Famous pastor and hymn-writer, John Newton, was born on this day back in 1725. He's most well-known for his hymn, "Amazing Grace."

Here’s a nice, little bio on Newton’s life and testimony that was put together by the folks at Mars Hill.

[HT: Between Two Worlds]

Really liked this video from Ray Comfort.



[HT: Atheist Central]

[HT: Take...Z]

Imagine Spot #3

Imagine Spot #2

Imagine Spot #1

[HT: Jill Stanek]

This is an updated re-post from a few months ago.  I just found out that the woman highlighted in this post, Rachel Barker, passed away this week.  Please pray for her family, most notably her husband, Neil.

[HT: Already and Not Yet]

Rachel Barker’s life tell a remarkable story.  Staring into the face of death with the pronouncement of terminal cancer, she clings to the truth of the gospel with what appears to be unshakable resolve.  A testimony for the ages, no doubt.  Her website, DeathIsNotDying.com, highlights her tale.

This is from the website, DeathIsNotDying.com:

Rachel’s story is not unlike what thousands of women around the world have experienced. A diagnosis that changes a woman’s life and inevitably takes from her what we consider to be most precious.

After four and a half years of vigilantly fighting breast cancer, the 37 year old wife and mother of two was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

But for Rachel the essence of life is found in her relationship with God through Jesus. And that’s why Rachel is convinced that death is not dying.”

[HT: Between Two Worlds & Josh Harris and Girl Talk]

Interesting comparison over at Triple Canopy—a look at the similarities between large secular business practices and the ongoing’s of the average American megachurch.

Joseph Clarke writes,

Lakewood and America’s twelve hundred other megachurches — congregations that draw between two thousand and fifty thousand people per weekend — are not simply vast machines for passive spectatorship. Sunday services are convergences of worshipers who spend their weeknights at prayer groups, Bible studies, ministries, and missionary training sessions. Successful megachurches are like well-run companies, with intricate corporate structures devised to keep each member personally engaged; their pastors are like chief executives, maximizing the productivity of laborers in the evangelism enterprise. Jumbotron notwithstanding, the architectural and organizational tropes of the megachurch are best compared to those of the modern white-collar workplace.

I certainly understand why such comparisons can be made.  I also understand that the larger something gets, the more of an institution (in the usually negative sense of the word) it becomes.  That being said, I find it alarming when secular sources are pointing out the striking similarities between the church and the world.  Don’t you?

[HT: Friendly Atheist via Kottke]

Justin Taylor writes,

It is hard to think of a sadder public figure in recent years. A black man who never found his identity as one created in God’s image, and who never experienced the identity of being conformed to the image of Christ. Black and white, male and female, rich and bankrupt, genius and punchline, private and public, innocent and deceptive–everything seemed to be jumbled up.

The one thing that comes to mind about Jackson is how bad he was at hiding his brokenness. Even while living in a literal fantasy land, it was obvious to everyone that this was a person–enormously gifted–desperately seeking a mask to cover, in futility, who he was.

May God use even this to increase our compassion and ministry to the lost, broken, and confused.

As you can see, deekdubberly.com has recently received a facelift.  Please be patient as I try and tweak out this new theme.  When you change your site’s theme it just sort of goes with the territory that there will be lots of updates to take care of, glitches to fix, and adjustments that need to be made.  Thanks for reading and I hope you like the new look.

The goal for the change was twofold: I wanted the site to be simpler and easier to read.  So what do you think?  Like?  Dislike?  Did I achieve my goals?  In case you don’t remember, here’s what the old deekdubberly.com look like.

Listen to Evan Thomas as he describes President Obama as, “A sort of God.” It’s really ridiculous.



Is it just me, or are statements like that just insane?

Al Mohler has some interesting and compelling thoughts on the recent murder of abortionist, Dr. George Tiller.  His article ran in yesterdays issue of The Chicago Tribune, but you can read it along with some extra notes here.

