eNews

Frankenstein:
These days, genetic engineering has become child's play. At least, the dicing and splicing of genes is no longer confined to the labs of silver-haired geneticists. Halloween weekend, 103 teams of college kids will gather to show off their genetically modified creations at the International Genetically Engineered Machine competition. The annual contest encourages students to mix and match genetic parts in order to program spectacular results from run-of-the-mill organisms.

There will be no lack of innovative bacterial machines at the competition. This year, the University of Virginia's Frankenstein is a batch of arsenic-absorbing E. coli. This "arsenic sponge" was designed to clean contaminated water in places, like Bangladesh, where groundwater is often poisoned by arsenic. City College of San Francisco has developed a bacteria-powered battery. At last year's competition, a team from Slovenia developed a vaccine for Helicobacter pylori, a wide-spread bacteria that causes ulcers.

While not really child's play, genetic engineering at this level can be considered a scholarly game of Legos. In fact, students can order DNA pieces online from MIT's Registry of Standard Biological Parts. The chunks of DNA, called BioBricks, have been catalogued and their functions defined so that students can take this BioBrick and that BioBrick and build new little creatures for themselves.

This wanton genetic mixing has some people concerned about the potentially dangerous chimeras that could be put together, and others argue that folks shouldn't be playing God with the genes of bacteria or anything else.

Randy Rettberg, director of the IGEM competition, has dismissed most concerns people have. He doesn't see the students' experiments as dangerous, likening the strains of bacteria and DNA they are working with to flour and water. Rettberg also shrugged off the moral implications. "This question of these things are made by God, and therefore how should we be dealing with those things because they were made by God -- that's just beyond my job description," he said.

Perhaps students are using harmless strains right now for this competition, but as the old adage says, familiarity breeds contempt. Will these students work carefully in their future research, stepping lightly with awe and respect for the genetic code, or will they treat genetic engineering like a game – with potentially catastrophic results?

"I like messing with genes and genomes, throwing things in and out and manipulating all that stuff," said, Chris Von Dollen, a junior at Johns Hopkins University. "We've already controlled so many other things in nature that it's become unnatural. To me, it's just one more step in the process."

Leviathan:
While American students fiddle with bacteria, the skull of a much older monster has recently made news across the sea in southwestern England. The pliosaur was a sea-dwelling creature so magnificently huge, it could have gobbled up a T-Rex for breakfast and sunk a wooden ship with a nicely placed slap. The eight-foot-long skull of one of these massive creatures was uncovered in Dorset and for four years has been painstakingly uncovered according to The Times. If the rest of the body is buried in the same cliff, experts estimate its full length would have been approximately 54 feet. The pliosaur's huge, razor-toothed jaws would have been a fearful thing to meet in the middle of the wide ocean, and the creature brings to mind ancient stories of sea monsters like Leviathan and the kraken.

"They had massive big muscles on their necks, and you would have imagined that they would bite into the animal and get a good grip, and then with these massive neck muscles they probably would have thrashed the animals around and torn chunks off," said David Martill, a paleontologist from the University of Portsmouth. "It would have been a bit of a blood bath."

Plesiosaur expert Richard Forrest told the BBC, "What is fantastic about this new skull, not only is it absolutely enormous, but it is pretty much in 3D and not much distorted."

The Dorset County Museum has purchased the skull for £20,000 and plans to clean it up and put it on display in about half a year.

October is a beautiful time of year.  Yet Christians, and especially those with children, often struggle to deal with this season. While most understand that stock Halloween celebrations are rooted in the occult, many don't know the broader history behind this peculiar autumn festival.  Still, October has not been wholly given over to the dark side.  There are some historical bright spots for the Church in October, and it's good to turn our attention to the many ministry opportunities available to us even while avoiding those "games" associated with Halloween that can be entries for the occult.

