out of town again

I’m scrambling to get ready for another trip for work; I will be updating only sporadically the next two to three weeks.

More Joel Hunter links

As I noted yesterday, This American Life recently did a pretty good job of capturing evangelicals’ unhappiness with Rick Warren‘s appearance at Barack Obama‘s inauguration, and they followed it with an interview with Joel Hunter. Little did I realize that Hunter is a once and future news item as one of the pastors Obama has consulted during evangelical-focused listening tours. Here are some links:

• Joel Hunter Leads Blessing for Obama (Christianity Today).
• Joel Hunter (Wikipedia). Biographical information including his past denominational affiliations and positions on various issues including climate change.
• Joel Hunter: Democrats Could “Steal the Title of the Pro-Life Party” (BeliefNet). “If we insist on keeping this an ideological war we’re literally not saving the babies we could save. The Democrats have a huge opportunity here to really steal the thunder from those who are seen as traditionally pro life.”
• Who Is Joel Hunter, and Why is Obama Praying With Him? (Time). “Hunter shares his movement’s typical pro-life and anti-gay-marriage social commitments. But he became best known to the mainstream press in 2006 when an arrangement for him to take over as head of the Christian Coalition, the political machine founded by Pat Robertson, imploded as it became clear that Hunter intended to steer it into more moderate waters. He has since made a name (and Fundamentalist foes) combating global warming, championing comprehensive immigration reform and extolling a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Less ambiguously than any other leader (including Purpose-Driven Life author Rick Warren, who hedges more bets), Hunter is the avatar of the New Evangelicalism…”

Go figure.

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OD Today: 26 January 2009 (early edition)

A fair number of links today; a lot of them focused on abortion, Barack Obama, and related issues.

I’ve edited a quote in one item because it contained language some readers may find objectionable. The quote in situ is available at the associated link.

1. Miriam Franklin offers an update with commentary on Patricia King and the Breaker Anointing. “Does Patricia King really so despise the existing New Covenant, and so despise and nullify the power and measure of the Holy Spirit who is given upon conversion to the child of God that she says He is not enough?”
2. Paul Manata unloads on unnamed Reformed pastors who voted for Barack Obama. “Of course the two deserve each other. Rebels without a clue cheering a leader without a clue. Yeah, he speaks well. So did Hitler.”
3. Ralph Petersen offers a second open letter to Barack Obama, this on about his “above my pay grade” answer at Saddleback. “And apparently, now you do know the answer to the question. By your recent executive order to reverse the abortion funds ban I guess you have decided that there really are some babies who are not worthy of human rights.”
4. TurretinFan at Alpha & Omega (James White’s usual digs) offers part two in a promised series of thirteen articles responding to Jay Dyer, regarding Calvinism and the Nestorian error. “The existence of the hypostatic union is critical to the Calvinistic view of the atonement. The fact that the person of Christ was of infinite dignity on account of His divine nature makes the atonement of infinite intrinsic worth. The fact that the person of Christ had a truly human nature made the atoning death of Christ possible, as well as making the form of the sacrifice (death of man) a proper suffering of the penalty due. Without one or the other, the atonement would be impossible.”
5. Miriam Franklin accuses C. Peter Wagner and New Apostolic Reformation of elitism and authoritarianism in the name of unity. “Unto dominionism with the apostles in power – this is NOT the gospel in any sense, nor the church’s mandate. It is dangerous power seeking dominionism in an antichrist antigospel.”
6. Cindy Kunsman talks about postmodernism, history as a collection of emotional artifacts, and the implications of postmodernism within churches. “Her awakening did not strike me as remotely or notably different from her almost detatched description of other events and “artifacts” of her Obama campaign experience. That also came about through observing the emotions of someone else, perhaps another artifact for her, but it was an emotional artifact, so it demanded her attention.”
7. Christine at Talk Wisdom blames mass hypnosis for Barack Obama’s popularity. “So, just why is it that Muslims don’t embrace Obama’s abortion holocaust? I will leave that question out there for the moment.”
8. Terry Mattingly takes on the difficult question of church and state where health and particularly faith healing are concerned. “It appears that there is now a coalition — maybe — seeking to redraw the line, to make it easier to attack these kinds of radical believers.”
9. Boyd Miller takes a shot at churches who afford their pastors special privileges. “The bible says not to muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, however it doesn’t say anything about putting an unmuzzled ox in charge of the corn crib!”
10. Miriam Franklin takes on Thomas Weeks. “I also know his ‘church’ is in dire financial straits. But for all that, this video is still worth highlighting to show how far some have strayed from the faith, and how much a man can get away with at the pulpit without rebuke in “the house of God”. (And people think Mark Driscoll is bad?!)”
11. Jason Engwer picks up on a point discussed on Unbelievable? regarding the Matthew resurrection of people other than Jesus. “Supposedly, the raising of the dead referred to in that passage is historically unlikely, since the other gospels don’t mention it and Josephus doesn’t mention it, for example.” Coincidentally, Brian Thornton picks up this exact passage of scripture here, but does not deal with the historicity question.
12. Julio Severo comments on Barack Obama’s abortion policy in the context of his other policies. “The messiah has become Herod.”
13. Aaron Shafovaloff offers episode three of Mormon Coffee TableTalk (audio). I can’t find the iTunes link for this podcast, and would appreciate any pointers.
14. Tim Challies offers links a la carte, including the link to the much-linked (but un-commented-upon) John Piper abortion talking points.
15. Michael Newnham offers an interview with David Di Sabatino on Larry Norman, Lonnie Frisbee, John Wimber, and of course Chuck Smith Sr. “This is the interesting thing about your site, Michael, and even some of the comments that you make. I go in to http://www.phoenixpreacher.com on occasion and read this tendency to anathematize anyone who has a different take on things. Mark Driscoll is not a Christian because he speaks openly about [edit]. Todd Bentley isn’t a Christian because he does what he does. On and on. You have your favorites and as long as everyone lines up with them, they are okay. If not… too bad, so sad, thanks for playing. Now depart, ye cursed… That’s a tough room.” Many many ODT Kudos to Michael for sharing this interview.

