Faith Bible Blog

If you haven’t been in a cave, then you know of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti six days ago, and the ensuing humanitarian crisis that’s developing now.  Over 200,000 are now estimated dead with many of the living in desperate need of food, water and medical care.  Christian and non-Christian alike are working hard to help mitigate and relieve some of the incredible suffering that’s now taking place.

For believers, we are called to be faithful stewards of God’s resources.  That means that we should be saving up funds to spend on others, and not just ourselves.  Jesus tells the story in Luke 16 of an unrighteous, worldly steward who knew enough to spend his master’s money in a way that would benefit his future.  And Jesus argues that if an unbeliever knows enough to do this, how much more should Christians be investing God’s money into things of eternal consequence!

With that in mind, I wanted to make you aware of a variety of solid, trustworthy and less-heard-of relief organizations that are now hard at work in Haiti:

• Churches Helping Churches – an effort launched by James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll to specifically help solid Haitian churches that have been flattened or otherwise destroyed by the earthquake.  Hospitals, schools and other major buildings get all the attention, but biblically solid churches need to exist in Haiti for them to truly thrive.
• Childrens’ Hunger Fund – this organization is primarily focused on bringing food and the hope of the gospel to kids.  Francis Chan (pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley) sits on the board and they have been operating in Haiti since before the earthquake.
• Missionary Flights International – they provide air support to missionaries working in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  Since the earthquake, they have been shutting supplies there as often as the airport will let them land.  Here’s a report on MFI from our own Eric Verkouteren…

As the Lord would providentially have it, I’m sitting in the parking lot of Missionary Flights International in Fort Pierce Florida, awe struck of the mercy god supplies. As an established organization, MFI organizes and partnerships with missionaries in Haiti to be a support chain in the supply of personel and goods. In response to the recent earthquake, this operation has expanded it’s daily flights and services beyond what it can withhold. As I walk around the hanger I see over 200 volunteers packing and sorting supplies. In talking with the Vice President Larry Cambell, he acknowledges the donations of some 100,000 lbs of supplies just today! MFI normally operates three restored DC-3 aircraft, but the demand has quickly exceeded the capacity of the organization.

Supplies being loaded at MFI (by Eric V)

In talking with Mr. Campbell he explained, ” The need is beyond our limit. With the generous support of Hendrix Motorsports we have two corporate jets shuttling workers and personnel. But we are still overwhelmed. We have 100,000 lbs of supplies sitting on the hanger floor with no way to get it down to Haiti. We need a C-130 or other aircraft to acomplish the task.”
Surely the need will continue for the next few months. Acording to Mr. Campbell, the US military has taken over the airport in Haiti, the flights are leaving several times a day. As I write I’m watching the supplies be loaded, personnel making their last phone calls, and more supplies arriving by the pallet. I’m stirred and I hope you are too to seek the lords hand, and to reach out how He may lead. More than just a temperal need, there is a spiritual need beyond what we can imagine.
Let’s rally in Christ…
In Him,
Eric

John Culture & Politics, General News, Missions compassion

As I’m sure many of you have seen in the headlines, there have been a plethora of cases lately where the parent chooses to withhold critical medical care from their child due to religious beliefs. These have mainly ended with tragedy.

How should we feel about such cases?  On the one hand, as Christians, we have a concern for the removal of our freedom to practice our faith.  On the flip side, the lack of concern by the parents for the well-being of their children is entirely disturbing.

Al Mohler has written an excellent article about what happens ‘When Medicine and Faith Collide.’  For a summary conclusion, read below, but know that it’s worth reading the whole thing.

As a Christian theologian, my concern is also directed to those who oppose medical treatment on what are claimed as biblical grounds.  The Bible never commands any refusal of legitimate medical treatment.  I am unspeakably thankful for modern medicine, for antibiotics and anesthesia and chemotherapy and dialysis and diagnostics.  The list goes on and on.  There is no Christian prohibition against legitimate medical treatment.  I believe that God heals, that we should pray for healing in Christ’s name, and that our lives are in God’s hands.  I believe that all healing comes ultimately from God, but that He has given us the blessings of medicine for the alleviation of much suffering and the treatment of disease.  There is no conflict here.

