Hymn Lovers - It's Your Turn...!

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended a big city church. He came home, and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the farmer, “It was good. They did something different, however. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns.”

“Praise choruses?” asked the wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re OK. They’re sort of like hymns, only different,” said the farmer.

“Well, what’s the difference?” asked the wife.

The farmer said, “Well, it’s like this: If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn,’ well, that would be a hymn. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you, ‘Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, Martha, Martha, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows, the white cows, the black and white cows, the cows, cows, cows are in the corn, are in the corn are in the corn, are in the corn, the corn, corn, corn’ – well, that would be a praise chorus.”

Meanwhile, a young Christian went to the country one weekend and attended a small rural church. He came home, and his wife asked him how it was.

“Well,” said the young man, “it was good. They did something different, however. They sang hymns instead of regular songs.”

“Hymns?” asked his wife. “What are those?”

“Oh, they’re OK. They’re sort of like regular songs, only different,” said the young man.

“Well what’s the difference?” asked his wife.

The young man said, “Well, it’s like this: If I were to say to you, ‘Martha, the cows are in the corn, well, that would be a regular song. If, on the other hand, I were to say to you:

‘O, Martha, dear Martha, hear thou my cry
Inclinest thine ear to the words of my mouth.
Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear by and by
To the righteous, inimitable, glorious truth.

For the way of the animals who can explain
There in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God’s sun or His rain
Unless from the mild, tempting corn they are fenced.

‘Yea, those cows in glad bovine, rebellious delight,
Have broke free their shackles, their warm pens eschewed.
Then goaded by minions of darkness and night
They all my mild Chilliwack sweet corn have chewed.

‘So look to that bright shining day by and by,
Where all foul corruptions of earth are reborn,
Where no vicious animal makes my soul cry
And I no longer see those foul cows in the corn.’

“Then, if I were to sing only verses one, three and four and do a key change on the last verse, well, that would be a hymn.”

Author unknown.

(Courtesy of Moishe Rosen's blog at http://moisherosen.org/2009/09/08/hymn-lovers-its-your-turn)

Watch Real-Time Decisions for Christ from Around the World...!

My friend, Eric Celier, and his team over at Jesus.net have put together this real-time display of people who have just given their heart to the Lord Jesus somewhere around the world via one of their websites in various languages. If you have the free Google-Earth software installed, the second window below will display an even cooler 3-D version...!

Why Jews Hate Palin - Jennifer Rubin in Commentary magazine

Teresa and I have a special love and appreciation in our hearts for the Jewish people, but I found this article in Commentary magazine fascinating. It's entitled, "Why Jews Hate Palin." Author Jennifer Rubin details several ways in which Sarah Palin is the antithesis of much of what modern, secularized American Jewish women hold dear. Whatever one's views of Sarah Palin, Rubin's analysis is worth thinking about. I would love to hear your comments!

On String Theory and Heaven - Dinesh D'Souza

In an interview over at Christianity Today's website, Dinesh D'Souza makes some very interesting statements about the connection between theoretical physics and the reality of life after death: Here's an excerpt:

The Christian view is that when we die, our souls are reunited to incorruptible, resurrected bodies, and that we live forever in another realm, heaven or hell. It's a pretty incredible assertion, because if the Christian view of the afterlife is viable, there must be other matter and other realms.

If we lived 200 years ago in Newton's time, all of this would seem impossible because space and time stretch indefinitely backward and forward, so what it meant to be outside of time was very hard to articulate. Also, it was hard to posit any other kind of matter.

But revolutionary discoveries in the past 25 years suggest that there is dark matter and dark energy that make up 95 percent of all the matter in the universe. All materialist generalizations about matter are immediately rendered partial, because how can you claim to know something if you've seen only 5 percent of it?

...Scientists now posit through string theory the presence of multiple realms, multiple dimensions. One of the implications of the big bang is that space and time had a beginning, and that space and time are properties of our universe. If that's true, then outside our universe or beyond our universe, there would be different laws of space and time, or no space and no time.

