If you look on any good map of the universe, in the very center you will find Wharton, Ohio, a sleepy village with only a post office and a pop machine, and a really great church—twice removed from the beaten path, populated by 412 souls. It lies nestled between bean or corn fields throughout the muggy summers and houses the families of farmers and factory workers year-round. This is the field of my campaign. I pastor that church.
Today, I lay down my pen for Worldview Warriors; this is my last post. I am leaving the trench. Worldview Warriors has a vision to empower students to stand up for their faith and offers answers to some of the intellectual and cultural assumptions which students have been taught. It seeks to answer those questions which evolutionary theory and postmodernity poses for Christian thinkers such as yourself, constant reader. I believe in the battle.
As passionate as I am to see young people develop and maintain a Christian viewpoint, I find that the field of my campaign does not overlap with Worldview Warriors in the same way that it has in the past. This is not due to any disagreement, but rather the recognition that I need a healthier distribution of labor for myself. I love writing for Worldview Warriors, but the demands of my own field require me to focus on it.
For me, this blog has only ever been the branch, never the vine itself. So, when the prunin’ time comes, it goes first.
The metaphor of war is a Biblical one and useful for us to understand the demands and complexity of our Christian lives which are lived out between the tension of this present darkness and the Kingdom of God. These two exist in conflict until Jesus returns. Our conflict is not with human beings, though, but rather the spiritual forces behind the present darkness. I feel that the persons that I want to reach with the Good News about Jesus are missing that point. I get the impression that they think I am warring against them. I am not.
Rather, I feel like I am a guy who displays a treasure so beautiful that people desperately want it. They would reach out and take it, but their idols, the silly lover-gods, hold them back. I fight the idols—not the captives. Not that I feel that Worldview Warriors is fighting captives—they are doing the same thing as I am, but I simply must trim some things from my own docket.
The church in Wharton is growing, we are in a building program, and I am currently slogging through my doctoral studies (half-way through). I have six children, a lovely wife, and a hobby farm where we grow our much of our own food. Obviously, constant reader, I have my own trenches to tend.
Of course, if you really miss me, I am pounding away at the pulpit in Wharton First Church of God. We are praying and preaching and loving and waiting on the Lord every day in an exciting ministry context. Perhaps you would like to jump in the trenches with us. We are here.
God bless you,
Pastor Dave Odegard
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Ever since the Constitution was first submitted for ratification, the final clause in Article VI has been a matter of strong contention among Americans. That clause, known as the religious test clause, simply states that “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” It is frequently claimed that this clause represents the desire of the founding fathers to keep religion out of the government and to establish a secular nation. But is that really how this phrase was intended to be used?
To understand the true purpose of the religious test clause, we must look back to the Corporation Act of 1661. This was the first of three Test Acts which were implemented in England and which remained in effect until 1828. Under these acts, no one could hold office in England unless he swore an oath of fealty not to God but rather to the doctrines of the Church of England. This was the kind of religious test which the founders prohibited. They had no objection to biblical qualifications. What they objected to was the requirement that all government officials be forced to swear allegiance to the codified doctrines of an established church.
The wisdom of this objection can be illustrated by an examination of the different doctrines of the Christian churches on baptism. Some churches teach that baptism is necessary in order for one to become a Christian, while others teach that baptism is not necessary but merely symbolic. There is no reconciliation between these two views. Those holding to the first view often deny the Christianity of those holding to the second and vice versa. Therefore, if the founding fathers had permitted religious tests by saying that only Christians could hold office under the new Constitution, they would have placed us in the difficult position of allowing our government to determine which of these two views on baptism is correct. The churches would immediately have recognized that whichever church managed to obtain a majority representation in the new government would have the power to define all other denominations as non-Christians and force them out of the political arena entirely. This is exactly how the Test Acts were used in England, and it was one of the reasons that so many Christians had fled to America in the first place. Our founding fathers realized that the only way to prevent this abuse of the power of government is to eliminate the religious test requirements altogether.
