I saw a man standing in front of Walmart today.  He held a cardboard sign.

He wrote these words:

I am living on a prayer.

I thought to myself that those words summarized my life as well.  There is no better way to live.

Idaho Falls Church News Bulletin:

1. October 30, Sunday, Civic Auditorium, 7 PM – We Cry Out Tour, Jeremy Camp (degree with Calvary Chapel Bible College), Francesca Battistelli, Adam Cappa – Lindsey Bush captures some quotes from Camp in today’s Post Register, including this quote, “It wasn’t necessarily that I wanted to do Christian music, but that’s just what came out of my heart.  I am a Christian and I love the Lord, and the songs that I write are about that.  I’m thankful I’m able to go out and share my heart with people.”
2. October 30 – REFORMATION SUNDAY.  Check out New Geneva’s new website.
3. And you all know that BYUtv is airing the final episode for Fires of Faith, Sunday night at 9:00 p.m.  This series has taken you right into the heart of the reformation.
4. October 31 – Fall Carnival at Calvary Baptist (6:30-8:00 p.m)
5. October 31 – Harvest Party at Calvary Chapel (5:30 – 8:30 p.m.)
6. October 31 – Harvest Fest at Christ Community (5:00 p.m.)
7. October 31 – Ammon Antics at Berean Baptist (6:00 – 8:00 p.m.)  Fun, safe, and warm.  You can’t miss it.

Your reminder for today:

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. (Titus 3:1)

Honor to the Heretics – that is probably how I would summarize episode two in the Fires of Faith series for the making of the KJV Bible.

Quick Observations

(1) I watched touching, dramatized scenes of Thomas Bilney in London, 1527: “Where does it say, our works will save us?”  He was dragged from the pulpit while preaching a homily.  But he cried, “Only the truth from the Bible!!!!”

He recanted under torture, and then later recanted of his recanting.  I appreciated the documentary recalling the moment when he burnt his finger in a candle – to steel his mind in preparation for being burned at the stake.  “Take me to Christ!”

(2) London Tower Prison – I remember visiting this place with my wife.  I won’t forget the experience.

(3)  This episode did a fine job in honoring William Tyndale.  I am always moved when I hear Tyndale’s letter he wrote while in prison.  And his cry for the Hebrew scriptures.

(4)  Guest appearance by Mark A. Noll.  I listened to what he would die for.

(5)  A question – What is the translation in English of that final song sung during the ending of the lives of Thomas More, William Tyndale, and Anne Boleyn?

O.T. Reading – Jeremiah 39:1-41:18

Who would have ever thought that this could happen?

Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, and Rabmag – standing as victors in the Middle Gate of Jerusalem?  We shed tears with Zedekiah who had his sons taken and his eyes ripped out.

But there is mercy and safety granted to Jeremiah, the man shut up in the court of the prison, and to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian.

Psalm reading: Ps. 90:1-91:16

For we have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified.  You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.  For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; we finish our years like a sigh.  The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.  Who knows the power of Your anger?  For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath.  So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

And Psalm 91 is a manifesto of praise for the one who lives in communion under the shadow of the Almighty!

N.T. Reading – 2 Timothy 1:1-18

God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord:  source of grace, mercy, and peace (v. 2)

God gives:  not a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind (v. 7)

God:  who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. (v. 9)

Savior Jesus Christ:  has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel (v. 10)

Holy Spirit:  dwells in us (v. 14)

Today, we worship the Trinity in Idaho Falls.

A.J. Moffat’s opinion is published in today’s local paper:

One definition of a cult is: “A system of religious or spiritual beliefs regarded by ‘others’ as misguided, unorthodox, extremist, or false.”  What qualifies these “others” to use the word cult to describe another religion?

I’m sure the Baptist minister (a Rick Perry supporter) knows a great deal about the Baptist religion.  But how much does he really know about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?

To Judaism, early Christianity was considered a cult.  To many Catholics, Protestantism was considered a cult.  Many Christians consider Mormonism to be a cult.  To atheists, Christianity is a cult.  To many Christians, atheism is another type of cult.  Are there not also some nonreligious forms of cultism in politics, and yes, even in our universities?  I hate to admit this, but, there is some cultism in science also.

Who, if anyone, does not belong to a cult as defined by some other (often unqualified) person.  Truth should, but does not always prevail.  But, when truth prevails, cultism and bigotry fails.

Interesting links on the “Is Mormonism a Cult?” issue:

1. The infamous (LDS) Mormon Cult website . . . you can tell the author has heard this a plenty in his day.  *Bonus question – Do you know the name of this author?  He certainly stays active in bloggernacle.
2. Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill over in Seattle jumped into the conversation with his article this week,  Is Mormonism a Cult?  But my question for Mark is this:  where is the Acts 29 network in the S.E. Idaho/Utah I-15 Corridor?  Who is going to contextualize the gospel in this neck of the woods?
3. Nathan Black over at the University of Utah seeks to put in his two cents for why Mormonism is a cult.
4. (LDS) Kim Siever explores the question, “Is Mormonism a Cult?”  I am sure the guys at FAIR yawn over the question, except maybe if President Obama poses the question.
5. Over in Southwestern Idaho, you all have probably heard Matt Slick of CARM in his continual internet publishing.  Is Mormonism a cult.  Yes, Mormonism is a cult.
6. Over at Slate, Christopher Hitchens just gets downright nasty with LDS.
7. The CNN Belief blog pops the question – Is Mormonism a Cult?
8. With all his dialogue with LDS professors, you know what Richard Mouw is going to say.  No.
9. But Denny Burk is going to defend Robert Jeffress.  But that is no surprise.  You all know  the stance of conservative SBC preachers.
10. At Mormons Believe, the author defends that it is not a cult, but they are the restoration of the church.
11. RedBlue Christian does not like the term, cult.
12. Dr. James Emory White gives a yes and no answer to the big question of the week in our country.
13. Dan Burrell says the label of cult for Mormonism is “point on correct“.
14. Wintery Knight starts with the God as Creator issue.  Very good.
15. Asbury Seminary President:  Timothy Tennent – Mormonism is not a Christian movement.
16. Truth in Action Ministries (formerly Coral Ridge Ministries) – Mormonism is a cult.
17. Time Magazine.  “What is Mormonism, A Baptist Answer“
18. So what are they saying in Susquehanna County?  By the way, about 15 years ago, I took my wife there to see the historical LDS sites.
19. Sharper Iron gets into the conversation.  Doug Kutilek calls Mormonism a cult.
20. Kevin T. Bauder rightly connects concern over Mormonism’s view of the Trinity with T.D. Jakes’ view on the Trinity.
21. Joni Hudson-Reynolds, an African American mom, wants to know what you think?
22. Do you know the answer given by a Strict and Particular Calvinist minister?  It’s there on the internet.
23. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, decides not to get deep into the issue.
24. Michael LaBossiere doesn’t think Mormonism is a cult.
25. Mormonism 101: from the Kevin Deyoung’s point of view at the Gospel Coalition
26. Al Mohler on Mormonism.
27. Get Religion:  Mormonism 101
28. The Wall Street Journal:  Pinpointing Romney’s Mormon Challenge
29. Tim:  What Do You Mean by “Apostasy”?
30. Sharon Lindbloom at Mormon Coffee:  “Who Thinks Mormonism is a Christian Religion?”

With Mitt Romney on top, this issue is not going to go away in America.

The Eagle Rock Junior High Bel Canto Choir sang two songs this past Wednesday night that ministered to my heart.

1. “My Life Flows On in Endless Song” (Traditional and Robert Lowry, arr. Jean Anne Shafferman)
2. “Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace” (Mary McDonald)

O.T. reading – Jeremiah 37:1-38:28

The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the LORD?” (Jer. 37:16)

Who else is desperately asking this question in secret?

N.T. reading – I Timothy 6:1-21

Now godliness with contentment is great gain.  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we carry nothing out.  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition” (I Tim. 6:6-9).

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (I Tim. 6:17).

Doesn’t this touch on the massive problem we have in our country concerning our attitudes toward money?  How is your relationship with the living God?  This is the key ingredient.

Proverbs for today – Proverbs 25:28

Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls.

Bullseye!

“How To Read Your Bible” by J. Todd Billings in Christianity Today (Oct. 2011)

Reading Scripture is not about solving puzzles but discerning a mystery.  Through Scripture, we encounter no less than the mysterious triune God himself. . . .

The new world into which God brings us via Scripture is wide and spacious, but it also has a specified character.  It is a journey on the path of Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit in anticipation of the final, culminating communion with the triune God. . . .

In reading the Bible, we are not the masters.  We are being mastered and enlivened by the triune God” (pp. 26, 30)

Radical way to read your Bible in the I-15 Corridor.

This is dangerous.  This could turn things upside down.

Would you like to enter the discussion on a new way to read that Bible in your home?  Go ahead.  Ask J.Todd Billings.

I highly recommend that you all watch, “Fires of Faith” – honoring the 400th anniversary of the KJV Bible.

The first episode in this trilogy takes you to many places:  the Westminster Abbey, Oxford University, Rome, Israel, Wittenberg, St. Paul’s Cross, and Worms, etc.

You will hear from Alec Ryrie, Guido Latre, Diarmaid MacCulloch, Lawrence A. Cunningham, David Rosen, Lucy Worsley, Brad S. Gregory, John C. Cavadini, and Steven C. Walker.

Some of my favorite phrases and scenes in this first episode are as follows:

(1) The opening scene of Tyndale at the stake

(2) The spreading of Wycliffe’s ashes into the River Swift

(3) The exclamation by one scholar – “You can read the Bible!”

(4) The meeting at the famous pub, The White Horse Inn, Cambridge, 1517 (modern day Michael Horton likes the place, too)

(5) Martin Luther, when he says, “Arise O Lord, and may the fires of faith burn brighter than St. Peter’s gold!”

(6) Martin Luther, when he is before the King and Eck, and as he says in German, “Here I Stand . . . ”

Friends, watch this series.  Tell me what you think.

Links of interest: Lee Groberg, BYUtv, Church News, Deseret News, The Tyndale Society