The celebration of Christmas is a wonderful time of year that I enjoy very much. However, the Christmas season is not about traditions, emotions, the giving of presents, family, or decorations … and it’s certainly not about Santa Claus. Even though these can all bring us delight and give us warm “fuzzies”, these are not the true meaning of Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ child. What that infant did when he grew into a...
Read MoreThe Star of Bethlehem – My Perspective
Our study of the Star of Bethlehem begins with the wise men coming to Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1). The wise men came from the East, so I am assuming they are either from Persia or the Babylonian area. In Matthew 2:2, the wise men inquire concerning the whereabouts of the King of the Jews, because they saw His star the night Jesus was born. Why were they looking for a star? I believe they were looking because of the prophecy made by Balaam in Numbers 24:17, 19a, about the...
Read MoreAOI’s Newsletters
I was able to get the Kids Think & Believe Too! newsletter finished and ready for the printer before the busyness of Christmas season took over. AOI publishes an adult newsletter and a children’s newsletter every 2 months. Dave and Mary Jo Nutting, along with occasional guest writers, write the articles for Think and Believe, and then have graphic artist Mark Sonmor add the artwork and layout. I (with occasional help from my wife Marilyn) write the Kids Think...
Read More40th Anniversary Thoughts
We wrote this a few days ago while looking out over the lights shimmering across a beautiful bay in Manzanillo, Mexico. What a wonderful spot to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and reflect on the beauty of God’s creation and our life and work together! When we were first married, we had no idea what God had in store for us – the miles we would travel, the sites we would see, the people we would meet, the blessings we would receive, and the challenges we would face....
Read MoreProphecy Fulfilled
In the 1830’s Charles Lyell created uniformitarianism, the idea that “the present is the key to the past”, a popular philosophy. From this philosophy came the foundation of modern geology – billions of years of slow and gradual geological processes. With this timescale in place, Darwin’s theory of organic evolution emerged to try to explain the development of all life on earth. As a result, the worldview in place today has turned away from the...
Read MoreA Note of Thanksgiving
Notes like the one below are a great encouragement as we prepare for 2011. “Hi, Everyone! Thank you for your ministry! My oldest son, who is 15, had been taking Marine Biology and Oceanography at the local community college. He’s had the same professor for both classes. This teacher is hard core evolution in thought. My son said he was thankful and glad that he got to hear your seminars, because he said if he hadn’t, he would have easily gone to the side of...
Read MoreThe Miracle of the Incarnation
One of the greatest doctrines, and greatest mysteries, of the Christian faith is the incarnation of Jesus Christ, in which our holy, transcendent Creator took on human flesh and became man. Scripture clearly teaches this truth, and we accept it by faith, yet those of us with inquiring minds still have many questions. Henry Morris, in his book, Biblical Creationism, discusses some of these questions at length. The following ideas are condensations of his suggestions. While...
Read MoreCreation Ministries – Making an Impact
Recently I was in the doctor’s office getting some stitches in a couple of my fingers as a result of an accident in the workshop. As the doctor, still in residency, was stitching me up, I began to ask him about his education, where he was from, etc. … just getting to know him. After a short time, he asked what I did for a living. Since I was dressed in old patched insulated coveralls (covered with grease, sawdust, and fresh blood), and beat-up work boots (with grease...
Read MoreSEARCH ME, O GOD
Almost as soon as she could talk, my oldest granddaughter, who is now 4 years old, has been praying at mealtimes when given the opportunity. At first I couldn’t decipher all of her words. She always started out with “Jesus”, which I recognized, but then followed with a phrase that took me a year to finally figure out. “Jesus” was, and is to this day, followed by the phrase, “Help be good.” I find it interesting, that children, even...
Read MoreSnow and Snowflakes
Wow! Even in the midst of cold shivers in a blizzard, we can marvel at the beauty and intricate design of what God has made. It escapes me how someone can look at snowflakes under magnification and not see this. The hexagonal shape and pattern is slightly different in each flake. The shape depends on many factors happening right at the boundary of the snowflake as it is forming. This includes the air temperature, humidity, wind, and interaction of other nearby snowflakes....
Read MoreCreation, Christmas, and the Gospel in a Nutshell!
It all fits together! God created the entire universe and all it contains. We have seen in earlier Gems from Genesis articles that the creation was very good. Adam and Eve were also created and had it just as good as they could possibly have it with complete fellowship with God. However, Adam and Eve blew it royally in the Garden of Eden by breaking the only rule of that time – not eating fruit from the forbidden tree. Their sin impacted all of Creation and now we all...
Read MoreTeaching Revelation in India
In preparation for another creation tour to India in Jan. and Feb. 2011, I am planning what new topics I will teach. Not only are the Indians interested in Genesis and creation, I have discovered they are also fascinated with the book of Revelation and end times. This became apparent while I was teaching from Genesis, there are many similarities between Revelation and Genesis, and they began asking many questions about Revelation. Being limited on time, I quickly...
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Friends - Richard's Life was Changed!! - And this is why he is leading AOI's Colorado Family Camp! Join us July 30 - Aug 4 - conta.cc/3X4JroB pic.twitter.com/u8j1AP1Pmu
