It is amazing just how much you can fit into 60 seconds. In just 60 seconds Eric raises some very interesting questions about just how old the Earth can be. There are many limiting factors to the Earth being very old.

People who argue  for an old Earth often answer these questions with unsupported statement like comets come form the Oort Cloud. An un-observed invention of  the Dutch astronomer, Jan Hendrik Oort.

Creation Minute 6 – The Age of the Earth from CSE Ministry on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoy it.

Best-selling author and evangelist, Ray Comfort, said, “What may sound like compassion is actually pulpit betrayal. Rather than a sermon telling his hearers to steal from businesses, he should be telling them to take what they need from his own church’s collection plate. If he didn’t do that because his church is feeling the economic pinch, that brings into question his motive. If his parishioners take his advice and his weekly collection increases, he is benefiting from the crime he instigated and therefore complicit to it. The question also arises as to whether or not the priest personally practices what he preaches. Does he himself shoplift? If he doesn’t, he’s a hypocrite. If he does, then he’s a criminal. If he says that he doesn’t need to shoplift because he is financially sound, then he should be giving to his poor folks, rather than making them into thieves.”

Britain’s Daily Mail reported “He told parishioners it would not break the eighth commandment ‘thou shalt not steal’ because it ‘is permissible for those who are in desperate situations to take food that they might not starve.’ The Yorkshire Evening Post reported that he said, “‘My advice, as a Christian priest, is to shoplift,’ he told his stunned congregation at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York.”

Comfort said, “The twisted advice of the Reverend is nothing new. The religious leaders at the time of Christ also perverted the Ten Commandments. In Matthew 15 they changed the Fifth so that they didn’t have to honor their father and mother, and they even tried to soften the Seventh. But in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned that God considers lust to be adultery of the heart.

“This all comes from something called ‘idolatry,’ which is the sin of making a god in your own image. Once you do that, anything goes. The Bible says that if you steal, even in the case of dire need, you pay back seven-fold. Sex becomes okay “if you love someone.” Lying becomes morally okay if they are lies that don’t “hurt” anyone. Adultery becomes acceptable if the marriage is boring, and the murder of children in the womb is permitted if a pregnancy is an inconvenience.” But the Bible is clear that all liars, adulterers, murderers and thieves will end up in Hell.

The Rev. Jones added, “I do not offer such advice because I think that stealing is a good thing, or because I think it is harmless, for it is neither.” He said that people shouldn’t steal from small, family businesses, but from large national businesses.

Comfort, who spent a lot of his time feeding the homeless in Los Angeles’ infamous McArthur Park, said, “This is what happens when unconverted men go into the ministry. Many in today’s pulpits should have been plumbers, motivational speakers or bankers rather than what the Bible calls ‘preachers of righteousness.’ The moral Law is meant to show us that we are sinners and that we need a Savior. The Ten Commandments don’t need changing. We do. We may change them to suit ourselves, but they will still be the standard of judgment on Judgment Day. God wrote them in stone for a reason.”

“Any possibility that intelligent life on earth or elsewhere evolved by chance can be quickly dismissed. Eminent British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle points out that “even if the whole universe consisted of organic soup” from which life is made, the chance of producing the basic enzymes of life by random processes without intelligent direction would be approximately one in 10 with 40,000 zeros after it. The impossibility of that number can be seen in the following illustration. The likelihood of reaching out and by chance plucking a particular atom out of the universe would be about 1 in 10 with 80 zeros after it. If every atom in this universe became another universe, the chance of reaching out at random and plucking a particular atom out of all of those universes would be 1 in 10 with 160 zeros after it…. Couldn’t God have created intelligent life on other planets? Yes, but the Bible declares that this earth alone has intelligent physical life. It is to this earth that Satan came to spread his rebellion; and to this earth Christ came to die for man’s sin. The battle between God and Satan for the universe is centered here. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross purified the entire universe and heaven itself of sin” (Heb 9:23).

This quote comes from here

‘Life’ from ‘non-life’, just is not mathematically possible! That of course will not stop people believing it. People do not believe in evolution from their minds, but there hearts see Psalm 14:1

“The fool hath said in his heart…”

Psalm 14:1

The British Humanist Association are running another ad campaign.

