Exposing And Expelling Heretics (Part 18)

Today we pick up from where we left off last week on our expository journey through the Epistle of Jude having finished looking at the four characteristics of apostates that Jude outlines in verse 8 - that they appeal to their own revelations, are carnal, insubordinate, and blasphemous! Today we will move on into verse 9 which is both an example of how not to be an apostate, but also an intriguing story by itself! This is a part of my verse by verse exposition through the Epistle of Jude for our church plant in Denmark (Kristuskirken) and I must give much credit to John Macarthur's teaching on the Epistle of Jude which has been my major source of commentary.

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. 12These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. (Jude 1-13)

Based on the behavior of apostates as outlined in verse 8 the question still remains as to how we should treat these purveyors of false Christianity. John gives us the answer in his second Epistle:

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (2 John 9-11)

Strong words there. Not the sort of thing you would find in a church growth manual. But a stark warning as to the immense danger of contamination via contact with these people and also the reproach on Christ brought about by association with apostates - oh wow, was that an elephant that just walked into the room? Anyway, moving on to verse 9 in Jude we see the stark contrast between the behavior of an archangel and the blasphemous contemptuous behavior of apostates:

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." (Jude 9)

Does anybody remember that old song that was really popular in the Charismatic churches:

I'm goin up to the high places
I'm goin up to the high places
I'm goin up to the high places
and gonna tear the devil's kingdom down

Or how about that other spiritual warfare classic:

Well, I went to the enemy's camp and
I took back what he stole from me (x3)
I went to the enemy's camp and
I took back what he stole from me

You know
He's under my feet (x6)
Satan is under my feet



Nope, definitely could not see any archangels in that crowd!

Kenneth Hagin also weighed into the discussion with this theological insight:

That’s the way you have to deal with the devil — just tell him to shut up!

Somehow I don't think Michael the Archangel would have been too keen on any of these strategies or patterns of speech!

God is Sovereign and rules over all things including Satan. We see in the book of Job that Satan can do nothing without God's permission. Newsflash, we are not God, and Satan is not powerless. Michael the archangel understands this point but Kenneth Hagin clearly didn't!

More to come next week . . .

Go Back To Part 17
Go Back To Part 1

Questions For Evolutionists - Evolution Debate (Part 11)

What follows is some of the questions I had prepared to ask my evolutionary opponent in my recent debate.

Are you familiar with the word "genome"? For those of you who are unfamiliar, genome is the word biologists use to describe the entire genetic code in a living thing. It is what is found encoded in it's DNA. For evolution to be true it requires genetic mutations that cause genome information to increase. Let me be specific here, I am not talking about an increase in the chances of survival because that can come through a loss of information.

Question 1: Has there ever been a genetic mutation observed where it has increased the genome information?

The world's most famous evolutionist got asked this question and this is what he had to say . . .



Question 2: How can DNA develop through evolutionary processes?



Question 3: Where did life come from?

Once again, here is Dawkins' "scientific speculations" on the subject during an interview with Ben Stein . . .

Unfortunately this video cannot be embedded onto my blog but it can be viewed here and is well worth the watch for its comedic elements alone: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5FTyZ732lQ

Question 4: "Haeckel's Embryos"


Do you recognize this picture? Perhaps you have seen it in one of your modern scientific text books. Can you tell me if it is a drawing or a picture? Do you know why it is a drawing? Because this is a completely fraudulent attempt to show fabricated similarities between a wide variety of living things at the embryonic stage. It is a fraud that was exposed over 100 years ago. Haeckel even confessed to it. My question is why is this fake picture still allowed in scientific text books?

Michael K Richardson, Professor of Evolutionary Developmental Zoology at Leiden University said:

This is one of the worst cases of scientific fraud. It's shocking to find that somebody one thought was a great scientist was deliberately misleading. It makes me angry ... What he [Haeckel] did was to take a human embryo and copy it, pretending that the salamander and the pig and all the others looked the same at the same stage of development. They don't ... These are fakes.' (Michael Richardson, in an interview with Nigel Hawkes, The Times (London), p. 14, August 11, 1997. )

Question 5: How can something as complex as an eye evolve?

