Saturday, February 25, 2006 

In case your in an accident..dont get out of your car!

In case you get in an accident dont get out of your car...This poor guy did and listen to what happened to him...

http://graphics1.snopes.com/autos/audio/jackbox.mp3

If your having a difficult day this will give you somthing to ponder!

Keep reading your Bible!

6:15 a.m. | |

Friday, February 24, 2006 

Jesus, Superman and your pets' rights....

Is it a bird, is it an RE teacher? Superman called on to help in the classroom
By Liz Lightfoot, Education Correspondent

After three decades battling to save the Earth from invaders, Superman has a new mission. This time he must brighten up religious education as a modern-day model of Jesus Christ. RE teachers are being urged to make use of the fictional hero to give children an insight into morality and religious thinking.

Research has shown that the use of films, including Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan and The Matrix, increases pupils' motivation and helps them to a better understanding of abstract concepts, says Helen Cook, of Sheffield Hallam University.

"Teenagers visit the cinema and see films on television and DVDs so it's hardly surprising that their assessments of what is heroic and what is evil, possible or impossible, are partly based on what they watch," says Miss Cook, the head of post-graduate teacher training in RE. She sees many parallels between Superman and Jesus:

• Both arrive on Earth in unusual circumstances after being sent by their fathers
• Both move from relative obscurity to a prominent adulthood

• Both are able to help the humans they are sent to live with

• Both struggle to stand up for truth against injustice and evil

Miss Cook, a former RE teacher in Lincolnshire, says children who were not interested before become enthusiastic once they are given a point of reference. "Children aren't brought up to go to Sunday School any more and find it difficult to think about abstract concepts such as God and pre-destination and films give them an insight," she says.

In some schools the use of cartoon and film figures might be considered a sacrilege and teachers have to use them sensitively, she adds.

The Rev Dr John Gay, the Church of England's spokesman on religious education, said analogies could be a highly effective teaching technique as long as they are used carefully. "They go right back to the parables."

Taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
--------------------------

Government guidelines will tell owners exactly how they must care for their pets

CATS, dogs and other family pets are to have five statutory “freedoms” enshrined in law — and owners who flout the regulations could face jail or a fine of up to Ј5,000 after a visit from the “pet police”. The Times has learnt that Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, is to produce detailed codes of conduct telling pet owners how to feed their animals and where they should go to the toilet, along with ways of providing “mental stimulation”. Owners of “sociable” pets should provide them with playmates, the codes will say. Every domesticated animal will have a code of conduct tailored to their species, each of which is expected to run into dozens of pages. This will form part of the Animal Welfare Bill, expected to clear Parliament in the next few months.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will inform the owners of Britain’s ten million cats, eight million dogs and one million rabbits of their new obligations in a series of pamphlets distributed to vets, pet shops, kennels and over the internet. The first code of conduct, produced for cat owners, has been obtained by The Times. The 18-page A4 document, drafted for MPs scrutinising the Bill, warns cat owners of the dangers of dogs.

It reads: “Dogs should be introduced to cats very carefully. The dog should be on a lead at first so that it cannot chase the cat.” Although any breach of these codes is not an offence in itself, failure to observe elements of the code will count against defendants in court. The five freedoms laid down by the Animal Welfare Bill are: appropriate diet, suitable living conditions, companionship or solitude as appropriate, monitoring for abnormal behaviour and protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease. The law will be enforced by “pet police”; council employees with powers to enter property and seize animals. This is a significant shift from the present situation, where prosecutors have to prove a domestic animal is being mistreated.

The Bill, which has crossparty support and is expected to return to the floor of the Commons in March, also bans the docking of dogs’ tails and pets being won as prizes by anyone aged under 16. Bill Wiggin, the Shadow Agriculture Minister who is seeing the Bill through committee stage, wants the legislation amended so that first-time offenders get a written warning. “There will be a lot of information in these codes of conduct and people who don’t read them properly may fall foul of the law,” he said. Janet Nunn, chief executive of the Pet Care Trust, said that owners should keep all vets’ bills and other documentation to prove that they were looking after the animal properly. Ben Bradshaw, the Animal Welfare Minister, said: “The vast majority of pet owners have nothing to fear from this legislation.” The Bill increases the time in which a prosecutor can bring a case from six months to three years.

