As Christmas season approaches, I want to write several posts about reflecting back upon the things God has done in my life. This post was inspired by a sermon by Eric Ludy titled “Defining Moments of Obedience” where he chronicled 17 moments of his adult life that made him who he was. They were not easy moments to go through at the time but were necessary to form and shape him. It got me thinking. What moments of obedience have I been through to put me where I am, and what decisions have I made in following God that have brought me here?
I began to make my list and I came up with ten big ones. To give them a fraction of their due justice, I am going to split them up over this week and next. I did not include my coming to the Lord in this list because I was a child at that time and, while very important, I wanted to emphasize on my decisions as an adult. The five decisions I will describe this week are: 1) embracing the mission field, 2) starting a fencing ministry, 3) my call to start writing, 4) attending the Urbana Conference, and 5) witnessing to a co-worker. Then next week, I will write about five more major decisions I have made which have helped shaped my life. This list is not comprehensive, but as you read my story I would like you to think about your life and what major decisions you have made which have brought you to where you are.
1) Embracing the mission field. I grew up on the mission field. I was six years old when I went on my first mission trip to Juarez, Mexico, and I would be involved with them through International Family Missions for the next 22 years. I was 16 when my parents, my brother, and I moved from Colorado where I am 5th generation of Boulder County, to El Paso, Texas where I still live. Some may say that I had no choice but to go. My parents were the missionaries but I was along for the ride. However, I still had to make a choice, a choice some missionary kids make and many others reject. I chose to embrace God’s calling ME to the mission field. I know one missionary kid who outright told his parents, “God may have called you to the mission field but he didn’t call me.” I had to choose if I was just to be baggage or an active participant. I chose to be active.
The decision to be active was life-changing for me in more ways than I can really remember. I used to be someone who was absolutely dependent upon a rigid schedule. I have on record for throwing my worst temper-tantrum as a child when my babysitter put me to bed 30 minutes LATE. If plans were to change, I needed to be forewarned or I would throw a fit. Summers were difficult for me because I did not have the routine. When my parents took me on my first mission trip it was a disaster, according to the “experts.” I lost 18 months of development in one week. My parents recognized what God was doing and they would take me again and again and again.
By the time of my move to the missions facility where my parents were responsible for the maintenance and behind-the-scenes work, I was getting used to a life where things did not go as scheduled nicely. My decision to embrace this move has greatly taught me flexibility and adaptability, and without this experience, I likely would not be able to handle things like college, driving, or living on my own. There is a big part of that story I don’t have space to include here.
2) Starting a fencing ministry. I wrote about much of what I do with this last week, but it was something God simply laid on my lap. My uncle and I were waiting for a mission team to return from Mexico to our campus and he made a comment about taking my swords over to Mexico as a joke. I laughed, I told the joke to the team directors, and they took it seriously. That week I did my first demonstration at a children’s home and it was a huge hit. God began talking to me about how to use this, and what I shared last week is just a snapshot of what God has done with it. How has this affected me? I stutter when I talk, and this gave me training to speak publicly and now I have five professional conferences as a speaker under my belt to go along with numerous other speaking opportunities. The obedience to start using fencing as a tool for ministry and giving the sport God gave me back to God has been a great part of my development.
3) My call to start writing. I never saw myself as an author for most of my life. I would often write stories in journals and it would typically be the same story rehashed and re-written over and over again, and it was terrible. Don’t ask for those from me because I no longer have them. But in November 2006, a friend of mine wrote a fictionalized autobiography and asked me to critique it. I absolutely loved it and when sharing with him my thoughts, he suggest I try writing. So I did. In three months, I had a 280 page action/adventure novel. It was an okay story needing a lot of editing, but I discovered a joy in writing. I am using the core concepts from that initial draft in a current massive story that is taking on the size and scale of Lord of the Rings. Since then, I have published one book, Call to Arms, and I have several others written and I just keep going at it.