His words bring to mind what I often heard my Dad say when I was a teenager, "Son, true science and the Bible always walk hand in hand."

CBN Videos About Oral Roberts

Summary of his life and ministry:



2009 Interview with Scott Ross concerning how to hear the voice of God:



Life and Legacy of Oral Roberts, including 2002 interview with Michael Little:



Part II of Michael Little's 2002 interview:

There Is Hope For Prodigals

Raised in a Christian family with the most famous preacher of the 20th Century as his grandfather, Tullian Tchividjian ran from God as a young man. His lifestyle caused such serious problems in his family that his father actually had the police remove him from the family home at the age of nineteen and tell him he was on his own. A couple of years later, he came to know Jesus personally, enrolled in seminary, and succeeded Dr. James Kennedy as the Senior Pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in south Florida.

Click on the image below to watch a short video version of his testimony as shown on the 700 Club. To watch Tullian and his wife's recent interview with James Robinson on Life Today click here.

Former Palestinian Terrorist Encounters Jesus and Begins Loving Jews

Former Palestinian terrorist Tass Saada encountered Jesus and began loving Jews. Here is a clip of his testimony on CBN.

Babylon Revisited...New York Times

Click here to read an article from the New York Times describing the rebuilding and re-opening of the ancient city of Babylon. Click here to watch the accompanying slide show with audio commentary.

Time Magazine Article - Finding Jesus In London

There is a great article on Time magazine's website today about the impact of the Alpha course on London, England. It is entitled, "Finding Jesus in London." When Teresa and I lived in France, we saw the ripples of what was happening at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in the neighborhood we were living in. I would love to see someone start this as a ministry of Hillcrest Church...! Alpha exists in several languages, including Spanish. Any takers?

Palin the Pentecostal: Journey From Obscurity to Ubiquity

In his interesting piece in the Washington Post last Friday, September 12th, 2008 entitled, "Faith Based Condescension," columnist Michael Gerson takes issue with recent media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin's Pentecostal roots. Early in his article Gerson writes,

"...liberals have been drawn, helpless and mesmerized -- like beetles to the vivid, blue paradise of the bug zapper -- toward criticizing Sarah Palin's religion. Palin's former Pentecostal church is called a "shout-and-holler tabernacle." Reporters press Palin's former pastor to reveal if she has ever spoken in tongues, the way it was once asked if candidates had ever used drugs...Palin sounds most like President Franklin Roosevelt, who prayed on D-Day that, "by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph."

He continues,

"The media treatment of Pentecostalism (Palin's main religious background) and Bible church evangelicalism (her current affiliation) has had the quality of a National Geographic special on a newly discovered Amazon tribe. You might not suspect that Pentecostalism -- grown from the admirable, racially integrated roots of the Los Angeles Azusa Street Revival of 1906 -- is one of the fastest-growing and most influential forms of mainstream Christianity. There are now between 250 million and 500 million Pentecostals in places from Latin America to sub-Saharan Africa to rural Alaska....While most religious people in America don't speak in tongues, many pray for healing in times of sickness and trouble, and most are offended when sneering elites attack the religious practices of their friends and neighbors. "

Then he concludes with a trenchant observation,

During the first Pentecost -- the one recorded in Acts -- Christians spoke strange languages in public. Many observers dismissed them as drunk. The critics of religion, as is often the case, did not get the last word.

Statistically speaking, Gerson is quite right. In its press release in October 2006 announcing the publication of the results from its ten country public opinion survey on Pentecostalism entitled,"Spirit and Power," the highly respected and very mainstream Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life noted that at least one quarter of the world's two billion Christians consider themselves Pentecostal or Charismatic, as do 23% of the inhabitants of the United States. The preface to the report points out that Pentecostals/Charismatics rank second only to Roman Catholics in the number of global Christian followers.

I think the actual numbers may be higher. Many Roman Catholics testify to profound Holy Spirit experiences but their numbers are not always included in such summaries. Many U.S. pastors of ostensibly non-Pentecostal/Charismatic churches come from Pentecostal/Charismatic roots but have intentionally "re-branded" themselves and the churches they serve in an effort to sidestep the social stigma and religious prejudice they encountered earlier in their lives. Very often, these leaders continue to lead Spirit-filled lives in private without being publicly identifiable by research methodologies like those used by the Pew Forum.

