It’s Hopeless – or Is It?

The ‘bumper-sticker’ on the back of the truck reads… I FEEL MUCH BETTER SINCE I GAVE UP HOPE.  Candidates offer it, Rush gave up on it, people are losing more of it every day… hope.
The movement started nearly five years ago with a t-shirt.  Here’s the sales pitch:
Are you tired of looking forward to things only to have plans fall apart? Do you try to see the bright side of life, only to see even darker clouds? As you attempt to get closer to your dreams and desires, do they seem to get farther away? Whenever you anticipate something good to happen, do you get crushed in the end? Then maybe you will feel better if you just gave up hope and be able to proudly announce to the world, “I Feel Much Better, Since I Gave Up Hope”. Think about it, it may be the only way to go, without hope, there is no more let downs or disappointments. After giving up hope you will feel better, because there will no longer be any expectations for anything good to happen, so everything will be either good or business as usual.

Hope.  It’s something that’s easy to lose – but vitally important to life.  Questionable, it’s the 3rd most important spiritual element in the universe (1 Cor. 13:13 – 1st: love; 2nd: faith).  A lack of this necessary ingredient leads to death… sadly and often… self-inflicted.  Hope is so tightly bound to life that no means of men can separate the two (see 1 Peter 1:3).

In Gen. 27:46, we find a mother in a hopeless situation with her son (‘dating’ someone she didn’t approve)
In Ecclesiastes 2:17, we find a man in a hopeless situation, hating his day-in, day-out, clock-punching life.
In Jonah 4:8, we find a Christian, a preacher, in a hopeless situation – begging for God to kill him (twice).

HOPE – something that should stir up questions by those around us… 1 Peter 3:15
  -These aren’t questions about our theology or clothing – they are about our smile, our song, our hope
  – These aren’t questions about what we believe – they are about why we behave with life when everything around is death

HOPE – something we get from God’s Word… Romans 15:4
  – From reading and hearing the stories of God’s works of power and grace (Old Testament)
  – From meditating on promises and principles of God’s attributes of love and light (New Testament)

HOPE – something that motivates men to take action… 1 John 3:3
  – Helps us understand God’s purpose for me – to be like Him (as He is)
  – Keeps us reminded of His soon return to earth (that’s our blessed hope)!

Yes, you might lose hope in a candidate, in a party, in a spouse, in a child, in a pension, even in a church… DON’T EVER GIVE UP HOPE in CHRIST, in GOD, in the RESURRECTION, in HIS WORD, in the RAPTURE!

Taking an Ax to the Tree of Evolution

I woke up this morning reminded that I am only human… sunburnt, sleepy, and sore from a day’s work out in yesterday’s sun.  I realize that I am only one man – but today I carry an ax.  I have recently found some nasty trees growing in my own backyard.  They are growing on my property… and it’s time to take action.  The trees bear the fruit of evolution… literally.  They are growing in the backyard of my family, my life, my church.  It’s got to stop – so that’s why I’ve picked up my ax.  My ax is something that is sharper than any two-edged sword… it’s the TRUTH.  Will you inspect your yard?  Will you find the nasty little bushes and take a whack, too?  What… you think it’s not that nasty – you think you’re okay with a few of of those thorny little things… listen to what Richard Dawkins (leading evolutionist / atheist), “It is absolutely safe to say that, if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid, or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that).”  Which one are you…?  If you don’t pick up your ax – I’d agree… you are ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked.  Are you ready to take a swing?  Here goes…

1. Obstacles that Evolution Cannot Overcome  (2 Peter 3:3ff)
   a. Everything cannot come from nothing (without God) – where did matter & energy come from for the big bang and who banged it?
   b. Life cannot just appear from non-life (what are the mathematical odds of a single strand of DNA forming randomly… impossible-to-1)
   c. Natural selection disproves that complex organisms came from ’simple’ single-celled organisms (natural selection reduces genetic and microscopic information, it doesn’t increase it)
   d. Vertebrates cannot just ‘evolve’ from invertebrates (irreducable complexity says that connected parts, like vertebrae, need each other… they are interconnected and dependent on each other)
   e. How did animals evolve into self-conscious, moral, even spiritual, beings?  (there are too many distinctions between animals and humans… we were created in the image of God)

2. Myths about Evolution Exposed  (Ps. 111:10)
   a. There is proof for evolution. False.  No proof exists for evolution that a creation could not use as evidence for intelligent design.  Darwinians and creationists use the same evidence / proofs to draw two distince conclusions (it’s a matter of your world-view / starting point / presuppositions).  There are no missing links – that’s why it’s still a theory.  The only kind of evolution available for science to view is adaptations (micro-evolution) and variety within species and kinds.
   b. Science vs. Religion.  False.  Neither evolution nor creation is any more science or religion than the other.  Darwin’s converts believe they trust in science and we in religion… but the truth is, they still trust.  Each side uses the same facts, each side necessitates faith (no observation & testing – only hypothesizing).  It’s not science vs. religion – this is a fair-game, level playing field.  Now play fair.
   c. It’s unimportant.  False.  This is a foundational argument.  It’s a war of world-views.  What you believe affects how you will behave.  There are serious implications to believing Darwin over the Bible – and vice versa.  The attack on Genesis 1-2 is nothing less than a Satanic strategy to undermine God’s authority from the beginning.

3. Evil Effects of Evolution  (Romans 1:20ff)  – Many wickedness did not necessarily begin with Darwin and evolution – but find a warm and cozy justification there!
   a. Humanism …taking the glory and prerogatives of God for one’s self.  This leads too quickly to a relative morality (fluid value system) – like what we see in America today.  According the Scriptures, it makes room for homosexuality, abortion, feminism, chauvenism, and all types of lawlessness.  It removes God’s authority (accountability – and therefore, a judgment).
   b. Racism – It’s no secret that Hitler was an ardent Darwinian.  He probably thought he was doing good by weeding out the international garden from handicapped, less-thans, elderly, and early-evolutionary races.
   c. Atheism – A refusal to believe in God or a denial of God’s authority and power (inherent as Creator).  Richard Dawkins, leading atheist, accused a majority belief in intelligent design as an “educational scandal” and further called church-style creationism “organized ignorance.”

G-Rated Home Movies

Before our minds kick to far into high gear today, maybe take a moment and reflect on the scenes we acted or enacted for God’s viewing displeasure yesterday.
Ever day we dwell, though not often consciously, on many wrong thoughts. Sometimes they may be critical or negative of others. Often they may be rebellious toward authority. Some thoughts may be revengeful or full of anger. There are bitter thoughts and competitive thoughts and some thoughts may even be downright pornographic. These are the movies we make for our Lord.
Though many of us may excuse this FACT away, it is true that our individual thoughts are of great concern to God. I would say if we were to ask the great majority of Christians if they truly believe that God sees or scrutinizes the thoughts of man, I am sure that many would indicate doubts about it. And if they do believe, they seldom believe enough to allow this to motivate their meditations for better movie making for our Maker!
Others assume God is too busy for such trivial matters as weighing or watching my thoughts. But that is not the truth. It’s what the devil wants us to believe, but it is not only God’s wish to watch our thinking. It is His duty. For it is His role to communicate to us what are thoughts are broadcasting to Him.
“For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. (Amos 4:13)
Sounds like a very mighty God is watching a very mini me! He not only watches my thoughts, He knows why I’m thinking them. (Psalm 139:2) “Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.”
We know He searches the heart and put’s it on trial to reveal to us our weaknesses. He views our thoughts and determines our discipline when our thinking gets out of line and our blessings when our thoughts bring Him pleasure. “I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:10)
Jesus knew man’s thoughts in REAL TIME! Mark 2:8 tells us so “And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?”
How did He know the reasoning in their hearts? Because He knew what they were thinking! We see this in Matthew 12:25 “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself. . . shall not stand”. Again we see in Matthew 9:4 “And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?”
NO ONE gets out of His vivid viewing of our hearts home movies. Hebrews tells us that “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
I don’t know about you, but I have worked diligently on my thought life for the past several year. But yet a day does not go by where I will have some scenes that I am sure must cause the Lord to look the other way. But yet, if I would recognize through consistent meditation on the truth that God is the only audience my thoughts will ever see, I feel I would make my meditational movies more G-Rated.That’s G-for God. If it’s good for Him to view it, it’s good for me to think it.

Do you believe all this? Do you believe that God really knows, cares or even views your thoughts? If you don’t, then you need something to back up your views. For the Bible is clear otherwise. But if we do believe it, then let me ask you this question.
What do you think about that? Or better yet, Why don’t we think about that?!

- Rich