Trevin Wax talks with former megachurch pastor Bob Russell.

More on the WTF church from Marc Cortez, who gets a HT for the next link.

The WTF church blog (apparently, it’s an outreach to college students from this Albuquerque church).

Five T-shirts Andrew Jones says you’ll never see in the Bible Belt (caution: includes a mention of the ‘F’ word, but no ‘WTF’).

Tim Challies reviews Darrin Patrick’s Church Planter.

How specifically should a husband confess lust to his wife? (HT: Challies)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tyler Wittman on the rhetorical violence of the COEXIST bumper stickers.

Jonathan Dodson’s four ways to know one’s city.

Doug Wilson on church membership (HT to the City of God blog, and HT on that link to Bill Kinnon).

David Sessions: Why moral revival will never change the world.

Lisa Robinson on decision-making and Spirit-led direction.

Father Ernesto on the truth about bloggers.

New York Times columnist David Brooks on SBC pastor David Platt (HT: Denny Burk).

Michael Hyatt compares the iPad, Kindle and other ebook readers.

Helpful resources on atheism from Ligonier.

Darryl Dash: Called to be tired?

An incredible film of a San Francisco street from a century ago (HT: Broken Sidewalk).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have you heard about the WTF church in Albuquerque? Michael Buckingham from Church Marketing Sucks finds out what’s going on.

David Dorr asks if persecution is really what the western church needs (HT: Zach Nielsen).

Bob Kellemen on Stephen Hawking.

RTS professor James Anderson on Hawking (RT: Carl Trueman).

Albert Mohler on Dr. Francis Collins and stem-cell research.

Ben Witherington reviews George Clooney’s new movie The American.

Sean Muldowney: “Don’t (worry about trying not to) waste your life”.

Leonce Crump on feeling disconnected from God (HT: Mark Lamprecht).

Matthew Perry on when Facebook and Twitter are gripped by the gospel (HT: Mark Lamprecht).

Paul Young challenges Mark Driscoll to a debate, as reported on Bob Hyatt’s blog.

Driscoll is interviewed by Neue magazine (HT: Robert Sagers at Trevin Wax’s blog).

Also, a HT to Sagers for the link on Andrew Peterson’s visit with Wendell Berry.

Mormon official Greg West on the Glenn Beck rally (HT: Gene Vieth, who adds some commentary of his own).

Tope Koleoso on corporate prayer.

Ed Cyzewski on hell and its impact in sharing the gospel.

Bob Spencer on preaching an MIA Jesus.

Chaplain Mike Mercer on Gene Vieth’s thought on vocation and the masks of God.

William Black on healing.

David Foster on why Christianity fails as a moral system, part 2.

I could turn my back on Jesus
I could make love with best friend’s wife
I could live for gold and Mammon
I could lose my faith in sorrows of this life

I could use the words of Scripture
to construct a house of fire and pride
I could do the works of righteousness
Without a spark of love inside

But something holds me thrall
In spite of everything anything at all
Today you carry me through
Though faith may falter, I love you

I could curse my neighbor in God’s name
I could walk on by the dirty poor
I could drop bombs on those I despise
I could block the window lock the door

But something holds me thrall
In spite of everything anything at all
Today you carry me through
Though faith may falter, I love you

I could pretend I’m never wrong
I could believe what my admirers say
I could grow sick and tired of this song
Despite your tears I could fall away

There’s still time to fail
There’s still time to fail

But something holds me thrall
In spite of everything anything at all
Today you carry me through
Everything is shattered, and yet you are true.
Though faith may tremble, I love you
There’s nothing else that I can do…

To those who are living with open wounds struck by the church…how does it affect you to know that those who have hurt you are in great danger of terrible judgment?

Do you understand more fully now that God indeed cares for His “little children” and it would have been better for those men to have been drowned then to inflict injury to the flock?

Can you find a measure of peace and healing in knowing that God will bring justice?

Praying that the road forward is clearer now for all who have been through the pain a rogue shepherd can cause.

Blogging gets harder every day.

Someone once said that Americans are the most entertained and least informed people in the Western world…what they didn’t say is that to attempt to inform, you must entertain.

Our favorite entertainment is to get angry at someone else, thus we engage in polemic hyperbole and slide some pertinent point in the midst of it.

We see it in the nightly talk shows as political opponents hurl epithets back and forth over the television networks and we see it on the ODM sites where brethren cast each other into the fires of hell for sport.

