Creation and Politics

TNG Radio, where today's culture and timeless truths come together. It's reasoned relevant content apologetics, worldview, and answers to the questions that you need to know. From Alex McFarland Ministries, this is Truth for a New Generation Radio.

And now, the man who preached in 50 states in 50 days, speaker, writer, and advocate for Christian apologetics, Dr. Alex McFarland. Colossians chapter 1 has so much to say about Jesus Christ, the preeminence of Jesus Christ, and the fact that He is not only the Son of God and the second member of the Trinity, but He is the Creator. And it says this in Colossians. It says that all things were created through Him and for Him, verse 16. He is before all things, and in Him all things consist or hang together. And Jesus is not only the Creator, the pre-eminent, the God of creation, but the Savior and the head of the church.

Verse 18 of Colossians 1 says, He, Jesus is head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things Jesus might have the preeminence. Well, welcome to TNG Radio. Hi, Alex McFarland here. So glad you're with us. We're continuing a series we're doing on apologetics and defending the faith, and we're going to talk about that. But I want to thank you for listening and thank you for your prayers and support for all the things that the Lord is calling us to do and using us to do to evangelize the lost and equip the saved. But you know what? It's interesting. People get creation wrong, and invariably they get God wrong.

If they're wrong about creation, if they think we evolved, or the universe is eternal, or that somehow just accidentally all of this incredibly finely tuned universe just brought itself into being somehow. I was on the road this week. I was actually in Colorado working on a curriculum for a ministry out there. And I picked up the newspaper, as I do.

I was at the airport. And there was an article about interfaith discussions. This article, In Good Faith, Conversation at the Crossroads. So they posed questions to several Christian leaders, and I saw my friend Jim Daly, the leader of Focus on the Family, and he's always got a good word to say. But they asked four faith leaders. Now listen to this question. Is there anything that is not God?

If so, can you tell me what that is? Now Jim Daly, props to Jim Daly, he says from the Christian perspective, God alone is God and everything else is not God. Pantheist, that means a belief that everything is God. Animists, that means that God is in physical objects like trees. Jim Daly says, pantheist and animist insist that everything is God in one way or another, but this is not biblical. As theologian Rudolf Otto once expressed it, God is, quote, holy other.

W-H-O-L-L-Y. God is holy other, distinct from the universe he created. So there's creation and the creator. But it's amazing here what the other clergy said to this question. Here is the leader of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs and it's a female minister of the Unitarian Church and she says this, quote, I don't believe there is anything in nature that is not God, meaning that we are all one in nature and we are therefore all God, she says.

We are all made of stardust, okay this sounds like a David Bowie song, but anyway, we are all made of stardust, the same elements that are the cause for our existence also comprise the moon and the stars and the other planets. There are many things that are not Godly and we have created a lot that is not divine. And here's what she says, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, destruction of our planet for corporate greed. These elements don't exist in nature and therefore aren't Godly. It appears the rest of creation continues to evolve while humanity is devolving. If we ignore our natural condition and continue to strive for power over, soon there won't be much God-like in humankind at all. Okay, there's so much we could say and I don't want to get us off track here, but I think about some of these political labels that flow out of her theology that it's basically pan-theism that we all are God and to disagree with that means that you're racist, misogynist, xenophobic means you're afraid of those that are different from a different country, homophobic, transphobic. If you disagree with homosexuality, so many today don't acknowledge that you might have a moral and theological and scriptural reason for doing that.

It's not that anybody's afraid or phobic or hateful, it's just that we believe there are some things right and some things wrong. And here is a fallacy called reductionism. Now reductionism, think of the word reduce to say that something is quote nothing but this or that. The destruction of the planet for corporate greed. So in other words, if you're engaging in commerce, if you're a capitalist, if you're working and either building a business or working for a business, for one thing, there's this fallacy that it is quote nothing but corporate greed. That doesn't necessarily follow at all. And the other thing is if you're engaging in free enterprise, you are necessarily destroying the planet. That doesn't follow necessarily at all either. It's interesting, the prime destructors of the planet are the socialist slash communist regimes that so many on the left want America to emulate.

China is the number one polluter of the planet right now. But at any rate, it takes courage and honesty and humility to acknowledge God and to amend one's life in light of God's revelation. When we come back on TNG Radio, we're going to talk a little more about Colossians and then more about our apologetics rising to the challenge of 1 Peter 3.15, being ready to give an answer and defending our faith. Stay tuned.

