 
 
 
 
 
 
                                  FREETHINKERS
 
                                  * Atheists
                                  * Rationalists
                                  * Humanists
                                  * Secularists
                                  * Skeptics
 
                          THINK WITH ME FOR 10 MINUTES!
 
                                          By Homer Duncan
 
 
          Webster defines a freethinker as "one that forms opinions on the
     basis of reason independently of authority; esp: one who doubts or
     denies religious dogma."
          My friend, I do not wish to unduly antagonize you, but I honestly
     wonder if many who call themselves "Freethinkers" are really free
     thinkers.  I wonder how many who consider themselves to be open-minded
     will throw this booklet in the trash without giving me a fair hearing.
     I wonder how many have the courage to make an honest investigation of
     the facts.
          I am well aware that life is too short for any of us to thoroughly
     investigate all of the facts on any given subject.  It is utterly
     impossible for any man to study the claims of every pholosophy and
     religion.
          Perhaps you are wondering if I have thououghly investigated such
     matters.  No, I cannot honestly say that I have made a thorough study
     of any given field of learning.  Since life is so short, all of us must
     operate on a priority basis.  We must learn to major on the majors, and
     to minor on the minors.  If we wander down every trail we cross, we
     shall make little progress in life.
          Three or four years ago I made a rather thorough study of the
     world's great religions and of a number of new cults in America.  I
     have studied enough to enable me to write two books on Humanism.  My
     main thrust in life is not opposing those who differ with me on any
     particular subject, but in proclaiming the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
     Christ.  I have spent 47 years investigating His claims, and the more I
     study, the more deeply I am convinced of the truth of the Holy
     Scripture.
          I shall be grateful if you will take ten minutes of your time to
     give me a fair hearing.  Consider the testimony of George Mueller of
     England which was given to a group of ministers about a hundred years
     ago:
 
     I was converted in November, 1825, but I only came into the full
     surrender of the heart four years later, in July, 1829.  The love of
     money was gone, the love of place was gone, the love of position was
     gone, the love of worldly pleasures and engagements was gone.  God, God
     alone became my portion.  I found my all in Him; I wanted nothing else.
     And by the grace of God this has remained, and has made me a happy man,
     an exceedingly happy man, and it led me to care only about the things
     of God.  I ask affectionately, my beloved brethren, have you fully
     surrendered the heart to God, or is there this thing or that thing with
     which you are taken up irrespective of God?  I read a little of the
     Scriptures before, but preferred other books; but since that time
     the revelation He has made of Himself has become unspeakably blessed to
     me, and I can say from my heart, God is an infinitely lovely Being.
     Oh, be not satisfied until in your own inmost soul you can say, God is
     an infinitely lovely Being!
 
