I love February 15. Why? Because this is the day that I can run over to the drug store and buy Brach's JuJu Hearts for 50% off. A bag or two allows me to remain in juju bliss until next February 15. My dentist probably appreciates this, too. After all, nothing can cause cavities like gummi candy! I'm not sure what it is about these chewy, cherry heart-shaped sugar bombs, but they quite possibly may be one of the best non-chocolate candies out there.Of course, with Easter coming kind of early this year, the Valentine's candy is quickly being phased out and replaced with Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs and those chocolate-covered marshmallow bunnies that taste a little like styrofoam in spite of their deceptive chocolate smile. As much as I love the Easter season (for the celebration of Christ's resurrection, not for the candy), I cannot wait for it to be over simply because we need a break from all this candy! Beginning with Halloween, it's one sugar-laden holiday after another until we finally get past Easter. I'm convinced that, between the months of October and April, many Americans are just walking around in sugar comas. When can we get a holiday that's celebrated by steaming vegetables?
Well, before you head on over to CVS to look for your own bag of JuJu Hearts (be careful not to get the cinnamon flavor), take a moment first to enjoy your week in review (kind of):
- So, if you start accommodating Wiccan and pagan holidays by not assigning homework or exams, will students ever have any deadlines to meet?
- I'm actually surprised it's taken this long for Illinois to pursue gay marriage.
- Did you hear about the meteor explosion in Russia? They're reporting at least 1,000 injured.
- Speaking of meteors, what's the difference between a meteor, a meteorite, a comet and an asteroid?
- Absolutely tragic. (Warning: graphic photo of aborted baby).
- It's curious to me how much The Gospel Coalition seemed to be promoting Lent this week. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers and sisters who observe the season, but it (rightly) makes me nervous when it is portrayed as a necessary practice for one's Christian walk. In response to the TGC article, "Why Bother with Lent?" I enjoyed reading Ted Bigelow's comments. And I thought Richard Barcellos' response to the TGC post, "Lent Is About Jesus: A Free Devotional Guide" was worth consideration.
- Also don't miss Tom Chantry's thoughts on the Lenten Brouhaha.
- Some people were able to get their 'ashes to go' on Wednesday.
- You can get free Monergism.com content delivered directly to your Kindle! Very nice.
- I enjoyed Julia's Valentine's Day post at Steak and a Bible.
- Well, it's good to know that if Trader Joe's insists on no longer carrying my very favorite brand of chocolate sorbet, I can at least attempt to make my own.
- Did Rick Phillips preach out the pope?
- William Tapley explains the pope's resignation. It's fulfillment of the 'Gangnam Style' prophecy. I knew it!
- Here's the latest on the LCMS pastor who apologized for his role in an interfaith prayer vigil following the Newtown tragedy.
- This post combines a few too many decades, but it's still embarrassingly true. Here's 33 ways to know you were a youth group kid.
- The Master's Seminary has launched its Theological Resource Center. Forget the JuJu hearts, this makes me feel like a kid in a candy store!
- This German ad campaign may have been a little bit mean, but it's pretty funny. Besides, nobody was hurt and free deodorant was given to unsuspecting victims, so I think it's okay to laugh.
- You know what we need more of in church? Pom-pons.
- Speaking of pom-pons, Saddleback says God is my cheerleader. Who knew?
- It's not quite 1 Corinthians 13:12, but this is a neat video of a robot seeing itself in a mirror for the first time.
- This Ohio congressman is on a meditation crusade.
- Jay Bakker denies the atonement (I know, not exactly shocking news).
- Very much better. Do you yearn to be with Christ?
- This is a must read: Top Ten Reasons Our Kids Leave Church.
- A Texas teen is suing her parents to stop them from forcing her to have an abortion.
- This is such a pretty picture from SBTS!
- Another must read: Is N.T. Wright Wrong on Jesus?
- A school in Indiana is pushing for a 'traditional' prom, meaning, no LGBT allowed.
- Speaking of LGBT, the first LGBT Jewish children's book has been published.
- Here you can access the audio of Pastor Mike Abendroth's No Compromise conference held earlier this month at Church at the Cross.
- Ready...Set...Awww! Your weekly dose of adorable.
- This article about how female turtles can pause the growth of their eggs is fascinating. Except, I'd disagree that these findings "shed light on why live-birth has not evolved in turtles." Turtles lay eggs because that's the way God designed them!
- When I opened this article about the Pope's resignation written by Russell Moore, I did not expect what I found. Very disappointing.
- From one antichrist to another.
- Ken Ham on Americans and homosexuality.
- A Florida judge has ruled that a homosexual man and two lesbians all can be named on a child's birth certificate.
- France approved gay marriage.
- There's an 11-year-old kid who has been ordained and who claims God speaks to him. And now his ego is being inflated more as he's featured in an episode of the 'Prodigies' web series.
- Well, I know I'd hate it if Tennessee had confiscated my pastor's venomous snakes. You know, if my pastor was a snake-handler.
- In the mood to hear an excellent, Christ-centered sermon? Then you'll want to listen to "He Gave Them New Clothes," a sermon preached this past Sunday evening by my friend Daniel Neades.
- Rick Warren announced this week that he'll begin a daily radio show later this year. He says it will begin the first week of April. For the record, April 1 is on a Monday this year. Am I the only one who finds this amusing?
- Good ol' predictable Joel.
- Don't miss the latest updates at The Elephant's Debt.
