Friday, December 7, 2012

Does Bible Prophecy Prove God’s Existence?

Hi everyone,

I am in the afterglow of a wonderful funeral service of my close childhood friend's father earlier this afternoon. A "wonderful" funeral? Yes, the service did a good job of reviewing a remarkable man's life, who did everything really well which he set his mind to. He was a baseball player who was good enough to play for the White Sox. But the Korean War interfered with that. He then set his mind on work, and became Senior Vice President of Finance for Control Data. After he retired, he took up golf and became the Edina Country Club Champion. He raised great family of five kids who are all kind adults, close to each other, and cared for him in the struggles of his last few years. I wish I knew him better, he was a truly remarkable man. It was also wonderful in being able to see old friends and to have the warmth of fellowship together.

Yet he passed away, as we all will do some day. Being a great athlete, smart at work, and a good family man does nothing to stop the inevitable. And so, this event has caused my thoughts to turn toward our Creator. So I try and understand the question of why don't more people accept God's presence, and His love for us as shown by the baby Jesus being born in a manger. The Christ child was sent to take away the world's sins, and to restore our relationship with God. A new relationship of a loving Father and a devoted child, instead, of a harsh taskmaster and an angry, unappreciative worker.

So my thoughts have turned to the Bible, God's Word to us, and its power and truth. The Bible, and through studying the Bible turned me from a pagan to a believer. I know of its power, and the power of the Holy Spirit to change us as we open up ourselves to seeing the truth of our lives. The truth is we are not good people deserving a heavenly reward from God. Instead, we are horrible, wretched, selfish and self-centered sinners who hurt countless others in our lives by our actions and inactions. But God in His love sent us a Savior to take away our sins, and to allow us to start building a relationship with this loving Creator of the Universe. It is an amazing story.

Yet many do not believe that God created the Universe, or that He does anything of value in today's world. This is the attitude I want to combat, and I know that I can tell others until I am blue in the face that God is here, and that He has helped me and changed my life. And He saved me from the shame and guilt of my many sins through Jesus' death on the Cross. But is there something a little more concrete for those who have honest questions of God's existence? I believe there is, and something as simple as the power of the Bible and prophecies made by the Prophets that are written down for us, and actually fulfilled, is what I want to post about this day. Do the Prophecies of the Bible show the Truth of the Bible, as well as God's existence? That is the question I want to address in today's post.

Let's take one of the prophecies made by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21). In this prophecy the Disciples mentioned the beauty of the massive Jerusalem Temple built by Herod. Jesus' comment was that within forty years (i.e., one generation) that the Temple would be utterly destroyed, to the point of one stone not being left on another. This Prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD when the Roman army led by Titus utterly leveled Jerusalem, including its beautifully adorned Temple.

So the Prophecy of the Temple's destruction was made let's say 33 A.D. during the last part of Jesus' life. But was the Prophecy written down before the Temple's destruction in 70 A.D., or was this just added after the fact? The evidence strongly points to the fact that the Gospel of Mark was written before 68 A.D., and so this is a powerful example of a completed Prophecy which was written before the event actually took place.

There is ample proof that the Apostle Mark died in 68 A.D., which means his Gospel, of course, was written before this time. Church historian Eusebius wrote in detail the account of Mark's death. He was evangelizing in Alexandria and was celebrating the feast of the Resurrection in the year 68 A.D. and that same day coincided with the great pagan celebration for the feast of the god Syrabis. Thus a multitude of pagans assembled, attacked the church at Bokalia, and forced their way in. They seized St. Mark, bound him with a thick rope, and dragged him through the streets crying, "Drag the dragon to the place of cows." They continued dragging him with severe cruelty. His flesh was torn and scattered everywhere, and the ground of the city was covered with his blood. They cast him that night into a dark prison.

The next morning, the pagans took St. Mark from the prison. They tied his neck with a thick rope and did the same as the day before, dragging him over the rocks and stones. Finally, St. Mark delivered up his pure soul into the hands of God. This event is provided to us here. But the point here is that all of this took place in 68 A.D.

Would you like another reason that we can safely conclude that the Gospel of Mark, including Jesus' Prophecy of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple within 40 year's time, was written before 68 A.D., taking place before the Temple's destruction? For this evidence we turn our eyes to the Dead Sea Scrolls. One of the 900 scrolls found in the Qumran cave is a portion of the Gospel of Mark. The cave was sealed in 68 A.D., before the Roman army escalation, which again shows that the Gospel of Mark was written before 68 A.D., well before the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple actually took place. If you would like more information on the Qumran cave, a Wikipedia article is here.

So what does all of this mean? Jesus made a Prophecy in 33 A.D. that within 40 years (or 73 A.D.) the Jerusalem Temple would be destroyed. The Gospel of Mark was written before the destruction took place, at the latest possible date being 68 A.D., based upon Eusebius' history and the sealing of the Qumran cave which housed a portion of Mark's Gospel. So we have a Prophecy made, written down, and copied to the world (as shown by it being part of Dead Sea Scrolls), and the event actually took place years later. The Jerusalem Temple was destroyed by the Roman army in July, 70 A.D. Therefore, we have a clear example of God's foreknowledge of a future event, which was confirmed by historical events. God's Word is powerful, prophetic and True.

Perhaps Bible prophecies do not prove God's existence. The Jerusalem Temple prophecy took place 2,000 years ago, and it is difficult to rest your life on something that happened so long ago. But I am presenting evidence to you, in hopes of a response. So what is your response to this? God provided a Prophecy of a future event and provided this Prophecy for the world to see. I hope that you will be more willing to read God's Word, to pray, and to seek out Christians to talk to, and to discuss any questions that you have. God bless you this Christmas season.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Has Evolution Actually Been Observed?

A common challenge to Darwinism is whether anyone has actually seen Evolution in action. If you do a Google search on this question, you get the Physics Forum (link here) as the number one result. And a person asked a pretty basic question in the forum:

I know that it (Evolution) has been 'proven', but my question is, has it actually been observed by somebody? Yes, we can see the similarities between different subspecies and species but that alone is not proof that they evolved from each other. Has anyone actually seen it happen?

Has anyone seen Evolution actually happen? The responses are revealing as to why this is a problem for Darwinists. They suggested that getting a flu shot, seeing fruit flies, and the Peppered Moth are all claimed examples of Evolution in action. The flu shot is a good response, because that shows what Evolution can really do – it does a single or even a double point mutation in the gene which is a very small change, and that provides resistance to a drug or vaccination. And so, the flu shot changes every year. Great example, but it is very limited.

But the other responses (fruit flies and the Peppered Moth) are flat out wrong. So what is the best example of Evolution that is actually observed? My friend Ed rose to the challenge, and suggested E coli and the famous Lenski experiments provides a great example. Ed writes, "Creationists often make snide remarks about not seeing it happening, but now we have... Seen from the outside, this is like you having a baby that could suddenly eat wood chips... Seen from the inside, it's what we've been saying all along should happen... (link here). I thought it especially remarkable since Tom has used E. coli before in his poorly-understood attempts to falsify evolution..."

Wow! Ed, attacks me viciously (Ed is sweet, he only writes viciously), and comes up with a slam dunk example of Evolution that is actually observed from the Lenski E coli experiments – before they did not eat wood chips, but now they can. It sounds like this is a true beneficial mutation that helps E coli survive in different environments.

But alas, Ed is wrong. It turns out that the E-coli bacteria being able to eat wood chips / citrate, when before it did not, is not actually an evolutionary addition. But instead it turns out that this beneficial mutation in E-coli resulting from a break or deletion in a pre-existing gene. So if breaking what is already there is the best example of Darwinism in action, aren't Darwinists acknowledging that Evolution cannot actually create anything new?