TNG Radio is back after this. From I am a Watchman Ministries, here's today's I am a Watchman Minute. Do you study the Word of God? It's a discipline God appreciates and expects to see in his people. In the book of Acts, believers in the early church were commended because they studied the scriptures daily. When you hunger for God's Word, you will find wisdom, insight, and blessing. In fact, a hunger for the Word is an evidence of true faith in Christ. The I am a Watchman Ministry exists to inspire, encourage, and equip believers. The I am a Watchman Ministry offers free resources designed to help you learn who Jesus is, what he has done, and what he is about to do.

There are articles, ebooks, teaching kits, videos, and more. Don't be content with the basic knowledge of God and spiritual things. Dig deep, for that's where the treasure is.

Be bold. Be faithful. Be a Watchman.

I am a Watchman dot com. You know, Alex has been writing for many years, and one of his classic books is still great today as a basic introduction to the Christian faith. It's called Stand, Core Truths You Must Know for an Unshakeable Faith. This book will help you help your teens get off the roller coaster of doubt and onto solid ground. You'll read about the six pillars of biblical Christianity.

They are, one, inspiration of the Bible, two, the virgin birth, three, the deity of Christ, four, atonement, five, Christ's resurrection, and six, Christ's return. You know, Alex mixes it up with humor and stories he gleaned from decades of working with youth, and encourages teens to build a foundation of faith that will stabilize their lives and help them take a stand for Christ. Simple and straightforward, Stand, Core Truths You Must Know for an Unshakeable Faith, available wherever Christian books are sold. When we're told to do something, we like to ask, why?

We don't follow traditions merely for the sake of tradition. We seek a biblical worldview and search for reasons behind answers. For the Christian who wants to dig deeper, there's engagemagazine.net, packed with relevant articles from movie reviews and life tips to culture and the believer's spiritual life. Share truth, apply scripture, engagemagazine.net. You don't need to have a Bible degree from Liberty University to love, serve, pray, worship, or obey God, but it can make life more vibrant when you do. When you're ready for a religious studies degree, you'll find more than 60 ministry degree options from a bachelor's to a doctor of ministry, and you'll pay one low block rate for divinity courses at Liberty University, where we train champions for Christ. Go to liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more.

That's liberty.edu backslash explore to learn more. For apologetics resources, books by Alex McFarland, and to find out where Alex is speaking, visit alexmcfarland.com. Genesis 1-1 begins with these famous 10 words, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Hey, welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here. So honored that you're listening. Thanks for listening to TNG Radio.

And we're going to continue talking about apologetics, because as I said, you know, what you believe about creation definitely is tied to what you believe about the Creator, God. And I dialogue nowadays with a lot of people that they've had it hard. They've never had a good family situation.

Financially, it's tough. A lot of young people, there's a reason that they get into vaping and cannabis and intoxicants and alcohol. There's a reason that many young people lose themselves in fantasy games.

And some engage in promiscuity and sex. It's the craving for what scholars call transcendence, something beyond ourselves, something bigger than ourselves. We always want to feel like we're part of something with some permanence, because we look around and we realize life doesn't have a lot of permanence. You know, one of the great things about the Christian worldview, people often ask me, you know, why do you believe this? And, you know, Alex, we heard you say on the radio that you believe the Bible is the Word of God, and why are you so enthused about these things? Well, you know, I've got to tell you some of the blessings of being a Christian. You know, Psalm 103 says, do not forget all of his benefits or blessings. It's a blessing to know that your sins are forgiven. It's a blessing to know that you have a home in heaven. It's a blessing to know the Holy Spirit indwells you. It's a blessing to know that God hears your prayers. It's a blessing to know that you will be reunited with loved ones who went on, and they were believers, and you'll see them again.

That's a great blessing. It is a blessing to have purpose in life. And listen, whoever you are, my dear friend, you have a purpose. There is a reason God put you here. It's a blessing to be alive. I think it's a great blessing to still be in the land of the living. Life is hard sometimes. There's struggles. We all have things that are stressful, and things we have to work through with God's help. But, you know, bottom of the page, being alive is a net positive. Could we agree on that? It's good to be alive.

Life is a real gift. But I want to tell you one of the reasons that I am so excited about the biblical worldview, the Christian worldview, and that we do rejoice in life, and we are grateful to God, and we do want the whole world to know the love of Jesus. I'll tell you one of the things that excites me most about Christianity is, I don't know any simpler way to say it, but to know what's going on. I mean, people say, my goodness, what terrorist nations have access to nuclear weapons? And oh my goodness, what about this coronavirus and a worldwide epidemic? And what about the rise of communism and dictators? And what about the immorality and the breakdown of the family, the mainstreaming of homosexuality, and just so many things going on? And what in the world does the future hold? Well, the Bible says that we can know, and this is so exciting, certain knowledge is possible about our past, our present, and our future. One of the reasons that I am utterly committed to Christianity and very enthused about it is, frankly, I think it's a blessing just to know what's going on in history.

