When you have a moment, try and read the full article below. Its not long its in a Q&A style introducing the concept behind the author's (Hugh Halter) book. I believe it should be a great exercise in discernment and critical thinking. Let me know what you think and comment on it so that we can dialogue.   

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.  My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. He was really friendly and smiling.  So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally.  Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. Successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.  Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!  Hope for garbage-free day!

Hi Everyone,   I believe you all ought to know that the defense of a literal Genesis is consistently bombarded by so-called evangelicals. I cannot stress the need for us to be discerning in what is happening. Below, we have another perfect example of the battle for the beginning. Ken Ham, AIG founder was uninvited because he was defending the HISTORICITY AND LITERALNESS of ADAM!! In a home school conference! The other speaker was viewing Adam as a metaphor and NOT a literal person.   Beloved and friends this is happening more everyday. As I mentioned before, in the annual ETS conference last years, professors (example Bruce Waltke) of the highest order are questioning the literal serpent, Adam, and of course the days in Genesis. But even if the days controversy, which has been hotly debated for some time, wasn't enough; now we have to question more? In addition, in September of this year, at Bryan College, a Bible school will have a conference to center around Genesis 1-2. In this conference you will have the likes of John Collins and Dr Richard Averbeck (TEDS) and others discussing Genesis 1-2, but the issue is, these were speakers at ETS this past year and both were questioning some of the traditional literal interpretations of Genesis! Only one of the speakers, Dr Todd Beall from Capital Bible College, will be at this conference and will be trying to defend the whole historicity and literalness of Genesis.   We must pray. The Creationist professors of the study group at ETS asked for prayer for this one speaker. Listen to Ken Ham comments on this issue http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/blogs/ken-ham/2011/03/25/listen-to-this/ Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

I thought you might like this quote from CS Lewis esp those CS Lewis fans:   "This mistaken preference for the modern books and this shyness of the old ones is nowhere more rampant than in theology. Wherever you find a little study circle of Christian laity you can be almost certain that they are studying not St. Luke or St. Paul or St. Augustine or Thomas Aquinas or Hooker or Butler, but M. Berdyaev or M. Maritain or M. Niebuhr or Miss Sayers or even myself. Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an exclusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and all its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light. Often it cannot be fully understood without the knowledge of a good many other modern books. If you join at eleven o'clock a conversation which began at eight you will often not see the real bearing of what is said. Remarks which seem to you very ordinary will produce laughter or irritation and you will not see why—the reason, of course, being that the earlier stages of the conversation have given them a special point. In the same way sentences in a modern book which look quite ordinary may be directed at some other book; in this way you may be led to accept what you would have indignantly rejected if you knew its real significance. The only safety is to have a standard of plain, central Christianity ("mere Christianity" as Baxter called it) which puts the controversies of the moment in their proper perspective. Such a standard can be acquired only from the old books. It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at least read one old one to every three new ones." Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

