Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Monthly Archives: October 2017


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MUSIC REVIEWS and NEWS

All Things Work Together – Lecrae
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This highly anticipated major label debut from Lecrae is his first album since January 2016’s mixtape Church Clothes 3, and it doesn’t disappoint. Beginning in October, 2016, six songs were released in advance of the album’s release, building excitement. The album title is taken from Romans 8:28: And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Lecrae has stated that the idea of the album is that the dark times have worked together for him to become the person he is today.
This hard-hitting and honest album is strong from start to finish and features Lecrae collaborating with many different artists. It is a mature work, Lecrae’s best album, and my top album of the year thus far.
Here are a few brief comments about each song on this strong release:

Always Knew – This song was produced by Ramon “REO” Owen and written by Owen and Lecrae. He dedicates it to those, especially the Lord, who have helped him through the highs and lows. Key lyric: Listen, I know God did it, can’t take the credit, paid off all of my debts, but I still feel so indebted.   
Facts – This song was produced by Dem Jointz and written by Jointz and Lecrae. In hard-hitting lyrics, he states that he’s been waiting for the right time to tell us how he feels. He loves God and Jesus, who died for the world, not just the USA. Key lyric: I ain’t really changed, it’s the same rebel.  
Broke – This song was produced by Boi-1da and T-Minus, written by Perfekt, Nikhil “Kromatik” Seetharam, Boi-1da, T-Minus and Lecrae and features Perfekt. The song looks at how money may have made him richer, but the struggle got him richer than he’s ever been. Key lyric: Being broke made me rich. 
Blessings – This song is produced by Pluss and features Ty Dolla $ign. It was written by Pluss, Verse Simmonds, Swoope, Ty Dolla $ign and Lecrae. The song is about gratefulness and appreciating the little things in life. It features a slow beat that sounds better every time you hear it. Key lyric: If you woke up this morning it’s a blessing.  
Watchu Mean – This song is produced by the Go Grizzly. It features Reach Records newest signee Aha Gazelle, and is written by Gazelle and Lecrae. This song has a great vibe as Lecrae and Gazelle go back and forth lots of sports and musical references.
Hammer Time – This song is produced by Metro Boomin and features 1k Phew. It is written by Boomin, 1k Phew and Lecrae. The song samples MC Hammer’s 1990 song “U Can’t Touch This”.  The song has an infectious beat. Key lyric: I ain’t perfect, I’m just purchased.  
Come and Get Me –  This song is produced by DJ Dahl and Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II and they write it with Lecrae. It features a great beat throughout. He knows the devil is trying to stop him. He states confidently he’s not scared of the haters, he only fears the IRS and God. What he’s saying is nothing new. Key lyric: Look, I’ve been trying to tell them since 04’-05’ (that’s Real Talk). Still, you know these people doubt me every time.  
Lucked Up –  This song is produced by Tariq Beats and DJ Khalil and they write it with Nija Aisha-Alayia Charles, John Groover, Michael R. Cook Jr. and Lecrae. This is a love song for his wife, and features vocals from Nija Aisha-Alayia Charles. Continue reading →


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS


God and the Transgender Debate: What does the Bible actually say about gender identity? by Andrew T. Walker. The Good Book Company. 145 pages. 2017
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In the Foreword, Albert Mohler writes that the transgender revolution represents one of the most difficult pastoral challenges that churches in this generation will face. He states that the sexual revolution poses challenges that are not simply going to disappear. The church must be ready to meet these challenges with biblical fidelity and Christ-like compassion.
The author states that all of us need an answer to questions such as: Can a man become a woman? Can a woman become a man? How and when should children be confronted with the debates about gender? What are we to do with children who are a member of one biological sex but feel as though they were born in the wrong body? What do we say to someone experiencing these feelings and desires? How do we love and help those who are deeply hurting?  This short, but helpful, book is intended to help with those questions.
Making sure we understand the terms involved is important. The author defines gender identity as a person’s self-perception of whether they are male or female, masculine or feminine.  He states that when someone experiences distress, inner anguish, or discomfort from sensing a conflict between their gender identity and their biological sex, that person is experiencing gender dysphoria—a mismatch between the gender that matches their biological sex and the gender that they feel themselves to be. He writes that it is crucial to understand that this is a genuine and unchosen experience. It is never something that someone should just “get over”.
Is gender dysphoria sinful? He writes that to feel that your body is one sex and your self is a different gender is not sinful. However, deciding to let that feeling rule—to feed that feeling so that it becomes the way you see yourself and the way you identify yourself and the way you act—is sinful, because it is deciding that your feelings will have authority over you, and will define what is right and what is wrong.  He states that experiencing gender dysphoria does not mean you are not a Christian. Someone can embrace a transgender identity, or find their identity in Christ, but not both.
He writes that people who identify as transgender report disproportionately higher rates of mental-health problems than the rest of the general population, including depression, suicide, and thoughts of suicide. Continue reading →


