Is it possible...

...to lose your salvation?

This is one of those divisive subjects within the Christian ranks, where those on the outside (unbelievers) claim that brothers and sisters in Christ spend more time fighting against each other instead of promoting unity in Christ; and that, therefore, supposedly gives said unbeliever a wonderful reason to reject Christianity outright as a faulty religion.

That kind of situation brings to my mind thoughts of the presuppositions of the unbeliever in question about his/her thoughts on what makes a Christian a Christian. Apparently, this person thinks that when one claims to be a Christ follower that one suddenly is endowed with all knowledge and all sinlessness. Why do I say that? Well, this unbeliever sees/hears Christians debating points of Christianity and therefore feels that one or both of them are wrong in their beliefs. Granted, one or both of them could be wrong in their beliefs. But more than likely, both are Christians, to be sure, but either one or both of them are holding inconsistently to some part or parts of their Christianity.

As I have stated before, I do not believe that one's thoughts on the age of the earth are paramount to determining whether or not one is save or not. However, I will make the claim that if a Christian claims that the earth and universe are extremely old (millions and billions of years old) that he/she is holding inconsistently to parts of their Christianity. That in and of itself does not mean that one is not a Christian nor that one is not saved.

Back to salvation. Can a person who is actually saved by the blood of Christ ever become unsaved? I would think that one of the most used pieces of evidence for this would be Hebrews 6:4-6.

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."

Well, let's consider the audience. If this passage is written to unbelievers, then the answer is clearly, "No, this passage does NOT teach that the saved can become unsaved."

If this passage were written to believers, then we have something to look at don't we?

Let me approach it from the point of view that this was written to unbelievers, first. "Once enlightened" must refer to some sort of instruction. Can unbelievers learn about God and Jesus? Of course they can. The demons know the ABSOLUTE FACT about God and Jesus, but are they saved beings? Hardly! So, what we have here is simple instruction and learning taking place. John 1:9 describes Jesus as "the true light that gives light to every man." If this is the case, then obviously this is not the light of salvation is it...because not all men will be saved. So again, "once enlightened" means some level of instruction.

What about "tasting the heavenly gift?" Well, what does tasting refer to? Tasting refers to a sampling, or a momentary experience. If we are to interpret that "tasting" meant forever and was transformational, then we must also assume that Jesus Christ is dead. Why? Look at Hebrews 2:9.

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

Jesus tasted death. But he is certainly not dead! So, those that have tasted the heavenly gift have some sort of momentary event, that's for sure! But saving grace? Saving faith? This is not what this passage refers to. Also, note that previous to this, on multiple occasions, the Hebrews in this book are also compared to the Israelites who, one could say, tasted Canaan. Tasting does not mean swallowing and digesting does it?

What about "falling away?" Clearly, these people have been given a revelation about salvation. Therefore, they have knowledge of the truth (enlightened), and have tasted the heavenly gift (had a momentary experience of the truth), but have not placed their complete trust and faith in Christ Jesus (fallen away). Scripture then claims that it is these that cannot be brought back. Scripture, here in Hebrews, basically states that these people are at the perfect point of repentance, and do not do so...they reject the truth claims of Jesus and therefore accept the truth claims of something else.

If this passage were referring to Christians, then once they "lost" their salvation, they could never regain it. There would never be any jumping in and out of salvation. However, in practicality, when you speak with people that believe in the willy-nilliness of salvation, they believe that you can get in and out and in and out. It is interesting that though they have this belief, they hold to it quite inconsistently! They claim the truth of Scripture in Hebrews 6:4-6 is that a saved creature can lose his/her salvation, but then turn right around and make the claim that one can get back in as well...clearly defying what Scripture states in the same verses!

Also. One of the hallmarks of proper exegesis is to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. The best way to interpret what a section of Scripture is saying is to compare it with the rest of Scripture.

John 10:27-29 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand."

Romans 8:335-59 "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

1 Peter 1:3-5 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

What do you believe? Are you a created thing? Romans 8:39 is pretty clear that "no created thing can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."

I've been thinking about floods...

...and I can remember the tsunami of 2004. Go see the video posted on youtube here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgvyC8lctcc or view it in the screen above. This is an amazing collection of videos of the catastrophic nature of flooding due to seismic activity. Now imagine the flood of Noah's time.

The Lord himself verified the Genesis account by quoting it as historically accurate. In Matthew 24 Jesus is speaking of the signs of the end of the age. He shows his disciples the buildings and says in verse 2, "Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down." Quite interesting. The stones will all be toppled.

Jesus then goes on to speak about false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars; all in response to the disciples asking him when all of this will take place, and how will they recognize His coming and the coming of the end of the age...

Jesus also then states that noone knows the day or hour. And he gives reference to the worldwide catastrophic flood that occurred in Noah's day. He says, "For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man."

Look again at the video of that horribly catastrophic tsunami of only a few years ago. It is amazing the devastation that took place! What were the numbers? Something like 250,000 dead? And something like 40,000 still missing...just vanished, or "wipe[d] ...from the face of the earth..." (Genesis 6:7). Now, how did this tsunami occur? There was an earthquake, right? But it was not the earthquake, in and of itself, that caused the tsunami. No, it was the rise in the ocean floor that took place. Granted, this earthquake was a 9.3 on the Richter scale, garnering it the 2nd place prize as far as strength of earthquakes go (only the 9.5 in Chile in 1960 was greater), but again, it was the rise in the seafloor that caused the tsunami. I may be wrong here, but didn't the seafloor rise by some feet? Feet? Now, imagine the type of flooding that must have occurred during the Great Flood?

Genesis 7:11-12 records, "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights."

