Rocky Balboa

I can count the number of movies I see in a year on one hand, but I saw Rocky Balboa tonight, and I really liked it.

While the fight scenes were well done, I especially enjoyed the character development, particularly Rocky's relationships with Paulie and his son. I will probably buy this movie because of the speech he gives to his son.

It had some funny and corny moments and it does not have a lot of the show and pizazz that most films do. It is a clean and simple movie, and overall it was very good because of its solid themes about friendship, family loyalty, struggling with loss, helping the less fortunate, the value of humility, finishing unfinished business, honoring our elders, and personal responsibility--just to name a few.

Finally, notice where Rocky is pointing in the picture above. It is not overtly Christian, but the undertones are there with clear Christian themes, as well as a paraphrase of Zechariah 4:6 before he goes out to fight. His fighting career begins and ends with Jesus (on the mural in Rocky and in name before the fight here) as Rocky is a Christ-figure according to Sylvester Stallone himself (I wonder if there's anything to the parallelism of both "Jesus Christ" and "Rocky Balboa" having 5 letters and than 6?).

In the end, I thought it was a fitting conclusion to the Rocky character, something that was really needed for such an epic film icon (especially after Rocky V). If you get a couple hours (1:42 to be exact) I highly recommend it.

Describing Temptation

Listen to this brilliant description of how temptation takes a Christian captive (with the help of unbelieving friends) from Augustine's Confessions. I give you the entry in its entirety here. It is from book 6, and it is worth taking the 2 minutes to read and another 10 at least to meditate on and apply to your own sin matrix.

He is in the middle of describing a friend of his when he writes...

He had gone on to Rome before me to study law—which was the worldly way which his parents were forever urging him to pursue—and there he was carried away again with an incredible passion for the gladiatorial shows. For, although he had been utterly opposed to such spectacles and detested them, one day he met by chance a company of his acquaintances and fellow students returning from dinner; and, with a friendly violence, they drew him, resisting and objecting vehemently, into the amphitheater, on a day of those cruel and murderous shows. He protested to them: "Though you drag my body to that place and set me down there, you cannot force me to give my mind or lend my eyes to these shows. Thus I will be absent while present, and so overcome both you and them." When they heard this, they dragged him on in, probably interested to see whether he could do as he said. When they got to the arena, and had taken what seats they could get, the whole place became a tumult of inhuman frenzy. But Alypius kept his eyes closed and forbade his mind to roam abroad after such wickedness. Would that he had shut his ears also! For when one of the combatants fell in the fight, a mighty cry from the whole audience stirred him so strongly that, overcome by curiosity and still prepared (as he thought) to despise and rise superior to it no matter what it was, he opened his eyes and was struck with a deeper wound in his soul than the victim whom he desired to see had been in his body. Thus he fell more miserably than the one whose fall had raised that mighty clamor which had entered through his ears and unlocked his eyes to make way for the wounding and beating down of his soul, which was more audacious than truly valiant—also it was weaker because it presumed on its own strength when it ought to have depended on You. For, as soon as he saw the blood, he drank in with it a savage temper, and he did not turn away, but fixed his eyes on the bloody pastime, unwittingly drinking in the madness—delighted with the wicked contest and drunk with blood lust. He was now no longer the same man who came in, but was one of the mob he came into, a true companion of those who had brought him thither. Why need I say more? He looked, he shouted, he was excited, and he took away with him the madness that would stimulate him to come again: not only with those who first enticed him, but even without them; indeed, dragging in others besides. And yet from all this, with a most powerful and most merciful hand, You plucked him and taught him not to rest his confidence in himself but in You—but not till long after.

Augustine has an uncanny ability to diagnose the methods sin uses to deceive us. What a blessing he is for all who'll read and meditate on what he says!

Lesson: NEVER trust in your own ability to beat sin. The moment you do, not only to do you commit the sin of pride, but you set yourself up to further commit the sin you think you can beat without the Spirit's power.

