Feature Friday: John Carter and a Whole New World

 
*Warning: Minor spoilers below (Very minor)*

Chances are you haven't seen John Carter.  There was a lot of hype and many trailers building up the latest sci-fi movie.  But sadly, very few people were lured into the theaters to watch the man on Mars.  In fact, its been reported that Disney expects to lose $250 million dollars on the movie!!!  As a movie, I thought it was pretty good and entertaining.  However, a lot of the women are scantily clothed so depending on your maturity and weaknesses in that area, you may want just want to avoid seeing it.

Feature Friday: Pastor Faces Execution

This is Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani.  He is a Christian pastor in Iran.  Schools in Iran are required to educate students on the religion of Islam.  Pastor Youcef protested this forced religious education and was arrested in 2009.  Since then, the charges against him have been ramped up to apostasy and evangelizing Muslims.

He was brought before a judge and ordered to repent of his actions and of Christianity.  His response?

"Repent means to return. What should I return to?  To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?"


The judge answered him, "To the religion of your ancestors, Islam." 

Pastor Youcef simply but bravely replied, "I cannot."

He has been sentenced to death for refusing to recant Christianity.  According to the American Center for Law and Justice, he recently received his final execution order.  What this means is that he will likely be executed very soon.

Processing Whitney Houston's Death

I sat down to write my Tuesday devotional and wanted to address the recent death of Whitney Houston.  I got distracted with a few phone calls but got back to my computer after a while.  I jotted out an outline of what I wanted to say when I got distracted by a few more phone calls and some E-mails.  That's when I noticed an E-mail from Dare 2 Share ministries.  In the E-mail was a link to a very well written reflection on Whitney Houston's life and death that actually said a lot of things I wanted to say.

So today, instead of hearing from me, please click on the link below and take some time to read Dare 2 Share's article.  I hope you find it helpful in your walk!  Also, don't forget to vote on Thursday's topic at the top right of the screen!

Dare 2 Share Whitney Houston

Represent Jesus in ALL You Do

I was at a Denny's last Friday with a friend and we got to talking about the tip.  That's when I shared something I had heard before.  If you go out to eat at a restaurant and you aren't going to tip well, then don't you dare pray before you eat your food!  One of my favorite pastors, Mark Driscoll, said that.  Do you know why?  He says that Jesus is generous and loving and the church should be too.  And when the waiter sees you bow your head to pray before you eat, he will connect the dots and realize you are a Christian.  Then when he gets no tip or a lousy single dollar tip from you, he will connect the dots (consciously or subconsciously) that Christians are selfish jerks.

Rick Perry and Choosing Your Words Wisely...

I have to admit, I haven’t been following the presidential campaign as closely as I should.  However, I did catch this golden nugget from Rick Perry through my regular perusal of the news.  If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look.

A Good Dose of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is coming up pretty quickly.  We all have a lot of things to be thankful for.  Our family, friends, jobs, homes, full refrigerators, cars, church, toys, and so much more.  A lot of times, we say we are thankful for these things because it is the right thing to say, even when we don't necessarily feel very thankful.  But think about some times that you really, truly have felt thankful.  Maybe it was when you were younger and your parents bought you a video game system for Christmas that you had been dying to get all year.  Maybe it was when your spouse surprised you with an incredible day all about you.  Maybe it was when someone stood up for you or defended you in front of others.  Can you remember a time you were truly thankful?

Feature Friday: Terranova

Have you been watching Steven Spielberg's new masterpiece?  If you catch Terra Nova on Fox, you're in for breathtaking nature scenes, futuristic technology, and, best of all, dinosaur-packed action!

In the not so distant future, mankind's use of industry, cars, factories, and more has left the world extremely polluted.  Combined with over-population, the human race doesn't have long before its too late.  Laws limit a household to two children and purifying devices called re-breathers are needed to breathe outside air.  But there is hope. 

Theology Thursday: Is Swearing a Sin?

** Last week I covered the topic of homosexuality.  Username Richard the Atheist commented on my article to argue against me.  If you'd like to see my response to him, which is long (I warned you!), then CLICK HERE.**

Is swearing a sin?  The D word, the S word, the F word.  Do we offend God when we use this kind of language?  Should Christians use them?  My opinion may not be the clear cut answer you were looking for.  As a youth and children pastor, believe me, I wish I could say definitively that all swearing is bad.  That would keep the parents at church happy with me.  But, at the risk of drawing their wrath, let me share my honest thoughts on this issue with you.  Let me caution you, this article will get a bit explicit.

10 Years Since 9/11

I was a freshman in high school.  I left the locker room with my gym shirt and tight gym shorts on.  Why do they always make them too small?  I lined up with the rest of my class and we were cracking jokes about something or other when Coach Murry walked in.  He seemed a little shocked about something and with a shake of his head and a half grin he said, “Did you hear what happened?”  We all shook our heads no.  “Some idiot crashed a small plane into the Pentagon.”

Well that’s strange I thought.  We finished up PE and I thought nothing of it.  But by the look on my algebra teacher’s face when I walked into my next classroom, I could tell something was really wrong.  She turned on the TV and we watched in horror as smoke poured out of the towers on live television.

That Which We've Seen and Heard

Evangelism is a scary word for most of us.  We feel frightened at the thought of sharing our faith with others.   Factoring family and friends into the equation can actually make us even more nervous and embarrassed.

As a pastor, I've sat through quite a lot of evangelism classes and seminars that offer steps to sharing your faith.  I've heard recommendations ranging from memorizing the Romans Road to wearing Jesus memorabilia like buttons or crosses.  I've studied the tactics of soap box preaching and seeker based Bible studies.

All of those things have merit and can be incredibly beneficial.  But sometimes its the simplest things that work.

I Love Generous People

Do you know anyone who is really, really, really generous?  I don't mean the kind of person who gives you a few dollars when you're a bit short at the movie theater.  I'm talking about the kind of person who just buys people nice gifts out of the blue.  Don't you just love them?!