Gospel. Culture. Technology. Music.

Month: October 2007 Page 2 of 3


Drug-Resistant Staph Germ’s Toll Is Higher Than Thought – WPost

(Original): http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co … 92_pf.html
(Archive): http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/heal … 20Thought/

Patience is No Longer a Virtue in Our Society

This is a screen shot of an advertisement on some website I was browsing. Ask.com just unveiled a new catch phrase for their site, “Instant Getification.” I came across these yesterday while browsing the internet and watching a show on TV and it really caught my attention. And another one I just thought of: the commercial where everyone is using their debit card in the fast-food line at the mall (or wherever) and someone gets in line using cash, and everything halts to observe the absurdity and display the lack of patience with such an act. “Don’t slow everything down, we’re in a hurry, got keep it moving, and using your debit card will make that happen for you,” is the message, playing upon the fear of other men becoming impatient with you because they can’t wait any longer. Just look at how much marketing there is by the media, websites, television, etc, that is getting us to drop the whole idea of patience and utilize some product because it will give you the least amount of headaches, or whatever. And wow how this thinking has affected our society. We have things at our disposal like a PEZ dispenser, within comfortable reach, more than any other time in history and if we don’t get it, we whine, cry, pop of at people, and grumble about it. The more humans obtain ease and comfort, the more we turn away from trust and reliance in Christ, and as a result, the more miserable we become because we assume we are owed it, because that is the non-sense we are drowned in daily. Our society (as well as any really) is just such a clear display that comfort does not solve the problem of sin, it makes it worse and makes people even more greedy because now they have a taste of abundance.

Although all of these small advertisements and statements out there in media and culture, on the surface at least, are just little sound-bites that really amount to nothing in themselves and can be brushed off individually, the problem is they all add up to a large bombardment of statements that make you and your gratification the center of the universe. They subtly change our thinking as believers. And like it or not, deny it or not, they affect us. Why has road rage increased? Impatience with the to-go line @ any number of restaurants just because they are five minutes later than they said? Anger at the support guy on the phone attempting to fix your downed internet connection? Because we all have a basic assumption that we deserve what we spend our money on (because, dang it, we work for it!), namely because we are in sensory overload with these statements getting us to abandon patience. Everything is, “I need this ASAP,” from bosses to ourselves dictating to everyone else how they should hurry up, keep moving, don’t slow down, “I needed this yesterday,” and it is making us a very miserable, godless society, because God is no longer God (we don’t need Him in a society like ours), we are our own sovereign authority.

It has affected the church as well. Joel Osteen, a very large mainstream preacher in the “Evangelical Church” (what that means anymore, I’m not sure) makes you and your gratification the center of the universe as well. As proclaimed by him, God is the means to an end, self-gratification, not the end Himself. Though each message varies with its approach and means, this is the same essential message preached by The Secret, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Satan even (in the Garden of Eden), and it is killing us as a culture. We are all running around like little gods fighting for each others’ crowns so that we can instantly gratify our sinful desires all the more. He’s very nice and friendly to his audience, but his message is one of self-importance, Your Best Life Now type of thinking, instead of Your best life for eternity before the face of Christ, enthralled in His glory, not yours. I mean his latest book is entitled, “A Better You.” Who, God? No, you. He denies he is a self-help brand of Christianity, but read the title again. Have we lost all ability to comprehend statements that we are so easily deceived by something like this on a large scale? It seems many are, because millions of people watch his show every Sunday and say he has changed their lives, with tears. And I won’t negate that making yourself the center of the universe feels good. for a time. It feels great in the here and now to sin by suppressing the glory of God and exalting your own glory above your Makers’ (who matters infinitely more than we do). But what about the long-term effects of such thinking? Ya know, eternity? It feels good for a time to sin, and then it creates a giant vacuum in your soul that is never filled up, like constant hunger pains, that if continue when you die, will go on forever.

What does the Scripture say about all of this? “In view of God’s mercy (and patience),” (Romans 12:1-2), “With all humility and gentleness, with patience, [bear] with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2) “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” (Colossians 3:12) “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” (2 Timothy 4:2) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation.” (2 Peter 3:15) I believe that last verse is where our focus needs to be. We are commanded to be patient, but we can’t be! We’re sinners in need of grace to be patient. Look at how unbelievably patient Christ has been toward us through His perfect life, death, and resurrection! It is God’s sheer grace and mercy that He does not destroy all of us at this instant for the way we treat Him, and how discontent we are with our lives. Christ was so infinitely patient that He went to the cross on our behalf so that we could have the best of all that exists, God Himself, not self-gratification apart from Him.

