Jurassic Park in Reverse: Modern Mammal Fossils in Dinosaur Layers

I once debated a man over the internet who said “Show me a Cambrian rabbit and I’ll become a creationist.” (A Cambrian rabbit would be a rabbit fossil found in a very low fossil layer, called the Cambrian.) I don’t specifically have a Cambrian rabbit to show you today but I’ve got something ten times as explosive. I’ve got solid documentation of dozens of fully accredited examples of modern looking mammal and bird fossils discovered in dinosaur fossil layers.

Dinosaur fossils are found in fossil bearing rock layers of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods. These three Periods comprise the Mesozoic Era. It’s important to remember that the three periods comprise the one era.

Dinosaurs are the rock stars of paleontology. Universities and museums pay enormous sums to those who dig up dinosaur fossils. In digging up dinosaur fossils they focused on the dinosaur bones and tended to ignore the other fossils in the layers such as fossils of birds and mammals. You can imagine that a team leader would be reluctant to report back to the university that he spent so many days digging through rock and found – an opossum skeleton!

However, paleontologists couldn’t help noticing the bones of birds and mammals that were unearthed in the dinosaur layers. This must have been disconcerting to them because modern looking mammals are supposed to have evolved much later than dinosaurs according to standard Darwinian evolutionary theory. They also found skeletons of modern birds, including flamingos, loons, cormorants, sandpipers and even a parrot in the Mesozoic layers.

The bird fossils were especially troublesome because evolutionist paleontologists have long claimed that birds evolved from dinosaurs. They make this far-fetched claim because of some skeletal similarities between bird and dinosaur skeletons, such as in the hip bones. The famous alleged transitional form Archeopteryx which has often been offered as evidence for evolution is actually a feathered, winged, perching bird. Archeopteryx is all bird and no dinosaur. Archeopteryx is essentially a modern bird with a few unusual features and is similar to the present day Hoatzin of Brazil and the Tooth-billed Catbird of Australia. Archeopteryx is just one of many species of modern birds found in dinosaur layers.

There are no transitional fossils between dinosaurs and Archeopteryx. There are no transitional fossils between dinosaurs and other modern birds. Furthermore, there are no transitional fossil ancestors of dinosaurs. There are no transitional fossils either to or from dinosaurs. Dinosaurs, like all animal and plant fossils, appear abruptly in the fossil record just as creationists predicted.

The many fossils of modern birds and over one hundred mammal fossils discovered in Mesozoic layers by reputable evolutionist paleontologists are smoking guns that flip the table over regarding evolution. Modern bird and mammal fossils among dinosaur fossils is what creationists predicted would be discovered. God created all animal species at the beginning and some species became extinct over time. Now it’s time for the theory of evolution to become extinct!

“And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:25

Excellent documentation for the many finds of modern birds and mammals in the dinosaur layers can be found in the book: LIVING FOSSILS, EVOLUTION: The Grand Experiment, Volume Two by Dr. Carl Werner, New Leaf Press, 2008.

What makes Dr. Werner’s book so painstakingly incisive is the fact that the fossils of birds and mammals presented in his book are photographed directly from the collections of natural history museums and universities. Dr. Werner has also interviewed the evolutionist paleontologists who actually found the fossils and included their verbatim statements in his book. There are also citations from evolutionist journals such as the famous journal, Nature.

Werner’s book, as it’s title suggests, contains images and discussion about living fossils. Living fossils are fossils of plants and animals found in the Mesozoic and other fossil layers that are exactly similar to creatures alive today and that are unchanged after an alleged millions of years of evolution. The book contains over twenty chapters with hundreds of photographs of dinosaur era fossils placed next to photos of modern living organisms showing little or no difference.

The evolutionist paleontologists interviewed by Dr. Werner admitted that modern looking birds and mammals lived with dinosaurs. Natural history museums tend to not display or depict bird and mammal fossils with dinosaur fossils. One exception is shown on page 168 of Werner’s book which is a display at the Geological Museum, University of Wisconsin, Madison which is an artist’s rendering of modern looking seagulls with two pterosaurs (flying reptiles of the dinosaur era). It is a display in a mainstream evolutionist museum, showing modern birds with pterosaurs. Such a display serves to undermine evolution, yet there it is in a mainstream evolutionist museum!

Page 178 of Werner’s book shows a very persuasive pair of photos. They consist of a Mesozoic fossil skeleton of a mammal next to a modern skeleton of a Ringtail Possum. They are strikingly similar. It’s a dinosaur era fossil almost exactly the same as a modern possum. Page 182 of the book shows a gallery of mammal fossils found in Jurassic and Cretaceous layers. The evidence is overwhelming.

The 20th chapter, which is on dinosaur era bird fossils, and the 21st chapter, which is on dinosaur era mammal fossils, are especially fatal to the evolution paradigm. These two chapters present the evidence in clear and undeniable form. Evolutionists cannot credibly argue that the fossils are of “early” mammals or “early” birds.

What are we to conclude from this? Evolution is a nineteenth century theory formulated by Charles Darwin and others who thought living things were simple and could self-assemble out of mud or in a “warm little pond” as Darwin put it. They knew nothing of the utter complexity of proteins and DNA and the irreducible intricacies of the simplest living cell. Darwinian evolutionists claimed that life evolved from single-celled organisms to multi-celled organisms, then to fish, amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, birds, mammals to humans with no creator involved in the process.  They claimed it was from goo to you by way of the zoo!

Evolution became the origins myth of atheism, secularism, Secular Humanism and every ideology that denied God’s existence. Darwinism caused the secularization of western culture. The denial of God and the rejection of God’s commandments caused the flood of immorality, family breakdown, crime, drug abuse and suicide so prevalent today. Darwinists implicitly asked you to bet your soul that there is no God. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.

Darwin, Huxley, Ingersoll and the other early evolutionists appealed to the geological column to claim an orderly progression from “early” simple life forms to modern, higher order plants and animals. We now know, after centuries of digging, that the geological column is upside down in many places and is jumbled in much of the rest. Modern and ancient species lived side by side. This is just what we would expect if the creator God formed all of the plant and animal types at the beginning. I bet my soul that there is a God!!

Many fine paleontologists and biologists are seeing the flaws in evolution and are embracing creationism or at least becoming a part of the Intelligent Design Movement. More than one thousand scientists and academics have publicly refuted evolution by signing a statement that denies Darwinism on the website http://www.dissentfromdarwin.com.

Many well educated scientifically minded people are taking a fresh look at Christianity. The creator God loves all human beings and has sent His Son Jesus to be the redeemer of humankind. Jesus came in fulfillment of over three hundred Old Testament Bible prophecies. Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah of Israel who came to die for the sins of all people, Jew and gentile.

Centuries before the birth of Christ, Isaiah the prophet wrote of Christ: “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus came to suffer and die, bearing the penalty of the sins of all people, thus making atonement. He rose from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to call on the name of Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.

Steps to salvation:

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)

1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on Jesus Christ to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer:

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA 

(C) 2020 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback! 
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
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Something Bigger than All-Out Nuclear War is About to Strike Planet Earth

My father, Paul Clarkin Nugent (1921-1997), was drafted into the armed forces of the United States in August, 1943. He chose to enter the Marine Corps, a very dangerous choice considering their deployment on the front lines in the war. Because he was college educated, he was sent to several USMC training schools in technology, including radar. He shipped out to the Philippines in January, 1945.

 

Not long after arrival in the Philippines his unit was sent to the battle of Okinawa, the last great battle of World War II. At the time, they didn’t know it was the last great battle of the war. They thought they would soon be called upon to invade Japan. No doubt, they said among themselves “The allies invaded Germany and Italy. Surely, very soon, we’ll invade Japan!” It’s been estimated that if the allies: US, Britain, France and the USSR had invaded Japan like we did Germany and Italy, there would have been more than a million men dead and wounded. The war would have lasted into 1946 and possibly 1947.

 

Then came a game changer: the US dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. Japan surrendered and what could have taken years and a sea of blood took days without allied casualties.

 

Now, let’s fast forward to the present and draw a parallel with the church. The present day church is in the battle of the ages. It’s the war between good and evil just before the second coming of Jesus Christ. How is the church doing in this war? Jesus commanded us: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19 NASB). Have we won the nations to Christ? We’ve won a small remnant in the nations. The vast majority of people in the nations remain in rebellion against God.

 

We were commanded to win the nations to Christ but we failed – so far. The failure of the church to win the nations to Christ was actually written in advance in predictive prophecies in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. That’s right, our failure to win the nations was prophesied centuries ago! The book of Revelation, that great New Testament book of predictive prophecy, shows the rising up of an antichrist figure who will lead millions in utter rebellion against God. “Ye have heard that antichrist shall come” (I John 2:18). “And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast . . . and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God . . .  and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (Revelation 13:4,6 & 7).

 

We, the church, have been commanded to succeed but predicted to fail!!! What a tragedy! What drama! But then again, have we really failed ultimately in making disciples of all the nations? Consider that the war isn’t over. The battle of the ages rages on!

 

For most of church history, the leaders of the church, in the early church, the medieval church and most of the modern church believed that the church would ultimately prevail in bringing the Gospel to the nations. The church would reform all the social institutions and the church would bring the Kingdom of God into full manifestation throughout the earth and then hand it over to Jesus at His second coming. This was called “postmillenialism” or “triumphalism.” It was an optimistic view of the advance of western Christian culture to reform and transform the world into a holy place. This optimism reached its peak in the 19th century during the height of European colonialism when “Christian” Europe controlled most of planet earth.

 

The twentieth century came and optimism was turned to pessimism. The horrors of World War I, World War II, the collapse of the colonialist empires, the barbarism of the holocaust in which mass murder was carried out with unspeakable brutality, and communism and its mass murders, all caused the optimism of the church to decline. After World War II, a profound pessimism settled into the church. By far the majority position today among Evangelicals is a premillenial position in which the world descends into utter chaos and rebellion against God and Christ Himself comes to do what the church would not do, which is win the nations to Himself. Then the millennium begins and the world enters a thousand year age of peace and submission to God.

 

I’m a premillenialist myself but I don’t believe we should accept failure as our future. The command to make disciples of all nations still stands. I will show you Bible prophecies that predict our success in winning the nations to Christ. The church will fail in some ways and succeed in other ways. There are two streams of predictive end-time prophecies in the Bible, one of catastrophe, the other of glorious victory. Let me explain.

 

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Seven Mountains Mandate. This is the revelation given prophetically to the church principally through two highly esteemed Evangelical leaders named Bill Bright and Loren Cunningham. Both men have publicly stated that God put the Seven Mountains Mandate on their hearts separately and then the two men met with each other and shared what the Lord had put on their hearts.

 

In addition, there was the miraculous death and raising up of Georgia State Senator Michael Crotts. Crotts was dead for 34 minutes after a massive heart attack on October 9, 1990. He was in the presence of the Lord and saw a vision of seven mountains and the Lord gave him the revelation that Christians must exert a godly influence on seven realms of culture. Lance Wallnau has been especially gifted at articulating the Seven Mountain Mandate to people in conferences and church meetings globally.
The seven mountains are seven major categories of social influence. On page 53 of the book, Dead for 34 Minutes by Senator Mike Crotts, Rising Star Publications, Mike Crotts lists the mountains he saw as: “Government, Learning, Outreach [religion], Business, Entertainment, Family and Media”. Those who teach on the Seven Mountains Mandate exhort Christians to hear from God regarding their calling in life. Christians can be called to serve God in business or in the media or in education or any of the mountains of influence. Traditionally many in the church have focused almost exclusively on the mountain of religion as the destination for Christians zealous to make an impact on society for God.

 

Half the Evangelical church has probably not even heard of the seven mountains. The other half is a bit skeptical of it. Many dismiss the seven mountains as “Kingdom Now” or “Dominion Theology.” To them, the church will fail and we’ll watch Jesus climb and conquer the seven mountains alone after He returns.

 

However, when you boil it all down; the Seven Mountains Mandate is just another way of saying: “Make disciples of all nations and do it NOW!!!”

 

In the Gospels and the Epistles there are many commands given to the church regarding what we must do before Jesus returns. One such command is given in Luke 19:13 “Occupy till I come.”

 

Jesus said “whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven” (Mt. 16:19 NASB). We disciples of Christ are commanded to bind and loose things on earth. Binding and loosing was the ancient way of saying “governing planet earth.” In front of 5,000 hungry people, Jesus commanded the disciples: “You give them something to eat” (Mt. 14:16). Jesus said “YOU do it!!!” The disciples passed out the food and the food multiplied in their hands. Jesus led them in the feeding of the 5,000 but the disciples did their part.

 

The Greek word in the New Testament for “church” is “ekklesia” which means “called out ones” or “council” or “legislature.” The church is an elite organization, not a Sunday school picnic. It looks like the church is commanded to invade and take over the world just like my dad and the other brave men of the allied forces were commanded to invade and take over Germany, Italy and Japan.

 

I believe, from my study of the commands of scripture and my study of end-time biblical prophecies in Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible that Jesus is about to drop a bomb that will make nuclear weapons look like firecrackers. The bomb Jesus is about to drop is the manifestation of the sons of God. “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19).

 

It doesn’t say that the creation waits for the second coming of Jesus, glorious as that is. All creation waits for God’s sons, an overcomer company in His church, to come to full maturity and be endued with great power to set all creation free from the bondage of sin and death. “The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). Jesus wants the mature sons of God to do the greater works of miracles (John 14:12) in the end-times and do the work of winning the lost and setting all of creation free.

 

That which is called “manifested sons” or “the sonship message” is a message that has been taken to bizarre extremes in the past. This has happened to such an extent that many in the church reject any teaching on the manifestation of the sons of God. But as Arthur Burt of Wales once said “There’s nothing unscriptural about scripture and the manifestation of the sons of God is in the scripture.” I believe the apostolic ministry is being restored to the church now. The manifestation of the sons of God encompasses the apostolic ministry and goes beyond it.

 

I’ve taught extensively on the sonship message in my book titled “The Cross, Self-Denial and the Manifestation of the Sons of God” available on Amazon Kindle. I bring a very conservative theological perspective to the sonship message and connect the message to sanctification and humility. I call it “the consecration message.” Those who grow to full stature in Christ and have the honor of being placed as mature sons are those who humbly deny self and “take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23) and “follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” (Revelation 14:4).

 

In my book I teach on sanctification from Romans chapters six, seven and eight. Romans six teaches about the sanctification of the believer’s spirit. Romans seven teaches about the sanctification of the believer’s soul. Romans eight teaches about the sanctification of the believer’s body. The latter half of Romans eight teaches about our “placing” or “adoption” as mature sons who will be used of Christ to set all of creation free. So we see that the manifestation of the sons of God (Romans 8:19) is discussed in the book of Romans in the context of the epistle’s teaching on the sanctification of believers in Christ.

 

Romans chapter six teaches that the believer’s reborn spirit is not adopted but is actually reborn into a sinless state of full sanctification. “Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God” (Romans 6:11). Romans seven teaches that the soul of the believer is still mired in sin and has a sin nature and needs daily sanctification. “I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). Romans eight teaches about the sanctification and redemption of the believer’s physical body at the resurrection of the righteous dead. “We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23).

 

In my book, I elaborate on the above scriptures and bring in many other scriptures on sanctification. I discuss how we are to apply the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, which commands us to turn the other cheek. I also discuss the words of Jesus in Luke 22:36 “He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” I explain the identity of the 144,000 of Revelation 7:3-8 & 14:1-5 and their role in the last days.

 

An Old Testament example of a man of God who climbed one of the seven mountains is Daniel, the prophet. Daniel climbed the mountain of government. Daniel was a sanctified, humble man of impeccable character. God used Daniel in the highest levels of the pagan government of Babylon. Daniel confronted Nebuchadnezzar who was an antichrist figure. God used Daniel during the final downfall of Babylon in the days of Belshazzar when Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall and proclaimed the downfall of the Babylonian empire.

 

I also show what I believe the biblical prophecies of the end-times lay out as the actual unfolding of how the manifested sons of God will climb the seven mountains and be used of God to set all of creation free with Christ as their glorious head just before, during and after Christ’s second coming. This is greater power than any nuclear war!!

 

There will be blood and guts strewn about as the end-time rebellion of the world unfolds. The book of Revelation is clear about that. However, there will also be a glorious end-time harvest of a billion souls (Revelation 7:13-14). More souls will be won to Christ in a few short years than in the 2,000 years up to this point!  These souls will be discipled and will be part of a glorious end-time church that will prevail and be a light to the nations.

 

God must have His overcomers at the tops of the seven mountains to get the Gospel message out and win the billion souls and make disciples of them. The antichrist will not prevail. We shall fulfill the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19!

 

 

You may obtain a copy of “The Cross, Self-Denial and the Manifestation of the Sons of God” at the link below which will take you to Kindle. I tried to list it on Kindle for free but Kindle would only allow a minimum price of 99 cents.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Self-Denial-Manifestation-Sons-God-ebook/dp/B07NCL9B82/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550282110&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cross+self-denial+and+the+manifestation+of+the+sons+of+God
You can get a free Kindle app from my Kindle book page to read the book on any device.

The Black Book of Communism Shows Number of People Killed By Communists

After the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the early 1990s a vast array of formerly secret government archives became available to researchers. One result was the publication of a book in France in 1997 titled: The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression by Courtois, Werth, Panne, Paczkowski, Bartosek and Margolin, published by Editions Robert Laffont. The English version was published shortly thereafter by Harvard University Press.

 

Lead author Stephan Courtois is a former Maoist.

 

The book was a seminal work that elicited a firestorm of praise from major publications and commentators all around the world. In the United States it was lauded by everything from The New Republic to the New York Times Book Review to the National Review. It’s been translated into several languages. Sequels and similar works on the crimes of communism have been published. Criticism of the book has centered mainly on methodology and it’s comparison of the mass murders of communism with those of nazism.

 

Interestingly, no one of any stature has attempted to deny the central thrust of the book which tabulates the tens of millions of victims of communist regimes in the Soviet Union, China, the communist states of Eastern Europe, Vietnam, Cambodia, Ethiopia, North Korea, Afghanistan and Cuba. There are no “communist atrocity deniers” on the same level as the infamous holocaust deniers.
The Black Book gathered statistics on the number of murders of innocent people by communist governments. The murders were committed through extrajudicial executions, mass deportations of people to isolated barren regions, cutting off food supplies in creating artificial famines, class based genocides, working people to death in labor camps and other means of murder. The Black Book claims the number of victims of mass murder in communist regimes include 65 million victims in China, 20 million in the Soviet Union, 2 million each in North Korea and Cambodia, 5.2 million combined in Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Eastern European bloc, Vietnam and Latin America or roughly 94 million total. Three of the contributors to the Black Book: Werth, Bartosek and Margolin, using more conservative methodology, give the total number of victims of communism in the twentieth century to be between 65 and 93 million human beings.

