CARM Newsletter 07-30-08

Devotion

From Your Hand		 "But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You....16“O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours," (1 Chronicles 29:14,16).

King David had appealed to the nation of Israel for supplies to build the Temple.  The result was a great influx of of wood, silver, bronze, iron, precious stones, and other materials.  David was, of course, well pleased.  But what is interesting is how David recognizes where the true source of provision was from.  David says that the abundance he had was from the hand of God.  I love the statement "...from Your hand we have given You."  What a wonderful truth.

We have no temple today to which we can send our support.  That is a bit unfortunate only in the sense that by giving to something such as a temple, we would be able to go and see with our own eyes and even touch with our own hands the result of our giving.  Not so today.

So now, the way we offer generously to the Lord is through our tithes, offerings, prayer, and help at church.  But still, in our lives  don't we sometimes refrain from tithing to the Lord and in so doing we forget that it is from His hand that we give back to Him. Don't we sometimes neglect our prayers and neglect opportunities at church to help?  What we have has been given is from God and it is right and proper to give back to the Him who is provided so much for us.  To do so is worship and a demonstration of the appreciation of God's provision as well as a demonstration of our trust in him.

Doesn't everything belong to the Lord?  Isn't He the one who provides, who guides, and who demonstrates to us His love in the person of Jesus Christ through the cross?  All these things are all answered in the affirmative and when we answer them thusly we can better appreciate the kindness and greatness of God and His provision to us...and this should comforts us as well as motivate us.
From
Ryan Turner

Ryan is out of town this week and will be back in the office in a few days.
Twin Falls Temple I  have already mentioned in a previous newsletter that Ryan, my daughters, and myself have been taking a 2 Hour drive once a week to attend a Mormon Temple opening in Twin Falls, Idaho.  Whenever Mormons build a temple, they open it to the public for several weeks so the public can take tours.  One of their goals in doing this is to attract more converts.  Therefore, as a ministry, we go to the temple openings and stand in front of them with signs and literature hoping to dissuade people from joining.  And, of course, we hope to help Mormons leave their false religion and come to a true and saving relationship with the real God of the universe.

This past week we have all been out there at different times and it's been rather interesting.  One of our guys was flipped off by a cop who drove by.  Yesterday one of my daughters was flipped off 10 times (she kept count).  I've been flipped off several times, told to get a job, told to get a life, told to go home, cussed at, etc.  I think I already mentioned how I was told I was of Satan and threatened with arrest if I were to even talk to one particular man's children.

The Mormon run newspaper in Twin Falls ran an article saying that we were impeding the Mormons' freedom of religion.  I don't know how standing on the sidewalk in front of a temple is impeding their religious freedom.  But that's what they claim.  They also said that we were making a spectacle of ourselves.  I'm not sure exactly what that means considering we were only exercise our constitutional rights politely, with respect, and without hindering pedestrian or vehicular traffic. 

Anyway, they also called the police on us to inform us that we were not to walk on the grass.  We were told that the grass between the sidewalk and the streets belonged to the Mormon Church and we had to stay off.  Talk about nit picky!

Please pray for us that the Lord would supply our needs as we go there.  Please pray for our protection as well.

Want to see some pictures?  http://www.carm.org/temp/temple_pics/temple.htm

The Shack In the book The Shack is very popular in Christian circles.  It has a lot of good in it and dealing with emotional healing and forgiveness.  But there are some problems with it and I will be speaking on the shack in a local church on July 31, 2008.  If you are interested in an article I've written on this, please go to http://www.carm.org/features/theshack.htm
Head in
the Sand		 prairie dogWhat the Heck?

This feature is not so we can make fun of anyone.  This is serious stuff.  It is to show what kind of thinking is out there.  We regularly get stuff like this.  Pray for this ministry.