4) Urbana Conference. Urbana is considered the world’s largest mission conference in the world. I went in 2006 and 2009, with 23,000 and 19,000 college students from all 50 states and most countries around the world. While there was little I learned from the conference itself that stayed, two things (one from each) did. In 2006, I received my primary calling, to go into full time ministry with youth. God still has not fully revealed what it will look like, but every decision I have made has been with this calling in the front of my mind. This was confirmed when I was a counselor at a youth camp the following summer, and then in 2009, the calling began to take shape. It was there I met Steve Lillis, whom I wrote about last week, and that contact lead to another which put me on the course initially towards coaching, but then towards teaching. Now I am seeing that coaching fencing is to be a part of this ministry God wants me to do. I am waiting for his timing to get it started, but it was going to the 2009 Urbana Conference that sparked it.
5) Witnessing to a co-worker. In May 2007, I went on a week-long retreat right after final exams. I was fast moving through my first draft of Call to Arms (I would have 250 pages in six weeks, even with finals and this retreat) and during that retreat, God made a very strong impression I needed to witness to a co-worker of mine. It would be my last summer at that job at a local grocery store and I had gotten to know this guy over the previous six years. He had taken an interest in my writing skills because I could depict battle scenes with epic detail, so I used my first draft of Call to Arms as a means of witnessing to him.
My co-worker read my draft, and things started to go crazy because I had stirred up a demonic stronghold which had been lying dormant in his life. The full story takes an hour to share in person and I’m not about to do that here. Suffice it to say, this demon began to manifest itself through him, I received very demonic messages through e-mail from him, and my faith was attacked and shaken to the core. I did not have the ability to drive out the demon and I know much more about why now. But that encounter was a sifting of wheat and I am stronger in my faith because of it. When editing Call to Arms, I needed to scrap the entire draft because the story was just that bad, and in the re-writing I took this whole encounter and plugged it right in. I truly do make use of a warning a T-Shirt I have that says: “Be careful what you say, or you might just find yourself in my next novel.”
These are five decisions I have made which have had a significant impact on my life and have made me who I am today. Next week, I will share another five. What decisions have you made that have shaped your life today?
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by Steve Risner
Whale evolution has moved to the front of the story telling machine of the evolutionist, taking the place of horse evolution (the lineage for horse evolution has been rearranged and discredited so many times they've dropped it for the most part). Whale evolution is a curious thing for the evolutionist. It would describe a process by which an animal left the water a few hundred million years ago and slowly evolved into an amphibian, and then to a reptile, and finally to a mammal. But land dwelling mammals are not what we're referring to here. We're talking about creatures that live in the sea. So the evolutionist is left with figuring out how and why land dwelling mammals would evolve (quite marvelously, by the way) into completely aquatic animals with several major modifications.
This is a story much like many other tales evolutionists like to tell. It's filled with half truths, fraud, artistic license, and a great deal of imagination. What is even better is after the story has been rearranged and modified and demonstrated as false, it still gets told. This is because, according to Dr. Keith Stewart Thomson, “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.” It's just laziness or deception that demonstrably false ideas constantly keep getting promoted to our youth. If you see a made up lineage in your science textbooks of whale evolution from sea to land and then back to sea, please understand there is literally no truth to it at all. Let's take a look.
Here are some basics on whales and dolphins (called cetaceans). They are classified as mammals but live exclusively in the water. What else differentiates them from other mammals? Quite a lot, actually. They can hold their breath for very long periods of time—on average a little less than half an hour but sperm whales have been known to stay under water for up to 90 minutes. The record for a human was set by Peter Colat and was a measly 19 min! The eyes and ears of cetaceans are very different than those of land dwelling mammals. They have to be, due to the difference in environment. The primary reasons for both of these sense organs being designed differently is the immense pressure they must endure and that light and sound travel differently in water. Their skin is different—no hair and lots of fat (blubber). Many also have unbelievable echo location skills (sonar) to find objects in the water and to communicate. There really is no pelvis either, at least not one that would accommodate any sort of mobility aside from aquatic. There are other fairly major differences, but that's enough to show they are tremendously different from what evolutionists will call their land-dwelling cousins. How an animal on land developed these things before it went into the water is fantasy. How it would have developed these things after it went into the water is also fantasy. And, to be clear, there isn't a single fossil from the fossil record that shows any sort of transition from land dwelling mammals to aquatic mammals. None at all. This was confirmed by E.J. Slijper: “We do not possess a single fossil of the transitional forms between ... land animals and the whales.” This was in 1962, but the facts haven't changed much since then.
This animal's remains are exceptionally incomplete, missing some of the most important parts to determine any relation whatsoever to whales. Although drawings and models indicate it had a blowhole, there was none. There was no pelvis. That's critical for this discussion because anything on the tail end of the animal will have to be made up in terms of how it's attached and meant to function. However, the tail pieces that were found show that this animal didn't have anything that would allow it to swim like a whale—the bones were too small and had little to no place for muscles to attach. There's also the very robust leg bones and a hoof that indicate the animal was nothing but a land dweller. Using the standards of deep-time and evolution, this fossil find is also dated to be younger than many “modern” whale fossils found. I don't agree with the dates, but they do and this makes this an impossible candidate for a whale ancestor, especially one of the first or oldest in the line. How can such terrible observational skills and such a huge story be fabricated out of so little? How can these findings be published in well respected science journals? Dr. Don Batten answers, “It’s probably an indication of the status of paleontology as a ‘science’ and also the desperate desire of neo-Darwinian evolutionists to find some fossil evidence of an ‘intermediate’ form.” Those seem like fighting words, but in reality, it's appalling that such shoddy work is accepted in the scientific community. Their standards are exceptionally low.
Rodhocetus is yet another attempt at land animal to whale transitional organisms. Its discoverer claimed it was on its way to having a whale like tail and front flippers. However, its fossil evidence did not suggest either of these things. There was literally no evidence for a whale tail or flippers of any kind. Eventually, its discoverer, Dr. Gingerich, admitted he no longer believed the animal had either of these distinct whale characteristics, although you will clearly see them in many of its representations in books and charts. This is more evidence for the fraud and deception that goes into evolution as they attempt to brainwash our children.
I've included some conceptual drawings of these creatures with this post. I had a hard time finding one of Rodhocetus that didn't include flippers and a tail for swimming, so I omitted it since there is no evidence of any kind to suggest that. But the others you can plainly see are not whales or, at the very least, are not transitional to whales from land animals. They are either fully a land animal or fully an aquatic animal and have no characteristics that can be called transitional. However, this is the current favorite of evolutionists to show you if they want to support their origins myth. Let's be clear about this; I don't want anyone confused. The fossil record in no way shows any transition from land dwelling mammals to aquatic mammals—there is literally no evidence for this at all. The best evidence they can point to is totally made up and/or completely misrepresented. On the other hand, so we are equally clear, the evidence strongly supports creation in this matter. All species noted are fully formed and appear to be highly adapted to their particular environments. Whales show up in the fossil record with no evidence of more primitive ancestors. Whale evolution is of great interest to evolutionists because it's a great issue for them. But the evidence heavily supports special creation.
Genesis 1:21 tells us all we need to know about the origins of the whale and other great sea creatures.
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Editor's note: Please enjoy this previously written post as David focuses on his pastoral ministry during this Advent season.
For God so loved the world that He gave us a gift. He wrapped it in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger. By this act He makes peace with the whole world and gives them each an opportunity to respond in faith and be justified.
But an un-opened gift is an unreceived gift.
Each Advent, we Christians celebrate a few recurring themes: hope, peace, joy, and love. These four themes correspond with all the expectations that the Messiah has fulfilled. In my church, we make these themes stand out the entire month before Christmas day, culminating in the grand epic of Christmas Eve candlelight service. id
Hope: “Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ‘til He appeared… a thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morning…” Immediately after the sin in the garden, God cursed the serpent (Satan) with THE promise that the offspring of the woman “will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
We must have hope in God’s promise, and all of the promises that He made after that first one, that He will rescue His people. When he brought Israel out of Egypt, it was a promise that He will deliver His people from the powerful dominance of this world and its structures, and nothing would stop Him from doing so. This is hope. God has not abandoned us to the evil world we created.
Peace: God made this child to be the atoning sacrifice for the whole world. Through His sinless life and His sacrificial death, Jesus Christ made peace with God available to each one. He is our peace.
