Just over a month ago, Lighthouse Trails Research posted a press release at their web site entitled Rick Warren Teams Up With New-Age Guru Ken Blanchard. I do not know how many people read this press release, but one person who did was Rick Warren. Richard Abanes, who is a Warren apologist and has a forthcoming book entitled Rick Warren and the Purpose that Drives Him, has posted Warren’s response on his site. You can read it here.

Abanes first writes about Ken Blanchard’s errors in discernment (which are serious enough that one could legitimately wonder if Blanchard even understands the Gospel). He then posts Warren’s email to Lighthouse Trails.

A short summary of Warren’s email is that George Mair, who wrote an unauthorized biography of Rick Warren, is a complete fraud and liar. He took the facts about Warren that are publically available and made up any other information he needed. I picked up on some of this in my review of the book, suggesting: “In the end, it seems that this is a book designed to cash-in on the success of The Purpose Driven Life…” and “the author also makes several factual mistakes and I was often left with the impression that he had filled-in details about Warren’s life where such information was missing.” Warren discredits Mair because he is the source for Lighthouse Trail’s information about Ken Blanchard. Warren also denies that he has ever had so much as a single private one-on-one discussion with Robert Schuller.

[Note: it has come to light that Mair disputes that there are many errors in the book. Read this.]

I will withhold comment on most of what this email contains until I have read Abanes’ book, which is sure to provoke a great amount of discussion at this site and elsewhere. But Warren’s email seems to confirm what I believe and have tried to make clear: Rick Warren is a sincere man. He sincerely believes that “Purpose Driven” is biblical. He is not knowingly and deliberately trying to tear apart the church (as some may have you believe).

But I will suggest, once more, than a man can be sincere, but sincerely wrong.

I do respect Rick Warren for his zeal and his desire to lead people to Christ. But I still feel, after a close examination of his books in the light of Scripture, that he is doing harm to the church through his Purpose Driven philosophies, through his ecumenism and through various other avenues.

A couple of small points. Warren chastises Lighthouse Trails for not contacting him before posting the press release. But I know of many, many people who have tried to contact Warren with no success. But in this case they probably should have because of the credibility (or lack thereof) of the source. I would also suggest that this situation does not fall under the teachings of Jesus outlined in Matthew 18 as Warren suggests, so that Lighthouse Trails did not err in that regard.

Phil Johnson has gone on a rampage against Calvinists in the kick-off post for his new Pyrospectacular blog. Kind of. He suggests that since bashing Calvinism is the latest fad in the blogdom, he ought to have a chance at it. He believes there are problems inherent in Internet Calvinism. “In my judgment, the problem is a fairly recent down n’ dirty version of callow Calvinism that has flourished chiefly on the Internet and has been made possible only by the new media.”

You can (and probably should) read the article here.

And now for something completely different.

A couple of months ago I was approached by a potential client and asked if I could develop a site for him. This person leads a Sunday school class and wanted a site where he could post his daily reflections on the Scriptures. The catch? Well, it’s not really a catch, but what made this interesting is that his reflections are written in the form of limericks. And so I present to you, Bible Bus Limericks.

To give you an example of what he does, here is today’s limerick, entitled “HOSPITALITY SWEET.”

Wealthy lady, ‘bit long in the tooth,
Though hos-pit-able, had no male youth.
Gave E-li-sha a room.
Gained the fruit of the womb.
Had a son, as did Bo-az and Ruth.

Each limerick is accompanied by notations, Scripture verses (I ended up installing the entire KJV Bible at the site) and discussion. There is also a place to leave comments and people can subscribe to the regular updates, via email or RSS.

“Limericks are like verbal cartoons. People scan the headlines and then head for the cartoons. The ‘best read’ item on the editorial page is the cartoon. All cartoons have a funny twist. One can scan it in 10 seconds. It’s the ultimate ‘sound-bite’. These Limericks are Bible Bytes.”

The “Bus Driver,” the gentleman who writes these limericks, is 80 years old. “As the Bus Driver, aka The Bible Bard, is now 80 and has a little more time on his hands than when he and Mrs. B. were raising 9 kids, it should only take about 8 more years to complete the tour thru Revelation. Then, God willing, the Bard will start over and fill in any potholes he has missed.”

I can hardly think of a better way to spend retirement than to lead Bible studies and to give people a daily gift from the Word, even if it is in the form of a limerick! And if you think you can’t learn from a limerick, think again. In creating and designing this site, I learned quite a few little nuggets of truth from these poems (generally historical rather than theological, but important nonetheless).

There were a few struggles with the coding of the site, but on the whole I am well-pleased with the result. More importantly, the client loves it. My buddy Darren, who is an extraordinarily talented artist, designed that amazing banner for me.

This is why I enjoy web design. I never know what the next project is going to be…

Speaking of which, if you are in the market for a web site, drop me a line. I am, as usual, seeking new work at this time.

