"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)

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).  

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.

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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! 

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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. 

WHY WE WROTE "25 REASONS TO BELIEVE"

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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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