Fantasy Football vs. Martyrdom

For the past several weeks I've been obsessing over a game called "Fantasy Football." I've been planning my strategy for the live draft that we had last night. I've been pumped up like a kid at Christmas. And then God, in his ironic, timely way, woke me up this morning with this email from Voice of the Martyrs explaining what our brothers and sisters in Pakistan have been doing lately. As I've been preparing for Fantasy Football here in the good ole U.S. of A., here's what they've been up to:

It was just a rumor. But among the radical Muslims in Pakistan's Gojra village, a rumor was enough of an excuse to kill.

When the rumor was broadcast from the loudspeakers on the minarets of local mosques, it became fact. As part of a wedding ceremony, the loudspeaker shouted, Christians tore pages from a Quran. Then they compounded the disrespect by walking on the shredded pages.

"Defend Islam!" The loudspeaker called. Muslims answered, rampaging through a Christian section of Gojra on Aug. 1. Eight Christians were killed, including women and children. More than 100 Christian homes were burned by a mob. The mob, which was estimated to be more than 20,000 people, also burned a church.

Five Hours Without Help

Emergency personnel did not reach Gojra for more than five hours. Christians were forced to use vegetable carts to move their dead and wounded to the hospital.

Responding to an international outcry, Pakistani government officials have now said no Quran was desecrated. The government promised to help rebuild the burned homes of Christian families.

Even before the government acted, contacts of The Voice of the Martyrs were in Gojra, offering comfort to the wounded and praying with the families of the dead. They continue to aid the village, including helping with some medical expenses, offering encouragement and pressing for a forceful government response.

Pray Blasphemy Laws Are Overturned

Christians in Pakistan hope these attacks can be a turning point. They are praying to God and pressing their government to overturn unjust blasphemy laws that are often a pretext to attack Christians.

They are also asking us to pray with them. Pray for Christians in Pakistan to be bold witnesses for Christ, despite threats. Pray for those wounded and left homeless by the brutal Gojra attacks. Pray for Muslims to come to know Jesus Christ in a personal way.

Boy, am I lame.

Muslim Demographics

I found this video through James Emery White's blog serioustimes.com.  It's circulating pretty quickly so maybe you've seen it. Dr. White, a local pastor here in Charlotte of a tiny little church you've probably never heard of called Mecklenburg Community Church (feel the sarcasm), gives some great commentary to it.  If you're prone to overreacting and freaking out easily, you might want to read his comments here first.  You'll see why.  This video is meant to create a little buzz in the Christian world, and probably rightly so.  Dr. White closes his thoughts with this statement, and I think he's right on.

Yes, the world is changing. Islam is growing while Christianity, in many quarters, is waning. The best response is to neither demonize Muslims nor deny the differences between Christianity and Islam. The best response is to know what we believe, why we believe it, and then carry that message to the world. And maybe have some more babies.

Served By Royalty

Call me a nerd, but I love NPR. That's pretty much all I listen to in the car ... when I'm by myself, that is. Tasha hates talk radio of any kind. So, I indulge when I'm driving by myself. The other day I caught one of the coolest interviews I've ever heard. And when it hit the punch-line in the end, I knew I had to blog about it.

The interview was with a former White House butler named Lynwood Westray who served eight presidents for a total of 32 years. Mr. Westray's perspective on life inside the White House was fascinating. You can read the complete transcript here (if you're nerdy enough!) Toward the end of the interview, Mr. Westray was asked about his fondest memory during his 32 years serving in the White House. And here was his response:

"When reflecting on his fondest memory, Westray talks about a time in 1979 when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited the White House. After dinner, Prince Philip went into the Red Room, next to the state dining room. Westray and his buddy were serving liquor. Westray says he was carrying the tray and glasses.

"The prince was in there by himself, which was odd, because everybody else had gone down to the other end of the building," Westray says. "I said, 'Your Majesty, would you care for a cordial?' He says, 'I'll take one if you let me serve it.' What do you do? I didn't do all that because I had the stuff in my hand. And he says, 'If you let me pour it, I'll have one with you.'

"... So he poured it, the one he wanted, and we took the same thing that he had. And we had our drink there together and had a little talk while we were there. He told us if we were ever over there in London to stop at Buckingham Palace and see him. Can you imagine the prince serving you? I enjoyed it. You know, we're not supposed to drink and carry on at that time. We're not guests. It was just the three of us in the room, so nobody knew what happened. And I drank my little cordial, we all drank, and had a little conversation. But that was one thing I'll never forget, having been served by royalty."

