Rocky III in Spanish!!!

Friday night Kristal and I watched the last 3o min of the classic "Rocky III" on the Spanish Channel (yep, that's right--Date night! All you men who need ideas, come to me). Just to let you know, it was just as good in Spanish as it was in English. I think this should be the litmus test for manly movies. You know a movie is just for men if you can watch it in Spanish with just as much pleasure as you can in English.
Rocky's redone Spanish voice was pretty funny, as was his Spanish speaking opponent--Mr. T.
Although the Latino's have ruined the great drama of Rocky III for those who don't know Spanish, they cannot ruin the fighting. Although I didn't understand a word that Mr. T said, I saw him grit his teeth, stare down Rocky, land a few good body shoots, and I think I heard a "stupido" once or twice. Sorry Spanish Channel--if you want your channel to be completely useless to us stupid Americans, you are going to have start playing movies that arn't so manly!

Lewis on the Deity of Christ

It has been a long while since I have given good ole C. S. Lewis a hearing. I transferred to Liberty University and am finishing my degree online (I will be done in August–Lord willing), and I am taking an apologetics class. For this class I get to read "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis. I read the great majority of it about four years ago while getting my undergrad degree. It is such a blessing to revisit it. Lewis was such a brilliant man. I want to post a quote from "Mere Christianity" regarding the deity of Christ. I wish I could introduce this quote with as much profundity (haha–what up, that’s a real word, and it’s profound) as Lewis penned it (yep, silly to even try). Anyways, behold the glory and authority of our great Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the God-man.

"One part of the claim tends to slip past us unnoticed because we have heard it so often that we no longer see what it amounts to. I mean the claim to forgive sins: any sins. Now unless the speaker is God, this is really so preposterous as to be comic. We can all understand how a man forgives offences against himself. You tread on my toe and I forgive you, you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden on, who announced that he forgave you for treading on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money? Asinine fatuity is the kindest description we should give of his conduct. Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if he was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offenses. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin. In the mouth of any speaker who is not God, these words would imply what I can only regard as silliness and conceit unrivaled by any other character in history."

Time for a New Poll!!!

I was surprised to see hot chocolate win the last poll. I thought for sure that it would have either been coffee or espresso/cappuccinno. This poll thing has sort of become the highlight of my life over the past few weeks (just kidding). If anyone wants to express themselves about why they choose what they do you can leave comments on this post.

Thoughts on Health

As of late I have become increasingly more aware of the brevity of life. I am 26 years old now and am sneaking upon my 10th year high school reunion (which I probably won't go to). Thoughts of aging have caused me to reconsider the way I live my life. Just recently I have started wearing ear plugs and protective eye wear while doing the lawn. I also make sure that I never listen to loud music. I just cannot imagine the thought, as a minister of the Gospel, of losing my hearing, sight, voice, or energy.

While I was living in Kansas City I was mentored by one of the most godly people I know (Rod). Rod was a very interesting man--he was one of those who always looked at things from a unique vantage point. Rod and I used to meet once a week for the sake of edifying one another through the Scriptures. One of the things that Rod always talked about was the importance of health. This is something I have not heard many Christians speak about, which is sort of strange considering the present obesity phenomenon in America. Rod's approach to this problem was extremely insightful. Having become more aware of the brevity of life has caused me to rethink much of what Rod shared with me.

Here are some of his insights: Do not pursue health as an end in itself, rather pursue it for the sake of the Gospel. If you pursue health for any reason other than the Gospel, you put yourself in danger of forsaking the Gospel for the sake of health. This is ultimately seen in those who work out 2-4 hours a day, but somehow cannot find time for the study of Scripture, evangelism, and prayer. The purpose of pursuing health is so that you may become a greater servant of Christ and His message.

One may wonder how pursuing health can make you a greater servant of Christ and His message. Well, the reality is that those who actively pursue health live longer lives. No, not all of those who actively pursue health live longer, however those who pursue health generally live longer lives--thus they are able to serve the Lord for a longer period of time. The man who does not pursue health, even if he outlives others, will not have as great of a capacity of doing the demanding work of ministry as one who actively pursues health.