In any event, even if one accepts the Forum's statistics, it is clear that over the last century Governor Palin's stream of Christian faith has moved from obscurity to ubiquity. Both the Pew Forum and the Religion News Service have recently pointed out that Barak Obama has integrated two openly Pentecostal members into the highest levels of his own campaign: Joshua DuBois as his Religious Outreach Director and Leah Daughtry, CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee. So far, the same members of the media who have publicly scorned Governor Palin's spirituality have been silent about Senator Obama's affiliations. I suspect their attacks are more political in motivation than philosophical, sociological, or theological.

Be that as it may, Governor Palin's recent nomination has not only affected the political debate in our country but has also raised doctrinal issues for certain non-Pentecostal/Charismatic Evangelicals. As David Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics at Mercer University asks in his article entitled, "The Palin Predicament," in today's online edition of USA Today,

The GOP’s evangelical base rejoiced when the Alaska governor joined the McCain ticket. But how can the theological vision that women are subservient to men jibe with a Palin vice presidency?

He continues,

It is an uncomfortable fact that many of the theologically conservative Christians who have endorsed Palin's nomination would not be willing to endorse her or any other woman for service as pastor of their church. Women cannot serve as pastors in groups such as the Churches of Christ, the Southern Baptist Convention, the Presbyterian Church in America, most non-denominational Bible churches, and an influential advocacy group called the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood(CBMW)...at the local church level many congregations would not accept Palin or any other woman even as associate pastor, or deacon, or youth minister or Sunday school teacher in a gender-mixed classroom. The most conservative would not consider it appropriate for her to stand behind a pulpit and preach a sermon, or teach from the Bible, or lead a praise chorus, or offer a prayer, unless her audience consisted entirely of women or children.

In my view, Dr. Gushee paints with too broad a brush when he asserts elsewhere in his article that only more modern elements within evangelicalism have permitted women to function in leadership positions. From the earliest days of both the classical Pentecostal revival a century ago and the more recent Charismatic renewal, women have been allowed to exercise whatever gifts God granted them within their faith communities. I do agree, however, that the Sarah Palin phenomenon is giving rise to fresh and ardent discussions of many topics theological as well as social and political.


As late as yesterday evening, Sunday, September 15th, the ABC World News broadcast contained a video report entitled, "What Does Palin's Faith Mean for U.S.?" It opened yet another window that people around the nation can look through for a glimpse into one genre of Spirit-filled worship. During that piece, University of Rochester religion professor Anthea Butler notes the connection between a deep, personal work of the Holy Spirit and a greater role for women in all areas of life,

"Sarah Palin, if she was just a plain Evangelical woman, would have a tough time thinking that she could be VP," said University of Rochester religion professor Anthea Butler. "An evangelical woman might have issues with submission. What's gonna happen with my kids? But a Pentecostal woman is saying God is calling me, I'm gonna answer this call."

All of us who exult in genuine moves of God's Spirit and who long to lead other people into such fullness should make it a point to pray during this season that these journalistic forays, however imperfect or polemical they may be, will result in many more people coming into a personal encounter with the Creator who longs to be their Redeemer. I think the Apostle Paul would agree. He wrote to the Corinthian Christians,

"...if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” (1 Corinthians 14:24-25
NIV)

Let it be, Lord...!
For more online information regarding Pentecostals, including links to many other websites, check out the Pew Forum's page on Pentecostalism.

Washington Post Cartoon Mocks Speaking In Tongues

In case you have any question concerning the religious bias of certain, mainstream media outlets concerning the present-day work of the Holy Spirit, take a look at this cartoon which appeared on the Washington Post website... (To view it online, click here.)

