Review: ESV New Testament (Dramatized) by Faith Comes by Hearing

I've made no secret of my regard for the English Standard Version of the Bible, and how that's partially due to its availability. This recording is an example of that.

Faith Comes by Hearing is a ministry that provides audio Bibles and New Testaments in an ever-growing list of languages. In English we have an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Bible translations, and several of them, all free.

The only thing I find that I don't like is that all the readers have an Upper Midwest accent. That's not a deal breaker, more of a personal pet peeve, but it does make Jesus sound like he's from Ohio.

This is a great resource; it's well worth your time to look it up. I highly recommend it, and they have several other English translations, if the ESV isn't your weapon of choice,

2Kings 11

Athaliah was a Queen Mother, but she was as evil as any king.

Being Queen Mother apparently wasn't enough for her. As far as she knew, she had killed every possible threat. That's mean. And it almost worked.

Things I'm afraid of, and one I'm not

A lot has changed since the stroke. Externally I'm different, of course; being paralyzed from the eyeballs down will do that. Aside from that, the biggest change has been internal: I'm now afraid.

I didn't used to be afraid of heights. Recently, though, I watched a couple of documentaries, one about skyscrapers and the other about mountain ecosystems, that actually made me afraid.

The ocean has definitely never bothered me. I never liked the beach, but I loved the ocean. Now it terrifies me, especially since I have a daughter who loves shows about the ocean. It just keeps going down, and there's no way of knowing what might be below you, except that you can't breathe it,

I've also never been claustrophobic, but I am now. A fear of being confined would have been a huge drawback in both the Navy and the coal mine, but small spaces didn't affect me. Now they do.

About the only thing I'm not afraid of is death. I believe in both Heaven and Hell, and as Jerry Clower said, "I have made arrangements to miss Hell." I trust Christ to do what I can't.

2Kings 10

Jehu was a bad man.

I'm not using "bad" in the way we did in the 1980s, when "bad" meant "good". I'm not using any slang at all. I'm not even being sarcastic or ironic. Jehu was a liar and a murderer, and a man who lied in order to murder. He was a bad, bad man.

Review: THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO

I'm one of those snobs who almost always prefers the book to the movie. I can only think of two exceptions off the top of my head. The first is The Lord of the Rings, which will probably get me kicked out of the nerd union, but is a case in which great movies were made from a book which kind of drags. The other is this.

Back in the 90s, Disney made a very good adaptation of this. It wasn't at all true to the book; characters were renamed and moved around, and huge chunks of the book were simply thrown out. The result was a very good movie. 

The book was written around 150 years ago, in French. It is over 1300 pages long. I have to assume that it's written that way because people read that way. They don't anymore, so I don't recommend this book. The movie is great, though.

2Kings 9

There is nothing in this chapter to suggest Calvinism, or a belief that these things only happened because God planned them. I've never understood why foresight was supposed to diminish him, but that's what I'm told.

Sometimes God uses evil people to accomplish his ends, though.

Review: SECRETS OF THE KINGDOM LIFE by David Bercot

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Bercot and his work. His book Will the Real Heretics Please Stand Up was instrumental in my salvation, and in over ten years I have yet to find a biblical error in any of his books or tapes. If nothing else, I owe him for introducing me to The Ante-Nicene Fathers.

Many, if not all, of his books are available in Kindle format to read for free with Amazon Prime. And that's the only commercial you'll see from me today.

In recent years, Bercot seems to have focused his attention on "Kingdom Christians" who manifest the Kingdom of God in this world. This book describes what a Kingdom Christian is, and invites the reader to become one.

I like a book that leads people closer to God, and I recommend this one.

2Kings 8

There are a lot of kings here, all of them bad.

The history of the divided kingdom is represented by the history of the kings, and that's nothing to brag about. The southern kingdom of Judah occasionally had one that trusted and obeyed God, but Israel, the northern kingdom, was ruled by an unbroken string of evil men. And people haven't gotten any better since.

I . The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired, and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be judged. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.

2Kings 7

Those must have been some confused lepers. They had already decided that the worst thing that could happen was they could die, so they had headed for the Syrian camp, fully expecting to be killed. Instead, they found it empty. For one evening, it was theirs.

Then conscience struck.

Memorial Day is very confusing

I'm very grateful to those who were willing to die in defense of my freedom. I understand that this has always been a militaristic culture, and that most Americans believe that enjoyment of this freedom implies a willingness to fight for it.

I also know none of that matters.

I'm a Christian, so I know all freedom ultimately comes from God. It doesn't matter how many people like, die, or fight for it: if God wants a nation to be free, it will be. If he doesn't, it won't.

I have been told my whole life that the most noble death I could have would be in defense of my country, and the most noble life I could live would be in service to my country. That wasn't surprising when I heard it in a public school, but it was coming from a pulpit in a church. It's also deeply disturbing.

