September 8, 2016

Me too!!! by Gary Rose

Nobody likes to be left out, no matter who you are. Nobody likes to be the last one chosen in baseball or volleyball or any sport you can think of. And when anyone sees see a good thing, they want "in" too.

Dog or human- no difference. Rich or poor, young or old, tall or short- again, no difference!!! And speaking of short...

Luke, Chapter 19 (WEB)
 1 He entered and was passing through Jericho.  2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.  3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short.  4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way.  5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”   6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.  7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.” 

  8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.” 

  9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.   10  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Zacchaeus was a hated man- he was a chief tax collector! He was hated by the Jews because many tax collectors (who worked for the Roman occupiers) were corrupt. Verse 8 above shows he was an honest man. Jesus saw value in him and blessed him because his mission was "to seek and to save that which was lost."
This is the point where I tell you to come to Jesus for salvation. You probably already know that, but its worth saying - again and again!!  You and I may have more than a little wrong with us, but God is still seeking us out to bless us. Climb a tree, squeeze through a hole, search in any way you want to, but seek God while you still have time!!! 

And, Oh yes- relax, there is always room for one more!!! God has a way of making opportunities for those whose heart is in the right place!!!!

Bible Reading September 8 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading September 8 (WEB)


Sept. 8
Psalms 49-51

Psa 49:1 Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,
Psa 49:2 both low and high, rich and poor together.
Psa 49:3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart shall utter understanding.
Psa 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my riddle on the harp.
Psa 49:5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
Psa 49:6 Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches--
Psa 49:7 none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.
Psa 49:8 For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,
Psa 49:9 That he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.
Psa 49:10 For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Psa 49:11 Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.
Psa 49:12 But man, despite his riches, doesn't endure. He is like the animals that perish.
Psa 49:13 This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.
Psa 49:14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.
Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.
Psa 49:16 Don't be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased.
Psa 49:17 For when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him.
Psa 49:18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul-- and men praise you when you do well for yourself--
Psa 49:19 he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light.
Psa 49:20 A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.

Psa 50:1 The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
Psa 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
Psa 50:3 Our God comes, and does not keep silent. A fire devours before him. It is very stormy around him.
Psa 50:4 He calls to the heavens above, to the earth, that he may judge his people:
Psa 50:5 "Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."
Psa 50:6 The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.
Psa 50:7 "Hear, my people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
Psa 50:8 I don't rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me.
Psa 50:9 I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens.
Psa 50:10 For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills.
Psa 50:11 I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine.
Psa 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
Psa 50:13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Psa 50:14 Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving. Pay your vows to the Most High.
Psa 50:15 Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
Psa 50:16 But to the wicked God says, "What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips,
Psa 50:17 seeing you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
Psa 50:18 When you saw a thief, you consented with him, and have participated with adulterers.
Psa 50:19 "You give your mouth to evil. Your tongue frames deceit.
Psa 50:20 You sit and speak against your brother. You slander your own mother's son.
Psa 50:21 You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that the I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes.
Psa 50:22 "Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you into pieces, and there be none to deliver.
Psa 50:23 Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him."

Psa 51:1 Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Psa 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
Psa 51:3 For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me.
Psa 51:4 Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
Psa 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me.
Psa 51:6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
Psa 51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Psa 51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness, That the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
Psa 51:9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all of my iniquities.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
Psa 51:11 Don't throw me from your presence, and don't take your holy Spirit from me.
Psa 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
Psa 51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways. Sinners shall be converted to you.
Psa 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation. My tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
Psa 51:15 Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.
Psa 51:16 For you don't delight in sacrifice, or else I would give it. You have no pleasure in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
Psa 51:18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Psa 51:19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings. Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

 
Sept. 8
1 Corinthians 4

1Co 4:1 So let a man think of us as Christ's servants, and stewards of God's mysteries.
1Co 4:2 Here, moreover, it is required of stewards, that they be found faithful.
1Co 4:3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's judgment. Yes, I don't judge my own self.
1Co 4:4 For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.
1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each man will get his praise from God.
1Co 4:6 Now these things, brothers, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to think beyond the things which are written, that none of you be puffed up against one another.
1Co 4:7 For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn't receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
1Co 4:8 You are already filled. You have already become rich. You have come to reign without us. Yes, and I wish that you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
1Co 4:9 For, I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last of all, like men sentenced to death. For we are made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and men.
1Co 4:10 We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor.
1Co 4:11 Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
1Co 4:12 We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure.
1Co 4:13 Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
1Co 4:14 I don't write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
1Co 4:15 For though you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I became your father through the Good News.
1Co 4:16 I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.
1Co 4:17 Because of this I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every assembly.
1Co 4:18 Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.
1Co 4:19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord is willing. And I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power.
1Co 4:20 For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
1Co 4:21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

