Letters That Witness to Our Lord – Page 2

Ridiculing Conspiracy Theorists

Dear Editor

I got a kick out of your editorial entitled “Blown Away Blueways – When Conspiracies Flood the Land”. After disparaging “conspiracy theorists” as “tin-foil hats”, you cite several instances in which they were ultimately vindicated: Benghazi, the IRS scandal, Operation Fast and Furious, and “If you like your health plan, you can keep it”. If the mainstream media would do its job of investigative journalism instead of reporting as news the story line of whoever happens to be in power, the gap between what most people believe and the news headlines would not be so great.

By the way, John F. Kennedy stated: “For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day. It is a system that has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific, and political operations”.

So which is it – 1) this is all baloney and JFK is a tin-foil hat conspiracy theorist, 2) you truly are oblivious to this, or 3) you are part of the game?

Secondly, I was interested in your editorial: “Change: It happens”, about the military changing rules about hair length and head coverings. While your insights were useful about the changing times, you IGNORE the greatest story impacting our U.S. military – Obama firing over 250 of our top military leaders. Just google that topic, and you will see a lot of articles, or you can take a look at these articles:

http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/01/10/the-mother-of-all-false-flag-attacks/

http://thecommonsenseshow.com/2014/01/05/would-you-prefer-a-civil-war-or-world-war-three/

This is huge, and you would rather write about hair length and head coverings! This brings me back to the question stated above – are you oblivious to this, or are you part of the game?

Best regards,

Religion vs. Science

“The Bible is about religion, but science is a separate category.” (Quote from an editorial)

Response: Rather than viewing Christianity and science as two separate realms that have nothing to do with each other, or even compete, it is more useful to see how Christianity and science are different, but complement one another. Christianity claims that the sovereign, living God of the universe created the heavens and earth, and many of the earliest scientists saw science as a way to learn more about God’s creation. The following questions help us see how Christianity and science intersect, and how godless evolution is in conflict with both:

Occam’s Razor, a problem-solving principle devised by William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) states that among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions (i.e. the most direct and simplest) should be selected. Other, more complicated solutions may ultimately prove correct, but—in the absence of certainty—the fewer assumptions that are made, the better.

Using Occam’s Razor as a guideline (check all that apply)

1) If a frog turns into a prince, is it:

___a) Magic

___b) Science (you just have to wait a long time – evolution in action)

___c) Other:____________________________________

2) The Bible, written by 40 authors with widely differing occupations from 3 continents over 1,500 years, tells an integrated story that is woven together in a progressive story of human life, with God’s involvement over the centuries, including dozens of prophecies that are fulfilled. This unity is:

___a) by chance – the books just happen to have a common theme and story, and the prophecies just happened to have been fulfilled,

___b) the Roman Catholic Church commissioned all of this work to be done, and pulled it together,

___c) there was a common author (the Holy Spirit), who inspired and guided the writing of the books of the Bible,

___d) other:___________________________________

3) Over 130 cultures have stories / myths in their history that they are descendants of a family who was saved in a boat from a world-wide flood. This is best explained by:

___a) chance – it just happened that way. Their cultures also probably have stories about dogs as well.

___b) as evolution is based on the premise that every change must be advantageous to the organism for it to be adopted, there is a survival advantage to all cultures that developed the flood story versus those that didn’t.

___c) Noah really did build an ark, the Bible story is true, and these stories/myths are exactly what we would expect.

___d) other:_____________________________________

4) If we were hiking through the Black Hills and came upon Mount Rushmore, we would logically conclude that:

___a) it happened by chance – just a fluke of nature and erosion over time,

___b) it is a sign of design and intelligence; that one or more persons created it,

___c) some creature from outer space created it,

___d) other:_____________________________________

5) The human brain is more complex than the largest supercomputer ever developed. It came from:

___a) A long time ago, there was this thing that exploded, and some of the stuff that exploded joined together (all by itself) into order – tremendous order. Then it came alive (also all by itself), and eventually became a human being with a brain. Of course this took a long time. This is called “science”, and just goes to show what can happen if you wait long enough.

___b) Intelligence; design reflects intelligence, and tremendous design reflects tremendous intelligence. We were created by the sovereign, living God who was there, and tells us about it in the Bible, which He inspired. (Which would explain why an Intelligent Design movement is emerging, led by former evolutionary scientists.)

___c) We came from outer space (which raises another question – when we were in outer space, where did we come from?)

___d) Other:_____________________________________

6) The assumption that the origin of the universe and life as we know it is from material causes:

___a) is scientific – we can prove that natural causes were the forces that led to the universe, and that there was no super-natural cause involved.

___b) is a philosophical presupposition that cannot be proven scientifically because the origins of the universe and life were not observed by human beings and cannot be replicated.

___c) is false. The origin of the universe and life can only be truly known by observation, and only God was there to observe it. He then revealed this in the Bible.

___d) is fundamental to Marx’s theory of scientific materialism (which has led to the deaths of hundreds of millions of people)

___e) other:______________________________________

7) Jesus was:

___a) a great teacher, and perhaps even a prophet, but not the Son of God.

___b) either who He said He was – the Son of God and part of the eternal triune God, or a false teacher and imposter, who claimed to be someone who He was not,

___c) who He said He was – the son of the sovereign, living God (which is why Simon Greenleaf, the nation’s greatest legal scholar on rules of evidence, ultimately converted from Judaism to Christianity, compelled by the evidence before him.)

___d) other:_____________________________________

8) Life or existence beyond the grave is:

___a) clearly beyond the reach of science,

___b) not beyond the reach of science if we could just figure out how someone could observe it and come back and tell about it,

___c) beginning to give us clues. Dr. Maurice Rawlings was a non-Christian cardiologist who lost many patients. As his medical skills improved, he was able to bring many of them back from the dead. About half of them did not want to come back, as they were experiencing great bliss. The other half were absolutely terrified that they were die again and once experience what they described as hell.

___c) other:_____________________________________

Best regards,

Pretty Cool to Design Your Own Religion

“My religion is a religion of love and my god is a god of love”.

Response: You seem to describe a “designer religion” – the notion that each of us can fashion our own god or gods to suit our wishes and desires. We thus create god in our own image. Here are some clues about choosing (or designing) our own gods:

Did your god create the heavens and earth, or did it all just happen by itself?

Some religions, like Hinduism, are based on evolution. And yet there are 10,000 scientists in this country who see evolution as an unproven theory, with stronger evidence for creation than evolution. An example is the fossil record, within which the missing links are still missing. (By the way, both creation scientists and evolutions embrace micro-evolution, such as changes in moths or birds. It is on macro-evolution – the notion that a whale can evolve to a bear – where they disagree.) There is even an emerging Intelligent Design movement of scientists who have abandoned evolution because the evidence of intelligence in design is too compelling to ignore.

Where do you want to end up after this life on earth?

Every religion has a distinctly different ending for life. So you might consider the following:

“Good” Moslem men go to paradise with 73 virgins and “bad” Moslem men go to hell;
Hindus believe that the end their life on earth leads to being reincarnated as a person, animal, or perhaps a mosquito, and (hopefully) eventually escaping reincarnation to become one with the All;
Mormons – get their own planet if they are good Mormons;
Atheists – turn into a pile of ashes and are buried or blown away by the wind;
Christians – go to heaven to be with the Lord; those who reject Christ and His offer of eternal life spend eternity in Hades; and
Universalism – everyone gets to go to heaven, whether they want to or not.

NOTE: These different perspectives raise these provocative questions:

Are they all true? (Is it even possible for all of them to be true?)
On what basis do you assume that we get to select the ending we want (paradise with virgins, have our own planet, one with the all, go to heaven to be with the Lord, etc.)?
Are there clues as to which of these is most likely to be the truth?

Have you considered the evidence for Christianity:
The Bible: Written by 40 authors with widely differing occupations from 3 continents over 1,500 years, the Bible tells an integrated story that is woven together in a progressive story of human life, with God’s involvement over the centuries. This unity is evidence of a common author (the Holy Spirit), who inspired and guided the writing of the books of the Bible, in contrast to other religions.

Fulfilled prophecy – Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection fulfilled dozens of prophecies, the odds of which happening by chance are truly astronomical.

The Flood – Over 130 cultures have stories / myths in their history that they are descendants of a family who was saved in a boat from a world-wide flood. This is best explained by the story of Noah – that he really did build an ark, the Bible story is true, and these stories/myths are exactly what we would expect. This is in contrast to evolution, which claims that a fish can turn into a bear if we just wait long enough.