I haven't been able to get that last line out of my head since I first heard the interview: "That was the one thing I'll never forget, having been served by royalty." I don't think I have to spell it out for you ... but that's exactly what Christ has done for us. We were served by royalty when He came to this earth,

taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (Phil. 2:7-8)

Jesus, the King of Kings came as a lowly servant washing the dirty feet of His disciples--being baptized by those unworthy to even stoop down and tie his sandals--loving the unlovable--serving those who should be serving Him.

We have been served by royalty. We must never forget that!

Thoughts on the Election

This is a little late coming, but better late than never. I frequently visit J.D. Greear's blog, a pastor in the RDU area. He doesn't know me, but we have many mutual friends, went to the same school, etc. So, I value his opinion. He's a man of God and preaches the truth of God's Word without apology. His thoughts on the election are exactly mine and he can say it way more eloquently than I. Check it out here. Then check out John Piper's thoughts as well in this video. A plethora of great thoughts comin' atchya.

7 Years and Still Blind

I still remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I’m sure you do too. I was just walking into my 9:00 Exodus Book Study class at North Greenville College. Dr. Pete Wilbanks gave us the news about the attacks on the Twin Towers, we prayed, and then he dismissed class. My Dad was in Brazil on a mission trip. All international flights shut down to and from the US. He was stuck.

Confusion. Betrayal. Anger. Unbelief. Fear. Uncertainty. The whole gamut of emotions ran through every ounce of my being. The feeling of powerlessness was stifling. As the news unfolded throughout the day, the images we saw forever changed the landscape, make-up and temperament of America. Church doors flew open for around-the-clock prayer. The Sunday after 9.11, pews were packed with people who had not stepped foot in a church in years, perhaps ever. In the midst of the tragedy, there were glimmers of hope for a country that had in many ways turned her back on God. There was the prevailing feeling, at least among most Christian evangelicals, that these events would soon act as a catalyst to bring America back to Christ. But you know what happened.

As soon as some semblance of stability and structure was reintroduced, the American dream based on secular humanism and extreme individualism reared its ugly head once again. America no longer needed God. He was the crutch to get her through the initial pain and shock, but He was no longer needed. He was no longer necessary. America was dealing with her enemies. America was standing on her own two feet. America was her own counselor, her own defense, her own support system. God was obsolete.

This vicious cycle is repeated throughout history—both biblical and non-biblical history. A nation turns from God. Tragedy strikes. The nation seeks God again. God brings healing and restoration. The nation no longer needs God. Over and over. It’s a cycle that seems to always divorce itself from lessons learned, thus they are never really learned. Only flirted with. Only petted and stroked on the surface. But they never take root.

There’s another mistake that happens, though. And it happens by those who call themselves followers of Christ. The mistake is this: While hastily pointing out the sins and errors of a nation, the church of Christ becomes blind to her own sin. This, perhaps more than any other reason, is why the Lord burned such a passion in my heart to write the songs that make up our new worship album, “The Healing.” At first glance, the record seems to be an indictment against the culture in which we live—the fact that we need the healing hand of God in our nation and in our land. But as you probe deeper, hopefully this message will come through even louder: We need revival, healing, and spiritual awakening in the church. We, the bride of Christ, need to return to our first love. A love that we’ve lost many times because we’ve been too preoccupied with pointing the finger at a lost world, instead of pointing them to the God who loves them. Here’s what the insert to our new CD says about the purpose of this album:

“In a culture that is becoming increasingly apathetic and antagonistic to the message of the Gospel, how quickly and easily it is to fall victim to the sin of point-the-fingerism. Sometimes a preoccupation with the darkness surrounding us blinds us to our own darkness. And though unquestionably the darkness that surrounds must be penetrated by the light of the Gospel, unless our own sin is first confronted we are rendered useless and pathetic in the advancement of God’s Kingdom here on earth. The ground is fallow in America. But so is it equally fallow in our churches. So is it equally fallow in our own hearts much of the time. Hosea desperately begged God’s people to “break up your untilled ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and sends righteousness on you like rain.” (Hosea 10:12) If there was one plea for this album, that would be it—to break up your untilled ground. Allow the Holy Spirit of God access to the dark pits of heinous anarchy in your soul that stand in forward opposition to the coming King of Kings. And allow Him to clean you out. Allow Him to heal and soften the dry and hardened ground—that salvation may spring forth—that righteousness may rain down. And when that happens, we can stand as a unified, collective body of Christ holding high His royal banner proclaiming with urgency the soon return of our High King. Our prayer is that this album will be a catalyst to drive you to your knees in repentance, to help stand you up with arms held high in surrender, and to move you out to the frontlines of the battle.”