Anyway, Lenski's E-coli experiments are fascinating. He is now up to over 50,000 generations (equal to 1 million animal years), and its results show that minor changes do happen (evolution works), and it benefits the whole community. But it doesn't do much more than that, in other words it is similar to what takes place in vaccination resistance. To explain it with a little more oomph, here is a recent (Nov. 13, 2012) letter from Professor Behe on this topic:

BEHE: Readers of my posts know that I'm a big fan of Professor Richard Lenski, a microbiologist at Michigan State University and member of the National Academy of Sciences. For the past few decades he has been conducting the largest laboratory evolution experiment ever attempted. Growing E. coli in flasks continuously, he has been following evolutionary changes in the bacterium for over 50,000 generations (which is equivalent to roughly a million years for large animals). Although Lenski is decidedly not an intelligent design proponent, his work enables us to see what evolution actually does when it has the resources of a large number of organisms over a substantial number of generations. Rather than speculate, Lenski and his coworkers have observed the workings of mutation and selection. For this, we ID proponents should be very grateful.

In a manuscript published a few years ago in the Quarterly Review of Biology (Behe 2010), I discussed laboratory evolution results from the past four decades up to that point, including Lenski's. His laboratory had shown clearly that random mutation and selection improved the bacterium with time, as measured by the number of progeny it could produce in a given time. He demonstrated without doubt that beneficial mutations exist and can spread quickly in a population of organisms. However, once Lenski's lab eventually identified the mutations at the DNA level (a difficult task), many of the beneficial mutations turned out to be, surprisingly, degradative ones. In other words, breaking or deleting some pre-existing genes or genetic regulatory elements so that they no longer worked actually helped the organism under the conditions in which it was grown. Other beneficial mutations altered pre-existing genes or regulatory elements somewhat.

What conspicuously was not seen in his work were beneficial mutations that resulted from building what I dubbed new Functional Coded elemenTs, or "FCTs." Roughly, a FCT is a sequence of DNA that affects the production or processing of a gene or gene product (see my review for a more rigorous definition). In short, improvements had been made by breaking existing genes, or fiddling with them in minor ways, but not by making new genes or regulatory elements. From this information I formulated "The First Rule of Adaptive Evolution": Break or blunt any functional coded element whose loss would yield a net fitness gain. To say the least, the First Rule is not what you would expect from a process, such as Darwinian evolution, which is touted as being able to build amazingly sophisticated molecular machinery.

Before my review was published, the Lenski lab observed a mutant strain in their experiments that could metabolize citrate in the presence of oxygen, which unmutated E. coli cannot do. (Blount et al. 2008) (Importantly, however, the bacterium can metabolize citrate in the absence of oxygen.) This allowed the mutated bacterium to outcompete its relatives, because the growth medium contained a lot of citrate, as well as oxygen. It was an intriguing result, and was touted as a major innovation, but at the time Lenski's lab was unable to track down at the DNA level the exact mutations that caused the change.

Now they have. In a recent publication in Nature (Blount et al. 2012) they report the multiple mutations that confer and increase the ability to transport citrate in an atmosphere containing oxygen. They divide the mutations conceptually into three categories: 1) potentiation; 2) actualization; and 3) refinement. "Actualization" is the name they give to the mutation that first confers a weak ability to transport citrate into the laboratory E. coli. (It turns out that the bacterium is lacking only a protein to transport citrate into the cell in the presence of oxygen; all other enzymes needed to further metabolize citrate are already present.) The gene for the citrate transporter, citT, that works in the absence of oxygen is directly upstream from the genes for two other proteins that have promoters that are active in the presence of oxygen. A duplication of a segment of this region serendipitously placed the citT gene next to one of these promoters, so the citT gene could then be expressed in the presence of oxygen. Gene duplication is a type of mutation that is known to be fairly common, so this result, although requiring a great deal of careful research to pin down, is unsurprising.

Over time the mutant got better at utilizing citrate, which the authors called "refinement." Further work showed this was due to multiple duplications of the mutant gene region, up to 3-9 copies. Again, gene duplication is a fairly common process, so again it is unsurprising. In another experiment Lenski and co-workers showed that increasing the concentration of the citrate transporter gene was sufficient in itself to account for the greater ability of E. coli to grow on citrate. No other mutations were needed.

A more mysterious part of the whole process is what the group called "potentiation." It turns out that the original E. coli they began with decades ago could not benefit from the gene duplication that brought together a citT gene with an oxygen-tolerant promoter. Before it could benefit, a preliminary mutation had to occur in the bacterium somewhere other than the region containing the citrate-metabolism genes. Exactly what that mutation was, Lenski and coworkers were not able to determine. However, they examined the bacterium for mutations that may contribute to potentiation, and speculated that "A mutation in arcB, which encodes a histidine kinase, is noteworthy because disabling that gene upregulates the tricarboxylic acid cycle." (They tried, but were unable to test this hypothesis.) In other words, the "potentiation" may involve degradation of an unrelated gene.

Lenski's lab did an immense amount of careful work and deserves much praise. Yet the entirely separate, $64,000 question is, what do the results show about the power of the Darwinian mechanism? The answer is, they do not show it to be capable of anything more than what was already known. For example, in my review of lab evolution experiments I discussed the work of Zinser et al. (2003) where a sequence rearrangement brought a promoter close to a gene that had lacked one. I also discussed experiments such as Licis and van Duin (2006) where multiple sequential mutations increased the ability of a FCT. Despite Lenski's visually startling result -- where a usually clear flask became cloudy with the overgrowth of bacteria on citrate -- at the molecular level nothing novel occurred.

So the Question of whether anyone has actually seen Evolution in action, actually is another arrow in the quiver of Intelligent Design. Evolution does little changes in the battle against malaria like malaria's ability to develop resistance to chloriquine. It doesn't do the heavy lifting of what we see in our world. Evolution doesn't create and doesn't develop anything new. So, I hope that you see from this post that something else (or more precisely SomeOne else) is going on here. Investigate the examples of Evolution, and don't be afraid. Evolution's Iron Gates are paper mache thin.

Has Evolution Actually Been Observed?

A common challenge to Darwinism is whether anyone has actually seen Evolution in action. If you do a Google search on this question, you get the Physics Forum (link here) as the number one result. And a person asked a pretty basic question in the forum:

I know that it (Evolution) has been 'proven', but my question is, has it actually been observed by somebody? Yes, we can see the similarities between different subspecies and species but that alone is not proof that they evolved from each other. Has anyone actually seen it happen?

Has anyone seen Evolution actually happen? The responses are revealing as to why this is a problem for Darwinists. They suggested that getting a flu shot, seeing fruit flies, and the Peppered Moth are all claimed examples of Evolution in action. The flu shot is a good response, because that shows what Evolution can really do – it does a single or even a double point mutation in the gene which is a very small change, and that provides resistance to a drug or vaccination. And so, the flu shot changes every year. Great example, but it is very limited.

But the other responses (fruit flies and the Peppered Moth) are flat out wrong. So what is the best example of Evolution that is actually observed? My friend Ed rose to the challenge, and suggested E coli and the famous Lenski experiments provides a great example. Ed writes, "Creationists often make snide remarks about not seeing it happening, but now we have... Seen from the outside, this is like you having a baby that could suddenly eat wood chips... Seen from the inside, it's what we've been saying all along should happen... (link here). I thought it especially remarkable since Tom has used E. coli before in his poorly-understood attempts to falsify evolution..."

Wow! Ed, attacks me viciously (Ed is sweet, he only writes viciously), and comes up with a slam dunk example of Evolution that is actually observed from the Lenski E coli experiments – before they did not eat wood chips, but now they can. It sounds like this is a true beneficial mutation that helps E coli survive in different environments.

But alas, Ed is wrong. It turns out that the E-coli bacteria being able to eat wood chips / citrate, when before it did not, is not actually an evolutionary addition. But instead it turns out that this beneficial mutation in E-coli resulting from a break or deletion in a pre-existing gene. So if breaking what is already there is the best example of Darwinism in action, aren't Darwinists acknowledging that Evolution cannot actually create anything new?

