Nature's Cathederal

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

- Jesus of Nazareth

Are You Saved?

I just watched an excellent sermon which I have embedded below. The main question that it asks is "Are you saved?" And then it gives an excellent, biblical way to tell. The video lasts about 48 minutes. It will take a while to watch it, but I thoroughly recommend it even if you are pretty certain that you are.



If Billy Graham believes that probably less than 5% of the people who came forward at one of his crusades really got saved, then perhaps it would be worth your time to set aside an hour and ask yourself some penetrating questions.

A Very Important Message

This is a message that is targeted primarily to my Christian readers, but should be of benefit to anyone who reads it. It is largely an excerpt of a post that I wrote for the Conspiracy of Kindness blog, but I believe that its message is important enough to duplicate it here.

Very few Christians would deny that God still speaks to His people. This communication can come in various forms: from general impressions, to visions, to dreams, and to a voice that isn't heard with our ears but is instead discerned by our spirits.

One of my friends has a particular fluency in their communication with God. Recently, in the midst of a conversation that this individual was having with God about a situation that they are dealing with, God shared something that I believe is very important for many to hear. Based on my experience with this individual, my knowledge of their understanding of the subject matter of the message, and the context in which it was given, I believe that this is a bona fide message from the Lord.

The Bible tells us to "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment." While many in traditional and even evangelical churches are uncomfortable with calling someone a prophet today or even in allowing that prophecies are still given today, I hope that you will not be offended by this term. A prophet is merely someone who tells others what God has told them. It is our job as priests in the Kingdom of God to consult with the Holy Spirit to test the prophecy. It is with this caveat that I submit this message for your consideration:

If you have an abundance don't invest it in the stock market. That's going to crash later this year. It will be a lot like 1929, but for those whose investment is primarily in the Kingdom there won't be a problem.

Wealth, as America knows it is almost over.

Dave Ramsey's teachings about mutual funds work well in this season - this system, but the economic system is about to change dramatically. The same rules will not apply.

I'm getting ready for the great wealth transfer. Many will be saved. Those in debt will suffer the most. Many will lose everything. "But those who know their God will do mighty exploits."

Let me begin by explaining something of the context in which this message was given. What I have shared was an excerpt from a larger conversation between my friend and God. There was nothing before this in the conversation that even made mention of the stock market, although financial matters had been discussed. This is one of the reasons that I believe that this message is from God.

A second reason that I believe that this message is authentic is that my friend has no knowledge or understanding of the stock market or the economic factors that drive it. This individual has (as was indicated in the prophecy) listened to Dave Ramsey, but that is the extent of their knowledge. In fact, my friend hardly even listens to or reads the news. So I don't believe that this is an idea that could have come from this individual's own concerns about the economy or knowledge about it.

Where does this leave us then? One of the purposes of prophecy is to encourage God's people. The entirety of the context of this message served to strongly encourage my friend.

Another purpose of prophecy is to warn God's people of sin and/or impending events. Proverbs tells us "The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it." and "A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, the naive proceed and pay the penalty."

I am no financial expert. I cannot tell you what to do in response to this message. Perhaps it would be wise to study the events of the Great Depression and look specifically to the areas that thrived in the midst of the collapse of the Stock Market. I have heard that when one type of investment falters there are often other areas that do well. This may be a time for God's people to be able to prosper because of this warning.

Perhaps it would also be prudent to move funds from stock market based investments to investments with guaranteed interest. (I'm thinking particularly of folks with 401-ks and that sort of thing.) However, once again, I don't really know what I am talking about. Your best bet would be to ask God what you should do with your investments.

I would also encourage you to ask God about expediting the payoff of any home equity lines and about refinancing your home if the mortgage is not locked into a long-term fixed rate.

Can I guarantee that this is a word from the Lord? No. But I felt strongly enough that it was that I felt a responsibility to warn as many people as I could about it. Please pray and ask God to show you whether this prophecy is true and to tell you what you should do about it.