May we, as Christ’s bride, return to our first love so that we may have the legitimacy and the non-hypocritical voice to speak the truth of the gospel to a lost world. Amen.

"Healer" Exposed

I'm certainly not the first to blog about the recent disclosure of the fraudulent testimony of "Healer's" author Michael Guglielmucci, one of the contributors on the new Hillsong Worship album, "This is Our God." But I figured I would add my thoughts nonetheless. A few days ago, I briefly mentioned the song "Healer" and the incredible story behind the song. Unfortunately, it seems that the whole story was made up by writer Michael Guglielmucci, and he did not in fact have terminal cancer. You can read the whole story here and here.

As I was thinking through my reaction to this unfortunate lie this guy was living, I basically came up with two thoughts. One, this is a trainwreck situation, to be sure. Obviously there are some mental issues this guy is facing right now. And there are thousands around the globe who have been relying on this guy and his song for encouragement as they face their own battles with terminal illnesses or whatever the case may be. So, I'm reminded of the incredible responsibility of us, men and women of God, to understand that there are people watching our lives and to strive to be truth-tellers. To live the truth. That we wouldn't make a mockery of God and gospel by the way we live our lives.

However, my second thought lends itself to more grace than judgment. I'm a broken vessel. You're a broken vessel. Michael is a broken vessel. We're all broken vessels. The fact that the story behind the song was totally fabricated doesn't make the song any less true--the truth that God is a healer--that He's in the business of healing souls and lives. And though the testimony of this particular individual is untrue, the reality that God still heals is definitely not up for debate. Whatever the motivation was for this fabrication, God has still received glory from a song that speaks to His character and praises Him for it. So, I'm thankful that God still uses broken vessels for His use--not matter how badly broken they may be. I think the Apostle Paul said it best in Philippians 1:15-18 concerning motivations for preaching the gospel:

"15 Some, to be sure, preach Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of good will. 16 These do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the others proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, seeking to cause [me] trouble in my imprisonment. 18 What does it matter? Just that in every way, whether out of false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice."

So, pray for Michael. According the article, he's seeking professional help, which I think could be a good thing. But definitely don't waste your time praying that God will figure out a way to clean up the mess and carnage. He wasn't taken by surprise by this. He's totally in control and sovereign over this situation and He'll receive glory from it. No doubt.

Architecture and the Unchurched

My mother-in-law sent me an article the other day, and I thought it was incredibly interesting. It seems that a recent online survey of 1,684 people claiming to be "unchurched" found that, at a 2-to-1 ratio, they preferred churches with Gothic and cathedral-type architecture over and above the modern, contemporary style of church architecture. This is intriguing to me because, as my friend Dave Hickman (founder of CharlotteONE) and I have periodically discussed, there is an undeniable sentiment in our culture that our generation of both believers and unbelievers, as a general rule, is tired of having church in movie theaters and school auditoriums. The meeting place for CharlotteONE, incidentally or intentionally, is in the uptown sector of Charlotte at the First United Methodist Church, a building that fits the gothic, cathedral style to the T. And we're finding that the place is packing out every Tuesday night during the school year.

Ed Stetzer, a missioligist and the director of Lifeway research (and a great blogger, by the way) commented on the survey saying, "Quite honestly, this research surprised us. We expected they’d choose the more contemporary options, but they were clearly more drawn to the aesthetics of the Gothic building than the run-of-the-mill, modern church building."

Here's some more of the article:

Stetzer suggested that the unchurched may prefer the more aesthetically pleasing look of the Gothic cathedral because it speaks to a connectedness to the past. Young unchurched people were particularly drawn to the Gothic look. Those between the ages of 25 to 34 used an average of 58.9 of their preference points on the more ornate church exterior. Those over the age of 70 only used an average of 32.9 of their 100 preference points on that particular church exterior.

The Gothic style was preferred by both unchurched Roman Catholics and unchurched Protestants, according to the survey. The average unchurched Roman Catholics gave the design more than 56 of their preference points.

"I don’t like modern churches, they seem cold," said one survey respondent who chose the Gothic design. "I like the smell of candles burning, stained-glass windows, [and] an intimacy that’s transcendent."

