Piper on Prosperity Preaching

An excerpt:

When I read about prosperity-preaching churches, my response is: “If I were not on the inside of Christianity, I wouldn’t want in.” In other words, if this is the message of Jesus, no thank you.
Luring people to Christ to get rich is both deceitful and deadly. It’s deceitful because when Jesus himself called us, he said things like: “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). And it’s deadly because the desire to be rich plunges “people into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9). So here is my plea to preachers of the gospel.

You Want More on Global Warming...

I got more on Global Warming...

Here are two articles on Global Warming by Thomas Sowell, who is almost always the most sane guy in the room on these issues.

Global Hot Air: Part 1
Global Hot Air: Part 2

Hearing on Global Warming Cancelled Due to Snow in D.C.

(Courtesy of Drudge)

Also, if you look at the Drudge Report this morning you will see on the right side of the front page that Maryville University near St. Louis has cancelled a screening of An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's Documentary on Global Warming. Why was it cancelled? Snow Storm.

Listen to Piper on Andrew Fuller

It is totally possible that Andrew Fuller’s impact on history, by the time Jesus returns, will be far greater and different than it is now. My assessment at this point, 192 years after his death, is that his primary impact on history has been the impetus that his life and thought gave to the modern missionary movement, specifically through the sending and supporting of William Carey to India in 1793. That historical moment—the sending of William Carey and his team—marked the opening of the modern missionary movement.

"Why I Left the United Methodist Church"

Some really good questions from Mike Adams over at townhall.com titled 'Open Hearts, Open Minds and Open Legs.'

Redeemer Classical School

I am on the board for the newly named Redeemer Classical School. We (the board) are hoping to begin classes in the fall of 2008. We have a blog which I have just revamped. There you will find our minutes, links to other classical schools, and articles on classical education. The following is our Mission Statement...

“Redeemer Classical School exists to assist parents in training their children to think deeply about God and His world through academic excellence in a Christ-centered environment in order to transform families, institutions, and nations for the glory of God.”

Laugh or Cry?

Sound of Melodies - Leeland

Intelligent Design Is A Science, Not A Faith

In the Guardian. no less!!!

My Newest Purchase

I spent all the book money my church gives me for study materials, etc. on Logos' Scholar's Library software.

If you are looking for some Bible software, I strongly recommend Logos. They have many different packages depending on how deep you want to go. For those with no facility with the origainal languages there are some nice options for you also. It is easy to use from the get-go. While I look forward to learning about it through the video tutorial, I am already satisfied with the project. I am constantly stumbling upon new things it can do.

My assumption was that this software would reduce my prep time for Bible Study and the occassional sermon. But it gives you so many things to work with and learn the time is not really reduced. However, the fact that I do not have to search through books for enlightenment on a passage or subject stremlines the whole process. So I accomplish about twice as much in the same amount of time. Also, the entire process of studying is made more enjoyable. I will never be able to go back...

I was able to purchase mine for $470 from Family Christian Stores. This is a significant discount off of the price shown on the website, $630.

Piper at Passion '07

I love this man.

"Why We Left the Episcopal Church"

I love you guys...but where have you been?

What I Am Listening To

I have not been posting much in the last couple of weeks due to the holidays and the fact that a vicious cold has run through my whole family. But I am now back in the blogosphere...

Here is what I have been listening to along with highlights and recommendations...

I know I am late to the party but i just discovered Jeremy Camp via his new album, Beyond Measure. Bethany and I are pretty much litenting to him all the time. great lyrics, infectious melodies and passionate vocals have wooed me into buying all his studio albums in the past month (I got lots of itunes gift cards for xmas.). Granted this is fairly mainstream in the CCM market. but the Godward-ness of his lyrics and the crunchy guitars make it impossible for me to resist.

The Highlights are Tonight, What it Means, Beyond Measure, Let it Fade, It Feels Like and Give Me Jesus.

This cd is full of a thousand memories and so many of them include my best friend, Head. I cannot help but think about seeing them live in concert at Cathedral of the Cross on Roebuck Parkway in Birmingham. It was a lock-in I believe and we were blown away with how good they were. I am not sure we had heard any Christian music like this...we thought Petra was cutting edge. I also have a ton of memories of listening to this in either my car or Head's Pontiac Firenza...I at least I think that is what kind of car it was. And I want to say we met them at the Christian bookstore over at the Festival Center but I cannot remember for certain. In my opinion this their best. The highlights are Little Red Words, Mr. Hitler, Dylan's I Believe In You, Further Up and Further In and I'm a Little World. They were so far ahead of their time. Now broken up, they are no longer a band. To get this out of print, you must look on ebay or Amazon.com. it cost me only 6 bucks to replace my copy.

When You are There by Ashley Cleveland I bought it as a used cassette because the Christian bookstore was sold out. I loved this album. Ever since I got an ipod I have been waiting for it to be available from itunes. Finally it was made available I cannot stop listenting to it. I am not the only one who thought it was pretty good. She won a grammy for this one. And it is a rocking disc.

