Do you have to take a vow of poverty to be a Christian? Is money the root of all evil? Andrew Peterson says no, and I agree. You need to read all of this one, but here’s the conclusion: “The point: being poor is not the only way to radically follow Christ. Some people are called to it. I have long felt a tension between all that I learned from the Kid Brothers and Rich Mullins about identifying with the poor and the weak, versus my holy responsibility to tend to my family’s spiritual and physical needs.
-
-
Ezell to NAMB
This is the happiest SBC news I’ve heard in a long time. I can’t imagine a better leader for NAMB. Pastor Kevin Ezell has been nominated to be the next President of the North American Mission Board (the domestic missions agency of the Southern Baptist Convention). Jim Smith has the story here.
-
Beck’s Revival
Russell Moore has Glenn Beck’s number—or at least that of Beck’s erstwhile “evangelical” following. Moore is rightly scathing in his rebuke of evangelicals who would confuse genuine revival with Mormon-American-pie-populist politics. That’s exactly what was on display this weekend at Beck’s rally at the Lincoln Memorial. It was a mash-up of civic religion and syncretism that had some evangelicals looking to Glenn Beck as some kind of a spiritual leader. It exposed the fact that far too many evangelicals still can’t tell the difference between heresy and the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Moore writes: “It’s taken us a long time to get here, in…
-
Giberson Shows His Hand
Karl Giberson really showed his hand in his response to Albert Mohler’s open letter. He acknowledges that he is not a theologian, but he nevertheless makes a weighty theological pronouncement. But I don’t sense that he realizes how weighty it really is. Here he is in his own words. “Is it not here that we find the central truth of our faith? Our sinful nature is a simple reality… But is it not possible that we might have different ideas about how we came to have that nature? Does the saving power of Jesus vanish if sin becomes something that developed through natural history, rather than appeared all at once…
-
Christian Hosoi: I Am Second
About a year ago, I found out about the conversion of one of my childhood heroes—Christian Hosoi (read about it here). He was a professional skateboarder, and I thought he was the best in the world. He was big-time in the 80’s, but the 90’s were a different story. He got all strung-out on drugs and eventually landed in jail. But that wasn’t the end of his story. Hear the rest of the story in the “I Am Second” video above. I think it’s amazing how the Lord works. For Hosoi, the text God used to quicken his heart was 1 Kings 2:1-9—the story of David’s exhortation to Solomon as…
-
The Future of Evangelicalism and the SBC
Dr. Mohler’s convocation address this morning was outstanding, and it relates to the subject matter of my last post. The title of the address is “Which Way to the Future? Southern Baptists, Southern Seminary, and the Future of the Evangelical Movement in America” (download audio here). In essence, Dr. Mohler argues that the evangelical movement provided the theological resources that the SBC needed to mount its conservative resurgence in the 80’s and 90’s. Now, Southern Baptists find themselves in the position of returning the favor. As the theological identity of evangelicalism becomes increasingly amorphous (and in some cases theologically liberal), Southern Baptists—with Southern Seminary included—need to lead the way in…
-
Köstenberger Takes Over at B&H
The publisher B&H has just released an important announcement: “B&H Publishing Group, the publishing division of LifeWay Christian Resources, has named Andreas J. Köstenberger as director of acquisitions for its academic program. In a unique partnership, Köstenberger will continue to serve as director of Ph.D. Studies and professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Köstenberger also serves as editor of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (JETS).”
-
Obama’s Faith
There was quite a hubbub last week over President Obama’s faith after a Pew Forum survey showed that 1 in 5 Americans believe Obama to be a Muslim. I don’t know how so many Americans could be so misinformed as to believe such a thing, but there it is. In fact, Obama professes to be a Christian, and all the indications are that he is a progressive one at that. In other words, his Christian faith resembles more what you would find in one of the liberal mainline churches than what you would find in an evangelical church.
-
Apologetics Conference
My friends at Denton Bible Church are hosting an apologetics conference this November 5-6, and it looks like they’ve got a great line-up. It’s called the “On Guard Christian Apologetics Conference,” and featured speakers include William Lane Craig, J. P. Moreland, and Sean McDowell. Here’s a description of the event from the conference website:
-
Olasky vs. Wallis
Marvin Olasky reports for World Magazine that Jim Wallis’ Sojourners group has been receiving funding from George Soros—the billionaire leftist who has financed groups promoting abortion, atheism, and same-sex marriage. Anyone who has paid any attention at all to Wallis’ leftward commitments shouldn’t be surprised that Soros might be interested in beefing up Sojourner‘s bottom-line. Wallis, however, is denying the report. In fact, he got downright prickly in a recent interview when asked about Olasky’s article: