The Abortion Divide

Commenting in the New York Times on the controversy surrounding President Obama's appearance at Notre Dame University Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes:

In nearly four months in office, President Obama has pursued a careful two-pronged strategy on abortion, enacting policies that secure a woman’s right to the procedure while vowing to move beyond the culture wars that have divided the nation on the issue for more than three decades.

Now, Mr. Obama is suddenly in the thick of the battle he had hoped to transcend, and his delicate balancing act is being put to the test.

The confluence of two events — his commencement speech on Sunday at the University of Notre Dame, in Indiana, and his forthcoming choice of a candidate to
replace Justice David H. Souter, who is retiring from the Supreme Court — threaten to upend Mr. Obama’s effort to “tamp down some of the anger” over abortion, as he said in a news conference last month, and to distract from his other domestic priorities, like health care.

The invitation from Notre Dame, a Roman Catholic institution, has riled opponents of abortion, who object to giving such a platform to a supporter of abortion rights. The local bishop has vowed to boycott the ceremony. Some graduating seniors are planning to protest it. Conservatives, frustrated by what they regard as Mr. Obama’s skillful efforts to paint himself as a moderate, are all over the airwaves denouncing him as “the most radical, pro-abortion of any American president,” as Newt Gingrich, a former House speaker, said on Fox News...

As president, Mr. Obama, who during the campaign answered a question about when human life begins by saying it was “above my pay grade,” has tried to straddle the abortion divide. He has done so partly by reaching out to religious conservatives, partly by avoiding the most contentious legislative battles and partly by reversing the policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush, a faithful ally of abortion opponents, in piecemeal fashion — all while the nation has been consumed by the economic crisis.

He has named abortion rights advocates to top jobs; Dawn Johnsen, a former legal director of Naral Pro-Choice America, is his pick to run the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. He has repealed the so-called Mexico City rule, which prohibited tax dollars from going to organizations that provide abortions overseas; lifted Mr. Bush’s limits on embryonic stem cell research; stripped financing for abstinence-only sex education; and is seeking to undo a last-minute Bush regulation giving broad protections to health providers who refuse to take part in abortions.

Read the entire article HERE.

Also, check out this post by Al Mohler

Mr. Obama went on to call for "Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words." In the end, the President's comments were entirely about how Americans should discuss or debate abortion. There was no serious consideration of abortion itself. President Obama merely talked about talking about abortion.

This was a moral evasion and an insult to the importance of the issue. If the President had actually addressed the issue of abortion -- if he had actually even offered a defense or rationale for his own position -- he would have dignified the issue. Instead, Mr. Obama issued what amounted to a call for civility.

When the President called for Americans to agree that, while differing on abortion, "we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually," he failed to make clear why this is so. If the unborn baby is not a person who possesses an intrinsic right to life, why is the decision to abort so "heart-wrenching?" If the fetus is just a collection of cells, why the angst? Furthermore, does the fact that a decision is "heart-wrenching" make it right or rational?

Gracia Burnham honored in Washington D.C.

During my years in Wichita I had the blessing of serving as Gracia Burnham's pastor. Gracia was recently in Washington D.C. at the invitation of the Justice Department.

In May 2001, Mrs. Burnham and her husband, Martin, missionaries for more than 15 years with New Tribes Mission in the Philippines, were awakened by armed gunmen affiliated with the terrorist organization Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). The Burnhams were among 20 hostages seized that morning and were held captive for more than a year. Throughout their terrifying ordeal, they exhibited remarkable strength and courage. On June 7, 2002, members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines found the terrorists’ encampment, and in the subsequent firefight, Mr. Burnham was killed, and Mrs. Burnham was shot in the leg; but she survived and was rescued. Since that time, she has dedicated herself to pursuing justice against the terrorists who held them captive.

In a recent ceremony in Washington, D.C., Attorney General Eric Holder presented Gracia Burnham with a Special Courage Award, recounting her efforts to protect victims’ rights. The ceremony was a prelude to the nation’s observance of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, April 26­–May 2, 2009; nine other individuals and programs were also recognized for their service to crime victims.

Read the entire post HERE.

I would encourage you to read Gracia's moving, heartbreaking, and affirming memoir "In the Presence of My Enemies."

Systematic Theology for Kids!

The Praise Factory is producing some outstanding curriculum for children. The author is Connie Dever whose husband, Mark Dever is the pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C.

Check out The Praise Factory HERE.

Death Is Not Dying

I saw the following posted over at Tom Ascol's sight. Take the time to watch the video. It's worth it.

If you have not seen this video of a talk given by Rachel Barkley then I encourage you to stop reading and watch it now. Rachel is a wife and mother who is dying of cancer. She talks about her life and impending death to a group of ladies in Vancouver. It is a compelling case for the gospel and the sufficiency of God's grace in His Son, Jesus Christ.

John Wesley said, "Our people die well." Indeed, how a person thinks about and faces death is a testimony to his or her faith. As her recommended book list testifies, Rachel Barkley has been helped to face
terminal cancer by sitting at the feet of some of the Lord's most faithful teachers through reading.

Watch the video. Then encourage others to do so, as well. And pray for Rachel and her husband Neil, and their children, Quinn and Kate.

Sunday's Sermon

You can download or listen to the last two Sunday's sermons by clicking HERE. The messages are parts 3 and 4 of our currrent series on Hebrews - "Prophet, Priest, & King" and "The Superiority of Christ."

Why Johnny Can't Preach

T. David Gordon of Grove City College appeared recently on the White Horse Inn to discuss his new book "Why Johnny Can't Preach." Professor Gordon suggests that, contrary to what the church growth gurus promised, the medium does effect the message. More specifically the contemporary media culture has had a significant impact on the gospel message and its messengers.

Listen HERE.

A thought on God's sovereignty

If you identify anything or anyone in the universe whose determinitive power and free will trumps the determinitive power and free will of God then worship that because it is God.

U.S. taking on unsustainable debt

From Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”

Read the entire story HERE.

What the...?

I thought...?

Nevermind.

Friends, this is immoral. We are taking on debt that our children and grandchildren will have to pay. We are to blame. We sat by and watched it happen.

