Christopher Hitchens, an outspoken atheist and anti-theist, entered into a written debate with the witty pastor and theologian, Douglas Wilson. The debate was sponsored by Christianity Today. The assigned topic of debate was “Is Christianity good for the world?”

Hitchens argues the negative, proposing that Christianity (or any other religion) is not necessary for morality and that a great deal of evil is regularly perpetrated in the name of God. Furthermore, a God like the God of the Bible is nothing more, Hitchens says, than a praise-hungry tyrant who uses and abuses people to accomplish whatever he wants. Douglas Wilson argues that Christianity is good because it is objectively true, changes peoples’ hearts for the better, and gives people at enmity with God a means to be reconciled to God. In each of the exchanges, he reveals the irrationality of Hitchens’ beliefs, in that Hitchens makes many moral judgments but has no objective moral standard to appeal to. He is arguing as if there is a God, while denying His existence. Hitchens was unable to give a response to this challenge.

The full text of the debate is available on Christianity Today’s website and has been compiled into the book Is Christianty Good for the World? by Canon Press. Each author is very articulate and a joy to read. At 72 well-written pages, it is easily a book that you could read in one sitting, and I recommend doing so, followed by a slower more thoughtful perusing. The content was superb.

In my opinion, this exchange is MUST reading for the Christian and atheist alike. This really exchange represented the clash of two absolutely opposing world systems and the foundations of each were revealed. Read the book slowly trying to understand each side’s position. Both men were respectful, but jabbingly witty, in the exchange. Wilson was careful to rearticulate each of Hitchens’ points and respond. Wilson was consistently on topic and attacked the heart of atheism, seeking to reveal both the irrationality of Hitchens’ beliefs as well as reveal his hatred toward God. Hitchens’, Wilson argues, is acting and arguing as if there is a God (who he hates), while denying His existence. Hitchens was consistent in his attacks against Christianity and religion. Wilson replied well to each of Hitchens’ points, while Hitchens, it seems, avoided answering Wilson’s main point.

I think this book should be mandatory reading for all Christian apologists as Wilson models how to argue in a way that honors God. He modeled 2 Tim 2:23-25 and 1 Peter 3:15 in his argumentation. Wilson argued in such a way that would not grant the atheist his presuppositions, consistently attempting to bring God’s revelation of Himself in the Bible to bear on the nonbeliever. He revealed that what the Bible says about the nonbeliever is true (knows God but refuses to honor Him as God – Rom 1:21). And Wilson offered Hitchens and the readers the solution, God’s mercy made available through Jesus’ death on the cross. Wilson went toe-to-toe with one of the best atheistic minds in the world today, and God’s Word was demonstrated to be sufficient.

As you listen, album artwork or station art displays on the color screen.

Navigation is performed with the included remote control and the menus on the full color lcd screen on the device. This is the devices biggest drawback. Navigation through the menus is very very slow. There is too long of a lag while changing menus. Typing is performed using the number keypad and the letters associated with the numbers, just like old-school texting before T9. In summary, the navigation works, searching is possible, but it is far from intuitive and definitely not a joy to do. Navigational ease is what makes Apple music products so easy to use; it is the single thing that makes me not excited about the Phillips Network Music Player.

This device contains no speakers. It rather can connect to headphones or computer speakers through a 3.5 mm headphone jack. But it really shines when connected to your Hi-Fi stereo system.

Now onto the methods of actually getting music into the player:
1. Your computer: Stream your entire non-DRM music collection (MP3, WMA, DRM-free iTunes Plus, FLAC and Ogg Vorbis) to the player. Simply install the included TwonkyMedia software to your computer(s) and you will be able to access all of you songs. You better organize them in playlists, because otherwise navigation is a nightmare. It worked great once I got myself to a playlist I wanted and just let it go. But if you want to quickly find a song, expect to be pushing buttons and waiting for about a minute. Setup was a breeze.

2. Internet Radio: This feature is easy to use and works right out of the box. The player will connect to thousands of internet radio stations from all over the world (and you can add more if you sync your player to a philips.com profile). The stations are organized by genre and country. The index is searchable. This feature is free. My only complaint is that I sometimes find the buffer overrunning and I get pauses in the music. This is the fault I believe of a small buffer on the machine and limitations on speed of the station being streamed. I do wish that the player could connect to personalized stations through Pandora or Last.fm, but at this time there was no way to do that.

3. Rhapsody. With a paid subscription (and free for 30 days), the player will connect to Rhapsody's service and have access to millions of songs. Navigation is ok through Rhapsody, but I do recommend you go into your rhapsody account on your computer and set up playlists and favorites there. It will make your NP2500 usage much more enjoyable. Again navigation is the downfall here. I do wish there were options to use other less expensive or free services instead of Rhapsody. I will not be paying for Rhapsody but rather will continue to use the device to access my personal music collection and internet radio.

This could have been a great music player. I really wanted it to be. I used it for a month, hoping that the navigational downfalls would resolve as I got used to it. Yet after a month of daily use, navigation is only more frustrating. When I want to skip around I have found myself just using my iPod instead.

With a few tweaks to the navigational interface and a broadened compatibility to more types of streaming radio (i.e. Pandora etc), this device could have been great. Instead it is mediocre and probably not worth the price.

Now that you have 1 Corinthians freshly in your mind, think of where the passage in 1 Corinthians 11 lies in the flow of thought.

Chapters 8-10, Paul is exorting the Corinthians to think of others over themselves: Don't use the freedom that Christ has given you to cause another brother to stumble. In all that you do, Paul says at the end of chapter 10, glorify God and and to basically think of pleasing others above yourself; don't seek your own advantage, seek theirs. The Corinthians didn't think of themselves as part of a body, part of the church. They only thought of themselves.

Then chapter 12-14, Paul speaks of how self-centered the Corinthians have been in their use and view of gifts. They have missed the point of the gifts, which is the building up of the body in love. The Corinthians didn't think of themselves as part of a body, part of the church. They only thought of themselves.

Now right in the middle of those exortations we find Pauls discussion of the Lord's Supper. What do the bread and juice represent? The juice points to Christ's blood that flowed from his physical body, represented by the bread, which was given to purchase this body of believers: the church. Yet even at this table which should have pointed the selfish Corinthians away from themselves to see themselves as part of Christ's body, the church, they were only thinking about themselves. The Corinthians didn't think of themselves as part of a body.

They didn't discern that those gathered at the table with them were the body of Christ. That is what Paul means in chapter 11, verse 29 when he says that the Corinthians were eating and drinking without discerning the body. The body to be discerned is not just the piece of bread on the table, but the body at the table.

