February 16, 2008 - San Juan Capistrano

(Click here for our Steeling the Mind Bible Conference notes archive)
 

Mike Gendron – Why Evangelize if God Has Already Chosen?

God’s sovereignty vs. man’s free will is a subject that has been debated for centuries.  There are good people on both sides.

Because of God’s sovereignty, He has the right to lead His creation as He sees fit.

The world despises God’s sovereignty.

God is sovereign, but He has made man responsible for his own actions.

Man’s abilities are limited, but God’s sovereignty is unlimited.

The invitation to come is given to all people, but the power to come to Him has been given to a few.

In the Bible, foreknowledge always refers to people and not events.

John 15:16, Matthew 22:14, and Mark 13:20 all indicate God chose certain people.

2 Timothy 2:10, Titus 1:1, and 2 Peter 1:10, Romans 11:5, 1 Thessalonians 1:4, Colossians 3:12, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Ephesians 1:4, Psalm 65:4, John 14:18, Matthew 24:24, and James 2:5 continues this notion of God choosing people.

We can find no verses in the Bible about man choosing God.

Why did God choose people?

2 Timothy 1:9 – Not because of us, but because of Him.

Psalm 115:3 and Romans 9:15 indicate it was God’s choice and He has His reasons.

God’s choosing was not influenced by the following:

Man’s sovereignty or wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:27)

The will of man or the will of the flesh (John 1:13, Romans 9:16)

Works/merit (Romans 9:11)

Foreseen faith (Acts 13:48)

It is never man’s love for God that influences salvation, but it is always God’s love for man.

God chooses us because nobody would be saved if it were left to man’s decision.

We cannot completely grasp the doctrine of election on this side of Heaven.

Three possibilities God had regarding the human race:

        1)   He could have been just and let everyone be punished in Hell.

        2)   He could have been merciful without justice and saved everyone

        3)   He could have extended mercy to some and saved a certain number

God has every right to choose the elect and not choose others.

God doesn’t treat everyone the same, but He treats everyone justly.

In the Bible, we don’t find anyone elected to Hell.  Rebelling against the Creator is what sends people to Hell.

Our finite minds cannot grasp the infinite mind of God.

Man has the freedom to make choices, but there are limitations because of man’s fallen nature.

Sin has darkened man’s senses.

Man’s free will is limited by God’s sovereignty. 

The natural man is born spiritually dead:

Conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5)

Separated from God (Isaiah 59:2)

Enslaved to sin and helplessness (Romans 5:6, 6:20)

The natural man cannot understand spiritual truths.

The natural man cannot hear the Words of Christ.

There is a supernatural deafness to the Word of God until the Spirit of God gives illumination.

The natural man cannot please God (Romans 8:8)

The natural man cannot see the gospel (2 Corinthians 4:4)

The natural man cannot know God.

Man is powerless to fix his spiritual problem.

God ordained the means in which He would convert unbelievers.

Tim LaHaye – Biblical Prophecy

Either God or man is the judge of all things.

28% of the Bible either was or is prophetic.

Prophecy proves the existence of God (Isaiah 46:9, 10)

God uses prophecy to credential Himself and prove His existence.

Who but God can declare the future?

Fulfilled prophecy indicates how the Bible was written by God.

Prophecy is history written in advance.

Any idiot could outline the future, but only God could make it come to pass.

Dr. John Walvoord found over 1000 biblical passages that were prophetic when they were written and over 500 of them have already been fulfilled.

All idolatry can be traced back to Babylon.

Half the number of people who have ever lived are on the Earth now (2008).

Jesus is the most influential person who ever lived.

Jesus is the only person who fulfilled all 109 prophecies about the Messiah.

There are at least 321 prophecies about Jesus’ second coming.

There are almost three times as many prophecies about His second coming as His first coming.

Last Easter, over 2 billion people went to a cathedral or church because of their belief in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are scriptures being fulfilled in recent years that could not have been fulfilled in the past.

Some believe that Christianity is sweeping through China and by the year 2030, 30% will be believers in Jesus Christ.

Except for the Jews, no nation in the history of the world has been able to survive more than 300 years after being uprooted from their homeland.  They were scattered for over 1700 years and returned to Israel!

The restoration of the Jews and the country of Israel is a super sign.

Almost 1/3 of the world’s Jews are back in Israel.

The whole world is fixated on Israel and their neighbors.

We have had more wars since the United Nations was formed than any other comparable time in world history.

Mike Riddle – How DNA Destroys Evolution

Many teachers are trying to replace the word of God with their opinion.

According to the Bible, God didn’t use the evolution of species.

The challenge to the church by materialists is that the church cannot defend against the philosophy of materialism.

Materialists believe evolution is true, the Bible is false, and that God doesn’t exist.

Materialism can be shown to be inconsistent with reality.

The most important ingredient in evolution is information and it isn’t mentioned in the textbook.

How does a land mammal become a whale?  How does a dinosaur become a bird?  The answer is the addition of new, functional, genetic information and it is a critical component of evolution.

A definition must be precise (distinct borders) and very clear and it must include all the attributes that distinguish it from all other entities.

Examples of bad definitions:

Evolution is a change over time. (Everything changes)

Evolution is a genetic change in a species over time. (A loss of information or an addition of non-functional information doesn’t result in the evolution of species)

Evolution is always described, but never defined.

The most popular definition of information today is “coded systems with or without meaning.”  This is not a logical definition because it doesn’t work in any biological system and in most technological systems.

A code is a rule for converting letters, words, or phrases into something meaningful.

Characteristics of information

Words have meaning.

