March 2007 Archive

Book Review - America Alone (03/31/07 - 16 Comments)
Mark Steyn is a brave guy. It takes a certain kind of bravado to write a book criticizing Islam. Just a few days ago I heard an author mention a book he has written dealing with Islam, but suggested that it will only be released posthumously. Other books on the subject have been released anonymously. This is a topic many people are concerned about but which they are afraid to address. Not so, it seems,...

D.A. Carson on Worship (03/30/07 - 10 Comments)
This quote comes courtesy of D.A. Carson and the book he edited entitled Worship by the Book. It seemed appropriate in light of what I posted this morning. Carson has just defined worship and is now expanding on his definition. I have bolded the section that I found most edifying. "In an age increasingly suspicious of (linear) thought, there is much more respect for the "feelings" of things – whether a film or a church...

Song of the Year (03/30/07 - 21 Comments)
The band All Star United has released some good and fun songs over the years. Unfortunately I've sometimes found them to toe the line a little bit with their humor. On the whole, though, they write some memorable songs and songs that tend to speak to some of the trends in the Christian world. They have an album coming out in a few weeks and one of the songs is called "Song of the Year."...

Testimony Tuesday (For Bloggers) (03/29/07 - 29 Comments)
I've been thinking for a while now that it would be interesting and beneficial to have bloggers post their testimonies to their blogs. Some have already done this, but many (myself included) have not. And yet I love testimonies and find them so beautiful and so moving. It is amazing to read about the many ways God saves His people. He uses an infinite variety of means to draw an infinite variety of His people...

The True Character of Unbelief (03/28/07 - 8 Comments)
The following quote is from the pen of Horatius Bonar (1808 - 1889), the great Scottish preacher, poet, author and hymn writer. In all unbelief there are these two things--a good opinion of one's self and a bad opinion of God. Man's good opinion of himself makes him think it quite possible to win God's favor by his own religious performances; and his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his...

The Mirror (03/28/07 - 10 Comments)
I was skimming headlines a few days ago and noticed a story about some activists on a college campus who were planning to cover all of the school's mirrors for a day. I did not read long enough to see why they wanted to do this, but I assume it was somehow meant to draw attention to a problem the school or government was covering up. You know how these college-aged activists are, always thinking...

Robert Bruce (03/27/07 - 13 Comments)
Here is Iain Murray writing on the death of the great Scottish preacher Robert Bruce: Bruce was now some seventy-five years of age, his wife had been dead for several years and he was also ready for home. "I wonder why I am kept here so long," he would say to friends. The following year, while having breakfast, his daughter, Martha, was about to prepare him another egg when he said, "Hold, daughter, hold; my...

Book Review - Inside Narnia (03/27/07 - 21 Comments)
Inside Narnia was one of the many books published in advance of the recent movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. In this book Devin Brown, a Lewis scholar and aficionado, offers a detailed look into the world of Narnia, digging far beyond the surface, and exploring this magical world. Having just read The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe with my children, I decided to read this as a...

Gray (03/26/07 - 20 Comments)
There was an interesting documentary last night on TLC. It featured Abby and Brittany Hensel, twins who were born in Minnesota in 1990. As the result of a rare abnormality, Abby and Brittany were born conjoined. They have two heads but one body. They have two arms and legs and each girl controls one of them. Internally they have two hearts, two sets of lungs, two stomachs, and two large intestines. Yet they share a...

King for a Week - Evangelical Outpost (03/25/07 - 4 Comments)
King for a Week is an honor I bestow on blogs that I feel are making a valuable contribution to my faith and the faith of other believers. Every two weeks (or so) I select a blog, link to it from my site, and add that site's most recent headlines to my right sidebar. While this is really not much, I do feel that it allows me to encourage and support other bloggers while making...

Spiritual Posture (03/24/07 - 6 Comments)
Roy Halladay is Toronto Blue Jays' ace pitcher and is one of the top players in baseball. Halladay has a well-established routine that begins as soon as a game is complete and continues until the next game has begun five or six days later. He has another routine which takes him from the end of one season to the beginning of the next. And, like many players, has a routine which takes him from pitch-to-pitch....