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THIS & THAT and Favorite Quotes of the Week

  • “Should I Force My Teen to Go to Church?” R.C. Sproul writes “I would encourage you to make it a special point of concern to do everything in your power to get your kids to church and to make it an attractive time for them rather than a bad experience.”
  • What Should We Say to the Loved Ones of an Unbeliever Who Has Died? Randy Alcorn writes “What might help you personally on this—and I have reassured myself about this many times—is to realize that we do not know what happens inside a person before they die. We don’t know whether the Holy Spirit of God has done a work of grace in someone’s heart and life at the last moment. They may have been aware of the hours, minutes, and even just seconds leading up to their death and cried out to God for deliverance. The thief on the cross proves that “deathbed conversion” is certainly possible. And if someone is unable to speak, or too weak to respond, those around them would not know of that conversion. We may be surprised and delighted to one day see them in the presence of Christ.”
  • Can Unbelievers Do Good Deeds?   R.C. Sproul writes “Even our finest works have a taint of sin mixed in. I have never done an act of charity, of sacrifice, or of heroism that came from a heart, a soul, and a mind that loved God completely. Externally, many virtuous acts are going on both among believers and unbelievers, but God considers both the external obedience and the motivation. Under that tight norm of judgment, we’re in trouble.”

  • My Amazon Reviews. Check out more than 300 of my Amazon reviews, mostly books and music.
  • Fixer Upper to End. Chip and Joanna Gaines announce that the upcoming season 5 of the popular television series Fixer Upper will be their last.      
  • Two Faith-Based Movies Announced for 2018. MOVIEGUIDE writes “The first is a follow-up to Angelina Jolie’s adaptation of Unbroken, about the life of WWII hero Louis Zamperini. This movie, however, is being distributed by Pure Flix Entertainment and will focus primarily on the portion of the story that was glossed over in Jolie’s movie: Zamperini’s conversion to Christianity. The second movie to be released in 2018, also currently filming, is Paul: Apostle of Christ, from Sony Picture Entertainment’s faith-based branch, Affirm Films. Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in the highest grossing faith-based movie of all time, The Passion of the Christ, will play the biblical character of Luke. The movie also stars John Lynch and James Faulkner as the Apostle Paul.”
  • The Real Story of Christianity and Abortion. Albert Mohler writes “Let there be no confusion on this question. The Bible reveals the sanctity of all human life, the early church affirmed the sanctity of every human life, and anyone who performs an abortion is not “doing God’s work.”
  • Kurt Warner: Football Hall of Fame Inductee and Lover of Jesus. Meredee Berg writes “But Warner made clear that those people were wrong. What he was really thanking God for were the trials that had prepared him for that moment and that platform—for showing him that with God, the impossible becomes possible. He truly believed that God had chosen him for a once-in-a-lifetime role.”
  • Matt Chandler’s Village Church Ends Multisite Era. Kate Shellnutt writes “the Village Church, the multisite Texas megachurch led by Matt Chandler, will transition from several campuses across the Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) metroplex to individual autonomous churches within the next five years, leaving behind a multisite model for a deeper commitment to local ministry and church planting.”