Last Friday I encouraged people to post a list of book that currently resided on their desks. Strangely enough, that request turned into something of a meme and ended up being posted on sites through out the blogosphere. It was very odd. I labored all week to write about about putting God in a box, and all people wanted to talk about was the books on their desks! I don’t understand you guys…

But I digress.

This week I thought it might be fun to list the one (or two or three) book on your shelf that is least-likely to ever be read. That’s right…what is the one book (or two, or three) on your shelf that you are never, EVER going to read? Of course it may also be interesting to know why that book is on your shelf in the first place.

And just to spice things up a little, if you have never visited McRorie’s site, you need to give this guy a listen. He’s a one-man band perpetually stuck in the 80’s (and a kilt) who has a particularly bad web site. But he can play! And in case you’re at work now, be warned that within a couple of seconds on clicking that link you’ll be listening to some really loud covers of some really loud songs. But if you’re at work you probably shouldn’t be wasting your time at my site anyways. Shame on you!

And by way of update, I still haven’t seen the new Star Wars. Nor do I feel any compulsion to see it. I am sure this makes me unique among bloggers.

I am trying to recover from a long weekend. While the weekend was relaxing, someone forgot to forward the memo about Victoria Day to all of my American friends and clients. Thus work piled up yesterday and I am at least a day behind. I was hoping to post the next installment of the “Boxing God” series today, but I think it will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meantime, I wanted to draw your attention to some notable reads elsewhere on the World Wide Web.

Getting More By Giving More. Sally Gleason, wife of Ron, whose article I posted yesterday, is an excellent writer and has begun posting the occasional article at Ron’s site. One I enjoyed in particular is entitled “Spouse or Children--How do we choose between them?” It is a response to an article in the Orange County Register which was written by a woman who proudly admitted that after a decade of marriage, she and her husband “are a couple that deeply loves their children but actually still love one another more.” Sally wrote a letter to the editor (which was not printed) but which is well worth reading. And I should also note that today is Sally’s birthday!

Judging by the number of reviews out there, I do believe I am the only blogger who has not yet seen the new Star Wars. I can’t say it’s on my short-list of things to do, either. To tell you the truth, I can’t even remember the last movie I saw in the theatre. I suppose it was probably Luther.

Dan over at Some Latin-Named Blog gives out his second More Cowbell award. This time it is awarded to Children’s Choirs in Adult Contemporary Christian Music. I can think of many good songs that have been ruined by the addition of a children’s choir. Then again, a couple have been the better for it (Youth of the Nation by POD for example). But generally I like to avoid them. It’s too cliche.

Battle Lines has an interesting article about Mosaic Church (home of Erwin McManus) and some of the Eastern influences in that church. Here is quote from McManus’ book: “In this book we'll use several different metaphors to describe pastoral leadership, the first of which a pastor as a spiritual environmentalist. He has the unique task of leading the people of God to become who they really are. For a species to survive and propagate in a given ecosystem, a least five basic characteristics need to be present. One, a balanced ecosystem; two environmental adaptation; three spontaneous reproduction; for the nurturing instinct; and five, life-cycle harmony.” I’m not a dumb guy, but I have absolutely no idea what he’s going on about.

I had an invite yesterday to be a guest on a radio program this evening. Fortunately Unfortunately I could not do it, as I will be leading a Bible study this evening while they record the show. And I’m terribly camera and microphone-shy. But I found the show’s hosts a replacement who is far more erudite and qualified than I am, so I think it will all work out for the best.

Diet of Bookworms has been updated with a bunch of new titles and reviews. I try to update it every Tuesday. You can always subscribe to the RSS feed if you’d like weekly updates.

That’s it for me today. I’ll take Amy’s advice and refuse to say that I’ll post later. Apparently that is “Blogging tip #54.”

Here’s something new.

How would you like to add a daily Question and Answer from the Westminster Shorter Catechism and Heidelberg Catechism to your site? Or how about having them sent to your RSS Reader? This feed will take you through both catechisms twice per year.

RSS

To add a daily catechism question and answer to your RSS reader, simply add the following RSS feed: /catechism.php. It is updated every night.

Add It To Your Site

To add the daily question and answer to your blog or web site (as I have done on the lower left of the main page of my site), you have two options:

1. The PHP Option. To do this you will need to have the ability to run PHP files on your site AND the page you add it to will need to be PHP. Simply download these files (click) and upload them to your server. Then add a PHP include to your page where you would like the Q&A to appear (include ("catechisminclude.php");). That is all there is to it. A new question will appear each day.
2. The Javascript Option. If you do not have PHP or can’t be bothered going that route, simply add the following code to your site where you’d like the Q&A to appear:

   cut and paste javascript:
   <script language=”JavaScript” src=”http://jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/feed/feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.challies.com%2Fcatechism.php&num=1&html=a” type=”text/javascript”></script><p><noscript><br /><a href=”http://jade.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/feed/feed2js.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.challies.com%2Fcatechism.php&num=1&html=y”>View <span class="caps">RSS</span> feed</a><br /></noscript><br />

   
   

Please let me know if you have any difficulties.

