John MacArthur on Halloween

I thought MacArthurs's radio site had a nice little article on Halloween.

His conclusion: while there is nothing inherently evil about the day and some things (like candy and appropriate costumes) are fine, parents would be wise to steer their kids away from some of the morally compromised aspects of the Halloween.

Doug Pagitt on WOTM Radio

Wow. I just listened to this clip from Way of the Master Radio, an interview with Doug Pagitt. It's like he's on a completely different planet. Keep in mind that this guy is supposed to be a pastor.

Doug is a few minutes in...skip the stuff on healing at the beginning.

(HT: Reformed Geek)

When We Lose Gender Roles....

Did you ever wonder what might happen if we continue to lose any biblical definition of gender roles? You know...those old fashioned ideas that men are men and women are women and there are real physical, emotional, and God-ordained differences between the sexes?

No...I'm not talking about homosexuality or gay marriage. Those are just the beginning. Removing any sense of gender identity or uniqueness leads to some inevitable consequences.

The latest blog on CBMW gives some idea of where we might be headed.

Believe it or not...marriage to robots.

By 2050.

Time to pray.

Willow Creek: "We made a mistake."

There is an interesting article on Out of Ur (the Christianity Today hosted blog with contributors from Leadership Journal) about Willow Creek and something called REVEAL.

Apparently, there was a survey they did at Willow over the last year or so...and the results showed that all the money in the world and high levels of participation in church simply weren't making a difference in spiritual growth. Very revealing...

From the article:

Having put all of their eggs into the program-driven church basket you can understand their shock when the research revealed that “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

Speaking at the Leadership Summit, Hybels summarized the findings this way:

Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.

Having spent thirty years creating and promoting a multi-million dollar organization driven by programs and measuring participation, and convincing other church leaders to do the same, you can see why Hybels called this research “the wake up call” of his adult life.

Hybels confesses:

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

In other words, spiritual growth doesn’t happen best by becoming dependent on elaborate church programs but through the age old spiritual practices of prayer, bible reading, and relationships. And, ironically, these basic disciplines do not require multi-million dollar facilities and hundreds of staff to manage.

Interesting...but not terribly surprising.

I'm Okay - You're Not

I saw this on The Shepherd's Scrapbook...a review of a book by John Shore called I'm Ok - You're Not. To be clear upfront, I am NOT recommending this book. If you decide to buy it and read it, well...anyone is free to waste their own time I guess.

The funny thing about this is that I actually reviewed this book for publication by Zondervan, and rejected it for the very same reasons that this guy talks about in his blog. Interesting. To be honest, I'm totally amazed that NavPress (The Navigators) published this book. It's terrible in almost every way you can imagine.

In a nutshell, it pits the Great Comission against the Great Commandment and says we should abandon sharing the gospel in favor of "loving" people. Which is just meaningless, liberal theology, mumbo-jumbo... Of course, it does fit in with postmodern evangelism rather nicely.

Johnny MacArthur and Divine Providence

No...this isn't about John MacArthur, the pastor. It's about his grandson, Johnny.

Phil at Pyromaniacs put together a nice summary of the story. I'm not a real sports nut, but I thought this was pretty cool. Keep in mind, as you listen to the audio, that the talk radio guy is not a Christian...

The Future of Justification

Cool. Desiring God is offering Piper's new book, The Future of Justification, for only $5 if you pre-order it through the end of October. You do have to pay shipping, but Library Rate is only $3.50. So you can basically get the book for $8.50, which isn't too bad. It's still cheaper than Amazon and you are buying it straight from the ministry...

Counseling Video

It's not quite biblical counseling, but it's probably about as effective as some of the methods I've seen.

Enjoy.

Ummmm... What?

20/20 did a segment on child preachers. A 7 and 9 year old who preach.

It's a strange mix of cute and wierd. I appreciate the innocence of these kids, but I have to admit, I'm a bit of a cynic. I can't help but think that they've bought into some kind of experiential, mystical mumbo-jumbo.