Joy: After having witnessed our hope in God’s promise being justified through Jesus and having received the peace that God makes with us through Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, He “has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.” So we “greatly rejoice, and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Love: After you boil off all the lust and greed, all of the self-justification and personal empire-building, and all of the guilt and shame, do you know what remains? Love. Sacrificial, giving love. That is exactly how Jesus lived and died and rose from the dead. Consider two groups of people who heard of the birth of the Messiah: The Scribes and the Shepherds.
When the Magi finally arrive on the scene 2 years later, they go to Herod and ask where the King of the Jews is. Herod doesn’t say, “I am King!” Rather, he calls the scribes and asks them. They immediately answer, “In Bethlehem, in Judea.” They quote Micah 5:2, “But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah… for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
But then the scribes don’t go running off to Bethlehem themselves to see if they can find the Messiah, even though it’s only a short distance. They just go back home—indifferent to whether the Messiah has come.
Although they should have hope that the Scripture is about to be fulfilled, they have long since given up actually expecting the Word to come to pass. These are hearers of the Word only, but they never do anything about it.
This is a quiet sort of death, and I see it too many times where people just give up believing even though they don’t admit it to themselves.
Contrast that to the attitude of the Shepherds in Luke 2:8-20:
“In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ‘This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.’
When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, ‘Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”
What a difference in attitude; they immediately took off running for the place where Jesus might be found. When they found them they told Mary and Joseph all about what had happened with the angels. They were filled with joy.
The shepherds were available. They were interested. They were filled with joy at being the first to see the Messiah.
How excited will you be the day that you get to see Jesus Christ face to face? May the grace of God be with you.
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In my previous blog post, I pointed out how the Mosaic Covenant confirms the concept of popular sovereignty. In this post, I’d like to draw your attention to a fact in Scripture that absolutely blew my mind when I first came across it. Did you know that the concept of popular sovereignty was so ingrained in ancient Israel that their leaders were almost always chosen through public elections? Let me show you how I discovered this amazing fact.
1. The Israelites voted on whether to accept the Mosaic Covenant.
Yes, you read that correctly. The Israelites voted on whether or not to be under the Mosaic Covenant. In fact, they voted twice just to make sure that there wasn’t any sort of miscount or other error in the vote. The account of this vote is found in Exodus 24:3-7.
In that passage, we see that after God delivered all of the terms of the covenant to Moses, Moses came and told the people what the Lord had said, and all the people gave unanimous assent to the terms. Moses then committed the entire covenant to writing and read what he had written before all the people. Then the people voiced unanimous consent a second time to confirm that they were agreeing to the covenant exactly as it had been written. The Mosaic Covenant did not go into effect until after the people of Israel publicly voted to accept it.
2. The Israelites voted to have Moses as their leader.
No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. The Bible actually records that the Children of Israel chose to have Moses lead them and represent them before the face of God. In Deuteronomy 5, we find that God originally wanted to give His Law directly to the whole congregation of the people. The Bible tells us that God began speaking to the people “face to face,” not just to Moses.
According to this passage, God descended upon the mountain in the sight of all the people, and began presenting the terms of the covenant directly to the body of the people. The people heard the ten commandments that formed the foundation of the covenant, and then they became afraid. When God stopped speaking in order to record the Ten Commandments in writing, the people took advantage of the pause to approach Moses and ask him to be their representative before the Lord. According to the parallel passage in Exodus, Moses actually pleaded with the people that they not succumb to their fears, but they refused his pleas. Then, the Bible records for us that God heard the decision of the people to elect Moses to be their representative and that He not only approved of their decision but also that He wished for them to always display such wisdom.
Here we have a record of the God of the universe rejoicing because the nation of Israel decided on their own to elect a representative to stand before Him in their place.
3. The Israelites voted to have Saul as their king.
When the nation of Israel convinced Samuel to give them a second king (yes, Saul was the second king, not the first), Samuel eventually consented to their request. However, the ensuing coronation of King Saul was far from the simple, straightforward process that most people think that it was. The first part of the biblical record corresponds well with the standard “Sunday school” account. The people asked for a king. God told Samuel to anoint Saul. Samuel showed the people that God had chosen Saul. The people rejoiced and shouted, “God save the king.”