Here's the article. Thoughts?

Pray for the Chapman family

Fox news just released a tragic report concerning the family of Christian recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman. You can read the article for yourself here, but apparently their youngest adopted daughter, Maria, 5, was tragically and accidentally hit and killed in their driveway by one of Chapman's teenage sons. Pray for the Chapman family as they struggle to find God's hand in the midst of this tragedy especially the son who must be experiencing unimaginable mental trauma and anguish.

How Tragedy Brings Glory to God

Yesterday marked the 1-year anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Having grown up thirty minutes from Blacksburg, VA it hit close to home for me last year. One of my friends, Matthew Church, was supposed to be in the class where Cho opened fire, but he slept through his alarm and missed class.

Continue to pray for the families that experienced loss in ways beyond what I could ever fathom or imagine.

Though I would never pretend to have all the answers to life's tragedies, I'm thankful that there is a God who understands. He understands how it feels to lose His only Son to tragedy, to the wicked, murderous hand of psychotic executioners, much like Cho. Still, when tragedy strikes close to home it begs the question, "How could God possibly allow something like this to happen?" So, many choose to discount the idea of a loving, all-powerful God as nothing more than a fairytale or children's bedtime story. Where is God when disaster comes? Where is God when Katrina lands a deadly blow? Where is God when a tsunami wipes out enough people to populate several countries? Same place He's always been.

But the critics cry foul and choose instead to deny God--a copout, simplistic approach, to be brutally honest. The Bible calls them fools. At the risk of sounding trite and simplistic myself, I like the Psalmist's approach. In Psalm 148:7-8 the writer explains that life's disasters actually give testimony to the greatness of God. He says,

"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths.
Fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy wind, fulfilling His word."

How could California wild fires and Hurricane Katrinas be good things? They fulfill His word. Somehow in the providence of God, they fulfill His word. They give testimony to His greatness. They praise Him through and by disaster. I don't know how exactly, but they do. They praise Him over all the earth. They bring attention to His greatness. They act as neon signs that read, "Look at God! Look how amazing He is!" And somehow in the midst of the flickering, fluorescent catastrophe of events, God's power is put on display. He receives more glory and more praise than He would have otherwise.

Truth and Truth-Tellers Part 1

It’s been all over the news the last couple of days. It has consumed the airwaves, the morning shows, and the late night comedy routines. You can read about it here. What did Hillary Clinton actually experience when she visited Bosnia so many years ago? Was she, in fact, under sniper fire when she landed on the tarmac as she recently claimed? Was she delusional? Was she having a little too much fun on Air Force One just moments before she landed? Was she simply mistaken about the details? She says that she “misspoke” because she was tired and exhausted during that particular press conference. But can one “misspeak” on multiple occasions and the excuse still be legitimate? If you know me that well at all, you probably know that I care very little for the world of politics (although I do take seriously Romans 13), and you can probably tell that this is simply a great lead-in for me to broach the subject at hand. You got me. But there is something serious going on within the landscape and framework of America, exemplified perfectly through Clinton's little charade this week, that can't be overstated.

I find it ironic that the very week this news breaks, I am reading Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias. (What? You don't see the irony? No, I haven't been visiting my pot-rolling neighbor's house. You'll catch the irony in a moment. Visit Tasha's blog here if you are totally in the dark concerning the marijuana comments I just made. After you read it, give us your advice. But that's another issue for another blog post.) Ravi writes concerning the issue of truth and it’s relevance in the public square. He argues that individual ethics and personal and subjective feelings have replaced the notion of absolute truth, a fact easily verified by simply turning on the evening news. In illustrating how far our society has come from embracing the notion of unchanging truth, Ravi revisits the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. (Hence, the irony to which I earlier referred.) He says:

In our moral contradiction, an amazing cultural mood was uncovered. The president’s famous line that “it all depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is,” sent reporters scampering onto the streets with the question of the century: “Do words have a fixed meaning, or may we give them any meaning we choose?”(What could encroach upon itself more than purveyors of words inquiring if words have any meaning, while using words to ask the question?)

To the utter “surprise” of the surveyors, most people seemed to agree that words can sometimes mean different things to different people, assuming, of course, that there was no equivocation in meaning as the question was posed and the answer given.

That prompted the next question: “Is morality an absolute or a private matter?” The overwhelming response came back that morality is a private matter. These two questions became the lead-in on a CNN news report. First, that words only have personal meaning. Second, that morality is a private matter. Ironically, the third item on the news was that the United States had just issued a stern warning to Saddam Hussein that if he did not stop playing word games with the nuclear inspection teams we would start bombing Iraq.