    Courtesy of World Magazine

TO MAKE YOU SMILE:

  • Amazing! It Took A Few Years, But Tebowing Has Finally Taken Over The NFL. The Babylon Beereports “The act of Tebowing became well-known nationwide, but never really caught on with fellow NFL players, as Tebow obviously hoped it would. Well, guess what? All these years later,Tebowing has taken the NFL by storm.”
  • New Calvinist Baskin-Robbins Offers Customers One Preselected Flavor To Choose From. The Babylon Beereports “One woman recently attempted to order her favorite flavor of Daquiri Ice at the Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida, but was informed that Mint Chocolate Chip had been chosen from her as the Lord looked down the corridors of time and selected the flavor she would choose. “I don’t really like mint chocolate chip, but if that’s the Lord’s will, I will partake from the cup He has chosen for me,” she reportedly said, before being informed that God had chosen a waffle cone for her instead of a cup. “Oh, OK. That’s fine too.”

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FAITH AND WORK: Connecting Sunday to Monday

Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles

  • The Best Workers Are the Best Neighbors. Tom Nelson writes “Martin Luther said it well: “God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does.” A primary way God designed us to love our neighbors is for us to do our work well, and from our work to have the capacity to be generous to neighbors in need. When it comes to being a helpful neighbor, a slothful worker faces an uphill climb. On the other hand, the best workers make the best neighbors.”
  • Leaders and Loneliness. Scott Sauls writes “In the past two years, five of my friends who are pastors lost their ministries because of moral failure.”
  • Humility 101: Continuing Ed for Leaders. Bill Peel writes “To discover whether pride is edging out humility, give yourself a “fruit inspection.” The absence of fruit of the Spirit means something besides the Holy Spirit is guiding you, and could be setting you up for an unwanted spot on the evening news.”
  • If God’s a Worker, What Kind of Work Does He Do? Russell Gehrlein writes “how does God carry out this work today? Sometimes he works supernaturally. For example, he does redemptive and revelatory work through his Holy Spirit, in revealing our sin and leading us to Christ. However, it is also true that God has chosen to use human beings, both believers and nonbelievers, to do this work.
  • Why You Get Distracted at Work. Michael Hyatt writes “Interruptions are outside things that throw us off. Distractions are things we do to ourselves to derail us.”
  • Center for Faith and Work Podcast. Check out the new Center for Faith and work podcast that will run every Wednesday. Here is the initial episode “Taking Faith to Work”.
  • The Greatest Burden of Leadership. Tim Challies writes “I believe the greatest difficulty of all is the knowledge that I am leading poorly. It’s the knowledge that I am not leading as well as I could or as well as I wish I would. The burden of responsibility is light compared to the burden of insufficiency, inability, or just plain failure.If all those other weights are heavy, this is the one that threatens to be crushing.”

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My Review of MULLY

Mully (not rated)
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Mully is a well-made documentary style film telling the incredible true story of Charles Mully, a Kenyan orphan, who was used by God to save more than 12,000 orphans.
Scott Haze writes and directs this film, which also includes some dramatic reenactments from Mully’s life, some of which would be too intense for small children. The film is narrated by Charles along with his wife, seven children and his parents.
Charles’ father was an alcoholic who would brutally beat his mother. When Charles was just 6 years old, he woke up one morning to find that his parents and siblings had abandoned him. This led to a life of begging. He was bitter and depressed and wanted to take his own life. He resisted that temptation and soon after he was invited to church where his life was changed spiritually and he became hopeful for the future.
But he was still poor, so he decided to make the 50 mile walk to Nairobi to look for a job. Finally on his third day in the city a wealthy Indian woman took him in and offered him a position as a dishwasher and gardener. He did a good job and is later promoted to be manager over 800 farm workers, one of which was Esther, a beautiful young woman who would become his wife.
Charles then decides to start his own taxi/bus business. That business is successful, and then he launches business after business, all very successful. He is a millionaire, and he and his family live in a large home, host parties and live the good life.
Then one day in 1989, Charles is confronted by three homeless teens, who ask for payment in return for watching his car. He refuses and when he comes back his car is gone – he has to take his own bus home. Charles is moved by the homeless teens and later we see him drive many miles away from Nairobi, deep in thought and prayer.  He is wrestling with God over God’s call on his life to help orphans and ultimately, he bows his knee in obedience. He stuns his well-to-do family that night at dinner, telling them he is going to sell his businesses and instead provide care to the orphans on the streets. They think he is crazy.
He not only wants to provide food, shelter and an education, Charles wants these children to be part of a family and to be loved.  Within a week, the first three children show up at the Mully home. We then see Mully walk the streets of Nairobi and bring orphans home to live in the Mully mansion, which would become known as the Mully Children’s Family (MCF). Mully’s children are interviewed and they are honest in saying that they were not initially on board with their father’s plan and were resentful.
Mully would face many challenges along the way, but God provided for the growing ministry to orphans. God brought them very low, to the point of not having food for the children, only to see their need provided by the hand of God.  Quite the lesson in relying upon God’s provision.  We see MCF becoming self-sustaining, moving into farming and other sources of income. Since 1989, MCF has become the largest children’s rescue, rehabilitation and development organization Africa. This is an incredibly inspiring true story; all of this started with Mully asking God to use him.  More than that, after watching it, each of us can ask, “What is God calling me to do?” “How can God use us to serve him and his people?”
This film would probably be rated PG for some scenes of violence.  Prior to the film, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Lauren Daigle perform a moving acoustic version of Switchfoot’s song “I Won’t Let You Go”, a song about unconditional love.
After a three-night run in theatres, the film will be available on DVD. You can order it here.
You might also be interested in Mully’s book My Journey Of Faith: An Encounter with Christ: And How He Used Me to Spread His Love to the Poor. You can order it here.


