O Timothy 2015-03 - Way of Life Literature

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O Timothy
“Keep that which is committed to thy trust...”
A Monthly Newsletter for Spiritual Protection and Edification
Volume 32- Issue 3 - March 2015
“High Schools, colleges, and
universities typically teach only one
theory of origins, that being evolution,
and the students are not presented with
a creationist or even an Intelligent
Design viewpoint. In fact, they are often
given the idea that no true scientist
today is a creationist.” Page 6.
Digging in the Walls: A month’s worth
of news items, republished from Friday
Church News Notes. Page 13.
THE SEXUALITY OF CONTEMPORARY WORSHIP MUSIC - by David Cloud
s we have documented in The Directory of
Contemporary Worship Music, this field is rife with
immorality.
Some of the prominent Contemporary Christian Music
artists who have committed adultery and/or been divorced
and remarried are Steve Archer, Steve Camp, Bob Carlisle,
Ralph Carmichael, Gary Chapman, Ja’Marc Davis of
Raze, Eddie Degarmo, Michael English, Ryan Gingerich,
Amy Grant, Stacy Jones of the rap group Grits, Ray Boltz,
Dana Key, Bob Larson, Mylon LeFevre, Nikki Leonti,
Sandi Patty (who admitted to committing adultery with at
least two men and who left her husband for one of her
backup singers), Kevin Prosch, John Michael Talbot,
Randy Thomas, Greg Volz of Petra, Sheila Walsh, Jaci
Velasquez, Wayne Watson, Deniece Williams, Larry
Norman, Randy Stonehill, Tom Howard, Derek Webb and
Sandra McCracken and members of the disbanded
Barnabas.
1 Timothy 6:20, 21
This is not surprising in light of the fact that rock & roll
has always been associated with sexuality. The music itself
is very sensual, affecting the body in sexual ways as many
secular rockers have acknowledged.
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“Everyone takes it for granted that rock and roll is
synonymous with sex” (Chris Stein, Blondie, People, May 21, 1979).
“Rock music is sex. The big beat matches the body’s
rhythms” (Frank Zappa of the Mothers of Invention,
Life, June 28, 1968).
“The sex is definitely in the music, and sex is in all
aspects of the music” (Luke Campbell of 2 Live
Crew).
“Rock ‘n’ roll is 99% sex” (John Oates of Hall &
Oates, Circus, Jan. 31, 1976).
“Perhaps my music is sexy ... but what music with a
big beat isn’t?” (Jimi Hendrix, Henderson, cited from
his biography ‘Scuse Me While I Kiss the Sky, p. 117).
“Rock ‘n’ roll is sex. Real rock ‘n’ roll isn’t based on
cerebral thoughts. It’s based on one’s lower nature”
(Paul Stanley of KISS, cited from The Role of Rock, p.
44).
“That’s what rock is all about—sex with a 100
megaton bomb, THE BEAT!” (Gene Simmons of
Kiss, Entertainment Tonight, ABC, Dec. 10, 1987).
“Rock ‘n’ roll is all sex. One hundred percent sex”
(Debbie Harry of Blondie, cited by Carl Belz, “Television Shows and Rock Music,” The Age of Communication, Goodyear Publishing Company, 1974, p. 398).
“We respond to the materiality of rock’s sounds, and
the rock experience is essentially erotic” (Simon
Frith, Sound Effects, New York: Pantheon Books,
1981, p. 164).
O TIMOTHY Magazine
Volume 32 Issue 3
David W. Cloud, Editor
Subscription information on
back page of the magazine
Copyright 2011 by D.W.Cloud
Way of Life Literature
PO Box 610368, Port Huron, MI
48061
866-295-4143 (toll free)
fbns@wayoflife.org
http://www.wayoflife.org
Bethel Baptist Church
4212 Campbell St. N.
London, Ontario, N6P 1A6 Canada
519-652-2619
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To think that one can Christianize this type of music and
offer it as an acceptable form of worship to a holy God
is insanity.
Further, the elements of contemporary worship create a
broad field for sexual temptations.
Dan Lucarini, a former contemporary worship leader,
describes this in Why I Left the Contemporary Christian
Music Movement: Confessions of a Former Worship
Leader. In fact, the sexual element was one of the reasons
why he turned away from that movement.
“... to preserve my marriage and to be faithful to God
in all things, I needed to separate from the temptations
that were ever-present in the CCM setting: the ego
gratification and attraction to the female members of
the worship team” (Why I Left the Contemporary
Christian Music Movement, 2002, p. 34).
“When we brought rock music (and all its musical
cousins) into the church service, we invited along with
it a spirit of immorality with which that music is unavoidably associated. It wasn’t obvious at first. We
didn’t use hard rock; instead we used more acceptable, watered-down forms of it: soft rock, pop/rock,
country rock and easy listening jazz styles. These
styles supported the warm and fuzzy, falling-in-lovewith-God feelings we wanted to have in worship. They
were less edgy but still contained the underlying rock
beat that undeniably appeals to our flesh and reminds
us of the world’s favourite music. Despite all our efforts
to restrain this musical beast, the saints of God are
being seduced by CCM styles. These styles are capable of corrupting the morals of any Christian, no
matter how strong they think they are” (Lucarini, p. 42).
“Like other Contemporaries, I was blind to the subtle
sexual influences creeping into my worship teams and
unwilling to admit that my worship music could possibly be tainted by sex” (Lucarini, p. 69).
“When you combine the sensual dancing with the
immodest dress of the women on the platform [in the
praise teams], you place a very large stumbling block
in front of the men of the congregation” (Lucarini, p.
71).
“Does your worship team mix single or divorced men
and women together with those who are married? That
is an open door for sexual immorality. If you put hotblooded males and females into a passionate rock
music group, there will be strong temptation for sexual
sins. CCM styles facilitate an atmosphere where a
female’s innate desire to have emotional intimacy with
a man can easily be achieved. The problem is, most of
the time that man is not her husband. This leads to
something called emotional adultery, a problem that
can later lead to physical adultery” (Lucarini, p. 71)
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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“... we use CCM to create this atmosphere. We dim
the lights, we design the music to move people where
we want to take them and we create the special mood,
the right atmosphere. What is wrong with this? It is
exactly what the world does to create sexual intimacy.
Secular musicians use the same music styles and
environmental methods to draw people into sexual
intimacy with them. It is all about bringing sensuality
into the public forum and breaking down all of our
sexual inhibitions” (Lucarini, p. 72).
“CCM is stuck with this stigma of immorality, because
the music styles carry with them the baggage of the
world’s immorality. It does not matter if you change the
lyrics. It does not matter if you change the musicians.
It does not matter if you change the record labels. It
does not matter if you ask God to sanctify it. Rock
music and all its children, and by association CCM,
can and will corrupt the morals of everyone who practises it” (Lucarini, p. 73).
“The CCM artists became role models for different
kinds of immorality: indecent dress, rebellious images,
improper crushes on married men by young girls,
lustful interest in sexy females by adolescent males”
(Lucarini, p. 117).
Atheists claim that there is no evidence for God, and
agnostics claim that the evidence is not sufficient. The
Bible reveals the secrets of men’s hearts to show that
atheists and agnostics are deceiving themselves.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is
the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith
to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the
truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be
known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed
it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Romans
1:16-20).
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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This is a very loud warning to saints who want to remain
morally pure, and it is a warning that very few have been
willing to admit.
Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music
Movement - Dan Lucarini
Writing from his own
personal experience as a
former worship leader, Dan
Lucarini questions the use
of contemporary music in
the worship of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ and
shows why he believes
many churches have been
deceived into using everincreasing worldly means to
'reach the lost.'
Available from Amazon.com
Consider the teaching of this foundational passage of
Scripture:
First, the gospel is the power of God unto salvation
(Rom. 1:16-17).
This teaches us that we must focus on the gospel.
Apologetics are not enough. Winning arguments is not
enough. We should answer every sincere question that
people have, but we must always come back to the gospel,
because it is the power of God unto salvation. By
answering questions and refuting evolution and other
false philosophies we can help people come to Christ. An
example is the first friend the Lord gave me in Christ.
Richard grew up in an agnostic home and was educated
at the university. Somehow he found a little book refuting
evolution. It was the first time that he was challenged
about this teaching. He began to think that evolution
might not be true and decided to read the Bible for
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himself. As he read, he realized that its teaching seemed
to be true. Eventually he met some Christians and trusted
Christ as his Lord and Saviour. He wasn’t saved through
creation teaching or arguments against evolution, but
these things prepared the way so he would consider the
gospel.
Second, there is powerful evidence for God.
The evidence is the creation (Rom. 1:20). The evidence
is also in man’s own conscience (Rom. 1:19; 2:14-15).
This is why most Hindus we have met instinctively know
that God is holy, even though the Hindu gods are not
holy. There is a witness of God and a witness of right and
wrong inside of man.
Even evolutionists refer to the human body as
“miraculous.” The Internet is filled with this.
For example, the BioMedia Associates’ biology
education website, uses the term miraculous six times in
describing the processes of the human body.
“The human heart is a muscular organ that is a bioengineering marvel. It works flawlessly, 24/7, throughout the
lifetime of each individual. See how it delivers blood, a
truly MIRACLE substance, to all parts of the human body
through a vast network of arteries and veins. ... The
human body needs to take in food and water found in the
environment, and through an almost MIRACULOUS sequence of mechanical and chemical processes, it converts that food into nutrients that sustain all the body’s
activities. ... There is no greater MIRACLE on the planet
than the creation of a new life. Dr. Mark Reisman takes
you through each stage of this MIRACLE, from the genetic basis of life, to the development of sex organs, to the
formation of sex cells, to conception, to the emergence of
the embryo, to the growth sequence of the fetus, and
finally to the birth of a new human life. ... Touch, taste,
smell, hearing and sight - the human body’s five major
senses. They are senses that have evolved independently over millions of years but are brought together by our
marvelous central nervous system into the most refined
way of interacting with the environment of any species on
the planet. ... The 206 bones of the human skeleton are a
MIRACLE of bioengineering. Lightweight and incredibly
strong, our bones give us the ability to walk upright,
freeing our hands for precise manipulation of objects”
(“New Series: MIRACLE of the Human Body,”
www.ebiomedia.com).
