I hope you don’t have anything to do this weekend, because you are gonna want to read ALL FIVE articles posted here.
Seriously. Read ’em. In my opinion, there is some important and helpful and challenging stuff written by some smart and godly people.
Feel free to interact in the comments section. Which article challenged you? What did you disagree with? Why? What do you need to personally take away from what you read? What articles have you come across recently that would challenge and add value to me?
Ready, set, go. . .
#1. Christ Called Me Off the Minaret by Nabeel Qureshi
“Overwhelmed and confused by the evidence for Christianity and the weakness of the Islamic case, I began seeking Allah for help. Or was he Jesus? I didn’t know any longer. I needed to hear from God himself who he was. Thankfully, growing up in a Muslim community, I had seen others implore Allah for guidance. The way that Muslims expect to hear from God is through dreams and visions.”
If you don’t read anything else this entire weekend – READ THIS! This article will inspire, challenge, and bless you.
#2. Cynicism Doesn’t Reach a Lost World by Ed Stetzer
“So, perhaps the next time you’re driving through rural Pennsylvania and you see a billboard that says ‘Trust Jesus,’ or when you walk by a street preacher who is preaching the gospel with great fervor—even if you would prefer a different avenue, you might just take a moment and be thankful that somebody loves Jesus enough to want to tell a whole lot of people about Him.
It’s worth remembering that your (and my) cynicism about certain evangelism methods is not actually evangelizing a lost world. In that regard, cheesy does indeed trump unengaged cynicism. Yes, there might be better ways to share Christ, but too many cynics complain about how others evangelize while not sharing Christ themselves.
Perhaps hokey is better than hypocritical.”
OUCH. Stetzer nails it. . . and me. Strong and convicting article on evangelism.
#3. How to Keep Your ‘I Do’ in the Present Tense by Even Welcher
“I said ‘I do’, and I still do. The ‘I do’ of marriage is always in the present tense until The Lord Jesus says otherwise. ‘I do’ is never ‘I did at the time’. ‘I do’ is always present tense. ‘I do’ travels through space and time to whatever condition the married couple finds themself in and says, ‘I still do, I always do, and when the enemy burns down these battlements, I shall remain’.”
Married or not – READ THIS ARTICLE! Whoah.
#4. Your Grammy’s Church by Peter Jones
“As if by magic, the stage morphed into a massive cathedral with imposing stained-glass windows and a marriage archway. High Priestesses ‘Material Girl’ Madonna and pure ‘royalty,’ Queen Latifah, then appeared on stage to join in marriage 33 couples of numerous sexual permutations, thereby sealing the new religion’s Oneist creed: all religions and all sexualities are One—to the thunderous applause of the thousands present, and to the approbation of millions of television viewers.
The vacuous marriage sacrament of the ‘Grammys religion’ and its further trivialization as an entertainment stunt, only underlines the spiritually empty gospel that Tinsel Town and its beautiful people were pushing, unopposed, into the homes of people who pay these artists their inflated salaries. There is no competing message, no other opinion allowed from other artists, no apparent way for so many to hear the truth. This is a formula for cultural collapse.”
This article makes me sad, yet hopeful. . . come, Lord Jesus. Come!
#5. Missions: Rescuing from Hell and Renewing the World by John Piper
“The point is this: Conversion to faith in Christ by the Spirit through faith accomplishes two things — rescue from the wrath of God, and transformation of life. This is ultimately why Robert Woodberry found what he found. ‘Conversionary Protestants’ changed the world, because they didn’t focus first on changing the world, but on faith in Christ.
This means that the missionaries that will do the most good for eternity and for time — for eternal salvation and temporal transformation — are the missionaries who focus on converting the nations to faith in Christ. And then on that basis, and from that root, teach them to bear the fruit of all that Jesus commanded us (Matthew 28:20).”
Non-Traditional Heartburn 
Thank you Dr. Jones. Why? Because I have no idea what whent on at the Grammys and must thank Dr. Jones for telling me what happened. I do not watch these award shows, never have, (or tTV for that matter) and I have to wonder why people like Dr. Jones who are as offended as I am at the depravity that goes on, especially at these awards shows, watched the nonsense to begin with.
Why watch it? You know what’s going to happen before you even watch it, all watching does is give specificity to what you already knew before hand. Dr. Jones, why do you feel compelled to share what happened? I, and I am certain many others, made a conscious decision not to watch the Grammys because we knew, and we really do not need you to give us a blow by blow account.
In 1548, Etienne de la Boetie wrote these words, “Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.”
Until we stop participating in the madness, it will only get worse. The Dr. Joneses of this world would do well to listen to the words of Dr. Matt Pearson, FBC El Dorado, Arkansas, when he says, “Come in here real close church, I’m gonna let you in on a secret, lost people are going to behave and act like…..well lost people!”
I always snickered that our Pastor would call it a secret but he appears to be correct, it does in fact seem to be a secret. Sad.