Israel is the major topic of the Bible. The word “Israel” occurs 2,565 times in 2,293 verses. More than enough prophecies have already been fulfilled in Israel’s unique history to prove that “the God of Israel” (203 times) is the true God. In Zechariah 12:2-3, He declares:

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.

This is an amazing prophecy not only that Jerusalem, which was then in ruins, would become a burden to the whole world, but that all of Israel’s neighbors would be united against her. They have fought one another in the past. Yet today, for the first time in history, “all the people round about” are united by Islam to destroy Israel.
For more than 50 years, Israel’s neighbors have launched surprise attacks against her and she has proved too strong militarily, even though they outnumber her forty to one. God said, “I [will] make…Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood…and they shall devour all the people round about…” (Zech 12:6). Soundly defeated every time, her Muslim neighbors feign a desire for peace, hoping to deceive and ultimately destroy her—a strategy established by Muhammad.
The real battle is not between Arabs and Jews, but between Allah and Yahweh. There is no question of the outcome, but it will be costly for both sides: Israel will be severely punished for rebellion, and her enemies will be destroyed.
Exactly as foretold, Jerusalem is a burden to all people of the world. More than 60,000 individual votes have been cast in the UN against Israel. This tiny nation with one 1,000th of the world’s population has occupied one-third of the United Nations’ time—a burden indeed!
Skeptics accuse Christians of trying to fit current events to the Bible, claiming that no one recognized such prophecies until Israel was formed in 1948. On the contrary, for centuries most evangelical Christians have preached from the Bible the return of the Jews to their own land. Even John Owen, a leading Calvinist, wrote in the 17th century: “The Jews shall be gathered…into their homeland.” 1 This was also the opinion of the poet John Milton, of John Bunyan, Roger Williams, Oliver Cromwell, and many others.
Martin Luther wrote: “If the Jews are Abraham’s descendants…[they should be] back in their own land [with] a state of their own. But…[they are] scattered and despised.” 2 He therefore wrote off the Jews as God’s chosen people and persecuted them. But today the Jews are back in their own land after 2,500 years of being scattered worldwide, speaking Hebrew just as King David did 3,000 years ago. No other people have returned to reestablish their own nation and language after being cast out of their land for such a period of time.
Some prophecies applicable only to our day are frightening, foretelling God’s judgment. The language is often graphic:

If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies…my sword shall devour flesh… (Deut 32:41-42). For, behold, the LORD will come…to render his anger with fury…by his sword…(Isa 66:15,16). And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other…they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried…. (Jer 25:33)

The question is often asked as to whether the United States (or Canada, Australia, et al.) is in Bible prophecy. Of course! Scripture declares that every nation in the world will join together to invade Israel in the last days and be destroyed in the battle of Armageddon: “I will gather all nations [surely all includes America] against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken….Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations…” (Zech 12:9; 14:2-4).
But wouldn’t the United States be spared for being Israel’s friend? In fact, the U.S. State Department has often been against Israel. This was true in the Yom Kippur War. In a sneak attack (October 1973), 80,000 Egyptians overwhelmed 500 Israeli defenders along the Suez and 1,400 Syrian tanks swept down the Golan with only one Israeli tank in service to oppose them. Israel was taken by surprise. Most of her armed forces were on holiday. The initial success of the attackers so electrified the Arab world that nine other Arab states rushed to get in on the slaughter.
Historian David A. Rausch writes: “Jordan’s King Hussein sent two of his best armored brigades to Syria. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait financially underwrote the huge cost while sending thousands of troops to fight the Israelis. Kuwait lent her British-made Lightning jets to Egypt. Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi turned over forty French-made Mirage III fighters and 100 tanks. Iraqi MiG fighter jets as well as tank and infantry divisions fought on the Golan Heights, while a squadron of Iraqi Hunter jets were utilized by Egypt. Arabs predicted the extermination of the Jewish state and the ‘liberation’ of Palestine….” 3
The Soviet Union blocked any UN attempt at a cease-fire and refortified the Arab forces with armaments and supplies by sea and air. It was the closest Israel ever came to being defeated. But when the war ended, the Israeli tank columns were on the outskirts of Damascus and Cairo and could have taken those cities had they not turned back. Tragically, Israel suffered about 3,000 dead—which would be comparable to the U.S. losing 150,000. Except for a series of miracles from God, Israel would not have survived.
Where was her friend, the United States? Dozens of notices were sent to the Nixon White House by America’s National Security Administration (NSA) that an Arab Pearl Harbor was about to be launched against Israel. Nixon sat on them. Kissinger hid at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York the day of the attack and waited another three days before convening the UN Security Council. Declining to rush desperately needed military supplies to Israel, the White House said it had to be careful not to upset the Arabs and cause an oil crisis.
Six years earlier, on June 8, 1967, the fourth morning of the “Six-day War,” the USS Liberty, an electronics eavesdropping vessel, arrived off the Sinai coast and began to suck in every Israeli military communication, relaying it all to the British Secret Service’s giant computer installation on Cyprus. From there, complete maps of every Israeli military move were transmitted in advance to the Arab armed forces. With that help, the Arabs might have been able to use their overwhelming numerical superiority to turn the tide of the war. Israel had no choice except to sink the Liberty. Of course the media screamed about this “cold-blooded attack.” No one believed Israel’s public excuse that the Liberty had been mistaken for a hostile Egyptian ship—and neither the U.S. nor Israel has publicly told the truth.
Yes, the United States, too, will attack Israel and will be punished at Armageddon. God declares plainly that He will bring all nations against Israel to destroy them:

