CRITICAL THINKING FOR THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

Christianity is the Thinking Person’s religion where the Author of our Faith beckons all to “come let us reason together, says the LORD, though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). This is crucial because the Creator of all things – Almighty God – is inviting His sinful creation to come and speak with Him, test, understand and then come to an independent decision.

To arrive at a decision, when God makes an offer, requires not just thinking but Critical Thinking. Critical Thinking is the process, in which every aspect of our minds, emotions and logic is fully engaged, in order to accurately evaluate ideas and situations. This process determines the accuracy, validity or even the error of such matters.

How a wayward son of God came to Faith in Christ and was born again, is actually the result of Critical Thinking. In July 1988, after an extended time from where I walked away from the Lord to enjoy the pleasures of this world, the Lord had knocked me flat on my back. I was suffering from extreme fatigue, stress, lack of rest and just run down from burning the candle at four ends. When the Lord called me unto Himself, it was not an imposed decision made for me and I had to accept.

Unlike certain faith systems and religions of the world, God is not a dictator Who says “accept me or else”. At the same time, I don’t need a case of Bibles to fall on my head to know that this life is the in-transit room before boarding the one-way flight to Eternity. While no one was witnessing to me, giving me tracts, nor was I listening, I can attest to the truth that eternity is written on the hearts of all mankind.

The reasoning the Lord spoke of in Isaiah 1:18 came into focus. Without much debate, I knew, from days of lying in a sick bed, that I had two choices. It was as clear as day – go down the road I had been going of enjoying the fleeting things of this world, or choose God, and thus Heaven.  Sometimes, we do not need flow charts, a degree in Macro Economics or a computer program to get the correct result. I chose the pathway of God and Heaven, for one reason. The reason was the logic of one destination of unending fire and brimstone, the other was the Way of God. What triggered Critical Thinking in this decision, was a childhood and teenage background of family church activity, combined with the supernatural Law of God written on heart of EVERY human who has ever lived. Instinctively, I knew there were only two eternal destinations. I knew there was no such thing as reincarnation or purgatory. There was and always will be one truth - "it is appointed to man to die once and then the Judgment" 

Each human being ever born has this ability to discern, discuss, decide and deliver after thinking of all alternatives. All facets of our humanity, buttressed by information, must be engaged in this process. Critical Thinking involves more than just this, the most important decision we will ever make in this life. The great author/pastor and famous apologist for the Christian Faith – Lee Strobel – is one of the most prominent examples of how Critical Thinking can change a life forever.

Strobel was a most vehement atheist and the legal correspondent for the Chicago Tribune for 14 years. A  law graduate of Yale University, this atheist’s life was thrown for a loop when his wife was saved and joined the growing Willow Creek Church in Barrington, Il. With his home in turmoil, Strobel set out on a journey to investigate the biblical claims about Christ, from the legal and scientific angle, in order to disprove them, in part. He became a disciple and follower in Jesus Christ on November 8, 1981.  Apart from the Holy Spirit opening his mind to the Truth, Lee had to do all the work of reading, research and traveling all over America speaking to people of Faith with scientific and other background. Just like others who had to follow similar, but parallel tracks (like J. Warner Wallace, a former atheist Los Angeles Homicide Detective). Strobel evaluated all the documentary, scientific and traditional evidence…..and then surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. His life story can be viewed here on YouTube.

“Examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

This is an important directive from the Lord for believers and the principle of Critical Thinking MUST kick in here.

