A sure sign that this is our year!

The Tribe beat the White Sox, 2-1, today lifting their record to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in the toughest division in baseball, the AL Central. What is really cool is that they did it by getting only one hit. The hefty lefty, C.C. Sabathia, now at 3-0 on the season, struck out ten today. Kind of a weird win, but I will take it. Any win is a good one, and especially a win over a division rival. If we can just get Victor Martinez healthy and once Pronk starts hitting, it is going to be lights out for the rest of the AL Central!

Ignorance+Power=Trouble

Dr. Falwell is at it again. He recently declared that those who hold to limited atonement are guilty of holding a heretical teaching. Tom Ascol at Founders Ministry has a penetrating commentary on this ridiculous claim on the Founders Minstry Blog.

This must mean that he and Liberty believe that those who hold to particular atonement to be heretics. Among the countless numbers of people whom he would brand with the H-word are many who would make any evangelical Who's who list (including Bunyan, Owen, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Carey, Boyce, Mell, Dagg and Lloyd-Jones, to name but a few of the dead ones). I find this sad.

Does Jerry Falwell and Liberty University really judge John Piper to be a heretic? If we take his words seriously, as surely we ought if we are to honor him, then he believes that Al Mohler, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, D. James Kennedy, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, Tom Nettles, Wayne Grudem, Sinclair Ferguson, James White and Fred Malone teach heresy.

I for one don't care to be labeled as holding heretical views by Dr. Falwell, who holds a position of prominence in the Christian world. If he is serious about this claim, he should name names and publicly speak out against contemporary Christians in the SBC as heretical teachers. If he does not, he should repent and recant, and apologize. I won't hold my breath waiting for the apology.

Pyromaniacs: You say you want to be a teacher? Oy!

Dan Phillips has done a great service to those who read these words, giving the appropriate recognition of how we should take the role of teacher with the utmost of soberness. Too often the pulpit is seen as a place for storytime, for the telling of jokes and tales, of entertainment or of self-improvement. But if a man is going to stand in front of his flock, and open the Word of God, he better darn well know that it is not just the souls in front of him that he is responsible to, it is God Most High as well. If one enters the pulpit without a level of fear and trembling under the weight of the responsibility he is accepting, he is in danger of condemnation. The pulpit is no place for a showman or snake oil salesman, but rather a place for the proclamation of the truth of God revealed.

Where have we heard this before?

Mitt Romney, claiming to be a lifelong hunter, turns out to have hunted maybe a couple of times in his life. No licenses can be found, leading to his claim that he hunted rabbits in Utah where they don't require a license. According the the AP story, Romney joined the NRA last year as a Life Member and doesn't even own a gun.

His staff refused Friday to provide details about his hunting history, including whose gun he used, with whom he hunted and whether he hunted in Utah as a college student or as an adult. He does not own a firearm, despite claiming to earlier this year.

Hmm, a Massachusetts politican pretending to be Johnny-outdoors. Sounds like John Kerry regaling us with tales of deer hunting, crawlin' around on his belly with his trusty double-barreled shotgun. No one bought Senator Kerry's story and likely won't buy Romney's either.

Now that's a pulpit!

I have been preaching behind a rickety lectern in the 9 months or so since I have been called as pastor of Grace Community Church. It is serviceable, but it is difficult when the top suddenly shifts and I have to grab my Bible and notes so they don't fling on the ground, or try to surreptitiously try to tighten the wingnut that holds the top of the lectern in place. But now....

My dad, who has an amazing talent in woodworking, built me a pulpit. Keep in mind that he has never built anything quite like this. Bookcases yes. Dictionary stands yes. Giant cabinets yes. Corner china cabinets, hope chests, all sorts of stuff yes. But this is quite a bit different, since this pulpit is built exactly for me. The dimensions are built for our church, the stand inside is set at just the right height for where I like to read from. I pray that if it is God's will, that I spend the rest of my days proclaiming the Word of God to His people from that pulpit, and that someday that some or all of my sons also declare the revealed, perfect Word from behind that same pulpit.

Where is the part where I feel sorry for these men?

Miami sex offenders live under a bridge

Because of laws that require pedophiles to stay a certain distance from schools, some sex offenders who cannot afford cheap housing have moved under a bridge. Five men. The only five offenders who are known in the state of Florida to be "forced" to live outdoors (in Florida). The article lists these men whining about the noise of cars and the difficulty in charging the GPS tracking devices that they are forced to wear. No mention of course of the children that these men sexually assaulted. No mention of the lives ruined, trust betrayed. I don't understand when it became chic in journalism to spotlight the plight of criminals with no mention of the people that they hurt.

