National Atheist Day, April 1st

Some of you may have heard of the gentleman suing Ray Comfort over his National Atheist Day bumper sticker saying it's hate speech. Well I reached out to this man via email and I would like to put our conversation here. Please pray for this man. I will update any new conversations on another post.

Out of the blue I simply sent an email saying:
"I just wanted to let you know that me and my family are praying for you to know truth.".

He replied:
"I would very much like to know exactly what you said in your prayers.
I would like to know word for word, so I can ask you questions about the
results. Thanks"

I thought that was interesting, almost a test and what would I specifically pray that he could see happen in his life? Here is my response:
"Hi,

That's a great question and I am glad you asked it. Of course I pray for your salvation, but I did add some specific requests.

I prayed your life becomes absolutely miserable. I prayed that things go wrong in every single area of your life. Now before you get angry I want to let you know I do not do this out of spite or because I want you to suffer. It's the exact opposite; I feel a little suffering now during this pilgrimage of this temporary life is well worth it if it brings you to eternal paradise.

Some people need to hit rock bottom before they can remove their pride and cry out to a God that loves you so much that He died for you. So that is my prayer, I am hoping problems, trials, and tribulations pop up in your life so much that it brings you to your knees, and to Calvary and the cross. Feel free to give me updates on my prayer.

With love in Christ,
Paul"

Then I got a wallop back from him:

"Dear Paul,
I want to tell you that you have given me proof that there is no God.
My wife is 63 years old. I am her 3rd husband. Her first two were wife beaters, and very Christian. One actually stuck a gun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.......it misfired. She has curviture of the spine because of Christian men, thinking they were the head of the family.
My wife became an atheist after a baby she was pregnant with, died in the 7th month. She couldn't get a doctor to remove the baby, because that would have legally been an abortion, which were illegal in the 60's.
She was forced to carry the dead fetus for 2 months. That was when she was a Christian. That event made her an atheist. She figured no God would do that to a good, honest and caring woman, unless there were no God.
We met and got married 31 years ago. I do not drink any kind of alcohol at all, because my good "Christian" family were mostly alcoholics.
I also hate sports, mostly because they are too violent. I became an atheist at the age of 15, because I realized that there could not possibly be a God, if there was evil in the world. And there is an abundance of evil in the world. Even a biblical scholar at the American Bible Society in New York City agreed with me that, if God existed, and he was the source of all life, and he was all good..................evil could not exist..............yet it does.........so..........there is no God.
There is no way our life could possibly be better than it is now.
So, for you to ask God to load up our lives with sorrow and problems, is the one sure way that it is guaranteed that we will remain atheists.
P.S. I would like to ask you one question.
Have you ever heard of Living Waters Ministries? With Ray Comfort and Kirk
Cameron..............and would you ever vote for an atheist for President or any other political office?
Pat"

Here is my response and the last conversation we have had thus far:
"Pat,

First I am very sorry to hear of those awful things. I hate to tell you this but your email just proved The Bible is true. The Bible explains that this world is filled with pain and suffering and evil, because it is being run by Satan and ruined with sin. I can honestly say you have no idea what you are talking about, The Bible would be completely wrong if the world wasn't filled with this horror. The good news is this is temporary and if you put your trust in Christ, you will live in the world you envisioned. One with no death, no sorrow, no tears a perfect world is our home and you can have it as a free gift. All the suffering you endured in this life will make the next one even that much better. So your argument that suffering
and evil proves there is no God could not be more incorrect it actually proves The Bible is correct. I wrote a blog about this I would be honored if you would read it. You can find it here http://afightingchanceministry.blogspot.com/2008/05/suffering.html a good portion of it deals with this exact subject.

