Thursday, June 26, 2008

The Dinosaur Next Door

The above named document was published in the current edition of Acts and Facts (Institute For Creation Research, June 2008, p. 13). This month’s edition was one of their better publications. If you are interested in the assault by Darwinian evolutionists against those in our community who are attempting to make a reasonable and scientific apologetic for Creationism/Intelligent Design, then please read this article. Go here if you wish to sign up for the monthly publication and if you wish to get involved in any way with the subject matter (www.icr.org). They will in no way insult your intelligence. These are world-class scientists who are unapologetic about their faith in the God of Genesis and in His having created all things ex nihilo. As I have alluded to before, the fossil record, when scientifically examined, is on our side.

While you are at it, you might consider ordering a book that I have mentioned before, namely: Evolution: the Fossils Still Say No! by Duane T. Gish (Institute for Creation Research. El Cajon, 2006). ICR offers this book. The back cover says it all: “…Evolutionists may invent ‘just-so’ stories, but they have been completely unsuccessful at showing any scientific evidence for macro-evolution, in the all-important fossil record. This book demonstrates that fact compellingly!” (bold added)

Again, if you are at all animated by the seriousness of the subject matter, read Never Stop Questioning (Beth Mull) in the current publication two or three times (pp. 4-5). The author has “hit the nail on the head”.

Am leaving Friday for Utah with my two grandsons to do some fossil hunting. Hope to have great fellowship and demonstrate that it was the Genesis Flood that laid down all of these (millions and millions of) fossils. Who knows when I will be back?

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

He's Lost It?

Was going to comment on the futility of the current Egyptian brokered "ceasefire" between Hamas and Israel. I thought that I would expose the Hamas Charter and their declared intention to destroy their newly found partner in the ceasing of fire; thought that I would muse about how many Chrisitans would applaud this sham and while I was at it would muse concerning how many Christians were applauding California's legalizing of homosexual marriages. Changed my mind. Let me ask a simple question, fold tent, and just drop the subject. To some this will appear as a feeble attempt to sober our Christian community; to others it will appear arrogant and to others just plain stupid. Nonetheless, here it comes?

To those of us who proclaim the great name of Christ, do we understand that that proclamation makes us all candidates to apostasy? (I Thes. 5:1-6)

Sunday, June 15, 2008

And So With All Of Us

I’ll attempt to keep this one brief since I’ll need to get ready for church soon. As I arose and sat down to read a little this a. m. a thought (one that has vexed many people throughout recent history) surfaced within me and I thought that I would attempt to draw out from within me some kind of a conclusion. The book is “The Coming of the Third Reich” by Richard J. Evans (Penguin Press, 2005). When commenting that “I want to draw something out from within me”, I certainly did not want to appear dramatic. I simply am not sure as to what is going to be concluded. So let us just “bang on the keys” and see what comes out on the other end.

The vexation, of course, surfaces whenever one contemplates just who it was that perpetrated those awful atrocities appended to the history of the Second World War. This is Germany; the land of Goethe, Lessing, Schiller, Beethoven, etc. etc. This is “the land of poets and thinkers” the most cultured country in all of the world - as many have said in commenting on the subject matter. How in the world can such a cultured and educated people do such things? My thought while reading the book this morning surfaced this silent utterance: “But of course they did these things; we are sinful Man. Under similar conditions we all would have done the same”! Now I promised to keep this brief, so I’ll not support with details the culture thing.

The Hebrew People let God down. Had He gone to some place near Tuscany ca. 2000 BC and drawn out some guy named Luigi and formed a people from this guy, we Italians would have let God down; And so with all the peoples of the world. We would all commit atrocities under similar conditions. We are all slaves to our collective sinful natures. In the year 2008, in the midst of the exponential and information age, what atrocities await us – atrocities that we will all participate in? The implications lead us to the conditions uttered by the Lord as found in Matthew 24-25 and particularly by Luke 21. We will betray one another with all of the implications that that awful scenario requires.