That this is the view which the founders had in mind can be seen in the statement on this clause by Oliver Ellsworth. Mr. Ellsworth was one of the pivotal drafters of the Constitution, and he later became the third Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. In his defense of the religious test clause, Mr. Ellsworth first explained what was meant by the term “religious test”:
“A religious test is an act to be done, or profession to be made, relating to religion (such as partaking of the sacrament according to certain rites and forms, or declaring one’s belief of certain doctrines,) for the purpose of determining whether his religious opinions are such, that he is admissible to a public office.”
He then proceeded to examine the most basic religious test possible and to demonstrate that it would be wrong for us to have such a test in America.
“If any test-act were to be made, perhaps the least exceptionable would be one, requiring all persons appointed to office to declare at the time of their admission, their belief in the being of a God, and in the divine authority of the scriptures … But I answer: His making a declaration of such a belief is no security at all. For suppose him to be an unprincipled man, who believes neither the word nor the being of God; and to be governed merely by selfish motives; how easy is it for him to dissemble! how easy is it for him to make a public declaration of his belief in the creed which the law prescribes; and excuse himself by calling it a mere formality. This is the case with the test-laws and creeds in England … In short, test-laws are utterly ineffectual: they are no security at all … If they exclude any persons, it will be honest men, men of principle, who will rather suffer an injury, than act contrary to the dictates of their consciences. If we mean to have those appointed to public offices, who are sincere friends to religion, we, the people who appoint them, must take care to choose such characters; and not rely upon such cob-web barriers as test-laws are.”
The final sentence of Mr. Ellsworth’s statement brings us back to our original question. Did the founders include the religious test clause in order to establish a secular government? Not at all. They simply placed the responsibility for the religious character of our government on the shoulders of the people themselves. In the words of John Jay, our nation’s first Chief Justice:
“Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.”
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We all deal with physical sickness in our lives, whether we are sick ourselves or we have a loved one with an illness. Some sickness like the common cold or the flu may stick around for a few days or a week, and then our body fights it and we’re all better. Other times, as with cancer, it’s more of a struggle that our body may not win. Some sickness can be lived with for a lifetime, while others cut that life short. But we all experience and deal with sickness in some way.
When we are dealing with sickness, what do we want? Healing. Sometimes the body can heal itself because of the amazing way that God has created our bodies to function. Other times medication can help speed the process along. But when we are sick, we want to be healed. So what does the Bible say about physical healing?
First, before talking about healing, we have to know where our sicknesses came from. Before mankind sinned, there was no sickness, so there was no need for healing! When mankind disobeyed God in Genesis 3, the perfect world became broken. The once-perfect bodies that God had created would now have illnesses and difficulties as they got older and worn out.
Psalm 41:1-3 says, “Blessed are those who have regard for the weak; the Lord delivers them in times of trouble. The Lord protects and preserves them—they are counted among the blessed in the land—he does not give them over to the desire of their foes. The Lord sustains them on their sickbed and restores them from their bed of illness.” That passage seems to promise physical healing for all those “who have regard for the weak,” right? Similarly, Psalm 103:2-3 says, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases.”
If these are promises from God that we will be healed, why doesn’t everyone experience physical healing in this life? While we live in this sinful world, we’ll have to deal with sin and brokenness, including physical sickness. Note that those passages don’t indicate WHEN God will heal us. 1 Peter 5:10 says, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” We know from Revelation 21:4 that when we as believers join Jesus in heaven, there will be no more sickness: “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.”
However, the Bible does give many examples of physical ailments being healed while on this earth, primarily as Jesus healed many people during His earthly ministry. Matthew 9:35 says, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” To quote some specific examples, Jesus healed the woman who had bled for 12 years, 10 lepers, a paralyzed man, a blind man, and a crippled woman, just to name a few. After Jesus was raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, His disciples were able to perform some acts of physical healing as well, including this one.
God may or may not grant us physical healing of our ailments today, depending on what lines up with His will. We can always ask Him in prayer for the healing that we desire, though His answer may or may not be what we want to hear. We can trust that God hears our prayers, and if His will is to heal our physical diseases, then we will be healed. Regardless of our status of physical healing, as followers of Christ, we are called to glorify God in all that we do!
