Don’t Get Any Leviticus on My Chicken, I Like Mesquite.

If you are in the Canton, North Carolina area next week, you might want to check out the the Bible burning hoedown on Halloween.

According to the church, the King James Version is the only true version of God’s word and that other versions are “perversions” and “Satanic.”  I mean, it makes perfect sense that a Bible, originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, that was translated to English in England in 1611 is the most authoritative Bible in the history of the world.  Who can argue with that logic?

Furthermore, many popular Christian books will be up for a roasting as well. Authors include, among others, John Piper, Billy Graham, Bill Bright, Chuck Swindoll, and some guy named Mark Driskol.

The website, however, did not say they would be burning the English Standard Version of the Bible or C.S. Lewis books.

Oh, and don’t eat beforehand.  They will be serving “bar-b-que chicken, fried chicken, and all the sides.”  So bring your appetite, lighter fluid, and a fire extinguisher — just in case the kiddos get to close to the flames.

What Lizard Needs to Be Killed in Your Life?

C.S. Lewis writes about the necessity to kill sin, and the pain that can come with it, in The Great Divorce:

I saw coming toward us a Ghost who carried something on his shoulder. Like all the Ghosts, he was unsubstantial, but they differed from one another as smokes differ. Some had been whitish; this one was dark and oily. What sat on his shoulder was a little red lizard, and it was twitching its tail like a whip and whispering things in his ear. As we caught sight of him he turned his head to the reptile with a snarl of impatience. ‘Shut up, I tell you!’ he said. It wagged its tail and continued to whisper to him. He ceased snarling, and presently began to smile. Then he turned and started to limp westward, away from the mountains

‘Of so soon?’ said a voice.

The speaker was more or less human in shape but larger than a man, and so bright that I could hardly look at him. His presence smote on my eyes and on my body too (for there was heat coming from him as well as light) like the morning sun at the beginning of a tyrannous summer day.

‘Yes. I’m off,’ said the Ghost. ‘Thanks for all your hospitality. But it’s no god, you see. I told this little chap’ (here he indicated the Lizard) ‘that he’d have to be quiet if he came–which he insisted on doing. Of course his stuff won’t do here: I realise that. But he won’t stop. I shall just have to go home.’

‘Would you like me to make him quiet?’ said the flaming Spirit–an angel, as I now understood.

‘Of course I would,’ said the Ghost.

‘Then I will kill him,’ said the Angel, taking a step forward.

‘Oh–ah–look out! You’re burning me. Keep away,’ said the Ghost, retreating.

‘Don’t you want him killed?’

‘You didn’t say anything about killing him at first. I hardly meant to bother you with anything so drastic as that.’

‘It’s the only way,’ said the angel, whose burning hands were now very close to the Lizard. ‘Shall I kill it?’

‘Well, that’s a further question. I’m quite open to consider it, but it’s a new point, isn’t it? I mean, for the moment I was only thinking about silencing it because up here–well, it’s so damned embarrassing.’

‘May I kill it?’

‘Well, there’s time to discuss that later.’

‘There is no time. May I kill it?’

‘Please, I never meant to be such a nuisance. Please–really–don’t bother. Look! It’s gone to sleep of its own accord. I’m sure it’ll be all right now. Thanks ever so much.’

‘May I kill it?’

‘Honestly, I don’t think there’s the slightest necessity for that. I’m sure I shall be able to keep it in order now. I think the gradual process would be far better than killing it.’

‘The gradual process is of no use at all.’

‘Don’t you think so? Well, I’ll think over what you’ve said very carefully. I honestly will. In fact I’d let you kill it now, but as a matter of fact I’m not feeling frightfully well to-day. It would be most silly to do it now. I’d need to be in good health for the operation. Some other day, perhaps.’

‘There is no other day. All days are present now.’

‘Get back! You’re hurting me now.’

‘I never said it wouldn’t hurt you. I said it wouldn’t kill you.’

