Monthly Archives: February 2013

Feb 18 2013

Abortion Tragedy Strikes Again in Maryland

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The older I get and the more I follow the Pro-Life movement and learn about these cases, the more I polarize myself against the abhorrent practice of killing the unborn.

So I write articles such as this one to educate the visitors of Delight in Truth about what the forces of evil are doing with abortion, and how a spiritual war has real and physical consequences.

The case of 29-year-old Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli, a teacher from New Rochelle, N.Y., who recently died after suffering massive complications following an abortion is truly striking.

There are two crazy events in this story.  First, a healthy young woman died as a result of massive hemorrhage stemming from abortion.  Second, the abortion involved a nearly FULL-TERM baby who could have survived without life support if he/she would have just been delivered by induction of labor.

The tragedy is grounded in the fact that a mother and child are dead, when both could have been alive by a delivery instead of an abortion.

That is the main story.  While the act of killing a nearly full term baby is an abomination, the details of the case are troubling as well.  New York is a liberal hot spot for abortion activists, but even New York will not allow the abortion of a late-term baby unless the life of the mother is in imminent danger.  As a result, the young mother and wife traveled to Maryland where abortion laws are even more lax, and where a very late-term abortion can be performed if the baby develops an “abnormality.”

Medical points are beyond the scope of this article, but a fetal abnormality (usually genetic) does not develop in the third trimester.  It develops from early in the pregnancy, and while I do not know the fetal ultrasound details of the case, it is unlikely that all of sudden, one finds a new fetal abnormality at 33 weeks gestation.

The fact that Maryland allows for such late-term abortion is detestable.

LeRoy Carhart, the abortion doctor who performed this particular abortion has had other such instances where young mothers have died as a result of his abortions, and he is currently being investigated and hopefully suspended soon.  A late-term abortion is risky procedure to begin with, and incompetent physicians who may be performing these procedures only compound the risk.

I continue to hold that abortion medicine  is a creepy field to be practicing in, and the vast majority of Ob-Gyn doctors do not want participate in it.  As a result we are have very old doctors (from the Roe v Wade) era still doing these procedures with added risk to patients.

I feel sorry for the family who lost two lives instead of none, and I will not invoke divine punishment in this case for the choices made because that is up to God.

But the Word of God is clear when it states that the shedding of innocent blood (abortion) of a nearly full term infant is an abomination in his sight. One of the seven things that the LORD hates is listed in Proverbs 6:

16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 …hands that shed innocent blood…”

But the good news is that even the sin of abortion can be atoned for in the sacrifice of Christ.   If you were involved in an abortion and shed innocent blood, Jesus Christ can take that sin upon Himself and you can be made righteous before God, if you repent and believe in Him!  The cross is the only hope for any sinner.  That is the ultimate place where the grace and love of God meet the justice of God, and the sinner becomes a child of God.

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Feb 15 2013

Living in Tomorrow, Today! Update from Narcis Popovici (2)

Narcis, his wife and kids, and another family left EVERYTHING behind to answer the call of the Lord to extend His Kingdom into a hostile country. They live there now and they need our support and prayers.  With previous permission, here is the latest update from them.  Names and places have been erased to protect them.

Life and Family
D… and I were just having a coffee for her birthday a few days ago and talking through God’s faithfulness to us through the years and how important it is to find in Christ the source of all our LIFE and LOVE.  We were able to celebrate her 32nd birthday with the team, it was fun!  D… is homeschooling the kids and being the wonderful woman of God and inspiration that she is.  Learning to find Him in the everyday moments of life is often what separates the men from the boys (or girls from women :-)).  She’s also been doing great at picking up Arabic, along with the kids.  The kids are being their usual selves, anyone who’s ever raised 3 boys should know what I mean.  It has been one of my joys being able to make this move and progress together as a family.  In the past, most of the […] we’ve undertaken has been me traveling without the family, but there’s nothing I love more than being with them in the journey.  On another note, we hope to take a family trip to Romania this summer, in order to get the paperwork started for the family’s Romanian citizenship and introduce the kids to a part of their heritage they’ve never had the opportunity to experience yet.

