Month: January 2016

Diamonds Have Carbon-14; Why Is This Important?

If I told you that the RATE Team found Carbon-14 in diamonds would you care? Maybe you should.

Why is this important to you, you may ask? It may change your perception of history. You see, diamonds were thought to be millions if not billions of years old. Academia teaches students that coal takes millions of years to form, along with great heat and lots of pressure. This organic plant material is mostly carbon, and is an energy source we use every day in the world, typically dated to 300 million years old. An assumption based on the laughable geologic column, index fossils, and the presupposition that the evolutionary timetable is a fact. Hopefully, if you have been following along, and/or doing your own research you know better by now, or at the very least are questioning it.

Diamonds, a hardened form of carbon, is said to take even longer to form, often with a timetable of billions being attributed to them.

And who is the RATE Team? Only your scientific Christian heroes! A team of eight Christians who are all doctors of various fields that set out on an 8 year scientific journey to verify that our concept of geological, evolutionary time is grossly inaccurate. If you’d like details on this journey, I highly recommend reading Thousands not Millions. For our purposes, all you need to know is that these highly trained, meticulous scientists discovered carbon-14 in both “300 million” year old coal, and also in diamonds. If you know anything about carbon-14, you already know this is impossible.

Why shouldn’t there be carbon-14 in it? Good question. The answer is simple, and I will put it in layperson’s terms so that we can all enjoy the dumpster fire that is evolutionary theory. As living things interact with our atmosphere, we absorb carbon-14, a radioactive form of the element that breaks down slowly at a speed that we call a half-life. According to the creation model, there was most certainly less carbon-14 in the atmosphere prior to the flood, but we will get to that in a minute. As plants exchange air with the world, and we eat plants, and animals that eat plants, we reach an equilibrium with the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere, but when we die, we are no longer absorbing it into our cells, and so it decays from our remains at a specific rate.

The interesting thing about carbon-14 is that it decays fast enough such that it can only be detected for a few 10’s of thousands of years. With modern equipment, potentially 50,000 to 100,000 years, but with a large margin for error. Coal, our “300 million year old” carbon, is supposed to be 3000 times older than any age at which we can detect carbon-14 before it reduces to an indeterminate amount. And yet, what do we find? Carbon-14. In 300,000,000 year old carbon we find something that cannot be detected past 50 or 100 thousand years.

Now, wait, you may ask? What about the fact that creationists claim the bible dictates a world that’s only a few thousand years old? This is not a problem, as the atmosphere was much more favorable in pre-flood conditions. It fits the model beautifully, pointing to a pre-flood earth with more protection from the sun, and less carbon-14 in the atmosphere. You see, like all dating methods, evolutionists assume way too much. One assumption is that the carbon-14 levels have remained constant. But consider, if the pre-flood world is exchanging less carbon-14 with plants, humans, and animals such as dinosaurs, then when tested, those specimens will seems much older, because much less carbon was there to begin with. Also, we must remember that most specimens tested were buried in Noah’s flood, and therefore do come from this pre-flood environment. And lets not fool ourselves. Solving for a discrepancy of 20,000 years is a much easier task than trying to ignore the glaring 299,900,000 year that evolutionists are stuck with.

That being said, it should of course be even more inconceivable that diamonds would hold carbon-14, since it takes a billion years to form, and should have leached all traces out long ago. But I am sure you have already guessed what our scientific heroes found in the carefully tested diamond specimens. That’s correct. Carbon-14.

I must of course qualify the statements by using adjectives such as ‘carefully’, and ‘meticulous’, because when results do not fit the theory, the demagoguery and ad hominem  attacks ensue. Not real scientists because they believe in God, must have tainted the samples, etc. These attacks are launched at men with impeccable credentials, but I would have you check for yourself, rather than take my word.

This carbon-14 is an example of a ‘limiting factor’ like I mentioned in the article 35 Years or 2.6 Million Years. This means that despite common theories, it takes much less time to create coal and diamonds in nature than previously thought. And the flood was catastrophic enough to cause the geological conditions we see today, and explains a great deal of the earth’s features.

Consider this as well: Scientists in a lab made coal in 6 hours. At a different time, in 1982 the British made oil in 10 minutes. Noel McAuliffe of Manchester University triumphantly stated, “We are doing in 10 minutes what it has taken nature 150 million years to do.” This is yes another stellar example of our presuppositions determining our interpretations. Another, more obvious conclusion, if one were not blinded by evolutionary theory would be to instead  triumphantly announce, “It doesn’t take nearly as long as we thought for coal and oil to form!”

