Mohler vs. Mormonism

Dr. Al Mohler debated Orson Scott Pratt (LDS author) on the subject Are Mormons Christians? here.

If you have a chance, you should also read the comments here. They are very interesting.

Church + Culture or Church vs. Culture?

Read this excellent 9Marks interview by one of my favorite authors, David Wells, on the evangelical church's infatuation with pop culture and the disastrous effects this has on the church as a whole.

Persecution in Uzbekistan

Read here about the Christians in Uzbekistan who are being "beaten, threatened, fined and imprisoned" by the Uzbeki government.

Attention vs. Achievements

Thomas Sowell writes a great article about how our culture exalts people who seek attention rather than those who achieve something.

What is a Healthy Church? by Dever

Last month I told you Dr. Mark Dever was coming out with this new book, What is a Healthy Church?

I read and blogged below about two of his other books since then (9 Marks of a Healthy Church and The Deliberate Church) and loved them both (truth be told, I like the second more than the first).

Now I wanted to let you know that it came out last week and that you can read the preface, introduction and first chapter here.

Are You Kidding Me?

This has got to be one of the craziest things I've ever seen (the only thing crazier, I think, is Shark Week on Discovery).

Check out the pictures of this guy frolicking with LIONS!!!

The Simpsons Teach Theology

Because the numbers of youth attending church has been declining for the last 5 years, the Church of England has enlisted the help of the Simpsons (click here for story) to stem the exodus. Now, Homer, Mo, Bart, Smithers and the rest of those godly theologians will be discipling teenagers in Britain.

This is my favorite line, said by the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, Dr. Rowan Williams, “For all that Homer is a slob and Bart is a brat and Lisa is a pain in the neck, you know there's real affection and loyalty.” How can they have real affection and loyalty!?! They're cartoons! They don't exist!

This is not surprising, coming from a man that just last week celebrated "diverse perspectives on God and diverse ways of making God's work real for each other" and said the Bible is not "supernaturally giving us guaranteed information about everything under the sun" (click here for more).

Sadly, the Church of England will soon find out that if they don't have dozens of editions of these materials flying off the presses, they'll probably have an initial surge, but it'll die just as quickly because you keep people with what you got them with. Next, maybe they'll have "Faith & the Family Guy" or "Mickey & The Messiah" or "Discipleship with the Stars."

When you've abandoned hard work (1 Cor 15:10; Col 1:29; 2 Tim 2:15), the authority, inerrancy and inspiration of the Bible (2 Tim 3:15-4:2; 2 Pet 1:19-21) and the sovereignty of God for growth (Acts 2:47; 1 Cor 3:6-7, 12:18), you will cling to any ploy, gimmick and fad, even the Simpsons as theologians, for guidance.

Jesus did not say "Homer will build My church," but that He would (Matt 16:18).

Dr. Craig on Dr. Dawkins' Delusion

If you have encountered the revival of atheism going on in the last few months and been disturbed here is a helpful refutation of one of the revival's leaders, Richard Dawkins, and his book The God Delusion by Dr. William Lane Craig.

All Books $5 at Desiringgod.com!!!!!

Desiring God Ministries is putting all of John Piper's books on sale here for $5 on June 27-28 only!

A New Kind of Missions Trip

I absolutely love what Brett Kunkle of Stand to Reason is doing with high school students, taking them to places like Berkeley, California and Salt Lake City, Utah on apologetic missions trips.

Read more about this exciting ministry here and a blog post from Brent here and another from a trip going on right now here.

The 49 New Testament One Anothers

Using biblegateway.com I just finished a quick study of the one another commands in the NASB New Testament and this is what I discovered:

If you leave out the four commands to greet one another with a holy kiss (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Pet 5:14) there are 49 one another commands in the NT.

The largest category of one anothers are the commands to love (John 13:34-35, 15:12, 17; Rom 12:10, 13:8; 1 Thess 3:12, 4:9; 2 Thess 1:3; 1 Pet 1:22, 4:8; 1 John 3:11, 4:7, 11-12; 2 John 5).