Any comments?

Joel Osteen's Latest Book

Tim Challies points out a wonderful blog post on Joel Osteen's latest book.

There are two things that I find disturbing here (quoting the blog post):

I happened to catch Good Morning America’s recent interview with Joel Osteen, whom they introduced as being “bigger than a rock star,” with one of North America’s “largest congregations” and “millions of followers.” While showing images of him autographing bibles, they stressed that it is his simple message that “God wants you to do good” that has drawn so many to him and his message.

I didn't catch the show, I'll admit...but did you catch what the author wrote there? He was autographing Bibles? Who is this guy, the author of the Bible? Personally, it seems a tad presumptuous to sign my name in someone elses Bible like that, as if I had written the book.

That's not the real issue though...and I like how this writer puts it:

Paul is very clear in 2 Timothy 4:3 that “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions.” Who doesn’t want to be encouraged? Who doesn’t want to be told that they can, in fact, pull themselves up by their bootstraps, that they can have a good day? The truth is that we all want to hear these things, but the truth is that this is not the Gospel message. While Osteen encourages us to look to ourselves, the Gospel demands that we look away from ourselves to Christ. Diotrephes was condemned for liking to put himself first (3 John 9), yet this is exactly what Osteen’s message is: you deserve to be first! Osteen’s message is nothing more than self-help and self-esteem loosely wearing “Christian” garb. It is not the message of the Gospel and we can do nothing more loving than point this out to the many who are having their ears tickled.

Joel Osteen’s newest book should not be sold in “Christian” bookstores, quite simply, because it is not a Christian book. It might be a book written by a Christian, but it’s message is not in line with the message of Christ. It is not enough, however, to critique the message, I firmly believe that we must pray for Joel Osteen. While some will find this a bit odd, Osteen has been given a tremendous platform and he will be held accountable for what he does with that platform. We must pray that God would bring Osteen’s message back in line with the Gospel.

Amen. These books are not the gospel, nor are they Christian. And I agree...we should critique the message and pray for Osteen himself.

10 Commandments

It's kind of sad, but I almost forgot the 10 commandments. A few weeks ago, Jen and I were sitting around and on a whim we tested each other. We did manage to get them all, but unfortunately, not in the right order.

I've been working on that again, trying to memorize the order and get it down. Why? Because some things you just don't want to forget. And since the law is the best thing God has given us to prepare the heart for hearing the gospel, it's probably good for Christians to know at least a little bit of the law. At least enough to prick the conscience and make room for the Holy Spirit to bring a little conviction. :)

That said...some recent surveys done for the promotion of the 10 commandments movie are rather sad, but probably not too surprising:

• 35% of American's can recall all six Brady kids from the Brady Bunch
  
  
• 25% could name all seven ingredients of the Big Mac®
  
  
• Only 14% can accurately name all Ten Commandments
  
  
• 80 percent of American's know "two all beef patties" of the Big Mac®. "Thou shalt not kill," was known to fewer than six in ten Americans.

Anyway, if you want to change all that, maybe start by testing yourself first.

You can also check out some of the resources to help you learn.

Social Security

And the system begins to crumble...

Community of Memory and Mercy Quotes

Chuck Colson has a thoughtful commentary in a recent article from Christianity Today. He talks about the loss of a "community of memory" due to our cultural emphasis on "ontological individualism"--this pervasive idea that the individual is the only source of meaning.

I guess I liked it mainly because it again reminded me of the importance of passing on the gospel and the wisdom of God's revelation to my son and to future generations.

And even though it is completely unrelated, CT also chose to compile a collection of "mercy" quotes. Whenever someone talks about mercy, I'm there. If there is one thing that has helped me to get a right understanding of God and myself it's understanding mercy. I hope that my life, by God's grace, will be a testimony to the wonderful mercy of God.