In the latter days…I will bring thee against my land…my fury shall come up in my face…there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel…the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things [on] the earth, and all the men [on] the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence…[all nations] shall know that I am the Lord. (Eze 38:16-23)

This is terrifying language! What causes this “great shaking” of the entire planet and every living creature upon it? God is personally coming to earth as He did at Mount Sinai when He gave the Law—and He is going to take vengeance upon the enemies of Israel!
There are two specific reasons for God’s judgment: “I will also gather all nations …into the valley of Jehoshaphat [between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, where God miraculously destroyed invading nations without Israel lifting a finger (2 Chr 21:10-25)], and will plead with [punish] them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have [1] scattered among the nations, and [2] parted my land” (Joel 3:2).
Of course, all nations have participated in persecuting and scattering the Jews from country to country for 2,500 years. The second reason for God’s judgment falling on all nations, however, is something that has only occurred within our generation: “they have…parted [divided] my land.”
Israel has been overrun by invaders many times—but never did any conqueror divide the land. The victor does not share its spoils with others. Since World War I, however, all nations have joined to divide the land of Israel.
The 1917 Balfour Declaration, the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, and the 1922 Declaration of Principles by the League of Nations all recognized that the land that had become known as “Palestine” (since the Romans renamed Israel in A.D. 135) belonged to the Jews. It was set aside to become the national homeland of the Jewish people “internationally guaranteed, and…formally recognized to rest upon ancient historic connection.” Of course, history ties Israel to all of “Palestine.”
Britain was given the mandate to see that the Jews were safely settled there. The discovery of huge reservoirs of oil under Arab lands caused Britain to keep Jewish immigrants out and let in tens of thousands of Arabs. Just when millions of Jews desperately needed a haven to which they could flee from Nazi Germany, Britain’s 1939 White Paper limited Jewish immigrants to 10,000 per year for a maximum of five years, plus an additional 25,000 “refugees” during that period—then the door to Palestine would be shut entirely to the Jews. Since the Nazis had marked for extinction 11 million Jews in Europe, the quota of 25,000 defied God and conscience.
A year earlier, President Roosevelt had gathered delegates from 32 countries in Evian, France, to discuss the worsening plight of the Jews. Roosevelt made it clear that the United States would do nothing. Britain said there was no room in Palestine and it was not to be discussed. Professing their great sympathy for Europe’s Jews that everyone knew were to be exterminated, the nations offered various excuses why they could do nothing to intervene.
Hitler shrewdly declared, “We…are ready to put all these criminals at the disposal of these countries…even on luxury ships.” When the conference ended with the Jews completely abandoned, Hitler mocked the participants: “It was recently regarded as wholly incomprehensible why Germany did not wish to preserve in its population…the Jews…[yet these] countries seem in no way anxious to [receive them] now that the opportunity offers.” The entire world was Hitler’s partner in destroying the Jews!
In 1944, Hitler offered to sell to the allies 500,000 Hungarian Jews for $2 each—and no one would take them! England said there was “no room” in Palestine for them! In 1943, Britain and America had agreed to say and do nothing about the Holocaust, fearful that if pressed, Hitler would dump the Jews on his critics. The Allies steadfastly refused the repeated urgent appeals from Jewish organizations to bomb the rail lines going in and out of the extermination camps. God will judge all nations!
After the war, a trickle of emaciated survivors of Hitler’s death machines sought to reach “Palestine” in half-sinking ships. Some who got within sight of the land God had given to them as an everlasting inheritance (1 Chr 16:15-18) were driven back by the British navy and put into internment camps on Cyprus. Many who did manage to find shelter within what would become the new Jewish State of Israel were rounded up by the British and removed to those camps. Britain created Jordan out of most of the Promised Land. The demise of the British Empire, upon which “the sun never sank,” can be counted from the time Britain betrayed the Jews—one more fulfillment of the prophecy, “I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee…” (Gen 12:3).
When the UN finally voted to partition Palestine on November 29, 1947 (UN Res. 181), God’s “chosen people” received about 13 percent of the land that had once belonged to them! Thus Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled that all nations would join to divide Israel. The only part of that prophecy remaining to be fulfilled is the judgment on the nations for having “parted” God’s land: “The land shall not be sold [partitioned] for ever; for the land is mine” (Lev 25:23).
God’s anger is growing hotter against the nations of this world for robbing Israel of what He gave to her. Yet in continued defiance of God, every peace proposal that the West has imposed upon Israel has involved further dividing of God’s land. President Bush, a professing Christian, originated the so-called “road map to peace,” which calls for a further dividing of the land of Israel. He ought to tremble and repent, as should President Putin, the EU, and the UN, who have joined Bush to make up the “quartet” sponsoring this plan.
On her part, Israel has been willing to give away more and more land in exchange for promises of “peace” from the PLO in spite of the fact that its charter calls for the destruction of Israel and that its maps and those of the entire Arab world do not even acknowledge Israel’s existence. The fact that Israel has been forced to do so by the West is no excuse. For this she will be punished severely in what is called “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer 30:7). Yes, God will deliver her, but only after two-thirds of all Jews on earth have been killed (Zec 13:8,9).
There is no more appropriate place and way to destroy the nations that have abused Israel than when they, in the spirit of Satan, come to effect once and for all what Hitler called the “final solution to the Jewish problem.” Believers are to meet together to encourage and exhort one another from Scripture, “so much the more, as ye see the day [of judgment] approaching” (Heb 10:25). Fulfilled prophecies are heralding that day as never before.