In second place are the commands to edify one another (Rom 14:19; 15:14; Eph 5:19; Col 3:16; 1 Thess 5:11; Heb 3:13, 10:24-25) and a chose third goes to the commands to unite with one another (Mark 9:50; Rom 12:16, 14:19, 15:5, 7; Phil 2:3; 1 Thess 5:13).

Finally, there are almost 20 of what I called miscellaneous one anothers because they could go in multiple categories. These include the commands to give preference to (Rom 12:10), care for (1 Cor 12:25), serve (Gal 5:13; 1 Pet 4:11), tolerate (Eph 4:2), be kind to (Eph 4:32), submit to (Eph 5:21), not lie to (Col 3:9), bear with (Col 3:13), comfort (1 Thess 4:18), not judge (Rom 14:13; 1 Thess 5:13), do good to (1 Thess 5:15), not slander (James 4:11), not complain about (James 5:9), confess sins to (James 5:16), be hospitable toward (1 Pet 4:10), be humble towards (1 Pet 5:5) one another.

I hope that serves you and is helpful. Do you obey and receive the benefits of these commands at your church? What would our churches be like if we actually sought to live them all out?

Exposition Gone Wild

This is an excellent article about sermons that pastors think are expositional, but really aren't.

An expositional sermon is one where the point of the biblical passage is the point of the sermon.

With that as the definition, read this article and see how exposition can go wrong.

David Powlison Articles @ 9Marks

I was searching around the 9Marks website and found this page where they have three articles by David Powlison on What is wrong with the therapeutic approach to counseling?, What Distinguishes Biblical Counseling from other Methods? and What Questions Does a Biblical Counselor Suggest We Ask?

What Is That Thing!?!

Elwood, a 2-year-old Chinese Crested and Chihuahua mix, was "crowned" the world's ugliest dog yesterday. Read more about him here if you want.

And if for some strange reason you just can't get enough of ugly dogs, click here.

96% of Americans Over 20 Have Had Sex

This is according to the Center for Disease Control and reported here.

The Deliberate Church by Dever & Alexander

The Deliberate Church is a self-conscious attempt to make some headway into the overblown "The ___________ Church" genre by teaching pastors how to build "the church on and around the Gospel of Christ" (21) with the goal of liberating "both leaders and members from the tyranny of popular growth models and church fads" (202).

In short, a deliberate church intentionally infuses absolutely everything it does with the Gospel! My goal here is to overview the book, and give some highlights.

On the first page of the introduction the authors write their thesis: "Ignoring God's plan for the church and replacing it with your own will ensure the eternal futility of your work" (25). Let that sink in! Along those same lines they write:

"Our power is not in having small groups, or meeting the felt needs of our target audience, or using the right evangelism program, or having funny skits, or providing plenteous parking, or targeting our ministries to postmoderns. Our power is in our unique message--the Gospel (27).

The introduction and conclusion alone are worth the retail price. Overall, the book is divided into four sections that help the reader deliberately apply the gospel to the growing of a church, the gathering of a church on Sunday, the choice of elders and the elders meetings.

The first section was a 75-page summary of Dever's 9 Marks of a Healthy Church; however, it was geared towards practically doing what was written as theory in 9 Marks.

My favorite parts were his understanding of the pastor's job--the 4 P's = expository Preaching, Praying, developing Personal discipling relationships, and being Patient (ch. 1)--his explanation and application of the gospel (43-5), what to avoid in evangelism (54-56) and his biblical case for and application of church membership (60-5). Remember, "God is happiest to entrust His flock to those shepherds who do things His way" (40) and "God's purposes for all of human history revolve around the local church as the visible, corporate manifestation of His Son" (72).

Section 2 (the longest in TCD) helps the corporate gathering of the church become Gospel-centered. They begin by arguing that God cares about how we worship (ch. 6); therefore, our Sundays should revolve around Reading, Preaching, Praying, Singing and Seeing (in baptism & the Lord's Supper) the Bible (81-6). In ch. 8 they argue the role of the pastor flows from a biblical understanding of what a church is to be and do, meaning the "most important and fundamental role of the pastor is to preaching the Gospel clearly" (89). There is also a lot of practical help here on staff meetings, the purpose of the weekly church services (ch. 9), baptism & communion (ch. 10), cultivating love in your church (ch. 11) and music (ch. 12).

