"All is One" !?! - LOL - I Do Not Think So!

"The biblical faith holds steadfastly and unmistakably to the Creator-creature distinction. "Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves" (Ps. 100:3). If there is such a thing as truth and falsehood, there could be no wider disparity between Biblical theology and [Ralph Waldo] Emerson. Those who hold that "all is one" are not Christians. They have the wrong worldview and the wrong god. They have deceived themselves with a worldview incapable of maintaining the preconditions for all human thinking, coherent logic, and social interaction. From a Christian point of view, this is gross idolatry in its blatant denial of the true and living God and its incorporation of man into the godhead" (Kevin Swanson, Apostate, 101).

Supaman - 'Prayer Loop Song'

Teaching by Object Lessons

The Bible is largely a narrative of the first 4000 years of redemptive-history. Christians should care about history, study history, and spend time learning both Biblical and extra-biblical history. Christians should be familiar with key figures and events of history. Why? As Kevin Swanson says, "God has a way of teaching His truth by historical object lessons"  (Apostate, 67).

Internet

In 2008, R.C. Sproul, Jr. made a great observation:

The internet has been about as useful in encouraging thoughtful theological discourse, or even appropriate ecclesiastical judgments, as it has been in encouraging sexual fidelity.

Word-Derived Self-Image

To echo the sentiment from prior post, somewhere in The Baptized Body Peter Leithart says, "Christians are to have a self-image not based on our own perceptions or feelings but based on the Word and promise of God."

Matthew 4:4 - Self-Reliance is Self-Destruction

"From the beginning, man has always relied upon God's verbal revelation for his ethical behavior. Immediately upon creating Adam, God spoke to him concerning His ethical requirements (Genesis 2:16-19)" (Kevin Swanson, Apostate, 41).

Even Adam in his original righteousness relied upon the Word of God. Arguing by contrasting the greater to the lesser: in light of the sinful effects of the fall and the imputation of Adam's sin (cf. Romans 5:12-19), how much more are the sons of Adam behooved to rely upon the Word of God?

Pride. Human autonomy. Self reliance. Idolatry. These four are one in the same. Thus, self-reliance is self-destruction. We are creatures, so we need to have creaturely-reliance, i.e., man was created to be Word-reliant. Christ the God-man said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

American Church

From the Pew Forum. I take statistics with a grain of salt, but these benchmarks ought to be alarming.

Key Findings and Statistics on Religion in America

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

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The Landscape Survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country; the number of Americans who report that they are members of Protestant denominations now stands at barely 51%. Moreover, the Protestant population is characterized by significant internal diversity and fragmentation, encompassing hundreds of different denominations loosely grouped around three fairly distinct religious traditions - evangelical Protestant churches (26.3% of the overall adult population), mainline Protestant churches (18.1%) and historically black Protestant churches (6.9%).

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Although there are about half as many Catholics in the U.S. as Protestants, the number of Catholics nearly rivals the number of members of evangelical Protestant churches and far exceeds the number of members of both mainline Protestant churches and historically black Protestant churches. The U.S. also includes a significant number of members of the third major branch of global Christianity - Orthodoxy - whose adherents now account for 0.6% of the U.S. adult population. American Christianity also includes sizeable numbers of Mormons (1.7% of the adult population), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.7%) and other Christian groups (0.3%).

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Complete Happiness: Gravity of a Child at Play

G.K. Chesterton on fantasy writer and fairy-tale teller George MacDonald:

Dr. Macdonald, I fancy, has always known that melancholy is a frivolous thing compared with the seriousness of joy. Melancholy is negative and has to do with trivialities like death: joy is positive and has to answer for the renewal and perpetuation of being. Melancholy is irresponsible; it could watch the universe fall to pieces: joy is responsible and upholds the universe in the void of space. This conception of the vigilance of the universal Power fills all Dr. Macdonald's novels with the unfathomable gravity of complete happiness, the gravity of a child at play (Quoted by Daniel Gabelman in George MacDonald: Divine Carelessness and Fairytale Levity).