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Cotswold Grass Seeds web site talks about “the miracle
of seeds.”
Evolutionists attribute “the miracle of life” to blind
naturalistic processes.
But those who are not blinded by evolutionary fables
know that the effect of a “design miracle” points to a
designer capable of causing such a miracle.
The law of cause and effect (the law of causality) is based
on common observation as well as scientific
experimentation. It has been recognized by scientists and
philosophers throughout history, from Plato to Hume. It
says that every material effect must have a sufficient
cause. W.T. Stace, professor of philosophy at Princeton,
called this “the ultimate canon of the sciences, the
foundation of them all” (A Critical History of Greek
Philosophy). Dr. Richard Taylor wrote that “it is hardly
disputable that the idea of causation is not only
indispensable in the common affairs of life but in all
applied sciences as well” (The Encyclopedia of
Philosophy, 1967).
A miracle of design means there is a Designer and
Builder. This is the law of cause and effect. It says that
every material effect must have a sufficient cause. It has
been recognized by scientists and philosophers
throughout history, from Plato to Hume. This law is
described in the Bible as follows: “every house is built
by someone, but He who built all things is God” (Heb.
3:4).
When we see a house, we know that it had a builder, and
we know that the builder was capable both to design and
to build it. We know that the builder must have been wise
enough and strong enough and must have had the
necessary tools and resources. Likewise, when we see a
universe with perfect laws such as gravity and we see
such things as the flying bird and the living cell and the
human body and human intelligence, we know there must
have been a Builder of sufficient wisdom and power to
make these things.
The fathers of modern science understood this.
Public Broadcasting Network’s video series on the
development of the embryo in the womb was called “The
Miracle of Life.” Yet PBS is very pro-evolution and
anti-creationism.
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Isaac Newton, discoverer of the law of gravity: “This
most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets,
could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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an intelligent and powerful Being. ... Atheism is so
senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth
at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper
amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance”
(Principia).
Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry: “The
vastness, beauty, orderliness, of the heavenly bodies, the
excellent structure of animals and plants; and the other
phenomena of nature justly induce an intelligent and
unprejudiced observer to conclude a supremely powerful,
just, and good author” (Works, vol. IV, p. 25).
Third, God gives enough evidence to prove that the Bible
is true, but enough is left to condemn the willful
unbeliever.
God gave man a will and a choice. We see this in Adam and
Eve, and we see it throughout human history. Compare
Matthew 13:10-16. Jesus spoke in parables in order to hide
the truth from those who did not want to believe, those who
had already rejected the light.
Harvard law professor Simon Greenleaf: “Christianity does
not profess to convince the perverse and head-strong, to
bring irresistible evidence to the daring and profane, to
vanquish the proud scorner, and afford evidences from
which the careless and perverse cannot possibly escape.
This might go to destroy man’s responsibility. All that
Christianity professes, is to propose such evidences as may
satisfy the meek, the tractable, the candid, the serious
inquirer” (The Testimony of the Evangelists Examined by
the Rules of Evidence).
Consider the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:27-31). No
amount of evidence will convince the willful skeptic.
Fourth, men suppress the truth because they love sin
(Rom. 1:18).
This teaches that the main battleground is the heart and the
will rather than the mind. Lee Strobel tells of a man who
listened to the evidence for Christ’s resurrection and then
said, “I believe that the evidence is clear that Christ rose
from the dead, but I do not believe in Him because I do not
want a new master.”
Fifth, spiritual blindness is the reason why men cannot
see the evidence for God (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:1-2).
It is like a blind man who cannot see the beauty of creation.
The beauty is there, but he can’t see it. The only hope is the
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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gospel of Jesus Christ. When the sinner receives the gospel,
he is born again and he has spiritual wisdom (1 Cor.
2:14-16; 2 Cor. 3:15-17).
Believer friend, don’t be intimidated by blind people! You
can see, don’t be discouraged by those who cannot. They
look at the same evidence and say, “I don’t believe it.” But
that doesn’t bother me! I do believe it, and I can make my
own choices in life. I don’t have to follow the crowd.
Sixth, spiritual enlightenment comes by salvation.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16).
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of
darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ”
(2 Corinthians 4:6).
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an
holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth
the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Only by salvation are we brought out of darkness into light
(1 Pet. 2:9). Only by salvation is the veil removed from the
heart (2 Cor. 3:15-16). Only by salvation do we receive the
Spirit of God as our Teacher (1 John 2:20, 27). Many young
people who grow up in Christian homes profess to believe
in Christ and learn how to act like a Christian, but they are
not born again. They have not had a life-changing
conversion experience. They do not know Christ personally
as Lord and Saviour. When they go off to a secular job or
to secular college and hear the lies of the devil, they don’t
have the spiritual wisdom and power to refute it, and their
faith is overthrown. This is because they have intellectual
faith but not saving faith. They are not anchored in Christ.
They are like the crowd that “believed in Jesus” in John
2:23-24 and then turned from Him in John 6:66. In contrast,
we have the example of Peter who refused to turn from
Christ because he had saving faith (John 6:67-69). Those
in John 2:23-24 “believed” in Christ’s miracles, but they
did not receive Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.
This teaches us that our goal is not to win an argument about
evolution. Our goal is to lead people to Jesus Christ. That
is the job that God has given us. He has made us
ambassadors for Christ (2 Cor. 2:20). Only when people are
born again will they understand spiritual and supernatural
things.
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“... no scientist denies the central truth
of [Darwin’s] The Origin, the idea of
descent with modification ... plants,
animals and everything else descended from a common ancestor” (Steve
Jones, Professor of Genetics, University College of London, Darwin’s
Ghost, 2000, pp. xvii, xxiii).
“... no educated person any longer
questions the validity of the so-called
theory of evolution, which we now
know to be a simple fact” (Ernst
Mayr, professor of zoology, Harvard
University, “Darwin’s Influence on
Modern Thought,” The Best American
Science Writing 2001, edited by Timothy Ferris, p. 141).
High Schools, colleges, and universities typically teach
only one theory of origins, that being evolution, and the
students are not presented with a creationist or even an
Intelligent Design viewpoint. In fact, they are often given
the idea that no true scientist today is a creationist.
Richard Dawkins, a brash atheist and anti-creationist,
says:
“Evolution is a fact. Beyond reasonable doubt,
beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed,
intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a
fact. ... Evolution is a fact, and [my] book will
demonstrate it. No reputable scientist disputes it,
and no unbiased reader will close the book
doubting it” (Dawkins, The Greatest Show in
Earth, 2010).
“There is no doubt now; no serious scientist has
any doubt that evolution is a fact, in the sense
that we are cousins of chimpanzees, monkeys
and wombats and cassowaries” (Dawkins, interview with COSMOS magazine, May 23, 2012).
According to Dawkins, no reputable scientist disputes
evolution, and if you do doubt evolution, you are biased,
unintelligent, and your sanity should be questioned.
Consider some other examples of this view:
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“Evolution is a fact and no educated
scientist doubts it” (Gary Huxley, biologist,
Brandt University, quoted by Paul McDorman,
“Noted Evolutionist Says He Won’t Debate Creationists,” World by Design, 2011, p. 1).
“In fact, all scientists accept the reality of evolution” (Joseph McInerney, director of Biological
Sciences Curriculum Study, quoted by David
Hill, “Counter Evolutionary,” Education Week,
Nov. 20, 1996, p. 7).
Bill Nye “the Science Guy” claims that the teaching of
creation damages children and could harm the future of
the U.S. economy by hindering critical thinking and
stifling innovation (“Bill Nye: Debate over Evolution in
Texas Schools Is Jeopardizing Our Future,” Huffington
Post, Nov. 23, 2013).
In fact, modern science was invented by men who
believed in divine creation, so to prove his point Bill Nye
would need to start by showing how that creationism
hindered these men’s science.
In his book Refuting Evolution, Jonathan Sarfati, who has
a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Victoria University
in Wellington, New Zealand, says:
“It is fallacious to claim, as many evolutionists
do, that believing in miracles means that labora-
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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tory science would be impossible. In fact, most
branches of modern science were founded by
believers in the Bible’s account of creation.”
Consider some examples:
Physics - Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Kelvin, Joule
Chemistry - Boyle, Dalton, Ramsay
Biology - Ray, Linnaeus, Mendel, Pasteur, Virchow,
Agassiz
Geology - Steno, Woodward, Brewster, Buckland, Cuvier
Astronomy - Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Herschel,
Maunder
Mathematics - Pascal, Leibniz, Euler
The following list of Christians who were fathers of
various fields of modern science is enlarged from The
Biblical Basis for Modern Science by Dr. Henry Morris.
All of these men believed in the God of the Bible and
divine creation.
