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The Last Day
the Manna | June 2010
What will you tak Huge Regional Yard Sale Saturday, June 12th at 7 am Joy! 102.5 studios, 11890 Crisfield Lane, Princess Anne
$10 to set up | Vendors and shoppers invited | Lots of room for your items (please limit your items to things appropriate for sale on ministry property) | Tables not provided
Call 410-543-9652 for details • Rain Date is Saturday, June 19th
ke home?
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the Manna | June 2010
Columns 09 | Signals 11 | On the Air 31 | Perspective
20 | How Would You Spend Your Last Days?
Stay in Touch
Don’t wait to do then what you can do now.
23 | The Trouble With a Large Family
Features
Getting along isn’t always easy.
12 | The Glorious Adventure
The message we send to our neighbors.
24 | How Then Shall We Live?
Earthly thrills in light of eternity.
15 | Leave it Behind Stripping away before the final threshold.
Extras 26 | Unfiltered
16 | Are These the Last Days? What being “saved” actually means.
wolc.org | readthemanna.org | June 2010
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the Manna | A Publication of Maranatha, Inc. Editor-In-Chief: Debbie Byrd Contributing Editor: Randy Walter Creative Director: Joe Willey Contributing Writers: Brent Timmons, Karen Tull Media Client Liaisons: Jay Prouse, Rob Brunk
Frequently Asked Questions Who We Are The Manna is published by Maranatha, Inc., a Christcentered ministry called to proclaim the Good News of faith and life in Jesus Christ through various forms of media, as God directs, until He returns. “Maranatha” (mer-a-nath´-a) is an Aramaic word found in I Corinthians 16:22. It is translated, “Our Lord, come!” Joy! 102.5 WOLC is also part of Maranatha, Inc. Its call letters stand for “Watch, Our Lord Cometh.” Maranatha!
Disclaimer Non-ministry advertisers are not required to subscribe to the “Statement of Faith” printed at right; nor are their businesses and products necessarily endorsed by the Manna, Joy! 102.5 WOLC, or Maranatha, Inc., whose viewpoints are not necessarily represented by the opinions or statements of persons interviewed in this magazine; nor are the viewpoints of its advertisers.
Statement of Faith We Believe… that the Holy Bible is the inspired, infallible and authoritative source of Christian doctrine and precept; that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; that the only hope for man is to believe in Jesus Christ, the virgin-born Son of God, who died to take upon Himself the punishment for the sin of mankind, and who rose from the dead so that by receiving Him as Savior and Lord, man is redeemed by His blood; that Jesus Christ in person will return to Earth in power and glory; that the Holy Spirit indwells those who have received Christ, for the purpose of enabling them to live righteous and godly lives; and that the Church is the Body of Christ and is comprised of all those who, through belief in Christ, have been spiritually regenerated by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The twin mission of the Church is worldwide evangelization, and nurture and discipline of Christians.
Manna and Joy! 102.5 WOLC P. O. Box 130, Princess Anne, MD 21853 Voice: 410-543-9652 Fax: 410-651-9652 Manna e-mail: manna@wolc.org Joy! 102.5 e-mail: wolc@wolc.org ©2010 Maranatha, Inc. May not be reproduced without written consent of Maranatha, Inc. Photos: iStockphoto and Big Stock Photo
Maranatha Media | Home of Joy! 102.5 and the Manna
Signals When? If life as we know it were going to end in, say, a week, wouldn’t we be tempted to just stop doing everything? Just drop everything and do only that which brings great enjoyment? Each of us would pick something different. Some of us would go for long walks on the beach. Some of us would hug on our children, soaking in every moment with them. Some of us would parachute from a plane. Some would pray. Some would not. What if we had a month? What if we just didn’t know the time or the place of that someday, sometime when. At Maranatha, we work with a mindset that we need to do what we do right up until that final when. Each minute of every day is invested in encouraging those that know the Lord to keep on in the faith, striving towards the when. And each minute of every day is invested in efforts to bring others to Him that do not yet know Him. Since we don’t know the when, each of us works to leave a legacy within this ministry, knowing that the work of Joy! 102.5 and the Manna must go on without any one of us. The best thing we can do is leave things done well and orderly, that someone coming along behind us can step into our shoes and continue the momentum forward. Maranatha, Inc. is blessed to have a rich
legacy. Its founders created a firm foundation built upon biblical principles. They sought the Lord for direction and wisdom. Their early work prepared this ministry for the tasks the Lord would have us do at this time. And our work now prepares others to carry this work forward into the future. A three-fold focus is needed. We look back, and value the framework upon which we operate. We look forward, and anticipate the glorious when. But we can’t forget to look at today. What can we do, who can we reach, before the inevitable when. What will you do with today? Debbie Byrd is General Manager of Maranatha, Inc., a ministry that includes Joy! 102.5 and the Manna.
