Does This Scripture Remind You of Anyone?

I'm not a prophet, but I know prophecy when I see it.

Do you?

2 Timothy 3

Perilous Times and Perilous Men

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be:

lovers of themselves, 
lovers of money, 
boasters, 
proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,
unthankful, 
unholy, 3
unloving, 
unforgiving, 
slanderers, 
without self-control, 
brutal, 
despisers of good, 4 
traitors, 
headstrong, 
haughty, 
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 
having a form of godliness (ie an outward appearance of reverence for God)
but denying its power. (ie religious activity not connected to a living relationship with Jesus Christ)

And from such people turn away! 6 For of this sort are 

those who creep into households (those who use deception to gain an audience)
and make captives of gullible women (captives - take prisoner, spiritually) (gullible women - targets of deception)
loaded down with sins, 
led away by various lusts, 7 
always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 8 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do
these also resist the truth: 
men of corrupt minds, 
disapproved concerning the faith; 9 but 
they will progress no further, for 
their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.


The Man of God and the Word of God

10 But you have carefully 
followed my doctrine, 
manner of life, 
purpose, 
faith, 
longsuffering, 
love, 
perseverance, 11 
persecutions, 
afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And 
out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12

Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. 13
But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14
But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, 
knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that 
from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, 
which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and
is profitable for doctrine, 
for reproof, 
for correction, 
for instruction in righteousness, 17
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

New King James Version (NKJV)

May God bless and give wisdom to all who read the above.

Reading the Bible Through in a Year and Why You Shouldn't

Most evangelical churches these days have programs where you read through the Bible in a year

Some push their congregants to do so every year. This is most unfortunate and not in the best interests of the person, the church, or God. Let me explain, borrowing from an old pastor I heard some years ago:

He worked in the coal mines in the Canadian Rockies as a young man, and he likened reading the Bible through in a year with strip-mining. Strip-mining in coal will yield great amounts of coal, but it will be soft, cheap, and dirty coal that is not worth a great deal. If you want the hard, clean, valuable coal, you have to dig for it.

Here's another analogy from my yet-to-be-published book: If you want to study a lake would you get a speedboat and roar around the lake at breakneck speed? You might; it might give you an idea of how big the lake is but it wouldn't tell you much else about the lake. 

What you really need to do is to get a small boat, some diving gear, some instruments and jump into the lake and start taking measurements of temperature, depth, currents, salinity, acidity, etc. You would try to count the various types and amounts of marine life. You would study  the condition of the bottom, the condition of the marine life, the condition of the water as to pollution. Are you getting my point?

Madame Jeanne Guyon had this all figured out in the 17th century. 

Read this excerpt from A Short and Very Easy Method of Prayer:

Meditative reading is choosing some important practical or speculative truth, always preferring the practical, and proceeding thus: whatever truth you have chosen, read only a small portion of it, endeavoring to taste and digest it, to extract the essence and substance of it, and proceed no farther while any savor or relish remains in the passage: then take up your book again, and proceed as before, seldom reading more than half a page at a time.

It is not the quantity that is read, but the manner of reading, that yields us profit. Those who read fast, reap no more advantage, than a bee would by only skimming over the surface of the flower, instead of waiting to penetrate into it, and extract its sweets. Much reading is rather for scholastic subjects, than divine truths; to receive profit from spiritual books, we must read as I have described; and I am certain that if that method were pursued, we should become gradually adapted to prayer by our reading, and more likely to practise it.

Guyon notes that St. Augustine, one of the great fathers of the faith, practised meditative prayer way back in the late 4th or early 5th century. She states that he blamed himself for not starting it earlier in life.

Is it possible that this skimming through the Bible is responsible for the seeming shallowness of some congregations? Many people simply don't have the time to read the large amounts of scripture needed to get through the Bible in a year, so they either don't, or they read out of obligation and with one eye on the clock. That's no way to learn scripture. 

I'm not saying don't read through the Bible; we need to do that every so many years to keep it in perspective. But there is just no need to rush through it to meet some arbitrary deadline. Read it slowly, savour it, enjoy it, even if it takes you three years to read it cover to cover.

Read it slowly expecting God to reveal something of Himself to you. Read a single verse (in some cases), reread it paying close attention to each word. Is there something there, even a single word that you don't completely understand? Stop! Look it up in a Biblical dictionary. Read commentaries on it. Follow chain links to other scriptures and follow some links to further scriptures from them. Get as much information on it as you can dig up, then sit back and meditate on it. Allow God to bring some clarity to the word or the issue before you move on. 

I like to keep notes on what I've learned, either on paper or in computer files. They can come in very handy when revisiting a particular topic.

That's how to begin to go deep. That's how to begin to understand God, to listen to Him, to be more like Him, to be made perfect and complete so that you might be made one with Him. That's why we are here!

A Prayer for the Family of God

This is just a great prayer incorporating

the promises of God into your daily life:

The original can be found here

“Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Bless the Lord oh my soul and forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:1). 

Our Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus and according to Your good and perfect will, I lift up to You, those of us who are Your children. I pray according to Your Word in Psalm 103:3, that You will forgive all of our iniquities and heal all of our diseases. I pray that you will send health and healing in Mind, Body and Spirit to those of us in need of healing. I pray, Father, that as Your children, we will rest in the knowledge of 1 Pet. 2:24 that Jesus Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: I pray that by His stripes we are healed in mind, body and spirit of all illnesses, discomforts and diseases. I pray that as Your children, we will rest in You, knowing that, according Ps. 107:20, You sent Your word, and healed us, and delivered us from our destruction. I pray, according to 3 John 1:2,  that our souls will prosper in You through Jesus Christ, with the aide of the Holy Spirit and that we will indeed be prosperous and in health, even as our souls prosper.

I pray, Father, according to Phil.4:6-7 that we will not be anxious about anything, but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we let our requests be made known unto You, God. I pray that Your peace, which passes all understanding, shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  I thank You that according to Romans 5:5, Your love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.  I thank You, Father, that according to Rom. 8:28, all things are working together for our good because we love You, God, and are the called according to Your purpose. I pray according to Ps. 91:10-11 that there shall no evil befall us, neither shall any plague come near our dwelling, I thank You that You give Your Angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways. I pray that You will put Your desires into our hearts so that Your desires are our desires. I pray according to Prov. 4:20-22 that we will attend to Your words; incline our ear unto Your sayings and will not let them not depart from our eyes; but keep them in the midst of our hearts. I pray according to Your promise, Father, that Your Word will be life to us and health to all our flesh.

Father, I know according to John 10:10 that the thief comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I thank You that Jesus came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. I pray that this abundant life is flowing through ever cell of our bodies, ever fiber of our being, bringing health and healing, in the name of Jesus. I pray that You will enable us to live fruitful lives in service to You daily. I pray, according to Phil.4:13, no matter what the situation, we can do all things and endure all things through Christ who strengthens us. I pray that in obedience to Your Word in Ecclesiastes 9:10,  whatsoever our hands find to do, we will do it with all of our might. I pray that we will wait on You and be of good courage and according to Your Word in Psalm 27:14, You will strengthen our hearts. I thank You, Father, that as we wait on You, according to Your Word in Isa. 40:31, You are renewing our strength so that we will mount up with wings as eagles and run and not get weary and walk and not faint.

I thank You, Father, that according to Phil.4:19, You are supplying all of our needs according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I thank You that according to Jer. 29:10-11, Your plans for us, as Your children, are for Good and not evil to give us hope and a future. Heavenly Father, as I pray Your Word for these important needs to be meet in our lives, I am standing firm on Your Promise in Isa.55:11, that Your Word shall not return unto to You void, but It shall accomplish that which You please, and It shall prosper in the thing whereto You sent It. I am believing You Father, and thanking You for all of Your provisions for us both spiritually and physically each and every day of our lives. To You God, be the Glory, the Power and the Majesty both now and forever. Amen.

Does The Discovery of Earth 2.0 Mark The End of Religion?

Just a day after the discovery of Earth 2.0, a 'scientist' is already anticipating the death of religion. Good grief!

by Benjamin L. Corey 
Patheos Press

Image of Kepler-452b, via NASA

Yesterday NASA made the announcement that they finally discovered something many have pondered: the existence of an Earth-like planet. The above illustration shows Kepler 452b, a planet somewhat larger than Earth but within the habitable zone of its star. Its year is almost identical to that of our own planet, and the amount of energy received from its sun is near identical as well– meaning if there’s life out there similar to our own, this is the kind of place where it’s happening. This discovery tells us two things: (a) Earth-like planets that host all the building blocks for life are probably relatively common in the universe, and (b) life may very well be relatively common in the universe also.

Umm, couldn't that have been assumed before the discovery of Kepler-452b? There are an almost infinite number of stars in the sky, there must be an almost infinite number of planets as well. It only makes sense. The only real question is whether their numbers are 'almost' infinite or 'totally' infinite. Why would God create such an incredibly vast universe and leave it empty of life?

