Friday, January 28, 2011

We need more than food to survive!

It can be tempting to just see life as purely a physical thing and to ignore the other dimensions that we know in our heart exist. There are some people who would say that unless they can see something they do not believe it exists. This is quite a short sighted argument even on a basic level. I have never been to Australia but I know it exists because people whose judgement I trust have been there and described it to me.

I believe in God and I believe in a literal heaven (and hell to be honest). Now I have never seen God or been in heaven but I am persuaded that there must be a greater power, a designer and originator by the evidence I see in the physical world. However I would be totally in the dark as to what God and heaven are like if I did not have the record of the Bible and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Any thinking person will be need to be convinced that the Bible is a trustworthy document and that Jesus Christ was and is genuine in his character and claims before they will believe what they have to say. If you are reading this and are interested to discover the truth then have a look at the following websites josh.org or rzim.org (these are not wacky extremist websites but rational and logical explanations of the truth). Don't look at them if you have already decided what you believe and have a closed mind, they are only for people who really are prepared to face up to the truth.

May God bless you this week.

Stephen

If you would like to listen to my podcast at seekthetruth.org.uk I think you would find it interesting.
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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Global Warning

In 2008 the warning lights were flashing regarding a global economic meltdown. Big players in the financial market such as Lehman’s felt the full impact of the crash, filing the biggest bankruptcy in American History. People like Bernard Madoff and his Ponzi scheme were ruined as Stock Markets fell exposing the greatest fraud in American history. Wikipedia quotes On December 10, 2008, he suggested to his sons, Mark and Andrew, that the firm pay out over 170 million dollars in bonuses two months ahead of schedule, from $200 million in assets that the firm still had.[12] According to the complaint, Mark and Andrew, reportedly unaware of the firm's pending insolvency, confronted their father, asking him how the firm could pay bonuses to employees if it could not pay investors. Madoff then admitted that he was "finished", and that the asset management arm of the firm was in fact a Ponzi scheme. Mark and Andrew then reported him to the authorities.’ The authorities found him guilty and sent him to prison for 150 years and to pay $170 billion in restitution money. Warnings were ignored in the Banking world resulting in major Banks failing and national ecconomies floundering, calling for large bailout funds from the IMF. This mis-management has resulted in higher taxation and unemployment for many people.

Global Warming is another con to extract more money from the world’s populace, to service hairbrain schemes of politicians and scientists to control the enviroment. When will these folk acknowledge that the future well being of planet earth is in God’s hands and not mans’. Hebrews 1:3 says of Christ, “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

Evolutionists are mainly atheists so do not believe that God is in control. We have just celebrated Christmas, but many people do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, or the fact that God became incarnate when Christ was born at Bethlehem. All of us are free to believe whatever we choose and as the choice is not a complicated multi-choice option but a straight forward either/or choice. I have long since realised that the choice to believe in the ‘Big Bang’ theory is not an intellectual choice but a moral choice. How anyone can believe that order came out of chaos by random selection (or chance), they need to get back to the drawing board to examine the blueprint again. Darwin used the expression, ‘the simple cell ’, which was a gross underestimation of the complexity of the building block of life. Our DNA chain is such a wonderful mechanism to maintain our bodies, with self repair functions built in and personal physical identifyable features, exclusively ours, yet carried from generation to generation. People do not want to acknowledge God as creator because it places them accountable to Him, so in the words of Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

Before the Saviour went to the cross He was in the Temple at Jerusalem with His disciples, and they were marveling at the magnificent structure. He said to them, “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” He warned them of what would happen in AD70 when Titus destroyed the Temple and raised it to the ground. They then proceeded to the Mount of Olives and Christ answered their questions, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”

The Olivet Discourse is an outline of coming events that point to the return of the Lord to earth to establish His thousand-year reign, commonly known as the Millennial Kingdom. He told them warnings that are global in affect, things that affect the universe, the atmospheric heavens, the earth and its nations, earthquakes and famines etc. These are not going to be brought about by global warming, but are global warnings, the preludes of coming judgement culminating in the Great Tribulation, Matt.24:21 reads, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” Noah’s flood is mentioned in the chapter, reminding them of social conditions of that day, which will be present, prior to, and through that seven-year period. Three verses warn of individuals opposed to God, v.5 says, “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Then in v.11 “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many,” and v.15 “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” These quotes point to the arising of a person who is described under different names. He is the ‘man of sin’ of 2Thess. 2:3, the ‘beast out of the sea’ in Revelation 13. This person will take control of the world’s finances, pointing to a world bank where no one can buy or sell without his mark upon their person. He also will propagate the lie that the natural disasters taking place, prophesied in Revelation ch’s 6 to 19 are the consequences of global warming, and not the foretold judgements of God.

The gospel message can produce global warming of a different kind. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Believing and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as one’s Saviour brings warmth that cannot be equaled, the Love of God resident in one’s life. Contrasted to that is the ultimate in global warnings, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” To refuse Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour is the greatest folly, because that soul will spend eternity in Hell. A final warning from the Mount of Olives for you to heed, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

Written by Stan Burditt for Stephen Baker

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