wolc.org | readthemanna.org | June 2010
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On the Air It’s Humbling You may have heard us share our financial needs on the air recently. While these needs were indeed great, we knew we serve a great God who can more than provide for us. In Philippians 4:19, the Scriptures say, “But my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Well, how exciting and humbling it was to see the outpouring of support we received from so many – and some for the very first time! It’s clearly evident that God used His people to meet the needs of this, His ministry. Because of your donations, we are now able to move forward in making much-needed upgrades and repairs to our main studio and transmitter site, such as purchasing a new antenna (our current one is 33-years-old and failing), which is used to spread the signal throughout our listening area. These are critical pieces of equipment, and without them, we wouldn’t
be able to do what we do each day: offer Christ-honoring programming that many, many listeners across our region enjoy. And what encouraging words we were blessed to hear throughout this special fundraising effort! Numerous callers shared with us how the Lord uses this station in their lives, and we’re so appreciative that you were sensitive to His leading to come alongside us, both financially and prayerfully. Thank you for believing in what we do here and helping to keep us going strong. Our commitment is – and will always be – to provide you with uplifting music and programming 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-aweek. And we can now do this even better because of your gifts to the ministry. We firmly believe that each and every one of you will, in return, be rewarded by the Lord for your faithfulness and generosity. Thank you again, and may God bless all of you! Rodney Baylous is Program Director of Joy! 102.5. Visit www.wolc.org.
Listen Now! Check out our Program Guide at wolc.org
wolc.org | readthemanna.org | June 2010
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any of us have likely thought about what we would do if we only had a matter of days left to live. After all, such news is given to people every day. It’s hard not to go there in our minds and consider the things and people we would make a priority that perhaps aren’t at the forefront right now. The idea has been explored over and over in popular culture, from music such as the smash hit “Live Like You Were Dying” by country star Tim McGraw to recent movies like The Bucket List featuring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. In both the song and film, the respective stories involve seeking out amazing adventures in the face of death. In “Live Like You Were Dying,” lyrics talk about climbing the Rocky Mountains, sky-diving and riding a bull. In the film, Morgan
Freeman’s character pursues experiences he wants to have before he “kicks the bucket,” some of which include visiting the Taj Mahal, getting a tattoo, seeing Rome, going on a safari, and kissing the most beautiful girl in the world. If we knew our earthly existence were about to end, the impulse to break out of the ordinary to see what we’ve never seen and do what we’ve never dared is certainly a natural one. God’s Creation is breath-taking, as are the many wonders He has enabled human beings to design and construct. With all there is to explore and all the many ways to enjoy heart-pumping, adrenaline-inducing thrills, who wouldn’t feel the urge to soak up as much as this world has to offer? Each and every person has a limited time on Earth, but it’s not for us to know how long that will be. The psalmist writes,
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“You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in Your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed” (Psalm 139:16). Not one second of our lives is happenstance, nor is the next second guaranteed. At any moment, our body could die or the appointed time will arrive when God sends Christ here to collect His own – those who have called upon Him for salvation. In Scripture, Jesus says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone... Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming... for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will” (Matthew 24:36, 42, 44 ). What we have to do is live in the light of that truth, which involves being prepared. Being prepared means making a choice.
