In Defense of the Christian Faith

Answers in Genesis is hosting the World Religions Conference next week, July 24-27, in Florence, Kentucky. Speakers include Ken Ham, Ron Rhodes, Todd Friel, and Emeal (“E.Z.”) Zwayne (President of Living Waters ), among others. Details can be  found here . Of this event, Answers in Genesis CEO Ken Ham says, More than ever, Christians need to know what other religions believe and then learn how to reach the lost souls mired in them. This unique conference will reveal how and why so many religions have become so prominent today and show where they differ from Christianity in various ways, from what they teach about origins to what they believe about having a relationship with God. —Ken Ham, AiG President Each ticket includes discounts on products at the event and a "7-day pass to both the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum ." One of the conferences speakers, Ron Rhodes, teaches cult apologetics at well-known seminaries. In His book, Reasoning From the Scriptures with ...

In honor of Veteran's Day, Chad Williams, a former Navy SEAL, is offering his book, SEAL of God  (ebook format),   FREE of charge on amazon ! You may remember that I did a review of this book a few months back. It is an excellent read, and I highly recommend that you go download yourself copy. You can read my full review of the book here . And if you want a taste of what the book is about, you can listen to this interview with Chad done by The Poached Egg .

I first learned of Chad Williams when I watched him debate an atheist during one of his street preaching events. Later, I found him through Ray Comfort’s ministry; he was always the one who would bring up the apologetics-related topics on their show, On The Box . Needless-to-say, I loved it! So when I heard that he was writing a book, I knew I had to read it. That book, SEAL of God , is an excellent read. It is the testimony of former Navy SEAL, Chad Williams, chronicling his life from before he met Christ to his unexpected encounter with Him, and his experiences in BUD/S SEAL training. The book begins with stories from Chad’s “wild” side in his younger years. Always the adventure seeker, Chad chased every dream he had, and he was always in search of the next “thrill.” It was obvious that he was searching for something, though at the time, he didn’t know what that was. He finally decided that becoming a SEAL was the way to fill the void. A former Navy SEAL, Scott Helvenston, to...

Today's featured video comes from On The Box , a production of Living Waters . Join Ray Comfort and special guest Greg Koukl of Stand To Reason   as they talk about some apologetics tactics that anyone can employ. The video pretty much speaks for itself, so watch and enjoy!  

Back in January, I heard about an awesome documentary in the works entitled "Seekers of Truth." In this documentary, apologist Sean McDowell and several other prominent figures -- including Sandra Tanner, expert on Mormonism; Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason; and Brett Kunkle also of Stand to Reason; and Lenny Esposito of Come Reason Ministries --take 22 high-schoolers to Utah on a missions trip to learn about Mormonism and share their faith. One of the students included independent filmmaker and student of Sean McDowell,  Matt Champagne, who is responsible for this documentary!   Sean and the team recently returned from this trip, and another trailer was posted with a bit of extended footage (though it is basically the same as the original) AND the release date: JUNE 2011 !!! I am super excited about this documentary and I can't wait to see it! Here is the new trailer: What do you all think?

If you're like me, you devour apologetics material (or, at least you look for material that will bolster your faith). Every week, I find a small collection of apologetics material -- be it articles, audio/podcasts, downloads, etc. -- that I would like to start sharing with my readers in hopes that it will provide you with information to "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you" (1 Peter 3:15). So here are this week's picks: Apologetics: Does God Exist? - featuring a number of articles on the subject including some articles and videos by Dr. William Lane Craig Greg Koukl Offers Eight Tips on Witnessing 9 Points for Preaching on the Problem of Evil by Norman Geisler (You can also read an excerpt from his book "If God, Why Evil?" here .) And lastly, I wanted to share a little frugal tip with all you bookworms out there: When looking to purchase a book, never underestimate your local bargain ou...

I read this story yesterday at the Baptist Press and I just had to share it for today's Inspiring Story. The names have been changed (by the authors) for privacy and protection. Enjoy! --------  No one notices the young Chinese woman silently crying in the back pew. It's the only place she finds solace from her deep depression and fear of death. She's not even sure why she sits in this church every afternoon; her communist education and Buddhist religion teach against a belief in God. Yet something keeps drawing Lily Wang here. She pulls a Bible from the pew. It's not in her native Mandarin, but she flips it open anyway. She learned to read a little Thai after moving to Thailand a few years ago to teach school, but she hasn't learned enough to really understand this. So many questions cloud her mind that she finally musters enough courage to speak to a man carrying the same book. He brushes past the petite woman and goes about his business. The rejection ...

Have you ever heard someone say that they won't believe in God because it is based on "blind faith"? Or maybe they say, "I believe in science -- that which is testable, observable, and repeatable." In other words, they only believe in what they can see. Many times, even when we know the evidence for Christianity, this phrase can stump Christians. So how do we answer this assertion? The answer is found in the very Scripture which the skeptics use to say that faith is blind: Hebrews 11:1. Let's take a look at it for a moment: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen...." Does this mean that Christians believe in what they can't see? After all, the skeptics will say, "We can't see God." However, if we examine this passage more closely, we can see that this is not what is implied at all. What Hebrews 11 is asserting is that there is substance to faith. It is not just some "blind faith,...

