Scott's Blog - 8/31/06

That's Entertainment?

They call it "Pushing the envelope". In a desire to make an artistic statement, stir controversy or even just to put people in theater seats, movie makers will attempt to take the medium where it has never gone before. 

But how far is too far?

SHOCK: PRESIDENT BUSH ASSASSINATED IN NEW MOVIE

http://www.drudgereport.com/

The art form here has become a familiar one. Through the wonders of computer generated graphics, fictional characters can be added to historical footage (as in the Tom Hanks movie "Forrest Gump"). But director Gabriel Range has taken this format into the future, taking current footage of actual people and manipulating them to stage a fictional assassination.

The producers go out of their way to emphasize the movie is not intended to bash the president or wish him ill.

The film is never a personal attack on Bush; Range simply seeks to explore the potential consequences that might follow from the President’s policies and actions. Toronto International Film Festival

Far be it from me to question a film maker's intentions, but perhaps lost in the blinding light of state of the art computer graphics is the fact we are dealing with real people here, real people whose lives (and even deaths) are now subject to the whims of a director. This seems like an almost creepy invasion not only of privacy, but of personal autonomy.

I had the same reaction when I saw a similar case of artistic license run amok in Martin Scorsese's controversial film "The Last Temptation of Christ". Following the book by Nikos Kazantzakis, it portrays Jesus as a reluctant Messiah. The Jesus of "Temptation" goes as far as to makes crosses for the Romans so that God will leave him alone. 

Why make such a distorted portrait of Jesus? As Martin Scorsese explained, "What I've tried to create is a Jesus who, in a sense, is just like any other guy on the street. In his struggle to reach God and find God, he reflects all our struggles. I thought it would give us all hope."

But there is a fatal flaw in this thinking. Can we "create" our own version of Jesus without sacrificing truth? Can we find real hope in an edited, revamped Messiah who is, at the end of the day, someone less than Christ? To give the starving a picture of food, rather than the real meal, hardly seems an act of mercy and compassion.

Christians rightly objected to this film because it was untrue to the historical reality of the life of Jesus. Those who love Jesus would no more want to see his character assassinated on the big screen than they would want to see their parents portrayed as kleptomaniacs. When we are dealing with real people, with real lives, and real people who love them, perhaps their needs to be a measure of restraint.  All rights of free expression arguments aside, I wonder if Gabriel Range ever thought, "What would Laura Bush think if she saw her husband gunned down on the screen? Just because we can create a scene like this, does it mean we really should?"

It is the odd melding of speculative fiction with a docu-drama style format that I find especially troubling here. Manipulating the real lives of people to make an artistic point is essentially an attempt to re-write reality. It carries the strange sense of someone trying to play God. There is an old saying that goes, "We should not play God until we have learned to be genuine human beings. And once we become genuine human beings we will not want to play God."

The shocking picture of a simulated assassination reminded me of a constructive answer to this controversy.

1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:1-4)

Have you prayed for George W. Bush lately?

Scott's Blog - 8/30/06

AWOL On The Home Front?

Let's open up the SRL mailbag and take on one of the most practically important spiritual issues of our day!

Hello Scott, Thanks for your program.  My question is, I have 4 children ages 14, 13, 5, and 6 plus a full time job.  Busy busy.  But I wanted to know if my husband who is a Christian is not leading us in Bible study or Devotions or prayer. Should I step up and teach our children or should I wait for my husband to take the leadership in our home?

DeLaRouchfoucald once said, "True love is like ghosts, which many talk about but few have seen." I'm beginning to believe that same principle applies to the idea of men actually being the spiritual leaders within their homes! 

To be fair, there would be few men who would disagree with the idea that they should be the chief one responsible before God for what happens on the home front. Almost instinctively men know they should be setting the pace for the rest of the family in their collective walk with the Lord. 

The big question is, how do you do that exactly?

Many born again Christian men will share that they were the first in their own families of origin to be saved. That tells us that there was no positive example of a spiritual leader that they could pattern themselves after.  There are also those who were raised in a home that had a Christian reputation among outsiders, but no reality behind closed doors. The old adage that the doctor's kid's are always the sickest on the block seemed to apply. Perhaps Dad had a position of prominence in the church, but was so invested in others in the fellowship there was no energy left for his own family. The vast majority of Christian family men today likely either had no example, or a bad example of spiritual leadership in the home.

It is almost a cliché to point out that most men hate to stop and ask for directions. Imagine how much tougher it is to stop and ask for directions on being a man of God around the house? 

So what does the Bible say on this crucial subject? I believe there are three crucial principles from God's Word that can free men to enter in to the place of blessing that God intended their role as spiritual leaders in the home to be.

The Position of A Spiritual Leader In The Home

The first question we have to answer in our quest for true spiritual leadership is not "What do I do?", but "Who am I to be?"

1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. (I Peter 5:1-3)

Notice what the primary job description of a true spiritual leader is in this passage. It is to be an example. Now here is an eye opening thought - Each of us is already an example! People will tend to look at our lives rather than listen to our words. We may be a good example of someone who has a growing love relationship with God, or a bad example. Each day it is a choice. And the choice begins in our own hearts before the Lord. If I want my family to have a strong relationship with the Lord, is it obvious that relationship is alive and kicking in me? If I want my children to fall in love with God's Word, do I take the time to read it daily for my own edification? A true spiritual leader knows that a real relationship with God, like a good infection, is better caught than taught. Men need to realize that for better or for worse, we are an example. We are spiritual leaders. We are leading our family by example whether we realize it or not.

The Priority of a Spiritual Leader In the Home

The second question we have to answer in our quest for true spiritual leadership is, "What kind of a spiritual leader would I have liked to have had in my home growing up?"

4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:4)

Stop and remember back to when you were growing up. What one thing bugged you more than anything else in your relationship with your Dad? More often than not, it was when we had a sense that he were not being fair with us. Or that he expected things out of us he was not willing to do himself. If you want to provoke your children to wrath, the surest way is to be a hypocrite. But conversely, what made you look at your Dad and say, "I hope I can be a man like him some day!"? Wasn't it the times you saw him act with integrity and consistency, sticking to principle even when it cost him personally? This is the compass heading of every true spiritual leader. We need to remember that one day our children will be asked to share what meant most about their relationship with us. What will they say on that day? Seeking a consistent, unhypocritical love for God and others will set a worthy path for our children to follow.

The Practice of a Spiritual Leader in the Home

So how should a spiritual leader actually function around the house? Should they lead in times of family devotions? Initiate group prayer times? Conduct a home Bible study? Actually there is a lot more freedom here than some of our traditional ideas on the subject.

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:4-7)

Paul's point here is interesting. Not everyone will have a cookie cutter endowment of spiritual gifts. God gives each of different abilities and gifts. The secret of fruitful ministry is not to strive to imitate a gift we don't have, but to identify and impart to others the gifts that God has given to us. In the home, some men will feel very comfortable leading a home study. Others will distinguish themselves through selfless service. Others will have a gift of wisdom in problem solving, or providing for needs financially. This is just as much a form of genuine spiritual leadership as leading a prayer, or doing family devotions.

I do believe that it is a strength for the family to have a spiritual rallying point somewhere in the day. Perhaps it could take place a few minutes before you hit the ground running in the morning. Get a hold of a good daily devotional that includes a Scripture and a few comments that can be read in a moment or two. Involve the whole family in the process by asking the children to read the Scripture, or to pray for the family that day. It can start with a small, no stress, no strain part of the morning routine. But coupled with an understanding of what real spiritual leadership is all about, a revolution can take place in the home!

Scott's Blog - 8/29/06

Lessons From An Open Mike

Have you ever been reading through the Word and come across a passage that just stops you dead in your tracks? The kind of Scripture that makes you think, "I hope this isn't saying what I think it's saying?" Try this one on for size!

35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:35-37)

I couldn't help but be reminded of Jesus' words when I read about an almost nightmarish technical meltdown that happened today on CNN.

Oops! CNN Airs Anchor's Girl talk Over Bush Speech

I have to confess that as a pastor who uses a wireless microphone on a regular basis, I felt great compassion for Kyra Phillips. We have all heard the stories about inadvertant broadcasts from the bathroom made when someone forgets to flip the good old off switch! I always get the sneaky feeling that my day will come. It isn't a question of "if" but "when"!

But maybe the idea of the "off switch" has lead us a little bit astray. If Jesus is not being figurative in Matthew 12 (and there is no reason to think He is) we are all on mike, all the time, with "every idle word" being broadcast before a heavenly audience!

Sort of makes us want to reconsider some of our speech patterns, doesn't it?

Like the ones that begin with,

"I know this doesn't sound spiritual, but.."

"You know, I'd die if this got out, but.."

" Just between you and me, I think so and so is..."

James tells us "No man can tame the tongue." (James 3:8) 

But God can change our hearts through the power of His Holy Spirit. 

If the notion of seeing your whole life as an open mike experience makes you a little uneasy, apply the Psalm 139:23-24 solution to your soul.

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
         Try me, and know my anxieties;
 24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
         And lead me in the way everlasting.

When our speech is less than what we would like to hear repeated when we stand before the Lord, ask His forgiveness. (I John 1:9) Go to the people who have been damaged by your remarks and ask their forgiveness. (Matthew 5:23-24) Ask the Lord to give you the same heart He has for people. (Ephesians 5:1-2)

Never say anything about anyone that you wouldn't want repeated in God's presence.

The mike is open!

Scott's Blog - 8/28/06

To Die For?

The famous Nazi concentration camp survivor Corrie Ten Boom told the story of a group of believers who met in an underground church in the former Soviet Union. During one of their gatherings the door burst open. A group of KGB soldiers rushed in to the room. Their commander said, "This meeting is illegal. Any of you who wish to renounce Christ may leave with no questions asked. If any of you stay you will be executed. You have five minutes to make your decision." 

Some in the group lost their nerve, got up and left. The majority stayed and prayed for strength to face their moment of death. 

After five minutes had gone by, the commander ordered the doors closed and locked.

He then turned to the frightened believers and said, "Brothers and sisters. We are Christians too. We did not want to fellowship with anyone unwilling to die for our Savior."

I couldn't help but hearken back to that account when I read of the release of Fox News correspondent Steve Centanni.

Fox News Journalists Free After Declaring Conversion

Abid Katib/Getty Images

Olaf Wiig, a cameraman for Fox News, was greeted with a hug after he and the reporter Steve Centanni, behind him to the right, were released by the Holy Jihad Brigades. They had been held for 13 days in Gaza.

By STEVEN ERLANGER

Published: August 28, 2006

JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 — Two journalists kidnapped in Gaza were released unharmed on Sunday after being forced at gunpoint to say on a videotape that they had converted to Islam.

The two journalists for Fox News — Steve Centanni, 60, an American correspondent, and Olaf Wiig, 36, a freelance cameraman from New Zealand — were held for 13 days in an abandoned garage in the Gaza Strip as hostages of a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades.

“I’m really fine, healthy in good shape and so happy to be free,” Mr. Centanni told Fox News. He said the two had been forced at gunpoint to say that they were converting to Islam and had taken Muslim names. “I have the highest respect for Islam,” he said. “But it was something we felt we had to do because they had the guns, and we didn’t know what ... was going on.”

Earlier on Sunday, their captors delivered a video showing the two men in Arab robes reading from the Koran to indicate their conversion.

Certainly desperate men make desperate moves. I have no idea where Steve Centanni or Olaf Wiig stand spiritually. But their experience certainly can be an interesting diagnostic tool concerning where we stand spiritually.

Imagine being kidnapped by Islamic extremists. They take you to a werehouse filled with loud mechanical equipment, perfect for covering the sound of gun shots. They bring out their automatic rifles and a video camera. In broken English they tell you that you must convert to Islam or die. 

You realize that converting to Islam means denying that Jesus is God, or even the Son of God. It means affirming that there is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.

The red light of the video camera comes on. Your captors beckon to you. Say the words.

What do you do?

Say the right thing to survive? Maybe tell people you weren't serious, or had your fingers crossed? Sin now, and seek forgiveness later?

Or make a stand?

You might be saying, "Whew! I'm glad I live in the land of the free. I will never have to worry about that!"

A  young woman named Rachel Scott probably thought the same thing.

Rachel Joy Scott was a beautiful 17 year old girl who wanted to make an impact on the world through kindness and compassion. Her life ended on April 20, 1999 when she was shot and killed at Columbine High School, but her legacy has now reached around the world. Her story has impacted millions of people through a series of books, television documentaries, and live events where people heard her family speak about her. Rachel left behind 6 diaries that were full of amazing predictions through poetry, pictures, and statements. She wrote that she would die at a young age. She wrote that she would be a homicide victim. She referred to the halls of Columbine as the "halls of a tragedy" in one of her last poems. But she also wrote about impacting the world. She shared with her friends that she would have an impact on the world, but that she would not live to be 20 years old! At age 13 she wrote on the back of an old dresser: "These hands belong to Rachel Joy Scott, and will someday touch millions of people's hearts". Her final drawing inspired a book, written by her parents, called "Rachel's Tears". That drawing was a picture of her eyes shedding 13 tears that touch a rose and turn to blood drops. The rose is growing out of a Columbine plant and is connected to a verse from the Bible that says, "Greater love has no man than this, that a man would lay his life down for his friends". Within 2 hours of Rachel drawing that picture 13 people had been killed at Columbine: A teacher and 12 students. That week was Easter, or Passover Week, and just 2,000 years earlier another teacher and 12 students had impacted the world.