Anyway, Lenski's E-coli experiments are fascinating. He is now up to over 50,000 generations (equal to 1 million animal years), and its results show that minor changes do happen (evolution works), and it benefits the whole community. But it doesn't do much more than that, in other words it is similar to what takes place in vaccination resistance. To explain it with a little more oomph, here is a recent (Nov. 13, 2012) letter from Professor Behe on this topic:

BEHE: Readers of my posts know that I'm a big fan of Professor Richard Lenski, a microbiologist at Michigan State University and member of the National Academy of Sciences. For the past few decades he has been conducting the largest laboratory evolution experiment ever attempted. Growing E. coli in flasks continuously, he has been following evolutionary changes in the bacterium for over 50,000 generations (which is equivalent to roughly a million years for large animals). Although Lenski is decidedly not an intelligent design proponent, his work enables us to see what evolution actually does when it has the resources of a large number of organisms over a substantial number of generations. Rather than speculate, Lenski and his coworkers have observed the workings of mutation and selection. For this, we ID proponents should be very grateful.

In a manuscript published a few years ago in the Quarterly Review of Biology (Behe 2010), I discussed laboratory evolution results from the past four decades up to that point, including Lenski's. His laboratory had shown clearly that random mutation and selection improved the bacterium with time, as measured by the number of progeny it could produce in a given time. He demonstrated without doubt that beneficial mutations exist and can spread quickly in a population of organisms. However, once Lenski's lab eventually identified the mutations at the DNA level (a difficult task), many of the beneficial mutations turned out to be, surprisingly, degradative ones. In other words, breaking or deleting some pre-existing genes or genetic regulatory elements so that they no longer worked actually helped the organism under the conditions in which it was grown. Other beneficial mutations altered pre-existing genes or regulatory elements somewhat.

What conspicuously was not seen in his work were beneficial mutations that resulted from building what I dubbed new Functional Coded elemenTs, or "FCTs." Roughly, a FCT is a sequence of DNA that affects the production or processing of a gene or gene product (see my review for a more rigorous definition). In short, improvements had been made by breaking existing genes, or fiddling with them in minor ways, but not by making new genes or regulatory elements. From this information I formulated "The First Rule of Adaptive Evolution": Break or blunt any functional coded element whose loss would yield a net fitness gain. To say the least, the First Rule is not what you would expect from a process, such as Darwinian evolution, which is touted as being able to build amazingly sophisticated molecular machinery.

Before my review was published, the Lenski lab observed a mutant strain in their experiments that could metabolize citrate in the presence of oxygen, which unmutated E. coli cannot do. (Blount et al. 2008) (Importantly, however, the bacterium can metabolize citrate in the absence of oxygen.) This allowed the mutated bacterium to outcompete its relatives, because the growth medium contained a lot of citrate, as well as oxygen. It was an intriguing result, and was touted as a major innovation, but at the time Lenski's lab was unable to track down at the DNA level the exact mutations that caused the change.

Now they have. In a recent publication in Nature (Blount et al. 2012) they report the multiple mutations that confer and increase the ability to transport citrate in an atmosphere containing oxygen. They divide the mutations conceptually into three categories: 1) potentiation; 2) actualization; and 3) refinement. "Actualization" is the name they give to the mutation that first confers a weak ability to transport citrate into the laboratory E. coli. (It turns out that the bacterium is lacking only a protein to transport citrate into the cell in the presence of oxygen; all other enzymes needed to further metabolize citrate are already present.) The gene for the citrate transporter, citT, that works in the absence of oxygen is directly upstream from the genes for two other proteins that have promoters that are active in the presence of oxygen. A duplication of a segment of this region serendipitously placed the citT gene next to one of these promoters, so the citT gene could then be expressed in the presence of oxygen. Gene duplication is a type of mutation that is known to be fairly common, so this result, although requiring a great deal of careful research to pin down, is unsurprising.

Over time the mutant got better at utilizing citrate, which the authors called "refinement." Further work showed this was due to multiple duplications of the mutant gene region, up to 3-9 copies. Again, gene duplication is a fairly common process, so again it is unsurprising. In another experiment Lenski and co-workers showed that increasing the concentration of the citrate transporter gene was sufficient in itself to account for the greater ability of E. coli to grow on citrate. No other mutations were needed.

A more mysterious part of the whole process is what the group called "potentiation." It turns out that the original E. coli they began with decades ago could not benefit from the gene duplication that brought together a citT gene with an oxygen-tolerant promoter. Before it could benefit, a preliminary mutation had to occur in the bacterium somewhere other than the region containing the citrate-metabolism genes. Exactly what that mutation was, Lenski and coworkers were not able to determine. However, they examined the bacterium for mutations that may contribute to potentiation, and speculated that "A mutation in arcB, which encodes a histidine kinase, is noteworthy because disabling that gene upregulates the tricarboxylic acid cycle." (They tried, but were unable to test this hypothesis.) In other words, the "potentiation" may involve degradation of an unrelated gene.

Lenski's lab did an immense amount of careful work and deserves much praise. Yet the entirely separate, $64,000 question is, what do the results show about the power of the Darwinian mechanism? The answer is, they do not show it to be capable of anything more than what was already known. For example, in my review of lab evolution experiments I discussed the work of Zinser et al. (2003) where a sequence rearrangement brought a promoter close to a gene that had lacked one. I also discussed experiments such as Licis and van Duin (2006) where multiple sequential mutations increased the ability of a FCT. Despite Lenski's visually startling result -- where a usually clear flask became cloudy with the overgrowth of bacteria on citrate -- at the molecular level nothing novel occurred.

So the Question of whether anyone has actually seen Evolution in action, actually is another arrow in the quiver of Intelligent Design. Evolution does little changes in the battle against malaria like malaria's ability to develop resistance to chloriquine. It doesn't do the heavy lifting of what we see in our world. Evolution doesn't create and doesn't develop anything new. So, I hope that you see from this post that something else (or more precisely SomeOne else) is going on here. Investigate the examples of Evolution, and don't be afraid. Evolution's Iron Gates are paper mache thin.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Worship the “Living God”

Happy Daylight Saving's Day to you. This morning I thought I would write about Justin Martyr, one of the early Christian Apologists, to see if there is anything that we can learn in reaching a world which is lost (1 John 5:19). Justin was born around 100 (both his birth and death dates are approximate) at Flavia Neapolis in Samaria (the middle portion of Israel, between Galilee and Judea) of pagan Greek parents, and lived to approximately 165. He was brought up with a good education in rhetoric, poetry, and history. He studied various schools of philosophy in Alexandria and Ephesus. While at Ephesus, he was impressed by the steadfastness of the Christian martyrs, and by the personality of an aged Christian man whom he met by chance while walking on the seashore. This man spoke to him about Jesus as the fulfillment of the promises made through the Jewish prophets. Justin was overwhelmed. "Straightway a flame was kindled in my soul," he writes, "and a love of the prophets and those who are friends of Christ possessed me." Justin became a Christian, but he continued to wear the cloak that was the characteristic uniform of the professional teacher of philosophy. His position was that pagan philosophy is not simply wrong, but is a partial grasp of the truth, and serves as "a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ." Source: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/175.html.

What I find impressive about Justin Martyr's argument showing the Truth of Christianity is his powerful faith. What separates Christians from other religions is that we worship a "Living God" who cares for each of us, individually. Justin submits that God is the source of all provision, the change of the seasons, and shows His love by delaying the ultimate Day of Judgment to ensure that more people will be saved. In addition, Justin argues that what separates Christians from the other religious groups of his time is that they only worship only idols which are "soulless and dead", as opposed to the true God. I see this as a powerful argument which separates Christianity from every other group – namely, that we worship a Living God who intimately cares for each individual, while those who worship idols that are "soulless and dead" are only insulting the true God by attaching to Him "things that are corruptible, and require constant service." So let's look at what a "Living God" means.

The phrase "Living God" is used 34 times in the Holy Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments. Here are a few examples:

Psalm 42:2 - My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. (ESV)

Mt 16:16 - Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (ESV)

1 Thess 1:9 - For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God (ESV).

So what does it mean to describe God as the "Living God"? I think of this as a description that means there is action, life, and power involved. But better, I like the description of J. R. Miller, The Living God (1902) - "We have put our hope in the living God." 1 Timothy 4:10

The God of the Bible is a living God. He has a heart of tenderness and love, like our mother's heart. He thinks of His redeemed people, and cares for them. He seeks their companionship, is interested in their life, craves their affection, and is grieved by their sin or alienation from Him. Jesus was the revealer of God; and He used but one name in making God known—the name Father—putting into the holy word, all that is tender, sweet, and compassionate, all that love could possibly mean.