- Don Green preaches on 1 John 4:7–12, and why we love one another:
my favorite heart candy ~~~the two toned colored peach heart candy---Yummy!!! I think this kind of candy is or (was) made in Sweden.
ReplyDeleteit beats Brach's any day.
Thanks again for all your hard work. I really enjoy these Friday lists. Have a good weekend :)
ReplyDeleteSo which is the more amazing detail concerning the Russian meteorite: that no one was killed, or that John Piper hasn't declared who God is judging through this event?
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting the link to the sermon by Daniel Neades, "He Gave Them New Clothes". I would encourage all your readers to listen to it. You say that Pastor Neades is your friend? You are truly blessed. Please tell him that at least one of your readers is grateful to have heard his sermon and will be passing it on to others like her who are starved for such preaching. We are sheep with shepherds who do not care for us.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link to the article about our kids leaving church. That fella hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head.....much truth there. It was interesting to read the comment section. Some teens were coming into the discussion and were saying that he was right. They didn't not like the shallowness and wanted more meat. Then, along came the "youth leaders" and older people who basically said that they knew not what they spoke about.....mind numbing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for what you do. Keep up the good work.
I agree. Sadly, I had the same experience with our own children. They grew up in the church, were AWANA superstars and even did volunteer ministry work with me. But along the way, they seemed to lose interest. They are good kids and never refused to go to church but when they were teenagers and I asked them what the problem was, they said pretty much the same thing as this article. They thought the 50 something pastor in jeans looked like he was trying to be "cool" and thought his use of slang during his sermons just sounded stupid. They said the "praise band" sounded like American Idol wannabees. They had questions that were never dealt with in their youth groups that they said were really just social gatherings and they thought the games were childish. I could go on but that is enough. I blame myself since I believe the parents are responsible for their children's spiritual development. The last straw was when the middle aged senior pastor of our church got a tattoo and flaunted it. Our children said that if they didn't take him seriously in the past, now they never could. Needless to say, we moved on to a historic, confessional church. I hope all the pastors and youth leaders at our former church read that article. They need to wake up. Even more, I hope the parents read it and don't make the same mistake with their kids that we did.
DeleteErin, as a former Catholic, the Russell Moore post sent me right over the edge. Presenting the pope as a great humanitarian is hard to take when I know where that religion was taking me before God's grace saved me.
ReplyDeleteAaarrrggghhh! And the comments on his post at his website...........:(
Pam
Pam,
DeleteI responded to "An Evangelical Looks at Pope Benedict XVI" post on the blog MOORE to the POINT by Professor Moore pointing him and others to MORE to the issue of papacy and Romanism which he ignored for the sake of his accolades for the humanistic philosophy of Romanism as driven by the recent popes. I posted several substantiated by Roman documents responses there and it will be interesting to see if Professor Moore will allow for them to present more views on his superficial take on papacy and what is good about it.
It is no longer amazing to see people like Professor Moore in the teaching and leading echelons of leavenjellycalism being fans of Romanism in some waym shape and form despite their empty disclaimers that they are not... :0) "God" of Roman pope is NOT God of the Word to be sure as taught in official Roman documents or even in recent book of the quitting pope. Here is a proof to both:
"The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also INCLUDES those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom ARE the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together WITH US they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
Point 841, Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church.
Official Vatican Site: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM
"He needs human freedom. The only way he can redeem man, who was created free, is by means of a free “yes” to his will. In creating freedom, he made himself in a certain sense DEPENDENT upon man. His power is tied to the unenforceable “yes” of a human being."
Pope Benedict XVI (2012-11-21). Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives: 3 (Kindle Locations 471-473). Image. Kindle Edition.
I bet you did not know that Roman Mary was also responsible for the parts of the New Testament along with Holy Spirit... See according to the Roman pope Holy Spirit was not enough...
If that is so, the question arises: how did Matthew and Luke come to know the story that they recount? What are their sources? As Joachim Gnilka rightly says, it is evidently a matter of family traditions. Luke indicates from time to time that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is herself one of his sources, especially when he says in 2: 51 that “his mother kept all these things in her heart” (cf. also 2: 19). ONLY SHE could REPORT the event of the annunciation, for which there were no human witnesses.
Pope Benedict XVI (2012-11-21). Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives: 3 (Kindle Locations 244-247). Image. Kindle Edition.
There we go. So while Professor Moore is so exhilarated that "primary emphases of the Vatican in the last generation has been on the dignity and liberty of the human person." he completely misses to grasp the realization that that should not be the PRIMARY EMPHASES of the Vatican. That it should be THE GOSPEL. In fact this only underscores the falsehood and apostasy of the Vatican and Roman religion he apparently has been inoculated to some degree along with so many others applauding him levanjellycal protoholics and openly apostate converts to Romanism who comb the net daily for this kind of affirmation of their apostasy no matter how diluted and remote.
Despeville
Pastor Green always fills me up with such healthy food-God's word that is.
ReplyDeleteHe reminds me somewhat of Steven Davey... Another great "steak" pastor.
I love the truth Pastor Green stated -that true love is not based on sentiment. It's not based on some emotional high.. God's love is transcending- It does not depend on whether others love back or how others respond.
Mr. Moore's praise of the pope is far more than just a disappointment, it is totally unacceptable for anyone who claims to be a born again child of God. This pope, along with all his predecessors, has been the enemy of the Cross of Christ. Moore's ecumenical rant is typical of all too many SBCer's who seem more interested in 'getting along' with those who deny that salvation is by grace, through faith, in Christ alone than they are in proclaiming the pure Gospel.
ReplyDelete