2. The Purpose of the Stars

continued from: What Does the Bible Say? part 1 & part 2.

The reason stars were made are given to us in several places in the Bible, not only in the well-known Psalm 19, but especially in the creation account. In Genesis 1:14 we read: "And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide between the day and the night. And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years."

Thus, God made the stars for mankind on Earth, not for another alien race "out there." Add to this the sequence of creation (on the first day, Earth, and on the forth day, the stars), and it is easy to see the thrust of the Biblical testimony, that the purpose of the creation is uniquely centered on this Earth.


Sign of Design: I recall watching a nest with four baby birds. Each of the occupants, in polite sequence, pivoted its tail out of the nest and sent its dropping down to the ground below. God gave these tiny birds programmed instincts to avoid fouling their own nest.

Gratitude

This devotion was so good, I couldn't pass it up. I just had to share it.

Gratitude

READ: Colossians 3:12 - 17

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
COLOSSIANS 3:17

Among the first words many of us were taught to say are please and thank you. No one gets quite as excited as a parent or grandparent when a toddler first utters those words and makes the connection between asking politely and receiving gratefully.

But I suspect that as we grow older we become more adept at saying please than thank you, especially with our heavenly Father. We focus more on pressing needs than on previous provisions; we petition more than we praise. And while God invites us to come to Him with all our needs, He also urges us to make gratitude a habit.

In Colossians 3:15, Paul instructed every follower of Jesus Christ to “let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” Then three times he reminded us to remain grateful to God: “be thankful” (v.15); sing with gratitude to the Lord (v.16); “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (v.17).

Dr. Michael Avery, president of God’s Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio, has said: “Very few things honor and glorify God more than the sweet fragrance of a thankful soul. It expels gloom and ushers in sweet peace and blessed hope. Gratitude encourages graciousness.”

It’s good to give thanks to God.

We thank You, Lord, for blessings
You give us on our way;
May we for these be grateful,
And praise You every day.
~ Roworth

Gratitude should be a continuous attitude, not just an occasional incident.

~ written by : David McCasland

Virus

Here was my daily devotion for today.

Virus

READ: 2 Corinthians 10:3-6

"[Bring] every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
2 CORINTHIANS 10:5

Some days my computer helps me fly like an eagle. Other times, it bogs me down like a hippopotamus. On “eagle days” I’m grateful for my computer. But there are those “hippo days” when I rue the day I bought one.

Recently I’ve had to contend with a virus that invaded my computer. What bothers me most is that viruses are created maliciously. Bright people who live with a darkness in their lives want to make other people miserable. What’s worse, I permitted the virus to enter my machine by opening what I thought was an innocent e-mail.

Sin resembles a computer virus. Satan wants to destroy Christians by infecting their minds. But the apostle Paul urged the believers at Corinth to bring “every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Just as we let a virus into our computers, we also let darkness into our lives when we open ourselves unthinkingly to the godless messages that permeate our culture. We let down our guard and hardly notice the sin that infects our minds.

But by confessing our sin, reading God’s Word, and praying, we build a firewall, or barrier, to safeguard our minds. With the help of the Spirit, we’ll keep our minds from becoming unwitting hosts for unwanted guests.

~ Haddon W. Robinson


Prayer: Heavenly Father, I’m often careless with what I allow to enter my mind. By Your Spirit, please help me to guard my mind today. By Your grace, keep me from situations that wage war on my thought life. Amen.

Guard your thoughts as you would your wallet.

Thank You!

This is from a little booklet I got from my church.

Thank You!

Two simple words
that express
so much

We use them:
- when someone gives us good service.
- when someone buys something from us.
- when someone lends a helping hand.

Sometimes, when a "Thank You", seems inadequate, we may express our thanks through various actions, such as:
- by leaving a tip.
- by giving our hostess a gift.
- by shaking someone's hand.

I would like to express my thanks to you by sharing with you some information which has lasting value. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, left the glory of heaven, and lived a sinless life on this earth, so that He could die in the place of sinners like you and me.

He has promised in the Bible that all who will repent of their sins and receive Him as their Lord and Savior will have an abundant life now and will spend eternity in heaven with God.

He has forgiven me of my sins and has given me great peace and joy. I have committed my life completely to Him and through Him I have found abundant life now, assurance of eternal life, and a home in heaven.

He says to all who will believe in Him, "Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

He saves us; He keeps us; He fills our deepest need.

Introducing you to Him is the best way I have of
expressing my thanks.

