An article in the May 12, 2006, edition of the "Wall Street Journal" reviews a couple of television programs dealing with reproductive technology that show how this technology is presently being used. Prospective parents are coming to the United States to choose sperm and eggs according to the donor's appearance, intelligence, ability in sports, music or other areas of interest. Many are coming from nations that do not allow the level of eugenics offered in the "land of the free." Others who cannot travel to America are turning in orders over the internet. The most popular choice is for blond, blue-eyed white children. Surrogates often have the children for them. One surrogate said of the babies she bears for income stated, "It may sound heartless, but I don't get attached." At some point, God will again look upon mankind as He did at the Tower of Babel and say, "and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (Genesis 11:6). At the Tower of Babel, He confounded their languages. We may wonder what He will do to end this renewal of a eugenics program that would have been envied by Adolf Hitler and his compatriots.
We so often associate prayer with kneeling that we may fail to notice the various positions of prayer in the Bible. In fact, standing was often the assumed position of prayer in scripture. Genesis 19:27 "And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD." We know what Abraham was doing when he stood before the Lord. He was praying. The New Testament also supports the stand up and pray attitude. Mark 11:25 "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." The phrase, "when ye stand praying," shows that to be a common position of the body for prayer during this time. Yes, they also kneeled. This is seen in numerous passages: Luke 22:41; Acts 9:40; 20:36. But standing was a common and accepted way to pray. We should not hesitate to stand up and pray today.
According to a notice received from the Christian Law Association today, the latest attack in America on Christianity is against using the name of Jesus when praying in public. "In the past two months, two states have banned private citizens from praying in Jesus' name in the state legislatures, and other government units are sure to follow. Unbelievably, prayers to other gods, such as to 'Allah,' have not been challenged!"
In 1639, a Baptist preacher in London wrote a book entitled, "The Sufficiency of the Spirit's Teaching without Humane Learning; or, a Treatise Tending to prove Human Learning to be No Help to the Spiritual Understanding of the Word of God" (listed in W. T. Whitley's "A Baptist Bibliography"). Baptists have always had an uncomfortable relationship with the academic world. They have often been accused of being ignorant and some Baptists have been known to glory in their ignorance. Yet, every time Baptists begin to exalt education and learning, they tend to stray away from God. There must be a balance, even though it is an uneasy one at times. Our learning must always proceed from the Bible and be firmly grounded in God's word. Then, we must accept that Bible-believers will always be looked upon as "unlearned and ignorant men" (Acts 4:13). But we must also remember that God looks on the world as "ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2Timothy 3:7). May we always exalt the knowledge of God and holy things as the ultimate goal of all our learning and seek the wisdom of God instead of the wisdom of this world.
Sadly, many of the reported converts to Christianity on the African continent are being led astray by a false spirit. The television airwaves in the country of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where most people still believe in black magic, are being dominated by charismatic preachers performing exorcisms as a great spectacle of power. The "Telegraph" reports: "The young Congolese woman lay screaming on the dusty ground, arms thrashing wildly as a white-gowned preacher gripped her head and prayed. As she fainted, thousands of spectators in Kinshasa's Tata Raphael stadium roared with excitement - yet another public exorcism was reaching its climax."
Today's Wall Street Journal has an editorial on how the IRS is reviewing the content of sermons to see if it deems any of them to be political in nature. Under the ungodly and probably unconstitutional 1954 Revenue Act, churches risk losing their tax exemptions if they "participate in, or intervene is... any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for political office." For years this was interpreted very conservatively and very few problems arose. But now, at the instigation of groups like Americans United for the Separation of church and State (an anti-god and anti-Christian organization), the IRS is stepping into the churches.
Mathematics can be quite complex, yet one of the most basic divisions of mathematics is called arithmetic. You may better grasp what I am talking about when I say that the most basic operations of arithmetic are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. A grasp of these basic operations is a necessity for anyone who desires to grasp any of the more complex divisions of mathematics. Interestingly enough, the same things hold true for the Christian life. It can be quite complex, but at the same time we could break it down to the simplicity of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
