The Whole World Knows There Were Giants

Ever wondered if the Bible could be right about a nine foot [3 m] tall warrior? Do we have any evidence outside God’s testimony to such tall people?

Let’s look at some of the things we can check out to compare!

Most of the information we have about giants come from stories passed down as legends around the world.  I’m not going to post a bunch of links because you have to be careful what you read.  As we all know from David and Goliath, giants weren’t exactly God-fearing. In fact, most of the stories people told about them are like Jack of the Beanstalk or Odysseus’ experience.

I found a page with dozens and dozens of accounts of giants or their remains around the world.  Wikipedia has a list of at least 100 names people have given to giants around the world.

The Bible itself lists 7 different groups of Post-Flood giants.  There were the Philistines (with Goliath & co: II Samuel 21:15-22), Amorites (Amos 2:9–10; Numbers 13:29,32), Emim (Deuteronomy 2:10–11), Zamzummim (Deuteronomy 2:20–21),Rephaim [giants] (Deuteronomy 3:11), Anakim [sons of Anak] (Numbers 13:33), and an Egyptian near-giant in 1 Chronicles 11:23.

All of these groups of people mentioned in the Bible were especially wicked.  As you can see from the accounts of the Emim and Zamzummim, it wasn’t just the Israelites who wanted them dead.  Giants never made comfortable neighbors, although they seemed to make good champions or kings until God caught up with them!

Answers in Genesis has a long article talking about all this. It also has some interesting information on Egyptian records of giants.

There is one more group that the Bible mentions: the Nephilim.  Numbers 13:32–33 says, “And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”  The Hebrew word translated “giants” is the word Nephilim.

This is important to early Genesis study because of an odd account in Genesis 6.  We are told almost nothing about how people lived before the Flood, but the Nephilim are one of the things God wanted us to know about.  Here’s the story:

There were giants [Nephilim] in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.  And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. Gensis 6:4-6

Many people, including me, have wondered what these “sons of God” who had giant, evil children were.  There is a theory that they are actually demons who married human women and bore children.  Jude verse 6 is used to back this idea up.  Cool (and horrible) as this sounds, there are some major problems with this view that make it impossible.

• Dr. Lisle pointed out recently that Jesus said it is impossible for spirit beings to have phisical relations and therefore children.  Matthew 22:30 suggests this.  It is at least true for good angels
• If this theory were true, there would have never been any more giants after the Flood destroyed them all and the demons who had done it were chained in darkness.
• “Sons of God” does not have to refer to spirit beings (although it does in the Old Testament, like in Job 1:6).  Six times the New Testament refers to Christians as Sons of God.

That there were giants again after the Flood by itself makes the demon theory impossible.  This leaves us with some kind of human line being the “sons of God.”  I’ve heard ideas that this is talking about the children of Seth, who were still following God, marrying women from the line of Cain, who had  rejected God’s authority.  I don’t know, but it seems likely that something like that is meant.

God is greater than the largest enemy we will ever face.  The Bible’s stories of Caleb, David, and his mighty men defeating giants is recorded to encourage us to trust God and not follow in the despair of the 10 spies of evil report!

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4

I got a lot of my info by starting from this article: Answers in Genesis, Giants in the Old Testament 

You might also enjoy these articles I found:

The Aldworth Giants Rated G

THE QUEST FOR TOM HICKATHRIFT about trying to find the truth behind a giant legend. Rated G

THE CAVE OF THE RED HAIRED GIANTS Rated PG

Human Giants by Gary Nelson. Rated PG (opens with immodest Indian warrior facing away from us)

Science in the Bible: Earthquakes

If you pay attention to what’s going on as you read the Bible you will catch on pretty quickly that the Holy Land is located in an earthquake zone. Sometimes earthquakes are even major players in the action of Bible events.

I’m going to send you to a video with Dr. Steve Austin in a minute, but let’s see some of the times where earthquakes had a part in events recorded in the Bible:

“And the Lord began to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He caused fire and burning sulfur to fall from the sky. He destroyed the whole valley—all the cities, the people living in the cities, and all the plants in the valley.” Genesis 19:24,25

Although an earthquake isn’t mentioned, how did God get the volcanic stuff to come out? Volcanoes and earthquakes are bosom buddies.

So then the priests blew the trumpets. When the people heard the trumpets, they began shouting. The walls fell down, and the people ran up into the city. So the Israelites defeated that city. Joshua 6:20

Again, the earthquake isn’t mentioned, but God doesn’t do magic; there was some physical cause for the walls to drop.

And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor bearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armor bearer slew after him. And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were an half acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plow. And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.  I Samuel 14:14,15

No explanation needed here!

Suddenly there was an earthquake so strong that it shook the foundation of the jail. All the doors of the jail opened, and the chains on all the prisoners fell off. Acts 16:26

This wasn’t in Israel, but shows God controls events anywhere.

Every once in a while God uses His natural world to accomplish His plan for history. He has more subtle ways of doing this, but when he uses big things like meteorites (Joshua 10:11) and earthquakes, people pay attention! They also have a much harder time hiding the evidence. 😀

One other thought that came to me while watching Dr. Austin: just as God has positioned the world so we can study space, so He prepared the way for us to study these earthquakes. How many lakes in the world are lifeless, so the sediments settle undisturbed for millennia? There are a few, but it is cool to know one of them is perfectly located to preserve a record of God’s truthfulness.

Our God is great, with the most mind-boggling foresight imaginable!

The video starts just a tad dry through the first part of the talk, but after the break it is WAY COOL.

The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, “This has to be the Son of God!” Matthew 27:54 The Message

I was alerted to this video by Creation Sensation, you can follow them for yourself to keep up with lots more.

Dr. Austin’s findings have been available at the Institute for Creation Research for some time, which is where I first read about them.

PS I’d really like to ask him just how certain that AD 33 crucifixion date is. It could settle a debate that goes back to the AD 300s!

Extra: A Geology Student’s Experience with the Evidence

English: Rock. Folded sandstone rock near Tyninghame House.

Reading Through the Bible, Genesis 1 & What is God Like?

OK, so we’ve got colds, I’m potty training my youngest (yes, guys, this writer really is a mom), and we’re busy on top of it.

I just don’t have time to do justice to rock layers like I want to. 😦

But, for years now, I’ve put reading through the Bible top place on my priority list. I don’t do anything else but physical necessities until God has spoken to me through His Word.

This year I was determined to find a plan where you aren’t reading 178 verses one day (Psalm 119) and 14 the next (3rd John). What’s more,it needed to be a mix of passages. If you don’t get bored reading the beginning of I Chronicles, kudos. I don’t want to endure that if there’s another way.

There are a bunch of other ways! Two years ago, I used M’Cheyne’s plan and liked it a lot except for reading the New Testament twice a year. I always read more than what’s required one way or another, I don’t like having even more “required” than necessary.

This year, I decided to look for an even better plan and ran into something called a Thematic Bible Reading Plan that’s brand new! You don’t have to start on January 1 or on the first Sunday of the year. Just jump in whenever you’re ready.

Here’s why I’m mentioning it: I love the passages he’s tied in to Genesis chapters 1-4. Psalm 148 is glorious and is making me rethink whether the idea of vast amounts of water beyond space is so crazy after all. Ephesians 1 is super exciting with the reminder that God chose believers before the world began.

Then there’s how well Ephesians chapter 2 ties in with our Fall. We are all born “children of disobedience” because of what our first parents chose. But, it’s not the end of the story!

And here’s the idea that inspired me to work up this post before I have to run:

Look at Genesis 1:3. What did God do? He “said”. He used words to create. If you keep reading you’ll find there was just one thing He created without simply speaking it into being (although God did talk about His plans): People.

That’s something we like to think about. It’s cool. But look at what God does in the next verse:

And God saw

I don’t really know how it works out, but there is something about actually experiencing an event that applies to God just like it does to us.

We can plan things out and think things through, but there’s nothing like actually being somewhere and doing something. Have you ever dreamed you ate food? It has no flavor. You have to put real food in your mouth to taste it.

Genesis 1 isn’t the only place this idea comes out. Look at what happened to Jesus when He became a human being:

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; Hebrews 5:8 

Jesus experienced how hard it is to obey when your body is hurting and did it anyway.

I don’t know how it all works out, but God experiences reality something like we do. What a mind blowing thought!

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

 

Some of my Favorite Christmas Characters: Mary and Nicholas

I wrote this post last year, but it’s timeless message will still be true in a hundred years (if the Lord tarries)….