Please share with friends and family, and as always feel free to ask questions. We will find the answers together. I wanted to leave you with one final truth however, before your curiosity prompts you to ask. The answer is yes, they have found carbon-14 in dinosaur bones as well, along with soft tissue, and blood cells. We are not holding our breath for the scientific community to adjust their timeline accordingly.

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35 years or 2.6 million years?

There is an intimidating section of science for believers known as radiometric dating. The presumption of an old Earth came long before this discovery, invented by those who wished to ‘save the sciences from Moses.’ Radiometric dating has since been utilized to support this presupposition. By definition it is a method of dating geological or archaeological specimens by determining the relative proportions of particular radioactive isotopes present in a sample. In layman’s terms, this simply means measuring how fast something has decayed in order to determine how old it is. I have debated many evolutionists, and in the end, many will never be able to get past this idea that the world is billions of years old. To suggest otherwise would be anathema. It is as true to them as stating water is wet, and has been beaten into their psyche from early on, from the first kids books that say millions and millions of years ago…

I remember the shocking freedom of letting that assumption go, and how the facts we observe so easily fell in line with biblical truth after that. It was truly like waking from an oppressive dream, where nothing fit, but the ‘authorities’ of science and education and television and magazines were all telling you it was so.

This is what those authorities won’t tell you. Science is filled with limiting factors that exempt creation from being old. Most dating methods point to a young earth. Only the ones that can be shown to align with our evolutionary understanding of the geologic column are kept and published, and taught. These methods are ripe with assumptions, and results are cherry picked to align with what the observer ‘knows’ already. I could write for days on dating methods, and it is such an interesting topic, that I am sure more articles will follow. But I owe you the reader more than just my opinion and conjecture. So let’s get a little more specific.

Today we will examine potassium-argon dating. Again, I want this to be understandable to as many readers as possible, so very briefly, radioactive potassium usually from igneous rock (cooled lava) decays, and argon is a byproduct of this reaction. This method is widely used as a dating method all over the Earth. Now, without getting into overly complicated chemistry, or methodology, we can simply use common sense to ascertain whether or not this is a viable method for determining specific dates.

Below is a chart from samples taken and tested from the eruption of the 1980 Mount Saint Helen’s volcano. These are samples carefully tested from a volcano we saw happen with our own eyes on May 18th of that year. Using our ‘trusty’ potassium argon dating method, used the world over for proving that fossil layers fall within geologic parameters, we arrived at the following dates:

AGE-RadioDate-Fig13-HelensChart-400x300

 

This study indicated that, barring tolerances, the rock formed from that 1980 explosion was between 300,000 years old and 3,400,000 million years old. We saw it form 35 years ago!

This error is extraordinary, but what is beyond comprehension is that rather than call in to question the methodology, science has instead thrown out the results, and continued to utilize the method. I could ask a 5 year old, “what do these results tell you, considering a large part of science as we know it consists of observation?” It would be clear to anyone being intellectually honest that though still valuable in determining composition and how geological events relate to each other, the method’s ability to determine geological time was an abysmal failure.

There are results like this from other events as well; Hawaii, the Philippines. This means that we assume the results are bad when they do not correlate with what we know, but when we do not know, the results are accepted, based on our assumptions. I would ask you, is that science? is that an observable, demonstrable, repeatable result? Should they teach the geologic column, index fossils, dating accuracy based on these results?

But they do. And they start young. And by the time you are in college you have heard the mantra of millions of years so often that you have become indoctrinated. And if someone then comes along and tells you, the bible is accurate in its chronology, you might scoff in derision at the implication.

What does our bible say about this possibility? That the prevailing opinion would state things have continued on the same way all along, i.e. uniformitarianism. That there was no evidence of God’s hand upon the earth?  I would point to this warning.

2 Peter 3:3-4 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 

____________

UPDATE:  – Rock collected for radiometric dating was pulled from Mt. Ngauruhoe in New Zealand, from cooled magma flow from the years 1949, 1954, and 1975. This was tested and an age of 3,908,000,000 years was observed. Actual date of fifty years vs 3.9 billion. This is a discrepancy of 7.8 billion percent.

 

Is it arrogance to think you’re special?