There is good news for fallen humanity by Roy Davison

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/goodnews.html
 
There is good news for fallen humanity
What is this good news? God is willing to forgive our sins! The Scriptures reveal what God has done so He can forgive sinful people without compromising His own righteousness.

“God made man upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:29); He “created man in His own image” (Genesis 1:27). But “sin entered the world” through Adam (Romans 5:12) and now: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Sin separates man from God (Isaiah 59:2). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

God remedies this sad situation by assigning His righteousness to people on the basis of their faith, and by allowing His sinless Son to suffer the penalty for the sins of mankind in their stead.

None of God’s servants in the Old Testament were without sin. But they trusted and obeyed God. This is called living by faith. “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

This has a twofold meaning. A servant of God lives his life on the basis of his faith (he does not draw back but “believes to the saving of the soul” - Hebrews 10:37-39) and God gives him life on the basis of his faith (not on the basis of his own righteousness - Galatians 3:11). He lives by his faith and he lives by his faith! God enhances and upgrades his faith to righteousness.

Paul refers to this double meaning when he states that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:17).

For example: “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. ... Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:8, 9). “Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did” (Genesis 6:22). Although Noah lived an exemplary life based on his faith, he was not without sin. He needed the grace of God and God was gracious to him because of his faith.

“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith” (Hebrews 11:7). Because Noah based his life on faith, he became an heir of the righteousness God gives to believers.

In the tenth generation after Noah, a man lived whose name was Abraham. “He believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed by one of his descendants (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16). Paul says that the gospel (the good news) was preached to Abraham when God gave him this promise (Galatians 3:8). Jesus said, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56).

“By faith Abraham obeyed” (Hebrews 11:8). When God passed this promise on to Abraham’s son, Isaac, He explained: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws” (Genesis 26:4, 5). Although Abraham lived a life of faithful obedience, he was not without sin. But “faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness” (Romans 4:9). God booked Abraham’s faith as righteousness.

Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, had twelve sons whose descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel. Four hundred years after the time of Abraham, the Israelites had become a numerous people as foreigners in Egypt, but also an enslaved people.

They prayed for help and God sent Moses to rescue them from slavery. Moses was the liberator and law-giver of Israel. He said God would send them another Prophet, a (liberator and law-giver) like himself, and that only those who listened to that Prophet would be God’s people (Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Acts 3:22, 23; Acts 7:37).

About 500 years after the exodus from Egypt, David became the second king of Israel. Because of David’s faith, God promised that he would have a descendent who would establish an eternal kingdom of peace and righteousness (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Isaiah 9:6; Daniel 2:44).

Through the centuries God sent prophets who predicted the coming of this King, referred to as the Messiah or the Christ, which means the Anointed One.

Successive powerful kingdoms were established by the Babylonians, by the Medes and Persians, by the Greeks and by the Romans. About 1000 years after the death of King David, when Augustus was emperor of Rome, a baby boy was born to a virgin by the power of God’s Spirit. His name was Jesus. On the day of His birth an angel declared that He was the promised King: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

About 30 years later John the Baptist began to preach that the great King was coming. To get ready, people were to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 1:4).

When Jesus was baptized by John, the Holy Spirit came upon Him and God testified from heaven: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16, 17). John the Baptist testified: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).

During three years Jesus performed miracles and preached the good news that the kingdom of God soon would come with power (Mark 9:1). His powerful teachings and His miracles confirmed that He was the promised King.

The prophets had foretold that the Christ would suffer, that He would be rejected by His own people, and that He would be killed. These prophecies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

The Jewish leaders were jealous because Jesus was popular with the people. They imprisoned Him and turned Him over to Pilate, the Roman governor, to be crucified. Pilate wanted to release Jesus because he knew that He was innocent. But under pressure he gave in to the cries of the mob, and had Him crucified.

Jesus was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Thus, He did not have to die as punishment for sins of His own. He said, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again” (John 10:17, 18).

