Now You Can Listen to the Audio from My Red Carpet Interviews with Cast of New Film "Saints & Strangers"

The film “Saints & Strangers,” which airs on National Geographic in two parts beginning Sunday, Nov. 22 9/8c, tells the true story behind Thanksgiving. It chronicles the quest of two groups – the pilgrims and the opportunists on board the Mayflower – who came to the New World under very different pretenses. The film is a thrilling period piece adventure/drama that places a surprising emphasis on the faith of the pilgrims and shows how their reliance on God got them through the hardest of times.

I attended the film’s premiere in Beverly Hills and had the privilege of interviewing the cast and filmmakers – including actors like Ron Livingston (“Office Space”), Anna Camp (“The Help”), and Raoul Truillo (“Apocalypto”). Now, in my latest podcast episode, you can listen to my audio from the red carpet as if you were there by my side:

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1SHOeDR
via IFTTT

New Podcast Interview with Jordan Feliz (Billboard #1 Artist): When God Calls Us to the Scary Unknown

I had the joy of chatting with Christian singer Jordan Feliz (whose new single “The River” is taking radio stations by storm and topping the charts). I was surprised to learn that he and I have some cool things in common, and I was incredibly inspired by the story of his faith journey – how God called him to dive into the unknown, and the amazing story of how God provided in the midst of the unknown.

Check it out here:

http://ift.tt/1WNmwGT

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1OAgIBC
via IFTTT

The Emptiness of the World's Pomp and Possessions

Matthew Henry, in his commentary on Daniel 11, says this about Alexander the Great:

Olympias, Alexander’s mother, killed him, and poisoned Alexander’s two sons, Hercules and Alexander. Thus was his family rooted out by its own hands. See what decaying perishing things worldly pomp and possessions are, and the powers by which they are got. Never was the vanity of the world and its greatest things shown more evidently than in the story of Alexander. All is vanity and vexation of spirit.

Ecclesiastes makes the same case, though, as Timothy Keller pointed out in one of his sermons, it pertains only to “all that under the sun,” meaning the temporal things of this present world. But there is a different world to come, a “better country, a heavenly country,” as Hebrews 11 says, and a “new heaven and a new earth” as Revelation 21 says.

No wonder the human soul suffers such unbearable emptiness and bottomless cynicism when it looks to this world to fill its ever need. We crave the Bread of Life and the Living Water and don’t even know it.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1MqVwag
via IFTTT

Why Science Also Makes Faith-Assumptions (Especially the Theory of Evolution)

Note: a version of this initially appeared in an article for RockinGodsHouse.com – a review of National Geographic Channel’s new series called “Breakthrough,” which looks at the latest tech breakthroughs.

The first episode of “Breakthrough” called “Fighting Pandemics” presents little hints of a Naturalist worldview that assumes the theory of evolution to be fact. For example, when describing how killer viruses come into being, the narrator says, "Evolution has created the perfect assassins.“ To be clear though, the episode does not bash religious people at all. I’m venturing into tangential territory that is not addressed in this episode.

But in any documentary tackling a scientific topic from a Naturalist worldview, the assertion of evolution as fact is usually inevitable. I love science, but I also love faith. I do not see them as irreconcilable. I relish documentaries like these that cover new technology. It’s incredibly fascinating to see what humanity is capable of creating. That being said, there are illogical presuppositions going around about the nature of science itself. It’s been happening for decades – so long that these assumptions have taken the form of cultural tradition. But we need to at least question those presuppositions.

For example, the use of the theory of evolution to explain our origins is, in its own way, a faith-assumption. Sure, some folks will prefer that faith-assumption over any religion any day of the week, but I’m tired of hearing that science itself contains no faith assumptions or metaphysical claims embedded deep within the layers of its process, its language, and its many theories.

In this ongoing debate, Creationists are critiqued for using the terms microevolution and macroevolution ontologically in a way that scientists never used them originally. But I think there is some merit in the distinction because it reveals that the theory of evolution does contain at least one faith-assumption.

