Colorado Layman

A Pean To Kindle

2011-06-15T19:10:00.001-06:00

No doubt, gentle reader, you have noticed a lackadaisical attitude towards frequent posting hereabouts. Guilty as charged. Since its inception, I've mostly blogged about things I encountered while cruising about the Internet. But lately, I've slacked considerably from daily peripatetic perusing of the pandemic punditry because I've found a new love, the Amazon Kindle.

Now I probably shouldn't tell you this for fear you sill stop reading my blog, or any blog. Blog reading, while entertaining, is detrimental to the ability to think. Small tidbits of unconnected information consumed as if from a smörgåsbord of data leads to shallow short attention span thinking. Reading long form material lends itself to prolonged concentration and logical progression on the way to a well reasoned conclusion. In other words, to think a thought until it is well thunk takes concentration. Flitting from blog to blog lends itself to distraction, the continual diversion of thought. Reading a book, on the other hand, lends itself to instruction and fruitful cogitation.

This is not an original idea from me. See, for instance, T. David Gordon's book "Why Johnny Can't Preach".

Mother's vision is afflicted by macrodegeneration. Part of the retina is detached, dried out, and dead. The center, the focus, of her vision is a big black spot. She still has peripheral vision, but dead ahead is blank. In order to read, she has to look off to the side and try to spell out the words. Very tiring. She also suffers the more usual age induced vision impairment requiring larger and larger fonts. We progressed through the super giant print Bible and are now living beyond even that threshold. So, for Christmas, she got a Kindle.

Oh joy! The Kindle allows 8 levels of font enlargement. More than that, the Kindle will read to her when her eyes get so tired the begin tearing and blurring. With a Kindle, she can read again!

We got her a 30" LCD monitor for her computer. With the aid of the magnifier program native to Windows, she can read most anything on that screen. In fact, we can set in the next room and read over her shoulder :) But the backlit screen is itself an aggravation to her vision and tires her eyes. But, oh wonder!, the e-ink technology of the Kindle screen is like reading black print on white paper. Much easier on the eyes. And it is eminently readable even in direct sunlight.

I have also become enchanted with the lightweight device. I once took an Evelyn Woods Reading Dynamics course and became a speed reader. I once could read a couple thousand words per minute with over 90% comprehension. Alas, the key to speed reading is rapidly shifting your focus to one or two spots per page, and my eyes no longer focus fast enough. When my gaze shifts, is take an appreciable instant for the focus to sharpen. I now read books at the rate of about 300 words per minute. Or much slower for technical matter or things, like the Bible, that require serious mental engagement. But, with the Kindle, I can adjust the font size and the number of words per line such that I can focus on one spot in the middle of the screen and, pressing the side bar to advance the pages, move the words instead of my eyes. Speed reading is back! Although I have lost some skill through long neglect.

I propose to fill up some of the blanks in my blog posting routine by regaling you with reports of what we are reading. If you would like to share the experience, the rest of this post will be given over to information for new Kindle owners. Much of this I recently compiled for an email to a friend who recently acquired a Kindle.

I am indebted to Tim Challies recent post, "Building an eBook Library on the Cheap" and the more recent Nathan Bingham post, "Amazon Kindle Tips, Tricks, and Resources".

First, a free program which will convert text and html, etc, to mobi format suitable for reading on Kindle.

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/DownloadCreator.asp

Second, some web sites loaded with free and inexpensive ebooks...

Christian Kindle Books on a Budget http://www.inspiredreads.com/
Project Gutenberg, US: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page or http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/
Project Gutenberg Australia: http://gutenberg.net.au/ (lots of free books in text format which you can buy in Kindle format for $4 or use the utility above to convert into .mobi format for your own use)
Puritan Library: http://puritanlibrary.com
Kindle Review: http://ireaderreview.com/
Books on the Knob: http://blog.booksontheknob.org/
Christian Classic Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/
Bring The Books: http://www.bringthebooks.org/search/label/Free%20Kindle%20Book
Cheap Nonfiction eBooks: http://www.cheapnonfiction.com/

Third, my top recommendation for Christian bibliophiles who get a Kindle..

Christian Books Collection ($7.99): http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Collection-Theologica-Commentary-ebook/dp/B004L9LBNG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1307841284&sr=1-2
This contains dozens of classic books including Calvin's Institutes (the very good Beveridge translation), 4 selections from Luther, Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress", Dante's "Divine Comedy", Thomas Acquinas, John Milton, Lew Wallace's "Ben-Hur", etc etc. See the listing for an idea. A huge bargain. Some of these book will appear individually in the list below.

Fourth, Free ($0.00) from Amazon. Follow link for book description.

"Charles Hodge's "What Is Darwinism?": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRM02
Thomas Aquinas "On Prayer And The Contemplative Life": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKS6LQ
Thornton Burgess "Old Mother West Wind", first in the children's book series: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRUWW
Sallust, "Conspiracy of Catelline", ancient Roman history by an ancient Roman historian, but a very readable translation: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JQUXMA
Andrew Murray, "A Plea For More Prayer": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRXJC
Andrew Murray, "The Master's Indwelling": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKR6P8
Archibald Sayce, "Ancient Israel and the Surrounding Nations": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKTN1S A surprisingly informative history and geography which includes some economic and cultural history of the Old Testament world. I recommend it.
Chesterton, "Orthodoxy": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JMLDCS
Thomas Paine, "Common Sense": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRQEY
John Bunyan, "Pilgrim's Progress": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKSZOE/ref=yml_dp
Arthur Conan Doyle, "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JQU1VS/ref=yml_dp

Fifth, $0.99 (ninety-nine cents) from Amazon...

