My Obligatory Michael Jackson Post

Oh how much I fear being categorized as irrelevant. How can I possibly reach the world around me if I am not pop culture savvy? How can I relate to youth when I am largely ignorant of a 50 year old singer? I didn't know how to prove my "hipness" but then I found this . . .



Who would ever think of combining John Piper's teaching on the doctrine of depravity with the musical prowess of Michael Jackson? Is this blog now certified "relevant"?

Michael Jackson is a hot topic right now with the mystery surrounding his recent death. The blogosphere is running hot with gossip and innuendo. But the reason I am posting about Michael Jackson is that there are practical lessons for Christians to learn about the loving and biblical way to respond to tragedy, especially of the celebrity kind.

To be sure I have always found it hard to fathom why a good looking African-American man would want to alter his appearnace in that way. And I would certainly steer my children away from listening to his music because of the sexual and humanistic content. But to pretend to know whether Michael Jackson is in heaven or hell right now is both foolish and futile. Only God knows that. Though the outward evidence leaves a very bad prognosis, we can fly a flag of hope that Michael Jackson repented and trusted in Christ just prior to his untimely death. The repentant thief on the cross always shines as a torch of hope for seemingly doomed sinners. God takes no delight in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11) and neither should we . . . or have you forgotten about the sewer of sin that God rescued you from?? In seasons of grief we should avoid speculation, hope for the best, and be ministers of love.

A second thing we can focus on is allowing tragedy to remind us of the brevity of our own lives. That we all stand on the knife edge of eternity - always one less heartbeat away. Ask people if they know where they are going when they die and springboard into the Gospel.

The third thing to remember, and avoid, is something that is happening right now among certain professing Christians, and that is trying to claim Michael Jackson as a part of the Body of Christ with no biblical evidence to support this. I did say that we can fly a flag of hope - but it is another thing altogether to fly a flag of false hope.

From Rick Warren's Saddleback church we have the comments of David Pack who is "a Grammy winning recording artist, producer, and music director. A member of Saddleback Church, he works with Rick Warren on special projects, including the PEACE Plan and AIDS & Worship Conferences." I can scarcely believe David Pack's brazen boldness in declaring to all the world with astonishing certainty that:

If there’s anything that gives me peace during this moment of loss, it’s knowing that one of the greatest artists of our time is now moon-walking along the gold paved roads of heaven, where streets have no name, with a broad smile on his face, and a band of angels welcoming him home. Michael, my friend, rest in heavenly peace.

And what does Pack base his "divine knowledge" on?

During that special evening, I felt the need to share my faith with him, to let him know that another Christian artist was sitting next to him. So when he whispered, “How can I ever thank you for this wonderful night?” I said, “Michael, I didn’t put this together, God did!” He said, “Oh yes, I believe that with all of my heart.”

I told him I was a Christian, and he said he was, too. We talked about the first Christian song we’d both heard as children: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong.” With the dinner party loudly going on around us, we both quietly leaned in and sang the song, smiling like choirboys. “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me.” Then we gave each other a short embrace.

I knew at that moment that this sweet-spirited young genius was going to find his eternal peace in heaven.

David Pack's insight, or lack thereof, is disturbing on so many levels. How can a vague conversation like that give any indication as to a clear understanding of the Christian Gospel or outward evidence of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit? What about the HUGE question mark this leaves over Pack's grasp of the Gospel? Why would Saddleback want to give Pack a public profile when he writes such clueless and damaging nonsense? What about Michael Jackson's Jehovah's Witness background or his well publicised conversion to Islam? What about the VERY disturbing public behavior? What about the blatant sexual and humanistic themes in many of his songs? Why is it that a member of Rick Warren's church with a public profile would fail to factor all these issues into the equation? Like I said earlier, fly a flag of hope that he repented and trusted the Savior. But don't do a David Pack and try to play God!

Tragically, Pack is not alone in his recklessness. In a postmodern era where uncertainty is so strongly espoused, I am stunned by the certainty with which they know such mysteries.

God gave Michael Jackson 50 years to repent and trust the Savior. We can only hope that his final fragments of human strength were spent fleeing to the Savior who is rich in mercy and longsuffering of our wickedness.

Having A Mid Life Crisis On A Low Budget

In a couple of hours I will turn 40 (wow and I don't feel a day over 39 and a half). Due to the global financial crisis I'm busy planning a low budget mid-life crisis. Fortunately I brought my big Aussie barbecue with me when we moved to Denmark. And in Scandinavia, my big 5 burner screams mid-life crisis! We're planning to eat steak tomorrow which is super expensive in this part of the world (there goes the low budget) . . . so please pray that my loan application gets approved. I know some vegetarians will be critical, but hey, if we were meant to be vegetarians then why did God make all the animals out of meat??? Answer me that Mr skinny tofu breath yoga instructor - answer me that!