At this point, however, the Biblical account differs greatly from the conception that the average Christian has of this event. Immediately after the people shouted “God save the king,” the Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 10 that Samuel sent all the people away and Saul returned to his home in Gibeah. There is no mention of any coronation. Samuel sent the people home without crowning Saul as the king, and chapter 10 ends with people doubting whether Saul was fit to lead.
We don’t read of Saul being crowned king until verse 15 of the next chapter. In the first 14 verses of chapter 11, we find Saul forcing the people to follow him in a victorious battle against the Ammonites. After Saul had proven his military expertise to the people, they came to Samuel with the charge that anyone who doubted Saul’s ability to lead should be put to death. It was only at this point, when the people were firmly and perhaps even unanimously in favor of Saul, that Samuel gathered them together at Gilgal and crowned Saul king of Israel.
(See my new book “Unsung Heroes and Obscure Villains of the Bible” to find out which man was the first king of Israel.)
4. Israel voted to make David their king.
The coronation account of King David also gives testimony to the prevalence of popular sovereignty in the political ideology of ancient Israel. The transition from Saul to David was not an easy transition. Saul was killed in battle while David was in exile, and the Biblical account tells us that when David learned of the death of Saul, he returned to Hebron where he was met by the men of the tribe of Judah. The men of Judah decided to crown David as king, not over all of Israel but rather over just the tribe of Judah. The rest of the nation chose to crown Saul’s son Ishbosheth as their king (2 Samuel 2). It is only after the account of the death of Ishbosheth that we read:
“So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the LORD: and they anointed David king over Israel.” (2 Samuel 5:3)
Thus we see that David’s coronation was just as much an act of popular sovereignty as that of Saul. He was not crowned king over all Israel until all the elders of the nation had agreed to be under his rule.
The idea that the people should be free to elect their own rulers is an integral component of the government established by God in the Old Testament, and it was such a natural part of Israel’s political ideology that it was adopted by the leaders of the early church as the proper way to fill positions in that body as well (Acts 6:2-6). The early church had the same casual familiarity with popular elections as is found among the various societies, businesses, and other organizations of America, and such a familiarity only makes sense in a culture with a long history of freely choosing their own leaders.
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Money: we either love it or hate it, feel like we have plenty of it or never enough. Even when we really do have enough, we always seem to want more. Money and how we handle it has been an issue in society for hundreds of years, which is why we see the topic a lot in the Bible. There are hundreds of verses either specifically or loosely related to money! That’s a bit much to list in today’s blog post, but we’ll go over some of the highlights of what the Bible says about money.
The Bible talks about money in general in a number of verses. Perhaps the most often-quoted one is at the end of the passage in 1 Timothy 6:7-10: “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” You can’t take money with you, and if you love money more than you love God, it will get you into all kinds of evil.
Similarly, in Matthew 6:24, we see that we can’t serve both God and money. We can’t focus our lives around money and still be focused on God; our focus needs to be on one or the other (ideally God, of course). The story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-24 that provides the context for this verse illustrates that truth. We know that wherever our heart is - whether with our money / possessions or with God - that is where our treasure is (Matthew 6:21). If our heart is following money and getting more stuff in this world, then that’s the treasure we’re storing up for ourselves, that we can’t take with us. But if our heart is following after God, then we’re earning a treasure that will bless us for all eternity.
There are numerous verses in Proverbs that talk about wealth and money. For example, Proverbs 11:4 says, “Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.” Proverbs 23:4-5 says, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”
Much of the book of Ecclesiastes is about what actually has value in life, and Ecclesiastes 5:8-20 talks about riches specifically. Verse 10 sums it up: “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.”
Another money-related topic in the Bible is giving, whether giving money to others, to the church, or to other organizations that spread God’s Kingdom. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Luke 6:32-35 talks about lending to others who are genuinely in need while not expecting repayment along with the idea of loving your enemies. Proverbs 22:9 says, “The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.” Matthew 6:2-4 gives further instruction on how to give to the poor, specifically that we don’t make a big deal about it, since we’re just being obedient to God and should not be prideful in the matter.