Lil'Peg for Isaac Pics

Ok. I realize that there are some of you out there who are thinking to yourselves...why doesn't he put more pics of Isaac on his blog...that's all I really want to see!

Well, my wife has decided to start another blog dedicated soley to our little guy and our family stuff. Tentpeg has always been more of a life and theology blog for my rambling thoughts. There will still be occasional updates on my son and family, but if you are just looking for the latest pics, you'll probably want to checkout Lil'Peg for the goods.

Unitarian Universalist

Phil Johnson, over at PyroManiacs, pointed out the new ad campaign by the Unitarian Universalist church. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

You can read the article here.

Two Snippets

Here are two little snippets, one fun and one thoughtful.

1) I like this first one because my wife is a great mom, very faithful, and listening to this made me so glad that she is the mother of my child. And it made me laugh to listen to all the things that a mom says in 24 hours... :)

2) I like this second one because it got me thinking about how much time we can waste on really dumb things. And how that really isn't very good at all.

Book Giveaway

If you'd like to register to win a case of 40 books by RC Sproul (to give away for Christmas or whatever you'd like), click on this link to register. My motive, once again, is partly selfish. For each person I refer, I get another entry :).

Tim Challies does not put you on a spam list or anything like that, so no worries there. This is only for the giveaway, nothing else.

Encouraging News from Iraq

Here is an encouraging report from the Anbar Province in Iraq. As you read the article, note that the blame for the insurgency in Iraq is placed squarely on the Iranian support of al-Qa'eda--foreign terrorists operating in Iraq. And again, note that this report comes from a reporter who was actually there...not just sitting in a room in Baghdad listening to the wireless reports.

I Am Not a Movie Geek

Well, I took the quiz and found out that I'm only 41% movie geek. Not that great.

There would have been a time in my life when I would have been sad at this result.

Today, I consider it a sign of spiritual growth :).

Making the Bible Come Alive?

Tim Challies brings up a great point as he considers the way the Bible is marketed nowadays. Have you ever read or heard someone advertise that their book or product will "make the Bible come alive" or "bring the Word to life"? Challies writes:

I object. Every Christian ought to familiarize himself with the incredible words of Hebrew 4:12 which read, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The Word, it seems, is already alive. And like the living Lazarus, it has no need for us to breathe life into it. That is no cause for boasting; no cause for acclaim; no headline for marketing materials. The Bible is alive. We can’t make it more so.

So, so, so true! I am amazed at how quickly we abandon the Bible because it doesn't seem relevant to our lives. In my experience, while the Bible can be a challenge to read and is certainly not always easy, it IS ALIVE. We may need help understanding it (a good translation is helpful) and we may need to read it carefully and really think about what it is saying, but just because it makes us stop and listen and think, doesn't mean it is dead or irrelevant. The Word is alive and our need to "make it alive" is more a commentary on the state of our hearts than on the power of God's Word.

Comedy Central at Church

Here is a thoughtful editorial from Christianity Today on the subject of church, and how entertainment has become so commonplace that we forget to question if it really fits with the purpose of our worship and discipleship.

I should start out by saying that we have hosted comedy nights at our church, but never as an alternative to a worship gathering. The point of this article, and the reason I enjoyed it, is because of these two paragraphs, commenting on the use of an instructional video to encourage people to be baptized:

The baptism video, though it was posted on the internet, was clearly designed to be shown in a worship service. ("If you haven't signed up yet," says the pastor, "I'm sure that after this video you'll be really excited about it and want to sign up. So don't everybody rush to the information center at once after the service. Be careful. Please form a line.") The pastor cannot help using the ironic vocabulary of cheap comedy. And the video is subject to the temptations inherent in the medium: words that have to be bleeped out, pushing a baptismal candidate off the edge of the pool, showing a (thankfully) blurred image of what is supposed to be a naked candidate, and getting drenched when a candidate cannonballs into the pool. This is the vocabulary of Comedy Central, not the discourse of discipleship.