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by Logan Ames
I try not to write about sports all the time, but I think I am contractually obligated to do so today. With the Super Bowl kicking off in just a few hours and the Winter Olympics beginning later this week, two of the most popular sporting events are upon us. What makes these two events so great is not merely the games themselves but all the mental, physical, and even spiritual preparation leading up to them and the stories of triumph and perseverance that are told in the lives of the participating athletes. In the Super Bowl, we have the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles. Though I hate to admit because I can never root for them, the Patriots are better than any other team in the NFL at taking players who have been rejected, used up, or overlooked by other teams and making them into key contributors and stars. The Eagles are a significant underdog in this game, but continue to win despite their damaging injuries. They move forward with a backup quarterback that no one else wanted. Likewise, the Olympics are full of participants from all over the world who have continued to get back up after injuries, rejection, and failures. Even if you hate sports, these events teach us important life values.
One of the things that is required to go from the bottom to the top in the world of athletic achievements is FAITH. If you’re competing in an individual sport, you have to have faith that your hard work and ferocious training will eventually yield results. You have to accept delayed gratification. A team sport requires not only that same faith in your training and practice but also faith in your teammates to do their jobs while you do yours. Because each of these areas of faith are not foolproof, meaning they occasionally fail an athlete, we often hear stories and professions of faith in the only One who does not let us down - the Lord Almighty. For those professional and amateur athletes who trust in Jesus more than their own abilities, even the darkest moments of rejection and failure in their sport cannot defeat them for good.
As we continue in the series on our heroes of the faith, we come to a man who was despised and rejected through no fault of his own, but put his trust in the Lord to win a great victory. In Hebrews 11:32, we are told of someone named “Jephthah." His name may be one of the hardest to say, but there is no doubt that the honor bestowed upon him by the writer of Hebrews was well-deserved. Like the others before him, Jephthah was commended for his faith despite his imperfections. Hebrews 11:33 tells us that the aforementioned group of faithful ones “through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised." All three of those faithful accomplishments certainly fit the life of Jephthah.
Judges 11 tells us the story of Jephthah. We learn some important things about Jephthah right off the bat in verses 1-3. We see that he was considered a “mighty warrior," but that he was the illegitimate son of his father, Gilead, because he was born of a prostitute. Clearly, Jephthah had nothing to do with this and was the product of his parents’ sinful choice to commit adultery. Yet, as was often the case in those days in Israel, his status was held against him. His half-brothers (the legitimate sons of Gilead and his wife) drove Jephthah away and said he would not get any of the family’s inheritance because of his birth to the prostitute. In other words, they rejected him completely and had no use for him. But we know God loves to use those who are of no use whatsoever to others. While human beings often only want us when they need us, our God has a plan for us from before we are even in our mothers’ wombs (Psalm 139:13-16).
Jephthah came along during a time when the Israelites had once again worshipped idols and made God angry enough to allow them to fall into enemy hands. They were ruled and oppressed by the Ammonites and the Philistines. Just as we saw last week that God used Samson to confront the Philistines, he was about to use Jephthah to take out the Ammonites. It’s interesting how the Israelites’ relationship with God mirrored the relationship between the people of the town of Gilead and Jephthah. In Judges 10:10-14, we see that the Israelites as a whole cried out to God to rescue them, and after constantly rescuing them before, he tells them this time that they are on their own and should cry out to the false gods they’ve been worshiping to save them. But, after they humbly submit to him and choose ACTUAL REPENTANCE by getting rid of the false gods in verses 15-16, God has compassion on them again.
Once God’s plan to rescue the Israelites is in full swing, the people of Gilead are looking for someone to lead them into battle in Judges 11. The wise choice is the “mighty warrior," Jephthah, so they go to him. Like God, he first reminds them of how they rejected him. Like God, he recognizes that they only want a relationship with him when they desperately need him. Like they did with God, the people humble themselves and offer to make him head over all of Gilead. Now, it’s important for us to see the difference between God and man. God waited for true repentance from the Israelites but needed nothing else after that and longed to rescue them because of his compassion. When it came to Jephthah, the people needed to sweeten the deal to get him to come to their aid. Jephthah then makes them basically take an oath that they will truly let him be their leader at a place called Mizpah (v. 11), which not coincidentally is the same place that Jacob and Laban made a binding agreement in Genesis 31:49. The name of the place meant “watchtower," and it was thought that one did not go back on his word there because the Lord would see it.
