tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58235966939538711042024-03-17T22:41:56.562-07:00Words of Comfort -- Ray Comfort's BlogRay Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.comBlogger1847125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-11741850941645224612012-09-10T06:30:00.001-07:002012-09-11T11:20:08.869-07:00We're Moving...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As from tomorrow this blog will roll over to another site, where we plan to improve and enlarge each day’s content.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.onthebox.us/" target="_blank">CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE NEW BLOG SITE </a></span></b></span></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-78789986992564866232012-09-06T06:20:00.000-07:002012-09-06T06:20:01.083-07:00Democrats and God<br />The Democratic Party’s flip-flop and the resulting anger and confusion about whether or not to put reference to God into their platform, highlighted the great weakness in our political system. The Yes and No vote is reminiscent of another vote that was taken 2,000 years ago, which resulted in the one-man steering committee washing his hands of the whole process.<br /><br />This is what happens when a nation abandons the Bible as its moral guide. It has no rudder in the stormy sea of human opinion, so it is driven by whatever wind blows the hardest. When the Bible is abandoned, the question is asked, “Is killing a child in the womb morally okay?” The answer comes from those who yell the loudest. The same applies with homosexuality and other moral issues. Abraham Lincoln once said, “Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion, can change the government…” That becomes a weakness and not strength, when the Bible is left out of the equation.<br /><br />The Scriptures are “a lamp to our feet and a light to out path.” When they are ignored we are left in moral darkness and we will soon forget the truth of the words “God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self-control, Thy liberty in law!” Thomas Jefferson said "The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution." I propose a small amendment to his words. They should read, "The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Scriptures and treats the Constitution as though it was the Word of God."<br /><br />This fiasco should also remind us of Lincoln’s, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-5001796285649619342012-09-05T06:30:00.000-07:002012-09-05T06:30:02.338-07:00Hospitals Kill Two Million in Ten Years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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An atheist once asked me "Ray, if my kid gets sick should I take him to the doctors? Or would that be interfering with the work of your God in his life?" <br /><br />Should a Christian use medicine, or should we simply trust God to heal us when we are sick? The Bible has the answer. It was the wisdom of Solomon (in <a href="http://bible.logos.com/passage/nkjv/Proverbs%2017.22">Proverbs 17:22</a>) that said that a merry heart does good "like a medicine". So it’s not just a merry heart that does good. Medicines also do us good.<br /><br />Here’s what Sue and I would do when our kids were young and became sick. We would pray for them, and take them to the doctor if it was more than a minor complaint. If the doctor saw fit to put him in the hospital, we would pray even more--that God would give wisdom to the doctors, because hospitals have become very dangerous places.<br /><br />You may not realize it, but around 40,000 people die on roads in the United States each year. However, a massive 200,000 people die in hospitals because of medical mistakes and infections. That means that in ten years two million people die while in the care of our medical professionals. That’s frightening and that fact should make us want to pray. <br /><br />One way to keep out of hospitals is to control our appetite. Listen to the somewhat cutting verse from Proverbs 23:2 about that appetite we so often have to fight: “And put a knife to your throat.” If you are a man or woman given to appetite, you must learn to cultivate the virtue of self-control. There are many serious complications and terrible diseases that result in an untimely death, that come with obesity.<br /><br />An incredible 58 million Americans are overweight, while 40 million are obese, and three million morbidly obese. You pastor and friends may not feel comfortable telling you that you are killing yourself with your knife and fork, but I can. Think of it--40 million Americans are obese! No wonder our health care system is staggering under the weight of that overload.<br /><br />I have to tell you that I am not overweight, but I do have a monster of an appetite within me that wants me to be overweight. That monster wants control, and I have to daily beat him into submission. His name is “Adam,” (that is, my sinful nature) and he not only wants control of my mouth, but also my eyes, ears, tongue and my mind. If I give in to him, the Bible says that the result will be death. So I have no choice. I have to fight with everything I have.<br /><br />By the way, obesity is not always caused genetically, as some maintain. Neither is it a disease (although some medical conditions and certain foods may cause weight gain). When the Americans liberated those who were in concentration camps in 1945, they found that there were no obese people. They were all skinny. Obesity is almost always caused by self-indulgence--by eating too much food or by eating the wrong food. A good rule to live by for healthy living, is: "If God created it (vegetables, fruit, etc.), eat it. If man has messed with it, read the label, carefully."<br /><br />So here’s some practical advice. Serve your meal up on a small plate. It will look like more. Then leave something on the plate and put it in the refrigerator for later. Drink hot drinks where the monster roars and wants to be feed. That can often help, and make sure you read your Bible daily. It’s God’s instruction book on how to live this life, and how to get to the next. Don’t ignore it.<div>