Okay, past. God created. Man fell. That's Genesis 3. But God had a plan for salvation. Genesis 12, he called Abraham.

He said, I'm going to make you a great nation. I'll send my son to be the Savior. Now, throughout the Old Testament, Israel would fall away from God. See, Satan was trying to derail God's plan of salvation, and the chosen nation through whom God had promised to send the Messiah, Satan did his utmost to try to stamp them out, but it never worked because God is not going to be put in checkmate. And ultimately, finally, Jesus is born.

C.S. Lewis said it very poetically, that God had a plan and Satan had fought that plan, and all of history comes down to this moment in the New Testament where we see a Jewish girl at her prayers. And the angel appears to Mary and says, Hail Mary, highly favored one.

The one born in you will be Immanuel, God with us. So Jesus was born and Jesus died and rose again. He ascended to heaven. Pentecost happened. The Spirit of God was given. The church was born. Peter preached and the disciples grew and they spread and fanned out across the globe. Two thousand years later, we are deep into this thing called the church age. The Bible says near the end of time, Israel will be regathered and will become a nation again.

That happened 72 years ago. And it says that evil men will wax worse and worse. The Bible says that one day, one day the planet will be so technologically advanced that people will know your every move. Everything you buy and sell will be known about. And the Bible even seems to predict that we will have these digital footprints almost that would enable governments and malicious people to track where we go and what we do and what we purchase.

And friends, we're there. Now, there's going to be a tribulation period of literal hell on earth. I believe the church will be caught away and taken out and ultimately the armies of a fallen world will coalesce and will gather at a place called the Valley of Megiddo to try and fight and finally kill off God. And Jesus will return victorious. There will be a thousand years of peace on earth after which time eternity proper will be ushered in. So here's the deal. For a Christian, is life always problem-free and without any stress?

No. Christians have their troubles too. Christians can get cancer. Christians can be unemployed.

Christians can have the same struggles as anybody else. But one of the reasons, like I say, that I'm so excited and have peace in my heart, all of the blessings of being saved, but it is such a joy just to know what in the world is going on. The Bible says that before Christ returns there will be a time of apostasy and falling away from truth, although people do know truth. Now, how does God's creation reveal truth? When we come back, we've got a brief break, but we're going to look a little bit at Psalm 19, and we're going to talk about how we know truth, how we indeed are accountable for truth, but how we can live, proclaim, and even defend truth. Stay tuned, TNG Radio, Truth for a New Generation with Alex McFarland.

We're back after this. Christians don't necessarily agree with one another when it comes to questions of religious pluralism, homosexuality, the role of government, abortion, and war. Too often we manage these disagreements by ignoring them. Yet, we're called to engage the world for the sake of Christ.

How can we be effective if we avoid society's most pressing questions? In 10 Issues That Divide Christians, Alex McFarland challenges us to drill down to the biblical core of 10 current issues, such as social justice, evil and suffering, pornography, and environmentalism as he echoes the biblical invitation, Come, Let Us Reason Together. Only by engaging the scriptures deeply, thinking clearly, and speaking truthfully, can we and God's family address our differences and discover the peace that comes with unity of purpose. 10 Issues That Divide Christians.

Find this book and many others at AlexMcFarland.com. If you're a Christian parent, you of course want to instill a biblical view of life in the hearts of your children. If you're a pastor, you want to offer ministry that draws young families to your church. This is Alex McFarland encouraging you to check out my new book and video curriculum, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. Why do bad things happen? I interviewed hundreds of children, ages 5 to 12, and we address actual questions from actual children, the spiritual issues that are on the minds of your kids.

Did Jesus ever sin? The book and video lessons are great for groups of any size and was produced with the goal of equipping kids to stand strong for Christ in any situation. The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, the book, study guide, and video series. You'll find it at AFASTORE.net.

That's AFASTORE.net. Welcome back to the program. We're going to look at Psalm 19 in a minute, but I do want to remind you, coming up is our summer apologetics camp. We do this every year. The theme is unashamed, and it's going to be July 20 through 24. We're going to be in western North Carolina. All the great camp stuff, zip lines and rope course and all that kind of stuff.

Now, this is for middle school through high school. We're going to be talking about how do you know Christ? How do you know that you're saved?

How do you stand strong? And yeah, we're going to talk about things like defending that God exists and that the Bible is true. And we're going to talk about America, America's godly foundations. Last year we had 86 decisions for Christ.

We had kids from seven states. It's going to be amazing. I want to challenge you. Invest a week that will count for eternity. The unashamed TNG summer camp is coming up July 20 through 24. You can get complete information at our website, which is alexmcfarland.com. The time to register is now.