Is service to America really better and more noble than service to God? I would say no, and I'm pretty sure the Bible would agree with me. Though I now know that service in the Navy was a mistake that kept me from God, I've been thanked many times for that, but never for trying to serve God. The former is apparently more important than the latter.

To professing Christians, anyway.

Review: THE MYTH OF A CHRISTIAN NATION by Gregory A. Boyd

This is the one that showed me I wasn't alone.

When I became a Christian -- a real one, not just the nominal one I'd been for years -- I noticed a disconnect between the person we American Christians claimed to worship and the way we actually behaved. At the time I thought it was just me. Reading this book made me understand it wasn't.

Boyd has since become associated with Open Theism which is unfortunate, partly because it taints his past work. In this book, he questions the way our country's history and the church's tacit approval of its unchristian practices. He also questions the close alliance of church and state during the first gulf war.

I should also mention the cover, if only because it's so unusual. The main color is a deep, saturated royal blue, and the only elements that stand out from that are the writing and a small picture of the Statue of Liberty, whose pale green seems to glow against the background. It's very effective, and makes me wonder why we don't see that shade of blue more often.

In the end,though, what matters is what's behind the cover. This book asks -- and answers -- some difficult but important questions, and I highly recommend it. It might mess you up like it did me, though.

2Kings 6

God is always there,even when we can't see him.

This chapter is another collection of Elisha's deeds, this time focusing more on political conflicts than on his miracles. One of the stories gives an explanation for his confidence. His servant was afraid of the advancing army, so Elisha prayed for his eyes to be opened to God's provision. When he saw the heavenly army around them, he was no longer afraid.

2Kings 5

There are definitely more impressive rivers.

The Nile is bigger. The Amazon is bigger. A hose in the backyard seems bigger than the Jordan. When you grow up in a huge country built around the Mississippi, the Jordan River just seems like a creek. But Naaman wasn't told to dip himself in the largest or most impressive river, and his obedience made him clean.

Review: CHURCHED by Matthew Paul Turner

This is Turner's spiritual autobiography, the story of his early life in a Fundamentalist church in Maryland. It's told in an episodic format, more as a series of snapshots than as a continuous film. Turner is funny,in a dry and understated way.

Unfortunately, he also comes across as a little confused. I spent a good bit of my 20s in a Fundamentalist church, and was very confused when I left. I'm not sure whether Turner and I had unusual experiences, or if confusion is just a part of Fundamentalism, but I'm inclined to think the latter.

I recommend this book. If you aren't a Fundy, it's a good window into a world where a pastor's opinions about Scripture can be more important than Scripture itself. If you are maybe it'll get you thinking about what you believe.

2Kings 4

This chapter is devoted to several of Elisha's miracles. Far too often, people today dismiss deeds like these as magic tricks, sleight of hand to fool the gullible. Even those who profess a belief in Scriptrure sometimes see stories like these as mere accretions to the "real" Bible.

So few seem to err on the side of faith .

Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens

First, I feel like I should admit that this is the only Dickens book I've ever finished. I put the blame for that squarely on the fact that I was assigned Great Expectations in the eighth grade. Public education: ruining young minds for a hundred years.

That said, while it tells the reader a good deal about Victorian Christmas traditions, this book says little about Christmas itself. In general, it sees Christmas as a time to be nice and get together with family. It's a sappy and sentimental story, and it's spawned a thousand others. For that reason alone, I don't recommend it.

2Kings 3

The Moabites thought the battle was already over. They were wrong.

The Moabites looked at the sun on the water and thought they saw blood. They assumed their enemies were dead and were so surprised when they found out they were wrong that they scattered and ran.

2000 Baptist Faith and Message

Regardless of my personal beliefs, the latest version of the Baptist Faith and Message (2000) is very good. I plan to put it up here an article at a time without my comments.

2Kings 2

One thing I've been asked is if I really believe all those weird things in the Bible really happened. The answer is is yes, I believe the world was created by God, that a man spent the night unharmed in a den of hungry lions, and that someone who rose from the dead will come back to judge everyone who has ever lived.

And thanks to this chapter, I believe the Jordan River was stopped at least three times.

Review: CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE by Richard Foster

Having first appeared in the 1970s, this book is considered a classic of Christian writing. It has sold millions of copies, and while it has often been imitated, it has never been bettered.

Foster essentially lists and explains ten ancient Christian disciplines. Some, like Bible reading, are things Christians should already be doing. Others, like meditation, should only be undertaken with caution.

Overall, I liked this book. Discipline isn't something Christians are known for, but it should be. 

2Kings 1

Always speak kindly to God's prophet.

The fact two captains of fifty didn't, and look what happened. God sent fire down to protect his prophet, but also to prove that that's what Elijah was. He answered Elijah's if/then statement in an unmistakable way.

