From Atheist to Christian

It is always an interesting to read testimonies of people who were atheists who became Christians. Dr. Bergman was raised by atheistic parents, was taught atheism, and taught atheism. He is a brief biography.

Creation Conversion: From Atheist to Creationist

By Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.

At Wayne State University, where I earned my bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees, I was exposed to evolution. Influenced by my atheist father and my professors, I accepted this worldview, as did most of my peers. We also accepted the atheist philosophy that came with it. The university invited a number of speakers to lecture on religion, at least tangentially, all of whom were quite negative toward Christianity. One even stressed that we have given Christianity 2,000 years to fix up the world, and it was high time to try atheism.

As I became more involved in the atheist movement, I got tired of hearing that all the problems in the world were the fault of Christianity and that if we got rid of all the Christians, the world would be a wonderful place. What especially bothered me was that my atheist peers were determined to suppress Christianity by any means, legal or illegal—first by banning it from the public square, then in the private domain. Atheists seemed to feel that the ends justified the means, so they ruthlessly sought to crush Christianity. I soon realized this goal was evil because in the end it always did more harm than good—and yet it has been tried in so many places.

As I studied evolution (the doorway to atheism), it eventually became apparent that the theory has some major problems. The first example I researched in detail was the "vestigial organ" claim. There are…

So real scientists do have faith in Jesus Christ and are not ashamed of it. Neither should we.

Critical Thinking

I've been wondering this myself. Well said and a short article well worth reading and pondering.

Let me do some critical thinking out loud for a moment. I am pondering two questions. First, if God is speaking to us through visions, dreams, personal prophecies, etc., why is it that so often those who receive these visions, dreams, personal prophecies are some of the weakest people I know? I am not going to lump all charismatics together here as I don't know all of them of course and that would be unfair but those that I do know who claim God is speaking to them in a dream or a "word" in their spirit are typically not committed to studying the Bible, are often ignorant of basic doctrines, don't pray too much, are not serious in evangelism, and for the most part are weak spiritually.

Secondly, how…

The Bible is the only source of 100% truth, yet people seek experiences rather than real worship as in prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and church attendance in a godly church.

The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. (Psalms 119:160, NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, (2 Timothy 3:16, NKJV)

And let us consider one another for the stirring up of love and of good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves, just as is the custom for some, but exhorting one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25, EMTV)

Pray without ceasing! (1 Thessalonians 5:17, EMTV)

Why Isn’t Your Church Growing?

A little piece of satire.

I actually saw this title on a Facebook post from a pragmatic church ministry site. I thought I would have some fun with this and try to come up with ten reasons your church is not growing from their point of view. Mind you this is satire so please don't take me serious here. Just laugh with me at how sad the pragmatism is in most modern-day church growth sites. So here we go….

1. You actually use the Bible.

2. You actually pray (and probably still read the Bible).

3. You mention Jesus or Christ is something like that way too much.

4. You teach docterines or whatever it is.

5. You never mention "sex" much in your "talks."

6. You don't wear skinny…

 

You can the whole article here.

Judas Iscariot

This is something I wrote long ago.

Three points

4 March 10

John 13:26-27

Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a morsel, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. And after the morsel Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, what you do, do quickly.

1. Why did Satan enter Judas?

First, he did not want things to mess up; he didn't want any mistakes, so he did not delegate it; he did it himself. Second, betraying Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was something he would enjoy.

2. Why Judas?

Because he surrendered his will to do evil. Satan put the thought in Judas' heart, and he agreed. He loved money instead of God. He looked at the present rather than the future.

3. What can we learn?

We must seek the Kingdom of God first. We must set our minds, our wills, to live in the Kingdom of God. Obeying the truths of what the Lord Jesus taught us in the New Testament must be important enough for us, that we do them.

The God of Nothing

The god of nothing.

I read the atheist's posts. I try to understand their motives, their "push" to get their views across. What is it that they have in common? It is the god of nothing. They worship nothing. Their theology is nothing. Their rituals are nothing. Their standards are nothing. Their temple is nothing. Their sacrifices are nothing. Their commandments are nothing and are based on nothing. Their scriptures are nothing. Their priests are nothing. They believe in the last judgment of nothing. After they die, they go to their nothing. They are positive of nothing. They evangelize diligently for their religion of nothing. They write for nothing. Their sin is nothing, yet they accuse of everything. Their guilt is nothing. Their punishment is nothing. Their god has nothing, does nothing, thinks nothing, is nothing. Yet, they all preach nothing. Their nothing permeates everything. Their worldview is based on nothing. Their logic is based on nothing. Their science is orderly on nothing. Their purpose in life is nothing. They will leave nothing. They came from nothing. They go to nothing. Everything is nothing. Their nothing is so important that they do everything they can to promote nothing.

They mock others who have something to try to get others to believe in nothing. They have a fellowship of nothing. The rules of their fellowship on based on nothing. When they're thankful, they thankful to nothing. When they're blessed, they are blessed by nothing. They get their comfort in sorrow from nothing. They pray to nothing. They vent their frustrations to nothing. They blame everything on nothing. They teach nothing. Their mental and emotional wholeness is based on nothing. Their social needs are on nothing. Their environmental harmony is on nothing. The great benefits in life are based on nothing.

Jesus is something. He is a person. He has a standard. He has good judgment. He is my God. They can have their god of nothing. I worship Jesus Christ. I say with Thomas, "Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).

The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36)

"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!" (Revelation 5:12)

Rent or redeemed?

Rent or given, not appreciated or held in high value.

Paid for, appreciated and cared for.

Jesus paid for us with his own blood.

A former pastor gave this illustration about the Lord Jesus and His care for us.

Many times I rent some equipment I need for a special job. I might think I don't have to treat it right, that I can abuse it. After all it is a rental; it's not my own. But if I own it and have paid for it, I will treat it more gently and carefully.

Jesus didn't rent us, nor were we just given to him. He, himself, redeemed us from our sins with His own blood. He cares for us in a special way, because we are his own.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7)

Our Helper to Do and to Observe

And you shall remember that you were a bondman in Egypt: and you shall observe and do these statutes. (Deuteronomy 16:12)

 

Three points:

 

1. Moses was reviewing the entire history and laws from the past 40 years. He reminded them that they were slaves in Egypt. When things go well we sometimes forget what the past was. We need to remember the past sometimes, as the life of Jesus of Nazareth, his birth, death, resurrection, and ascension. We also need to remember what we were before we repented and trusted in the Lord Jesus for our salvation. We were slaves of sin. "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? But thanks 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." (Romans 6:16-17, ESV)

 

2. Observe means to guard, protect, attend to, so has the idea of knowing, pay attention to, as in observing the speed limit, that is, we look at the speedometer to know our speed, then we can obey the speed limit. So we must read the Bible to know the rules, compare our lives to the standard, and obey. Today the Christian observes the rules in the New Testament.

 

3. Do. This means obey. If the Scriptures tell us not to lie, then we do not lie. We do not tell white lies, black lies, and half-truths, whatever. A lie is a type of deceiving.

 

But he answered and said,

It is written,

Man shall not live by bread alone,

But by every word

That proceedeth

Out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4

We need God's help and indeed, we have it.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalms 46:1)

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may abide with you forever, (John 14:16)