OD Weekend: 24-25 January 2009

There were lots and lots of postings in the ODM community this weekend, but I took the weekend off from following them (well, until now). I will be on an open-ended business trip starting Thursday evening, so updates may be few and far between soon.

1. Jonathan Falwell offers an open letter to President Obama. “Why do Christians continue to dwell on abortion? Consider this: Since 1971, more than 49 million babies have been aborted in our nation. According to National Right to Life, about 1.2 million abortions were performed in our nation in 2006. While this figure is down from previous years, the abortion holocaust remains our national shame. Dr. Alveda King, pastoral associate of Priests for Life and niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., noted this week, “… there is no greater injustice than that suffered by the 4,000 babies, 1,400 of them black, who die on any given day at the hands of abortionists.””
2. Richard Land hosts Henry Blackaby, who is pushing a book on spiritual gifts and the Holy Spirit. “Henry says of his book, “This book is not an exhaustive study on the Holy Spirit, but it will reorient your thinking to biblical teaching on the Spirit’s role in your life, clarify the apparent confusion between natural talents and spiritual gifts, and help you get in step with God’s purpose…””
3. Carol at Abomination Nation takes on Feng Shui and Indigo Children. “The Bible clearly condemns Feng Shui, and all other forms of occult witchcraft. Witchcraft is seeking spiritual guidance, power, or information from sources apart from God. There are only 2 sources of spiritual power: God and Satan.”
4. Jennifer O’Hara connects the dots among Islam, socialism, and sadism. ” There are quite a few people out there who think that President Obama and his staff want another great depression, because it opens the door for them to further dominate, control, and steal liberty away from the American people. As much as I hate to believe it, part of me looks around, listens to what they have to say, and can’t help but accept it as truth.”
5. Ken Silva continues to take on the Emergent Church, refers to Red Letter Christians as “post-liberal.”
6. Phil Perkins offers a special article on Henry Blackaby. “The problem isn’t Blackaby. Anybody could be Blackaby and anyone could have written a book that promoted feelings as the primary way of coming to an intimate knowledge of God. The condition that made it possible for this man to make millions of dollars hoodwinking the church is the MENTAL GHETTO conditions in the pew.”
7. Desert Pastor/Defending Contending take on Charles G. Finney, link to an old article by Phillip Johnson. “Predictably, most of Finney’s spiritual heirs lapsed into apostasy, Socinianism, mere moralism, cultlike perfectionism, and other related errors. In short, Finney’s chief legacy was confusion and doctrinal compromise. Evangelical Christianity virtually disappeared from western New York in Finney’s own lifetime. Despite Finney’s accounts of glorious “revivals,” most of the vast region of New England where he held his revival campaigns fell into a permanent spiritual coldness during Finney’s lifetime and more than a hundred years later still has not emerged from that malaise.” It is probably worth noting that opinions differ on the meaning of the term “burned-over district:” I repeatedly see both the contention (as in this article) that it referred to nobody in western New York having any interest in Christianity and also the view that everyone had been converted. I have not read Whitney Cross, originator of the term, and so can’t say which is correct.
8. Steve Hays offers opinion on President Obama, good diversity, and bad diversity. “For example, San Francisco would be far better off with more Christian Chinese-Americans and fewer white liberals.”
9. Cindy Kunsman takes on postmodernism and the public perception of Christianity vs. “totalitarian niceness.” “My husband describes this strange, postmodern twist on the golden rule (“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”) as a nearly impossible task: “Do unto others as those others would have you do unto them.””
10. Kris at SGM Survivors parses the idea of “believing the best” about someone, especially during disagreement, conflict, and mistrust. “Moreover, it’s downright ludicrous to me that anyone would assume that someone purported to have behaved badly years ago and then successfully swept this situation under the rug for a decade would suddenly be willing to be completely open and honest about it with some random questioner ten years later. … Do your leaders extend this grace to YOU? … Yet…if a PASTOR is spoken of negatively, the member is supposed to automatically “believe the best”? Where’s the logic in any of this?  How can this be supported from Scripture?” I’m not going to try to place this on the spectrum of correct and incorrect interpretations of “be subject unto the higher powers.”
11. Miriam Franklin addresses the new accusations against Ted Haggard. “Why are we only hearing details about this NOW?”
12. Ralph Petersen offers a contrary view on the end of racism in the Obama administration. “it is evident that this president, even on inauguration day and amid all his .. blather about “coming together,” and “unity,” cannot let racism die.”
13. Defending Contending asks where Rick Warren goes from here, suggests the answer is “left.”