Springtime in Northern Michigan!

We have gotten nearly half a foot of new snow in the last few days. It is going to be a pretty chilly Easter Sunday. It is hard to have an Easter Egg hunt when the eggs are buried under 6-8 inches of snow!

Holy Week or Snowy Week?

A mere five days from Easter Sunday, and while the rest of the country is gazing at flowers in bloom and preparing Easter Egg hunts on verdant lawns, Northern Michigan is preparing for...

A winter storm!

Looks like up to 6-10 inches of snow over the next 24-36 hours, with gusting winds. Should be a great way to start Easter weekend!

Northern Michigan: Where winter abates for three months so tourists from downstate can come clog our roadways!

This must be that "socialization" that my poor homeschooled kids are missing...

NEW ORLEANS — Five fifth-grade students face criminal charges after authorities said four of them had sex in front of other students in an unsupervised classroom and kept a classmate posted as a lookout for teachers. The students were arrested Tuesday at the Spearsville school in rural north Louisiana, authorities said. Two 11-year-old girls, a 12-year-old boy and a 13-year old boy were charged with obscenity, a felony. An 11-year-old boy, the alleged guard, was charged with being an accessory.

"After 44 years of doing this work, nothing shocks me anymore," said Union Parish Sheriff Bob Buckley. "But this comes pretty close."

I am glad to know that this sort of behavior "comes pretty close" to shocking Sheriff Buckley. If that is what the public school advocates mean by socializing, I think I will just keep my kids at home. Are we to the point yet where anyone is still outraged by this?

What is truth?

John 18:37-38 37 Then Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." 38 Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" After he had said this, he went back outside to the Jews and told them, "I find no guilt in him. (ESV)

What is truth and where is it found? How do we find that which is true? Is truth something that we discover on our own, by our own power and investigation? If we search hard enough, pray hard enough truth will reveal itself to us? Or is truth something that is revealed to us by He who is Truth?

Examine these words, from the September 1978 Ensign magazine (the official magazine of the mormon church) by then "Prophet" Spencer Kimball...

Again, I offer the assistance of the Church, but I will not push this matter upon you nor force it. You are mature, you have a good mind, you have a strong background, and the seeds of truth were sown in your life in your youth. All the powers of earth and heaven cannot bring this knowledge to you. It cannot be hoped for nor purchased. It must come by a careful, honest, and sincere investigation. The Church stands ready to furnish such assistance as you may require.

Note the focus here. You have to find truth. The mormon church can help. Truth comes by investigation. No power on earth or heaven can bring this knowledge to you. Think about the ramifications of that statement. Christ cannot reveal truth to you. You must discover it by your own investigation.

Now compare that to what the Bible says. Look at the experience of Paul. I would hazard to say that in his case, it WAS a power in heaven that revealed truth to him. Or later in Acts, Lydia. The Scripture tells us that "One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. " (Acts 16:14 ESV) Lydia heard what Paul was saying because the Lord opened her heart. Not because she sincerely investigated. Never, as far as I am aware, does anyone come to a knowledge of God by their own sincere investigation. The focus in mormonism is shown once again to be on the earthly church organization. The focus of the Christian is on Christ, revealed in His inerrant, infallible Living Word. We are His sheep, and His sheep hear His voice.

If it is April...

...it must be Reformed Theology Conference time!

I am going to two conferences in April, the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology in Grand Rapids, MI and the Toledo Reformed Theological Conference in (obviously) Toledo. With any luck I can catch a minor league game while I am in one or both locations. The Toledo Conference I attended last year, this year it features Tom Ascol of Founders Ministries, Steve Camp of Camp On This, Don Kistler of Soli Deo Gloria publications and Steve Lawson, author of the new Long Line of Godly Men book series. Should be good stuff, and four of the five speakers are Baptists! The Grand Rapids conference features Don Carson (who I am very excited to hear), Mark Dever and Ligon Duncan. Should be a great couple of weekends and I hope to come out with a greater understanding of Christ and of the Doctrines of Grace.

So far, so good!

A season opening 12-5 beat down of the overrated Chicago White Sox. Let's be honest, by rights the AL Central is a two team race, the Tribe and the Detroit Tigers. Just what we needed, leadoff homer by Sizemore, 3 RBI each from Peralta and Martinez, an RBI triple by new guy Josh Barfield, 3 hits from ancient Trot Nixon. Six different starters had at least 1 RBI, seven starters at least one hit. A solid start from Sabathia. Really you couldn't ask for much more on opening day. I know it is only one game, but Opening Day is all about optimism!

UPDATE: Day two of the season, and the Indians are still undefeated at 1-0. Go Tribe!