IllumiNations!

ME CHURCH!

This is a YOUTUBE clip that poignantly captures the dilemma facing many churches and pastors.  We live in an age when all of the marketing and focus of the media is about ME and what I want.  As a pastor, I too am regularly tempted to try to do all I can to make our church comfortable and pleasing to those who might attend.  While I think it is OK to be a little "SEEKER FRIENDLY", we must fight to truly make our churches more Holy Spirit friendly, and be a place that is welcoming to God and his Presence.  We must also contend to do all we can to not feed the selfish tendencies of fallen human nature.  ENJOY!

Remembering The Day Our Nation Was Shaken

As I sit in my bedroom watching the San Diego Chargers school the Oakland Raiders, I cannot help but think of that infamous day 5 years ago when our great nation was shaken by the worst single terrorist attack in world history.  As I'm sure most of you have noticed, the last couple of weeks have seen a saturation of media programming that is memorializing 9/11.  It seems everybody has an opinion from every side of the political perspective with some slant that will ultimately have an effect upon some state or national race for office.  The single point that is most amazing to me is the simple fact that 5 years later, we have not had another attack upon American soil!

When the towers fell, the Pentagon was struck, and some very brave men rushed the cockpit of Flight 93 to keep it from hitting the Capital, I was dumbfounded and quite sure that we were in for ongoing strikes and a huge loss of life.  I thank God that is not the case so far.  I can sit quite secure within my home and enjoy a football game without fear, while men and women who love life as much as I do protect our nation in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.  Though I have had misgivings about the war in Iraq from the beginning, I am convinced that our brave men and women fighting the terrorists need to finish what they started with our prayers and support. 

September 11th, 2001 was a surreal day that has forever changed the way this generation of Americans think about the world, Islam, religion, security and what a true hero is.  On that day, we once again came to see that police officers, firefighters and emergency workers were everyday hero's who modeled the ultimate example of sacrifice and love for their fellow man.  In the day and age of  American Idol, baby Suri and Brangelina, it is so good to be reminded that the most important things in life have very little to do with what the tabloids have to say.  I'll take a soldier, sailor, airman, marine, police officer or firefighter over the pop icons of our time any day!

Sadly, it seems the short-term revival of Christian fervor in response to the attacks has passed, and that our slide into moral filth and complacency has continued.  As we remember that day, may those of us who consider ourselves followers of Jesus Christ, awaken to our duty to be salt and light and do all we can to lead our neighbors to the knowledge of the truth that is in Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, may we remember that it is the Lord who watches and protects a city and a nation and not the strength of a military.  He is the One who is shaking nations and testing the hearts of men.  In this time of great sifting, let us turn to Jesus, repent of our sin and lukewarmness, and stand in the gap for the protection, preservation and awakening of this great nation.

Psalm 127:1b -  If the LORD does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless; if the LORD does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard. GNB

Hebrews 12:26-27 -  At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."  This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken--that is, things that have been made--in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ESV

Tags: 9/11, Iraq, war in Iraq, terrorism, Twin Towers, WTC, World Trade Centers, soldiers, security, prayer, God, Jesus, memorial

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THE SAD DEATH OF THE CROCODILE HUNTER

The most widely covered news story of the last day has no doubt been the tragic death of Steve Irwin, the famous Crocodile Hunter of Animal Planet fame.  It seems that Steve was doing a documentary on ocean predators and had his heart pierced by a stingray. 

I have seen very few people in my life who loved what they did more than Steve Irwin.  I have witnessed even fewer who were so completely sold out to a vision and life passion like he was.  I already miss him!

I have marveled for years at the man's incredible abandonment to the cause of animal conservation and making the most fearful creatures in the world lovable in an awe-inspiring kind of way.  Steve himself said on many occasions that one of his main goals was to expose people to the beauty and wonder of animals most of us have nightmares about. He knew that if people saw and experienced the animals as he did, they would do more to protect them.

I don't know if Steve Irwin knew Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, but based upon things he said on his program, I doubt it.  I do know that God is the great Designer and Creator, and that it was He who put this passion in Steve Irwin so that all of us could experience the glory of the creation.  I only hope that Steve's wife and two children will follow the link that exists between Creator and creature and find comfort and refuge in the one who made this man who pursued His life call with such wide-eyed wonder.

Men like Steve Irwin are a great example to us of the kind of single-focused vision that is lacking in so much of the church world today.  He knew what he was made to do and did it with a zeal and love that puts many of us to shame.  It is not my goal to condemn or judge, but to merely point out the great need we have in our time to be completely captivated by a vision of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. 

