Creation Magazine Live! is ready for your iPod!

Richard Fangrad and Cal Smith host Creation Magazine Live! Both of these men have gracefully been on TCC Radio for a few episodes. These men communicate for the organization of scientists and researchers that is Creation Ministries International (CMI). Cal is also a good friend of TCC's host and founder, Cory McKenna. We try to make use of CMI's resources as often as we can with TCC because frankly, these people are smarter than we are. :) I'm working my way through the episodes now, and am very thankful that I'll now beable to carry them on my iPod.

Here's the info about Creation Magazine Live! from their own website;

Through 24 one hour episodes, hosts Richard Fangrad and Calvin Smith of CMI–Canada discuss and summarize the faith-building information found in Creation magazine. Creation magazine has been changing lives and building the faith of Christians in more than 140 countries for more than 30 years. Each issue contains dozens of articles (many by scientists) that refute evolution and support the Bible’s account of creation.

Robb bought me a domain!

Well there ya have it! Brother Robb, purchased www.onmywalk.net and directed here. I'm kinda speechless about it. What a nice thing to do, eh?

Calvinism and Anti-Calvinism

Here are some thoughts I had about recent discussions at a forum I frequent. I am not what one would consider a Calvinist. Though I have some "Calvinistic beliefs."

All this Calvinism and Anti-Calvinism is really starting to bug me. Am I alone in this? Am I the only one who's really starting to get irritated by it?

There is no such thing as a Calvinist. It's a label that some men put on some men. It does not make them so..

There is the old creation, and the new creation. That is it. Either unsaved or saved. There is fellowship among the saved, there is no fellowship with or among the unsaved.

If a person is a Christian they ought to preach Christ, and live the Scriptures. I used to understand, or thought I understood anyway, the need for labels. Now they get under my skin. Need I identify my theological system? Need I even HAVE a theological system? Even the systems I have identified with seem to be distant from me now.

If we are Christians, ought we not enjoy fellowship in what actually gives us fellowship? Ought we not sit at the Savior's feet, worship and read the Scriptures together? Ought we not wrestle with Scripture and not "theology"?

Ought we not identify ourselves first, and ONLY as Christians? What other banner have we? Has Paul died for us? Has Appollos? Has Kevin? Has Calvin? What has any man ever done that he should have any name over ours?

Is not the Name of Christ above all names?

I'm tired of it friends and brothers. Are you my brother in the Lord? I love you. Are you something else? Then do I know you? Be nothing else. Let us be willing to discuss every point as to the Lord. Unafraid to take the time to read line by line.

I'm a Calvinist... No you're not your a super-duper-Calvinist... who cares? Seriously BRETHREN, who cares? Will there be even a mention of that term at the Judgment Seat of Christ?

Shame on me for identifying my Lord's Beloved as a title given by man. Brethren, I pray I will identify you as I so desperately need to be identified by God when He sees me - as Christ alone and nothing else. My Brethren I see you and I see our Elder Brother, as does the Father when He sees you.

First episode of TCC Radio produced in SONAR

Well here's a picture of this week's episode of TCC Radio complete inside of SONAR 7 Producer Edition.

I've still got a fair amount to learn in order to get the sound quality up, but there is an improvement from working in Audacity already. This is due to the fact that SONAR 7 Producer Edition comes bundled with some pretty high end audio plugins.

One of the main advantages will be realized in the weeks and months to come is that I now have a template built for the show. This template includes all the effects and processing. So now I need only drop in the clips and adjust for time. No more producing each clip individually... one effect and/or plugin at a time.

You'll see that this episode has 15 tracks in this window. There are two interview sections which each had 5 or 6 tracks as well.

The show air's tomorrow night and will be available for download AFTER we broadcast on GraceFM at 7pm EST.

Not all that happy with having to use Windows Vista

So here I am posting from Vista. Vista is pretty enough... but I'm making this post as I try to figure out why SONAR 7 Producer Edition keeps crashing. I'm trying to produce the radio program I work on each week and so having SONAR crash is not all that helpful. For the last year I've been using Audacity under Linux. There are limits, and you have to know what you're doing with the audio in order to make it sound good. In my case, most things have been trial and error so I haven't always had a great sound product at the end of the day. SONAR was supposed to fix this because it has a lot of automatic processing that would take the guess work out of my work...

Unfortunately the show will be SILENT if I can't get SONAR to work.