 

The cruelty and inhumanity of the murders is described, including the mass deportations of millions of Poles and German speaking peoples, among others, to Siberia which caused millions of agonizing deaths in the frozen wastelands of the USSR. In China, mass murder was carried out during its failed five year plans, artificial famines and “The Great Leap Forward” under Mao Tse Tung. Multitudes were murdered during the Cultural Revolution, 1966- 1976, in China. This is all in addition to the everyday brutality of the communist police states. Law enforcement minions of communist regimes suppressed all freedom of speech and political discourse. Political prisoners were tortured and starved.

 

People in farming regions were starved when their harvests were confiscated to fill absurdly high quotas set by the central government. The food was diverted to the cities and their land was confiscated to form the notoriously inefficient collective farms.

 

All of the brutality flows directly out of communist ideology. Marx regarded people as “atoms in motion” and therefore an individual human life was not sacred or even valuable. The communist ideologues then made a curious leap of reasoning and said that society is valuable because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. An individual is worthless and has no basic human rights but gather a multitude of individuals together to form a nation and that is valuable. To them, a communist government has the right to force its political will on defenseless unarmed individuals in order to create a utopian economically egalitarian society.

 

The brutality of communism can be traced to its religious foundations. The religion at the root of communism is atheistic materialism, also called secular humanism. The basic tenets are that there is no God, no spirit world, no life after death, no celestial law-giver, no supreme being above man, man is the supreme being, man is God, all laws must be made by man (legal positivism) and evolution is its origins myth.

 

Marx, Lenin and the other founders of communism regarded human beings as mere descendants of apes who have no souls and no conscious existence after death. Communism is ultimately based on the foundation of atheistic, Darwinian evolution of man. Evolution is the origins myth of communism and has been taught as fact in the schools of every communist regime.

 

Evolution is itself a flawed theory crumbling under attacks from scientists bold enough to point out the scientific evidence that refutes evolution. Harold Morowitz shows the mathematical hyper-improbability and impossibility of the first cell forming by chance. Michael Behe shows the irreducible complexity of biological structures and that they had to form all at once or not at all because no plausible step by step Darwinian process can build the intricate, interdependent structures of life. John Sanford shows that genetic mutations are destructive errors in the DNA and the DNA of all living things is breaking down over time. DNA is not being built up by mutational changes. Geneticists observe, in nature, that DNA is accumulating small defects from generation to generation. This is called genetic entropy.

 

To the communists, since man is just an evolved animal, there is no sin or rebellion against a law-giving creator. Human life is not sacred because man is not created in God’s image but merely evolved from animals. Since man is not a sinner, he must be basically good. The bad behavior of people is not morally wrong but simply “anti-social.” Such behavior is motivated by evolved animal survival instincts and such instincts can be unlearned by education in secular schools or, for the more stubborn, in communist re-education camps. Those that are supremely stubborn can be worked to death in the communist work camps.

 

The hard core communist leaders, “having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (I Tim. 4:2), could engage in unspeakable acts of perfidy without a twinge of remorse. To them, humans are animals. We can butcher animals. Why not butcher humans?

 

Communists believed that humans could be molded into perfectly kind, unselfish beings to take part in a utopian society with everyone “sharing around the world” – John Lennon. With communist indoctrination, humans could be taught to give themselves totally for the good of society. People could be taught to “take according to their need and give according to their ability.” This training could be done by education, propaganda, isolation from competing ideas, enacting communist laws, brute force in enforcing communist laws and murder of those who resist.

 

The lesson that the grand experiment and collapse of communism teaches us is that an ideal society can’t be coerced on people either by persuasive education or by brute force. It’s only by spiritual revival in which people turn to God and submit to God’s ways of justice that people can govern themselves and live in freedom within God’s laws of morality. The failure of communism shows the failure of unbelief in God.

 

Communism failed because the selfishness of man runs far deeper than some form of animal instinct. The Bible teaches that humankind is in rebellion against God. Many people, myself included, say that the Bible is God’s written revelation to mankind. The Bible tells of the love of God, the creation of man, the fall into sin and the means of redemption from sin. Someone might say “Why should I believe your Bible with its stories about Adam and Eve and sin, the curse and redemption? Why not believe in the sacred books of other faiths such as the Hindu Vedas?” One reason why we believe the Bible is the word of God is that God has given miraculous evidence to prove to us that the Bible is God’s inspired word to humanity.

 

God has put His signature on the Bible. That divine signature is the supernatural evidence of fulfilled Bible prophecies and miracles.

 

The Bible contains hundreds of prophecies that were fulfilled down through history and some are being fulfilled in our own day. Bible prophecies and their fulfillments are discussed in detail in the book A Ready Defense by Josh McDowell (pub. by Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1993). Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel, came in fulfillment of over three hundred prophecies that were written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. No other figure in all of world history can make this claim. The sacred books of other faiths contain few, if any, predictive prophecies.
In addition to the fulfilled prophecies, there are many miracles that occur in answer to Christian people’s prayers to God. Christ Himself worked many miracles during His time on earth. The followers of Christ also see miracles of healing happen in church meetings all over the world. The miracles also serve to prove that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who was sent by a merciful, loving God to redeem humanity from sin.

 

People are given the choice between Jesus Christ, who is the Jewish Messiah or Karl Marx, who was a Jewish political philosopher. You’re given the choice between life and death.

 

The ancient Jewish prophets foretold that the coming Messiah would come and suffer and die, taking the penalty of the sins of all people upon Himself, thus making atonement. More than eight hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah wrote of Christ: “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Christ fulfilled prophecy when He died for our sins. Christ rose from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.

 

Steps to salvation:

 

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus Christ to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2020 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of Defending the Faith archived on our website. <>{

Fossils Out of Order Turn Evolution Upside Down

The Matterhorn is the most beautiful mountain in the Alps. Its distinctive hooked peak is immediately recognizable. The Matterhorn has been called “a mountain upside down”  because this mountain is where we find a supposed 200 million year old fossil layer (Mesozoic) on top of a supposed 40 million year old (Cenozoic) layer.  The above mentioned sequence is opposite of what one would expect given old earth Darwinian evolution assumptions. It’s a geologic column in reverse order. If evolution were true, the Mesozoic should be beneath the Cenozoic layer of stone.

 

So here is a mountain that is famous and readily accessible to both geologists and lay people and it contains a glaring example of fossils out of order.  Would you be surprised if I told you that there are hundreds of examples of out of sequence fossils all over the world? (See article: Morris, J. 2013 “The Upside Down Mountain” Acts & Facts, 42 (8): 13 at http://www.icr.org).

 

Surely you remember the high school biology textbook pictures of alleged horse evolution. The diagram in the textbooks commonly used in US public schools shows the alleged evolutionary progression from Eohippus to Mesohippus to Neohipparion to Pliohippus to the modern horse Equus. The drawings show the four toed animal as the earliest and the alleged later evolved animals having progressively fewer toes till you arrive at the one toed, hoofed horses of today. The fossil record, however, is not kind to this artistic rendering and storytelling.

 

Horse fossils are found out of order. In Oregon, the alleged intermediate form, three toed Neohipparion is found in the same strata layer with one toed Pliohippus. There are other examples of horse fossil inconsistencies including the fact that some of the alleged intermediates are found on different continents. To their credit, evolutionary paleontologists have freely acknowledged these problems with the horse series. I wish they would tell the textbook writers because the old version of the horse series is still used to deceive young minds. (See article: Morris J. 2008 “The Mythical Horse Series” Acts & Facts 37 (9): 13 at http://www.icr.org.)

 

Books have been written about human fossils and artifacts found in coal seams. Some of the coal seams where human fossils were found are dated according to prevailing old earth methods at over 100 million years. One well known book on the subject, Forbidden Archaeology by Michael Cremo (with Richard L. Thompson) documents human fossil and artifact finds from all over the world. I don’t recommend this book because it is written from a Hindu perspective. I only mention it here because it’s an example of extensive documentation done by nonchristian researchers and it goes to show that Christian creationists are not the only ones pointing to the fossils out of order.

 

I’ve read of many human fossils found in coal. One example is a human skull found in a coal seam in Germany. It’s not recognized by paleontologists because it was not discovered by a paleontologist. Many, if not most, fossils found in coal are discovered by miners. There are probably a thousand miners at work in the world for every one paleontologist. Each miner probably moves a thousand times more dirt in his career than does a paleontologist. Miners find human bones and artifacts on occasion and some make an effort to get their discoveries recognized but if a paleontologist was not on the scene when it was found they generally dismiss the find. That of course does not totally discredit the many human fossils but the lack of academic acceptance makes it hard to persuade people who insist on only seeing finds reported in peer reviewed journals.

 

The Grand Canyon in Arizona in the US contains dozens of clearly defined rock layers containing fossils. It’s no surprise that we find fossils out of order in this extensive location. There are photographs of horselike hoof prints discovered in Grand Canyon rock strata dated by old earth methods at 100 million years older than the supposed evolution of hoofed animals! These photos were published by a leading authority on the Grand Canyon. (See Edwin D. McKee, The Supai Group of Grand Canyon, Geological Survey Professional Paper 1173, Wash. D.C.: US Gov. Printing Office, 1982 pp. 93-96, 100.)

 

The creationist websites: www.answersingenesis.org and www.icr.org  have much documentation of fossils out of sequence. Just visit either of these websites and type “fossils out of order” in the search box and you will see links to many articles written by Ph. D. scientists that document out of sequence fossils. Fossils out of order serve to disprove Darwinian macroevolution because such fossils reverse the time scheme of evolution. The fossil record often shows the end products of alleged evolution occurring before the precursors! These anomalies cannot be explained by any stretch of Darwinist reasoning.

 

The fossil record is consistent with the biblical historical narrative that describes a recent creation of all animal and plant types and the massive flooding of the continents during a global catastrophe. During the flood of Noah’s time the Bible says “all the fountains of the great deep burst open” (Genesis 7:11 NASB). This refers to undersea earthquakes and catastrophic plate tectonics that drove huge tsunamis across continents depositing sediment layers and sweeping away lush forests and burying massive amounts of plant matter which would become coal seams. It is therefore not surprising to find human remains in coal seams deep below the surface.

 

The Bible gives an accurate description of early earth history but more importantly it tells us of the human need for forgiveness of sins and how such forgiveness is obtained. Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah of Israel, came in fulfillment of over 300 prophecies that were recorded in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. Christ performed miracles in front of eyewitnesses to prove He is the Messiah. Jesus died for our sins and took upon Himself the penalty we deserved for our sins. He rose from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who call upon Him. I invite you to call upon the name of Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!

 

 

Steps to salvation:

 

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus Christ to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2020 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of Defending the Faith archived on our website. <>{

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Viruses, Coronaviruses and the Theory of Evolution

Do you know it’s impossible to kill a virus? That’s because viruses are not living organisms. Viruses do not eat and they do not excrete. Viruses have no respiration. Viruses consist of a protein sheath that surrounds a small genome consisting of DNA or RNA. Antibiotics kill bacteria but have no effect on viruses. You can’t kill viruses but you can destroy them.

 

Viruses can’t reproduce by cell division like bacteria. A virus invades a cell, such as a bacterium or a human cell. The virus then hijacks the cell’s reproductive machinery and forces the cell to reproduce viruses. A disease causing virus causes a human cell to become full of viruses and explode and die, releasing viruses and toxins into the body causing illness and death. Since viruses invade the DNA of host cells, viruses can also cause cells to mutate into cancer cells.

 

There are approximately 37 trillion cells in the average human body. There are approximately 20 times that number (740 trillion) microorganisms in the human body, consisting of bacteria and viruses. Human cells are much larger than the microorganisms. Some of the microorganisms are so small, 400,000 of them could fit inside one human cell. Most of the microorganisms are either neutral or beneficial to the body. A small fraction are harmful or pathogenic.

 

Most of the 150 trillion viruses estimated to inhabit a human body are harmless and they destroy bacteria. There is much scientific literature these days discussing the fact that many viruses are actually beneficial to the human body.

 

Harmful viruses include: rhinoviruses (cause common cold), influenza viruses (seasonal flu virus), measles virus, HIV (AIDS) viruses, and coronaviruses  which inhabit animals, can cause the common cold in humans and cause SARS, MERS and the present deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

 

During reproduction of viruses, there are often transcription errors that cause mutations in the DNA of the newly reproduced viruses. All viruses mutate over time. Some viruses mutate very rapidly into more deadly or less deadly forms.

 

Other viruses are very stable and seldom mutate at all. For instance the virus that causes measles is in nearly the same form that it was back in the 1950s. The HIV (AIDS) virus is also rather stable and not prone to much mutation, though there are several strains of HIV virus now.

 

The seasonal flu virus mutates rapidly and the mutations are often predictable. Microbiologists studying flu viruses can predict, with some degree of accuracy, how the virus will mutate and develop a vaccine in advance of that mutated strain of virus. This is why we have different flu virus vaccines every year. Personally I never get a flu shot. The record of the flu vaccine in actually preventing the flu is a bit spotty. Vaccines also carry other health risks but that’s a topic for another article.

 

Seasonal flu viruses usually arise in east Asia. The reason for this is the type of intense animal husbandry practiced in densely populated east Asian lands. Chickens, ducks, geese and pigs are raised in extremely close proximity on Asian farms and ranches. Pigs are often fed chicken dung as their primary food source. This causes viruses that infect fowl (avian viruses) to cross over into pigs. The avian viruses and swine viruses can on occasion infect the same cell in the body of a pig. The two viruses sometimes form a mutated hybrid under these conditions. Some strains of these new hybrid flu viruses can infect humans and be transmissible from human to human.

 

The influenza virus of 1918-19 was especially deadly. It infected about 500 million people, almost a third of the world population at the time. Estimates of deaths range from 30 million to 100 million, including 675,000 in the United States. It progressed in three waves, the first being deadly but mild compared to the fierce second wave. The virus mutated to a deadlier form by the summer of 1918 and the peak month of deaths was October 1918.

 

The 1918 pandemic was caused by an avian virus (H1N1) and the geographic origin is unknown. It followed an unusual seasonal flu virus timeframe, peaking in the summer and fall of 1918. Most seasonal flu outbreaks peak in winter. My own family lost a great-aunt in the pandemic. My maternal grandfather’s sister, Marie May (1894-1918) died of the flu in December 1918. It was just three months after she was maid of honor at my grandparents’ wedding. She was sick only three days.

 

This brings us to the present coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that originated in Wuhan China in December 2019. Some have speculated that it’s a bio-engineered virus but microbiologists who’ve studied it say the RNA doesn’t have markers typical of an engineered genome. The origin of the outbreak is thought to have been through transmission from animal to human at the Wuhan seafood and live animal market. This is  because some researchers point to the fact that the virus is 96% similar to a strain of bat virus. Bats are eaten as food in China. A search on the internet will bring up pictures of Chinese people eating bats and pictures of roasted bats and bat soup. People selling or cooking bats are exposed to raw bat flesh and bat blood. It’s easy to see how a bat virus could spread to humans.

 

The rapid spread of COVID-19 from human to human is very alarming. The high death rate (over 25,000 deaths among 565,000+ cases, as I write this) gives a death rate far higher than that of seasonal flu. Contagious and deadly is a bad combination. It is more severe than the SARS virus (2002-2003) and the MERS virus (2012- present) which are also coronaviruses. The MERS virus spreads very inefficiently from human to human. SARS was also suspected to have been transmitted from bats to humans.

 

This year’s seasonal flu has infected over 34 million Americans so far, causing about 350,000 hospitalizations and over 20,000 deaths. Seasonal flu runs from October to April. If COVID-19 were allowed to infect 34 million Americans, it’s high death rate would likely cause over 350,000 deaths.

 

We can be thankful that viruses mutate over time. A genetic mutation is a destructive error that occurs in the genome (DNA or RNA) of the virus during the reproduction of the virus in host cells. Mutations cause a rearrangement or loss of nucleotide base pairs in the virus DNA or RNA. (Some viruses have genomes that consist of DNA and some have genomes that consist of RNA.)

 

Mutations don’t bring a new strand of base pairs to the virus genome but rather scramble pre-existing base pairs in the genome. Even transfer of base pairs from virus to virus is not a new strand of DNA but merely a pre-existing strand of DNA from the other virus which would cause hybridization. Mutations result in an overall net loss of information in the DNA or RNA of the virus gene pool. This loss of information is called genetic entropy  and it is the breakdown of virus genomes over time. (See book: Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome by Dr. John C. Sanford, FMS Publications, 2005.)

 

The genomes of all the viruses of a particular kind tend to mutate in the same way at the same time because of vulnerabilities in the structure of the viral genome. Let’s pray that the COVID-19 virus quickly mutates to a mild, non-deadly form and this pandemic ends now!

 

Viruses are far simpler than bacteria but are nonetheless extremely complex organisms. Bacteria are smaller than a thousandth of a millimeter. Viruses are far smaller than that. A bacterium is more complex than a smartphone. A virus is more complex than a wristwatch. Neither of them could ever form by chance. They had to be created.

 

Evolutionists can’t explain how the first virus could have formed by random collisions of atoms in the prebiotic earth. Viruses can’t reproduce without host cells such as bacteria. So in the evolutionist mind, which came first, the bacteria cell or the virus? That’s the question Dr. Andrew Fabich, as an undergraduate, asked his virology professor. The professor couldn’t answer him and candidly said that he had no evolutionary explanation for the origin of viruses. (See “Celebrate Your Inner Virus”  by Dr. Andrew Fabich, available at answersingenesis.org.)

 

A coronavirus is an RNA-based virus and its single nucleotide strand consists of roughly 26,000 – 32,000 nucleotide base pairs, all properly sequenced. To say that such a long chain of nucleotides just randomly fell together in the prebiotic earth by random churning of atoms is a probabilistic absurdity. The number of possible sequences of 26,000 base pairs is an astronomically huge number.

 

I’ve shown in a previous article that the number of possible sequences of the cards in an ordinary 52 card, playing card deck is factorial 52 which is 52 x 51 x 50 x 49 . . . 3 x 2 x 1 which yields a number larger than the number of atoms in the known universe. Can you imagine the number of possible combinations of base pairs in a 26,000 nucleotide RNA chain? A viable coronavirus RNA couldn’t form in a trillion years of random churning of atoms.

 

Secular evolutionist biologists have great faith in chance to produce complex organisms. Viruses, bacteria and all organisms were created by God. Many viruses are good. However, some viruses became deadly after the fall of creation into sin, which brought the curse of evil on the earth.The fact that the theory of evolution can’t explain the origin of viruses is just one more piece of evidence that serves to disprove evolution.

 

Many scientists are taking a fresh look at Christianity. God sent Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel, to be the redeemer of humankind. Christ came in fulfillment of over three hundred prophecies that were written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. Additionally, Christ worked miracles of healing in front of eyewitnesses. Miracles of healing still occur today in answer to prayer in Christian gatherings all around the world. The fulfilled prophecies and the miraclesprove Christ is the Son of God.

 

The prophet Isaiah foretold that Christ would suffer and die, taking upon Himself the punishment that we deserved because of our sins. “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5). Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to turn to Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.

 

Sources: cdc.gov, Wikipedia, book: Genetic Entropy & The Mystery of the Genome by Dr. John C. Sanford, FMS Publications, 2005 and article: “Celebrate Your Inner Virus” by Dr. Andrew Fabich at answersingenesis.org.

Steps to salvation:

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus Christ to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2020 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of articles archived on our website. <>{

The Search for Extraterrestrials by the SETI Institute

Most of us are familiar with the California based S. E. T. I. Institute. SETI is an acronym for “Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.” It consists of scientists and engineers who monitor a wide range of radio waves and other electromagnetic phenomena from deep space.

The SETI Institute, founded 1984, searches for patterns of impulses from deep space. The rationale is that if extraterrestrial intelligent beings on distant planets really exist, then these extraterrestrials would communicate with each other much as humans do via radio waves and these communications could be recorded and studied.

Decades of search by SETI have yielded no patterns but only jumbled, random, white sound. If a pattern even as long as a short sentence were to be found, the researchers at SETI would likely regard it as coming from an intelligent source. They would regard such a short pattern as being complex enough to necessitate that an intelligent being sent it. If such a find ever were to occur it would certainly make front page news.

I cannot help but notice the glaring contrast in the reasoning of the secular scientists at SETI as compared to the reasoning in secular high school biology textbooks. The SETI scientists would regard the equivalent of one simple sentence as proof of extra-terrestial intelligence yet current biology textbooks regard the complexity of the first living cell as something that arose randomly without input from an intelligent creator.

Consider the following quote from researchers regarding the impossibility of life coming about by random processes:“‘Physicists Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe calculated the odds that all the functional proteins necessary for life might form in one place by random events as one chance in 10 to the 40,000th power. They concluded that this was ‘an outrageously small probability that could not be faced even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup.’” (Hoyle/Wickramasinghe “Evolution from Space” p. 24 in “More Than Meets the Eye” by Richard A. Swenson M.D. p. 70)

Many secular scientists are coming to the same conclusion as Hoyle and Wickramasinghe yet the frank admission that life could not happen by chance hasn’t filtered down to most school biology textbooks. So on the one hand we have SETI scientists who would regard the equivalent of one sentence as proof of extraterrestrial intelligence and yet on the other hand, school textbooks still stubbornly maintain that the first living cell could form without God as intelligent designer.

School science Textbooks need to be brought into conformity with the latest findings of science. SETI needs to come to terms with the fact extraterrestrials come not from distant star systems but come from a different dimension. The Interdimensional Hypothesis is gaining acceptance even among secular UFO hunters. Christian and many secular researchers maintain that UFOs and extraterrestrials are manifestations of spirit beings that come not from outer space but rather from the dimension of spirit.

Let me briefly explain where UFOs and extraterrestrials come from. UFO researchers are divided into two different viewpoints in explaining UFOs. These viewpoints are the extraterrestrial hypothesis and the interdimensional hypothesis. The extraterrestrial hypothesis is the claim that UFOs are metal spaceships with astronauts from planets in star systems within our own physical universe. The interdimensional view is that UFOs are nonphysical entities or spirits that travel from different dimensions and enter our universe from the unseen spiritual realm.

 

The interdimensional hypothesis is more consistent  with the Bible and the Christian worldview because it can be inferred that the other dimensions from which UFOs travel are the same as the realm of spirit. The Bible certainly teaches about the spirit world.

 

Christian researchers and some secular researchers reject the extraterrestrial hypothesis and maintain the interdimensional view. Famous secular UFO researcher, Jacques Vallee, holds to the interdimensional hypothesis. In studying UFOs, I’ve come to believe that we’re dealing with intelligent life not from another planet but from another dimension. It’s not astronauts from outer space but spirit beings from the realm of spirit. Malevolent UFO aliens are demons and they can disguise themselves as humanoid beings or astronauts.

 

I’m aware that good angels can also occasionally appear as lights in the sky or as lights on earth. In the Bible, in Acts 12:7, we read of an angel appearing to the apostle Peter in light. Also remember that Ezekiel the prophet, saw some bizarre but holy phenomena recorded in the book of Ezekiel in the Old Testament (Ezekiel 1:4-28). Angels are good spirits that inhabit other dimensions. The dimensions they inhabit are the dimensions of the spirit world. I hold to the interdimensional viewpoint.

 

I regard demonic UFO aliens who travel from the spirit dimensions as generally of the same category as poltergeists, hauntings, occultism, shamanism and other manifestations of evil spirits. I hold this view because the teachings that are transmitted from aliens to leaders of UFO cults are antibiblical and often lead to bizarre behavior such as the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide. Also, the horrific animal mutilations attributed to UFOs in which animals have their blood drained and have organs removed with surgical precision is further evidence of the demonic origin of UFO aliens.

 

Have no fear of demons appearing as flying saucers or disguised as extraterrestrial humanoid beings. Don’t be deceived by cult groups claiming extraterrestrial connections and phenomena. The Bible teaches that Christ is above all and every knee must bow before Christ who conquered sin through His death and resurrection. People have thwarted UFO abductions by calling on Jesus Christ for help.

 

UFO aliens tempt young people with drama and adventure in our present age of rocketry and space exploration. UFO cults lead people to spiritual ruin. Scientology is just one more thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It must be exposed and vigorously refuted. We should pray for Tom Cruise and other followers of Scientology to be set free from deception.

 

We must point people to Jesus Christ who came in fulfillment of over 300 Old Testament Bible prophecies written hundreds of years before His birth. No other person in all of history can match this claim! Jesus worked miracles in front of eyewitnesses and this is recorded in the Gospels of the New Testament. Miracles continue to be worked today by Christians who rely on the power of Christ.

 

Jesus suffered and died to take upon Himself the penalty of our sins, thus making atonement. He rose from the dead in victory to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to call upon Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!

 

Steps to salvation:

 

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2019 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org

The Story of “I Did it My Way” Theme Song of Postmodernism

The famous song “I Did It My Way” (Usually titled just: “My Way”) was written in 1968 at the height of the tumultuous 1960s. The lyrics were written by Paul Anka, a performer who gained fame in the 1950s and were sung by Frank Sinatra, who first gained fame in the 1940s.

 

Paul Anka heard the French pop song “Comme d’habitude” (as usual) while vacationing in France. He was so struck by the catchy tune that he immediately negotiated to buy the rights to it. Back in the US, he had a burst of lyrical creativity and wrote completely new lyrics specifically to be sung by Frank Sinatra. Anka insisted that the song was to be sung by Sinatra. Other artists, including Anka himself, Elvis, and Sid Vicious later recorded it, but it was written for Sinatra.

 

Sinatra recorded “My Way” in late December 1968 and it was released to great acclaim. It rose up the charts in the US but interestingly was far more popular in Britain. “My Way” made the top 40 for an unprecedented 75 weeks in the UK. No other song has made the British top 40 for that long, before or since.

 

Paul Anka has said that he wrote it to capture the “me generation” attitude of the 1960s. I would say he succeeded. The lyrics describe an older man looking back on his years and wistfully and stridently singing about the ups and downs of his life. The iconic refrains “I did it my way” or “my way”  appear no less than six times in the nine brief stanzas. All commentators on the song, whether Christian or nonchristian, agree that it’s boastful and self exalting.

 

The song’s defiance of God is overtly stated in the eighth stanza “For what is a man, what has he got, If not himself, then he has naught, To say the things he truly feels And not the words of one who kneels.”

 

It’s commonly played at funerals in Britain and in the United States. In fact, it’s said to be the most frequently played song at funerals in Great Britain. “My Way” is a popular karaoke song in the Philippines and strange things have occurred when it’s sung there. Many singers have been murdered by drunken patrons in karaoke bars in the Philippines as they sung “My Way.” The phenomenon is called “My Way killings.” In those cases, they’re singing the song before their funerals. (Wikipedia)

 

Jesus said: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”(Luke 9:25). A funeral is no occasion to be arrogant against God. When they say “Rest in peace”  where will your soul be?

 

Unfortunately for Frank Sinatra, the song became his signature. Of all the love songs and melodies that Sinatra recorded, the defiant, “My Way” is regarded as his signature. In his later years it’s reported that Sinatra grew to hate the song for its self-assertiveness and pride. He didn’t want his name to be connected to that song forever. Andy Williams’s signature song is “Moon River.” James Taylor’s signature is “Fire and Rain.” Bette Midler’s is “Wind Beneath My Wings.” Sinatra would have liked to have had an uplifting legacy rather than be infamously linked to “My Way.”

 

“My Way” is the song of self exaltation which is the exact opposite of the Christian concept of self-denial and reliance on God for salvation. “My Way” is the theme song of the postmodern era. In western civilization, there are really just three basic philosophical worldviews: the Judeo-Christian, the modern and the postmodern.

 

The Judeo-Christian worldview maintains that there are moral absolutes and these absolute truths are given to us by God by revelation and are written in the Bible. Biblical moral absolutes include the Ten Commandments, the teachings of Jesus, the sacredness of human life and the dignity of man. God’s commandments apply to all people at all times in all cultures. Moral absolutes are universal, objective truths. America was founded in 1776 as a Christian country. The Judeo-Christian worldview was dominant.

