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Confronting the Enemies of God

Hunt, Dave
September 30, 2008

In the time leading to the November elections and for months thereafter we will be subjected to a barrage of promises from politicians--promises, many of which will almost certainly not be kept. At the same time, atheists, who deny there is any purpose or meaning to life (but then what is the point of elections, an education, or any other endeavor?) are riding the crest of a new wave of open rebellion against God that seems to be gathering popular momentum.


Democrats in particular are promising change. Everything is going to get better under their leadership. This has ever been the promise of new administrations, even of dictatorships. Sometimes it seems to look good for a while until the usual human imperfections take over.


Such was the case with the French Revolution. It began with excitement and high hopes for a new beginning for a financially and morally bankrupt France. It was to have ushered in a golden age of economic, political, and social reform with liberty for all. That noble goal disintegrated into a Reign of Terror scarcely equaled in modern history.


Nearly all of the political dreamers, who in their idealism had helped to foment the Revolution and had sought to purify it as they saw it veering off course and spinning out of control, perished as its tragic victims at the hands of fellow revolutionaries. Not the least of these victims was Madame Roland, a member with her husband of the more moderate Girondist faction of the revolutionary movement. The two had presided in their Paris home over a salon of socially prominent intellectuals.


As the Revolution gained momentum and became more radical, the Girondists fell out of favor. In the frenzy of idealistic fervor, Madame Roland was arrested (her husband succeeded in escaping). While confined in a prison for several months, she was offered many secret plans for her escape but refused them all. Her fate was sealed when the Girondist leaders, after a seven-day trial, were found guilty of counterrevolutionary activities and were executed on October 31, 1793.


Madame Roland's trial before the Revolutionary Tribunal followed on November 8. Pronounced guilty of "conspiracy against the unity and indivisibility of the Republic, and the liberty and safety of the French people," and allowed no word in her own defense, her execution was set for that very afternoon.


Carried by cart to the foot of the guillotine in the Place de la Revolution, she mounted, with head held high, the stairs to the platform. Before placing her head on the block, Madame Roland bowed to the sculptor David's famous statue of Liberty nearby. "Oh, Liberty!" she exclaimed. "What crimes are committed in thy name!" These were her last words to a France gone mad.


Hearing of her death, her fugitive husband set out for Paris on foot to make one last appeal for the Revolution's leaders to live up to its popular slogan, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." At last, too weak to continue the journey, Jean Roland took his own life in a lonely field.


The Enlightenment of the Eighteenth Century had prepared the way for the French Revolution and largely shaped its policies and ideals. Maximilien Robespierre came to power shortly after the Revolution began. He led in curbing the power of the Roman Catholic Church, reducing its property holdings and wealth, imposing limitations on the clergy, and turning France into a largely atheistic country. The Revolution brought atheism out of the salons of the wealthy and into the streets of Paris. As with the Communist Revolution later, the denial of God became a major driving force. French society remains largely atheistic to this day, though the vast majority still call themselves Catholics.


The fact that many of the popes were among the most evil monsters in history has never seemed to faze more than a small minority of Roman Catholics. My files are filled with accounts of pedophilia and other evils practiced by Rome's clergy long before these crimes finally gained public attention. Nor have Roman Catholic leaders been alone in their hypocritical denial with their lives of what they professed with their lips. Protestant leaders have been guilty as well, from Jim and Tammy Bakker (who once reigned over a vast "Christian" domain from their PTL television studios) to Ted Haggard (discredited pastor of a 12,000-member church in Colorado Springs and head of the 30,000-member National Association of Evangelicals)--and many more like them.