If you have never taken the time to truly consider life, death, and where it is that we actually go once we leave here – don’t wait any longer. Apathy is a decision, and it will be too late when time is up. The tragic reality for someone whose only aim is to experience the best this world has to offer – without ever establishing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – is that it really is the best he or she is going to get. On the threshold of our eternal home, my guess is that we won’t be thinking about the exhilaration we felt when we bungee-jumped off that bridge or scubadived the Great Barrier Reef. Those experiences are good to have, but the most glorious of adventures is to spend forever with the Lord. If you know the love and forgiveness of God through His Son Jesus Christ, the very best is yet to come.
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Leave it Behind
By Joe Willey
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t’s ironic that the rush to acquire reminds people of the need to simplify. It seems that stripping away all the superfluous swag is a rite of passage. At some time in a person’s life, the jagged little question is asked, “If today were the last day of my life, what is the most important thing to me?” Good question, but it’s not ultimately a person’s individual decision to leave a few things behind. Life is out of control – out of a person’s control, anyway. Situations that destroy the innocent and the guilty happen with ferocious frequency. And, they crack through a life like a swinging axe splitting through personal kindling. It is the last unpredictable day for too many people. There certainly are things that need to be stripped away. Not just possessions that never equalled the sweat that went into getting them, but things like avarice, hate, anger and pride. Things that do nothing but breed misery and are sullenly faced in mirrors each morning.
Leaving behind those things that are woven into the fallen fabric of mankind is not an option. Facing it on individual terms doesn’t work either. They all will eventually fall to the floor. Dropping what seems important is like going through a doorway that is too small. The frame of the door wrestles the details from white knuckled hands. The doorways become progressively smaller as the days wind down. Finally, all that is left is the person standing stripped before the final doorway. The last thing he clings to is life itself. It is at that moment that the most important thing in this world becomes the most important in the next. Eternity boils down to what a person says about Jesus Christ. Was He a joke or Savior? Was He the key or the chain? Stepping through the last threshold, a person will find the drumming of his heartbeat was actually Christ knocking at the last door.
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Are These the Last Days? By Randy Walter
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here are some people who think the End Times began with the birth of Jesus. Others believe conditions on Earth must become desperately worse before the end is in sight. The End Times, or Last Days, are the period which precedes the Second Coming of Christ. Jesus described what they would be like: “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all. And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business – eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building – until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-30). In Noah’s time, “God saw that the earth had become corrupt and was filled with violence,” the Bible says. “Everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.” Abram’s nephew Lot lived in Sodom, where men “were extremely wicked and constantly sinned against the Lord.” Disobedience dominated people’s hearts. God brought judgment and destruction on everyone except those faithful to Him.
BE ALERT Jesus taught His followers to be alert and ready, as though His return were imminent. During the first century, some Christians believed they would see this event. In every generation since, people have anticipated the Second Coming. Is the world in its Last Days? Inaccurate predictions of the end have come and gone, and Earth is still here. Why is this time any different? The Bible says no man knows the precise time of Christ’s Second Coming, but there are events and conditions which will signal its approach. Among them are: • Scoffers will be more numerous. They will belligerently ask, “Where is this promise of His coming?” (II Peter 3:3-4).
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• False messiahs and spiritual deception will become more common (Matthew 24:23-24). • Disrespect toward Christianity and persecution of believers will grow (Matthew 24:9; Jude 1:17-19). • Men will be more preoccupied with pleasure (II Timothy 3:1-4). • Many will fall away from the Christian faith (Matthew 24:10). • People will be devoted to myths and false teachings rather than the substance of Scripture (II Timothy 4:3-4). • Wickedness will be increasingly widespread (Matthew 24:12). • Natural disasters will occur in numerous places. (Matthew 24:7; Revelation 8 & 9) • A monetary system will develop in which government oversees all transactions (Revelation 13:16-17). • Russia and China will be in position to threaten the Middle East (Ezekiel 37-39; Revelation 20:8-9; Isaiah 49:12; Revelation 9:16). • The Jews will return to Israel (Isaiah 66:8). • The Jewish temple in Jerusalem will be rebuilt and sacrificial offerings will be reinstated (Matthew 24:14-22; II Thessalonians 2:3-4). • A movement to consolidate the world’s religions will gain acceptance (Revelation 13:8). • Man will possess such power that “the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (II Peter 3:12).