We find the greatest joy in selfless glorification to God through Christ. And it’s not merely that we imitate God’s patience toward us (of course we do that), but for me to say, “Be Patient,” is just another law that we cannot fulfill because of our fleshly sinful nature. It’s true that we need to be more patient, but we need more than just setting our will against impatience like the culture (and Osteen) tells us to do. We need something to galvanize us and change us from the inside out. We need the supernatural version of patience, from the Holy Spirit. We need the fruit of the Holy Spirit increasing in our lives by growing in the knowledge of the Gospel, because, as Michael Horton rightly notes, “We are swimming in a sea of narcissistic moralism,” and cannot possibly on our own counter the selfishness of our worldly culture. And this supernatural version of patience by the Spirit comes from the Gospel itself. This is where looking at the whole work of Christ working in our favor to the glory of God we see the infinite patience of God toward sinners and how because of His patience, we have been ransomed from certain eternal destruction and best of all, brought into the presence of God Himself to enjoy Him forever. Sit there and meditate on the mercy of God toward you, a sinner, in regard to impatience, discontentment, envy, covetousness, grumbling, things I struggle with as well in my life. With the patience of Christ in the Gospel at the forefront of our minds, how can we not be patient and changed forever, countering our cultures’ invasive bombardment that patience is overrated? Praise Jesus for the cross that frees us from the bondage and decay of this world!

Easier way to download Flash Videos

http://www.orbitdownloader.com/download.htm

This is a free app that allows you to sniff for pretty much any media file, even if they have caching turned off. As an example, I was able to download a 60 Minutes interview with Osteen and Horton from a flash video streaming server. Pretty awesome …

Joel Osteen: Great Analysis of His Teaching

“We are swimming in a sea of narcissistic moralism: an ‘easy-listening’ version of salvation by self-help.”

“According to America’s pop religion, we save ourselves with God’s help from feeling guilty and unhappy. Osteen has at least helped us to see just how stark the contrast is between the gospel of Christ and the motivational hype of popular American culture.”

http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/theo … y%20Story/
http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/theo … 0to%20sin/
http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/theo … n%20Yours/
http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/theo … f%20glory/
http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/theo … e%20Happy/

“It is neither that God wants us to be successful in our daily living or unsuccessful, but that he has a larger goal that is even sometimes served by temporal suffering. In all of these things, delightful and disappointing, God is working all circumstances together for a good that is beyond a mere absence of discomfort. In fact, God often has to go to extreme measures, taking away our props, in order to get us off of our own glory-trail (viz., thinking we’re “in control”) in order to give us the deeper happiness that he calls joy. When something greater than happiness as we usually define it is the goal, all sorts of things—good, bad, indifferent—can be accepted as part of God’s plan for our life. We do not know whether, in a given instance, God has planned for Bob to be healed of cancer or Sue to get that raise at work. But we do have God’s public, certified, and certain promise that all who die in Christ will be raised for a life that is far greater than even the most pleasant circumstances of our best life now.”

“Topical sermons, focusing on improving our lives by following biblical principles, easily eliminate the offence of the cross, using the Bible for whatever we want to say, rather than proclaiming it as those who have been sent. In Osteen’s TV sermons (at least the handful I’ve seen) and best-selling book, we learn more about the preacher than about God. We hear more personal anecdotes than biblical exposition. We learn how God gave him a bigger house, a good parking space, gave him the best table in a restaurant, and a seat in first class. For anyone interested in the sociology of pampered American Boomers, Osteen is a valuable source. However, for anyone interested in knowing God in Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Holy Scripture, for anyone wanting to know how God saves sinners, for anyone who senses that there are more pressing issues in life than having their best life now, Osteen will surely disappoint.”

