tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51086340028341460372024-03-05T22:52:37.326-08:00Creation Family Ministries"Using creation to turn hearts to the Creator."cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-60590796539317387002021-12-04T21:23:00.003-08:002022-01-22T08:14:29.616-08:00Telltale Tidings<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDvuSrOiGRXdabYkpAtBdXVm6YisrIRshnJcz4-prmt4VxBpQSI7gnxHr3x1vgVaAYPeg_oXwr0LTGp7tNmywpBo9mpDgpPkCEA1Cz1vewWX3-vlzEnz_aOQuC8wCkPDuka9pbIgaouJU87BKUDDfkMjEoySi-xlqObHzeGS7X_BGjWG0E6CqEkGhzlQ=s2090" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="2090" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhDvuSrOiGRXdabYkpAtBdXVm6YisrIRshnJcz4-prmt4VxBpQSI7gnxHr3x1vgVaAYPeg_oXwr0LTGp7tNmywpBo9mpDgpPkCEA1Cz1vewWX3-vlzEnz_aOQuC8wCkPDuka9pbIgaouJU87BKUDDfkMjEoySi-xlqObHzeGS7X_BGjWG0E6CqEkGhzlQ=w596-h160" width="596" /></a></div></div>Dear Reader,<p></p><p>I come to this blog with mixed emotions, yet I come enthusiastically with great blessing after bearing a number of burdens over the years...that ended up providing a greater understanding of how far away modern "churchdom" has come from the design of God! Over the past 13 or so years, the LORD has used a number of different circumstances to open our eyes to an unBiblical, religious "hierarchy" that exists in most of our modern church assemblies. With that in mind, I invite you to the series of posts I am making on our ministry site: <a href="http://creationfamilyministries.org" target="_blank">Creation Family Ministries</a>. I'm purposefully NOT widely sharing links to these posts, particularly since they are embarrassing to membership and leadership of some church assemblies. I have felt for some years that the LORD has brought a number of "negative" situations into our lives for a reason. </p><p></p><blockquote>"And we know that all things work together for good..." Romans 8:28 </blockquote><p></p><p>I simply want to bring God glory by removing the proverbial "rug" under which many things have been swept. One may wonder, "How does this glorify God?" </p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>His Word includes examples of evildoing by church folk. (Alexander and Diotrephes) </li><li>Scripture instructs us to warn of evil doers and false teachers. </li><li>I find it better to leave behind the negative by laying everything out for whoever to read. </li><li>Somehow, wrongdoers in church leadership must be held accountable for their actions.</li></ol><p>My wife and I are very thankful that the LORD delivered us from a lording, CEO pastor, and that HE opened our eyes to man-made hierarchies and traditions that have SO many bound! We were bound by false and unBiblical, man-made ideology, not being able to "see the forest for the trees." So, let me pique your interest to check out a recent series of posts we have entitled, "<a href="https://creationfamilyministries.org/blog/" target="_blank">Telltale Tabernacle Tidings</a>." May our LORD open your eyes too and bless you real good with religious freedom as He has us!!</p><p>Brother Jeff<br /></p>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-70668639775426568142021-05-19T20:09:00.006-07:002021-05-19T20:16:59.061-07:00Freed to Serve Freely!<p><b><a href="http://DinoMight.us" target="_blank"></a></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJayj9gkopdU_tSjRu5Tvh6NNrdl1wA23DsJxm6ydkVKkoq2nLSqI_4TDyMa7hPlGPZ9vMCOOJQU6dgua_zs3sbdaGhZvVveX5XbFpWkbyzBlbTbzw7P1P_KvQt3YYU5bg-qZMgSk8fR0/s795/shutterstock_94014361-795x380-1423444707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="795" height="202" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuJayj9gkopdU_tSjRu5Tvh6NNrdl1wA23DsJxm6ydkVKkoq2nLSqI_4TDyMa7hPlGPZ9vMCOOJQU6dgua_zs3sbdaGhZvVveX5XbFpWkbyzBlbTbzw7P1P_KvQt3YYU5bg-qZMgSk8fR0/w423-h202/shutterstock_94014361-795x380-1423444707.jpg" width="423" /></a></b></div><b><br />DinoMight</b> begins soon! We have tons to do before our first VBS, which will be right around the corner from us at Spencer Road Baptist. That will be great to have an opportunity in our "Jerusalem"! We're extremely grateful to have a "petite place on Puett Park" where we now have our rig parked and hooked up to power, water, and septic! For a few years now, after we were pressured out of our home church in Hickory (long story), we've bounced around to different places in our home area. On one occasion we were quite literally kicked off the property of a church (Gospel Light Baptist) that had supported us for about a year. Check out this <b><a href="https://creationfamilyministries.org/night-before-easter-2/" target="_blank">poem</a></b> I wrote about the unforgettable experience! All due to some actual teaching about why we use the King James! Another rather involved story! All of these situations have driven us to seek the LORD and study His Word especially what He has to say about the pastor and the local church. But if it weren't for the negative occasions, which actually were positive, we wouldn't have been motivated to build our house when we did--at the least likely time during a COVID summer! After approximately 8 months, from July 6 - March 8 when we actually spent our first night in the house, we now are blessed to have our <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3049594741792004&type=3" target="_blank">own place</a></b>! All glory to our great God Who provided grace all along the way! We do pray for the "Diotrephes" (3 John 1:9-10) and "Alexanders" (2 Timothy 4:14) who have done us wrong. However, we are extremely grateful to be freed from them and their false belief system, knowing also that without the negative things that happened, we wouldn't be where we are today with our own property and house! It is a HUGE blessing to now be free from the burden of living under their "lording" ways (1 Peter 5:3). In addition, those situations drove us into deeper study of the Word of God, bit by bit setting aside fallible opinions and traditions of men. As a result, we've been blessed even more to better follow our LORD and His design for His people, because we see <b>His</b> design more clearly! Amen! Recently, those studies have resulted in a couple of series on video that we've called "<b><a href="https://setfoundation.org/videos/" target="_blank">Foundation Focus</a></b>" which deals with important issues such as marriage and the church. We desire your prayers as we seek to be a blessing to the body of Christ, directing our attention to the Word of the living God! Until next time...stay true to the Scripture!<br /><p></p>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-73819573634619720262021-04-26T18:42:00.000-07:002021-04-26T18:42:30.675-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLHlhrV2BRW0-M_2l_LyNL_JjGrMxaTqsu3U_7pLgQz96ZoDfDuaGxqKMgohTcIGoxgmtGGEnHvb4II1S61R1VBGb5i1cFGmP2tLIPIQOR05OhOZeECwWpbE9H-Q-XXSYTAP7-Ji4dqQ7b/s3345/DM20+YT+backgr10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="940" data-original-width="3345" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLHlhrV2BRW0-M_2l_LyNL_JjGrMxaTqsu3U_7pLgQz96ZoDfDuaGxqKMgohTcIGoxgmtGGEnHvb4II1S61R1VBGb5i1cFGmP2tLIPIQOR05OhOZeECwWpbE9H-Q-XXSYTAP7-Ji4dqQ7b/w696-h186/DM20+YT+backgr10.jpg" width="696" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">We're looking forward to sharing our dinosaur theme in '21! After skipping it last year due to having only a couple of meetings because of COVID fears, we're greatly anticipating the opportunities to share messages of God, His Word, and His works using the awesome creatures called "dinosaurs"! Strange, ancient, mighty...yet most Bible believers don't know what to think of them. Where <b>do</b> they fit in history? Have they ever lived at the same time as people? Did some of them evolve into birds? Are some types living today? Most of all, are they referenced in the Bible and what do they tell us about God? If you cannot join us in person at some point this coming summer of "DinoMight," check us out online using either <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Creation-Family-Ministries-119813951378870" target="_blank">Facebook</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCczb92WJY1HUypQ9hUGOLMQ" target="_blank">Youtube</a>! <br /></span><p></p>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-40316609949137427952020-09-06T18:26:00.007-07:002020-09-06T18:37:28.730-07:00Covid Cares<p>COVID Cares, etc.</p><p>As everyone around the world as seen, something called "COVID" has pretty much wreaked havoc on life....at least that's what we're told. A virus is a virus, a disease, a germ, bacteria, etc. with varying effects depending on the individual. In all of the major news about such, what we aren't hearing are ways to boost our God-given immune systems so that our bodies are strengthened against germs that exist both exterior AND interior! For about 25 years, we've learned a GREAT deal mainly from our naturopath doctor that truly helps our bodies to heal themselves, like a cut heals itself. Not only did God, the Creator of all things, design our bodies to heal themselves, but He also provided for us in His creation a multitude of various herbs and plants that assist us in our health needs. All in all, such needs stem back to the origin of sin and its effects in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve rebelled against the design of God Who told them not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. And just as they ignored His instruction and listened to the temptation of Satan, so mankind still ignores the Creator and listens instead to the devil and his plans. We do this to our own detriment and destruction. Such is also true in matters of health. Whether it is Rescue 5, lavender oil, Hawthorn Smart, or baked sweet potatoes, there are a multitude of tools about which we have learned (and are still learning) that have helped us with health issues. If you are interested in learning more, we have a handout we've produced that we update each January for our annual Health Matters creation fellowship. We'd be glad to send that to you as an email attachment. Just send a request to creationfamin@yahoo.com.</p><p>With all of the hype about the Wuhan, China-originated virus, our past summer was drastically affected, to the point that all but one VBS was cancelled. We could have traveled all the way to UT and WY for two meetings, but it was not feasible to take our RV-home all the way there without meetings to and from that usually help finance the entire trip. As the meeting "dominoes" began to fall, it became clear that it was time to BUILD! Yes, the lack of summer meetings was actually an open door to start construction on a small house that will be our base of operation where we can park our rig when we are home. This frees us from having to rely on churches in our home area, which we have discovered can sometimes be pretty tricky! (See this <a href="https://creationfamilyministries.org/night-before-easter-2/" target="_blank">blog post</a> for one egregious example!) We're extremely grateful for sweet church families (and Hickory Cove Bible Camp) that have provided us a place to park our RV-home in our home area. Where we are right now is Command Baptist in Statesville, NC. As of now, it is looking like we will be able to move in to our house sometime in October, 2020. We just today saw the completion of the roofing, after a long saga. The plumbing has also been an issue that likely will be resolved soon. The process is quite lengthy, especially given the particularly onerous regulations of our county, Catawba county. All in all, things have gone pretty well. Our good friend, Don Lackey, has been a wonderful help and we just don't know how we'd have done it without him!</p><p>Looking ahead, after tax season which for us is the days before October 14, we will soon be working toward having our first-ever joint <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/creationfellowship" target="_blank">Creation Fellowship</a> sometime in later October or early November, working with Pastor John Charles of Central Baptist in Yorktown, VA and our SET representative there, Brother Brian Frederick. Check out the Creation Fellowship Facebook page for more! This will be our only fellowship until Health Matters in January, 2021. In addition, we will be working with Heather's dad to develop The Bible Study group in our hometown of Hickory, NC that will also be shared online. Check out this <a href="https://www.facebook.com/The-Bible-Study-Hickory-101275868385120" target="_blank">Facebook page</a> for more! After January, we plan to have a virtual Doubt Darwin Day on February 14, and our monthly fellowships through May before heading out for a summer of DinoMight! Stay tuned!</p><p> </p>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-77194331285141227952019-10-31T12:41:00.001-07:002019-10-31T12:44:41.468-07:00Back Home!As of this writing, we've been back home in NC almost two weeks now from summer and fall travels that took us to SC, VA, PA, OH, IL, WY, MT, UT, NE, and TN! We were blessed to reach over 334 children in 9 VBS meetings, and even more in revival meetings and a city fair after summer ministry was officially over. It is a great blessing to our hearts to have this opportunity to share truths from both Scripture AND science, pointing people to the Creator using His creation! While home now, we have quite a few "irons in the fire" with helping our parents move, preparing for two conferences in February, developing our small piece of land, conducting bi-weekly Bible studies and monthly creation fellowships, and more. We're just thankful to the God-Who-Is for keeping this work going, for allowing us to labor for HIM in this ministry that is approaching 20 years in 2020! In celebration of this, we're having the mobile museum ministry of Creation Truth Foundation of Noble, OK join us for conferences at Sweethaven Baptist in Portsmouth, VA and at Southview Baptist in Statesville, NC. Please join us in prayer for these events, and if you can, join us live or live stream for some of the sessions! Check out <a href="http://setfoundation.org/" target="_blank">SET Foundation</a> or our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Creation-Family-Ministries-119813951378870/" target="_blank">Creation Family Ministry Facebook</a> page for more information as we seek to bring our nation back to its founding of "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that <b>all men are created</b> equal..."cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-4644626020460968862019-02-20T06:43:00.001-08:002019-02-20T06:43:11.663-08:00Post-Conference Update<div style="text-align: justify;">
We were richly blessed to serve in two areas conducting conferences this past week at Eastside Baptist in Statesville, NC and at Sharon Baptist in Hampton, VA. It was a special blessing and privilege to once again have Dr. & Mrs. Jobe Martin as our guests, this time with their daughters, Taryn and Mirren. We greatly enjoyed the special music abilities with piano and violin that the girls brought to the meetings! Our theme was "Wilderness Wonders" and the folk were so enthusiastic about the messages! In addition to conducting sessions for both adults and children, we hosted Leaders Luncheons for pastors, their wives, and other church leaders who have a burden and vision for creation/apologetics ministry. Specifically, we presented an initial layout for SET Foundation Ministries, which stands for "<b><u>S</u></b>trengthening believers...<u><b>E</b></u>ngaging unbelievers...<b><u>T</u></b>raining others..." In Philippians 1:17, we read "I am<b> set</b> for the defense (apologia) of the gospel." While we have greatly enjoyed the past nearly 20 years in creation ministry, we do not wish to reach a "plateau." The LORD willing, we plan for SET to reach farther into the future as a joint effort to make a difference in our day by "<b>using creation to turn hearts to the Creator</b>." Please consider joining with us in reaching others with the foundation for the Gospel message, as we read in 1 Corinthians 15:22 - "For as <b>in Adam</b> all die, even so <b>in Christ</b> shall all be made alive." After conference season, we are now focused on two more monthly fellowships before we begin our summer travels which are slated to take us into the fall as we head west again this year. Our summer theme this year is<b> Jungle Tales</b>, including messages on big cats, monkeys, gators, snakes, and sauropod dinosaurs living in the Congo! We're also in the throes of making decisions regarding a small piece of property we were able to purchase last year for the purpose of parking our RV/home. In the short term, we plan to restore the well that was already existing and build a larger pump house that will also serve as a storage building. As for Heather's health, her breathing issue is largely gone, praise the LORD!! Due to two shots of steroids, the scar tissue shrunk and her airway is now an estimated 80% (as opposed to 60% blocked last spring)! We praise the LORD that she is doing so well, so much so that she was able to conduct sessions for children during both conferences this past week! Now, it is only a matter of keeping an eye on the potential of the scar tissue returning, an issue that caused two trips to the ER last October (2018)! We SO much need and appreciate the prayers and financial support of God's people! May HE bless each of you with what you truly need!</div>
cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-51144602679176830822017-05-29T14:13:00.001-07:002017-05-29T14:22:15.385-07:00Memorial Day BlessingJust a brief note on this important day of gratitude to share with you a little about both the human sacrifice that has been spent for the freedoms that we all hold dear here in America, and the "Lasting Memorial" that the LORD Jesus expressed concerning the sacrifice that an unnamed woman gave to Him while He walked on earth. <br />
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">ALL GAVE SOME. SOME GAVE ALL.</span></b>
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With a number in our families who have given "some," we are dearly thankful for all who have sacrificed their lives for freedom.