Discoveries like this are incredibly exciting, but are they bad news for God? Do they spell the end of religion? That’s precisely what scientist Jeff Schweitzer is arguing. In fact, he seems to think the discovery of extraterrestrial life would single-handedly strike down some of the world’s major religions if they were not re-written to accommodate such a discovery:

 “I would like here to preempt what will certainly be a re-write of history on the part of the world’s major religions. I predict with great confidence that all will come out and say such a discovery is completely consistent with religious teachings. My goal here is to declare this as nonsense before it happens.”

How does Schweitzer prove that extraterrestrial life is inconsistent with religion? Well, he goes straight to the Hebrew book of Genesis:

“Let us be clear that the Bible is unambiguous about creation: the earth is the center of the universe, only humans were made in the image of god, and all life was created in six days. All life in all the heavens. In six days. So when we discover that life exists or existed elsewhere in our solar system or on a planet orbiting another star in the Milky Way, or in a planetary system in another galaxy, we will see a huge effort to square that circle with amazing twists of logic and contorted justifications. But do not buy the inevitable historical edits: life on another planet is completely incompatible with religious tradition. Any other conclusion is nothing but ex-post facto rationalization to preserve the myth…”

Quoting Genesis 1:1 he notes,
“Nothing in that mentions alien worlds, which of course the ancients knew nothing about. Man was told to rule over the fish on the earth, not on other planets. But god would have known of these alien worlds, so it is curious he did not instruct the authors to include the language.”

He goes onto argue that the omission of alien life would require anyone without a closed mind to basically wash their hands of the Bible:

“None of the 66 books of the bible [sic] make any reference to life other than that created by god here on earth in that six-day period. If we discover life elsewhere, one must admit that is an oversight. So much so in fact that such a discovery must to all but the most closed minds call into question the entire story of creation, and anything that follows from that story. How could a convincing story of life’s creation leave out life? Even if the story is meant to be allegorical, the omission of life elsewhere makes no sense.”

While Schweitzer begins the piece by saying alien life would be a problem for religion in general, his entire argument is based upon the creation account in Genesis, so what he’s really saying is it is a problem for the three religions who worship the God of Abraham and share that creation account (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam). But is he right?

No, he’s not. The discovery of alien life will not be the end of any of the three Abrahamic faiths, nor will it require all but the closed-minded to leave.

If I understand his arguments, it seems he’s arguing the following: if alien life exists but is not mentioned in the creation poem, such a creation account is either (a) factually wrong or (b) contains an omission which would prove it were not inspired by God.

The irony of the argument brings up an important point that I’ve seen not infrequently: some atheists and fundamentalists often insist on reading the Bible the same way, yet both sides think the other is stupid for doing so. And this is precisely what Schweitzer is doing: he’s taking a fundamentalist view of Genesis and arguing that it would all fall apart with the scientific discovery of extraterrestrial life. (In fact, he’s actually going one step beyond fundamentalism and arguing that if the creation account omits any information, it is wrong.)

In praxis it looks like this:
Fundamentalist: This is what the text says. If it did not happen exactly the way it is recorded, it is not true. Therefore, it must be true.
Atheist: This is what the text says. If it did not happen exactly the way it is recorded, it is not true. Therefore, you’d have to be closed-minded to believe it.

It’s the same hermeneutical approach on both sides. It imports the same modern assumptions on how we tell history versus how ancients told stories, and assumes being “inspired by God” means the text must answer modern questions instead of ancient ones. Whether approaching it from the atheist side or that of the fundamentalist, it’s a rather unenlightening way to approach these ancient stories.

Most Evangelical Christians believe that Christ is returning for the Millennial Reign, soon. Events happening around the world in the past 25 years powerfully strengthen that belief. If, as so many of us believe, He returns soon, it is likely to be before intelligent life is discovered anywhere else in the universe. His presence will then supersede Scripture. Consequently, it would be completely unnecessary to include such a topic as extra-terrestrial life in Scripture because no-one would experience it during the period of the greatest influence of Scripture.

Imagine if God had included everything He created in the Creation account; it would be so large, I doubt any of us would live long enough to be able to read it.

C.S. Lewis once said, rather sarcastically, "if you don't know how to read grown-up books, then you shouldn't comment on them".

Our religion only falls apart if you hold Schweitzer’s assumptions: the creation account is a true account of creation and if something is omitted, the account is wrong. I don’t know many who actually hold to this position, so I would imagine the collapse of religion predicted would be relatively small.

In the end, I would be thrilled if they discover (as I already anticipate is true) that life is actually common in the universe. This will not shake my faith at all. This will not require me to become closed-minded and abandon the entire Christian narrative.

Instead, it would invite me to begin asking bigger questions about God and bigger questions about creation.

And as someone who loves asking questions about God, I welcome the opportunity.