"THINK" SERIES: PART 2 - REASON

God, in the form of Jesus Christ - invites us to LITERALLY "“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord: "“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).

Can you imagine, GOD, Yahweh, Who can speak universes into existence with the sound of His Voice, Who can destroy great armies with a single word,  Who knows every hair on our heads, Who sees us in our weakness, sickness and sin - yet still loves US...THAT GOD - is inviting sinful, weak, no-account humans to come talk and reason with Him, so that we can not just go to Heaven when we die but that we can do life with Him right now! That Yahweh, that God - He is not only for us, He loves us.

Look at the Lord's choice of word of invitation - come let us REASON. Reason in His original Hebrew is YAKACH. Bible Hub translates and defines "Yakach" as ".... to reprove or correct. It is often used in the context of bringing someone to a point of understanding or conviction, typically through argument or evidence. The term can also imply a form of judgment or decision-making, where clarity and truth are established. In the biblical context, "yakach" is frequently associated with God's correction of His people, as well as the role of prophets and wise individuals in guiding others toward righteousness".***

It is more than encouraging...actually, it is more stunning, to read about the lives of former atheists like Lee Strobel or J. Warner Wallace or the most recent one Josh Timonen. While Josh is not a household name, the man he works for IS. That man is the world's foremost and most well-known living ATHEIST Richard Dawkins! Timonen not only produced videos and documentaries extolling the virtues of "Atheism" where it takes more Faith, to NOT believe in the Creation and God, but he sold merchandise, touted Dawkins, and even got public praise and acknowledgments in books and in person from Richard Dawkins.

But, having grown up in church and walked away, there was always something inside of him. It is inside every human being. That something is called the Law of God written on our hearts, as the Bible says. Dawkins' right hand man - Josh Timonen - began reading the Bible to "reason this thing out". Then he read a book written by another famous former Atheist - Lee Strobel. Lee was the legal correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, who was so offended as an all-out Atheist, when his wife got saved and started attended Willowcreek Church in Barrington, Illinois, that he set out to disprove the Bible.

In the process, Lee Strobel got saved and wrote "THE CASE FOR CHRIST" (Click here to watch this documentary on YouTube). After reading The Case for Christ, Josh himself was radically saved as it confirmed the reasons for Faith in God, through Jesus Christ, that this now former atheist was processing.

Click here for J. Warner Wallace's reasons to believe as well. Wallace is a former LAPD homicide detective and former atheist who used his investigative skills, to prove the reality of God in Christ.

So what happens when a person, in this case, the man who rode shotgun for the biggest living atheist in the world - Josh Timonen, does his independent research, reasons with it, then reasons with God? He comes to Faith in Christ, just like J. Warner and Lee! How about that, huh. God is so good. To wind up this brief discussion on the Almighty and Most Powerful Force in the Universe - our Heavenly Father, I leave you with the words of Josh Timonen, after he began sharing his Conversion to Christ testimony with a man, who has had life-changing impact on me, since I first saw him and Kirk Cameron in town almost 25 years ago - Ray Comfort.

Timonen describes part of his journey like this: "Jesus actually lived, He actually died, and He actually rose....and I have to deal with that. I can’t just push that aside and say, ‘Oh, it’s a myth.’ No, these are real events. Then, I’m asked to do something. It’s a personal thing between Him and me. And that’s where it kind of struck differently...." ****

If you're having trouble with YOUR Faith, with YOUR walk with Christ, go thou and do likewise. Search out J. Warner Wallace's COLD CASE CHRISTIANITY and subscribe, like I did, years ago to his podcasts. I was gloriously born again in July 1988, but the learning never stops and now, I know at least 10% about our wonderful Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. You too can begin to walk victoriously in Him, amen.

Glory to His Name!

CREDITS: 

*** = BIBLE HUB (click here)

**** = Focus on the Family  (click here)

IMAGE (click here)

WORD OF LIFE, PART 18: EVIDENCE DEMANDS THE TRUTH

There have been several huge archaeological finds in recent years which have confirmed Biblical accounts from thousands of years ago, which were written down in the “Old Testament”. A whole of lot these finds are chronicled in the huge volume of written and video work of the Biblical Archaeological Society (BAS). They included the over 2000 year old Dead Sea Scrolls, which confirmed the Book of Isaiah. Herod's Fort is still around and so many other finds like King David's palace outside the walls of Jerusalem. Shepherd's Field in Bethlehem where the angels appeared to poor shepherds and Jesus' Mount of Transfiguration still exist. There is just too much evidence out there, which a believer can hold on to as MORE proof of our Faith.

CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE BOOK BY BOOK MODERN CONFIRMATION OF ANCIENT BIBLICAL EVENTS!

There is not just evidence of the authenticity and truth of the Word of God, but evidence of God Himself! Think of all the former atheists who have set out to disprove the existence of God and Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Some well-known ones are currently in the news, due to their body of work in Apologetics as well as in media. The brand new movie “The Case for Christ” gives us the biography of the best known of all these modern atheists – Lee Strobel – who lived an unsavory rebel life as the legal correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. After his wife gave her life to Christ as Lord, the furious Strobel set out to disprove not just the existence of God, but the authenticity of the Bible.

As they say, the rest is history. Lee Strobel’s life in the last thirty years as the premier explainer and teacher of all things Christian, through his popular “A Case For….” Series, is evidence of the forgiving and transforming Power of God! The other well-known apologist for the Gospel is J. Warner Wallace, the former Los Angeles homicide detective whose salvation story is just as amazing as his work in forensics in proving the Gospel accounts! Click here to watch Wallace's testimony as a former atheist, now defender of Christ.

Watch Lee Strobel's testimony of his dramatic conversion from atheist to Christian here!
Psalm 119:137-144
Tsadhe.
137   Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.
138   You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness and exceeding faithfulness.
139   My zeal has consumed me, because my adversaries have forgotten Your words.
140   Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it.
141   I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142   Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.
143   Trouble and anguish have come upon me, yet Your commandments are my delight.

144   Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live.
We serve a God and Creator Who is Just, Righteous and Holy. At the same time, He is both compassionate, patient and fair (verse 137). He is the God Who says to the skeptic and sinner, like you and I, “come let us reason together as men, though your sins be scarlet (so dark and despicable), I will make them as white as snow (I will purify your soul…)".from Isaiah 1:18.

He is without error, without sin and transparent. Everything He does for our good is out in the open. All Creation testifies to and about Him.  He is more than fair (verse 138) and just otherwise none of us would be alive or have any hope for eternal life. We are a people who have been rescued from the domain of darkness into the Kingdom of His marvelous light and yet, we see so much heresy, corruption and worse in the so-called “professing” Christian world as well as the outright hatred and criminal activity by proponents of other religion against Christians worldwide. 

It is absolutely in order for us believers in the west to be outraged at the vile attacks on our brethren in Egypt around this past Easter and what has been going on. This Scripture confirms it in verses 139 and 141. We must despise evil….BUT without sinning ourselves! Hate is not a good thing. We hate sin and evil it perpetrates. We even hate the demonic activity behind those who commit these atrocities. But we also need to pray for those doing the acts, even if it is for them to cease and desist and definitely, for their conversion and salvation to Christ.

Verse 144 shows us how then shall we live in this current paradigm. There are many of our brethren who are not clear how to respond because, more and more, no one teaches them these difficult things from the Scriptures. At times like these, we find comfort, Truth and our marching orders in the solid and exquisite Word of God.

These words from verses 140-142 (see below) speak so eloquently to this issue, that we should repeat them here and let them sink in. These three verses are worthy to be read over and over until we seal them in our spiritual hearts and can access their meaning at the drop of a hat. We do these things – rest in these words, because it is the RIGHT thing to do. Amen.
Psalm 119:140-142:
140   Your word is very pure, therefore Your servant loves it.
141   I am small and despised, yet I do not forget Your precepts.
142   Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.