My favorite part is his summary of pastoral ministry: The 3 G's = Graze (feed the people God's Word), Guide (lead God's people), Guard (protect God's people) (94-5) and their conclusion: "every element of the main weekly gathering should have positive warrant from Scripture.... This may seem constrictive...[but] it will actually liberate you from the tyranny of the latest innovation or the most popular fad" (126).

Section 3 is about choosing elders. He argues that the words elder, pastor, bishop, overseer all refer to the same office (cf. Acts 20:17-38, 1 Peter 5:1-2) and that there are only two church offices in the NT, elder and deacon (cf. Phil 1:1, 1 Tim 3:1-13). He argues persuasively for a plurality of elders (over against the Moses, single, solitary pastor model) (ch. 13). The rest of the section gives practical advice on how to choose elders biblically (character recognition before training), how to assess their ability and character (chs. 15-16), how to patiently transition a church into an elder-led model (ch. 17) and choose church staff (ch. 18).

Section 4 is a very practical section on structuring the Bible and prayer (ch. 19), the agenda (ch. 20), the decision-making process (ch. 21) and attitudes of elders meetings around the gospel. He gives good advice here on how to fill the time at a meeting (chs. 19-20), the senior pastor's role as a model of the Gospel in these meetings (185-6, 189-92), delegation of responsibilities, equipping the other elders (173-5), and determining the annual budget (186-7).

The book ends with summarizing a deliberate church as one that is Godward-looking (195-7) for growth and Outward-looking (197-202) to serve other people, other churches and other countries with the Gospel.

In conclusion, I loved The Deliberate Church! It was a little slow in places, but overall it is the most practical book on what a church and it's leadership is supposed to be and do that I've ever read! Though it is a bit repetitive if you've read 9 Marks and I do not agree with all it advocates, I highly recommend it and agree with R. Kent Hughes that this book "wafts a radical, refreshing breeze from the pages of Scripture that will breathe life into the church" (back cover).

Balthasar Hubmaier Encyclopedia Entry

I just found this entry on Dr. Hubmaier in an online edition of the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge. Check it out if you want to know more about him.

Bush Vetoes Democratic ESCR Bill

It is for reasons like this that voting is so critical.

Don't forget that when it come to embryonic stem cell research around the world there is NO scientific evidence that it will help anything, regardless of what Sen. Clinton says:

"This is just one example of how the president puts ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families, just one more example of how out of touch with reality he and his party have become," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., told the Take Back America conference of liberal activists Wednesday."

Call me crazy, but further funding projects that have offered NO evidence for success seems to me to be the definition of putting ideology before science, politics before the needs of our families and being out of touch with reality.

If you want to know more about the scientific reasons to further fund adult stem cell research without killing and dismembering embryonic human beings, click here.

Balthasar Hubmaier Biography

The biography of the man who's famous saying this blog is named after and who wrote that quote above begins:

"Balthasar Hubmaier was a participant in the Anabaptist wing of the Reformation for less than three years. Baptized in Waldshut [Germany] on Easter Saturday, April 15, 1525, he met his death at the stake in Vienna on March 10, 1528. In that limited time his writings and public activity gained him a well-earned reputation as the most learned and the most gifted communicator among the Anabaptists. He did not stand in the middle of the Anabaptist movement, but was without contest that most able theologian and the most visible among the leaders of those first years" (Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism, 15).

Ed Welch Blogging

I found out here that Ed Welch has been blogging at the Society for Christian Psychology website. All of his posts are together on one web page here.

Do You Struggle with Family Worship?

If you struggle with what to do for family worship time, here is a short and helpful article that gives some good advice by Don Whitney, the author of such excellent books as Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, How Can I Be Sure I'm a Christian, and 10 Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health.

Balthasar Hubmaier on V.e.I.

I found this book today at a sale (for 70% off retail by the way :) and hope to start incorporating the life and writings of the reformer who coined the phrase this blog gets it's name from.

In the preface the editors write:

"The choice of the title for tis book--Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism--does not intend to suggest that Hubmaier was the only theologian, or the normative theologian, of the Anabaptist movement...[but his] place in the first generation of the broad [Anabaptist] movement is unique. He is the only figure of his generation with university credentials, the only one with extensive public activity before joining the Reformation, the most skilled in popular expository writing" (13).

