As God’s dearly beloved children, we are instructed to pray for all men. In the Sermon of the Mount, the Messiah confronted the superficial religiosity of the spiritual leaders of His day by going beyond the letter of the Law and holding them accountable to the Spirit of the Law. It was no longer sufficient to love your neighbor as revealed in the Mosaic Covenant. The instructions of the New Covenant would require God’s adopted children to be God-like, Christ-like in their desire to see the salvation of all men, even their enemies, II Peter 3:9.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Matt. 5:43-46

So we are beginning a brand new campaign at the Creation Studies Institute. We are calling on all of our supporters to join our “Adopt an Atheist Prayer Movement” by praying for the salvation of these men and women.

Steven Weinberg
Ron Reagan
Christopher and Peter Hitchens
Sam Harris
Richard Dawkins
Michael Shermer
P.Z. Myers
Christopher Hitchens
George Clooney
Dave Silverman
Stephen Hawking

If there was ever a time when the old adage “the fruit does not fall far from the tree” does not apply, this is a case in point. Ron Reagan, a.k.a. Ronald Regan Jr., is the 53-year-old son of conservative icon and late two-term president of the United States, Ronald Reagan. Ron, who is the exception to the “fruit not falling far” cliché,  can be contrasted to his adopted brother and conservative pundit, Michael Reagan, who is proof positive concerning the likelihood of fruit remaining close to the tree from whence it fell.

Ronald Reagan Jr. declared himself an atheist at the ripe old age of twelve. And for that reason, he informed his parents that he would not longer be attending church services with them. Ron seemed to be the typical rebellious child. He was expelled from the Webb Schools of California (a private prep school) and later dropped out of Yale University in 1976 after only one semester to pursue his dream of becoming a ballet dancer.

Ron had considerable success achieving his dream. He was accepted into the prestigious Joffrey Ballet in pursuit of his lifelong dream and danced professionally with them for several years. Ron followed his left-wing leanings and spent a significant time denigrating the Bush administration for their attempt to associate themselves with his father’s persona. He was (as were most progressives) opposed to the Iraqi war. In contrast to his vocal criticism of George Bush,  however, he was always extremely respectful of his parents and never commented negatively on his father’s presidency, even though his personal political leanings were far from the conservatism that characterized his father’s presidency. 

Reagan became more politically active and vocal once his father left the White House in 1989. In 1991, Reagan was the host of The Ron Reagan Show, a syndicated late-night talk show addressing political issues of the day. In recent years, Reagan has worked as a magazine journalist, and has hosted talk shows on cable TV networks such as the Animal Planet network. From 2008 until its demise in 2010, Air America Media aired The Ronald Reagan Show from 6 pm to 9 pm EST.  
 
True to his leftwing ideology, Ronald Reagan Jr. endorsed the now president, but then junior Senator from IL, Barrack Obama. Ronald Reagan Jr. is very protective of his father’s reputation. But not in the way you might think. He has tried to revise his father’s legacy. While admitting that his father was “a lower-taxes-and-small-government kind of guy,” Ron Reagan the younger would have us believe that, politically speaking, Sarah Palin and his father had nothing in common. This revisionist view of his father can be understood when seen through the prism of love that Ronald Reagan Jr. has for Ronald Reagan Sr, coupled with Ron the younger’s radical ideology. This, together with the near fanatical hatred liberals like Ron Reagan have for true conservatives, is not entirely unexpected.

When you combine the idealism of youth with the natural rebellious nature of fallen man, you get the Ronald Reagan Jr.’s of the world. It is a perfect wedding of adolescent angst and the sin of unbelief described in Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy…rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. II Tim. 5:1-5.

Is this not a perfect description of our society today? It is easy to see how Ronald Reagan Jr., and so many others, have rejected the wisdom of their parents, becoming disobedient and blindly following their own rash and conceited thinking into the darkness of atheism. That is why we are praying for Ronald Reagan Jr. He, and others of his ilk, might scoff at us, denying their own need for the Savior’s redeeming grace and mercy in their lives. However, there but for the grace of God go you or me.

Two thousand years ago, the King of the Universe was born of a Jewish virgin for one purpose, to become a ransom for sinners, Mark 10:45. He came to save sinners, not to condemn them, John 3:17-18. He is both the eternal High Priest of Israel, Heb. 4:14, as well as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, John 1:29. He told His own covenant people Israel, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins,” John 8:24. This is the real reason we are praying for the lost. Therefore, we are asking all of our CSI family to put Ronald Reagan Jr. on your prayer lists and ask God to reveal Himself to Ronald Reagan, Jr.   

A Tale of Two Brothers

In history and literature, there have been great sibling rivalries. Sibling rivalry is a common theme in the works of Shakespeare. A number of Shakespeare's plays display incidences of sibling rivalry including the way King Lear provokes rivalry among his three daughters. In The Taming of the Shrew, sisters Kate and Bianca are shown fighting bitterly. In Richard III, the title character is at least partially motivated by rivalry with his brother, King Edward. In As You Like It, there is obvious sibling rivalry and antagonism between Orlando and Oliver, and also between Duke Frederick and Duke Senior.

