Thursday, July 31, 2008

The poison of the therapeutic gospel

While scanning through Paul Marshall's book Their Blood Cries Out, I came across this excellent quote. It shows the poisonous nature of the therapeutic gospel and prosperity gospel in times of suffering. Marshall here sounds very similar to David Wells, and helps explain why so many American Christians are apathetic to global persecution today.
Clearly, a positive outlook can have value in dealing with most of our ordinary day-to-day frustrations. But if God is always supposed to provide relief, then suffering Christians seem to make God appear untrustworthy and the product unreliable. Why hasn't Christianity "worked" for the Sudanese the way it does in America? How can the prayers of suffering Christians in Vietnam remain unanswered?

Historically, the heart of the evangelical gospel has been "Christ died for your sins," not the modern preoccupation "Christ died for your problems." If religious teaching becomes a promise of psychological benefits, then a seemingly logical conclusion is that suffering stems from a lack of faith...

But what does this mean for those who struggle against adversity, persecution, and poverty? If obedience is the key to the future, then they must somehow have failed, somehow have fallen short of God's best, somehow been disobedient. What does it say of the apostle Paul, writing letters from a prison cell, not to mention Jesus, who was markedly "unsuccessful." He found himself betrayed, abandoned, and hung on a cross.

These are not the only tendencies in evangelicalism. But they are the dominant ones. They are the themes that dominate the best-seller lists, the magazines, the TV shows, and all-too-many of the churches. The result is a faith that has its eyes turned resolutely inward.

Self-absorption is clearly not the only reason western evangelicals remain unconcerned about their persecuted counterparts across the sea. But it certainly contributes to the apathy. (pp. 155-56)

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Update on Tom Ascol

Donna Ascol has finally written an update on her husband Tom, who was struck by lighting two weeks ago. You can read her message here. It sounds like Tom is making a slow and difficult - but steady - recovery. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

I was convicted over my own lack of sensitivity toward the elderly and infirm as I read this paragraph:
We understand more about the mysteries of the human body and how many people suffer from real symptoms that cannot be viewed by casual observers. Even as Tom struggled through the airport, I wondered how many travelers were aware of his struggle. I doubt that those who were frustrated by his slow gait and halting steps stopped to consider what might be going on inside of him. I pray that God would help me to be more compassionate to those who struggle internally.

Monday, July 28, 2008

David and Goliath

Last week, Natalie and Dylan came up with this creative rendition of the David and Goliath story, using Lego blocks. One of my favorite moments is when David "somersaults" over to the army of Israel.

Friday, July 25, 2008

The future reign of Christ

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; And the bow of war will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; And His dominion will be from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth." (Zech. 9:9-10)

While preparing for Sunday's message on the "Triumphal Entry" of Jesus Christ, I came across this great quote, which refers to Matthew 21:4-5:

It is noteworthy that Matthew, in explaining the need of a literal colt for the King's entry, is careful to restrict his quotation to only the first part of Zechariah's prophecy. Verses 9-10 of Zechariah 9 form one continuous prophecy joined by the conjunction "and." Verse 9 tells the manner of the King's arrival, while verse 10 tells what the King will do when His beneficent reign is established. Then the "chariot," the "battle bow" and the war "horse" will be cut off; He will "speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth" (ASV). Not one of these details of Messiah's reign in verse 10 is even mentioned by Matthew. Writing both by divine inspiration and from the vantage point of known history, Matthew knew that the King had arrived and also that the King had not occupied His Messianic throne. If the colt ridden by the King upon His arrival had to be literal, so also must the warfare be literal which will be abolished when He reigns. If Matthew had believed in a "present Messianic reign" ushered in by the first coming of the King, here would have been the time and place to cite in full the details of Zechariah 9:9-10, but He says not a word about the wondrous things of verse 10. (Alva McClain, The Greatness of the Kingdom, p. 347)
We see something similar in Luke 4, where Jesus stands up in the synagogue and reads from Isaiah 61:1-2a, which He says has been fulfilled in their hearing, during His first advent. But He shuts the scroll and does not read the rest of the prophecy, which mentions vengeance, and pertains to Christ's future, second coming.

The gospel is not multiple choice

Erich Bridges of the International Mission Board has some good thoughts on Jesus, religion in America, and the implications for global missions. Here's an excerpt:

"If the Good News (Gospel) of salvation in Christ alone is not true, what’s the point of spreading it? That would be hypocrisy, fraud, false advertising, bogus journalism. The Christian mission stands or falls on the exclusive truth of the Gospel — as does Christianity itself, which has always been a missionary faith."

