THE NEED FOR CHRISTIAN CONVICTION
A Call to Dynamic Faith
By Gary Ray Branscome
branscome.org
O fools, and slow of heart to believe
everything the prophets have said (Luke 24:25).
Many American churches, and western churches in
general, are full of lukewarm Christians – Christians who go through the
motions of professing faith, but do not take everything the Bible says
seriously, often have doubts about what it says and are so inconsistent in
their thinking that they accept ideas that contradict what it says. Because of
that fact most of our nation’s universities have been taken over by the
advocates of neo-pagan religion, and the halls of government are filled with
people who see nothing wrong with murdering babies while using chemicals and
surgery to sterilize confused children. In short, our nation is now controlled
by the worst kind of liars and criminals.
Far too many Christians attend church
regularly, pray and try to do what is right while at the same time struggling
with doubts that rob them of real conviction: doubts that have their roots in
the constant assault on our faith by the world, the flesh and the devil. What
such Christians need to know is that we do not need to prove to the world that
God is real, that the Flood took place, or that Scripture is the Word of God because
it is God who determines what is true and what is not true. Moreover, because
He determines what is true, ALL TRUTH
AGREES WITH AND SUP
Because even believers have a heart that is, “deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked,” we are sometimes weak in faith, and find apologetics helpful in
answering questions that trouble us (Jeremiah 17:9). However, God has filled
the world with evidence, and all of that evidence agrees with His Word.
GOD
We do not need to prove to the world that God exists.
All of the living things that we see in the world are in themselves proof of
God’s existence, because all of those living things show incredible design. That
design should be obvious to everyone, and is even obvious to many atheists. Take
for example the following quotes by Richard Dawkins and Francis Crick.
“Biology is
the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been
designed for a purpose.” (Richard Dawkins, “The
Blind Watchmaker,” second paragraph.)
“Biologists
must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather
evolved.” (Francis Crick, “What Mad
Pursuit,” page 138.)
Both of those quotes are by men who
are highly regarded in scientific circles, and both testify to the obvious
evidence of intelligent design in nature. Nevertheless, because both of the authors
I just quoted deny that actual design exists we have to ask ourselves this. If
a dog or a horse saw the complicated things that these men are speaking of,
would that dog or horse see evidence for design? Of course not! A dog or horse
might see something, but it is our reason that tells us those things have been
designed. Richard Dawkins and Francis Crick see the evidence, but reject what
reason itself tells them must be true. In short, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Romans
The Flood
Likewise, we do not have to prove that
the flood of Noah took place; the evidence is all around us. People who are
blind to that fact need to ask themselves: What
evidence would a world-wide flood leave? And, in the words of Ken Ham, The evidence would be, “Millions of dead
things, buried in rock layers, laid down by water all over the earth”.
Contrary to the false claims set forth
in second rate textbooks, there is abundant evidence that the sedimentary
layers of the earth were laid down quickly by water. The presence of marine
invertebrates in those layers testifies to that fact. And, the false claim that
the
As to radiometric dating, atheists simply
juggle the facts by claiming that no daughter elements were present in the
beginning when we know that they were present. The fact that different radioactive
isotopes give different ages testifies to that fact.
The Bible
All of the militant attacks on
Scripture are rooted in self-deception and lies. For example: Those who claim that miracles are impossible
because they contradict “the laws of nature” only show their ignorance because
intelligent beings override “the laws of nature” all the time. For example: It
is contrary to the laws of nature for wood, clay, plaster and other materials
to form themselves into a house. Because it is contrary to “the laws of nature”
it will never happen by itself. However, intelligent beings cause what would
never happen naturally to happen. Likewise, in the case of miracles, God uses
His intelligence and ability to cause something to happen that would never
happen on its own.
Those
who claim that the Bible cannot be the Word of God because it contradicts
itself, again only show their ignorance. While it is true that an actual
contradiction would be an error, very often things that appear contradictory to
us only appear contradictory because of our ignorance. For example: Suppose
that you heard me say, “The Mississippi river flows south from Minnesota to the
Gulf of Mexico,” and later say, “I stood on the bank of the Mississippi river
and watched it flowing north on its way to the sea”. If you jumped up and said,
“Ah ha, you contradicted yourself,” you would only be showing your ignorance
because the
Those
who claim that what the Bible says cannot be true because it contradicts
science again only show their ignorance. If they would actually look at the
evidence, they would find that even though the opinions of men often contradict
Scripture, the facts never do. Certain facts may be interpreted to contradict
Scripture, but in every case they could just as well be interpreted to agree
with it. Moreover, much of what is currently called science is nothing more
than atheist religion being passed off as science.
