CARM Newsletter 10-14-08

Devotion:
"Miracles and the Modern Mind"
by
Ryan
Turner		 Genesis 17:1-5, 17-18, "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. 2 I will establish My covenant between Me and you, And I will multiply you exceedingly.' 3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, 4 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, And you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations....' 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, 'Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?' 18 And Abraham said to God, 'Oh that Ishmael might live before You!'"

This is one of those passages in the Bible which I suppose God used to show His power (and possibly humor?).  God calls a man named Abram from the land of Ur.  This man He says will be "the father of a multitude of nations."  God then changes his name from Abram to Abraham which literally means "father of a multitude."

God then tells Abraham twice that he will be "the father of a multitude of nations."  However, Abraham realized the absolute absurdity of he and his wife being the parents of children since Sarah was 90 and he was 99!  However, despite Abraham and Sarah's skepticism, God was true to His Word.  Sarah gave birth to Isaac (whose name literally means "laughter") who became the father of Israel.

I suppose that if God told us the same thing today we might respond with the same amount of laughter.  Like Abraham and Sarah, we probably would not expect God to do such a marvelous work.  God, after all, some believe does not do miracles today.  That was just in the Bible times. Right?

As Christians, we often live like practical atheists in the sense that we do not expect the Supernatural God to ever work in our lives in a miraculous way.  We live our lives according to our expectations and naturalistic leanings.  We do not even pray for bigger and better, God-altering, and self-smashing things to manifest themselves through the Infinite Deity.  Instead, we pray "God be with us" or "bless this" or "protect this."

Maybe we should pray differently.  Maybe we should expect the God of the Bible who rose from the dead and still sustains the universe by His power to sometimes, just sometimes, want to show off His power through us?  Maybe we should pray specifically for things... pray with a passion...pray with a fervency.  If you do not pray specifically, you may not even know when God gives you an answer.  

Do you expect God to work in your life?  Are you willing to "look" for God?  You may not hear a booming voice out of heaven, or you may not necessarily have a child at 90 years of age, but are you open to God using you in a miraculous way?  Maybe God has impressed something on your heart to do something "miraculous."  Maybe you need to call and apologize to some person who wronged you -- even though they deserve your anger.  Maybe you need to bless an enemy who is "despitefully using you."  What is your situation?  Will you obey God and do what the flesh says is "absurd?"

Anyhow, one of the ways God may work in your life is through dependence on Him through prayer and the study of His Word.  I have personally been convicted this week of not spending enough time in God's Word.  Therefore, I am just going to read through the Bible from beginning to end and take thorough notes.  It is truly amazing how rich and deep the Word of God is!  It never ceases to amaze me how many new insights are available in that amazing Book!

Finally, each day surrender your life to God.  Ask Him to use you to glorify Him.  You never know who are what he will bring across your path.  Be available and be watching for what He will do!  Maybe He will work a miracle in your life, just as He did in Abraham's.
For Your Consideration
  • Ways to give back...
  • Contact: Matt at [email protected]
  • Affiliate Marketing.  Does anyone know about affiliate marketing and can also spend some time filling me in so I can utilize it better?
  • Advertisers.  We are looking to expand the scope of CARM. In order to do that, we need funding so we can hire more people.  Advertisers are always a good way to do that and we are trying to find some knowledgeable people who can point us in the right direction regarding getting advertisers, methods of advertising, etc.  If you have some expertise in this area and would like to talk to us about this, please contact me via e-mail.
  • Search Engine Optimization.  We are looking for people to help with SEO.  We need suggestions, directions to go, and  strategies.  If you have expertise in this area, please contact me.
  • CMS advice.  Okay, so which is better?  Joomla?  Drupal? Plone? Hotbanana?  Sheesh, everyone has an opinion and they very often conflict.  All I know is that it's confusing.  We need to convert the CARM website into a CMS and I'm hoping to find some pretty expert advice.  At first I was told to use Joomla, then Drupal, then abc, then def, then.... I've thrown my hands into the air. If you know about CMS's pros and cons, which is better for CARM, design elements, template availability, components, meaningful URLs, shopping carts, etc., would you please consider contacting me and talking to me over the office phone about it?  I really need some help.  If you're interested, please contact me first via e-mail and we'll set up a time to talk.
  • Legal Help.  I would like a lawyer to talk to about some issues.  Nothing serious, just some advice.  Again, if you are interested, please let me know via e-mail.
  • Linking to CARM.  If you own a website, would you consider linking to individual articles within the CARM framework?  it would help in the search engine optimization.
From
Ryan Turner

We finally have managed to get a few videos on YouTube! Please see www.youtube.com/carmvidoes for some samples of our work.  I want to thank all of you out there who offered advice and your valuable time to help make this possible. I have been working busily with Matt over the past few months to get this done.  There are always improvements that can be made, but I think we have most of the bugs out.  You should expect to see a lot more videos showing up on YouTube by CARM in the next upcoming days.