‘PERILOUS TIMES’ The world of today seems a more dangerous place than in the past. Paul called the Last Days “perilous times” in which “men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power” (II Timothy 3:1-5). The Bible says people will cry out for peace and safety as the Day of the Lord approaches. In the book of Joel, God declared, “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2:30-32). The expression “saved” is heard a lot, but how many people Continued on page 19
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Are These the Last Days? Continued from page 17 know what it means? Saved from what? From terrible predictions in the Bible? Those things will occur in a moment of time in the shadow of eternity. Men should want to be saved from the torment and hopelessness of permanent separation from God. Being saved means obtaining God’s pardon for everything a man has done which would keep him from entering God’s Kingdom. It begins with an awareness of putting self-will ahead of God’s will. Sorrow over this humbles the human heart and positions the offender to receive God’s promise that He gives grace (unmerited favor) to the humble. Remorse is followed by repentance, demonstrated by turning away from past errors and living in obedience to God. It requires more than an apology. This total change of character means believing that Jesus is God’s Son and His sacrifice on the cross atones for man’s disobedience.
A PRAYER TO BE SAVED Jesus came to liberate man from the eternal consequences of disobeying God. Everyone disobeys God. The Bible says, “There is no one righteous, not even one,” and, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10, 23). Anyone who does not uphold God’s standard of holiness commits “sin” (a term also used
in medieval archery, meaning “to miss the mark”). God sent His Son to Earth to demonstrate what a sinless life looks like. To be rescued from the former way of living and become God’s child, here is one way to pray: Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I believe that You are the Son of God and that You died for me. Please forgive me of my sins and cleanse my heart of unrighteousness. God, I want You to work in my life. I want to be a child of God. Please come into my life and take over. Thank You for saving me. In Jesus’ name, amen. Sincerely praying that or a similar prayer is the beginning of a new journey with Christ. To continue, steps include: • Finding a church that teaches the Bible and demonstrates the love of God. • Reading the Bible. Pray for understanding of what you’re reading. Be patient with yourself. The more you read it, the more you’ll understand. • Living out what the Bible says. Being saved does not happen by doing “good deeds.” It results from asking Christ to live in one’s heart, and obeying and trusting God.
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How Would You Spend Your Last Days? By Randy Walter
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ime passes quickly. As the late American poet Charles Bukowski wrote, “The days run away like wild horses over the hills.” Everyone is so busy that it is difficult to know how to assign priorities. It’s easy to get distracted by the daily grind and miss the signs of the times. As things seem to be happening faster, there is more emphasis on cataclysmic and apocalyptic scenarios in the popular media – as if to acknowledge a universal sense that mankind is speeding toward a climactic event. “We don’t need end-of-the-world movies. All the information we need is in the Bible,” writes Dr. David Jeremiah, chancellor of San Diego Christian College and senior pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA. “One day the world will face a period of distress and great tribulation such as it has never seen before and will never see again,” he continues. “We don’t know exactly when Christ will return, and the Bible warns us against setting dates… What if we did know Jesus was coming again seven days from now?” If people knew Jesus was returning in seven days – 168 hours and counting – how would their routines change? How would they rearrange their priorities? If there were seven days before the greatest event since Creation, how would human behavior change in compliance with the Bible’s teachings?
ONE WAY Virtually every major culture has had a concept of the end of time and a final judgment. This is not unique to Christianity and it needn’t be viewed as doom and gloom… that is, unless someone is determined not to change. What sets Christianity apart is an awareness that man is not able to rise above his nature and make himself righteous in God’s sight. While other faith systems believe self-redemption can be achieved through rigorous discipline, Christianity teaches that a merciful and compassionate God knew man could not be perfect no matter how hard he tried. So God sent a Messiah whose substitutionary sacrifice atoned for the imperfection of all mankind. Christianity calls Him the Savior, Jesus Christ, and declares no one gets to heaven except by Him. “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). As the Gospel of Christ has spread around the world in the last two millennia, men have grappled with this concept. It is a source of contention because it says there is only one way to God – through Christ. Jesus declared, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.” He was referring to His teachings
as the narrow gate which alone leads to life. The wide gate was the way of the Pharisees, who mixed man-made traditions with the truth of God. When the Gospel is combined with other teachings, people can erroneously regard Jesus as one of many ways to God. To come to the Father in heaven, they must abandon conflicting beliefs and embrace Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.
