May 2015
Sanctified Dreaming Produces Sanctified Praying
The title of this brief introductory article to our May Prayer Letter is just as true if I turn the wording around – “Sanctified Praying Produces Sanctified Dreaming”. The ministries that God has opened to us through many years were birthed in specific answers to specific prayers. Overseas Outreach and Northwest Science Museum are no exceptions.
Overseas Outreach
During the summer of 1997, when Della and I were serving with a congregation in Gresham, Oregon, (now named River Hills Church), we both sensed that God was getting us ready to make a change, but we didn’t know what change, so we talked it over and decided to make it a definite focus of our prayers. That summer I spent some time in fasting with prayer as I was seeking to understand God’s leading in our lives.
Since we were already serving as Northwest Representatives for Victor and Evelyn Knowles’ One Body Ministry (now named Peace on Earth Ministries), we decided to go to Joplin, Missouri, in September for the “Convocation,” celebrating 5 years of full time service. (Victor had already long served as editor of “One Body”) while also serving as preaching minister of local churches. One morning at the Convocation, we had the privilege of getting personally acquainted with Reggie Thomas at breakfast. After breakfast, as we were standing in a hallway, I mentioned to Reggie about sensing that God was getting us ready to make a change. As I recall, I brought up the subject as a prayer request. Reggie’s immediate response was to say, “We need a preacher for Estonia, and you may be the answer to our prayers!” As he said this, he was pointing directly at me. I distinctly remember thinking, “It doesn’t sound like anyplace I want to go!” – but I gave him the polite Christian answer: “I will pray about it.” The last evening of the Convocation, as I was walking toward the outside door following the service, I heard a voice behind me calling my name. Turning, I saw Reggie pointing at me and heard him saying, “You will be hearing from me!”
A few days after our return to Gresham, a letter from White Fields Overseas Evangelism showed up in our mailbox. It was Reggie Thomas’ letter of invitation for us to join them in reaching Estonia for Christ. Della and I knelt together with the open letter on our bed in front of us and asked God what we should do now. As we were praying, it occurred to me that the next step would be to take this letter to our leadership team and describe to them the circumstances surrounding it. When I did that, they told me that this is God’s leading and that they wanted to be our sponsoring church. The next summer (June 1998) I was teaching Christian Evidences in youth camps in Estonia, and God continues to lead us step by step.
In reality, Overseas Outreach is a branch of White Fields Overseas Evangelism, and we function under their 501(c)(3). We praise God for opening this door of ministry to us. Next month I plan to share with you the beginnings of Northwest Science Museum.
Another Amazing Answer to Prayer
You may remember that we had “A Matter of Faith” scheduled only for February 6, 7 and 8 in the huge Edwards 21 Theater, but they carried it another 11 days beyond that first weekend. Definitely an answer to prayer!
Michael Lehosit, owner of Overland Park Cinema, gave Rich Christiano an exceptionally good offer for each showing of “A Matter of Faith”, so Rich called me about it late in February. Since we had three donors who covered the theater rental costs for four showings, and after talking it over with Rich and praying about it, I decided to promote the movie for four more showings at no charge for those who would attend. We would instead announce a freewill offering to be divided between Northwest Science Museum and Christiano Film Group. The four showings were scheduled for Sunday, April 12, at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m., Monday, April 13, at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, April 14, at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday evening was our best attendance – 232 people who came for “A Matter of Faith” that evening. I asked one of the employees of Overland Park Cinema how many were there for the movies in the other two theaters. There were 12 total for both of those two movies! The total income for Northwest Science Museum from the movie showings both in February and in April was about $1,800.00. Praise God!
The income was not high pay for the amount of hours Stan Lutz and I put in for these showings (pretty low actually) – but the return on investment cannot be measured merely in dollars. We made many good contacts who may be very interested in becoming co-workers in our huge NWSM project, and we are currently gathering an advisory council and resource pool of interested individuals. Some of these came from the movie showings.
Perhaps the greatest return on investment will only be shown in eternity in the lives of Christians who were inspired by this powerful movie to become bold witnesses for Jesus and the doubters and unbelievers who were impacted by the truth brought vividly before their eyes. Here are some examples:
1. One man on his way out of the theater told Stan that he is an atheist – but the movie really gave him something to think about.
2. We had a display for Northwest Science Museum with books, DVDs, tracts, and “Acts & Facts” magazines, which gave us the opportunity to enhance the message of the movie with lots of confirmation materials for interested individuals.
3. Just before one of the showings, I saw two guys at the back of the next building, taking a smoke break, so I took them flyers about the movie plus about NWSM and invited them to come to the movie. After going to my van for something, I turned around in time to see them going into the Cinema. Please pray for God to water the seeds sown.
The Lord will Provide!
Most of you realize that I am bi-vocational and that our income should be from our lighting business (but we have been depending on our inadequate Social Security funds because our business income has been way down). Since the week after Christmas I’ve invested lots of time in promoting “A Matter of Faith”, which normally would have been invested in Deighton Lighting. Anyway, God has blessed in that each month from January through April our business volume has increased. “Seek ye first His kingdom and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” We praise Him and are very thankful for His blessing!
