God’s Plan in Car Troubles
God has been outdoing us in showing love (as usual) even in our troubles. We know that God is sovereign & in control of all things. But that is more difficult to believe when troubles come!

On August 7th we set out for a two week trip.
My dad had his car serviced and ready for us to take. (Thank you, Dad!) We made it within a quarter mile of our destination in Des Moines before the car started to overheat! What a blessing this didn’t happen on the side of the interstate with our two little boys! We were able to get to the church safely and then without my asking, my friend Marc offered to help us. To make a long story short, God allowed us to spend time with our good friend and his new wife, go to their church the next morning and get the car fixed for free! Without our car problems we would not have experienced any of these gifts of grace.
A few days later we arrived in KY to visit my twin brother, Doug and his family. While
there, our parked car was side-swiped and so we were given an extended stay with Doug and with our good friends, the Vaughans! The Vaughans have special missionary
housing, including a pool and 18 acres of land. It truly was an oasis for tired people! We want to personally thank each of these great people for their love and help. We also thank God for getting us safely back, in His timing... especially when we later found out the tie rod to the front wheel was not even fastened on tight! God truly spared our lives and gave us multiple opportunities to praise Him and love others.

And to think it all came through our troubles.

How Does God Love Us?
God gives us Himself in Christ, as our center, our everything... because He is the center; He is source and the end of everything that is good.

(HT:Z)

Something To Never Forget
God is fond of you...
If he had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
If he had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it.
He sends you flowers
every spring
and a sunrise
every morning.
Whenever you want to talk, he'll listen.
He can live anywhere in the universe and he chose your heart.
Face it, friend. He's crazy about you.
By the way, it may be difficult for you to believe that God knows your name...
but he does.
Written on his hand. Spoken by his mouth. Whispered by his lips.
Your name.
"I have written your name on my hand." Isaiah 49:6
Our hearts are not large enough to contain the blessings that God wants to give.
So try this.
The next time a sunrise steals your breath...
or a meadow of flowers
leaves you speechless...
remain that way.
Say nothing and listen
as heaven whispers,
"Do you like it?
I did it just for you."

Was he obliged to make the birds sing?
And the funny way
that a chickens scurry...
or the majesty of thunder when it rings?
Why give a flower fragrance?
Why give food its taste?
Could it be that he loves to see
that look upon your face?
So promise me
you'll never forget...
that you aren't
an accident
or an incident...
you are a gift
to the world,
a divine work of art,
signed by God.

Quoted from Max Lucado, "God Thinks You're Wonderful" (2003)

This Sounds Pretty Cool

RETINA DISPLAYS LANGUAGES

NEC Corp. has developed eyeglass equipment that interprets foreign languages into mother tongues and projects the translation onto a person's retina.

This device makes it possible to speak with a foreigner naturally in one's mother tongue without an interpreter.

If the accuracy of translation continues to improve, it is expected to be used in various fields and situations, such as international conferences and business negotiations with foreign companies.

The equipment comprises of a miniature script-projector and microphone attached to the glasses, and a tiny computer that can be attached to the waist of the user. When two people with different mother tongues speak to each other, the projector displays the conversation in both languages.

NEC's application of such technology to project images by casting light directly onto the retina is a world first. The retina transforms the optical information into a nerve signal, which is sent to the center of the brain via optic nerves.

Sources say that the device can be used for hours without eye strain as it is not necessary to focus on the script display. Because the script appears on the peripherals of a person's vision, it enables people to look at each other while they speak.

Possible future applications include car navigation systems and video games. It also would enable police to distinguish whether license plates that come into sight are stolen by using a small camera attached to the glasses.
Source: Yomiuri News, 2009-09-25

Is God Short-Tempered?

About 10 times the Bible says that God is, "slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love". And he, "is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9) God wants all to know his grace and mercy and love.

However, sometimes we see God's righteous anger towards sin displayed. I thought this article was a good reflection on understanding that. As a good Parent, God will not forever be patient towards our rebellion towards him but will discipline us for our good and in the end will punish us if we do not change our way.

Here is a nugget:
How do we credibly preach about a God who willingly kills men, women and children? This question challenged me this past week as I preached from Genesis 6 and the story of Noah. It challenged me because I know that two dear friends of mine reject the God of the Bible because of this very passage and others like it. It also challenges me because I wonder the same thing about God. Over the years I’ve grown fatigued with callous doctrinal academics or simplistic Christian cliches. I want a reasonable answer that takes into account our genuine condition as human beings. Here is a snippet of what I offered regarding this question. What do you think? Am I missing the mark? How would you approach this?

