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by Logan Ames

As we turn the page from the end of one year to the beginning of another, it’s a good time to reflect on your victories and defeats over the past year. When you lost something important in your life, what were the reasons? When you experienced a victory, what worked? The turn of the annual calendar is always a great time to resolve to do things differently going forward. At the end of the day, however, you will not be able to succeed in making the necessary changes unless you have a plan or steps that you follow.

This is no different than what we see in sports. Often, a TV commentator will give the viewers a certain number of “keys to victory” for each team. The purpose is to identify the steps for each team that would be necessary for them to accomplish their goals. Generally, they are nothing spectacular. They are almost always as obvious as “score more points than the other team” or “stop them on defense and get your offense going." It’s important in any area of life to know what needs to happen in order for us to have success. As we learned last week, the most important thing to remember is that we must remain obedient and trusting of the Lord even when we are feeling hopeless and need a miracle to achieve victory. We also learned that “no word from God will ever fail” (Luke 1:37). So, in other words, doing what God’s Word says is one way to guarantee ourselves success in the next year, provided that our goals and definitions of “success” match up with his.

Last week, I briefly introduced you to a man named Joshua from the Old Testament and told you that his name means the same thing that “Jesus” means, which is “the Lord saves." Joshua was leading the people of Israel through the wilderness and toward the Promised Land (then Canaan, but now present-day Israel) after Moses had died. God had a major victory prepared for them that would come through his miracles, but he chose to test their faith first and help them grow and be prepared to win that victory. Hebrews 11:30 tells us that the faith of the people led to the collapse of the walls around the city of Jericho. Their faith was not just a matter of internal belief. It was shown in their actions as they marched around the enemy’s city for seven days, before doing anything else, simply because that was what the Lord commanded. That faith in action didn’t come easily, but was learned over time.

We find the story in Joshua 6, but the chapters before that help us to see how God was building up their faith every step of the way. Joshua 2 tells us the story of Rahab. We’ll look more specifically at her next week, but I want to draw your attention to two separate verses that show us the same thing. Rahab lived in the city of Jericho and aligned herself with Israel by hiding the spies when they came to survey the land. We see in verse 9 that she tells them the reason she protects them is because she knows the Lord gave them the land and all who live there are “melting in fear” because of them. We then see in verse 24 that the spies go back to Joshua and tell him the same exact thing! God showed them from the very start that they wouldn’t have to worry about creating their own victory. They could believe that he was already causing their enemies to melt in fear. So often, we want to control people and make them do or think what we feel is right or best. We must accept that God is always working on hearts, our own included.

Joshua 3-4 then tells us about the moment the people actually entered the Promised Land. The Jordan River, which separated them from the land, was at flood stage. This would be another obstacle for which they had no answer, but God did. He causes the waters to dam up and allows them to pass through the river on dry land just as he had done previously with the Red Sea. It’s important for us to note, as Joshua 4:4-7 tells us, that a member of each tribe of Israel picked up a stone from the middle of the Jordan River to serve as a reminder for them and all future generations of the Lord’s great work on their behalf.

Joshua 5 then tells us about a situation that required great trust in the Lord, as well as full obedience and commitment to him. Joshua and the Israelites camped at a place called Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. At this point, they are actually IN the Promised Land. But, just because God promised them something, that didn’t mean everyone else would be okay with it. Not everyone is always going to support what God is doing in your life. Sometimes, they’ll even fight directly against it. The Israelites expected some of the people occupying the land to put up a fight. They probably kept moving forward wondering why in the world no one was attacking them. But Joshua 5:1 tells us that it wasn’t just the native people who were “melting in fear," but their kings as well! God gives the Israelites a free path all the way to Jericho, then commands Joshua to circumcise all the males in the Israelite camp right then and there. The reason is that all the men previously circumcised died in the wilderness, so it was time for Joshua to do so with the men who were born during the 40 years in the wilderness. We may not see why this is important, but we must remember this was God’s requirement as a sign of faith and trust in the covenant he made with them. Understand that this meant they would have to spend time at the camp waiting to heal from the circumcision. This is in a place where their pagan enemies still live! They would be completely vulnerable, but Joshua and the Israelites obey the Lord just as he commanded, and he keeps them protected yet again.

After that, we see that they celebrate the Passover, and then begin to enjoy the produce of the land the next day. God had provided manna for the Israelites to eat the entire time they were in the wilderness, but they no longer needed it because they were feeding off the land they had always been promised. Then Joshua has an individual encounter with the Lord. When he is near Jericho, he sees someone who appears to be a soldier ready to attack. Joshua asks if he is for them or their enemies, and the man replies “neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come” (Joshua 5:14). We need to understand this is the Lord speaking directly to Joshua. Who is commander of the Lord’s army? That would be THE LORD. Plus, Revelation 22:8-9 shows us that angels are NOT worthy to receive worship, yet that’s exactly what Joshua does once he figures out who he is speaking to. He falls down in reverence, refers to the man as his “Lord," and then obeys the command to take off his sandals because it is holy ground. You’d think God would say that he was on Israel’s side, but that wasn’t really the issue. It was more important for Joshua and the Israelites to determine if they were going to get on God’s side, not the other way around.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Lord told Joshua and the Israelites very specifically what they needed to do to conquer Jericho, and it had nothing to do with fighting at first. They needed to march around the city walls for six days, giving their presence away and again making them vulnerable in the eyes of the world. Then, on the seventh day, they would march around it seven times, give a loud shout, watch the walls collapse, and go into the city and rout those living there. They did everything he commanded and God gave them a great victory. But it all began and grew with the steps of faith and trust along the way.

What can we learn from all this? Joshua and the Israelites had four keys to victory that apply in any battle we are facing in life. First, they died to themselves and trusted the Lord fully when they were circumcised. Second, the celebrated the Passover and remembered the stones from the Jordan River, which were testimonies of the blood of the Lamb and the work God was doing. Third, they ate the produce in the Promised Land, meaning they continued to feed on God’s promises and his Word. Finally, Joshua took off his sandals, showing he was fully surrendered to the Lord. The Israelites followed suit when they obeyed the instructions. If any of us keep these four things in our individual lives, we will be victorious in whatever comes our way!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

Skeptics come up to me all the time and ask me to prove God’s existence, or they deny any claim I make about God because I have to first prove God to them. When I cite the Bible, they then say I have to prove the Bible too. Take careful note that NO AUTHORITY that supports the Bible in any way is ever going to satisfy them. I love the way Voddie Baucham puts it. If someone challenges you to a sword fight and then says, “I don’t believe in your sword,” you do not need to set your sword down and fight without it. You also do not need to set it down and give them a lesson on what happens with metallurgy and sharp metal on flesh. Hit them anyway and ask, “Do you believe in it now?”

This week, Worldview Warriors is answering the question: “What does the Bible say about God?” I want to make this absolutely clear: The Bible never tries to prove God’s existence. It assumes it from the get go. “In the beginning, God…” As John MacArthur said once, “If you can’t get past the first four words, you won’t accept the rest of it.” But the question remains: How can I trust a book about God’s interactions with man unless it proves God even exists in the first place? Why should I believe it?

I want to make something else absolutely clear. The Bible does not need evidence for the claim that God exists. The Bible IS evidence that God exists. It’s not the only evidence, but it is the best evidence and that is why so many skeptics try to do everything they can to discredit it. It’s the same reason the court lawyers do whatever they can to discredit the testimony of an eyewitness that could make or break the case. The Bible is the record of the greatest epic story of all time and unlike the fables of Gilgamesh, Lord of the Rings, the Iliad, or any others, this epic is actual history.

If God did not exist, neither would the Bible. For a book written by 40 authors from all kinds of walks of life, in all different genres, in very different political, social, and physical settings, in three languages, on three continents, over a 1600-year time frame and still all say the exact same central message, unless God had his direct hand on this book, it would never be that cohesive and coherent. The message itself is something absolutely no one would write unless it was God-inspired. If the Bible were made up, the accounts do not make any sense about why they are the way they are. Israel used to be enslaved, Gideon shrinking his army from 32,000 to 300, Jesus being born as a baby with no hoopla other than from angelic hosts before shepherds, a man being crucified as the central point of the message, and death to self with salvation by grace through faith are things that absolutely do not make sense to the natural world. That is why Paul described it to the Jews as a stumbling block and to the Greeks as foolishness.

The Bible does not try to prove God’s existence, however, the Bible records many accounts where God proves himself. If I were to try to make a claim about a man of praying bringing fire from heaven three separate times, the claim is not 1 Kings 18 (the Mt. Carmel showdown) and 2 Kings 1 (two separate military companies trying to arrest Elijah), the Bible is not the claim I would make. The claim is Elijah called fire from heaven. The evidence is the Biblical accounts of 1 Kings 18 and 2 Kings 1.

Paul made a claim about the resurrected Jesus. He cited 500 witnesses, many of whom were still around when Paul wrote that. I had one skeptic say, “The account that makes the claim is also the account that claims the witnesses so it doesn’t count.” Such an argument is utter gibberish. If you are in a courtroom and the witness makes a claim saying “Not only was I at x place at y time, but I have many people who saw me there, including some who don’t like me,” then the court is going to have to take that into account. However this skeptic is saying, “The witness is not trustworthy, therefore his claim to have alibies is not trustworthy too.” It’s hogwash. Eyewitness testimony is still one of the strongest forms of evidence in a courtroom and in any investigation. That is why so much time is spent determining if a witness is reliable or not.

The Bible records many public displays of God’s interactions with men. The showdown on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18 was witnessed my many people. Many of the accounts of the Bible were public events. Even Noah’s Flood - it was witnessed by all 8 people who survived it. The accounts of the Bible are not the claims of the accounts. They are the records of the accounts. It is no different than a video recording of last year’s Super Bowl is evidence of the Super Bowl. The video is not the claim, it is the evidence. Likewise, the Bible is not the claim about God. It is the evidence of God.

But, the Bible is 2000 years old. How can we trust something that ancient? How old a document is has nothing to do with the trustworthiness of it. Especially when these same skeptics who mention this have absolutely no issues with the reliability of any other ancient historical document such as the Gaelic Wars of Julius Caesar, or the writings of Homer, Sophocles, or Aristotle, or Hammurabi’s Code, or anything else of ancient history. Just the Bible. Yet, when it comes to a historical analysis of such documents, the Bible’s reliability surpasses that of any other document by far. Why is the Bible singled out with a double standard? The answer is simple: because it is the evidence that the God of which it describes is real and the God of the Bible is the same one who will hold each person accountable for every thought, action, and motive and that is what they will not tolerate, to their own foolishness and demise.

The Bible says so much about God. On Monday, Katie Erickson gave a short description about the references to him and what it says about him. All we know about God is what he revealed to us. Man could not figure out God if he tried. The finite cannot comprehend the infinite, however the infinite can come down to the level of the finite. Man can’t find God, but God can find man, and the only way man will come to God is if the Father draws him and he acts in response to that drawing. God is under no obligation to give many persons additional proof of his existence than what he already has, but those who receive the truth that he exists and seeks to find out more will receive more truth and if he continues, he will find God. God is a diligent rewarder of those who seek him diligently and to do so they must first believe that he is (Hebrews 11:6). God has revealed himself in and through Scripture and ultimately through Christ his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). God leaves it up to us to believe him or not, and that decision does nothing but help determine what our destination is. It does nothing to change the fact of his existence. As we enter 2018, know that God is real and he left a treasure map to find him in the 66 books of the Bible. Will you search it to find him?

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Steve Risner

I've spent a few weeks writing about transition fossils and even specific lineages that evolutionists try to suggest are the best evidence for Darwinism — the whale and horse. Today, I'd like to continue with just the absence of evidence in the fossil record of anything resembling Darwin's idea of slow, gradual changes over time. At the time he wrote On the Origin of Species, there was literally no evidence supporting universal common descent from the fossil record. Darwin even claimed this in the book. But his argument was that the fossil record was imperfect—that it didn't show everything from eons past. He blamed the theory's deficiencies on the evidence rather than the theory. If that's not bias, I'm not sure what is. But here and now—over 150 years later—we still have nothing to show for it. This isn't my opinion but the opinion of many very prominent evolutionists who are at least honest enough to mention some of the inadequacies of the theory. Let's take a look at a few of the things they've said.

Stephen Gould, famed evolutionist of the 20th century, said that Darwin's excuse of an imperfect fossil record is the “favored escape of most paleontologists from the embarrassment of a record that seems to show so little of evolution directly.” That's exactly the case—that supporters of evolution will use the excuse of the imperfection of the fossil record when we have literally thousands of tons of fossils and the record still shows nothing of Darwinian evolution (they'll argue otherwise, citing made up stories of walking whales and whatnot, but that's not evidence from the record but imagination at work).

The big trouble is that as far back as fossils have been discovered, they've always shown fully formed, fully intact, fully developed and have “advanced” anatomy and physiology (as much physiology as can be determined from fossils). When something appears in the fossil record, it never seems to have less advanced ancestors. This is a major problem for evolutionists, which is one reason they rarely talk about it. This can no longer be passed off as the fault of an incomplete record of fossils. It is, in reality, evidence that universal common descent is intellectually bankrupt and should be discarded.

Even textbooks, as slow as they are to relinquish some of the staples of evolutionary dogma, are beginning to admit some of the shortcomings of the theory.

“Many species remain virtually unchanged for millions of years, then suddenly disappear to be replaced by a quite different, but related, form. Moreover, most major groups of animals appear abruptly in the fossil record, fully formed, and with no fossils yet discovered that form a transition from their parent group.” -Integrated Principles of Zoology

Many scientists whose life work is based on Darwinism have begun to admit that they cannot explain the rapid appearance of the biodiversity we see in the fossil record or in our world at present. This is especially true where the fossil record initially records a large diversity of life—in the Cambrian rock layers. This is commonly called the “Cambrian Explosion” because we have very little if any evidence of life at all in the pre-Cambrian rocks and then BAM!!! We have numerous groups of organisms showing up fully formed, complex, and with no ancestors to speak of. The more we learn and discover about these rock layers, the more difficult it is to explain the diversity of life with purely materialistic means. In other words, the more we learn about it, the less we know about it from Darwin's stance.

The biology textbook The Invertebrates: A New Synthesis states, “Most of the animal groups that are represented in the fossil record first appear, ‘fully formed’ and identifiable as to their phylum, in the Cambrian, some 550 million years ago. These include such anatomically complex and distinctive types as trilobites, echinoderms, brachiopods, mollusks, and chordates. … The fossil record is therefore of no help with respect to the origin and early diversification of the various animal phyla.”

Most laypersons are completely unaware that such huge problems exist. Most have no idea that there is literally no evidence of any kind for slow, gradual, uncoordinated changes over eons of time in the fossil record. This has forced some evolutionists, like some noted above, to explore the idea of punctuated equilibrium. This is the idea that evolution happens in almost a cycle. The vast majority of the time, there is no evolution. Then, for some reason—a change in environment most generally—a population will undergo extreme amounts of change in a very short period of time. The evidence for such an idea? Well, it obviously doesn't happen slowly, so it must happen quickly. This means it would likely not be recorded in the fossil record. Convenient, right? Much of the reading you'll do will indicate that slow and gradual changes over millions of years is the norm, but since it doesn't fit the evidence even slightly, the idea of punctuated equilibrium is starting to take over. Since this requires no evidence or seemingly explains the lack of any evidence for evolution, it's gaining popularity. Again, how quaint that they've chosen a route that explains why there is NO evidence for their theory. And to suggest that the vast number of extremely specific changes that are required to change an animal group from one thing to another can happen by accidental mutation and natural selection can happen in a very short period of time is asking way too much. A thinking person (who is honest enough) can see through this quite readily. The crusaders of Darwinism are hoping you're either too lazy, too dumb, or too trusting to buy this nonsense.

Please be a free thinker: one who weighs the evidence from both sides and makes informed decisions based on where the evidence leads and not based on where you wish it to lead. If you do this, you'll most likely land on the idea that the God of the Bible and the account of creation as recorded in the Bible is a solid belief system based on faith, but a faith that can stand firmly on the facts. Atheism, Darwinism, the Big Bang, etc. cannot boast this.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by David Odegard

Editor's note: Please enjoy this previously written post as David focuses on his pastoral ministry during this Advent season.

