It is time for Christmas

Greetings, now that the Christmas season has begun!

The newly updated NIV Bible

Newsflash:
This is probably old news to many of you. But today I discovered I couldn't search for familiar Bible phrases like, "The spiritual man" and "If any man is in Christ". I kept checking to make sure I was using the right translation. I found that "New International Version" is no longer the right one for me.

The NIV Committee on Bible Translation has surreptitiously replaced the NIV on BibleGateway with a gender-neutralized, "updated" edition. This bothers me almost more than the random changes they've made. They state plainly that "transparency to the original text" is their goal, rather than the usual goal of Bible translators, which is always "faithfulness to the original text". Whatever "transparency" means can only be understood from long study to detect just what has been changed.
Professor Douglas Moo explains (here) that they have retained 95% of the original NIV, thus admitting they have changed 5% of the original meaning. This means they admit that the previous NIV translators were 5% in error. They admit they have determined that the Bible could use some improvement based on "the fruits of our efforts" and "cutting edge research on English usage".

No doubt the NIV bibles you see in the stores will also soon be adulterated.

I should have jettisoned the NIV years ago, when I noticed they had even relegated part of The Lord's Prayer to a footnote. Now I must do so. I am going to use BibleStudyTools.com, which currently still has the older NIV version, instead of BibleGateway. And in general, I will be replacing my NIV with a different translation altogether, such as the RSV or perhaps the new ESV.

Thirty years ago when the NIV came out, there were so many who opposed it violently and insisted it was tampering with the meanings. I did not listen to the opponents, but insisted the changes were immaterial. Now I feel as they did and see the real motives of the current crop of NIV translators. Now I understand why they never released the NIV to the public domain. They wanted to have control so they could further change it to conform to the times. I should have jettisoned the NIV years ago, when I noticed they had even relegated part of The Lord's Prayer to a footnote. Now I must do so, or from a different metaphorical perspective, jump ship!

Empowering the next generation

There are many ways to empower someone. We empower our children to succeed by sending them to school and college. We empower them morally by teaching them truth, helping them to know God. And we empower them physically by helping them exercise, eat right and get plenty of rest. But power for doing God's work ultimately does not come from these things. It comes from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit must empower us, or evangelism and discipleship in a church will founder. Sadly this was only mentioned, but not emphasized at all, in a recent conference I attended.

What would we have said? Only the obvious: that we must pray more and be more united in prayer, as the first century Christians, until the Spirit is given and the power to be his witnesses falls upon us afresh; and that we and our children can and should GO, not just think or talk or write, but also GO and preach and make disciples, heal the sick and help the poor, and do it all explicitly in Jesus' Name. HE must be lifted up if he would draw all men unto himself through our labor. [Jn 12:32]

Furthermore, we would have discussed that depending on the Spirit includes striving against temptation and sin. Far too little is said of this these days. If we do not teach the evilness of sin, how can we impress on anyone the need for a Deliverer? How will God be glorified if Christians live worldly, un-christlike, selfish lives?

I truly thank the Lord for this conference, despite the shortcoming. It is the simple truths that we must constantly reiterate, both to ourselves and our children. May God empower us all to do so. May God UNITE US IN PRAYER, for spiritual power, revival, strength, victory over temptation, and help in teaching our precious children the truths and values of Jesus Christ.

Economics debate ...

... and a totally cool new way to make movies in one!

We Need Men of God Again

As I have been struggling to obey God's will for me, namely, to "go and preach the good news" here at the university, I am frustrated by the fact that I have the desire and the strong conviction to go and stand at the gates and preach prophetically, but not the courage. I am saddened greatly by this lack of boldness. But I am waiting, praying, preparing and expecting the anointing from the Lord that will empower me. Such encouragement as this I have found this week, from my dear brother A.W. Tozer, in his book Of God and Men:

The church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men. The talk is that we need revival, that we need a new baptism of the Spirit–and God knows we must have both; but God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the Holy Ghost.

We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by threats of death because they have already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control weaker men. They will not be forced to do things by the squeeze of circumstances; their only compulsion will come from within–or from above.

This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind from motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious retainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary. They will make no decisions out of fear, take no course out of a desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they allow themselves to be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation.

Much that the church–even the evangelical church–is doing these days she is doing because she is afraid not to. Ministerial associations take up projects for no higher reason than that they are being scared into it. Whatever their ear-to-the-ground, fear-inspired reconnoitering leads them to believe the world expects them to do they will be doing come next Monday morning with all kinds of trumped-up zeal and show of godliness. The pressure of public opinion calls these prophets, not the voice of Jehovah.

The true church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her crusades. Her leaders heard from God and went ahead wholly independent of popular support or the lack of it. They knew their Lord’s will and did it, and their people followed them–sometimes to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution–and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world.

Another characteristic of the true prophet has been love. The free man who has learned to hear God’s voice and dared to obey it has felt the moral burden that broke the hearts of the Old Testament prophets, crushed the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ and wrung streams of tears from the eyes of the apostles.

The free man has never been a religious tyrant, nor has he sought to lord it over God’s heritage. It is fear and lack of self-assurance that has led men to try to crush others under their feet. These have had some interest to protect, some position to secure, so they have demanded subjection from their followers as a guarantee of their own safety. But the free man–never; he has nothing to protect, no ambition to pursue and no enemy to fear. For that reason he is completely careless of his standing among men. If they follow him, well and good; if not, he loses nothing that he holds dear; but whether he is accepted or rejected he will go on loving his people with sincere devotion. And only death can silence his tender intercession for them.

Yes, if evangelical Christianity is to stay alive she must have men again, the right kind of men. She must repudiate the weaklings who dare not speak out, and she must seek in prayer and much humility the coming again of men of the stuff prophets and martyrs are made of. God will hear the cries of His people as He heard the cries of Israel in Egypt. And He will send deliverance by sending deliverers. It is His way among men.

And when the deliverers come–reformers, revivalists, prophets–they will be men of God and men of courage. They will have God on their side because they will be careful to stay on God’s side. They will be co-workers with Christ and instruments in the hand of the Holy Ghost. Such men will be baptized with the Spirit indeed, and through their labors He will baptize others and send the long delayed revival.

Lord, empower your people to preach prophetically. You are the God of all power, through that Word which created the worlds and IS our life. Give that word-life to us that will overflow as a spring of living water to people on campuses throughout this land. I find myself one of the weaklings in your church. Here, on my knees, I plead alone: Lord, please embolden me as those who first received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and glorify your Son through me, even Jesus. Amen.

Learn to run barefoot

Learning the Skill of Barefoot Running from Terra Plana on Vimeo.