Why Can't I Find God?

If God is omnipresent (everywhere at once), then why do we fail to see him so many times? Unfortunately, the answer is not God's fault, it's ours.

1. We don't know what to look for.

Skeptics who look for God expect to see a big Red Sea type of miracle, or they expect to hear a thundering voice from Heaven. God could speak that way, but most often, he doesn't. He spoke to Elijah in a still small voice.

2. We don't really want to find him.

Romans 1 tells us that one way God reveals himself to us is through nature. (General Revelation) Every one of us, at onetime or another, has looked at the supposed beauty of nature and wondered about God. (Nature isn't really that beautiful. Remember we live in a cursed world. Imagine what nature looked like before the fall.) But Romans also tells us that we tend to worship the created, rather than the creator. We try to find natural explanations for everything around us instead of looking for God in it.

3. We do see him but we call it something else.

Most every one of us knows of someone who was amazingly healed of a serious condition. Or we know someone who received a sum of money just when they needed it. Or any number of other things that "just happened" at the right time for good. We call them coincidences instead of God.

God really is everywhere. We don't see usually because we choose not to see. We want to help ourselves instead of asking God for help. God is really there waiting for us to call on him.

Moses and Thanksgiving

Just saw a preview for the new "Exodus" movie. Just like all of the others, they neglect the fact that Moses was 80 years old when the exodus occurred. Just like Daniel was 80 years old when he was put into the lions' den. I expect this movie to be like the recent "Noah" movie, long on action but short on accurate Biblical content.


I mentioned this before on my old site. As you watch the Thanksgiving episodes of your favorite TV shows, I want you to notice something. There will probably be a scene where everyone is gathered around the table. In turn, they will state what they are thankful for. Notice, though, they will most likely not mention who they are thankful to. As you celebrate Thanksgiving, remember James 1:17. If good things happen to you, it's only because God allows it. The world is evil. People are evil. If left to themselves, men will do evil. This Thanksgiving, remember the one who gives you the blessings you are thankful for.

Listen to me talk

I found the link to the talk I gave on the six days of creation several years ago. Here it is.






Thanks to archive.org for hosting it.

Some Old Notes Part 1

I keep a notebook with my Bible and, whenever I feel inspired, I write some thing that occurs to me. Basically, these are things that I've been meaning to post for a log time but have never gotten around to; mostly because they are just snippets of things I jotted down.


I came across this the other day. It is a question regarding the age of the earth. As you probably know, since it's most likely what you were taught in school, most scientists teach that the earth is around 4.5 billion years old and man did not appear until only around one million years ago. Now this is certainly at contradiction with the Bible because, if you add up the genealogies in the Bible back to Adam, we find that Adam was created only around 6000 years ago. Many well meaning Christians try to believe in Adam but also accept the old earth theory.


The question I jotted in my notebook is this "If the purpose of the universe is for God to have fellowship with man, why did he wait billions of years before he created him? What would be the point of an earth with many plants and animals existing for at least millions of years and even going extinct before man was created? The only reason for there being an old earth is because it would have taken millions of years for the species we currently see, including man, to evolve. If you believe in your heart that man evolved from a lower form, then there's no reason to believe in God because evolution could have occurred without him.


This is one reason why I believe in a literal six day creation approximately 6000 years ago. God created the entire universe just for man. He created man on the sixth day while all of the plants and animals he originally created were still alive. Remember, death is the result of sin, so nothing could have died until Adam sinned. The main reason I believe is because that's what the Bible says, unless you try to shove modern scientific ideas into it.


By the way, If you are coming to my Sunday School Class tomorrow, please read Genesis 41. We will be discussing "Overcoming Hard Times" by looking at how Joseph prepared Egypt for the great famine.


If I don't post again before Tuesday, Happy Veterans' Day to all of my fellow former servicemen.

Buy my NEW book

Beginnings: A Commentary on Genesis 1-4 is now available at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/BrianVermeer
for only $1.99. You can get it in a variety of e-book formats.

