Response to Richard Dawkins Book 'The God Delusion'

To Richard Dawkins

You said in your book, 'The God Delusion,' "How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant'? Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.' A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths."

Awesome Beyond Imagination

Relating to Christian believers as saying that 'my god is a little god,'? When and where has any Christian, who is a true Christian, said, "my God is a little God." This statement is an outright lie. My God is the Life Giving Energy Source of the Universe who began all things and exists and lives outside of the Creation He created. He is so much greater than who we are as an intelligent existence, that men have no power within their minds to grasp or understand who He is or how He operates. He is so superior to us, that our wisdom is as foolishness to Him. 

Better Than We Thought

The reason that major religions have looked at science and not concluded that it's better than we thought is because it's not!!! Science is built around man made hypothesis that are only theories until they are proven wrong and outdated by more modern thought. Science can never replace religion to the true believer. Faith in the God of the Bible has been around since the beginning of human history and has stood the test of time to those who can understand it. 

Wasted Pursuit

You spend your days trying to disprove God's existence and waste your life in a useless vocation. The theory of Atheism has no proof whatsoever that God doesn't exist, and cannot prove that He doesn't. I have watched many debates between Atheists and Christians and are yet to see an Atheist bring forth clear proof that God doesn't exist. Yet the Christian brings forth massive amounts of evidence that God does exist of which the Atheist can only attempt to tear down. Atheism has no substance whatsoever as a belief system, it really should be simply called another 'Anti-Christ Theory.' 

Why Would I Believe You?

Why would I want to give up eternal life with Jesus because some free thinkers like yourself have come along and tried to think better than the God who created them. Your thoughts are futile and rebellious. You are working with darkness in deluding the multitudes into rejecting their God and losing eternal life. I pray that you would one day open your eyes and see that the sheer complexity and design of all existence points to there being a Creator. Romans 1:20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Comment Submitted by Stephen on Mon, 06/08/2009

It's so true isn't it - Science is but all theories, and even then, shakey ones. How many times over the course of history has Science's perspectives changed, admitting they're wrong, but insisting that they are right this time. First, they thought the earth was flat, then they figured out it wasn't. They thought that you could cure insanity by bleeding people out, then they discovered that wasn't the case, etc. Science has changed so many times, yet Christianity has not changed its basis once. We still believe in the same God for the same reasons - He is unchanging, and will stay that way, no matter how many times science changes. Science in itself is only a collective mass of theories of different perceived ways of viewing the interactions of different elements of God's universe; a human way to try and explain away the Divinity of Creation, without a lot of basis' behind the different theories that science tries to hold as fact.

Reply Submitted by Rob on Mon, 06/08/2009

That is very true Stephen, reminded me of this quote I transcribed from a Youtube vid of
 William Lane Craig in 'Dr. William Lane Craig humiliates Dr. Peter Atkins' (Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkBD20edOco&feature=related) said,

“Science cannot account for everything. There are a good number of things that cannot be scientifically proven but they are all rational to accept. 1) Logical and mathematical truths cannot be proven by science, science presupposes logic and math, so that to try to prove them by science would be arguing in a circle. 2) Metaphysical truths like, there are other minds other than my own, or that the external world is real, or that the past was not created 5 minutes ago with an appearance of age, are rational beliefs that cannot be scientifically proven. 3) Ethical beliefs about statements of value are not accessible by the scientific method. You can’t show by science whether the Nazi scientist in the camps did anything evil as opposed to scientists in Western democracy 4) Aesthetic judgments cannot be accessed by the scientific method, because the beautiful like the good cannot be scientifically proven. 5) And finally and most remarkably would be science itself. Science cannot be justified by the scientific method. Science is permeated with un-provable assumptions, for example; in the special theory of relativity, the whole theory hinges on the assumption that the speed of light is constant in a one way direction between any two points a and b, but that strictly cannot be proven, we simply have to assume that in order to uphold to the theory. None of these beliefs can be scientifically proven yet they are accepted by everybody.

Robert Cartledge

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Approaching God Acceptably

Coming before God in prayer should be approached in an acceptable manner. What I mean is this. If we had an appointment to meet the Queen of England, would we not be trained in correct etiquette (the rules and conventions governing polite behaviour) by her entourage before entering her quarters? We would also prepare ourselves in advance with a plan of the reasons for our meeting with her? How much more should we be prepared in etiquette and a plan when approaching God in prayer. This blog is on the scriptural way of coming before God in prayer.

