Month: April 2007

Who Are You?

Jesus Christ is the center of Christianity, without Him there is nothing left. It is no surprise that Satan will try his hardest to destroy the person of Jesus Christ.

Many have called into question Christ’s deity. If I had written the Bible, I would have done a better job stating things plainly! I kid, I kid. But it would be nice if Scripture came right out and said stuff, “Hey, Jesus is God.”

Well, it pretty much does! John 1:1 is pretty clear and here’s another clear one from Acts 20:28, “. . . feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

“His own blood” is a deep statement. God, who is a spirit, humbled Himself to become flesh, part of His own creation, to die for it. He shed His own blood, giving His life for us.

To say that Christ was some guy whom God used and kept perfect undermines the love of our Creator for His creation. It undermines the doctrine of inherited sin. It calls into question who is the Head of the Church. Basically, if Christ is not God, Scripture is complete nonsense.

If you throw this out, you might as well chuck the rest. Jesus Christ is God. It’s a foundational truth, without it, faith crumbles.

Who Said It?

It’s rare that a presidential candidate — a Democrat, no less — tugs his glasses off and says, “Let’s pray.” It’s rarer still that the candidate concludes, “In Christ’s name.”

Which presidential hopeful took this risk? Find out here.

Sweet And Sour

I love passages that show emotion and life. Often we think of Bible characters and events as non-human somehow. They’re just words on paper, we forget that they’re real.

I like the books of Ezra and Nehemiah because of their emotion; you can feel what they’re going through. It is for this reason that Paul’s farewell address to the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20 appeals to me.

Paul pours his heart out to his people one last time. He knows he’ll never speak to them again and they know they’ll never see him again. You can see them lingering by the boat before he takes off, waiting as long as possible to say “Good bye.”

But Paul has things to do. He is set to go to Jerusalem and he knows he will be imprisoned and bad things will happen, but he has to go. He has one last charge for his people: watch out. Be careful. Paul’s ministry was marked by persecution and he sees it coming their way too.

Be ready for it. Expect it. But grow anyway. Stick with what Paul taught.

He’s done. Tears flow. A friend is gone, but it’s all worth it because heaven looms where they will all meet again. Beautiful.

New Noah’s Ark

I believe I mentioned this guy back when he began working on his ark, but he’s done now. He has officially made a replica of Noah’s Ark, complete with animal models to show how they could all fit.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan’s fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house.

The actual ark was about five times bigger than this, but still, pretty cool!

My Stand And My Will

I have free will. I am free to make as many stupid or smart choices as I desire.

If we have no free will then there is no sin. Sin is doing the opposite of what God said to do, but if all we do is what God says, then there can be no sin.

Dizzying logic and I’m sure greater theologians than myself could rip that statement to pieces. So be it, I have plenty of tape.

One of the most sobering biblical concepts is our stand before the Lord. Verses like Romans 14:12, “every one of us shall give account of himself to God,” is enough to make any believer pause and think.

If there is no free will then it is God who has to give an account to me. If God is forcing me to do all these sins, He has some splainin’ to do.

The very fact that I have to give an account to God proves, beyond any doubt to me, that I have free will. It can be no other way.

Rich Kid Smart Kid

I’ll admit it, I’ve read all of Robert Kiyosaki’s books. I think he has some great concepts and a true outlook on the coming years in financial matters. However, he has perhaps one of the worst ever best-selling author means of writing. Oh is he annoying.

I skipped reading this book when it came out because I had no kids who would care about money when it came out. But I now have at least one kid who does, so I read it.

It was basically his Rich Dad first book written all over with some stuff in their about education. If you’ve read Rich Dad you don’t need to read this, if you haven’t and you have a kid, I’d recommend the book.

His stuff is pretty good, but be prepared to be highly annoyed by his horrible writing.

The Vow Is Over

OK, so I wouldn’t make a good monk. My vow of silence is over, I’ve been pushed over the edge.