The springs of the great deep burst forth...The first person to come up with the basic idea for plate tectonics was Antonio Snider. He postulated this from Biblical evidence as well as the geographical evidence he found. Later, a man named Alfred Wegener proposed a version. The scientific community laughed at both of them...

Well, it turns out that the Creationists were right after all! The secular scientists grabbed hold of Creationist theories and twisted them into what we have today...a theory with very little predictive power that excludes God's Word and adds millions of years to the account. Hmmmm...

Anyway, let's look at Genesis 7:19, "They [the flood waters] rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered." I find this quite interesting. This is from the NIV. Now, if all the continents were together like both Creationists and secular scientists agree, then why would there be mountains? Aren't mountains formed as a result of plate tectonics? And if the Great Flood was caused by catastrophic plate tectonics, do you think there would have been mountains before plate tectonics occurred? You know the answer of course, don't you. Obviously, the NIV has a not so good translation here. Other translations, I think, are more proper in that they state that all the "high hills" were covered with the flood waters...Aha! Now we are getting somewhere!

So...there was a WHOLE LOT of water located beneath the crust of the earth that was all released basically at once via massive seismic activity. This massive seismic activity, when occurring on a continual basis, can greatly weaken granite by a factor of a billionfold...therefore, the flood event provided the stressors to the granite to make it possible for rapid transport of the continents. The springs of the great deep opened and jets of super heated water came gushing out! Volcanoes spewed forths volumes of lava...this of course cooled raised the ocean levels a good bit. And we saw in the video what happens when ocean levels are raised only a little bit!

Please understand that earthquakes today actually move massive bodies of earth many multiple feet in less than an hour...so imagine constant earthquakes occurring worldwide...it's easily predictable that this event could easily have moved the continents to roughly their present positions.

By the way, do you remember a guy named Alfred Wallace? Of course not. He was the guy that came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection. Well, he was the guy that basically, simultaneously, came up with the theory...he deferred to Charles Darwin in regards to paper publication...so Darwin gets the fame (notoriety?). Anyway, Wallace did some calculations...He determined that if hypothetically we could raise the ocean basins and lower the mountains such that the earth (ground) was completely flat, that the ocean waters would cover the entirety of the earth by almost 2 miles!!! Wow! So is there enough water currently on the earth to completely cover the earth? You betcha! Combine this fact with the fact of Scripture saying that the "high hills" were covered by the flood waters, and with the fact that seismic activity, plate tectonics, would not have produced any high mountains yet, and one can easily surmise that there is definitely enough water to cover the earth in a global flood!

Well, what happened to all the water? Well, continents collide and mountains are formed, yes? All that you learned in Earth/Space Science is basically true...except for the time frames, of course (there are other issues, but we will not go there tonight!). Mountains are formed and what happens to the water? That's right, it drains off!

How many of you have seen what happens to the infield of a baseball field after a rainstorm? If you have good drainage, then you will notice that some pretty big gullies are formed that need to be filled in. When the flood waters were prevailing on the earth, they were sloshing about with tremendous force and bringing massive sediments from all over the world! These layers of underwater mud flows were deposited, one on top of another, rapidly, killing and preserving massive numbers of plants and animals. These still wet layers were in places bent by further plate tectonics. We see good evidence of this all over the place where entire sequences of strata are found bent perfectly without cracks or splits or fissures of any kind. If these layers were laid on top of one another over hundreds of millions of years, then they would have hardened and broken when the mountains pulled them upward...but this is clearly not the case.

There is oh so much more to this wonderful theory of how the geography of the earth was formed! God is so good! And his word is truth. And the rules of science when used properly can only give veracity to the Biblical account wherever it is applied! Psalm 19:1-3 declares, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard."

"...men are without excuse" (Romans 1:20)!!!

Middle School Football...

...is an interesting conglomeration of seemingly random events taking place with expert precision. Unfortunately, the ones on the field at the time don't think so!

So I've got a 6th grader playing on the middle school football team. Coach Bernard installed a wonderful defense whereby my son can excel at exactly one position on the field...awesome! So now he gets in the game! I had the awesome responsibility of rotating 8 players who don't normally get into the game at all into 2 brand new positions on defense. They played masterfully! In fact, once they got the idea, the opposing team had to run the ball up the middle to gain any yards and avoid our undersized, underexperienced, underachieving "speed ends" as I call them! It was good fun!

I liked the fact that all the players had wet shirts and wet heads by the end of the game tonight. Everybody played. There were only 26 players present today, so the 8 that I had on rotation represents something close to 30% of the entire roster! And we got them in at 2 positions. It was way cool!

Pepper played great. He ran hard and even got in on some tackles. Not bad for a scrubby little 6th grader! Ha ha!!!

Getting in the game is a good thing. I suggest that, as Christians, we actually get into the game once in a while. I don't know, maybe voicing an opinion about an issue using Scripture as your basis for truth...maybe helping out people in need though it may require some time and commitment on your part to do so...maybe preaching Christ and Him crucified for sins for example...maybe avoiding debauchery a little more often than not...just get into the game!

Getting in the game is the way these middle school kids will actually learn how to get better. They ran drills all week, but when the "newbies" got into the game, they made some mistakes. However, they learned quickly what their mistakes were and learned quickly how to avoid said mistakes in regards to future plays.

If we get into the game as a Christian, we are bound to make mistakes. That's the nature of the game. We can run plays in practice in our pews on Sundays, but until we actually try it out on the people in the world, we won't be able to really learn any lessons.