God’s Revelation is God’s Invitation
We believe that in God’s self-disclosing nature, He’s wanting to awaken in our hearts “faith”, an invitation to come.  Our hearts are burning to see His Glory transform this region of the world.  The only reason that’s even the case is because He has allowed us into His hearts desire for this people.  As a team we know that a part of what we are called to is sow into the generation to come.  But we also firmly believe that there is a dimension in God that we can touch, that we can enter, now.  Pulling into our present experience that which His heart is longing for.

Points for Prayer and Progress
Some of the things we covet your prayers on is favor and financing for our base here.  We have potentially found a place that would cover our licensing and suit our “House of Prayer” and “School of Equipping”.  We have prayed and feel peace from the Lord to move forward with it.  If all goes well, it will run us around $1800 a month for rent, not including utilities.  Please pray that we will build with the right people.  Also, F… and I will be doing some traveling in the near future within the region, connecting with people of like heart believing for open doors for the gospel of the glory of Christ.  We covet your prayers and support for these endeavors, whether stationary or mobile.  We have also been able to start some relationships with some local Muslim’s here and will be going out more consistently here as the weather gets warmer.  Please pray that God will pour out His mighty Spirit as the gospel prevails upon hearts, minds and bodies with the effective work of Calvary.  We are believing for mighty conversions and baptisms in the Holy Spirit.  Our God is great!  Thank you all again so much for all of your loving prayers and support towards our family, the team and the work here in […] and the […].  Peace to you all…

With Love… here is a video message:

Feb 14 2013

The Gospel in One Minute

Reformed (and slightly charismatic?) ministry Desiring God led by John Piper put this video on their front page under the heading “The Gospel In One Minute.” I think the message is theologically correct overall but a bit skewed.  While there is an overemphasis on God’s love… repentance, obedience and sanctification are notably absent.  To Lecrae’s defense, this may have been a spontaneous recital. 🙂

What do Delight in Truth readers think?  Does rap have a place in spreading the gospel?

Feb 13 2013

Was Mark Driscoll Right in Calling Out Obama’s Faith?

On Inauguration Day, Pastor Mark Driscoll tweeted this controversial quote:

“Praying for our president, who today will place his hands on a Bible he does not believe to take an oath to a God he likely does not know.”

Driscoll took a big risk in tweeting this direct attack on the president’s faith. Since then, a multitude of progressives, atheists, and liberal Christian leaders have been ripping Driscoll to pieces over the tweet, but also other well respected Christian figures have labeled it as insensitive.

Regardless how one feels about Driscoll and his tweeting, is there truth in the message?

Obama is a professing Christian who believes in Jesus as a “role model” based on how he describes his Christianity. Christian author and theologian A.W. Pink would call him a professor based on the way Pink describes people like Obama in his 1300 page “Exposition on Hebrews.”

The President takes a number of unbliblical positions on important social issues which validates the first part of the quote:

1. He supports the abortion platform vehemently, despite multiple biblical passages demonstrating that unborn babies are persons who feel joy, who can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and their life and servitude is planned out by God before they are born. Obama previously said he would not want to punish his daughter with a baby if she made a mistake and became pregnant. He may have hinted that pre-marital sex is ok, as long she takes the necessary precautions not to get pregnant.

2. He supports the gay agenda despite multiple Bible texts which speak against homosexuality.

3. He accepts an unbiblical view of marriage by supporting same sex marriage.

4. In a TV interview Obama made clear that he embraces the idea that all religions lead to heaven and that Jesus is not the only way to salvation. He makes clear that following the moral code of other religions can lead to salvation, which is really a salvation by works and not by grace through faith.  Such statements are against the Bible, further supporting Driscoll’s claim that he does not believe the Bible.

As for the second part of the quote, Driscoll knows the issues listed above and that is why he states that the president probably does not know the God, Jesus Himself, revealed in the Bible, Who stated the He is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through [Him]” (John 4:16). The president disagrees with this statement, and this leads me to conclude that he believes in a different god than the One revealed in the Bible.

No one can be sure about anyone’s salvation but we can make educated guesses based on the things they say and do, in other words are the fruits of the Spirit in their life…?

Is president Obama a Christian? Yes, he is a professing Christian.

Is he a born-again Christian? No.

Was Mark Driscoll insensitive in this tweet?  Probably.

Was Driscoll correct in his assessment? Yes.

Truth is controversial. Truth hurts sometimes.

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Feb 12 2013

Time for Revival in the Catholic Church

Christianity is undergoing transformation these days, especially the Catholic Church which will soon have a new Pontiff. I would like to propose that we may see a spiritual revival in the Catholic Church with possibly a new guard coming in, as Pope Benedict XVI is stepping down.