1. We are to examine, test, research and trust but verify EVERYTHING we hear or see against the Plumb Line of Truth of the Bible. The thing to note here is the word “examine” is first, derived from a word which gives us the English word “document”. This is explicit in us putting every new idea, teaching or movement to the test…then setting it aside before approving it. All of this is wrapped up in the original word used in the New Testament “Dokimazo”. The Bereans of the Book of Acts are still the standard for this. We read in Acts 17:11 that those from the region of Berea“…were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so”.
2. Next, the examining relates to EVERYTHING….and it must be done CAREFULLY. Does everything mean well, all things? Yes. This means the kindle books we read, the music we listen to, the movies we watch and the next 30 Days of this or 21 Days of that which comes along the pike.  If Jesus is calling, He is calling from the Bible; His Words are true and we need to not only believe them completely, but handle the proclamation, interpretation and dissemination of them with absolute care. The Christian who thinks critically begins from this following point of reference: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away" (Matthew 24:35).
3. The Holy Spirit, Who lives alongside the spirit of every born-again believer, confirms that the Word of God is both true and a living, breathing document.  It should then lead the Christian to immediately pronounce that he/she is "not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the Power of God unto Salvation" (Romans 1:16). Thoughtful examination of the Attributes of God; the veracity of His Promises and Prophecies as well as the historical evidence provide information which influence our decision to stand firm in the Faith. The phrase HOLD FAST is not as powerful a translation from the original intent of the original word used ("katechó"). What the Critical Thinker needs to do is not just "hold fast"....but to lay a hold of and own, or take possession of the Truth of Scripture in order to both get it orderly and embedded in our own minds, but then use our intimate knowledge of God, buttressed by increasing archaeological evidence, to become a great proponent of the Christian Faith to both younger Christians and those who do not believe.
4. THAT WHICH IS GOOD is an exhortation for the Thinking woman or man of God. The Goodness spoken of here, is not just for sharing the Faith but for the edification and spiritual growth of the faithful critical thinkers among us. The Bible says it best here: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).  

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! 

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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. 

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: BOOK OF PHILIPPIANS #1

....WITH ALL JOY....

3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, 5 for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; 7 just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. (Philippians 1:3-7)

Keep in mind, as we read this prayer, that this man - the Apostle Paul - is in prison for preaching the Gospel of Christ! Still, note how he is praying for the saints:
- With all of His Heart (vs 7)
- With all Joy (vs 4)
- With Confidence (vs 7)

However the Confidence which he exudes is not for him but for encouragement of the church at Philippi. Thus, as Paul has written so many times, direct from the Oracles of Heaven - everything written in Scriptures are given as instructions for us NOW. That includes ALL Scripture, "Old and New" Testament.

It is my humble theory that this prayer can therefore be appropriated by us, in these last days, to pray for the encouragement for the hurting and hope for the hopeless. We should do this, even when we do not feel like it! What can be more challenging for a man than to be so confident of this positional salvation in the Kingdom so much so that he exhorts many to do the same. He proposes they also engage in Apologetics. 

The greatest impact we can have on the life of another is to love them to Jesus, when we are in the valley ourselves. By taking ourselves from under the circumstances and lifting another up to Him, in prayer, we exhibit a form of grace upon grace, which testifies to the Love He embedded in us at the point of conversion.

Many Christians have a problems in the recent past few decades with defending even what they claim they believe. We are specifically instructed, in the passage above, to engage in not just the "defense" (Apologetics) of the Christian Faith but to confirm the Good News of the Gospel. That is, we are to testify by a consistent daily lifestyle and by words, the truth of what Christ has done for us.....the Grace He has given us and the new life included, therein.

By this, we affirm, confirm and make firm the prescient precious words of the Great Apostle Peter "but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence (1 Peter 3:15).

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THIRTY ONE DAYS OF BIBLE TRUTHS - DAY 3 (CONTEND)

VERSE: Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3).

TRUTH: When the half-brother of the Lord Jesus (Mary had six children after Jesus was born to her) Jude wrote the Epistle of Jude, the fledgling Church of Christ was already been infiltrated by those who would seek to corrupt it away from the Message of the True Gospel. Nothing has changed in 2000 years. Now, more than ever, we are called to stand for what we believe. The word "CONTEND" is not a pro-active and pro-defense (or apologetic) word. Now more than ever, the Christian - you and I - must not only oppose what is an obvious lie about God but we must do so with the following:
- Total commitment to Christ
- Knowledge of the Bible 
- The proper application of that Knowledge
- Love

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Anecdotal and empirical evidence have show the challenges facing the future of the majority of our young people. We already know that the majority of the world’s population has turned its back on the Holy God of Heaven, who created everything around  us. We already know that the majority of western has spread its corrupt culture into our churches and misdirected the majority of our youth group attendees away from Jesus Christ, a Biblical Worldview and thus –hell.