I was reading a post by someone on Christmas and whether Jesus’ followers should celebrate it and saw a comment asking if they “[had] a bee in [their] bonnet.” Well, that is sort of true, but mostly because there are some of Jesus’ followers who have very large “bees” in their bonnets!

Last month I passed on something about Santa Claus on facebook and a lady was offended at me for not equating him with the great accuser, Satan. To my knowledge she’s not visited my page since then.

As a newly wed participating in a missions conference, a church asked us for our favorite Bible characters. When it was my turn, I shared how much I respect and admire Mary. The stillness that filled the room could almost be felt.

Who are these people who get under people’s skins so badly?

Council of Nicea

Santa Claus wasn’t always just a popular replacement for Jesus as the centerpiece of the holiday. He was a real man that we will get to know in Heaven. He lived in Turkey and Greece 1700 years ago and loved Jesus very much. Although he is best known for his secret generosity, he was also important in making sure the western church didn’t fall for lies about the true nature of Jesus as both God and Man.

I did find one article that isn’t from a saint-worshiping tradition; they aren’t so sure that Nicholas was really at the Council of Nicea. This was where church leaders hammered out what the Bible actually says about who Jesus is. Their records don’t say anything about Nicholas being there, but later people said he was not only there, but lost his temper and slapped the guy who claimed Jesus wasn’t really God (causing Nicholas to lose his church position).

Whether Nicholas was there or not, we know there was a real battle for the hearts and minds of believers then. Today, the same battle is still raging; many of us struggle with the truth of Genesis and the nature of Jesus as Creator and Witness.

Anyway, my kids know Nicholas doesn’t have anything to do putting the presents under the tree, and probably never saw a reindeer. But, we like reading his story and remembering how following Jesus means helping others in every way, from secret presents to taking uncomfortable stands for truth.

People don’t usually have quite as big a problem with Mary, but she has her share as well. I agree there are people who go far beyond the Bible and turn her into a kind of goddess. The Bible tells us she was nothing of the sort as she herself testifies:

 Then Mary said,

“I praise the Lord with all my heart.
     I am very happy because God is my Savior.
 I am not important,
    but he has shown his care for me, his lowly servant.
From now until the end of time,
    people will remember how much God blessed me. Luke 1:46-48 Easy-to-read Version

Mary needed her Kinsman Redeemer just as much as you and I do, but she set a wonderful example to follow. She was enough of a scientist to know that God wasn’t going to just give her a baby son without something extra happening. When the angel told her the plan, Mary was willing to cooperate even with the miraculous. Her words of acceptance and submission are a guide to all of us when we are given extraordinary tasks:

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. Luke 1:38

If we throw away everything and everyone that has been used in a corrupted manner, we won’t have anything left. From the rainbow to God Himself someone has used them for selfish, sinful purposes. As for me, I’m going to keep the memories of some of Jesus’ fellow servants dear in my heart and look forward to the day Mary, Nicholas and I stand before the throne and worship the Lamb together!

For lots more on the controversies of Christmas, check out:

Answers in Genesis: Feedback: Christians Celebrating Christmas at Christmas Town

Biblical Archaeology: Why Dec 25^th?

PS My kids and I have a set of books on Nicholas, Valentine, and Patrick from the Voice of the Martyrs. They are beautifully done and treat these men as honorable heroes. I highly recommend them.

You can find some interesting legends and lots of activities about Nicholas at the St. Nicholas Center: For Kids section. We’ll probably be checking it out tomorrow afternoon!

Gratitude: the Key to our Choices

One of the most important Bible passages for Creationists to learn about, remember, and maybe even memorize (your young brain can handle it!), is in the middle of Romans chapter 1.

The whole book focuses on what God did in Jesus to bring people back to Himself. And right at the beginning we have a section talking about creation, gratitude, and the consequences if we refuse to cooperate.

The world gives us all kinds of reasons why some people go really bad:

• The person had no family, or a rotten one
• They didn’t have enough education
• Poor nutrition/health care made them that way
• They didn’t have enough money
• People were mean and wouldn’t share with them

All these things are real problems. We are wise and right to help others overcome them and have the freedom to choose a better life.

But they don’t come close to the real cause. As usual, God reaches right into our soul and tells us what the deep reason actually is:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Romans 1:21

God has shown every person enough of who He is for them to have “no excuse” for ignoring Him. But people didn’t want to admit He is there because they refused to do two things:

• Glorify Him as God
• Be thankful

That’s it. All the awful choices they make with the rest of their lives go back to these two. We don’t want to worship anyone but ourselves, or a god we invent to do things our way. And we sure don’t want to have to say “thanks” and owe God for taking care of us.

“The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth” (1914) By Jennie A. Brownscombe

Americans, I’m sure you’ve noticed how the media and businesses don’t really focus on what Thanksgiving is all about. They’re fine with warm and fuzzy family time. They love good food and football. They’re really happy about people skipping sleep to go spend money the next morning. They’re even OK with saying “thanks” to you, to the turkey, to the world.

But it’s only those of us who have already chosen to follow God who like to remember the whole point of the celebration.

Let’s not be surprised or annoyed. God told us it would always be like this 2,000 years ago.

(Photo credit: OldOnliner)

Our job is to take part in the heavenly celebration and shout His praises from the housetops. Social media and our emails are great ways to share beautiful reminders of what this Thursday is actually all about. Church praise times and passing on our blessings to needy people are Biblical, too.

Then there’s our families. When I am reminded of the pain, darkness, and misery God sees every moment, after I’ve asked Him to work, I like to focus on the one place I can change.

My goal as a homemaker is to give Jesus a place to settle down and relax. A place where He is honored as Lord, Savior, and Creator. A place where we’re never happy with our sin natures, but rejoice as we become more like Him every day.

And, assuming Romans 1:21 is true (which it is), praise and thanksgiving are the key to this goal!

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Psalm 100:4 

Other posts on gratitude to check out: Ernie’s Musings: A Day to Give Thanks

A beautiful hymn you may have heard to chorus of: Thank You, Lord by Seth and Bessie Sykes

Do We Believe in a “God of the Gaps”?

Book Review: Don’t Miss The Boat

Click to see Master Books Product Page

Paul Taylor has pulled together a great overview of the history of Noah’s Flood. He covers both the science and the spiritual/moral implications of this seminal event in our history for ordinary people.

Although Mr. Taylor doesn’t bring the language down quite to a child’s level, he does a great job accomplishing his goal of reaching everyday adults. There are a few points he brings up repeatedly, but that’s because the book is designed for you to search for a topic rather than having to read straight through.

It was especially nice to see the last section is laid out to give a study group starter questions to work through. Paul Taylor planned his book with the goal of helping churches lead their entire congregations into a deeper understanding of the Flood.

Don’t Miss the Boat draws out aspects of the Bible’s account of the Flood that will be sure to interest people no matter what they most enjoy. There is science, yes, but also theology, history, and the picture of Jesus’ salvation the ark so clearly gives us.

Having studied this topic for years, very little of Taylor’s points were new to me, but there is something extraordinary about this book that makes it worth having in any well stocked Creation library. Just before the wrap up bits of the book, Taylor plies his hand at some fiction writing.

I won’t go into detail, but will tell you the snapshot accounts included are NOT from Noah’s perspective. They are gut wrenching views of what would inspire God to wipe the slate clean. It isn’t stuff for kids, but neither does Taylor revel in sinful gore. By the time someone is well into their teens, they should be aware of the kinds of sins mentioned.

For me, I found the stories hit home in a way I’d never experienced. They are powerful, and likely to make us wonder why Jesus hasn’t returned to wipe sinful humanity out again already. Although, today there is a far larger remnant of people sold out to Jesus.

Paul Taylor doesn’t load his book with bibliography, but he does mention enough to give you places to go if you want to learn more. There were at least two books I hadn’t heard of that are now on my list to check out ASAP!

If you want to find out more about Paul Taylor’s work, you’ll enjoy checking out his articles on Answers in Genesis and catching up on two and a half seasons of co-hosting the Creation Today Show with Eric Hovind. I think you’ll find he’s a delightful, wise, and understanding British gentleman. I know he’s done a video series on the Six Days of Creation and from what the book says, there should be a video on the Flood to go along with his book soon.

Disclaimer: Thanks to all of you, Master Books gave me a free copy of Don’t Miss the Boat to review! They didn’t tell me what to say about it, though. Want to check out more reviews (generally much more gushy than mine)? Check out the link up page for us at New Leaf Press’ Blog

Rocks, Stones, and Dirt do What?