As the sinless Son of God, Jesus could have called more than twelve thousand angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53). But He allowed himself to be crucified to endure the punishment for the sins of mankind, He “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

Jesus died to free us from the grasp of sin and death. His sacrifice enables God to forgive our sins without compromising His righteousness. God’s justice demands that sin be punished. He sent His own Son to meet this requirement in our stead.

When Jesus died, His followers thought He had failed. They had not understood the predictions of the prophets and of Jesus himself. Not only would Christ die, He would also rise from the grave! (Psalm 16:8-11).

“The Lord is risen indeed!” (Luke 24:34). To the apostles He “presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:2, 3). “He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once” (1 Corinthians 15:6).

After His resurrection, Jesus went back to heaven and took His place at the right hand of His Father. Before He ascended into heaven, He commanded His followers: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:15, 16). They were to tell the whole world that God is willing to forgive sinful people if they believe in Jesus, turn away from a life of sin, and become His disciples.

Jesus said, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46, 47).

Ten days after Jesus went back to His Father, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles at Jerusalem. They proclaimed that Jesus is the Christ. When the hearers realized that they had crucified the promised King, “they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:37, 38). “Those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them” (Acts 2:41). God’s salvation had come. There was good news for fallen man.

The believers went everywhere preaching the good news of salvation by the blood of Christ. They proclaimed that God “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Those who believed were baptized to wash away their sins (Acts 22:16).

Baptism is an immersion in water as a participation in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3, 4).

Now, two thousand years later, millions call themselves Christians, but are they real followers of Christ? Jesus said: “Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many” (Matthew 24:11). Paul said it is not good news when people accept “a different gospel,” when people “pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-9).

In our time, most of those who claim to be Christians, follow traditions and dogmas of men rather than the gospel of Christ. They are like people God described in earlier times: “In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7). Such people reject God’s good news of salvation and replace it with a man-made imitation.

Baptism of believers by immersion for the forgiveness of sins is replaced by rituals that are worthless because they are different from the baptism Jesus commanded. A valid baptism must be based on personal faith and a personal decision to turn away from sin and follow Christ. It must be based on the same good news preached by Christ and His apostles.

Although apostate people have perverted many aspects of the original faith, God’s word does not change. The good news of salvation by the blood of Christ is just as powerful today as it was in the first century.

People who believe in Jesus and repent of their sins, who confess their faith in Christ, who are baptized for the forgiveness of sins, are saved by the grace of God. Their faith is imputed to them by God as righteousness (Romans 4:11, 24).

Jesus is “the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:9). The promise is for all. “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’” (Romans 10:13).

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

This is good news for sinful people like us!

Do you want to be forgiven by God and to inherit eternal life? Turn away from sin! Believe in Jesus! Confess your faith and be baptized in His name for the forgiveness of your sins! Then you will be sanctified, made holy, and dedicated to God. You will be a citizen of God’s kingdom, a member of His church. Amen.

Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

The Order of the Lord’s Supper by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=470&b=Luke