Vast archaeological evidence that testifies to the historicity of the Old and New Testaments, rather than being merely an inspiring book authored by a charismatic religious or cult leader. There have even been expeditions that have found Noah’s Ark, and brought back physical evidence of the ark’s existence.

Evidence Consistent With Rules of Evidence – From a legal perspective, what does the evidence tell us? Simon Greenleaf was the nation’s greatest legal scholar on rules of evidence, with his work known as the standard for rules of evidence, even by the U.S. Supreme Court. A person of Jewish descent, Greenleaf was challenged by his students to examine the evidence for whether or not Jesus Christ was indeed the savior of mankind, or a great imposter. He accepted the challenge, and after much study, became a Christian, compelled by the evidence before him.

Coming Back From the Dead – Evidence comes from many different sources. Dr. Maurice Rawlings was a non-Christian cardiologist who lost many patients. As his medical skills improved, he was able to bring many of them back from the dead. About half of them did not want to come back, as they were experiencing great bliss. About half of them were absolutely terrified that they were to die again and once experience hell.

A Personal Relationship with the Sovereign, Living God of the Universe

Christianity is unique in that it offers the opportunity for a personal relationship with the sovereign, living God, unlike other religions. The sovereign, living God of the universe created us in His image, with the capacity and yearning to know Him and walk in His ways. The Word of God reveals that He knows each of us, that He created each of us with unique gifts and talents, and that we have a purpose in our lives. Furthermore, we will never experience true joy and peace (that transcends circumstances) unless we discover and live to carry out that purpose. Have you discovered your purpose or mission in your life?

The central question for designer religions: Anyone can develop a philosophy or religion – a conceptual framework for life and what happens after we die.

But what is the source of their knowledge?
Did they receive some revelation from the sovereign, living God about life and death (the only true authority about life and death), or did they just make it up?
If you take a little from this religion and a little from that religion, to create a new (synthetic) religion, is it valid?
Does your explanation for your eternal destiny explain what will really happen when you die? The stakes are very high, as eternity is a very long time.

Political Solutions to Spiritual Problems

“If we could only get the right people in Washington, our nation could be turned around.”

Response: There are many pundits and political animals who contend that the real battle today in our nation is between Democrats and Republicans, or perhaps the establishment parties vs. the Tea Party. Is that really true that the profound challenges facing our nation are merely political in nature, and therefore can be solved by getting the right people into office?

Perhaps, but ultimately the leaders of our nation reflect the values of our citizens. We elect people who espouse our vision for America, and we vote out those who don’t share our vision, or are inept at implementing that vision. Look at what has happened in our nation in recent years:

The seven leading problems in public schools in the 1940s were chewing gum, talking, running in the hallways, making noise, getting out of place in line, wearing improper clothing, and not putting paper in wastebaskets. Seventy years later, the seven leading problems have become alcohol abuse, drug abuse, pregnancy, rape, suicide, arson/bombing, and assault/burglary. We’ve gone from gum chewing and talking to rape and school bombing. But what do we expect when we teach our kids they are just smart animals?
Our nation has engaged in continuous warfare against other nations, promoting regime change in multiple countries (such as Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Ukraine, Syria, and Iran) and killing millions of innocent people (over 1 million people have died in Iraq because of “weapons of mass destruction”).
Our political leaders have created a federal debt that is so massive, it will never be repaid, and will burden our children and grandchildren for generations to come.
Over 50 million unborn babies have lost their lives since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This is the equivalent to an atomic bomb wiping out the population of the states of New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Jersey.
Our nation promotes abortion and homosexuality in our foreign policy, often tying foreign aid to other nations’ willingness to adopt policies supporting these practices (Kenya is just one example).
President Obama, the most pro-homosexual president in our history, was re-elected, in part due to a solid voting bloc of Christians.
He also stated that we are no longer a Christian nation, and “the future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam”.
Over 30 states (and many churches) have now embraced homosexual marriage, in spite of the Biblical admonitions against homosexuality.
When the planes hit the World Trade Towers on 9-11, the response from the American people was righteous indignation, almost a demand that “God bless America”, and a religious service for our leaders in the Washington cathedral that featured leaders from Christian, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. Incredible. The most prestigious center of commerce and our defense establishment are attacked by unknown forces, and we respond with the religion of universalism! What did not happen was the people of our nation crying out to God, repenting of our sins, and seeking the protection and guidance from the sovereign, living God of the universe.