Memorial stone, Hartuv, Israel

I read this verse the other day and noticed something rather odd. Have a look:

And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God. Joshua 24:27

This isn’t the only place the Bible talks about minerals listening:

Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Deuteronomy 32:1

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. Isaiah 1:2

Now that’s some strange stuff! But pretty cool for geologists and astronomers.

c. 1150 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Turns out this is only the beginning of what the inanimate [unconscious] world does in the Bible. You might remember this first one from Palm Sunday:

And [Jesus] answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. Luke 19:40

And who can forget what happened when Abel was murdered:

Genesis 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

But there’s more!

For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. Habakkuk 2:11

If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain; Job 31:38

Well so far things have been rather distressing for the poor planet. Let’s see what it does when Jesus returns to set everything right again!

The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing. Psalm 65:13

Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: Psalm 96:12a

Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity. Psalm 98:8-9

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Isaiah 35:1-2

Butchart Gardens BC Canada

Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. Isaiah 52:9

For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Isaiah 55:12

Sure, we are the only part of God’s creation made in His image, but God cares about everything He makes. Even the misuse the ground goes through because of sin today will one day be corrected.

Am I likely to start talking to the gravel out back now? Probably not, but these ideas give a whole new dimension to this verse:

Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Romans 8:21

FREE Apologetics and Worldview Training for Kids!

(The instructions to sign up are under the extra big words)

I’ve been looking forward to posting this for quite a while now.

As soon as I’d polished my book manuscript enough to send out a submission, I needed something to keep me busy so I wouldn’t worry. Learning to get the word out to as many people as possible was the next obvious thing to do.

Right away I learned the most valuable thing an author can collect is the emails and/or snail mail addresses of interested people. Much as I like facebook and Twitter, apparently they are too fickle to be trusted. Plus, if you’re offline even one day, you miss a lot. Emails wait for you.

OK, how to get more than a few email followers when social media is so much easier? Giveaways.

I like giveaways. They are fun to get and even more fun to give out. What’s great about setting up a “give me your email and I’ll give you this freebie” is everyone wins. 🙂

But, what to give away? It took ages for me to realize (partly thanks to the great lady at Future Flying Saucers) we parents/youth workers need way more info to help teach our kids worldview and prepare them for apologetics. I was shocked at how little was available online. There are reams of info for adults, but much of it is harder to understand than a scientific journal!

Slogging through the adult stuff helped me realize some of the basic info they covered I’d already written up. It was just hanging around in my book manuscript waiting to get published. What could be better? I’d already done most of the work and could give you a book excerpt (another common freebie idea), too.

Now, how to automate my blog to make things easy for everybody? At first it looked like moving my whole blog was the only solution. That was, until a couple days later Jacob Howard of Already Answered contacted me. He just wanted to know how the baby and I were doing and could he help with anything online?

Thank you, God!

He loved the idea of a sign-up giveaway and within a couple days had set up his own (be sure to check it out) and offered to help me with mine. All I had to do was make time to prepare a PDF, collecting what resources I could find to give you the highest quality product possible.

Today it’s finally ready to check out and I pray God would use it to arm many families with the realities we face behind the world’s slick marketing.

If you already follow my blog directly, send me an email asking for a copy of the PDF and I’ll send it to you next time I check in.

Directions to sign up:

If you’re new, just click the “Follow this Blog by Email” button. You’ll get an email with the link to my Apologetics/Worldview 101 PDF in your inbox automatically. Except…

For WordPress users:

Click the “Follow this Blog by Email” button. Then, fill out the below form:

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Submit

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Once I receive confirmation of you following CS4K and see you have submitted your email, I’ll send you the PDF link.

My son, attend unto my wisdom, and bow thine ear to my understanding:
That thou mayest regard discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. Proverbs 5:1,2

Thank you!

Kids’ Book Review: Timothy: A Little Fish with a Big Purpose

Colorful illustrations and a gentle story of God working through little things make this book a delight for kids and parents.

This story was born when Pastor Brad Riley asked, “how did that fish end up with a coin in its mouth for Peter to fish out?” By showing us the fish’s viewpoint (Timothy in this case), he gives us an example of being “faithful in that which is least” and the backstory for a “coincidence” miracle children can understand.

I don’t want to give away the whole plot, but the thing I found most refreshing was how the story wasn’t driven by the main character doing something wrong. Instead, adventure finds him when he goes out of his way to follow his grandmother’s request to care for the local environment.

As with the best kids’ books, it isn’t the author who puts the story over the top, it’s the illustrator. The one Pastor Riley got is perfect. His style is cartoony enough it didn’t bother me at all to have Peter and Jesus portrayed. The watery environments are lovely and you can’t help liking Timothy.

My kids were so enchanted, they begged for the story again the next evening, which is a first for any book I’ve tried to share with them on the computer.

Pastor Riley and Gary Heiney, founder of Samuel’s House Orphanage

I didn’t get a paper copy of the book to review, but just a download. I’m not completely sure why, but my guess is this keeps overhead low so they can send more money where they really want it to go. Namely, 25% of the proceeds from Timothy the Fish go to help an orphanage in Venezuala. You can find out more about this on Brad Riley’s Amazon author page.

OK, I’ve been careful to start with the half of me that just loved the book. Now for the other half that’s had a bit of a tough time with it.

Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee. Matthew 17:27

The book messes with the verse! If you can’t stand watching Veggie Tales Bible stories or movies where Moses is raised by Pharoah’s wife instead of daughter, this book will drive you crazy. It’s not too hard to figure out why a kids’ story from the fish’s perspective didn’t want to put a hook in his mouth, though.

I ran into the book’s facebook page and was able to ask if the change was purposeful or not. I got an answer and my hunch was right, he didn’t want to traumatize the poor kids. As long as your children learn what Jesus really said from you, I don’t think the slight deviation is going to mess with them. 🙂

My other wish was to have had a hand in the editing before the book came out. You know how English teachers are always getting their feathers ruffled by bad grammar? This book has fine grammar and such, but it could have used a fair amount of word trimming and a few more explanations.

There was even one point I couldn’t suspend my disbelief. It doesn’t take more than a split second to feel terror that you’re about to die. Don’t tell me Timothy didn’t have time to feel frightened, tell me a strange peace filled him despite the danger!

In closing, when I opened the Amazon author page I was shocked to see such a young writer. The story feels like it is being told by a grandpa: warm, wise, and comforting.

Disclaimer: I received a free digital copy of this story in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

God, You’re too Harsh!

The parable of the talents, as depicted in a 1712 woodcut. The lazy servant searches for his buried talent, while the two other servants present their earnings to their master.

Jesus told this parable where He was the master and we the servants: Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate.’ Matthew 25:24 NLT

It wasn’t easy deciding whether this was a topic to cover on a blog “for kids”, but the more I run into arguments against worshipping and loving God, the more I realize our kids need to have answers, and soon.

What is it unbelieving people are telling us about God? “Atheists” like Richard Dawkins spend an awfully lot of time talking about how horrible the God of the Bible, the only real God, is. If they really believed God was invented by people, why work so hard to smear His character?

Eagerly they seek out the goriest accounts in the Bible seeking to prove God is too disgusting to deserve our worship. It seems the only kind of God they would consider worthy is a spineless softy who let everyone get away with murder (literally).

Interestingly, these people never touch the worst case of “genocide” in the history of the universe, Noah’s Flood. They don’t dare take that one seriously, or it would give us the opportunity to point to the mountains of evidence for the Flood having really happened.

So how can a God-fearing believer in Jesus respond to such a low blow? Let’s see how Jesus, the Master, responded to the fearful servant in the story:

Parable of the Talents

But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate,why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’ Matthew 25:26,27 NLT

Did he claim to be a kind and gentle master? Not at all. He accepted the accusation and turned it back on the servant. “You knew I was like this, so why didn’t you meet my expectations?” That’s not what we would have said! But it’s what Jesus claimed.

What’s more, here are the consequences for the servant’s bad attitude and fearful actions:

“Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25:30 NLT

Our God, the God who is, makes a terrifying enemy indeed! But there’s something else going on. Remember who the guy is? He is one of the master’s “servants”, but doesn’t have the master’s protection. He isn’t part of the family.

This tells us every person on earth, no matter what their attitude about God is, still is one of Jesus’ servants. He gives them “talents”- skills, opportunities, and character traits to help them accomplish God’s work on earth. They are expected to return a profit for Jesus’ kingdom no matter what.