For an eye to be able to see, the 40 or so basic components which make it up need to be present at the same time and work together perfectly. The lens is only one of these. If all the other components, such as the cornea, iris, pupil, retina, and eye muscles, are all present and functioning properly, but just the eyelid is missing, then the eye will shortly incur serious damage and cease to carry out its function. In the same way, if all the subsystems exist but tear production ceases, then the eye will dry up and go blind within a few hours. How could an eye evolve when it requires all 40 parts to be working or it cannot function?

To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.

Do you know who said that?

Charles Darwin (From the Origin of Species, CHAPTER VI - DIFFICULTIES OF THE THEORY "Organs of extreme Perfection and Complication).

The only difficult part in preparing questions for my opponent were which ones to leave out considering there are so many. Evolution is a theory about as watertight as my screen door!

Go On To Part 12
Go Back To Part 10
Go Back To Part 1

The Anti-Biblical Teachings Of Biologos

Biologos is a relative newcomer to the "battle for the beginning". They are an organization devoted to the oxymoronic notion of "theistic evolution". Their professed goal is to harmonize science with Scripture but their track record is one of continually contorting Scripture to try and fit it into the prevailing evolutionary paradigm. This has become a very disturbing development in recent times, most notably because of Biologos' ability to gain acceptance with Christian leaders who cherish "academic respectability". Ken Ham from Answers In Genesis recently gave this lecture exposing Biologos for what they are:

Kazakhstan: New Anti-Religion Laws

The government of Kazakhstan enacted two new laws on Oct. 24, 2011, further restricting freedom of religion. All registered churches must now re-register with the government, and only churches meeting new criteria will be registered.

As churches begin the rigorous re-registration process, organizations and human rights defenders from around the world are strongly criticizing the new laws. Jens Eschenbaecher, spokesperson for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), told Forum 18 News, “The legislation appears to unnecessarily restrict the freedom of religion or belief and is poised to limit the exercise of this freedom in Kazakhstan.”

Both laws force churches to compile documentation and re-register with the government. Forum 18 News reports that the first law, The Law on Religious Activity and Religious Associations, imposes a complex registration system, bans unregistered religious activity, enforces greater religious censorship and requires both central and local government approval to build or open new places of worship. Any current church that does not re-register faces court liquidation. The second law amends nine existing laws and legal provisions, according to Forum 18 News. One provision prohibits inviting children to participate in religious activities if their parents object. According to Mission Network News (MNN), some fear this provision could shut down summer camps and other children’s events.

Nazgul Yergalieva, head of the Legal Policy Research Center in Kazakhstan, told Forum 18 News, “Strict regulation and limitation of fundamental rights, such as freedom of religion, by governments has already proved to be a dangerous path, leading to social tension and resentment.” Please pray that Christians in Kazakhstan will remain courageous and strong as they face increased government pressure.

Exposing And Expelling Heretics (Part 17)

Today we pick up from where we left off last week on our expository journey through the Epistle of Jude. Verse 8 of Jude's Epistle gives four characteristics of apostates that infiltrate the church. Last week we looked at the third of these, which is that they "reject authority", they are people who want to live outside the realm of accountability and submission. Today we will look at the fourth characteristic in verse 8 which is that these false teachers "blaspheme the glorious ones". This is a part of my verse by verse exposition through the Epistle of Jude for our church plant in Denmark - Kristuskirken.