One last thought... Christians are not to be motivated by fear. This message should not cause fear, but should encourage us to praise God for giving us a warning before this event takes place.

If you are heavily in debt this may cause you some distress. That is understandable, but do not operate out of fear. Cry out to God in repentance over your situation and ask Him how to fix it. Allow your faith to rise up and trust your God to take care of you and your needs. I can attest that He does and He will. That is not to say that you may not suffer loss, but God will not allow the righteous to be forsaken or their children to beg for bread.

For any of my non-Christian friends who are reading this blog, I hope that this information will benefit you too. If it does, my sincerest prayer is that you will give glory to God for giving you this warning and that you will submit your lives to Him because of His goodness. He truly loves you and wants the very best for you.

God Is Good

2007 was a pretty rough year. I spent a lot of it like Elijah, waiting for ravens to come with my provision. As I have crossed into 2008, things haven't changed much to speak of, although God is still sending ravens (figuratively, that is.)

One of the keys that I have been working on for the past 12 months or so is that God is faithful and trustworthy. He won't allow us to go under. I have seen His provision for me over the past months time and time again. Why is it, I wonder, that even after His consistent support I can still become fearful about how my needs will be met? Foolish, foolish, foolish heart!

I can honestly say that I am getting better at dealing with the stress of this lesson, but every so often, I have to run back to Him for grace to overcome the nagging fear. Still, I don't guess there is anything wrong with getting grace. He told us to do it:

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
- Hebrews 4:16

I just think that it is awesome that God has given us a tool to use to help us live holy lives. I call it "grace grenades." Perhaps you are familiar with the armor of God passage that is found in Ephesians 6:10-18? Well, I have found that "grace grenades" complete the ensemble. Sadly, I do not have time to elucidate on this topic tonight. Perhaps I will be able to revisit it in detail soon.

The bottom line is - GOD IS GOOD. He has proven Himself to me many, many times.

Thanks, God!

An Interesting Discussion

I was at jazz band practice tonight. When we got done, somehow we started talking about evolution. The general consensus was that it takes far more faith to believe that all of the things that we see came from one great pot of primordial stew.

I recently engaged a debate about evolution on a friend's blog. Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish my thoughts in the conflict. I had pondered my responses, but was distracted from posting them due to all of the drama surrounding the holidays. Others had joined the fray before I got back to my opponent's comments, and I have never gotten back to have my final say.

One thing did come of having others say many of the things that I could have said. My suspicions were confirmed. It is sadly predictable the responses that you get in such a discussion. And it is clear that my opponent wasn't interested in changing his mind. The odd thing to me is that he had invested so much energy into reading articles that refuted his position. Why bother reading the opposition's notes if you aren't interested in changing your mind?

Evolutionists always have to try to set the table to their benefit. They want peer reviewed articles to back up intelligent design claims when the scientific community has made such an animal nearly impossible to acquire. Scientific method cannot prove or disprove the existence of God - a non-corporal being. The hypothesis, "God created everything that we see," cannot be tested. There are no videos of the event and no one knows the way to God's house - if it exists. (It does, by the way.)

They also want to mock at the scientific problems, or, as my opponent called them "Intelligent design talking points," associated with evolution, such as the problem posed by Newton's 4th law of thermodynamics. Mockery does not resolve the problem or show how the "talking point" is flawed. If the law of entropy states that a system moves towards greater disorder instead of greater order, then how can evolution - which asserts that from a big disordered puddle of cosmic goo organized life spontaneously emerged - be true? Do we then opt to believe a scientific theory over a scientific law? Certainly not! Evolutionists are the ones who want science on their side - put up or shut up! Evolutionists also cannot answer some of the problems with the fossil record. They cannot, for example explain how some fossils have been found spanning several strata of the record.

