Daily Devotional – May 16

Christian Truth

Few people in history have suffered as dramatically as Job. In a brief period of time, he lost his enormous wealth, his stature/fame/prestige, and every one of his ten children, and he was covered with excruciatingly painful boils - causing him continuous, unstoppable agony. His only momentary relief was to scrape his skin with a piece of broken pottery so hard that his entire body became a raw, oozing sore. His closest friends could not even recognize him, and his wife’s only advice was to, “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9). Yet in the face of such monumental suffering, Job correctly acknowledges this reality: “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”(Job 2:10 NIV).

How a loving God can allow human suffering has been a central question throughout the ages – especially when we are the ones in anguish. Every human being stands sinful before God, and we deserve death for our rebellion. Yet, God took the penalty of death upon Himself in an act of unconditional, sacrificial love. While God sees the big picture and what the future holds, we constantly turn from Him in self-centered desires. Physical death exists as the only possible door for believers to come back into fellowship with God. But how could we die if disease and sickness did not exist? How could we help and empathize with others if nothing “bad” ever happened to us? How could we truly appreciate the blessings of God if we never experience the removal of these blessings? God understands suffering and knows what is best for us. It is through the tough times that we draw closest to him.

Job repeatedly acknowledged that God was both aware of his pain and was allowing him to experience it. In a classic and prophetic statement, Job declared, “I know that my redeemer lives.” (Job 19:25 NKJ). Yet, Job cried out for an explanation of why he was going through such anguish. In the end, God did answer this question. Throughout four chapters of Scripture, in the longest recorded monolog from God to mankind, God explains His majesty, power, understanding and control over all things to Job and each one of us. Jesus Himself stated as fact, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33 NIV) When you are suffering, concentrate on the height of God’s majesty - not the depth of your sorrows. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

~ John 16:33

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – May 1

Christian Truth

The Ten Best Evidences for a Young Earth as Confirmed in Science

1. Very little sediment on the sea floor: Every year, sediment washes into the sea. At current rates, oceans contain about 12 million years-worth of sediment, not billions. Even this sediment exists because of erosion at the end of the Flood – not from 12 million years of slow accumulation. So, where are the billions of years of dirt, if earth is billions of years old?
2. Bent rock layers: Throughout the world, we see sedimentary layers bent and folded without fracturing. This means they had to be bent when freshly laid.
3. Soft tissue in dinosaur bones: It would be long gone in millions of years.
4. Faint sun paradox: The sun gets its energy from the fusion of hydrogen into helium, deep within the sun’s core. As the hydrogen fuses, the sun’s core increases in temperature. This means billions of years ago, the sun was fainter or cooler. Only 3.5 billion years ago the entire earth would have been well below freezing - at a time when life supposedly evolved.
5. Rapidly decaying magnetic field: The earth’s magnetic field is decaying so rapidly it could not be older than 20,000 years old.
6. Helium in radioactive rocks: Helium is released during the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium contained in rocks. All the helium should have leaked out of the rocks in less than 100,000 years. So why are these rocks still filled with significant concentrations of helium?
7. Carbon-14 found in fossils, diamonds and coal: C14 or radiocarbon decays quickly, so after a few hundred thousand years, no carbon-14 should be left, yet we find it in “ancient” fossils, diamonds, and coal.
8. Short-lived comets: Every time a comet passes by the sun, it loses some of its mass. Given the observed loss rates, it is easy to compute the age of comets; the maximum age is well below billions of years.
9. Very little salt in the sea: Every year salt gets transported into the sea from the continents. If the world’s oceans have been around for three billion years (as evolutionists believe), we should see almost 100 times more salt within ocean waters than we do today.
10. DNA in “ancient” bacteria: Bacteria, believed by evolutionists to be 250 million years old, still had DNA. This is impossible unless they were quite recently buried. Also, they were shocked to find the bacteria’s DNA was very similar to modern bacterial DNA. Where’s the evolution?

Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

~ Psalm 135:6

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – April 18

Christian Truth

Mankind has often pondered the question, “What comes after this life?” Do we just simply cease to exist and return to the dust of the earth? Or is there more to our existence than our physical bodies? The Bible is clear that we will be held accountable for our lives after death, “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). It also states, “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23 emp. added) and “There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10) We will face a holy and just God after death, and this is indeed a scary reality for those who have not accepted the forgiveness offered through the sacrificial death of Jesus. Yet, how do we know there will be a life after death? One answer comes in the most unlikely of places – the book of Job. Before his trials, Job was blessed with wealth, health, and happiness. He had 7 sons, 3 daughters, 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen, and 500 donkeys (Job 1:2-3). Stricken by disaster, which few men have endured before or since, Job lost everything. He was urged by his wife and closest friends to blame either God or his own sins for his problems - yet Job steadfastly refused to do either. Blaming God would defame the character of God, and Job knew he had not sinned in a way that should have brought such misery upon his life. Yet, it never entered Job’s mind to deny the very existence of God. Job begged to know why such agony had fallen upon him and in the end, God rebuked his antagonists while rewarding Job’s steadfast faithfulness by doubling his losses with 14,000 sheep, 6000 camels, 1000 pairs of oxen, 1000 donkeys, 7 more sons and 3 more daughters (Job 42:12-13). Compare the original list with the final list. Notice that the Lord doubled all of Job’s possessions …except for his children. Why? Because death does not end our existence. Job’s original 7 children did not cease to exist; they had simply stepped through the door we call death and would see Job again (if they were judged righteous). So in reality, by giving Job another 10 children, the Lord also doubled his children. Had he been given 20 more children, it would have been as if the original 10 had ceased to exist, and this is not the case!