Many thanks to Robert Hamby for doing all the tough work for this!

Thanks to all who participated in the giveaway of Amazing Grace: The History & Theology of Calvinism DVD and the Luther DVD. Response was overwhelming.

Before I reveal the names of the winners, I’d like to once again thank Monergismbooks.com for their ongoing support. You can thank them for their support by visiting the site, even if it is just to poke around and see what they offer.

If you would like to purchase Amazing Grace, that is the place to do it.

Also, if you have signed up for this giveaway, I assume you are a reader of books that are of interest to Christians. I have recently opened a new site which may be of interest to you. The Diet of Bookworms is a site dedicated to reviews of books (and DVDs are coming soon) that are of interest to Christians. All of the reviews have been written by discerning authors. There are hundreds of books, reviews and authors to read about, so why not give it a visit?

I am also pleased to say that on June 6 I will announce the next giveaway. The details are not fully in place yet, but it will once again feature an autographed copy of a great book and, in all likelihood, another great item.

And now, without any further ado, I will announce the winners of this month’s prize. As always, they were chosen by a random drawing of all the participants. They are:

Ted Kranenberg
Amy Scott

Congratulations to Ted and Amy. I have contacted each of you seperately and the DVDs will be shipped as soon as I receive your information.

As for everyone else, thank you for your participation. Hang in there until June 6th when I will send information about the next giveaway.

And before I close, I would like to extend a personal word of thanks for participating in these giveaways. Enough people are participating now that authors, stores and publishers are beginning to take notice. This can only be a good thing, as I have been asked by many of these people if they would be able to co-sponsor a future giveaway. This ensures that there will be a steady stream of great items available to you! You can do your part by clicking the links to the contest sponsors and browsing through their goods.

A few weeks ago we had some Friday Frivolity and I asked people to grab the closest book, flip to a certain page and post a sentence from that page. It was moderately interesting (at best) to see what books people were reading.

Today I thought it would be moderately fun (at best) to ask people to list the books that are currently on their desk. Just a list of the titles and authors. If you have too many to list, just post a few of them.

On my desk you will currently find:

A Journey in Grace by Richard Belcher
Pocket Guide to the Apocalypse by Jason Boyett
Total Truth by Nancy Pearcey
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem (servering as a bookend to hold up a stack of CDs)
A Journey in Purity by Richard Belcher
The Forgotten Trinity by James White
Five journals and/or notebooks (I misplace them a lot so have several on the go)

Beyond that are six as-yet unpublished books I am currently reading in manuscript form. I love manuscripts. I simply cannot bring myself to deface and defile a perfectly-good book by putting lead (graphite) or ink on it, but with manuscripts I can write whatever I want. But I digress.

And for those who will complain about this being cliche, here is a little chart which will probably appeal to you:

Have a good weekend!

Well look what the cat dragged into the blogosphere. Phil Johnson has a snazzy new blog all primed and ready to go. A quick prelaunch check shows that all the necessary elements are in place.

Obligatory blogroll? Check. Obligatory reader quote? Check. Photograph of the blogger? Check. Biography? Check.

Content? Well, not yet. But he says it is coming sometime around June 1. Anyone think we’ll see a marked decrease in the quality of programming at Grace to You once Phil gets blogging?

In your travels around the blogosphere today you may have noticed a few reviews of The Feminist Mistake by Mary Kassian. Chances are these books are part of a program I have put in place through the Diet of Bookworms. I have scoured the blogosphere to find blogs that meet two criteria: First, the blogger must be theologically-conservative and exhibit some discernment, and second, his or her blog must generate a fair amount of traffic. These two criteria have been surprisingly difficult to reconcile. I contacted several bloggers and asked if they would consider reading books and review them. These reviews will all be posted on The Diet of Bookworms.

The first book we have tackled through this program is The Feminist Mistake. We are currently reading several other books. We are reading these in manuscript form and will post reviews shortly after the book releases.

So far today reviews of The Feminist Mistake connected with this program have been published on the following site. I will update the list as others come through:

• Rebecca Writes
• Amy’s Humble Musings
• Read and Reap
• Gary Gilley
• Tim Challies

And of course I would encourage you to check out the newly-redesigned Diet of Bookworms where they are all nicely compiled.

I am looking for a snazzy name to refer to this program. I considered “bookswarming” but I don’t know that it really works. If you have any brilliant ideas, please let me know. And if you feel that you and your blog meet the criteria, or you know of another that does, feel free to contact me.