Does your faith need strengthening? Are you confused and wondering if Jesus Christ is really "The Way, the Truth, and the Life?" "Fight for Your Faith" is a blog filled with interesting and thought provoking articles to help you find the answers you are seeking. Jesus said, "Seek and ye shall find." In Jeremiah we read, "Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall seek for Me with all your heart." These articles and videos will help you in your search for the Truth.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Top Five Regrets of the Dying


By Bronnie Ware

For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives.

People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learned never to underestimate someone’s capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected: denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial, and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed, though, every one of them.

When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realize that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honored even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.

It is very important to try and honor at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realize, until they no longer have it.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children’s youth and their partner’s companionship.

Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.

As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming.

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

Often they would not truly realize the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks, and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.

It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually, though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks: love and relationships.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one.

Many did not realize until the end that happiness is a choice.

They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called “comfort” of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.

When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.

Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.

The Silence


By Phil Lynch

I have been rubbing shoulders with death lately. My father-in-law passed away a month shy of his 99th birthday. My wife and I had been staying with him and my brother-in-law for the last five months. The main reason we were there is because we wanted to be around him before he passed on. Our job commitments had meant we weren’t previously living in close proximity, so we were grateful that the Lord had, through recent changes, created the opportunity for us to come back. He was a grand old man who wanted to live to 100, but his body just didn’t last the distance.

Then today my sister wrote that my cousin had also passed away. I wasn’t close to him—actually, I'd had no contact with him for about 40 years—but still, it was cause for me to reflect on the fact that someone that I had known well for a time was no longer around on earth. It is an odd and unfamiliar feeling. But that in itself is strange, because death is integral to life. Physical life has a beginning and an end. We rejoice at birth and grieve at death.

I am presently still in the moment. I know that death for us is a moment of release into the spirit world. I know that God has promised us that we can barely even imagine the good things that He has in store for those of us that love Him.1 I know we are supposed to take hold of those promises and let them encourage us.

From the Bible, we know a number of things about the afterlife from the time of the Rapture onwards. We know that then we receive a new super body, still corporeal in some aspects but super-corporeal in others. We will be able to eat, we can walk and talk, and our new bodies will be flesh and bone, but apparently not have blood.2 More than this, we will also be able to appear and disappear. We know this because Jesus did these things after His resurrection and John tells us that “we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him.”3We will be able to fly and survive in rarefied atmospheric conditions, because it says we are going to meet the Lord in the clouds when He comes at His second coming.4 Jesus, of course, rose into the clouds at His ascension.5

But what happens before that time to those who pass on isn’t talked about a lot in scriptures. There is (or at least there was) a place called Paradise that Jesus went to at His death on the cross.6 We also know that Jesus went to visit the spirits in prison,7 but that doesn’t necessarily mean Paradise and that “prison” are the same place. He could have visited both. Paul said he knew of a man—many think he was alluding to himself—who visited Paradise, which he also called the third heaven, in some event so profound that he wasn’t sure if he physically visited it or it was only a spiritual experience.8 Jesus told us of a certain poor man, Lazarus, who died and was carried to Abraham’s bosom.9 Some suggest that is the name of an actual heavenly place, but many versions of the Bible translate bosomas side, so my guess is that it meant Lazarus was next to Abraham.

Nevertheless, Jesus told us that when we believe in Him, we have eternal life. So if life is forever, then we must go from life to life at the moment of death. That means our spirits live on. Many who have had near-death experiences describe that life in glowing terms, but if we are going strictly by what the Bible says, there is not much to go on. But knowing the nature of our God and that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness are the essence of His Spirit, I think we can be sure that life after death in His presence will be a wonderful experience.10

But for now there is a silence in my soul. I was going to describe it as an emptiness, but that is not the right word, at least not for me. My thoughts are far from empty. I am thinking of what these people had been and done on earth and of my interactions with them. I remember the one time I played golf with my cousin. I even remember the box-thorn bush I hit my ball into and his commiseration as to the scratched and bloody arm I got from retrieving it. It's funny what memories stick with you. There were probably lots more that could have but didn't.

