Faith versus Fact...

Interestingly I note that humanists are adamant that the rationalism provides absolute proof that their is no God and that evolution is the truth. I fail to see how this could be the case when mankind is unable to leave the Earth and incapable of time travel.

Scientists are able to observe and experiment with fossil samples and to reconstruct the skeletons of perished ancient animals. They can postulate what would seem to be a rational explanation for the existence of various species but really are stretching to explain how life came to be or has developed.

The greatest stumbling block to evolution is the theory that it is only possible given a huge span of time and the reason that it is a stumbling block is that man has only been a part of the puzzle for a comparatively short time. We have only had the technology to enable us to begin to research evolution for less than three hundred years. So how can we say with any certainty that evolution is the only theory that accurately explains the rise of life over billions of years.

Even those who are not overly religious are reaching for other explanations. Perhaps alien seed ships came through and sowed life on Earth and millions of other planets or maybe ancient aliens had a hand in the formation of early human development and societies here on Earth.

Life is complex and increasing in complexity and any fool can see that it would have taken a being or beings of considerable intelligence and skill to map it out and to initiate the whole process of life and the living world. Regardless of what or who these beings were and what they were called.

 In reality intelligent design is a better fit for the processes that run our universe and the evidence that we have only to look up to see. Personally I have faith that the God of the Hebrews is the one true God = Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The Information Super Highway: A Feast of Information with a Dearth of Truth

I am a teacher and I often talk to students in what could be termed a teachable moment. It's that time when the discussion turns to a subject that is often not a part of the curriculum but is something the students want and need to discuss.

A few days ago the conversation led to religion and being a Christian you would think I could contribute to that discourse. However, pickings were slim because I was not talking to someone who needed to know something. I was talking to some people who knew quite a lot about many things but who didn't understand the quality of the information they had. A veritable famine in the midst of a feast.

The conversation ranged over Christianity, the Crusades, Buddhism, Paganism, the responsibility of Christianity for Wars; If there was a God how could he let there be famine, disease and pestilence.

All that I could say was that I am a Christian and I believe in the Almighty and that He is a just God. I also said that God allows these things to happen because He doesn't have a choice. Satan usurped humanities birthright in the Garden of Eden and God has no choice but to allow this state of affairs to persist because the devil is the Prince of this World. However it will not stay this way forever.

It rapidly became apparent in this conversation that the Wikipedia, Yahoo, Google network of information allows us access to a huge amount of information. The problem is that we tend to accept that knowledge as absolute truth.  However as many intellectuals in the educational institutions are keen to point out it is hard to separate fact from hearsay.

This whole mess of a conversation gave me pause to think about how we can effectively share the truth of the gospel with people who know so much and so little at the same time and I came back to the beginning of my Christian walk. Firstly, you pray that God will bring the people He needs you to speak with to you. Secondly, base your conversation on verses of scripture, for instance:

 Matthew 7  ¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. ¹⁴ For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Share scriptures and lead them back to the truth. As the intellectuals point out the Internet has a huge amount of information but to truly know the facts you need to go to more accurate and acceptable sources. For the Christian this means searching the bible for the real facts and trusting the Holy Spirit of God to apply to the hearts of the lost. God reaches out to those who seek him and those who seek Him shall be found of him.

Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Taking a stand in these times...

We live in remarkable times. From the relative comfort of your living room or workplace you can use modern technology to make your deepest feelings known abroad. No generation that I know of has had this ability or responsibility.

As a Christian I feel a burden to make my light burn brightly and to spread the word of God. To preach the gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord and sow the seeds of a rich harvest. To bring warning of the last days of this age and to sound the alarm of the coming New World Order.

In doing this though it is difficult not to get caught up in the many side issues that abound in the news of each new day. The proponents of the coming New World Order are hitting their straps as they see victory coming within grasp. Trade and Legal treaties like the Trans Pacific Partnership and Trans Atlantic Partnership bring the hope of more jobs and trade opportunities but contain the threat of diminished civil rights and unfair competition from global Corporates.

Although these developments are clear evidence of Bible Prophecy, for instance, the rise of Babylon the Great Harlot in the book Revelation. The translation of which is a great religious and trade entity that arises in the last days of the Age of Grace before the Return of Jesus Christ. The problem I have personally is not becoming mired in this kind of discourse which can be very repetitive and negative.