In John Steinbeck’s East of Eden, the brothers Cal and Aron Trask are counterparts to Cain and Abel of biblical renown. The Scriptures offer us the sibling rivalry of Jacob and Esau, and later Rachel and Leah vie for the affections of their husband Jacob. In his old age, the favoritism of Jacob for his youngest son, Joseph, contributes to Joseph’s brothers conspiring to sell him into slavery.

In modern times, great sibling rivalries have no doubt continued to be a reality, and we can find no better example of this than the Hitchens brothers. We have already offered up outspoken atheist and staunch progressive, Christopher Hitchens, for prayer. But we have not asked for prayer for his younger brother, Peter.

The reason that this offering of the “Adopt an Atheist Prayer Campaign” is asking for prayer for Peter (as well as for Christopher), is that these two brothers, like Esau and Jacob before them, represent two opposing worldviews. Jacob, like Peter, was a godly man who honored and desired the covenant promises of God. Esau, like Christopher, despised the things of God considering the promises of God no more valuable than a bowl of bean soup. In reality, Christopher is an avowed atheist and Marxist, while Peter is a Christian and a socially conservative journalist. Atheism and biblical faith are indeed diametrically opposed to one another. So both cannot be right. Read more...

We want to place on our prayer list the very vocal, and almost always antagonistic to people of faith, Richard Dawkins. 

The latest in a long line of his books about Darwinian Evolution is The Greatest Show on Earth. In it Dawkins continues to promote his naturalistic and materialistic worldview. If nothing else, Dawkins is a prolific writer who becomes downright gleeful when poking fun at all people of faith, especially those who embrace the Bible as the Word of God.

God is exceedingly gracious and attentive to the prayers of His people. That is why we are asking everyone who reads this to put Dr. Dawkins on your prayer list. Prayer changes things and those who know the Lord personally, understand the power of prayer.

In our attempt to invoke the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on behalf of those who are still clinging to the illogical and unscientific position of materialism, we ask all who desire to see the salvation of the Lord transform sinners into saints to pray for Michael Shermer.

For those of you have not heard of this gentleman, Michael Shermer is the founder and publisher of Skeptic magazine. He is also an avid evolutionist who, although often out of his depth, did in times past take on creationists in debate.  While we do not think turning a skeptical eye on matters is unscientific per se, Mr. Shermer has an incredible blind spot when it comes to the evolutionary musings concerning origins in particular and the Theory of Evolution in general.

He is vocal, as are other evolutionists, about the fact that Darwinian Theory does not speak directly to the issue of origins. However, the inference of materialism and naturalism does have much to say about origins. Evolutionary scientist’s statements concerning origins notwithstanding, science has attempted, albeit inconclusively, to prove an origins connection, i.e. the Miller/Urey experiments. You can take the position of evolutionary science and believe that life came from a rock approximately 4 billion years ago, give or take 500 millions years, or you can believe the testimony of the Word of God, e.g. In the beginning God created, Gen. 1:1.

Evolutionary bias and long ages aside, this skeptic needs to come into a personal relationship with the Creator and Savior of mankind. He, like all who buy into the theory that slime + time = every living organism that has ever lived, falls into the category described by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the body of believers at Rome.

Paul wrote:  
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Rom. 1:21-23)

Please put Michael Shermer on your prayer list. You can add him next to our first-ever candidate for CSI’s “Pray for an Atheist Campaign” Richard Dawkins. Please pray that all who read Mr. Shermer’s Skeptic magazine will turn their skepticism in the direction of their own worldview. A worldview that embraces only what they can understand and quantify through the narrow lens of naturalism taken to completely absurd extremes.  

We are adding another outspoken atheist to our “Adopt an Atheist Prayer Campaign.” This time it is the associate professor biology at the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) and the author of the science blog Pharyngula, P.Z. Myers. Myers is openly hostile to all religion, but he is especially critical of the God of the Bible, Intelligent Design, and Creationism. He describes himself as a self-avowed “godless liberal” and outspoken atheist. He is a vocal skeptic of all forms of religion, superstition, spirituality and pseudoscience. He is quoted as having “nothing but contempt for ID,” arguing that it is “fundamentally dishonest” (Mosedale, 2005).

Professor Myers earned his Ph.D. doing research in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo). That is probably the reason for the title of his popular science blog “Pharyngula.” For those of us who are not evo-devo educated, pharyngula is one of the developmental stages in the embryonic development of vertebrates.   
If you doubt this characterization of Dr. Myers, all you need to is go to his blog see the tagline which reads, “Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal” (Myers, 2010).

