Words of Comfort -- Ray Comfort's Blog

Read the Bible in a year

2012-01-27T09:29:00.000-08:00

We have decided to keep the daily Bible reading available. See below sidebar.

Nathan

2012-01-27T06:22:00.001-08:00

Adjective: Courageous

There are only a few men of God of whom the Bible is silent when it comes to their sins, or even their weaknesses. No doubt they had them, but they are hidden from us. Perhaps Nathan (like Moses, Jeremiah, Gideon, Elijah and others) complained to God when he was told that his irksome task was to tell a king that he was a murdering adulterer, and that God had seen his sin. Perhaps Nathan thought about how David had already committed murder, how he didn’t hesitate to remove the head of Goliath, and how with one nod of the king’s head, Nathan’s could be removed.

But we are not told of any such discourse between God and the prophet. And even if he did whine in prayer, Nathan was faithful to the task God set before him. David had committed the serious crime of not only taking another man’s wife, but of murdering him to cover up his offense, and he had to be confronted with his sin. So what did Nathan do? Did he change this punitive message with which God had entrusted him? Did he instead come before the king and say,

“David, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; but there is something that is stopping you enjoying this wonderful plan. It’s your sin. Nevertheless, ‘All men have sinned and come short of the glory of God’.”

Why would he do that? David was a criminal and he had to be confronted with the crimes he had committed against God. To speak of some “wonderful plan” to a criminal would be ridiculous and extremely inappropriate. It would be like a prosecuting attorney suddenly talking about a wonderful plan to Charles Manson or some other mass murderer, and ignoring or diluting his crimes. Such a scenario would be unthinkable. And yet that’s the message of much of modern evangelism.

To be continued.

Adam

2012-01-26T08:45:00.001-08:00

Adjective: Perfect

It is because of Adam that we have life. God used him as our first father. Adam was made in the image of God, and with the help of his God-given helpmate, they reproduced after their own kind. But it’s also because of Adam’s disobedience that we have what the Bible calls “corruption” throughout the entire creation. Everything miserable traces itself back to Adam and his rebellion.

However, his life gives us a very important evangelistic lesson. Adam’s transgression shows us that sin is something to be looked upon with the utmost solemnity. We say that God is holy, just, and good; that’s He’s morally perfect, but somehow those words don’t carry much depth in our dull and fallen minds. But in criminal court, we can see how “good” a judge is by how seriously he deals with a devious criminal. If he gives him a very light sentence, then the judge thinks lightly of crime; but if he gives him multiple life-sentences, we can see how serious the crime is in the judge’s eyes.

So, we can get a tiny glimpse of God’s goodness and love of justice by seeing how He dealt with one transgressor of His moral Law. Adam’s one seemingly insignificant sin ushered in pain, insanity, suicide, cancer (and thousands of deadly other diseases), killer tornadoes, devastating hurricanes, massive floods, frightening tsunamis, man-eating tigers and sharks, poisonous snake and spiders, alcoholism, starvation, wife-beating, drug addiction, demonic-possession, loneliness, fear, hatred, rape, abortion, blasphemy, murder, torture, wars, theft, racial prejudice, genocide, pedophilia, aging, death, Hell and damnation in the Lake of Fire. And I have just skimmed over the tip of the top of the iceberg of human misery--all because of one man’s transgression of God’s moral demands. Such is the frightening holiness of God. No wonder Isaiah cried “Woe is me, I’m undone!” when he found himself in His presence!

Sin is so terribly serious that it calls for the lightning of His wrath, and if He wasn’t “rich in mercy” we would be instantly struck down the moment we merely entertained the thought of sin—The Psalmist said, “He shall take them away as with a whirlwind, as in His living and burning wrath” (Psalm 58:9). Every time a sinner sins, he stores up God’s wrath that will, like a bursting dam of Eternal Justice, fall upon him on the Day of Judgment.

How soberly should we then preach the message with which Almighty God has entrusted us, never diluting the hennas nature of sin or the surety of judgment. We should never be afraid of the world’s scorn. To even entertain the fear of feeble man (that the Bible refers to as a worm), is to reveal a lack of the fear of Almighty God.

“Wherefore knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11).

The Joy of Root Canals

2012-01-25T08:57:00.000-08:00

I was enjoying some cereal when I heard a distasteful “crunch.” At first I thought that the makers had accidentally included tiny stones in the cereal, but then I found that one of my fillings had decided that it had done enough time, and was leaving. I called my dentist and told him the good news.

This was my second visit to this particular dentist, so I decided it was time to cheer him up by putting a plastic cockroach onto my tongue. After the usual “Open wide” he jumped back and excitedly said that it was the first time anyone had ever done that. Then he told me about a panicking woman who had put superglue on her gums in an effort to hold in her false teeth.

After looking at the gaping cavity in my mouth, he pointed out that I needed a root-canal. To back up his words he showed me my x-ray, and said, “I can’t understand it. You should be in great pain right now. I guess the nerves are dead.” My teeth are so sensitive that it sets them on edge just to see people chewing ice. Yet there was no pain from this Grand Canyon. I could suck cold air into the cavity and smile as I did so.

Such is the key to fulfilling the daunting job of evangelism. We are dead to the pain that comes with the irksome duty because we died with Christ on the cross. We are no longer our own. We have been bought with a price for the supreme purpose of taking the message of everlasting life to a lost and dying world. When it comes to evangelism there are more important issues than me and my well-being.

For many years a friend named Scotty picked me up each Saturday, and drove me to Huntington Beach, California to preach the gospel in the open air. It was about a 30-minute drive each way and we always filled in the time by talking about the things of God. On one of these drives I said, “Tell me an adjective that comes to mind when I say this name: David.”

He told me what came to mind, and then I named another 40 or so biblical characters and we used an adjective to describe each one. It was so interesting that it changed the direction of this blog. But we aren’t simply going to look at biblical characters. We will look at their virtues and their vices as related to the irksome task of evangelism.

Before we begin to “school” ourselves, let’s define our task so that we can see what’s involved. Evangelism is telling a Hell-bound world how to find everlasting life. If I didn’t bother to tell them how to escape death, I personally believe that I would be a Judas to the cause of Christ. I would be like a doctor who by neglect of duty lets his patients die, or a lifeguard who deliberately let people drown. Or more applicably, I would be like a firefighter who let people burn when he had it in his power to save them from the flames. I would be the worst of hypocrites because I would profess to have the love of God in me, and yet my inaction proved me to be cold-hearted, and selfish. I would be the “wicked and slothful servant” of whom Jesus spoke.

But you’re not like that, because you are reading this blog. So let’s let these men and women of Scripture speak to us and help us to “train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted”…until it becomes easier.

To be continued…

A Special Note

2012-01-24T16:06:00.001-08:00

A Special Note: Nothing consumes me like the subject of evangelism, and it’s my passion to see the Church of the 21^st Century looking and acting like the Church of the 1^st Century. Every corner they turned, they preached the message of everlasting life. They cared for nothing but the salvation of the lost. The contemporary Church is concerned more with itself than with the lost. So from now on this blog will be an on-going attempt to equip Christians to effectively share their faith. I hope you find it helpful.

***

Evangelism: As Exciting as a Root Canal

It was Charles Spurgeon who said that evangelism was an “irksome task.” If something is irksome it’s“annoying; irritating; tiresome.” The evangelistic burden is a stone in the shoe that won’t let us relax and enjoy our Christian walk. It means embracing a lifestyle that demands the awkwardness of having to talk to people about a subject that makes both parties feel uncomfortable. The message of the Bible is a big heavy and wet blanket on the world’s sinful pleasures. It therefore elicits rejection, mockery, can destroy lifelong friendships, and make your own family turn on you. Jesus warned that you could even be killed by people who think that they are doing God a favor, when they kill you.

So who in his right mind should have anything to do with this irksome task? To answer that important question, let’s look at Charles Spurgeon’s full quote:

"We must school and train ourselves to deal personally with the unconverted. We must not excuse ourselves, but force ourselves to the irksome task until it becomes easy."

Is he kidding--“Until it becomes easy”? If I may be so bold as to change the Prince of Preacher’s words slightly, it may be helpful. I know that there are certain things I can do to make the task easier, but it never becomes easy for most of us. Spurgeon had a way with words that few of us have, but that’s not an excuse to excuse ourselves from the task.

To be continued.

Life of Joseph

2012-01-23T08:03:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 38, Psalm 41-43, Matthew 25

The life of Joseph is amazing. While it’s important to see that the story is a “type” of the life of the Savior, it has many practical lessons for us--from Jacob favoring one son above his others, to the power of jealousy and its predictable progression to murder. But what is thrilling about Joseph was his ability to patiently suffer while innocent, and then to forgive. Potiphar’s lusty wife destroyed his reputation and had Joseph thrown into prison, but there is no word of him angrily getting back to her after he was exalted politically. Perhaps he never had to, because she destroyed her marriage by running off with another slave. God knows. Then there’s the butler and baker episode, where Joseph was left to rot in prison, and the wonderfully forgiving attitude he had towards his nasty brothers, after he revealed himself to them. So take the time to study the life of Joseph, and watch not only for the parallels to our redemption in Christ, but for all the life’s lessons we can learn--and in doing so, save ourselves some pain.

Dessert
Copying the Healing Power of the Body
The body’s capacity of healing itself of scrapes and cuts can be invaluable if applied to polymers composites used to build aircraft fuselage. “Self-healing plastics” is the name of a composite material in development by scientists. These plastics are made from hollow fibers and filled with epoxy resin that is released when the fibers are damaged with cracks or stresses.

“Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

A Can of Paint

2012-01-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 37, Psalm 39-40, Matthew 24

A family recently made the mistake of putting a large bucket of paint on the back seat of their car, instead of putting it in the trunk. They were then involved in an accident, spraying the inside of the vehicle and its passengers with paint. It was reported that the ambulance driver wouldn't let the female paramedic out of the ambulance because she couldn't stop laughing -- he said it wasn't professional.
Most people think that sin only affects themselves, but it often affects a whole family. When a man is caught in adultery, he not only destroys the trust of his wife, but he betrays his children, and he dishonors his name. Such was the way with King David when he lusted after his neighbor's wife, took her to himself, and then committed adultery. The two secretly tangoed, and then the sin was swept under the carpet. But the woman became pregnant and his adultery exploded like a can of paint in a car accident. He ending up taking the husband's life, taking his wife, destroying their marriage, resulting in the death of the baby, the dishonor of his name, and the downfall of his kingdom. Such is the eventual destructive nature of sin. If it doesn't get you in this life, it will get you in the next. Turn from sin (trust in the Savior), and then stay away from it.

Dessert
Copying the Hummingbird
"A technical milestone never before achieved: controlled precision hovering and fast-forward flight of a two wing, flapping wing aircraft that carries its own energy source, and uses only the flapping wings for propulsion and control has been achieved by AeroVironment. The milestone was part of the Phase II contract awarded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to AV to design and build a flying prototype 'hummingbird-like' aircraft for the Nano Air Vehicle (NAV) program. The final concept demonstrator is called the 'Nano Hummingbird' and is capable of climbing and descending vertically, flying sideways left and right, flying forward and backward, as well as rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise, under remote control and carrying a video camera payload. During the demonstration the Nano Hummingbird flew in and out of a building through a normal-size doorway."

Source: McFarland, M. W. (ed.), The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright, Vol. 1: 1899-1905, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1953.

"When you see a man with a great deal of religion displayed in his shop window, you may depend upon it he keeps a very small stock of it within." ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Tossed in the Trash

2012-01-21T10:55:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 36, Psalm 38, Matthew 23

The Associate Press today reported that in Los Angeles “One of the world’s smallest surviving babies was discharged Friday from the hospital where she spent nearly five months in an incubator — but not before getting the Hollywood treatment.” This tiny person was born at 9 1/2 ounces, less than a can of soda. “Wearing a pink knit hat and wrapped in a pink princess blanket, Melinda Star Guido was greeted by a mob of television cameras and news photographers outside the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.” The world is celebrating the survival of the second smallest baby ever born in the U.S. But not too many are asking, “What’s wrong with this picture?” This is the age at which babies are legally killed through abortion, and yet there’s festivity and wonder that this child survived. That’s like the Nazi’s celebrating because a Jew survived the horror of their concentration camp. The only reason this baby wasn’t torn limb from limb while in the womb, was because her mother wanted her to live. Had she seen her as an inconvenience, a mere signing of a form, and Melinda would have been tossed in the trash, and not cradled in an incubator. Please, help us to change hearts and minds about the horror of legalized abortion. See 180movie.com then pass it on.

Dessert
Copying the Night Vision of Bees and Beetles
“The nocturnal vision of insects has led biology professor Eric Warrant at Lund University in Sweden to an exciting collaboration with the automaker Toyota. The collaborative project aims to develop a new type of color camera that, in the future, will help people drive cars more safely when it's dark outside.”
Warrant said, "For instance, there's a lot to be learned from nocturnally active dung beetles that live in cow dung." The professor and his team at the department of biology, Lund University, are interested in the function of eyes of various animal, especially in terms of their ability to see in the dark. Beetles, bees and moths have compound eyes with multiple lenses that work and these work together to make a single image in the animal's eye...” [Source]

“That very church which the world likes best is sure to be that which God abhors.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

The Dew of Heaven

2012-01-20T07:44:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 34-35, Psalm 37, Matthew 22

One of the greatest falsehoods perpetuated from modern pulpits has that sin isn’t pleasurable, or that you can’t find happiness without Jesus. Those who preach such things either don’t know their Bibles or they are living in a cave; a very dark cave. The Scriptures tell us that in these days, people will be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (see 2 Timothy 3:4). Moses chose to suffer with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (see Hebrews 11:25). Sin can make you happy; very happy. Jeremiah lamented, “Why are they all so happy who deal treacherously” (Jeremiah 12:1). Lying can make people happy. So can theft. Adultery has made many people very happy. They had their cake and ate it. Pornography makes millions happy every day. If it doesn’t, why is the industry deliriously successful? They belt out movies as if there is no eternity. Even in a bad economy they make big money, and their customers are so pleased with what they see, like a drunken alcoholic, they come back for more. But those who love God deny themselves sinful pleasures, not to gain merit-points but because they are forgiven by the grace of God. The dew of Heaven has revealed the spider-web of sin, and they know better than to become entangled in that which promises death and certain damnation.

Dessert
Copying the Moth’s Eye
“Anti-reflective surfaces of fly and moth eyes are formed from directional ridges which maximize the absorption of light. Moth eye structures have already been harnessed for large-scale commercialization, using lithographic techniques to print the surface pattern onto windows. The surface structures can be reproduced much more accurately using electron beam etching and have been used more recently in smaller, solid plastics and lenses…. This is able to capture light arriving at the surface from different angles. Consequently it has been used on the surfaces of solar panels, providing a 10 per cent increase in energy capture by reducing the reflected portion of sunlight.” [Source]

“Friendship is one of the sweetest joys of life. Many might have failed beneath the bitterness of their trial had they not found a friend.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Square One

2012-01-19T08:05:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 32—33, Psalm 36, Matthew 21

The Bible tells us that we can find comfort through the Scriptures, and those who love the Word of God sure do. Psalms especially not only address our problems, but they give us insight into the hearts and actions of the ungodly, of the fate of those who remain in sin, and the future of those who love God. Psalm 36 is one such consoling Psalm. It immediately puts its finger on why the world is in such a terrible mess: “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (verse 1). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the world hasn’t even got to Square One. And so the ungodly man “flatters himself in his own eyes” (verse 2). But God is merciful and holds back His anger, because He’s not willing that sinners perish. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. In the meanwhile we trust under the shadow of His wings, and look forward to the day in which we will drink of the river of His pleasures, forevermore. For with Him is the fountain of life, and in His light we shall see light (verses 8-9).

Dessert
Architecture Copies Nature
“What Cities Look Like When Architecture Imitates Nature: The world may finally be ready for Zaha Hadid. An Iraq-born deconstructivist architect based in London, Hadid has been making waves with controversial and futuristic architectural concepts for over 20 years. Many of her ideas never made it past the drawing board, because the designs were just too…well, different. Now, she’s gaining steam, and has projects going all over the world. She was recently commissioned to design an Aquatics Centre in London for the 2012 Summer Olympics, a Performing Arts Center in Abu Dhabi, and the spaceship-like Innovation Tower for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her buildings are oddly shaped (compared to traditional architecture), but definitely have a very organic feel…” [Source]

“Men will allow God to be everywhere but on his throne.” Charles H. Spurgeon

Instant Life's Lesson

2012-01-18T07:02:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 31, Psalm 35, Matthew 20

In Genesis 31:32, Jacob made a rash vow. He said that whoever it was that had his father-in-law’s idols would die. Little did he know that his own beloved wife had hidden them in the “furniture” of her camel. Fortunately for Jacob, his father-in-law didn’t find his idols and nothing came of the vow. Japheth was another man who made a crazy vow. He said that he would sacrifice whatever came out of his house to meet him when he got home that day. His beloved daughter came out to meet him.
The Bible tells us that Scripture was written for our learning, and we can learn a great deal about what not to do from those who made tragic mistakes in life. We can learn from Adam to Noah, from Esau to Judas, to Solomon to Peter. For those who know their Bibles, each name can be matched up to an instructional word or phrase. What name comes to mind when you ask yourself, Who was it that despised his birthright? Who was disobedient? Who gave himself to foreign women? Who was impetuous? Who loved money more than God? Who was deceived by alcohol?
May we know the Scriptures like the back of our hand, so that with the mere mention of a biblical name we have an instant life’s lesson, and avoid the pitfalls of daily living.

Dessert
Copying Algae
“But in the nano-sized realm, copying sometimes isn’t good enough. Lithography can’t always accurately mimic Nature’s elaborate architecture, or if it can, commercial scale manufacture is too expensive. Scientists are now realizing that Nature needn’t just inspire new designs: cells can actually be hijacked to grow natural structures for us. To begin with, we have borrowed Nature’s ready-made templates. Viruses have been harvested as building blocks to create iridescent films, while diatoms – single-celled algae – have been chemically converted into lace-like structures of nanocomposite materials.” [Source]

“The Lord's mercy often rides to the door of our heart upon the black horse of affliction.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Sound-man

2012-01-17T09:31:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
It’s been rightly said that no one is listening to you, until you make a mistake. Try it. You will become the centre of attention. This is never more evident than with the sound-man at a church service. As far as the congregation is concerned, he doesn’t exist until something goes wrong. A dead microphone or high-pitch squeal from an amplifier, and suddenly everyone’s head turns to the cause of the problem—the incompetent sound-man. Few take into account that a thousand church services ran without a hitch or high-pitch. All that matters is that moment of annoyance and someone on whom the blame can be pinned. Such is the contempt produced by familiarity.
As far as the world is concerned, God doesn’t is totally irrelevant (or doesn’t exist) until something goes wrong. Accidents, earthquakes, famines, draughts, hurricanes, and 101 other disasters that hit humanity tend to make many look to the heavens and question God’s competence. It’s a wonder more sound-men don’t throw up their hands and quit. Does God ever do that? I think there may be biblical precedent—from Noah’s flood, to Israel in the wilderness, to Ananias and Sapphira.