The Order of the Lord’s Supper

by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

In Matthew (26:26-27) and Mark’s (14:22-23) record of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus blessed the bread first and then the cup. However, Luke seems to give the opposite order with the cup mentioned first (22:17-19). Is this difference a discrepancy in which the inspired writers contradict each other?
It is certainly the case that Jesus only instituted the Lord’s Supper one time. He either blessed the bread first or He blessed the cup first. He did not do it both ways. So can we make sense of the text in such a way that the Bible is not discredited, recognizing that Jesus did not do it both ways? On that lone night so long ago, when He instituted the Lord’s Supper, which way did He do it? Bread then cup, or cup then bread?
It is clearly the case that Bible writers do not always claim to be representing a particular event in chronological sequence. Luke could have easily been treating the Passover and Lord’s Supper incident topically. In such a case, no contradiction would exist. However, in this particular instance, a different explanation presents itself.
Read carefully Luke’s reporting of the event:
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. And He sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.” …When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (22:7-21, emp. added).
Observe carefully that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on the tail end of the observance of the Jewish Passover. One must be careful to distinguish between the two, particularly since the same emblems were used for both, and since the former typifies the latter. The killing of the Passover lamb under Judaism anticipated the death of Jesus Who, in turn, became “our Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Luke, more than Matthew and Mark, demonstrates this close parallelism.1
Luke actually has two allusions to “cup”—one in verse 17 and the other in verse 20. The first “cup” was taken during the Passover and the second “cup” was part of the institution of the Lord’s Supper.2 Hence, Luke does not differ from Matthew and Mark in specifying the same order for partaking of the Lord’s Supper, i.e., first the bread and then the cup. Luke’s use in verse 21 of “likewise” refers back to “He took bread,” and “after supper” refers both to the bread and the cup of the Lord’s Supper.
This fact is further supported by Paul in his recounting of the occasion in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29. Observe the indications of sequence he portrays—
For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body (emp. added).
Observe that Paul goes out of his way to emphasize the order that Jesus instigated—bread/cup and eat/drink. He even clarified that the cup that is part of the Lord’s Supper was done “after supper,” i.e., after the Passover meal. So the “cup” of Luke 22:17-18 was the cup that was associated with the Passover meal—not the Lord’s Supper cup which is noted in verse 20 after the Passover meal and after the bread of the Lord’s Supper.
Another consideration pertains to the fact that Luke 22:17-20 constitutes a textual variant. However, the Committee for the UBS Greek text concluded that the cup-bread-cup sequence is authentic based on “the overwhelming preponderance of external evidence.”3 Further, Sir Frederick Kenyon and S.C.E. Legg offer the only plausible explanation for the existence of variants by noting:
The first cup given to the disciples to divide among themselves should be taken in connection with the previous verse (ver. 16) as referring to the eating of the Passover with them at the reunion in Heaven. This is followed by the institution of the Sacrament, to be repeated continually on earth in memory of Him. This gives an intelligible meaning to the whole, while at the same time it is easy to see that it would occasion difficulties of interpretation, which would give rise to the attempts at revision that appear in various forms of the shorter version.4
Hence, the first allusion to “cup” in verse 17 links back with the eating and drinking of the Passover meal in verses 15-16, while the second allusion to “cup” refers to the Lord’s Supper. Luke agrees with Matthew and Mark that, when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He first took the bread and then took the cup. There is no contradiction.

REFERENCES

1 See J.W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton (no date), The Fourfold Gospel (Cincinnati, OH: The Standard Publishing Foundation), p. 646.
2 Ibid, p. 658. See also J.W. McGarvey (1910),Short Essays in Biblical Criticism(Cincinnati, OH: The Standard Publishing Company), pp. 342-343.
3 Bruce Metzger (1971), A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (New York: United Bible Societies), p. 176.
4 Sir Frederick G. Kenyon and S.C.E. Legg (1937), “The Textual Data” in The Ministry and the Sacraments, ed. Roderic Dunkerley (London: SCM), pp. 285-286.

America and Atheistic Evolutionists by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=2060

