Creation vs Evolution: Part 2 - Macroevolution and Microevolution

When I was teaching a class from a curriculum I am working on entitled “Apologetic Creationism” in a Christian high school, I astounded my students by making a bold claim. I started off one class by saying “Evolution is a proven fact”. This brought a lot of surprised looks from the students, who had been brought up in an environment that shunned any type of evolutionary thinking.

However, I stick to my claim. Evolution is a proven fact. What is not proven yet is the Theory of Evolution as pertaining to the origin of life. To understand what I am saying, we must understand the difference between micro evolution and macro evolution.

Macroevolutionary studies focus on change that occurs at or above the level of species¹. In basic English, this is the idea that entire gene pools can change, allowing one species to eventually or abruptly become another species. This is the premise on which the entire Theory of Evolution is based, that one species became another, which became another, and so on. If this is true, then it is very possible that a single celled organism could eventually become a complex life form. I will deal with problem areas with this thinking in other posts. I am simply posting it here to contrast the differences in microevolution and macroevolution.

Microevolution is the changes in allele frequencies that occur over time within a population.² This is what has been proven time and time again, only to be misused by those on the side of evolution, and many times discredited by those on the side of intelligent design.

Even those that are the most staunch defenders of intelligent design must accept microevolution as simple fact. For example, intelligent design proponents believe that we were all descended from one couple. For those that believe in the great deluge (flood), that couple was Noah and his wife. For those that do not believe in the great deluge, they point to Adam and Eve. Whichever they believe is not relevant to this discussion, only the fact that they point to a single couple as the origin on human life.

If we all descended from a single couple, then why don’t we all look the same / similar? Where did the different races come from? Why are some of us white, some black, some tan? Why do we have differing hair textures? Eye shapes? It’s because we all adapted to our surroundings as needed. We “evolved” differently.

Take a simple hypothetical case study:

A man and a woman move to an uninhabited island. They have 6 kids, 3 boys and 3 girls. With no one else to marry, these children marry each other. Their children would adopt the dominate traits of their parents. In one generation, these traits wouldn’t be too diverse. But after time, other dormant traits would begin to appear. Maybe one group were more muscular. Maybe one group had red hair predominantly. Maybe a third group were shorter.

Well, as is the case in any society, people with the same physical traits tend to flock together. Since the shorter ones would tend to hang out with the shorter ones, they would naturally find a mate amongst the other shorter people. Since both parents carried this trait most, if not all, their children would also have this trait. The same would go for the muscular people, and the people with red hair.

Eventually you would have three distinct groups of people: those with red hair, those that are short, and those that are muscular. The dominant traits defined who they were.

Natural selection can also play a role, as much as intelligent design proponents hate the phrase. If there were two families of giraffes, one with shorter necks than the other family, then there would be a problem. The giraffes with the longer necks could reach both the leaves low on a tree and up high, while those with shorter necks could only reach the lower leaves.

Since two groups would be eating the lower leaves, and only one group the higher, eventually the lower leaves would be eaten at 3 times the rate of the higher leaves, assuming equal amount of both families, and equal ratio of lower to higher leaf eating among the long necked giraffes. When the lower leaves were all eaten, then 2/3 of the higher leaves would still be left for only half the population, sustaining them easily. But since the lower leaves are gone, the short necked giraffes would die, and the short necked trait would die with them.

This is microevolution at work through natural selection. Those that lack the traits to help them survive eventually die out, leaving those with the trait needed to survive alive. This has been seen with moths in a smoggy city, where the smoke colored moths survived while all the black moths were eaten by birds. And so the black color trait died out.

Now, in these two scenarios, it must be pointed out that the traits were already existent. They were dormant in the first scenario, and already dominant in the second scenario.

I hope this explains microevolution and macroevolution. Next post will be the first problem for evolutionists: the bombardier beatle.

   - Sapper Woody

References:

¹ Dobzhansky, Theodosius Grigorievich (1937). Genetics and the origin of species. New York: Columbia Univ. Press. p. 12. LCCN 37033383.

² http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/_0_0/evoscales_02 

Skyrim: My Death Knight

In an earlier post, I mentioned my Death Knight build on Skyrim. I figured I would take a few posts and let you see how I was maximizing my builds for different classes. So, I will tell you what I built, and why.

Death Knight

This class takes a level 60 character to build.