‘LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT’ There are some who believe, “God will forgive me, so I’ll keep living life on my own terms until the end is imminent. Then I’ll repent at the last minute and still make heaven.” The Bible warns against that way of thinking. “The Day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. When people are saying, ‘Everything is peaceful and secure,’ then disaster will fall on them as suddenly as a pregnant woman’s labor pains begin. And there will be no escape” (I Thessalonians 5:2-3). There won’t be time for a grandstand play. God views the way a man lives his whole life, not just the final minutes. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Why wait until there might only be seven days left? Why gamble on being able to predict the future? God not only wants to give eternal life in the next world but abundant life in this one. Abundant life speaks of many benefits in addition to salvation: discovering one’s purpose, learning the wisdom of God, being a peacemaker and ambassador of heaven, and most of all experiencing the love of God the Father. The time is near for every people group to receive the Good News. When this happens, the Bible says, Jesus will return. Jesus asked rhetorically, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” Personalizing that question means, “When Jesus returns, will He find me faithful?” Randy Walter is Contributing Editor to the Manna.
wolc.org | readthemanna.org | June 2010
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The Trouble with a Large Family By B.A. Timmons
L
ong ago, in a van far far way (well, actually, it was just a few days ago three miles from home), we were making a brief trip across town. As is the case in many trips of any length in our van, two siblings began to have difficulties with each other. It was very predictable. One child was doing something that irritated the other. This other child asked, “Would you please stop it?” It was the prescribed advice from her parents. While the delivery of the request was technically correct, the attitude left much to be desired. The demand was repeated for the third time. At that moment, through the rear view mirror I saw her brother smack her. I immediately stopped the van and got out. For the first nanosecond I intended to go to the back of the van and deal with the issue. Instead, I said out loud “I can’t ride with these children. I’ll walk the rest of the way.” Good parenting skills? Probably not. But I felt much better being out of the van. My wife, who was also questioning my parenting skills, drove a hundred yards, pulled off to the side of the road, and waited for me to catch up. I drove the rest of the way to our destination. There was dead silence. It was our decision that our family should be large. It was a good decision. But while our children have few problems when alone and there is never any arguing with one child in the van, as a group they often end up squabbling. But we knew that this process of living together would cause our children to grow, prepare them for the world ahead, and we would enjoy them in the meantime. This trouble with children getting along carries over even into the Church. Adult children of God are more refined than kids though. There is no hitting. They sing, “They will know we are Christians by our love” (at least the older ones do), and they try their best to love each other.
Folks are drawn to a body of local believers which they believe share their own personal doctrines. Then trouble comes when they interact in tight quarters like the back of a van, or a Bible study or some other meeting. It is there that we learn how differently we really think. This trouble may go on for a long period of time, and may intensify to a point where we are forced to make a decision. Do we stay, or go find another group that is more like us? Most of us come to realize that we are more than a gathering of likeminded believers (which for the most part is only partially true). We come to understand that we are family. We chose to remain together because, as difficult as it may be sometimes, we know it is one of God’s ways to refine us, and we willingly submit ourselves to that. This is not to say that, as this refining goes on, we all begin to think the same like one big perfect family. To the contrary, those differences often do not go away. But, hopefully, we do come to love and appreciate each other in spite of them. We will not all come to think alike any more than our 10-year-old son and his 12-yearold sister, which, in all honesty, wouldn’t even be natural. Meanwhile, we have Someone much wiser than I driving the van.
