The Gospel According to Yeeks

The widely reported Miley Cyrus performance at the VMA awards show has been heavily commented on. There are many things that can be said. I saw one of my friends did a cover in the aftermath of the show. Listening to the lyrics (in a less cringeworthy setting), I couldn't help but notice these lines. To my home girls here with the big butt Shaking it like we at a strip club Remember only God can judge ya Forget the haters cause somebody loves ya It is actually right there in the song. I'm not making it up.

Where is your church’s X? Convicting stuff from Ray Ortlund once again.

Been asked to write something short for my church's newsletter. I busted the word limit. But this is more or less what I hope to dwell on: UNITY – THE BY-PRODUCT OF FLESH-KILLING Recently I have just finished reading “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the 1961 Pulitzer Prize winner written by Harper Lee. Set in the fictional racially-divided Southern town of Maycomb, one particular episode makes for very sad reading. One of the characters in the story, a black woman named Calpurnia was chastised for bringing white children to her black church. “You ain’t got no business bringin’ white chillun here – they got their church, we got our’n. It is our church, ain’t it, Miss Cal?” Racial tensions aside, why does this happen? One of the best sermons I have ever heard on the topic of unity in the church, preached by Greg Gilbert, affords this answer – “Unity exists when Self-Regard dies, and Self-Regard dies at the foot of the Cross”.  It makes it very clear to me that each of us carry with

Christian rapper Shai Linne released an extremely brilliant song this year called, Fal$e Teacher$ and explictly names the culprits involved in spreading a false gospel of Christ. This has triggered a response from one of them named, Paula White and the response is truly a lesson in how to respond graciously. The link is available here: http://wadeoradio.com/shai-linne-responds-to-paula-white-ministries-open-letter/ The song can be listened here: LYRICS (taken from the info section in the video): One two one two, Yoh! Special dedication to my brothers and sisters on the great continent of Africa To Saints in Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Zimbabwe. Don't be deceived by what America is sending y'all man, yeh? Let me begin, while there is still ink left in my pen, I am set to contend for Truth you can bet will offend, Deception within the church man, who's letting them in? We talked about this years ago, let's address it again. (Yeh) And I ain'

Perhaps something to attempt in the future.

A Prayer for Finishing Well

This is an expansion of a previous post - "The Heinous Crime at the Temple" In this passage in Luke, we are able to examine through the types of offerings offered by the family, what is the socioeconomic status of Christ's family (emphases mine): "And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “ a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. ”  (Luke 2:22-24) Jesus not only showed care and concern for the poor, but became one of them. We ought to share the same concern for the less fortunate.

A recent reading of the accounts of "Jesus cleansing of the temple" brought some new insights with details that I have never observed before.  In fact, looking at the picture above, I have come to realize the artist (Carl Bloch) who drew the above had noticed the aforementioned details and had been very careful in producing his painting. I will attempt to illumine with what has been shown to me. The accounts given to us in Matthew and Mark ( emphases mine ): And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons . He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” (Matthew 21: 12-13) "And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats o