…olive oil for the light. Exodus 25:6

My soul, you greatly need this oil because your lamp will  not burn long without it. The wick will smoke offensively when its flame goes out, but it will not relight once the oil is gone. There is no oil well springing up from within your human nature, therefore you must go to Him who can supply you with oil or you will be like the foolish virgins, who cried out, “Our lamps are going out” (Matt. 25:8)! Even the consecrated oil lamps of the temple in Jerusalem could not give light without oil. Though they shone in that holy building, they needed a constant supply of oil, and though no strong winds blew on them, their wicks needed to be trimmed. your need is equally as great, for even under the happiest of circumstances you cannot give light for another hour unless the fresh oil of grace is given to you.

Yet not just any oil could be used in the Lord’s service in the temple — not the petroleum that flows so plentifully from the earth, oil from fish, nor the oil extracted from various nuts. Only olive oil was selected and it had to be the very best. Likewise, no counterfeit grace arising from natural goodness, nor imaginary grace from Go’s priest or his piritual ceremonies, will ever serve the true saint of God. He knows the Lord would not be pleased even with rivers of such oil. Instead, he must go to the olive press of Gethsemane and draw his supply from Him who was crushed in it.

The oil of true gospel grace is pure and free from dregs and other impurities; thus, the light it fuels is clear and bright. Our churches are the Savior’s golden candelabra and if they are to be bright lights in this dark world, they need a great supply of holy oil. May we pray for ourselves and our ministers and churches that they will never lack oil for their light. The beams of this sacred light are truth, holiness, joy, knowledge, and love, but we cannot shine them forth unless, through private devotion, we received the oil from God the Holy Spirit.

~ Charles Spurgeon

I have been doing quite a bit of reading as of late in the area of the constantly evolving world of media ecology. I stumbled across this video the other day, and I am compelled to share it with you.

Watch this video. Then, please, go read a book. Finally, engage in communication with someone using words, proper syntax and stimulating language.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

One of the classes I’m taking this semester at DTS is “Spiritual Formation in Historical Perspective”. Thus far, it has been a great class. It had heightened my appreciation for church history while at the same time convicting me of the fact that I spend little to no time in pursuing the Spiritual Disciplines.

The purpose of this blog post is to let you all know about a great resource that has just been released today. The Holy Bible: Mosaic NLT
is something Tyndale has been working on for some time. They have ambitiously tackled this project with a goal of taking us through the scriptures while providing insight from every contenent and century of the Christian church.

They have been kind enough to provide me with a review copy that I will be checking out in the coming days. I look forward to posting my review and sharing it with all of you! In the meantime, check it out on Amazon by clicking the image to the left and let me know what you think.

Hey, everyone. Suggestion for you!

Last year I found a loose leaf edition of the NASB that I converted into a Jonathan Edwards style “blank bible”. What Edwards had done was to take his King James Text and interleave it with blank pages. He then proceeded to go through the Bible making over 5,000 notes, observations and outlines.

Inspired by this idea, I took a loose leaf bible and inserted one to two blank pages between every page depending on the book so that I would have the opportunity to do the same. I just recently discovered that the ESV will be coming out in a loose-leaf format this May. If you have been wanting to challenge yourself to dig deeply into the text, but just haven’t had the time or motivation to do it, here is your chance!

Jonathan Edward's Blank Bible - Proverbs

I divided the bible up into sections. After I inserted the blank pages, I made a cover page for each section, and then went to my neighborhood Office Max to have them spiral bind each of them for me. The end result was 7 volumes bound separately - not something you would want to carry around with you, but great for this purpose! If you would like any more details or photos, let me know. I’d be glad to help you get started!

Get in the Word. Ransack the Scriptures. Be Transformed.

Wow.

Hank Hanegraaff has brought his book up to date. 20 years have gone by since he first wrote Christianity in Crisis, and the crisis has only intensified!

“The tragedy is that too often we look for God in all the wrong places. The real experience is found not in counterfeit formulas but in Christian fundamentals.”

Although I have come to disagree with Hank on many theological issues, this book doesn’t go into what I might consider questionable areas of his theology. As such, I feel comfortable recommending it to others.

If you are familiar with the original book, you are probably wondering what is new, and if it is worth purchasing. Let me assure you it is worth it! There are many new faces on the scene, and those who distort the gospel by preaching a false “health and wealth” gospel are only gaining momentum.

One of the key additions to the book is the “Cast of Characters” section. Hanegraff takes an in-depth look at each of the major players in the Word of Faith movement, and analyzes where they distort the message of the Bible for their own gain, and to the detriment of others.

One of the great strengths of this book is the endnotes. You aren’t reading Hanegraff’s opinion about these men and women – he has detailed notes with references of what book, magazine or television program they said these things. This is a solid, well researched critique of this false teaching. In addition to the “name it and claim it” heresies, we see the atonement under attack by people like Benny Hinn, the sovereignty of God under attack by Joel Osteen and the Trinity under attack by Bishop T.D. Jakes.

The one weakness of the book is in his synthesis of all the different beliefs of these individuals into a kind of fairy-tale. He includes this as an introduction to Part One. By including this, he creates a view that none of these men and women would ascribe to, and I feel weakens his overall argument. That said, after he delivers this fairy-tale, he then goes into detailed specifics of what each individual believes, and redeems the book as credible.

Through Christianity in Crisis, Hank Hanegraff does a thorough job of exposing the truth behind the lies, and pointing us back to what God’s Word has to say.

In the first several parts of the book, the author lays out what this movement teaches, and then goes into deep detail into the errors behind their teaching. Ranging from the idea that we are all gods to the horrible twisting of the doctrine of the atonement, Hanegraff explores them all in depth.

He closes the book by bringing us back to the basics. What does the Bible say? What do we know is true? How do their arguments stand up to the tested, timeless truths of God’s Word?

I strongly recommend this book. Excellent research, and delivered at a time when Christianity is truly in Crisis.

There are wolves among us. It is time we see them for who they are.

This Is Your Brain on Joy: A Revolutionary Program for Balancing Mood, Restoring Brain Health, and Nurturing Spiritual Growth. By Dr. Earl Henslin. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2008. 243 pp.

Dr. Earl Henslin is a licensed counselor who has an obvious passion for restoring joy in the lives of his patients and his readers. He has partnered with Dr. Daniel G. Amen, MD to learn more about how we can combine the science behind the SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computerized Tomography) and a therapeutic understanding of the brain from a counselor’s perspective.

I have long been a fan of Dr. Amen and his ground-breaking research into understanding why our brains work the way they do. His works on ADD entitled Healing ADD and Change Your Brain, Change Your Life had a profound impact on me and my wife. As a result, when Thomas Nelson asked me to read and review Dr. Henslin’s latest book, I jumped at the opportunity!

Dr. Henslin has divided his book into three primary sections. The first five chapters deal primarily with some background on why the book was written as well as some very technical information on how the brain works, and what areas of the brain impact different areas of our emotional and psychological well being. Herein lies one of the many strengths of this book. Dr. Henslin has written this book in such a way that the very complex information he is relating is done in a very understandable way. I am confident that my 10 year old daughter would have no problem reading this section, and explaining to me what each of the different issues are. Dr. Henslin closes this first section with a discussion on “joy-boosters”. Everything from pharmacology to movies, food to prayer is discussed. It is amazing what a change in diet can do for our emotional well being!

In second section of the book the author explains in detail the different sections of the brain he explored in chapter three. In a very clear, entertaining style he talks about very specific things we can do to improve our brain health for each of these brain centers. I particularly enjoyed the discussion about the prefrontal cortex (wrestling with ADD) and the deep limbic system (dealing with depression). It is so refreshing to see a well researched medical book written from a biblical, Christian perspective!

Finally, Dr. Henslin concludes his book with a chapter entitled, “An Apostle on Joy: The Real Secret.” In this chapter he does a study in joy in the book of Philippians, uncovering 6 “Secrets to Joy”. A great study, and an excellent capstone to this book.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone and everyone who wrestles with finding joy and contentment. Dr. Earl Henslin demonstrates the wisdom in an integrated approach between Psychology and Spirituality. I look forward to sharing this book with my wife, and making some changes as we seek to live life the way God intended – filled with the Spirit, possessing peace and finding joy.

Soli Deo Gloria