          If George Mueller was the only man who spoke in such a manner, we
     might brush his statement off as sheer imagination, but when thousands
     of other men make similar statements, we should at least give their
     statements honest consideration.  If we do not do so, are we not guilty
     of the same prejudice that we charge against intolerant Christians?
          Consider with me four or five other examples.  You may well have
     read the story of Gilbert West and Lord Lyttleton.  These English
     infidels decided that they would once and for all demolish the claims
     of the Christian religion.  West was to disprove the resurrection of
     Christ; Lyttleton was to disprove the conversion of the Apostle Paul.
     When they undertook this project, they confessed to each other that
     each was depending on the other as the source of their material.  Being
     honest men they set out to study and investigate the facts for
     themselves.  As a result of their study both men were soundly converted
     to Christ.  West wrote a treatise on the Resurrection of Christ, and
     Lyttleton wrote the book 'Observations on the Conversion of St. Paul'.
     Dr. Samuel Johnson made this statement concerning this book: "A
     treatise to which infidelity has never been able to fabricate a
     specious answer."
          Dr. J.N.D. Anderson writes, "Not so very long ago there was in
     England a young barrister, or what you would call a trial lawyer,
     by the name of Frank Morison.  He was an unbeliever.  For years he
     promised himself that one day he would write a book to disprove the
     resurrection of Christ finally and forever.  At last he got the
     leisure.  He was an honest man and he did the necessary study.
     Eventually (after accepting Christ) he wrote a book that you can buy as
     a paperback, 'Who Moved the Stone?'.  Starting from the most critical
     possible approach to the New Testament documents he concludes inter
     alia that you can explain the trial and the conviction of Jesus only on
     the basis that he himself had foretold his death and resurrection."
          Freethinkers are often unfair in giving the impression that their
     thinking is based on the latest findings of modern science, and the
     thinking of Christians is based on superstition and Hebrew folktales.
     However, thousands of noted scientists are dediated Christians.  Dr.
     Wernher Von Braun, who for a number of years was Deputy Director of
     N.A.S.A., was soundly converted to  Christ as he walked along a
     desert road near the U.S. Army missle testing site at White Sands, New
     Mexico.  At a governors' prayer breakfast he said, "There is admiration
     for the scientific process of observation, experimentation, of testing
     every concept to measure its validity.  But it still bothers some
     people that we cannot prove scientifically that God exists.  Must we
     light a candle to see the sun?  Many who believe in God as Creator have
     difficulty accepting Him as a personal God who is interested, not only
     in the human race, but in the individual.  Man can know God only by His
     self-revelation in the person of Jesus Christ, as witnessed by
     Scripture.  In our search to know God...Jesus Christ should be the
     focus of our efforts, and our inspiration."
 
           Dr. Paul C. Vitz writes: "It is difficult to document such a
     thing as the general attitude of a profession.  But the hostility of
     most psychologists to Christianity is very real.  For years I was part
     of that sentiment; today it still surrounds me.  It is a curious
     hostility, for most psychologists are not aware of it.  Their lack of
     awareness is due mostly to sheer ignorance of what Christianity is -
     for that matter, of what any religion is.  The universities are so
     secularized that most academics can no longer articulate why they are
     opposed to Christianity.  They merely assume that for all rational
     people the question of being a Christian was settled - negatively - at
     some time in the past."
          I encourage you to read "The Agnostic Who Dared to Search" by
     Dr.  Viggo B. Olsen.
          Literally thousands of such examples can be cited.  Any man is
     either uninformed or dishonest who writes as does Kai Neilsen,
     "Plainly, such experiences can be explained in natural or secular
     terms, so there is no warrant for postulating God to account for them".
          Thus, my first appeal to you is to consider the power of the
     Gospel in changing men's lives.
 