Pet shops may bring in a register of animals sold, with customers signing to signify they are above the age of 16 and have been given care advice. The Bill applies to all vertebrates, but a code of conduct for invertebrates, such as lobsters, may follow. The Government has said it is an “enabling” Bill, which allows further rules to be drawn up under secondary legislation.

THE CODE OF CONDUCT
The 18-page draft code tells cat owners that they should:

Keep cats indoors at night to protect them and the local wildlife

Neuter cats at four months old. Females can produce up to 18 kittens a year, the code says, and “motherhood takes a lot out of a cat”. Cats advertise their availability by screeching, fighting and wandering off, it adds

Provide areas where cats can hide, such as an enclosed bed or box, or a high ledge where they can escape from children and other pets

Ensure that cats have enough “mental stimulation” so that they do not become bored or frustrated

Use lightweight rolling balls, or toys that stimulate “catching behaviour”, such as fishing rods Make sure that cats do not become overweight, and know their ideal weight at every stage of their life

Ensure that cats’ preference for privacy is met by giving them a hidden away place with cat litter to relieve themselves. This advice forms part of a nine-point guide for “going to the toilet”

-taken from the following web site: http://www.cavyrescue.co.uk/cgi-bin/news.pl?record=23

5:17 a.m. | |

Tuesday, February 21, 2006 

Movie reviews from a Conservative Perspective!

Hey Everybody, Here are a couple of links that review movies from an objective, conservative perspective and give details as to the content. I find it a helpful resource to know what Im going to see (with regards to violence, language, sexual content etc) and can therefore make an informed decision before viewing. Here ya go:

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

and

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/index.htm

12:51 p.m. | |

 

Movie reviews from a Conservative Perspective!

Hey Everybody, Here are a couple of links that review movies from an objective, conservative perspective and give details as to the content. I find it a helpful resource to know what Im going to see (with regards to violence, language, sexual content etc) and can therefore make an informed decision before viewing. Here ya go:

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

and

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/index.htm

12:51 p.m. | |

Saturday, February 18, 2006 

The Urgency of Preaching!!

The Urgency of Preaching
by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

And how will they hear without a preacher?Romans 10:14

Has preaching fallen on hard times? An open debate is now being waged over the character and centrality of preaching in the church. At stake is nothing less than the integrity of Christian worship and proclamation.

How did this happen? Given the central place of preaching in the New Testament church, it would seem that the priority of biblical preaching should be uncontested. After all, as John A. Broadus--one of Southern Seminary's founding faculty--famously remarked, "Preaching is characteristic of Christianity. No other religion has made the regular and frequent assembling of groups of people, to hear religious instruction and exhortation, an integral part of Christian worship."

Yet, numerous influential voices within evangelicalism suggest that the age of the expository sermon is now past. In its place, some contemporary preachers now substitute messages intentionally designed to reach secular or superficial congregations--messages which avoid preaching a biblical text, and thus avoid a potentially embarrassing confrontation with biblical truth.

A subtle shift visible at the onset of the twentieth century has become a great divide as the century ends. The shift from expository preaching to more topical and human-centered approaches has grown into a debate over the place of Scripture in preaching, and the nature of preaching itself.

Two famous statements about preaching illustrate this growing divide. Reflecting poetically on the urgency and centrality of preaching, the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter once remarked, "I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." With vivid expression and a sense of gospel gravity, Baxter understood that preaching is literally a life or death affair. Eternity hangs in the balance as the preacher proclaims the Word.

Contrast that statement to the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, perhaps the most famous (or infamous) preacher of this century's early decades. Fosdick, pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City, provides an instructive contrast to the venerable Baxter. "Preaching," he explained, "is personal counseling on a group basis."

These two statements about preaching reveal the contours of the contemporary debate. For Baxter, the promise of heaven and the horrors of hell frame the preacher's consuming burden. For Fosdick, the preacher is a kindly counselor offering helpful advice and encouragement.
The current debate over preaching is most commonly explained as a argument about the focus and shape of the sermon. Should the preacher seek to preach a biblical text through an expository sermon? Or, should the preacher direct the sermon to the "felt needs" and perceived concerns of the hearers?