• Supernatural in nature (as He exists outside of His creation)
• Incredibly powerful (to have created all that is known)
• Eternal (self-existent, as He exists outside of time and space)
• Omnipresent (He created space and is not limited by it)
• Timeless and changeless (He created time)
• Immaterial (because He transcends space)
• Personal (the impersonal can’t create personality)
• Necessary (as everything else depends on Him)
• Infinite and singular (as you cannot have two infinites)
• Diverse yet has unity (as nature exhibits diversity)
• Intelligent (supremely, to create everything)
• Purposeful (as He deliberately created everything)
• Moral (no moral law can exist without a lawgiver)
• Caring (or no moral laws would have been given)

At its heart, the campus divestment movement aims to cripple Israel’s
economy by compelling universities to withdraw whatever funds they may
have invested in Israeli-based or -affiliated corporations. These
efforts are founded on the premise that Israel is guilty of practicing
apartheid and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people.
According to the divestment movement’s leaders, the human rights
violations perpetrated by Israel are on par with those of the former
apartheid regime in Desmond Tutu’s South Africa; many critics go so far
as to liken modern Israel to Nazi Germany. When UC Berkeley
administrators recently decided to divest the university’s money from
Israel, Tutu praised their “principled stand” against the “injustice of
the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and violation of Palestinian
human rights.” “[I]t is always an inspiration when young people [the
Berkeley students who pressured the administrators] lead the way and
speak truth to power,” said Tutu.

The philosophy underlying the divestment movement has been displayed in
stark relief recently at a number of University of California campuses,
where Muslim student groups sponsored events under the banner of
“Israeli Apartheid Week: A Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction
Israel.” At a Muslim Students Association (MSA) event at UC San Diego,
for instance, one MSA member explicitly affirmed that she supported
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s assertion that “if Jews all gather
in Israel, it will save us [jihadists] the trouble of going after them
worldwide.” Meanwhile, UC Irvine’s Muslim Student Union promoted its
own “Israeli Apartheid Week” festivities by featuring, as guest
speakers, such luminaries as Norman Finkelstein (who asserts that
the Holocaust has been exaggerated and exploited by Jews to justify
Israeli human-rights violations and crimes against humanity); Hedy
Epstein (who contends that the only “lesson” Jews “learned from the
Holocaust” was how to “become the persecutors” of vulnerable people
like the Palestinians); Hatem Bazian (who, at an American Muslim
Alliance conference promoting the creation of an Islamic State of
Palestine, approvingly quoted a hadith calling on Muslims to “come and
kill” the Jews); Alison Weir (who characterizes the Israeli-Arab
conflict as nothing more complex than a battle between “the brutalizer
and the brutalized”); and Amir Abdel Malik-Ali (an open supporter of
Hamas and Hezbollah who has warned that he and his fellow Muslims “will
fight” the Jews “until we are either martyred or until we are
victorious”).