British Humanist Association real Ad

The British Humanist Association, (BHA) is promoting this campaign as being against ‘labelling children’. They talk about labelling children as being ‘divisive’, they say it leads to ’segregation’, it apparently ‘restricts learning about other beliefs’ and ‘creates negative attitudes to other people’s beliefs’. (Not that the BHA is normally averse to ‘creating negative attitudes to other people’s beliefs’ when they want to!)

The advert’s slogan says: “Please don’t label me. Let me grow up and choose for myself.” They talk about not labelling children, and it all sounds very good, no one want children ‘labelled’ do they? But the underlying massage of the campaign is not about labels, but teaching! “Let me grow up and choose for myself” is about not being lead into a faith, not about not being labelled with a faith name.

Richard Dawkins (Vice President of the BHA, President of RDFRS, and co-sponsor of the campaign) says that,

“We urgently need to raise consciousnesses on this issue. Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a ‘Marxist child’ or an ‘Anarchist child’ or a ‘Post-modernist child’. Yet children are routinely labelled with the religion of their parents. We need to encourage people to think carefully before labelling any child too young to know their own opinions and our adverts will help to do that.”

Richard Dawkins

We too, Mr Dawkins, have trouble with labels. We do not really know what to call ourselves these days. The church has strayed so far from the Bible and the teaching of Jesus, and the apostles, that the term ‘Christian’ is almost useless, ‘Evangelical Christian’ used to mean sound biblical believer, but I am told now that many evangelicals including the Evangelical Alliance have moved toward theistic evolutionism. Baptist would have been a sound denomination to stand with a few years ago, but they too seem to have abandoned creation and much of the Bible’s  authority.  But it is not labels that are really being attacked.

It is a battle for the right to train the next generation that is being engaged here.

Atheists and evolutionist, humanists, have taken over almost all of the state education system and are now pushing for the right to stop the few parents who put their children into faith schools or home educate them from having the right to teach them the moral code or beliefs that they hold dear.

Richard Dawkins further compounds my belief that what he is talking about is training or teaching children when he says that,

“labelling children as “religious” is a form of brainwashing.”

Richard Dawkins

Mr Dawkins care and concern that children are not brainwashed is, in my mind, somewhat hypercritical when you remember that he is a financial and moral supporter of  the children’s summer camp for atheists that were run this summer by Samantha Stein. These camps certainly were not intended to give people a balanced view on the teachings of evolutionist and creationist, nor do I believe they had a creation scientist in attendance to show how much of the evidence, that evolutionists claim can only be interpreted though Darwinian evolution, actually fit the biblical record like a glove. Though they claimed to teach critical thinking, from the little that has been in the press about them they very much misrepresented the teachings of the Bible.

The same could be said about many school text book they are more about promoting an opinion, (evolution), and supporting it than about presenting science and evidence.

Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, also wants children to have the freedom to make their own minds up about what they believe. She says,

I would like to raise a few questions

1. Who is to teach children? Why does Mr Dawkins or Ariane Sherine believe that they have more right to say how my children are brought up than I do?
2. Do Mr Dawkins or Ariane Sherine believe that it is possible for children to be brought up in a truly neutral way that will give them true freedom of choose?
3. Who is going to defend the child’s right to be brought up by their parents, to be rooted in the culture and faith of their parents? Who is to say that a child wants to be brought up as an atheist or a humanist?
4. Are there other things that children must not be taught, but must chose for themselves. What about taking drugs, saying please, obeying the law, respecting other people and their property?
5. If children are to be given freedom to choose, should they be given a good clear understanding of Intelligent Design in school science classes? For choice without a clear presentation of the options in not a real choice at all. Choice must consist of the mental process of  judging the merits of several options.
6. Do the BHA believe that TV producers and presenters, Magazine editors, the Pop industry, the Fashion industry, not to mention the Gay lobby or the Sexual liberationists are going to stop trying to influence children?

May be there are other things that we should be protecting children from?

This Ad “SEX ED OUT OF SCHOOLS” and “LIES OUT OF TEXT BOOKS” and the top ad
“EVOLUTION OUT OF SCHOOLS” are not the ads that the BHA are running, but if they care for children
then maybe they should sponsor these too.