Suddenly, words did matter. We would not let Saddam write his own dictionary. We would not let him live by his own ethic, but we could let each of our citizens determine the meaning of the words they used and insist that our morality is no one else’s business (pp. 116-117).

Words do matter. Truth does exist. Tomorrow I’ll expound on our responsibility as followers of Christ (Truth-tellers) in a world that lives like truth is dead.

Worship with Oprah

Apparently the set of Oprah is a great place to tune in to the heart of God. Check out the lady about 6 sec. in. She's really gettin' her praise on!! Hallelujah! Praise you, Opr... I mean, Jesus!

Ghost Riding and Risk

CNN is playing in the background as I write this. They’re doing a report on ghost riding – when the driver of a moving vehicle purposefully leaves the wheel unmanned while riding on the hood, on the top, or wherever else he can find for some joyful moments. I’m watching as they report about kids who have died and others who have been mangled from experimenting with ghost riding. There’s one guy they’re interviewing who is bragging about how he never does it without being sure he’s in a safe and controlled environment. Brilliant.

Here’s a tip. It’s free. NEVER DO THIS! Find your kicks and thrills somewhere else. You have way too much life to live. And I can think of about ten other ways I would rather die than by being run over by my own moving car. I can’t even imagine trying to explain that to God in heaven.

Risks. People take them all the time. They find thrills in many different ways. My brother always wanted to sky dive. I never wanted to. He hasn’t done it yet, but I’m sure he will one day. My two other brothers did bungee jump over the crashing, raging Nile River. I saw the video and wasn’t impressed. I’m not afraid of heights, but I can think of other things to do for thrills, like reading books.

I think the apostle Paul was a lot like my brothers. He took risks. He was an extreme guy. Risk was something that he understood to be a logical part of the Christian faith. Listen to his description of some of the hardships he faced:

^“Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the depths of the sea. On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the open country, dangers on the sea, and dangers among false brothers; labor and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and lacking clothing” (2 Cor 11:24-27).

Paul suffered. Paul took risks. And he didn’t think it was abnormal. Does that sound contradictory to the way we normally experience Christianity? See, I believe there exists a tendency, at least among Christians in America, to equate faith in Jesus with safety. Most of us in America could never imagine the horrors the Apostle Paul experienced staring death’s door in the face countless times over. We cry and pout when the express lane is backed up into the aisle. We panic and get angry when God doesn’t open up a parking space toward the front. We curse and blame God when He calls a loved one home to heaven, when we should be rejoicing for their homecoming.

Agreed, there is an element of pain and suffering that we, as Christians in America, will likely never face in comparison with believers in closed countries such as China, North Korea, and Sudan. But safety, as we normally think of it, is a complete contradistinction to our faith.

Now, don't press the example of ghost riding too hard. It's not meant to be an analogy. Merely an example. As followers of Christ, I don't think we're called to be reckless. But somewhere along the way we've developed this mentality that Christians should forever live “safe and secure from all alarms.”[i] At the very best, I think this is bad theology. Paul never taught this. Nor did he live this. And here’s where the hypocrisy comes in. In every other area of life, a certain amount of risk is expected and assumed. Here’s what John Piper says about this inconsistency:

Risk is woven into the fabric of our finite lives. We cannot avoid risk even if we want to. Ignorance and uncertainty about tomorrow is our native air. All of our plans for tomorrow’s activities can be shattered by a thousand unknowns whether we stay at home under the covers or ride the freeways . . . The tragic hypocrisy is that the enchantment of security lets us take risks every day for ourselves but paralyzes us from taking risks for others on the Calvary road of love.[ii]

We’ll pull out of our driveway and accept a certain amount of risk as we travel to our destination. We’ll accept a new job opportunity with the understanding that it may or may not lead anywhere. We’ll enroll in college and gladly accept the uncertainties that come with it. But we’ll never share our faith with a lost friend, because of the risk of rejection. We’ll never lay our Bible on our desk for fear of the risk of being intolerant. This is inconsistent. Concerning our faith in Christ, we’ve deceived ourselves into thinking that risk and uncertainty do not coexist with salvation and victorious Christian living.

We accept risk in normal life. We reject risk in Christianity. We’re simply inconsistent.

In what ways have you segregated risk from Christianity in your mind and actions?

---

[i] From the hymn “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” by Elisha A. Hoffman.