On Sarah Palin and Religious Prejudice

In the midst of all of the current controversy regarding John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate in the upcoming Presidential election, one specific development has caught my attention more than any other. Yesterday I noticed that the media "feeding frenzy" began to take a new turn as articles began popping up which highlight the churches she has attended and the shepherds who lead them. These include popular blogs like the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos and historic print publications like Harper's Magazine. News items surfaced which cast both pastors and congregants in a very negative light, asking whether or not someone from a "Pentecostal" or "Charismatic" background is fit to serve our country in such a high office.

Certain of the articles I have read portray attitudes reminiscient of those I encountered toward Christian churches in Eastern Europe before the fall of the Iron Curtain when Pentecostals were considered to be in need of psychiatric treatment. Newsweek's article about Sarah Palin's church was much more irenic in tone, but ended by saying, "Sarah Palin may not call herself a Pentecostal, but she has deep and long experience in Pentecostal churches. And as the race wears on, this biographical fact will likely become another religious Rorschach test--pleasing to some, discomfiting to others."

This is the second time in this election that a candidate's choice of a church home has sparked controversy. Barak Obama's long-term friendship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright turned out to be such a flashpoint that the candidate publically disassociated himself from both the man and his message (Read more about this here). What strikes me as very different this time around is that criticism has moved from controversy surrounding specific, issue-related comments by Rev. Wright to a visceral rejection of such foundational Christian doctrines as eternal punishment for those who reject Christ as Saviour or certain facets of New Testament spirituality clearly depicted in the New Testament Book of Acts as normative for members of the Christian faith.

I suppose none of this should surprise me. The flurry of speculation and observation surrounding Sarah Palin's particular flavor of Christian spirituality appears to be emanating from the same segments of American intelligentsia that have gleefully stooped to holding up a seventeen year old girl's pregnancy as an object for intense public scrutiny, sometimes tinged with ridicule. This is being done while that same young woman is walking through a very difficult time in her life, simply in order to score what the journalists mistakenly believe to be political "points." I for one wholeheartedly commend Governor Palin's daughter for courageously welcoming another precious life into the world instead of killing it for the sake of convenience.

Politics has always been a rough and tumble business and our civic history may be replete with examples of journalistic excess, but in my opinion we have just reached an all-time low. I believe these latest jouralistic extremes bode ill for what lies before us as Christian believers in our nation unless God graciously sends our country a deep spiritual and moral renewal. I also believe it shows the extent to which spiritual forces are at work on many different levels and in many different quarters during this election.

Whatever your political persuasion, I urge you to join me in prayer for the Palin family and for the pastors and churches cited in the aforementioned articles. While I have never met Governor Palin, I have known one of the ministers referenced, Pastor David Pepper from the Church on the Rock in Wasilla, and his family for over thirty-five years. Pastor David and his wife, LaRae, are two of the finest people I have ever met and form a very effective ministry team. I would be honored to call them pastor and consider their flock privileged to have them serve them in that capacity. David and LaRae certainly do not deserve the treatment they are getting in the press.

As all of you who attend Hillcrest Church know well, I do not take public positions regarding political candidates or openly share my personal political opinions or intentions about what I will do when I enter the ballot box. My appeal to you as your pastor is very simple:

1. Be sure to vote! This is an historic election. Be a part of it.
   
2. Find out all that you can about the candidates and their policies. Focus on reputable sources and ignore the gossip and innuendo you hear from others, whatever their political persuasion.
   
3. Prayerfully ask God to help you make the right choice in light of His Word, His character, and His purposes in the earth. Vote your deepest convictions. Pray in faith for His hand to be upon the process, assuring its outcome will be according to whatever He knows is best for our nation.
   
4. Intercede before the Lord on behalf of all the candidates and their families. Pray God's protection upon them, that they will speak truthfully in all things, and that anything hidden in their hearts or lives that might disqualify them from public office will be known before Election Day.

Let's believe God together for a better future!

Eric Liddle - A True Champion

Thanks to one of my favorite theological bloggers and authors, Ben Witherington, for a great post this afternoon about missionary Eric Liddle, entitled, "A Christian for the Ages." Eric Liddle was the Scottish Olympic runner whose life inspired one of my all-time favorite movies, "Chariots of Fire." Ben says NBC ran a piece during their Olympic coverage with Mary Carillo today on Eric. I wish I had seen it. If you find it anywhere online, please email me...!