But I don’t hear him. I don’t hear my father-in-law either. The silence isn’t a bad thing. It is not a scary thing. Still, a couple of voices have been lost to the world, distinctive voices that probably don’t have a match anywhere. Life is different now. The world, or at least my world, is not the same.

I know this is probably a transitory phase I am going through. And I am confident I will come out of it and it will be a life-affirming experience. But I don’t want it to pass without me capturing the essence of it, without it adding some depth to my character. It is not a morbid or fearful grieving, but these days have an ineffableness to them. I have wandered into a part of life that I haven’t been into for quite a while. And this time it is different than before. Perhaps I am more philosophical this time, or more conscious of mortality, or more human and less doctrinaire in my theology, or… But it feels like this time is life-enriching, because it goes right to the core of my being. I have come up to the wall at the end of earth life. I have placed my hand on its surface. It is a strange feeling.


[1] 1 Corinthians 2:9.

[2] Luke 24:39.

[3] 1 John 3:2.

[4] 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

[5] Acts 1:9–11.

[6] Luke 23:43.

[7] 1 Peter 3:19.

[8] 2 Corinthians 12:2–4.

[9] Luke 16:20–22.

[10] Galatians 5:22–23.

His Higher Ways

By Steve Hearts

As with every aspect of our walk with the Lord, prayer is, and always will be, an endless learning experience. If there is anything that a life of prayer has taught me, it is that God’s ways are truly higher than ours. We often approach Him in prayer, thinking we have a pretty good idea of what we want or need. Many times this is true and we receive the exact answer we’re requesting. But what about the times when we request something and in response we are given the exact opposite? When this happened to me, I was left with a gnawing uneasiness for some time, which caused my prayer life to take a nosedive. But Jesus, in His faithfulness, cleared it all up like no one else could.

It all started when I was 13. Our family was living in the U.S. with several fellow laborers in the faith. One of them, a dear woman who I will call M., was diagnosed with an advanced case of cancer. Her chances of survival were slim. My family and I, along with many others, held daily desperate prayer vigil for her healing. She miraculously pulled through and is still living today.

When my mother was diagnosed with the same type of cancer several years later and not given any better chance of survival, M. was a constant source of encouragement for her. She regularly assured us all that it was but a small thing for the Lord to bring Mom through, were this His plan. I took great courage and hope in M.’s words.

One day while we were gathered in prayer for Mom’s healing, the Lord brought to M.’s remembrance a verse she had hung on to during her illness, which was marvelously fulfilled. It was a statement Jesus made in John 11:4, upon hearing the news that Lazarus was sick: “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.”

This promise caused my hopes to soar even higher. I held fast to it, even when Mom developed a blood clot on Thanksgiving Day and was only given 24 hours to live. When she stabilized some and was put in hospice care, I continued to hope. I clung to this hope until the very last minute, when she finally passed away a couple of months later.

During the aftermath of our bereavement, I managed to remain fairly composed outwardly. But inwardly I was confused and at a loss for explanations as to the way things had turned out. Hadn’t we been specifically told that Mom’s “sickness was not unto death?” What of all the prayers for her healing? Had they gone to waste?

Several weeks passed before I could muster up the courage to bring my questions before the Lord and seek His answers. I finally decided to at least give it a try and began to pour out my heart to Jesus. Then I waited silently. I had not been waiting long before His presence began to flood the room, and I felt His words speak to my heart.

He said that Mom had been presented with the tough choice between remaining with us and going to be with the Lord. She had been told that the latter would turn out most beneficial for all in the long run, even though it seemed like the most difficult choice at the moment. Having submitted to God’s highest will, she was now with Him. Meanwhile, I was assured that not a single prayer that was prayed on her behalf had gone unheard by Jesus.

I came to understand how wonderful the Lord is in allowing us the freedom to make decisions, and operating according to what we decide, just as with the city of Nineveh in the story of Jonah. When Jonah was commanded to warn Nineveh of its imminent destruction, he did so, failing to take into account the possibility that the people of Nineveh could choose to repent and turn from their wicked ways. When they did, causing God to change His mind and spare them, Jonah was displeased. But that day he came to see a side of God that, it seems, he had not previously known. I was also reminded of God’s words in Isaiah 55:8–9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Although I knew beyond doubt that the answers I’d received were true, it took a great deal of surrender on my part to believe and accept them. In all honesty, this process took a total of eight years. But when I finally accepted all that had happened and learned to give thanks to Jesus for it, the grave lost its victory and death lost its sting. Furthermore, Jesus gave me the gift of healing, renewing my faith to pray for the sick and trust Him for the answers. He still continues to use this gift for His glory.