Yet another money issue discussed in the Bible is the sin of greed - wanting money or possessions that we do not have, and likely don’t even need. “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions’” (Luke 12:15). “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36). Ephesians 5:5 warns us that those who are greedy will not inherit God’s Kingdom: “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
Debt is also discussed in the Bible. Much of Proverbs 22 talks about money, and verse 7 specifically deals with the position we put ourselves in when we go into debt: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.” Verses 26-27 warn about going into debt if you can’t afford to pay it back: “Do not be one who shakes hands in pledge or puts up security for debts; if you lack the means to pay, your very bed will be snatched from under you.” Biblically, the only debt we should have in our lives is a debt of loving each other: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
Finally, we’re encouraged in Scripture to not worry about money, because God will provide for our needs. Matthew 6:25-33 is a great passage that speaks about this, ending with telling us what we should seek instead: God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. When we do that with our whole hearts, we don’t have to worry about anything! God can and will take care of us when we are obedient to Him in doing His work: “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19). This has also been promised by God since Old Testament times, as it says in Deuteronomy 8:18: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth,and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” If we delight in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4), and we will be content with what we have.
God doesn’t want us to struggle with the issue of money. If we are following His plan for our lives and being obedient to what He wants us to do, money will not be an issue for us. There are many resources available online to help you manage your money in a Biblical way; please let us know if you’d like specific recommendations to help your financial life line up with your faith.
“And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
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by Logan Ames
A few years ago, I heard about the amazing story surrounding the birth of Tim Tebow, who is known for his athletic achievements at the University of Florida, in the NFL, and recently as he has moved up the minor league system for baseball’s New York Mets. However, he is well-known beyond his sports accomplishments, as he is perhaps the most outspoken of any Christian professional athlete in recent memory. Tebow has faced overwhelming support and also harsh criticism for his public displays of faith. He goes on speaking tours and shares the gospel message, has written multiple books, and started the Tim Tebow Foundation, which does a lot of charitable work and events including “Night to Shine,” a celebration specifically designed to provide a prom-like experience for teenagers with special needs. The work of Tim Tebow and those who partner with him has touched millions of lives.
If Tim’s parents had followed the recommendation of doctors in the Philippines 30 years ago, he would’ve never seen this world. As this recent article explains, Tim’s mother, Pam Tebow, had complications very early in her pregnancy. The Tebow family was doing missionary work in the Philippines and Pam contracted amoebic dysentery, which is common in places where there is a lack of clean water. Not knowing she was pregnant, doctors prescribed Pam strong antibiotics and she took them. When she later found out she was pregnant, the medication was stopped, but doctors told her that her fetus had already been severely damaged by the medication. When she then began to bleed early in her pregnancy, doctors told her she should abort the baby so that her own life would not be at risk. They even tried to justify their recommendation by convincing her that it wasn’t actually a life, but a mass of tissue similar to a tumor. It was only because of their faith in God and his plan that Mr. and Mrs. Tebow chose to trust him and go forward with the birth, believing that God had a purpose for the life he allowed to be created. Tim was born after having only a very tiny portion of the placenta attached for most of the pregnancy, so the doctors described him as a “miracle baby."
As Pam and Tim Tebow have both traveled the country telling their story, some 5 million women have chosen not to kill their babies after hearing it. Sometimes, we have to overcome fear, anxiety, or even physical pain to experience the blessing that God intends. If we thought Tim Tebow’s entrance into the world was a difficult situation, we’ll see that it doesn’t even compare to the birth of Moses, recorded in Exodus 2:1-10. His birth comes on the heels of Pharaoh’s attempts to “deal shrewdly” (Exodus 1:10) with the Israelites to keep them from becoming a threat by joining with Egypt’s other enemies. He had a good plan, according to a worldly view. First, he oppressed them with hard labor. When that didn’t work, he moved forward with partial-birth abortions, and then ultimately, infanticide. Being “shrewd” isn’t always a bad thing. Jesus even tells his disciples in Matthew 10:16 to be “as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves” when he is sending them out for ministry. But we must know there is a big difference between being shrewd within God’s will and being shrewd AGAINST God’s will. The former uses what God created within us, while the latter exposes the folly of those who ignore or even completely reject the presence of the Creator in their lives.