Warnings to Pastors (Ezek 2, 3, 13)

If you are a Christian it is important you read this post, but if you're pastor or if you're close to your pastor, PLEASE take a moment to read these critical passages from Ezekiel.

There are large movements within Christianity today that need to take God's message through this little-read prophet VERY seriously because He makes scathing indictments of ministry philosophies and strategies that are very popular today.

Ezekiel 2:6-7 "And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious."

Priority #1 for your pastor is to preach and teach God's Word (cf. 2 Tim 4:1-5) regardless of the results ("whether they listen or not") because lack of response to God's Word does not mean we need to "do church" differently, but it means rebellion marks the people.

Ezekiel 3:17-19 "Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. When I say to the wicked, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself."

God will judge you for keeping God's warnings of judgment from people. Being "encouraging" with a "positive message" at the expense of warning people with God's Word about their sin, in the end, is a totally discouraging, unloving, disheartening and negative message because being silent or speaking a peace God does not give is fake and it keeps God's message of rescue from them, and therefore, from you.

And, not talking about sin robs the Father of the glory He deserves for planning our salvation, it robs Jesus of the glory He deserves for defeating sin, death and hell on the Cross, and it robs the Spirit of the glory He deserves for His work of opening the eyes of sinners to their sin and need for a Savior.

Ezekiel 13:3, 6-8, 10 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. ... They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, "The LORD declares," when the LORD has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, "The LORD declares," but it is not I who have spoken?' Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,' declares the Lord GOD. ... It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, "Peace!" when there is no peace.'"

Don't get caught up with the references to visions and divination. The point here is they're saying "God says" when He never did for the purpose of making the people feel good with messages of "Peace" when there really is no peace for them. In other words, God does not support liars who say He says things He never did.

Regardless of the results, God is against you if you preach ANYTHING other than God's Word. If results were the measure of success, Joel Osteen (the supposed most successful pastor in the US who Larry King wondered may be the successor to Billy Graham [read transcript here]) is woefully unsuccessful compared to Roman Catholicism, Islam and Mormonism who God must be blessing because their results are so spectacular.

Bottom line: Preach God's Word, convenient or inconvenient, because you will "incur a stricter judgment" (James 3:1) as a pastor. Live and serve with the results of your judgment in mind.

Barna's 12 Most Important 2006 Findings

The Barna Group has listed what they think are their 12 Most Significant Religious Findings from their 2006 Surveys. Among them are the following:

1. Three out of every four teenagers have engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity, but during the past year fewer than three out of every ten churched teenagers had received any teaching from their church about elements of the supernatural. Click here to read the entire article.

2. The notion of personal holiness has slipped out of the consciousness of the vast majority of Christians. Click here to read the entire article.

3. (I've seen this next one first hand for almost a decade) Most Americans have a period of time during their teen years when they are actively engaged in a church youth group, but most of them disengage from organized religion during their twenties. Click here to read the entire article.

4. Relatively few people – just one out of every six – believe that spiritual maturity is meant to be developed within the context of a local church or within the context of a community of faith. Click here to read the entire article.

5. (And, my personal favorite) Five of the highest-profile Christian leaders – Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, James Dobson, Tim LaHaye & T.D. Jakes – were unknown to a majority of the population, and to most Christians too. Click here to read the entire uplifting article.

What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?

If you haven't seen read this yet, please take a few minutes to read this short meditation on the question What Would Not Be If Jesus Had Not Been Born? here.

Before I go to bed tonight, I think I'll spend a few minutes meditating on this question in my journal. If you have any you'd like to add, please take a second to leave it in a comment below.

Merry Christmas!

Heaven: "Let me in. I can cook."

I had a brief conversation with a friend last night who cooks at the local Denny's. He knows my friend Chris and I meet there once a week to talk about the Bible and the book we're reading together, The Enemy Within by Kris Lundgaard.

He made a comment about God's anger at evil not happening right now to which I responded "There will come a day when it happens though." I bring this conversation up because of what he said next.