Tim Chester's Latest Book

Tim Chester's newest book "The Ordinary Hero" has been released in the UK and will be released in the U.S. soon.

Here's the outline:

Part One: The pardon of the cross – humble confidence
1. How do you know God loves you?
2. Will God’s love stand up in court?

3. Humility

4. Confidence

Part Two: The practice of the cross – sacrificial service
5. The way of Jesus = the way of the cross

6. Everyday martyrdom

7. The value of Jesus

8. The way of the cross = the way of joy

Part Three: The pattern of the cross and resurrection – suffering followed by glory
9. No glory without the cross

10. Bondage followed by liberation

11. Hiddenness followed by revelation

12. Suffering followed by glory

Part Four: The power of the resurrection – power to be weak
13. Resurrection power, freedom and life

14. Power to be weak

15. Freedom to serve, life to die

16. The Spirit of resurrection

Part Five: The promise of the resurrection – adventurous hope
17. A renewed world of life

18. A world of justice, joy and love

19. A world worth living for and a world worth dying for

20. The adventure of hope
Conclusion – My hero of the cross and resurrection

When Church Signs Go Wrong

What is Song of Songs about?

Over at Reformed Forum Iain Campbell discusses the meaning of Song of Songs. In recent days there has been a number of heated interchanges around the web over some of the ways Song of Songs is preached. Dr. Campbell offers sound insight into the meaning of this oft times misunderstood book.

Listen HERE.

Basics Conference (4)

Check out audio from this year's Basics Conference HERE.

The Church in Recessionary Times

Why I don't preach Mother's Day messages

So, I found out that some are wondering why I did not preach a "Mother's Day sermon" last Sunday.

I'll be brief.

I do not preach Mother's Day messages...

1. for the same reason I do not preach Father's Day, Valentine's Day, Groundhog's Day, Guy Fawkes Day, or Chinese New Year's Day messages.

2. because there is no biblical prescription for Mother's Day.

3. because I am trying to build a pulpit ministry that is characterized by consistent biblical exposition not topical points of interest.

4. because I am obliged to honor God and His Word above all things in the corporate gatherings of His people.

5. because I don't want greeting card companies to dictate sermon content to Christ's church.

6. because I am inclined away from "bandwagonism" and sentimentality.

Al Mohler has posted some great thoughts on Mother's Day:

Christians must resist the reduction of motherhood to sentimentality, and particularly that sentimentalism that undermines what mothers are truly to represent -- nurture, fortitude, courage, dedication, faithfulness, discipline, and trust in God.

Mother's Day is a bad idea because it subverts the reality of faithful mothering and robs faithful mothers of their true glory. Mothers deserving of honor are handed cards and taken to lunch, when songs of praise should instead be offered to the glory of God. Undeserving mothers, who abdicate their true responsibility, are honored just because they are mothers. Children, young and old, who ignore and dishonor their mothers by word and by life throughout the year, assuage their guilt by making a big deal of Mother's Day.

Read the entire post HERE.

Is Capitalism Good?

Unless you have had your head in the sand you have no doubt taken note of the debate over capitalism going on in the U.S. Howard Dean, former head of the DNC recently said in a televised interview that "we have had enough of capitalism in the last eight years." Of course, the federal government grew exponentially larger under President Bush than it did under his Democratic predecessor. The United States is by no means an example of pristine capitalism. There seems to be on the horizon some developing issues that may diminish capitalism in the U.S. to an even greater degree.

So, the goodness or badness of capitalism is a timely question for us.

Justin Taylor has posted on a newly released book which advances the notion that capitalism is a positive good.

For some time now I've been looking forward to the publication of Jay Richards's book, Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem, which has just been published by HarperOne.

Dr. Richards (M.Div.; Union Theological Seminary in Virginia; Th.M.; Calvin Theological Seminary; Ph.D. in philosophy and theology, Princeton Theological Seminary) is a clear writer and a sharp thinker. (His expertise is wide-ranging; a previous book, published by IVP, was a philosophical defense of classical theism; another one was a co-authored defense of intelligent design.)Here are a couple of blurbs for this new book:

"In Money, Greed, and God, Jay Richards has written the definitive case for capitalism, a crisply written and incisive discourse on wealth and poverty, money and morality for the 21st Century."
--George Gilder, co-founder of the Discovery Institute and author of Wealth and
Poverty

"Jay Richards understands the objections to capitalism, and here explains why they do not convince him. The empirical findings revealed in Money, Greed, and God run against those objections."
--Michael Novak, Chair in Religion and Public Policy at the American Enterprise Institute, author of The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism

The outline of Dr. Richard's book is based on a series of popular myths:

1. Can't We Build a Just Society? Myth no. 1: The Nirvana Myth (contrasting capitalism with an unrealizable ideal rather than with its live alternatives)

2. What Would Jesus Do? Myth no. 2: The Piety Myth (focusing on our good intentions rather than the unintended consequences of our actions)

3. Doesn't Capitalism Foster Unfair Competition? Myth no. 3: The Zero-sum Game Myth (believing that trade requires a winner and a loser)

4. If I Become Rich, Won't Someone Else Become Poor? Myth no. 3: The Materialist Myth (believing that intellect cannot create new wealth)

5. Isn't Capitalism Based on Greed? Myth no. 4: The Greed Myth (believing that the essence of capitalism is greed)

6. Hasn't Christianity Always Opposed Capitalism? Myth no. 5: The Usury Myth (believing that charging interest on money is always exploitive)

7. Doesn't Capitalism Always Lead to an Ugly Consumerist Culture? Myth no. 7: The Artsy Myth (confusing aesthetic judgments with economic arguments)

8. Are We Going to Use Up All the Resources? Myth no. 8: The Freeze Frame Myth (believing that things always stay the same—for example, assuming population trends will continue indefinitely or treating “rich” and “poor” as static categories)

Conclusion: Working All Things Together for Good

Appendix: Is the "Spontaneous Order" of the Market Evidence of a Universe without Purpose?

Taylor also links to an audio lecture by Dr. Richards (Don’t Just Care – Think: Myths Christians Believe About Wealth and Poverty.) and the following video:

Basics Conference (3)

Click HERE for the John Piper's first two addresses. His address from this morning will be posted later. The first address was a session dealing with the idea that ministers are to labor for the joy of God's people. His second session was from last evening and was a call to preach the doctrine of justification. This morning he gave a terrific message on the doctrine of the new birth.

Inclusive language, Kenny G., and the destruction of worship

I love to read Carl Trueman.

I had to link to his latest post at Reformation 21:

A few years ago I was attending a conference on behalf of the Seminary arranged by an organization which includes in its membership institutions from a wide variety of theological and religious perspectives. As the conference stretched over a weekend, there was a worship service arranged for the Sunday morning. I had wondered whether to attend, not knowing how such a theologically diverse group might come together in such a setting; but I finally decided to do the polite thing and show up; and, I was not disappointed. Indeed, I have been retelling the story at dinner parties ever since.

The service kicked off OK, with a short call to worship. So far so good. Then we sang a hymn. Now, I have a preference for psalms, but the hymn was fine, as far as I remember. It was then that the real fun began. The first Bible reading was from the book of Isaiah. The gentleman apologized at the outset saying that he had been unable to obtain an inclusive language translation of the Bible; but indicated that he would make the necessary changes himself as he read the passage. I confess that, personally, I was quite relieved about that since, for one horrible second, I had imagined I was about to witness the terrifying and distressing marginalization and oppression of over half the people present. But with the necessary substitutions, I was confident that the women around me would feel suitably enfranchised and affirmed.

That's when it all started to go wrong.

Read the entire post HERE.

Basics Conference (2)

The opening day of Basics has been terrific. One of the things I love about this conference is that it is not overwhelmingly large. It usually runs about 600 pastors. I don't have to navigate a downtown maze or pay for parking. It's not held in a large convention center but in a church. It is truly a time to refresh. This year is a bit different because there are 1,500 pastors present. That's what happens when John Piper is one of the speakers.

Piper's first session was excellent. More on that later.

The keynote speaker is a man named John Lennox. I have never heard of Lennox before. He is a brillant appologist. He teaches mathematics at the University of Oxford and is a Fellow in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science at Green College. He lectures around the world. He is particularly interested in the intersection of science, philosophy, and theology. His opening address was warm and pastoral. Although a respected intellectual Dr. Lennox communicates humbly and passionately. He has held public debates with Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. The DVD's of those debates (4 in all) are available for purchase.

Check out these resources from John Lennox:
God's Undertaker
Christianity: Opium or Truth?
Debates with Hitchens & Dawkins

Basics Conference

This week I am attending for the seventh year the Basics Conference at Parkside Church in Chagrin Falls, OH. Chagrin Falls is a beautiful town east of Cleveland.

Click HERE for an excellent reading list.

Considering Spurgeon

“If we do not make the Lord Jesus glorious; if we do not lift Him high in the esteem of men…we shall not have the Holy Spirit with us. Vain will be rhetoric, music, architecture, energy and social status: if our design be not to magnify the Lord Jesus, we shall work alone and in vain.”
- C.H. Spurgeon

There are few men that I look to with the same interest and respect as I do Charles Haddon Spurgeon. He was a pastor, preacher, writer, evangelist, teacher, mentor, philanthropist, innovator, thinker, husband, and father. He was and is, in my mind, without peer. I am hopeless to sum up Charles Spurgeon’s life in this limited space. However, I will attempt and feebly so, to highlight a few things that make him a hero to me and a worthy subject for the contemporary church’s consideration.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was born into a Christian family in Essex on June 19, 1834. In spite of godly surroundings and the fervent prayers of his mother Charles was not converted to Christ until the age of 16. The knowledge of his own sinfulness weighed heavy upon his young soul. Later, he would write, “I reckoned that the most defiled creature…was a better thing than myself, for I had sinned against Almighty God.” This proper understanding of sin would make Spurgeon an effective preacher of the free grace of God. From his late teens until he was 19 years old (1851-1854) Charles pastored a Baptist church in a small village called Waterbeach. The church grew from 40 to 100 during that time and Spurgeon became convinced that he would spend the rest of his life serving Christ and His church as a preacher of the Gospel.

While still only 19, Spurgeon accepted a call to pastor the historic but dying Park Street Chapel, Baptist congregation in London. The worship center was built to seat 1,200 but saw fewer than 300 in attendance. Within weeks the once almost empty church was overflowing with people eager to hear this young man who preached so fervently. The building was retro-fitted to hold 1,500 but in less than a year that was too small. The decision was made to build a new chapel that would seat 5,000 and have standing room for an additional 1,000. It would be called The Metropolitan Tabernacle. In the days before mega-churches the Metropolitan Tabernacle was a strange sight. “The lad from Cambridge” found himself pastor of the largest church in the world. During Spurgeon’s ministry there, 14,691 people were added to the role, almost 11,000 of which were by conversion and baptism. Thousands of copies of his sermons were mailed out all over the world each week. What an enormous burden for a young pastor to bear. What a temptation toward self-aggrandizement. But Spurgeon maintained a healthy distrust of numeric success. He saw it very much as the exception rather than the rule. In 1887 he wrote, “Long ago I ceased to count heads, truth is usually in the minority in this evil world.”

Spurgeon seemed always to be the target of vicious criticism. This certainly was owing, at least in part, to his prominent voice. After all, Spurgeon was pastor of the largest church in the world and was not shy to offer his opinion. This is not because he enjoyed controversy or was belligerent in any way. Indeed, he loved tranquility and desired to live in unity with his brothers and sisters in Christ. However, Spurgeon’s love for truth and passion for doctrinal precision outweighed all other passions. In the 1860’s he wrote, “Friends chide us and foes abhor us when we are very jealous for the Lord God of Israel, but what do these things matter if the Master approves?...[Be] not dismayed for flesh and blood while you are for the Lord, and for His truth and cause. And howbeit we see truth put to the worse for the time, yet Christ will be a friend to truth, and will act for those who dare hazard all that they have for Him and for His glory.”