 

The modernist worldview claims that moral absolutes can be discovered by human reason alone without the aid of divine revelation. Modernism, since it arose in post-renaissance Christian Europe, was nevertheless influenced by the Christian concepts of justice and morality. Modernism is also dependent on Natural Law as a starting point for its reasoning. Modernists looked to nature rather than the Bible but they still believed in moral absolutes. The modern absolutes were manmade principles derived from rationalism, empiricism and pragmatism. America became predominantly modernist during the period roughly from 1870 to 1960. Famous modernist philosophers were Descartes, Hume, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Hegel and the American pragmatist, William James.

 

The postmodernist worldview claims that no moral absolutes exist. Morals are simply made up by the will of each person. Each person can say “I did it my way!” This is radical existentialism and moral relativism. American culture and education, especially the universities, made the shift from modern to postmodern during the 1960s. “Do your own thing”  became a definitive slogan of the sixties. “Perform random acts of kindness” was popular by the 1990s.

 

Postmodernism is irrational, emotional, sophistic, barbaric, pessimistic, existentialistic and radically individualistic. Postmodernism is so scattered and atomized that most commentators define it only in terms of linguistic analysis and deconstructionism but those are only the putrid eruptions of the postmodern sore.

 

Postmodernist philosophers include Nietzsche, Heidegger (Hitler’s favorite), Camus, De Man, Derrida and the famous French existentialist, Jean-Paul Sartre. The ancient Greek Sophist philosophers taught many things we would call postmodern. Postmodernism was extant in ancient times. The Bible says “there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The song “My Way” really expresses and encapsulates the postmodern worldview.

 

Many postmodernists despair of finding real truth in their introspective musings. As a result, some have taken a fresh look at Christianity. The Christian faith is not a blind faith but is based on real evidence that God has provided. Such evidence includes the fact that Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of over 300 prophecies recorded in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. Additionally there are the many miracles that have been performed by Christ Himself and by His followers down through the centuries and even in our present day. The fulfilled prophecies and the miracles give supernatural witness to the truth claims of Jesus Christ and confirm the truth of the Gospel of salvation.

 

The ancient biblical prophets foretold that Christ would suffer and die, taking the penalty of our sins upon Himself. They foretold that Christ would rise from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.

 

Steps to salvation:

 

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2020 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of Defending the Faith archived on our website. <>{

 

 

This Proves Jesus Christ is the Only Way to Heaven

In an English literature classroom in a college in the eastern U.S. in the late 1950s, sat a student named R.C. Sproul. He was barely nineteen years old and he had recently made a commitment to receive Christ as Savior and to follow Him as Lord. It was known around campus that Sproul made a radical commitment to Christ.

 

This young man, R. C. Sproul (a.k.a. Robert Campbell Sproul, 1939-2017), would go on to become one of the greatest conservative theologians of the twenty-first century. His books, articles and daily radio show would have an enormous impact on many lives, including my own.

 

The instructor asked: “Mr. Sproul, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven?” Sproul was completely caught off guard and was flustered and embarrassed with all eyes on him. This was an English class, maybe in a philosophy class such a bold question would be appropriate. Sproul stammered and muttered something like “I believe in Jesus . . . and . . .  Jesus has said in John 14:6 that He is the only way to the Father so I guess that’s why I do, in fact, believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven.” The instructor probed him a bit more, ridiculed his answer and summarily moved on to other matters.

 

On his way out the door after class, the instructor, who was a woman (that too was a bit unusual in the 1950s) took Sproul aside and apologized for confronting him publicly about his personal beliefs. Sproul shrugged it off and accepted the apology. The experience got him to think deeper about his faith and the reasons why he believed in the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ.

 

On hearing this vignette from R.C. Sproul, I too have given deep thought as to what I would say if someone asked me if Jesus is the only way to heaven. To outsiders, it seems simplistic and closed minded to say that Christ is the only way. We live in a plural society where all belief systems are (supposedly) tolerated. In spite of the current postmodern pluralism, there are thought police marching to and fro, trying to bring cultural conformity and enforce political correctness. The thought police are not too fond of Jesus at all, much less His claim of being the only way to a blissful afterlife.

 

I must acknowledge the fact that Jesus said: “I am the way, and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6 NASB). Someone might object and ask: “How could Christ make such an exclusive claim?” If someone asked you if you believe Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, how would you answer?

 

I would start by saying that Christianity is not just another works based religion. In Christianity you don’t earn heaven by doing good deeds like showing kindness to others. In Christianity, good deeds are important but they don’t earn heaven. The Christian Gospel is the claim that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Christ suffered and died while taking the penalty of our sins upon Himself. Christ is the sin bearer. This puts Christianity in a class by itself.

 

If Christianity were just another works based religion, Christians could point to other faiths and just say that if you do good works according to Hinduism, Buddhism or Islam you’ll get to heaven. In Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam there is no savior. Under those faiths you are your own savior. You save yourself by good works. Christianity is the only faith which has a Savior who actually saves you from your sins. Your and my good works are not good enough; only Christ’s work, in dying for our sins, can save us.

 

For the outsider, the question remains: “Why should I believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead to free me from the consequences of my sins?” My answer to that would be to say that Jesus proved that He is the Son of God by coming in fulfillment of over three hundred messianic prophecies written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. No one else in all of world history can make this claim. (See J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy, Revell, 1980.) Jesus also worked miracles in front of eyewitnesses.

 

Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel. The Old Testament prophets foretold that the coming redeemer (Christ) would suffer and die and bear the penalty of the sins of the people. “The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).

 

In addition to fulfilling prophecies Christ worked miracles in front of eyewitnesses and these are recorded in the New Testament. In the centuries since Christ’s coming, many miracles, dare I say millions of miracles, have happened in Christian gatherings where the Gospel of Christ is preached and honored. This is continuing proof of the divine origin of the Gospel of Christ. A central claim of the Gospel of Christ is that Christ is the only way to God. This is because Christ is the only One who died for our sins.

 

When Jesus first gathered disciples on the hills of Galilee nearly two millennia ago, He didn’t simply say “I’m Jesus, listen to Me, obey Me, follow Me.” On the contrary, He worked dramatic miracles such as healing the eyesight of people who were born blind and healing those who were crippled and even raising the dead. (See John 9:1-11, Luke 7:11-22.) People listened to Him, saw the miracles, and followed Him!

 

Christianity is accredited by miracles! Jesus said: “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I in the Father” (John 10:37-38 NASB).

 

Jesus foretold that His followers would also work miracles. Jesus said:“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father” (John 14:12 NASB). In the nearly two thousand years since the time of Christ there have been millions of miracles worked in answer to the prayers of Christians around the world. Every answer to prayer is a miracle. These millions of miracles give further proof of the truth of the Gospel!

 

Christianity spread all over the world because of the miracles worked by the apostles, disciples and missionaries. The miracles, including many miraculous healings, backed up the preaching of the Gospel of salvation. Jesus never led an army or sat on an earthly royal throne. As the poem, One Solitary Life, adapted from a sermon by James Allan Francis, published in 1926, says of Christ in its closing stanza: “all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings who ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.”

 

Christ taught things contrary to the machismo of first century Hebrews. He said to turn the other cheek and go the extra mile. These peaceful words were against the worldly thinking of the day, and even our own day. In Latin it’s called  contra mundum (against the world). Christ does permit self-defense in Luke 22:36. Yet, in spite of Christ’s difficult sayings, people believed and obeyed Him because they saw the fulfilled prophecies and the miracles. They knew Christ spoke from God. They believed Christ’s claim to be the Son of God and His claim to be the only way to God. Christ’s gift of salvation and His teachings were accepted far and wide over the centuries so that billions of people claim to follow Christ today.

 

To sum up, I say that Christianity is proven by three hundred prophecies and three million miracles. Three million miracles is a very conservative estimate. No other faith comes close. The religion with the best miracles wins and that religion is the Christian faith. Say to the unbeliever “My religion can beat up your religion!” A central claim of the Christian faith is that Jesus is the ONLY way to receive forgiveness of sins and entrance into heaven. All of the claims of Christ are ultimately backed up by three hundred prophetic fulfillments and three million miracles. Peter, the apostle, reiterated the claim of Christ to be the only way, when he said: “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved”  (Acts 4:12).

 

Buddha doesn’t have 300 prophetic fulfillments and 3 million miracles.

Vishnu doesn’t, Shiva doesn’t, Krishna doesn’t, Mohammed doesn’t, Charles Darwin doesn’t, Karl Marx doesn’t have three hundred prophetic fulfillments and three million miracles.

 

We must be aware that there are occultic signs and tricks. The Bible predicts that the antichrist will come with lying wonders and occultic signs. Even in the days of Moses, when Moses stood before Pharaoh, the magicians worked wonders. However, the miracles through Moses were greater than the secret arts of the magicians. (See Exodus 7:10-12.)

 

If someone asks me why I believe Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven I will simply say: “Three Hundred fulfilled Prophecies and Three million miracles!”

 

Someone objects and argues that my analysis is a crude appeal to external proofs. Christianity is a matter of the heart! He says: “I know Christ is real because He lives in my heart!” I agree. Christ lives in my heart also. God revealed Christ to me many years ago and I received Christ as Savior and I follow Him as Lord. God has given internal and external witness to the truth claims of Christ. God has given us the internal witness of Christ in our hearts. God has also given us proof of Christianity in the form of fulfilled prophecies and miracles. We should thank God for that!

 

If you haven’t yet received Christ as Savior, you can do so right now. He’s only a prayer away.“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13). I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins and everlasting life!

 

Steps to salvation:

 

Jesus said “Ye must be born again.” (John 3:7)
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2019 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of Defending the Faith archived on our website. <>{

Love, Motherhood and Patriarchy in the Bible and Nature

Rabi Maharaj (1947-    ) was raised as a Hindu and trained to be a yogi. His ancestry is a long line of Brahmin priests and gurus. He converted to Christianity as a young man in the 1970s. His book, Death of a Guru, published in 1977 and translated into over sixty languages tells the remarkable story of his conversion and ministry.

 

Maharaj has helped rehabilitate drug addicts and he has spoken in thousands of public settings, including churches and college campuses. He delivers a compelling message of the truth of Christianity and the wide chasm of difference between Christianity and paganism.

 

Maharaj has said: “There are over 300 million gods in Hinduism and not one of them loved me and not one of them died for my sins.” This brings us to something unique about the biblical faith. That unique biblical thing is LOVE. We are so often told that God loves us, that we tend to take it for granted.

 

The love of God must not be minimized or sloughed off as a minor doctrine of our faith. The love of God is glorious. Love is God’s motivation for our redemption. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). All of us are familiar with John 3:16 but take a good look at it because the only place you’ll ever see it or anything like it is in the Bible. There’s nothing like the love expressed in John 3:16 in the Hindu Vedas or the Bhagavad Gita or the Buddhist Tripitaka or the Tibetan Book of the Dead (Bardo Thodol) or the Muslim Koran or the Hadith or any other sacred writings of nonbiblical faiths.

 

Pagan deities don’t love people. Consider that:

 

Vishnu doesn’t love you.

Shiva doesn’t love you.

Krishna doesn’t love you.

Mohammed doesn’t love you.

Buddha doesn’t love you.

Wodin doesn’t love you.

Thor doesn’t love you.

Satan doesn’t love you.

Darwin doesn’t love you.

Marx doesn’t love you.

 

Only the Judeo-Christian God loves you and me!

 

The story is told – and I believe it’s true – about a man named Bob Jones who died and went to the entrance of heaven. Jesus asked him “Did you learn to love?” Jesus didn’t ask him “Did you learn to lead?” or “Did you learn to accumulate wealth?” We humans tend to measure success in terms of wealth and power. We glory in the ability to lead and have influence over others and tell others what to do. The Bible, however, glories in love.

 

We experience love on the human to human horizontal level as we learn to love people. We experience love from ourselves to God on the vertical direction as we learn to love God. Love is expressed horizontally and vertically. Superimpose the vertical on the horizontal and it makes a cross.

 

This brings us to the greatest experience of love on the human level. I believe I can show from the Bible and by nature that the greatest and most intimate love on the human to human level is motherhood. The Bible exalts motherhood in many places. Mary the mother of Jesus had the most intimate and blessed personal experiences of love as she bore the Christ child and raised Him to adulthood. Consider what Mary said to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist: “from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). Mary is the most blessed of all women because she is the mother of Jesus. Another example of a biblical exaltation of motherhood is “He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children” (Psalm 113:9 NASB).

 

Motherhood has been denigrated in postmodern American society. The Women’s liberation movement of the 1960s and the feminist movement that followed it sought to set women free from the burden of pregnancy, childbirth, dirty diapers, 3 AM feedings and a host of related responsibilities. I read that at one gathering of feminists, a feminist woman who chose motherhood was booed off the stage when she dared to sing a little song about her baby.

 

Think about it for a minute. The unique experience of having another human being inside of you, growing and developing for nine months and then giving birth in a time of trauma. Then there’s the years of nurturing the infant as it goes through the stages of life into childhood, adolescence and to adulthood. Think of the closeness, affection and intimacy. No other human relationship comes close. Yet we often dismiss mothers as ordinary.

 

I’ll also mention that since the 1960s there’s been a stealth movement of what can be called “men’s liberation.” It’s rebellious men setting themselves free from the traditional role of men as being providers and protectors of the family. Many fathers have abandoned their families and this results in millions of single mothers raising their children alone.

 

Maybe by now you’re thinking that I’m a patronizing, prudish, old fashioned church guy who wants women to stay home and make babies. Surely I’m part of the patriarchal conspiracy! But before you flip the page or click delete, just step back and look at the big picture of life and focus on the thing that’s the object of the game of life and that thing is LOVE.

 

It’s not that I look down on childless women or belittle fatherhood. I just want to point out that God has given women a great glory in pregnancy, childbirth and the years of loving and nurturing that follow. The Bible has given men a more prominent role in leadership and power over people. Compared to motherhood, the glories of patriarchy pale in comparison. It’s as if God threw men a bone.

 

God has compensated men with power to give them a degree of social status and God gave men strength to provide for the home and protect the home. “God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part that lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another” (I Corinthians 12: 24-25).

 

Men lack the glory of motherhood so God gave men the glory of leadership. That’s not to say that women can’t serve as leaders. There are many examples in the Bible and in the church down through history of excellent female leaders. The glory of womanhood is motherhood; the glory of manhood is to be a father who is a strong provider and protector of the home. Both motherhood and fatherhood involve learning to love in great and glorious ways.

 

On the vertical plane of learning to love, which is the love from human to God, both men and women have a lot to learn. Learning to love God involves the development of godly character. Learning to lead people, on the other hand, is development of ministry power to reach the most people with the most good. Learning to love God is far more glorious than ministry power. God can use any person at any time to do great works of ministry outreach but loving God from the heart is the only thing that a human being can give to God. Christianity is about love. From start to finish the biblical faith is about love. It’s time we start pursuing love rather than being overly concerned about who has the leadership roles.

 

Some women resent patriarchy. In many cases it’s because they’ve been abused by fathers and husbands. Some nonchristian women blame the Bible for imposing patriarchy on western civilization. The Bible does in fact contain passages that define Christian marriage in a patriarchal way with husbands as head. I will hasten to point out that virtually all nations and communities and civilizations have been patriarchal since the beginning of history.

 

Let’s take a brief look at the concept of Natural Law. Natural Law is the claim that God’s laws are embedded in nature. Plants and animals reveal things about God. “The invisible things of him [God] from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). The founding fathers of the United States often referred to Natural Law in their scholarly writings.

 

The ancient Romans relied heavily on Natural Law. The ancient Roman deities did not give laws to the Romans. There’s no Ten Commandments of Jupiter and no moral code given by Neptune or Mars. The Romans looked to nature, even to the way animals guarded their own territory. They saw that property rights are so basic that even animals stake out territory. This gave the Romans the basic concept of land ownership and the equivalent of “Thou shalt not steal” as a moral principle. Natural Law under-girded the whole Roman legal system with categories including the ius naturale, the ius gentium and the ius civile. Natural Law was written about and discussed by the ancient Roman jurist, Cicero and many others.

 

Nature has been called “God’s second book.” In nature we can see God’s wisdom and moral sense as expressed in societies that had no specific revelation of biblical Commandments. One such observation is that all cultures of any substantial size and duration are patriarchal. This lends weight to the conclusion that the human mind and heart is hard wired for patriarchy. The patriarchy we witness across all human cultures is not a vast right wing conspiracy but rather the outworking of human nature.

 

The Bible teaches patriarchy in its many passages on church leadership and divine order in the home. “Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands” (I Peter 3:1). In this passage the Bible affirms the patriarchal nuclear family which has been the general custom in all cultures all over the world, throughout history. It is only in our postmodern western culture that the patriarchal nuclear family has been seriously and deliberately undermined by university professors and other cultural gatekeepers.

 

In conclusion, we can see that the biblical faith exalts love in a far greater way than any other religion or philosophical system. The religions and philosophies of man exalt power rather than love. We’ve also seen that on the human level, motherhood is the most intimate loving relationship. This is certainly not to deny that fatherhood also involves great love and nurturing. All cultures have been patriarchal throughout all human history. The majority of decisions in public and private life have been made by males. This is fundamental to human nature and the Bible affirms and accommodates male leadership. Postmodern liberalism attempts to abolish gender differences and impose hyper-egalitarianism. Postmodern liberalism regards patriarchy as injustice. The postmodern view is false.

 

The Bible is a divinely inspired book which gives wisdom directly from God. The Bible contains hundreds of prophecies that have been fulfilled down through history. The fulfillment of biblical prophecies serves as proof and accreditation of the divine origin of biblical wisdom. The Bible’s teachings on the patriarchal home and the preponderance of males in leadership roles in the Old and New Testaments should not be rejected to accommodate postmodern gender role experimentation. Of course women can be leaders but why would they want to be? The object of our faith is learning to love. Leadership roles are for those who are called and equipped by God to fulfill those roles. Both men and women can be good leaders in the church and in business and on all the seven mountains of influence.

 

The Bible expresses God’s great love for humanity. The Bible reveals the sinfulness of human beings but also the love of God that provides redemption and forgiveness of sins. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who came in fulfillment of over three hundred Old Testament Bible prophecies. Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel. The prophets foretold that Christ would take upon Himself the penalty of the sins of the people and suffer and die for our sins. Christ rose from the dead to offer forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to turn to Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins.

 

Steps to salvation:
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2019 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
Info and ordering link available at our website: www.bnugent.org
Back issues of Defending the Faith archived on our website. <>{

Thomas Hooker and the Biblical Roots of American Freedom

www.bnugent.org

 

There’s a man who lived in early colonial America who’s unknown to most of us, yet he’s called the father of American democracy by historian John Fiske. This man, Thomas Hooker, was born in Leicestershire, England in 1586. He was a Puritan and was well educated in theology.

