I want to kick off “quotes week” on a serious note, but the Monkey song was just too darned funny. Anyway, here’s my original Monday post:

“…how is it that CJ Mahaney can make 5 references to his pride and arrogance in his blog, [and] that’s somehow celebrated as humility… [but Larry Tomczak] is confronted with observations of pride and arrogance, prayerfully considers these observations, repents of his sin, writes a letter to this effect that is distributed to the entire ministry, steps down from leadership, and submits to months of disciplinary consequences… [only to be considered] ‘disqualified’ to lead a church?

“I’m sorry. But this woman’s posts—more than any others (b/c she was obviously involved in this process)—has convinced me that Sovereign Grace is a cult.”

(comment by “SGM Casualty” on SGM Survivors)

This website is blowing the lid off of the corruption and poor leadership that’s been allowed to fester in Sovereign Grace Ministries, due to years of fear, control, and cultic tactics. It’s heartbreaking to hear some of the stories from former members; moreso to hear the ensuing silence from SGM leadership.

There’s nasty stuff in there, folks, but C.J. et al seem to want to just circle the wagons. Honestly? I think that’s worse than anything that’s being said over on the blog (and new message board).

“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.“ — Ephesians 5:11 (ESV)

UPDATE: On Friday, March 14th, Eric Simmons spoke to the singles at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD. You can download the MP3 of his talk, but what I find most interesting is this particular quote (beginning at the 13:49 mark):

I’m also concerned because at this point in time, we are at the pinnacle of the Information Age. You can in an instant find tons of information on any subject you want on Google. Do you realize that Google allows you to be one step away from a lot of heresies?

There are a lot of heretics out there with a lot of false teachings that have blogs. And it’s phenomenal to me in our age now, that what is represented on the Internet is now seen as fact, and authority, and truth! And the reality? Most of these guys who are writing blogs are 24-year-old guys living in their moms’ basement, sitting there in their underwear! That’s what they’re doing! They’ve got a robe on, and they’re just typing away. And they’re typing away their false teaching, which is honestly a bunch of garbage.

It’s out there! It’s just one click away.

I would humbly submit that this is nothing more than fear-based propaganda. (I would also like to point out that C.J. Mahaney, Josh Harris and Eric Simmons are all bloggers–Eric doubly so, as he also writes for the New Attitude blog.)

UPDATE #2: I seem to have driven the “Orthodoxy Underground” further underground, as can be attested by Google’s cached versions of these Blogger profiles. (Thanks to Elaine Hooton for pointing out that the blog was apparently taken down.) I don’t know much of anything about the blog (it was private; you had to be pre-approved by their admins just to read it), but apparently (according to Google) Thabiti Anyabwile, Justin Buzzard and Ricky Alcantar were all members of the blog. So why’d they delete the whole thing, just a few days after this matter came up?

UPDATE #3: Bugger. The Google Cache link doesn’t work anymore. Well, it just listed the Blogger profiles for Eric, Thabiti, Justin and Ricky (and showed them as linked to the Orthodoxy Underground site). Thanks to Dan for catching this one!

UPDATE #4: What do I mean by “cult”? Find out here.

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If it doesn’t have a tail it’s not a monkey—even if it has a monkey kind of shape—if it doesn’t have a tail it’s not a monkey! If it doesn’t have a tail it’s not a monkey… it’s an ape.

Have you ever wondered how to tell the difference between the two? Larry the Cucumber comes to our rescue once again in this Silly Song from The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s:

The kids love listening to WJTL’s Kids’ Cookie Break every Saturday morning, and this song has gotten frequent airplay. Joshua’s been walking around saying “monkey” over and over again. Especially pointing to Jakey, our stuffed gorilla (which is an ape).

Oh, and I guess since this is St. Patrick’s Day (BTW, today I’m wearing red—the anti-green!) I ought to send you off to watch Big Idea’s St. Patrick flannel-graph biography.

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It’s now been three years since I started this blog, and so I’m doing a little bit of reminiscing. Gosh, I’ve sure put on some weight since then! (Glad I’m now losing some of that!)

I also can’t help but notice that a far greater proportion of my posts focused on Gemstone Publishing’s Disney comic books. Nowadays I’m far more likely to talk politics. (Hey, I found it interesting!)