Christianity benefits from crusty old men (props to Jim Ott for this crude saying) who are healthy and energetic enough to mentor young men. In our present day context, retired pastors are barely healthy/energetic enough to come to the Sunday morning service, let alone healthy/energetic enough to take young spirit-filled men by the hand, leading by example.
Of course, some of these health issues could never be avoided through hard work, however many of these issues can and should be avoided.

Kristal and I have decided to change our eating habits--we keep an eye on ingredients and implement portion control (which is a tuffy for me). I am not here talking about dieting, I am talking about a change of lifestyle (a lifetime diet). What is the purpose? The Gospel! I want to be a servant of Christ and His message not just today, tomorrow, or 10 years from now. I want to be a servant of Christ and His message as long as He keeps me alive on this earth. Anything that gets in the way of me serving Christ and His message on this earth needs to be removed if at all possible.

There is danger of going overboard, which is why Christ and His message must be the purpose of pursuing health.

Rod also talked about the importance of godly men loving and laying down their lives for the sake of their wives as long as they possibly can. What a shame it is when men die early leaving a wife and children behind because of avoidable poor health.

Many men, although not dead, have become virtually useless. They have become so unhealthy that they are forced to rely upon their wives to provide and take care of them. I am not here dogging on those who have fallen into an unfortunate/unavoidable circumstance--I am talking about those who could have avoided such circumstances through (even minimal) preventive actions.

Men, we have a responsiblity to take care of our bodies for the sake Christ, His message, the lost, our wives, and children. Is anyone with me here?

Any thoughts? Any commitments?

Pickles Won!

Maybe I am a geek, but I thought the pickles/relish poll was quite fun. I figured that pickles would win, but not by such a landslide. I wonder how much money I could make if I sold these findings to George Barna and his geeky statisticians. I would like to start a new poll, but i need to think of something cool and exhilirating first. Anyways, I guess this makes me an official geek--can't win em all.

Derek's Back!

I am happy to report that Derek Webb has (atleast temporarily) reunited with Caedmon's Call. Anyone who knows me well enough to know my middle name knows that I am an avid Caedmon's Call junkie. After all, was it not I (and Garrett) who invented Caedmon's Call pictionary? I think it was. Caedmon's Call definitely needs Derek Webb--he really is the glue of that band, AND Derek Webb definitely needs Caedmon's Call--they restrain his overly inventive tendencies. Honestly, the Lord has used Caedmon's Call's music to draw me closer to himself. I received Caedmon's new CD as a birthday gift and am thorougly enjoying it. I recommend it to all of you who wish to be in the very "center" of God's will--just kidding. The Lord has graced us with talented musicians who write and sing for the purpose of glorifying God, edifying the saints, and entertaining the people of God (which by the way, you sticks in the mud, is a good thing). Caedmon's Call (with Derek Webb) is one of the few bands who succeed at all three of these things. You can purchase this cd at www.caedmonscall.com

That's The Spot!

Today Kristal and I went to the Hopkinton Fair. We had a wonderful day. We saw many exciting things, including a cow who apparently liked the feel of a cool breeze upon his behind!

Fun in the Sun

Baby James is getting quite larger these days. He still wears the title "Cranky Pants." I haven't updated about his status for quite a while. He is g-tubeless and doing well.

1 John and Assurance Part II

So, on what basis does the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John assure his readers that they have eternal life? Lets take a look. In 1 John 1:6-7 John says, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." If you do not walk in the light, then you can have no assurance that the "blood of Jesus His Son cleanses" you from your all your sin. What does it mean to walk in the light? It is very clear from the context that walking in the light has to do with obedience to the commands of God. The question is, Do you walk in the light; Do you walk in obedience to the commands of Christ? If not, you can have no assurance that you have eternal life. We must look at this in a positive light as well. After all, John wrote this to provide his readers with assurance. If you walk in the light, if you live in obedience to the commands of Christ you can have great assurance that you have eternal life. Rejoice!

John in no way is here teaching that you must flawlessly walk in the light. NO! John is not teaching that only those who live lives of perfect obedience can have assurance that they have eternal life. This is such a big deal that John, in the very next verse, says that "if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We also know that John is not here saying that assurance of salvation is given only to those who flawlessly walk in the light because just 4 verses after saying this he says, "And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

This is such a difficult thing to communicate to people today because of a tendency to oversimplify things. Yes, we do have an advocate with the Father if we do sin, however it is true that you can have no assurance that you have eternal life if you, as a lifestyle, walk in the darkness. We all falter, we all mess up, however those who truly have eternal life, as a lifestyle, walk in the light.


So let us ask the beloved Apostle John, "JOHN! How can I know that I have eternal life?" Hear the words of the Holy Spirit through his Apostle, ""If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:6-7)


Let us move on to 1 John 2:3-6, "By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked."


I do not know how John could have made this any clearer. "Beloved John, how can I know that I have eternal life, how can I know that I have saving faith?" Let me ask you a question, "Do you keep the commandments of God? If not, then you can have no assurance that you have eternal life, however if you do keep His commandments then rejoice for you have eternal life." Once again, John is not saying that keeping the commandments of Christ in some way merit salvation, rather he is saying that keeping the commandments of Christ is that which gives the professor of faith assurance that they have true saving faith.


Notice how emphatic John is here when he says, "The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep his commandments, is a liar." Let us imagine that John were to somehow be thrown into our present day context. Well, one day he decides to go to Starbucks to enjoy the wonderful flavors of rich espresso. He goes the counter, get his drink, and then takes his seat on one of those oh so wonderful wooden chairs with the wide seats to fit our large bottoms. After sitting for a few minutes sipping his cup of joe he notices a well dressed man come in through the door. As the man walks by the Apostle John stops him and says, "Hello friend, are you a Christian?" The well dressed man smiles at John and says, "Why yes, I am. I excepted Jesus into my heart a few years ago." John then looks at him and says, "Would you like to sit and drink coffee with me."


After ordering his drink the man comes back to the table and the two begin to talk. Their conversation starts by them telling their testimonies. After hearing about this man’s entrance into Christianity John then asks him, "Brother, so tell me how you life has changed since you have believed on the Lord Jesus." The man sort of hangs his head and says, "Well, I don’t have much time for my faith. Even though I am a follower of Christ I really haven’t changed all that much since I first accepted Christ. I mean, I know and love God and everything, but to be honest, the only real change in my life is that I have a semi-new set of beliefs and I go to church once or twice a month. I mean, I still get drunk most weekends, never read my Bible, and am not all that honest with my wife, but hey, none of us is perfect."


What would John’s response to this man be? Well, look at what he says in this verse. I suspect that John would say, "What, you know and love God? No you don’t, you are a liar, because the evidence that you know God is that you keep His commandments." John actually calls the one who claims to know God and yet does not keep His commandments a liar. Once again, John here speaking of a life style of disobedience to the commands of Christ. The one who sincerely struggles in their battle with sin need not go away thinking themselves damned to hell.



However, the one who is using the reality that they are imperfect and the reality of a graced based salvation as a crutch they use to justify their sin ought to be concerned for their soul. The one who, as a lifestyle, lives in disobedience to the commands of Christ ought to be concerned for their soul.

More on this later.

1 John and Assurance

John very clearly states his purpose for writing the book of 1 John in 1 John 5:13. "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." John here is not answering the question, "what must I do to be saved?" He is answering the question, "how can I know that I have eternal life," or "how can I know that I have true saving faith." John is here dealing with those who are doubting their salvation. If John were answering the question, "what must I do to be saved," he would definitely answer, "by grace through faith." But this is not John’s purpose, rather he is writing to give his hearers assurance that they truly have eternal life.

This is a question that those who profess Christianity have always asked, "Pastor how can I know that I have eternal life?" It is an amazing thing that John wrote the book of 1st John to answer this question, and yet pastors/believers never use it to give assurance to those who are questioning their salvation. In today’s context, rather than using the clear teaching of the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John, Pastor’s deal with the doubts of their people with the popular teachings of modern day Christianity.