Background:
In ancient Britain and Ireland, the Celtic festival of Samhain ("Sah-win") was observed on October 31, the end of summer. November 1 was the new year for both Celtic and Anglo-Saxon calendars and was one of the most important and yet sinister calendar festivals of the Celtic Year. Settling in northern France and the British Isles, the Celtic people engaged in occultic arts and worshiped nature, giving it supernatural, animistic qualities. (Much like some federal institutions are attempting to enforce today.)

The ancient Druids were the learned priestly class of the Celtic religion. Many of their beliefs and practices were similar to those of Hinduism, such as reincarnation and the transmigration of the soul, which teaches that people may be reborn as animals. The Druids believed that on October 31, the night before their New Year and the last day of the old year, Samhain, the Lord of Death, gathered the souls of the evil dead who had been condemned to enter the bodies of animals.

The Druids also believed that the punishment of the evil dead would be lightened by sacrifices, prayers and gifts to the Lord of Death. (This begins to reveal the strange link between this holiday and the non-Biblical concept of purgatory.)

The souls of the dead were supposed to revisit their homes on this day, and the autumnal festival acquired a sinister significance, with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, black cats, fairies, and demons of all kinds said to be roaming about. It was the time to placate the supernatural powers controlling the processes of nature.

On the other hand, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther drove a stake into the heart of many of the prevailing non-Biblical concepts by nailing his famous 95 theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany.  With that, he started the movement known today as the Reformation - the single most important event in modern history. Appropriately, he did this on Halloween.

Modern Halloween Traditions:
Halloween is, for many, a "crossover" involvement in which innocent games can lead to serious entanglement with real witches, neo-pagans, New Agers, and other occultists.  A common pastime is the use of a Ouija board to attempt to contact ghosts or spirits that are believed to be roaming about. This can lead to serious consequences including demon possession. (The case studies underlying William Blatty's The Exorcist indicate that the trouble all began with a child playing with a Ouija board.) Demons have a vested interest in Halloween because it supports the occult, and it also offers novel and unexpected opportunities to control and influence people.

Forms of the occult can include mediums, channelers, clairvoyants, psychics, spiritists, diviners, mystics, gurus, shamans, psychical researchers, Yogis, psychic and holistic healers, astral travel, astrology, mysticism, Ouija boards, Tarot cards, contact with the dead, UFOs, and thousands of other practices which almost defy cataloging - even Harry Potter books and movies can lead innocent children into the occult. Occultism includes Satanism, astrology, Kabbalah, Gnosticism, theosophy, witchcraft and many forms of serious magic. It includes activities seeking the acquisition of "hidden" things - which are expressly forbidden by God in the Bible.

The Biblical View:
Halloween practices can open the door to the occult and can introduce forces into people's lives that they are not equipped to combat.  There is genuine power in the occult, but it is demonic power (Mt 24:24; Acts 13:6-11; 16:16-19; 19:18-20; 2 Cor 4:4; Eph 6:7-11, 22). 

Any serious study of Biblical demonology will reveal Satan as the power behind false religion, witchcraft, idolatry and the occult (Deut 32:16,17; Ps 106:35-40; Acts 16:16-19; 1 Cor 10:19-21; 2 Thess 2:9, 10; 1 Tim 4:1ff). The Word of God makes it clear that these are all to be shunned as dangerous. There were many superstitions and false concepts in ancient Israel about which the Bible is silent. However, occultism, in any form, was punishable by death! Why? The spiritual power and reality behind idols involves demons (1 Cor 10:20; Ps 106:37).  The Bible commands us to shun occult practices. Mediums and spiritists are expressly prohibited (Lev 19:31; Deut 18:10, 11, 14 2 Chr 33:6). Nowhere are such practices acceptable.

Intellect alone is insufficient. "If it were possible, it would deceive the very elect." This is another example of the necessity to truly understand the Armor of God as outlined in Ephesians 6.