This is a perfect example of the debate between God's Sovereignty and human responsibility (or man's will)! In fact, the writer (all see below book and excerpt from the book) from the outset assumes free-will! In other words, our wills are they to be understood as absolutely free or are they to be understood as limitely free, yet free indeed?   Explanation of Freedom:   If we understand this right, then the writer is coming from the Arminian view point. The point to be made here is, does the writer mean free will as "freedom of indifference" or "Libertarian free will?" Which, if this is what he is referring to that Jonah possesses, then God technically could not exercise control over his choice. In other words, his choice is totally free when he decided to escape from God's presence as well as to repent and turn to God's commands and desires. As the opposite is also true, and therefore, God would have to change his plan! To stated clearly, if Jonah had the "free will" the author says he had, then the Sovereignty of God could not do anything at all to overturn his free choices.    Therefore, his choices are not compatible with God's Sovereignty. Since his free choices must be completely done without any external influence (this is what "free willism" demands as a system). This whole line of thinking is the crux of the matter. Free will, therefore, as defined and understood by those who hold to this is also called "contra-causal freedom," which is basically having the freedom to choose between alternatives without any regard to what you truly desire in your heart. Therefore, your choice can go against what your strongest desires are (Lk 6:43-45). In other words, if your choice could have caused a certain outcome then it could also be true that it could have caused another outcome. There are a variety of choices that "x" could choose against their strongest desires and God did not have any control over the choices. In other words, God is not the one in control of any choices that man makes, and therefore, could not have predicted, carried out, executed, or fully bring anything to pass due to his absolute reliance on man's choices. The Bible explicitly says that God controls nature, events, and human decisions without coercion, or man becoming a robot. Yet, in His control, he genuinely rules without being accused of the cause of evil, and therefore, responsible for the evil acts of men. And, he is also ruling in a way that the evil acts of men are in fact  free acts, and are being truly chosen by them without them being robots (Gen 50:20, Acts 2:22-24).   Illustration of Sovereignty and Freedom working side by side:   A perfect example of this is in the writing of the Scriptures. Here we have the absolute certainty that God wrote through the Holy Spirit His Word, no one doubts this otherwise the Bible is man's words (at least conservative inerrantists believe this). But on the other side we have Paul's true words, Peter' true words, James' true words. Are they not different? Are they not their own words also? This is a perfect case for the compatibilist freedom. God moved in them to write, they wrote filled with the Spirit what they truly desired to write. Otherwise, if you don't believe that the Scriptures were written this way then you end up with the dictation theory of the doctrine of inspiration which means that God dictated His Words to them and they were nothing but amanuenses. But, you can see this is not the case.     Two extremes must be avoided in this debate:   1) Free will, as a philosophical notion (The old "Pelagiaus" cry!--where man is the king and ruler of his own fate) and NOT as a biblical revelation requires that man be 100% free in the sense that he is free entirely from God's control and would render God's ability to control man's free choices--in the libertarian sense--inoperative. Therefore, God just sits around waiting for man to choose him. In other words, God reacts to the independence and absolute freedom of man, and therefore, cannot at all control the course of human history (Acts 2:20-25; 4, Gen 50:20). The libertarian free will adherents hold to this system in order to exonerate God from the evil in the world and that then He would not be responsible for it and the creature then would be responsible in a real sense. In other words, they believe that in order for God to be truly acquitted from any wrong doing (causing evil in the world) then the creature must be truly, entirely free so that only then can man be truly, in a real sense, culpable for his sin. Therefore free will in the libertarian sense is not biblical. People are indeed free in a sense: they have freedom of inclination. They choose based on their strongest desire or inclination. Nevertheless they are still free to choose and act but it never can catch God of guard or by suprise or that God can't control it so that His purposes are not thwarted. Compatibilist freedom, is that freedom, therefore, that renders men's free actions compatible with God's Sovereignty. In other words, compatibilist freedom is a freedom that works within the confines of God's total freedom from controlling everything. This is because man cannot and does not have total free will in regard to choosing to come to Christ (John 1:12-13, 6:35-45, 10:29, Eph 2:1-3, Rom 8:6-8, John 15:16, Rom 9:6-24).     2) The other extreme is no freedom at all. What the free-will camp tries to refute are the extreme strains of doctrines which the Bible does not teach: that God has us as robots or that we are fatally mechanical. We are only doing what we are predetermined to do. In other words, our fate is determined in such a way as to render our course in life so as anything we choose as not really our choices but someone elses (in this case God). Basically, we are puppets. We do or say nothing that we have not been pre-programmed to do. This is an extreme and not biblical! Another objection to the Potter's freedom is that if we believe in election or predestination (expressions of God's Sovereignty) then we have nothing more or less than "Fatalism." This is a philosophical concept that all things including our choices have been absolutely determined to such an extent that none of our choices are ours at all. And, nothing we do can change our destiny because fate has determined it. This is phisophically and humanistically untennable.   