Let me explain what I mean by that: the observable changes in a mutating virus is an example of the small genetic changes of microevolution – which is certainly verifiable by observational science and is not contradictory to Biblical viewpoints about origin – but microevolution’s observable mutations have only been limited to the rearrangement, corruption or loss of preexisting genetic information. However, the theory of evolution assumes that a vast accumulation of microevolution leads to macroevolution – i.e. a fish experiences small genetic mutations (changes in size and color), so we can safely assume that enough of these small mutations will eventually evolve the fish into a human being. 

But there is a barrier that gets in the way of that seemingly logical assumption: microevolution has only been observed to be a rearrangement, corruption or loss of preexisting genetic information – never a process that sees an addition of new genetic information. Macroevolution requires new genetic information to be added that did not exist before. Therefore it is a faith-assumption to believe that this new addition of genetic information that didn’t exist before just magically appears at some point in the eternal accumulation of microevolution.

I mention that because it bothers me when people claim that science is 100% empirical and 0% faith-based. That is simply not true, and evolution is just one minor example, really. In fact, the evolutionary-based philosophy known as Verificationism put forth by the Logical Positivists in the 20th century, particularly A.J. Ayers – the bedrock of today’s New Atheism – collapsed under its own weight and was eventually abandoned for being self-refuting (i.e. "Can the principle of verification be verified?” as they said) for this very reason: there are faith-assumptions and flecks of metaphysics that lie in the very foundation of science. It is not wholly empirical.

However, people will use the claim that science (and the theory of evolution) is 100% empirical and thus superior to any other worldview that has a faith-assumption. This leads to a deep sense of superiority among those who make this claim – an arrogance that actually (oddly enough) reminds me of the works-based, moralistic, religious arrogance of the ancient Pharisees. (And there is, by the way, a difference between works-based religion and grace-based religion, but I cover that in an another article.)

But there really are faith-assumptions in Science. That’s my point. The evolutionary argument is just one example.

Sure, you may prefer those faith-assumptions to the beliefs of a religious person, but – to be totally honest, here – it doesn’t help the situation when you make yourself out to be superior to religious people because you think your view is not “contaminated” by faith.

To be clear, this is a major tangent because, thus far, Episode 1 “Fighting Pandemics” does not make explicit claims about the superiority mentioned above. It’s certainly not bashing religious people. Its mentioning of evolution is very peripheral and not central to the topic. Evolution does take on a more central role in future episodes, however, so this debate eventually becomes much more relevant.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Oe3x95
via IFTTT

New Podcast Episode: Kevin's Interview with Dolly Parton about Miracles

One of my fondest memories is having a brief chat over the phone with Dolly Parton. I am finally releasing the audio of that conversation in my second podcast episode for Aslan’s Paw. This podcast episode also includes a personal story about a miracle that happened to me years ago, and I also share my email interview with Ian McCormack, the man whose miraculous story is the basis for the film “The Perfect Wave” starring Scott Eastwood (Son of Clint Eastwood) and Rachel Hendrix (star of “October Baby”).

Check out the episode here: http://ift.tt/1N6mY09

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1G6eExT
via IFTTT

I Predict that We Will See Turkey Become a Dictatorship (and Possibly the Revival of the Ottoman Empire) in Our Lifetime

This is completely unrelated to the theme of my blog and my website, but after the horrific events in Turkey today, I have to speak out. The West needs to have a greater awareness of the drama unfolding in Turkey presently. It will have far-reaching consequences. (And if you didn’t know this about me already, I am a total geopolitical nut. I spend as much time if not more reading news headlines from foreign papers than I do reading domestic news. We live in very critical times.)

Today’s tragedy in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, is shocking and deeply saddening. If you haven’t heard, two bombs went off this morning during a Pro-Kurdish peace rally in the nation’s capital. It killed 86 people and wounded 186. The MIT (Turkey’s version of Homeland Security and the CIA, and very loyal to President Erdogan) has, shockingly, said that is has no intelligence on what is the deadliest act of terrorism in Turkey’s history. The Turkish people are outraged at the MIT, to put it mildly. Why does the MIT even exist? they’re asking. And there are signs of something very fishy because the timing of the attacks and the nature of the attacks stand to greatly benefit President Erdogan’s AK Party in the November 1 elections. (And these Nov. 1 snap elections themselves are historically unprecedented for Turkey because President Erdogan and the AK Party refused to broker a unified parliament government after the June elections, which were not in his favor).