Realizing Deliverance Is Not Enough

I started this blog in Sept 2005 almost a month after my life finally flew apart. I was still too proud to admit, or probably even know what was going on. God had allowed me to be put down to the lowest position I had ever know or imagined, and I still thought I had something to instruct people on. God in His Grace allowed me to write away because though I didn't dare admit it at the time, for the first time He really had my attention and I was actually studying. And that's the way things have proceeded really for the last couple of years. I learned stuff, and like any child I was sure I was the first one who ever "figured it out" and each new thing was most amazing to me. Now when I see others in this same period I see the beauty and wonder of God doing His stuff... but I do have to blush as I think of myself there. I'm even trying to imagine how this paragraph will sound to me next year, I'm trying to be hopeful that I'll be just as embarrassed by it.

So now it's what about 2.5 years later. Full deliverance has not been realized for me yet. Daily I pray for it. But for months now there has been a new growing realization in my prayer-life, and study, even in the fellowship I enjoy. Deliverance, by it's self, is not enough.

Key the dramatic music right? I mean what a mellow dramatic post so far! Not even. I'm telling you God has allowed incredible pain and suffering in my life and that of my family for some time now. He's sustained us through it, even prospered us beyond what makes any kind of sense to the natural mind. He's been showing me, and other men around me, that His presence can be the only desirable end result of any importance. See if God had set me free in Oct of 2005, I wouldn't know Him half as well as I do now.. OK let's be honest I frankly would hardly know Him at all. I surely would not be thirsty for His tangible presence in my life. And His purpose would not have been accomplished. We've all heard it quoted many times, for many reasons. But listen to the Lord again with me now. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The Lord's emphasis is on the giving of Life. Not the removing of peril. What would it look like if He just came, died on the Cross was buried and rose again up to heaven and left us here to live simply free of our sin debt? Would we have life? Or would we still be as lonely, broken and confused as ever with no hope or purpose? Even if we were freed from the wages of sin, would we not still be desperately thirsty if the freedom didn't come also with the free gift of God? What is Eternal Life? John 17:3 says And this is Eternal Life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. The word translated "know" is the Greek word ginosko and it's a deep knowledge with experience. Such is Eternal Life. It's not just the absence of death, it's experiencing God, relating with Him.

Another often quoted verse is this; Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. The Helper is the Holy Spirit, sent by God the Son to dwell with us forever. The Lord was on His way to the Cross to suffer the debt payment for the cost of our sin. He was going to die in our place, so that we could live instead of die. The expectation He wanted us to have was - look what is coming for you! Not - Look what you can now avoid! Oh precious truth that because He died and rose again, any who call on Him can avoid making their own just payment for sin. But the Lord's promise was of better things! Of living with and in Him! Any who are thirsty are offered free access to drink the Living Water.

Above I asked what it would look like if the Lord had only delivered us from our sin. He describes it Himself in Mat 12:43-45

43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

If one is simply cleaned out of the things they have done and the things they are suffering and they remain empty they will suffer even worse things later! Deliverance is not enough.

All of this is posted here in hopes that you can start thinking past your present situation, and your future. Listening to a preacher last night left me with this true little tidbit. Hope is future, faith is present and love is eternal. The Apostle Paul said "But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. We are told what love is through the Cross, as the Apostle John says in 1 John 4:10. Hope is future, it is sure because of the sure faith we have right now. True hope can only be built on present faith. For faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

So I will continue to pray for deliverance as is well and good to do. But more than deliverance I will now pray for His tangible presence in my life. Deliverance is not enough because it is not freedom from death and situations that we ought seek, but Eternal Life.

Expelled!

I'm looking forward to this movie, for some of the same reasons stated over at NeoFundamentalist.

Here's a response about the movie. I like some of the early comments "It's pure creationist propaganda. It's got all the familiar trademarks, ah... total lack of the understanding of science and the scientific enterprise...deliberately misleading claims and distortions of facts..and.. and dishonest tactics through and through." This statement ends at 42 seconds into the video clip.

At 44 seconds in the person admits "Now, I haven't seen the movie yet because it's not out." This is just plain funny. Of course presupposition blinds us all if we let it. This person has decided what this movie is and what's in it before he's even seen it. That's kinda like the sort of "science" that leads to "proof" of Evolution.

As for if Creation Scientists understand science and the "scientific enterprise" I suggest contacting the schools and organizations that have credentialed these scientists to speak with them about it.