So it appears that we have the leadership that we want, and are moving along the path we have chosen.

From the Word of God we read:

“For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?” I Peter 4:17

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” II Chronicles 7:14

The Word does not say “if you elect the right person to be your leader”, or “if all of the people”; it says “If My people will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways…”

We need to repent, to turn back to the Lord, and pray for our nation, for God is just.

Only Science Can Explain the World and Reality

“Only science can explain the world and reality. Everyone else, particularly those who believe in religion, are holding on to mythological systems, without adequate proof.”

Response: Very interesting. You have staked out a world view that is different from everyone else’s, and at the same time claim it is not a belief system, and that everybody else is holding to “mythological systems” without adequate proof. So in reality, you hold to a set of beliefs, like everyone else’s. You just claim it is not a set of beliefs. Like having your cake and eat it too.

Perhaps you have heard this story of the end times: everyone is on this big field, with Satan on one end and Jesus on the other. There is a fence that goes through the middle of the field. Satan says: “That one is mine”, and picks a person out of the crowd. Jesus says: “That one is mine”, and picks another person out of the crowd. This continues until there is one guy left, who is sitting on the fence. Satan says: “You’re mine.” The guy protests, claiming that he is sitting on the fence, and therefore Satan has no claim over him. Satan replies: “I own the fence.”

You are the guy on the fence, claiming to be unbiased (by “mythological systems”). And people are starting to gather in the field…

Best regards,

Only Love, Caring, Justice, Joy, and Truth Will Endure

“Those aspects of life actually are all that endure in the largest perspective when they are made with eternity in mind…. Those acts include love, caring, justice, giving, forgiving, fairness, kindness, selflessness, joy, and truth. That’s why every religion values those qualities.”

Response: I am a fan of yours, and always enjoy reading your column. But I did want to respond to your recent column entitled: “Leaving a Mark”.

You mentioned that “those aspects of life actually are all that endure in the largest perspective when they are made with eternity in mind…. Those acts include love, caring, justice, giving, forgiving, fairness, kindness, selflessness, joy, and truth.”

I am in full agreement that having eternity in mind enriches our lives and those around us as we carry out our lives. However from a Christian perspective, the largest perspective would really be eternity – heaven and hell, and how we have assisted people move toward the former (or not). So we could treat people very well, but if we don’t help them see Jesus and learn about eternal life, we will not have helped them in the long run. And eternity is a very long time. As they burn in hell, they may remember how kindly we have treated them, but wonder why we did not introduce them to the sovereign, living God of the Bible and His Son Jesus Christ, who alone saves men and women unto eternity.

By the way, Maurice Rawlings is a cardiologist who discovered that about half of his patients that he revived from death came back screaming for him to save them, as they were in hell. Very interesting, as it directly contradicts liberal seminaries, which often teach that hell does not exist.

“Those acts include love, caring, justice, giving, forgiving, fairness, kindness, selflessness, joy, and truth. That’s why every religion values those qualities.”

Response: Is this really true? The Bible is clear that there were other religions in place at the time of the Old and New Testaments, and they were condemned by prophets in the Old Testament and Christ and His apostles in the New Testament:

Moses directly confronted the spiritual leaders of Egypt, who espoused another religion. He could have said: “I know we have the same values, so I wish you well.” No, he rejected their religion and their gods, and each of the plagues brought upon the Egyptians demonstrated that their gods were impotent against the God of the children of Israel.
There are many other examples of the prophets of the sovereign, living God of the universe rejecting pagan gods in the Old Testament and their practices such as sacrificing their children by passing them through the fire. (Similar to abortion today – over 50 million unborn babies to the gods of convenience, lifestyle, and reputation.) The Judeo-Christian respect for human life as created in the image of God and of a higher order than animals is unique.
The New Testament is also full of examples of Christ and His disciples rejecting other religions. Christ clearly taught that the (Talmudic) Judaism taught be the Pharisees and Sadducees was insufficient to go to heaven. He told Nicodemus, a Pharisee, that he must be born again to go to heaven.
When Paul spoke to the Greek philosophers in Athens, he noted that they had statues to many gods, then expounded on their “unknown god”, making the case that their unknown god was really the God of the Bible. These were professional, hardened, skeptical philosophers, and yet he found a way to reach them. But he did not reach them on the basis of shared values.
Finally, Jesus stated: “I am the way, the truth, and the light; no one goes to the Father but through Me.” John 14:6 This claim to exclusivity is either true or false; there is no middle ground. He was either who he said he was – the Son of the sovereign, living God, or a false teacher and charlatan.

