Voice of a Vessel

Someone who has a tongue, has an evil thing.
Unclean, both physically and spiritually, it moves about longing to produce futile words. It is as an axe, though sometimes useful, it is ultimately a tool for destruction.

Someone who speaks must first learn to tame human tendencies. Speech left unbridled communicates the essence of our carnality, but if guided by the bit can please both God and man. Like an animal that has not been broken, so is the fleshly nature of our speech.

Someone who teaches is in danger of the judgment.
Be sure that the teaching is in line with the Truth, so that you may rest in knowing that you have sown a seed that is free from penalty. A seed springs forth from the ground, yet it is only deemed worthy by its roots below, the soil in which it was planted and the fruit that it yields over a time.

Someone who is a voice, however, is a worthy vessel.It goes beyond the vanity of words and subtle non-verbal suggestion. A vessel that receives understanding, stores up wisdom and has the ability to distribute these same things is worthy of being called a voice.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

A Personal Note From the Blog Author

A search for truth through discussion was the original vision of this blog. I have seen it turn into a heated debate with neither side willing to relent, each viewing the other side as ill-informed and narrow-minded. Nevertheless, let the will of God be so. It only strengthens the abilities and resolve of all parties involved.
When I began this blog, it was with the hope (yes, hope and not necessarily faith) that it would meet the receptive ears of those teetering on their decision regarding salvation or perhaps, strengthen the understanding and feed the desire of those who had already given their lives to Christ. Praise be to God for those that fall into one of these above categories. Though, as I reflect upon some of the posted comments, it seems that the credibility of the ideals supported in this blog are under attack. It is called the “burden of proof”, and Christians are constantly being sucked into the vortex of “defending their faith”. It is a crippling strategy, administering blow after blow, through endless questioning always keeping your opponents “on the ropes”. Sorry – not to be smug – but to coin a phrase, “the best defense is a good offense”, so you will have to meet me in the middle of the ring.
I am growing sick with boredom, but I see the need, so let us have a bit of fun. If you have patience for facts, the following blog titled, Tactical Maneuver Deployed should be of some use to you, one way or the other. If you have enjoyed former posts which dealt with life on more philosophical and inspirational terms, fear not, they will continue by the grace of God. However, there is a bit of business that needs tending to first.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

Tactical Maneuver Deployed

Those of you from the creationist standpoint, enjoy…and the evolutionist, chew slowly:

Phillip E. Johnson, in Evolution as Dogma: The Establishment of Naturalism, states:

In fact, there is a great deal more to the creation/evolution controversy than meets the eye, or rather than meets the carefully cultivated media stereotype of “creationists” as Bible-quoting-know-nothings who refuse to face up to the scientific evidence. The creationists may be wrong about many things, but they have at least one very important point to argue, a point that has been thoroughly obscured by all the attention paid to Noah’s flood and other side issues. What science educators propose to teach as “evolution”, and label as fact, is based not upon any incontrovertible empirical evidence (scientifically proven facts, ed.), but upon a highly controversial philosophical presupposition. The controversy over evolution is therefore not going to go away as people become better educated on the subject. On the contrary, the more people learn about the philosophical content of what scientists are calling the “fact of evolution”, the less they are going to like it.


By the way, Mr. Johnson is a 1st Amendment attorney, teaching law at the University of California, Berkley and NOT observing from a Christian worldview…moving on…


G.A. Kerkut, in Implications of Evolution, states:

There are seven basic assumptions that are often not mentioned during discussions of evolution. Many evolutionists ignore the first six assumptions and only consider the seventh. The assumptions are as follows:
1. The first assumption is that non-living things gave rise to living material, i.e., spontaneous generation occurred.
2. The second assumption is that spontaneous generation occurred only once.
3. The third assumption is that viruses, bacteria, plants and animals are all related.
4. The fourth assumption is that protozoa (single-celled life forms) gave rise to metazoa (multiple-celled life forms).
5. The fifth assumption is that various invertebrate phyla are interrelated.
6. The sixth assumption is that the invertebrates gave rise to the vertebrates.
7. The seventh assumption is that within the vertebrates the fish gave rise to amphibia, the amphibia to reptiles and the reptiles to birds and mammals.


That’s a lot of ASSUMPTIONS. Another special note, G.A. Kerkut writes from the standpoint of an EVOLUTION indoctrinated scientist, yet still renders the application of faith to his “Science”.
But wait…there’s more…much, much more…


Dr. Harrison Matthews, the writer of the “Introduction” to Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, states:

The fact of evolution is the backbone of biology, and biology is thus in the peculiar position of being a science founded on an unproved theory – is it then a science or a faith? Belief in the theory of evolution is thus exactly parallel to belief in special creation – both are concepts which believers know to be true, but neither, up to the present, has been capable of proof.


