I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11 ESV)

What is missing in the church, in our homes, in our hearts today? Cultural relevance? Self-esteem? Material blessings. Nope. It is the Word of God. It's absence is making a mess of homes, families, the church and the world.

Our goal as a couple over the next year is to read together the entire Bible, reading aloud from our new ESV daily Bibles (got a great deal on them from Westminster Seminary's book store). I got about 85% through a one year Bible in '06 before petering out, so I am hopeful that the discipline of reading together will aid in making it all the way through, and then starting again next year. There are plenty of things we need to work on and pray about in our family and marriage, but none is more important than placing His Word in a position of honor and prominence in our home. If we are successful with that, then everything else is doable.

Speaking of overwrought...

US doomed if creationist president elected: scientists

Oh no, what will we do if someone who believes the same way that tens of millions of Americans do (and Western civilization as a whole for centuries) gets elected president!? It will "doom" the U.S.!

How can we ignore the advice of the high priest of secularism? Since they are "scientists", those of us who are in the ignorant masses are duty bound to kiss their rings and accept what they say without question. The arrogance of the academy is grotesque to say the least...

"The logic that convinces us that evolution is a fact is the same logic we use to say smoking is hazardous to your health or we have serious energy policy issues because of global warming," University of Michigan professor Gilbert Omenn told reporters at the launch of a book on evolution by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

"I would worry that a president who didn't believe in the evolution arguments wouldn't believe in those other arguments either. This is a way of leading our country to ruin," added Omenn, who was part of a panel of experts at the launch of "Science, Evolution and Creationism."

Yet another example of American believers being told to keep their mouths shut and keep their faith confined to the shadows and maybe Sunday, as long as they don't really believe what they are saying. We are to accept without question what "scientists" tell us, which is precisely what they accuse us of doing. Again I say, does anyone else see the irony in that?

September Dawn

We finally we able to rent the movie September Dawn, a dramatization of the Mountain Meadows Massacre perpetrated in 1857 by a combined force of mormons and Indians, resulting in the death of 120 men, women and children.

From a cinematic standpoint, the movie was decent. Some of the acting is a bit overwrought, the love plot was cheesy and some of the dialogue was over the top. But what the movie managed to capture is life under the theocratic reign of Brigham Young, a man who I think was utterly convinced of his divine appointment as God's prophet. I still am unsure whether Joseph Smith was really deluded into thinking he was a prophet or if he was just a cheap con man who used the story of the Book of Mormon to gain power and women (it is probably a combination of both). But Young was an honest-to-goodness believer in himself and his divine appointment.

The temple ceremony scenes were creepy, but accurate. I am less convinced by the absolutes, the scenes of the kindly Christian preacher with a beautiful sunset behind him contrasted with Jon Voight calling down the curses of Jehovah upon the gentile invaders. But any serious look at the incident indicates that Brigham Young was complicit in the events, either by overtly calling for the attack or at least giving tacit approval. Regardless, the movie is thought provoking. I doubt many mormons will watch it given the "anti-mormon" stamp it has received, but they certainly should.

How many button quail eggs does it take to make a meal?



A lot!

Great Answer from Huckabee on Evolution versus Creationism



I suspect that Governor Huckabee believes as I do in a literal six-days, but it is a political debate and his answer is eloquent and humble.

New Hampshire

The Hall Monitor of American Politics

Remember the kid in high school that had some meaningless position but thought it made them a power broker? The hall monitor, the office workers, the equipment manager. There are similar people in the adult world, small time functionaries that use a little sphere of influence to try to make other people as miserable as they are: clerks at the drivers license renewal counter, IRS employees, mall security guards. That is what New Hampshire is like: A tiny, relatively irrelevant state that sneers at the rest of the country and looks down on everyone outside of New England, especially Midwesterners. Once every four years New Hampshire crawls out of obscurity and we are treated to their demands that candidates spend time in their state, genuflecting to the altar of the "First in the Nation Primary". New Hampshire has a whopping 24 GOP delegates, compared to 47 in South Carolina, 40 in Iowa and 60 in Michigan. All New Hampshire brings to the table is being first, and because of that every candidate is forced to spend time in state that has no real bearing on the direction of the rest of the country.

