Watchman Blog

Can evolution determine right and wrong?

Creation Science Evangelism (Link) (January 13, 2011)

A critique of an article entitled “The Science of Right and Wrong” in the January 2011 edition of Scientific American.¹

The science of right and wrong

Scientific American has recently published an article on the science of moral issues, written by the atheist publisher and author, Michael Shermer. The purpose of the article—which quotes favorably from Sam Harris’s book, The Moral Landscape—is to claim that morality is something which human beings have acquired by a process of evolution.  As one would expect in an article by an atheist, Shermer’s writings contain a number of presuppositions and logical fallacies.

For example, Shermer begins his article by declaring: “Ever since the rise of modern science, an almost impregnable wall separating it from religion, morality and human values has been raised to the heights.” In fact, the majority of scientists of the modern era were men who believed the Bible to be true—men such as Newton, Lister, Hooke, Boyle, Kelvin, Faraday, etc. All of these subscribed to a morality based not on naturalistic principles, but on God’s law.

Prosperity Gospel Treads Fine Line Between Blessing, Materialism, Say Theologians

The Christian Post (Link) - Michelle A. Vu (October 29, 2010)

There needs to be a clear distinction between true biblical prosperity and the gospel of materialism, said two African theologians who are experts in the area of prosperity gospel.

The message that God blesses those who give crosses the line from biblical into prosperity gospel when it becomes self-serving and is used to support the preacher’s extravagant lifestyle, said Kwabena Asamoah, the academic dean and associate professor of Religion and Pentecostal Theology at Trinity Theological Seminary in Legon, Ghana, at the recent Lausanne III conference.

Asamoah, who also served as senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religion at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., in 2004, defines prosperity gospel as “preaching, interpreting, teaching the word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord in a self-serving manner that places its emphasis on consumerism to suggest that the possession of material things, of those wealth are necessary indicators of general Christianity and God’s approval.”

“Prosperity is not alien to Scripture,” explained Asamoah last Saturday at the multiplex session titled, “Poverty, Prosperity and the Gospel.”

“God does promise to bless His people. But prosperity gospel distorts the blessing to mean only material blessing.”

Strange Prophetic Silence

Bible Prophecy Today (Part 1 | Part 2) - Rapture Ready - Terry James (October 18, 2010)

Todd often makes the observation these days that there seems to be a strange lack of prophetic activity; nothing in the news rivets the observer in the dramatic way, say, that an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities might grab one’s attention.

This Strandberg perception of a lull in prophetic progression, as he calls it, might seem at first nonsensical, considering the tremendous procession of probable end-times issues and events that we at Rapture Ready address each week. Geopolitically, there are many signals of biblically prophetic significance. The European Union (EU) continues to consolidate power while remaining at the same time loosely confederated. Certainly, we legitimately can and do make the case for this strange entity being the likely candidate for producing revived Rome – the ten toes of iron and miry clay given in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream-vision of the final world empire (Daniel 2).

Russia is a brooding giant to Israel’s north, and at every opportunity, Iran threatens the Jewish state with oblivion. These nations combine with Turkey and others to constitute a coalescing agglomerate that has the characteristics of the foretold Gog-Magog military machine of Ezekiel 38 and 39.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin openly displays ambition that easily qualifies him as one who might aspire to be the Gog of the Ezekiel prophecies. Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spouts the kind of hatred for God’s chosen people that the prince of Persia no doubt will use to inspire Iran’s (Persia’s) leader to join with Gog in raging against Israel in that satanic attack (Daniel 10:20).

Heaven, Hell, and Emergent Heresy

Bible Prophecy Today (Link) - Eric Barger (July 25, 2010)

When one does a careful evaluation of the teachings of Emergent leaders, such as Doug Pagitt, Rob Bell, and Brian McLaren, it becomes apparent that they do not believe that Heaven, as described in the Bible, actually exists. Even clearer is their denunciation against the notion of a literal Hell. Their focus is only on the “here-and-now” existence of this life and experiencing the “journey” and “conversations” it presents.

Pagitt, for example, bristles at the notion that Heaven and Hell are actual places. According to Pagitt, God interacts with all people the same way. When asked what happens to the “good Muslim” when he dies, Pagitt told commentator Todd Friel,

“God’s going to judge the life and repair and restore and heal the life of everybody in the same way.”