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 30, Psalm 34, Matthew 19

Dessert
Copying the Elephant’s Trunk to make an Arm
“Though it looks more like Dr. Octopus' mechanical tentacles from ‘Spiderman, a flexible, robotic arm recently developed by German automation company Festo was actually fashioned after an elephant's trunk…In designing the Bionic Handling Assistant, Festo took a page from nature's playbook rather than go with the metal skeletal bars and tubes that comprise conventional robotic arms. ‘Biomimicry, as this design and engineering aesthetic is called, draws inspiration from the biomechanical systems that the process of evolution has honed for millions of years, often resulting in startling insights over manmade artificial solutions.”
[Source]

“Have your heart right with Christ, and he will visit you often, and so turn weekdays into Sundays, meals into sacraments, homes into temples, and earth into heaven.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Miracles

2012-01-16T09:09:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 28-29, Psalm 33, Matthew 18

According to the secular media miracles happen regularly. An ocean-liner sinks, and days later someone is pulled to safety. This is hailed as a “miracle.” While the media usually keeps the mentioning of God to the minimum, they do know that miracle stories lift ratings. They are heart-warming to viewers. But the truth is, we don’t know when God intervenes in the lives of human beings. He does the miraculous, but He’s not always in the miracle-mode. The first eleven disciples were murdered for their faith. They no doubt prayed for miraculous deliverance, but it didn’t happen. So why would anyone want to be a Christian--if God lets His own be killed? Here’s a good reason--all who repent and trust in Jesus have His immutable promise of immortality. On top of that, He transforms sin-loving sinners so that they love what is right and hate what is wrong. So, if you are looking for a miracle, there’s the big one. Death is overcome through the new birth, and the door of everlasting life is thrust open by the grace of Almighty God. Christianity begins and ends with a miracle. C. S. Lewis said, “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

Dessert
Copying Lotus Leaves
The surface of lotus leaves have
bumps that make the water to bead and pick up contaminates. Scientists have developed chemicals to treat the surface of plastic and metals to cause the same effect, in which water rolls off and takes the contaminates with it. This effect has many applications that have made windshield wipers and car wax obsolete. Companies as General Electric are developing coatings for commercial products as well.

“The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted.” Charles H. Spurgeon

Who You Know

2012-01-15T07:27:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 27, Psalm 32, Matthew 17

I regularly preach open air each Saturday at Huntington Beach, in Southern California, and crossed swords with a Jehovah’s Witness recently. This man was tall, eloquent, and certain that he was right and that the entire Christian Church was wrong about the way of salvation. Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t believe in the eternality of Hell, the existence of Heaven as the place of departed believers, and the deity of Jesus Christ (among other things). For a J.W. salvation isn’t a free gift, and yet that is the clear teaching of the Bible (see Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9). All who repent and trust alone in Jesus pass from death to life, something about which my contentious heckler disagreed. Even their twisted New World Translation is clear that eternal life isn’t what you know, but Who you know. It’s so simple a child can understand it: “And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:11-13). Jesus Christ is the source of life, and if you know Him, you are saved. [Fortunately, we caught the hot discourse on camera and hope to have it for you in the near future].

Dessert
Copying Grass
“During the 50s and 60s, the Ford
Foundation was studying ways to improve the physical fitness of young people. At the same time, the Chemstrand Company, a subsidiary of Monsanto Industries, were developing new synthetic fibers for use as tough carpeting. Chemstrand was encouraged to try to make the perfect urban sports surface for schools by the Ford Foundation. From 1962 to 1966, Chemstrand worked on creating new sports surfaces. The surfaces were tested for foot traction and cushioning, weather drainage, flammability and wear resistance. In 1964, the Creative Products Group installed a synthetic turf called Chemgrass at the Moses Brown School in Providence Rhode Island. This was the first large-scale installation of a synthetic turf.”
Source: http://inventors.about.com/od/astartinventions/a/astroturf.htm

“You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

The Thrill of the Bungee Jump

2012-01-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 25-26, Psalm 31, Matthew 16

I watched a video clip of a bungee jumper recently, whose cord looped around his neck. He was more than likely already dead when his friends were calling for him to take the noose off his neck and to lift his knees. This came hard on the heels of a shallow-thinking woman who jumped off a bridge in South Africa. When the cord broke, the company lamented that they had had 150,000 jumps without incident. I would think one was about due. I hope more people watch the clips of cords snapping, and that more will check out the statistics of how many people die when jumping from high places (base-jumping and sky-diving). It may put some sense into them. If you’re a Christian and you are tempted to jump, instead of catering to your thrill-seeking ego, think of someone else other than yourself. Think of those who love you and those for whom you are responsible. This injudicious world doesn’t know any better. You should. Think of the more than 150,000 people who die every 24 hours, and if you want a thrill, get up on a soapbox and tell dying sinners how to find everlasting life. That will kill your ego.

Dessert
Copying Whale Fins

The humpback whale’s flippers have inspired the development of WhalePower turbine blades, providing agility in the water. Their bumps, called tubercles, allow many applications in turbines, irrigation pumps, ventilation fans and hydroelectric turbines. Smooth surface fins are less effective than the humpback’s bumpy fins. The bumps provide 32% less drag and an increase of 8% in their lift through air or water. Wind power can become 20% more efficient with such blades.

“Nothing teaches us about the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Wearing A Cross

2012-01-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 25, Psalm 30, Matthew 15

A friend and I went open air preaching recently at a localcollege (we have special permission not only to preach, but to film for our TVprogram--from the school’s Chief of Police). While my friend Tony waspreaching, someone politely introduced himself and asked, “Do you think Jesuswould have done this?” I said, “He did. Haven’t you read the gospels?”He was quick to say, “No He didn’t! He just drew people to Himself.” Isaid, “Okay, Tony will be finished in a moment, so you can get up on thesoapbox and show us how you do it. We will sit at your feet and learn.” Heresponded, “Oh, I don’t do it that way. I just wear a cross.” I asked, “Do you speakto people about the reality of Hell, and how they need a Savior?” He said thathe didn’t, so I told him that I liked the way Tony did it, better than the waythat he didn’t do it. It was no surprise to find that he hadn’t read hisBible for three weeks, and it was easy to understand why he believed as he did. If I was ignorant of the Holy Scripture and if I didn’t care about peoplegoing to Hell, I would probably confine my evangelism to wearing a cross. Butinstead I must carry one.

Dessert

Copying Grass

“During the 50s and 60s, the Ford Foundation was studyingways to improve the physical fitness of young people. At the same time, theChemstrand Company, a subsidiary of Monsanto Industries, were developing newsynthetic fibers for use as tough carpeting. Chemstrand was encouraged totry to make the perfect urban sports surface for schools by the FordFoundation. From 1962 to 1966, Chemstrand worked on creating new sportssurfaces. The surfaces were tested for foot traction and cushioning, weatherdrainage, flammability and wear resistance. In 1964, the CreativeProducts Group installed a synthetic turf called Chemgrass at the Moses BrownSchool in Providence Rhode Island. This was the first large-scale installationof a synthetic turf.” (Source)

“Have you no wish for others to besaved? Then you're not saved yourself, be sure of that!” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

The Buzz about Huz and Luz

2012-01-12T11:10:00.000-08:00

ComfortFood

Readthe Bible in a year: Genesis 22-23, Psalms 26-29, Matthew 14

You may have heard thesong, “Father Abraham had Many Sons,” but did you know that he also had manynephews? Two of them were named “Huz” and “Buz” (see Genesis 22:21). Huz and Buz aren’t mentioned anywhere else in Scripture, so it seems theydidn’t do much that was noteworthy. Then again, they may have discovered theland of Uz (see Job 1:1) and named it after themselves. Partly. They may have also named the land of Luz. Luz was a small town inCanaan. The name means to “turn aside,” and is used in a negativesense. It can either mean turning aside from wisdom (see Proverbs 3:21,4:21) or it can mean being a "twisted" person (see Proverbs 3:32,14:2), as was Jacob until God straightened him out. I guess Jacob wasn’ttoo impressed with the name Luz, because after having his famous ladder dreamhe renamed it “Bethel” (Genesis 28:19). But despite its unromantic name,Luz lived on. Many years later, after a battle, a collaborator from the enemywas given his freedom, and he founded a town which he called Luz (see Judges1:26).

Dessert

Copyingthe Retina

“The retinal cells inour eyes recognize and interpret light, then send this information to othercells to which they are connected. All these visual processes have inspired anew model for computers…One research team, led by Carver Mead of the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology, is looking into the secrets that allow the retina tocarry out all these processes so easily….Despite all these efforts, however,it’s proved to be impossible to imitate the retinal network’s circuitry,because of the vast number of individual cells in the living retina and theconnections between them. Design engineers, therefore, are now trying tounderstand how the retina’s neural network operates and are designing simplercircuits which, ideally, can perform similar functions.”
(Source)

“God helps those who cannot help themselves.” ―Charles H. Spurgeon

Fiery Trials

2012-01-11T10:21:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 20-21, Psalms 23-25, Matthew 13

God doesn’t always come running when I have trials. He sometimes leaves me in them. Christians go through the same trials as the world does. We get wet when it rains and we bruise when we fall. We get common colds and even cancer, and we die, just like everyone else. Sometimes we go through “fiery” trials. The first eleven disciples were murdered. That’s pretty fiery. They didn’t get a deliverance miracle. So why would anyone in his right mind want to become a Christian? There one good reason: Everlasting life is the free gift that God offers to all who repent and trust in Jesus. Unsaved people can often find happiness in this world. Many become rich, popular and successful. They can even survive their own fiery trials. But they can’t find deliverance from the power of the grave, outside of Jesus Christ. Only He has destroyed death and can give immortality to all who trust in Him, and it’s for that reason I’m a Christian.

Dessert: Copying Lizard Feet.
“Gecko Tape is a material covered with nanoscopic (very small) hair, copying the design on the feet of gecko and lizards. This tape could allow someone to walk up walls and across ceilings, thanks to the millions of very small hairs that provide a very powerful adhesive effect. Some uses of Gecko Tape now include underwater and space station uses.”[1]

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

[1] http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3785-gecko-tape-will-stick-you-to-ceiling.html

Ugly Dogs

2012-01-10T08:46:00.001-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 19, Psalm 22, Matthew 12

If you’ve ever Googled “ugly dogs” and clicked on “Images” you’ve probably wondered how anyone could love these animals. But they are often loved by their owners because their love is blind. When my kids were born I thought each one was the most beautiful baby in the world. When I looked back at their baby pictures a year or so later, I realized how blind my love was. Such is the case with humanity. Each of us is pretty ugly, and yet God loves us. This is because His love isn’t drawn out by what He sees, but by what He is: “God is Love.”Hollywood marriages are usually based on what couples see. Mr. Handsome marries Miss Gorgeous because he sees that she is a beautiful rose. But when time causes her petals to fall off, all he gets are thorns. His attitude reveals what a shallow and ugly dog he really is, and once again, much to no-one’s surprise, there is another really ugly Hollywood divorce.

Dessert
Copying the Suckers on the Octopus.
“The working face of the suction cup has a curved surface. When the center of the suction cup is pressed against a flat, non-porous surface, the volume of the space between the suction cup and the flat surface is reduced, which causes the fluid between the cup and the surface to be expelled past the rim of the circular cup. When the user ceases to apply physical pressure to the center of the outside of the cup, the elastic substance of which the cup is made tends to resume its original, curved shape.…The modern suction cup was patented in 1882, and is based on the biological suckers on octopus arms.”[1]

“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suction_cup

Be Perfect

2012-01-09T10:32:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 17-18, Psalm 19-21, Matthew 11

In today’s reading we see that God appeared to Abraham and told him to be “perfect.” While many profess to be morally good, few are so deluded that they claim to be perfect. I know this to be true because I often ask people who think that they are good, if they are perfect in thought, word, and in deed. We all know that nobody’s perfect. But that was God’s requirement for Abraham (see Genesis 17:1). So what was Abraham’s response? He fell on his face. That’s a gesture of humility…body-language. He was throwing himself at the mercy of the Judge. Jesus said to be perfect (see Matthew 5:48). I don’t think that it means to be “mature,” as some say that it does, because He added, “As your Father in Heaven is perfect.” God isn’t morally mature. That would mean that He was once less than mature. I think that it rather means that we are to be morally perfect because we are going to be judged by the perfect Law of liberty (see James 2:12). We should take note of Abraham, and fall on our faces, and trust alone in the mercy of the Judge, and then warn everyone “that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”

Dessert: Copying the Eye. Don’t Even Think About it.
An artificial eye was originally called a “glass” eye, but science has come a long way since those days. Nowadays artificial eyes sure look good; however, they don’t look good, at all. The replacement for the eye that God made may fill a cavity of the eye socket, but it’s just cosmetic. You can’t see through it. Years ago, if you lost an eye, before eyes were available, you would have had to simply wear a patch, but nowadays they can attach the new blind eye to muscles in the socket to provide eye movement. Today, most eyes that are man-made are made of plastic, and instead of lasting a life-time like the eyes that God supplies, its average life is about 10 years.

“Nobody ever outgrows Scripture; the book widens and deepens with our years.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

This World's Philosophy

2012-01-08T05:54:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 9-10, Psalm 11-13, Matthew 7

After watching a very sharp friend cross swords with two secular guests on his TV program, my convictions deepened that we must be careful of the amount of time we expend trying to change minds when it comes to moral issues. We may get this world to concede on one or two issues, but there are many others to which they will cling for dear life. They are entrenched in what the Bible calls the "vain philosophy" of this world. This is a deep and dark ditch leading to death, over the sides of which they cannot see until they are lifted up by the grace of God. Our agenda therefore should be to see hearts changed through the power of the gospel. That is the axe which kills the root and sparks new life through the new birth. It is then that a new worldview will follow like the carriages behind a train--there is a new heart and a renewed mind, because the sinner is now a new creature in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Dessert

Copycats Copy Cats

You have no doubt seen reflectors on roads at night. If you have ever driven in the country where at times there are no street lights, you will no doubt see that they are a life-saver. They show you where the road goes because they, like cats eyes, reflect light from your car’s headlights….Percy Shaw, from Boothtown, Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, was the inventor of cat’s eyes. He realized that, when the tram-lines were removed in a close neighborhood, he was actually using their shiny steel to navigate. He named his invention cat’s eyes, because, he got the inspiration from the eye shine reflecting from the eyes of a cat…. (From, Theft! The Stealing of God’s Design—Master books—publishing date April 2012)

"Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom." ― Charles H. Spurgeon

2012-01-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

The moderator is away until Sunday, and he's been without Internet access. Our apologies to those of you who have been commenting.

The Insanity of Mussolini

2012-01-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 9-10, Psalm 11-13, Matthew 7

I watched a documentary recently on Mussolini, the Italian dictator who allied with Hitler in the Second World War and brought upon his country and those around him, untold misery and death. At one point, to impress Hitler he had his own son-in-law shot to death by firing squad. This was despite the pleadings of his own daughter. The event was recorded on film, and I was heartbroken to see the young man being dragged before his killers. It was clear that his knees were weak with fear to a point where he was unable to walk. Thus death drags terrified human beings to its firing-squad each day. How this should break our hearts—-to think that anyone would face that moment without the Savior is a horror beyond words, but to think of what awaits them on the other side of death should stir us to push aside of our fears and tell them that "Jesus Christ has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light, through the gospel."

Dessert

Copying Thorns to Make Barbed Wire

"Barbed wire continues the ancient and widespread practice of planting thorny hedges to confine livestock. Good evidence points to an origin as a copy of plant thorns, of the thorns of one plant in particular. Osage orange was used in the American mid-west as such a hedge during the 19th century, and the first barbed wire was developed, manufactured, and sold there. Michael Kelly, who received the first patent, in 1868, called his enterprise the Thorn Wire Hedge Company – drawing attention to the familiar antecedent must have saved a lot of explaining – and his version looked very much like plant thorns."1. (From, Theft! The Stealing of God’s Design—Master books—publishing date April 2012)

"If you can't see His way past the tears, trust His heart." ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Notes: 1. Basalla, G., The Evolution of Technology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988.

Spotting a Liar

2012-01-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 11-12, Psalm 14-16, Matthew 8

Whenever someone makes me a promise, I think of Psalm 15. I suspect that the promise is a tell-tale that they person is probably a liar, and I'm usually right. Both Jesus and James tell us that we shouldn't back up our word with an oath. This is because it reveals that our word isn't enough. When a Christian says he will do something, it doesn't need anything else to back it up. Psalm 15 says that a godly person will keep his word whatever the cost. The entire Psalm describes the godly character. He lives in honesty, practices righteousness, and it all begins in the heart. He doesn't gossip about or despise anyone, but honors those that fear the Lord. Neither is he greedy of gain. Those who do such things will never be moved...not even by death. They are preserved by God because He has done a work in their heart, and living the Psalm 15 life is evidence of salvation.

Dessert:Copying the Grub to Make the Chainsaw

"The chain of the chain saw was invented in 1943 by Joseph Cox, who was a machinist working as a logger. At the time, despite the invention of various motorized saws, long (up to five meters), human-powered, cross-cut saws still dominated commercial logging. Cox examined the way the mandibles – the side-to-side jaws – of the grub of a timber-mining beetle cut tunnels through fresh wood. He then devised cutters, as in Figure 8, based on those mandibles..."1. (From, Theft! The Stealing of God’s Design—Master books—publishing date April 2012)

"By perseverance the snail reached the ark." ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Notes: 1. Budde, R., Phys. World, 1995, 8, 22.

Only for a Season

2012-01-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 9-10, Psalm 11-13, Matthew 7.

We have twelve fruit trees in our yard, and each tree will remain with us as long as it bears fruit. If one doesn’t give us fruit, we will dig it out and put something in the ground that will gives us what is expected from it. So it is with Christianity. If someone is a Christian they will produce good fruit. Jesus said that a bad tree will produce bad fruit, a good tree will produce good fruit, and that every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire. This is eye-opening for those in the faith who are grieved by the hypocrisy that runs so rampant within the contemporary Church. When someone professes faith in Jesus but lives in sin, his joy is only for a season. His lack of the fruit of righteousness may be of little concern to him in this life, but on the Day of Judgment it will be a life and death issue. .

DessertCopying the Fly's Ear
"Researchers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., began studying hearing systems in nature in order to design more sensitive auditory equipment. As a result, they realized that the ear of Ormia ochracea, and its extraordinary design could lead to a revolution in hearing aids. The ear of this species of fly can identify a sound’s direction in a most accurate manner..."1.(From, Theft! The Stealing of God’s Design—Master books—publishing date April 2012) .

"Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths." ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Notes: 1. http://www.harunyahya.com/books/science/biomimetics/biomimetics07.php

God Doesn’t “Remember”

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

Comfort FoodRead the Bible in a year: Genesis 7-8, Psalm 9-10, Matthew 6God remembered Noah is an example of anthropomorphism. God is omniscient, so He doesn’t “remember” anything. To remember something, you have to have forgotten it. That’s uniquely a human trait, but the Bible often uses human attributes so that we can grasp a fleeting thought that is normally too much for the human mind. God kept His eye on him when he was surrounded by death and destruction. The reason He preserved the family of eight and their animal cargo was because Noah trusted God, and He will remember you and me and preserve us as we pass through death, if we trust Him in Christ. It was God that saved Noah, but Noah had to board the ark. Think of it: among the trillions of people who have lived and died, God will remember you if you have boarded the ark of the Savior and trusted in Him. There is no greater consolation than this, in this short and turbulent life.