But wait, you might say. We are Christians. We do not do such things. Exactly! We are Christians, we do not do such things! We are a “called-out” people. So what “thought from within me” shall I conclude? Perhaps it is this. As we attempt to heal the world in the name of Christ, and the world does not want to be healed, and turns and rends us, will we still be Christians? Will we keep the faith? The thought is this: Christ is in the process of calling us out just as He did Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans. Where is our heart, what is our ethos, where are our treasures? Are our affections and treasures still in Chaldea? We are living in 1933 beloved. There is a wave of evil with tsunami like conditions about to engulf us. The world does not want to be healed by Christ. Only a hungry, Abrahamic-like nature, one that yearns for truth will resist just such a temptation. The wave that currently drives much of the Christian community today may be the 21st century edition of the Third Reich in 1930s Germany. Let’s be careful here and terribly sobered by our current world condition - please!

OK, I lied. Not brief and more than one thought. Have patience with me. Believe me, I will pursue this subject much more in the future.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Blood-Bought?

OK, we’ve been bought. So what does that mean? Peter in addressing those of the faith had this to say about false prophets and teachers:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Pet. 2:1-3)

I won’t go into the implied eschatology of this passage although I believe that false teaching has been robust throughout the history of the man-made edifice known as the church, and further that the conditions alluded to by the Apostle will be especially robust as we approach the close of the age. Rather, let us simply become somewhat sobered by just such a scenario. I was more than a little sobered as I read this passage recently. My thoughts particularly centered on that phrase that claimed that these false teachers will be “even denying the Master who bought them”.

The KJV uses the word Lord, whereas the NASB discriminates a little by using the word Master. I believe that the NASB is the more accurate. The Greek word here is not the usual word for Lord, that being kurios, rather it is the Greek word despotes wherein we get the English word despot. W. E. Vine explains by defining kurios as “a lord who exercises power”. Christ is certainly that. He goes on to define despotes as “one who has absolute ownership and uncontrolled power” over his slave. (Vine, III, 46) Some lexicons add “slave owner” to that definition.

Simon Kristemaker words it thus:

To Jesus has been given all authority and power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). In the Greek, the word is despotes, from which we have the derivative despot. It is closely connected with the verb to buy. In the New Testament, this Greek verb occurs twenty-five times in a commercial setting, “but on five other occasions it describes the ‘buying’ of Christians. This clearly reflects the contemporary terminology of the slave-market.” With his blood Christ has bought his people that they may do his will…Just as a master has bought slaves from whom he expects obedience, so Jesus as sovereign Lord has bought his servants and demands obedience. (New Testament Commentary: Peter & Jude, Grand Rapids: Baker 1993, p. 282)

Do you get the impression that most Christians think of Christ in these terms? I promise you that false teachers who are tending toward heresies and leading others astray don’t think of Him in this way. Does it offend you that you have been bought? Does it offend you that the One who bought you lays claim to be a despot in your life? I hope not. Either we have been “bought with a price”, or we have not. If not, then, we are bastards and not adopted children.

I fear that there are many pseudodidaskaloi (false teachers) out there right now doing exactly what the Apostle warned (is warning) us about, and that there are many who are right now following their sensuality. This is serious. Yes, we have been bought by a Despot, but One who is all-loving, all-compassionate, all-powerful and is soon to return in power. What sort of a servant (slave) ought we to be? We have been blood-bought. Thank God!!!

Monday, June 9, 2008

Fire Synapses Fire!

About ten months ago I discovered that Andre Watts was going to appear with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra performing Rachmaninoff’s 2nd Piano Concerto sometime in June. Well now, my Pepsi-sniffing granddaughter is getting pretty serious about her piano lessons so I thought that I would take her out on a date and we would attend. By the time that I could finally purchase our tickets in May, we had grown to eight. One of my other granddaughters started to sustain with her piano lessons by this time also so I included her as well. My wife and I have fond memories of this piece dating back to our days at Pasadena City College so she wanted to go as well. By the time we attended, our party consisted of one each: daughter, son, daughter-in-law, piano teacher, two granddaughters, wife, and I. By the way, I should mention that this other granddaughter is getting pretty good at “sniffing” as well. Oh yes, I almost forgot that there was also going to be a performance of something called the fourth symphony by some guy named Tchaikovsky. We all met at an Italian restaurant near the concert hall and did what was proper and then attended.