Rob Bell from the Nooma video series spoke about the name of God...the Tetragrammaton...as our Sunday school watched this past Sunday. It was awesome! Those 4 little letters, YHWH, are actually "breath sounds" in the Hebrew. Breathing always brings to mind "the Spirit" in Scripture. God breathed life into our nostrils. Breath preceeds speech and God spoke into existence the entire universe. With each breath we take and exhale, we are speaking the name of God! Four breath sounds...four exhalations...and we say God's name over and over and over. Maybe that's why we should be careful of what we speak about, huh? With each word spoken we must exhale...and when we exhale, we are basically using breath sounds...or speaking God's name. Pretty cool! I suggest you check out the Nooma videos if you can. Rob does a much better job than I do at explaining the whole thing!

Sometimes the silence...

…can be overwhelming.

As Fay sits in the near-shore Atlantic ocean churning, bubbling, and spinning, she spews forth wind and rain. In fact, there are folks just south of here that are using words and phrases like “unprecedented amounts of rain,” and “2 feet of rain,” and “as much rain in the last 24-36 hours as the last 6 months combined.” So much for being “just a tropical storm.”

I made the statement the other day to my wife that “if it spins counter-clockwise and has an eye, then it’s a hurricane…plain and simple.” Northern Hemisphere myopia, I know, but deal with it!!!

To the left is a picture of what Fay looks like. Call it what you want...it's a hurricane in my book! Beautiful, actually, isn't it? Here in Jacksonville we started to experience the effects of Fay on Monday. Temperatures were a little cooler, skies were a little overcast. Tuesday we had not overcast conditions, but cloud cover. I’m guessing you know the difference. Not only that, but the clouds took an interesting westerly route making for strange air currents and rain patterns.

It is now Thursday and we are in full “nor-easter” conditions. Rain coming out of the northeast as Fay spins centered around the Daytona area with the eye approaching St. Augustine. We’re getting some of that “sideways rain” Forrest Gump talked about. It’s been raining since Tuesday, but it hasn’t been so much the rain as the wind that has been strange. We’ve been experiencing 20-40 mph winds for 3 days now and it has become part of the background…you know, like the hum of your refrigerator or the sound of your air conditioner…background noise. It’s not “batten down the hatches” windy, but it’s been consistent nonetheless.

We have Pirates of the Caribbean in one room, Spongebob in another room, and either the weather or the Olympics in yet another room…all going on at the same time while I make attempts to research topics on prayer. Hmmmmm. Maybe I should just pray, huh? It is interesting how we get used to the noise. In fact, The Noise becomes our friend, our confidant, our tie to our carnal selves giving us ready made excuses for not hearing that still, quiet voice. We get used to our stuff: our homes, our jobs, our money, our beds, our children…all ready made excuses to not do as God wills (how easily do we exchange the truth of God for a lie and worship created things rather than the creator). Have we forgotten that God owns it all?

Something interesting happened today. I went to my bedroom where I could no longer hear the ear-piercing laughter of Spongebob, the greedy hand-wringing scheming of Mr. Krabs, the nasally whine of the ever depressing Squidword, and the audible lack of brain power from Patrick Star…and then I turned off the television and listened to the wind. I had silence around me except for the rushing of Fay’s outermost rings of fury accompanied by the sounds of raindrops hitting the windows, the trees, the street, the puddles. I actually drew up the shades of our bedroom window so I could watch Fay dump herself all over us. The rain was again minimal, but the wind drove what rain there was sideways with persistence.

And then it stopped.

For a full 30 seconds there was an interesting combination of non events that took place that sort of freaked me out. The wind stopped. There was no rain. Spongebob shut up for once. Andrew quit playing with the dog. The dog was no longer audibly breathing. The Pirates stopped Arrrggggguing. The air conditioning reached its maximal coolness and quit running. For this stretch of time no cars went up and down the roads outside my house. It was, as I said, an interesting, serendipitous combination of non events that had my head spinning. How quickly can all our stuff go away? As quickly as The Noise had gone, how much more quickly could The Noise of our lives be squelched?

Have you ever been to Carlsbad Caverns, or any other caverns for that matter, and had the tour guide turn off the lights for awhile? In an instant you literally cannot see your hand when you put it up to your face. And it does not take long before some spark of panic sets in. People to your right and left deal with it by chuckling a little as though laughing makes the light come in. Others chime in with words of amazement at how absolutely dark it is…again, as though by their words they are reaffirming their own actual existence since our major sensory organ has been rendered useless. Others do not feign their panic and they outright tell the tour guide to turn the lights on or else!!!

The lights come back on and everyone is at peace…sort of. I have never forgotten that feeling of utter darkness from oh so many years ago…that’s how much impact it has.

Apply that to the world of hearing now. You can still see. In fact, you can still hear…or at least you still have the ability to hear…but there just is nothing to hear! It really was a strange event! The Noise of life was snuffed out. I strained to hear…but I was straining to hear rain or wind or rustling leaves, or air conditioning or refrigerators, or my own children, or a car on the road…I was straining to hear The Noise instead of allowing this momentous cacophony of silence to stir me to strain to hear God in the whispers which He speaks to each of us.

Test failed?

I guess it depends on how you look at it. I’m writing this blog entry aren’t I? Test failed? Nah!

Lesson learned!!

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing..."

...these were the word of the Lord himself, Jesus Christ, just after being crucified and right before lots were cast for his clothes. Jesus himself showing his love for the lost.

Not only that, but fast forward just a short amount of time...

One of the criminals crucified with Jesus hurled insults at Jesus and then demanded "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But what does the other criminal say? He says, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Ah! This man is clearly lost! And since he is lost, he knows of a destination where he belongs, and he knows he cannot get there through his own strength...remember the meaning of lost from the last post? He clearly knows why the Lord had to die; to forgive him of his sins. He freely submits to the lordship, and savior aspect, of Jesus at this point. He seems to understand the "why" behind this death. Unlike Peter, of course...