If you read one ODM site daily you will live in fear of lesbian Lutherans and soul patched pastors you never heard of causing the Great Apostasy because the author has run out of recognizable enemies to attack .

The end result is we are upset, we think we’re informed, and we go back the next day for the adrenaline rush of getting mad all over again.

The reality is that you’ve probably been misinformed because the goal is to get you to come back and get mad again, not to educate you.

At best you’re getting partial truth, because partial truth shouted loudly begets zealots, zealots beget ratings and readers, and ratings and readers beget cash and recognition.

That’s how the game is played these days…and I refuse to play.

On one issue alone, I’ve read a dozen books, umpteen academic papers, and websites from all concerned just to get a basic handle on the matter, then taken it all back to the Scriptures for guidance.

The issues are so complex and so many lives affected that to boil them down to shouting matches is purely ignorant and sinful.

Our faith and our opinions in this country are the proverbial mile wide and inch deep.

We’ve proven here that we can mix with people from other traditions for our edification and education.

Can we do the same thing with the issues of the day?

Sound bite politics is doing the same thing to this nation that sound bite Christianity did to the church.

It divides people who could meet on common ground.

That’s unbiblical…and the Bible is our guide for faith and practice, right?

Right?

On Friday I wrote a brief look at Luke 17:3, a passage that pronounces woe unto any leader in the church that causes one of Christs little ones to stumble or sin.

It is and should be, a chilling reminder to those of us who teach or have positions of influence in the church.

Yesterday, Dave Rolph exegeted  2 Peter 2 for his congregation…and anyone who has had an interest in the subject of abusive churches needs to listen.

In the comments to my article and in his message Dave emphasizes the characteristics of false teachers and compares them with the clinical definition for sociopaths…and we find that Peter was an excellent psychologist.

Teachers are to be judged by their lives as much as their teachings…and when when a teachers life does not measure up to biblical standards they must be rebuked and removed for their own sake as well as the sake of the sheep.

When you put both teachings together you will be assured of two things.

One, the ministry attracts people who will abuse the office and authority it carries, Peter warned us well and Dave brings that out in detail.

Two, God will not be mocked.

Even when it appears that some have got away with high crimes and misdemeanors God has pronounced a woe upon them…a terrifying warning of the penalty to come.

For those of us in ministry it is an opportunity to ask the Lord if there is any of these traits in us and to repent and seek forgiveness from God  and any we’ve sinned against.

I commend these teachings to you.

IV I ask whether you pray, because prayer is that act in religion to which there is the greatest encouragement.

There is a way by which any man, however sinful and unworthy, may draw near to God the Father. Jesus Christ has opened that way by the sacrifice He made for us upon the cross. The holiness and justice of God need not frighten sinners and keep them back. Only let them cry to God in the name of Jesus,—only let them plead the atoning blood of Jesus,—and they shall find God upon a throne of grace, willing and ready to hear. The name of Jesus is a never-failing passport to our prayers. In that name a man may draw near to God with boldness, and ask with confidence. God has engaged to hear him. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?

There is an advocate and intercessor always waiting to present the prayers of those who will employ Him. That advocate is Jesus Christ. He mingles our prayers with the incense of His own almighty intercession. So mingled they go up as a sweet savour before the throne of God. Poor as they are in themselves, they are mighty and powerful in the hand of our High Priest and Elder Brother. The bank note without a signature at the bottom is nothing but a worthless piece of paper. The stroke of a pen confers on it all its value. The prayer of a poor child of Adam is a feeble thing in itself, but once endorsed by the hand of the Lord Jesus it availeth much. There was an officer in the city of Rome who was appointed to have his doors always open, in order to receive any Roman citizen who applied to him for help. Just so the ear of the Lord Jesus is ever open to the cry of all who want mercy and grace. It is His office to help them. Their prayer is His delight. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?

There is the Holy Spirit ever ready to help our infirmities in prayer. It is one part of His special office to assist us in our endeavours to speak with God. We need not be cast down and distressed by the fear of not knowing what to say. The Spirit will give us words if we will only seek His aid. He will supply us with “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” The prayers of the Lord’s people are the inspiration of the Lord’s Spirit,—the work of the Holy Ghost who dwells within them as the Spirit of grace and supplications. Surely the Lord’s people may well hope to be heard. It is not they merely who pray, but the Holy Ghost pleading in them. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?

