Not For Sale

Every month Christian Audio gives away a free audiobook. This month’s book, by David Batstone, is entitled Not For Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade and How We can Fight It.

You can download the book for free here. Enter the code FEB2009 during the checkout process to download it for free.

Maybe you didn’t know: 27 million people are enslaved today; 800,000 people are trafficked (bought & sold) across international borders each year; 50% of these victims are children; 4 of 5 are female; and 150,000 slaves are in our own backyards!

That’s My King!

I know I have posted several videos lately, but this one, as with the others, is worth watching.  I heard this clip several years ago and it profoundly touched me.  I am thrilled to share it with you.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the late S.M. Lockridge:

You can purchase this video at Igniter Media.

(HT: Challies)

Mark Driscoll on ABC Nightline

I think the interview was fair to Pastor Mark and Mars Hill Church. Sure, there are probably some things I would have liked a little more time on (e.g. the whole “Calvinism” bit being cut short right when it started to get good), but it was a great interview overall.

I admire Mark Driscoll for his interaction with culture and for his unwavering love and devotion to the Word of God.  I pray that God will guard him and make him fruitful, for God’s glory, in Seattle and around the world.

Read the interview here.

(HT: The Resurgence)

The Power of the Word of God

Read Demosthenes or Cicero, read Plato, Aristotle, or any other of that class: you will, I admit, feel wonderfully allured, pleased, moved, enchanted; but turn from them to the reading of the sacred volume, and whether you will or not, it will so affect you, so pierce your heart, so work its way into your very marrow, that in comparison of the impression so produced, that of orators and philosophers will almost disappear; making it manifest that in the sacred volume there is a truth divine, a something which makes it immeasurably superior to all the gifts and graces attainable by man.

John Calvin (Institutes, 1.8.1)

Be Courageous, Mr. President

This past weekend, Pastor John Piper blessed my heart as he spoke to the people of Bethlehem Baptist Church on Sanctity of Life weekend. He gave a sermon entitled The Baby in My Womb Leaped for Joy.  Here is an excerpt where he speaks to our President for a few intense moments:

May we be Christ-like as we pray for our President, Barack H. Obama.  May we be bold and wise as we fight against the things in our culture and society that our God hates.

How should believers give during this recession?

Many believers may be tempted to use the present recession as an excuse for substandard, second-rate giving. This was not the case for the believers in Macedonia. Even while experiencing utmost penury, they gave lavishly:

2 Corinthians 8:1-5

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

They didn’t have the means to give, but they gave anyway. Why? How?  They had an abundance of joy which overflowed into a “wealth of generosity on their part.” The conclusion I make is that I will give more as I become more joyful in Jesus. I am also reminded that if I can’t give joyfully, or cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:6-8), then I probably shouldn’t give at all.

Give. Cheerfully. Joyfully. Give some more.

Fifteen Pro-Life Points to Speak

John Piper on 1/24/03:

1. Existing fetal homicide laws make a man guilty of manslaughter if he kills the baby in a mother’s womb (except in the case of abortion).

2. Fetal surgery is performed on babies in the womb to save them while another child the same age is being legally destroyed.

3. Babies can sometimes survive on their own at 23 or 24 weeks, but abortion is legal beyond this limit.

4. Living on its own is not the criterion of human personhood, as we know from the use of respirators and dialysis.

5. Size is irrelevant to human personhood, as we know from the difference between a one-week-old and a six-year-old.

6. Developed reasoning powers are not the criterion of personhood, as we know from the capacities of three-month-old babies.

7. Infants in the womb are human beings scientifically by virtue of their genetic make up.

8. Ultrasound has given a stunning window on the womb that shows the unborn at eight weeks sucking his thumb, recoiling from pricking, responding to sound. All the organs are present, the brain is functioning, the heart is pumping, the liver is making blood cells, the kidneys are cleaning fluids, and there is a fingerprint. Virtually all abortions happen later than this date.

9. Justice dictates that when two legitimate rights conflict, the limitation of rights that does the least harm is the most just. Bearing a child for adoption does less harm than killing him.

10. Justice dictates that when either of two people must be inconvenienced or hurt to alleviate their united predicament, the one who bore the greater responsibility for the predicament should bear more of the inconvenience or hurt to alleviate it.

11. Justice dictates that a person may not coerce harm on another person by threatening voluntary harm on themselves.

12. The outcast and the disadvantaged and exploited are to be cared for in a special way, especially those with no voice of their own.

13. What is happening in the womb is the unique person-nurturing work of God, who alone has the right to give and take life.

14. There are countless clinics that offer life and hope to both mother and child (and father and parents), with care of every kind lovingly provided by people who will meet every need they can.

15. Jesus Christ can forgive all sins, and will give all who trusts him the help they need to do everything that life requires.

Holding A Miracle

On this 36th Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, I would encourage you to watch this video, Holding a Miracle,  put together by Jason French. He wrote the song and put together the video.

(HT: Desiring God Blog)

Holy Hip Hop

More on Hip Hop coming soon, but, for now, check out this video:

Have some cake, Mr. Calvin

I’m not a huge cake fan, but I would probably eat a slice, maybe two, of this cake.

(HT:Z)