Westminster Shorter Catechism with Proof Texts: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002H9XN06
Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy In America, vols 1 and 2": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00307S1MY HIGHLY recommended
McGarvey, "FourFold Gospel or a Harmony of the Four Gospels": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033PRXK4recommended
The Didache: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00315684S
Suetonius, "The Lives of the Twelve Ceasers": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L9LPTG
The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books plus short stories: http://www.amazon.com/Classic-American-Literature-improved-ebook/dp/B002FQJQ20/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308185349&sr=1-1-spell
Augustine, "On Grace and Free Will": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M0N9LW

Sixth, bargains I recommend from Amazon...

$1.99 Works of Jonathan Edwards, vols 1 and 2, plus Religious Affections and others, mobile reference Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Religious-Affections-Collected-ebook/dp/B004L9L15E/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307843469&sr=1-1-fkmr1
$1.99 Athanasius, "On the Incarnation": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MAP6CS
$2.18 The Works of Richard Baxter: http://www.amazon.com/Unconverted-Slighting-Everlasting-Collected-ebook/dp/B004L642VC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1308184934&sr=1-2
$4.79 Complete Works of Josephus Flavius including "War of the Jews" and "Antiquities": http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Josephus-Flavius-ebook/dp/B004L9LRWG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1308185072&sr=1-1

Well, that is certainly enough to get anyone started. I don't know what a person might spend to accumulate such a library as this in hard bound or paperback books, but I reckon the savings will make a serious dent in the $139 price of a Kindle.

A note of caution. Prices change often at Amazon. For instance, Crossway's ESV Bible was listed for $0.00 for a while. Now that page says it is not available in the United States for that price. Go for it you folks in other countries. Keep your eye out for bargains and promotions. Sometimes publishers will put a special promotional price on new releases.

BRAVO! John MacArthur

2011-06-15T11:09:00.000-06:00

On June 5, 2011, John MacArthur preached the final sermon on his journey to preach the entire New Testament verse by verse. It was a brilliant apologetic defense of the integrity of the cannon of Scripture handed down from the earliest days of Christianity based on the disputed closing verses of the gospel of Mark.

I know of no other 20th century pastor who has managed the same. It is an amazing demonstration of faithful expository preaching.

You can listen to that sermon, "The Fitting End To Mark's Gospel", at the Grace To You website.

Take a few minutes to listen. And ponder the forty years of faithful preaching behind it. Did I mention the word "faithful"? Thank You God for John MacArthur. And take that you purpose drive scripture twisting pretend wannabes!

You may from time to time read in this blog that I disagree with Pastor MacArthur over something like premillenial end times, or criticize the idea of multi-thousand "member" mega-churches. But nothing can still my admiration for Mr. John MacArthur as a model of faithful preaching for our generation.

Genesis 3 World

2011-06-08T03:29:00.003-06:00

In a fallen world, insane goings on are "normal". The following insanities serve to prove the point.

INANITIES FROM NOW UNTIL ELECTION 2012

The media serve up circuses for the voting public. There are two teams, the red team and the blue team, and from now until the election we will get a steady diet horse race statistics and fan boy comments from the sidelines. It is so easy to poke a camera in someone's face, ask a provocative question, and display the results at 10 PM.

The red team blue team divide is the most important concern of the American people for the next year according to our news media. As a meme, it works. It is undeniably risible. Take this interview with newly appointed Democratic National Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Hat tip to PowerLine

When she says Republicans are just trying to limit access to the polls to people who primarily vote Democrat, I say "Yeah!" Illegal aliens, convicted felons, people who get bussed from poll to poll and vote multiple times. When she says it unlikely you will ever see any actual voter fraud, that it is all made up, I think of Al Franken in Minnesota, or the Washington state governor's race where the recounts continued until King county finally came up with enough votes to throw the election to the Democrat. It is a very real problem. Think Acorn. It makes my blood boil. It is risible.

It is part of the circus to keep your attention from considering real problems.

MEXICO

What if, instead of calling certain folks "illegal aliens", we were to call them "refugees from war violence"? Just 570 miles south of here lies a region where more than 40,000 civilians have been killed since 2006. That makes it a more violent region than Afghanistan or Iraq. Why wouldn't refugees flee across the border? If they were called "refugees" instead of "illegal aliens" don't you think attitudes towards them would change? Wouldn't we be much more concerned about that border?

Here is a challenge for you philosopher-kings on the way to the voting booth in 2012. Read this story from the London Daily Mail without letting your stomach turn. Click through. It is way to graphically violent for me put here.

Now, where should our attention be? On the red team blue team divide? Or the violence just one day's drive south that is driving millions of refugees to seek shelter in this country?

SHOOT A CAMEL, SAVE THE WORLD

Just how inane is worldly insanity? How about shooting camel's in Australia to save the planet? (The Financial Times requires registration. You may have to get there through a Google link)

You see, certain gasses cause "global warming". We can encougage the reduction of these gasses through regulation. If you have a coal fired power plant spewing carbon into the air, you can purchase credits from someone else who has earned them by reducing the production of greenhouse gasses elsewhere. Camels produce methane. So shoot a camel, save one ton of methane production a year, and sell the credit to the power plant. Viola! A new industry is born!

Insane.