Will you recieve Him today as your Lord and Savior
and be saved forever?

Read the following Bible verses and consider what they
teach about being saved:

- All of us are sinners. (Rom. 3:23 - 24)

- Even so, God loves us. (Rom. 5:8)

- God not only has provided for salvation, but also a way for us to live with Him forever. (John 3:16; Rom. 6:23)

- God commands us to turn away from our sin. (Luke 13:3;
Acts 17:30)

- We can call upon God for salvation. (Rom. 10:13 - 14)

- We must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 16:31)

- We can know that we are saved. (John 1:12; Rom. 10:9;
1 John 5:13)

- The world can know that we are saved by the lives that we live. (Matt. 7:16, 20)

Thankfulness

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
1 THESSALONIANS 5:18

Thankfulness is humbling. It is acknowledging another over yourself. The opposite of thankfulness is pride, pride that says, “I could have done that,” or, “I deserved whatever you did for me.”

In this post, I want to deal with three facets of thankfulness; why, when, and how.

It doesn’t do any good to try to be thankful if we don’t know why we should be.
It doesn’t do any good to know why, if we don’t know when.
And, it doesn’t do any good to know why and when, if we don’t how.

I'll begin with why:

Why we should be Thankful

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
PSALM 136:1

We should be thankful because something has been done (or someone tried to do something) for us, for our benefit.

We are thankful to God for saving our wretched souls and we should be thankful for all of the blessings that He showers upon us. How many times have we longed for something we didn’t need, or whined about a small ache? Instead, we could have been thankful to God for what we have, thankful that we don’t have any real needs, like good food, clothing, shelter, or clean water. We could have been thankful our pain wasn’t chronic or life threatening. It seems to me, that those who trust in Jesus and have life threatening or chronic aches and pains, live more thankfully aware than we do.

When we should be Thankful

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
PHILIPPIANS 4:6

We should express our appreciation for someone any time they put forth effort to help us. Especially if we asked them for help.

A sincere “thank you” sends a powerful message, it says, “You're important to me and I want to take time out of my day to tell you.” Not saying “thank you” at the right time, communicates to another that you don’t care about them. Neglecting to say it imparts that only I’m important. Saying it too much steals the meaning of the words, making them empty, and, well... meaningless.

For example, we should (but probably don’t) thank God for our life every day. He didn’t have to let us live another day, we certainly don’t deserve to live another day. Conversely, if we draw the winning card in a game of Solitaire, we shouldn’t necessarily thank God verbally for it. It is just a game and has no bearing on our walk with God. If we’re playing Solitaire instead of doing the chores we are supposed to do, then I certainly wouldn’t thank God. We are taking the meaning from our thank you by presenting it unrighteously.

How we should be Thankful

“I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.”
PSALM 116:17

We should thank someone, first of all, by giving a sign of appreciation (e.g. saying, “I thank you.”), and second, by telling them what we appreciate.

Giving a sign of appreciation isn’t doing something to make you “equal” with who you‘re thanking. If we try to make all things equal, we will spend our whole life trying to do things for other people to make up for what they‘ve done for us. Besides, we can never repay Christ for what He has done. So don’t try to “get even”, just accept their help and say, “thank you.”

Tell who you are thanking why! If you don’t, it is fair for them to think you don’t know, or care about, what they’ve done for you, and that your thank you is meaningless courtesies.


Finally, receive thanks gratefully. Don’t refuse it or accuse the giver (it is a gift by the way) of being insincere, that is between them and God. They are trying to thank you for something, accept it graciously!

“Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.”
REVELATION 11:17

~ written by: Zachary of Wholesome Works

Busy - ness

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his very soul?"
MARK 8:36

Thoughts: We chase after so many different things. Only one thing is needful. Having a fist full of dollars, a great estate, and lots of prestige doesn't mean a whole lot if you've gone to your ultimate address without the Lord. Even worse is to find that in the middle of your busy-ness, you awake to find yourself in the barren land where Christ does not dwell and life is not found. Let's not lose our life, our soul, our meaning, chasing after what is not lasting.

Prayer: Father, help me to keep my priorities right, my life holy, and my heart open to your will rather than being blinded with my own self-seeking. In Jesus' precious name I pray. Amen.