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Photo by: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Intensivstation_(01)_2007-03-03.jpg" target="_blank">Norbert Kaiser</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-37691840844386555662012-09-04T06:30:00.000-07:002012-09-04T06:30:00.259-07:00Get Here, Now! Mr. President<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Most people pray. Sadly, much of our praying is a little selfish. We pray to get something or someone, to win a game or to get health or wealth. Many end up disillusioned. They don’t get what they want. There are a few who simply pray that God would appear, or do some miracles before they will even believe in His existence. They want some sort of “sign,” then they will believe.<br /><br /> But I wonder what you would think of the mentality of someone who said "Some time ago I emailed the White House and told the President that he needed to be at my house last Friday, with a gift for me. He didn’t show up, so I believe that he doesn’t exist." I’m sure you would think that that person was either naive or mentally challenged.<br /><br />If you have ever prayed for something and felt that your prayer didn't get past the ceiling, you are probably right. Just as there is a certain procedure that you must go through to have an audience with the President, so there is certain procedure that you must go through to have an audience with God, or you want get one. You have His promise on that.<br /><br />Here’s some information that may help you. The first thing to understand is that we are enemies of God, and that His wrath abides on us until we come to faith in Jesus. John 3:36 says “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” We are rebels. So the odds of getting an audience are greatly stacked against us.<br /><br /> The Bible even tells us that our sins have made a separation between us and God, so that He will not hear us. You can read that in Isaiah 59. The Scriptures tell us that He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. So it would be wise to stop clicking our fingers and expecting God to come running like some sort of divine butler. It doesn’t work that way.<br /><br /> Listen to James 4:3-4): “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” So, if you want an audience with God, you need to become a friend of God, and you can do that by surrendering to His will. Once you have His smile, then you have His ear, so to speak. And to get His smile you and I must humble ourselves, repent, and trust the Savior--and that will give you direct access so that, as the Bible says, “you can come boldly before the Throne of Grace.” <br /><br />Then make sure you understand that God always answers prayer. That way you will never be disappointed. Sometimes He says "Yes" and grants our desires. Sometimes He says "No" and doesn’t. Other times He makes us wait so that we learn to exercise faith and patience. <br /><br />Most people don’t understand that there are at least two types of the will of God. There’s His permissive will, where He will allow things to happen to the Christian. These may not seem to be beneficial for us--trials, tribulations and persecution, but God promises to work these things out for our good, in the light of eternity.<br /><br />Then there is the perfect will of God, and you can read all about that in His Word--the Bible. <div>
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Photo by: U.S. <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:White-house-1984-overview-nw.jpg" target="_blank">Department of Defense</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-52386224153076295072012-09-03T06:30:00.000-07:002012-09-03T06:30:04.337-07:00Jeff The Heckler<br />
Yesterday at Huntington Beach:<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-3010879740125883482012-08-31T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-31T06:30:02.085-07:00Darwin's Gift to Humanity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxC9RqkEuFM9pjOaqUGan6cHDgKW8Y5ZP_hBgpPvF2v_oxD6VyUwwQxLDR4Y_rrWvTiOxbCoNd9xf7lP47bUoCs-oCGOVwdyWVnERd9_SRKIXnWclZwqoXDMgqYrMHsloR-x4SLV_4VE/s1600/453px-Charles_Darwin_statue_5661r.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwxC9RqkEuFM9pjOaqUGan6cHDgKW8Y5ZP_hBgpPvF2v_oxD6VyUwwQxLDR4Y_rrWvTiOxbCoNd9xf7lP47bUoCs-oCGOVwdyWVnERd9_SRKIXnWclZwqoXDMgqYrMHsloR-x4SLV_4VE/s320/453px-Charles_Darwin_statue_5661r.jpg" width="242" /></a></div>
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My name is insomnia, I keep you from sleep<br />I want to make you miserable; I want to make you weep<br />If you get away from me, I have a good friend<br />His name is Night-terrors and he will get you in the end<br /><br /> To wake up with the sweats with darting wide eyes<br />Panting and shaking with deep painful sighs<br />I also have friends called Sickness and Pain<br />Who's job is to kill you or injure or maim<br /> <br />They have small annoyances, like itches and aches<br />They want you to suffer and will do what it takes<br />There’s deafness and blindness and fears from within<br />That drive to the false refuge of whiskey and gin<br /> <br />There are pains in the neck and pains in the back<br />There are pains in head and pains that attack<br />The liver, the kidneys, the lungs and the heart<br />There are pains in the bladder that strike like a dart<br /><br /> There’s heartburn and acid that comes from the gut<br />And earache and toothache and pains from a cut<br />There's asthma, arthritis and a whole lot more<br />Terrifying diseases to put you at death’s dark door<br /><br /> There are ailments with names that are real hard to say<br />That are attacking and maiming thousands each day<br />There’s frightening cancers that eat at the brain<br />And others so painful they will drive you insane<br /><br /> So what hope can you give me if the fittest survive<br />The hopelessness of evolution can’t keep me alive<br />It’s unscientific, and was dreamed up by man<br />Who runs from his Creator whenever he can<br /><br /> We live in a world that has fallen from God<br />And when we feel these pains we should give a wise nod<br />And believe the Scriptures despite what men say<br />Who will stand before God and believe on that Day<br /> <br />They will get what they deserve, they loved lying and lust<br />And despised the cross and repentance and trust<br />They will wish that we warned them that God meant what He said<br />But swallowed the lie, when men are dead, they're dead<br /><br /> If you’re not born again, please listen to me<br />God offers eternal life, and it's completely free<br />Don’t ignore the warnings of life’s pains anymore<br />Because this place is Heaven compared to what's in store<br /> <br />I'm speaking the truth and deep down you know it<br />Life is most precious; make sure you don’t blow it<br />God so loved the world, He gave Jesus His Son<br />You don't need religion because the sufferings been done<br /><br /> So go save the whales and look after the trees<br />Lay off the salt and don't eat too much cheese<br />Eat plenty of fiber and die healthy and well<br />But die in your sins, and you will end up in Hell.<div>
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Photo by: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charles_Darwin_statue_5661r.jpg" target="_blank">Patche99z</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-9776962994269390032012-08-30T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-30T06:30:03.262-07:00Knuckle-dragging Narrow-minded Creationists (part 2)<br />