Camping's Error

2011-06-07T19:00:00.000-06:00

It has been revealed how Harold Camping's error occurred. He forgor a basic rule of Biblical numerology...

six hates seven because seven ate nine.

OK. OK.

That was weak. One more try...

A Sadducee is called Sadducee because they don't believe in resurrection. And that makes them sad, you see.

OK. I'll be quiet now.

A Call To Anguish

2011-05-02T22:38:00.001-06:00

This week our church Bible reading schedule puts us in the Book of Romans, chapters one through four. I love it! As I get out my Bible and open it to begin reading, I am already muttering, "Deep! Deep!"

Consider with me Romans 3:21-26...

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, who God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26 ESV

Consider, if you will, a District Court judge in Denver who, after hearing a case and determining the defendant is indeed guilty of the rape and murder he is accused of, turns to that defendant and tells him, "It is my gift to you to pass over this crime and turn you free. Go in peace, my son."

Riot! Impeach him!

Isn't that what God did with his favorite David who seduced Bathsheba into adultery and ordered the murder of her husband?

Through his grace, God's justice is called into question. To show that God's grace is not inimical to God's righteousness, Jesus had to pay the penalty for those sins, our sins, with his blood. God's righteousness is rescued by by the cost of the sacrifice, the incomparable blood price of divinity. God's wrath against sin is propitiated by the obedience of his Son. None can say that God's justice is lax when we look in horror on the penalty that was paid. When we say we are saved by the grace of God, it is well to remember that that grace is no small thing. It is not, "Excuse me, By your leave," polite social grace. It is not going to the store for a gift under $50 party grace. It is divine blood bought grace.

With his blood, Jesus went to the slave market and bought you and me and innumerable other folks from the slave broker, sin, called them his church, and made them his bride. The bride of Christ was infinitely costly, infinitely precious.

But these days there are parts of the bride of Christ who are whoring with the culture. Look back at Romans 2:17 and following...

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, and instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth - you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you not rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor Bod by breaking the law. For, as it is written, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." - Romans 2:17-24

Sound like anybody you can think of? Think about it. Is not Rob Bell, in his own mind, the instructor of the foolish. Is not Rick Warren, in his own mind, a guide to the blind? Have you ever heard an evangelical pastor who, preaching against adultery, committed adultery? What about the idols, the pastors who preach prosperity, or patriotism, or "radical" good works (sell all you have and scale back you life so that you can give more away). What about the made up idol who will save your marriage and get you a bigger house, newer car, and parking place at the door? Forget about heaven/hell, you can have it all now! Do you get angry when a pastor preaches a diet plan instead of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the blood of Christ alone?

Churches should be proclaiming the gospel. The pastor should stand in the pulpit and shout, "Hear ye! Hear ye! This is what the Lord and King has said in His Word! Jesus Saves! Can I get an amen? Say after me, Jesus saves! Louder. JESUS SAVES!"

Does it make you angry? Are you jealous for the Word? Are you grieved that your friends, relatives, and neighbors attend those kinds of churches and get inoculated so that they do not understand the pure word of salvation when you try to share it with them?

David Wilkerson, founder of Times Square church in New York city, recently died. You may remember him as the author of "The Cross and the Switchblade", a best seller when I was a young man. Mr Wilkerson had this to say about the passion aroused by the willful harlotry of the American church. (Click through if you do not hear this 7 minute audio/video.)

(Hat tip to The Bottom Line)

Looking For A Good Easter Sermon

2011-04-29T14:13:00.000-06:00

The Easter Sunday morning service should be an opportunity for a church to put it's best foot forward. In our culture, it is the best attended Sunday of the year, the time when C and E Christians show up (Christmas and Easter). It is, therefore, the Sunday to see what any particular church is presenting. Faithful gospel teaching? Or Christian flavored commentary and counseling? Searching amidst the sermon audio posted by their web sites by the various churches of Denver for the Word of God rightly divided and proclaimed is an exercise in frustration.

John Calvin writes in his Institutes, book I, chapter 2, "...it is one thing to perceive that God our Maker supports us by His power, rules us by His providence, fosters us by His goodness, and visits us with all kinds of blessings, and another thing to embrace His grace of reconciliation offered to us in Christ."

To apply it to modern sermonizing, it is an easy thing to find a church proclaiming God as Creator who providentially rules over us because He is good and kind and wants to shower us with blessings. It is very difficult to find a church that proclaims the excellencies and perfection of God and our helplessness as sinners before His throne of Justice.

Are we basically good people who make mistakes? If we are basically good, then it was cruel and unnecessary for Christ to die on the cross! Waking up in the dark of morning and putting on mismatched socks is a mistake. Misreading the street signs at an intersection and turning the wrong way against the flow of traffic onto a one way street is a mistake. One is inconsequential, the other potentially fatal. But neither is a sin. Proclaiming from the pulpit that God will forgive our mistakes is making light of the cross. Hear lead pastor Jim Burgen of Flatirons church proclaiming that Jesus is promising you a better life: We are in the middle of our life journey, overwhelmed and a little frustrated by family, mariage, relationships, and finances. But not to worry, all things are still possible if you hang onto certain truths and values. And quit making "mistakes".

Mistakes? Isn't that heresy? Mistakes are embarrassing; sins are damnable. The Holy Spirit brings us to salvation by convicting us of sin and righteousness; our sin in the face of a holy God; a righteousness which is only possible through a risen Savior. Folks who go to such a church looking for "a better life" are not looking for the Christ of Scripture. Christ wasn't crucified and resurrected so that we can continue sinning "better" by making fewer mistakes.

