Puritan Corner - Leave the Rest to God

"Most of our disquietness in our calling is that we trouble ourselves

about God’s work. Trust God and be doing, and let Him alone with the rest."
by Richard Sibbs (1577-1635)
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

Why so Many Denominations?

Q: Why so Many Denominations?

A: She had DAUGHTERS

And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, 

THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH....And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Revelation 17:5/18:4

What happened at Zwickau?

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

1 Timothy 4:1,2

"Nicolas Storch, a weaver, publicly declared that the angel Gabriel had appeared to him by night, and after revealing to him matters he was not allowed to divulge, had uttered the words, “You shall sit on my throne!” 

A senior student of Wittemberg, named Mark Stubner, joined Storch, and forthwith abandoned his studies,—for, according to his own statement, he had received immediately from God the ability to interpret holy Scripture. 

Mark Thomas, also a weaver, associated himself with them; and

another of the initiated, by name Thomas Munzer, a man of fanatical turn of mind, gave to the new sect a regular organization.

Resolving to act according to the example of Christ, Storch chose from among his followers twelve apostles and seventy disciples.

But scarcely had this heresy, which had shown itself of old in the days of Montanism, and again in the middle ages, drawn together a handful of separatists, when it encountered in the Reformation a strong opposing power. 

Nicholas Haussman, to whom Luther gave that noble testimony—“What we teach, he acts,” was at this time the pastor of Zwickau. This good man was not led away by the pretensions of the false prophets. Supported by his two deacons, he successfully resisted the innovations Storch and his followers were seeking to introduce.

The fanatics, repelled by the pastors of the church, fell into another extravagance; they formed meetings, in which doctrines subversive of order were publicly preached. 

The people caught the infection, and disturbances were the consequence; the priest bearing the sacrament, was pelted with stones, and the civil authority interfering, committed the most violent of the party to prison. 

Indignant at this treatment, and intent upon justifying themselves and obtaining redress, Storch, Mark Thomas, and Stubner, repaired to Wittemberg. 

Making sure of co-operation, they waited upon the University Professors, to receive their sanction. “We,” said they, “are sent by God to teach the people. The Lord has favored us with special communications from himself; we have the knowledge of things which are coming upon the earth. In a word, we are apostles and prophets, and we appeal, for the truth of what we say, to Doctor Luther.”

The Professors were amazed. “Who commissioned you to preach?” inquired Melancthon of Stubner, who had formerly studied under him, and whom he now received at his table. “The Lord our God.” “Have you committed anything to writing?” “The Lord our God has forbidden me to do so.” Melancthon drew back, alarmed and astonished.

Men’s minds were diverted from the Gospel, or prejudiced against it: the school was almost broken up; the demoralized students burst the bands of discipline.

The most noted of the prophets were not at Wittemberg when Luther arrived there. Nicolas Storch was on a progress through the country.
Stubner exhorted them to stand firm. “Let him come forth,” interposed Cellarius; “let him give us the meeting; let him only afford us opportunity to declare our doctrine, and then we shall see…” Luther had but little wish to meet them. He knew them to be men of violent, hasty, and haughty temper, who would not endure even kind admonition.
Nevertheless, as an interview was requested, Luther could not decline it. Besides it might be doing service to the weak of the flock to unmask the imposture of the prophets. 

Accordingly the meeting took place. Stubner opened the conversation. 

He showed how he proposed to restore the Church and reform the world. 

Luther listened to him with great calmness. “Of all you have been saying,” replied he, at last, gravely, “there is nothing that I see to be based upon Scripture. It is a mere tissue of fiction.” 

At these words Cellarius lost all self-possession. Raising his voice like one out of his mind, he trembled from head to foot, and striking the table with his fist, in a violent passion, exclaimed against Luther’s speech as an insult offered to a man of God. 

On this Luther remarked, “Paul declared that the signs of an apostle were wrought among the Corinthians, in signs and mighty deeds. Do you likewise prove your apostleship by miracles?” “We will do so,” rejoined the prophets. “The God whom I serve,” answered Luther, “will know how to bridle your gods.” 

Stubner, who had hitherto preserved an imperturbable silence, now fixing his eyes on the Reformer, said, in a solemn tone, “Martin Luther, hear me while I declare what is passing at this moment in your soul. You are beginning to see that my doctrine is true.” Luther was silent for a few moments, and then replied, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.” Instantly the prophets lost all self command. They shouted aloud, “The Spirit, the Spirit.”.

The result was, that the pretended prophets abandoned the field, and that very day they left Wittemberg.
The most noted of these enthusiasts was Thomas Munzer; he was not

without talent; had read his Bible, was of a zealous temperament, and might have done good, if he had been able to gather up his agitated thoughts, and attain to settled peace of conscience. 

But with little knowledge of his own heart, and wanting in true humility, he was taken up with the desire of reforming the world, and, like the generality of enthusiasts, forgot that it was with himself he should begin. 

Certain mystical writings, which he had read in his youth, had given a false direction to his thoughts. He made his first appearance in public at Zwickau;— quitted Wittemberg on Luther’s return thither, not satisfied to hold a secondary place in the general esteem, and became pastor of the small town of Alstadt, in Thuringia.

He considered himself as called of God to remedy this great evil. The Revelations of the Spirit, according to him, were the means by which the Reformation he was charged with should be effected. “He who has the Spirit,” said he, has true faith, although he should never once in all his life, see the Holy Scriptures.

The fanatics, unrestrained, ran into the greatest excesses; 

revolt was encouraged, 

blood was shed, 

and towns were pillaged; 

and the mercy of God alone preserved His cause. 

But the firmness with which Luther, and those whom God had made foremost in the work, met and protested against those delusions, showed to the world that the Reformation was entirely distinct from the fanaticism of those spirits." 

Sylvester Bliss

Creation Moment 2/28/2025 - Truth about Darwin Defenders

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 1 Corinthians 3:20

"Darwinian evolution has never been simply a theory in science. 

If it had been, it would have been much easier to discuss. 

--For one thing, its defects would not have been nearly so widely ignored or stoutly defended. 

--Doubters would not be so intensely attacked and persecuted.
The reconstructions are often based more on the biases of the

researchers than on anything truly objective. 

And the field is known for its strong personalities competing with one another to make a name for themselves and snag fresh grant money for future additional field research. In 2002, 

Mark Davis, who interviewed several paleontologists for a PBS documentary, remarked, “Each Neanderthal expert thought that the last one I talked to was an idiot, if not an actual Neanderthal.” MindMatters

Sanctuary Doctrine SIMPLIFIED

Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; Hebrews 8:1

"That the sanctuary of the new covenant is the tabernacle of God in heaven, of which Paul speaks in Heb. 8 and onward, and of which

our Lord, as great high priest, is minister; that this sanctuary is the antitype of the Mosaic tabernacle and that the priestly work of our Lord, connected therewith, is the antitype of the work of the Jewish priests of the former dispensation (Heb. 8:1-5, etc.); that this, and not the earth, is the sanctuary to be cleansed at the end of the two thousand and three hundred days, what is termed its cleansing being in this case, as in the type, simply the entrance of the high priest into the most holy place, to finish the round of service connected therewith, by making atonement and removing from the sanctuary the sins of believers (Acts 3:19), and occupies a brief but indefinite space in the first apartment (Lev. 16; Heb. 9:22, 23); and that this work in the antitype, beginning in 1844, consists in actually blotting out the sins of believers (Acts 4:19), and occupies a brief but indefinite space of time, at the conclusion of which the work of mercy for the world will be finished, and the second advent of Christ will take place." Uriah Smith

Creation Moment 2/27/2025 - Salty Oceans Undermine Long Age Chronology

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 

1 Corinthians 3:19

"Salt is pouring into the sea much faster than it is escaping. 

The sea is not nearly salty enough for this to have been happening for billions of years. 

Even granting generous assumptions to evolutionists, the seas could not be more than 62 million years old—far younger than the billions of years believed by evolutionists. 

Again, this indicates a maximum age, not the actual age. 

CMI

The Shadow Cast Upon Earth

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle... Hebrews 8:5

"The simple system of sacrifices instituted by the Lord in the

beginning to symbolize, or prefigure, Christ, was almost totally lost sight of during the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt. 

Upon their return to Canaan, Moses, by divine direction, gave them a more elaborate system, designated in the Scriptures as the sanctuary and its services.
.....but if he forsakes the Lord and turns back into the world, that part of his past life which, while he was faithful, was covered Christ's righteousness, appears open and uncovered on the books of heaven; for he himself has withdrawn from Christ, and must meet the record of his entire life in the judgment. be uncovered if the who confesses them.

This is very forcefully taught in the parable of the unmerciful servant, who, after he had been forgiven his entire debt, dealt harshly with his debtors, and the Lord then required him to pay all that had been once forgiven him." 

Stephen Haskell

IN the News - False Prophet Nostradamus in the News

The False Prophet Nostradamus has made it into the News.....from the NYP
Beware of false prophets... Mathew 7:15

"Experts are saying that French astrologist and soothsayer, Michel de Nostredame — or Nostradamus — may have already predicted Pope Francis’ death and successor.
Referred to as the “prophet of doom,”....The latest of his vague and sometimes obvious predictions, which heretics have latched onto, is Pope Francis’ “critical condition.”

Back in the 16th century, Nostradamus wrote, “Through the death of

a very old Pontiff… a Roman of good age will be elected. Of him it will be said that he weakens his see… but long will he sit and in biting activity.”
He then added, “In the final persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The End.”

Pope Francis is currently on his 10th day of hospitalization for complications from a lung infection that has caused the early stages of kidney insufficiency, the Vatican said.
In New York on Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged Catholics were united “at the bedside of a dying father.” 

New York Post

Creation Moment 2/26/2025 - Rumblings of Discontent

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. 

For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 

1 Corinthians 3:19

"Rumblings of discontent with evolutionary theory are slowly increasing in volume and frequency. For instance, evolutionary

biologist and professor Bret Weinstein told popular podcaster Joe Rogan that Darwinism is “broken” and that intelligent design is “catching up” in some respects.

Another revealing admission from origin-of-life scientists writing in Nature was announced in my article at Evolution News on 28 Feb 2024. Nick Lane and Joana Xavier still cling to evolutionary theory but admit that scientists embracing intelligent design are making good points and putting Darwinians on the defensive." 

CEH

The Law, Oracles and Testimony handed down

"The remarks of Bro. Miller in his Lecture on the Great Sabbath, I like very well, because I believe they are true. 

In speaking of the Sabbath he says: "Its being contained in the ten commands, written by the finger of God, on both tables of the testimony, graven on stone, to be a sign forever, and a perpetual covenant, proves, in my opinion, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that it is as binding upon the Christian church as upon the Jewish, and in the same manner, and for the same reason."

Now another question will evidently arise: 

Q: Who are the children of Israel? 

A: I answer, while the first covenant was standing, they were the children of Jacob, descendants of the twelve tribes; —but that covenant they broke. This covenant was broken as Moses had foretold. 

--Then Jesus Christ brought in a new covenant which continued the sign of the Sabbath, and prepared another people, by writing His law upon their hearts. These now are the true Israel;

Therefore Paul argues the circumcision of the heart, and says that… Romans 9:6-8 ...they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:  Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall your seed be called;  That is, They which are they children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Now if the children of God are the true Israel, and if the Sabbath was given as a sign forever, and a perpetual covenant.

I say, and I believe I am supported by the Bible, that the moral law was never given to the Jews as a people exclusively, but they were for a reason the keepers of it in charge.

And through them the law, oracles and testimony, have been handed down to us." 

T.M. Preble

Creation Moment 2/25/2025 - At the CREATION

"The 1 st chapter of the Bible gives the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of all things that dwell in them, closing

with the words, Genesis 1:31 And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 

The narrative is continued without break in the second chapter, in these words: Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." 

E.J. Waggoner

Truth about the JUDGMENT

"Matthew 12:36 I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 

In the parables of: 

• the wheat and tares; Matthew 13:24-30; 

• the marriage of the king’s son; Matthew 22:1–14; 

• the talents; Matthew 25:14–30.

The Old Testament as well as the New tells of the judgment. Solomon says, Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Daniel 7:9.10 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool; His throne was like the fiery flame, and His wheels as burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him; thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him; the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

Not at Death 

This is not a judgment that is constantly going on during men’s lives and completed at their death, so that then their reward is given, whether for good or ill. 

Hebrews 9:27 It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. 

Romans 2:12,16 As many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
2 Corinthians 5:10 We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad. 

It is not that alone that he has done in his direct personal acts for which he must account; he must answer for the fruit of his doings: Jeremiah 17:10 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.

At the Coming of Christ The time when men shall receive for that

which they have done, whether it be good or bad, is at the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the end of the world.
Jude 14,15 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. 

With this agree exactly the words of Christ: Revelation 22:12 Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." 

A.T. Jones

Creation Moment 2/24/2025 - Be Prepared

"The following passage reinforces the importance of what we do:
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Timothy 4:3–4).

It is important that believers not only

know what they believe but why they believe it. 

In a world where pointing to the Bible is often not enough to show an unbeliever what the truth is, we need to be prepared to explain why evolution falls short." 

CMI

The Holiness Movement vs. Opponents of late 19th Century

From Wesleyan Methodist Pentecostal minister W.E. Shepard explaining what the opponents of the Holiness movement were about.

"2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved [not sinners], let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

We show forth some leading delusions of holiness skeptics. 

Delusion 1. Sanctification at Death

It teaches sanctification at death. It simply assumes the thought and gives no “thus says the Lord” at all. 

The whole thing of death sanctification is mere assumption and presumption. 

Q: Why should one build up a system of belief without a word of Scripture to back it up? 

Delusion 2. Making the Flesh the Root of Sin 

It teaches that carnality is in the physical instead of the spiritual

being. The great deliverance is to come, according to the statement made, when the spiritual is separated from the carnal at death. Now, the only separation that takes place at death is between the body and the spirit. If, then, we are to be delivered from carnality only at death, we are shut up to the delusion that carnality is located in the physical, and not the spiritual being. 

This doctrine was certainly obtained somewhere outside the Word of God, for there is no teaching in the Bible to substantiate such a notion. 

Delusion 3. Imputed Holiness 

Only It teaches an imputed holiness only; Christ’s robe of righteousness covering up our sins, and God accepting His perfection and paying no attention to our imperfections. We think the devil would not want anything better than to make one feel that he has a standing in Christ, and could now sin, and God would take no notice of it." 

W.E. Shepard

Distinct Triune Godhead

"That the

Divine Spirit is to be distinguished from the Father and the
Son, appears from all those passages in holy Scripture, which reveal to us the simultaneous cooperation of three infinite agents. 

Thus when we read, at our Lord’s baptism, of the voice of the Father, of the human presence of Jesus, of the visible descent of the Spirit, for: Luke 3:21 The heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, You are my beloved Son, in You I am well pleased: –we are compelled to say, that the descending Spirit is distinct from the baptized Savior, and from the approving Father. 

And when Jesus says, John 14:16 I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever: –and when this promise being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, we find that the Holy Ghost appeared seated on the disciples as cloven tongues of fire: we are constrained to acknowledge that the Spirit is distinct from the mediating Savior, and the Father who decreed the gift. 

And when we read of... Matthew 28:19 ...the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, –and again of... 

2 Corinthians 13:14 ...the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, –Scripture leads us to conclude that 

as the bleeding Savior is distinct from the Father, so the sanctifying Spirit is Himself distinct." 

E.H Bickersteth

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. Genesis 7:12

"Nestled next to Medora, North Dakota, and 45 miles east of Glendive, Montana, Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). TRNP consists of a vast badlands landscape of flat-topped hills and isolated buttes. The sedimentary rocks in the park are members of the late-Flood (Cenozoic) Fort Union Group and contain mudstone, volcanic ash, sandstone, and lignite (low-grade coal).

Four observations testify that the receding waters of the global Flood were instrumental in the creation of the rocks and the landscape at TRNP.

1. Extensive Pancaked Bedding
The stacked sediments in the park are beautifully colored individual beds that extend as far as the eye can see. 