PaleBlueDot
Pale Blue Dot

Let me start by saying I don’t believe interpretation of facts will bring people to the Lord. I think that is a Holy Spirit thing. My hope is to grow a ministry that affords people the ability to stand fast in what I consider authoritative scripture. Today, we will address the chances of other earth like planets supporting life, as a follow up to my UFO’s and God article.

https://jrcooper.org/2016/01/20/ufos-and-god/

Several years back NASA published a famous picture of earth from space (shown here) showing just how not-special we were, a distant spec among millions of others. It was named ‘the pale blue dot’. Promoter of anti-creation sentiment Carl Sagan famously commented, “Consider again that dot [Earth]. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

Well, of course the creationist community was in a scramble, trying to prove that this little blue marble wasn’t so matter-of-fact, and insignificant. After all, our bibles tell us we are a special creation, made in His image. Despite the many problems with the big bang, and the several brands of evolution that must exist to generate life

[Cosmic evolution: the origin of time, space, and matter from nothing in the “big bang”,
Chemical evolution: all elements “evolved” from hydrogen
Stellar evolution: stars and planets formed from gas clouds,
and  Organic evolution: life begins from inanimate matter]

the crux of Sagan’s criticism was that the odds of other planets like ours existing goes up exponentially with our understanding of the vastness of the universe. This would seem like reasonable logic, but I don’t mind telling you, this has been debunked, and very soundly at that.

Consider odds, since that is all this is based on, conjecture that it simply must be. First science began to determine what factors were needed to have a planet capable of supporting the diversity of life we find here. Abundant factors were apparent: We must be within a galactic habitable zone, be around the right type of star, protected by gas giants, distance from sun, nearly circular orbit, oxygen atmosphere, a terrestrial planet, large amounts of water, one moon the correct size (I could do an amazing write up on the extraordinary moon alone),correct mass, iron core for magnetism, proper thickness of earth’s crust, plate tectonics, heat within its interior, and on and on, and furthermore they are all factors that must be met at one place and at one time, or the possibility of life fails. Just to extrapolate a bit on one factor alone, we can consider the sun. It is technically classified as a spectral type G-2 dwarf main sequence star. If it were less massive, like 90% of the stars in our galaxy, the habitable zone would be smaller, and we’d have to be closer to remain within livable boundaries, but increased gravity would lock our planets rotation into synchronization to its orbit, forcing one side of the earth to continually face the sun, exposed to radiation and heat, while the other side would lay in a frozen state of perpetual ice. To say we existed within a delicate balance would be the scientific understatement of the century.

Of course, as one considers this, one could still say, “Yes it would be rare, but hey, we are talking about the whole universe here. Billions and billions of stars, right?” So we will consider actual odds. In an attempt to estimate the probability of attaining this perfect combination of factors, a conservative 1 in 10 chance was applied to each. Once you multiply the probabilities of 20 factors needed, you get 10 to the -15, or one one thousandth of one one trillionth. Some estimate there may be as many as 200 separate factors, but  I’ll let you do the math. Once those odds were overcome, we would have to then consider odds of random chance creating the order necessary to produce a complex living cell, which are even more tumultuous odds for evolutionists, as it is mathematically impossible. If you wish to read a short article to provide insight on that, here is a link by Dr. Henry Morris, an author and apologist.
http://www.icr.org/article/probability-order-versus-evolution/

The bible says God stretched out the heavens, and further states, “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.” Psalms 147:4. Space is vast, to be sure, which naturally fills us with awe and wonder. But depending on perspective, some look up at the night sky, and feel insignificant, like Mr. Sagan. Others look up and and feel blessed at how special they are, and can be nothing but grateful that the Lord placed us under all that glory, one of many ways He chose to love us.

UFO’s and God

5874hreu

There is a large percentage of the population that believes in UFO’s, or more specifically, alien life on other planets. I have studied cosmology and astronomy to a degree (I am by no means an expert), and could write a fairly technical article on the theoretical science behind space travel to convince readers of its ridiculousness.

