Saturday, August 20, 2011

How to find a Christian College that does not bow the knee to Darwin?

If you are looking for a good school that still holds to Biblical principles, ask the school whether their professors teach that Noah's flood really happened around the entire world, or whether God created Adam from the dust of the earth on the sixth day of creation. You will find that most Christian colleges and Bible schools have already given in to the teachings of evolution.

Most schools will tell you that all of their individual professors hold to the school's statement of faith, but no, that statement does not cover those topics, and that they respect the academic freedom of their professors to teach according to their expertise. If you were to attend to audit the classes of the apologetics, Old Testament, or science professors, and ask the professor these questions, you will find out that they believe in Jesus, but they no longer believe in the Creator God, or that the book of Genesis is part of the gospel message!

So how do you find a school that is not seriously headed down the road of compromise with the unbelief of this world?
Cedarville College, Grove City College, Union College, Pensacola Christian College, Lee Univ, Calvin College, George Fox University, Lipscomb Univ, Dordt College, Geneva College, John Brown Univ, LeTourneau Univ, Messiah College, Oklahoma Christian, Olivet Nazarene Univ, Oral Roberts, Eastern Nazarene College, Point Loma Univ, Bob Jones Univ, Seattle Pacific Univ, Secular Universities...
One way is to look at the list of schools you are considering, locate a professor there who has not yet "bent the knee to" Darwin, and contact them directly to ask about the school you are considering.

The Association of Christian Graduate Researchers (ACGR) offers an extraordinary resource for doing this: Darwin Skeptics - A Select List of Science Academics, Scientists, and Scholars Who are Skeptical of Darwinism, by Dr. Jerry Bergman.

Dr. Bergman explains that "many on this list are secure tenured professors, teach at Christian Universities that protect their academic freedom to criticize Darwinism." They all reject "the belief that evolution and common decent can account for the existence of all life. Most persons on this list are also skeptical of the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Furthermore, all stressed that careful examination of the evidence for Darwinism should be encouraged."

If you are considering a secular university, Dr. Bergman's list is extremely helpful to find a professor and mentor who will help you keep your Biblical faith and grow in the Lord (even if that professor is not a professing Christian!), just by the mere fact that they do not blindly follow the mainstream views on evolution and a godless universe.

If you are interested in entering the field of science as a career, ACGR offers you a virtual academic community where you can work together to address problems of scientific inquiry related to the Bible, by developing scientific theories, and working on computational simulations and experiments. ACGR's goal is to develop a new generation of faculty at secular universities that embrace a Biblical creationist worldview to conduct their research and teaching. This community will mentor graduate students to perform state-of-the-art research related to the Bible and publish their work in secular and Christian journals, and help prepare faculty to be missionary professors at universities in countries where missionaries are not welcome.

Here is how ACGR's mentorship strategy looks:


ACGR offers financial support to gifted science students who wish to serve the Lord, and takes donations to support this ministry.

This is an exciting vision! Pray for the Lord to raise up a new generation of scientists that embrace a Biblical worldview. And ask the Lord how he can use you!

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Friday, August 19, 2011

Sorry, Sperm Whales could not have Evolved in Stages

Sperm whales feed mainly on large cephalopods such as squid, which they find at depths of 400–1,200 meters during dives that can last more than two hours. At these depths, there is essentially no sunlight. What wisdom exists in the design of these magnificent creatures! It is utter folly to suggest that such a perfect biological system could have developed by chance and in stages. In deep, dark water, such a method for finding food either works right the first time or never at all.

Scientists have learned that sperm whales use echolocation, in much the same manner as do bats. During dives, sperm whales make loud clicks at regular intervals, listening to the reflection of these sound waves off any nearby objects, such as schools of squid. These clicks have high directionality, high
source levels, and frequencies around 15 kHz, suitable for long-range sonar.

Like bats, the whales are able to process the timing of reflected sound waves to develop a picture in their minds of the location of nearby prey. When prey are detected, the whales then make clicks with increasing
frequency to give more rapid updates on the precise location of prey just before capture.

The Bible teaches that living creatures were created according to kinds. Yes, the sperm whale is an example of a marine animal specially equipped by God to find food in its environment!

