Seven Days...Really!

God could not have made it any clearer...

In all of their efforts to rid themselves of God, the ungodly have, for some time now, "heaped to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they turned away their ears from the truth, and have turned unto fables." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Nowhere is this more true than in the matter of how our world, and indeed how we came into existence. The world have raised up their Charles Darwin, and they clung to fables of evolution. We shouldn't be surprised or dismayed by this; they are doing EXACTLY what the Bible said they would do.

My problem isn't with what the world is doing about Creation, rather, it is with what some "Christians" are doing about it. I am meeting more and more men and women who profess to be Bible believing Christians who don't believe in a literal, 7-day Creation (6 days of work, one day of rest). Many hold to some strange combination of the Creation account in Genesis 1-2 with the timetable set in the theory of Evolution, others hold that the Lord created the first living thing and then let Evolution take over. Cute, but it doesn't have ONE Biblical leg to stand on.

First, the Bible says:

"And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Genesis 1:5b)

"And the evening and the morning were the second day." (Genesis 1:8b)

"And the evening and the morning were the third day." (Genesis 1:13)

"And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." (Genesis 1:19)

"And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." (Genesis 1:23)

"And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Genesis 1:31b)

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." (Genesis 2:1-2)

Could God really have made things any clearer for us? Not only does he use the word "day", he specifies that there was an evening (Night) and a morning (Day) which composed that ONE day (notice that the day started at evening which is how Jews keep time). And it doesn't end there! Have a look at the Ten Commandments. The Sabbath commandment:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20:8-11)

Were the Jews to interpret this passage like this: "six hundred million years shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But for seven hundred million years it is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God"? The Jewish work week was based on God's timetable for His creative work; the Jews were to work six days and rest on the seventh because that is what God did.

So if the Scriptures are so clear, why are so many "Christians" turning to this warped view? Well, my best guess is that they are intimidated by the supposed "proofs" of the evolutionists. They read the works of some geologist that affirms that such and such a mountain is 60 million years old, they watch a documentary where some paleontologist affirms that Tyrannosaurus Rex roamed the Earth 150 million years ago, and the "Christian" gets all out of shape.

When you take your eyes off the Lord, things go bad, and that is exactly what happens to the "Christian" who takes the word of a fallen sinner (whether he be a paleontologist or geologist) over the Word of the Living God. God said in six days He created all things, and He meant it. He didn't need to dummy the Creation account for Moses and the Israelites, because they weren't dummies; we're the dumb-dumb TV generation.

As for these millions of years of evolution scientists love to throw around so much, here's a quick thought for you: can God create a mountain that has all the physical properties of being millions of years old? If He can, then the evolutionist doesn't have the "proof" he thinks he has. And as far as dinosaurs are concerned, here is another thought: before the Fall of Man, did the snake not have legs? It was the curse of God that caused the snake to start moving around on it's belly. So use your imagination, what would different sized snakes look like if they had legs...would they not look like dinosaurs? And the evolutionists tell us that they seem to have been wiped out virtually overnight, could that not have been the judgement of God? Don't take this as inspired of God, but is this speculation of less value than the speculation of those who reject God? I think not.

Christian, do not be ashamed to stand on the plain teachings of the Bible. Take the ridicule and the mockery, it is our portion in this wicked age. The world will not accept a literal 7-day Creation account by a Sovereign God, but then again, they didn't accept the warnings of one Noah who was building an ark either.

God bless,

Rand

Easter?

a day of remembrance???

Easter weekend was pretty uneventful, and quiet this year. No visiting, no special church events, no chocolates. You see, two of my kids have been insanely ill last week and it carried into the weekend. So Rand's family was shut in the whole, so-called "passion week".

In between cleaning up vomit and soiled kids clothing, I put a great deal of thinking on the subject of Easter. You see, last Monday, my supervisor said:

-"This must be a big week for you Rand!"

-"It is?", I inquired.

-"Isn't it Easter next weekend?"

-"Oh yeah, it is...", I answered.

At that exact moment I realized something that kind of disturbed me: my boss, who isn't a born-again Christian (I wouldn't even call him a religious man), was probably going to make a much bigger deal of Easter than I was. I quickly started a spiritual self-diagnosis: was my love for God going cold like the church at Ephesus? was I too busy to put in remembrance the work of the Cross? what did I usually do in past Easters?