How well are you doing at discerning the body when you gather on Sundays or for smallgroup? What were you most aware of when you showed up today to group: pleasing yourself or pleasing those around you?

Why do you share what you share, to make yourself feel better or to build up the body and be built up by the body? In the conversations you just finished, were you more aware of yourself or using that opportunity to build up the body? Are you annoyed when the kids are noisy, or are excited that you get to serve the family by being patient? How often do you pray for this body and use your spiritual gifts to love and serve each other throughout the week?

To adapt a paragraph from Dever's chapter: "[When] we gather as Christians [at church or at smallgroup], we do not gather merely to have our personal devotions together. The [gathering] is not just your quiet time. We do not gather to pray, sing, and read Scripture like we do the other days of the week at home except that on Sundays [or Tuesdays] we do it with more people around because it is encouraging. No, we come to participate in the life of our church. And when we come, we come not as individual consumers to do our spiritual shopping for the week, seeing what's of use down this aisle of singing or down that aisle of prayer, looking over the sermon special, browsing through conversations, [or learning what's good on the theology shelf], and taking it all home in our carts for personal use. We actually assemble as a living institution, a viable organism, one body.

We will forget this, so Jesus gave us something to do together when we gather so that we do not forget this. The juice points to Christ's blood that flowed from his physical body, represented by the bread, which was given to purchase this body of believers.

As we pass the bread and juice around repent of sins where necessary and receive this gracious reminder of Christ's death that purchased Christ's body, the church. Marvel at God's gracious love and be moved by that love to love others. Then hold the bread and juice and we will, as a body together, remember Christ's body and blood given for us.

"Nothing is more manifest in fact, than that the things of religion take hold of men’s souls, no further than they affect them. There are multitudes that often hear the word of God, and therein hear of those things that are infinitely great and important, and that most nearly concern them, and all that is heard seems to be wholly ineffectual upon them, and to make no alteration in their disposition or behavior; and the reason is, they are not affected with what they hear. There are many that often hear of the glorious perfections of God, his almighty power and boundless wisdom, his infinite majesty, and that holiness of God, by which he is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity, and the heavens are not pure in his sight, and of God’s infinite goodness and mercy, and hear of the great works of God’s wisdom, power and goodness, wherein there appear the admirable manifestations of these perfections; they hear particularly of the unspeakable love of God and Christ, and of the great things that Christ has done and suffered, and of the great things of another world, of eternal misery in bearing the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, and of endless blessedness and glory in the presence of God, and the enjoyment of his dear love; they also hear the peremptory commands of God, and his gracious counsels and warnings, and the sweet invitations of the gospel; I say, they often hear these things and yet remain as they were before, with no sensible alteration in them, either in heart or practice, because they are not affected with what they hear; and ever will be so till they are affected.—I am bold to assert, that there never was any considerable change wrought in the mind or conversation of any person, by anything of a religious nature, that ever he read, heard or saw, that had not his affections moved. Never was a natural man engaged earnestly to seek his salvation; never were any such brought to cry after wisdom, and lift up their voice for understanding, and to wrestle with God in prayer for mercy; and never was one humbled, and brought to the foot of God, from anything that ever he heard or imagined of his own unworthiness and deserving of God’s displeasure; nor was ever one induced to fly for refuge unto Christ, while his heart remained unaffected. Nor was there ever a saint awakened out of a cold, lifeless flame, or recovered from a declining state in religion, and brought back from a lamentable departure from God, without having his heart affected. And in a word, there never was anything considerable brought to pass in the heart or life of any man living, by the things of religion, that had not his heart deeply affected by those things."

Jonathan Edwards
A treatise concerning religious affections (paperback, kindle, libronix, audiobook)

This morning, I was reminded of God's consuming holiness before which I could never hope to stand...apart from the cross. In an excellent devotional, I had the holiness of God expounded to me, making my heart feel the "horror of his splendor" and holiness. When I look at myself in the light of his holiness, I saw only sin, and then the devotional went on to teach me how I would be immediately destroyed like Nadab and Abihu or Uzzah if I came into contact with that holiness. "My eyes have seen the king and I'm an evil thing; woe is me for I am undone!" I cried out with the authors of this lesson. As they went on to describe God's holy attributes I wanted nothing but to be near that God, but because I'm not perfect I could never hope to stand in his presence. But then they taught, "Sin is odious; he deals severely with the lost. But friend his holiness [was] most clearly revealed at the cross. When He displayed Christ as a propitiation, to vindicate his name and show that He hates sin. His love is holy, no justice dismissed. Because His Son was crushed and suffered for this. So God can forgive sin because He finally punished it...Such an amazing display of love and grace, so we trust and praise Him who was raised for our justification."

For almost 6 minutes, Shai Linne and Timothy Brindle proclaim the holiness of God in just one of 7 amazing tracks on Lamp Mode recording's free cd: Grassroots EP. You need to head over to Lampmode and download the free tracks (or alternatively you can pay for higher quality tracks at Amazon, which I sorta recommend since these are only 96kbps mp3s). These guys continually serve me in ways that I formally knew only great books could, but in many ways it is done better, more memorably, and more engagingly than the books I have grown to love ever could. God has used these guys and many others within Lamp Mode and holy hip hop in general to stir my affections and passion for God.

Even people who think of abortion as a right of mothers to be defended at all costs are horrified. "It really disturbed me," said the president of Broward County NOW. The mother's attorney states, "The baby was treated like a piece of garbage."

We should be disturbed, angry, and we should resolve to stop this kind of murder.

But let me attempt a defense for the abortion clinic:

1. The baby was not viable anyway. This argument rings hollow now, doesn't it? Yet it is this same argument that is used to justify millions of 1st and 2nd trimester abortions anually. Nevertheless, there is no substantial difference between this murder and an abortion.
2. The mother chose: The mother did not want the baby. An 18-year-old would have a very difficult time caring for this child. The mother went into the clinic wanting the baby fetus killed aborted. She had a choice to make and she made it. Isn't this what we defend and use to justify millions of abortions anually? Yet, it somehow doesn't seem like a valid defense when the clinic worker is on the stand asking how he/she could toss a living child into a biohazard bag to die. Nevertheless, there is no substantial difference between this murder and an abortion.
3. What's the difference?: There is no substantial difference between this murder and an abortion. There was almost no difference between what would have been legal abortion and then what would be deemed murder and grounds for imprisonment and loss of medical license.
   • The baby changed location. It was inside the mother and then outside the mother. Should this affect personhood? No, location should not affect personhoood.
   • The baby's source of oxygen. One moment, the baby received oxygen in the blood from the mother, the next through its lungs. Should this affect personhood? No, source of gas exchange should not affect personhood.
   • Status under the law. One moment the killing was legal as abortion. The next moment, the killing would be called murder. Should this affect personhood? No, legal status should not affect personhood.
   • Our ability to perceive life. One moment the baby's movements, facial expressions, and very being was concealed inside the mother's body. The next, it was out for all to see. Personhood is hard to admit when it stares you in the face. Yet, out-of-sight-out-of-mind affects many moral decisions that we make. Should this affect personhood? No, others' ability to see should not affect personhood.