(<a href="http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.com/2012/08/knuckle-dragging-narrow-minded.html" target="_blank">read part 1 here</a>)<br />
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But you are not alone if you believe in God. Many of our greatest scientists believed in the existence of a Creator: Galileo, Newton, Nicholas Copernicus, Francis Bacon, Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur and Kepler, just to name a few. Einstein rightly said, "Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind." He also said, "In view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognize, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what really makes me angry is that they quote me for the support of such views."<br />
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The incredible harmony in creation proves beyond a doubt to any thinking mind that there is a Creator. Listen to what the Bible says about atheists and the existence of God: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse…” That’s from Romans 1:20.<br />
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But God doesn’t want you to just believe in His existence. He wants you to obey Him. When I understood that I had violated God’s Law (the Ten Commandments), and 2,000 years ago Jesus paid my fine in His precious life's blood, I found that upon my repentance and faith in the Savior God would legally commute my death sentence. My case was dismissed through the mercy of the Judge.<br />
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On the Day of Judgment the moral Law cannot condemn me, because my crimes against God no longer exist. They have been blotted out by the grace of God. I have everlasting life. My fine was paid; and my case dismissed. Is yours?<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-67973218822623557082012-08-29T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-29T06:30:04.696-07:00Knuckle-dragging Narrow-minded Creationists (part 1)<div>
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Atheists want to keep creationism out of public schools. They see themselves as the intellectual saviors of the poor dumb college and university students, who don’t have the ability to think for themselves. These creationism censors are the book burners, who do what they do “for the good of society” --their godless society. And they do what they do in the name of “reason” and "science," when their atheistic belief is (in reality) completely unreasonable and absolutely unscientific. <br />
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If you think atheism is scientific and reasonable, let me ask you some questions. Do you believe that nothing created everything? If you do, that's not only unscientific, it's unreasonable. This is because your "nothing" isn’t “nothing” at all. It is something because it had the amazing ability to create everything. Perhaps you have changed your mind, and after hearing that you think that you then believe that something created everything, although you are not sure what that something was? <br />
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Keeping in mind that the most intelligent of human beings can’t create a grain of sand from nothing--do you think that that "something" that made everything was intelligent? It obviously is; and if you do believe the something that made the flowers, the birds, the trees, the human eye, and the sun, the moon and the stars was intelligent, you then believe that there was an intelligent designer. You believe in “intelligent design.” Congratulations; you have just become an unscientific knuckle-dragger in the narrow-minded eyes of our learning institutions that embrace Darwinism. <br />
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<i>Continued tomorrow...</i> </div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-4811281992973056332012-08-28T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-28T06:30:02.530-07:00Homeschoolers Miss Out on Sexual Promiscuity and Much More<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Home-schooling in the U.S. has become very popular in recent years. For a number of reasons, it’s also becoming more accepted, not only in Christian circles but also in the secular world. I have met many kids who have been educated by their parents (using what one atheist on my blog called <a href="http://raycomfortfood.blogspot.fr/2009/07/idiot-home-school-textbooks.html" target="_blank">"idiot" home-school textbooks</a>), and I have found that they are consistently respectful, well-adjusted to life, sociable with their peers, and extremely knowledgeable. This is because those that are educating them deeply love them, and they have the ability to care for them as individuals, rather than as a class of young people. Studies have shown that children whose parents are directly involved in their education are more apt to excel in academics. That’s the positive side. But there are some things that home school kids miss out on.<br />
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By not being educated by the public system, their kids will miss out on learning how to communicate using filthy language. They will also miss out on the use of illegal drugs. According to a survey by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, "Millions of U.S. teens attend ‘drug-infested schools’ where students routinely see drugs used, sold or kept on schools grounds . . . Thirty-one percent of high school students -- more than 4 million -- see drug dealing, illegal drug use or students high or drunk at least once a week on their school grounds."<br />
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Home schooled kids will also miss out on sexual promiscuity, contracting sexually transmitted diseases (statistics show that one in four U.S. females has a sexually transmitted disease), being bullied, and maybe being shot to death (to date, there have been shootings resulting in the deaths of students in 76 different U.S. public schools). According to the National Conference of State Legislatures an incredible one in five kids in public schools “has seriously considered suicide." <br />
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Back in 2007, nearly 6.2 million students in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 dropped out of school. According to ABC, "A study this week from Strong American Schools reports that 40 percent of seniors still do not understand the math they were taught in the eighth grade. And an earlier study. . . found that nearly a quarter cannot identify Adolph Hitler, more than half cannot place the American Civil War in the right century, and a third do not know that the Bill of Rights guarantees free speech." The American public school system is a failure to adequately educate our young people. <br />