There are exceeding great and precious promises to those who pray. What did the Lord Jesus mean when He spoke such words as these, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. vii. 7, 8). “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matt xxi 22). “Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it” (John xiv. 13, 14). What did the Lord mean when He spoke the parables of the friend at midnight and the importunate widow? (Luke xi. 5 and xviii. 1). Reader, think over these passages. If this is not encouragement to pray, words have no meaning at all.

There are wonderful examples in Scripture of the power of prayer. Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to do. It has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth, and water. Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah’s sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib. Well might Mary, Queen of Scots, say, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men.” Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead. Prayer has procured the conversion of souls. “The child of many prayers,” said an old Christian to Augustine’s mother, “shall never perish.” Prayer, pains, and faith can do anything. Nothing seems impossible when a man has the spirit of adoption. “Let Me alone,” is the remarkable saying of God to Moses, when Moses was about to intercede for the children of Israel (Exod. xxxii. 10). The Chaldee version has it, “leave off praying.” So long as Abraham asked mercy for Sodom, the Lord went on giving. He never ceased to give till Abraham ceased to pray. Reader, think of this. Is not this encouragement?

What more can a man want to lead him to take any step in religion, than the things I have just told him about prayer? What more could be done to make the path to the mercy-seat easy, and to remove all occasions of stumbling from the sinner’s way? Surely if the devils in hell had such a door set open before them, they would leap for gladness, and make the very pit ring with joy.

But where will the man hide his head at last who neglects such glorious encouragements? What can possibly be said for the man who, after all, dies without prayer? Surely, reader, I may well feel anxious that you should not be that man. Surely I may well ask,—DO YOU PRAY?

J.C. Ryle

What did you learn?

Did you hear the Gospel?

The Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter VIII

Of Christ the Mediator

I. It pleased God, in His eternal purpose, to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus, His only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man,[1] the Prophet,[2] Priest,[3] and King,[4] the Head and Savior of His Church,[5] the Heir of all things,[6] and Judge of the world:[7] unto whom He did from all eternity give a people, to be His seed,[8] and to be by Him in time redeemed, called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.[9]

II. The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance and equal with the Father, did, when the fullness of time was come, take upon Him man’s nature,[10] with all the essential properties, and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin;[11] being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the virgin Mary, of her substance.[12] So that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion.[13] Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.[14]

III. The Lord Jesus, in His human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, above measure,[15] having in Him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;[16] in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness should dwell;[17] to the end that, being holy, harmless, undefiled, and full of grace and truth,[18] He might be thoroughly furnished to execute the office of a Mediator and Surety.[19] Which office He took not unto Himself, but was thereunto called by His Father,[20] who put all power and judgment into His hand, and gave Him commandment to execute the same.[21]

IV. This office the Lord Jesus did most willingly undertake;[22] which that He might discharge, He was made under the law,[23] and did perfectly fulfil it;[24] endured most grievous torments immediately in His soul,[25] and most painful sufferings in His body;[26] was crucified, and died,[27] was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption.[28] On the third day He arose from the dead,[29] with the same body in which He suffered,[30] with which also he ascended into heaven, and there sits at the right hand of His Father,[31] making intercession,[32] and shall return, to judge men and angels, at the end of the world.[33]

V. The Lord Jesus, by His perfect obedience, and sacrifice of Himself, which He through the eternal Spirit, once offered up unto God, has fully satisfied the justice of His Father;[34] and purchased, not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for those whom the Father has given unto Him.[35]

VI. Although the work of redemption was not actually wrought by Christ till after His incarnation, yet the virtue, efficacy, and benefits thereof were communicated unto the elect, in all ages successively from the beginning of the world, in and by those promises, types, and sacrifices, wherein He was revealed, and signified to be the seed of the woman which should bruise the serpent’s head; and the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world; being yesterday and today the same, and forever.[36]

VII. Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself;[37] yet, by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the person denominated by the other nature.[38]

VIII. To all those for whom Christ has purchased redemption, He does certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same;[39] making intercession for them,[40] and revealing unto them, in and by the word, the mysteries of salvation;[41] effectually persuading them by His Spirit to believe and obey, and governing their hearts by His word and Spirit;[42] overcoming all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom, in such manner, and ways, as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.[43]

Have at it…

cartoon found here.