Julian Baggini wrote Atheism: A Very Short Introduction in the hope of compelling others to accept the ideas that atheists hold dear. He describes the universe as a completely closed system. That means that only matter exists. Only the perceived universe is real. There is no spiritual realm; there can be no God. This assertion is unscientific because it cannot be proven.

Even though the statement cannot be proven, Julian Baggini pretends to prove it anyway. He confidently barks that all strong evidence supports atheism and only weak evidence tells against it. How does he know, you may ask? He admits that this claim may be hard to prove, but congratulates himself on proving it, at least to himself anyway.

He first asserts that human beings are only biological and do not have immortal souls. He gives the following evidence. He says that experience and brain activity are correlated (related to one another). That experience is dependent on brain activity, as he says, “When their brains cease functioning they certainly stop displaying all the signs of conscious life.” He then goes on to define the human person as one who has the capacity for consciousness and rational thought. If that function is dependent on the brain, then it cannot continue after the brain ceases to function.

He is basically saying that the dead cannot experience anything without their brain functioning because there is no other dimension to humanity. He says that we are only brain because we are only brain. We know that because we can only measure brain activity. The spirit cannot exist because we cannot see it. He claims that this mountain of evidence is insurmountable. When you ask the dead if there is anything beyond the grave, they say nothing; therefore, it must be nothing.

He cannot allow that anything other than this material universe exists. If you claim that there is more than just this material universe, he will say no there isn’t, because there isn’t. Let me put it this way. Baggini believes the universe to be a closed system, which means nothing can enter from another dimension, especially a spiritual one. We will say that is like a refrigerator and we are trying to disprove the existence of butter because we cannot see it.

Baggini says that if one opens the fridge, scans intently, and cannot see any butter, that is enough reason to say that butter cannot exist anywhere. He argues that we looked through the entire fridge and didn’t see butter. If the fridge represents the universe, I don’t know how Baggini can imagine that he can look through the entire universe, since we can’t even leave our own solar system yet. Such is the arrogance of atheism.

Baggini makes the case for a large cross-section of experience being the basis by which good evidence is proven. He illustrates this by saying if a man says his dog spontaneously combusts, his evidence is not good because the overall human experience is that dogs do not spontaneously combust. So why doesn’t he apply that same rubric to his own assertion that there is no butter in the fridge?

If most of the people who open the fridge insist that they are overwhelmed by the smell of butter, even though they cannot see it or point to direct evidence, wouldn’t that be a clue that maybe there is more to the story than just seeing a stick of butter? Just because I can’t say, “Hey there is a stick of unsalted-Meadow-Gold-best-if-used-by-this-date butter,” I can point out the overwhelming sense of most people that it is in there. Wouldn’t the same basis for not believing in a dog blowing up on its own be for believing in the presence of the unseen butter?

What Baggini needs is a sense of smell. He is being arrogant by believing that God cannot exist, because He cannot sense God in his own less-than-exhaustive scanning of the universe. He thinks that if he lacks the capacity to perceive God, it must mean that no one can perceive God. In our butter analogy, he is being obtuse by insisting that the nine others who sense the unmistakable smell of butter are wrong because he himself smells nothing.

The vast majority tell Baggini that they smell butter. Some attempt to prove that the butter exists because of the chemical evidence for butter is found in the cake, the fried eggs, the pie, and the soufflé, but because Baggini lacks the capacity to perceive butter, he disbelieves in it all. He says that anyone who believes in butter is stupid when they say that butter exists. There is no escaping a circular argument like that. Baggini reinterprets the chemical evidence to mean something else, because obviously to him it can’t be butter since butter doesn’t exist. It must be something that randomly occurred in the fridge.

Baggini then denies that the sense of smell exists, causing people who know what smelling is to walk away exasperated calling Baggini a fool saying, “How can I prove it to you if you refuse to see?” And for Baggini, it really is a refusal to interpret evidence in any way other than in a way he has already chosen to believe it.

The Gospel of John gives plenty of eye-witness evidence to the one who will believe, but for those who stubbornly disbelieve, there is no remedy. John does not point to the material world as a closed system; John was a theist and his God was Jesus Christ. In fact, from John 1 to the close of Revelation, John is showing God to be real, constantly opening the fridge door if you will. God reveals himself to us by way of a preponderance of evidence to be reasonable and faith-worthy.

Baggini’s random occurrence is a particularly sour and pungent fart, but happily for him he is the only one in the car who can’t smell it!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Aaron Felty

I recently read a magazine produced by the denomination in which I serve. Our current president is retiring and is focused on what is important for the future of the denomination. One of his last statements is so profound that I was inspired to write this article. I count it as a Christmas present for you to consider as you dream about what “may be” next year. Essentially, the current president of our denomination said that “vision” inspires but “burden” brings resolve to our best kingdom efforts. 

Wow.

I immediately think of several verses of Scripture, new year’s resolutions, and why we fail to apply the Scriptures consistently and keep those pesky resolutions. In short, I believe it is because we are not burdened as Christ was.

“Therefore, If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come…” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“When He (Jesus) saw the crowds, He had compassion on them…” (Matthew 9:36)
“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10) 
“Let your yes be yes and your no be no…” (Matthew 5:37)

It seems to me that any person can have a vision for how they would like to see the future. Often times vision is the thing that moves people to action. Vision excites people and creates a level of enthusiasm that would not exist without it. However, vision often is not enough to actually make a difference in the Kingdom, or even here on Earth. The Bible says, in the Old King James version, “Where there is no vision the people perish…” (Proverbs 29:18). The word “perish” in the Hebrew can mean to run wild or wander aimlessly. I think that is a great definition for what happens without vision. 

Some of you reading this blog post are essentially wandering aimlessly through life, with no known purpose and no direction, just putting one foot in front of the other day after day. If that is you, you need to catch what the disciples caught from Jesus!

Vision is what allowed those early disciples to leave their day jobs and follow Christ. They saw in Jesus the return of King David. Initially, I believe they were simply inspired by Jesus, not actually burdened with a resolve to usher in God’s Kingdom on earth. They were not burdened with what burdened Jesus; they were simply hoping Jesus would destroy the Romans and restore the Old Testament temple. It wasn’t until after Jesus ascended to Heaven, and more precisely at Pentecost (Acts 2), that their uncertainty was removed, their vision was clear, and a heavenly burden was downloaded into their hearts and minds. 

The compassion Jesus showed the larger crowds of people, prostitutes, tax collectors, thieves, those who were demon possessed, the sick, widows, and children became the disciples’ burden when the Holy Spirit rested upon them. It was at that point they went from having Godly vision to having a Godly burden. Jesus’ burden to give sight to the blind, heal the sick, make the lame walk again, open mute mouths, and set the captives free became their burden. In some form or fashion, the disciples lived and died having operated at full speed for that purpose (Luke 7:22).

What have you resolved? What burdens you? What causes you to live at full speed for the Kingdom of God? 

Jesus left us with a promise and an outline in John 14:12-14. He said that if we are in a relationship with Him, we will do the things that He did and even greater things (not more magnificent, but more in terms of quantity). The outline is to look at what He did. He had a burden for people who were lost in a variety of ways; they were the least in society, hurt, sick and marginalized. Jesus was filled with compassion and only did what He saw the Father do (John 5:19). So when we see Jesus do something, it is what the Father would do; if the Father had a burden for the least, then we too should have that same burden. How do we get that burden? Do we each have a different burden? How does our uniqueness fit into all of this? 

If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation; the old has gone the new has come. Being “in” Christ means that we have surrendered control of our lives and submitted to His authority. He is the driver! If we have said yes to Jesus, we ought to be burdened with what burdened Him. That is what our “yes” means! If we are not moved to compassion by the marginalized in our world, we probably need to test our faith to evaluate if we are in it! HOW we express compassion will come in many forms, but THAT we express compassion should be evident. We should be burdened by the needs in our midst and do all that we can with the help of the Holy Spirit to meet those needs, just and Jesus did while He was walking here on earth. 

Developing a burden that inspires our best Kingdom effort begins in prayer. We ought to be asking God what is burdening Him in our sphere of influence. Once that becomes clear, ask Him for that same burden and what you ought to do about it. 

