Dear Subscribers,
A special welcome goes to well over 100 new subscribers in October! We are now sending to over 11,000 subscribers in over 100 different countries. We hope we bless you richly with our free weekly devotionals and web site.
This is the last week of Cool Facts. We posted the most interesting ones from the first three chapters of Donald DeYoung's book called, "365 Fascinating Facts From the World of Discovery." We hope you've enjoyed them as much as we have!
Are you registered to vote? If you're in San Diego county, you can quickly find out online here. Please check with your local county register if you're outside of our county because you must be registered to vote by October 20 to cast your vote in the November election.
"Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" will be released on DVD next week. This movie is hosted by Ben Stein and it reveals how some people in the media and elsewhere have silenced and belittled intelligent design advocates. I'm looking forward to renting it.
Dr. Bill Duvall is an author and host of many books on his web site. For about a month, you can freely download any of his Christian e-books. If you choose to make a donation, the proceeds will go to his seminary building project.
Welcome to the new readers of this message! Here is your Devotion, some Cool Facts, A Moment of Introspection, JCSM's Challenge, the Word of the Week, a faith-builder from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained," and the Quotes of the Week. Have a fantastic week and God bless you!
Love in Christ,
Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.
Contact Us: http://jcsm.org/contact.php
JCSM's Weekly Devotions
Jeremiah 38:6 "So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the cistern there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire."
Acts 5:17-20 "Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 'Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.'”
Proverbs 3:5, 6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths."
Matthew 10:16-22 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. 'Now brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved."
Insight: Christians will inevitably suffer persecution for their beliefs. Pray now that you're ready then. God will be faithful and see you through it.
Prayer: "Dear Lord, bless us and strengthen us. Remind us that You are faithful. Thank you for this world and the way people are. Help us to love You and everyone deeply. Help us to forgive those who sin against us. Lift us up and give us joy and peace. Remove our worries and fears, Lord. In Jesus' name, Amen."
On March 27, 1860, a U.S. patent was granted to M.L. Byrn for the corkscrew. This device works like a common wood screw but is made in a spiral or helix shape. It allows removal of a cork from a bottle without splitting the cork. The corkscrew principal has many other applications such as augers for removing grain, anchors for cables, and gears for machinery. As is true for most inventions, the corkscrew was already present in nature. Filaree is an herb whose seed is at the end of a long corkscrew tail of plant material. The seed itself has a pointed end which lodges itself in soil. A breeze then turns the spiral tail and drills the seed directly into the ground. This unique method of seed burial is a marvel of creative engineering. Its origin goes back to the third day of creation when plants were made (Gen. 1:11).
This excerpt was taken from Donald DeYoung's book called, "365 Fascinating Facts From the World of Discovery."
Enough things try to control me. I probably don't need to add to the list.
Pray now that you're ready when you're persecuted for your beliefs. Whether it's on a very small scale or a very large scale, when you have strong beliefs, you'll experience some friction. Prepare yourself now with prayer, visualization, and confidence because God will be faithful.
God bless you as you meet this week's challenge!
paradidomee (Greek, see Matthew 10:17): to surrender, that is to yield up, betray, put in prison
The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained
"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible" claims:
Matthew 3:15 - John has a darned good point in v.14. If Jesus is the sinless Son of God and all that, then shouldn't Jesus be baptizing John instead of the reverse? Isn't baptism supposed to forgive sins and be a sign of repentance? If so, then why would Jesus need to be baptized? And what the heck is "it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" supposed to mean?
"The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained" responds:
Jesus didn't baptize anyone. This was likely because He didn't want some people to get prideful because they were baptized by the Messiah.
Baptism was an outward sign of dedication to God. Jesus showed the world that He was devoted to God.
Verse 15 reads, "But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed Him." Jesus was simply telling John to baptize Him because it was the right thing to do. It installed the rite of Christian baptism and was a pre-cursor to the New Testament's writings about it.
(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Dr. Jason Gastrich. This book is on CD and gives over 4,000 answers to alleged Bible errors, regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org. There is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)
There are no new quotes this week. However, if you like to read wise quotes, you can either visit our Quotations Archive or get a copy of Dr. Gastrich's book called, "10,000 Wise Quotes and Spiritual Sayings"! It's the largest collection of Bible-based quotations in the world.
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Jason Gastrich, Ph.D.
Executive Director
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