In the book of James we are reminded of the brevity of life:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)

My friend Kirk Cameron has just been running his annual Camp Firefly for terminally ill children. This is a wonderful ministry well worth supporting. But the delusional side effect of failing to see our own terminal illness can be far more life threatening. All of us stand on the knife edge of eternity living under the common grace of God. He has numbered our days and gives us time to repent before the great and terrible day of His wrath. Hell is full of people who envy every saint and sinner that still has breath. Oh what they would give for a chance to turn from their sin and flee to the Savior like the penitent thief on the cross.

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:8-12)

Life is short. In the context of history, and infinitely more in the light of eternity, our lives are brief interludes in God's unfolding and unstoppable plan of redemption. My life must echo Jesus' words when He said that His meat was to do the Father's will. The fact that I will get to eat steak tomorrow is a giant leap up from tofu but a quantum leap short of being in the center of the Father's will! Tomorrow is no guarantee so build on the rock of salvation rather than the sand of human endeavor.

Thank you Lord for each additional breath of air you grant each day. May I preach Your glorious Gospel the only two times I am supposed to - in season and out of season.

Willow Creek "Revealed" - The Conclusion

Above, we see one of the many charts that highlight Willow Creek's understanding of the Gospel and how it drives their approach to mission and feeding their flock. Scripture undoubtedly talks about the process of sanctification whereby the true believer is brought closer to the likeness of Christ through obedience to God's Word and enablement by the Holy Spirit. But the idea of this sliding scale of people (some of whom are unbelievers) who are "exploring" (or seeking), and getting closer to Christ is without biblical basis.

The unregenerate man is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1) and dead men can't move in any direction. Dead men must be born again - they need resurrection life! This requires more than making the "narrow gate" into a wide one. It requires a miraculous transforming work of God Himself - the God Who asked Ezekiel if those dead bones could live! Getting the Gospel wrong at this level leads only to an exponential unfolding of further disaster where we end up housing large groups of goats and try to coach them to act like sheep. I recently heard a visiting missionary say that "people are getting saved, but there are also miracles happening" as he proceeded to spend the whole hour talking about supernatural healing. Emergents like Rob Bell and Brian McLaren often disdainfully remark that is the Gospel only about salvation or is there more? These attitudes reveal a complete failure to recognize the miracle of conversion. As long as it remains, in there eyes, as something that happens when people pray recited prayers, or just decide to live like Jesus then they will persevere with this perverted view of what happens when God regenerates a man who is dead in sin.

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (II Corinthians 5:17).

Preach that which is "unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (I Corinthians 1:23-24). Let people leave the meeting convicted, converted, or angry . . .

How Deep The Fathers Love For Us

Do you hear your voice among the mockers? Such were some of us! The depth of the Father's love is best understood in the light of our wretchedness . . . making a wretch His treasure! How glorious is the Gospel.

Willow Creek "Revealed" - The Saga Continues

So Willow Creek got it wrong!! But to all those countless churches who benchmark everything they do off the Willow Creek blueprint - don't worry, they're doing another survey! That's a relief . . .



How about the church growth strategy found in the book of Acts? The disciples preached the Gospel and God grew the Church. But why repent in sackcloth and ashes when you can merchandize the data instead . . . the saga concludes on Tuesday.

Heir Or Outcast - Christianity Has No Middle Class

The "church growth" or seeker sensitive movement has carried the pre-eminent clout in mainstream evangelicalism for several decades now. That is quite staggering when you consider that it's foundations were built upon a false premises. The idea that lost people seek after God is foreign and contrary to Scripture. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 3 that noone seeks after God. Jesus elaborated on the "why" of this in the verses that followed His most famous:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved (John 3:17-20)

People don't seek God because they love darkness and hate the light and the light will expose their evil deeds. And such were we! Before God graciously saved me I was:

dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind (Ephesians 2:1-3).

As Ray Comfort so eloquently paraphrased: "lost people can't find God for the same reason that a thief can never find a policeman". Paul Washer also states that while we do need to be seeker sensitive, we need to understand that there is only one Seeker! Men don't seek God, Who was it who cam to seek and save that which was lost? Unregenerate men cannot come to God unless God draws them (John 6:44) There is a lot more that could be said about this and there is certainly no shortage of people much sharper than myself that can provide a more in depth analysis. It would seem only natural that the first false premise would give birth to others . . . and so it has!

The man made idea that unregenerate men seek after God has led to the faulty premise that there is some sort of "sliding scale" of Christianity. This scale is bordered by the extremities of complete pagan and fully committed follower of Christ. Everyone, according to this idea, lands somewhere between these two poles. It would seem that they have confused sanctification with an imaginary process of salvation. But Scripture is clear that there are only those who are dead in sin, and those who are new creatures in Christ. You are either an heir to the King of kings or an outcast awaiting damnation. Christianity doesn't have a middle class.

Just as purgatory was the invention of Catholicism, so too is the "nearly there" and "carnal Christians" of the modern seeker sensitive mega church. The mother ship of this phenomenon would have to be Willow Creek pastored by church growth guru Bill Hybels. It would seem that after almost 30 years of trying to lure pagans into church through entertainment and programs, they have finally found themselves painted into a corner of what to do next. Eventually, the well of innovations and new concepts runs dry and the reality of the difference between goats and sheep becomes too obvious to ignore. The analysts at Willow Creek heard the alarm bells but didn't go to Scripture for a remedy - instead they surveyed their congregations - AGAIN!.

Here, Todd Friel gives some excellent critique of the "Reveal Survey" at Willow Creek . . .



Continued saturday!

Obama is Dangerous or Stupid or Both

Many of you know that US President Barack Obama recently made a speech in Egypt trying to appease the Islamic world. In this speech he made comments which were simply unbelievable and displayed dreadful ignorance of historical facts. Either that or he is propogating evil deceptions on a grand scale . . . . or both!

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch has written an outstanding line by line analysis of Obama's speech. It is long but it is a great read. Here is the first part:

Platitudes and naivete: Obama's Cairo speech
Here is the text (in italics) as prepared for delivery, provided by the White House, via USA Today, June 4 -- with my comments interspersed:

I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning,...whose Grand Sheikh, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, has given his approval — on Islamic grounds — to suicide bombing.

and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.According to Islamic law, a Muslim may only extend this greeting -- Peace be upon you -- to a fellow Muslim. To a non-Muslim he is to say, "Peace be upon those who are rightly guided," i.e., Peace be upon the Muslims. Islamic law is silent about what Muslims must do when naive non-Muslim Islamophilic Presidents offer the greeting to Muslims.

We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world – tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam."Co-existence and cooperation"? When and where, exactly?

Note that Obama lists only ways in which the West has, in his view, mistreated the Islamic world. Not a word about the jihad doctrine, not a word about Islamic supremacism and the imperative to make war against and subjugate non-Muslims as dhimmis. Not a word about the culture of hatred and contempt for non-Muslims that existed long before the spread of American culture ("modernity and globalization") around the world, which Obama D'Souzaishly suggests is responsible for the hostility Muslims have for the West.

Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.
The idea that the jihadists are a "small but potent minority of Muslims" is universally accepted dogma, but has no evidence to back it up. The evidence that appears to back it up is highly tendentious -- check out here how Dalia Mogahed (now an Obama adviser) and John Esposito cooked survey data from the Islamic world to increase the number of "moderates."

And of course it was by no means only "the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians" that "has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights." It was also the Islamic texts and teachings that inspired those attacks that have fueled this perception. But Obama is not singular in declining to acknowledge the existence of such texts and teachings. In that he is following George W. Bush and every influential American politician, diplomat, and analyst.

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. This cycle of suspicion and discord must end.Platitudes.

I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.No word, of course, of the Sharia laws that impugn the dignity of human beings who are women or non-Muslim by denying them various basic rights.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust,
Once again, he assumes that it is his responsibility, and America's, to dispel mistrust that Muslims feel for the West. It is not the responsibility of Muslims to do anything to gain the trust of the U.S. or the West in general.

nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran
Holy!

tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." That is what I will try to do – to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.
Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims.

Note that he avoids saying his father was a Muslim, which would open him to charges of apostasy.

As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.
As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam – at places like Al-Azhar University – that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality.

The idea that Islamic culture was once a beacon of learning and enlightenment is a commonly held myth. In fact, much of this has been exaggerated, often for quite transparent apologetic motives. The astrolabe was developed, if not perfected, long before Muhammad was born. The zero, which is often attributed to Muslims, and what we know today as “Arabic numerals” did not originate in Arabia, but in pre-Islamic India. Aristotle’s work was preserved in Arabic not initially by Muslims at all, but by Christians such as the fifth century priest Probus of Antioch, who introduced Aristotle to the Arabic-speaking world. Another Christian, Huneyn ibn-Ishaq (809-873), translated many works by Aristotle, Galen, Plato and Hippocrates into Syriac. His son then translated them into Arabic. The Syrian Christian Yahya ibn ‘Adi (893-974) also translated works of philosophy into Arabic, and wrote one of his own, The Reformation of Morals. His student, another Christian named Abu ‘Ali ‘Isa ibn Zur’a (943-1008), also translated Aristotle and others from Syriac into Arabic. The first Arabic-language medical treatise was written by a Christian priest and translated into Arabic by a Jewish doctor in 683. The first hospital was founded in Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate -- not by a Muslim, but a Nestorian Christian. A pioneering medical school was founded at Gundeshapur in Persia — by Assyrian Christians.

In sum, there was a time when it was indeed true that Islamic culture was more advanced than that of Europeans, but that superiority corresponds exactly to the period when Muslims were able to draw on and advance the achievements of Byzantine and other civilizations. But when the Muslim overlords had taken what they could from their subject peoples, and the Jewish and Christian communities had been stripped of their material and intellectual wealth and thoroughly subdued, Islam went into a period of intellectual decline from which it has not yet recovered.

To read the rest of Robert Spencer's analysis click here.