I have only commented on the portion of the video I have actually watched. I found it so amusing I couldn't wait... sorry. :) I'm looking forward to other's comments on these two vids. I'll post more in the comments myself if I find the rest of this video as amusing as the 1st minute is.

A quick note about April Fools Day

Proverbs 26:18-19

Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, “I was only joking!”

Did you take part in April Fools Day? Now that you know it probably wasn't the wisest thing for you to do I would be remiss if I did not offer you the solution to the problem you've just realized you have.

Why Does God Allow Satan To Exist?

Here's an answer to a question I received recently. I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Here are the questions;

If God is in control of Satan and is more powerful than God why did He let Satan exist in the first place?

Why does God allow Satan to roam the world destroying lives?

Here's the answer I gave;

Thank you for passing this question on to us. They are valid, and common. I have to admit I've been back and forth on what to cover to help you all. Seriously, there are people who have devoted years of their lives to studying and writing on the topics of Angelology and Demonology.(Demons are simply Angels that followed Satan in his rebellion in Heaven). After spending a couple weeks with this question, I really hope this answer will satisfy and inform. There is a great deal of information about Angels (and so demons) here. To answer your questions I'm going to have to build a bit of a foundation.

You'll need a Bible with you, if you've received this and don't have one beside you visit http://www.biblegateway.com/ where you'll be able to read the passages I reference for free.

Angels worshiped God and served Him before God created Time. Satan also "fell" or rebelled before Time. We are not told why God allowed an Angel who would rebel against Him to exist in the first place but it does seem to be God's character to honor any freedom and/or authority He gives. God, as evidenced by His interaction with mankind, seems to want worship from beings who want to love Him. This by definition leaves room for rebellion, because some of these beings may not want to love Him.

To understand why God allows Satan to continue to exist right now we must understand what happened the moment Satan rebelled, and the demons with him. Satan's fall is recorded in Isaiah 14:12-15, and we also see his foreordained destruction. This occurred in Heaven and Satan's rebellion even made Heaven unclean as recorded in Job 15:15.Heaven became unclean because of sin, and there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood as we find in Hebrews 9:22. So from before time, redemption had to occur in order for God to have a pure dwelling place.

We know that God purposed for this redemption to happen before He ever created the world. In fact, since God can not lie Titus 1:2 and the things He says will occur Isaiah 46:9-10 when God says something it is as good as having already happened. Thus we see that Christ was crucified since before Time began. We know this because Rev 13:8 says so, and also because God defines how He has shown His love towards us as having given Christ on the Cross for our sins, and that He loved us before Time. 1 John 4:9-10 and John 14:24.

So far the we see that Satan's rebellion made Heaven unclean and that God so planned to redeem His creation since before Time by using Christ's sacrifice as a propitiation or appeasement for all sin as the basis of forgiveness and redemption. There is an incredible book on God's plan for History, with a special focus on future History or Prophecy called "Maranatha: Our Lord, Come!: A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church" This book will explain the concept of a "kinsman redeemer" which is a member of the family who can repurchase land that a person has given away. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer, and the redemption price is His own blood. In Genesis 3 we see the recounting of the History of man giving away the authority and ownership of the world that God gave us to Satan. The Lord had to become a family member (a kinsman) and to do that He had to become a human being, and pay the redemption price in order to "redeem" all of Creation back to Him.

This gets us to the part of your question we experience every time we look around our little world. Why does God continue to allow Satan to exist and cause problems. Is it because God has been overpowered by Satan? Surely not. No, God is a gentleman, and He can not lie.Revelation 3:20 So He will not go against the authority that He has given Adam over this world. Adam surrendered that authority to Satan in the Garden of Eden. In 2 Peter 3:9 The Apostle Peter is answering a question similar to yours about God. See, if God came back today to judge Satan and destroy him, God would have to judge and destroy all of Satan's family. His family is made up not only of the demons who followed him in rebellion, but every single unsaved person over all history. The Lord indicates that the unsaved are part of Satan's family in John 8:44. But as the Apostle Peter explains God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance and faith in His Son Jesus Christ. We see that the Lord's current program for the Church will carry on until the "times of the gentiles are fulfilled" in Luke 21:24. God is not going to stop saving Christians until the last one is saved, and then He will be finished and the gate will be closed leaving those who thought they had forever to choose waiting outside the gate. Luke 13:22-30