The Example of the life of Jesus:   Jesus is a perfect example of this whole issue. Everything that happen with Jesus was predetermined. Nothing escaped the Sovereignty of God in the course of redemptive history. God planned and carried out exactly Jesus' life, execution, executioners, date of- time of- his death, trial, burial and resurrection. He did this with exacting precision! No conservative will argue that Jesus' life, death, burial, and resurrection was not prophesied and fulfilled to the minutest detail. God's hand was not thwarted or held back (esp by the free decisions of man). He was not hindered in accomplishing redemption. Yet, Jesus submitted willfully, obediently, desirously. He did everything the Father wanted him to do. He pleased the Father in everything. Yet, was he not free? Was he a robot? Was his righteousness a fake programmed righteousness? Is there anything in Scripture that says that merely because he was God in the flesh he could not fail? No, the opposite is true! He really did struggle at Gethsemane. He really did get tempted by the Devil. Are his free choices not real ones to accept his Father's plan for mankind? Of course we would agree that Jesus did all things as a real man and acted on his own volition to submit to the Father's will. Hypothetically speaking if Jesus had the libertarian free will and decided before the cricifixion to change his mind, what would have happened to redemption? Would God have had to change his plan and wait on Jesus to see what he would do next? This is ludicrous!   A Balance is to be held:   Therefore, a robotic or mechanical view as well as a freedom of indeference are extreme views of man's freedom and of the Sovereignty of God.These  are flawed views of the Bible's doctrines of Providence. The Bible genuinely describes that humans have genuine freedom (Lk 6:43-45). However, this freedom is biblically better described as compatibilist freedom. In other words, the freedom people exercise is a true freedom indeed, but it is compatible with God's Sovereignty! Another way to say this, is that humans do exercise their will (it is definitely our will!) and their freedom is within their own heart's desire. In other words, they exercise "freedom of inclination." Freedom of inclination is true freedom of the will within what they are most inclined to do and what they are most desiring to will. In other words, when people think of Calvinism and predestination they have a flawed picture by thinking that people's freedom is eradicated or totally erased which is not the case neither is it what the Bible is teaching. Calvinism in its true sense is not this unbiblical understanding of human freedom. Anti-Calvinists place too much emphasis on man's freedom, however. They normally have a distasteful apprehension of Romans 8:28-30, 9:11-24. They just understand those passages with the lenses of free-willism and can't see beyond the clear understanding of the verses. They have a difficulty understanding the Potter-Clay metaphor. Yet, this is exactly what God is described like in many Scriptures (Jere 18:4-6; Is 29:16, 45:9, 64:8, Rom 9:20-21). In fact, Paul is borrowing the metaphor from Jeremiah, Isaiah, etc. You cannot get around Scriptures that say emphatically that God predetermined, and that yet, man is responsible for his free choices!  Herein lies the mystery! (Rom 11:33-36)   Conclusion:   Finally, what did Jonah actually do? He fulfilled exactly what his heart desired. He made a choice to rebel out of his strongest desire and what he mostly wanted to do (Lk 6:43-45). This is "freedom of inclination." This means he really and badly, wanted to go against God and God's program. God had to chastise him to bring him in line with His Will. Jonah changed his mind due to God's discipline! But, he still begrudgingly accomplished what God desired. Nineveh did repent and God spared them. God caused supernatural circumstances to fulfill His plan. If God had no freedom to Sovereignly intervene then God would have to resort to plan "B" in a sense, and technically, He did not foreknow. Jonah would be on the driver seat if you will. Ultimately, God's Will and predetermined counsel prevailed. Yet, God's exhaustive meticulous knowledge knew all along what Jonah would do and how Nineveh would respond. Now there is another area in theology that links these ideas together--God's Decretive vs God's Prescriptive Wills have to be differentiated. This is for another time.   There you go here is a run-down of the issues surrounding the excerpt about when "Jonah's freewill meets head-on the Sovereignty of God." On a balanced note, we must remember that our Arminian brothers and sisters are indeed our brothers and sisters. We can't hold to such a rigid doctrinal stance that we exclude them from fellowship. This is not acceptable at all! We have to learn to balance the essentials from the non-essentials to fellowship.   This exercise in theology is to show that when we look at Scripture there has to be a real desire to interpret it as it is. Unfortunately, Arminian theology has to go through all kinds of twisting and contortions to fit a libertarian free will, and therefore, diminish the Glory of God. His Sovereignty cannot be diminished! His Word cannot be re-interpreted to fit a philosophical notion of free-will (freedom of indifference). Neither can we re-interpret the clear exegesis of passages that say He is in complete control of the past, present, and future (Ps 135:6; Is 14:27, 41:21-23, 46:6-9; Prov 21:1; Daniel 4:34-35). In fact, Arminianism is inconsistent: they want to have their cake and eat it too. In other words, their inconsistency with Scripture is that they want God to be Sovereign in a sense, they ascribe to Him this; but, they want to switch the power of God in electing, predetermining, calling, justifying, sanctifying, and glorifying after the counsel of His own will (the freedom of the Potter)  to man generating their own power in overcoming their deadness, inability, and depravity. They want to be the cause of their own regeneration through their own unhindered, free, and self-exercised faith. Our own inability to produce faith and repentance (Ephesians 2:8-10, 2 Timothy 2:25) for regeneration is pervasive throughout the Bible's witness. This is inconsistent with the Bible.   On the contrary, Open Theism (another form of Arminianism)  is probably more consistent yet still in error. They hold to man's total liberterian free will but also hold, rather consistently, that God does NOT have complete omniscience. In other words, God is near-sighted. He only knows the past and the present but NOT the future. These deeper theological truths are not for the fainthearted: (2 Peter 3:15-16). Nonetheless, this is one of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism.   Be of good cheer, Our Heavenly Father knows well our ignorance and finiteness to these doctrines. However, we should be humbled and our desire to overcome theological deficiencies should be all the more strenghtened. Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org