The new attitude that I was given, of thankfulness and acceptance of God’s higher ways, is clearly expressed in a song I recently heard for the first time. It is by Steven Curtis Chapman and its title is “Higher Ways.”

Your higher ways teach me to trust You.
Your higher ways are not like mine.
Your higher ways are the ways of the Father
Hiding His children in His love.

Someday I will fly and
Maybe then You will take me aside
And show me the bigger picture.
But until I'm with You
I'll be here with a heart that is true
And a soul that's resting on
Your higher ways.

Friday, May 10, 2013

SCIENTISTS SPEAK ABOUT EVOLUTION: Part 2

http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/01-evol2.htm

There are scientists all over the world who know that evolutionary theory is bankrupt. Such men as *Charles Darwin, *Thomas and *Julian Huxley, and *Steven Jay Gould have admitted it. But you will not find these statements in the popular press. Such admissions are only made to fellow professionals.

An asterisk ( * ) by a name indicates that person is not known to be a creationist. Of over 4,000 quotations in the set of books this Encyclopedia is based on, only 164 statements are by creationists.

"Paleontologists [fossil experts] have paid an exorbitant price for Darwin's argument. We fancy ourselves as the only true students of life's history, yet to preserve our favored account of evolution by natural selection we view our data as so bad that we almost never see the very process we profess to study."—*Steven Jay Gould, The Panda's Thumb (1982), pp. 181-182 [Harvard professor and the leading evolutionary spokesman of the latter half of the twentieth century].

"The problem of the origin of species has not advanced in the last 150 years. One hundred and fifty years have already passed during which it has been said that the evolution of the species is a fact but, without giving real proofs of it and without even a principle of explaining it. During the last one hundred and fifty years of research that has been carried out along this line [in order to prove the theory], there has been no discovery of anything. It is simply a repetition in different ways of what Darwin said in 1859. This lack of results is unforgivable in a day when molecular biology has really opened the veil covering the mystery of reproduction and heredity . .

"Finally, there is only one attitude which is possible as I have just shown: It consists in affirming that intelligence comes before life. Many people will say this is not science, it is philosophy. The only thing I am interested in is fact, and this conclusion comes out of an analysis and observation of the facts."—*G. Salet, Hasard et Certitude: Le Transformisme devant la Biologie Actuelle (1973), p. 331.

"The theories of evolution, with which our studious youth have been deceived, constitute actually a dogma that all the world continues to teach; but each, in his specialty, the zoologist or the botanist, ascertains that none of the explanations furnished is adequate . . It results from this summary, that the theory of evolution is impossible."—*P. Lemoine, "Introduction: De L' Evolution?" Encyclopedie Francaise, Vol. 5 (1937), p. 6.

"Darwinism is a creed not only with scientists committed to document the all-purpose role of natural selection. It is a creed with masses of people who have at best a vague notion of the mechanism of evolution as proposed by Darwin, let alone as further complicated by his successors. Clearly, the appeal cannot be that of a scientific truth but of a philosophical belief which is not difficult to identify. Darwinism is a belief in the meaninglessness of existence."—*R. Kirk, "The Rediscovery of Creation," in National Review, (May 27, 1983), p. 641.

"I have always been slightly suspicious of the theory of evolution because of its ability to account for any property of living beings (the long neck of the giraffe, for example). I have therefore tried to see whether biological discoveries over the last thirty years or so fit in with Darwin's theory. I do not think that they do. To my mind, the theory does not stand up at all."—*H. Lipson, "A Physicist Looks at Evolution," Physic Bulletin, 31 (1980), p. 138.

"Evolution is baseless and quite incredible."—*John Ambrose Fleming, President, British Association for Advancement of Science, in The Unleashing of Evolutionary Thought.

