Video: “You don’t need to have had a dramatic conversion experience like the Apostle Paul on the Damascus Road. From his teaching series Assurance of Faith, Joel Beeke reminds us of the wonderful, “ordinary” way in which God brings His people to Christ.” - Ligonier

Some diversities should be cultivated and celebrated, some tolerated, and some repudiated.

An interesting phenomenon in regard to the reading of the Old Testament and the New is the respective chronologies of the authorship of the canons. Whereas the Old Testament was written over a period of approximately 1,300 years – taking Job as the earliest book (c.1750 B.C.) and Malachi as the last book (c. 450 B.C.), the New Testament was written within one average human lifetime. This represents a vast difference which ought to be given more consideration than it has.

The Writing of the OT

If we consider the span of years for the writing of the Old Testament we get something like this (citing representative examples):

“Latest report on Christian persecution finds 3 in 4 martyrs are in Nigeria, ranked among 10 worst persecutors for first time. Sudan finally exits top 10 and India remains, while Mozambique and DRC added to Open Doors watch list.” - CToday

“Here are seven individuals, some of whom have high public profiles, who predicted that Donald Trump would win reelection. They include a Polish psychic, a controversial televangelist, and a self-described prophet.” - CPost

“We probably have three times more people participating now than before,’ said Parsley, who in addition to preaching each Sunday hosts a noon devotional on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.” - BPNews

“SETI experiment suggests non-natural radio signal coming from the vicinity of Proxima Centauri, but seems to be another failed attempt to find alien life” - AiG

“ ‘This is not about politics. This is about our country, about the rule of law and about the sanctity of human life,’ Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, wrote in a Jan. 11 op-ed posted on his website.” - CPost

“When an administration changes… we have the chance to show a watching world that we remain committed to following the instructions of our Lord through His apostles, regardless of party affiliation or what we had hoped for an election’s outcome.” - F&T

“…a prosecutor with the Department of Justice, Ken Kohl, said in a call with reporters Friday that the agency had ‘no indication’ that antifa had any role in the violence. An assistant FBI director said the same. Federal authorities have instead identified and charged several Republicans and longtime Trump rallygoers who in most cases broadcast their actions themselves.” - WORLD

“For too long many Christian leaders have remained silent, fearing the repercussions of calling out those who are obsessed with political fantasies that are leading them away from Jesus.” - TGC

“Some years ago I decided to adopt a lifestyle that prioritized getting enough sleep. Decades later, I’m more confident every day that it was the right choice.” - Olinger

“Most pastors will not be pastoring growing churches. Admit it. We think success is a growing church and failure is a shrinking church. Sometimes those are true. More often not, I believe.” - Thornton

“According to a Lifeway Research study, 74% of pastors agree their congregation would welcome a sermon on racial reconciliation, with 32% strongly agreeing. In 2016, however, 90% of pastors believed their congregation would be open to a sermon on the topic, with 57% strongly agreeing.” - F&T

For those who hoped that our experience of living in times of crisis might end with 2020, I do not need to tell you that your hopes have already been dashed.

We might consider the string of crises that date back to last March as separate events, or we might think of them as one multi-faceted whole. We might also discuss those who appear to have engineered them, manipulated them or benefited from them.

But one thing is for sure: We are living in a time of national crisis, and our way of life has been altered—likely forever—in ways that we could not have imagined 12 months ago.

“Operation Rescue released the report Tuesday….finds that the number of surgical abortion clinics in the United States has dropped by over 35% from 713 facilities in 2009 to 458 facilities in 2020.” Clinics providing drug-induced abortions went from 131 facilities in 2009 to 248 facilities in 2020. - CPost

“Though Acts 8 doesn’t call this experience ‘Holy Spirit baptism,’ similar passages do. For example, Acts 1:5 refers to the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2 as a baptism, and Acts 11:16 does the same for Acts 10.” - TGC

Review of Brett McCracken’s The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World - CToday

“9Marks asked several pastors how they intend to pray this Sunday to shepherd their congregation in light of Wednesday’s events at the Capitol.” - 9 Marks

“Second, we can strive to use the Sunday school hour fully for Bible teaching. In many adult classes announcements, prayer time, and discussion of community events takes up much of the teaching time. Third, we can emphasize Bible reading plans.” - SBC Voices

Steven Mathewson’s work The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative¹ is a somewhat helpful but ultimately disappointing book. Curiously, only ch. 3-6 (pp. 43-78) deal with narrative.

“I personally have been ushered out the back door at healing services, after being publicly chastised. Many other disabled people have experienced similar treatment under the assumption that if you’re not healed, it’s your fault. ‘Because God’s will is for everyone to be healed. Always. The faithful will never suffer.’” - C.Leaders

“A graphic has started to spread on social media, allegedly showing a CNN chyron reporting that Antifa was behind the attack on Congress on Wednesday.” It’s fake. Also “XRVision never actually identified Antifa members at the riot: The company’s attorney issued a statement to BuzzFeed decrying the Washington Times article as ‘outright false, misleading, and defamatory.’”

“Designing 16 questions across six categories, the annual index measures perspectives on the First Amendment. Now in its second year, in October it polled a nationwide sample of 1,000 Americans, scoring their support from 0 (complete opposition) to 100 (robust support).” - CToday

“Luther may have gone too far in urging the Princes to crush the Peasant Revolt by force, which they were sure to do anyway. But in doing so, he laid out some thoughtful principles about when legitimate protests go too far.” - Veith

Read Part 1.

What Should We Think?

If I polled my readers at this point, there’d probably be some who’d say, “I’m of Paul,” and others, “I am of Barnabas.” Whose side do you take? Before you decide, consider two things:

“Conservative evangelical supporters of President Donald Trump have condemned the violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, describing it as ‘dangerous for our republic’ and un-American.” - CPost

Related…

“Like past surveys, the 2020 State of Theology survey reveals some encouraging results, but it also reveals confusion and a lack of theological knowledge among evangelicals. In this article, we will take a look at each of the thirty-one questions on the survey in an attempt to help readers understand the orthodox Christian view on these issues as well as the biblical grounds for it.” - Ligonier

“This brings me to another question of discernment, viz., the question of falsifiability, or, ‘What would it take to change my mind?’” - Snoeberger

“The fall of mankind began with a lie. “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” This was followed by a second lie. ‘You certainly will not die! For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.’” - Ref21