America and Atheistic Evolutionists

by  Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Amid militant cries by evolutionists to ban God from science, the public school, and America, how ironic that such talk is permissible only because America was founded by theists. For some fifty years now, atheistic evolutionists have been chipping steadily away at belief in God and the Christian religion throughout the public school and university system of this country. They have successfully indoctrinated many young people with their godless theory. Virtually every department in state universities has been infiltrated by humanistic presuppositions. Study and research are conducted from an evolutionary, relativistic framework that either jettisons the notion of God altogether, or dilutes it sufficiently to exclude the biblical portrayal of deity. Many American universities are now firmly under the control of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics who forthrightly reject belief in God, embrace a materialistic view of origins, and are determined to eradicate any residue of belief in God that may linger in the minds of their victimized pupils.
But the United States was born under such drastically different circumstances. Indeed, the foundational premise for severing ties with England, and the central rationale and justification for establishing a new nation, was articulated by the Founders in their declared intention to establish their independence (Declaration of..., 1776). In the very first sentence of that seminal document, they insisted that “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle[d] them” to achieve “the separate and equal station” of a new nation. The “Nature’s God” to whom they referred was the God of the Bible. In the second sentence they declared that they had been “created” (not evolved) by their “Creator” who invested them with “certain unalienable Rights.” In other words, the American Republic had a right to exist on the basis of the authority of the God of the Bible. Further, they justified their intentions by “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world.” And they staked the entire enterprise on “a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence.” Four times in the brief literary missive that launched the United States of America, the Founders alluded to the God of the Bible; yet now, over two centuries later, evolutionists have declared war on those who believe in that God!
The architects of this country would be outraged—and thoroughly alarmed for national survival. As Benjamin Franklin declared to Thomas Paine:
For without the Belief of a Providence that takes Cognizance of, guards and guides and may favour particular Persons, there is no Motive to Worship a Deity, to fear its Displeasure, or to pray for its Protection. If Men are so wicked as we now see them with Religion what would they be if without it? I intend this Letter itself as a Proof of my Friendship.... (1840, 10:281-282, emp. added).
John Adams played a central role in the birth of our nation, as delegate to the Continental Congress (1774-1777) where he signed the Declaration of Independence, signer of the peace treaty that ended the American Revolution (1783), two-time Vice-President under George Washington (1789-1797), and second President of the United States (1797-1801). In a letter to Thomas Jefferson on April 19, 1817, John Adams insisted: “Without religion this world would be something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean hell” (1856, 10:254). He declared in 1778 that atheism ought to be treated with “horror” and those who embrace it are traitors, hypocrites, and guilty of treason:
The idea of infidelity cannot be treated with too much resentment or too much horror. The man who can think of it with patience is a traitor in his heart and ought to be execrated as one who adds the deepest hypocrisy to the blackest treason (1977-1989, 6:348).
Writing to Noah Webster on July 20, 1798, Dr. Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, said: “I anticipate nothing but suffering to the human race while the present systems of paganism, deism, and atheism prevail in the world” (1951, 2:799). Another signer of the Declaration, Samuel Adams, stated in a letter written in 1772: “I have a thorough contempt for all men...who appear to be the irreclaimable enemies of religion” (1906, 2:381). Signer of the Constitution, Gouverneur Morris, insisted in 1816:
There must be religion. When that ligament is torn, society is disjointed and its members perish. The nation is exposed to foreign violence and domestic convulsion. Vicious rulers, chosen by vicious people, turn back the current of corruption to its source. Placed in a situation where they can exercise authority for their own emolument, they betray their trust. They take bribes. They sell statutes and decrees. They sell honor and office. They sell their conscience. They sell their country. By this vile traffic they become odious and contemptible.... But the most important of all lessons is the denunciation of ruin to every State that rejects the precepts of religion” (Collections of..., 1821, pp. 32,34, emp. added).
Speaking to the senior class at Princeton College in 1775, Declaration signer John Witherspoon declared: “Shun, as a contagious pestilence,...those especially whom you perceive to be infected with the principles of infidelity or [who are] enemies to the power of religion” (1802, 6:13).
With uncanny anticipation of the audacious, avowed determination by evolutionists to rid the nation of belief in God, Alexander Hamilton, another signer of the federal Constitution, condemned France in 1798 for a comparable aspiration: “The attempt by the rulers of a nation to destroy all religious opinion and to pervert a whole people to atheism is a phenomenon of profligacy.... [T]o establish atheism on the ruins of Christianity [is] to deprive mankind of its best consolations and most animating hopes and to make a gloomy desert of the universe” (1979, 21:402-404). Also describing France, John Jay, first chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, explained:
During my residence there, I do not recollect to have had more than two conversations with atheists about their tenets. The first was this: I was at a large party, of which were several of that description. They spoke freely and contemptuously of religion. I took no part in the conversation. In the course of it, one of them asked me if I believed in Christ? I answered that I did, and that I thanked God that I did.... Some time afterward, one of my family being dangerously ill, I was advised to send for an English physician who had resided many years at Paris.... But, it was added, he is an atheist.... [D]uring one of his visits, [he] very abruptly remarked that there was no God and he hoped the time would come when there would be no religion in the world. I very concisely remarked that if there was no God there could be no moral obligations, and I did not see how society could subsist without them... (Jay, 1833, 2:346-347, emp. added).
Even Benjamin Franklin chided the French with the near absence of atheism in early America:
[B]ad examples to youth are more rare in America, which must be comfortable consideration to parents. To this may be truly added, that serious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but respected and practiced. Atheism is unknown there; infidelity rare and secret; so that persons may live to a great age in that country, without having their piety shocked by meeting with either an atheist or an infidel (1784, p. 24, emp. added).
Even Thomas Paine, who styled himself a deist and opponent of Christianity, nevertheless repudiated the atheism being perpetrated by today’s evolutionists. In his Age of Reason, he claimed to believe in God and afterlife: “I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life” (1794). He also wrote: “Were man impressed as fully and as strongly as he ought to be with the belief of a God, his moral life would be regulated by the force of that belief; he would stand in awe of God and of himself, and would not do the thing that could not be concealed from either” (1794). Paine not only believed in “the certainty of his existence and the immutability of his power,” he asserted that “it is the fool only, and not the philosopher, or even the prudent man, that would live as if there were no God.” In fact, he stated that it is “rational to believe” that God would call all people “to account for the manner in which we have lived here” (1794). According to Paine, today’s atheistic evolutionists are imprudent, irrational fools. The psalmist articulated the same conclusion centuries ago when he wrote: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 14:1; 53:1).
If atheistic evolutionists have their way in this country by having God expunged from public education, according to the Founders of America, this country will become a nightmare—a “gloomy desert,” or as John Adams believed, a living “hell” on Earth. Russia went down the same road of atheistic evolution a century ago. Because of their inability to discern spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14), the Soviet cosmonauts looked out of their spacecraft in the 1950s and, in ridicule, asked, “Where is God?,” echoing again the words of the psalmist: “Why should the nations say, ‘Where now is their God?’ But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases” (Psalm 115:2-3). Pride is a deadly pitfall that blinds one to the truth: “The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; all his thoughts are, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 10:4).
The Father of our country, George Washington, would be heartsick to hear the intentions of today’s evolutionists:
I am sure there never was a people who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that Agency which was so often manifested during our revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them (1838, 10:222-223, emp. added).
Nevertheless, the physical evidence remains abundantly clear: the Universe “declares” the plain work of the Creator (Psalm 19:1). Those who see “the things that are made” and deny the very One Who made them—are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