Rewind...Judas, an entire detachment of soldiers, officials from the chief priests, and Pharisees, come to arrest Jesus. Jesus walks out to them and asks the question, "Who is it you want?" Hmmmm? Let me ponder that for a moment...Ah, but Jesus is smart, is he not? He gets dozens (or more) people to say the name of the son of God, doesn't he? The mob responds by saying, "Jesus of Nazareth." What does Jesus do then? Does he run? No, because this was the cup of the covenant with the Father; that he would be crucified for God's chosen people. What Jesus does is even more astounding.

Jesus, in responding to the mob there to arrest him, simply says, "I am he." Earlier Jesus also claimed that, "I am," and the people tried to kill him then. Jesus says the name of God (I am), and at the same time admits that he is the one they are looking for. And what happens? Yup, these dozens (or more) people get knocked down onto their posteriors!!! When the name of God is spoken by the son of God, there is massive power! Then, Jesus does what I think is one of the most brash things ever...right after knocking these people on their butts simply by stating, "I am," he asks them again, "Who is it you want?" Ha ha ha! He makes them say the name of the son of God again! I'll bet there was some trepidation this time, though! Was this a lesson in the sovereignty of God? You can bet your sweet petunias it was! Jesus, in just a couple of small sentences, gives the best lesson about who is in control of this situation, and who's plan it is for him to die...and it was God's plan, not some fallible man's plan for the death of the Christ, no!

Back to Peter...After Jesus makes the mob say the name of the son of God twice, and answers the mob twice with the name of God Himself, he then demands that the rest of the people present (the disciples) are free to go. What does Peter do with this freedom? Yep, he takes out a sword and cuts off the right ear of the high priest's servant (Malchus). Does Peter not understand what is going on here? Is Peter actually trying to prevent Jesus's arrest? Is Peter actually trying to prevent Jesus's death on the cross? Do we have any evidence for this? Of course we do.

Look to Luke 18:31-34. Clearly, Jesus predicts his own death and the disciples "did not know what he was talking about." The disciples did not know until Pentecost when the spirit came into them. Then also look to Mark 8:31-33. Jesus is predicting his own death and Peter takes the Lord aside to rebuke him, and what does Jesus say to Peter? "Get behind me, Satan! You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." Wow! Here you have God, in the personage of the son of God, calling you Satan! Do ya think Peter was feeling a little small and insignificant right about then? No, because he didn't have the prompting of the Holy Spirit until after Pentecost, did he? But Jesus kept Peter around, didn't he? Even though at this point Peter is called Satan by the Lord, Peter is kept around because he is lost. Lost because he has a destination in the body of believers. Not lost because he is doomed to Hell.

My guess? Peter, upon seeing Jesus completely and totally whack the dozens or so men that came to arrest him, took it upon himself to take advantage of their weakness and yet again try to keep Jesus from ever getting to the cross!!! Man!! I'm sure glad that God is in control and not Peter (or Pill for that matter).

The point? Well, readers, the point is that Jesus had an unwavering heart for the lost. Remember, God Himself chose people for Jesus, and it was Jesus' job to not lose one of them. And he did not...and he will not. Jesus, up on the cross dieing, gave himself completely to the salvation of the lost.

As believers we can be quite critical of non-believers...or at least I can. I forget that I once was one. Now, can we discern which non-believers are God's chosen and which are not? No, of course not. Therefore, we are to "gently instruct" "those who oppose" (non-believers) us "in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will" (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

We do not know to whom God will grant repentance. Hopefully God places in front of us the lost, because the lost belong to Him and will repent. But that will not always be the case. In some cases, we do "gently instruct" people, and they never repent. They are not the lost, though, are they? Sometimes we "gently instruct" people and they do not repent while we are still around. But we have sewn the seed, and another is needed to water that seed such that it can grow into full repentance.

We must face all the non-believers as though they could be God's chosen people for repentance.

Father God. You are the Creator of all that is. We see evidence of you in all the universe. The universe itself proclaims your glory and pours forth speech about your greatness, and there is no language on the face of this earth that understands not these things. Oh Lord, that we would stop exchanging the truth of you for a lie. That all would worship you, the Creator, rather than the created things. That all would come to their senses, as you state in your glorious Word, and come to a place of repentance of sins and acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Son and Savior and Lord of all!

Father, I pray that you find your lost sheep and bring them to the fold, for these lost sheep cannot find their own way. You are their Shepherd, and through the preaching of the Word, these sheep will hear and know the voice of their Shepherd and follow your lead to salvation. And there will be rejoicing in Heaven! Just as the woman who, after searching diligently until successful, calls friends to rejoice in the finding of the coin, you and the angels and saints will rejoice when the lost are found. And just as the lost son "came to his senses" (Luke 15:17) and went home, might your lost people come to their senses and quit exchanging the truth of God for a lie...and come home to you!

Praying for the lost...

...check out this story: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71097. It shouldn't amaze me, but it does. I'm amazed when God can take someone like this man and turn him toward Himself. Hamas! Wow! Talk about your transformation...God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good.

I've been tasked by the "Faithbuilders" Adult Bible Fellowship (a.k.a. sunday school) at church to teach a study on the topic of prayer. I have been going through this for 3 weeks and have barely made it through the pattern, the model of prayer that the Lord Himself gave to us, known as the Disciples Prayer...or the Lord's Prayer. This is one amazing outline for prayer and involves so many different things...but I digress.