Through Jesus

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. Noone comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) This scripture tells us that to pray to God we must pray through the Lord Jesus. For He is the way to God, the Truth of God and the Life of God.

By the Blood of Jesus

[Read about the Most Holy Place Hebrew 9:1-15 and discuss.]

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22) When we pray we enter the Most Holy Place. 

Jesus Christ has opened up a way for us to enter the Most Holy Place by His blood. To enter this place we must be cleansed by His blood, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience. We are told to sprinkle our hearts spiritually with the blood of Christ. We do this by repentance in the name of and by the blood of Jesus.

In the Holy Spirit

We must also pray in the Spirit. “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18) The Holy Spirit is also called the Holy Counsellor (John 14:16-17) and He is our guide when we pray. No-one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1Corinthians 12:3) You cannot believe in Jesus without the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the fact that you believe proves that you have the Holy Spirit.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1Corinthias 6:19-20) Now that we believe in Christ, we are a temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore the Holy Spirit lives within us. 

Fellowship with the Holy Spirit

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2Corinthians 13:14) This tells us we are to have fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Fellowship means to have friendly association with someone. To have friendly associations with the Holy Spirit we pray and communicate with Him. For the Holy Spirit is as God as Jesus is God. 

The early Church did not have a new testament to guide them as we do, they had the Holy Spirit. Jesus had deposited in the early disciples the words of life. The thing to understand here is, the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost and He directed the prayers and every word and deed of the early Church. 

The Bible and the Spirit

Today we have the New Testament + the Old. The New however is composed of the letters and accounts of Jesus life written by the early disciples and by Christian Historians of the first century. When we combine the Bible and the Holy Spirit we can recognize the work of the Holy Spirit in us and trust Him as He guides us in our life.

The Holy Spirit comes to guide us in all things. He is the perfect companion as we pray before God. “But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:26) As we pray with the Holy Spirits guidance, we must trust in Him to give us burdens for souls or places in the world the Lord wants to touch.

THE LORDS PRAYER

“This, then, is how you should pray: `Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13)

In Summary

We come to God in prayer through Jesus Christ, having been cleansed by His blood in repentance. We can believe and we can pray because we have the Holy Spirit within us and the Bible to guide us.

In Christ

Robert Cartledge

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INTELLIGENCE CAN BE A STUMBLING BLOCK TO FAITH

I wrote this blog back on 6/8/2009 and thought it worth being repeated here.

Become Childlike

“O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding the truth from those who think themselves so wise and clever, and for revealing it to the childlike. Yes, Father, it pleased you to do it this way.” (Matthew 11:25-26)

Stumbling Block to Faith

Great learning and superior Intelligence is one of the greatest stumbling blocks to the salvation of souls. Great Intelligence seems to make them incapable of discerning the simple, as they are always in search of the higher learning. How sad it is that such great minds cannot contain the mustard seeds worth of faith that it takes to believe.

Great Learning

It is surprising to discover how vast unbelief is among the “most educated” men and women in Universities. It is amazing how many professors of theology do not truly believe. Their great learning has confused and deceived them. And these same prominent teachers promulgate their post-modern views upon the receptive and impressionable minds of the students, who unbeknown to them have the views and thoughts of a faithless generation imposed upon them as a result.

Post-Modern Dilemma

Pastor Neil Ryan of the Unley Park Baptist Church in South Australia said,
 'The Post Modernist says, “You can’t be sure of anything you’ve been taught these days...” Can you understand why the world today is leaving the Church in dray loads? Because there’s this suspicion that Christians claim to have the truth. A Post Modern World is very suspicious of anybody who says, “I’ve got the truth.” And so the Church, all of a sudden which for Ni on two thousand years old, look to have something that could offer hope to the world, but now the world is saying, “you know what, you’re arrogant. Give me David Attenborough, give me Philip Adams, give me Richard Dawkins, because at least these people have the humility to talk about the mystery and the wonder and the awesomeness of things they don’t know about. You lot seem to talk about everything you know and give no room for what you don’t know.” And there’s this stark divide between the Church and the rest of the world, because of this whole shift of the way we think today as a Post Modern People. So we come back to the original question, "where does the average person go looking for hope?"'