                         THE FACT OF FULFILLED PROPHECY
 
          My second appeal to you is based on the fact of fulfilled
     prophecy.  Though hundreds of books have been written on this subject,
     I propose to present the basic arguments that I want you to consider in
     five brief paragraphs.  The prophecies which I ask you to consider are:
     prophecies concerning the Nation of Israel, concerning the nations of
     the world, concerning certain cities, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ,
     and prophecies that are being fulfilled at the present time.  Before I
     turned to Christ, I heard people speak of fulfilled prophecy, and I
     thought they were talking about general events that would have taken
     place regardless of whether or not the prophecy had been made.  How
     wrong I was!  It is my conviction that if you honestly study the
     evidence presented by fulfilled prophecy you will become a Christian.
          One night a group of officers in the French Navy stood on the deck
     of a warship in the Mediterranean Sea.  One of them said. "Show me one
     proof that there is a God."  Napoleon stood by overhearing the
     conversation.  He stepped forward and said, "The Jew, Sir."  Dare to
     study this subject, and if you do you will be convinced that the Bible
     is the Word of God, and if the Bible is the Word of God, there must be
     a God of that Word.
          If you will study the second chapter of the book of Daniel, you
     will discover that it is prewritten history.  Yes, I am mindful of the
     foolish efforts that have been made to prove that the prophecies were
     written after the events took place.
          Study the prophecies that were made concerning some of the cities
     mentioned in the Bible.  In his book 'Science Speaks', Peter W. Stoner
     discussed eleven Old Testament prophecies, some of which we have
     mentioned above, and shows that there is no possibility that the
     fulfillment of these prophecies was mere chance.  He states, "We can
     draw only one conclusion, and that is God inspired the writing of every
     one of these prophecies.  What stronger proof can any man ask for the
     inspiration of the Bible?".
          The most remarkable prophecies of all concern the Lord Jesus
     Christ.  In my book''How Firm a Foundation''I list 39 such prophecies
     and show how they were remarkably fulfilled.  In''Science Speaks''Peter
     Stoner picks out eight prophecies concerning the Lord Jesus, and using
     the science of probabilities shows that there is one chance in
     10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (in mathematics you write that
     number in this way 10 to the 28th power) that even eight of these
     prophecies would come to pass; but instead of eight we have listed 39.
          In the Foreword to Stoner's book, the 'American Scientific
     Affiliation' makes this statement: "The manuscript for 'Science Speaks'
     has been carefully reviewed by a committee of the American Scientific
     Affiliation members and by the Executive Council of the same group and
     has been found, in general, to be dependable and accurate in regard to
     the scientific material presented.  The mathematical analysis included
     is based upon principles of probability which are thoroughly sound and
     Professor Stoner has applied these principles in a proper and convincing
     way."
 
                           WHAT ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT?
 
          Freethinkers deny the existence of God; they deny the deity of
     Christ, and they completely disregard the Third Person of the Trinity,
     the Holy Spirit.  Christians believe that when they turn to Christ in
     saving faith their body becomes the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
     They discover that the Holy Spirit bears witness with their spirit that
     they are the children of God.  As they learn to "walk in the Spirit,"
     they have the joy of finding that the Holy Spirit produces wonderful
     fruit in their lives such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
     gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance.  They begin to
     experience the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives: power to live
     the life that God requires and expects of them; power to pray; power to
     witness; power to overcome sin and temptation.  They begin to discover
     that the Holy Spirit of God is their teacher; that He delights in
     taking the things of Christ and showing them unto them.  How do we
     comprehend the things of God?  By His Spirit.  "For what man knoweth
     the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?  Even so
     the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.  Now we have
     received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
     that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God"
     (1 Corinthians 2:11-12).
          Perhaps you are saying, "That sounds lik a lot of foolishness to
     me."  Kai Neilsen writes, "It looks like language and indeed sense have
     gone on a holiday."  My friend, that is exactly what the Bible says
     about you.  "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
     of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
     because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthains 2:14).  When a
     person turns to Christ, he becomes a new creature in Christ.  When he
     is born into the family of God, when he becomes a son of God, he
     receives a new nature in addition to the old nature that he had before
     he came to Christ.
 
                        A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHRISTIANITY
 
          I trust you see that I am talking about something that is entirely
     different from the commonly-held concepts of Christianity.  Perhaps you
     will be surprised to learn that I, too, hold the so-called Christian
     religion in contempt.  Most of what passes as being Christian is a
     cheap Satanic counterfeit of the genuine thing.  It is tragic indeed
     that so many of us who take the name of Christ fail to show forth the
     praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
 
                                 FAITH IN WHAT?
 
          I remember very distinctly an experience I had nearly fifty years
     ago.  Late one afternoon as I walked on the old Navy pier in Chicago, I
     gave a Gospel tract to a man.  He responded, "I don't believe in
     nothin' I can't see."  It is true that God, and many of the things of
     God, cannot be seen with the natural eye.  They cannot be measured in
     scientific manner in a test tube.  In addition to our five natural
     senses, faith is a sixth sense.  It is through faith we discern and
     comprehend things that are spiritual.  Things that can be seen are
     temporal; things that are not seen are eternal.
 