In researching for teaching on this topic it seems that "praying for the lost" has crossed my path a multitude of times. I cannot escape it. It seems to follow me around like a lost puppy that I stupidly fed. Only this puppy grows exponentially, and follows even more closely. This once cute helpless puppy of a topic has grown. He has grown up to be a dog; a dominant dog. And I no longer walk along my path giving this pup some backward glances of pity...No! We are walking side by side now. We are peers. He has grown, and he speaks English (anyone know of Clifford?)! This pup now convicts me boldly about my inadequate prayer life, and I can no longer look upon this pup with pity, but I look upon this "Clifford" of a pup with fear and trembling. Why? Because this pup strikes to the core in my soul...the lost. The pup is eating me out of house and home and threatens to take the lead in front of me on my walk through the baseball field of life! Here I was, blissfully ignorant of God's plan to save certain people of the world, and I cruised along thanking God for my own salvation and thanking him for my family...then that beast of a pup would speak about other families that needed the saving grace of Christ, and I would cringe. Blissfully ignorant of God's plan? Or willfully ignorant of God's plan? Hmmmm? Methinks I always knew it would come to this. It's like that Indiana Jones movie where he's in the pit and the ground is moving! Yup, "Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?" Indy faces that fear fairly well. And I'm hoping I can face mine as well.

The leash has been attached, and I think this pup may start to pull me inextricably to something that I never imagined could happen to me...evangelism! Yikes! Isn't that supposed to be a "four-letter" word? Am I going to have to "witness?" I wear flip-flops and don't shave for pity sake! I coach baseball and football. I have no tact and can be abrasive. Evangelism? Witnessing? Praying for the lost? Yowsa!

Not only have I come across this topic (or "hapless" pup, if you will) on multiple occasions whilst researching for my Sunday school lessons, but it came to me via my Headmaster not long ago as well. I help out with the Student Leadership Institute at the school, and he sent me a list of topics and schedule for the upcoming year's seminars we would be giving the students. And of course the topic for the year is EVANGELISM!!! Guess what else I saw? That's right...Praying for the Lost was a topic to fill 2 weeks of time. I immediately emailed him and asked if I could do the presentations on those days. I have no idea what to say as of yet, but the way this "Clifford" pup is growing and now starting to walk ahead of me, I can only say that God will provide the information in a way (or ways) that I could never imagine whilst leaning on my own understanding. You know, Clifford is kinda cute...and he does fill up the view when he's in front of you...

And there it is...the pup has grown to full size, and he takes up the full view of my sight...and he leads me on...

Then there's always the spousal conversations between Allison and I. We have spoken on multiple occasions about this very topic. The lost. Lost. What does that mean to be lost? It means you have a place to which you belong, but you are not there. It not only means that you are not there, but it means you have no means of getting yourself there! Lost. A destination that is known, and longed for, but unattainable by your own means. If we could attain that destination via our own strength and intelligence, then we wouldn't really be lost then would we? We would simply be detained momentarily, or briefly off the trail, but could get ourselves to that place of belonging on our own. No, no, lost implies the utter hopelessness of achieving that location that is ours via ourselves. Hmmmm. So if that's the case, then how do we get un-lost?

Becoming un-lost requires someone finding us and bringing us to where we belong because we do not know the way. It involves putting our faith in someone else to lead us to the place to which we belong. We know it when we get there and are greeted warmly by friends and loved ones, but we know not the way. We cannot save ourselves either. Jesus, the Shepherd, searches us out and brings us into the fold. We are stupid sheep. Sheep that wander aimlessly for "home," but know not the way. Sheep that ask passing wolves for directions to our homes. Sheep that follow wolves giving "advice" and "leadership" to where the Shepherd is. Yes, only a sheep would ask a wolf where the Shepherd is. And we do the same things don't we? Or at least we did...when we were lost (at this point you can insert here_____________any of a number of "searching" examples you experienced while still lost).

The lost are quickly starting to play a special role in my life. The lost are those chosen by God, but who have not yet themselves called upon the name of God. Strange dichotomy, I know, and believe me I don't think I understand the half of it! But it is the lost that God pines for. Why? Because is it the lost that belong to Him (Yes, there are those that do not believe in Jesus Christ and at the same time are not lost ones...but that just might be a topic for another day).

And the lost must believe in Jesus Christ, that He is Creator God, and that He became human and made His dwelling place among us, and that He lived and taught amongst the people, and that He was sinless but had all of our sins imputed to Him, and that since He was now replete with sins was slain as the propitiation sacrifice resolving us of our sins, and that He died and was buried, and that God raised Him from the dead in power and sat him at the right hand of the Father God Almighty...And these lost ones must call on the name of God almighty for salvation!

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"(Romans 10:14-15).

Oh, that God might make my feet beautiful, that I might bring the good news, the Gospel, to the lost that He longs for so. And if not I, then grace the lips and tongues of others such that the lost can be found, and the lame be made well. Let it be soon that you gather all of your sheep to yourself. Annoint the lips and tongues and minds and hearts and souls of saints to bring the Word of Truth to all creatures so your ultimate will may be done, Father. Send out your saints you have called to preach to the world. Thank you for giving us faith. Thank you for pouring out your grace through that faith. Thank you for calling and sending out preachers to fulfill your will to gather up the lost that you love. Praise be to you who created all things, and through whom all things subsist. Glory, and honor, and power are yours. Amen!

Another day at the beach...

...so the boys and I got up "early"-ish this morning and went to the beach. Mickler's is our choice of beaches. I love the fact that my boys love the beach and love the ocean. It does a papa good to have them follow in the footsteps of their old man...