Read the rest.

The Battle of Ministry

On Sunday I am planning to speak at my brother Doug's church about the fight of faith for all the nations. We fight in God's power - our weapons being the love of God as expressed through the Scriptures and through continual prayer for God's help. In light of this, I felt that Dr. Pratt's vision of an ideal seminary was a great one!

Can you imagine what kind of soldiers our nation would have if basic training amounted to reading books, listening to lectures, writing papers, and taking exams? We’d have dead soldiers. The first time a bullet wizzed past their heads on the battlefield, they’d panic. The first explosion they saw would send them running. So, what is basic training for the military? Recruits learn the information they need to know, but this is a relatively small part of their preparation. Most of basic training is devoted to supervised battle simulation. Recruits are put through harrowing emotional and physical stress. They crawl under live bullet fire. They practice hand to hand combat.

If I could wave a magic scepter and change seminary today, I’d turn it into a grueling physical and spiritual experience. I’d find ways to reach academic goals more quickly and effectively and then devote most of the curriculum to supervised battle simulation. I’d put students through endless hours of hands-on service to the sick and dying, physically dangerous evangelism, frequent preaching and teaching the Scriptures, and days on end of fasting and prayer. Seminary would either make them or break them.

Do you know what would happen? Very few young men would want to attend. Only those who had been called by God would subject themselves to this kind of seminary. Yet they would be recruits for kingdom service, not mere students. They would be ready for the battle of gospel ministry.

Lies in Your Textbooks?

Do the finches on the Galapagos Islands show evolution in action? How about the famous peppered moths in England? Haeckel's embryos? Read more about these lies in textbooks that continue to try to promote the philosophy of evolution in our public schools.

Watch a video from Jonathan Wells entitled, "Icons of Evolution" here.
(UPDATE: FIXED LINK)

Stop Whining!

Needed this little reminder today from my twin brother, Doug.

The Preeminence of Ministry to Kids

The challenge we have in Japan is summed up nicely by Peter Hitchens, as he writes chiefly about the state of Russia today:

"God is largely absent from the hearts of the people, who know little of him and were not introduced to him at the age when we learn to love ideas as well as people. If we do not learn faith then, it is unlikely we shall ever learn it. If we do learn it then, we are unlikely ever to shake it off, though we are afraid to do so." (p. 192, The Rage Against God)

I have never had to convince a child in Japan that God exists - all of them, without exception, already know there is a God and tell me that that is the case. It is only when they grow older and learn to suppress that truth (rather than nurture it) that the obviousness of God's existence begins to fade. (Romans 1) As Jesus said, "Let the children come unto Me." Let us be like Jesus and not abandon our most vital ministry for another.

See more from an earlier post on this topic.

All Sinners (Including Christians) are Logically Inconsistent

Atheists want to establish a moral law (albeit one that suits their own interests) and yet throw out the idea of a moral law giver. Atheists also want to establish an ordered, rational, information-filled, beautiful universe and yet throw out the idea of an intelligent Designer. Peter Hitchens, brother of the famous atheist Christopher Hitchens, writes in his new book, The Rage Against God - How Atheism Led Me to Faith:

"From time to time I also try to wriggle out of the laws to which I have sworn obedience. I then reject parts of the teaching of my faith, those parts that condemn what I want to think or say or do. I can usually find clever and ingenious arguments for doing this. I invariably do so because it suits me personally. In this, I am doing exactly what the atheist does, only not to the same extent..." (p. 152)

Japan Needs This!
I'm with my friend Z - "This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen."

Store manager tells robber Jesus wouldn't approve
I was reminded by this story that most rebellious kids just need some practical demonstrations of love to help them turn around.

Quote of the Day
"I love Christ, therefore I love missions. Healthy churches are churches that are gripped by the urgency of the task to take the gospel to those who have not heard. Clearly, this must start in our own neighborhoods and towns, but it cannot stop there, nor should it be called “missions.” That should be called “normal Christianity.” The local church has a responsibility to look to areas of the world that are unreached and pray how they might be involved in the task." - Jeff Brewer

Learning New Languages Opens Up Your Worldview

The Wall Street Journal: “New cognitive research suggests that language profoundly influences the way people see the world.” Here are some highlights:

• Russian speakers, who have more words for light and dark blues, are better able to visually discriminate shades of blue.
• In one study, Spanish and Japanese speakers couldn’t remember the agents of accidental events as adeptly as English speakers could. Why? In Spanish and Japanese, the agent of causality is dropped: “The vase broke itself,” rather than “John broke the vase.”