Q: What river system today spreads thin layers of sediment, many a few feet thick or less, over such vast areas, stacking them like

pancakes? 

--Rivers carve channels, but we don’t see many channels cut into these layers.
Only broad and extensive flows of water can spread the thin layers we observe in TRNP. 

Plus, many of the beds contain ripples, cross-beds, and evidence of soft-sediment folding and slumping. All of these features tell us the sediments were deposited quickly by fast-moving water. A better interpretation is that these rocks were laid down during the receding phase of the Genesis Flood.

2. Flat Coal Beds Proclaim the Flood
Along the South Unit’s scenic loop trail are sites like Coal Vein Trail and Scoria Point Overlook. These reflect the many thin lignite (coal) beds within the sedimentary deposits of the park. Scoria, sometimes called clinker, is a term used for rocks altered by the heat emitted

when adjacent coal layers get cooked underground. Many lignite beds were ignited by lightning strikes. Scoria is often dark red or black and is bubbly-looking.
The conventional interpretation says the coal in TRNP was deposited millions of years ago when this area was a swamp. But the near perfectly flat tops and bottoms of the coal beds tell a different account that supports the Biblical Flood.

--Real swamps, where plants grow in place, show roots protruding downward, disrupting the bottom of the layers. 

--Instead, these flat-bottomed lignite beds were caused by the transportation of massive vegetation mats torn loose from pre-Flood lands by the Flood. They were immediately buried and compressed by mudflows, volcanic ash, and sand slurries into the flat layers we observe.

3. Petrified Forest, a Biblical View
The Petrified Forest Trailhead sign tells visitors that
"Sixty million years ago, this land looked similar to today’s Florida Everglades. Abundant water and a warmer climate promoted the growth of large trees. Giant petrified stumps and logs are remnants of this ancient wetland."
As with most park interpretations, the sign gets some things right, but the Genesis Flood is a better explanation. 

Trees that are very similar to today’s bald cypress, magnolia, and sequoia are found as rootless stumps and branchless logs all along the trail. Many are in a near-upright position. But the trees were clearly transported by water, like the material that makes up the lignite beds was. They did not grow in these positions or they would still have their roots embedded in the layers below.
--Instead, these trees were torn loose from where they grew, transported by floodwaters, and deposited rapidly. Gravity pulled the heavier ends down when they settled. These tree remnants were likely carried by massive sediment flows draining off the pre-Flood uplands to the north.

Dissolved silica in groundwater from the volcanic ash layers led to their fossilization, replacing the original tissues and making petrified wood." 

ICR

Creation Moment 2/23/2025 - The Major Disconnect

For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible,....And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Colossians 1:16,17

“The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if, at bottom, there is no purpose, no design… nothing but blind, pitiless indifference,” Dawkins famously wrote.

Yet, between message and reality, 

there is a major disconnect. 

Over the last century, important scientific discoveries have dramatically challenged science-based atheism, and three in particular now tell a decidedly more God-friendly story.

First, scientists have discovered that the physical universe had a beginning. This finding, supported by observational astronomy and theoretical physics, contradicts the expectations of scientific atheists, who long portrayed the universe as eternal and self-existent—and, therefore, in no need of an external creator.

Evidence for what scientists call the Big Bang has instead confirmed the expectations of traditional theists. Nobel laureate Arno Penzias, who helped make a key discovery supporting the Big Bang theory, has noted the obvious connection between its affirmation of a cosmic beginning and the concept of divine creation. “The best data we have are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses…[and] the Bible as a whole,” writes Penzias.

Second, discoveries from physics about the structure of the universe reinforce this theistic conclusion. Since the 1960s, physicists have determined that the fundamental physical laws and parameters of our universe are finely tuned, against all odds, to make our universe capable of hosting life. Even slight alterations of many

independent factors—such as the strength of gravitational or electromagnetic attraction, or the initial arrangement of matter and energy in the universe—would have rendered life impossible. Scientists have discovered that we live in a kind of “Goldilocks Universe,” or what Australian physicist Luke Barnes calls an extremely “Fortunate Universe.”
Not surprisingly, many physicists have concluded that this improbable fine-tuning points to a cosmic “fine-tuner.” As former Cambridge astrophysicist Sir Fred Hoyle argued, “A common-sense interpretation of the data suggests that a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics” to make life possible.