Joel Hunter on This American Life 372

Joel Hunter of Northland Church and author of A New Kind of Conservative appears on last week’s episode of This American Life. Evidently Barack Obama reached out to him before his current relationship with Rick Warren.

There’s nothing groundbreaking here, especially to people who have been following the uproar over Warren’s inaugural prayer.

OD Today: 23 January 2009 (early edition)

Yesterday’s late update was very late, so there isn’t a lot new overnight. Mostly a continuation of ongoing stories, with a couple of surprises, including a reference to Henry Blackaby.

1. Mike Ratliff continues his series looking forward to cultural changes under the Obama administration and their implications for conservative Christians. “I am convinced that how we deal with the Obama administration during this time is a huge part of our sanctification. We must balance out what we are commanded to do in that we must be good citizens, but we must also be obedient to God in all things. Therefore, when our government attempts to enforce unrighteousness upon us we have no choice except to take a stand in obedience to God.”
2. Kit offers the collection of Rick Warren connections collected by Sandy Simpson. The original is here, and appears to be five years old. I wonder what Rick Warren’s been up to since then?
3. Darryl Foster calls out Frederick Haynes for speaking at the National Black Justice Coalition’s Black Church Summit. “The Haynes engagement signals the gay church movement’s continued quest to incorporate mainstream false teachers into its mission. False teachers love false christian movements.”
4. Dwayna Litz reflects on homosexuals and transgenders in the New York area. “I only saw him as a person in need of Jesus. Contrary to what the homosexuals believe, not all Christians hate them.”
5. Phil Perkins continues his series on the intellectual shortcomings of American evangelicalism with an article on subjectivism, calls Henry Blackaby a heretic. “Churches, schools, and denominations who would never have been guilty of teaching the subjectivism of Barth or Schleiermacher embraced the Evangelical language and style of Blackaby. He was a Southern Baptist preacher, so most couldn’t imagine that he was liberal. But he was heretical.”
6. Steve Camp parses Rick Warren’s inaugural prayer. “Did he invoke the name of Jesus as he promised? Barely; and with all the conviction that playing politics with God could muster, Mr. Purpose Driven watered-down his prayer …”
7. Colin Smith offers a side-by-side comparison between particular surahs from the Koran and corresponding passages from the Old Testament. “the Qur’an draws particularly from stories concerning Old Testament prophets to illustrate Muhammad’s warnings, and teach regarding obedience and faithfulness to Allah and his commands. There are two things particularly noteworthy about the Qur’anic use of the Old Testament: first, the stories are always presented as teaching tools to make a present-day (at least for Muhammad) point; second, they are rarely, if ever, presented without embellishment–sometimes to the point where the original Old Testament story is barely discernible.”
8. Emily H. at Grace in the Triad takes on Shane Claiborne and the New Monastics. “The only problem with the New Monasticism movement is its foundation–and therefore everything built upon the foundation. There is no clear theological basis for New Monasticism; they accept anything & everything that is nominally Christian, promoting what Pastor Dustin describes as a “buffet bar” mentality to Christianity.”
9. And finally, Mollie Hemingway reports on reporting on the March for Life. “In some cases — notably the Washington Post in the last couple of years — coverage of pro-life events has improved. In other cases, not so much. Each year pro-life march participants joke — a lot — about how their numbers are laughably under-counted. They’ll know, say, that they themselves came in a caravan of 5,000 people in rented buses from Pittsburgh but they’ll read the paper the next day describe the entire crowd as consisting of “thousands.””