Read the whole thing here.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The pride of moral superiority

"There is none righteous, not even one." (Rom. 3:10)

Last Saturday at Men's Bible Study, we were made aware of our own pride and selfishness through Jerry Bridge's book, Respectable Sins.

Bridges has spent thousands of hours studying
and writing and preaching and counseling on the matter of personal holiness. So when he speaks about the human heart, I know I need to listen. And what he said about self-righteous pride really grabbed my attention:
I venture that of all the subtle sins we will address in this book, the pride of moral superiority may be the most common, second only to the sin of ungodliness. But though it is so prevalent among us, it is difficult to recognize because we all practice it to some degree. In fact, we seem to get a perverse enjoyment out of discussing how awful society around us is becoming. When we engage in this kind of thinking and conversation, we are guilty of the pride of moral superiority. (p. 90)
I feel way too good about myself. If my thoughts and impulses were carried out and translated into words, I would probably be caught saying things like,

"Thank God I'm not like that murderer, or drug addict, or homosexual. I sure am glad I'm not one of those open theists, or emergents, or charismatics, or Arminians! Come to think of it, I really am a pretty good Christian. I read my Bible more than he does; I arrive to church
earlier than she does; I know my theology better than he does; I never struggle with the sin he does; I'm a lot nicer to be around than she is; my prayers are much more fluent than his; my comments are always more profound than hers; I'm a better writer than she is; I'm a better preacher than he is; and I bet I even tithe more than he does. God sure must be happy with me. Isn't He lucky to have me on His side?"

I'm being only slightly facetious here. In these moments of moral comparison, which are far too frequent, I'm really no better than the Pharisee of Luke 18:11-12. Exalting himself, he was humbled by God, and found no mercy (v. 14).


The remedy to all of this is to fix my eyes completely on Christ. His glory and perfection smash my self-righteousness like a sledgehammer. And when I hear His words, "You shall be holy, for I am holy," (1 Pet. 1:16), I suddenly realize just how sinful I am, and how much I need the cross of Jesus every day.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Disciplining our children

Discipline. What comes to mind when you hear this word? Harshness? Insensitivity? Perhaps even abuse? In the Bible, 'discipline' is consistently portrayed as an act of love. Consider these verses:

Proverbs 13:24 He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

Hebrews 12:6 For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

Hebrews 12:9-10 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

I can testify that as a child, discipline was never "fun." But I am very thankful that my mom and dad faithfully disciplined me as seemed best to them. Even at the time, I respected them because I knew they did it out of love, and never out of anger.

Now, with children of our own, Natalie and I struggle daily with the matter of discipline.
How strict should we be in our rules? When should we be firm? When should we give another warning? And what punishment will fit the crime, so to speak?

I really appreciated these words by Danny Akin, as he recalled how he and his wife raised four godly sons:
In our family we tried to provide a big playing field not a small one. Why? Because kids are kids and, if the box is too small they will break the rules constantly and you will probably not be consistent in your discipline. We always told our boys they would establish the size of the playing field. If they were faithful, truthful and trustworthy, the playing field got bigger and bigger. If they were unfaithful, untruthful and untrustworthy, the playing field got smaller. We also adjusted the way we disciplined as they grew older. We believed spanking, in moderation and always under control, is both biblical and effective when the children are small (e.g. Proverbs 29:15). However, as they grow older, unless the situation is extreme and exceptional, the rebuke and restriction is a more effective way to mold and shape their character and behavior.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Religious Affections

Jonathan Edwards is one of the greatest theologians of all time. He's the inspiration behind John Piper's "Christian hedonism," and is at the very heart of the "Young, Restless, and Reformed" movement. Yet I must confess, I've never read a complete book by Jonathan Edwards. Sure, I've read a couple of his articles here and there, and have read his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," but I've really read very little by this great preacher and theologian. Lord willing, that is about to change.

For some time now, Tim Challies has been hosting a book club called Reading Classics Together, and they just started their next book. It's A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, by Jonathan Edwards. And now that we have concluded The Courage to Be Protestant on this blog, I think I'll take a stab at Religious Affections. (In fact, maybe David Wells was good mental preparation for tackling Jonathan Edwards. Both of them are crazy smart!) Any of you are welcome to read along as well. If you do not own a copy of Religious Affections, you can read the text online for free at CCEL. I will personally be reading out of the two-volume Banner of Truth Works of Jonathan Edwards.