I am sure that a discussion of the statistical improbability of the simultaneous, spontaneous eruption of the complexity of life and matter that we have just on planet earth would win no concession either. Yet to me the very complexity of even the simplest virus is astounding. Everything in all of creation is infinitely detailed and complex. We continually discover more and more complexities on both a micro and a macro scale. New technologies are revealing deeper and deeper layers that have never been discovered before.

Statistically speaking, for such complexity to have spontaneously developed in even one species would have been so infinitesimally probable as to be deemed impossible. How much more so for the diversity of species that we find on planet Earth? Shouldn't there be a gradual filling of the fossil record for each kingdom? Yet how is it that the record shows an instantaneous diversity of plants and animals? And for it to have occurred so many times on one planet would seem to indicate that it should have happened on the other planets in our solar system. Certainly at least one life form would have evolved on each of these planets if it happened so readily here!

I also know that it would be of absolutely no benefit to point to the Bible as proof of Intelligent Design. For someone who doesn't believe in a Creator, the Creator's Book will carry no authority - at least not for now. The Bible makes some claims about how life came about on this planet. It also makes claims about how all of the other things that we observe around us came into being. The Bible tells us that God created all of it for His pleasure and that it was good.

I have known Christians who are avowed evolutionists, and I have known Christians on the other end of the spectrum who take the Bible at face value regarding the Creation account and literally believe its claims about the creation. I am pretty firmly established with the latter view. (I know you are all shocked.) Most of the Christians I know fit somewhere along that spectrum. But I have never known any Christians who would claim that evolution occurred without any Divine involvement.

It seems to me that most of the folks who buy into evolution lock, stock, and barrel are the folks who really hope there isn't a God. They don't want to believe in God, so they have to erect an anti-theology to support that hope. I find it interesting to note that many of the same people who promote evolution and its partner, secular humanism, are distressed when the sinful actions endorsed by these philosophies lead to negative consequences. I am even more perplexed by their stubborn insistence that they will not believe in God or endorse any exercise that purports the existence of God - even in the face of overwhelming evidence.

The Bible tells us in Romans 1:

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

The Bible says that the evidence of the Creator is hardwired into the creation. How sad that some refuse to see it. Isn't it telling that "Global Warming" and the famines, drought, pestilence, severe weather, and earthquakes supposedly brought on by it are being blamed on man's use of carbon-based fuels and incandescent light bulbs (which our Congress has scheduled to be outlawed in 7 years) instead of man's sin? Funny how "primitive" people seem to know when God is mad and how "sophisticated" people don't.

As I have been reading in Genesis lately I have noticed something that I never did before: when Adam and Eve sinned they weren't afraid because they had broken their covenant with God. They were afraid because they were naked. They totally didn't get the point. It is pretty clear that we're no different today - we're blaming ourselves for "Global Warming" when what we're really guilty of is worshiping something other than the one, true God. In the religion of secular humanism, that god is man.

Another thing that I have learned in my recent reading is that sin has a predictable life cycle in a society. From the time that sin takes root in the society to the point that it bears its full fruit of death can take hundreds of years, but, just as surely as a dropped object will fall earthward, sin will bear that fruit if repentance does not come. I frankly believe that all of this talk about "Global Warming" is hogwash designed to line the pockets of a few well-placed liars and extortionists. However, if any of their data proves true, I believe that we are merely witnessing the ripening of the fruit of our sin - not the result of driving to work.

It is likely that in the debate between evolution and creation that someone is wrong. If he is wrong, the person who believes in creation suffers little loss other than the loss of a little pride. However, if when God shows up one day to prove the creationist right, the evolutionist may pay dearly for his miscalculation.

More Wonderful Welcome Wet Weather

Like my alliteration? Give me a break! It's after 3:30 in the morning!

We've had more wonderful rain. I wish it could have been for longer, but it has once again been a good, soaking rain. The verdict is in - looks like prayer works. No apologies to the Atlanta Freethought Society. God is real. God controls everything. Deal with it.