Someone in my house, who will remain nameless, was watching American Idol Gives Back where all these rich people tell all us poor people to give our money to starving people.

I’m all for feeding starving people, I do it every day, but the nerve of some of these people.

Madonna, Madonna for crying out loud was telling me, Jeff Weddle, how I need to feel guilty about kids in Africa with AIDS and how they need my money to stop AIDS.

You know why people have AIDS Madonna? Because people have sex, Madonna. And you, Madonna, have spent your career telling young girls to go ahead and have as much sex as possible and now they all have AIDS.

Who has done more to prevent AIDS in this world, a monogamous pastor or a slutty, sex-pushing singer?

Listen Madonna, my money is not going to stop AIDS. You know what stops AIDS, Madonna? People not having sex stops AIDS. People don’t need my money, they need Jesus Christ because Jesus stops people from having sex.

Er, something.

Ya’ll be tellin‘ me. . . .

Vandals For Christ

At least two billboard signs that seek to get people to re-examine homosexuality by using biblical references have been vandalized in Indianapolis.

The billboard proclaims that Jesus affirmed a gay couple. “Lie, lie, lie,” is scrawled in red paint above the original message on a sign on 10th Street.

“There was a sense of disappointment, a sense of shock. That’s OK,” Miner said. “We’re going to share a positive, powerful message how the Bible affirms gay people and we know there is going to be some opposition as we try to get that message out here.”

John Frum To Jesus Christ

Thousands of cult members who use to worship a mythical messiah figure they believed to dwell inside a nearby volcano are giving their hearts to Christ after viewing the Jesus film.

The people on the isolated South Pacific island of Tanna, in the country of Vanuatu, have long put their faith in John Frum, a figure they insist is a former American GI during World War II who will someday emerge from the volcano and shower his believers with wealth and knowledge.

Self-Righteousness

Self-righteousness is a loud din raised to drown the voice of guilt within us. There is a guilty conscience behind every brazen word and act and behind every manifestation of self-righteousness.
–Eric Hoffer

High Time To Awake

It was a solemn saying which fell from the lips of an eminent minister of Christ on his death-bed “We are none of us more than half awake.” If believers were more thorough, and real, and whole-hearted in their belief there would be far less unbelief in the world.

—JC Ryle

Itching Ears Being Tickled

At Tucson’s largest Episcopal church, St. Philip’s in the Hills, the creators of an alternative worship service called Come & See are bucking tradition by rewriting what have become prescribed ways of worship.

For the faithful, that means God isn’t referred to as “him,” and references to “the Lord” are rare.

“Lord” has become a loaded word conveying hierarchical power over things, “which in what we have recorded in our sacred texts, is not who Jesus understood himself to be,” St. Philip’s associate rector Susan Anderson-Smith said.

“The way our service reads, the theology is that God is love, period,” St. Philip’s deacon Thomas Lindell added. “Our service has done everything it can to get rid of power imagery. We do not pray as though we expect the big guy in the sky to come and fix everything.”

More On The Morons

GetReligion: Dying for Free Speech

What would the news coverage look like if three Muslims were found with their throats slit in an Islamic publishing house in a northern Scotland town? Two victims were citizens of the United Kingdom and one was from Morocco, and the apprehended suspects said they did it for their country because “they are attacking our religion.”

I’d wager that the news coverage would be front-page just about everywhere.

Course In Miracles

The United States-based Course in Miracles International has hired the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh’s Quincentenary Hall and the Hub, at the top of the Royal Mile, for what they call a “Miracle Festival” next week.

“We want to change the way that people think about life. It will make you look in a different way at yourself. It has a complete basis on the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

The organisation’s website includes controversial statements suggesting illnesses such as cancer are a person’s own choice.

It states: “No-one suffers pain except his choice elects this state for him. No-one can grieve, nor fear, nor think him sick unless these are the outcomes that he wants. And no-one dies without his own consent.”