Who is Voddie?

Who is Dr. Voddie T. Baucham, Jr.?  Dr. Baucham is a former pastor at Grace Church in Spring, Texas (not BIG Spring).  He is now the Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Lusaka, Zambia (he has lived there since 2015).   You may have heard the interview with Glenn Beck on Voddie's latest book Faultlines.  Voddie played football for New Mexico State University, Rice and Houston Baptist University.  In his first game against Univ. of Texas - El Paso (UTEP), he caught 10 passes for 106 yards.  Paige Patterson thought Voddie would make a great President of the SBC.  Voddie's first book was on Apologetics.  When Dr. Baucham taught Sociology, he used a standard mainstream textbook.

 

What can we learn from Voddie's latest book Faultlines?  The website "New Discourses" is a great source for info on Critical Theory.  Voddie visited the Slave Tree in Ndola, Zambia which reminded him that slaves were sold to Spaniards and others by their own African kinsmen. 

 

Speaking of football ... remember Colin Rand "Kap" Kaepernick?  In 2016, he knelt during the national anthem as a form of complaint regarding police action.  But what was the nature of his initial protest?  The incident involved the San Francisco Police and Mario Woods (BTW there is a Frisco, TX).  Police were dispatched because of an alleged stabbing ... Woods was brandishing an eight inch blade.  Five police were on the scene who first spoke to him without effect and then they used pepper spray and projectile bean bags.  Bystanders said, "Drop the knife!" but Woods refused.  Woods moved towards the officers with the knife and it was only then that he was shot.  He was dangerously close - less than ten feet away.

 

How should we react to this tragic event?  One radical activist stated, “If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it”.  Do you want your town to turn into Kenosha, Minneapolis or Portland?

 

Only certain incidents involving police get high profile coverage.  Did you hear what happened to Tony Timpa in Dallas in 2016?  Timpa, who was schizophrenic, called the cops and said he was off his meds and needed assistance.  A security guard had already handcuffed Timpa before the officers arrived.  Three Dallas officers held Timpa as he said, "You're gonna kill me!" several times - this lasted around fourteen minutes.  Then Timpa went limp ... the DPD on the scene did not take this seriously and joked around.  However, one officer said, "I hope we didn't kill him."  Sadly, he had already passed.  The DPD refused to release the body-cam video for 3 years.  The officers involved received no disciplinary action at the time.  Why is it that Tony Timpa's name is not a household word?              

 

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh.  Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:16-19, NKJV)   

 

#Sociology #VoddieBaucham #Kaepernick #Kap #football #TonyTimpa #police  #cops #officers #handcuffs #FaultLines #GlennBeck #Apologetics #Zambia  #MarioWoods #SBC #CriticalTheory

Does Atheism Have a Future?

From Bart Ehrman's blog (2013) we read this ...

 

I apparently threw a few people for a loop yesterday when I referred to myself as an atheist. ... When I became an agnostic - 17 or 18 years ago? ... I thought that “agnosticism” and “atheism” were two *degrees* of basically the same thing. ...  According to this idea, an agnostic is someone who says that s/he does not *know* whether God exists, and an atheist is someone who makes a definitive statement that God does *not* exist.  Agnostics don’t know and atheists are sure.

 

This video responding to Ehrman's views is excellent.  I have replied to Ehrman's work here and here.  Some atheists go with the tag "brights," but what does the Real Creator and Author of Truth say?  "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding.  To him belongs eternal praise." (Ps. 111:10).  Does atheism have a future?  I think not:

 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,

    to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)

 

I have a few questions for my atheist friends:

 

• Why do we yearn for Utopia?
• If life is hopeless, is suicide an option?
• Did I create History?
• Am I the Author of the Universe?
• Have you read the Bible?
• What if you're wrong?

 

What does the non-Theist have to say?  Here are the chapters from the book Atheist Universe by David Mills:

This book has an endorsement from Richard Dawkins and a foreword from Dorion Sagan.  Should we follow our emotions blindly?  Isaac Asimov said, “Emotionally I am an atheist.  I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time.”  But what about the Big Bang?  Sir Hermann Bondi (d. 2005), mathematician and astronomer, said, “… theories of the origin of the Universe have been disproved by present day empirical evidence as have various theories of the origin of the Solar System.”  One specific problem for the Big Bang is known as the "horizon problem" - the universe is not old enough for the heat to be so evenly distributed in the cosmos based on their assumptions. 

 

Check out our take on Hell here.  Eric Metaxas has written a profound book on miracles.  Metaxas hosts Socrates in the City where Malcolm Gladwell, Dick Cavett, N.T.  Wright and Peter Hitchens have been guests.  Concerning the Fundamentals of the Faith, see here.  To keep up with Intelligent Design, be sure to follow EvolutionNews.org and enjoy the info.  As for America's Christian Heritage, I would point to this book by Gary DeMar.  Also, the work of Wallbuilders is helpful.  I have visited the church that President Washington was a part of.  Consider the truth, turn from atheism and go to Jesus.  Here's a summary of the Good News (Gospel).  Check out this helpful apologetic for Jesus, God and the Bible.