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Antiseptic Surgery (Joseph Lister)
Atomic Theory (John Dalton)
Bacteriology (Louis Pasteur)
Calculus (Isaac Newton)
Celestial Mechanics (Johann Kepler)
Chemistry (Robert Boyle and Antoine Lavoisier)
Clinical Teaching (Herman Boerhaave)
Comparative Anatomy (Georges Cuvier)
Computer Science (Charles Babbage)
Dimensional Analysis (Lord Rayleigh)
Dynamics (Isaac Newton)
Electrodynamics (James Clerk Maxwell)
Electromagnetics (Michael Faraday and Andre Marie Ampere)
Electronics (Ambrose Fleming)
Energetics (William Thompson, Lord Kelvin)
Entomology of Living Insects (Henri Fabre)
Field Theory (Michael Faraday)
Fluid Mechanics (George Stokes)
Galactic Astronomy (William Hershel)
Gas Dynamics (Robert Boyle)
Genetics (Gregor Mendel)
Glacial Geology (Louis Agassiz)
Gynecology (James Simpson)
Hydraulics (Leonardo da Vinci)
Hydrography (Matthew Maury)
Hydrostatics (Blaise Pascal)
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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Ichthyology (Louis Agassiz)
Isotopic Chemistry (William Ramsay)
Model Analysis (Lord Raleigh)
Natural History (John Ray)
Neuropathology (John Abercrombie)
Non-Euclidean Geometry (Bernard Riemann)
Oceanography (Matthew Maury)
Optical Mineralogy (David Brewster)
Paleontology (John Woodard)
Pathology (Rudolph Virchow)
Physical Astronomy (Johann Kepler)
Physiology (Albrecht von Haller)
Plasma physics (Michael Faraday)
Quantum Mechanics (Max Planck)
Reversible Thermodynamics (James Joule)
Statistical Thermodynamics (James Clerk Maxwell)
Stratigraphy (Nicholas Steno)
Taxonomy (Carolus Linnaeus)
Thermodynamics (Lord Kelvin)
Thermokinetics (Humphry Davy)
Vertebrate Paleontology (Georges Cuvier)
The following are notable inventions and discoveries by
scientists who believe in the God of the Bible and divine
creation.
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Absolute temperature Scale (Lord Kelvin)
Absorbable ligatures (Joseph Lister)
Actuarial tables (Charles Babbage)
Airplane (Orville and Wilbur Wright)
Alpha and beta rays (Ernest Rutherford)
Ampere (Andrew Marie Ampere)
Anthrax (Robert Koch)
Antiseptic surgery (Joseph Lister)
Atomic weights (John Dalton)
Bacteria and protozoa (A. Leeuwenhoek)
Barometer (Blaise Pascal)
Biogenesis law (Louis Pasteur)
Bulldozer (R.G. LeTourneau)
Bunsen burner (Michael Faraday)
Calculating machine (Charles Babbage)
Chloroform (James Simpson)
Classification system (Carolus Linnaeus)
Clinical teaching (Herman Boerhaave)
Dalton’s law (John Dalton)
Diode valve (Ambrose Fleming)
Double stars (William Hershel)
Electric battery (Alessandro Volta)
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Electric motor (Joseph Henry)
Electric Wheel (R.G. LeTourneau)
Electromagnetic Fields (Michael Faraday)
Electrons and isotopes (J.J. Thomson)
Ephemeris tables (Johann Kepler)
Fermentation control (Louis Pasteur)
Fraunhofer lines (Joseph von Fraunhofer)
Galvanometer (Joseph Henry)
Global Star Catalog (John Hershel)
Hadley’s principle (George Hadley)
Inert gases (William Ramsay)
Kaleidoscope (David Brewster)
Kelvin (Lord Kelvin)
Koch’s postulates (Robert Koch)
Law of gravity (Isaac Newton)
Legionella (Carl Fliermans)
Light microscope (Joseph Jackson Lister)
Logarithms (John Napier)
Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) (Raymond
Damadian)
Maxwell’s equations (James Clerk Maxwell)
Mechanical Reaper (Cyrus McCormick)
Milne model (Edward Arthur Milne)
Mine safety lamp (Humphry Davy)
Mobile offshore oil platform - Napier’s bones
(John Napier)
Nitrous acid formulation (Isaac Milner)
Pasteurization (Louis Pasteur)
Petroleum distillation (Benjamin Silliman)
Rabies (Louis Pasteur)
Radio telegraph (Guglielmo Marconi)
Radon (Ernest Rutherford)
Rayleigh scattering (Lord Rayleigh)
Red blood cells shape and function (J.J. Lister)
Reflecting telescope (Isaac Newton)
Restriction enzymes (Werner Arber)
Right-hand rule (John Ambrose Fleming)
Rutherford model of the atom (Ernest Rutherford)
Scientific method (Francis Bacon)
Self-induction (Joseph Henry)
Telegraph (Samuel Morse)
Thermionic valve (Ambrose Fleming)
Transatlantic cable (Lord Kelvin)
Tritium (Ernest Rutherford)
Tuberculosis (Robert Koch)
Uranus (William Herschel)
Vaccination and immunization (Louis Pasteur)
The founders of modern science saw the handiwork of
God in the universe.
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Johannes Kepler, one of the fathers of modern
astronomy and the discoverer of the laws of planetary
motion: “I was merely thinking God’s thoughts after
him. Since we astronomers are priests of the highest
God in regard to the book of nature, it benefits us to be
thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather,
above all else, of the glory of God.”
Francis Bacon, father of the scientific method of
inquiry: “It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth
man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy
bringeth men’s minds about to religion; for while the
mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it
may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but
when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and
linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and
Deity” (Of Atheism)
Blaise Pascal, inventor of the barometer and
revolutionary thinker in the field of mathematics: “Faith
tells us what the senses cannot, but it is not contrary to
their findings. It simply transcends, without
contradicting them.”
Isaac Newton, discoverer of the law of gravity: “This
most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets,
could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of
an intelligent and powerful Being. ... Atheism is so
senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the
earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the
proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen
by chance” (Principia).
Robert Boyle, the father of modern chemistry: “The
vastness, beauty, orderliness, of the heavenly bodies,
the excellent structure of animals and plants; and the
other phenomena of nature justly induce an intelligent
and unprejudiced observer to conclude a supremely
powerful, just, and good author” (Works, vol. IV, p.
25).
Michael Faraday, one of the fathers of modern physics:
“... the Christian who is taught of God ... finds his guide
in the Word of God ... and looks for no assurance
beyond what the Word can give Him. ... The Christian
religion is a revelation, and that revelation is the Word
of God ... No revival and no temporal teaching comes
between it and him. He who is taught of the Holy Spirit
needs no crowd and no revival to teach him; if he stand
alone he is fully taught” (Selected Exhortations
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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Delivered to Various Churches of Christ by the Late
Michael Faraday, Dundee: John Leng and Co., 1910).
Faraday said, “The Creator governs his material works
by definite laws resulting from the forces impressed on
matter,” and it was this presupposition and Faraday’s
desire to find these laws that directed his research. Far
from limiting or hindering his scientific inquiry,
Faraday’s faith in God and the Bible drove his research.
“He sought the unifying laws relating the forces of the
world, and was highly successful in respect of electricity,
magnetism, and light” (I.H. Hutchinson, “Michael
Faraday: Scientist and Nonconformist”).
James Clerk Maxwell, another of the fathers of modern
physics, said, “I believe, with the Westminster Divines
and their predecessors ad Infinitum, that ‘Man's chief end
is to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever’” (Lewis
Campbell and William Garnet, The life of James Clerk
Maxwell, 1882). In his final illness, Maxwell confirmed
“his firm and undoubting faith in the Incarnation and all
its results; in the full sufficiency of the Atonement; in the
work of the Holy Spirit. He had gauged and fathomed all
the schemes and systems of philosophy, and had found
them utterly empty and unsatisfying--‘unworkable’ was
his own word about them--and he turned with simple faith
to the Gospel of the Saviour” (Ibid.).
There are still thousands of scientists who disagree with
the Darwinian view of evolution. Among these are
Christian “young earth” creationists, Christian “old earth”
creationists, non-Christian theistic evolutionists, and
those who believe in an undefined intelligent designer.
In 1979, Science Digest reported that “scientists who
utterly reject evolution may be one of our fastest-growing
controversial minorities,” and stated that, “Many of the
scientists supporting this position hold impressive
credentials in science” (Larry Hatfield, “Educators
Against Darwin,” Science Digest Special, Winter 1979,
pp. 94-96).
According to recent research, there are an estimated
113,000 Darwin skeptic scientists and academics in the
United States alone (Neil Gross and Solon Simmons,
How Religious Are America’s College and University
Professors?, Working paper Harvard University, Oct. 5,
2006).
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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In the American public at large, a Gallup poll in 2012
found that 46% are young-earth creationists and 32%
adhere to some form of God-guided or theistic evolution,
while only 15% adhere to Darwinian naturalistic
evolution. Among those with post graduate degrees, 25%
believe in young-earth creation, 29% hold to naturalistic
evolution, and 42% hold to some sort of theistic evolution.
A 2006 survey in Israel by the Samuel Neaman Institute
found that 59% of the Jewish population believe that
man was created by God as described in the Torah,
which is the first five books of the Hebrew Scripture. By
the finding of this survey, only 28% of Israelis believe in
evolution.
Jewish organizations that hold to creation include the
National Conference of Synagogue Youth and the
Association of Orthodox Jewish Scientists.
Jewish scientists with Ph.D.s who hold to creation include
Morris Goldman, parasitologist; Edward Simon,
professor of biology at Purdue University; Nathan
Aviezer, physics; Lee Spetner, Ph.D. from MIT and
former biophysicist at Johns Hopkins University; Gerald
Schroeder, Ph.D. from MIT; Yaacov Hanoka, Ph.D. in
solid state physics; Allan Sandage, Ph.D. from Cal Tech;
and Mortimer Adler, editor of Great Books of the
Western World and considered by many to be “one of
the greatest thinkers in history.”
Many other Jewish Ph.D.s are Darwin doubters. These
include Paul Ehrlich, Nobel Laureate; Ernst Chain, one
of the principal discoverers of antibiotics; Arno Penzias,
astrophysicist Nobel Laureate; and David Berlinski,
American educator and author.
Dr. Jerry Bergman has compiled a list of 3,000
“Darwin Skeptics,” including about a dozen Nobel Prize
winners. See http://www.rae.org/pdf/darwinskeptics.pdf
Bergman has a private list of about 1,000 names of
persons who do not want their names on a public list
“because of real concerns over possible retaliation or
harm to their careers.”