In my context, I am burdened by people who are lost, lonely, and needy. For us, “lost” means any person who does not know Jesus or is uncertain of why they were created. “Lonely” means those like moms who are raising kids on their own or immigrants and people living in a culture not familiar to them. “Needy” includes all of us honest enough to share items too big for an individual but not too big for the body of Christ (Matthew 25:31-46). So, our little church seeks to build relationships in the community to find those who fit these three criteria, and then we do all we can to meet their needs and help them do likewise. Occasionally, at the end of our church service, I will ask what needs we have in the congregation. Often, someone will say they have need for transportation or childcare. I then ask who can meet that need and someone always steps up to do so. We want to be a place and a people compassionately burdened for those Christ was also burdened! 

This Christmas and New Year’s, will you commit to compassionately doing what Jesus did? After all, that is why we were created (Romans 8:29): to be conformed into the image of Christ Jesus. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

First of all, Merry Christmas from all of us at Worldview Warriors! I’m honored to be able to write a post for today, and today’s topic is a fitting one: what does the Bible say about who God is?

When I first began pondering this topic, I wanted to simply write, “See entire Bible.” That’s true, you know? The whole of the Bible is God revealing Himself and His character to us as His creation. We cannot understand Him fully, but we have 66 books that give us a really good idea of who He is. So, the entire Bible - all the way from Genesis to Revelation - tells us something about God’s character.

But to summarize it a bit more for you, let’s start at the beginning. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” God is the creator; He is the one who made us and everything that we see. He created life out of nothing! For more on that, check out any blog posts by Steve Risner, as he continually refutes evolutionary theory with creation as described in the Bible.

God further reveals His identity in the story of Moses. (For more back story on Moses, check out this post by Logan Ames.) When God was calling Moses to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Moses asked for God’s name to tell Pharaoh. In Exodus 3:14, “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’’” Knowing a person’s name tell us a part of their identity; the same goes with God. God is the I AM - He has no beginning and no end, He just is.

When Jesus came down to this world in human form (which we celebrate today on this Christmas holiday), in His earthly ministry, He closely linked Himself with the Father. In the gospel of John, there are seven “I am” statements that Jesus made:

• John 6:35: “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’”
• John 8:12: “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
• John 10:9: “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
• John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
• John 11:25: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.’”
• John 14:6: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’”
• John 15:1: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.”

I encourage you to read the context around each of those passages to get a better idea of who Jesus is. In using the phrase “I am” in the way that He did, Jesus was linking Himself with God the Father and proving that He, too, was God in the flesh. For more on who Jesus is and why He is so significant, check out these posts on Who Is Jesus and Why Does Jesus Matter.

We see who God is further in the passage of John 1:1-18. The Word referred to in that passage is Jesus. In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. He was with God in the beginning. God is eternal; He is eternal as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

More about who God is can be found in studying the attributes of God. My fellow blog writer Charlie Wolcott did a great series on that a couple years ago, starting here, so I’d encourage you to check those out as well.

The Bible is the primary way we know who God is, how He relates to us, and how we should relate to Him. These passages I mentioned are just a very small sampling of the entire Scripture, that as a whole give us the best description of a God who is both knowable and unknowable, personal and unimaginable.

That right there is the best Christmas gift we could ever receive!

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by Logan Ames

Have you ever been in a situation where you were losing badly and it was going to take a miracle to bounce back and win? If you’re a sports fan like me, your mind might automatically move toward a number of miraculous finishes, especially from college and professional football. I can think of half a dozen that I either witnessed myself or heard about from years gone by. The one that most quickly comes to mind is one that happened well before I was born. Because I grew up in a family of fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I learned about the play known as the Immaculate Reception at a very young age. The Steelers got a very lucky bounce on the play and came away with an absolutely unthinkable 60-yard touchdown reception in the final half-minute to win a playoff game that would have belonged to the Raiders. NFL Films chose the play as the greatest play of all time. Without that miracle, the Steelers’ season was over.

But let’s be honest, some of you reading this are in danger of losing a whole lot more than a meaningless football game. As big of a miracle as that was for Pittsburgh Steelers fans like my family members, it meant NOTHING in the long run. They lost the very next week to the Dolphins and their season was just as over as it would’ve been a week earlier. All this miracle did was delay the inevitable for a week. Some of you need a miracle to keep you from losing your job, your marriage, your children, your mind, or even your faith in God.

The good news is that those who need a miracle are in the same company as the nation of Israel, and truthfully the whole world, which was losing big-time and in desperate need of a miracle 2,000 years ago. They had been promised an anointed Messiah who would come and save them from their misery. The ancient prophets had been speaking about God’s truth and his promises for centuries. But then, all of a sudden, the prophecies ended with Malachi, and a period of 400-500 years that became known as “the silent years” ensued. During that time, there were no known prophets, no direct prophecies about the Messiah, and frankly, not much hope. The Jews were ruled by the Persians at the start of those years and the Romans by the end of them. Those ruling nations were not exactly caring and compassionate. It was a brutal time for the Jews, and they had to wonder if God had ever been real, if he was good, and if he would do what he promised.

As Christians remember and celebrate every year at this time, and especially tonight as the clock strikes midnight, the last-second miracle that saved the Jews and a dark, hurting world came in the form of a baby born to a virgin named Mary. This truly was an “immaculate conception," and it brought a much bigger victory than an NFL playoff game. Before anyone accuses me of heresy, I understand that the official doctrine of Immaculate Conception has to do with the birth of Mary, not Jesus. But those of us who believe God’s Word, which says in Luke 1:31-37 that Mary would conceive and gift birth to a son by the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her, can establish that Jesus’ birth was truly miraculous.

We are told in Matthew 1:21 that Jesus’ parents were commanded to name him as such because he would “save the people from their sins." “Jesus” is the English form of the Greek Iesous, which comes from the Hebrew Yehoshua or Yeshua, which is also where we get the English “Joshua." All of these names, along with several other Old Testament names, can be translated to mean “the Lord saves." Even his very name is there to remind us that he alone holds the keys to victory, but we have to be willing to put our trust in him even when time is almost running out and we are desperately in need of a miracle to keep us from losing everything. If you have been waiting for God to bring you a miracle to save you but you’re losing hope fast, I urge you to stand firm in your waiting and to find comfort in the final words the angel Gabriel spoke to Mary in the traditional Christmas passage I quoted above. Luke 1:37 tells us that he said, “For no word from God will ever fail." That’s an ironclad guarantee, no matter the circumstances.

I’ll get into the story more next week, but a man with basically the same name as Jesus was able to lead the Israelites to a great and miraculous victory over Jericho in the land of Canaan, which was the land promised to the Israelites, by simply believing that God’s commands would never fail. Joshua, son of Nun, had been Moses’ longtime servant, but when Moses was prohibited from entering the Promised Land as a consequence for his sin, God called Joshua to be the one to take the Israelites the rest of the way. But it wasn’t going to be easy. In fact, the odds would be stacked against them just as they had been ever since God rescued them from Egypt. Then again, it depends on how you view odds. With both Joshua in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament, the WORLDLY odds were stacked against them. Joshua and the Israelites had been wandering in the wilderness looking for a home while they could still be routed by anyone who sought to defeat them. Jesus came as a baby, to a very poor young woman and her husband-to-be, in a dirty manger outside of Bethlehem. But when you add the power of the One who made the universe out of what we can’t even see (Hebrews 11:3), the odds are greatly shifted. In fact, the enemies have NO SHOT!

Jesus was God in the flesh, but for those who only believed what they could see and had been waiting for a mighty warrior to ride in and conquer their enemies, he was a less-than-ordinary baby who wasn’t all that impressive. Only if he truly was “the Lord saves” could he bring a victory to a losing world. Joshua was a courageous leader, but it’s not like he had access to all the chariots and horses he would need to kick butt and take names in Canaan. He and the people of Israel could only be victorious if they trusted in something far beyond themselves, the unfailing word of the Lord who had promised them that victory. When the odds seemed to be against them and they desperately needed a miracle, would they try to take control or surrender fully to the One who could save them? Hebrews 11:30 tells us that the walls of the city of Jericho fell only AFTER they followed the Lord’s seemingly ridiculous command to march around the city for seven days. We’ll dig more into the Old Testament description of that event and the things that led up to it next week. For now, rest in knowing that it is the Lord who saves and brings the victory in all situations. The birth of Jesus is the best reminder and the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho is a close second. For whatever miraculous victory you desperately need in your life, believe that the Word of God will NEVER fail!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

One of the common commands throughout Scripture is to remember the Lord. The natural man in his sinful nature is not only to forget about the Lord but also to defy him. How easy is it for us to only think about God when we are in trouble and need help? Israel repeatedly had that issue and one just needs to examine Katie Erickson’s recent 18-month series on the book of Judges where the constantly repeated theme was: fall into sin, occupation by an enemy, cry for help, season of prosperity, then back into sin again… rinse and repeat each time. It is easy for us to look at them and say, “Don’t you get it?” Yet, how often are we guilty of doing the same thing?