I grew up around, and in, the ocean. And I'm happy to be able to raise my boys around the ocean as well. And actually, they already, at this young age, have a much greater appreciation for the ocean than I did. They love the ocean, they love the critters found in the ocean, they love the plants around the ocean, they love the critters found around the ocean. These boys are Marine Biologists in the making! Pepper scuba dives with Allison and I when he can. In fact, he is quite good at finding awesome critters that I always overlook...like scorpionfish and cleaner shrimp and yellow headed jawfish. He's been on the lookout for octopus lately, but we might have to get him under the water for a night dive for that to happen.

Andrew is chomping at the bit to get scuba certified...he must wait a few more years for that to happen! But you know what the interesting thing is? He struggles to swim unless he's under water. Weird, huh? Put a mask and snorkel on that kid, and he's like a completely different person! Today, he was duck diving under waves, clearing his snorkel, and never blinking once!

We cruised around the beach looking at shells, periwinkles, sand fleas, crabs, dragonflies, beetles, etc...they love the wildlife.

There's something about getting around the ocean before other people get there. It's almost surreal. The vastness of the ocean, the depth, the intrigue. It is amazing that there is so much about our own planet that we don't even know. So much about the ocean we don't know...and it covers over 70% of the earth!

I guess that's what really attracted me to scuba. Getting under the ocean and down with the fishys and critters to see how they behave. It's not about being macho, it's not about spearfishing or lobstering, it's simply about being a part of God's majestic creation and glorifying Him while under the sea with some of the most fascinating creatures ever imagined. On a dive last week Allison and I watched as one by one a school of French grunts would open their mouths as wide as they could to try to entice a blue-headed wrasse to swim in and clean their innards. The wrasse would have nothing of it...I'm guessing he had already has his fill of parasites for the day! But it was just amazing to see...a school of larger fish basically begging a smaller fish (one they could have easily eaten) to provide a service for them.

Elsewhere, a grouper blanched and tilted verticle to entice the cleaner shrimp to climb aboard and start cleaning. The grouper could have gulped this little critter down without so much as thinking about it, but of course it did not.

Just barely moving along the reef watching the life interact. Amazing.

It is this natural curiosity that my children have for God's creation that I even allow them to entertain the thought of scuba at young ages. Pepper became certified at 10 years old and only dives with 2 other adults as his dive buddies. I think that makes sense. As he matures and as his skill mature, we will start to work on different skills.

Anyway, we had another wonderful day at the beach today. It's time for lunch and then off to football practice for Pepper.

We are celebrating my birthday, my mother's birthday, and Paul's new mortgage tonight at Harry's so it should be fun time of family fellowship.

If you want some photos from today's excursion to the beach go to http://picasaweb.google.com/coachpilliod/MicklerSLanding1August to view them.

Marine Science

For a bunch of years now I have been wanting to teach a Marine Science class during the summer. In accepting the position at Mandarin Christian School to help open the high school I figured I would start pushing for this. For 2 years I worked at getting this class put together. We (the school adminiatration and myself) finally suceeded this year! I had 8 students take a Marine Science course during 4 weeks during the summer for first time credit. Awesome!

Not only did the students come out of this summer class with a full 1.0 credit in Marine Science (basically this portion was Oceanography and Marine Biology), but they also came out of the summer as SSI (Scuba Schools International) open water certified scuba divers! Awesome. Working through a brand new SSI shop in Jacksonville, Aquifer Divers, my wife, Allison, taught the classroom and pool sessions and helped to conduct the checkout dives as well.

We also had the opportunity to have Ned and Anna Deloach, authors and photographers/videographers, come to speak to the class about fish species and critter species for over 3 1/2 hours! That was incredible. Ned Deloach is the co-author of the popular Reef Fish series of books used to identify fishes and other animals and such.

We capped the summer off by going to the MarineLab in Key Largo. MarineLab is the educational facility attached to the Marine Resources Development Foundation. This was an awesome trip. We did scuba dives as well as snorkel trips, and classroom lecture/discussions and lab activities. This was a tremendous 5 days and I tip my hat to Mark Galloway and the gang for the wonderful job they did in educating us during that time!

Upon arrival at the MarineLab we had to do a swim check and scuba skills check. We donned the gear and descended about 23 feet to the bottom of Emerald Lagoon where Jules Undersea Lodge is located. Here we did some scuba skills checks and some exploring for a few minutes. That was our first dive. The temperature in the lagoon was a balmy 88 degrees and the visibility was probably only around 5-6 feet, but at least we were wet!

After dinner we had a discussion on the types of habitats around the Keys and did a water quality lab. By that time it was around 10:00 and we had some quiet time and turned in for the night.

The next morning was an early breakfast followed by a discussion of seagrass ecology and a field trip to the seagrasses for snorkeling. This was a great snorkel session. We saw all kinds of juvenile fishes and upside jellyfish. Just being on the boat for the ride out was good enough for me...I could live with seaspray on my face! Afterward we had lunch and then logged a 3 1/2 hour dive at 22 feet. How did that happen? We scuba-ed down to Jules Undersea Lodge and hung out in the underwater "hotel" for a time...we learned about the history of underwater habitats and how this kind of research evolved over time. By the way, on the way down, we were greeted by a 7 inch red seahorse hanging out on the line! Awesome! We then exited through the bottom of the lodge back into the lagoon and scuba-ed over to the underwater lab. Here we were introduced to all kinds of critters commonly found in the lagoon. We also got to remotely operate a small ROV up and down a pipe to see how our driving skills were...obviously I don't play enough video games as I bumped all over the place! Afterward, we exited the lab and surfaced in time for a shower and dinner. Never before had I logged a dive to only 23 feet and came out an "I" diver!!!