Friday Frivolity (03/23/07 - 12 Comments)
Based on many trips over the U.S.-Canada border in the past weeks and months, I'd like to suggest the top ten things not to say to a U.S. Customs agent (or border guard): 10. "Want to bet that I make more than you do?" 9. "So an Iranian, a Cuban and a North Korean walk into a bar..." 8. "Does this look infected?" 7. "Where am I going? To heaven. In fact, the Bible says..."...

Book Review - Meet the Puritans (03/22/07 - 15 Comments)
Through the past few decades there has been a great resurgence of interest in the Puritans. This resurgence seems to have begun with Martin Lloyd-Jones who would often refer to their works in his sermons. People would then ask "Where can I get these books?" Banner of Truth began to reprint the books and soon other publishers began as well. Today there are so many available to us that few people could afford to buy...

Review - Prayer and the Voice of God (03/21/07 - 18 Comments)
I was going to post this review on the weekend, but then John Piper messed everything up. He posted an article at the Desiring God web site that fit very well with it, so I thought I'd link to his article and then post the review. This is, without a doubt, one of the best things I've ever read from the pen of Dr. Piper (and I've read a lot). Read that and then, if...

Feedback Files - Assurance (II) (03/21/07 - 21 Comments)
Yesterday I began answering an email sent to me by a reader who struggles with assurance of salvation. In the first part of this two-part article I listed three important affirmations regarding assurance of salvation: it is possible and even normal for the Christian to experience assurance of salvation, it is possible and even normal for the non-Christian to experience a false assurance of salvation, and it is possible and even normal for Christians to...

Feedback Files - Assurance (03/20/07 - 20 Comments)
Last week I received a moving email from a reader of this site. She revealed that she has wrestled with the issue of doubt and assurance and often wonders if she is truly saved. "I have prayed the salvation prayer numerous times because I thought that maybe I was not saved. I just prayed today and I know that I am saved. I know that Jesus saves. I know that all doubt has been removed."...

Home At Last (03/19/07 - 7 Comments)
I'm finally back in my office. It was just about two weeks ago that I set out for the Shepherds' Conference and since then I've been on the road pretty well the whole time (I did spend one night here after returning from the conference and before heading out to Atlanta, but my actual time at home was only a few hours). It is good to be home. The house is absolutely freezing since we...

The Expository Genius of John Calvin (03/18/07 - 23 Comments)
Steven Lawson's series called A Long Line of Godly Men has made me awfully excited. I love Reformed theology and am thrilled to see the effort Lawson is expending in proving that this theology, seen as so new and so radical by such a large number of Christians, has been consistently taught by courageous and biblical Christians from the time of the writers of the Bible all the way to today. There truly is a...

Ligonier Conference (IX) (03/17/07 - 3 Comments)
Sproul began the conference's final session by describing what may well be the oldest question of theology. It is the one asked by Job: "If a man dies, shall he live again?" He turned to Emmanuel Kant an explained why he was one of the most important figures of the 18th century. Specifically, he turned to Kant's critique of the classical arguments for the existence of God in The Critique of Pure Reason. Kant set...

Ligonier Conference (VIII) (03/17/07 - 5 Comments)
Seemingly unaware that today is Saturday (and not Friday as he mentioned at the beginning of his address), Dr. Mohler took the pulpit to discuss "The Holy Spirit and Apologetics" and answer the always-difficult question of Why are there some who believe and some who do not? He began and ended with Matthew 13:1-17. The world thinks we're nuts for being here this morning. The world has no understanding of why such a crowd would...

Ligonier Conference (VII) (03/16/07 - 3 Comments)
Sooner or later they had to give Al Mohler an opportunity to take the stage and he did so in the day's final session. He spoke on "The Authority of Scripture" using 2 Timothy 3:14 and the verses following as his text (though this was certainly not an expository message as much as a lecture). He began by speaking of epistemology which is the study of how we know anything (and a word that is...