So my defense rests. The abortion clinic was simply being consistent with what it always does. Its job is to kill unwanted babies. They know that there is no significant deference between a fetus and a baby. So the clinic was simply being consistent.

Prolifers who are angered by this murder are being consistent. We are outraged and grieved by abortions; we are outraged and grieved by murder.

Will you be consistent? When you read the story you should rightly be saddened for a mother whose child was killed, grieved at the loss of an innocent life, and angered at those who could so callously throw a baby out like a piece of trash. But will you be consistent? If these things concerned you, are you concerned about abortion? If not, I ask you, why?

⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

It is particularly difficult to assess how well my heart is in line with commands like this that can at first glance appear very abstract. My flesh-empowered response to this command will either be to shun all things physical in order to focus on the "spiritual" (amaterialism/gnosticism) or to thoughtlessly assume that I conform pretty well to this command and continue my life unaffected. I do not want either of these responses; I want to live in this world, enjoying appropriately the things of this world, with my mind and heart set on that world that is to come. I need help to see and fight love of this world that is in me. The problem is, I'm typically blind to it. Biblically-informed questions are often useful tools to shed light into the dark recesses of my heart that I have a difficult time exposing. Today I heard from Smedly Yates two exceptional questions that I plan on asking myself regularly to help me identify, and then put to death, this sin of worldliness:

1. Is there anything that I desire so much that I would sin (steal, covet, lie, etc) in order to get it?
2. Is there anything that I have that, if lost, would cause me to sin?

Thabiti Anyabwile speaks of God's use to bring a resurgence of God honoring, cross-centered theology particularly among America's African-American youth:

So if you are looking to get started with some of the best "Holy-Hip Hop" let me suggest the following albums in the following order:

The Atonement by Shai Linne

Killing Sin by Timothy Brindle

Rebel by LeCrae

Some others:

13 Letters by 116 Clique
Anything by iSix:5 (guys from my church)
20/20 by Trip Lee
Progression & Crucible by Curtis "Voice" Allen
The Solus Christus Project & Storiez by Shai Linne

"An excellent wife, who can find?" asks King Lemuel in the inspired words of Proverbs 31:10-31.

By God's grace I have found an excellent wife. Many of the descriptions of the "Proverbs 31 woman" include wise use and earning of money while she manages the household. My wife is a genius at maximizing the money that we have, enabling me to work less and devote more of the money we have to Kingdom business. We must be very careful with our use of money. Money is not a neutral item; we cannot serve God and money (Luke 16:13). Yet we must be faithful in our use of this unrighteous thing, not lovers of it (See the parable and accompanying interpretation in Luke 16:1-13).

My wife, Kiki is well known among our family and friends as one who always knows how to find a bargain and is always saving money. She is offering a great service to all of her blog readers as she begins what will most certainly turn into an excellent series on Frugality: A Matter of the Heart at her blog, Kiki's Korner.

Might does not make right.

B.B.C. reports today that another genetically handpicked-baby was born.

Mark describes the even simply in 15:24: "And they crucified him." Mocking yet accurate, a sign hung above his head that read "King of the Jews." And while God the Son to whom all of creation was made to bow hung naked pinned to the wood by nails in his hands and feet between two robbers, "those who passed by derided him" (Mk 15:29) and "the Chief priests and the scribes mocked him" (Mk 15:31). His closest friends had fled, Peter had denied him, and the people whom He had come to save flung words of hatred at him. The eternal and sinless God the Son body was tortured with the slow misery of suffocation and bloodless; the piercing pain of nails in bone and raw flesh making even a moment's rest impossible.

But Jesus doesn't question any of this suffering. Rather He is suffering a punishment far worse than any of these. Jesus had existed in perfect, joyful, unity with God the Father since eternity past. Yet now God the Father, more powerful than we could ever imagine, is pouring out every ounce of His wrath that I and every other person He would save were owed. God the Father was crushing Him; placing all the eternal suffering of Hell on Jesus as He hung there. And Jesus cries out in a loud voice, the Rejected toward the Rejector: "'Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?' which means 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" (Mk 15:34)

What would God answer? Think about it for a second...what was God's answer? Shortly later, Jesus cries out in a loud voice Words that John records, "It is finished!" And then we see the Father's answer:

(Mk 15:38) "And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." The curtain that God tore once Jesus died was the 80-foot-tall curtain separating the Holy of Holies where God was from the rest of the temple. God was separate from the people. But God replied to Jesus question with this miraculous action: Jesus opened the way through the curtain to God. God tore the curtain to declare to us that Jesus' mission was successful: Man & God were now reconciled through the death of Christ.

That is the death we proclaim as we take the Lord's Supper.

it would not make sense for one to simultaneously proclaim that they do not need Jesus' death and to proclaim His death. We proclaim His death because we recognize there is no other way to God and we have trusted in Christ and Christ alone. Therefore, if you think you are a good person and trusting in your goodness to get you to God let the cup & bread pass. If you are a religious person trusting in your completion of relgious duties to get you to God, let the cup and bread pass. If you do not believe in God or if you do not believe in Hell and therefore do not believe that Jesus suffered Hell in your place let the bread and cup pass. If there is known sin in your life and you refuse to repent of it, let the bread and cup pass The reason that I have encouraged you to let it pass is because this time is for christian who trusts in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. But please, I beg you, repent even now, look to Christ and trust in Him. You can never do what He did in His atoning death, and why do you want to try? He has done it, trust it, and proclaim it with us.

Merry Christmas from the Hantlas...all three of us. A highlight of this year, and an answer to many years of prayer, was the addition of Elianna Joel to our family on May 17. Her name means "My God Answers" because He truly did answer a prayer of many years by blessing us with our little girl. Praise God!