~ Phil Ware

If the Devil can't make you bad...
...he'll make you busy.
~ Adrian Rogers

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
PSALM 46:10

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
1 KINGS 19:11,12

He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
PSALM 107:29

And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.
LUKE 8:24

What Does the Bible Say? (part 2 of 2)

Continuation of What Does the Bible Say? (part 1 of 2)

There are other reasonable suggestions as to the identity of the "sons of God and the nephilim. Interestingly, the word nephilim is used only here and in Numbers 13:33, where it clearly refers to the descendants of Anak, who were big people, but still people.

Furthermore, "sons of God" is not used exclusively of angels, the children of Israel are called "the sons of the living God" in Hosea 1:10 (see also Psalm 73:15 ; 80:17).

Some Bible scholars, such as H.C. Leupold, believe that the "sons of God" were descendants of Seth, the godly line who are detailed in the preceding chapter (Genesis 4:25 - 5:32). Leupold wrote, "But who were these 'sons of god'? Without a doubt, the Sethites."

From this point of view, the descendants of Seth became wayward and married the "daughters of men" indiscriminately, basing their choice only on appearance, without concern for godliness, and the nephilim were their offspring.

Rulers in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia often proclaimed themselves as "sons of God" to enhance their power and prestige. So, another view with much support is that the "sons of God" were power-hungry rulers and despots, who, in their hunger for power and influence, took many wives in polygamy. They, and their offspring, through tyranny, became "mighty men." (Nimrod was described as such a "mighty one" in Genesis 10:8.)

So, there is no need to resort to fanciful suggestions involving aliens to understand this passage of Scripture.


Sign of Design: The discovery of a portion of modern parrot jaw in a rock which is assumed by evolutionist to be 70 million years old has caused some controversy. Evolutionists have long believed that such "modern" types of birds had not evolved back in the alleged time when dinosaurs roamed the earth (specifically, the Cretaceous period). Not only is the fossil in question shaped like a parrot's jaw, x - rays reveal a K - shaped impression (blood vessel and nerve tracks) identical to , and characteristic of, modern parrots.

Happy Fathers Day, Dad!

I couldn't have asked God for a better one.

Give Voice To Your Love

Here is a devotion for Father's Day.

Give Voice To Your Love

READ: 1 John 4:12-19

"There is no fear in love."
1 JOHN 4:18

In 1990 a TV documentary on the US Civil War attracted huge audiences. One program featured a letter by a soldier killed at the battle of Bull Run. Sullivan Ballou realized the peril he faced in the looming clash, so he wrote a poignant letter to his wife. In part he said, “If I do not return, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you, nor that when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.”

Men, more than women, often find it difficult to express deep emotions. They may squelch the impulse to put their tenderest feelings into words.

This Father’s Day, many men will receive expressions of love, but they may have trouble voicing their love in return. Yet nothing is more masculine than to express love to our loved ones. That’s true not only for fathers but for all of us. We can bestow no gift more precious to those who are wrapped up with us in the bundle of life.

“There is no fear in love,” wrote the apostle John, “but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). So let us boldly declare our love, not only for our loved ones but for the One who gave His life for us.

This Father’s Day, emulate that courageous fallen Civil War hero and give voice to your love.

For Fathers: Jot a note to someone you love, and express your love in your message. Set aside a day for your children this week.

You can never express your love too often. ~ Vernon C. Grounds

What Does the Bible Say? (part 1 of 2)

1. Scripture does not mention "ET" visits.

The Bible, The revealed written Word of God, teaches that life is only possible through a process of creation. Even if there were other galaxies with planets very similar to Earth, life could only be there if the Creator had fashioned it. If God had done that, and if these beings were going to visit us one day, then He would surely have enlightened us about this.

God has given us rather specific details of he future - for example, the return of Jesus Christ, and some details about the end of the world. The universe will, at some future point, be rolled up like a scroll (Isaiah 34:4 ; Revelation 6:14). If God had created living beings elsewhere, this would automatically destroy their dwelling place as well. Adam's sin caused all of creation to be affected by the curse, so why would a race of beings, not of Adam's (sinful) seed, have their part of creation affected by the curse, and then be part of the restoration brought about by Christ, the last Adam? All of this would seem exceedingly strange.

Some have claimed that the nephilim, or the "sons of God," both mentioned in Genesis 6:2 - 4, were aliens. This is a wild extension of a common view that the "sons of God" who married the "daughters of men" were fallen angels, and that the nephilim were products of those "marriages."