So what am I?

For years, I've considered myself a Southern Baptist. This was due to both chance, as the churches my family and I attended turned out to belong to the Southern Baptist Convention, and conviction, because the Southern Baptists' statement of faith, the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message, is as good a statement of belief as any, and better than some.

Unfortunately, it would seem that a good many people in the Convention haven't read it. Especially back in 2003, when it was the only religious body on earth to vote to adopt a resolution support the Iraq War. Since then I've learned more about what Christ taught and how short even an ideal SBC would fall. I don't think I'm a Baptist anymore.

In fact, I'm not sure what I am these days.

Don't misunderstand me. I still believe the SBC is better than most. I believe it's the best of the major denominations in the country. A SBC church licensed me to preach and ordained me both as a deacon and as a pastor. My first pastorate was in a Southern Baptist church. I feel a great attachment to the SBC, and seeing it turn away from Scriptrure is like having a limb ripped off.

I still find Calvinism repugnant, and entanglement in or compromise with this world simply antichristian. The group I most associate with is the Anabaptists, at least as far as I know. (If you don't know what an Anabaptist is, think Amiish, Hutterites, and especially Mennonites. Not necessarily the way they live, but what they believe.) No one follows the Bible perfectly, but they seem like the least imperfect of the bunch.

Review: THE GODS OF PEGANA by Lord Dunsany

This is another of Dunsany's collections of very short stories. This time, they're all grouped around a single theme, that of Dunsany's invented mythology.

I liked this book a lot, but I realize that 100-year-old fantasy stories don't appeal to everyone. If you're into that sort of thing, though, I highly recommend it.

Review: BEAUTIFUL OUTLAW by John Eldredge

For better or worse, this is an Eldredge book, with all that implies.

Needless to say, it's written well. In addition to his own talent, Eldredge has a background in theatre, and is living example of the truth that reading good authors makes you a good author.

The central idea is that Jesus is bigger and wilder than we think. If that sounds familiar, it should. It's the central idea of most of Eldredge's books. It seems like Eldredge has made the same mistake as many others: he assumes his own experience is normative.

He loves the wilderness,so all men must love the wilderness, so God must love the wilderness. It doesn't take a genius to to find the problem with that logic. By that argument, he fly fishes, so all men must fly fish,so God must fly fish. He's named John Eldredge, so all men must be named John Eldredge, so God must be named John Eldredge.

I don't recommend this book, because it's so similar to his other books, and because he seems to have made God in his own image  

All three together

Martin Luther said that no one should even be considered a Christian who doesn't know the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Apostles' Creed. I don't always agree with him, but this seems like a good starting point. For the last few months I've been breaking down each trying to explain them. Here are all three without my comments.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS 

1. Don't have other gods.

2. Don't make any idols.

3. Don't misuse God's name 

4. Keep the Sabbath holy.

5. Honor your parents.

6. Don't kill 

7. Don't sleep around.

8. Don't steal.

9. Don't lie.

10. Don't covet.

That's the Chris Bloom version, which is a lot easier to understand than some. Here's the Lord's Prayer in the ESV.

THE LORD'S PRAYER 

Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

And here is the traditional translation of the Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:

And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:

Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried: He descended into Hell:

The third day he rose again from the dead:

He ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: 

From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:

I believe in the Holy:Ghost:

I believe in the holy catholic church: the communion of the saints:

The forgiveness of sins:

The resurrection of the body:

And life everlasting. Amen.

1Kings 22

This is a long chapter. It's also a disturbing one, and not just because Jehoshaphat, a "good" king, was allied with Ahab. If lying is a sin, by sending a "lying spirit" God seems to implicate himself.

The fact is I haven't figured it out yet.

2Kings will start on Monday.

Review: WHAT THE EARLY CHURCH BELIEVED ABOUT ETERNAL SECURITY by David Bercot

I may as well admit that I'm a big fan of Bercot and place a lot of weight on what the Ante-Nicene church (before the Council of Nicea in 325 AD) believed. This subject is also one that has bothered me a lot -- and caused me a good deal of trouble over the years.

Suffice to say that you'll probably find something to disagree with in this short book. I did, and Calviinistic Baptists will be especially offended. Check it with Scriptrure, though, and remember that the question is not whether you like it, but whether it's true.

1Kings 21

Ahab was bad, but Jezebel was even worse. 

Ahab was a whiner and quite possibly the most evil king Israel ever had. But Jezebel loved to instigate, and in this chapter shows herself perfectly capable of going behind the king's back to start a lie that got someone killed.

Fear or love?

I try to use this blog as a tool  to do whatever I can to build the Kingdom of God. But a question nags at me: am I doing this because I'm afraid of God,  or because I genuinely love him?