But you know what I found even more striking? Back then, I would tend to just post a quote from a book, article or sermon. You know, the way Josh Sowin likes to blog. These days I tend to feel guilty if I don’t inject some of my own commentary.

But tough noogies, Travis! Because as part of my plan to celebrate these past three years of blogging, I’m going to goof around get back to my roots with Quotes Week! “What is Quotes Week,” you ask? Silly human! Each day I’ll post a quote (maybe a couple if they’re closely related) and very little personal commentary. You will then be led to marvel at the intelligence of others, rather than marveling at my own intelligence (which, let’s face it, is what typically happens around here).

Hopefully y’all don’t notice this is a dumb excuse to not write much enjoy it as much as I do!

Ooh! Ooh! And there’s a special, secret surprise in the works! I don’t want to reveal too much about it right now, but something super-fun will be happening on April 10th! So mark your calendars, folks! You heard it here first… primarily because nobody else knows about it.

I feel extra goofy all of a sudden. I wonder if it’s more from the lack of sleep, the Benadryl, or the giddiness that is writing whatever the heck I want to!

Woo-hoo! Go, diphenhydramine, go!

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Starting today, and continuing every Friday Thursday (until I get tired of it), I’m going to highlight some books you can get absolutely free! For now at least, I’m focusing on books made available through WOWIO. I’ve been getting book from them for over a year now, and I love it! (Disclosure Statement: I have no affiliation with Wowio. I just love what they do.)

This week’s focus is socio-political:

Common Sense
Thomas Paine

Good ol’ Tommy sits atop the pinnacle of political satire. If you’re a budding satirist (this includes anyone who likes to comment on blog posts), you need to read this work. A few times.

The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Whether you’re a budding pro-Obama Commie or a conservative who’s heard rumors that the United States’ government isn’t as democratic or republican as we’ve been led to believe, this book has something for you. Go ahead: grab it and see just how Communistic our government has already become. I’d say McCarthy lost this battle…

The Art of War
Sun Tzu and William Lidwell

Speaking of battles: if you’re going to wage a war, this is the only must-read book on the subject. Period. (Or so I’ve heard.)

There you go! Short and sweet, because these books are HUGE! You’re gonna need all the time you can get just to skim over them this weekend!

At WOWIO, readers can legally download high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles.

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So what Very Important Issues did my Representative weigh in on yesterday?

• House Resolution 924: Congratulating Iowa State University of Science and Technology for 150 years of leadership and service to the United States and the world as Iowa’s land-grant university. [full text]
• House Resolution 948: Congratulating the University of Kansas (”KU”) football team for winning the 2008 FedEx Orange Bowl and having the most successful year in program history. [full text]
• House Resolution 493: Congratulating the women’s water polo team of the University of California, Los Angeles, for winning the 2007 NCAA Division I Women’s Water Polo National Championship, and congratulating UCLA on its 100th NCAA sports national title, making it the most accomplished athletic program in NCAA history. [full text]

Yep, yep… there’s lots of tough choices to make when you’re a U.S. Representative. And I’m sure my fellow 16th Districters can join me in saying, “thank you, Rep. Pitts, for congratulating those Universities and their sports teams! That is precisely why we elected you, sir. Keep up the good work.”

Oh, and then there was this silly little matter of the President vetoing HR 2082 (the House of Representatives’ ‘08 Intelligence Authorization Act). There was a House vote to override the veto, and Rep. Pitts voted “nay.” (Yawn.) Let’s get back to important stuff, like sports… okay?

By the way: you may be wondering, “why did the President veto this bill anyway? I thought our ‘War on Terror’ was crippled until this Act was approved!” Well, it seems there is a Very Important Reason. Now, his veto message includes a few reasons, but the primary one seems to be this: “…the bill would harm our national security by requiring any element of the Intelligence Community to use only the interrogation methods authorized in the Army Field Manual on Interrogations. It is vitally important that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) be allowed to maintain a separate and classified interrogation program.”

So the President doesn’t really care about you and your family’s risk from potential terrorist plots; his only concern is to be able to conduct “interrogations” (read:torture) outside of any legal restrictions or oversight.

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