OK, so with Kenzi and Tasha sitting on my right hand, the concert begins. When it was all over? Good food, much love and fellowship, a whole new world for two young and beautiful girls, a world-class artist playing with a world-class orchestra, passionate music composed by two of the giants, and a lasting memory. Oh by-the-way, this Tchaikovsky guy’s not too terrible awful bad either, huh? The PSO is just down the freeway from us, so we will be doing this more often. Girls, I hope that you want to do this again. Grandpa does. OK, let’s go from the sublime to the mundane.

In the subsequent days, I have dwelt on two thoughts: The first is just a musing. How in the world can mankind produce music like this and still murder (etc.) like we do? Sin must be incredibly powerful beyond our imagination. I’ll let that lie for a future blog.

The second thought surfaced when I poked Kenzi and Sassas in the ribs. It appears that in history a few of the great composers who were also great pianists would love to insert sections into their compositions that were so difficult to play that few pianists could “keep up”. When the soloist got to one of these passages, and Kenzi and Sassas were looking, I did the “pokin”. Andre Watts’ hands were like a blur. I poked, and Kenzi said “I know, I know”. Here is the mundane side of it: “Evolution can’t do this! Think about it. The human physiology has to memorize this composition. At the right time, the artist must respond. The mind tells the artist to play this note and at this time. The chemistry of the body must produce the electro motive force to generate the ability for the synapses to fire. A cybernetic response is demanded of the human physiology. Traveling at lightning speed the synapses fire, the motor system responds instantly, muscles activate instantly, and memory continues. There is no time for the human system to relax. Memory then demands another response – instantly, then another and another and another. Cybernetic feedback demands continuous responses for the entire composition! It doesn’t matter whether the artist’s hands “are a blur”, or not. The mind must say “do this” and the motor system must respond instantly and continuously. And the result? Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto! Yes, I can understand how the shepherd David must have felt when he wrote the 139th Psalm.

Thanx girls; let’s do it again.

Monday, June 2, 2008

If - Then

We ran into this handsome fellow Sunday in our adult bible study. He’s another old friend who shows up every once in a while in my life.

My son, if you will receive my sayings,
And treasure my commandments within you,
Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will discern the fear of the Lord,
And discover the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. (Prov. 2:1-6)

Perhaps you’ve noticed that we Christians are wringing our hands a lot nowadays. As we perceive the world-condition, hope does not seem to be triumphant in our lives. Constantly we are lamenting the fact that righteousness is not exactly winning the day. “If only we would do this, then that would happen” we declare. “If only the church would become more active, then we would heal our government”, etc, etc. Wherever you may be wringing your hands, I’ll leave it up to you to “fill in the blanks”. Actually, I am becoming increasingly annoyed whenever I hear or read about what will happen when we “do what is right”. Christ requires of us that we do what is right. The problem is that the man-made edifice known as the church is not going to do “what is right”. We are not going to turn our government around to embrace a state of righteousness. It is not the inclination of the world community to respond to whatever emasculated call to righteousness that we are fumbling over. Are you doing what is right? Do so with vigor. It is what Christ demands of us all. Be proactive in obedience to His call in your life. You will be healing individuals and whole communities as Christ sees fit. We are a remnant people. He is in the process of calling us out into a remnant-like community. Want to have more hope and less hand-wringing in your life? Let’s try Solomon’s advice.

If we treasure His commandments,
If we incline our hearts,
If we cry for discernment,
If we lift up our voices,
If we seek her as we would silver and hidden treasures,

Then, we will discern and fear Him and have hope as He sees fit.

Hard work, diligence, yearning for Him, and even some agonizing seems to be required here. Let’s go for it. The night may be soon gone.