The movie has some great lines and scenes, including Eric Liddle's famous statement, "God made me fast and when I run I feel His pleasure." My favorite scene is probably the one near the end of the movie where Eric runs and wins a race clutching a piece of paper with a particular verse of Scripture written on it (at least that is the way I remember it...I haven't viewed it in quite a while...!)

If you have never watched the movie, by the way and you live in Dallas, you can check it out for free from the Dallas Library system. Click here to see the movie's record in their online card catalog or here to see it on Amazon.com. I highly recommend it...!

God touched the passengers...!

The BBC News website is carrying an item this afternoon about the British Airways crash landing in London earlier this week entitled, "Plane Passengers Touched by God." From the news reports such as CNN concerning the details of what happened, it certainly does seem to be a miralce that the plane was able to land with no loss of life on the air on on the ground. I have flown in and out of Heathrow on several occasions and it is situated in a highly populated are. Had the plane touched the ground even a few hundred feet earlier, there would have been massive destruction.

Mike Huckabee and Kenneth Copeland

Followupg on my post, "What's This World Coming To?," I noticed that Kenneth Copeland recently interviewed Gov. Mike Huckabee regarding the question of how faith affects a person's character and their approach to public policy. To watch the Sunday "condensed" version of their exchange, click here. To watch the entire series of daily broadcasts featuring Gov. Huckabee, try looking on one of the following web pages: KCM current programs or KCM program archives. You may have to scroll down the page a bit to come to the listings for the Huckabee interview.

In another vein, Brian Bailey, author of, "The Blogging Church," recently wrote in his "Leave It Behind" blog following a poll he took of his readers to see which Christmas ads they liked best,

First, nearly everyone's favorite commercial was done by their favorite candidate. In a way, this should be obvious, but I still found it surprising. It's instructive to realize that when you're watching a speech or commercial by your candidate and thinking, How could anyone not like this guy?", others are wondering how anyone could. Once you've found a candidate whose message you connect with, you view everything about that person and his or her opponents through a filter.

Do you agree with that?

What's This World Coming To?

When I was a boy, our family always travelled at Christmas time to see my grandparents. At night, as we were drifting off to sleep in their home heated by a floor furnace, all the bedroom doors were left open so the warm air could circulate. As Grandpa Puckett was settling down, we would hear him sigh and say, "Oh Lord, what's this world coming to?" When I learned from the Dallas News' Religion blog of the controversy surrounding Presidential candidate Bill Huckabee's latest ad, because it mentions Jesus in connection with Christmas, about the only thing that came to mind was Grandpa's phrase. For a followup post on the same blog, click here. For an article that argues we should see more discussion of religion on the campaign trail, not less, click here. To see Governor Huckabee's ad for yourself, click on the "right arrow" in the middle of the screen below.

Dorm Brothels, Etc. - Christianity Today articles that caught my eye

Christianity Today magazine posted an article today on their website drawn from their 2005 archives that every parent ought to read...and weep over in prayer for the youth of our nation. Entitled, "Dorm Brothel," it is lengthy and a tad literary in tone, but very moving. A parallel piece by prominent pastor and theologian John Piper entitled, "Gutsy Guilt" holds out hope for healing and forgiveness to all Christ followers who struggle with sexual sins.

In another vein, having preached yesterday on the Exodus account of God's parting the waters of the Red (or Reed) Sea, I found christian pollster George Barna's finding that, "...a substantial majority of Americans believes in the literal truth of six key Bible stories..." quite interesting. Here is how the percentages break down, according to Stan Guthrie's summary of Barna's research, "Taking Bible Stories Literally." When Americans are asked whether or not they believe a specific story in Scripture is "...literally true, meaning it happened exactly as described in the Bible...,"

Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection (75%);
Daniel in the Lion’s Den (65%);
Moses parting the Red Sea (64%);
David and Goliath (63%);
Peter walking on water (60%);
God creating the universe in six days (60%).