Scripture is the authoritative revelation of God so it is good to hear pastor Barry Palser of Calvary Temple state his reliance on Scipture as the Word of God. But then he quotes The Message. And takes the quote out of context. When you were a child, did you ever play that child's game where the first child in a circle is given a statement to whisper to the next child in the circle? Each child in turn whispers to the next child. The last child in line then stands up and announces what was whispered in his ear and that is compared with the original message. Such is The Message, a paraphrase, not a translation, of the Bible. A pastor who uses The Message is being careless with the Word of God.

Most especially a pastor who quotes Jeremiah 29 as if it were meant to apply to you and me is being careless. Jeremiah is writing a letter to the exiles recenlty taken captive to Babylon and telling them God has not abandoned them, that God will bring them back from captivity.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

This is not a promise to believers of our generation that God will give them "the good life". It is a promise to a specific group of people that was fulfilled and is now expired.

If scripture is our only sure revelation from God, can we trust a pastor who sprinkles his philosophical musing with a few examples from the Bible? Not as "proof texts" but merely saying, "See, here is an example from this verse that agrees with what I have just told you." Such is the Easter sermon from Russ McKendry at L2 Church in Denver. This is a church with a reputation of being "reformed" and the imprimatur of Acts29, but this sermon is merely a philosophical exercise. As such, can it be distinguished as any more worthy than the philosophical musings of the Unitarian Universalists at First Unitarian Church? Aside, that is, from the fact that Pastor McKendry's audience doesn't giggle at the Bible references. In fairness, Pastor McKendry mentions in passing that at other times he practices exposition, so this may not be a fair example of what goes on there. But, since he is reasoning from his own intellect and not from the Bible, I am left wondering just what he means when he tells the audience they need to repent if their life doesn't shine.

There are so many examples of getting it wrong, preaching another gospel, and missing the point. What would it be like to hear a pastor preach about sin (not mistakes) in a manner meant to convict and bring a person about to salvation? Hear Pastor Jarrett's Easter sermon.

Redrocks Sunrise Service Spoiled

2011-04-23T07:53:00.000-06:00

Over the years I have attended the Easter morning sunrise service at Red Rocks amphitheater three times. This year will not be one of those times. This year one of Denver's rising ecclesiastical stars will be officiating. Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber, noted "gay inclusive" pastor at House for All Sinners and Saints, which she founded while in seminary at Iliff School of Theology, is invited to sermonize. Ms. Bolz-Weber is a rising star of the Emerging church, promoted by folks like Tony Jones and Doug Pagitt.

The Red Rocks Easter service has been popular among evangelical youth. I wonder how many of them are aware that this year's service will be un-Christian?

As Pastor Bolz-Weber has been quoted praying before, "Dear God, help me not f*ck this up. That’d be great. Thanks" (source)

Edgy! Inspiring!

Damnable!

Starting To Like Rap

2011-04-22T12:55:00.000-06:00

Found today on Wretched Radio...

Just Sayin'

2011-04-22T11:11:00.001-06:00

A tip of the hat to Townhall.

Visit http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/ for a daily recap of the best political cartoons.

Tim Challies has a list of useful shopping tips in his post, Resisting Consumeristic Temptations. Highly recommended reading.

Remarks About Rob Bell

2011-04-15T09:31:00.001-06:00

I spent much time this week following the Gospel Coalition Conference in Chicago. The plenary sessions and some panels were broadcast live on the Internet. The audio is still available here, although I expect the web page will be revised when the video is published. The speakers each demonstrated the art of preaching Christ from the Old Testament. The most interesting part is comparing the various preaching styles.

On the last day of the conference, they added an address by Don Carson and a panel discussion prompted by the controversy over Rob Bell's new book and it's selection as a topic for Time magazine's Easter week cover. The audio is available here.

Albert Mohler also comments on the Time cover on his blog.

You may also want to follow John MacArthur on his blog as he continues a series of posts challenging Rob Bell's theology.

Hypnogogic Economics

2011-04-15T06:50:00.005-06:00

The President's speech was really annoying. Not just surreal (dreamlike, not quite real), but hypnogogic (meant to put us to sleep). "There! there! children, don't worry about it. Let us adults handle it." It was so far from addressing the nation's problems that I wonder if the President knows anything at all about economics. Perhaps he is a political prodigy -- completely ignorant of anything else.

Money has two functions but no intrinsic value. It is a medium of exchange and a store of value. The folks in Washington are bent on destroying the store of value.

The best next-day review of the speech I read was on Power Line. If you missed the speech, take a moment to read John Hinderaker's post. The speech was full of soothing phrases, soporific promises, no specifics.

Did you catch the line about "borrowing from China?" Ha ha ha. The U.S. Treasury is borrowing $1.6 Trillion a year, or about $4.4 Billion every day. There is only so much investment capital in the world. If you take all of it and divide it up between possible investments (property, stocks, commodities, bonds) and look at just the part available for U.S. bonds, the Treasury is trying to borrow more money than the world is willing to invest. Where does the difference come from? The Federal Reserve prints it. Our current debt is about 40% financed by simply printing dollars, laundering them through Goldman Sachs, and propping up the bond auctions at the Treasury. It is called "quantitative easing".

Take a moment for a thought experiment. Take a dollar bill out of your pocket. Now photocopy it a dozen times. Compare the copies with the original. Which can you take to the store and purchase of collar's worth of goods with? If you and I take the photocopies to the store, we are criminals. But what if the government does the same thing using intaglio presses? Its been tried before...