Ligonier Conference (VI) (03/16/07 - 5 Comments)
Until today I had never attended a conference featuring Ravi Zacharias. I know a fair bit about the man as his reputation precedes him, but had never sat under his teaching. Now that I've done so I can affirm that I have never been and will never be a philosopher. I am a simple guy I guess. While I enjoyed his discussion on the existence of God, a whole lot of it went right over...

Ligonier Conference (V) (03/16/07 - 7 Comments)
After Dr. Piper's speech, John MacArthur spoke no the always-difficult subject of "The Problem of Evil." this is an important issue because one of the favorite justifications for those who reject the God of the Bible is the issue of evil in the world. Skeptics and theological liberals cannot accept the God of the Bible. How can the God portrayed in the Bible as good and loving allow evil and even massive evil and even...

Ligonier Conference (IV) (03/16/07 - 42 Comments)
Friday's second session featured John Piper and he spoken on "The Challenge of Relativism." This is a topic that interests me a lot and is a topic that I have read into quite a bit. Piper's take on it was definitely unique and I enjoyed it a great deal. Desiring God, in a clear bid to steal my thunder, has already posted the audio but if your speakers are broken or you have sore ears,...

Ligonier Conference (III) (03/16/07 - 50 Comments)
The first session on Friday was handled by John MacArthur who spoke on "The Bible and Science." He chose to narrow in on specifics rather than theory. He began with several assumptions: whoever created the universe and everything that exists within it necessarily understands its nature and operation perfectly. Whoever created it does not have to wait for scientific discovery for Him to discover its operation. If He wrote a book, we would expect that...

Ligonier Conference (II) (03/16/07 - 14 Comments)
After the "pre-conference" ended and we had packed down some dinner, the conference proper was set to begin. Steve Lawson took the stage to honor Dr. Sproul as he will be honored later this year by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. He spoke of Dr. Sproul's ministry and shared some personal perspectives based on studying for his PhD under him. He then presented Sproul with a fountain pen as a token of appreciation for Sproul's...

Ligonier Conference (I) (03/15/07 - 9 Comments)
From L.A. to Toronto to Atlanta to Orlando. I've had a busy five days! It is beautiful and sunny and warm down here in Orlando. I thought it was hot in Atlanta but it's definitely far warmer here. It has been a long time since I've been in Florida and I have to say, as I looked out the window of the airplane as we broke the clouds, my first thought was, "Wow. This state...

Outsourcing and Birthrates (03/14/07 - 36 Comments)
Statistics Canada (Canada's national governmental statistical agency) has just released the results of the 2006 census. The statistics that have caused the most discussion are those related to Canada's population growth. The news is alarming and just happened to coincide with some reading I've been doing on this very topic. Canada is now a nation of 31.6 million. Since 2001, Canada has grown by 5.4 percent, the highest rate of increase of all the G8...

Offsets and Indulgences (03/13/07 - 30 Comments)
As I drove the 16(ish) hours from Toronto to Atlanta, I had a lot of time to think. Not only did I plan out what may just be my next book, but I also thought a lot about this whole global warming controversy. The day before I had read a book about the Reformation and I realized a stark similarity between the conditions prior to the Reformation and contemporary environmentalism. Now I'm sure I'm not...

Book Review - The Reformation (03/12/07 - 10 Comments)
I love church history. I consider it absolutely tragic that so few contemporary Christians have any real sense of their heritage. They know a little bit of New Testament history, can list hundreds of today's best and worst teachers, but know almost nothing of the 2000 years between. The Reformation: How a Monk and a Mallet Changed the World is one of a long line of books authored by Stephen Nichols, professor at Lancaster Bible...