‘Oh, I know. You think I’m a coward. But it isn’t that. Really it isn’t. I say! Let me run back by to-night’s bus and get an opinion from my own doctor. I’ll come again the first moment I can.’

‘This moment contains all moments.’

‘Why are you torturing me? You are jeering at me. How can I let you tear me in pieces? If you wanted to help me, why didn’t you kill the damned thing without asking me–before I knew? It would have all been over by now if you had.’

‘I cannot kill it against your will. It is impossible. Have I your permission?’

The Angel’s hands were almost closed on the Lizard, but not quite. Then the Lizard began chattering to the Ghost so loud that even I could hear what it was saying.

‘Be careful,’ it said. ‘He can do what he says. He can kill me. One fatal word from you and he will! Then you’ll be without me for ever and ever. It’s not natural. How could you live? You’d be only a sort of ghost, not a real man as you are now. He doesn’t understand. He’s only a cold, bloodless abstract thing. It may be natural for him, but it isn’t for us. Yes, yes. I know there are no real pleasures now, only dreams. But aren’t they better than nothing? And I’ll be so good. I admit I’ve sometimes gone too far in the past, but I promise I won’t do it again. I’ll give you nothing but really nice dreams–all sweet and fresh and almost innocent. You might say, quite innocent…’

‘Have I your permission?’ said the Angel to the Ghost.

‘I know it will kill me.’

‘It won’t. But supposing it did?’

‘You’re right. It would be better to be dead than to live with this creature.’

‘Then I may?’

‘Damn and blast you! Go on, can’t you? Get it over. Do what you like,’ bellowed the Ghost: but ended, whimpering, “God help me. God help me.”

Next moment the Ghost gave a scream of agony such as I never heard on Earth. The Burning One closed his crimson grip on the reptile: twisted it, while it bit and writhed, then flung it, broken-backed, on the turf.

I saw coming toward us a Ghost who carried something on his shoulder.  Like all the Ghosts, he was unsubstantial, but they differed from one another as smokes differ.  Some had been whitish; this one was dark and oily.  What sat on his shoulder was a little red lizard, and it was twitching its tail like a whip and whispering things in his ear.  As we caught sight of him he turned his head to the reptile with a snarl of impatience.  ‘Shut up, I tell you!’ he said.  It wagged its tail and continued to whisper to him.  He ceased snarling, and presently began to smile.  Then he turned and started to limp westward, away from the mountains.

‘Of so soon?’ said a voice.

The speaker was more or less human in shape but larger than a man, and so bright that I could hardly look at him.  His presence smote on my eyes and on my body too (for there was heat coming from him as well as light) like the morning sun at the beginning of a tyrannous summer day.

‘Yes.  I’m off,’ said the Ghost.  ‘Thanks for all your hospitality.  But it’s no god, you see.  I told this little chap’ (here he indicated the Lizard) ‘that he’d have to be quiet if he came–which he insisted on doing.  Of course his stuff won’t do here: I realise that.  But he won’t stop.  I shall just have to go home.’

‘Would you like me to make him quiet?’ said the flaming Spirit–an angel, as I now understood.

‘Of course I would,’ said the Ghost.

‘Then I will kill him,’ said the Angel, taking a step forward.

‘Oh–ah–look out!  You’re burning me.  Keep away,’ said the Ghost, retreating.

‘Don’t you want him killed?’

‘You didn’t say anything about killing him at first.  I hardly meant to bother you with anything so drastic as that.’

‘It’s the only way,’ said the angel, whose burning hands were now very close to the Lizard.  ‘Shall I kill it?’

‘Well, that’s a further question.  I’m quite open to consider it, but it’s a new point, isn’t it?  I mean, for the moment I was only thinking about silencing it because up here–well, it’s so damned embarrassing.’

‘May I kill it?’

‘Well, there’s time to discuss that later.’

‘There is no time.  May I kill it?’

‘Please, I never meant to be such a nuisance.  Please–really–don’t bother.  Look!  It’s gone to sleep of its own accord.  I’m sure it’ll be all right now.  Thanks ever so much.’

