by Bret Capranica | Jul 22, 2005 | Preaching
Baptist Press reports that Southwestern Theological Seminary President, Paige Patterson, now has an online presence. His wife Dorothy is also newly represented on the...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 22, 2005 | Culture
An Op-Ed in the New York times makes for interesting reading today. Thomas L. Friedman suggests that the State Department begin a War of Ideas Report, much like their human rights report, and list those whos idealogies suggest physical harm to others. His article is a good read. However, I wonder who it will be to police these ideas? Who will determine what is a proper and an improper idea? Who will be the ones to warn Americans and the World as to what is unacceptable hate and what is acceptable free speech? We are in fact in a war of ideas. This is the very battle the Apostle Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 10:5. Our weapons are more than merely ideological though, they are spiritual. “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 21, 2005 | Ecclesiology
Fire-boy Phil Johnson, posts some good articles this week and last on the downfall of historic evangelicalism. Our favorite pyro-pal suggests that the tolerance cult of our culture has made evangelicalism all inclusive and fad-driven. He even suggests that the state of evangelicalism is worse today than ever. One read of any of these articles and one must agree that the moniker PyroManiac is most appropriate for evangelicalism’s most prolific heresy...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 21, 2005 | Church History, General Theology
According to this article, the Jews had an active, perhaps persecuted, community in Rome during the first century. The article further suggets that the well-known Christian practice of burials in the Roman catacombs was a result of adopting the Jewish practice. Another link in the transition between Judaism and Chrisitianity in the first century. Interesting article, anyone have any comments on the...
by Bret Capranica | Jul 20, 2005 | Miscellaneous
The Washington Times reports that the final tally for Billy Graham’s final crusade has come in, yet, the funds have come up short. How far short? Two million dollars!! The New York crusade was the most expensive crusade in the history of the Graham Evangelistic Association, coming in at around $6.8 million. One crusade – comes close to a typical mega-church’s annual budget. And we wonder why the proclamation of the Gospel in America is tainted with materialism. This is not to suggest that what Graham says from his pulpit is erroneous. Yet, how prevalent it seems to be that the message is often drowned out by the trappings used to dress it up. At a projected budget of almost $7 million for a single evangelistic event, could we really still cling to the same purpose of ministry the Apostle Paul advocated? “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God” (1 Corinthians...
