The other day, Phil posted about his belief (with which I highly concur) that witches and occultists and various kind of spiritual practitioners have no actual power to curse a Christian (or, probably, anybody else). This is the view I’ve taken (I think pretty consistently) in my fantasy novels—that magic is illusion, and all that is necessary to counter it is a cold bucketful of reality.

In the comments, Greybeard brought up “a very popular little book about an obscure Old Testament character who was noted for the prayer he prayed.” He was referring, of course, to The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson. I’ve never read that book myself (for reasons I’ll explain), but I have a more positive view of it than some, because the people I knew who did try to put its principles into practice did so with view to submitting to God and seeking to expand their fields of service, not their personal prosperity.

Still, I had a grudge against that book, and still do. Because, from all I’ve heard of it, it fails to address the central, primary meaning of the Jabez story. It’s a story that applies to me in a way it probably doesn’t apply to most people, and it irked me that all these people were co-opting my story for their own purposes. It seemed to me a Nathan’s parable (2 Samuel 12) sort of thing—“You people have lots of Bible stories you can use for your inspiration. There’s only one that applies to my situation. Why can’t you just leave it to me?”

The story of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:9-10) is not a story about how to procure God’s blessing. It’s a story about an abused child who overcame his trauma by appealing to God. Continue reading Taking pains →

OK, this is a classic example of why you shouldn’t write about anything before you’ve given it some time to marinate. I wrote about Leonard Cohen’s remarkable song, “Hallelujah,” last week, and now I want to refine what I said (especially the parts that were, you know, wrong).

After listening to some more covers and doing extensive research on Wikipedia, I now think (I’m not sure) I probably made unwarranted assumptions about Cohen’s intentions with the song. I realize now that there are (at least) two different versions of the song—Cohen’s original and the very popular derivatives of Jeff Buckley’s cover, which I’m learning to appreciate:

Continue reading A broken "hallelujah," part 2 →

I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering, “Lars, what’s the appropriate way for a Christian to celebrate Halloween?”

I am happy to provide the authoritative answer to that question. You should become a Lutheran.

See, wasn’t that easy?

October 31 is Reformation Day, the anniversary of the date in 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg church (this was not an act of vandalism, by the way. The church door in those days was the regular place to post public notices, like your Facebook Wall).

Below is a short clip from the 1953 movie, Martin Luther. It depicts a dramatic moment in Luther’s story, when he stood before the Diet of Worms (“Diet” means “Council” and Worms is a city. Stifle that giggle) in 1521, and refused to recant his writings. The “Here I stand, I can do no other” line is now thought by scholars to be an addition made by a later writer with a gift for rhetoric, but the dramatic tension is accurate enough. Although he’d been given a safe conduct to the Diet, Luther was well aware of the fate of the proto-Reformer John Hus. Hus had attended the Council of Constance in 1415 under a similar promise of safety. Once he’d been condemned as a heretic, he was arrested and executed anyway, on the grounds that promises to heretics didn’t count. Luther was putting his head in the lion’s mouth, and he knew it.

There is no truth to the rumor that he wore a Batman mask and yelled, “Trick or Treat!”

Today is the last day of the Virtual Book Tour. The first blog listed is Ellis (though they don’t seem to have posted it yet) and the other is The Plot (again).

And that’s that.

Charles Spurgeon writes about Psalm 8.

The solid fabric of the universe leans upon his eternal arm. Universally is he present, and everywhere is his name excellent. God worketh ever and everywhere. There is no place where God is not. The miracles of his power await us on all sides. Traverse the silent valleys where the rocks enclose you on either side, rising like the battlements of heaven till you can see but a strip of the blue sky far overhead; you may be the only traveler who has passed through that glen; the bird may start up affrighted, and the moss may tremble beneath the first tread of human foot; but God is there in a thousand wonders, upholding yon rocky barriers, filling the flowercups with their perfume, and refreshing the lonely pines with the breath of his mouth. Descend, if you will, into the lowest depths of the ocean. where undisturbed the water sleeps, and the very sand is motionless in unbroken quiet, but the glory of the Lord is there, revealing its excellence in the silent palace of the sea. Borrow the wings of the morning and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea, but God is there. Mount to the highest heaven, or dive into the deepest hell, and God is in both hymned in everlasting song, or justified in terrible vengeance. Everywhere, and in every place, God dwells and is manifestly at work. Nor on earth alone is Jehovah extolled, for his brightness shines forth in the firmament above the earth. His glory exceeds the glory of the starry heavens; above the region of the stars he hath set fast his everlasting throne, and there he dwells in light ineffable. Let us adore him “who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; who maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.” (Job 9:8, 9.)

“An artist’s task is to see through the eye into the eternal, into the invisible.” – M. Fujimura

The wonderful artist Makoto Fujimura has written a letter to the North American Church, rebuking it for shunning artists and calling artists back to what he calls their first love.

There will be more “Ground Zeros” created by destructive minds, twisting creative impulses into diabolical powers. Undo what they have done. Stand upon those ashes all around us, and open your hearts: look up, to Create in Love.

He says the church has chosen reason or the rational as ground on which to build and rejected the sensual or non-rational, even though both are part of the created world and both can glorify the Lord. (via Jeffrey Overstreet)

Nine out of ten Americans claim to believe in God, but who that person is varies a good bit. This report in USA Today spells it out. What we believe about God determines how we stand on social and political issues.

Asked about the Baylor findings, Philip Yancey, author of What Good Is God?, says he moved from the Authoritative God of his youth — “a scowling, super-policeman in the sky, waiting to smash someone having a good time” — to a “God like a doctor who has my best interest at heart, even if sometimes I don’t like his diagnosis or prescriptions.”