Why it’s not surprising that people hate conservatives, a thought about heroes, and john piper

a) I think the title is pretty well explained if you watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q84eSxIiKqc

What is most offensive is not O’Reilly’s sheer ignorance, his bigotry, or even how oblivious he is of his own racism (the fact that he sees it as EXCEPTIONAL that black people can think and conform to white American customs). What is most offensive is that people actually listen to him. His last four books have been New York Times bestsellers, and his show has been #1 in the ratings for more than 280 weeks.

b)

Just finished “Here I Stand”, one of the more authoritative and popular biographies of Martin Luther. Just a couple of thoughts:

A lot of this book is easy to read. Luther is quite the character – passionate, clever, and brash. You’ll laugh… you’ll wanna read the Bible more… you’ll know more Church history… why not read it?

Luther is incredibly.. human. The book doesn’t just say how great he is, which is really appreciated by moi. Luther is imperfect. In fact, you see him change and grow. The book isn’t afraid to tell you when he’s wrong about stuff, and when his positions change over time. Some positions never changed and stayed pretty bad, though now I am sure he’s as orthodox as possible in heaven haha.

One thing I thought about was whether we should have “heroes” or not. Well, a good reason is cause the Bible tells us to (Hebrews 13:7), but another reason I’ve been thinking about is what I will now try to explain:

If you were there when Jesus fed all those people with the fishes and the bread, you wouldn’t have been thinking “wow… that must have been some freaking amazing bread!”. You probably would have thought “that guy who got a hold of that bread, I want to know Him!”.

In the same way, as we check out the lives and teaching of people who have done big things in Christ’s name, what we look for isn’t what kind of bread they were, but we wanna know how Jesus got His hands on them. With Luther, God thought it was a good idea to get a Bible in his hands and open the eyes of his heart as he studied and studied and studied. Now, that small piece of bread (Luther) was a big part of helping us to understand that it is ONLY through trusting in what Jesus did that we can be saved.

c)
On that note, I have been accused of liking American pastor John Piper too much. He’s been really helpful to me, but more than that, I think he’s a pretty interesting guy. If you know some stuff about his life, you’ll find out that he was not the best student, never that great at public speaking, and even during his days teaching Greek and New Testament he was a nobody in the academic and theological world.

However, today pastors all around the world are getting excited about the Bible, about Missions, and about being God-centered through Piper’s teaching. He’s also surprisingly popular with young people, and has got them to be excited about living a radical life for Jesus.

What happened to Piper that gave his preaching that kind of power? Why don’t other teachers inspire the same kinda thing? That’s what I wanna know, and that’s why I follow his teaching so closely. What did GOD do?

I’ve got some ideas.. but that wasn’t why I brought it up, so I just wanna say that its good to have heroes in your Christian life and to not just learn what they taught, but learn how they got there.

music, coffee, and the charismatics

I have not updated in a long time. I wonder if anyone will read this.

a) Been listening to a lot of Dave’s hardcore music. I think I enjoy it, but more for novelty’s sake. For me, it doesn’t grip me, but maybe I am just not sensitive to its range of emotions and its subtleties. However, I have started enjoying the music of Cara Dillon. I don’t know if many people listen to her, maybe I have missed the chance to announce my loyalty and enjoy being new and hip, but alas I was introduced to her music only a few days ago at an azn coffee shop. She’s a Irish folk/traditional/pop singer, and has a very nice voice. Here is a good video of her - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97hp3adHaEk .

b) Speaking of coffee, been to a bunch of coffee places, but usually they are way overpriced (for CANADA). Got the worst coffee in Asia so far today, it was the equivalent of 43 cents CDN and had a hint of disgusting in it.

c) Just finished Charismatic Chaos, a critique of the charismatic movement by John Macarthur. Really good book, because like all good Christian books, the issues it raises lead straight back to the need for us to submit our beliefs and actions to the Word of God, our need to value Christ above all else, and the need for the Gospel to be preached throughout the world. Of course, many will disagree with his conclusions, but I recommend even the most hardcore charismatic read this book and be willing to submit to the truth of scripture (but of course be discerning as you read).

I will give one thought. A problem in charismatic Churches (and others, but I believe it is a problem more pronounced in the charismatic movement) is that often millions of people think that if they go to this Sunday service, or attend this revival meeting, or give this kind of “faith pledge”, or get touched by this “man of god”, they will skyrocket in sanctification. However, being transformed into the image of Christ is a slow process which requires time, study, submission, hard work, and suffering. There is no quick fix that will take you to the next level of Holiness. At cru, it was sometimes easy to think that spiritual maturity can happen really quickly. We want to win, build, and send in 4 years or less. However, I’ve seen that it is really dangerous to give the impression to young believers that spiritual maturity can happen really quickly. You can be a “spiritual multiplier”, but you still need years before you’ll be mature.

I have been given big responsibilities in the past. I’ve been a leader at Church and school. I’ve Preached the Word, and I’m a missionary right now. But even being here – seeing my impatience, my lack of love, my lack of focus, my prayerlessness, my inability to have God’s heart for the lost, my love affair with comfort and my stomach, all these things have conspired against me to remind me that sanctification takes time, and I’m nowhere near the kind of man that God desires to make me in the decades to come. Being in the min has given me a lot of skills and maybe some competency, but it has not given me the kind of heart that will take years for God to transform. And that is not because He is unable to, but it is the way He has chosen to work.

Whether you are a charismatic or a hardcore cessationist, we should all give up seeking superspiritual highs, and instead seek daily intimate fellowship with and submission to God.

That is all.