Rachel was ready for her defining moment. Will we be?

Scott's Blog - 8/25/06

Is The Stem Cell Debate Over?

One of the most emotionally wrenching debates in the pro-life/pro-choice controversy has centered around embryonic stem cell research. Brought into the spot light by the courageous struggles of high profile celebrities like Michael J. Fox and Christopher Reeve, the process was hailed as the potential key to cures for cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and even paralysis. The problem? In order to harvest these cells, an embryo has to be destroyed. If one believes life begins at conception, this means that such potential cures come to us at the cost of non consenting human life.

As we have detailed in this space, not only Scripture (Psalm 139), but even science confirm that your life and mine began at the moment of conception. We have also seen that stem cells harvested from even the fat cells of adults have been far more effective in obtaining cures and therapies than the often uncontrollable stem cells obtained from embryos.

But the debate goes on. Although the current score is around 88-0 in terms of actual therapies and cures in favor of adult stem cells over embryonic stem cells, there is still the big "What if?" question looming. What if we could fully develop the potential of embryonic stem cells? What if the cure for paralysis or Parkinson's lies in this line of research? Should the Biblical convictions of some keep these potential benefits from others who don't share that world view?

A pitched, emotional battle? You bet. But a recent breakthrough might render the issue moot.

Stem cell breakthrough to challenge Bush objections

By Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor of The Times

A stem cell breakthrough by American scientists is set to overturn ethical objections to potentially live-saving research.

They have found how to make stem cells from embryos without destroying the embryo in the process - an advance that could open the door to billions of dollars in research funding.

Stem-cell research, which specialists believe holds the key to treating many diseases, has been crippled in the US by the religious Right, backed by the Bush Administration. Federal support for such research has been banned because it involves the destruction of embryos.

Now a team at Advanced Cell Technology - a private company - has found that it is possible to create human stem cells using one or two cells from an early embryo, without doing any damage to the embryo.

In theory, the technique could be used to create both a baby and a set of immortal stem cells unique to that baby that might be used decades later to cure the baby - now adult - of diseases such as Parkinson’s or heart disease.

Much more likely, however, is that it will be used as a research technique to advance stem-cell science.

Is the debate over? There are still questions that remain about the need for "support cells" that can only be obtained by killing another embryo that shadow this technique. But there is a very important principle that this development illustrates. Principle is not an impediment to real progress. If the pro life perspective hadn't been brought to this debate, chances are this potentially promising research would have never been pursued. 

We also need to realize that the end, no matter how noble, never justifies the means. Simply drawing a line of time ("Oh, the embryo is only a few hours old! "), development ("Oh, the embryo will never know what happened to it") or appearance ("Oh, the embryo not a person, it's just a clump of cells!") doesn't change the fact that we are dealing with a living entity. An entity that has the same genetic endowment as you or I do. An entity that is only different than you or me on the basis of time and nurture.

There is a marvelously simple, yet applicable Scripture that can give us perspective on these kind of issues.

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)

Believers should welcome potentially life saving developments in science and medicine. But we should also continue to stand as a voice of conscience and God's truth to make sure these breakthroughs do not come at the expense of the innocent and defenseless.

Scott's Blog - 8/24/06

When Is a Planet Not a Planet?

When I went to bed last night, my college education assured me of three indisputable facts. There were seven continents, seven seas and nine planets in our solar system (Trust me! I had to memorize them in order for my final!)

When I woke up this morning, the universe had changed. The seas and continents were still in good working order. But as of today there are only eight planets in our solar system.

What happened? Was there a collision? An explosion? Did a black hole gobble up part of our solar family like Pac Man?

No. An even more catastrophic force was at work. A committee held a meeting!

Capping years of intense debate, astronomers resolved today to demote Pluto in a wholesale redefinition of planethood that is being billed as a victory of scientific reasoning over historic and cultural influences. But already the decision is being hotly debated.

Officially, Pluto is no longer a planet.

"Pluto is dead," said Caltech researcher Mike Brown, who spoke with reporters via a teleconference while monitoring the vote. The decision also means a Pluto-sized object that Brown discovered will not be called a planet.

"Pluto is not a planet," Brown said. "There are finally, officially, eight planets in the solar system."

The vote involved just 424 astronomers who remained for the last day of a meeting of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in Prague.

"I'm embarrassed for astronomy," said Alan Stern, leader of NASA's New Horizon's mission to Pluto and a scientist at the Southwest Research Institute. "Less than 5 percent of the world's astronomers voted."

"This definition stinks, for technical reasons," Stern told SPACE.com. He expects the astronomy community to overturn the decision. Other astronomers criticized the definition as ambiguous.

The resolution

The decision establishes three main categories of objects in our solar system.

• Planets: The eight worlds from Mercury to Neptune.

• Dwarf Planets: Pluto and any other round object that "has not cleared the neighborhood around its orbit, and is not a satellite."

• Small Solar System Bodies: All other objects orbiting the Sun.

Pluto and its moon Charon, which would both have been planets under the initial definition proposed Aug. 16, now get demoted because they are part of a sea of other objects that occupy the same region of space. Earth and the other eight large planets have, on the other hand, cleared broad swaths of space of any other large objects.

So with one committee vote, the indisputable facts concerning our solar system, are, well...not so indisputable any more. In fact, Alan Stern of NASA went on to say the language of the resolution was flawed;

 It requires that a planet "has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit." But Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Neptune all have asteroids as neighbors.

"It's patently clear that Earth's zone is not cleared," Stern told SPACE.com. "Jupiter has 50,000 trojan asteroids," which orbit in lockstep with the planet.

Stern called it "absurd" that only 424 astronomers were allowed to vote, out of some 10,000 professional astronomers around the globe.

"It won't stand," he said. "It's a farce."

Stern said astronomers are already circulating a petition that would try to overturn the IAU decision.

So what can we learn from this "Is you is, or is you ain't a planet?" controversy?

The "assured results of scientific inquiry" may not be as assured as we have been lead to believe. Scientific inquiry is in a constant state of flux. The "settled issues" of today may very well be a'moulderin' in the dust bin of obsolescence tomorrow.

For instance in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, two of the main pieces of evidence to support the theory of evolution were the remains of the Piltdown Man , and a series of drawings by the German scientist Ernst Haeckel that purported to show man's evolutionary history replayed in the development of the human embryo. In the movie "Inherit the Wind", we watched as poor, ignorant William Jennings Bryan was slam dunked by the overwhelming scientific certainty of evolution. But as Dr. John Morris observes,

Defense attorney Clarence Darrow hoped to introduce much scientific evidence against creation, and had assembled an impressive array of professors. When the judge ruled scientific testimony irrelevant to the case, their testimony was read into the transcripts without the jury present.

As we look back, we see that each one of the arguments for evolution are now known to be wrong. Featured prominently were supposed vestigial organs, like the appendix or tonsils, once touted as leftovers from an evolutionary past, but now recognized as functioning. Embryonic recapitulation, the idea that the human fetus goes through various evolutionary stages in the mother's womb, surfaced, but this whole idea was disproved decades ago.

Most memorable were the fossil ape-men, but consider the list of evidences: Neanderthal man, known to be fully human; Piltdown man, later discovered to have been due to a fraudulent combination of human skullcap with an ape's jaw; Java man, consisting of an ape skull and a human femur, found separated by many meters, and later disavowed by its discoverer; and Australopithicus africanus, the skull of an infant ape which typically bore a slight resemblance to a human child's skull. Not entered into the trial, but aired in the press, was Nebraska man, America's own ape-man and thus very popular. This fossil consisted of only one tooth, later discovered to be that of a pig.

Often times we as Christians can find ourselves intimidated by the latest finding of "science" splashed across the front page of the newspaper. Two things to remember - First, science is done by scientists. Scientists by definition are human beings. Human beings have prejudices, blind spots and philosophical biases that color the way they look at the world. One man's planet is another man's "dwarf". Did Pluto change at all between yesterday and today? No. But a vote by 400 plus scientists changed the "facts" we will find in next year's text books. It all comes down to definition and interpretation.

One of the silliest arguments I have heard against a Biblical view of origins states, "We will put our facts up against yours any time!" Time out! We are all dealing with the same facts. The difference is how we interpret them.

The second thing we need to remember is that although man's perspective is subject to change without notice, God's perspective never changes.

 89 Forever, O LORD,
         Your word is settled in heaven.
 90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
         You established the earth, and it abides.

The ever changing speculations of man, or the timeless perspective of God who made all things. Which perspective will we trust?

Scott's Blog - 8/23/06

Prophet or Loss?

Does God still speak today? If so, how can we discern His voice from a clever counterfeit? What does God have to say about a prophet for hire? All these questions and more will be answered as we open the SRL mailbag!

Scott,
 I really enjoy your radio show & especially your blogs.
 Would you please tell me if this is Biblical or not....
 There are churches that you can stand in line in the lobby or wherever, & request "a word" or "a prophecy" for yourself.  Some charge a minimal fee for this & some do not.
 I do not feel in my Spirit this is right; that it is fortune telling.  But I cannot find where the Bible talks about this.  I know in the Old Testament the Kings requested this, but I don't believe it was done in the New Testament.
 Can you please help me understand this?
 Thank you.
 Sincerely,
 Peggy

Thanks, Peggy for a very intriguing question! To get a good grip on this issue we have to answer three very important questions.

Does God still speak to people individually, supernaturally today?  

The Bible tells us this is possible.

In the book of Acts we see God speaking a specific message to believers gathered in a group setting.

 1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Locus of Cymene, Manage who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. (Acts 13:1-3)

We also see examples of the Lord speaking to people individually.

9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city." (Acts 18:9-10)

This ministry of the Holy Spirit providing guidance in specific life situations is listed as part of the gifts of the Spirit in I Corinthians 12:7-8.

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit

There is no evidence within the New Testament that such gifts of the Spirit will cease until the Lord comes again. (See I Corinthians 13:8-10)

How can we know the Lord has really spoken to us?

The good news is that God does speak to his children in wonderfully specific ways in our day and age. The sobering news is that we will also encounter clever counterfeits of the real deal. The Bible tells us we have to be critical spiritual consumers!

 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (I John 4:1)

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. (I Thessalonians 5:19-22)

Here we see a real challenge. How can we avoid quenching the Spirit on the one hand, without becoming gullibly vulnerable to deception on the other?

The key word is "discernment".

The Bible gives us three key ways to evaluate any spiritual message that comes our way.

Does It Come To Pass?

21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

The test of a true prophet is accuracy. If a person is really in touch with the Lord they will be right on 100% of the time. Close may count in horseshoes and hand grenades, but not when someone says, "I have a message from God for you."

Does It Connect Us to Christ?

 1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

Another test of a true word from God is detailed here. Does the experience  foster deeper dependency not on signs and wonders, but the Savior? A real danger of being in a situation where the Lord speaks personally today, is the all too human tendency to demand another sign tomorrow. Suddenly, simply spending time in with the Lord and His Word, just isn't as exciting as being at that meeting where miracles happen. People will say, "But people were really healed!" or "This person really told me what was happening in my life!" But we need to remember that a sign is only valuable if it points us in the right direction. A true word from the Lord will cause us to draw closer to Him, not to base our relationship with God on an over the top spiritual experience.

Does It Conform To The Word?

A true message from God will perfectly line up with what God has already told us in His Word, the Bible.

19 And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:19-20)

But a true message from the Lord will not only conform to the truth of God's Word, but also to the character that a true minister of the Word is called to demonstrate.

3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, 4 he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. (I Timothy 6:3-5)

In the situation you describe, Peggy, it seems that there are two unbiblical practices afoot. First, to say that you can come up to a person and they will automatically have a word from the Lord for you, seems a bit presumptuous. What if the Lord had decided that we really don't need a supernatural word from Him at this time? Secondly, to associate such a gift with a donation is contrary to one of the most basic principles of ministry Jesus laid out for His disciples - "Freely you have received. Freely give." (Matthew 10:8)

Keep these principles of discernment at the forefront of your mind and you won't be led astray!

Scott's Blog - 8/22/06

The Mahdi Was Supposed To Come And All I Got Was This Stupid Oil Rig

Remember those t-shirts that were big a few years ago?

"My Parents Went To Hawaii And All I Got Was This Stupid T-Shirt"

I wonder if there were shirts with our headline selling in Tehran today?

As many of you who follow Scott's Blog are aware, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad had postponed issuing a response to demands to abandon their nuclear weapons program until today. August 22nd had been identified as the commemoration of the supposed flight of Mohammad on a half man/half winged horse from Mecca, to Heaven with a short stop at "Al Quds" which has been speculated to be Jerusalem.