The next part of Judges 11 records Jephthah’s conversation with the king of the Ammonites and shows that his faith was in the Lord to bring the victory. He explains to the enemy king that any land that the Israelites possess was given to them by the Lord God of Israel. In verses 23-28, Jephthah recognizes that this battle is a spiritual one first and foremost. He encourages the king of the Ammonites to take whatever land their pagan god gives them, and Israel will take whatever land their God gives them. He declares that they will let the Lord, the Judge (with a very intentional capital “J”), decide their dispute over the land. Since the king of the Ammonites does not listen, Jephthah then leads an army and overtakes them. God gives this despised and rejected man from birth a great victory, proving that no one is “illegitimate” in HIS eyes.
Jephthah shows his weakness and imperfections with first making, then stubbornly keeping, a foolish vow to the Lord in the rest of the chapter. I have an opinion on those verses that is in line with some scholars, and if you want to hear about it I’m happy to share it. For now, I’d rather leave you with what is not my opinion, but God-breathed Scripture. “Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these ‘nobodies’ to expose the hollow pretensions of the ‘somebodies’?” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28 [MSG]) We know for a fact that God used Jephthah, a faithful man who was considered “illegitimate” by his own family, to defeat one of Israel’s oppressive enemies. No matter how others in your life have treated you, is there anything that God can’t also do in your life? Leave the opinions of others in the past and start trusting, following, and obeying the Lord today!
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by Nathan Buck
Do dreams matter? Are dreams and visions just random stories of associated details created by our minds to entertain us while we sleep and get us through boring moments while we are awake? We all have those random dreams that when we wake up we know were silly, meaningless, or just weird. Some of us even have daydreams like that.
But what about those dreams that feel real? The ones that linger after we wake up and draw our attention to things we hadn't considered before? What about visions we have when we are awake, flashes of imagery that break into our awareness, and we know didn't come from our thoughts or our imagination?
If we look in the Bible, we find that dreams and visions are a tool God uses sometimes to get our attention. If we look at Genesis 37, 40, and 41, we see Joseph not only having dreams about his future but also interpreting the dreams of others in regard to their future. Joseph's dream comes true, and his interpretations of dreams come true. When Pharaoh asks for his dream to be interpreted, Joseph is very deliberate about letting Pharaoh know that it is God who provides the dreams and the answers.
In Daniel 2-4, Daniel is given the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and interprets them. The first is about the progression of the nation/kings of Babylon and the rise of God's Kingdom (the rock that would crush and replace the human kingdoms). The second is about Nebuchadnezzar specifically and how God would humble him when he took pride in His accomplishments.
Joseph and Mary have visions and dreams around the promise of Jesus being born. In Acts, Paul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus in bright light, and Peter has a vision that corrects his attitude about sharing the good news of Jesus with the Gentiles. John has a series of visions on the Isle of Patmos from which he writes the book of Revelation. And there are more. The point I am making is very simply that God uses dreams and visions to get our attention, correct our perspective, or prepare us for something ahead.
I have experienced both dreams and visions that did just that. A dream I had about being wounded prepared me for dealing with the temptation of pornography. As a teen, a vision I had of my car in an accident caused me to stay home, and right after I chose to stay home, a family member came in my room and asked me if I was going somewhere; when I asked why, they said they just had a vision of me being hurt that night. There have been some that have me in a place I have never been, but some obscure detail stands out about it and years later I find myself standing in that exact place. I have also had dreams I thought I should act on, and they lead to massive blunders/failures.
The challenge is, what do we do with dreams and visions, and how do we know it was God who gave them? If the devil can counterfeit these things, how do we know when it is God? To be clear, I am far from an expert on this. There are psychological aspects of dreams that I will let my friends who are psychologists handle. Here are some simple basics to help us get our bearings after a dream or a vision, to discern if it was imagination, God, temptation, or crossed-wires:
1. How does it line up with God's Word? If the events, message, tone, or push we get from a dream or vision do not line up with the character and nature of God and His Word, we should take caution. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says we should make every thought captive to Christ. That means if the dream or vision isn’t in line with His character, drawing us into deeper relationship with Him, or empowering us for His mission to rescue and redeem humanity, we should "quarantine" that thought and in prayer ask Jesus to clarify it or take it from us. If it is not from Him and for Him, we don't want to let it roll around in our thoughts to see what it might create. We may even need to renounce spiritual activities or affiliations with spiritual groups that are gateways to demonic influence. Tread carefully here, and seek out a pastor or mature follower of Christ who can guide you in how to face this. Never be embarrassed to talk about this with a mature believer, because we are spiritual beings and need spiritual guidance. Fear and shame are traps to keep us from growing.