“Christians quite often live out their lives in personal pain, with unresolved problems and in terribly unfair situations. Prophecy reminds us of the goodness of God by showing that He has written the final chapter on the human condition, which presently includes suffering and pain. If this life and this world were all there was, or the best we had coming, we might rightly challenge the idea that God is good and loving. Prophecy reveals with crystal clarity that the ending of the story is good for the children of God. And it is a kind of good that really cannot fathom. The apostle Paul, who endured incredible adversity, suffering, and trouble proclaimed without any reservation, ‘I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us’” (Rom. 8:19) (Paul Beware, “Understanding End Times Prophecy,” Chicago: Moody Press, p.12)  One thing is for certain suffering and pain is all around us. We are subject to it like the sun’s rays. We cannot elude this human trademark. If you were born, then you are not immune to disease, pain, suffering, or trouble. You will succumb to one of these sooner or later! However, the issue is not whether we will experience adversity or not, but whether we respond to it correctly. If we know that God ultimately controls everything with an exhaustive meticulous providence then we will be more likely to submit under his care. This is because we know that God has either directly or indirectly disposed everything in our lives for a purpose. His providence includes every detail of our lives. He knows what trouble we are going through due to the fact that he may have caused the events to unfold for our good.   Not only is God in control of everything but He also has the last word. He will not be left with nothing to say in the end of the day. He will certainly complete this chapter of human history. He will certainly finish what He started. So don’t fret, don’t lay in anguish, don’t complain, don’t murmur, and don’t worry because God knows your every problem. Stand with God in your good times as well as in your bad times.