(Look up "Weimar Republic" if the wheelbarrow full of money doesn't mean anything to you.)

The truth is that the world is losing confidence in U.S. dollars as a store of value. China is busily seeking an alternative currency for world trade and currency reserves. Chine would like to see the renminbi installed as an alternative to dollars in world trade. Brazli, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are a few years into forming an alternative to dollar denominated global financial institutions. It is foolish to pretend that the world will go on buying U.S. debt forever.

In the current environment, it is also foolish for Christians to expect to find future security in savings or retirement accounts. We are facing a period of super inflation which will devastate savings and create economic havoc. Even now, if official inflation statistics were calculated the same way they were under Presidents Carter and Reagan, the rate would be about 10%. Volatile stuff like food, gas, heating oil... things that you and I buy every day, have been removed from the calculation. Things like ipads have been substituted.

(Image from Plan B Economics)

The purpose, of course, is to avoid raising payments to pensioners, Social Security recipients, and wages tied to the CPI. And to hide the foolishness of those in government responsible for managing economic affairs. No more "misery index" a la Jimmy Carter.

I mentioned above that "money has no intrinsic value." The debt created fiat money we use in modern times (since the eighteenth century) is different in kind from the money used in the Bible. As a friend, I urge you to take an hour to view the following series of eight videos and learn where money comes from. If you understand what debt money is, you will see the rationale of "quantitative easing". You will also be scared to death of thinking you can store up value by saving money or trying to pass it on to your kids.

(Follow this link if vidseos 2 through 8 don't follow the embed.)

Or the somewhat shorter preceding series (only five)...

(Follow this link for next in series)

These videos have an ideological point of view, but they are necessary education for anyone who thinks money is worth something in itself.

Mark's Gospel On Stage

2011-04-09T23:55:00.000-06:00

Do you have trouble memorizing scripture? Could you memorize a whole gospel at once?

This month our church is reading the Gospel of Mark. Tim Challies states in his recently released, "The Next Story", that folks like me born before 1980 are "digital immigrants" likely to prefer reading the text. But young folks born after 1980 are "digital natives" more attuned to digital media than books.

For you digital natives, there is now "Mark's Gospel On Line", a stage production performed by Max McLean. Max McLean is the narrator for the Listener's Bible series. A tip of the hat to Justin Taylor's blog where it is presented as 16 videos, one for each chapter. Or, you can go to You Tube's MarksGospelOnStage Channel. (Yes, it is all run together like that :)

It takes about an hour and twenty minutes to watch the whole thing.

A Musical Interlude

2011-04-09T01:06:00.000-06:00

I came across the site MacJams by clicking a link on Fighting For The Faith. This is the song being recommended. (Worth listening to!)

Get Out Of The Pulpit by Roxylee

No doubt you can think of a church which should adopt it. (If it applies to your church, come join us instead!)

This is a great site to while away the hours just clicking around. It is pretty well organized. I've spent way many minutes clicking and clicking :)

Consider, if you will, this one...

I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger

Or this instrumental...

Amazing Grace (Multi-Collab)

Most songs seem to have a Creative Commons License (like this blog), meaning you can download them, share them, but not profit from them.

Enjoy.

Reading Mark 1 Through 4

2011-04-07T13:30:00.000-06:00

We have a Bible reading program at Sovereign Grace Bible Church. We take the New Testament 4 chapters at a time each week to be read over again each day. Together with one chapter of Proverbs according to the date such that, for instance, Proverbs chapter 9 will be read on April 9. Proverbs' 31 chapters will be covered in a typical month. The weekly reading is posted on the church calendar. I notice that the responsible authority has cleverly arranged for us to be reading Mark's account of the cross and resurrection the week of Easter.

Today I have been meditating on the parable of the lamp, Mark 4:21, which follows the parable and explanation of the sower and the four types of soil.

He also said to them, "A lamp isn't brought to be put under a basket or a bed, is it? Isn't it to be placed on a lampstand? For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, and nothing concealed except to be brought to light. If anyone hears, he had better listen!" And He said to them, "Take care what you hear. The measure measure you use will be the measure you receive, and more will be added to you. For whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."
--Mark 4:21-25 NET

Jesus here is the lamp bringing the light which, at this point in His ministry, is, "Repent! For the Kingdom of God is at hand!" This parable, following as it does the explanation of the four soils, is advice to His disciples to take care HOW they listen. To hear and meditate and store it up. In this way Jesus' words will bear increasing fruit. But those who listen casually, as if to entertainment, will find that even what they heard and as much as they understood will be forgotten and lost.

It is not just the words and comprehension. The "more that will be added" is the Kingdom of God. Salvation and the hereafter. That which will be taken away is eternal life.

So.

Aren't you glad that you are following the practice of daily reading and meditation, increasing the measure you are using?

There is another way we can "take care" what we hear. That is to pay attention to the pastor in the pulpit on Sunday. Make notes. Review them, even discuss them later. I cannot comment fairly about other people's practice in this regard since I am the fellow who listens to each sermon a second and third time to prepare the audio file to be posted on the Internet each week. My practice in this regard clearly goes beyond the norm to be expected of anyone else. Nevertheless, I suspect there are ears in the congregation each Sunday from whom all memory of the sermon has been "taken away" by Tuesday.