It's not that humor should be banned from worship. Hardly. As Frederick Buechner reminds us, the gospel is a comedy; who has not experienced grace as so wonderfully absurd that at times we cannot help but laugh? And it is one of life's joys to be amused (and distracted) in the cycle of work and rest. But the church must take its cues about humor not from the entertainment culture as much as from the gospel itself. Baptism, the watery half of the "by water and spirit" new birth, is joyous, even hilarious, as much as any birth can be. But the joy of baptism does not comport with an ironic smirk, and definitely not with pratfalls.

I agree. The church should embrace humor, but not the humor of our culture. I fear that living in an entertainment culture we sometimes forget there is joy to be found in the serious things of life. The humor of sitcoms can be funny...I'm not denying that. But it's a cheap imitation of the real thing...

God's Kingdom on Earth

Apparently, Senator Obama believes that his purpose in life is to create God's kingdom on earth. While visiting a church in South Carolina, he made these comments:

During the nearly two hour service that featured a rock band and hip-hop dancers, Obama shared the floor with the church's pastor, Ron Carpenter. The senator from Illinois asked the multiracial crowd of nearly 4,000 people to keep him and his family in their prayers, and said he hoped to be "an instrument of God."

"Sometimes this is a difficult road being in politics," Obama said. "Sometimes you can become fearful, sometimes you can become vain, sometimes you can seek power just for power's sake instead of because you want to do service to God. I just want all of you to pray that I can be an instrument of God in the same way that Pastor Ron and all of you are instruments of God."

He finished his brief remarks by saying, "We're going to keep on praising together. I am confident that we can create a Kingdom right here on Earth."

Just two things.

1. We don't create God's kingdom. God's kingdom is a reality. Period. There has never been a time when he hasn't been in charge, on the throne, sovereign over this world. God certainly doesn't need my help to establish his rule over this world.

2. If our job is not to create the kingdom, then what is it? Jesus makes it clear in his preaching:

"The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." ESV Mark 1:15

There are two choices, two ways to live (see the gospel on my sidebar). We can either choose to live our own way, and suffer the consequences, or we can submit our lives and our hearts to God's rule. Because of sin, the only way that can happen is through the grace of God and the gospel. When the Holy Spirit moves, opening blind eyes to the holiness of God, bringing a conviction of sin and awakening repentance in our hearts, the gospel is understood as good news to sinners! It tells us that the King is merciful and will forgive our rebellion if we will bow and accept his rule in our lives.

I wonder what Senator Obama thinks is involved in creating this Kingdom here on earth...and what that might look like. I'm pretty sure it's not what Jesus was talking about.

99 Balloons

Justin Taylor pointed out this video about Eliot Mooney, a child born last year with Trisomy-18. Eliot only lived 99 days, but his parents found God faithful and loving in the midst of tragedy. From the video site:

Eliot was born with an undeveloped lung, a heart with a hole in it and DNA that placed faulty information into each and every cell of his body. However, that could not stop the living God from proclaiming Himself through this boy who never uttered a word.

In the midst of heartbreaking tragedy, the Mooney family found the presence of God strengthening, comforting, and guiding them. Their story reminds us to seek God and endure our struggles rather than blame Him for our hardships.

I don't know if it's because Isaac will be turning 3 months soon...but I found myself in tears watching the video. And strengthened in my faith. The family has a blog that details Eliot's life, if you want to know more.

More Sermon Jams

If you enjoyed some of the sermon jams I mentioned in an earlier post on Relevant Revolution, you might also like some of the stuff at 10:31 SermonJams.

They are getting ready to launch a 4th volume of jams, as well as a new and improved website.

Rock, Paper, Scissors for the 21st Century

Whoa. This is crazy. Thanks to Nath for pointing this out.