Bergman says, “I estimate that, if I had the time and
resources, I could easily complete a list of over 10,000
names” (“Darwin Skeptics: A Select List of Science
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Academics, Scientists, and Scholars Who Are Skeptical
of Darwinism,” Aug. 24, 2014).
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Matthew
11:25).
This is a result of the Darwinists who act like howler
monkeys and Nazi SS troopers to try to stomp out every
vestige of “creationism” from the field of science.
But it is a fact that thousands of men and women with
higher degrees reject evolution.
The Discovery Institute has published “A Scientific
Dissent from Darwinism” -- www.discovery.org. On
the front page is the following quotation from David
Berlinski, Ph.D., Philosophy, Princeton University:
“Darwin’s theory of evolution is the great white elephant
of contemporary thought. It is large, almost completely
useless, and the object of superstitious awe.”
As of April 2014, the list had been signed by about 840
scientists who agree with the following statement:
“We are skeptical of claims for the ability of
random mutation and natural selection to account
for the complexity of life. Careful examination of
the evidence for Darwinian theory should be
encouraged.”
Of course, even if NO scientist disputed evolution, this
does not mean it is correct. The Bible says, “Let God be
true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4); and Jesus said,
“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and
The widespread acceptance of Darwinian evolution
accompanied by atheism and agnosticism is a fulfillment
of Bible prophecy and therefore is evidence of the divine
origin of Scripture.
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The Creation Research Society membership consists of
more than 600 men and women who hold advanced
degrees and are committed to biblical creationism.
The Korea Association of Creation Research
membership includes 450 scientists, 150 of them with
Ph.D.s. The President of KACR is Young-Gil Kim,
Ph.D. in material science and engineering. For 15 years
he was a professor with the Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology. He is the inventor of important
high-tech alloys. In 1995, he founded Handong Global
University with the objective of integrating
biotechnology and mechatronics.
There is a growing creationism and intelligent design
movement in Brazil and elsewhere.
Our book Scientists Who Believe the Bible contains the
testimonies of 91 scientists, most of whom have earned
doctorates, who believe in a literal six-day creation.
It is available as a free eBook and also in a print edition
from www.wayoflife.org.
“Knowing this first, that
there shall come in the last
days scoffers, walking
after their own lusts, And
saying, Where is the
promise of his coming? for
since the fathers fell
asleep, all things continue
as they were from the
beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are
ignorant of, that by the
word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the
world that then was, being overflowed with water,
perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now,
by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly
men” (2 Peter 3:3-7).
Written 2,000 years ago, this prophecy describes the
scoffers of the last days. Consider how perfectly this
ancient writing has been fulfilled:
First, there will be scoffers. This is a perfect description
of atheists and agnostics. They are not satisfied merely
to reject God and the Bible. Many of them mock, ridicule,
deride. Some even go on a campaign against the things
of God.
Second, the scoffers will come in the last days. This
scoffing began in the 19th century. Before that, most men
in the West believed in divine creation.
Third, the scoffers are willfully ignorant (verse 5).
Though the scoffers pride themselves in their intellect,
education, and research, God’s Word says they are
ignorant, and their ignorance is willful. The evidence for
an Almighty Creator is written in creation and in their
own hearts (Rom. 1:20; 2:15).
Fourth, the scoffers are motivated by the desire to throw
off God’s law and to walk after their own lusts (verse
3). God’s Word reveals the secret motives of man’s heart.
The scoffers are not the sincere thinkers and earnest
lovers of truth they profess to be. It is not because of a
preponderance of scientific evidence that they reject God.
Rather, they desire to live as they please. They are in
rebellion to God’s holy laws.
Fifth, the scoffers hold a uniformitarian view (“all
things continue as they were,” 2 Pet. 3:4). This was a
fundamental doctrine of Darwinian evolution at the
beginning, though it is being replaced with the doctrine
of local catastrophes. Charles Lyell taught that the layers
of the earth were laid down gradually over millions of
years rather than by a global catastrophe.
Sixth, the scoffers deny supernatural creation (2 Pet.
3:5). At the heart of this prophecy is a reference to
creation from Genesis 1. “... that by the word of God the
heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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water and in the water.” This describes the condition of
the earth on the first day of creation before the Spirit of
God separated the waters and made the dry land (Gen.
1:9).
Seventh, the scoffers deny the worldwide flood (2 Pet.
3:6). Even before Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin
of Species, Charles Lyell was attacking the doctrine of a
global flood. Anyone who believes in the global flood
today is ridiculed by Darwinian evolutionists as if they
believed in a flat earth.
Eighth, the scoffers deny God’s supernatural Word. The
Word of God is mentioned four times in this passage (2
Pet. 3:2, 5, 7, 16). The birth of Darwinian evolution was
accompanied by theological liberalism, which was an
attack upon the Bible. Liberals denied the divine
inspiration of Scripture. They especially attacked the
book of Genesis, claiming that it is just another myth like
those of the ancient Babylonians.
Ninth, the scoffers deny Christ’s second coming (2 Pet.
3:4). The world today laughs at the doctrine of Christ’s
return. Even a large number of professing Christians do
not believe that His coming is imminent. They have
spiritualized the prophecies, so they don’t believe in a
literal fulfillment of the book of Revelation.
Tenth, the scoffers deny God’s judgment (2 Pet. 3:7).
The world today rejects the doctrine of judgment at the
hands of a holy God. Even many professing Christians
reject this doctrine. The popular book The Shack, for
example, teaches that God is not a judge. Rob Bell’s 2011
book Love Wins says that a God who would send men to
hell is a “monster.”
Darwinian evolution, theological liberalism, atheism, and
agnosticism are a dramatic fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
Indeed, the scoffers have confirmed the divine origin of
Scripture!
Well does the Bible say, “Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain”
(Psalm 76:10).
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“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in
whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon
him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He
shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be
heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break,
and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall
bring forth judgment unto truth” (Isaiah 42:1-3).
For more than 40 years I have meditated on this
wonderful Messianic prophecy, this amazing statement
of the character of Almighty God.
We learn here that the Son of God will not break the
bruised reed or quench the smoking flax (Isa. 42:3).
What a wonderful description of Christ’s tender
compassion!
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Likewise, the believer is easily bruised by the world,
the flesh, and the devil, bent over by the storms of
wickedness and trouble and persecution. We are
bruised by failure to abide in God’s Word, bruised by
unfaithfulness and sin and backsliding.
Yet Christ does not cast away His bruised reeds; He
does whatever is necessary to bring them back to
health. He cares for them, nurses them, reproves and
chastens them.
David was a bruised reed after his sin with Bathsheba,
yet Jehovah God brought him to repentance and
forgave him. In his old age, David wrote great Psalms
and received the plans for the Temple by the Spirit of
God.
The bruised reed was healed.
He is the Good Shepherd who redeems sinners by His
atonement and cares for them continually as their High
Priest. He does not discard His people when they are
weak and overcome by temptation. He has committed
Himself to them. They are ordained to be conformed
to His image.
It will happen! He has guaranteed that it will happen.
And it is an eternal process that begins in this present
life.
The believer is likened to a bruised reed. What could
be weaker? At his best, the believer is a mere reed
rather than a strong and majestic tree. But how often
we are bruised reeds. Reeds are easily bent by the wind
and injured by the elements. Reeds are highly effected
by drought conditions.
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Likewise the believer is likened to smoking flax. This
is a picture of an oil lamp with a flax wick that is not
properly trimmed or that is low on oil. Rather than
burning brightly, it is smoking. Rather than providing
light in the darkness as it is intended to do, it is
smoldering and producing irritants.
Christ doesn’t throw away His smoking lamps. Those
with true faith even as weak as a smoking flax are
accepted and taken into His tender care. He renews the
oil and tenderly trims the wicks and fans the
smoldering fibers into a bright flame.
Peter was a smoking flax after he denied Christ, yet
Christ restored Him, and afterward Peter’s lamp
burned more brightly than ever.
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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WALLS
God commanded the prophet Ezekiel to dig in the
walls of Israel's temple and observe the evils
being done in secret by apostate religious leaders
of that day. "Then said he unto me, Son of man,
dig now in the wall ... And he said unto me, Go
in, and behold the wicked abominations that they
do here. So I went in and saw. ..." (Ezek. 8:7-10).
Ezekiel was then instructed to preach against the
errors of the leaders and to tell the people the
things he had witnessed.
"Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O
son of man. ... Then I spake unto them of the
captivity all the things that the Lord had shewed
me" (Ezek. 11:4,25).
The hour in which we live is very similar to that
of Ezekiel's day. Many of those who profess to be
the people of God are apostate. It was prophesied
in the New Testament Scriptures that such
would be the case in the closing hours of our age.
This will culminate in the brief worldwide rule
of an utterly apostate Harlot "church" (2 Tim.
3-4; 1 Tim. 4; 2 Pet. 2-3; Jude; Rev. 17).
As in Ezekiel's day much of the apostasy of our
hour is hidden from the view of the average
Christian. We intend by God's grace to "dig in
the walls" of modern ecumenism and to expose
and cry out against the things we find. In this
section we also report on secular events which
are relevant to Christians. May God give us ears
to hear, minds to understand, and hearts to obey.
Is the truth of God not worthy of defense?
1 Timothy 6:20,21
HOMOSEXUALS PERFORM AT
BOB JONES UNIVERSITY
(Friday Church News Notes,
February
6,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
[email protected], 866-295-4143)
- The following was sent to me by
Pastor
Steve
Rogers,
[email protected]: “The
music
drift
continues
in
‘fundamentalism’ as Bob Jones
University, under new head Steve
Pettit, hosted the men’s music group
Cantus for their Artist Series, Jan. 27,
2015. I called the school because I
have friends and family that attend
BJU, but no one would talk to me and
my call has not been returned.
Cantus’
web
site
contains
information about the performers.
Tenor Zachary Colby says the person
he most admires is Oprah Winfrey.
