Many of our children have been scarred and broken by this world.  I suppose all children have, more or less, had many of the same experiences growing up, but some have less scarring than others. This is probably because they are less likely to be vulnerable and open to damage.

The world is filling our children full of lies. Evolution tells them that they are only here by chance or accident, and that they are no better than the animals. They are also told that only the fittest survive, so live for self and fight for everything you can…. because you only get one shot at this life.

Christ provides a different solution.  Isaiah 61:1 says that Christ came to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free.  He is the only way to heal and repair those scars.  We are here for a purpose, and if we will accept Christ we will have everything that life has to offer….freedom and an afterlife.

Unfortunately, many times we place ourselves in bondage even after we have accepted Christ’s freedom by believing the lies of evolution, or by withholding parts of our lives from His authority, or allowing Satan a foothold to steal our freedom in Christ.

Here on earth, no one ever arrives at a perpetual state of godliness, but if we will perpetually follow hard after God, He promises to heal the broken hearted, give liberty to the captives, and set us free!

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” Isaiah 61:1

Marilyn Johnson

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Have you ever made a mistake? I seem to be quite good at mistakes. No matter how hard I try to avoid them, they still manage to pop up now and then.

Sometimes I push things just a little too far … in this picture you will notice one of my recent mistakes. It seems that four loads of gravel are just a little too much for this combination of four-wheeler and trailer. It seems that laws of physics and weight distribution are very important factors to be considered.

As an excuse, this was the first time I had tried this little experiment. But, all excuses aside, it was still a mistake. Nothing, or no one was hurt (except possibly my ego), and to tell the truth, it was somewhat comical … especially when I had my wife and oldest daughter climb onto the front of the trailer to act as ballast!

Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and don’t become repeat offenders. “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.” Proverbs 26:27

My mistakes remind me that I am not perfect and desperately in need of a Savior, and that Savior is Jesus Christ.

Lanny Johnson

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It was once believed that the stars were fixed. Today we know that they actually move in a predictable way.

Thousands of years before this was discovered by modern astronomy, God declared, “… the stars in their courses …” Judges 5:20

All stars look alike to the naked eye. However, the study of their light spectra reveals that each is unique and different from all others.

The Bible also says that each star is unique. “… for one star differeth from another star in glory.” I Corinthians 15:41

In the 20th Century, scientists and astronomers studied the stars and discovered that they actually gave out radio signals. They were the sort that could not be heard by the human ear, but when they adapted their instruments, they were able to hear the sound the stars made. It was like singing!

The Bible said the stars produce sound 4000 years before man found out. “When the morning stars sang together …” Job 38:7

In the 20th century astronomers learned that the stars of Pleiades (Seven Sisters) are bound and the stars of Orion are not.

4000 years ago, the Bible said: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?” Job 38:31

Today there is no consensus about how large the universe is … a few astronomers guess that the known universe extends about 10 billion light years in all directions This means it can take light (traveling at 186,000 miles/sec)approximately 20 billion years to cross from one side of the universe to the other.

The Bible indicates the size of the universe: “… If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath …” Jeremiah 31:37 (see also Job 22:12, Isaiah 55:9). Notice the word “if”, indicating that we (humans) cannot really know the size of the universe.

And once again the Bible reveals a great deal of scientific truth written hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of years before being “discovered” by modern scientists.

Lanny Johnson

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Last week, Rich Stepanek and I both had to undergo surgery for inguinal hernias. After surgery preparation, as I was lying on the operating table, I can remember the anesthesiologist saying, “It’s time to put him under.” The next thing I remember was waking up feeling very relaxed, and most important … no pain! Whatever the anesthesiologist had given me really worked well. Thank God for anesthesia!

The first surgery and anesthesia is mentioned in the Bible at the beginning of Creation. “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;” Genesis 2:21. Before God removed one of Adam’s ribs (surgery), He put him into a deep sleep (equivalent of anesthesia).

Amazingly, until the 1800’s, surgery was performed without anesthesia. Ouch! It wasn’t until the early 1800′s that anesthetic gases were discovered. A Dr. Wells was the first to use inhaled ether to numb or remove the feeling of pain; however, it was a dentist named Dr. William Morton who in 1846 used ether, in the presence of students and physicians, to have a painful and well rooted tumor removed from a patient. The patients comment after the surgery, “I have felt no pain, but only a sensation like that of scraping the part with a blunt instrument.”

It has been claimed that Morton’s inspiration for this painless surgery came from Genesis 2:21.

Many great scientists of the past were “Bible-believing” Christians. An English doctor, Dr. James Simpson, discovered chloroform’s anesthetic qualities in the 1800′s. When Dr. Simpson was asked what his greatest discovery was, he replied:  ”It was not chloroform.  It was to know I am a sinner and that I could be saved by the grace of God.  A man has missed the whole meaning of life if he has not entered into an active, living relationship with God through Christ.” – Reference

If scientists had looked to the Word of God a little sooner, perhaps anesthesia would have been discover far sooner, and many more lives saved through painless surgery.

Lanny Johnson

If you would like to see if an AOI seminar is right for you, or you would like to help the work of Alpha Omega Institute, please visit our website events page or our donate page. Keep up to date with what AOI is doing. Thanks for your partnership.