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<span style="color: #990000;"><b>John 15:13 </b>Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.</span>
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While we are extremely grateful for all who have contributed to make Memorial Day what it is, we must not forget the memorials expressed by Jesus Himself, the Creator and Sustainor of life. In Mark 14, we read the account of a woman who came to Jesus and expended a box of precious ointment, pouring it on His head. Some had indignation and thought her precious sacrifice of more than a year's worth of wages was a waste. However, Jesus said it was a "memorial."
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<b><span style="color: #990000;">"Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." Mark 14:9</span>
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As we compare the accounts of Matthew 26, Mark 14, and John 12, we see a number of differences, making it very clear that Matthew and Mark are parallel, but John recounts a totally different situation. Here are seven reasons why the woman in Matthew and Mark is not the same one as John describes:
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1. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>An unnamed woman</b></span>. It is intriguing why John named Mary, but Matthew and Mark didn't. They must certainly have known her, if she were the same person in both accounts.
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2. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>A specified location</b></span>. While John mentions the town, Matthew and Mark mention an exact location: the house of Simon the leper. John just tells that Lazarus was present at the meal.
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3. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>Different times</b></span>. The Synoptic Gospels' account is that the unnamed woman came to Jesus 2 days before the Passover, while John wrote that Mary came 6 days before the Passover.
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4. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>Different amounts</b></span>. John gave a specific weight of one pound, and the value of that weight, while the account in Matthew and Mark is of an unspecified amount in a "box."
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5. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>Different anointings</b></span>. Mary in the book of John anointed Jesus' feet, while the woman in Matthew and Mark anointed His head. Psalm 23:5 "...thou anointest my head with oil..."
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6. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>Different values</b></span>. Along with the amounts came the stated values. John wrote that one pound was worth 300 pence, but Mark accounted that the box of ointment was worth "more than 300 pence."
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7. <span style="color: #990000;"> <b>Different respondees</b></span>. The earlier account in John states that Judas' response was the only one that was critical of Mary's sacrifice. In the writing of Matthew and Mark, the response came from a group that is referred to as "his disciples" or as "some had indignation..." <br />
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In both cases, there was a great sacrifice made to, and recognized by, the LORD Jesus. While we remember the great sacrifices that men and women have made for us to maintain the freedoms we hold dear in our nation today, we cannot forget to also make the connection to the sacrifice of our Savior of His life and blood on the cross for our sin. In addition, what we may have in our hands today, consisting of our "lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor," is nothing compared to what God did for us at Calvary. So, what is our "box" of earthly value that we can "break" in sacrifice to our LORD? In addition, what might we offer in sacrificial love for a nation that has afforded us so many freedoms, which include the freedom to freely share the Gospel?
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May each of you have a blessed day!cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-4860106380373548902016-09-03T14:28:00.006-07:002022-05-12T06:18:36.931-07:00The Secrets of Sinai<blockquote><span style="font-size: large;">"...for this Agar is Mt. Sinai <i><b>in Arabia</b></i>." Galatians 4:25</span></blockquote><p>Check out my Powerpoint presentation on Youtube <a href="https://youtu.be/eoTUzidznEE" target="_blank">here</a>! <br /></p><p>
Is there something <i>wrong</i> in our Bibles? While we sometimes hear that we can trust our Bibles "from cover to cover," what is often inserted between those covers are man's fallible ideas. This includes the maps.</p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtr_xoCtYHE9sM4hMfhj7C4qtFLr7CshyphenhyphenjcnhSvz7AyOnOYibAA8guoW7ayWFhe5LqkTXiGzcEeOPl1D9b5EalJPbcecJQLO1KFOEOOXtfeFKCtR-5L3iymF0B8HWEYvLyaGqo8JVf3dI/s1600/Slide11.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCtr_xoCtYHE9sM4hMfhj7C4qtFLr7CshyphenhyphenjcnhSvz7AyOnOYibAA8guoW7ayWFhe5LqkTXiGzcEeOPl1D9b5EalJPbcecJQLO1KFOEOOXtfeFKCtR-5L3iymF0B8HWEYvLyaGqo8JVf3dI/s200/Slide11.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><p>
We make clear in this session that there is a difference between the actual text of the Scripture and the notes or references in the columns between page sections, or the maps. Even the verse and chapter numbers were not in the original text as part of Scripture. What this message highlights is the usual differences between the message of the maps and what the actual text states. In this case, Mt. Sinai is described by the Apostle Paul as being "in Arabia." This mountain is extremely important since it is where God came down and gave to Moses the Ten Commandments. </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54_sSnY3NLdX5q9d1CIOoYvVVS7HNUq3fbC0ENsxrj6RTSX_lLSfdliONRVRAN9g9-NHWYDkupa1YbJ3csPrkrJGn9_OHnnUrgdvsrAXM6ZY69G9d8RZ73xqzJY55o7sqrSxFOi7nJK-Z/s1600/Slide12.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh54_sSnY3NLdX5q9d1CIOoYvVVS7HNUq3fbC0ENsxrj6RTSX_lLSfdliONRVRAN9g9-NHWYDkupa1YbJ3csPrkrJGn9_OHnnUrgdvsrAXM6ZY69G9d8RZ73xqzJY55o7sqrSxFOi7nJK-Z/w296-h222/Slide12.JPG" width="296" /></a></div>
So, what do the maps indicate?
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TIQPQvHmSfFgyugYs2EX9I5zV9VB_TMcShdzA05QOo0_JfUr8fIIiLKzboKGuqESMbqobj7EdfqjWU7qhBitrC_IJeq7tqEaGABNg16c5RLU1WqQNwNLUjmIQiKi7hDp7OgLR90nxFey/s1600/Slide14.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-TIQPQvHmSfFgyugYs2EX9I5zV9VB_TMcShdzA05QOo0_JfUr8fIIiLKzboKGuqESMbqobj7EdfqjWU7qhBitrC_IJeq7tqEaGABNg16c5RLU1WqQNwNLUjmIQiKi7hDp7OgLR90nxFey/s400/Slide14.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p> </p><p>You can see three alternate routes that supposedly indicate that the Israelites crossed the "Reed Sea," or a sea of reeds (swampy-type terrain), and one of the possible routes has them crossing through a lake! However, Scripture says...
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsryz2pDmwB3GVJXTC7rOs8aoEx4l1qA_6YcbHyJ5tR8k9vUy_iB1GnBNuNOYgpHYetVHgk2-iSXYsuGqyaC5xvkJ_y84ua35GFXxCnNza6ir7a-aBJBARCG4CHAKnrcGMe2ccxEGnnx45/s1600/Slide15.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsryz2pDmwB3GVJXTC7rOs8aoEx4l1qA_6YcbHyJ5tR8k9vUy_iB1GnBNuNOYgpHYetVHgk2-iSXYsuGqyaC5xvkJ_y84ua35GFXxCnNza6ir7a-aBJBARCG4CHAKnrcGMe2ccxEGnnx45/s320/Slide15.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpDgcwcjR699VVLq8d2Vzch39rbz8sRvbKXb3C1ee5KClsZ_CtNhXfLRV3lBwetT8aSGIrjRsY2ta_lk8TkN2RXIGAtv_d5ZnzIWCdJePkky6VC0tIaOe9W2IesDJsekJcKDtOUoCT15G/s1600/Slide16.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPpDgcwcjR699VVLq8d2Vzch39rbz8sRvbKXb3C1ee5KClsZ_CtNhXfLRV3lBwetT8aSGIrjRsY2ta_lk8TkN2RXIGAtv_d5ZnzIWCdJePkky6VC0tIaOe9W2IesDJsekJcKDtOUoCT15G/s320/Slide16.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuyRmAheYdpXjWH_m5z_1Vnoo7dAuPj_k8iE1_vgjiJDQfHVf02okjU6UzRDXPyirHDp-fLzeomi7BTN7c0t957xVz4nkVTuz7xihIy-PpZbKLiEbbB0irENNlbDWrXhpJHSMRc3xio71/s1600/Slide17.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeuyRmAheYdpXjWH_m5z_1Vnoo7dAuPj_k8iE1_vgjiJDQfHVf02okjU6UzRDXPyirHDp-fLzeomi7BTN7c0t957xVz4nkVTuz7xihIy-PpZbKLiEbbB0irENNlbDWrXhpJHSMRc3xio71/s320/Slide17.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
The Israelites did NOT cross through a lake or through shallow water that could never have formed "a wall of water" on both sides of the massive group of people!
What this post details is the likelihood, using evidences, that Mt. Sinai is <b>not</b> located in what is called the "Sinai Peninsula," where nearly all Bible maps have it located. Rather, both Scripture and archealogical finds point to this intriguing and important mountain being in what is now Saudi Arabia, or as in Paul's day, simply "Arabia" just as Galatians 4:25 states!
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It is therefore interesting to read indications of a mountain (or mountains) named "Jabal al Lawz" ("mountain of laws") or "Jabal Musa" (mountain of Moses) that exists on the east side of both the gulfs of Suez <i>and</i> Aqaba! And what about the crossing site? The tool of Google Earth helps with this research, as we shall see. But, the site where they actually crossed could NOT have been a cliff, or they would not have been able to cross. It has to be a place where the underwater terrain gently slopes into, and out of, the water on either side. Research has shown that there are only two sites where this is true: one being in the southern area of the Sinai Peninsula, and the second one being at what is called Nuweiba:
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It is interesting to note the narrow passageway that exits at the Nuweiba beach from mountainous terrain. Scripture tells us that the Pharaoh of Egypt would think that the Israelites would be trapped in the wilderness:
<blockquote>Exodus 14:3 "For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in."</blockquote>
This terrain certainly fits the Biblical narrative that God (leading His people via a pillar, column-shape, of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night) went behind His people when the Egyptians caught up to the Israelites at the Red Sea. With the narrow passageway, and God in between as a column of fire, the Egyptians could not just go around the column of God's presence.
<blockquote>Exodus 14:19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them:
</blockquote>
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What about evidence at the bottom of the Sea? Take a look at this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzb4ekyX1kc">intriguing video</a>!
After the crossing, they encountered the Mountain of God, Mt. Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments directly from God. This mountain burned with the fire of God, possibly changing the color of the rock! Fire from God can do mighty things, such as eat up rock (Elijah on Mt. Carmel, 1 Kings 18:38).
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There is a mountain with darkened rock that is intriguing, along with an interesting pile of rocks that's apparently in the same vicinity.
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Using Google Earth, one can go anywhere in the world! An interesting "dot" sticks out like a proverbial "sore thumb" that, upon closer examination, gets darker and more stark compared to the surrounding terrain.
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The premise is that the Israelites were able to cross the entire Sinai Peninsula to get to the Nuweiba crossing site. And why not? They were able to use whatever they desired of the Egyptians, which would have included anything with wheels to carry other items they took. In addition, the Scripture tells that God led them by day and <b>by night</b>(Exodus 13:21).
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A notable event that took place at the base of Mt. Sinai, which is still reflected in our language today...
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As human nature reveals today, no matter how close to God one may think themselves to be, there is always the fallibility of man to go astray quickly as did the Israelites who pressed Aaron to make them a "golden calf." It is intriguing that etched bovine figures have been seen in the area, a terrain that is goat and sheep country--not cattle country.
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Check out this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeSHmqSrv5o">intriguing video</a>!
The Bible also tells of a large rock that Moses struck, from which God brought gushing water to meet the needs of His chosen people. Moses was told to strike the rock. It is intriguing to see a massive stone that is split down the middle, that is elevated so that (if this is the rock) water would run down to the people below... </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bOiPUziGczs7iI9GWUd29CyMpKSbutGuJ2wBYmWb9BUvwHZ1D1TcESRAhgTmNmd94qANUMj-KCbE1LITqmrBfjJo3CZdSXFxB2s45raayPsDpZd0SQoliTG-Iu7UVzYtruV-enA5oaiX/s1600/Slide45.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2bOiPUziGczs7iI9GWUd29CyMpKSbutGuJ2wBYmWb9BUvwHZ1D1TcESRAhgTmNmd94qANUMj-KCbE1LITqmrBfjJo3CZdSXFxB2s45raayPsDpZd0SQoliTG-Iu7UVzYtruV-enA5oaiX/s320/Slide45.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsPHXZuCP9kF7sB3XRnn3vx05SkjguRVg5CMuCl4-yh6p_TDvNQgU9sYbsWYPVgl0AWyh-lg8UhStipGNwcog9yn_JE0KGvyKapnKY3-HJSpxKU-fZu2lk8nfRxgvGBxUeWEC1_Sd6aeW/s1600/Slide46.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSsPHXZuCP9kF7sB3XRnn3vx05SkjguRVg5CMuCl4-yh6p_TDvNQgU9sYbsWYPVgl0AWyh-lg8UhStipGNwcog9yn_JE0KGvyKapnKY3-HJSpxKU-fZu2lk8nfRxgvGBxUeWEC1_Sd6aeW/s320/Slide46.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMxrXFPDctxJhyCPoPCnBvcgyBQPdy1mI5M9zr0CVAS_fJlhchxsnWuX2K0Y87k5-EvwiEWHkOgxgUe0Ysm6AUH7cXxTBq0l_W6BC05Rziz4XYvPYHJieULAEtdYcgcQ8-FXn4KNIiBkr/s1600/Slide47.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMxrXFPDctxJhyCPoPCnBvcgyBQPdy1mI5M9zr0CVAS_fJlhchxsnWuX2K0Y87k5-EvwiEWHkOgxgUe0Ysm6AUH7cXxTBq0l_W6BC05Rziz4XYvPYHJieULAEtdYcgcQ8-FXn4KNIiBkr/s320/Slide47.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEDUZvr6RjlvOuO3Y4jGEq33rfjfVI-n8GOysNuOpkecqu-WkEOw_DmWykTCRyE0C12y79BJo2VHlCCREY0vof1lL3fT0YzYmzgTM90AKiXiXjFiywwrlZB56nWPFyyTMrpxq1CGoEoBd/s1600/Slide48.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPEDUZvr6RjlvOuO3Y4jGEq33rfjfVI-n8GOysNuOpkecqu-WkEOw_DmWykTCRyE0C12y79BJo2VHlCCREY0vof1lL3fT0YzYmzgTM90AKiXiXjFiywwrlZB56nWPFyyTMrpxq1CGoEoBd/s320/Slide48.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6e7m1HVFroVZKVyXvM0kK_vANUHURgM8Oddp2w5hVFCmJ6CVVa7yJ4KOxecyCO6tQmlGPAqD-aKPT4BImi08b8pv96nA0ECVjoTn1gTEdgYs_mJBIs8jMipWNewwSh0q4YH54rkeM-SB/s1600/Slide49.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_6e7m1HVFroVZKVyXvM0kK_vANUHURgM8Oddp2w5hVFCmJ6CVVa7yJ4KOxecyCO6tQmlGPAqD-aKPT4BImi08b8pv96nA0ECVjoTn1gTEdgYs_mJBIs8jMipWNewwSh0q4YH54rkeM-SB/s320/Slide49.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05O6GEr_GL6kFnL26RUZj472tQLiCLYC_oS8McQnFrdaRzr_td9TXDqG8V44kWYoD3kIZ41aYDq9mSuTsB6yKQORTd-k2PDlvswIiutIKFsIwSMy-4fTNsiTlRsnmpOVq8zWGXTPxP7LN/s1600/Slide50.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg05O6GEr_GL6kFnL26RUZj472tQLiCLYC_oS8McQnFrdaRzr_td9TXDqG8V44kWYoD3kIZ41aYDq9mSuTsB6yKQORTd-k2PDlvswIiutIKFsIwSMy-4fTNsiTlRsnmpOVq8zWGXTPxP7LN/s320/Slide50.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
It is further interesting that at the bottom of the great split there is smooth rock such as what water erosion would produce! This reminds us that Christ was smitten for us on the cross, and He gives to all who partake "living water" (John 4:10).
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The Book of Hebrews (12:18-24) references both Mt. Sinai and Mt. Sion, contrasting the fearsome holiness of the Creator and His righteousness that is available through the "blood of sprinkling" that was wrought for us through His work on the cross. We can be made children of the King of Creation through faith in Jesus Christ, even though the Creator/God of the Bible is to be feared!
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<b>These evidences</b> are extremely important, as the Scripture tells us: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1). About 5 years ago, I was able to share this presentation at our home church's Christian school. Afterward, a teacher I'd had when I was a student there told me this account:
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The physical evidences are of utmost importance to the Creator! After Jesus arose from the dead, the resurrection being the great capstone of Christianity, He showed Himself alive for 40 days (Acts 1:3)! He even took special time to visit "Doubting Thomas" who had said, "Unless I see I will not believe"(John 20:25). Doubt in the reliability of the Bible has grown by leaps and bounds in the world today, and it is up to believers to "give an answer" (1 Peter 3:15) as to what we believe, that it is indeed the truth! However, what is actually happening, and has been taking place for about 100 years or more in my nation, is a great lack of foundational answers as to what Christians believe--that the Bible is indeed the reliable Word of the living God, the Creator of man. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAvn5zTKKrVDZCYDX7fwcMGJwHkfM00EiXstwg9eVy9-BDXTR6y3dLzFJYVKY4eUDXKvArW1xHL1UEJRlZ6y0fqtFm-CtFZVegxKkTplVPqd0ysCsYGmRi69Jyq5Bie1n6yD0BnuwbHhr/s1600/Slide59.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAvn5zTKKrVDZCYDX7fwcMGJwHkfM00EiXstwg9eVy9-BDXTR6y3dLzFJYVKY4eUDXKvArW1xHL1UEJRlZ6y0fqtFm-CtFZVegxKkTplVPqd0ysCsYGmRi69Jyq5Bie1n6yD0BnuwbHhr/s400/Slide59.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
We must get back to the foundation, rebuilding confidence that the Bible is the reliable Record of God's Revelation to mankind. This realization will result in people knowing that they can build their lives on it! cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-19405333165114975322016-04-04T10:14:00.000-07:002016-04-04T10:14:53.242-07:00It's time to pressure legislators to stand up for the Constitution!
<iframe frameborder="0" height="360px" scrolling="no"
src="http://patriotvoices.rallycongress.com/19478/stop-supreme-court-confirmation/wt/?src=widget" width="220px"></iframe>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-28094024594187296832016-03-31T14:21:00.001-07:002016-04-04T09:40:58.652-07:00Mountain Mysteries 2016<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9hzmJa56vDcYJZYsvm0chBQsOsv9y1OEYR3mIov_T8_EFEs3DQ-piCtMC4Nik_pkwMbX30OUKdMFcjGa3ReAfqqAQ_cnpaasUj7vX9hRurKW5Aw2MC1KlVPmCXNJXSvGd86LTx-hB-Or/s1600/MSH+card+fr+16+heading.jpg" imageanchor="1" ><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9hzmJa56vDcYJZYsvm0chBQsOsv9y1OEYR3mIov_T8_EFEs3DQ-piCtMC4Nik_pkwMbX30OUKdMFcjGa3ReAfqqAQ_cnpaasUj7vX9hRurKW5Aw2MC1KlVPmCXNJXSvGd86LTx-hB-Or/s640/MSH+card+fr+16+heading.jpg" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgioBckSvmhybMQNjJHebOygpNYrhDp__DTI5KfUd6-Zjr-r26sm71-0yUiUwxyJhm5uSnEGkiToMNk4DkqtHlPPjHqFe64ctTowe218opFubrotGH1a4o5r50nJURzRy_VoYY-Y7efL5nm/s1600/MSH+card+fr+16+heading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgioBckSvmhybMQNjJHebOygpNYrhDp__DTI5KfUd6-Zjr-r26sm71-0yUiUwxyJhm5uSnEGkiToMNk4DkqtHlPPjHqFe64ctTowe218opFubrotGH1a4o5r50nJURzRy_VoYY-Y7efL5nm/s320/MSH+card+fr+16+heading.jpg" /></a></div>Can you believe it? Our mountain theme has rolled around again!! This summer, we'll rehash old familiars, such as Mt. Ararat and Krakatoa, and talk about a major American catastrophe, Mt. St. Helens, as well as archaeology with the search for the real Mt. Sinai. Did you know that, by comparison, Mt. St. Helens in Washington State, was a tiny volcano? Yet, it has been called "God's gift to the creationist" because of the many things that have been learned and observed re: catastrophism that tie in <i>perfectly</i> with the world wide flood of the Bible. A brand new canyon system was formed in only 9 hours up to 3 days! Such canyons seen in other places (e.g. Canyonlands National Monument in Utah) are said to have formed over "millions of years"! Fairy tale! In addition, multiple events on land and at sea illustrate what took place at the time of Noah's flood. In short, what we see all over the globe is evidence that the Bible is true! If you can, join us for one or more of our upcoming sessions in states like TN, VA, SC, PA, and CT. Check out our itinerary at <a href="http://creationfamilyministries.org/calendar.html">Creation Family Ministries</a>! How can we make this allegedly 'boring' subject exciting for children, teens, and adults?? Glad you asked! We've got a <b>smoking volcano</b> and a <b>fiery Bible</b> to adorn our summer program, plus competition between the "Mountain Men" and the "Lava Ladies." THEN, there's always the series of special "Mysteries"! Come and have FUN while learning about God, His Word, and His works in creation. While you're at it, check out our updates for this year, linked soon from our main site (above).cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-19234761570926181572015-06-02T06:37:00.001-07:002015-06-02T07:40:41.258-07:00June 2015 Chronicle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUp5Tai5KQeoTRtzxPZl0ZQDGwYaUtt4C5QS9DKlhaUaMtOsRz1Z7KDTcXldosKTeOpkU-tz9R4YreJWTGh6lZkqchhOdGoNpXuEKgWt37dyIMv6Is9LDLnd9yazuUIcnkgMuyetS7KefE/s1600/trex+backgr_blk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUp5Tai5KQeoTRtzxPZl0ZQDGwYaUtt4C5QS9DKlhaUaMtOsRz1Z7KDTcXldosKTeOpkU-tz9R4YreJWTGh6lZkqchhOdGoNpXuEKgWt37dyIMv6Is9LDLnd9yazuUIcnkgMuyetS7KefE/s200/trex+backgr_blk.jpg" /></a></div><b>The Creation Chronicle</b>- June, 2015
The ministry newsletter of Jeff & Heather Setzer
<blockquote>"Behold now behemoth which I made with thee … he moveth his tail like a cedar."