Pharaoh thought he had control over the Israelites by ordering that all Hebrew male babies be thrown into the Nile River (Exodus 1:22), but God’s plan would not be foiled. When Pharaoh first tried to oppress the people, Exodus 1:12 tells us, “The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread." This became the mark of God’s people all throughout history. The Church grew the most in the first few centuries after Christ was crucified, when Christians faced some of the most intense persecution of all time. Even today, Christianity is growing fastest in nations in Asia and Africa where persecution is the strongest, while it’s declining in America and Europe where believers are most comfortable. As the ancient Christian writer Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." We must never shy away from persecution or hardships because God may just be using it to grow our faith and testify to others.
After Pharaoh’s first plan didn’t work, he ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill the babies if they are male while the mothers are in the process of delivering, but the midwives disobeyed his orders and justified it by saying that the Hebrew women are more vigorous and give birth before they arrive (Exodus 1:19). This is a perfect example of being shrewd within God’s will. They likely did not lie. What is one thing that might cause pregnant women to become more “vigorous”? I’d say hard and oppressive labor would do the trick! So then Pharaoh gives the command to kill babies that are already alive. In America, we think that’s a heinous act and equate it to murder, while at the same time allowing unborn babies to be torn apart. Friends, if we don’t continue to stand up and do whatever we can to eradicate the evil that is abortion, don’t be surprised if we someday get to the point where we are finding justifications for killing LIVING children that are getting in the way of OUR plans. There is no limit to the depravity of man.
Moses’ parents did not fear Pharaoh’s order (Hebrews 11:23), but trusted by faith that God had a plan for their beautiful son no matter what would happen to them. Exodus 2:1-10 reveals that Moses’ mother decided to place him in a “papyrus basket” (the KJV calls it an “ark," so think about that for a moment and study it if you have the time) and put him into the Nile when he was three months old and they could not hide him any longer. Once again, we see an example of shrewdness that is WITHIN God’s plan. Technically, she didn’t break Pharaoh’s order because she did place the boy in the Nile. Nevertheless, she had to let go of her treasured son and trust God. You parents out there know what it’s like to spiritually give your children over to the Lord, but try doing that literally and physically! It’s hard for us to even fathom this level of faith.
As it turned out, God’s plan was to reward Moses’ parents beyond what they could possibly imagine. Pharaoh’s daughter discovers the baby floating down the river and has sympathy for him. When she realizes it’s a Hebrew baby, Pharaoh has the baby’s OWN MOTHER brought to her so that she could nurse the baby and raise him until he was older. And on top of that, Pharaoh’s daughter even pays Moses’ mother to raise him! When he was older, he became Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, putting him in position to rule in Egypt and eventually lead his people out of their oppression and captivity. We couldn’t make up a better story if we tried! Sure, there will always be people devaluing life and rejecting God’s intended plans. And it may seem like we have no way out. But God gives us the ability to be innocent and shrewd at the same time. And as long as we are acting within his will and honoring him as Savior, Lord, and Creator, we can wait with confidence and anticipation of the deliverance that we know is coming. Let your faith be your hope and your evidence of all that God will do for those who trust him!
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The Bible overall is rather quiet about sports other than Paul using some imagery from the original Greek games, however there is something about taking the sports we love and showing spiritual applications to it which are able to help us understand what God is talking about. An example some of you may know is from the movie Facing the Giants. There is a scene where David, the new kicker on the team, is struggling to hit the goal straight. So the coach comes in and says anyone can miss wide right or wide left, but truth aims straight.
Sports can make a great visual tool for preaching the Gospel. In 2009, I met a very interesting fellow, Steve Lillis. Lillis is a professional pool player, and at the 2009 Urbana Convention I saw him performing trick shots, using each shot he made to visually show practical life lessons. He can do all kinds of things with pool balls many of us could only dream of doing.
In one shot, he takes 14 balls, places them on the table and gives a story about Noah’s Ark vs the Titanic and then sinks all 14 balls with one shot. In another, he gathers several balls in the table and covers them with a cloth. He then asks someone from the audience to choose a pocket and then shows how we act by faith when we cannot see what is happening to get to our destination. In another shot, he has someone lay down on the table, stacks 4-5 blocks of chalk held by the person’s teeth, and shoots a ball out from the stack of chalk. He calls that the “trust shot.” In another shot he makes a ball go around the table and climb up two cue sticks to roll down them. He then tells his testimony of being a former pool shark and hustler and how God got a hold of his life, paving the way for “Gospel Trick Shot Ministries.”