Taking care also means being Berean. We are responsible to compare what we hear to Scripture and to reject false teaching. We are fortunate in the shepherd leading Sovereign Grace. Pastor Scott Jarrett is a man who spends many hours in study and prayer preparing his sermons. But, if you are like me, you may hear other voices on the Internet or in your reading who do not deserve credulity. Part of the more that will be added to the careful listener is discernment.

If you are one whose measure in taking care has been rewarded with discernment, I hope that you will share.

Scary Children

2011-04-07T04:52:00.001-06:00

I came across this one the home page for Wretched Radio yesterday. (click through if you don't see video)

.

I was in the Army at the time of one of the Arab Israeli Wars. We were in Europe with orders to deploy to Turkey when Israel came out on top and a cease fire erupted. Since then I have followed the hostilities with some interest. The "Palestinians", especially in Hamas controlled areas, teach their children to hate and prepare them to kill.

We live in a fallen world.

Scary thought...

Suppose these are the children of the Amelekites? Can there ever be peace?

Always Confident, Sometimes Right

2011-04-06T03:12:00.001-06:00

It is clear I need to take this in hand or abandon it. Many folks in the last few months have inquired about this blog and my intentions for it. In fact, the number of folks who have kindly mentioned it comes to just over 120% of the number I had suspected were sometimes readers.

Thank you all for your continued interest.

Yes, I will continue. But it cannot have the same priority on my to do list that resulted in daily posting. Yet obviously it needs to be higher than never posting. I'll work that out.

I recall reading the phrase, "Always Confident, Sometimes Right" on the 9Marks blog about two weeks ago. The writer was referring to a character quality of lawyers, especially courtroom lawyers. I think it applies to bloggers also. There is that moment when you are ready to click the "publish" button when you realize your reader will take whatever you wrote as obdurate when you are no more sure of it than mush. That is the part I find most difficult about blogging. Sometimes I am prepared to go to the mat for the certainty or what I have stated. Other time, I put it forth with utmost hesitation, yet written provocatively. There is no visual clue to the reader.

You are at the mercy of my catholic interests. Small "c".

There is a small change to the feedburner URL. If you want email updates, please check that you are pointed to "http://feeds.feedburner.com/coloradolayman/HJZo". The "/HJZo" is a new addition from Blogger since last year.

Parting of the Red Sea

2010-09-22T06:47:00.000-06:00

This morning's news points to an article in Live Science reporting scientists have proven the parting of the Red Sea was in accordance with natural science. They have reproduced the effects reported in the account in the Bible.

Parting of the Red Sea Jibes With Natural Law

Feel Good Monday Headline

2010-09-20T07:04:00.000-06:00

I am sure this story from this morning's news will reassure you as much as it reassures me...

Obama Attends Church

See? He's not Muslim.

Come Out From Among The Lost

2010-09-15T07:16:00.001-06:00

As I suggested in yesterday's post, I have listened to the online sermon and teaching files from over thirty churches in the Denver area. Among those, I found only three (in addition to ours) that "preach the word". Faithful teaching and preaching is the first mark of a true church. A church that does not faithfully teach and transmit the Word of God is not a true church.

There are other indicators of a true church. The proper administration of the sacraments, baptism and the Lord's table, and the practice of church discipline are two. These cannot be assessed by listening to sermon files. Also, the sample size of churches I listened to is small and arbitrary. So my "study" is not at all scientific, merely anecdotal. Nonetheless, it would seem to me that, among professedly evangelical protestant churches in the Denver area, nine out of ten are not faithful true churches of Jesus Christ.

What of the people who sit in these congregations? Paul Washer says of Joel Osteen that he is God's judgment upon the folks who are willing to sit in his audience. The Bible warns that in the last days, folks will seek out teachers who tickle their ears. Is that what is happening in these churches?

Take a look at this document prepared for Rick Warren model seeker friendly churches. "Dealing With Resistors" describes the method to rid a church of people who object to the process of changing into a non-gospel seeker friendly church model. It lends support to the idea that folks who remain in these churches deserve what they get.

But surely there must be some genuine regenerate believers among them!? Salvation is the work of the Lord, and all through two thousand years of church history we have seen instances of genuine conversion even under worthless teachers. And that, I think, is happening in the Denver area. There are sheep out there who are not being fed but don't know where the greener pastures are.

May I suggest that your friends, neighbors, and co-workers who attend these churches are in need of your recommendation of greener pastures? These congregations may be the city's most urgent field for evangelism.

With the caveat that I do not know how these churches stack up with regard to the other marks of a faithful church and therefore am not actually recommending them, these are the only churches in Denver I have so far found that, at least on the occasions I listened to, preach the word. There are hundreds of churches in the metropolitan area, and I have listened to only a small sample.

Alameda Hills Baptist Church in Lakewood
Coram Deo Presbyterian in Highlands Ranch
Littleton Bible Chapel
and (of course) our very own Sovereign Grace Church of the Rockies

Remember What You First Believed

2010-09-14T02:28:00.001-06:00

Who are the two men who have managed to walk on water?

Yes, Jesus, of course!

Remember Peter? (Matthew 14:22-33)

In faith, Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But then his faith faltered. Pastor Phil Johnson (sermon mp3) suggests that perhaps Peter began to think he was walking on water in his own strength and ability. Therefore, he sank.

Have you ever done that? Perhaps you have prayed for God to help you find a new job. Then you get the job. You pray, "Thank You," and think to yourself, "O.K. I can take it from here."

Alas, the heart is desperately wicked. We ask God for our daily bread. Or whatever. But when we get it, we credit our own effort. Then things get difficult.