Guthrie goes on to note,

When you break down the numbers, it gets even more interesting. Several factors are correlated with less belief in a literal resurrection: high education, mainline vs. non-mainline Protestantism, Catholicism vs. Protestantism, and white vs. black. So, statistically speaking, a highly educated white Catholic or mainline professor from the Northeast would likely be more skeptical than a blue-collar African-American Protestant from the Midwest or South.

In a parallel piece entitled, "Ressurection of Jesus: So What?," Mark Galli opines,

The results are broken down by faith tradition, geography, race, and education. To take one overall finding, though: "The story of Jesus Christ rising from the dead, after being crucified and buried" was the story most widely embraced. Three out of four adults (75 percent) said they interpreted that narrative literally.

Yet polls and anecdotal evidence suggest that 75 percent of Americans are not living dedicated lives to the resurrected Jesus!

This should give us apologetic pause. A great deal of evangelical apologetics is about proving the historicity of the resurrection (or creation--intelligent design or 7-day--but nearly two-thirds of Americans already believe in a literal 7-day creation). The figures suggest that this is NOT the battle ground for most Americans. It is the relevance or meaning of the resurrection that seems to elude Americans. It is not a stretch for most people to believe that a God who created the universe could raise Jesus from the dead, among other miracles--Duh. What is a stretch is understanding what difference it makes.

Perhaps it's time for a new chapter in evangelical apologetics. Not "The Resurrection--Did it Happen?" but "The Resurrection--So What?"

Throughout history, the question and meaning of the empty tomb of Jesus have always been the central question of Christianity. As the Apostle Paul put it, according to Eugene Peterson's The Message paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 15:13-20,

"13 If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. 14 And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. 15 Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection. 16 If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. 17 And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. 18 It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. 19 If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. 20 But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries. " (1 Corinthians 15:12-20 The Message)

It is only through a personal relationship with the one who came back to life after being put to death on a cross that any of us can live a holy life. That is one of the reasons the resurrection of Jesus is so important - and wonderful!

" 1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives." (Romans 6:1-4 NLT)

Praying for Prodigals

Sometimes parents experience true anguish of soul as children they have raised to follow the Lord make very bad choices and turn their backs on Him. In such moments, prayer is extremely important. By pouring their hearts out to the Lord, parents can find healing and peace in spite of the circumstance. Even more importantly, their prayers are powerfully effective in seeing their prodigals come back into a right relationship with God.

Earlier this morning, I received an email with a touching article written by Francis Frangipane's daughter, Joy, chronicling some of her journey away from God, and then back to Him. Her words bear eloquent testimony to the power of parental prayer and provide a window into the heart and mind of some prodigals. If you are facing such a circumstance in your life, I encourage you to read her article entitled, Your Children Will Return.

Speaking of parent–child relationships, my parents, Kenneth and Vera Brand, will be ministering tonight, Wednesday, September 12th, during our Word and Worship service in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit at 7pm. They have each been preaching God’s Word for more than fifty years, serving the Lord with integrity, dedication, and great fruitfulness. Anything I ever become or do for the glory of God in my life will be due in large part to the spiritual seeds they have sown in my life and the prayers they have prayed. I know their ministy in word and testimony will be a great blessing to all who hear them.

Terry and Rolanda Green will kick off a new LifeGroup for parents with children next Wednsday night, September 19th, by facilitating a dynamic video study series called Miracle Parenting, by Phil Phillips at 7pm in Room 214. Simply put, this material is the best I have ever seen on a practical, biblical approach to raising positive, healthy children who love Jesus with all their hearts. I encourage every parent that possibly can to in this study with them! And, don’t forget - we serve a delicious, inexpensive meal every Wednesday night from 5:30-6:30pm in our Performing Arts Center with full children’s ministry beginning at 6:45pm until classes end.

Go GodTube...!!!!