Hope to No Hope

This really does put into perspective the dilemma the Church is facing in these last days. This deceptive shift in thinking from ‘find the truth and live by it,’ to the ‘believe what you like because there is no absolute truth view,’ is turning out to be the greatest mass shift of thought from having a hope in the reality and truth of Christ, to having no hope at all because you don’t need hope, when you die that’s it, you are no more. This has been the greatest deception satan has ever accomplished on this earth and is probably been his greatest hour thus far in history.

Pride Gets in the Way

The Holy Spirit cannot settle and dwell in the heart of a learned man until they humble themselves and accept that they are a mere creation, and everything that they are, the gifts that they have, was given to them by the Lord. This is very hard for them to swallow. Because of their pride, they believe that their own minds are their gods, and they find it so debasing to bow down to the true one and only God, let alone bowing down to His Son Jesus who was born a man just like them. But we know from Scripture that Jesus was God in man, proven by the virgin birth and His resurrection from the dead. But to the ‘learned,’ this is but a fairy tale. All we can do for these men is pray that they lose faithfulness in themselves, and fall at the foot of their saviour. 

The Unity of the Church

The only way we can prove that Jesus is the Christ is by the churches unity and oneness. “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:23) Our unity will prove to the world that God sent Jesus and that God loves the world just as God loved Jesus. “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35) It is because of this lack of love for one another as a Church and the divisions in the Church, that men don’t believe in Christ or believe that we are sent from God. It is because of the some 45,000 denominations of the Christian Church world-wide that God has not been able to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, so that we can see the last great world wide revival before the return of Christ. It is because of the unforgiveness among leadership and among Christians in general that satan is overwhelmingly defeating the Christian Church.

Repent Church

We must repent. My first book, God’s Heart Cry Revival, really does make it clear as day what we need to do as a Church to see God’s Holy Spirit poured out over the whole earth. God’s Heart Cry for Revival pleads with God’s people to respond to the call of God to live on His terms and set our hearts upon laying hold of His presence.

In Christ

Robert Cartledge

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Responses to Unbelievers Part 2

In this blog, I am including a response I made to Lisa who commented on a photo that I commented on. I acknowledged God as the Creator of the nature we were appreciating, but Lisa found my comment insulting for some reason.

Lisa January 24, 2011 at 1:04 pm

My birthday is April 1 & I believe in MOTHER NATURE. Why would you take this beautiful site & photos & make your (insulting) posts about God? How about: “Wow, those were beautiful pictures!” That’s my comment. As for the God stuff – how sad that you’d rather believe in a singular entity & forget that you LIVE on THIS earth, so you should take CARE of it – not spend your time financially supporting some Church whose only goal is to gather a bunch of sheep (oh, I mean “followers”) in some belief & processes that someone essentially MADE UP at some point. Yeah, kiss the Pope’s ring – no idolization there. It’ll be a great day when you religious people who believe in God actually love ALL people, not just others who believe in your same religion. Crusades? I think people who feel they have to go to church to worship something are weak & can’t stand on their own, so they must follow. Pathetic.

 

My Reply

Yes, a Christian is a sheep, no offense taken. I am a sheep who knows the voice of the Shepherd my God, Jesus Christ. You cannot believe in God unless He draws you.

You seem to have extremely bitter and hateful views of Christianity. Sure, there has been some bad Christians over time, but these Christians are obviously not of the heart of Christ. No one can say that Jesus was not a good man and a great moral teacher. All accounts of Jesus both biblical and secular (not Gnostic, because these are false texts) talk of the holiness of Jesus. Any Christian who does not reflect these qualities of holiness are not truly Christ like. 

I do not call Catholiscism true Christianity, and the Pope does not speak for God. Your views of God and Christ are obviously based on media representations and atheist opinions upon Him, among other maybe New Age concepts (I don't know, just getting a sense of that from reading your blog). 