In fact, a very detailed article came out today showing how many of Turkey’s intellectuals suspect that there is something extremely devious behind these deplorable attacks.

If you pay attention to geopolitics, you really don’t have to be a prophet to know what’s coming in Turkey. You just have to read the news – or at least what’s left of it in Turkey. Their government just arrested another editor-in-chief of one of the few remaining free papers. Why? Because he Tweeted something critical of the president.

The fact that President Erdogan of Turkey is rounding up all dissenting voices and throwing them in prison is just the tip of the iceberg of what his party (the AK Party) has been up to in recent years. (And when I say ALL dissenting voices, I mean ALL dissenting voices. His government arrested a 16-year-old for criticizing Erdogan on Facebook.)

Tragically, Turkey is headed straight toward a dictatorship.

And a Turkey dictatorship under Erdogan – a man who was known to carry a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf with him and who has a very Anti-Semitic history – would be horrifying on many levels. Turkey’s impossible-to-get-rid-of but extremely charismatic and eloquent president, whose power becomes more entrenched every year, is the strongest candidate for becoming the 21st Century’s Most Charismatic Dictator – which, as history has shown, is usually a deadly combination for that dictator’s country and for the world.

As the Wall Street Journal reported:

Mr. Erdogan and the AKP are hollowing out the institutions of Turkish democracy. The Turkish government has in recent months attempted to ban YouTube and Twitter ; dealt brutally with peaceful protesters; fired or reassigned thousands of judges, prosecutors and law enforcers deemed insufficiently loyal; and earned the dubious honor of being the world’s top jailor of journalists in 2012 and 2013, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

And that was back in 2012. Things are much worse now. Erdogan has fired thousands of police chiefs across Turkey and likely replacing them with local law enforcement officials who are loyal to him. In the WSJ above it countered its criticisms of the AK Party by citing Erdogan’s then-much-publicized attempts to bring a peace deal with the Kurds in Turkey. Well, now someone has bombed a pro-Kurdish peace rally and the government mysteriously has no leads on who or why. In addition, since Erdogan’s party lost the June election, a mysterious spike in violence and conflict with the Kurds has been erupting.

Many of Turkey’s journalists are connecting the dots and wondering aloud if Erdogan is trying to create chaos before the Nov. 1 election. Those journalists, unfortunately, are going to prison.

So what is Erdogan’s intentions behind all of this? Many believe he wants to revive the Islamist Ottoman Empire in all its glory, and that, ultimately, he wants to become the Sultan over the Middle East and the Sultan of Islam itself. As wild as it sounds, I believe that Erdogan sees himself as the Mahdi, the prophesied unifier and “messiah” of Islam. There is indeed a dangerous Cult of Erdogan in Turkey. Erdogan has been depicted healing the sick, and those who adore him describe the simple act of touching Erdogan as a form of worship, as chronicled in this extensive news report on the Cult of Erdogan. Based on the evidence, I think that all of these claims are not as far-fetched as you might think.

And Erdogan’s apparent ambitions to revive an Islamist Ottoman Empire have been noted and analyzed by many mainstream publications, such as The Telegraph, The Guardian, and The World Post – just to name a few.

The bottom-line is this: more difficult days are likely ahead of Turkey. The West needs to pay closer attention to what’s happening in Turkey because it could have massive ripple effects in the world. And we need to keep the Turkish people in prayer.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Lyq6ys
via IFTTT

I Predict that We Will See Turkey Become a Dictatorship (and Possibly the Revival of the Ottoman Empire) in Our Lifetime

This is completely unrelated to the theme of my blog and my website, but after the horrific events in Turkey today, I have to speak out. The West needs to have a greater awareness of the drama unfolding in Turkey presently. It will have far-reaching consequences. (And if you didn’t know this about me already, I am a total geopolitical nut. I spend as much time if not more reading news headlines from foreign papers than I do reading domestic news. We live in very critical times.)

Today’s tragedy in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, is shocking and deeply saddening. If you haven’t heard, two bombs went off this morning during a Pro-Kurdish peace rally in the nation’s capital. It killed 86 people and wounded 186. The MIT (Turkey’s version of Homeland Security and the CIA, and very loyal to President Erdogan) has, shockingly, said that is has no intelligence on what is the deadliest act of terrorism in Turkey’s history. The Turkish people are outraged at the MIT, to put it mildly. Why does the MIT even exist? they’re asking. And there are signs of something very fishy because the timing of the attacks and the nature of the attacks stand to greatly benefit President Erdogan’s AK Party in the November 1 elections. (And these Nov. 1 snap elections themselves are historically unprecedented for Turkey because President Erdogan and the AK Party refused to broker a unified parliament government after the June elections, which were not in his favor).

In fact, a very detailed article came out today showing how many of Turkey’s intellectuals suspect that there is something extremely devious behind these deplorable attacks.

If you pay attention to geopolitics, you really don’t have to be a prophet to know what’s coming in Turkey. You just have to read the news – or at least what’s left of it in Turkey. Their government just arrested another editor-in-chief of one of the few remaining free papers. Why? Because he Tweeted something critical of the president.

The fact that President Erdogan of Turkey is rounding up all dissenting voices and throwing them in prison is just the tip of the iceberg of what his party (the AK Party) has been up to in recent years. (And when I say ALL dissenting voices, I mean ALL dissenting voices. His government arrested a 16-year-old for criticizing Erdogan on Facebook.)

Tragically, Turkey is headed straight toward a dictatorship.

And a Turkey dictatorship under Erdogan – a man who was known to carry a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf with him and who has a very Anti-Semitic history – would be horrifying on many levels. Turkey’s impossible-to-get-rid-of but extremely charismatic and eloquent president, whose power becomes more entrenched every year, is the strongest candidate for becoming the 21st Century’s Most Charismatic Dictator – which, as history has shown, is usually a deadly combination for that dictator’s country and for the world.

As the Wall Street Journal reported:

Mr. Erdogan and the AKP are hollowing out the institutions of Turkish democracy. The Turkish government has in recent months attempted to ban YouTube and Twitter ; dealt brutally with peaceful protesters; fired or reassigned thousands of judges, prosecutors and law enforcers deemed insufficiently loyal; and earned the dubious honor of being the world’s top jailor of journalists in 2012 and 2013, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

And that was back in 2012. Things are much worse now. Erdogan has fired thousands of police chiefs across Turkey and likely replacing them with local law enforcement officials who are loyal to him. In the WSJ above it countered its criticisms of the AK Party by citing Erdogan’s then-much-publicized attempts to bring a peace deal with the Kurds in Turkey. Well, now someone has bombed a pro-Kurdish peace rally and the government mysteriously has no leads on who or why. In addition, since Erdogan’s party lost the June election, a mysterious spike in violence and conflict with the Kurds has been erupting.

Many of Turkey’s journalists are connecting the dots and wondering aloud if Erdogan is trying to create chaos before the Nov. 1 election. Those journalists, unfortunately, are going to prison.

So what is Erdogan’s intentions behind all of this? Many believe he wants to revive the Islamist Ottoman Empire in all its glory, and that, ultimately, he wants to become the Sultan over the Middle East and the Sultan of Islam itself. As wild as it sounds, I believe that Erdogan sees himself as the Mahdi, the prophesied unifier and “messiah” of Islam. There is indeed a dangerous Cult of Erdogan in Turkey. Erdogan has been depicted healing the sick, and those who adore him describe the simple act of touching Erdogan as a form of worship, as chronicled in this extensive news report on the Cult of Erdogan. Based on the evidence, I think that all of these claims are not as far-fetched as you might think.

And Erdogan’s apparent ambitions to revive an Islamist Ottoman Empire have been noted and analyzed by many mainstream publications, such as The Telegraph, The Guardian, and The World Post – just to name a few.

