500 Christians killed, 300 churches burned after Nigerian elections

Kaduna's streets were littered with charred corpses, evidence of two days of violence during which rioters murdered Christians and burned churches, police stations and homes in northern Nigeria. The rampage began on April 18, after Nigerian voters elected a Christian to the nation's highest office. While the Christian majority in southern Nigeria rejoiced, the Muslim majority in the north retaliated.

The riots began in at least five northern states almost simultaneously with the release of the election results. Angry mobs massacred hundreds of Christians, burned more than 300 churches and destroyed countless Christian homes.

After security forces had finally enforced a fragile peace in the area, an estimated 500 people had been killed, according to Nigeria's Civil Rights Congress. In addition, thousands had fled their homes, fearing continued attacks. The Red Cross reported that 48,000 displace people were living in tents and makeshift camps set up by the government.

(from Voice of the Martyrs newsletter, August 2011)

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Intelligent Design should not Ignore the Bible

In our time, founders of the Intelligent Design Movement (IDM) employed the “wedge” strategy, an approach to design-focused science that intentionally uses a closed-Bible approach to investigating earth history and origins, with a goal to remove “religion” from academic discussions in order to prove that science “naturally” exhibits design.

As a strategy, IDM abandons public acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as earth’s Designer and Creator in order to gain a hearing on the topic of biological design. As a consequence, avoiding talk about the identity of the Designer allows the apologetic of IDM to accommodate theistic evolution, or any other unbiblical kind of “designer,” as the imagined producer of complicated life forms.

Second, IDM’s failure to treat Scripture as authoritatively relevant opens the door to evolutionary anthropological theories, such as one proposed by Dr. William Dembski, who imagines that hominid animals were morphed into Adam and Eve and then specially blessed by a miraculous amnesia of their evolutionary ancestry.

Admittedly, movements like Intelligent Design, which essentially take the characteristics of religious deism, do occasionally post “gains” for God’s natural revelation (e.g., showing biology’s “irreducible complexity”). But the price paid for these gains is a net loss, because it gives the appearance that God’s Word is not needed and, thus, not authoritatively relevant to origins science—and nothing is more false than that.

Rather, the closed-Bible approach is a “wedge” that separates God’s special revelation from His general revelation, an unbiblical idea with tragic consequences, casting doubt on the Bible’s relevance and authority.

Real world apologetics, however, properly relates both forms of God’s truth to each other, as Psalm 19 illustrates:

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.…The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalm 19:1, 7)

(for more, see James J.S. Johnson, The Failed Apologetic of the Wedge Strategy, Act & Facts, Institute for Creation Research, August 2011)

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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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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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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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