Second I would like to say those people were NOT Chirstians. Calling yourself a Christian does not make you one. Again these people are proving The Bible to be correct. It states that at this period of time the majority of people will be claiming the name of Christ, but will not be a Christian. When you become a Christian you become a new person. God gives you a new heart with new desires. Yes you still fall into sin, but you don't beat your wife or shove guns in their throat. God made sure that gun would misfire because He loves your wife and is patient waiting for her to come to Him. On that same note, you or your were wife were not Christians just by claiming the name. Growing up in a "Christian" environment does not save you. You have to repent, remove all pride and say God you are right I am wrong, I want you to be the Lord of my life and I completely surrender my own will. You have to trust in Him, not believe in Him. If I believed in parachutes and jumped out of an airplane I would still splatter on the ground. I have to trust in the parachute and put it on, it's the same with The Lord Jesus.
You also have to accept His payment for your sins. You can pay for your sins when you die and go to Hell, or you can let God pay your fine for you. God is just and has to punish sin, but He does not want you to go to Hell. That is why He died for you to pay your fine, you just have to accept it. You decide, you pay your fine or let your Father. When you do this God will reveal Himself to you and you will know all that stuff in the past was not Christianity. Your life will never be the same.

Lastly, yes I have heard of Living Waters, in fact I talked to Ray Comfort yesterday about you on the radio. As far as voting for an atheist, I am sure I have done that a lot. I don't think there ever was a candidate that was a born again Christian in any elections I have taken part in. Now these people may call themselves Christian, but their actions prove they are false converts or just saying it for the votes. There are very few true Christians in politics, so I would imagine I probably already have voted for one. You might be asking more specific, a candidate that loudly proclaims there is no God. In that case it is unlikely, but maybe his counterpart proclaims he worships Satan, so it would all depend on the circumstance, but yes, it is possible that I could vote for an atheist. Would you vote for a born again Christian that loudly proclaims there is no other name under Heaven in which
we can be saved, and that name is Jesus Christ?

I enjoy talking to you, I hope something brings you and your wife to your knees and reach out and touch the hand of the True Living God, Jesus Christ. God is patiently waiting for the both of you. He came to rescue the broken and bruised. He has kept you alive because He wants you very badly. Please repent and trust Christ today.

With love in Christ,
Paul"

A Christian book salesman certainly is saved, right?

Below is a blog I originally posted on the Ambassador's Alliance Fellowship. Since I am not posting much here I thought I would lift it and send it here as well. Keep praying for my book and my online ministry PLEASE! THANKS! Well enjoy.....

I had a situation I just could not believe. A young college man was going to home school families. Now I know there are a lot of nominal Christians that really are not saved and of course they never share their faith. But when you think of families that home school their children for a Christian education I take them more serious. I believe they love the Lord and they would share their faith.

Well this young man came to sell me some Christian books for our home schooling. I was the last person on his list, he had been doing this for over a month! After we were done I said I am sure you get this a lot going to all these Christian homes, but if you died today and stood before God, why should he let you into Heaven? He told me he has been nicer to his family and is paying more attention to his family's needs and even taking God more seriously than when he was a kid. RED FLAGS on that answer!

I proceeded to help him realize he is a lying, blasphemous, adulterous, thief and deserves to go to Hell. I told him how Christ took the tortorous brutal humiliating punishment for him so God could remain just and still let a law breaker go free because Christ paid his fine.

Truly his mind was opened. He thanked me numerous times for my "sermon". This young man growing up in a "Christian" home, selling books to homeschooling Christians never heard the true Gospel. It made me sad, however I thank God for the opportunity to share it with him.

Everyone please pray for Keenan, he said he was going to repent and trust in Christ. Pray that he gets saved and stands for Christ in a tough environment of a state university.

Sorry

I am sorry I have not been on here forever.....There is a good reason however. I am writing a book about deliverance. All my writing has been focused on this book. Please pray The Lord will bless it. After the book I plan on blogging regularly again. I covet your prayers! Please pray for me, that The Lord would use this book to help His children out of bondage. There are so many Christians who are in bondage and therefore have lost all their power and have become useless for the kingdom. I hope my book can make a difference for eternity which is all that matters.