Clearly, many evangelicals now favor the second approach. Urged on by devotees of "needs-based preaching," many evangelicals have abandoned the text without recognizing that they have done so. These preachers may eventually get to the text in the course of the sermon, but the text does not set the agenda or establish the shape of the message.

Focusing on so-called "perceived needs" and allowing these needs to set the preaching agenda inevitably leads to a loss of biblical authority and biblical content in the sermon. Yet, this pattern is increasingly the norm in many evangelical pulpits. Fosdick must be smiling from the grave.

Earlier evangelicals recognized Fosdick's approach as a rejection of biblical preaching. An out-of-the-closet theological liberal, Fosdick paraded his rejection of biblical inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility--and rejected other doctrines central to the Christian faith. Enamored with trends in psychological theory, Fosdick became liberal Protestantism's happy pulpit therapist. The goal of his preaching was well captured by the title of one of his many books, On Being a Real Person.

Shockingly, this is now the approach evident in many evangelical pulpits. The sacred desk has become an advice center and the pew has become the therapist's couch. Psychological and practical concerns have displaced theological exegesis and the preacher directs his sermon to the congregation's perceived needs.

The problem is, of course, that the sinner does not know what his most urgent need is. She is blind to her need for redemption and reconciliation with God, and focuses on potentially real but temporal needs such as personal fulfillment, financial security, family peace, and career advancement. Too many sermons settle for answering these expressed needs and concerns, and fail to proclaim the Word of Truth.

Without doubt, few preachers following this popular trend intend to depart from the Bible. But under the guise of an intention to reach modern secular men and women "where they are," the sermon has been transformed into a success seminar. Some verses of Scripture may be added to the mix, but for a sermon to be genuinely biblical, the text must set the agenda as the foundation of the message--not as an authority cited for spiritual footnoting.

Charles Spurgeon confronted the very same pattern of wavering pulpits in his own day. Some of the most fashionable and well-attended London churches featured pulpiteers who were the precursors to modern needs-based preachers. Spurgeon--who managed to draw a few hearers despite his insistence on biblical preaching--confessed that "The true ambassador for Christ feels that he himself stands before God and has to deal with souls in God's stead as God's servant, and stands in a solemn place--a place in which unfaithfulness is inhumanity to man as well as treason to God."

Spurgeon and Baxter understood the dangerous mandate of the preacher, and were therefore driven to the Bible as their only authority and message. They left their pulpits trembling with urgent concern for the souls of their hearers and fully aware of their accountability to God for preaching His Word, and His Word alone. Their sermons were measured by power; Fosdick's by popularity.

The current debate over preaching may well shake congregations, denominations, and the evangelical movement. But know this: The recovery and renewal of the church in this generation will come only when from pulpit to pulpit the herald preaches as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.

© R. Albert Mohler, Jr. - All Rights Reserved

6:53 a.m. | |

Friday, February 17, 2006 

JESUS IS MY SUPERHERO?...Wheres that verse in the Bible???

Ok, now its your turn! Is there anything wrong with the following song?? Both of these songs are written for children...my question is, what are we teaching in the following two songs? What do we want our children to understand about God, themselves and Jesus Christ? I find the first song seriously lacking in theological depth as well as I have a few other concerns (one of which is calling Jesus a Superhero...is that the best we can do? Umm...no, no its not...What about speaking of God as holy, or being created by God, talking of the cross etc...come on, really! We CAN do better!!) but I will leave most of the critiquing to you :-) Let us sing to the Glory of God well!! I am thankful to God for great songs of the faith that give glory to God and talk of the cross of Christ! Do you smell somthing? I think I just opened up 'a can of worms'...well lets' dive in, here we go!!:

JESUS IS MY SUPERHERO- Hillsong Kids.
he's the one who makes the sun shine
he's the one who puts the moon in the sky
he's the one who hung the stars, one by one
he's the one who made the birds sing
he's the one who makes the trees so high
he's the one who makes me smile, day by day
jesus youre my superhero
you're my star
my best friend x2.
better than spiderman..better than superman..better than batman..better than anyone.