"Yeah, well I'm going to be right next to the pearly gates saying 'Hey, let me in. I can cook," he said. "God will say, 'Yeah, and he's kind of funny. Come on in.'" After saying this he made some further comments about God having a sense of humor and went back to cooking.

Now, I have no problem with God having a sense of humor (cf. Psalm 2:4, 37:13), but I want to focus on his comments. What do they imply? What thought patterns lie behind his words?

At the risk of reading too much into it, it seems to me that his ability to cook and his sense of humor were used as reasons why God will let him into heaven. He has something to offer God. He can cook for heaven. He can make it a happier place. These skills make him valuable, a prime commodity in a heaven that's lacking those things.

That begs another question, namely, what keeps a person out of heaven? Is it a lack of some skill or personality trait that God pours His wrath on? Will heaven need funny people to make it happier? Will cooks be needed there?

Getting into heaven for him is about what he can offer to God (good food and jokes), not about what Jesus offered to God (a perfectly holy, sinless sacrifice in place of our sin).

In the end, he is trusting his own abilities and charisma (and I'd suspect his own goodness) rather than the person and work of Jesus Christ to rescue him from God's wrath.

He walked with us out to our cars and left by saying "Hey, you guys say a prayer for me alright, and I'll say one for you too." Yes Aaron, we'll pray for you, but now we have a clearer picture what to pray for you.

Amazing Grace: The Movie

The story of William Wilberforce, the great English parliament member who lead the fight the eventually ended slavery in the British Isles, is coming to theaters this February thanks to the people at Bristol Bay Productions.

Learn more by listening to Piper's biography on him here, and watch the preview (in the lower right hand corner) here.

The Dilemma of Santa

For many people, telling their children the "lie" about the existence and benevolence of Santa Claus is a real dilemma. At this point, if I had kids I don't think I'd start the whole Santa thing, but I'm open to being persuaded otherwise.

However, one of those who takes an opposite view, which he outlines and defends here, is radio talk show host Dennis Prager.

Now, even though I'm not convinced by his arguments (and maybe I'll spend some time blogging about what I think later), that's not why I bring this up. While listening to part of his show this morning a caller made the following observation that he called the Four Stages of Santa:

Stage #1: I believe in Santa.
Stage #2: I don't believe in Santa.
Stage #3: I am Santa.
Stage #4: I'm fat like Santa.

Commentaries: A Great Christmas Gift

With Christmas approaching, I thought I'd reprint this post about the best commentaries on all 27 New Testament books.

These would be wonderful gift ideas for all the pastors in your life. Also, in the October 2006 archives in the sidebar below I blogged twice on the best OT commentaries too. Enjoy, and happy shopping.

***

While reading 5-10 books that survey and recommend NT commentaries (among these 5-10 are books by D.A. Carson, Doug Moo, James Rosscup, John Glynn and Cyril Barber), I wanted to know which were the overall highest recommended. So, I gave each commentary a score based on how the surveyer liked/rated it.

After tallying up the scores this is a summary of the results (Note: The titles given for the commentary are either full names with the series in parenthesis, or there is enough info to find it at a bookfinder.com or christianbook.com type of website):

Matthew
1. Broadus, John. Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew.
2. Carson, D.A. Matthew (in Expositor's Bible series).

Mark
1. Cranfield, C.E.B. The Gospel according to St. Mark
2. Lane, William. The Gospel of Mark (NICNT)
3. Hiebert, D.E. The Gospel of Mark

Luke
1. Marshall, I.H. The Gospel of Luke (NIGTC)
2. Plummer, Alfred. A Critical and Exegetical...Luke (ICC)

John
1a. Brown, Raymond. The Gospel According to John (AB)
1b. Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John (NICNT)
2. Barrett, C.K. The Gospel According to St. John

Acts
1. Bruce, F.F. The Book of Acts (NICNT)
2. Marshall, I.H. The Acts of the Apostles (TNTC)