2. It checks out with God's Word, or is consistent with His character and purposes, so, now what? Not every dream God gives us is for right now. Especially in western society, we have a “microwave” mentality about everything. If it is for NOW, God will give us what we need to know to apply it or go through it, and we should trust Him as we do so. More often, I have found that God uses a dream or vision to prepare me ahead of time. We need some preparation for some things we encounter in life, and some preparation starts deep in our soul. God may bring us an idea or an experience in a dream or vision that adjusts our perspective, and as we mature in that perspective we actually are prepared for what happens later. Sometimes that is a dramatic something, like a birth, death, sickness, healing, leading someone to Jesus, etc. Sometimes, it is just a "next step" in the journey that seems natural by the time we get there - but looking back we know we would not have been anywhere close to this step, if our course had not been adjusted.
3. What if it's for someone or about someone else? We should always remember that even if we are the focus of the dream/vision, they are not always about us. We need to seek God for His clarity on why we are involved. We are far too willing to tell others what we think they should do, and a dream or vision from God may not be given to us to "tell" someone else something. We may be being invited by God to help confirm something they will realize later. We may just be shown His plans, so we can clear the path in prayer and/or practical support. We may be challenged by God about our example to and for them. The last thing we should do is assume that we need to speak it, unless God specifically shows us we should or has them specifically ask us about the very vision He gave us for them. Again, this is not easy to discern, but we must always consider that our action apart from God's direction can derail or delay someone else's journey and growth. Approach these with caution. (John 16:13; Matthew 7:6; Daniel 8:16; Isaiah 30)
4. Consult a perceptive friend who is trustworthy and walks humbly with God. Wise counsel is valuable, and a perceptive friend can help you discern things about yourself or how the dream/vision relates to you in ways that may be hard for you to see (Proverbs 13:10; 14:12; 11:14).
5. Journal the dream/vision. Write it down as clearly as you can, remembering every detail, and as close to when it happens as possible. This can help you get perspective on the dream, as well as document it for yourself or others. Sometimes just having a written time stamp on something that later comes true for you or someone else is encouraging to our awareness that God had a plan and made it happen. Sometimes, it may be for future generations - influencing the faith of those who read it later. (Habakkuk 2:2-3)
Those are just a few things to consider. Dreams and visions are important. God promises that He will give them to us by His Spirit (Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28). We should appreciate dreams and visions as a gift and consider how we can best apply them to serve others for God's purposes.
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.
[This blog post is part of a series. The previous post is here, and the next post is here.]
This is the fifth post in my series on the letters to the churches of Revelation 2-3. This one is about the letter to the church in Sardis. As I previewed last week, Sardis was a dead church. They claimed to be alive, they had works, they boasted their name, but they were dead. How were they dead?
Death in Scripture is something more than just “lack of life.” It is a spirit of decay and dying. It is a spirit in which all it touches dies. It is plague and infirmity. Even if it is painted well and packaged well, it is still death. It can wear all kinds of perfume, but the stench is only masked, not removed. Sardis was a dead church.
What caused it to die? The Bible doesn’t say. However, churches have died for a variety of reasons. Gossip and slander are excellent church killers, frequently causing church fights and splits, and rarely does any side survive. Not tending to the younger generation is another church killer. I am not talking about the kid and youth ministries, though that is a separate issue in itself. My pastor described in one sermon how the church of his first pastorate is dead, doors closed and weeds coming up through the pavement, because they needed to change from their old ways of doing things, tending to an older congregation, and they would not. Now I am not suggesting we jump on every new idea and thought, however, many congregations battle whether we should do things as was done in the 1950s, in the 70s, or in the 90s and completely fail to consider what God wants to do today. Every year thousands of churches are closing and many pastors are quitting. And the dead people from those churches just move on to a different church and never find life.