‘May I kill it?’

‘Honestly, I don’t think there’s the slightest necessity for that.  I’m sure I shall be able to keep it in order now.  I think the gradual process would be far better than killing it.’

‘The gradual process is of no use at all.’

‘Don’t you think so?  Well, I’ll think over what you’ve said very carefully.  I honestly will.  In fact I’d let you kill it now, but as a matter of fact I’m not feeling frightfully well to-day.  It would be most silly to do it now.  I’d need to be in good health for the operation.  Some other day, perhaps.’

‘There is no other day.  All days are present now.’

‘Get back!  You’re hurting me now.’

‘I never said it wouldn’t hurt you.  I said it wouldn’t kill you.’

‘Oh, I know.  You think I’m a coward.  But it isn’t that.  Really it isn’t.  I say!  Let me run back by to-night’s bus and get an opinion from my own doctor.  I’ll come again the first moment I can.’

‘This moment contains all moments.’

‘Why are you torturing me?  You are jeering at me.  How can I let you tear me in pieces?  If you wanted to help me, why didn’t you kill the damned thing without asking me–before I knew?  It would have all been over by now if you had.’

‘I cannot kill it against your will.  It is impossible.  Have I your permission?’

The Angel’s hands were almost closed on the Lizard, but not quite.  Then the Lizard began chattering to the Ghost so loud that even I could hear what it was saying.

‘Be careful,’ it said.  ‘He can do what he says.  He can kill me.  One fatal word from you and he will!  Then you’ll be without me for ever and ever.  It’s not natural.  How could you live?  You’d be only a sort of ghost, not a real man as you are now.  He doesn’t understand.  He’s only a cold, bloodless abstract thing.  It may be natural for him, but it isn’t for us.  Yes, yes.  I know there are no real pleasures now, only dreams.  But aren’t they better than nothing?  And I’ll be so good.  I admit I’ve sometimes gone too far in the past, but I promise I won’t do it again.  I’ll give you nothing but really nice dreams–all sweet and fresh and almost innocent.  You might say, quite innocent…’

‘Have I your permission?’ said the Angel to the Ghost.

‘I know it will kill me.’

‘It won’t.  But supposing it did?’

‘You’re right.  It would be better to be dead than to live with this creature.’

‘Then I may?’

‘Damn and blast you!   Go on, can’t you?  Get it over.  Do what you like,’ bellowed the Ghost: but ended, whimpering, “God help me.  God help me.”

Next moment the Ghost gave a scream of agony such as I never heard on Earth.  The Burning One closed his crimson grip on the reptile: twisted it, while it bit and writhed, then flung it, broken-backed, on the turf.

Leading on Empty Review

Leading on Empty, by Wayne Cordeiro, pastor of New Hope Christian Fellowship in Honolulu, is a book about ministry burnout.  It chronicles Cordeiro’s journey through burnout and what he learned on the roach to recovery

For the most part, the book is helpful.  The book gave me some road markers to watch for in the future.  Two of the more helpful chapters were on depression.  It was scary to read actually, because I’d be willing to bet that most people would be lying if they said they didn’t experience most of the symptoms at varying times throughout a normal year!

One of the underlying themes of the book was simply to have our priorities in order.  This seems easy enough, but how often do we forget our priorities?  Cordeiro asks the reader to do an exercise to narrow down the essentials of life.  He says to list what the most important five percent of your life is.  This could be anything.  He lists things like his relationship with Jesus, his wife and kids, and pleasing God with his ministry.  “We won’t be held accountable for how much we have done,” he writes, “but for how much we have done of what He has asked us to do” (p. 79).

Later, he asks the reader to write down a handful of things that drains you and fuels you — whatever they are.  He says, “Your soul is like a battery that discharges each time you give life away, and it needs to be recharged regularly” (p. 88).  I found this helpful to re-discover what I really enjoy doing.