In the Preface, Edwards says the main purpose of his book is "to show the nature and signs of the gracious operations of God's Spirit, by which they are to be distinguished from all things whatsoever which are not of a saving nature" (p. 235).
I believe we should rejoice whenever someone confesses Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord (cf. Lk. 15:10). But how can we discern genuine conversion from false religion? What are the marks of a true believer, and of the authentic work of the Holy Spirit? This is what Edwards will try to explain.

In fact, it was his critique of false religion that struck me the most
in this opening section: "It is by the mixture of counterfeit religion with true, not discerned and distinguished, that the devil has had his greatest advantage against the cause and kingdom of Christ. It is plainly by this means, principally, that he has prevailed against all revivals of religions, since the first founding of the christian church" (p. 235). Satan is a cunning foe, and he knows that twisting true religion is often a much more effective strategy than eliminating religion altogether.

May the Lord kindle our religious affections and help us "guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure [of the gospel] which has been entrusted to us" (2 Tim. 1:14).

Friday, July 18, 2008

Mohler to appear on Focus on the Family

This was just released from Southern Seminary. I'm sure it will be a program well-worth listening to.

Mohler to appear on Focus on the Family

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is scheduled to appear on Monday’s broadcast of Focus on the Family with James Dobson. Mohler will offer an evangelical perspective on various issues concerning the 2008 presidential election. Focus on the Family is broadcast on 3,000 radio outlets and heard by more than two million listeners per day. Please check your local listings for time and station in your area. The program is also streamed at www.family.org. Mohler serves on the Focus on the Family board of directors.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

What's the best night for a youth ministry??

I'm putting together our youth ministry calendar for the 2008-09 school year, and have a basic question. What's the best night of the week to even have a youth ministry? It needs to be a time that is convenient both for church families and unchurched youth in the community.

What do you think? What does your church do? What pros and cons have you noticed? Please take my poll below.


Here are some thoughts I've come up with:

Sunday - PRO: no school activities to interfere; CON: we currently have a Sunday evening service; families are getting ready for their school and work week.
Monday - CON: it's the very beginning of the school week.
Tuesday - CON: it's right in the middle of the school week; lots of sports practices and games.
Wednesday - PRO: this is a common youth group night for churches. CON: we currently have prayer meeting on this night; other local churches already offer a youth group on this night.
Thursday - CON: probably the busiest night of the school week as students prepare for papers, tests, and sports games on Friday.
Friday - PRO: it's at the beginning of the weekend; students can stay out later. CON: football and basketball games.
Saturday - PRO: we could start a little earlier. CON: this lumps all the church activities together instead of spreading them throughout the week; could prevent students and their families from being rested and prepared for Sunday worship.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Our first day of catechism

Well, our son Dylan is becoming quite the big boy. He's feeding himself, using the potty, speaking coherent sentences, and beginning to pray out loud (with our word-by-word guidance) as part of his bedtime routine. So, I felt it was finally time this morning to introduce him to a catechism.

As we were finishing up breakfast, I told Dylan with an excited tone that we were going to start learning some verses and questions out of the Bible. Then, we spent the next five minutes or so reciting Genesis 1:1 and the first catechism question: "(Q) Who made you? (A) God made me." Dylan seemed to enjoy it, though an hour later, when I asked him, "Dylan, who made you?" He answered, "I made me." This is going to take a lot of patience and repetition. :)


The resource our family is using is called the Truth and Grace Memory Book, published by Founders Press. There are three books in the series altogether: Book 1 is for two-year olds through fourth graders; Book 2 is for fifth through eighth graders; Book 3 is for ninth through twelfth graders. Each book involves three areas of memorization: Scripture verses, hymns, and catechism questions.

For many of us, "catechism" is a completely foreign concept. So in his introduction, Tom Ascol explains,
The phrase 'Baptist catechism" may sound strange to many contemporary Baptists. Some may even consider it to be a contradiction of terms. The truth of the matter, however, is that 'catechism' is not a Roman Catholic or Lutheran or Presbyterian word. Rather, it is the anglicized version of the Greek word, katekeo, which simply means 'to instruct.' It appears, in various forms, several times in the Greek New Testament (it is translated as 'instructed' in Luke 1:4 and Acts 18:25).

