Derek Eckels

Pastor, Sign Painter, Husband, Dad, Grandfather (Pa).

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@cothran_tom Who says God had to look forward or backward, He is outside of time.

This is the problem with finite human understanding trying to figure out God.

Psalm 50:21
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself:

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@Joel7Richardson The difference may be that the growth in the 1800’s came right after the Great Awakening. Almost like Satan’s answer back.

There has been no “awakening” in the US since then.

It could be just the byproduct of post modernism/post Christian society🤷🏼‍♂️

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@NJBeisner They say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Now picture Sodom and Gomorrah.

Did He really need to say anything more?

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@DrFrankTurek Well yes. We still knock doors nearly every week (which most Baptist churches used to do).
Some listen. Some shut the door quick. And some give a wonderful testimony of their own salvation.
Never a dull moment.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@NathanielH98 One of many reasons I’m Ind. Bap.
When the SBC had a Calvinist (Platt) running their missions, it revealed a huge lack of discernment. But hey, IMB missionaries are EMPLOYEES-this is what happens.
It’s not soul liberty of the believer, but priesthood of the IMB.

[Shane Pruitt @shane_pruitt78]

The biggest issue people have with God is that He is God, and they are not.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@imPascalNajadi Rush Limbaugh told us he wasn’t leaving…

He was right.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@JoeRoganRecaps @RC194_RC 1 Corinthians 2:14
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.

The unregenerate (natural) man cannot understand the Bible.

Receive Christ Jesus.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@BrennansPen @RobADeverell Agree.
But I’m not sure if Roloff was speaking of shipwrecking a ministry by sin or merely the hardships and mistakes that will come.

[Darwin to Jesus @darwintojesus]

If you pay attention, you'll notice this happens constantly.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@6downunder Praise the Lord!!

[Taya Bass @travelingflying]

Christopher Hitchens: ”In 1786, when the United States was barely a country, it was having its sailors taken as slaves by the Barbary states, the states of the Ottoman Empire and North Africa. Tripoli, shores of Tripoli. Ships stopped, its crews carried off into slavery. We estimate 1.5 million European and American slaves taken between 1750 and 1815.

Jefferson and Adams went to their ambassador in London and said, why do you do this to us? The United States has never had a quarrel with the Muslim world of any kind. We weren't in the crusades. We weren't at war with Spain. Why do you do this to our people and our ships? Why do you plunder and enslave our people? The ambassador said very plainly, Mr. Abdul Rahman said, because the Quran gives us permission to do so, because you are infidels, and that's our answer. Jefferson said, well, in that case, I will send a navy which will crush your state, which he did.

Islamic fundamentalism is not created by American democracy. It's a lie to say so. It's a masochistic lie, and it excuses those who are the real criminals, and blames us for the attacks made upon us.”

[Philip @criticallyme92]

What if science keeps circling the truth
but refuses to say one word?

God.

Every few years, the simulation question resurfaces.
Not because it’s trendy
but because reality keeps behaving like an information system.

Physics tells us the universe has a data limit
That’s the Bekenstein Bound a maximum amount of information per region of space.
A cosmos with a memory cap doesn’t look accidental.
It looks engineered.

Zoom into quantum mechanics.
Particles don’t resolve into reality until they’re observed.
The universe doesn’t calculate details until they’re needed.

That’s not mystical language.
That’s how optimized rendering systems work.

Entanglement?
Instant synchronization across any distance.
Physics calls it non-local.
Engineers call it linked registers.

And spacetime itself?
At the Planck scale, it isn’t smooth
it’s pixelated.
Reality runs on resolution.

So science calls this a simulation hypothesis.

But here’s the part it can’t explain:

Consciousness.

If awareness is just a survival tool,
why are humans the only species burdened with self-reflection, morality, creativity, and existential dread?

Animals survive perfectly without questioning reality.
Humans question everything.

And more strangely
we override survival instincts constantly.
We self-sabotage.
We chase meaning over safety.
We destroy ourselves in the pursuit of truth.

That’s not a survival upgrade.
That’s something else entirely.

Ancient texts noticed this first.

Before Eden’s fall, humans weren’t self-aware.
No shame.
No existential fear.
No moral struggle.

Then something activated.

Eyes opened.
Choice emerged.
Consequences became real.

Consciousness wasn’t evolved.
It was awakened.

And maybe that’s the connection science keeps missing.

What if reality is engineered
not by machines
but by a mind

What if consciousness isn’t an accidental glitch in the system
but the interface

Christians already believe this.

A designed cosmos.
Fine-tuned laws.
A Creator outside time seeing beginning and end at once.

Call it a simulation.
Call it a construct.
Call it a divine framework.

But the truth doesn’t change:

Reality behaves like it was designed
because it was.

And consciousness isn’t here to help us survive
it’s here to help us see.

Science doesn’t reject God because the evidence isn’t there.
It hesitates because accepting Him means something deeper:

Responsibility.
Meaning.
Purpose.

If reality is programmable
then someone wrote the code.

And if consciousness can interact with that code
then maybe faith isn’t ignorance.

Maybe it’s recognition.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@elonmusk This reminds me of the superstring theory. Similarly both theories end at a Creator. And when science is left with the inevitable, they abandon it.

Psalm 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@PastorMFurse You mention Anderson on your site, as well as endorse his documentary...it was a natural connection.

But your third person was about your own actions and beliefs, not some academic research.

Anyway, there are some helpful things on there...

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@PastorMFurse Yes 😅

Just wondering why most everything is written in third person. Seemed a little different since it seems like you write most everything on there.

Anderson did that on his to make the site seem bigger than just one guy promoting his own stuff.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

“FAITH ALONE” in the Calvinist construct is like saying “CHOICE ALONE” at a wedding in Somalia with an 8 year old bride.

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@genxbaptist @Breaking911 Haha! I caught that too!😂

[Derek Eckels @DerekEckels]

@ProvisionistP @DeChristianLife @grok You should listen to his side of the story and the reason for his arrest.