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. (Jude 1-8)

The fourth characteristic of apostates that Jude lists in verse 8 is that they "blaspheme the glorious ones". They have contempt and carelessness for anything that warrants fear or reverence. These are people who shoot from the hip in their speech about "spiritual warfare", Satan, and God Himself. They continually play with fire without any regard for the impending peril they open themselves and their followers up to. John Macarthur had this to say:

The Greek is doxasfrom which we get doxology, it's a word that means glory. They blaspheme glories. And it could refer to the glories of God, it could refer to the glories of Christ. It could refer to the glories of divine truth. But I'll tell you this, the word "blaspheme" is clear enough in its intention to be identified with anything that is holy, or sacred. To blaspheme is to basically curse what is sacred. They're irreverent. I get sometimes squeamish when I hear certain so-called clerics or biblical scholars talk about Jesus in a blasphemous fashion. I literally feel sick when I see Jesus misrepresented in some stupid fashion in a ridiculous movie which takes away His glory. These people who claim to represent Christ and claim to be the scholars of the New Testament who are going to help us find the real Jesus, are really blasphemers. Certainly the angels did that. They blasphemed the glories of heaven. Certainly Sodom and Gomorrah did that, they blasphemed the very holy angels. Certainly Israel did that, they blasphemed God when they made that idol and worshiped it. Very serious.

Jesse Duplantis is one of the worst examples of this sort of behavior.



The teaching in this video is so stupid and blasphemous of God's character and nature that it does not even warrant a response. I'll include just one more short clip because it serves as another great example of this idiotic biblically incompetent behavior:



Jesse, you are going to find out how wrong you are! The Apostle Peter described this behavior when he said:

then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction (2 Peter 2:9-12)

Here is one more clear example of this. Aside from the very obvious reason why Joyce Meyer should not be calling HERself a Bible teacher, there are other alarm bells we should be hearing. Even though Jude points out in verse 9:

But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you." (Jude 9)

Joyce seems to think that she can take these matters into her own hands.



If Michael the archangel refused to take a shot at Satan, but rather appealed to God and His authority, how much more should we. We'll talk more about this intriguing encounter between Michael and the Devil next week!

Go On To Part 18
Go Back To Part 16
Go Back To Part 1

Newsflash! - Evolution Debate (Part 10)

Religious evolutionary fanatics like Kristoffer Haldrup insist that there is absolutely no evidence for the global flood of Noah. Not a single scrap of evidence. The following article here (published just two days ago) is another great example (in the long line of examples) of why evolutionary scientists say there is no evidence . . . because they start with the presupposition that there is no evidence and that their theory must be right - therefore they impose their theory on the evidence and come up with their own set of fabricated facts.

Is it just possible that this recent discovery of a massive whale graveyard high up and a long way from the ocean could be evidence for the ocean once covering this piece of desert? Is it just possible that the mass of perfectly preserved skeletons (including two adult whales with a juvenile between them) in a small area points to a sudden cataclysmic event? Why aren't they surprised to find that these whales which are "millions of years old" are mainly identical to the whales we find in the water today? Why do they consider the possibility of lagoons high up in the desert, and tsunamis that washed a massive number of whales into one spot on a hill in the desert but not even mention the possibility of a cataclysmic global flood like the Bible says? Answer these questions and then maybe you will have the answer to the question as to why religious evolutionary fanatics desperately cling to their assertions that there is "no evidence for a global flood". Because this discovery screams a ton of consistency with a global flood (my comments in italics).

GIANT WHALE GRAVEYARD FOUND IN CHILEAN DESERT!
Posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:35pm by Liz Klimas

SANTIAGO, Chile (The Blaze/AP) — More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end. Today, they have emerged again atop a desert hill more than a kilometer (half a mile) from the surf, where researchers have begun to unearth one of the world’s best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales.

A paleontologist from the museum prepares a whale fossil at the site where many prehistoric whale fossils were discovered in the Atacama desert near Copiapo, Chile. But how did they get there? That’s the question paleontologists are trying to figure out.

Yes, it's a difficult question, when you are committed to denying the obvious!

Maybe they became disoriented and beached themselves. Maybe they were trapped in a lagoon by a landslide or a storm. Maybe they died there over a period of a few millennia. Somehow they ended up right next to one another, many just meters (yards) apart, entombed as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geological forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet.

Yes, these are all well thought out scientific theories when you consider how difficult it is to think with your head shoved in that desert sand.