(Job 40:15-17)</blockquote>
Dear Friends & Family,
We are grateful to come to you again by way of our bi-annual newsletter! Many of you pray for or financially support us, and we humbly thank you! May our God bless you!
<blockquote><b>DINOSAURS!</b>
</blockquote>
We are preparing our fourth time conducting our Dino MIGHT theme for VBS meetings and other ministries. In 2000, we began CFM with “Dino Tales” and have, since then, developed five different themes:
<blockquote>DinoMight</blockquote> (<a href="http://DinoMight.us">DinoMight.us</a>)
<blockquote>Mountain Mysteries</blockquote>
<blockquote>Secrets of the Sea</blockquote>
<blockquote>Wilderness Wonders</blockquote>
<blockquote>Jungle Tales</blockquote>
While we have ideas for more themes, developing these has kept us busy! This year, it is perfect timing to learn that the next “Jurassic” movie, Jurassic World, is coming out in June! Stephen Spielberg must have checked our website! It will be an awesome time to share the creation message using those intriguing and amazing creatures, along with other subjects they bring up!
Since we last wrote, we conducted an outreach to pastors via two “Leaders Luncheons” in two cities: Hickory, NC and Virginia Beach, VA. We were blessed to see 20 pastors attend and a total attendance of 40! We’ve already begun planning next February and hope to add a luncheon in middle Tennessee! As we see the LORD developing this work, graciously using us to do so, we’re amazed to think that He desires to use us! Praise Him! We ask for your prayers that God would open the eyes of more pastors and burden them to rise up against this “Goliath” we call “evolution”!
In addition to two Leaders Luncheons, we are developing a Creation Fellowship ministry to churches in our home area. Instead of holding them at our home church each month, we launched out this year to conduct them in area churches where pastors see the need, and we have seen the LORD bless! So far this year, we have continued our 2014 jungle theme with an intriguing series entitled “Into the Amazon,” a presentation centered on the adventure of 30 men who explored the jungles of Peru and share many things about God’s creation versus the evolutionary world view. We look forward to continuing this effort in the fall.
<blockquote><b>Westward Ho!</b>
</blockquote>Since we make our western trip every other year, we really, really look forward to going west this summer, seeing long time friends, meeting new ones, and serving in familiar and new-to-us churches! Our schedule is full but still developing. You can keep up with us on Facebook or our website calendar! Right now, we will head west from NC to WY July 8-10. Whew! Please pray that this trip will go smoothly. Anyone have a generator we can buy or borrow?
<blockquote><b>“Monty”</b></blockquote>
We’re excited to introduce you to our new-to-us 2009 RV/home/office that we’ve named “Monty” (after the model: Montana)! It is made by Keystone and is a much better quality unit than either of our other ones that we bought brand new. We’re grateful to God for His provision through gifts from many churches and individuals! Combining savings and funds from the sale of “Dutchess,” we were able to pay the $28k price in full and have no payments! As with any move, it’s taking time to settle and get rid of unnecessary stuff! But we welcome Monty to missionary life.
<blockquote><b>“Missy”</b>
</blockquote>Some years ago, we were blessed to serve in a creation revival at New Testament Baptist in Floral City, FL. After the Tuesday evening service during which I preached a message, “Dealing with the Dragon,” a nurse named Missy came up to me and said: “I was saved because of dinosaurs.” She then recounted that she’d been an atheist and an evolutionist for many years, having been taught as fact that dinosaurs died out “65 million years” before man evolved. She said that when she came to realize that this point was the only real “reason” why she didn’t believe the Bible, she took the Scripture and began reading it on her own. As a result, she recognized that the Biblical record does include man and dinosaurs living at the same time! (See Job 40-41.) This understanding opened the door for her to consider the Bible as a book of true history, and when she was confident in the whole of Scripture...her salvation came next! THIS IS IT! Sadly, most Christians put “science” subjects like dinosaurs on the “back shelf” as unnecessary to the Gospel message or to salvation. In one sense, it is true that one doesn’t ‘need’ to believe that dinosaurs and man co-existed in order to be saved from sin. HOWEVER, the same Book that gives spiritual truth about our sin also gives truth about the physical realm of God’s creation. JESUS Himself (the Creator) told Nicodemus in John 3:
<blockquote>"If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things.” (v.12)
</blockquote>
According to the Creator, belief in the physical realm precedes belief in the spiritual realm. It is extremely important to realize why God chose to begin His Word with the creation account. <blockquote>“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1).</blockquote> In these first words of Genesis, we see the very basics of science: TIME (“the beginning”), SPACE (“the heaven”), and MATTER (“the earth”). While belief in creation isn’t enough for salvation, without it there is no foundation for salvation! The most familiar Gospel verse in the Bible is in in the New Testament, and it begins with creation! John didn’t begin his Gospel with, <blockquote>“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” </blockquote>Rather, he began with, “In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was God. All things were made by Him…” (John 1:1-3). Creation is the bedrock foundation for the entire Word of God, including the Gospel! So, why do many preachers neglect or ignore this foundation of everything?? I don’t know, but there exists a great spiritual dearth in our land, and much of the blame for that dearth must be laid at the feet of those who claim to know and proclaim God’s Word! (See Ezekiel 22:23-31.) We are grateful for the precious opportunities to share foundational truth, especially truths concerning the awesome and intriguing creatures called DINOSAURS which we ALL can use to point people to the Creator and away from lies!
<blockquote>Remembering the Creator,
</blockquote>
<blockquote>Jeff & Heather
</blockquote><blockquote>Itinerary is available at:</blockquote>
<blockquote><blockquote><a href="http://creationfamilyministries.org">CreationFamilyMinistries.org</a></blockquote></blockquote>
<blockquote>FOR PRAYER</blockquote>
special unspoken, passing of Heather’s uncle (Willie Russell), open doors Sept. 6—Oct. 9, increased financial support, increased opportunities, wisdom for future meetings
<blockquote>FOR PRAISE</blockquote>
new-to-us RV/Home!, excellent Leaders Luncheons attendances (~40), financial provision, full summer of ministrycfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-60293512827057068602015-04-22T11:17:00.001-07:002015-04-22T11:17:47.330-07:00Marriage & SCOTUS<div id="fb-root"></div><script>(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));</script><div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=802672046484296&set=a.122985774452930.32747.100002245236343&type=1" data-width="500"><div class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=802672046484296&set=a.122985774452930.32747.100002245236343&type=1"><p>"No one, not even the Supreme Court, has the power to redefine the institution of marriage. But on April 28, plenty of...</p>Posted by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/creationfamin">Jeff Setzer</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=802672046484296&set=a.122985774452930.32747.100002245236343&type=1">Wednesday, April 22, 2015</a></blockquote></div></div>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-2841454449768696622014-12-04T10:15:00.001-08:002014-12-04T10:16:28.680-08:00What does Thanksgiving, or lack of it, have to do with homosexuality? God, the Maker of all things and the Designer of marriage, tells us in His Word how homosexuals came to be. In the first chapter of Romans, we read:
<blockquote>For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (Rom 1:16-18)</blockquote>
Many forget that the good news of the Gospel begins with the bad news that men are sinners, and that God is the Judge Who will judge our sin. God's righteous and holy standard of absolute perfection is the rule, and we've all broken that standard (Romans 3:23). The word "hold" is not the sense of containing or embracing the truth. Rather, it is the sense of holding back, holding down, or suppressing the truth by unrighteousness. Paul continues:
<blockquote>Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 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...(Rom 1:19-21 KJV)</blockquote>
God is the just Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25), and His deserved wrath will come on all of us as we have all sinned. His revelation in creation is "clearly seen" and "understood" by all. How? In <b>creation</b> He is revealed, and ALL can see and know that there IS a Creator and understand His design. It all begins with creation, as those who reject the message that God exists and that He has revealed Himself in His handiwork begin a downward progression that begins with not glorifying God and ingratitude ("neither were thankful"):
<blockquote>...but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: (Rom 1:21-24)</blockquote>
There is a progression here that begins with a rejection of God as Creator and Designer of all things, including marriage, and one of the first characteristics of people who reject the Creator is ingratitude. In short, giving thanks is not just one day of the year, and neither is it solely a feeling. It is an action that is critically and inextricably tied to one's relationship to the Creator of all things Who "giveth to all life and breath" (Acts 17:25).
cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-5007705833141520292014-09-06T19:31:00.001-07:002014-09-06T19:36:12.423-07:00Monkey BusinessAre you a monkey's uncle? One of the most egregious evolutionary lies out there is that humans are related to the monkey/ape-type of animal. The figure of 99% DNA similarity between chimps and humans is touted as "fact," along with other similarities such as appearance or digits. However, the massive numbers of differences are never promoted. Differences such as language, the opposability of the human thumb, where the spine is attached to the skull, brain size, differences in hand design, human ability to sing, or the abilities of people to go to church, paint pictures, or build buildings. Not only are these external differences important to consider, but also is it extremely important to realize that the muscular and brain capacity have to "evolve" simultaneously with such externals. Most basic of all, the difference in number of chromosomes in reproduction is 48 for apes and 46 for humans. Hence, the monkey-to-man transition could never have happened. But when people learn true science does that change the belief that humans are related to the monkey? No, even though such horrible and egregious crimes have been committed based upon evolutionary ideas. Adolph Hitler believed the Jew to be "closest to pure ape" as he led an entire country to murder millions of innocent Jews and anyone else who got in the way of the Nazi machine. But this isn't popular to expose. No TV documentary on the Holocaust will tie the evil and vile deeds of the Third Reich to evolutionary ideology. In the mid 1920's, experiments were conducted by Russian scientists, led by eminent biologist Ilya Ivanov, in an attempt to "hybridize humans and apes." The resulting racist views directed the scientists to pair orangutans with humans of the "yellow race," gorillas with the "black race," chimpanzees with the "white race," and gibbons with the "more brachycephalic peoples of Europe" [possibly referring to Jews]. These horrible crimes and experiments, and so much more (e.g. racist beliefs and behavior), are to be laid at the feet of the worldview of evolution. Lies such as "Nebraska Man" (constructed from a single tooth of an extinct pig) and "Piltdown Man" (world famous hoax concocted by embryologist Ernst Haeckel) have been believed to the extent that multitudes have lost their lives and untold millions have gone to an eternity in hell as they reject the Bible for evolutionary fairy tales. The Bible asserts that mankind was made in the "image of God" and informs us that the Creator of people is NOT a monkey!! Rather, He is the Maker of both humans and the animals. There are TONS of facts from TRUE science that confirm the Biblical Record and expose evolution for what it is: an egregious lie from the pit of hell. The TRUTH is that mankind was created uniquely by God and is NOT the end result of a blob of goo evolving over "millions of years" to eventually become human. Evolution is the religious fairy tale--NOT the Bible. There are NOT many "races" but ONE human race that began with Adam and Eve and was split up into people groups at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11). For more on this, check out JungleTales.org.cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-87158937968307073972014-05-01T16:16:00.000-07:002014-05-01T16:16:03.832-07:00It's a Jungle Out There! This year's theme is a powerful and poignant one, including creatures such as lions and tigers and...snakes! LOL! We will also discuss monkeys, crocodiles, gators, giraffes, and dinosaurs living in modern times, and add into the mix such subjects as climate change and racism! God's Word says,
<blockquote>"But ask now the beasts and they shall teach thee..." (Job 12:7)</blockquote>
The animals teach us many things about the Creator and His Word. They do what they do, and they do it quite well. The One Who designed them also designed you and me, and He designed us quite well too! We have a great difference from the animals, though. While the animals do what they are supposed to do--by "instinct--humans have a free will to choose. We can choose good or evil, and that free will comes from the Designer of mankind. Aren't you glad we're not robots or animals? Since the beginning when Adam and Eve disobeyed the one rule in Eden, mankind has been choosing to disobey the Creator. From eating the fruit of the tree, to murder, sin is disobedience to God whether it is "small" or "large." All sin is sin against God, but there are varying consequences to our sins. Even human government has varying degrees of punishment for different infractions. For instance, we wouldn't have someone going to prison for 20 years if they stole a pencil. However, with God all sin is rebellion against His standard of complete perfection. As the head of the human race, Adam's disobedience against God brought about the ultimate punishment: death, which was upon the entire human race. That's the bad news, but there is good news! The good news is that the very One Who pronounced judgment made a way for the sinful to be saved! We can be tee totally forgiven for all crimes against the Creator by placing our confidence in the Cross of Christ! Have you made the choice to call upon Him for forgiveness? If you meant it with all your heart, you became a child of the Most High!
