The Jesus Manifesto

I recently received a disk from a Christian radio show, including a mix of messages, music, and some good articles. But I especially want to highlight one: The Jesus Manifesto: A Call to Revolution by Dr. Michael L. Brown. I believe every Christian in America needs to read this. It sends a reeling blow to comfortable, cultural Christianity. To people who go to church once or twice a week, talk about God, study the Bible, leave feeling smarter, like they’ve done their duty, and return to a worldly lifestyle. Forgetting the lost around them, forgetting that people observe to see if anything’s different. The things that Jesus did and said, the very words of God, were the most revolutionary, counter-cultural things that could’ve been said then and now. It’s time for believers to live those words.

Another resource to check out on the same theme is Eric Sandra’s Plastic Jesus: Exposing the Hollowness of Comfortable Christianity.

Lost Boy: The Documentary

We heard about Greg Laurie’s story, Lost Boy, on A New Beginning and ordered the documentary DVD. It showed up yesterday, and my family and I finished it last night. And it was powerful.

Greg Laurie grew up in a very troubled home, faced many trials, went through rebellion and drug use in the 60s, but during the Jesus Movement was transformed by love of Christ and today is an evangelist, reaching countless multitudes with the gospel. His story connects with so many in today’s culture of painful, broken homes, and points to the way of hope in Christ. Highly recommended.

I want to extend my condolences to the Greg Laurie family in this painful time following the passing of Greg and Cathe’s son, Christopher. Remember, life is a vapor. We’ll all be together soon.

Donate to the Christopher Laurie Memorial Fund.

Everybody wants Obama?

Yes, that’s what I hear every day. The man is pulled at and celebrated like the biggest rock star on the planet. Yes, the man has some skill before the cameras, but I think the majority of Americans hear his tired “change” rhetoric and don’t have a clue how little experience Obama has. How bout we look at Mr. Limbaugh’s insights into Obama’s off-teleprompter performance? I’m not trying to make fun of him. I’m simply saying consider carefully that not only is Obama the most radical liberal in the senate, he can barely articulate a coherent thought or answer a question without a script!

Review: Do Hard Things

Do Hard Things

I just finished up Alex and Brett Harris’s book Do Hard Things. Here’re some thoughts.

The brothers’ site, TheRebelution.com quotes Randy Alcorn as saying “I believe [Do Hard Things] will prove to be one of the most life-changing, family-changing, church-changing and culture-changing books of this generation.” I couldn’t agree more. It’s a shocking wake-up call to a generation of teenagers and young adults who’ve slipped into following our culture’s low expectations of who they should be, what they should do, and what they can accomplish. I see way too many people around me at work, at church, and college, teens and adults alike, who see the sum total of their existence as getting up, doing only the minimum of what’s expected of them, then chillin’ in front of the TV. Alex and Brett jump into things with a startling message: this isn’t the way it’s always been, and it’s not the way it has to be. Stories, both from Alex, Brett, and many other inspiring “rebelutionaries” from the past and present make the book an easy, but eye-opening, horizon-stretching read. Stories of young people who are sick of mediocrity, who strive to be and do more, speaking to crowds for a cause like fighting for modern-day slaves, helping the homeless, feeding the hungry around the world, jumping into political campaigns, making culture-changing music, blogging, directing a film. It opened my eyes to a rising work of God in the youth of today. I’m in. Let’s change the world.

Can I give it more than five stars?

Concerns on The Shack

William P. Young’s book The Shack seems to be growing more popular every day, but from what I gather of the book’s content, it’s far from the next Pilgrim’s Progress. I’m not trying to discount some positive things those who’ve read the book might’ve seen in it, but whether you’ve read it or have just heard about it, take a few minutes to read Tim Challies’s review at Boundless. Some of the content, dealing with everything from the cross and the nature of salvation to the Trinity, wanders dangerously close to heresy. Don’t be too hasty to jump on the bandwagon and applaud The Shack.

Some of the things mentioned in Challies’s review discus whether Christ is the only way to God, or one path of many, as well as the nature of the established church. I commend being open-minded, but not when it leads to questioning established doctrines of the faith, clear teaching of Scripture, or even the existence of absolute truth. Young’s borderline unitarian thinking feels like something of the ideas flowing from strains of the emergent church movement, on which I recommend Justin Taylor’s New Attitude message, A New Kind of Christianity. If your mind is too open your brains will fall out.