One of the most widely believed myths concerning the on
going conflict in the Middle East is the concept of "land for
peace".
If Israel would just go back to it's pre-1967 War borders, it's
Moslem neighbors will cease all hostilities and a new era of
peace will dawn.
There are two major problems with this line of thinking. Radical
groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as well as so called "moderates"
like Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party have one thing in common. Their
charters explicitly call for the elimination of Israel. To add
to this, we have Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejhad
declaring that Israel must be "wiped off the map".
No matter how much real estate is given to her neighbors, "land
for peace" will only satisfy Israel's neighbors when Israel has
no more land to give.
Secondly, the real bone of contention in this dispute is a
shopping mall size site called "the Noble Sanctuary" by the
Moslems, and the Temple Mount by the Israelis.
There are those in Israel who are ready to throw in the towel on
this historic site.
Israel offers Palestinians control of Temple Mount
Prime minister's office today presents formal plan placing
Judaism's holiest site under Arab authority Posted: August 28, 2007
1:39 p.m. Eastern
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office today presented the
Palestinian Authority with a formal plan in which the Jewish
state would forfeit the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site –
to Muslim control, according to top Palestinian sources.
The sources said Olmert's plan calls for the entire Temple
Mount plaza to fall under Arab sovereignty; Jerusalem's Old City
holy sites near the Mount to be governed by a Jewish, Christian
and Muslim task force; and the Western Wall plaza below the
Mount to be controlled by Israel.
Over the weekend, an Egyptian newspaper reported Israeli
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Egyptian government the
Jewish state is willing to forfeit control of the Temple Mount
to the management of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian
Authority.
The Al Massrioun daily reported Barak informed Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and the
Jordanian government Israel is willing to hand them joint
control over the Temple Mount.
According to the Egyptian report, Barak stated an umbrella
group of several Arab countries controlling the holy site
instead of only the PA would help ease Israeli domestic
opposition to giving up the Temple Mount, since Egypt and Jordan
are considered by Israeli policy to be moderate countries.
Ronen Moshe, a spokesman for Barak, told WND the Egyptian
media report is "untrue."
"We do not comment on the specifics of private conversations
with world leaders, but this report is not what was said during
the talks," Moshe said.
A senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition his
name be withheld, told WND yesterday Israel "understands there
won't be any deal with the Palestinians unless it forfeits the
Temple Mount."
The official said the Mount was previously a sticking point
in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, but he said Prime Minister
Olmert's government has expressed a number of times a
willingness to compromise on the Temple Mount.
"We've recently received many Israeli plans that showed
Israel is willing to allow another body, whether Palestinian or
international, to control the [Temple Mount]. The issue is no
longer a sticking point," the Palestinian official said
Will this bargain be struck?
First, there is a majorpolitical
hurdle in the way. In the aftermath of last summer's
disasterous war with Hezbollah, Ehud Olmert's political life is
hanging by a thread. His approval ratings have plummeted to
single digits, leading many to conclude that Israel's next Prime
Minister will be conservative Benjamin Netanyahu. (see Joel
Rosenberg's Epicenter
Blog for more details)
Second, there is a major prophetic hurdle in
the way. The Bible insists that Israel isn't going anywhere, and
that a rebuilt Temple is going to be a major feature of the last
days.
Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel
stood,[a]
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)
Third, there appears to be a, well, major
providential hurdle to overcome.
Possible remains of second temple
found in Jerusalem: TV
Remains of the Jewish second
temple may have been found during work to lay pipes at
the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in
east Jerusalem, Israeli television
reported Thursday.
Israeli television broadcast footage of a
mechanical digger at the site which Israeli
archaeologists visited on Thursday.
Gaby Barkai, an archaeologist from
Bar Ilan University, urged the
Israeli government to stop the pipework
after the discovery of what he said is "a massive seven
metre-long wall."
Television said the pipework carried out by the
office of Muslim religious affairs, or Waqf, is about
1.5 metres deep and about 100 metres long.
The compound, which houses both
Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the
Rock, is located in east Jerusalem, which Israel
occupied in 1967 and then annexed. It is the third
holiest site in Islam after Mecca and Medina.
For Jews it as known as the
Temple Mount, which they revere as the
site of the King Herod's second temple, which was
destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. It is the holiest site
in Judaism.
All that remains today is the temple's Western
Wall, or Wailing wall.
Part and parcel of the Moslem
demand for Temple Mount control is the assertion that
the Temple never really existed, that it is a figment of
the Jewish mind.
This "massive" twenty two foot long wall is pretty
large to be a "figment".
Could we be seeing the hand of God, intervening in
this seemingly "accidental" discovery?
If you have been to Israel, or have even seen
pictures of the "Wailing Wall", you know the passion the
Jewish people attach to this site. The "Wailing Wall" is
only a retaining wall that supported the far edge of the
Temple complex. Could you imagine the reaction if an
actual part of the Temple proper is excavated?
The Bible tells us that an "international solution"
will come to the Temple Mount dispute. It will take
place when the Anti-Christ makes "a strong covenant with
many" (Daniel 9:27) for seven years that will allow the
reinstitution of Temple rituals and sacrifice. It also
will apparently allow the Moslem shrines to continue to
exist there as well (Revelation 11:2).
It appears that even politics can't stand in the way
of prophecy. Stay tuned!
Scott's Blog - 8/29/07
No Atheists In Press Conferences?
By now you no doubt have heard the sad story
of Michael Vick.
Arguably one of the most physically talented quarterbacks to
ever play in the NFL, Vick was nearly impossible to defense on
the field, being just as much a threat to pass as to run with
the ball.
His behavior off the field has also been difficult to defend.
Vick and the others are accused of "knowingly sponsoring
and exhibiting an animal fighting venture" and conducting a
business enterprise involving gambling, as well as buying,
transporting and receiving dogs for the purposes of an animal
fighting venture.
About eight young dogs were put to death at the Surry
County home after they were found not ready to fight in April
2007, the indictment said. They were killed "by hanging,
drowning and/or slamming at least one dog's body to the ground."
Vick first denied the allegations, both publically and to NFL
officials. When his friends pleaded guilty to the charges, Vick
soon followed suit.
And, as usually the case, he called a press conference and
admitted
his guilt, using a refrain we have grown used to over the
last few years.
I totally ask for forgiveness and
understanding as I move forward to bettering Michael Vick the
person, not the football player.
I take full responsibility for my
actions. For one second will I sit right here - not for one
second will I sit right here and point the finger and try to
blame anybody else for my actions or what I've done.
I'm totally responsible, and those
things just didn't have to happen. I feel like we all make
mistakes. It's just I made a mistake in using bad judgment and
making bad decisions. And you know, those things, you know, just
can't happen.
Dog fighting is a terrible thing, and
I did reject it.
I'm upset with myself, and, you know,
through this situation I found Jesus and asked Him for
forgiveness and turned my life over to God. And I think that's
the right thing to do as of right now.
So here is the question: Should anyone
believe him?
There used to be an old adage that "There
are no atheists in fox holes". Now it seems that when a
celebrity stumbles, the attorneys, public relations specialists
and spin doctors all agree that an appeal to a "Higher Power" is
a great first step toward getting back to how life was before
the embarrassing revelation.
