Don't do drugs

Lorie recently asked in the comment section on my blog if Bradley really used to be "Coked-out." I believe that he can answer that for himself, but I would like to submit this picture for your consideration. It is from when he was my roommate at school.



All I did was drop my spoon while I was eating dinner and this was his reaction.

Idolatry: He thought of ME above all

Michael W. Smith sings, Crucified, laid behind a stone, He lived to die, rejected and alone. Like a rose trampled on the ground, He took the fall, and thought of me above all.

More bothering to me than the fact that the lyrics to this song are so far from right is the fact that we sing it in WORSHIP at churches. Why are we singing that Jesus thought of ME above ALL? He surely didn't. He thought of God's glory. Jesus was driven to the cross and murdered there, but in dying, He felt love for those even who were murdering Him. He knew that this sacrifice was necessary for the salvation of the lost(Heb 9:16-18,22), yet at the same time, He thought of God through it all. Above all, He was serving His father; He knew that this is what God willed for Him to do. Even when Peter told Him not to let it happen, Jesus rebuked him - saying that Peter was focused on MAN'S rather than GOD's interests (Matt 16:22-23).

So yes, He thought of "me" above Himself, because had He wanted to, He could've used an enormous display of power and through some miracle stopped the crucifixion, but He didn't (Matt 26:52-53). He loves God most of all, and through this act knew that God would be shown to be a loving and merciful God, giving up the Human He most values, His only begotten Son, to death so that the veil of division between fallen mankind and pure holiness would be torn(Matt 27:50-51), and no longer would we need a "high priest" in the temple to go to the Holy of Holies for us, but being covered by the one and only High Priest(Heb 6:19-20), we can now enter the presence of God without certain death (Lev 16:2).

To sing, "He thought of ME above all" is to turn the worship inward, to say to yourself "I'm so valuable, I'm so lovely, I'm so irresistable that God's Son died for ME and I was in His thoughts ABOVE ALL!" If we sing this in the spirit of worship that Christ's love for humanity and obedience to God outweighed His own desire not to die, then yes, we worship a God whose Son is sinless and Who forgives and loves with ultimate grace. Otherwise, we are worshiping ourselves when we sing this song, which is idol worship, and we ourselves are the idols.

HAPPY GOOD FRIDAY!

1.) For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. 17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. 18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood. Heb 9:16-18

2.)All things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Heb 9:22

3.) 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." 23 But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Matt 16:22-23

4.) Then Jesus said* to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. 53 "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? Matt 26:52-53

5.)And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom Matt 27:50-51

6.) This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek Heb 6:19-20

7.) The LORD said to Moses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Lev 16:2

The Easter Bunny is Dead

Don't you get tired of hearing about alleged "Church Bulletin Bloopers?" Here are a list of some of the bloopers, supposedly, that have been in church bulletins. I honestly think that many if not all of these are made up.

1. The choir will meet at the Larsen house for fun and sinning.
2. Miss Charlene Mason, sang, "I Will Not Pass This Way Again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
3. The pastor would appreciate if the ladies of the congregation would lend him their electric girdles for pancake breakfast next Sunday morning
4. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.
5. The rosebud on the alter this morning is to announce the birth of David Alan Belzer, the sin of Rev. and Mrs. Julius Belzer.
6. Thursday at 5:00 PM there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his study.
7. This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.
8. The eighth graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7:00 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
9. Weight Watchers will meet at 7:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use the large double door at the side entrance.
10. Today's Sermon: HOW MUCH CAN A MAN DRINK? with hymns from a full choir.

Why would a church have someone place an egg on the altar? Are they not aware that the egg is a fertility image that was incorporated into pagan rituals, just as the rabbit is? Our use of them has nothing to do with the resurrection of Christ, but is proof of our syncretistic influence. Having a church Easter egg hunt is one thing, placing an egg on the altar during worship is another thing entirely.

Corpses on Display: Is "The Bodies" exhibit ethical?

In Atlanta, an exhibit which displays flayed and mutilated human corpses, albeit very well preserved, is currently available for public viewing purposes. Last weekend I walked through the display, and felt very uncomfortable, as if what I was doing was wrong. It wasn't until I left the building that I began to wonder if it was ethical to be viewing a bunch of human corpses for entertainment.

One of the first and most noticeable aspects of the bodies is that they belonged to Asians, as some of them still have their face(or part of their face) attached to the skull. When I got outside, there were protesters, claiming that the Chinese communist government captured these people for practicing Falun Gong and as a result of religious oppression, their bodies are now on public display. Others believe that they may have been poor/homeless people who were powerless to deny the government the use of their body post-mortem. One thing that is certain is that the company that produces this display will not tell where they get the bodies from, or how they get them, and I am not able to find any information otherwise.

Another thing I noticed was "condensation" on some of the organs in the cases, which upon further reading I discovered could be a result of poor preservation techniques. Leakage.

What most disturbed me was that there were a lot of people who were clearly not there for education, but simply for entertainment, making sport of the dead bodies. Here I noticed people entertaining themselves by looking at the corpses, as I heard several times "eww sick look at that" from spectators. The corpses on display were once people who were born, grew up, had dreams, secret crushes, ambitions, and possibly a religion. Now they sit mutilated on display, and spectators celebrate this disrespect for humanity by paying $20 a piece to be "grossed out."

On the other hand, if one is participating for strictly educational purposes, I find nothing wrong with the concept of this exhibit.

Canon closed? : the Gospel of Judas Unearthed

What would happen if some archaeologists unearthed an ancient text and authenticated it to have been written roughly 1700 years ago, and the text was written by a man claiming to be the disciple Judas? If his story reveals what seems to be truth about God and history, does it belong in the Bible?

Recently, archaeologists unearthed an ancient codec that they have managed to restore and believe was written by Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus. Supposedly, in this manuscript, Judas claims to have been asked to betray Jesus by Jesus Himself. A National Geographic special exposing this event will air on television Sunday night at 8:00 PM. It should be pretty interesting.

You can download the entire document in English or Greek, or just read more about all of this at this site. If you go read through it, you will probably think of it as a complete JOKE. It contradicts too many biblical doctrines that are supported throughout the Old and New Testaments. However, it does bring up the question as to the Canon's finality.

I would never put this in the canonical Bible mainly because, if nothing else, the gospels we have right now are verified through many different ancient copies that support and agree with each other. The "Gospel of Thomas" does not have the support that the other gospels do, and considering that this new "gospel of Judas" doesn't either, I think it is worthy of reading for curiosity if nothing else, but it shouldn't be placed in the canonical Bible. I woudn't even give it apocryphal status. Don't move over, Maccabees.

Throughout the years and through His divine inspiration, God has led us to the canon we have today. However, I haven't studied a lot of apologetics on why the canon is closed, so I am open to hearing input. For well-informed thoughts on the subject, visit www.thislamp.com .

West Nile Ninjas

A group of expeditioners have found what they believe to be the source of the Nile River, and one of their group was killed by an indigenous tribe on the way. See the article

Where does the Nile come from? Who ever thinks about that stuff? Well, apparently a lot of people, since it's supposedly been a topic of debate since the mid 17th century. Someone should have just asked that country singer who calls herself the queen of deNile. Anyway, I wouldn't be suprised if this is made into a movie, based on a true story.




Only instead of indigenous tribesmen, the movie will have gigantic flesh-eating snakes, spiders that are about 6 feet long... and probably some mummies here or there. Ninja mummies.