of evolution. The movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" documents the numerous cases where any academic questioning the assumptions of Darwinism, and entertaining the concept of intelligent design is soon expelled from his field by Darwinists who control the upper echelons of universities and hold a monopoly over the sources of scientific information for the media. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" was the #1 Documentary movie for 2008.

The theory of evolution remains a theory. It is an unproven theory. Its assumptions are full of holes, and do not stand up to scientific methods of inquiry. Evolution has never been observed in action and has no irrefutable supporting evidence. Its fossil evidences have been discredited because either they were outright fraudulent such as The Piltdown Man, or Lucy, or they are discredited because evolution is not the only possible explanation for the fossils. A recent example is Darwinius massilae, nicknamed Ida. Brian Thomas and Frank Sherwin of ICR.org write that,

"anatomically modern lemurs have been found in rock strata below Ida. Likewise, monkeys have been found in lower layers, which evolutionists believe represent eons of time before Ida's appearance. Thus, Ida is too completely formed and was found in a layer, according to evolutionary timescales, that is too young for her to be the link connecting the earliest primates to descendants that supposedly led to humans."

Scholars, even those sympathetic to Darwin, recognize that the theory of evolution is in crisis.

The theory of evolution is much like a condemned building that is an eyesore and could endanger society. Adolf Hitler used the theory of evolution to justify the superiority of the Arian race and the proposed mass extermination of the Jews. Worldnetdaily reports further:

Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger believed in removing what she called the "dead weight of human waste," the program says.

"Eugenics is applied Darwinism," said Coulter.

The culmination of that belief system appears to have been the Columbine massacre. There, students Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris killed 12 other students, a teacher and themselves, after setting out on a plan to kill 500.

"Harris wrote on his website, 'YOU KNOW WHAT I LOVE??? Natural SELECTION! It’s the best thing that ever happened to the Earth. Getting rid of all the stupid and weak organisms,'" the report says.

Reports show that on the day of the attack, Harris wore a T-shirt with the words, "Natural Selection."

All this happened, said Kennedy, because of a set of theories based on "a crumbling scientific foundation."

Adolf Hitler, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris believed that they were "the fittest" according to Darwinian theory, and deserved to survive more than other humans.

The Darwinists try to dress up the theory and maintain the illusion of it being established fact and science. They are relying more and more on media hype, pop culture, and political crutches to maintain the theory's exalted status in society, but the emperor has no clothes on. Darwinism is a crumbling superstructure that is an impediment and a dead weight to human scientific progress. One hundred fifty years of evolutionary intellectual bullying are more than enough. The theory of evolution has not proven true and it is time for better scientific hypotheses.

Obama's Policy of Revisionism, Appeasement and Recrimination

The Obama Administration's foreign policy is one of revisionism, which in the long term, tries to rewrite history, and in the short term, tries to undo the security measures implemented by George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 Jihadist attacks. It is also a policy of appeasement, which tries to placate the American Left and their European counterparts, both of which have ideological ties with Al Qaeda.

The premise of this foreign policy is that America's own actions of selfishness and arrogance brought about the hostility of the world against her, and that America's actions to defend herself and wage war against radical Islam only serve to increase terrorist attacks and spur radical extremists to commit more violence. If America only knew how to be nice and to get along with her neighbors, then there would be peace on earth. Radical Islam is a product of global poverty brought about by American economic dominance in the world. As long as we satisfy the American Left and their European counterparts, we appease Al Qaeda and America won't get attacked. So goes the political philosophy of the Obama administration.

Thus, President Obama went about Europe apologizing for America. He kowtowed to the Saudis, and downplayed the religious history of America, insisting that America is now a secularized country. To placate Spain and other Left-leaning governments of the world, he sacrificed the national security of the U. S. by authorizing the investigation and possible prosecution of those involved in interrogating terror suspects under the Bush administration. Classified documents were released exposing government secrets to Al Qaeda and other potential enemies, all to the delight of the ACLU and the American Left and their European counterparts. The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a leading Democrat, called the CIA liars.

Under the Obama Administration, the cultural whitewashing of radical Islam is in full force. The 9/11 attacks were just criminal actions, and not ideologically driven, and possibly perpetuated by a vast right-wing conspiracy in America (This was the theme of this season's episode of "24".) There is no more "war on terror," the Obama administration prohibiting the use of this term. There is nothing to fear from Islam, and this religion is morally equivalent to Christianity. (Even Jack Bauer on his death bed called for an Imam.)

Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is bickering over what Nancy Pelosi said, the CIA is distracted and defensive due to Pelosi's slanderous statements, and the Obama administration is preoccupied with its campaign of recrimination against George W. Bush. While the nation paused to remember her fallen soldiers, North Korea launched a test missile that could reach Guam, and exploded a test nuclear device underground, catching the U.S,, the media, and the world by surprise. Pyongyang promises more tests to follow, while Iran strengthens its resolve to develop nuclear weapons.

The world has overnight become a much more dangerous place.

They Gave So That Others May Live

Master at Arms Second Class Michael Anthony Monsoor (April 5, 1981 – September 29, 2006) was a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during the Iraq War and posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Monsoor used his body to prevent a grenade blast from killing three other SEALs in a sniper hide in the Mulaab district of Ramadi, Iraq.

He and thousands like him have given their lives so that others may live. May their sacrifice not be in vain.

An Evolutionist's Prayer to Charles Darwin on the 200th Anniversary of His Birth

Our father, evolved from rattlesnakes,
Hallowed be your theories.

Thy world view dominate.
The earth conform to your wisdom, which reaches back billions of years.

Give us this day the missing links.
And forgive us our failure to find them, for whatever we find are discredited.

And let us not stray from the path of evolution.
But deliver us from theism.

For there is no supernatural.
And matter is all there was and all there is and ever will be.
Forever and ever. AMEN.

Press Release on Frankfurt Fossils Drives Media Frenzy

Scientists, University professors, and the secular media are in a frenzy surrounding the recent press release that some fossil remains found in Frankfurt in 1983 constitute the missing link between humans and animals. The University of Oslo has been studying them in secret for years. At a carefully orchestrated publicity campaign at the American Museum of Natural History, John Hurum, the lead scientist said, “It is the scientific equivalent of the Holy Grail. This fossil will probably be the one that will be pictured in all textbooks for the next 100 years." The media rushed to claim that this confirms Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The fossil is classified with the name Darwinius massilae.

What precious solitary evidence there have been of the so-called missing link or transitional forms have been discredited in the past. Ever since the publication of Darwin’s “Origin of Species” in 1859, newspapers have eagerly published any news that “The Missing Link Has Been Found!!” and “Man’s Ape Ancestry Proven!” Perhaps by overwhelming the public with such publicity, they hope to erase any reasonable doubt about the evidence, and make it easier to ostracize anyone who questions the scientific elite’s conclusions. Also, by rushing to publish pictures of the so-called missing link in textbooks, children will become indoctrinated into evolutionary theory faster before the evidence can be discredited. Some discredited evidences of evolution remain in textbooks today.

One spectacular example of the fevered frenzy to find the missing link is the discovery of the Piltdown Man. In December, 1912, Charles Dawson, an amateur archeologist, presented to the Geological Society of London a human skull with an ape-like jaw assembled from fragments which workmen found while digging a trench in the Kent and Sussex areas. The skull was named “Eoanthropus dawsoni,” and was proclaimed the dawn of man in his evolution. It wasn’t until 1953 that fluorine tests revealed that the skull and the jaw were of different ages, and that Piltdown man was a fraud. That fraudulent evidence helped keep Darwinism afloat for decades.

Because humans did not evolve from animals, there are no evidence for transitional forms nor will there ever be. The Darwinian scientific elite has to come up with manufactured evidence from time to time in order to “rally the troops” and prop up the tottering superstructure of the theory of evolution a few decades more.

This latest find of a fossil lemur-like animal they are calling Ida and claiming it to be the missing link is just another example of the atheistic scientists’ wishful thinking and interpretation of evidence according to evolutionary misconceptions. John Hurum is hoping that Ida will keep Darwinism afloat a hundred years more, and the secular media is willing to be the unthinking parrot of the Darwinian scientific elite.

The State Politicizing Morality

When the nation of Israel was formed out of twelve tribes, God exercised direct rule over them through Moses. This is known as a theocracy. It is recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Then God established the kingship over Israel with Saul as the first King. He separated the office of King and the office of Prophet and the office of Priest. Thus was born the separation of "church" and state. The king was not to perform the duties of the priesthood. When Saul disobeyed and performed priestly duties, he suffered tragic consequences: he lost his kingship to David. This is recorded in the books of Samuel.

Today, the secular state is performing the office of the "priesthood". In making political issues out of morality, it is going outside its God-ordained boundaries. The state has allowed the surgeon's knife to invade the sacredness of the womb. Instead of being the guardian of life, the state has been playing god guaranteeing happiness and convenience at the expense of the helpless. The state is intensifying its role as guarantor of happiness by allowing the destruction of the original meaning of sex and marriage just because it issues a piece of paper (marriage license). In proposing hate crimes legislation it is attempting to police the thoughts of its citizens, something even the church does not do.