The current Pope was the main doctrinarian and theologian of the Catholic Church, and I am inclined to say he was part of an old guard accepting liberal doctrines such as the denying of the physical resurrection, and salvation via the beatitudes. He was elderly to begin with when he was elected, so he was bound to be a transitional figure.

As we are living in the last days, could we be seeing perhaps the last opportunity for a leader in the Catholic Church through whom God will bring in a long overdue revival?

Everyone is talking about revival in the Evangelical Church, but what about revival in the fertile ground of the 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide today? Image a spiritual revival in this block of people, and imagine the impact a new leader may have toward this purpose.

Imagine a pontiff who may be bold enough to embrace the Charismatic and Pentecostal type movements going on among Catholics in South America, or one willing to move toward reformed positions… a pontiff who is willing to chastise the liberal wings of catholic priests who deny Jesus as the only way to eternal life.

Even here in the US, I have seen sporadic evidence that Catholicism is changing.  I was playing a worship song in the operating room not too long ago, a song known in our Evangelical churches, and to my surprise one of my nurses who is Catholic recognized the song and the band, and said “we sing this song all the time at mass.”

After my initial shock I got more information, and it turns out that for some time now their church is holding evangelical style services, with worship songs that typically have a Reformed or Pentecostal message… followed by sermons!  She even said “we love to sing music from our evangelical brethren!” Amazing!

Imagine the Catholic Church moving away from empty rituals and toward a real salvation relationship with Jesus.

We must think in these positive revival terms because the opposite is an apocalyptic scenario. At the opposite end of the spectrum we could be seeing a new pope who will usher in the era of the AntiChrist. And let me tell you, the lukewarm (or dead) post-modern Evangelical Church is not ready for such turn of events.

However, the real Body of Christ will be ready for whatever will happen. A revival will be welcomed as the kingdom of God will be extended throughout the earth even more. But also the opposite will be welcomed, the ushering in of the AntiChristic era which will mean that our time is at hand and Jesus is about to return.

Right now though, the world needs revival, and I am hoping for the salvation of many souls.

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Feb 11 2013

“I Did Not Eat the Sprinkles”

The little 3-year-old Johnny is too cute when faced with the evidence of his actions.  Despite a face full of sprinkles he insists he did not eat any!  He does not budge, he does not blink, he does not flinch while lying. He believes it! 🙂

Delight in Truth will take this opportunity to demonstrate that sin is inherent to human nature from birth, and we are not immune from it even at an age before we can discern between right and wrong.

It is evidently clear that no parent in his or her right mind will instruct their toddler to lie.  Even those without Christ have a moral code which typically includes moral laws against lying; whether they follow those laws is a another matter.

This begs the question… if we do not teach our children to lie how do they learn to lie as early as age 2? Why do they exhibit unholy qualities such as shame, anger, jealousy, and revenge as early as 3 years old?

The answer is that these qualities do not have to be taught, they are inherent to our human nature. For this reason I disagree with many philosophers who along the centuries have taught either that humans are basically good, or humans are neutral, neither bad nor good.

Besides the evidence we see in children who are capable of cruelty and evil acts which have not been specifically taught to them, the Bible also holds that human nature is depraved in the worst possible way.

This depravity begins at birth as Psalm 51:5 tells us “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (NIV).  The LORD declares in Genesis 8:21 “every inclination of [man’s] heart is evil from childhood.” And specifically for lying, Psalm 58:3 “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies”

And this continues into adulthood as Paul teaches in Romans 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”

But I do not want to make a cute little video into a damper for your day… Lets end on a positive note!

Despite our sinfulness and depravity we have the opportunity to become righteous by faith in Jesus Christ.  Ephesians 2 :4-5 “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”  Amen!

Feb 10 2013

Namibian Nights

Photographer Marsel von Oosten created this time-lapse video after compiling still shots of the night-time scenery in Namibia.  All I can say is wow.

Psalm 19

1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
and makes its circuit to the other;
nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Feb 9 2013

Scientific and Medical Facts Found in the Bible (part 2)

read part 1 here

In this post we continue to explore scientific facts and principles mentioned in the Bible, validating it as a book containing truth.