We need to remember the Lord, keeping him in the front of our mind. Christmas is one of those seasons we set aside to remember the birth of Jesus Christ. Many arguments are laid out about whether he was born on such and such day, but that is really not the issue. It is the day we have chosen to remember his birth. Yet many chose not to remember Christ during this season, but instead just have a party over no real reason. What is Christmas without Christ? Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny have become secular replacements for Christ to throw a party, but no one really knows why that day is celebrated anymore (except for the Christians who purpose to remember it).

The birth of Jesus was world-altering. God himself humbled himself to become a living human being. A friend of mine once described it as the universe began to turn on a new pivot point. That pivot point changed again approximately 33 years later when Jesus died and rose again on what we celebrate as Resurrection Sunday. This was no small event, despite the fact that Jesus’ birth went on record with no mention in non-Biblical literature.

Why would it? Jesus was born to a young girl (many speculate she was in her early teens) who claims to have never known a man, raised by a carpenter of no reputation, born in a stable surrounded by animals, which was witnessed to by lowly shepherds. The only people worthy of notice to recognize his birth were the Magi, wise men from a foreign land (likely Babylon). No one made records of this event and all we know about it comes from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Jesus purposefully chose to enter this world as a servant, as a man of no reputation. Isaiah even tells us he did not have a comely appearance. Jesus didn’t even look good, unlike the bulk of the images we see in pictures and movies of him. Why should we remember him?

Jesus did not stay a baby. He grew up. As an adult he began saying strange things and performing strange acts. He demonstrated a love and tenderness the people had not seen before, but he also drew a hard line about what following him would actually mean. In John 6, he fed 5000 men, plus their families, and the next day, Jesus did not give them a bite to eat except of himself as spiritual food and drink. Many of those who ate that miraculous meal left him and quit following him because he drew a line stating that to go with him, you would need to forsake all of your former life.

It got weirder. This uncomely man whose popularity grew as he performed public miracle after miracle to prove he was who he claimed to be now challenged the religious leaders of the day. He never challenged the political leaders, just the religious leaders who were supposed to know the truth and yet taught a set of rules that they themselves would not follow. And when the people sought to make him the king, of which he was the rightful heir to the throne, Jesus would not take it. Had the throne been occupied for the near 600 years between Zedekiah’s last days in 586 BC and Jesus’ arrival, Jesus would have been the next king, as Joseph would have been.

So when Jesus rejected the political uprising to overthrow Rome, and then performed his greatest miracle to that time in the raising of Lazarus, the religious leaders had enough and set it up to kill him. He was executed on numerous false charges and the only actual charge they could pin on him was his claim to be the Messiah, his claim to be God. He was executed by Roman crucifixion which was vividly portrayed in Psalm 22, written not only 1000 years before it happened, but also over 900 years since crucifixion was invented. It did not end there.

Three days later, after his body was secured in a tomb lest anyone steal the body and proclaim a resurrection as he claimed, Jesus rose again, no longer in a servant’s body, but in his glorified body. When John saw him in his vision recorded in Revelation, he fell down on his face as though he were dead, because his face was so bright in righteousness. He now sits at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding in our behalf and preparing a place for his Bride. Sin and death have been defeated all those who put their trust in Jesus, leaving their old life behind, will find victory and abundant life.

For those of you who claim to be Christians, this should be common knowledge, however as someone raised in a Christian home and on the mission field, I can testify how easy it is to skim over “common knowledge.” The Gospel is something so much deeper than “getting saved” and sadly, too many Christians stop at that point. The Gospel is ever growing and ever deepening news about dying to self and being conformed into the image of Christ. We are not to remember the coming of Christ to this world just at Christmas but at all times the whole year. And we are not to just remember him as a baby now, but as the rightful King of Glory.

For those of you readers who do not claim the name of Jesus, I do not speak to you in terms of myths and legends but from a very real person who performed very real miracles, recorded by eye-witnesses in the presence of other eye-witnesses who could verify the accounts, or deny them. The faith spoken here is not a feel-good story either, but a truly life-transforming reality that sadly very few who claim the name of Christ understand in reality. And one thing I do know: if you want to find the truth on this issue, seek it out with all honestly and thorough investigation as you can, and do not quit until you have exhausted everything that can be found. God never has nor ever will turn down an honest seeker, and despite the many claims to try to prove it otherwise, no one has ever refuted the Bible’s claims. This Jesus I write of is no myth, but God himself who became a man. He publicly proved he was who he claimed to be even before his enemies and no one could stop him. And no one will. Find your hope in him because he never will fail to come through on what he promises.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Steve Risner

I've been looking at transition fossils (and their total lack of existence) for the last few blog posts. In the last two on horses and whales, I mentioned how, especially in the case of horses, that the made up lineages are still portrayed in text books in high school and college and are on display in museums even though they've been discredited or, at the very least, shown to be suspicious and certainly not facts. I eluded to Haeckel and his infamous drawings that got him a great deal of acclaim, only to be found to be completely fraudulent a short time later. This, however, has not stopped the drawings or his ideas (which were supported by the fake drawings) from being taught and believed for over a hundred years later. If you're not familiar with Ernst Haeckel's drawings, you're in luck. I have a copy for you:

The idea in question is called recapitulation. Recapitulation, in the sense of evolution, is the belief that our alleged ancestry can be retraced through our development in the womb. This means we should be able to see a human embryo develop through different stages similar to fish, amphibians, and on through apes until we become more human-like. Evangelists for evolution have proclaimed this idea for almost 150 years. But does the evidence fit?

This idea was popular in the 1860's, shortly after Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published. The trouble Haeckel, who believed in this idea wholeheartedly, had was that there was no evidence for it. His solution? Make the evidence up! That's not an exaggeration but a proven fact. Haeckel distorted images of animals in the womb so humans would look like they came from these other animals. He exaggerated the similarities and erased the differences to a large degree. This was actually known very early on, but it was passed along as fact for nearly a century and a half after the fraud was proven. This is because these fake drawings supported evolutionary theory. There's no other explanation for it. In fact, most informed evolutionists have abandoned the idea as told by Haeckel, but it's still presented as evidence for this humanist origins myth.

The fraud goes further. It was reported that he made slight alterations to the images to make them fit his religious belief in evolution from a single common ancestor. However, in 1997, Michael Richardson et al made photographs of embryos at similar stages of development. There are little similarities at all.

These images suggest the deception was large. Haeckel even gave a soft admission to the fraud but blamed it on the artist. He didn't mention that he was the artist. The fraud was declared in the 1870's! That's right—over 140 years ago and we still see the pictures in textbooks and have the idea taught as evidence for Darwinism. It's really despicable.

Here are some interesting things to note concerning development as an embryo: homology is what evolutionists like to talk about. They think it supports their origins myth. Homology just means there are similarities in structures. For example: humans and apes and frogs all have 5 digits on their limbs—fingers and/or toes. Creationists believe this is a strong evidence for a Designer using common anatomical structures. The developmental evidence suggests this is more likely than common ancestry since, in many of the similar structures (which can be a matter of opinion in some cases), they develop completely differently. For instance, the human hand develops from a stub that spreads out and material dissolves from in between what will become fingers. In a frog, the opposite happens: a stump has projections that grow off of it. This is completely different but is only one example of many. If this was due to universal common descent, we would expect them to develop in a similar fashion. They don't.

This is important because it's not isolated to digits or even limbs. It's very often the case in embryonic development and has been known since the late 1800's and flies in the face of what we are told about evolution from a single common ancestor. I was taught this as evidence for evolution in school. I'm sure many of you were, as well, or will be. I was told that humans have gills when they are developing in the womb, showing they have fish as ancestors. This is a distortion of the truth, at best. The gill slits we have often been told about in the human fetus are nothing like gills in fish and do not function for breathing. People who teach this stuff are either completely ignorant about it or just want to proselytize for Darwinism and aren't concerned with the truth.