After dinner we had a very good discussion on coral reef ecology and followed that up with the "rock shake" lab. Here we took rocks from Largo Sound that had lovely algae growing on it and shook them out in some water. We then picked through the muck looking for cool invertebrates. From decorator crabs to bristleworms to sea spiders...we found a bunch of critters! Again, it was near 10 pm so we had some quiet time and then went to sleep...much more tired than the previous day.

The next morning was a rush. We had a 7:30 breakfast followed by an 8am departure for our first boat dives. We loaded our gear and headed off to the coral reefs in the ocean. Our first stop was at the City of Washington wreck...a favorite of Allison and mine. As soon as you enter the water after your giant stride off the deck of the boat you are greeted by a massive amount of diversity! From grunts to snappers to barracudas to groupers to damsels to angelfish...all were representing their genera and species seemingly for the sole purpose of showing off to newly certified divers! As always, the City of Washington was not a dissapointment! Massive wildlife diversity at every turn. Impressive as usual! And oh by the way, the Atlantic was a lake that morning! One last thing...Allison and I stayed submerged while the divemaster and the students were at the surface getting back on the boat. During that time she and I actually saw a reef shark swim leisurely by! What an awesome sight.

Our next stop, after a short surface interval, was to The Highway at Elbow reef. Again, after about 45 minutes at 28 feet down looking at the reef and the reef fishes. Trunk fish, filefish, angelfish, grouper, snook, etc, etc, etc... Yet another great dive! After the lovely ride back to MarineLab we showered and had lunch.

After lunch we took a trip to the mangroves for a snorkel. I was hesitant at first, but upon entering the waters I knew I was in for a treat. Chris was tremendous. We had educational opportunities all along the trip to the mangroves and during the snorkel as well. He jumped in an found a bunch of critters for us to identify and we had a wonderfully leisurely swim looking at all the diversity located within these awesome trees! If you ever get the chance to snorkel the mangroves, do NOT turn that down! Then it was back on the boat to get back for dinner.

After dinner we had a fish identification discussion. Quite helpful since we just came off a dive while the kids were looking around at the hundreds of fish species without knowing how to tell one from the other! We then did an activity about sea turtles and went to bed even more tired than before!

The following morning was yet another early breakfast followed by an 8am boat ride to the reef for scuba. We moored off a French Reef and swam around in wonderfully increased visibility for about 50 minutes in 36 feet of glorious tropical water! French Reef never disappoints. After a short surface interval it was to the wreck of the Benwood. Another favorite. Spotted drums, lizard fish, trunk fish, green moray, angelfish, parrotfish, and on, and on, and on. The only bad part of this dive was the weird thermocline near the bow of the wreck...hot water on one side and colder water on the other coming together at the bow made for some interesting looking water. Again, close to an hour of bottom time and up we came to get back on the boat and back for lunch!

After lunch was the trip to Rodrigues Key for the ecology there. Snorkeling was the name of the game here.

Dinner and then night time boat trip to the ocean for some astronomy discussions under the stars and a plankton tow to collect the microscopic critters. We brought them back to the lab to view and identify them. It was a very awesome night as the students learned how to find certain consellations and the North Star. Maybe they can find their way home from the open ocean now?

The next morning was a trip to the hard bottom. Here we had patch coral and rocks. The total amount and the amount of diversity of fishes in these areas was absolutely amazing! I never would have thought that this would be the case. Free diving to check under coral heads for morays and swimming with the fishes was an awesome way to finish our stay at MarineLab.

I will definitely do this trip again, and I highly recommend that if you get a chance to go to MarineLab for some education, please do it! This is one place that is worth every penny spent.

For some photos, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/coachpilliod/MarineScience2008 and view the pictures from the trip...

Thank God for evolution...?

...having been on several blogs in the past few weeks speaking with evolutionists, many of them attempt to proclaim that billions of years of evolution and the Bible are perfectly compatible. Many of these "theistic evolutionists" then ask me to view the following website called "Thank God for Evolution" http://thankgodforevolution.com/. There's the link! Michael Dowd is, in fact, traveling around the nation and speaking to churches about the complete compatibility of evolution and the Bible. His latest trip was to San Diego where he spoke at several Unitarian Universalist congregations.

The interesting thing is that they attack what they call "my" theology. Theistic evolutionists, I'm learning quickly, see God as a moral relativist! Wow! Could you imagine anything more non-Biblical than that? Right away I can't see how they believe in the Bible. What I found out is even more interesting. Many theistic evolutionists take the Biblical accounts as simply allegorical stories to tell a nice tale about something supposedly moral. Interesting, since by listening to them we are supposed to believe that there is perfect compatibility between the interpretations of scientific data leading to a billions of years evolutionary history of death and destruction as the creative force for the biological diversity we see today, and the "very good" creation after day six where there was no death and everything with the "nephesh" ate plants for food! Hmmmmm.

I was even attacked for my belief in the global flood. Apparently, according to the theistic evolutionists, God indiscrimminately killed both the wicked humans and the innocent humans. Again I find it interesting that we are supposed to believe that theistic evolution allows for the compatibility of neo-Darwinism and the Bible when clearly the Bible states that there are no good people and that all have sinned and that all are born with a sin nature! Along these same lines of argument, I was attacked for my mean-spirited view of animals. Apparently the flood lead to the needless death and suffering of countless animals. This theistic evolutionist, believing that all living things from humans to plants and bacteria all evolved from the same single-celled prokaryote, then basically equated humans with animals. Again, how are we supposed to believe the supposition that theistic evolution brings together the billions of years of evolution with the Biblical account? Clearly humans were the only created beings that were made in God's image! None of the other animals or plants were made in God's image. In fact, even some of the animals didn't have the nephesh (remember, nephesh is the Hebrew word for "living creature").