OD Today: 22 January 2009 (late edition)

Lots of abortion-related links today because today is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that made abortion a federal issue (and legal with restrictions in all fifty states).

1. La Shawn Barber name-checks Blogs4Life.
2. Russell Moore offers a sermon on why the unborn still matter.
3. Joe Carter offers an open letter to fetal humans.
4. Frank Turk links to a video where a young man argues that it’s better for babies to be aborted than to be born poor.
5. Defending Contending offers a retrospective of its own posts devoted to abortion.
6. Ingrid Schlueter offers comments and a picture of an aborted fetus.
7. Ralph Petersen compares abortions to body counts from various wars.
8. Bob Hayton offers a video devoted to a live baby.
9. La Shawn Barber offers an opinion piece from 2003.
10. John Ensor guests at Tim Challies, thinks about making abortion unthinkable.
11. Justin Taylor offers two posts: one on abortion and the early Church, the other a collection of links. Some overlap with those above; sorry.

And just a couple of items unrelated to abortion:

• Aaron Shafovaloff at Mormon Coffee changes his comment policy to audio-only, using Skype. Wild.
• Britt Gillette revisits the question of whether Barack Obama is the Antichrist, complete with links and quotes.

I may have buried the lead. Sorry.

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OD Today: 22 January 2009 (early edition)

Looks like everybody’s still got an inauguration hangover. The standout story is probably item 5, regarding home schooling associations and old-earth creationists. The Gerald Warner editorial is also noteworthy, since it offers a perspective from Britain saying much the same thing (but better) we’ve been hearing about what conservative Christians expect from the Obama administration.

