Bible
“The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.” (John 9:30)
‘A “marvelous thing” in the Bible is something that generates awe or wonder. Sometimes it refers to a miracle but more often to something very unexpected and remarkable.
But the most marvelous thing of all is that unbelievers still persist in their unbelief. In our text passage the Lord Jesus Christ had just performed one of His most amazing miracles of creation—making perfect eyes for a man blind from birth. As the man testified to the frustrated Pharisees: “Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind” (John 9:32). Yet, these religious intellectuals, so opinionated in their prejudices, refused to believe what they saw and heard. Similarly, “when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things [i.e., ‘marvelous things’] that he did…they were sore displeased” (Matthew 21:15).
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. One of the saddest verses in the Bible is John 1:10: “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” And, “he came unto his own, and his own received him not” (v. 11). Even when He raised Lazarus from the dead, “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus” (John 12:10-11).
Modern “intellectuals” are still the same, rejecting the overwhelming testimony of the created complexity in the cosmos to the fact of a personal Creator in favor of an impossible scenario of chance origin. “Herein is a marvelous thing!” Such people “willingly are ignorant” and “without excuse” (2 Peter 3:5; Romans 1:20).’https://www.icr.org/article/12451/?utm_source=phplist9151&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=November+21+-+A+Marvelous+Thing
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.—John 17:24
‘One of the greatest privileges the believer has, both in this world and for eternity, is to behold the glory of Christ. So, Christ prays that “they may behold my glory.” But this glorious privilege is not to be limited to the heavenly state only. It includes the state of believers in this world as I shall show.
Unbelievers see no glory in Christ. They see nothing attractive about Him. They despise Him in their hearts. Outwardly they cry, like Judas, “Hail, master” (Mat 26:49); but in their hearts they crucify Him. Thus, they strip Him of His glory, deny the only “Lord that bought them” (2Pe 2:1), and substitute a false Christ. Others think little of Christ and His glory and see no use for His person in Christianity—as though there were anything in our religion that has any truth or reality apart from Christ!
In the early days of the church, there were swarms of brain-sick persons who vomited out many foolish ideas, culminating at length in Arianism,1 in whose ruins they now lie buried. The gates of hell in them did not prevail against the rock on which the church is built…[Yet,] many still oppose the person and glory of Christ under the pretense that nothing can be believed except that which reason can understand and accept. Indeed, unbelief in the Trinity and the incarnation of the Son of God, the sole foundation of Christianity, is so spread about in the world that it has almost demolished the life and power of true Christianity. And not a few, who dare not let people know what they really believe, lead people to think they love Jesus, when all the time they scorn, despise, and persecute those who truly desire to know nothing but “Christ, and him crucified” (1Co 2:2).
But God, in His appointed time, will vindicate His honor and glory from the foolish attempts of sinful men who attempt to strip Him of both. Meanwhile, it is the duty of all those who “love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity” (Eph 6:24) to testify to His divine person and glory according to the ability God has given to each of us; and this I have chosen to do, not in a controversial way, but in order to strengthen the faith of true believers, to build them up in the knowledge of Christ and His glory, and to help them experience that which they have, or may have, of the power and reality of these things.
That which I intend to show is that beholding the glory of Christ is one of the greatest privileges that believers are capable of in this world or even in that which is to come. Indeed, it is by beholding the glory of Christ that believers are first gradually transformed into His image and then brought into the eternal enjoyment of it because they shall be forever “like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1Jo3:2; 2Co 3:18). Our present comforts and future blessedness depend on this. This is the life and reward of our souls (Joh 14:9; 2Co4:6).
Scripture shows us two ways by which we may behold the glory of Christ. We may behold it by faith in this world, faith being “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1), and we may behold it by sight in the next (2Co 5:7-8; 1Co 13:12).
When Christ prayed “that they may behold my glory,” He meant by actual sight in the light of eternal glory. But the Lord Jesus does not exclude that sight of His glory that we may have by faith in this world; rather He prays for the perfection of it in heaven. So, we can learn the following lessons:
No man shall ever behold the glory of Christ by sight in heaven who does not, in some measure, behold it by faith in this world. Grace is a necessary preparation for glory and faith for sight. The soul unprepared by grace and faith is not capable of seeing the glory of Christ in heaven. Many will say with confidence that they desire to be with Christ and to behold His glory. But then they can give no reason for this desire, except that it would be better than going to hell. If a man claims to love and desire that which he never even saw, he is deceiving himself…
John writes not only of himself but of his fellow apostles also: “We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Joh1:14). Now, what was this glory of Christ that they saw, and how did they see it? It was not the glory of Christ’s outward condition for He had no earthly glory or grandeur. He kept no court, nor did He entertain people to parties in a
great house. He had nowhere to lay His head, even though He created all things. There was nothing about His outward appearance that would attract the eyes of the world (Isa52:14; 53:2-3). He appeared to others as a “man of sorrows” (Isa 53:3). Neither was it the eternal essential glory of His divine nature that is meant, for this no man can see while in this world. What we shall see in heaven, we cannot conceive.
What the apostles witnessed was the glory of “grace and truth” (Joh 1:14). They saw the glory of Christ’s person and office in the administration of grace and truth. And how did they see this glory? It was by faith and in no other way, for this privilege was given only to those who “received him” and “believe on his name” (Joh 1:12). This was the glory that the Baptist saw when he pointed to Christ and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Joh 1:29).
So, let no one deceive himself. He that has no sight of Christ’s glory here shall never see it hereafter. The beholding of Christ in glory is too high, glorious, and marvelous for us in our present condition. The splendor of Christ’s glory is too much for our physical eyes just as is the sun shining in all its strength. So, while we are here on earth, we can behold His glory only by faith.
