Under Construction

The Blog is Under Construction.

Please bear with me the next couple days to get the blog in order.

How Sick is My Heart

"How sick is your heart..." declares God (Ez. 16:30).

The barrage of Ezekiel 16 in extensive violent and sexual imagery depicting the idolatry of God's people never ceases to surprise me.  I am confident liberal theologians scoff at the intensity of language God uses of His own people, yet the lesson is not so much to be shocked at the language of God but shocked at the idolatry of the heart.  Many come to this passage thinking that the language is sickening, yet the point is that the readers and hearers of the oracles hearts are sick. Idolatry is as disgusting as rape and as heartbreaking as adultery.

My heart, as Calvin said, is a factory of idols.  All too often I am manufacturing idols not seeking to systematically destroy them.  

How sick is my heart.

Thank God Jesus has "atone[d] for all that [I] have done" (Ez. 16:63).  The power of the Gospel is that which expels my affection for objects of idols and replaces it with affections for the person of Jesus.  Jesus changes the affections of a sick heart and causes them to be affections of a new heart.  Meditating on God's promised atonement for idolaters, even more then the punishment against idolaters, is the best power against idolatry.

Consumerism at its Ugliest

Sickening Shoppers:

"A temporary Wal-Mart worker died after a throng of unruly shoppers broke down the doors and trampled him moments after the Long Island store opened early Friday for day-after-Thanksgiving bargain hunting, police said."

A Prayer for the Wicked

"Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime." Ps. 58:8

Memories of Meece

Listening to this entire album at my old friend's house.



Nostalgia sets in.

God is Good: Therefore Enjoy Life

The Preacher, King Solomon:

"This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment." Eccl. 2:24-25

An Old Testament Scholar, Dr. Waltke:

"The hedonist says, 'Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.' But that is not Qoheleth's reason; for him, the ability to enjoy life is a gift of God...In other words, God is good. By associating enjoyment in the context of God's goodness, the preacher also rejects denial ('all is well') and false optimism ('I will be happy')." An Old Testament Theology, 962.

Serbian Abortionist Now Pro-Life

A wonderful story about a former Serbian abortionist who is now a pro-life activist says that during one abortion his mind was changed:

"...However, the baby's heart came out still beating. Adasevic realized then that he had killed a human being..."

Like Adasevic, I pray that President Elect Obama's mind and heart would be changed and that his strong pro-choice position is changed to a vigilant pro-life position.

(HT: Z)

Meaninglessness is the Mother of Meaning

In light of the Book of Ecclesiasties, under the fear of God, the following is true:

"...meaninglessness is the mother of meaning: enjoy life while you can." (Dr. Bruce Waltke, An Old Testament Theology, 961)

Christendom comprised mainly of Roman Catholics and Pentecostals

Finnish theologian and Fuller Theological Seminary professor, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, who interestingly was sent back to Finland (yet now has returned) after 9/11, mentions these remarkable statistics in regards to denominations in Christendom:

"If currently Roman Catholics are the largest Christian group, then classical Pentecostals are now the second largest and gaining fast. Catholics now number about one half of all Christians, while Pentecostals make up almost a quarter." (An Introduction to Ecclesiology, 69)

Don't Waste A Funeral

"It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,
and the living will lay it to heart."  Eccl. 7:2