The bottom-line is this: more difficult days are likely ahead of Turkey. The West needs to pay closer attention to what’s happening in Turkey because it could have massive ripple effects in the world. And we need to keep the Turkish people in prayer.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Lyq3Td
via IFTTT

I Predict that We Will See Turkey Become a Dictatorship (and Possibly the Revival of the Ottoman Empire) in Our Lifetime

This is completely unrelated to the theme of my blog and my website, but after the horrific events in Turkey today, I have to speak out. The West needs to have a greater awareness of the drama unfolding in Turkey presently. It will have far-reaching consequences. (And if you didn’t know this about me already, I am a total geopolitical nut. I spend as much time if not more reading news headlines from foreign papers than I do reading domestic news. We live in very critical times.)

Today’s tragedy in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, is shocking and deeply saddening. If you haven’t heard, two bombs went off this morning during a Pro-Kurdish peace rally in the nation’s capital. It killed 86 people and wounded 186. The MIT (Turkey’s version of Homeland Security and the CIA, and very loyal to President Erdogan) has, shockingly, said that is has no intelligence on what is the deadliest act of terrorism in Turkey’s history. The Turkish people are outraged at the MIT, to put it mildly. Why does the MIT even exist? they’re asking. And there are signs of something very fishy because the timing of the attacks and the nature of the attacks stand to greatly benefit President Erdogan’s AK Party in the November 1 elections. (And these Nov. 1 snap elections themselves are historically unprecedented for Turkey because President Erdogan and the AK Party refused to broker a unified parliament government after the June elections, which were not in his favor).

In fact, a very detailed article came out today showing how many of Turkey’s intellectuals suspect that there is something extremely devious behind these deplorable attacks.

If you pay attention to geopolitics, you really don’t have to be a prophet to know what’s coming in Turkey. You just have to read the news – or at least what’s left of it in Turkey. Their government just arrested another editor-in-chief of one of the few remaining free papers. Why? Because he Tweeted something critical of the president.

The fact that President Erdogan of Turkey is rounding up all dissenting voices and throwing them in prison is just the tip of the iceberg of what his party (the AK Party) has been up to in recent years. (And when I say ALL dissenting voices, I mean ALL dissenting voices. His government arrested a 16-year-old for criticizing Erdogan on Facebook.)

Tragically, Turkey is headed straight toward a dictatorship.

And a Turkey dictatorship under Erdogan – a man who was known to carry a copy of Hitler’s Mein Kampf with him and who has a very Anti-Semitic history – would be horrifying on many levels. Turkey’s impossible-to-get-rid-of but extremely charismatic and eloquent president, whose power becomes more entrenched every year, is the strongest candidate for becoming the 21st Century’s Most Charismatic Dictator – which, as history has shown, is usually a deadly combination for that dictator’s country and for the world.

As the Wall Street Journal reported:

Mr. Erdogan and the AKP are hollowing out the institutions of Turkish democracy. The Turkish government has in recent months attempted to ban YouTube and Twitter ; dealt brutally with peaceful protesters; fired or reassigned thousands of judges, prosecutors and law enforcers deemed insufficiently loyal; and earned the dubious honor of being the world’s top jailor of journalists in 2012 and 2013, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

And that was back in 2012. Things are much worse now. Erdogan has fired thousands of police chiefs across Turkey and likely replacing them with local law enforcement officials who are loyal to him. In the WSJ above it countered its criticisms of the AK Party by citing Erdogan’s then-much-publicized attempts to bring a peace deal with the Kurds in Turkey. Well, now someone has bombed a pro-Kurdish peace rally and the government mysteriously has no leads on who or why. In addition, since Erdogan’s party lost the June election, a mysterious spike in violence and conflict with the Kurds has been erupting.

Many of Turkey’s journalists are connecting the dots and wondering aloud if Erdogan is trying to create chaos before the Nov. 1 election. Those journalists, unfortunately, are going to prison.