Such reprobates have given Christ and Christianity a bad name, but unfairly so. They should not be looked upon as representing Him because, like the Crusaders, their deeds violated the teachings of Christ and mocked the perfect, sinless example He demonstrated with His life. Nor are recent examples of trusted religious leaders professing one thing and living another anything new. Christ rebuked the Jews of His own day by quoting one of their prophets:

 

Ye hypocrites, well did [Isaiah] prophesy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.... In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:7-9; Isaiah 29:13)


Atheists repeatedly insist that no one needs God to act morally. We do not deny that an atheist can act in a moral manner. It is asserted that moral actions are the result of natural selection--that they arose because of their survival benefit and have nothing to do with actual right and wrong or with a nonexistent "god." But moral acts, if they are the product of evolution, have no moral basis. The atheist, though he claims to be as moral in his actions as a Christian, is acting out of selfishness or for momentary expediency, not for morality's sake. This is a far cry from the selfless love the Bible ascribes to God and requires from those who claim to be His followers. Nobel laureate Sir John Eccles said:

 

The facts of human morality and ethics are clearly at variance with a theory that explains all behavior in terms of self-preservation and the preservation of the species.1


Atheists are so confused about morals that they are backing human rights for apes. And why shouldn't they? Richard Dawkins, in his crusade against God, could not say it more clearly:

 

There is no objective basis on which to elevate one species above another. Chimp and human, lizard and fungus, we have all evolved over some three billion years by a process known as natural selection.2


Does a chimp, lizard, or fungus know anything of morals? Isn't that deficiency a sufficient basis for elevating humans above a fungus? This is an incredible statement to be made by any rational person, but Dawkins is dead serious! As a leading atheist and evolutionist, how could he be consistent and say anything else? How is it possible that the scientific world, as well as the public at large, actually believe this nonsense and honor this man as a scientist and scholar? How has this insanity become science? Give atheism full credit!


According to Dawkins, the history of mankind is nothing more than the history of a colony of chimpanzees--or garden slugs, for that matter! What of art, music, science, libraries, universities, museums? All are meaningless in evolution!


Nor can we blame Hitler or the underlings who ran the extermination camps for simply doing what was programmed into their genes by natural selection. If our sense of what is right and wrong, ethical and moral, is in our genes, how can evil be blamed on anyone? Or how can anyone be commended for doing good? If one's sense of right and wrong is the result of chemical reactions in the brain, why should we honor such standards?


Jonas Salk believed this pitiful nonsense and earnestly expressed its hopelessness: "We do not have to survive as a species. What is important is that we keep evolving."3 How can our evolution be important if it doesn't matter whether or not we survive as a species? The Declaration of Independence attributes the right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" not to nature but to nature's God.


Equality is nowhere found in nature. It could never be the outcome of evolution through natural selection. Moreover, consciousness has neither physical qualities nor location anywhere in the physical world, so how could it evolve?


Stephen Jay Gould, Harvard professor of biology, wrote:

 

Souls represent a subject outside the magisterium of science. My world cannot prove or disprove such a notion, and the concept of souls cannot threaten or impact my domain.


He couldn't be more wrong! The soul that he admitted might exist is nonphysical, and its existence does not end with the death of the body. No part of the physical body thinks. The brain certainly does not initiate our thoughts. No one wonders what one's brain might think of next.


The soul and spirit are the real person--the one who makes the choices, is conscious, and is accountable to God for every thought, word, and deed. The soul and spirit, being nonmaterial, are not subject to the laws of physics and chemistry and will therefore continue forever, either in joyful union with the Creator or in the horror of eternal separation and remorse.


Gould went on to say:

 

I surely honor the metaphorical value of such a concept [soul] both for grounding moral discussion and for expressing what we most value about human potentiality: our decency, care, and all the ethical and intellectual struggles that the evolution of consciousness imposed upon us.4


But wait--consciousness is not physical, so how could it evolve?


Sadly, the only thing that evolutionists can acknowledge when it comes to morality is that it is some kind of metaphorical representation--but of what? How do "metaphorical representations" evolve? A metaphor is supposed to be a clearer way of conveying an idea, but what idea? Evolutionists cannot admit that morals have any reality or meaning in themselves. Of course this must be their thinking, because atheists are materialists. Those who accept such doubletalk have lost the very "soul" to which Gould referred. Nor could Gould have explained what he meant by "soul." It certainly has no physical substance. When the evolutionist enters the realm of morality, he has nothing meaningful to say. He acknowledges the existence of nothing but matter. Clearly, this view leaves out most of what is dear to the human heart. What is the physical description of truth, or of ideals, or of hope, or of meaning? If everything began with a Big Bang and has simply proceeded randomly from that point, from whence would it derive meaning? Evolution cannot supply meaning to anything that it supposedly produces.