Here’s the bottom line. God made everything, including all people. He gets to decide when a person is to die or live. If we ignore Him, thumbing our noses at His rules and mistreat His creation, God will eventually say, “enough is enough.”

tombstone shadows (Photo credit: Rick Payette)

That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Psalm 104:28,29

God isn’t “pro-life” the way we are called to be. He does love all of us, but there comes a point of no return:

 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side. They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.” Luke 19:42-44 NLT

God was, is, and will be terrifyingly mean to those who hate Him. But, He offers each and every one of us a way to find protection-  by hiding ourselves in Him through Jesus’ life and cleansing.

God Says Earth Spins like a…. Seal?

Are You Sure You Trust God’s Word?

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field

And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

This passage is one of the most mind-blowing of all the things God ever tells us. Every time we invent a better telescope, we find the universe is bigger and has more stuff in it than we could have dreamed!

Galaxies are so large that stars can be considered particles next to them (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many people have found what God tells us here too hard to accept. How could such a huge space be filled in just one day? Surely it had to take billions of years since we can see billions of light years into space!

There are answers to this problem, but at some point it all comes down to one thing: are you going to trust people and what your eyes can see, or God? Will you choose to believe what we can imagine is the limit of what is possible? Or will you admit God is way bigger, smarter, and more powerful than you can picture?

(Photo credit: alles-schlumpf)

This week, the Bible Science Guy started a series about a 12 year old who was able to stump one of our up-and-coming Creation apologists (no, he doesn’t say “sorry” all the time; he explains why believing in God the Creator makes sense). One of the things you’ll notice right away is how much faith the young man puts in his own ability to think and understand.

After we have decided God is smarter than we are, then we can start to see all kinds of reasons why what He says makes sense. My favorite post of all shows you where God told us the basic way He made such a huge universe in a tiny bit of time. I’m working on a post telling what we really know about stars forming today. But none of this will convince someone who won’t let God be smarter than they are.

Today’s Creationists aren’t the only ones who know the size and age of the universe is one of the most important places to trust God. God himself uses it to remind people He is smarter than people are:

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

(Photo credit: epSos.de)

And, kids, you are in a much better place than most grown ups on this. Most of you aren’t as full of yourself as the guy in the video; his father’s been carefully training him to be that proud since 2009!

So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 18:4

Parents, Churches, have a Listen to Young Atheists’ Journeys

Another creation page on facebook, Returning to Genesis, shared an article today that I found so powerful I decided to pass it on to all of you.

It’s great to know this message isn’t just coming from Answers in Genesis and other creationist groups, this is a wide spread reality. When we understand the stakes, it helps us stand strong for God and motivates us to prepare ourselves and our young people!

The Atlantic: Listening to Young Atheists: Lessons for a Stronger Christianity

To encourage you to check it out, here are the headers:

• They had attended church
• The mission and message of their churches was vague
• They felt their churches offered superficial answers to life’s difficult questions
• They expressed their respect for those ministers who took the Bible seriously
• Ages 14-17 were decisive
• The decision to embrace unbelief was often an emotional one
• The internet factored heavily into their conversion to atheism

And a quote so Pinterest can pick it up:

How Long Did Noah’s Flood Last?

Have you ever read a mystery story where some strange, little detail gets mentioned? By the end of the book you know it wasn’t just put in to fill up extra pages, somehow each bit mattered to the story.

The Bible is like that. Most of the time we long for more details and extra information about the people and events of long ago, but sometimes there are odd tiny facts thrown in. Sure enough, when you learn more about archaeology, science, and history, every one of them means something.

Some of the coolest of these details are in the early parts of Genesis.

OK, here’s a pre-quiz. The world-wide flood lasted:

• 6 days and 7 nights (like the ancient Assyrians believed)
• 40 days
• 1 year and 10 days

The only way you’re going to know the answer is to pull out your Bible and look for those details. Here’s the first one to find:

Genesis 7:11

What’s it tell you? On the ______ day of the _______ month all the “fountains of the great deep”  broke up and the windows (or sluice gates) of heaven were opened. The Flood was starting!

Now for the fun part:

Genesis 7:17-24

How many days did it take before the ark started floating around? __________

How many days did the Flood last before going down (verse 24)? _____________

Genesis 8:1-2

At what point did the rain and ground waters stop? ______________ days from the beginning of the Flood.

Genesis 8:3,4

OK, now we have to learn something a little odd: ancient people always measured months as being 30 days long, so 150 days equaled exactly 5 months. So this means Noah’s 7 months minus 2 months equals 150 days.

Noah knew the Flood had reached its highest point and started to go down because the ark landed on the mountain exactly 5 months after the whole thing started.

Those returning waters are some of the coolest parts of the whole account, be sure to find out why!

Genesis 8:5

How much longer did it take for any land to be visible from Noah’s outlook on the mountain? 17 days plus ______ days equal one month (8th month, first day). 8 months need ____ more months to get to the 10th month= ______ months and _______ days

Genesis 8:6-9

How many more days after seeing dry ground did Noah wait before sending out the raven? ______ days.

The Dove Returns to Noah, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot

Why was the raven not a good choice to look for dry ground? Ravens will eat anything and are especially fond of meat, even dead bodies. Doves only eat seeds, fruit, and plants.

Genesis 8:10-12

How many days after the dove came back empty did Noah wait to send out the dove? ____ days

What did she bring back with her this time? ____________________ So Noah knew the ground was dry enough for sprouts and that _________ seeds had survived the water.

A week later the dove didn’t come back at all. Why not? There must have been enough ______________ for her to survive without Noah’s help!

Genesis 8:13

What did Noah get for his birthday present? A look at _______ land. But he didn’t do anything but look. Why not? (there’s not a wrong answer to this, but you might look at the end of Genesis 7:16 for a clue) ______________________________________________

Genesis 8:14-19

Alright, now the Flood is finally over, at least enough for life to start getting back to normal! 601 years, 2 months, and 27 days minus 600 years, 2 months, and 17 days equals= ________ year ______ days. That’s a long time to be stuck in a boat, even if it’s an ocean liner.

Noah Descending from Ararat (1889 painting by Ivan Aivazovsky)

Do you think it was a bother for Noah’s family and all the animals to obey God’s command that time?

And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. II Peter 2:5 NLV

 

You can also check out the time chart another young lady did on the Flood HERE: Bible Answer Girl: How Long Was Noah on the Ark

It Looks like the Bible says, but it REALLY Means…..

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:1-5

The idea we’re looking at today is so simple, if you can read it, you can understand it, but so “subtil” many people who study the Bible for a living fall for it. So, what’s going on and why should we care?

The Bible is full of things which don’t match what we think it should say. If people were making up a religion, they would have never written what God gave us in His Word.

There is no end to the parts of the Bible which get explained away or twisted to man’s ideas using this logic (odds are good most of us have fallen for at least one of them). Since this is a Creation site, we’re going to look at what the Bible says about how and when God made everything:

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 20:11

Do you find this verse hard to understand? If God wanted to tell us He made everything in less than a normal week, could He have said it more clearly? But there are people who are blind to what God Himself said out loud to the people at Mt. Sinai.

They’ll tell you seriously, “I know it looks like the Bible says God made everything in six days, but what it really means is God took billions of years and did things in an orderly way. God is just telling us a spiritual truth here. There’s no science or history involved.” And they really believe it.

Why? Because two hundred years ago (long before radiometric dating) some scientists started to go back to the old, godless idea that the earth has always been here. They refused to allow God to be all powerful. They explained away all the signs of Noah’s Flood as “slow, everyday changes” and started talking about rocks being “millions of years” old.

At the same time, some men studying the Bible started pushing the idea of it being written long afterwards by men who weren’t there rather than how the Bible says. A lot of pastors and Bible men decided to believe them instead of God’s word.

They were getting pushed on two sides to be “as gods,” to decide for themselves when God wasn’t trustworthy. This is never an easy temptation to resist. We want to be thought of as wise, and we trust our own brains. So they came up with a lot of ways to stretch the Bible into saying God made everything long before recorded history began.

Since then, teachers have been training pastors and Christians these twisted ideas. Many of these teachers love God dearly and are wonderful men and women. It is very hard to reject ideas given to you by someone you respect and admire.

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. II Timothy 2:15 Amplified Bible

Learning how to accurately understand and use the Bible is a long, hard process. If our focus ever slips off of what God thinks of us to what others will, there are sure to be problems.

Recognizing slippery ideas like these can help protect our minds as we put ourselves under God’s authority.

But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! Galatians 1:8 Complete Jewish Bible

Is the Bible Reliable: Faithful witnesses

For Jr. High and up:

A small courtroom in the Supreme Court of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland.