Carpe Diem:
Yet, this is no time for the Church to turn its back on people or leave them exposed to spiritual danger.  This time of year offers tremendous opportunity for ministry.  Churches can open their doors to children young and old - not only to have harvest parties or trunk-or-treat outreaches - but especially to let people know what is truly behind the occult. Many people believe these "games" are just harmless fun, and are unaware of the very real dangers they can face by dabbling in the realm of the demonic. 

Of course, the point is not to terrify people.  The ultimate goal is to point them to the source of true protection, of true salvation, of true hope.   Jesus is the victor.  He's already won the battle, and he is stronger than anything Satan can throw at us.  Even more important, he has triumphed over death for us.  He told his disciples long ago, and still tells us today, "...[R]ejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20).    

Women in Afghanistan have plenty to grieve about. Things have not improved substantially since the Taliban was ousted. Words were offered, both spoken and written, promising greater rights and better treatment of women, but those have deteriorated to the basic, "you have a right to stay home and obey your husband." Men are free to rape and beat their female relatives, and women who try to escape are hunted down like slaves. While these things are horrible, we are not shocked to hear about them in Afghanistan. The fact that women are being raped and beaten and murdered in the name of Islam in America, though… that puts the issue more directly in front of our faces.

Last week, Iraqi-born Faleh Hassan Almaleki ran over his 20-year-old daughter, Noor, with his his 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee. She and her boyfriend’s mother, also injured in the incident, are both in the hospital, and Noor is fighting for her life. Almaleki attempted this "honor" killing because his daughter had become "too western." She had left the Middle East and her arranged marriage there, and had chosen a boyfriend on her own in America. In the end, Almaleki decided to murder the young woman.

In January 2008, Yaser Said made news when he shot his two daughters to death in the back of his car after telling them he would take them to dinner. After years of sexual abuse and strict control, the girls and their mother had run away, but Said wooed them home with promises to change. Shortly after, he offered to take the girls out to eat and slaughtered them in his Taxi. Said is still on America’s Most Wanted list for the two murders.

Then there is 17-year-old Fathima Rifqa Bary, who was returned to Columbus, Ohio on Tuesday. Bary had fled to Florida after her conversion to Christianity, fearing that her father would kill her for leaving Islam. She has not yet been returned to her parents, but remains in the custody of Franklin County Children Services until a decision is made on where to place her.

Faith Comes By Hearing:
These sorts of stories dominate the media, and they represent a very real, serious problem. Yet, not all Muslim fathers are driving over their daughters or raping them or shooting them. Many Muslim families have left their homelands on purpose, seeking a free life in America. Many want better lives for their children. Muslims in America are in tremendous need of ministry, and we need to find ways to reach out to them with the true and abundant love of Christ.

Many Muslims want to know about Jesus and the Bible, and now that they are in America, they have the freedom to do so. While Islam teaches submission to Allah and offers laws to live by, it does not guarantee salvation, and Muslims have no confidence that they can go to heaven when they die. When they learn that Jesus paid for their sins and that he makes a way to heaven for them, many are excited and relieved to hear the news. There is serious punishment in Islam for converting to another faith, but that fear is no match for newfound life in Jesus Christ.

This weekend, the Crescent Project Oasis 2009 Conference was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in order to help American Christians know better how to connect with and love Muslims in the name of Jesus. According to the ministry’s founder Fouad Masri, outreach to Muslims is much easier than people think. He said, "Muslims are taking Bibles. Muslims talk about Jesus. We've seen people pray to receive Christ. There's such a hunger that we've never seen before because Islam has failed to answer the deepest questions."

Right now, Muslims are glad to find Christians who are willing to reach out hands of friendship. They need to know the love of God as much as any of us. "If we do not share the Gospel now," Masri said, "then we will never have the opportunity to share with them. They are not 'hard.' The only thing is: they haven't heard the Gospel."

As we hear about the way Muslims persecute each other in foreign lands and even at home, we need to remember that Muslim men and women are human beings for whom Christ died, and many are looking for something better than Shariah Law.