 There have been rumors that Ahmadinejhad, a devout believer in the soon arrival of the Imam Mahdi, had selected this date as the time for Iran's "answer to the world" because he believed his messiah would arrive today. (See Scott's Blog 8/8/06)

The worry has been that an unhinged fanatic like Ahmadinejhad might seize this day as the chance to initiate the prophesized global war that would usher in the return of the Mahdi. As Princeton University's Bernard Lewis commented in the Wall Street Journal-

"In Islam as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time -- Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the US about nuclear development by Aug. 22," which this year corresponds "to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,' usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1).

"This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind."

So what did the Iranians do on this fateful day?

Iranian Troops Fire on Romanian Oil Rig

The Associated Press
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 12:05 PM

That's it? An overheated commercial dispute? We were expecting the apocalypse!

I guess the whole world can take a bit of a breather. 

Or can we? 

Iran shows absolutely no signs of backing down from their nuclear ambitions. Through their Hezbollah proxies they have achieved a high status stalemate with Israel, with the world community showing absolutely no willingness to enforce a UN resolution calling for Hezbollah to disarm. The discovery that the most effective blows against Israel were accomplished by Russian made weapons sold to Syria and Iran and smuggled to Hezbollah merited a yawn in the UN Security council.

All told, Mr. Ahmadinejhad has had a very successful year. And time is on his side. The longer the world blusters, dithers and sees meaningless sanctions tied up in committees, the longer the Iranians have to realize their nuclear ambitions.

August 22nd has come and gone in Tehran. But the spiritually motivated hatred of Israel hasn't seen more promising days since 1938.

More and more we are seeing the stage set for a fateful prophecy found in the book of Zechariah to be fulfilled.

2 “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. 3 And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. (Zechariah 12:2-3)

Scott's Blog - 8/21/06

We Hold These Opinions To Be Self Evident?

It started out so innocently. There in 9th grade Civics Class, our teacher uttered the immortal words -

"Nothing is really right or wrong. It all depends on your point of view."

In 1972, that seemed like a breath of fresh air. Who needed all the pointless traditions of the past? Didn't all that "Leave It to Beaver" mentality get us knee deep in a pointless war in Viet Nam? We need a new set of ethics for a new world. If something seems right to you, and you are really not hurting anybody, go for it! I mean, why not?

Without realizing it, our young teachers still reeling from "Sacred '67" and "The Summer of Love", were downloading to a new impressionable generation the seemingly harmless, tolerance based world view called Relativism. 

You go your way. I'll go mine. If we meet in the middle it's groovy, man.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

A scratch under the tie-dyed veneer of that pop philosophy reveals some pretty dangerous things lurking underneath.

Like - If truth is in the eye of the beholder, and all points of view are equally valid, does that mean I am required to honor the beliefs of the KKK member next door, as long as he doesn't act on his hatred?

Like- If there really is no such thing as right and wrong, why should I consider hurting others as wrong?

Like - If we are to tolerate all points of view, does that include intolerance?

The dark secret underlying the "Age of Aquarius" is not hard to spot. Man, not God, is the measure of all things. There either is no God, or He hasn't spoken to us, so ask the man in your heart for the answer and hope it will all work out in the end.

The reason I have invited you to this philosophical "flashback" is because we are discovering today that ideas really do have consequences. Relativistic thinking is still doing quite well, but may be about to negatively impact our lives in some of the most basic and practical ways imaginable.

Consider the future of one of the most taken for granted aspects of our society - human rights.

This troubling observation was made by NY Times writer Christopher Caldwell today.

Just hours before the police arrested 24 British-born Muslims suspected of plotting to blow up as many as 10 airliners over the Atlantic, the British home secretary, John Reid, gave a comprehensive description of how Tony Blair’s government saw the war on terror. Reid, who probably knew the raids were coming, called international terrorism the gravest threat to Britain since World War II and attacked civil libertarians as people who “just don’t get it.” He highlighted a speech that Blair had made little more than a week earlier. Global terrorism, Blair said then, “means traditional civil liberty arguments are not so much wrong as just made for another age.”

Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images

 If you wanted to figure out how the airline plot will change the West, Blair’s words would be a good place to start. Fiery speeches have abounded in the five years since Sept. 11 2001, but this is a radical departure. Blair was not trying to buck us up and steel our resolve by saying that we’re at war and that we’ll have to pitch in and sacrifice our liberties for a while. He was saying that war has shown many of our liberties to be illusory. The “civil liberties” we know do not bubble up from natural law or from something timeless and universal in the human character. They may be significant accomplishments, but they are temporal ones, bound to certain stages of technology or to certain styles of social organization. Maybe there was something like an Age of Civil Liberties, Blair was telling us, but it is over.

A brief time out for an important question. Where did our concept of civil liberties come from?

The Declaration of Independence is a good place to find an answer.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Notice the source of our civil liberties. They are not granted by a government. They are not granted by a majority vote. They are given to us by our Creator. No man or human agency can take them away.

So what happens when we deny that there is a Creator, and He has spoken?

Civil rights become something that government, the next election, or even the results of a Gallup Poll can grant or take away. 

CS Lewis used to have great fun with people who argued "by the clock on the wall." You've probably heard people say, "You don't mean to tell me you believe that sort of thing in these modern days, do you?"  He would point out that if something is genuinely true, it would be equally true at 10 in the morning as it would be at 10 at night. It would equally be true this year, as last year. It would equally be true five hundred years ago and five hundred years from now. He would preface his answer by saying, "I don't know what the time on the clock has to do with this, but..."

If we deny that there is a God and that he has spoken to us, then even our most basic rights are no longer "endowed by our Creator". They are only a quaint artifact of a time before weapons of mass destruction and the global war on terror. Inalienable rights have become "outdated".

This moral relativism and arguing by the clock can even make an impact inside the church these days. Consider the headline making decision of a Baptist church in upstate New York.

WATERTOWN, N.Y. - The minister of a church that dismissed a female Sunday School teacher after adopting what it called a literal interpretation of the Bible says a woman can perform any job — outside of the church.

The First Baptist Church dismissed Mary Lambert on Aug. 9 with a letter explaining that the church had adopted an interpretation that prohibits women from teaching men. She had taught there for 54 years.

The letter quoted the first epistle to Timothy: "I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

The Rev. Timothy LaBouf, who also serves on the Watertown City Council, issued a statement saying his stance against women teaching men in Sunday school would not affect his decisions as a city leader in Watertown, where all five members of the council are men but the city manager who runs the city's day-to-day operations is a woman.

"I believe that a woman can perform any job and fulfill any responsibility that she desires to" outside of the church, LaBouf wrote Saturday.

Mayor Jeffrey Graham, however, was bothered by the reasons given Lambert's dismissal.

"If what's said in that letter reflects the councilman's views, those are disturbing remarks in this day and age," Graham said. "Maybe they wouldn't have been disturbing 500 years ago, but they are now."

Lambert has publicly criticized the decision, but the church did not publicly address the matter until Saturday, a day after its board met.

In a statement, the board said other issues were behind Lambert's dismissal, but it did not say what they were.

Did you catch the Mayor's logic? 500 years ago this Scripture could be taken seriously. But certainly not now. We are arguing by the clock again. And this time, the clock and moral relativism have declared that taking God's Word seriously, even inside the church, is "disturbing."

In all this confusion, what a clarifying and comforting thing it is to simply allow the Bible to speak.

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Hebrews 1:1-2)

 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (I John 1:1-3)

18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18)

Inside the church and out, the notion that God is there and He is not silent is under attack. The consequences of this battle will be far reaching for all of us. Now, more than ever, the words of Jesus' half brother Jude are incredibly relevant.

Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 1:3)

Do you know why you believe the Bible is God's Word? Even your rights may depend on it!

Scott's Blog - 8/18/06

The Deal On Denominations

A question that often gets asked by nonbelievers goes something like this -

"If you Christians have the truth about God, why are there so many denominations?"

Even believers seem to have a hard time understanding all the divisions that denominations seem to represent.

Calvary Christian Fellowship of Tucson, where I pastor, is a part of the Calvary Chapel movement. We take the following stand on the issue of denominationalism.

The Calvary Chapel Church has been formed as a fellowship of believers in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Our supreme desire is to know Christ and be conformed into His image by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are not a denominational church, nor are we opposed to denominations as such, only their over-emphasis of doctrinal differences that have led to the division of the body of Christ. We believe that the only true basis of Christian fellowship is His (Agape) love, which is greater than any differences we possess and without which we have no right to claim ourselves Christians.

In short, when it comes to denominational squabbling, we'd just as soon sit the battles out.

Some might reply, "But you Calvary Chapels believe the same doctrine. You have Pastors Conferences and youth camps. You work together on outreach projects. You have an 'Outreach Fellowships Office' where there is accountability, and where necessary, even discipline. What's the difference between your 'fellowship of believers' and a denomination?"

The simplest answer would be the word "autonomy".

Each Calvary Chapel is a separate non profit organization. Each owns its own property. Each has its own board of directors and bylaws. Each decides on a given week what they will be teaching, although one distinctive we share is our commitment to teach through the Bible book by book, chapter by chapter and verse by verse. 

What holds us together is not an organizational structure, but love for the Lord, His Word, and each other.

Denominations have arisen because of the passionate commitment believers have had toward certain aspects of God's truth. Others have developed as a result of a particular unique work that God has done that some want to emphasize. Others have followed out of the ministry of a particularly gifted man of God. 

In the sense that denominations can provide an environment for like minded or like hearted individuals to worship God in an undistracted way they can be a blessing. We must be careful to avoid a sense of elitism and divisiveness based on a group we belong to. As Paul emphasized in I Corinthians 1:10-13:

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Denominations can be a source of strength, but are no substitute for simple faith in God, a commitment to His Word, and a love for His people. If a denomination ceases to stand for these non negotiables, it loses its value.

A classic example of this is a controversy that has arisen out of a book just issued by the publishing arm of The Presbyterian Church USA. Author and talk show host Hugh Hewitt, a member of a PCUSA church details a heartbreaking turn of events for this fellowship.

The Presbyterians Did What?

Posted by Hugh Hewitt  | 7:05 AM

The Presbyterian Church, USA has a publishing house.  That house has published a conspiracy book about 9/11.  Now the head of the publishing house wants to distance himself and the PCUSA from the book.  From the Washington Times:

"Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11: A Call to Reflection and Action" is already in its second printing after having sold 5,000 copies in its first month. It accuses the Bush administration -- in power only eight months at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks -- of plotting September 11 to justify war with Afghanistan and Iraq, and to expand an "American empire." The book has attracted volumes of criticism, boycott threats and attempted clarifications by various church officials.
"The views expressed in the book are Griffin's alone," says Presbyterian Publishing Corp. (PPC) Board Chairman Kenneth Godshall, referring to the author, David Ray Griffin, 67, a retired professor at the Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, Calif.
"PPC provides a variety of viewpoints in the books we publish. A few of them from time to time are controversial. This particular book is the work of an independent author and in no way represents the views of the denomination or PPC itself."
His statement was posted on the Presbyterian Church (USA) Web site (www.pcusa.org) directly under an ad for Presbyterian Publishing Corp. and the slogan, "All Things Presbyterian, All in One Place."

As one who has been ordained as an Elder in the PCUSA, I am again obliged to apologize for having failed during my time on a Session to work to reform the denominational "leadership."  Serious Presbyterians have to demand a wholesale housecleaning of the Louisville bureaucracy, and invest the time in the often painfully slow and convoluted governing process to make it happen.  If that cannot happen, then the next General Assembly should at least outline the process of divorce so the rational congregations can go their own way.  In the meantime, the local churches have simply got to stop sending money to Louisville. Subsidizing this foolishness is irresponsible. And the presbyteries across the country owe a sharp and public rebuke to this slander which extends far beyond the president and his Cabinet.

I admire the commitment of sincere believers like Hugh Hewitt to not only point out an outrageous decision by their denomination, but also to work as best they can for a return to Biblical standards in the PCUSA leadership. 

But we also see here one of the real dangers of denominationalism. The decisions of a bureaucracy far removed from the hearts of local congregations are nonetheless supported financially and by reputation by believers who find their decisions repugnant.

It is interesting that there is a real possibility that individual PCUSA churches will "divorce" themselves from an unbiblically based leadership. 

It is sad when we experience such parting of the ways. But it is possible that God can work even in these circumstances. Nowhere in the New Testament do we see even a hint of such massive and unwieldy organizational structures. Perhaps the Lord will cause these churches to return to a simple commitment to love the Lord, teach His Word, and love one another, and so make a greater impact on this lost and dying world. 

The Value of Holding Your Horses

There is nothing like doing a live, phone in talk show like Scott Richards Live to improve your prayer life!

 Talk about "working without a net"! 

As we say on the program, we don't script or decide beforehand what kind of subjects we will get into each day. And after awhile, expecting the unexpected becomes a lifestyle.

This was especially the case on the August 15th edition of the broadcast. We had a caller who was absolutely convinced that George W. Bush was the mastermind behind the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center.

Asked for my take on the idea, I shared that I had looked at a few web sites that advocated that position and felt that the arguments were speculative at best. They were certainly not supported by incontrovertible evidence that would pass muster in a court of law. Popular Mechanics Magazine has put out both a book and a web site devoted to debunking the claims of the 9/11 conspiracy theorists whose views are gaining some traction in opinion polls.

