October 1
Charles Darwin wrote: “To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree” (Origin of Species, 1859, p. 186). On July 3, 1881, he wrote: “But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any...
Read MoreSeptember 30
Don’t the following verses teach that all people will ultimately be saved? Col 1:20; Eph 1:10; 1 Tim 2:4-6; 4:10; 1 Cor 15:22-28; Phil 2:9-11. This is the teaching of Universalism. Note that both Col 1:20 and Eph 1:10 speak of reconciliation, but only of things in heaven and earth, not things under the earth. Phil 2 includes the things under the earth, but is speaking of subjection, not reconciliation, as does 1 Cor 15. Thank God, every knee will bow to the Lord, including those who will be made His footstool (Heb 10:13) but they are referred to as “His enemies.” As to 1 Tim 2, we rejoice...
Read MoreSeptember 29
It is indifference, not honest opposition, that is the enemy of salvation. Multitudes who have taken God’s Word in hand to disprove it have been won by its winsome power and light. One example is Christian Gerson (1569-1622), a Jewish scholar who bought a copy of Luther’s translation of the New Testament for eight schillings. He and his brothers-in-law were curious as to how this “grave mistake” could have conquered hundreds of thousands of hearts during the Reformation. But, as Risto Santala tells the story, “The gospel message shook him so much that he had to go on reading it alone, in...
Read MoreSeptember 28
“All things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col 1:16). Albert Einstein recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe: “I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts—the rest are details.” Robert Jastrow, founder of NASA’s Goddard Institute, expressed it this way: “For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself...
Read MoreSeptember 27
Lionel Fletcher tells of gospel work at 20 years old. One night a blacksmith came to cause trouble. Toward the end, he made his move, “strode to the front, threw himself on his knees, and for the first time in my life I saw a man in the grip of deep conviction of sin.” The man’s wailing drowned out the believers’ prayers but they began to sing, “O happy day when Jesus washed my sins away!” Suddenly the blacksmith rose to his feet, radiant, gloriously saved. After, an old man took the preacher by the arm, “That’s my son-in-law. Will you come home with us? My daughter will be waiting.” When...
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