I hope you enjoy learning about this great, though oft neglected, reformer of the 16th century who some think would've been appreciated on the level of Luther and Calvin had he not been martyred.

Who was he, and why was he martyred? We'll look first at his biography.

9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever

Dr. Mark Dever's 9 Marks of a Healthy Church is must reading for 21st century pastors and lay leaders. It is an excellent book (however, if you look to the right, I still think the best book on the church is John MacArthur's The Master's Plan for the Church), which I read in less than 72 hours--not normal for me at all.

9 Marks gives its readers "a plan for recovering biblical preaching and church leadership at a time when too many congregations are languishing in a merely notional and nominal Christianity" because the "purpose of too many churches has fallen from one of glorifying God simply to growing larger, assuming that that goal, however achieved, must glorify God" (25). Because of this, Dr. Dever's goal is "to call attention to some important aspects of church life that have been overlooked or even forgotten in modern American Christian life" (148).

So, for churches who have glorifying God as their highest goal and health as their desired description, what are the 9 Marks Dr. Dever prescribes:

1. Expositional Preaching
2. Biblical Theology
3. The Gospel
4. A Biblical Understanding of Conversion
5. A Biblical Understanding of Evangelism
6. A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
7. Biblical Church Discipline
8. A Concern for Discipleship and Growth
9. Biblical Church Leadership

While reading the first five chapters, the one thought that kept coming to my mind was "Thank God for the seminary I went to (The Master's Seminary) because from day 1 and for all 4 years, these values were firmly and effectively hammered into our brains so that the first 5 chapters ended up being a very good review.

For instance, I could not agree more with Dr. Dever that "the main role of any pastor, is expositional preaching" (39), which is preaching that "takes for the point of the sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture" (40) and that if "you are looking for a good church, this is the most important thing to consider" (52). Oh that Christians would get this!

In his chapter on the gospel he has this great quote from J.C. Ryle which summarizes one of the worst problems in the American church: "There is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough--a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice--which costs nothing, and is worth nothing" (92). If your church produces this, run away fast.

I could not agree more with this assessment from his chapter on evangelism:

"We need to see an end to a wrong, shallow view of evangelism as simply getting people to say yes to a question, or to make a one-time decision. We need to seen an end to the bad fruit of false evangelism. We need to see an end to worldly people having assurance that they're saved just because they once took a stand, shook a hand, or repeated a prayer. ... We need to see the end of this debilitating, deadly coldness to the glorious call to tell the Good News. And we need to see a renewed commitment to, and joy in, the great privilege we have of sharing the Good News of Christ with the lost and dying world around us" (143-4).

The chapters I liked most were 6, 7 and 8 on church membership, church discipline and a healthy church's concern for discipleship and growth.

He convinced me in ch. 6 that church membership is biblical and therefore, absolutely essential for having and maintaining a healthy church. It should have a high commitment, and should be taught on and encouraged regularly. Membership is the environment where edification is supposed take place, which means it is a travesty that we can find so many "Christian books that talk about growing as a Christian but completely ignore the role of the church" (157).

Chapter 7 is an excellent and truly convincing explanation of and defense for church discipline. It should be done for the glory of God in obedience to Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17 with the attitudes of "humility and love, and want[ing] to see good come" (187) for the promotion of holiness, the health and witness of the church and the ultimate good of the person disciplined.

Finally, I will sum up Dr. Dever's excellent chapter on discipleship with "a healthy church is characterized by a serious concern for spiritual growth on the part of its members" because in "a healthy church, people want to get better a following Christ" (198). If you do not go to a church where this is a major goal of the people involved, find another one as fast as you can.

In the midst of all the chapters, the greatest strengths of this book come from Dr. Dever's insightful descriptions of modern American church life and his devastating critiques, which are made with equally insightful expositions and applications of Scripture. He does this over and over again throughout the book and it is masterful!

In the end, you cannot go wrong in reading this book (I do tend to disagree with his congregational form of church government thinking what Strauch presents in Biblical Eldership is more biblical), and I am convinced that if pastors dumped the church growth movement and joined the Church Health Movement as outlined in this book that they would be far better off on their day of judgment (James 3:1; Hebrews 13:7).