But there was a deeper issue that surfaced in the conversation. I pointed out that those who buy into the idea that George W. Bush either orchestrated or was complicit in the 9/11 tragedy are making a horrendously serious accusation. They believe the President of the United States, a man who has professed to being a Born Again Christian, is in essence a mass murderer with the blood of 3,000 innocent victims on his hands.

Is the case for this point of view so overwhelming, so unanswerable beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the conspiracy theory believers are ready to make that accusation?

Some people certainly would.

But before they do, perhaps it would be good to take a brief refresher course on Christianity 101. It's called Jesus' Sermon On the Mount.

1"Do not judge so that you will not be judged.

 2"For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.

 3"Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

 4"Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?

 5"You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5)

Sitting in judgment of others is a dangerous temptation in our media saturated culture. Now, that is not to say we shouldn't exercise discernment and learn to look at the issues of the day from a solidly Biblical framework. But when we cross the line from evaluating policy and positions to condemning people themselves we are on shaky ground spiritually.

A classic example of the danger of jumping to conclusions is to be found in the shocking developments in the investigation into the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. 

For the better part of the last 10 years John and Patsy Ramsey not only endured the grief of losing their child, but also carried with them a cloud of suspicion that they had a hand in her death.

With the confession of John Mark Karr, that cloud appears to have lifted.

Tragically, Patsy Ramsey didn't live long enough to see this happen. But now, in the aftermath, a very different picture of JonBenet's mother is appearing.

Patsy Ramsey never lost faith

She died knowing suspect was sought, arrest was coming

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News
August 17, 2006

She survived cancer. She survived murder. She survived constant suspicion and public attack.

Patsy Ramsey survived it all, her friends say, because of her deep faith and unwavering belief that her daughter's killer would be found.

And she died knowing that an arrest was coming.

"Doesn't that just break your heart? That they were persecuted for 10 years?" said Mary Justice, a longtime friend of Patsy's from Atlanta. "I think she had such a strong faith in God, that kept her going and kept the whole family going."

"It's been a long time coming," said Jayne Kloster, another family friend in Atlanta. "It's shocking - but not surprising. We always knew she was innocent. Never doubted it."

Both John and Patsy Ramsey were under suspicion shortly after JonBenet's murder, but most of the public attention - and hostility - was directed at Patsy Ramsey.

The focus frustrated them both because they believed it pushed the investigation off track and kept it there.

"The Boulder police knew from January 1997 on that it wasn't the Ramseys because the DNA did not match," said family friend Susan Stine, of Boulder.

"They couldn't stand up and admit they were wrong. And that's just a sad commentary on the Boulder police and on some people who just want to think the worst about others."

The Ramseys vented in television interviews and in a book, but Boulder police treated them as suspects - except for a moment during two days of interviews four years after JonBenet's death when she was being questioned by Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner.

"It was the first time anyone in authority in the police department spoke to me as the mother of a murdered child," Patsy told the Rocky Mountain News after the interviews.

"I was happy to be there. I thought it was going to be something about other leads. But it was just apparent pretty soon that it was all about me."

Patsy Ramsey may have been victimized, but she was never a victim, say people who knew her. Outgoing, outspoken, strong, smart and funny - those are the words they use to describe her. She had to be all those things to cope with the loss of her daughter.

"Every day, you open your eyes for the first time, and the pain starts all over again. I don't ever expect to not feel that," Patsy told the News during an interview at the Ramsey's Atlanta home in 2000. "I live for the day when I will run to her, and she will run into my arms."

She took solace in the people who supported them, strangers who recognized them and took the time to tell them that they believed in their innocence.

"I'll tell you, when you're down, and things are going bad, God will just throw an angel into your life," Patsy told the News.

In 1993, she was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer. Aggressive chemotherapy brought the disease into remission, but in recent years, it returned. Patsy Ramsey died on June 24.

"Everything she did she did with a tremendous amount of passion and commitment and love," Justice said. "She had such a strong faith and knew God would take care of her and show in the end that they were not involved, and they loved their daughter like other parents do.

"Why couldn't this have happened while she was alive?"

Authorities indicated that Patsy was told before her death that a suspect was being pursued.

Her sister, Pam Paugh, said in an interview on the Fox network Wednesday night that Patsy did not reveal that knowledge to her, although both Patsy and John were kept up to date on the investigation.

"Patsy was secure in the knowledge that they were very, very close," she said. "All she kept saying was, 'I know that someday it will come to fruition,' and here we are."

"God sees the big picture," Patsy told the News in 2000. "Why is it that JonBenet's name is known around this world?

"You can darn well guarantee that the minute I walk through the pearly gates, I'm going to say, 'Why did this happen? Please tell me now.'

"You have to step out of it and look at it from an eternal perspective. Or you can't stand it."

It is clear there was a classic "rush to judgment" in the case of the Ramsey family. Who knows? There may be a rush to judgment over John Mark Karr. The judicial process will have to play itself out.  

But one thing is for certain. It is one thing to speculate about a current event. It is another thing to look at a sister in the faith and say, "Murderer!"

Just as it is to point at a man of faith, who happens to be the President of the United States, and say, "Murderer!"

How to avoid this pitfall? Jesus' words hold the key. Whether we are watching the news, listening to the radio, surfing the internet or having lunch with a friend, keep one guiding principle in mind. Judge others as you would want to be judged. Treat and even talk about others as if they were there for the conversation personally. Try to imagine how you would want people to speak about you if the shoe was on the other foot.

One of the most liberating days of my entire Christian life was when I was praying about a situation where I had been deeply hurt. I felt the Lord speak a word to my heart I will never forget. "It's my job to judge them Scott. It's your job to love them."

Maybe the reason we end up feeling so exhausted and wrung out in this life is that we are wasting our energy on something that God has never called us to do. God is very good at judging. Will we become very good at loving?

Scott's Blog - 8/16/06

The Most Controversial Woman In the Bible

No. Despite all The DaVinci Code hubbub, it is not Mary Magdalene.

She was a centerpiece of the debate at the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.

She wrecked the faith of  lead character Ellie Arroway in the 1997 movie "Contact".

You may have wondered about her yourself the last time you read through the book of Genesis.

And we don't even know her name.

We know her only as Cain's wife.

She has appeared again, this time in the SRL mailbag.

Hello, thank you for taking my question. It is for my daughter who is 11.
We were reading Bible stories last night and saw how
Cain killed Abel and how God sent Cain away.  She wondered how people multiplied if there was only Adam, Eve and Cain left. I hope you can answer our question. Thank you. 

Hope

Thank you Hope, for sharing God's Word with your daughter and taking the time to write! This is a crucial question, because it goes right to the issue of the trustworthiness of the Bible. In John 3:12 Jesus said, "If I tell you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?" If we can't trust what the Bible tells us about the first Adam, we really can't trust it when it speaks about the "last Adam", Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15:45)

The question, "Where did Cain get his wife?" is a common one. Skeptics consider it unanswerable, proof positive that the Bible is an incoherent collection of myths. In fact, on the excellent web site Answers in Genesis it is the number one most frequently brought up issue in their "Get Answers" section.

To properly deal with this issue there are a few Biblical truths we must keep in mind. Don Batten, Ken Ham, Jonathan Sarfati and Carl Weiland provide an excellent summary of the facts that can clear up the controversy.

There was only one man at the beginning—made from the dust of the Earth (Genesis 2:7).

This also means that Cain’s wife was a descendant of Adam. She could not have come from another ‘race’ of people and must be one of Adam’s descendants.

The first woman

In Genesis 3:20 we read, ‘And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.’¹⁰ In other words, all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—she was the first woman.

Eve was made from Adam’s rib (or side, Hebrew tsela, Genesis 2:21–24)—this was a unique event. Jesus (Matthew 19:4–6) and Paul (Ephesians 5:31) use this historical and one-time event as the doctrinal foundation for the marriage of one man to one woman.

Also, in Genesis 2:20, we are told that when Adam looked at the animals, he could not find a mate—there was no one of his kind.

All this makes it obvious that there was only one woman, Adam’s wife, at the beginning. There were never any other women around who were not Eve’s descendants.

If Christians cannot defend that all humans (including Cain’s wife) can trace their ancestry ultimately to Adam and Eve, then how can they understand and explain the gospel? How can they justify sending missionaries to every tribe and nation? Therefore, one needs to be able to answer the question about Cain’s wife, to illustrate that Christians can defend the gospel and all that it teaches.

Cain’s brothers and sisters

Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve recorded in Scripture (Genesis 4:1). His brothers, Abel (Genesis 4:2) and Seth (Genesis 4:25), were part of the first generation of children ever born on this Earth.

Even though only these three males are mentioned by name, Adam and Eve had other children. In Genesis 5:4 a statement sums up the life of Adam and Eve—‘And the days of Adam after he had fathered Seth were eight hundred years. And he fathered sons and daughters.’ This does not say when they were born. Many could have been born in the 130 years (Genesis 5:3) before Seth was born.

During their lives, Adam and Eve had a number of male and female children. The Jewish historian Josephus wrote that, ‘The number of Adam’s children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.’¹¹

The Bible does not tell us how many children were born to Adam and Eve. However, considering their long life spans (Adam lived for 930 years—Genesis 5:5), it would seem reasonable to suggest there were many! Remember, they were commanded to ‘Be fruitful, and multiply’ (Genesis 1:28).

The wife

If we now work totally from Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other extra-Biblical ideas, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to have married sisters or there would be no more generations!

We are not told when Cain married or any of the details of other marriages and children, but we can say for certain that some brothers had to marry their sisters at the beginning of human history.

Objections

God’s laws

Many people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve’s sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister intermarriage. Some say that you cannot marry your relation. Actually, if you don’t marry your relation, you don’t marry a human! A wife is related to her husband even before they marry because all people are descendants of Adam and Eve—all are of ‘one blood.’ The law forbidding marriage between close relatives was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18–20). Provided marriage was one man to one woman for life (based on Genesis 1 and 2), there was no disobedience to God’s law originally when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other.

Remember that Abraham married his half-sister (Genesis 20:12). God blessed this union to produce the Hebrew people through Isaac and Jacob. It was not until some 400 years later that God gave Moses laws that forbade such marriages.

Biological deformities

Today, brothers and sisters (and half-brothers and half-sisters, etc.) are not permitted by law to marry because their children have an unacceptably high risk of being deformed. The more closely the parents are related, the more likely it is that any offspring will be deformed.

There is a very sound genetic reason for such laws that is easy to understand. Every person has two sets of genes that specify how a person is put together and functions. Each person inherits one gene of each pair from each parent. Unfortunately, genes today contain many mistakes (because of sin and the Curse), and these mistakes show up in a variety of ways. For instance, some people let their hair grow over their ears to hide the fact that one ear is lower than the other—or perhaps someone’s nose is not quite in the middle of his or her face, or someone’s jaw is a little out of shape—and so on. Let’s face it, the main reason we call each other normal is because of our common agreement to do so!

The more distantly related parents are, the more likely it is that they will have different mistakes in their genes. Children, inheriting one set of genes from each parent, are likely to end up with pairs of genes containing a maximum of one bad gene in each pair. The good gene tends to override the bad so that a deformity (a serious one, anyway) does not occur. Instead of having totally deformed ears, for instance, a person may only have crooked ones! (Overall, though, the human race is slowly degenerating as mistakes accumulate, generation after generation.)

However, the more closely related two people are, the more likely it is that they will have similar mistakes in their genes, since these have been inherited from the same parents. Therefore, a brother and a sister are more likely to have similar mistakes in their genes. A child of a union between such siblings could inherit the same bad gene on the same gene pair from both, resulting in two bad copies of the gene and serious defects.

However, Adam and Eve did not have accumulated genetic mistakes. When the first two people were created, they were physically perfect. Everything God made was ‘very good’ (Genesis 1:31), so their genes were perfect—no mistakes! But, when sin entered the world (because of Adam—Genesis 3:6ff, Romans 5:12), God cursed the world so that the perfect creation then began to degenerate, that is, suffer death and decay (Romans 8:22). Over thousands of years, this degeneration has produced all sorts of genetic mistakes in living things.

Cain was in the first generation of children ever born. He (as well as his brothers and sisters) would have received virtually no imperfect genes from Adam or Eve, since the effects of sin and the Curse would have been minimal to start with (it takes time for these copying errors to accumulate). In that situation, brother and sister could have married with God’s approval, without any potential to produce deformed offspring.

By the time of Moses (a few thousand years later), degenerative mistakes would have built up in the human race to such an extent that it was necessary for God to forbid brother-sister (and close relative) marriage (Leviticus 18–20).¹² (Also, there were plenty of people on the Earth by now, and there was no reason for close relations to marry.)

Cain and the land of Nod

Some claim that the passage in Genesis 4:16–17 means that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. Thus, they can conclude there must have been another race of people on the Earth, who were not descendants of Adam, who produced Cain’s wife.

‘And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bore Enoch: and he built a city, and he called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.’