Such are the worldviews and sentiments of the leading lights in today’s
“Divest from Israel” movement. By no means, however, is it surprising
that Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu would support such bellicose
rhetoric, given his own long history of condemning and smearing Israel
and the Jews. Noting that divestment campaigns helped bring about the
end of apartheid in South Africa, a development he calls “one of the
crowning accomplishments of the past century,” Tutu is delighted that a
“similar movement” now aims to put “an end to the Israeli occupation”
in the Middle East. Notably, Tutu makes no call for divestment from any
other Middle Eastern nation – though the political oppression, human
rights abuses, and barbaric atrocities characterizing life throughout
much of that region dwarf anything that the Palestinians have ever
suffered in Israel, to which Tutu refers as America’s “client state.”

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Spiritual Warfare: How Do We Go Into Battle as Christians?
Spiritual warfare is an image that many of us would rather reject. However, since the Bible uses terms of warfare, it’s best that we accept God’s imagery, so that we’re properly prepared for real battle. As Christians, we’re going through more than a mere “struggle” on earth – and its seems that war imagery captures this reality better than anything else. Since it’s warfare, God instructs Christians to use a very specific set of armor and weapons in Ephesians 6:14-18:

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit…”

“Fruit of the Spirit” is a biblical term that sums up the nine visible attributes of a true Christian life. Using the King James Version of Galatians 5:22-23, these attributes are:H love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. We learn from scripture that these are not individual “fruits” from which we pick and choose. Rather, the fruit of the Spirit is one ninefold “fruit” that characterizes all who truly walk in the Holy Spirit. Collectively, these are the fruits that all Christians should be producing in their new lives with Jesus Christ.

Fruit of the Spirit – The Nine Biblical Attributes
The fruit of the Spirit is a physical manifestation of a Christian’s transformed life. In order to mature as believers, we should study and understand the attributes of the ninefold fruit:

1. Love – “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Through Jesus Christ, our greatest goal is to do all things in love. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
2. Joy – “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).
3. Peace – “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
4. Longsuffering (patience) — We are “strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:11). “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).
5. Gentleness (kindness) — We should live “in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left” (2 Corinthians 6:6-7).
6. Goodness – “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). “For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth” (Ephesians 5:9).
7. Faith (faithfulness) – “O Lord, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth” (Isaiah 25:1). “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17).
8. Meekness – “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).
9. Temperance (self-control) – “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love” (2 Peter 1:5-7).

There are some powerful references here that may you to frame your heart response to the topic of Laodicea. The core message that Jesus writes in his letter to the Church of Laodicea (and to us) is “do we have a passion for him?” Do we really love Jesus for saving us from eternal separation from God? It seems like a most reasonable question. This is a topic that can really make you think about your priorities.

In Matthew 5:13 Jesus makes a reference to salt and the implied comparison is to us as disciples of Jesus – following him out of love for his sacrifice. Jesus that for salt to have value it must have the salty flavor: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

In Matthew 5:14 Jesus says that his followers are the light of the world: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

Revelation 14-22: This is what Jesus says to us in his letter to the Church in Laodicea: “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Are we lukewarm? Do we think that it is impolite to have a passion for Jesus Christ?

Matthew 7:13 provides us another point of reference that gives emphasis to a passion for Christ: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.”

When we take these words of wisdom into account, then it is becomes so clear where our heart needs to be. Take a look at these references to take your heart temperature. And love the Lord!

References for Message on Laodicea

• See: Audio_Podcast_Message
• See: http://tinyurl.com/laodicea-outline
• See: http://tinyurl.com/lukewarm-today
• See: http://tinyurl.com/Laodicea

• “Jesus Christ was a great man.”
• “Jesus Christ was a wonderful moral model.”
• “Jesus Christ was an enlightened religious teacher.”
• “Jesus Christ was an esteemed prophet.”

