June 2015
Sanctified Dreaming Produces Sanctified Praying
(Continued from May Prayer Letter)
Last month in the first paragraph of our prayer letter I wrote: “The ministries that God has opened to us through many years were birthed in specific answers to specific prayers.” Since I shared with you about Overseas Outreach last month, I want to give you some background concerning Northwest Science Museum this month.
Northwest Science Museum
I believe it was in 2006 that Della and I gave a significant contribution (for us anyway) to Answers in Genesis for the building of a big creation museum in a strategic location near Cincinnati, Ohio. Ken Ham and his co-workers chose the location because it would be centrally located for the eastern and mid-west states. The Creation Museum opened in May, 2007, and since then they have had well over a million and a half visitors from nearly all over the world, plus many more millions who log on to the Answers in Genesis website, read the Answers Magazine and books, watch the DVDs, and come to the training conferences. This ministry is making an impact for the amazing evidences about God’s ingenious wonders demonstrated in His creation.
One day back in 2006 or 2007 as I was praying for the creation museum, it occurred to me that Boise is centrally located for the entire Northwest. That’s why Promise Keepers held some of their rallies here. The thought kept pressing into my mind, “We need a creation museum here!” I mentioned this to Brent Carter and several others and asked them to pray about it too. (Brent is the Director of Foundations in Genesis of Idaho.) I didn’t picture myself spear-heading such a massive project since I already felt fully occupied and stretched with maintaining our business, Deighton Lighting, and our Overseas Outreach ministry, but I did feel a conviction that it needed to be done. One day in June 2008, Brent called me and said that God had placed it on Doug Bennett’s heart to have a creation museum here. (It was God who put the dream in Doug’s heart and gave him an idea for how it would look.) Brent asked me if I would consider being on the Board of Directors, and I said, “Yes! Definitely!” I renewed my prayers often and sincerely about a creation museum here in the Boise area. When the three of us began meeting in June seven years ago, the economy of our nation was plunging towards the gutter – not a good time to start a multi-million dollar project without funding or resources. Right? We have realized from the beginning that this is a God thing. Without Him, we can do nothing! We don’t have the finances, the skills or abilities, or the man power to do this, but when it is done, we cannot help but realize that God did it – and He does not give His glory to another. (Isaiah 42:8). Already even when we look at our small beginning with the Vision Center, we can feel and say, “Look what the Lord has done!”
In the fall of 2008 Lloyd Anderson was one of the speakers for Foundations in Genesis. After his excellent presentation pertaining to his Mount St. Helen’s creation museum, I asked him if Brent had mentioned to him about our plans for a creation museum here in the Boise area. He told me that he knew someone who had planned to start a creation museum in the Seattle/Tacoma area, but he discovered that property and rental was too expensive there, so he was willing to donate his vast stock of fossils, displays, etc. to another creation museum. Lloyd put us in touch with Stan Lutz.
After several meetings by conference calls and in person, Stan became our fourth member of the Board of Directors – and Stan and Bonnie Lutz decided to move to Nampa to help us launch Northwest Science Museum. We actually do have a creation museum because Stan donated his to NWSM, but most of it is in storage. (We need a building!)
With a massive amount of help from Diego and Lareina Rodriguez and family, Gilda Roberts, Sharla Davison, our own wives and other family members and many more friends, we opened the Vision Center for NWSM on June 14, 2014, in a rented room. We have received some high reviews – plus the ridicule of committed atheists/humanists/evolutionists. Even from the scorn and the scoffing, God gives beauty for ashes, and joy comes in the morning. For example, last summer Richard Mahn read a scoffer’s letter to the editor about NWSM’s Vision Center, and he was excited to learn that a creation museum had opened its doors here in Boise. We first got acquainted with Rich and his wife, Audrey, after he sent a donation to help us with our outreach. Now Rich and Audrey are enthusiastic co-workers, serving on advisory and resource committee. Since Audrey is an artist, and he is a skilled website creator, they are definitely another tremendous asset, along with Kim Just and many others. Praise God!
Carol Peart and Diana Wilson have spent and are spending massive amounts of volunteer time and effort finding ways to use mostly free advertizing to raise the awareness of NWSM in all the surrounding communities, the state, and the nation. NWSM will now be getting listings on the websites of Chambers of Commerce around here – and is also now on the short list of 25 sites to be sure to see when you come to Boise! Is that great or what? Thank you, Carol and Diana! Thank you also to all our other volunteers I haven’t named!
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth: “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” I Corinthians 16:9 (NKJV).