Smithing:
   I took all the heavy armor smithing perks, all the way up to dragon armor. For this character, you really only need up to Ebony, but you're going to have a lot of extra dragon bones/scales that you can make armor with and sell, so I took them.

Heavy Armor:
   I took all five Juggernaut perks, to get my armor up.
   Well Fitted to get my armor even higher.
   Tower of Strength just to get to the next tier of perks.
   Matching set for another armor bonus.
   Reflect blows, because 10% less damage done to you and inflicted on the enemy is a nice little trade.

Block:
   I took just one Shield Wall, just to get to the next tiers.
   Deflect Arrows, to stop arrows, obviously.
   Elemental Protection, as 50% elemental resist plus your gear resistances can make you invincible while blocking some dragons.

One Handed:
   All five Armsman and all three Bladesman, to maximize your damage potential.

Speech:
   All five haggling, simply because you have the points, and better prices gets you more money to buy the things you need.

Restoration:
   The goal here is simply to unlock Avoid Death, so to get it, I needed to take Novice Restoration and Recovery. With points left over, I am going to get the second Recovery. Extra Magicka regen is always nice for tight situations.

Conjuration:
   Work your way up to Twin souls through the Necromancy tree. You can then have two zombies and they will be more powerful. (Tip: Get the "Dead Thrall" spell at the college of magic for permanent zombies.You have to have at least 90 in Conjuration to do the questline.)

Alteration:
   Apprentice, Adept, and Expert, to unlock what we really want.
   All three Magic Resistance, for obvious reasons.
   Atronach, to absorb Magicka, and assist with casting costs.

With the extra points, I am going to get some destruction magic (Frost, like the Lich King), and some more speech and then some Alchemy, as strong potions are always nice.

Have fun!

   - Sapper Woody

An annoying Skyrim Glitch, and the Fix

So, I was doing good, making my Death Knight class. He is amazing, but that's another story for another time.

Basically, I joined the college of magic, and had a student test spells on me. The game glitched, and I was invisible! At least, I couldn't see myself. But everyone else could. All that had happened was I didn't have a character model anymore. It was so annoying, especially since I spent the thousands of septims to make my ebony armor and look the part of a death knight.

I searched online, and could only find a fix for the PC version, which was basically to enter the console and enter a command to change your character model.

However, I finally tried the shout "Become Ethereal" and it made me actually invisible. Once it wore of, I was back to normal. Pretty disappointing, Bethesda!

  - Sapper Woody

Creation vs Evolution: Part 1 - An Introduction

Out here in Afghanistan, I come into contact with many soldiers of differing views concerning religion, politics, etc. One subject that comes up frequently is Creation vs Evolution. Since I am a proponent of intelligent design, the conversations can get intense.

However, I generally startle people by making a bold claim. I simply tell them that even though I believe in Intelligent Design, I don’t think it can be proven. I then follow up with the statement that I don’t think evolution can be proven either. Both are accepted based on relevant evidence as interpreted by the receiver. There are actually many valid points on both sides.

What I hate is when someone sticks to one side or the other so vehemently that they start using arguments that are obviously fallible. This causes them to lose credibility with the very people they are trying to convince to their cause. As in any debate/discussion, strawman arguments and red herrings abound on both sides.

Being the stoic thinker that I am, I like to introduce both proofs and fallacies to both sides of the argument and then allow the thinking person to decide for themselves which they think is correct. As stated before, I have personally chosen intelligent design; based both on the evidences presented to me and my religious background. So, much of what I will be talking about will seem to be slanted in that direction, although I will make a genuine effort to remain unbiased, and simply discuss evidences as they appear.

Many people think that to change a hardcore evolutionist’s thinking, they simply need to throw scripture after scripture at them until they see the light. However, in my experience, many times (if not all) a hardcore evolutionist is either atheist, agnostic, or believes the Bible to be figurative rather than literal. If someone holds these viewpoints, you cannot convince them using something that they believe is false already. The only way to convince someone is to point out flaws in their reasoning.

To believe in intelligent design requires a belief in a being of greater power than humans. It does not necessarily necessitate a belief in a god, just a being or beings that have greater power than humans. If someone is adamantly opposed to this idea, they will not accept any evidence of intelligent design as adequate. However, I will be posting about the different proofs we have on both sides, and try to point out how they help one argument or the other, or hurt one argument or the other.