The separation of church and state is biblical, but the state is too much into areas of the Church, politicizing morality and establishing itself as the arbiter of sin and virtue, establishing its own standards of political correctness over the original Ten Commandments of God Almighty.

DNA, Rocks, and Scientific Naturalism

Ask an archeologist about the origin of this seemingly nondescript rock fragment, and he would tell you that this is probably of human origin and that it was used as a toy. He can deduce that it was a toy hedgehog.



Ask the same archeologist about the origin of a strand of DNA, where it takes a supercomputer to decode the gene sequences and unravel its complexity, and he would most likely tell you that it is a product of chance and necessity, and not of any intelligent design.

The problem with modern scientific naturalism is its refusal to entertain any notion that could remotely threaten the hallowed assumptions of Darwin.

Secularists Proclaim Victory Against Christianity

For decades, the movement to uproot Christianity from America has been the life work of secular fundamentalists as represented by groups such as The American Civil Liberties Union, People For the American Way, Freedom From Religion Foundation, American Humanist Association, and many others. They are now proclaiming victory. They have succeeded not just in their avowed purpose of separating Church from State, but more effectively, in divorcing the state from God, and arrogating unto the state some prerogatives of God. They have stirred up hostility against the Church, and are in a position to inflict greater restrictions on the the practice of faith in America.

Barack Obama himself added his presidential voice to the atheistic cacophony against Christianity when he said in Turkey, on April 6, 2009, "We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation; we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values." Those are the three major theistic religions of the world. Obama effectively proclaimed victory for secular humanism in America.

Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, pastor of Grace CMA church writes an excellent commentary, "Christianity in America," (reprinted with permission):

Maybe you saw last week's issue of Newsweek, in which Editor Jon Meacham writes (somewhat cheerfully, it appears) the cover story: "The Decline and Fall of Christian America." The title has a doomsday feel, and is overly pessimistic. And, it's an unfortunate title as well. I would prefer to speak of the influence of Christianity in America rather than "Christian America" since our nation was not founded as a religious institution (though there are many underlying principles that are undeniably rooted in a Judeo-Christian heritage).

If you're in conversation with a friend or colleague on this subject of how Christianity has influenced America, it might be helpful to consider what a number of scholarly sociologists are saying.

Without any collusion, Rodney Stark from the University of Washington and Samuel P. Huntington from Harvard have both found that the animating features that have made the West great-modern science, medicine, democracy and its attending freedoms-were the products of irreducibly Christian thinking derived from central biblical traditions (see Kairos Journal, April 2009).

In his 2004 book, Who Are We?, Huntington, arguably the most respected political scientist of our time, writes that it is the Anglo-Protestant culture that arose from scriptural foundations that made the United States great. Attempts to undermine this tradition, he argues, are a misguided and dangerous social experiment which could unhinge the entire project.

In a similar manner, sociologist Rodney Stark tackles the secularist's argument that serious Christianity inhibits progress. Stark argues that this is pure myth, demonstrating with compelling historical detail that "science could only arise in a culture dominated by belief in a conscious, rational, all-powerful Creator" (see Stark's book, For the Glory of God). He states that only people who believed "slavery was an abomination in the eyes of God" were poised to defy the evil. "It was that conclusion," writes Stark, "and only that conclusion, that enabled the West to abolish slavery." The fear of God, in other words, means freedom for people.

You can read statistics in very different ways, and whatever the truth is about the state of Christianity in America, we can still rest assured that the unchanging promise of Jesus in Matthew 16:18 is true: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it."

Secular humanism is a loosing and parasitic ideology. It tries to live off the fruits of Christianity but denies it owes its values to its roots. By cutting itself off from its Christian roots, Secular humanism in America is doomed to a bankrupt future. The signs of decay are already obvious.

Obama Gives Nod to Prosecute Jack Bauer

Jack Bauer is the fictional character hero of the television series "24". The series "24" has been quite accurate in its depiction of the great political, military, and cultural conflict of our time, the War against Terrorism. This season, Jack is hounded by a Congressional Investigation into his methods of interrogation. Jack will use any means possible to get information from terror suspects. To him, the safety of the country and the lives of individual citizens always get top priority, but the government does not agree, and so they hold a congressional investigation while the country is sabotaged right under the administrations' noses. Jack is often hampered by the government's inept beaureaucracy, but he gets the job done at great personal sacrifice, misunderstood and unappreciated.