Chilean scientists together with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution are studying how these whales, many of the them the size of buses, wound up in the same corner of the Atacama Desert. “That’s the top question,” said Mario Suarez, director of the Paleontological Museum in the nearby town of Caldera, about 700 kilometers (440 miles) north of Santiago, the Chilean capital.

Pick me, pick me! I can answer that question and save you a whole lot of money in research grants in the process.

Experts say other groups of prehistoric whales have been found together in Peru and Egypt, but the Chilean fossils stand out for their staggering number and beautifully preserved bones. More than 75 whales have been discovered so far — including more than 20 perfectly intact skeletons.

They provide a snapshot of sea life at the time, and even include what might have been a family group: two adult whales with a juvenile between them.

“I think they died more or less at the same time,” said Nicholas Pyenson, curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Pyenson and Suarez are jointly leading the research.

How much are they paying you Nicholas to come up with these brilliant observations?

As for why such a great number perished in the same place, Pyenson said: “There are many ways that whales could die, and we’re still testing all those different hypotheses.”

Except the obvious hypothesis where all the evidence points to.

The scientists have yet to publish their findings about the fossil bed and the extensive remains, which began to emerge in June last year during a highway-widening project that is now on hold.

So far, the fossils have been found in a roadside strip the length of two football fields — about 240 meters (260 yards) long and 20 meters (yards) wide.

Pyenson said the spot was once a “lagoon-like environment” and that the whales probably died between 2 million and 7 million years ago.

Yes, no evidence of a global flood but he is absolutely certain that that this piece of desert was once a lagoon. A lagoon with whales just like you find today - not! He even has the technology to date this lagoon to 4.5 million years plus or minus 2.5 million years. Great accuracy there - NOT!

Most of the fossils are baleen whales that measured about 8 meters (25 feet) long, Pyenson said.

The researchers also discovered a sperm whale skeleton and remains of a now-extinct dolphin that had two walrus-like tusks and previously had only turned up in Peru, he said.

“We’re very excited about that,” Pyenson said in a telephone interview. “It is a very bizarre animal.”

Other unusual creatures found elsewhere in the fossil-rich Atacama Desert include an extinct aquatic sloth and a seabird with a 5-meter (17-foot) wingspan, bigger than a condor’s.

Erich Fitzgerald, a vertebrate paleontologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, emailed that the latest find is very significant.

“The fossils are exceptionally well preserved and quite complete — a rare combination in paleontology and one that will likely shed light on many facets of the … ecology and evolution of these extinct species,” Fitzgerald said.

There he goes again imposing his evolutionary presupposition onto the evidence. Great empirical science there Enrich!

He said it’s possible “these fossilized remains may have accumulated over a relatively long period of time.”

Here is that great scientific consensus that shows us how much certainty these scientists have with their theory. One guy says it happened at the same time, the other says it may have happened over a long period of time.

Hans Thewissen, an expert on early whales, agreed. Another scenario, he said, is that the whales might have gathered in a lagoon and then an earthquake or storm could have closed off the outlet to the ocean.

Yes, scientists deal with hard empirical facts, not fanciful theories!

“Subsequently the lagoon dries up and the whales die,” said Thewissen, a professor of anatomy at Northeast Ohio Medical University. He said the accumulation of so many complete skeletons is “a very unusual situation.”

“If this were a lagoon that dried up, you might see signs that ocean water evaporated,” such as crystallized salt and gypsum in the rock, said Thewissen, who is not involved in the research. “On the other hand, if a giant wave or storm flung the whales onto shore, it would also have pushed the ocean floor around, and you would see scour marks in the rocks.”

Dating fossils is complicated, experts said, and it will be very hard to distinguish dates precisely enough to determine whether the whales all died simultaneously.

It is very complicated when they have no idea how to do it.

The researchers have been told to finish their onsite studies so that fossils can be moved out of the path of the widened Pan American Highway, or Route 5, which is Chile’s main north-south road.

Many of the fossils have been transported in plaster coverings to the museum in Caldera. Researchers from Chile’s National Museum of Natural History are also studying the fossils.