Enjoying Iowa

After 300 years of Persecution

I thought this was an interesting piece:
See how the hidden Catholic Christians have changed in Japan, and what they are today. It made me realize how just a little compromise to avoid persecution in our lives can destroy so much.

Back in Iowa!

My 3 Year-Old Theologian

I was driving in the car today when my 3 year-old son Noah says, "I want to listen to John Piper." I just smiled and relented. I think I've mentioned Piper just two times over the past few months while in the car.

Later today I was looking at a website where there was a picture of Jonathan Edwards. Noah asked, "Who's that?"
"Jonathan Edwards," I said.
Noah replied, "He has funny hair... I want to play with him."
Laughing I asked, "Why do you want to play with him?"
Noah answered, "He gave me funny books about polar bears once."
Okay...
Then he turned and said, "Where is John Piper?"
Funny.

Why Adopt?
More and more of my Christian friends have been adopting children these days. It is an exciting, as well as a profoundly challenging thing. Why? As John Piper explains here, adoption is at the very center of God's plan for the entire universe.

What is Freedom?

I thought this was a good quote - especially in light of Independence Day.

"We're only free when we have no choice."
- Caedmon's Call

To most, this statement seems paradoxical if not crazy.
Although we enjoy a measure of freedom in America and in Japan, we cannot experience complete freedom now, because we are so bound by our harmful desires to do wrong. This only leads to more and more bondage, not freedom. The more we "free ourselves" from morality, the more we find ourselves enslaved to corruption. That's why the only complete freedom is when God changes our hearts and mind to desire only the good and truly beautiful.

Christians have begun to experience some of this now, and thus we have the capacity for greater freedom and joy than others. However, true and complete freedom to do everything we really want, and at the same time have it fully satisfy us, will only come in heaven. In heaven we will be perfectly free because we will have no choice but to do the best and most fulfilling things from our own wills. I am so excited to experience that true and ultimate freedom that we were made for. In that thought... have a TRULY happy Independence Day week!

Mohler's Talk Now Online
After a two week wait, the video is finally out. Here is Mohler's talk, given at the Ligonier National Conference entitled, "Why Does the Universe Look So Old?. I congratulate Dr. Mohler on his boldness and conviction about this hugely important issue. Especially if you don't think this issue is so important, I encourage you to watch and give me your impressions afterwords.

Does the Bible say Dinosaurs Lived with People?
I was always curious when I read verses like Job 40:15-24 and Job 41 if dinosaurs ever lived with man.
Eric Lyons, M.Min. and Bert Thompson, Ph.D write:

Why is it so difficult for people to accept that dinosaurs and humans once lived together? No doubt one of the reasons is due to the fact that for many years, we have been inundated with information—on television, in books, in classrooms, in movies, in magazines, and on all sorts of paraphernalia—suggesting that dinosaurs and humans are separated by 60+ million years of geologic time. Thus, evolutionary scientists (and those who accept their timeline) have constructed a barrier that must be broken down in order to get people to consider the coexistence of dinosaurs and humans.

I encourage you to watch this (albeit dated) surprisingly good and informative video about the topic, and/or read the rest of the above article here.

The cartoon below may give you hint about where I stand on the issue now:

Answers To Difficult Issues - part 2
Here is an excellent primer concerning evidences in fossils for evolution. Watch it here.

I knew it was worth it to study Japanese...

The Invasion
This new song by Trip Lee swept me up into the Holy Spirit! I encourage you to listen to it (the lyrics are below) and then read why he wrote it.

Lyrics:

Creation’s groaning, lost their hope and feel they always closed in
Lots to cope with, on the ropes, wish they was in the open
This broken world is so dim, our souls are searching, groping
For one with hope to hold us close, and set goodness in motion
I remember growing up in Dallas, I thought me and my close kin
Was more than straight, our folks was great, not broke that paper flowed in
Not boasting man, just saying in my brain I didn’t know then
That all went wrong, and it just can’t go right like a broke pen
My mind was blind and cloaked in, but then that foolishness departed
I saw this thing’s an ocean, and we just tryna swim real far but
But can’t nobody float when we ain’t got boats or no fins
We need a hero to go in, cause our solutions don’t win
Education can’t fix it, more dough just leads to more sin
Medicine is temporary, government seems so thin
With all these weighty problems, that ain’t shrinking they just growing
Who’s adequate to save us, how about He knew no sin?

Hook:
Like a G5 yeah you rushed to rescue me
Took a cross in exchange for a throne to save me
You began the work and I know you’ll finish
And make all things right when you come back
Cause you’re my hero, you already saved the day
Cause you’re my hero, and I know you’re coming back for me

Verse 2:
Follow the steps bro, Adam sinned now we all dead so
We gotta sentence on our head like death row, everything is wrecked
All creation is a mess bro,
In the fullness of time, in steps the hero no red cloak, He’s Jesus
No flashing lights, glitz n glam, and no cameras
He came to serve needy folks, and point them to the answer
You see Him healing, feeding folks, and telling them the standard
Our most basic need is to be ransomed by Jesus
It has first place, yeah we separated in the worst ways
Even physically peep how the earth quakes
Separated socially, murder and the worst rapes
Even separated from ourselves, we in the worst state
It’s so major, that’s the reason that we need a Savior
Cause the root of needs is separation from Creator
Jesus came humbly to restore us to our maker
And later He’ll restore all that He made bruh, He’s Jesus

Verse 3:
God is not pleased man, it’s clear that His standards missed
The world is running rampant with, sin it’s an abandonment
Man is feeling stranded, feeling hopeless since his banishment
God is angry at the distortion and the mismanagement
Evil is at work, but don’t be thinking He can’t handle it
He promised He would do away with all of it, dismantle it
He’s put up with this damage in His world, but He’s promised us
That He’ll destroy all His enemies and then He’ll walk with us
New Heaven, new Earth that’s where all His sheep dwell
Cause Jesus succeeded in every part of life that we failed
Died the death we couldn’t die, paid our price with 3 nails
Began the work He promised, in the end we all will be well
Already beat our enemies and when His Kingdom’s realized
All those who oppose Him will see Jesus with some real eyes
Deliverance is offered us, the hero He is urging us
Salvation is exclusive to His people who have turned to trust

Tell us a little bit about this song and why you wrote it.

Well, this song is actually a response to another song entitled, “Invade.” Invade is a song that laments about the brokenness of our world and cries out for someone to save the day. It relates with the cry in all of our hearts for things to be better, and asks the question, “Who will save us?” And that particular song ends without any solution to the problem. I’ve found that people are always looking for someone or something new who can save the day, but they are always let down, because fallen solutions can not fix fallen problems. They just make a bigger mess. “The Invasion” points to the truth that the Hero already came, He already saved the day, and He is returning to make all things new.

I wrote this song because most people don’t associate the brokenness in our world with our separation from God. I wanted people to know that our world is fallen, wicked, and chaotic and all of this chaos comes from our separation from God. But that God sent His Son, the Hero, to reconcile us to Himself. And along with that reconciliation we get to benefit from His glorious work on the cross. We not only get to be reconciled to God in this life, but we look forward to an eternity with God. I wanted people to know that God is going to finally destroy His enemies and make all things new. My prayer is that it really connects with people and points to Jesus as the Hero.

Read the whole interview here with my friend, Justin Taylor.

Is Being Missional Enough?

John Piper writes:

Suppose there were two luxury liners on the sea, and both began to sink at the same time, with huge numbers of people on board who did not know how to swim. And suppose you were in charge of a team of ten rescuers in two large boats.

You arrive on the scene of the first sinking ship and find yourself surrounded by hundreds of screaming people, some going down before your eyes, some fighting over scraps of debris, others ready to jump into the water from the sinking ship. Several hundred yards farther away the very same thing is happening to the people on the other ship.

Your heart breaks for the dying people. You long to save as many as you can, so you cry out to your two crews to give every ounce of energy to pull as many as possible from the water. Spare no pain! Spare no effort!

There are five rescuers in both boats and they are working with all their might. They are saving many. Then someone cries out from the other ship, “Come help us!" What would love do?

I cannot think of any reason that love would leave its labor and go, if, in fact, it is fully engaged saving people right where it is. Love puts no higher value on distant souls than on nearer souls.

In fact, love might well reason that in the time it would take to row across the several hundred yards, a net loss of total souls saved would result.

It might also reason that the energy of the rescuers would be depleted; which would possibly result in a smaller number of individuals being saved.

Not only that, it may be that from experience you know that the people on that other boat were probably all drunk at this time in the evening and would be less likely to respond to your saving efforts.

So love, by itself, may very well refuse to leave its present rescue operation. It may stay at its present work in order to save as many individuals as possible.

The point of the illustration (as artificial and imperfect as it is, since the manpower of the church is NOT fully engaged!) is simply to suggest that love alone (from our limited human perspective, which usually tends to be quite man-centered), may not conceive the missionary task the way God does.