I just stumbled across GodTube on the Internet, a "still in beta" Christian alternative to the immensely popular and sometimes vulgar YouTube, which I personally tend to stay away from unless someone recommends a specific clip for viewing. For me, randomly browsing through YouTube looking for good things to watch can be a bit like looking for a piece of desert somewhere in a garbage can ... but, that's a purely personal opinion I might should have saved for another day...! (Smile!)

Anyway ...

Here is an interview with GodTube's founder and DTS grad, Chris Wyatt; a couple of cute takeoffs on the great Mac vs. PC commercials that underscore the difference between just being a Christian and being a true Christ follower; and another, much more edgy, parody clip targeting young people.

Those original Mac commercials, by the way, were some of the funniest I have ever seen. The one that showed the PC guy "freezing" every few moments was painfully brilliant, in my opinion! So much so, in fact, that as hard as it is for a die hard Windows guy like me to admit, my next laptop will probably be a Macintosh, especially now that my favorite Bible software, Logos, will soon be available on that platform.

Trust you are having a great day and are off to a great week, walking with the God of the Ordinary...!

Weeping for the World

When I was a very mixed up teenager back in the 1970's, befuddled by the potent mix I had drunk of secular humanism and rationalism, served to me by popular media and more serious philosophy, Francis Schaeffer's writings took me to task and pointed me down the road back home to God. In Learning to Cry for the Culture, posted yesterday on Christianity Today magazine's website, John Fischer writes,

Francis Schaeffer was hard to listen to. His voice grated. It was a high-pitched scream that, when mixed with his eastern Pennsylvania accent, sounded something like Elmer Fudd on speed. As freshmen, unfamiliar with the thought and works of modern man, we thought it was funny. As seniors, it wasn't funny any more. After we had studied Kant, Hegel, Sartre, and Camus, the voice sounded more like an existential shriek. If Edvard Munch's The Scream had a voice, it would have sounded like Francis Schaeffer. Schaeffer, who died in 1984, understood the existential cry of humanity trapped in a prison of its own making. He was the closest thing to a "man of sorrows" I have seen.

I grew up with a Christianity that was predisposed against sorrow. To be sad was to deny your faith or your salvation. Jesus had made us happy, and we had an obligation to always show that happiness. Then Francis Schaeffer came along. He could not allow himself to be happy when most of the world was desperately lost and he knew why. He was the first Christian I found who could embrace faith and the despair of a lost humanity at the same time. Though he had been found, he still knew what it was to be lost.

... Schaeffer was the first Christian leader who taught me to weep over the world instead of judging it.

... Schaeffer was a rare Christian leader who advocated understanding and empathizing with non-Christians instead of taking issue with them.

Francis Schaeffer was not afraid to ask why, and he did not rest until he had an answer. Why are our most brilliant thinkers in despair? Why is our art so dark? Why have abortion and euthanasia become so easy on the conscience of a generation? What process of thinking has led to this ultimate denial of the value of human life? Though some may disagree with his answers, no one can gainsay the passion with which he sought them.

The normal human reaction is to hate what we don't understand. This is the stuff of prejudice and the cause of hate crimes and escalating social evil. It is much more Christ-like to identify with those we don't understand—to discover why people do what they do, because we care about them, even if they are our ideological enemies.

Jesus asked us to love our enemies. Part of loving is learning to understand. Too few Christians today seek to understand why their enemies think in ways that we find abhorrent. Too many of us are too busy bashing feminists, secular humanists, gay activists, and political liberals to consider why they believe what they do. It's difficult to sympathize with people we see as threats to our children and our neighborhoods. It's hard to weep over those whom we have declared enemies.

What powerful, penetrating words...! And how so very much like Jesus, of whom Luke declared,

"As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it..." (Luke 19:41 NIV)

Two of the quotes that have always gripped my heart were attributed by those that referenced them to Frank C. Laubach, a missionary statesman from yester year,

"Let my heart be broken with those things that break the heart of God."

"Lord, forgive me for looking at the world through dry eyes."

What God is looking for, of course, in our response to the needs of those who do not know Him is action, not emotion, but it sometimes does us good to weep over the world, especially if it moves us to reach out our hands to others in Christ's name.

May His compassion move us to action...!