Pyenson and his team are working quickly under tents to document the intact skeletons. With funding from the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian team is using sophisticated photography and laser scanners to capture 3D images of the whales that can later be used to make life-sized models of them.

At least they have entire skeletons to base their models on rather than the massive amount of guesswork involved in creating a life sized "Nebraska Man" from a pig tooth.

Suarez, the paleontologist, had long known about the whale bones just north of Caldera – they could be seen jutting out of the sandstone ridge alongside the highway at the spot known as Cerro Ballena, or Whale Hill. When the road work began last year, the construction company asked him to monitor the job to avoid destroying fossils.

“In the first week, about six or seven whales appeared,” Suarez said. “We realized that it was a truly extraordinary site.”

The Chilean government has declared the site a protected zone, and Pyenson said he hopes a museum will be built to showcase the intact skeletons where they lie, in the same way fossils are displayed at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado.

Suarez thinks there are probably fossils of hundreds of whales waiting to be uncovered – enough to keep him working at this one spot for the rest of his life.

“We have a unique opportunity to develop a great scientific project and make a great contribution to science,” he said.

Great contribution to science fiction more like it!

Ok Kristoffer, you can now write in and have a cry about how dumb and unscientific I am.

Go On To Part 11
Go Back To Part 9
Go Back To Part 1

The Joy Of The Redeemed And The Redeemer

My good friend Arnold Barba just wrote this and I like it so much I am posting it on my blog today. A fusion between good poetry and good theology - a rare combination these days!

The Joy Of The Redeemed And The Redeemer

Maybe there is a wonder for man to see that cannot be seen by the angels of God. 
Maybe there is a wonder for man to see that cannot be seen even by the holy angels from on high. 
Maybe there is a wonder for man to see that one cannot see but for an act of God. 
Maybe there is a wonder for man to see, but which only can be seen if the eye of man is enabled to see,

or better said, the heart of man is enabled to believe. 

And maybe this wonder is not a wonder of the earth, nor a wonder of man. 
And maybe this wonder is not a wonder of the flesh, nor of the will of man—

but of God.

And maybe this wonder is not a work of the one that is to behold it, but a work of God—

alone.

Well, this is so.  I know it to be so. 

For I have seen this wonder that is not a wonder of the flesh, nor of the will of man. 
I have encountered this wonder that is not of the works of man, but of the work of God, alone.

And “This is the work of God, [that makes this wonder known],
that you believe in Him whom He sent.” 

John 6:29 (NKJV)

And because of this work of God alone, I see this wonder that man and world and angel cannot see, but only one whose eyes are opened, and whose heart is reborn, can see.

And this is the wonder that I see:

God gave wretched man,
who was once dead and enslaved to sin,
the right to be called his son, and son of God is now he,
if he believes in Him whom Father sent,
a belief enabled him by
the work and power of God Himself.

But this son is not begotten by God.  For only one was begotten by Him.  But adopted by God is he.

And by this adoption, man is made a son, not just for this life.  Rather, redeemed man is adopted in this life for this life and for all eternity.

But what can be seen in this adoption that neither flesh, nor world, nor fallen angel, nor even holy angel can see?

The wonder that can be seen is this:

a redeemed heart made anew,
made to shine the glory of His light and don the righteousness of Christ,
having been translated from darkness and death, unto eternal life.

The flesh shall never know this, for this is not a work of the flesh, nor an encounter of the flesh.

The world shall never know this, for this is not a work of the world, nor an encounter of this world.

No fallen angel can see this, for no fallen angel can be redeemed, for the work of light is not known by the darkness, for darkness cannot comprehend it. 

But this is also true, you see. 

The holy angels from on high do not know and cannot know and will never know the work of God in the redemption of the heart of man in Christ.  For no holy angel knows sin, and thus no holy angel requires redemption from sin and from its wages of death. 

And so no holy angel knows what it is to be enslaved to sin and bound to death one day, and become redeemed, and be set free and saved from death another day—oh on that great, happy day!

This is a wonder that only redeemed man can see, and only redeemed man encounters, and only redeemed man inextricably knows in his inner soul. 