                            TWO SIMPLE ILLUSTRATIONS
 
          Permit me to share with you two very commonplace illustrations.
     When I was a boy in my early teens I was watering the trees in front of
     our house with a rubber hose that was attachged to a hydrant on the
     side of the house.  A boy about my age who lived in the hills of New
     Mexico was visiting one of our neighbors.  Never before had he seen
     water run through a hose out of the side of a house.  He was
     fascinated.  All of the water he had seen before ran in a creek or in
     an irrigation ditch.  It was hard for him to believe that water could
     actually come out of the side of a house.  What was difficult for him
     to believe was commonplace to me.
          Let us carry this same thought a bit further.  Suppose that an
     Indian from the jungles of Brazil comes to visit me.  (And, naturally,
     we must suppose that we are able to communicate.)  If I were to tell
     him that I have a box in my house that will enable me to hear voices in
     all parts of the world, he would be dubious.  When I tell him that this
     same box enables me to actually see events that are taking place in all
     parts of the world, he would surely think that I was deranged, or that
     I was playing some kind of a trick on him.
 
                             FAITH IS A SIXTH SENSE
 
          Our five natural senses are very limited.  I can hear certain
     sounds in the room in which I sit, but the room is filled with other
     sounds that I cannot hear with my natural ears.  These sounds can
     easily be picked up with a transistor radio.  There are many things
     that I can see in the room with my natural eyes, but there are also
     many other things that I cannot see, as is evidenced by my TV set.  I
     repeat, faith is the sixth sense which enables those who will use it to
     discern that which is spiritual and eternal.  It is tragic that people
     with brilliant minds simply tune out the possibility that such things
     could be true.  Is not this the very thing that most freethinkers are
     doing?
 
                            CREATION VERSUS EVOLUTION
 
          A battle is going on between creationists and evolutionists.  If
     honesty prevails we must admit that neither creation nor the theory of
     cosmic and organic evolution can be proven from a scientific
     standpoint.  Dr. Robert A. Millikan, famous physicist, Nobel Prize
     winner and an evolutionist, said, "The pathetic thing about it is that
     many scientists are trying to prove the doctrine of evolution, which no
     scientists can do."  The doctrines of creation and evolution must be
     accepted by faith.  Christians believe that it requires less faith to
     believe in creation that it does to believe in evolution.
          To my way of thinking, the existence of God can easily be proved
     from the argument of cause and effect and from the argument of design.
     I have considered the arguments of many freethinkers denying the
     existence of God, and can see why they think that believing in God is
     entirely a matter of unjustified faith.
 
                             MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS
 
          But, when we come to the Bible such reasoning does not hold water.
     I do not have to accept the truths of the Bible with a blind faith.
     The evidence that the Bible is the Word of God is based on sound, solid
     evidence.  Read my father's booklet, Why I Believe The Bible. (He was a
     graduate of Yale), and read my book, How Firm a Foundation.  I do not
     have to accept the Resurrection of Christ by faith since it is one of
     the best established facts of history.  Check it out for yourself.
 
                                 ANSWERED PRAYER
 
          What about answered prayer?  How foolish to write off as
     imagination or superstition tens of thousands of marvelous answers to
     prayer.  I began this booklet with a statement from George Mueller.  He
     lived in a period when infidelity was rampant in England.  He desired
     to demonstrate to the world that there was a living God who heard and
     answered prayer.  He therefore started an orphanage to take care of
     needy children, and determined that all needs to feed and clothe these
     children would be met without making requests of any kind.  If you have
     the courage to do so, read the marvelous story of how he was able to
     take care of thousands of orphans through prayer and faith.
          Hundreds of examples can be given of people who have prayed for
     specific amounts of money, and who have received right to the very
     penny the exact amount they prayed for.  Perhaps you are thinking,
     "What about the thousands of people who have prayed and have not
     received an answer to their prayers?"  A study of the Bible reveals
     that certain conditions must be met if our prayers are to be heard.
     (John 14:13,14).
 
