Books that I read this past year that I recommend:
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas: An outstanding work on the German pastor and theologian who stood up to Hitler and paid with his life. Metaxas shows Bonhoeffer's deep faith in Jesus and the Bible and how, trying to save the Jews in Nazi Germany, he put his faith into action.
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent: Burpo's four-year-old son Colby, during a near-death experience, is shown heaven, later describing what he saw to his family in a way only a child could relate details. A book that is sure to encourage your faith.
The Shack by William P. Young: A novel about a man who endures a gruesome tragedy in his family, who is invited by God to revisit the place of his daughter's apparent murder. The meeting transforms the man's life--and will transform your thinking about God's overwhelming love and grace.
Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna: Notwithstanding Viola's simplistic "solutions" to returning to true early church worship, and fuzziness about a few historic facts, this book is still an eye-opener about common church practices that are accepted as "Christian"--but which are not rooted in the New Testament at all. A clarion call for discerning what church practices and teachings are mere adaptations from non-Christian culture.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Twelve Days of Christmas
The best article I have ever read on the spiritual meaning of this popular Christmas carol is the one here by Dr. Jack Wheeler. Enjoy it—and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Pray for Egypt
Matthew 2:14: So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. (HCSB)
The Holy Family’s escape to Egypt was a drastic measure directed by God to save the Child Jesus from Herod’s murderous wrath. But such escapes to Egypt were not uncommon among the Jews of that time, according to William Barclay. Many Jews, for a variety of reasons, were forced to flee Judea, with Egypt being the most logical refuge. So when the Holy Family arrived, a sizable Jewish community was there for them to join. Most important, this fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, “… out of Egypt I called my son.” (v. 15 and Hosea 11:1, ESV)
With such an important part Egypt played in protecting the Messiah (and with that land’s important role in church history), these verses should spur us to pray for the nation of Egypt, that revival would come to that land, and for God’s protection over our brothers and sisters in the persecuted Coptic Church (and other Christians in the nation). Just the disturbing pictures coming out this week of the government’s brutality against protesters, and the blind eye the soon-to-be-Sharia dictatorship is turning to the oppression of Coptic Christians by radical Islamists, should be more than enough cause for us to intercede for the land that watched over our Lord Jesus in his early years as a child.
The Holy Family’s escape to Egypt was a drastic measure directed by God to save the Child Jesus from Herod’s murderous wrath. But such escapes to Egypt were not uncommon among the Jews of that time, according to William Barclay. Many Jews, for a variety of reasons, were forced to flee Judea, with Egypt being the most logical refuge. So when the Holy Family arrived, a sizable Jewish community was there for them to join. Most important, this fulfilled Old Testament prophecy, “… out of Egypt I called my son.” (v. 15 and Hosea 11:1, ESV)
With such an important part Egypt played in protecting the Messiah (and with that land’s important role in church history), these verses should spur us to pray for the nation of Egypt, that revival would come to that land, and for God’s protection over our brothers and sisters in the persecuted Coptic Church (and other Christians in the nation). Just the disturbing pictures coming out this week of the government’s brutality against protesters, and the blind eye the soon-to-be-Sharia dictatorship is turning to the oppression of Coptic Christians by radical Islamists, should be more than enough cause for us to intercede for the land that watched over our Lord Jesus in his early years as a child.
Christopher Hitchens in heaven?
The headline above make shock a lot of readers familiar with Christopher Hitchen’s atheism, his polemic book God is Not Great and his unabashed hatred for, among others, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Dr. Russell Moore of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has an excellent article here about God’s amazing grace that reaches even to death’s door. To be sure, deathbed conversions are rare (in my own ministry, it happened only once that I know of, when I led a man in a nursing home to Jesus several days before he died).
Nonetheless, Moore draws on the most famous deathbed conversion, the thief on the cross, speculating how many believers in that man’s family may have concluded he was in hell—not hearing his cry of repentance, or Jesus’ assurance that he would be with our Lord in paradise that day!
