If you’ve ever wanted to have your own web site, but were afraid you don’t have the technical skills to do it, Google has designed an easy web site hosting service that is totally free.
Thanks to
To see the site that Arne has created using Google Pages, go to http://arne.gasch.googlepages.com/home3
There are many options for how your web site can look, and Google Pages makes it very easy to do.
Recently I learned about a new translation of the Bible into English, called the “NET Bible” (New English Translation). Unlike some other modern translations, this one is extremely accurate. For heavy-duty Bible students, it has the most in-depth notes I have ever seen in a Study Bible.
It’s available for free download at
http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=3086
If you don’t want to download it into your computer and prefer rather to read it over the Internet, you can go to
This 11 minute video clip is really tremendous. A man named Ryan Ferguson quotes Hebrews chapters 9 and 10 from memory. That in itself is neat, but the way in which he quotes them is incredible. These chapters are what we would normally think of as theologically “heavy”, but when he gets to 10:23 the audience cannot restrain their applause, not for him, but for the message of the Bible itself.
He “preaches” the text with such enthusiasm and clarity that you at first think “He must be using one of those modern translations that ‘spice up’ the Bible to make it sound more interesting.” But no, he’s using the ESV, which is definitely toward the “literal” end of the translation spectrum, more literal than the KJV in fact. (See http://www.zondervan.com/images/cms/Bibles/bible_transchrt_js.jpg for a handy comparison chart of Bible translations, if you’re interested.)
The reason why Hebrews 9 and 10 “come alive” when Ryan quotes them is simply because of the way he quotes them. This shows that Scripture could come alive for any of us if we simply thought more deeply about what we read and read it with the same passion with which the writers wrote it.
Anyways, here’s the video. Enjoy it!
John Piper is unusual in his ability to talk in abstract theological terms in one breath and then (in this case, after pausing mid-sentence for a cough) plunge down into the depths of utter practicality with a speed that leaves you breathless. At first you wonder, “How does this issue relate to any of what he was just talking about?” and then he begins to connect the dots and you see that they were very much connected all along.
If you don’t have high speed internet, you can still get an idea what it’s about by going to http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/
If you do have high speed internet, the link below will amaze you.
It’s a 22 year old man who was born without arms and legs, but who by God’s grace has a ministry of speaking around the world.
I hope you enjoy it! I think it will really encourage you.
Daniel
This 25-min clip is amazing!
This guy is physically the most unusual motivational speaker you've ever
seen, and he has an unforgettable message. Check it out!
A Muslim friend sent me a link to a video of a Christian preacher who became a Muslim.
You can watch it yourself at http://www.watchislam.com/videos/video.php?vid=3 or read a summary at
http://islamtomorrow.com/yusuf/priests_n_preachers.htm
To a genuine Christian, the conversion story of Skip (now Yusuf) Estes will not ring true. It’s obvious that he was not a genuine follower of Jesus before his conversion to Islam. (It comes out even more clearly in the video, than in the written account, how small his working knowledge of the Bible (and Islam) was when he was a “Christian” preacher.)
Nevertheless, this is a sad story and one we should take to heart. As Paul said, “Lest having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.”
There is another valuable lesson in this. Estes over simplifies and twists facts to make his points about Christianity. I don’t know enough of Islam to know if he’s doing the same for Islam, but the fact that he was inaccurate in his description of Christianity causes me to wonder how accurate he was in his description of Islam.
The reverse is true for us as we try to share Jesus with Muslims. If we make inaccurate statements about Islam, they will not trust our words about Jesus. Unfortunately, there is inaccurate information about Islam floating around in some Christian circles today. What makes Islam confusing to understand is that there are so many understandings of Islam floating around even in the Islamic world. Some are violent and some are more peaceful. If we accuse a peaceful Muslim of being a violent Muslim, he will conclude we have an inaccurate knowledge of Islam and doubt our accuracy about Jesus also.
A couple days ago a Chinese friend sent me an interesting item about a 90 year old American woman born in China to missionary parents, who returned to China 8 years ago after her husband died. Eunice Moe Brock has dedicated her remaining years to helping the poor in her section of
You can read about her here: http://www.china.org.cn/english/LivinginChina/220798.htm
I was about to proclaim her a modern day Caleb (see Joshua 14:6-14) when I made a terribly sad discovery.
On http://noosphere.princeton.edu/brock.html, several of Mrs. Brock’s recent emails are posted. The following is extracted from one addressed at Chinese people. Note first of all how articulate she is. How many 90 year olds do you know who can write this coherently? Second, notice how wrong she is. (Oh, how sad!)
Growing up among devoutly Christian missionaries I also accepted the Christian faith but even as a child I could not bring myself to believe that God would burn anyone eternally in hell. Since I was taught that doubting the church doctrines was a sin I was troubled by my doubts. The year of my fourteenth birthday my parents were in
On my fourteenth birthday I hiked along the stream until I came to a spot secluded by trees and prayed to God. I expressed how burdened I was by doubt not knowing what to believe or where to seek for satisfactory answers. The only thing I could think to do was to seek for truth. I promised God that I would seek for truth and would live by the truth I found. The distressing burden of doubt vanished and I felt an exhilarating sense of freedom which I continue to enjoy… It took a number of decades to shed enough dogmas to join the Unitarian Universalist (U.U.) church…
If you have trouble discerning what’s wrong with Unitarian Universalism, you can read this helpful link: http://www.4truth.net/site/c.hiKXLbPNLrF/b.2950167/k.7244/Unitarian_Universalists.htm Essentially, it contains a lot of “postmodern” ideas – you can believe anything you want as long as you don’t say that other beliefs are wrong… which means that truth is relative. It is certainly an appealing religion, but not one that can save anyone from sin.
I hope that Christians will take a lesson from Mrs. Brock’s passion and courage in getting out of her comfort zone at an age when most are thinking about TV, nursing homes, and Social Security benefits. If she can take such risks to promote her false ideals, can’t we take them to promote the truth? She believes error more committedly than we believe the truth.