One of the reasons some people refuse to admit the Bible is true is the “lack of evidence.” We don’t have physical objects to prove Jesus really rose from the dead or did any of the other miracles the Bible records, but does this mean the Bible has to be taken by blind faith?

If it does, than the judicial systems of the world take a lot of things by blind faith too.

The other day I ran into an article written by a retired Australian Chief Magistrate (judge) called Can we believe the Gospels? Hearing what a judge looks for in a witness or group of witnesses is exciting and teaches you a lot. The article is long, but laid out so well, I think you can handle reading it. Just try to learn the section headings and you’ll be able to remember his main points easily.

When you’re done, see how the Mark account I covered yesterday ties in. If you were inventing a “perfect” savior and making up stories to “prove” he was all that, would you have mentioned this sputtering miracle? Considering how few Christians through the years have known what to do with it, you would have to really want to believe Mark and Peter (the one who told the stories to Mark) had such a wild imagination.

visual cortex

It makes a lot more sense and unravels a big snarl if Jesus really is the Creator God who understood our brains and bodies! We have a faithful God and a rock solid foundation for our faith. The more we learn, the more we find Him true.

Jehovah, the LORD is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth; Exodus 34:6

 

The Opposite of Faith

Last night my husband started a series on the book of Romans starting out with an overview of the history and main focus of this letter by Paul. He took us to chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 which have been favorites of mine since I was a girl. Pondering them is a great place to start when preparing to share our faith with people God brings to us:

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

There’s so much you could focus on in this short section! I decided to look up the Old Testament passage Paul said He was quoting. Something leaped out at me this time, probably from the many interesting conversations I’ve been having on facebook over the past months. 😀

“Look at the proud: he is inwardly not upright;
but the righteous will attain life through faith. Habakkuk 2:4

As I was considering this verse, my husband asked the most amazing question, “what is the opposite of faith?”

Naturally, we think of these kinds of things: disbelief, distrust, doubt, misgiving, skepticism, suspicion

But is this what the verse says? One thing I’ve learned from reading the Psalms and Proverbs is how fond the Hebrew mind was of analogies. You know, the kind you use in the ACT. Like x is like y; c follows b; z is the opposite of k, that kind of thing.  You can often tell you’re dealing with an ‘opposites’ analogy by spotting the “but” in between the contrasting elements and Habakkuk uses “but” right in the middle of our verse!

Let’s see if considering the verse as an analogy makes sense. If the first part is being contrasted with the second, giving you an equation like this:

The crooked proud person is the opposite of the justified trusting person.

In everything I’ve personally experienced (for a taste you can check out the comments on THIS POST) and a lot I’ve heard from others, doubters aren’t a big problem. Actually, genuine seekers are a lot of fun! It’s people who know all the evidences for God and refuse to humble themselves and admit it who cause trouble.

Habakkuk is hardly alone pointing out this truth. Here are a few of many Scriptures to give you the idea:

[God] scorns the scornful,,
but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:34

The wicked, through the pride of his face, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. Psalm 10:4

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. Psalm 14:1

 

 

And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. Exodus 5:2

Lest I be full, and deny you, and say, Who is the LORD? Proverbs 30:9a

 

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walks in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; Isaiah 65:2

Because, although they know who God is, they do not glorify him as God or thank him. On the contrary, they have become futile in their thinking; and their undiscerning hearts have become darkened. Romans 1:21

May we never lose the ability to put our brains, emotions, and actions under God’s loving protection!

 

Sin is Like an Infection

God doesn’t tell us not to sin because He’s mean. God loves us and knows how miserable we are when we choose sin.

You probably already know what happens to friends when one lies about the other. So, God told us not to do it (Exodus 20:16). All of God’s rules are like that.

But God knows we can’t be good all the time. The very first people ever made, our first parents, disobeyed God and we’ve been sunk ever since. The Bible calls anything we do or think against God “sin.” It’s a tiny word for a terrible thing. Kind of like germs!

E. Coli

This is just how Isaiah (64:6) talks about us. He says we are like wash clothes left scrunched by the kitchen sink. You know what happens to them, they grow a swarm of bacteria! There’s no point washing dishes with them, it would be more disgusting than before.

The sin deep inside us is like that. Before we’re even born, it starts growing in us and messes up everything we do (Psalm 51:5). The more we try to be good, the more God wrinkles His nose because it’s so gross.

 

When a wash cloth gets like this, we put it in some disinfectant to kill the germs and take away the bad smell. But we can’t do that to ourselves to kill sin!

If nothing changed, we would be good for nothing but the trash pile. But God loves us too much. He knew there was one way to clean out the sin all the way through us.

• If there could a man born to Adam’s family who didn’t have any sin,
• who was powerful enough to suck all our sin into himself and zap it gone,
• he could make a cleanser for us.

But every child ever born was already dirty with their own sin infection! How did God do it?

You know the Christmas story: God sent part of Himself to be made into a man using only a young woman’s egg. The sin infection was passed on by fathers (Romans 5:12), so He never caught it. An angel told her what to call Him: Jesus. In Hebrew, His name means God is Savior, or Rescuer. God became our Brother!

When it was time, Jesus told His followers He had to die, but He would be alive again three days later. They couldn’t figure out how they could be rescued by their hero dying!

God’s rules tell us how it worked. He told Noah and his family (that’s all of us) not to eat blood because that’s where the life is (Genesis 9:4). He told Moses to always use a sacrifice with blood to cover sins (Hebrews 9:22).

Peter tells us we are bought back from sin with Jesus’ perfectly clean blood (I Peter 1:18). He also said Jesus pulled your sins and mine into Himself on the cross. When He did that, He killed the sin so we could be right with God (I Peter 2:24).   The infection is gone so we can be clean again.

There’s only one problem left. Imagine you bring a birthday present to someone’s party, but they’re mad at you and won’t take it. You did what you could, but the present isn’t theirs until they change their mind and open it.

John 1:10-12 tells us many people didn’t recognize Jesus. They wouldn’t believe Him. Only people who take Him can be the children of God. Jesus has done all the work already. All that’s left for each of us to do is believe Him and ask Him to wash us clean (Revelation 1:5).

Have you asked Jesus to wash away all your sin germs? All the work has been done, but Jesus won’t make you clean unless you want Him to.

But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. I John 1:7 NLT

excerpt from my book manuscript

Suffering and the Christian

I was going to just share this on facebook, but realized the topic is too important to let fall into the archives. You will be able to find this post whenever necessary under “Teens” (since working through issues like suffering are a big part of growing up).

Ivan Kramskoy- Unconsolable Grief

Over and over the issue of a good God vs. suffering comes up. Unbelievers throw pain and injustice in the teeth of Christ’s followers, expecting them to crumple under the weight of sheer misery. Sadly, many of us do.

I’m recommending this interview to arm yourself to keep upright through the thorny, shadowed walk of life.

Author Talks with Shaun Tabatt- Paul Grimmond, Suffering Well

It doesn’t take long for most of us to realize you don’t have to be in physical pain to suffer. Suffering comes in many forms large and small. Why does it happen to us? Does God know? How can I love someone who lets us hurt like this?

All these questions are legitimate and deserve answers. God gave answers and encouragement in the Bible for those who will listen.

One of the reasons this particular talk is worth listening to is Pastor Grimmond’s realization that we need to start asking, and answering, these questions before suffering takes over. If we pretend nothing bad will happen to us as long as we can, we will be knocked down for sure.

Here’s an analogy:

It wasn’t quite this backed up, so the cars were moving faster!

When my brother had just gotten his license, we drove to downtown Chicago on the freeway. It didn’t take long for bunches of cars to pass us by, including a pickup truck with a mattress set tied to the top. My brother said to me, “if a mattress like that ever falls off in front of me, I’m going to go straight over it rather than risk an accident trying to avoid it.”

Not a minute later we watched as the mattress flew off the truck and landed less than 100 ft [30m] in front of us. Sure enough, we went right over the top, felt a slight bump, and continued safely on our way.

Thinking thinks through

• when you aren’t stressed out
• when your body isn’t screaming at you
• when there is time to search for answers

is the smartest thing any of us can do.

Following Jesus means we don’t have to pretend bad things can’t happen to us. It means being able to stare down the worst life can throw at us and know we’ll make it because we’re not alone. Of course, it also makes us cling to our Savior like crazy, but isn’t that a good thing?

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Who created God?

A “guest post” by  Bodie Hodge as shared on Creation Conversations

I had the opportunity to speak to some students, where many in the audience were rather “hostile”

to the Bible and God. One student blurted out in a rather harsh tone:

“Where did God come from? Who created God?”