So what is Erdogan’s intentions behind all of this? Many believe he wants to revive the Islamist Ottoman Empire in all its glory, and that, ultimately, he wants to become the Sultan over the Middle East and the Sultan of Islam itself. As wild as it sounds, I believe that Erdogan sees himself as the Mahdi, the prophesied unifier and “messiah” of Islam. There is indeed a dangerous Cult of Erdogan in Turkey. Erdogan has been depicted healing the sick, and those who adore him describe the simple act of touching Erdogan as a form of worship, as chronicled in this extensive news report on the Cult of Erdogan. Based on the evidence, I think that all of these claims are not as far-fetched as you might think.

And Erdogan’s apparent ambitions to revive an Islamist Ottoman Empire have been noted and analyzed by many mainstream publications, such as The Telegraph, The Guardian, and The World Post – just to name a few.

The bottom-line is this: more difficult days are likely ahead of Turkey. The West needs to pay closer attention to what’s happening in Turkey because it could have massive ripple effects in the world. And we need to keep the Turkish people in prayer.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Lyq3CL
via IFTTT

Strength Comes When I Love You For Your Sake (Not Because There’s Something In It For Me)

I almost started that title with the word “happiness” instead of “strength,” but an example in real life immediately came to mind that ruled “happiness” out. That’s right, when we love others for their sake and not our own, it gives us strength – powerful, enduring, marvelous strength that we didn’t know was possible.

But it doesn’t always give us happiness – at least not in the normal, self-satisfied, earthly sense. (Though it can certainly give us deep spiritual joy – i.e. the “blessed are you” that Jesus described in the Beautitudes).

But sometimes it’s downright miserable.

This “example in real life” that proved this to me is that precarious situation when the deepest romantic love – the most intense form of “Eros” in all its glory – is denied access and expression toward the beloved. It is denied not because the beloved, the object of your affection, has rejected you, but because circumstances of life – war, famine, family/cultural strife (i.e. the Capulet family vs. the Montague family in Romeo and Juliet) or other unforeseen disasters/problems – cause long-term or permanent separation.

What Does It Mean to Love Someone For Their Sake (and Not Our Own)?

It’s a simple truth really: we can choose to love someone out of self-centered motives – sort of the way we love a really good product as long as it gives us some kind of benefit – or we can choose to love someone for their sake alone, whether or not we get anything out of it.

Modern vernacular sometimes calls this “unconditional love.” Ancient thinkers called it “agape” love. Not long ago they called it “charity.”

It’s a kind of love that is wholly focused on the well-being of the recipient, and it is forgetful of self – sort of like an absent-minded professor who forgets to eat dinner, tie his shoes, and check for traffic before crossing the street because his mind is so preoccupied with the well-being of someone else who happens to be in the hospital. He’s wondering how she is doing, is checking his messages, and is generally just contemplating her so thoroughly that any practical concerns for himself fade into the background. And that kind of love isn’t just limited to romantic love. We can do it when we’re concerned about our parents or caring for a sick child or helping a homeless person at a shelter – the list goes on and on. The common thread through all of them is simple: unconditional love is, in a way, always self-destructive and always self-forgetful.

Yet, if you can believe it, it’s a good kind of self-destructive.

To be clear, other loves – especially romantic love – can also be self-destructive (i.e. when Romeo and Juliet commit suicide), but agape love is the only “self-destruction” that actually improves the state of your soul.

The Bad Kind of Self-Destructive Love (Because It’s Self-Obsessed)

Let’s look at a specific example of the bad kind of self-destruction.

For example, the much-romanticized “love suicide” in Romeo and Juliet is, at its core, self-centered and self-obsessed, not altruistically others-focused. Because Romeo and Juliet couldn’t be together, they chose to end their lives. They chose to deprive the world of the gifts, talents, and acts of goodwill and service they had to offer. When Juliet, for example, woke from her sleeping potion and found Romeo dead (because he killed himself after mistakenly thinking that she had died), she stabbed herself to death. But what if she had chosen to live? She could’ve mourned Romeo for the rest of her life, but (as cheesy as it sounds) instead of killing herself she could have re-purposed her pain into a life of helping others.

Sure that would have diminished the power of the story and fought against Shakespeare’s theme of tragedy that he was working hard to paint, but, I have to say, G.K. Chesterton was right when he said that killing yourself is like killing the whole world.