The questions abounded for a couple of days, and then it dawned on me: why Easter? As in, why make a big deal out of celebrating Easter? This question caused me to think about the validity of Easter as a day to "remember the work of the Cross"; the thinking went on for another couple of days. This is what I came up with:


1- Easter, like Christmas, isn't Biblical:


Ok...so Easter would definitely be closer to the actual date of the crucifixion (probably not this year though...Passover is next month in this Jewish "leap" year), but nowhere do we find in the Bible a commandment that we should celebrate Easter.


2- Remembering the work of the Cross should be done every day:


This is the point that explained why my boss put far more importance on Easter than myself. You see, for most people who call themselves Christians, Easter is the first time in the new year that they put any serious thought in the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ. A born-again saint ponders on the work of Christ everyday, it is his hope and his salvation!

"But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." (1 Timothy 5:8)


3- The Lord's Day is the time that Christians ought to especially remember the work of the Cross:


It is said that Christian especially ponder on the Crucifixion and Resurrection on Easter, but even this isn't proper. The Lord's Day (Sunday) is the day Christians ought to especially remember the work of the Cross; and more specifically, this special remembrance should be done around the Lord's Table:

"For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in REMEMBRANCE of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in REMEMBRANCE of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do SHEW the Lord's death till he come." (1 Corinthians 11:23-26)


Am I starting a crusade against Easter? No, I've got better things to do with my time. But I must say that after all this thinking, I'm not a big fan of Easter. Why? A few reasons:


1- Because it is deceptive. Millions of deceived sinners (deceived by others of self-deceived, take your pick) pack Bible and wicked churches to get their "Jesus" fix for the year, and Easter is when most of them do it.

2- Many believers will neglect to attend all their church services (as well as the Lord's table), but will NEVER EVER miss Easter service. Talk about the putting the cart before the bulls.

3- Just like Christmas, with the mixture of heathen practices, Easter hardly remains a pure, holy day for Christians.


So my conclusion to the Easter question: It isn't a particularly holy day, and the Christian will do better if he learns to keep his Lord's Days holy rather than on keeping one "special" Sunday per year.

That being said, like Christmas, trying to shut Easter out is like trying to keep the tide from coming in; go for it if you like, but I sincerely doubt you'll be successful. Instead, why not use the opportunities that come with Easter. With the various family functions that usually come with Easter celebrations, be a witness! Talk to your unsaved family and friends about what the Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ means to you. As far as I am concerned that is the best thing that can come from Easter celebrations.


And again, that is my spiritual 0.02$,

Rand

An update

no Friday Night Notes I'm afraid...

Well, I traded in my gospel sign for a mop tonight. My pastor and a our new convert went out for street evangelism tonight, while I stayed home and did my best to be a good dad/husband.

Two of our three kids were quite sick this week (they are finally doing a bit better), so the house needed quite a good scrubbing. So I ordered my wife to get some rest, and I took over the housework...

Argh! and that's where I was at in writing this post at 11:45 pm when I heard my little girl scream from upstairs. Yep...she threw up again. More cleaning and disinfecting...wonderful.

Anyway, my family is experiencing technical difficulties so please stand by, I be back to blogging as soon as possible (I actually have a lot of things I want to blog about...I just need the time to actually write it).

Take care, dear readers,

Rand

Dark Side of Parenting

not all fun and games...

I'm not even going try to describe what came out of my kids in the last 12 hours (all you parents out there, I'm sure you've had this kind of day). My daughter was the first to be sick late last night but she quickly felt better and slept well all night. My oldest son, on the other hand, was fine when he went to bed, but he woke up twice to...well...throw up.

It hasn't been a pleasant night, and I'm going to stop now, this is already my ick-iest post yet.

Later,

Sunday Morning Notes

LOL...

Couple of things happened yesterday at church that I just have to blog about.

First, a young man that I had dealt with a few times during our street evangelism came to our morning service yesterday. I don't know what his exact spiritual situation is (I don't know if he is saved, or what is his religious background), but he definitely has a high regard for the Bible and the preaching of the Word. Please pray for "Victor" (let's call him that), that the Lord would bless him and sanctify him through our little ministry.

Second, check out my last post (and a similar one 7 days prior). Focus on the 3rd and 4th paragraph of the last post. Now guess what the Sunday School lesson was about yesterday:


"See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. " (1 Thessalonians 5:15)


Now ask me if I still think the Lord is trying to tell me something...