(from Jonathan C. O'Quinn, Sperm Whale Echolocation, Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 16, Number 3, May/June 2011, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2011/CM16%2003%20low%20res.pdf)

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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Church Planting Movements are Fueled by Discipleship, not Charity

The local pastor pulled the western Christian aside and described the effect of the aid on his congregation: Although he was grateful for the help, the shipments had depressed local initiative, as many vendors within the church and community could no longer compete with the free shipments of supplies. Instead of inspiring a spirit of generosity and giving, the shipments had created a sense of dependency on foreign aid.

He said, “We need a hand up, not a handout.”

Charity can help in a crisis, but generally … 
  • reduces personal initiative,
  • undermines local businesses,
  • hinders long-term growth, and
  • are unsustainable.
In contrast, business models can …
  • cultivate personal initiative,
  • generate income for house church leaders and their coaches, and
  • sustainably reduce the local cost of goods.
Large-scale efforts to address poverty can be hindered by corruption at high levels and/or spiritual forces which rob the poor of their initiative and creativity. The collective discipling, personal transformation and trust relationships which develop in Church Planting Movements (CPMs) produce the kind of “spiritual capital” necessary to sustain businesses that break the poverty cycle.

CPMs are flourishing among the poor, and the relational discipling of CPMs creates an ideal environment for the propagation of literacy, hygiene education, and business development, as they pursue their main mission of leading people to Christ!

(for more, see Peter Greer, A Hand Up Not a HandoutWhy Enterprise and Business Are Changing Our Approach to Poverty Alleviation, and Robby Butler, Steve Downey, and Nick Noll, Turning Wine into Clean Water?An invitation to Explore the Possibilities, Mission Frontiers, July-August 2011)

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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Temptations of Dinosaur Scientists

A new dinosaur species is named somewhere in the world every 2 weeks. But over half of the named dinosaurs are misclassified, according to paleontologist Michael J. Benton. Why? Scientists are blind to the problem.


Apparently a non-scientific concept, human pride, is to blame. “Part of the problem,” according to John Horner of Science Magazine News, “is that scientists are sometimes too keen on finding and naming new dinosaurs.” Naming a new dinosaur gets you noticed and published. As a result, fossil hunters tend to magnify fossil differences that they imagine instead of the similarities. Then they rush to name a new dinosaur, and are generally rewarded with recognition and additional funding.

Too many supposedly new discoveries are actually duplicates of animals already on the books. Additionally, paleontologists are coming to realize that the bones of an adult dinosaur can be very different from those of a juvenile animal of the same species and can easily mislead scientists into thinking they are two different species.

This is a scientific Ponzi scheme, where will it stop? Scientists will continue giving in to their temptations … It will take a Biblical perspective on human nature to turn Science around to truth.

(Based on from Dinosaur Classification is a Mess, by David Coppedge, Creation-Evolution Headlines, May 2011, also published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 16, Number 3, May/June 2011, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2011/CM16%2003%20low%20res.pdf)

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Monday, August 15, 2011

Church Bulldozed

Simple disputes between Christians and Muslims in Pakistan often turn violent because some Muslims view Christians as infidels who do not deserve the same rights as the Muslim majority.

In November of last year, Pastor Sarwar Masih of the King of Kings Church near Lahore was confronted by an angry neighbor. "You cannot build a church building in this area!" Muhammad Habib Bhatti told the pastor. "We have a mosque in this village, and there is no need to build a church."

This is what is left of the church building.
Days later, on Nov. 15, Muhammad Bhatti and eight friends came to the church dressed as police officers and began shouting at the Christians. "They were chanting and threatening us," said a witness, "saying if anybody comes out of his home to stop us, we will kill him." The men then began throwing stones and bricks, one of which struck a 3-year-old on the head. Eventually, a bulldozer moved in and demolished the church building. Irate Muslims also tore pages of a Bible.

Later, a local official offered to pay church members 50,000 rupees, or $582, to forget the incident. The Christians refused and demanded that the attackers be arrested. The Christians said many of their Muslim neighbors had no objection to the church building or their prayer meetings.

(from Voice of the Martyrs newsletter, August 2011)

(for additional info, see Gary Lane, Church Bulldozed in Pakistan, CBN News)

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