Many learned men have written of this future state of eternal glory. Some of their writings are filled with excellent things that cannot but stir the minds and hearts of all who read them. But many complain that such writings do nothing for them. They are like a man who beholds his natural face in a mirror and immediately forgets what he saw (Jam1:23-24)…But why do these writings make no impression on them? Is it not because their idea of future things has not arisen out of an experience of them that faith alone gives?
In fact, a soul will be troubled rather than edified when it thinks of future glory, if it has had no foretaste, sense, experience, or evidence of these things by faith. No man ought to look for anything in heaven if he has not by faith first had some experience of it in this life. If men were convinced of this, they would spend more time in the exercise of faith and love about heavenly things than they usually do. At present they do not know what they enjoy, so they do not know what to expect. This is why men who are complete strangers to seeing the person and glory of Christ by faith have turned to images, pictures, and music to help them in their worship.
So, it is only as we behold the glory of Christ by faith here in this world that our hearts will be drawn more and more to Christ and to the full enjoyment of the sight of His glory hereafter. It is by beholding the glory of Christ by faith that we are spiritually edified and built up in this world; for as we behold His glory, the life and power of faith grow stronger and stronger. It is by faith that we grow to love Christ. So, if we desire strong faith and powerful love, which give us rest, peace, and satisfaction, we must seek them by diligently beholding the glory of Christ by faith. In this duty, I desire to live and to die. On Christ’s glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires; and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes, and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy…
By beholding the glory of Christ, we shall be made fit and ready for heaven. Not all who want to go to heaven are fit and ready for it. Some are not only unworthy of it and excluded from it because of unforgiven sin, they are not prepared for it. Should they be admitted, they would never enjoy it. All of us naturally regard ourselves as fit for eternal glory. But few of us have any idea of how unfit we really are because we have had no experience of that glory of Christ that is in heaven. Men shall not be clothed with glory, as it were, whether they want to be or not. It is to be received only by faith. But fallen man is incapable of believing. Music cannot please a deaf man, nor can beautiful colors impress a blind man. A fish would not thank you for taking it out of the sea and putting it on dry land under the blazing sun! Neither would an unregenerate sinner welcome the thought of living for ever in the blazing glory of Christ.
So, Paul gives “thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col1:12). Indeed, the first touches of glory here and the fullness of glory hereafter are communicated to believers by an almighty act of the will and the grace of God. Nevertheless, He has ordained ways and means by which they may be made fit to receive that fullness of glory that still awaits them, and this way and means is by beholding the glory of Christ by faith, as we shall see. Knowing this should stir us up to our duty, for all our present glory lies in preparing for future glory.
By beholding the glory of Christ, we shall be transformed “into the same image” (2Co 3:18). How this is done and how we become like Christ by beholding His glory will become clear as our study progresses.
By beholding the glory of Christ by faith we shall find rest to our souls. Our minds are apt to be filled with troubles, fears, cares, dangers, distresses, ungoverned passions, and lusts. By these our thoughts are filled with chaos, darkness, and confusion. But where the soul is fixed on the glory of Christ, then the mind finds rest and peace; for “to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (Rom8:6).
By beholding the glory of Christ, we shall begin to experience what it means to be everlastingly blessed. “So shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Th 4:17). We shall “be with Christ” (Phi 1:23), which is best of all. For there we shall behold His glory (Joh17:24). And by seeing Him as He is, we shall be made like Him (1Jo3:2). This is our everlasting blessedness.
The enjoyment of God by sight is commonly called the “Beatific Vision,” and it is the only motive for everything we do in that state of blessedness. What the sight of God is and how we will react to it, we cannot imagine. Nevertheless, we do know this: God in His immense essence is invisible to our physical eyes and will be in eternity, just as He will always be incomprehensible to our minds. So, the sight that we shall have of God will be always “in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co 4:6). In Christ’s face, we shall see the glory of God in His infinite perfections. These things will shine into our souls filling us forever with peace, rest, and glory.
We can rejoice in these things even though we cannot understand them. We can talk of them but never fully comprehend them. In fact, true believers experience a foresight and foretaste of this glorious condition. Sometimes, when reading and meditating on the Bible, our hearts are filled with such a sense of the uncreated glory of God shining through Jesus Christ that we experience unspeakable joy. [Thus] arises that “peace of God, which passeth all understanding, [which] shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ” (Phi 4:7). “Christ in you [believers], the hope of glory” (Col 1:27) gives them a foretaste of that future glory. And where any have no acquaintance with these things, they are blind and dead to spiritual things. It is because believers are lazy and ignorant that we do not experience more and more in our souls the visits of grace and the dawnings of eternal glory.’https://www.chapellibrary.org/read/gochfg
John Owen (1616-1683): English Congregational pastor, author, and theologian; born in Stadhampton, Oxfordshire, UK.
‘Secular scientists are finding exactly what Flood geologists have predicted all along—huge crystals can and did grow extremely fast. In other words, magmas can cool into minerals in a matter of days!
Geology students are taught that large-crystal igneous rocks called pegmatites1take vast amounts of time, even millions of years, to solidify and cool. Secular geologists reason that the minerals need a lot of time to nucleate and grow—bigger minerals need big amounts of time, similar to plant growth.