I know I'm busting AFS's chops a little bit, but I really want them to see how good God is. Life is tough and then you die. It's that way for everyone Christian and pagan alike, but it certainly isn't equal.

I've tried life without God and life with God, and WITH is infinitely better. If I could get over myself and my hangups and fears and unbelief there is this incredible ABUNDANT life that is available to me. I hope that I am able to achieve that place before I die! LONG before I die. But even if I don't, what is waiting for me afterwards as a Christian is ASTOUNDINGLY GOOD.

Not so much for non-Christians. It is sad that some will actively choose to reject God and His great gift to us and choose to suffer God's justifiable wrath. Others will apathetically follow the herd down the path of least resistance right over the cliff. If you're on the "wrath" side of the coin right now, don't be offended. God is extremely patient and is offering the chance for you to be whole and free and joyful. All you have to do is accept the gift. You don't have to clean yourself up first - He takes care of that later, you just come. I cannot understand how someone could turn such a great deal down, but the Bible says that many will. It's tragic really.

If you haven't accepted God's gift of salvation, please do. I assure you that you'll be glad you did.

In the meantime, I'm gonna keep praying for rain!

I Wonder If It Rained Today In Georgia

The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." - God

I really meant to write about this this morning, but I wasn't able to get to it before now. Today was the day that the Governor of Georgia, Sonny Purdue, lead a prayer for rain on behalf of the state of Georgia. I was praying right along with him (albeit from a several hours' drive away). I don't know if they got any rain in Georgia, but we got a little here.

There was an article about the impending prayer meeting last night that really ticked me off.

Ga. Governor Prays For Rain Amid Drought
By GREG BLUESTEIN, Associated Press Writer Mon Nov 12, 6:15 PM ET


The tone of the article was incredibly cynical and arrogant.

As Georgia descends deeper into drought, Gov. Sonny Perdue has ordered water restrictions, launched a legal battle and asked President Bush for help. On Tuesday, the governor will call on a higher power (emphasis mine).

He will join lawmakers and ministers on the steps of the state Capitol to pray for rain.

While public prayer vigils might raise eyebrows in other parts of the nation, they are mostly shrugged off in the Bible Belt, where turning to the heavens for help is common and sometimes even politically expedient (emphasis mine).

"Christianity has more of a place in the culture here than in some other region," said Ray Van Neste, a professor of Christian studies at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. "And it's only natural, in a way, for the public to pray for rain." (Emphases mine.)

First Mr. Bluestein refuses to acknowledge that they are praying to God. No, to him it is just some nebulous "higher power." Then he goes on to suggest that what Governor Purdue is advocating violates the mythical "separation of church and state." Then he suggests that the Governor is merely using this prayer as an opportunity to grandstand and win votes. (I wonder if he would lay this charge against Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama with their newfound religious zeal?) After all, in the poor little backwards South they aren't sophisticated enough to realize that rain doesn't come as a result of prayer, right? It's just a cultural thing. There's nothing to it. It means nothing.

WHAT CONDESCENDING, EQUINE ORGANIC FERTILIZER!

Bluestein went on to say "In the U.S., public expressions of faith are often discouraged as a breach of the separation of church and state."

He makes it sound like it has always been thus. Down through our history Americans have had the good sense to know when they have run afoul of God's favor. Days of called fasting and prayer have been COMMON since the 1600s. Every single year there is a National Day Of Prayer, and every single year our nation celebrates Thanksgiving. That's right, THANKSGIVING, NOT turkey day. Don't get me started on that.

I find it telling that Bluestein didn't find any Christians to talk to. He did, however, manage to find a group of folks that were opposed to the prayer meeting, though.

The loudest opposition to Perdue's move has come from the Atlanta Freethought Society, a secular group that is expecting about a dozen of its 125 members to protest at the vigil.