Romans
1. Cranfield, C.E.B. Romans, 2 vols (ICC)
2. Murray, John. The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT)
3. Moo, Doug. The Epistle to the Romans (NICNT)

1 Corinthians
1. Robertson & Plummer. A Critical...Corinthians (ICC)
2a. Fee, Gordon. The First Epistle to the Corinthians (NICNT)
2b. Barrett, C.K. The First Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC)

2 Corinthians
1. Hughes, Phillip. Commentary on the Second...Corinthians (NICNT)
2a. Martin, Ralph. 2 Corinthians (WBC)
2b. Barrett, C.K. The Second Epistle to the Corinthians (BNTC)

Galatians
1a. Bruce, F.F. A Commentary on...Galatians (NIGTC)
1b. Burton, Ernest. A Critical and Exegetical...Galatians (ICC)
2. Lightfoot, Joseph. The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians.

Ephesians
1. Hoehner, Harold. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary
2. O'Brien, Peter. The Letter to the Ephesians (PNTC)
3. Lincoln, Andrew. Ephesians (WBC)

Philippians
1a. Hawthorne, Gerald. Philippians (WBC).
1b. Lightfoot, Joseph. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians.
2. O'Brien, Peter. The Epistle to the Philippians (NIGTC)

Colossians & Philemon
1. O'Brien, Peter. Colossians, Philemon (WBC).
2. Bruce, F.F. The Epistles to the Colossians...Ephesians (NICNT)
3. Lightfoot, Joseph. St. Paul’s Epistles...Colossians...Philemon.

1 & 2 Thessalonians
1. Bruce, F.F. 1 and 2 Thessalonians (WBC)
2a. Hiebert, D.E. 1 & 2 Thessalonians
2b. Best, Ernst. A Commentary on...Thessalonians (BNTC)

1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus
1. Kelly, J.N.D. The Pastoral Epistles (BNTC)
2a. Mounce, William. The Pastoral Epistles (WBC)
2b. Knight, George. The Pastoral Epistles (NIGTC)

Hebrews
1. Bruce, F.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews (NICNT)
2. Westcott, B.F. The Epistle to the Hebrews
3. Hughes, Philip. A Commentary on...Hebrews (NICNT?)

James
1. Davids, Peter. The Epistle of James (NIGTC)
2. Mayor, Joseph. The Epistle of James.

1 Peter
1. Selwyn, Edward. First Epistle of St. Peter.
2. Kelly, J.N.D. A Commentary on ... of Peter and Jude (BNTC)

2 Peter & Jude
1. Bauckham, Richard. Jude, 2 Peter (WBC)
2. Green, Edward. Second Epistle...Jude (TNTC)
3. Mayor, Joseph. The Epistle of St. Jude and...Peter.

1-3 John
1. Stott, John. The Epistles of John (TNTC).
2. Smalley, Stephen. 1, 2, 3 John (WBC)

Revelation
1. Walvoord, John. The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
2. Beale, G.K. The Book of Revelation (NIGTC)
3a. Swete, H.B. The Apocalypse of St. John.
3b. Thomas, Robert. Revelation, 2 vols (WEC)

Let me know if you have questions, comments, disagreements, or want further details.

Rick Warren on FOX NEWS

Did you hear? Saddleback's Christmas Eve service is being telecast on FOX NEWS and the Armed Forces Network this Christmas Eve. Click here to see the story for yourself.

I remember attending the Saddleback's Pastor's Conference in 1999, after going to the church on a twice-weekly basis for most of 1998. While there, Pastor Rick said he never became a radio preacher because he didn't want to become a celebrity.

Now, I'm wondering, has he gone back on that desire to shun celebrity, or is he rethinking celebrity for some "greater good"? I'm honestly asking. What do you think?

Good Christian Publishers

In my opinion, Crossway publishers is doing some of the best work in Christian publishing today. Click below for a list of their...

New Releases, and

Coming Soon books.

