Monthly Archives: November 2005

Luis Palau’s Chinese church registration comments correct, or misguided?

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China (MNN) — Evangelist Luis Palau says all churches should register with the Chinese government. This comment came after his travels to Asia with President Bush. Palau says it would give Christians more freedom.

Werner Burklin, founder of China Partner Ministries, agrees with Palau. “All Christians can worship freely if they just abide by the law of the land. People are not being persecuted for their faith in China, they’re prosecuted for not abiding by the law of the land in many instances.” China requires church registration.

Voice of the Martyrs’ Todd Nettleton, however, calls Palau’s comments misguided. “A registered church in China means that the government approves who’s going to lead the services, when and where you can meet, pastors are strongly discouraged from preaching on the second coming of Christ, which they call the dooms day theory. And, nobody under 18 is allowed to attend.”

In other words, “you can have your faith, just bow down to the emperor, too.” Since Ancient Rome, Christians have refused to do that.

Reformed and Charismatic: A Creed of Sorts

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I believe God exists, and that he created everything for his glory (1). I believe this is the ultimate purpose for each and every person: to joyfully glorify God (2). However, we have fallen short of that goal, to the point of maligning his glory continually (3).

I believe God chose me and every other believer in Christ before the foundation of the world (4). I believe this was decided without consulting any choice or decision we would make in our lives (5); rather, I believe God’s sovereign election causes our decision to repent, embrace Christ and follow him (6). I believe that in the fullness of time, so that God’s righteousness would be vindicated, he sent his Son as the propitiation for our sin, to reconcile us to God and breathe his life into our souls (7). I belive that no one comes to the Father except by the Son in this manner (8).

I believe we who have been chosen are—in a very real, spiritual sense—crucified with Christ and that Christ now lives in us (9). I believe that this life we live is as the eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc. of Christ (10). I believe that, in the beginning of the New Covenant, God laid out specific roles for the members of Christ’s body, to be powered by his Holy Spirit, and that these roles are outlined in Scripture (11, 12) and still in effect today (13). I believe that cessationism is unbiblical behavior which rejects certain members of the body (14).

I believe we cannot live for God apart from his Holy Spirit residing in us (15). I believe we are the body of Christ in such a sense that, if a brother is in need, we ought to assume Jesus desires to meet his need through us (16). I believe the “good works” we do are really being done by the Spirit of Christ, in and through our bodies (17). Thus, God does all the work and deserves all the glory for our righteousness (18).

I believe God-given prophecy always was, is and will be completely accurate. There was only one test given by God with which to judge whether a prophecy was of God: whether what was foretold came true (19). I reject all attempts to water down this gift into a form of “God-told-me-so” happy-fluffy-talk as false prophecy (20, 21, 22).

I believe God has given a wonderful gift by which we can spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ into all the world: the gift of languages [tongues] (23). I believe all gifts are given to build up the body, and that it maligns Scripture to treat any self-serving function of a Spiritual gift as its primary purpose (24, 25). The glossalia was given to further God’s goal of gathering a people from every people, nation, tribe and language [tongue]. Any other use is second-best at best (26).

I think I’ll stop there for now. I would love to dive further into each of these areas, but if the Lord wills, I’ll live and be visiting family in Miami over Thanksgiving. Perhaps I’ll make a point to come back to these issues in December.

ID isn’t Science?

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A “theory” that violates the most basic requirement of anything pretending to be science — that it be empirically disprovable. How does one empirically disprove the proposition that God was behind the lemur, or evolution — or behind the motion of the tides or the “strong force” that holds the atom together?

I’m willing to concede the point, but I have a question: just how is the theory of evolution empirically disprovable?

EDIT: Also check out critiques by Tom Gilson and Lawrence Selden.

Prophesying Lies?

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“I’ve seen people in Western Churches worshiping as if they’re already in heaven. Then someone invariably brings a comforting message, like, ‘My children, I love you. Don’t be afraid, I’m with you.’ I’m not opposed to such words, but why is it that nobody seems to hear a Word from the Lord like, ‘My child, I want to send you to the slums of Asia or the darkness of Africa to be my messenger to people dying in their sin.’?” — From “The Heavenly Man” by Brother Yun

Brother Yun is part of the Chinese “underground church.” The Holy Spirit really moves over there. Inside these shores, however, we’re usually happy if He tickles us a bit. Some churches aren’t as guilty as others in this, but overall I have to agree with Brother Yun’s assessment. Some churches love big buildings, others are just addicted to Starbucks… but the far-too-common thread is a love of the things of this world.