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s a student, I was privileged to sit under an advisor for whom Christian ethics and its application were a vibrant passion. With his careful drawl and smiling eyes, my professor slowly and gladly brought me to an understanding of ethics that would never allow me to leave it, as I might have left a stuffy, uninteresting class. Ethics, for the Christian, is no more optional than the scriptures that tell us who we are. In one of Dr. Verhey’s more recent works, he writes, “There is no Christian life that is not shaped somehow by Scripture. There is no Christian moral discernment that is not tied somehow to Scripture. There is no Christian ethic – no Christian medical ethic or sexual ethic or economic ethic or political ethic – that is not formed and informed somehowby Scripture.” That is to say, Christian communities are communities which practice ethics on some real level because they live by a particular identity, because it is who they are. Now working within the field of Christian apologetics, one of the comments that I hear most often as a reason for rejecting Christianity is that of its followers: “Christians are so hypocritical!” “The problem I have with Christ is that his followers do Him more harm than good.” “I am continually disappointed by Christians; why should I consider their religion?” “The problem I have with Christianity is Christians.” I can try appealing to these voices to see the gap in their logic; I can try reasoning that the abuse of a religion must never stand in the way of getting at the truth of a religion. But many will not be swayed. I leave these conversations saddened not merely because the obstacles seem immovable, but because I fully understand the grievance. The letter of recommendation written upon the countenance of professing Christians is far too often a message that deters. Like ethics, Christian apologetics is a daily activity writ large upon the life of Christians and Christian communities whether they realize it or not. The world hears clearly their message with or without words. For they go about life confessing, commending, defending and living the gospel, showing the world an ethic and a religion whether they speak of these things or not. Both disciplines are thus inherently Christian
activities, disciplines that must take seriously the responsibility the identity imparts. The Christian is a person of the Book, commanded to remember the movement of God in history, the nearness of the Spirit today, and the promise of Christ’s return in every word he speaks, in every thing she does. In the midst of this great reality, the Christian need not live as one who holds every answer, but as one who lives with the confidence that is ours through Christ before God, as we grow further into our conversions and the abundant life Christ describes. In this, both the world and the Church are benefited when believers learn to see their own conversions as a process, salvation as more than a ticket to heaven, and faith as something deeper than sheer preference or unquestionable certainty – for this will likewise help us see that reaching our neighbors is a lifelong activity. In the meantime, John Stackhouse argues that it is imperative for the apologist and the ethicist to take with her the right questions. Instead of evangelicalism’s favorite foci – Is he saved? Does she have a personal relationship with Christ? Or, what must I do to convert them? – a far better question was entertained by the one the believer follows: Who shall I say is my neighbor? At this question Jesus recounted a story that left everyone asking appropriately, If the world is filled with my neighbors, how then shall I live? If every member of the body of Christ on Earth lived an apologetic life that reflected the inherently Christlike response to that question – with love, with grace, with truth and humility – perhaps we would find the distance between Athens and Jerusalem converging, bridged by the glory of the One who rose from the grave. Jill Caratini is managing editor of A Slice of Infinity at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia. How Then Shall We Live? by Jill Carattini, A Slice of Infinity, No. 2192, orignally printed May 3, 2010 (www.rzim. org). Used by permission of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
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Edge of Apocalypse: Tim LaHaye and Craig Parshall I had a feeling where Edge of Apocalypse was going before I started reading it. I saw Tim LaHaye’s name and I knew there would probably be something similar to the incredibly popular Left Behind series between its blue covers. Yup. Edge of Apocalypse is an exercise in thriller fiction and it doesn’t stray from a contrived plot and ample clichés that are offered up by a lot of made for TV movies – a steely hero husband and his tough, but gentle Christian wife praying for him, a child unable to relate to his father, a professional killer that is a pawn of powerful politicos. There aren’t many original ideas here. LaHaye and Parshall do make it an enjoyable and entertaining book that keeps you turning pages. The plot may be contrived, but I wanted to hurry up and read, even if it was to see if what I thought was going to happen did. What interested me was the context for the story. There is an America represented that has slid past the point of no return of relativism, where ethical high roads become political pitfalls. The chilling part is that I can see a backdrop like this becoming a reality, which I think is probably the point that the authors were trying to make. If it wasn’t, it should have been.