Dessert

Copying Plants

Planes may in time have flexible wings similar to that of birds, thanks to the study of mimosa plants, according to researchers. The leaves of the plant, which retract at the slightest touch, may inspire a new class of configurations that can twist and bend, and may even be able to repair themselves, according to University of Michigan professor of mechanical engineering Kon-Well Wang [1]. (From, Theft! The Stealing of God’s Design—Master books—publishing date April 2012) “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” ? Charles H. Spurgeon

[1] http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-plants-that-can-move-inspire.html

When God is Involved

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food

Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 5-6, Psalm 6-8, Matthew 5

The world mocks the thought of Noah and his ark because they lack knowledge. They don’t understand that God has chosen foolish things to confound a proud and sinful world. They don’t understand that when God is involved, anything may happen. Natural law may be suspended. Seas part, loaves and fishes multiply, the sick are healed, the blind see, a virgin conceives a child, angels appear, water is walked on, death is defeated, and animals can be brought by God to a ship designed by God, to be preserved in a massive flood brought about by God. With God, nothing shall be impossible. However, the key to believing Scripture isn’t just to understand this principle. It’s to come to know the supernatural Creator through the supernatural experience of the new birth (see John 3 for details).

Dessert

Copying Termite’s Air Conditioning

“Tower termite buildings in Africa were the design inspiration to construct the high-rise Eastgate Centre building in Harare, Zimbabwe, in order to maintain a constant temperature. The termites constantly open and close vents in their mound, to control currents of air. The insects draw cool air from the lower vents and then the hot air escapes through the top ones as chimneys…” (From, Theft! The Stealing of God’s Design—Master books—publishing date April 2012)

“Faith goes up the stairs that love has built and looks out the windows which hope has opened.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon

Monday 2nd Jan. 2012

2012-01-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Comfort Food
Read the Bible in a year: Genesis 3-4, Psalm 3-5, Matthew 3-4

At the end of every year I sit through CBS's miserable parade of Hollywood celebrities who passed into eternity during that year. My heart breaks because I know that they are just a handful of the 159,635 who die each day (Guinness World Records 2012, p. 103). As Christians, we have found everlasting life in Christ, but according to statistics many of us don't think this is worth spreading. We have become silent on that issue and instead become politically passionate. However, evangelism was the primary agenda of the Church in the Book of Acts. It wasn't to bring about change for a better life by changing Roman politics. That would have been to put the cart before the horse, and when that happens you aren't going anywhere. That's what has been happening in America for the last 30 years. Think about the moral issues we face and ask if they have got better or worse-abortion, pornography, violence, homosexual marriage, divorce, pedophilia, adultery, blasphemy and fornication. Every issue has escalated because the Church has attacked the fruit, when it should take the gospel and go for the root.

Dessert
Copying Bacteria for Solar Energy. "Structural studies of some of nature's most efficient light-harvesting systems are lighting the way for new generations of biologically inspired solar cell devices. Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory used small-angle neutron scattering to analyze the structure of chlorosomes in green photosynthetic bacteria. Chlorosomes are efficient at collecting sunlight for conversion to energy, even in low-light and extreme environments." Co-author and leading research scientist Volker Urban of ORNL's Center for Structural Molecular Biology said, "It's one of the most efficient light harvesting antenna complexes found in nature.."1. (From, Theft! The Stealing of God's Design-Master books-publishing date April 2012)

"Hope itself is like a star--not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. " ― Charles H. Spurgeon
Notes: 1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110323140136.htm

Last Atheist Central post

2011-12-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday will be the first Words of Comfort.

Happy new year to all of you!

Christmas greeting:

2011-12-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

I hope that you will think deeply about the words of the famous Christmas carol--speaking of Jesus, it says, “Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.”

May you have a very happy Christmas.

Keep it up Mr. Barker.

2011-12-19T07:32:00.001-08:00

Look what happened when atheist Dan Barker whined about a Nativity scene In Henderson, Texas. These people came out in support of the display. Keep it up Mr. Barker. You are awakening the Church and stirring it into action. Because of you and your group we sent a stack of training courses to the churches in Henderson to teach them how to share their faith, and we have a team going there in January.

Please let us know where you would like us to go next.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/thousands-rally-to-save-nativity-scene.html

Words of Comfort

2011-12-17T19:28:00.000-08:00

For years I have had a blog called "Atheist Central," frequented daily by hundreds of atheists. Here is today's post:

“I can't wait till you die Ray, then I can make claims that you renounced your beliefs in your last moments and swore your allegiance to Satan and admitted to molesting children. Have a blessed day.”

Reading this comment from an atheist made me miss you guys.

Some of you may have guessed that I haven’t had much to do with Atheist Central for the last six months (we have been using old posts). The reason for my absence was two-fold. I was busy with our “180” movie (nearing two million views), and I became extremely bored with atheism.

So, the good news for me is that I will start daily blogging again on January 1^st, 2012. However, there will be a big change. The blog will be called “Words of Comfort” and it will have a much broader content than just atheism.

Those of you who pretend that God doesn’t exist are still very welcome to leave comments.

May God continue to bless you and yours this Christmas.

Christopher Hitchens is no longer an atheist. Richard Dawkins now believes in God.

2011-12-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

By now we all know of the tragic death of the likeable Christopher Hitchens. It is a sad day for those who were close to him, and our thoughts and prayers will be with them.

There are two ways you and I can meet God. The first is to repent and trust alone in Jesus. The second way is to wait until you pass on. The old adage of death “He went to meet his Maker” is true.

On hearing of Mr. Hitchens passing, Richard Dawkins sent out a tweet acknowledging that God exists:

“Christopher Hitchens, finest orator of our time, fellow horseman, valiant fighter against all tyrants including God.”

Of course, none of us know what Mr. Hitchens did in his last moments of time. He may have turned from his sins and trusted in Jesus. God only knows.

Whatever the case, never forget that acknowledging the existence of God doesn’t mean an entrance into Heaven, but (as the Bible so clearly teaches), repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, does.

Picture: Ensceptico

Why will sinners go to hell?

2011-12-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

Much damage has been done to the cause of the gospel by telling the world that they will go to hell “because they don’t believe in Jesus.” This makes no sense to the ungodly. It seems unreasonable that God would eternally damn them for not believing something. However, the verse can be explained this way: If a man jumps out of a plane without a parachute, he will perish because he transgressed the law of gravity. Had he put on a parachute, he would have been saved. In one sense, he perished because he didn’t put on the parachute. But the primary reason he died was because he broke the law of gravity.

If a sinner refuses to trust in Jesus Christ before he passes through the door of death, he will perish. This isn’t because he refused to trust the Savior, but because he transgressed the Law of God. Had he “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14), he would have been saved; but because he refused to repent, he will suffer the full consequences of his sin. Sin is not “failing to believe in Jesus.” Sin is “transgression of the Law” (1 John 3:4, KJV).

“The Bible says that children were to be stoned to death.”

2011-12-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

This refers not to a young child but to a youth who was a continual drunkard and was persistently rebellious, stubborn, gluttonous, and disobedient (which describes many contemporary teenagers). If a son consistently refused to abide by his parents’ authority, the men of the city were to enforce swift capital punishment.

However, there is no record in Scripture of even one rebellious youth in Israel being put to death by stoning. The Law of Moses was read to all of Israel, so no doubt all children were made aware of this law’s terrifying threat before they reached their teenage years. (That it was an effective deterrent shows God’s wisdom in setting such a harsh penalty.) In contrast, each year in the U.S. thousands of youths die through drunk driving, violence, alcohol poisoning, drug abuse, etc., as a tragic result of their rebellious lifestyles.

That same merciless Law of Moses will judge all of humanity on the Day of Judgment. However, Jesus took our capital punishment upon Himself so that we could leave the courtroom without suffering the consequences of our sins. All that God requires of us is that we repent of our stubborn, rebellious, and disobedient lifestyle and trust in the Savior before the great stone of God’s Law falls on us and grinds us “to powder” (see Luke 20:18).

Richard Dawkins Mocks Author's Spelling

2011-12-01T04:22:00.000-08:00

In the ongoing battle of words between professor Richard Dawkins and evangelist Ray Comfort, the Oxford University professor has produced a video mocking the spelling ability of the best-selling author of more than 70 books. The war of words is nothing new between the two. Dawkins once called Comfort an "idiot" on CNN, for which CNN quickly apologized.

In this video, he mocks Comfort for his spelling of the word "thought" as "thort": http://youtu.be/HWIrnZizF7Y. Comfort responded, "Whether the learned professor likes it or not, the English language is evolving and some of us old fossils need to evolve with it. Texting is changing the way we spell. I'm delighted that I was able to catch the wave of social media, a wave it seems Mr. Dawkins missed."

In reference to the texting generation Comfort said, "Horrific though it may be to a cultured English-speaking professor, words like 'thought,' with its superfluous 'ugh,' give way to the expediency of words like 'thort,' and for the millions who have to learn the complexities of the English language, it's about time."

Comfort added that this was just another example of Professor Dawkins mocking something he doesn't understand. "But in his attempt at mockery, he has not only made himself look old-fashioned, but he has promoted '180' throughout the atheist world. The 'pope' of atheism waved my movie from his balcony. You can't buy such publicity. I'm grateful that he's helping others around the world to watch the video and hear the gospel."

Comfort is the creator of www.180movie.com. His 33-minute award-winning movie went viral and received over one million views within 22 days of being placed on YouTube. When a family said that they would be seeing Richard Dawkins, they requested that Comfort write a personal note on the cover of a DVD version, and they would get it into his hands.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T10:00:00.001-08:00

It’s Thanksgiving again. Of course, every day is Thanksgiving for the Christian. I spoke to an atheist on Saturday who said that he wasn’t thankful for anything. Not for loved ones, food, his eyesight or even his life. That makes sense for an atheist. But for me, this is the time of the year I further reflect on all that God has done for me personally. He gave me life, loved ones, the beauty of this amazing creation, an abundance of delicious food, the freedom of the United States, many wonderful friends, and of course the “unspeakable” gift of everlasting life. But this year I’m particularly thankful for the fact that more than 1.6 million people have heard the everlasting gospel via YouTube, through “180” (not to mention the hundreds of thousands who have received a physical DVD). Please forgive me if I’m going overboard about this 33-minute movie, but I can’t restrain myself. I am so thankful to God for what is happening. Just the other day I read one of the more than 26,000 YouTube comments: “I kid you not, I know people who have been changed by this video, and I even live way over in China.” Not only are people rethinking the claims of the gospel, but they are changing their minds about the horror of abortion. We have so many emails of people doing a 180 because of this short movie, I could fill a book (coming soon). Sixteen TV networks/channels want to air the entire movie, and it’s now in 19 languages…and all this has happened within two months of its release. So, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you for making this happen…even to atheists. Your anti-“180” videos and pro-abortion comments have helped to catapult this into the public eye; and it’s only just begun. For those of you who are pro-life, thank you for your concern for the unborn. Please have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.
-- Ray Comfort

Minds Changing to Pro-life

2011-11-18T05:18:00.000-08:00

Late in October of 2011, over 180,000 copies “180” in a DVD format were passed out in one day to 100 top universities in the United States. Here are a few, of the many emails we have received:

"I'm a student at University of Michigan-Flint. I had a conversation with someone who I found out was a Christian and he asked me if I had seen ‘180’ and I told him yes and I loved it. He said that ‘180’ is taking MSU's campus by storm. "
“I shared 180 with my pro-abortion literature teacher, and she is now pro-life.”
“I’m a senior at a public high school in West Virginia. Because of 180 I was able to turn around the entire class opinion about abortion and by the end of the class 25 of the 25 students and my teacher as well had all raised their hand agreeing that abortion should be illegal.”

We are now coming to a high school near you to give kids free copies of the DVD, so that they can become pro-life, for life. For details see http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-698980

We are not Primates

2011-11-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

“I watched this today -- 3 times. Each time I was overwhelmed with the power of truth. I have shared this everywhere I can think of. I can't begin to tell you how this video has changed my perspective.”

“180” is unique from other pro-life movies in that it appeals to the intuitive knowledge that God has given to human beings. We are not primates as so many of this Darwin-embracing generation believe. Man is above the beasts in that he has a sense of justice and truth. Animals don’t care about setting up court systems and punishing wrong-doing. That is unique to human beings because we are made in the image of God. We intuitively know that it’s wrong to lie, steal, commit adultery, and to murder. When a person has been brainwashed into being pro-choice—believing that the baby that is growing in the womb isn’t a baby, then termination of this substance isn’t murder at all. However, when the person becomes convinced that a “fetus” is a human being, the conscience begins to do its God-given duty and say “You shall not kill.” It’s then up to the individual as to whether or not he or she will listen to its voice.

Notice that this person (after watching it three times) said that her “perspective” changed. Allow me to change your mind about something of which I think you are probably sure, by giving you another perspective. Where is up? If you are normal, you will probably point above your head. But someone from New Zealand (down-under) would tell you that you are actually pointing down. We live on a big ball called “earth,” and up and down don’t really exist. They are relative to where you are standing on this earth. This new information gives you knowledge so that you can see things from a different perspective, and therefore change your mind about something of which you were sure a few minutes earlier.

That’s what “180” does. It gives new information and that gives people another perspective, causing them to change their minds about something of which they were sure just a few minutes earlier.

Update on “180.”

2011-11-18T04:52:00.000-08:00

Have you seen “180” yet? It’s a 33-minute movie that exposes abortion for what it is… the legalized murder of human beings. It’s a fast moving and fascinating rollercoaster-ride that will stir your emotions in a good way; and like a rollercoaster, once you start, you won’t be able to get off. It has reached almost 1.6 million YouTube views in less than two months and is changing peoples’ minds about the hot-button issue of abortion. Sixteen TV networks/channels are going to air the entire movie. “180” is now in 19 languages, and over 500,000 physical DVD’s have been sold or given away. And this is just the beginning.

We have enough emails of people turning from pro-abortion to pro-life to fill a book—in fact one will be coming out soon. Just today I read one of the more than 25,000 YouTube comments: “I kid you not, I know people who have been changed by this video, and I even live way over in China.”

Not only are people changing their minds about the horror of abortion, but they are rethinking the claims of the gospel. I hope you are one of them.

Evolution and blood.

2011-11-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

“Platelets” play an important role in preventing the loss of blood by beginning a chain reaction that results in blood clotting. As blood begins to flow from a cut or scratch, platelets respond to help the blood clot and to stop the bleeding after a short time.

Platelets promote the clotting process by clumping together and forming a plug at the site of a wound and then releasing proteins called “clotting factors.” These proteins start a series of chemical reactions that are extremely complicated. Every step of the clotting must go smoothly if a clot is to form. If one of the clotting factors is missing or defective, the clotting process does not work. A serious genetic disorder known as “hemophilia” results from a defect in one of the clotting factor genes. Because they lack one of the clotting factors, hemophilia sufferers may bleed uncontrollably from even small cuts or scrapes.

To form a blood clot there must be twelve specific individual chemical reactions in our blood. If evolution is true, and if this 12-step process didn’t happen in the first generation (i.e., if any one of these specific reactions failed to operate in their exact reaction and order), no creatures would have survived. They all would have bled to death!

Beverly Hills and Hollywood High School "180" Giveaway

2011-11-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-702146

You are welcome to comment directly on CNN's site.

Dogs Versus People

2011-11-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

It was a sad day for America when Andy Rooney died. CBS News announced recently that the 92 year-old cranky commentator died after complications following minor surgery.

Rooney appeared on “60 Minutes” for many years, mostly giving comments about every day annoyances. For example, he thought that dogs were nicer than people. I can see his point of view, because he worked in the cut-throat entertainment industry. But I know some really nice people, and some really nasty dogs who would eat you alive, if they had half a chance.

I learned two things from Andy Rooney. One was to always rip out eyebrows that get too long. I learned not to let the garden go to weed. He didn’t bother doing any trimming, and in time almost disappeared behind two white tumble-weeds.

But the greatest lesson I learned from this TV commentator, was his cynicism about the existence of God. Mr. Rooney wasn’t open-minded about the most obvious of truths. He didn’t believe that God existed.

Now he knows.

Photo by Stephenson Brown.

Controversial Holocaust/Abortion Movie Giveaway

2011-11-03T11:15:00.000-07:00

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-698980

“Being punished for ‘thought-crime’ is absurd.”

2011-11-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

The idea that merely thinking could be a crime does seem absurd. But thought and attitude crimes are a reality in our society. In a hate crime, one is punished not just for committing a specific crime against someone, but for his supposed thoughts toward that person. If a man beat up a heterosexual, for example, he would deserve one sentence. But beating up a homosexual, if it could be proved that he once expressed a negative attitude toward homosexuals, would get him a substantially increased sentence. Also, students who mention wishing for the death of a teacher or fellow student are taken seriously and punished. They could merely mention it on Facebook or in texting, for instance, and immediately be in trouble—because it shows the intent of the heart, even if they are not actively planning it.

If you are caught thinking about assassinating the President of the United States, you will find yourself in serious violation of the law. Again, you don’t have to commit the act. You simply have to be thinking about it, and express that thought verbally or in writing. Some may argue that conspiracy to murder the president is different because it is a serious crime. And that’s the point. They don’t consider pornography of the mind to be a serious crime. God does. Man’s moral standards are extremely low, while God’s are incredibly high. He is so holy, He requires perfection in thought, word, and deed. If we burn with unlawful sexual thoughts toward another human being, God sees that as adultery (see Matt. 5:27,28). And if we have a seething hatred in our heart for another person, God sees that as murder (see Matt. 5:22; 1 John 3:15).

He judges the thoughts and intents of our heart, and He will see to it that the guilty get their just dessert. Adulterers and murderers will end up damned in a terrible place called hell.

“If God exists, why doesn’t He speak for Himself, audibly?”

2011-10-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

He did speak audibly to Israel when He gave them the Ten Commandments, and the Bible says that Israel was so fearful at what they saw and heard, they pleaded that He no longer speak to them (see Exod. 20:18,19; Heb. 12:19).

When He spoke on the Mount of Transfiguration, He terrified the disciples (see Matt. 17:5,6). When He once spoke audibly to Jesus, the people thought that they heard thunder (see John 12:28,29). So why didn’t God just whisper on these occasions? Perhaps He did.

However, God (in His infinite wisdom) has chosen what the Bible calls “the foolishness of the mes- sage preached” to bring the gospel to humanity (see 1 Cor. 1:21). He has condescended to use lowly man to deliver the message of everlasting life to dying humanity.

When it comes to God speaking to us, it is important to make sure that we don’t exaggerate our im- portance. We are but very tiny specks on a tiny speck of a planet, moving through the massive infinitude of space. If you want a special audience with the President, he likely will not come running to speak es- pecially to you when, how, and where you want. Only a person with delusions of grandeur indeed would expect such treatment.