He had also seven sons and three daughters.

~ Job 42:13

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – April 1

Christian Truth

Imagine a student coming into his teacher’s office and declaring that he did not believe that oxygen existed. Before the teacher could even respond, the student bursts forth with a long series of justifications for his conclusion starting with the fact that “no-one had ever seen an oxygen molecule” and the question, “where would this molecule come from?”

A good teacher would not get defensive and go into an insulting tirade against such a student. The teacher would be confident in the truth and would lead the deceived student to the truth with patience and logic.

In the same way, evolutionists are like the student, insisting that everything can be explained without the existence of God. God has repeatedly stated that it is the evidence from creation that testifies to His existence (Roman 1:18-31). The very fact that rational thoughts are possible proves the existence of a Creator. Our minds have been purposefully created. We are not random arrangements of chemicals. Otherwise, our thoughts are just chemicals and electricity zipping around our brain randomly. If I were to have you think of a pink elephant and then cut your skull open, would I find a pink elephant there? No, a pink elephant is a thought while your brain is a physical structure. You are body and soul. Where did this soul come from? God. There is a God who reveals Himself through what He has made. To those who have been taken captive by the philosophy of this world, we need to be patient and explain the truth.

Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the heart?

~ Job 38:36

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – March 1

Christian Truth

Why spend time talking about the evidence for creation, aren’t we, “justified by faith?” (Romans 5:1)

Romans 1:19-20 states that all people are without excuse for lack of belief in God because all people can clearly see what He has made by observing the creation. The world is filled with people who can see the intricacies and design of life and the vast scale of the universe – but are still blinded to the reality of God’s existence. Therefore, more than physical evidence is needed to convince people that God exists, that He has died for our sins, and that we must accept His sacrifice for our sins to come back into fellowship with Him. Mature Christians understand that this awakening to the truth is the working of the Holy Spirit within people’s lives, but hearing the evidence from creation opens people’s spiritual eyes. Immature Christians absolve themselves of any responsibility to do anything to reach others with this truth by assuming that it is the Holy Spirit’s job to reach people and that people have been given the freedom to reject the obvious (if they choose to).

God has always used people to reach other people. Yes, all the credit for a person’s spiritual eyes being opened goes to God, but He commands us to be the ones who place the truth in front of others. He has always used people to reach other people with the truth. The greatest teacher, Jesus Christ, was both fully man and fully God. Thus God Himself became a man to reach other men with the truth. We MUST explain to others that God is the Creator and evolution is just a story. Christians need to get out of the bleachers and into the game and speak of God the designer/Creator/Redeemer.

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

~ Romans 10:15b

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

References for this devotional.

Daily Devotional – February 12

Christian Truth

Your skin is literally crawling with millions of harmful viruses and bacteria, yet infections and diseases ONLY start when contamination finds its way inside. In a similar way, the Christian church faces its greatest danger, not from persecution and skeptical attacks, but from those within the faith who twist and distort the Word of God to justify non-biblical beliefs. Combining God’s Word with evolution (and its required millions of years) is Christianity’s greatest internal threat.

You need only observe the reaction to creation conferences hosted on public universities to see this reality in action. Venomous and insulting attacks preceding such conferences by unbelieving faculty and students are not at all surprising – the very idea of a Creator to whom we are accountable strikes at the very core of their belief system. But all too often “Christian” groups show up at such conferences to pass out evolution-promoting literature. And every year thousands of churches set aside the Sunday closest to Charles Darwin’s birthday to celebrate “Darwin Day”! Most Christian Bible colleges and seminaries teach that it is perfectly acceptable to believe that God used billions of years to slowly change pond slime into human beings (i.e. molecules-to-man evolution). Well-funded organizations are spending millions to convince Christians that evolution and the Bible blend seamlessly. Yet, the exact opposite is true.

I recently helped my son tear out almost every wall in his “fixer-upper” home in preparation for a major remodeling. While we were rebuilding, three critical tools were needed: a level, square, and chalk line. The Bible gives us an unchanging standard for understanding not just morality, but history and science also. God’s Word is the only suitable level, square, and chalk line standard with which to interpret these subjects. Almost universally, Christians have compromised God’s Word by making science, majority opinion, or their own experience the absolute with which to judge and re-interpret God’s Word. This is exactly equivalent to bending the square, misaligning the level, or smearing the chalk line to fit a crooked wall. It may work for a while, but ultimately, the structure will become distorted as mistake, builds upon mistake and it will become hopelessly unstable and destroyed from within.