Thanks for subscribing to blog and keep me in your prayers.

God Bless!
Paul

Dancing

During another Merkt family jam session (this entails some music and me dancing around like a fool while my kids gracefully dance in our living room) I noticed something. You see I got tired in the first 10 minutes and had to stop. I sat down and watched my 3 youngest raise the roof. What did I notice you ask? I noticed that while my 9 year old daughter did her pirouette she was staring directly at me, eyes locked on mine. While my 4 year old son did his super punch fanny shake he stared right at me, again his eyes locked on me. While my 2 year old daughter did her herky jerky super groove she also stared right at me. You see this was all for me. If I was not watching their dance did not serve a purpose. It was all about pleasing me. I managed to work a bobble head swivel staring at one of them with each beat giving them the feel I was watching their every move.

If only they were girded with their linen ephods I am sure they would have looked much like King David in 2nd Samuel chapter 6. Their eyes sparkled amazingly. Like David dancing before the Lord, they danced with all their might before their father. It was all to please me, and if I happened to get distracted and look away they lost their vigor.

What a picture that is. I could not help but feel inadequate to my own Father. If only I danced with all my might expecting God to be watching my every move and want nothing more than to please Him, to see His approval; how much more could I accomplish for Him? If I spent every breath trying to please Him, expecting Him to watch me; what could I accomplish? I could be doing things that really matter, things that will last for eternity. However the world manages to grab my leg. My dance becomes a struggle, a self indulgent zombie walk through Satan’s land. I find myself trapped in his games when I could be dancing for my Father and see His smiling face back at me. A Father who would never get distracted and look away; rather one who is faithful to the end.

Let us dance before The Lord (with or with out our linen ephods) trying to please Him with our every move, every minute of every day for the rest of our lives. How could we go wrong with that being our goal?

God Bless America

I was flipping the channels when I noticed a no-hitter was being thrown in the 7th inning of a Major League Baseball playoff game. Well when I was a child baseball was my best friend so I just had to watch to see if a piece of baseball history would be made.

To my surprise after the top of the 7th inning when they normally go to commercial, they did not. Instead they stayed with the broadcast to show the singing of God Bless America at the stadium. At first I was impressed. Instead of making the 5 or 6 figures they could have made during that commercial break they played a song asking our Holy Creator to bless this country.

That’s great……right? Well they panned through the crowd with the camera and I couldn’t help but notice there was no reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ in the crowd. I realized that although the song to me meant “ Lord please let this country come to repentance bring revival and bless us. Let them see that you have a free gift of eternal life if only we would humble ourselves, obey You and see that You only want to give us Your very best. If only we would trust in You, by being obedient, rejoicing in Your free gift of salvation"! The way heaven sounds I could be content being a lamp post their. But yet You offer us to sit beside You eating food we cannot imagine. With perfect bodies that feel no pain. No sorrow, no tears. Oh how I would love to be a lamp post in Heaven, howerver You will build me a mansion. Can you imagine the music we will hear in Heaven. Having ears to hear amazing music, many songs at once and able to enjoy them all. Colors we never saw, and things unimaginable.

However the song at the baseball game was not reverence toward God. It was simply a shallow song between innings. Why is the world blind, happy with their lusts, proud, and not concerned that they are all knocking on death's door? They have the ability to defeat death it's a gift and they don't want it. Maybe if more of us were truly concerned and warned them of the danger they are in (showing we care more about them, then what they think of us) then God could bless America. But with yet another state allowing sodomites to marry (Connecticut), heterosexuals creating thousands of babies out of wedlock, some being murdered in the womb and the lucky ones landing in single parent families, we have to wonder why we haven't been judged already. You can't help but wonder if this financial crisis is the beginning of the end. Thankfully the Lord is longsuffering not willing to let one perish that is willing to repent. How many are left that are willing to repent?