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Had home schoolers attended public school they would have also been brainwashed by an unproven theory about human origins, and ended up believing that they are nothing but an animal with no ultimate moral accountability. A recent study revealed that in the 50 top universities in the U.S., in the field of biology 61 percent of respondents described themselves as atheists or agnostics. Evolution doesn’t simply teach that we have a common ancestor in primates. It seriously teaches that we are primates, and if the result of public schooling education is to reject God and His gift of eternal life, the depth of that tragedy will only be measured in the light of eternity.<br />
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Photo by <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackboard-from-side881.jpg" target="_blank">alegri / 4freephotos.com</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-3046482179783973782012-08-27T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-27T06:30:03.504-07:00Potiphar’s Wife<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If a man doesn’t fear God, he will naturally have eyes that are “full of adultery.” He will burn with lust and look for opportunity to put out the raging fire. But Solomon was wise. He knew that it is the fear of God that keeps a man from committing adultery, or even imagining it through lust. He knew that the ways of man are “before the eyes of the Lord.” This was Joseph’s experience when Potiphar’s wife tried to entice him into adultery:<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. (Genesis 39:7-12).</blockquote>
<br /> Notice Joseph’s reasons for refusing such enticing pleasure. He was firstly concerned about a betrayal of trust, and secondly (and more importantly) he was concerned about God’s disapproval of his actions. He asked, “How then can I do this great wickedness, <i>and</i> sin against God?” He saw that betrayal of Potiphar was a “great wickedness.” We sin when we lie to or steal from another human being. This is because the essence of God’s Law is to love every other human being as much as we love ourselves: <br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”(Romans 13:9).</blockquote>
<br /> When Joseph talked about sinning against God, there was the duel sin of betrayal of trust and the sin of adultery. If he had no fear of God, neither would have been considered a sin, and no doubt Joseph would have yielded to the temptation, as do millions who have no understanding of God or of His power to cast body and soul into Hell.<div>
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Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joseph_and_Potiphar%27s_Wife.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-58229777111897915592012-08-24T06:33:00.001-07:002012-08-24T06:34:36.606-07:00An all-time favorite re-post...<br /><b><a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/howtobecomeanatheist">http://bit.ly/howtobecomeanatheist</a></b><br /><br />Have a good weekend. <br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-79736604487682363392012-08-23T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-23T06:30:03.522-07:00Feed the Mind.<div>
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Yesterday I spoke of Mark Twain’s idolatry (making up a false god because he was offended by moral accountability). He said,<br /><br />“I wish I could learn to remember that it is unjust and dishonorable to put blame upon the human race for any of its acts. For it did not make itself, it did not make its nature, it is merely a machine, it is moved wholly by outside influences, it has no hand in creating the outside influences nor in choosing which of them it will welcome or reject, its performance is wholly automatic, it has no more mastership nor authority over its mind than it has over its stomach, which receives material from the outside and does as it pleases with it, indifferent to its proprietor’s suggestions, even, let alone his commands; wherefore, whatever, the machine does---so called crimes and infamies included---is the personal act of its Maker, and He, solely, is responsible.”[1]<br /><br />Notice that Twain wasn’t foolish enough to think that the human race made itself. He knew that we had “no hand in creating.” He also believed that we have no more control over our mind than we have over the stomach. While it’s true that the stomach works independently of the will, we are the ones who choose the food that goes into the mouth and into the stomach. <div>
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We feed the mind. We choose thoughts that we enjoy chewing over, and if those thoughts transgress God’s Law, then we are morally accountable to the God who considers lust to be adultery (see Matthew 5:27-28). While some may swallow Twain’s foolish attempts to blame God for all human “acts,” it makes no sense when we think a little. Many a rapist or murderer has tried the “God made me do it” defense, and if it doesn’t work in a court of law, it’s not going to work on Judgment Day.</div>
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<br /><br />[1] The Complete Letters Of Mark Twain, by Mark Twain, page 491<div>
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Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spoonful_of_cereal.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-77676127856477218342012-08-22T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-22T06:30:02.534-07:00Hitchens & Twain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<< Twain's remark that Ray witlessly refers to reminds me of a response Christopher Hitchens gave to the question: if you truly believe there's no God, what light is there in the life of an atheist? Hitchens responded: “Well, I can only answer for myself; what cheers me up? I suppose mainly gloating over the misfortunes of other people, I guess that has to be it: crowing over the miseries of others. It doesn’t always work, but it never completely fails. And then there’s irony - which is the gin in the Campari - the cream in the coffee; sex can have diminishing returns but it’s amazing…that’s pretty much it, then it’s a clear run to the grave.” >><br /><br />That’s one thing I liked about Hitchens. Now and then he was blatantly honest. Mark Twain was too when it came to the subject of sex, but he whined when it became a mere memory as he aged. Then he too, like Hitchens and the rest of us, headed straight for the grave.<br /><br />Hitchens was a clone of Mark Twain. They both had a sharp tongue and a venomous attitude towards God. Of course Twain wasn’t silly enough to be an atheist, even though atheists mistakenly believe he was one of their kind. He wasn’t. He was an intelligent man who hated the God that demands moral accountability, and so he made up his own make-believe god. That’s what we tend to do until we repent and trust Jesus. Then we come to know God, and the truth make us free (see John 8:31-32).<div>
