Carey Kinsolving




“I keep on asking my mom if I can play Nintendo, and she finally says yes,” says Clyde, 7.

Well, Clyde, there’s no doubt you’ve learned that persistence pays off. Your mother knows this, too. Give your mom a break, and apply that same persistence to things of God. You might be surprised at how much more rewarding it is.

“When you are dead, you are knocking on the door to get into heaven. When you ask to come in, the door will open,” says Connor, 6.

Jokes abound about Saint Peter examining credentials for entering the pearly gates. Some people believe in second chances such as reincarnation. Let’s see what the Bible says.

“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation” (Hebrews 9:27-28).

It’s one and one. Jesus died for our sins one time, and we have one life in which to decide whether we’ll trust him with our eternal destiny.

“Keep on trying hard, and you will receive everlasting life,” says Bruce, 11.

This is a common belief that appeals to our pride. Many things in this life are earned by persistent hard work. Eternal life is not one of them. The price is higher than anyone can pay. That’s why God sent the Lord Jesus to pay the price for us.

“If you keep asking Jesus into your heart, someday he will come,” says Sara, 8.

Sara, Jesus isn’t reluctant to impart his life to those who want it. Begging isn’t required. Jesus freely gives his eternal life to anyone who will “believe in him,” as John 3:16 so clearly states.

If our eternal destiny isn’t at stake here, why did Jesus command us to knock?

“If you pray for something, and God doesn’t answer it right away, he will answer you if you keep on praying,” says Gerald, 6.

This is the essence of what Jesus said. When Jesus spoke of knocking, he also mentioned asking and seeking. To illustrate what he meant, Jesus asked, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).

The logic is obvious. Even evil people, who are selfishly motivated, give good gifts to their children. How much more does God, who is motivated by pure love, give good gifts to his children who ask? This is where persistence pays huge dividends. The key is to make sure you’re asking for the right things and persist in asking, seeking and knocking.

“Don’t quit following Jesus for one day. He will reward you,” says Grace, 10.

In the context of knocking, this is persistent prayer for the advance of God’s purpose and plan in all areas of life. We can pray boldly and confidently about many situations revealed in Scripture.

For example, we know it’s God’s will for Christians to pray for government leaders “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:2-4).

Think about this: Knocking on heaven’s door on behalf of our country and friends is a ministry to which every Christian is called.

Memorize this truth: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7).

Ask this question: Do you believe in the goodness of God to the point where you will persist in asking him for good things that glorify him?

Dr. Randy Wysong asked:


A primary reason evolution is believed by many is because what is thought to be the alternative, religion, is feared, dreaded and unthinkable. And it is true that scientific advances only occurred because knowledge was wrested from the autocratic clutches of religion. Our age of wonderful technology came at a cost of great persecution and brought us out of the cave and off the pews into the light (fluorescent).

The memory of clerical obscurantism has been riveted upon the human subconscious. Religion – and by association anything paranormal or spiritual – is rejected out of hand because it is associated with dogma, bias, charlatans and moral confinement, not openness and intellectual advance. Religion and metaphysics are seen as retrogression, capitulation and surrender.

If we look back, the gods and creeds that were used to explain the knowledge voids of the past were jettisoned one after another by the march of science. I know, I know, the time can be pointed to when holy book thumpers and skeptics ranted that man would never fly, that the sun circled the Earth and that electric light was evil – and of course how the dogged march for scientific truth proved them wrong. So it is an easy step from there to conclude that if there is something we don’t know, materialistic science will come to the rescue.

There is a lesson there, agreed, but again, a molehill should not be made into a mountain. The fact that we discovered that disease could be caused by germs and not from skimping on tithes, is no reason to think that there is no barrier to knowledge. Humans are finite, the universe is infinite. We are constrained by definition. The fact that we discovered the wheel is not proof that we will one day be omniscient any more than the ability of a dog to roll over on command proves it will one day do calculus. As quantum mechanics has shown, reality is not even physical. As physical creatures we will always be dogs just doing fancy tricks. Yes, we should forever test the limits with our sciences, but at the same time remain wise enough to see that there are limits.

When it comes to the question of origins, materialists assume that anything that cannot be caged and poked at or surveyed with an instrument and carried out to the twentieth decimal point should be rejected. But in their haste to flee from the spiritual into the arms of evolution, materialists leave behind the rigors of the scientific method – there are no observations, experiments or predictions applied as proof that life arose from nonliving matter and that creatures can transmutate into one another.

Moreover, logic and evidence forsake materialism at the fundamental level of reality and when applied to the question of origins. As I have explained previously, the materialist reaches limits and must resign to unanswered questions about first causes. He has reached no intellectually advantageous position whatsoever by leaving gods and swooning over matter.

Admitting ignorance and incapacity or acknowledging intellect beyond our own need not mean that we must return to the dark ages or begin sacrificing lambs, blowing ourselves up in a Jihad or kissing the boots of church leaders. Nor does evil, suffering and injustice in the world preclude an underlying intelligence. If there are dimensions, powers, intellect and purpose beyond our scope of understanding, that’s okay. It just means either we must swallow a bitter ego pill and accept limits or that exploration may only be possible by means other than microscopes and telescopes.

Evolutionists must be careful that they do not fall victim to the very thing that is repugnant to them and blindly remain devoted to an ideological shrine in spite of the evidence. Unfortunately, in their zeal to escape the perceived irrationality of religion, evolutionists dig irrational holes under their own feet with shovels of faith, bias, bigotry and even fraud.

For further reading, or for more information about, Dr Wysong and the Wysong Corporation please visit www.wysong.net or write to wysong@wysong.net. For resources on healthier foods for people including snacks, and breakfast cereals please visit www.cerealwysong.com.