Westminster Bookstore Has a New Look!

Westminster Bookstore

Great to see that our friends at WTS Bookstore have a smart new website up and running! Be sure to head over and take a peak.

Military Missional Work Available!

Pastor Perry Edwards is a friend of mine leading a church beside the enormous Canadian military base in Oromocto, New Brunswick. CFB Gagetown is the second largest military base in Canada and one of the largest in the world. Almost every Canadian soldier does time at “Gag Town.” Sovereign Grace Baptist Church is about 3 minutes away from the front gate.

When I visited there this past winter, I got cold. But I also got a feel for the unique ministry opportunity facing Perry and the good folks at SGBC. The longest most military families stay at Gagetown is 3 years. Then comes a transfer to another base or a tour of duty. That means that any families or individuals that join the church will not be there for long.

Perhaps that is why not many churches have made inroads into the base. I was delighted to see that was not the case with SGBC. Oromocto itself only boasts about 8400 people, so you can imagine there are not many mega-churches with that small population base. But the 70 people of SGBC are faithful givers and have a desire to evangelize as many soldiers as they can for the short time they reside on the base. And they know this will not result in swelling numbers at their assemblies over the long haul. In other words, this is true, servant-hearted, self-sacrificing mission.

The church has approved a new budget to hire a part-time “military evangelist” – a man who will be a member of SGBC but spend 10 hours per week or so developing relationships with military personnel in order to preach Christ and Him crucified. If you know of a man who might fit this assignment, then feel free to email me and I will put you in touch with Perry.

May the Gospel of Christ go forward with power from Gagetown! What a wonderful testimony for SGBC, if at the end of many years there were a whole host of soldiers living all over the world who could point to them as the means of their salvation!

Australian man survives nine-storey fall in his underwear

Australian man survives nine-storey fall in his underwear:

"PERTH, Australia - A 35-year-old man wearing only his underpants survived a 30-metre fall from his ninth-floor apartment after trying to walk to a neighbour's balcony while balancing on a plank, police said Tuesday. A garden gazebo broke the man's fall, and he was taken to a hospital in serious condition. Ros Weatherall, a spokeswoman for Western Australia state police, said rescue workers found the man, who was not immediately identified, wearing only his underpants. 'He was skylarking around, building planks across to his neighbour's place, when it happened,' she said. 'He was very lucky.'"

There are many things I would like to say about this.

1. Who puts planks between balconies and walks across them for fun?

2. Who puts planks between balconies and walks across them for fun in their underwear?

3. Who actually thinks the man who "broke his fall" by hitting a gazebo before the ground and is in critical condition... was LUCKY!?

Football in Bremen!

This past week I loaded up the van with my family and took the 9 hour drive to Bremen, Indiana to watch some High School football. Call me crazy.

Two of my nephews start for the team – one is quarterback and the other a wide receiver. Proud uncles can’t resist a combination like that!

Bremen has a proud football tradition. I was there in Indianapolis when they won the state championship... not a bad feat for a little town with a total high school population of some 400 or so (including the girls!).

The boys were picked to lose this game against the rival John Glenn team from Walkerton, but I never believed it. The day began with nephew Matt announcing to the school via morning announcement video feed that “the relatives from Canada are here to see the game... so let’s win one for Canada!” That got him 5 bucks.

Later that night, we walked to the stadium with hats and gloves and grabbed our spots high up on the bleachers on the 50 yard line. Some Miller kid ran the opening kick off back for a touchdown – which is always a pleasant way to start a game. The kick was good and it was 7-0 Lions with barely a minute (17 seconds to be extremely precise) off the clock. Bremen kept the lead throughout, although Glenn was threatening in the fourth quarter when nephew Matt perfectly timed a clutch tackle that popped the ball out of the receiver’s hands making for a very incomplete pass!

Matt's Amazing Tackle

Nephew Chris was rock solid tossing the pigskin, although this was primarily a running game. I never saw the totals, but he must have rushed for about 40 yards himself... with some stunning dish offs ("the option" to purists). Enough to make his uncle cringe in fear! There he was, all wrapped up by some hulking Glenn defender and in the process of falling to the ground when – boink – he would toss the ball to a teammate for some extra yardage. He must have done that 723 times in the game! And it worked. Chris is the king of the little shovel pass in my books.

Chris with the Shovel Pass

After the victory, the whole team gathered before the stands and sang a sweaty rendition of the school song. Chris spotted me in the crowd and gave me the shout out. That got him 5 bucks.