<blockquote>Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved."<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqBvtOimxeijV0DNSgC8fsd4unJb9jvLzQ9OkYmrmJImDfHOhcdwJ0rj9UakX11Y9s7slwrrUB3bD2hDyu55oa24EYh6zrofu0OYd3MxQsK-i_LohD1DAzDzPqj2MdiPAwjML4Tr1Ibnz/s1600/JT14+backgr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPqBvtOimxeijV0DNSgC8fsd4unJb9jvLzQ9OkYmrmJImDfHOhcdwJ0rj9UakX11Y9s7slwrrUB3bD2hDyu55oa24EYh6zrofu0OYd3MxQsK-i_LohD1DAzDzPqj2MdiPAwjML4Tr1Ibnz/s320/JT14+backgr.jpg" /></a></div></blockquote>
<blockquote>John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name."</blockquote>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-65275776629974497042014-01-24T12:35:00.001-08:002014-01-24T12:38:40.928-08:002014 Creation FellowshipWe are looking forward to our 2nd annual Southeast Baptist Creation Fellowship to be held February 10-12 at Faith Baptist Church in Hickory, NC (2310 16th St. NE). We again plan to enjoy the ministry of Steve Lawwell from <a href="http://EchoesofEden.org">Echoes of Eden Ministries</a> in Christiana, TN, along with "Dan the Animal Man" Breeding who serves with <a href="http://CreaturesofCreation.org">Creatures of Creation</a> in Rolesville, NC. Our theme is <a href="http://WildernessWonders.org">Wilderness Wonders</a> and it includes subjects such as bears, bison, and moose; mammoths and the Ice Age; living pterosaurs, and "bigfoot." In addition, we will have Matthew Speights as a special guest for "Pterosaur Night" (Tuesday) to accent Brother Setzer's session entitled "The Fiery Flying Serpent"; and special music by Pastor Ronnie Smith & family. The entire meeting begins on Monday with an 11:30 luncheon for pastors and their wives (RSVP to creationfamin@yahoo.com by 2/7) and continues with evening sessions ~7-9 pm Monday through Wednesday, February 10-12. In addition, we will have 10 AM chapel times on (tentatively) both Tuesday and Wednesday, with the chapel on Wednesday being held at Tabernacle Christian School (1225 29th Av Dr NE Hickory, NC). Keep tabs on our <a href="http://creationfamilyministries.org/calendar.html">calendar</a> for update information (session titles/times) and join us for this special time!cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-21309586479109810342013-12-23T09:49:00.000-08:002014-01-11T10:40:05.858-08:00Creation Chronicle, January 2014<blockquote>As the hart (a deer)panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. (Ps 50:10)</blockquote>
Greetings and a Blessed Christmas to each of you! 2013 will be history soon, and it’s time to look to 2014. Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter!
<blockquote><b>FULL Summer!</b></blockquote>
The LORD provided an extremely blessed and FULL June through August! For the first time in our ministry we were booked for VBS throughout the summer, with the week of July 4 even being filled! We are grateful for the meetings and for the many ways in which the LORD provided for and protected us in travel. For instance, after the long trip from Spooner, WI to Canon City, CO, our water pump went out. However, God provided a Ford diesel mechanic in the church who did the work at no charge! All we did was purchase the part. This repair was VERY timely since the next week we were in Gunnison, CO and had to cross Monarch Pass (11,000’)! Time and again over the years the LORD has provided like this, and we are grateful to HIM. Since 1997, we can recall only a handful of times that we’ve been on the side of a road somewhere. To God be the glory! Overall this past summer, we saw about 530 enrolled with an average attendance of 28 in 13 weeks of VBS. Most importantly was seeing children make decisions for eternity! There were 20-25 decisions recorded, 17 of which were salvation decisions.
<blockquote><b>BUSY FALL!</b></blockquote>
On the heels of our last VBS, we were back in UT for the annual Onion Days city fair. Each time we’ve been there, it has always been a highlight of our year! It’s such a blessing to distribute materials that point people to the Creator and His Word, and to speak of the evidences for Christianity. This year, we met a ‘confident’ evolutionist who even received a DVD from our book table.
After the fair, we had a meeting in Marysvale, UT before traveling to the needy Northwestern states of OR and WA where the LORD filled nearly a month of meetings! Of four weeks, two were in churches that were new to us! We look forward to the next time we can get to that area.
<blockquote><b>Lions & Tigers…</b></blockquote>
<blockquote>…ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee… Who knoweth not that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? Job 12:7, 9</blockquote>
Animals—known and unknown—are <i>AWESOME</i>, God-given tools to use in pointing people to the Creator! In addition to His creatures bringing us to the existence of God, they also proclaim His wonderful design! Whether bears, deer, woodpeckers, mammoths…even bigfoot … all of God’s animals are wonderful tools to proclaim the Gospel! In 2014, we will use our jungle theme for VBS and revival meetings. The Jungle Tales series includes messages about big cats, monkeys, snakes, dinosaurs, and gators, with titles such as: "Consider the King" (big cat presentation), "Lifting Up the Serpent," "Behold Now Behemoth" (about living dinosaurs) and "Monkey Business."
The lion—-king of beasts—-holds a perfect spot in the Bible as the Creator chose to use this mighty creature as an illustration of both Himself (“the Lion of the Tribe of Judah” Revelation 5:5) and Satan who “…walketh about as a roaring lion…”(1 Peter 5:8). We look forward to sharing these messages in 2014 in VBS and revival meetings, as well as in a series of conferences in October. Please pray as we plan some exciting things!
<blockquote><b>Annual Fellowship</b></blockquote>
We now are planning on our 2nd annual
<blockquote>Southeast Baptist Creation Fellowship</blockquote>
<blockquote>February 10-12</blockquote>
<blockquote>Faith Baptist Church</blockquote>
<blockquote>Hickory, NC</blockquote>
We look forward to morning and evening sessions, a luncheon for pastors, and the ministry of friends in creation ministry, Steve Lawwell (Echoes of Eden Ministries in Christiana, TN) and Matthew Speights (Greenville, SC).
For more info, check out: <a href="http://wildernesswonders.org">WildernessWonders.org</a> and make plans to join us for this special time!
<blockquote><b>Why?</b></blockquote>
One may wonder: <i>Why</i> do you continue in creation ministry? Don’t most people believe in creation and a Creator?
Since the mid 1800s (escalating after the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial”), our nation has moved away from its foundation of “we hold these truths…that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator…” On every hand, we are inundated with evolutionism and humanistic ideas, and its focus on young people. With such a flood of goo-to-you, “millions of years” indoctrination, we who believe the Bible are not even exempt from the influence. A theologian in the 1800s, Charles Kingsley, received Darwin’s book, The Origin of Species, with great enthusiasm. Due to his belief in evolution, he promoted the idea that the Australian Aborigines were animals and not able to take in the Gospel! In short, one reason we continue to proclaim creation is because of the <b>EVOLUTION LIE</b> that has SO negatively affected and destroyed millions (e.g. Hitler) by turning them away from the Creator and His Word, to fairy tales. This year, we learned of two more preachers who believe the Bible but accept evolutionary concepts which seek to undermine God’s Word (e.g. “gap theory” or “day-age theory”). The many issues in our nation today can and must be traced to the failures of those who claim to believe and proclaim the Word of God! Our greatest challenge in creation ministry today is not the evolutionists or evolution-teaching TV programs, books, museums, zoos, or aquariums. After serving in this ministry since 2000, the greatest challenge is preachers. While parents, teachers, and young people generally understand the needs, an estimated 90% of independent Baptist preachers are blinded to the foundational need for creation teaching and preaching in our day. But the work of opening blind eyes is a miracle only the LORD can do, and we are ready as only one of a growing number of creation ministries that are available for the Master’s use in helping pastors and their church members learn the whys and whats of creation. We need men and women in churches who are like the men of Issachar in 1 Chronicles 12:32 and had “<b>understanding of the times</b>.” Too many people in church leadership are afraid to stand and speak the TRUTH! I offer a <i>CHALLENGE</i>. Let us lay aside a stand-our-ground approach, and let us move forward to meet the ‘Goliath’ of evolutionism. Let’s take action to impact our culture for TRUTH!! David said, “Is there not a cause?” and then ran toward the enemy with rock and sling (1 Samuel 17). Let us recognize the IMMENSE need for the creation message in this darkening world. Then, will you JOIN WITH US in taking up your sling and stone? Let us know at jeffandheather@juno.com that you will join us! May God help us to make a difference!
<blockquote><b>Remembering the Creator</b></blockquote>
<b><blockquote>Jeff & Heather</blockquote></b>
cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-61006321830682371742013-11-18T20:27:00.000-08:002013-11-18T20:27:39.699-08:00Somethin's Fishy!<blockquote><b>“…ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee…and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?” Job 12:7-9
</b></blockquote>
Have you stopped to think about how much God chose to put in His Word about the realm of water in His creation? Of five different themes that we have developed for ministry (jungle, wilderness, dinosaur, mountains, and sea/water) in a variety of settings, our sea theme is certainly the “deepest”! Just think--“water” was the very first thing God used as He began creating things.
<blockquote><b>“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Genesis 1:3</b></blockquote>
Or think about the connection between forgiveness and the depths of the sea!
<blockquote><b>“He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19</b></blockquote>
In addition, consider God’s choice out of all of His creation in communicating to Jeremiah the need for people to fear and tremble before Him!
<blockquote><b>“Fear ye not me? saith the LORD. Wilt ye not tremble at My presence, which have place the sand for the bound of the sea…” Jeremiah 5:22</b></blockquote>
In short, the more we truly consider the multitudes of ways in which God uses His creation, the more we will understand that the study of nature—God’s creation—is not solely an exercise in apologetics to answer evolutionists! There’s SO much more!