Okay, perhaps one more from the EVOLUTION SCIENTIST COMMUNITY'S own words for this post…then, if need be, more in the future…


Dr. Ernst Mayr, in Omni Magazine, February, 1983, p. 78, states:

We had an international conference in Rome in 1981 on the mechanisms of speciation. It was attended by many of the leading botanists, zoologists, paleontologists, geneticists, cytologists and biologists. The one thing on which they all agreed was that we still have absolutely no idea what happens genetically during speciation. That’s a damning statement, but it’s the truth.


This posting has been exhaustively long for the average reader, though, I’m still only scratching the surface, “You really have no idea how much information is out there.”…I remember hearing that somewhere.

To conclude, I found this amusing, from a well-known and respected authority on science backed by a Christian world view:

Dr. Henry Morris, in Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation, states:

Unknown chemicals in the primordial past…through…
Unknown processes which no longer exist…produced…
Unknown life forms which are not to be found but could through…
Unknown reproduction methods spawn life…in an…
Unknown atmospheric composition…in an…
Unknown oceanic soup complex…at an…
Unknown time and place.


What you must admit is that evolution theory is only a predilection, the same as creation theory. We can both see the facts – the “What”, but we interpret the “When”, “How”, “Where”, “Who” behind them differently. Furthermore, the holding to our respective “Why” is what locks us so controversially into the realm of faith.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

Faith and Hope

Faith and Hope are entwined after the fashion of the Spirit and the body. They are united by the wisdom of God because he has “sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying, Abba, Father”. Just as such, one should be the servant of the greater, namely hope unto faith. The manner in which you worship, praise, pray and live your life for Christ is determined upon whether you hope, have faith or balance carefully between the two.

This point or these points are meant to be elements only of a much more exhaustive dialogue concerning the full extent of their meanings. Nevertheless, we see the superiority of faith in its very own Biblical definition. It is “the substance of things hoped for…” When you submit to God through repentance moving towards salvation, you are doing so hoping to find something better than your previous experiences. What you find is faith. What you hoped for is faith, something only revealed at the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

To continue, faith is “the evidence of things not seen”. Christians are ridiculed by non-believers for worshipping what is not so apparently visible or seemingly intangible. Even by mere acknowledgement is the ideology mocked. Yet these foolish hypocrites will, in turn, believe and misplace their faith (rather their hope) on their own private and agenda driven interpretation of “scientific facts” they so admiringly refer to as logic. Where are the sub-atomic particles? I ask you, where do they reside? What is their make-up? What is the appearance of their parts? We cannot see them at this point in time, however we see their workings, their activity. Their effects, their actuality through manipulation and our perception are a clear witness of their existence. So wise men of “science”, on this point do not condescend a Christians choice to respond through faith in the activeness of Christ in them and in the world around.

Faith is an actuality waiting on its investor to act, ready with the reward waiting to be attained. Hope, though noble in cause, is not always so forthcoming in its effect. Hope is investing in the possibility while still retaining a cloud of doubt. Hope is manifested from the flesh while Faith is revealed from the Spirit. It is important to remember that our flesh must submit to the actuality of the Spirit as we are called to exercise both, “that our faith and hope might be in God.”

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

One & Zero

One and Zero. These numbers reason to represent elements of our God's omni-presence, -potence, -science. This reasoning of the numbers 1 and 0 are not an attempt to limit God. They are, rather, to explain his limitless power.

You see, in use of the number "1", there is always a bigger picture. Nothing, from the smallest to the greatest piece of matter, time or space or energy stands alone. It can always be grouped in with something more profound or extensive than itself. Making a collaberative body of one which, in turn, links with others like it or at least relative to it and again soverignty is stripped away. Thus seceding to the enjoinment that again brings it to oneness again and again. This cycle endlessly continues until it reaches the threshold of God. We know that he "is in all and through all" and thus the cycle ends. Knowing "the end from the beginning" he alone can stand without being enjoined to anything or anyone. It is also written, "There is none beside me". Whether speaking of marbles or of planets they can all be grouped together into something more complex than itself because it unites its own complexities with the others it is grouped with. The number 1 stands alone and holds within it, limitless dimensions. In fact, being dimensionless, it is the closest we will ever come in this life to comprehending the transcendant nature of infinity.

As for "0", in our finiteness, we also fall unyieldingly short of discerning what oblivion really is. What the naked eye may see and register as empty, void or vanished, may in fact hold incomparable and unparalled matter, energy or other sorts of particles as such. Secular science holds that "matter can be neither created nor destroyed", claiming that everything came from nothing. Yet we know that negatives lie in the theoretical, and have not been proven to create anything. Even so, they seal their own fate either way. One thing always breaks down into another. It is conjunctive with displacement. It is said that "seeing is believing" but what is seen (or unseen) does not equate to truth necessarily.