REFERENCES

Adams, John (1856), The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, ed. Charles Adams (Boston, MA: Little, Brown, & Co.).
Adams, John (1977-1989), The Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert Taylor (Cambridge: Belknap Press).
Adams, Samuel (1906), The Writings of Samuel Adams, ed. Harry Cushing (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons).
Collections of the New York Historical Society for the Year 1821 (1821), (New York: E. Bliss & E. White).
Declaration of Independence (1776), National Archives, [On-line], URL: http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience /charters/declaration.html.
Franklin, Benjamin (1784), Two Tracts: Information to Those Who Would Remove to America and Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America (London: John Stockdale).
Franklin, Benjamin (1840), The Works of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Jared Sparks (Boston, MA: Tappan, Whittemore, & Mason).
Hamilton, Alexander (1979), The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold Syrett (New York: Columbia University Press).
Jay, William (1833), The Life of John Jay (New York: J. & J. Harper).
Paine, Thomas (1794), Age of Reason, [On-line], URL: http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/singlehtml.htm.
Rush, Benjamin (1951), Letters of Benjamin Rush, ed. L.H. Butterfield (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Washington, George (1838), The Writings of George Washington, ed. Jared Sparks (Boston, MA: Ferdinand Andrews).
Witherspoon, John (1802), The Works of the Reverend John Witherspoon (Philadelphia, PA: William Woodward).

“The Laws of Thermodynamics Don't Apply to the Universe!” by Jeff Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=3704

“The Laws of Thermodynamics Don't Apply to the Universe!”

by  Jeff Miller, Ph.D.

Many in the atheistic community have realized various problems with their theories in light of what we know about the laws of thermodynamics. In order for atheism to be a plausible explanation for the origin of the Universe, matter must either be eternal or have the capability of creating itself (i.e., spontaneous generation). Yet the Second Law of Thermodynamics implies that the first option is impossible, and the First Law implies that the second option is impossible (see Miller, 2007 for a more in depth discussion of the laws of thermodynamics and their application to the origin of the Universe). Upon grudgingly coming to this conclusion, but being unwilling to yield to the obvious alternative (i.e., Someone outside of the Universe put matter here), some have tried to find loopholes in the laws that will allow for their flawed atheistic ideologies to survive.

A common assertion being raised today by some is that the laws of thermodynamics do not apply to the Universe as a whole, and therefore cannot be used to prove that God played a role in the origin of the Universe. More specifically, some question whether our Universe can be considered an “isolated system” (i.e., a system in which mass and energy are not allowed to cross the system boundary; Cengel and Boles, 2002, p. 9). In their well-known thermodynamics textbook, Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics, Van Wylen and Sonntag note concerning the Second Law of Thermodynamics: “[W]e of course do not know if the universe can be considered as an isolated system” (1985, p. 233). Dr. Robert Alberty, author of Thermodynamics of Biochemical Reactions, is quoted as saying, “I do not agree that the universe is an isolated system in the thermodynamic sense” (as quoted in Holloway, 2010).

