Fear and Trembling

I found a very interesting article in this month’s edition of Mission Frontiers Magazine (September-October 2008 – The U. S. Center for World Missions – 30:5). “Today’s Iranian Revolution: How the Mullahs Are Leading the Nation to Jesus” by Krikor Markarian reports that a cultural revolution is underway in Iran that could re-shape the Muslim world. This cultural revolution is sparked by the breakdown of government under the Shiite sociopolitical system. Here’s a section of the article: … In the year 2000, Christian satellite broadcasting began beaming the gospel to almost every home in Iran. This was made possible by the fact that millions of satellite dishes had been illegally smuggled into Iran by corrupt members of the same government that had outlawed them. The Christian satellite programs became a lifeline for the church in Iran. Much more, when the Iranian people learned that the government was trying to scramble the broadcasts, they became an overnight sensation. Recent nationwi...

Thanks to Adrian Warnock for a quote from C. H. Spurgeon that is well worth repeating: The gospel is a reasonable system, and it appeals to men's understanding; it is a matter for thought and consideration, and it appeals to the conscience and the reflecting powers। Hence, if we do not teach men something, we may shout, "Believe! Believe! Believe!" but what are they to believe? Each exhortation requires a corresponding instruction, or it will mean nothing. "Escape!" From what? This requires for its answer the doctrine of the punishment of sin. "Fly!" But whither? Then must you preach Christ, and His wounds; yea, and the clear doctrine of atonement by sacrifice. "Repent!" Of what? Here you must answer such questions as, What is sin? What is the evil of sin? What are the consequences of sin ? "Be converted!" But what is it to be converted? By what power can we be converted? What from? What to? The field of instruction is wide if men a...

Please pray for my niece, Lilah. She is two months old, and she has some very serious heart defects. Updates can be found here . Also, there are several other issues facing my family right now: my father-in-law’s leukemia and hospitalization, and several other stressors are making life difficult। Something(s) we are doing are ticking Satan off, and God must really think a lot of us or we wouldn’t have all of this ( 1 Cor. 10:13 ).

I just finished Al Mohler’s book Atheism Remix . It’s a short, pithy call to Christians for a distinctly biblical response to Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Crossway’s new book blog has a link to a clip of Mohler talking about the topic. The book is a good read. Mohler summarizes a response from Alvin Plantinga in an article on the web called “The Dawkins Confusion: Naturalism ad absurdum.” The web article was worth the price of Mohler’s book. Mohler chooses to summarize other people’s arguments instead of putting forth his own, and that does trouble me.

New Attitude gives a good introductory answer to questions about the Israelite conquest of Canaan and God’s direction to kill the inhabitants. It’s a sensitive answer to a question that makes many stumble.