How much more so with the Creator of the universe? You are not going to get a special audience with God. So humble yourself, repent of your sins, and trust the Savior, then seek God through prayer and reading of His Word. Prayer is you speaking to God, and the Bible is God speaking to you. Make sure you listen carefully to what He says. Your eternity depends on it.

Hebrews 12:25 "See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven..."

200,000 Copies of “180” Given Away at 100 Universities

2011-10-26T03:21:00.000-07:00

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA A small army of one thousand workers gave away 200,000 copies of the award-winning movie “180” at 100 top universities around the country, in one day this week. To avoid opposition, the day and the location of each of the universities were a highly-guarded secret. The controversial prolife video shows eight people who are adamantly pro-abortion, changing their minds and becoming pro-life in a matter of seconds, because they were asked one question. Within the first month on YouTube www.180movie.com clocked 1.2 million views, stirred up a hornet’s nest of more than 19,000 comments, and has been called “The Hottest Movie on the Internet.”

The film’s producer, Ray Comfort, said, “People can’t get enough of this because it’s changing minds about the hot-button issue of abortion. It’s not only being watched on line, people are buying it to give away. We have sold more than 150,000 copies in a matter of weeks. One small church purchased 16,800. But this week’s university giveaway was very special, because it put the physical DVD into the hands of the youth of America, and engaged many in healthy dialogue.”

Tony Miano, the coordinator of the massive giveaway said, “Emails have been pouring in from students around the country who not only took the DVD, but took the time to watch it.“ ‎

"I just was on campus and a friend of mine and I watched this video and in a matter of seconds both of us realized how important the topics in this document truly where. I never really put things into focused until I watched this video. I have a lot of questions and now I'm taking the time to seek answers."

“I was given this DVD as I walked to class. I came home, popped it in, and it changed my heart. I got to thinking about every question that was asked and I have always been undecided on abortion, but now I am anti-abortion all the way.”

“Powerful movie. I always told myself I would never have an abortion, but what other women did was their business…I have COMPLETELY changed my mind now. Abortion is murder, it should be illegal.”

“I was handed the 180 DVD while walking to class on my college campus…It made me not only think of the issue in a way I hadn't before, it made me think of the issue to begin with.…Identifying as "pro-life" was one of the last things my thankful heart could commit to. Now that I've watched this simple DVD, I'm finally able to say I'm Pro-life and really mean it!!”

Comfort added, “I am so thankful that people are open to change. While there are some who are very angry at us for making this movie, others are very thankful and write to tell us their story.”

"We both [my husband and I] voted for a pro-choice president the last election. After watching this documentary he said to me in tears that he was wrong. We have had our minds changed about who we vote for."

“I was at an abortion clinic on the sidewalk (with my laptop), had two young ladies stop and watch the trailer that is in the special features. Then afterwards they watched the 180 DVD all the way through. One was four month's pregnant, the other was three. They were both going there for an abortion; they were both in tears, hugged my neck and decided to give their babies life and choose adoption instead. I cried too.”

The best-selling author and film producer concluded, “I will not rest as long as the horror of killing babies is a legal reality in our nation. But political change will only come if those who care about the unborn speak up. We created the ‘180 Course’ to help those who care confidentially talk about the subject, in a way that makes sense. Anyone can change someone’s mind about abortion as I did on ‘180,’ if they have a loving heart and if they are willing to learn a few simple principles.” Well-known Christian leaders Randy Alcorn and Kay Arthur also contributed to the course, which is available at www.heartchanger.com

Pictured: A student at UCLA holds up his free copy of “180.” Photo by CJ-Studio.com

Is Suffering the Entrance to Heaven?

2011-10-20T14:13:00.000-07:00

A well-known televangelist once said on a worldwide TV talk show, “I believe that every person who died in the Holocaust went to heaven.” He was very sincere, and if he was seeking the commendation of the world, he surely got it with that statement. Who wouldn’t consider what he said to be utterly compassionate? However, let’s look at the implications of his heartfelt beliefs. His statement seemed to limit salvation to the Jews who died in the Holocaust, because he added that “their blood laid a foundation for the nation of Israel.” If the slaughtered Jews made it to heaven, did the many Gypsies who died in the Holocaust also obtain eternal salvation? If his statement includes Gentiles, is the salvation he spoke of limit- ed to those who died at the hands of Nazis? Did the many Frenchmen who met their death at the hands of cruel Nazis go to heaven also?

Perhaps he was saying that the death of Jesus on the cross covered all of humanity, and that all will eventually be saved—something called “universalism.” This means that salvation will also come to Hitler and the Nazis who killed the Jews. However, I doubt if he was saying that. Such a statement would have brought the scorn of his Jewish host, and of the world whose compassion has definite limits.

If pressed, he probably didn’t mean that only the Jews in the camps went to heaven, because that smacks of racism. He was likely saying that those who died were saved because they died in such tragic circumstances. Then Jesus was lying when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). There is another way to heaven: death in a Nazi concentration camp. Does that mean that the many Jews who died under communism went to heaven? Or is salvation limited to German concentration camps?

If their salvation came because of the grim circumstances surrounding their death, does a Jew therefore enter heaven after suffering for hours before dying in a car wreck...if he was killed by a drunk driver who happened to be German? Bear in mind that his suffering may have been much greater than someone who died within minutes in a Nazi gas chamber.

Many unsaved think we can merit entrance into heaven by our suffering. Their error was confirmed by this sincere, compassionate man of God. They may now disregard the truth, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). They can now save themselves by the means of their own death . . . if they suffer enough.

Imagine the damage done by saying that there is another means of salvation outside of Jesus Christ, on a program watched by untold millions around the world. Who on earth needs to repent and trust in Jesus, if millions entered the kingdom without being born again? No one.

The New Atheists are Not Intellectually "Bright"

2011-10-17T04:09:00.000-07:00

“Hitler was a Christian!”

2011-10-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that Adolf Hitler had a Roman Catholic background, he became adamantly anti- Christian and believed in evolution. As other dictators have done, he took over the churches and used their organizational structure to influence the citizens—though the teachings allowed were anything but biblical. William Shirer, who chronicled the Nazi regime, stated that “the Nazi regime intended eventually to destroy Christianity in Germany” and substitute paganism.

Hitler’s vision for Germany was defined in a thirty-point program for the “National Reich Church,” which “categorically claims the exclusive right and the exclusive power to control all churches within the borders of the Reich.” Some of the points of the program include the following: The National Church is “determined to exterminate irrevocably the Christian faith”; churches have no pastors or chaplains but only National Reich orators may speak in them; publishing and dissemination of the Bible must immediate cease in Germany. The National Church declared that “the Fuehrer’s Mein Kampf is the greatest of all documents” and “embodies the purest and truest ethics for the present and future life of our nation.” Therefore, churches must remove all Bibles and crucifixes, only Mein Kampf may be on the altar, and all crosses must be replaced by “the only unconquerable symbol, the swastika” (W. L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, p. 240).

The following quotes by Hitler reveal his true personal views (taken from Hitler’s Table Talk):

National Socialism and religion cannot exist together...The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity. Bolshevism is Christianity’s illegitimate child. Both are inventions of the Jew. The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity...Let it not be said that Christianity brought man the life of the soul, for that evolution was in the natural order of things. (pp. 6–7)

The reason why the ancient world was so pure, light and serene was that it knew nothing of the two great scourges: the pox and Christianity. (p. 75)

Christianity is an invention of sick brains: one could imagine nothing more senseless, nor any more indecent way of turning the idea of the Godhead into a mockery...Let’s be the only people who are immunized against the disease. (pp. 118–119)

There is something very unhealthy about Christianity. (p. 339)

I realize that man, in his imperfection, can commit innumerable errors—but to devote myself deliberately to errors, that is something I cannot do. I shall never come personally to terms with the Christian lie. Our epoch in the next 200 years will certainly see the end of the disease of Christianity. . . My regret will have been that I couldn’t . . . behold [its demise]. (p. 278)

Photo: Public Domain. http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/File:ADOLF-HITLER.jpg

Was it Hitler and the Prostitute, or Something Else?

2011-10-09T08:27:00.000-07:00

As I wept my way through the Holocaust doing research for a new book called Hitler, God and the Bible, I thought that I would uncover why Adolf Hitler so hated the Jews. But all I found were a number of theories; no one really knowing for sure as to why his hatred was so venomous.

Some surmise that he was insanely jealous of the Jews because many were able to stay financially secure during the 1929 depression. Others think that he was bitter because he contracted syphilis from a Jewish prostitute. In Mein Kempt he called it a "Jewish disease," and this lead to speculation by some that he may have contracted the disease himself.

Still other authorities believe that his hatred grew out of a sense of rejection, after he submitted his paintings to the Vienna Academy of Fine Art. Hitler claimed that the professors that rejected him, were Jewish. Others believe another theory--that "The core of his hatred lies at the defeat of Germany in WWI."

Perhaps it was a combination of each one that fostered the fire of hatred, that consumed the lives of six million Jews. However, I believe that there was another factor that clearly fueled the fire, and one that is often overlooked.

Adolf Hitler had a huge reason to kill Jews, because they helped him to finance his war-machine. Every time he seized the assets of wealthy Jewish families, it meant money in his bank. Big money. Cash, adding up to many billions of dollars came directly from their murder. According to those who have access to the details, he financed a massive 30 per cent of the German war effort by killing Jewish families and stealing their wealth.

Mass Jewish murder of the wealthy was an extremely attractive, lucrative, and lawful business in Germany, and the economics even trickled down to the not-so-wealthy Jewish families. It all added up--from the taking of their homes, their vehicles, their paintings, their savings, the extracting of gold from their teeth, the cutting the rings from off their fingers, to the valuable hair on their head—all of it added up to big money for Adolf Hitler and his cause. His love of the money that gave him the power that he so craved, was just as incendiary as his hatred of the Jews.

Here now is another mystery that I'm sure has also left many in a quandary. Why are so many feminists so incredibly zealous for a woman's right to choose? They have the enthusiasm of religious zealots. They pressure politicians to be pro-choice, engage celebrities to rally for the cause, and strongly advocate voters to vote for a woman's right to choose. They protest, raise their angry voices, boldly hold up signs, and viciously demonize those who speak up for the rights of the unborn. Why is that? What fuels their fiery passion?

There's no doubt that some believe that abortion is a woman's right, because the baby is not human or that it's just part of her body. But others in the industry have another reason to be adamantly pro-abortion. They are the joyful recipients of a very successful and lucrative business. If you don’t believe that abortion is a huge money-making scheme, check out your local provider for current prices. With the efficiency of a drive-through, they will expedite the killing of your baby for just $765 for up to a 16-week-old child, but the price increases if the baby is over 19 weeks. You will be shelling out three times the amount, and paying a whopping $2,165 (see http://www.fpamg.net/fees for current prices).
That's pretty good income for a few minutes of ripping off the arms, the legs, and head of a baby onto a table; checking the body parts to make sure they’re all out, and then putting them in the trash. It's just 15 to 20 minutes work for a skilled physician. And it's all legal, efficient, and done behind closed doors, just like the Holocaust. The love of money is still the root of all evil.

Pro-abortion people are committed to their convictions. They kill for the cause. But for us, the cause has to be a hill to die on. We must not, cannot, and will not let the slaughter continue. We produced an award-winning movie called “180” that gives another perspective on abortion, and more than often those who watch it do a complete 180. Watch it. Absorb it; and then please pass it on, and make a difference when it comes to the horror of abortion: www.180movie.com

2011-10-08T01:14:00.001-07:00

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=352741

The "180" Conspiracy...

2011-10-04T01:53:00.000-07:00

"The blonde girl with the sunglasses is reading from a card behind the camera hahahaha. It's so d-mn obvious."

"Funny how Ray needed to have the lady at 28:00 minutes read off cue cards to make his point. Pause it and you can see the man holding the cue card in her glasses."

Is this the famous Thunderf00t, for some reason, disguising his voice? Did he see something in "180" that most people missed? You be the judge:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3DP90hfZkc

What God’s Word Says About Abortion

2011-10-03T06:18:00.000-07:00

This was written by my editor:

God speaks very clearly in the Bible on the value of unborn children.

God’s Word says that He personally made each one of us, and has a plan for each life: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jer. 1:5). “Even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His” (Gal. 1:15). “For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be” (Psa. 139:13,16). “Your hands shaped me and made me . . . Did You not clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life” (Job 10:8–12). “This is what the Lord says—He who made you, who formed you in the womb” (Isa. 44:2). “Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One form us both within our mothers?” (Job 31:15).

Because man is made in God’s own image (Gen. 1:27), each life is of great value to God: “Children are a gift from God” (Psa. 127:3). He even calls our children His own: “You took your sons and daughters whom you bore to Me and sacrificed them . . . You slaughtered My children” (Ezek. 16:20,21).

The Bible says of our Creator, “In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being” (Job 12:10). God, the giver of life, commands us not to take the life of an innocent person: “Do not shed innocent blood” (Jer. 7:6); “Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person” (Deut. 27:25). “You shall not murder” (Exod. 20:13).

Taking the life of the unborn is clearly murder —“He didn’t kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave” (Jer. 20:17)—and God vowed to punish those who “ripped open the women with child” (Amos 1:13). The unborn child was granted equal protection in the law; if he lost his life, the one who caused his death must lose his own life: “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined . . . But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life” (Exod. 21:22,23).

Life is a gift created by God, and is not to be taken away by abortion. God is “pro-choice,” but He tells us clearly the only acceptable choice to make:

“I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deut. 30:19).

YouTube Comments About "180"

2011-09-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

"I'm not a fan of Ray Comfort, but I have to hand it to him, he did a great job putting this video together. As a pro-life Atheist, I was afraid this video was going to be arguing against abortion using Christian rhetoric, once again...good job Ray, and as a pro-life Atheist -- I support this video!"

"I am a Witch but am prolife and have always been. I have no desire to share the Gospel part of this but some of it seemed pretty interesting."

• The best 33 minutes of video ever made.
• Wow!!!! It was powerful!!
• What a profound movie.
• FANTASTIC!!! I've just emailed the link to everyone I know!
• Very very powerful!
• Wow!!!!........speechless....just wow man! A MUST SEE for sure!
• Amazing!!
• Awesome awesome movie! I hope it changes the world!!
• Well done! That was better than I thought it would be.
• Brilliant argument. Brilliant video.
• I'm a DUDE and I CRIED. Thumbs up Ray.
• Definitely life changing.
• One word...WOW and I'm 14.
• All I can say is wow!
• This video is awesome.
• Wow, this is amazing and inspiring!
• Wow, powerful video.

You can now watch it freely on http://180movie.com/

Pic. 1. A Jew-hating neoNazi caught with a hidden camera and a concealed mic.
Pic. 2. A young woman is shocked at what she heard.

Heaven's Location

2011-09-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

The location of heaven doesn’t concern me. Just because I couldn’t tell you the exact location of the country of Mauritania doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. All we can say for certain is that it is “up” (see Deut. 30:12; Amos 9:2; John 3:13).

Most people don’t realize the Bible teaches that heaven is coming down to earth. We are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which God will make all things new (see Isa. 65:17; 2 Pet. 3:13). Completely. When God sets up His kingdom on this earth, He is going to remove the Genesis curse; that means there will be no more floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, earthquakes, disease, weeds, pain, suffering, or death. It is then that “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together” (Isa. 65:25), and creation will stop devouring itself (see Rom. 8:18–25). Those who trust in Jesus Christ will be given brand new bodies that will be like the resurrected body of Jesus—bodies that can eat, touch, feel, etc., but will never age or feel pain or sorrow. All this all sounds too good to be true, but it can be a proven reality for those who obey the gospel.

Think of it—eternal life, on this wonderful earth restored to when it was like the Garden of Eden. A place where there are no rapists, no murderers, no pedophiles, no hypocrites, liars, blasphemers, or thieves. A place of perfect fruit, incredible animals, unimaginable color, massive waterfalls, amazing plants, more beautiful birds, bigger fish, grander canyons. We are also told that God will remove the sea (Rev. 21:1), which will give us a little more room.

But best of all, the Creator of the universe, Almighty God, will be there. Scripture tells us a number of times that “God is light.” So there will no longer be a need for the sun, because He Himself will radiate in all of His unspeakable glory (see Rev. 21:23). Two thousand years ago He was manifest in human form to save us from death. However, Jesus of Nazareth is no longer the Man who was limited to time and space. He has ascended into heaven and is “glorified”—in the state He was in before He came to this earth. He dwells in “unapproachable light” and shines “brighter than the sun” (1 Tim. 6:16; Acts 26:13).

Mere words could never express my infinite gratitude to Him for giving me life, and then for saving me from being justly damned in hell for my sins. But I will have eternity to love and worship Him at whose right hand are “pleasures forevermore” (Psa. 16:11). No enjoyment on this sad, old earth has come even close to the unending pleasures that God has prepared “for those who love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9). What a tragedy for people to miss out, simply because they refuse to repent and trust the Savior.

“Your religion is all about faith.”

2011-09-21T02:23:00.000-07:00

Much of what we do in life has its foundation in trust. We trust our dentist when he drills, our taxi driver when he drives, our pilots when they fly us. We trust our history books, our teachers, and some still even trust politicians. Marriage is a trust relationship. So are business partnerships and friendships. We trust elevators, planes, cars, brakes, chairs, doctors, surgeons, brokers, and television anchors. We place our faith in these items and people based on evidence that they are trustworthy. This is why it’s hard to understand why skeptics mock the thought of trust in God.

The questioner’s statement implies that Christians are living by a naïve, “blind” faith based on something for which we have no evidence, when the opposite is the case. Our faith is rational and reasonable, and is based on credible, verifiable, historical evidence. The God who created us has given us all the evidence we need to come to know Him, and He invites us, “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isa. 1:18).

The fact that some do not recognize the evidence doesn’t mean it is not there. God has given light to every man (see John 1:9)—through this wonderful creation, through the undeniable voice of the con- science, and through plain old common sense. We have the Bible’s thousands of fulfilled prophecies, “many infallible proofs” of the resurrection (see Acts 1:3), and He even promises to reveal Himself to those who obey Him (see John 14:21).

It is also important to explain the difference between believing something (the Bible), and trusting Someone (Jesus Christ). Skeptics think that a Christian is someone who simply “believes” in God’s existence. When the Bible speaks of “faith” in God, it is not a reference to an intellectual acknowledgment that He exists (we all intuitively know that). It is speaking of an implicit trust in His person and His promises. There’s nothing difficult about having trust or “faith” when the One you are trusting is utterly trustworthy.

The Backyard Boys are Back...Ripping Up Bibles

2011-09-19T15:46:00.000-07:00

When a group of atheists showed up at Huntington Beach in California to rip pages out of a Bible, I was disappointed that I was doing a conference, in another State.

"Backyard Skeptics" came out of their back yard, did their little rip off while I was away, and then rushed back to their back yard, no doubt to clap their hands in glee at their naughtiness.

But look at what grief they caused my atheist friend, Hemant Mehta, with their childishness:

"The Orange County Register quotes Ray Comfort (who frequently preaches at that beach) and — [expletive], I hate admitting this — he makes a lot of sense:

'I would seriously like to supply them with a Koran and maybe something Hindu,' [Comfort] said. 'If he wants to make a statement about God, he should spread it around a little and not pick on Christians.'"

I agree with Comfort — ugh, I feel so dirty writing that — if you're trying to show that holy books are full of lies and bad ideas, the Bible isn't unique. Tear up the holy books of all faiths.”

Actually, I think the incident is funny. The Backyard Boys didn't do anything new at all. They have simply joined the Roman Catholics who destroyed many Bibles, down through history.

Notes: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2011/09/16/atheist-groups-plans-to-rip-up-bible-in-a-demonstration-this-saturday/

Picture: Catholic Priests burning bibles at Champlain, N.Y., 1842

The Faith of the Skeptic

2011-09-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

"Is faith a good or a bad thing? I accept that a carbon atom has 6 protons because this has been established by logical conjecture based on observable evidence. Is this faith?" Radagast

Most people misunderstand the place of faith--both in everyday life, and when it comes to God. If someone has never seen protons but "accepts" (trusts—has faith) that they exist, his faith is based on "logical conjecture" (commonsense guesswork) which is based on "observable evidence" (so he believes).

In other words someone else has seen something that has convinced him that a carbon atom has six protons, and so he chooses to believe that evidence to be true. Again, the person is trusting in the unseen. This is the same as the biblical definition of faith: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

My wife has a Ford Escape car. Even though I believe (trust) that it was made by Ford, I don't know for certain that it was, because another maker could have made it and for some reason put a Ford plate on the vehicle. However, I don't have to have faith that the vehicle had some maker. That's something I know. No faith is necessary to know that, because only a fool would believe that a car made itself. Again, it is clear to a reasonable mind that every vehicle had some maker-—it's self-evident.

So when it comes to knowing that the Maker of nature exists, I don't need faith at all. Only a fool would believe that nature made itself:

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Romans 1:20-21).

But to receive something from God, we must exercise trust (faith) in Him, in the same way we trust pilots, banks, surgeons, etc. Without that sort of faith (trust), it's impossible to please Him. Just as trust is the necessary ingredient in any healthy human relationship, so faith (trust) is the beginning and ending of a relationship with God. To begin a relationship, trust Him. To end it, don't trust Him. It's very simple.

Most Atheists Don't Know Their Bible...

2011-09-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

"Mr. Comfort can I ask a question about baptism, for the first say 1500 years was seen as necessarily for salvation, yet your organization holds that it is not." Robert

It seems that you don't know your Bible very well. Baptism isn't (and never has been) a requirement for salvation--see Ephesians 2:8-9. A gift cannot be earned nor can it be deserved (see also Romans 6:23). If you think you can earn the gift of salvation, then eternal life isn't a gift at all—-you are owed it by God because you earned it by "doing" something. This is a very common and tragic error made by the millions (perhaps billions) of religious people, who think they can buy their way into Heaven. God will not be bribed on Judgment Day.

"But you make your living off the Bible, which is fine, but the Bible was not written in a vacuum, it was not a dictated document, it was written translated, and then re-translated. It was messy, and rather human."

It was inspired and preserved by God (see 2 Timothy 3:16). Nothing has changed down through the ages. You can see this for yourself by checking Greek and Hebrew manuscripts (do a search and study). Don't believe what people tell you. Check it for yourself--because your own eternal salvation is the issue at hand.

"Now from what I have seen here you and your ministry seem to have a deep contempt for being human, you are pro birth, but have deep contempt for those that are born, you hold to the sanctity of life, but you think all humans are utterly lost and enemies of God."

You seem a little confused about this issue also. God knows that I have a deep love for humanity, and have spent just on 40 years pleading (without pay) in the open air--over 5,000 times--to those that the are referred to as "the unsaved" (because they are heading for death and then Hell). Your confusion may come from the fact that I wholeheartedly side with God and His testimony regarding the wickedness of humanity, including myself. See Romans 3:10-23 for His testimony about us, and then watch tonight's TV news to have it confirmed.

Man is not good at all. He is desperately wicked. Then do an honest soul-search, judging yourself from the perfect holiness of God's Law (see Matthew 5:27-28) so that you don't make the mistake of judging yourself by man's very low moral standard.

If you do judge by man's standard, you will think that you are morally good, and never seek God's mercy--which is alone in Jesus Christ. You will stay in your sins and reap the Justice of a holy Creator...and that is a fearful thing.

Who Could Not be Happy About This?

2011-09-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Help pls! Would having an abortion for the 4th time be risky? Am 21 years old and am not ready to keep it.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
Yes! It's ULTRA RISKY!!!!! PLEASE DON'T DO IT!
Give it up for adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please don't kill it! Please?!

I had a kid that I wasn't ready for at the age of 13! I gave him up for adoption.. and he's such a handsome kid! I AM SO GLAD.. I didn't kill him. He's an amazing young man.. and he is so smart!

Have you seen this new movie coming out? Watch it! It's crazy!
CLIP #1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7xhCpAnxDs&feature=player_embedded
CLIP #2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxou1UADa4E&feature=player_embedded

►"Abortion is Legal because babies can't vote!"
►"If it isn't a baby, then you aren’t pregnant, so what are you aborting?"
-Authors Unknown

►Did you know this?
In the U.S. If you destroy an Eagle's egg (that's an embryo) it is a federal crime punishable by more than 10 years jail time and a $250,000 fine. Destroy a human embryo and it is federally funded.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:
Thanks a lot everyone. Am gonna keep the baby.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110908234104AA872tJ

180 is Coming...

2011-09-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

Some atheists are getting a little nervous, because millions are going to see "180," think about their eternal destiny and what they believe about abortion, and do a 180. And we know what that means.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7xhCpAnxDs&feature=player_embedded

Here are just some of the endorsements from those who have seen the whole video:

"Brilliant and powerful." Joseph Farah - CEO WND.com

"Life-changing!" Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar - TLC's 19 Kids & Counting

"Mind-blowing and unforgettable!" Randy Alcorn

"Brilliant..." Kay Arthur

"Riveting!" Joni Eareckson Tada

"I am absolutely in awe at this!" Janet Parshall

"This was a riveting presentation of historical precedent and logical deductions..." John Reynolds - Co-Founder SoldiersBibleMinistry.org

"180 is brilliant! You can't help but be moved by it." Howard Conder - co-founder and host, Revelation TV

"180 is the most gripping video I've seen this year." Penny Young Nance - President, Concerned Women for America

"Very powerful...It will change lives." Larry Gatlin - American country music singer/songwriter

"'180' is the most powerful production of its kind that I have ever seen." Allan Parker - President, The Justice Foundation

"Amazing...really powerful and inescapably compelling logic." Dr. Carl Moeller - President/CEO, Open Doors USA

"A life-changing message that will impact the nation." Bill Gothard

"Incredible. It'll blow you away!" Jill Stanek

"With one question, Ray Comfort shows how you can change minds, save lives, and awaken the conscience of a nation. Why hasn't anyone thought of this until now?" Dr. Frank Turek - Founder & President of CrossExamined.org

"Powerful, disturbing...'180' is our wake up call." Francine Rivers - author of The Atonement Child

"Absolutely amazing!" Abby Johnson - author of Unplanned

“Totally incredible!” Skip Heitzig - Pastor, Calvary of Albuquerque

"Truly revolutionary and inspiring!" K.P. Yohannan

"Ray Comfort's bracing questions cut like a laser through all the mind-numbing...compelling those he interviews to grapple with life, death, and eternity." Dr. Kenyn M. Cureton - Vice President for Church Ministries, Family Research Council, Washington, DC

"As one who was scheduled to be aborted, this astounding video struck me at my core that this is needed more now than ever. It is more than powerful...it is a vehicle of God's voice to this generation, and must be seen!" Ron DiCianni

"Paradigm Shattering! A most powerful message that will change and
save lives!" Johnny Berguson - Pres. Kingdom, Inc.

"You don't view this video. You experience it!" Garry T. Ansdell

"After viewing 180 last night one couple wanted to invest in a couple of thousand copies, and give them away in the surrounding neighborhoods near our church." Trisha R. (TX)

"Leaves you utterly speechless! 180 is going to change the direction of the nation." Stacy L. Massey - president, Abortion Recovery International

"Riveting, shocking, jaw-dropping!" Allen Atzbi

Did PZ Myers do a 180?

2011-08-29T19:02:00.000-07:00

I hear that PZ Myers just stated publicly that he thinks I'm a fraud. See: http://bit.ly/njFaBW Does that mean that up until today he thought that I was genuine in my faith, but after viewing our latest video (called "180") he now believes that I'm lining my pockets? If that's so, he can take comfort from the fact that if I am a hypocrite (the biblical word for fraud), I will end up in Hell--with all murderers, liars, thieves, blasphemers, fornicators, and adulterers, etc.

Then again, if I am a fraud, why would we be planning to freely give away (that's no charge) 200,000 copies of the video, in September, October, November, or perhaps December of this year? Why would we make it freely available for viewing (that's no charge) on www.180movie.com Why would we be selling the professionally produced 33-minute video (in an attractive jacket) for the exorbitant price of one dollar?

We have 2,000 faithful workers who are chafing at the bit to get "180" into people's hands because it has such a powerful message. These are the same wonderful workers who volunteered their time to give away about 200,000 copies of Darwin's boring book (with the Introduction that presented Intelligent Design and the Gospel), at one hundred of America's top universities. Atheists messed up that giveaway-date. We came a day early and sent them in a panic.

So make sure you get the date right this time--so that you can once again try and protest free speech, and attempt to stop (censor) us from giving "180" away. And make sure you get the right universities this time. I will give you a hint as to which ones we will visit. There are a total of 2,618 in the United States, and we will be going to 100 of them.

Question for Geeks

2011-08-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

Velcro was discovered by Georges de Mestral, a Swiss engineer who, in 1941 went for a walk in the woods and wondered if the burrs that clung to his trousers (and to his dog) could be turned into something useful.

How many other things can you think of, that the design in nature has inspired?

Photograph: The hooks of a piece of Velcro.
Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/olivepixel/220573311/

Athiest's Proof that God Doesn't Exist

2011-08-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

"Ray, the nice thing about modem science is that it's testable, demonstrable and repeatable. If someone makes a claim in a peer reviewed scientific journal about which I am skeptical, I can recreate the experiment. If my results differ from the published results, the paper can go under review and the claim is retracted if found to be false, misleading or fraudulent. In short, I don't have to 'believe' anything - scientists can actually test and demonstrate their theories!" Zach

The frustrating thing about atheists (and those who believe the theory of evolution to be true), is that they hide behind the shirts of true science, when there is nothing scientific about the idea of Darwinian evolution. Science is testable, and scientists who use the scientific method come to a place where they believe their hypothesis.

However, they don’t know anything to be 100% true because their conclusion may change as more information is discovered and believed.

The theory of evolution, however, cannot be tested. If you believe otherwise, please present how the scientific method has proven Darwinian evolution to be true, and how because of it you "don’t have to believe anything." In truth, you have faith (trust) in what you have read or what your professor has told you, and his beliefs are based on the same weak and shaky premise.

Look at this comment from a typical atheist who believes evolution:

"On occasion, after feeding my dog I might lazily leave an empty can of dog food on my kitchen counter for 2-3 days. The amino acids in what's left in the can form organisms by way of maggots and flies. Anyone with half a brain can understand that this type of process is what led to the existence of life on Earth. Chemistry made it happen, not god's magic wand."

Magical maggots are his proof that a Creator doesn't exist. It doesn't occur to him that a fly flew in when he wasn't looking at the empty can, and laid eggs.

The tragedy for those that believe in evolution is that they automatically discount the Genesis account of creation, which holds up perfectly under the light of honest scientific scrutiny. It informs us that God is the initial Cause of all things. He created male and female and caused every animal to bring forth after its own kind.

The theory of evolution has no explanation for the initial Cause (it is a case of "evolution-did-it" with the help of invisible sky-daddy of Father Time), nor does it have an explanation for why 1.4 million different kinds of animals, birds, fish, and insects have male and female.

All they have are a few dry bones they believe to be old, and bacteria that evolves into bacteria. And so the evolution believer refuses the offer of forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, based on non-existent evidence.

Unlike the idea of evolution, Christianity can be tested. Simply read the Sermon on the Mount—which tells us among other things that God considers lust to be adultery (see Matthew 5:27-28), and that leaves all of us in big trouble on Judgment Day, heading for Hell.

But God is rich in mercy and provided the Savior—-Jesus of Nazareth, who suffered, died, and rose again—taking our punishment upon Himself and purchasing eternal salvation for sinners. Repent and trust Him and you will pass from death into life, and know the truth--and the truth will make you free (see John 8:31-32). There's the proof.

Cooped up in California

2011-08-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Bruce Gleason, one of my atheist friends, has followed the example of his fellow atheists across the country by putting up a billboard that makes people think about God. His billboard went up along the southbound 55 Freeway here in Southern California, and says, "Atheism is philanthropy without mythology, peace without superstition."

He said, "We've been getting a lot of comments from people saying we should have spent that money on charity." That made me smile. It's ironic that he spent big money boasting how atheism is philanthropic, when in truth, it's about as philanthropic as it is scientific. Yep, the world is bursting with atheist hospitals, atheist soup kitchens and atheist homeless shelters.

The news release also said, "The ad campaign is financed by 'an anonymous donor' to Backyard Skeptics, which boasts 440 members and sponsors assorted activities, including science-related field trips to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, monthly lectures and occasional movie nights (the latest screening is 'The Ledge,' about a love triangle involving an atheist and two Christians)."

Recently, Bruce asked me to speak at one of his backyard monthly meetings. We were both excited about it, until his fellow atheists chickened out, no doubt because they didn't want to have their feathers ruffled. But if they change their minds, I wouldn't want an honorarium, I would give them free books, would pay for their food, and I would count it an honor to gently challenge their belief system.

But I won't be holding my breath, because almost all atheists are big talkers hiding behind a computer, but chickens in the real world. Bruce excluded.

What Atheists Believe...

2011-08-18T15:03:00.000-07:00

"Actually, atheists tend to assume that gravity and heat created the water cycle, but put that aside. If God was providing, free of charge, enough water for San Antonio, there would be no price comparison between the cost of distilling the water from the ocean and the cost of extracting it from an aquifer." Steven J.

I appreciate why you would rather we put aside your belief that gravity and heat have the ability to create. Rather than put it aside, I would like to talk about what atheists believe, and consider it closely.

Atheists believe that gravity thinks intelligently, makes plans, and then creates the concept it has in mind. In this case, gravity created the water cycle. Perhaps you object to my saying that gravity must be intelligent to come up with the concept of the water cycle and then actually create it. Perhaps you think that gravity is mindless, and created it without thinking. I don't think so. I am in awe of the water cycle and couldn't imagine the most intelligent of human beings coming up with it.

But according to atheists, gravity didn't create alone. Its partner was heat. The two of them came up with the concept of water, vapor, clouds, rain, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, snow, evaporation, air, condensation, and then created them and caused them to work throughout the earth in perfect harmony. Atheism brings new meaning to the word "absurd."

Also, the concept of the god you don't believe in doesn't exist. He is a figment of your fertile and faith-filled imagination. The Creator is not your water-boy. Don't believe the television preachers that tell you that He will come running when you click your sinful fingers. He withholds the blessing of live-giving rain when a nation gives itself to evil and at the same time professes itself to be good.

Thankless and Blind Atheism

2011-08-11T09:22:00.000-07:00

We can't live without water. An incredible 97% of it is in the form of salt water oceans and yet we can’t drink it or even use it for crops. Drinkable water for the billions on the earth only amounts to 3% of the total amount. But 2% of that is shut up in the form of ice on the polar caps, and so that leaves just 1% of the earth's water available to sustain life on earth. This fresh water sits in lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, and in deposits beneath the soil.

However, there is one other place in which vast amounts of fresh drinkable water are stored. Trillions upon trillions of tons of water sit above us in the form of pregnant puffy clouds. These great water deposits float like feathers above our heads, and they do so because of fixed laws.

The water gets there because of an incredible process called "the water cycle." This happens when the waters of the earth change from their heavy liquid form and become water vapor. As the sun heats the water, it rises and forms itself into lighter than air water deposits we call clouds.

As this happens, salt and impurities are left behind on the earth so that we can have a supply of salt to give taste to our food, and drinkable water, which, before the evaporation process, was pestilential.

The clouds sit above us, storing trillions of tons of clean, life-giving, fresh drinking water. This is placed at between 10,000 and 20,000 feet in the sky, and it if wasn't for the process of "condensation," that's where it would all stay, and we would all eventually die of thirst.

Condensation is the opposite of evaporation. It occurs when the gases that transported the water to the clouds because of heat, form back into water because of cold. This cooler temperature causes the gas to form into drops, and then drop (or drip), so that we can have crops from the drops and drink cool fresh water. This process is called "precipitation," or "rain" for us common folks.

The rain falls to the earth, is collected in lakes, rivers and streams, and because of gravity, eventually finds itself transported into the vast oceans where it evaporates, is cleansed, and falls again so that we can have crops and drinking water. This means that water never really disappears down the drain. Thank God, it comes back to us so that we can live.

So it seems that the water cycle is simple. Heat and drink. In other words, we could easily copy God’s water cycle and create fresh water from salt water, by heating salt water and catching it:

"In April 2000 the Texas Water Development Board approved a $59,000 grant to the Lavaca-Navadid River Authority to determine if building a $400 million plant on Matagorda Bay at Point Comfort would be economically and environmentally feasible. There is a power plant at this location that could supply the heated sea water for the membrane process. The study was released two months later and the cost rose to $755 million, but this included the cost of transmission facilities to San Antonio."

"Ocean water desalination is extraordinarily expensive – more than 10 times the cost of Aquifer water, and a plant and pipeline would cost well over $1 billion in today's dollars."

Look at the incredible cost--simply to imitate what God makes available to us at no charge. Of course, the atheist doesn't think of or thank God for all this, because he believes that nothing created everything, including the water cycle.

Notes:
1. http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/desalination.html
2. "S.A. urged to look to gulf for more water" San Antonio Express-News, March 10, 2010

Edit: "It covers 97% of the earth" changed to "An incredible 97% of it is..." (Thanks to James Bond).

Bird Brains and Atheists

2011-08-05T06:27:00.000-07:00

In mid-2011, Markus Fischer and his creative team at Festo built "SmartBird"--a large, lightweight robot, modeled on a seagull. This amazing flying robot was unique in that it flapped its wings like a real bird. When Fischer spoke about his creation, the large audience sat quietly and listened to his every word. However, after they saw it fly around the room in which they sat, they gave him a standing ovation. They praised him for his brilliance.

Plagiarism is the copying of someone else's ideas, and representing it as your own original work. Fischer copied his bird directly from God's design, and humbly took praise for it as if it was his own creation.

Despite this copyright infringement, it is understandable why they praised him. He did something no other human being had managed to do. He made a flying, flapping, swerving bird. Sort of. It couldn't think breath, think, eat, and reproduce of itself. It couldn't even blink. Not that it needed to, because this was a blind bird.

