Instone-Brewer

Kostenberger

A very interesting article and discussion at  Free Money Finance.

Media myths about the Jena 6

A local journalist tells the story you haven’t heard.

By Craig Franklin

Jena, La.

By now, almost everyone in America has heard of Jena, La., because they’ve all heard the story of the “Jena 6.” White students hanging nooses barely punished, a schoolyard fight, excessive punishment for the six black attackers, racist local officials, public outrage and protests – the outside media made sure everyone knew the basics.

There’s just one problem: The media got most of the basics wrong. In fact, I have never before witnessed such a disgrace in professional journalism. Myths replaced facts, and journalists abdicated their solemn duty to investigate every claim because they were seduced by a powerfully appealing but false narrative of racial injustice.

I should know. I live in Jena. My wife has taught at Jena High School for many years. And most important, I am probably the only reporter who has covered these events from the very beginning.

As with the Duke Lacrosse case, the truth about Jena will eventually be known. But the town of Jena isn’t expecting any apologies from the media. They will probably never admit their error and have already moved on to the next “big” story. Meanwhile in Jena, residents are getting back to their regular routines, where friends are friends regardless of race. Just as it has been all along.

• Craig Franklin is assistant editor of The Jena Times.

To read the whole article click here.

The Necessity of The Trinity

I recently wrote a short post related to prayer and got this comment.

The comment is pretty good, to be honest. It was also something that was on the back burner of my mind; something I intend to teach my people tonight.

The comment states: “Prayer is about so much more than asking and receiving. Ultimately, it is about intimacy with God. It is the glue that bind us to God…without prayer, there is no relationship. Jesus came to bring us into relationship with God. There are perks to being in relationship but ultimately it’s all about the relationship.”

Well put, don’t you think? There’s only one thing that I would take issue with; the statement that it’s all about relationship. The issue is not so much that the statement is wrong, but that it lacks clarity. Personally, I would say that it’s all about the glory of God. Back to that shortly.

Another post asked a question about the sovereignty of God and prayer.  If God is sovereign, why pray?

The answer is found in the model prayer given in Matthew chapter six.   “ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13) KJV  We pray because God is sovereign and is determined to give Himself glory by answering our prayers.

“Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”  ( Psalms 50:14,15) KJV

What about the relationship issue?  That relates to the glory of God, too.  More on that at a later date.

Just musing…..

Kostenberger responds to questions and comments.

Question for reflection:

If God is sovereign, why pray?

I hope to pick this up later.

Just musing…….

First there was Instone.

Then Piper.

Next was Justin.

Now it’s Köstenberger.

This is interesting, to say the least.

Just musing….

And, interestingly enough, with no links nor responses to the above, we find SBCImpact.

As I was teaching the folks I pastor about prayer I was reminded of extremes in my past life.

I was never taught how to pray. I gained much benefit from stumbling across a copy of John R. Rice’s “Prayer, Asking And Receiving.”

Having never been taught the fundamentals of prayer, I had one excess that I wish to mention here. That excess was the fact that, if I didn’t feel as I thought I should feel, I would repeat my private prayer until I was at least partially satisfied. In so doing, I did not realize that I was engaging in “vain repetitions.”

Why did I do that? Because I wasn’t taught how to pray, and because I had heard much about how sweet it was to “ride down the road praying, and feel the presence of God so strongly that it was as if you could reach out and put your arm around Him.”  I had decided that prayer was a sort of mystical experience instead of a simple heartfelt appeal to God for Him to help us and glorify Himself in us.

It truly isn’t difficult to teach that prayer is presenting our requests to God in faith. Why is something so simple, yet so important, as this neglected?

If this happens so easily in the matter of prayer, what extremes are possible in other matters? What about the deity of Christ, or repentance, or other important fundamental doctrines?

Brothers, let us get back to the basics of teaching Scripture and not the riding of hobby-horses.

Just musing…..

Our friend Bob Ross of Pilgrim Publications, printers of Spurgeon’s material, has a great reply for those scammers who offer free money if you simply give them your banking information.

His humorous reply is below.