The Promise-Driven Life

http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/theo … en%20Life/

Michael Horton does an excellent job in this article of not smearing the good the Purpose-Driven movement has done in the evangelical world. I disagree with the tactics, principles, and methodology of this movement (seeing as how it is blatantly Arminian in nature and corporate-principle driven). However, I do not negate the fact that many have come to Christ through this series and the book. I do not believe it is a clear rendering of the Gospel message (wrath, sin, judgment, ya know, the stuff people need to hear first, etc), but it at least gets people some where closer to maybe hear a clearer message at their church (at least that’s my hope). Regardless, Michael Horton, instead of bashing the movement simply points us in another direction away from “Purpose-Driven” thinking. He instead says this, “Christ lived the purpose-driven life so that we would inherit his righteousness through faith and be promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world.” And man is this a purpose-driven world! I believe that quote from the article succinctly states Biblically where we should be leading people: to be Promise-Driven Christ followers, where our destiny was sealed by the blood of Christ. And it is under this banner that people’s lives are changed forever. The promises of God in the Gospel are what sustain us (Romans 8) not merely living for a purpose. Of course there’s purpose in following Christ (namely the glorification of God), but the Bible is even more specific than mere purposes. We have concrete promises! How amazing is the grace of God to sinners like me?

This is all I’m going to say about that …

Dr. Gray slams Gore Warnings: ‘We’ll look back and realize how foolish it was’:

(Original): http://www.smh.com.au/cgi-bin/common/po … 38792.html
(Archive): http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/weat … 0shoulder/

Update:

Well I’m going to add some more … so many things have become trite and flavorless in our culture now. Something as important as a Nobel Peace prize, something given to people, ya know, who helped people escape certain death from Nazi death camps and survived themselves, then to be rightly granted the award, has become trite as well. Something that is clearly a theory and strongly debated in the scientific world itself has become fact among those elites who grant this once prestigious award. And on top of that, it is given to someone of the clearest hypocritical nature as Gore (the jets, SUV’s, houses, clearly not an environmentalist himself). The saddest thing to me about this is that people assuming the highest academic and cultured status in the world have now succumbed to the triteness infecting Western society. Something that once had meaning and depth has been made commonplace.

Global Terrorism/Security Incident Map

http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

Very cool …

Steps to Obtain Any Flash Video from Any Website

Update: 10.17.2007

http://www.orbitdownloader.com/download.htm

This is a free app that allows you to sniff for pretty much any media file, even if they have caching turned off. As an example, I was able to download a 60 Minutes interview with Osteen and Horton from a flash video streaming server. Pretty awesome …
——————————————————————————–

Figured this out today, not really difficult or all that complicated, but you do need some fundamental computer knowledge to be able to do this (Instructions for XP only):

1) Download and install Firefox (if you haven’t already, shame on you – www.getfirefox.com ).

2) Download and install a Flash Video player (I use Riva FLV Player – http://www.rivavx.com/index.php?id=422 ).

3) Using Firefox, browse to the website where the video resides.

4) If the video doesn’t auto-play, click the play button on the flash player in the browser. This will initiate the download of the FLV file into the Firefox cache. Also, you’ll want to wait for the whole file to download within the player before proceeding. Otherwise you’ll only get part of the video.

5) Browse to “C:Documents and Settings(Profile name)Local SettingsApplication DataMozillaFirefoxProfiles(random numbers & letters).defaultCache”

6) Sort by date to show the most recent files in the Cache folder.

7) The FLV file will be a random letter/number named file with no file extension and should be the largest file at the top (or near the top of the list, may be second, third, or forth). It WILL NOT be the files starting with “_CACHE_”. FLV files are usually going to be several megabytes in size. If the video is short though, it could possibly be smaller than a meg.

8) Copy the file out of this folder, paste it to your desktop (or some other location), rename the file and put a .flv extension on the end of it.

9) Attempt to open the file with the FLV player. If it plays your video, you’ve successfully copied over the correct file. If not you’ll need to try one of the other large files at the top of the list in the Cache folder.

(Optional)

10) Sign up for a free account @ www.mediaconverter.org and convert your FLV file into any other major video file format (Max. 100 MB file)

– So far, I have been able to obtain Flash Videos from ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Youtube, Google, MySpace, MyFoxDFW, and several other sites. The only one I couldn’t get it to work on was NBC when trying to snag Heroes. They apparently have caching turned off on those files. So it’s possible that at the server level, if the site has caching turned off, this won’t work. You’ll have to go a different route to download the file … maybe using this … http://www.mediapirate.org/

Excellent Quotes from The Nature of Indwelling Sin by John Owen

You ask me, “You’re still reading that?” Yes. It is a book worth the time to slow down and get instead of speeding your way through it.