Pray for Dr. Harold O.J. Brown

I just found out here that one of my professors and a great man, Dr. Harold O.J. Brown, is quite ill with cancer and in need of healing and wisdom for what to do now.

Please pray for him and his sweet wife Grace.

Prayer & Modern Christians

In his excellent book, Above All Earthly Pow'rs, David Wells writes:

"In premodern societies, the sacred was a matter-of-fact part of life; in modern societies, God has been excluded from public life, pushed to the margins of relevance, and made to live out his life, as it were, underground and out of sight" (27).

I tend to point my finger at the our American culture and say "This your problem," but I've recently been thinking that this is a real problem in the American church.

The reason I say this is because of the American church's lack of prayer. We have our programs, our strategies, our books, our technology, our marketing, our training and hundreds of other things that most people in history and most people in the world do not have, and never will have.

So many of these things take care of so many of our problems that we don't pray, and lack of prayer demonstrates a lack of dependence on God, and a lack of dependence on God is pride.

The blessings of our modern world have led us to replace God with those blessings, and as a result, prayer meetings are empty and SELF-help books fill our shelves. I long for the day when God sends us a prayer revival, but I'm afraid of what it will take for that to happen.

Tensions Rise for Zimbabwe Christians

Click here to read a short article about three pastors who were arrested for distributing toys and candy to children.

Christians Tortured in Egypt

Here is an article about man seeking asylum in the U.S. because he would be tortured in Egypt for being a Christian.

The article is also interesting because of the history and statistics it gives on Egyptian persecution of Christians.

My Summer Ministry Trip to Ukraine

I deeply covet your prayers. I just spoke to my friend who invited me to come teach and preach this summer in Ukraine. I will be leaving July 19th and returning August 4th.

In the first week, I will be teaching 3 hours a day (two morning and one evening session) and fielding questions on the subjects the church and leadership. He told me to assume the people have no knowledge about what the church is supposed to be and do, and what leaders in the church are supposed to be and do.

During the second week, my friend and I will be sharing the teaching load at an evangelistic sports camp where dozens of kids come and hear the gospel. I will be sharing 10 sessions with him as we cover the Bible, God, Man, Christ and the Gospel.

I will also be preaching at a church both Sunday's that I'm there. Wow!!! Just in case you're not counting, that's almost 30 messages in two weeks. Thank God for His grace in giving me the chance to do this!

This is a unique opportunity to influence a Ukrainian church at foundational and formational levels. So, aside from your prayers--which again I covet deeply because I feel so scared and inadequate for this--any book and sermon recommendations will be very helpful as I continue to prepare prayerfully and educationally.

Series on Psalm 51

Paul Tripp is doing an excellent series of blog posts on Psalm 51.

NO Racial Divisions in the Church!!!

Please read this excellent exposition of Ephesians 2:11-22 by Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman, Thabiti Anyabwile.

I loved this part:

"And this passage promises far greater unity than we might imagine. It speaks directly to unity across racial and ethnic lines. This should make us zealous in our pursuit of multi-ethnic unity in the church. It tells us plainly that racism is completely incompatible with following Jesus. The two are oil and water, mutually exclusive. I wonder if the cross holds out far more power than we actually preach and emphasize."

Sustaining Spiritual Passion

Thank you to my friend Doug at Godward Thoughts blog for making me aware of this excellent video.

And, if you just type in "John MacArthur" in the search box at youtube.com you'll find all kinds of videos.

This one came from the 2007 Resolved Conference. If you're interested, you can download the whole conference audio here, but you'll have to register.

Misandry & American Culture

I listened to an excellent message yesterday on being a man in the home from the 2007 Grace Community Church men's conference, where Pastor Mike Fabarez spoke briefly about our culture's hatred for men (misandry) and the resulting dirth of positive role models in our cultures.

Well, this is a cartoon making the rounds and causing a little bit of controversy.

Funny, what do you think would've happened if instead of "dad" the word "mom" was substituted?

We just laugh at men hatred because it's institutionalized in just about every TV show with dads, but if the gender was reversed or you substituted "gay" or "black" for "dad" or "men" the controversy would never end until some poor sap like Don Imus' head was rolling.