The only criticism I have is that the book can sometimes have a self-helpish feel.  Cordeiro says that it isn’t a self-help book, but at times he’ll write something like this: “Your greatest source of motivation is finding untapped potential yet within you.  You see, your future is not what lies ahead of you.  It’s what lies within you” (p. 205).  Out of context, that looks like a Joel Osteen sermon quote.  In the larger context of the book, the reader will know that Cordeiro believes that the gospel is our only healing power — that a vibrant, growing relationship with Jesus is our only hope.  However, sometimes he fails to go far enough in being absolutely clear that this is what he means.  As a Christian reading a Christian book, I know what he means.  But will it be absolutely evident to other Christians?  I don’t know.  Our potential is within us, yes, but it’s in us only by God’s power.  Outside of the gospel we have no real potential.

A Must Read

If you are a Christian and if you live in a postmodern world (which we all do), then you need to read The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World.  The book wonderfully tackles tough issues that Christianity faces in our world today and how we can overcome those issues to continue advancing the kingdom.

It is a collection of essays that are taken from messages given at the 2006 Desiring God National Conference.  Contributors include Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, Don Carson, Voddie Baucham, Jr., David Wells, and John Piper.   Piper and Justin Taylor are the general editors.

The Heart of Evangelsim

I just finished reading The Heart of Evangelism by Jerram Barrs, founder and Resident Scholar of the Francis Schaeffer Institute at Covenant Theological Seminary.  This is perhaps the best and fullest piece I have read on evangelism.

Woven throughout the book is what Barrs feels to be the seven principles of communicating the gospel.  They are: showing respect, building bridges for the gospel, understanding what others believe, speaking the right language, reasoned persuasion, clarifying the good news, and challenging the heart and mind.  Don’t let this list fool you.  This isn’t just “Seven Steps to Convert a Non-Believer.”  Barrs is personal, delicate, and Scriptural as he writes.  The title of the book is most definitely what Barrs is getting at.

Perhaps this book was encouraging and challenging to me because I’m in a context in South Africa that doesn’t lend well to prepared, memorized presentations of the gospel.  South Africa isn’t that far from America, or even Europe.  Relationships need to be built up and established.

Regarding those memorized summaries of the gospel, Barrs writes, “I must be ready to have a genuine conversation with the individual before me rather than giving him or her ‘the pitch’ as if I am a salesman who is eager to get through my presentation as quickly as possible and make my sale” (p. 176).

I think that Christians oftentimes just want to “get to the gospel” and they act as if that is the only important thing we can say to a person.  Consider Jesus himself who sometimes didn’t clearly explain the gospel (such as with the young rich man in Luke 18, as one example).  Barrs says, “Every conversation Jesus had was different, for Jesus treated the people He met as individuals” (p. 177).  In other words, not every conversation can get to the gospel by opening up a tract or reciting what we learned when we were seven years old.

This book is so rich in its detail that I can’t write about everything in it (that would be a really long review).  The bottom line is that Barrs challenges the traditional 1980s Christian “way of doing evangelism” by calling us to live life with and around non-Christians, understanding and respecting what they believe, and being wise and discerning about how to reach each person as a unique individual made in the image of God.

Seeing the Gospel in Good Books

I’m reading The Heart of Evangelism by Jerram Barrs, founder and Resident Scholar of the Francis Schaeffer Institute at Covenant Theology Seminary.  A few days ago, a quote caught my eye.  The funny thing is that it has nothing to do with evangelism, but about how good books point us to Christ:

Great literature deals with the human condition in all its sorrow and in all its joy.  It asks the difficult questions that confront all human beings and sometimes answers those questions accurately.  This is so whether it is a Christian or a non-Christian who is writing the book.  People live in God’s world whether they acknowledge Him or not, and they are made in His image whether they believe in Him or not.  Therefore they are constrained by the reality around them and the reality within them to wrestle with truth (p. 119).

