A World Of Hurt

Neal Pollard

Typhoon Bopha is the latest example of a natural disaster striking a third-world nation.  Many countries in this world struggle in a subsistent lifestyle as it is, and the slightest adversities, much less major catastrophes, further undermine a people who live at the financial edge.  Most countries where I have traveled are such nations, filled with those who are literally concerned with having their "daily bread" (Lk. 11:3) or "food and covering" (1 Tim. 6:8).  The Middle East is riddled with violence and political uprising.  Nations like Mexico are impacted by anarchical drug lords.  But, despite the reality of earthquakes and storms, revolution, and political corruption, the billions of people on our planet are most threatened by the oldest problem of all--sin.  Famine-stricken children rightly pull at our heartstrings, as we look at bloated stomach and sunken eyes.  That is because their suffering is visible, observable by the naked eye.

The richest people in western nations like ours down to the poorest people in urban slums around the world are all besieged by an invisible plague.  That plague destroys souls. It leads to an eternity spent apart from God in a place words cannot adequately depict. Even if those in the world cannot feel it, the hurt is no less real.

The Red Cross and other international relief societies have nothing on their planes and trucks to remedy this ill, unless someone is carrying a Bible.  It reveals the "balm of Gilead" (cf. Jer. 8:22), the cure of the Great Physician (cf. Mk. 2:17), and the help of the spiritually sick (1 Cor. 11:30). It offers the Bread of Life (Jn. 6:35) and the Water of Life (Jn. 4:11; Rev. 7:17).  It offers the way to the Father's house (Jn. 14:2,6), a place where the security is unbeatable (Rev. 21:27).  God relies on us to get spiritual relief to the billions of sin-sick and those held captive by the devil (2 Tim. 2:26).  But it begins by our caring that the lost are lost.  Until that matters to us, we will remain oblivious to their need (and our own).

LOST CHILD!

Neal Pollard

Colorado is in the midst of yet another high-profile missing child case, that of Durango's Dylan Redwine.  The problem of lost or abducted children seems to be escalating at an alarming rate.  The latest credible statistics I could find were from a 2002 U.S. Department of Justice study which asserts that nearly 800,000 children under 18 go missing each year, about 2,185 per day.  A fourth of these were abducted by family members, 58,000 by non-family members, and 115 are stereotypical kidnappings (stranger who transport child, demands a ransom, etc.)("National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview," Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer, and Schultz, 10/02, p. 5). The good news, according to FBI statistics, is that roughly 99 percent  of that 800,000 are found through law enforcement efforts.  The bad news, though, is that 8 to 10,000 are not found after lengthy, exhaustive search (cf. Daniel Broughton, Pediatrics Magazine, Vol. 114, No. 4, 10/04, 1100).  As a parent, I find it hard to fathom the depth of anguish and pain for those who lose their children so senselessly and tragically.

Though Luke 15 illustrates spiritual waywardness with a lost sheep and a lost coin, the third and longest parable concerns a lost child.  This child, though older, announced to his father that he was leaving, then departed to parts unknown.  He was lost in a spiritual sense, prodigal or recklessly wasteful.  The Bible describes his time in a distant country as spent in "loose living" (Luke 15:13).  The older brother, however accurately, charged the prodigal son with devouring his wealth with prostitutes (Luke 15:30).  Whatever the particulars, the son freely admitted to having sinned (Luke 15:21).  In celebrating the boy's return, the father twice exclaimed that the boy "was lost and has been found" (Luke 15:24,32).

No parents love their children as deeply, perfectly, and intimately as God loves each of us.  When we become spiritually lost, He grieves and aches more profoundly than we could imagine.  Yet, He does not measure His loss in tens of thousands but in billions.  Most of those who become lost in this way are never found (Matt. 7:13-14).  The Father relies on you and me to help Him rescue and return His lost children!  Or, if we are lost, we should realize how very much He wants us back home!

"For What Purpose Will The Day Of The Lord Be To You?"

Neal Pollard

While the English translations give wide variety to their rendering of Amos 5:18, a consistent thread prevails between them.  The simple prophet, after having shown his people the sins of the nations, is now preaching to his own people.  Their religious transgressions have piled high, and they must now prepare to meet God's wrath in His judgment of them (4:12).  They refused to seek Him, so they would not live (5:4-6,14).  Judgment would come in the form of foreign invasion, captivity, and destruction.  Amos is not speaking of the final judgment at the end of time, but rather God's fulfillment of a promise that went back centuries to the days when the tribes of Israel stood on Ebal and Gerizim.  They had forsaken God, and now He was going to judge them.

His own people were filled with hypocrisy.  They did not hate evil and love good (5:15). They kept the "form" of religion but they had rejected the "substance" (cf. 5:21ff).  As they looked to the future, Amos tells them they should not long for "the day of the Lord."  He asks, "For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?" For most of them, it was a day of "darkness and not light" and "gloom with no brightness in it" (cf. 5:20).

Regarding the final judgment of all mankind, each of us would do well to ask, "For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to me?"  Jesus shows us the available options.  It will either be a day of rejoicing and reward, or it will be a day of rejection and rift.  For the few, it will be a day to receive the victor's crown.  For the many, it will be the first day of an eternity full of total darkness, gnashing of teeth, unending terror, and indescribable pain.  It is not enough for that day to be a happy day for spouse, parent, child, sibling, or friend.  Their salvation will based on how they lived in their body (2 Cor. 5:10).  For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?  A day for you to eagerly anticipate or for you to continually dread?  