<blockquote><b>THE FISH</b></blockquote>
At least 50 times throughout Scripture, the words “fish” or “fishes” occur. “Fish” is the first creature referenced in God’s dominion mandate to mankind (Genesis 1:26), and in the account of Jonah, God prepared a “great fish” to swallow his disobedient prophet (1:17). In Corinthians, God included a striking argument against evolution with a reference to different “kinds” of flesh:
<blockquote><b>“All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men another flesh of beasts, another of fishes…” 1 Corinthians 15:39</b></blockquote>
If but for this one verse, the idea of “transitional forms” (which evolutionary thought requires) is totally and completely wrong! On a side note, one may wonder: “Was Jonah swallowed by a fish or a whale? If Jesus referred to the creature as a whale but the book of Jonah mentions ‘fish,’ isn’t it a contradiction in the Bible?” In short, the answer is “no.” There actually are other water-dwelling creatures with “fish” in their name (e.g. cuttlefish) that aren’t typical fish. Cuttlefish are in the family called “cephalopods” which include octopus and squid. Couple this with the fact that long ago the whale was called “whalefish,” and you have no true contradiction in the Bible. Jesus, the Creator, prepared that fish to swallow Jonah, and he lived to tell about it! Also, there is no need to claim that God made a unique sea creature just for Jonah, since there have been rare accounts in history of people who had been swallowed by a whale and who lived to tell about it! Jesus, the Creator, simply used this particular whale for His purpose:
<blockquote><b>“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth …” Matthew 12:40</b></blockquote>
<blockquote><b>THE FALSEHOOD</b></blockquote>
A video clip we include in our “Something’s Fishy” message came from a TV documentary about the dissection of a Great White shark. During the program, infamous evolutionist/atheist Richard Dawkins examined the fact that these fearsome fish called sharks have “tiny teeth” all over that make up its skin, and he offered his idea about how shark teeth came to be:
<blockquote><b>“It looks as though, probably what happened, that the shark’s skin became its teeth.”</b></blockquote>
In fact, the documentary shows the researchers examining the teeth of a Great White and noting unbelievably that they were “wobbly.” Now, if the teeth originated from the shark’s skin, why are they “wobbly”? Why would a leading, internationally-known “scientist” and evolutionary atheist assert such a hypothetical idea about the shark’s skin as scientific?! Perhaps one day, “millions of years ago,” a shark was going too fast, and something big like a whale got in its way. It had to stop quickly and some of its skin slipped up to its mouth (!). This idea would be just as scientific as Dawkins’ statement! Someone can believe this took place, but it is NOT science and should never be taught to children as such!
At the very end of the program, the scientist who was leading the project, said:
<b><i>“You may have heard of ‘ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny” (scientific terminology referring to the idea that any creature—including humans—goes through evolutionary stages while developing inside its mother). “Well, there is actually some truth to that statement. During our development, we actually have gill slits…we actually were once fish.”</i></b>
What?! Humans were fish? Is this a scientific statement based on observable, testable, or repeatable data…or just a belief? In the recently-released documentary, “Evolution vs. God,” Evangelist Ray Comfort interviewed a scientist from CA who asserted, “Of course humans are fish.” (!) Something false and fishy is being taught to young people all across our country.
<blockquote><b>THE FIGHT</b></blockquote>
We are in a war over world views. Creation formerly was taught in public schools across our land, but it wasn’t until the 1925 Scopes “Monkey Trial” that evolution was given public credence. Never mind the fact that all of the points that were used to favor evolution at the time have been disproven. The “evolution side” was represented by lawyer Clarence Darrow, who at one point asked the “creation representative,” William Jennings Bryan, about the possibility that the days of Creation Week were indefinite periods of time. Bryan could not give solid Bible answers about the days of Creation Week or “Cain’s wife.” In short, the Scopes trial was a pivotal point in American history regarding the teaching of creation versus the evolutionary world view. Though creation won the case legally, evolution won in the court of public opinion. Now, evolutionary fairy tales (illustrated by the previously-mentioned ideas about sharks) are taught as science, while creation and the Bible are presented as fairy tales. In many ways, those of us who believe the creation account are working outside to reach those on the inside. Using the analogy of castles in olden days, we creationists are outside the walls and moat as we seek to reclaim a culture which sliding more and more into evolutionary atheism and related beliefs and actions. We need to <b>WAKE UP</b> to what has been happening in our nation, understand what to do about it, and <b>DO IT!!</b>
<b><blockquote>And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do… 1 Chronicles 12:32</blockquote></b>
We have been involved in creation ministry since 2000, and have been privileged to meet pastors all across our country. I can honestly say, that after nearly 14 years in this work, I’ve met only a handful of Baptist pastors who understand this fight and what Bible believers need to do about it. We are losing ground every day in spiritual, religious, moral, and political realms of our nation; therefore, we MUST get busy spreading TRUE science which counteracts and exposes FALSE science. However, just sharing the truth will never deal with the fallout that an evolutionary belief system has caused. From the Holocaust to the modern (seemingly innocuous) cartoon, “Dinosaur Train,” evolution has devastated and is devastating millions of unsuspecting adults, teens, and children with LIES. When people base their lives on that which is foundationally false, we need to work from that foundation to expose and remove lies and replace them with truth. The next step is one that we can do nothing about: the hearers must believe it. This is where it all boils down to a spiritual warfare and an individual’s willingness to accept the fact that there is a Creator Who says: Thou shalt and Thou shalt not. Let us resolve NOT to simply “hold our ground.” Rather, as David, we must ask ourselves “Is there not a cause?” (1 Samuel 17:29) and <b>RUN TOWARD</b> the “Goliath” of evolution with the TRUTH of God’s creation!!
cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-56273689457534248412012-12-14T20:54:00.001-08:002013-01-16T13:13:10.226-08:00Making Sense of Senselessness<blockquote>In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. <b>Matthew 2:18</b></blockquote>
Each of us were horrified to learn of the tragic shooting of defenseless children in Connecticut on December 14, 2012, just 11 days before Christmas. It is ironic that a few days before the world’s most celebrated day, there was a slaughter of innocent children, similar to the Biblical account of the first Christmas when Herod sought to kill the Christ Child by having all children age two and younger murdered. The grief of the parents in Connecticut, other family, friends, and teachers is inconceivable. The question of “Why?” comes to minds. It is one thing to kill soldiers at Ft. Hood or college students at Virginia Tech, but quite another to murder defenseless children in a secure environment… But wait a minute! Are we talking about a school or a mother’s womb?? GOD says…
<blockquote>“All they that hate me, love death” <b>Proverbs 8:36</b></blockquote>
Whether life is taken before or after birth, a life is a life, and murder is murder. I wonder if there is an abortionist out there who sensed horror at the senseless murder of 20 young children at school? I wonder if the President will re-consider his stand on “Partial-Birth Abortion,” a procedure that is more gruesome than a “mere” shooting; a procedure that involves piercing the skull of a baby that has been born (all except the head), then the extraction of its brains makes the head smaller for the rest of the birth. THIS tragedy happens every day, yet there is very little outcry from anyone, even preachers. I’m not holding my breath for the President to change his position.
<blockquote><b>“We’re Here For Them”</b></blockquote>
America is under the judgment of God. Any nation that kills its most defenseless, approves the perversion of God’s design for marriage, and defies the God of Israel by pressuring them to surrender land that HE gave them is a nation destined for the judgment of God. Whether the Ft. Hood shooting, thousands killed by Muslims on 9/11, hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, stock market crashes, or the devastating tragedies of Virginia Tech or a Pennsylvania Amish school, America is clearly under the judgment of God. What can and must we do?
The night of the Virginia Tech massacre we were watching the news special with Brian Williams. What I vividly recall from the live program that night was the fact that a local pastor, <a href="http://blacksburgbaptist.org/content.cfm?id=149">Tommy McDearis</a>, in Blacksburg, VA, home of Virginia Tech, was part of the panel. His church, Blacksburg Baptist Church, was a counseling station for all who were affected by the shooting. I will never forget what he said when they TWICE asked him an open-ended question on a national broadcast:
“What do you tell those who come to you?”
Here was a national and international broadcast in which a BAPTIST “pastor” was asked such an open question. What was his answer? Did he mention the Bible? NO. Jesus? NO. What about even a generic reference to “God”? NO!!! BOTH opportunities he had to give a solid, Biblical answer to such an opportunity-laden question he said, “We’re here for them.” This answer was bereft of ANY solid direction for a lost world.
<blockquote><b>The Greater Tragedies</b></blockquote>
From the disintegration of the meaning of marriage to the murder of innocent children in a school, we are seeing tragedies transform our nation on the inside.
<b>Are there greater tragedies than these?</b>
Yes, and they form a scarlet thread throughout all tragedies. These are the lack of a solid Biblical answer from religious leaders who claim to know God and His Word. As the religious leaders of Jesus’ day were the problem, so today, religious leaders are the greater tragedy. From Baptists, Catholics, and Unitarian Universalists; to Bob Jones, Clarence Sexton, Billy Graham, Pat Roberson and the pope, religious leaders of all stripes and persuasions are not giving the Biblical answers that a lost world needs. The greater tragedy than any hurricane or murder spree is the silence of religion in the face of devastation! This silence leaves a nation to flounder with no answers!
<blockquote>"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Psalm 11:3</blockquote>
<blockquote><b>The Answer</b></blockquote>
What are the answers? Let us be clear: the answer for our nation is NOT “the Gospel.” God’s plan for healing a nation is His people repenting. GOD said,
<blockquote>"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." <b>2 Chronicles 7:14</b></blockquote>
<b>What are the answers concerning tragedies?</b>
<blockquote>For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. <b>1 Corinthians 15:22</b></blockquote>
<b>1.</b> There was a real Adam created by God at the beginning (Matthew 19).
<b>a.</b> The age of the earth (i.e. mankind) is thousands of years, not millions.
<b>b.</b> The Genesis/creation account is reliable and the Biblical genealogies are important.
<b>2.</b> Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and He (as the just Judge of all the earth) brought judgment.
<b>3.</b> “Bad things” are not the fault of a perfect and holy Creator, but judgment from God resulting from the sin of our “first parents” and life in a fallen world.
As the world more and more rejects the idea of a Creator/God Who is holy, perfect, and just, these are answers that are being ignored in our culture and by religious leaders. The world is asking “Why?” but religion is saying “We’re here for you” (or "Jesus is here for you"). To make sense of the senseless, we MUST get back to the foundational truths of Genesis and share them with the world!
cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-59036908838363210162012-12-01T07:25:00.001-08:002012-12-01T07:27:54.101-08:00Faith in Action, an Introduction<blockquote>But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins,...I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose… (Mark 2:10-12)</blockquote>
Does God have a purpose for His creation? If so, what is it, and can we use the physical evidence of His handiwork in our witness? Since we know that God began His Word with creation and that this is the physical evidence all around us, why did He start with creation? Are evidences important? Concerning evidence of salvation, James wrote that our works are the observable evidence of our faith (“faith without works is dead” – James 2:26). From these examples alone we see that God places a prime importance on observable evidence. Yet, from personal experience, even many pastors or others in full time ministry do not understand this. Last year, a Bible college professor in North Carolina told me that creation ministry is “just so new.” Also, a pastor in Wyoming said, “Evidence is not important”…
This familiar account in Mark 2:1-12 brings to greater light the purpose God has for the physical realm, as in the next few notes we will observe how Faith in Action...
<b>1. Sees Beyond People (2:1-4)
2. Sees Beyond Problems (2:4)
3. Sees Through Opposition (2:5-9)
4. Uses Physical Evidence (2:10-12)</b>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-26585061973380016722012-11-21T19:45:00.000-08:002012-11-21T19:47:44.583-08:00Creation & Thanksgiving<b><blockquote>I Chronicles 16:8-26</blockquote></b>
<blockquote>8 Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. 9 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye of all his wondrous works.
10 Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
11 Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. 12 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his
--
14 He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth.
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23 Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. 24 Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations. 25 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised: he also is to be feared above all gods. 26 For all the gods of the people are idols: <b>but the LORD made the heavens</b>.</blockquote>
After King David had failed to transport the Ark of God correctly and a man died (2 Sam. 6:3), he later was able to retrieve it without incident. This was cause for celebration, and David appointed Levites certain duties while he himself presented a song of praise to the "music director," Asaph. This is recorded in 1 Chronicles 16 which contains his psalm which begins with giving thanks "unto the LORD."
Recently, we heard a timely message on Thanksgiving from this same passage. However, it was interesting that the preacher presented an entire message from these verses <b>withOUT ONE</b> reference to creation! Note that David began his song thanking the LORD, but later asserted exactly WHO this "LORD" is!