There are some who accuse God of being the ultimate egotist because they think that He demands worship. Scripture says "You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve." However, to praise God for the gift of life—-for birds and all the amazing creation that surrounds us, is the right thing to do. To fail to praise Him and love Him with all of our "heart, mind, soul, and strength" for what He has done and Who He is, is to be guilty of the sin of ingratitude. Worship is commanded because we are dull in mind, selfish in heart, blind to reality, and so ungrateful that we need to be directed to give God due praise.

Despite Fischer's genius, there is no comparison between his flying robot and God's design of the bird. The model they copied has eyes that can see and relate images to an incredibly complex brain, that in the smallest of birds shames our most complex of computers. It has an amazing heart that sends life-giving oxygenated blood at just the right temperature, through a myriad of tiny blood vessels into complicated layers of perfectly designed muscles that are fastened onto hollow multifaceted bones that are curved especially for flight, and layered with amazingly shaped feathers that twist and turn as directed by the brain of each bird.

So what sort of crazy person could believe that there was no evidence that Fischer's robot had a creator; and what sort of bird-brain could believe for a moment that the one he plagiarized had no Maker?

Atheists, Voltaire, Morality and God

2011-07-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

"Hello. I am writing regarding some evangelical booklets I have recently found around my high school. They keep turning up, mostly in bathrooms, and are essentially the 'Are you a good person' cartoon from your website in comic form. I must say that I find such propaganda shameful. The implication that everyone is bound for hell fire unless they prostrate themselves before God is far worse than a death threat. The objective of this pamphlet seems to be to prey on the insecure and the unsure, first by instilling a sense of guilt, and then a sense of terror, and finally offering them what you say is the only salvation: submission. I am offended by these manipulative and coercive tactics. However, as Voltaire once said, 'I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.' Though I am certainly no Voltaire, I share the same love of freedom of speech. Therefore, I cannot object in principal to the distribution of ideas simply because I believe them to be incorrect and dangerous. However, when faced with the spread of such ideas, I can combat them in another way: by providing another viewpoint. To this end, I have launched a pamphlet campaign which points out the illogical nature of your propaganda. I hope that logic and humor are enough to overcome the fear and guilt which you employ, and make people see how unlikely the existence of God truly is." Sam

Sam, I appreciate the courteous way in which you wrote (may you read this reply in the same spirit).

I also appreciate your understanding of the importance of having the free exchange of ideas. With that said, as you step in as the intellectual savior of your peers, make sure you let them know that as an atheist you believe that nothing created everything (a scientific impossibility).

If you don't believe that, and instead believe that something rather than nothing created everything (but it wasn’t God), then you’re not an atheist; you’re an agnostic.

If you are embarrassed to admit that an atheist believes that nothing created everything, you could try to redefine the word "nothing," and say that it's actually "something." That will make you feel better.

Those who read our booklet may not have had a sense of guilt, fear, and terror that you had. Remember, it was Voltaire who said, "All sects are different, because they come from men; morality is everywhere the same, because it comes from God."

God gave you a conscience, and because of it you are morally responsible to Him for your thoughts, words, and your deeds. So that fear you feel is legitimate. It has driven many a rebel to a sensible submission to the God who gave him life. John 8:31-32.

A Friendly Visit From an Atheist

2011-07-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

I had a pleasant surprise this week. My friend Thunderf00t emailed me, and said that he was in Los Angeles and wanted to get together. Two years earlier we had a passive on-camera discussion. This time he suggested that we discuss the subject of morality.

The next day we took two chairs outside, set up two cameras and began talking about an issue which most atheists would rather avoid.

When an atheist talks about morality he has a problem. He has no basis of right or wrong, other than whether or not something is good for society. Kind of like Nazi Germany. Killing Jews was good for the Arian society. It was also legal, therefore it was morally okay in the atheist world-view.

We respectfully argued back and forth on different issues for about 20 minutes, and then something wonderful happened. Thunderf00t let me take him through the Ten Commandments as a gauge to see if he was morally good. He wasn’t. He freely admitted to being a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and when I said,

"Jesus said, whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her, in his heart... ”

he smiled and (like every honest red-blooded male) pleaded guilty to the violation of the Seventh Commandment.

No wonder he (and every atheist) didn't like the thought of God's existence. Being morally responsible to Him isn’t a pleasant feeling for a guilty, sin-loving sinner. I know, because I have been where he now is.

He politely listened as I told him that Jesus took his punishment upon Himself so that he could go free from God’s wrath, and he was even able to finish the Bible verse,

"For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him (trusts in Him) should not perish but shall..."

and he finished it off, "...have everlasting life.” Unlike many atheists, Thunderf00t knows his Bible.

We then had lunch together, and my son (Daniel), myself and Thunderfoot thoroughly enjoyed further discussions about things that really matter. I don't think the subject of Darwin's theory tale even came up.

It was a good time all round. After he left we prayed for God's richest blessing on this likeable, quietly spoken, sincere atheist, hoping that he will soon come to his senses and seek out the gift of everlasting life that is alone in Jesus Christ.

Here's the full video, from both of our cameras:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bn62F5pvp0&feature=player_embedded

Pic. From two years ago

The Atheist Experience

2011-07-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

"Ray believes I was a 'false convert' and was never a 'true Christian' the entire time I believed I was a born-again evangelical Christian for many years. I spoke in tongues, had the many gifts of the Holy Spirit, laying-on-of-hands, the whole nine yards." Lehman

He isn't the only regular on this blog who is the sad product of the false gospel. Another person continually says that he was a Christian minister, that he read the Bible many times, and that he truly believed, until he saw the light.

But notice the above person's "evidence" of his supposed conversion. It was "gifts," when the Bible says that it is by "fruits" (not gifts) that a Christian is known.

The Scriptures list the evidential fruits of conversion as fruit of righteousness (striving to do the right thing), the fruit of praise (giving God due praise for His kindness, etc.), the fruit of thanksgiving (having a thankful heart for the "unspeakable" gift of everlasting life, etc.), the fruit of repentance (living a life of holiness—-no longer serving sin), and the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness and temperance).

Instead of possessing these fruits, the false convert is a hypocrite. He doesn't come to know the Lord because his sin still separates him from God (see Mark chapter 4). He holds onto secret sins (lust, selfishness, bitterness, etc.), and it's only a matter of time (as with Judas) until he is exposed.

Many hypocrites are not yet evident, and so they will stay within the Church among God's people—-as goats among the sheep--and will be sorted out on Judgment Day.

The reason the false convert had a false conversion is that he never found a place of biblical repentance in the first place. He never saw sin in its true light. That's why the Ten Commandments should be thundered from the pulpits of churches, and not the unbiblical "God has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life" false gospel.

You can freely read about the false gospel and its tragic effects (or listen) on www.freewonderfulbook.com

The Definition of an Atheist

2011-07-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

"Primate worshiper, I need your advice. When Ray says that atheists are 'fools,' is that raw hate? When he quotes (out of context, but that's another matter) Psalm 14:1 in defense of his position, does that prove that the Psalms are a reservoir of raw hate?" Steven J.

I don't hate anybody. It is clear to me that if someone believes that nothing created everything he or she is a fool (see the sidebar of this blog to see the list of the many atheists and scientists who believe that).

To believe that there was no First Cause is not only unscientific; it's unreasonable. To believe that nothing could create anything, let alone everything is absolute foolishness. And that's the position of the professing atheist.

I know that you define "nothing" as "There's nothing to eat in the fridge." By "nothing," you mean that there is something there, but you find it distasteful. Agreed.

Let's see if Psalm 14:1 is quoted in context:

"The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one" (Psalm 14: 1-3).

The Word of God says the atheist is a fool. I agree wholeheartedly. There's no "raw hate." It's simply raw common sense.

In another comment, you (Steven J.) said "Ray frequently cites Psalm 14:1 as 'proof' that atheists are fools; occasionally he feigns erudition and calls us 'morons.'"

I don't cite the verse as proof that atheists are fools. It's not something that needs proving. It's self-evident.

Also, I am not aware of ever calling atheists "morons" on this blog or anywhere else--even once, let alone "occasionally". I would therefore be grateful if you could cite evidence of me doing this. If you do, I will sincerely apologize. If not, I think you owe me an apology. Thank you.

Way to go Dan!

2011-07-03T11:11:00.000-07:00

Wait a minute! The sign doesn’t make any sense. I thought atheists didn't believe that God existed. Oops, I mean that "atheists don't see evidence for God." Oops, I mean "evidence for a god" (small "g"). Gotta get the language right.

Once again, I commend my friends at "Freedom From Religion Foundation" for letting people know that they can be good without God. All you need is to have your own definition of "good." Most people are "good" in their own eyes (see Proverbs 20:6).

You can also be happy without God. Most people know that anyway, but it's good to be reminded.

I was extremely happy without God for 22 years of my godless life. So was a friend of mine who was a millionaire at 16 years old, was world famous, and could have any girl he wanted. Who wouldn't be happy with a lifestyle like that?

The Bible makes it very clear that you and I can be real happy without God. It says that Moses choose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather that "enjoy the pleasures of sin, for a season" (see Hebrews 11:25). Sin gives pleasure. It makes us happy. See also Luke 8:14, 2 Timothy 3:4 and Titus 3:3.

This silly and unbiblical thought that we can't be happy without God is the basis of a teaching I have done for years called "Hell’s Best Kept Secret" (you may like to freely listen to it on www.livingwaters.com ). When my famous friend preached it (from my notes) on TV, our website got over one million hits the following day.

So good work Mr. Dan Barker. Keep putting those (costly) signs around the country--signs that make people think about God, and give us Christians more opportunities to share the gospel of everlasting life with a dying world.

You are doing more for the Christian cause as a professing atheist, than you did for the whole 19 years you pretended to be a Christian.

EDIT: Added: "...for letting people know that they can be good without God. All you need is to have your own definition of 'good.' Most people are 'good' in their own eyes (see Proverbs 20:6)."

John the Baby’s Leap for Joy

2011-06-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

God told Jeremiah that He "formed" him in the womb (Jeremiah 1:4,5). While we may think that God created Adam and Eve and backed off, Scripture tells us that He is intimately involved with every one of us even before we existed.

God not only forms us in the womb, He knows each of us as individuals before we are created. He told Jeremiah that before He formed him, He knew him and set him apart as a prophet. Even before our conception, in the eyes of Almighty God each of us are a personality with worth and purpose.

Psalm 139 adds, "You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb" and that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (v. 13,14). How does God form our inward parts? How does He create eyes that can see and relate what is seen to a brain? How does our brain independently think endless thoughts? Or how does He make life-giving blood that flows through a mass of amazing vessels that make the complex freeways of Los Angeles look simple? How does He give us an invisible soul with its own unique personality? We are truly "fearfully and wonderfully made."

God knows every detail about every individual, down to the hairs on our head and the thoughts of our heart. He not only knows the date of our birth but He knows the date of our death. Such sobering thoughts will be a great comfort to us if we fear God, and if we have obeyed the gospel.

I wonder if you have wondered (as I have) about the joy that John the Baptist experienced when he was unborn. Doctor Luke says,

"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb….For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke 1:41,44).

Notice how the Bible uses the word "babe" (baby) when it refers to the unborn cousin of Jesus. It consistently does this throughout the Old and the New Testaments. It doesn’t call a baby a "fetus" or some other name. Snuggled in Elizabeth's womb was a living, moving baby that had been set apart to prepare the way for the Messiah who was going to destroy death.

It was this unborn human being that Scripture tells us experienced the emotion of joy. But is that scientifically possible? Can an unborn child experience emotions? Or is this just some sort of biblical camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle or Pharisaic camel-swallowing hyperbole?

According to pregnancy.org, "Your baby can see, hear, taste and feel the intimate world you have provided around him or her. Playing soothing music for your baby helps release endorphins that help baby relax." An unborn child can even see shades of light, and "around the fourth month, your baby may begin reacting to the light, by turning away or towards it."

On the website "Pregnancy and Newborn," an article titled "Your Baby's Experience in the Womb" states,

"Believe it or not, that's a little person you're growing inside your belly! Just like the rest of us, your baby can experience a whole range of emotions even before entering this topsy-turvy world of ours. While you probably would not get into a screaming match with your partner in front of your baby once he is born, you may not think twice about it while pregnant. You may want to start censoring yourself now, however, because your unborn little guy or girl is capable of experiencing feelings of anger, fear, affection, depression and disappointment in response to his mother’s emotions and activities."

A confused, sin-loving, blind and godless world doesn't know when or how life began on earth. It pleads ignorance as to when life begins in the womb. Nor does it know why we exist. It's not even sure if the chicken came before the egg or the egg came before the chicken. Scripture describes this ignorant world as "having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:18).

However, those who believe the Word of God know that the chicken came first, that God created us in the beginning, and that when someone has an abortion, they take a human life. They stop a human heartbeat. Dead. There is no nice way to put it: anyone who takes the life of their own child commits the most heinous of premeditated murders. May those who have done so find a place of mercy at the cross, before the Day of Judgment.

The Mountain of Evidence for Evolution

2011-06-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

"There is indeed a mountain of evidence for evolution from fossil records to homology, chronology, distribution of space and time, geology, DNA, biochemistry, artificial selection ex. Wolf to dog, ecology, Nested hierarchies, embryology, comparative anatomy, geographical distribution, etc."

The above is typical of the modern cut-and-paste faith-filled atheist believer in evolution. The mass of proof he sees at a distance isn't even a molehill of evidence.

His problem is that he has never taken a close look at the mountain, and believes that he has a mammoth case with his long list. His "etc." means that he believes there are even more mountains, somewhere.

Maybe that works for the simple folk, but it doesn’t work for those who know that his evolutionary fossil "record" doesn’t exist. Of course fossils exist, but not as a record for evolution.

I don't have time to run down the long list of winding rabbit trails, other than to say that DNA is an incredibly complex "language", and to say that it's proof for evolution, rather than of intelligent design, is to confirm Psalm 14:1.

Also, you are not a primate, nor are you a relative of fish, pig, or the dog. You are a human being, created by God (with an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong), and therefore you are morally responsible to Him for your thoughts, words, and deeds...whether you believe it or not.

"I Hate You...I'm Going to Kill You!"

2011-06-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

I read recently where mother from Texas was sentenced to probation, and lost custody of her children--for spanking her daughter! "Rosalina Gonzales of Corpus Christi pleaded guilty on Wednesday to injury to a child for swatting the two-year-old on her buttocks."

More than 53 million babies have been murdered in America through abortion, and the law says that's okay. No crime has been committed. But a judge makes a criminal out of a mother who disciples her child, and then he takes her children from her, leaving them without a mother.

Judge Jose Longoria said, "In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don't spank children." What planet does this judge live on? In days of old we didn't have kids who murdered their parents, shot their schoolmates, lied daily, stole whatever they wanted, blasphemed as a normal part of conversation, or killed themselves with drugs and alcohol.

How is a parent supposed to discipline a child? Andy Griffith used the woodshed. But that was in the days of old, when Americans didn't even need to lock their doors. Nowadays we do. Today our prisons are full of people who weren't given proper boundaries at home, and now they have immovable boundaries given to them by the government.

In Psalm 1, Scripture gives us a clear picture of what a godly person should be, as well as the reward of this godliness.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (vv. 1–3).

Let's meditate on these verses to truly understand their meaning and consider how they apply to parenting.

God says that you are blessed (highly favored) if you don't listen to the world's advice. If you are tempted to heed the "counsel of the ungodly," consider that the world’s "ex¬perts" believe mankind evolved from monkeys. A little thought on our part should help us see why it's wise not to listen to their ramblings, but rather listen to what the Creator has to say.

The fruit of the world's godless advice is seen in the headlines of the daily news. Their counsel may sound right, but so often it proves to be wrong. For example, the world says that if you love your children, you will never physically discipline them. It says to seek alternatives rather than inflicting physical pain.

In the Book of Proverbs, written by the wisest man who ever lived, God's Word gives the following counsel:

"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him." (Proverbs 22:15)

"The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother." (Proverbs 29:15)

It's commonly said that he who spares the rod spoils the child, but God's Word actually puts it more strongly:

"He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly." (Proverbs 13:24, emphasis added)

So there's your choice: listen to what seems right, or do what God says is right.

As parents, we should always do what the Word of God says to do, and often that's not easy. Applying the rod of correction (often called "the board of education") to "the seat of learning" takes resolution, as well as courage. But love will do it. The Bible says that in doing so you will save your children from hell (see Proverbs 23:13,14), and what parents want their children to go to end up in hell?

We should value the eternal welfare of our children, rather than our own temporal anxiety when it comes to applying discipline.

The contrast between God's ways and the world's ways were clearly demonstrated in an incident that occurred when our eldest son, Jacob, was six years old. We had a neighbor who would never even think of physically disciplining her six-year-old. When he refused to go to school, she would simply bribe him with candy.

One day Jacob said a word to his mother that he wasn't supposed to say. I sent him to his room, and then followed him a moment later. I asked him if he knew that what he said was wrong. He admitted that he did. I then told him to bend over his bed, and resolutely gave him a swift swat across his rear with a small stick. He burst into tears. I went to get him a tissue, then left him for ten minutes.

When I returned, I knelt down in front of him and we hugged. I then looked him in the eyes and said, "I want you to pray and ask God to forgive you, then go out to your mother and tell her that you are sorry." He did just that.

A few minutes later I was helping Sue dry the dishes while Jacob sat at the table, thoughtfully holding a pencil and paper. Suddenly I felt a tug on my shirt. It was Jacob. He reached up and handed me a note. It read: "I love my dad."

This made no sense to me. I had just caused him physical pain, yet even as a six-year-old he could discern that my motive was love.

In contrast, the neighbor's six-year-old would point a toy gun at his mother and say, "I hate you, I hate you. I'm going to kill you!" Of course, he wasn't disciplined for that either.

Tragically, the world refuses to use the rod of correction to drive "foolishness" from the hearts of their children. The foolishness therefore remains in their hearts as they grow (atheism is a case in point), and many children bring their parents nothing but grief by ending up pregnant, in prison, with drug or alcohol problems, or with broken marriages.

Adapted from How to Bring Your Children to Christ, and Keep Them There.

Picture: Andrew Bardwell, Cleveland, Ohio.

How to Drink a House

2011-06-15T23:44:00.000-07:00

It's been said that if you have a question about something, ask a teenager. They know everything. Well, they think they do. One of my sons moved into an apartment with a couple of friends when he was a teenager. After about a year of his paying rent, I explained to him how much he could have saved if he had stayed at home. The thought of not paying rent, no utility bills, free food, and clean clothes must have spoken to him, because he moved back home and saved a bundle.

He was soon in a financial position to support the woman of his dreams. This happened around the time he purchased a pair of generic sneakers for about $20. He said that he realized he had been wasting money on high-priced designer brands just to look cool. My boy had become a man.

More recently a mother asked me to talk to her teenage daughter about tattoos. The daughter was tempted to get one, so I suggested that she wait until she was in her early 20s, and then make a decision. When I added that the difference between 19 and 22 was about 10 years, both mother and daughter nodded in agreement.