As compared with....

MIGHTY, MIGHTY SAVIOR

No one is good
No one is holy before God
I need someone to cleanse me
No one is pure
No one is righteous in Your sight
I need someone to save me
But I’m so glad You died and rose again
For helpless sinners like me

What a mighty, mighty Savior You are
What a mighty, mighty Savior You are
You can wash away my sin
You can change my heart within
What a mighty, mighty Savior You are

Sin is too strong
For me to conquer on my own
I need someone to help me
I am too weak
I cannot change my evil heart
I need someone to save me
But I’m so glad You died and rose again
For helpless sinners like me
© 2004 Sovereign Grace Praise

So what on your brain???

12:00 p.m. | |

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 

Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Authority in Preaching

This past Sunday our pastor preached on Romans 10:14-15 and the sermon can be found at:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=gfcto

I thought I would post an article by Iain Murray on the authority of Preaching, enjoy!

Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Authority in Preaching
[The Summary of an Address given by Iain Murray at the Carey Conference 2001 at Swanwick.]

During the Second World War a Scot who was in the services and visiting London went to Westminster Chapel but the Chapel was closed,damaged by bombing, but on a piece of paper visitors were directed to a nearby hall. He described a 'thin man' wearing a tie calling the people to worship. He thought the man was a church officer, and he appreciated his prayer, but then the man began to preach, beginning quietly enough. "This must be Lloyd-Jones," he thought. But for the next 40 minutes he was unconscious of anything else in the world, hearing only this man's words. He had been caught up in the mystery of preaching. That man later became a well known Church of Scotland minister called Tom Allen.

When he left that service Tom Allen was taken up with the message, not the preacher. DMLJ would have thought little of conferences addresses like this one about himself. He thought messages about contemporary men had done great injury especially during the Victorian period. With man-centredness being the terrible bane of today's church there is a danger in drawing attention to personalities. DMLJ would quote the words of God, "My servant Moses is dead so arise and go over Jordan." DMLJ prevented several would-be biographers writing anything, and reluctantly consented to Iain Murray's official biography if only something could be written which would encourage those who were entering the gospel ministry.

DMLJ believed that God was the God of tomorrow who would raise up servants who would enjoy blessings that he himself had not known. Frequently when he prayed it was particularly for a recovery of authority and power in preaching.

One must add another observation, that preaching was not DMLJ's exclusive concern. He was concerned with the church fellowship, prayer meetings, and the promotion of foreign missionaries, but he was convinced that the spiritual health of the church depended on the state of the pulpit. On behalf of Christ the true preacher speaks and the Lord himself is building his church in his sovereign way. So DMLJ was conscious of what he spoke of as the romance of preaching. The preacher is but an instrument in the Lord's hands: the preacher is not in control. Preaching is the highest and most glorious calling to which anyone could be called.
So when we come to the subject of authority in preaching there are a number of ways this could be addressed and the New Testament terminology on this theme should be studied, e.g. that 'Jesus spoke with authority', the phrase 'the word came with power', and the word 'boldness' which is surprisingly frequent in the NT. Iain Murray's approach was to take the characteristics of preaching with power.

1. It always is attended by a consciousness of the presence of God.
Though a worshipper may be meeting in the midst of a large congregation of people when the preaching is with authority the individual forgets the person he has come with, and the building they are sitting in, and even the one who is preaching. He is conscious that he is being spoken to by the living God. Thus it was in Acts 2. A remarkable illustration of this is the spiritualist woman in Sandfields, drawn to hear DMLJ and conscious that she was surrounded by 'clean' power. For the first time she was conscious she was in the presence of God. Thomas Hooker had such a sense of God about him that it was said that he could have put a king in his pocket.

2. There is no problem of holding the attention of the people.
It is a problem to keep people's attention. The preacher has his chain of thought, and all the people also may have theirs which are all very different so that they are taking in very little from the preaching. But authoritative preaching gets inside people because it speaks to the heart, conscience and will. Skillful oratory cannot come anywhere near to that preaching. It made a moral and emotional earthquake in those who heard the word at Thessalonica. The well-remembered ship builder who built ships in his mind during Sundays' sermon could not lay the first plank when he was listening to George Whitefield preach. Conviction of sin and the reality of the living God became far more important to him than his business.