Conversion from Islam

Here is an article about how sharia law views and is interpreted concerning conversion from Islam to another religion.

Let's pray for the estimated "thousands of Muslims [who] switch to Christianity every year," and that there will be many many many more.

Persecuted in Uzbekistan

Persecution is still alive and doing very well. Please pray for this pastor, his wife and three kids.

You Believe in Predestination?

If that's not a great example of someone who has absolutely no clue what he's talking about, I don't know what is.

And, this is a great example of how important it is to know the position you're disagreeing with. If you don't, you'll just beat up a straw man while the position you think is in error is still standing, and you're left looking foolish...just like the guy who drew this cartoon.

Street Witnessing

Many of you have asked or heard me talk about my year or two doing street witnessing at the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I absolutely loved it, and wish I could get up there more to help out.

I just found out that the guys who were in charge of the ministry are developing a website explaining what they do and why they do it.

GCC 2007 Men's Conference Audio

Follow this link to download the mp3s from Grace Community Church's (John MacArthur) 2007 Men's Conference where John MacArthur, Alex Montoya, Mike Fabarez and Phil Johnson spoke on the topic "Time to Act Like Men" with reference to God, the world, the home and the church.

I had trouble downloading the mp3s at the site above, but got them easily when I subscribed to the podcast, which I did on the same page above.

Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

As you can see on the right hand sidebar under "Books I'm Reading," I am currently making my way through the massive, and massively influential, Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin.

At first I was pretty intimidated to start the Institutes because it's almost 2000 pages in two thick volumes, but I was captured by the thought that if I was going to be identified as a "calvinist" (I don't call myself that, but many would think I am) I need to know what he said.

A funny fact about the Institutes is Calvin wrote it for "a person who has not much practice in [Holy Scripture]" to give them "some guidance and direction" (I:6). In other words, Calvin saw the Institutes as an intro to theology textbook! Oh, how times have changed in the church!

Well, my fears were NOT confirmed. I've loved it. I've read some 50 or 60 pages in the past two days. I almost can't put it down. It's not difficult at all. He's very engaging, while his grasp and explanation of Scripture is refreshing.

I wanted to quote just a few gems here for your enjoyment:

"...it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God's face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself. For we always seem to ourselves righteous and upright and wise and holy...unless by clear proofs we stand convinced of our own unrighteousness, foulness, folly, and impurity" (I:37).

And (see if you think Calvin is a Christian Hedonist here)...

"...until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him--they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him" (I:41).

And...

"...wherever you cast your eyes, there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of his glory" (I:52).

And boy did this cut me when I read...

"For nothing is more preposterous than to enjoy the very remarkable gifts that attest the divine nature within us, yet to overlook the Author who gives them to us at our asking" (I:59).

And I loved this, praying "God give me the eyes to see this"...

"In short, there is nothing that [God] does not temper in the best way" (I:61).

And finally...

"For as rashness and superficiality are joined to ignorance and darkness, scarcely a single person has ever been found who did not fashion for himself an idol or specter in place of God. Surely, just as waters boil up from a vast, full spring, so does an immense crowd of gods flow forth from the human mind..." (I:65).

So far, I absolutely loved Calvin's examination and condemnation of the unbeliever's heart (I:43-69). It was masterful, and very helpful for evangelism!

I hope you liked these quotes. I'll try to put more as I read on.

What Is a Healthy Church?

Mark Dever has a new book coming out next week that looks very helpful for all churches.

From the summary, it looks like he explores two very important questions every church wants the answers to: What is a healthy church? and What can I do to make my church healthy?

Who Made God?

If you didn't know it already, there is a revival of atheism going on in the West, advanced by such books as The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and the New York Times Bestseller God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens (go here for a great refutation of this theses here).

Here is an article about this revival, and the age old "refutation" of theism - Who made God?

Muslims Evangelized in Dreams

I first heard about the amazing phenomena described in this news article on the February 19, 2006 Stand To Reason show when Greg Koukl interviewed J.P. Moreland about the explosion in Muslim evangelism through signs and wonders.

Interestingly, I listened to a podcast this morning from Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa of Dr. Moreland describing his new book Kingdom Triangle where he has a lot, with documentation, on this incredible phenomena.