For example: Darwinism is
founded on the superstitious belief that
life originated in a warm little pond. That idea seemed reasonable to him, but it
contradicts science. A number of experiments by Francisco Redi
(1626-1697), Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), and others convinced the scientific
community that life does not come from non-living chemicals. Nevertheless,
atheist religion – falsely called science – continues to hold to
Likewise, Darwin (who knew nothing of genetics) saw
small changes in animals (such as finches with different size beaks) and
assumed that such changes had no limit. However, modern genetics tells us that
there is a limit. Because of that limit one kind of animal cannot change into
an entirely different kind. Nevertheless, atheist religion – falsely called
science – continues to contradict science by claiming that all life evolved
from non-living chemicals (1Timothy
False Prophets
Many Christians falsely assume that no
one can be a false prophet unless he starts a “church” or preaches from a
pulpit, yet nothing could be further from the truth. And, that fact ought to be
obvious because the false prophets that Jeremiah and Ezekiel condemned did not
preach in churches because no churches existed at that time. On the contrary,
those false prophets were men who deceived the people by passing their own
opinions and lies off as truth. And,
Sigmund Freud, who described himself
as a “God hating Jew,” is the one who invented the lie that some people are
born homosexual. His “cure” for guilt was satanic to the core; for he taught
the guilty to harden their heart by committing the same sin over and over until
it no longer bothered them. And, foolish men, including many lukewarm
Christians, poison their minds by filling their head with his satanic lies. I
do not believe that anyone can immerse themselves in his way of thinking,
especially to the extent required to get a university degree, without
incorporating many satanic lies into their thinking – especially when they are
willing to pay a small fortune to fill their head with his lies.
Carl Marx, who dabbled in Satanism,
refused to work for a living because he would have to work for a “capitalist”.
While he was involved in revolutionary activities, he was dirty, rarely bathed,
and if his friend Engels had not supported him he
probably would have wound up in an insane asylum. That is what they did back
then with people who would not work. That raises one important question. Why do
foolish men throw away huge amounts of money to learn his stupid opinions? And,
that question is answered by the words, “Woe
unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so
did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke
I could go on and on, but my point is
that our universities are full of false prophets, including all who accept the
lies of Freud, Marx and Darwin.
The Rotten Fruit of False prophesy
Over one hundred years ago, the false
prophets who concocted the poison that is destroying our civilization looked
down upon those who lived a savage existence in pagan darkness. Men like Andrew
Nelson Lyle, Robert Owen, Thomas Huxley, Ernest Haeckel,
Friedrich Nietzsche, as well as Darwin, Marx and Freud (to name but a few)
regarded those who disfigured their bodies with tattoos, put spools through
their earlobes, put rings through their noses, killed unwanted babies, reveled
in sexual immorality and dulled their minds with drugs and alcohol as genetic
and intellectual inferiors. In their self-righteous ignorance they regarded
them as being almost sub-human. Yet the fruit of their antichristian philosophy
has been to fill our universities with young people who conduct themselves in
the same depraved way.
If you can discover the goals of an educational system
by looking at its results, then I would say that the goal of western education
is to turn sweet trusting children into sleazy immoral teenagers. Moreover, judging
by results, I would say that Amish schools are doing a far better job of
education than
Hitler was a left-wing socialist dictator
who was devoted to the neo-pagan philosophies of Darwin, Haeckel
and Nietzsche. Not only was he responsible for the deaths of far more than the
six million Jews we usually hear about, his followers forcibly sterilized many
whom they regarded as inferior.
Lenin was the leader of a group of intellectuals
devoted to Marxism, and his revolution destroyed the Russian economy. In the
years that followed that revolution it was the west, including the
Historians estimate that Stalin was responsible for
the deaths of between twenty and seventy million people, and Mao for the deaths
of between fifty and one-hundred million. Yet in the
Good Rulers and Evil Rulers
Those who insist that the church
should be politically neutral want the church to preach a “politically-correct”
message that fails to condemn the sins of those in government. Yet that is
totally unbiblical! In the books of Kings and Chronicles God tells us how He
wants rulers to behave, and His Word clearly
condemns rulers who encourage religious pluralism, subsidize false prophets, approve
the killing of babies and encourage homosexuality. Moreover, because many
of the people were perfectly willing to engage in any sins that wicked rulers
made legal, wickedness in government often brought down judgment on the entire nation.
As ruler of
As ruler of
In contrast, Ahaz
was condemned by God because he subsidized false religion, and “burnt his children in the fire” [the
modern equivalent being abortion] (2Chronicles 28:3).
Likewise Manasseh was condemned by God
because he subsidized and promoted witchcraft and pagan religion, while
aborting “his children with fire”
(2Chronicles 33:1-6).
Because pagan temples [like our
neo-pagan universities] were often centers of immorality, including
prostitution and homosexuality, the evil rulers of
Conclusion
Just as God wanted his prophets to
condemn the wickedness rampant in ancient
The only difference between someone who
regards nature as his creator, and someone who regards a stone statue as his
creator is the size of the rock.
[The
book, “An Evangelical Orthodox Guide to Christian Theology,” by Mr. Branscome
is available from www.christiannewsmo.com]