From what has been stated previously, it is clear that all humans, Cain’s wife included, are descendants of Adam. However, this passage does not say that Cain went to the land of Nod and found a wife. John Calvin, commenting on these verses, states:

‘From the context we may gather that Cain, before he slew his brother, had married a wife; otherwise Moses would now have related something respecting his marriage.’¹³

Cain was married before he went to the land of Nod. He didn’t find a wife there, but ‘knew’ (had sexual relations with) his wife.¹⁴

Others have argued that because Cain built a ‘city’ in the land of Nod, there must have been a lot of people there. However, the Hebrew word translated as ‘city’ need not mean what we might imagine from the connotations of ‘city’ today. The word meant a ‘walled town’ or a protected encampment.¹⁵ Even a hundred people would be plenty for such a ‘city.’ Nevertheless, there could have been many descendants of Adam on the Earth by the time of Abel’s death (see below).

Who was Cain fearful of? (Genesis 4:14)

Some claim that there had to be lots of people on Earth other than Adam and Eve’s descendants, otherwise Cain would not have been fearful of people wanting to slay him for killing Abel.

First of all, in the days before civil government was instituted to punish murderers (Genesis 9:6), someone would want to harm Cain for killing Abel only if they were closely related to Abel! Strangers could hardly have cared. So the people Cain was afraid of could not have been another race of people.

Second, Cain and Abel were born quite some time before Abel’s death. Genesis 4:3 states:

‘And in the course of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord.’

Note the phrase ‘in the course of time.’ We know that Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old (Genesis 5:3), and Eve saw him as a ‘replacement’ for Abel (Genesis 4:25). Therefore, the period from Cain’s birth to Abel’s death may have been 100 years or more—allowing plenty of time for other children of Adam and Eve to marry and have children and grandchildren. By the time Abel was killed, there could well have been a considerable number of descendants of Adam and Eve, involving several generations.

Where did the technology come from?

Some claim that for Cain to go to the land of Nod and build a city he would have required a lot of technology that must have already been in that land, presumably developed by other ‘races.’

However, Adam and Eve’s descendants were very intelligent people. Jubal made musical instruments such as the harp and organ (Genesis 4:21), and Tubal-Cain worked with brass and iron (Genesis 4:22).

Because of intense evolutionary indoctrination, many people today think that our generation is the most intelligent that has ever lived on this planet. But just because we have jet airplanes and computers, it does not mean that we are the most intelligent. Modern technology results from the accumulation of knowledge. We stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before us.

Our brains have suffered from 6,000 years (since Adam) of the Curse. We are greatly degenerated compared with people many generations ago. We may be nowhere near as intelligent or inventive as Adam and Eve’s children. Scripture gives us a glimpse of what appears to be great inventiveness from the beginning.¹⁶

Conclusion

Many Christians cannot answer the question about Cain’s wife because they focus on today’s world (and the problems associated with close relations marrying), and do not understand the clear historical record God has given to us.

They try to interpret Genesis from our present situation, rather than understand the true Biblical history of the world and the changes that have occurred because of sin. Because they are not building their worldview on Scripture, but taking a secular way of thinking to the Bible, they are blinded to the simple answers.

Genesis is the record of the God who was there as history happened. It is the word of One who knows everything, and who is a reliable witness from the past. Thus, when we use Genesis as a basis for understanding history, we can make sense of questions that would otherwise be a mystery.

Scott's Blog - 8/15/06

Tough Questions For Ahmadinejhad?

If you are a regular Scott's Blog follower, you know we gave a heads up concerning Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad's appearance as a Mike Wallace interview subject on 60 Minutes. How did a man who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map hold up under Wallace's legendary reporting skills?

Mahmoud would answer, "Just fine. Thank you."

Consider this review of the segment by former CBS news reporter Bernard Goldberg.

On at least two occasions Mike asked President Ahmadinejad why he has said that "Israel must be wiped off the map." Please explain, Mike said. But Mr. Ahmadinejad never really did, except to finally say, as he has before, that Israel should be somewhere else, like Germany. Is this what he means by "wiped off the map"--or is he just being prudent on television?

Who knows? Mike tried to ask him about Hezbollah missiles and rockets, which are furnished by Iran and are being lobbed into Israeli cities. But President Ahmadinejad didn't feel like answering that one, either. So he deftly changed the subject.

Still, over the course of the interview, Mike got in more than a few good ones. But somehow it didn't matter. Somehow this man, who many fear is building nuclear weapons for use on Israel, who has called the Holocaust "an overblown fairytale," who presides over an autocratic regime and who is seen as one of the greatest threats to world peace, came across as--no kidding--a fairly reasonable person, at times even a likable one. When Mike asked what his hobbies were, Mr. Ahmadinejad said studying, reading and spending "quality time" with his family. Quality time! You think you'd ever hear those words coming out of Ayatollah Khomeini's mouth? No, this is the language of a modern man who understands the power of television and who knows how to speak American.

In fact you got the impression that Mr. Ahmadinejad, unlike the ayatollah, was talking right past Mike and straight to the American people. He had a message to deliver, and he was going to deliver it no matter what Mike wanted to talk about. So the president of Iran told us what a shame it was that 1% of the American people are in prison. And how unfortunate it was that 45 million Americans don't have health-care insurance. "That," he said, "is very sad to hear." You just know that every liberal tuned in to "60 Minutes" was nodding in agreement. "He's not such a bad guy, after all," they were probably thinking. "So much more reasonable--and intelligent--than Bush."

In fact, instead of seeming like a modern Hitler (a not unreasonable comparison, given that one wanted to exterminate all the Jews while the other wants to wipe Israel off the map), Mr. Ahmadinejad came across as, well, a fairly typical, run-of-the-mill liberal. I listened carefully as he laid out his position on the war in Lebanon and on the Bush policy in Iraq, and I could not detect any significant difference between his views and those held by a lot of blue-state liberals, especially the liberal intellectuals on our college campuses. "Killing innocents is reprehensible," he told Mike Wallace. "Why are Americans killing Iraqis?" he asked. Hey, I just heard the same thing on Air America.

It is clear that Ahmadinejhad isn't your grandfather's genocidal dictator. To score a technical knock out against a media legend like Mike Wallace is quite a feat. In the face of such cunning media manipulation the question gets raised, what could Wallace have done differently?

In a word, plenty.

Consider another review of the interview by author, media spokesman and prophecy expert Joel Rosenberg.

Ahmadinejad has strongly-held, deeply-bizarre and very dangerous views. Why didn't Wallace try to draw these out? It wouldn't require being confrontational -- just appropriately inquisitive. Here's what Wallace should have asked:

1. Mr. President, you are telling colleagues in Iran that you believe the end of the world is rapidly approaching. Why do you believe this? How are these views shaping your foreign policy?

2. Could you tell us more in the West about your belief that the "Twelfth Imam" (or "Hidden Imam") will soon reappear and why you believe that the way to hasten the coming of this Islamic Messiah is to launch a global jihad against Israel and the U.S.?

3. Mr. President, in Islam, Jesus Christ is considered a great prophet and teacher. In your lengthy letter to President Bush earlier this year, you talked a lot about Jesus Christ. You criticized the President for, in your view, not following the teachings of Jesus. What are some of your favorite teachings of Jesus? Do you believe Jesus was Jewish? Do you believe that He lived and taught and did His miracles in Israel? Do you believe Jesus wished for Israel to be wiped "off the map?" In the current crisis, what would Jesus do, in your opinion?

4. You have told colleagues that when you were speaking at the United Nations last fall, you were surrounded by a light from heaven and that for about 25 or 26 minutes everyone in the General Assembly was mesmerized by your speech -- that not a single person blinked for that entire time. Would you describe that experience for us? Do you believe that God or an angel was with you at that moment? Do you believe Allah has chosen you to be the leader of Iran at this moment in history?

5. You say that the era of bombs is over. Why then did you sign a $1 billion deal with Moscow last December to buy Russian missiles and other arms? Why are you sending missiles, bombs and $100 million a year to Hezbollah? Why are you sending bombs and bombers into Iraq?

Could you imagine a Joel Rosenberg/Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad interview? I would sign up for pay-per-view to watch that one.

But catch an important point this contrast in approaches illustrates perfectly - the main stream media will never ask truly relevant questions like this because spiritual issues simply aren't a part of the world view of the average newsroom. In too many cases, major media outlets are spiritually tone deaf. 

Remember how caught unaware the alphabet networks were when poll after poll revealed that "the values thing" was what turned the course of the last national election? The absence of Christian perspective (or even a personality or two) when we turn on the news is stunning.

Fortunately avenues like talk radio and the internet have allowed believers to become more of a voice in the media marketplace of ideas.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad understands full well the power of the media to shape public opinion. Win hearts and minds and you can win the war without a shot.

Do we as believers fully understand that we are called to a similar battle for the hearts of people?

As never before the words of the apostle Paul are a call to action among God's people!

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (II Corinthians 10:3-5)

Scott's Blog - 8/14/06

Who Won In Lebanon?

Only a document issued by the UN could produce the following results.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Hezbollah, said his fighters in Lebanon earned a "strategic, historic victory" over Israel during the 34-day conflict.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israeli troops were able to eliminate the "state within a state" in Lebanon.

Here's President Bush's take. "You can't run a government, you can't have a democracy, if you've got an armed faction within your country. Hezbollah attacked Israel, Hezbollah started the crisis, and Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis."

"Victory" seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

But when we take a step back, reality begins to come into focus.

Did Israel "win" in this conflict? Despite the positive spin Ehud Olmert has put on this agreement, the situation for Israel is not promising. As former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it,

Unfortunately, there will be another round [in this war] because the government's just demands weren't met (by the cease-fire agreement).

The [kidnapped] soldiers weren't returned home, the Hizbullah was not disarmed … Right now, we are [merely] in an interim period between wars. And there is no one who will prevent our enemies from rearmed and preparing for the next round.

We were a responsible opposition. We aided in every way, including in the media war. (But ) our public duty is to tell the truth, because unfortunately there will be another round.

We were living in a coma, and received an alarm warning telling us to return to reality as it is, and to return to ourselves and to those values that will secure our existence in the future.

Did America "win" in this conflict? Despite president Bush's assertion that Hezbollah suffered a defeat, the real hit was taken by America's efforts in the War against Islamic Fascism.

As Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick observes,

Many sources in Washington told this writer over the weekend that the US decision to seek a cease-fire was the result of Israel's amateurish bungling of the first three weeks of the war. The Bush administration, they argued, was being blamed for the Olmert government's incompetence and so preferred to cut its losses and sue for a cease-fire.

There is no doubt much truth to this assertion. The government's prosecution of this war has been unforgivably inept. At the same time it should be noted that the short-term political gain accrued by the US by forging the cease-fire agreement will come back to haunt the US, Israel and all forces fighting the forces of global jihad in the coming weeks and months.

By handing a victory to Hizbullah, the resolution strengthens the belief of millions of supporters of jihad throughout the world that their side is winning and that they should redouble efforts to achieve their objectives of destroying Israel and running the US out of the Middle East.

Finally, did Syria, Iran and their Hezbollah proxies "win" in this conflict?

Perhaps for the short term.

But in my interview today with Steve the Tour Guide on SRL, a very important point was made. When Joshua prepared to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, he had a remarkable encounter that can provide us with a very important perspective as we observe the aftermath of UN resolution 1701.

13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." (Joshua 5:13-14)

When Hezbollah, Syria or Iran attack Israel, they are not just fighting a nation. They are fighting the One who preserved Israel through nearly two thousand years of exile, gathered them from every corner of the world and settled them in the Land He promised them. The forces of Islamic Fascism are fighting no one less than God.

His plan will not be defeated.

Scott's Blog - 8/11/06

Strong Delusions

How would you characterize a man who said the following things?

"We did not have a revolution in order to have democracy."

"Israel is a disgraceful blot that should be wiped off the map."

"A storm is near in the Middle East and this storm will turn against the enemies of humanity and strike violently."

How about this assessment from legendary 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace?

"He's an impressive fellow, this guy. He really is. He's obviously smart.."

"You'll find him an interesting man," he said. "I expected more of a firebrand. I don't think he has the slightest doubt about how he feels ... about the American administration and the Zionist state. He comes across as more rational than I had expected."

The man in the spot light?  Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad.

A sympathetic view of a man whose dream is to exterminate the Jewish people?

Joel Rosenberg captures the jaw dropping outrage Wallace's remarks have generated.

Did you hear Sean Hannity's interview yesterday with "60 Minutes" host Mike Wallace? Unbelievable. Sean did a great job, but Wallace was appalling. Wallace has become an apologist for one of the most dangerous men on the planet. Despite the fact that Ahmadinejad wants to bring about the end of the world, deny the Holocaust, and wipe Israel and the U.S. "off the map," Wallace actually called Ahmadinejad a "reasonable" and "sincere" man who was in no way trying to use the CBS interview for propaganda purposes. Wallace said Ahmadinejad believes the time for using bombs is over, that he wants a peaceful coexistence between Iran and the West, and that the Iranian leader is not anti-Jewish, only "anti-Zionist." In an interview with Reuters, Wallace went on to call Ahmadinejad a "rather attractive man, very smart, savvy, self-assured, good looking in a strange way...He's very, very short but he's comfortable in his own skin."