Embryonic development and homology have been a major problem for evolutionists for a very long time. It's not getting any better for them as we learn more about genetics and development. Homology (similarities between organisms) actually creates a number of issues for naturalism—that meaning evolution from a single common ancestor. Humans and the octopus have very similar eyes but did not acquire them through a shared ancestor. They believe natural, unguided processes independently generated this marvelous structure at least twice. The same is true for a number of other similarities that, according to the theory of evolution, could not have been inherited through a shared ancestor. In some cases, very complex physiology is claimed to have evolved even dozens of times independently but identically. To suggest it evolved once is a stretch. To suggest it evolved exactly the same way dozens of times reduces Darwinism to a naive and foolish attempt to explain away the obvious truth of the Creator God Almighty. Evolution, which is claimed to have a mountain of evidence, literally has none that is not shared with creation. In other words, any evidence for evolution that is actually real is equally valid to explain creation as described by the Bible. Evolution is a farce!

“Now they tell the youngsters in the schools and the students in the universities that evolution is the great unifying principle in biology. They tell us that Darwin explained the diversity of life. The celebrated evolutionist Theodosius Dobzhansky assured us that ‘nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution.’ But this is simply not true. The reality is that attempts to reconcile the facts of biology with Darwin’s theory give rise to many and deep problems.” -Dominic Statham

He uses the phrase “many and deep problems” because a noteworthy evolutionist, Gunter Wagner, tells us there are many and deep problems with reconciling evolutionary theory with embryonic development. George Gaylord Simpson said, “It is now firmly established that ontogeny does not repeat phylogeny.” This means recapitulation has not had any evidence and he said this 50 years ago! Keith Stewart Thomson said, “In seeking to understand why the Haeckelian view persisted so long, we have also to consider the alternatives. We often are highly conservative and will hold to a viewpoint longer than is justified when there is no alternative or, worse, when the logical alternative upsets the rest of our world view.”

The facts of the hoax of Darwinism need to be taught to our children and, for the most part, to adults as well. The lies, fraud, and misrepresentations are really all there is to common descent, aka evolutionary theory. Well, that and imagination. It saddens my heart to see Christians who have bought into this deception and have tried to manipulate Christianity and the Bible to accept these lies which I honestly believe come from the pit of hell. More people have lost faith in Christ because of this nonsense than much else in recent years, in my opinion. I could be wrong, but if it's not the top reason for many it's near the top, especially among those with a college education. There is literally no reason to believe in evolution from a common ancestor which is not a scientific study but a belief system—a religion.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by David Odegard

Editor's note: Please enjoy this previously written post as David focuses on his pastoral ministry during this Advent season.

In some ways Christians are like everyone else: we accept certain things without absolute proof. But although we may not have absolute proof, we do have sufficient evidence to point us to God. Once we arrive at God, we can see everything else. God is light and by Him we can see everything. Without God, nothing can be seen; humanity gropes in the darkness looking for answers that they do not have the capacity to receive.

I was born and raised on the High Plains in Montana. My dad took me hunting for mule deer my entire life. Montana is blanketed each year in snow, ice, and extreme cold. Mule deer hunting is conducted by driving around in the vast treeless plain, squinting into the snow for deer that might be half a mile away.

So often in my early years, my dad would point out into the undistinguished snowy nothingness and say, “There they are, can’t you see them?” but I couldn’t. I would sight down his arm and pointed finger to the exact location that he was pointing to, but all I could see was snow. Then one day, I saw them. I could never un-see them. Thanks to my dad, I have been successfully hunting mule deer for decades.

You may remember your math teacher trying to get you to understand how to do a certain problem. You weren’t getting the concept and then all of a sudden—comes the dawn—you got it! You were never able to un-see it thereafter. Life had changed and so had the synapsis of your brain. You grew.

Life is like that. Our parents and society point out to us what they want us to see. We are taught to view the world in a certain way. Then later we take off the lens that they placed in front of our eyes and we take a good look at reality for ourselves and we realize that life is not so neat and tidy.

Evil exists.

Or perhaps if you were raised to be an atheist, you realize for the first time that the world seems to show evidence of design. Some people struggle against this unveiling of the eye, preferring to just put the glasses back on and play by the rules. Others stare intently into the creation itself and demand from it an orderly answer. This is called science. And you may be surprised to learn that it was invented by Christians (at least the scientific method was invented by Christians). Science is an outgrowth of the Christian worldview.

The Bible invites us to view the world in a particular way, too. We Christians believe that we can look into the created universe and learn many important things about God, and then by extension, ourselves. We can learn, for instance, that He is a mathematical genius. He is exact in His design. Imagine the meaning of the moon orbiting the earth at exactly the right distance from earth to be precisely the relative size as the sun to make a perfect eclipse. Coincidence? Perhaps. But these kinds of phenomena happen repeatedly when studying creation, and they underscore the evidence of a benevolent, precise Creator.

Creation reveals that there is a God; the Bible tells us His name! It is not a big rational leap to believe that if such a God exists that He could create the universe, that He would also be able to communicate to you and me. He could animate the prophetic view of old and reach into His own creation to relieve humans from the bondage of their own decisions. Evil exists, but God has not stayed in heaven sending letters by way of prophets only. He loved human beings so much that He became one. This, too, is God revealing Himself to us. This is God entering into the suffering world that we endangered in order to save it and remake it.

Now think of a popular alternative. Atheism teaches that the universe spontaneously occurred one day. Nothing exploded and something happened as a result. This absurd statement can never be a scientific statement. Atheists really believe that everything came from absolutely nothing.

Stephan Hawking says in his book, The Grand Design, “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.” But this is utter nonsense. This is not a scientific statement at all. Gravity describes the interplay between combinations of matter and energy. When a genius utters nonsense, it is still nonsense. Certainly gravity can shape the matter that exits already, but it cannot bring that matter into reality—that is absurd.

Atheists believe in that absurdity and try to force it down other people’s minds. The result of atheistic thought is that there is no ultimate meaning in reality, no ultimate morality or justice, no reason to live. There is only despair on one hand or baseless optimism on the other.

The practical benefits of a Christian worldview, like a healthy mind and heart, a purpose in life, a hope for justice at some point in our existence, and a sound basis upon which to conduct scientific experimentation, are vastly preferable. They also happen to be true.

This being my first blog post with Worldview Warriors, please let me say that I look forward to an engaging discussion of these and many more topics to come. Blessings! And may the God of all peace open your heart to receive the gospel.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

Updated 12/20/2017 with additional ways to help!

This past Friday night (December 15) Worldview Warriors president Jason DeZurik had a severe, life-threatening stroke. That night, the doctors told Jason's wife Jaya to prepare for the worst: that Jason may not make it. God's hand was in it and He's not done with Jason on this earth yet, however; due to the quick response and the availability and work of a skilled neurosurgeon, after some emergency brain surgery, Jason is recovering. He will be spending time in the ICU then in rehab, but as of Saturday evening he began to talk, laugh, and even joke with the doctors!

As he begins his recovery, he’s in good spirits. He is able to move all of his limbs. He still has vertigo, which is to be expected, and even sitting up for a short time made him dizzy. His eyesight is not good, but that will be worked on through therapy. One step at a time.

In light of this, many people have asked what they can do to help. As a group of friends and believers, with the help of the family and close friends, here are several known needs, which can help everyone know how to best help the family and what their needs are:

1) KEEP PRAYING!!!! As of Tuesday, December 19, 2017: The doctor met with the family today and feels that, in good time, Jason will likely make a full recovery. Praise God!

2) Christmas for the family has been taken care of by two local organizations working closely with the family. It is our hope the family can relax and enjoy their holiday as much as possible, under the circumstances, with the enormous amount of aid already in place.

3) Short term financial support can be made via the GoFundMe page or by postal mail. At this time all donations are considered cash donations, not tax deductible. Monetary donations will be used toward living expenses and medical bills.
DeZurik Family
c/o Worldview Warriors
PO Box 681
Findlay, OH 45839

4) Gift cards to local grocery, department stores, local food establishments, gas stations etc. can also be mailed to the address listed above. Practically Perfect Children’s Resale & Boutique is having a food drive. Non-perishable food items can be delivered to 104 S Sandusky Ave, Upper Sandusky, OH 43351 during normal business hours until Friday, December 23. A Meal Train is in the works as well; look for updates and more information in the coming days/weeks.