A new video is in the works entitled "Seekers of Truth." In this upcoming documentary, Sean McDowell takes "22 high school students [on] a mission trip to Salt Lake City, Utah" where they dig into the religion of Mormonism vs. Christianity. I am super excited about this, having read a few books exposing Mormonism (and of course, being a big fan of the McDowells); and judging from the trailer, it looks like it will be awesome! Check it out:

How do you know if you're a good person? This cute, but powerful, video shows how. It's so simple that even a child can understand it!                      Video courtesy of The Way of the Master

"I have examined all religions, as well as my narrow sphere, my straightened means, and my busy life, would allow; and the result is that the Bible is the best Book in the world. It contains more philosophy than all the libraries I have seen." (Second President of the U.S., December 25, 1813 letter to Thomas Jefferson) Have our Presidents maintained this over the past years? Judge for yourself: Where has America's faith gone?

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 just watched this excellent video of Ravi Zacharias answering a question on Atheism and Feminism. Ravi does such a good job of explaining just how valuable women are to God that I had to share it. Enjoy!]

Today, I'd like to share a message by Mark Cahill that I found to be very inspiring, yet challenging to us as Christians. It's called "Lukewarm - NO MORE!" It is an hour long, but I encourage you to at least listen while you do other things if you can't give it your undivided attention; it will be an hour well spent! Special thanks to Alice for pointing me to it! :)

As many of you know, I'm a big fan of CSE ministries. Well, I just found out two things that I think you'll all be excited to hear: 1) The makers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" are making a film about Dr. Kent Hovind called "Dr. Dino: Where Creation and Evolution Collide"! You can find out all the details here . If it's anything like "Expelled," I am expecting it to be GOOD. I also think it's awesome that the mission statement of Resurrection Pictures, the "film ministry" behind this project, says that its mission is to "produce and distribute Christian movies for theatrical release with the objective of bringing people to salvation in Jesus Christ." And they plan to do just that with this film. Production is set for 2011. 2) Dr. Hovind's blog has been moved to http://www.kenthovindblog.com/ . You can keep up with all the latest about his case there. Currently, he has been moved to a much better location...

This week for Something Beautiful , I wanted to talk about something, or rather, someone, who is very special to me. I have previously talked about creationist Dr. Kent Hovind, highlighting what a man of God he is and what a great work that he is doing for the Lord. For those of you who don't know, Dr. Hovind is a young-earth creationist who teaches the truth about creation and exposes the lies of evolution. You can find out more about him and his ministry here . (For those of you who hold a grudge against him, please see my comment policy above and disclaimer here .) My post has gained quite a bit of attention ; so today, I'd like to show you some of the work of Creation Science Evangelism in action. As many of you know, I recently received a comment from Paul Dublin, Dr. Hovind's son-in-law. I wanted to share it, because I believe it reflects the heart behind their ministry, Creation Science Evangelism Good afternoon, my name is Paul Dublin. I am the son in law to...

Over the last two weeks, I've missed my meme Inspiring Story due to a vacation. But before I share this week's IS, I want to recap the rules and reason for this meme: The purpose of this meme is to encourage you; I believe that each and every thing that the Lord does for us on a daily basis is the biggest evidence for His existence. Therefore, I think we should encourage each other with stories and messages that will keep us uplifted in the Lord, and inspire us to be all that we can for Him. I invite you all to participate in this meme; just keep the content clean and Christian. What has God been doing in your life? I'd love to hear it; if you want to share it on your blog as an inspiriaton to others, just link back here. If you do not have a blog and would still like to share, by all means, comment! I love hearing from you all. So, without further ado, here is the next installment of Inspiring Story on the DCF blog. Enjoy! ---------- Recently, I have had a growing inte...

In honor of Thanksgiving, my favorite "holiday," I'd like to say that I am EXTREMELY thankful for the underlying message that the whole Bible contains: that of the Father's great love for us, that we can be his children! That is the topic of today's WFW. Psalm 25:14 "The secret [lit. intimacy] of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant." Hebrews 8:10-12 "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." Romans 11:26-36 "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is w...

Last week, I shared Gladys Aylward's story . This week, I'd like to focus on her quote: "...But God looked down and saw Gladys Aylward and said, 'She's willing." This reminded me... there was once a preacher who was attending a Kathryn Kuhlman meeting. As he sat there observing the meeting, he asked the Lord, "God, why do you use her ?" In response, God spoke to him and said, "Tell that couple that they're living in adultery." The man argued with God; he just couldn't do it. As he was debating it in his mind, Kathryn Kuhlman said, "There's someone living in adultery..." God then spoke to the preacher and said, "That's why I use her." She was willing and she obeyed. That is what today's featured Inspiring Story is about: Obedience. This story is from the book To China and Back by Anthony G. Bollback (pages 109-110). Anthony had started a rooftop chapel in Hong Konk, called Simpson Chapel and Primary...

Creation Science Evangelism is on the verge of property seizure by the government if they do not pay a non-tax related fine by September 15 ! The property to be seized includes the homes of three families who work at the ministry. This ministry has helped many to step out of evolution by exposing the lies in the textbooks and by providing scientific facts to support Creation. Many lives have been touched, encouraged, and impacted through this ministry (myself included) which "evangelizes using Creation Science." Watch this video to learn more about the ministry and how you can support them. You can also check out Eric Hovind's blog . Disclaimer: Please note that I never endorse giving to any organization/ministry unless I firmly believe in it's (in this case, jeopardized) cause. If you are unable to give, please pray for this ministry.