Lead Me to The Cross

Merry Christmas!

“For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The gov­ern­ment will rest on his shoul­ders.
And he will be called:
Won­der­ful Coun­selor, Mighty God,
Ever­last­ing Father, Prince of Peace.”

- Isaiah 9:6

English Bible History

I just read through this "brief" history of the English Bible! It begins with John Wycliffe in the 1300s and makes its way to our present day Bible. Very very very fascinating. It took me a little while to read (maybe 30 minutes?) But it was well worth the read.

"William Tyndale fought and died for the right to print the Bible in the common, spoken, modern English tongue of his day… as he boldly told one official who criticized his efforts, “If God spare my life, I will see to it that the boy who drives the plowshare knows more of the scripture than you, Sir!”"

English Bible History Timeline

The Truth Project

Top Headlines of 2008

HINDUS ENGAGE IN 'RELIGIOUS' CLEANSING OF CHRISTIANS IN ORISSA, INDIA

Christians have often been persecuted as convenient scapegoats since the time that Nero blamed Christians for the fire in Rome. In Orissa, India, that pattern played out again as Hindu mobs went on a highly organized rampage against Christians after blaming them for the murder of a Hindu leader. However, all evidence points responsibility at the Communists, not the Christians. But that has not stopped what has sadly become 2008's worst case of Christian persecution. Over 50 Christians have been killed, some of them burnt to death or buried alive, while 50,000 more Christians have fled their homes. Hindus have ransacked more than 300 villages where Christians lived, targeting pastors for assassination and torching all houses belonging to Christians in the village. The Indian government has been largely passive in response, giving tacit approval to the Hindu violence, which began on August 24th and has lasted up to the time of printing with no end in sight.

IN SOMALIA, IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN, YOU DIE

On September 14, 2008, Islamic extremists killed Ahmadey Osman Nur, 22. The convert from Islam to Christianity is the sixth to be killed in the past twelve months for coming to Christ. The other five are: Said Ali Sheik Luqman Hussein, David Abdulwahab Mohamed Ali, Da'ud Ali, Mohamed Yusuf and Hassan Mo'alim. Islamic extremists who control much of Somalia are determined to create Islamic State in Somalia.

ERADICATION OF IRAQI CHRISTIANS UNDERWAY

In October 2008, 15,000 Christians were forced to flee from the city of Mosul following the killing of more than 15 Christians. Iraqi Christians are targeted by Islamic extremists who demand them to either convert to Islam, die, or leave the country. So far, approximately half a million Iraqi Christians have left their homes and dozens have been killed.

OLYMPICS SHINE SPOTLIGHT ON CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN CHINA

Protests and demonstrations hotly pursued the Olympic torch all the way to Beijing for this year's games. China promised to show the world that it had progressed, that it had expanded its walls to allow freedom room. Unfortunately, its outward attempts ran side by side with a dramatically different reality. In the months leading up to the Olympics, Christian persecution increased as China struggled to squelch any voices that might raise their heads while the world was watching. House churches were raided and harassed, and activists and dissidents were kidnapped and detained throughout the duration of the games.

--- International Christian Concern

Pray for Zimbabwe

Currently there is a Cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe which has caused the death of 746 people and over 15,500 have been infected with the water borne disease, and from the looks of it - things will not be getting better for a while because their government is a mess.

To read more, click here.

The Birth of Jesus: Revelation 12: 1-6

The Woman and the Dragon

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12: 1-6 is not the first thing that comes to mind when you imagine the birth of Christ. We're more likely to picture the Nativity scene we see everywhere when Christmas comes around. When we look at the bigger picture of the significance of what happened on that day of his birth, the picture becomes more like what we read in this passage.

I am new to Revelation. My whole life I've only read small parts of it at a time and I've never completely understood it because I have never read through the whole book. I knew that one day I would have to spend a long time studying this book because there is so much prophesy and symbolism and in order to really understand it one must have thorough knowledge of the Old Testament. Last Sunday our pastor used this scripture and it has served as a huge reminder to me that the Bible is a living book - there is no other book like it, men could not have written this alone. I'm always so amazed when I read the prophesies and see them being fulfilled in a completely different text! The continuity and complexity of the Bible is mind boggling. There is SO MUCH to learn! I thank the Lord that I am so privileged to have access to this Bible whenever I wish to read it. The Bible is illegal in 51 countries right now. Many Christians out there are being killed for owning this book. I am so thankful for this incredible blessing.

I think for the next couple months I will focus on reading Revelation in my personal study time (it is the last book in the Bible) in addition to my Isaiah Bible Study with church. Revelation is the most controversial book in the Bible because it involves a lot of careful interpretation due to its amount of symbolism. I look forward to learning as much as I can about it within the next couple months.

Prayer

"It is God that writes intercession upon men's hearts. All true prayer comes from Him, but especially that least selfish and most Christ-like form of prayer called intercession -- when the suppliant forgets all about himself and his own needs -- and all his pleading, his tears and his arguments are on behalf of others." - Charles Spurgeon

Questions for Evolutionists

Questions for Evolutionists
by Dr. Kent Hovind

The test of any theory is whether or not it provides answers to basic questions. Some well-meaning but misguided people think evolution is a reasonable theory to explain man’s questions about the universe. Evolution is not a good theory—it is just a pagan religion masquerading as science.

1. Where did the space for the universe come from?

2. Where did matter come from?

3. Where did the laws of the universe come from (gravity, inertia, etc.)?

4. How did matter get so perfectly organized?

5. Where did the energy come from to do all the organizing?

6. When, where, why, and how did life come from dead matter?

7. When, where, why, and how did life learn to reproduce itself?

8. With what did the first cell capable of sexual reproduction reproduce?

9. Why would any plant or animal want to reproduce more of its kind since this would only make more mouths to feed and decrease the chances of survival? (Does the individual have a drive to survive, or the species? How do you explain this?)

10. How can mutations (recombining of the genetic code) create any new, improved varieties? (Recombining English letters will never produce Chinese books.)

11. Is it possible that similarities in design between different animals prove a common Creator instead of a common ancestor?

12. Natural selection only works with the genetic information available and tends only to keep a species stable. How would you explain the increasing complexity in the genetic code that must have occurred if evolution were true?

13. When, where, why, and how did: a) Single-celled plants become multicelled? (Where are the two- and three celled intermediates?) b) Single-celled animals evolve? c) Fish change to amphibians? d) Amphibians change to reptiles? e) Reptiles change to birds? (The lungs, bones, eyes, reproductive organs, heart, method of locomotion, body covering, etc., are all very different!) How did the intermediate forms live?

14. When, where, why, how, and from what did: a) Whales evolve? b) Sea horses evolve? c) Bats evolve? d) Eyes evolve? e) Ears evolve? f) Hair, skin, feathers, scales, nails, claws, etc., evolve?

15. Which evolved first (how, and how long, did it work without the others)? a) The digestive system, the food to be digested, the appetite, the ability to find and eat the food, the digestive juices, or the body’s resistance to its own digestive juice (stomach, intestines, etc.)? b) The drive to reproduce or the ability to reproduce? c) The lungs, the mucus lining to protect them, the throat, or the perfect mixture of gases to be breathed into the lungs? d) DNA or RNA to carry the DNA message to cell parts? e) The termite or the flagella in its intestines that actually digest the cellulose? f) The plants or the insects that live on and pollinate the plants? g) The bones, ligaments, tendons, blood supply, or muscles to move the bones? h) The nervous system, repair system, or hormone system? i) The immune system or the need for it?