Foreign MIssionaries Coming West

Some short excerpts from an important development in missions reported on here:

...many from Africa, Asia and Latin America, part of a growing trend of preachers from developing nations coming to Western Europe to set up new churches or to try to reinvigorate old ones.

And

The phenomenon signals a fundamental shift in the power, style and geography of Christianity, the world's largest religion. Most of its more than 2 billion adherents now live in the developing world.

And...

Churches in countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, South Korea and the Philippines have sent thousands of missionaries to Europe to set up churches in homes, office buildings and storefronts. Officials from the Redeemed Christian Church of God, a Pentecostal church based in Nigeria, said they have 250 churches in Britain now and plan to create 100 more this year. Britain's largest church, run by a Nigerian pastor in London, attracts up to 12,000 people over three services every Sunday.

What does this say about Christianity in the West?

Witnessing to Mormons (Pt 2)

It is very common today for people to say "All religions are the same" or "All religions are talking about the same thing." Sadly, this is usually made by people who has no clue at all about what religions actually say about themselves.

When anyone says "All religions are the same" there actually has to be things that are the same, and that go beyond lowest common denominators. It doesn't count to say something like "All religions believe in a higher power so they're all the same."

First, all religions don't believe in God, but for religions to be the same their conception of God has to be the same, not to mention how they conceive of human beings, the human problem, the solution to our problem, what happens at death, if ethics exist and where they comes from, and the real kicker, who is Jesus?

This is where Mormonism comes in. LDS are pushing hard to be considered evangelicals (interesting, as they're doing this many who call themselves evangelical, like me, want to abandon being identified by that name), and "many laypeople in the Mormon church insist that the God they worship is the same God worshiped by millions of Christians" (23).

However, while we may have many things in common (e.g., pro-life, pro-heterosexual marriage, etc.) we cannot be considered the same, or even similar, just because we are both pro-life, or both "believe in God," or "believe in Jesus," or "honor the Bible," or seek to spread something called "the gospel."

This is what McKeever and Johnson mean when they write:

"If two people hope to consider themselves of the same faith, they need to agree on their definition of the Almighty God. If they cannot agree on this vital point, they would be deceiving themselves and others to say that their faiths are the same" (23).

There is NOTHING about our conceptions of the Bible, God, Jesus and the gospel that are similar, and these are NOT peripheral issues. This is the heart of Christianity. You disagree with these things, and you can call yourself an evangelical, but doing so is the same as me calling myself an iguana just because we both have superficial similarities (e.g., eyes, skin, nose, finger nails, legs, etc.).

This is critical when talking to Mormons. Make sure from the beginning that LDS realize we are not the same in any meaningful way. We have to start there, or evangelism cannot take place.

In fact, if we're the same, as they insist we are, do they really need to evangelize me then? It seems to me that if they really believed we were the same that they'd just leave Christians alone. They don't because they know we're not the same.

Trueman on Catholicism

In light of Dr. Beckwith's conversion to Roman Catholicism, Dr. Carl Trueman, from Reformation21.org, will be offering "a few areas where Protestants can learn from Catholics, or share common ground" here, while next month he will write about some places where Protestants must part company with Catholicism.

More Anti-Christian Bigotry from Homosexuals

Every argument used against President Bush's nominee for Surgeon General, Dr. James Holsinger, for his Bible-based view of homosexuality (as seen here) can be used against the homosexuals who are against him. It may take a little thinking, but they really do.

Now, is it controversial to say that homosexuality is not "complementary" physically? Sorry for the graphics, but do the sexual "parts" complement each other in homosexual sex, or heterosexual? That's a no brainer, and it's no wonder that this will therefore lead to more injury and disease. Tell me again what's controversial about this?

The president of the Tauro University Gay Straight Alliance, Mr. Hopping said Dr. Holsinger's views offended him. Is it just me, or does living in a society where speech is free mean there will always be a risk of offending and being offended. When someone says "I'm offended" it does not mean the offender is automatically wrong! Sometimes truth and offense go together.

So, it seems to me that people need to grow some thick skin. Welcome to adulthood where people get offended and where you offend people. In fact, I'm offended by what many homosexuals say about Christians.