There are serious issues of medical ethics in the case of some treatments, even as there are excruciating dilemmas that confront physicians, patients, and parents.  Those must be acknowledged, but they are not the issues at stake in these cases.

In these cases I advise what the great Reformer Martin Luther advised — take your medicine and put your trust in God. For parents, this means to give your child the best care that modern medicine can offer, and to entrust your precious child to God and to God alone.

John Culture & Politics, Internet Notables

John Culture & Politics, Internet Notables abortion

Question: Where did the idea of the Easter Bunny come from?

Answer: I have no idea.  That’s what Google & Wikipedia are for. 

PS–Yes, this was a real question submitted on Sunday.  In case we’ve given the impression otherwise, we really only claim to some measure of understanding about the Bible, not pop culture, world history, medicine, etc.

John Culture & Politics TXT Question

A very good word here from Tim Challies. An excerpt:

I want to say a word today about watchblogs or discernment blogs or whatever you want to call them. I am referring to blogs that specialize in sharing bad news. They share stories and videos and anecdotes about Christians and churches and supposed Christians and supposed churches. Day after day they offer examples of all that is wrong in the church. They may vary what they offer a little bit, but what is true of them is that they offer a steady diet of negative content related to the church in general or perhaps related to just one person or one ministry. You know of some of these sites, I am sure.

I was thinking about such blogs a few days ago and arrived at a conclusion about them that actually rather surprised me. This is what I realized: these blogs are really little more than entertainment. And once I had these blogs filed in that way in my mind, their popularity and their draw began to make much more sense to me. They are really just a spiritualized form of YouTube or any other site that entertains by sharing what is gross and base and negative and that does so for the sake of entertainment. There is really no value in watching boys do stupid things on skateboards and laughing when they crack their ankle bones in half; there is really no value in watching the worst pastors in America preach to the worst churches in America. Such sites offer evil as entertainment.

Here’s the conclusion:

Filling our minds, our hearts, our computer screens, our blogs with all that is wrong in the church will do little to conform us into the image of the Savior. It can do little. My encouragement to you, whether you are a regular visitor to one of these sites or whether you simply visit them occasionally, is to examine your heart and to examine your motives. Do you visit such sites because they have information that you truly need to know? Or do you visit as a means of entertainment? Are you delighting in what is good and true and pure and lovely, or are you finding a strange, sick delight in all that is evil and ugly?

From: Between Two Worlds

Erick Culture & Politics, Internet Notables

I think it is really
important for our mission here and for our own spiritual growth that we respond
biblically to the election of Barack Obama as president.

The two
of you that voted for Obama won’t need this, but for the rest of you: please prayerfully consider your biblical obligations to
Barack Obama when he takes over the presidency.

1.)
 Submit to President Barack Obama as God’s Sovereign Choice for Our
Country

• Let every person be subject to the governing
  authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that
  exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the
  authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will
  incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad.
  Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is
  good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your
  good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in
  vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath
  on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid
  God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you
  also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to
  this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are
  owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed,
  honor to whom honor is owed.  Romans
  13:1-7

• Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human
  institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as
  sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. I Peter
  2:13-14

We are to submit to the
leaders God has put over us unless submitting to them we cause us to sin God
(Acts 4:19-20).  This command is actually much easier for us to do than it
was for the believers it was first written to.  Their emperor was Nero, who liked
to light Christians on fire and feed them to wild animals and yet they were
called to submit to him.  Surely, out of love for our God, we can joyfully
submit to Barack Obama as our president.  God has not given us a command
that is too difficult here (I John 5:3).

2.)  Respect President Barack Obama

• Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.
  Honor the emperor.  I Peter 2:17

We are to respect Barack
Obama.  During the Clinton years it was far too common for Christians to
disparage their president through bumper stickers, t-shirts, and the comments
they made.  If that is your impulse, please grow up.  God commands us
to show honor to our leaders.  It is unacceptable for Christians to speak
disrespectfully of their president.  You can (and should) speak out against
his policies, you can even get involved in four years to remove him, but while
he is president you must speak respectfully of him.  