This truth of the living God is full of rich encouragement. It assures us of complete satisfaction for all our cravings. We know what a satisfying of the heart, even a strong human friendship gives. There are friends who are to us like a great rock in a weary land. We flee to them in the heat of parching days, and rest in their shadow. A friend in whom we can confide without fear of disappointment; who, we are sure, will never fail us; who always has a healing tenderness for the hurt of our heart, comfort for our sorrows, and cheer for our discouragement—such a friend is not only a rock of shelter for us in time of danger—but is also as rivers of water in a thirsty land, when our hearts cry out for life and love.


 

Justin Martyr at Lystra picked up on this when he urged those hearers to "turn from these vanities unto the Living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all things therein." In Apology 1 Justin taught that God cares for each individual (chapter 13), that He does not need anything (chapter 10), that He is a God of prophecy (chapter 12), and is the provider to us of all things (chapter 13). It is interesting that Justin uses as his one "proof" of God's love for us is His delay in judging the world. He writes:

…For the reason why God has delayed to do this, is His regard for the human race. For He foreknows that some are to be saved by repentance, some even that are perhaps not yet born… And if any one disbelieves that God cares for these things, he will thereby either insinuate that God does not exist, or he will assert that though He exists He delights in vice, or exists like a stone, and that neither virtue nor vice are anything, but only in the opinion of men these things are reckoned good or evil. And this is the greatest profanity and wickedness.

Yes, Justin Martyr was writing in the second century A.D., but it seems like he knows what is taking place in the world today. He demonstrates God's love by showing that His judgment has not yet taken place. And then Justin indicates that if some do not believe in God's love, that they will try and argue that 1) He does not exist; 2) God is evil; or, 3) God is uncaring like a stone, and that virtue and vice were created by man, and that they do not matter to God. Wow! Justin Martyr here has hit on all of the major attacks against God used by the best minds of the 21st Century world. Yet, his evidence stands, God loves us enough to delay unleashing His wrath and Judgment against mankind's sin and disobedience.

Justin Martyr comes full circle in his Apology I, when he describes the futility of worshipping anything else besides the true God, when he writes:

And neither do we honor with many sacrifices and garlands of flowers such deities as men have formed and set in shrines and called gods; since we see that these are soulless and dead, and have not the form of God (for we do not consider that God has such a form as some say that they imitate to His honor), but have the names and forms of those wicked demons which have appeared… And that the artificers of these are both intemperate, and, not to enter into particulars, are practiced in every vice, you very well know; even their own girls who work along with them they corrupt. What infatuation! that dissolute men should be said to fashion and make gods for your worship, and that you should appoint such men the guardians of the temples where they are enshrined; not recognizing that it is unlawful even to think or say that men are the guardians of gods. (Apology 1, Chapter 9, here is a link to all of Justin Martyr's writings.)

So what can we learn from Justin Martyr when confronting opposition to God? First, we must know that we worship the true and Living God, who loves us more strongly and intimately than we could ever imagine. And second, we know that God has revealed Himself and His heart when He sent Jesus the Messiah, God the Son to die on the Cross for us. Any other group who does not worship Jesus, worships an idol, which is soulless and dead. These idols have no power, and that it is wicked to think that men can act as guardians of god in this world. Who wants to worship something that is dead and lifeless, when we can worship the loving and kind God, who is a Living God? All praise to Jesus who most clearly revealed God's love for us, Amen.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Jesus’ Command to Sell All You Have

We are studying David Platt's book entitled 'Radical' in our Thursday morning men's group. Pastor Platt has amazing stories of his faith journey where he has traveled the world, helped and witnessed to the poorest of the poor, and is now leading a mega-Church in Birmingham, Alabama. And in our Men's group we are up to chapter 6 in his book, where Pastor Platt suggests with a straight face that we Americans should sell our possessions and give to the poor (Luke 12:33; Mark 10 (story of the Rich Young Ruler)). He points out that nowhere in the New Testament does it suggest that a person's obedience will lead to material blessings. And if God is the source for all of our skills, abilities and talents, and placed us in this wonderful, opportunity filled country of America, shouldn't we be willing to freely give to others what we have received? He also brings the hammer down on American believers by suggesting that rich people who neglect the poor are not people of God.

He suggests American Christians have a blind spot on this issue. As the Jewish people during the time of Jesus had a blind-spot of self-righteousness that prevented them from seeing Jesus, so Americans have a blind-spot about our wealth. The Protestant work ethic of 'I worked hard, I'm talented, and I deserve everything I worked for' does not leave much room for acknowledging God as the source for all blessings. And if material wealth is "earned" by us, then it is much harder for us to give it away to those who don't deserve it – you know, those who don't work so hard, aren't so smart or talented, or who live in a foreign land. Pastor Platt condemns these attitudes, and believes we need to do more, much more in helping the poor throughout the world.

This is a tough message. Won't we always have the poor, no matter what I do? Shouldn't I help those in my local community first, rather than "wasting" money overseas? Isn't the government already doing enough? To combat my attitude, I decided to look at what Jesus taught:

First is Jesus' teaching in John 14:15, which says If you love Me, keep My commandments.

We are told that the greatest Command is to love God, and the second is like it, to love others. But what does the Command to "love others" look like?

In the 'New Treasure of Scripture Knowledge' entry for 1 John 2:3, all of Jesus' commands from the Gospels were assembled. And the most frequently given command (24 times) is His command to love others by giving. Here are the verses:


 

Love Others (Giving/Generosity)

Charitableness, Mt 18:10. Lk 6:(37), 38. give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you;

Clothing to be shared with needy, Mt 5:40. Lk 6:29.

Giving, Mt 5:42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

Mt 10:42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.

Mt 19:21 (Rich Young Ruler – go sell all and give to the poor);

Lk 6:30, Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.

Lk 6:38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Acts +*20:35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'

Give according to ability, Lk 11:41n. But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

Invite poor for meals, Lk 14:13. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,

Liberality/generosity, Mt 5:42 (Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.) 6:30 (But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?) 12:33 (Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.), 34. Mk 12:41-44 (And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."), Lk 12:33 (Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.). Ac +*20:35 (In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.').

Lending, Mt 5:42 (Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.). Lk 6:34, 35 (And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.).

Pay adequate wages, Mt 10:10. Lk 10:7 (And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages…)

Sell what you have, Mk 10:21 (And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."). Lk 12:32-34 ("Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.)

Support of the ministry, Lk 10:7. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.

Support of the poor, Lk 14:13, 14. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

My prayer is that this topic and these verses are a blessing to you to help you see how best to help the poor and needy. In Christ, /s/Tom Wolff

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

John 14:12_Believers will do even greater works than Jesus?

Hi everyone, in today's post I am providing you with some research that I have done on the controversial passage of John 14:12-14. Here are the verses:

John 14:12-14 (ESV)
12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.


 

Context 1) In John 14:6 Jesus reveals to the disciples that He is the way, the truth and the life, and that no one can come to God the Father except through Jesus. After Jesus tells the disciples that He is the "way" to the Father, Phillip asks to see the Father (14:8). Jesus suggests to Phillip that whoever has seen Jesus has seen the Father (14:9). Jesus then tells Phillip that he should believe on at least the basis of the miracles (NIV, other translations uses "work") he has done (14:11).

Which brings us to the amazing promise of verse 12, which is that whoever believes in Jesus will also do the same works and even greater than what Jesus has done.

Some Commentators limit this promise of greater works of the Apostles, which does not give due credit to Jesus' phrasing ("whoever believes"…) Another attempt to limit this promise is to point out that the geographical scope of the works done is now much greater. But again this has the problem of looking at the promise as if it was made to a group of believers, rather than the individual nature of the promise (whoever believes…) A better look at this verse is given by John Calvin:

John Calvin's analysis: It perplexes many that He said that the apostles would do greater works than He had done. I pass by the other and usual answers and will be content with just one thing. First, we have to understand what Christ means. The power by which He proves Himself the Son of God is so far from being bound to His bodily presence that it must shine forth in more and greater examples when He is absent. Now Christ's ascension was soon followed by the wonderful conversion of the world (Greek omitted), in which His divinity was displayed more powerfully than when He lived among men. Thus we see that the proof of His divinity was not confined to the person of Christ but was diffused through the whole body of the Church. Again, this doing of which He spoke was not peculiar to the apostles alone, nor to a few of the godly, but related to the whole body of the Church.