A few years ago the idea of a 60 Minutes camera crew with Mike Wallace leading the charge would cause even the most marginally corrupt to break out in a cold sweat. Why then does a man with self admitted genocidal aspirations against an entire people group get the kid gloves treatment?

Look no further than I Thessalonians 5:1-3.

1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.

The Bible tells us that as the end times draw near the world will long for peace and safety like never before. Could it be that Wallace's view of an avowed racist like Ahmadinejhad is colored by an intense desire to see a reasonable, peace loving man in charge of Iran, rather than a monster?

This tendency to bend over backwards to hold onto hope by ignoring the obvious may very well be a prophetic trend.

I have always wondered how the entire world would fall under the sway of the Anti-Christ. After all, haven't there been enough sermons, best selling books and movies made on the subject to give the world a heads up when he comes on the scene?

Not if a desire for peace and safety at any price causes the world to ignore the obvious.

9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (II Thessalonians 2:9-12)

If the supposed "truth at any cost" patrol of 60 Minutes can see a "reasonable" personality in a man who sounds like a graduate of the Adolph Hitler School of Rhetoric, it will be no small wonder when the world falls in love with another dictator who promises peace and safety.

The words of eminent historian Arnold Toynbee are sounding more prophetic than ever.

“By forcing on mankind more and more lethal weapons, and at the same time making the world more and more interdependent economically, technology has brought mankind to such a degree of distress that we are ripe for the deifying of any new Caesar who might succeed in the giving the world unity and peace."

I wonder how 60 Minutes will cover that moment?

Scott's Blog - 8/10/06

The Truth Beyond Labels

There is an ancient Chinese curse that goes something like this, "May you live in interesting times."

Say what you want about life in the new millennium, but it certainly isn't boring. 

The capture of a terrorist on the Afghan-Pakistan border lead to the thwarting of a plot to bring down up to 10 international flights between London's Heathrow Airport and destinations in the United States. Called "incredibly sophisticated" and "unimaginably destructive", the strategy involved at least 24 British citizens from the Pakistani community using liquid explosives hidden in sports drink bottles to blow up the planes over the Atlantic. The plot was well along in its development with a "dry run" scheduled for August 12th. There is some merit to the theory that the actual bombings to be conducted in waves over a three hour period may have been set as a commemoration of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

But the most spiritually eye catching part of this drama has emerged from the reaction to a remark made by George W. Bush.

Muslims bristle at Bush term "Islamic fascists"

By Amanda Beck Thu Aug 10, 2006 08:42 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Muslim groups criticized President Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.

U.S. officials have said the plot, thwarted by Britain, to blow up several aircraft over the Atlantic bore many of the hallmarks of al Qaeda.

"We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.

"We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims," he told a news conference in Washington.

"We urge him (Bush) and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves."

Awad said U.S. officials should take the lead from their British counterparts who steered clear of using what he considered inflammatory terms when they announced the arrest of more than 20 suspects in the reported plot.

Hours after the news broke, Bush said it was "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."

Bush and other administration officials have used variations of the term "Islamo-fascism" on several occasions in the past to describe militant groups including al Qaeda, its allies in Iraq and Hizbollah in Lebanon. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told MSNBC television the phrase reflected what he called Osama bin Laden's own vision of leading a totalitarian empire under the guise of religion.

"It might may not be classic fascism as you had with Mussolini or Hitler. But it is a totalitarian, intolerant imperialism that has a vision that is totally at odds with Western society and our rules of law," Chertoff said.

MUSLIM CONCERNS

Many American Muslims, who say they have felt singled out for discrimination since the September 11 attacks, reject the term and say it unfairly links their faith to notions of dictatorship, oppression and racism.

"The problem with the phrase is it attaches the religion of Islam to tyranny and fascism, rather than isolating the threat to a specific group of individuals," said Edina Lekovic, spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.

She said the terms cast suspicions on all Muslims, even the vast majority who want to live in safety like other Americans.

Bush upset many Muslims after the September 11 attacks by referring to the global war against terrorism early on as a "crusade," a term which for many Muslims connotes a Christian battle against Islam. The White House quickly stopped using the word, expressing regrets if it had caused offense.

Mohamed Elibiary, a Texas-based Muslim activist, said he was upset by the president's latest comments.

"We've got Osama bin Laden hijacking the religion in order to define it one way. ... We feel the president and anyone who's using these kinds of terminologies is hijacking it too from a different side," he said.

"The president's use of the language is going to ratchet up the hate meter, but I think it would have caused much more damage if he had done this after 9/11," Elibiary said, adding that tensions were not running as high as they had been in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks.

In a way I can sympathize with the frustration expressed by these Moslem activists. How many times have we as Christians been beaten over the head with a similar argument - "How can you say Christianity is true when all kinds of  atrocities have been done in the name of Christ?"

The response I have learned to give is simple - "That's why I don't call you to follow a church, an organization or a movement. I call you to follow Jesus Christ. Jesus said,

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Does that sound like Someone Who would have approved of the Inquisition or the Crusades?"

I have learned that the surest way to lose an argument is by trying to justify the sinful actions of men. In fact, I have gone so far as to point out that the Bible declares,

14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. (I John 3:14-15)

I would agree that inflammatory rhetoric doesn't help in a tense situation like the War on Terror. But perhaps the best way for Moslems to ensure that cooler heads prevail is not to criticize the president for using a term that clearly fits these homicidal fanatics, but to clearly and unmistakably declare that suicide bombers are murderers, not martyrs. To state without qualifier that such people are going to wind up in Hell, not heaven. To build confidence among their neighbors by demonstrating that the teachings in the Mosque exalt peace and good works, not destruction and hatred of others.

As a Christian, I am willing to admit that in light of the often bloody history of the church, skeptics have every right to ask tough questions. Fortunately we see in the life of Jesus an amazingly powerful answer.

Will Moslems admit that after 9/11 and the plot at Heathrow, their non Moslem neighbors have every right to expect a clear denunciation of these evil acts and those who perpetrated them?

Scott's Blog - 8/9/06

The Prayer Jesus Never Prayed

Let's open up the SRL mailbag and take a fresh look at a very familiar patch of Scripture!

Dear Pastor Scott,
I listen to you every afternoon, yet do not have the ability to call in.  I am emailing you in regards to the Lord's prayer where it says " And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil".  I am aware that elsewhere in the Bible, it is very clear that God does not tempt us.  Since God does not tempt us, why is this part of the Lord's prayer?  Why do we need to ask not to be led into temptation if God does not tempt?  This is very confusing to me as I am struggling with temptation and don't understand why God would allow Satan to tempt me if God knows that I am going to fail. Could you please try to verify this for me.  
In Christ,
KC

KC thanks so much for raising an issue that really drives home the practicality of a daily time of prayer with the Lord! Jesus' instructions concerning prayer are amazingly complete and life changing.

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

      Our Father in heaven,
      Hallowed be Your name.
       10 Your kingdom come.
      Your will be done
      On earth as it is in heaven.
       11 Give us this day our daily bread.
       12 And forgive us our debts,
      As we forgive our debtors.
       13 And do not lead us into temptation,
      But deliver us from the evil one.
      For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

It is interesting that Matthew 6:9-13 has been traditionally called the Lord's Prayer. When we look at it closely it becomes apparent that Jesus Himself never prayed this prayer. Since He was sinless, there was for instance no need for Him to ask for forgiveness. It is better to see this as the Disciples' Prayer, since then as now, every aspect of it is powerfully applicable to our lives.

This prayer can be divided up into five sections. Our prayer life is to consist of:

Praise to God - Focusing in on Who God is. 

Power from God - Not only looking forward to the time when the Lord will return, reign and restore all things, but to receive His kingdom power in the here and now (Romans 14:17). 

The Priorities of God - His good acceptable and perfect will applied to the specific challenges of our lives. 

The Provision of God - God meeting our needs, not our greed's, one day at a time.

And finally Protection from God - This focuses in first on our character. We need to keep short accounts with God and others in regards to sin (I John 1:9). The second aspect is the subject of your question - 

13 And do not lead us into temptation,
      But deliver us from the evil one.

The confusion comes in when we read passages like James 1:13 -

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.

If God isn't in the tempting business, why do we have to ask Him not to tempt us?

The answer I believe is found in the very next verses in James 1-

14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.

What do we learn here? Temptation isn't something that just happens to us. Temptation usually happens when we go looking for it. As the playwright Oscar Wilde put it, "I can resist anything but temptation."

Why include this in the prayer Jesus designed to meet our every need? Not because we are trying to keep God from setting us up for a fall, but because we are asking God to intervene in our lives and keep us from setting ourselves up for a fall. 

This prayer for God's preventive medicine in our lives is beautifully expressed in Psalm 19.

 12 Who can understand his errors?
         Cleanse me from secret faults.
 13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
         Let them not have dominion over me.
         Then I shall be blameless,
         And I shall be innocent of great transgression.

God will never set us up for a fall. But we do need to have a healthy respect for our own ability to dig things pretty deep in a day. When we pray this part of the Disciples' Prayer we are acknowledging our weakness, but also the Lord's great strength to intervene in our lives and take us out of those situations that can look good to us, but will ultimately end up in wreck and ruin!

Scott's Blog - 8/8/06

The Revenge of the Great Pumpkin

The first time I encountered this piece of pop philosophy was on the comics page. The Peanuts comic strip character Linus declared,

"It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere!"

It's amazing how many people believe this statement of faith must be found in the Bible somewhere. And let's face it, questioning the validity of someone's religious beliefs has replaced burping at the dinner table or chewing with your mouth open as the number one sign of bad manners in our culture.

Underneath this "You go your way, I'll go mine. If we meet in the middle it's groovy" mindset is a conviction that belief systems really don't matter in the big world. Hey, if your beliefs encourage you to help your fellow man, pick up the odd piece of trash, and avoid parking in handicapped zones then that's fine. But really, what difference do religious convictions make in day to day life?

The simple answer? All the difference in the world.

Consider the potential for world shaking impact of one man's set of deeply held religious convictions.

WSJ: Scholar Warns Iran's Ahmadinejad May Have 'Cataclysmic Events' In Mind For August 22
Tue Aug 08 2006 10:22:35 ET

In a WALL STREET JOURNAL op-ed Tuesday, Princeton's Bernard Lewis writes: "There is a radical difference between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons. This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the apocalyptic worldview of Iran's present rulers."

"In Islam as in Judaism and Christianity, there are certain beliefs concerning the cosmic struggle at the end of time -- Gog and Magog, anti-Christ, Armageddon, and for Shiite Muslims, the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of the forces of good over evil, however these may be defined."

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "and his followers clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle has already begun and is indeed well advanced. It may even have a date, indicated by several references by the Iranian president to giving his final answer to the US about nuclear development by Aug. 22," which this year corresponds "to the 27th day of the month of Rajab of the year 1427. This, by tradition, is the night when many Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,' usually identified with Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back (c.f., Koran XVII.1).

"This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind."

Developing..

Suddenly spirituality isn't so ooey-gooey, is it?

One of the most interesting things that I have noticed as Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad seems to out do even Hitler in violent, explicit threats against the Jewish people, is the deafening silence when it comes to asking a simple question - "Is Ahmadinejhad's Islamic belief system true or false?"

Is Muhammad a real prophet? Did he really ride a winged horse with the face of a man into heaven? Does a Moslem messiah really reside in a well in Qom, Iran?

Is a view of Jesus 600 plus years removed from the events to be preferred over eye witness accounts of His life, death and resurrection found in the New Testament?

Are we made right with God by what we do for Him, or by what He has done for us?

 Is Islam or Christianity the truth?

What we believe really does matter. Jesus put it this way.

23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins." (John 8:23-24)

The phrase "I am He" is a significant one. Notice the word He is in italics. It is not in the Greek, but is an attempt by the translators of the New King James Version to make the passage more accessible to a modern reader. Jesus said the key to heaven itself was believing that He was the same "I AM" Moses met at the burning bush.

13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ (Exodus 3:13-14)

Who will we believe? Muhammad who taught that Jesus was sinless, even virgin born, but not God. Or Jesus Who left us with no alternative but to conclude He is God? (See John 5:19-23)

Times like these are bringing the issue of the content of faith front and center. It does matter what we believe. It does matter Who we believe.

I always thought it was interesting that Peanut's Linus made his famous statement "It doesn't matter what you believe as long as you're sincere!" to defend his faith in "The Great Pumpkin". No matter how long Linus waited and shivered in the pumpkin patch, his sincerity went unrewarded. It was invested in the wrong object.

A similarly sincere, but misinvested faith may bring the world to the edge of catastrophe. 

Where is your faith invested?

Scott's Blog - 8/7/06

You Can "Handle" the Truth!

There are certain statements we hear these days that are guaranteed "eye rollers".

"Your full purchase price cheerfully refunded if not completely satisfied."

"They wouldn't let you do that if it wasn't safe."