Keep checking back in for more posts!

   - Sapper Woody

Breaking Games: Leveling Skills in Skyrim

So, I was playing Skyrim, and I did what any responsible hardcore player would do. I looked at all the perks I could buy, and decided what I was going to buy before I leveled up even once. That kept me from going about willy-nilly and having a horrible hybrid player.

The problem is this: I needed to reach level 52 to get all the perks I wanted, but just playing through only gets you to about level 30ish, depending on how you play. So, I decided to break the game a little bit, and level more skills that I don’t normally use, or that are hard to level up.

NOTE: You can use the stones to level up your skills faster, and fast travel to the stones to change which skills level up quicker. However, this will lead to tougher enemies without the payoff of better items/gear early on. Use them if you want to, but just keep that in mind.

Credit for a couple of these goes to Stephen Johnson at www.g4tv.com

Skill trainers: There is a huge exploit that needs to be addressed right at the beginning. This little exploit can actually be used on all skills to level them quickly. There are some restrictions (some forward thinking by the developers, no doubt), but the higher the skill is already, the less restricting it gets.

Basically, you need to use the exploit listed below to get your pickpocket skill up. And then go to any skill trainer and train. The nice thing is, once you train at a skill trainer, the amount you paid goes into their pickable inventory, meaning that you can get your gold back by pickpocketing them. The restraint is that you can only train any combination of skills 5 times per level, meaning that you can’t do this indefinitely without actually playing. However, once the skill is high enough, leveling the skill will increase your level greatly.

Pickpocket: I suggest doing this at the very start of the game. Make your way to Riften, a city in the far south east part of the map. There you will be given a task by a random person. Perform the task or not, and you get an invitation to join the Thieves’ guild. Once there, there is a pickpocket trainer. You can use him to level up pickpocketing pretty quickly. If you reach the 5 train limit, simply go out into Riften and pick pocket everyone you can until you level up. Then repeat. Once you reach 51 in pick pocketing (or any skill), however, it gets very hard to steal your gold back from him without getting caught, due to the jump in price for training. Also, make sure to save your game after every successful steal.

Sneak: The natural way to level this skill is simply sneak everywhere. There’s really no way to break this, other than the skill trainer / pick pocket idea. But, as long as you are sneaking, you should level up ok. The first option for the next tip also works for sneaking.

One handed, Two handed, Archery: There are ways to exploit this, and I will explain them, but these should level automatically as you use them. But, to speed things up, there are a few ways to do this. First, you can start right at the beginning of the game. When you are following your rescuer (whoever you chose) through a cave, you come upon a place where there is a bear, and he gives you the option to sneak around it. At that point, he simply crouches, and waits for you to choose to sneak past the bear, or fight it. Instead of doing either, you can hit him over and over again to level your skills. This doesn’t work as well for archery (use the second option for archery), simply because you don’t have many arrows at this point. If you crouch and hit him in the back, this will also level your sneak skill.

The second option for these skills is to buy a horse. A horse will help level all weapon skills, as well as destruction and restoration magic. You can hit the horse over and over again (or use magic), and let it heal (or heal it, to get your restoration up) and keep going.

The third option is to fight enemies that won’t deal much damage to you, and turn the difficulty all the way up, so it takes a while to kill them. This is the most risky way to do this.

Destruction: Again, you can use the horse idea, or you can simply let it level naturally by fighting enemies. Or, you can cast spells on your companion at the beginning of the game. Alternatively, you can join the companions, and early on you will be given the task of fighting a character. If you use destruction magic on him, he won’t retaliate saying something about the companions not using magic.

Restoration, Alteration: If you quest for the College of Magic, you can eventually gain access to a spell which turns health into magicka. You simply wield that spell on one hand, and a restoration spell on the other, and cast them simultaneously. One will heal the damage done by the other, and one will take that health and make magicka to fuel the spells. This isn’t exactly a one-for-one swap, so you’ll have to rest every once in a while.

Speechcraft, Blacksmithing, Enchanting: You can use some materials to make iron daggers (1 leather straps and 1 iron ingot). This is the quickest way to leveling blacksmithing. Then, go to the enchanter’s table, and enchant the daggers. Sell them, and use the money to buy more materials to make more daggers and enchantments. Make sure you sell the daggers one at a time, as your speechcraft levels per transaction, not per item. If you do this, you should make some money as well.