There are a lot of Christmas gifts in that first list, and some help for Christmas 2007 in the second.

Also, the Banner of Truth Trust is also doing excellent work. Click here to see for yourself.

Helpful Video Clips

I found these on the InterVarsity website. They're advertisements for IVP books, but these two are quite informative.

For help with evangelistic conversations, click here.

Also, insights about evangelism, listen to the beginning of the Veritas forum by clicking here.

These videos make me, at least, want to read these books.

Sovereign Grace Orange County

Please click here to read about an exciting new church starting in Orange County, California.

In the face of the shallow gospel and shallow churches that sadly mark Southern California Christianity, this will--by God's grace--be a truly counter-cultural expression of God-glorifying, gospel-driven ministry that produces an authentic, Jesus-worshiping community that moves outside of itself to reach the lost.

I am so excited about this. Please pray for us as we move forward. Thank you.

Graduating College at 100

Click here to read the heart-warming story of Marvin L. “Hub” Northen, the 100 year old Baylor University graduate.

I am impressed with Baylor for rewarding someone who put family before career. They recognized something very noble about that decision.

Yet, if a woman made the same decision, would their professors consider that noble and praiseworthy, or misogynistic and repressive? Just wondering.

Grandpa Update

***UPDATE***

Yesterday, my grandpa received his biopsy information.

One lobe of his liver has cancer, and 31 of 32 lymph nodes tested positive for cancer.

He did not take that news very well. On top of that, he's now down to 160. He hasn't been that weight since high school over 60 years ago.

Please keep praying. Even say a quick pray for him right now. Thanks.

***

My grandpa Hoover goes to the doctor tomorrow to hear about the next step in his fight against his cancer. I think we will find out about the biopsy of his liver, and the condition of his gall bladder and pancreas.

Please pray for his newfound trust in Christ, and that he'll be emboldened to fight, whatever the news, rather than discouraged and ready to give up.

I truly believe this fight is mental and spiritual just as much as it is physical. Trust in God, support from his family and from all of you who are praying means a tremendous amount.

Having a strong support system, I'm beginning to think, is almost if not just as important as having a strong immune system in one's fight against cancer so thank you for being that for him and us.

One Punk Under God

Jay Bakker (with wife Amanda above), the son of the disgraced Jim and Tammy Faye Baker of PTL fame, is starring in a new reality show called One Punk Under God on the Sundance Channel.

It is described on one site as a documentary "that takes an all-access look inside the life of Jay Bakker and his Revolution ministry in Atlanta, as he faces the struggles of putting together a new generation of Christian punk rockers."

After what he's gone through, it's amazing he wants anything to do with God or ministry. Also, I thank God for ministries to all kinds of people, especially those that don't "fit" into a "normal" church culture (I might add, their not "fitting in" says more about the church than it does them).

However, from the little I've read about Jay, I'm concerned that he may be compromising the gospel message in order to reach them. This is a bad strategy because it cuts you off from relevance with God in order to be relevant with people, even while a person may be able to point to some measure of visible success.

***

UPDATE: My friend Al told me that you can download the first episode on iTunes for free. He also told me that I'll be more disappointed than encouraged by the program as a widely-read Christian blogger, Tim Challies (http://www.challies.com/), has seen and blogged unfavorably on the show.

***

UPDATE: I just tried to download the show for free at iTunes and they're charging $2 for it now. Oh well.

Oneness Pentecostals & Personal Holiness

Aside from the previously mentioned heresies, Oneness Pentecostals also have distinctive beliefs about personal holiness.

For instance, all forms of worldly entertainment, including secular music, movies, TV shows, sports are strictly forbidden along with smoking, drinking, dancing and mixed bathing.

Former OP, Gregory Boyd recalls being told by his UPCI pastor that “anyone ‘caught’ in a bowling alley when the Lord returned would be left behind” (Gregory A. Boyd, Oneness Pentecostals and the Trinity [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1992] 217).