Example? How about the simple math of exploring the 400 million other stars in our galaxy alone; or applying Einstein’s theory of special relativity and propelling an object at the speed of light, the fastest possible speed (c) which would allow you the ability to get to the next closest galaxy, Andromeda, in 2.3 million  years traveling at 186,000 miles per second where you would have only just begun exploring the universe; except as our speed increases, so does our mass increase necessitating even more power to generate this kind of speed, such that a mere one pound object, far smaller than what is required to transport life, would need the energy of 100 atomic bombs to travel at 50% the speed of light. If we do the math, this means that a modern-day sized ship traveling at 90% the speed of light would require the energy of 73 million atomic bombs. Furthermore, it takes the same amount of energy to slow down the object, meaning a round trip would cost 4x the energy required to make speed just once. But consider also the particles of dust in all of space too small to detect (hence the force fields and deflector shields in sci-fi). Hitting an object the size of a pea at 50% of c would impact like 2 atomic bombs. Even dust would be catastrophic. Safe to say, without a lot of unreasonable mental gymnastics, UFO visitors are not possible.

I understand this can be an emotional subject for certain people. There are those who believe to there core that aliens are so, and no amount of reason or logic will dissuade them. But I would implore you to ask yourself why this is so. My opinion is that evolution requires it to be considered. There has been no gains in the theories pertaining to life-from-non-life, and genetics have proven no friend to the theory of evolution (genetics articles to come). So evolutionary science is forced to look to the stars for answers, so long as the answer is not God. The idea is technically called panspermia, and suggests that life was started by a distant race of other beings. My last article highlighted the influence and suggestion that science has on society. Can we not say that alien mythology permeates our social construct?

Example?  When I say picture an alien visitor, do most people not picture the pale-skinned, long-necked, oval-faced, black-eyed, bald, prototypical alien? In mass interviews from supposed sightings, these were non-existent before the 1977 movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Afterwards, this became the popular description among those who reported seeing aliens.

Panspermia is a convenient hypothesis for non-believers,  because it requires no proof, passes the problem of life-from-non-life to a distant time and space where it can be assumed to have happened, and can still dismiss the idea of a creator God. Some may find this silly that this theory has reared its head in the annals of science, but it is a strongly considered theory that allows for humanists to kick this pesky can down the road. Even atheist figure heads such as Carl Sagan promoted the idea, without a shred of scientific backing.

Why does evolutionary theory allow for this mindset, you may ask? The logical assumption is, if the universe is considered to be 14 billion years old, and we evolved by chance (or were planted here by someone who evolved by chance) then it stands to reason that it must have happened elsewhere too. This does seem logical on the face of it… almost, but not when science so clearly and so often precludes the result.

The mythology of aliens and appetites for sci-fi have only grown in our modern era. From Star Wars, to Star Trek, to Superman, alien life is fun to consider, no arguments here. But the lines between reality and fiction can often be blurred over time for even the most astute citizens. Without realizing it, people allow for things to be so in their minds that contradict the authority of scripture, and do so without evidence to back it up. Jesus says in Mark 10:6 “In the beginning God made them male and female,” clearly teaching the creation story as accurate. If billions of years existed between the beginning and Adam, this would make Jesus a liar. Furthermore, Christ says in John 5, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” and Matthew 24, “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

Christians must be careful not to strip authority from the very words of their savior, for it is clear that Christ Himself believed in a six day literal creation, the deluge, and historicity of Old Testament events. When you believe in aliens, you indirectly support and believe the reason why they must exist, evolution. If you believe in evolution, there is no getting around disagreeing with Jesus of Nazareth, or Moses, or Paul, or John, or any number of patriarchs. I am not saying you mustn’t believe in evolution to be saved, but I will say you have damaged your testimony in some way by undermining the authority of God’s word, and those who do will have to square with that some day.

Do you succumb to the power of suggestion?

neanderthal_lg

When your kids see this in class, or at the museum of natural history, what is the reaction? Is it an indoctrinating scene? Told of Neanderthals, beginning to walk upright. Even the term Neandrethal naturally invokes images of brutish hairy cave-people. Did you know that it is simply named for the Neander Valley, a small valley of the river Düssel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about 12 km east of Düsseldorf.

Did you know that every time we see an image of cave people, it is purely dependent upon artist renderings, and subject to the presupposition of an evolutionary timetable? They will ask artists to draw, or mold a model based on bones, to which they reply, what would you have him look like? Many times, a find will consist of a bone, or a foot print. You have to be a pretty good artist to know what a guys wife looks like by looking at his footprint. But that is the exact way you and your children are receiving this information. And they receive it as fact.