Another concern is that with current scrutiny of the Internet by Government entities like New Zealand's GCSB there is a need to be careful in what you post. I would be mortified to come to the attention of the authorities for posting articles that were about issues that were moderately important from a Christian standpoint but subversive from a security standpoint. If I am going to be persecuted for anything let it be for making a stand for Jesus Christ.

I guess that what I am finally alluding to is the need to focus on the good things of God but to be aware of what's going on in the world around us. To accept that world powers are working toward the formation of a new world order but that the Almighty has over all control and a purpose in all that is done to bring a wonderful and triumphant end to Sin and establish His Millennium Kingdom.

JAMES 1:22 - BE A DOER OF THE WORD  http://biblehub.com/james/1-22.htm

The Fear of God

I watched a DVD last night called 'The Four Feathers' (2002) staring Heath Ledger, Kate Hudson and Djimon Hounsou as Abou Fatma. Adapted from the book by A.E.W. Mason written 1902 the movie immerses the watcher in the more morally principled lifestyle of the Victorian era and contrasts that with life in the Islamic culture of the Sudan in 1884.

Both cultures are considerably different to the liberal western lifestyle we are familiar with in the early twenty first century. The greatest contrast though for me is between Heath Ledger's character Harry Feversham and Djimon Hounsou's Abou Fatma.

Harry Feversham is a young principled Christian man who has withdrawn from the British army in circumstances which portray him to his friends as a coward leaving the military to avoid serving his country. They send Harry a package containing four white feathers and this causes him to decide to travel to the Sudan with the aim of rejoining the army or at least protecting his friends.

As a result of his exploits and attempts to stay close to his regiment Faversham finds himself travelling across the desert and then being abandoned as a band of new slaves kill their captors and leave him for dead. Harry then attempts to continue on the camel the slaves had left for him because he had stopped one of them from getting a beating.

Dying of heat exhaustion and dehydration he collapses near Abou Fatma as his camel escaped into the wilderness. Fatma takes this as a sign from Allah that he is to protect Harry and so begins a brief but fast friendship of adventure as the two seek to save and protect Harry's friends from the armies of Mardi.


"So what" you say "Has this all to do the fear of God?" Well I have been very impressed by Djimon Hounsou's portrayal of characters with genuinely profound and immensely deep faith. He played Juba in Ridley Scott's 'The Gladiator' and then Abou Fatma in 'The Four Feathers.'

What strikes me about Hounsou is the way he portrays a character of unflinching conviction and unyielding faith in God. He demonstrates the serenity and certainty that comes from absolute conviction that he is about Gods business. He shows the appropriate respect or fear of God. When he is in Gods presence in prayer he is on his knees, head bowed and giving one hundred percent of his attention.

The Four Feathers shows the difference between Islam and the Christianity of the Victorian era and the way in which the Islam of that time incorporated fervent and fearful worship of God into the daily lifestyle. Meanwhile even in Victorian times Christianity was much more informal and people more discreet about their prayer and worship.

Today we Christians treat God as an adjunct to our lives. We relate to him as though he were our best friend always ready to grant our next wish. We seldom go to the house of the Lord to kneel before God. We are rarely contrite in confessing our sins. We rush around in our busy lives and include God in the most informal manner.

I am not suggesting that we convert to Islam. Nor am I suggesting that we revert to the law and Judaism. But I do believe that well founded Christians develop in their lives a healthy fear of  God. We need to understand that God is the Lord and there is no other; There is no God before Him. That He is the Alpha and the Omega; The beginning and the End. That we are at His disposal not He at ours and we are the creation not the Creator.

I believe a big part of having serenity of existence and certainty of purpose comes from having the correct relationship with God. A relationship based on humility and contriteness of spirit before the Almighty God. A relationship that founded on the conviction that 'God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, that who soever believes on Him will inherit eternal life.'

The Impact of Declining Christianity

A couple of weeks ago I went to the funeral of a young woman who took her own life leaving two young children behind for her distraught family to bring up. Today I heard of the death of a man who sent a text message to his friends "Where is everybody when I want to say good bye?" Then during the course of the day yet another young woman sent out a distressed text message which friends responded to in time to prevent her from ending it all.

I would have to ask the question "What in the world is the matter with our society when so many seem to have no hope at all?" Where is the support network that our generation grew up with? Where is the Church in all of this?