"All we ask is that you sit through our no pressure sales presentation."

After this weekend I have another to nominate for a spot in the Empty Promises Hall of Fame:

"If it wasn't true, they couldn't put it in the newspapers!"

Consider this stunning admission by the Reuters News Service regarding their coverage of the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Reuters admits altering Beirut photo

 

Reuters withdraws photograph of Beirut after Air Force attack after US blogs, photographers point out 'blatant evidence of manipulation.' Reuters' head of PR says in response, 'Reuters has suspended photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to photograph.' Photographer who sent altered image is same Reuters photographer behind many of images from Qana, which have also been subject of suspicions for being staged
Yaakov Lappin

 

A Reuters photograph of smoke rising from buildings in Beirut has been withdrawn after coming under attack by American web logs. The blogs accused Reuters of distorting the photograph to include more smoke and damage.

  

The photograph showed two very heavy plumes of black smoke billowing from buildings in Beirut after an Air Force attack on the Lebanese capital. Reuters has since withdrawn the photograph from its website, along a message admitting that the image was distorted, and an apology to editors.

 

Reuters withdraws doctored image

 In the message, Reuters said that "photo editing software was improperly used on this image. A corrected version will immediately follow this advisory. We are sorry for any inconvience."

 

 Reuters head of PR Moira Whittle said in response: "Reuters has suspended a photographer until investigations are completed into changes made to a photograph showing smoke billowing from buildings following an air strike on Beirut. Reuters takes such matters extremely seriously as it is strictly against company editorial policy to alter pictures."

 

 "As soon as the allegation came to light, the photograph, filed on Saturday 5 August, was removed from the file and a replacement, showing the same scene, was sent. The explanation for the removal was the improper use of photo-editing software," she added.

 

 Earlier, Charles Johnson, of the Little Green Footballs blog, which has exposed a previous attempt at fraud by a major American news corporation, wrote: "This Reuters photograph shows blatant evidence of manipulation. Notice the repeating patterns in the smoke; this is almost certainly caused by using the Photoshop “clone” tool to add more smoke to the image."

News version of photo (Photo: Reuters)

 

 Johnson added: "Smoke simply does not contain repeating symmetrical patterns like this, and you can see the repetition in both plumes of smoke. There’s really no question about it."

 Speaking to Ynetnews, Johnson said: "This has to cast doubt not only on the photographer who did the alterations, but on Reuters' entire review process. If they could let such an obvious fake get through to publication, how many more faked or 'enhanced' photos have not been caught?"

Sadly this isn't the first time a supposedly unbiased source of information has failed to qualify for residency in "The No Spin Zone". And perhaps the old saying is true that the first casualty of war is always the truth. 

But this embarrassing incident does underscore a point that every believer in Christ needs to take seriously - seeing isn't believing.

Jesus offered an on target warning for those who would find themselves living in the days leading up to His return.

"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect." (Matthew 24:24)

What we see on the pages of the newspaper or on the nightly newscasts may look like the truth to our eyes, but reality is another thing entirely. In the same way, what we see on TV or even watch taking place in a worship service may look like genuine miracles, or sound like God's message, or feel like a move of the Holy Spirit. But we actually may be experiencing an example of "photo-shopped" spirituality.

How can we make sure we aren't deceived?

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. (I Thessalonians 5:19-22)

Three key practical principles emerge here -

Avoid Reaction

The phrase "quench the Spirit" doesn't mean simply to be the spiritual party pooper. It carries the idea of "putting out the Spirit's fire". Some have gone so far as to say that the age of miracles has ceased, or that we don't need all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our day. When we have a bad experience in a church setting it is easy to react and throw the whole idea of God doing the miraculous out the window. But God still works miracles in our day. Speaking of the miraculous manifestation of God's presence through His Spirit on the day of Pentecost, Simon Peter declared, 

"You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call." Acts 2:38b-39)

Embrace God's Revelation

So if not all supernatural signs, wonders and even sermons are of God, how can we tell the difference? We are to "Test all things; hold fast what is good." There is one test that all ministries, outreaches, events, talk shows and even web sites have to pass in order to be genuine - Do they line up with the Bible in context? 

To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20)

Some have gotten into deep water spiritually by opting for the "You Light Up My Life" school of theology - "It can't be wrong, when it feels so right!" 

Feeling the presence and power of the Lord is a wonderful thing, but is no substitute for a commitment to search the Scriptures daily to see if these things are really so. (Acts 17:11)

Evaluate the Results

Let's face it, a sign is only good if it points you in the right direction. I may have a state of the art, high visibility sign that reads "Los Angeles 405 miles Ahead", but if I place it on the highway leading south out of Tucson, Arizona it has done more harm than good.

In the same way, people may get excited about what is happening at a particular place, or through a program that seems to get results, but a wise Christian will step back and apply the test we find in John 15:16.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

There have been some pretty strange things that have tried to be passed off as a new move of God these days. People were acting like barn yard animals in church and declaring that they had achieved some sort of spiritual break through. You don't hear much about that anymore, do you? 

For a while deliverance ministry was all the rage. The key to real growth in the Christian life was supposedly by casting demons like "the spirit of cussing" or even (I am not making this up) "the spirit of Disco fever" out of believers. People threw up in buckets to get the victory, and swore they were now free of their past sins. But we don't hear much about that anymore either. 

Why?

Neither of these supposed movements of the Spirit passed "fruit inspection". 

A real move of God will generate the genuine change in character detailed in Galatians 5:22-23.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control.

A real move of God isn't just passionate. It is permanent. The fruit Jesus produces in our lives abides! It is not a temporary fix, but a lasting work of God. As Solomon observed -

I know that whatever God does,
      It shall be forever.
      Nothing can be added to it,
      And nothing taken from it.
      God does it, that men should fear before Him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)

In our day deception is doing land office business. Whether we are watching TV, reading the newspaper or even going to church we must exercise genuine Scriptural discernment. Let's look at life with an open Bible. Then we will never be lead astray!

Scott's Blog - 8/4/06

Blessing Those Who Have Blessed Us

In light of current events in the Middle East, some have questioned the United States' continued support of the nation of Israel. Some commentators have gone so far as to come to the conclusion that the decision to allow Israel to become a nation was "a mistake". Far fetched? Consider the words of New York Times columnist Richard Cohen.

The greatest mistake Israel could make at the moment is to forget that Israel itself is a mistake. It is an honest mistake, a well-intentioned mistake, a mistake for which no one is culpable, but the idea of creating a nation of European Jews in an area of Arab Muslims (and some Christians) has produced a century of warfare and terrorism of the sort we are seeing now. Israel fights Hezbollah in the north and Hamas in the south, but its most formidable enemy is history itself.

Our support for Israel places us squarely in the sights of Islamic terrorism. Why not cut our losses and adopt a more "nuanced" approach like our European allies? Or so the thinking goes.

Even in Christian circles there are those who question whether God still has a purpose for Israel any longer. "After all", some will teach, "the Jews by and large have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. The church is now the focus of God's program, so national Israel is irrelevant."

As you can imagine, both in the church and out there is a lot of confusion regarding the nation of Israel.

In a time of global crisis and controversy, what does God want us to know about His plans for His chosen people?

There are key Biblical truths that can keep us on track.

Israel is God's blessing to all mankind.

1Now the LORD said to Abram,
         "Go forth from your country,
         And from your relatives
         And from your father's house,
         To the land which I will show you;
    2And I will make you a great nation,
         And I will bless you,
         And make your name great;
         And so you shall be a blessing;
    3And I will bless those who bless you,
         And the one who curses you I will curse
         And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3)

God revealed to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, that his offspring would have a special destiny to bless the entire world.

From the Jewish people we have received God's revelation of Himself to mankind through the Scriptures. If this was not enough, in Romans 9, the Apostle Paul shows us the ultimate manifestation of God's goodness through the Jewish people. 

1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. (Romans 9:1-5)

Truly, God has blessed the world through the Jewish people. But God also tells us He will bless those who bless the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He will also curse those who curse them. In essence, if you mess with Israel, you are messing with God Himself! 

As the prophet Zechariah put it, "for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye." (Zechariah 2:8)

God is certainly not finished with Israel. Romans 11 goes into incredible depth as to the ultimate destiny of the Jewish people.

25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:


      “ The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
      And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
       27 For this is My covenant with them,
      When I take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-27)

So if God is not finished with Israel, and will bless those who bless His chosen people, how should we as Christians respond to the current crisis?

Step 1 - Pray! 

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
         “May they prosper who love you.
 7 Peace be within your walls,
         Prosperity within your palaces.”
 8 For the sake of my brethren and companions. (Psalm 122:6-8)

Step 2- Participate!

I John 3:18 tells us, "My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth."  There is a fantastic opportunity to come along side the nation of Israel in a tangible expression of love and Biblical truth. Calvary Chapel of Jerusalem's pastor Bradley Antelovich has established a relief effort called "For Zion's Sake". Bradley has recently sent along this letter to a number of his fellow Calvary Chapel pastors.

Guys,

If any of you would like to have your fellowships directly involved
in helping support the war efforts in Israel, CC Jerusalem and
For Zion's Sake Ministries is directly involved in aid distribution
to families who have been hit by the barrage of over 2000 Katusha
rockets that have hit Israel. Just today 3-8-2006 another 7 civilians
were killed by rocket fire and to date, hundreds have been wounded.

We are making regular "comfort trips" up North, visiting some of the
thousands of people that are currently stuck in bomb shelters in order
to bring them necessities like food, water, diapers etc.

These trips can be quits dangerous for us as we are going into areas
that are Still being hit by the rocket fire. We will also be housing
some of the displaced war victims and their families at our warehouse
facility in Jerusalem.

I usually do not put out a direct call for financial help but
considering the obvious circumstances of war, I believe this is
a responsibility for EVERY Calvary Chapel to get involved and
support Israel in this hour of need!

Perhaps you may have other Israeli contacts, great, please use
them...just send help to Israel!

I can give you my personal guarantee that 100% of every dollar you send
the "victims of war" will ALL be given to suffering and needy families
ONLY.

Your fellowships can donate by sending checks to our stateside office at:

For Zion's Sake Ministries
P.O. Box 6536
Huntington Beach, CA 92615
(earmarked "victims of war")

Or going on the website at http://www.forzion.com/war.html

Thank you for standing with Israel and God's chosen people for such a time
as this!

Shalom and blessings,
Bradley Antolovich CC Jerusalem
http://www.forzion.com/

Visit Brad's web site and prayerfully consider how the Lord would want you to support His people during this time of intense need and spiritual opportunity. I know God will bless you for it!

Scott's Blog - 8/3/06

Tremors From the Temple Mount

Did you know that today is one of the most significant dates in Biblical history? By Jewish reckoning today is the 9th of Av, a day that commemorates not one, but two earth shaking events. According to the Jewish Virtual Library:

Tisha B'Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which coincidentally have occurred on the ninth of Av.

Tisha B'Av means "the ninth (day) of Av." It usually occurs during August.

Tisha B'Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth of Av (the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.; the second by the Romans in 70 C.E.).

As you might imagine, this year Tisha B'Av is an especially sad and stress filled observance in Israel. With tensions between Israel and their Islamofascist enemies at an all time high, the site of the ancient Jewish Temple has become a focal point in the conflict.

Fearing Violence, Jerusalem Police Close Temple Mount to Non-Muslims

Citing threats of violent Muslim protests at an already tense time, Jerusalem police announced that the Temple Mount would close to all non-Muslims on Thursday, the day Jews mark the destruction of the biblical temples and other historical calamities.

Police received intelligence information indicating that thousands of Muslims were preparing to go to the site to protest a planned visit by Jews, police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby was quoted as saying.

Police also decided to close the site to Muslim men under 45 years of age for a 48-hour period.

The Temple Mount falls under Israeli government control, but Israel has ceded authority in the area to an Islamic body called the Waqf.

The area marks the location of the temple built by Solomon almost 3,000 years ago and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., and later of the second temple, razed by the Romans in 70 A.D. Jewish tradition holds that both temples were destroyed on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av (Tisha b'Av), which Jews commemorate on Thursday.

The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism, although due to Muslim opposition the closest Jews can get to it most of the time is the remnant of a retaining wall on the platform's western flank. Some rabbinical authorities also forbid Jews to go onto the Mount, or parts of it, for fear of defiling the place.

After Muslims conquered Jerusalem in the 7th century, the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques were built on the Temple Mount. The al-Aqsa mosque is the third holiest site in Islam, based on the belief that Mohammed stopped there during his trip on a winged steed en route to heaven.

The small area is arguably the most contested piece of land in the Middle East. Islamic leaders frequently allege that Jews want to destroy the mosques, pointing to an incident in 1969 when a (non-Jewish) Australian, later declared insane, tried to set fire to the al-Aqsa mosque.

Earlier this week, Israel's High Court granted permission for a visit to the Temple Mount to a small Jewish group which supports the building of a third temple there. The group was allowed to visit, only on condition that the site was open for visitors, that the group's leader not participate, and that its members not carry placards or behave provocatively.