<blockquote>"For all the gods of the people are idols: but <b>the LORD made the heavens</b>."</blockquote>
In other words, this God isn't the same as the "gods of the people." He isn't a figment of man's imagination, such as ancient Baal or Zeus, or more modern entities such as "American Idol" or the evolutionist/humanist who exalts himself above the idea of a Divine Creator (thereby essentially making himself a 'god'). These 'gods' lack one main credit: creating the universe. If you can do that, you're qualified for the "job" of God. Only the Creator can speak the entire universe into existence! It is beyond me exactly how this preacher gave an entire message from 1 Chronicles 16 and NOT reference the Creator!
The world, as Pharaoh of Moses' day, is asking: "Who is the LORD that I should obey his voice...?", but WE aren't telling them <b>WHO HE IS</b>! They would rather accept and believe LIES from a pseudoscience called "evolution," than to bring their will in compliance with the design of the Creator...and WE who know the TRUTH let them go on their way. Their hiding from the truth is no more egregious an error than it is for those who KNOW the truth to AVOID preaching and teaching it! This Thanksgiving Day, let us resolve to let someone know the truth that "all the gods of the people are idols: but the LORD made the heavens."cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-62836456947684706022012-07-16T08:40:00.000-07:002012-08-08T05:16:19.606-07:00<b>When Mother Leaves</b>
<blockquote><b>They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us</b>…(1 John 2:19)</blockquote>
The words, Alma Mater, mean “soul’s mother” and are often used to refer to one’s college or university training. Who or what is the mother of one’s soul? Doesn’t our soul (Greek, psuche… “soo-kay”) come from the Creator? An English word that derives from this Greek word is “psychology,” the study of the psuche (soul). However, “alma” is a Spanish word and “mater” is Greek for “mother.” What if one’s “soul mother” leaves the founding principles upon which it was established? What if colleges and universities that originally were built to train men and women for the Gospel ministry actually abandon those they have trained? This is certainly true of ones such as Harvard and Yale which were founded to train people for the ministry. However, we first must remember that colleges and universities are made up of fallible human beings, and human beings change. No institution that consists of humans can avoid change. The only unchangeable One is God, and His Word is an extension of Himself. Therefore, His Word is, and has been, constant throughout the ages. Men seek to change, re-interpret, or eradicate God’s Word, but it still stands! Amen!
Next, we must realize that the foundation for all things rests upon the Word of the Living God! How did He begin this Revelation of Himself to mankind?
<blockquote>“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1)</blockquote>
It is of extreme importance to seek understanding as to why God chose to begin His Record to mankind with the most profound statement of all, that He is the Maker of everything! If God chose to begin His Word with the aspect of Him as Creator, why is there such great neglect of this most fundamental concept in Bible-believing churches? This is easily traced to the many pastors who seem to see little or no need to emphasize creation in their teaching or preaching. Since 2004, the pro-evolutionary "<a href="http://theclergyletterproject.org/">Clergy Letter Project</a>" begun by atheist, Michael Zimmerman, has garnered over 13,000 signatures by clergy affirming their belief in evolution. It is noteworthy to learn that the states with the highest number of clergy who believe in evolution are the states that are the most liberal politically. This underscores the need to present scientific truths that affirm the Biblical accounts (particularly of the Genesis flood).
While many Bible-believing pastors are sincere, having a great desire to see people come to know the LORD and grow in His Word; by and large, Bible-believing men of God are neglecting the greatest fundamental concept that GOD HIMSELF established in His Word concerning Himself…that He is the Creator of all things. This neglect begs the question: “Where and how did these pastors receive their training?”
In short, few pastors we have met over 12 years of creation ministry truly seem to understand the purpose and need in modern times to preach the truth of God as Creator. While they may claim the term “fundamental,” pastors are greatly neglecting this most basic of all fundamentals. We serve with pastors who were trained at a variety of solid (or were once solid) Bible-believing and training schools of higher education. These men are of good character whose lives are founded upon the Word of God. However, we increasingly encounter ones who do not or will not “connect the dots” between the many social issues today and the foundation: that God is the Creator. A Bible college professor once told me (concerning creation ministry), “<b>This is so new</b>.” Since then, his statement has caused me to wonder: “What is so <i>new</i> about Genesis 1:1?" It’s just the beginning of everything that answers the questions of life's most nagging questions, such as "Why am I here?" or "Where did I come from?”
Institutions with which we are the most familiar are not exempt from this neglect. It is truly as if creation ministry is an “odd duck” that everyone must need ignore or avoid, and that we all should just “stick to the Gospel.” Those who believe this fail to study and understand <i>from God's Word</i> that the bedrock foundation of the Gospel IS the Creator/God against Whom all have sinned! In a nutshell, the connection of creation to the Gospel is clearly seen in 1 Corinthians 15:22.
<blockquote>“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”</blockquote>
This verse brings into focus both the genealogical account and a literal first man, Adam. In the same chapter, Christ is called the “last Adam.” This fact presupposes a literal Adam in Genesis, which is critical to the Gospel message. Hence, creation is inseparably and foundationally linked to the Gospel! However, from time to time over the years, I have asked myself “Why?” Why is creation an “odd duck” among fundamental, Bible believers? Why is creation so often ignored by preachers and professors who think of it as “new,” when it is the oldest, most fundamental concept of all Scriptural truth? What's more, we have also been with fundamental, Bible-believing pastors who themselves have been ostracized or ignored by their “alma maters”. What can and should we do when our “soul’s mother” leaves us, or when we are ostracized by others over different issues?
<blockquote>1. <b>Cry out to God</b>.</blockquote>
When David was forsaken by people, he cried to the LORD.
<blockquote>I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge (Psalm 142:4-5)</blockquote>
<blockquote>2. <b>Expose the carnality of men-following</b>.</blockquote>
As is prevalent today in modern Christianity, the early church was taken with personalities. Paul wrote to the Corinthians:
<blockquote>For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:11-13)</blockquote>
<blockquote>“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (I Corinthians 3:4, 5)</blockquote>
Paul did not hesitate to expose the carnality of men-following: “There’s a group of you who follow Apollos…Paul…Cephas…Christ…. Are ye not carnal…?”
What we see in fundamentalism today is this: colleges, large churches, and other “successful” ministries led by high profile men have engendered followings. We then have those who (in a variety of ways) essentially say, “I am of Jones, I am of Horton, I am of Comfort, Robertson, Sexton, Hyles, Schaap, Malone, Chappell,” etc. What follows is that anyone or ministry who doesn’t fit their particular group is ‘out of the loop’ and not worthy of attention or fellowship. Most often, ones not in their “click” are simply ignored. Sometimes they are publicly castigated over issues that could be dealt with privately. It follows that those who are a part of the same “click” are the ones who repeatedly are invited as guest speakers at special events. To those who belong to a group of men-followers, God issues a strong and stinging rebuke: “Are ye not carnal and walk as men?” Sadly, modern fundamentalism is FULL of men-followers.
<blockquote>3. <b>Realize that we are nothing</b>.</blockquote>
What was Paul’s attitude toward others in the ministry? “Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth…” (I Corinthians 3:7). Paul asserted that he is nothing and that God is <i>everything</i>, since HE is the one Who gives “the increase.” The terms are gardening terms. In essence, those who sow, water, or cultivate the seed of God’s Word are NOTHING compared to the One who causes the plant to grow in the first place! The phrase, “giveth the increase,” is but one Greek word that means, “cause to grow.” The Creator of all things chose to compare everyone who ministers to “sowers” or “waterers” and as NOTHING compared to Him Who is EVERYTHING since it is He Who causes faith to grow in the first place! How can we truly be humbled to the point that we realize that we’re nothing? The psalmist wrote:
<blockquote>“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:3, 4)</blockquote>
The message of God’s creation shows us just how small and insignificant we are in the whole of His universe. As “specklets” on this larger “speck” called “earth,” we don’t deserve the least of our Maker’s attention or consideration! It is truly unfathomably amazing that the sovereign LORD of creation would choose to love His creation so much so that He’d take humanity upon Himself for the purpose of bearing the punishment we deserve as sinners!
<blockquote>4. <b>Promote unity in Christ</b>.</blockquote>
“Is Christ divided?” the Apostle Paul asked. This is a rhetorical question. In other words, “No! He cannot be divided. Believers are ONE in Christ, and we are ALL ministers together in Him.” This brings into focus the critical qualification: “in Christ,” for Christ and His Word are inseparable. We cannot simply ignore false teaching as it is contrary to Christ and seeks to divide Christ. Along with a host of false doctrines (e.g. unBiblical belief about salvation, marriage, music, money, etc), “men-following” must be added to the list of things that divide believers into competing groups! All who follow Christ and His Word MUST be in unity. Even ones whose “souls’ mothers” have left or ignored them must seek unity in Christ between each other…no matter what the favorite college or personality may be. Our unity is NOT in a college or a personality, but in Christ! God didn’t establish colleges or universities or other purposeful organizations. He established the church, the body of Christ, which is one body. Anything or anyone that seeks to destroy our unity in Christ is to be exposed and avoided.
Let us work to bring people to unity IN CHRIST apart from man-centered “clicks.” If we do so, perhaps we’ll see a bit of true revival in these modern, troublesome times. Most of all, let's remember that when our “soul’s mother” forsakes is, our Heavenly Father receives us!cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-90243882145532003412012-06-11T05:46:00.001-07:002012-06-11T05:53:27.105-07:00Creation Chronicle - June, 2012May our Creator bless each one of you! We are grateful for each one who prays for us as we labor in the field of creation. We are very grateful to be able to come to you with our newsletter. We trust it’s a blessing!
<blockquote><b>“New” Home</b></blockquote>
After a total of three trips to repair shops this past year, we’ve got a “home” that is better than it was from the factory! What began as preparing our rig to sell ended up causing us to decide to keep “Dutchess” for awhile. After over $8,000 in repairs/upgrades since last July, we are planning to save for the next unit. In this economy, we can’t beat no payment, no interest, and no debt! We are very grateful for how the LORD has supplied through special gifts from individuals to help with these expenses!
<blockquote><b>2012 Sea Theme</b></blockquote>
We’re busily preparing materials for our upcoming VBS meetings that will have a sea theme: “Secrets of the Sea.” The website is up and running…
<a href="http://SecretsoftheSea.org">SecretsoftheSea.org</a>
…with information about water, the flood, and sea creatures such as sharks, whales, and cuttlefish! Through Job, God said to us:
<blockquote>“…speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.” (Job 12:8)</blockquote>
What do the creatures declare?
<blockquote>"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?" (Job 12:9)</blockquote>
<blockquote><b>“Watered-Down” Messages?</b></blockquote>
Not only does the earth and its creatures declare a Creator, but also this God has a great purpose for all that He made--from the physical and spiritual message of water, to the flood, to Biblical creatures such as whales or sea monsters!
Biblically, the flood of Noah speaks not only of past judgment, but also of future judgment and holy living (2 Peter 3:5-11). We need to speak of it as often as we can, and fossils are an excellent tool to use for this! The whale holds an extremely important place in Scripture, as the prophet Jonah was swallowed by one! Jesus referred to the account of Jonah as true (Matt. 12 & 16; Luke 11) and even used it to teach of His coming burial and resurrection.
<blockquote>"…as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall
the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
(Matthew 12:40)</blockquote>
Of all our subjects for this summer, water is the greatest topic of all! Jesus sought out a woman in Samaria who came to a well (John 4:7-26). This setting in the life of Christ is perhaps the most teachable one regarding witnessing, as He used the most common element on earth to bring a sinful woman to Himself! What about water as a tool to teach faithfulness in marriage?
<blockquote>"Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well…Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth"
(Proverbs 5:15-23)</blockquote>
Could the sea be a tool of God to instill fear and trembling in His people? To Jeremiah, God said
<blockquote>"Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree…" (Jeremiah 5:22)</blockquote>
In short, we look forward to preaching the messages of God’s water in IN, TN, SC, VA, NC, & IL (see schedule other side).
<blockquote><b>Weekend at Victory</b></blockquote>
We were richly blessed to serve in a conference at Victory Baptist in Nokesville, VA (Pastor Clinton Owens) April 27-29. We look forward to what the LORD has in store there! Comments like this one from an older gentleman are a HUGE blessing: “I’d heard messages about the rain of Noah’s flood, but I had never heard about the ‘fountains of the great deep.” It is a real privilege to show people evidences that the Bible is true and that they have a reasonable faith! We request your prayers for this church as they seek the LORD’s will in the use of some property.