Although it may seem that the enemies of the Lord are impervious to our best arguments, we can be certain that they cannot forever escape their God-given consciences. Though it may not get their attention until they die, at that moment the truth they have ridiculed for so long will come crashing in upon them in convicting power. Then will begin the eternal horror that Jesus repeatedly warned about: "There will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 8:12; Matthew 13:42; Matthew 13:50; Matthew 22:13; Matthew 24:51, etc.).


Solomon declared, "The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly" (Proverbs 20:27). This is the conscience that no one can escape in the end, though it may be stifled for a time by the deceitfulness of one's heart. David expressed what must be the desire of every person who loves the truth, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting" (Psalm 139:23-24).


God's Word promises, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7). Twice David warned, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God" (Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1). Today's new atheists, while winning millions, make it very clear that they hate God. What should the reaction of God's people be?


The Psalmist declared that if Israel had only hearkened to God and walked in His ways, He would have "subdued their enemies, turned [His] hand against their adversaries," and blessed them abundantly. (Psalm 81:11-16). David wrote, "Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies" (Psalm 139:21-22). Perfect hatred?


Paul explains that evil exists in the world because God has revealed Himself to all mankind and they not only have refused to honor Him, but they have turned against the Creator that every thinking person knows exists (Romans 1:18-23)--and actually hate Him. Here is Paul's inspired description of today's world of Christ rejecters:

 

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind...being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God,

despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. [Emphasis added] (Romans 1:28-32)


The key phrase, "haters of God," is prophetic of our day. It is particularly manifest in the new wave of aggressive atheism led by the "four horsemen" of the "New Atheists" (Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris). These four are leading a new and growing movement that declares that belief in God is not only beyond credulity but wicked and must be stamped out for the good of mankind.


Our day is witnessing a new phenomenon unheard of in the past: books by atheists are selling by the millions. This includes not only those by authors openly declaring themselves to be God haters but by many who hide their atheism in intriguing fiction such as The Golden Compass, or the Harry Potter series (although J. K. Rowling professes to be a Christian), and even stories supposedly based on fact but that are full of clever lies, such as The Da Vinci Code, The Secret, etc.


What are Christians to do? Isaiah speaks of these days and what the Holy Spirit will do, in which scenario we must surely play an important part. If ever there was a day when "the enemy has come in like a flood" it is now. Isaiah foretells that when that happens, "...the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him" (Is 59:19). The word "him" can only refer to a personal being, and that must be Satan.


This is a very real battle, of which most Christians hardly seem aware. Many of the books of only 20 years ago written by creationists and other Christian apologists, although excellent at the time, are not up to refuting what the New Atheists are writing today. By God's grace, Cosmos, Creator, and Human Destiny is being written specifically to confound God's enemies of today. Your prayers to that end would be much appreciated.       TBC

Endnotes


1. Sir John Eccles, with Daniel N. Robinson, The Wonder of Being Human--Our Brain and Our Mind (New Science Library, 1985), 71.

2. Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), Foreword to the first edition.

3. "A Conversation with Jonas Salk," Psychology Today, March 1983, 56.

4. From Gould's treatise on NOMA.

 

 

Quotable

A new Decalogue has been adopted by the neo-Christians of our day, the first word of which reads "Thou shalt not disagree;" and a new set of Beatitudes too, which begins "Blessed are they that tolerate everything, for they shall not be made accountable for anything." It is now the accepted thing to talk over religious differences in public with the understanding that no one will try to convert another or point out errors in his belief.

Imagine Moses agreeing to take part in a panel discussion with Israel over the golden calf; or Elijah engaging in a gentlemanly dialogue with the prophets of Baal. Or try to picture our Lord Jesus Christ seeking a meeting of the minds with the Pharisees to iron out differences.

The blessing of God is promised to the peacemaker, but the religious negotiator had better watch his step. Darkness and light can never be brought together by talk. Some things are not negotiable.


A.W. Tozer, Gems From Tozer, 47-48

 

Q & A

Question:Could you please tell me how "you alone" were given the authority to interpret Scripture "without error," since you show in your writings that persons who do not agree with you are "false teachers." At least the pope admits that he believes that he is infallible in the teaching of faith and morals and the interpretation of Scripture when he is speaking "ex cathedra." Why aren't you brave enough to admit that you believe you are infallible, since you act just like the pope? At least he is not a hypocrite. Second Peter 1:20 states that "no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation." Why do you claim in your book A Woman Rides the Beast that the Catholic Church is this woman? Peter forbade this! He also warned of people who "twist the scripture to their own destruction"--people just like you!

Response: You seem to be troubled by many grave misunderstandings. Never have I even implied, much less stated, that "I alone have the authority to interpret Scripture without error" or that I'm "infallible." Never have I said that anyone was wrong or a false teacher because of disagreeing with me.

Individuals or churches are teaching false doctrine not because they disagree with me but when they contradict the Bible. Who is to decide what is the correct interpretation of the Bible? Never does the Bible suggest that any special authority exists either within or without the church that alone can interpret the Bible.

Every true Christian has been born again by believing the gospel and is indwelt with the same Holy Spirit who inspired "Holy men of God" (2 Peter 1:21) to write the Bible. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, every true Christian can understand what the Bible says and doesn't need any special authority to interpret it. Claiming that they have such authority is one of the many false doctrines of the Roman Catholic pope and magisterium. John tells us: "The anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you" (1 John 2:27).

This is the clear teaching all through both Old and New Testaments. For example, God told Israel, "Man doth not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live" (Deuteronomy 8:3). Notice that it just says "man." He needn't be a rabbi or have any special education, experience, or other unique qualifications, nor does he need to consult such persons in order to understand and live by the Bible. Apparently any man (or woman) who knows God and His Word can understand what the Bible says.

Consider also, "Blessed is the man...[whose] delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Ps 1:2). Again, an ordinary man, without any special education or other qualifications except, of course, that he knows God and His Word, can meditate upon, understand, and benefit from Scripture. Likewise, Psalm 119:9 clearly declares that even a "young man" without any assistance from anyone to interpret it can understand and heed God's Word and thereby "cleanse his way." Furthermore, even a young child can learn and understand the Bible. Paul wrote to Timothy: "From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). Was his father a rabbi who taught him? No, his father was a Greek. He was taught by his "grandmother Lois and [his] mother Eunice"(2 Timothy 1:5).

Why do I "claim in...A Woman Rides the Beast that the Catholic Church is this woman?" That book gives 14 identifying characteristics from Revelation 17 that clearly identify this woman as the Roman Catholic Church. You couldn't read that book without being convinced. If you have any specific objections after reading it again, please let me know and I will be happy to discuss them.


Question:In the June 2008 issue of The Berean Call, you make the statement, "Everyone knows that to spank teenagers would not bring correction but anger and resentment. Is that because teenagers can stand the pain? No, it is because physical pain has no moral or spiritual benefit." If it has no moral or spiritual benefit, why would the Proverbs so avidly promote the use of the rod?

Response: We read, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes....Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him....Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die" (Proverbs 13:24; Proverbs 22:15; Proverbs 23:13-14).

It seems clear that Solomon is referring to young children, who can certainly benefit from physical discipline, if it is administered in love and moderation.


Question: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together...," Hebrews 10:25 says. In these days of false teaching and apostasy, it's sometimes hard to find fellow believers who continue in biblical teaching. Many are reading the latest book or want to get together to watch a "Christian" comedian or video. If one is unable to find suitable fellowship according to biblical standards, what is the alternative? Is it sinful to separate to the point of being secluded?

Response: I don't know your specific situation, but whether in a church fellowship or not, and especially if you have children you must daily have home Bible instruction and prayer. Don't depend on a "church" to fulfill this need. If your present church is lacking in sound biblical teaching, discuss your concerns with your pastor and/or elders in a non-confrontive way. At the same time, be faithful in serving the needs, both physical and spiritual, of your present brothers and sisters in Christ.

As a last resort, separation may be necessary. Others may wish to join you in a home fellowship. I can think of many large churches that had such small beginnings.