David Wilkerson once described how a pastor had a good church going, had daughters who loved him, but then was caught in a marital affair. He left his family for this woman, suddenly resigned, and it was only a few months later he was teaching a Bible study at another church. The pastor’s defense on how he can do it: “I just fall upon the grace of God.” That’s not God’s grace; that’s justifying sin and God has nothing to do with it. Wilkerson proclaimed that everything that man touched caused nothing but death. Sexual sin in particular is an excellent killer. The world HATES the church because of so many pastors and priests being caught in sexual abuse cases and not merely because these wolves did their evil deeds, but because the churches covered it up as to not give them a bad name. And they are right to hate the churches and any time someone who preaches a solid message, especially about sexual purity, the world has them marked thinking, “When are they going to fall?” We MUST pray for our leaders because they do have targets on their backs.
Jesus told Sardis they need to wake up, be watchful, and to strengthen that which remains. He does remember their works, but they are not perfect before God. When the church is sleeping on the watch, that is a result of laziness. The church has been sleeping. The watchmen have been few and those who are sounding the alarm are being laughed at. Jesus’ charge is to remember what they heard and received, to hold onto that truth and repent. A sleeping guard cannot retain that which he was committed to keep. It is hard to stay awake. The true prayer warriors have learned how to “pray through” and that often requires learning how to stay up through the night to learn it. It is no easy thing to stay up and join God in the night watch.
Many watchmen today are warning about what the enemy is setting up and preparing to steal, however Jesus gave a different warning. He said he is coming and it will be like a thief in the night, when the guard is less alert, sleeping, or has abandoned his post. That Jesus describes his coming like a thief would come is indicative that when he comes, few if any will have any clue until it is too late. Many are eager to watch for enemy invasions, but who is watching for Christ to return, let alone in anticipation?
But even in this, Jesus notes a few in Sardis who have stayed awake. They have not defiled themselves with laziness, gossip, slander, or participated in the deadly poison killing the church. He does not hint they are the bulk of the church or even a few. He states “a few names.” That means he could count them on one hand or something like that. Not a group, but a few individuals. These are the ones who will endure and Jesus will not blot their names out of the Book of Life.
Some have suggested this verse means those who do not endure will be blotted out, but I don’t see a hint here of that. I suspect those who caught this spirit of death and stayed in that spirit never were alive to begin with. God is going to allow his people to get caught in sin from time to time, however he will never allow them to stay in that sin without coming to get them out and discipline them. Are you experiencing God’s discipline? If not, examine yourself.
The church in America is like Sardis and it is like Sardis because of issues like Pergamos, Thyatira, and Laodicea (I’ll write about that in two weeks) that have remained unchecked. There is compromise, corruption, and lukewarmness, and it all leads to death. The church in America is mostly powerless. The world laughs at it because it claims a truth but there is no power in it. And instead of turning back to what gave it power, the True Gospel, the American church has instead turned to worldly means to draw in carnal people. Many pastors today have no faith whatsoever in the Gospel, and because they fear their church attendance levels or for their own job, they will not speak against sin. Now, there are preachers and pastors out there who do and if they offend someone, they don’t care (as long as the speak truth, in love), because they are more concerned about what God says than what their congregation thinks. But they are getting harder to find. Sardis was dead. It needs life and it will not have life again unless Christ is present and working in and among them, and he won’t be there where sin is rampant. Wake up, church! Wake up! And that needs to start with me.
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by Steve Risner
Editor’s note: Due to the previous popularity of this post, we’re re-posting it today for your enjoyment.
This week I wanted to touch on a process that is basic to every form of life we are aware of on earth—the Krebs' Cycle, or Citric Acid Cycle. At first, I wanted to outline it in detail and talk about its complexities and the silliness of the thought that it arose by chance. However, I quickly realized that such a blog would not be read by anyone because it would be similar to reading a higher-level science text - a.k.a. boring. So I've decided to just write a bit on energy and how life—all life—depends on it.
Colossians 1:17, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
1 Corinthians 8:6, “Yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
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