    Tom's Summary – Jesus' power was not bound to His body itself. Instead, when He is seated in heaven, His power, glory and divinity will shine more clearly than when He walked on Earth. And this doing of greater works is not limited to the apostles, but is given to the whole body of the Church.

I like the way another commentator has put it, focusing on the relationship that is available to us: As the Father abides in (Gk. menō, v. 10) Jesus so too the Spirit abides in (menō, v. 17) the believer. Thus the confidence of Christ can be ours: as the Father was committed to his Son, so Jesus through his Spirit will stand with us in every need (vv. 13–14). The point in these verses is not that every prayerful request will be granted, but that the character of Christ's relationship with God at this level may be ours. But here we must recall Jesus' consistent subordination to his Father's will (5:19, 30; 6:38; 7:16f.; 8:28f.) and his desire simply to glorify (12:28; 17:4) and please God (8:29).

The provision of Jesus that will bring about this relationship is declared to be the indwelling Spirit (vv. 15–17), who now bears two new names: the Paraclete (niv Counselor, v. 16) and the Spirit of truth. Elwell, W. A. (1995). Vol. 3: Evangelical Commentary on the Bible. Baker reference library (Jn 14:4).


 

Context 2) What is the "work" that Jesus is promising that believer's will be doing greater than even Jesus himself when He returns to heaven? It could be bringing others to a saving faith, such as what took place on Pentecost when 5,000 believers were saved in one day (Acts2). But remember that Jesus told Phillip to believe based if on nothing else on the work that Jesus has done (14:11). The NIV actually translates this as "miracles" and I think it has the right idea here. These works of Jesus included feeding thousands with nothing more than a few loaves of bread and fish, healing the sick, casting out demons, and His teaching. Again, John Calvin is helpful here:

John Calvin's analysis:
Because I go to the Father. The reason why the disciples will do greater things than Christ is that when He has entered into possession of His kingdom, He will demonstrate His power more fully from heaven. It is therefore clear that His glory is no way diminished; for after His departure the apostles, His mere instruments, did more excellent works. Moreover, from this it was plain that He sits at the right hand of the Father, that every knee may bow before Him. And a little later He Himself plainly declares that He will be the author of everything that will be done by the hands of the apostles.

    Tom's Summary – The apostles did greater things than Jesus because He was in heaven. And this does not diminish Jesus' glory in any way. His apostles were mere instruments. Mere instruments do nothing on their own. Instead, it all points to the holder of the instruments, Jesus Christ who is the author of all that the apostles did.

Finally, do not miss the reason for the greater works – that the Father may be glorified in the Son (v. 13). Calvin again provides excellent analysis: This passage agrees with what Paul says: "That every tongue should confess that Jesus is Christ, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:11). The aim of everything is the sanctifying of God's name. But here is declared the true way to sanctify it – in the Son and by the Son. For although the majesty of the Father is in itself hidden from us, it shines in Christ; although His hand is concealed, we have it visible in Christ. Accordingly, in the benefits which the Father bestows upon us, we have no right to separate the Son from Him, as it is said, "He that honors not the Son, honors not the Father". Vernon McGee makes a great point here, Have you noticed how often Jesus speaks of His Father? The Father is mentioned twenty times in this passage, and it is always the Lord Jesus who mentions Him.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

What Role Do Angels Have in Answered Prayer?|

Top of the morning to you. Yes, I have my computer back! I'm so excited – thank you Lord. My computer has been out all of this past summer. But just as school is about to start up, my computer just began to start working again. Before, it would crash every few minutes that I would have it turned on. Then my monitor wouldn't show what the computer was doing. For some reason Windows 7 would not tell me what the problem was. But after lots of prayer, cleaning the dust-balls covering the inside of the computer case, and re-connecting a wire, my monitor was working again. But it kept crashing. Then one day, it started working again – I'm so happy. It may have been the cooler temperatures, it may have been my running 'Checkdisk' which caught a few problems on the hard drive, who knows? But one day it started working again when the day before it was not, and it is working almost as well as when it was new.

The blessing of this past summer is that I have not been sitting on my computer for hours a day. Mostly I have been spending more time with my 10 year old son. I coached his baseball team, we have watched a lot of Twins baseball together, and we are enjoying Monday night wrestling. I also took our three of our children on a four day road trip through South Dakota. I have always wanted to take my family to see Mount Rushmore, and we were able to do this on this road trip, along with a number of other good sights and stories – if you see my son, you may want to ask him about what he thinks of motorcyclists (it was the start of the Sturgis weekend). All in all, even without my computer it's been a great summer.

I wanted to get back into the swing of things by writing a post on the role of Angels in answering prayer. There is a lot of spiritual warfare involved in this post, and so I hope that you are ready for this exciting topic. The centerpiece of this topic is contained in the Book of Daniel, chapter 10, which says:

…"Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come." … (Daniel 10:12-14, NLT).

So from this we see that Daniel prayed to God, God heard his prayer and immediately dispatched Gabriel to answer Daniel's prayer. But because the "spiritual prince of the kingdom of Persia" blocked the Angel Gabriel's way, he was delayed three weeks in answering Daniel's prayer. Only because the Arch Angel Michael came to help was Gabriel able to come to Daniel. A similar battle is also seen in the New Testament where the Arch-Angel Michael and Satan fought over Moses' body in Jude 8-9.

Does this mean that all prayers we pray to God may be delayed because of satanic opposition? Does it mean that God is not able to just break through this demonic opposition by His own power? Although the Bible contains lots of information about Angels, it gives us scant more information about this unseen battle that could be taking place around us. But there is some additional wonderful information that we can glean about Angels from the Bible:

Angels - Angels are superhuman or heavenly beings/individuals who serve as God's messenger. Hebrew: Mal' āk (so the OT Book of Malachi means messenger) – The Greek word for Angel is angelos. Angels are mentioned almost 300 times in Scripture. So being God's messenger appears to be the primary way in which the enemy can block the work of the Angels as we see in Daniel Chapter 10.

But what about prayer – is there a connection between prayer and the work of the Angels? If we look at the story of Jesus' birth, I think the answer is Yes! Here is the story of Zechariah in Luke Chapter 1:

One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. 10 While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying. 11 While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12 Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13 But the angel said, "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. (Luke 1:8-13,ESV).

So it looks like Luke was drawing a connection between the people's prayers and the appearance of the Angel. And again, as in Daniel Chapter 10, we see that that the Angel communicates that God has heard Zechariah's prayer, and that the Angel is telling him that his prayer is answered.

Second, please allow me to bring in a source from outside of the Bible. In the book of Tobit, an ancient Jewish writing that is included in the canon of Scripture in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. It is considered apocryphal by the Protestant Church. So take this portion of the book of Tobit for what you will:

 Then Raphael called the two of them privately and said to them, "Bless God and acknowledge him in the presence of all the living for the good things he has done for you. Bless and sing praise to his name. With fitting honor declare to all people the deeds of God. Do not be slow to acknowledge him. It is good to conceal the secret of a king, but to acknowledge and reveal the works of God, and with fitting honor to acknowledge him. Do good and evil will not overtake you…

11 "I will now declare the whole truth to you and will conceal nothing from you. Already I have declared it to you when I said, 'It is good to conceal the secret of a king, but to reveal with due honor the works of God.' 12 So now when you and Sarah prayed, it was I who brought and read the record of your prayer before the glory of the Lord, and likewise whenever you would bury the dead. 13 And that time when you did not hesitate to get up and leave your dinner to go and bury the dead, 14 I was sent to you to test you. And at the same time God sent me to heal you and Sarah your daughter-in-law. 15 I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord." (Tobit 12:6-7, 11-15, NRSV).