MONEY AVAILABLE FROM OVERSEAS FOR WHICH

WE REGRETFULLY HAVE NO ROOM [12/22-2004]

[One of my more "popular" emails since I first started using email a few years ago is my reply to the Nigerian type of offers of money, and I sometimes have requests for it. Many names have been added to my list since it last appeared, so here is an updated version for their benefit. -- Bob]

I often receive opportunities to be the recipient of large sums of money, and here are a few excerpts from a source who emailed us today:

>>

Dear Friend

I am Barrister Jean Philip(Esq, a Briton and the Personal Attorney of Mr. George, a national of your country, who worked with Chevron Oil Company in England. On the 21st of April 2007, my client, his wife and their three children got involved in a car accident along Chelsea Highway Road that claims the lives of all occupants of the vehicle. . . .

I have contacted you on trust to assist me in receiving the money left behind by my client in his bank account valued at about Ten Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars. . . . I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you bear same surname with my late client so that the proceeds of his estate worth Ten Million Six Hundred Thousand United States Dollars can be paid you . . . The sharing percentage is as follow — 30% for your assistance as next of kin, 65% to me and remaining 5% should be for expenses or tax as your government may require.

Best Regards,
Jean Philip(Esq,

>>

Here is my reply, which I have often made to those who have been so thoughtful to include me in their plans for the Big Bucks:

MY REPLY:

Thanks for contacting me. It is true, in the past I have been able to assist a number of foreign sources of wealth with their needs as to how to handle a financial situation.

At one time, we had a large green truck, painted with dollar marks ($$$), canvasing the continent of Africa to pick up large bundles of money. Unfortunately, the primary driver at that time, Saddam Hussein, absconded with a large load and was later apprehended in a hole in the ground in Iraq, went to trial, and was executed. We have not been able to find a replacement for Saddam, so our truck is not currently being used. We put some inquiries out to find Osama Bin Laden and get him to be the driver, but we can’t locate him at this time. But that may be just as well, for we really have no available facilities at this time to store more money.

For example, a few months ago we airlifted heavy loads of Nigerian money to the USA in several chartered planes but had to toss out some of the bundles over the Pacific Ocean due to the excessive weight. Still there was so much dangerous overweight cargo, we had to require some members of the crew to bail out to lighten the load. The crew members were all later rescued and are safely home, now living in great splendour from their share of the funds we received. However, at the behest of some greedy lawyers they are filing a class-action lawsuit against us for the physical and psychological damages resulting from their experience, which may drain a large amount of the money we have in storage, and this may free-up some of our storage space.

Space to store and properly preserve the money has become such a problem that we have put all offers of foreign funds on “hold” at this time.

I think we have recently received at least a dozen or more emails informing us that

we have been selected either by God or by men to receive large funds, even long after we notified the Lord that we had no more room to store money at this time. We have been using the nearby Astrodome and also the adjacent Astrohall, and are trying to buy the Reliant Stadium for more space.

Currently, we have over five acres of money neatly stacked on skids, covered by heavy plastic, on the King Ranch in southern Texas, which is the only available space we could find large enough to hold our supply of African money. We are currently investigating the possibility of leasing the Baja Peninsula for potential storage space, as there seems to be a lot of open space over there. We have also applied to NASA for some room to send money on the next spaceship to the Moon where we would expect to have free storage, unless either the Japanese or Walmart has purchased that territory.

Therefore, I suggest you contact Drayton McLane of the Houston Astros who needs a lot of money to sign baseball players who opt for the free agency market, and keep them from going to the Yankees or Mets or some other rich team. Also, there is always Benny Hinn, or you might try Robert Tilton in the Dallas area. There is also Paul Crouch at TBN, needing money to setup more TV stations. Even Oral Roberts University might have some use for it, based on recent reports. Also, I hear Mike Tyson and O. J. Simpson could use some money. Better still, contact Atlanta Falcons’ former quarterback, Michael Vick, as we hear he may have to return millions to the Falcons. And there’s the Boston Red Sox who need a lot of money to pay the salaries of their Oriental pitchers.

Frankly, we have seen so much African money in recent months that it has become more plentiful around here than Kudzu in Georgia, 99-Cent and Dollar stores!

So at this time, we will have to “pass” on your offer.

– Bob L. Ross