The scriptures speak of the need to continue meeting together. Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

Strong, active churches provide strong support networks to encourage and protect the young people of our communities. Churches that are 'on message' share the gospel, teach sound moral principles, and make the scriptures known to their members, old and young alike.

God uses churches to care for his children from cradle to grave. To save them, baptise them, marry them and to bury them. To develop strong Christian foundations in the hearts of believers. To provide encouragement, support, Christian friendship and fellowship. To wrap a cloak around their hearts and minds protecting them from the attacks of the enemy.

Today if you have suicidal thoughts and are intercepted by friends before you succeed. Your friends call the police who don't want you to harm yourself on their watch. They follow protocol, watch you for a while then call the psychologist. He or she talks to you and also watches and assesses you usually looking to treat you and discharge you as fast as possible. Even if you are incarcerated for a period of time the chances are you will soon be back by yourself faced with depression and loneliness and suicidal thoughts.

The police and psychologist don't even know you. You're just a client and they have only to fulfil the obligations placed on them through professional regulation. They are provided by the state in place of the real and loving church community of yesteryear. Is it any wonder so many seek to take their own lives in hopeless despair.

The time is at hand for Christians to get back to church. The price of not belonging to sound bible believing church can be measured in the shattered lives of our children and their young friends. The cost is simply incalculable for they are our pearls of great price. Priceless and irreplaceable. 

Faith

What is Faith in the Christian sense?  Faith is the act of believing in something. Faith is being sure that something is the truth even if it can't be physically verified. Faith is the thing that informs you that what you believe is true when the tide of evidence presented to you decries that you are wrong. It is the spiritual food that sustains your belief when you are persecuted for the cause that you hold dear. Faith is that essential thing that you need to sustain a relationship with GOD. It is the bridge drawn from spirit that is established between your heart and God's when you believe His promise and receive eternal life in the name of His only Son, Jesus Christ. 

Faith is the action that God has always demanded of those in his service. In the Old Testament He asked Noah to begin building a huge wooden ark to carry his family and the animal species required to repopulate the Earth. This ark was for a deluge to happen a century into the future. Abraham, he asked to take his only son, Isaac, to a remote alter in the mountains and to sacrifice him there. Only at the last moment did God stop him  and provide a ram for the sacrifice in place of his son. To Moses, God appeared to in the burning bush commissioning him to perform miracles and to deliver the Israelites from the hand of Pharaoh.

In Joshua 1:5-9 God says to Joshua, Moses servant and the new leader of the nation of Israel "I will be with you; I will not fail you. Be strong and courageous.... Only be strong and very courageous.... Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." In other words God was saying "Joshua I am going to use you to deliver the promised land to my people. Only have faith in Me and I will not fail to go before you and behind you every step of the way. Simply have faith and you will overcome those who stand before you in My Name." And so it has been for the saints of the Living God across the ages until today that Faith is the currency that God looks for in each of us.

Finally, Jesus tells us in Revelation 3:20 "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..." So when you hear Christ knocking on the door to your heart open that  door and He will come in and make His place with you. In plain words if you feel that you have faith that Jesus Christ is standing before you bringing conviction of your sins as burden upon your heart. Then believe on Him and ask him to forgive you and to come into your life and seeing your FAITH He will come in to your heart. Eternal life will be yours because you have faith to believe in Jesus Christ.

Your Minority Report........

Well if you're into Nostradamus, Newton, or simply trying to interpret the book of Revelation. Then another worrying development has occurred and Big Brother may be able to keep track of you much more effectively than he could in the past.

New camera technology combined with visual recognition software is enabling advertisers to customise their advertising at street level to the consumer. This camera can identify whether you are male or female and launch an advert that is gender specific. So as you walk down the street high powered audio visual presentations will begin to promote their wears to you.

It follows that if they can identify your gender using software now and they have the technology for iris recognition in sophisticated banks and high security installations then we are only a matter of months or years from street camera's that can identify you, specifically.You may remember Tom Cruse's character in the film 'Minority Report' being iris scanned and his team being able to triangulate his position from camera's he had passed.

SO, Christians in particular, be aware of how difficult this will make it for Tribulation Period SAINTS to escape the net of Beast when he seeks to persecute the followers of Jesus Christ in those last days of the 'Age of Grace.'