What we see in this portion from Tobit is about an Arch-Angel named Raphael. In verses 6 and 7 we see him glorifying God and his instruction to Tobit and Tobit's son Tobiah that if God has blessed you, you should acknowledge and reveal the works and deeds of God. This is good stuff.

But then we see that Rafael tells Tobit that he is one of the seven Angels who stand before the glory of God (v.15). And that he was the Angel who brought Tobit and his daughter-in-law Sarah's prayers to God. And Raphael was the one sent by God to heal Tobit and Sarah. (v.14). So from this portion of Tobit we see that God sends Angels to answer prayers for healing. Could Angels be delayed in answering prayers for healing because of their battles with other fallen angels, as we saw in Daniel Chapter 10? Perhaps. But to me it looks like another bit of helpful information to include when we examine Daniel Chapter 10's description of the spiritual warfare taking place around us.

Praise God the Lord of Hosts, for his power and mercy. God bless you and your walk with Jesus this upcoming week. /s/Tom Wolff

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Computer Vacation

I apologize for not posting recently. I have two computers that are on vacation - meaning they won't work. I am having problems with sudden crashes after only a few minutes of working. I am having problems with my monitors working. It's frustrating, but what can I do? I hope to be back posting soon... /s/Tom

Saturday, July 7, 2012

The God Particle

Hi everyone,

It's been busy around our home this summer. I've turned 50. We've ended the regular season of Elijah's baseball season. Our home (and my car) is without air-conditioning. This means we've been visiting other family-members (those with air conditioning or by a lake) a lot recently. And so, I have not been writing on my blog. I hope you will understand.

The God Particle or the Higgs boson has received some media attention this past week because of the reports that the Higgs boson was "discovered". Sample news report here. ""I think we have it," said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director general of CERN, the multinational research center headquartered in Geneva. The agency is home to the Large Hadron Collider, the immense particle accelerator that produced the new data by colliding protons." Scientists hope that the Higgs boson is the invisible part of most of the universe that gives it mass.

A couple of items on this. First, it is premature to call this a discovery, at this point. I like this video which gives a little more explanation than the news article can provide - Higgs Boson explanation / http://vimeo.com/41038445. If you have 7 minutes, and want to learn a little more about the topic, check it out.

Next, is an interesting article on why there is strong resistance by scientists to calling the Higgs boson the "God Particle". Here is an excerpt:

… In an interview with NPR, Victoria Martin, a lecturer in physics and astronomy at the University of Edinburgh and a former student of Higgs, explained why scientists don't like the "God Particle" term.

SIEGEL: I want to ask you about this particle's nickname, the "God particle." What did Higgs, who've I've read is an atheist, think about the nickname the "God particle"?

MARTIN: I'm sure - I actually haven't ever asked him this directly, but I'm sure he doesn't like it. Almost all particle physicists detest that name. ...

So the name stuck and I think it's fine because then people know what we're talking about. But secretly, all of us hate the name, the "God particle." …

Article here. And if you want a silly joke that combines religion and the Higgs boson, here you go:

A Sydney Morning Herald
piece collects the jokes:

A Higgs boson walks into a church, according to one joke which did the rounds. "We don't allow Higgs bosons in here!" shouts the priest. "But without me, how can you have mass?" asks the particle.

May God bless you this week, with all of His Glorious blessings. Amen, /s/Tom Wolff

Monday, May 28, 2012

Tom Believes in Man-made Global Warming

I watched Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ last night, and I was impressed by it. BTW, Google has it available to watch online for free, while Comcast charges$4 for it. A movie of this importance, Comcast should not be charging any money for. But this aside, in today’s post I want to summarize the top three reasons why man-made Global Warming is true, and why we must immediately do something about it. The problem is a simple one. There is a clear correlation between the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere and Earth’s rising temperatures. The first question on this topic is whether or not the Earth is really getting warmer. The fact that the 10 hottest years ever measured have all been in the last 14 years makes this point obvious. NASA confirms that nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000, including 2010 which tied for the warmest year ever measured. So yes, Earth is getting warmer. So this brings me to the next question, is this increase in Earth’s temperature caused by man? A couple of reasons suggest to me that it is: First, the huge strain caused on Earth by the world’s population increase. And second, the correlation between measured Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere and the Earth’s increased temperatures. First, to show the huge population growth on Earth, take a look at this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World-Population-1800-2100.png Graph from Wikipedia. In 1930, the Earth had 2 billion people. Today, there are over 7 Billion people. In just one lifetime, there has been a 350% increase in Earth’s population. I like how Al Gore put it – there is a collision of our civilization and the Earth. An important issue is the pressure that this massive increase in people upon the Earth upon the world’s food and water supply. But this population growth also increases electricity and fossil fuel consumption, which is one of the major components of the increase in Carbon Dioxide atmospheric levels. When there is more CO2 in the air, the atmosphere traps more of the sun’s heat instead of allowing it to escape. In other words, more pollution means higher temperatures on Earth. And all of this flows through the large population increase that has taken place over the past 80 years. On the second point that shows Global Warming is man-made, the correlation of Carbon Dioxide atmospheric levels and the Earth’s temperatures is firmly established. Scientists have been studying the CO2 levels for some time, and the when combined with the Earth temperatures measurements, there is an eerie connection between the two. Deforestation, use of fossil fuels, power plants, vehicle emissions, all plays a significant part in this rise of CO2 levels. Al Gore on a riser showed how scary the increasing Carbon Dioxide levels will become over the next 50 years. My final point is that the Earth is showing the effects of Global Warming. We see the retreat of the glaciers. We see oceans becoming warmer. We see the ice disappearing off of Kilimanjaro, the Alps, the Himalayas, and in the Glacier National Park. We can see with our own eyes the impact of Global Warming, and if it continues there will be a massive human displacement. Imagine if New York, San Francisco, Florida, Shanghai, and Calcutta all become flooded from melting ice caps. The world could not handle 100 million refugees, and the chaos that this would cause would be terrible. It is time for us to act before it is too late.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The Cell _ A Poem

Yes, some people are amazed at the vastness of the universe, the countless galaxies around us, with a tiny glimpse seen in the night sky above us. The magnitude of the space, the time it took to create all of this, and the likelihood that it all originated from a single point and at a single moment of time. Yes, the universe is an amazing creation, and humbling to the insignificance of man.

But for me, what is more of an attraction is the world of biology. The world of the cell is astounding in that there are soooo many cells in just the human body. Cells make up each organ and the tissue in the body and are the basic functioning piece of the organ or tissue. The human body has approximately 250 trillion cells with approximately 35,000 chemical reactions taking place per second within each of these cells. Think of what this means – 250 trillion cells each having 35,000 chemical reactions per second. And all of this takes place in the great majority of us for decades. We all like a fast processor for our computers, right? How about something that is faster than the world's fastest supercomputer? Interpreting a DNA program and translating it through a code into a physical molecule, the cells collectively function at almost a thousand times the processing speed of IBM's Blue Gene/L state-of-the-art supercomputer. This information processing in one human body for just one function exceeds by some 25 percent the total computing power of all the world's 200 million personal computers produced every year. Vast numbers of cells, incredible speed, incredible efficiency, and it all works seamlessly, effortlessly, and yes, beautifully for the life of its host. I think the cell has to be the most amazing piece of God's Creation. So give me the cell over the universe when you want to be amazed by the power, beauty and creativity of God the Creator.

But because we can't see the cell, like we can see the universe, it is hard for us to grasp how big and vast the cell and its activities are. I have always thought that a good way to help with this problem is to use some kind of an analogy, although is there any way to compare something to the cell's DNA structure? But even with this shortcoming, here is a nice "poem" that tries to compare a cell and its activities to a city:

Imagine miniature cities aswarm with bustling centers of activity, factories, powerhouses, post offices, libraries, trash collection and recycling, quality control, railroads and architecture, import/export centers, communication networks, and transport vehicles.

These cities organize themselves from seed cities, according to a complex negotiation process that assigns them their duties and location.

Some cities specialize in manufacture and export, some in signal processing, some in reclamation or storage, some in warfare, and some preserve the heritage of the whole nation and pass it on.