Please be vary wary of theistic evolution as it undermines the Bible. The Bible is supposed to be our basis for belief. We must work hard to develop our Biblical worldview so that any issue that comes our way we can stop and think about how we should think and react based upon Biblical principles.

The "Emerging Church" system is embracing a lot of different things, not the least of which is secular humanism. And secular humanism, as a religion, has placed the theory of evolution in the forefront of their manifesto! Please be wary of this!

Does this mean that a theistic evolutionist is not a Christian? Not necessarily! The age of the earth and the manner of creation are secondary issues to belief in Jesus Christ as the son of God that died on the cross as propitiation for our sins. The latter, not the former, is required to be a believer! Jesus said that he was the way, the truth, and the life, and that none could get to the father except through him! It is the name of Jesus that matters...there is no other name by which we can be saved!

One of my biggest regrets, and one of my greatest strengths...

…I used to be an evolutionist. I taught it. I believed it. I fought for it. I demeaned others that thought ill of it. I was the “Saul to become Paul” zealot of evolution if there ever was one. But I also considered myself a Christian.

I believed there was a God. I believed Jesus Christ was His son. I believed that God created the world and everything in it. And I ascribed to any and every theory that I could either find or invent myself that would somehow integrate billions of years and evolution with the Biblical account. But it was just bad theology. Was I a saved creature? I believe so. But I was definitely living on the milk of Christianity and not ready for the solid food!

Proper theology is actually what got me started researching the debate between Creation and evolution. And it was proper theology that convinced me that the evidence we see in nature points to creation and the Biblical account.

What I found out was that I had it backwards! I was trying desperately to mold and shape and change the Bible such that it fit with what I believed about evolution. I learned that was completely backwards! I studied about the sovereignty of God. I studied about the infallibility of God’s Word. I studied the historicity of the Bible. Over time, I completely changed my outlook. I started looking at science and seeing where it fit the Bible, as opposed to looking at the Bible and seeing how I could make it fit science.

The Bible is not a science textbook. This is one of the favorite arguments from the evolutionist crowd against Creationism. I agree that the Bible is not a science textbook. However, the Bible does touch on science issues. And where the Bible touches on science issues, we must see what the Bible has to say about it! What I found out over time was basically this…Everybody has the same evidence! Creationists and evolutionists don’t have different sets of fossils to look at. They don’t have different sets of bacteria to look at. All the evidence is the same. The same Grand Canyon, the same animals, the same genetics, the same rocks, the same fossils, the same magnetism, the same stars, the same moon, the same gases in the atmosphere, the same coral reefs, and on and on and on and…

So I began to ask…If all the evidence is the same, then how are there such drastically different explanations of the evidence? Well that question basically answers itself now doesn’t it? People must interpret the evidence.

All the evidence is the same so people must be interpreting the observed evidence in different ways. And if that is the case, then there is bias involved. I came to learn what that bias was…it is the worldview of the individual!

Many people do not have proper Christian theology. And since they do not have proper Christian theology they will interpret the phenomena in nature from a different perspective than someone with proper theology. The bottom line is that the science on both sides of the debate is fairly sound (the Creation vs. evolution debate). But the debate really isn’t about science. It’s about philosophy. And there really is no winning that debate! Only God can change someone’s philosophy/worldview from a secular one to a Godly one.

Proper science philosophy, which is what “The Debate” is really about, can only come about because of proper theology. Yes, there are plenty of people who ascribe to some sort of “Intelligent Design” or “Creationism” strictly based upon the evidence given by nature itself. However, if we believe in the one true God, and we believe that He is infallible, and that He created the universe, the Earth, and all the living things after their kinds, then our science, proper science, will flow from our proper theology.

I loved science from the time I was a kid. But I had absolutely NO ONE that could explain to me the evidence of that science from a Biblical point of view. I turned to Carl Sagan. He was awesome! As a family we used to watch him during prime time hours! He would speak of the Big Bang beginnings of the universe in a completely naturalistic manner and I had NO ONE that could explain the beginning of the universe, scientifically, to me from a Biblical point of view.

I watched David Attenborough as often as possible. He would talk about how different organisms evolved into other different organisms in a completely naturalistic manner…and again, I had NO ONE who could explain what he was saying from a Biblical point of view. My science, from a very young age, was skewed by evolution, uniformitarianism, and naturalism. And I used to get paralyzed with fear when dwelling about what happens after death because of the indoctrination of naturalism…that there is nothing but nature.

In the midst of the post-modern era we live in today where there is no absolute truth, and in the midst of the educational era we live in today where evolution and naturalism has taken over all educational philosophy, it is quite hard to be a parent, a teacher, a student, a child. I’m convinced that parents, teachers, and pastors/preachers need to be more fully educated in Creation science in order to counter the naturalism/evolutionism that is being spread. Where is the preacher that can explain the science behind radiometric dating methods? Where is the history teacher that can show that there is at least as much evidence to support the validity of the Gospels as there is evidence to support the validity of other ancient historical events? And where is the parent that can Biblically explain to their 1st and 5th grade boys that humans are NOT animals…that humans are NOT related to chimps…that humans are, in fact, created by the only God that there is, and created in His image! That humans are the pinnacle of Creation! Where is that parent that can Biblically, scientifically, and historically present the Biblical account to his 2 sons such that he has done his job to “train up a child in the way he should go?” I pray fervently that parent is me!