[ii] John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2003), p. 81.

Guest Blogger: Jacob Via: Review of The Golden Compass

As the holiday season comes into full swing, statistics are showing that The Golden Compass is sure to be the biggest film of the season, if not the year. It's sad really when I realize how easily this movie has slipped through the cracks within the believing community. Why on earth did we rant and rave over the Da Vinci Code but allow The Golden Compass to sneak into the main stream media without a single fight?

The Golden Compass, as many of you know, is a movie about an evil dictator trying to rule the world, and a little girl destined to stop him. Let's let these quotes from Phillip Pullman, the author of this trilogy, to speak for himself.

"If there is a God and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put to death and rebelled against," Pullman told the Telegraph newspaper in 2002. "As you look back over the history of the Christian church, it's a record of terrible infamy and cruelty and persecution and tyranny. How they have the bloody nerve to go on 'Thought for the Day' and tell us all to be good when, given the slightest chance, they'd be hanging the rest of us and flogging the homosexuals and persecuting the witches."

Pullman calls C.S. Lewis' Narnia Books "propaganda in the service of a life-hating ideology."

As a matter of fact, Phillip Pullman, when asked why he wrote "His Dark Materials" (the trilogy of which The Golden Compass is the first), he answers "I'm trying to undermine the very basis of Christian belief.”

Some have said that the attacks against Christianity in the books are so subtle that you can’t even tell. Well let’s see if that is true:

- In the second book in the trilogy, "The Subtle Knife," one of the main characters, Will, is told he possesses "the one weapon in all the universes" -- a magical knife -- that can "defeat the tyrant." That tyrant, he is told, is "The Authority. God."

-- In "The Amber Spyglass," the third and final book of the series, Will is told -- by two fallen, homosexual angels, no less -- that "The Authority" has many names, "God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty." These were names God "gave himself" even though "he was never the creator." Instead, Will is told, the Authority simply was the first angel formed out of "Dust" and thereafter God proceeded to tell "those who came after him that he had created them."

-- In another scene in The Amber Spyglass, one of the homosexual angels tells Will that churches "tell their believers that they'll live in Heaven, but that's a lie." Instead, believers go to a "prison camp."

-- In one of the final chapters of The Amber Spyglass, an ex-nun named Mary tells Will and Lyra, "The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake, that's all." Mary also tells them that after she learned there was no God, she soon discovered that "physics was more interesting anyway."

One of Pullman's apparent themes is that science and reason trump faith. He says that “it's impossible to have a life of joy, of pleasure, and be a member of the church."

Obviously Pullman’s intentions are to be as direct and adament against Christianity as he can be. It was his sole purpose for writing the books.

So what do we do then believers? I hardly believe that a boycott is of any use, as history shows us. But do we just sit back and let this heresy entertain us? Of course not!

This should be a challenge to us. This is a “Golden” Opportunity (pun intended) for us as believers to spark discussions with non-believers. Use this as an open door for the Gospel.

Don’t be ignorant of the issues. If you want to see the movie, go see it. If you want to read the books, read them. But don’t just sit back and let everything that you live for be attacked and ridiculed. Does God need our help? NO! But our lives are designed to bring him most glory. So give glory to the Lord by taking advantage of this opportunity to share the Gospel and defend your faith.

I’m reading The Golden Compass now. I went and saw the Da Vinci Code. I want to be informed so I can carry a conversation and know that facts.

Do you remember when the Da Vinci Code came out? There were books, magazine, pamphlets, TV shows, radio shows, all debunking Dan Brown and The Code. Did it help? I don’t know. But why have we not seen the same thing with The Golden Compass. Because it’s a children’s fairy tale? That should be even more reason to be cautious.

That’s all I have to say. Please take advantage of this opportunity. Don’t just stand on the sidelines. That’s not where you belong.

Pine Ridge and NBC

I can't get over how incredible this is! My friend, Tadd Grandstaff (from Liberty U days), was interviewed earlier this week by none other than Tom Brokaw and the NBC nightly news. Tadd just recently planted a church in Burlington, NC (Pine Ridge Church) and they are blowing the doors off. NBC chose to highlight Pine Ridge as a means of reporting on the trend of young evangelical church plants sprouting up all over the US. Pretty incredible! Be sure to tune in tomorrow night (Friday, Nov. 30th) to NBC nightly news to catch it (But, according to Tadd, this could change at the last minute). You can read more about the interview and get current updates on Tadd's blog.