                    YOU AND I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT WITH DEATH
 
          "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the
     judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).  First, consider the dying words and dying
     experience of Christians:
        Matthew Henyy - "Sin is bitter.  I bless God I have inward
     supports."
        John Knox - "Live in Christ, live in Christ, and the flesh need not
     fear death."
        John Calvin - "Thou, Lord, bruisest me; but I am abundantly
     satisfied since it is from thy hand."
        John Wesley - "The best of all is, God is with us.  Farewell!
     Farewell!"
        Charles Wesley - "I shall be satisfied with thy likeness -
     satisfied."
        Baxter - "I have pain; but I have peace, I have peace."
        Goodwin - "Ah! is this dying?  How have I dreaded as an enemy this
     smiling friend!"
          When that great Christian and scientist, Sir Michael Faraday, was
     dying, sone journalists questioned him as to his speculation for a life
     after death.  "Speculations!" said he, "I know nothing about
     speculations.  I'm resting on certainties. 'I know that my redeemer
     liveth,' and because He lives, I shall live also."
          Frances Havergal, the song writer, lived and moved in the Word of
     God.  His Word was her constant companion.  On the last day of her
     life, she asked a friend to read to her the 42nd chapter of Isaiah.
     When the friend read the sixth verse, "I the Lord have called thee in
     righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee."  Miss
     Havergal stopped her.  She whispered, "Called - held - kept.  I can go
     home on that!"  And she did go home on that.
          Dwight L. Moody was a well known evangelist in the nineteenth
     century.  The Moody Bible Institute and the Moody Church in Chicago
     continue to bear witness to his fruitful ministry.  As he lay dying, he
     said, "Earth, recedes: Heaven opens before me."  His son's first
     impulse was to try to arouse him from what he thought was a dream.
          "No, this is no dream, Will," he said.  "It is beautiful!  It is
     like a trance!  If this is death, it is sweet!  There is no valley
     here!  God is calling me, and I must go!"
          A bit later he said,  "This is my triumph; this is my coronation
     day!  I have been looking forward to it for years!"  Turning to his
     wife he said, "Mama, you have been a good wife to me."  Then later as
     he regained consciousness he uttered these words: "No pain! No valley!
     If this is death it is not bad at all! It's sweet!"
          A little later he exclaimed, "What does all of this mean?  What
     are you doing here? This is a strange thing! I've been beyond the gates
     of death to the very portals of Heaven, and here I am back again. It is
     very strange! This is my coronation day! It's glorious!"
          A few moments later another sinking turn came on, and from it Mr.
     Moody awoke in the presence of Him whom he loved and served so long and
     faithfully.  It was not like death, for he fell asleep quietly and
     peacefully. (Taken from "The Shorter Life of D.L. Moody" by A.P. Fitt).
 
