“Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. ² And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. ³ His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. ⁴ And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men.

⁵ But the angel answered and said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. ⁷ And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.”

⁸ So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word.”  Matthew 28:1-8

Duane T. Gish, 1921 – 2013

A mixture of sorrow and thankfulness comes over the Institute for Creation Research family as we note the passing of Dr. Duane Gish on March 6, 2013. Dr. Gish has been a champion of creation at ICR for decades, and we will miss him.

Born in Kansas and educated at University of California, Los Angeles, he later received his Ph.D. at UC Berkeley. He joined the ICR faculty in 1970, after a fruitful career in biochemistry at the Upjohn Company in Michigan. Soon after the publication of The Genesis Flood in 1961, he joined with other creation-minded scientists to found the Creation Research Society in 1963 and served on their governing board until 1997. As his opportunities for creation ministry grew, he joined Dr. Henry Morris at the newly formed Institute for Creation Research. This was a true step of faith as he left a secure, well-paying position for a very uncertain future. But God blessed both his faith and his efforts.

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Read the entire article, over on ICR’s website.

(This is an adaption of a Sunday School Devotional delivered by Joel Kautt in January 2011)

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” Psalm 139:13 – 16 (ESV)

Forty years ago this month, the United States Supreme Court found somewhere hidden between the lines of our Nation’s Constitution the right of a woman to end the life of her unborn baby. It has been estimated that since that time, at the very least 50 million innocent and helpless baby humans have been slaughtered before they ever breathed their first breath or saw the light of day. Just in the year 2007, over 1 million, 200 thousand abortions were performed in the United States. Doing some simple math, we can find that on average, an unborn baby human is murdered in America’s own holocaust approximately every 2 and a half minutes. It is a sad fact that there exists in America today an entire dedicated industry that generates billions of dollars of revenue at the gruesome expense of our nation’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens. The legacy of abortion advocates like Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, is a legacy of death.

The concept of abortion is much older than just the Roe v. Wade court decision. In fact, the practice of abortion has been around for many centuries throughout the world. The Bible actually tells us that during the time of Moses the people of Canaan sacrificed their children in the fires of their false god Molech.1   Sadly, the Israelites turned from worshiping their Creator, and began to practice this pagan and demonic ritual during the latter part of the period of Kings before the Babylonian exile.2 Today, non-Christians, and Christians alike are sacrificing their children on the altar to the gods of convenience and “choice” through the means of abortion. God fulfilled His promised judgment on Israel for their disobedience in murdering their children as an offering to their idols. One has to wonder how long it will be before God judges America for killing her children as an act of worship of selfishness and convenience.

As is often the case with sinful actions, those who favor and promote abortion believe lies. Namely they believe that it is acceptable to solve personal problems through ungodly means. Further, many believe that the living, unborn baby is not human, but rather just a “blob of tissue” at certain stages of its “evolutionary” development and growth, of course the Bible and good science both tell us otherwise. These people also believe that somehow a person has the right to do to an unborn child what would be legally classified as murder if it were done to any person outside the womb.

The Bible tells us that Satan is the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Christ came to give His life so that He could give us eternal life.3 Proverbs 8:37 says that all those who hate God love death. As Christians, we should love and protect the lives of the innocent, just as Proverbs 24:11 and 12 implies. We should be reaching out in compassion and love to those who are suffering the emotional and spiritual pain involved in the aftermath of an abortion. We should also be promoting the truth to those around us that God in His love, gave His Son to pay the penalty for our sins, and offer forgiveness and new life even to those who have made the choice to abort their unborn children.

Today, and every day, let us celebrate the sacred gift of life, and pray and work to help protect the sanctity of human life from pre-born to elderly, from conception to natural death. In doing this, we will honor our Creator who made every human being in His marvelous image.
Footnotes:

1 See Leviticus 18:21; 20:2 – 5

2See 1 Kings 11:7, 8 and Jeremiah 32:35

3 See John 10:10

With the holidays’ business, family sickness and others things, we didn’t get our November-December 2012 issue of The Tool Box sent out, and we apologize. We are finally sending out our latest issue, which is the Winter 2012-2013 issue. Upon reviewing our family and ministry situation, we have decided to publish our newsletter only quarterly, instead of bimonthly, as we had done previously. So, now you will receive a newsletter every three months, and they will be labeled ‘Spring’, or ‘Summer’, etc.

Thank you for understanding and for you continued prayers for our family and ministry!

What you’ll get in this issue:

• Evidences for a Young Universe, Part 2 – Geological Evidences
• Questions Answered: What About the Gap Theory?
• The Sanctity of (Every) Human Life
• Copying the Creator: Straws, Trees and Water Towers
• Creation Scientist Biography: Johannes Kepler
• And more!

If you aren’t already subscribed to The Tool Box, please do so here.  Thank you!

Let’s pray for father’s and mother’s hearts all across America to be broken and contrite before our holy, loving and merciful creator God.  That we would cherish each and every life, even the unborn and elderly - because each life is made in the image of God, and is therefore valuable.