Above all, guard against Elijah's plaint, "I, even I only am left" (1 Kings 19:10). Remember instead that Paul found soul-satisfying fellowship with his Lord even in prison (Acts 16:25). May God bless and lead in your decision in this matter.


Question: I watched one of your videos recently where you were praising the Jews. Do you realize that these Antichrists hate the Christian faith? As an Orthodox Christian, I object to their Talmud, their attacks on our beloved Savior, His Holy Mother, etc. Why do you and other evangelists support these enemies of our faith?

Response: Please watch the video again. I have no more reason to praise Jews than Gentiles. I cannot support everything Israel does. It is a godless country and most of its citizens are rank unbelievers, with a high percentage of atheists among them. The same is true of the United States. But there are also huge differences.

Jews are God's chosen people to whom He promised perpetually (Genesis 17:7-8; 1 Chronicles 16:15-18, etc.) the land of Canaan "from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). Gentiles are never called God's chosen people nor has any special land been given to any of them. The Bible identifies the true God, creator of heaven and earth, 203 times as "the God of Israel," 12 times as the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and many times as "the God of Jacob," etc.

Furthermore, of the Jews God says, "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee..." (Genesis 12:3). You should be very careful of what you say about this unique, chosen people.


Question: [In]The Left Behind series, every prophecy teacher that addresses Antichrist says that Antichrist will rise from the dead. If this were true, then everyone that goes before the judgment seat of Christ because they worshiped the Beast and took his mark (666) could claim salvation because they believed God. Why was the world terrified when the two witnesses rose from the dead? Jesus said that His rising from the dead would be the "sign of the prophet Jonah," proving that He was the Christ. Satan's seed that receives the deadly wound to the head happened on the cross....The Beast deceived those on earth; and they made an image of the Beast that it lived. They are the living, breathing image of the Beast that took his mark, 666, with Satan as the head, just as Christians are the living, breathing body of Christ, with Jesus as the head....

Response: I agree that Antichrist will not be killed and rise from the dead (Revelation 13:1-3). Only one of his seven heads was "as it were wounded unto death" and "his deadly wound was healed..." [emphasis added]. This was not a resurrection but a healing that will cause all the world to "wonder" (Rv 13:3). I don't know why so many prophecy teachers claim that Antichrist will be resurrected. Physical resurrection comes only to those who belong to Christ and participate in "the power of his resurrection..." (Philippians 3:10).

Your comment that "everyone that goes before the judgment seat of Christ because they worshiped the Beast and took his mark (666) could claim salvation because they believed God" is incomprehensible, as is much of the rest of your letter. All who "worshiped the Beast and took his mark (666)..." are damned (Revelation 14:9-11). They will be cast into the "lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are" (Revelation 20:10).

Question: Today much is made of "prayer walking," "prayer drives," etc. in communities. Yet the Bible says "enter your closet to pray." Please comment.

Response: The Bible has much to say about prayer, and you will find TBC's comments on those scriptures in the Reprints, which has an index. "Prayer drives...in communities," like the National Day of Prayer, call unsaved to join believers on Christ in prayer, which is like Paul asking fellow Roman citizens to join with the church in prayer-the worst kind of ecumenism.

As for private prayer, Christ said, "Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men....They have their reward [the praise of men]. But...enter into thy closet...shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:5-6).

Christ does not say that this is the only way to pray but one way to curb our pride. Never does the Bible suggest that certain techniques such as those you mention (and others) are to be adopted because they have any special power with God.

"Prayer walking" is part of the "Spiritual Warfare Movement," which began at the 1989 Lausanne II evangelism conference in Manila attended by 4,000 evangelical leaders from around the world. C. Peter Wagner says, "While in Manila, the Lord [told] me....'to take leadership in the area of territorial spirits....'" This involves "Spiritual Mapping," (to "identify" the demon controlling an area of a city or country in order to "bind" it in the name of Jesus) and a host of other "techniques" that God "revealed" to leaders of this unbiblical movement.