Apparently, someone has developed new versions of the classic Rock, Paper, Scissors game, expanding it to 15, then 25, then 101 different combinations of hand motions.

From ReformedGeek.com:

Do you remember playing Rock, Paper, Scissors as a child? Do you also remember how many times you would tie? Well not any more. There is now the ultimate Rock, Paper, Scissors game, called RPS-15. RPS-15 has 15 different hand gestures (as opposed to the original 3). This dramatically decreases the chance of a tie, but also makes the game that much more difficult to play (and to learn to play).

The creator of RPS-15 didn’t stop at 15 and decided to create RPS-25 as well. He has created a chart with all the possible combinations of the 25 hand gestures.

I feel like an Infomercial, because there’s still more! There is now the RPS-101. That’s right, 101 different hand gestures. You can view the chart, investigate the gestures one at a time, dare to print out the combinations yourself, OR purchase the poster and booklet online.

Think all this required someone with too much time on their hands? I agree. But aren’t you just a little bit curious how it feels to play one of these new ultimate versions of Rock, Paper, Scissors? Then check out the online version of the game, where you can play the original, or try your hand at RPS-5, 7, 9, 11, 15, or 25.

I'm going to try and learn the 15 hand motions and hereby challenge all of you to an RPS faceoff!

YouVersion.com

Last week I found this nice little site called YouVersion.com that offers help for doing Bible study online. I've only used it a bit, but I'm hoping to start doing more of my study there, at least for awhile to check it out and see if it works for me.

It offers a variety of different translations, and you can mark passages of Scripture and keep a journal that goes along with your passage for the day.

Also, it looks like they are going to eventually have some interactive parts to the site, where you could have discussion of a passage. This would be great for weekly Bible studies, for that time in between meetings...to look at what you are studying and share with others.

Anyway, check it out!

www.tent-peg.com

I broke down and registered a domain name. It's only $10 a year, so why not? Anyway, if you always forget how to get to this blog (tentpeg.blogspot.com) then you no longer have to worry! All blog content is now redirected to www.tent-peg.com.

Unfortunately, www.tentpeg.com was already taken and I didn't feel like paying $200 to get it. So that's why there is a dash (-) in the middle... I didn't think it was worth the extra cash just to get rid of a dash.

So...anyway...from now on, you can use www.tent-peg.com. If you go to the old site address it will just bump you to the new one...so no worries!

Relevant Revolution

I found this site today and really enjoy the resources they have on it. It's called Relevant Revolution. Perhaps the most interesting thing you can do on the site is listen to the "sermon jams". These are clips of great sermons and evangelistic messages by various preachers, set to music. Some of them are quiet good!

There is also a great collection of online books to read (mostly by John Piper), as well as some great audio and video files. Overall, it's a nice site. I'd definitely recommend it...particularly to any young adults or high school students you might know. It's well designed and has a great variety of different resources.

Blog Updated

Well, I finally got around to upgrading my blog in Blogger. I've been using the same old code since 2005. Since my ability to program in HTML is vitually nil, I've been really happy to use the new version of Blogger, which lets me move things all around real nice and change colors and all sorts of fun stuff. I hope you like the new look!

Most of the same old stuff is still there...a slideshow of my son is in the sidebar for those of you who only come to this site to see him :). I've added one major new item... a link to my Google Reader. It's on the sidebar under "tentpeg's reader" and it will show you all the different blog articles that I read and deem worthy of starring (my way of saving them for later reference, if needed). Most of the blogs I read are theology oriented, so you might find some interesting stuff in there if you don't read blogs too often.

Anyway...let me know if there is anything that doesn't work right!

New Church Website

Over the past three months I've been at work helping get our church website redesigned. Thankfully, I didn't do any of the actually programming. But it was still a ton of work.

Last Thursday, we switched over to the new site.

Check it out at http://www.corinthreformed.org/.

Oh...and if you have any suggestions or notice things that don't work right or look right, let me know. It's still a work in progress.