We are not weak by going to Church to study the Bible and worship God. We all go to something and follow something. Are you weak because you go to a concert and adore a performer? Are you weak because you go to University and study a field? Well when I go to Church I go to learn and grow in the things of God. My logic is, if God is real and true and His Son Jesus truly did die on a Cross for my sins, rise from the dead and ascend to be with the Father, then this has serious implications on not only my life, but all our lives. If His Words are true then I better listen to Him. To remain ignorant would be detrimental. So over 20 years ago now, in a search for the actual Truth, I put prejudice and opinion aside and studied everything I could about all kinds of religions, and it was not until I picked up the Bible and read the whole thing in 8 weeks, that I found the most absolute faith on this planet. 

Robert Cartledge

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Responses to Unbelievers Part 1

In this blog, I respond to a comment a man by the name of Mike made to a video I put up on Youtube. This comment took place back in January 2011. Hope it blesses you.

Youtube Comment

mike January 24, 2011 at 6:13 am

always one religious idiot.i suppose you believe in the adam and eve theory.if so,then you must belive incest is correct and legal and moral,for incest is THE ONLY way eve could have produced more children.no wonder the religious right(and left)are mocked.their beliefs are as asinine as religion itself

[I left this comment exactly as it appeared on Youtube.]

My Reply

Edmund Spencer said, "There is a principle which is a bar against all information which is proof against all argument and which cannot fail to keep man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is condemnation before investigation." 

 

Too many people today have made there judgments and based their opinions for argument from a documentary or two that they have watched or a couple of books that they haplessly scanned through, and then they act as scholars upon subjects they know little about. With such futile knowledge they debate people who have made scholarly efforts to know a subject. Therefore when these people argue they resort to insults and offense because of their lack of understanding. Learn the subject matter thoroughly before you comment, then you won't resort to using words against perfect strangers like idiot. 

 

As far as Adam and Eve goes here is the explanation if you are sincere in wanting to understand truth. "Many people immediately reject the conclusion that Adam and Eve's sons and daughters married each other by appealing to the law against brother-sister marriage. Some say that you can't marry your relation. This law forbidding close relatives marrying was not given until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18-20). Until the law was given, it was not morally wrong to do so. When Adam and Eve were created, they were perfect. That means their genes were perfect and their environment and food was perfect and pure, therefore the purity of their condition meant that their children would not mutate imperfections for many thousands of years. However, It would not take more than 3 generations before someone would have been marrying their second or third cousin and within a very short time, distant relatives." 

 

Mike, you don't have to accept that explanation, and you more than likely won't, but wisdom is always to keep an open mind about areas of reality, that you may not fully understand. Noone knows everything, actually Einstein and other great minds said one person may not even know 1% of everything that is. Is it possible that in the 99% of what you don't know that God exists?

Robert Cartledge

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Moving God

This is an extract from my book God's Heart Cry for Revival. I hope it really blesses you today.

Worshipping in Spirit and Truth

I want to know how to move God. I want to know how to touch His heart deeply. I want to know how to worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Jesus said in John 4:23-24, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and Truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is Spirit, and His worshippers must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.” When I was first saved, the idea of worshipping in Spirit and in Truth seemed so profound to me. I thought maybe it’s in music, so I played lots of worship music, I felt God’s presence occasionally, but I realised that it was not in the music. Maybe it was in the act of praying, so I prayed and prayed even to the point where I prayed half an hour every hour and found that this became a religious act to me, and God was not there in the act of praying. Then I thought it was in the act of reading the Bible, so I read the Bible for about three to four hours a day for some time, I got to know the Bible very well, but this to became a religious act and I could not maintain it indefinitely. No, worshipping the Father in Spirit and in Truth was not in any of these acts.

My Heart is the Answer

Then God revealed Jeremiah 29:13, which says, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” This Scripture made me realise that inside my heart is where the answer lies. Hungry, sincere hearts seeking hard after God are the types of worshippers the Father seeks. Once I grasped this and began to search my heart, I realised that sincere, earnest prayer does not come easily. We have to search Him out with all of our strength and all of our might. It is necessary to recognise and acknowledge that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit as a life companion and as a partner in prayer. Therefore we can trust in Him to lead us into the Most Holy Place.