Alchemy: There is not an easy way to level this. Just pick up all the ingredients you can, and use them to make potions, and it will level naturally. Alternatively, you can try buying ingredients, making potions, and selling the potions to buy more ingredients. Just experiment with which ingredients make the potions that sell for more than the ingredients. You can make money, level alchemy, and level speechcraft in one shot.

Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Block: These are as simple as letting people hit you. Skyrim uses a system that levels your armor based upon how much damage you take, not how many times you are hit, so if you turn the difficulty to easy, you won’t level as quickly. However, if you can find a ring of regeneration, you can regenerate health as quickly as the enemy is taking it. This way you can just leave it on overnight to level your armor. If you rubber band the block button and leave it, you can do that too. But you can’t level armor and blocking together. Any damage that is negated due to a successful block does not count towards leveling your armor.

Lockpicking: This one isn’t easy to exploit. You just have to pick locks. Fortunately, you can pick some houses’ locks, enter, and then exit, and the house will be locked again. Make sure to stock up on lockpicks. Another good thing is that even failing to pick a lock will level your skill some.

Illusion: Simply buy the spell “muffle”, and then cast it a lot. Too easy.

Conjuration: Buy the spell “soul trap” and then kill something. Then cast the spell on the dead body hundreds of times.

Enjoy!

   - Sapper Woody

Video Game Review: Modern Warfare 3

So, as a Call of Duty fan, I did my duty and bought MW3 as soon as it came out. At first, I felt like I was playing MW2 all over again. Then the game went into some amazing areas that I thought were incredible, if unrealistic. Specifically, I was enthralled by the level where you play as a security guard on a jumbo jet, and the jet starts to crash during an extended firefight. As the jet is plummeting towards the ground, those inside expeience zero gravity, and you are floating around in the jet while stil engaged in a firefight. Then the jet levels out, and you regain gravity just in time to see the back half of the plane ripped off as you hit the ground.

All in all, the single player experience is very similar to MW2, with the action being more unrealistic, yet at the same time more intense.

Multiplayer is a retooled edition of the past COD games, although the kill streak system has changed for the better. Instead of choosing your regular kill streak rewards, which require a certain number of kills without dying to activate, you may now choose from three types of kill streaks. One is basically the same; get kills without dying, and be rewarded with poweful things to get even more kills. The second are "support" rewards. These rewards don't require you to get kills without dying, jut a certain number of kills total. These rewards are more geared towards helping out the team; UAVs, body armor, etc.

Then there is the "Specialist" kill streak rewards. This is arguably the most powerful kill streak reward tree, as it allows you to get more perks. You choose your main three perks like normal, then you choose three more perks to get at 2, 4, and 6 kills. If you manage to get 8 kills without dying, you are awarded all the perks you have unlocked so far, making you a powerhouse killing machine. I have seen video footage of people getting 8 kills, then going on to destroy their opponents. Of course, if you can get 8 kills without dying, you are pretty much destroying your opponents already.

Of special note is that the kill streaks recycle during your lifespan. That is, in the past, once you got your highest kill streak reward, you had to die in order to get them again. In MW3, if you get your highest kill streak reward, it starts over. You can actually get a helicopter, etc, multiple times in one life if you are good enough.

Another note is the MOAB, or "Mother Of All Bombs". In MW2, one of the kill streak rewards you could choose was the match ending nuke, awarded at 25 kills in one life. In MW3, you don't get to choose this as an option, but if you manage to get 25 kills in one life, then you get the MOAB. This kills everyone on the opposing team, but does not end the match. This is only awarded once per life, however. Getting 50 kills does give you another one.

All in all, MW3 is what we've come to expect from the MW series, with a few nice additions that set it apart from the rest.

All gave some, these 3 gave all.

Recently out here in Afghanistan, I attended a "Ramp Ceremony" for 3 EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) men. To understand EOD, think of the movie "Hurtlocker", only that movie was retarded and unrealistic. But EOD's job is basically to get rid of IEDs and assess explosives for different intelligence purposes.

A ramp ceremony is a solemn time, as it is a ceremony where they load bodies of fallen military personel into an aircraft to be sent home. My estimate was that about 200 to 250 people showed up for this ceremony. That night, I went back to my room and wrote a little poem about this time.