This week President Obama agreed to let his attorney-general prepare charges against those in the Bush administration who might have used questionable interrogation methods in the aftermath of 9/11. They are after the Jack Bauers' who kept our country safe during the Bush presidency.

In "24" the plot changes from week to week. Does fiction imitate life or does life imitate fiction?

Last week Spain made noises about levelling charges against Bush administration officials for their handling of terror suspects. Then, inexplicably, Spain announced that it was withdrawing its threat. At the same time, Obama flip-flopped overnight from not prosecuting to prosecuting the Jack Bauers' of the Bush administration.

I sense that there is a Spanish connection somewhere in this sorry controversy.

In March 11, 2004 Spain suffered an Al-Qaeda inspired attack consisting of a series of coordinated bombings in the commuter train system of Madrid three days before Spains' general elections, in which 191 people were killed and 1,800 were wounded. It was Spains' 9/11. Spain's then incumbent administration which had supported the Iraq war lost the elections. Since then, Spain's ascendant government has been militantly anti-Bush to the point of vindictiveness. Spain has been at the forefront of the Leftist movement to prosecute George Bush. You would think that Al-Qaeda was in office in Spain.

When Spain continued its anti-Bush rhetoric this week, Bill O'Reilly of FoxNews hinted that he might initiate a boycott Spain movement because of Spain's state-sponsored anti-American propaganda. It appears that the media-hog Obama administration found a way to silence Spain by sacrificing the Jack Bauers rather than have O'Reilly steal the spotlight with his anti-Spain boycott, especially since the nationwide Tea Party anti-Tax protests have just been successfully held.

Thus, the flip-flop.

Here is the FoxNews timeline of Obama's statements on torture probe: Timeline

Here is the link to Spain retracting its threat: Spain retracts

Here is the O'reilly Video where he mentioned a boycott of Spain: Spain Boycott

Jack, get ready!

Miss California Stands Up To Political Correctness

How do you stand up to the politically correct establishment? Carrie Prejean, Miss California, shows how.

She was asked by one of the judges in the Miss USA peagent, wether she believed that every state should follow Vermont's lead in legalizing same sex marriage. She answered that according to her faith and her upbringing, she believed that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Perez Hilton, the gay PC police who asked the question gave her a score of zero. Furthermore, Hilton, called her a "b**ch" in his celebrity blog. Carrie finished first runner up.

Carrie said she had no regrets about her reply. In an interview with Fox News Channel, Carrie said that she was, "Honestly happy. This happened for a reason. By having to answer that question in front of a national audience, God was testing my character and faith. I'm glad I stayed true to myself."

Bravo for Carrie. What a beauty! She makes me want to visit California again.

Proyas' "Better Place" is not Heaven

In the movie production "Knowing" by Alex Proyas, the main character is John Koestler, a college instructor and scientist who discovers a strange phenomenon involving his son and a neighbor's daughter. The children have been chosen by aliens to be saved from the destruction about to come on the whole earth. The aliens deposit the two chosen members of the human race into a strange planet and they are to be the new Adam and Eve to start the human race all over again and to prepare a "better place." Koestler apprehends that this "much better place" is where those who die end up, but the scientist comes to this conclusion, not by scientific investigation, or evidence. He does so only by faith and mythology.

This was the belief of a UFO cult called Heaven's Gate, which was based in San Diego, California. The cult members believed that planet Earth was about to be recycled, and that the only chance to survive was to leave it immediately, and believed that a "higher level" of existence was being offered to them when the comet Hale-Bopp appeared in 1997. The group committed mass suicide in their misguided belief that it was the way to go to meet the UFOs' which they believed were waiting for them beyond the comet Hale-Bopp. It appears that Alex Proyas has taken up the mantle of Marshall Applewhite, the cult's deceased leader, in preaching the UFO gospel. Proyas' "better place" is not Heaven.

Heaven is a real place, not myth. This belief is based on the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. As the first man to be resurrected, Jesus Christ is the prototype of the future resurrection. His disciples recognized Jesus, and He carried the scars of the crucifixion in His resurrected body, suggesting that there is a continuity of personality into the resurrection. The resurrected body will not be a disembodied spirit, but a physical, reconstituted body which will not be subject to decomposition or to decay. Heaven will be a place on earth but it will be a new earth, reconstituted so that it will function as the original creation was, unmarred by human sin.

Just as a single mistake in a complex computer program can cause the entire program to fail, so human sin caused a perfect creation to decay. Not so in the new earth. This is why Jesus Christ had to die, so that God's purpose in the original creation may be fulfilled, and so that human sin may not be allowed to cause destruction in the new earth. For a brillant and enlightening discussion of Heaven, read the blog and books by Randy Alcorn.