My kids loved the game and while everyone was playing football, Mrs. Kerux was meeting up with all kinds of old friends from school days. (She saw most of the game, though!)

Best of all, I watched a couple boys I used to throw passes to in the backyard of Grandpa’s house acting like men. And not just on the field either. Both Chris and Matt have given good testimony to a work of God in their lives and these fellows live for Jesus. An uncle could not feel much prouder.

Chris taking off on another fantastic rush!

Matt lining up on defense... he plays both ways.

Still curious?

FINAL SCORE:
BREMEN 28
WALKERTON 18

And Saturday morning we got up and drove 9 hours home so I could preach today. What a nice few days!

(Photo Credits: Aunt Karen)

Toronto Homicides in 2007

CBC News In Depth: Toronto Homicides in 2007

The CBC has a sad map here that shows where every reported murder in Toronto occurred in 2007.

I am glad to see that Rexdale (the long-standing homicide capitol of Canada... and my home...) did not have as many red dots as I thought it might.

Each of these marks on the map was a person.

Oops! UK Judge Rules Gore Made 9 Scientific Errors in Film

Clearly, an Inconvenient Assessment!

The nine errors alleged by the judge included:

Mr Gore's assertion that a sea-level rise of up to 20 feet would be caused by melting of ice in either West Antarctica or Greenland "in the near future". The judge said this was "distinctly alarmist" and it was common ground that if Greenland's ice melted it would release this amount of water - "but only after, and over, millennia".

Mr Gore's assertion that the disappearance of snow on Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa was expressly attributable to global warming - the court heard the scientific consensus was that it cannot be established the snow recession is mainly attributable to human-induced climate change.

Mr Gore's reference to a new scientific study showing that, for the first time, polar bears had actually drowned "swimming long distances - up to 60 miles - to find the ice". The judge said: "The only scientific study that either side before me can find is one which indicates that four polar bears have recently been found drowned because of a storm."

TV and You

“It’s never too late. That’s an important message for parents as well as pediatricians, encouraging parents to turn off the TV and think about alternative activities for kids.”

– Lead author Kamila Mistry, on her recent study showing that behavioural problems linked to TV viewing in young children can be minimized by limiting TV watching

[Source: Plugged In Online, 10/8/07; U.S. News & World Report, 10/1/07]

The Gospel Advances in Cambridge

One of the joys of staying in one church and one fellowship is that you get to see the Lord’s work over time. This past Sunday I was preaching at Grace Bible Church in Cambridge which has been ably pastored by my friend David Robinson for, I think, over ten years now.

David came to the church when they were still Blair Community Church – a small, yet enduring work in the little villa of Blair (now a part of Cambridge). After several years of faithful ministry, working a part-time job to make ends meet and the goodness of God, the Lord added to the work and this little church was out of room. They sold their somewhat antiquated building, rented for several years and finally built in the nearby community of Preston.

I think they will need to build again soon!

My time at the church over this holiday weekend was a great encouragement as their now near-full new building was singing, praying and hearing the Word with eagerness. They showed much patience to this poor preacher and best of all, a genuine love for the Saviour.

David was on a flight back from a two-week teaching stint in Mongolia... and even though these saints were more than ready to have their pastor back, they were full of grace to my family. (You can read David’s riveting reports of his trip on his blog.)

And the end of the day, we traveled back to Toronto with thanks to God for the progress of the Gospel in Cambridge and a greater zeal to pray for the extension of His mighty Kingdom there.

Marion Jones and What Happens to Liars

"I have always maintained that I have never ever taken performance-enhancing drugs, and I am pleased that a scientific process has now demonstrated that fact."

These were the words of a joyful Marion Jones on September 6.

Yesterday, this is what the same US Olympic champion had to say…

"It is with a great amount of shame that I stand before you and tell you that I have betrayed your trust. Because of my actions I am retiring from the sport of track and field, a sport which I deeply love."

What actions?

According to Jones, she was unknowingly (at first) taking a performance-enhancing substance called “the clear.” Court records seem to imply that she stopped taking the substance once she discovered what it was. Then she lied about taking the drug… to Federal prosecutors… under oath.

What happens next is up to the prosecution, but it is one more living lesson that lies nearly always get exposed.

The father of lies always promises more than he can deliver. Now a woman who by all counts would have been a great athlete without enhancement will lose her five Olympic medals, all her records, and all the good fame she sought.