"Unfortunately, in the field of evolution most explanations are not good. As a matter of fact, they hardly qualify as explanations at all; they are suggestions, hunches, pipe dreams, hardly worthy of being called hypotheses."—*Norman Macbeth, Darwin Retried (1971), p. 147.

"It is not the duty of science to defend the theory of evolution, and stick by it to the bitter end—no matter which illogical and unsupported conclusions it offers. On the contrary, it is expected that scientists recognize the patently obvious impossibility of Darwin's pronouncements and predictions . . Let's cut the umbilical cord that tied us down to Darwin for such a long time. It is choking us and holding us back."—I.L. Cohen, Darwin Was Wrong: A Study in Probabilities (1985).

"This general tendency to eliminate, by means of unverifiable speculations, the limits of the categories Nature presents to us, is the inheritance of biology from The Origin of Species. To establish the continuity required by theory, historical arguments are invoked, even though historical evidence is lacking. Thus are engendered those fragile towers of hypothesis based on hypothesis, where fact and fiction intermingle in an inextricable confusion."—*W.R. Thompson, "Introduction," to Everyman's Library issue of *Charles Darwin's, Origin of Species (1956 edition).

" `Scientists who go about teaching that evolution is a fact of life are great con men, and the story they are telling may be the greatest hoax ever. In explaining evolution we do not have one iota of fact.' A tangled mishmash of guessing games and figure juggling [Tahmisian called it]."—*The Fresno Bee, August 20, 1959, p. 1-B [quoting T.N. Tahmisian, physiologist for the Atomic Energy Commission].

" `The theory [of evolution] is a scientific mistake.' "—*Louis Agassiz, quoted in H. Enoch, Evolution or Creation, (1966), p. 139. [Agassiz was a Harvard University professor and the pioneer in glaciation.]

"[In Darwin's writings] possibilities were assumed to add up to probability, and probabilities then were promoted to certitudes."—*Agassiz, op. cit., p. 335.

"The origin of all diversity among living beings remains a mystery as totally unexplained as if the book of Mr. Darwin had never been written, for no theory unsupported by fact, however plausible it may appear, can be admitted in science."—L. Agassiz on the Origin of Species, American Journal of Science, 30 (1860), p. 154. [Darwin's book was published in 1859.]

"[Darwin could] summon up enough general, vague and conjectural reasons to account for this fact, and if these were not taken seriously, he could come up with a different, but equally general, vague and conjectural set of reasons."—*Gertrude Himmelfarb, Darwin and Darwinian Revolution (1968), p. 319.

"Ultimately the Darwinian theory of evolution is no more nor less than the great cosmogenic myth of the twentieth century . . the origin of life and of new beings on earth is still largely as enigmatic as when Darwin set sail on the [ship] Beagle."—*Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1986), p. 358.

"It has been estimated that no fewer than 800 phrases in the subjunctive mood (such as `Let us assume,' or `We may well suppose,' etc.) are to be found between the covers of Darwin's Origin of Species alone."—L. Merson Davies [British scientist], Modern Science (1953), p. 7.

"I can envision observations and experiments that would disprove any evolutionary theory I know."—*Stephen Jay Gould, "Evolution as Fact and Theory," Discover 2(5):34-37 (1981).

"Unfortunately for Darwin's future reputation, his life was spent on the problem of evolution which is deductive by nature . . It is absurd to expect that many facts will not always be irreconcilable with any theory of evolution and, today, every one of his theories is contradicted by facts."—*P.T. Mora, The Dogma of Evolution, p. 194.

"Darwinism is a creed not only with scientists committed to document the all-purpose role of natural selection. It is a creed with masses of people who have, at best, a vague notion of the mechanism of evolution as proposed by Darwin, let alone as further complicated by his successors."—*S. Jaki, Cosmos and Creator (1982).