The Bloger, Dave Cross, gives us a little insight into the attitude that many humanist have toward the Bible or other faiths. He says,

“I firmly believe that the majority of religious people only have those beliefs because they were indoctrinated as children. If people decide to follow a religion when they are old enough to make up their own mind then of course I have no objections to that. But forcing children to believe the same fairy stories as their parents is clearly wrong and should be stopped.”

Dave Cross

Well Dave you are entitled to your beliefs, just as you graciously let me have mine, but the science actually says that children are predisposed to believe in God, so it is probably the humanist children who are following the teaching of the humanist adults more so than the children of Christians. But what we see from Mr Cross’ writing is that he would give the teaching of the Bible little opportunity to be believed by children if he was in charge of what children were taught. The twisted and propagandist language used by Mr Dawkins also give me little trust that he would have children or anyone given a true and balanced opportunity to make their own mind up.

Graham Coyle, a teacher and national team leader at the Christian Schools Trust, which represents 43 independent schools, questioned what the BHA was asking parents to do.

Ray Comforts new edition

We have been given the great privilege of joining with Ray Comfort and Living Waters and many, many volunteers to help distribute over 170,000 copies of Origin of Species.

I know you might be confused – “What? The Drappers are giving out Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’! You are joking?”

Well, I think it is only fair to give both sides of an argument. Ray Comfort, of Living Waters, has taken Charles Darwin’s original book and added a 50 page special introduction. This includes the History of evolution, Timelines of Darwin’s life, Intelligent Design vs. Evolution, as well as a clear gospel message.

Yesterday, Joel, Kirsty, Deborah, and I joined a team of around 20 others, organised by Paul Taylor of Answers in Genesis, to take the 150th Anniversary Special Edition “Origin of Species” book into Oxford to give out to University Students.

If you want to buy some copies to donate to your library or local school then you can buy them here.

You can see how God blessed us in Oxford in the video below.

Origins in Oxford, UK

The Title is “Ray Comfort apologises for banana illustration”. It is something of a challenging apology. Ray not only apologizes for the illustration, he also offers Richard Dawkins $20,000 to debate him on the existence of God. I hope Ray Never apologizes to me like this… hehe!

Hope you enjoy the video.

August 24th, 2009

• In the car and on our way to Heathrow. Thanks for all your prayers.
• http://twitpic.com/f3eqw – We are on the plain, waiting to take off!

August 25th, 2009

• We have arrived! And have meet Ray and family.

August 26th 2009

• http://twitpic.com/fce4h – Our last morning at Ray Comfort’s home.

August 27th, 2009

• http://twitpic.com/fd0iw – Just taken a look around Living Waters HQ.
• http://twitpic.com/fd46c – It looks like this did not post yesterday. Us at Disneyland.
• http://twitpic.com/feoyy – Just arrived at the academy and meet Eric.
• http://twitpic.com/fg5pb – Ready to start the first full day.

August 28th, 2009

• Great day. Tomorrow we hit the streets. Please pray for us.
• We have been having a go at street preaching ready for tomorrow. Scary, please pray.
• http://twitpic.com/fl49t – Final practise before we hit the streets. Please pray.
• http://twitpic.com/flj1z – Deborah in Hollywood.

August 29th, 2009

• That was a very hot and hard day, and it all starts again tomorrow.

August 30th, 2009

• http://twitpic.com/frz2e – Street preaching at Huntington beach all day
• http://twitpic.com/frzh6 – Feet in the Pacific. Later it should be the Atlantic!
• http://twitpic.com/fso2r – At the end of academy meeting.
• http://twitpic.com/fv9s5 – Church this morning

August 31st 2009

• Our last day in Los Angelies is nearly over. Off to Florida tomorrow.

September 1st 2009

• http://twitpic.com/g5jiw – At atlantes – they have lost our plain!

September 2nd 2009

• http://twitpic.com/g7×2o – We are at Dinosaur Adventure Land. creation ministry with Eric Hovind
• http://twitpic.com/g72ad – Arrived! Supper at the waffle house.

September 3rd 2009

• We have landed safe and well in West Palm Beach.
• http://twitpic.com/gcggi – We have said our last goodbys at Pensacola airport. Now we fly to West Palm Beach.