But a new study published in Nature Communications demonstrated that large crystals in pegmatites can grow to massive sizes in just a few days.2 Scientists from Rice University and University of California, Riverside examined trace element concentrations in the Stewart pegmatite in southern California. What they found shocked them: The trace element distribution in the crystals was best explained by accelerated crystal growth. They may have grown to meter-size (three feet) in just a few days.2 Co-author Cin-Ty Lee, a Rice University geology professor, stated in a UPI report on the study:
Pegmatites cool relatively quickly, sometimes in just a few years, and yet they feature some of the largest crystals on Earth….The big question is, really, “How can that be?”3
Lead author Patrick Phelps, a graduate student at Rice, added:
We examined crystals that were half an inch wide and over an inch long….We showed those grew in a matter of hours, and there is nothing to suggest the physics would be different in larger crystals that measure a meter or more in length. Based on what we found, larger crystals like that could grow in a matter of days….We’d done the math and the physics. That part was sound. While we didn’t expect it to be that fast, we couldn’t come up with a reason why it wasn’t plausible.3
In fact, this rate was nearly unbelievable and totally unexpected, defying conventional thought. It was several orders of magnitude faster than what had previously been taught in the classroom for decades.3
But should rapid cooling and rapid crystal growth be a surprise? It wasn’t too long ago that secular scientists found that magmas (molten material) can ascend through the crust at much faster rates than expected. These rates were also surprising to deep-time thinkers.
In fact, the rapid ascent of magmas was found to be much more common than geologists once believed.4,5 Terry Plank and Philipp Ruprecht determined that the magma beneath Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano rose roughly 35 km (22 miles) in just months, or at most a few years.5 They also found that some magmas can ascend 10 km (6.2 miles) in just 10 minutes. That’s nearly three times faster than a human can run a 10 km race!
What is so shocking to the uniformitarian scientific world is the speed of these events. Geology students worldwide are taught that magmas take millions of years to ascend to the surface and many more millions to cool and crystallize. Pegmatites were thought to be the slowest-growing crystals of all because of their massive size. Taking away the assumed deep time for these crystals to form takes away the uniformitarian argument that the formation of igneous rocks requires a lot of time.
Instead, secular science is finding that minerals grow and magmas move at rates predicted by Flood geologists. Pegmatite crystals and solidified granites could have easily formed in the past 4,400 years since the upheaval of the biblical Flood. No fabricated concept of deep time is necessary—not millions or even tens of thousands of years.
Science is confirming the time frame of the Bible. Even fast-growing crystals testify to the recent Genesis Flood.
Stage image: A sample of Republic granite from Dr. Tim Clarey’s personal collection from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Stage image credit: Michael Hansen/ICR. Copyright © 2020.
References
1. Pegmatite is a descriptive term for an igneous rock with crystals averaging larger than about a half-inch long. Some pegmatite crystals can even exceed several feet in length.
2. Phelps, P. R., C.-T. A. Lee, and D. M. Morton. 2020. Episodes of fast crystal growth in pegmatites. Nature Communications. 11: 4986.
3. Hays, B. Earth grows large crystals, rare elements in just minutes. UPI Science News. Posted on upi.com October 7, 2020, accessed October 15, 2020.
4. Clarey, T. Express-Lane Magma Indicates Young Earth. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org September 13, 2013.
5. Rosen, J. 2016. Crystal clocks. Science. 354 (6314): 822-825.’https://www.icr.org/article/rapid-crystal-growth-supports-flood-model/?utm_source=phplist9201&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=Christmas+Ornament%2C+Glow-in-the-Dark+Platypuses%2C+and+More%21
‘Alyson Thompson, of Dignity in Dying (formerly the Voluntary Euthanasia Society), said: ‘MSPs returned to the Scottish Parliament in 2021 will be asked to vote on safeguarded assisted dying proposals for terminally ill, mentally competent adults.’
As always in such announcements, no acknowledgment was made that those deemed terminally ill under such laws include those with non-terminal illnesses who forego life-sustaining treatment, and that vanishingly few patients deemed mentally competent in jurisdictions like Oregon undergo psychological evaluation. Or that safeguards are really just malleable criteria open to extension – or that ‘assisted dying’ is in fact assisted suicide.
Given the superhuman efforts made this year to save lives from Covid-19, and the many traumas people have faced in being separated from loved ones, some reticence might have been expected about the timing of the announcement, but no: the pandemic is bluntly stated as good reason to pursue death as public policy. ‘The past few months have thrust the issues of death and dying into the spotlight. It is now at the forefront of people’s minds,’ said campaigners – in line with their sister charity pushing all-or-nothing advance directives at the height of the pandemic.
The Scotsman quoted our CEO, Dr Gordon Macdonald, in response:
‘It is disappointing that ideological pro-killing campaigners continue to push this narrow and dangerous agenda during a global pandemic – a crisis that has already seen many vulnerable groups treated differently, including the elderly people being discharged from hospitals into care homes without adequate testing for Covid-19 and the blanket use of Do Not Resuscitate orders.
‘Changing the law would remove universal protections and send out a message that the lives of the terminally ill and disabled people are less worthy of protection than others. In other countries that have legalised assisted suicide and euthanasia, the law has been extended to include other groups.’https://www.carenotkilling.org.uk/articles/new-scottish-assisted-suicide-bill-to-come-in-2021/
1Timothy 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
The following article is almost unbelievable but then again it seems many people are drawn to men who are bizarre! This is definitely NOT New Testament Christianity!
‘Luke MacDonald describes himself as a pastor who’s excited to share “Good News in the Neighborhood”—a slogan he’s emblazoned on an entire merchandise line of hats, hoodies, and T-shirts.
But some who knew MacDonald during his time at Harvest Bible Chapel say he’s just as much of a bully as his father—disgraced celebrity preacher, James MacDonald. They recount bizarre stories of Luke MacDonald urinating in meetings, throwing chairs in a rage, and failing to report abuse of a minor in Harvest’s youth ministry.
MacDonald—a former executive pastor at Harvest and current associate pastor at Faithful Central Bible Church in Los Angeles—announced last week he’s returning to Chicago to plant a church.
Yet some former Harvest members and staff say MacDonald isn’t fit to serve in any church and they’re alarmed at his return.
Urinating in Meetings
Alex George—whose father, Dan George, was an elder at Harvest—told me that Luke MacDonald urinated into a cup during a job interview George had with MacDonald in December 2012.