“Each of us finds ways to weave and wind through the time we spend here. Many turn to religion in an effort to connect with the signal. I’ve chosen Christianity. I’ve also had friends of the Jewish faith. Others over the years have become followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, all seeking the higher frequency.”

Response: You imply that different religions are merely different ways to reach the same goal (“the higher frequency”), sort of like a bicycle, motorcycle, car, or truck are all equally valid ways to travel to Memphis.

As the Bible describes multiple gods in both the Old Testament and New Testament, it follows that everyone who worshipped a “god” back then was not necessarily worshipping the God of the Bible. A closer look at religions today reveals that not only is the nature of their gods quite different from the God of the Bible, but their eternal destinations are also quite different. They don’t all go to heaven, but to other places. Here are just three examples:

Mormons believe that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers, and Jesus was more successful at persuading the council of gods that he should go to earth and represent them than Lucifer. So god the father came to earth, had physical sex with Mary, and Jesus was born. Furthermore, if you are good Mormon, you and your wife(s) get your own planet when you die, where you procreate new spirit babies that are then born on earth, just one aspect of reaching godhood.
Hinduism is also polytheistic, and if you are a good Hindu, after some reincarnations, you escape the wheel of samsara (reincarnation), and become one with the Atman – the All. Similar to a drop of water falling into the ocean, the person then loses all personal identity.

Furthermore, the positive traits that you mentioned: “love, caring, justice, giving, forgiving, fairness, kindness, selflessness, joy, and truth” are either absent or reinterpreted within the framework of Hinduism. For example, Hindus are known for not helping the poor in India because that would interfere with their karma. And their “truth” would include the perspective that Jesus was just one of many gods, and not even the main one.

Allah, the moon god, was one of the pagan deities worshipped by the people of Arabia prior to Mohammad arriving on the scene. When he promoted his monotheism to the polytheistic inhabitants of Mecca, they chased him out of town. He traveled to Medina, where he gathered his forces, came back and took over by deception and bloodshed. He was a pedophile, a murderer, and a marauder who institutionalized deception (called taqiyya) within Islam, a practice embraced by Muslim leaders today. Allah is not known for his love, and the only way you can be assured of going to paradise is if you die in jihad – religious war. If you are a good Moslem man, you go to Paradise, where you have your own harem of 72 beautiful virgins. (I don’t believe Muslim women end up with 72 handsome men). The hyper-sexed Islamic culture is evident in Saudi Arabia, home of Islam’s most holy sites, where women dare not venture out of their homes without male escorts, and then covered up with a burka, lest they tempt a man to take advantage of them. If a daughter or wife were to be raped, the father of the family would be duty-bound by Islam to kill her, thus restoring honor to the family.

These elements are fundamental to Islam, and not merely some radical sect of Islam. The “love, caring, justice, giving, forgiving, fairness, kindness, selflessness, joy, and truth” is largely absent within orthodox Islam. (I used to live with Moslems while in grad school in Missouri).

NOTE: Just one of the ways that Islam is profoundly different from Christianity is how it treats women as second class citizens, even as property. Ann Barnhardt is a brilliant, totally outspoken, former financial broker and devout Catholic who provides key insights into Islamic sexuality. You can see her analysis here (part 1 of 4 parts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2MelBr5VVE. Her videos provide great insight into the works of satan to destroy and pervert God’s ultimate creation – men and women, created in the image of God.

“Others over the years have become followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, all seeking the higher frequency.”

Response: You mentioned “the higher frequency”. By this do you mean there is some all-pervasive power that believers in religion can tap into? Sooner or later most believers in power religion (tapping a higher power) discover that the source of their power is ultimately Satan, who comes as an angel of light, and employs his minions and multiple religions to move us toward the creation of a one world religion, one world economy, one world currency, and one world government. By the way, we can see the foundation for this system now being established – economically, politically, socially, and religiously.

This is in direct contrast to Christians who live a life in the (Holy) Spirit, who worship and serve the sovereign, living God of the universe and His Son Jesus Christ, Who has sacrificed His life that we may be truly free. Furthermore, in contrast to religion, which are largely man-made belief systems, Christianity offers a personal relationship with the Lord. Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd and My sheep hear My voice.”