Tenor Blake Morgan said that his
idea of a great evening is ‘sunsets and
craft beer’ and he is ‘a huge fan of
vocal jazz.’ Tenor Aaron Humble is
a homosexual who commutes from
Minneapolis, where he works, to
Seattle, where his ‘husband’ lives
with their two cats. Tenor Shahzore
Shah lives in Saint Paul with his
‘husband,” and his most admired
living person is Thich Nhat Nanh, a
Zen
Buddhist
master.”
CONCLUDING NOTE FROM
BRO. CLOUD: Someone wrote to
Pastor Rogers with the following
comment: “It is common knowledge
that BJU has always had secular artist
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groups in as part of their Artist
Series. This is hardly a ‘drift’ as it has
been going on for decades. The
University has a liberal arts
philosophy that exposes the students
to various classical expressions of art
and culture. Whether you agree with
it or not, it is nothing new and unsaved
classical performers have always
come to the campus for these
events. ... I believe the leadership also
uses it as an opportunity to give the
gospel to these accomplished
performers.” In response to that I
would say that I truly doubt that BJU
has had open homosexuals with
“husbands” as performers before.
Therefore, this probably does
represent a further drift and a sad
milestone for the school. And though
the “art” thing might explain their
action, it doesn’t justify it before God.
Sharing the gospel (assuming they do
that) does not justify bringing
unbelievers and mockers of God’s
holy laws on campus to entertain
Bible students. “And have no
fellowship with the unfruitful works
of darkness, but rather reprove them”
(Ephesians 5:11).
LARGE
“EVANGELICAL”
CHURCH CHANGES STANCE
ON “GAY CHRISTIANS” (Friday
Church News Notes, February 6,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- The large GracePointe Church near
Nashville has changed its stance on
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“gay Christianity.” After country
music star Carrie Underwood, who
attends GracePointe, spoke in favor
of “gay marriage” in 2012, the pastor
led the church in a three-year process
of “listening on the topic of sexual
orientation and identity.” Though the
issue has been settled in Scripture for
thousands of years and Biblebelieving churches since the apostles
have
universally
treated
homosexuality as a sin to be repented
of, the very modern senior pastor Stan
Mitchell has led GracePointe to
accept homosexuals into “the full
privileges of membership,” including
“being able to serve in leadership.” It
is yet another example of how that the
ears of this generation itch for new
things, and there are heaps of teachers
willing to scratch that itch (2 Timothy
4:3-4). Mitchell said that the
responsibility for homosexual church
members will be the same as for
heterosexual
members,
which
includes “holiness and godliness,”
thus calling good evil and evil good.
No amount of “listening” and
cunning exegesis can change the
Bible’s simple and clear teaching that
marriage is limited to one man and
one woman and that any sexual
relationship apart from sacred
marriage is sin before God. “Marriage
is honourable in all, and the bed
undefiled: but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews
13:4). Mitchell framed the issue in
terms of “love.” If we love the
homosexual, we are supposed to
sympathize with his condition rather
than sit in judgment on him. In fact,
the issue is love, but the first direction
of our love must be toward God, as
per His first law, and toward His
infallible Word which cuts against the
grain of this proud generation.
Further, the call for sinners to repent
is the truest definition of love, for this
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makes it possible for them to have a
right relationship with God. Mitchell
also framed the issue in terms of
inclusion. He said, that “inclusion
means that we can live together in
agreement and disagreement.” That
is not what Paul taught the churches.
“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
ye all speak the same thing, and that
there be NO DIVISIONS among you;
but that ye be PERFECTLY JOINED
TOGETHER IN THE SAME MIND
and in the same judgment” (1 Cor.
1:10). There is no unity in diversity
here. We don’t know what the longterm effect will be at GracePointe,
but in the short-term, Time magazine
reports (“Nashville Evangelical
Church Comes Out for Marriage
Equality,” Jan. 29, 2015) that the
church’s attendance and offering are
half of what they were before the
announcement.
CITY UNIVERSITY NEW YORK
BANS “MR.” AND “MRS” (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- The following is excerpted from
“New York college bans,” Fox News,
Jan. 29, 2015: “Mr. and Mrs.
Politically Correct have laid down the
law at City University of New York,
where gender-specific salutations are
now a no-no. School officials sent out
a memo barring professors and other
staffers within the graduate program
from addressing students with titles
like ‘Mr.’ and ‘Mrs.,’ according to
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the Wall Street Journal. ... ‘Effective
Spring 2015, the (graduate center’s)
policy is to eliminate the use of
gendered salutations and references
in correspondence to students,
prospective students, and third
parties,’ read the memo to
employees. ‘Accordingly, Mr. and
Ms. should be omitted from
salutations.’ While the directive
specifically
targets
written
interactions with students and
prospective students, Tanya Domi, a
spokesperson for the school told the
newspaper that the policy should be
‘interpreted as broadly as possible.’”
ISLAMIC STATE DESTROYS
ANCIENT NINEVEH WALL
February
6,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- An official of the Kurdistan
Democratic Party in Mosul, Iraq, told
IraqiNews.com, “ISIS militants blew
up today large parts and expanses of
the archaeological wall of Nineveh in
al-Tahrir neighborhood” (“ISIS
destroys large parts of Nineveh
historical wall,” Archaeology News
Network, Feb. 2, 2015). It was
possibly the walls and gates that have
been reconstructed on original
foundations that were blown up by
the Islamic State. Nineveh was
founded in the 23rd century BC
during the era of the Tower of Babel
by Asshur, a confederate with
Nimrod, and about 1,500 years later
it was glorified by Sennacherib, king
of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. In his
day, Nineveh’s massive outer walls
were about 7.5 miles long, 50 feet
high, 50 feet thick, and pierced by 15
great fortified gates. Water was
brought from up to 40 miles away by
an aqueduct and a series of canals to
irrigate beautiful parks, gardens, and
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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fountains. Sennacherib built an
extravagant 71-room “palace without
rival” filled with amazing statues and
with walls lined with carved stone
depicting hunting and military
scenes. It was Sennacherib who, after
mocking
Jehovah
God
and
threatening Israel’s king Hezekiah,
woke up one morning to find that his
army had been slain by the angel of
the Lord. He went back to his palace
and died at the hands of his own sons
while worshiping his god in 681 BC.
In 612 BC, Nineveh was destroyed
by an alliance of armies led by
Nabopolassar of Babylon, father of
Nebuchadnezzar. During excavations
by the famous British archaeologist
Henry Layard in the mid-19th
century, many artifacts were
excavated from Sennacherib’s palace
and transported to the British
Museum, where they can be seen
today. For more about the fascinating
ancient kingdoms, see Bible Times &
Ancient Kingdoms, available from
www.wayoflife.org.
ALABAMA CHIEF JUSTICE
DEFIES FEDERAL COURT
RULING ON MARRIAGE (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
Mike Cason, “Alabama Chief
Justice,” www.al.com, Jan. 27, 2015:
“Alabama Supreme Court Chief
Justice Roy Moore has released a
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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letter to Gov. Robert Bentley saying
that he intends to continue to
recognize the state's constitutional
ban on same-sex marriage and urging
the governor to do so. Moore’s office
released the three-page letter that was
delivered to the governor this
morning in response to a federal
judge’s ruling Friday striking down
the ban. ... Bentley issued a statement
today after Moore’s letter was
released. ‘The people of Alabama
voted in a constitutional amendment
to define marriage as being between
man and woman. As governor, I must
uphold the Constitution. I am
disappointed in Friday’s ruling, and
I will continue to oppose this ruling.
The Federal government must not
infringe on the rights of states.’
Moore said the ruling by U.S. District
Judge Callie V.S. ‘Ginny’ Granade
‘raised serious, legitimate concerns
about the propriety of federal court
jurisdiction’ over the Alabama
amendment. ‘As you know, nothing
in the United States Constitution
grants the federal government the
authority to redefine the institution
of marriage,’ Moore wrote. ... Moore
included a biblical passage in his
letter, Mark 10:6-9, which describes
God's directive about marriage.”
CHILDREN REMOVED FROM
“PREPPER’S” HOME STILL IN
CUSTODY (Friday Church News
Notes,
February
13,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
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- On January 12, an army of law
enforcement personnel and other
government authorities in Hot
Springs, Arkansas, removed seven
children from the home of a “former
pastor,” apparently for the presence
of Master Miracle Solution (MMS)
in the home. (For more about MMS,
see the next report in this week’s
Friday News.) Heavily armed state
troopers, sheriffs, and DHS agents
descended on the home of an
unsuspecting Hal and Michelle
Stanley to execute a search warrant
based on an anonymous tip. It is said
that thirteen government officials
were involved in this heavy-handed
action. After finding the MMS, the
officials took the children into
custody. Ten days later, a judge
found sufficient cause to keep them
in custody, and the next hearing was
scheduled for February 12. The
Stanleys
are
Bible-believing
Christians of some kind, home
schoolers, home churchers, Tea Party
promoters,
and
self-professed
“preppers” who grow their own food
and are preparing for some type of
end-times catastrophe. We don’t
know their doctrinal stance or how
far they take their “prepping” or what
their attitude is toward government,
except that we are told that “they
avoid most contact with the
government” (“Judge Refused to
Allow Stanley Family Children to Go
Home,” medicalkidnap.com, Feb. 9,
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2015). Hal Stanley has five children
by a former marriage and nine by his
current wife. Two of the nine are in
college. One of his older sons is an
agnostic who has criticized the
family. The Stanleys are definitely
caught up in every type of
“extremism,” at least in the eyes of
modern society, and MMS has every
sign of quackery. (See our new book
The Bible and Diet, available in print
and free eBook editions from
www.wayoflife.org.) But this is no
justification for the removal of
children from what appears to be a
caring, God-fearing home on a flimsy
charge. No evidence has been given
that the children were “poisoned” or
abused. Hal Stanley told officials that
he is the only one who took MMS,
and hopefully that is true. I am
convinced that MMS is complete
quackery, but even if the entire
family were taking MMS, the current
action amounts to government
thuggery. To our knowledge, no one
has died consuming MMS, but large
numbers of people have died from
government-approved
medical
therapies. We think of the horrible
side effects of government-approved
cancer therapies. The fundamental
issue here is how much power the
government should have over
people’s lives and who has authority
over the children. There is zero
evidence that the government is
capable of caring for children better
than loving parents, even loving
parents with some quacky but
apparently non-destructive ideas. The
U.S. government is quickly
becoming an enemy to the very type
of people who founded the nation.
BIBLE-BELIEVERS
AND
GULLIBILITY (Friday Church
News Notes, February 13, 2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
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BIRD’S
EGG
EVOLUTION
(Friday
Church News Notes, February
6, 2015, www.wayoflife.org,
[email protected], 866295-4143) - The following is
from CreationMoments.com,
January 21, 2015: “The
creation is literally filled with
millions of what those who
believe in evolution call ‘happy
coincidences.’ But when you
encounter millions of instances of
what appears to be thoughtful
design, the obvious conclusion is
that there is a Designer. Take the
example of bird eggs. The shape of
the egg makes it strong. This
strength comes in handy in a busy
nest. Mom and dad are coming and
going, and they turn the eggs
periodically during incubation. But
all eggs are not equally egg shaped,
and there is a pattern to their
shapes. Birds like robins that build
a nice, dish shaped nest tend to lay
eggs that are more round in shape.
Screech owls, which lay their eggs
at the bottom of a hole in a tree,
also have round shaped eggs. Birds
like the killdeer barely build any
- Bible-believing Christians should
be the least gullible people on earth.
The Bible says, “The simple
believeth every word: but the prudent
man looketh well to his going” (Prov.
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kind of nest and lay eggs on the
ground where almost-round eggs
could roll away. For this reason,
birds such as a killdeer lay much
more sharply pointed eggs which
are designed to pivot on their small
end. Likewise, eggs that are laid
where predators are not likely to
see them are usually pale or solid
in color, but eggs laid out in the
open are camouflaged. Moreover,
baby birds that hatch in protected
nests, like the bluebird, tend to be
naked, blind and helpless. But the
unprotected killdeer hatchlings are
ready to leave the nest within
minutes of hatching. All
coincidences? It seems more
scientific to say that here we have
a few of the many fingerprints of
our wise Creator!”
14:15). This means that the prudent
man is careful and tests everything by
God’s Word. Yet over the past 40
years of Christian living, I have been
amazed at how easily God’s people
can be lured into “alternative health
care” programs that have quack
written all over them. The most recent
example that has come to my attention
is Master Miracle Solution (MMS), a
toxic bleach solution marketed by Jim
Humble as “the Miracle Mineral
Solution of the 21st Century,” a cure
for cancer, AIDS, hepatitis, herpes,
TB, malaria, possibly Ebola, “and
many more of mankind’s worse
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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diseases.” “Archbishop” Humble is
the founder of “Genesis 2 Church of
Health and Healing.” He claims to
have “developed a technique for
healing by touch.” We have read that
he is anti-vaccination, anti-insurance.
He encourages his followers not to
trust “traditional” medicine, but he
would have them trust him explicitly.
When mixed with citrus juice, MMS
forms chlorine dioxide, a strong
bleach. Users of MMS are even told
to expect to become ill through
ingesting the solution and to
understand that this is evidence that
it is working to “kill all pathogens,
parasites, diseases, and even heavy
metals” (“Jim Humble’s MMS
Fraud,” The Health Wyze Report,
n.d.). A U.S. Food and Drug
Administration warning says that
MMS “when used as directed,
produces an industrial bleach that can
cause serious harm to health. ... High
oral doses of this bleach, such as
those recommended in the labeling,
can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,
and
symptoms
of
severe
dehydration.” MMS was banned in
Canada after “a life-threatening
reaction.” MMS has every mark of
quackery. It promises near perfect
health and longevity. It makes
astounding claims. It is associated
with an alleged “Bible diet.” It is tied
to a money-making scheme. It is
promoted through testimonials, and
it is accompanied by an attempt to
discredit standard medicine. (For
more about quack diets and
alternative health programs see our
new book The Bible and Diet,
available in print as well as a free
eBook
edition
from
www.wayoflife.org.)
SALVATION ARMY AND ROME
TOGETHER (Friday Church News
Notes,
February
13,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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- The first ever meeting between
Salvation Army leaders and a pope
occurred at the Vatican in December
2014. Meeting with Pope Francis was
the Salvation Army General André
Cox, plus four other SA leaders. The
gathering was the culmination of six
years of ecumenical dialogue which
was aimed at “fostering a better
understanding of one another, mutual
respect and regular collaboration”
(“Addresses at the Vatican,”
salvationarmy.org, Dec. 12, 2014).
The Salvation Army website calls the
pope “His Holiness” and describes
the meeting in terms of warm
fraternity. Cox told the pope that he
considered the papal audience “a
most precious privilege.” He said,
“We clearly recognise your
Christlikeness as you seek faithfully
to be a true minister of the Gospel. ...
It is my hope and prayer that we will
not only walk alongside each other,
edifying through that is, but will walk
together as credible witnesses to the
truth that Jesus is Lord.” There is no
concern expressed about Rome’s
false gospel and false christ and other
gross heresies. How can the pope
display Christlikeness when he holds
to a false sacrament gospel that is
under the curse of Galatians 1 and is
therefore not saved? The Salvation
Army was never theologically sound
in some areas, and it has long
capitulated to the siren call of
ecumenism. In the book Holiness:
The False and the True, Harry
Ironside described how that Salvation
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Army heresy about sanctification
nearly shipwrecked his Christian life,
and that was in the first half of the
twentieth century.
RACE
CAR
LEGEND
PREACHES HELLFIRE AT
NATIONAL
PRAYER
BREAKFAST (Friday Church News
Notes,
February
13,
2015,
w w w . w ay o f l i f e. o r g ,
- As the keynote speaker at the
National Prayer Breakfast, race car
champion Darrell Waltrip preached
that every person who dies without
Jesus Christ goes to hell. The
NASCAR legend gave his testimony
of salvation before a crowd of 4,000,
including President and Mrs. Obama
and the Dalai Lama. He told how that
he was a heavy drinker and a selfish,
“brash, ruthless, pushy, cocky,
conceited, aloof, arrogant” man, but
his life was changed by the power of
Jesus Christ. He said: “I thought I was
a pretty good guy, but folks, let me
tell you something. Good guys go to
Hell. If you don’t know Jesus as your
Lord and Saviour, if you don’t have a
relationship [with Him], if He’s not
the master of your life, if you’ve
never gotten on your knees and asked
Him to forgive you of your sins, [and]
you’re just a pretty good guy or a
pretty good gal, you’re going to go to
Hell. Think about that. I did. ... I got
down off my high horse [and] got
down on my knees. And Dr. Cortez
Cooper and Stevie [his wife’s
nickname] and I prayed that the Lord
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would come into my life and forgive
me of my sins and be my Lord and
Saviour. And that was the greatest
day of my life. That changed
everything. ... When the Lord comes
into your life, you’re going to be
different. You have to be different. If
He comes into your life and you’re
not different, you better go back and
try it again, because the Lord changes
you.”
(“NASCAR
Legend,”
Christian News Network, Feb. 6,
2015).
CCM ARTIST TALKS ABOUT
THE ECUMENICAL POWER OF
CONTEMPORARY
PRAISE
MUSIC (Friday Church News Notes,
February
13,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- CCM artist Kari Jobe understands
the
ecumenical
power
of
contemporary praise music. In an
interview last year, she said: “I think
that we’re just in a really exciting
season
of
seeing
some
denominational barriers come down.
I COULD LITERALLY WALK
INTO A CHURCH AND LEAD
WORSHIP AND NOT KNOW
WHAT DENOMINATION I WAS
IN THAT NIGHT. We’re doing a lot
of different churches FROM
ASSEMBLY OF GOD TO
METHODIST TO BAPTIST” (Kari
Jobe: Pioneering New Roads in
Worship,”
FamilyChristian.com,
March 20, 2014). Contemporary
musicians glory in the ecumenical
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power of contemporary music,
whereas
the
Bible-believer
understands that ecumenism is a loud
warning sign. True Christian unity
according to Scripture is unity in one
mind, unity in sound doctrine, unity
in truth, not a “unity in diversity.”
Unity in one mind is godly; unity in
diversity is a devilish deception.
“That ye may with ONE MIND and
one mouth glorify God, even the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ro
15:6). “Now I beseech you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing, and
that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined
together in THE SAME MIND and
in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).
In Independent Baptist Music Wars
we document the ecumenical power
of CCM. This book is available in
print or as a free eBook from
www.wayoflife.org.
COMMUNIST
CHINA
TIGHTENS CENSORSHIP OF
THE INTERNET (Friday Church
News Notes, February 13, 2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- Communist China is tightening
control of the Internet by requiring
users of blogs and chat rooms to
register with operators and promise
not to challenge the political system
(“China tightens Web controls,” AP,
Feb. 4, 2015). China is also blocking
private networks that have been used
to circumvent its filters. Every
Internet service provider must have
users sign a pledge to refrain from
“illegal and unhealthy” activity,
which means any activity forbidden
by the communists. There is perfect
liberty in China, which is the liberty
to do exactly what the government
tells you to do. Saudi Arabians enjoy
the same liberty. And this is the
“liberty” that is fast becoming the
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rule in America and, in fact, every
nation on earth. It is a fulfillment of
Bible prophecy and therefore
evidence that the Bible is the
infallible Word of God. The hour is
very late, but this present world is not
the end of the story.
SOME FAVORITE QUOTES
February
13,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
[email protected],866-295-4143)
“H.H. Savage of First Baptist Church
in Pontiac once remarked that it took
about four times the prayer and
energy to get a soul saved during the
1960s as it took during the 1930s”
(One in Hope and Doctrine, p. 185).