Tattoos are fine for those who want to mark themselves for life. I remember chatting with a very distressed man who complained that he couldn’t get a job. I told him that the words "F- - - You!" that he had tattooed on his chin, could have had something to do with it. He reluctantly agreed.

Two nights before I was married I decided to find out if there was anything worthwhile in alcohol and tobacco. I drank eight double Bacardis and then chain-smoked 13 cigarettes. All that happened was that I ended up with a mouth that tasted horrible, and had to be carried home because I couldn't walk. Needless to say I didn't take up smoking or drinking. After becoming a Christian I saw the wisdom of my decision: "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted" (Psalm 107:17).

After speaking with a friend (affectionately known as "Bear") about the subject of smoking and drinking, he told me that before he was a Christian, he drank "a whole house." He wasn't joking. He threw away enough money on alcohol to buy his own home. Now he is forced to live in a tiny rented house with his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, struggling week by week to make ends meet. His American dream went down the drain...flushed forever. But that's not the whole story. Alcohol doesn't just drain us of finances, it drains us of health. It not only deprived Bear of his own home, but left him with serious medical problems.

Bear also "smoked an SUV." He threw away thousands of dollars on cancer sticks--and the vehicle he could have owned went up in smoke. He estimated that he spent $47,000 on cigarettes and an incredible $170,000 on alcohol in the 23 years that he smoked and drank.

Now that Bear can see through the smoke, he's the first to admit that people who smoke are a little slow mentally. Think about what smokers do. They pay good money for cigarettes when they could just as easily wrap their lips around any exhaust pipe and get similar carcinogens. Tobacco smoke is poison.

Alcohol is also a poison. It's "toxic." That's why we call someone who is drunk "intoxicated." They are filled with poison. Hangovers are a good clue that the body doesn't like what is going down. It's trying to say, "No more, please."

Last month, I took time to chat with a teenager smoking outside of his workplace. He was on his break and had stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. As he breathed in the fresh air of toxic fumes, I explained what fun it is to die of emphysema. No doubt the naive kid thought that his lungs were like two paper bags that he filled with smoke, and then when he kind of squeezed them, he was able to make little smoke signals come out of his ashtray mouth. If the smoke was sending any signal, it was saying that where there's smoke, there's fire. In time, he was going to get burned.

I said that his lungs were made up of tiny holes, and every time he breathed in the poison of burning fumes, they were slowly clogging up with a black tar, and eventually he would suffocate. That means nothing to a healthy, breathing teenager—unless you can get him to experiment by closing his mouth and then blocking his nose, so that he can only breathe in the smallest amount of air. Doing that produces a sense of terror-stricken panic in the human mind. Try it for a moment, if you dare. That's what it's like to die of emphysema. And modern medicine can do nothing but stand by and watch you suffocate to death.

So my advice to a drinking smoker is that we only get one shot at this life. We should therefore make it our aim to be on target, and we can do that by thinking deeply about life's consequences. And while we're thinking clearly, we should give some sobering thought as to where we will spend eternity. If you are having such thoughts, you will find details about how to find everlasting life on www.needGod.com

What Science Says...

2011-06-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

One of the great mysteries about the holocaust was the seeming complicity of so many of the German people. Yet, I have watched World War 2 footage of the Allies (as they liberated Concentration camps) forcing those who lived around the death-camps, to go through them. They walked in with smiles on their faces and came out grief-stricken and horrified. I was left wondering how could they not know! They lived around the camps and could see the smoke billowing from the chimneys.

Didn’t they know what was going on in their own backyard? Did they know but were they fearful of the Nazis, and therefore remained silent? Or did they seriously think that the camps were nothing more than some sort of wartime confinement housing for Jews?

Do you know about America's holocaust? Do you know about what's going on in your own backyard? Or do you know what's happening, but you think that it's not a baby in the womb, and therefore it's not a "holocaust" at all. You think that whatever it is that’s growing within the womb is not human, and therefore can be eliminated like common waste. It's okay to get rid of it because it’s not human. That's what Hitler said of the Jews. He said that they weren't human, and that justified their elimination.

Yet, we do know when life begins, and it's not when you or I or the mother feels it begins. According to science, it is at conception:

"Biologically speaking, human development begins at fertilization." The Biology of Prenatal Development, National Geographic, 2006.

"The two cells gradually and gracefully become one. This is the moment of conception, when an individual's unique set of DNA is created, a human signature that never existed before and will never be repeated." In the Womb, National Geographic, 2005.

So at the moment of conception there is infant human development. There is a living entity with its own unique DNA. So with those thoughts in mind, help me to finish this sentence if you can: "It's okay to kill a baby in the womb...when?"

Perhaps you answered that a pregnancy could be morally terminated in the case of rape. But why would you kill the child for the crime of the father? Which is worse, rape or murder? Why not support the mother and then have the baby adopted? Isn’t it better to have a child adopted rather than kill it? If you don’t like the thought of adoption and prefer abortion, could you kill the child yourself by cutting it in pieces, or would that be too difficult and you would you rather that a doctor do it for you?

I have some more questions for you. How do you make a moral decision about an important subject such as abortion? How do you know right from wrong? For example, how do you know if adultery is wrong? How about murder? Theft? Is theft ever right? Not according to the Bible. Even if you steal to feed yourself because you are hungry, it is still wrong, and according to Scripture if you are caught you have to pay seven times the amount you stole (see Proverbs 6:30-32).

Hopefully you know that murder and adultery are never right. So if you know that both murder and adultery are morally wrong, from where do you get that knowledge? If it is from what society says is right and wrong, you have a problem. Remember, what Hitler did, he did legally. In the case of Nazi Germany, society ruled murder to be right, and we live in a society that has done the same with the unborn.

If you and I advocate that the taking of a human life in the womb is a "right" then how are we any different than those who advocated the taking the lives of so many Jews? The answer is that we are not.

If you don’t know God, and you are suddenly "born again" (see John 3:3-5), you will no doubt look back at yourself and say with John Newton "Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me." You will agree that the word "wretch" is well-chosen to describe how vile you were, because you will see yourself in truth—as a selfish, sin-loving contemptible person who advocated the murder of children in the womb.

You will enter your evil heart smiling, and come out grief-stricken and horrified at what you see.

May that day come quickly, not only for the sake of your own salvation, but for the sake of the thousands who will legally die today at the end of a sharp scalpel or from the agony of a burning saline solution. May it come quickly so that your vote won’t be a vote that elevates prosperity above morality, as did the German vote not so long ago. Please, never, ever, vote for a man or a woman who believes that it is a right to kill the unborn.

NOTES: http://www.ehd.org/products_bpd_dvd.php
http://www.amazon.com/National-Geographic-Womb-Dilly-Barlow/dp/B000E8JNT2/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1200611069&sr=8-1

Atheist Nail-hitter

2011-06-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Andy Duchemin said...Ray, I've been listening to the Living Waters podcasts and it's given me an insight as to how sly and underhanded your preaching can be. I think it was Kirk who was going through the good person test and if someone answered in the wrong way than he wanted to hear, there's a back-up plan to prove that the person is wrong. It's not a test, it's a trap, a condemnation...The self-assuredness that your friends show appears to be dishonest.

Andy...You hit the nail on the head. It is "a condemnation." However, it's not dishonest. Think of it like this. You are a devious criminal who refuses to give up his evil lifestyle, because you don't see it as being "evil." You consider lawlessness to be an exciting lifestyle. Besides, you've never been caught by the police. Not once.

I'm a police officer who has the difficult task of telling you about an special short-term amnesty, offered by the Chief of Police. You have a certain amount of time to surrender your weapons and change your lifestyle. After the door of amnesty closes there will be a big bust, and when that comes there will be no mercy, especially in the light of your ignoring the offer of amnesty. I have no alternative but to show you that you are already condemned with no way of escape, and that you would be a fool to neglect the offer of amnesty.

As a Christian, the only (and not very pleasant) way to convince you of your terrible danger is to point out the seriousness of your crimes against God....that you have "eyes full of adultery" and that lying lips are an abomination to Him. This is done by taking you through the moral Law (the Ten Commandments). You must be convinced that you are an enemy of God...that you hate Him "without cause," to the point of foolishly denying His very existence.

If you refuse to surrender to Jesus Christ and take advantage of God's incredible offer of amnesty (escape Hell and live forever), you will come under the deserved condemnation of His Law. The Bible says that you are already condemned (see John 3:17-18, 36).

There are three ways to know if I'm speaking the truth:

1. The very second you pass into eternity you will realize what a fool you have been to neglect the Savior, because you will know that it's too late to cry "God help me!!"

2. At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when the heavens depart and He comes in flaming fire "to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire."

3. Upon your repentance and faith in Jesus. Obey the gospel and God with reveal Himself to you (see John 14:21), and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. The gospel I am privileged to preach is backed by the power of God. The atheistic philosophy you have is backed by less than nothing.

Thanks for Your Thoughts

2011-05-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

"Some of the disturbing personal attacks on Ray's mother are crossing the line. Who is monitoring this? Come on, what's the purpose of posting this kind of low class garbage?" Taiwan1997

Thank you for your concern. I am the one who has been monitoring the comments, and have deleted the bad ones. Those I have been letting through were pretty tame.

However, the nasty folks were a minority compared to all the kind and thoughtful words of most. Thank you.

I haven't been posting lately--not just because of my mother's death (by the way, I do have assurance of her salvation), but because God has placed something incredible into our hands.

It is very powerful and will no doubt become huge.

I'm not at liberty to share this with you at present, but will in the near future. I'm blown away by His incredible kindness.

Thanks for your patience. I may post again in a few days.

2011-05-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

My Mother died last night. I will be taking a few days break from posting. Thanks for your understanding.

Sir Isaac Newton was Right. Atheism is senseless.

2011-05-25T07:17:00.000-07:00

"Prove that the world is a creation. If you can prove that, then you must also prove that it is your God who created it. Run along now." Bill

The Bible doesn’t mince words. It calls the atheist a "fool" (see Psalm 14:1) and speaks of "his foolish heart" being "darkened." It says that certain godless man are "proud, knowing nothing," and that they are "obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth..." (1 Timothy 6:4-5).

How can any person have meaningful dialog with someone who is unreasonable and refuses to call creation what it is--a creation? But the root of the corrupt tree isn’t atheism—-it's pride (see Psalm 10:4). I am encouraged that some, who profess to be atheists, write to me outside of this blog, and some even show up at the ministry for lunch or just to chat.

These types of people are open-minded, show a measure of humility, and they are the very reason this blog exists.

Please, soften your heart and think about the issues of life and death. You only get one chance at life. Don't blow it.

Attacked by a Parrot

2011-05-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7ATKoxMkgM

Atheists Cashing in on the Rapture

2011-05-22T02:15:00.000-07:00

Regarding the stupidity of predicting the rapture, Richard Dawkins said,

"An aspect of religion that intrigues me is its capacity to con money out of a seemingly endless supply of gullible idiots. Is there anything so stupid that, if you put it out there, you can't find thousands of people (and their money) to believe it."

And those who believe what the professor says can buy his books, DVD's, trinkets, T-shirts, etc., from his website. There is an endless supply who do.

Pic. Atheist earrings, just $22.

The Atheist's Ultimate Mistake

2011-05-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

Rugby is a great game. It's like American football, except there are no pads, it's faster, and the ball can't be tossed forward.

Our son records games for us so that we can enjoy watching them, and the cool thing is that he only gives us games in which our team doesn't lose. It's a win/win situation. So we never panic when the other team gets ahead. Not in the slightest.

Such is the case with Christianity. We can’t lose. I never panic for a second when an atheist thinks he’s ahead of the game by saying that God doesn't exist, that things evolved, or that the Bible is full of mistakes.

God exists. Nature (creation) proves that. Knowing Him proves it. The reality of the conscience prove's it. Having the gift of everlasting life proves it. Then on top of all that I have foreknowledge of Scripture. God has recorded the game from the beginning to the end.

Every sign of the age in which we live is perfectly lined up--from increased godlessness, increased knowledge, fear of the future, the trouble in the Middle East, earthquakes in different parts of the world, hypocrisy in the Church, and much more—perfectly pinpointed in Scripture. Then there's the verses that tell us that skeptics will predictably say that these signs have always been around…and they have, but the trouble around Israel gives us the timeline.

The only mistakes in the Bible are mistakes people have made, and atheists are making the ultimate mistake when they reject God's mercy. When they think that they will ultimately win, they delude themselves. But this isn't some game. Its outcome will determine where they will spend eternity.

I Found a Thinking Atheist

2011-05-18T06:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJQFVqnlZTw&feature=player_embedded

He is right. These people will owe us an apology...then again, if they are right, I will gladly apologize to them. The Bible says "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36).

We don't know the Day or the hour, but we can certainly know the "signs of the times." See Matthew 24, Luke 21, 2 Timothy 3 and many other passages. And keep your eyes on Israel. He is coming:

"...when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10)

Stephen Hawking's Senseless Atheism

2011-05-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

To say anything negative about Stephen Hawking is like bullying a blind man. He has an unfair disadvantage, and that gives him the benefit of his own bully-pulpit.

Peter Sellers once played a very simple gardener, who was mistakenly thought to be extremely intelligent--it was because of that fine dividing line between genius and insanity

Such is the case with Professor Hawking. He is heralded as "the genius of Britain," and yet some of his beliefs border on the insane, or at least they are very weird.

He believes the scientific impossibly that nothing created everything (Sir Isaac Newton called atheism "senseless and odious"), that there are space aliens, and that if we (us six billion plus human beings) don't start living in space, we will become extinct within a century.

Not only does he have this insight way back into our origins, into deep space, but he also has a unique knowledge of the afterlife.

He knows that Heaven doesn't exist.

John Lennon wasn't so sure. He said to pretend there's no Heaven. That's easy if you try. Then he said he hoped that someday we would join him. No doubt when he wrote those words, he wasn't thinking about where he would be, someday.

Notes:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/02/stephen-hawking-big-bang-creator
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7935505/Stephen-Hawking-mankind-must-move-to-outer-space-within-a-century.html

What Can an Atheist Know?

2011-05-16T04:55:00.000-07:00

"You're being dishonest. You don't know hell is real, you believe hell is real." Zathras
Have you heard of Tadmor Prison? Do you know if it exists or where it is located? If you don't know anything about it, should you therefore say that someone who maintains it is real, is dishonest? Of course not.

In the natural world, we can't really "know" anything. There was a time when men "knew" that the earth was flat, or that there was nine planets or that the earth was millions of years old. Now they know that it's billions of years old, and they will think they know that until someone who knows better will convince them that they don't know.

We think we know that the sky is blue, but it's not, or that we know the direction of up and down, when we don't. Up is down, down-under. We don't even know if this life is nothing but a dream from which we will awake to reality.

So in a natural world, we can only "know" something to a certain extent-—where we are as convinced as can be. But when God wants us to know something, we aren't talking about a natural realm. The equation changes. In the supernatural realm, nothing is impossible and God always has His way.

Even before I came to know God, I didn't doubt His existence for a moment. The amazing order of natural life--from the atom to the universe--told me that there was a super-natural-Maker. It is a scientific impossibility for nature to make itself, because nature would have had to have existed before it made itself.

I also intuitively knew that this supernatural Maker required moral accountability. But it wasn't until I was confronted with God's Law (the Ten Commandments) that I realized the degree of accountability-—that He considered lust to be adultery and hatred to be murder.

The moment I acknowledged my sins, the cross made sense to me—-I had violated God's Law, but Jesus paid my fine. That meant that God could legally dismiss my case and allow me to live. My death sentence was commuted by the mercy of God.

When I obeyed the gospel, repenting of my sins and trusting alone in Jesus Christ, I was made a new person overnight. It wasn't as though I had simply had a change of mind. It was a complete change of person. Ray Comfort BC died, and Ray Comfort AD came to life.

That was nearly 40 years ago, and I'm still shaking my head at the radical nature of the new birth. I suddenly loved God when I hadn't given Him a serious thought in my 22 years of secular life. I was brand new, had a peace I couldn't understand, and a joy that I couldn't express.

When I opened the Bible, its words came alive and I began to read specific details in this 2,000 year old book of what had happened to me. It explained why I felt brand new, why I had a "peace that passes all understanding" and a "joy unspeakable." It explained everything I had experienced when I "called upon the name of the Lord."

If I purchased a complex appliance that came with an instruction book that told me to follow 27 directions, one after the other, at the end of which the appliance worked, I could then "know" that the book was the correct instruction book. Any other conclusion would be irrational.

The Bible proved itself to be the Maker's Instruction Book that made the appliance work. It proved itself by explaining the supernatural experience of conversion, and it also warns of Hell...hundreds of times.

But there's an even greater reason we can "know" that Hell is real. We know that a fool denies that God exists (see Psalm 14:1), but there is something just as foolish. There are some who acknowledge God's existence but say that He doesn't care about right or wrong-—that He has no concern for righteousness, justice and truth.

To believe such is to be guilty of violation of the First and the Second of the Ten Commandments. It is to make up a false image of God, one that says that God couldn't care less that Hitler slaughtered millions of innocents—-that He is like a corrupt judge that turns a blind eye to injustice.

Such a belief couldn't be further from the truth. The Bible calls Him "the habitation of Justice," warning that He will "bring every work to judgment including every secret thing, whether it is good or evil."

The Bible tells us that we can supernaturally "know” certain things—"You will know that you have passed from death to life," "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free," "I know and believe and am persuaded..."

The knowledge that a converted person has is far more than an intellectual belief and even more than subjective experiential knowledge.

If you have the word of a Supreme Court judge, you have a high authority—-you can pretty much rely on his or her word. If you have the word of a King, you have a high authority that you could certainly depend upon. But in the Bible we have the Word of God, above which there is no higher authority and therefore you can "know" that what it says is absolute truth. And the Word of God warns that there will be a Day of retribution, and that Hell is the just reward of the wicked.

So it would be disingenuous of me to say that I "believe" that Hell is real. I "know" it is, and will therefore spend the rest of my life "warning every man" as the Bible tells me to.

From Israel

2011-05-05T01:24:00.001-07:00

I'm Manuel Brambila, Ray's Personal Assistant. We are in Israel filming Season Five of "The Way of the Master" television program.

Ray won't be blogging until next week because filming is so time consuming.

Best wishes to all of you,

Manuel

Hitler, Religion, and the Holocaust (Promo)

2011-04-30T19:40:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/thewayofthemaster

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-29T05:35:00.001-07:00

31And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

It was the brilliant father of science, Sir Isaac Newton, who once said,

"Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors."

If he was alive today, he may like to revise his last six words. We live in an age where there is a revival of the senselessness of atheism. But he certainly put his finger on its cause. Normally those guilty of the sin of idolatry pick and choose the attractive characteristics of the nature of God—"My God is a God of love and mercy. He would never create Hell."

And they are right. He would never create Hell because he couldn't. He doesn’t exist. He's a figment of their over active imagination—the place of imagery. The nature of the Creator of the Universe, as revealed in Holy Scripture, is not only love and mercy, but also justice and truth, holiness and righteousness.