And, concerning Mr. Hopping saying Dr. Holsinger has to be neutral. Why? And I'm sorry, Mr. Hopping, but if doctors are good / qualified if they're neutral, I have to ask if you're neutral? I don't think so since you are the PRESIDENT of the Tauro University Gay Straight Alliance.

This paragraph is telling:

"Holsinger's role on the national Judicial Council of the Methodist Church also is proving to be a source of concern for gay rights groups. He cast a dissenting vote in 2004 in a decision on whether to retain a pastor who was lesbian. The majority agreed to maintain her position. Last year, he also favored a pastor who wanted to block a gay man from joining his congregation. "He has a pretty clear bias against gays and lesbians," said Christina Gilgor, director of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance, a gay rights group."

If this is not religious discrimination by homosexual activists I don't know what is. Her words demonstrate a pretty clear bias against Christians, especially those who disagree with her.

Finally, to demonstrate the bias of the article they end with these words of Mr. Hopping: "It's a leadership issue. It's showing that he's not even aware of the problems that we have in the United States with healthcare."

What Dr. Holsinger's views have to do with his leadership and awareness of healthcare problems in the U.S. is beyond me. In fact, I'd say it's a pretty good bet that DR. Holsinger, Kentucky's top public health official and chancellor of the University of Kentucky's medical center, knows more about healthcare in the U.S. than MR. Hopping the third-year med student. Just a guess.

Many may say what I wrote above was not loving. First, remember that it is very difficult read tone into printed material so giving the author the benefit of the doubt is a must when reading her. Second, the most loving thing a person in the right can do to another who is misled is to lovingly explain the truth and expose falsehood. Third, I've spoken / witnessed to a number of gay men, and each one has told me how refreshing it was to hear the Christian worldview from me.

I don't say that out of pride, but to say that hatred or disgust of homosexuals was not driving anything I wrote above, but actually I was driven by a desire to expose the fallacious reasoning made by the homosexuals in the article, and to defend someone who is probably going to be "tarred and feathered" in the media (I heard a pejorative news report of this good man made by a radio news reporter today).

New Attitude Recommendations

I think it was C.J.'s second message where he highly recommended these two resources by David Powlison (if you have copies of the Journal of Biblical Counseling, Powlison's X-Ray Questions appeared in Volume 18.1 [Fall 1999]).

I'm going to print them out and add them to my daily routine. Thank you to Between Two Worlds for making me aware that the New Attitude people got them online.

Dr. Beckwith Speaks Again

Dr. Frank Beckwith, my former professor and friend, has spoken some more about his reversion to Roman Catholicism here (thank you to James White's blog for making me aware of this), and another one here.

Books on Eastern Orthodoxy

For those of you, like me, who are almost if not totally ignorant of Eastern Orthodoxy, Robert Letham has written a new book called Through Western Eyes: Eastern Orthodoxy: A Reformed Perspective, to help us.

Second, if you want more and you're wondering, like me, if Eastern Orthodoxy is compatible with Evangelicalism (from what little I know about it, I'd have to say No) then check out Three Views on Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism.

Third, are you like me and you've looked at the non-believing landscape and become overwhelmed by all the groups and subgroups that need to be studied in order to effectively give them the gospel?

What do you do? I've decided that I will study one group for six months and then move to the next. For instance, until September 1st I've been trying to study Mormonism. In October, I will switch and start studying Islam in my spare time. Then, in March 2008 I will switch again and so forth. Hopefully, that will help, but any suggestions will be helpful too.

Disney Does Adam & Eve Movie

Click here to read about a script Disney bought with Adam & Eve and Satan as the central figures of an upcoming romantic comedy.

Phil Wellman's Explosion

If you have not seen this yet, I think it is a wonderful example of the Proverb, "A fool's anger is known at once, but a prudent man conceals dishonor" (12:15).

There was nothing wise or prudent about his actions, and there was no doubt that he was angry.

Jonathan Edwards for Free Download

Click here to download a free book by Jonathan Edwards consisting of his three most famous sermons -- Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God, A Divine and Supernatural Light, and his farewell sermon.

Follow the directions, and the audio book is freely downloadable as mp3s or wav files.

New Attitude Conference 2007

Here's all the audio, for free, from this year's New Attitude Conference.