“All our lives we have challenged
Christian people in any endeavor to
distinguish between essentials and
non-essentials in the Word of God.
For anyone to say that the Word of
God contains matter that is not
essential, is to disparage the
inspiration and revelation and the
Author of the Bible itself” (Oliver
Van Osdel, “A Very Great Sorrow,”
Baptist Temple News, Wealthy Street
Baptist Church, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, June 18, 1930).
JEWISH
JOURNALIST
RECORDS
ANTI-SEMITIC
HATE ON PARIS STREETS
February
20,
2015,
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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www.wayoflife.org,
“Ten Hours of Fear and Loathing in
Paris,” nrg.co.il, Feb. 17, 2015:
“Welcome to Paris 2015, where
soldiers are walking every street that
houses a Jewish institution, and
where keffiyeh-wearing men and
veiled women speak Arabic on every
street corner. ... In modern-day Paris,
you see, Jews are barred from
entering certain areas. ... For 10 hours
I quietly walked down the streets and
suburbs of Paris, with photographer
Dov Belhassen documenting the day
using a GoPro camera hidden in his
backpack. Given the tensions in
Paris, which is still reeling from a
wave of terrorist attacks (including
the murder of Charlie Hebdo
magazine journalists), I was assigned
a bodyguard. ... Areas known as
tourist attractions were relatively
calm, but the further from them we
walked, the more anxious I became
over the hateful stares, the belligerent
remarks, and the hostile body
language. At times it was like
walking in downtown Ramallah.
Most women were wearing a veil or
a hijab, most men appeared to be
Muslim, and Arabic was prevalent
everywhere. We decided ahead of
time that I was to walk through these
areas quietly, without stopping
anywhere, without speaking to
anyone, without so much as looking
sideways. My heart was pounding
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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and negative thoughts were running
through my head. I would be lying if
I said I was not afraid. Walking into
a public housing neighborhood, we
came across a little boy and his
hijab-clad mother, who were clearly
shocked to see us. ‘What is he doing
here Mommy? Doesn’t he know he
will be killed?’ the boy asked. ...
Over at a nearby street I was
lambasted with expletives ... At a
nearby cafe, fingers were pointed at
us, and moments later two thugs were
waiting for us on the street corner.
They swore at me, yelled ‘Jew,’ and
spat at me. ... Two youths were
waiting for us on the next street
corner, as they had apparently heard
that a Jew was walking around their
neighborhood. They made it clear to
us that we had better get out of there,
and we took their advice. ‘A few
more minutes and this would have
been a lynching,’ the bodyguard told
me as we were getting into the car.
‘Leave this area right now.’”
CHINA’S
INTERNET
ADDICTION CAMPS (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
“Teen’s cure for Internet addiction,”
Fox News, Feb. 3, 2015: “About 14%
of China’s youths may be addicted to
the Internet, says a psychologist; he
runs a rehab center, or ‘boot camp,’
that takes a tough approach to the
weaning process, the Telegraph
reports ... Others, however, take
action on their own. Witness the case
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of teen known only as ‘Little Wang,’
who, in an effort to end his addiction,
cut his left hand off. ... China is one
of several countries grappling with
what the Telegraph calls an addiction
‘epidemic’; in China, it’s known as
wangyin, the New Yorker reported
last year. Taiwan has established
fining systems for parents who let
their kids spend too much time on
their computers. Japan, like China,
has addiction-fighting camps; China
now has some 250 of them, Kotaku
reported last year. China sees such
addiction as a clinical disorder that’s
among the top dangers to young
people, though there may be a
political side to that, the New Yorker
noted, given that the government is
concerned about people organizing
online.”
HIP
EMERGING
DUDE
“FREAKED OUT” BY TERMS
LIKE BORN AGAIN (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- Relevant, the magazine for hip
emerging Christians, has a new report
by Rob Fee on “11 Phrases that
Freaked Me Out as a Kid.” These
include “the Lamb that was slain,”
“washed in the blood,” “on fire for
God,” the Holy Ghost,” “born again,”
“I’m not of this world,” “the Lamb’s
book of life,” “the devil as a roaring
lion,” and “guard your heart.” Of “the
Lamb that was slain,” Fee remarks,
“As a kid, when I heard everyone
celebrating the murder of sheep, I
really began to get nervous about
taking friends from church to the
petting zoo.” Of the Holy Ghost, Fee
says, “My mom tried to explain it as
part of the Trinity, but that definitely
didn’t help. ‘You see, honey, God is
the guy in charge, Jesus is His son,
and the Holy Ghost is, uh, their pal.
Technically, God is Jesus’ dad, but
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they all join forces to become one.
It’s kind of like Planeteers from
Captain Planet, except it’s not a sin
to watch TV shows about them.’” Of
“washed in the blood,” Fee
comments, “I pictured Jesus standing
next to a giant bathtub that He was
bleeding into while trying to make
me dive into it like a Steven Curtis
Chapman song in ’99.” And of “the
Lamb’s book of life,” Fee says, “Is
this the same lamb we killed earlier?
Now it seems as though murdering
him wasn’t enough, we’re also going
to take his books. How about we just
leave the farm animals alone for a bit,
OK, pastor? It’s making me
legitimately sad.” I suppose it doesn’t
get more hip than making comedy
out of the new birth, ridiculing
washed in the blood and the Lamb’s
book of life, and mocking the Trinity.
Relevant magazine claims to “reach
about 2,300,000 twenty- and thirtysomething Christians a month.” It is
a window into 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Christianity.
MAJOR FEDERAL COURT WIN
FOR CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES
February
20,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
“Christian Ministries Win Right to
Fire Workers Who Violate Beliefs,”
Charisma News, Feb. 12, 2015: “In
an age where Christian-owned
companies are being penalized for
denying customer services that
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violate their morals, InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship (IVCF) won a
major victory in Federal Court. The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th
Circuit in Conlon v. InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship affirmed the
freedom of faith-based groups to
make
employment
decisions
consistent with their beliefs. Here’s
the backstory: Alyce Conlon filed a
lawsuit against IVF after she was
terminated for failing to reconcile her
marriage. She was put on paid leave
so she could work on her marriage.
In Dec. 2011, IVF fired the spiritual
director because the group didn’t see
the progress it hoped for. Conlon’s
husband later filed for divorce.
‘Because IVCF is a religious
organization and Conlon was a
ministerial
employee,
IVCF’s
decision to terminate her employment
cannot be challenged under federal or
state employment discrimination
laws,’ the three-judge panel [of the
6th Circuit Court] declared. ‘The
Establishment and Free Exercise
Clauses do not permit federal or state
courts to adjudicate such matters
when the defendant properly asserts
the ministerial exception as an
affirmative defense.’”
FIFTY SHADES OF GREY:
FURTHER
MORAL
DEGRADATION OF SOCIETY
February
20,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- The following is from “Romance
vs. Pornography and Abuse,”
Saltshakers.org.au, Feb. 12, 2015:
“You may have heard advertisements
for the film Fifty Shades of Grey.
Launched
to
coincide
with
‘Valentines’ Day,’ the promoters
would like to think this is a romantic
tale, but that is far from the truth. The
film, based on a three-volume series
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of so-called ‘erotic novels,’ shows
sexual exploitation and domestic
violence, and is pornographic. Dawn
Hawkins, executive director of the
National
Center
on
Sexual
Exploitation (USA), writes, ‘This is
not entertainment or a fairy tale, as
Hollywood is claiming. This is
glamorization of violence and abuse.’
Dawn continues, ‘Hold up a mirror
to Christian Grey [the main
character] and you’ll see the
reflection of a culture saturated in
exposure to violent pornography.
This is the porn that has and
continues to groom the next
generation of men to believe that they
are entitled to violent sexual
behavior, and that women should
enjoy it. Fifty Shades of Grey models
and reinforces this, while Hollywood
is cashing the check. We will not
accept what Hollywood is offering.’
... At a time when sexual exploitation
and domestic and family violence are
being highlighted and severely
criticised, this film should be
shunned by everyone.”
ATHEISM
AND
THE
EUROPEAN UNION (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- The countries of the European
Union have been described as “postChristian societies,” and atheism has
increased dramatically in the past few
decades. Currently there are three
countries in the EU with atheist prime
ministers: Greece, France, and
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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Croatia (“Greece’s election of first
atheist
PM
a
trend,”
OneNewsNow.com, Jan. 30, 2015).
According to a 2010 Eurobarometer
Poll, only 16 percent of the Czech
and 27 percent of French believe in
God. Overall, 20 percent of residents
in the EU claim to be atheists.
EGYPTIAN
SCHOLAR
DEMANDS
THAT
JEWS
RETURN EXODUS TREASURE
February
20,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- Egyptian scholar Amar Ali Hassan
is demanding that Israel return the
treasures they took from the
Egyptians when they left Egypt 3,500
years ago. In an interview with
Egypt’s Channel 1 in July 2014,
Hassan said, “When they left they
stole Egypt’s gold and treasures. We
demand that they return the treasures
they stole from us” (“Egyptian
Academic Demands Jews Return
Exodus Gold,” Israel Today, Sept.
15, 2014). Hassan is referring to the
Bible’s statement that children of
Israel “borrowed of the Egyptians
jewels of silver, and jewels of gold,
and raiment” (Ex. 12:35-36). In fact,
that was the just wages that the
Egyptians owed Israel for abusing
them as slave labor to build their
cities. It is interesting that Hassan,
Ph.D. in political science, author, and
Middle East research center scholar,
acknowledges that Israel has a long
1 Timothy 6:20,21,
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history in the region and that Israel’s
history in Scripture is accurate. This
flies in the face of the Israel denial
movement since Yasser Arafat.
