Today, I’m writing to warn all of you against a dangerous heresy that is being taught against the truth. You have already heard, no doubt, of the dangerous and pernicious lies that are being spread abroad by those claiming to have found new light in the Scriptures. Indeed, when warned of the danger of his heresy by the leadership of the church, the leader of these men chose to be defiant, burning their letter of rebuke. This is not the behavior of a good churchman, let alone a true minister of the Gospel.

Besides, have you considered his language? Perhaps he deserves the title of Cussing Pastor. Mockery falls from his lips as he hurls invective against God’s ordained ministers. A man of God would not speak as he speaks.

The Scriptures teach us that all things should be done decently and in order. The Scriptures teach up to submit to those that have the rule over us. This man does neither. I have it on good authority that he will soon be excommunicated, and that will be the end of the matter. But still, be cautious of this man and his teaching. He is a danger to right doctrine and, indeed, to the health of your souls.

There are those who will tell you otherwise, but they speak lies. Trust me on this. Do not heed the words of Martin Luther. He is just the latest in a long line of heretics. He will trouble us for now, but history will not remember him.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.” (Matthew 23:29-32)

Following up on my previous thought.

On Sunday, Crystal was talking to me about the wonders of the human body. She loves biology and anatomy, and she was waxing eloquent about the amazing deeds that God has done in creating our bodies.

Then I commented, “I find it very disturbing that I have intestines.”

Of course, I wasn’t just talking about intestines. I was talking about all the stuff that is inside us. Hard stuff like bones or cartilage. Squishy stuff like organs and muscles and, yes, intestines. I was thinking about the pictures that you see of people torn open during war. I was thinking of the glimpse I had of my wife’s uterus after a Caesarian.

Recently, Crystal was reading a book on “body types”, which included personality issues as well as health issues. One of the questions that you needed to answer was, “Do you see yourself as a body with a spirit, or as a spirit with a body?” This is a surprisingly insightful question. It doesn’t quite map to the Myers-Briggs Extroversion/Introversion division, but it is related, I think.

Anyways, I think of myself as a spirit with a body. I mean, check out the opening paragraph. “…amazing deeds that God has done in creating our bodies.“

Not, “…in creating us.” Because, somehow, my body is separate from me.

That’s not really what it is. It’s more that my body is an extension of me, but it’s not really me.

This extends to how I view sickness. Sickness is an external force that is attacking me. You go to a doctor, because he can pierce the veil and look across the battlefield at the oncoming force. The idea that the sickness is inside someone really bothers me somehow.

I’m not really sure if I have a point here. Once, I might have, but now I think I lost it.

Except that I’m really grateful that Jesus took on a body, with all the funky squishy bits, and was filled with poop for me. And I mean that seriously and with the highest respect. One of the prerogatives of being God that He laid aside was the right to be free of having to use the bathroom. If you consider how we are captive to our intestines, you will also be filled with gratitude at this act of grace to His people.

And now, I’d better go.

Those of you who know me, know that I’m fairly opposed to the war in Iraq. Indeed, I tend to be opposed to foreign adventures just on general principle. War is a serious thing, and I take it very seriously. It consumes all who are near, without mercy or pity. This is true, even with a justifiable war, and so I insist that there be moral clarity before pursuing this ultimate political act.

But I’m not going to argue about the war here. And, FYI, I will delete any comments that try to debate this point with me. You Have Been Warned.

Instead, I want to talk about something else.

My friend Jason is being deployed. He leaves tomorrow for training and then, in a couple of months, he will be heading to Iraq. That means that he is heading into the maelstrom, being sent into harm’s way.

Pray for him. Pray for the safety of his soul. Pray for the safety of his body. Pray that he would reach out with the love of Christ, as a true solder of Jesus. Pray that he would be brave in fulfilling his duty. Pray that he would show mercy to the weak and compassion to the downtrodden. Pray that he will still be faithful to Jesus, even when undergoing the fires of adversity. And pray that he would return home to his family and his church.