"The governor can pray when he wants to," said Ed Buckner, who is organizing the protest. "What he can't do is lead prayers in the name of the people of Georgia."…

Well, I reckon he did anyway. Since the Atlanta "Freethought" Society didn't want any rain prayers offered on their behalf, I decided to pray that Governor Purdue's prayers for rain wouldn't benefit any of the Society's members one iota. I guess it might make an impression if everyone around them got rain but their land stayed parched and dry!

I didn't realize it, but the Governor of Alabama has also called for prayer to end the famine.

Perdue won't be the first governor to hold a call for public prayer during the epic drought gripping the Southeast. Alabama Gov. Bob Riley issued a proclamation declaring a week in July as "Days of Prayer for Rain" to "humbly ask for His blessings and to hold us steady in times of difficulty."

My hat's off to both Governors, who, at least in this case, have proven themselves courageous and wise enough to know from where rain comes. Good job, fellas. My prayers are with you. Oh yeah, and thanks, Lord, for the rain!

This Is More Like It

I'm glad someone finally had the guts to do this. Lots of people talk a good game about how religious they are and how important prayer is to them, but how many politicians are actually willing to call for prayer to end a famine? Once upon a time it wasn't so rare, now they are like hens' teeth.

Georgia Plans Service to Pray for Rain

What to do when the rain won't come? If you're Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, you pray.

The governor will host a prayer service next week to ask for relief from the drought gripping the Southeast.

"The only solution is rain, and the only place we get that is from a higher power," Perdue spokesman Bert Brantley said on Wednesday.

Perdue's office has sent out invitations to leaders from several faiths for the service, set for Tuesday

Good job, Governor Perdue. I'll be joining my prayers with yours.

Time To Duck...

It hasn't rained at my home since my birthday over a month ago. The drought is so severe here in North Carolina that they don't have a more severe category to use to classify it. This is the driest that it has ever been here since they have kept records. This is what they would call a famine in biblical days.

The interesting thing about famines is that they don't come around for no reason. According to the Bible famines come as a wake up call from God to turn from our sins and cry out to Him. Here's the problem: no one seems to be calling out to God. Now, I know that I have a number of Christian friends who are praying for rain and even a few who are acknowledging that this seems to be a judgment from the Lord's hand. However, the numbers of people who seem willing to acknowledge this are small in comparison to those who want to scream "global warming!"

Today in the news I have heard about massive, violent, unseasonable tornadoes and thunderstorms all across the country. There is a major storm in Washington state right now that is threatening a floating bridge, and there has been an overabundance of rain in Texas of all places.

The thing that really concerns me is that the Bush administration is beginning to press Israel for a "Palestinian" peace deal again. They even have some people in Israel talking of giving up part of Jerusalem to the terrorists in exchange for peace. Just the other day Secretary Of State Rice declared that now is the time for a Palestinian state. I shudder. The last time we got involved in pushing Israel to give up its rightful homeland, ceded to them by God, Katrina devestated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, killing thousands.

In fact, historically, every time that the United States has pushed Israel to give up land it has ended very badly for us.

So right now we have catestrophic (historically associated with judgment) weather patterns plaguing us. Our economy is on very shaky ground with the dollar growing weaker almost daily and the banking industry suffering the consequences of the poorly thought out loans that they made during the housing boom. Businesses are run by CEOs with short term mentality and big time greed. We even saw swarms of insects attack our national passtime in the Cleveland and New York game! The next thing in the litany of judgments is pestilence and it may have been unleashed as MRSA claims more and more lives and begins to spread further and further. After that comes war and defeat.

I wish I knew what to repent for. The problem is not actually trying to find one thing to repent for - it is that there are so many things that we are guilty of! As a people we are perverse, murderous, idolatrous, greedy, self-absorbed, non-loving, rebellious, faithless, baby-killing, self-worshipping swindlers. I am reminded of a passage from Jeremiah that says, "'Should I not punish them for this?' declares the LORD. 'Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?'" (Jeremiah 5:9 and 5:29 and 9:9) These words make me tremble. I pray that they make you tremble as well.