I  first became a Christian because was afraid of Hell. I don't think that's the best motivation, but it's a legitimate one. However, if that's still the main reason I obey years later, there's something wrong.

The question becomes one of love. I know God loves us; his actions prove it. I've always said that the scariest passage in Scripture is Matthew 7.21-23, in which people tell Jesus all the good things they did in his name, only to hear he never knew them.

I don't want to hear that.

 

1Kings 20

Ben-Hadad led 32 kings and their armies against Ahab. When they were beaten, he assumed that it was because they had fought in the hills, and Israel's God was a god of the hills. He thought if they fought in the lowlands he would win.

He was wrong. God is God everywhere.

Review: ARISTOTLE IN 90 MINUTES by Paul Strathern

I need to admit something.  I really like philosophy, but I'm too lazy to read the dense, thick tomes on which it seems to be based. In that sense, these books were made for me .

This book has an introduction, a summary of his life and works, a selection of quotes, and a couple of timelines: one or Aristotle's life and one of important dates in philosophy as a whole. Strathern manages to pack a lot of information in this short book.

I greatly enjoyed this book, and highly recommend it.

1Kings 19

Elijah wasn't afraid of confronting King Ahab, or of mocking the prophets of Baal even when ludicrously outnumbered. Near as we can tell, he feared no man. But he sure did run from Queen Jezebel.

Elijah's problem wasn't the fear of man, but of woman.

1Kings 18

This chapter has one of my favorite stories.

The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is a great one. What's often overlooked is the sacrifice he made. Not the bull, but the water. In the middle of a drought, he poured water on the altar until everything was so soaked that water ran down and filled a trench around the altar. Rather than being dramatic, Elijah was offering something precious,

1Kings 17

Elijah was given the power to make the drought last or stop and then sent out of Israel to a Gentile widow. Not only did he make her meager store of food last until the end of the drought, but he also brought her son back to life after he died of an illness.

Sounds like Israel blessing the nations to me.

Review: 10 BOOKS THAT SCREWED UP THE WORLD (AND FIVE MORE THAT DIDN'T HELP)

by Benjamin Wiker 

The key to understanding this book is to understand the author's perspective. Wiker writes as a neoconservative, and reading from that point of view makes a great bit of difference.

You may not agree with the choice of books or the interpretation of them, but it's hard to fault Wiker's subsequent logic. In the end, it's all about presuppositions. If you agree or at least can understand why he feels that way I recommend this book. If you don't or can't, I don't.

Review: MORMONISM by David Cloud

Cloud is a Fundamentalist with a big F, who separates from anyone who introduces "innovations" into the church. Despite this, what I've seen from him before was irenic and reasonable.

This book is no exception. In fact, it's so reasonable it's bland, and the fact that this short book contains information easily found elsewhere doesn't help.

It's hard to recommend this book. It's a pretty good introduction to Mormonism, but a pretty bad one to Cloud.

And the life everlasting. Amen.

This is the end of the Apostles' Creed, the third thing Martin Luther said every Chrstian should know. There are two very important points in this last line.

I actually misspoke when I mentioned people gaining eternal life. Eternal life would have no beginning or end. A better word is really "everlasting", like the Creed says.

The other important point has to do with the word "amen". It's not just something we put at the end of prayers or say during a sermon. It means you agree. The best way I've heard it explained is that amen is short for "I wish I'd said that.'

Next week I'll list everything together.

1Kings 16

The kings of Israel seemed to get worse and worse.

At least Judah occasionally had a good king. Israel had nothing but bad ones and, as we'll see in the next few days, sometimes their wives were even worse.

Which one?

I hear a lot about how we need to get America back to what it once was. What I always wonder is this: which America do we need to get back to?

The one of the 1980s, when we killed people all over the world and had enough nuclear weapons to destroy the earth hundreds of times?

Or maybe we should get back to 1960, when blacks were systematically discriminated against?

Was our country more Christian during the two world wars, when we trusted guns instead of God to make the world better?

How about the turn of the last century, when it was acceptable for people to die as long as profits stayed up?

Maybe we should go back to the 1860s, when hundreds of thousands killed each other while chaplains claimed that both North and South had God on its side.

Or should we go all the way back to the founding of this great nation, when our Founding Fathers wanted everything in a red coat dead and the tradition of lying to and stealing from the Indians carried on.

It was, you know. By professing Christians.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-American. I love this country, and feel very blessed to have been born here. I believe the United States of America is the best nation men have come up with. But I'm also honest, and I know this same nation has consistently broken God's laws. We should stop  perpetuating the lie that it hasn't.

1Kings 15

If length of reign was a sign of God's approval, then Asa was by far the best king of Judah so far.

Think about it. Even the celebrated David only ruled 40 years, albeit over a united kingdom. Asa got 41. It's not that simple , though. I can think of someone much worse who reigned much longer, but we'll get to him.