Self Made Man

This beautiful bronze sculpture is called “Self-Made Man” by Bobbie Carlyle. The original sculpture is in stone.

In medium and message, "Self-Made Man" is an enigma. Marvelous as it is, this sculpture depicting a man sculpting himself into existence has absolutely no awareness or recognition of its creator, Bobbie. Do you think we humans are totally different from this piece of bronze, with all the awareness, senses and intelligence we have?

In as much as secular man with his atheistic philosophy imagines and thinks that he owes his origins to no one but himself and his tools, he is a living, walking enigma, a creature in flesh and blood but no better than a bronze or stone sculpture!


Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the LORD has spoken:

"Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand."

Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the LORD,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.

(Isaiah 1:2-4)

King of the Jews, The Lord of Glory

Someone had to pay.
You couldn't. None of us could.
He owed nothing but He paid.
For you. For me.
It is finished!
Change your world view,
Receive Him, and
Live for God.

"But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

(1 Corinthians 2:7-8)

Richard Dawkins Converts to Christianity

April Fool's joke.

But the real fools are the atheists, not only on April 1 but as long as they deny that God exists. But most of them, including Richard Dawkins, would rather join Heaven's Gate Cult than convert to Christianity.

But if we believe in God but live as though He didn't exist, then we are no better fools than the atheists.

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."
They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
there is none who does good.
God looks down from heaven
on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

(Psalm 53:1-3)

How "Knowing" Ripped Christian Theology

The movie production "Knowing" directed by Australian Alex Proyas does to Christian theology what many audio enthusiasts often do to copyrighted material. Just as music CD's are often ripped from their original formats and stored in various other file formats, Proyas has ripped from the Old Testament and the New Testament, the Christian doctrines of Predestination, the Inspiration of Scripture, Biblical Prophecy, the doctrine of God's providential care through Angels, the Rapture, and the Apocalyptic doctrines of the Judgment on the earth and the doctrine of a New Earth, and Proyas cast them into a natural scientific mold, to make some money at the horendous cost of distorting the Christian message.

For Ezekiel's vision of the throne of God in heaven with archangels surrounding the throne, Proyas recasts the original majestic Biblical vision into his script of a prophecy of the sun throwing a solar flare of catastrophic proportions. In place of the angels who do God's bidding and care for human beings, he substitutes benevolent alien creatures of light who appear in human form whose mission is to select a new Adam and a new Eve from among human generations. In place of Biblical Prophecy and the Doctrine of Inspiration, Proyas has his alien beings dictating number sequences to gifted humans in order to predict dates, disasters, and their locations which occur over several decades on the earth, culminating in the cryptic "EE" which stand for "everyone else"'s destruction.

Proyas borrows from the Christian doctrine of Predestination to have his Aliens only allow "those who are chosen" to be saved from the destruction of the earth. For the rapture of the Church, Proyas uses a levitation scene sequence that lifts the "chosen ones" into an alien craft to escape the earth's destruction. For the New Testament prophecy of the judgment of the earth, Proyas calls for a solar flare that destroys everything by intense heat (2 Peter 3:11-13), and for the Doctrine of a new Adam, and of a new Earth, Proyas has his aliens depositing the chosen human couple in a new planet with the Tree of Life (Revelation 22:1-3) in the middle of it.

Having ripped what he needs from Christian Doctrine, Proyas leaves God out of the movie. He cannot include Creation, or Sin or Judgment of Wickedness. There is no Cross, no Atonement for sin as the basis of salvation. These are alien to the natural scientific world view. As atheists do, Proyas, speaking through his movie character John Koestler the college professor, played by Nicholas Cage, would rather believe in mythological alien beings and determinism instead of the existence of an all-wise Creator-God who cares for His creation but judges wickedness. In the movie, John Koestler's pastor-father knows what his scientist son does about the earth's impending catastrophe, but he knows it only in the language of traditional Christianity, and is impotent to do anything about it. A van bearing the name of Jesus is shown lost among the chaos of destruction engulfing the earth. Proyas wants to portray that the Aliens are the savior of mankind, not Jesus.

To be consistent with his naturalistic mindset, John Koestler should have declared, "All is lost! We are not chosen. We will all perish!" Instead, he declares that those who have died "are in a much better place." Much better place where? Atheism and scientific naturalism have no such place. The Aliens must have revealed to him such a better place, and this is confirmed by one of the "chosen" who says "I know". John Koestler didn't really believe in traditional Christianity and had to lie to his family about his kid being chosen by the Aliens. John Koestler knew something but Proyas gave him no time to tell about it. Proyas would have us trust those who are "in the know." It is blind faith that Proyas advocates! Faith in the myth of alien beings. You have to join a cult like Heaven's Gate whose members committed mass suicide to join the aliens and their UFO's to find out about Proyas' "better place" which is certainly not heaven.