Let us consider, the oldest known footprints ever found are human. In 1974, it was Leaky who discovered some “3.5 million years old” which showed no difference in ours today. Then the first in England during the ice age at around “800,000” years old showing England was inhabited by man at that time (probably ancestors of Japheth). There are African ones, Chilean ones, and per the fossil record, depending on how they are uncovered and what sedimentary layer they are found in, a date is attributed, and someone gets further funding for their dig. But the truth is, the Laetoli footprints of 1974 show man walked upright, and have shown no signs of evolution since, despite the many pictures suggesting otherwise. Neanderthals used tools, wore jewelry, buried their dead, cared for their sick, and have even been found wearing armor. This information comes to us from evolutionary anthropologists. Interestingly enough, they declare the DNA of Neanderthal to be almost identical to modern man.

Despite tee-shirts and pictures in text books, the fossil record holds no slowly evolving creature that goes from the ground to bipedal,and there is no evidence of information being added to bipedal, modern man in order to evolve him. There have been several finds of “out of place” fossils, or strange anomalies that garner no attention due to the inability to fit them within the evolutionary framework.  Many adults of today still remember being taught of Java Man, Piltdown Man, Rhodesian Man, Taung African Man, Nebraska Man, Peking Man, all of which didn’t hold water. Then we had the Calaveras skull of 1866 that was dated in the tens of millions because it was potentially pre-flood and fully human. Also the Guadalupe Woman, taken off display because of the controversy of finding a perfectly formed 5’2″ woman in a limestone casket from “25 million years” ago.

I would ask that you share, comment, and ask questions, but would leave you today with this thought? Have you been indoctrinated to believe you are nothing more than an evolved mammal? People are extremely susceptible to visual stimulus, and coupled with the respect we have for teachers and for elders, when they tell us this is the case, we listen. But there is no evidence out there, despite our myriad of drawings, paintings, and sculptures, to indicate we have ever been anything but a creation of the Most High.

 

Apocalypto, Fear, and 2 Timothy

Flint Sky: Those people in the forest, what did you see on them?

Jaguar Paw: I do not understand.

Flint Sky: Fear. Deep rotting fear. They were infected by it. Did you see? Fear is a sickness. It will crawl into the soul of anyone who engages it. It has tainted your peace already. I did not raise you to see you live with fear. Strike it from your heart. Do not bring it into our village.

I was watching Apocalypto, Mel Gibson’s Mayan adaptation from 2006, and noticed a bit of dialogue that struck a spiritual chord. Flint Sky stood unafraid, and proud, as fearful families of a ravaged village passed by on a hunt. But he picked up on how badly his son was affected by the chance meeting. Like an evil omen, it hung about Jaguar Paw like a wet blanket. And of course, why wouldn’t it? Jaguar Paw, we come to find, has much to worry about. He has a son, a wife, another child on the way, and with danger close, all that matters to him could be in jeopardy. But did his father not incur the same risk? Or even more so, seeing as how his standing in the village, and breadth of his family and influence was even greater? Had he not enjoyed a lasting peace for longer, and come to depend for more years on what had always been?

The viewer is forced to wonder why the father’s experience, or personality, has provided him a stoic surety, that the son yet lacked. Now of course, the Mayans had their own thoughts regarding gods, and afterlife, and I would not wish to compare the belief with Christianity at this time, but it was clear from the context of the film that for whatever reason, there was something  Flint Sky believed in regards to himself that allowed him to face the day with power, despite what may come. There was something that couldn’t be taken away, or even threatened, whether by hunger, or loss, or death itself. He had decided long ago that worry would not steal his joy, or determine his actions. It is in this way that God has called Christians to live for Him.

Consider this verse:

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7

Many are familiar with it, but Flint Sky, the face of a father as he taught his son to not be afraid really brought it home. It became less of a bumper sticker, and more of a decision. This man was choosing to live, as we should, strong and courageous before the dangers of the world. No where in the word does it promise wealth, or merriment, or lack of tumult. On the contrary, what is promised is refinement, tribulations, persecutions. We look around with our spiritual eyes open and see moral corruption, materialism, leaders who have forsaken righteousness for angles towards money, and power. We see the slaughter of innocents for the sake of convenience, or misplaced self-importance. And amidst it all we are called to walk unafraid. If we become poor, or threatened, or jailed, we do so with power. And we teach our families to that end.

Bravely face what is to come; stare back at fear with the armor of God, and do not let it into your home, into your village. Do not let it taint your peace, for your savior has conquered death.

But you must ask, what comes next… to go, therefore, and do what…?