Ready to Pour Out His Spirit

Charles Finney said, “When I speak of moving God, I do not mean that God’s mind is changed by prayer or that His disposition or character is changed. Prayer produces such a change in us that God is completely consistent with His nature when He answers our prayers.” 9 God is the God of revival, He has always been ready to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh, but we have always been His problem. There must be an adequate personal change in His people en-masse to see our prayers move God to pour out His Spirit. This is the object of this book and many like it. I believe in these coming days, God is going to make us so desirous of personal change and to turn from sin that we, the Bride of Christ, are going to be made ready for His coming as talked about in Revelation 19:7-8, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)” Our righteous Holy Spirit inspired acts will be our wedding clothes at this time, so I tell you, start putting on your wedding clothes, don’t let this day come upon you unexpectedly and have nothing to wear at the wedding, for He is surely coming soon.

9 Charles Finney, How to Experience Revival (Whitaker House, 580 Pittsburgh St. Springdale, PA 15144) page 43

Robert Cartledge

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Deadly Diseases of the Faith Part 2

This is part 2 of deadly diseases of the faith. This is an extract from my book God's Heart Cry for Revival. In this blog, I give up a strong challenge in relation to true salvation, taken from Jesus' words in Mark 11:25. We would all do well to listen to the Lord's words and consider.

Forgive to be Forgiven

I have always tried to work out why most Christians don’t walk in, Mark 16:17-18 “And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” Could it be that as long as we have un- forgiveness in our heart, the Father, according to the Words of Jesus, “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25)  cannot forgive us, consequently we are unable to walk as the true believers Jesus refers to in Mark 16:17-18. If we are not forgiven because we have not forgiven, then we have not been saved and therefore we are not true believers. Salvation comes from being forgiven. Whether you agree with this word or not, I think it’s worth considering especially if God never seems to honor your prayers for the sick to be healed.

Permanent Repentance

So here is a divine secret worth considering; if we live in a permanent state of repentance, forgiving people who have wronged us and praying earnestly for their souls with a God given Spiritual burden for them until we love them as God loves them, then God can forgive us and pour out His Spirit upon us without limit. We will then be able to walk in Mark 16:17-18 as a true believer. This pleases God.

Insure Our Salvation - The Lord's Prayer

Now we know why in the Lord’s Prayer Jesus taught us to pray, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.” Jesus taught us how to insure our salvation on a daily basis through forgiveness. All believers in Christ are meant to function in the ministry of healing, not just a certain few. Mark 16:17-18 confirms the signs that accompany true believers. I believe that in the coming revival, when God pours out His Spirit in response to repenting, burdened Christians, who are full of mercy and forgiveness, will be a revival of all Christians walking in the signs of Mark 16:17-18.

Robert Cartledge

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Deadly Diseases of the Faith Part 1

In this extract from my book God's Heart Cry for Revival I discuss diseases of the faith that most Christians encounter. We would do well to look closely at our Christian lives and find ways of dealing with these diseases.

Doubt and Unforgiveness

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:22-25) This Scripture reveals two negative qualities that affect our faith in prayer. The first is doubt and the second is un-forgiveness.

Doubt Cancels it Out

Doubt is a deadly disease of faith. “But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” (James 1:6) A doubtful person is considered to be an unstable person, one who is not on the Rock. He is tossed to and thro by satan. If we doubt we cancel it out. If we doubt when we pray we may as well not even pray. I have found that we believe in those things that we focus most of our attention upon. If we look through our natural eyes all day at the seen world, and spend little or no time looking through our spiritual eyes at the unseen world, it is little wonder that the visible world is more real to us than the invisible world. As we spend our days focusing on that which requires faith to believe in, our doubt will slowly dissipate into oblivion. This new faith without doubt pleases God.

Forgive to be Forgiven

Un-forgiveness also affects our walk in God. “And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may forgive you your sins.” (Mark 11:25) The Father can’t forgive us our sins unless we forgive those who sin against us. Therefore if we hold un-forgiveness in our hearts our prayers will be ineffectual. In the eyes of the Lord un-forgiveness makes us likened to an unsaved person, because until we forgive others the Father can’t forgive us, and to be saved you must be forgiven. Therefore we must forgive to be forgiven, and then we are saved and can live as a citizen of the kingdom of God, with the same rights and authority that Jesus Himself has.