A Methodist minister friend once told me that we’ll be surprised by those who make it to heaven, and those who don’t. That seemed to echo the sentiment of Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, the “Voice of the Martyrs,” who said in an article about Russian Communism founder Vladimir Lenin reportedly being saved on his deathbed, “Heaven holds many surprises.” Christopher Hitchens could well be one of those surprises.
Dr. Russell Moore of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has an excellent article here about God’s amazing grace that reaches even to death’s door. To be sure, deathbed conversions are rare (in my own ministry, it happened only once that I know of, when I led a man in a nursing home to Jesus several days before he died).
Nonetheless, Moore draws on the most famous deathbed conversion, the thief on the cross, speculating how many believers in that man’s family may have concluded he was in hell—not hearing his cry of repentance, or Jesus’ assurance that he would be with our Lord in paradise that day!
A Methodist minister friend once told me that we’ll be surprised by those who make it to heaven, and those who don’t. That seemed to echo the sentiment of Rev. Richard Wurmbrand, the “Voice of the Martyrs,” who said in an article about Russian Communism founder Vladimir Lenin reportedly being saved on his deathbed, “Heaven holds many surprises.” Christopher Hitchens could well be one of those surprises.
Monday, December 5, 2011
Interesting links: Tebow, church-going atheists
FOX Sportswriter Jason Whitlock gives his take here on Tim Tebow's sucess at Denver (his 6-1 record as a starter has put them in first in the AFC West as of this writing), attributing it to his two-parent upbringing (as opposed to several other superstar QBs who have fizzled).
Atheists actually taking their children to church? This article here from The Blaze, to me, is very encouraging--and offers churches a real opportunity to reach these families.
Atheists actually taking their children to church? This article here from The Blaze, to me, is very encouraging--and offers churches a real opportunity to reach these families.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Occupy Wall Street: Mission Field!
On the Occupy Wall Street protests: Reading the glowing mainstream media reports of the protests, and the denunciations of them by conservative commentators, there’s only one thought that came to my mind:
What a mission field!
You read that right. Where else are you going to find a large group of people searching for some kind of a cause? Followers of Jesus have a real chance to reach out to them with the truth of the gospel. At the very least, we should be praying for them, asking God to watch over them and give us ways we could show His love to them.
I’ve been reading Jesus’ account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. What was the key difference between the spiritual priest and Levite, and the outcast Samaritan? It’s what they REALLY saw: the first two saw an inconvenience, maybe even a threat (maybe a trap by thieves, a common menace to travelers at that time). The Samaritan saw a soul who needed help. Let us pray for, and find ways, we can be the Samaritans to those Occupy Wall Street protesters, so that they can find eternal life through faith in Jesus!
What a mission field!
You read that right. Where else are you going to find a large group of people searching for some kind of a cause? Followers of Jesus have a real chance to reach out to them with the truth of the gospel. At the very least, we should be praying for them, asking God to watch over them and give us ways we could show His love to them.
I’ve been reading Jesus’ account of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. What was the key difference between the spiritual priest and Levite, and the outcast Samaritan? It’s what they REALLY saw: the first two saw an inconvenience, maybe even a threat (maybe a trap by thieves, a common menace to travelers at that time). The Samaritan saw a soul who needed help. Let us pray for, and find ways, we can be the Samaritans to those Occupy Wall Street protesters, so that they can find eternal life through faith in Jesus!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
India, "choice" and wife-sharing
"For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind..." (Hosea 8:7, Updated King James Version)
Here's one fact abortion activists won't be harping on anytime soon: a practice that is spreading in India called "wife-sharing," where a group of brothers share one wife. Yes, you read that right--and this can be laid at the feet of Indians aborting unborn female children or killing newborn females. As a result, the male-female ratio in India is close to 10-8--leading to this, and other kinds of atrocities. Read the story here.
Just don't expect an outcry from feminists or abortion activists anytime soon.
Here's one fact abortion activists won't be harping on anytime soon: a practice that is spreading in India called "wife-sharing," where a group of brothers share one wife. Yes, you read that right--and this can be laid at the feet of Indians aborting unborn female children or killing newborn females. As a result, the male-female ratio in India is close to 10-8--leading to this, and other kinds of atrocities. Read the story here.
Just don't expect an outcry from feminists or abortion activists anytime soon.
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