The Plodding Preacher

As I was driving to work the other day, I heard a version of an old joke I had never heard before.  It is particularly appropriate for our town in autumn. Why did the chicken cross the road? To show the squirrels it could be done.

In light of Saturday being the anniversary of Luther's 95 Theses, let me commend to you an article at Cripplegate that speaks to the differences we still have with Rome. 7 Problems With the Roman Catholic Mary by Jordan Standridge About 10 years ago I was walking around the Duomo of Milan and these ladies captured my attention as they were staring at this stained glass picture of Mary. Being spotted by one of the ladies she quickly came to me to hand me a rosary. As she tried to convince me to take it, I said that I only needed to pray to God and that I would not pray to Mary, her shock quickly turned to anger and she said “may Mary whip you with the seven whips of Satan!” As I booked it out of there I was wondering to myself first of all, why is Mary working with Satan? But second of all and more importantly, how in the world do you get to that point where one talks to Mary more than God? How do you get to the point where you pray 10 prayers to M...

I Went Away for Just 6 Days... I went to Europe for just six days, and by the time I returned the Blue Jays had been turfed out of the playoffs and   this guy   had been elected as our Prime Minister. (I actually noticed that he was front-center on the cover of the German newspapers.) While I felt surprisingly little despair over the demise of my team, I couldn’t hold off some discouragement in seeing Trudeau and his Liberal Party of Canada sweep into power. He becomes Prime Minister at a time when Canadians are eager for change and when they are eager for someone to lead them into a liberal and licentious future—Trudeau, after all, made the legalization of marijuana one of his key campaign promises and told prospective members of parliament they were not welcome in his party if they are pro-life. It was a sudden and interesting little realization that drew me out of my despair. I found myself pondering the well-known words of Psalm 146:3-4: “Put not your tr...

It is good to challenge ourselves from time to time with a something a little more meaty.  This article deals with many of the humanistic claims that atheists throw at Christians about the "true" nature of Jesus. Who was Jesus really? For the past few weeks I’ve been discussing this question with my high school theology class. Although most of my students have been brought up in the church, I know they’re going to face challenges to their faith when they go off to college. Many will hear jarring claims from classmates and professors about the “real” Jesus—claims contradictory to the church’s confession of Jesus as the risen Son of God. So I want my students to be prepared. I want them to know these claims have been around for a long time, as have Christian responses. Despite what many critical scholars claim, there is no contradiction between the “Jesus of history” and the “Christ of faith.” In fact, studying Jesus as a historical figure ca...

Everyone of us as children at some point blurted these words, "It's not fair."  I once believed that it was because children have a natural sense of fairness.  The older I get, the more I realize that it is not a product of a heightened sense of fairness.  Rather it is the sinful response of a selfish heart.  That which is perceived to be unfair directly relates to an inborn belief that I deserve better than I am receiving.  In a sermon last night, I asked two questions of our church family related to the subject of fairness. 1. What does it say about us that we never admit that it is not fair when good things happen to us?  T he only time I tend to complain about life not being fair occurs when bad things happen in my life.  Doesn't the reverse hold true as well?  When positive things happen in my life that don't also happen to all those around me, shouldn't I also note that life is unfair?  Ah but this reveals the problem.  I am no...

The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give people what they choose, in all its implications . — J.I.  Packer

“I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon. (his last words)”   ―   John Newton

The news that Playboy magazine is no longer going to publish pictures of naked women seems, at first glance, a positive thing.  Russell Moore suggests that the issue is sad because of what it says about how far the porn culture of our society has drifted.  Original HERE . Playboy magazine has decided that naked women are too boring. After years of social conservatives and feminists telling them their nude objectification is degrading to women, Playboy executives have yielded because they are not able to be degrading enough to keep up with the Internet. As one executive   told   the   New York Times , the magazine can’t keep up with the online pornography market where “every sex act imaginable” is simply a click away. To stand out from the crowd, Playboy must show some restraint and concentrate on articles or art or something. This move should tell us something about our mission field. First of all, it shouldn’t surprise us that a culture awash in graph...

As I look at my computer screen I have been noticing a type of advertising that has been appearing more and more often.  The adverts could in the broadest sense be called human interest stories.  Unfortunately they all tend to have lurid headlines which appeal to our baser interests. 10 Celebrity blood feuds. Famous celebrities without make-up. 15 Plastic surgery disasters. You Won't believe these Tattoo disasters! Why do such things grab our attention?  Why are we compelled to stop and look?  It seems to me that each of these ads presents someone's pain and suffering as entertainment for the rest of us.  Isn't there something grotesque about finding entertainment is the misery of other? I have to believe that this is contrary to the admonition of the Apostle Paul about where we ought to focus our minds. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if ...

