The Fear of Man4/4/2008
For staff devotions this week, my colleague Marion Clark shared the following proverb, which is good counsel for every Christian, but especially for anyone in ministry: "The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe" (Prov. 29:25). Ironically, it is our desire to feel safe that often tempts us to be people-pleasers, not saying what needs to be said, for fear of what others may think. But in fact our fear of other people will trap us in the end. Only trusting in the Lord and pleasing him is perfectly safe.
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The Islamization of Europe4/4/2008
Writing in the April 3 edition of the Jerusalem Post, Daniel Pipes asks, "Will Europe Resist Islamization?" According to conventional wisdom, the answer is "no." But Pipes counters this argument by pointing to the dramatic conversion of the prominent Muslim Magdi Allam -- a top editor and well known author in Italy -- who converted to Roman Catholicism on the eve of Easter Sunday.
The event was widely covered in Europe, as were Allam's remarks afterward. According to Allam, while attention has focused on "the phenomenon of Islamic extremism and terrorism that has appeared on a global level, the root of evil is inherent in an Islam that is physiologically violent and historically conflictive." In other words, the problem is not simply radical Islam, but Islam itself.
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Remember, You Heard it Here First3/24/2008
For those who are keeping score, Tim Keller's book The Reason for God has climbed to number 7 on the bestseller list for non-fiction. Of course, if the New York Times included Bible sales, Keller's book would drop to 8th place. . .
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A Word to Pastors . . . 3/5/2008
. . . from church father Columbanus:
"Let us all hasten to approach to perfect manhood, to the measure of the completed growth of the fulness of Jesus Christ, in Whom let us love one another, praise one another, correct one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, that with Him in one another we may reign and triumph."
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A Real Mission Field3/5/2008
The church planting committee at Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church was recently given some statistics that clarify the need for gospel work in our own United States.
With almost 200 million unchurched people, America is one of the world's ten largest mission fields.
In 2000, the US sent out more than 100,000 missionaries, but also received 33,000 missionaries, making us both the world's largest missionary-sending and the world's largest missionary-receiving country.
It is estimated that more than 100 million Americans have no substantial Christian memory, which is a reminder that a large part of the task of evangelism in our times is simply explaining to people what Christianity is.
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Hip Hop Atonement3/3/2008
I'm not sure if Shai Linne was trying to capitalize on this year's PCRT theme or not, but his new, Bible-based, Reformed, John Piper-approved hip-hop CD is entitled "The Atonement." Listeners should be prepared for a heavy dose of Romans.
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Less than the Least2/29/2008
As of yesterday, David Skeel and Bill Stuntz have begun writing a new blog called "Less than the Least." Law professors at UPenn and Harvard, respectively, David and Bill are close friends who share a faith commitment as well as a career. Here is how they introduce their blog:
We are both law professors and evangelical Protestants – a weird combination in our time. We hope it’s also an interesting combination. We plan to write about the things that interest us, professionally and personally: crime and criminal justice (Stuntz), corporate governance, credit, and bankruptcy (Skeel), the culture wars, politics, literature and the arts, and other topics.
It should also be noted that Professor Skeel is an elder in Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church. Needless to say, it is encouraging to see Christians in academia writing from the perspective of their faith. Readers of Reformation 21 will recognize, I hope, the biblical allusion in the blog's title. It represents the right stance for Christians to take in the public arena.
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E.M. Bounds on the Preacher's Personal Holiness2/21/2008
The gospel of Christ does not move by popular waves. It has no self-propagating power. It moves as the men who have charge of it move. The preacher must impersonate the gospel. Its divine, most distinctive features must be embodied in him. The constraining power of love must be in the preacher as a projecting, eccentric, an all-commanding, self-oblivious force. The energy of self-denial must be his being, his heart and blood and bones.
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Richard Allen's Birthday2/14/2008
A nice piece in today's Philadelphia Inquirer laments that the February birthday of Richard Allen -- once a major event in our city's black community -- receives so little notice. Born a slave, Richard Allen was a leading voice for racial equality in early American life. He was also the founding bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, a group started after one of Philadelphia's Methodist churches banished Allen and other black members from their fellowship.
I was especially touched by something Allen wrote in 1794, wise counsel for our country that tragically went unheeded: "If you love your children, if you love your country, if you love the God of Love, clear your hands from slaves, burden not your children or country with them."
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The Amplified Lord's Prayer2/11/2008
Janice Marsh and her friends in a women's Bible study at Redeemer PCA in Hurricane, West Virginia have written to tell me how much they learned about the Lord's Prayer last fall (full disclosure: they were using my book When Your Pray as a study guide).
They also sent me a prayer that they worked on together -- a prayer that follows the outline of the Lord's Prayer but is expanded to include the lessons they learned in studying it. With the thought that it may be helpful to others, I include it here:
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You Heard It Here First2/7/2008
Yesterday I received a rush copy of Tim Keller's new book for skeptics, which the Penguin Group in New York is releasing this week.
The book is called The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. It is written both for skeptics and for the people who love them. The cover endorsements from Publisher's Weekly and the New York Times will commend the book to secular readers.
You heard it here first: this book will end up on the bestseller list.
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Kenya Update2/1/2008
Shortly after posting on Stephen Lungu, I received a sobering update on his work right now in Kenya. Where the following information says "AE" it is referring to African Enterprise, an evangelical ministry of word and deed that was founded by Michael Cassidy and is now directed by Stephen Lungu.
It is important for us to remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in Kenya, both in our public and in our private prayers.
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Also Recommended2/1/2008
Our father/son book group (The James Montgomery Boice Literary Society) just finished reading Out of the Black Shadows. The book tells the extraordinary story of Stephen Lungu, who was abandoned by his parents at a young age, joined a violent street gang in his native Rhodesia, was converted to faith in Jesus Christ, and eventually has become the International Director of African Enterprise.
The book is a great read for Christians of all ages. The members of our book club would put Out of the Black Shadows in the very first rank of spiritual autobiographies. It is published by Monarch Books.
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Planet Narnia2/1/2008
Over the last few days I have been devouring Michael Ward's remarkable new interpretation of The Narnia Chronicles by C. S. Lewis. The book is called Planet Narnia, and it was published this month by Oxford University Press.
Dr. Ward and I were students together at Oxford, where we spent happy hours together at the Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society. His new book grows out of his doctoral work on Lewis at St. Andrew's University. Its central argument is that each book in the Chronicles is related in theme, imagery, and theology to one of the seven heavenly bodies (the five visible planets, plus the sun and the moon), as understood in Medieval cosmology.
I find the book's argument thoroughly convincing. It is also spiritually nourishing. Dr. Ward shows how each book draws out a different aspect of the character of Aslan, which is also to say a different aspect of the character of Christ.
This Sunday evening at 8pm Dr. Ward will give a talk at Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church. It is entitled: "The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God: C. S. Lewis, Narnia, and the Planets." As an added attraction, the Sunday evening worship service (6:30pm) includes "The Heavens are Telling" from Haydn's Creation.
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How Long?1/28/2008
Today I received an anonymous prayer card from someone who was at Tenth Presbyterian Church yesterday for worship. The card asked us to pray for a baby whose heart is failing and may need a transplant.
The baby's parents are believers in Jesus Christ. On Saturday the mother, fearing for her daughter's life, asked her husband, "How long will God continue to show us mercy?"
"Always," he replied.
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