How do we keep going in faith? It is not at all a natural thing to do.

I have found it necessary to keep preaching the gospel to myself. The same thing that saved me in the first place brings me back again and again. When assurance falters, preach the gospel to yourself. Faith is God's gift. Doubt is the condition we live in, the influence of the world upon us. Faith is spirit. Doubt is as real as the evening news.

Looking forward, I may post about prayer building assurance, or that faith is like a muscle that gets stronger when exercised, or that our mind and conscience are renewed from the Scriptures. These things are true. But always remember that which you first believed. The evidence that we have repented unto salvation is that we continue to repent. The evidence that we are justified is that we continue in Christ. Not "once saved, always saved," but over and over again taking hold of the gospel and applying it to ourselves.

Peter was all wet, but Jesus stretched out his hand and together they walked on water back to the boat.

What Makes My Church Best

2010-09-14T00:07:00.001-06:00

Have you ever been asked, "What makes your church better than others?" or,"Why should I attend your church instead of that one?"

Many of you know I am the one who takes the Sunday sermon, edits out the beeps, bumps, and crowd noise, and posts it on the Internet. Earlier this year I became curious how other churches did that chore, and how our sound compares with their sound. I listened to the sermons of more than thirty churches in the Denver area. More about that in another post.

There is one outstanding thing that makes our church stand head and shoulders above most of the rest.

We preach the gospel. Clearly. In depth.

Most churches teach Law. Morals. How to have a better life. They teach people to despair. No man is capable of following all the laws of God. If you are attending a church that teaches, "Do your best and God will do the rest," you are condemned to hell. Your best isn't good enough.

The Bible clearly teaches both law and gospel. But law must follow on the heals of gospel. The law is meant to teach us how much we need the gospel. The good news, i.e. gospel, is that God has done it all. Jesus paid the penalty for our shortcomings and offenses against God. He freed us from the burden of trying to earn salvation by being "moral" and "doing our best". The lesson most clearly revealed in the New Testament is that no man can perfectly please God. Even the slightest violation earns God wrath, and most of us have much worse than slight violations. That leads to despair. No one can be good enough.

So the next time you are asked about our church, tell them we teach joy. We teach gospel. We teach how to be free to follow Jesus and to actually please God. Come, join us, and learn how that works. Good morals don't get you into heaven. Only the gospel can do that.

Is Jesus "Cuddly" ??

2010-08-16T07:24:00.000-06:00

This clip is taken from an interview with Hirsi Ali. She proposes that Muslims should not only leave their country of origin but leave Allah behind and adopt the Christ that has evolved into American Christianity. I think she correctly perceives a "cuddly Jesus" as the Christ of much modern evangelicalism, especially when viewed from the outside by non-believers. What do you think?

Hat tip to Townhall blog

RE: Facebook

2010-05-28T07:35:00.000-06:00

I have spent the last couple of days over at my brother's house helping out, and I anticipate this weekend I will be too busy living life to write about it. So let me take this opportunity to offer up the work of someone else...

Over on the Ligonier blog, R.C. Sproul Jr offers some provocative questions for folks on Facebook in his article, "Should Christians Be On Facebook?" Jr. is not the R.C,.Sproul whose theological insight we are all familiar with. Book buyers should be cautious these days about buying books with the name R.C. Sproul on the cover. Jr. is taking advantage of his father's fame but his work is not as spiritually filling. Nonetheless, this article about living on-line may of interest to some of you who go there.

Children Growing Up In Unbelief

2010-05-26T07:12:00.000-06:00

Raising children to fear the Lord, in the sense of genuine belief, is a project with a poor record of success. The best we can hope for in our own strength as parents, mentors, and adult role models, is to raise children who are respectful of our beliefs and conform to a somewhat Christian lifestyle. Genuine belief is God's work. Mike Horton, in a piece recounting some statistics to explain the beginning of the White Horse Inn radio program, cites that 60% of youth raised in Evangelical church families no longer attend any church by their sophomore year. That is, by the time they are 19 or 20 and have moved out of the home into the world on their own, they have separated from the church.

But, let us turn that around. Over one third of those born as unbelievers into our household come to salvation while still youths! Can you imagine what a difference it would make if one out of three unbelievers in the general population came to faith? Ah, but that is an attitude too hard when we survey the children on a Sunday morning. We hope for better than that when we have specific children, especially our own, in view.

Many of those unbelieving children continue in their unbelief when they grow up and move out of their parents home. Like the prodigal son, there is hope that the Holy Spirit will convict them later in life and they will return to the church. It weighs on the minds of the parents. Jim Eliff recently wrote "Comfort For Christian Parents of Unbelieving Children" for Bulletin Inserts. Among the ten points he made is...

2. The miracle of the new birth is no less possible to God if our child is attentive to Him or running away from Him. Our child is like all other children when it comes to God's grace. He is dead spiritually whether he is in church or not, whether he listened well to the truths we tried to teach him or did not, whether he has some interest in God now or has none at all. He may be converted in the pig pen or the pew and we do not know in this case what is preferred by God.

As the title implies, the piece is a comfort to parents. However, Howard Eames followed up on Christian Communications Worldwide with a much better piece that takes each of the ten points in the Eliff article and builds on them. Of the two, I recommend the longer "A Journey In Search of Comfort as a Parent of Unconverted Children."

The first thing your children need is an inclination to God and His Word. Without that, nothing else of any real value will occur. Where does such an inclination come from? It comes from the Lord. Our children must want to know God. They must want to read His Word and draw near to Him. These desires come from God. He is the great Incliner of hearts (cf. Proverbs 21:1). Therefore, I pray Psalm 119.36 on behalf of my children: "Lord, incline their hearts to Your testimonies and not to (worldly) gain." The "pride of life" in a culture of affluence is overwhelming. To see a young person committed to Jesus Christ and His Word, and committed to seeking first His Kingdom, is a rarity. I pray that God would do this great work in their hearts.
Furthermore, my children need to have the eyes of their hearts opened so that when God graciously changes their inclinations from loving their own peculiar pigpen to loving His Word and truth, they might see what is really there, and not be deceived by their own secular or worldly presuppositions. And so I pray Psalm 119:18 for my children: "Lord, open their eyes. Open the very eyes of their hearts that they might behold wonderful and truthful things from your most blessed Word. Lord, lead them into truth and out of error. Reveal Your glory to their heart of hearts."
But even further, my children need for their hearts to be enlightened. They need to be able to see the glory of Biblical truth, not just interesting facts and stories reminiscent of their childhood days in Sunday School. Who is the great Enlightener of the hearts of men? God is! And so I pray with the Apostle Paul from Ephesians 1:18: "Lord, enlighten the very eyes of their hearts that they might behold the blessedness of Your truth, Your perspective, Your worldview, Your most blessed Person. Lord, give them the anointing you promise in John's first epistle! (see 1 John 2:27, referring to the Holy Spirit).
Of course what we really want for our children from all this engagement with His Word and the work of His Spirit is that their hearts will ultimately be satisfied with God and not with the world. Where does that satisfaction come from? Surely it comes from the great Satisfier of the eternal souls of men, the Lord Jesus. And so I pray Psalm 90:14, "Lord, satisfy my children with Yourself, satisfy them in the morning with Your steadfast love, that they may rejoice and be glad all their days."

There is much more. This brief quote is taken from the first of the ten points. Please, go read it.

There are a few points we can take away as a church. First, we should expect that some number of the children growing up in our church will not be faithful believers when they become young adults. Some will be genuine apostates, but we pray many will be simply living out their unbelief until the Holy Spirit moves in His good time.

Second, those parents need our prayer and support in their grief. Yes, grief. Very much as if the child had died. Children who are dead in their sins. Often when the child moves away from the home, the rest of us in the church simply don't see them any more. They leave quietly, and we don't notice the anguish of parents who are newly acquainted with their children's unbelief through the lifestyle they begin to live.

Third, while they are still children in our midst, we want to equip them with a correct understanding of the gospel and the basic doctrines of our faith so the Holy Spirit finds something in their hearts to work with. We know that faith comes through hearing the gospel. Let us make sure they hear it clearly.

Some number of those children will be apostate, turning against the church in hostility. Regarding those, David Murray writes on the Gospel Coalition blog "Help For Hurting Churches in Dealing With Apostasy". He takes advice from John Owens. A highlight from that piece...

4. The causes of apostasy
Owen went on to list particular causes of apostasy, so that pastors and their congregations will “watch and pray.”

Deeply-rooted and unremoved enmity in the minds of many against spiritual things

Pride and vanity of the mind which refuses to bow before the authority of Scripture

Sloth and negligence

False assurance and groundless self-confidence

False sense of security due to neglect of the Spirit’s warnings about apostasy

Love of the world and its passing pleasures (Demas in 2 Tim. 4:10)

As the first “apostate” Satan draws many into apostasy and forces others to apostatize through persecution

Persons in high positions in the church leading evil lives (Jer. 23:15; 1 Sam. 2:12-17)

Unrepented national sins that influence the people

Divisions in the church

The uselessness of many Christians

5. The distinction between a stumble (Peter) and a fall (Judas)
Pastors need to skillfully distinguish between a Christian’s stumble and an apostate’s fall. Every Christian errs in doctrine, falls into sin, and offers faulty worship from time to time. That does not make them an apostate. Owen defined apostasy as “continued persistent rebellion and disobedience to God and his word,” or “total and final and public renunciation of all the chief principles and doctrines of Christianity.”

I found John Owen's "The Nature of Apostasy" (the actual title is much longer as befits a Puritan writer) in volume VII of his "Works". I'll be reading it soon.

Good Preaching

2010-05-25T18:36:00.002-06:00

Awhile ago I posted a short piece with this blog title. That piece , after a little joking around, was about church community, not preaching. But it brought in some folks searching on the phrase "good preaching". So let me say a little something about good preaching...

In the Old Testament, more often than not, we find the man of God who goes to God to find out what to say to the people. Sometimes that is nothing at all like what the people want to hear.

In today's American church we celebrate the preacher who is a man of the people, one who knows the needs of his congregation and tries to meet them.

Do you see a difference?

Good preaching comes from the man who diligently digs the word of God out of his Bible and tells his people what they need to hear. Good preaching cannot come from a man who is not himself a born again Christian, no matter his scholarly qualifications or oratorical skills. Good preaching cannot come from a man who is a born again Christian but who does not work to dig out and understand the word of God. Good preaching can only come from the man who both walks the walk and works hard getting his nose and fingers covered by the ink from pages of the Bible and bears the marks of prayer on his knees.

Oh! I have much I could say about preachers who entertain, who tell amusing anecdotes, who fear their congregation's reaction to hard truths. On the other hand, I could wax eloquent about carefully exegeting the text book by book and teaching people thereby how to read their Bibles at home. But I think this wee bit will suffice to tell the good from the bad.