A Strength That Can Be Priceless

I’m not really wagging my finger at people who have Romeo and Juliet tendencies. Why? Because this is coming from one of those people – someone who has bowed at the altar of Eros. Many years ago, as early as high school, I used to think that the romantic love found in stories like Romeo and Juliet was the ideal – the highest, holiest love. I was (and still am, to a more restrained degree) a hopeless romantic.

But I’ve stumbled upon something profound. When we genuinely love someone for their sake – without a shred of a thought about what we could get out of it – the ceilings vanishes and the whole sky opens above you.

There is a larger-than-life liberation that happens.

It may not be the “happily ever after” kind of liberation where we go skipping away into the sunset because we got everything we wanted in a neat Hollywood ending. It is the kind of liberation that breathes a second wind into your stride just when you think you’ve run out of all energy to run the race.

It’s not rocket science either. It works very simply: you’re so invested in their happiness (not obsessed with your own) that the mere thought of their well-being is enough to change your attitude. Their well-being becomes an Absolute Idea that exists whether or not you benefit from it. It exists independently from your mind just as the mountain on the horizon or the ocean that roars night and day whether you hear it or not. And the mere knowledge of their well-being – especially if your suffering/sacrifices/hardship, etc. somehow contributes to it – may not fill you with some magical fairy tale happiness that safeguards you from heartbreak.

But it will fill you with new strength.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1jfVB9M
via IFTTT

Announcing New Podcast Aslan's Paws

Just launched my official podcast (sponsored by RockinGodsHouse.com) called Aslan’s Paw. My first interview features the audio of my interview with actor David Oyelowo. Why bother yourself with reading when you can just listen to the conversation?

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1JMl0xr
via IFTTT

My Interview with David Oyelowo about His New Film 'Captive'

Life, sometimes, can feel stranger than fiction. One never knows what God will do. And when we truly surrender the course of our lives into the hands of Christ, He opens some wildly unexpected doors.

For example, in 2012 I went to Ghana – to its capital Accra – to do some ministry with my friend Dr. Kodjoe Sumney, a native Ghanian who had established powerful humanitarian work in Ghana. I will never forget how, in the course of 48 hours, how God opened doors. One day we were in the capital building meeting with Ghana’s secretary of state. The next day we were in the bush meeting with villagers who had never seen a white person. Both meetings were critically important, and both changed my life.

Recently, a similar thing happened. Over the course of a mere 24-48 hours, God opened unexpected doors. One day I was speaking with actor David Oyelowo. He played Martin Luther King, Jr. in the much acclaimed film “Selma.” He also had significant roles in other films like “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Interstellar,” and many others. (My personal favorite being the Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare film “As You Like It.”) He’s a wildly successful, internationally celebrated actor at the pinnacle of his career. But more than that, he is a devoted, sincere saved-by-faith-not-by-works Christian who loves Jesus with all of his heart.

The next day, after the interview, I found myself in a prison visiting room, sitting across from an inmate who is (maybe, in a worst case scenario) looking at over 20 years in prison. He became a Christian after going to prison, and, like David, he is also a devoted, sincere saved-by-faith-not-by-works Christian who loves Jesus with all of his heart.

Both conversations – one with an A-list actor, the other with an inmate – were equally life-changing and inspirational. In both cases, I felt as if I were talking to a long lost cousin – a family member related by the blood of Jesus – and the barriers between us, whether it was a protective glass barrier or a protective movie studio rep carefully guarding the actor’s time in the interview, faded into the background.

In both cases, it was Jesus that mattered the most, and it was Jesus who was present the most. Everything else of this world – the great successes and the great tragedies – grow dim in the magnificent light of the King.

Although I can’t share the entire interview with Mr. Oyelowo here because it was given exclusively to Rocking God’s House, I can quote an excerpt of it. Below is my favorite part of the interview. After I ask him about the verse Phil. 4:8-9, David shares how God opened some wild doors for his new faith-themed movie ‘Captive:’

Philippians 4:8-9 tells us to always focus on the good that God is doing. I’d like to end our interview by following that advice and just asking this question: what good things has God been doing in your life recently that have been encouraging, that you wouldn’t mind sharing?