Each city has no mayor or aldermen or police.

Its multitudinous minions are self-directed, self-replicating wonders and each city cooperates with its neighbors to maintain balance, order, and peaceful exchange for the good of the nation.

Some cities pick up and move, patrolling the highways, some stretch enormous distances to maintain communication, and some link shields to form the nation's boundaries.

Some denude themselves and serve the rest by carrying oxygen to all.

Some live to divide, some adopt a fixed identity and never reproduce again.

All are altruistic in their focus, unless the encoded information in the library becomes corrupted, or signals snarl and warp the message, turning self-sacrifice into the endless hunger, rampage and self-aggrandizement of cancer.

Truly we are fearfully and wonderfully made.


 

Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Majesty of God

Hi, this week our study group finished reading Pastor Francis Chan's book entitled 'Forgotten God'. However, at the end of the book, he provides the first chapter of another book he has written entitled 'Crazy Love', and I thought this first chapter was great. See if you agree with me. Here is a small portion from the first chapter of Pastor Chan's 'Crazy Love':

Let's begin this book by gazing at God in silence (the chapter's name is 'Stop Praying'). What I want you to do right now is to go online and look at the Awe Factor video (video here: How big are you?) to get a taste of the awe factor of our God. Seriously – go do it.

Speechless? Amazed? Humbled?

When I first saw those images, I had to worship. I didn't want to speak or share it with anyone. I just want to sit quietly and admire the Creator.

It's wild to think that most of these galaxies have been discovered only in the past few years, thanks to the Hubble telescope. They've been in the universe for thousands of years without humans even knowing about them.

Why would God create more than 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and this is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew existed? Do you think maybe it was to make us say, "Wow, God is unfathomably big"? Or perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be, "Who do I think I am?"… (Pastor Francis Chan, portion of chapter 1 – Stop Praying, from his book "Crazy Love').

If you want more here is his Youtube video Chapter 1 of 'Crazy Love', video – Stop Praying.

When I think of the majesty of God, I think of what Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 6:1-7. It's a great scene, Isaiah sees God, and the Seraphim praising Him: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And the temple shakes at the mere words He speaks. And what is Isaiah's response? He trembles at his own unworthiness, as he knows his sinfulness will cause him to die on the spot at seeing God. It's a great visual picture for me that I sometimes use when praying. I like the way Pastor Chan draws me back to humbly think of the majesty of God, and His greatness, and His glory when I think of Him. This first chapter has more, and perhaps next week I will share more from this chapter.

May the Majestic Lord, the Creator, the Lord of hosts, bless you this week. /s/Tom

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Where is the Holy Spirit?

Our Thursday Morning Men's Group is reading Francis Chan's book on the Holy Spirit entitled 'Forgotten God'. Pastor Chan raises several serious challenges about Christians and the Holy Spirit. I thought I would share from the book a few of these challenges, and then provide one response that might help us all out. To begin with here are three of those challenges:

  • Our bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). If the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, then shouldn't there be a huge difference in the lives of a person who has the Holy Spirit living inside of them, compared to the one who does not? (p.32);
  • By the power of the Holy Spirit, we put to death the misdeeds of the body. Over our lifetimes, the Spirit sets us free from sins we cannot get rid of on our own (Romans 8:2). Is this really happening? (p. 75);
  • The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). Who out there can see that they have all of the fruit to a "supernatural" degree? (p. 147.)

So these are a few of the challenges that we have dealt with in going through the 'Forgotten God' book. Although dealing with challenges is sometimes fun to do, I was really looking for an answer to these challenges as I went through the book. And here is one answer that Pastor Chan brings up that struck me as particularly helpful. He looks at the Old Testament Prophet Elijah. This is the same Elijah who raised the dead, and called down fire from heaven in taking down the priests of Baal. So was Elijah just a super-spiritual, super-holy miracle worker? That's not what was written about Elijah in the Bible:

Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently… (James 5:17 - ESV)

So Pastor Chan brings out the fact that Elijah did great miracles by God's power, despite his being a normal man with a nature just like ours. The key appears to be Elijah's fervent use of prayer. This is a great take-away application from the 'Forgotten God' book – if we want to see and do miracles for God's glory, perhaps a good starting point is to pray fervently, like Elijah did. Let's focus our energies and time asking for help from the One who has the power to change us, to give us more fruit of the Spirit, and to do mighty miracles. It seems like a great place to start.

May God through Jesus Christ our Lord give you His peace and blessings this week, Amen. /s/Tom

Saturday, April 7, 2012

God on Easter

The 4th Commandment-tells us to honor God's name and that we shall not take it in vain. What exactly is the name of God that we are Commanded not to profane? The name being referred to here is 'YHWH'. In this post, one thing I am suggesting for us is that it is not all of the other names for God that are prohibited by this Commandment. For example God, Lord, Adonai, Abba Father, etc. are names of God that are used in the Bible. Instead, there is something special about the name 'YHWH' that deserves our reverence and respect, along with our special attention.

But Who is this YHWH Who revealed Himself to Moses by speaking to him from a burning bush in Exodus chapter 3? When Moses met God for the first time on the mountain, it was a special place. There was a burning bush, and God told Moses to remove his sandals because it was Holy ground. In this setting, Moses asked God what His name was, but more, He was looking how to describe God. God revealed His descriptive name to Moses. God said "I am who I am", which in the Greek Septuagint for Exodus 3:14 is 'Ego Eimi'. The descriptive name He revealed to Moses shows that He always was, is now, and always will be. God is self-derived. He is eternal. He was, He is, and He will be. (Rev. 4:8).

What about Jesus? I had a friend ask me recently if it mattered whether or not Jesus actually lived or not. Yes, of course it matters whether or not Jesus actually lived. Jesus lived the sin-free life that we cannot. He is our Savior, saving us from the penalty owed from our sin. His guilt free life sacrificed on the Cross was the sin-offering to God, which was made for the world's sins. Through repentance and faith, Jesus' sacrifice allows His sinless righteousness to be transferred to us. This transfer is made to our account before God. Having a fictional Jesus provides us no benefit.

But if God the Father is YHWH, the great 'I AM', then Who is Jesus? John 8:58 reveals Jesus' oneness with God the Father. The scene in John chapter 8 is a group of Jews having one of the most contentious confrontations with Jesus contained in the Scriptures. The Jews argued that their lineage through Abraham provided them with a special relationship with God. Jesus spoke bluntly to them, saying that their father was actually Satan and that their sin-filled lives had prevented them from seeing and accepting the reality of Who Jesus was. They called Jesus a bastard (John 8:41). They called Jesus a horrible insulting name, he was a Samaritan (John 8:48, I guess this is worse than being a Packer fan). They called him a demon-spawn (John 8:48). This is action packed stuff, better than the fights taking place on Jersey Shore. And how did Jesus respond to this barrage of blasphemies and insults? He revealed His true name to them:

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58.)

Yes, Jesus revealed to this bunch of slugs what His real name and nature is – He is also the great 'I AM', the same name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush (Exod. 3:14). It is the same words in the Greek, 'Ego Eimi' as is used in the Septuagint in Exodus 3:14. So Jesus faced with attacks, blasphemies, and vicious lies, responds to them with Truth – He is part of the eternal God, God the Son.

The Jewish children of Satan responded in typical fashion to this claim of Divinity by Jesus - they picked up stones to stone Him (John 8:59). The Jews knew how to treat someone who claims to be God. You stone them!

So getting back to the original question asking whether it is important that Jesus actually lived or not, my response is to ask, does it matter to you in knowing that God Himself came to Earth to live as a human, to help us with the biggest problem humanity faces? God the Father revealed His name and identity to Moses, and this name is 'I AM' (Exod. 3:14). Jesus revealed His name to the Jewish attackers, and this name is 'I AM' (John 8:58). I hope this helps to see Jesus' death on the Cross, and His glorious resurrection on Easter with some additional clarity. He is risen, He is risen indeed! Happy Easter.

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Who Does Jesus Criticize?