George said that at the time, Luke was in charge of all youth ministry at Harvest and George was a paid part-time youth worker interviewing for a full-time position with Harvest’s junior high ministry.
George said the meeting took place in Luke MacDonald’s office as Luke sat behind his desk and George was seated on the opposite side. George said that while MacDonald was explaining to George that he was going to get the position, MacDonald took a cup off the top of his desk. Then, George said he heard what sounded like MacDonald urinating in the cup.
“I asked him, ‘Are you peeing in that cup?’ To which he said, ‘Yeah,’ pretty nonchalantly, and moved on as if it wasn’t an issue,” George recounted.
George said MacDonald then put the cup of urine on his desk and commented that he could make George do anything he wanted George to do. George said he responded by saying “no” and laughing nervously.
George said he did not get the full-time position, and soon afterwards, he was fired from his part-time position, as well.
Don Hampton, a former contractor hired to help Harvest with a capital campaign, said he had a similar experience with Luke MacDonald in 2015.
Hampton said in the middle of a meeting with MacDonald and four others, MacDonald got up and started pacing back and forth. He then went into an adjacent bathroom, urinated in the toilet while continuing to converse with the door open, and then reentered the room like nothing had happened, Hampton said.
“I’m looking at the other faces in the room, wondering ‘Is this normal?’” Hampton said.
In addition to that incident, Hampton said that several times, MacDonald called him at home and was “berating and verbally abusive.” Hampton said MacDonald would cuss on the phone and talk about other staff members with whom he was upset.
I reached out to Luke MacDonald repeatedly seeking comment, but he did not respond.’https://julieroys.com/luke-macdonald-bullying-bizarre-behavior/?mc_cid=4aa4e5a695&mc_eid=b13d34ad49
‘The man behind the so-called “Great Reset,” Klaus Schwab,” is no stranger to draconian ideas, but this one really takes the cake.
Newswars reports that Schwab, as part of the broader “4th Industrial Revolution” plan, has suggested risk-assessment brain scans before allowing individuals to cross international borders as well as implantable chips to read thoughts.
Just in case you were worried that no technocratic would-be tyrants out there weren’t taking full advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to establish the most horrific dystopia in human history.
So yeah.
There’s that.
Newswars explains that Schwab has been a vocal proponent for, well just that. He advocates for the globe’s technocrats to leverage the pandemic to set in motion “The Great Reset.”
Chillingly, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoed this outwardly draconian plan during a recent UN video conference and at the UN, such globalist technocratic sentiment would be in very good company among a bureaucratic apparatus openly intent on dramatically reforming the global community and reducing the population.
The “Great Reset,” the outlet notes, isn’t only about an economic overhaul, introducing the “Green New Deal,” increasing automation, or lowering energy consumption or living standards.
They’re also talking law enforcement for their post-pandemic new world order.
“That agenda is explicitly detailed in Schwab’s three books, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Shaping the Future of the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A Guide to Building a Better World, and Covid-19: The Great Reset,” Newsmax explains.
In these words, Schwab notes that using technology for the sake of mass surveillance and monitoring the population “run(s) counter to healthy, open societies,” yet, as he appears to go on to argue, are nonetheless beneficial.
“As capabilities in this area improve, the temptation for law enforcement agencies and courts to use techniques to determine the likelihood of criminal activity, assess guilt or even possibly retrieve memories directly from people’s brains will increase,” he writes of proposed law enforcement measures that draw to mind the chilling sci-fi short story and film Minority Report.
He also proposes measures that would go on simply requiring proof of vaccination to travel.
He also suggests that one day, crossing the border could require “a detailed brain scan to assess an individual’s security risk.”
What free and fair nation in the world would even for a second consider something so brazenly tyrannical?! I’m running out of synonyms for “draconian” at this point.’https://www.teaparty247.org/man-behind-the-great-reset-wants-to-scan-our-what-so-well-be-allowed-to-travel-this-is-bizarre-and-terrifying/
‘The platypus is perhaps the most evolution-defying creature on Earth. It’s not enough that it’s a mammal that lays eggs, has a bill like a duck, tail like a beaver, dense fur like an otter, webbed feet for swimming, hunts with its eyes closed underwater using electroreception, and wields venomous spurs, but now we can add “glows in the dark” to the long list of mind-boggling traits.1
Biofluorescence is a glow-in-the-dark phenomenon in which short wavelengths of light are absorbed and longer wavelengths are re-emitted based on the specific bio-physical properties of hair, skin, scales, or feathers. Biofluorescence has been documented in a wide range of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds.2-7 Among mammals, biofluorescence of the fur when exposed to ultraviolet light has been previously demonstrated in several nocturnal taxa including marsupial opossums and placental flying squirrels.8-9 In this new research paper from Mammalia, scientists have documented the fluorescence of the fur coat of the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) under ultraviolet light. That makes this the first report of biofluorescence in a monotreme mammal.
The researchers analyzed three different platypus specimens in two different museums under both ultraviolet and visible light. Since previous research found no differences between fur coat fluorescence for other mammals in either living or museum specimens, the scientists were confident that their results applied to living platypuses. The top view (dorsal) of the animals showed a strong fluorescent blue color under the ultraviolet light while the bottom view (ventral) contained a blend of greens and blues. Under visible light, the fur was brown. Ultraviolet visual perception capability has been shown to be widespread among mammals, so this type of biofluorescence can be detected by other animals.10
So, why is fluorescent fur important? At this point, the biofluorescence trait is being consistently documented in creatures like the platypus which are active under low-light conditions. The platypus forages for food at night and at twilight. And because the platypus closes its eyes when it submerges in the water, foraging for food based on innate mechanoreception and electroreception systems, it is likely that this trait doesn’t help it to visualize other platypuses underwater. But on land and in the dark, biofluorescence may help platypuses interact with other platypuses, or the trait might be used in methods of visual interaction with other kinds of creatures.