Third, molecular biology has revealed the presence in living cells of an exquisite world of informational nanotechnology. These include digital code in DNA and RNA—tiny, intricately constructed molecular machines which vastly exceed our own digital high

technology in their storage and transmission capabilities. And even Richard Dawkins has acknowledged that “the machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like” — implying, it would seem, the activity of a master programmer at work the origin of life. At the very least, the discoveries of modern biology are not what anyone would have expected from blind materialistic processes.

All this underscores a growing disparity between public perceptions of the message of science and what scientific evidence actually shows. Far from pointing to “blind, pitiless indifference,” the great discoveries of the last century point to the exquisite design of life and the universe and, arguably, to an intelligent creator behind it all." Stephen Myer

The Most Touching Portion of Solomon's Dedicatory Prayer

"One of the most touching portions of Solomon's dedicatory prayer was his plea to God for the strangers that should come from countries afar to learn more of Him whose fame had been spread abroad among the nations. 

"They shall hear," the king pleaded, "of Thy great name, and of Thy strong hand, and of Thy stretched-out arm." 

In behalf of every one of these stranger worshipers Solomon had petitioned: "Hear Thou, . . . and do according to all that the stranger calleth to Thee for: that all people of the earth may know Thy name, to fear Thee, as do Thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by Thy name." Verses 42, 43.
At the close of the service, Solomon had exhorted Israel to be faithful and true to God, in order that "all the people of the earth may know," he said, "that the Lord is God, and that there is none else." Verse 60." 

E.G.W.

On the Streets of Babylon: REJECTION OF THE SAVIOR heard on the Streets

Babylon is fallen, is fallen,..
Come out of her, My people,
Revelation 14:8/18:4

There seems to be a "REJECTION OF THE SAVIOR" heard on the Streets of Babylon....

"Pastor Brent Hawkes of The Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto, Canada, thinks that calling Jesus "Savior" is offensive to people of other faiths and the title should be removed from the church.
He also thought marrying gay men was fine, even before it was legal in Canada. That certainly helps explain this heretical nonsense."
Fulcrum7

Creation Moment 2/22/2025 - Evolution = a Religion with Scientific Vestments

"R.L. Wysong in his book, The Creation-Evolution Controversy, gives the following example of a university student’s analysis of the philosophical implications of evolution:
"Animals are our relatives, everybody knows that. They’re here as a result of blind, purposeless forces and so are we. Who is to dictate what is right or wrong for us?"

If man is the result of an impersonal process, 

plus time, 

plus chance, 

Q: what can be said then about his intrinsic worth? 

It is not surprising that behaviorists like B.F. Skinner, who have had no small impact on teacher training and education theory, think of the individual as a machine whose net worth depends solely on how ‘it’ is programmed by the environment.

The general theory of evolution serves as the philosophical

foundation of the contemporary humanist. 

The philosophy of Humanism’s debt to evolution theory can be defined by the following affirmations from the Humanist Manifesto:

---Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.
---Humanism believes that man is part of nature and that he has emerged as the result of a continuous process. ...Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any super-natural or cosmic guarantees of human values. ...

Q:Who is to dictate what is right or wrong for the individual? 

Q: Without God who is the lawgiver? 

It is society or society’s leaders. Humanism is not a passive philosophy hiding in the cloistered halls of higher education waiting prey for some misguided intellectual. As Paul Blanchard, writing in The Humanist magazine, extols:
"I think that the most important factor moving us toward a secular society has been the educational factor. Our schools may not teach Johnny to read properly, but the fact that Johnny is in school until he is 16 tends to lead toward the elimination of religious superstition. The average American child now acquires a high school education, and this militates against Adam and Eve and all other myths of alleged history."

The philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche [1844-1900], was most notably known for his vehement attacks on Christianity and for his ‘God is Dead’ philosophy. He had also developed a philosophy of heredity from Darwin’s postulate of evolution that the fittest for survival dominate the species. In Existentialism — For and Against Paul Raubiczak, professor of philosophy at Cambridge University, observes:

"He {Nietzsche] continually demands the breeding of a new master race and the prohibition for its sake of the reproduction of all the “discontented, the rancorous, and the grudging”, the sterilization of criminals and “the annihilation of millions of misfits”. The spectre of the Nazi gas chambers looms behind such statements… We must not forget that it is not only Nietzsche’s philosophy, but also the theory of evolution which leads to such consequences."

Opposed to this view of man as merely animal is the view of Scripture:
‘When I look at the sky, which You have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places—What is man, that You think of him; mere man, that You care for him? Yet You made him inferior only to the angels; You crowned him with glory and honor. You appointed him ruler over everything You made; You placed him over all creation: sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too; the birds and the fish and the creatures in the seas. O Lord, our Lord, Your greatness is seen in all the world!’ [Psalm 8]

But evolution is not just a philosophy—it is a religion with scientific vestments." 

CMI

Rome's traffic in immortal bliss

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write;...Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Revelation 2:18,20

"At the date of the Reformation, the beginning of the sixteenth century, the papacy had, from Gregory the Great, through Azcharias and Stephen III., Hildebrand and Innocent III., Alexander VI and Leo X., reached that pinnacle of abusive power where she held the sway over this world and the world to come, and over the eternal destinies of the human race; and where she could traffic in immortal bliss, selling it for money,–where, in the energetic words of another, "The church was omnipotent, and Leo was the church." 

In the exercise of that omnipotency, Leo proceeds to the sale of

indulgences, covering both worlds for the past, present, and future. And now begins the Reformation. Luther resists the sale of indulgences, and the claims upon which they are sold. 

It is plain that if both sides stand firmly to their principles, nothing else can come out of it but renunciation of the church of Rome, on the part of Luther, the adoption of Christ as Head of the church instead of the pope, and justification by faith instead of by money in the purchase of indulgences." 

A.T. Jones

Creation Moment 2/21/2025 - "tov meod" leaves NO ROOM for a "Gap Theory"

"Genesis 1:31 says, ‘And God saw every thing that He had made, and behold it was very good.’ [The Hebrew is tov meod, which indicates perfection, a complete absence of evil of any kind, as Calvin and many other commentators have pointed out.] 

This is hardly an accurate description, if there were billions of ‘Lucifer-flood’ fossils with the marks of disease, violence, death, and decay, corresponding to the perishing of an entire pre-Adamic race and the extinction of a complete world of animals, with Adam and Eve walking around on top of buried fossils, how could God have called all this ‘very good’?

(In their monumental Old Testament commentary, Keil and Delitzsch

say about ‘very good’ in Genesis 1:31: ‘everything was perfect in its kind … the existence of anything evil in the creation of God is absolutely denied, and the hypothesis entirely refuted, that the six days’ work merely subdued and fettered an ungodly, evil principle, which had already forced its way into it.’) 

Exodus 20:11 says, ‘For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is …’ 

This is the definitive verse outside Genesis concerning the time frame of creation. 

It states categorically that God created everything in six days. 

There is just no allowance for a gap." 

CMI

What "Gospel" did Paul, John & James Preach?

"Paul fears that teachers will come teaching a different Jesus than he and others have taught, and as a result, the people would receive a different spirit, all the while believing they were receiving the Holy Spirit. 

Paul says they will preach a different gospel and they will bring to you a spirit that we did not bring to them. 

Q: So what is this different gospel?

The gospel as taught by Jesus will set a person free from the power of sin in their life. He that “… commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not remain in the house forever, but the Son remains forever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:34–36, literal translation. 

The apostles preached this gospel.

We find that Paul preached this gospel in chapters 6 and 8 of Romans. 

John preached it in 1 John 2:3, 4: “Now by this we know that we

know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 

John, considered so loveable and so soft-spoken, did not mince words when speaking to those who claim to be a Christian, but choose to live in violation of the law of God. 

James is just as clear, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble [offend] in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” James 2:10–12

The people of God in the last days are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus 

(Revelation 14:12)." 

StepsToLife