Book of Acts: Story of All that Jesus Began and Continues to Do and Teach

This article by Timothy George (the founding dean of Beeson Divinity School) is about new biblical-theological commentaries, i.e., "the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible (Brazos Press); The Church’s Bible (Eerdmans); and two series in sequence from InterVarsity Press: the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture and the Reformation Commentary on Scripture," and reading The Book of Acts with the Reformers. From the conclusion to the article:

The Book of Acts is the only New Testament writing that ends with an adverb: akolutos, “unhindered.” Paul’s evangelical odyssey has led him from Jerusalem to Rome. He is under house arrest, still in chains, but able to proclaim the Good News of God’s kingdom, “no man forbidding him” (KJV), “with all boldness and without hindrance” (NIV). This is the end of Acts, but not its conclusion. For, as Eugene Peterson has written: "The story of Jesus doesn't end with Jesus. It continues in the lives of those who believe in him. The supernatural does not stop with Jesus. Luke makes it clear that these Christians he wrote about were no mere spectators of Jesus than Jesus was a spectator of God—they are in on the action of God, God acting in them, God living in them which also means, of course, in us."

The Proto-Creed of Christian Music

"We find the beating heart of Christian experience not in the church's creed but in its music" (Bruce L. Shelley, Church History In Plain English, 117).

Fellowship with the Divine

"Salvation for the early church was about more than going to heaven; it was about being united in communion with God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit had to be divine to include us and make us ready to share in the already existing divine fellowship. We would not be made into God or equal to God, but we must be transformed to belong to the rich, eternal communion that awaits Christians. . . . Early Christians saw their destiny as being included into fellowship of the triune God" (Bruce L. Shelley, Church History In Plain English, 112).

Line Upon Line

"Thrift in thought will lead to the habit of writing, and any good man who writes a little every day will become a good writer. We grow by doing" (from Elbert Hubbard's Let Thrift Be Your Ruling Habit).

Bob Dylan

An interesting article by Stephen H. Webb on Bob Dylan, the Book of Acts, Dylan's 2012 interview for Rolling Stone, and Dylan's song "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35."

Education: "Sitting at the feet of . . . [who]?!?!"

"Should a family set their children at the feet of the wrong teachers, they will destroy the faith within a generation or two" (Kevin Swanson, Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West, 6).

It sounds alarmist and hyperbolic, but it is true.

Education in the 21st Century: New Wine, New Wineskins

"We are on the cusp of the decentralization of information and media sources, and the gradual collapse of the brick-and-mortar university monopoly over Western thought and economics is already in process. The time has come to reform and rebuild the ideas and educational systems that make up the Western world" (Kevin Swanson, Apostate: The Men Who Destroyed the Christian West, 3).

Reform. Rebuild.

•  http://www.ronpaulcurriculum.com/
• https://www.khanacademy.org/
• On "College Finances"
• On "Not Paying Retail for College"
• Enjoy the parody video below for "EveRy University."

Communion and Community

"There must be communion and community among the people of God: not a false community, that is set up as though human community were an end in itself; but in the local church, in a mission, in a school, wherever it might be, there true fellowship must be evident as the outcome of original, individual salvation. This is the real Church of the Lord Jesus Christ--not merely organisation, but a group of people, individually the children of God, drawn together by the Holy Spirit for a particular task either in a local situation or over a wider area. The Church of the Lord Jesus should be a group of those who are redeemed and bound together on the basis of true doctrine. But subsequently they should show together a substantial 'sociological healing' of the breaches between men which have come about because of the results of man's sin" (Francis A. Schaeffer, The God Who Is There, 153).

Schaeffer is arguing for a "visible quality" to the invisible church, i.e., "The final apologetic, along with the rational, logical defence and presentation, is what the world sees in the individual Christian and in our corporate relationships together" (152).