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Dear CARM, It seems that there are some "new age/occult female astral projection travelers" who feel they need to be in my SOUL-BODY cos they feel that I am wasting my life away.   I also am dealing an Unknown astral female who likes to hide in my lower back of my soul on a daily basis.  I am providing some internet links to you to help you understand where I am coming from and to back up what I have stated.  I also totally disagree with Ron Rhodes' Book - The truth about Ghost, Mediums, and Psychic Phenomena.   Also I do not have a secret astral plane mistress either.  I have picked up pictures of a white lady with long blonde hair.    Most of my "harassment" comes directly from the Astral PLane. Nothing else either, literally.   Also, It doesn't make sense to be adored by New Age Females who have to be new age in order to have a career either.  Also, I don't remember informing you that I didn't "visualize" in my junior Year of High School. I had Graduated May of 1982.  There were three other white-guys who had attended the local Presbyterian Church. I do believe that my former sunday-school classmates had visualized.  Visualization leads directly into Witchcraft.  That is the main reason why I do not have a career at 44 years of age.    In the Spring of 1999, I had attended www.haskell.edu and had flunked out and put on Academic Probation.  I haven't returned. In the time frame of 2001-2003 I was literally taken out on two separate occasions by someone in the New Age. I know for a fact that I didn't restore myself in anyway.  I did find brief work thru a temp agency in 2004. But that didn't last cos of an Ethical dilemma I think that it was the lady-in-charge fault.  I also had to take a tb test and I had been prescribed TB medication for the next six months of 2004 because I had tested positive. Oh yeah, It was totally quiet and I wasn't harassed on a daily basis from the astral plane.  However, I was visited by two people on separate occasions who had known me in the 1990's and they had made contact with my mind and they were a mental picture briefly.  A little note here: While I was in the USN in the early 1980's.  I was stationed in San Diego, CA.  I had briefly visited the Servicemen's center.  I had said a sinner's like prayer. Even though there was a pause.  I think that it didn't do any good cos when 1988 came by I had went thru a deep spirit-world experience and a demon had pulled my soul out of my body and had asked me if I had wanted to sell my soul and another spirit-world incident had happened in which I had to keep my word....  I didn't and I was cussing like crazy during that episode.  Since then, nothing like that episode has ever happened.
CARM Needs Programmer:  We need a programmer who is familiar with web-based development.  You don't have to move here to do this.  But we are looking for godly Christians who have a knack for programming for some projects on CARM.  Please do not contact us unless you are very serious about this.  [email protected]
CARM Needs Staff Want to work with CARM in Boise, ID?  We are always looking for qualified people who are willing to move here and work with his ministry.  The interview process takes a while and there are several hurdles to overcome.  But, CARM reaches literally millions of people annually and though we are struggling to make ends meet financially, we are hoping that there will be people who can provide their own support who would be willing to come here and work with CARM.  This is not an easy request to make, especially asking people to move in rates from support.  But that's the situation we are in now.

We need researchers, writers, programmers, and an office administrator.

The rewards are small, the challenges are huge, you get ridiculed, there's spiritual attack, sometimes you don't know if you are going to make it financially, you have to support yourself, and you have to research and write about false systems and compare them with Scripture.  There is occasional mundane office stuff to take care of.... but, this is not a boring ministry.

Does that sound appealing?  If so, then are interested in working with CARM?

You can be male or female.  You have to agree to the CARM statement of faith, and I prefer (though it is not necessary) people who are educated and/or experienced in their field of expertise.  But I must reiterate; this is not an easy ministry.  It is time-consuming, often unrewarding, frustrating, etc.  But, there are rewards.  You get to know that what you produce will affect thousands of people for years to come.  This ministry is a challenge and it is not for the fainthearted.   Interested?  If so, contact Matt at [email protected]