 

The law from your mouth is more precious to me

than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. (Ps. 119:72)

 

#MichaelShermer #MalcolmGladwell #DickCavett #NTWright #PeterHitchens #Atheism #God #BigBang #Agnostic #Asimov #Jesus #Gospel #BartEhrman #Apologetics

Did Fido (K9) Die B4 the Fall (G3)?

You may have caught the debate between Marek Kizer and Scarlett Clay on Animal death before the Fall (Gen. 3) on The Gospel Truth show. 

Kizer is a Southern Baptist teenager interested in theology, apologetics and philosophy of religion.  Props to Marek for mentioning Aquinas.  Clay is an educator, artist, and Christian apologist (Ratio Christi).  She knows  English, Art History and enjoys public speaking.  Clay has a Master’s Degree in Christian Apologetics from Biola (formerly Bible Institute Of Los Angeles) and is  currently working on an M.Div. from The Southern Baptist Seminary (Louisville).  Consider Gen. 1:28,

 

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

 

Kizer takes this as implying animal death.  Did King David kill all his subjects?  Conservation, invention, exploration, technology and stewardship are implied by this passage - not assassinating Fido.  Calvin's comment on Gen. 1:28 is thought provoking:

 

Some infer, from this passage that men were content with herbs and fruits until the deluge, and that it was even unlawful for them to eat flesh.  And this seems the more probable, because God confines, in some way, the food of mankind within certain limits.  Then after the deluge, he expressly grants them the use of flesh.  These reasons, however are not sufficiently strong: for it may be adduced on the opposite side, that the first men offered sacrifices from their flocks.  This, moreover, is the law of sacrificing rightly, not to offer unto God anything except what he has granted to our use.  Lastly men were clothed in skins; therefore it was lawful for them to kill animals.

When God clothed Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:21) that was after the Fall, so was Abel's animal sacrifice (Gen. 4:4).  The permission to eat wagyu steaks was not given until after Noah landed atop Mt. Ararat:

 

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.  The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands.  Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." (Gen. 9:1-3)

 

So, before the Flood, you and the animals may eat plants and after the Deluge  you can eat frogs per God's command (Gen. 1:29,30).  Did everyone follow this?  No.  Kizer seems unaware of historic Christian views on the fossil record that I summarized in a prior post (see 13:25 mark of the debate):

 

Tertullian pointed to fossils found on mountains as evidence of the Flood.   Augustine saw fossils as the remains of creatures living before the Flood.  Martin Luther referred to fossils as being the result of the Deluge in his commentary on Genesis.  Agostino Scilla published a work in 1670 on fossils which he illustrated himself which pointed to the Flood as their cause.  Colin Stearn and Robert Carroll, authors of a mainstream paleontology text, freely admit that by the middle of the eighteenth century, “Most [naturalists] attributed them [the fossils] to animals destroyed in the Biblical flood…”

 

Can you point to a single published work that holds to Creation In Six Days (#CISD, 6 real days, roughly 24 hours), a devastating Global Flood and animal death before Adam?  Founders Ministries (aka Southern Baptist Founders Conference) favors the 1689 confession which states:

 

In the beginning God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was pleased to create or make the world and all things in it, both visible and invisible, in a six-day period, and all very good.  He did this to manifest the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness.

 

Kizer discounts Clay's excellent argument from an article on the Answers in Genesis site:

 

Many believe the earth is millions of years old, holding to a secular geological timescale, which necessarily includes millions of years of animals suffering, dying, and rotting prior to the fall in the Garden of Eden. ... God had declared his creation to be “very good” (Genesis 1:31) before the fall.  A putrefying animal carcass covered in flies and exuding an abhorrent odor reminds us of the consequences of sin and the horror of rebellion against our Creator.  There’s nothing good about death.

 

Jesus said this in his rebuke against the Pharisees ("woe to you"), "Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. ..." (Lk. 11:50,51).  If the beginning of Earth (not just mankind) and Abel are connected, then our home is young.  How can Death-before-Adam fit with a young earth?

 

Our latest book Is a Young Earth Possible? argues for a youthful world from history and science.  Please check out our website: TotalYouth.us >> "for Total truth, support earth's Youth."

 

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;

    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him -

    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding ...

The wolf will live with the lamb,

    the leopard will lie down with the goat,

the calf and the lion and the yearling together;

    and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,

    their young will lie down together,

    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,

    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

    on all my holy mountain,

for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord

    as the waters cover the sea. (Is. 11:1,2,6-9)

 

Does that sound like animal death was "very good" as stated at the end of Creation Week (Gen. 1:31)?