1. Four Pointer calls out Joseph Lowery. “The cheering crowd and the broad smile plastered on the face of Messiah Osama says it all: these are the people who are REALLY living in the past and who the REAL racists are.”
2. Thomas Heringer is still reading Francis Schaeffer and speaking somewhat obliquely about totalitarianism. “Further, when a government says that some people can have freedom to speak and have actions they desire, but other people are not allowed to speak in opposition to those, then that itself becomes intolerant. “
3. Jennifer O’Hara reminds us that we need to pray for our political leaders. “it includes Barack Obama, it includes all of those in authority over us. A few years ago, when Nancy Pelosi ascended…”
4. Dwayna Litz offers a tip on dodging accusations of hate crimes. “PLEASE BE SURE WHEN WITNESSING AT TABLE TO ASK, “Is it ok with you if I read you what the Bible says?””
5. thatmom revisits the issue of authority and dissent within the Christian home-schooling movement. “Ultimately, Sonlight received no written or full “official” explanation, but got the message: the convention committee was of the opinion that the company isn’t Christian enough . . . primarily because it isn’t strict enough in its young-earth teaching. … This has made me wonder how many more state homeschooling organizations or even Home School Legal Defense, for that matter, who is also participating in the leadership summit, are taking it upon themselves to decide who is and isn’t Christian enough to participate in conferences, conventions, and support services for homeschooling families.” See also the source post by John Holzmann. “Ultimately, Sonlight received no written or full “official” explanation, but got the message: the convention committee was of the opinion that the company isn’t Christian enough . . . primarily because it isn’t strict enough in its young-earth teaching.” Holzmann goes on to say that B. B. Warfield, J. Vernon McGee, and James Dobson were/are “old earth creationists.”
6. Mike Ratliff continues his series that I understand to be a call to suffer during the Obama administration. “I do understand that non-Christians are not regenerate and have no concept of the Holiness of God and the sinfulness of Man. I understand that and I do not expect the US Government to become conformed to Christian values. However, since this country was founded there has been conformity to Biblical moral standards in the laws and their enforcement. The Obama administration is set to do away with all of that. This would include a reversal of all restrictions on abortion and euthanasia.“
7. Ken Silva offers a quote from John Gresham Machen (1923) and applies it to Rob Bell. Chris Rosebrough has been making essentially the same argument (that emergents are liberals with new vocabularies) via his various outlets and also recommending Machen as applying to emergents.
8. Christine at Talk Wisdom offers another post on the Bush-Obama transition and crowd reactions. “Their ugliness was in full force yesterday, as the ObamaBorg Bot Kool-Aid drinkers in the crowd jeered and verbally bashed President George W. Bush as he entered the inaugural festivities. These people could not even be respectful enough to just KEEP QUIET if they don’t like the former president.” Interested readers who are having a hard time following the cultural references here, “Borg” refers to a collective of baddies from one of the Star Trek television franchises, not the liberal theologian of the same name, and the reference to Kool-Aid should be taken as a reference to the method of murder/suicide employed by Peoples Temple (Jonestown, Guyana), rather than an actual reference to the consumption of reconstituted soft drinks by people at the inauguration. I hope this helps.
9. Howard Fisher links to Gerald Warner’s editorial in the Telegraph (UK) regarding the Obama inauguration. “What we are experiencing, in the deepening days of a global depression, is the desperate suspension of disbelief by people of intelligence – la trahison des clercs – in a pathetic effort to hypnotise themselves into the delusion that it will be all right on the night. It will not be all right.”
10. Scott Ragan offers a contrary opinion regarding Sunday night services on Super Bowl Sunday. “I am not sure that this poor church was aware of the fact that by doing what they have done, they have declared their allegiance to “the gods of the NFL” and have turned their back on the God of the Bible.”
11. Dorothy Anderson collects Emergent links regarding orthodoxy as a social construct.
12. Steve Hays dissects federal headship (and its cousin, corporate guilt) in the age of Obama.
13. Emergent Village offers a collection of clips from Rob Bell’s “The Gods Aren’t Angry” tour (YouTube).
14. Christine at Talk Wisdom introduces something called Obama Schizophrenic Syndrome.
15. Anton Hein-Hudson offers an introductory article on C. Peter Wagner/New Apostolic Reformation. Note: I finally figured out why I was incorrectly attributing Apologetics Index articles to Richard Abanes; that shouldn’t be happening again.
16. Ingrid Schlueter has a rough night’s sleep. “The media bias for Obama has lapsed into farce. CNN is one of the worst. I think they’re on his staff. His new cabinet was called a “dream team” yesterday. Yes, a nightmare. Before the Inaugural ball, I knew they would call Michelle Obama’s gown, “stunning!” Sure enough. Yesterday morning CNN reported on her gown as being, “stunning.” If she’d worn a burlap sack, the drooling media elite would have found it to be “stunning” as well. I don’t think I can stomach this anymore.”
17. Sharon Lindbloom offers comments on Mormon reactions in the wake of Proposition 8 and the Focus on the Family/Glenn Beck flap, reminds us all we need to be civil when dealing with Mormons. “It would be foolish to say people never cross the line when debating Mormonism vs. Christianity, but in my experience such conversations are nearly always civil and respectful.”
18. Michael Newnham weighs in on Rick Warren’s use of the Islamic name for Jesus. “The Muslim Isa is not my Jesus…in their doctrine he was not crucified for the sins of the world but was a forerunner of Muhammad.”
19. And finally, someone named Muammar Qaddafi recommends a “one-state solution” to the Israel/Palestinian situation (Reuters). “Assimilation is already a fact of life in Israel. There are more than one million Muslim Arabs in Israel; they possess Israeli nationality and take part in political life with the Jews, forming political parties. On the other side, there are Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Israeli factories depend on Palestinian labor, and goods and services are exchanged. This successful assimilation can be a model for Isratine.”