Once again the emperor
Peter was talking about here was Nero, who by the way was not an elected
figure, they had no say in who the emperor was.  In obedience to God,
watch how you talk about our president.

3.)  Pray for Barack Obama Daily

• First of all, then, I urge that supplications,
  prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for
  kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and
  quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is
  pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be
  saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  I Timothy 2:1-4
  

If you have never been in
the habit of praying daily for the president, this would be an excellent time
to start.  President Obama has a lot of challenges ahead of him.
 Pray for him everyday.  Pray that God would reveal himself to him,
bless him, give him wisdom, and keep him safe.  We are teaching our boys
to do this every day.

It is
interesting that when Daniel found out that judgment was going to come upon
Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:19) he was visible shaken and declare that he
wished it would happen to the king’s enemies instead.  And Nebuchadnezzar
wasn’t really the king you would want, now was he? – trying to BBQ Daniel’s
friends and all.  And yet Daniel cared about him and wanted him to be
blessed, not judged.  You can have that same spirit towards Barack Obama
as you pray that God would reveal himself to him, bless him, give him
wisdom, and keep him safe.

For the
next few days as you talk with believers and unbelievers about the outcome of
this election you have an opportunity to be refreshingly biblical – and truly
counter-cultural.  Let’s show the world (and other believers) that
Christians are not a bunch of cry babies and sore losers who put all their
hopes in having political power.  Whining, fear, and bitterness are not
fitting for us who believe God is up to something in all that he ordains.
 Let’s show the world (and other Christians) that we have a happy trust in
God’s sovereignty.  Let’s show them that we are prepared to joyfully
submitting to, respect, and pray for Barack Obama, out of a deep trust in and
love for our God.  Or…..you can do just what the culture expects you
to. 

Keep in
mind our cause, the spread of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, does not depend
on having political power.  In fact, our cause has most often thrived when
it had no such advantages!  The Kingdom is breaking in even now, the
fullness of it will soon appear!

Read more…

Erick Culture & Politics

That’s the sagacious counsel of John Piper in a blog post of his last week.  Examining Paul’s words in 1 Cor 7:29-31, Piper applies what he says to voting with great wisdom and insight.

Voting is like marrying and crying and laughing and buying. We should do it, but only as if we were not doing it. That’s because “the present form of this world is passing away” and, in God’s eyes, “the time has grown very short."

We should all vote on Tuesday of next week.  There are issues of Christian morality at stake on the ballot this time. If you don’t like either of the presidential choices, write in ‘Jesus’ so that you can say you voted for him.  But, at the least, go and vote your conscience on the propositions at hand.

Ultimately, though, politics is not supreme, Christ is.  Read Piper’s article to see how he more fully develops that thought .

Read more…

John Culture & Politics

Though many have hopes, there is no telling yet who will win the November election.  The two contenders met this last Saturday night in the OC at Saddleback Church.   Though I missed seeing the event live, from what I’ve heard and read, Rick Warren did an excellent job moderating.  He asked a number of good tough questions that revealed the character and viewpoints of the men running for office.

If you’d like a short summary, read Al Mohler’s blog.

If you’d like
to read a literal account of the event, read CNN’s transcript.

If you’d like to watch the interviews, video is also available.

Read more…

John Culture & Politics

For all of us in California, we will have the opportunity this November to vote on Proposition 8.  If you don’t know what Prop. 8 is, or are unsure of the ramifications of this proposition, Al Mohler has written a helpful article that describes why Proposition 8 exists, particularly in light of the L.A. Times recent coverage and commentary.

As this is a presidential ballot, it’s likely that many people will turn out to vote.  Make sure that you understand the issues on Proposition 8 so that you can vote accordingly.   (And when the time comes to affirm by vote, existing and future supreme court justices, please consider whether they will be prone to legislating from the bench.)

Read more…

John Culture & Politics

Yesterday, I read a great post by John Piper as he considered the Supreme Court’s decision on the rights of unlawful combatants at Guantanamo Bay and the President’s response.  Here’s the article in full.  (HT: Justin Taylor)

Gratitude for Power-Restraints
June 16, 2008  |  By: John Piper

Read more…

John Culture & Politics