Highlights: Gimmee Shelter (live), Soon and Very Soon/Big Town (live), Lucky Never Had it So Good (live)

The Best for last? Just Maybe. I just spent $35 to replace this baby. It got lost in the black hole of college. I do not think I have lostened to it about 10 years. One listen and I knew I had ripped the guy off who had sold this to me for a measley $35. The greatest tragedy in pop music is the fact the 77s have never gotten popular. They have been making unforgettable melodies for over 25 years. Lots of great memories contained on this one. I almost cried when I put it on the other night for the first time in about 10 years. Real tears.

Every song is a visit to the town of Nostalgia. But the Highlights are undoubtedly...MT, Don't This Way, God Sends Quails, Love Without Dreams, Do It For Love, The Lust, the Flesh and the Pride of Life and Pearls before Swine ("Tamar Babe!")

Sermon Title and Outline for Sunday

A Vision for Westminster Youth Ministries

1. How I Got Here: 3 reason I chose to do Youth Ministry
a. My own experience


b. What Jonathan Edwards Saw


c. What I Saw


2. Where We Are: What I have been harpin' on for 2 years
a. Our Chief End


b. Our Biggest Problem


c. Our Only Hope


3. Three Consistent Challenges
a. A culture of drunken teenagers


b. "Can't, I got practice."


c. Loving God and Hating Your Neighbor


4. A Vision for the Future
a. An ascendence of affection for Jesus


b. An ability to articulate belief


c. An amalgamation of fath and life

Are Americans Really That Sex-Crazed?

This story on the front page of FoxNews.com this morning set a few alarm bells ringing in my head. Not because I was afraid it might be right. Indeed, something rang a bell when I read this study was publicized by the Guttmacher Institute. I could not understand why but for some reason I had this feeling born of a vague memory that there was some relationship between the Guttmacher Institute, who conducted the study and Planned Parenthood.

I was right.

Here is some info from their website to get you acquainted with the Guttmacher Institute:

The Guttmacher Institute is a nonprofit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research, policy analysis and public education. The Guttmacher Institute publishes Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, International Family Planning Perspectives, The Guttmacher Policy Review and special reports on topics pertaining to sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Institute's mission is to protect the reproductive choices of all women and men in the United States and throughout the world. It is to support their ability to obtain the information and services needed to achieve their full human rights, safeguard their health and exercise their individual responsibilities in regard to sexual behavior and relationships, reproduction and family formation.

The Institute was named to honor a distinguished obstetrician-gynecologist, author and leader in reproductive rights, Alan F. Guttmacher. During his presidency of Planned Parenthood Federation of America in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Guttmacher saw the need for the institution that now bears his name and nurtured its development within the Federation. The Alan Guttmacher Institute was incorporated as an independent, not-for-profit organization in 1977.

And so we should expect this when we read such statements as, "This is reality-check research," said the study's author, Lawrence Finer. "Premarital sex is normal behavior for the vast majority of Americans, and has been for decades."

And, "The data clearly show that the majority of older teens and adults have already had sex before marriage, which calls into question the federal government's funding of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs for 12- to 29-year-olds,"

And now the money-qoute...wait for it...

"It would be more effective," Finer said, "to provide young people with the skills and information they need to be safe once they become sexually active — which nearly everyone eventually will."

Allow me to sum up. So, since, acoording to their study it is normal to have premarital sex we should no longer encourage abstinence for teenagers but simply seek to make sex healthy. In other words, they are going to do it anyway, so lets make it safe. Damn that George W. Bush and his puritanical ethics.

So let's assume (although I am not convinced) the survey is correct and it is true that 95 percent of Americans have premarital sex. Does this mean we should simply give them information on safer sex practices and condoms? Well, that depends. If you do not want men and women to have sex till marriage then you would conclude we should do more in the way of encouraging abstinence. However, if you simply do not care or actually want to encourage a culture of sex at anytime with anyone as long as its "safe" then this is good news and capitulation is the order of the day.

Don't get me wrong. I assume at least half of the students I work with will have premarital sex and that is far too many. So even if the study was off by 45% there is reason for sadness.

I have a call into some officials regarding the nature of the study. I want to know some details about how the participants are selected, if they are paid for participation and I want to know if there are regional statistices available. For instance, I want to know if most of respondents are urban, where are they from, places like New York or Tupelo. I will update as soon as a "specialist" calls me back.

**Update: My call was returned from a specialist at the cdc (Center of Disease Control...read govt. bureaucracy) who while very nice could answer none of my questions. I only really wanted to know how the particapants were empl0yed in the study (were they selected or purely random?) and were they compensated?

My second question could not be answered. The first question was kinda answered. I was told the particapants were randomly chosen. Good enough. However, there must be some kind of process though for it seems to me that every survey must be done "randomly." I want to know what that process is. I say this because I asked the specialist if there was a group randomly selected then another group chosen based on some criteria. The specialist said that "sounded right." I am no expert in conducting a survey but this seems like a good way to skew results.

Stay tuned. I was told I could talk to a supervisor after the holidays. So I will call next week.