I think the church needs more guys who’ll give us a prophetic knock-upside-the-head when we need it, like Steve Taylor in his song Easy Listening:

We’re King’s Kids, dang it, and we used to know what a housekeeper was for / Tickle my ear and I’ll pay for your show / Sing about stuff that I already know / Whisper sweet nothings, pour a nightcap / Gimme that old-time easy listening

EDIT: Check out Chuck Baldwin’s sermon, “Lying Prophets“—good food for thought! (Chuck Baldwin was the Constitution Party’s Vice-Presidential nominee last year.)

FrontPage ISN’T for Professionals… Sorry.

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Ah, irony is great.

Chris Leeds has shared with us all an e-mail conversation, in which he essentially says (1) there’s nothing wrong with FrontPage, (2) it’s not worth your time or money to learn Dreamweaver, and (3) he’s not in any way biased.

Before addressing his first two points, I’d like to focus on #3 for a minute. In this article, Chris’ name links to contentseed.com, which is a CMS designed specifically for FrontPage. Yes, that’s right: Chris makes his living from selling a FrontPage addon… but he’s not biased. He gets an e-mail from one of his customers, and he knows that if this customer moves from FrontPage, he’s lost a client. So why should we take his opinion as unbiased?

Chris tries to shrug off the “FrontPage sux; get Dreamweaver” argument as snobbery from “so-called ‘Web masters’”: “I think it springs from what FrontPage used to be and the fact that it made it too easy for the average Joe to simply buy it, run a wizard, and publish a site.” But then why not the same uproar over blogging systems, Chris? Could it be that the “too easy for the average Joe” motive is simply a red herring?

So now I’d like to go back to his first two points, and my main evidence in challenging them would be contentseed.com itself. I don’t care how many sites you manage, Chris: crap is crap, even if it’s a lot of crap. This design is crap. If you were my uncle and this was an online family photo album, I wouldn’t say that; but you’re a “professional,” and this design is about as unprofessional as they come these days.

Why does FrontPage suck? Because it barfs out improper markup. Because there’s no way you can get something like CSS Zen Garden from FrontPage without hand-coding everything (and by that point, you might as well use Notepad and save yourself $99). Because it’s yesterday’s news in an industry focused on the day after tomorrow. Frontpage is an obsolete program that fails to meet today’s standards, whether they be aesthetic or technical.

But maybe I’m out of touch; granted, the last version I used was FrontPage 2000. Still, a word of caution from the Mozilla Development Center: “Newer versions of Microsoft FrontPage™ have improved, however be sure not to rely on FrontPage-specific extensions for critical website content or functionality.” Check ‘em out; they’ll give all sorts of advice on which authoring tools actually know the code they’re supposed to author for you.

Bottom line: FrontPage speaks HTML like it’s a second language. It’ll work in a pinch, but in the professional marketplace that just isn’t good enough. If you don’t believe me, feed on sites like CSS Zen Garden and A List Apart for a few days.

Mickey and the Gang

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Mickey and the Gang: Classic Stories in Verse

I have held it in my hands, and I have wept. (Though not at the same time, mind you.)

Mickey and the Gang, nicknamed “the Good Housekeeping book” in our offices, is primarily a collection of one-page Silly Symphony summations that appeared monthly in Good Housekeeping magazine in the ’30s and ’40s. That’s just the beginning, though; there’s so much additional material in here that I figure it’ll take me a good six months to read!

All of our blood, sweat and tears are bound up in this coffee table-sized book (it’s huge!). The paperback edition’s only about $20.00 at Amazon right now; I can highly recommend this as a Christmas gift! (That’s not because I worked on it, BTW… except that I know how much work went into making this one of the best Disney publications ever made.)

The New Puritans? Not.

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I was just reading an article on The Observer titled, “Just Say ‘No’, in which they claim a generation of “new Puritans” are rising up.