Robert Cartledge

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Why Were We Created? Part 2

This is part 2 of Why Were Created, a extract from my book God's Heart Cry for Revival. Understanding the reason for our existence is paramount to living a life that is fulfilling and productive. God clearly reveals the reason in His Word.

Cultivating Faith Pleases God

“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Without faith we cannot please God, therefore we must cultivate faith in our lives. Faith is that elusive substance that so many have spoken of, yet so few actually have. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) So we cultivate faith by hearing and believing the Word of Christ as written in the Bible. Reading and listening to the Bible being read stimulates faith, and this faith pleases God. I love my ipod for that reason; I can hear the Word of God read to me. In one walk I can hear the whole book of Matthew. Faith comes by hearing, so what a blessing the Bible on my ipod has been to me.

Beyond Intellect

If we can get beyond the intellect of the mind and understand faith like a little child, then God can work in our lives and we can find a way to please Him by our faith. 

Living to Please God

Living to please God is very clearly explained in 1Thessalonians 4:1-12, it needs no explanation: “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no-one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more. Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”

Robert Cartledge

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Why Were We Created?

In today's excerpt from 'God's Heart Cry for Revival' we look at the most important question that anyone could possibly ever ask. Why were we created? This is a significant and profound question, and so we turn to the Bible to find the answer.

Fulfilment and Purpose

I believe knowing why we were created is the most important and significant piece of knowledge that we could know. To understand this will lead us to a level of fulfilment and purpose in life that will give us more meaning, happiness, joy and completeness than any worldly vocation could possibly offer. To go through life never really knowing why we were created would have to be mankind’s greatest folly. I believe if humanity grasped the answer to this question and lived by it, wars, crime, debauchery of all kind, drug addictions etc., would be totally eradicated. To find the answer to this controversial and most mysterious question we must go to the last book of the Bible where God reveals the answer through His Son Jesus Christ to the Apostle John in Heaven, while he was in exile on Patmos.

Pleasure

Revelation 4:11 says in the King James Version, “Thou art worthy, O Lord to receive glory and honour: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” We were created for the Lord’s pleasure... That’s it, a profound yet simple reason for our being. We were created to give Him joy. How unbelievably simple the answer is, but it is not easy to give Him pleasure. It takes a lifetime sacrifice to accomplish. We will live fulfilled and whole lives if our Lord receives pleasure by our life. Aligning ourselves with this truth is the key to holiness and righteousness. When we aim to please God, all manner of sin loses its grip upon our life. When pleasing God becomes our obsession, we will become more and more like Him and holiness will be the result. It is essential that we seek ways of giving Him great pleasure and devote ourselves to them; for this is our reason for being.

Lifestyle Alignment

When I realised this revelation, it made me want to realign my entire lifestyle to see that I give my Lord pleasure. I asked the Holy Spirit, “How can I give my Lord great pleasure?” “Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” (Romans 8:8) If I can overcome my sinful nature I can please God. This requires Holy Spirit guidance as well as sacrifice and discipline. This I will need to continually be working on as God reveals more and more of the sin in my life. I understand why Charles Finney said that he lived in a “state of perpetual unending consecration.” The closer you get to God, the cleaner He expects you to be. Sins that were not an issue when you were first saved suddenly become the major concern. 

Stripping the Veils

With each step closer to God He strips away another veil in our life and exposes more muck that we never realised was there. Christians should be keeping with repentance daily if they are growing in the things of God, that is why Paul said, “I die daily.” (1Corinthians 15:31) John the Baptist preached that we should, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:8) As we keep with repentance, fruit should become evident in our lives. So in essence he is saying, live out your life in a state of repentance because if we don’t we won’t show the fruit of repentance, and then we will be no better than the brood of vipers John rebuked.

Robert Cartledge

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House of Prayer for All Nations Part 2

This Extract is taken from my book "God's Heart Cry for Revival. This section is part 2 where I talk about how the true Church is meant to Function.

The Ministry of a True Believer

The ministry of every true believer is prayer, unceasing prayer. When, like Jacob, we lay hold of God, but unlike Jacob, don’t let go of Him even when He blesses us, the Church will experience an outpouring of the Spirit that even our wildest imaginations could not visualise. Joel 2:28-29 says it all, the Holy Spirit poured out upon all flesh, every man, woman and child.