But we’ve seen all this before. And someone who can lie about getting juiced can just as easily lie about their retirement.

Which just goes to show you, once a proven liar, nearly everything you say is called into question.

I hate lies. I have told far too many of them in my life. In fact, it was an inability to stop lying that in many ways drove me to the cross. I pray the Lord in His grace uses a similar method to call Marion Jones to Himself.

Flee from falsehood, friends.

Was Agabus Wrong? - Kring Corrects Grudem

Grace Fellowship Church: An Evaluation of Wayne Grudem's View of NT Prophecy:

The link will take you to an excellent paper delivered at our pastor's fraternal several years ago by my friend Stephen Kring. Stephen is a humble, yet very thoughtful and able exegete. I always profit under his ministry. In the paper, he takes a careful look at Grudem's view of prophecy and does some excellent Biblical Theology to evaluate his conclusions.

I remember being very helped by his section on the Agabus prophecy of Acts 21 which I quote at length below. I have yet to see anyone answer this careful critique and would love to hear of any attempts. You really ought to take the 10 minutes to read the entire paper on our website.

NOW CONCERNING AGABUS

In Acts 21:10, 11 we read, “And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”

Grudem uses this prophecy as a typical example of NT prophecy, which can contain mistakes and errors. He looks at Acts 21:27-35 and suggests that neither of Agabus’ predictions came true. “Paul was not bound by the Jews but by the Romans, and far from delivering Paul over to the Romans, they tried to kill him, and he had to be delivered from the Jews by the soldiers.”[8] Grudem further comments:

...it is not that Agabus has spoken in a totally false or misleading way; it is just that he has the details wrong. But this kind of minor inaccuracy is exactly compatible with the type of prophecy we found earlier in 1 Corinthians, in which the prophet receives some kind of revelation and then reports it in his own words. He would have a “divine authority of general content” (Paul would be imprisoned at Jerusalem), but with the details wrong.[9]

D.A. Carson also states with reference to Agabus, “I can think of no reported Old Testament prophet whose prophecies are so wrong on the details.”[10]

Someone is surely wrong here, but I would suggest that it is Grudem and Carson, not Agabus or the Holy Spirit. Let’s look more carefully at this prophecy. To begin with we are dealing with a prophet whose reputation precedes him. In Acts 11:27 he “showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.” At the very least, the accuracy of this prophecy leads us to expect the same from his next prophecy.

Next, note the continuity with Old Testament prophets as is reflected by the graphic symbolism of Agabus’ binding of his own hands and feet with Paul’s belt. Not only does it put this prophecy on a level with Isaiah 20, Jeremiah 13, and Ezekiel 24, it also is an indication of the certainty Agabus must have felt regarding its fulfillment.

Especially telling, however, is the introductory phrase, “Thus says the Holy Spirit”, followed by what the Holy Spirit said. In the NT the formula "Tade legei" (“these are the words of”) is only found here and in Rev. 2, 3 at the beginning of each of the seven letters to the churches in Asia. In the LXX, this is the common rendering of “Thus says the Lord”. Agabus was surely quite aware that by his symbolic actions and introductory words he was placing himself on the same inspired level as the holy men of God of the Old Testament who were borne along by the Holy Spirit.

But what about the “mistakes” Grudem alleges? Let’s consider the second one first. Contrary to what Grudem says, the Jews did deliver Paul over to the Romans. They might not have done it willingly at first, but they still did do it! This is supported by Paul’s own statement in Acts 28:17, “...I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans...” But did the Jews bind Paul? Surely they did, in the sense that it was because of their hatred that Paul was bound to start with. It was at their insistence that he not be released, but remain a prisoner at Caesarea (Acts 24:27). The Jews at Jerusalem were just as responsible for Paul’s being bound as earlier Jews were for Jesus being crucified. They may not have personally and literally done the job, but their hatred brought it about (in the plan and purpose of God).

If Grudem demanded this kind of rigid literalism in the fulfillment of OT prophecy, what would he do with “I will send you Elijah the prophet” (Mal. 4:5)? Did Malachi only have an “authority of general content” at this point? Was he, like Agabus, mistaken? Or does the fulfillment explain what God meant when He inspired the prophet to say what he did? Sure the latter is the case with Malachi, and, I submit, with Agabus as well.

[8]Grudem, The Gift of Prophecy in 1 Corinthians, p. 79.

[9]Ibid., pp. 80, 81.

[10]Carson, Showing the Spirit, p. 98.