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Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Churchyard,_Hatherleigh.jpg" target="_blank">Derek Harper</a></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-48920051405407305732012-08-21T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-21T06:30:03.790-07:00The Sleeping Conscience<div>
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Mark Twain said, "Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal." It is good advice indeed to have good friends and good books, but to instruct to have a sleepy conscience is a philosophy for criminals. It is the ideal for fools.<br /><br />Conscience should be a best friend who should be treated with the utmost respect. To ignore its voice of warning is to treat it like an enemy. Twain’s twisted guidance should rather have been “Good friends, the Good Book, and a conscience that is awake and doing its duty: this is the ideal.”<br /><br />His words reveal his love for that which the conscience exposes and condemns—lying, theft, blasphemy, fornication, lust, adultery, godlessness, and all the other vices the human heart so joyfully embraces. Conscience should rather be awake, and diligently standing guard as a vigilant soldier on duty, watching for any infiltration of the deadly enemy. <br /><br />Talk about having a primed and alert conscience flies in the face of this godless world. This is because they don’t see sin as an enemy, but as a beloved friend. They embrace it, and they mock those who fight against it. However, on Judgment Day, that friend will prove to be a deadly Judas, and those who fall under its deception will see that guilt-free sin is a delusion.<div>
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<i>Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Twain_by_Abdullah_Fr%C3%A8res,_1867.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a></i></div>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-3697054391808476972012-08-20T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-20T06:30:01.699-07:00Fearing Heaven<div>
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Atheists pride themselves that they don’t have “faith.” But look at how two founding-fathers of modern atheism base their whole life’s philosophy on a blind faith. Bertrand Russell “believed” that when he died, his body would corrupt and that nothing else would live on. That was his belief. That’s where he placed his faith…having nothing to base it on, unless he had some sort of unique insight into the afterlife:<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
“I believe that when I die I shall rot, and nothing of my ego will survive. I am not young and I love life. But I should scorn to shiver with terror at the thought of annihilation. Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting. Many a man has borne himself proudly on the scaffold; surely the same pride should teach us to think truly about man's place in the world. Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own.” </blockquote>
<br /> Professing atheist, Isaac Asimov, also had a blind faith:<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WPzlEwGNiwmbm38kvwiaLmueqfKZhaYRQ_P0WGjkgH2cCp-pPdceWrfRDFeP-SvmCXlBMdLBUiTTjKu1vD9DC9YUPxBWR8TaKbz6n3za0Potw1sAyYU5HFGo6SpivQ5j-41oT1MX_UM/s1600/400px-Isaac.Asimov02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WPzlEwGNiwmbm38kvwiaLmueqfKZhaYRQ_P0WGjkgH2cCp-pPdceWrfRDFeP-SvmCXlBMdLBUiTTjKu1vD9DC9YUPxBWR8TaKbz6n3za0Potw1sAyYU5HFGo6SpivQ5j-41oT1MX_UM/s320/400px-Isaac.Asimov02.jpg" width="212" /></a>“I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.” </blockquote>
<br /> With no evidence upon which to base his faith he said that he didn’t believe in the afterlife. That was his belief. He was so full of faith that it got rid of his fear of Heaven. His fear needn’t have been of boredom. If Heaven exists, then God exists, and if God exists, Mr. Asimov, like the rest of us who die without as Savior, is in big trouble.<div>
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Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Isaac.Asimov02.jpg" target="_blank">Isaac Asimov</a></div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-48226159205484850402012-08-17T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-17T06:30:01.631-07:00Life’s Transient Pleasures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).<br /><br /> Notice the word “forevermore.” Every pleasure we experience on this earth is transient. It doesn’t last. We are left looking for more. Whether it’s the pleasures of sex, laughter with friends, the enjoyment of good food, the excitement of some sport…all of it is like water in our hands. It falls through our fingers. It is gone in a moment of time and becomes like a faded photo in the memory that senility eventually rips in two.<br /><br />King Solomon concluded that the pleasures we chase are like the futility of chasing the wind, and he certainly chased pleasures. But the consolation we have is the knowledge that this futile existence isn’t the way things should be. When Adam sinned, he brought about the Genesis curse which ushered in futility, disease, pain, suffering and death. God subjected the entire creation to futility because of sin:<br /> <br /><div>
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“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:20-23).</blockquote>
<br /> The whole of creation groans because of the curse. Earthquakes, flood, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc., rock this earth. Animals, fish, birds and insects devour each other. Beautiful women fade like a rose, become old and die. So do birds, fish, dogs, cats, elephants, and trees. We all whither and fade because of the curse, and groan as we wait for the promised new immortal body that God can now legally give us because Jesus reversed the curse. He satisfied the anger of God against wicked humanity. He took our punishment upon Himself, and that meant that God could lawfully commute our death sentence, and let us live. He could freely give us eternal life with pleasure that never ends. We have the promise of life from Almighty God. All we need do is repent and trust Jesus. What incredible love God has for sinful humanity. How unspeakably kind and merciful.</div>
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Photo by: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Withered_Hibiscus_Blossom.jpg" target="_blank">Nino Barbieri</a></div>
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<br /><br /> </div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-85040772977010872722012-08-16T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-16T06:30:03.695-07:00The Uncomfortable Yoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It’s the claim of the Bible that man is in a state of “enmity” against God. Scripture says,<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:6-7).</blockquote>
<br /> Who could deny the truth of this statement? Human nature is in a state of continual hostility towards the God of the Bible. This is never more evident that when blasphemy rolls human lips. The holy name of the One who gave us life is used in place of cuss words, from people in high public office, to entertainment in movies and on television, to school children, to the man and woman on the street. This “enmity” that finds expression through our mouths is deeply-rooted in our hearts. We are offended by the God of the Bible—by His moral requirements and particularly by His judgments that are consequential to those requirements.<br /><br />Our “carnal” mind isn’t subject to “the Law of God” (the Ten Commandments), neither indeed can it be in subjection. We don’t like the thought of being accountable to God and will go to any lengths to shake off that uncomfortable yoke. We are like a wild steed that bucks in revolt when saddled with moral accountability. Anything that helps us to do that is therefore highly prized by a sin-loving world.<div>
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Photo by: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mongolian_Steed.jpg" target="_blank">Matthew Forsythe</a></div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-30437084836686153952012-08-15T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-15T06:30:01.100-07:00Becoming Dumber<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the BBC documentary “What Happened Before the Big Bang” [<a href="http://www.atheism.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=files&wr_id=956&sfl=&stx=&sst=wr_datetime&sod=desc&sop=and&page=3" target="_blank">1</a>] a professor asks a group of scientists if they believe that there was something before the Big bang. Most raise their hands. Then the commentator says,<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
Ten years ago, this would never have happened. Then, there was no doubt that "before the big bang" made no sense. But today, the certainty has gone. There is no escaping the inconvenient truth that Hubble's graph, work of genius though it is, contains a huge problem. It tells us that everything we see in the universe today -- us, trees, galaxies, zebras, emerged in an instant from nothing. And that's a problem. It's all effect, and no cause. The idea of "everything from nothing" is something that has occupied physicist Michio Kaku for much of his professional life.</blockquote>
<br /> The physicist then says,<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
You know, the idea sounds impossible. Preposterous. I mean, think about it -- everything from nothing! The galaxy, the stars in the heavens coming from a pinpoint. I mean how can it be? How can it be that everything comes from nothing? But you know, if you think about it a while, it all depends on how you define "nothing".<br />In Sandusky, Ohio, is Plum Brook Station. It is here that NASA recreates the conditions of space on Earth, and part of that means generating nothing. ..in vast quantities. This is the biggest vacuum chamber in the world. Its eight-feet-thick walls are made from 2,000 tons of solid aluminum. It takes two days of pumping out the air, and another week of freezing out the remaining molecules to create a near-perfect vacuum. A cathedral-sized volume of nothing. When they switch this place on, this is as close as we can get to a state of nothingness. Everywhere we look we see something. We see atoms, we see trees, we see forests, we see water. But hey, right here, we can pump all the atoms out, and this is probably the arena out of which genesis took place. So if you really understand the state of nothing, you understand everything about the origin of the universe.</blockquote>
<br /> The commentator then continues:<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
Except, of course, it isn't quite that straightforward. For a start, the "nothing" created by NASA still has dimensions -- this is nothing in 3-D. And the tests carried out within the chamber can, of course, be viewed. This is nothing through which light can travel. NASA's "nothing" has properties. This "nothing" is, in fact, something.</blockquote>
<br /> This sort of absurdity needs a warning that those who watch it are in danger of becoming dumber after the unfortunate experience. Many don’t get a warning and believe what they hear--that nothing that is something, is still nothing…a new and special scientific version of “nothing.” In their mind they think that it gets rid of the unscientific craziness of the “nothing created everything” scenario. An atheist website says,<br /><br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq">
“When physicists say there was ‘nothing’ before the Big Bang of our universe they do not mean literally “nothing.” What they mean is that there was no matter, just energy.”[2]</blockquote>
<br /> It is an intellectual embarrassment to have to point this out to a supposed rational human being, but if “energy” is present, there’s not nothing at all. There is “energy.”<div>
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<br />[2] “Something from Nothing.” <a href="http://truth-saves.com/god-doesnt-exist/">http://truth-saves.com/god-doesnt-exist/</a></div>
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Photo: <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mars_and_Acidalia_-_GPN-2000-000925.jpg" target="_blank">Mars and Acidalia</a></div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-36747521976524722332012-08-14T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-14T06:30:01.636-07:00Atheism’s Illegitimate Father<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Atheists must have been overjoyed to discover the writings of Mark Twain--where they found a deep mine of eloquent anti-God material. Samuel Clemons chose the word “Twain” for his pseudonym, meaning “two.” But this man more than duplicated himself. The Internet spread his words like a wildfire, and his clones reproduced faster than in-season rabbits, scattering his vile words, joyfully calling God a “thug,” saying that people were dead before they were born, and that the afterlife will be a similar state.<br /><br />Mark Twain was deeply offended by the God of the Old Testament and by religious hypocrisy. However, he was never so foolish as to claim to be an atheist. He is the <i>illegitimate</i> father of modern atheism.<div>
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Photo <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Twain_photo_portrait,_Feb_7,_1871,_cropped_Repair.jpg" target="_blank">Source</a>.</div>