Spurgeon’s commitment to the truth was bred within him early on. His father and grand-father were both Congregationalist preachers. When he was only a child, Spurgeon discovered a substantial collection of Puritan writings in the home of his grandfather. The wedding of spiritual fervor and doctrinal clarity championed by the Puritans would mark Spurgeon for the rest of his life. It would fire his preaching and serve as a bulwark through times of sickness, defeat, and controversy. During his life, Spurgeon was often criticized by Arminians and newspaper editorialists because of his high doctrine of God’s sovereignty. On the other hand, he was criticized by “hyper-Calvinists” for his passion for evangelism. Finally, he was criticized and officially censured by the Baptist Union for his stand in what became known as “The Down-Grade Controversy.”

The controversy was sparked by two articles that ran in The Metropolitan Tabernacle’s newsletter, The Sword and the Trowel, called “The Down-Grade”. Spurgeon whole-heartedly endorsed the articles which warned of the downward slide of England’s churches and placed the blame at the feet of preachers and churches that no longer held firmly to the truth. Pastors, who though orthodox themselves, were no longer contending for the truth and in many cases even shared their pulpits with men who outright denied fundamental tenets of biblical Christianity. As evidence of these errors mounted Spurgeon became more outspoken. To those who thought him too stringent Spurgeon wrote, “A little plain speaking would do a world of good right now. These gentlemen desire to be let alone. They want no noise raised…It is time that somebody should spring his rattle, and call attention to the way in which God is being robbed of His glory, and man of his hope.” He went on to call Christians to consider breaking fellowship with those who profess faith in Christ but deny Gospel essentials. “Numbers of easy-minded people wink at error so long as it is committed by a clever man and a good-natured brother, who has so many fine points about him…Under colour of begging friendship of the servant, there are those about who aim at robbing the Master.”

Spurgeon refused to tone down his rhetoric even though many of his brethren pleaded for him to do so. Certainly, he took no pleasure in his difficult duty. “It is no joy to us to bring accusations; it is no pleasure to our heart to seem to be in antagonism with so many.” During this time, Spurgeon’s health problems escalated. Kidney problems and gout caused him severe, debilitating pain. Through it all Spurgeon did not back down in sounding the alarm that the evangelical faith was under serious assault from within. He saw no reason why the Baptist Union should seek to accommodate those pastors who denied essential Christian doctrines such as the authority of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement, and the doctrine of hell. “To be very plain, we are unable to call these things Christian Unions, they begin to look like Confederacies in Evil.” On January 13, 1888 Spurgeon met with leadership of the Baptist Union and urged them to adopt an evangelical statement of faith. They refused. In response, he submitted a letter withdrawing from the Union. In the end, the leadership of the Baptist Union, unwilling to stand clearly for truth, accepted his withdrawal and then censured Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Spurgeon hated division. But his conscience was captive to the Word of God and would not permit him to align with anyone who denied gospel essentials. “Nothing has ever more largely promoted the union of the true than the break with the false.” The Down-Grade Controversy broke Spurgeon’s heart and is thought by many to have hastened his death which came on January 31, 1892.

Spurgeon’s funeral was attended by thousands who came to mourn the passing of this contender for truth and winner of souls. The Reverend Archibald Brown spoke these words at the graveside:

“Champion of God thy battle, long and nobly fought, is over; they sword which clave to thy hand, has dropped at last; a palm branch take its place. No longer does the helmet press thy brow, oft weary with its surging thoughts of battle; a victor’s wreath from the great Commander’s hand has already proved thy full reward.

“Here for a little while shall rest thy precious dust. Then shall thy Well-Beloved come; and at His voice thou shalt spring from thy couch of earth, fashioned like unto His body, into glory. Then, spirit, soul, and body shall magnify thy Lord’s redemption. Until then beloved, sleep. We praise God for thee, and by the blood of everlasting covenant, hope and expect to praise God with thee. Amen.”

Books by and about C.H. Spurgeon:
Spurgeon by Arnold Dallimore – a great place to begin
The Forgotten Spurgeon by Iain Murray – deals primarily with doctrinal distinctives
Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism by Iain Murray - ditto
Lectures To My Students by C.H. Spurgeon – a must for ministers
Morning & Evening by C.H. Spurgeon – wonderful daily devotions

"How Long?"

Bibliolatry

After last Sunday's sermon I was warned by a thoughtful parishoner to "not worship the Bible." While she was well intentioned, her question betrayed a misunderstanding about a proper reverence for Scripture.

In the following article Dr. S.M. Baugh asks, "Is Bibliolatry Possible?"

He writes:

Let us begin with God. Always. The God of the Book is a jealous God. He makes himself perfectly clear on this point. He is ardently offended when men or angels give worship due to him to anyone or to anything else. But, granted that we do not do obeisance to the folios, is God offended when we ascribe certain attributes of God himself to the ideas, truths, even to the very words of Holy Scripture? (Ideas and truths are best communicated through words, by the way. They are most elusive otherwise.)

For example, ideas like "infallibility" are ascribed to the Bible, because we believe that God himself is infallible. He cannot by his nature make a mistake. To do so would be to deny himself and to be God no more. Therefore, if the Bible does contain mistakes, either the infallible God did not inspire it, or he mistakenly (and cruelly) left us, more than six score thousand who know not their right hand from their left hand, to shift for ourselves in matters of truth. But God does nothing unfinished or unwell. As he puts it, "My word will not return to me void," "Behold, it was very good." So is it vulgar idol chasing to say that the Bible itself by good and necessary inference cannot contain error? Is God affronted by such ascriptions to the Book?

"The Scripture cannot be broken...Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away...Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God...It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law...for you have exalted your word over your name...I have treasured your word in my heart...Your testimonies are my delight, my counselors...Scripture locked up all under sin." These statements by Jesus and the biblical writers must suggest bibliolatry to some. So is bibliolatry truly possible?

Read the entire article HERE.