Love and Hate Mailgraphic

  • Hate Mail
    • You are an abomination and prejudice bigotry at its worst. It is really sad though that you have not found anything better to do with your miserable life than to judge and criticize others beliefs. We in no way believe that we are gods or godheads. so if you are going to try preaching then at least know what you are talking about. And remember you will be judged harshly for your judgement of others. read that it is in the bible. not the book of mormon. please Get a Life
    • God did not write the bible and tell people to hate each other or put each other to death. He did not Condon slavery or murder. The bible is not the word of god and you are foolish for thinking that it is for your blind faith and lack of understanding towards other cultures you receive a one way ticket to hell. Try understanding, try education, try looking at your origins, try looking at your similarities. God would want peace. Try to create peace on earth. Maybe not under one book or the same god but I think that an all knowing, all loving god would much rather have peace then praise.
    • 5 realities you can't deal with.   1.) You say Christianity is growing faster than before? If it's growing at all, it's growing with those who need the illusion of hope for coping with life's brutal realities. These adherents are usually little educated and poor wretched people especially in the 3rd world.  A.) Turn on your TV, take a look at any preaching channel. Look at the audience. Minorities / Trailer Park People / Wretches in General /  what else can we say.   You must really enjoy preaching to an audience who are nothing but smurf-chanting munchkins. Wow .. you really move the masses all right.   2. ) The Internet and the free flow of information is going to exterminate your hateful ideology.   3. ) Intellect / Logic / Reasoning / Free Thinking are making your people look like such utter fools, that many on-the-fence observers are completely turned off by you and your brethren.   4. ) Your religion is toast god-boy. I'll see you on the international space station with the rest of the scientists.   5. ) You tend to debate with 'trendy' atheists who can't defend themselves, or exists as ******** :) ... try ....... if you are looking for serious debate.  Can you handle it? Nope .. you get big-headed debating backstreet posers. And you know you will be torn apart.
  • Love Mail
    • Thank you very much for your email and your prayer. I'm am definitely equipped by your ministry and that's exactly why I support you, because you are doing the work of God. There are no words to describe how much your ministry has build up my faith, my understanding of God, my understanding of my salvation and my motivation to really study the things of God. We go on the streets weekly and now I can use reason and present the biblical God to people on the streets.   Please remember that you have people in the former Godly country praying for you and stay strong in the Lord. I still can't believe how our country could loose every sense of moral and healthy thinking so incredibly fast after everyone abandoned God. And I hope that the US don't go the same path.   Once again I am grateful that God showed me your ministry, It was a very important step in my relationship to Him.   Blessings to you all and your family, that God will put a great authority on your families and your ministry, because my experience is that we serve a mercifull and mighty, powerfull God against which no enemy can stand up to.
    • Listening to your pod cast while at work is awesome! I'd like to encourage other people in the workforce to listen too. I work in the corporate industry and the atmosphere there can be quite negative, very elite, full of pride and selfishness. So when I'm in my office with no meetings scheduled I listen to your pod cast and do work at the same time. It really helps! I'm the only Christian and female in my team and God is blessing me with so opportunities to witness. My company has 3000 employees and I meet new people internally everyday but I am yet to find another Christian companion. I see so many Christians working for christian organisations which is great but I'd like to see more people being challenged and out of their comfort zone and step into the real workforce where the opportunities are huge!!! Please keep your radio show going!!!!
    • I've used your site a lot in the past couple of years.  It has helped me with my Bible studies, with witnessing, and has been a great resource and blessing in many other ways.   I've noticed from stuff that you've posted that a lot of people seem to send you hate mail.  Well, as someone who has been so blessed by your ministry, I felt that I needed to give you a word of encouragement.  I know that if I received hundreds if not thousands of e-mails and discussion board posts calling me a heretic and what not, I would sure appreciate it if someone would send me a nice e-mail once in a while.   My stepdad's family is Mormon, my mom is a new-age spiritualist, and my brother claims to be an atheist.  And I'm a Calvinist.  Sounds like the setup for a sitcom, doesn't it? :-)  Needless to say, I regularly get attacked on all sides for my faith.  But I know that 1 Pet. 3:15 says to always be ready to give a defense for anyone who asks me to give an account for the hope that is in me.  CARM has helped me learn how to do that.   I am constantly learning new things about God's Word from your site.  And I am constantly using them to help me share the love and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with my family and friends.   Thank you so much for all the work and research that you do.  Thank you for putting yourself out there into hostile environments so that others might learn.  Thank you for always sticking to God's Word as the source of all authority and truth.  Thank you for not backing down or compromising God's Word because some people might be offended.  Thank you for all the witnessing you do and being a real 2 Tim. 4:2 man.   I pray for you that God blesses you for your ministry.  He has certainly blessed me through it!

Matt Slick
CARM President

 

 

 

 
 
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