It seems open doors and many adversaries often do come together. We are seeing God answer so many prayers – as I reported concerning “A Matter of Faith” showings, as well as seeing God bringing to us wonderful people to share the vision and workload – but at the same time we see Satan bombarding us with adversities. Not only the scoffers, but also the financial pressures and serious health issues. Stan is our museum curator, but he has voluntarily served since January without a salary, even though he had a heart attack last September. Stan and Bonnie have huge medical expenses. She works full time to pay the bills, her 94 year-old-mother has serious health issues, and Bonnie’s brother died just a year ago. Brent is fighting cancer and Bev, his faithful wife, struggles with Parkinson’s disease. Kim Just’s wife, Vanda, also has serious health issues, but he serves with Stan as often as he can do so. Della’s severe pains in her feet from neuropathy seem to be increasing. She has several other health issues, but doesn’t like for me to mention them often. The bottom line is that God gave us the dream of NWSM (as a true science testimony), but Satan is fighting us all the way! Please pray for us often and earnestly. NWSM was birthed in prayer, continues by intercession, and is sustained by the supplications and support of God’s people.
Have you ever noticed in Scripture that it seems to be God’s chosen pattern to use inadequate people with insufficient funds often at inappropriate times to perform His wondrous miracles of providence and grace? That way, if any man boast, let him boast in the Lord! This gives us great hope to see this huge dream that He placed in our hearts fulfilled. So for doubters who may logically say, “This is preposterous! You can’t do this!” we can calmly reply, “Yes, you are right. We can’t. However, we serve the One who specializes in the impossible. He can!” We face huge problems with such a multi-million dollar project, but have you noticed that whenever God has worked a miracle, He started with a problem? Therefore, if you have no problems in your life – too bad. Sorry! Unless you have a problem to bring to Him, you aren’t even a candidate for a miracle. Have you yet paused to thank Almighty God for your trials and problems? As Andre’ Crouch sang, “For if I never had a problem, I wouldn’t know that He could solve them. Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus – I’ve learned to trust in God!”
“Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
Amazing Admissions
To me it is so sad, even appalling, that multitudes of human beings, even many Christians, believe the Satanic lie that so-called “evolutionary science” is true science. Creationism and evolutionism are opposite and opposing worldviews that cannot be reconciled. Just as an oxymoron such as “dry ice” isn’t actually dry, so theistic evolutionism isn’t actually theistic in the Biblical sense of Who God is. One leading anti-Christ/anti-creationism philosopher has openly stated that evolution is a religion and “I hope there is no God.” Adrian Rogers told of seeing a bumper sticker that read, “If you say, “There is no God – you had better be right!”
Last September we received an email from Creation Ministries International with a quotation I had read before, but didn’t remember where. Here is the introductory paragraph: “Professor Richard Lewontin, a geneticist (and self proclaimed Marxist), is certainly one of the world’s leaders in evolutionary biology. He wrote this very revealing comment… It illustrates the implicit philosophical bias against Genesis creation – regardless of whether or not the facts support it.”
Now here is the quote from Richard Lewontin:
“Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.
“It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.”
From Our Mailbox
Following are some excerpts from Zhenya Molodchy’s update – May 2015
“Greetings to you all on the Day of Pentecost – the beginning of the church age. We praise God for this special bond among believers which He established by His Holy Spirit. On the one hand God has granted us great religious freedom in Ukraine as we see it now. The Word of God is preached on TV and spoken on the radio more often as it has never been before. It is recognized in the midst of politicians and the ‘Verchovna Rada’ of Ukraine (Ukrainian parliament). On the other hand we still have to deal with hard soil of our people’s hearts as we were delivered from communist slavery. As people and the country we are still walking on the hard and dusty soil of Ukrainian ‘desert’ with hope and with hopelessness for future. However, the future is in the hands of the One who established His church and gave His life for her awaiting her rapture as the King of Kings. Let us celebrate with hope! Glory to our Lord Jesus Christ! We would like to thank you for your prayers and financial support and share some of the highlights of the events in ministry.
PRISON MINISTRY – Please, continue to pray for the souls I (Zhenya) touched with the Word of God, while teaching the staff and prisoners in two different places in Kharkiv area. God blessed me to share the living gospel and teach the personnel. I would like to thank you for praying.
MINISTRY IN MOSPANOVO VILLAGE – Besides our regular activities in Christian Life Church which is preaching, teaching and visiting the sick we had enough strength and time to visit a few Azeri families in Mospanovo. God blessed us with a very rich and meaningful conversations on the life of Christ. Hayalla, as the family host, served us traditional Azeri meal. People in Mospanovo are not very open to commit to the church and become a part of it. We have only a group of 5 faithful women who are gathering for the time of prayer and studying the Word. But since the time we started ministering to this area a lot of stone and hard blocks of soil were worked on through different projects and especially with projects for children. This summer (June 27 – July 7) we plan to hold the day camp for children from Mospanovo with the youth and young adults of Christian Life Church. We look forward for the time of Christian fellowship, worship, and activities for children through the whole week in the local Community building. Please pray for the camp, openness of people and village authorities, protection from evil and financial resources needed for the camp.
EVANGELISM WITH MEDICAL CLINIC – I was very much blessed to serve alongside Medical and Construction Team from Mississippi coordinated by IBM missionary in Kharkiv Linda Gray. Along with other translators we served as a ‘mouth’ for American doctors and workers. God blessed us beyond measure in evangelism and construction work. We served in four towns of Kharkiv region and were able to share medical help and the Word of God with more than 500 people. Besides I shared in pulpit ministry in one of the churches on Sunday.”