A: The “big bang” is a story about how the universe came into existence. It proposes that billions of years ago the universe began in a tiny, infinitely hot and dense point called a singularity. This singularity supposedly contained not only all the mass and energy that would become everything we see today, but also “space” itself. According to the story, the singularity rapidly expanded, spreading out the energy and space. It is supposed that over vast periods of time, the energy from the big bang cooled down as the universe expanded. Some of it turned into matter—hydrogen and helium gas. These gases collapsed to form stars and galaxies of stars. Some of the stars created the heavier elements in their core and then exploded, distributing these elements into space. Some of the heavier elements allegedly began to stick together and formed the earth and other planets. This story of origins is entirely fiction. But sadly, many people claim to believe the big-bang model. It is particularly distressing that many professing Christians have been taken in by the big bang, perhaps without realizing its atheistic underpinnings. They have chosen to reinterpret the plain teachings of Scripture in an attempt to make it mesh with secular beliefs about origins.  Continue reading at http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab2/does-big-bang-fit-with-bible#

This past Sunday in Hong Kong a press conference was held to announce that a wooden structure has been found on Mt Ararat at about 4200 meters in elevation (the mountain is 5165 m high).  The Chinese and Kurdish explorers researching this find believe it may very well be the remains of Noah’s Ark.  More research needs to be carefully done to make a convincing case, but this is very intriguing news with a lot of interesting photos and commentary to ponder.     In the upper right corner of the web page below you can click on “Eng” to change the report from Chinese into English.  Just below that is a video of the press conference.  The lady speaking alternates between Chinese and English.  The Chinese involved are committed Christians.  The people in Turkey that are involved are, of course, Muslim, who also believe that Noah’s Flood really happened.   http://www.noahsarksearch.net/   It will be interesting to see what lab research on wood and other objects brought down from the site and future trips to the site with scientific experts will reveal.  Could this be the remains of Noah’s Ark?  Only time (with more research) will tell.  If it is indeed shown to be the ark, it will be the greatest archeological discovery in history.  As the investigations unfold (it will be slow as there is only a limited time each year that the site on this dangerous mountain in a politically complicated and dangerous area of Turkey can be investigated), I’ll try to keep you informed. Original email sent by Terry Mortenson, AnswersinGenesis.org

Hi Everyone here is a great article concerning the YEC vs OEC. You will notice that the fundamental differences have to do with the dogma associated with the recent interpretations of Geology (ca. 1800's), dogma associated with the dating methods, the dogma of long years needed for so-called evolution to fit, and really, just the academic snobbery over and above all those who still hold to the flood and 24 hour period. These biblical ideas are just not sophisticated enough. Just click on the "How old is the earth" below. We of course are not holding to these dogmas. http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/nab2/how-old-is-the-earth

I wanted to take an opportunity to update everyone on the ministry happenings at Miramar Church. It continues to be an honor and a special mission for us to reach out to our community and neighbors. And, we want you all to know that you all have been part of this ministry also through your prayers and spiritual support. In fact, you all are just as much involved in the overall kingdom work with us. Thank you so much for your continual vigilance and watchfulness in prayer, reading of our reports, and overall attentativeness.   Miramar Highlights: Our church has had three new families join us in the past three months. The families are attending regularly and are eager to    learn. One family has requested to be recommitted to the Lord. What this means to us is that we must be vigilant to clarify and teach the gospel to them. We are going to make every effort that the gospel and salvation is firmly planted in their hearts. Books have been given and follow-up are pending. Another family has been welcomed. This family is a mature family that the parents have been evaluating the possibility in joining us for some time. They will be a grounded family in the faith eager to assist in serving the body in unique capacities. They thus far have been very affirmative and encouraging about the ministry here and the preaching. They have been particularly seeking solid exposition. Another family has come with the biblical circumstance of a spouse that is an unbeliever. Thus far, my wife and me have been able to discuss the importance of salvation and the real meaning of being born-again. This young lady was drawn to the fact that she had a very poor understanding of what salvation was. We were able to present the biblical doctrine of the divine side of salvation and she was led to rethink her understanding of salvation. She will be meeting with us on a weekly basis until we can solidly ground her on the theology of salvation. Indeed she has been very eager and receptive and humble and teachable. Pray that she continues to grow and that she presents a good testimony to her unsaved husband. She has also been given material to read on the essentials of 1 Peter 3:1-6 and 1 Corinthians 7:12-20. She has been devouring this material. She will be meeting with us today again. The Women's Bible study group has been growing both spiritually and numerically. We have added three new ladies to the study of Romans. What a blessing the fellowship has been. Continue to pray for them as they dig deeper into the book of Romans. Continue to pray for our door to door evangelism. We've been blessed with the opportunity to present the gospel to many out in the community. This is an honor and a privilege. We have not been stymied at all from our task and mandate. We have had two new disabled visitors that have been invited by one of our members. This has been a privilege to minister to them. Together we have been going through the book of Leviticus. This has been a joy and a blessing. We have had the opportunity as a church to explore the differing views on sanctification. We've explored the relationship between justification and sanctification. We've affirmed the biblical view. We have gone through the importance of holiness and worship. It has just been a great blessing for all of us.   These are some of the highlights and I'm sure I may be missing something but I just want to let you know what your prayers, financial support, and comradery has helped us accomplished. Thank you so much for all you all and your support.   Blessings, Pastor James T. Cater Miramar Church 6390 SW 32nd Street Miramar, FL 33023 (954) 981-4677 pastorjim@miramar.org www.miramarchurch.org