OD Today: 21 January 2009 (late edition)

Catching up and catching up.

1. I totally missed this when I did my big “mark all as read,” but not only did Herescope beat me to the Rick Warren tax deduction story, but they picked it up from The Revealer and mentioned Jeff Sharlet‘s book. Unfortunately they then tie the whole thing back into their “three-legged stool” framework, and go on to suggest a connection between Warren and The Family that I’m not sure is warranted.
2. Mike Ratliff issues a call to resistance (and subsequent suffering) and evokes the Roman Empire. “I have absolutely no problem with an Afro-American being President of the United States. That is not the issue. The issue for me is that this man is being worshipped and treated as if he is the messiah. … However, let us not forget that the New Testament Church was born in the period of the pagan Roman Empire that was opposed to it in nearly every area. Did our Lord and the Apostles become rebels in an attempt to overthrow the oppressive government? No!” I’d love to know where the “Obama as false Messiah” theme started. It didn’t really start with The One, did it?
3. Frank Turk reviews Rick Warren’s prayer, admits some ambivalence about doing so, and asks “is it a legitimate thing to pray to God that we as a nation be united by anything other than the cross of Christ?”
4. La Shawn Barber weighs in on the Obama inauguration. “During the campaign, Obama said one of the first things he’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act into law. Since he thinks women have a right to commit infanticide, I believe him. Then again, he’ll be so busy dealing with friends and foes trying to cash in favors, he might forget.”
5. Timmy Brister takes on the question of single pastors. “So how does one answer Scott’s question?  If single men are not allowed to pastor or plant churches today, would we exclude many if not most of the men who planted and pastored in the early church?”
6. Blogger thatmom observes the 36th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. “Jeannie was like most of the women I have talked with who carry the secret of a past abortion. As a Christian, she felt unusable in the body of Christ. Self-condemnation and overwhelming regret visited her daily leaving her unable to live a full and abundant life in Jesus Christ.”
7. John Sexton compares the Bush-Obama transition to the Clinton-Bush transition. “They were thankful for a system that allows a smooth transfer of power, even when that transfer didn’t go their way. That kind of maturity seems to be in shorter supply on the left.”
8. Ken Silva does not like the Emergent Church.
9. Ingrid Schlueter calls out Cornerstone Church, Chander, Arizona, for cancelling its evening service on Super Bowl Sunday.
10. Israel discovers a vast natural gas deposit off the coast near Haifa. Was it Tim LaHaye that first predicted that Israel would end up in political trouble because of its natural resources? I don’t remember.
11. Ingrid Schlueter observes the 36th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. “All I could see and hear were the broken bodies and stifled screams of millions upon millions of human beings whose cries ascend night and day before God’s throne. I am the friend of no man who will perpetuate the slaughter. I am the enemy of anyone who is the enemy of life.”
12. Jeremy at Renewing Our Minds highlights the same sections of various inaugural speeches and prayers Miriam Franklin did yesterday, says the stage has been set for the Antichrist.
13. There have been several stories about Portland, Oregon mayor Sam Adams in the last few days; here’s a link to one of them. “Adams, as “one of the leaders of the gay community,” said that he also wanted to apologize to them “for embarrassing them.” … While the mayor has so far said that he does not intend to resign, he has admitted, “If it were no longer in the city’s best interests that I stay, yes, I would resign.””
14. Ingrid Schlueter calls out Mark Driscoll for praising Rick Warren. “That Mark Driscoll couldn’t discern the problem with praying God’s blessing on our death-promoting President should not register as a surprise.”
15. Ingrid Schlueter comments on the response to a Doubletree Hotel cancelling accomodations for Mid-America Leathers Maneuvers. One of many articles by Peter LaBarbera is here;  a confirming article regarding the cancellation by a lesbian blogger, with comments, is here. Warning: articles include graphic descriptions of sexual acts, etc. along with terms that may not be safe for reading at work.
16. Job at Jesus Christology parses Joe Lowery’s inagural prayer, ending in “when white will embrace what is right.”

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OD Today: 21 January 2009 (early edition)

This morning’s update is almost but not quite entirely Obama-free.