We are told to fear "the One who can destroy both body and soul" and as said, so we should. For the infinite One, that is Christ, who created all that was once nothing has the right to make it as void as it once was.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

A "Peace" of Fruit

What a peace the Lord has offered man! Truly it "passes all understanding". It is offered by the One "who provides the increase". It would be absurd to reject the fruit of the Spirit which bears life in joyful abundance. Are we not told that "the harvest is plentiful" and again, "who works in the field and does not eat of its fruit?"
All fruit that is good bears yet more seed. This is wisdom from the Lord, life should bear life. Death can bear nothing except eternal destruction, perpetual and ever breaking down without ceasing to be. The fruit of Life is sweet and wholesome and good. Strengthening the drive of whoever consumes it. Motivating thought and stirring the soul, the awakening rush overtaking the spirit and urging it to press on. What is in the natural, is but a mere reflection of its spiritual relativity. The wisdom of the Lord outreaches the lengths and depths of our capacity to conceive of it.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

A Call for Study

It is said, "The Spirit searches the deep things of God". There are those who complain of the complexities of the word of God, they then refuse themselves the study of it. "these things are spirtually discerned", we are reminded. Would you go across rough, unfamiliar terrain alone? Would you refuse someone to lead you to the summit? You would soon perish, finding yourself in foreign waters! Do you not see your need? Will you be so stubborn? Call for the Guide and you shall be successful. Is it not his job to comprehend what you do not? He imparts understanding along the way, so that you may benefit and not himself. Will you continue to study the things that shall pass away while refusing to grasp the exquisite truths of those things that shall never expire? Let it not be so! Great truth is always profound, involving a continual renewal of itself in you. Do not boast that you have attained, yet rejoice in what has been revealed. "His way are higher than ours."

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

A Few Proverbs

What is heard is only a shade of what is seen, though what is seen is a mere glimpse of what is experienced.

One who holds only a knowledge of salvation will reap the experience of an eternity in hell.

Truth may be an offense to all, but in itself is its own defense.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

Spirit and Truth, the Witness

"...true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth..." and again "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord."

King Agrippa was taken back by Paul's testimony to the point where he declared that Paul had almost convinced him to become a Christian. Paul had testified through the Spirit of Christ concerning the very truth of the Word of God which are the same, an paradoxical union. True worship is not blind to the truth, but rather in response to it. Truth, whether it be at the cosmic level or at the atomic always points to the extraordinary purpose placed in it. Whether it is yet revealed or even accepted does not disannul the fact that it is. Furthermore, this truth is inseparably reciprocal of the Spirit from which it comes.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

Truth And Tradition

It bewilders me that humanity and the guiding force behind the flesh must label literally everything and everone. Someone responds one way in a reaction and we say, "Oh, that must mean that they are this way". Something happens as a result of some other type of stimulous and we claim we comprehend why it is that way. Assuredly this is true in small matters (to a limited extent), however there are, most often, far to many variables to even consider. Even if we could comprehend the variables, the collaborative solution is nonsense to us and the answer inapplicable at best. Yet, we hastily judge the weightier matters while we ponder greatly the small things.

To the point, why do we label our God? Is He one? Is he three? Do we have a mind that can conceive of God's infiniteness? Surely, we do not. Men of denomination choose a side and take hold of a cache of verses to back up their position while disregarding the entirety of the whole text. If what we believe is not in full agreement with what can be plainly seen, then what we believe is at worst a lie and at best blissful ignorance. We allow ourselves to be divided. Paul asked, (rightfully so), "Is Christ divided..."? Do we follow man's tradition and what we have heard? Should we not rather follow God and his Word? Is it not possible that all gospel believing saints hold the many keys, yet are disallowed to use them to unlock the mysteries of God, by his grace? Why is this the way of things? What restrains us? Pride - cast it off! Tradition- what is it worth? Ignorance - unfruitful and waxing in apathy.

In our attempt to define God, we have yet, confined him. Though, he cannot truly be confined by those who are yet subject to him; we have confined ourselves. His power, Spirit and Truth is beyond our reach, because we do not reach out to Him at all when we are confined to our own ignorant tradition.

Is all tradition triviality? Of course not, a tradition of faith in a perfect and risen and holy Saviour is a tradition of truth marked through ages of prophecy fulfilled through Jesus Christ and passed thenceforth from generation to generation, even until the day that is presently upon us.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv

The Greater Mastery

Which is greater - knowledge or wisdom? To compare the two is to compare the past with the future. Knowledge is arrogant, wisdom is meek. Knowledge only knows what has been made known while wisdom is, in fact, what reveals. Knowledge can only see by sight, but wisdom sees by vision. Knowledge can only retain what has been, and wisdom guides what will yet be. Knowledge grows only from what is remembered, while wisdom springs forth from what has been experienced. To compare the two is to compare the creation to its Creator. There is no crossroad from the lesser to the greater, yet there is from the Most High to us.
What has been made known will not necessarily dictate true wisdom in its response. However, true wisdom will always dictate what has been made known. Knowledge is a road leading in two directions, infinitely. Goldly inspired wisdom is the guiding force producing the first step in the necessary direction.

copyright 2005. travis marshall iv