Adam Nagourney reports for the New York Times that the same-sex “marriage” issue has become a hindrance to the Republican Party. More and more voters are simply disinterested in fighting over this issue. Nagourney writes: “In the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, released on Monday, 31 percent of respondents over the age of 40 said they supported gay marriage. By contrast, 57 percent under age 40 said they supported it, a 26-point difference. Among the older respondents, 35 percent said they opposed any legal recognition of same-sex couples, be it marriage or civil unions. Among the younger crowd, just 19 percent held that view. “Steve Schmidt, who was the…
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Al Mohler on the ‘Swine’ Flu
On his radio program yesterday, Dr. Albert Mohler talked about how Christians should respond to the potential ‘Swine’ flu pandemic. You can download the audio here or listen to it below. [audio:http://www.sbts.edu/media/audio/totl/2009/AMP_04_28_2009.mp3] The interesting thing about this discussion is that Dr. Mohler compares the current threat with how Christians in previous eras dealt with plagues. The comparison is apt and one that we should all be thinking about from a biblical perspective.
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Another Outrage from Planned Parenthood
Lila Rose is a 20-year old college student at UCLA. She has the voice of a 14-year old, but she has an ingenious plan to expose Planned Parenthood’s serial abuse of vulnerable young girls who are pregnant. Rose produces undercover videos in which she poses as an underage teen seeking an abortion from Planned Parenthood. Recently, she was featured in a front-page story in the LA Times. Watch the video, and read the article. Unbelievable.
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Danny Akin’s Prophetic Vision for SBC
Dr. Danny Akin is the President of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Last week in Southeastern’s chapel, he delivered a prophetic message—a message that I hope all Southern Baptists will embrace. Dr. Akin’s vision is for a Great Commission Resurgence to sweep through the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). In his chapel sermon, he sets forth eleven axioms of such a resurgence. You can download the message here , read the message here, or listen to it below. [audio:http://www.sebts.edu/images/video/audio/7718677790.mp3] I think Dr. Akin’s vision for the SBC is the right one, and I’m praying for his tribe to increase. There is now a website where you…
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Pontiac Goes the Way of the Dodo
When I was a kid, I always believed that the ultimate car of cars was the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am. First it was Burt Reynolds in “Smokey and the Bandit.” Then it was David Hasselhoff in NBC’s “Knight Rider.” I just thought that car got better and better. For me, there was nothing more exotic than a Trans Am. It is a strange thing to watch the passing of an 102 year-old American icon. Yet that is what is happening with the Pontiac brand of General Motors (GM). GM announced this week that it is shutting down its Pontiac brand in order to “concentrate resources on its remaining, strategically more…
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Is John Piper a Pastor and a Scholar?
John Piper is not sure whether he should be considered a pastor and a scholar. At least that is what he says in an address he gave last week at Park Community Church in Chicago, Illinois. You can read it here, download it here or listen to it below. [audio:http://media.desiringgod.org/audio/events/20090423_piper.mp3] Here’s how Piper describes his task in this message: “I assume that one of the main reasons I was asked to do this talk is that somebody thinks I am one of these—a pastor-scholar. I’m not sure that I am. And so I thought maybe I should just tell my story as how I got to be the way I…
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Take Heed How You Hear!
Tomorrow morning I will preach in the three morning services of the First Baptist Church in Henderson, Kentucky. As I was preparing tonight, I was reminded of a little exhortation that John Piper wrote eleven years ago titled “Take Heed How You Hear.” In it, Piper gives his parishioners ten practical preparations to prepare to receive the word of God on Sunday morning. You can either listen to the exhortation below or read it here. [audio:http://media.desiringgod.org/audio/1998/19980222.mp3] I’ll give you the ten points, but you should take time to go and read the rest of the article and the scriptures in it. 1. Pray that God would give you a good…
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A Clarification about Plan B
The FDA announced this week that it will allow “Plan B” contraceptive pills to be sold without a prescription to girls as young as 17 years old. You can read the announcement here. Earlier this morning I read the New York Times‘s editorial about the decision and was miffed that the editors implied that there were no human life concerns when it comes to the use of the Plan B pills. The editors say that Plan B merely “blocks” or “prevents” pregnancies. Such language might appear to some to be saying that human life is not endangered by the use of this drug. But nothing could be further from the…
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Rob Bell Can’t Tweet the Gospel
Rob Bell tells Christianity Today that he cannot Tweet the gospel. There’s just too much there to fit into 140 characters. Here’s CT‘s question followed by his answer: How would you present this gospel on Twitter? I would say that history is headed somewhere. The thousands of little ways in which you are tempted to believe that hope might actually be a legitimate response to the insanity of the world actually can be trusted. And the Christian story is that a tomb is empty, and a movement has actually begun that has been present in a sense all along in creation. And all those times when your cynicism was at…
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Gospel Coalition Online
We’ve had a very busy week here in Louisville, and I have been out-of-pocket as far as this blog is concerned. Things are getting a little bit back to normal, and I want to take a minute to bring to your attention that The Gospel Coalition met this week and has made available the MP3’s from its conference. The speakers include John Piper, Tim Keller, D. A. Carson, Mark Driscoll, Lig Duncan, and many others. I have already listened to Mark Driscoll’s sermon and am looking forward to hearing the others as well. Here’s the link to the audio from the 2009 Gospel Coalition messages. UPDATE: For those who are…