If it works for Mel Gibson and Paris
Hilton, why not Michael Vick?
But...
What if he is telling the truth? What if
this concussive blast of consequences for outrageous behavior
has caused a real change of heart?
Is this possible?
Certainly. God is an expert at
reclamation projects. He did a pretty fair job with a First
Century persecutor of the church named Saul of Tarsus. He later
wrote:
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has
enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me
into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a
persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I
did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord
was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in
Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save
sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained
mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all
longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on
Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen. (I Timothy 1:12-17)
God certainly can turn a life
around. The big question is how can we know when He has
turned a life around?
It takes time.
Time will reveal whether Michael Vick, or
Mel Gibson, or Paris Hilton have truly been changed by a new
relationship with Jesus .
When Jesus comes into a life, things
really do change.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all things have become new. (II Corinthians 5:17)
This doesn't mean these personalities
will become spotless saints over night. But the genuine presence
of Christ in a human heart will result in a process the Bible
calls sanctification - our character being conformed to the
image and likeness of Jesus.
Over time this change is impossible to
hide. It is also impossible to fake.
When it comes to the latest celebrity
profession of faith, let's take a page from the old Russian
proverb, "Trust-but verify."
Let's pray that the best has in fact
happened for Michael Vick, but also keep a weather eye to what
kind of man Michael Vick will be five years from now, when the
press conferences are over.
Scott's Blog - 8/28/07
Spiritual Stage Fright
Have you ever been called upon to make a presentation
in front of a large group of people?
Talk about something that just isn't as easy as it looks!
Studies have shown that the fear of public speaking is only
exceeded by the fear of death itself in most people's anxiety
closets.
If you have ever wondered why this is so, you may want to ask
Lauren Caitlin Upton.
Lauren, as Miss Teen South Carolina, was asked a fairly simple
question during the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Her answer has created quite a splash
across the media today.
Why has this video captured so much attention? The simple answer
is most people can easily see themselves pulling off the same
"deer in the headlights" imitation if we found ourselves on
stage and on camera.
In fact, most of us already have.
I will never forget being asked to perform a wedding by two very
close friends. I woke up the morning of the ceremony with a case
of the flu that made me wonder if I was a victim of biological
warfare.
When I called my friends to tell them I was running a 102 degree
fever and couldn't attend, they told me it just wouldn't be the
same, you've got to be there..
In a stunning flash of codependency, I told them I'd be there.
Now, weddings are pretty serious things. People tend to remember
weddings, especially the families involved.
If you are a pastor you definitely want to bring your "A" game
to a wedding ceremony.
Imagine how I felt when I stood up on the platform and watched
as the room began to look like the final special effects segment
from "Titanic".
The ceremony began, and things were rolling along until I came
to the famous quotation from Genesis 2 concerning God's purpose
for marriage:
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to
his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)
My translation of that passage, well, varied a bit.
In my flu and Dayquil induced stupor I uttered this immortal
line:
"For this cause a man shall cleave to his father and
mother and leave his wife."
Gasps. Eyes as big as saucers. The father of the bride looking
at me like, "Where did they get this guy, the Elvis Chapel?"
You get the picture. We've all ended up being less than eloquent
when our time on stage has come.
But there is a positive ending to the story of Lauren Caitlin
Upton. She got a
second chance to get it right.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - This time, the question was a little
easier for Miss Teen South Carolina. After being stumped by a
Miss Teen USA pageant question on live
television Friday night, Lauren Caitlin Upton's confused,
mangled response has been drawing a lot of attention.
The 18-year-old got a chance to redeem herself Tuesday on
NBC's "Today" show when she was again asked why one-fifth of
Americans can't locate the U.S. on a map.
"I would love to re-answer that question," Upton said.
"Well personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the
United States is on our map. I don't know anyone else who
doesn't. And if the statistics are correct, I believe there
should be more emphasis on geography."
That was much better than her previous response, which
included "U.S. Americans" and mentions of South Africa
and "the Iraq."
Bless her heart, Lauren didn't duck and cover. In a
remarkable demonstration of poise and courage, she faced her
faux pas dead on.
I couldn't help but think that Lauren's response is
instructive for us as believers. Sooner or later each of us will
face the equally nerve wracking experience of sharing our faith
with a skeptical non believer. It is entirely possible that we
will be asked a question that we feel ill equipped to be able to
handle.
I have found in situations like this the best response is to
look for a "second chance to get it right".
Simply say to the skeptic, "You know, that is a great
question. I'm going to look into that and get back to you with
an answer if you'd like."
If you are dealing with a person whose sole intention is to
win an argument or make you look foolish, don't count on a
follow up conversation.
But if you are dealing with someone who sincerely desires to
seek truth, your answer and your example will speak volumes.
Two good things will come out of such an honest approach -
First, you will discover there are Biblical answers to even the
toughest questions, and that answer will be one you will never
forget!
Second - You just might have the privilege of introducing
someone to Jesus as their own personal Lord and savior.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be
ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason
for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear (I Peter
3:15)
Scott's Blog - 8/27/07
Fly On, You Crazy Bumblebee!
When I think back to my time on staff at Calvary Chapel
of Costa Mesa, the phrase "Never a dull moment" comes to mind.
Hanging out at a church that some 40,000 people called home, in
the center of Southern California certainly provided the
opportunity for some interesting interactions. And if you kept
your eyes open, there were more than a few amazingly relevant
life lessons to be learned along the way.
One day I was asked to meet with two Japanese sociologists who
were doing research on the "Mega Church" phenomenon. One of
these gentlemen spoke English, the other only Japanese.
They asked me, "To what do you attribute the overwhelming growth
of this church? Is it sensitivity to seekers felt needs? Is it a
network of small groups that support the work of the church? Is
it cutting edge music and drama presentations that entertain and
educate?"
I replied, "No. I've been around a lot of churches that work
hard to do all these things. But the secret of what has happened
here is simple. We pray. We teach God's Word verse by verse. And
we love one another."
My new friends looked a bit puzzled by my response.
"I guess I would call this a 'Bumblebee church'. When I was in
college, my biology teacher taught us about the bumblebee. It is
not aerodynamically designed. It's body is too big and it's
wings too small to be able to fly. Scientifically, a bumblebee
shouldn't be able to get off the ground. But no one told the
bumblebee.
Everything I have read about man based strategies for church
growth tells me this shouldn't be a place that 40,000 people
call their church home. Yet it is. The only explanation is that
Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa is a work of the Spirit of God.
This is a 'Bumblebee church'."
"Ah! A Bumblebee church!"
I was reminded of that encounter when I read the report of the
results of the latest Harvest Crusade that took place last
weekend in California's Central Valley.
"I want you to throw out your pre-conceived notions about
Christianity for a moment and think about what Jesus said," a
national evangelist told thousands seated at the Amphitheater at
California State University Stanislaus.
Evangelist Greg Laurie speaks to thousands at
the Amphitheater at California State University
Stanislaus during the Central Valley Harvest
Crusade, Aug. 24-26.
"Who better to tell us what God is like than Jesus?"
posed Greg Laurie at the Central Valley Harvest Crusade, his
third evangelistic outreach this summer.
Some 48,000 people flocked to the Harvest Crusade with
thousands more watching top Christian artists perform and Laurie
preach via live webcasts. The evangelistic crusade has been
months in the making, involving around 150 churches and 3,000
local volunteers.
Addressing pre-conceived views of Christianity that some
visitors may have attended the three-night event with, Laurie
affirmed what many believe – that there are hypocrites in the
church.
"I'd like to say to you that there are no hypocrites in
the church, but there are because the church is made of real
people," said Laurie Saturday night. But "just because there are
hypocrites doesn't mean that going to get you off the hook when
you stand before God," the evangelist and Southern California
pastor stressed.
"Jesus didn't say 'follow my people.' He said 'follow
me,'" he highlighted. "Jesus will never let you down."
Speaking to those who may view Christianity as a religion
of rules and regulations, Laurie mimicked such a person saying,
"Ah, man. God is just out to ruin our lives. With all of its
rules and regulations, who wants to get into that kind of
thing?"
When Laurie had his Christ decision-making moment in high
school, he hadn't originally set out to become a Christian. He
was part of the party scene and had a mother who divorced seven
times. And he thought Christians were Jesus freaks.
"A lot of us are like that. I'm going to draw my own
picture of [who] God [is]," Laurie told the Harvest crowd.
And he didn't deny that sin can be fun. "It's fun to sin
for a while. We've all had fun. But it comes with a penalty," he
warned.
"It (sin) promises freedom but it brings slavery," said
Laurie. "It promises pleasure but it ultimately brings misery."
Rather than judging from their own views, Laurie asked
the crowd to see what Jesus says about what God is like.
Like the renowned story Jesus told of the prodigal son
and the father, God will throw His arms around you and say
"Welcome home, son/daughter," said Laurie.
Nearly 4,000 people accepted Jesus Christ over the Aug.
24-26 event. Laurie's next Harvest preaching is slated for New York on Sept. 23.
Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that the
Harvest Crusades are anything less than state of the art in
technology, organization and presentation.
But there are those who will confidently assert that the time
of large gathering Billy Graham style evangelistic outreaches
has passed.
People just don't respond to altar calls anymore.
Putting on a crusade costs too much money and generates too
few tangible results.
But evidently, like the bumblebee, no one told the Harvest
Crusade.
Or the 4,000 people who gave their lives to Christ!
“ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven,
And do not return there,
But water the earth,
And make it bring forth and bud,
That it may give seed to the sower
And bread to the eater,
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent
it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
Scott's Blog - 8/24/07
Back To Babylon?
One of the most provocative pieces of End Times
prophecy concerns the pivotal role predicted for the ancient
city of Babylon.
What place will Babylon occupy in the last days? Are references
to Babylon in the book of Revelation code speak, symbolism
or could they be in the process of finding a literal fulfillment
in the not so distant future?
Check out our weekend video blog "Mystery - Babylon" on
the Scott Richards Live home page!
Scott's Blog - 8/23/07
On Human Heroes
There seems to be something in us that hungers for
heroes.
Whether it's on the athletic field, in the board room of
corporate America, or the halls of higher learning, we all seem
to be looking for a role model - someone whose larger than life
shoes we'd love to fill some day.
The spiritual world is no exception to this rule. That is why
there was an almost audible gasp heard across the country when
Time Magazine lead with this stunning story today.
Mother Teresa's Crisis of Faith
Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 By
DAVID VAN BIEMA
Mother Teresa in a Calcutta orphanage, 1979.
Bettmann / Corbis
Jesus has a very
special love for you. As for me, the silence and the
emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and
do not hear.
— Mother Teresa to the Rev. Michael Van Der Peet, September
1979
Mother Teresa of Calcutta having a crisis of faith? That
seems as likely as Tiger Woods announcing he was quitting
golf to devote himself full time to his real love - beer
league softball.
And yet in a new book, Mother Teresa: Come Be My
Light, we discover that the woman who many
considered a modern day saint experienced an intense and
prolonged "dark night of the soul".
The letters describe an overwhelming sense of separation
from God, a feeling that God wasn't just distant, but
completely absent from her life.
That absence seems to have started at almost precisely
the time she began tending the poor and dying in Calcutta,
and — except for a five-week break in 1959 — never abated.
Although perpetually cheery in public, the Teresa of the
letters lived in a state of deep and abiding spiritual pain.
In more than 40 communications, many of which have never
before been published, she bemoans the "dryness,"
"darkness," "loneliness" and "torture" she is undergoing.
She compares the experience to hell and at one point says it
has driven her to doubt the existence of heaven and even of
God. She is acutely aware of the discrepancy between her
inner state and her public demeanor. "The smile," she
writes, is "a mask" or "a cloak that covers everything."
Similarly, she wonders whether she is engaged in verbal
deception. "I spoke as if my very heart was in love with God
— tender, personal love," she remarks to an adviser. "If you
were [there], you would have said, 'What hypocrisy.'" Says
the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the Jesuit magazine America and the author of My Life with the Saints, a
book that dealt with far briefer reports in 2003 of Teresa's
doubts: "I've never read a saint's life where the saint has
such an intense spiritual darkness. No one knew she was that
tormented." Recalls Kolodiejchuk,
Come Be My Light's editor: "I read one letter to
the Sisters [of Teresa's Missionaries of Charity], and their
mouths just dropped open. It will give a whole new dimension
to the way people understand her."
A whole new dimension to the way people understand her?
Undoubtedly.
But a negative one? Not necessarily.
To be sure, the media loving purveyors of the so called
"New Atheism" will immediately launch into six inch deep
analysis that will conclude that Mother Teresa was at worst
a phony, or at best a closet believer in their own doctrines
of spiritual emptiness.
But the real life lessons these letters teach run a bit
deeper than that.
There will undoubtedly be those whose world's will be
rocked by the searing honesty they find in Mother
Teresa: Come Be My Light. They may find themselves
saying, "If Mother Teresa doubted God, what hope is there
for me?"
Remember the TV Evangelist scandals of the late 1980's?
During those days I had a conversation with a man who
claimed he had lost his faith.
"I got saved watching Jimmy Swaggart on television. Now
that he has fallen I don't know what I believe in anymore."
I thought about what this man was telling me for a moment
and then asked him a simple question.
"So did you pray to receive Jimmy Swaggart as your Lord
and savior?"
"No!", the man shot back, looking a bit red in the face.
"I asked Jesus to save me."
I smiled and said, "Just remember, Jesus is no hypocrite.
He will never let you down."
I'm sure the last thing Mother Teresa would have ever
wanted was for people to trust in her instead of Jesus.
The Bible gives us his piece of advice.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the
sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The second life lesson is one that our society has a hard
time handling these days. We define truth, especially
spiritual truth not based on whether God has spoken, but on
whether something "works" for us. We usually define "works
for us" as what makes us feel good at a particular moment.
When a couple will come into my office and say their
relationship "isn't working", what they usually mean is that
it no longer makes them feel the same way it did when they
were newly married.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all in favor of positive
feelings. But if the only reason we are in a relationship is
because it makes us feel good, how do we know that we really
love that other person? Is it possible we are only in love
with the feelings we associate with love?
Marriages based on a love of feelings, instead of a love
for another person rarely, if ever, last.
The same is true in our relationship with God. Contrary
to much of what we hear on Christian media today, the people
we meet in the Scriptures who loved God the most, seemed to
have the toughest challenges thrown at them in life.
My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of
the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we
count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the
perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the
Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful.
(James 5:10-11)
Our culture counts those blessed who enjoy this life. The
Bible seems to count those blessed who endure,
seeking a better life ahead.
The startling truth of Mother Teresa: Come Be My
Light, isn't that she was able to live in such a
self sacrificing way because she had some special "in" with
the Lord that made it all a walk in the park. It was that
she continued to be faithful, even when there didn't seem to
be the immediate spiritual pay off she so longed for.
She persevered. She did what was right not because of her
feelings, but in spite of them.
And how does heaven look upon those who persevere as she
did?
Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of
life. (Revelation 2:10)
Scott's Blog - 8/22/07
Answered Prayers
One of the most often quoted passages in the Word of
God pertaining to prayer is found in the book of Philippians.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Lest we think this was written as some kind of Polyanna-like
platitude, Paul sent these words of encouragement from the dark
confines of the Mamertine prison in Rome.
Also significant is a particular piece of advice concerning
prayer that often times gets put on the back burner when the
crisis passes - "with thanksgiving".
When we take the time to give a well deserved "Thank You" to the
Lord, a wonderful thing happens. The provision of God we just
experienced becomes a bit more settled in our memories. And when
the next time of trial comes our way we will be far more likely
to remember How good God has been to us in the past. This allows
us to approach our present circumstances, and even an uncertain
future with Christ-centered confidence.
This leads us to pass along to you a great occasion to put this
principle into practice.
As many of you know we requested prayer for our friends and
listeners who join us daily on Lighthouse Christian Radio in San
Pedro, Belize. Although Hurricane Dean did impact the country,
it appears that damage has been minimal. Clive Welsh, the
general manager of Lighthouse Christian Radio sends along this
update.
The Lord was gracious and
virtually no damage was done to Lighthouse Christian Radio, the
Apartments in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye!
Dennis Requena, station
manager, chose to stay on the island and kept the radio on all
night until the electricity went out. The windows were boarded
up and food and water was supplied to us by the Ocean Hills team
before they departed. Several local pastors and their family
took shelter in the Staff and Guest apartments of Lighthouse
Christian Radio.
Hurricane Dean made land
very early this morning just north of us in the Yucatan and
Ambergris Caye received very strong winds and rain. Thousands of
residence had evacuated as requested by NEOM over the previous
days but many stayed. I left the island around 12:30 PM and took
the last flight out in order to secure the vehicles used by the
team and made preparations for whatever would resulted from
Dean. The Western Highway , the only route from Belize City to
the western and southern districts was crowded with vehicles,
bumper to bumper, as the mayor of Belize City had urged
residence to head for higher ground. Belize City is below sea
level and flooding was a given. Reports indicated that Belize
was not greatly affected and many are returning today to resume
life as normal.
As the reports are coming
in, the furthest northern district of Corozal was affected
greatly by the strong winds that took off many roofs. A friend
called me in the early morning from Corozal and said that he had
never experience anything like this before. He fled San Pedro
Town to Corozal, along with many residences from San Pedro,
where they thought would be ‘higher ground’.
According to Dennis
Requena, the damage he has seen first hand is destroyed and
broken piers, trees uprooted, debris along the sea, and some
building damaged in the downtown area of San Pedro Town. Most of
the damaged areas were the poor areas where inadequate houses
were just outside of town, along with flooding up to 3 feet.
The island is still
without electricity which we hope will be restored shortly so we
can resume broadcasting.
Thanks you all very much
for your prayers and for standing with us through this time! I
thank the Lord for each of you and for your care and constant
love and support. Please continue to pray for us now as we seek
to use this situation to make know the great grace and salvation
of the Lord.
With a heart of thanks and
gratitude to the Lord for all of you!
Clive Welsh
Saving Grace World
Missions
Belize , Central America
I would encourage you to take a moment and give thanks for the
Lord's mercy in this challenging situation.
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
(James 5:16)
Scott's Blog - 8/21/07
"It's Alive!!!"?
I couldn't help but have a flash back to the world of
cheesy monster movies when I caught the
following headline in
the news today.
Artificial Life Likely in 3 to 10 Years
Aug 19 11:52 PM US/Eastern
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer
- Around
the world, a handful of scientists are trying to create life
from scratch and they're getting closer.
Experts expect an announcement within three to 10 years
from someone in the now little-known field of "wet artificial
life."
"It's going to be a big deal and everybody's going to
know about it," said Mark Bedau, chief operating officer of ProtoLife of Venice,
Italy, one of those in the race. "We're talking about a
technology that could change our world in pretty fundamental
ways—in fact, in ways that are impossible to predict."
That first cell of synthetic life—made from the basic
chemicals in DNA—may not seem like much to non-scientists. For
one thing, you'll have to look in a microscope to see it.
"Creating protocells has the potential to shed new light
on our place in the universe," Bedau said. "This will remove one
of the few fundamental mysteries about creation in the universe
and our role."
Pretty heady stuff, isn't it?
At least until we start reading the fine print.
Let's start with the phrase "life from scratch".
Those who propose to make 'synthetic life' already concede
they are working with the amazingly complex molecule known as
DNA.
How much of a head start on synthesisizing life is this?
Consider that the odds of just one of the complex components of
the DNA molecule being formed by chance have been placed at 1 in
10 to the 260th power.
That is 10 with 260 zeros following it. This is a number so
large we don't have a name to describe it.
Such numbers are far too large for most people to
comprehend. However, the
late
Sir Fred Hoyle, who was Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge
University and was not a Christian, illustrated the point this
way: ’Now imagine 1050 blind persons [that’s 100,000
billion billion billion billion billion people—standing shoulder
to shoulder, they would more than fill our entire planetary
system] each with a scrambled Rubik cube and try to conceive of
the chance of them all simultaneously arriving at the solved
form. You then have the chance of arriving by random shuffling
[random variation] of just one of the many biopolymers on which
life depends. The notion that not only the biopolymers but the
operating program of a living cell could be arrived at by chance
in a primordial soup here on Earth is evidently nonsense of a
high order.
So those who propose to create life in the lab
are working with some pretty impressive 'scratch' to begin with.
As to whether this genetic reshuffling will tell us something
about "our place in the universe", I couldn't agree more. The
scientists involved admit that designing life is a daunting
challenge.
Bedau figures there are three major hurdles to creating
synthetic life:
—A container, or membrane, for the cell to keep bad
molecules out, allow good ones, and the ability to multiply.
—A genetic system that controls the functions of the
cell, enabling it to reproduce and mutate in response to
environmental changes.
—A metabolism that extracts raw materials from the environment as food and
then changes it into energy.
One of the leaders in the field, Jack Szostak at Harvard
Medical School, predicts that within the next six months,
scientists will report evidence that the first step—creating a
cell membrane—is "not a big problem."
Scientists are using fatty acids in that effort.
Szostak is also optimistic about the next step—getting
nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA, to form a working
genetic system.
His idea is that once the container is made, if
scientists add nucleotides in the right proportions, then Darwinian evolution could simply take over.
"We aren't smart enough to design things, we just let
evolution do the hard work and then we figure out what
happened," Szostak said.
Do you catch what is being admitted to in this process? The
attempt to create artificial life requires the brightest minds,
working with the most advanced technology, under the most
controlled conditions.
One might even use the words "Intelligent Design" to describe
the effort.
Hmmm. Sounds vaguely familiar.
As in:
For thus says the LORD,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“ I am the LORD, and there is no
other."(Isaiah 45:18)
Mark Looy of the Answers In Genesis organization
aptly points
out the almost self refuting nature of these experiments.
Ultimately, experiments such as the ones being conducted
today show that a Master Designer created life—that it did not
come about by the mindlessness of evolution which scientists are
trying to replicate. But these researchers are using their minds
and their own creativity to do so—and all to prove that life
came around by chance?
This satellite image of Hurricane Dean from Monday shows the
Atlantic season's first major storm heading toward Mexico's
Yucatan Peninsula as a powerful Category 4 storm.
In our amazingly interconnected media society we
have almost grown used to a "disaster of the week".
Because of the fact that there is always some kind of natural
calamity taking place somewhere in the world, it is easy to
become somewhat detached from the harsh reality such events
bring to the lives of real people.
That is, until a natural disaster touches the lives of people we
know and love.
As you may know, Scott Richards Live is heard on a daily basis
on Lighthouse Christian Radio in San Pedro, Belize. Belize
is located directly to the left of the eye of Hurricane Dean in
the satellite image above. Our good friend Clive Welsh has sent
this update on the latest developments.
Greetings from San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye,
Belize!
As you might have heard by now, and perhaps
already praying, Hurricane Dean is in the Caribbean and
currently hitting Jamaica. If it continues on the projected
path, it will become a category 5 before heading our way. We
are not in its direct path at this moment and they have
placed a voluntary evacuation for the islands and will know
better on Monday morning as to weather a mandatory is
necessary. Many have left and are leaving the island
including the Ocean Hills Church who just completed their
mission trip.
I'm currently on Ambergris Caye at Lighthouse
Christian Radio and have been giving hourly hurricane
updates to our listeners and will continue to do so as we
are required by the Belize Broadcasting Authority. We are
required to stay on-air as long as possible to broadcast
updates, warnings, news and information to the public.
Please pray for those being affected right
now in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and for protection for
us on the coastline and islands of Belize! At this point I
will be staying with Dennis and Abner on the island and
await further instructions. Please pray for out antenna,
the building and apartments and most of all that God
would use us in this time and in the next day or so.
I'm scheduled to fly out of Belize this
coming Tuesday for the Passport to the World Mission
Conference at Calvary of Albuquerque, New Mexico but will
have to see what the events of the next day will be! The
will of the Lord be done!
Trusting in Him,
Clive Welsh
Hurricanes are no minor problem in that part of the world. When
we visited Belize last summer we drove by a small city called "Hattieville".
The history
behind this place is chilling.
1961 : Hurricane Hattie strikes
Belize
Hurricane Hattie
strikes Belize on this day in 1961, killing more than 400
people and leaving thousands homeless. Almost half of Belize
City was demolished by the storm.
The storm that would
become Hattie had formed two weeks earlier in the Atlantic
Ocean and then moved slowly west toward Central America.
When it reached the coast of Belize, known at the time as
British Honduras, it was a Category 4 hurricane with
sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and gusts reaching 180
mph. It was the strongest storm to hit Belize to date. With
accurate weather predictions still in their infancy, an
attempted evacuation was only partially successful.
The barrier islands
of Turneffe and Caulker Cays were totally submerged by the
storm surge. Hattie then brought a 12-foot surge to the
mainland, flattening all buildings near the shore. Stann
Creek, a small fishing village on the coast near Belize
City, was completely destroyed. Following the hurricane, the
village was rebuilt and renamed Hattieville.
What can
we do to help? First we can pray.
Be anxious for nothing, but
in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to God; and the peace
of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Second, if you would like to
send Clive and the team at Lighthouse Christian Radio a word
of encouragement the e-mail contact address isCLIVISH@aol.com.
We often talk about our Scott
Richards Live "family of listeners". What a wonderful thing
to get behind our brothers and sisters and support them in
this tough time!
By this we know love,
because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to
lay down our lives
for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and
sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him,
how does the love of God abide in him?
My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue,
but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of
the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. (I John
3:16-19)
Belize, just south of Mexico, evacuated 6,000 people
from the country's main tourist resort, San Pedro on
Ambergris Caye, and 500 or so from nearby
Caye Caulker, said national emergency coordinator
James Jan Mohammed. People were urged to leave low-lying
areas.
Authorities evacuated
Belize City's three hospitals and were moving
high-risk patients to the inland capital,
Belmopan, founded after 1961's Hurricane Hattie
devastated Belize City. Belize City Mayor Zenaida Moya urged
people to leave, saying shelters aren't strong enough to
withstand a storm of Dean's size.
Please continue to pray for
the safety of the Lighthouse Christian Radio team, as well
as for the people of Belize.
Scott's Blog - 8/17/07
When Is A Contradiction A Confirmation?
Sometimes the most challenging questions we face
concerning the reliability of the Bible give us the chance to
challenge some well entrenched misconceptions.
Check out our new video-blog
- The Bible and Slavery - to find out how!
Scott's Blog - 8/16/07
Grasping At Straw Men?
If you are a regular reader of Scott's Blog, you know
last week we featured a story about the famous "Parade of
Evolution".
Researchers revealed that two of the key characters in our march
toward modernity, Homo Erectus and Homo Habilus, didn't lead to
one another, but actually lived together.
In the words of researcher Fred Spoor, "It's the equivalent
of finding that your grandmother and great-grandmother were
sisters rather than mother-daughter."
Although this discovery upsets the traditional evolutionary
applecart, co-author Susan Anton (presumably not the model)
attempts to salvage a shred of credibility for Darwinism with
this interesting observation.
"This is not questioning the idea at all of evolution; it
is refining some of the specific points," Anton said. "This is a
great example of what science does and religion doesn't do. It's
a continuous self-testing process."
Anton's charge? "Even if everything we have confidently stated
as fact has now been thrown out the window, at least we are
checking up on ourselves. At least we are not like those - gasp!
- religionists who are terminally gullible and will credulously
believe anything that seems to support their case."
Although this charge has been repeated so many times it is
considered to be conventional wisdom, does it stand up under
examination? Or is it just a "straw man" argument?
Consider this bit of serious self checking on a controversial
discovery that some have used to bolster the case for a Biblical
understanding of origins.
Figure 1. Comparison of ‘fossil axe-head’ with a modern axe.
For some time now, a ‘fossil axe-head’ has been reported
from a private collection. It was found in a paddock near
Warwick, Queensland, Australia. Items such as this are sometimes
claimed to be ‘pre-Flood artefacts’ and hailed by enthusiastic
creationists and various anti-establishment types to be evidence
for an advanced ancient culture. It was therefore important to
do a careful study of this object to clarify whether it was
indeed a fossilized axe-head or simply a peculiarly shaped rock,
since it is commonly known that weathered rocks can take some
amazing shapes.
So what did the "credulous creationists" at Creation On the
Web.com do?
An object claimed to be a fossilised axe-head, discovered
in a paddock near Warwick, Queensland, Australia, was carefully
examined. Radiography failed to reveal a shaft hole expected for
a modern axe-head. Basic mineralogical analysis matched
limonite, a mineral aggregate. X-ray diffraction identified the
mineral composition as goethite, a common weathering product of
iron-bearing minerals. Thus the suggestion that this object is
man-made and stems from some advanced pre-Flood culture is
highly unlikely.
The conclusion?
Naturally occurring objects with familiar shapes, such as
this ‘axe-head’, are found occasionally. Creationists need to
refrain from jumping to speculative, unsubstantiated conclusions
of what an object appears to be, since what one ‘sees’ is often
not what it truly is. Instead we need to examine these finds
carefully. It is most unwise to use spurious evidence to try to
substantiate the Bible’s account of history. And there is no
need to do this anyway because there is plenty of solid evidence
available.
Credulous and gullible? Or unbiased and careful? You make the
call.
The straw man argument that the term "Creation scientist" is
a contradiction in terms simply doesn't stand up under
examination.
Kind of like "molecules to man by chance" evolutionism
itself.
Scott's Blog - 8/15/07
Who Ya Gonna Call?
I will never forget my first day on campus at the
University of Arizona. Having grown up in Southern California, I
suddenly found myself awash in a sea of some 30,000 other
students - knowing maybe two of them.
Talk about feeling lost in a crowd!
As I was trying to figure out where in the world the Modern
Languages building was, I was suddenly grabbed from behind.
A fellow filled with excitement greeted me with the words -
"Bill! Bill Smith!!"
Before I could reply he started going on about all our
adventures in high school.
When I finally got a word in edgewise, I said, "Hey! I'm sorry,
but I'm not Bill Smith. You've got me confused with someone
else."
He took a step back, looked me up and down and muttered
something to the effect of, "Wow! You sure look like Bill
Smith.."
And then he was gone.
I have to admit that encounter convinced me of two things.
First, the Lord must have forgotten to copyright my face,
because wherever I have gone people have told me of people who
look just like me.
Second, mistaken identities aside, our name is really what makes
us who we are.
The same is true when it comes to our approach to God. In fact,
God is so concerned we avoid a case of spiritual mistaken
identity, He even made a commandment about it.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for
the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name
in vain." (Exodus 20:7)
I couldn't help but think of this kind of identity crisis when I
read this story out of Holland today.
Let's call God Allah
by Mohammed Abdelrahman &
Nicolien den Boer*
14-08-2007
The Bishop of Breda, Tiny Muskens, wants people to start
calling God Allah. He says the Netherlands should look to
Indonesia, where the Christian churches already pray to
Allah. It is also common in the Arab world: Christian and
Muslim Arabs use the words God and Allah interchangeably.
Speaking
on the Dutch TV programme Network on Monday evening, Bishop
Muskens (pictured) says it could take another 100 years but
eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches.
And that will promote rapprochement between the two
religions.
Retiring
Muskens doesn't expect his idea to be greeted with much
enthusiasm. The 71-year-old bishop, who will soon be
retiring due to ill health, says God doesn't mind what he is
called. God is above such "discussion and bickering". Human
beings invented this discussion themselves, he believes, in
order to argue about it.
More than 30 years ago Bishop Muskens worked in Indonesia
and, there, God was called Allah, even in Catholic churches.
The Dutch should learn to get on spontaneously with
different cultures, religions and behaviour patterns:
"Someone like me has prayed to
Allah yang maha kuasa (Almighty God) for eight
years in Indonesia and other priests for 20 or 30 years. In
the heart of the Eucharist, God is called Allah over there,
so why can't we start doing that together?"
In the Arab world God is called Allah. The long history
of Christianity in the Arab world led to the development of
a rich Christian-Islamic theological vocabulary, which makes
God a normal equivalent to Allah. Both Muslims and
Christians use the word in the Middle East.
This all sounds rather benign and generous until we start
asking a few uncomfortable questions.
As in - Does God care what we call Him?
I am the LORD, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images. (Isaiah 42:8)
Granted different languages have different names for God
in a general sense - Dios in Spanish, Gott in German etc. -
but I am certain that Moslems do not consider "Allah" to be
a generic term, any more than Jews and Christians consider
YHWH in that same light.
If you doubt this, consider a counter proposal. Could you
imagine how Bishop Muskens would be received if he went to
Tehran or Mecca and suggested that Iranians or Saudis drop
using the name Allah for the far more tolerant and inclusive
word like the English term "God" when they cry out "Allahu
Akbar"?
Get out the riot gear.
There is a far greater gap between Islam and Christianity
than a matter of semantics. As Christians we worship the
Father who "so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life." (John 3:16)
Inscribed on the Al Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount in
Jerusalem are the words "God (Allah) is not begotten,
neither does he beget."
The choice of Who we will worship is not a question of
semantics. It is a question of truth. Will we trust in the
Name of the One Who lived a sinless life, died on a cruel
Roman cross and rose from the dead? Or the perspective of a
military general who claimed to have unverifiable visions
and spread his system by the sword?
That is the name of the game.
Scott's Blog - 8/14/07
By Any Other Name?
It was William Shakespeare who wrote, "A rose by any other name
would smell as sweet."
Some have tried to adapt this bit of wisdom to spiritual issues.
Perhaps you are old enough to remember George Harrison's song
"My Sweet Lord". Harrison had his background singers begin
by singing "Hallelujah", but by the end of the song the words
had morphed into a series of names of Hindu deities.
Why?
From a
conversation, taped at George's home in England on September 4,
1982- "My idea in "My Sweet Lord," because it sounded like a "pop
song," was to sneak up on them a bit. The point was
to have the people not offended by "Hallelujah," and by the time
it gets to "Hare Krishna," they're already hooked, and their
foot's tapping, and they're already singing along "Hallelujah,"
to kind of lull them into a sense of false security. And then
suddenly it turns into "Hare Krishna," and they will all be
singing that before they know what's happened, and they will
think, "Hey, I thought I wasn't supposed to like Hare Krishna!"
People write to me even now asking what style that was. Ten
years later they're still trying to figure out what the words
mean. It was just a little trick really. And it didn't offend.
For some reason I never got any offensive feedback from
Christians who said "We like it up to a point, but what's all
this about Hare
Krishna?"
The reason "My Sweet Lord" didn't raise a fuss (aside from a
later lawsuit that cost Harrison over a half million for
plagiarizing the tune from the Chiffon's "He's So Fine")? Most
thought that "Hare Krishna" was just another way to say the same
thing. After all, we are all just using different names for the
same God, right?
Some will try to use the analogy that our understanding of God
through world religions is like the famous poem, "The Blind Men and the Elephant".
It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, “Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“ ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
So was Harrison right? Does it really matter what we call
God? Are we really just talking different aspects of the same
Supreme Being?
Sounds great in theory. But there is a fatal flaw in this
point of view. What are we to do then with the words of Jesus
Christ?
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me."(John 14:6)
Here is the hitch. If Jesus is just one of many valid ways to
God, how could He make such an exclusive claim?
And if you are keeping score at home, you also know that
inevitably all major world religions end up saying the same
thing. "We've got it! We are right and the others are all
wrong."
This means that either one is right and the rest are wrong,
or perhaps all of them are off base - but logically all of them
can't be correct.
Eastern mysticism says God is impersonal. Western
thought declares that He is personal and involved in the lives
of his people. Religions like Judaism and Islam say that God can
only be reached by fulfilling commandments and rituals.
Christianity says that we can never be good enough to reach God
by good works and must be saved by God's unconditional love. Is
there just one true God? Or many?
Which is it? How do we settle the issue of which spiritual
path we will choose?
It really all comes down to a simple question - will we rely
on speculation, or revelation?
Why is there so much conflict and confusion surrounding world
religions? In essence because they all start from an earth bound
perspective and attempt to reach into heaven.
But consider this radical idea. What if there was an
alternative to man's view of God? What if we could lay hold of
God's view of man?
This is precisely what Jesus brings to us.
In the same mind blowing conversation Jesus had with His
disciples recorded in John 14, He takes this issue of
understanding ultimate reality to a whole new level.
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also;
and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for
us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not
known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how
can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am
in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to
you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father
who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in
the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake
of the works themselves." (John 14:7-11)
What do you do with an individual Who not only says "If
you've seen Me, you've seen God", but then presents His life as
proof positive that what he says is true?
If you are wise, you examine the evidence, consider His words
and deeds and make a decision. He either is all He claims to be,
or..
The great Christian writer CS Lewis aptly describes the fork
in the spiritual road Jesus represents.
I am trying here to
prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often
say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral
teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the
one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said
the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral
teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the
man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the
Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was,
and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You
can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as
a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.
But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His
being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He
did not intend to. – Mere Christianity, pages 40-41.
Jesus simply won't take his place in a chorus
of equally valid religious voices. He did not offer speculation,
but revelation. And offered the ultimate credentials to back the
truth He shared.
"Truly, these times of ignorance God
overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world
in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given
assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”(Acts
17:30-31)
Scott's Blog - 8/13/07
Some Prophecies Are More Impressive Than Others
The great British statesman and writer Horace Walpole
was once quoted as saying, "The wisest prophets make sure of the
events first."
I'm sure Walpole would give two thumbs up to this amazing
prognostication given to us by the U.S. Geological Survey today:
Top Seismologist: Southern California Due For Major
Quake
Coachella Valley Region is Long Overdue
August 10, 2007
- A top seismologist is warning that another major
earthquake is in our future, a big one that could
devastate Southern California, from the desert to the
sea.
Lucy Jones, of the U.S. Geological Survey says
it's not a question of where but when a big quake will
strike the Coachella Valley, sandwiched between the San
Andreas and San Jacinto faults.
Jones says that region is long overdue, and the
seismic clock is ticking.
Jones says a magnitude 7.8 quake or more could
collapse major freeways, knock down buildings in
Downtown L.A., kill thousands of people and cause
hundreds of billions of dollars in damage.
Officials in the Coachella Valley say they're
taking her warning very seriously.
As a person who has spent a good portion of my life
in Southern California, my reaction to this story was,
well, less than panic stricken. Earthquakes are a way of
life in the Golden State. Everyone who chooses to live
there understands that some day "The Big One" will come.
What will they predict next? Two nations will go to
war, but only one will win?
Let's face it, some of what passes for predicting the
future is really only a statement of the obvious.
But there are exceptions. Consider the mind blowing
implications of just eight Old Testament predictions
concerning the coming of the Messiah.
1. Messiah is to be born in
Bethlehem
(Micah 5:2; fulfilled in Matt. 2:1-7; John 7:42; Luke
2:47).
2. Messiah is to be preceded by a Messenger (Isaiah
40:3; Malachi 3:1; fulfilled in Matthew 3:1-3; 11:10;
John 1:23; Luke 1:17).
3. Messiah is to enter
Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah
9:9; fulfilled in Luke 35-37; Matthew 21:6-11).
4. Messiah is to be betrayed by a friend (Psalms 41:9;
55:12-14; fulfilled in Matthew 10:4; 26:49-50; John
13:21).
5. Messiah is to be sold for 30 pieces of silver
(Zechariah 11:12; fulfilled in Matthew 26:15; 27:3).
6. The money for which Messiah is sold is to be thrown
“to the potter” in God’s house (Zechariah 11:13;
fulfilled in Matthew 27:5-7).
7. Messiah is to be silent before His accusers (Isaiah
53:7; fulfilled in Matthew 27:12).
8. Messiah is to be executed by crucifixion as a
criminal (Psalm 22:16; Zechariah 12:10; Isaiah 53:5,12;
fulfilled in Luke 23:33; John 20:25; Matthew 27:38; Mark
15:27,28).
For those who know their Bibles, these predictions
may seem to be so familiar as to be old hat.
But what you may not be aware of is the incredible
odds against one man in history fulfilling them.
Professor Peter W. Stoner, Chairman of the
Departments of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena City College until 1953;
Chairman of the science division, Westmont College, who authored
the book “Science Speaks” stated that the probability of
just eight particular prophecies being fulfilled in one
person is 1 in 1017, i.e. 1
in 100,000,000,000,000,000).
This statement was validated by
the American Scientific Affiliation.This number has been illustrated as
follows:
If we take 1 X 1017
silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas, they'll
cover all of the state two feet deep. Now mark one of
these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly,
all over the state. Blindfold a man and tell him that he
can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one
silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What
chance would he have of getting the right one?
Now that is a prophetic track record that goes far
beyond a statement of the obvious.
When we stop to consider that scholars such as Alfred
Eidersheim, have identified well over a hundred
prophecies Jesus fulfilled at His first coming the
implications are stunning. Why did God go to such
lengths to provide such a supernatural "heads up"
concerning the arrival of His Son?
The Bible's answer is clear.
And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence
of His disciples, which are not written in this book;
but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may
have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)
Scott's Blog - 8/10/07
The Sound of the Rapture
What will it be like at the moment the Lord returns for
His people?
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to
meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the
Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (I
Thessalonians 4:16-18)
Is this just a statement of vague symbolism? Or could
this be more literally fulfilled than any of us can imagine?
Check out our video-blog of the week - The Sound of the Rapture.
Scott's Blog 8/9/07
Rain On the Parade?
It used to be much easier to be an evolutionist.
Not long after the earth cooled, dinosaurs roamed and 8 Track
players were considered the wave of the future, I dutifully took
notes in my college biology class.
We were told that molecules to man evolution was a proven fact.
After all, we had Ernst Haeckel's drawings that showed evolution
repeated itself in our development in the womb. Gills and tails
and stuff, you know.
And we had the famous pictures of peppered moths in England that
were evolving from white to black so they could better blend in
with the soot covered trunks of trees.
And, of course, we had the famous parade of evolution showing us
that from our start as refugees from a game of Barrel of Monkeys
we have now progressed to upright and well coifed citizens
striding toward the future.
Only the most fanatical religionists of the flat earth variety
could question our origins. Carl Sagan says it's true. Mr. Spock
on Star Trek says it's true. Why, we even got to see William
Hurt become a monkey in the movie "Altered States"!
(Another good reason not to spend too much time in the
hot tub!)
You would think some 25 years later, all doubt about
evolutionism would have been erased.
I also thought by now I'd be able to commute to work by way of a
rocket pack.
But when we look around, we discover that the so called "facts"
weren't as settled as we were lead to believe.
Haeckel's drawing of embryos? Turns out the were less a work of
science and more of what comedian Steven Colbert would call
"truthiness".
They were faked.
Michael Richardson, a lecturer and
embryologist at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London, has
exposed this further fraud, in an article in the journal Anatomy
and Embryology, 8 recently reviewed in Science9
and New Scientist.10
Top row: Haeckel’s drawings of
several different embryos, showing incredible
similarity in their early ‘tailbud’ stage. Bottom Row: Richardson’s
photographs of how the embryos really look at the
same stage. (From left: Salmo salar, Cryptobranchus
allegheniensis, Emys orbicularis, Gallus gallus,
Oryctolagus cuniculus, Homo sapiens.) Many modern
evolutionists no longer claim that the human embryo
repeats the adult stages of its alleged evolutionary
ancestors, but point to Haeckel’s drawings (top row)
to claim that it repeats the embryonic stages.
However, even this alleged support for evolution is
now revealed as being based on faked drawings.
Richardson says he always felt there was
something wrong with Haeckel’s drawings, ‘because they didn’t
square with his [Richardson’s] understanding of the rates at
which fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals develop their
distinctive features’.8
He could find no record of anyone having actually compared
embryos of one species with those of another, so that ‘no one
has cited any comparative data in support of the idea’.8
He therefore assembled an international team
to do just that—examine and photograph ‘the external form of
embryos from a wide range of vertebrate species, at a stage
comparable to that depicted by Haeckel’.8
The team collected embryos of 39 different
creatures, including marsupials from Australia, tree-frogs from
Puerto Rico, snakes from France, and an alligator embryo from
England. They found that the embryos of different species are
very different. In fact, they are so different that the drawings
made by Haeckel (of similar-looking human, rabbit, salamander,
fish, chicken, etc. embryos) could not possibly have been done
from real specimens.
Nigel Hawkes interviewed Richardson for The
Times (London).11
In an article describing Haeckel as ‘An embryonic liar’, he
quotes Richardson:
‘This is one of the worst cases of
scientific fraud. It’s shocking to find that somebody one
thought was a great scientist was deliberately misleading.
It makes me angry … What he [Haeckel] did was to take a
human embryo and copy it, pretending that the salamander and
the pig and all the others looked the same at the same stage
of development. They don’t … These are fakes.’ 11
Hmmm. Not as factual as we were lead to believe in 1980.
Well, we still have our peppered moths, don't we?
Not exactly.
The famous picture of the white and black peppered moths waiting
dutifully on the tree trunk for their close-up?
Again - a slight problem.
The ‘textbook story’ of England’s famous
peppered moths (Biston betularia) goes like this. The moth comes
in light and dark (melanic) forms. Pollution from the Industrial
Revolution darkened the tree trunks, mostly by killing the
light-coloured covering lichen (plus soot).
The lighter forms, which had been well
camouflaged against the light background, now ‘stood out,’ and
so birds more readily ate them. Therefore, the proportion of
dark moths increased dramatically. Later, as pollution was
cleaned up, the light moth became predominant again.
The shift in moth numbers was carefully
documented through catching them in traps. Release-recapture
experiments confirmed that in polluted forests, more of the dark
form survived for recapture, and vice versa. In addition, birds
were filmed preferentially eating the less camouflaged moths off
tree trunks.
The story has generated boundless
evolutionary enthusiasm. H.B. Kettlewell, who performed most of
the classic experiments, said that if Darwin had seen this, ‘He
would have witnessed the consummation and confirmation of his
life’s work.’1
Actually, even as it stands, the textbook
story demonstrates nothing more than gene frequencies shifting
back and forth, by natural selection, within one created kind.
It offers nothing which, even given millions of years, could add
the sort of complex design information needed for ameba-to-man
evolution.
Even L. Harrison Matthews, a biologist so
distinguished he was asked to write the foreword for the 1971
edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species, said therein that the
peppered moth example showed natural selection, but not
‘evolution in action.’
However, it turns out that this classic story
is full of holes anyway. Peppered moths don’t even rest on tree
trunks during the day.
Kettlewell and others attracted the moths
into traps in the forest either with light, or by releasing
female pheromones—in each case, they only flew in at night. So
where do they spend the day? British scientist Cyril Clarke, who
investigated the peppered moth extensively, wrote:
‘But the problem is that we do not know
the resting sites of the moth during the day time. … In 25
years we have found only two betularia on the tree trunks or
walls adjacent to our traps (one on an appropriate
background and one not), and none elsewhere.’2
The moths filmed being eaten by the birds
were laboratory-bred ones placed onto tree trunks by Kettlewell;
they were so languid that he once had to warm them up on his car
bonnet (hood).3
And all those still photos of moths on tree
trunks? One paper described how it was done—dead moths were
glued to the tree.4
University of Massachusetts biologist Theodore Sargent helped
glue moths onto trees for a NOVA documentary. He says textbooks
and films have featured ‘a lot of fraudulent photographs.’5,6
Other studies have shown a very poor
correlation between the lichen covering and the respective moth
populations. And when one group of researchers glued dead moths
onto trunks in an unpolluted forest, the birds took more of the
dark (less camouflaged) ones, as expected. But their traps
captured four times as many dark moths as light ones—the
opposite of textbook predictions!7
University of Chicago evolutionary biologist
Jerry Coyne agrees that the peppered moth story, which was ‘the
prize horse in our stable,’ has to be thrown out.
He says the realization gave him the same
feeling as when he found out that Santa Claus was not real.5
WASHINGTON - Surprising research based on two African
fossils suggests our family tree is more like a wayward bush
with stubby branches, challenging what had been common thinking
on how early humans evolved.
AP Photo: Frederick Kyalo
Manthi , Phd, holds the H. erectus complete
skull he discovered in 2000
The discovery by Meave Leakey, a member of a famous
family of paleontologists, shows that two species of early human
ancestors lived at the same time in Kenya. That pokes holes in the chief theory
of man's early evolution — that one of those species evolved
from the other.
And it further discredits that iconic illustration of
human evolution that begins with a knuckle-dragging ape and ends
with a briefcase-carrying man.
The old theory is that the first and oldest species in
our family tree, Homo habilis, evolved into Homo erectus, which
then became human, Homo sapiens. But Leakey's find suggests
those two earlier species lived side-by-side about 1.5 million
years ago in parts of Kenya for at least half a million years.
She and her research colleagues report the discovery in a paper
published in Thursday's journal Nature.
The paper is based on fossilized bones found in 2000. The
complete skull of Homo erectus was found within walking distance
of an upper jaw of Homo habilis, and both dated from the same
general time period. That makes it unlikely that Homo erectus
evolved from Homo habilis, researchers said.
It's the equivalent of finding that your grandmother and
great-grandmother were sisters rather than mother-daughter, said
study co-author Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy
at the University College in London.
Overall what it paints for human evolution is a "chaotic
kind of looking evolutionary tree rather than this heroic march
that you see with the cartoons of an early ancestor evolving
into some intermediate and eventually unto us," Spoor said in a
phone interview from a field office of the Koobi Fora Research
Project in northern Kenya.
(SRL
Home)
Speaking
on the Dutch TV programme Network on Monday evening, Bishop
Muskens (pictured) says it could take another 100 years but
eventually the name Allah will be used by Dutch churches.
And that will promote rapprochement between the two
religions.