If the gospel were copyrighted, Alex Proyas would be in serious trouble. But one, day, the Lord Jesus Christ will enforce the gospel, which includes a judgment on those who know the truth but refuse to act on it, and even distort or suppress it.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles."

(Romans 1:18-23)

Passing Laws Against Greed

For months, we have heard the speeches blaming the current economic mess on the greed of Wall Street and the lack of government oversight. During the fall presidential campaign, Senator John McCain vowed that, if elected, that he would "put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street." More recently, President Barack Obama said, "We learned this week that even as they petitioned for taxpayer assistance, Wall Street firms shamefully paid out nearly USD 20 billion in bonuses for 2008," Obama said in his radio address. "While I'm committed to doing what it takes to maintain the flow of credit, the American people will not excuse or tolerate such arrogance and greed. The road to recovery demands that we all act responsibly, from Main Street to Washington to Wall Street," he said.

Having identified the root cause of economic troubles, the government now proposes its strategy to put an end to the problem of greed and corruption in Wall Street. The government's strategy is to pass more legislation and punitively tax those who have been greedy. Congress has passed a law to tax AIG executives who received bonuses from bail out money up to 90%. This should send a warning to Wall Street executives to curb their avarice.

Will it work? Will the fear of taxation finally bring about a transformation of the human heart, and promote an altruistic society with its citizens concerned for the common good? Will new laws regulating companies and with brilliant overseers who themselves found ways to circumvent tax laws, finally put an end to cheating on our taxes? (It takes a cheat to catch a cheat.) Will the president lead the way towards ending class warfare and not only eradicate greed but also envy? Will the people look to the government more and more to fulfill their egalitarian visions?

Greed and envy are deeply rooted in the human heart. Nothing less than a radical transformation, a new heart, is needed, and it must happen one individual at a time. The government is impotent to change the human heart. Law can never transform the human heart, and all the government can do is pass laws. The gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ is the only transforming power that can give an individual a new heart and eradicate greed and envy, and the Church is the bearer of this message.

However, the government promotes hostility towards the Church by advocating values in opposition to the gospel, such as when it advocates abortion and the destruction of embryos over the sanctity of human life. It promotes hostility to the Church by prohibiting the teaching of alternative views to Darwin's evolutionary theory, by promoting same sex marriage, and by arrogating unto itself messianic roles. Even now, the government is contemplating more hostility and punitive taxation even against the Church by possibly eliminating the Charitable Income Tax Deduction.

The government is not friendly to the gospel of Jesus Christ, man's only real hope against greed and envy.

And he said to them, "Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'"

(Luke 12:15-20)

Spiritual Warfare

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."

(Ephesians 6:10-20)

The Ultimate Bailout

The inspiration for this post comes from my wife who pointed out the ultimate bailout.

In these times, the U.S. government is trying its best to bailout with money those banks that are in over their heads in insolvent investments. The Federal government is also attempting to bailout the automobile industry in order to prevent a vicious spiral that could lead to accelerating unemployment and ever deepening recession. Furthermore, the Obama administration believes it can stimulate growth in the economy by providing individuals with tax credits and various economic incentives while nationalizing health care and increasing welfare programs at the same time. All of these attempts come at a steep price. Other segments of the U.S. population will be taxed at a higher rate. There will be inflation, and more borrowing from foreign governments such as China. The U.S. government will spend more than its income, as it has been doing. This is known as deficit spending, and is several times greater under Obama than previous administrations. "His budget plan projects a federal deficit of $1.75 trillion for 2009, or 12.3% of the gross domestic product, a level not seen since 1942 as the U.S. plunged into World War II..," reports the Wall Street Journal. The government itself is in over its head.

All of mankind is in over its head. No matter what our race or nationality, or age or sex, we are morally and spiritually bankrupt in God's standards. Some of us don't even acknowledge that God exists, even though we continue to enjoy life and the fruits of the earth which God created. We have lived our lives in competition with others, striving to fulfill man's expectations, or political ambition, or cultural mandates, while keeping from violating government laws and regulations, never caring if we are pleasing God, the giver of our life and our liberties. We are totally unable to repay God for our errors and omissions because we have nothing with which to pay Him with that He doesn't already own. Yet God has provided the ultimate bailout for our sin.