Normally, those who ask these questions do so in an attempt to disprove the existence of God or at the very least to make themselves feel like they have an excuse not to “believe in God”. I immediately responded to their question with a question and asked:

“On what page of Shakespeare’s book Hamlet could I find Shakespeare?”

The person responded by saying something like:

“Shakespeare’s not confined to his book, he created it and wasn’t bound to it.”

And this was indeed a brilliant answer. See, Shakespeare wrote the book and isn’t confined to it – he is not bound to it, he is beyond it. It came about by his creativity. He is not part of the book. So with this, I responded:

“In the same way, the God of the Bible is also not bound to His creation, He is beyond it, He created it, He is not limited to it. Let me explain. When you ask the question who created God or where did God come from, you are using the action verbs “created” and “come.” This implies that time is in existence for God to “show up” on the scene at some point after time had begun (to be created or to come about). This is not the God of the Bible, who created time and is not bound to it. So in the same way that Shakespeare, being confined to his book, was essentially an illogical question; so is limiting God to being confined to His creation as a creation within time.”

I remember seeing people sit up and take notice of this short answer. In fact, I doubt many of these kids ever heard anyone actually try to give a reasoned answer to that question. But let me re-explain this in more detail and add to it so you don’t miss it.

The key to the answer is the action verbs “come” and “created”. Using these actions verbs reveals an assumption on the part of the person asking the question. This question presupposes that time is infinite in the past, and that God is bound by time (i.e., a created “god”). However, time is finite; it has a beginning and even scientists recognize this, and those who have read the Bible have known this for quite some time.

God is beyond time; He did not come into existence at some point within time. Instead, He claims that, rather than having a beginning, He is the Beginning and the End (Revelation 22:13). In light of this, the question is an illogical one. God didn’t come from anywhere or anyone. God is the source of everything, and He created time. Time is not absolute; God is absolute. When someone asks “where God came from” or “who created Him”, they are assuming time is absolute and God isn’t—but this isn’t the God of the Bible.

Now apply this to God. God created time. Yet people ask, “who created God” and “where did God come from?” They are assuming that God is bound by time when asking a question like this. In other words, they believe that time was first and then God came onto the scene. From the Bible we learn that time had a beginning (Genesis 1)—that it was started by God, thus God is not bound by time.

The misconception lies with the view of time. Either time is infinite and God is bound by it (false view of God), or God created time and time is not infinite (Biblical view of God). The God of the Bible is the Creator of time, so so He is not bound by it.

When someone says that God is bound by time, they are saying that God is bound inside of what He created. This is a fallacy. And we would join in arguing against a created “god”. Recall that God created everything physical—including time—because there was a beginning (Genesis 1:1).

Bodie Hodge works with Answers in Genesis and keeps a very busy book writing schedule. Right now he doesn’t have a blog, but I asked him for permission to share this “thread comment” with you all. I’m looking forward to reading his upcoming book Tower of Babel which releases in March. 😀

I’ve done a similar post on Time and God you can also check out.

Creation Sunday, 2013

I don’t normally post on Sundays, but Akron Fossils and Science Center posted this on facebook and it’s too good to skip.

Since it’s Sunday, I’m just going to send you on to the blog post they recommend:

A Soldier for Jesus: Creation Sunday 2013 with links to some great FREE videos your church can use if they want. I’ve also signed up to follow the Creation Sundays blog the post mentions to stay informed myself.

If we all let our family, friends and churches know about this, things could really snowball. Let’s do it!

And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Jonah 1:9 

How many Great, Great, Grandparents do you have?

Generations (Photo credit: Mr. Jay Yohe)

Scientists have known for some time now (much to their astonishment) that all people everywhere can be traced back to just a handful of people. Although they would like to have people evolving away from apes several million years ago, the farthest they can push back a single common ancestor for all guys (Y chromosome) is 140,000 years!

BTW artifacts show modern people go much “earlier in time” than even a million years ago. We have fossilized footprints and signs of hunting that date to well over a million years. Do you think they are relying on a bunch of assumptions to get their dates? To keep their brains from frying between these two ideas, they say these first people were not “anatomically modern.” I think they’re just disguising some major problems!

The genetics that guys carry are remarkably similar across the world. As for ladies, we have… WAIT! let’s see if you can guess how many direct lines back to Eve:

And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. Genesis 7:7 

What do we have here?

• One dad passed on his genes to all three sons: check!

• How many wives that didn’t have to be sisters? Three! Researchers call them Halotype M, N, and R. I’d probably call them SW, HW and JW (can you guess why?) 😀

It’s funny how Evolutionists refuse to let the Bible be true. They badly want us to come from anywhere except near the mountains of Ararat. The Americas and Australia are out as a first region (everyone knows those people migrated not too long ago), while Eurasia is too close to the Bible, which leaves Africa as their only option. So, where do they put “mitochondrial eve”? Ethiopia, or some other favored spot in the north. That’s about as close to Ararat as you can get without admitting the truth.

OK, now we get to our title topic. The Bible says there were 10 generations from Adam to Noah during the 1,600 or so years before the Flood. Then it starts focusing in on Jacob’s family pretty quickly. Genesis 11 tells us that from Noah to Abraham was another 10 generations. At least for one man, we know exactly how many great grandfathers he had:

 

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Matthew 1:17

14×3=42 plus 20 back to Adam = 62 generations from the dawn of time to Jesus. That’s cool!

What about you and me? Well, we have to do a lot more guessing, but it’s not actually too hard. We can be pretty sure that the generations would have been about the same up to the time of Abraham and history tells us that was “early 2nd millennium BC” (amazingly, they are probably right on that!). That gives us about 3,800 years between his time and right now.

Figuring out how far apart an average parent is from their average child isn’t as easy as you might think. One thing you will notice looking at Jesus’ ancestry is that a bunch of his grandpas were really old when they had their son who joined them on that line. Even Evolutionists are realizing this is a bigger issue than they would have liked. It looks like a reasonable gap would be even bigger than the 20-25 years I’ve always heard!

So, lest try something easy, how ’bout 30 years per generation?

3,800 divided by 30 = 126 2/3 generations

That means the average person on earth today would have 146 or 147 great grandpas between them and Adam! Even with only 20 years per generation you get exactly 200 grandpas back to Noah.

Awesome!

Know therefore that the LORD your God, he is God, the faithful God, which keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; Deuteronomy 7:9 

(of course, this is just dad’s, dad’s, dad… there would be a lot more people listed if we include moms and dads, but the generation count is accurate)

For more see these great articles:

Creation Ministries International: Adam, Eve and Noah vs Modern Genetics

Institute for Creation Research: Human Mutation Clock Confirms Creation

s8nt.com: A Simple Experiment Which Should Refute Creationism? 

Creation Speakers: Eric Hovind

Eric Hovind and Paul Taylor

As you know, one of my favorite creation ministries to keep up with is Creation Today. I especially love how the their ministry’s show interviews all kinds of individuals who aren’t with the “big guns” about their particular focus in the Creation and Bible worldview.

I’ve been getting updates from the ministry since before I started blogging and spotted something interesting last Fall. Turns out, the two guys who head things up and host the show travel around to churches for meetings! I ran into a notice that Paul Taylor was going to be speaking at a church in eastern Florida a few weeks before our family was in the area and that sparked my thinking. How I would have loved to meet this gentlemanly, wise man in person!

When I checked the itinerary for more events, Mr. Taylor wasn’t going to be anywhere within reach, but Eric Hovind was speaking the Sunday we were in Florida just 1 and 1/2 hours away from our place! Remember, we drove the 1,000 plus miles [1600+km] to get there, what’s an extra bit a day later? I guessed he wouldn’t be that bad a substitute for Paul Taylor.

So, on Dec. 2nd, my kids, dad and I headed down to the church where he was speaking. We almost got lost (the landmark Google earth gave me was too tiny to notice) and arrived at the church with just 3 minutes to spare. I settled my youngest two in the nursery and slipped in the back to see what it would all be about.

The church wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t a mega church by any means. That evening there were probably about 250 people including lots of kids, Praise the Lord! They very wisely skipped all the preliminaries and after opening prayer let Eric have at it. What a fun time we had.

The man is funny. He has rather a Far Side sense of humor with some crude “flatulence killed the dinos” jokes, but nothing I was too horrified to hear as a mom. I was especially thrilled to be the one person in the audience who knew what we do with whale puke because I’d just read about it in National Geographic! That alone made my evening. 🙂

Hovind left plenty of time at the end for questions and I took lots of notes. It was nice to see that you can find answers to most of their questions on my blog already. At the end of the service, a church leader shared how Creation Today only asks churches to cover travel expenses and take up a love offering. So, if your church isn’t too far away, is big enough, or you can get enough people to work together- you can have your own creation seminar with one of the faces you already know from the internet. Awesome!