I am not that great at poetry, prose being more of a strong point for me. I went with a different rhyming pattern than I've tried before, but I think the message came through more with this pattern than if I had stuck with a traditional poetry pattern. Here it is:

They walked past slowly, solemnly. Their precious cargo in hand.

All had agreed to serve, but no one wants to die in a foreign land.

A C130 was there,

ready to sail through the air.

There were not Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen or Marines tonight.

Just Brothers and Sisters in Arms, fighting the same fight.

4 Uniforms in that land,

All fighting for the same flag.

“Detail, Attention!” A voice rang loud and clear in the cold.

Then we all snapped to, our thoughts on true heroes bold.

“Let us pray,” a chaplain said.

Then Psalms 23 was read.

“Present Arms!” the command came from somewhere to us.

And they marched past our lines, sad thoughts going through us.

We had fought alongside

These heroes who had died.

When I see a flag flying, I am proud you can be sure.

I fight for “Old Glory” and to preserve our future.

But I see now differently

Than what I once used to see.

A flag’s greatest honor is not flying up high for all to see.

But to honor heroes who died, like these flags honored these three.

And to show what they gave

When lives down they laid.

   - Woody

The Fight For Souls

I recently did something that I haven't taken the time to do in a long time. I wrote the first draft of a sermon that I'd like to get a chance to preach somewhere. Since I've been in the military, I haven't had much call to write sermons. Last time was my last deployment when the Chaplain went on leave and I took over his services for 3 weeks. So, here is the rough first draft of my sermon which I am entitling, "The Fight For Souls."

The Fight for Souls

Ephesians 6:10

10 - FINALLY, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might

11- Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 – For 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.

13 – Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 – Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 – And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 – Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

          The Apostle Paul here is describing the equipment used in the Roman army during the time of his writing. He starts off by telling us that our fight is not of this world, but rather a spiritual fight.

          This passage is an interesting look into the hierarchy of demonic powers. We see principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places. It has been speculated that these are different levels of demonic powers, and that each one is successively in charge of a greater area of the earth. Whether or not this is so is not necessarily important. The important thing is that our fight is not against flesh and blood.

          There is a very real spiritual warfare going on. And so we come to our first point:

I.                   The fight that we are fighting

We are in a fight. This fight is a very real fight. We are in a fight for the souls of mankind.  God has put out a call for Christian soldiers – sorry Marines, Sailors, and Airmen! – to come forth and fulfill the great commission found at the end of Matthew.

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 – Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: an, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

a.     The order to fight

God has issued a command. The command is to go, teach, and baptize. I am not the kind of person that says that you have to win souls in order to be a good Christian. Many missionaries labored for years before seeing their first convert.

However, are we obeying the command? Are we going out and telling? When was the last time that you personally shared the gospel with someone?

It should not be expected that every person be the best soul-winner, but it is to be expected that everyone do their best to win souls. We tell them, the Holy Spirit convicts them, Jesus saves them, and God changes them. Even the Apostle Paul once said that he planted seeds while another harvested them. The Apostle Paul once said that he hadn’t even baptized that many people. But he understood that it was his duty to tell, and let God do the rest.

You shouldn’t look to the numbers that you’ve seen. You should only look to the faithfulness that you’ve shown. My friend, if you are doing your best to grasp lost souls from Satan’s grasp, you are obeying the command to fight, whether or not you see numbers come in. Don’t let the race for numbers get in the way of your ministry. Obey the order: the order to fight.

b.     The odds of the fight

Many times, as Christians, it seems we are outnumbered. With sin running rampant all over the world, it is easy to think that we can’t win the fight. It is easy to get our eyes focused on the overwhelming majority, and lose hope.

As Christians, we see those living in sin prospering. We see those in power are corrupt. We see the greedy making money. We see the whoremongers seemingly unpunished. It is easy to focus on the enemy, and lose track of the command we have received.

But my Bible says “Greater is He that is in me, that he that is in the world”! Make no mistake, friend. Satan is a powerful enemy. Standing by yourself, he will crush you. Standing by yourself, you have absolutely zero hope.

But, my God: Jehovah, the Prince of Peace, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Creator, the Savior. The one who died on the cross and sealed my sins away forever! The one who stepped on the serpents head! The one who conquered Death, Hell, and the Grave!

Oh, Satan thought he’d won a great victory that day that Jesus died. But I’m here to tell you today that even though he hung on the cross in shame and agony, that three days later he arose again! He went down into Hell, and grabbed the keys of Death from Satan’s grasp!

He arose with those keys, and then later on ascended to Heaven to stand before the Father with the blood of the perfect Lamb. The Father accepted that gift!

I am here to tell you that though Satan be a powerful enemy, “Greater is He!” “Greater is He!” “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world!”

Get your eyes off of the overwhelming odds. Get your eyes on the Savior! Like Peter walking on the water, we’ve taken our eyes of Jesus, turned them to the adverse situations at hand, and we’ve begun to sink into the despair of those that have no hope!

“Greater is He!” “Greater is He!” “Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.”

We’re talking about the fight that we are fighting. We see the order to fight, the odds of the fight, and now we’re going to take a look at:

c.      The outcome of the fight

While the odds may seem stacked against us, we have a hope that the rest of the world does not. To quote a popular Christian song from the 80s and 90s, “I’ve read the back of the book. And we win.”

Friend, I am here to tell you today, that no matter how bad things seem down here on Earth, we have the Blessed Hope, the Book, and the Blood! “I believe in the Blessed Hope, the Book and the Blood and there is no other way! Jesus is the Son of God, and He’s coming back some day!”

Though the fight may be fierce, and the battle rages long, we know that in the end, we win! Christ will ride triumphant, and once again step on Satan, that old serpent’s head.

…

Many times down here we seem to lose battles. When we try and stand up to evil in our own power, we will fall. The Apostle Paul once said that the good that he would do he doesn’t. And the evil that he wouldn’t do, that’s what he does.

Friend, let me tell you that if the Apostle Paul could fall into sin sometimes, so can we. Sometimes as Christians we get ourselves into situations where it seems like there is no hope. It seems that Satan has won.

…

But he hasn’t!

The Bible tells us of the glorious returning of Christ our Savior! He’s coming to take us out of here and we’ll live forever in victory with Him! We’ll reign with Him a thousand years, and then He’s going to win the ultimate victory at Armageddon! “I’ve read the back of the book!” It’s all written down for us to see! No need to worry about the victory, it’s going to come.

We looked at the fight that we are fighting, now let’s look at:

II.                The foes that we face

Paul has told us that it’s not a physical battle that we are fighting. He makes it very clear that we are engaged in a spiritual war.

John outlines three enemies that we face on a daily basis in I John 2:16. Let’s take a look at them.

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

a.     Lust of the flesh

Friend, what is it that you are working for right now? Is it for God’s glory? Or is it for the lusts of the flesh? The things that we want? Material things that we think will make us happy?

There is nothing wrong with nice things. There’s nothing wrong with having a nice car, a nice house, a nice job, or a big paycheck. But is that our focus?

Jesus never said to “Go into the world and buy as many nice things as you can.” No, we are told to “Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven.”

Friend, I ask, what are you working for? For the advancement of God’s kingdom, or the advancement of your own kingdom?

b.     Lust of the eyes

The lust of the eyes. How do you want others to see you? What image are you trying to portray? Is that what is keeping us from fulfilling the great commission? “I am afraid of making people mad at me” or “I don’t want to look like a fool!”

Let me tell you this, friend: Jesus wasn’t afraid of making people mad or looking like a fool. Jesus said it like it was, and let the chips fall where they may.

We don’t have a command to go out and build ourselves a good public image; although we will through our good testimony. We don’t have a command to go out and make friends; although we will if we show the compassion that Christ had.

We have a command to go. We have a command to get the gospel out to the far corners of the Earth. We have a command to witness to those dying in their sins! Fulfill this command.

c.      Pride of life

This is a big one here. The original sin was pride, when Satan decided that he was good enough to be like God. When he decided that he’d ascend to take the throne from God, and rule Heaven.

Satan thought that God wasn’t doing a good job at running things. He thought that he could do better. He thought that he’d show God what a real deity was like.

And we know where that lead to.

Friends, how many of us go around with our head so puffed up that we have to wear button up shirts because our heads won’t fit into a t-shirt? How many times do we look at our accomplishments and become proud of the work that we’ve accomplished.

Friend, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, we’d all be dying and on our way to Hell right now. But for the price he paid, we would have no hope. We’d be lost, hopeless, helpless, stuck in our sins forever, unable to redeem ourselves!

We are no better than the drunk living on the street, wallowing in his own filth! The only difference between us right here in this room and those on their way to Hell is the fact that we have accepted, free of charge, the gift that God has supplied for us.