God provided the bailout at a steep price, and it wasn't at the cost of others. He provided the payment that His own justice demanded at His own cost. He sacrficed His own Son Jesus Christ who never sinned, so that the death that Christ died served as payment for the sin of man. This is the ultimate bailout. We have been redeemed from our sins so that we may have a new relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

Who Defines Sin? - Part Two

Last year, Chris Satullo of the New York Times tried to pour cold water on the patriotic celebration of the Fourth of July because according to him, the nation had "sinned" in not protesting the keeping of political prisoners at Guantanamo, prisoners who were suspected of terrorism and were being detained as enemy combatants. He was elevating a controversial political issue into a spiritual category in order to lend it some validity.

Recently, congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts objected to Barack Obama's invitation of Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at Obama's Presidential inauguration because Rick Warren had compared homosexuality with incest. The gay Congressman believes that homosexuality is not as despicable as incest, and should therefore not be on the same category. Homosexuality is now "respectable" while incest is not.

Who has the right to define sin? Is it those who have political power? In a few decades, pedophiles may gain political power and support from the justice system, and their behavior may no longer be regarded as sexual abuse of children, but may become "respectable" just as homosexuality is today. The same goes with incest. Divorce was once rare. Now adultery and divorce are status symbols, especially in Hollywood.

All of us strive for a measure of "respectability" which is often based on a comparison with other people. However, before God, nobody is righteous; nobody is "respectable". It is difficult for us to accept that not a single iota of personal righteousness or "respectability" will make us acceptable before God. The "straight" is not more acceptable to God than the "gay" on the basis of sexual preference, nor is the "gay" more acceptable to God than the incestuous on the same basis. The single person or the one who has never been divorced does not have an advantage before God over the one who has been divorced.

If anyone has the right to define sin, it is God because he is the author and creator of man and woman, just as an author has the copyright to his literary work and no one may infringe that right. God has delegated His authority to His Son, Jesus Christ, the sinless man, the GodMan. Jesus Christ extends forgiveness to all who would submit to God's authority to define sin, who admit that all have sinned, and who would accept the total and complete forgiveness offered by Christ, a forgiveness paid for on the cross.

It is not political power that defines or redefines sin. Sin is sin because it is a violation of God's rights over His creation. Jesus Christ is God's judgment on sin. Jesus Christ is also God's salvation from sin. It is Jesus Christ who led convicted serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to salvation. Yes, there is no sin beyond the reach of God's love in Jesus Christ. And we need the humility to admit that before God, we who have never been convicted of any crime are as much in need of forgiveness in Christ as Jeffrey Dahmer, no matter how "respectable" our personal sins may be.

When Everyday Will Be Like Christmas

Christ gives us joy - a joy that nothing and nobody can take away. He gave us the perfect gift - that of Himself, so that we may be perfectly reconciled with God. He makes it possible for us to enjoy this season, and the rest of life, regardless of circumstance. With joy, we immerse ourselves in the celebration of Christmas, in the music and concerts, the closeness of family, the symbols and legends, the feasts, and the goodwill.

The celebration of Christmas is just a few days of the year. We know it will end, then the routine of daily existence takes over. However, Christmas creates a universal longing for its permanence, as expressed in the song by Elvis Presley:

I hear the bells
Saying Christmas is near
They ring out to tell the world
That this is the season of cheer.

I hear a choir
Singing sweetly somewhere,
And a glow fills my heart;
I'm at peace with the world
As the sound of their singing fills the air.

Oh, why can't every day be like Christmas!
Why can't that feeling go on endlessly!
For if everyday could be just like Christmas,
What a wonderful world this would be.

I hear a child
Telling Santa what to bring.
And the smile upon his tiny face
Is worth more to me than anything.

Oh, why can't every day be like Christmas!
Why can't that feeling go on endlessly!
For if everyday could be just like Christmas,
What a wonderful world this would be!

This longing gives us a picture of the role of Christmas as a pointer to the time when Christ establishes a new heaven and a new earth, and comes to establish His dwelling among men permanently, a time when everyday will be like Christmas.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new " And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true."

(Revelation 21:1-5)

Obama Starts Balancing Act

Barack Obama, the president-elect, has selected Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church to say the invocation at his inauguration. This upset homosexuals, whose foremost spokesman is Barney Frank, a Massachusetts congressman. The gay supporters of Barack Obama have no objections to a pro-gay rights pastor, Rev. Joseph Lowery, whom Obama invited to give the benediction. Lowery is the one who shamelessly made political statements at a funeral ceremony. Lowery directed attacks at president Bush who was then present with him at the funeral of Coretta Scott King in 2006.