Resting in God

A guest post by Andrew Reiners

This is a devotional taken out of a book called The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett. This specific devotional pretty much sums up what I have been feeling lately as I have fought for joy and peace with God throughout a couple of stressful weeks at work and the absence of my wonderful girlfriend who is in Serbia on a missions project for the next five weeks. I have often found myself lately wanting to just crawl into bed for the next few weeks and avoid the realities and hardships of life. This is my prayer tonight that the Lord would restore my joy in him and give me a deeper pleasure in the gospel and desire to let the light of Christ shine in me during my day. The author of this devotional is unknown as the book does not state the authors of each specific article.  Hope this can be an encouragement and blessing to others.

O God, most high, most glorious, the thought of Thine infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but Thou art for ever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment, they stand fast as the eternal hills. Thy power knows no bond, Thy goodness no stint. Thou bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories: The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows, to leave every concern entirely to Thee, every sin calling for Christ’s precious blood; revive deep spirituality in my heart; let me live near to the great Shepherd, hear His voice, know its tones, follow its calls. Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth, from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities, burning into me by experience the things I know; Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel, that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it, see Jesus as its essence, know in it the power of the Spirit.

Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill; unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee. Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee, that all else is trifling. Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy. Abide in me, gracious God.

Guest Post – Jordan: “The Prodigal God”

Hi, my name is Jordan and I’m a guest blogger while James is gone.  I’m on facebook and am always up for having more friends, so if you want to have private conversations with me then facebook would be the best medium for me.

I’m going to try and post more and to write a better, but to start I thought I’d just share a book that a group of friends and I read through and discussed.

The book is The Prodigal God by Timothy Keller.  It’s a good read and great for conversations in a small group.  I’ll just give the basic jist to see if anyone can relate. 

Jesus tells a parable to a mixed group of people of ’sinners’, tax collectors, Pharisees, and Scribes.  We find this parable recorded in the book of Luke, chapter 15, verses 11-32.  Keller renames this parable as “The Parable of the Two Lost Sons” because that’s how Jesus starts the story out, “there was a man who had two sons”.  So here we are looking at this story with the well known sinner brother who basically robs his father and could have been put to death for what he did, he goes off and spends it all on parties and prostitutes.  But the elder brother stays to work hard like he always has.  Little bro comes back and big bro is angry that his father is throwing him a party… So we’ve got two basic kinds of people listening: Those who are Licentious and those who are Moralists.  We’ve got two brothers: the licentious  one and the moralist.  Both brother need the Savior and one is repenting.  The book serves a few different purposes, one to teach what Jesus was saying, one to figure out which brother you are more like, and one to challenge you to be like Jesus.   Are you an elder brother or a younger brother?

Jordan

Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards is considered by many to be the greatest theologian, pastor, and author that America has ever produced.  In his book Religious Affections, Edwards tackles the subject of true grace in the life of a believer.  He wrote this book because of the many “born-again experiences” that people had during the time of the Great Awakening.

On the first page, Edwards sets forth 1 Peter 1:8 as his thesis.  The verse says, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Edwards argues that affections (i.e. emotions) are highly important in Christianity.  True faith, in other words, will result in unspeakable joy in God, full of glory to God.

Edwards gives us twelve distinguishing signs of true grace in a person’s life.  I want to highlight a few of them.

One evidence of true grace in a person is that they love God because of his intrinsic excellency and not for any personal benefits they receive (#2).  “Now the divine excellency and glory of God and Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the works of God, and the ways of God,” Edwards writes, “is the primary reason why a true saint loves these things: and not any supposed interest that he has in them, or any conceived benefit that he has received from them, or shall receive from them” (p. 88).  True Christians love God because he is the greatest treasure in the universe — not because he gives them entrance to heaven, escape from hell, spiritual gifts, etc.

