Smack Dab In The Middle

Smack Dab is a band I played with for a short time.. but this post likely doesn't have any thing to do with it.

The very middle of the Bible has some interesting characteristics.

Psalm 118 is the middle chapter of the Bible.
Psalm 117 is the shortest chapter in all the Bible.
Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in allt he Bible.
There are 594 chapters in the Bible before Psalm 118
There are 594 chapter in the Bible after Psalm 118
If you add up the chapters before and after Psalm 118 you get 1188.
Psalm 118:8 is the verse at the exact center of the Bible.
It reads "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."

Mutant Chickens!

I remember my Dad asking a the question after a McDonald's commercial, "Where's the nuggets and fingers on a chicken?" This was always able to get a at least a slight giggle out of me. Yet neither of us ever thought to ask where the teeth were. Chickens simply don't have teeth, right? RIGHT? Well, at least one of them had something very like teeth.

Right away, Evolutionists say it's proof for Evolutionary Theory, Creationists point to the fossil record and say "This is nothing new, and is completely consistent with the created Kinds that the Bible declares."

So many people claim that Creationists are flaky or will simply twist info into meaning what they want it to mean. While this is true of some people, on either side of the debate, it's not true of those whom I choose to side with. Here's proof.

Chickens With Teeth and a snippet.

All are agreed that these mutant chickens developed their teeth because
they carry the genetic information for ‘tooth-making’ originally present in
their ancestors, but which later became ‘switched off’.

Evolutionists interpret these observations as consistent with their belief that reptiles evolved into birds. Creationists interpret it as consistent with their
belief that the ancestral created kind from which the chicken is descended
contained the information to generate teeth. To support this, we point to
similar types of teeth in extinct birds.

This discovery has enabled a fascinating glimpse of the greater genetic potential of the original Genesis kinds.

Of Abortion and Miscarriage

A close, but currently secular, friend of mine sent me a link and a quote from it today. Here's the questions he asked after reading it.

"A miscarriage is a loss of life, it' s a death. For a
woman, she just doesn't feel it in her heart but her body too since she was
carrying the baby." So, why when a baby dies in the womb from unknown
causes or perhaps a health problem is it called a death, a loss of life. BUT,
when its an abortion it isn't. Have you ever known a woman who had a
miscarriage and said "Oh, well, it wasn't really a baby anyway"? I
haven't.

Read the article for yourself at the Calgary Sun. Here's a snipet.

O’Donoghue, who was 18 weeks pregnant, suffered a miscarriage in April.
Since she wasn’t bleeding and considered a low priority the Calgary Health
Region sent her home and told her to come back in a week to 10 days.

“It was horrible, disrespectful, very cruel and psychologically damaging. A
baby is dead. I found it very upsetting I was considered a low priority because
I wasn’t bleeding,” O’Donoghue says.

If you're someone who still thinks abortion is reasonable and OK, that it is morally fine please visit Show The Truth.

What's your baby worth?

Who What Where When and Why

Remember when people asked questions?

If you're not sure what kind of questions you should be asking those who claim Evolution to be true, and that the universe is billions of years old - here's a short list of good ones to start with.

Evidence for a young world. <- not that 6 - 10 thousand years is young.... Some more great booklets.

What A Candel Can Tell Us About History...

This is quoted from a website. I'll link to it at the bottom, but for now I'd like to keep the site secret.