"Sons of God" is clearly used of angels in Job 38:7. Here, the Septuagint translates "sons of God" as "angels of God." This need not mean that evil angels, or demons, actually cohabited with women, Jesus made it clear that angels do not engage in sexual activities, at least not angels in Heaven (Matthew 22:30). Nevertheless, evil angels on Earth could have used the bodies of ungodly men, by demonic possession, to achieve their evil purpose of producing an evil generation of people (Genesis 6:12).


To be continued...


Sign of Design: It is meaningless to claim that scriptural authority applies only to "religious things," since the Christian gospel is all about real things, the origin, history, and destiny of man and the universe. Remove its claim to authority in the realm of science, and you are actually removing it from any relevance to the real world.

The UFO Wave

Click Here - to read my first post on this subject.

Harvard University psychiatry professor Dr. John E. Mack recently attracted worldwide attention with his collection of cases of people claiming they were "abducted by aliens."

There was also the release of a film of an alleged autopsy on an alien from a crash in New Mexico close to the United States Air Force Base at Roswell. The blurry footage, which most people have dismissed as an obvious and crude forgery, was nevertheless the main attraction at the 1995 UFO World Congress in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Then, of course, there was the "alien invasion" film Independence Day, which grossed more in its opening week than any previous film.

What should Christians think about UFO accounts? What does the Bible say? Hopefully, I'll answer these questions in my next few posts.


Sign of Design: The alleged "problem" about Cain's wife having to be a close relative, far from being a challenge to the truth of Genesis, actually strengthens it! Since mutation-caused defects, occurring after a fault-free beginning, take time to accumulate over generations, Adam's offspring need not have feared deformities in the children of close marriages for many centuries.

The Humble Robin

"As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. ; Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"
JEREMIAH 5:27;29

Today, I watched a robin successfully find, dig up, and eat a worm. And I just marveled at God's creation. As I watched the robin milling around, stopping every once in a while to look or listen, I wondered how it could be so accurate at finding worms.

I'm not the only one who has wondered about this either. After a quick search, I found that many scientists have wondered the same thing.

The scientists have researched, poked and prodded, blindfolded, played loud noises, and done many other things to these poor birds, but they can't get the robins to give up their secret on how they find those elusive worms. Sure, the scientists say this is how the robin does it, or no, that is the true answer, but as more information comes along they have to change their theories. That is the essence of human science, change.

It seems, though, that the only theory that can't change, is the theory of evolution. It is touted as science, and the public has accepted that reasoning. The secularists say they're removing religion from our public schools, but because we can't test evolution, it really is a religion. It must be blindly followed, and zealously defended with religious fervor, or it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

So the next time you see the humble little robin hopping around on the ground, remember, we must put our faith on the rock of Jesus Christ, not the shifting and ever-changing sands of science.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I enjoy watching your wonderful and mysterious creation, and marveling at the work you have done. Help me to remember that our earthly science can always change, and therefore, I shouldn't rely on what it says, but on You and Your Word. Please help me to spread Your Word boldly, and expose to this deceived world, the fallibility of our science. Thank you for the blessing of being able to observe Your creation. Amen.

Written by: Zachary of Wholesome Works

Note: The photo was taken in our front yard, by my Mom.

Children are a blessing from the Lord

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
PROVERBS 22:6

Surely it's important to teach Bible stories to children. I praise the Lord for all the Bible stories I was taught as a child.

We need to teach our children God's Word from the beginning to end. My wife and I spend hours teaching our children to understand the Word of God.

However, we need to do much more than just teach Bible stories.

Most Sunday school curriculums used by Sunday school teachers today basically teach children Bible stories such as Jonah and the whale; Jesus on the Cross; Paul's missionary journeys, and so on.

Now these are important, BUT what many teachers haven't realized is that the children today are being bombarded through the media and education system with evolutionary ideas. They come to church and learn Bible stories, but the world is telling them that scientists have proved the Bible is not true, that man evolved from apes, that Noah's ark and flood are just myths.

It is very difficult to get people interested in accounts that have no basis in reality. There is a dominant mindset today that where the ancient past is dealt with biblically, the stories are just that - stories.

What I am saying is that as well as Bible stories, we need to also be teaching children against evolution, and teaching them how they can logically defend creation and the flood and so on. If we don't do this - many of them will reject the Bible stories we taught them.

Myth isn't of much help when death approaches, or relationship problems arise. But the revealed truth of history, as outlined in the Bible, is vital to a hurting world.

~ AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD Reflections of God's Handiwork
by Ken Ham

"When is your fetus due?"

