Putrid Cake and You

I attended a wedding this past weekend.

It was a wonderful event. Friends and family gathered together to witness the joining of a very happy couple. Unfortunately, it was held on Sunday afternoon. Due to travel requirements and the fast approaching work day, many of those who traveled from out of town had to leave after only a few hours.

When the bride and groom noticed the dwindling crowd, they decided to cut and serve the cake while there were still people who could enjoy it.

Wedding cakes, if you haven't seen one recently, are as much a centerpiece as a dessert. Cakes used to be made by bakers, then pastry chefs, but now there are 'Cake Design Teams', and the prices reflect the team effort. There's even a television show, "The Cake Divas", where teams show off their creations.

But for all the icing, decorations, lattice, bridges, and tiers, if the cake tastes bad, no one will eat it. The foul inner cake outweighs all the enticement and appeal of the outside.

People are the same way. You can put on the best clothes, be polite, smile often, and have a great sense of humor. You might even fool most people into thinking you are a good person, a fine citizen, or even a model church member. But our foul inner-self is clearly seen by God.

1st Samuel 16:7 says, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart!"

Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings."

What will God give to those who are foul inside, and how do you know how He will see you? It takes only a minute or two to find out.

Have you ever told a lie? What do you call people who tell lies?

Have you ever looked at someone, a video of someone, or a photo of someone, and lusted? Jesus Christ said that if you look with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart. Since God searches the heart, He knows that you've done this.

Have you ever used God's name flippantly, in disgust, or to cuss? That's called blasphemy, and during the time of the Old Testament, the punishment for blasphemy was death. Why? Because you've taken the name of the Holy God, the One who allows you to wake up every day, and used it without reverence. You wouldn't do that with your mother's name, or your fathers, or anyone else whom you love, and you shouldn't do it with the name of the Creator.

How did you do with our short three question test? If you're like most people, you are an admitted liar, adulterer, and blasphemer.

Think that's no big deal? The Bible says, "All liars will have their place in the lake of fire" and that no blasphemer, no adulterer will inherit the Kingdom of God.

Does it concern you, that if you face God tonight, you'd end up in hell? It should.

None of us is guaranteed another day on earth. 150,000 people die every day. Today could be the day for you.

There is no second chance, no reincarnation or holding room. No lawyers to plead your case. Just you and God. The Bible says, "It is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment."

Life. Death. Judgment. Eternity in either heaven or hell.

What has God done to ensure you don't have to spend eternity in hell? He sent His own Son to earth. His name was Jesus of Nazareth. He lived a sin-free life, and for that authorities had Him killed on a cross. He freely gave His life as an offering for us. It was a legal transaction in which your sins were paid for if you are willing to respond. How do you respond to obtain this 'salvation'? Repent, and trust in Christ.

'Repent' means to turn from your sin. It's as though you're standing in a room where you're in charge, but you voluntarily walk out and never return.

Trusting in Christ doesn't mean that you simply believe in Him, or that you "ask Him into your heart." It means that you submit to Him. You live your life for Him. You study the Bible, and obediently follow His commands.

Please repent and trust Christ today. Eternity is a long time to wish you would have responded while you still had time.

Author of 100 Things To Do Before You Die... Dead

On August 17, 2008, Dave Freeman, the co-author of "100 Things To Do Before You Die," died.

The book asked about life: "How can you fill it with the most fun and that you visit all the coolest places on earth before you pack those bags for the very last time?"

Freeman did not complete all 100 things before his death, but that's not important.

Let's assume that he did all 100, and more.

Assume for a moment that he achieved all his dreams of fun, and visited every cool place on earth he could think of. Imagine that he lived to a very old age, and literally packed his home full of photos, trophies, trinkets, souvenirs, and every form of achievement and recognition that he ever wanted.

He'd still die, eventually.

What about all those trophies and memorabilia? They'd go into boxes, they'd be sold or given away to admirers and family members. Some might go into museums. Many would go directly to the land-fill. Eventually all of them, including his checklist, would rust or rot and fall apart.

The Bible says, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

You can do everything you can dream of. You can earn billions of dollars. You can travel around the world, or into space, or to the moon. But when you die, none of that matters. The only thing that matters then is whether you've planned for what happens next.

What does happen next? The Bible says, "it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment..."

You will be judged for every thought and deed. Your travels won't matter. Your bank account balance won't matter. Your reputation in the community won't matter. The only thing that will matter is the Judge you stand before.

Since everyone will face judgment after they die, don't you think that the most important item on your checklist of things to do before you die is: "Plan for how I will do on Judgment Day"?

