John Piper on Murdering Abortionists

An excerpt from a sermon that piper gave January 22, 1995,

” I believe in the wide range of non-violent efforts of the pro-life cause. And in the present atmosphere I do stress non-violent. This war will not be won by bullets. It will be won by brokenness and humility and sacrifice. It will be won when we identify with the children in our suffering rather than with the abortionist in his killing. And this too may be a call to a new kind of fasting.”

Amen brother Piper amen, “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;(Romans 8:5-6).

The whole sermon can be read and heard at http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceL…e_Little_Ones/

Lord be with all your children right now for sin has crepted into many of their hearts whereby they are now thinking murderous rather than fighting abortion through the Spirit of peace!!

Giving Thanks to my HCR Supporters

Hey blog world, the world, hey Blog world, the world, hey Blog world, the world!! ( Think Slick Rick!)

In another forum that you are about to see an image of, a thread was created in appreciation of my tendancy to ask lots of thought provoking questions. Some don’t like the questions ( Those who think that their theological views are being threatened) but many love them ( Those who feel like they are challanged and growing because of them). However, my naysayers could’nt stand seeing what they hate being praised and affirmed my others so they came in with guns blasting aiming at yours trully. The thread was closed due to the negativity.  Yet, when I attempted to repost the positive comments again on another thread, that too was closed. Now usually the negative posts are erased but never are the positive posts reprimanded. This all stinks to high heaven and frankly does not look good for my naysayers.

In any case, here are images of the positive responses towards my question asking self as a thank you to all who voiced (posted) their appreciation.

FootNote

The images are taken from www.holyculture.net/forum

Should people financially profit from their ministry?

This question was recently raised by mt friend Vic on a message forum.

Just some facts to consider when thinking about this question. Perhaps it can help you make a better informed decision.

Paul refused to accept financial support from the Corinthians.

Paul however accepted financial support from other Churches.

One reason that people offer for the differences is that in Corinth, Paul suspected that his opponents would accuse him of having ill motives–doing ministry just for the money.

However, it was a no win situation for Paul because his opponents then question his apostolic status for refusing money. They basically still question his motives since Peter took advantage of the money given to them for his work. They basically questioned whether he was truly an Apostle.

Paul’s defense is found in 1 Corinthians 9. He argues that as an apostle he does have the right to material gain through the idea of work, even through spiritual work (vs. 11).

AND, since Paul argues on the basis of natural law and the written law, the idea is not limited to the clergy but to anyone.

Paul then says,”In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”

Indeed Jesus did command something like this:

Matthew 10:10

Luke 10:7

Seems however then that Paul simply took advantage of his liberty in not accepting financial earnings from his work in Corinth.

The important thing to note is that Paul has offered an argument for why he has refused financial earnings from the people at Corinth, notice that he is not condemning or saying that the rest of the Apostles should follow suit.

While I do see some merit in ministers, preachers, whoever, materially gaining off of their spiritual work, Paul’s liberty does reveal how at times we should be very mindful of who is watching us. Paul did not want in Corinth to have his right of accepting money to be a stumbling block to some. Likewise, as ministers, Christian rappers, pastors, preachers, etc, let us be careful what we do with the money we earn from ministry. I have seen people enjoy luxury off of their spiritual work. Material gain should not be interpreted as luxurious living.  Furthermore, the idea should always be living to do ministry not doing ministry to live even though the latter is most certainly within our rights, otherwise, we will only do ministry so that we can get the latest gadget or most stylish clothing, etc, etc.

More on Finney as a Heretic

In continuing my thoughts about Charles Finney and those quick to condemn him because of theoretical disagreements with him, allow me to share with you how one of Finney’s opponents defined heresy, he asserts,

“as long as the Scriptures are what they are, anything contrary is heresy.”

Unless this young man is perfectly on point with scripture, one has to wonder than why as a heretic he gets to go to heaven and not Finney? Seems to me that our brother Finney has been restricted from the doctrine of grace that his naysayers often appeal to when it comes to their own eternal destiny.  What a double standard!

Lord, thank you for your awesome grace and mercy for with out them we will be lost!

Calvin, Edwards, and now Finney

In cyber Christendom, the all to loose use of the word heretic is tossed around frequently along with other bickering about what constitutes being saved. Recently I read a forum post where the late great Charles Finney is the latest victim hunted down my heretic hunters asserting that he was a curse to the Church (paraphrase).

Well seems like Charles Finney is in good company with other late great men of God who missed the mark of perfection. We have John Calvin the murderer via the state, John Edwards the racist white supremist via owning slaves, and now Charles Finney for holding to a theory of atonement that contradicts another theory of atonement held dearly by some.

I am starting to see a pattern here…..

All the above men are sinners…

and

all have been used to bless Christ’s Church despite their short comings

Unfortunately, all to often people stop at the former pattern ignoring the latter.

Thank you Jesus for your gracious love for without it, all will be lost.

Da Body: featuring Cruz Cordero and Enock

Check it out HERE

Setting the Record Straight: Thoughts on Wal-Mart Trample

Among the typical Black Friday news coverage of consumers waiting in lines for hours to take advantage of door prizes and great bargains, etc, etc, news of a fatal store blitz in a Long Island Walmart made headline news. The frantic crowd charging full speed ahead was caught on a video camera and sadly a store worker was trampled to death as a result.

