Creation or Evolution?

I grew up going to public schools. In which we were taught that we all evolved from slime (no joke). I never really thought about it though, I mean how it all began. I guess I would have said the big bang started it all if I was asked, but I did believe in God (the god of my own imagination), but I never equated the two.

When I became a Christian, I can remember the day (it was night actually) when I was trucking home and I was listening to a Christian station and I heard this guy mention something about dinosaurs.

I don't know who it was or what else he said as I soon lost the reception, but it hit me like a bag of bones (dinosaur bones maybe, WHAM-O), "How do dinosaurs fit into the Bible? I don't think I've read anything about dinosaurs in there. And if the Bible is true and it tells of how God created the universe, but I was taught that we evolved from the goo to the zoo to you, then someone has to be wrong."

Now if I was into the whole unreasonable logic of post-modernism, I wouldn't have thought much of it, but I had to know if the faith I have given my life to was real, if the God I bowed to was a truly living God. If evolution was true than how could I believe any of the Bible if it claims a completely different world history than that of reality? It would all be false, and my faith would be false and pointless, if the Bible was wrong in history, then it would surely be wrong about God. I had to know. I was though, afraid. I feared what I might learn. However, I could not remain ignorant.

Where would I start? I'm a truck driver, how am I going to learn this great truth? So I prayed.

It wasn't long after that that heard another preacher begin talking about this. John MacAurthur was the man I was listening to and the series that he began was called "The Battle for the Beginning; Creation, Evolution, and the Bible" This is what I wanted to hear.
It was this that confirmed my faith and demolished all the lies told to me as a youth about really being a monkeys uncle.

I do not believe that evolution is true and it is not even real science (I know your may be thinking that I'm some sort of wack-a-doo) but I have now a great interest in science (no I'm not a scientist, nor do I plan to be one). With a little common sense and desire to learn the truth, I have, and this is what I wish to share with all y'all in future post.

Psalms 95:1-11
O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods,
In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.
The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.
Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, if you would hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts...

Prayer Post - A Prayer for Haiti

Dear Lord God, You are almighty and sovereign over all of Your creation. My Lord, the island of Haiti is before You, may You hear their cries and mourning and anguish. May Your mercies and grace be found among them.

The nations gather together O Lord to bring aid and relief from their sufferings. Bless them in their aid for this little island. May all the operations of the United Nations, Canada, U.S., and all the other countries operate smoothly and efficiently in the best manor for those in the greatest need.

Amidst all this O God, may your chosen ones, those who call themselves by the name of Jesus Christ, be blessed and go forth to Haiti bearing witness of your grace among such tragedy.

You are in control, and Your purposes for causing this calamity are You own, whether it was judgment upon a nation, or some other reason, Your counsel is Your own. However, Your judgments are just, but Your mercies are greater, O Most High God, only may Your will be done.

May the gospel of Jesus Christ go forth into the island of Haiti, may the suffering find the greatest comfort of all in the saving faith of Your Son who has purchased for them salvation. I pray Lord Yahweh that You would open the eyes of the peoples to see your great love for them and how much more our Saviour has suffered to purchase their salvation, even with His own blood.

I pray that the peoples of Haiti would turn to you and that you would heal their families and their lives and that the nations of earth may see your kindness and glorify your holy name O great King of all the earth.

Psalms 63:1-11
A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.
O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth. They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; They will be a prey for foxes. But the king will rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

Non Essential Doctrines pt2 Calvinism vs Arminianism

When it comes to Biblical theological understandings, perhaps the greatest rivals (and the most contentious) are team Calvin vs team Armenian.

I honestly don't know a whole lot about either doctrine, but for as long these teachings have been around (as set out specifically by John Calvin or Jacobus Arminius), the believers of these two views have been in conflict.

I personally don't have any solid stance on either side. I believe a little Calvinism and a little from Arminianism, so I guess you could call me a "Cal-minian".

This could be a really long post if I were to get into this more, but as I've stated, I really don't know great details of either and I personally am not so interested in getting into the debate between the two sides.

I do know that there are concerns of either idea being extended too far, such as hyper-Calvinism, and Arminianism leading into Palagiamism, many times though these are simply misrepresentations made by the critics of either side. They can however lead into false teaching just like many ideas can.

I just want to encourage those on either side that if you both believe that Jesus Christ is the sole Saviour of mankind by grace alone through repentance and faith alone than you should be able to call each other brother. We should also be able to talk to each other about these differences and do so in peace without arguing. We can disagree without being disagreeable.

Let us exemplify our unity in Christ, not by having to believe exactly the same thing about being a Christian, but rather by the shed blood of Jesus Christ all of our sins are forgiven and we are brought into a common grace.

Essential Christian Doctrines pt 3 - There is one God

Why must I believe that there is only one God? Because that's what God says and because all other gods are but idols and come from the imaginations of men and they do not exist therefore they cannot save anyone.

This is one of those doctrines that must even be believed before anyone can even receive salvation. The first commandment of God is "you shall have no other gods before me".

God also says by the prophet Isaiah "You are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me. "I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. "It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And I am God. "Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?" (Isaiah 43:10-13)

Not only must we believe that there is one God, but we must worship God in truth as He is not as we imagine Him to be. The truth of which is magnified by God's very name, YAHWEH, which means I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). God's name denotes His self-existance and His eternality, all else has come into being by Him and for Him. God is who He is, not who we think He is, and He must be sought for as He is in truth because He is the embodiment of all absolute truth.


It is futile and even sin against God to seek after other gods. "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures... For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:18-23,25)

Another reason why we must believe that God is one is because the very fact that Jesus also testifies to God being one. In the account as recorded by Mark in chapter 12:28-30 "One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?"
Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH."

So unless you seek after the Lord as He is in truth and worship Him as He is in truth, you are committing idolatry and the truth is not in you. "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time." Titus 2:5-6

"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

"For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." Hebrews 9:15

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5:9-10

Essential Christian Doctrines pt2 - Pre-amble

Good day everyone and welcome.

Before I begin commenting on why this essential truth is so essential, I just want to make a comment that I briefly stated but should have made more clear in Essential Christian Doctrines pt 1.

I had said that "I believe 8 essential Christian doctrines that should be held by all believers and that for anyone who does not hold these doctrines to be true, they may be outside the faith and therefore do not share in the unity of Christ at all, or they are young immature believers and need yet to be taught from the word of God."

Now does this mean that in order for a man or women to be saved that they must believe that the Holy Spirit is God or that Jesus Christ is God incarnate? I don't think so. Not at the moment of salvation. There are a couple of things that a person should believe and do in order to be saved and that is;

1. Seek the Lord with all you heart, (seek the true God, for it profits you not to seek a god of your imagination, you must seek God in truth)
2. Repent of all sin, and deny yourself as worthy before a holy God.
3. Believe in Jesus Christ as come from God and taking our punishment for our sins by dying on a cross and three days later that He physically rose from the dead.
4. Die to yourself and submit your life to Christ by putting all your faith and trust in Him as your Lord and King.
5. Be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. (It is important to note that being baptized will not save you, nor does being baptized insure your salvation (baby baptism), but rather it is an outward showing of your obedience and submission to Jesus Christ, as Jesus says to repent and be baptized. To refuse shows a lack of sincerity in heart about your repentance and faith.)

These are the requirements for salvation, and they can be summed up as "repentance and faith", and from that comes obedience.

With that said, yes, someone may come to faith without believing in the triune nature of God, or that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, but I think a more accurate word for this would be someone may come to faith without knowing these important truths. Also, I do believe that someone can be a Christian and for a time, however long God knows, be unaware of these truths, or confused by them, or perhaps even doubtful. I don't think this would be for long though, because all believers are given the Holy Spirit of God, sent from Jesus, who is the Spirit of truth who guides us into all the truth (John 16:13)

I think where the essential nature of these doctrines come in play is that, as God grows you in faith and by the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, you will not deny that these doctrines are true. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ and deny Him as He is in truth, then beware, and hear the warning of Jesus, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, ` I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS." Matthew 7:21-23

And of Paul, "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." 2 Corinthians 11:4

And of John, "Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also." (1 John 2:23) ... "And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life. Little children, guard yourselves from idols. 1 John 5:20-21

Non- essential Christian Doctrines pt1

This morning I put up a post about how Christians should be united in the truth, and should stop bickering and shunning those who do not believe in some of the minor doctrines they believe in.

I also said that I do believe that some minor doctrines, if taken to far can lead into major consequences, sometimes eternal consequences. I want to try and explain this a little further.

I want to start with a doctrine that I believe is a very great truth that I do wish all Christians believed, but one that I am well aware of the grave consequences that can come of it. That is of a believers eternal security, or commonly known as "once saved, always saved".

I believe that once God saves an individual that person is born again as a new creature in Christ and is sealed for all eternity, never to lose their salvation.

A common misunderstanding is that this then gives the Christian freedom to sin as they please because it doesn't matter, they can't lose their salvation right? Wrong!! Unfortunately, some people think this way. This usually happens because they have not been told or do not hold high esteem for God's command for repentance.

God commands us to repent, and if an individual is truly grieved at how sinful they are from within their heart, not just about the mistakes they've made or consequences of such, then God will give them a new heart with new attitudes and desires for righteousness, and they will sin less but they won't be sinless.

If someone continues in sin then as John says, "If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth" (1Jn 1:6). And I say that person was never saved in the first place. Paul says it well in Romans 6;

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Butthanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Another concern for those who do not believe they can lose their salvation is that I believe although they strive for holiness, they may become a little indifferent to minor sins. That is why I pray for God's heart concerning all sin, and that God would continuously reveal my sin to me and that it may grieve my heart.

<--------------------------------\/--------------------------------->

One more doctrine that I will touch on for now is that of being able to lose ones salvation.

This teaching I believe has at least two consequencial implications. One being that I believe it puts a great burden upon those who believe that they can lose their salvation.

If you believe this, then the Christian will spend so much of their time worrying that anything that they do wrong may have caused them to fall from God's graces. Face it, while we are here in these mortal bodies we will sin until the day we die and you will probably live in guilt and worry most of that time.