Further evidence of the uniqueness of Christianity:

The Bible is not a single book, but a collection of 63 books written by 40 different authors with widely differing occupations from 3 different continents over 1,500 years. And yet it portrays a common theme and a common message, indicating that it was inspired by a common source – the Holy Spirit. The common theme is that of a sovereign, living God who is holy, just, and merciful – a God who created a universe of beauty and design, who created man in his own image with the capacity for choice, and a plan for salvation that satisfies His nature and requirements for holiness, justice, and mercy.
Simon Greenleaf was the nation’s most eminent legal scholar on the rules of evidence, and the U.S. Supreme Court often referred to his books on tough cases. A Jew, Greenleaf occasionally would speak disparagingly about Christianity. When his students challenged him by asking if he had ever examined the evidence for Christianity, he replied that he had not, but agreed to do so. After several months of examining the evidence for Christianity, Greenleaf converted to Christianity, convinced that the evidence was so compelling, he had no other choice. A legal scholar, he rejected the religion of his upbringing for the truth and freedom of Christianity.
In the book “The Math of Christ”, retired U.S. Army Colonel Stephen M. Bauer identifies 40 prophecies from the Old Testament that have been fulfilled, and the odds that they have happened by chance. He discovered that the chances that these happened by chance is one chance in 1×10 to the 136^th power. Some scientists believe that the earth is 10 billion years old. Translating this into seconds, this would amount to a mere 4.8 x 10 to the 17^th power seconds. Among all religious, only Christianity has such a record of fulfilled prophecies.
An intelligent design movement has emerged from within the evolutionist

community (including some prominent evolutionary scientists). These scientists have come to the conclusion that the complexity of the universe cannot be explained by Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, but reveals evidence of intelligence – of design by a conscious being. All of which is totally consistent with the Biblical account of creation.

Stepping back and looking at these issues from an overall perspective, what difference does it make? The Bible not only articulates a world view and theology that is exclusive, it provides a strong admonition against those who teach other views:

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Galatians 1:6-9

We cannot serve both God and mammon. We will either love one and hate the other, or hate one and love the other.

I apologize for the length of this note to you. I would welcome the opportunity to continue this conversation – by e-mail or in person.

Best regards,

One Tamale Away From Eternity

Great to see you this past Saturday, and to go through the concealed carry permit class together. The class reinforced for me that we are just one heartbeat (or one bullet) away from eternity. One shot and we are no longer here. Very sobering.

I wanted to tell you about an experience I had several years ago in Mexico. I was invited to speak at a meeting of the Gorman-Rupp company, a company that makes all kinds of pumps. I was working in irrigation at that time for the University of Missouri, and they found my work with pumps to be interesting. The evening after the meeting, several of us traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, just across the border, to have dinner and watch dog races.

We were enjoying the evening, when three tables away we heard a great commotion. A man was standing, coughing, and gasping for breath, as some of his Mexican food had lodged in his windpipe. He turned two or three colors as he was frantically trying to breathe. Finally another man in his party performed the Heimlich maneuver on him, dislodging the Mexican food from his windpipe. As we witnessed a man who was facing eternity, it raised the question as to whether we have planned for eternity. We may think we will live for another 20-30 years, but in reality, we are just one tamale from eternity. Are you ready?

I appreciate your insights, your intelligence, and your friendship. Have a great week.

Final note: I recently shared this story with a non-Christian, from whom we purchased a piece of furniture. When I saw him two weeks later, I asked him if he had given thought to the story I told him. His response was: “Yes, I have. I had some tamales in the refrigerator, and I threw them away. And I haven’t eaten any since.”

No Nation Can Spend its Way Out of Debt

Dear Editor

I appreciate your pro-life perspective, which is consistent with choosing Life! I would like to respond to an editorial you wrote several days ago, in which you talked about the Republicans caving on their pledge to stop tax increases. Good point – sounds like they will cave on the principles they espoused. I like Bradley Gitz’s astute observation that if the Democratic party positions itself as Santa Claus and is giving out goodies to all of the children, it is hard for the Republican Party to be scrooge, reduce the goodies, and be popular among these same children. By the way, I am an Independent.