1. Mike Witter explains N. T. Wright‘s New Perspective on Paul: “Wright acknowledges at the end of the interview that Reformed theologians will think that he is “smuggling in works-righteousness” to salvation, but he replies that he is actually just being faithful to Paul’s teaching that Christians “really do ‘please God.’” … Catholic view.  Wright still holds to grace alone, but not faith alone, at least as articulated by Calvin and Luther.”
2. Henry Neufield offers a post-mortem on the Bush Administration. “But having chosen to go to war, President Bush acted as though there was no need for continued support of the war. There are indications that many in his administration thought the war would be much easier. I have a hard time crediting that level of stupidity.”
3. Church Relevance offers a list of sixty “top Church blogs.” That’s Church Universal, apparently, rather than local church. Stuff Christians Like celebrates coming in third. Several emergents, no ODMs.
4. James White offers comment on the Williams/Ehrman debate (from Unbelievable?), as part of an episode of The Dividing Line. I have not yet heard this episode: I’m still about forty hours behind on various audio goodies that accumulated while I was away last week.
5. Miriam Franklin calls Catholics and various groups represented by the World Council of Churches unbelievers.
6. Miriam Franklin calls John Crowder demonic. See also Chris Rosebrough, which called Crowder’s behavior satanic.
7. Dwayna Litz reminds us that Jesus did not come to bring world peace. “I just emailed my friend the following verses for the “New Testament Christian”, which prove that war is in fact part of God’s sovereign plan.”
8. Kit offers three Zeitgeist (movie)-related posts, including an interview with Jordan Maxwell (1, 2, 3).
9. Howard Fisher has been reading Michael Horton, and takes on the concept of “time alone with Jesus.” “For years I have interacted with Roman Catholics apologists, who mock the doctrine of Sola Scriptura due to their view of Protestantism, by making the charge that Protestants run to sit with Jesus under a tree all alone. This makes sense to me more now than in the past. When Protestants act as Gnostics in their search for truth (while decrying moral relativism), they feed our critics with much ammo.”
10. Ergun Caner vs. James White, as recommended by Lane Chaplin (YouTube). Ninety-three minutes; I’m still looking for a free (as in costing $0.00) audio version.
11. Brian D. offers a batch of links. There’s very little overlap what you’ll see here.
12. Lane Chaplin/Reformata offers a link for a high-quality video of Paul Washer’s “10 indictments” sermon. This is a biggie, and somewhat to very popular among ODMs. I really should put together a bunch of notes and links for this, since it encapsulates a lot of the claims and rhetoric popular among ODMs.
13. Boyd Miller offers a check list for deciding if you’re part of the Word of Faith movement. “4. Do you believe God has anointed certain people to collect money in his name?”
14. Job at Jesus Christology quotes and highlights an editorial from NewsMax saying the now-former President betrayed conservatives. “It should be remembered that, sometime after the invasion, the raison d’etre of the war changed from removing Saddam from power and stopping his weapons of mass destruction program to a dreamy plan of creating a democracy in Iraq.”
    
15. Darryl Foster offers a video with Samuel Brown’s contrary (that is, positive) opinion regarding gay Christians. “We had a civil exchange but with stark disagreements, so I respect him for his civility in expressing his points. Brown says that he was raised in the COGIC but obviously disagrees with COGIC’s moral stance. What do you think about Samuel Brown’s theology on homosexuality? Is he right, wrong or just another really mixed up gay christian?” (YouTube)
16. Scott Isebrand/Religious Right Watch/Chris Rodda offer an account of a soldier feeling pressured to applaud at the end of a particular prayer by someone named Rick Warren at a public event yesterday. “…soldiers pressured to conform to commanders’ religious beliefs.” Civil religion, anyone?
17. Kris at SGM Survivors asks among other things why Sovereign Grace Ministries would want to plant a church in Colorado Springs, of all places. “I know you guys have redefined the word “gossip” to mean any and all sharing of information that you don’t want people to be discussing.  But is it really “gossip” to want to know if one’s senior pastor will soon be swapped out for another guy?  Is it somehow wrong to be concerned about who will be leading one’s “local” church?  Wouldn’t it demonstrate, actually, a strange lack of concern if people did NOT desire to know about these things?”
18. The Westchester Institute announces a commentary addressing the question “Has the Pro-Life Movement Failed?”

I generally hesitate to be a trend-spotter and prognosticator, but I’m expecting more articles regarding George W. Bush saying, more or less “we’ve been had” now that he’s out of office and no longer the beneficiary of any Pauline commands to be subject to those in authority.

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