Oh what joy there is in being redeemed!

And though neither the flesh, nor the world, nor power nor principality can know the wonder of redemption, nor the joy of the redeemed . . .

there is ONE other that can see and does know the joy of redemption.

But this ONE does not see or know such joy of a sinful man that knows this joy from his redeemed stance.

This ONE is no other than redeemed man’s REDEEMER that knows the fullness of joy that is known in redemption. 

Not because he was, or is, or ever will be, redeemed.  But rather because . . .

He redeemed!

And knowing this wonder as the Redeemer, rather than the redeemed, is no small thing. 

For while men of every tribe and every nation as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore will know the joy of being redeemed, there will be only ONE in all eternity that will know this wonder as the ONE Who redeemed.

This ONE, unique sent ONE, is none other than His Excellency, the Lord of lords and King of kings, the ONE named . . .

Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the redeemed.

And the joy of the redeemed, when united with the joy of the Redeemer, is the very joy of His Kingdom come for you and me! 

But when shall this be? 

When man, redeemed, lives in the joy of his redemption, so that the joy of His redeemer can come forth unto him from within!

This is your call and your inheritance, you redeemed:  to enjoy and delight in your redemption, for it gives joy and delight to our Redeemer, in Whose joy and delight we can know His great love toward you and me, the redeemed!

Yes and amen!

Washington DC - Petitions Delivered To Pakistani Embassy

A team from The Voice of the Martyrs traveled to Washington, D.C., in November to make the first delivery of Call For Mercy petitions to the Pakistani Embassy. The team received a courteous response from Pakistani Embassy personnel, who accepted the more than 400,000 signatures that had been collected at that time, including the initial 150,000 from Christians inside Pakistan.

“It’s hard to know what to expect when you call an embassy and tell them you have petitions like that to deliver,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s Director of Media Development and a part of the delivery team. “I wasn’t sure if we’d end up with a warm welcome or a message not to come. Thankfully, the Lord blessed us with favor and they welcomed us.”

Helping out in VOM’s delivery efforts were the winners of VOM’s first-ever film contest, David and Christina, who are brother and sister and are also both students at Asbury University. Their winning contest entry was a 97-second call to action that has now encouraged more than 30,000 YouTube viewers to sign the Call For Mercy petition.

The Pakistani Embassy representative who deals with human rights issues met with us and thanked the VOM team for interest in Asia’s case. She reminded the team that the legal process in Asia’s case is still going forward. The appeal of her death sentence is currently before the High Court, and if it fails there, it could be appealed further to the Supreme Court, the final judicial authority in Pakistan. Even if it fails there, a presidential pardon is possible, the embassy representative said.

“The Embassy and the Pakistani government want us to be patient, to let their legal system do its job,” said Nettleton. “But while we are waiting, Asia Bibi is sitting in a jail cell, separated from her husband and her daughters. We are calling for mercy on this family now. Asia and her family shouldn’t have to wait any longer.”

The Voice of the Martyrs is committed to continuing the Call For Mercy campaign, in cooperation with Pakistani Christians who began the campaign, until Asia Bibi is released from prison. You can still sign the petition at www.CallForMercy.com. Please encourage your Christian friends to add their voices to this important effort.
Posted: November 17, 2011

Exposing And Expelling Heretics (Part 16)

Today we pick up from where we left off last week on our expository journey through the Epistle of Jude. Verse 8 of Jude's Epistle gives four characteristics of apostates that infiltrate the church. Last week we looked at the second of these, which is that they "defile the flesh", they are lovers of worldly pleasure whether that may be money, power, sexual immorality, or a combination of all three. Today we will look at the third characteristic in verse 8 which is that these false teachers "reject authority". This is a part of my verse by verse exposition through the Epistle of Jude for our church plant in Denmark - Kristuskirken.