The primary purpose of the Bible is not to reveal science but to reveal God and salvation, but nevertheless, biblical scientific revelations are a good addition to the armamentarium of the Christian apologist.

Twentieth century discoveries have solidified our understanding of space and matter in that we understand that all matter is composed of invisible molecules, which are made of smaller atoms, which contain subatomic particles, and many of those subatomic particles are not… particles at all, but quanta of energy orbiting other particles and so forth.

The point is that these atomic and sub atomic building blocks are invisible and detected only using special equipment in university research labs.  These invisible atoms make up everything that is visible.  And of course we know this from Hebrews 11:3 where it was clearly written 2000 years ago:

“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

In Old Testament times when various sources declared that the Earth was fixed on the back of an elephant or a turtle, the book of Job revealed what science now affirms as true: that our planet is not supported by anything except the invisible gravitational pull of the sun.  It hangs free of physical support while orbiting the sun!  What a radical idea first presented thousands of years ago by Job!

Here is what Job 26:7 says about God:  “He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.”

Starting in the last century, we came to understand the complex anatomy and physiology of blood.  As an anesthesiologist, one of my most important jobs is to monitor a patient’s circulating blood volume and blood loss during surgery, because the most important function of blood (and there are about a thousand such important functions…) is to facilitate cellular respiration.  It delivers oxygen to organs and tissues while removing carbon dioxide and other metabolic waste.

Without this critical function, in a matter of 2-3 minutes cells begin to die, with brain cells being the most sensitive to lack of oxygenated blood.  That is why in the Emergency Room we say “time is brain” in the case of a stroke.  We must restore blood flow to the affected tissue immediately for that tissue to have any chance of survival.

But wait… as recently as 150 years ago contemporary medicine was practicing “blood-letting” for nearly every illness, with many patients dying of severe anemia resulting from repeated intentional hemorrhage.

If they only would have read Leviticus 17:14 “For the life of every creature is its blood: its blood is its life,” this bleeding practice would not have persisted throughout the middle ages!

And so… for a long time in the case of “blood-letting” people were also perishing physically not only spiritually from not knowing the word of God… Hosea 4: 6  “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.”

to be continued…

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Feb 8 2013

Witnessing to the Jehovah’s Witnesses (part 1)

How does a born-again Christian kindly turn the tables and witness to a self-proclaimed Jehovah’s witness (JW)?

Jehovah’s witnesses are the folks who come to your door and proclaim their understanding of the kingdom of God in a way that is not consistent with orthodox Christianity.

One of their most important doctrinal points has to do with denying the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, therefore denying the Trinity.  They believe that Jesus was a created being just like Satan and the archangel Michael, and the Holy Spirit is a mere force.

There are also many other secondary doctrinal heresies involving earning salvation, failed end times predictions (see photo above), and bizarre eschatological and apocalyptic teaching.

When discussing the Bible with JWs, I highly recommend to first and foremost focus on the Person of Jesus and His divinity. That should be the center of your witnessing.  Everything else like deconstructing the failed apocalyptic predictions, and the unbiblical decrees of their society, should be used as plan B. The reason you must focus on Jesus is that you must minister to them almost like to an unbeliever.

It is important to know that they use the New World Translation of the Bible, a specific JW Bible which has key verses like John 1:1 altered to fit their theology.

In this post as well as upcoming posts we will focus on the divinity of Jesus arguments. Your goal will be to show that Jesus is the same as the Jehovah revealed in the Old Testament, part of the Godhead. Anytime we see the name LORD (all caps) in the OT, it comes from the Hebrew word YHWH, and it can also be named Jehovah in English, and we will show that LORD applies to Jesus.

Let us start off with the “first and the last” argument. Here are two powerful verses from Isaiah spoken by the LORD (YHWH):

Isaiah 44:6 “Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.”

Isaiah 48:12 “Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel, whom I called! I am he; I am the first, and I am the last.”

There are at least three places in Revelation where we can ascribe the title “the first and the last” to Jesus, as it is ascribed to Jehovah. For example, in Revelation 22 in the setting of the Second Coming, Jesus speaks by the angel:

12“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

16“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Isaiah 42:8 also tells us “I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another,” another powerful statement that the LORD does not share His Name with anyone. In light of fact that Jesus calls Himself “the first and the last,” and in light of the fact that the LORD also gives Himself that name, we must conclude that Jesus is the LORD (YHWH).

to be continued…

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