What if the Universe is not an isolated system? How would that fact impact the creation/evolution controversy? First of all, the creationist has always argued that the Universe is not an isolated system, or at least has not always been one. According to the creationist, in the beginning, God created the Universe’s system barrier, then crossed it and placed energy and matter within the system—thus making the Universe non-isolated. So, recognizing that the Universe is, in fact, not an isolated system would really mean that some evolutionists are starting to move in the right direction in their understanding of the Universe! Acquiescence of this truth by atheists in no way disproves the existence of God. In fact, quite the contrary is true. Admission that the Universe is not isolated does not help the case for atheism, but rather tacitly acknowledges a creator of sorts. [More on this point later.]

What this admission would do, however, is make some of the creationists’ arguments against atheism less applicable to the discussion about the existence of God—specifically some of the uses of the laws of thermodynamics and their application to the Universe as a whole. For instance, if the Universe is not an isolated system, it means that something or someone outside of the Universe can open the proverbial box that encloses the Universe and put matter and energy into it. Therefore, the Universe could be eternal, as long as something/someone is putting more usable energy into the box to compensate for the energy loss and counter entropy. Thus, the argument against the eternality of matter by way of the Second Law of Thermodynamics could potentially be null and void. Also, with a non-isolated system, it could be argued that the original, imaginary pre-Big Bang ball (which never actually existed—since the Big Bang is flawed [see May, et al., 2003) was not eternal in its existence. Further, it could be contended that it did not have to spontaneously generate in order to explain its existence. Rather, energy and matter could have been put here from a source outside of this Universe other than God.

From a purely scientific perspective, one of the problems with claiming that the Universe is not isolated is that such an assertion presupposes the existence of physical sources outside of this Universe (e.g., multiple universes outside of our own). And yet, how can such a claim be made scientifically, since there is no verifiable evidence to support such a contention? Stephen Hawking has advanced such an idea, but he, himself, recognizes the idea to be merely theoretical (Shukman, 2010). Speculation, conjecture, assertion—not evidence. As Gregory Benford wrote: “This ‘multiverse’ view represents the failure of our grand agenda and seems to me contrary to the prescribed simplicity of Occam’s Razor, solving our lack of understanding by multiplying unseen entities into infinity” (Benford, 2006, p. 226). Belief in the multiverse model is like proclaiming the existence of fairies just because you can imagine one. But such speculation is hardly scientific evidence—and that is the problem.

What does the scientific evidence actually convey today? We live in the only known Universe, and it had to come from somewhere. That is a fact. If the Big Bang occurred, and all matter and energy in the Universe—everything that exists—was initially in that little imaginary sphere the size of the period at the end of this sentence (or much smaller, depending on which “expert” cosmologist you ask), by implication, the evolutionist admits that the Universe is of a finite size. That is a fact. A finite Universe is an isolated system. Since the Universe as a whole is the only true isolated system, the laws of thermodynamics apply perfectly. That is why some reputable scientists examine the evidence, draw reasonable conclusions, and articulate statements in reputable textbooks like the following:
  • “Isolated system: It is the system which exchange [sic] neither matter nor energy with the surroundings. For such a system, the matter and energy remain constant. There is no such perfectly isolated system, but our universe can be considered as an isolated system since by definition it does not have any surroundings” (Senapati, 2006, p. 64, emp. added).
  • A spontaneous process in an isolated system increases the system’s entropy. Because the universe—our entire surroundings—is in contact with no other system, we say that irreversible processes increase the entropy of the universe” (Fishbane, et.al., 1996, p. 551, italics in original).
The truth is, if one is unwilling to accept the existence of God, yet desires to accept the laws of science, one must conjure up other options for how the Universal box could have been legally opened and its contents altered. Envision several atheists sitting around a table speculating options, no matter how wild, in order to avoid conceding the existence of God, and you will have a clear picture of how many in the scientific community operate today. “Okay, people. How did we get here? Think!” “Other universes?” “Maybe.” “Nothing put us here?” “Not bad.” “Aliens?” “Why not?” “The God of the Bible?” “Shut your mouth. You are unscientific. Leave the room.” How can evolutionists like Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking safely postulate the existence of alien creators without being laughed out of the spotlight, while creationists get expelled from the scientific community for recognizing the reasonable answer to the matter of origins (Stein and Miller, 2008; BBC News, 2010)?