We saw from the recent Christian movie phenomenon – “GOD’s NOT DEAD” – that when given a chance, most of our church-raised teens (notice, I did NOT say saved or born-again), would deny God to further their own “futures”, which when they get there, will soon be evident as pathetic, in its destination. 

The amazing thing is some of these teens and twenty –somethings (herein called millennials) went to solid bible-teaching churches….the majority of which never disciples them properly, if at all. I know places like that. The even scarier thing is these young people think they’re Christ followers and all going to heaven. They support non-biblical activities like abortion rights  and "marriages" which God did not ordain and free casual attitude towards morality and the culture. 

Having been burdened to assist young professing Christians in their defense of our Christian Faith, Pastor Mike Henderson, John Snyder and I got to work on some of the popular questions from the scoffers who wish the denigrate Christianity. We then answered them, in a clear and concise way and they are now formatted for easy access on your tablet (iPad, Android etc) or downloading directly to your laptop or personal computer to read. I know of a Christian school right now where the head of the religion class is now using our twenty five topics to teach with! Another man is using them to start an apologetics class, which  he can use almost all year! This is a labor of dedication and love from those of us, who are deeply committed to helping raise the Remnant of the nex generation to have a better Biblical Worldview than we ever had. 

Here is an example of one of the topics we addressed. This one in particular was one of my favorites. It is my favorite as it shows both the Sufficiency of Scripture and the Sizable Impact Scripture has had on daily living:

The Bible and Everyday Life

The Struggle:
The bible is so outdated! It could not possibly apply to my life!

The Answer:
Bible-believing Christians trust every word of every phrase of every
verse of the Word of God – the Bible. The world undervalues this, by
often using language which came DIRECTLY out of Scripture without
knowing! Amazingly, there are over 200 phrases or sayings which
people all over the world use in everyday discussions…and they have
absolutely no idea their origin is the Bible! Here are just a select few
of them and where they can be found in Scripture:

The apple of His eye - Psalms 17:8
A good old age Genesis - 15:15
A still small voice - 1 Kings 19:12
The pride of life - 1 John 2:16
From strength to strength -  Psalms 84:7
A drop in the bucket  - Isaiah 40:15
The salt of the earth -  Matthew 5:13
The signs of the times - Matthew 16:3
The powers that be - Romans 13:1
The fashion of this world - 1 Corinthians 7:31
Decently and in order -  1 Corinthians 14:40
A thorn in the flesh - 2 Corinthians 12:7
A labor of love - 1 Thessalonians 1:3
Thou are the man (You da man!) -  2 Samuel 12:7
The handwriting on the wall -  Daniel 5:5
Stand in awe - Psalms. 4:4; 33:8; 119:161
Clear as crystal -  Revelation 21:1; 11
The fat of the land -  Genesis 45:18
All things to all men - 1 Cor. 9:22 1 Tim. 6:10

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GOD'S NOT DEAD - MAN'S PHILOSOPHY IS!

The surprise hit movie of 2014 is not the coming big budget NOAH movie from Hollywood, but the offering from some wonderful folks at PURE FLIX and actor Kevin Sorbo. Their sleeper hit "GOD'S NOT DEAD" surprised the mainstream movie industry when it opened in only 780 screens across America on Friday March 21 and ended up at number 4 in the Box Office that weekend! The average Hollywood production launches in 3000 or more screens (just as a gauge).

What makes this movie the potential blockbuster not seen since 2004's Passion of the Christ is quality production combined with inspired solid professional writing. The main story revolves around a freshman Christian student Josh Wheaton who finds himself in a Philosophy class run by the vitriolic atheist Professor Radisson (played by the popular actor Kevin Sorbo). Radisson begins his class by telling all 80 plus students that they must disavow God, write on a piece of paper that "GOD IS DEAD" and sign their name to it. Josh is a Christian and comes face to face with this Faith or what his cultural "christian" (and soon to be ex-) girlfriend calls "his future".  As the only student in his class to refuse to go against his belief, Radisson immediately dislikes Josh Wheaton, yet gives him 20 minutes over three classes to prove the existence of God. This leads to several sub-plots which make this one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Kevin Sorbo is outstanding as "atheist" Professor Radisson

