Larry's Gone (this good life ends)

We all get by with a little help from our friends, to quote the Beatles. It is certainly true when it comes to me and Christian Music. Larry Norman has been with me almost from the beginning. He died last week at the age of 60. I'll miss him.

And Now: A Quiz! About "The Little Details"

Here's the quiz: Find the problems with this man's approach to Mormonism. The timer is running. Okay, go!

My Trip to the Christian Bookstore, Part II

I admit it, I get depressed at the Christian Book Store. Why? Because their books are dumb. The three books above are marketed with multiple faces and all over the place!

Books by the kind of authors I think are good for Christians are no where to be found. Where is Piper? Where is Mahaney? Where is Driscoll? Where is Edith Schaeffer? Where is Francis Schaeffer? Lewis is there, but beyond the Chronicles of Narnia, not well represented. Where are the reformers? Where are the Puritans? Where are the great missionary books? Where are the great biographies? Where are books that matter? They are not there.

Look at the Bibles, so I do. What do I find? Trendy, packaged editions made to appeal to this section of society or that. Good study Bibles? Rare. Translations? Well the NIV is always well represented. Not many options in NASB nor ESV. Just a few.

Commentaries? Can I just say the selection stinks and leave it at that?

But if I want my best life now, I can find it in book form. If I want books all about how to live a successful and happy life here in America, they are a dime a dozen (just an expression --they are more like $199.99 a dozen).

Here is the problem: Publishers are concerned about marketing what they think will sell. Retailers are concerned about marketing what they think will sell. Publishing and Retailing is a give-the-people-what-they-want business. It is not concerned with what the people need, nor what God's priorities are. If it is "Christian" in label and sells, then that is what is on the shelf.

The problem is compounded by American belief that consumption validates. IN other words, if a product is popular and sells well, it is considered to be a good thing. So Christians go into the book store, see what is pushed and believe that it must be good. And so, they learn fluff, and law-based living, and even heresy from their trip to the bookstore.

Solution: Thinking Christians realizing that publishers and retailers are not Apostles nor are they their pastors. The pastors are found in the church, the apostles in the Bible. What thinking Christians consume should be based on what the apostles place importance on, and pastors should impress the Bible so often and so clearly that Christians know what the Bible teaches.

The Best place to buy Christian books? Amazon.com. They're less expensive and you don't have to get depressed.

My Trip to the Christian Book Store, Part I

I went to the Christian bookstore last week to buy some Resurrection Eggs for my wife (don't ask). When there, I saw the above two books, by the same author, right next to each other. Mixed message? What do you make of it?

McClaren the Heretic

In my last sermon, I mentioned that McClaren had attacked the atonement (the payment of Christ's blood for sin). Here in this clip, you will hear him not only attack the atonement but the doctrine of hell.

Here's what I want to know: Why is Brian McClaren accepted in Evangelical circles as a Christian teacher? He has taught at Willow Creek. He writes regularly for Leadership Journal. His books are found in Christian book stores.

He is saying that Jesus being punished in our place is akin to someone kicking their dog because they are mad at another. He is implying that Christ did not die to receive our punishment by substitution. Furthermore, he is claiming that the doctrine of hell being a place of punishment makes the cross into false advertising. This man is not only a heretic, but he is denying the central doctrine of Christianity, for Paul said, "I have determined to know nothing except Christ and Him crucified."

McClaren should not be known as a Christian teacher.

Should We Laugh or Cry?

This is Rick Joyner, a self-proclaimed prophet. Read what he wrote below. Does anyone take someone like this seriously? Should we laugh? Cry?


"I then felt compelled to look at those who were sitting on the thrones we were passing. As I did, my gaze fell upon a man whom I knew was the apostle Paul. As I looked back at the Lord, He motioned for me to speak to him.

"'I have so looked forward to this' I said, feeling awkward but excited by this meeting. 'I know that you are aware of just how much your letters have guided the church, and they are probably still accomplishing more than all the rest of us put together. You are still one of the greatest lights on the earth.'

"'Thank you,' he said graciously. 'But you do not understand just how much we have looked forward to meeting you. You are a soldier in the last battle; you are the ones whom everyone here is waiting to meet. We only saw these days dimly through our limited prophetic vision, but you have been chosen to live in them. You are a soldier preparing for the last battle. You are the ones for whom we are all waiting.'

"Still feeling awkward, I continued, 'But there is no way that I can convey the appreciation that we feel for you, and all who helped to set our course with their lives and their writings. I also know that we will have an eternity for exchanging our appreciation, so please, while I am here, let me ask, 'What would you say to my generation that will help us in this battle?'

"'I can only say to you now what I have already said to you through my writings. I would have you to understand them better by knowing that I fell short of all that I was called to do,' Paul stated, looking me resolutely in the eyes.

"'But you are here, in one of the greatest thrones. You are still reaping more fruit for eternal life than any of us could ever hope to reap,' I protested.

"'By the grace of God I was able to finish my course, but I still did not walk in all that I was called to. I fell short of the highest purposes that I could have walked in. Everyone has. I know that some think that is blasphemy to think of me as anything less than the greatest example of Christian ministry, but I was being honest when I wrote near the end of my life that I was the greatest of sinners. I was not saying that I have been the greatest of sinners, but that I was the greatest of sinners then. I had been given so much to understand, and I walked in so little of it.'" (The Final Quest, Rick Joyner, Morning Star Publications, 1996, pp. 131-132.)