"before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee."
JEREMIAH 1:5

Years ago, people generally believed that God was Creator, and, therefore, God set the rules. Consequently, abortion was wrong, based upon what the Bible said. However, that foundation in society has been slowly eroded and replaced with another foundation; evolution.

This foundation teaches people that they're just animals in the struggle for survival as life has evolved over millions of years. Therefore, what develops in a woman's womb is only an animal.

It's interesting to note that the increase in the rate of abortion has gone hand in hand with the increasing popularity of evolution.

You see, evolutionists used to believe that when an embryo develops in its mother's womb, it goes through all the evolutionary stages, such as a tadpole, a fish stage (with gill slits!), then it becomes an amphibian, and then on to the reptile stage, and so it goes on.

Now we know that as a human embryo develops, it does go through a stage where it has some pouches, but these pouches are not gill slits or anything like that. In fact, they form into such things as the tonsils, the middle ear canals, and the special glands that form part of our immune system.

The sad part of all of this is that many women thought that when they were aborting their baby, they were actually aborting an animal. This false evolutionary teaching has had disastrous effects on our culture.

A fertilized egg is an individual right from conception, as the Bible teaches. As any biologist should know, the fertilized egg develops in the mother's womb seperately from the mother, but relying on the mother's blood supply for nourishment and so on.

When a woman is expecting, we don't say, "When is your fetus due?" Rather, we say, "When is your baby due?"


~ AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD Reflections of God's Handiwork
by Ken Ham

The First Three Days - what was the Light?

"This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all"
1 JOHN 1:5

I've been asked, "If God created everything in six literal days, then how could the first three days of creation have been ordinary days if the sun wasn't created until the fourth day?"

First of all, you don't need the sun to have day and night - all you need is light shining on a rotating earth. Now, do we have light on the first three days? The answer is "Yes!"

On the first day, God created light and separated it from the darkness. Because there is evening and morning, it's obvious that the earth is already rotating and the light is shining from one direction.

Actually, God would need to make the property of light so that sources could then give off light.

Now the question people ask is, where did that light come from? To be honest - I don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us. Now this shouldn't be a worry to us, because if God told us everything we wanted to know, we'd have an infinite number of books. And let's face it - we could never read them all.

What God HAS told us is that there was light on Day 1, which must have come from a temporary source. It was replaced by the sun on Day 4. By the way, evolution teaches that the sun existed before the earth - so obviously, one cannot accept evolution as well as the Bible.

I believe that one of the reasons God left the creation of the sun until the fourth day, was because He knew that many cultures over time would want to worship the sun. Remember, God told the Israelites not to worship it as the heathens did. God was showing that He was the source of all power. So the answer is to worship the God of the creation, NOT the creation He made.


~ AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD Reflections of God's Handiwork
by Ken Ham

It does Matter

For this week I'll be attending an aviation day camp in my area as a teacher's assistant. I will keep my regular blog schedule, but all of my next posts will come from Ken Ham's great book: And God Saw that it was Good.

"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
EXODUS 20:11

Ah, now to my favorite subject.

For over a hundred years, Christians have said that God could have created in six days, or six seconds, or six billion years, and that it doesn't really matter. Can we know for sure?

But, you see, it's not a matter of how long it could've taken God to create - it's how long He said He DID take that is important.

The evolutionists believe that the world is billions of years old, and there are many Christians who think maybe God took billions of years to make the world. Since just before Darwin, it has been very fashionable to first question the biblical account of creation, then openly ridicule it. When a man by the name of Charles Lyell populatized the belief that the earth's rock layers were millions of years old, the idea caught on with shocking speed.

However, the Bible tells us that God is infinite in power. He could make anything at all in NO time.

Actually, the only way you would know how long He took to make the world was if He told us... and He did! In God's Word, the Bible, we're told that He took six days to create, and He rested for one day. He did this as a pattern for us - our seven day work week!

If God created everything in 6 billion years - we would have a fascinating week, wouldn't we? None of us would even live through the first day!!

By the way, it might interest you to know that in the past 200 years, totalitarian regimes in France and Russia have tried to force the public to adopt a different number of days in their work weeks. The people couldn't cope, and the six-day work week was reinstituted!

This all gets back to an authority issue: are we going to take God at His word, or are we going to trust the fallible opinions of fallible, sinful humans?


Prayer: Father, Your word is truth. I don't want to fall for the oldest lie and question whether You really meant what You said. Help me to rely on the strength of Your Word to me and mankind. Amen.


~ AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD Reflections of God's Handiwork
by Ken Ham