 

#AnimalDeath #Adam #Fall #Wagyu #MarekKizer #ScarlettClay #TrueTruth  #Genesis #Calvin #1689 #NDB4A #YoungEarthPossible #ChurchHistory #fossils #Abel #Noah #Flood #CISD

Broken Fools

I know that you’re broken, broken like me

Maybe that makes me a “fool”

God will judge us, both you and me

I’m just speakin’ the truth

Let’s light it up – a worship party!

Some trust in fame and wealth

The New York Times and tiny rooms

Great is the Lord, his salvation won’t wear off

Praise Him ye peoples!

Let’s all be friends

I’ve been touched by grace

And God’s Not Dead

Stars shout for joy, though they’re not pure

God’s judgment’s right, of that I’m sure

Praise Him all creation, forests and seas!

All false gods and idols will fry

We’re all broken souls floating by

Sing a Love Song to Him who knows Why

He’ll fix your broken pieces one at a time

I know that you’re broken, broken like me

  -- ice-j  2/2/21 AD

#LovelyTheBand #ApologetixFans #ChristianParody #Broken #Ps_96 #GodsNotDead #Pomes #NYT

Awakeness and the Noachian Revolution

The Welfare State has destroyed the Urban family and inner cities.  Free markets and entrepreneurship lead to prosperity.  Hard work pays off:

 

For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat."

2 Thes. 3:10

Lady Justice is usually blindfolded and holds a balanced scale.  Her scales represent the weighing of evidence.  Scripture places the criterion for virtue on the inner man:

 

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him.  For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Sam. 16:7

 

We are all Noachians now.  We descend from Noah and ultimately our family tree goes back to Adam:

 

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. …

Acts 17:26,27

In The Descent of Man (1871), Darwin taught that some people groups were less evolved than others.  So, why hasn’t the statue (above) in Shrewsbury, UK, been torn down.  Why hasn’t the ultra-radical mob destroyed and burned Down House, Darwin’s old abode.

 

Omniculturalism looks for the good, the true and the beautiful from all cultures in all times.  We all can appreciate the gift of human creativity from those born on the opposite side of the planet.  Consider, for example, the wonder of Mayan mathematics.  The Mayans were superb astronomers.

 

The Bible clearly preaches against the oppression of the weak by the rich and powerful:

 

Look!  The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.  You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.  You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.  You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you.

James 5:4-6

 

Here is an excellent analysis on the Extreme Justice trend in today’s culture.  Check out what happens when a philosophy prof takes today’s identity confusion to its logical conclusion.  Evergreen College melted down in 2017 due to this movement and led to numerous faculty resignations, a humongous collapse in enrollments, layoffs and budget cuts.

 

Why do you make me see iniquity,

    and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    strife and contention arise.

So the law is paralyzed,

    and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

    so justice goes forth perverted.

Hab. 1:3,4

William Tyndale and Socialism

William Tyndale became a Catholic priest in 1521, but learned the true gospel at some later point.  In 1525, he met Martin Luther and completed his translation of the New Testament into English which was illegal at the time.  Tyndale was choked and burned at the stake in 1536 after spending 500 days in a dungeon.  His last words were, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."  Miles Coverdale continued Tyndale's work and the "Matthew Bible" came out in 1537.  Six copies were put in Old St. Paul's Church where, in front of huge crowds, one after another would publically read until his voice went out!  Tyndale's prayer was answered in short order.

 

Sir Thomas More wanted nothing more than to see Tyndale burned for his efforts. Tyndale, who spoke eight languages, produced two editions to the New Testament and translated two thirds of the Old Testament into English.  You can learn the details of the Tyndale/More debate here.  From Tyndale's The Obedience Of A Christian Man (1528) we read his attitude towards his persecutors:

 

Christ is the cause why I love you, why I am ready to do the uttermost of my power for you, and why I pray for you.  And as long as the cause abides, so long lasts the effect: even as it is always day so long as the sun shines.  Do therefore the worst you can to me, take away my goods, take away my good name; yet as long as Christ remains in my heart, so long I love you not a whit less, and so long are you as dear to me as my own soul, and so long am I ready to do you good for your evil, and so long I pray for you with all my heart: for Christ desires it of me, and has deserved it of me.

 

Now, what's the connection to Socialism?  Socialism leads to Communism which lays down the hammer on Christians ==> Soviet Russia and mainland China today.  Here is an excellent video on the dangers of Socialism. [1]  Will our country become Socialist?  Will serious persecution of Christians become a real thing in the USA?  Will you become a political prisoner within your lifetime?

 

Consider this timeline chart for Venezuela's downward trod from Free Markets to Socialism:

In the early 1990's Venezuela was quite prosperous.  Now, some Venezuelans are so desperate that they are eating cats and dogs.  Here is a pic of Cuba today:

Who can command things to happen

without the Lord’s permission?