Check out this quote I came across in the Manchester Union-Leader:

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS for supporters of Mitt Romney: A man has survived a 47-story fall from a New York skyscraper. So anything is possible.

Now the bad news: Judd Gregg was right. New Hampshire still picks Presidents.

Weeks before the Iowa caucuses this past Thursday night clobbered Romney and his multi-million-dollar campaign, his man, Gregg, had dismissed them as meaningless.

Taking a line first used by Gov. John Sununu, Gregg said, "Iowa picks corn. New Hampshire picks Presidents."

What could be worse than picking corn! We lived in New Hampshire for several years, and one thing became clear: there are few people in this world who are more arrogant with less cause than New Hampsherites. Huckabee is not going to do well in New Hampshire, a state full of beautiful old churches, churches that are empty on Sundays. It was fun during the election cycle, we had a ton of candidate come through. I met Dan Quayle and Bill Bradley, and a bunch of candidates were in our town parade. But there is not a constitutional right for New Hampshire to be first and you would be hard pressed to find a state less in tune with the rest of the country.

A fun new video...



Some people have too much time on their hands (like me!)

On Huckabee's win in Iowa...

Very exciting stuff, a show that the Christian social conservatives have unified in large part behind a candidate and refused to be cowed by the smear attacks and arrogant head patting from the establishment GOP. The hand-wringing and moaning on National Review since Iowa has been unseemly. The truth remains that Huckabee is not a country club Republican (not that there is anything wrong with that), and he brings out lots of people to pull the lever. Romney can not, and will not, rally the party base like Huckabee and because of that and in spite of his spending a ton of his own money, he will not be the nominee. In the internet age, money to buy TV ads is becoming less important. The message goes right out, virtually for free, via email and blogs. Look at goof ball Ron Paul, he raises tons of money and gets his followers into a froth with virtually no effort at all. I despise John Edwards but he made an interesting quip that we are holding an election, not an auction. Word of mouth among evangelicals will make a ton of impact for Huckabee in South Carolina and Michigan.

Dr. Mohler posted an excellent analysis of the Iowa results, and made an especially good point here:

The rhetoric of the race -- and the rhetoric of many evangelicals -- is disturbing. This race is important and necessarily so. We are talking about the next President of the United States, after all. But evangelicals have invested far too much hope in the political process. No government can make people good, transform humanity, or eliminate sin. The political sphere is important, but never ultimate. Jesus Christ is Lord -- and He will be Lord regardless of who sits in the Oval Office.

There is always the danger of assuming that electing the right man will make everything right in the world and accomplish all of our goals. The reality is that the only way to win the war is to win people for Christ.

(As an aside, the word is out that Albert Mohler will be nominated for president of the Southern Baptist convention, something I would obviously support whole-heartedly. I am not sure the SBC will elect a Calvinist as President yet, but given the almost universal respect of Dr. Mohler it may happen.)

Happy Excommunication Day!

Today, January 3rd, is the 488th anniversary of Pope Leo excommunicating Martin Luther for the heresy of pointing out the un-Biblical nature of the indulgence system.

Despite the danger to career and life, Martin Luther stood for the truth of God's Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank God for raising men like Martin Luther up over the centuries, and let us pray he raises a new crop up in this generation.

Hail to the Victors!

At last Michigan wins a bowl game, 41-35 over the Florida Gators and overrated Tim Tebow. Nice way for Carr to go out, along with Mike Hart, Chad Henne and Jake Long. Not exactly a defensive struggle with almost 1000 yards in combined offense. A great way to end the year, beating an SEC team and picking up confidence and momentum as new coach Rich Rodriguez comes to Ann Arbor.

Now I have to root for Ohio State to beat LSU, since I can't stand the SEC and faux Michigan man Les Miles.

(Interesting stat from ESPN regarding the supposedly unbeatable SEC. Michigan is 6-1 versus the SEC in it's last seven meetings. By rights, Ohio State should have won the last time around against Florida. Michigan beat Florida by pounding the ball behind Jake Long, and using their big pocket passing QB to hit the receivers. Old school Big Ten football.)

GO BLUE!

A sobering end of year message from the Pyromaniacs

So much of what passes for the Gospel today has not even a little Gospel truth in it. Dan Phillips over at Pyromaniacs has posted an incredibly sober, and sobering, reminder of both how fleeting life is and how vital the Gospel is in the lives of sinners.

This is the Gospel, this is what true wisdom in the fear of the Lord sounds like. This is what we should hear from preachers, not how to live our best life now, not how to use our worship to hold God ransom for material blessings, but this deadly serious message:

Whatever your pursuits and distractions over the past year, the reality is that you are a step away from a judgment that is absolute, final, inescapable, irrevocable, and incapable of appeal. Were you to die now, the ax would fall, and that would be that. Forever. You need to come to know God, now.

How God's people need to hear this message, not once in a while, but over and over again. It may not be culturally relevant, it may not have high entertainment value, it may not make people weep ecstatically, it may not be great for the offering plate but it is the one and only message that is absolutely vital. Men called by God to stand in the pulpit, never let an opportunity to proclaim this truth escape.

Good stuff, thank you Dan for this timely and timeless reminder.

What exactly does Joel Osteen consider to be a "big detail"?


There are certainly doctrines that are not as divisive, or at least shouldn't be, compared to others. Dr. Albert Mohler ranks these under theological triage, and his advice in this area is as sound as ever. For example, third level issues are things like eschatology, that should not divide us or cause us to break fellowship.

Unfortunately, one of the best known Christian leaders in this country, in this world perhaps, has shown yet again a remarkable ignorance when dealing with mormonism and violated a number of the level one theological triage categories. Joel Osteen, on December 23rd, 2007, was interviewed on Fox News Sunday and in the course of the interview was asked about Mitt Romney and mormonism. His response is, to say the least, sad and disappointing:

WALLACE: And what about Mitt Romney? And I've got to ask you the question, because it is a question whether it should be or not in this campaign, is a Mormon a true Christian?
OSTEEN: Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so, you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are. And so, you know, Mitt Romney seems like a man of character and integrity to me, and I don't think he would — anything would stop me from voting for him if that's what I felt like.
WALLACE: So, for instance, when people start talking about Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and the golden tablets in upstate New York, and God assumes the shape of a man, do you not get hung up in those theological issues?
OSTEEN: I probably don't get hung up in them because I haven't really studied them or thought about them. And you know, I just try to let God be the judge of that. I mean, I don't know. I certainly can't say that I agree with everything that I've heard about it, but from what I've heard from Mitt, when he says that Christ is his savior, to me that's a common bond.

I have hesitated to post anything about this (which is pretty amazing if you know me that I would hesitate to offer my thoughts about anything) for a couple of reasons:

1. It is a fine line between rightly chastising a brother in Christ and attacking a brother publicly.
2. It is so obvious, so silly as to be almost below mention.

But the longer I think about it, the more irate I get. How can you, on national TV, when asked about a clear heresy, an attack on Biblical Christianity like mormonism and respond that the nature of God and the divinity of Christ are just little details that ought not be judged and get in the way? There are men of God like John MacArthur and Albert Mohler who appear on TV on a regular basis, and never fail to declare the Gospel and stand up for the truth, regardless of the derision they may receive or the lack of return invitation they may get.

A quick refresher: Mormonism holds that God the Father is a created being. That Jesus Christ is also a created being, and is the spirit brother not only of mankind but also Satan and his demons. That the Bible is unreliable and requires the priesthood authority to interpret. That temple worthy mormon men will become gods and live in polygamous relationships in eternity, propagating their own planets. Etc. Etc. Etc. These are not "little details". These are heresies of the highest order, on par with anything ever peddled throughout the ages. If Joel Osteen cannot differentiate between mormonism and orthodox Christianity, or if he cannot be bothered to inform himself of the pressing issues of the Gospel, he may need to spend less time on TV and jetting around the world hawking his latest book, and instead spend more time in the only book that really matters.