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1776 Faith: Phil Webster Today, controversy swirls around whether the Founding Fathers were true Christians, atheists, or deists who held that God exists but does not interfere in the affairs of men. In response to efforts to compromise the Founders’ character and amputate their influence from the culture, Phil Webster has published 1776 Faith. Calling his book “an attempt to help the present generation rediscover the Christian heritage of our country,” Webster focuses on the period of the American Revolution. “The Founders were imperfect but God used them,” he comments. Taking the signers of the Declaration of Independence state by state, Webster presents their writings and comments by their contemporaries as evidence that at least 54 of the 56 the signers had a Christian worldview. “No self-respecting atheist… or deist would sign such a document” which affirms their “firm reliance on Divine Providence,” Webster writes. The book also evaluates the lives of other Founders including George Washington, Patrick Henry, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Thomas Paine. Webster deftly navigates problematic questions concerning the beliefs of Thomas Jefferson (including Separation of Church and State), Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and
Samuel Adams. Other topics include “God’s Providential Care in the War for Independence,” “The Great Awakening,” and “Christian Colleges.” Webster’s careful documentation is interlaced with personal comments, sometimes so passionate that the usually balanced tone of a documentary is lacking. Nonetheless, this is a valuable resource and a passionate voice for the values of America’s Founders.
tem aligns in such a way that it causes a series of cataclysmic events – from earthquakes to tsunamis – that wreak havoc on all of creation. If we had only paid attention to the Maya civilization, whose calendar had foretold this centuries ago. Now it’s up to the world’s leaders to determine a way to preserve the human race before time runs out. This all may sound a little familiar. If so, that’s because the premise isn’t breaking any new ground. You know those apocalyptic-themed films where a few brilliant-minded individuals figure out that doom is sure, but in the end, it takes an unlikely, everyday group of people to somehow pull off the impossible and save mankind? You know, the disaster movies where God never seems to be part of the equation? This is another one of those movies. If any truth at all can be found in this film, it’s in the portrayal of the earth going haywire. According to the Bible, nature will indeed manifest the coming end of the world – when the return of Jesus Christ is imminent. Scripture says in Romans 8 that “the whole creation groans and suffers” in its eagerness to “be set free from its slavery to corruption.” And unlike what you see in the movies, humans will have no control over the situation. All of life – both the beginning and the end – is solely in the Creator’s hands, and only He can save us. So, when watching this flick and others like it, be quick to consult what God says instead of giving any credence to another one of Hollywood’s silly ideas. These reviews are provided by Maranatha, Inc. staff and contributing writers.
2012: Roland Emmerich Guess what? The world is going to end in the year 2012. Well, at least according to this film, in which the solar sys-
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Your Brain Without Dad By R. Albert Mohler Jr. | Christian Post Guest Columninst
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o children need fathers? Fascinating research on that question is reported by Shirley S. Wang of The Wall Street Journal. Anna Katherina Braun, a German biologist, has been working with colleagues to understand the biological impact of single parenting. Her research has focused on the degu, a small rodent that is a distant relation to the guinea pig. The research indicates that little degus raised without dads “exhibit both short- and long-term changes in nerve cell growth in different regions of the brain.” The research also reveals that “fatherless degu pups exhibit more aggressive and impulsive behavior than pups raised by two parents.” Sound like anyone you know?
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The specifics: The researchers then looked at the neurons – cells that send and receive messages between the brain and the body – of some pups at day 21, around the time they were weaned from their mothers, and others at day 90, which is considered adulthood for the species. Neurons have branches, known as dendrites, that conduct electrical signals received from other nerve cells to the body, or trunk, of the neuron. The leaves of the dendrites are protrusions called dendritic spines that receive messages and serve as the contact between neurons.
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Dr. Braun’s group found that at 21 days, the fatherless animals had less dense dendritic spines compared to animals raised by both parents, though they “caught up” by day 90. However, the length of some types of dendrites was significantly shorter in some parts of the brain, even in adulthood, in fatherless animals. The end result can be a pup without normal cognitive and emotional function that experiences brain activity like “a horse without a rider.” Since the basic wiring of the brain is similar in both the human child and the degu pup, Dr. Braun believes that a very similar process is likely to emerge in the brains of fatherless children. Even so, the human brain is far more complex. Similar research at the University of Ottawa has found a similar pattern in young voles (another rodent). As a result, it appears that biological evidence now exists that would suggest that fatherless children (and especially boys?) are at greater risk of cognitive and emotional instability – and eventual delinquency – without dad in the home. Of course, we should not need biological studies to demonstrate and validate what we should already know – children need fathers in the home. The epidemic of fatherlessness has brought disaster on a society-wide scale, and has brought harm into the lives of millions of young children, both boys and girls. Girls raised with biological fathers in the home begin to menstruate at later ages than girls without a father in the home. Boys raised without dad are far more likely to drop out of school, be arrested, be unemployed, and be designated as delinquent. In sum, fathers matter.