Of course, I very much wanted to say “hi” to a real, live creation science guy afterwards. There weren’t that many people hanging around since he’d been there in the morning as well, so I had just time to scan the books for sale while Hovind was busy. Right there was a single copy of a book I’d been particularly interested in that Answers in Genesis doesn’t carry: Dire Dragons.

I felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of some poor kid not getting it, but not enough to stop me snatching it up. Turns out, Hovind wasn’t sure I would want it since the book wasn’t shrink wrapped. Seems they’d had a pile that morning and almost sold out. I insisted that the book would have lost its plastic within the hour anyway, so why should I care? and the book was mine.

Then I handed him my blog card explaining who I was and why we came all the way from Michigan to hear him. Next, I asked if he could autograph the book for me. I was so excited because I’ve never asked to have something autographed before. While I started searching in my Bible cover for something suitable, another guy handed Hovind a silver marker. As you can see, that was just what the inside cover needed.

(I’ll tell you about the book itself tomorrow.)

Meeting someone else as passionate about God and His creation as I am was worth the extra drive. Hovind reminds me a lot of one of my brothers and was completely friendly and approachable. Although, he did give every kid he met a rubber band to shoot around, so maybe he’s a little too relaxed!

Since we got home (minus some rubber bands), I’ve noticed that my oldest son perks up his ears every time he hears Hovind’s voice. He now has an automatic connection with him and is excited about the things he learned and that we as Christians stand for.

There are dozens of people crisscrossing the USA and the world speaking to audiences about the truth of God’s Word as seen in nature. I’ve got as many as I’ve found listed on my Traveling Speakers page. Maybe it’s a good time for your church to find someone close by and have them in. Perhaps you could even sell them on the idea of having Eric Hovind come as a good, clean comedian!

Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD perked up his ears, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. Malachi 3:16

Me: “What did you think of going to see Eric Hovind?”

Oldest son: “I liked him. He’s funny.”

Oldest daughter: “I liked how he talked about how the dinosaurs died.”

“Then what the [Bible] has taught us is real”

It’s a busy day here, but I wanted to pass on what I just read from Creation Ministries International. last Spring, my kids and I read a similar, although less dramatic, account by another Wycliffe missionary in the Philippines. The village elder that had taken Joanne Shetler under his wing loved the genealogy of Jesus so much that he kept the list of names with him to show to everyone he met.

There is great power in the historical documentation all the way through the Bible, especially the names that show Jesus really IS our brother!

How the Binumarien people of New Guinea discovered Jesus is real

BTW this is a great story to read to your kids when you prepare to read the genealogical sections of the Bible. We may not know anything about many of those people today, but we know they lived and we will see many someday and hear their stories!

For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth. Psalm 33:4

Review: AiG’s Creation Museum: Part 1

It’s been two weeks since my mom, kids and I spent a lovely day at the Creation Museum.  The forced delay has been kind of nice because the things we still remember are the best!

All the main speakers with Answers in Genesis were out of town, so we didn’t get to say “hi.”  I can’t say I blame them; there were only a handful of visitors on the last Wednesday in November.

BTW, having museums, zoos and such almost to ourselves is one of the nicest perks of home schooling.  I’m completely spoiled about this; it is so pleasant getting the best seats at shows and strolling leisurely through the coolest exhibits. Plus, getting practically private waitstaff is addictive!

The first thing we did was visit the planetarium.  The show was very well done with 3D effects and a step by step expansion of size to keep your brain-fuses from getting fried within the first minute.  It was a little disappointing not to have the narrator mention how easily the Bible explains why we can see things “millions of light years away” in a very young universe. My guess is that Dr. Lisle and the rest decided it would take too long and they have other resources to address the issue.  Personally, I think it would have been worth the extra 30 seconds to mention “stretching the heavens” as God so carefully told us.

My favorite bits of the whole building were the hallway displays of fossils and other rocks.  It was awesome to be only inches from rocks that once floated in outer space.  Seeing real fossils in full scale was worth the visit all by itself!

The scale of things was one of the best parts of being there in person.  AiG is very generous in sharing their information and pictures free online, so there was very little that I learned by going to their location.  But, the size of things is difficult to show in a picture.

Some things were way bigger than you might think.  My 5 year old got scared in the dinosaur den (upstairs past the pizza plaza).  Since that experience he has decided all dinosaurs are no fun. I bet there would be a lot more kids glad we don’t run into living dragons too often if they all saw just how big and scary they could get!

A photo of one of the real fossils. An adult’s hand reaches from about the elbow to the foot

Other things were smaller than you would expect. You know that new Lucy display they were so excited about? It is very well done, very clear, very convincing.  But, it’s small.  The whole display is in a column about 4 feet [1.3m] deep. Lucy is puny. Archeopteryx is even smaller.  I “knew” he was dinky, but there is nothing like being next to his bones to help you realize a person could have easily picked him up one-handed.

Unlike most of the fossils on display, archeopteryx was a copy.  Unless a Creationist digs one up and donates it to the Museum, they don’t have the money or power to get ahold of a game-changer fossil like the “dinobird.”  God needs His people to get out in the field and find things on their own so they don’t get ignored or used against Him!

I would have had this review up a couple of hours ago, but my photos are missing! My dear husband says there’s a way to get the memory card to cough up deleted pictures, so I hope to get them back for tomorrow’s post.  *Please God, some of them were really good ones!* Anyway, I’ve got a lot more to share, but it will have to wait ’til tomorrow.

Part 2 HERE

Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. Malachi 3:16

Creation Links: New (to me) Sites plus- My Favorites: Blogroll

In the last week I’ve run into two more creation websites to add to my rolls.  It is amazing to see how many people are speaking out on this issue.  It is extra fun to check them out and share them with you!

Creation Engineering Concepts is run by J.D. Mitchell, an engineer out in Oregon.  Since he travels around giving a number of talks on different aspects of God’s design and creation, I’ve added him to my “Traveling Speakers” page. You want to see how we find fossils?  Check out his amazing photos of fossil hunting in the Green River Formation.  Some of those fish look like they were pressed between two books, scales and all!

This morning I got an e-mail offering a link swap (how exciting!).  This site is called God Did It dot org.  Now, there’s a great name (and it doesn’t start with “creation” like most of us do so you can spot it easily).

He’s got a salvation side and a creation side.  The creation side has some great stuff laid out with pictures that pull you right into the links.  He’s not afraid to talk about some of the skeptics favorite things like supposedly “bad” functions that prove random mindless development (for example: your eyes).  Cool design, plenty of information.  Awesome!

Now, I’ve been talking to one of the other WordPress bloggers who specializes in creation science.  On my Saturday links post, I haven’t been sending you to any of the regular bloggers because I don’t want the post to get too long (besides, you can just follow them for yourself).  So, here are the ones I follow and have added to my blog roll:

• They Speak (formerly Already Answered) is run by Jacob Howard.  He’s just a year or two ahead of you guys!
• Birds of the Bible For Kids along with her grownup blogs Lee’s Bird Watching Adventures Plus and Birds of the Bible.  If you like birds, you will be in heaven.
• Scripturosity has wonderful, meaty posts on things like jewels and the Ice Age in Job.  The posts don’t come that often, but when they do it’s worth the time to read them
• A Great God and Good Coffee. Eric Reinstedt blogs over at Blogger, but we’ll forgive him. A decent fraction of his posts talk about creation and you might just enjoy the rest as well.
• Seeing Creation always has wonderful pictures and thoughtful posts.  They’ve been blogging for a long time, so if you could use some spiritual refreshment, their archives might be just what you need.
• “Piltdown Superman” aka Cowboy Bob and The Question Evolution Project has been a big help over on facebook dealing with all the skeptics.  His latest posts have covered feathered dinosaurs and a lot of the illogical thinking of the naturalists.  Remember to cut him some slack on politeness because he was one of them just a couple years ago.  God is awesome!
• “Things I want my Grandchildren to Know” is a really fun blog by a brave lady living full-out for Jesus in California!  She has a section on creation that is quite good; personally, I like her category on Favorite stories of how God moves in other people’s lives best.  It’s all about Him!
• Grace with Salt does posts on creation so often I stopped passing them on ’cause it was getting overwhelming.  Looking at the most recent posts, creation seems to be the main theme for this traveling Christian Apologetics (explaining why we believe) speaker.
• The Bible-Science Guy seems to be on a Bill Nye kick.  That video of Nye’s said what we’re up against so clearly, it’s hard to blame him.
• God’s creation through my eyes is a photo blog with just a few words.  It is delightful to share God’s wonders with others who GET IT!

There are some more blogs run by other ministries and such on my blog roll page, but these (except Pastor Reinstedt’s) are just a click away to follow for WordPress folk.

Please let me know if you’ve run into any more blogs or websites that I’ve missed.  My goal is to have a link to every creation website worth visiting here.  Just scrolling through the names is a great encouragement!

Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. I Kings 19:18 

Science in the Bible: Magic Part 2

Continued from yesterday’s post:

Jesus said, “False messiahs and false prophets will come and do great miracles and wonders, trying to fool the people God has chosen, if that is possible. Now I have warned you about this before it happens.”  Matthew 24:24,25 Easy-to-read Version

Today it’s time to learn about “magicians” in the Bible.

The first and last mentions of magicians are really interesting (Genesis 41:8; Daniel 5:9-11), both tell about how magicians were expected to interpret dreams and couldn’t do it for real.

The strongest magicians in the Bible were those who mimicked Moses before Pharaoh.  They were able to:

• Turn rods into snakes (Exodus 7:11,12)
• Turn water into blood (Exodus 7:22)
• Brought frogs up on the land (Exodus 8:7)

That last one is highly questionable since God was doing the same thing all over the land.  How would you know whether it was the magicians or God?  After that, they had to give up.  Only God could produce lice, hail and all the other terrible plagues.

The other magicians in the Bible served the Babylonian king.  Their job seems to have been to tell the king what his dreams meant.  But, when God really did send a dream, these men were helpless to respond.

Next, we have the word “sorcerer.”  This word is used to describe the magicians, is also mentioned in the law and here:

[King Manasseh] caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.   II Chronicles 33:6 KJV

This is almost an exact quote from Moses’ command to never do these things in Deuteronomy 18:10.  King Manasseh’s willingness to kill his own children was directly tied to the rest.  What do they mean?

• Observed times: remember all those observatories the ancients made?  They believed that when the stars and planets were in special places it was very bad/good to do certain things.  It also can mean to watch for shapes in clouds or other nebulous things (crystal balls?)
• Enchantments: augury: to observe signs and omens.  Black cats, comets, and other stuff would be in this catagory
• Witchcraft: the Bible doesn’t really tell us what this means except that it is bad enough to earn you the death penalty under the law.  All dealings with unholy spirits would be included along with drug/poison use (Revelation 9:21)
• Dealing with a Familiar Spirit: we have one clear example of this with Saul and the woman of Endor (I Samuel 28:7-25).  This tells us that people would try to talk to the dead through such people.  The amazing thing is, when the dead Samuel actually showed up, she was shocked and realized what was going on right away.  This shows that whatever usually happened, real humans weren’t involved.
• Wizards: those who practice all of these things

All of these in themselves are a big pile of nonsense, but there is a power behind them.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Revelation 9:20 

The idols couldn’t walk, but there was something else there: demons.  Get yourself some good missionary stories and find out what’s going on here.  I highly recommend Otto Koning’s CD series where he came from a denomination that didn’t even believe in demons, but he learned better (and the power of Jesus over them in the 20th century).  My kids and I just finished reading Joanne Shetler’s story of translating the New Testament for the Balagao people of the Philippines, powerful and encouraging stuff.

Notice, these magical arts never helped anyone.  The best people could hope for was to be left alone so bad things wouldn’t happen.  Demons want you scared, weak, poor and eventually dead.  God is the one who loves you enough to help you in big and small things.

Parents, you aren’t doing your kids any favors pretending there isn’t a war going on in the unseen realm.  If you don’t prepare them, the Enemy will still do all he can to entice them.  Knowing that there is real power lined up against us, but our God is far stronger is the best protection we can have.  It’s how the Bible deals with these things!

“The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”  I John 4:4 EtrV

 

Science in the Bible: Magic Part 1

Someone asked what I thought about magic on facebook last week.  There was no way to fit a  response into 2 or 3 sentences, so I saved my answer for today.

The KJV Bible doesn’t even use the word “magic” or “magical.”  It does call certain people “magicians” in the Egyptian and Babylonian culture (more on them tomorrow).  But the Bible does have a lot to say about this type of thing.

Magic, n.: 1. the art of producing illusions as entertainment by the use of sleight of hand, deceptive devices, etc.; legerdemain; conjuring: to pull a rabbit out of a hat by magic.

2. the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that presumably assure human control of supernatural agencies or the forces of nature.

We’ll start with God’s power:

Can you tell me any place in the Bible where God Himself, or one of His servants did “sleight of hand” or “deceptive devices”?  The Scriptures tell us over and over that such things are completely opposed to God’s character.

In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; Titus 1:2

God doesn’t need to do anything fake to prove He’s powerful.  He IS powerful.

As for definition #2, I’ve heard of people who think saying “in Jesus’ name” works like a magic spell, but does it really?  If you say, “God, give me 200 ice cream cones right now, in Jesus’ name!”  Is there any hope that He will answer such a demand?  Not a chance.  God isn’t a genie in a lamp who has to give us three wishes.  There’s no way He’s going to bow to anyone and jump to obey.

There’s also the idea of using some sort of magical object to get power.  Although the church in the middle ages was obsessed with relics (bits of stone, bone, or wood) did they really help?  Does God listen better when you clutch a cross or pray in front of a saint’s tomb than He does otherwise?

There is one odd thing in the Old Testament that seems like magic: the Urim and Thumim.

And [Joshua] shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD:  Numbers 27:21

David used this unknown way of asking God questions several times.  You can see how this worked for yourself in I Samuel 23:6-12.  But all it seemed to do was say yes or no when God felt like answering.  When God was fed up with King Saul, He refused to answer with this system (I Samuel 28:6).

But this was so rare you probably never heard about it in Sunday School.  But what do we learn about God doing?  Miracles, wonders, and signs.

Yesterday, I read II Kings chapter 4.  This one chapter includes a lot of the types of miracles God does:

Wedding at Cana (top), Resurrecting the son of the Widow of Nain (bottom)

• stretched existing food to meet the need (both the oil jug and the barley bread)
• gave a woman a baby when it was naturally impossible
• raised the dead (be sure to notice it was not any special action that made God decide to bring the boy back, it was Elisha’s passionate begging)
• removed poison so people weren’t harmed

Other ways God showed His power:

• Told people what cannot be known naturally (who Saul would be and where his dad’s donkeys were I Samuel 9:15,20; plus hundreds (thousands?) of future predictions throughout the Bible)
• Hide/protected people from their enemies (Judges 7:10-15; I Samuel 26:11; II Kings 12:14-19; Acts 12:7-9)
• Gave fire from the sky to establish God’s reality and approval (Leviticus 9:24; I Chronicles 21:26; II Chronicles 7:1; I Kings 18:38)
• Sent plagues to punish and show His power over God’s enemies (Exodus chapters 5-12; Numbers 12:10, 16:49; I Samuel 6:19; Isaiah 37:36; Acts 5:5,10)
• Made water do unnatural things (split: Exodus 14, Joshua 3:16, II Kings 2:8; hold people up while not frozen: Matthew 14:29)
• Healed diseases (Numbers 12:14-16; II Kings 5:13,14; II Kings 20:7; all thru the Gospels and Acts)
• Burnt up people who were disobedient, rebellious, or servants of the wicked (Leviticus 10:2; Numbers 16:35, 26:10; II Kings 1:10,12 [note that the 3rd captain humbled himself and was spared])
• Protected His own people from being burnt/eaten (Daniel 3, 6)
• Rained “stones from heaven” Joshua 10:11.  This isn’t the word for hail, it’s the word for rocks.  God seems to have sent meteorites to help Joshua’s army.  But that was small compared to…
• Made the earth stop spinning or go backwards a little (Joshua 10:12-14; Isaiah 38:8)

Oh, boy, I’m getting long.  Do you see a pattern here?  God cares about people’s needs and can supernaturally meet them, but He uses real things.  He knows the future as well as He knows the past.  He occasionally does dramatic things to prove He really is powerful, usually at the beginning of some new era.

He never does pointless, useless things just to make people’s jaws drop.

God is not under any person’s control, but He does listen when we beg Him for help.

Fear not, neither be afraid: didn’t I tell you back then, and announce it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yes, there is no other god; I don’t know of any. Isaiah 44:8