We seldom see any benefit in suffering here in the United States. We are quick to relieve the smallest discomfort. When uncomfortable, we simply put on more clothes or seek out the nearest thermostat and make an adjustment. If we feel the slightest twinge of hunger, we open the refrigerator or rush to the nearest fast food outlet. Let the children start grumbling and complaining about the slightest inconvenience, and we rush to soothe them. Why is that?

Pain and discomfort teach many things. We must allow it. It can speak volumes about where we are in our journey with the Lord. It can measure our faith and determine if it is true. It can bring a deeper dependence on God for true happiness, joy and peace.

I’m not saying that we should seek out or delight in pain. That would border on masochism. I’m just stating that maybe we should not be so quick to deliver ourselves or others. Let's all learn the lessons pain intends to teach.

Do you have pain right now? It may be a clear call from God. He desires a deeper relationship with you. He wants you to move toward him in all your pain. He loves to deliver!

Don't miss the call. God may not call again.

I’m watching the evening news. This reporter has a microphone up in the face of a poor soul who lost everything to a tornado. The person makes a common statement often heard following a tragic event.

“At least we have our lives. At least we have each other.”

So, I want to ask him what he would do if he lost “each other”! Would he also lose his reason to live?

I must not tie my life and faith so inextricably to my relationships and possessions that I would be absolutely devastated by extreme loss. My life does not consist of the abundance of things (or relationships) I possess. My life, my happiness, my reason for living should never be totally wrapped up in things and persons. Persons and things go away. All marriages end, eventually! All children grow up or die! We all die! Fortunes are won and lost everyday. This does not have to mean my life is lost with them.

It is not healthy to place my well-being contingent on the existence of temporal beings or things. My total identity and reason for living should never be dependent on a person, a place, a thing, or a position. I can lose my job. My reputation can be lost. I can lose loved ones. I can lose everything I possess overnight!

When tragedy strikes, it does not have to mean the loss of all faith and hope. No possession should hold that kind of power over me. I must not place my happiness, my welfare, my faith contingent on the existence of a possession.

No person here should be my whole world despite what all the love songs say. If I permit a person to become my whole world then when that person goes away they take my whole world with them!

There is only one worthy of my total life and absolute devotion. There is only one who saves. There is only one in whom I can place absolute hope and trust. He never falters. He never fails.

This endorsement includes members of the prestigious U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Sciences, was first published by the Seattle-based Discover Institute.

The institute is the leading promoter of the theory of Intelligent Design. Advocates say discoveries in physics, biochemistry and related disciplines indicate some features of the natural world are best explained as the product of an intelligent cause instead of a process such as natural selection.

The statement, signed by 514 scientists, reads:

"We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged.”

"Darwin's theory of evolution is the great white elephant of contemporary thought," said David Berlinski, a signatory and mathematician and philosopher of science with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. "It is large, almost completely useless, and the object of superstitious awe."

Other signatories include U.S. National Academy of Sciences member Philip Skell, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow Lyle Jensen, evolutionary biologist and textbook author Stanley Salthe; Smithsonian Institution evolutionary biologist and researcher at the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Biotechnology Information Richard von Sternberg, editor of Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum – the oldest still published biology journal in the world – Giuseppe Sermonti and Russian Academy of Natural Sciences embryologist Lev Beloussov.

The list include 154 biologists, 76 chemists and 63 physicists. They hold doctorates in biological sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, medicine, computer science and related disciplines.
Many are professors or researchers at major universities and research institutions such as MIT, The Smithsonian, Cambridge University, UCLA, University of California at Berkeley, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, Ohio State University, University of Georgia and University of Washington.

Read more here: Discovery Institute website
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Spread the word! The scientific community is finally opening their eyes and their minds! Praise God! -Theophileous

Scripture has some interesting things to say when comparing things spiritual to things natural. Jesus tells Peter, when he makes the great confession,

“Blessed are you, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed these things to you but my Father which is in heaven.”

In another place, Paul states that the Spirit reveals to us “things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard.”

There are matters deeper than flesh. These matters are not known through your five senses. These are matters of the Spirit. These are things that matter most to God. These are matters of the heart and soul. They come from his Spirit to your spirit. You are privileged to hear and learn things hidden though the ages and hidden from others.

God will reveal matters to you that no university can teach you. You will learn what cannot be learned in seminary, church, or Sunday School!

Stay close to God. Love truth and allow truth to seep into every corner of your being and your life. Keep him close. Keep the communication open with your spirit. Keep your spirit open to God’s Holy Spirit. You will be amazed at what you can see and perceive that no one around you can know or see. You will learn things about God. You will learn deep things about yourself. And, you will learn things about others. Use the information wisely to better serve God and others. Be gentle toward all.

Spiritual things ultimately matter most! All else is of flesh and passes away with flesh. These things remain after all material things have gone the way of all the earth.

Lift you eyes toward heaven. Look and drink deep. Your soul will be refreshed. Your spirit will be healed. You will have what is sufficient to sustain you. You will have much left over to give to others.

What makes me so arrogant to think I know what is best for my life? Why do I fight God off and demand to have things my way? Why do I limit him to only areas where I want (and need) him to work? Is it a matter of trust? Do I not trust him entirely? Am I afraid that I might end up as a missionary in some bleak corner of the hemisphere? If so, do I really think I could not be happy with God alone at my side?

Letting go and letting God is a concept that is very difficult for me. I have to trust him more. I have to be satisfied if all I have is him. He has to matter to me (and his acceptance) more than anyone or anything. Until I do that, can I truly expect to be happy? Can I truly expect to have peace or find contentment? Probably not.