Mark of the Beast

Dr. Kim Riddlebarger gives a thoughtful, and I believe biblical answer to the end times speculators concerning the beast of Revelation. He writes:

If you are a futurist and believe that the beast of Revelation 13 is not connected to the Roman Empire of the first century and remains yet to be revealed at the end of the age (i.e., during the seven-year tribulation period, as dispensationalists teach), then you will not look at the mark of the beast through the lens of the New Testament and the historical situation when John was given his vision. Instead, you will understand this mysterious mark as something still hidden in the future. And given the breakneck pace of the advance being made in all forms of technology, it is only natural that futurists would see John’s reference to the mark of the beast as somehow connected to the technological advantage by which the beast and false prophet will enslave the inhabitants of the world and deceive them into worshiping the Antichrist.

As futurists see it, when John speaks of the mark of the beast, he’s essentially predicting that some future form of technology will be utilized by Antichrist to dominate and control the world’s population. According to Peter and Paul Lalonde, “The Bible says that the mark of the beast and its accompanying technology will be installed by the antichrist–not as an end in itself, but as a means of managing the new world order that is even now being created” (Peter LaLonde and Paul LaLonde, Racing Toward the Mark of the Beast, Harvest House Publishers, 1994, 148).

Read the entire article HERE. It is an excellent example of sound biblical hermeneutics.

Collision

COLLISION - 13 min VIMEO Exclusive Sneak Peak from Collision Movie on Vimeo.

Gospel and Community

In recent years I have thought, read, prayed, preached, and talked a lot about the nature of the Gospel – its content and implications for life and ministry.

One connection that is particularly moving and challenging to me is that between the Gospel and community. My experience in church is that God-glorifying, soul-shaping community is very elusive. We simply do not see much of it. That is my experience at least. We know what it is to have friendly acquaintances. We know what it is to spend time with people we like. But does our experience within the body of Christ resemble that which is described in the church of Jerusalem in Acts two or that which seemed to exist in the church of Thessalonica? Are we connected to a community of Christ-followers who love God and His Word, pray and worship together regularly, eat together frequently, take care to watch over each other’s needs, and experience the fruit of conversion?

Titus 2:14 tells us that Jesus Christ gave himself for us “to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Commenting on those words, Sinclair Ferguson writes that “Christ wants to create ‘a people’, not merely isolated individuals who believe in him.” The church is not a club or support group that Christians join. Rather, when God saves us by His grace He also adds us to the church, His people, the body of Christ.

In their book Total Church, Tim Chester and Steve Timmis write:

“By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters. It is not that I belong to God and then make a decision to join a local church. My being in Christ means being in Christ with those others who are in Christ. This is my identity. This is our identity. To fail to live out our corporate identity in Christ is analogous to the act of adultery: we can be Christians and do it, but it’s not what Christians should do. The loyalties of the new community supersede even the loyalties of biology (Matt. 10:34-37; Mk 3:31-35; Lk 11:27-28). If the church is the body of Christ then we should not live as disembodied Christians!”

We talk a good game about community but our priorities often betray us. The fact is, community is costly. People hurt us. We get disillusioned when our brothers and sisters disappoint us. It is even worse when a pastor disappoints us. But being in community always involves sacrifice. It involves a kind of death whereby we lay down our rights for the good of others. It means we serve without demanding to be served. It means we lovingly absorb many of the hits we take along the way. Timmis and Chester write, “In our experience, people are often enthusiastic about community until it impinges on their decision-making. For all their rhetoric, they still expect to make decisions by themselves for themselves. We assume we are masters of our own lives.”

What is more, community is an essential part of our proclamation of the Gospel. Community and mission go hand-in-hand. Again, from Total Church:

“God is a missionary God and God’s primary missionary method is His covenant people…God made us as persons-in-community to be the vehicle through which He would reveal His glory…Israel’s priests represented God to the people by expounding the Law, and represented the people to God through sacrifice and intercession, so the nation as a whole has a priestly role of making God known to the nations and bringing them to the means of atonement…

“The center is no longer geographic Jerusalem. Now it is the community itself
among whom Christ promises to be present to be present (Matt 28:20). The community moves out across the globe, all the time drawing people to its Lord through its common life…

“The church, then is not something additional or optional. It is at the very heart of God’s purposes. Jesus came to create a people who would model what it means to live under His rule. It would be a glorious outpost of the kingdom of God: an embassy of heaven. This is where the world can see what it means to be truly human.

“Our identity as human beings is found in community. Our identity as Christians is found in Christ’s new community. And our mission takes place through communities of light.”

Sunday's Sermon

Part 3 - "The God Who Speaks"

Listen or Download HERE.

Doug Moo on 1 Timothy 2:11-15

Doug Moo is one of our most outstanding New Testament scholars. He makes a convincing case for complementarianism from 1 Timothy 2:11-15. Read it HERE.

Free Downloads from Alistair Begg

"In conjunction with the conference, we will be announcing the latest venture from Truth For Life. On May 11, 2009, we are making our archives of downloadable MP3 messages available for free. Let me encourage you to take immediate advantage of this and also to make it as widely known as you possibly can. This plan is in keeping not only with our stated purpose, but also with the expressed desire of the apostles to make every effort to proclaim the Gospel."

- Alistair Begg

Learn more HERE.

God's Word in Worship

From an essay in the ESV Study Bible:

SCRIPTURE READING IN PUBLIC WORSHIP

The Bible, as holy Scripture, is the only certain source of God's words in the entire world. Paul's statement that "All Scripture is breathed out by God" (2 Tim. 3:16) means that all the words of the Bible are God's words to us. Therefore if we want to hear our Creator and Lord speaking to us, we must continually give attention to the authoritative words of the Bible. This means that the Bible must be the only true foundation and constant guide for all that we do in the life of the church, and the Bible must be central to all that happens in preaching and public worship. . . .

God's Word deserves great reverence from his people. Isaiah writes, "But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word" (Isa. 66:2). Therefore when Scripture is read aloud in a worship service, the reader and the congregation should take care to convey the reverent attention that Scripture deserves.

From its earliest days the church gave primacy to the reading of Holy Scripture, as seen in the apostle Paul's aforementioned charge to Timothy to devote himself to "the public reading of Scripture," as well as Justin Martyr's account of the apostolic church's practice of reading "the memoirs of the apostles and writings of the prophets . . . as long as time permits." The regular custom soon was to have two extended public readings, one from the OT and one from the NT. . .