The way we answer those who are doubting their salvation ought to be conformed to God’s Word. Most pastors neglect the great amount of teaching in the Scriptures on this subject and simply opt to do their own thing. If someone were to come up to you and ask you, "I have received Jesus as my Lord and Savior but I am doubting my salvation, how can I know that I am truly born again," what would you say? If what you say cannot be found in Scripture then you might need to change your answer. Many do not want to change their answer because the way John deals with these doubts is so foreign to the way the majority in America deal with them today.

I want to stress again that John is not calling into question the fact that faith is enough to save. Salvation is by grace through faith. John is asking the question, "how can I know that I have the sort of faith that saves?" In today’s Christianity if someone were to approach a pastor and say, "Pastor how can I know that I have eternal life?" The pastor would respond by saying something similar to this, "Well, was there ever a time in your life when you prayed to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior; have you ever prayed the sinners prayer?" If the person answered, "Yes I have," the pastor would then say, "Well, did you sincerely mean it?" If then the person said, "Yes" again the pastor would then say, "You have nothing to worry about, you have eternal life."

Many who are reading this would have absolutely no issue with this sort of pastoral counseling because this is such a common way of counseling one who is doubting. However, we must realize that this sort of counseling is absolutely foreign to the Bible. The Bible never eases the fears of professing believers by having them recall a point in time in the past when they prayed a heartfelt prayer. When John deals with these very same fears he says nothing about a heartfelt prayer prayed in the past.

The question we need to ask is this, "on what basis does the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John give assurance to the professing believer who is doubting his/her salvation?" We need to seek to not give someone assurance that they have eternal life if the Holy Spirit does not do so in His Word. So many Pastor’s act as if the Holy Spirit simply has not spoken on this subject, but He Has! The Holy Spirit saw this as such an important issue that he put it into the heart of the Apostle John to write a whole 5 chapter letter on it.

Lets say, for the sake of the argument, that a Mormon came up to me and said, "Hey Jimmy, I want to know if I have eternal life." Imagine how you would respond if I were to say, "Well, my dear Mormon neighbor, let me ask you a question, have you refrained from the consumption of coffee and other caffeinated beverages?" For the sake of the illustration lets say that he says, "Yes!" So I respond to him, "Did you do so with a smile on your face?" Again my Mormon neighbor says, "Yes." Immediately after he responds I say, "Then you have nothing to worry about, you have eternal life." I assume that everyone who is reading this knows that this is a hypothetical situation. How would you respond to my counseling practice here? Would you not consider me a heretic? I would hope so! Why would you consider me a heretic? Would you not because I am doing this man a great disservice by giving him false assurance divorced from Scripture. Essentially, I am giving him a false assurance.

Never for one moment think you are being a biblical minister because you are easing the fears of those who are doubting their salvation. Biblical counselors and ministers seek to give assurance that is based upon a clear understanding of the Word of God. God is not pleased with those who simply ease the fears of the people. In fact, this is why He railed against the false prophets in the OT saying, "You proclaim ‘Peace, Peace’ where there is no peace" (Jer 6:14). What is God saying here? He is saying that His biggest issue with the false prophets is that their only purpose is to provide assurance and peace without a care as to whether the peace preached is true or false.

I do not want to make a hard connection to genuine modern day pastors and OT false prophets, however both essentially are committing the same error. They both give false assurance to their hearers. OT false prophets did everything they could to convince the Israelites that they had nothing to worry about, they tried to convince them that their enemies were not going to come and destroy them, but they did not have one biblical reason for doing so. Modern day pastors do everything to convince those who have simply prayed a prayer that they have no reason to question or doubt their salvation, however they say this without having one biblical reason for doing so. It would be completely different if the Bible was not full of information on how one can have assurance as to whether they are truly born again or not. The fact is that God has given us more than enough information when it comes to counseling the fears of those who are doubting. But, pastors counsel as if God has not said one thing on this issue.

More on this later. For the time being, check it out. Dig your big fat noses (kidding) into the book of 1 John to see how John deals with these fears and concerns. Dig your big fat noses into the book of 1 John to see on what basis the Holy Spirit gives assurance of salvation to the one professing faith in Christ.