Michael Jackson, Death, and You

Jeff Straub points out four things the death of Michael Jackson should bring to our minds:

For most unbelieving humanity, death is the inevitable and certain conclusion to life. The majority of the human race―now numbered at more than 6.25 billion―has little hope of bypassing this ultimate end, and many face their approaching demise with a great sense of foreboding. As of this writing, coroners have not determined the cause of Jackson’s death, so whether he had sense of death’s imminence, none can say. But when one so well known dies so young (he was 50), many of those still left living are filled with a greater sense of fear and uncertainty because they realize just how tenuous life really is. Death appears certain and all, it seems, will face it. For the world, this is a frightening reality. At this juncture, believers ought to hear the Word of God echo in their ears: “It is appointed for man to die once” (Hebrews 9:27) which, in turn, should remind us of Gen. 3:19, that we come from dust and to dust we will return. Death is the great certainty in this life, especially for those who live without divine grace. It is approaching, it cannot be avoided, and it is a thing to be feared.

Death is the great equalizer: rich and poor, famous and obscure, male or female. Death, when it hits, brings the same physical end to all of humanity. The brain quits, the heart stops, and life, as humans define it, is over. Not even one’s personal fortune or social status can bring relief of this destiny. Again the Word of God ought to echo in our ears: “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Since all of us have sinned (Rom. 3:23), all of us can expect to receive the due recompense—the cessation of life itself. No one lives forever . . . at least not in life as we know it now. The world intuitively knows this despite all protestations to the contrary.

Physical death is not the end of all things; it is only the beginning. For the believer, death is the beginning of life eternal, when we are ushered into the presence of God to enjoy Him forever. For the unbeliever, death is the beginning of unparalleled judgment and unending chastisement. Though a great debate rages today on the existence of future punishment, the Bible portrays the prospect for the lost as never ending torment, “where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48). If the Bible is true, then the greatest tragedy is not physical death itself, but a failure to get ready for the inevitable and to die unprepared. How many of those in our acquaintance stand at the threshold of death, even now, unprepared? Life is short, and judgment is certain.

Finally, God is the measure of all things. Regardless of who dies or what the circumstances of one’s death are, the final assessment of one’s life rests not in the accolades we receive from those who survive us. It comes from the perfect and final judgment of One who knows the end from the beginning. Hebrews 9:27 reminds us that judgment is coming, and Rev. 20:12 describes that judgment at which the unconverted, small and great, will stand. It will be a fearful day, for none may avoid it. Hades yields up its occupants, and even the sea cannot contain all whose remains were lost in its vastness.

Jeff Straub: And the World Wept

Tweets & prayers: Social media spreads the faith in real time

I've heard of this elsewhere, but apparently the church we came from in Jacksonville has also gotten into the game.

I can't say I'm surprised; they'll do anything to draw a crowd except preach from something other than the KJV.

Tweets & prayers: Social media spreads the faith in real time

Pope: Bone Fragments Found in Tomb Are Paul's

While I believe in the historicity of the Scriptures and of the Christian faith, I don't see how they could confirm that some dusty old bones belonged to Paul.

Pope: Bone Fragments Found in Tomb Are Paul's

Sad Story

Stories like this sadden me and make me long for the New Jerusalem:

Massachusetts Judge Rules Boy Can Be Taken Off Life Support After Father's Day Beating

Teaching Children Things We Don't Want Them to Know

I don't usually care about Mitch Albom has to say but his piece in yesterday's Free Press was right on the mark. Sadly, the people sitting in front of him could have been memebrs of any Baptist church or otherwise evangelical or fundamental church anywhere.

It's always interesting to me when the world says the same thing preachers have been saying for years. What's disturbing is that if a preacher says this he's either pooh-poohed or he's accused of being legalistic and judgemental. When a liberal commentator says thesde same things, maybe it's time we wake up and realize the truth in it.

Forget which movie this was about; the same thing could be said about any number of movies or even television programs that children are exposed to. I am constantly amazed at regular viewing diet that Christian parents permit for their children. That is to say nothing of the regular viewing diet of most Christian parents. (For example, how many Christians will watch this movie or movies like this?) And then we wonder why our churches look no different from the world.