Space is limited. And I just want to say this. Of all the kids that come to our apologetics camp every summer, they always say, this is the most fun I've ever had.

I will never forget this. I've got a good strong handle on my faith. Very often we'll hear from young people. And they go to our camp and not only do they get a fire for Jesus, but they'll write me by a month or so into school, because we do it right before school goes back. And they'll say, hey, I've led some of my friends to Christ.

I've started a Bible study with my buddies at school. So it's worth it, folks. And it is so needful.

It is so needful. I shared this statistic the other day that every year of Sunday school spiritual training, youth get about 153 hours of church a year. But how much screen time, internet, videos, mobile devices? 2,800 hours a year. So I mean, think about that. So it's worth it.

TNG camp is coming up in July, and we would love to see your family, your youth group, your youth there. And again, the website alexmcfarland.com. Well in Psalm 19, it talks about God's creation revealing absolute truth. Psalm 19 two through seven explains this. The heavens declare the glory of God. The firmament proclaims the work of his hands. Now the firmament is outer space. It's the atmosphere above earth and out there, the stars and the planets. And the Bible talks in the book of Genesis about the firmament separates the waters from the waters.

What does that mean? Well, there are waters on earth, the ocean, the water table. But then there are the waters in the heavens, and there's precipitation that falls.

Before the flood of Genesis, there was a vapor canopy up in the space, and much of the water of the flood came from that. But the firmament, you look at this space, and it does proclaim the work of God's hands. You look at the creation, and you invariably think of a creator. In fact, Immanuel Kant very famously said, two things fill the mind with ever-increasing awe and wonder, the story heavens above me and the moral law within me.

We could do a week of shows just on that. Besides the Bible, which is valid, besides Jesus, who is risen, just think about the creation and morality. You look at the firmament, like Psalm 19 says, the firmament does proclaim the work of his hands. You think about our conscience. Do you know evolution has no answer for conscience?

Why do we feel bad when we do wrong? But Psalm 19 says, day unto day pours forth speech. Night unto night whispers knowledge.

There is no speech, no words where their voice is not heard. A report goes out through all the earth. They're messages to the ends of the world. He has pitched a tent in them for the sun. Okay, in the firmament, God has put the planets and the sun. Did you happen to see the photo just this past week? They've taken the most detailed photo ever of the surface of the sun, and they said it looked like caramel popcorn, and it really did.

Some of you are smiling because you saw that in the news. That's right, and they're talking about this unimaginably hot, burning star that we feel the heat from. And just think about the seasons. Winter, we just are a few degrees more distant from the sun, and the world becomes dangerously cold. And in summer, the shape of the ellipses, the orbit, brings us a little tiny bit closer, and we get really hot. It's amazing, the sun, this incredible ball of energy and gas and heat and light, that without it, life on our planet would not be possible. And it comes forth like a bridegroom from his canopy and joyfully runs its course like a hero from one end of the heavens. It comes forth and runs its course from one end to the other. Nothing escapes its heat.

See, this creation points to the Creator. By the way, do you know much has been made about the fine-tuning of the universe? And even scientists talk about what's called the Goldilocks zone. What is the Goldilocks zone? Well, you know, Goldilocks and the three bears. And this bed is just right, and this porridge is just right. Goldilocks thrived with those things that, for her taste, were just right.

At least she did till the bears came home. Now here's the point. When scientists talk about the Goldilocks zone, they're talking about planets that could sustain human life. And they theorize there might be many, but they say, well, we've not found them yet, and we've not found life anywhere else. But why is it that human life is here on earth? Well, it's because God created it that way.

But what an amazing thing. And we also have what's called the teleological argument, the design argument, that this universe seems uniquely designed for life. There is a purpose. And, you know, the Darwinian evolutionary model that there was no God, we just evolved out of nothingness. It takes so many leaps of logic and just leaps of faith. Something came from nothing.

Something turned into something else. Chaos was the mother of order. Inanimate matter was the basis for consciousness and thought. And a random lawless universe birthed order, law, and structure.

It's just impossible. And so the design of the universe points to a designer. Defending the faith is predicated on you having the faith. Do you know about God or do you have a relationship with God? It's one thing to know about God. It's another thing to personally know God. And I hope that you do know God.

He's as close by as a prayer. And if you've never called on Jesus for salvation, do that today. Keep us in prayer as we evangelize the lost and equip the saved. And thank you for listening. We hope you'll join in again next time with more of TNG Radio. Thank you. While you're there, listen to Program Archives, read Alex's blog, invite Alex to speak at your event, or contact Alex with a question or comment. AlexMcFarland.com. Thanks for listening today and join us again next time as we bring you more truth for a new generation on TNG Radio.