C. Peter Wagner (at that time teaching world missions with John Wimber at Fuller Seminary) became the coordinator of the International Spiritual Warfare Network. To defeat the powers of darkness through strategic "spiritual warfare," special prayer teams were sent to the northern-most, southern-most, eastern-most, and western-most points of every continent. In 1989, YWAM's John Dawson wrote Taking Our Cities for God: How to Break Spiritual Strongholds, giving a "fivefold approach to bringing down our cities' [demonic] strongholds...." In the foreword, Jack Hayford called it "a book of Holy Spirit insight...."

Similar books kept coming off the press. Typical was one edited by Wagner titled Breaking Strongholds in Your City: How to Use Spiritual Mapping to Make Your Prayers More Strategic, Effective, and Targeted. Yet in the 20 years since this movement began, not one city has been "taken for God." Instead, some of the leaders have lost the spiritual battle in their own lives to sexual sins. Yet the books continue to sell and seminars and conferences continue to arouse excitement and anticipation...for how much longer?


News Alert

CBN News International, 9/5/08 [Excerpts]: The idea behind the Iranian revolution was to establish the world's first modern state governed solely by Islamic law....But nearly 30 years [later], the Revolution is faltering and many Iranians are disillusioned.

"The people look around, they see the poverty...the discontent, they're not happy...they have questions. We're doing it the Islamic way, why isn't our country great? So, they are ripe to hear a new way," said Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs.

Less than one half of one percent of the Iranian population is Christian. There were nearly four times as many Christians...before the Islamic Revolution, but many fled the country because of Islamic extremism. Some of those who remain share their faith with Muslims [and] the evangelical house church movement is now growing rapidly.

"The church is exploding in terms of numbers, but...the people are arrested, harassed, persecuted, in some cases beaten severely. It is not an easy pathway," said Nettleton.

President Mamoud Ahmadinejad is so concerned that he has made it his aim to stop the house church movement, declaring: "I will stop Christianity in this country." He's launched an unmerciful crackdown against Iranian house churches. Nettleton says while Ahmadinejad is trying desperately to halt church growth, his crackdown is actually having an opposite effect....

"We see outreach of people traveling to other cities...other parts of the country, and they are planting these little house churches in those cities and in those parts of the country as well," Nettleton said.

 

Letters


TBC,

Great job on your new book, Psychology and the Church. I have recommended it to a number of pastors with whom I have contact. In fact, I think that every evangelical pastor in America should have a copy of this book. Thanks for this excellent and timely work. BF (email)


TBC,

The article "Old Time Religion or Golden Calf Revival"...shed much needed light in a dark area....I [have] neighbors, church members here in NC ranting and raving over this Bentley fellow, to the point of actually driving that far to see him....Perhaps I'm simple minded, but I do recognize "truth" when I see it, and my spirit and convictions say, "That ain't it." SP (NC)


Dave,

After reading many of your books years ago, I recently dusted them off and began reading them again. I suddenly realized that perhaps the internet would be the place for me to find and reacquaint myself with you and your ministry. Praise the Lord, I found The Berean Call on the internet (www.thebereancall.org), and have enjoyed catching up on some much-needed reading concerning Christianity and the gospel. Even though I'm an ordained minister...I've become somewhat distracted by worldly interests and pursuits. I believe the Holy Spirit is dealing with my lukewarmness....Please pray [for me]. HP (email)


Hello Dave,

This is just a short message to say thanks for your wonderful ministry online. I am an artist, and I am well aware that as I sell a painting, it leaves my presence and takes on a life of its own. So, too, have your sermons, I sit and listen to them late at night here in N. Ireland while my kids and wife sleep. Thank you. Please know that your efforts have comforted this weary soul on many occasions, helping me turn my eyes to Christ when all seems a little futile or stressful. God bless. SK (N Ireland)


Dear TBC,

I'm writing to request that we be taken off your mailing list....After a few years of reading your newsletter I can't say that love has come through at all. Aside from your writings of God's love to us, the focus of your organization seems to be putting down fellow citizens of the world....This is sad. I don't understand why you devote so much of your time and energy into searching for differences among groups and religions when Jesus emphasized unity and love. I recently heard an excellent speaker who frequently meets with Catholic and other religious leaders. He said they focus on what they have in common and he emphasized respect and love towards all. His point was, how do you expect to win people over to Christ when you are not their friend first?...Dave and others at TBC, I'd like to ask you this: Are you a friend to the Catholics? How do you show them love?...Or is reaching the lost not one of your goals? "If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong..." 1 Corinthians 13:1,2. Do I hear gongs coming from Bend, Oregon? BB (Canada)


Dave,

You do not know this, but I consider you my father in the faith because your book An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith brought my struggling, 20-year, up-and-down walk with God to a head and brought me to my knees. Also, I cannot see much where I disagree with you [where it is] theology-related.