Pagitt then stated that God will interact with Christians in the same way that He will with Muslims after they die. He is very clearly stating that every orthodox idea of Christianity has been mistaken and that in the end God reconciles ALL people, regardless of what they believe or even if they believe. This is the heart and soul of so-called “reconciling” universalism. (See: YouTube clip)

Replacement Theology - Part 1-3

Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3) - James A. Showers (June 28, 2010)

Divestment involves withdrawing investments from companies doing business with a particular nation in order to put economic pressure on the government. It was a technique used against South Africa to break apartheid. Over the years, some Protestant churches have asked people to stop investing in companies doing business with Israel based on their claim that Israel is a racist nation. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Israel is a democracy that freely gives the vote to both Jews and Arabs. Apartheid occurs when a minority race uses its power to take economic advantage of the majority of another race. Such is not the case in Israel.

In 2007 a Methodist women’s group wrote a report, sponsored by and paid for by the Methodist church, that referred to the founding of the State of Israel as the “original sin,” thus equating modern Israel with Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God. The report implied humanity sinned against God in creating the modern nation. It was a shocking statement.

The same report claims, “The Holocaust, and the impact of the Holocaust on Israel’s society, has caused hysteria and paranoia amongst Israelis.” The report not only treated the murder of 6 million people casually, as if it were a minor event, but also claimed Jewish people have blown it out of proportion. If an event in history had put 6 million Methodists to death, these women probably would have a different outlook on the Holocaust.

Then, of course, there is Jimmy Carter. The former U.S. president’s 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, distorted facts, demonized Israel, and contained hundreds of falsehoods and fictional statements.

In light of all these events, perhaps you’ve asked yourself, Why are all of these Christians picking on Israel? What’s behind these attacks?

The answer is Replacement Theology, the belief the church has replaced physical Israel (the Jewish people) in the plan of God. Those who hold this view believe the church has become “spiritual Israel” and the inheritor of all the covenant promises God made to Israel. But they say the Jewish people retain all the curses.

God Particles and Jesus Glue

The Omega Letter (Link) - Jack Kinsella (May 5, 2010)

Europe’s particle physics lab, CERN, is losing ground rapidly in the race to discover the elusive Higgs boson, or “God particle.”

The particle, whose existence has been predicted by theoreticians, would help to explain why matter has mass. Finding the Higgs boson is the major goal of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN along the French –Swiss border.

CERN’s research was interrupted when an accident damaged some of the magnets that make up its collider ring.

Identifying the so-called God Particle has been a target for the European Organization for Nuclear Research (Cern) ever since the LHC was first conceived in the early 1980s.

At the launch of the LHC near Geneva in September, some scientists predicted the Higgs would be revealed as soon as summer 2009.

But just one week later, an accident occurred which will halt experiments at the accelerator for at least 12 months.

CERN has been in competition with the US Fermilab, also seeking confirmation of Higgs boson using its own particle accelerator called the Tevatron. The smaller the mass of the particle, the more difficult and time-consuming it will be for Fermilab to detect.

Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing

The Omega Letter (Link) - Jack Kinsella (April 16, 2010)

One of the first challenges out of the mouth of the skeptic when confronted with the Gospel is often a demand for proof that God exists in the first place.  

But when you get down to it, the challenge is exactly backwards -- on every level.   First, there is the problem created for the atheist if God doesn't exist.  If there is no Creator, then we came from nothing. 

You see, that's a problem.  The one thing that we know does NOT exist in the physical universe of the atheist is nothing.

Renes Descartes, often called the "father of modern philosophy" disproved the existence of nothing in his famous cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am.)

New Age Sympathizer Leonard Sweet To Speak at Pastor Skip Heitzig’s Calvary Chapel Church

Lighthouse Trails Research (Link) (March 26, 2010)

From Warren B. Smith’s book, A “Wonderful” Deception:

“If we want to possess a magical crystal for our New Age work, we need look no further than our own bodies and the cells that make them up.” 1 | David Spangler 1991

“I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership.” 2 | Leonard Sweet 1991

Leonard Sweet, in acknowledging [New Age leaders] Willis Harman, Matthew Fox, M. Scott Peck, and the others he refers to as “New Light leaders” in Quantum Spirituality, states:

“I believe these are among the most creative religious leaders in America today. These are the ones carving out channels for new ideas to flow. In a way this book was written to guide myself through their channels and chart their progress. The book’s best ideas come from them.” 3

Speaking of spiritual “channels,” Sweet expresses his personal gratitude in Quantum Spirituality to channeler and veteran New Age leader, David Spangler. . . . A pioneering spokesperson for the New Age, Spangler has written numerous books over the years that include Emergence: The Rebirth of the Sacred, Revelation: The Birth of a New Age, and Reimagination of the World: A Critique of the New Age, Science, and Popular Culture. His book Revelation: The Birth of a New Age is a compilation of channeled transmissions he received from his disembodied spirit-guide “John.” At one point in Revelation, Spangler documents what “John” prophesied about “the energies of the Cosmic Christ” and “Oneness”:

“As the energies of the Cosmic Christ become increasingly manifest within the etheric life of Earth, many individuals will begin to respond with the realization that the Christ dwells within them. They will feel his presence moving within and through them and will begin to awaken to their heritage of Christhood and Oneness with God, the Beloved.” 4

Unbelievably, in a modern-day consultation that bears more than a casual resemblance to King Saul’s consultation with the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28:7), Leonard Sweet acknowledges in Quantum Spirituality that he was privately corresponding with channeler David Spangler.5 In Quantum Spirituality, Sweet writes about what he calls his “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership, then closes his book by thanking Spangler for “his help in formulating this ‘new cell’ understanding of New Light Leadership.” Sweet writes:

“I am grateful to David Spangler for his help in formulating this “new cell” understanding of New Light leadership.” 6

LIGHTHOUSE TRAILS REPORT: This coming June, Calvary Chapel Albuquerque (a veteran Calvary Chapel church pastored by Skip Heitzig) will host the National Worship Leader Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico and will feature New Age sympathizer and emerging church leader, Leonard Sweet. The NWLC event will take place in three different U.S. locations with Sweet participating in two of them. The worship conference is presented by Worship Leader magazine, whose chief editor is Chuck Fromm (Chuck Smith, Sr.’s nephew). On the conference website, a banner promotion by Greg Laurie, (another veteran Calvary Chapel pastor) sits in a prominent spot. Laurie states: “In Worship Leader magazine, you hear from the leading thinkers, artists, and pastors on how we can more effectively worship God.”7

Guarding Against Deception

Fulfilled Prophecy (Link) - Holly Pivec - Bible.org

The Bible warns that many professing Christians will be deceived in the end times. So how can you safeguard your faith?

For one thing, you can study theology.

Don’t be scared away by this statement. Theology has become a bad word in many of today’s churches. It’s often equated with “dry, dead religion” and mere “head knowledge.” And, sometimes, there’s truth to this. Someone can know theology backward and forward and not have a close walk with God.

But it’s also true that someone can’t have a close walk with God if he or she doesn’t know theology. Let me explain.

Theology, simply put, is “the study of God” — who He is, what He’s like and how we can relate to Him. It’s how we know God.

Saying theology isn’t important is like saying it doesn’t matter if you know your spouse or not. You can’t have a meaningful relationship with a person you don’t know on a deep level. The same is true of our relationship with God.

To have an experiential relationship Him, we must know Him deeply, including what He thinks about things, His likes, His dislikes and the things we can do to please Him. It’s our main defense against the false prophets who will try to seduce us away from our faith.

To help more Christians learn theology, a tremendous resource has been made available called The Theology Program. Learn more about it here. It’s an online video series, and it provides the same theological training seminary students receive. It doesn’t dumb down the information, but it’s also not too difficult for laypeople to understand. The best part is it’s free. The program also makes DVDs available for purchase.

It will take time and commitment to watch the entire series, which is approximately 75 hours in length. For those who can’t watch the full-length program, a condensed version is also available, which breaks the program into 258 theology questions and answers.

Consider completing the program or sharing it with a Sunday School class or home group. It will be 75 hours well spent.

Spiritual Wickedness in High Places

Chuck Baldwin Live (Link) - Chuck Baldwin (February 17, 2010)

Almost immediately after Adam’s fall, Lucifer and his minions collaborated with evil men to usurp God’s authority and sovereignty. And nowhere is God more sovereign than in the heart and conscience of man. In the spirit world, the First Commandment (“Thou shalt have no other gods before me”) is the battleground that is most fought over. The war for man’s heart and soul is never-ending.

Nimrod was the first would-be tyrant to try and bring the world into a global “New World Order.” His handiwork produced the Tower of Babel, which brought about a cataclysmic judgment from Jehovah. However, while Nimrod was the first globalist to try and unify the nations against God, he was certainly not the last. The Pharaohs, Darius, Artaxerxes, Cyrus, Alexander, Nebuchadnezzar, the Caesars, and hundreds like them have all brought their tyrannical rule over the hearts of men. And their ideas and passions are as alive and active in the world today as ever.

With every would-be world tyrant, there is one constant: the unholy marriage between a supranational government and Big Religion. If Jehovah God made anything clear in the Mosaic model of government, it was the fact that--until Christ Himself comes to occupy both offices--the offices of Priest and King were to be eternally separate. At least one Old Testament Jewish king learned that lesson the hard way.