Ironically, when the atheistic community asserts alleged creative agents outside the Universe, they tacitly acknowledge a creator of some sort. What is the difference between these concessions and the true Creator? Why not accept the God of the Bible? The answer is obvious. Their brand of designer comes packaged without the demands and expectations that come with belief in God. Very convenient—but sad and most certainly unscientific.

Note also that accepting the possibility of alternative creative causes leaves atheists with the same problem with which they started. They claim to use the laws of physics to arrive at the multiverse conclusion (Shukman, 2010). But if the laws of physics apply to their conclusion about multiple universes, why would the laws of physics not apply to those universes? If the laws of science apply to those hypothetical universes (and it would be reasonable to conclude that they would since, according to atheists, the universes interact), then the matter of origins has merely shifted to those other universes. How did they come into being? There are still only three options—they always existed (in violation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics); they created themselves (in violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics); or they were created. The laws of thermodynamics still echo the truth from the remotest parts of the created order: “You cannot explain it all without God in the equation!”

The truth is, the scientific evidence leads unbiased truth-seekers to the conclusion that there simply must be a Creator. How do we know that the laws of thermodynamics are true on Earth? No one has ever been able to document an exception to them (except when divine miracles have occurred). They always hold true. Why does the same principle not hold when observing the rest of the Universe? As Borgnakke and Sonntag articulate in Fundamentals of Thermodynamics concerning the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics:
The basis of every law of nature is experimental evidence, and this is true also of the first law of thermodynamics. Many different experiments have been conducted on the first law, and every one thus far has verified it either directly or indirectly. The first law has never been disproved.... [W]e can say that the second law of thermodynamics (like every other law of nature) rests on experimental evidence. Every relevant experiment that has been conducted, either directly or indirectly, verifies the second law, and no experiment has ever been conducted that contradicts the second law. The basis of the second law is therefore experimental evidence (2009, p. 116-220, emp. added).
There has been no verifiable evidence that the laws of thermodynamics have been violated throughout the Universe. Sure, there has been speculation, conjecture, and theory that it “could” happen. Yet, through it all, the laws still stand unscathed. Granted, atheists may cloud the air when they blow forth their unreasonable, unproven, jargon-filled, imaginary fairy-dust theories, but when the fairy-dust settles, the laws of thermodynamics still declare the truth to all who will listen (Psalm 19:1). The scientific evidence shows that there is unmistakable order and design in the Universe. Design implies a Designer. The God of the Bible. Now that’s scientific.

REFERENCES

BBC News (2010), “Hawking Warns Over Alien Beings,” April 25, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/8642558.stm.

Benford, Gregory (2006), What We Believe But Cannot Prove, ed. John Brockman (New York: Harper Perennial).

Borgnakke, Claus and Richard E. Sonntag (2009), Fundamentals of Thermodynamics (Asia: John Wiley and Sons), seventh edition.

Cengel, Yunus A. and Michael A. Boles (2002), Thermodynamics: An Engineering Approach (New York: McGraw-Hill), fourth edition.

Fishbane, Paul M., Stephen Gasiorowicz, and Stephen T. Thornton (1996), Physics for Scientists and Engineers (New Jersey: Prentice Hall), second edition.

Holloway, Robert (2010), “Experts on Thermodynamics Refute Creationist Claims,” http://www.ntanet.net/Thermo-Internet.htm.

May, Branyon, et al. (2003), “The Big Bang Theory—A Scientific Critique,” Reason & Revelation, 23[5]:32-34,36-47, May, http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2635.

Miller, Jeff (2007), “God and the Laws of Thermodynamics: A Mechanical Engineer’s Perspective,” Reason & Revelation, 27[4]:25-31, April, http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/3293.

Senapati, M.R. (2006), Advanced Engineering Chemistry (New Delhi: Laxmi Publications), second edition.

Shukman, David (2010), “Professor Stephen Hawking Says No God Created Universe,” BBC News, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11172158.

Stein, Ben and Kevin Miller (2008), Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Premise Media).

Van Wylen, Gordon J. and Richard Sonntag (1985), Fundamentals of Classical Thermodynamics (New York: John Wiley and Sons), third edition.