“Is there any meaning in my life that the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?”
from Leo Tolstoy, “A Confession”
Fight the Freedom of Choice Act
Here is a website that documents the attempts of the Obama administration and others to remove any restrictions on abortion via the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). It attempts to make abortion on demand a national right by doing the following:
- FOCA will do away with state laws on parental involvement, on partial birth abortion, and on all other protections.
- FOCA will compel taxpayer funding of abortions.
- FOCA will force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.
Check out this website for videos, information and a petition: http://www.fightfoca.com/
How Offensive! A Christian Praying in Jesus Name!
In this article from the LA Times, we see a glimpse of our culture’s view of us. Christians are allowed to exist as long as they don’t bring their convictions out of the closet. This is a really strange perspective coming from people who want to bring homosexuality into public life with full acceptance.
This article by by Duke Helfand reports that some people are up in arms over several things from Rick Warren’s prayer at Obama’s inauguration. I don’t agree with Warren on everything, but I am really glad that he didn’t sell the farm on Tuesday. Please remember that the people with their skivvies in a bunch are the people that keep telling us how accepting and inclusive we should be. What are they so upset about:
- That a pastor would oppose homosexuality.
- That a pastor would quote the Lord’s prayer at the inaugeration. It is so distinctly Christian.
- And finally, that a public prayer would be offered in Jesus name.
Religion is allowed, as long as you don’t say that anyone is wrong or take a stand on moral issues. There will be more of this, and the heat is going to rise. We will have more and more opportunities to stand for truth in the coming days.
Preaching the Gospel to Yourself
“Preaching the gospel to myself each day nourishes within me a holy brazenness to believe what God says, enjoy what He offers, and do what He commands. Admittedly, I don’t deserve to be a child of God and I don’t deserve to be free of sin’s guilt and power. I don’t deserve the staggering privilege of intimacy with God, nor any other blessing that Christ has purchased for me with His blood. I don’t deserve to be useful to God. But by the grace of God I am what I am and I have what I have, and I hereby resolve not to let any portion of God’s grace prove vain in me! And to the degree that I fail to live up to this resolve, I will boldly take for myself the forgiveness that God says is mine and continue walking in His grace. This is my manifesto, my daily resolve; and may God be glorified by this confidence that I place in Him.”
– Milton Vincent, A Gospel Primer for Christians (Focus Publishing, 2008), 52.
A Good Source for Info and News: The Pew Forum
From time to time as a pastor or student I find myself looking to find some statistics about religion in America or current news related to religion and culture. The Pew Forum may be a good place to look if you are looking for similar info for research purposes. They conduct research but also give links to current news in issues such as gay marriage and the death penalty. It is a good resource.
Postmodern Group Hug
Here is a link to an interesting article about a Pew research poll and some folks at Lifeway research that call the poll into question due to the wording of the survey. The research attempts to find out how many christians believe that christianity is the only way to eternal life. The folks at Lifeway bring up some valid points about the way that the questions were asked. However, even in their own survey (with better questions) they found that almost 40% of “Protestants” do not believe that faith in Jesus is the only way to heaven. That is almost half! Whoa, are we in trouble! The words of the Bible are pretty clear on this subject. Jesus said he was the only way (John 14:6), and his disciples echoed that (Acts 4:12). In this discussion someone HAS to be wrong. So we are left in a precarious position. We have to decide if Jesus is wrong, or if the universalists are wrong.
This poll is revealing about our new “kinder” “more tolerant” society. What can get you into trouble as a pastor or christian and bring on the beginning of persecution? This issue is perhaps one of the best examples. We are supposed to accept everyone NO matter what. If you say that what you believe is the only truth, get ready to be put through the meat grinder as an insensitive-unloving-radical.
This is becoming very clear as the debate on homosexuality warms up. They (and you now who they are) have constructed the questions and the nature of the debate in such a way that we have swallowed the rhetoric with very little protest. The only way to truly love homosexuals is to support their lifestyle by approving it. IF you disagree with them it is because you hate them and want to deprive them of their civil rights. The question: “why don’t you think gays should have civil rights?” resembles the well known fallacy: when are you going to stop beating your wife? The question is framed with lots of assumptions, and we need to be wise enough to address them.