Of course it should. It should be number one!

How will you do on Judgment Day? It only takes a few minutes to find out.

The Bible says that "the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God." The Bible also calls the unrighteous, sinners.

How can you know if you are a sinner? Just as you might look in the mirror to see check your appearance, you can look at God's Law, the Ten Commandments, to see if you are a sinner.

The ninth commandment says, "You shall not bear false witness." This means, do not lie. Have you ever told a lie? If you're like everyone else, you have. In God's eyes, that makes you a liar.

The eighth commandment says, "You shall not steal." Have you ever stolen anything, even if it's small or inexpensive? If so, God sees you as a thief.

The seventh commandment is, "Do not commit adultery." You might think you're safe here, but during the Sermon on the Mount Christ said that everyone who looks with lust has already committed adultery in the heart.

During that same sermon, Christ said that everyone who is angry with his brother is guilty of murder! So, if you've ever been really angry with someone, God sees you as a murderer at heart, and you've broken the sixth commandment.

We've only looked at four of God's Ten Commandments, and chances are you are guilty of being a liar, a thief, an adulterer and a murderer at heart.

How will you do when you stand before a Holy God? Innocent or guilty?

If you're honest, you'll admit that you would be guilty. You're not alone. So would the rest of us.

Once you realize your peril, you realize you need a savior. That's why Jesus Christ, who is God, came to earth. When Christ was crucified, He took upon the sins of the world. He paid the fine for your crimes. That means that you can be found innocent.

How? Two things.

First, admit your guilt. Cry out to God for mercy. Decide that you never want to sin again - not because you want to be 'a good person' but because you want to obey God. This step is called repentence.

Next, depend upon Christ as your only hope. Make Christ the Lord of your life. This is called faith.

Then, read the Bible daily and join a church. You read the Bible to understand how to live for Him. You get involved with a church so you can fellowship with other believers and to obey God's desire that you join others in worship.

Don't wait another day. If there's one thing on your list you must accomplish before the other 99, this is the one!

I Witness With My Lifestyle and Actions...

The Bible makes it clear that Christians are to share the gospel with non-believers.

But how?

Some people say, "I witness to others with my lifestyle and my actions."

Is this an obedient form of evangelism?

I think the answer depends on if you're trying to make disciples of Christ, or disciples of yourself.

Our heart should be to share the Gospel so others can know Jesus, not to convince them to live their lives just like we do. You might hope that people will think “Wow, there’s something really different about you” and come ask about it… but that’s never happened to me, and chances are it will never happen to you.

More importantly, evangelism based strictly on lifestyle and actions is not Biblical.

Jesus said “Go… Make… Baptize… Teach” responding to each requires action on our part to engage with others.

Of course, you should also live a life that demonstrates your faith. Your life should glorify God, but don’t let your obedience stop there. It didn't for the best examples of evangelists we have in the Bible: Jesus, Peter, and Paul.

John 4 is probably one of the best known examples on one-on-one evangelism.

It describes Christ having a conversation with a woman at a public gathering place. What did he do? Did He walk by, and let her marvel at Him? No. He engaged in a seemingly normal conversation. Then He turned the conversation to spiritual topics. He shared the truth of her fallen state with her, then revealed how to be saved. The result? She was saved, and immediately evangelized by going home and telling everyone she could! She didn’t attend Sunday school, or seminary, or worry about how people would react to her words. She was simply obedient.

In Acts 17, we read about Paul engaging people in dialog in the synagogues and the marketplace. Paul did not simply walk around so people could see the scars from the lashings he endured, or hope that people could see that he was prosperous. Paul wasn't prosperous in the earthly sense! He could have walked around all day, every day, and never been noticed. Paul shared the gospel verbally.

When you read Acts 2, verses 43-47, you see clear examples of how the early Christians practiced evangelism: everywhere they went they verbally shared the gospel. The result? The number of Christians grew daily.

Additionally, the Gospels of John and Luke describe literary evangelism (John 20:31), which today we can perform using e-mail, online postings, tracts, letters, and more.

One more thing... Even if you insist on living your faith rather than sharing it, what are you going to say when someone notices that you're different, and asks you “What’s different about you and why?” If you’re not prepared to go out and witness, you’re not prepared answer that question.

You must “be ready”, and as long as you’re ready, you should “Go and tell!” Right? That’s right.

Christianity is a crutch?

People like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and numerous other atheists are fond of ridiculing Christians. One tactic they use to belittle the faithful is to state or imply that belief in God is a crutch.