Obviously, then, anyone who has been instructed has in some sense been 'catechized.' But the word came to refer to a specific type of instruction early in church history. In the early church new Christians were taught the essentials of the faith by learning how to answer specific questions. Certain catechetical questions were grouped together and came to be referred to simply as a 'catechism.'

...By learning a whole, well-constructed catechism a child (or adult for that matter) will be introduced to the overall biblical scheme of salvation. Such discipline will frame the mind for receiving and understanding every part of the Bible. A good catechism helps one to read the Bible theologically. (pp. iv-v)
Our family is just getting started, but I'm very excited about doing this together as a family in the coming years. I believe it will be an important part of raising our children in the "discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4), and will benefit Natalie and I in our own knowledge of God's Word.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Church

I was blown away by the opening sentence in Chapter 7 of The Courage to Be Protestant. David Wells begins, "What someone thinks about the church tells us exactly what that person is thinking about Christianity." Whoa. Is that true?

Wells is talking about the methods and programs and styles and philosophies of church ministry. But as I read that first statement, I was reminded of the many people who have become disillusioned with the church altogether. Many people have at some point been suffocated by a legalistic church, or felt betrayed by scandal in leadership, or been angered by the constant infighting. Many people have grown busy and tired and just decide to stay home on Sundays. Is it really true that their low view of the church is reflective of a low view of Christianity? Yes, to a large degree, I believe it is. And Wells explains why.

What happens in the churches "tells us how people are thinking about God, how they are relating themselves to the truth of his Word, how they see the world, how they think about human corruption - or if they think about it all all - how they think about the gospel, how they think about the poor and dispossessed, their own generation, affluence, and many other things besides" (p. 209). All of these, says Wells, are evident by how we think about and treat the church.

I think nearly everyone would agree that the church is in bad shape today. It seems like there is more scandal, more compromise, more corruption, and more division, while at the same time, there are fewer attending, fewer being baptized, fewer giving, and fewer serving. Our "public approval ratings" are dismal.
From a strictly human perspective, it seems the church is sinking faster than the Titanic. But what is the remedy to all of this? Wells says there are two ways to "rethink" the church. We can either rethink its nature, or rethink its performance.

Many people wrongly devote themselves to rethinking the performance aspect of church ministry. In a desire to help the church become more successful, marketers pour their energy into new business models, new technologies, new marketing techniques, and new polling data that will lend insight into doing church. Emergents, meanwhile, dabble more in the mystical, flirt more with the immoral, and celebrate more what is uncertain.

What we really need to be doing, Wells says, is rethinking the nature of the church. We need to reverse the "middling standard" of letting theology shrink to its lowest common denominator (p. 210). We need to distance ourselves from the worldly elements of the culture (p. 224). We need to restore the centrality of God's Word in our doctrine and preaching (p. 226), reinstate the proper administration of the sacraments (p. 233), and return to the biblical practice of church discipline (p. 237). These are the distinctives of the Protestant Reformation, and they are still worth defending today.

The wonderful reality of church growth is that humans are not responsible for it. God is. "The church is his creation and only he can grow it. He gives it its qualitative growth inwardly, in terms of character and obedience, and its quantitative growth outwardly in terms of numerical expansion" (p. 243). This is a truly liberating thought! It means that pastors and denominational leaders are not responsible for reinventing the church in order to make it more successful.

What God calls us to do is to think more biblically about the nature of the church, and to let that understanding shape our strategies and methods. The church should be humble. It should be loving. It should be emotional. It should be relevant. But all of this should be governed by a robust biblical theology about the true nature of the church. And this will take courage -- the courage to be Protestant.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Monday night at Resolved

Below is a touching letter from Randy Alcorn to John Piper and C.J. Mahaney regarding the Monday night session of Resolved. I, too, was deeply moved to tears, especially during Mahaney's unforgettable sermon and the worship that immediately followed it. You can download the audio to some or all of the sessions for free at the Resolved website.
CJ and John,

I wanted to send this to the two of you in gratitude (mostly to God, secondarily to you) in particular for the final night of Resolved. I have been moved to tears and deep worship many times, but not in recent memory to the extent that I was Monday night.

Mark 15 and CJ’s “scream of the damned…for us” touched me at a profound level. The Holy Spirit spoke. And though I prayed and knew that John’s message would beautifully end the conference, I was not prepared for the way it happened.