As I watched the video, which was not the incident itself,my familiarity with cyber-racism heightened my expectation of racist remarks once I noticed the ethnic make up depicted in the video-predominantly Black teenagers. On practically all major News sites there are opportunities for viewers to leave their video comments and in practically all videos that depict a crime where suspects are Black, there is sure to be racist comments left.

In a nutshell, the argument is that unacceptable human actions are because of the suspect’s or group’s ethnic make up, but somehow this argument only applies to non-white suspects. Questions as to why unacceptable behavior from white suspects is never attributed to their ethnicity are ignored.

While store blitzes in the early morning hours of Black Friday is a familiar image, the one that took place at Walmart in Long Island stand out because not only were there injuries, but someone also died. Was this the only Walmart in America that had drooling consumers anxiously rushing in to buy, buy, and buy? No, this is typical of Black Friday. Was this the only crowd that was (depicted) predominantly a black crowd? Of course not. Yet, the racist commentary continues.

You who is reading this note, perhaps you have been duped by racism and you too have thought in the same irrational sense fallaciously attributing unacceptable behavior to one’s ethnic make up.

If so, what about the Italian Hall Disaster in 1903 known as the 1903 massacre? Or what about the Barnsley Public Hall Disaster in 1908 in England? How about the incident called, The Camp Randall Crush, in 1993? Moreover, what explains the incident at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1979? In all of these incidents there were crowds who disregarded their fellow citizens as they trampled upon them. The ethnic make up of the human stampede was not Black but White.

The truth of the matter is that unacceptable human actions are not because of one’s ethnic make up, rather, they are attributed to lack of self control, selfishness, greed, carelessness, and individualism which are found in all human beings.

On that note, lets look to Jesus our ideal perfect human being and rush towards him, the best gift that anyone can have.

Read about Walmart incident here

1993- a senior in high school experiencing pain and racism like never before

The following is a video of me rapping when I was a senior in high school. The school was Lancaster Mennonite High School, a school where I have great memories. However, some miserable guys there did not like the fact that I was a die hard urbanite using rap as means of praising God and communicating His word. Their god was created in their image–white and also racist. I share this video made by a friend, who kept it all these years, to demonstrate how the rap was birthed out of pain and hope. Pain because there were people who hated me just because I thought different, looked different, and was different. It was a painful time because on one hand the few Latinos and African Americans at the school recruited from the inner city thought I was holier than thou because I was vocal about my faith and called all Christians to the standard of Christ likeness. On the other hand I was despised by a few white people who hated my culture, my land, and my ethnicity. My time there was lonely and painful yet God used that time to mold me into the man I am today.

In addition to the drama I was facing at the school, not just from students but also from some of the administration, my Dad was struggling with crack addiction, the home I grew up in turned into a crack house, and my Mother fled to Florida with my two little sisters. Moreover, my oldest sister was running the streets also trying to survive. Two years into my new life in Christ and what I just described was my reality.

However, as I said, looking back, I applaud my God for using those painful days to re-create me into a man who was self-conscious of who he was as a follower of Christ. Thus, among the pain there was hope. There were key people in my life that God used to make sure that although I was walking through fire, I was not going to get burned, although the waves were crashing in, I was not going to drown. While I was at Lancaster Mennonite High School, Duce, a.k.a. the Ambassador, was at Lancaster Bible College. I spent lots of weekends with him, being mentored as he modeled faithfulness to the person of Christ. He even came to the school to hang out with me letting people know that God had more than just one ambassador for His glory. My spiritual family, “Da Millers” went above and beyond encouraging me and fighting for me. My friend Ronald Tinsley was an extraordinary mentor telling me things that I really did not want to hear but that I had to hear. Many more names can be mentioned during these trying times who were instrumental in making sure that while going through the fire, I was not going to be consumed.

On that note, enjoy the following video depicting a younger man prior to my days as a Cross Movement member. The year was 1993.

CONGRATS TO THE WORLD CHAMPS GO PHILLIES!

Read alll about it HERE

Prayer for Troy Davis

 

God intervene on our behalf

Many of you may have heard of Troy Davis. If not, google his name and most likely you would read about the all to typical face of injustice that boldly rears its ugly head to the public. Troy Davis was convicted in 1989 of killing officer Mark MacPhail in the state of Georgia but since then 7 of the nine witnesses have recanted saying that Davis was not the killer they saw fatally shoot Officer Macphail. Mind you, there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. You can read about it here

 

This sort of thing is all to common. This kind of in-your-face judicial injustice reminds me of the serpent’s boldness in the Garden of Eden where he boldly twisted the truth presenting God as a lier, a selfish being, an evil irrational God who is just waiting for Adam and Eve to slip up so he can punish them. The serpent dares to spit his deceiving venom knowing that Adam and Eve knows the truth about God being generous, loving, kind and giving, a God that allowed Adam and Eve to co-rule with Him in his Edenic Kingdom, even rule over creeping slithering things like serpents. Yet, this does not stop the serpent from going public with its all out attack against peace and justice.

As the serpent was to Adam and Eve, so is Georgia’s judicial system to Troy Davis and the American public. This is evil!!! 

This sort of thing is one reason why I am pursuing a Master:s degree in Urban Community Development. I want to do something about the bold face injustice in America against its citizens, but I also want to know how. 

Please pray that God will intervene on Troy Davis’ behalf and disfigure what satan is trying to do.