After all, we know the One who made "the beauties" that Steve Irwin always excitedly exclaimed praise for.  We know the One who made Steve Irwin such a pleasure and joy to watch.  It is His image in Steve that left all of us continually saying, "WOW, did you see that?"

HERE IS A NICE TRIBUTE VIDEO

One More Help To Refute THE DA VINCI CODE

Maybe you are saying as many are, "enough on THE DA VINCI CODE already", but I thought it might be helpful to give you one more tool to help you refute Da Vinci quite simply.  Here is an article from Associate Editor Collin Hansen of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, that deals with THE FIVE BIG QUESTIONS FROM THE DA VINCI CODE.  I have simply copied and pasted it into my post as it appears on the site.

5 Big Questions from The Da Vinci Code
A brief guide.
by Christianity Today magazine Associate Editor Collin Hansen

Already an international publishing sensation, The Da Vinci Code now is a feature film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks. The compelling story written by Dan Brown blurs the line between fact and fiction, so moviegoers have joined readers wondering about the origins and legitimacy of orthodox Christianity. This guide offers brief answers to five important questions.

1. Was Jesus married to Mary Magdalene?
No. Mary Magdalene was certainly close to Jesus. She wept at Jesus' tomb (John 20). Jesus even entrusted her to return and tell the disciples about his resurrection. But we have no reason to believe they were married. Brown says that Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper reveals the secret. He writes that the figure to Jesus' right, traditionally known as the apostle John, is actually Mary. Not true. Artists often gave characters feminine features to portray youth. John was the youngest of the disciples.

Brown correctly observes that few Jewish men of Jesus' day did not marry. But why, then, did the apostle Paul, himself celibate, not mention Jesus and Mary when he argued that apostles could marry (1 Cor. 9:5)?

2. What about these alternative gospels that aren't in the New Testament?
It's true that the Bible did not arrive as a "fax from heaven," as Brown writes. The New Testament canon in its current form was first formally attested in 367. Nevertheless, church leaders applied important standards when compiling the Bible. Authors of accepted writings needed to have walked and talked with Jesus, or at least with his leading disciples. Their teaching could not contradict what other apostles had written, and their documents must have been accepted by the entire church, from Jerusalem to Rome. Church leaders considered earlier letters and reports more credible than later documents. Finally, they prayed and trusted the Holy Spirit to guide their decisions.

The so-called Gnostic gospels, many discovered just last century, did not meet these criteria. Many appeared much later than the Bible and were dubiously attributed to major Christian leaders. Their teachings contrasted with what apostles like Paul had written. For example, many Gnostic writings argued that Jesus did not appear in the flesh, because flesh is evil, or they rejected the Old Testament.

3. Were there really competing Christianities during the early church?
Yes—in the sense there were many disputes about the nature of Jesus. And the church has done its best to vanquish challengers to orthodoxy. Once the church decided against the Gnostic writings, they gathered and burned all the Gnostic manuscripts they could find.

Later church councils convened to discuss other threats to Christian orthodoxy. Constantine, the first Roman emperor to make Christianity legal, called the most important of these meetings in 325. Leaders from around the Christian world gathered in Nicea, where they debated Arianism, which taught that God created Jesus. Brown writes that Constantine called this council so he could introduce a new divine Jesus on par with the Father. On the contrary, documents from before Nicea show that most followers of Jesus already called him LORD, the Yahweh of the Old Testament. The church leaders at Nicea rejected Arianism and affirmed that God and Jesus existed together from the beginning in the Trinity. This council produced the first drafts of what became the Nicene Creed, a landmark explanation of Christian belief.

4. What is Opus Dei?
A conservative religious group within the Roman Catholic Church. Opus Dei urges priests and laypeople to strenuously pursue sanctification through everyday discipline. The group has taken criticism for its conservative views, zeal, and secretive practices. There is no evidence that Opus Dei has resorted to murder; nor has the Vatican entrusted Opus Dei to violently guard the church's deepest secrets, as Dan Brown claims in The Da Vinci Code.

5. Does the Priory of Sion really exist?
Yes, but not as described by Brown. Researchers suspect that members of the real-life Priory of Sion, founded in 1956, forged documents that placed major historical figures—such as Isaac Newton and Leonard da Vinci—in an ancient secret society. There is no evidence for this group beyond dubious documents. Any story relating this group to a dynasty begun by Jesus and Mary Magdalene is a fanciful work of fiction.

Collin Hansen is associate editor of Christianity Today (www.christianitytoday.com). For more Christianity Today coverage, visit www.ChristianityToday.com/go/DaVinci

Tags: Da Vinci Code, Movies, Books, Christianity, Jesus, Mary Magdalene

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