5) We are compiling a list of people and organizations who want to help in the coming weeks and beyond. If you have ideas or just want to be on the list of people contacted as more needs arise, please message your name, email, and phone number with specifics to 12.8Romans@gmail.com or contact Worldview Warriors by commenting on this blog post or emailing Katie Erickson.

6) While the family can feel every prayer and knows everyone cares and wants the best for them, at this time Jason needs his rest. The best medicine for his brain is sleep. If you feel lead to visit the hospital, please consider staying in the waiting room, visiting with Jaya when she is available, and allowing Jason time to sleep so he can continue to recover the best way he can, by resting. If you know Jason, he likes to talk, so the more strength he can save up for visits with his family will help him to recover and be able to socialize with friends as soon as he is further into the recovery process.

As things progress with Jason, updates will be posted to Facebook and to the CaringBridge journal. The email address 12.8Romans@gmail.com is the best way to let us and the family know how you want to help, or simply that you want to help. This group is in close contact with the people closest to Jason. The family is in survival mode right now, shocked still at this drastic turn of events. Please allow them time to process this, while preparing to help in all the ways they will need and do need. Allow the family time together as they are traveling and getting little to no sleep. Please direct questions to this group so the family can begin the healing process with rest and clarity of mind.

This group is in daily contact, and will meet again to discuss long-term needs after the first of the year. Updates will be shared with local church groups, several social media outlets, and by many family and friends. As overwhelming as this situation is, the care and concern being shared is humbling and appreciated. Thank you! Romans 12:8: “If it is to encourage, then given encouragement, if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

by Katie Erickson

Last week I wrote about what the Bible says about work, so today we’re looking at the opposite side of that: what the Bible says about laziness. Google defines laziness as, “the quality of being unwilling to work or use energy; idleness.” So being lazy is the opposite of being willing to work.

The book of Proverbs has a whole lot of references to a lazy or idle person! I’ll list just a few here, since there are so many.

“Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth.” (Proverbs 10:4)

“Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in forced labor.” (Proverbs 12:24)

“The lazy do not roast any game, but the diligent feed on the riches of the hunt.” (Proverbs 12:27)

“A sluggard’s appetite is never filled, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” (Proverbs 13:4)

“One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys.” (Proverbs 18:9)

Laziness is mentioned in other parts of the Bible too, of course. Paul talks about it pretty thoroughly in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13. He delivers a pretty severe warning against those who are idle and lazy. He shares how he works for a living rather than simply living off what others provide, so that he can be a model for them to imitate. He commands the people of Thessalonica to earn what they receive, work for a living, and not be lazy.

Having a life of laziness means that one would not provide for themselves or their own family. Paul warns against this in 1 Timothy 5:8: “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Of course there are situations where a person is physically unable to do certain jobs for a living and provide for themselves in this way, but if a person is capable of doing anything to provide for themselves and their family (whether it’s a paying income or just bettering society), then they should do that, rather than living a life of laziness.

Note that laziness is different from rest. God modeled (Genesis 2:2-3) then commanded (Exodus 20:8-11) that we all honor His example and rest from our work one day a week. That is not laziness, but fulfilling what God has commanded us to do. Times of rest are required for our bodies to recharge and be able to do the work that God has called us to do.

So, what the Bible says about laziness is basically that it’s the opposite of working. God created work and we are called to do it; laziness is going against what God has designed for us as human beings.

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by Logan Ames

What are your biggest fears? We all have them, whether we like to admit them or not. I’ve talked about some of my fears on this blog in the past, but there are some I’ve probably kept hidden only because I don’t want people to think less of me. Just a few weeks ago, I had a situation where two fears of mine clashed. My wife and I have been blessed with our first home, but it needed some work on the chimneys. The man who came to do the work was someone we randomly picked from the Internet based on reviews. As he was doing the work, I began to fear that he might be taking advantage of us. This was based more on the fact that I knew nothing about chimneys (having never been a homeowner) than the man’s quality of work. I called my dad to get some advice and he told me the obvious - that the only way I’d get a better idea of the work the man was doing was to go up on the roof and see it for myself! While my dad was certainly right, that’s just what I was hoping to avoid. You see, I’m even more afraid of heights than I am of getting swindled. I had been on roofs in the past, but the roof at our home is steeper and way taller than any I had ever been on. My dad of course told me this is MY house so it’s important for me to know what’s going on with it. Again, this was obvious, but not helpful for dealing with my current plight. Ultimately, I chose to get up there and see everything. As I climbed that worker’s ladders and walked across the roof taller than any other around us while explaining my fear to the worker, I wondered how pathetic I looked in his eyes!

We like to try to disguise our fears because we worry about what others think. But the reality is that every human being has fears. We know this because fear is connected to sin. In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve go from a perfect and fearless relationship with God to being afraid of him. What causes it? Sin! After they disobey him and eat from the tree from which God had told them not to eat, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they immediately experience fear, something they didn’t even comprehend before. Verse 10 tells us that after God questions Adam’s whereabouts, he admits that he hid from the Lord because he was afraid. The whole thing makes perfect sense. Let me remind you they ate from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Think about why we fear. I am afraid of heights largely because I’m aware that I could fall and be seriously injured or die. Death and pain only came because of sin. Had I not had that knowledge and had I still been in perfect relationship with God, I’d trust that he would still protect me even from gravity. He’d cause a soft landing, catch me himself, or help me fly! Likewise, I only fear getting swindled by a businessman because I have knowledge that it does happen.

The same was true for the Israelites as they were leaving Egypt and heading for the Promised Land. Hebrews 11:29 tells us that they “passed through the Red Sea as on dry land” by faith. For the first time in Hebrews 11, our hero of the faith is actually a crowd. Just think about what it means for a group of people to have faith. Did they always agree? Did they have issues? Different opinions? Different perspectives? Different agendas? I’d say so. I mean, most of us can’t get through a Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner with relatives without facing some of these things! Yet, there were over two million people in this group. The people’s differences didn’t matter. Ultimately, they were united in faith. And guess what? Faith is not about what we “believe." Faith is shown by action. Even if there were some in those two million who thought it was a bad idea to walk through the sea with walls of ocean water on both sides (I’m sure there were), they all chose to walk across. Their faith was not judged by their doubts or differences, but by their ACTION.

The story is in Exodus 14. I encourage you to read it yourself if you never have, but I want to make a few key points regarding the faith of the people. At first, God speaks directly to Moses and instructs him to tell the people to camp by the sea. This would make them incredibly vulnerable and God even tells Moses that Pharaoh and his army will go after them. But Moses’ responsibility as a servant of God and leader to the people was to pass on God’s Word exactly as he heard it, not sugar-coating or changing it to make the people feel more comfortable. Moses had grown in his faith and does just that. He trusts that God would deal with the people’s hearts and also that he will protect them as he had been doing the whole time. At first, the people are completely trusting of Moses and God. But then, verses 10-12 tell us that the people SAW the Egyptians coming after them and were “terrified." They cried out to the Lord and complained to Moses. In other words, the people were faithful and trusting until they saw and became aware of the great danger. Moses remains steadfast in trusting God, and God tells him and the Israelites to move forward after he has Moses stretch out his staff and part the Red Sea. God could’ve done it without Moses, but he decided to use Moses because he knew the people trusted more in who they saw (Moses) than who they couldn’t see (God).

You could point to any fear you have and see that it comes from the knowledge of good and the opposite of what is good. Even the fear that we all have to some degree, the fear of the unknown, still goes back to what we “know." We fear the unknown because we know that when we don’t know something, bad things happen. Did you follow my intentional word play? We relate “knowledge” mainly to what we can see, just as the Israelites did. Therefore, it’s not so much the unknown as it is the unseen (they saw the Egyptians, but not the future) that we fear. Hebrews 11:3 tells us that our faith helps us understand that God created everything that we DO see out of what is NOT visible. But the implication there is that it is not visible TO US. Who is it visible to? Who has never faced an unknown or an unseen? I’m talking about our mighty God! Now, let me ask you, who does a blind person trust? They have to rely on those who can see. So, when we face unknowns or “unseens” in our lives, it makes sense to put our trust in the ONLY One who knows all and sees all. The Israelites knew and saw the ocean water and knew the possibility of drowning was there, but God allowed them to see HIS power through Moses so they would trust that the water would stay where it was until Moses again stretched out his staff to return the waters to their place, which ultimately destroyed the Egyptians.