They believe that the ‘crutch’ of religion will help Christians deal with thoughts of death, illness, disaster, or other uncontrollable events in life. They see religion as a way of creating a false peace of mind. They see our faith as an imaginary opiate that creates a false serenity.

How poorly they understand the Christian life.

Of course, like all such arguments, there is an element of truth to it. Christians do enjoy the grace and lovingkindness of the Lord.

Isaiah 12:1 tells us that God provides comfort. Second Corinthians 1:3-7 reminds us that the Lord is our comforter no matter what the affliction. It tells us that God is the “Father of mercies and God of all comfort...”

Scripture reminds us of His lovingkindness a number of times. Psalm 63:3 describes God’s lovingkindness as “better than life...”

Christ promises peace and fearlessness through faith in Him. He says, in John 14:27, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

How can a Christian help but have peace of mind when we consider that God pursued us, even as a wretched sinner and enemy? God’s amazing forgiveness and salvation is a thing of wonder. We can wholeheartedly rejoice in our freedom from slavery to sin, exchanged for slavery to Christ and righteousness (Romans 6:15-19).

In return for our repentance, faith in Christ alone, and obedience to the Lord, we share in the wondrous fruits promised in scripture: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

This is where the atheists stop, with a partial (and flawed) understanding of Christianity.

The obedient Christian understands two facts that non-believers don’t: the peril awaiting non-believers, and our responsibility to preach the gospel to them.

For example, Scripture clearly describes the fate of the lost:

• Everyone dies (Rom 5:12)
• After death comes judgment (Heb 9:27)
• Without Christ on judgment day, God’s wrath is poured out as you are cast into hell, where you will remain forever. (Eph 2:1-3, 2 Thess 1:9)

When talking with non-believers they sometimes tell me, “But, I don’t believe in heaven and hell.” That doesn’t matter. Consider this: if you don’t believe in traffic, and you suddenly run onto a busy highway, you’ll quickly be confronted with the truth about trucks, cars, and the frailty of the human body.

As a Christian, once you realize the fate of the lost you begin to see people differently. There’s no peace of mind in knowing that people you see every day, people you love, people you care about, will spend eternity in hell if they continue in their rebellion against God.

There’s more peace of mind for the atheist. What can be more peaceful than believing that there is no judgment after you die, or that if you were a biological and evolutionary accident once, and you just might be one again.

In addition, there is no peace of mind in knowing that it is our responsibility to preach the gospel to the lost, the enemies of God, those who find the gospel to be foolishness. It’s easier for the atheist to stand up and talk about evolution and proclaim falsehoods to people who want to have their ears tickled.

But it is our responsibility. Mark 16:15 says, “ Go into all the world and preach the gospel” and Acts 1:8 says, “you shall be My witnesses.” It’s not optional. Scripture does not say, “I hope you consider the possibility of being a witness of the gospel.” No! It says, “you shall be My witnesses.”

If you want peace of mind, take the easy way out. Deny reality. Make up your own reality. Be an atheist.

If you love the Lord, then read His word. Obey Him. Share the gospel. Forget about the peace of your mind, find your rest and peace in Him. Then find an atheist and explain the truth in love.

Evolution: The Numbers Don't Add Up

One reason many people refuse to respond to God is evolution.

They think that over millions of years, anything is possible.

Anything but God, of course.

On the surface this doesn't make sense. Think about it, if "anything is possible" then the universe would be chaos, not order. Anything happening, including random mutations, would lead to shortened lifespans and life-forms that die out due to useless mutations. It certainly would not lead to order and stable life forms.

Oh, and there's that little problem of where did all the stuff come from, and how did life begin?

Yet, people still put blind faith into the billions of years = life theory.

Of course, they also believe in Shakespearean Monkeys.

You've heard the theory... if you put enough monkeys into a room full of typewriters, eventually they would reproduce Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.

SIDEBAR: These days the monkeys would use computers, not typewriters. No monkey worth his salt would be caught dead with an out of date Selectric.

Interestingly, the British National Council of the Arts decided to waste taxpayer money to test this theory. They placed a computer into a cage with six monkeys, then waited to see what they produced.

They waited for a month. The monkeys produced 50 pages of typed characters.

Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 contains only 114 words (488 letters).

Guess how many words the monkeys typed?

Have an answer? Don't look ahead until you do. Go ahead, get an answer in your head.

Don't cheat.

Ready?

None. Nada. Zero. Zilch. The monkeys typed no words. Not even the shortest words in the English language: A and I. (To be the word 'a' or 'I', a space is required before and after. They failed to do this.)