While you rightly pointed out the hypocrisy of the Republicans and their inability/unwillingness to stand up for their principles, you gave a pass to the Democrats – the party of the big spenders. While they give lip service to addressing the budget, their policies, such as the significant increase in spending brought about by Obamacare, are basically to keep spending, spending, and spending.

They sound like they are in league with the Federal Reserve, whose chairman stated that they will keep quantitative easing until unemployment decreases to 6%. Sounds like the sign in a corporate office: “The beatings will continue until morale improves”.

You passed on a golden opportunity (and responsibility) to address the fiscal issue head on, to point out that there is no nation in history that has ever been able to spend its way out of debt, particularly if the money being spent is being printed in the back room of the national bank. Why don’t you talk about Zimbabwe, Argentina, the Weimar Republic, and what happens when government expenditures significantly exceed the revenues year after year?

Surely you are not foolhardy enough to believe that the laws of economics and fiscal discipline can be bypassed, that this could never happen here, because America is special. Come on – take the high road. Tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. The light of truth signs brightest in the midst of great darkness, and you have the matches.

Best regards,

Nine Clues to Christianity

Great to see you again. I now recall the point I was going to make in discussing airline pilots and Secret Service personnel. They are the two professions that are experts at anticipating the future (because the stakes are so high for them). And they do it by looking for clues that tell them about the future that is emerging before their very eyes.

With a multitude of world views, philosophies, and religions competing for our attention, looking for clues can be very helpful in discerning the truth about life here on earth and whatever happens to us after we die. The multitude of religions make competing claims, so they cannot all be true. I have found the following clues to be most helpful in my spiritual journey. .

Clue #1: There are over 150 flood stories in different cultures, most of them describing a family that survived the flood in a boat.

Clue #2: The Chinese language is made of pictographs, and the Chinese word for boat is a ship with 8 people in it (Noah and his family were 8 people).

Clue #3: The Chinese word for flood is a picture of water covering the entire earth.

Clue #4: The Chinese word for forbidden shows two trees, and “God commands” underneath the tree (similar to the two trees in the Garden of Eden).

Clue #5: A cardiologist named Dr. Maurice Rawlings received a lot of patients who were in really bad shape. It was not uncommon that patients would die in his presence. Because of new medical treatments, he was able to bring many of them back to life. He was astonished to discover that about half of them didn’t want to come back because they were having some great experience, and the other half came back to life screaming that they didn’t want to die again because they were in hell.

Clue #6: Within evolutionary science circles, a new movement is emerging – the Intelligent Design Movement. It is a group of evolutionary scientists, some prominent, who have concluded that their scientific research reveals evidence of intelligence, that that we could not have evolved as described by Darwin. So they reject the evolutionist perspective that we are merely animals who evolved from non-life, and have no purpose in life.

Clue #7: In the book “The Math of Christ”, Stephen Bauer describes 40 different Old Testament prophecies that have been fulfilled, and then calculates that the chances that these happened by chance to be one chance in 10 to the 137^th power. To get some sense of the magnitude of these odds, if you covered the earth with silver dollars, one of which is painted red, and told your friend George, who is blind, to pick up the red one, the chances of George picking up the red one would be one chance in 10 to the 17^th power.

Clue #8: The Bible, written by 40 authors with widely differing occupations from 3 continents over 1,500 years, tells an integrated story that is woven together in a progressive story of human life, with God’s involvement over the centuries, including dozens of prophecies that are fulfilled. This unity is evidence of a common author (the Holy Spirit), who inspired and guided the writing of the books of the Bible, in contrast to other religions.

Clue #9: Christ’s apostles, largely uneducated men, were fearful cowards as they watched Christ’s arrest, torture, and crucifixion. And yet after they met the victorious Christ who had risen from the grave and overcame death itself, they became bold, powerful preachers of the Gospel that took on the Jewish establishment and the Roman Empire, spreading the good news of Christianity to the far reaches of the world, in spite of the suffering and death facing them on a regular basis.

When we follow the clues, they lead to the Lord.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8

Best regards,

Let’s Hear it for Humanism

“Naturalism or secular humanism is superior to Christianity as a belief system because it is less hypocritical, has greater faith, is more challenging, and is more daring”.

