This means War! Darwin versus Creationism is a battle, Satan versus Jesus is the war.
THIS MEANS WAR
Petra (the band) eloquently stated the obvious (to me) reason for this blog and why this blog is what it is:
If you prefer a live performance...
AN ASIDE CONCERNING PETRA (Skip this if you don't care about the background story about Petra)
I was very glad to have the opportunity to meet the lead singer John Schlitt and drummer Louie Weaver of Petra before one of their concerts several years ago. My kids were completely blissed out at meeting their favorite rockers. In one of those ironic moments I remembered having a Head East poster on my wall years ago. Schlitt was the lead singer of Head East, but became a Christian and joined Petra, leaving a life of drinking and drugs behind. I was a lead singer living a life of drinking and drugs but Christianity came to me and the drinking and drugs dropped away. Schlitt got saved not long after his wife was converted and that is exactly what happened with me. In both cases the pastor of the church of the wife came to visit and in both cases we received Christ.
John Schlitt then abandoned music and concentrated on working to provide for his family until guitarist Bob Hartmann of Petra called him and asked him to consider singing for the Christian rock band Petra. I gave up on music and concentrated on work and learning what God wanted of me. I was asked to begin singing in church and then eventually found myself singing with a big backing band in a big church with guitars and keyboards and saxophone and two drummers! Funny how both of us abandoned rock music and yet God wanted us to sing and presented us with opportunities to sing. For many years I was part of or led bands and music groups and also formed an extended family vocal band. Lots of fun and good memories there...
Petra was probably the most influential of the many bands I introduced my kids and their friends to as I used Christian rock music to reach out to young people and bring them into the family of God. White Heart, Guardian, Holy Soldier, Whitecross, DC Talk, Mad At The World, The Newsboys, Third Day, Skillet...went to lots of concerts with lots of teenagers for many years. We would play music everywhere we went, singing and harmonizing with the bands. I was blessed to have the house that all the kids went to...now all my kids and Godkids are men and women. Some of them are active in ministry like I am. Some of them were or are in the military. Some have decided to go into the same business I am in. All of this is part of a very interesting and wonderful life. I have had hard times and live with pain but I am blessed above all.
WHY IS RADAR WRITING THIS BLOG?
Lately some people have been discussing whether I am rude and whether my attitude is befitting for a Christian. So I am glad to discuss that subject. The fact is, I was writing primarily about sports online and every once in awhile felt like writing some kind of editorial and would post on a site where anyone could obtain a password and write whatever they felt like saying. I've been writing since I was a kid, when I used to write science fiction stories. Once teen years hit I wrote a slew of poems until I was maybe 23 years old and quite a few songs. But once I became a professional journalist and was given the freedom to write pretty much whatever I wanted within the context of the military I really found a groove. I was a specialist in two areas: Taking news stories and converting them to radio copy, which is almost a science onto itself in that you need to get the word count just right to fit a 30 second or 60 second window, spell out pronunciation of difficult words and all of this in ALL CAPS. So I would put an hour or maybe two a day doing that. But otherwise my day began with breakfast at my desk and the two local Washington, DC newspapers waiting for me there. I would peruse the local papers and casually eat my breakfast and see what was going on within the Beltway that might be Army-related. Then after doing any radio copy translations I would check the potential stories tossed in my inbox by colleagues or higher-ups to look for the best news features. Most of the time a story plus a phone call or two would turn into news copy for our News Features edition. Sometimes I would have to go to an office to interview an official or an officer and on occasion take a camera girl with me (our best camera person was a GS employee, a young woman, who was also tasked to look for feature pictures that would be a story onto themselves when joined to a cutline). This was back in the 1970's. One way or another throughout my life I was writing things. I have a book that is partway done that might get finished when I maybe retire (if ever).
Hmm, I am rambling. So blogs were popular and I thought, what the heck, I will start a blog and just write things and publish them on the internet. It will provide me with an outlet when I really don't feel like writing a whole series of preview articles for every NFC Central team or ranking all the top fifty players in MLB at every position I thought. Little did I know it would grow like a monster and finally I would have to choose between sports writing or blog writing. I was offered a paycheck to write sports on my own time in addition to the work I do. All I had to do was just end the Radaractive Blog and go for it. I was already in the FSWA and had an article submitted for best article of the year. Maybe I could turn it into an eventual job with ESPN or Yahoo Sports like a couple of my fantasy buddies have done?