Before getting to those, as a personal point of privilege, I must recount my only encounter with Philosophy in college in the early 1980's when it was one of my electives at Acadia University. Watching Professor Radisson in this movie made me harken back to the absolute hogwash man made philosophy really is.  It was not clear why I dropped out of Philosophy class after one day until I got older and more mature in Faith. Some of the same dead atheists listed in that movie - from Albert Camus to Descartes were some of the people I studied in my teens, before God blocked out all of that atheism and saved me completely in 1988. I have since seen, up close, the kind of arrogance and absolute evil present on the modern campus which is turning the majority of young people against God and their own salvation in chance meetings with men and women like Radisson, in real life.

The reality of the sheer slipping away from the Faith of some from our own youth groups was never more evident than Josh Wheaton's girlfriend in GOD'S NOT DEAD, who pressures him to sign "the stupid" paper and be done with it. The thought that kept coming to my mind, as I watched student after student sign their name to their scribbled (and forced) God is Dead, is that this thing is real! These kids represent the millions of many others doing the same all over North America and Europe and meaning it - to their eternal regret one day.

The film also has a serious glimpse of what happens to any person who is saved out of islam into the liberating spiritual freedom, which Jesus Christ provides.  The testimonies of several former moslems whom Christ redeemed are full of the same violence we see used against "Ayisha" (Hadeel Sittu) in the movie by her islamic father, who throws her literally out of the house when he discovers she has become a Christian. Humor also is a big part of making this 112 minute movie so dynamic, fast-moving and inspiring. We all know that the God Who created a sense of humor, also uses circumstances to line up and lead up toward the outcome He has in mind. In the movie, God's timing is perfect as He uses some humorous situations to lead to the ultimate salvation of the Kevin Sorbo character, moments away from his sudden death in a hit and run accident.

There are several other relationship interactions which are all too prevalent in this corrupt dog-eat-dog world. We get to glimpse the cold pursuit of the good life which people give everything to get (including walking over others and ultimately their souls and more). We see the interplay between a Communist Chinese official and his searching son, who eventually gets saved. We also see the well known NEWSBOYS, a group to whose music I was first introduced in 1996 in a small water park here in Illinois. I had never before seen long-haired Australians banging out heavy metal and calling it Christian music. Fast forward 17 years and I am in the dressing room with them at the pre-concert dinner hanging out as they prepare to go on stage to preview a trailer for some movie called GOD's NOT DEAD and sing their hit song of the same title from years ago!

Apart from being the best movie I have seen in movie theaters in years, it is also the best production from PURE FLIX, a Christian movie group with which several of us Christian ministers have a relationship as part of our ministry. The movie is a MUST for ALL YOUTH GROUPS and especially any teen who is about to go to college in the Fall. God's Not Dead will give any such teen the courage and a sample of the methods he/she can and must use to defend our Faith in God, through Christ our Lord and Savior.

GOD'S NOT DEAD - THE PHILOSOPHY OF MEN IS!

                                          

NEXT POST: MOVIE PRODUCER ANNA ZIELINSKI

THE PULPIT IS RESPONSIBLE.....

Some extremely horrible surveys have been coming out since December 2013 which continue to confirm the declining state of the American soul into oblivion. How does this even begin to happen? Who is responsible? 

Well, way back in 1873,  evangelist Charles Finney discerned the times and called it! His proclamation was both prophetic and precise. Mr. Finney said:
“The error that lies at the foundation of this decay of individual and public conscience originates, no doubt, in the pulpit. ... Brethren, our preaching will bear its legitimate fruits. If immorality prevails in the land, the fault is ours in a great degree....
If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the public press lacks moral discrimination, the pulpit is responsible for it. 
If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If the world loses its interest in religion, the pulpit is responsible for it.
If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. 
If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.

“Let us not ignore this fact, my dear brethren; but let us lay it to heart, and be thoroughly awake to our responsibility in respect to the morals of this nation."

NEXT: "VLAD THE INVADER AND AMERICA'S SOUL"