The one that perhaps gripped my heart the most was #6 on true evangelical humiliation (humility).  He describes true humility this way: “Evangelical humiliation is a sense that a Christian has of his own utter insufficiency, despicableness, and odiousness, with an answerable frame of heart” (p. 126).  However, true saints “do not see their own odiousness on account of sin,” but rather because of the “discovery of the beauty of Gods’ holiness and moral perfection.”   True grace in a person leads them to hate sin and repent of it, not merely because of consequences, but because the God they worship is glorious and holy.  Moreover, true saints think themselves as the least of all saints (p. 130).

The twelfth and final evidence of true grace that Edwards provides is fruit in Christian practice.  He gives a lengthy discourse on this, citing literally hundreds of verses showing that fruit is the sign of whether someone truly belongs to Christ or not.  “True grace is not an inactive thing;” he says, “there is nothing in heaven or earth of a more active nature; for it is life itself, and the most active kind of life, even spiritual and divine life” (p. 168).  Someone may say, “I’m a Christian,” all they want, but if there is no killing of sin or obeying the commandments of God or active allegiance to the Scriptures, their confession proves to be false.  Edwards says that true Christians may be guilty of some degree back-sliding and may give in to particular temptations and even commit great sins.  But a true Christian can never fall away so that they “grow weary of the religion and the service of God” (p. 164).

This might be the greatest book on discerning new birth in yourself and others and obtaining true assurance.  Christian assurance is a process and progress, not information in the mind.  True grace from God will always result in internal transformation and consequently externally as well.  The true saint will grow to be more like Christ, to love Christ, to have the mind of Christ, and to obey Christ.  This must be the case, Edwards argues, because “the light of professors would so shine before men, that others, seeing their good works, would glorify their Father which is in heaven” (p. 200).

The Pleasures of God by John Piper

I’m going to try to start giving brief reviews of books after I read them.  It’s mostly for my benefit to remember what I read, but nevertheless, I’m sure you might find it helpful.  I just finished The Pleasures of God by John Piper.

Piper takes his thesis from Henry Scougal: “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love” (18).  And in 340 pages, Piper argues that God’s soul is the most worthy and excellent and therefore God himself is the primary object of his love.  Our object of love, therefore, should be ultimately God himself.

Why is this not narcissism on God’s part?  Isn’t God selfish to honor himself above, say, people?  Well, if he loved us more than himself, God would be breaking the first commandment!  Piper writes, “So God’s first love is rooted in the value of his holy name, not the value of a sinful people.  And because it is, there is hope for the sinful people — since they are not the ground of their salvation, God’s name is.  Do you see why the God-centeredness of God is the ground of the gospel? (105).

The ten chapters cover God’s pleasure in: his Son, all that God does, his creation, his fame, election, bruising his Son, those who hope in him, obedience and justice, and concealing himself from the wise and revealing himself to children.

The three most stirring chapters for me were chapters four through six: His Fame, Election, and the Bruising of His Son.  In chapter 4, the main thrust is that God works for his name, his reputation, his glory.  Piper talks a lot about missions in this chapter, and on page 110, he wrote, “The aim of missions is to bring about the obedience of faith among all the unreached peoples of the world.  But that is not the ultimate goal.  The ultimate goal — even of faith and obedience — is ‘for the sake of his name.’ The fame of Christ, the reputation of Christ is what burned in the heart of the apostle Paul.”

Piper includes the chapter on election, he says, because its goal is to magnify God and “take all boasting off of man and focus all boasting on God” (137).  In chapter six, on the bruising of Christ, Piper wonderfully lays out the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement.  Most of this chapter discusses George MacDonald’s folly of rejecting our righteousness based on Christ’s suffering.  “Why couldn’t God just let bygones be bygones?” Piper asks.  “Because God loves the honor of his name.  He will not act as though sin, which belittles his glory, didn’t matter (161).  Therefore, Christ took the punishment so sinners could be redeemed.

This is one of Piper’s easier reads, perhaps because it is redundant (in a good way).  Some parts are heavy, such as the chapters on election and God’s concealing and revealing himself.  Still, every word points you to the greatest thing in the universe — God — and all the pleasure he has in his glorious self.