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

Psalm 139:13-16

It’s that time of year again: Christmas lights and trees going up all around us, the bustle of holiday shopping and the excitement of the season.   Most of us celebrate this winter holiday — we all love the family time, gift giving and colorful lights.   But, do we know the reason we celebrate Christmas?  “It is to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ,” most Christians would say.  But, have we taken time to learn the history and origins behind the Christmas holiday and traditions?  I hadn’t until very recently.

What’s the history behind the Christmas tree, gift-giving, yuletide, mistletoe, and the Christmas holiday in general?  I hope to start a conversation, prompting people – especially Christians – to look into what they’re celebrating and why.  There are many resources out there on the web and in print one can use to educate themselves.  I urge you to do your own research, and not just trust my information.

The Christmas holiday has roots within the ancient Roman holiday Saturnalia, which was celebrated between December 17 and December 25.   This eight day period was a time for continual partying, gift-giving and lawlessness.  Much is written about the festival of Saturnalia, so I won’t go into it anymore, for lack of space.  But, the popularity of Saturnalia carried on into the 3^rd and 4^th centuries A.D., and as Christians began to rule over the Roman Empire, many believe its customs influenced the celebrations around Christmas and the New Year.  “Worship of Christianity was legally allowed in the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great, … A.D. 313.  Now the two focal celebrations of both religions occur on December 25th, Mithra’s sun regeneration and the Christian nativity (Sun of Righteousness). According to St. Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, the “Roman Church purposefully placed the keeping of Christmas between two popular folk festivals, Saturnalia and the Kalends of January, in order to give Christians something to celebrate [undisturbed] (sic) about while others were engaged in secular merrymaking.””[1]

The history of the Christmas tree is quite fascinating and varied.  Many countries hung evergreen branches in various places, believing they would keep ghosts, witches, evil-spirits and illness away.  Numerous ancient peoples celebrated winter solstice – which occurred around December 21 in the Northern Hemisphere – including the Egyptians, Romans, Druids and Vikings.  Whether it was the Egyptians with their god, Ra, or the Vikings with Balder, their sun god, they all believed that the winter solstice was the time at which the sun god would begin to grow stronger, after a period of weakness and sickness.  So, they decorated their homes and temples with green boughs, as a reminder that plants would grow again.  The Roman’s feast, called Saturnalia, honored their god Saturn, and the Northern European Druids used evergreen boughs as a symbol of everlasting life.[2]  Germany was where the Christmas tree tradition started, as we know it.  Sixteenth century devout Christians decorated trees and brought them into their homes.  The first recorded display of one in American, though, wasn’t until the 1830s, by German settlers in Pennsylvania.  But, as late as the 1840s, Christmas trees were seen as pagan symbols and were not accepted by most Americans.  By the 20^th century, nonetheless, Christmas trees became an American tradition, as it remains to this day.[3]

I apologize for not being able to cover more of the other aspects, but trying to wrap up 2000 years’-worth of history in a single less-than-1000-word article is a monumental task.  Please take the time to do your own research on this subject.   I believe it is a conversation American Christians need to have.

In conclusion, I have just recently begun to think of Resurrection Day as the more important holy-day that we as Christians should celebrate.  If Christ never died and rose again, Jesus’ birth is no more crucial than any other person’s birth.[4]  But, the fact that He was born, was murdered on the Cross and, most vitally, resurrected from the dead, that is what we should celebrate.    Thanksgiving is also a good day to celebrate, though I believe, for Christians, every day should be Thanksgiving Day.  But, to set aside a day in which we conscientiously thank God for all of our blessings and spend time with family is wonderful. This year I’m thankful for the fact that Jesus Christ was born, but most decisively, rose again, conquering death forever, providing a way for me to do so also.

A good perspective on this issue is R.C. Sproul, Jr.’s article which can be found here: http://highlandsministriesonline.org/ask-rc/ask-rc-is-it-a-sin-to-celebrate-christmas/.  And this article, as well: http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2012/12/21/christians-celebrating-christmas?utm_source=aigfacebook12212012 christmasfeedback&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=facebook.

Below is the first session, entitled, “How Do We Know the Bible is True?” by Dr. James J.S. Johnson, of the Institute for Creation Research.

For all of you in the greater DFW area, Dr. Terry Mortenson of Answers in Genesis, will be speaking in Greenville, Texas this coming Sunday, November 4 and Monday, November 5.

Location

HIGHLAND TERRACE BAPTIST CHURCH
3939 Joe Ramsey Blvd
Greenville, TX 75401
US
For more information on the schedule, topics and directions, click here.

The latest issue of The Tool Box has as it’s feature article, “Evidences of a Young Universe, part 1″.  We’re excited to start a new series, by that title, covering many different evidences pointing to a young universe.  If you haven’t subscribed, you can do so here, and you’ll receive The Tool Box right in your email inbox.  Catch part two of the series in our November-December 2012 issue.

Stay up-to-date with us by liking our Facebook page, following our blog and connecting with us on Twitter.

Some of what you’ll get in this issue:

• Evidences for a Young Universe: Part 1, Intro
• Questions Answered: What About Distant Starlight?
• Resource Spotlight: Distant Starlight
• Copying the Creator: Sweat, Air Conditioning and the Fall
• Creation Scientist Biography: Dr. David Menton
• Free offer: What Does the Bible Say about Astronomy?