“It is one thing for a man to know in general that there is a law of sin; [it is] another thing for a man to have an experience of the power of this law of sin in himself. It is preached to all; all men that own the Scripture acknowledge it as being declared therein. But they are but few that know it in themselves; we should else have more complaints of it than we have, and more contendings against it, and less fruits of it in the world. But this is that which the apostle affirms—not that the doctrine of it had been preached unto him, but that he found it by experience in himself. “I find a law”—“I have experience of its power and efficacy.” For a man to find his sickness, and danger thereon from its effects, is another thing than to hear a discourse about a disease from its causes. And this experience is the great preservative of all divine truth in the soul. This it is to know a thing indeed, in reality, to know it for ourselves, when, as we are taught it from the word, so we find it in ourselves. Hence we observe, secondly, believers have experience of the power and efficacy of indwelling sin. They find it in themselves; they find it as a law. It has a self-evidencing efficacy to them that are alive to discern it. They that find not its power are under its dominion. Whosoever [would] contend against it shall know and find that it is present with them, that it is powerful in them. He shall find the stream to be strong who swims against it, though he who rolls along with it be insensible of it.” – p.235

“Many there are in the world who find not this law in them—who, whatever they have been taught in the word, have not a spiritual sense and experience of the power of indwelling sin; and that because they are wholly under the dominion of it. They find not that there is darkness and folly in their minds because they are darkness itself, and darkness will discover nothing. They find not deadness and an indisposition in their hearts and wills to God because they are dead wholly in trespasses and sins. They are at peace with their lusts by being in bondage unto them. And this is the state of most men in the world; which makes them woefully despise all their eternal concerns. Whence is it that men follow and pursue the world with so much greediness, that they neglect heaven, and life, and immortality for it, every day? Whence is it that some pursue their sensuality with delight?—they will drink and revel, and have their sports, let others say what they please. Whence is it that so many live so unprofitably under the word, that they understand so little of what is spoken unto them, that they practice less of what they understand, and will by no means be stirred up to answer the mind of God in his calls unto them? It is all from this law of sin and the power of it that rules and bears sway in men, that all these things do proceed;” – p.248

“Upon this one hinge, or finding out and experiencing the power and the efficacy of this law of sin, turns the whole course of our lives. Ignorance of it breeds senselessness, carelessness, sloth, security, and pride; all which the Lord’s soul abhors. Eruptions into great, open, conscience-wasting, scandalous sins are from want of a due spiritual consideration of this law. Inquire, then, how it is with your souls. What do you find of this law? What experience have you of its power and efficacy? Do you find it dwelling in you, always present with you, exciting itself, or putting forth its poison with facility and easiness at all times, in all your duties, “when you would do good”? What humiliation, what self-abasement, what intenseness in prayer, what diligence, what watchfulness, does this call for at your hands! What spiritual wisdom do you stand in need of! What supplies of grace, what assistance of the Holy Ghost, will be hence also discovered! I fear we have few of us a diligence proportionable to our danger.” – p.249

“As men do not spend their grace, but increase it, by its exercise, no more do they their indwelling sin. The more men exercise their grace in duties of obedience (scripture reading, memorization, prayer, fellowship with Christ, serving the Kingdom – my insertion), the more it is strengthened and increased; and the more men exert and put forth the fruits of their lust, the more is that enraged and increased in them— it feeds upon itself, swallows up its own poison, and grows thereby. The more men sin, the more are they inclined unto sin. It is from the deceitfulness of this law of sin, whereof we shall speak afterward at large, that men persuade themselves that by this or that particular sin they shall so satisfy their lusts as that they shall need to sin no more. Every sin increases the principle, and fortifies the habit of sinning. It is an evil treasure that increases by doing evil. And where does this treasure lie? It is in the heart; there it is laid up, there it is kept in safety.” – p.250

From Overcoming Sin and Temptation – Three classic treatments of the nature and power of sin by John Owen.

Congressional Aides Advised to get Vaccinations Before Attending NASCAR Events

http://www.charlotte.com/109/story/314034.html

This was the headline on Drudgereport.com: “REDNECK RASH: Congressional staffers urged to get immunized for hepatitis A, hepatitis B, tetanus, diphtheria and influenza — before going to NASCAR races!”

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