ROB BELL SAYS “THE
CHURCH” IS ONLY MOMENTS
AWAY FROM ACCEPTING
“GAY MARRIAGE” (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- Rob Bell, former pastor of the
emerging Mars Hill Bible Church of
Grand Rapids, Michigan, said
recently about “gay marriage” that
“we think it’s inevitable and we are
moments away from the church
accepting it” (“Former Megachurch
Pastor Rob Bell,” Christian Post,
Feb. 17, 2015). Bell made the
comment when he and his wife
Kristen appeared on Oprah Winfrey’s
Super Soul Sunday television
program to discuss their new book
The ZimZum of Love: A New Way of
Understanding Marriage. Having
rejected the Bible as the infallible
Word of God, the Bells have lurched
from one heresy to another. Their
final authority is their own thinking
and the pop culture of which they
have deeply partaken in their zeal to
be “relevant.” Bell said, “I think
culture is already there and the
church will continue to be even more
irrelevant when it quotes letters from
2,000 years ago as their best
defense...” We would say, first, that
“the church” that Bell is talking about
is a hodgepodge of professing
Christians that is no church at all in
a Scriptural sense. As for being
irrelevant, the churches that stand on
the testimony of Scripture are the
most relevant institutions on earth.
They alone are standing on the rock
of God’s eternal Word rather than the
shifting sand of human thinking and
feeling. They alone are giving a
prophetic voice into the darkness of
this present world. Bell is right about
one thing, though. He is right that
many churches will accept “gay
marriage” and that we are on the cusp
of a great turning point in church
history. Many “churches” have
already
accepted
homosexual
marriage, and others are caving on
the issue daily. The apostle John had
a different message from Bell’s:
“Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the
Father is not in him. For all that is in
the world, the lust of the flesh, and
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, is not of the Father, but is of the
world. And the world passeth away,
and the lust thereof: but he that doeth
the will of God abideth for ever. ...
And we know that we are of God, and
the whole world lieth in wickedness”
(1 John 2:15-17; 5:19).
JUDGE
RULES
AGAINST
CHRISTIAN FLORIST FOR
REFUSING TO DECORATE
HOMOSEXUAL
WEDDING
February
27,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
“Judge tells Christian florist she is
entitled to her beliefs, but not to act
on them,” OneNewsNow, Feb. 19,
2015: “A Christian florist in
Washington state who refused to
provide
flowers
to
two
21
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homosexuals for their wedding
violated state consumer protection
and anti-discrimination law, a judge
ruled Wednesday. Benton County
Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom
rejected arguments from the owner
of Arlene's Flowers in Richland that
her actions were protected by her
freedoms of speech and religion.
While religious beliefs are protected
by the First Amendment, actions
based on those beliefs aren't
necessarily protected, he said. ‘For
over 135 years, the Supreme Court
has held that laws may prohibit
religiously motivated action, as
opposed to belief,’ Ekstrom wrote. ...
Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of
Arlene’s Flowers, sold flowers for
years to customer Robert Ingersoll.
She knew he was homosexual and
that the flowers were for his partner,
Curt Freed. After Washington state
adopted homosexual marriage in
2012, Ingersoll went to the shop the
following spring to ask Stutzman to
do the flowers for his wedding. ... She
placed her hands on his and told him
she couldn't, ‘because of my
relationship with Jesus Christ,’ she
said in a deposition. As a Southern
Baptist, she believed only in
opposite-sex marriages. Ingersoll and
Freed sued, as did Washington state,
alleging violations of Washington’s
Law Against Discrimination and
Consumer
Protection
Act.
Washington Attorney General Bob
Ferguson and the American Civil
Liberties Union of Washington,
22
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which represented the couple,
welcomed the ruling. ... The law
allows for penalties of up to $2,000
per violation, as well as legal fees. The
state will likely seek those against
Stutzman individually as well as her
business, said Peter Lavallee, a
spokesman for the attorney general’s
office. Kristen Waggoner is a lawyer
with the Alliance Defending Freedom
and represented Stutzman in court.
She says, ‘The message from this
ruling is clear: the government will
bring about your personal and
professional ruin if you don't help
celebrate same-sex marriage.’”
PASTOR SEES IMPORTANCE
OF WARNINGS ABOUT WEST
COAST (Friday Church News Notes,
February
27,
2015,
w w w . w a y o f l i f e . o r g ,
- I received the following email
recently from a pastor: “I just wanted
to say thanks for your warning
ministry. I’ve always despised CCM,
but I thought you were going
overboard a few years ago when you
started taking shots at West
Coast. Now I’m seeing all of my
friends who went to West Coast cave
on the CCM issue. You were right.
I’m an author and teacher in a Bible
Institute, and this year I’m teaching
Galatians-Colossians. When I reach
Ephesians 5:19, I’m looking forward
to using much of your material. ... I
want my students either to be
inoculated to the stuff or to be so
ashamed of it that they keep it to
themselves and out of my church
which has been traditional for 25
years. Thanks and God bless you. The
7,000 are still out there.”
CHURCH DISCIPLINE: TOO
STRICT OR TOO LOOSE (Friday
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
A
T
U
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E
- Michael Faraday, one of the fathers
of modern science, was a devout
Christian in a strict group of
churches called Sandemanians, who
tried to follow the New Testament
pattern for churches in a way similar
to the Brethren. Consider just how
strict they were. When Faraday
accepted an invitation in 1844 from
the Queen of England to lunch with
her on a Sunday, he reluctantly
accepted though it would entail
missing church services. Two weeks
later he was forced to forfeit his
position as elder since he refused to
publicly repent of what he had done.
He was restored to church
fellowship after a few weeks, though
it was 14 years before he was
restored to eldership. The church’s
position was that he should have put
Christ before Queen. They had a
point, but they enforced it too
strictly, in our estimation, especially
since Faraday delighted in church
attendance all his life and almost
never missed services, following in
the footsteps of his godly parents. At
the same time, most churches today
are frightfully loose in regard to
church membership and its
obligations. The members of the first
church “continued steadfastly in the
apostles’ doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in
prayers” (Acts 2:42). If that biblical
standard were applied to church
members today, most congregations
would find their “membership”
numbers decreased in a most
1 Timothy 6:20,21
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dramatic way, and in our way of
thinking, that would be a good thing.
Like most of the fathers of modern
science, Michael Faraday believed in
divine creation and accepted the
Bible as divine revelation. He said:
“The Christian religion is a
revelation, and that revelation is the
Word of God.” When reporters
inquired about his “speculations” as
to life after death, he replied,
“Speculations! I know nothing about
speculations. I’m resting on
certainties. ‘ I know that my
Redeemer liveth,’ and because He
lives I shall live also” (Charles
Ludwig, Michael Faraday: Father of
Electronics).
QUANTUM
COSMOLOGY
February
27,
2015,
www.wayoflife.org,
- One of the “theories” proposed as
an evolutionary explanation for the
universe is the concept of a
multiverse, which derives from
“quantum cosmology.” It is a
metaphysical abuse of quantum
physics, but it has become a
convenient hiding place for some 21st
century evolutionists, including
Richard Dawkins, when they need to
F
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E
L
I
T
E
explain how the amazing universe
could come from nothing. Quantum
physics has given us such mindnumbing and incomprehensible
concepts as “quantum fuzziness,”
“maybe-space-maybe-time
fuzziness,” “eternal inflation,” and
“the bubble bath universe.” Quantum
physicists are the modern Gnostics,
delving into mysteries they cannot
understand
and
pretending
knowledge they don’t possess.
Asking foolish questions and making
foolish assumptions, they arrive at
foolish answers. Dr. David Berlinski,
who is not a biblical creationist but
who is brave enough to say publicly
that Emperor Darwinianism has no
clothes, gives a humorous critique of
quantum cosmology in his book The
Devil’s Delusion. “The details may
be found in [Stephen] Hawking’s
best-selling A Brief History of Time,
a book that was widely considered
R
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U
R
E
fascinating by those who did not read
it, and incomprehensible by those
who did. Their work will seem
remarkably familiar to readers who
grasp the principle behind pyramid
schemes or magical acts in which
women disappear into a box only to
emerge as tigers shortly thereafter.
The wave function of the universe
cannot be seen, measured, assessed,
or tested. It is purely a theoretical
artifact. Physicists have found it
remarkably easy to pass from
speculation about the wave function
of the universe to the conviction that
there is a wave function of the
universe. ... the doctrines of quantum
cosmology are what they seem:
biased, partial, inconclusive, and
largely in the service of passionate
but unexamined conviction. ...
Quantum cosmology is a branch of
mathematical
metaphysics.
It
provides no cause for the emergence
of the universe, and so does not
answer the first cosmological
question, and it offers no reason for
the existence of the universe. ... [The
string theory] was an idea that
possessed every advantage except
clarity, elegance, and a demonstrated
connection to reality (David
Berlinski, The Devil’s Delusion, pp.
98-107, 119).
Aim of O Timothy Magazine
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Exalting the Lord Jesus Christ; His eternal perfect, and preserved Word; and the Gospel of his Grace.
(2 Peter 3:1-2, 18)
Standing for the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:27; Jude 3)
Challenging Christian workers to uphold the truth and resist the apostasy of our times. (1 Timothy 6:20-21)
Exposing the spirit of error and compromise within Christendom (Hosea 4:6a; 2 Tim. 3)
Upholding the New Testament Church (1 Tim. 6:13-14). O Timothy is a ministry of Bethel Baptist Church of London, Ontario.
Challenging churches to fulfill the Great Commission of world evangelism (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 13-14)
Standing for the Received Text of the Holy Scriptures, the Authorized Version in the English Language, and sound translations of the TR
in the languages of the world. (Ps. 12:6-7)
1 Timothy 6:20,21
23
W
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F
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I
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I
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E
R
A
O TIMOTHY MAGAZINE
Way of Life Literature
P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368
866-295-4143 (toll free),
[email protected] (e-mail)
http://www.wayoflife.org (web site)
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SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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O Timothy
Volume 32 - Issue 3 - March 2015

O Timothy 2015-03 - Way of Life Literature

Transcription

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