Happy Spring weekend to everyone. It is a good day for the Wolff family. My wife and daughter number 2 are hone, happy and safe. We are still on Spring break. And my nephew Bryan and his wife a healthy daughter Naomi born to them yesterday. There was some concern that the baby had stopped growing, and that there may some health issues. But the baby came out at 5 pounds, 6 ounces, and with everyone healthy. Praise God for the newest member of Bryan's family!

My most recent project is to examine the Gospel of Matthew and see what people and actions Jesus is critical of. Yes, I know God is love, and Jesus really wants us to be nice people by helping the poor (see my January 12th post). But sometimes we can forget that Jesus did preach about hell, and he was awfully critical of the Jewish leaders (Pharisees and Sadducees). And so my hope is that by my looking at the times that Jesus was critical of people and actions, we can learn what disappoints our Lord the most, and from this learn to clean up our lives and our world through obedience.

My method is to not just take a flat statement (You shall not murder), but also to look at Jesus' actions (e.g., Jesus speaking to the woman at the well in John chapter 4.) In the Woman at the well story, Jesus showed us that the Jewish custom of men not speaking directly to women was wrong. Further, Jesus showed that the Jewish hostility to Samaritans was also wrong, and He did this merely by asking the Samaritan woman at the well for a drink of water. So now that you see what I am trying to show by compiling this list, so let's go and see where Jesus is critical of people and actions starting at His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 though 7):


 

Adultery; Matthew 5:27 (ESV)
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'

All people are evil; Matthew 7:11 (ESV) 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Those who are anxious about material things, food, clothing; Mt 6:25, :28, :34 (verse 32-33: the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.)

Those who do not Ask God; Mt 7:7

Divorce, except in the case of infidelity; Matthew 5:32 (ESV) 32 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Evil; Mt 6:13 (Lord's Prayer).

False Teachers who popularize lawlessness; Matthew 5:17; 5:19, 7:15 (ESV) 15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Context is narrow gate, wide gate (i.e., lawlessness) that leads to destruction.)

  • Test false teachers by examining their fruit; Matthew 7:16 (ESV) 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? (Good fruit includes good works, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.)


     

Those who bear False Witness; Matthew 5:33 (ESV) 33 "Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.'

Hypocrites; Don't Fast like them, they look gloomy to be seen by others; Mt 6:16-18.

Hypocrites; Prayer, don't be like the Hypocrites who pray to be seen by others; Matthew 6:5 (ESV)
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Hypocrites, judging others; Mt 7:1-5

Infidelity; Matthew 5:32

Judging others; Mt 7:1

  • Judging others is hypocrisy; Mt 7:3-5 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.


 

Law-breakers; Teachers of breaking the Law – Mt 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:19 (ESV)
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Lawlessness is the wide gate that leads to destruction; Mt 7:13

Lawlessness, workers of; Matthew 7:21-23 (ESV) 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'

Those with Little Faith; Matthew 6:30-32 (ESV) 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Listening, failing to listen to Jesus and put his words into action equated with a foolish man who built his house on sand; Mt 5:26

Lust; Looking at a woman with lust in your heart; Matthew 5:28 (ESV) 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Murderers; Matthew 5:21 (ESV)
You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'

Those who Persecute righteousness; Mt 5:10

Those who Persecute Christians, revile them, and speak falsely about them on account of Jesus; Mt 5:11

Those who do not resolve conflict; Matthew 5:23-24 (ESV) 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Those who Reject (repeatedly) Jesus and attack Jesus' teachings, they are dogs and pigs; Matthew 7:6 (ESV) 6 "Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Those who Resist evil; Matthew 5:39 (ESV) 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Righteous Acts (Almsgiving, prayer, and fasting) done to be seen by other people; Mt 6:1-4

Salt with no salty taste is worthless; Mt 5:13

Those who See only the material; Matthew 6:22-23 (ESV) 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Context is of material wealth).

Those who Serve Money, you cannot serve two masters; Mt 6:24

Those who Store up treasures on Earth, which are temporary; Mt 6:19

Those who Swear / take an oath to more than their 'Yes' or 'No"; Matthew 5:34-37 (ESV) 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.

Tax collectors as a low standard of morality; Matthew 5:46 (ESV) 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

Succumb to the Temptation of the Evil One; Mt 6:13 (Lord's Prayer).

Unforgiveness; Mt 6:12, :15 (Lord's Prayer).

Wordy Prayers; Mt 6:5

Words of Contempt / Anger; Matthew 5:22 (ESV) 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.


 

Here are a couple of quick thoughts. Yes, Jesus hates hypocrisy, such as when a person criticizes another when he is guilty of doing the same thing (see, Matthew 7:1-5). But the other action that jumped out at me is being a law-breaker. Now the law-breaking that Jesus is speaking of here is not the kind when someone is driving above the speed limit. Instead, he attacks those who break God's Law, especially the 10 Commandments – Not honoring God (have no other Gods before Me, Thou shall not have false idols, Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain, and honor the Sabbath Day and keep it holy); as well as harming others (honor your father and mother, Thou shall not murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness and coveting what others have). These are the law-breakers Jesus opposes several times during the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17, 7:13 and 7:21-23), as well as teachers of lawlessness (Matthew 5:17, :5:19, 7:15). So Jesus right off the bat emphasizes the importance of God's Law here in the Sermon on the Mount.

I hope to have more on this topic of Who Jesus criticizes, but it is slow going. May God bless you with His love, joy and peace this day and upcoming week. /s/Tom

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Kalam Cosmological Argument _ Point Three

March Madness is beginning, and the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament pairings will announced later today. Although the Gophers will not be in it, they should be a participant in the NIT Tournament. And the Big 10 will be well represented in the NCAA Big Dance, with both Michigan State and Ohio State looking strong enough to go deep into the tourney. Go Big 10!

On my bog, I am discussing the Kalam Cosmological argument with my old friends Ed and John. In today's post, we will be focusing our discussion on the third part of the Kalam argument, that the universe was created, and more importantly, that the universe was created by God. Here again, is the Kalam argument:

  1. Whatever begins to exist has a cause.
  2. The universe began to exist.
  3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

For this post, we are assuming that the first two parts of the Kalam argument are proven true. So does this allow us to logically assume that the third point means that the universe was created by God? I believe it does, and I will bring up two arguments in support of my position: first, only a supernatural "cause" can be the agent of the universe's creation. And second, the Christian God as described in the Bible best describes Who is this supernatural Creator. So let's go, on to the argument!

Because Ed concedes that the universe started with the 'Big Bang', we have taken the idea of an eternal universe off of the table (See, Kalam Arg. #2). This also means that something outside of the universe is the agent for the universe's creation. The idea that the universe created itself is an absurdity – something cannot be created by nothing. And so, the assumption is that there is that something outside of the universe which is the cause of its creation.

Let's think about the points that the Kalam argument has argued for: a) that the ultimate cause of the universe must be supernatural (i.e., it must lie outside the natural universe) and b) the ultimate cause of the universe must itself be uncaused. Think about how many things fit the following set of descriptions:

x is powerful enough to bring the universe into existence.

x is sufficiently knowledgeable to create a universe like ours with all of its natural laws and complex configurations of matter and energy.

x is not made out of matter or energy and is not located in four-dimensional space-time (i.e., x is not part of the natural universe).

x does not depend upon anything besides itself for its existence.

(I got this last section from somewhere on the web, but I don't remember the website.) I suggest that only one thing that fits that description: God. Consequently, this means that the Kalam argument proves the existence of God.

To support this conclusion, is my second point in today's post. There is only one religion which best describes the identity of the supernatural agent Who created the universe – the God of the Bible. There are many reasons to suggest that the Bible is itself a supernatural creation, including a number of prophecies which came true. But most importantly, the Bible best describes the main problem of humanity – the sin of people. And further it describes God's solution to this problem when He sent His Son Jesus the Messiah to die on the Cross for humanity's sins. That through faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross in our place (sin's punishment is death), we receive absolution for our sins (release from guilt, obligation, and punishment), and just as important, we receive the ability to start living like Jesus Himself. The fruit of this new life includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (See, Galatians 5:22). With a new life in Jesus, we are blessed not only in this life, but also in the life to come. /s/Tom Wolff