The atheist's buffet, however, is a reverse idolatry. He picks and chooses a god from the characteristics he finds unattractive—"The God of the Bible is a judgmental, homophobic, unloving, wrath filled, merciless tyrant. If that's your 'God of love,' I want nothing to do with him!" But the god he doesn’t believe in doesn’t exist. He is also a figment of the human imagination.

Remember, Newton said, "Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice."

The atheist is in truth just the criminal offspring of Adam, still imitating his first forefather, by trying to hide from God. And the best hiding place he can find is in atheism.

In 2008, as Los Angeles County Sheriff's homicide investigator Kevin Lloyd routinely checked out some snapshots of tattooed gang members, he noticed a crime in which he was very familiar. One gang member named Anthony Garcia, had a tattooed scene of the killing of 23-year-old John Juarez.

The tattoo showed Christmas lights on the liquor store where Juarez was murdered, where the body was found, a bent street lamp, the name of the gang that was suspected of killing him, and a helicopter above the scene firing bullets. The police put an undercover police officer in Garcia's cell and got a confession from him. He then faced a sentence of 65 years to life.

Every crime we have ever commited against God is engraved with the point of a diamond upon our conscience, whether we believe in the existence of God or not. On the Day of Judgment God’s Law will seek it out and we will be punished with a life sentence, without parole.

What a fool this man was-—to boast on his flesh of the crime of murder. His trophy became his damnation. And what fools sinners are when they boast about their fleshly sins, because they believe that God doesn’t exist, or doesn’t see or doesn't care.

God warned Israel that He saw their every transgression, by saying "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart..." (Jeremiah 17:1). He means what He says. He will punish every sin, right down to the thought and intent of the heart.

Fortunately, not all sinners are hardened atheists. Some have an open mind and are prepared to think and listen.

P.s. We leave for Israel this Sunday--to film Season Five of our television program, so Monday's post may be delayed a little.

David Wilkerson: Not available

2011-04-28T06:16:00.000-07:00

Everyone has heros--or at least people they respect. David Wilkerson was one of mine, along with John the Baptist and a few others. So I was deeply saddened when my daughter called and said that he had been killed in a car accident. Of course there was the sweet knowledge that he was with the Lord, but there was also the bitter reality that we no longer had him here on earth.

His passing brought back a flood of memories. Back in 1980, I screened the movie that was based on his best-selling book, The Cross and the Switchblade. It starred Erik Estrada (from the television series CHiPs) as Nicky Cruz, the hardened gang member who mocked the naive country preacher who had come to his rough neighborhood.

I loved the way Wilkerson trusted God and went to New York, gave his shoes to some hoodlum, and ended up walking around the city in his socks. He epitomized the love that each of us should have for the lost. I decided there and then that I had to fly David Wilkerson seven thousand miles to New Zealand for a series of meetings.

New Zealand is about 16 hours ahead of New York, so I climbed out of bed at 2:00 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and put a long distance call through to the United States. After about 40 minutes of complications, I finally got through to the church and was disappointed to hear a busy signal.

The next morning I got up at the same time, and after another 40 or so minutes I was able to contact his personal secretary. I boldly said, "May I speak to David Wilkerson please?" Any second now and I would be speaking to the man himself. The voice came back, "Mr. Wilkerson is not available." I said, "But I’m calling from New Zealand!" Once again I heard a stern, "Mr. Wilkerson is not available." I placed the phone down, and felt a little stupid. David Wilkerson was untouchable.

Fast-forward 13 years to 1993. Sue and I were now living in the U.S. A few years earlier, a pastor had heard a teaching called "Hell’s Best Kept Secret," had said, "America must hear this message!" and invited us to base our ministry in Southern California.

A woman had called my office and said that David Wilkerson had also heard "Hell’s Best Kept Secret" and wanted to speak with me. He would be calling in a few minutes. When the phone rang, I quickly picked it up, and sure enough it was that famous voice. He wanted to fly me from Los Angeles to New York to share the teaching with his church. I could hardly believe my ears.

A few days later, I was sitting wide-eyed having lunch with David Wilkerson in New York City. Just me and him. It was almost like having lunch with John the Baptist. Seriously. I hardly heard a word he said because I kept thinking, "That is David Wilkerson! It's him. The man. I could reach out and poke him in the eye. I can't believe this!"

I then preached in his church, and had the wonderful experience of walking with him (with his shoes on) through the streets of New York, as he gave me a personal tour through his ministry.

When I arrived back in Los Angeles airport I saw Pat Boone at the baggage claim and cleverly broke the ice by saying, "Hi Pat. I'm Ray Comfort. Have you heard of David Wilkerson? I just spoke at his church." It was then that I remembered that Pat Boone starred as the famous preacher in "The Cross and the Switchblade." Duh.

A year or so later, I spoke for a pastor in Texas. He kindly gave me an endorsement for the ministry. It said, "I have served as a local pastor, Teen Challenge Director, Crusade Director for David Wilkerson, and missionary, but never during those years did I encounter an evangelist with a more life-changing message."

It was then that I found out that he was the secretary, who, 14 years earlier had wrongly told me that David Wilkerson was not available. Sure he was. It just had to be in God's timing.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-27T06:46:00.000-07:00

26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

Back on December 15, 2004, the Dallas Morning News said, "The most famous atheist in the academic world over the last half-century, Professor Antony Flew of England's University of Reading, now accepts the existence of God. Flew said, 'What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements together,' he said. 'The enormous complexity by which the results were achieved look to me like the work of intelligence.'"

This revelation epitomizes how stupid athiesm is. It took this man a lifetime to figure out that whoever or whatever made this incredible earth was intelligent. A slow child can figure that out in a second.

An atheist has no idea as to the Genesis of life, and neither has he figured how non-living matter can form by accident into a living cell—how dead matter became live matter. But to an atheist, that doesn’t matter. All that matters is that his worldview excludes any thought of the existence of God, and for that he pats himself on the back and thinks that he’s intelligent.

If that isn't crazy enough, here is where evolution gets really weird. It says that man wasn't "created" at all. He just happened and he happened over a long period of time. It was a lucky accident that man, like the fish, birds, and animals, has eyes, ears, a heart, and an instinct to search for food and a strong desire to bring forth after his own kind.

He was once a primitive life form, which meant that at one time didn't have eyes with which he could see, or ears with which he could hear. Neither did he have a heart or blood or blood vessels to carry his blood.

But as blood began to evolve, it couldn't get around the body, so he evolved a heart to pump it around. The heart would take a long time to evolve, and it also needed a complex system of blood vessels to evolve. So survival was impossible for the first pre-human primitive life form. But that doesn’t matter to an atheist. It just happened. Evolution-did-it.

Neither was man a moral creature. As time past he was the only beast in nature who cared about right and wrong and set up courts to send transgressors to a place of punishment. That set him head and shoulders above the beasts. He evolved a conscience. Unlike the 1.4 million differing kinds in nature, man is the only creature that seeks retribution for violations of a moral code, which, for some reason says that it's wrong to steal, to lie, to murder and commit adultery.

Evolution doesn't know why he has a moral code, nor why man evolved to the top of the evolutionary chain. But that doesn't matter to an atheist.

In truth, we are top because God gave man "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." The sea yields delicious fish for our plate, and chickens give us eggs and finger-licking food. Cows give him milk that with a little churning gives him cream, and butter, and yogurt and ice cream. How cool is that?

The cattle also gave him meat to eat and leather for the weather, whether you believe that or not. The "creeping" things--from bugging bugs to stinking skunks run from man, because man has dominion over this planet. Lions don't like it, but a chair and a whip subdue him for circus fans. Even whales and porpoises will jump at his command and make a splash for delighted tourists. He has dominion because God gave dominion to him.

Here's another puzzle that doesn't matter to an atheist. How did man survive in his primitive state until females evolved? Ask any fundamentalist evolutionary believer that question, and like a wounded and cornered animal he will try and bite you, because he has no answer. He will tell you that to even ask the question, you are an ignorant fool who doesn't understand the principles of evolutionary biology.

He believes that male and female came about because of "populations." It just happened. Anything written on the subject moves to the subject of sex, and doesn't deal with where the sexes came from. It's just a given that procreation is possible because of random chance. Nothing created everything. Evolution is real science, and the Bible is nothing but an ancient bronze-age book that doesn't even deserve a first glance.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-26T06:15:00.000-07:00

24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Do you notice how the Bible repeats one phrase? It keeps saying "after its kind," as though it is making some kind of important point. Think about nature. Notice that every animal, bird, fish, and insect (but for a few slugs and worms), has both male and female, and they each bring forth after their kind. Cows have baby cows, horses have baby horses, ants have baby ants, spiders have spiders, cats have kittens, and dogs have puppies.

A male dog chases an on-heat female dog, because he wants to mate with the female dog. If a cat is in heat, he’s not interested, no matter how cool a cat it is. He mates only within his kind--dogs. He recognizes a dog, whether it’s a Great Dame or a not-so-great long-haired Chihuahua.

A dog doesn't want to mate with a chicken, a fish, a squirrel, and he's certainly not attracted to a skunk. He stays within his kind because God was kind enough to give him a kind-of instinct to stay within his kind.

Yet evolutionists ignore this uncompromising pattern throughout nature. It's as though the existing creation doesn't exist, and in their imaginative minds, they imagine that all the animals, fish, insects and birds of the past, never had male and female and didn’t stay within their kind. Such is the power of the human imagination. It can go anywhere it wants, and within evolution it knows no logical boundaries.

Again, it's very clear what the Bible means by "after its kind." It means that a dog will never cross into another kind. It will always bring forth a dog. Darwinian evolution has searched for over 200 years for undisputed evidence of one kind of animal evolving into another kind, and it hasn’t found anything that isn't a big bone of contention. The "missing link" between man and ape is still missing.

The following quote is from Steven J. It shows how modern believers in the theory move the goalposts during the game:

Ray, "species" refers to distinctions such as those between, e.g. a lion and a tiger, or a wolf and a coyote, or a chimpanzee and a bonobo. "Kind," in creationist jargon, generally refers these days to groups larger than a species but still thought to be related by common descent, such as entire genera or families (e.g. the "cat kind"). There are "species-to-species" transitions in the fossil record (e.g. Stephen Gould described a sequence of transitional fossils between two species of the snail genus Cerion), but presumably if you bothered to consider that rather than simply regurgitate your standard list of slogans, you dismiss this example as "they're still snails" (which of course is on some other creationist's list of standard slogans). Since "kind" is undefined, it's difficult to find a good example of a "kind-to-kind" transitional series. But the fact that creationists disagree on whether, e.g. the Trinil skullcap (Homo erectus) is just another ape or as much a "fully human" remain as any H. sapiens skeleton, or the fact that there are similar disagreements about KNM-ER1470 (the skull of Homo rudolfensis) ought to indicate that in fact intermediates between obviously nonhuman apes and obvious human beings do exist. There are indeed quite a few such.

He uses the word "species" in an unashamed attempt to link animals within "kinds," and therefore maintains that he has evidence of evolution. He says that the evidence is that snails evolve into snails. Then he says that the word “kind” is "undefined" and maintains that it is "difficult to find a good example of a kind-to-kind transitional series."

The fault isn’t with the definition of the word "kind." It hasn't changed in the slightest. One more time; here’s the definition: dog-kind, cat-kind, horse-kind, snail-kind, human-kind, etc. The atheist's difficulty is with the so-called evidence for evolution. There isn't any. Repetition is the mother of knowledge, so one more time--every animal, bird, fish, and insect brings forth after its own kind. They stay as animals, birds, fish, and insects. Evolution is a farce. It’s bogus science that has no evidence to back its fantastic claims.

Years ago I had an eccentric friend. He could talk on any subject at the drop of a hat. I once said, "The inside of a ping pong ball. Sixty seconds. Go!" and he immediately began a spiel about the nothing of its inside for sixty seconds, without the slightest hesitation. He reminds me of the atheist and the subject of evolution. He has nothing at all, and yet he forever argues about it without the slightest hesitation.

Picture: Golden retriever puppy, three months old. (Daisy Parker)
EDIT: "on" heat, to "in" heat.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

Have you ever watched a whale playing in the ocean? It jumps high out of the water; it twists, it turns and sends a geyser into the heavens, and seems to be having a whale of a time. It's as though this big mammal loves life, and lives it to the fullest.

He's like a playful puppy, or a bird that sings in the cool of an early morning sunrise.

Look at the little fellow as he sits on a tree branch and sings his joy-filled song. Listen closely, and notice that his tune is complex. So are his feathers. They are amazingly complex. So are his wings and the muscles and nerves that move them. He can twist and turn them, so that in flight he can turn on a dime, faster than the human eye can even track him.

The Wright Brothers studied his amazing design, and they knew that it was evidence of a Designer. The atheist doesn’t think so. This is because he doesn't think at all. The Bible calls him a fool. Newton rightly said atheists are senseless.

To them, the fact that both birds and fish have design and that each need male and female to continue to live, is an amazing purposeless accident. A lucky coincidence that happened billions of years ago, when nothing caused everything with a big bang...that he's not even sure really happened. This is because scientists now disagree about whether or not there was a big bang.

Whatever did or didn't happen, it resulted in the bird and fish population--that coincidentally have all matured to a point of perfect adaptive survival. Half a wing, half an eye, half a lung, or half a gill would mean death in seconds to any of these birds or fish. But somehow they survived as these necessities evolved. How lucky for them and us. Praise Nature for brilliantly making itself, even though nature, like the atheist doesn't think.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Have you ever snorkeled in the crystal clear waters of Hawaii? It's breathtaking, even under the water. It's truly breathtaking if you have eyes to see and a brain that works, that is. Otherwise you will look at the bright yellow fish with their bright blue spots, as they go about their daily routine of looking for food, then looking for a mate, so that they can reproduce and bring forth after their own kind, and not think at all.

But if you think deeply while under the shallow waters you will see design everywhere, from each fish with its amazing colors, to its tiny quivering fins, to its perfectly formed eyes, its mouth, tail and gills.

If it evolved from some sort of primitive life form, did the primitive life-form have lungs, a heart and eyes, when it was in this primitive form? If it did, it wasn't primitive. If it didn't, how did it see, and live, and eat? If it was doing okay as a heartless, bloodless, and blind life form, why and how did it evolve a heart, blood and eyes? And how do you know this to be true?

And why are there hundreds of thousands of other amazing fish with two eyes, one heart, blood, a mouth, stomach, fins and a tail? Why and how did they all evolve from a primitive life source into what we see today? Why is it that all this life in the ocean is mature, in our time? Why don't we see semi-evolved fish with eyes that don't yet see or fins that don't direct or gills that don't yet grab the necessities of life out of the waters that came to be because of a big bang in space?

And when you give your pat answers, ask yourself how you know all this, and why you would believe such crazy musings of the imagination? The Bible will tell you why, in the book of Romans. It’s in chapter one, if you have a mind to read it.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-22T06:40:00.000-07:00

14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Do you ever wonder why we have 24 hours in a day, and 365 days in a year? Why is our time "divided" into days and into years? Who started such a numbering process, and upon what is it based?

We know that different civilizations numbered their days, but the reason for the 24 hour numbering is that it takes the earth 24 hours to spin on its axis. It has a 24-hour rotation.

And why is it that it takes 365 days for the earth to rotate around the sun? And while it is orbiting the sun, why does the earth consistently turn around and give us day and night with such incredible and predictable precision? Atheists don't know. They simply believe that evolution-did-it. Of course, evolution doesn't "think." They know that. It just happened.

The amazing order and precision happened because of a causeless bang in space that happened for no reason with no preexisting materials, billions of years ago. So they believe.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-21T07:07:00.000-07:00

11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13And the evening and the morning were the third day.

The next time you bite into a juicy apple, or eat sweet grapes, or a succulent orange, or eat tasty cereal, or look at lush green grass, you have a Cause, in Genesis. Instead of saying that the causeless chaos of a big bang in space resulted in the accident of all the different herbs--alfalfa, mint, cinnamon, basil, garlic, parsley, siege and thyme, in time, you can know that they were created by God, for the taste buds of mankind.

And as you plant the plants in the dry earth that God made, you can thank Him that each of these tasty plants contain the inherent ability to bring forth after their own kind. The garlic plant has seeds within it to produce more garlic plants. The parsley plant has its own ability to "go to seed" and put into your thankful hands seeds that will give you more parsley. But if you are an atheist you have to look at everything and think "A fortunate accident." Such thoughts are indeed foolishness.

Each of the varieties of fruits we so love also have this ability to put seeds into your hand so that you can grow more fruit, after their kind. Evolution doesn't know why this is. It neither asks the deep questions, nor gives a hint of an answer. It just is, with no reason or purpose.

This is perfectly summed up by an atheist, who said,

"Ray, You apparently fail to realize that atheism is merely the position on the existence of God (or any gods for that matter), and that it does not pretend or intend to offer a position on things like the formation of planet Earth, the tides, daylight or the other things you're complaining atheism has no explanation for."

Atheism is nothing, believes in nothing, and offers nothing but hopelessness, death, and damnation. You only have one shot at this life. Don't blow it big time with the stupidity of atheism.

Genesis on Trial

2011-04-20T07:05:00.000-07:00

6And God said, Let there be a firmament [the expanse of the sky] in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

How amazing it is that the clouds are filled with trillions of tons of water. Most people have no idea that the average puffy raincloud weighs something like 350 thousand tons, and yet it floats like a feather and waters the earth so that food can grow and feed man and beast. Scripture tells us that it was God who divided the waters in the heavens from the waters on the earth.

The heat from the sun causes the oceans to rise into the heavens, leaving their salty taste and in time, the evaporated oceans fall back down onto the earth to give life to its inhabitants. Without this process, we wouldn’t have a green life-giving earth. It would mostly be dry and fruitless desert, but for the irrigation waters that man is able to bring from lakes in different parts of the earth.

The perfectly balanced division of the oceans from the mass of water in the clouds didn’t come about by causeless accident, as evolution believers and atheists believe. The "Big Bang" folks are shallow in their understanding of the water cycle and its origin. Big bangs produce chaos not order.

9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good.

Only in recent years has science discovered that there are mountains and valleys under the seas. It was assumed by experts that the sea bottom was just flat land. But it’s not. It's massive mountains and deep valleys, because God caused the dry land to "appear." These appeared as the seas receded, because God was the Cause.

Many atheists believe that we originally evolved from fish. Some think that all land animals trace their roots back to fish called Eusthenopteron, which was the first fish to evolve dual gills/lungs and then spend part of its life on land. But the Bible says that we were created as dry-earth creatures, with arms and legs, skin, and lungs. Still, those who believe in evolution don’t believe we were made as we are. Instead, they postulate that we once didn't exist, and then we miraculously appeared and became a primitive life form, that over time became sea-dwelling creatures.

The theory goes that we temporarily left other sea-dwelling creatures and crawled onto dry land to evolve (over time) lungs and a heart that could accept oxygenated blood, while under the water. Then, with primitive legs that had also evolved, as a "population" we ventured onto the dry land and over millions of years, decided to stay permanently.

Evolution's followers don’t know why we made the decision to leave. We just did, and so here we are on the dry land that came about by chance, with no rhyme, no reason, and no purpose. It's not "good" as the Bible says. It just is. Evolution-did-it.