I have never seen, orchestrated or unorchestrated (in this case orchestrated by the Holy Spirit), one single seamless message spoken by two men with nearly an hour between the end of one and the beginning of the other. I stood that night on sacred ground, as did you.

Yesterday early afternoon, in the Palm Springs airport, I opened to Mark 15 and wept again. I then did something I have done only twice before, once on the day my 85-year-old father, in a hospital bed, repented of his sin and surrendered to Christ. The other time when my best friend from childhood died next to me as I was reading to him Revelation 21-22, leaving this world precisely when I was reading 22:17: “The Spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

What I did on those occasions was write a date in my Bible: Feb. 9, 1992 at my Father’s conversion, and October 8, 1992 at my friend Jerry’s home-going between “Come!” and “take the free gift of the water of life.” The date is still there beside the verse I was reading when he died.

Without thinking about this, yesterday at the airport I wrote next to Mark 15:34, “June 16, 2008.” Then something else happened. I wrote after the date, “The Scream of the…” And I suddenly stopped, overwhelmed, breathless, pen frozen in hand. Why? Because I suddenly realized I needed to capitalize the word “Damned.” It was physically hard for me to do it. It seemed almost blasphemous…and so it should.

The unrighteous damned have no right to ask God why He has forsaken them (the reasons are self-evident to all who understand His holiness and our sin), but God’s Son the Beloved One had the right to ask, even knowing the answer and having participated in eternity past in the damning decision. He is the Lamb damned before the foundation of the world. So while the (lower case) damned will scream forever, ultimately there is only one Scream of the (upper case) Damned. Unthinkable. Inconceivable. And yet it happened…for us.

A flood of tears came as God preached the message to me yet again. That Deity would be Damned. That the God who is called upon righteously by the saints and angels in heaven to damn people, and called upon habitually by unbelievers flippantly and unrighteously to damn people, would in fact damn his Son, would (from the Son’s willingness to drink the cup) damn himself…for us. That it could be said of the Beloved One, “God damned Him,” and that He screamed the scream of the Damned….it was too much for me. It is too much for me this moment. And in the ages to come it will continue to be too much for me.

The cup of His suffering has long seemed deep to me, but never deeper than Monday night and the two days since.

Thank you, brothers, for being cleansed vessels, usable for eternal purposes. It was not only 3300 students whose hearts were marked for eternity Monday night. It was mine. You are not celebrities to me, but you are my mentors, in more ways that I can express. Thank you.

And thank you, Lord, for these two men, who you used as one on Monday night—guard their hearts and empower them to finish well, bowing their knees to you moment by moment, day by day.

And thanks forever to the One who screamed the scream of the Damned…and whose praises we will sing for all eternity.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Grateful to be eternally undamned by the Damned,

Randy Alcorn
(HT: Justin Taylor)

Monday, July 7, 2008

June pictures

Ice cream cones...Heidi teething...Dylan potty training; a baby shower for Ashley Robinson and baby Myles...the Acoma brush fire. These are some of our memories from last month...

Friday, July 4, 2008

Christ

Happy Independence Day!

This week we come to chapter six in The Courage to Be Protestant. I thought this chapter was outstanding. This is David Wells at his best, brimming with fresh cultural insights and exalting the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This chapter alone is worth the cost of the book.

Early in the chapter, Wells shares some very interesting statistics. In America, "78 percent of people say they are spiritual. [But] When solving life's dilemmas, 56 percent say they are more likely to rely on themselves than on an outside power like the God of the Bible. And 40 percent claim specifically to be spiritual but not religious...There clearly has been a surge in spiritual appetite that is either hostile to religion or, at least, has lost confidence in institutionalized religion" (p. 179).

Haven't you noticed this? People seem increasingly fascinated by spiritual things. Prayer and meditation are now respectable activities. Faith is a central topic in this presidential election. More and more spiritual books are hitting the New York Times bestseller list. Even Jesus has become "cool" in the eyes of pop culture. Yet at the same time, many churches and denominations are languishing.

What's going on here? Why is there a turning away from the church and organized religion? And what's the difference between calling yourself "spiritual" versus "religious"? Wells explains there are two basic families of "spirituality" in life - two options in how our spiritual beliefs are shaped.