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-13759430594945118182012-08-13T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-13T06:30:03.478-07:00The Bible is like a fiddle<div>
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It’s been rightly said that the Bible is like a fiddle. You can play any tune you want on it, if you have a mind to. For example, it would be easy to conclude from the Bible that you can buy your way to Heaven by quoting that the rich young ruler was told that he could have everlasting life by selling all of his goods and giving it to the poor:<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me” (Luke 18:18-22). </blockquote>
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It seems very clear from these words that all we have to do is sell what we have, then give the money to the poor. In exchange, God will give us everlasting life. But we know that no one can get right with God by obeying the Ten Commandments, and that salvation is a free gift (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus is rather using the Law to bring the knowledge of sin. He is holding up the mirror of the moral Law for that man to see his sin.</div>
<br />So it’s essential that we approach Scripture in context with what the entire Bible says on a subject, and allow the text to speak rather than shape it to what we believe it says. This is something the Bible calls correct “exegesis.”<br /><br />In our zeal to convince the world that the Bible is the Word of God, we can try and make the Bible say things that it doesn’t say, and atheists do the same thing in their zeal to present their case against God. Christopher Hitchens, just before his tragic death of cancer, said,<br /><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">
“Atheism by itself is of course not a moral decision or a political one of any kind. It simply is the refusal to believe in a Supernatural dimension. For you to say of Nazism, that it was the implementation of the work of Charles Darwin is a filthy slander, undeserving of you and an insult to this audience. Darwin’s thought was not taught in Germany. Darwinism wasn’t derided in Germany along with every other form of unbelief. All the great modern atheist thinkers: Darwin, Einstein and Freud were alike despised by the National Socialist Regime.”[<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNmSHbMxwL4">1</a>]</blockquote>
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<br />Hitchens was either misrepresenting the truth or he was ignorant, and I have a hard time believing that such an educated and eloquent man as he would be ignorant.<br /><br /><br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-36311991590473670922012-08-10T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-10T06:30:00.496-07:00Atheist blogs<div>
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“A dear friend of mine called me last night absolutely heartbroken, sounding like he had just finished intensely sobbing. His wife, who was once a zealous lover of Jesus, and also a big fan of your ministry, had been slowly slipping from God for about a year. She has spent much of her time feeding her doubts with atheist blogs and has now become a complete skeptic herself. She has cried saying she wants to believe as she used to, but can’t anymore. My friend, her husband, is very intelligent and well versed in apologetics and has given her apologetic books, but it seems like nothing he says gets through. My friend is one of the godliest people I know, so was his wife. They have a few children as well. He was calling me for support and advice. Do you have any suggestions on what he should do?”<br />
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You should tell him that one thing worse than finding out that my wife was a false convert, would be not finding it out. So these atheist bloggers may have done him (and her) a big favor, because Judgment Day will expose every human heart, and then it will be too late. I don’t know if his wife is a false convert, but the question I would have for her is why would she spend any time on atheist blogs? These writings are founded on the stupidity that nothing created everything. That is scientifically impossible. According to the Bible (and to common sense), atheists are fools who profess to be wise, and their agenda is to reproduce after their own kind. That is where they find a sense of security. They think that stupid is no longer stupid, if enough people believe the stupidity. They point to great intellects such as Carl Sagan (who wasn’t an atheist), Albert Einstein (who wasn’t an atheist) and Mark Twain (who wasn’t an atheist) and with no qualms of conscience say that these men didn’t believe in the existence of God. <br />
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They will also stand in moral judgment over God by saying that He told Joshua to kill every man, woman, and child, and when you ask them if He really did do that, they realize that they have painted themselves into a corner. This is because if God told Joshua to kill the Canaanites, then they are saying that God exists, and the issue is really that atheists are offended by His harsh judgments. If they say that God doesn’t exist, then God never told Joshua to do anything, because God doesn’t exist. And so they are complaining about something that never happened. That’s like spending your life complaining that it wasn’t fair that Cinderella’s slipper didn’t fit her ugly sisters. And this man’s precious wife suffers these fools gladly.<br />
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So anyone who spends their time reading lies written by fools will in time become like them. People who frequent porn sites become porn freaks. Those who bury their heads in violence become violent. Those who spend time in God’s Word grow to love and trust God. This issue goes back to Satan’s fist words to a woman “Has God said…?” Those who doubt God and instead believe the devil are left with an open invitation to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, but they are also left with no purpose in life, no origin for life, and no salvation from death and a very real Hell.<br />