Please know that I love you, Tom, and your ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to you. I pray for you every day. RS (email)


Dave,

I just have to tell you how very much I enjoy An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith. I have always enjoyed your turn of a phrase and logical approach to explaining what so many find illogical. Faith and wisdom are not produced in a vacuum, as many of the younger generation seem to want to believe. So many things that you say, I have wanted someone to say.

I feel alone quite often when I can't even reasonably carry on a conversation with the defensive, insecure church world. With each page of the book I feel like we are friends across the miles. Thank you for your faithfulness, and I do pray for your continued good health.

By the way, my husband and I use your book to study together.

Thanks again, and may the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you! KB (MO)


TBC Notes

Our Free and Free-er Newsletter

Our pleasure (by God's grace and through the financial support of our readers) has been to make our newsletter free for anyone "interested" in reading it. Although the paper copy is free in the U.S. (we will soon be asking those in other countries to subscribe at a rate that will cover the mailing costs), we want those who receive it to know that the internet version is actually "free-er"--for us, that is. We realize that some either do not have computers, or simply prefer the paper copy of the newsletter. That's fine. There may be many, however, who would opt to receive The Berean Call online, which would help immensely in reducing our rising costs.

Also, we highlighted the word "interested" because there is a misconception that people are taken off our mailing list for not ordering from our resource materials. Not true. We ask people to contact us from time to time simply to tell us they are still interested in receiving the newsletter. When there is no response, we assume there is no interest, and good stewardship requires that we stop sending the newsletter.

On Another Note...

Throughout my infirmity battles, here is a passage from Scripture that has ministered to me continually: "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
 
Executive Director
T.A. McMahon


TBC Extra


Is it Absurd To Think God Would Love Us?

Question: In comparison with the almost-infinite reaches of the cosmos surrounding us, this planet that man calls home is but an infinitesimal speck of dust. In view of that fact, it seems the height of absurdity and self-importance (rather than the humility that Christians are supposed to embody) for such insignificant microbes to boast that God loves them and even came to this earth to become one of them and to die for their sins! Doesn't such a preposterous scenario seem the height of absurdity?


Response: On the contrary, God's love would not be genuine if He bestowed it upon us because we were so important as to merit it. In fact, love cannot be merited. It is the very nature of love to bestow itself upon the unworthy. That is difficult for the average person to comprehend today because of the popular acceptance of the deceitful Hollywood idea of love. One "falls in love" and just as readily "falls out of love" with that person and then "in love" with another person. That is not the love that the Bible presents.

If God's love for me were predicated upon how lovable, attractive, or worthy of His love He presently found me, I would feel insecure indeed. Being far from perfect, and subject to change, I would be fearful that I might change in some way that would cause God to love me no longer. But since my relationship to Him depends upon His love and faithfulness and unchangeableness and not upon my love or my appeal to Him, I am at peace. I have perfect assurance that His love for me will never wane and that I am secure in my relationship to Him eternally.

Moreover, our puny insignificance in relation to the vastness of the universe only makes God's grace and mercy all the more worthy of our praise and gratitude and thus all the more glorious. The more unworthy the object of love, the greater and purer must be the love that embraces it.

Throughout the vastness of the universe we see God's attention to the smallest detail, whether it be the design of the snowflake or the interior of an atom. Though He is infinite in might and knowledge and wisdom, nothing is too small for God's consideration. It is far from ludicrous or presumptuous for a Christian to believe that God loves him and sent His Son to die for him. On the contrary, that fact rings true to the character of God as we would expect Him to be, as the Bible depicts Him, and as the universe reflects Him.

Excerpt from Dave Hunt's timeless classic, In Defense of the Faith, soon to be re-released! Watch our website for details.

 

 


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