“Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” — Psalm 124:8
This text, in its immediate context, relates to Israel. In the larger context of scripture, however, applies to every believer and links him to the limitless power of the Creator. God is here defined as the One Who “made heaven and earth.” For a refresher on the significance of this, see the notes on Psalm 121 (12/12/09). It has, of course, no value whatsoever for those who do not believe in God.
This year, as you may know, has been celebrated as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and there has been more than the usual emphasis on evolution as the explanation for our existence. The creator is ruled out and in His place two new gods have been affirmed as jointly accounting for the origin of everything: Time and Chance. All of this is part of an escalating attack on religion in general and Christianity in particular.
The real tragedy is not the secular anti-christian philosophy, but the fact that many professing Christians find it necessary to accommodate the philosophy of evolution. The simple fact is, you cannot have it both ways. If evolution is true, the Bible is false. The scriptures contain more than 70 references to God as the Creator of all that is. If God did not create heaven and earth, there are at least 70 lies in the bible from Genesis to Revelation.
The doctrine of evolution is a defiant denial of the integrity of the Word of God. Not only so, but it targets the integrity of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He specifically affirmed the divine creation in a way that cannot be equated with biological evolution. Speaking of judgment to come the Savior said, “For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be [Mark 13:19, my italics].” More than that, in remarking on the subject of divorce and remarriage Jesus said, “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female…?” (See Mt. 19:4,5 and Mark 10:6) He not only affirms God as the Creator, but mankind as fully formed and sexually complete and functional from the beginning, diametrically opposed to the incremental change requiring billions of years proposed by evolution. What is important here, for the believer, is that evolution makes Christ either mentally incompetent or a deliberate liar.
Both evolution and revelation require an act of faith. Evolution proposes mindless chance working in an eternal pool of slime as the source of our intelligence. The bible declares an intelligent, personal and eternal God as the root of our being; “The Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” We leave it to the reader to decide which is the more reasonable.
Let it be understood, however, that to rule God out is to destroy all basis for meaning, purpose and hope. Adopt the evolutionary model and we came from nowhere, are devoid of meaning, headed for oblivion and accountable to no one; which is precisely what modern man prefers to believe. The moral philosophy for such a belief is, ”Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” And not surprisingly, that is exactly the the lifestyle that is increasingly prevalent in our degenerating society. Granted, faith in God does not give us all the answers, but it does give us a point of reference, provides meaning for our existence and hope for eternity. The chaotic state of society is explained in terms of sin, an unpopular subject in this hedonistic culture. But, hope survives through “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” which is what Christmas is all about.
Christians will not change the world by argument, nor save souls by debate, But we must decide whose side we are really on, and behave ourselves accordingly. Joshua laid out the issue for ambivalent Israel when he said, “…If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord [Josh. 24:15].”
Neither scripture nor reason give us the luxury of playing to both galleries.
For the true believer there is both hope and help in the God of the bible. “Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Have you trusted Him as your Savior—and LORD?
For His glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
This text, in its immediate context, relates to Israel. In the larger context of scripture, however, applies to every believer and links him to the limitless power of the Creator. God is here defined as the One Who “made heaven and earth.” For a refresher on the significance of this, see the notes on Psalm 121 (12/12/09). It has, of course, no value whatsoever for those who do not believe in God.
This year, as you may know, has been celebrated as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and there has been more than the usual emphasis on evolution as the explanation for our existence. The creator is ruled out and in His place two new gods have been affirmed as jointly accounting for the origin of everything: Time and Chance. All of this is part of an escalating attack on religion in general and Christianity in particular.
The real tragedy is not the secular anti-christian philosophy, but the fact that many professing Christians find it necessary to accommodate the philosophy of evolution. The simple fact is, you cannot have it both ways. If evolution is true, the Bible is false. The scriptures contain more than 70 references to God as the Creator of all that is. If God did not create heaven and earth, there are at least 70 lies in the bible from Genesis to Revelation.
The doctrine of evolution is a defiant denial of the integrity of the Word of God. Not only so, but it targets the integrity of the Lord Jesus Christ, for He specifically affirmed the divine creation in a way that cannot be equated with biological evolution. Speaking of judgment to come the Savior said, “For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be [Mark 13:19, my italics].” More than that, in remarking on the subject of divorce and remarriage Jesus said, “Have ye not read, that He which made them at the beginning made them male and female…?” (See Mt. 19:4,5 and Mark 10:6) He not only affirms God as the Creator, but mankind as fully formed and sexually complete and functional from the beginning, diametrically opposed to the incremental change requiring billions of years proposed by evolution. What is important here, for the believer, is that evolution makes Christ either mentally incompetent or a deliberate liar.
Both evolution and revelation require an act of faith. Evolution proposes mindless chance working in an eternal pool of slime as the source of our intelligence. The bible declares an intelligent, personal and eternal God as the root of our being; “The Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” We leave it to the reader to decide which is the more reasonable.
Let it be understood, however, that to rule God out is to destroy all basis for meaning, purpose and hope. Adopt the evolutionary model and we came from nowhere, are devoid of meaning, headed for oblivion and accountable to no one; which is precisely what modern man prefers to believe. The moral philosophy for such a belief is, ”Let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” And not surprisingly, that is exactly the the lifestyle that is increasingly prevalent in our degenerating society. Granted, faith in God does not give us all the answers, but it does give us a point of reference, provides meaning for our existence and hope for eternity. The chaotic state of society is explained in terms of sin, an unpopular subject in this hedonistic culture. But, hope survives through “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” which is what Christmas is all about.
Christians will not change the world by argument, nor save souls by debate, But we must decide whose side we are really on, and behave ourselves accordingly. Joshua laid out the issue for ambivalent Israel when he said, “…If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord [Josh. 24:15].”
Neither scripture nor reason give us the luxury of playing to both galleries.
For the true believer there is both hope and help in the God of the bible. “Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” Have you trusted Him as your Savior—and LORD?
For His glory and our good,
"Pastor" Frasier
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