News of the court ruling in favor of the Temple Mount Faithful group sparked anger among Muslims. News reports in Arab media said Jewish "extremists" and "far-right" activists had been given permission to visit Islam's holiest site, although the application was to visit the Temple Mount platform, not to enter either of the mosques.

The head of the Waqf, Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hussein, warned about the consequences of the court ruling, saying the Waqf alone had authority to intervene in the affairs of the site.

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said the decision breached international norms and conventions, and he warned of serious repercussions at a time of heightened tensions in the region.

Abbas' Fatah movement called on Palestinians to take action and protect the mosque from a Jewish invasion, while a group called the Palestine Scholars League said the Jews were planning to attack the mosque and called on Palestinians to gather there to defend it.

The head of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Selah, called on supporters to flock to the site on Thursday.

PA Information Minister Yousef Rezqah, a member of the Hamas terror organization, accused the Israeli government of being behind the court ruling and praised Palestinians' efforts to protect the al-Aqsa mosque.

Talab El-Sana, an Israeli Arab lawmaker, warned that the visit would ignite a "third intifada," and two other Arab lawmakers, Ibrahim Sarsur and Abbas Zkoor, wrote to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, asking him to intervene.

"Extremist Jewish groups may damage the al-Aqsa mosque. If this were to happen, heaven forbid, it would enflame the region," they said.

The police decision forbidding non-Muslims from visiting the site on Thursday effectively annuls the High Court decision with regard to the Temple Mount Faithful, and also stops other Jews from visiting as well as younger Arab males.

The Temple Mount and surrounding Old City and eastern Jerusalem were controlled by Jordan from 1948 to 1967, when Israel captured the area during the Six Day War, enabling observant Jews once again to pray at the Western Wall.

Israel's government at the time decided to allow continued Islamic control over the Temple Mount. The overall area falls under Israeli sovereignty, disputed by the international community.

According to its website, the Temple Mount Faithful believes that the rebirth of Israel in 1948 was just the first in a five-stage process of Jewish - and world - redemption. The second was the regathering of Jews from around the world.

The third and fourth steps would be "liberation and consecration of the Temple Mount" and the building of a new temple. Then the Messiah would come.

One of the most significant prophecies concerning the return of Jesus is the literal rebuilding of the Jewish Temple on its historic site. 

As we have discussed, Ezekiel 37-39 contain a stunning series of predictions regarding the future of national Israel. First they would be re-gathered from every corner of the world following a long exile. This physical restoration would be followed by a spiritual rebirth among God's chosen people (Ezekiel 37).Ezekiel 38-39 detail a massive invasion by a coalition of nations bent on destroying the restored Jewish nation. God Himself will intervene and supernaturally judge the invading armies.

Most students of prophecy tend to focus on these stunning events. But did you know that the entire remainder of the book of Ezekiel is devoted to another prediction - the rebuilding of the Temple?

The book of Revelation provides another significant insight into future events.

 Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. (Revelation 11:1-2)

From this passage it appears that the Jews will be given permission to rebuild the Temple on the basis of sharing the site with the Moslems. Passages like Daniel 9:27 indicate that it may very well be the Anti-Christ who achieves what many believe is impossible- bringing peace between Israel and her neighbors.

The Bible tells us the Anti-Christ will use this development for his own evil ends, going into the Holy of Holies and proclaiming himself God at the mid point of the final seven years before the return of Christ, known as the Tribulation.

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin^[ is revealed, the son of perdition,  who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (II Thessalonians 2:3-4)

The bottom line? The issue of the Temple will continue to create conflict in the Middle East. Those looking forward to the return of Christ need to keep a weather eye on the events that surround this most disputed piece of real estate on earth!

Scott's Blog - 8/2/06

God Is In Control

On a day when Hezbollah has set an all time record for rockets fired into Jerusalem, a timely reminder from Stan Goodenough of The Jerusalem Newswire that God is well aware of the current conflict and in complete control of all events!

Posted on Wednesday 26 July 2006

Christians are not superstitious. We do not believe in fate or chance. All things are ordered by God and there are no real “coincidences” in this life.

Many of us holding this conviction do, however, look for signs as we seek to hear the Lord speaking to and directing us. And when really amazing things do occur, it can seem - to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear - that the Lord Himself is shouting a message from the heavens

This, for example, is how I view the discovery of the Isaiah manuscript of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, and its identification in 1948.

For me the timing of the find – precisely in the years when the United Nations voted to partition Palestine and David Ben Gurion declared the establishment of the State of Israel – together with the identity of the book – Isaiah perhaps being the primary prophet foretelling the restoration of the Jews to their Land – put God’s “stamp of authenticity” on this momentous event.

Biblical scholars have remarked that the Scroll’s discovery blew away much of the skepticism that had taken root concerning the divine Authorship of the Bible.

Something similar – if not of quite the same magnitude – happened for me today, a fortnight into Israel’s two-front conflict with Hamas in the south and Hizb’allah in the north.

Early this morning (Wednesday, July 26, 2006), I met with nine other men in the new King of Kings Pavilion Prayer Tower high above downtown Jerusalem. On top of our prayer agenda, naturally enough, was the ongoing war that has been triggered by Muslim Arabs bent on destroying the Jewish state.

It is not always easy to know what or how to pray in such circumstances. We know that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts nor are our ways His ways, and we do not wish to pray presumptuously. We even have to submit our understanding of what we read in God’s Word, the Bible, to His Holy Spirit. Sometimes it is perhaps best to simply pray that Word back to God and, as it were, remind Him of what He has written.

Early in the meeting today Pastor Wayne Hilsden was prompted to read Psalm 83. For those of us living in Israel, this is a well known imprecatory psalm – one of the “War Psalms.”

Part of it reads: For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” (Psalm 83:2-4)

We prayed into it

Upon returning home two hours later, I found that someone had emailed me a fascinating report off the CNN website. It was headlined:

“Medieval book of psalms unearthed – First millennium manuscript, open to Psalm 83, found in Irish mud.”

According to the report, the 20-page book, which was found by a construction worker digging in the bog last week, has been expertly dated to the years AD 800 to 1000.

It was the first time in more than 200 years that an early medieval Irish document had been unearthed.

CNN quotes the director of the National Museum of Ireland, Pat Wallace, who described the discovery as “really a miracle find.”

“There’s two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out,” Wallace said. “First of all, it’s unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing.”

What’s even more incredible to me is that this book, opened to this psalm, was discovered at this specific time in history.

For right now Israel’s enemies are again united in their desire to “cut Israel off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” They purpose to take for themselves the “pastures of God for a possession.” And that they are in league – or in a confederacy – is clear.

From Gaza, supported by most of the Arab states, the violence is being directed by the Palestinian Arab terrorist groups: the PLO, Hamas, the Palestine Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine and the popular resistance Committees.

In the north, the Lebanese group Hizb’allah, supplied and enabled by Syria and the non-Arab but also Islamic Iran, is raining rockets down on Israel.

This, given the current situation, makes Psalm 83 a fascinating and fitting read, the ancient find nothing short of a phenomenon.

I don’t want to take it any further than I should, but time may also show that the discovery of the Irish psalm book was a warning.

Many people have sensed that Damascus could be sucked into this war. Twelve days ago the Islamic Republic of Iran warned that an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world and would elicit a “fierce response.”

Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly spelled out his vision for Israel.

• “Israel must be wiped off the map.” (October 26, 2005)

• “The West [must] remove what they created sixty years ago … [or] the Palestinian nation and other nations will eventually do this for them.” (February 11, 2006)

• “Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm.” (April 15, 2006)

And on July 8, 2006 Ahmadinejad told the foreign ministers of Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, Bahrain and Egypt, together with the heads of the Arab League and the Islamic Conference that “all the conditions for the removal of the Zionist regime are at hand… It won’t take long before the wrath of the people turns into a terrible explosion that will wipe the Zionist entity off the map.”

Wrote one commentator: None of the foreign ministers present, including Jordan, Egypt or Turkey – commonly regarded as Israel’s friends in the Arab/Muslim world – objected to the call for annihilation.

Will today’s Rome Summit bring about a ceasefire, or even perhaps a new “peace plan” that will see the war now raging brought to an end?

Or could we be on the verge of an all out Middle East conflagration concerning which we need to pray like Asaph, regarding those bent on Israel’s destruction:

O my God, make them like the whirling dust, like the chaff before the wind! As the fire burns the woods, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire, so pursue them with Your tempest, and frighten them with Your storm. Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek Your name, O LORD. Let them be confounded and dismayed forever; yes, let them be put to shame and perish, that they may know that You, whose name alone is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth. (Psalm 83:13-18)

May His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. All glory to our wonderful God and His living and mighty Word!

Scott's Blog - 8/1/06

The (He)Art of Repentance

A few years ago when I was speaking regularly on college campuses, I developed a series of talks I called "Myths the World Taught Me". 

The point of the talks was to show that what most people take for the "Gospel Truth" could not be farther removed from the actual message of the Bible. People were shocked to discover that well worn spiritual observations like "To thine own self be true", or "God helps those who help themselves" were not only not to be found in the Bible, but were the polar opposite of what the Bible teaches. 

The message of the Bible is infinitely more practical and spiritually satisfying than the conventional wisdom that usually begins with the words "They say". These talks ended up becoming a book now known as "Reasonable Doubts - Is Your Faith Built on Fact or Fiction?" You can check it out on our resource page at www.ScottRichardsLive

These days I would add another myth to our list - "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

This sappy bit of relational nonsense first hit our culture as the shining theme from Erich Segal's tear jerker novel "Love Story". It translated well onto the silver screen, but has a tougher time with real life. Could you imagine living in a relationship based on that philosophy? Even Hollywood seemed to recognize this, as captured by the final lines of dialogue spoken by "Love Story" star Ryan O'Neil in the movie, "What's Up Doc?"

The 1972 screwball comedy What's Up, Doc?, which stars O'Neal, mocks this trademark line. At the end of that film, when Barbra Streisand's character coos "Love means never having to say you're sorry" while batting her eyelashes, O'Neal's character responds with the line "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."

Believe it or not, there are those who try to use this as the basis of a relationship with God.

The reasoning goes something like this - Jesus died for all our sins, past, present and future. Our sins have been forgiven and forgotten. So bringing up our sins again, even to ask forgiveness, is to deny what Jesus has done. 

It sounds logical. The only problem is this "Love Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry -To God" philosophy simply isn't Biblical.

The Bible tells us that honesty, not philosophy is necessary to practically experience God's healing touch in our lives. 

5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (I John 1:5-10)

This kind of loving honesty, combined with genuine humility is also to be practiced in our relationships with others. Following a major falling out with the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul commended the believers there for not just saying they were sorry with their lips, but with their lives.

9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. (II Corinthians 7:9-11)

The secret of genuine repentance, that leads to a genuine love relationship with God and others is not to play clever cover up games. It is not found in merely being brave enough to admit when we are in the wrong. It lies in a heart motivated desire to make things right that manifests itself in a way that leaves no doubt that things have really changed.

Interestingly, we may be seeing a living illustration of this principle in the aftermath of  Mel Gibson's now famous melt down of last weekend. Gibson released a statement today that seems to point to that very definition of genuine repentance.

MEL SAYS SORRY TO THE JEWS
Tue Aug 01 2006 11:10:45 ET

August 2, 2006 -- There is no excuse, nor should there be any tolerance, for anyone who thinks or expresses any kind of Anti-Semitic remark. I want to apologize specifically to everyone in the Jewish community for the vitriolic and harmful words that I said to a law enforcement officer the night I was arrested on a DUI charge.

I am a public person, and when I say something, either articulated and thought out, or blurted out in a moment of insanity, my words carry weight in the public arena. As a result, I must assume personal responsibility for my words and apologize directly to those who have been hurt and offended by those words.

The tenets of what I profess to believe necessitate that I exercise charity and tolerance as a way of life. Every human being is God’s child, and if I wish to honor my God I have to honor his children. But please know from my heart that I am not an anti-Semite. I am not a bigot. Hatred of any kind goes against my faith.

I’m not just asking for forgiveness. I would like to take it one step further, and meet with leaders in the Jewish community, with whom I can have a one on one discussion to discern the appropriate path for healing.

I have begun an ongoing program of recovery and what I am now realizing is that I cannot do it alone. I am in the process of understanding where those vicious words came from during that drunken display, and I am asking the Jewish community, whom I have personally offended, to help me on my journey through recovery. Again, I am reaching out to the Jewish community for its help. I know there will be many in that community who will want nothing to do with me, and that would be understandable. But I pray that that door is not forever closed.

This is not about a film. Nor is it about artistic license. This is about real life and recognizing the consequences hurtful words can have. It’s about existing in harmony in a world that seems to have gone mad.

END

Some have cynically said that Gibson had to say these kind of things if he ever expected to work in Hollywood again. But it is also possible that his expression of brokenness, coupled with promised bench marks to measure the sincerity of his apology, is on the level. Time will tell.

And isn't that the only real remedy when trust has been broken - loving honesty, and genuine humility, coupled with proven character demonstrated over time?

Let's pray this is the case with Mel Gibson. And let's pray that same grace will rest on us next time we stumble and fall.

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