A new law

"don’t teach me about politics and government
just tell me who to vote for

don’t teach me about truth and beauty
just label my music

don’t teach me how to live like a free man
just give me a new law

(pre-chorus)
i don’t wanna know if the answers aren’t easy
so just bring it down from the mountain to me

(chorus)
i want a new law
i want a new law
gimme that new law

don’t teach me about moderation and liberty
i prefer a shot of grape juice

don’t teach me about loving my enemies

don’t teach me how to listen to the Spirit
just give me a new law

(bridge)
what’s the use in trading a law you can never keep
for one you can that cannot get you anything
do not be afraid
do not be afraid
do not be afraid"

"A New Law" © 2006 Derek Webb


Friends, God has given us a new law, and like the Israelites before us we have rejected it. It is the law of liberty. (Jas. 1:25, 2:12; Rom. 8:21; Gal. 2:4, 5:1, 5:13; 2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 8:9, 10:29)

Rights to the land

Here's an excellent sermon by John Piper on the turmoil going on in the middle east and what whole-Bible doctrine says about the land. The one additional thing I'd have liked to see him expound upon is how Heb. 3-4 teaches the "rest" of entering the land was a type of perfect rest in Christ.

For his teaching about gentiles being grafted onto the vine, consider too Jesus' teaching of Jn. 15, in which the dead wood of the vine is pruned away and burned. So scripture tells us Isreal was at one and the same time winnowed and expanded. Thereby God created "the Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16) which we call the Church.

Swan song

Life is cheap, if it's not yours

I saw a report on the news a few days ago that included clips of Saturday-morning-type cartoons shown in Iran. The cartoons featured heroic Muslim boys and girls strapping bombs to their bodies and diving onto truck driven by horrified Israelis. Then the bloody animated carnage was shown with a voice-over praising the young martyrs.

This attitude toward glorious death is something new, relatively; the Spartans may have approached this, but I doubt it. The point of war for millenia has been to make the "other poor bastard die for his country" (George Patton). The presumption here is that the other "poor bastard" doesn't really want to die. But now a whole generation of Muslim children has grown up being taught is a good thing, perhaps the best thing, if you can die and take a few westerners with you. There is no political or military answer to this. If you make these poor bastards die for their ideology, you're doing them a favor. Then a new bunch of kids grows up to take their place — not an army, but just enough in any given time or place to create havoc — taught by a bunch of cynical manipulators safely tucked inside their mosques who think they're serving God.

So what then? Be a prayer warrior. Don't pray for peace, pray for the Prince of peace.

Mac winds down

Eggs-egesis

In a world filled with sticky buns that look like Mother Teresa and plates of spaghetti with the face of Jesus in them, it's good to know Islam also has its nutty goodness. But the theological ramifications here are mind-boggling.

Duck Redux

Magic Kingdom

"Zidane! You've disgraced yourself and your whole nation, but you won the World Cup's biggest award anyway! What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to cccjacksontn.com!"

Mt. 12:40-41

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it; because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here."

I'm reading through Matthew (in case you were wondering), and I must confess I've never read it before with a real understanding of the term "kingdom of heaven," a phrase found only in Matthew. I understand it now (I think) to mean the Church Age, and it's a whole new world. See 12:16-21: Jesus would not be taken prematurely by His enemies, and He would not be made King by His followers (Jn. 6:15), because His mission was to extend grace to the gentiles. The kingdom of heaven, announced as at hand by the Baptist and by Christ, is the period of time when God demonstrates He is not just God of Israel but sovereign Lord over all His creation. He does this by creating a new nation, not just a physical people on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, but a vast people, Jew and gentile, across the entire world - His Church, the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). Keeping this in mind while reading Matthew is a revelation.

So what of the sign of Jonah? The prophet spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish for one reason: so gentiles would be saved.

An article of moderate interest

Here's an article that appeared in the local paper about the Orthodox Church and how some members of America's black population are rediscovering their history through it.

Mt. 9:30-31

"And their eyes were opened; and Jesus strictly charged them, saying, 'See that no man know it.' But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country."

I grew up hearing that this incident and others showed Jesus cleverly using reverse psychology to get the word out. I don't buy it; there was a real desire to elevate Him as king (Jn. 6:15) and that was not His mission, so He truly did not want a lot of hype among non-disciples surrounding Him.

Besides, imagine, if you will, this greeting: "Hey, Eliazar, how are you? Lookin' good! There's something different about you, I just can't seem to put my finger on it ... Did you change your hair? What could it be? Wait a minute, you can see!"

It's hard not to talk about such a thing; I don't think reverse psychology was needed.

Garry Truduck

Superhero alert

If you're disappointed by the new Superman movie, this will help you remember what a true super hero is. Turn on your speakers.