God please forgive us! Please cause us to repent! And please turn your anger from this land.

I believe it is time to duck.

One Of Those Days...

I hate to lose. I mean I REALLY HATE to lose. You might not know it from my mild mannered alter ego but it is very true. In fact, deep down, I'm so competitive that I don't much like the fellow I become when I lose. Over the years I have developed ways to cope with this dark little me. Most of them have involved locking competitive me away in a dark dungeon and not giving him an opportunity to come out and do his thing.

It is a poor solution, really, because I have allowed myself to shut away one of my most masculine traits merely because it is dangerous. If you subscribe to John Eldredge's view of masculinity, you know that that is a cardinal sin. But I digress. See, this post isn't about how I have managed this aspect of my life so much as it is about the spiritual warfare that Christians find themselves engaged in constantly and more particularly about the warfare in which I found myself yesterday.

One of the neat things about being a Christian is the foregone certainty that we are on a winning team. While this is true, it is also very true that our sanctification doesn't occur overnight. The reality is that we struggle against our flesh for the remainder of our days. Until we die we will contend against its desires. Our enemy does his part too to make sure that we trip often.

As a young Christian I had great success in the battle against the flesh initially. Quite a few of my more fleshly habits dropped to the wayside very easily. However, there came a time in my life (and from my observation the lives of all Christians) where the Lord allowed the enemy to start fighting back. This generally comes as a shock to new believers, and the real hard work of sanctification is begun.

Over the years you become more accustomed to the fight. Indeed, you can even get in the habit of winning these skirmishes with the enemy. Then God takes you to a new place where the demons that you are battling have entrenched themselves deep in the areas of your personality that are so close to your perception of who you are that it feels like the guns of heaven, the blasts of the enemy, and even your own weapons are turned upon you. The very things that we are fighting are the attitudes and mechanisms that we have used to protect ourselves from the wounds that we have received throughout our lives. These defenses were adopted as means of the flesh to survive the awful attack of an enemy who sought to destroy us even before we came to know Jesus the Savior. The difficulty of this part of the fight is that the habits are so deeply ingrained that we often do them without even realizing that we are doing them.

Such is the battle that I have been fighting. Recently, the Lord began to show me that the very root of all of the sinful manifestations that I have been resisting for all of my Christian life are bound up in one thing: FEAR. He has begun to show me through the Scriptures that if we truly know Him and truly understand the relationship that He wants to have with us then we need fear nothing. When we have acknowledged Him as Lord and are submitted to His will for our lives then we have nothing to fear in all of creation.

I pretty well have this down in my mind. I understand the theology behind it. I assent to the logic of it. I believe it is right. And yet I discovered yesterday that there is a big difference between knowledge and true belief. Knowing your enemy does not guarantee victory over him.

Yesterday I had to deal with a financial matter that had been looming for several months. I knew that I needed to work on it, but really wasn't that afraid of it. I wasn't afraid, that is, until I sat down to start working on it. It was then that the enemy hit me with everything that he had, and I found myself resorting to all of my old tricks. In short, I totally blew it, even though I knew what was going on, and even though I knew to fight, I found myself totally overwhelmed.

I hate losing. And by God's grace, in the next battle it will be the enemy licking his wounds, not me.

Quote Of the Day

"Curiosity requires courage. You must be willing to ask questions even when they threaten everyone around you. Faith is more than believing; it is an act of courage, a bold grasping of God's truth. Faith is a wrestling match with God, an intense struggle with truth in an attempt to squeeze every bit of knowledge out of it. Curiosity is the shape of our hunger for God. We question God without apology; we march into the presence of God bringing our armfuls of questions--without fear--because God is not afraid of them. People are afraid. Institutions are afraid. But God is not."
- Mike Yaconelli, Dangerous Wonder