After meeting him, I was the student leader of a Christian organization at my university and I got to bring him to the campus twice. The second time was the most notable one because that winter in 2011, there was such a deep freeze it shut down 2/3 of the nation. He was looking forward to come from New Jersey, where his plane was the first out from the airport to come to El Paso, but we never got above 15F for those three days (which is an all-time record; El Paso NEVER gets that cold for that long). We had two shows set up, one at the university and one at a pool hall (me not knowing at all about the nature of such venues).
Well, his flight arrived and the whole city was shut down. The freeze froze up the generators at the water pumps and the power plants and burst countless water pipes throughout the city. We were on boiling water restrictions and rolling blackouts and for a whole week, and schools were closed to help preserve power and water. This also shut down the university, ruining not only our venue but also our audience. By God’s provision we were able to move to the dorms where they had a pool table. Because the city was shut down and one dorm had a pipe burst, we got a captive audience. It was a great time of ministry.
At the pool hall, we invited all kinds of people from the community, again, not knowing a thing about the venues (someone else had made the arrangements and he wasn’t even there that day). Lillis, being a former pool shark, knew the culture and it was happy hour. Not one person we invited showed up, but he got to reach that dark place. He had drunk hecklers and he kept going. When he finished, one of his hecklers came up to him and asked, “Why did you do that?” I do not know what became of him, but as far as I know, he got saved because of that night. Lillis has since written his biography “But You Must” and I am in it (though not by name) as part of this incident.
I got connected with Lillis because what he does with pool, and I often do the same thing with fencing. This connection is why bonded so fast. He actually founded Gospel Trick Shot Ministries on the exact same day I started fencing, on the date of my 15th birthday. I take the equipment I use in the sport to illustrate how the Armor of God works. Then I take the moves and rules of the sport to give some practical life lessons about spiritual warfare and the nature of tactics. I’ll show the different types of parries, feints, preparations, attacks, defenses, etc. to show how the enemy works and how we should respond to such situations. This video is 10 years old, but it is one of the only ones I actually have of me doing this. Do notice I only spent about 10 minutes working with my sparring partner prior to this. The most recent opportunity I got to do this was in August for a local homeschool conference. I heard afterwards from one parent that her daughter did not understand spiritual warfare until I gave that presentation. I’ve also used a skit I saw on the mission field 25-30 years ago and took it to a different level. Here is another 10-year-old version of this skit I did at a Men’s Rehab center in Juarez, Mexico, in which I only had about 20 minutes to put it together and at that time I was not very good at explaining things, let alone able to train sparing partners. Cheesy acting, but every time I did it in Mexico it was a huge hit. I’ve always wanted to do a more proper version of this.
I am now a certified fencing coach currently looking for an opportunity to run and lead a club. There are some opportunities brewing for me and I’ll keep you posted on that should they come through. But I have a dream club idea where I would teach and coach the sport on the physical level, but then also train and prepare a generation of spiritual warriors yielded and dedicated to fighting God’s battles.
There is one caution I suggest in attempting any such presentation. DO NOT, and I mean DO NOT, replace visual aids for the power of God. I can see how easy it would be for me to fall into such a trap. My fencing presentations have had a spectacular reach, but unless I am prayed up and the spirit of God is giving me his anointing, I’m just another speaker. I have sensed when I have had the anointing and when I didn’t. God did use me at this homeschool conference in August, but looking back, I did not feel the anointing I had to the same degree as when I gave the same presentation to my church 4 ½ years ago. If I am to truly reach this world, I need God’s anointing over me when I speak. That means I need to be prayed up, and I need to be giving God’s message. And if that means I be silent if God does not give me anything to speak, it means that. God took fencing away from me for four years and now he has given it back. He took pool away from Steve Lillis for 12 years and gave it back. Are we willing to obey him even if it means taking away the activity of our talents and our joys? Let God dictate how you use the sports you enjoy and don’t use them to build your own kingdom or your own platform.
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.