The Bible's use in preaching and public worship should be in such a way as to result in a Christ-exalting service of the Word. This requires work by the preacher and the leaders of the congregation, so that God's Word is read to his glory, the sermon is derived from the faithful exposition of the text reading, and the reading and preaching of the biblical passage is set in the context of songs and hymns and programs that are redolent with the substance of God's holy Word.

Al Mohler's New Book

Al Mohler's newest book "The Disappearance of God" can be ordered HERE

From the Publisher:

For centuries the church has taught and guarded the core Christian beliefs that make up the essential foundations of the faith. But in our postmodern age, sloppy teaching and outright lies create rampant confusion, and many Christians are free-falling for 'feel-good' theology. We need to know the truth to save ourselves from errors that will derail our faith.

As biblical scholar, author, and president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Albert Mohler, writes, "The entire structure of Christian truth is now under attack." With wit and wisdom he tackles the most important aspects of these modern issues:

Is God changing His mind about sin?
Why is hell off limits for many pastors?
What's good or bad about the emergent movement?
Have Christians stopped seeing God as God?
Is the social justice movement misguided?
Could the role of beauty be critical to our theology?
Is liberal faith any less destructive than atheism?
Are churches pandering to their members to survive?

In the age-old battle to preserve the foundations of faith, it's up to a new generation to confront and disarm the contemporary shams and fight for the truth. Dr. Mohler provides the scriptural answers to show you how.

"Joel Osteen and the Glory Story"

Read Michael Horton's article "Joel Osteen and the Glory Story" HERE.

Gospel-Driven

Check out these excellent addresses by Michael Horton:
Session #1: The Front Page God (MP3)
Session #2: The Promise-Driven Life (MP3)
Session #3: Feasting in a Fast Food Food World (MP3)
Session #4: Question and Answer (MP3)

Guidance

Part 3 - "Look to the Word"

Ultimately, everyone knows that God is and yet because of sin this knowledge is distorted so that instead of being led into truth there is a falling away (Rom 1:18-25). Thankfully however God did not abandon the crown of His creation even though it was His right to do so. Because of common grace (the goodness that God sheds upon all humanity) men and women are capable of comprehending profound truths and accomplishing great things. However, the knowledge of which we are most in need, that of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, is beyond our grasp apart from the gracious intervention of God.

Man desires to be in relationship to the divine; to know the mind of God; to possess His wisdom in light of the day’s circumstances. Mankind has always sought to discover the will of his god or gods through means that seem to us sometimes fanciful at other times violent or profane. The dilemma is that outside of Christ the hearts of men and women are darkened. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised” (Rom 1:25). “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor 2:14). So if we are to have any hope of comprehending guidance from God then we must begin with spiritual birth. Unless God raises us to life spiritually (John 3:1-8) then we will be unable to comprehend that which is spiritual as the Scriptures define spiritual.

Where are Christians to look for guidance from God? In ancient times God spoke to His people in various ways through His prophets (Heb 1:1-2). There were even times when God’s people cast lots in order to discern His will. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its decision is from the Lord” (Prov 16:33). In the New Testament the disciples chose Judas Iscariot’s replacement through the casting of lots (Acts 1:15-26). But such things as the casting of lots were temporary means that were used during the church’s infancy. We live in a day of final revelation whereby God has spoken most supremely to His people through His Son Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2). And where do we find all that we need to know about Jesus? Our fullest and only truly reliable witness to Jesus Christ is Holy Scripture where He is anticipated in the Old Testament, revealed in the Gospels, and explained in the epistles.

In these last days (the days between Christ’s first and final advent) God has established His Word as the rule for guiding His people (II Thess 2:15; 3:6). Our problem is that we often want God to provide for us a roadmap that will answer specifically which college to choose, person to marry, job to take, car to buy, etc. People who rarely drink from the well of Scripture wait until the moment of decision to beg answers from God. Their lack of a sense of guidance should not surprise them. Their neglect of God’s Word has left them unfamiliar with His voice.

How then does God use the Scriptures to act as His voice of guidance for His people? In His book Discovering God’s Will Sinclair Ferguson offers three ways:

1. God’s Word directs us through commandments and prohibitions. Certainly the moral law of God answers many of questions for us before we even ask. The Ten Commandments are an example of the timeless expression of God’s character and therefore a clear guide to what He expects from His people. Certain applications of those particular commandments have changed but the principles stand. Scripture provides many other commandments and prohibitions concerning sexual, business, work and family ethics. These are given to us not that we may be justified before God by them but that we may glorify Him in our joyful obedience. What a rich source of guidance God has given us through His precious law (Psalm 119).

2. God’s Word directs us through certain principles. While Jesus does not tell everyone to sell everything they have and give it away there is nevertheless an important principle enshrined in that command. The principle is that Jesus must be Lord of all and that He will not abide our idols. In His Word God has left us with a deep supply of guiding principles that will serve as faithful guides to help us navigate life.

3. God’s Word directs us through illustrations. The many biographical accounts in Scripture show us the ways of God’s working with men and what He “requires of us, does for us, and works out through us.”

Look to the Word of God. Treasure it. Live in its pages. You will find God faithful to give you what you need when you need it. You will find your desires changing as God molds your character to reflect His priorities. As we grow in knowledge of God and of His ways we will see a corresponding growth in our love for Him and His ways. Ferguson writes, “An instinct is created within us by which we know the will of the Lord for our lives.”

“But how then may the Lord’s guidance be expected?...In general, He
guides and directs His people, by affording them, in answer to prayer,
the light of His Holy Spirit, which enables them to understand and to
love the Scriptures. The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery;
nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps, which, detached
from their proper places, have no determinate import; but it is to
furnish us with just principles, right apprehensions to regulate our
judgments and affections, and thereby influence and direct our
conduct.”
- John Newton

The Religious Roots of Modern Piracy

Al Mohler has an interesting post on the modern rise of piracy off the coast of Africa.

Peter Berger is one of the most authoritative voices in modern sociology. He understands better than most that the prophets of secularization were too hasty in writing religion off as a major force in the world. Looking back at the very figures who helped shape the modern world, he comments, "Not to put too fine a point on it, they were mistaken."