Christians recognize this as a theological matter, long before we consider biology. We know that the Creator’s intention in marriage and the family is for children to have both mother and father. One of the most vulnerable designations in the Bible is the fatherless. So, read the reports on biological research with interest and connect the dots from the data to the biblical worldview. This is about far more than young degus and voles. This is about the lives of children who deserve both mom and dad. Adapted from R. Albert Mohler Jr.’s weblog at www.albertmohler.com. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. For more articles and resources by Dr. Mohler, and for information on The Albert Mohler Program, a daily national radio program broadcast on the Salem Radio Network, go to www.albertmohler.com. For information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to www.sbts.edu. Send feedback to mail@albertmohler.com. Original Source: www.albertmohler.com.
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Perspective
Distractions
Have you ever been embarrassed in a situation where distraction caused you to give an inappropriate response? Thirty-five years ago, Steven Spielberg’s thriller Jaws hit theaters, casting a great white shark in the role of a monster. It was so frightening that some beachgoers stayed out of the water that summer. I saw the film in a multiplex. Spooky music created tension in the dark, crowded theater. As the plot unfolded, the audience was riveted to the screen as a swimmer was attacked. At the same time, a gradual sensation became increasingly noticeable until we were distracted from the action. It was a rumbling vibration which felt like an earthquake. Now we had something else to be afraid of. It was an earthquake, but not a real one. In the adjoining theater, the movie Earthquake was showing. Its advertising gimmick was something called “Sensurround,” which used low frequency sound to make viewers feel as if they were shaking in sync with the disaster. When people in our theater figured out what the sensation was, someone snickered. It wasn’t a chuckle or a self-conscious giggle. It was one of those funny sounding laughs which made everyone else crack up. As the pretty girl on the screen was being devoured by an evil predator from the deep, the entire audience was in stitches. We laughed at the distraction and we laughed at ourselves. That set the tone for the evening. The same person would snicker at a scary scene, and the rest of us joined in. We laughed throughout the entire movie. I wonder if Spielberg would have appreciated our inappropriate
response to the terror he intended to create. The movie Earthquake may not seem as entertaining today. Most of us have watched the news and some of us have witnessed in person the aftermath of disasters. Earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, wildfires, landslides, cyclones and tornadoes are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity in every corner of the world. To call these events “distractions” is to disregard their cost in human suffering. But in a sense, that’s what they are. How can we look away as the mass media tracks the natural and manmade catastrophes which envelop the planet? It is easy to become like viewers in a theater, fixated by the images and even seeing them as a kind of perverse entertainment – as long as they happen somewhere else, to someone else. These are distractions if they draw our attention away from something more important. Suppose the people who interpret these cataclysms as signs of the Last Days are correct? What if they are pangs of anticipation from a creation awaiting the return of its Creator? The apostle Paul wrote that “all Creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” If that was true in the first century, how much more so today? Paul explained, “All Creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are.” That will climax the age. Is the pain of an afflicted world distracting us with symptoms while diverting our attention away from the remedy God has provided? In his letter to the believers in
Rome, Paul continued, “We believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children.” Paul’s challenge was to stay focused on God’s promises while the early Church encountered formidable opposition. It was persecuted from without and undermined from within. The religious hierarchy of the Jews wanted to eliminate this threat to their authority, and swayed occupying Roman rulers to their cause. Meanwhile, false teachers spread lies to dishearten Jesus’ followers. Some said He had already returned. Others taught what profited them rather than the faith. The confusion they spread distracted people from their hope in Christ. Yet Paul looked beyond these obstacles to remark, “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later.” Then he stated confidently, “We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” Do we see the “distractions” of our present-day world as working together for our good? It’s a big concept when we are confronted by images of death, devastation and injustice. Our world groans not only because of environmental abuse but in expectation of what God is about to do. If Creation looks forward to this, we should too. This is our appropriate response. Randy Walter is Contributing Editor to the Manna. wolc.org | readthemanna.org | June 2010
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