Every Knee Will Bow

Let us stand on Philippians 2:9-11 which says, “Wherefore God has highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” If the Word of God says it, it will happen. I believe that if the Church is obedient, we will see every knee bow and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. The Church has a large job ahead, and prayer and intercession are the largest part of it. I believe that through prayer we can move God to fulfil His prophecies.

When God Does Not Tarry

The Church has to become a ‘House of Prayer for all Nations.’ We are to pray like the disciples before Pentecost, vigilant, disciplined, unceasing powerful prayers. Then when the corporate prayers of the Church reaches a point of travail that words cannot describe, God will tarry no longer and the Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh like the day of Pentecost. This will be the Churches finest hour and more will be accomplished by reaching God at this time than in all the other centuries combined. What God is able to accomplish in one day, can far outweigh all of what man has been able to accomplish for Christ in the last two thousand years. I underlined man, because God has moved powerfully in the last 2000 years, but without God, man has achieved very little for Christ.

God is More Than Ready

God’s heart cries for revival, God is ever-present and ever ready to pour out His Spirit and revive His Church and save the lost. But we, His Church, have always been His problem. We have lived in a way that God cannot honor with a revival. God cannot pour out His Spirit on an un- repentant Church without having disastrous consequences. If we don’t renew our wineskins, then our old un-repentant wineskins would burst as the new wine of the Holy Spirit is poured in. “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Matthew 9:17) God has new wine for His people, but it will only be poured out at a price, and that price is to make ourselves new wineskins through repentance. If His people pay that price, we will see Heaven moved and the earth renewed and the coming of our Lord and all His Holy Ones with Him, praise God.

Robert Cartledge

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House of Prayer for All Nations Part 1

This Extract is taken from my book "God's Heart Cry for Revival. This section talks about how the true Church is meant to Function.

Playing Church

Many Christians have been playing Church and living a life of prayerlessness for too long. The Lord’s return is imminent and I am afraid that if we do not change He is going to find the Church without oil in her lamp. It is time to raise ourselves up out of our apathy and seek the Lord our God with all our heart. It’s time to change. I can hear the Lord calling His Church to get serious.

House of Preaching?

Jesus said, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer.’” (Matthew 21:13) Many Christians and Pastors believe this to mean the Church as we know it. Jesus did not say that His house would be called a house of preaching and a one-hour prayer meeting once a week. He said a house of prayer. Preaching should overflow out of prayer. Prayer should not be the extra bit we do when we preach. When the Church begins to pray and take prayer seriously, our preaching will become fruitful. The disciples prayed for 10 days and preached for 10 minutes on the day of Pentecost, and their power and authority was astounding; 3000 were saved.

We Are a House of Prayer

God said through Isaiah, “My house will be called a house of prayer, for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7b) The Bible refers to the believer as being God’s house. “But Christ is faithful as a Son over God’s house. And we are His house, If we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” (Hebrews 3:6) We are that house of prayer. Every corporate, united believer is a house of prayer. Prayer is supposed to radiate out from us on a continuous basis, as we are meant to house the prayers of God for all nations. This then means that before anything else that we do for Christ, prayer is supposed to be our passion, and flow in and out of us like breathing. This is the call.

Spiritual Death

When someone dies spiritually it is usually accountable to a poor prayer life. The writer of the book of Hebrews says that a poor prayer life is accountable to letting go of the courage and hope of which we once boasted. I have seen a number of once passionate Christians, myself included, lose their way because they do not maintain their boldness and zeal for the things of the Lord. They lose their prayer life and even complain that God does not answer their prayers, no matter how much time they put in. Their prayer life becomes their test of faith, and they let go and seek the world’s answers. But if we hold strong to our courage and hope in Christ, we automatically continue to pray.

Stir Yourself Up

As the ministry of Jesus Christ becomes more important to us than the affairs of this world, we begin to seek hard after the Holy Spirit. In our quest to have the Holy Spirit empower us, we pray. My word today to anyone who has lost their fervour to serve Jesus and live in the Spirit is, stir yourself up in the things of the Spirit. Just like a man who desires to train in the gym to improve his physical body, he will begin to read motivating articles about training, watch video’s and listen to men and women accomplished in this area. Likewise Christians should watch motivating videos, listen to motivating tapes, read motivating books and of course belong to and regularly attend a Spirit-filled Church. Then you will force yourself to be stirred and the Holy Spirit will begin to put Jesus into perspective, and He will once again have that place of highest honour in your life.