The Parable of the Candle
by Garth Wiebe

Chris and Lucy entered a building looking for Manuel. In a room they
found a note and a lighted candle. Chris looked at the note and read it
aloud:
‘Hi! It’s 2:30, and I’m leaving to run some errands. I’ll be back in a
couple of hours. BTW, the electricity is out, so I lit a candle for you. —
Manuel.’
Then Lucy said, ‘I know how we can find out how long it’s been since
he left! Look, the candle has been burning since he lit it and has a significant
amount of wax that’s melted and dripped down. If we figure out what the rate is
which the wax is melting and measure the amount of wax that has thus far
dripped, we can work backwards to find out how long it has been since he
left.’
Chris said, ‘Why waste your time? The note says he left at 2:30.’ Lucy
said, ‘Don’t believe everything you read.’ Chris replied, ‘Look, I’ve known
Manuel for a long time, and this is his handwriting. Don’t be
ridiculous.’
Lucy replied, ‘Ah yes, but what does he mean by “2:30”? A note
like that is subject to interpretation. Suppose he was talking about another
time zone or something.’ And so a short philosophical argument ensued about the
note. However, Lucy prevailed and insisted on performing the measurement and
calculations.
A few minutes later, Lucy announced: ‘Well, I’ve got bad news
for us. Based on the amount of wax that has melted and the rate at which the wax
is melting, I can confidently tell you that it has been at least one whole day
since this guy left. He was probably talking about 2:30 yesterday. And since he
said that he’d be back “in a couple of hours”, we can assume that something
happened to him and he’s not coming back at all. So much for your
“note”.’
Just then, Manuel walked in. Lucy said, ‘Are you this guy “Manuel”?
What took you so long?’ Manuel replied, ‘What are you talking about? I left you
guys a note saying I’d be back in a couple of hours. It hasn’t even been that
long.’ Lucy said, ‘Never mind the note. I measured the amount of wax that has
dripped off your candle, and the rate which the wax was melting. I know you’ve
been gone since yesterday.’
Manuel replied, ‘First of all, that candle isn’t
burning anywhere near as brightly as when I first lit it. Second of all, I
didn’t light a new candle, but a used one. And thirdly, I used another candle to
light this candle and in the process the wax from that candle spilled all over
this one.’
Lucy said, ‘So you set up that candle to deceive us, to make it
look like you left the room over a day ago, when in fact it’s been less than a
couple of hours.’ Manuel replied, ‘Look, I left you a note telling you when I
left. I never intended for you to conduct some silly experiment measuring wax
dripping off of a candle to figure out when I left. I put the candle there so
you guys would have some light.’

Hopefully, you caught that the Note is the Bible, Manuel is Jesus, Lucy is a so-called scientist, and Chris is a Christian.

Not all scientists are as flaky as Lucy is depicted in the above. However, many do go into a study trying to prove their previously held opinions instead of looking for truth.

Visit AiG for more information.

Quick thought about Baptism

Col 2:12 makes the point that we share in the resurrection of Christ if we are in Him. Yesterday as I read, I realized it also makes a thought about Baptism. If you read more of the section of scripture, lets say Col 2:6-23 you see there is a point about maturity and freedom in our walk in Christ.

Col 2:12 says we are "Buried with Him in baptism..." Paul often talks about maturity as dying to yourself, dying to your old nature, your fleshy wants.

The point of all this is, lately I've been wondering when a person should be baptized. I believe it should be shortly after salvation. But when exactly and how do you make the decision? When I read Col 2:12 I seemed to get the answer. When you are ready to die to your old way of living you declare it by being "buried with Christ" which is what baptism is an image of. The going down into the water is being buried, the coming out is being resurrected.

Harvest House

This week we were out witnessing earlier in the evening, starting at 6pm. Harvest House rolled into town in a van and did an open air show. It was cool to see a bunch of teens sharing their faith & life stories. Not only that, but they sang (very well) and did dramas. There were many people watching and listening.

As I was watching this small troop of young men and women I couldn't help but think "If our church had this many people who were willing to share their faith publicly we could really make an impact on this city."

It was a bit strange to be working along side another ministry, in that we didn't really know how we could work without taking away from what Harvest House was doing. Thankfully, it didn't take long for us to pick up the groove and start talking with people. Carl, a passionate man from my church came out with us last night. In fact, he was willing to go back down town with me after most everyone else had gone home. The Lord led us to talk with many people last night, including a man who was very broken. Had we not gone back out we wouldn't have had the chance to speak with him. God uses a willing vessel. I encourage you to be willing to do His work.

I Love The Gospel

It's a funny thing, salvation has been mine for a long time now. Someone told me recently, it was a very secular teaching but it had some "observable" merit. He said, the last thing you think off before you go to sleep is often what is very important to you.

Last night I was speaking with my wife as we were about to drift off to sleep. I had completely forgotten about this other person's statement (until I just started to write this post actually) and we were just sharing about God. I suddenly had an overwhelming love in my heart. I blurted out, though quietly, "I love the Gospel". Then I realized it was the first time in my life that I had said that and meant it as much as I think God would have me mean it.

Each of us is a sinner, individually responsible for our every action, inaction, thought, word, deed and opinion before a holy and just God. We will individually give account for our individual lives. None of us can pass this "test" and by our own merits would be fully guilty before God and sentenced to eternal punishment in Hell. Hell because it's the only place where God isn't, and sin separates us from God. There's a payment for sin, that's death. One sin many years ago, or consistent sin right now, the payment is the same.