Last Weekend

This past weekend, my friend Travis and I went on a road trip to Minneappolis for the Desiring God National Conference. The theme for this year was "Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints." All of the conference sessions are now online for free.

If you are wondering why we went when everything is free...well, the worship and fellowship and focused time of receiving from God...you just can't get that listening online. That's why I go.

Here are the links to the sessions, along with a brief commentary by me.

Certainties that Drive Enduring Ministry, Part 1
2 Corinthians 3-4
September 28, 2007
John MacArthur
Read Listen Watch Download
Download: Audio Video

This was the Friday night session by MacArthur. I thought it was a great start. It's especially good if you are in full-time ministry of some kind. Get your pastor to listen to it...if he only has time for one though...have him listen to part 2.

Four Essentials to Finishing Well
September 29, 2007
Jerry Bridges
Read Listen Watch Download
Download: Audio Video

I enjoyed Jerry Bridges. His message was very basic, but thoughtful. It emphasized the importance of the spiritual disciplines for enduring in the faith.

Getting Old for the Glory of God
Psalm 71:7-18
September 30, 2007
John Piper
Read Listen Watch Download
Download: Audio Video

This was Piper's message on Sunday morning. It's about the mistake of "retiring". The American Dream of retirement is a lie. Piper holds nothing back. This is especially good for those in the Boomer generation who might be tempted by the world's idea of retirement.

Certainties That Drive Enduring Ministry, Part 2
September 29, 2007
John MacArthur
Read Listen Watch Download
Download: Audio Video

Excellent. My favorite message from the conference.

Today's Decisions Determine Who You'll Be Tomorrow
September 29, 2007
Randy Alcorn
Read Listen Watch Download
Download: Audio Video

Randy Alcorn packed in a TON of useful stuff in his message. It jumps around a bit to different topics, but the first part has some great personal stuff from his early years in ministry.

A Call for the Perseverance of the Saints
September 29, 2007
Helen Roseveare
Read Listen Watch Download
Download: Audio Video

This woman is a real gem. She is a wonderful witness to Jesus Christ. Definitely worth listening to. Women especially will be inspired by her example and faithfulness to Christ as a single woman on the mission field.

Ten Commandments and a New "Gospel" Movie

Has anyone heard anything about this new animated movie, Ten Commandments? The animation looks like a video game, but I like that they are doing the WHOLE story (unlike the Prince of Egypt, which stopped at the Red Sea). You can watch the trailer on the website. It's supposed to come out in about two weeks.

I was disappointed by the last attempt (Prince of Egypt) so it would be a nice surprise if this one was actually decent. Let me know if you know anything else about it.

On a COMPLETELY different note...

I was reading today that there is talk of a new independent film being made called The Aquarian Gospel. It's supposed to be a movie about the "lost years" of Jesus between 12 and 30....you know...those years when he travelled the world and went to India, Tibet, etc. and got all his great ideas? Obviously, this is pure trash. It should come as no surprise that it's being directed by the same guy who did that Oprah-endorsed piece of spiritual nonsense called The Secret.

The movie is based on a book by a man named Levi Dowling who lived in the mid 19th century. He wrote a book called The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. Here is a quick summary from a website:

An Indian prince named Ravanna obtained permission from Jesus’ parents to take him to India in order to learn from the wisdom of the Indian sages. Dowling offers that Jesus studied under Brahmic masters for a season, then went on to Benares of the Ganges where he was mentored by Hindu healers who taught him their art, then on to Tibet. Finally, he journeyed to Egypt where he allegedly became part of a "Secret Brotherhood" in Heliopolis. There he advanced through seven degrees of initiation to become the Christ.

Sounds like something to keep on the radar. More New-Age trash that tries to remake Jesus. It will probably get a ringing recommendation from Oprah, just like The Secret. After all, she is the biggest cult-leader in America (and quite an effective evangelist for New Age spirituality as well!).