The words are not the real thing, but they represent the real thing.

There is an intended purpose with a statement.

The four attributes of information are code, meaning, expected action, intended purpose.

Numerous Ph.D.s spent five days trying to create a UDI (Universal Definition of Information) and they came up with: “An encoded, symbolically represented message conveying expected action and intended purpose.”

In science, we have theories, models, hypotheses, and assumptions.  These are ideas originated and formulated by man.

We do not create scientific laws.  We discover them.

Scientific laws are precise statements formulated by discoveries through observation and experimentation that are never contradicted.

Some scientific laws include gravity, thermodynamics, electricity, magnetism, and biogenesis.

We have the law of Biogenesis that says life can only come from life, but every scientific textbook ignores it.

Something material cannot create something nonmaterial and something nonmaterial cannot create something material.

Information is a nonmaterial fundamental entity and not a property of matter.

Information is not dependent on matter, but it needs something material on which to reside.

An empty CD and a CD full of information weigh the same, therefore information has no mass.

If something exists that is not material, then the philosophy of materialism is false.

Mass and energy cannot be created or destroyed.  It can change forms, but the total sum is constant.

You can create and destroy information, therefore it is not material.

Hubert Yockey is an atheist, but admits that information is nonmaterial.

Information cannot originate by random chance processes.

Conclusions

Since the DNA code of all life forms is clearly within the UDI definition of information, we conclude there must be a Sender.

Since the density and complexity of the DNA encoded information is billions of times greater than man’s present technology, we conclude the Sender must be supremely intelligent.

No human being can qualify as the Sender, so DNA must have been sent from someone outside our world.

The simplest explanation (using Occam’s Razor) is that there is one eternal Sender with infinite intelligence and power.

Since information is a nonmaterial fundamental entity and cannot originate from material qualities, we conclude the Sender must have a nonmaterial component (e.g. a spirit).

Since information is a nonmaterial fundamental entity and cannot originate from purely material quantities, we conclude man’s nature must have a nonmaterial component (e.g. a spirit).

Since information is a nonmaterial fundamental entity we conclude the assertion the Universe arose and evolved solely from mass and energy is clearly refuted.

Since biological information originates only from an intelligent Sender and all theories of chemical and biological evolution require a Sender, we conclude all theories of chemical and biological evolution are false.

10 Questions From An Atheist

        1.   Why won’t God heal amputees?

        2.   Why are there so many starving people in our world?

        3.   Why does God demand the death of so many innocent people in the Bible?

        4.   Why does the Bible contain so much anti-scientific nonsense?  (Didn’t create everything in 6 days, no worldwide flood, Jonah was never in the belly of the whale, Adam wasn’t created by dust)

        5.   Why is God such a huge proponent of slavery in the Bible?

        6.   Why do bad things happen to good people?

        7.   Why didn’t any of Jesus’ miracles in the Bible leave behind any evidence?

        8.   How do we explain the fact Jesus has never appeared to you?

        9.   Why would Jesus want you to eat his body and drink his blood?

        10. Why do Christians get divorced at the same rate as non-Christians?

Frank Perretti’s Rebuttal

God is not a cause and effect machine.  He isn’t required to restore a person’s limb because someone asks Him to.

Poverty exists because of wrong thinking caused by corrupt political leaders, tribal wars, civil wars, not eating the food provided, trusting untrustworthy individuals, etc.

Christians get divorced at the same rate as unbelievers because they’re making the same bad choices as unbelievers.

Jerry Robinson (jrmi.org) – Christians and the Collapsing Dollar

The 20^th century is the bloodiest century on record.

Humans were never intended to govern themselves.  We were designed to be ruled by God and God alone.

Instead of specializing in production, the U.S. is now specializing in consumption.

The United States used to be the biggest creditor nation, but it is now the biggest debtor nation.

It’s easier to borrow from our future than demand sacrifice from the present.

1.   We have low tax rates right now.  The top marginal tax rate average is over 60% (and it was once 90%), but now it’s only 35%.

2.   We see historically low interest rates. 

3.   Unrealistically high government spending.

4.   All oil purchased is denominated in American dollars.

The money in my pocket is only worth what people give for it.

The U.S. has turned into Europe’s Mexico.

Gold was $273 an ounce in 2000, but now is over $900 an ounce.

4 Stages of Money

        1.   Commodity money (salt, feathers, livestock, etc.)

        2.   Receipt money (receipts are traded for gold)

        3.   Fiat money (the government gets involved with the receipt money)

Fiat currency systems are not backed by gold or silver and they vary, making them an abomination to the Lord.

When the U.S. dollar collapses, it could lead to a united American currency or a single global currency.

5 Steps you can take to avoid being caught up in this fiat currency system:

        1.   Reduce your debts (Proverb 22:7)

        2.   Invest in stocks cautiously (Proverb 14:8)

        3.   Invest in hard assets like real estate and commodities (Proverb 13:11)

        4.   Diversification of assets (Ecclesiastes 11:1, 2 – Abraham was rich in gold, livestock, etc.)

        5.   Seek wise counsel (Psalms 1:1-3)

Ray Comfort – Fires, Floods, and Mayhem!  From God?

50-60% of married couples in our country admit to adultery.

45 million people in our country are infected with herpes.

Theft costs our country 500 billion dollars each year.

62% of Americans say they have a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ, but statistics tell us that 91% of people lie regularly.

The law is perfect, holy, just, and good.

There is only a 50% success rate in homicide investigations.  In the 1990’s, there were 200,000 homicides and 100,000 people brought to justice.