The Pharisees were proud of the gifts they were giving God. But he was more interested in the widow’s mites. The Pharisee was proud of his station, and prayed and told God that he was glad he was not like the publican, but the publican beat on his chest and said “Woe unto me!” And his prayer was heard.

We can’t come to God without humility. We have to be humble enough to acknowledge the fact that we deserve Hell. We have to be humble enough to admit that we are sinners. We have to be humble enough to admit that we have no hope outside of Christ. And we have to be humble enough to accept that sacrifice.

Friend, beware the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

We’ve seen the fight that we are in and the foes that we face. Now let’s look at;

III.             The equipment we are fielding.

Paul was known for using things prominent in the day to describe Heavenly matters. He spoke of athletics many times. This time he used something that they all would have been familiar with, the equipment of a soldier. First, we see:

a.     The defensive equipment.

Paul starts off by listing defensive equipment that a soldier wore at the time;

14 – Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 – And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 – Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 – And take the helmet of salvation

All these things have defensive properties. They all protect vital areas of the body. Back then they had to worry about arrows, swords, and lances. Today we have a slightly different threat, with bullets, mortars, and IEDs out there.

While deployed, we would never roll out of the wire without checking to see that all our defensive equipment is ready to go and accounted for. We have checks and rechecks to make sure that all the joes had all their gear.

It doesn’t do anyone any good if a soldier steps outside the wire and is killed before he can engage the enemy because he didn’t have his gear on.

My friends, make sure that you have all your defensive gear on. Make sure that you are properly protected from the attacks of Satan. Guard your heart, guard your mind.

b.     The offensive equipment

17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

Paul now talks about the offensive equipment. You can have all the defensive equipment you want, and still not have a victory. If you are completely protected, sitting in your little bunker, the enemy still has free reign.

For too long, this is the stance that Christians have taken in America. We are on the defensive. We are safe, secure in our churches, oblivious to the fact that outside our doors sin is running rampant.

It’s now cool for teenagers to party, get drunk, do drugs, and have sex. It’s ok for someone to disregard the laws of the land as long as they don’t get caught. I’ve heard people bragging about the things they were able to steal from stores.

It’s acceptable to be of any sexual persuasion now. It’s ok for parents to encourage their children to cross dress and even get sex changes at a pre-pubescent age.

What is wrong with America?! I’ll tell you what’s wrong.

We as Christians have stood a defensive line for too long. We’ve allowed the free reign of sin to run rampant through our schools, our government, and in our homes via the television.

We’ve taken the stance, “It’s ok for you to do what you want, as long as you leave me alone.” It sounds good. But the world doesn’t take that same view! People in the military are always trying to get me to do and say things that are against what I believe, but if I ever invite them to church; Oh No! Now I am pushing my religion in their faces.

It’s ok for a homosexual to rally and have sodomite rights parades, but if a Christian were to ever march on Washington trying to ban sodomite marriages, the media would have a feeding frenzy on the “radical Christians and how they hate people.”

Friends, it’s time that we stand up and do something. It’s time we pick up our offensive weapons and go. This brings me to my last point:

IV.            The charge we are to take

Friends, there is not much we can do physically to change our world. We can’t all go to demonstrations and political rallies. We can’t go out and speak in public against sin.

But there are three things that we can do.

a.     We can pray.

The greatest weapon in our armory is prayer. I am not talking about the three prayers we pray before meals. I am not talking about the prayer you pray before you go to bed at night. I am not talking about the public prayer that you are asked to pray in church, where you happen to mention things going on.

I am talking about real prayer. The kind of prayer where you get a hold of God. The kind of prayer where you enter the throne room, grab a hold of the base of the throne and throw yourself before God in humility, pleading for Him to work miracles and change things. The kind of prayer that when you pray, you feel the presence of God enter into the room. The kind off prayer that Satan is afraid of, because he knows that he has no power before that kind of prayer.

That’s the kind of prayer that I am talking about.

b.     We can be good testimonies

Friends, when the world looks at you, what do they see? Do they see someone who is just like them, or do they see someone changed, someone who lives for God, someone that makes them convicted in their hearts and makes them realize that they are missing something?