John 12:42-43 “Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”
So the bottom line is, everyone (in theory) will be welcome in the group hug except Jesus and the people who agree with him. I think that this will be one of the great tests of our faith in the next 40 years in America. Many have already fallen…
“But the cowardly… shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)
Current Abortion Statistics
For those who want a factual basis for claims on the abortion issue, the Alan Guttmacher institute has a website and publishes respected data on this subject. This page is a good place to go to find an overview on the whole issue. It is also full of references and footnotes. It is truly startling.
• Nearly half of pregnancies among American women are unintended, and four in 10 of these are terminated by abortion. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion.
• In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred.
• Each year, about two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion.
• Forty-three percent of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% as Catholic.
May we be like the people in Ezekiel 9:3-5 who sigh and cry over the abominations.
Need Help in Fresno?
I found out about “Need Help Now” through a friend. I browsed through the newspaper format and found information about all kinds of help for people in the midst of a crisis. I was surprised, and delighted, to find out that this magazine is the result of the loving labors of a couple of Christian men who want help people in need. Their website describes the touching story behind this idea. I wanted to learn more about this ministry and spoke with James Carrasco, one of the operators for this ministry. James was truly pleasant and I came away with the impression that these men feel very strongly about what they are doing. They do not want hurting people to suffer through a crisis when there are dozens of willing organizations standing in the wings waiting to help, but often unused because people do not know where to turn.
In many ways, “Need Help Now” is like a small phone book containing information about services for people with problems. Because of this perspective, this resource contains information about help offered from government, nongovernment, and faith-based groups. This little newspaper provides a “one-stop-shopping” place for resources. Best of all, it is free. Dale, Frances, and James provide this service out of love. They know what it is like to be in a desperate situation with no place to turn, and they do not want others to face that darkness.
“Need Help Now” provides information about resources for homelessness, food pantries, addictions, crime victims, rape, suicide hotlines, etc. Before becoming a pastor I worked as a Paramedic for over 10 years. I wish that I had been supplied with a big stack of these newspapers. I would have given them away frequently. The folks at “Need Help Now” will allow you to use their file for free if you want to change it for your church, and they are beginning to sell advertising. Also, they have some ways that youth groups and others can deliver these newspapers door-to-door as a fundraiser. The bottom line is that this is a wonderful resource that is providing real help to people in desperate trouble. Visit their website to read their story, and download the paper. I would recommend that you find a way to support them. I keep a stack of them in my briefcase and give them away when I meet people who need help that I cannot provide.
Their website: http://www.needhelpfresno.com/home.html
The Cost of Salvation
“The cost for the recipient of God’s grace is nothing – and no price could be higher for arrogant people to pay.”
– Dan Allender, as quoted in Gospel Transformation
Book Reviews: the Shack
OK, I haven’t read the book…but I saw it at Borders. I read the line on the bottom by Eugene Peterson (comparing it’s importance to Pilgrim’s Progress) and it made me scratch my head. So what is this all about? I went to Tim Challies’ site to see if he had anything to say…unfortunately it doesn’t sound good at all. Challie puts lots of quotes in his write up, and he is a balanced reviewer. His conclusion…don’t waste your time.
The world is going crazy over this, but it doesn’t appear that the answers provided by the shack to the problem of evil (depicted in the murder of a little girl) are really Biblical answers. Doug Wilson also gives it a thumb’s down (to put it lightly), he is not one of my favorites, but he is a literature guy.
Here is another review from the guys at Mathias Media. Paul Grimmond politely shoots down the book but says that each of us really need more “shack time,” meaning time in the presence of the real God. The more I read about this book, and read quotes from it the more upset I get…
For anyone still reading….Al Mohler did an episode on his radio program analyzing the book. I think this will become something of a fad with some emergent folks and hopefully only a minor distraction in the long run. What is not a minor distraction is the mindset that it grows out of…the post modern, group hug, everyone is right and no one is wrong mindset.
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MattTroupe.net 