God repeatedly warns us to make His Word - not the teaching of church leaders, scientific consensus, or popular opinion - our primary guide of truth.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

~ Matthew 7:15

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

Daily Devotional – February 7

Christian Truth

Did you know that the planet Mercury is a testimony to creation? Back in 1974-75, the space probe Mariner 10 discovered that Mercury has a magnetic field. Thirty-six years later, in 2011, space probe Messenger documented that Mercury’s magnetic field strength had fallen 8%. So what, you say! This means that the magnetic field on Mercury has a half-life of only 320 years. In other words, every 300 years or so, Mercury loses half the strength of its magnetic field. If Mercury is billions of years old, or even hundreds of thousands of years old, it could not possibly have any magnetic field left. This recent discovery is enormously strong evidence from the field of cosmology that our solar system had to have been recently created. But it gets even better!

The validity of any scientific theory is based on its ability to predict as yet unmeasured or unseen events. Dr. Russell Humphreys, a Bible-believing, creation scientist, correctly predicted rapid decay of Mercury’s magnetic field decades before Messenger measured the planet’s field strength. His correct prediction was based on his theory that all the planets were initially formed about 6000 years ago. He also correctly predicted the strength of Uranus’ and Neptune’s magnetic fields - before spacecraft measured these magnetic fields. In EVERY case of predicting magnetic fields, the predictions of oldage evolutionary astronomers were wrong! But of course, Dr. Humphreys would be correct; he started with the Bible to develop his mathematical models. The universe is young, just as the Bible says. Mercury’s magnetic field is a testimony to creation!

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork

~ Psalm 19:1

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

Daily Devotional - February 1

Christian Truth

While on the cross, Jesus experienced a taste of hell in at least six very real ways:

1. Jesus was conscious during His time of suffering on the cross. He felt the scourging, nailing, and torturing pain of crucifixion. Hell is a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28, Matthew 13:50). In hell, one will be conscious of suffering.
2. Darkness was experienced by Jesus “from the sixth hour (12 noon) until the ninth hour (3 pm)” (Matthew 27:45). Hell will be the blackest of darkness.
3. Jesus was surrounded by demonic powers. Colossians 2:15 states, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [the cross]”. We do not fully see this spiritual conflict taking place on Calvary, but this dark force of demons would have poured out their evil jeers and hatred on Christ.
4. Jesus bore our sins in His body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24) because God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). God laid the iniquity of us all on Him (Isaiah 53:6). Christ was our sinbearer. In Hell, we will bear our sins.
5. Jesus experienced hell on the cross by taking the punishment for sin. During those hours of darkness, He bore our sins and endured our punishment. God poured out His wrath on sin. That is what Hell is, receiving the punishment for the sins we deserve.
6. Christ was separated from the love of God. To be separated from God’s love is to be removed from all that is wonderful and lovely. Hell is being conscious of suffering, in total blackest darkness, surrounded by demonic powers, bearing the guilt of sin, coming under the judgment of God, and being eternally separated from love. The hell of hells is knowing that you could have followed God and that you passed up this opportunity--forever! Hell is for real. But, God has provided a way out. It is through His son Jesus Christ. He was the one that paid the price for your sins. All you need to do is admit: I am a sinner; repent: I am sorry for my sins; believe: Jesus paid the price by dying on the cross; and accept: Jesus is my Lord and Savior. The invitation is given; the time is now.

For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like we are yet without sin.

~ Hebrews 4:15

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett

Daily Devotional - January 18

Christian Truth

God commanded us to “have dominion over [creation].” The original word translated as “dominion” means to study, understand, and control. This is the essence of science. So do you want to be a science detective? First, let’s define science. There are two broad categories of science:  operational and historical.

Operational (or observational) science is the type of science that one might do in a laboratory. It is about experiments that are repeatable. For example, at sea level, water will always boil at the same temperature:  212 degrees F. Operational science builds stuff like rockets, smart phones and other inventions.

Historical science deals with what happened in the past. No scientist has a time machine. No scientist can go back into the past to perform experiments. The past cannot be directly observed or tested, so interpretations are involved. For example, suppose a dinosaur fossil is dug up. How long ago did it live? We don’t know for sure. But Christians have an eye-witness report through which to interpret the present. God is the eye-witness, and He recorded it in the Bible. There was a great Flood, and this flood would have recently buried the dinosaurs that would have rapidly become fossils. But this is still historical science.

So, when you go on vacation to places like Yellowstone National Park, you will see signs such as, “Over the course of 16.5 million years, approximately 15-20 massive eruptions have left immense calderas (craters) to dot the landscape…”, have fun separating interprtation/historical science (millions of years) from observation/operational science (immense calderas). Remember, it is only the observable that can be tested. All else is opinion, based on starting beliefs. Spend your next vacation being a science detective!

…have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

~ Genesis 1:28b

Source: "Pearls in Paradise" by authors Bruce Malone and Jule Von Vett