From Our Mailbox
“I received the books you sent. Thank you. I’ve already passed 3 of them out, and I’ll do more. I appreciate the sound Biblical teaching and easy-to-read style you write with…..”
Your friend in Christ,
Gwen (Eichel)
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Concerning the movie “A Matter of Faith” showings at the Overland Park Cinema in Boise:
“I was SO pleased to hear that the Holy Spirit moved so wonderfully in making sure the showings resulted in the number of people attending a success! I know how hard you worked to make this happen – and I am thrilled that so many seeds of faith were sown.
Bless you for your faithful service to evangelism. Well done!
Carol” (Peart)
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“Thank you for the newsletter. We praise God that Rick’s book has been published. We pray God will use it in multiple ways. We hope you had a good trip and received our latest update. Some of my grafted branches began to grow…..We need to pray for peace during this week as our country is re-evaluating the outcome of the victory day. The reaction is diverse to that.
Blessings, Zhenya” (Molodchy)
Conclusion
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17 (NKJV).
“And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” Revelation 19:6-7 (NKJV).
New Museum to Present ‘Overwhelming Evidence for Creation’
April 13, 2015 | Filed under: Highlights,Science,Top Stories | By: Garrett Haley
BOISE – A Christian group in Idaho has unveiled plans for a new creation museum that would display scientific evidence for the Bible’s creation account and expose weaknesses in the evolutionary theory.
Northwest Science Museum is an organization headquartered in Boise that aspires to construct a large natural history museum with exhibits detailing the earth’s history according to the biblical worldview. If built, the museum would likely be located on Interstate 84, somewhere between Boise and Nampa.
“We want to show a lot of science that’s being censored and not presented to the public,” Doug Bennett, the museum’s executive director, told the Idaho Statesman.
Currently, the group is operating a small “Vision Center” in Boise that houses various scientific specimens and artifacts, including fossils, petrified relics, and ancient dinosaur eggs. Eventually, the museum team hopes to display these and many other exhibits in the full museum.
“Providing relevant and current creation science information to the public is what Northwest Science Museum is all about,” Bennett told Christian News Network. “The museum will create permanent exhibits that will educate people of all ages about the most exciting emerging creation science in an accessible and interactive manner.”
The museum’s board of directors hopes to show Christians that science, correctly understood, corroborates the Bible’s accounts.
“They need to know that there is true science that backs up creation,” Bennett asserted. “The church as a whole has shied away from this issue. Our goal is to help pastors and lay teachers understand the overwhelming evidence for creation from a scientific point of view, and that we don’t need to be afraid to talk about origins.”
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According to the Los Angeles Times, plans for the Northwest Science Museum call for a $150 million, 350,000-square-foot facility, as well as a full-sized replica of Noah’s Ark. The museum would showcase various pieces of scientific evidence, along with explanations of the evidence from both the creation and evolution perspectives.
Bennett, who has a background in geology, believes the exhibits would help museum-goers recognize the validity of the Bible’s historical and scientific records.
“I think that most people say that creation is religion and evolution is science,” he explained. “That couldn’t be farther from the truth. True science is observable, testable, and repeatable. Evolution has never been observed, is not testable and has never been repeated, so it is outside the realm of true science as defined by the scientific method.”
“However, so is creation science,” he continued. “It also has never been repeated and was not observed. So both are theories about the past, trying to explain how things that exist in the present got here. … The difference is that Christians have someone who knows everything, who doesn’t lie, and who was there at the beginning and he told us in the Bible how it happened.”
Stan Lutz, the museum’s cofounder, told Christian News Network that the creation vs. evolution discussion is important, because belief in evolutionism can lead to hopelessness and violence.
“If you will recall the Columbine shooting spree, those young men were taught they came from slime, which evolved into things that eventually evolved into an ape, then to you,” Lutz said. “We have allowed the schools and evolutionism to steal away all their hope. We then wonder how this could happen. They only acted out what they have been taught by the evolutionism paradigm.”
That is why the Northwest Science Museum’s biblical message is important, say Bennett and Lutz. When visitors understand the soundness of the Scriptures and the emptiness of evolutionism, they can come to know Jesus as their savior.
“One of the most philosophical questions that individuals (and even society as a whole) asks is, ‘How did I get here, and what is my purpose in life?’” Bennett said. “You have to understand your origins to understand your purpose in life. There is only one faith that explains origins, and why there is death, sin and suffering in this world, and why there is a need for a creator and a redeemer.”
“You see,” he added, “all Christian doctrine is based in Genesis and most within the first 11 chapters of Genesis. So it’s extremely important to understand origins. Understanding origins leads one to have to make a decision about God as a creator, and if God created you, then He makes the rules and you are accountable to Him; and if you are accountable, then you have to either accept Jesus as Lord and savior or reject Him. That’s one of the goals of the Northwest Science Museum: to bring people to the point where they have to make a decision about God.”
Photo: NorthwestScienceMuseum.com