In Defense of the Christian Faith

Here are the DCF blog's top 10 posts of all time (from May 2010 - January 2011) in order of most popular to least popular. Beside each, I have provided a description of the contents. I am aware that a few of these were mentioned in my last post, but those were my favorites; these are YOUR favorites... Enjoy! ----------- 1) Inspiring Story: Dr. Kent Hovind - This is an essay on the Godly character of young-earth-creationist Dr.Kent Hovind. I'm not surprised at all that this made it to the top, since this post generated a lot of comments and traffic (845 searches for "Kent Hovind update," and 44 searches for "Kent Hovind Update 2010"; 914 total pageviews)! I'm grateful to each person who took the time to write a comment in support of Dr. Hovind. 2) Did Pontius Pilate actually exist? - In this post, learn about a remarkable archeaological find that proves that Pontius Pilate exists, lending support to even the small details in the Bible. 3)  Kent H...

Welcome to another session of Inspiring Story! If you would like to share a story, you can link up at the bottom of this post. Today, I'd like to share one of my favorite stories with y'all. For a long time, I've been a great admirer of Travel the Road ministries. This is a missionary-based ministry; Tim Scott and Will Decker put their missionary trips into documentaries so the rest of us can see what God is doing around the world! On one of their trips, they trekked through the snow-covered mountains of Siberia. As night approached, they were looking for a place to escape the bitter cold when they came upon a tent. The owners were not around, so they decided to go inside the tent to warm themselves. Sometime later, a father and his son returned to their tent and found some unexpected guests whom they warmly (no pun intended) welcomed! The father later told Tim and Will that he and his son were having a discussion in which he told his son, "If Jesus is real, He will ...

I almost forgot... It's time for another Inspiring Story * . This one comes from Mini Missions Magazine . Enjoy! ----------- During the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya in 1960, missionaries Matt and Lora Higgens were returning one night to Nairobi through the heart of Mau Mau territory, where Kenyans and missionaries alike had been killed and dismembered. Seventeen miles outside of Nairobi their Land Rover stopped. Higgens tried to repair the car in the dark, but could not restart it. They spent the night in the car, but claimed Psalm 4:8: "I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." In the morning they were able to repair the car. A few weeks later the Higgenses returned to America on furlough. They reported that the night before they left Nairobi, a local pastor had visited them. He told how a member of the Mau Mau had confessed that he and three others had crept up to the car to kill the Higgenses, but when they saw the sixteen m...

The following is an excerpt from Rhema's The Word of Faith magazine. Mike Keyes is a 1980 graduate of Rhema and he has a ministry based in the Philippines. His testimony is amazing; I found how he got started in his ministry to be fascinating -- you can read it here . His ministry's Scripture is Mark 16:15-18: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel..." Today, I'd like to share this portion of his story for Inspiring Story. ------------- For two-and-a-half years Mike worked for [another] ministry teaching in the Bible school, holding crusades, and traveling throughout the islands ministering to as many churches as possible. Preaching in churches, getting people saved and healed, and casting out demons was the easy part. The hard part, many times, was getting to the churches."We would wade rivers, hike up mountains, and sleep on the ground using the Bible as a pillow," he said. "Many times it would be pouring rivers of mud, and we'd be on ...

Recently, a magazine came in the mail, entiltled "My Father's World." Being a bit interested, I opened it up and began to flip through it. I discovered that it was a magazine for ordering Christian children's books, including homeschool material. I also discovered that a Christian woman named Marie Hazell was formerly a kindergarten teacher who wanted to make her own Christian ciriculum for children; therefore, she founded "My Father's World." She and her husband were formerly missionaries to Russia, who lived there for eight years while they translated the Bible into 70 minority languages. Their ministry of Bible translation is called " God's Word for the Nations ," and it continues even now. Here is a story that I found in the magazine; it reminded me of the impact that the Jesus Film Project is having across the globe. I would like to share it for this week's Inspiring Story. Enjoy! "My mother was a devout Christian and went r...

Nick Vujicic is going places. But how is that possible? Born without arms and legs, he struggled to find a purpose for his life. He was not at all like the others around him, and for that reason, he felt out of place. He became depressed. Why had God made him like this? His search for answers led him to where he is today; He is reaching out to people with the love of Christ through extensive travel and prolific speaking engagements. Nick has seen God work through him to impact others for Christ. He says, "It's interesting that God uses a man with no arms and no legs to be the hands and feet of Christ." Nick's testimony certainly gives new meaning to the Scripture, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," for having no arms and legs, Nick could easily say, "I can't." But inspite of the circumstances, he presses on. Watch this video to see Nick's amazing testimony. May it inspire us all to do our utmost for God! Nick is now the ...

Beth Guckenberger, a missionary to Mexico, describes how she and her husband reach out to Mexican orphans with the love of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how this has inspired her book Reckless Faith ... And this is a particular story that Beth shared which I found very inspiring; it gives new meaning to the phrase "childlike faith," and it is so neat to see how God orchestrates things... For More Inspiring Story Paricipants, check out the following blogs: As In A Mirror Jay's Music Blog

I've been thinking a lot lately about all the missionary "greats," of late, such as Nate Saint and Amy Carmichael, to name a few. All of these paid a high price for obeying God, and this reminded me of some other, perhaps less heard of, Christians who are missionaries to their own countries. I am referring to those persecuted Christians who lay down their lives for Christ every single day. They suffer because they choose to follow Christ rather than obey the world and its customs. Most of these Christians live in countries where religions other than Christianity are allowed, and converting from these "state" religions to Christianity is strictly forbidden. Converting could mean imprisonment, horrendous torture (both mental and physical), or worse -- maybe even death. They are pressured to renounce their faith; but how can they deny the One who paid the ultimate price by dying for them? They are very daring Christians, but they "know whom [they] have believe...