In his own way, Stephen Prothero makes the same point. In a recent column in The Wall Street Journal, Prothero argues that one cannot understand the current crisis of piracy off the coast of Somalia without understanding the religious roots of this resurgence.

Prothero serves as chairman of the Department of Religion at Boston University (where Professor Berger also taught for many years). He is also author of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- And Doesn't. When it comes to religious literacy, a bit of knowledge would serve the foreign policy elites, the military, and the media when it comes to the revival of piracy.

As Prothero explains in "Muhammad of the High Seas:"The late spate of piracy off the coast of Somalia has been analyzed so far almost entirely in political and economic terms: Somalia is lawless and impoverished, so Somali men are taking world trade for a ride. Religion comes up in this analysis only in terms of fears about potential ties between Somali pirates and Islamist groups such as al Qaeda and al Shabab.

But according to Boston University's World Religion Database, the Somali population is 99% Muslim, and the last time the U.S. was menaced by piracy, in the late 18th century, the so-called Barbary pirates of north Africa also operated out of Muslim havens. For those who know something about Muhammad and the origins of Islam, more than coincidence is at work: Religion, it turns out, should be factored into the piracy problem.

Read the entire post HERE.

Guidance

Part 2 - "Our Goal, God's Glory"

What a comfort it is to know that God is a Shepherd for His people (Ps 23). The image of God as Shepherd helps us to understand the care He takes in leading His flock. God knows exactly where He is going and He is committed to bringing His people along. Aimless wandering is not something that should mark the lives of Christians. We are given the great gift of purposeful lives in the present as well as a secure destiny for the future. The fuller title of John Bunyan’s classic allegory is appropriate: The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to that which is to come. Indeed, we are God’s pilgrims traveling purposefully toward that city which is yet to come (I Peter 1:1, 2:11).

When God called a pagan from Ur named Abram, made a covenant with him, and assured him of a great future it became clear that history was not the outworking of random events or the playground of capricious and feuding deities. History had a beginning and an end. It had a deliberate direction that was designed and held secure by God Himself. History is not the slave of man’s sinful will, evolution, or the impersonal power of fate. Rather, history is a canvass upon which God paints His grand purposes with the brush of His gracious providence.

What does all this have to do with the question of God’s will for our lives? Simply this: We cannot begin to rightly ponder the smaller issues concerning God’s will (whom to marry, where to live, etc) until we first settle on the greatest issue of God’s will. In other words, God’s daily guidance is entirely conditioned upon His eternal purpose. Without this understanding we will squander our lives pursuing whatever gives us the most immediate satisfaction. When this happens life becomes a monotonous cycle of craving and gluttony.

The drafters of the Westminster Shorter Catechism were wise to begin with this question:
Q – What is the chief end of man?
A – Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
That brief statement sums up well the central theme of Christian life: above all else we are to live for the glory of God. From Genesis to Revelation Scripture teaches us that the chief reason behind the creation, the fall, and God’s redeeming work through Christ is that God might promote His own glory. The motive behind Jesus’ entire ministry was to promote God’s glory (John 12:28; 14:13; 17:1, 4). Sinclair Ferguson writes, “The essence of the Christian life is that God should be glorified in us. The aim of our evangelism is ‘so that the grace which is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God’” (II Cor 4:15).

The apostle Paul works this truth out through his epistles. Romans is a full doctrine of salvation demonstrating the central concern that God be glorified. The great offensiveness of sin which necessitated the cross work of Christ was based upon the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Ephesians makes plain as well that the movement of salvation is to show forth the glory of God. In saving sinners God shows forth His glory in election, redemption, and adoption (Eph 1:6, 12, 13). Once saved God is determined to show His glory in our growth in holiness. The Bible tells us that God is changing us from one degree of glory to another (II Cor 3:18). That is, as God works to make us resemble Jesus more and more His glory is made increasingly manifest in our lives.

What a blessed rescue that God has saved us from living for ourselves! How small and petty our lives would be without the grand purpose of God’s glory to guide and motivate us. The basic question that must inform our decisions becomes clear: Will this course of action further the glory of God? How our lives would take on more clarity if we simply led with that question. How our spending and relationships and career choices and leisure would be radically altered if we considered God’s glory as of prime importance.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;
My God, my glory here, from day to day,
And in the glory there my great Reward.
- F. Brook

Guidance

Part 1 - "The Lord is My Shepherd"

The question of guidance is an important one for God’s people. Over the years I have been asked more times than I can remember how one knows the will of God in a given circumstance. It is an important question for two reasons. First, it assumes correctly that God does indeed have a will. There are things that God desires for His people and the world He created and rules. Second, the question correctly presupposes that God has made at least portions of His will knowable. But how do we move from knowing that God has a discernable will to knowing how He guides us in making right decisions? In other words the question that simmers within so many of our minds is How does God guide us?

The world, of course, completely misses the point of Divine guidance. If the reality of God is accepted He is seen as a benevolent but rather irrelevant part of life to be consulted or blamed in only the most extreme of difficulties. This is the world that demands immediate answers and quick satisfaction. Man imagines himself to be the master of his own destiny; that his will is supreme over any sense of providence. It is little wonder that Jesus was crucified through the supposed wisdom of this world.

Misunderstandings about how God guides His people abound in the church as well. These misunderstandings have led many into error. The Christian TV airwaves are full of preachers who seem to have a direct line to God’s secret plans. They continually announce the fresh revelations that they receive. “God told me...” is the heavenly trump card that they hold out to any doubters. Still other forms of less Pentecostal mysticism promise direct encounters with God through “moving deeper in” or “climbing the inner staircase.” The assumption is that the more we meditate, the more we “center down”, and the more candles we light the greater will be our experience of the voice of God guiding us into His hard to find will.

Sinclair Ferguson addresses the confusion in the church well when he writes, “[The church] may spread before us guidance by intuition, guidance by dreams, guidance by visions, guidance by prophecies, guidance by tongues, guidance by peer-groups, guidance by leaders – and so on, in an apparently never-ending stream of possibilities. We can take one emphasis seriously, and perhaps make shipwreck of our souls. Or, we can bounce from one to another until confusion brings us to a halt.