Mitch Albom: Hangovers are For Adults; So is Flick

Some highlights (warning: maybe the kids should be in another room):

Now, in case you aren't familiar with "The Hangover," it is a crude, funny, crude, wild, crude, fast-paced, crude story of four guys on a bachelor party in Las Vegas who wake up with no idea what they did the night before.

As the movie goes on, they reconstruct a night that includes sex, blood, strippers, used condoms and a frontally naked man locked in a trunk.

That's just for starters.

The language could make a sailor blush. And there are shots at the end of a man and an old woman engaged in oral sex that baffled, given the R rating. Time was, that was X.

I don't tell you all this to influence you on the movie. I tell you all this before the movie influences your kids.

[...]

And thus the Little Leaguer got a crash course in everything from sex, drugs, stripping, roofies, drinking games and getting beaten up by Mike Tyson.

I don't get it. Even the most liberal, open-minded parent would have seen "The Hangover" as inappropriate for kids. It's not as if the ads fool you into thinking it's "Cinderella."

Yet here was this kid, and the other kids, sitting with their parents, and I can only assume it was for one of the following reasons:

They couldn't afford a babysitter.

They think it goes "over their heads."

They just don't give a d***.

As for the first, well, times are tough. But if you can't afford a sitter, aren't there any PG or PG-13 movies you can endure?

As for "going over their heads" -- please. If a kid can learn how to spell from "Sesame Street," he or she can figure out sex and guzzling alcohol if you SHOW IT TO HIM OR HER FOR TWO HOURS!

As for not giving a d***? That's obvious.

And pathetic.

It's bad enough the stuff you can hardly control -- billboards or TV commercials -- that feature semi-naked people leering and writhing as if all of life is one big sex-and-beer orgy.

But to willfully take your child into a theater, when you know the subject, when you know the film is rated R, just because YOU want to see the movie, is a denial of responsibility that almost leaves me speechless.

And it did. People with me wanted to say something to the parents of the Little Leaguer. But I shook my head. If they sat through the whole movie and never as much as covered the kid's eyes, I knew what would come if I questioned them. A glare. Maybe a shouting match. One of those, "Who are you to try to raise my kids?"

The answer, of course, is the irony of the whole thing. They will let Hollywood raise their kids without a peep of protest, but you, a concerned neighbor, should keep your mouth shut.

People often ask why this country is so screwed up. I wonder if we don't get the country we deserve.

Spending Yourself in Ministry

Consider this statement by Paul:

I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. (2 Cor. 12:15)

This is what it means to serve as a pastor. It is not easy and, to tell the truth, it never really gets easier. You will know pain and turmoil and often will get more respect outisde the church than you do in. But this is often what it is.

If you can't do this, don't become a pastor.

If you have reached the point where you think you can't do this anymore, stop being a pastor.

If you are willing to do this, with the Lord's help of course, you will succeed in ministry even if you never pastor more than a small group of people.

On "Overcoming" as a Theme in Revelation (specifically Rev. 21:1-8)

The Book of Revelation was not written to satisfy our curiosity about the things to come but to encourage us in trials and tribulations until the return of the Lord and because of this it is relevant to Christians in every place and in every age.

Revelation 21:1-8 tells us of the coming New Heavens and New Earth in order to remind us not to find our satisfaction in this world or to be overcome by this world and all that is in it because this world will one day be transformed. As a result of this renewal, God himself will inhabit this world in a way not seen before.

The relevance of this passage for believers is the idea of overcoming, stated in Rev. 21:7, where the Lord tells the reader that the blessings of the new creation are for those who overcome. Those who will inhabit this new creation and enjoy the blessing of God’s presence are those who endure to the end (Matt. 10:22; 24:13; 13:13) and thus who overcome as demonstrated in their faithful obedience.

This principle of overcoming was stated first in each of the letters to the seven churches (2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). This passage marks the fulfillment of those the promises accompanying each call to overcome in the seven letters. Each of the promised blessings stated in those letters find their fulfillment in the new creation.