Because God so loved the World, and did not us to perish in Hell. He paid the sin debt that we owe. Christ lived a sinless life, neither inherited nor self sin was in His life. He freely gave His life, in place of ours. So that the debt would be paid for us, if we simply believe in Him. If we put our faith in Him, honestly, the debt is paid.
He is just in that the payment was made in full. He is loving in that He paid what we could never afford to pay. He is faithful in that He accepts that payment, as in full eternally.

New Bike For My Wife

She's been held back by an older bike long enough. So now she's the owner of a 2007 Norco Scorcher. The picture is black, but hers is a light blue.

She's so sweet and humble, it's really nice to be able to do something unexpected and nice for her every now and then.

Sanctification: What Is It?

I've always thought booklets were made on topics that were not important enough to write whole books on. I have always been wrong about this.

If you are a follower of Christ, honestly saved, then you need to understand the freedom you have in Him.

C.H. Mackintosh on Sanctification.

These that have turned the world upside down

Acts 17:1-9 amazes me. These few people had such a powerful effect on the world they were accused before the courts of having "turned the world upside down".

I've been asking God if this is really still possible in today's world. I live in a city of about 480,000 people. As I've posted before, I've been out with a small group of believers witnessing on the streets for the past few Fridays. On any given outing we witness to about 600 people.

Tonight a woman turned down a tract and said "No Thanks. Everyone is getting these things...."

"Everyone"

Now we have hardly reached "everyone", in fact we've reached a small percentage of the city face to face, and the tracts have likely changed hands a couple of times. Since the group has been going out (including time previous to my joining them) it seems we have reached about 6000 people. If 10% of the tracts get passed on to someone else, then we've reached 6600 people. A much smaller portion has actually had the Gospel spoken to them face to face. We only engage in conversation with people who want to talk.

Now this woman, who was just waiting for her ride to show up, had the impression that "everyone" was getting them. I'm sure she didn't mean "everyone" in the literal sense. Yet she did mean it in the topical sense.

Clearly, today even, a small group of people can turn the world up side down if they are working in the power of Christ.

Oops They Did It Again

OK so that was bad....

Check it out.

Security

This topic comes up in deeper conversations about Christianity. Some Christians live in fear of loosing their salvation from day to day, some are fearless. There's no way we can earn salvation, we can not even please God without faith. The Word tells us that we are saved by the Grace of God through faith alone. While I do believe that those with faith will do "good works" I do not believe that "good works" impress God at all. Our best works are but tattered rags to Him. So, if nothing good we do even after we are saved changes the way God sees us, what makes us thing anything bad we do will change how He sees us? Actually the answer is, He doesn't see US as we are filthy, He sees the Son, Christ Jesus. We are seen as clean because He is clean. If God the Father looks on us and sees His Son how then can we change what God sees? Do we have dominion over Christ?

Here are some much better explanations.

http://withchrist.org/security.htm

http://withchrist.org/ironside.htm

If someone has told you that Hebrews 6 tells us that a believer can loose his salvation, check out the following for the truth.

http://withchrist.org/MJS/apostasy.htm

Slow Light

Last week MSNBC reported The speed of light may have been different in the past. I had noted then that this wasn't exactly a new idea. Actually, even secular scientists have proven that the speed of light can be slowed down, to a stand still even by using Sodium. You can Google Sodium+speed+light to see for yourself or you can click this Google Search that I was so kind to make for you. :)

This becomes interesting to Creationists, because while measuring the distance to distant stars is far from a "science" at this point they do, by all accounts, seem to be very far away. There is often a good question asked of how can the Universe only be 6,000 years old if there are stars so far away and we can see the light from them. There are a bunch of interesting and scientifically sound reasons for how this could be, but none are yet verifiable that I know of.

Christian Chronicles

Christian Chronicles the theological journal, has been posted for July. This month they are touching on the Book of Romans.

Of all the books of the Bible, none rises to the heights of Paul’s letter to the
church at Rome. The first eight chapters present a theological foundation
for all that is indeed the Word of God, explaining how a just God can remain
just, while forgiving sin, even as He also executes Divine judgment upon every
sin, from the slightest to the most egregious. No expositor can do this
epistle justice in either a small publication such as ours or in a multi-volume
commentary. The first eight chapters of Romans constitute an indictment,
evidence, conviction, the death penalty, and its execution; yet, culminating in
eternal life. No human author either could have or would have conjured up
such a faith as ours. And if he had, he could never have explained so very
much in so little space as Paul did in everything he wrote, but especially in
his letter to the faithful saints at Rome.