God may have in mind that the goal of the rescue operation should be a gathering of saved sinners from every people in the world (from both luxury liners), even if some of the successful rescuers must leave a fruitful reached (or semi-reached) people in order to labor in a (possibly less fruitful) unreached people.

The conclusion I have come to through the biblical investigation recorded in this paper is that some agency or group in every church and denomination should see as its unique and primary goal

• NOT merely to win as many souls or plant as many obedient churches as possible cross-culturally,
• BUT to win souls and plant obedient churches in as many unreached peoples as possible.

Read the whole paper entitled: Unreached Peoples, the Unique and Primary Goal of Missions

12 Arguments Evolutionists Should Avoid

AIG: For years, we’ve maintained a list of arguments creationists should avoid. There are enough good arguments for biblical accuracy and a young earth that dubious claims can safely be discarded. Now we want to address a similar topic: arguments evolutionists should avoid. These worn-out tropes have not only passed their expiration date, but they never should have been made to begin with.

1. Evolution is a fact.
2. Only the uneducated reject evolution
3. Overwhelming evidence in all fields of science supports evolution
4. Doubting evolution is like doubting gravity
5. Doubting evolution is like believing the earth is flat
6. It’s here, so it must have evolved
7. Natural selection is evolution
8. Common design means common ancestry
9. Sedimentary layers show millions of years of geological activity
10. Mutations drive evolution
11. The Scopes trial
12. Science vs. Religion

See how these are fleshed out.

Surprisingly Good Stuff

I've been really enjoying the live streaming coming from the Ligonier National Conference. I encourage you to tune in to the remaining messages. Over the years I have noticed that many conferences are just repetitions of truths we already know. While this is important for review and growth in the fundamentals, it is refreshing to see these speakers attack issues that many Christians wonder about and either never ask or or never find a good answer to.

The Radical Difference between Atheism & Theism

Does human life have more value than animal life or plant life? If you think so, why? I encourage you to listen to R.C. Sproul speak about the radical difference between atheism and theism. His message is called, "Only Two Worldviews".

Also, watch the live webcast of Ligonier's National Conference here on June 17.

The Cannon of the New Testament: Why Can't We Add on to It?

One reason the Bible is so important for Christians is because it is our sole means of clearly knowing God, including his plans and ways. In this book alone (with over 40 authors from all walks of life and written over thousands of years), God speaks clearly and definitively into actual lives and historical events until he fulfills all prophecy through his Son, Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can and has fulfilled the hopes of all the other Scriptures, of all the other prophets, and of all the previous types in Scripture. To the true student of the Bible, it is utter amazing.

But how do we know Scripture/ authoritative revelation ended with the apostles? Is there any reason to reject what Muhammad said or what Joseph Smith said, for example? How about if a Christian suddenly "heard a voice from God". Should it become Scripture? Here are some clues that I laid out recently for a couple friends:

Hi Guys,

I was thinking more about our discussion on how Jesus has wrapped up/fulfilled Scripture. (Name) pointed out the verse at the end of the book of Revelation (Rev. 22:18), which I do think carries great weight in the discussion. Though this verse is mainly discussing the actual book of Revelation, it seems, especially considering the contents of the book, that it should be a verse that applies to all revelation in the future. The other main verse I thought was Hebrews 1:1-2.

Hebrews 1:1: Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
Hebrews 1:2: but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

The last days of authoritative prophecy/ Scripture is wrapped up by what Jesus Christ and his chosen apostles said and did - Those who were with Jesus personally and were called to give His message to the world (Matt. 28:18-20) and promised that they would recall what was said, by the Holy Spirit (John 14:26). Paul (as he mentioned himself) was one "abnormally born", having received a revelation personally from Jesus after he had already returned to heaven. We are not to trust Joseph Smith or any other one-person revelation (ie. Muhammad) because they do not fit in with Jesus being the summation of all of Scripture, and because they do not bear the weight of historical scrutiny. They are individuals who rely completely on their own private revelation. Paul, on the other hand, met with the other disciples and they gave him "the right hand of fellowship" (Gal. 2:9). If anyone doubted his revelations, there were self-checks built in by the writings and authority of the other apostles.

Jesus validates the entire O.T. as being the Word of God, (Mt. 23:35 & Luke 24:44). We have clear testimony throughout Scripture and through general acceptance to know what Scripture is and what it contains. (Ex. Paul reaffirms Peter and Peter reaffirms Paul's writing as "Scripture" -2 Peter 3:16) Anything outside of this becomes a heresy.

God wants us to have confidence in his Word, the Bible.