September 4th 2009

• http://twitpic.com/gffng - We woke up this morning to find this view. We have this morning off, but we will probably find something to do!

September 6th 2009

• http://twitpic.com/gr8ba – At West Palm Beach airport ready to start our flight home.

September 7th 2009

• We are on the ground in London and on our way home.

Just this week, (15th August 2009), The Telegraph carried a report about a street preacher being threatened with arrest for reading the Bible in public.

Miguel Hayworth and his Father were reading out the Bible and handing out tracts in Manchester, when he says that:

“I was approached on more than one occasion by several police officers who falsely accused me, stating that I was inciting hatred with homophobic and racial comments,”

He continued… 

“One plain-clothed officer, who was with the other two uniformed officers, said: ‘It is against the law to preach and hand out tracts: preaching causes offence and handing out tracts is harassment and could result in an arrest.’”

I do not know Miguel or his father, and having heard them on YouTube I would have to say that their presentation is probably rather stronger than I would want to do if I was preaching in public, but we still have a situation where reading the Bible is being considered an illegal act in the UK by our own Police force.

“He and his father, John, 55, were unlawfully and unfairly treated as they preached Christianity in the city at the end of July.”

“They were clearly told that reading the Bible and preaching can be offensive and that they could be arrested,”

“Furthermore, they were subjected to abuse and intimidation. They were told that they were being monitored and filmed,”

Andrea Minichiello Williams the director of the Christian Legal Centre.

You can read the Telegraph article here.

It is here, today is the day we leave for America… well for Christchurch, Dorset, but we are on our way and by about 6:30 am Monday 24th we will be on our way to Heathrow Airport and from there to Los Angeles. And the Drapper trip to the USA will be underway.

As a result of the documentary we will be crossing the pond to meet with some amazing, godly people and meet some of the best trainers in evangelism, hoping to return with new motivation, better skills and more confidence to share our faith.

So just what are we going to be doing?

We will try to keep you up to date through Tweets on Twitter which you can see in the sidebar on the left, or you can follow us on Twitter. But to give you an idea here is an outline of our itenary.

• Monday, 24th August: Fly out to Los Angeles.
• Tuesday, 25th August: Day trip to Disneyland with the Zwayne family.
• Wednesday, 26th August: Spend the day with friends then Andrew and Deborah go to the Hotel for the start of the Ambassador’s Academy and Kirsty remains with the Zwayne family.
• Thursday, 27th – Sunday 30th August: Andrew and Deborah attend the Academy and complete the 4 days evangelism training and practical outreach in Long Beach, Hollywood and other places.
• Meet back with Kirsty and the Zwayne’s for a few more days of holiday and trips including a Medieval Banquet and shopping at the Mall.
• Tuesday, 1st September: Fly to Pensacola, Florida, to Eric Hovind’s home and Creation Ministry.
• Thursday, 3rd September: Fly to West Palm Beach, Florida, to Rick Wiles’ home and TruNews Ministry.
• Sunday, 6th September: Leave America and fly home.
• Monday, 7th September: Arrive at Heathrow and travel home.

Also coming up soon:

• Tuesday 8th September: Travel up to Oswestry to join the TEACH Home schoolers’ convention
• Wednesday, 9th September: Andrew, Deborah and Kirsty lead evangelism training sessions for the young people then travel home again.
• 23rd – 29th September: Lead evangelism training sessions, teaching on training godly children, and practical outreach in Cannes, France. (more detail HERE)

We have been asked to speak on the Friday evening on ‘Evangelism’ with a special emphasis on teaching young people to have the courage to get up and stand up for Jesus.

On Saturday afternoon we will be addressing ‘How to raise godly children’.

We will be staying at Manuel and Mariya Brambila’s hotel the Hotel Alexandre III

Hotel Alexandre III

Date 23rd – 29th September

23rd Fly to Nice and then travel on to Cannes.

24th Get to know Cannes and spend some time in prayer and planning.

25th Friday night Deborah and Andrew speaking on ‘Evangelism’ emphasis on young people doing the evangelism.

26th Saturday Andrew speaking on ‘Raising godly children’

We will then be spending a few days more on practical outreach.

You can find out more about our time in Cannes by going to Manuel’s website at http://bit.ly/Drappers .