Church History (03/11/07 - 31 Comments)
I made it home just a little bit later than I had hoped (but earlier than I had expected) and am now ready to turn around and head right back to the United States, this time driving 1000 miles to my parents' place in Atlanta. We're off to a late start, but that couldn't be helped. While I was flying home from L.A. yesterday I read Stephen Nichols' The Reformation: How a Monk and a...

Shepherd's Conference (XII) (03/10/07 - 12 Comments)
Some conferences end with a bang. They crescendo in a big song or a passionate call to action, the lights come on, and they are over. Others end less abruptly, sort of slowly fizzling rather than culminating in a bang. The Shepherds' Conference falls into the latter category. John MacArthur finished his session last night and the conference was done. Or kind of. After he was finished the Soapboxes were opened for business and the...

Shepherd's Conference (XI) (03/09/07 - 8 Comments)
This evening marked the final session of the 2007 Shepherds' Conference. It occurred to me quite suddenly this afternoon that I had been misplacing an apostrophe the entire time. The apostrophe in "Shepherds'" should be going after the "s" and not before. I'll try to do better if and when they ask me to return next year. Not too long before this evening's session began, I started to feel a little bit queasy. I'm not...

Shepherd's Conference (X) (03/09/07 - 12 Comments)
I do not typically attempt to record the speaker panel or question and answer sessions at these conferences. The relaxed, casual and unplanned atmosphere makes it quite a challenge. However, today I thought I'd give it a try. And actually, I think it worked out quite well. Here is a brief rundown on what happened when the five speakers gathered on the stage (C.J. Mahaney was not present as he has already headed home) and...

Shepherd's Conference (IX) (03/09/07 - 18 Comments)
The final session of the conference is set to wrap up sometime around 8 PM tonight. However, it won't quite be over at that point. This year the five speakers (minus MacArthur, so Lawson, Dever, Mahaney, Duncan and Mohler) will each have the opportunity to share issues that are of particular concern to them. Five soapboxes will be setup around the Grace campus and each of the men will speak for a few minutes, sharing...

Shepherd's Conference (VIII) (03/09/07 - 6 Comments)
Every time I'm down here in California, I'm surprised by how much the temperatures fluctuate from day to night. While it is supposed to top out at around eighty degrees by later in the day, right now I'm just about shivering sitting here in the shade. I suppose it must be the humidity that helps moderate the temperatures in the climate I am accustomed to. Either way, it's pretty chilly right now! This morning Mark...

Shepherd's Conference (VII) (03/08/07 - 16 Comments)
The Shepherd's Conference is infamous for being the conference that gives away the most and the best stuff. Every year each attendee walks away with a good pile of books and one big-ticket item. Last year I got in trouble for not posting an exhaustive list of the books and I thought I had best remedy that this year. So here is the list of books we got. What Jesus Demands from the World by...

Shepherd's Conference (VI) (03/08/07 - 5 Comments)
This evening's session began with a selection of songs being sung by the Master's College choir. They are clearly an exceptionally talented group and sing absolutely beautifully. It was a real blessing to hear them. When they had finished up, MacArthur introduced Al Mohler, tonight's speaker. After regaling us with some hilarious stories of his own ineptitude (with the final story culminating in him buying a hilariously inappropriate Mother's Day card for his wife), Dr....

Shepherd's Conference (V) (03/08/07 - 7 Comments)
Yesterday I had the honor of serving at the Shepherd's Conference Scholar's Desk. This is a stand-up desk where experts on various fields are available to answer questions on a given topic. Together with Nathan Busenitz we fielded questions for an hour on the subject of blogging. And it was a lot of fun. Some theological questions arose and I pretty well just deferred to Nathan on these since he is, after all, a PhD...

Shepherd's Conference (IV) (03/08/07 - 5 Comments)
We've come to the mid-point of the conference (or at least the mid-point for those of us who do not stick around until Sunday afternoon). A round of seminars is beginning right now and a second round will happen immediately after these ones. I've decided to forego he seminars and am sitting between two buildings, in the shade, and am just enjoying the beautiful weather. It is warm, sunny and dry as a bone (as...