Robert Cartledge

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For the Atheist Part 2

This blog is part 2. As I said yesterday, my appeal today is to the atheist to let us reason together. I want to put on the table that the question of God and His reality is reasonable.

Two Explanations

As discussed yesterday, there are only really two explanations for the existence of all life and the universe. Either "Chance, Time and a Primordial Soup" did it, or God created it. It does not seem at all reasonable to me, that an honest seeker of the truth of the existence of all life and the universe, would try to push the God hypothesis out, when it is compared to the alternative, namely: "Chance, Time and a Primordial Soup". The God hypothesis is clearly a more plausible explanation. It's either nothing made everything, or God (Higher Intelligence) made everything.

Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup Conundrum

To believe in "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" to perform the miracle of creating all that is, is to give "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" the very same powers of which God has. If the atheist believes that everything that is came through "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" this would then mean that an atheist would have to believe that "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" is God, which they can't believe because they are atheists. So then the only alternative they have is to say that "Nothing" caused everything to come into being, that everything came from "Nothing". This again gives "Nothing" the very same powers as God by having the power to create everything. So now the atheist is in a real conundrum, they can't even believe in "Nothing", because "Nothing" is now endowed with Godlike powers. So the poor atheist cancels his belief system out, because even his belief in "Nothing", is the same as believing in God.

11 Organ Systems

Let's be honest, the complexity of which we see in life forms and for them to actually exist is a miracle beyond words. The complexity of the human body for example, with it's some 11 organ systems, that are all dependant upon one another to survive is a miracle of design. It's either all those systems came into being at once for the being to survive, or else it would die within seconds, according to the slow evolutionary process. So which system did the single celled amoeba evolve into first, and then how did that system survive until it was joined by another? If the 11 organ systems came into existence all at once, then what we have here is not evolution, but a miracle of God like proportions. For all 11 organ systems to evolve at once, in a short enough period of time, so that the human would not die, would require more than a warm soup, it would require something greater than the combined genius of every medical expert on the planet. Medical science has not the mental capacity to comprehend just how 11 systems could be created independently and then wrapped together to form a human.

Creative Genius Genesis

To attribute creative genius to the level of complexity we see in living things, is to bestow upon "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" godlike powers of creation like that spoken of in the Book of Genesis. Except, by claiming that "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" created it, you don't end up with a god that is superior to you in every way. You end up with an impersonal, unintelligent force, which is a miracle worker with freakish powers to cause everything else to exist, but doesn't know that it itself exists.

Clearly Seen

But did the god's "Chance, Time and the Primordial Soup" really create everything that is? Is it truly conceivable to think that the wonders of the universe were not caused by intelligence? Is it possible, with mans limited ability, to explore the universe, or travel at light speed, or teleport to the other side of the universe, or even search the deepest recesses of the earths oceans, is it possible that God is somewhere where man cannot see Him as they would like. We can't see air, but we know it's there, because we breathe. We can't see God, but we know He's there because we exist. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." Romans 1:20-21

Great Complexity

The reasoning mind tells us that if we see a bike, we know that it had a designer, or if we see a ship, we know it had a builder. Mankind look at the human eye, study its complexity, and from that develop lenses for photographic equipment. We see the eye holding greater complexity than the bike or ship, yet the atheist will say "the eye evolved by chance over billions of years, and it had no designer," yet the eye is more complex than anything humans have ever been able to invent. Scientists look at DNA and admit that the amount of information packed into a blob of DNA the size of the tip of a pin is greater than the entire works of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, yet scientists have no concept of how Nature packed it all into such a small amount of space. Can scientist pack systems of information into microscopic Hard Drives that small? Of course not, they're not smart enough. Yet somehow, DNA evolved by chance over millions of years, unguided and without any intelligent interference. 

Conclusion

All in all, I believe that in an effort for men to avoid being accountable to a Holy God, they have blocked their minds to just how clearly evident it is that God is behind the creation of all life. I pray that men open their minds and reason this knowledge without prejudice and hostility, and let the evidence point them to the obvious truth.

In Christ

Robert Cartledge

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