Evidence for God from Science Newsletter February, 2004

Greetings in the name of the Lord! This is the latest edition of the update for the Evidence for God website. Welcome to our new subscribers.

Contents (scroll down for descriptions)

News

Work of the website ground to a halt for a couple months as I was required to drive the vanpool fulltime, instead of working on the ministry as a passenger on the vanpool. Please keep this situation in prayer. If I were ever required to drive the vanpool permanently fulltime, the ministry would be forced to close, since I would have no free time to devote to it.

Three months ago, I made some changes to some of the pages in my cults section. I replaced the word "Mormon" with "LDS" in many of my pages. It seemed to me at the time that Mormons use the word LDS to search for information of interest to them. As a result of the change, my cult pages are ranked much higher on Google and getting hit a lot by Mormons, who are sending lots of e-mails. It's a great problem to have, but I need time to answer their e-mails. Please pray that I would have the time and patience to respectfully answer these e-mails.

My wife Carole is going back to the DMV for some kind of interview related to her ability to drive with her brain tumor. Although the tumor has never impacted her motor functions or cognitive abilities, she was prevented from driving for six months last year as the result of an interview with an uneducated and vindictive driver safety official. Please pray for her interview on February 26.

Book Review

After the Rapture by Jerry dartAfter the Rapture by Jerry Dart. Jerry Dart has written an interesting interpretation of end-time events in his book, After the Rapture. Although Mr. Dart's book interprets the rapture as occurring before the tribulation period (which contradicts my interpretation), I agreed to review the book primarily for its Messianic content. According to Mr. Dart, the rapture of the Church will occur two years before the beginning of the Tribulation Period. Those two years represent the judgment seat of Christ, and usher in the Day of the Lord, which Mr. Dart equates with the beginning of the 1,000 year reign of Christ (now that's a long day!). Immediately following the two year judgment seat of Christ is the seven year marriage feast of the Lamb, which coincides with the Tribulation period. Following the Tribulation is a one year Armageddon, followed by 990 years of peace, then eternity. I am disappointed that Mr. Dart does not discuss the scriptural reasons why he believes that a secret rapture will take Christians away from the earth before the Tribulation period (I found only a few sentences devoted to the topic). Even so, the book is a good read and provides lots of Old and New Testament scriptural support for the prophetic interpretations (over 700 pages). Color maps and charts of end-time events are included in the appendix for those who would like to visualize the The order of nucleotides in a DNA or RNA molecule, or the order of amino acids in a protein molecule.sequence of events laid out in the book.

Answers for Atheists

Mel Gibson's new movie, The Passion of the Christ, is coming to theaters next week. Its debut has not been without controversy. Several Jewish groups and Rabbis have said that the movie is anti-Semitic, since it blames the Jews for the death of Jesus. The liberal news media has hyped the controversy, which may actually be part of God's plan to get people interested in learning more about Jesus and His passion. Mel Gibson has done many interviews and has done an excellent job sharing his faith (which is getting published in secular venues!). However, he seems to be avoiding answers to the anti-Semitism charge altogether. The answers are easily found in the pages of scripture. If you are considering inviting your unsaved friends to the movie, makes sure you can answer the charge of anti-Semitism, since it is a likely topic for unbelievers because of all the media coverage. The page also answers the question, "Who really killed Jesus?" You may be surprised by the answer.

     Anti-Semitism in Mel Gibson's Movie The Passion- Is the Bible Anti-Semitic?
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/apologetics/passion.html

Biblical Creation

A certain prominent creationist organization has declared war on those of us who "do not believe in the literal meaning of the Bible." I don't like to spend a lot of time refuting the interpretations of other Christians, but I feel it is time to show who really follows proper biblical interpretation and who is distorting the truth of scripture. This new page is the first in the category of young earth problems. Despite the insidious claim that God would intentionally create deception in His creation, virtually every young earth creationist organization adheres to at least some form of this belief. The new page does not attack any specific organization (none are mentioned), but refutes the appearance of age concept from what the Bible says on the topic.

     Appearance of Age - A Young Earth Problem
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/youngearth/appearance.html

Theology

A common Jewish charge laid against Jesus as the biblical Messiah is that He failed to fulfill the prophecy that He would be the Prince of Peace. The world is still at war and the leopard does not now lay down with a young goat, unless the goat is in the leopard after his meal. The new page examines what kind of peace the prophecies were referring to and how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. Since the page quotes extensively from the Old Testament, it is a good resource to use in witnessing to your Jewish friends, who think that Jesus failed to fulfill the "Prince of Peace prophecy.

     Prince of Peace - What Peace?
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/doctrine/peace.html

Abortion

I recently received an inquiry from F. J. Roos to publish a paper on the view of the early Christian church on abortion. I have seen such papers before, but found that this previously unpublished paper is probably one of the best available on the Internet. The new page covers early Roman and Greek practices and laws, Jewish writings, and the writings of the early church fathers. Quotes are fully cited and mostly hyperlinked. There can be no doubt how the early Christian church viewed abortion.

     Abortion and the Early Christian Church
     http://www.GodAndScience.org/abortion/earlychristian.html

A list of new pages can always be found at:

     http://www.GodAndScience.org/new.html

Newsletter Info

This and previous newsletters are available online. Go to the URL below to read the current and past updates:

     http://www.GodAndScience.org/newsletter.html

Those are the most recent updates and changes since the last e-mail update. If you would like to see anything in particular at Evidence for God from Science, let me know. "But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this?" (Job 12:7-9)

In Christ,
Rich Deem

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Last Modified February 23, 2004

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