One Friday night in his series of lectures on theology DMLJ was preaching from Revelation on the final judgment on Babylon and listening to that exultant message it would have been impossible to have been occupied with any other subject, the great reality was such that awareness of anything else disappeared. The very date of that occasion was accurately quoted, easily memorable to the speaker because the next day he was getting married, but all thoughts of that were gone as he saw the overthrow of great Babylon.

3. Even children can understand it.
There is a mistake in thinking that preaching is chiefly to address the intellect, and thus the will. Rather preaching is to address the heart and soul of men and women. Preaching which accomplishes that can arrest a child as easily as a grown-up. Children did listen to DMLJ because of the character of the preaching and the sense of God about it.

4. It is preaching that results in a change in those who listen.
It may be repentance; it may be restoration, or reconciliation; it may be strength given for those in the midst of trials, but powerful preaching brings that change. Sometimes they went away indignant and some of them were later converted. You cannot be apathetic under true preaching. Felix trembled. There was no certainty of conversions but there was a degree of certainty that there will be power in that preaching. In Mrs Bethan Lloyd-Jones' book on Sandfields there is a reference to a professor of law at Liverpool who said that there were two men who kept the country from communism - Aneurin Bevan and DMLJ. His preaching affected communities. On November 15 1967 he was preaching in Aberfan a year after the disaster. His text was Romans 8:18 "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to be revealed in us." It had a great impact on the perplexed little religious community in the Taff valley.

What is Necessary for Powerful Preaching? What elements produce it?

1. Sermons will not be marked by authority and power unless they are marked by truth that the Holy Spirit can honour. The word of God is to be exegeted and explained. That has to be the heart of the sermon. There is a real danger that we become over concerned about such things as delivery, while the New Testament is insistent on the content: "let him speak as the oracles of God." The authority of the preaching comes from the text of Scripture. It is God- given power which honours his own word.

Dr Lloyd-Jones grew up in a vague sentimental era with churches fascinated with the personalities and quirks of famous men. DMLJ as a man was absorbed with the glory and the greatness of the truth. A preacher lives in the truth. DMLJ expected the preacher to go through the whole Bible in his personal devotions once each year. He expected him to continue to read theology as long as he lived. The more he read the better. Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.

In the latter part of his ministry there was a change in emphasis. In the first 30 years there was a stress on the importance of the historic faith, and then in the last decades a new emphasis emerged, not now on the recovery of truth but with the accompanying need of power to proclaim it.

2. The man himself is a part of the message. He can read all the best books and give out a whole rounded exegesis of the text, but somehow the man himself has not become a part of the truth. The less we say of ourselves in preaching the better, but the Holy Spirit does not work in preaching except through the man, and so, inevitably, not only does the message compel attention but the man himself. The man becomes a part of the message. What does that mean?

A] The preacher must know the power of the message he is bringing to others. When DMLJ was 25 and at the cross-roads of his life, he became engaged to Bethan Philips, and she became conscious that her future husband was considering becoming a preacher. She was very concerned because she had never heard him preach. At that point a letter came from a missionary society inviting them to become medical missionaries in India. She was challenged by this invitation but DMLJ had no interest at all. Bethan said to him, "But how do you know that you can preach?" "I know I can preach to myself" he replied. He knew the power of the truth in his own heart.

When he was preaching on Ephesians 2 on fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and the mind he raised the question what they were? He interjected that "as I was preparing this sermon it filled me with a loathing and hatred of myself. I look back and I think of the hours I have wasted in mere talk and argumentation. And it was with one end only, simply to gain my point and to show how clever I was" ("God's Way of Reconciliation" p.65). So DMLJ was preaching to himself before he spoke to others.