It bothers me that we are still fighting about music in our churches.  I wish we had the perspective of this song.  It's not about me!

I find myself so easily discouraged. It is pathetic how easily I can be discouraged - easily discouraged by resistance, easily discouraged by opposition, easily discouraged by hardness of heart, easily discouraged by blindness. C. J. Mahaney

Yesterday I was home sick.  It was nothing serious, but it got me thinking about the whole issue of sickness and particularly God's purpose in sickness.  This is by no means an exhaustive treatment, but here are a few purposes I see biblically. 1.  Sickness reminds us that sin has consequences.  I am not talking about god using each and every sickness in our life to punish us for some evil we have done.  Yet, there would be no sickness if were not for sin.  I believe that all sickness has its root in humanity's fall in the Garden.  Hence, all sickness is a subtle reminder that we desperately need reconciliation to a Holy God. 2.  Sickness can be discipline.  I want to be very careful here. The Bible clearly teaches that not all sickness is discipline from God.  Job was not being disciplined in his sickness.  Jesus says that neither the man blind from birth nor his parents were responsible for his ailment (John 9:1-3).  How...

Today the theory of evolution is about as much open to doubt as the theory that the earth goes round the sun. (Richard Dawkins) Reading such a stridently sure and absolute assertion one might feel like throwing in the towel and embracing the evolution dogma. The sheer confidence displayed in it almost protrudes through the page. But before one gives in let it be noted that this same Richard Dawkins is on film telling people that has no idea how life got started and thinks it feasible that aliens started life off on earth (see the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed). Recall also what was said about his allegiance to the deterministic forces of nature in the last post. If Dawkins’ worldview is right, none of us can help thinking exactly what we’re thinking—and so all “reasoning” is illusory. What do we do about this quote from someone who takes Dawkins’ logic and runs with it: Evolution teaches that “we are animals” so that “sex across the species barrier … ceases to be an offe...

My children might find some agreement with this comic strip.

4 Questions to Ask a Child Posted by Megan   Children can be difficult conversation partners. Sometimes they freeze at any adult attention, twisting themselves into Mommy’s skirt faster than you can say “hello there!” Sometimes they begin eagerly to speak to you, but a friend or a spider redirects their energies and, with a whirl, they disappear. Sometimes, they’ve just woken on the wrong side of the pack n’ play or been forced to eat Brussels sprouts for snack, and you wouldn't get a cheerful word out of them even if you offered them a Blue Razz Blow Pop in exchange. Children are shy, distractible, irritable, talkative, uncomfortable, and affectionate.  In short, they are pretty much like adults. And, just like their grown-up counterparts, they want to be asked questions that demonstr ate genuine interest in them as people. I’m quite sure that when the little ones were brought to Jesus he looked them in the eyes and asked them the same kind of perceptive qu...

American culture is probably the least Christian culture that we've ever had because it is so materialistic and it's so full of lies. The whole advertising world is just, it's just intertwined with lies, appealing to the worst of the instincts we have. Eugene H. Peterson

Tim Challies alerted us to the fact that today was the date of the founding of the first modern missions agency by William Carey. Baptist Missionary Society Formed in England The gathering of young men who met in Mrs. Beeby Wallis' parlor   on this day, October 2, 1792   was not a likely group to begin major world-wide missionary work. The twelve ministers were all from small churches in the district of Kettering, England. Two had churches with congregations of less than 25 each. But they had become increasingly convinced that their churches should send the gospel message to the far-flung corners of the globe. Surprisingly, many   Christians   in the eighteenth century accepted the argument that the heathen had rejected the gospel and would be held accountable for their rejection on the coming day of judgment. Some even argued that if God wanted the heathen saved, he would enlighten them without any human help. The young pastor William Carey couldn't accept su...

The World Needs More One-Woman Men by David Mathis The “one-woman man” may seem like an endangered species today. In our over-sexualized and sexually confused society, it’s increasingly rare to come across married men who are truly faithful to their bride — in body, heart, and mind. It may be even more rare to find unmarried men who are on the trajectory for that kind of fidelity to a future wife. Jaws will drop when a handsome, eligible bachelor declares he’s a virgin waiting for the wedding night. Of the fifteen basic qualifications for the office of elder in the local church ( 1 Timothy 3:1–7 ), being a one-woman man may be the one that runs most against the grain of our society. We’re relentlessly pushed in precisely the opposite direction. Television, movies, advertising, and just about everything else conditions the twenty-first-century male to approach women as a consumer of many, instead of as a protector and servant of one. The models teach our men to selfishly comp...