The reason why God allows Satan to continue to exist and cause so much suffering in the world is actually His incredible mercy. The Apostle Paul tells us that today's sufferings do not even compare to the glory of Heaven. Romans 8:18 God allows suffering now, because suffering fora while is better than suffering for all eternity in the Lake of Fire,which is what would happen to every single unsaved person if God came to judge Satan today. Revelation 20:15 God has also provided for our Eternal Salvation in Christ Jesus, there is no reason why anyone has to live in this life with no hope. God has provided for our Salvation as we read in the Gospel of Jesus Christ 1 Cor 15:1-11 and so anyone who will call on Him can be assured of Eternal Life in a place of unspeakable glories with Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Romans10:13

It is the thing that makes very little sense to the world, to people who haven't met Jesus yet, and surely to Satan and his demons. Satan tempted the demons, and mankind with his evil desires. We fell and became guilty. We deserve to die eternally for our own rebellion against God. If God were not the God He is, Satan would have won an incredible victory. He would have stolen all of Creation from God.See, Satan was counting on God being a God of Justice and Vengeance only. And as much as God is those things, Satan never saw that God is Love as well. That God so loved mankind that He sent His only begotten Son to come, humble Himself to the point of taking on our own sins and die in our place on the Cross. John 3:16 Philippians 2 Satan couldn't imagine that kind of humility and love, because he is a self-serving liar.

I hope this is enough of an answer for you to understand that it is God's mercy towards us that stops Him from destroying Satan today.This restraint will not last forever. Judgment Day is coming and you can be absolutely sure that Justice will be served, because God Who cannot lie has said it will be done.

My desire, and my return.

I learned to play a new song over the last few days and my heart cries out as I play it. It's Jeremy Camp's "My Desire"

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind

You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the King

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire to be used by You

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
And I know my heart is to feel You near
And I know my life
It's to do Your will
It's to do Your will

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire, to be used by You
Oo yea
This is my desire, this is my desire
To be used by You

All my life I have seen
Where You've taken me
Beyond all I have hoped
And there's more left unseen

There's not much I can do to repay all You've done
So I give my hands to use

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire, to be used by You
Oo yea
This is my desire, this is my desire
To be used by You

The Cross Current Ministry Website

TCC equips the Church to engage the culture, and now we have the "Church" website up and running. You may be familiar with our outreach website www.thecrosscurrent.ca where you can find such things as info about our latest radio broadcast, or events such as the recent debate we participated in.

Check out www.thecrosscurrent.net to see how we work with local assemblies to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Here's a video of Cory (the founder and host of the radio show) introducing the ministry.

Free Grace Alliance statement on the Gospel

UPDATE AUG 2010: This post seems to be getting a lot of traffic all of the sudden. I have long since joined the FGA myself, as they have come to clarity on the issue of dealing with the GES and the FGA stance on the Gospel is true.

Lou's made a post at his blog about the FGA Executive Council's statement on the Gospel. You can read it here. The part about the Gospel is this;

The Executive Council also issued the following official statement:

“The FGA’s mission is always and everywhere to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when we preach the gospel. We encourage every member of the FGA to be fervent and faithful to preach that message. Within the membership of the FGA there has been discussion about the minimum one must understand to be saved. Regardless of a person’s convictions, believers are called to preach the gospel, not the minimum.”

Please continue to pray for and support the FGA and join us in following the Executive Council's charge to "always and everywhere proclaim the death and resurrection" of God's Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ as we preach the gospel at home and abroad.

And now my thought by thought response:

The FGA’s mission is always and everywhere to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when we preach the gospel.

His death for our sins and resurrection IS the Gospel. 1 Cor 15:1-11. You can not "preach the Gospel" without preaching His death and resurrection. This statement shows they have slipped past the safety line in their theological thinking.

We encourage every member of the FGA to be fervent and faithful to preach that message

Huh? They "encourage" members to preach the Gospel? Did the Lord leave us any choice in this matter? Mark 16:14-20

Within the membership of the FGA there has been discussion about the minimum one must understand to be saved.

God GAVE us the Apostles to clear this whole "discussion" up. 1 Cor 15:11 Eph 1:13-14

Regardless of a person’s convictions, believers are called to preach the gospel, not the minimum.

If a person's convictions are something other than the Gospel then they need to be disciplined (if they actually are a Christian) or witnessed to. Period.

Please continue to pray for and support the FGA and join us

I can do no such thing. The Love of the Lord constrains me to pray for them to repent. And for the Spirit's protection on believers who might be exposed to this.

following the Executive Council's charge to ‘always and everywhere proclaim the death and resurrection’ of God's Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ as we preach the gospel at home and abroad.