At this point, there is one thing we know for sure: the platypus is a living testament to the failure of evolutionary theory to explain the diversity and complexity of animal life. Because the platypus is so unique, evolutionists are befuddled to explain its origins and are unsure of its place in their mythical evolutionary continuum. Clearly, the platypus and all other plants and animals speak to the fact that a mighty and omnipotent Creator made and engineered them all.
Stage image: Platypus specimen under visible and ultraviolet light.
Stage image credit: De Gruyter. Copyright © 2020. Adapted for use in accordance with federal copyright (fair use doctrine) law. Usage by ICR does not imply endorsement of copyright holders.
References
1. Anich, P. S. et al. 2020. Biofluorescence in the Platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). Mammalia. DOI: doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2020-0027
2. Pearn, S. M., A. T. Bennett, and I. C. Cuthill. 2001. Ultraviolet Vision, Fluorescence and Mate Choice in a Parrot, the Budgerigar Melopsittacus Undulates. Proceedings Royal Society London B. 268: 2273-2279. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2001.1813.
3. Weidensaul, C. S., B. A. Colvin, D. F. Brinker, and J. S. Huy. 2011. Use of Ultraviolet Light as an Aid in Age Classification of Owls. Wilson Journal Ornithology. 123: 373–377. doi.org/10.1676/09-125.1.
4. Sparks, J. S., et al. 2014. The Covert World of Fish Biofluorescence: a Phylogenetically Widespread and Phenotypically Variable Phenomenon. PloS One 9:e83259. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0083259.
5. Gruber, D. F. and J. S. Sparks. 2015. First Observation of Fluorescence in Marine Turtles. American Museum Novitates. 3845: 1-8.
6. Lamb, J. Y. and M. P. Davis. 2020. Salamanders and Other Amphibians are Aglow with Biofluorescence. Scientific Reports. 10: 2821. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59528-9.
7. Meisner, D.H. 1983. Psychedelic Opossums: Fluorescence of the Skin and Fur of Didelphis Virginiana Kerr. Ohio Journal Science. 83:4.
8. Pine, R. H., J. E. Rice, J. E. Bucher, D. J Jr Tank, and A. M. Greenhall. 1985. Labile Pigments and Fluorescent Pelage in Didelphid Marsupials. Mammalia. 49: 249-256. doi.org/10.1515/mamm.1985.49.2.249.
9. Kohler, A. M., E. R. Olson, J. G. Martin, and P. S. Anich. 2019. Ultraviolet Fluorescence Discovered in New World Flying Squirrels (Glaucomys). Journal of Mammalogy. 100: 21-30.
10. Douglas, R. H. and G. Jeffery. 2014. The Spectral Transmission of Ocular Media Suggests Ultraviolet Sensitivity is Widespread Among Mammals. Proceedings Royal SocietyB. 281: 20132995. doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.2995.’https://www.icr.org/article/glow-in-the-dark-platypuses-illuminate-the-creator/?utm_source=phplist9201&utm_medium=email&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=Christmas+Ornament%2C+Glow-in-the-Dark+Platypuses%2C+and+More%21
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
When a brother can rise up and kill his own brother and show NO remorse at all, then I guess, the following shouldn’t surprise us!
‘Babies in Ireland may be surviving late-term abortions and being abandoned to die under the nation’s new abortion law, according to a new study.
Published in the journal BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, the study provides a horrific glimpse at how unborn babies are being legally aborted in Ireland.
“In Ireland, several babies have already been born alive after abortion and left to die, admits a new study,” David Quinn, director of The Iona Institute, wrote Tuesday on Twitter. “This will cause absolutely no controversy, no heart-rending national debate, no questioning of what we have wrought.”
Ireland voted to repeal its Eighth Amendment, which granted unborn babies a right to life, in 2018. By the end of 2019, 6,666 unborn babies had been legally aborted in the country. The law allows abortions for any reason up to 12 weeks and without restriction in cases of fatal fetal anomalies.
The study included interviews with 10 Irish doctors who do late-term abortions on unborn babies diagnosed with fatal anomalies. Several described their work as “brutal” and “killing” with one admitting to “stabbing the baby in the heart.” They also expressed concerns about babies surviving abortions and uncertainty about who is supposed to care for the babies when they do.’https://www.lifenews.com/2020/11/19/in-ireland-babies-are-being-born-alive-after-abortion-and-left-to-die/
There are many well meaning people within the charismatic movement along with many charlatans. The following article should be a help to those believers who sincerely desire to know the truth on the subject from Scripture.
‘Does the Bible teach definitively that the charismatic gifts have ceased? Can cessationism (the view that they have ended) be proved? Some say that the cessationism cannot be conclusively proved from Scripture.
We believe, however, that the ceasing of revelatory and sign-gifts in the time of the apostles is very plainly taught in God’s Word, so plainly, in fact, that the opposite view has only seriously appeared in the last 100 years or so.
The term cessationism comes from the great 17th-century confessions of faith, such as the Westminster and Baptist confessions. These both use the same word. Speaking about how God has revealed his will and committed it to the Scriptures, the confessions say, ‘Former ways of God’s revealing his will unto his people being now ceased’. This word does not actually come from the Bible, but the doctrine does.
Not only has revelation been completed and ceased, but so have the signs that revelation is in progress. Here is a brief summary of six biblical proofs that the revelatory gifts have ceased (visions, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and prophecies), and also the sign-gifts (healings and speaking in tongues). God still heals, of course, but in answer to prayer, and not through the hands of a gifted healer.
