Armor or Loungewear?

This week I finally finished reading John MacArthur's "The Truth War." Let me first and foremost say that I highly recommend this book. If you are a pastor charged with diligently looking after your flock, you should read this book. If you are the head of a household with the responsibility to protect your family not just from thieves who break in and steal but with those who would lead your family away from a Biblical Christianity, you should read this book. I could go on, but you should read this book.

Christianity has enjoyed a long season of favor in America, and it has caused Christians to get very relaxed. We go to church and have a good time - children play with glue and glitter, youth plan trips, and adults catch up with friends. We sing songs we like and hear a good sermon, we shake hands with the pastor, and tell folks we'll see them again on Wednesday night. Mind you, I am not at all saying there is anything wrong with the fun and fellowship I have described. But when do we strap on the armor? I'm not talking about physical armor and a bunker mentality, I'm talking about spiritual armor and an apologetic mentality, always ready to give a defense for our faith (I Peter 3:15-16). The times have changed, Christianity is falling out of favor, and Christian thought is losing the battle for people's minds. And that is because the enemy has been fighting, and we have not. In many cases, we are not even preparing ourselves to fight. In fact, we are framing ourselves for defeat, because we have pushed Christianity into a little corner we call "faith" and refuse to let it have anything to do with the intellect or anything tangible. But Biblical Christianity is the Truth, the full Truth, not just about the next world, but about this one. We need to fight and defend that Truth!

I'll get off that rant for now and say one other thing about the book. MacArthur speaks throughout about the Emerging Church movement. I am still trying to figure out this movement (so you'll be seeing more on that topic in this blog), and find I just haven't been able to yet. Part of it is that I just don't think like a postmodern at all. But here are a couple of different perspectives on it, if that will help confuse you as much as me. Part of the issue in regarding the Emerging (you may also hear Emergent) Church movement is that it is not clearly defined (which is typical of the postmodern way of thinking). What that means is that there are many things that are falling under the label of Emerging/Emergent Church. So I will give this one word of caution regarding "The Truth War": MacArthur has lumped all things Emerging together, and so his criticisms of the movement may not apply as much to some who use that label. That point is brought out by another blogger who also recently read the book.

Get the book. Read it. It's important.

Who Will Stand for Them?

In this article from Baptist Press (see also this story on WorldNetDaily), Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Barack H. Obama stated in last night's debate that he regrets his vote in the Terri Schiavo matter back in 2005. That vote allowed Terri's family to continue the legal fight against Terri's husband, who eventually won out. This allowed for Terri to be killed by dehydration, a pretty horrible way to die as I've heard it described. Some things I never could figure out about that case: why could no judge see that Terri Schiavo's husband had an obvious conflict of interest, and where were all those people who were so upset over those prisoners in Guantanamo whose Quran wasn't really getting flushed down the toilet? Wouldn't you think they would be more upset over someone who was truly experiencing torture despite the fact that she was neither a criminal nor a terrorist? We would never treat a criminal or a terrorist the way we treated Terri Schiavo.

One thing I found particularly troubling in the article as it applies to the present is that not just Obama, but Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, and Republican frontrunner John McCain have all expressed some level of regret or discontent with the decision to allow the legal challenge to continue. So who will stand for those who are not able to stand for themselves?

On a related note, the lawyer who led the fight for Terri's family, David Gibbs III, will be speaking at Summit Woods Baptist Church in Lee's Summit, MO on Sunday morning, March 30. I have heard him speak, and I expect this will be a powerful message.

He Was Ready

Yesterday, a legendary figure in contemporary Christian music went to be with the Lord. His song, "I Wish We'd All Been Ready," had an impact on my generation, even if I didn't know who sang it at the time. It was later that I became a little more introduced to Larry Norman (thanks Monte and OBED!). Some other Larry Norman classics you might have heard include "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music" and "Why Don't You Look into Jesus".

Thank you, Larry, for your music, and may God comfort your family, friends, and fans. We do not mourn as those without hope.

Another Victim

My first post was just a greeting. Now I need to do a real first post. It should be something substantial. I think this topic is just that.

There is an article that Fox News picked up from London's Sunday Telegraph about 30-year-old Emma Beck. After aborting twins, she became so remorseful that she took her own life. There are two things that hit me as I read the article. One was a deep sympathy for Ms. Beck as she dealt with her regret and sorrow. The other is, I wonder what made the news media decide to pick up this story about this one suicide out of who knows how many just in London alone.

As much as pro-abortionists try to paint abortion as a choice that frees a woman from the burden that a baby (or babies) will mean, I think abortion ends up burdening many women with a guilt, a regret, a remorse that they carry with them more than 9 months, more than 18 years, but for the rest of their lives. That seems like a very poor trade. We should mourn as Ms. Beck did the loss of those two babies, but after any abortion, there is another victim that gets to walk away from the procedure but not from its scars.

First Post

It has only been a few months since I have discovered the world of blogging. As I tend to write better than I talk, it has been something I found to be rather enjoyable. So I decided to give a shot at having my own blog. And this is it! This is my very first post, and I am looking forward to what happens in the future. Hopefully, some folks will find my blog and join me in the conversation. It's not exactly the same as a lively discussion on the front porch steps after supper, but hopefully it will be a friendly place to learn and be challenged. Feel free to stop by and sit a spell.

And, as they say in computer science, "Hello, world!"