Response:

I agree that Christianity has the greatest hypocrisy, or at least the greatest potential for hypocrisy, compared to humanism. The standards set by the Lord for Christians are very high. We are called upon to love our enemies, to go the extra mile when called upon to go a mile (as you may know, this refers to the Roman soldiers commanding citizens to carry their heavy packs a mile), to feed the poor, and be willing to die for our Lord and for our spouses. We are also called upon to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. How many Christians really love their enemies? If Christians are really willing to die for their wives, why isn’t the divorce rate among Christians much less than that of non-Christians? (It is not). So the gap between the standard of behavior set by the Lord for Christians and those who profess to be Christians is large, at least in the U.S.

On the other hand, it seems that the standards of behavior set by naturalists would be more modest, perhaps even low. Secular humanists talk about fulfilling their potential, which seems like it would be easier to do – even a natural process. If there is no external standard – no standard set by an external entity, then we are free to set our own standards. Furthermore, what is a standard of behavior for one person need not be accepted by another. A consensus on how to live by some group does not hold sway over another group or individual. And there are many groups – which one should we choose? So if I am to develop a set of standards for my life – my moral code, I will likely set it low enough to be reached in my lifetime. Hence less hypocrisy.

I might add that the standard set by the Lord for Christians can only be achieved through supernatural means, as the righteousness of Christ is imputed to His followers. To carry this a step further, the Lord can work through us to do things that defy natural reason and transcend typical norms.

Second, naturalism/humanism is a religion of greater faith than Christianity. This is using the definition of religions as systems of ultimate beliefs. (The U.S. Supreme Court declared some years ago that secular humanism is a religion.) I agree – it takes more faith to believe that the incredible complexity and design of the universe, which is even more complex than a Boeing 747, came about by pure chance, than from some intelligence.

The Intelligent Design movement within the evolution community is problematic for evolutionary scientists, with prominent evolutionary scientists embracing intelligent design because the data drives them to it, and that nature, like Mount Rushmore, reveals evidence of intelligence, and intelligent design.

Third, the most daring persons are naturalists – humanists. I always think of Christopher Columbus, or Lewis and Clark as daring explorers, because they traveled to unknown lands with limited supplies and imperfect maps. The most they could lose were their lives on this earth. However, the journey beyond the grave is the ultimate journey.

Naturalists facing death with no certainty of what lies ahead, other than perhaps through speculative philosophy, are truly acts of daring. And if naturalists are wrong, they will experience an eternal life of suffering, which I would wish on no person. Christianity not only describes the next life and the different destinations in the next life; it also describes how to get to heaven. This is confirmed by fulfilled prophecies and 12 disciples who were transformed from cowards to bold witnesses for the Lord, all of whom except one was killed for his faith.

One clue about life after death comes from Maurice Rawlings (http://www.freecdtracts.com/testimony/hellandback.htm), a cardiologist who has brought many people back from death. He discovered that about half of them experienced a light with great joy, and half were absolutely terrified, as they experienced hell. Did they make this up? How can a person make something up when he/she is clinically dead?

Fourth, naturalism / humanism is the most challenging.

Richard Dawkins, a famous evolutionary scientist, stated:

“Nature is not cruel, pitiless. This is one of the hardest lessons for humans to learn. We cannot admit that things might be neither good nor evil, neither cruel nor kind, but simply callous – indifferent to all suffering, lacking all purpose.”

So the challenge is – if one’s world view does not allow for purpose – if we came about by the survival of the fittest, why live? Why are we here? If we are smarter and/or meaner than all the rest of the animals, so what? We will just live a little longer perhaps – a life of emptiness. What can you tell a friend who is considering suicide if we, like a pebble or rock, have no purpose in our lives?

If we are just animals, seeking to survive, what can we tell a mugger who wants to take our money and bump us off? Who are we to say what he is doing is wrong? Is he not just fulfilling Darwin’s mandate – to survive?

Nations with no transcendent purpose ultimately embrace an ideology that favors the ruling class, usually based on utilitarianism:

“We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well and live.”

Roman Commander of a slave galley ship in the movie Ben Hur

Other than scapegoats (Hitler’s attack on the Jews), it means that the productive are kept, and the crippled and elderly are expendable. If human life, like animals, has no purpose other than material production, us older folks are in trouble, as are the sick and handicapped.

In contrast, the Christian world view describes our creation by a sovereign, living God to carry out His work in the world. We are not merely animals but special creations, created in the image of God. Discovering His will for our lives is the first task, but the second is perhaps more difficult – yielding to His will and being obedient to His call on our lives.

“For I know he thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11