The controversial passage of 1 Corinthians 13.8-10 will not be used in this article to prove the ending of the gifts. We will refer only to passages which we believe to be conclusive.
1. Not since the apostles
The first proof for cessationism (the ending of revelatory and sign-gifts) is that healings and wonders could only be done by apostles, and were their special authenticating signs. In 2 Corinthians 12.12 Paul says: ‘Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.’
There were some people in the church at Corinth who challenged Paul’s apostleship. To defend himself he draws attention to his gift of healing and of working other miraculous signs, stating that only the apostles could do such things.
An apostle was someone who had accompanied the Lord, seen him after his resurrection, and been personally commissioned by him. As a special witness of the resurrection he was given power to heal. He was also a person who would be shown ‘all truth’ by the Holy Spirit (John 14.26 and 16.13), and would either write or endorse inspired Scripture.
Believers would need to know who the true apostles were in order to respect their unique authority. They would know them by their healings and other signs. People who did not belong to the band of apostles (which included two named assistants) could not do these things. If they had been able to do them, then no one would have been certain who were true apostles.
In Acts 2.43 and 5.12 it is again made clear that all the miracles were performed ‘by the hands of the apostles’. This was exclusively their sign. Also, in Hebrews 2.3-4 the healing gifts are firmly linked to the apostles.
Paul was an apostle by virtue of having seen the risen Lord, and having been directly commissioned by him. His lack of training by Christ was made good by his receiving special and unique revelations. He states that he was ‘one born out of due time’ (1 Corinthians 15.8), indicating that he was the only apostle outside the original band and therefore the last apostle. (Modern claims to apostleship do not match the biblical qualifications and are improper and wrong.)
When people say that cessationism (the ceasing of sign-gifts) cannot be proved from Scripture, they forget that the book of Acts says specifically that healings and other wonders were exclusive to the apostles, who have now passed away.
When the churches had grown and multiplied Peter went to Lydda, and then Joppa, famously healing Æneas and raising Dorcas from the dead. Entire communities were astonished, because none of the other believers in such places could do these things.
When a lad fell out of a window in Troas, there was only one person present who could raise him up, and that was Paul. The charismatic idea that healings were performed by numerous Christians is simply not to be found in the New Testament. Only the apostles are recorded as having healed, together with two apostolic assistants or delegates, Stephen and Philip, and possibly Barnabas.
The only time someone outside this group performed a healing was when the Lord told Ananias to heal Paul. There is no other healing apart from these in the early church. The Pentecostal/charismatic idea that healings took place constantly by Christians at large is not taught in the Bible. Thus the infallible record of Scripture shows the entire charismatic approach to healing to be a mistake based on a myth. The record proves that the healings and mighty deeds were restricted to a class of people who have passed away.
2. The temporary purpose of tongues
The second proof that cessationism can be proved from the Scriptures (sign-gifts have ceased) is about tongues-speaking. It is the biblical statement that tongues-speaking was given by God specifically as a sign for Jews, signalling to them that the new era of Messiah had arrived.
In 1 Corinthians 14.21-22 Paul says,
‘In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not.’
In other words, the gift of tongues was a miraculous proof to Jews who were resistant to believing in Christ, that the new age and a new church order had arrived. It was not for the benefit of Jews who had come to believe, but a sign of promise and warning to those who did not believe. It was not intended for Gentiles, but Jews.
Paul quoted from Isaiah 28.11, a chapter in which Isaiah prophesies Christ’s coming. As a sign to Jews, Isaiah says Jewish people will be addressed by those with ‘stammering lips and another tongue’. Gentile languages will challenge them, a most belittling experience for Jewish people. At the same time it was a sign that the Messianic age would bring Gentiles into the church, and the Gospel would be preached in other languages.
This would be a mark of the new age when God would pull down the flag of the Jewish church, and run up the flag of the Jewish-Gentile church of Jesus Christ. Unbelieving Jews, who resisted Christ and clung to the skirts of Moses, would find the Word of God being preached to them in barbarian, Gentile languages.
All this came to pass, beginning on the day of Pentecost. The Jews were duly called and warned, but tongues are not mentioned outside the Acts of the Apostles and 1 Corinthians 12-14, showing that they had accomplished their purpose of warning the Jews that the new era had arrived.
This announcing of the church age was accomplished while the apostles lived, and the sign has been withdrawn. What passes for tongues-speaking today is not done in the presence of doubting Jews, and has nothing to do with the sign of the New Testament. The sign that the church age has come has served its purpose, and been surpassed by the reality.
The Gospel is now preached in virtually every language in the world, and the sign that this would happen is long extinct. The purpose of tongues (according to Paul’s teaching) has been fulfilled, proving their discontinuation.
3. Tongues were real languages
The third proof of cessationism adds to the second, and it is this – that a gift of real languages was given on the day of Pentecost (and for a while afterwards), which has never been seen since that time. It should be obvious to us that the miraculous languages of the books of Acts and 1 Corinthians have never occurred since those days.
Tongues-speaking of modern times is never any known human language, but only meaningless, disjointed speech. Nothing miraculous happens. In New Testament times the tongues-speaker was given by the Spirit the ability to speak in a real language which he had never learned, and people who had grown up with him were astonished.
Jewish people would be present (as it was specifically a sign for them). On the day of Pentecost many Jews who lived in foreign regions heard their own languages spoken, and attested the genuineness of the speakers. After Pentecost the Spirit would give the miraculous gift of understanding to interpreters so that the authenticity of the language would be proved. Nothing like this has been seen since Bible times.
Today those who advocate tongues-speaking point to 1 Corinthians 13.1 where Paul, speaking hypothetically, says that even if he spoke an angelic tongue, without love, it would amount to nothing. Desperately looking for a text, charismatic teachers take Paul’s words as a justification for ecstatic, non-linguistic tongues, but it is plain to any thinking person that this is a serious misuse of the verse.