When probability theory is applied to this problem, you'll find that the chance of the monkeys randomly typing Sonnet 18 is: 26 raised to the 488th power (26 letters in the English language, 488 letters in the Sonnet). That's the same as 10 raised to the 690th power.

That's a big number.

How big?

Many of you realize that it's the number 10, followed by 690 zeroes. But, people have no grasp of how big that is.

Here's one way to think of it. The number of particles in the entire universe (protons, electrons, and neutrons) is a mere 10 raised to the 80th power. So, if you tried to track the progress of the monkeys, and you kept count by marking particles in the universe, you'd run out of particles eight times before they produced the Sonnet.

Here's another way to think of it. Suppose you turned each particle in the universe into a computer chip, and you programmed that computer chip to spit out random letters at the rate of one million per second. Suppose also that you were able to send them back to the beginning of time itself (as science calculates it). As of today, you still would not have produced the Sonnet! Enough time hasn't elapsed.

And that's to produce one Sonnet containing 488 letters.

Do you have any idea how many parts there are to DNA?

Three Billion.

That's six million, one-hundred forty-seven, five-hundred forty Sonnets (6,147,540).

Without those three billion individual parts, all arranged in exactly the right order, life would not exist.

There is absolutely no chance that monkeys can produce a Shakespearean Sonnet with only 488 letters.

What's the chance that the universe came into existence, then organized itself, then formed planets and suns, and all the stuff out there, followed by that life organizing itself, later branching out into new life forms by random mutation?

Not a chance.

Do People Think About Death?

I met Tyler and Emily on the Boardwalk of Ocean City, Maryland.

The scene shown here is a typical late afternoon on the Boardwalk. As afternoon fades into night, families move down to the amusements. Teens and young adults line the storm wall (shown at far left) to watch and meet other night-owls.

This is a great place to witness to the lost. They have spare time, they're usually approachable, and if one person does not want to talk, you need to move only a few feet to begin a new conversation.

One this particular night I walked up to a young couple and offered a Million Dollar Bill tract. After a short conversation about how nice it would be if real, I moved on to one of my favorite questions: "What do you think happens when you die?"

I love this particular question. It gets right to the point, most people have thought about death and don't mind sharing their conclusions.

Not this time.

Tyler replied, "I don't know, I've never thought about it."

Emily, who was sitting by his side, holding his hand, apparently shared his lack of inquisitiveness. When I asked, "What about you? Have you thought about what happens after death?" She echoed his answer. "No, not really."

There was a time when I would have frozen when suddenly faced with someone who "never thought" about death. Oh. Well. Never mind then!

See, I'm the kind of person who tries to prepare for these conversations. Not only do I pray, but I also run through imaginary conversations in my head over and over, coming up with new challenges people might have and what responses I could give.

But once in a while, I'm thrown off. I remember one of my first witnessing encounters. I had prayed, read books, and gone through hundreds of conversations in my mind. I knew exactly how the conversation would start. Shortly after meeting a young man in the local mall, I asked, "What do you think happens when you die?"

I was all ready for the reply I just knew was coming. Once he said, "I'll go to heaven." I would move to my next question, "What do you think it takes for someone to make it into heaven?"

Unfortunately, he did not follow the script I'd neatly worked out in my head. He said, "Your body goes into the ground and rots."

"Oh. Umm. Uh..."

My mind was racing. He was not supposed to say that. He was supposed to say "Heaven" Now what?

I stammered something, then had a horrible conversation, and finally said "goodbye." I wondered if I'd ever try to share the gospel again.

Thankfully I soon recalled something Mark Cahill once told me: "The reason Michael Jordon is an amazing player now is that he dedicated himself to the sport, and practiced every chance he had."

So, I went back out. I started more conversations. I rehearsed more in my head. I learned from every rebuttal and question. Now, when someone like Tyler throws me a curve, like "I've never thought about it." I don't freeze.

Instead, I followed up: "Adolf Hitler. Is he in heaven, or hell today?"

"Hell" Tyler immediately responded.

"What about Mother Teresa? Do you think she's in heaven or hell?"

"Um, probably heaven," said Tyler. Emily agreed.

"So, you do think about it?" I was so glad that my practice was paying off.

Tyler, Emily, and I had a wonderful conversation. Before I told them good-night, they understood that they were liars, thieves, blasphemers, and adulterers at heart. They clearly understood that on Judgment Day they would stand guilty before God, and they were both very concerned. They also understood that their only hope of salvation was repentance and faith in Christ as Lord.

Please pray that Tyler and Emily have placed their trust in Christ.

Now get out there and practice!