;-)

Friday Night Notes

aye! what a nasty week...

Well my couple of hours of evangelism what a perfect reflection of my week: I worked hard, put up with a lot of aggravation, and in the end, got very little to show for my efforts.

This week, like the one before it, has been a difficult one. The Lord must be working on the fruits of patience and temperance in my life, because the number of trials that came to me this week was nothing short of incredible. And I must add that having worked 50-55 hours in the lab probably didn't put me in the right frame of mind to deal with these trials.

If this post seems familiar, it's because the events of this week and our time of evangelism are a carbon-copy of last week. Again, the homeless drunks gave us a REAL HARD TIME during our street evangelism yesterday. And again, I really wanted to go to war over it...I'm soooo bad.

On the bright side of things, I didn't act on my feelings of retribution towards the drunks, I was quite driven in bringing the gospel to every soul I encountered, and I was blessed by the presence of the young man whom the Lord saved through our street evangelism a few months ago (he had decided to come out with us to distribute gospel literature...praise God!).

I continue to beg for your prayers dear saints, that I would glorify God in the ministries I am involved in and, indeed, in all my life. Especially, as I am walking through these "rough" days.

I thank you in advance,

Rand

John Van Eyk

preacher of the Lord...

I met brother John last year, at Bethel Baptist church in London, Ontario, a church my wife and I visit whenever we are visiting family in Southern Ontario. From his first sermon in adult Sunday school that I've heard, I knew I was dealing with a quality preacher.

John isn't what one would call a FIERY preacher. He isn't an actor or comedian, filing his sermons full of gimmicks and anecdotes, rather, he calmly, soberly, and CLEARLY preaches the Word of God; and I love the man for it! He spices most (if not all) of his sermons with biblical history and church history, quoting famous past saints and relaying facts about their lives which, I believe, are quite profitable to Christians today. Christians should learn about past saints' mistakes and victories, in order to avoid the pitfalls they fell in, and follow where they have glorified God.

The fact that brother John CAN relay these facts shows that he has spent some serious time studying the Word of God and the works of godly men of old who have written about the Bible. A preacher who prepares his messages by serious studying is a faithful shepherd, worthy to be followed.

I'm not sure if John and I are on the EXACT same page doctrinally, but I have found myself agreeing with pretty much everything he has preached, and considering how fundamentally I hold to my doctrines, THAT'S SAYING ALOT!

My pastor is the holiest man I know. He's a great man of God. I've learned so much from him and his sermons are second to none, and I have found very few men who even come close to his level of quality. Brother John is one of these rare pearls, and I wanted to share this rare treasure.

You can find an all too short list of Brother John's sermons here. All of them are in MP3 format, some are also in M3U streaming format. So do your soul a favour, take time to listen to these sermons. Instead of wasting your time listening to wicked secular music, or worse, watching the idiot box, listen and enjoy quality Bible preaching. I strongly suggest his sermons on "Evangelism", "Holy Living", and "They Really Don't Know Him"; especially his "Evangelism", what a delight!


"Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine." (1 Timothy 5:17)


God bless you dear readers.

The A.C.

just follow these simple instructions...

* * *

In case some of you haven't figured it out yet, I am of course dealing with the Altar Call (A.C.); and if it looks like I'm mocking it...well...I am. The altar call is the epitome in emotionalism and drama. Yes, drama! The whole purpose of the altar call is to get a desired objective; whether it be the salvation of a soul, or the shaping up on some church members. It has nothing to do with "waiting and hoping for the salvation of the Lord" (Lamentation 3:26), and everything to do with acting out a scheme, playing a role to deceive someone into taking a favorable "decision". The problem is:

"And I, brethren, when I came to you, came NOT WITH EXCELLENCY OF SPEECH OR OF WISDOM, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And MY SPEECH AND MY PREACHING WAS NOT WITH ENTICING WORDS OF MAN'S, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

God doesn't need anyone's help to save sinners. He doesn't need elaborate, deceptive, emotionalistic schemes to bring His elect into the Kingdom of His Dear Son. Rather the Bible says:

"For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." (1 Corinthians 1:21)

God will save His people from their sins by the preaching of the Gospel...plus NOTHING! If the altar call produces something that the simple preaching of the Good News of Christ couldn't, IT ISN'T OF GOD.

And what's up with this "heads bowed, closed eyes, rising hand" nonsense??? Does not the Bible say:

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romands 10:9)

Confess!!! As in admitting, to one and all, that Christ is your Lord! If a person cannot confess Christ in a church service, he can raise his hand all he wants, HE HAS NOT RECEIVED THE GOSPEL.

It is a very grievous thing what is happening to the church in North America. Our church leaders orchestrate deceptive services to keep their pews full (as well as the collection plate), the entire church congregation plays along (like Hollywood actors) to get a fraudulent "spiritual" feeling, we wind up with large group of deceived sinners who believe that they were saved by the altar call experience, and nothing changes. The whole sorry thing just repeats itself every week, or every month, and the local churches grow in number, but withers away in spirit.

Don't play along dear saints, say "no" to the altar call scheme, say "yes" to the straight and honest preaching of the Word!

(check out this article by Pastor Henry Mahan at Gleanings of Grace, it is quite good.)

Friday Night Notes

fighting the "old man"...

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind. (Ephesians 4:22-23)

This week has NOT been a good one. I worked insane hours, got a flat tire on my way back home at midnight (a couple of nights ago), and had a few nasty issues with a co-worker. So to be honest, I kind of went for street evangelism tonight with the "let's just get this week over with" attitude.

You see, Rand has a problem. His problem is with this thing called temperance. You see, I like to think that my list of qualities is fairly long, but patience and calmness, well, might not be on the list.

So why am I telling you this on my Friday Night Notes? Well, tonight one of the street drunks, who didn't appreciate our preaching, broke one of our gospel signs in an effort to intimidate us. I wanted to floor him sooooooooooo bad, but I quickly got a grip and reminded myself that for the public to see Rand the street preacher beating up on a drunkard wouldn't exactly be a good testimony. I then thought to myself: "okay, I can't beat him up, so I'll just antagonize him by preaching judgement and hellfire right in front of him all night!"

And you know what? I actually started walking towards the miserable soul and began to put my plan in action. About 10 seconds later, I stopped and asked myself: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING???" Just like that it dawned on me just how wicked and vindictive I was being, so I walked back to our corner, asked for forgiveness, and continued with my preaching.

So you see, dear readers, I'm afraid I must confess that I'm still fighting the "old Rand", and sometimes (ok...often), he gets the better of me. It's a good thing perfection isn't required to be a preacher of Christ's gospel, I would most definitely be disqualified.

Please pray for me in relation to our evangelistic endeavours, for courage, for wisdom, for love from a sincere heart, and yes, for TEMPERANCE.

I thank you in advance, dear brothers and sisters. Goodnight.

Rome's salvation

humourous, and so true...

The pastor of our sending church has had this excerpt of a Dr. C.D. Cole sermon printed in his city's newspaper. Considering that the city is a Romanist stronghold, I was really surprised it was actually printed. Enjoy:


"The basic and fatal error of Romanism is the denial of the sufficiency of Christ as Saviour. It denies the efficacy of His sacrifice on the cross. Romanism has a Christ, but He is not sufficient as a Saviour. What He did at Calvary must be repeated (in the mass) and supplemented (through works of penance), and this makes priestcraft and sacramentarianism necessary. Romanism is a complicated system of salvation by works. It has salvation to sell, but not in Isaiah's terms - without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1). It offers salvation on the installment plan, and then sees to it that the poor sinner is always behind in his payments, so that when he dies there is a large balance unpaid, and he must continue payments by suffering purgatory, or until the debt is paid by prayers, alms and suffering of his living relatives and friends. The whole system and plan calls for merit and money, from the cradle to the grave, and even beyond. Surely the wisdom that drew such a plan of salvation is not from above, but is earthly and sensual."


For more on my position on Romanism, see this post.

Later,

The Demise of Authority

there goes the neighborhood...

We lost four Mounties last week. For those of you who know absolutely nothing about Canada, Mounties are our Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Mounted = Mounties. Except they don't go around on horses anymore except for parades and/or special occasions (who have cars in Canada now). So I guess we should smarten up and get the "M" out of RCMP and switch nicknames for our Mounties.

Anyway, four of them were shot dead by a wicked criminal carrying a high-powered automatic assault weapon in Alberta. Most Canadians are shocked and upset over the whole thing. I'm pretty upset over the whole thing. Most upsetting is that I believe that this isn't only a "blip" in our history, I think we are going to see more and more of these tragedies in my country. Why? Because, Canada has or is forgetting the Lord it's God, and, most Canadians have very little respect/fear of those who are in authority.