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“Dear brother Rick,
Warmest greetings from your brothers and sisters! We would like to thank you for remembering a small church in Simferopol. We praise the Lord for your big heart that we have a spot in, for your prayers and support, for such a faithful co-worker on the field of God that you are.
We have lived through a lot this year, becoming a new country, all the paper work that had to be arranged according to the new laws, hosting refugees from Lugansk, our beloved brothers and sisters moving to Ukraine. However we are not feeling down, for our joy is in God, and so is the hope.
We highly appreciate your constant care and help. You are always invited here and kept in our prayers.
Every blessing,
Simferopol Christian Church”
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“I THANK MY GOD FOR YOU BOTH. MAY GOD CONTINUE TO POUR OUT HIS ABUNDANT BLESSINGS ALL OVER YOU!”
(Pastor Tom Blackburn)
Prayer Requests
1. Please pray for God to lead in my upcoming mission trip to Ukraine and Germany this fall. I plan to leave late September and stay through the end of October or early November. Pray for wisdom, safety, and the right itinerary to be an encouragement to co-workers dealing with constant danger and stress.
2. Pray for a powerful outreach with Origin Summit at the Boise State University campus September 16 and 17. Creation Summit is partnering with Northwest Science Museum to shine the truths of God’s wondrous creation and redemption through Christ into the darkness of evolutionism.
3. Please pray earnestly for God to supply the $35,000 Northwest Science Museum needs to hire Southwestern Museum Services to raise the funds and build the museum. Also please pray for the current operating funds, healing for those mentioned earlier in this letter, and encouragement to keep looking up.
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We especially liked Tom Blackburn’s statement, so we want to pass it on to all of you:
MAY GOD CONTINUE TO POUR OUT HIS ABUNDANT BLESSINGS ALL OVER YOU!”
Yours & His, Rick & Della
“The Peril of Forgetting God”
“Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.’ Since then I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: ‘Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.'” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), Voice from the Gulag. (As printed in “The Knowlesletter”, Nov./Dec. 2013).
“Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
Isaiah 45:22
From Our Prison Ministry
John Briggle gave his life to Jesus and instead of just “doing time,” he has invested his time in prison by studying Scripture and good books, including ours. He now uses his talent for Christ instead of crime. Following is an insightful article he sent to me:
Is Absolute Truth Different Today than it Was “In the beginning…?”
by John Briggle
“There is only one truth, that is, Jesus Christ who “…is before all things, and in Him all things consist” Colossians 1:17. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth…” John 14:6 and “…grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” John 1:17.
When we as Christians reject the ways of the world because they go against the Word of God, we are labeled insensitive, intolerant, out-of-touch, or bigoted. In these last days, we see societal tolerance of abortion, same sex relationships/”marriages”, pornography, and many other anti-biblical beliefs such as evolution. Truth has “evolved” into what each person’s opinion is and we have no right to judge an opinion. After all, the Bible says, “Do not judge.” Does it?
The Bible is all about judgment! God was constantly judging Israel’s obedience. Proverbs 31:9 says, “Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy,” and John 7:24 similarly reads, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
But wait, you might say, doesn’t Matthew 7:1, 2 read, “Judge not, that you not be judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged…”? To stop there is an injustice to the rest of the passage, through verse 6. Paraphrasing, we are to make sure we have removed the junk in our lives before we tell others they must change. Paul said to the Corinthians, “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3.
Throughout his writings, Paul wrote about separating those in the light from those in darkness, and “do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers,” 2 Corinthians 7:14. “But we commend you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly, and not according to the tradition which he received from us.” 2 Thessalonians 3:6. There certainly is an element of judging others throughout the writings of all the Apostles.
So, if there is judgment, righteous judging by the saints, there must be absolute truth, the standard by which to judge, the code which is the Bible standard. Thank you, Jesus!
Many years ago my geometry teacher put a long, complicated theorem on the chalkboard that supposedly proved “1=2.” I suppose his purpose was to excite some objection to his formula and find the flaw in it. He was very proud that he stumped the class!
Recently, a math major friend of mine who went to the same university as my geometry teacher, admitted when asked, that he also was exposed to the same hypothesis. I asked him if he or anyone else was able to find the error in the formula. He responded, “No, no one really cared and we figured it really didn’t matter in the whole scope of things.”
So we go from an absolute truth of “1=1” to a flawed conjecture that “1=2” to total apathy and unconcern for the matter! Doesn’t that parallel the theory of evolution and other societal concerns? An absolute truth of a divine Creator disintegrates into a “You’ve got your truth; I’ve got my truth” attitude. Everyone these days has an opinion about everything! And everyone’s opinion is their own truth!
Most people believe in the existence of heaven and hell but have their own way of getting there. A very popular talk show host and media mogul declared, “There are many different ways to get to heaven!” That is contrary to God’s absolute truth: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me” John 14:6. “Nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12. Hallelujah! Amen. God bless!”