Commentaries: Book of Acts

Ligonier recently ran a post with Dr. Keith Mathison's "top 5" commentaries for each book of the Bible. I've been preaching through Acts so I thought I would compare his recommendations against what I've been utilizing for sermon prep. Mathison's top 5 for Acts are:

• Darrell L. Bock — Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2007).
• F.F. Bruce — The Book of the Acts (New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1988).
• C.K. Barrett. — Acts 1-14, Acts 15-28 (International Critical Commentary, 2004).
• Ben Witherington — The Acts of the Apostles (1997).
• I. Howard Marshall — Acts (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 1980).

Mathison also gives some major kudos to Craig Keener's currently unfinished multi-volume commentary (he says when it is complete he will probably put it in his top 5), and also lists these other works as runners up: David Peterson, James Montgomery Boice, Dennis Johnson, J.A. Alexander, R. Kent Hughes, Ajith Fernando, Gordon Keddie, Richard N. Longenecker, William Larkin, John Polhill, and David Williams.

For sermon prep I have predominantly been leaning upon:

• Darrell L. Bock — Acts (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, 2007).
• F.F. Bruce — The Book of the Acts (New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1954).
• F.F. Bruce — The Book of Acts (The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary, 1973).
• Richard N. Longenecker — Acts (The Expositor's Bible Commentary, 1995).

Originally I was also using I. Howard Marshall's Acts, but eventually dropped it because in general he wasn't uncovering anything already addressed by Bock, Bruce, and Longenecker. And I did not find Fernando or Polhill to be helpful enough for frequent reference. In addition, I have referencing commentaries by Jaroslav Pelikan, John Calvin, Matthew Henry, William Willimon. In general, a good deal of overlap between my list and Dr. Mathison's recommendations. That is encouraging. 

Christian Farming for the 21st Century

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

- Genesis 1:28 -

My grandfather sent me this photo. God calls man to subdue the earth and get dominion for God's Glory. Now Christian farmers can do that planting 48 rows at a time.

Victory in Jesus: I Heard An Old, Old Story

I heard an old, old story, how a Savior came from glory
How He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me
I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning
Then I repented of my sins and won the victory

/Chorus/
Oh victory in Jesus, my Savior forever
He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood
He loved me 'ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood

I heard about His healing, of His cleansing power revealing
How He made the lame to walk again and caused the blind to see
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus, come and heal my broken spirit"
I then obeyed His blest command and gained the victory

/Chorus/

I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory
And I heard about the street of gold beyond the crystal sea
About the angels singing and the old redemption story
Oh and some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory

/Chorus/

He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood

(The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration, 473)

Scriptural Reference:

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood." Acts 20:28

"But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

Eschatology of Hope: Benchmarking Church Growth and Community Impact for a Christian Future

Benchmarks for Community

Loose collection of thought-fragments on the Christian future . . .

• Construction of brick-and-mortar churches that aren't going anywhere for a while, i.e., think of Notre Dame de Paris, or Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, but think of them as actually functioning as vibrant churches, instead of being mere landmark or tourist attractions--these brick-and-mortar churches would point to the acts of God in the past as well as the Christian future.
• Construction of mercy-ministries (predominantly overseen and ran by local churches) with military-like organization and influence/efficacy, e.g., soup-kitchens and rescue missions that provide a segue from homelessness, hunger and poverty, financial and social instability, as well as functioning as a training-ground for developing a professional skillset that in the future might provide a protective-hedge for individuals (and families) from falling back into those vulnerable circumstances.
• Construction of Christian-mediation groups to assist with legal disputes (outside of courtrooms) between Christians (this work would be only a segue until Christian Law was the law of civic courts). 
• City-based trans-denominational elders meetings focusing on collaborative/strategic prayer, evangelism, mercy ministry, etc., for shared cultural space. 
• Closing of abortion-mills, Planned Parenthood facilities, and the like.
• Closing of Casinos, State Lotteries, etc.
• Closing of strip-clubs.
• Closing of wannabe strip-clubs, e.g., restaurants like Hooters, The Tilted-Kilt, etc.
• Closing of oodles and oodles of Federal, State, and County "Department of whatever-wealth-redistribution-program-comes-to-mind"

What should be added to the list?