History of religion in 90sec

This a very interesting presentation from Maps of War:

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!

Dove One - Benny Hinn's New Toy...Uh..Tool.

Benny Hinn needs you! Well, he actually needs your money. You see, he has asked the Lord to speak to 6,000 people to "sow a seed" of $1,000 over the next 90 days. And who knows, you may be one of those lucky people!

You will not go without reward for your gift however. First, you get one of these cool model planes :

Secondly,

"Your name will be placed prominently in a special area of Dove One where I study and pray during my travels, where I will also pray for you and your family as I go around the world preaching the Gospel. Everywhere I fly, your name will travel with me, millions of miles and for years to come, reminding me that you have made it possible for me to go and preach as God has called me to do."

Whoa! Sign me up!

I find many things wrong and disturbing about this. People are buying into this stuff and not only does it hurt them financially, more importantly, they are deceived and end up in hell. My mindwent into question mode when i read this.

"Am I reacting on a preconcieved idea of Benny Hinn?"
"Could this be used of God?"
"Is God glorified in Benny Hinn's ministry and would buying a jet give God glory?"

And I know this has somewhat become a cliche, but "Would Jesus do this?"

Anyway, just some of my thoughts on this.

Disclaimer: I am not suggesting you send money to Benny Hinn, this is not a commercial for him or his "ministry."

Cartoon

The Scandal

Tim Challies has wrote a recent article on the Ted Haggard scandal. He brings up some great points that no one else seems to be talking about. If not for the grace of God, it could be any of us in Haggard's situation. In light of this state of affairs, I have already began seeing how good can come from it. As we read the news stories, listen to the tv and radio reporters, and read people's opinions and thoughts on blogs, it has caused us (at least for me) to examine ourselves. My first reaction was that of what Tim says in his article about feeling morally and spiritually superior. What foolishness! Thank God for His grace in my life. In addtion to Tim's post, I also recommend Driscoll's words on protecting ourselves from sin.

Click here for Tim's article.
Click here for Driscoll's article.

UPDATE:
Rick Phillips over at Reformation21 posted a article yesterday about this scandal. He discussed the two responses people are having about this story; "Denounce Ted" and "Just Like Ted." Below is the first paragraph of the article. He this goes into the pros and cons of each response.

It seems to me that the blogosphere reaction to the Ted Haggard scandal is breaking two ways. On one side are those who utterly denounce the man and see in him a glaring example of everything wrong in popular evangelicalism today. On the other side are those who want to stress that we are all rotten sinners "just like Ted Haggard" and that the only evangelical response is to mourn over one's own sin. As usual, there is something good and something troubling about both positions.

Click Here to Read Rick's Article

Desiring God 2006

Over on Joshua Harris' blog, he recounts some of the highlights of the Q&A session of the Desiring God 2006 conference. Tim Challies (my fav blogger.) has live blogged this event as he did the T4G conference earlier this year, although he did not cover the Q&A sessions. So thanks to Josh for providing insights for these sessions. He has some particularly interesting comments about Mark Driscoll. He also reports John Piper's gentle correction of Driscoll. Below is an excerpt of Josh's blog:

The weather in Minneapolis was beautiful today. C.J., Jeff and I had a great time on the second day of the Desiring God conference.

Tonight in my hotel lobby I ran into Tim Challies who is live blogging the conference. Honestly, I don’t know how he does it. Live blogging an event like this is an amazing feat. I certainly couldn’t pull it off. I asked Tim if he was covering the question and answer sessions and he said he wasn’t because it’s too hard to cover all the content. This is understandable but unfortunate, because I’ve found these sessions to be some of the most helpful content of the conference. Not just because of the less scripted and spontaneous nature of what is shared, but because the comments are often illuminating and practical.

Let me try and give a sampling of both the profound and amusing in the Q&A discussions led by Justin Taylor: (read more)

Echo Prayer Manager

If you have trouble keeping track of prayer requests, Echo Prayer Manager can help you. Echo’s handy service allows you to create and manage your prayer list, schedule times throughout the week for specific needs and automatically send yourself emails or text messages as reminders.

Echo Prayer Manager also includes a built-in prayer journal that lets you chronicle developments in the areas you’re praying for and automatically keeps track of answered prayers. Try out their 30-Day Free Trial and then consider paying 2¢ per day (i.e. $8 per year) to continue the service.

Thanks to www.therebelution.com for these links.

Stop and Think: Online Video Evangelism

One of my favorite new blogs, www.therebelution.com, brought this to my attention. So, to do my part in promoting this video, here it is. Also, be sure to check out The Rebelution. Josh Harris' two younger brothers run it and they do a fantastic job. Now, onto the film:

This excellent evangelistic video was produced by Think Inc., a small Christian film company based in Southern California.

This team of like-minded men and women have accomplished what is far too rare among Christian filmmakers, successfully integrating high-end quality with an engaging and powerful presentation of the gospel.

Be sure to do your part in spreading this video. You can click here to Digg it. Also, click here to go to YouTube and rate it.