And lastly:

c.      We can tell

We’ve already hit on our command to fight. But the best way to turn a nation around is to win them to God. If we win people and disciple them, then God can use them to win more and disciple more. We become, as they say in the military, a “force multiplier”.

You’ve all heard this before, but just think; if we start with 100 people, and in one year, each of us wins just one person, then we now have 200 people. If next year, those 200 win one each, then we have 400. And so on. In 5 years, 100 people turns into 3,200 people. In ten years, that’s 102,400. In 20 years, that’s 104,857,600. Think of the impact we could have on America, if the millions of saved people all won just one person per year. With the numbers we have to start with, we could have all of America won in just a decade or so.

“It all starts with just one voice that takes a stand; that makes a choice to live for God and not hesitate to tell the world about Amazing Grace. One day that seed somehow breaks through. Where there was one, there now stands two. And soon another takes his hand, a ray of hope that spreads across the land. --- Across the mountains, across the sea, soon others join in harmony. They found the cross still standing strong. And soon a mighty chorus sings along. --- Go reach the world, touch one more soul. Bring one more lamb back to the fold. Each soul another flag unfurled; each voice another chance to reach the world.”

Many churches have used the slogan, “Each one reach one”. Friends, this is so true. Reach one person. Pray to God that He’ll give you at least one person. Not just saved and forgotten, but saved and discipled, to go out and win more.

It comes down to this: What are you doing in the fight for souls?

 - Woody

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Review

I loved Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I loved Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. And now I love Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

First thing that greets you when you start up the game is the amazing graphics. I thought Oblivion was amazing when I first turned it on, and Skyrim did not disappoint me with the way they stepped it up. After almost 24 hours (non-consecutive) of playing this game, I am still enjoying it, and trying to accomplish so much. The sandbox style of gameplay is no stranger to the Elder Scrolls series, and Skyrim only takes it to the next level.

One thing that adds to Skyrim's sandbox style that was missing in Oblivion is the addition of sidequests that you can obtain from the various factions (called "guilds" in earlier games) that have no bearing on the story, but can earn you cash. Granted, these quests get a little repetitive (I can only steal the same item from different houses so many times before it gets old), but they are there, and there are several different variations within the different factions.

The plot is pretty good so far, but I'll be honest, I haven't beat the game yet. I am still too preoccupied with trying to get my heavy armor, shield toting warrior closer to invincibility and gaining rep with the Companions (fighter's guild); and also having my sneaky assassin/thief run the Dark Brotherhood (assassin's guild) and rise in ranks among the thieves' guild. If you want a plot summary, go to wikipedia. They've got one there.

The leveling system is much better than in Oblivion as well. You gain levels by leveling any skill, with the higher leveled skills affecting your level more so than the lower level ones. Each level gained grants you a point to spend in perks, which allow you to be even better or perform better feats with your skills. This allows for greater skill diversity and actual customization instead of using Oblivion's way, where once you leveled all your skills you were the same as everyone else.

Overall, this game is amazing. I was going to give this game some numbers, then I read my friend's post at http://www.zeroand09.com/2012/01/my-rating-system.html and decided to forego the number system, as he has. But, if you like RPGs, you will not be disappointed with Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Also, look for my next post on how to Break the Game. Zeroand09 hates those posts, but I can't help myself. I've had the game for only a week or so, and already I've "broken" it.

Deployment, 5 months in

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted a blog. Probably lost a few readers in the process, as my last post was back in August.

I have been in Afghanistan for a few months now. We left home on August 15th, so today makes 5 months. Time hasn't been easy here, but I can't complain too much. I am stationed at a pretty decent FOB (Forward Operating Base). Been on quite a few missions.

A while back, we had our first named operation, Operation Rugged Outbreak. I can't go into detail as to what the operation entailed, but just let me say that we were busy for about a week. In one week, I saw 14 IED blasts, 7 trucks destroyed/disabled, took incoming artillery fire, and flew about 16 hours of missions on the RAVEN UAV system.

So far, my platoon has been lucky (kind of). We've had 7 IED strikes against our platoon, 5 of which disabled vehicles. We've only had one "casualty", and that was a concussion that left him confused and disoriented for a long time. He was previously involved in several (I've heard rumors of 13!) IED blasts, so it's easier for him to get a concussion than most people.

I will try to keep posting on this blog, but you'll have to understand if I get a little busy. Soon I hope to get my posts going about Skyrim, the newest Elder Scrolls game.

 - Woody