Does not the Most High

send both calamity and good?

Then why should we, mere humans, complain

when we are punished for our sins?

  (Lam. 3:37-39, NLT)

 

 

Notes:

1) There is a positive reference to an LDS document in one spot of the video.  For another view of the teachings of the Elders of Salt Lake see my prior post:

https://adamslostdream.blogspot.com/2012/01/planet-kolob-chariot-of-gods.html

 

** Special thanks to James White for recently highlighting the life of Tyndale.

The Heresy of an Older Planet?

Should believers who need to grow further in their understanding of the Old Earth/New Earth controversy be put up on charges at a heresy trial?  When we look at the basics of the faith, we have a grand heritage to draw from.  Historic creeds, confessions and catechisms.  For example, consider the Apostle's Creed:

 

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

born of the Virgin Mary,

Suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried.

He descended into hell;

The third day he rose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;

I believe in the holy catholic church, the communion of saints;

The forgiveness of sin;

The resurrection of the body:

And the life everlasting. Amen.

 

Note that God's role as Creator is brought forth at the very beginning, but the exact dating of t₀ is not provided.

 

Francis Schaeffer* spoke of the "heart of the Christian faith" and includes three truths: authority of the Bible, Christ's deity and the real meaning of salvation.  He went on to give a positive affirmation of the series of books known as The Fundamentals published from 1910 to 1915 which had such authors as B.B. Warfield & G. Campbell Morgan.[1]  These writings did not set a date for Creation Week.  Instead, they made the case for these Bible basics:

 

•   Inspiration of the Bible
•   Inerrancy of the Scripture
•   Deity of Christ
•   Virgin birth of Christ
•   Substitutionary atonement
•   Literal resurrection of Jesus
•   A literal return of Christ

 

I have documented elsewhere that Schaeffer belongs more so in the camp that take Genesis as true history than those who mix the first two chapter of the Bible with Deep Time.

 

According to Matt Slick (Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, CARM), "A heretic denies an essential Christian belief and asserts some error in its place."  That of course bring up the query, "What are those key doctrines?"  Matt gives us this list:

 

• The Deity of Christ
• Salvation by Grace
• The Resurrection of Christ
• The Gospel
• Monotheism
• Jesus is the only way to salvation
• Jesus' virgin birth
• Doctrine of the Trinity

 

Nothing in here about an Earth that's around six millennia old.

 

Erwin Lutzer (Hitler's Cross) summarizes the Gospel around six key points:

 

•   God is holy (Lev. 11:44)
•   Jesus is God in the flesh (1 Jn. 4:1-3, Heb. 1:8)
•   Substitutionary Atonement (1 Peter 3:18)
•   We are sinners by nature & choice (Eph. 2:1)
•   Salvation is by faith alone (Rom. 3:28)
•   Assurance of Salvation (1 Jn. 5:11-13).[2]

 

Although I have a high admiration for Lutzer's writing and radio ministry, I must sadly admit that he does hold to the traditional reading of Genesis as implying a young world:

 

... the earth was not created in 4004 BC as the study notes in one Bible affirm. Many of us hold to a "young earth," but since the Bible does not tell us when God created the heavens and the earth, we must respect those who believe that the earth is much older than some creationists have believed.[3]

 

We read this in 2 Peter 2:1, "But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them …"

 Robert Bowman, writing in Orthodoxy and Heresy, tags heresy as “a teaching which directly opposes the essentials of the Christian faith, so that true Christians must divide themselves from those who hold it.”[4]  I would call rejection of a young earth as errant teaching and would label it an Old Earth Fallacy (OEF), but I would not call it heresy.  I am willing to dialog/debate my brothers and sisters in Christ on the age-of-the-earth controversy in order to improve our mutual understanding.  A few months ago I bought a book advocating Deep Time from a Christian view with respect to the Grand Canyon.  I want to represent the other side respectfully.  I have written two book documenting a young earth from history and science:

 

   Is a Young Earth Possible?

   YES - Young Earth Science

 

You can find my biblical argument you a recent creation here.

Let me know what you think:  ned_oa_1657@yahoo.com

 

 

Notes:

1) Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer by Francis Schaeffer (Crossway, Wheaton, IL, 1982), Vol. 4, p. 349.

2) Who are You to Judge? by Erwin Lutzer (Moody Pub., Chicago, 2002), pp. 69-72.

3) 7 Reasons Why You Can Trust The Bible by Erwin Lutzer (Moody Pub., Chicago, 2015) p. 160.

4) Who are You to Judge? by Erwin Lutzer (Moody Pub., Chicago, 2002), pp. 65, 66.

 

* we named our son after Francis Schaeffer

Kudos:  special thanks to Justin Derby for the 2nd Lutzer ref.