A Book by a Friend

The other night, Darrin Lauder, an old friend of mine phoned, and due to the oddities of voice mail we almost missed each other. He was calling to let me know he'd written a book, and it had been published. We talked for a while about the book, and what was going on in our lives. It was good to hear from him, and exciting to hear he had a book.
I've picked up a copy and after I've finished it I plan to review it on the blog.

The book is called "Spiritual Warfare & satan's schemes", and it's written as a devotional with 31 short chapters. I'm reading several chapters at a time, with some reflection on each of them. So far it looks good. It's not a "find a demon under every rock", or "talk to the demons" type book, but looks like straight forward biblical application.

There's information about the book on his church's website, (He's the pastor.) Go to the "Meet the Pastor" link on the left, and then to the link for the book. It's available on-line, and in some bookstores.

If you'd like to check it out I found it I found it for a wide range of prices here and here. (It's an 84 page book counting the Scripture Index--so the copies over $20 seem over-priced when you can get it for less.)

One thing about when I read books by people I've heard speak--I read the book with their voice in my head--with this book that was even more true, as I know the author better than any other author I've read. It was a little freaky in a way. I'll let you know how the book goes.

Quotes on Prayer

"The purpose of prayer is not to convince God to think in our terms but to bring us to think as He thinks and to desire those things which are according to His will."

"In asking for daily bread, forgiveness for our sins, and protection from Satan's devices, we must do so with a desire for the glory of God."

"Satan is not overly interested in disobedient, rebellious sinners; they are already under his control. The servant of God who seeks to glorify God, on the other hand, will, like Job, be subjected to his subtle devices and attacks--attacks which no man has the wisdom or strength to withstand by himself."

(All quotes by Linleigh J. Roberts)

These quotes are from Roberts' booklet "To Seek and to Save that which is Lost." It is from his series, "The Biblical Foundations for Missions Series." The booklets in this series are well written and valuable information for serving God and seeking His glory. You can check out more information on them here, at the Biblical Foundations International website.

Why Romans 6:18? (A post re-run)

(Since I've been at this since September 2005, and readers have come and gone, some may have missed the earlier posts if they haven't checked the archives--feel free to check them, I know some readers do. So, as I've seen other blogs do, from time to time I will rerun posts from the past. Here's my third ever post.)

Why did I name this blog after Romans 6:18?

The Bible is a book that bears repeat reading. On one such reading Romans 6:18 jumped right out at me. -"...and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." (NASB)

Wow. I checked out the context.
Romans 6

Here we have Paul asking the Romans why they act as if they are still slaves to sin. They (and all Christians) have been freed from bondage to sin, why go back willingly?

Instead we are slaves of Righteousness-Christ's righteousness. So let's act that way.
It is not an oppressive slavery, but one of freedom in Christ. This theme reverberates throughout Romans 6 and elsewhere-such as Romans 7:6 and John 8:32. Martin Luther understood this and declared himself captive to God and His Word.

Yet, when we sin, we place ourselves back under sin's bondage. Yes, God forgives His people, and we rejoice in that. We are not to presume upon God though, we are to act in accordance with what we profess to believe. Before we believed we were slaves to sin, but we are freed.

Why do I repeat myself in this? It is very important for Christians to keep this in mind.
It was not our own power that freed us from sin, and it is not our own righteousness we are to be slaves to. It is the work of the Triune God-Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Why go back to what was?

Who or what is your Master? Whose slave are you?

How to Stop Dispensationalists from Smoking

I wish I had a picture, but while out driving today I passed a gas station that seemed to have a strategy to stop Dispensationalists from smoking.

The price for a pack of cigarettes?
$6.66

A Silly Story about Roman Catholicism

I call this a silly story, because if you're not a Roman Catholic it shouldn't bother you. It shouldn't bother you because you probably don't believe the premise to start with, so the story doesn't matter. If you are Roman Catholic you may or may not put stock in the premise. If you don't, again it doesn't matter. Only Roman Catholics who take the premise seriously need worry--and I'd think most of those would be likely to believe the offical version of it from the Vatican. Maybe it was a slow news day. Maybe, like me, they found it oddly amusing.

Vatican denies hiding the full truth about the end of the world

As I am not a Roman Catholic anymore, and I don't believe Mary really appeared to the three children and she didn't give them any visions I don't believe in the "Secrets of Fatima." Subsequently, even if the Vatican is hiding details, it doesn't matter. But still, for some reason, I do find this oddly amusing.

Johnny Hart

Yes, this isn't news anymore, but despite my delay between posts I still wanted to mention this.

Johnny Hart dies at storyboard

B.C. was one of my favorite comic strips growing up. In my youth copied the art style, and created similar looking characters for my own comics-although on very different topics. I wasn't as good as Johnny Hart--and thus you've probably never seen my work.

I also liked the religious content he put in some of his strips. Some times it was just silly, and sometimes it made you think. One time a non religious strip caused problems when it was seen as a comment on Islam-Check out the story here.

Since there is an archive of his work, and he had worked ahead for now the strip will continue. You can see some of his work here.