The gay activists are upset that Obama invited Warren to the inauguration because Warren has made comparisons between homosexuality and incest. Barney Frank and the gay activists call Warren a bigot. If Warren is a bigot because of his views on homosexual behavior, then God must be the biggest bigot of all, for he instructed his people not to practice homosexuality or incest, but condemned both those behaviors.

"If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination;..." (Leviticus 20:13)

"If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, ... they have committed perversion;" (Leviticus 20:11-13)

"'Cursed be anyone who lies with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' (Deuteronomy 27:22)

The Power of the Name of Christ

Christmas is a time when we can appreciate the power of the name of Christ. More than two thousand years have passed since His birth, but the celebration of His birth cannot be extinguished. Secular fundamentalists try their best to remove the significance of Christmas, or dilute its meaning, to no avail. Under the cover of the "separation of Church and State" they try to remove depictions of Christ's birth from public places, take to court individuals and school officials who allow Christ's birth to be depicted in public schools, ban the Salvation Army from doing good at storefronts, rewrite the history of the U.S. to obscure its religious roots, and so on.

Christians should never be defensive about Christmas. It is a time for celebration, a time when the whole world is compelled to acknowledge the Name. We should embrace Christmas with all our heart and not get distracted by Bary Lynn and the People for the American Way or the American Civil Liberties Union who cannot extinguish the truth behind Christmas no matter how many lawsuits they bring. They will even try sometime in the future to remove Christmas from being a Federal holiday.

Soon, Christ the Lord will give them what they long for. He will rapture the church, and there will be no one left on earth who will genuinely celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

"O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger."
(Psalm 8:1-2)

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe."
(Proverbs 18:10)

Wildebeest Stampede At Wal-Mart Store

Wildebeests in Kenya stampede during migration. Nothing can stop them. They will trample down anything and anyone who stands in the way, even their own kind, in their drive for food.

This stampede was recreated this Thanksgiving weekend at a Wal-Mart store in Long Island, New York, where two thousand shoppers couldn't wait for the store clerks to open the doors. They broke down the doors trampling on the hapless clerks, killing one of them in their mad rush for the sales.

A wise man once said that in death, men are like the beasts since the same fate awaits both man and beast. The Wal-Mart stampede reminds us of that truth and shows that the similarity does not stop there.

"I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him?"

Ecclesiastes 3:18-22

Faith and Reason, Science and Religion

Faith and Reason are not separate. They are just different, just like the body and soul are different, and you can no more operate fully on one without the other. The philosophies which drive today’s universities establish a false dichotomy between faith and reason. Reason, they say belongs to science, while faith is the realm of religion. This conclusion is the result of a prior dismissal of anything that cannot be seen or touched or subjected to experiment and investigation. All phenomena can be explained by material and physical laws, according to the modernistic philosophies. There is no room for miracles and the supernatural. This viewpoint is known as naturalism. Some say it is “scientific naturalism,” but I can’t see how this viewpoint can be truly scientific if it chooses to ignore outright whole bodies of evidence and phenomena just because they can’t be seen or subjected to repeatable experiments. Thus, “scientific naturalism” is inherently atheistic, since no one can summon God to the laboratory so that He may be probed and examined to satisfy the scientists’ standards and methods of knowing.

In contrast, we believe that Christian faith is reasonable. The laws of logic and the rules of evidence are not violated when applied to the way we come to knowledge about God. We do not practice a “blind faith” or “take a blind leap of faith.” Our faith is based on evidence that any careful and unbiased searcher for truth will find. We have to look, and not dismiss the sources of evidence outright just because somebody said those sources are “unscientific.” The world and the universe contain some knowledge about God, but not everything we need to know about God. The existence of the world itself, the order and design inherent in it, the grandeur of man and animal and nature, point to some intelligent design, and a Designer. This is known in Theology as General Revelation. To learn more about the Designer, we need to turn to Christ and the Scriptures. This is known as Special Revelation.

Furthermore, Scientific Naturalism and its adherents are not so devoid themselves of Faith in their thinking. Notice how they are quick to ascribe the origin of the Universe to the "Big Bang." The "Big Bang" just happened! Out of nothing, there came the Universe! Now that sure takes a lot of Faith! Or take their assertion that there is no God! Has anyone of them ever searched the entire universe to see and prove that God doesn't exist or has never existed? Has any one of them been there in the beginning of time to tell us that he has never seen God ever?! Or take their assertion that there are alien intelligences other than human in the Universe. Or take Darwin's evolutionary theory, that it is accepted as fact despite the absence of evidence for transitional forms! There sure is a lot of faith being exercised in the scientific community!