Again, as before, His death for our sins and resurrection IS the Gospel. You don't preach this "as" you preach the Gospel. It is it.

It scares me to see former defenders of the faith loose their way. I know God will be glorified and my prayer is that we will see that glory come!

The Passing of Perry F. Rockwood

Perry F. Rockwood died this Friday at about 5pm here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Years ago my very good friend attended Perry's church, the Missionary Bible Church. It was then that I first started to hear of the incredible faith of this man, and God's faithfulness towards and through him in ministry. I even got to sit under his preaching one Sunday morning.

Perry ministered around the world through The People's Gospel Hour (PGH) and each month he started with nothing but the faith that God would provide. He would travel internationally and broadcast PGH on Christian and secular radio stations all over the place.

Last August, his grandson in-law, who is a close friend of mine took me to see the PGH operation. I was able to speak with Perry for a bit about how they ran the radio program, why they chose the stations they did, how the ministry was structured and how they created and provided resources. It was an incredibly valuable experience. Even just Saturday of one week ago that meeting with him was referenced in a radio ministry meeting as we discussed our direction and plans.

At the time I met him Perry was 90 years old, but more spry and enthusiastic about the Lord, the Bible and Ministry than most men I know in their 2o's and 30's. He spoke of the importance of Salvation, with such intensity and dedication. The protection of the Gospel with passion. And the King James Bible as the "only presserved Word of God for today." On that last point he and I differ, but the man was completely sold on the doctrine. Perry's integrety would not allow him to back off from anything he was convinced to be true. I don't share his view on the King James Bible, but I really ought to share his view and dedication to integrety. It's funny that this morning's broadcast of PGH was a message on the King James Bible. It's almost like Perry is getting his last poke in on the topic, and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it. He was a forceful man in life, and his legacy will be the same no doubt.

Sitting with friends last night I heard that after a battle with cancer that Perry died on Friday evening. I immediately called his grandson in-law and left a message. I'm told that he praised the Lord and preached the Gospel constantly through the days he was in the hospital. Well done, good and faithful servant are the words I can almost hear Our Lord say of this.

Perry is right this instant in a place of unspeakable Glory, and peace. The struggle with sin and temptation is now over for him. He will spend the rest of eternity basking in the Light of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And knowing Him as he has been known by Him, with no more barrier to his view of the Lord. I'm terribly sorry for our loss, but oh so very greatful for Perry's gain. I can hardly wait to join him.

Visualizing The Consistency of Scripture

Chris Harrison created an incredible (to me anyway) looking visual representation of cross references in the Bible. The thing that stands out to me when I look at this picture is how interlinked Scripture is. Besides the fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the way Scripture is copied eliminates the idea of the Bible changing over time, this picture shows how changes would stand out like a sore thumb! Here's a quote explaining this visualization.

The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect.

Beyond my depth

So I'm working through the grammar of Eph 2:8 with respect to what exactly is "the Gift of God." There are two options which seem more reasonable than the rest to me. That would be that "ye are saved" or that "ye are saved by Grace through Faith".

Darby seems to render it as I understand the doctrine, and the underlying Text "For ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift"

That is to say the subject is "ye are saved" and that both "this" and "it" refer back to this subject. The problem comes with the gender and number of the Greek words, such that there is the potential for conflict between plural/singular and masculine/feminine/neuter.

Right now I'm digging into the website www.ntgreek.org for some insight.

Here is a copy of a forum post that shows where my thinking is (including my questions) right this instance.

Each sentence must have a subject, www.ntgreek.org says "The subject of a sentence is a word or a group of words about which something can be said or asserted. It must be a noun or a group of words functioning as a substantive. " and of a substantive "A substantive is a noun, pronoun, or any word functioning like a noun. This could include such items like an adjective, participle, or infinitive used as the subject or a direct object of the sentence. A substantive may be one word or a group of words."

sozo is a participle, and described by www.blueletterbible.org as a "verbal-noun" that is plural and masculine. (the noun soteria is feminine does this affect the gender of the sentence since sozo is a participle?)

It would see to me that "ye are saved" is the "subject" of the sentence. It is the group of words about which something can be said or asserted.

And if this is the subject, then doesn't it follow that touto and doron refer back to it - este sozo?

If it could refer to the varied genders and numbers of "by grace through faith salvation" then why not to the "ye are saved"?

Updates will be in the comments