The first kind of spirituality is "from below." It involves the sinner reaching upward (or inward) for spiritual meaning. It starts in human consciousness and tries to reach above to make connections into the divine. It is self-initiated and self-sufficient. And it is pagan. Today, this spirituality "from below" involves "a private search for meaning, a search for connection to something larger than the self. It is in fact a self-constructed spirituality" (p. 179).
It's 'truth' is private, not public. It is individualistic, not absolute. It is about what I perceive, about what works for me, not about what anyone else should believe. And this 'truth' is verified psychologically and therapeutically. The test of its truthfulness is simply pragmatic. Those who are on this spiritual journey - and that is the most popular metaphor - have no destination in mind...There are no doctrines to be believed, no rules to be obeyed, and no practices to be followed. There is no worldview to which seekers must commit themselves. Nothing is fixed in eternity or by eternity, but all is in motion, everything is provisional, all is subject to ongoing experimental confirmation, all is adaptable to our internal needs (pp. 183-84).
The alternative (and correct) kind of spirituality is "from above." It is initiated from above and moves downward. It sees God reaching down in grace to communicate with and save sinners. For we must recognize that "God hides himself from us, that he cannot be had on our terms, and that he cannot be accessed from 'below' through natural revelation" (p. 190). The fullest expression of this spirituality "from above" is found in Jesus Christ, who emptied himself of divine glory, took the form of a man, came down to earth, obeyed God's law, inaugurated a new kingdom, died for our sins, was raised up, and has returned to heaven.

Wells concludes,
"The only future there actually is, is the one established by God in Christ, the one wrought in time at the cross that alone reached into eternity. But we must receive entry into this future. This is not our self-constructed future. It is God's. It comes from above, not from below...Only in this new order can be found meaning, hope, and acceptance with God. It was truth, not private spirituality, that apostolic Christianity was about. It was Christ, not the self, who offered access into the sacred. it was Christ, with all his painful demands of obedience, not comfortable country clubs, that early Christianity was about...Images we may want, entertainment we may desire, but it is the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen that is the church's truth to tell" (p. 207).
We are approaching the end of this book; there's only one more chapter to go. The final chapter is on the church, and I expect Wells will take us full-circle to show how marketers, emergents, and classic evangelicals must show the courage to speak and live the Protestant truth in this postmodern age.

Please leave a comment on chapter six below. No, really, PLEASE leave a comment. This is supposed to be a book club, but I'm hardly getting any comments out there! :) I really do enjoy your input.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Is Obama a Christian?

Let me say up front that being a Christian is not the sole consideration when electing a person to public office. One could be a very strong Christian yet make a very bad president. On the other hand, one could feasibly be a non-Christian and still make a pretty good president. This post is not meant to be an endorsement for or against Barack Obama. It's simply a reporting of the facts.

Right now in this country, we have one of the two major presidential candidates making huge efforts to paint himself as an evangelical Christian. But his understanding of the gospel would suggest the contrary.
Obama says "I believe there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people." He has also allegedly said, "all people of faith -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, everyone -- know the same God" (Read the whole article here).

Obama is between a rock and a hard place. He's trying hard to win over votes from the religious right, while remaining policitally expedient and creating an image of "tolerance" in an increasingly pluralistic society.

Please do not be confused about the gospel. If a person denies the unique person and work of Jesus Christ, he cannot be a Christian. Jesus demands our total, undivided trust and allegiance.

John 5:23 He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

1 John 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The need for godly men

Here's an excellent article on the need for godly men in church ministry. The pastor does not have the influence, the time, the wisdom, or the authority to lead the flock of God alone. He desperately needs godly men of courage and biblical fortitude to stand with him. This is not to undermine the importance of godly women in church (1 Tim. 2:9-12; 5:3-16; Titus 2:3-5), but let's be honest - God has uniquely appointed men to lead His church.

As Andy Davis says, pastors need "to surround themselves with a group of strong, biblically-astute godly men, to stand with them in the ongoing task of local church reformation...May it please God to raise up scores of modern-day Martin Luthers in local congregations, men with backbones of steel, lion hearts for biblical truth and the tenderness of good shepherds leading lambs. "

Pastors, have you identified, and are you training such men?

Men who are not pastors, are you willing to become this kind of man, who will stand boldly for the truth and help lead God's church? Your help is needed.

New Blog

Today I'm closing up shop and launching a new blog called Pinch of Clay. You can visit it by clicking here . Please stop by and...