"In essence, we contend that neo-Darwinism is a theory of differential survival and not one of origin . .
"We are certainly not arguing here that differential survival of whole organisms does not occur. This must inevitably happen [i.e. some species become extinct]. The question that we must ask is, does this represent the controlling dynamic of organic evolution? Cannot a similar argument be equally well-constructed to `explain' any frequency distribution? For example, consider rocks which vary in hardness and also persist through time. Clearly the harder rocks are better `adapted' to survive harsh climatic conditions. As Lewontin points out, a similar story can be told about political parties, rumors, jokes, stars, and discarded soft drink containers."—*A.J. Hughes and *D. Lambert, "Functionalism, Structuralism, `Ways of Seeing,' " Journal of Theoretical Biology, 787 (1984), pp. 796-797.

"Biologists have indeed built their advances in evolutionary theory on the Darwinian foundation, not realizing that the foundation is about to topple because of Darwin's three mistakes.

"George Bernard Shaw wisecracked once that Darwin had the luck to please everybody who had an axe to grind. Well, I also have an axe to grind, but I am not pleased. We have suffered through two world wars and are threatened by an Armageddon. We have had enough of the Darwinian fallacy."—*Kenneth Hsu, "Reply," Geology, 15 (1987), p. 177.

"Therefore, a grotesque account of a period some thousands of years ago is taken seriously though it be built by piling special assumptions on special assumptions, ad hoc hypothesis [invented for a purpose] on ad hoc hypothesis, and tearing apart the fabric of science whenever it appears convenient. The result is a fantasia which is neither history nor science."—*James Conant [chemist and former president, Harvard University], quoted in Origins Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1982, p. 2.

"It is inherent in any definition of science that statements that cannot be checked by observation are not really saying anything—or at least they are not science."—*George G. Simpson, "The Nonprevalence of Humanoids," in Science, 143 (1964) p. 770.

"In accepting evolution as fact, how many biologists pause to reflect that science is built upon theories that have been proved by experiment to be correct or remember that the theory of animal evolution has never been thus approved."—*L.H. Matthews, "Introduction," Origin of Species, Charles Darwin (1971 edition).

"Present-day ultra-Darwinism, which is so sure of itself, impresses incompletely informed biologists, misleads them, and inspires fallacious interpretations . .

"Through use and abuse of hidden postulates, of bold, often ill-founded extrapolations, a pseudoscience has been created. It is taking root in the very heart of biology and is leading astray many biochemists and biologists, who sincerely believe that the accuracy of fundamental concepts has been demonstrated, which is not the case."—*Pierre P. de Grasse, The Evolution of Living Organisms (1977), p. 202.

"The over-riding supremacy of the myth [of evolution] has created a widespread illusion that the theory of evolution was all but proved one hundred years ago and that all subsequent biological research—paleontological, zoological and in the newer branches of genetics and molecular biology—has provided ever-increasing evidence for Darwinian ideas. Nothing could be further from the truth.

[In a letter to Asa Gray, a Harvard professor of biology, Darwin wrote:] "I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds of true science."—*Charles Darwin, quoted in *N.C. Gillespie, Charles Darwin and the Problem of Creation (1979), p. 2 [University of Chicago book]. "The fact is that the evidence was so patchy one hundred years ago that even Darwin himself had increasing doubts as to the validity of his views, and the only aspect of his theory which has received any support over the past century is where it applies to micro-evolutionary phenomena. His general theory, that all life on earth had originated and evolved by a gradual successive accumulation of fortuitous mutations, is still, as it was in Darwin's time, a highly speculative hypothesis entirely without direct factual support and very far from that self-evident axiom some of its more aggressive advocates would have us believe."—*Michael Denton, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.

Evolution- the great modern myth.

Dennis Edwards:

Evolution is a great myth believed by many because they have been taught from childhood that it's true. It's like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. It's a grown-up's fairy-tale for men who do not want to retain God in their knowledge. There is no empirical evidence to justify the belief system, only faith that it has occurred. The belief in evolution is a religious belief. It is founded on faith and wishful thinking and nothing else. 

Evolution is the amazing modern myth to liberate us from the confines of religion and all its hypocrisy! Men accept it, not because it is plausible or true, but because religious hypocrisy has shown religion to offer no solution. Nevertheless, God approaches each man individually and speaks to him in his heart and mind. Jesus has given us the answer, if we would but receive it. Call upon Him today. He's not far from any of us and promises He will answer. 

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