This vocal atheist is near and dear to the hearts of all who work at the Creation Studies Institute. Being a very vocal critic of anything that tends to shed light on the inaccuracies of the evolutionary paradigm, P.Z., with his science students in tow, showed up at the Morris Evangelic Free Church. No, he did not come to seek the Lord or worship; he came to get ammunition for his blog. He came to ridicule the Founder and President of the Creation Studies Institute, Tom DeRosa, and show off in front of his students. What he failed to do was to actually discuss any of the subject matter Tom had shared during his lecture. While Professor Myers does not often discuss the actual criticisms of Darwinian evolution, he does find time to insult and ridicule those he disagrees with.

All who reject the Word of God and replace the Creator with materialism usually refuse to discuss the limitations of their “molecule-to-men” theory. Many would rather ridicule the opposition than discuss the facts. This condescending and acerbic style of confronting anyone who dares to disagree with the apparently all-knowing Myers has gotten the Professor into trouble. Myers wrote a review of a book by noted inventor, scientist, author, art historian, and collector, Stuart Pivar. The book was entitled Lifecode: The Theory of Biological Self Organization. In his review of that book, Myers calls Pivar a “classic crackpot.” (Myers, 2007)

I do not recommend actually going to the Myer’s blog, however, it you can stand the use of profanity and don’t mind the comments that are virtually oozing with sarcasm (why are all these evolutionists so angry?) you could easily understand how ridicule passes for true criticism in the minds of these über-materialists.

Today we are not praying for all those who frequent Myer’s blog, we are praying for P.Z. Myers to come to the place of repentance. God is willing and able to open blind eyes. He desires all people, even avowed atheists, to come to knowledge of the truth.  Please pray with us this month for P.Z. Myers.

References

Myers, P.Z., (2010). Tagline on Myer’s blog Pharyngula: “Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal.”

Myers, P.Z., (2007). Another review of Pivar’s Lifecode.  http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/09/another_review_of_pivars_lifec.php.

Mosedale, M. (2005). "The Mad Scientist, interview with PZ Myers". City Pages. Nov. 23, 2005.26 (1303). 
Retrieved http://www.citypages.com/2005-11-23/news/the-mad-scientist/3.  

It has come to our attention at the Creation Studies Institute (CSI) that Christopher Hitchens will be skipping a day of prayer in his honor as reported on AOL News by columnist Jay Reeves. This impromptu and unofficial prayer day is the result of Hitchens being diagnosed with esophageal cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes in his neck.

Rather than explaining why Hitchens over the years qualifies as the quintessential poster boy for what has come to be known as the “new atheism,” we want to ask all of our supporters and friends to pray that God would be gracious to Mr. Hitchens and his family at this time. Pray that God would pay a personal visit to Christopher Hitchens while the breath of life is still in him. Ask the Lord to make it possible for him to live up to the true meaning of his given name Christopher, a name that in the original language of the New Testament Greek means Christ-bearer or bearer of Christ.

The Staff of the Creation Studies Institute would like to extend our sincere condolence  to the Hitchens family on the loss of Christopher on Dec. 15, 2011.  

This list is usually reserved for scientists who are also atheists, however, this month’s addition to our “Adopt an Atheist Prayer Campaign is non other than George Clooney (Born May 6, 1961). For those of us who are of baby boomers, we know George’s famous aunt, Columbia recording artist, Rosemary Clooney. George was raised as a devout Roman Catholic. He began his education at the Blessed Sacrament School in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. He Spent part of his childhood in Ohio where he attended St. Michael's School in Columbus, and St. Susanna School in Mason, Ohio. He spent several years in college but did not graduate. He was athletic and he even tried out for the Cincinnati Reds in 1977, but they declined to offer him a contract. Baseball’s lose was Hollywood’s gain and from 1978-1994, Clooney bounced around playing bit parts on TV shows and even landing a semi-regular supporting role on the hit TV series “Rosanne.” A few movie roles later, Clooney got his big break playing Dr. Doug Ross on the mega hit TV show “ER.” After leaving the series in 1994, Clooney embarked on a movie career that has been nothing short of spectacular, even by Hollywood standards.

To his credit, Clooney, unlike so many other Hollywood success stories, has used his fame and fortune to advocate several humanitarian projects. Perhaps his most famous effort is on behalf of the suffering people of Dafur. Clooney is also involved with Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities.

George Clooney is an immensely popular man, on and off the silver screen. Recently, he was a guest on the HBO program “Real Time.” When the anti-Christian, Anti-everything religious, incredibly elitist and bombastic, Bill Maher, tried to throw Christians under the bus with regard to the tragic conditions in Darfur, George Clooney interrupted the applause of Maher’s über progressive audience by informing everyone present that it was evangelical Christians who were at the forefront of the humanitarian work to bring relief to Darfur and end the genocide taking place there. You could have heard a pin drop.

There are some wonderful believers in Hollywood. They can make an enormous impact on our society. George Clooney is just one of them; however, this month he makes our Pray for an Atheist Prayer Campaign. While Clooney is not a vocal proponent of atheism, when he is asked always identifies himself as an atheist. Pray for George Clooney, that he might see the Savior high and lifted up. That he might come to the realization that the only hope for a sick and dying world, a world that will sit by passively and watch mass-murder take place, is the risen Savior, Jesus of Nazareth.