By describing literal languages, the Bible effectively warns us that these gifts have been withdrawn. They simply have not happened at any time in history, anywhere in the world, since the very early days of the church. What happens today is that people (who may be sincere Christians), in their desire to do what their leaders insist is right, seek to give utterance outside the rules of speech. However, they do not speak real languages, or even understand what they are saying.
Cessationism is clearly taught in Scripture, by virtue of the fact that the very precise description of real languages given in Scripture cannot be applied to anything that has taken place since.[1]
Since Bible times we have had glorious events of reformation and mighty revivals, when the Spirit of God has been pleased to work in exceptional power. Yet we have not one reported or recorded claim of anyone speaking a real language they had never learned. This is certain proof that the gift of biblical tongues has ceased.
4. No instructions to appoint prophets
The fourth proof for cessationism is this: there are no New Testament instructions about appointing apostles, prophets, healers, or anything of the kind. This is a matter of tremendous significance, because God has given a detailed pattern for the church in the New Testament. It is true that some Christians do not believe that the Bible provides a blueprint for the church, but most people who are of baptistic, Bible-believing persuasion do.
The apostle Paul commands us repeatedly to be the most careful imitators of him in our church polity and conduct, and the pastoral epistles set out how we should behave and function in the church of God. We are given the precise pattern for the church for all time.
We have instructions that most carefully set out how to select preaching and ruling elders and deacons, but no instructions about the appointment of apostles (because they were not to be perpetuated), or on how to recognise or accredit a prophet (because revelatory gifts ended with the completion of the Bible). Nor are there instructions about appointing healers.
This is not merely an argument from silence, but a proof that these offices and functions were not to continue. The instructions for all matters of church organisation are complete and detailed and all-sufficient for the church until Christ comes again. We disobey God’s perfect pattern if we make appointments in the church that he has not prescribed and commanded. We disobey Scripture.
How can it be said that there is no certain scriptural proof that the gifts have ceased, when the pattern for the church gives no instructions for the continuation of inspired spokesmen and sign-workers? This is conclusive proof of cessationism – unless we do not hold to the sufficiency of Scripture, and do not believe that God has given a pattern for his church.
5. Revelation is now complete
The fifth proof for cessationism is that the Bible plainly teaches that revelation is now complete. There can be no new revelation after the time of the apostles. We have already noted that in John 14.26 and in John 16.13 the Lord Jesus Christ says twice to the disciples that the Holy Spirit, when he comes, will lead them into all Truth.
They would be the authors of New Testament books, and the authenticators of inspired New Testament books not from their own pens. Soon all the Truth would be revealed, and after the apostolic era there would be no more revelation of Scripture. The Word would be complete.
How glad we are of that! What a state we would be in if people could pop up here, there and everywhere (as they do in the charismatic world) giving us new revelations. Who would know what was right, and what was true? But the Scripture is the final yardstick for everything, being complete and perfect, sufficient and trustworthy.
Jude was able to speak about the faith which was ‘once delivered unto the saints’. His epistle was written possibly 25 years before the final book of the Bible, but late enough for all the main doctrines and church instructions to have been revealed. At this late stage of revelation he speaks of the faith once delivered, or better, once for all delivered. It is virtually complete; soon (from Jude’s standpoint) there will be no more revelation.
The closing verses of the Bible warn that nothing must be added or taken from the words of the book of Revelation, but this clearly applies to the whole Bible, not just the last book. We know this because the warning closely echoes the one given by Moses in the first book of the Bible (the first five were originally one book), namely Deuteronomy 4.2, ‘Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it’ (words repeated by Moses in Deuteronomy 12.32).
The completion of revelation is also proved by the fact that apostles and prophets are described as the foundation stage of the church.
In Ephesians 2.20 the church is described as being – ‘built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets [that is – New Testament prophets], Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone’. A foundation is something completed and stable, while the building continues to be constructed.
What about Joel’s prophecy, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost, saying that when the Spirit is poured out, all believers, male, female, old and young will prophesy? Is it not implied that this will go on literally until the Lord’s return? No, because our understanding of this prophecy must agree with the unassailable teaching of the Bible that revelation was soon completed, and then ceased.
It is this completed revelation (especially the Gospel) that will be the witness of believers of all ages, male and female, through all the world, until the end. Believers will continue to see visions and dream dreams in the sense that they embrace, reflect upon, and proclaim the infallible ‘visions and dreams’ given to them in the Bible. They will not ‘prophesy’ in the sense of receiving new revelation. They will also dream dreams of Gospel plans and conquests. In this sense the prophecy of Joel is still being fulfilled.
The extraordinary manifestations such as tongues had clearly vanished by the time Peter wrote his two epistles, for he gives no hint whatsoever that these features of the early scene were still operating.
As revelation was completed in the time of the apostles, we see that the task of apostles and prophets is over. And if the gifts of revelation are ended, then so are the authenticating signs of inspired penmen. We remember how Paul said, ‘Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in…signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds’ (2 Corinthians 12.12).
How can it be said that there is no biblical proof for cessationism when Scripture emphatically says that all revelation has been completed, like a foundation, at the beginning of the church age?
6. Scripture witnesses the end of gifts
The sixth proof for cessationism is that Scripture shows that they were in the process of being withdrawn at that very time. Paul, for example, who possessed apostolic power to do signs and wonders and mighty deeds, could not, in the course of time, heal Timothy or Trophimus or Epaphroditus.
We also see the withdrawing of the healing gifts in James 5, where James gives instructions about praying for the sick, and how the elders may lay hands upon the bedridden. It is obvious in this passage that there is no gifted healer in sight, only elders, who pray.