                              FACE TO FACE SHOWDOWN
 
          Charles Bradlaugh was the outstanding atheist in England.  Down in
     one of the slums of London was a minister by the name of Hugh Price
     Hughes.  All London was aware of miracles of grace accomplished at his
     mission.
          Charles Bradlaugh challenged Mr. Hughes to debate with him the
     validity of the claims of Christianity.  London was greatly interested.
     What would Mr. Hughes do?  He immediately accepted the challenge and in
     doing so added one of his own.
          Hughes said, "I propose to you that we each bring some concrete
     evidences of the validity of our beliefs in the form of men and women
     who have been redeemed from the lives of sin and shame by the influence
     of our teaching.  I will bring 100 such men and women, and I challenge
     you to do the same.
          "If you cannot bring 100, Mr. Bradlaugh, to match my 100, I will
     be satisfied if you will bring 50 men and women who will stand and
     testify that they have been lifted up from lives of shame by the
     influence of your teachings.  If you cannot bring 50, then bring 20
     people who will say, as my 100 will, that they have great joy in a life
     of self-respect as a result of your atheistic teachings.  If you cannot
     bring 20, I will be satisfied if you bring 10."
          "Nay, Mr. Bradlaugh, I challenge you to bring one, just one man or
     woman who will make such a testimony regarding the uplifting of your
     atheistic teachings."
          Again London was stirred.  What would Mr. Bradlaugh do?  In
     answer, Charles Bradlaugh, with great discomfiture and chagrin,
     publicly withdrew his challenge for the debate. (Taken from
     Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations.)
          Second, consider the words and experience of atheists: "Thomas
     Paine, an immigrant to America in 1787, had leaped from obscurity to
     fame after writing some brilliant pamphlets on freedom.  But then he
     made a fatal mistake.  He began to write his "masterpiece," called
     The Age of Reason, which scoffed at Christianity.
          "This will destroy the Bible," he predicted.  "Within 100 years,
     Bibles will be found only in museums or in musty corners of second-hand
     bookstores."  His book was published in London in 1794, but it brought
     him so much misery and loneliness that he once said: "I would give
     worlds, if I had them, had The Age of Reason never been written."
          "Paine became a bedridden invalid until his death, friendless and
     alone in 1809.  The Bible remained a best-seller." (Taken from
     Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations).
 
                             STALIN'S TERRIBLE DEATH
 
          Quoted in Newsweek is Svetlana Stalin's description of her
     father's death.  We quote: "My father died a difficult and terrible
     death....God grants an easy death only to the just...At what seemed the
     very last moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and cast a glance over
     everyone in the room.  It was a terrible glance.  He raised his left
     hand as though he were pointing to something above and bringing down a
     curse on us all.  The gesture was full of menace... The next
     moment....the spirit wrenched itself free of the flesh."
          Altamont the infidel creid out his last words: "My principles have
     poisoned my friend; my extravagance has beggared my boy; my unkindness
     has murdered my wife.  And is there another hell?  Oh, thou blasphemed,
     yet most indulgent Lord God!  Hell is a refuge if it hides me from thy
     frown."
          Voltaire, on his deathbed, addressed his doctor: "I am abandoned
     by God and man.  I will give you half of what I am worth, if you will
     give me six months'life."  The doctor replied, "Sir, you cannot live
     six weeks."  Voltaire replied, "Then I shall go to hell, and you will
     go with me."  Soon after he expired.
 
          Gambetta, 1882: "I am lost, and ther is no use to deny it!"
          Gibbon, 1794: "All is now lost, finally irrecoverably lost.  All
     is dark and doubtful.
 
                           THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL OF GOD
 
          The Gospel of Christ is the watershed between all men.  Very
     simply stated it is this:  Christ died for our sins according to the
     Scripture;  He died as a substitute in our place and stead;  He was
     made to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in
     Him.  He was buried that He by the grace of God might taste of death
     for every man.  He arose from the grave on the third day.  When we by
     faith invite the living Christ to come into our heart, we become a
     child of God.  He knocks on the heart's door of every person.  Each has
     the power to either accept or to reject Him.  Each of the above
     statements is based on the Word of God.
 
                                A PRAGMATIC TEST
 
          I believe that God hears and answers prayer.  Evidently you have
     not believed this.  How about putting it to the test?  From the
     sincerity of your heart, pray a prayer something like this: "O God,
     hear me.  If you are real, I promise to surrender my life to you, if
     you will clearly manifest your presence in my life."
          If there is no God, you will simply be saying words into the empty
     air, but if you are sincere, and if you will determine to do the will
     of God, if He manifests Himself to you, He will answer your prayers, as
     He has answered the prayers of millions of others who have prayed in
     this way.
          I have set before you life and death, blessing, and cursing.
     Choose life that you may live, that you may find peace and joy in this
     life, and a home in heaven in the life to come.
 
                                  Homer Duncan
                                   4606 Ave H
                              Lubbock, Texas 79404
 
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