Jacob continues to work at Arizona Heart Hospital as a CVICU nurse & is still managing to sell a few homes with HomeSmart Real Estate. At the same time, He's well into work on a Master's Degree at Reformed Theological Seminary. He's completing a year as an elder intern at Grace Bible Church and will be considered for the office of pastor/elder in January. He is honored and humbled by God's work in him.

Kiki is absolutely loving life as a mom, and she's really good at it too! She is still able to do a few odds-and-ends jobs at Arizona Heart, an opportunity for which we are grateful.

Because of all these blessings, we are reminded that the greatest gift we could ever receive is not a little girl, a good job, or a great family. These are all good things; much better things than we deserve. But we are reminded at Christmas, particularly this Christmas in the midst of these blessings, that the greatest gift we could ever receive has been given to us: God Himself. He came to suffer the death we deserve and give all those who trust in that death eternity with Him. At Christmas we celebrate that Jesus came, and let us remember why He came: "Not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

Thank you for your love and care for us. Merry Christmas!

Love,
Jacob, Kiki, & Elianna

My new desktop. This admonition from Paul to the Ephesian elders must never grow old to me. The preciousness of an object can be ascertained by its cost; the cost of the church was so great, that I can never devote too much effort or attention towards it.

Thank God for Carbonite! I have had Carbonite online backup software installed on my computer for two years now. In that time I have had two catastrophic computer failures (practically all data lost from the hard drive) and yet I have not lost any of that data.

A couple days ago I was working away and poof computer turned off and won't turn back on. I had been working on a Microsoft Word file in minutes before my computer's death, had downloaded an album from iTunes that morning, and had scanned and then shredded some important financial files hours earlier. I just loaded Carbonite onto the laptop that I'm using while I wait for the old one to be repaired. Carbonite had been backing up everything in the background and to my delight all of those files (and everything else from the old computer, all 254 GB of it) was backed up. I just downloaded the Word file I had been working on and am able to continue working right where I left off and am able to restore any or all of the files that I want thanks to Carbonite.

Carbonite is basically a piece of software that works in the background uploading everything (using encryption) that the user specifies to be backed up to Carbonite's servers. So whether my computer crashes or my house burns down, my data is secure. For $50 a year, Carbonite offers unlimited backup of any in-computer hard drives (they won't back up external hard drives). If you look at the reviews on Amazon, there are a large number of people who have complaints about Carbonite. As I view them based on my experience with the software and the company, these are all based on the users misunderstanding of how to use the software. So if you use Carbonite, beware that it will not automatically back up all files or file types. For example, movies and .exe files are not automatically backed up, but will be if you tell the program to (this is because most .exe files with the exception of installers won't function apart from the entire program installation so it is not helpful to back this filetype up). However, if you right click on a movie and tell carbonite to back up this file type from now on, they will be backed up. You can likewise tell Carbonite to back up everything within a directory by right clicking on the directory.

Once Carboniteis installed a colored dot appears on each file telling you whether or not it will be backed up and whether it has been backed up yet or not. After you install, I simply recommend that you check your various document types to make sure that Carbonite knows that you want to back it up (by right-clicking on the file). I understand people's frustration, but this is all pretty clear as you read the documentation.

In summary, I am a very very very very happy user of Carbonite who is currently enjoying the benefits of his $50/year subscription. I have all my files even from minutes prior to the computer crash. That is the test of a good backup utility. Carbonite passes with flying colors. I haven't found a single file that I needed that wasn't backup up.

A.W. Tozer
Tozer on Worship & Entertainment: Selected Excerpts
162-164

While you're at it, you can pre-order the 2-Volume Works of Jonathan Edwards. You'll save money ordering it now rather than after it's available. Piper's God's Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards and A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards are available for 40% off with the coupon code: PIPER-EDWARDS.

HT: Gons

"[1 John 3:14-16 teaches] 'We know that we have passed from death to life, how, because we love our brothers. Anyone that does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers....[And 1 John 4:20 says] If anyone says, I love God, yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother who he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.' This is how you can know, do you want to know that this new life that you have is real?

I got a great idea. I got it from the Bible. Commit yourself to a local group of saved sinners. Try to love them. Don't just do it for 3 weeks. Don't just do it for 6 months. Do it for years. And I think you'll find out. I think others will too. Whether or not you love God. The truth will show itself. That won't save you, it's only the death of Christ that saves you. HE ALONE IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. But if He really is OUR righteousness. If we really do love him, who we have not seen. It will show itself by us loving those that we do see and that we are committed to regularly [gathering]."

• based on mortification of sin making frequent use of John Owen
• Tracklist looks like a collection of Puritan sermons and books including: "Pressing Into the Kingdom" (Edwards), Power of the Holy Spirit (Ryle), Sinfulness of Sin (Venning), Preciousness of time (Edwards)
• Sample John Piper Sermons
• Encourages us to greater holiness by pointing us to Christ

Brindle has given us a great gift in Killing Sin. For 16 tracks, he describes sin as wickedly detestable and Christ as utterly desirable. From Sinfulness of sin: "Sin is any thought that's not morally pure, sin is loving anything else more than the Lord, sin is breaking his laws, breaking his commands, sin is hatred for God, it's blatantly satanic." Sin is revealed for the disgusting thing that it is, often likened to excrement. But Brindle recognizes that revealing sin for what it is is not sufficient. Romans 6 is often referenced, proclaiming that we are to kill sin and not sin because Christ has already freed us from the dominion of sin and made us His slaves to righteousness. So each song is filled with gospel promises. The joy of obedience to Christ is proclaimed as superior pleasure to endulging in sin. Sin is to be fought and we are to press into the kingdom, not by being perfect, but by "rocking [Christ's] righteousness as our banner." The album reveals Brindle's deep knowledge of the Bible's teaching regarding sin, salvation, and sanctification. He effectively takes the heart-changing biblical theology of the Puritans and makes it memorable as he sets it to rhyme and rhythm.

If you are unfamiliar with gospel/holy hip-hop, I recommend you first go get Shai Linne's Atonement and let him preach the gospel to you. And then get Brindle's Killing Sin. I praise God for Timothy Brindle and the effect that this cd has had on me in my battle to kill sin in me:

He ties this into the type of reading that we are encouraged to do as we surf the web, quickly skimming for the content and moving on. It isn't necessarily a worse way to read, just a different way; it is strengthening different muscles than are strengthened when you sit down and thoughtfully digest and interact with long chunks of reading. But those muscles need to be strengthened as well; I think that's why we have such a difficult time reading older writers, especially the Puritans, who would take a long time to make their point, but put more thought, support, and explanation into it than any modern editor would ever allow.

Anyway, the article looked really interesting, but how would I know, I got bored and surfed away after a few minutes....then I decided that my brain needed a workout, and I pushed through and finished it, skimming only once or twice. A recommended read to make you think about the way that you read and think.

He begins the book with a very simply yet insightful summary of the recent history that led to the perfect storm. The remaining chapters go into detail on each one of the players. The book is full of helpful charts that convey simply pertinent information without confusion. Zandi is a master at making the complex understandable, at defining terms, and writing for the layperson (but I have no doubt that this would be helpful for the well-versed as well). Finally, although he misjudged the state of the market writing, "the worst of the crisis appears to be over," (published in July '08), he does give 10 "policy steps" based on all that he's written to help us fix this problem and to avoid or mitigate the damamges of bubble bursts in the future. This list will help you get a flavor for what he writes about in the previous chapters (don't worry if you don't understand the terminology - I didn't either - but if you read the book you will):

1. Adopt a voluntary mortgage write-down policy
2. Establish clear mortgage lending rules
3. 3. License mortgage brokers
4. 4. Expand data collection
5. 5. Reform the fractured foreclosure process
6. 6. Invest in financial literacy
7. 7. Modify mark-to-market accounting
8. 8. Raise financial transparency and accountability
9. 9. Overhaul financial regulation
10. 10. Pay attention to asset bubbles.

If I could summarize Financial Shock, it would be: Simply Helpful. Simple, but not Simplistic. And although it is writing about a scandal, it is not scandalous. History is used more to help us learn lessons than to point fingers. I have learned much from this book. It has given me the basis to digest most of what I'm reading in the paper and hearing on the news.

On a similar note, I found this roller coaster animation plotting housing prices exceptionally enlightening in regards to the financial state we find ourselves in (HT JT):

This dominion of sin is that which we have here security given us [true believers] against. Though it will abide in us, though it will contend for rule by deceit and force, yet it shall not prevail, it shall not have the dominion.And this is a case of the highest importance unto us. Our souls are, and must be, under the rule of some principle or law; and from this rule our state is determined and denominated. We are either “servants of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness,” Rom. 6:16.

John Owen
Works of John Owen vol 7
A Treatise On the Dominion of Sin & Grace
p. 507

Pros

• Super easy to read screen in all lighted conditions
• Always connected to internet wherever Sprint has service; (makes up for high cost of device)
• Perfect for reading text-based webpages
• Long battery life (days when wireless is disabled)
• Easy to turn on/off; easy to enable/disable wireless (switch at back)
• Amazon or Mobipocket converter will convert HTML & Microsoft Word documents to be readable.
• PDF texts are able to be converterted but often lose formatting
• Mp3 player and Audible Audiobook player (either through speaker on back or through headphones)
• Easy to navigate with huge Next page, Previous Page, Back buttons. Very simple navigation; grandparents in their 70's have used it without problem and minimal introduction.
• QWERTY keyboard easily allows typing/notetaking easily exported to computer
• Comes with nice leather carrying case
• Easy to "clip" sections of text for export to computer

Cons

• No native pdf document support (conversion often destroys formatting)
• Easy to accidentally push the navigation buttons
• No backlight (can purchase clip on light which works well)
• Battery life only about 12 hours with internet enabled
• Web browser very limited in formatting capabilities/unable to work with complex pages

Kindle for Christians

The above comments are not unlike most of the other thousands of reviews of the Kindle. My primary concern is for Christians, especially for Christian leaders. Is it easy to read the Bible on the Kindle? Are new Christian releases available on Kindle? What about the books published in the last decades? What about older works, public domain? The following is a brief summary, I will be blogging much more extensively on this topic in the upcoming weeks and months and going into more detail.

Bibles

I have downloaded and used a few translations of the Bible. They are all plagued by the same problem. The Kindle doesn't show you what chapter of a book you are on, so it is easy to get lost and difficult to check what book or chapter you are in. They all have common navigation scheme: Navigate to the books via the table of contents. Then the superiorly formatted ones (ESV, NASB, & NIV) let you click on links to navigate to the appropriate chapters (I can usually find a verse in these versions in under 15 seconds). (NET & KJV) make you click next page until you get where you are trying to go (this can take a very long on the order of minutes if the verse is later in a book) In summary, the Kindle is not very effective as a look-up-stuff Bible, but excellent in any translation to read straight through a book of the Bible or to read a long section.

Modern Christian Books

Crossway and some other publishers are releasing their books in Kindle format, downloadable in under a minute by navigating on the Kindle to the Kindle Store or by ordering online at the Kindle Store. It seems like most new books are being released digitally. However, books published in years past are only slowly making their way onto the Kindle, and most (but not all) of these are the doctrinally deprived best-seller types. I will be releasing recommended Kindle reading in the coming weeks and months. Additionally many authors release their books digitally for free and these are easily converted to Kindle format and read. Some of these authors that do this are John Piper, Frame & Poythress, and some from Sovereign Grace. Similarly Crossway often will email you a pdf of the physical books that you buy direct from their site.

The best part of reading digitally is that many of the best books available are public domain. Christian CLassics Ethereal Library, Gracegems, Spurgeon.org, Google books, and others are great to get digital texts which you can then paste into a Word document or pdf and send it to your Kindle, or you can browse some of the texts directly on the web-browser on the Kindle.

I have a very extensive digital text collection in Libronix and as I am studying, if I find something that I want to read later when I'm not at the computer screen, I have found myself pasting it into a Word Doc and emailing it to my Kindle to read later. It has made my Libronix Digital Library much more useful to me.

Commentaries

I have not found many commentaries for sale for use in Kindle, however, I have found myself during my study times on Libronix pasting the commentary sections that I want to read in more detail into Word and sending it to my Kindle. There are many public domain commentaries that are available online that the Kindle user can take advantage of. Overall, however, the Kindle is not a good standalone reference tool as it is very slow to navigate section to section (as discussed in the Bible section above). My opinion is that the Kindle is best used to read large sections and not flip around within a resource as is done in a reference book.

Blogs

Most blogs have pretty complicated formats; Kindle does not do well with this. As far as I know, Kindle has no way to read RSS feeds; so I have not found any easy way to read blogs effectively on the Kindle. Amazon does have an option to serve blogs to your Kindle at a cost if the blog chooses to participate. This may be the future of blog reading on Kindle, but I hope that soon there will be an easy way to read simple RSS feeds on the Kindle.

Overall, I highly recommend the Kindle for all who love to read. I have loved mine and find myself using it for hours and hours almost each day.