GOD'S NOT DEAD 2 - A REVIEW FROM A MOVIEGOER

GOD'S NOT DEAD 3 STORY SET?
"...atheists can't take away the pain, but they sure take away the Hope"...thus says the character Walter Wesley, played by well-known Christian actor and singer Pat Boone to his daughter - Grace Wesley (expertly and powerfully portrayed by well-known TV actress Melissa Joan Hart). What followed is one of the most critical movies for the Body of Christ in 2016 America, if our fellow citizens are really paying attention.

God's Not Dead 2 (GND2) is a compilation of several actual court cases where the religious freedom of students (high school and college) and teachers were denied by an increasingly hostile anti-Christian God mindset. This mindset was coming for decades, from the days of Supreme Court Hugo Black, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, who was part of the Warren Court in the 1960's which removed the Bible and Prayer from American schools. Black reintroduced the long dormant "separation of church and state" concept and set the stage for the eventual spiritual decline of the United States. Some of the actual cases listed in the movie credits were the backdrop for this warm yet deadly cold reality. The reality is the fine line which some Christians have to walk daily in a country that was founded on Religious Liberty for the Christian.

Now what is apparently coming in God's Not Dead 3 is just the natural progression of such extra-constitutional activism. It is recommended to movie-goers to sit through the entire roll of credits at the end of God's Not Dead 2 to see what is coming next. A minor subplot during GND2 involves the popular late US Senator/Actor Fred Dalton Thompson where a group of pastors are ordered by local government authorities to hand over all their sermons for the centralized authority to vet. This is a storyline based on what actually occurred in 2014 when the Mayor of Houston threatened Houston preachers to hand over their sermons or else….an action which resulted in a massive national outcry and backlash.  For those who are interested in a growing Christian movie culture fueled by current events, this is something to look forward to.

God's Not Dead 2 revolves around the story of an Arkansas high school teacher - Grace Wesley - who answers a seemingly innocuous question in her AP History Class about the heroes of non-violence (Gandhi and King) and the greatest non-violent hero in history - Jesus. Another student in the class immediately texted his atheist parents during the class that his history teacher was basically turning the class into "Sunday School". Grace Wesley, an immediately likeable single teacher, wonderfully portrayed by Melissa Joan Hart, a popular mainstream television actress (and Christian), is soon brought up before the school board. They demand an apology and more from her, which basically amounted to a tacit denial of her testimony of faith in Christ. Grace Wesley declines and decides to take her chances in court, with an apparent green public defender whose youth and penchant for not losing a case overrides his lack of Faith in Jesus Christ.

At stake in this case is Ms. Wesley's job and all that she has. This includes the small idyllic home where she cares for her aging father (Pat Boone). She stands to lose not just her job, teaching license and home, but the plaintiff's attorneys courtroom skills initially make mincemeat of Grace Wesley's young, under-dressed defender for most of the trial. This all changes at the end when Grace's attorney (Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives") finally calls his client up to the witness stand as a hostile witness and ends up winning the case. He does so in some of the finest courtroom writing and hijinks written in any type of drama - Christian or secular! 

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON BOOK

Two great real-life authors gave outstanding testimonies on the "witness stand". The great Lee Strobel, the former atheist legal reporter for the Chicago Tribune who set out to prove the bible wrong and ended up a Christian gave a sterling apologetic for the Faith...making, as it were, the "Case for Christ". Equally as impressive was the testimony of real life L.A. Detective & Christian apologetics author J. Warner Wallace whose book Cold Case Christianity (2013) is a cold hard look from another former atheist (Wallace) at the Gospels to see if the facts of Jesus' life and death hold up to scrutiny. What Wallace found led him not just to Faith in Christ, just like Strobel, but into active ministry for the Lord in missions and outreach.

In the final analysis, this Pure Flix masterpiece by David A.R. White and his team marks a significant direction for this long time Christian movie making company. The advance questionable reviews of the secular press attest to the success of the entire storyline, the screenplay, content and especially the inclusion and testimonies of the two former Atheists- Authors Strobel and Wallace. The mainstream secular velvet broadside, across the board, is proof that God's Not Dead 2 not only bowls a strike, but will also influence a lot of doubters who were formerly convinced that God did not exist.