God knows where you are on your faith journey. If you need to SEE things, God will reveal himself to you in a way you can’t deny. The goal for all of us, however, is to get so close in our relationship with God that we KNOW and sense his presence in our lives and in our difficulties even more than we know the bad things that can happen. When we pay more attention to what we know about God than what we know about the evil in the world, that’s when fear turns to faith. I pray that for myself and for each and every one of you each time you face a fear. The One who is unseen is greater than anything we could ever see or understand!

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Jason DeZurik

We are putting together a new feature for one of our radio programs, Do Not Keep Silent, for 2018. We are asking that you please pray for us to hear very clearly from God as we put this new feature together. We are already receiving nominations for this project, but we are in need of more. We are looking for people from the ages of 14 years old to 24 years old. So, what is this new feature?

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!

We have heard it said so many times that the current generation of youth and young adults today are lazy and self-centered, and some surely are.

But there are also a bunch of youth and young adults out there wanting to serve Jesus Christ with reckless abandon and speak out the name of Jesus in action and in word.

Starting as soon as January of 2018, we would like to share interviews of young people making a stand for Christ in this time and culture.

If you'd like to nominate someone for this opportunity please message us with the following:

• Their name and contact info (phone or email or Facebook account)
• Their parent(s)' contact info (phone or email will be fine). This is so we can contact the parent(s) if their child is a minor.
• Why you think they should be chosen. Please keep this to no more than 7 sentences long.

Send all this info to jason@worldviewwarriors.org or message us on the Do Not Keep Silent Facebook page.

We are looking for those young people who are living out their faith in Jesus Christ in action and in word. Thanks for any help you can give - pray for this program and nominate those youth and young adults!

You can find out more about Do Not Keep Silent on our website.

Yes, we need your help. Thank you!
~Jason DeZurik

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Charlie Wolcott

Last week, I wrote about five decisions in my life that have helped shape me into who I am now. Today, I want to share five more. These five are: 6) waiting on a major change, 7) doing the Cadre, 8) joining Worldview Warriors, 9) not taking action on job and publisher situations, and 10) beginning the prayer journey.

6) Waiting on a major change. College life was easy in terms of taking my courses but very difficult in terms of figuring out what to do with it. I did not start college until 3 years out of high school because I had no clue what to major in. I joke every now and think I still have no clue what I am doing because all I know is what God has me doing now and my general core direction. I started out going into Civil Engineering and while I had little problem with the material, I was soon quickly losing interest in doing it for my career. I had also begun writing at this time and I seriously wanted to look at changing my major to Creative Writing, something University of Texas El Paso did not offer as an undergrad degree. I prayed about it and the best advice I have ever received on any similar situation was: “When you don’t know what to do, go back to the last thing you know for sure God told you to do and go do it until he gives you another word.” Very good advice.

I decided to stay with my major for another year after losing interest and that was when God opened the door for me to look at Computer Science, where I got my Bachelor’s Degree. Had I not made that decision to wait, I would have not been at UT El Paso in 2009 or 2011 when God began making other connections which I do not have the space to go into here. That extra time period is what prepared me for going into teaching, which is my current direction until God gives me another word.

7) Doing the Cadre. My #7 and #8 decisions go together, but for different reasons. The Cadre is an accredited Biblical Worldview seminar taught by the Creation Truth Foundation. Both Steve Risner and I have completed this program. I wrote about my experiences there in this post. This was not a hard decision to make to do it, but it would have a significant impact on my life. I made four trips of four days to Oklahoma City over 2014-15 for extremely intense study. There was overall little brand new I learned in this program because I was so familiar with the Creation/Evolution topic, but it came with valuable resources and there were some things I really picked up on. Going to the Cadre is what really sparked my calling into apologetics, even though I had been practicing them on an amateur level for the previous 10 years. This program took it to a whole new level with an eagerness to teach on this material at any opportunity I can. I have taught numerous workshops for groups and conferences on the material I learned at this program.

8) Joining Worldview Warriors. Yes, being here with Worldview Warriors has been a major part of my life the last four years (starting my fifth year in January). I have never missed a single Friday and it has provided a great outlet for all the stuff God keeps pouring into me. Because of my position, my relationships, and my location, I have a hard time finding people older and more mature than I who can mentor me. Jason DeZurik is one of the few men I am able to trust in that mentor-type position. And I truly mean few. Most other men in my life either are not at my level spiritually or we simply don’t have the relationship built for such a job. Being with Worldview Warriors has greatly helped me focus and tighten my writing, and even the writing of my posts has been a great tool for me to study and develop my own spiritual life. The last four years, because of both the Cadre and Worldview Warriors, have truly been invaluable.

9) Not taking action. This one has been one of the toughest decisions I have had to make and one that is still ongoing. Early last year, I wrote about “Getting Slighted.” It is what happens when you have a calling or a task to do and the people you need to empower you to do the job keep looking anywhere but your direction. My publisher for Call to Arms has disappeared in the middle of a three-book contract and I have not heard from them in over 2 years. When I attended the Colorado Christian Writers Conference this past May, no one there in the publishing industry, to my knowledge, had heard from them in a while. I do not even know if my book can still be ordered or not. I don’t know anything about it. I have been advised to drop the contract and go with someone else, but so far each time I start looking that direction, God has been telling me to stay put. This has not been an easy decision, but it still is not has hard as it has been for my job.

I am not going to go into details for the sake of privacy, but over the last two years I have had every reason to be put into a full time teaching position in the district I am in, and I have never actually been considered outside of job interviews. It has been obvious I have never been on the radar of being hired. Every educator I have spoken to from teachers to a retired district athletic director have been thoroughly confused as to why I have not been hired as a teacher. I have been told by numerous sources to get a lawyer and talk to HR. But God keeps coming back with this message: “Don’t try to force anything.” I am still struggling with this emotionally, but I have made the decision I will not take action against the advice of MANY others. I will not try to make something happen. It has been a very difficult decision to obey the Lord in this regard, but I know he has something even better planned and he will set things straight. Both Joseph and David were slighted in ways I have been and their lives turned out just fine because they waited patiently on the Lord. So will I.

10) Beginning the prayer journey. Last July I began writing about prayer and how God is trying to take me to a deeper level. This has been the most difficult thing for me to do in my life, even harder than facing the demonic as I mentioned last week. I went strong for several months and then I got tired and I flat out have struggled to get back to it since. When we started looking at our blog post statistics and saw my "Israelite War Cry" post was the top viewed post of all time (still nearly double the #2 post), I wrote a reprise on it. God told me to write a letter to myself to get back up and back in the saddle and keep going. I have struggled and struggled to do that.

I have realized I am not going to suddenly jump to the level of the prayer lives of E.M. Bounds, Hudson Taylor, Rees Howells, or George Mueller. I won’t get there in this phase of the journey. But that does not mean I stop taking walking on it. God has kept on my case and keeps reminding me to keep going and I have been fighting laziness and flab. This journey so far has been invaluable as I already know I am at a spiritual level well beyond what I was even a year ago, but I am not done with this journey. I have to keep making the decision to stay on this journey. I cannot quit. I’m finally getting back onto my feet and I believe one of the lessons God is trying to teach me here is dependence: the practical knowledge of knowing I need God every day to get me through to make it all work, and not on my own abilities.

I don’t want these last two posts to be boasts about what I have done. These are decisions in following God which have had a significant effect on my life. God is the one who is making this happen, not me. All I am doing is going along with him for the journey.

Are you in the middle of some tough decisions? Are you struggling to keep going on what you know you are supposed to do? I do pray these last two posts have been an encouragement for you. Think about what God is doing in your life. One thing I do know and I can say this from both watching others and in my own life: there is absolutely nothing more rewarding than obeying God. And no matter how hard it gets, none of us who have made that decision to follow and obey God have ever regretted it, and we never will. Next week likely could have been written a month ago, but it will work for Christmas next weekend: remembering and being thankful for what God has done for you.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.