B] The Holy Spirit must produce the feelings in the preacher's heart that must be in harmony with what the Spirit has breathed out. Paul writes, "Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men." Again he speaks of some "with tears" that they are enemies of the cross. One finds phrases like, "I tell you weeping ...I am glad and rejoice with you all." There was something in the way these preachers used by God spoke - "I preached what I smartingly did feel," said Bunyan. A most important part of preaching is exhortation. In preaching we move people to do what they are listening to, and to this end there has to be a felt consciousness in the preacher of the truth of what he is saying. We have to bring our feelings into harmony with the stupendous nature of what we are saying. The men most used of God in their pulpits are those who know they had fallen far short of the wonder that should characterise the preaching.

C] The more he becomes part of his message then the more he forgets himself. What is the main feeling in the preacher? It should be love - to God and to man. It is the very opposite of self-centredness. Love seeks not her own. The needs of the people spoken to take over. We forget ourselves. A baptism of Holy Spirit love gives us a love for people.

Preaching Under the Influence of the Holy Spirit.

There is a total insufficiency in ourselves or in anyone else in the world, so that we cannot preach without the Holy Spirit. I Cor 2:3 - is the key text, "And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." God makes us weak and so enables us to become true preachers. Real authority always comes out of felt weakens, and then God uses us. The preacher is the last person to be praised. To be clapped when he had finished would have horrified him.

Bethan Lloyd-Jones once listed to some men speaking about her husband and she interjected, "No one will understand my husband who does not realise that he was first an evangelist and a man of prayer." DMLJ loved the hymn of Oswald Allen, "Today thy mercy calls us..." especially these final lines:

When all things seem against us,
To drive us to despair,
We know one gate is open,
One ear will hear our prayer

That is what he believed. His public pastoral prayer lifted many burdens long before the preaching began. He rested ultimately on the Holy Spirit being given to them that ask him. The real preacher is a mere voice sounding in the wilderness. DMLJ was criticised for being too dogmatic and authoritarian. If we are preaching from God then that has to be delivered with faith and confidence that we knows what God is saying. You have to believe definite truths in order to be saved. Men have to know that they are condemned before they can be saved. There is the utter certainty of a preacher in what he is preaching. Paul says, "We have the same spirit of faith ... we also believe and we speak." That is the fundamental thing. We are going against all that the natural man believes.

DMLJ's faith came out in what he preached, that man was under the wrath of God, depraved and lost. He preached this with absolute conviction, and he followed it up with the cross, week by week. That authority was given by the Holy Spirit. It influenced DMLJ's whole way of looking at things. He was a man who stood alone for most of his life and one reason was that he was conscious that the problem with man was far deeper than people in the church were prepared to acknowledge They were thinking of 'communication to the modern man' etc. DMLJ believed that we face not the problem of communication but what was wrong in the church itself. One of the reasons that he did not take part in the big crusades was because there was something wrong in the churches themselves. He quietly stood aside, God having kept him in the way he did, he preached evangelistically each Sunday.

The test of the presence of the Holy Spirit's work is the presence of Christ himself in the assembly and known by the congregation. A maid worked in a Manse and there was great anticipation for the coming of the powerful preacher, Mr Cook. One maid was not enthusiastic, and she told the butcher she was fed up, "with all this fuss you would think Jesus Christ himself was coming." Mr Cook duly came and preached and as she heard him something happened in her life. The butcher said to her with a grin on the following Tuesday, "Did Jesus Christ come?" "Yes, he did come," she said seriously.

William Williams of Pantycelyn said, "Love is the greatest thing in religion, and without it religion is nothing." DMLJ often quoted those words. Love has to lead the way. He thought the people were not ready to hear extended series of systematic expository sermons for the first 20 years he was in the ministry. The needs of the people were paramount because love is in our hearts.

By Iain H. Murray

2:13 p.m. | |

Saturday, February 11, 2006 

Being Mocked....

Being mocked

It’s the essence of Christ’s work, not Muhammad’s John Piper

We saw last week in the Islamic demonstrations over Danish cartoons of Muhammad another vivid depiction of the difference between Muhammad and Christ, and what it means to follow each. Not all Muslims approve the violence. But a deep lesson remains: The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.

If Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation. This was His saving work: to be insulted and die to rescue sinners from the wrath of God. Already in the Psalms the path of mockery was promised: "All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads" (Psalm 22:7). "He was despised and rejected by men . . . as one from whom men hide their faces . . . and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3).

When it actually happened it was worse than expected. "They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. . . . And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they spit on him" (Matthew 27:28-29). His response to all this was patient endurance. This was the work he came to do. "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

This was not true of Muhammad. And Muslims do not believe it is true of Jesus. Most Muslims have been taught that Jesus was not crucified. One Sunni Muslim writes, "Muslims believe that Allah saved the Messiah from the ignominy of crucifixion." Another adds, "We honor [Jesus] more than you [Christians] do. . . . We refuse to believe that God would permit him to suffer death on the cross." An essential Muslim impulse is to avoid the "ignominy" of the cross.

That's the most basic difference between Christ and Muhammad and between a Muslim and a follower of Christ. For Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. For a true follower of Christ, enduring suffering patiently for the glory of Christ is the essence of obedience. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account" (Matthew 5:11). During his life on earth Jesus was called a bastard (John 8:41), a drunkard (Matthew 11:19), a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65), a devil (Matthew 10:25); and he promised his followers the same: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household" (Matthew 10:25).

The caricature and mockery of Christ has continued to this day. Martin Scorsese portrayed Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ as wracked with doubt and beset with sexual lust. Andres Serrano used National Endowment for the Arts funding to portray Jesus on a cross sunk in a bottle of urine. The Da Vinci Code portrays Jesus as a mere mortal who married and fathered children.

How should his followers respond? On the one hand, we are grieved and angered. On the other hand, we identify with Christ, embrace his suffering, rejoice in our afflictions, and say with the apostle Paul that vengeance belongs to the Lord, let us love our enemies and win them with the gospel. If Christ did his work by being insulted, we must do ours likewise.

When Muhammad was portrayed in 12 cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the uproar among Muslims was intense and sometimes violent: They burned flags, torched embassies, and stoned at least one Christian church. The cartoonists went into hiding in fear for their lives, like Salman Rushdie before them. What does this mean?

It means that a religion with no insulted Savior will not endure insults to win the scoffers. It means that Islam is destined to bear the impossible load of upholding the honor of one who did not die and rise again to make that possible. It means that Jesus Christ is still the only hope of peace with God and peace with man. And it means that his followers must be willing to "share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10).

Copyright © 2006 WORLD MagazineFebruary 18, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 7

4:37 a.m. | |

Thursday, February 09, 2006 

Thoughts On Evangelism....

Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved. -- Charles Spurgeon

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshippers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose." -- John Piper

"The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world. "
C. S. Lewis

“If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees.Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for.”
C. H. Spurgeon

Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher of the 17th century conveys the urgency, the zeal of Christian witness when he said, "I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!"

Stop Poor Sinner, Stop

Stop, poor sinner! stop and think
Before you farther go!
Will you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting woe?
Once again I charge you, stop!
For, unless you warning take,
Ere you are aware, you drop
Into the burning lake!

Say, have you an arm like God,
That you His will oppose?
Fear you not that iron rod
With which He breaks His foes?
Can you stand in that dread day,
When He judgment shall proclaim,
And the earth shall melt away
Like wax before the flame?

Pale faced death will quickly come
To drag you to His bar;
Then to hear your awful doom
Will fill you with despair:
All your sins will round you crowd,
Sins of a blood-crimson dye;
Each for vengeance crying loud,
And what can you reply?

Though your heart be made of steel,
Your forehead lined with brass,
God at length will make you feel,
He will not let you pass:
Sinners then in vain will call,
Though they now despise His grace,
“Rocks and mountains on us fall,
And hide us from His face!”

But as yet there is a hope
You may His mercy know;
Though His arm is lifted up
He still forbears the blow:
?Twas for sinners Jesus died,
Sinners He invites to come;
None who come shall be denied,
He says, “There still is room.”
-John Newton

5:12 a.m. | |

Thursday, February 02, 2006 

World Magazine & Blog...

Recently, I have been looking for a web site that reports news written from a Christian perspective. After looking around for a while I came across this weekly magazine (linked from Al Mohlers' web site) and thought Id post a link to it, as well as to their blog.