If you have any comments, please do not hesitate to email us.  We deeply appreciate your feedback and are not offended by any constructive criticism.

I am still working on researching Hinduism.  I am slowly making more progress in that direction.  I realize the huge need for good evangelistic material for reaching the Eastern mindset.  It is just a lot of work for me to step into the Eastern world.  They think a lot differently than us Judeo-Christian Westerners!

Halloween and Tracts.

I also want to encourage all of you out there to take advantage of this Halloween season to share your faith.  I plan on giving out tracts at the door to kids who come to my house "trick or treating." I will probably be giving them candy also, but this is a great time to do some witnessing.

If you are looking for good tracts to give out during Halloween, please visit www.chick.com.  Some good tract titles offered by Jack Chick to give out to kids are "Boo" (for younger kids), "Charlie's Ants" (for middle to older kids), and "Boo!" (for older kids).  You can read various titles of the tracts online and choose the titles that best interest you.  Interestingly, kids will read the Chick Tracts since they are written in a comic book format.  Rather than hiding from the "trick or treaters," use this opportunity to share the gospel to your friends and neighbors.  Why not give Satan a black eye?
Debate Videos
  • The DVD debates between Matt Slick and Roger Perkins (Oneness believer) are now available.  If you are interested in them, then go to http://shop.carm.org/shop/?shop=1&cat=35&cart=2496360.
  • The DVDs for the Pensacola debate that I had with an atheist in April are here.  If you are interested in getting the video DVDs, then go to http://shop.carm.org/shop/?shop=1&cat=35&.  We will provide the MP3 (audio format) for download later.
Please Support CARM We are asking for $5 a month support.  Is CARM worth it?  Just $5 a month.  CARM is already free.  You're already getting a ton of information at your fingertips.  Can you help us?  Is $5 a month a good investment to help promote God's truth?
  • $5 monthly recurring donation setup
Logos Bible Software Would you like to support CARM but also get the best Bible research program out there?  If you're serious about studying the Bible and want what is, in my opinion, the best Bible program available, then get Logos Bible Software. 
  1. You win because Logos will give you 25% off if you go through CARM.  Just click here. http://www.logos.com/carm
  2. CARM wins, because Logos will donate a portion of every sale back to CARM.
  3. Logos wins by spreading the Word, making more sales, and getting more people into better Bible study.
By the way, I've used various free software programs.  They work, but none of them approach the quality and depth offered by logos.
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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We received this email from someone making a comment about the three heavens mentioned in the Bible. This person states that the three heavens refer to "Astral, Causal and Sach Khand (God's dwelling place) the first heaven is the Astral Plane, the doorway to it is in most near death experiences, the stars, moon and sun and other constellation refers to the inner sun, moon and stars." I hope all of your are now enlightened.
CARM Needs Staff How would you like to work in the ministry where 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? 

If that sounds appealing, then maybe you might be 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
    • Greetings, as a christian I cannot understand why you spend time criticizing another person, regardless of what you think, or how you feel about them. If you do not agree with him or his philosophies, don't cast judgment against them. just move on. As I see it you are a person I would be very skeptical of. And you call yourself a christian leader. I can discern for myself and I don't need anyone like you telling me what to think about another person. I would not nor, could not listen to a person like you. YOU ARE A FAKE AND A HYPOCRITE. STOP JUDGING AND GET ON WITH THE BUSINESS OF WHAT IT IS THAT YOU SHOULD BE ABOUT. From an angry pastor
  • Love Mail
    • Hi Matt & everyone in CARM!!!  Greetings from across the pond, across the arid deserts of Egypt and beyond.  This mail is coming from Singapore HAHA!!!!  The purpose of this mail serves 1 powerful purpose:  Thank God for your life and the people in CARM in keeping this website running!!!!!! You don't know how much you guys have helped me and my church members here in Hope of God, Singapore!!!!  The bible says we should be generous in our affirmations and thanksgiving, yes and I am affirming & giving thanks on behalf of my 3,245 strong member church to God for your ministry!!!  Jeremiah from Singapore.
    • Dear CARM staff,  Thank you for the most wonderful truthful Christian webpage. This page is a breath of fresh air, a useful tool for Christian study. Thank you, Stephen from Australia
    • Rev. Slick,  I want to say thanks for the link that allowed for 25% off Logos Bible Software.  My wife and I both just enrolled at Liberty University...her for Christian Counseling and myself for an M.A. in Theological Studies.  I splurged and bought the Scholars Library.  I just want to say that your ministry is terrific and I’ve been reading the material on here since I became a Christian in January of 2007.  May God continue to bless you and your ministry.  Chad from PA
    • Matt,  I just want to say…that as a pastor of a church…it is a real blessing to have your site as a resource.  I am using it a bunch next week on my sermon on hell.  I refer church members to it all the time.  God is using you.  Love in Christ, Pastor Cliff from FL

Matt Slick
CARM President

 

 

 

 
 
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