It is a verse-by-verse explanation of the first four chapters of Genesis (Creation through Cain and Abel.) In a very easy to read format, I cover the many difficulties that some have with this, the most disputed section of the Bible.

If you haven't bought my first e-book Answering Darrow : What William Jennings Bryan Should Have Said (Thank you to the four of you who have.) It is still available at the same site for only 99 cents, as well as at other major online retailers.

When is the Sabbath?

While on vacation this year, I picked up a free book from an old newspaper machine called "Sunday is Not the Bible Sabbath" published by Harvestime Books. Whenever there is a free book presenting a view that seems to be different from mainstream Christianity, it seems the writers and publishers go out of their way to not let you know up front which church they represent. Usually, though, it's not hard to tell. If it's published by Watchtower, for example, it's Jehovah's Witnesses. If it's published by Deseret, it's Mormon, etc. I noticed the last chapter of this book quotes from "The Great Controversy." That and the subject matter quickly let me know that this was from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.

While most (myself included) would not come right out and call the SDA church a cult, they do have a couple of characteristics that make them suspect. First, in addition to the Bible, they add the teachings of their founder, Ellen G White, to almost scriptural status. Any church that says "In addition to the Bible, you need the writings of this person," or "You can't understand the Bible correctly, until you read what this person has to say," is one to be wary of. Also, any group that pushes one particular doctrine as most important (other than maybe the deity of Christ, or salvation by faith,) to the exclusion of all others is also suspect. In this case, the issue is Sunday worship. The writers of this book seem to be saying "If you worship on Sunday, you are going to Hell."

They claim that God never changed the Sabbath to Sunday. With this point I agree. But I don't agree with their assertions that the Catholic Church deliberately changed worship to Sunday so as to incorporate pagan worship. The book says if you worship on Sunday, you are worshipping the Sun God since Sunday was named for the Sun. What they don't mention is that Saturday was named for the pagan god Saturn. So if you worship on Saturday, are you worshipping Saturn? They also don't mention that in most languages, the day we call Sunday is named using some variation of "The Lord's Day." For example in Spanish, the day is called Domingo, not dia del Sol.

I am also not convinced of their arguments that because of Jesus, we don't have to obey the Mosaic law at all except for the Sabbath laws. While it is true that Paul and the other Apostles continued to go to synagogue on Saturdays, that was because that's where the people they wanted to preach to were. We also know that the early Gentile Christians (most of us in the world are Gentiles) met and worshipped on Sunday because it was the day of the resurrection.

It is interesting to note the first Christian council, the Council of Jerusalem, covered in Acts 15,  mentioned this issue. Specifically, the issue was whether Gentile Christians had to obey the Law of Moses. The decision reached by the church (by the Holy Spirit, verse 28) was no except for four things mentioned in verse 20. Interestingly, the Sabbath is not one of the things mentioned. Therefore, Gentile Christians were not required by the church, or the Holy Spirit, to worship on Saturday. Also, Paul specifically told the Colossian church "Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of what was to come; the substance is the Messiah." (Colossians 2:16-17)

That being said, That does not mean that Sunday is the Sabbath. The Sabbath always has been and always will be Saturday. (Or actually from Friday evening until Saturday evening.) But as Christians, we are free to worship on any day we please. If  "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," (words of Jesus himself in Mark 2:27) then man is greater than the Sabbath and is not bound by it. Don't let anyone tell you different. This is not an issue on which your salvation depends. If some groups choose to worship on Saturday, that is their option. But don't let anyone scare you into thinking that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast (Herbert W Armstrong, Worldwide Church of God "Who or What is the Prophetic Beast p38) or anything like that. The only thing on which your salvation rests is your relationship with Christ. See Here

Posting Again Soon

I just got back from a 10 day vacation and am physically and mentally exhausted. Some of you may know I have had health problems stemming from severe asthma and anxiety disorder. Please keep me in your prayers. I am waiting for school to start so my daughter will be out of the house all day and I will have quiet times to post. (I love my daughter but anyone with an eight year old knows they can be a handful.) I am also finishing my second book. It will be a commentary on Genesis 1-4. (Look to the right to order the first book)
See you soon.