Verse 8-10 says:

 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel

So, despite the fearful  citizens that walk past your hunting party, despite the marauders creeping towards the perimeter of the village, despite the world leering at you with agitated eyes, out to convert your thinking or destroy you and your influence; and even when your throat is threatened by your enemy’s obsidian dagger, you can stand tall without fear, honest in your gaze as you tell your family, do not be afraid. Do not bring it into your home. As for you and your house, you serve the Lord, the creator of all things, who conquered death, and who asks you to call Him father. What could possibly scare you?

Note From the Author

Note from the author

       I have never written a novel before. I have no qualifications that I would tout in order to persuade one to read what I have written here. And to be quite honest, I wasn’t sure of the endeavor ever making it out of my computer file. I did not start with the intension of selling it, or publishing it. Only with the intension of getting it out of my heart, and out of my mind. I needed to clear the mechanism. It was a purge that had to take place so I could snap back into my real life and move on without this obsession looming over every dark corner of my day. As a Christian, I was tired of seeing Christians poorly depicted in books and on the silver screen. It seemed that they were used for target practice mostly, set up to be the punching bag of normal society. They were always the zealot extremist, the racist radical. The hillbilly church goer who believed in Jesus Christ out of a profound ignorance rather than any qualified reasoning. If religious subject matter was the protagonist topic, it usually entailed New Age spiritualism, or apocryphal and mystic acceptance. It was common place to see the doctrines of faith in Christianity be torn down in lieu of socially acceptable religious parameters. The Christians always wanted to burn the witches. The Christians always want to control money, sex, and power. The Christians always wanted to promote war against other people groups.

I studied apologetics on my own through my late twenties and on into my thirties, and it has become an insatiable hunger that I plan on continuing. I don’t claim intelligence beyond most. I am actually rather forgetful, and have to keep re-studying the same things to keep it all in my head. My grammar is terrible, and my spelling is worse, and my tendency to start things without finishing them would have precluded me from ever finishing a work like this in all likelihood. But against all odds, it has surfaced from the depths of my mind and taken what I hope to be a legitimate form of entertainment and instruction. Despite all I had going against it, I had a great respect for the content I was sharing, for the authors I have studied under, and for God’s inspired and holy word. And I set out to portray a true likeness of Christian love, and doctrine, and reason, in a fun and educational way, which could possibly serve to help a dreamer dream of Godly things.

Apologetics is a defense of the bible. It is simply being prepared to defend its authority. But after debates without credentials, and faith without an audience, a buildup of knowledge was aching to get out in some form or another. I realized I could portray a conversion in proper doctrinal context, without the real and rude world kicking against it, and within a medium that causes readers to already approach it in an open minded fashion. It had the potential to at least share how real Christians in my experience try to act. They pray together. They love each other through problems. They read the word and apply it. And they are imperfect, and in need of grace, just as I am. I am so flawed, and am so far from worthy that I really come to the table with nothing. But God has blessed me with some gifts, and I prayerfully and sometimes even begrudgingly try to live my life appreciating and utilizing them.

My hope is that I have used a believable fiction to teach real and teachable truths. I needed to show that Christianity was logical, that the word was special, and that the message existed for those who need to find God. Once I started, I couldn’t stop. I dreamed of the haunting characters, and the plot began to form and take directions I honestly didn’t feel smart enough to generate on my own. I prayed and hoped that the Holy Spirit was with me when I was writing this. The basic story was done in about one month, after a lifetime of saying I wanted to write a book, and after no less than ten books started and never finished.

I also needed to present the gospel, in as clear and concise a manner as I could. The manuscripts is  make-believe, but I needed to present a real conversion, and real prayers, and real belief in the bible. I hope I have done that, and I hope I have done it with love.

I would finish  by writing my favorite verse to you, and one that I would encourage you all to meditate on, for the end of the age in which we live is imminent. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling – Philippians 2:12

J.R. Cooper

Johnson City, Tennessee

Touch Publishing

Wanted to plug Touch Publishing at http://www.touchpublishingservices.com/ , and thank them for their support. This is the company out of Texas, that has agreed to publish my manuscript. They are a growing Christian-based company with an array of titles from children’s books, to fictions, to non-fiction and biographical or testimonial titles.. The story we are editing now will be a fiction drama adventure, and I can’t wait to make it public. Thank you for the opportunity to tell my story. I look forward to our partnership.

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