Christian, how often do you think about Heaven. I mean simply seeing Jesus Christ and hearing “Well done thou good and faithful servant”. I can’t think of anything more amazing. It should be the focus of every day. It should be the answer to every sin that comes calling. Moses gave up the pleasures of Egypt to serve God, well we have the pleasure of Heaven waiting for us, how much easier should it be for us, Moses only gave up sin that would make him happy for a season to serve God. We have eternal happiness knocking on our door; how can that compete with any sin for any season here on this Earth.

We are called to be pilgrims, a stranger in a strange land. Our home is in Heaven. Financial crisis….so what, America’s collapse? Maybe luckily I am a pilgrim here. Obedience, walking directly in the will of God will sustain any of it. If you are a Christian stuck in sin and it’s robbing you of the peace of God which passeth all understanding, than just stop it. Make your hope and joy the thought of The Lord coming in the clouds to bring you to eternal paradise. Suffer any pain that might be caused by abandoning sin on this journey. Put your trust in Christ, cry out to Him non-stop if you have to; He will deliver you. Your home is in heaven and this life is but a vapor. Put all your eggs in one basket, and make sure you can get as many people as you come across to put their eggs in it as well. Every eye you look in while traveling this strange land is a soul that could not only miss the joys of heaven, but spend eternity paying for their sins in Hell.

There are only 2 kinds of people on this Earth

The first are those trusting in their own goodness, the second are trusting in Christ's. You take all the religions, including Darwinism and secularism (yes they are religions) and they fall into one of these two categories. Funny thing is those trusting in their own goodness all believe they are great people, pretty convenient! Proverbs 20:6 “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” Even the unrepentant murderer has justified his crime and thinks overall he is a relatively good person. The facts are even the church going, bible reading, Sunday school teacher is just as vile as the murderer with out Christ's goodness imputed to their account.

By the grace of God I was able too see how my thoughts and actions are truly despicable. That being said; I think one of the worst things we can do is to start telling people about the glorious Gospel, until they see they are in serious transgression of the law and in danger of judgment. Go ask 10 people on the street if they think they are a good person. You will get 10 people to say they are. Very rarely will someone say they are not good, just like The Bible tells us, everyone is proclaiming their own goodness. Why in the world would anyone want to submit to Christ to wash away their sin when they are not a bad person? They won't.

If I gave you a strange looking beaker containing a steaming blue liquid and said drink this before you die you would look at me like I am nuts. Now if I said it's clear you have a horrible disease, I pointed out the symptoms and showed you the cure from a medical encyclopedia you would drink it up. It's no different with salvation. Without seeing the danger they are in; people will either tell you no thanks because they don't need it. Or even worse they will say the prayer with you for a number of different reasons (to be nice to you, to get you off their back etc) and you have just created a false convert. Now they have received the word; and Satan will come to ridicule them to shame their decision or pour lots of temptation to choke the word out (see parable of the sower in Matthew 17). Now that they "tried Jesus" their latter end is worse than their first because they already know it's a bunch of nonsense. We have to be real careful to make sure people see the disease they have before we give them the cure, otherwise we won't make any sense and no one will repent, and therefore never get saved. It would be better that we don't reach out to them at all, rather than make a disillusioned bitter "backslider" that will be much harder to reach than the man who was not reached at all.

The simplest way to make people see their sin is using God's word. Ask them if they have lied, stolen, lusted, blasphemed His name, always honored their parents, coveted, hated. If they have then tell them God sees them as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, coveting, dishonoring, murder/adulterer at heart (see Matthew 5:20-28). Then when they see they are guilty and learn that God is just (has to punish sin or He would not be good); they are glad to learn that He is also loving and came to pay the price of their sin debt. When they learn that Christ took a torturous brutal death to pay the fine of your sin they become a tear filled convert that truly loves The Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember everyone is ready to proclaim their own goodness. No matter what religion/world view they have, if they do not have Christ's blood covering their sin, they are trusting in their own goodness. Whether it's because they believe it’s what it takes to get into heaven (pretty much every religion but Christianity) or to be reincarnated as something good, or if they claim not to believe in God (they really know there is one but trust evolution to quiet their conscience they still try to be a good person as fire insurance just in case there is a God and they believe they will still be ok if God exists). Plain and simple there are only two types of people those trusting in their works, and those trusting in Christ. If we can point out their works are filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.) than we can get them to turn to Christ.