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THIS & THAT and Favorite Quotes of the Week

CHRISTIAN LIVING….AND DYING: 

BIBLE STUDY AND GREAT RESOURCES:

  • P.T.A.T. A Strategy for Daily Bible Reading. Watch this new six-minute video from John Piper in which he introduces a strategy for better Bible reading: 1. Admit you can do nothing without God. 2. Pray for help. 3. Trust a specific promise. 4. Act. 5. Thank God for His provision and goodness.
  • Here We Stand. To mark the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, Desiring God invites you on their 31-day journey of short biographies of the many heroes of the Reformation, just 5–7 minutes each day for the month of October.
  • After Darkness, Light.  I continue to re-listen to the messages (some of them multiple times) from the 2017 Ligonier National Conference, which had a theme of “The Next 500 Years”. Here is the excellent conference opening message from Michael Reeves, who has written extensively on the Protestant Reformation.
  • Gospel Coalition’s 2018 Women’s Conference. Registration is now open for the Gospel Coalition’s 2018 Women’s Conference to be held in Indianapolis, Indiana June 14-16. The theme will be “Listen and Live”. Speakers include Rosaria Butterfield, Jackie Hill Perry, Nancy Guthrie, Jen Wilkin, John Piper, D.A. Carson and many others.

TO MAKE YOU SMILE:

  • Facebook Introduces New ‘Heresy!’ Reaction Button. The Babylon Bee reports “According to a press release by the company, while users still have at their disposal all the previous reactions—“Like,” “Love,” “Haha,” “Wow,” “Sad,” and “Angry”—they’ll now be able to react to any Facebook post with a “Heresy!” button, complete with aghast emoji man wearing a 16th-century-style scholar’s cap.”
  • New Martin Luther-Shaped Amazon Echo Will Rudely Answer All Your Theology Questions. The Babylon Bee reports “Dubbed the “Amazon Luther,” the new device is programmed to answer all your theology questions in the Reformer’s trademark aggressive tone and style.”
  • ESPN Launches Fantasy Preaching Software. The Babylon Bee reports “ESPN’s proprietary software will track stats like conversions, Greek words utilized per minute, arm movement, and Scripture references in real time. Participants will draft their dream team of fantasy preachers and decide which ones to place in their lineup’s various positions, like the all-important Head Pastor slot, several associate pastors, and even a closer for sealing the deal at altar calls.”

Doug Michael’s Cartoon of the Week

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13 Reformation Resources to Help You Prepare for the 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation  

On Sunday, October 29, churches around the world will celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the Wittenberg Church door, signaling the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. To prepare you for Reformation Sunday, below are 13 Reformation-related resources:

What Reformation resources do you have to add to this list?