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<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-46268646822204562162012-08-09T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-09T06:30:00.249-07:00Sinful nature.<a href='https://picasaweb.google.com/114868056220066420683/WordsOfComfortRayComfortSBlog?authkey=Gv1sRgCL3BobCHvv2nEQ#5774627657440732674'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmjK8723af0ZTrhHJ6hWZd_gSLVY3dj5ye39nV6f4zesoHwk0t26bs3u7B7JCeSHxH3tjPbYghmJtbk_5vF0wGfYKGjpsEmJzWfUAdmbAXgJR7pON3wxY6Je2_NbUHAgMmsdEp1zgqT8w/s288/7.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='158' style='margin:5px'></a><br /><br />Every one of us is born with a sinful nature that has a propensity to sin—human beings have a natural bend toward things that God tells us are morally wrong: fornication, lust, greed, selfishness, adultery, lying, stealing, blasphemy, hatred, murder, abortion, rape, homosexuality, and some are even attracted to pedophilia. There are many different temptations that work in concert with our sinful nature, and sometimes people choose to follow a certain course. The supposed “gay” gene occasionally referred to, is just our inherited sinful nature. We are born with it.<br />If a pedophile takes pictures of naked children through a two-way mirror and can prove to you that no child is harmed by the practice—that they are in fact benefitted by it because their parents are well-paid, would you fight for the pedophile’s rights? If you would, then please send me your name and address. The local police in your area would like to alert your neighbors that you live nearby.<br /><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-8767737875166185652012-08-08T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-08T06:30:04.630-07:00The Quiet Sound of Evidence<br /><br /><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Editorial_cartoon_depicting_Charles_Darwin_as_an_ape_(1871).jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/08/08/s_66.jpg' border='0' width='209' height='281' align='right' style='margin:5px'></a><br />We often have a studio audience when broadcasting "On the Box" -- our daily <br />webcast. One day there were only two people in the audience-a father (Larry) and his son. Larry had been a fisherman in his youth and had tragically lost one arm in machinery while on his boat. He had a great sense of humor and told us how having only one arm often came in handy when sharing his faith. <br /><br />At the end of the broadcast, I did what I often do to give a sense of closure to the program. I held up a sign that told the studio audience to applaud. Larry's son didn't applaud much at all. He was too busy looking at his one-arm dad trying to clap with one hand. The program didn't have much closure that day. It did, however, remind me that the sound of that one-arm man clapping produces is the same sound that evolution believers produce when asked for sound scientific evidence for their theory.<br /><br />Public domain <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Editorial_cartoon_depicting_Charles_Darwin_as_an_ape_(1871).jpg">picture</a>.<br /><br /><br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-3889704639415282002012-08-07T09:05:00.001-07:002012-08-07T09:05:30.266-07:00Checking Out, and the Beatles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I saw an advertisement recently where cameras were set up to watch a supermarket shopper’s reaction to a scenario. Just as he was about to go through the checkout, a man who had a single item, asked if he could step in front of him. Of course, the shopper kindly let him go first. Suddenly balloons dropped from the roof and music began to play-- because the man he let through won $50,000 for being the one-millionth-shopper. The camera then zoomed in on the shopper’s look of unbelief.<br /><br />Of course this was just a setup and it was fascinating to watch his response. The intrigue probably comes because of our ability to identify with someone being that close to winning $50,000, and missing out.<br /><br />Pete Best was the member of the Beatles who was dropped just before the music group exploded across the world, making the other members millionaires overnight. They were stacking platinum albums as he stacked loaves of bread in a delivery van in a factory. He was close, but he missed out.<br /><br />Many are like that when it comes to getting to Heaven. They believe in God, perhaps go to church, own a few Bibles, but they’ve never been born again (see John chapter 3). They are close, but they are in danger of missing out—not on mere money, but on eternal life. Horrible that may be, it’s not the real tragedy. If they die in their sins, they will not only miss the eternal pleasures of Heaven, they will find themselves damned in a terrible place called “Hell.”<br /><br />God forbid that we should be complacent about the salvation of those around us. Today, preach the gospel using words, or witness one-to-one, hand someone a gospel tract, or at least leave one somewhere for someone to find. If you can’t do any of these things, please pray for those who can.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pete_Best_drumming.jpg" target="_blank">Pic. Urbankayaker</a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5823596693953871104.post-73040811049842429322012-08-06T06:30:00.000-07:002012-08-06T06:30:01.360-07:00Caught Lying about Stealing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZUhMVV5lR54Bc6T6rgZgdK0wGCadRj61urDiF281wufMElRQdODOqYO47_fEXOTMSSXi6Yu0NVaCNsBrJmUh_ghODuji4rs3X5GPOV7VRKVgRBfUUC9C05YUHtB3XOzpblFTblr0v2Y/s1600/800px-Macro_Biro_writing2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZUhMVV5lR54Bc6T6rgZgdK0wGCadRj61urDiF281wufMElRQdODOqYO47_fEXOTMSSXi6Yu0NVaCNsBrJmUh_ghODuji4rs3X5GPOV7VRKVgRBfUUC9C05YUHtB3XOzpblFTblr0v2Y/s320/800px-Macro_Biro_writing2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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When open air preaching I recently took a man in his mid-20’s through the Ten Commandments. As many people do, he trivialized his sins. His lies were only “white” lies that he told “in the past.” He admitted to stealing, but said that it happened when he was “just a kid.” The inference is that a young child was innocent in that he doesn’t know right from wrong. When I asked what it was that he stole, he blurted “I just took a pen from work.” I laughed and said, “So you were a working child?” The crowd also laughed, and that’s when he realized that he couldn’t wriggle his way out of this lie. He admitted that he was 18 years old when he stole the pen.<br /><br />It’s been said that taking the easy path is what makes men and rivers crooked. But that’s where the analogy between rivers and men, ends. When a river is dammed, it is merely held back, but when a sinner is damned it will be in a terrible place called Hell, from which there is no escape.<div>
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Photo: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macro_Biro_writing2.jpg" target="_blank">Daniel Schwen</a><br /><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><center>For <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">Evangelism</a> Resources, please visit <a href="http://www.livingwaters.com" target="_blank">LivingWaters.com</a>.</center></div>Ray Comforthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09579138432747701808noreply@blogger.com0