Anointing is mentioned, but the Greek term for religious anointing is not used. The Greek uses a very practical word that means ‘rub down’ with oil, more like a remedy for bedsores. James effectively says, ‘Don’t be so heavenly-minded that you are of no earthly use, but take some physical relief for the suffering person.’
What matters most is prayer. It is certain in the instructions of James that no gifted healer is brought in to command healing, or to give a healing touch. The laying on of hands of ordinary elders is a symbolic act, communicating the church’s love, care and responsibility.
The passage of James contains four exhortations to pray, and it follows his teaching that we ought to say, ‘If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.’ We can and must pray for healing, but it may be God’s will that a sufferer should witness to God’s grace in the illness.
The main point for us in this article is that there is no one possessing personal power to heal in James 5. Healing is by God in answer to prayer. The ongoing stance of the church is seen as praying for healing, remembering that some are called to live as ‘an example of suffering affliction, and of patience’ (James 5.10).
The fact that James does not mention healing gifts shows unmistakably that the possession of healing power was withdrawn quite early in the course of the apostolic era.
Would a neutral reader assume Bible gifts were for every age?
It has been suggested that if a new convert with no experience of church life were shut in a room with a Bible, it would never occur to that person that the charismatic gifts had ceased. The opposite is true. There are many people (we know some) who come from other faiths who have been converted to Christ by private Bible reading, and subsequently found their way into a church. From the Bible alone they received no expectation of a charismatic scene. Much more frequently – increasingly so as time passes – believers leave charismatic churches having realised that what takes place there is not what they find in the Bible.
On reading Acts carefully, they discover that only the apostolic band healed, and feel they have been misled by the Pentecostal-charismatic notion that numerous people did so.
Some wonder what the original significance or purpose of tongues was, and when they learn from Paul that they were specifically for Jews, they again feel misled by their teachers.
They also feel mis-taught when it becomes obvious that tongues were real languages, a vastly more miraculous matter than incomprehensible sounds.
Then, as soon as these believers appreciate the importance of the scriptural pattern for the church, the question sometimes arises in their minds – ‘Where are the Bible’s instructions for appointing apostles, prophets and healers today?’ They find there are none, and become even more critical of the teaching they have received.
Then the question of the authority and sufficiency of Scripture intrudes, and they think, ‘Is not revelation complete? How, then, can modern prophecies be valid and inspired?’ It becomes obvious that all the ‘authoritative’ prophecies they have heard are a great mistake, and a delusion.
Many thinking believers see for themselves that to charismatic people, Scripture is second in importance to human imagination and mysterious experiences.
Finally, the more these friends study the Word, the more they see the evidence that the signs disappeared soon after their spectacular initial outpouring.
None of this means that the Lord does not move his people to remember duties or truths, or urge them to do certain things, or warn them of imminent dangers. These are divine intimations, not revelations or gifts.
In the history of the church, there are recorded instances of people having an intimation from God about some threatening event or person, but these are never revelations of doctrine. We find such things in times of severe persecution. For instance, up until Perestroika in Russia, we heard of very credible instances when God’s key servants were wonderfully delivered from arrest because the Lord impressed on someone not to go to some particular place. It was later discovered that a KGB-police ambush lay in wait for them. However, no recipient of such an intimation was given a regular gift, and certainly not an authoritative revelation of doctrinal truth. God can do all kinds of things to deliver and bless his people, but this is not in any way the reappearance of apostolic or prophetic gifts bestowed on individuals.
The damage of charismatic teaching
Many charismatics are coming to see the enormous gap between the Bible and what they have been taught. Such doubters are often troubled by the fact that huge numbers of Catholics, who depend on Mary, the Mass, and works for salvation, are also able to speak in tongues and prophesy. Many also worship in exactly the same way as charismatic Protestants.
Charismatic doubters may also hear that non-Christian cults also speak in tongues. You do not need to be a saved Christian to speak in charismatic-style tongues, because it is not a true gift of the Spirit.
There are many sincere Christians in the charismatic movement, but we believe that the attempt to revive revelatory and sign-gifts is a very harmful mistake. We can see the harm in the emergence of huge sections of the movement in which the Gospel has virtually disappeared, buried under unbiblical extravagances.
There are large charismatic groups that now deny the penal substitution of Christ, and some even deny the Trinity. (One of the world’s most famous charismatic preachers and authors denies the doctrine of the Trinity.)
Worldly entertainment-style music dominates charismatic churches, even music of the most extreme and godless kind. The theatrical antics of money-grabbing charismatic leaders may be seen at any time on religious TV, and the prosperity-gospel heresy is seemingly everywhere. Numerous charlatans and rogues have built large followings, carrying out their supposed ‘healings’ at venues throughout the world. Even music-hall fortune-telling techniques are being presented as spiritual wonders, in once respected churches.
The powerful current that constantly propels the charismatic constituency further and further from the Bible is evidence of a serious fundamental error, namely, the idea that the revelatory and sign-gifts are for all time. To experience them involves a twofold mistake: firstly, the downscaling of the gifts to something non-miraculous (eg: turning real languages into non-linguistic utterances); and secondly, the downgrading of Scripture, which must bow to imagined experiences of dreams, visions, ‘words from the Lord’, and similar revelations. There is harm done also to individual Christians whose faith is greatly diverted from the Lord and his Word, to phenomena and sensations.
We sincerely pray that God will deliver those who are his true children from the accumulating harm of this wildly mistaken departure from Scripture. It is perfectly possible to prove that cessationism is a Biblical truth.
Reference
[1]The unauthentic tongues-speakers of today do not even attempt to follow the Bible’s rules for the exercising of the gift in those days – that no more than two or three at most should speak in any service (1 Corinthians 14.27).’https://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/Christian-Article/Cessationism-Proving-Charismatic-Gifts-have-Ceased-Sword-and-Trowel-Magazine
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