From young students talking back to their teachers, to the moonbats (as my friend Scott calls them) who throw bottles and other objects to riot police squads, all these are examples of the demise of authority in Canada. Such things weren't done 50 years ago in our country. People called authority figures "mister"or "sir" ("miss" or "misses" when dealing with a woman), and talking back or resisting just simply wasn't done; and if disrespect or resistance came, it was met with direct, and usually painful action.

But no more! No! We are a civilized country now. We prosecute teachers who use reasonable force to correct a disrespectful child. We discipline police officers who harm violent criminals who resist arrest. We quickly judge the actions of our soldiers without having all the facts, or taking under consideration the circumstances they were in.

Yeah, school teachers who are afraid of some of their students, a police officer lured and murdered by a young man last year, and now four Mounties down...real civilized.

Disrespecting civil authority is no laughing matter, it is a very grave thing, for it is not only an attack on a person, but rather on the system which he/she represents. The student that disrespects his teacher and gets away with it sets a precedent and school discipline is eroded. A man who resists a police officer and gets away with it erodes the very order which keeps any civilized society alive.

As far as I'm concerned, a protester who attempts to harm a police officer with a hard object should feel what a 9mm gunshot feels like. You think that's extreme? Read Romans 13:2-4 :

"Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."

The "sword" my Christian friends, the "sword". Last time I checked, a sword wasn't for anything else but to kill. The use of force, even lethal force is a grave thing, but shying away from it has serious consequences. If my wife and I did away with spanking, our kids would grow up to be spoiled, undisciplined adults. If our authorities shy away from forcefully applying the laws of the land, the land will destroy itself in disorder and lawlessness.

Those poor Mounties should have been a terror to that drug dealing, gun carrying pedophile in Alberta, but they weren't. He had them outgunned and his hatred of their authority pushed him to kill. It's time for the pendulum to swing back a bit...actually...make that a lot. It's time that we brought back a healthy fear of authority to our land, before all is lost.

Friday Night Notes

the end of a very busy week...

My pastor and I were out street preaching for 3 hours tonight. It was only -14 Celsius, but strangely, it felt colder...guess I'm becoming a whiner with age.

I'm afraid that we'll have to wait longer for that revival we've been praying for. The hearts were hard. It really never ceases to amaze me just how much my countrymen, for the most part, hate God and His Word. I mean they really HATE Him. Whether they heard our preaching, or read our Gospel signs, or saw the cover of one of our tracts, the reaction (again, for the most part) was one of loathing and disgust. And then came the mockery, the hard speech, and the cursings. I guess we, and the people in the marketplace were fulfilling 2 Timothy 2:1-5 :

"I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry."

Another thing that struck me tonight: taking the Lord's name in vain. You know what I'm taking about: "oh my gawd!" or "jeeeeezusss". You know, there are people out there that don't believe that "not taking the Lord's name in vain" isn't about a saying "gawd" or "jeeeeezusss", but rather, they believe it meant swearing falsely in the Lord's name. What does Rand say about this? NONSENSE!

Have you ever asked yourself: "why do people who want no part of God use His name in vain so often in their conversations?" The reason: Because there is a commandment, from God, against it. People who want no part of God are the children of Satan (just like the Pharisees were). Satan controls and hardens these people; they are his. Satan hates God and takes pleasure in the violation of God's commandments, so he moves his people to say "gawd" or "jeeeezusss" in vain.

Anyway, it was all pretty grim tonight, but hey! God was glorified by two wacky preachers, presenting His Gospel to our little part of the world.

With that, I'm going to bed. Good night, dear readers.

Whoa!!! and just like that...it's Friday!

it's been a busy week...

Sorry for the lack of posting this week...it's been a busy one. Since last Monday, I have:

-worked 30-some hours

-took 18-20 hours of first-aid, CPR courses

-fixed a severely virused computer (my in-law's)

-studied the "doctrine of Satan" for our Wednesday Night Bible Study

-been a father of three little children

-prepared to celebrate my Mom's birthday this weekend


Other than that, it's been quiet...LOL! I've got a few more hours of work to go, then comes our Friday night street preaching. I'll try to post a summary of our evangelistic effort when I come back tonight.

Again, sorry for neglecting my blog, I'll do better next week,

Take care,