There are certain decisions we face that seem to set the pattern or at least heavily influence the pattern of our lives. The first is who or what will we worship. Christians understand that this decision rises above all others and influences not only our lives in the here and now but determines the life hereafter. The second is more like a category of decisions – those that revolve around our patterns of behavior. What choices will we make regarding financial and sexual ethics? Will we work hard or be lazy? Will we determine early in life to be honest, gentle, forgiving, and patient? The third big decision we face is what vocation we will pursue. This influences where we go to school, where we live, and what kind of income we can anticipate. The fourth decision that influences the pattern of our lives is whom we marry or do not marry.

Often times we look to God for some sort of direct guidance about where we should attend church, what we should eat or drink, which college to attend, which job to take, and which spouse to choose. What I hope to accomplish in this series of posts is to explore what we can realistically expect from God in regard to these and many other decisions. The question is not does God guide us. The question is how God guides us. The place to begin is by acknowledging that our need to know God is always greater than our need to have certain questions answered. Job found this out in a profound but painful way (42:5) as indeed so many saints have.

Martin Luther said that true Christianity consists in personal pronouns. In other words God is more than a Shepherd, a Guide, a Leader. We must know God well enough to say with confidence:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

In this series of posts my goal is not to answer every question we might raise regarding God’s guidance. I am far too frail and foolish to do that adequately. However, I am confident that Scripture will give us answers we will find to be sufficient in those moments when our seeking can be assuaged by nothing less than the tender guidance of our good Shepherd.

Christians in a Secular Culture

A.N. Wilson wrote an excellent article dealing with the challenges of Christian faith in an almost entirely secular culture. Wilson is a New Testament scholar who drifted away from faith in his thirties only to return again. This article and his story are worth reading.

A story of a Jewish prophet falling foul of the authorities in an eastern province of the Roman Empire, and being punished, as were thousands of Jews during the governorship of Pontius Pilate, by the gruesome torture of crucifixion.

This Easter weekend we revisit the extraordinary ending of that story - the discovery by some women friends of Jesus that his tomb was empty. And we read of the reactions of the disciples - fearful, incredulous, but eventually believing that, as millions of Christians will proclaim tomorrow morning: 'The Lord is risen indeed!'

But how many in Britain today actually believe the story? Most recent polls have shown that considerably less than half of us do - yet that won't, of course, stop us tucking into Easter eggs (symbolising new life) and simnel cake (decorated with 11 marzipan balls representing the 11 true disciples, with Judas missing).

For much of my life, I, too, have been one of those who did not believe. It was in my young manhood that I began to wonder how much of the Easter story I accepted, and in my 30s I lost any religious belief whatsoever.

Like many people who lost faith, I felt anger with myself for having been 'conned' by such a story. I began to rail against Christianity, and wrote a book, entitled Jesus, which endeavoured to establish that he had been no more than a messianic prophet who had well and truly failed, and died.

Why did I, along with so many others, become so dismissive of Christianity?

Like most educated people in Britain and Northern Europe (I was born in 1950), I have grown up in a culture that is overwhelmingly secular and anti-religious. The universities, broadcasters and media generally are not merely non-religious, they are positively anti.

To my shame, I believe it was this that made me lose faith and heart in my youth. It felt so uncool to be religious. With the mentality of a child in the playground, I felt at some visceral level that being religious was unsexy, like having spots or wearing specs.

Read the entire article HERE.

COS in Thailand

Currently Church of the Saviour has a team ministering in Thailand. They are there primarily to train Christian workers how to use a Bible story tapestry which illustrates the biblical story from creation to fall to redemption to new creation. Very good stuff.

Check out THIS BLOG for more information.

Where are the men?

Great post from Phil Johnson over at Pyromaniacs:

One of the recurring figures of masculinity that John Eldredge keeps bringing up in Wild at Heart is Maximus from the movie Gladiator. A fantasy character! The subtitle of the book is Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul. But here is the secret of a man's soul according to John Eldredge: "Deep in his heart, every man longs for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue."

That's a fairy-tale perspective. It's an irresponsible little boy's notion of manhood. It lacks any biblical foundation whatsoever. But Wild at Heart is the single most influential book on Christian manhood published by any evangelical publisher in the past three decades. That says something about the state of the church. Meanwhile one of the best books actually dealing with the subject biblically is The Mark of a Man: Following Christ's Example of Masculinity—by Elizabeth Elliot.

Doesn't it say something about the state of the evangelical movement when so many men are writing bad books on Christian manhood, and the one current book that comes to mind dealing with the subject soberly and biblically was written by a woman?

Read the entire post HERE.

Greg Beale at WTS

Today I attended a lecture by Greg Beale at Westminster Seminary. His subject was the inerrancy of Scripture. Specifically Dr. Beale effectively demonstrated the Scripture's self attestation to its inerrancy in John's Apocalypse.

Inerrancy has been a very hot topic at WTS the last few years. Scripture's inerrancy has been the historic position of Westminster. However there have been several men on the faculty who have not held the traditional position of inerrancy advanced in the Westmister standards. This caused a great deal of disruption which came to a head with the publication of Pete Enns' book "Inspiration and Incarnation."

Dr. Beale is one of the most formidable New Testament scholars in the country. He is also commited to the inerrancy of Scripture. Currently he serves as Professor of New Testament and Chair of Biblical Studies at Wheaton. Westminster is interviewing Dr. Beale regarding the possibility of bringing him on board as Professor of New Testament. This would be a huge step in rebuilding the Bible department at WTS.


Books by Greg Beale:
The Erosion of Inerrancy
We Become What We Worship
The Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Text
The Temple and the Church's Mission
1 & 2 Thessalonians
Revelation

* This post has been edited. The earlier version of this post reported on some disrespectful behavior I witnessed during Dr. Beale's lecture. Although the behavior was public and I did not report the names of the individuals I felt just enough discomfort that I decided to remove that part of the post until I have opportunity to speak directly to the individuals involved.

Wilco at Frawley Stadium

Wilco will be performing at Frawley Stadium in Wilmington, Delaware on July 10th. Their politics drive me crazy but I like their music.