• Inpatient yelling wears the costume of a zeal for truth.
• Lust can masquerade as a love for beauty
• Gossip does its evil work by living in the costume of concern and prayer
• Craving for power and control wears the mask of biblical leadership
• Fear of man gets dressed up as a servant heart
• The pride of always being right masquerades as a love for biblical wisdom

In the face of many modern heresies, such as New Perspective on Paul, postmodernism, and Open Theism, that attack the very significance of the cross and are being embraced by many in evangelical circles, Sproul's book is well-timed and well written. We would do well to read it, recognize the truth of the cross, and guard ourselves from believing these gospel-attacking wolf-doctrines dressed in academic sheep's clothing. We would do well to sit at the foot of the cross everyday and recognize the importance of the doctrines that first brought us life and are meant to sustain us through our Christian life. For these ends, you will be served well by Sproul's The Truth of the Cross.

Purchase at Westminster Books
Purchase at Amazon.com

In the final minutes of the movie, after Miller's passionate imperative, "Earn this," the camera cuts an elderly James Ryan standing over Miller's grave. Tears in his eyes, Ryan speaks to the departed Miller at his grave saying, "Everyday I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge; I've tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that that was enough. I hope, that at least in your eyes, I earned what [you] have done for me."

Miller and his group of men sacrificed much for Private Ryan. They died so that Ryan could live. Their deaths for Private Ryan were not based on anything good in Private Ryan; it was a mission of mercy. Picking up on these themes, I heard a sermon shortly after the movie's release in which the preacher showed the clip and said that this gives us a glimpse of what Jesus did for us. Then with dramatic pause he asked each of us in the crowd, "Have you earned it? Do you live life the best that you can so that in God's eyes He will say you have earned what He did for you?" Then he dismissed everyone. I wanted to stand up and scream, "No! No! You've missed the point!"

This is precisely NOT the message of the cross. Jesus' death is completely different. Jesus died precisely so that we didn't have to earn it.

Just like private Ryan remembered his saviors' deaths every day, we must daily remember our Savior's death. But Jesus said something far different hanging on the cross than Captain Miller said on the bridge. Miller said, "Earn this." Jesus said, "It is finished." In essence, "I just earned what you never could and must not now try." When you remember the cross do you remember Christ's words? We must remember the cross and if you remember the cross rightly you will never try to earn anything. If Christ died for you, he died to earn you that which you never could earn. If you could have earned, Jesus wouldn't have had to die (c.f. Gal 2:21).

Just like Ryan's memory of those who died for him affected his day to day life, so your memory of the One who died for you must affect your day-to-day life. But the motive for it affecting you must be completely different. To try to earn Christ's death through your good works or righteous life is to ignore the true meaning of all the Jesus did there as he died. On the cross, Jesus bore the wrath of God that you and I deserve and Christ's righteousness was applied to us (2 Cor 5:21). We have earned and can earn nothing but Hell. Precisely because we can't earn heaven by our own righteousness, Christ died to give us His.

If you look at the cross and try to earn it, Christ didn't die for you. That's not faith; that's works. Repent.

Rather, recognize Christ's finished work, and trust that it is sufficient to reconcile yourself to God. Christ's death purchased us out of the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His Beloved Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Col 1:13-14). There is nothing left that you have to do. So now live like the new creature that God has made you, not to earn the cross but because of what the cross has earned for you.

Let's change Ryan's words spoken at the gravestone and say, from the foot of the cross, "Everyday, I think about what you said that day on the cross, 'It is finished.' I now live my life as one forgiven and freed from sins. I could never do enough, and I praise you that Christ has made me righteous in your eyes."

The depth of our personal relationship with God determines the degree of fellowship possible with each other. Thus, in order to know true fellowship, one must maintain a passionate relationship with and experience of God. Perhaps that is why biblical fellowship is so rare.

Fellowship is not just another word for social activities. I really enjoy watching the Washington Redskins or Baltimore Orioles with my friends. This can be a healthy part of small-group life…but it isn’t fellowship. And you don’t have fellowship talking about the latest opinion from Rush Limbaugh or Jesse Jackson, either. Social activities can’t be equated or confused with fellowship. They are distinctly different. Nothing compares to the fellowship we enjoy when we worship together, study and apply Scripture together, encourage and correct each other, and communicate to one another our current experience of God. Nothing. Social activities can create a context for fellowship, but they are a place to begin—not a place to remain.

When I spend an extended time with another Christian, my main desire is that we know fellowship. I want to hear of his relationship with God, and how God is revealing himself to him. I want to communicate my current experience of God as well, and impart a fresh passion for God.

Is that your desire? If someone spent an afternoon with you, would he or she leave with a fresh understanding of and passion for God? If not, you need to change. With this definition of fellowship in mind, consider your small group. Are you experiencing fellowship? How much time do you spend in the meetings talking about your current relationship with God? When you meet together outside the meetings, how often do your conversations revolve around God’s work in your life? If you are relaxing together more than you're relating together spiritually, you're not enjoying true biblical fellowship - and you have something to look forward to.

C.J. Mahaney
Why Smallgroups (Free PDF Download)
pp. 11-12

Most of the books recommended can be found linked here,

Also, while thinking on the topic, you must surf over to T4G blog and read some of the great posts there on reading that are designed to be read in order:

• Al Mohler: Some Thoughts on the Reading of Books
• Mark Dever: An Apostolic Agenda
• Ligon Duncan: Checking In
• CJ Mahaney: A Passion for Reading & Learning
• Al Mohler: Responding to Readers on Reading
• Ligon Duncan: Pastors Studying & Reading 1 (7 total)
• CJ Mahaney: A Plan for Reading & Study

First add the book to your cart, then add the coupon code to the field on the lower left, then click proceed, enter credit card info (you will not be charged; don't be thrown off by the total on the right, it'll go away on the next screen.), click proceed, verify that the total is $0.00, click submit order, and finally download your resource. You have to have Libronix installed first. Check the product page to tell you how to install the free software (the software is free but resources are not. I recommend you purchase one of the libraries).

God does not do you good out of some constraint or coercion. He is free! And in his freedom he overflows in joy to do you good. He exults over you with loud singing.

Can you imagine what it would be like if you could hear God singing? Remember that it was merely a spoken word that brought the universe into existence. What would happen if God lifted up his voice and not only spoke but sang! Perhaps a new heaven and a new earth would be created. God says something almost just to that effect in Isaiah 65:17-18,
Behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth ... I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

When God spoke at the beginning, the heavens and the earth were created; perhaps at the end, the new heavens and the new earth will be created when God exults over his people with loud singing.

When I think of the voice of God singing, I hear the booming of Niagara Falls mingled with the trickle of a mossy mountain stream. I hear the blast of Mt. St. Helens mingled with a kitten's purr. I hear the power of an East Coast hurricane and the barely audible puff of a night snow in the woods. And I hear the unimaginable roar of the sun 865,000 miles thick, one million three hundred thousand times bigger than the earth, and nothing but fire, 1, 000, 000 degrees centigrade, on the cooler surface of the corona. But I hear this unimaginable roar mingled with the tender, warm crackling of the living room logs on a cozy winter's night.

And when I hear this singing I stand dumbfounded, staggered, speechless that he is singing over me. He is rejoicing over my good with all his heart and with all his soul (cf. Jeremiah 32:41)!

Amen! Sad, huh? This just reinforces how grateful I am for the expository preaching I am blessed with each week.

HT: Thabiti

Other Purchasing Options:
Libronix Downloadable
Kindle Reader Downloadable
Paper-&-Ink from WTS
Paper-&-Ink from Amazon
Spanish version from Amazon

Grudem also gave a series of sermons/lectures on this topic at Covenant Life Church. They are downloadable for free.

1. Chapter 1- "Is This Verse In Your Bible": C.J. Mahaney introduces the topic of worldliness, explains why this book is important, and sets the gospel-tone that saturates every chapter.
   

1. Chapter 2 - "God, My Heart, & Media": Cabaniss, noting the unavoidable and ubiquitous presence of media in Americans life, warns us, "As followers of Christ, we cannot afford to take lightly the media's pervasive presence in our lives." The message of almost all of this media is the message of love for the world of which John warned us in 1 John 2:16, "The desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions." It is not a legalistic calling of media sin, but instead a pastoral urging to sharpen our biblical discernment and evaluation of our media intake for the glory of God. The danger for legalism regarding media is real and it is really dangerous. We must therefore be selective, and the "why" of our selectively it crucial. Guarding us from legalism, Cabaniss roots the what and the why or selectivity in media in the guarding of our hearts and the glory of God.
   

1. Chapter 3 - "God, My Heart, & Music": Bob Kauflin, a great lover and maker of music, warns of the many danger of the love of music and commends proper use of music to us. Music is not inherently good or bad, but because music immediately engages our emotions, its effect on us can be far more profound than we realize. "Listening to music is never neutral, because our sinful hearts are involved." Kauflin comments, "A wise Christian understands that listening to music without discernment and godly intent reveals a heart willing to flirt with the world." Yet "it's not uncommon for Christians on Sunday...to worship Jesus for his substitionary death on the cross, then sing songs during the week that exalt the sins he died for" (see James 3:10). So we must ask, does the music we listen to "dull our conscience" or direct us to "glory in the cross." He is clear that this does not mean that "non-Christian" music is off-limits, nor does it mean that all that passes for "Christian" should be listened to without discernment. The chapter was very helpful to me to encourage me to be thoughtful with my listening or not-listening. Refusing to give a list of examples of acceptable and unacceptable music or bands, he instead encourages us to ask the following two questions and then gives us tools to guide us in finding and listening to music that won't encourage worldliness:
   1. First, does the music you listen to lead you to love the
      Savior more or cause your affections for Christ to diminish?
   2. Second, does your music lead you to value an eternal
      perspective or influence you to adopt the mindset of this
      “present evil age”?
      
2. Chapter 4 - "God, My Heart, & Stuff": Dave Harvey warns us against trusting in possessions and hoping in things by reminding us of eternity and the joy of laying up treasures in heaven. This puts stuff in its proper perspective and lets us enjoy it more fully and more rightly recognizing its insufficiency to bring happiness and recognizing things as gifts from God. He warns that "stuff stokes our desire but doesn't satisfy." Getting stuff is never enough for a heart in love with the world. We must guard ourselves against finding our identity in possessions, taking pride in possessions, placing our security in stuff, and measuring worth with money. He teaches us to fight covetousness with hope of inheriting the kingdom of God, a treasure of immeasurable worth that will never pass away. This is more difficult to implement than to talk about, so Harvey ends the chapter with some examples of how to guard your heart from love of stuff in light of grace. This chapter ending may well be the most helpful portion of the entire book, as it applies to most of the other chapters, and shows the reader how to fight worldliness with the gospel. Excellent chapter.
   
3. Chapter 5 - "God, My Heart, & Clothes": C.J. Mahaney has graciously provided this chapter as a publicly available excerpt from the book. C.J. with the gracious heart of a pastor, shepherds the reader's heart to see that God really does care about what we wear, particularly about the heart behind what we wear. He begins with modesty (the appendix contains two documents regarding modesty: Modesty Heart Check & Considering Modesty on Your Wedding Day). Going straight to the heart and addressing love-of-the-world motivations, he comments, "Your wardrobe is a public statement of your personal and private motivation...Modesty is humility expressed in dress." In order to serve men whose war with lust is more profound than many recognize, C.J. gently and effectively lays out the issue, making regular reference to Scripture (particularly 1 Tim 2:9-10), and even charging parents to get involved in the process with their children from a young age. Replete with personal anecdotes from a family of women who have learned this lesson well, this chapter will serve many churches well in their fight for increased holiness expressed in clothing choices. Dealing with a difficult topic to address, C.J. does a masterful job of avoiding (and helping the readers to avoid) the pitfalls of legalism while encouraging grace-empowered heart obedience that has the gospel as its aim (1 Tim 2:5-6).
   
4. Chapter 6 - "How To Love the World": To end the book, Jeff Purswell ends the book recognizing that the reader may feel like everything around him is off limits. He reminds the reader of the intent of the book: "To impart biblical discernment in areas that increasingly escape the scrutiny of the evangelical world so intent on 'relating to the culture.'" The prohibition to not love the world nor the things in the world must not be the only word we heed on what to love. In order to help us think rightly about the world and worldliness, he tells the story of the world: Creation, fall, redemption, consummation. This section is a an excellent summary of redemptive history that I will likely return to often. Drawing from the story of redemptive history, Purswell gives the reader 3 tasks to fulfill as we live in this world: 1. Enjoy the world (as we enjoy God, not the fallenness of the world, 2.Engage the world (through work, home, education, leisure, and sleep), and 3. Evangelize the world. In a book telling us how not to live in the world, this is a very compact and appropriate reminder of how we are to live. I would like to see this chapter expanded into a book someday...I was constantly left begging for more.

I certainly do not run the blog for the money. If I did, it would be a losing proposition as I'm sure the money made through ads compared with the time spent writing and working on it would make my take-home pay pennies per hour. I barely make enough to pay for hosting the site.

Nevertheless, I do have ads on the site and when you click on them (or follow some of the links to products I review), I get a very small amount of monetary remuneration. Also, many people I know and love read the blog; some of these people even buy me birthday presents. Now i get to the point of the post:

Amazon is offering a very good commission this month on sales of gift certificates. These gift certificates can be used whenever and make great birthday gifts for your favorite friend, family member, or blogger (in fact they would be the preferred gift of many friends, family members, and bloggers). You don't have to worry about losing Amazon gift certificates as you can add it to your Amazon account and automatically withdraw funds with each purchase, an excellent way to budget and keep track of Amazon spending. They probably even make good stocking stuffers. All of this and you support me and my blog for free...sort of. Just click the banner below to stock up.

If you measure true wealth by material assets, you won't
come out looking prosperous. Like everyone, you have more
than some and not as much as many others. But if you measure
your riches through what Christ did at Cavalry-God's
wrath appeased, our sin atoned, our soul redeemed-you're
immediately transformed into the richest of the rich. Grace
moved Christ to become poor so we could become wealthy.
When the gospel gets big, covetousness becomes weak.
Are you feeling richer yet? Remember the words of John
Owen:

When someone sets his affections upon the cross and the
love of Christ, he crucifies the world as a dead and undesirable
thing. The baits of sin lose their attraction and disappear.
Fill your affections with the cross of Christ and you
will find no room for sin. (Sin & Temptation, 52)

Dave Harvey
Worldliness (ed. C.J. Mahaney)
Chapter 4

Ye can sit in theatres to hear plays at which modesty should blush, I say nought of piety. That the ruder sex should have listened to the obscenities of La Traviata is surely bad enough, but that ladies of the highest refinement, and the most approved taste, should dishonor themselves by such a patronage of vice is indeed intolerable.

But because the pill is gilded, ye suck down the poison: because the thing is popular, ye patronize it: it is lustful, it abominable, it is deceitful! Ye take your children to hear what yourselves never ought to listen to. Ye yourselves will sit in gay and grand company, to listen to things from when your modesty ought to revolt. And I would fain hope it does, although the tide may for a while deceive you.
Spurgeon, C. H.
Spurgeon's Sermons: Volume 3 (electronic ed.).
No. 137 "Mercy, Omnipotence, and Justice"

Frederick S. Leahy
Is It Nothing To You: The Unchanging Significance of the Cross (amazon)
pp. 80-81

One of the reasons God rarely gives micro reasons for his painful providences, but regularly gives magnificent macro reasons, is that there are too many micro reasons for us to manage, namely, millions and millions and millions and millions and millions.

God says things like:

• These bad things happened to you because I intend to work it together for your good (Romans 8).
• These happened so that you would rely more on God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1).
• This happened so that the gold and silver of your faith would be refined (1 Peter 1).
• This thorn is so that the power of Christ would be magnified in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12).

But we can always object that there are other easier ways for God to accomplish those things. We want to know more specifics: Why now? Why this much? Why this often? Why this way? Why these people?

The problem is, we would have to be God to grasp all that God is doing in our problems. In fact, pushing too hard for more detailed explanations from God is a kind of demand that we be God.

Think of this, you are a blacksmith making horseshoes. You are hammering on a white hot shoe and it ricochets off and hits you in the leg and burns you. In your haste to tend to your leg you let the shoe alone unfinished. You wonder why God let this happen. You were singing a hymn and doing his will.

Your helper, not knowing the horseshoe was unfinished gathered it up and put it with the others.

Later there was an invasion of your country by a hostile army with a powerful cavalry. They came through your town and demanded that you supply them with food and with shoes for their horses. You comply.

Their commander has his horse shoed by his own smith using the stolen horseshoes, and the unfinished shoe with the thin weak spot is put on the commander’s horse.

In the decisive battle against the loyal troops defending your homeland the enemy commander is leading the final charge. The weak shoe snaps and catches on a root and causes his horse to fall. He crashes to the ground and his own soldiers, galloping at full speed, trample him to death.

This causes such a confusion that the defenders are able to rout the enemy and the country is saved.

Now you might say, well, it would sure help me trust God if he informed me of these events so that I would know why the horseshoe ricocheted and burned my leg. Well maybe it would help you. Maybe not.

God cannot make plain all he is doing, because there are millions and millions and millions and millions of effects of every event in your life, the good and the bad. God guides them all. They all have micro purposes and macro purposes. He cannot tell you all of them because your brain can’t hold all of them.

Trust does not demand more than God has told us. And he has given us immeasurably precious promises that he is in control of all things and only does good to his children. And he has given us a very thick book where we can read story after story after story about how he rules for the good of his people.

Let’s trust him and not ask for what our brains cannot contain.

First on the list of ways that John Piper chooses what to read is Recommendations. There are thousands upon thousands of books out there, most of them garbage, many worthwhile, and a few precious gems. Nobody has the time or the mental capacity to properly read, digest, discern truth from error, and apply even a small percentage of those books. For that reason, quality book reviews from people who have demonstrated themselves over time as discerning readers can serve you very well as you decide what to read.

Secondly, knowing what is available is another difficult task. Generally, knowledge of available literature among the public is driven by publisher's marketing dollars and not the quality of the book. The internet has leveled the playing field a bit more. Books that a less mass-marketable but more edifying than those on the top-sellers list are made known to the evangelical world through blogs much faster and on a more wide-spread basis than simple word of mouth. It may not be time in your life to read a certain type of book, but keeping up-to-date on what is out there (as well as the quality and content of that material) will make you more able to quickly find and benefit from good books and spend less time wading through mediocre ones. When you are faced with a certain struggle or question, you will already know where to turn.

I commend to you, therefore, DiscerningReader.com. DiscerningReader is currently composed of reviews from a select group of reviewers that have proven themselves over time to be discerning in identifying error and commending truth. The site, designed by Tim Challies, is quickly growing and will soon include not only book reviews, but also book summaries and book previews. I recommend making DiscerningReader a regular part of your web-surfing routine.

Note: I have recently joined the DiscerningReader team as a reviewer, so you will find most of my book reviews generally posted on this blog, cross-posted on DiscerningReader as well.

DesiringGod has released some of Pipers books and other resources for free in pdf format, Sovereign Grace has many pdf resources, and Crossway often will send you a pdf copy of a book if you purchase it directly from them (usually a little more expensive though).