On top of that, it is considered ungodly for women to wear any kind of makeup, jewelry or pants, and to ever cut or dye their hair. Therefore, in most United Pentecostal Church International (the largest oneness denomination) churches, women must wear their uncut hair in buns and in many southern UPCI churches, women wearing long-sleeved shirts or blouses or any bright colored clothes in general are sinning.

Aside from these rules, individual congregations are known to develop their own rules for their parishioners.

Often times, a person's pastor will need to be consulted and even asked permission to do certain things, like whether or not he or she can move and what kind of sexual activity married couples can have.

In the end, the overarching principle behind these standards is, “If the sinner has to forsake sin in order to be saved, the Christian must live free from sin in order to stay saved…. Salvation is maintaining fellowship with Jesus Christ, and when that fellowship is broken there is no salvation” (Boyd 215 quoting a Oneness tract entitled Why?).

Another Gay Pastor Scandal

Click here to read an article about another pastor stepping down because of homosexual affairs, Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Colorado.

I am conflicted between sadness and anger, going back and forth from "How could you dishonor God, your wife, your daughters, your church and your office like that?" to "Is that me without the grace of God?"

The most disturbing part of the article: "Barnes expressed hope for a future where one can 'be who you are' and be accepted and loved in the Christian community and also spoke about 'separating some of the teachings from Scripture' from Jesus Christ."

The "I want to be like that" part of the article: "Church elder Russ Pilcher said the reaction at services Sunday was largely concern for the couple. 'I thought, "Where did I fall short in making myself so unapproachable that he couldn't come to me?"' Pilcher said."

Influence & Cultural Awareness

After skimming the results of a Barna survey found here, I was intrigued by this line towards the end: "For ministers, awareness fosters influence on lives. A favorable image provides access to people’s minds and hearts more readily."

While I can understand this from a purely humanistic, naturalistic point of view, a pastor cannot and should never be concerned with awareness and influence. My pastor for the last four years, John MacArthur, always says "I worry about the depth of my ministry and the leave the breadth to God," and I agree wholeheartedly.

Barna goes on, "A favorable image provides access to people’s minds and hearts more readily"!?!

Does it? Really? I think God alone gives access to people's hearts and minds when His Spirit opens them to receive His Word. Until that happens, all the awareness and influence a person has counts for very little, if nothing.

In fact, I think the more awareness and influence are the goal for a pastor, the less true God-given influence he'll receive because it's easier for the world to pull a Christian down than for the Christian to pull the world up. In other words, worldliness and compromise are always the temptation when influence with the unredeemed world is the goal.

He then writes, "One of the reasons that the Christian faith is struggling to retain a toehold in people’s lives is because even the highest-profile leaders of the faith community have limited resonance with the population."

I think this articles suffers from a huge non-sequitur. It simply does not follow that limited resonance with the population leads to a struggling Christian faith, or that unlimited resonance with the population would mean the Christian faith would not be struggling. Tell that to Paul, the early church, the Albigenses, Waldensians, Bogomils, Anabaptists, etc.

I'd venture to say that one of the reasons "the Christian faith is struggling to retain a toehold in people’s lives" is because people are "accepting Jesus into their hearts" on a trial basis, to see if He does what the preacher promises--give them love, joy, peace, purpose, fix their marriage, their teens and their demanding boss.

Another reason is that "everybody talkin' about heaven ain't goin'" as my beloved professor Ron Wright used to say. Christianity won't keep even a toehold in a person who's already dominated by Satan while sitting in church.

In fact, I think he nails one of--if not THE--reason why the Christian faith is struggling in the next paragraph: "millions of Christians invest more of their mental energy in cultural literacy than in biblical literacy."

Until THIS trend turns around, we'll never have the kind of Spirit-given, God-glorifying, Christ-demonstrating influence that makes a dent in the kingdom of darkness.

Enough of my rant. What do you think?