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ: 2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. 3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. (Jude 1-8)

Apostates reject authority, particularly biblical authority, but also the counsel of those who labor in the Word. A prominent theme, and form of self-defense, among false teachers is their command "thou shalt not criticize", or as I call it, the eleventh commandment. Many bad teachers survive solely on the basis of this mantra. It is commonplace among the Word Faith and prosperity crowds.

Without a doubt we should be careful about our motivation and attitude when asking critical questions. But Scripture actually mandates the testing of all teaching commanding us to test all teaching (I John 4:1), expose the works of darkness (Ephesians 5:11), mark false teachers (Romans 16:17), and condemn any other gospel than the one found in Scripture (Galatians 1:8-9). John Macarthur had this to say about teaching that opposes any critique:

In a time like this of tolerance, listen, false teaching will always cry intolerance. It will always say you are being divisive, you are being unloving, you are being ungracious, because it can only survive when it doesn't get scrutinized. So it cries against any intolerance. It cries against any examination, any scrutiny—just let's embrace each other; let's love each other; let's put all that behind us. False doctrine cries the loudest about unity. Listen carefully when you hear the cry for unity, because it may be the cover of false doctrine encroaching. If ever we should follow 1 Thessalonians 5, and examine everything carefully, it's when somebody is crying unity, love, and acceptance (online source).

One of the real problems with trying to have productive discussion with people immersed in this kind of "theology" is that they mask their unrepentance in a four fold strategy - change the subject, ignore it, deny it, or question the motivation behind a question. But even if I am the biggest jerk in the world when I critique (and I am sure there are times when my attitude is not right), the question still remains as to whether my critique is true or not. Or, more importantly, whether my critique aligns with Scripture.

One of the main reasons apostates reject authority is because they love their own authority.

I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. (3 John 9-10)

John Macarthur elaborates further on this rejection of authority:

Obviously if you're going to live an immoral life and love your lust and love your sin, you're going to have to reject authority, that is divine authority. This is very interesting. They reject authority, verse 8, reject is atheteo, to do away with something that is established, that is to say they reject the established authority. The word authority, this is very interesting, kurioteta, in the Greek, related to the word kurios . . . they reject lordship. They reject lordship. They reject any rule over them. It is even a word used of angels in Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16, angels are called authorities, rulers. But this isn't about angels. They reject singular authority. They reject lordship. And we know exactly what lordship they're talking about because we went back to verse 4, right? "They deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ." They will not come under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are their own self-styled authorities. This is arrogance, this is arrogant reaction to God's rule and authority and the lordship of Christ over His church.

Instead of rejecting authority and lording it over others, leaders in the body of Christ (all Christians in fact) are called to:

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8)

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Objection 3 - Evolution Debate (Part 9)

As we progress through my major three objections against modern evolutionary theory I know that I camped on Objection 2 (no transitional forms and an abundance of fakes) for quite a while. I did this for two main reasons. Firstly, the history of fossil evidence, lack of transitional forms, the endless procession of fakes and frauds, and the bizarre "scientific speculations" on the future, is so ridiculous and runs so deep. Secondly, because of the constant crying of Kristoffer Haldrup who carries the double burden of having a brain the size of a planet and being a bishop in his evolutionary religion. The mountain heap of mock-worthy evidence is so huge that I could continue ad infinitum but let's move on to objection 3 today. As we go through the issue of dating rocks don't worry if some of the technical terms go over your head. Bear with me because I think the big picture in this is simple to grasp. I must thank the dedicated scientists at Answers In Genesis for much of the following material.

Objection 3: Scientists don't really know how old things are!

Geologists can’t use just any old rock for dating. They must find rocks that have the following parent radioisotopes to date rocks: uranium-238, uranium-235, potassium-40, rubidium-87, and samarium-147. These parent radioisotopes change into the corresponding daughter isotopes lead-206, lead-207, argon-40, strontium-87, and neodymium-143 isotopes, respectively. Thus geologists refer to uranium-lead (two versions), potassium-argon, rubidium-strontium, or samarium-neodymium dates for rocks. Note that the carbon-14 (or radiocarbon) method is not used to date rocks because most rocks do not contain carbon (more about that later).


Assumption 1: Conditions at Time Zero
No geologists were present when most rocks formed, so they cannot test whether the original rocks already contained daughter isotopes alongside their parent radioisotopes. For example, with regard to the volcanic lavas that erupted, flowed, and cooled to form rocks in the unobserved past, evolutionary geologists simply assume that none of the daughter argon-40 atoms was in the lava rocks.

For example, when a sample of the lava in the Mt. St. Helens crater (that had been observed to form and cool in 1986) was analyzed in 1996, it contained so much argon-40 that it had a calculated “age” of 350,000 years (S. A. Austin, “Excess Argon within Mineral Concentrates from the New Dacite Lava Dome at Mount St. Helens Volcano,” Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 10.3 (1996): 335–343).

Basalt rocks from the Grand Canyon were tested and aged at about 1 million years based on the amounts of potassium and argon isotopes in the rocks. But when we date the rocks using the rubidium and strontium isotopes, we get an age of 1.143 billion years (A. A. Snelling, “Isochron Discordances and the Role of Inheritance and Mixing of Radioisotopes in the Mantle and Crust,” in Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth: Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative, eds. L. Vardiman, A. A. Snelling, and E. F. Chaffin (El Cajon, California: Institute for Creation Research; Chino Valley, Arizona: Creation Research Society, 2005), pp. 393–524; D. B. DeYoung, “Radioisotope Dating Case Studies” in Thousands . . . Not Billions (Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2005), pp. 123–139).

Assumption 2: No Contamination
The problems with contamination, as with inheritance, are already well-documented in the textbooks on radioactive dating of rocks. Unlike the hourglass, where its two bowls are sealed, the radioactive “clock” in rocks is open to contamination by gain or loss of parent or daughter isotopes because of waters flowing in the ground from rainfall and from the molten rocks beneath volcanoes. Similarly, as molten lava rises through a conduit from deep inside the earth to be erupted through a volcano, pieces of the conduit wallrocks and their isotopes can mix into the lava and contaminate it.

Because of such contamination, the less than 50-year-old lava flows at Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, yield a rubidium-strontium “age” of 133 million years, a samarium-neodymium “age” of 197 million years, and a uranium-lead “age” of 3.908 billion years! (A. A. Snelling, “The Relevance of Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd and Pb-Pb Isotope Systematics to Elucidation of the Genesis and History of Recent Andesite Flows at Mt. Ngauruhoe, New Zealand, and the Implications for Radioisotopic Dating,” in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Creationism, ed. R. L. Ivey, Jr. (Pittsburgh: Creation Science Fellowship, 2003), pp. 285–303; Ref. 4, 2005).

It is also interesting to note that large traces of Carbon 14 are found in diamonds that are "billions of years old". The reason they don't use carbon dating on rocks is because carbon decays so quickly compared to uranium half life. So there should be no Carbon 14 atoms in diamonds . . . unless they are only thousands of years old.

Assumption 3: Constant Decay Rate
Geologists have assumed that these radioactive decay rates have been constant for billions of years based on their stability over the 100 years that they have observed it. This uniformity is unproven, speculative, and in stark contrast to catastrophic global flood we see in the biblical account. It is also in conflict with other parts of evolutionary theory such as the "Big Bang" theory and the "cambrian explosion".

Evolution is Speculation and guess work! It is built upon naturalism which requires observation but cannot observe the big bang, the start of life, or the mutations it needs to be true. It assumes uniformity but has no explanation for it. It has no explanation for morality. It has no explanation for how a bang can happen without something to go bang!

Science cannot prove it's own assumptions:

1. The universe is real and nature is knowable.
2. All nature is subject to the same laws and therefore we can predict its behavior.
3. Measurable causes underlie all observable effects. (no explanation for first cause)
4. The simplest explanation is the accepted one.

The fact is that Theology is also based upon presuppositions and therefore there is a faith basis for both theology and science.

Christians have the foundation for science because it is only the Bible that affirms the presuppositions of science to be true. Hence, the scientific method was actually an historical outgrowth of the biblical worldview.

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