Mohler records that,

The violence that was murderously deployed in Wichita requires us to be first in line to make clear that violence in the womb will never be overcome by means of violence outside the womb.  Dr. Tiller’s murderer has blood on his hands, and he has bloodied the cause of human life and human dignity.”

Read the rest of Mohler’s article here.

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the primarily student-led protests that took place in and around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, in June of 1989.  It is estimated that nearly 1,000,000 people had gathered on the Square in order, at least initially, to mourn the death of a government official who was sympathetic towards the Chinese pro-democracy cause.

According to its Wikipedia entry, the protesters that assembled, “Were generally against the government’s authoritarianism and voiced calls for economic change and democratic reform within the structure of the government.”

I once took a course at a junior college with a professor that had naturalized as an American citizen, but was originally from China.  She told our class that her and her husband were there that fateful day when the People’s Liberation Army (of China) stormed in on the protesters at Tiananmen Square.  She spoke of it with a very somber, yet special look on her face.  When we asked her how they managed to escape uninjured, she replied simply that, “It’s a secret—I cannot tell you.”

I don’t really know all the circumstances surrounding the protests and subsequent violent government intervention, and I don’t know if it was necessarily “right” or “wrong” on the part of the protestors to rebel against their government like that.  I do know that many lives were needlessly ended that day.  And I know that after hearing of my professor’s involvement, I held a special respect for her that I had not known previously.

It is said that nearly 2,500 Chinese protesters were murdered that day by the Chinese army.  Some 7,000-10,000 more were reportedly injured.  Most of these were due to gunshot wounds—Chinese soldiers shooting Chinese people.

In case you’re not terribly familiar with these events, here are a few media clips that do a decent job of displaying the intensity of the times.

I really enjoy the oddball story sections of the daily news.   Here’s a few of this morning’s highlights:

1. Chinese rich dude + huge, rare diamond = “Star of Josephine”
2. Man’s best friend + rattlesnake = guys sucks dog’s nose
3. Bedtime stories +  T.V. and video games = Read with your kids
4. Republican zodiac + 2010 = Year of the Bible
5. Suicidal contemplation + aggravated Chinaman = Pushed off a bridge
6. Gay penguins + school curriculum = Big stink
7. One mom + one set of twins = Two different dads?
8. Biology class + snake = Jump rope
9. American Idol + Christian guy = Did evangelicals mess up AI’s voting?

Enjoy.

My Alma mater, Liberty University, made the front page of FoxNews.com this evening.
Apparently school authorities shut down the Democratic club on campus, citing that the,

Democratic party violates the school’s principles by supporting abortion, socialism and the “‘LGBT’ agenda,” referring to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.”

Interesting. Read the rest of the article here.

I completely understand that as a private institution LU reserves the rights to shut down whatever clubs they want to.  That’s definitely their prerogative.  In addition, I agree that their are certain values (listed in the quote above) that the Democratic party generally stands for which are contradictory both to many of the things that LU stands for as well as to many of the things that I stand for.  That being said, it just doesn’t sit well with me that a “university” (i.e. “unity” + “diversity”) would be so stifling as to allow the Republican club on campus, but not the Democratic.

Anyone care to disagree?

1. “Go on, take the money and run…” (cf. The Steve Miller Band)
2. This is why you shouldn’t leave your eBay account open (cf. Weird Al)
3. Video games like Nintendo’s, Mario Kart, may actually serve a meaningful purpose (cf. Kenny Loggins)
4. I used to love that show on Nickelodeon, Salute Your Shorts.  I bet this guy did too. (cf. Camp Anawanna)

Here are a few that caught my eye this morning.  Random, funny, and entertaining.

1. Convertible + high speeds + money in the seat = not a good idea (cf. Prov. 23:4-5)
2. Bodybuilding competition + surprise drug tests = musclemen scattering like mice (cf. Prov. 28:1)
3. Dogs are better than cats + the audacity of hope = this is a bit much (cf. Prov. 12:10)