The Gospel According to Bono

Michael Gershon, former assistant to the Bush White House, writes:

During my time in the White House, the most intense and urgent evangelical activism I saw did not come on the expected values issues—though abortion and the traditional family weren't ignored—but on genocide, global AIDS and human trafficking. The most common request I received was, "We need to meet with the president on Sudan"—not on gay marriage. This reflects a head-snapping generational change among evangelicals, from leaders like Falwell and Robertson to Rick Warren, focused on fighting poverty and AIDS in Africa, and Gary Haugen, confronting rape and sexual slavery in the developing world. Since leaving government, I've asked young evangelicals on campuses from Wheaton to Harvard who they view as their model of Christian activism. Their answer is nearly unanimous: Bono.

You can read the full article here.

My question is, Is this a good thing? Is it a good thing that Bono is the evangelical hero? Also, is he the hero only because he gets the press? Or, because he's cool?

My second question is, Was this inevitable? From my brief study of the last 100 years of church history in America the shift to the social gospel was the natural outgrowth of a shift from the gospel. This was the trend in the mainline denominations, and, right on schedule, evangelicalism is 50 to 100 years late.

I think the unwarranted dichotomy between doctrine/truth and feelings/experience and our obsession with comfort in this world has led to this shift, just like it did 100 years ago.

Now, don't get me wrong. We should address and advocate against AIDS in Africa, genocide, poverty, abortion, euthanasia, etc. However, I don't think we should do so at the expense of the gospel. This is a case of both-and, not either-or. There should be a marked difference between evangelical social concern and the Red Cross, and that difference should be the gospel.

In the end, there really is no such thing as a social gospel. The social gospel is a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all because food and clothing trumps and silences sin and the Cross.

There is no good news or love in feeding a hungry sinner while keeping the message of salvation from her. Though left with a full stomach, she still suffers from an empty soul.

Grandpa Update

The doctor told us this morning that my grandpa is doing so well that he's cleared to go home tomorrow.

This is great news, but he has a long way to go since he still has 20% of a tumor near his stomach and, most likely, cancer in his liver.

So, please continue to pray for him. Thank you.

<<< The Enemy Within >>>

Just in case you're interested, my friend and I are blogging through Kris Lundgaard's The Enemy Within here.

If you'd like to contribute to the discussion, email me at counterculture3@hotmail.com and I'll send you an invitation to join the blog.

Next, we'll either do C.J. Mahaney's The Cross-Centered Life or the Justin Taylor version of John Owen's Overcoming Sin & Temptation.

Grandpa Update

My grandpa is doing great!!!

After three hours Dr. Nguyen was able to remove 75% of his stomach and 80% of the tumor.

The other 20% of the tumor was near important veins and arteries, and so he could do nothing there. He also biopsied the liver and found a rice size legion on his gall bladder.

The doctor was very pleased with the surgery saying that he was able to do far more than he thought he was going to be able to do. His last words were "We did all we could do. The rest is in God's hands."

We got to see him around 3:30pm for the first time since leaving him around 9am. While he was quite tired, his spirits were good, his grip was very strong, his vitals were stable, and he was even talking and joking a little.

He has a long way to go to recover from open chest surgery. His stomach is painful, as well as the skin on his chest, but right now it's about letting him rest and get his strength back up.

The doctors expect he'll be at the hospital for a week to 10 days.

Thank you so much for your thoughts and prayers. My aunt is right when she said that God's good hands were all over yesterday's events.

Also, and most importantly, after talking about Christ to him on the way home Thursday night and on the way to the hospital Friday morning, my grandpa expressed his desire to repent of his sins and trust Jesus for salvation. There is a really great story here, but nevertheless, we prayed a simple prayer in his hospital room about 2 hours before the surgery.

I'm off to the hospital now, and plan on spending most of the day there. I don't want him to be alone in any of this. I told him yesterday that throughout my life he has been my biggest fan so now it's time for me to be his biggest fan.

Thank you again for your prayers. Please continue to do so for his recovery. The effects of your prayers were obvious in the weeks leading up to and during the surgery.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.