I’m thinking of a doing a series on politics and the Bible because I get asked lots of questions about my political stances. I think it might be helpful to have a resource to point people to when they ask me (particularly the more conservative of my friends that think it crazy that I would even consider voting anything BUT republican). And so, I’ll kick things off by rehashing an old article that sets the stage: Political Language in the New Testament.
In that particular post, I mention some …

‘Pay close attention to these things also. Go up to the hill country and bring back timber to build the temple. Then I will be pleased and honored,’ says the Lord. ‘You expected a large harvest, but instead there was little, and when you brought it home it disappeared right away. Why?’ asks the Lord who rules over all. ‘Because my temple remains in ruins, thanks to each of you favoring his own house! This is why the sky has held back its dew and the earth its produce. Moreover, …

Well — Obama gave his acceptance speech for the democratic nomination last night. It was a pretty historic event — the first African American to ever be nominated for president. I didn’t actually watch the speech, instead choosing to do other things, but I did today on youtube. And if there is one think that is certain — should he be elected he would likely be the most regal president in modern history. He is by far the best speech giver of any politician I’ve seen: …

This weekend was NCC’s leadership retreat where all of the leaders in the clusters get together and spend time fellowshipping, worshipping and catching the vision for the coming year. And this year should be exciting as the vision is begin to cement on seeing God move radically in Norman. If you could boil it down to a single verse from the Bible, it would be:

…My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power…
1 Corinthians 2:4

For …

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16

As I previously mentioned, I spent 7 days in Vegas a couple of weeks ago. Vegas, suffice it to say, is not …

While in Vegas, I did find the time to start and/or finish three different books. The best of those three is actually the third book in the Church and Postmodern Culture series called GloboChrist: The Great Commission Takes a Postmodern Turn. It is the best short book on missiology I’ve read since Transforming Mission by David Bosch.
Within its pages, it looks at what the great commission means in light of the postmodern, globalized world that we live in (including the challenges to it and how it can shine, …

A previous article on the Lakeland Revival saw lots of traffic so I thought I’d post a (relieving) followup. Earlier this past week, Todd Bentley announced that he’d both be leaving the revival and that he was separating from his wife.
It would seem, unfortunately, that the concerns were quite valid and that the level of discernment exercised by people was no where near enough. The editor of *Charisma* magazine writes:

But among those who jumped on the Lakeland bandwagon, discernment was discouraged. They were expected to swallow and …

We got into Cape Town on a Friday evening and after some drama, made it back to the team house around 7 in the evening. The longtermers we were working with (Mike and Kalyn Arndt) had a taco soup dinner waiting for us (which was great!). We spent the rest of the evening going over rules and logistically info (as well as some cultural info). We then went to bed in preparation for the morning: our first trip into Masi.
Masiphumelele (Masi for short) is the township were …

On a quest to find a new worship CD, many folks recommended Misty Edwards from Kansas City. After listening to You Won’t Relent on her myspace page, I was hooked and picked up her latest: Relentless.
To make a long story short, it’s worth it if you are looking for new worship music. It’s amazing musically and lyrically. I highly recommend it.
You Won’t Relent is my favorite. It goes like this:

You won’t relent until You have it all, My heart is Yours
I’ll set You as a seal …

I’ve gotten several questions from friends about my thoughts about the “Lakeland revival” phenomena going down in Florida right now. In short, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Holy Spirit is at work and drawing people to Himself through legitimate healings but its in spite of the celebrity personalities and horrible doctrines, not because of them. Here’s some links well worth reading about the supposed revival:

Dan on Discernment, Revivals and Godly Common Sense and A Strange Fire in Florida
Robbymac on Bam! (thunk…) (Incidentally, I’m looking forward …

As many of you probably are aware of, I leave for 3 weeks in South Africa on June 4th. My team and I are really excited and have expectations of seeing God work in miraculous ways. That sense (and particularly its urgency) has only been heightened due to recent events in South Africa, which you may or may not have heard about on the news.
Lately, there has been a lot of unrest among the poor population and violence has been breaking out over the past couple of weeks. …

I ran across an interesting graph today [here][1]. Basically it is a map of where various countries land on the on scale of secularism and individualism:

I find it interesting particularly in the context of a discussion I had not super long ago on contextualization and the need for it. One of the important pieces of contextualization is the examination of the Gospel on our front — what we believe it to be, how we are presenting it, what we are presenting, etc. We don’t (or at least …

One recent book acquisition is [Liberation Theology after the End of History][1] by Daniel M. Bell, Jr. I got it from an interest in Latin American liberation theology (spurred originally by my reading of [Torture and Eucharist][2] last year). The book is billed as “…the most thorough account to date of the rise, failure, and future prospects of Latin American liberation theology” so naturally I opened and flipped through it upon its arrival.
What I didn’t expect though was the focus on theology versus capitalism. I should have …

Remember back when you were a child? When everything seemed so simple? Rainbows had pots of gold at their end and the blue sky was blue because that’s how God painted it? Life seemed simple then. Anything seemed plausable and it took little faith to believe it. We could ask our dads a technical question and upon getting an absurd response — run with it.
I heard one child say, “Whenever I see sunlight streaming through the clouds, I think it means that God is speaking to someone.” This stopped me …

At the National Pastor’s Convention, NPR hosted a [discussion on faith and politics][1] with Chuck Colson, Greg Boyd and Shane Claiborne. It makes for a great listen and is about an hour and a half long. (Some of the quotes in my Idolatry rant below even get included!)
[1]:http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/evangelical_politics/index.shtml

The new rage in movies currently is [Expelled][1], or so I am told. I’ve had many folks asking about this movie over the past few weeks and thought I’d put my thoughts down for all to see (since so many of you keep prodding). In short, **I have no real interest in seeing it** and won’t.
Now, to back up a bit, [Expelled][1] is an ID (*intelligent design*) documentary that looked to have promise when I first heard about it. Ben Stein and company were going to …

Getting back to [Jesus for President][1] seems prudent, for a post at least, particularly as I’ve thought quite a bit lately about justice in our time. I’m not actually going to talk about that here (perhaps tomorrow); instead, I’m going to continue to explore more from my favorite section of the book: section 3 — *when the empire got baptized*.
One interesting part of it looks at pieces of idolatry in our time, where empire is subverting Jesus in favor of its own welfare. The epitome of this, …

Julian the Apostate was the Roman emperor from 361 to 363. He’s called the Apostate because he converted from Christianity to theurgy and is considered the last Pagan emperor (he revived paganism in Rome as a counter to the thriving Christianity).
He was the author of many letters. In particular interest to me, he comments on the popularity of Christianity:
>”These impious Galileans not only feed their own poor, but ours also; welcoming them into their agapae, they attract them, as children are attracted, with cakes.”
>”Whilst the pagan priests neglect the poor, …