According to Christian scholar Josh McDowell, once you examine the actual claims of Jesus and His eyewitness followers, there are really only three alternatives for who He really is – Jesus Christ was either a liar, a lunatic, or our Lord. This point of view is a simplified articulation of what C.S. Lewis told us many years before.

C.S. Lewis, a popular British theologian, continues, “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, The MacMillan Company, 1960, pp. 40-41.)

I believe in the humanity of Jesus Christ. He is the Son of man, the last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45). However, I also believe that Jesus Christ is God Almighty. Not a god, but The God. Throughout the Bible, He claims to be God, He is addressed as God, and He is worshipped as God.

So ask yourself – really ask yourself and examine the evidence… liar, a lunatic, or our Lord?

Lost World of Fanged Frogs and Giant Rats Discovered in Papua New Guinea
[Excerpts]

The scene is reminiscent of a movie: intrepid explorers pierce the
wilderness and stumble upon a trove of amazing species rarely–if
ever–seen before.

In this case, the explorers were a team of
scientists from Britain, New Zealand, and the United States who trekked
down into a 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) deep and 3 kilometer (1.86 miles)
wide crater in Papua New Guinea. Over the course of five weeks, the
team documented at least 21 new species or sub-species, including frogs
with fangs, fish, and a giant rat that may be the largest currently
living.

Each of these discoveries reminds us of just how much
diversity is possible within each created kind since all the land
animals departed from the Ark. Much of the information in the genome of
those original animals has been expressed, repressed, or lost through
speciation and mutation. But the creativity shown in each kind is truly
amazing.

What the team did not uncover, however, are examples of
what one would expect to find according to evolution: An area such as
this crater is a living laboratory for what Darwin predicted: changes
from one kind into another kind.

Everything the team discovered
fits with animals we’re accustomed to: birds, fish, rats, etc. Even
though some of these animals have unique features, there is still no
evidence of fish growing legs or salamanders sprouting mammal hair.
Frogs with fangs are still frogs. In a similar fashion, creatures on
the famous Galápagos Islands, though often cited as evidence of
evolution, suffer this same defect (as far as evolution is concerned).
Finches and tortoises, no matter the size of their beaks or the shapes
of their shells, will always be finches and tortoises.

Natural selection and mutations–even in this pristine wilderness of Papua New
Guinea–can do nothing more than work with existing genetic material to
cause changes within each kind. In other words, don’t hold your breath
for the announcement of the reptiliobird.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/09/12/news-to-note-09122009

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs031/1101870705073/archive/1102759298114.html

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Something else accompanied this new growth however.  This leaves of this new branch were covered in thorns.  They were very long thorns – over 4 cm in length.  I took to trimming this new growth and shaped the tree into one of the most beautiful items in my backyard (I have more that 20 trees an extensive rose garden and hundreds of shrubs there).  As I took to keeping care of this new growth, I noticed that the original branches were starting to diminish.  Their leaves were not as healthy as this new growth.  Soon the season in late summer arrived when fruit would begin to appear on my rapidly growing tangerine tree.

I was eager to see what would emerge. I waited and waited and there was no fruit growing on the new branch of this tree with the thorns and the bright colored leaves.  This new branch was taking so much energy from the old growth that not a single tangerine took form there either.  I pondered this and as the summer came to an end and we entered the fall season I decided to chop down the new growth.

The portion of the tree that had become beautiful visually was not producing fruit and any effort for the other part of the tree to produce fruit was impeded by the energy being devoted to the new growth that was all visual and now results.  I chopped down this new growth and threw it in the trash.  I cared for the tree through the winter and into the spring.  I looked at the trunk for any attempt by the old thorny shoot to rise up again – I was ready to cut it off again if needed.

As we entered this new season, the original trunk sprouted new branches.  Branches that by early summer were filling with young buds and soon small green tangerines.  There were more than 50 tangerines growing on this small tree that had emerged from being completely choked out by that flashy thorny growth of the season before.  As I look at this tree that is now about to deliver over 50 tangerines this season, I can’t help but compare its journey and my observations to the words of our Lord Jesus.

In John 15: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am amazed that God has given me a visual example of his word in my backyard.

^{Matthew 12:33} “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

To have this actual scripture be played out in nature right in front of my eyes has been a true blessing. I think daily about my life and its seasons of good fruit and seasons of no fruit. When sin is present, there is no fruit of the spirit.  I need to be on guard for that shoot that looks flashy but is covered in thorns – that shoot that does not produce fruit and prevents the rest of my body from bearing fruit also.