The Secret Wireless

#shoutyourabortion Go ahead.  You can shout.  Scream until your lungs give out.  But it won't work, because it is not the silence that is your problem.  It is the whisper. The case against abortion is becoming more solid.   The videos are piling up.  It is clear that abortionists are not only killing babies, they are harvesting their organs and selling them, padding their bottom line.   And that means you have been dead wrong about abortion. If you have been privately scandalized by the fleecing of the unborn but have not spoken publicly, or even failed to share your views and convictions with your close friends, then these videos leave you without defense.  You should have been speaking out long ago.  You should have stood up for the defenseless.  You should have shown compassion for hurting and confused mothers.  And shouting now will not silence the whisper. If you have supported abortion rights, if you have been pro...

Amen!   That is the word of the day.   Jesus has taught us, in the Lord’s Prayer, to pray as sons.   Not as slaves.   Not as beggars.   Not as strangers.   But as sons, “ Our Father in heaven.”                 In the Lord’s Prayer we ask for some rather lofty things.   These are no mere trifles and trinkets.   This is the stuff of necessity.   And it is costly, worth a king’s ransom and more.                  We pray that God’s name would be kept holy, that we would live according to His Word.   We pray that His kingdom would come, that the Church would grow in faith and love and that Christ would return to raise the dead.   We pray that God’s will would be done, that His gracious desires would be fulfilled for our good.       ...

Thus far in the Lord’s Prayer we have been praying for what God wants: His name hallowed, His kingdom growing and advancing, His will being accomplished.   Once we have prayed for all these things, Jesus leads us in a slightly different direction.   He teaches us to pray: “ give us this day our daily bread .”                 Daily bread?   Really?   Jesus wants us to pray for food and stuff?   We just got done asking for God to rule and transform the world.   Now we ask for bread?   Does God, who has the eternal salvation of the universe on His shoulders, really have time to care and see to our daily physical needs?                 Yes.   Yes He does.   Your physical needs are important to God because He created them and redeemed them, and He Himself will eternally fulfill t...

In his most recent Issues Etc Journal Todd Wilken has this to say about our Sunday morning worship services: What if, when that Sunday morning visitor wandered into church, we made it clear to him that this is the Lord's Day and the Lord's house because the Lord Himself-Jesus-is there?  What if everything we said and did while he was visiting our church-every word, gesture, action, song and prayer-clearly confessed this?  What if, instead of reengineering the day to fit his expectations, we taught him to expect nothing less than Jesus, in person, forgiving sins? Wilken's line of questioning is right on the money.  What is missing from Christian worship is not the right style of music or the right kind of decorations.  What is often missing is Jesus.  Many churches fail to preach anything resembling the Gospel, and settle for self-help instructions for better living. Yet even among those churches where Christ is proclaimed regularly and the Lord's Supper...

On January 9 Rupert Murdoch tweeted this: “Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible”  To this author JK Rowling responded: “I was born Christian.  If that makes Rupert Murdoch my responsibility, I’ll auto-excommunicate.” Whatever you think of Rupert Murdoch, and whatever you think of JK Rowling, this does make an interesting exchange.  My concern, however, is not with Murdoch’s view of Muslims, nor Rowling’s.  I am far more interested in her statement about Christianity. Now, I am not an expert on Rupert Murdoch and I will not comment on his faith, but I will take JK Rowling at her word and assume that she is indeed a Christian.  And that makes her tweet problematic. First, Christians are not born, they are made.  Most Christians hold to the doctrine of Original Sin which confesses that human beings are conceived in a state of unrighteousness.  You...

“John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”   Oh man, here it comes.   It is the repentance sermon.   John is telling everyone who rotten they are and we’re going to get it too.   Yes you are, because you need it.   I need it.   And God will not leave us without it.                 There was a man named Hosea, whom God commanded, commanded mind you, to marry a prostitute.   Her name was Gomer, not a nice name-especially for a woman-but it is what it is.   Hosea chose a wife, not from among the many young women from the families around him, women who were prized for their beauty and virginity, but a woman who had been used and abused, who had sold herself to the night and embraced many men.                 Hosea marri...