We are presently looking at plans for the fall and spring. Our 2013 “Secrets of the Sea” conference may be three-fold, as we plan one for the Hickory area, one at Sweethaven Baptist in Portsmouth, VA, and possibly another one in Virginia Beach. Throughout this summer, we ask for prayer as we make decisions and plans for these events and the future.
<blockquote><b>Missin’ the Wild West</b></blockquote>
For some time now, we have already been missing our western trip this year! What we won’t miss are the fuel bills, though. However, from the looks of our schedule next year, we will head west much earlier than normal. We already have a VBS scheduled in Kankakee, IL the week of June 9. Our theme will be “Wilderness Wonders,” and there are even tentative plans for a Creation Camp in WY!
<blockquote><b>The Next Step</b></blockquote>
Recently, we are asking ourselves: “What is the next step?” The need is greater than we can imagine! The recent conflict in our home state of North Carolina over the Marriage Amendment shows just how great the need is for preaching creation and the design of God! In fact, God tells us how homosexuals started down the path:
<blockquote>"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God… but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” (Rom 1:21)</blockquote>
The next verses describe for us the “vain imaginations” and how they degenerate into “men with men working that which is unseemly” (vs. 14) in “leaving the natural use of the woman.” In short, homosexuality is an end result of rejecting God as Creator! “When they knew God” does not refer to knowing Him in salvation, but as Creator:
<blockquote>"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made… so that they are without excuse: (Rom 1:20)
</blockquote>
Even the heathen in “deepest, darkest Africa” are “without excuse” because of creation! So, we can help homosexuals out of their perversion by pointing them to the design of their Creator! They may not be open to truth, but we can speak it “in love…” (Eph. 4:15). We ask for your prayers as we seek to influence our culture by presenting the foundational truths of creation, and as we seek the LORD’s direction for the next step. Please keep our itinerary handy and remember us in your prayers. May the LORD bless you!
<blockquote>Remembering the Creator,
Jeff & Heather</blockquote>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-58229920932815194962012-05-07T10:44:00.001-07:002012-05-07T10:44:11.222-07:00Secrets of the SeaHow important is water and the creatures that live in the water? They are <b>extremely</b> important, both physically and spiritually. The account of Jonah and the whale was referred to by Jesus as a literal event (Matthew 12:40-41), and He used it to speak of His death, burial, and resurrection. He used a well of water to minister to a woman (John 4) and to speak of "living water." In Proverbs, God used water to illustrate the physical faithfulness we should have for our mates.
<blockquote>Proverbs 5:22 "Drink waters out of thine own cistern..."</blockquote>
Water consists of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. While hydrogen and oxygen are extremely flammable, when combined just right, they put out fire! When temperatures drop below freezing, water doesn't condense and become heavier like many other substances. It expands and floats! This is critical to life on earth, as it allows fish to exist in a lake with frozen water on top. Water is necessary for our daily lives. The proper amount of water benefits colon health, hair and skin health, weight loss, clarity of thought, and so much more. What is the proper amount? Science tells us that one-half our body weight in ounces is what we need every day...more if we expend excess water through exercise. To the contrary, lack of water can create excessive thirst, fatigue, headaches, dry mouth, muscle weakness, dizziness, or lightheadedness. In short, water plays a critical role throughout Scripture and in our daily lives. We often take both physical water and the Water of God's Word for granted, but we need both throughout the day. Are you thirsty? Come to the Creator for living water!
<blockquote>Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters...</blockquote>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5108634002834146037.post-74947879545044811052012-01-14T13:22:00.000-08:002012-01-14T13:22:49.276-08:00Ron Paul filesFor those who are curious about Ron Paul...here is some information about his positions and practices concerning moral, military, and monetary issues. Make sure to confirm this via the links at the end of each point. We received this data from conservative watchdog, Gary Bauer, president of Campaign for Working Families.<br />
<br />
<b>Ron Paul: Hostile To Our Military</b><br />
<br />
Ron Paul has teamed with far-left liberal Barney Frank (D-MA) to propose massive reductions in military spending, far beyond those Barack Obama is imposing. Obama is instituting approximately $500 billion in cuts to the Pentagon's budget over the next ten years. In 2010, Paul and Frank pushed a proposal by the Sustainable Defense Task Force calling for cuts of $1 trillion. (i) Not surprisingly, most members on the Sustainable Defense Task Force have connections to George Soros-funded organizations (ii) and other radical groups like the Democratic Socialists of America. (iii)<br />
<br />
Paul routinely refers to America as an "empire" and insists we are "occupying" over one hundred countries. Conjuring images of mercenaries, Paul's obvious insinuation is that our soldiers are "imperial occupiers." But as Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal has noted:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"The bulk of U.S. forces deployed overseas … are stationed in just seven countries: Afghanistan, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the U.K. and Italy, all of which are home to at least 9,000 troops. Aside from Afghanistan and Iraq (which may soon drop off that list) all of these are World War II and Cold War legacies. Another five countries—Spain, Turkey, Belgium (the headquarters of NATO), Bahrain and Djibouti—have between 1,000 and 1,500 troops. The next largest deployments are Portugal (703), Qatar (555) Honduras (403) and Greece (338)." (iv)</blockquote><br />
Are we "occupying" our allies who invited and welcome our military presence? To get 100+ "occupied" countries is difficult unless you include the small Marine detachments protecting U.S. embassies.<br />
<br />
In May 2010, Paul was also one of just five House Republicans to vote to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, thereby allowing open homosexuality in the military. (v)<br />
<br />
<b>Ron Paul: Hostile To Israel</b><br />
Examples of Paul's hostility toward Israel are almost too numerous to list. But in 2009, Ron Paul was the only Republican and one of just five members of the House -- along with Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) -- to oppose House Resolution 34, condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization and expressing America's support for Israel's right to defend itself from repeated rocket attacks from Gaza.vi As an example of Paul's warped mindset, he took to the House floor to oppose House Resolution 34 and stated that Hamas was "encouraged and started by Israel," a gross misinterpretation of historical events.vii Hamas was started by the Muslim Brotherhood and its charter calls for the destruction of Israel. (viii)<br />
<br />
<b>Ron Paul: Hostile To Ronald Reagan</b><br />
In 1987, as he was preparing his third party presidential bid, Paul formally resigned from the Republican Party and blamed, of all people, Ronald Reagan for his leaving. Here is an excerpt of Paul's letter:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"I want to totally disassociate myself from the policies that have given us unprecedented deficits, massive monetary inflation, indiscriminate military spending, an irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy, zooming foreign aid, the exaltation of international banking, and the attack on our personal liberties and privacy. …There is no credibility left for the Republican Party as a force to reduce the size of government. That is the message of the Reagan years. …I therefore resign my membership in the Republican Party and enclose my membership card." (ix)</blockquote><br />
Ronald Reagan is widely credited for staring down the Soviet Union, rebuilding our military and our economy after the disastrous Carter years. He left office with a 63% approval rating. Once again, Ron Paul was in the minority. What exactly was Paul referring to when he referred to Reagan's "irrational and unconstitutional foreign policy"? In condemning Ronald Reagan's "indiscriminate military spending," we can see now that his teaming up with radical leftist and conservative-hater Barney Frank to slash the Defense budget is nothing new. Paul has been trying to slash defense spending for years!<br />
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In 1988, during his campaign for the White House as the nominee of the Libertarian Party, Paul said this about Ronald Reagan: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>"I think we can further thank Ronald Reagan of course, for doing a good job. He certainly did a good job pointing out in 1980 the fallacies of the Democratic liberal agenda. He certainly did a good job on following up, showing the disaster of the conservative agenda as well." (x)</blockquote><br />
<b>Ron Paul: Hostile To Values Issues</b><br />
While Ron Paul says he is pro-life and presents himself as a pro-family conservative, he has frequently voted against pro-life, pro-family legislation. Consider the following examples:<br />
o 1999 -- voted against the Child Custody Protect Act, which would make it illegal to take a minor girl across state lines to get an abortion in violation of her home state's parental notification laws. (xi)<br />
<br />
o 1999 -- voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which would make it a separate crime to injure or kill an unborn child in any assault against a pregnant woman. (xii)<br />
o 1999 -- voted against the Pain Relief Promotion Act (anti-euthanasia legislation) (xiii)<br />
o 1999 -- voted against the Religious Liberty Protection Act (xiv)<br />
o 1999 -- voted against school choice legislation (xv)<br />
o 2001 -- again voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (xvi)<br />
o 2001 -- voted against the Human Cloning Prohibition Act (xvii)<br />
o 2001 -- voted against school choice legislation (xviii)<br />
o 2002 -- again voted against the Child Custody Protection Actx (ix)<br />
o 2003 -- again voted against the Human Cloning Prohibition Act (xx)<br />
o 2003 -- voted against school choice legislation -- for the third time (xxi)<br />
o 2004 -- voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act -- for the third time (xxii)<br />
o 2004 -- voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment (xxiii)<br />
o 2005 -- voted against the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (reaffirming state parental notification laws) (xxiv)<br />
o 2006 -- again voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment (xxv)<br />
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Ron Paul left the Republican Party in 1988 to run for president as the candidate of the pro-choice Libertarian Party. At that time, the Libertarian Party platform supported "the right of women to make a personal choice regarding the termination of pregnancy." (xxvi)<br />
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<b>MISCELLANEOUS</b><br />
Ron Paul has suggested that the 9/11 investigation was a cover-up and called for a new investigation headed by left-wing radical Dennis Kucinich.xxvii<br />
<br />
Ron Paul opposed the killing of Osama bin Laden and said that if he had been president he would not have ordered the SEAL raid into Pakistan. (xxviii) This position, like many others, puts <br />
<br />
Paul in a very small minority. According to a Gallup poll, 93% of Americans supported the killing of bin Laden, while just 5% opposed it. (xxix)<br />
<br />
In 2008, when virtually all conservatives were working to prevent the election of Barack Obama, Ron Paul refused to endorse the Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, and instead told his supporters to vote for one of four third party candidates.(xxx) <br />
<br />
One of them was Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney -- an anti-Semitic, anti-Israel socialist who accused George W. Bush of allowing the 9/11 attacks to happen. (xxxi)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/107229-why-we-must-reduce-military-spending-reps-barney-frank-and-ron-paul">(i)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2012/01/ron-pauls-soros-defense-plan.html">(ii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://biggovernment.com/tloudon/2012/01/08/blinded-by-the-left-how-marxists-wrote-ron-pauls-defense-cuts-plan/">(iii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904060604576572771371103988.html">(iv)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll317.xml">(v)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll010.xml">(vi)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/27/paul-hamas-was-encouraged-and-really-started-by-israel/">(vii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas">(viii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://theiowarepublican.com/2011/ron-paul%E2%80%99s-reagan-revisionism/">(ix)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-spokane/ron-paul-1988-reagan-showed-the-disaster-of-the-conservative-agenda">(x)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll261.xml">(xi)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll465.xml">(xii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll544.xml">(xiii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll299.xml">(xiv)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll521.xml">(xv)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2001/roll089.xml">(xvi)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2001/roll304.xml">(xvii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2001/roll135.xml">(xviii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll097.xml">(xix)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll039.xml">(xx)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll478.xml">(xxi)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll031.xml">(xxii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2004/roll484.xml">(xxiii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll144.xml">(xxiv)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll378.xml">(xxv)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/04/us/major-libertarian-candidate-opposes-party-stand-on-abortion.html">(xxvi)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2011/12/20/yes-virginia-ron-paul-is-a-911-truther-and-a-coddler-of-racists/">(xxvii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/12/ron-paul-ordered-bin-laden-raid/">(xxviii)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/147395/Americans-Back-Bin-Laden-Mission-Credit-Military-CIA.aspx">(xxvix)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/09/ron-paul-to-announce-presidential-endorsement-plans/">(xxx)</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34565-2002Apr11">(xxxi)</a>cfmmrjeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04762302846861743671noreply@blogger.com0