Godspeed, Jason. Come back soon.

Look at the people around you. They are all filled with poop.

This is also a profound theological insight (Deuteronomy 23:13-14), but I’ll leave that as an exercise to the reader.

Well, it’s a local cable show, but still!

Julia Ellingboe interviews Meg Baker and Joshua Newman.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

HT: Vincent Baker

I haven’t written up the AP report from our Dirty Secrets session on Monday, but I do have audio ready! So, for both of you who are really eager to get a jump on this, here you go.

click here

The second part of my interview with Matt Snyder is now available.

From the same article:

The first [issue] has to do with the difference between musical quality and musical relevance. If someone does not like, say, Western art music, this may not signal the absence of refined taste or the presence of bad taste. If this same person prefers progressive jazz, Islamic maqam, and the music of the gamelan, we can only say that his or her taste is contained within or limited to these musics. The same thing must be said about the person who prefers Western music from 1400 to 1750, John Philip Sousa marches, and bluegrass. It is therefore unwise to say that musical diversity in our present culture is legitimate only if it includes Western art music. Given today”s cultural mixes and options it is entirely possible for a body of great music to be irrelevant for a body of people who otherwise have high aesthetic sensitivities. In other words, there is nothing wrong with someone putting Western art music in a less-than-primary position as long as the entirety of his or her choices is dominated by a quest for quality and perceptual growth.

Emphasis mine.

I haven’t finished the article, but I’m sympathetic to this idea:

And whether we like it or not, all music–good, bad, old, new, simple, complex, loud, soft–is contextually friendly, seemingly bent on soaking up whatever is around it, easily shifting from foreground to background. It takes a special effort of the aesthetic will to keep it in the foreground–to encounter it on its own terms and for its inherent worth–even when we consciously devote ourselves to this task. In this respect and with the possible exception of the visual arts, music is unlike any other form of propositional communication. Everyone except the most stubbornly absolutist thinkers understands this. And if this present culture survives long enough for its history to repeat itself, the musics created for today’s Stratford Malls may well make their way into tomorrow’s quieted and tuxedoed concert halls, just as the Tafelmusik of the past has. Musicologists will pore over their various minutiae, showing how this newly absolutized material should be studied and canonized. Mannerisms and protocols will gradually make their way into performance practices; coughing will be frowned on during performances and, by all means, there will be no waterfalls and the sounds of little children will be unwelcome. Meanwhile, some other kind of new music will be piped into tomorrow’s Stratfords and tomorrow’s music critics may well continue the lament over the ongoing denigration of the art form.

Plus he then goes on to discuss “high” culture vs. “low” culture…or rather how there isn’t really a “versus” at all. Hopefully this will be some solid food for thought.

Sons of Liberty should be played like this.

Judd, of the Sons of Kryos, talks about crime comics. Personally, I recommend Fell highly, if you’re into that sort of thing. The first issue is available online. It’s pretty bleak, though, just so you’re aware.

Click here to listen

Well, we started playing a game of Dirty Secrets last night. I’ll have a writeup later (along with audio, I hope), but for now, here’s an article about some of Peoria’s real-life crime history. Read the comments, too.

Illinois Central College is going to begin offering a degree in game design.

HT: Yehuda Berlinger

(P.S. Yes, I was reading an Israeli blogger who informed me about something happening in my home town. The Internet is weird.)

Yesterday, during the sermon, James McDonald discussed a family’s move during last winter. He pointed at it as an example of Christian community, how the church came together to help a family, how it was an encouragement to him.

That was my family.

If you were there for the sermon, you probably knew who he was talking about, but you might not know the whole story. So, for the benefit of my church family, I figured that I would tell our tale.

There’s a lot lying under the surface here which I don’t really feel comfortable laying out in any detail on the Internet. Some of you already know these details, and you understand. For the rest of you, I’ll be addressing a lot of things by implication and suggestion. If you want to ask me, come talk to me, but I won’t be clarifying anything here.
(more…)

…but it is.

HT: Josh Gibbs