But I realized that this blog is a front line blog in the war of worldviews and that to abandon my post would be like deserting my post in the military. When the Jews were allowed to leave and go back to Israel long years after having been taken from their homes and transplanted to Babylon to be supposedly converted to good Babylonians there were still many Jews who never lost the faith. The very real stories of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and especially Daniel and also Esther are documented episodes of lives of Jews who remained faithful to the Creator God in the face of threats of death and torment. Jews like that still abounded when Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians and during the reign of Artaxerxes the King allowed Jews to return to their homeland. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell of the rebuilding of the city walls of Jerusalem and the Temple wherein the Spirit of God would dwell again and the sacrifices and offerings could be resumed and the genealogical records being still preserved the Judah and Jerusalem that was could be built again.
THIS IS WHY SOME OF YOU THINK I AM RUDE
Nehemiah 4:7 & 8 - "But it came to pass that when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being rebuilt, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it."
There have always been enemies of God. When the Jews began to rebuild Jerusalem's walls (and in those times a city could not be defended and preserved without good strong walls designed to repel attacks and provide security) there were enemies both within the Jewish community and the non-Jews in the area. They had been in control of the region and didn't want to give back what they had taken when the bulk of the Jewish community had been carried away. Thus Darwinists are to worldviews what Sanballat and Tobiah and his cronies were to the Children of Israel - sworn enemies determined to destroy them and prevent them from fortifying and consolidating and taking back their lands.
Nehemiah 4:14-21 -- "And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, "Be not ye afraid of them; remember the Lord, who is great and fearsome, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses."
And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields and the bows and the jackets of mail; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah.
Those who built on the wall and those who bore burdens with those who loaded -- every one with one of his hands wrought in the work and with the other hand held a weapon.For the builders, every one, had his sword girded by his side, and so built.
And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.And I said unto the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, "The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another.In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us. Our God shall fight for us."
I HAVE A SWORD IN ONE HAND AND A TROWEL IN THE OTHER
Nehemiah and Ezra reminded the people of the Word of God and called them to come back to faith and build up the walls of Jerusalem again and the Temple as well. Two entire books of the Bible devoted to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the restoration of the nation
I realized that my job was to fight for the faith, for the defense of the faith, and that such a task requires both a trowel to build up evidence for the veracity of the Bible and a sword to cut the arguments of the foes to ribbons. The enemies of God know that Darwinism is one of their greatest weapons and will not willingly relinquish it, not in the face of overwhelming evidence nor despite the fact that every one of the presuppositions of the original position of Darwinism has been falsified.
This is why commenters like to use derision. This is why they like to call names. This is why I am not gently soothing in my debates with the opponents. They are primarily sworn enemies of Christ and the concept of a creation made by God, for they do not want to be responsible to a Creator or answerable to Him at the end of this temporal life. I am not trying to lure people in with soft words and mild corrections. This is warfare and I bring a full set of armor to the battle! I will be firm and will not give one inch of ground to the enemy in the form of trolls. Some commenters are atheopaths who know this is a battle and understand the fight. Some are simply propagandized who do not realize their mistake. Some are simply confused or humanists who do not realize that putting themselves on the throne of their lives is the very thing that got Satan cast out of the presence of God and will drag them down to hell as surely as if they were Aleister Crowley himself.
Ephesians 6:10-18
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
11Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12For 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.
13Therefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day and, having done all, to stand.
14Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness,
15and your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.
16Above all, take the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,
18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
CHOOSE YE THIS DAY
I will continue to build and I will continue to fight. Some of my commenters are actually on my side and some of them are building walls in their parts of the city. For those of you who build and fight in your own ways know that I am not going to abandon my post and I hope you will not abandon yours. We are in a fight together and we know who wins in the end. If you happen to stop by to encourage me to continue on?
