Many years ago when I was a student at Oxford University I invited a Christian Scientist to come and speak to a society I was then chairman of. When he insisted that matter was an illusion a heated debate began. Realising that this was fruitless, I went up to the man and kicked him in the ankle, which caused him to react in a most displeased way. Though admittedly this was a rather impolite strategy on my part, it proved the point: matter is literally real and we don't need to waste time arguing about it.

And yet we are being told by the proponents of atheism that Elohim (God) is not real and that laws are relative, by the proponents of the New Age and Hinduism that our physical existence is maya (illusion), and by liberal "Christians" that the Bible is not to be taken literally but symbolically, and thus by inference that Elohim (God) cannot be trusted. When we protest we are accused of being "non-scientific". Quite apart from the fact that many scientific theorems are based on asumptions (some of them wild to say the least) I wish to point out that "in spite" of being a Messianic Evangelical, I am also a scientist who has been trained to observe and think logically. So if you think I am a religious crackpot, just come around and I'll kick you in the ankle (not really)!

We are often asked what our position is vis-à-vis certain biblical issues, so I will take the opportunity to use this article to make some statements on behalf of NCAY. We believe:

• 1. In the existence of a LITERAL Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) as described in the Scripture as the Second Adam who
  
• 2. LITERALLY offered up His body as a sacrifice for sinners loved by Elohim (God), and who paid the price for their sins on a
  
• 3. LITERAL cross -- a Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) who
  
• 4. LITERALLY was the Son of Elohim (God). It was this God-Man who
  
• 5. LITERALLY died and was
  
• 6. LITERALLY resurrected on the
  
• 7. LITERAL third, 24-hour day after His crucfixion. This was necessary because the
  
• 8. LITERAL first man, named Adam, who was created on the
  
• 9. LITERAL sixth 24-hour day of creation which was in a state of
  
• 10. LITERAL deathless perfection, and was
  
• 11. LITERALLY declared by Elohim (God) to be
  
• 12. LITERALLY perfect. Adam lived in a
  
• 13. LITERAL garden called Eden, broke a
  
• 14. LITERAL mitzvah (commandment) which was
  
• 15. LITERALLY spoken to him by Elohim (God) Almighty, a mitzvah (commandment) which instructed him not to eat of a
  
• 16. LITERAL tree of knowledge of good and evil, thus causing
  
• 17. LITERAL death to fall on men and animal life. Now all creation is
  
• 18. LITERALLY dying, the subject of entropic forces of decay, and creation is waiting for the final redemption in which the earth will
  
• 19. LITERALLY be restored to its original glory -- the same
  
• 20. LITERAL sinless/deathless perfection of the
  
• 21. LITERAL first creation as described in Genesis 1.