Here is a excerpt from their web site:

"WORLD is a weekly newsmagazine, published 50 times a year. WORLD includes sharp, full-color photographs and offers complete coverage of national and international news, all written from a Christian perspective."

"WORLD Mission Statement: To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God."

COLUMNISTS:

Joel Belz
Janie B. Cheaney
Hugh Hewitt
Dr. Albert Mohler
Marvin Olasky
John Piper
Andree Seu
Gene Edward Veith
Paul Weyrich

Here is the link for those who are interested:

http://www.worldmag.com/

And here is a link to their blog:

http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/

Keep delighting in Christ (and, as my favorite radio show [wayofthemasterradio.com] states...) "Go serve your King!"

6:38 a.m. | |

 

Newton and Baxter....

Bitter and Sweet
by John Newton

1 Kindle, Saviour, in my heart,
A flame of love divine;
Hear, for mine I trust thou art,
And sure I would be thine;
If my soul has felt thy grace,
If to me thy name is known;
Why should trifles fill the place
Due to thyself alone?

2 'Tis a strange mysterious life
I live from day to day;
Light and darkness, peace and strife,
Bear an alternate sway:
When I think the battle won,
I have to fight it o'er again;
When I say I'm overthrown,
Relief I soon obtain.

3 Often at the mercy-seat,
While calling on thy name,
Swarms of evil thoughts I meet,
Which fill my soul with shame.
Agitated in my mind,
Like a feather in the air,
Can I thus a blessing find?
My soul, can this be pray'r?

4 But when Christ, my Lord and Friend,
Is pleas'd to show his pow'r
All at once my troubles end,
And I've a golden hour;
Then I see his smiling face,
Feel the pledge of joys to come:
Often, Lord, repeat this grace
Till thou shalt call me home.

A Psalm of Praise
by Richard Baxter (Excerpts)

Ye holy Angels bright,
Which stand before God's throne,
And dwell in glorious light,
Praise ye the Lord each one.
You there so nigh
Are much more meet
Than we the feet,
For things so high.

You blessed souls at rest
That see your Saviour's face,
Whose glory, even the least,
Is far above our grace;
God's praises sound,
As in his sight
With sweet delight
You do abound.

All nations of the earth,
Extol the world's great King;
With melody and mirth
His glorious praises sing.
For he still reigns;
And will bring low
The proudest foe
That him disdains.

Sing forth Jehovah's praise,
Ye saints that on him call;
Magnify him always;
His holy churches all
In him rejoice;
And there proclaim
His Holy Name
With sounding voice.

My soul, bear thou thy part!
Triumph in God above!
With a well-tuned heart
Sing thou the songs of love.
Thou art his own
Whose precious blood,
Shed for thy good,
His love made known.

Though human help depart
And flesh draw near to dust,
Let Faith keep up my heart
To love God true and just;
And all my days
Let no disease
Cause me to cease
His joyful praise.

Though sin would make me doubt,
And fill my soul with fears,
Though God seem to shut out
My daily cries and tears,
By no such frost
Of sad delays
Let thy sweet praise
Be nipped and lost.

Away, distrustful care!
I have thy promise, Lord.
To banish all despair,
I have thy oath and word.
And therefore I
Shall see thy face,
And there thy grace
Shall magnify.

Though sin and death conspire
To rob thee of thy praise,
Still towards thee I'll aspire,
And thou dull hearts canst raise.
Open thy door;
And when grim death
Shall stop this breath
I'll praise thee more.

With thy triumphant flock
Then I shall numbered be;
Built on the eternal rock
His glory we shall see.
The heavens so high
With praise shall ring.
And all shall sing
In harmony.

The sun is but a spark
From the eternal light;
Its brightest beams are dark
To that most glorious sight.
There the whole Chore
With one accord
Shall praise the Lord
For evermore.

6:10 a.m. | |

About me

  • I'm TwinsK&D
  • From Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Oh, this is about us...um...well theres two of us and we're twins. We both attend Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Canada. We love Jesus Christ and long to be more like Him and to desire Him above all things!
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