 

He earned his Masters degree at Emmanuel College of Cambridge University in 1611. Decades later, his son would graduate from Harvard University, class of 1653. Thomas Hooker served as pastor, preacher and lecturer. He was a leader of the Puritans. The Puritans were a radical sect who worked for major reform of the Church of England. The high churchmen were annoyed by Hooker and summoned him to the Court of High Commission in 1630.

 

Hooker, his wife Susannah and their children fled to the Netherlands and then to the Massachusetts Bay colony in America in 1633. He became pastor of the first church established in Cambridge Massachusetts. The Hooker family and Rev. Samuel Stone and about one hundred others soon left, in 1636, for the wilderness of Connecticut. They founded the town of Hartford and other enclaves which were the first villages of the new colony of Connecticut.

 

Two years later, a constitution called The Fundamental orders of Connecticut  was crafted under Thomas Hooker’s leadership. American historian John Fiske (1842-1901) called it the first written constitution in world history that created a government. This constitution influenced the future US constitution of 1787. Fiske also claimed  that Hooker, more than any other man, was the father of American democracy. (Everipedia.org)

 

Hooker’s contribution was to take the Puritan congregationalist form of government and apply it to the civil government. Congregationalism was a form of church government in which the people of the church held elections to choose the pastor and elders. Hooker applied this democratic concept to the civil government in a more radical way than was done in Massachusetts. Hooker’s descendants included ministers who carried on this practice of elections in both church and state. Over the centuries some of Hooker’s descendants have included Vice President Aaron Burr, President William H. Taft and financier J. P. Morgan.

 

Let’s look at the context in which Hooker operated. Have you ever wondered why the great leaps of political freedom, human rights and equality occurred in Europe and America in the centuries just after the Protestant Reformation? Church reform led to political reform. The sixteenth century was the first time in all of world history that the Bible was freely available to millions of people. The Bible was freely read by people across the continents of Europe and North America.

 

The Bible was available in the languages of the people and was no longer chained to pulpits and restricted to Latin Vulgate language. Biblical concepts of human dignity, equality and freedom became known to all classes of people.

 

Every human government down through ancient and medieval history, including the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Greek city states, the Roman empire, the Celtic clans in the forests of northern Europe, the absolute monarchies of medieval Europe, the eastern despotisms of ancient and medieval China and the tribal chieftains of subsaharan Africa were all tyrannical. They concentrated power in one man or small group of men and trampled on any concept of human rights and dignity. That all began to change, in an accelerated way, in the sixteenth century.

 

The sixteenth century was the century of the Protestant Reformation. Luther nailed his 95 theses to the cathedral door in 1517. Luther, Calvin and the other reformers sought to reform the church but they also had much to say about human government. John Calvin criticized the monarchical form of government as having too much power entrusted to the king. The reformers were persecuted by European royalty for promoting this view.

 

Late in the sixteenth century there arose in England a group called the Puritans. The Puritans sought to purify the church of England of every vestige of unbiblical practice. Some Puritans became separatists and formed independent congregations apart from the state church hierarchy. Puritans were outraged by the abuses of power by the  bishops and other clergy that were appointed by the high churchmen. Medieval bishops were often not even born again Christians and many behaved as unaccountable tyrants.

 

The Puritans adopted the congregationalist form of church government in which elections were held so the people could choose the pastor and elders and remove corrupt clergy. Congregationalism was a deviation from the New Testament apostolic form of church government but we must remember, there was no apostolic ministry operating in the sixteenth century church.

 

During the 1500s, the reformers taught about the priesthood of the believer. The Bible in First Peter 2:9 calls Christians a “Royal Priesthood.” The priesthood was not to be restricted to ordained Roman Catholic clergy. Each Christian is a priest of God who has a one on one relationship with God and offers sacrifices of praise and intercession to God.

 

A century later in the 1600s, British and American Puritans, including Thomas Hooker (1586-1647), founder of Hartford Connecticut, began to emphasize the royalty  of the believer. Each Christian is not just a priest, but is a royal priest. We are all equal before God. As the saying goes: “The ground is level at the foot of the cross.” Every Christian is a king or queen with political rights and privileges.

 

The royal Christians comprise a society composed entirely of royalty. How does a society, composed entirely of royals, form a government? The obvious answer is that they must hold elections. They choose to give temporary power to several of their royal people to write laws, execute laws and judge in accordance with law. Hence, American and British democracy flowed directly out of the biblical concept of the royalty of the believer.

 

Democracy flourished in colonial America but democracy stalled in Britain because the people were beholden to the national Church of England which suppressed Puritan congregationalism. Additionally, by the eighteenth century, the British government was dominated by an assertive king and a parliament that refused to seat any American colonialist as member. The king also vetoed several colonies’ attempts to abolish slavery. This set things up for the movement toward American independence which was, unfortunately, decided violently on the battlefield.

 

One of the most influential of framers of the US constitution was James Madison, (1751-1836), often called the father of the constitution. In his federalist paper number 51 Madison wrote “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” What Madison was referring to was the Bible’s concept of original sin. Men are not angels. Original sin is the biblical teaching that all people are born sinners. No person can be trusted with too much governmental power. John Calvin (1509-1564) wrote much on original sin and he warned against trusting the king with too much power.

 

Today’s secular view is that all people are born “basically good.” If the 1787 constitutional convention was run by secularists they never would have divided power between the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government. Nor would secularists have produced the Bill of Rights, which are the first ten amendments to the U.S. constitution, which were ratified in 1791. The concept of human rights also comes from the Bible. Human rights come from the Bible’s doctrine of the sacredness of human life, the equality of all people and the royalty of each Christian. Secularists have no Bible, hence they have no basis for human rights in their secular worldview.

 

The Bible in Genesis 9:6 teaches that humans are created in the image of God and human life is therefore sacred. This is the concept of the right to life and the dignity of Man. I could quote many passages in the Old Testament that command justice for the poor and the oppressed that show that social justice is given to us in the Bible. The New Testament in Galatians 5:1 and Romans 14:1-5 gives the concept of personal liberty in decision making. The Bible clearly teaches that regarding certain issues, each person should “be fully convinced in his own mind” (Rom. 14:5 NASB). This is the biblical concept of individual autonomy or self-governance. The fact that all people are created equal is given by divine revelation in the Bible in Acts 10:34-35 and Galatians 3:26-28.

 

The Bible even gives us the weekend. The fact that Saturday and Sunday are not regular business days is because of the Biblical Sabbath. Jews and Adventists believe Saturday is the Sabbath. Most Christians traditionally believe Sunday is the biblical day of rest. So we got in the habit of taking both days off!

 

The constitutional convention of 1787 had its roots in centuries of biblical teaching about the nature of man and the need for limitations on power. The U.S. constitution refers to Jesus in article seven which contains the following: “the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven.” The founding fathers, in giving the date of the signing of the constitution wrote that it was in the year of “our Lord.” Who was their Lord? Their Lord is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ! Since there is a direct reference to Jesus in the US constitution it should be difficult for a secularist to argue against a nonsectarian public display of the Ten Commandments or the placing of the motto “In God We Trust” on our coins and bills

 

The Bible gives us the basis for the best political philosophy because the Bible teaches us the real truth about human beings (created in God’s image, sacredness of human life, equality of people). The Bible teaches that people are mired in sin from birth (original sin). The Bible also gives us the true soteriology (doctrine of salvation from sin).

 

Jesus Christ came in fulfillment of over 300 prophecies that were written in the Old Testament hundreds of years before His birth. Jesus is the promised Messiah of Israel. The prophecies foretold that Christ would suffer and die, taking upon Himself the penalty we deserved because of our sins. The prophecies also foretold that He would rise from the dead. Jesus offers forgiveness of sins to all who turn to Him in repentance. I invite you to call upon the name of Jesus Christ today to receive forgiveness of sins!

 

Steps to salvation:
1) Believe that God loves you and sent the Messiah (Messiah is Hebrew for Christ) to redeem you.
2) Believe that Jesus Christ came to die for you, to take upon Himself the penalty of your sins (Isaiah 53:5-6, John 6:29, Romans 4:5, First Peter 3:18).
3) Repent of your sins and call on the name of Jesus to ask for forgiveness of sins (Romans 10:13).
4) Receive Jesus as Savior and experience the new birth (John 1:12, Acts 2:38).
5) Follow Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:15).

Prayer to receive salvation:

To receive the salvation which Jesus purchased for us at the terrible cost of His suffering and death on our behalf I invite you to pray this simple prayer: 

“Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for sending Jesus, the promised Messiah, to die for my sins. I admit that I’m a sinner. I repent of my sins and I ask you to forgive me on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I ask you to fill me with your Holy Spirit to empower me to serve you under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, Amen.” 

If you prayed this prayer in the humble sincerity of your heart, then you have received everlasting life, which includes power to live right in this life and entrance into heaven in the afterlife!

Bill Nugent, Overcomer Ministries of Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA

(C) 2019 William P. Nugent, permission granted to email or republish for Christian outreach.

Christian book, Lawful or Legalistic by Bill Nugent available in paperback!
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Bill’s book titled “The Cross, Self-Denial and the Manifestation of the Sons of God.”

is now on Kindle! Below is a link to the book on Kindle:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Self-Denial-Manifestation-Sons-God-ebook/dp/B07NCL9B82/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1550282110&sr=8-1&keywords=the+cross+self-denial+and+the+manifestation+of+the+sons+of+God