Another great concern is that these people become very legalistic and can get to the point where they believe that you must never sin again or you are not saved. John responds to this thinkning in 1 John 1:8 and 10 "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us"..."If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

Something I would say to that also is, that there is and never was or will be anything that we can do to earn our salvation, therefore there is nothing that we can do to keep our salvation either. Our salvation has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are now seen as righteous before God because of Jesus' life not our own.

I believe the writer to the Hebrews addresses this as well in Hebrews 6:4-6;
"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt".

I think what he's saying is that if you thought you were saved and then lost it, then that's it, because you'd essentially have to crucify Jesus again to regain your salvation, and I don't think that is going to happen.


As I'm sure you noticed in the title that this is only part 1 for this topic and there will obviously be other posts for this in the future. For now, ponder these things and remember to always cross check everything I say with the Scriptures for they alone are the sole authority.

Essential Christian Doctrines pt 1

So recently I put a post up about Christians being united in Christ in this new year and to stop bickering back and forth about minor doctrines. There is no Biblical grounds for any servant of God to shun another for not believing in a non-essential doctrine that they do.

I did not say either that we should never shun someone though. I did mention that there are I believe 8 essential Christian doctrines that should be held by all believers and that for anyone who does not hold these doctrines to be true, they are probably outside the faith and therefore do not share in the unity of Christ at all, or they are young immature believers and need yet to be taught from the word of God.

I want to now expound on these 8 essentials and explain why I believe, and probably greater men than I (I presume) would agree (I hope), that these are essential tenants of the Christian faith. Just now as I write this,I figured that I want to do this justice and I don't want to skimp on my details and reasoning so I will make this my first series of messages.

The 8 essentials of the Christian faith are these;
1. There is one God.
2. God exists eternally in three equal persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.
4. Jesus was crucified for our sins against a holy God, taking the punishment we deserved upon Himself, thus redeeming and reconciling us to God.
5. Three days after His crucifixion, He rose from the dead in a physical body.
6. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
7. True faith must always be preceded and followed by repentance.
8. Sola Scriptura, the Scriptures alone are fully authoritative, infallible and inerrant.

Stay tuned as I will comment on these soon.

Unity in Christ this New Year

Happy New Year everybody. I just wanted to reiterate a message on unity in Christ that was given by my good friend and mentor Kelly Powers at
www.rootedinchrist.org/1/Christian_Essentials/Entries/2009/12/25_Doctrine_Wars.html

I want to say that in this new year let us as the body of Jesus Christ live as one in love and respect. There are many things in the Scriptures that many of us disagree about such as between calvinists and arminianists, pentacostals and non-pentacostals, creationists and theistic evolutionists. Let us though treat each other with respect and so long as we have untiy in the essential doctrines than we shall call each other brother and sister.

Now that begs the question; what are the essential doctrines? I believe there are several truths that if you call yourself a Christian you will not deny;
->There is one God (Duet 6:4, Jam 2:19),
->God exist eternally and equally as three persons, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Is 48:12-16, Matt 3:16-17),
->Jesus Christ is God in the flesh (Jn 1:1, 14, Col2:9, Heb 1:8),
->Jesus was crucified for our sins against a holy God, thereby taking our punishment upon Himself (Rom 3:21-26, 4:25, 1 Cor15:3-4)
->and three days later He rose from the dead in a physical body (Lk 24:36-43, 1 Cor 15:14,17)
->Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (Acts4:12, Eph 2:8-9)
->Faith must be preceded and followed by repentance (Lk 24:47, Acts 2:38)
-> and Sola Scriptura, the Scriptures alone are fully authoritative, infallible and inerrant (Acts 17:11, Gal 3:22, 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:20)

I believe we should and must stand firm on these. Sure we can have disagreements about minor issues, but let's try to talk about them with grace for one another. If it's not an issue of eternal implications then let's not bash each other about it.

I know some minor issues can and do lead into big implications (I'll talk of those soon), but there are now so many people out there who call themselves Christians and use words that sound right but are not quite, and they are slowly and discreetly changing definitions of such essentials as Jesus' deity, or our justification by grace alone through faith alone, before God and they also challenge the authority and infallibility of the Scriptures such as Jehova's Witnesses and Mormons the Emergent Church and the Word Faith Movement
(see www.carm.org and www.rootedinchrist.org and www.justinpeters.org for great info on this)

We can discuss our differences, and even try to correct those who believe wrongly about a minor doctrine such as theistic evolution, but let us do so in love for one another. I think a great passage for us to consider when it comes to a brother or sister in Christ and a minor issue is in Romans chapter 14;
Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. 14:1

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 14:4

But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 14:10

So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. 14:12-13

Now I know the context of these verses is in regards to obeying the Jewish laws, but I think the principle can be used in regards to minor doctrines. There must be unity within the body, although, even as I say we must have unity, there can be no unity with those who stand opposed to the truth of essential doctrines.

So for the sake of the truth and for the sake of the souls of those who are perishing for the made up beliefs in idols let us stand united for the true gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.