The good news is that no matter what we have done in the past, we can come to Christ in obedient faith.  He promises to forgive, and He wants to eternally save (2 Pet. 3:9).  Dread can be replaced with desire!  It is what God wants for you.  "For what purpose will the day of the Lord be to you?"

The Archerfish: A Living Squirt Gun

On the surface, the archerfish looks just like your average aquarium fish.  It doesn’t look flashy or even all that interesting.  However, this fish has some astounding abilities.  As its name indicates, this fish is able to hunt with the accuracy and precision of an archer.  It does this by shooting a jet of water toward a bug or small animal, knocking it off of a tree or plant into the water, and then gobbling it up.  This ability is only possible because of some unique qualities.  Let’s examine these qualities:

Mouth: Instead of being flat and smooth, the archerfish has a little channel that runs from the back of the throat to the front top lip.  When it presses its tongue to the top of its mouth, it forms a little waterway to shoot through.  Once this channel is formed, it will swim up to the surface of the water and snap its gills shut.  Quickly shutting their gills will propel water through the mouth and out.  The result is a water pistol.  This little 8-inch fish can shoot with pinpoint accuracy from 4 feet away.  However, they can squirt as far as 12 feet and up to 7 times in quick succession.  This incredible ability is only possible because of its special mouth.

Abilities of Adjustment: Sniping a bug from underwater is not easy by any means.  The reason is because of a problem called “refraction.”  Since water and air have different qualities, it causes what we see to look different when looking from air into water or vice versa.  Sometimes it makes an object look bent or makes it look like it is in one location when it is actually in another (See Picture Below).  So, when the archerfish tries to hit a target from underwater, it will miss it unless it accounts for refraction.  Incredibly, a baby archerfish quickly figures out the problem of refraction and adjusts its aim!  Soon, it becomes a master calculator of angels and refraction.  Even though refraction changes with the angle the archerfish shoots from, it is able hit a target with sniper like precision from angles between 45 and 110 degrees (Temple).  This is hard enough for intelligent humans to do, which is why it is even more amazing that a fish is able to pull these shots off.

Looking at all of these astounding qualities makes one wonder how this fish could have evolved and why it would have done it in the first place?  See, there is no shortage of bugs in this world.  It’s not like it needed to develop this water pistol ability to survive.  In fact, it gathers most of its food by eating floating insects, jumping for bugs, or eating things in the water, not by sniping bugs from the trees (Encyclopedia).  If evolution were really a fact, then why would the archerfish evolve these amazing, yet unnecessary, abilities?  Why haven’t other fish evolved the same ability?  Beyond all of this, how did the archerfish develop the channel at the roof of its mouth and know to put its tongue at the top to make a water pistol?  How did an unintelligent animal figure out and master the problem of refraction?  Evolution does not give clear and believable answers to these questions.  Incredible features like these do not “just happen by time and chance.”

Seeing so many unanswered questions about evolution further points to the true reason the archerfish is so amazing.  The archerfish and all of its remarkable features were intricately designed to show there is a God!  Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”  The archerfish is one more proof of God’s creation that is “clearly seen.”

Sources:

• Temple, S. E. "Effect of salinity on the refractive index of water: considerations for archer fish aerial vision" 'Journal of Fish Biology' Vol. 70, 1626–1629 2007.
• http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/archerfish.aspx
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archerfish
• http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/archer_fish.htm

WHAT HAVE YOU GIVEN YOUR CHILDREN?

Neal Pollard

Walter Williams, renowned columnist and economist, once commented on what made former generations great and what has, by the same token, led to societal erosion in the last few generations.  His basis conclusion was that a generation from the not too distant past gave their children honesty, integrity, discipline, and accountability, though they were not able to give them an abundance of material possessions.  These children grew up focused, strong, and productive.  But, when they grew up and began parenting, they were quite successful and were able to give their children abundant material things.  Yet, giving their children everything they wanted, they unintentionally deprived their children of those greater virtues!  Improvement might have been if they had given their kids those character-building traits and the goods.  Yet, if there is to be a choice as to which is more needed, the race between character and cash is not remotely close. The media has made the "debate" very public, asking how society can improve children's health-care, daycare, and educational care, but cares little to nothing about their spiritual care.  That responsibility befalls parents, who are to "train" them in this regard (Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4).  Mother and father, in a majority of instances, are toiling at jobs outside the home to insure that their children have every social, intellectual, and physical advantages conceivable.  These areas of life are vital, as evidenced in the life of the adolescent Christ (see Luke 2:52).  But, what if these areas are met at the expense of spiritual training?  Jesus reveals the answer.  "For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul?  Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26). It is important to prepare one's children for college, for his or her adult occupation, for social gracefulness, and for physical health.  But this cannot be done at the expense of the more important, spiritual matters.  Jesus scolded Martha for being too focused on the earthly, all the while overlooking the "one thing" which was "needful" (Lk. 10:41-42).  Every child we bring into this world is an eternal being!  What an important realization too few parents recognize!  Give them the things needful to succeed in this life.  Just do not rob them of the most important thing, the only "needful" thing there is!