And just like breaking any other law it's important to remind them that no amount of good deeds can ever free them from the penalty that has to be paid on breaking the law, so if they see their sin but say they have made up for it over time remind them that a murderer has to get punished no matter how years have past and no matter what amount of good works they have done, justice has to be served. There is no scale that weighs your good deeds verses your bad and if you have more good you get in. Plain and simple even one transgression expels you from Heaven; God is perfect and he can’t have sin in His presence; luckily for us He is willing to give us Christ’s perfection to cover our filthy rags. Romans 3:[23] For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; [24] Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: [25] Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; [26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. [27] Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. [28] Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Willingly ignorant, the blind lead the blind

Waking up this Sunday morning with stomach cramps and other details I will spare you, I sent my lovely family off to church, and I proceeded to drive myself completely insane. What did I do that caused me to pull all my hair out? I went to msn.com and read some of the articles. I am convinced The Bible is the thing that is most talked about (with conviction) by people who have no idea what they are talking about. Based upon what they hear even though they have never check out what they are spouting, they don’t read The Bible they just regurgitate what they hear from other proud fools. These “experts” are willing to be quoted in national articles and say things that are just plain wrong. I am a simple lay person, not a theologian by any means, yet with my limited knowledge I see so many errors that are printed as truth. The reason all these lies get through is because none of these secular people study their Bible, they just believe whatever they hear and start repeating it. How frustrating, if The Bible itself did not warn me of this mass ignorance I would be going absolutely bonkers! Aside from the ignorance of God’s word, the other thing unavoidable by sampling a few articles is evolution; the earth being billions of years old is now treated as fact. I remember as a child, articles would always say “an estimated” 350 million years ago… I have now noticed the “estimated” part is being dropped altogether. These articles are being written like they were actually there to witness these things. The simple truth is there dogma is being repeated by everyone so loudly and so often that the blind people of this world simply throw up there hands and say it must be true.

Let’s explore this. In article about science and “religion” (I put that in quotes because Christianity is not religion, it is a personal relationship with Christ, creator and Lord of this world. Yet they always lump true Christianity, Catholicism, and apostate Christianity together under the title of religion, which makes it very easy to make us look like fools, but I digress). Here is a paragraph from the person supposedly defending the side of Christianity:

Expecting to hear a further defense of his faith, I ask Coyne what effect science has had on religion and, in particular, on the Bible. “There is no science in the Bible. Zero, none,” Coyne says. “The Bible was written in different times by different people. Some of the books are poetry, some of them are history, some are stories.” “Are you saying that the Bible should not be held up to scientific scrutiny?” I ask.“That is correct,” Coyne says. “Absolutely.”

What? No science in The Bible? I say hold The Bible to the highest scientific scrunity, do your worse and come up with one example where it’s wrong. You want some science in The Bible? Ok, here is a small list of things The Bible knew and scientific men did not:
The earth is a sphere(Isaiah 40:22).
Free float of earth in space(Job 26:7).
Light moves(Job 38:19,20).
Air has weight(Job 28:25).
Winds blow in cyclones(Ecclesiastes 1:6).
Blood is the source of lifeand health(Leviticus 17:11).
Ocean floor contains deepvalleys and mountains(2 Samuel 22:16;Jonah 2:6).
Ocean contains springs(Job 38:16).
When dealing with disease,hands should be washedunder running water(Leviticus 15:13).

Absolutely none, zero? Well this catholic priest apparently does not read his Bible.

In this next paragraph we have another person the media presents as being on our side. This “Christian” says the following:

“A hundred years ago we didn’t understand the Big Bang,” he says. “Now that we have the understanding of a universe that is big and expanding and changing, we can ask philosophical questions we would not have known to ask, like ‘What does it mean to have multiverses?’ These are wonderful questions. Science isn’t going to answer them, but science, by telling us what is there, causes us to ask these questions. It makes us go back to the seven days of creation — which is poetry, beautiful poetry, with a lesson underneath it — and say, ‘Oh, the seventh day is God resting as a way of reminding us that God doesn’t do everything.’ God built this universe but gave you and me the freedom to make choices within the universe.”

Anyone else feel like there head is about to explode? The seventh day is poetry? The big bang? Wait, I really have to make sure I get this. The whole point about the 7 day creation account is to remind us that we have freedom to make choices? I guess I missed that in my modest study of The Bible. And these people are the people being presented to defend the religion side of the argument. With defense like that we don’t even need intellectuals like Dawkins coming at us, we can destroy the truth of The Bible all on our own. However, the author of this article still decided to let Dawkins have his say in the debate as well. I am glad they did, believe or not, this God hater was our best defense in this article. Below is a quote from Dawkins in the article, and he is dead on is what he says:

“Science cannot tell you what is right and wrong. When it comes to really interesting questions, like ‘Where did the laws of physics come from?’ or ‘How did the universe arrive in the first place?’ I genuinely don’t know whether science will answer those deep and at present mysterious questions…” Here Dawkins admits the conscience (God’s law written on your heart) cannot be explained by science. There is no explanation for the beginning of the universe in science, or how the laws of the universe (gravity, thermodynamics etc) cannot be answered by science. The Bible of course does. Backed with tons of scientific, historical, archeological, and prophetic evidence anyone willing to humble themselves, remove their pride, can open The Bible and see if for themselves. Of course we have the ultimate evidence, when you do submit to God he reveals Himself to you, and no argument can convince someone they did not experience something that they did. Skeptical? Do it for yourself. Think of all your sin, your thought life, your actions. Apologize to God for taking Him for granted and admit you have lived your life for yourself and not for Him. Repent of those sins and ask Jesus to pay the penalty a just God has to put on sin, trust in Christ’s payment for your sin and you won’t have to pay your own fine (with life in Hell). If you do this you will pass from death to life, and a have a new heart with new desires, and you won’t have faith anymore, you will have an experience that you cannot be talked out of.

After two pages of that article I needed a break so I clicked on a link about a new species of fish being found. Ok I admit I was pushing it because I knew I would find something else to increase the pressure on my head, and I was not disappointed. This one however I found extremely funny because the author began it with the words of a fairy tale. I have always said that evolution and millions of years is a fairy tale for grown ups that allows them to live in their sin, quiet their conscience, and not have to be judged by a holy God some day (in their own mind of course). Here is what the article said:

Once upon a time, about 3.5 million years ago — before the Caribbean and the Pacific were separated by present-day Panama — they were, in fact, the same species. Now, DNA tests have revealed the two populations have distinct genes, indicating they likely evolved into two separate species after their ocean homes were divided by Central America.

“Once upon a time” I am sure the author was not trying to point out evolution is a fairy tale, but I thought that was classic. They write like they were there to witness this event. 350 million years ago, give or take a few million this fish evolved into two species. Well if one evolved from the other why do we still have both of them around? And what new traits that are better did one evolve over the other? What we really have here is some natural selection, small scale (pun intended) changes within a species. The fish is still a fish, it never became a reptile, which became a bird, which became a monkey, which became you. However it makes for an interesting fairy tale.

Well this is just a small sample of what you will encounter if you decide to jump into the secular media. Be careful the amount of willingly ignorant people who love their sin so much that they believe this stuff can become quite frustrating and depressing. Do not dive into this without the full armor of God or you may even end up using this nonsense to quiet your own conscience. My advice, crack open your Bible, or spend some time spreading The Gospel, the ultimate truth of this world before reading this nonsense.