But can they really be called Puritans? Yes, they eschew certain pleasures; yes, they want others to do so as well… but the article is clearly playing off of the modern Puritanical stereotype, rather than what the Puritans really were.

In fact, just yesterday I passed along to David Gerstein a page about John Winthrop, which summarizes the “Puritan Distinctives” this way:

The Puritans’ devotion manifested itself in three important ways.

First, they believed that man should be in the world but not of the world. The believer’s true home is not on earth but in heaven, so he must be careful not to lose his heart to the all the things that this world has to offer–pleasures, material wealth, achievement, human love, and so on. On the other hand, the goodness of the things that God created should not be denied. There is nothing wrong with enjoying good food, music, love for your spouse, sports or recreation–as long as you don’t become frivolous and crowd God out your heart.

Second, they believed that man has a duty to use to the fullest extent all of the talents and abilities that God has given him. They were strong supporters of education. They worked hard in their professions and became doctors, lawyers, scholars, businessmen, and statesmen. They didn’t believe in doing anything halfheartedly. If something was worth doing, then the man should do it with his best effort for the glory of God.

The third conviction that made the Puritans unique was their belief that God’s covenant promises in the Old Testament did not just apply to ancient Israel, but to every society and every generation. These promises are well summarized in Exodus 19:5-6: “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” If any nation observed God’s laws and commands, God would give protection, prosperity, and the spiritual blessings of knowing him and living as his people. On the other hand, if a people rejected God’s decrees and turned to idolatry and sin, God would eventually reject them. The Puritans of seventeenth-century England were greatly concerned about the future of their nation; they saw the corruption of government and church officials, growing immorality, materialism, and lack of concern for the poor as signs that their nation would either have to repent or experience the cleansing fire of God’s wrath.

Why do the Puritans have such a bad reputation in modern times? [...] I believe the fundamental reason why the twentieth century looks down on the Puritans is that the secular mind cannot understand the satisfaction and joy that comes from serving God wholeheartedly. [...] Much of the modern criticism of Puritans stems from the American appetite for over-indulgence. It also stems from the fact that to those who have no hope in heaven, this world is all there is.

First and foremost, being a Puritan is about the supremacy of God. God is the “chief end,” the “be all and end all” of life. Thus, a Puritan will pass on things like getting drunk, sleeping around, cheating on his tax return, etc., because he knows those actions to be at odds with living a life dedicated to savoring and trumpeting the glory and majesty of Jesus Christ. No other motive leads to Puritanism.

I have some good news, though: there is a new generation of Puritans rising up. You won’t find them slashing SUV tires, though. You’ll find them here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, etc.

With Thanksgiving in Mind…

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Photo: John Winthrop (Courtesy of Wikipedia).

City upon a Hill
John Winthrop, 1630

Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is to follow the counsel of Micah, “to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God.”

For this end, we must be knit together in this work as one man; we must entertain each other in brotherly affection; we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities; we must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience and liberality; we must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together. Always having before our eyes our Commission and Community in the work, and our Community as members of the same body, so shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

The Lord will be our God and delight to dwell among us as his own people and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of his wisdom, power, goodness and truth then formerly we have been acquainted with.

We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies, when he shall make us a praise and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations, “the Lord make it like that of New England.”

For we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world; we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God’s sake; we shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

And to shut up this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel: Deut. 30. “Beloved, there is now set before us life, and good, death and evil in that we are commanded this day: to love the Lord our God, and to love one another; to walk in his ways and to keep his Commandments and his Ordinance, and his laws, and the Articles of our Covenant with him; that we may live and be multiplied, and that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whether we go to possess it.

But if our hearts shall turn away so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced and worship other Gods — our pleasures, and profits — and serve them, it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.

Therefore let us choose life,
that we, and our Seed,
may live; by obeying his
voice, and cleaving to him,
for he is our life, and
our prosperity.

DCML: the Disney Comics Mailing List

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DCML gets mentioned in my circles quite a bit, but it took me a bit of digging to find out where it was!

Anyway, since I like y’all so very much, I’ll make it easy for you: if you want to learn far more about Disney Comics then you ever thought possible, swing on over to the Disney Comics Mailing List and sign up! It’s free! Folks around the world participate! Some messages are in foreign languages!

But yeah, I get a kick out of it. =)