This film seeing the light of day is an incredible encouragement. I actually made this film before “Selma,” and I had always felt — as a producer anyway — I wanted to wait for it to have the right platform. I went on to do “Selma,” that film did very well, gained me a notoriety that I didn’t have before, and “Selma” was distributed by Paramount. I know it was the success of “Selma” that enabled a studio of Paramount’s stature to be the one to now bring “Captive” to the world.

And, you know, a film like “Captive” is really my heart. This is the kind of movie I want to see out in the world because it’s not — what we tried to do — is not make a film that’s preachy but a film that’s real. Not shy away from the darkness but show that the light can overwhelm the darkness, and to reveal that in a true story, especially with someone like Ashley Smith whose life has gone on to be filled with purpose; and she attributes her salvation to God and her faith in Christ.

It’s incredible to me to see God blessing the work of my hands and the people around me by giving [Captive] a platform and amplification that it otherwise might not have had. That’s encouraging to me. That, to me, is what the Bible means when it says we go from faith to faith; God coming along and putting in rocket fuel like “Captive,” or even “Selma,” is what encourages you to keep going. And it goes back to the Parable of the Talents: when God has given you something, go and multiply it, invest in it. Don’t bring back the thing that He has given you. Bring back more. And He’s the one who grows it as you combine faith with hard work. So that’s what I see playing out in my life. It’s hugely encouraging, and it’s what inspires me to keep going.

To read the full interview – and it really is worth the read because David describes his experience playing and preparing for the role of Brian Nichols – check out the article here at Rocking God’s House.

***

Image of David Oyelowo taken from Wikicommons with the following author information:

Author: Mingle Media TV

Source: http://ift.tt/1iQAvz0

Info: Actor David Oyelowo at the 3rd Annual ICON MANN POWER 50 event on February 18, 2015

License granted: Creative Commons Share Alike

All other images taken from promotional materials for the film, including screenshots from the trailer and the movie poster.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Kiih0e
via IFTTT

Is God Sending a Message to America Through These Two Movies?

You may have heard about the Christian movie “War Room” which is shocking Hollywood by making gabillions of dollars and far exceeding expectations. It’s about the power of intercessory prayer and spiritual warfare done in Jesus’ name.

Well, there are two other extremely powerful faith-themed movies coming out, and I noticed something curiously interesting in both of them – a very interesting coincidence.

In fact, and this might sound crazy to some people, this coincidence has convinced me that God is using these two movies to send a message of grace to America – a call to turn our hearts to Him.

Let me explain.

Last night I watched the new faith-themed movie “90 Minutes in Heaven,” starring two very talented actors (who did an incredible job in this movie): Hayden Christensen (Star Wars prequels) and Kate Bosworth (Blue Crush, Superman Returns, Still Alice). Before the movie begins, a verse appears on-screen, a verse from Romans. It is Rom. 12:12: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.“

Earlier this week, on Wednesday night, I screened the faith-themed film “Captive,” which comes out next weekend (Sept 18). It stars David Oyelowo (who played MLK, Jr. in “Selma” and who is a devout Christian) and Kate Mara. (In fact, I interviewed Mr. Oyelowo this morning and had a truly amazing and inspirational conversation about faith and God’s grace. Look for my interview to post Sunday night.)

That movie – “Captivity” – ALSO has a verse from Romans appear on-screen before the movie starts: “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more" (Rom. 5:20).

Two completely separate movies, filmmakers, and studios, and they both have a verse from Romans on the title screen before the movie begins. And the two verses go hand-in-hand. They are perfectly complementary. Together they could form a complete sentence: Where sin abounded, grace abounded more, so be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.

There are other similarities between the films: both are based on true stories about stories of God’s power and grace:

• “Captive” is based on the true story of an incident from 2005. A woman named Ashley Smith was taken hostage by an escaped prisoner who had killed four people the day of his escape. She reads a Christian book to him while she is held hostage, and the situation takes an unexpected and remarkable turn.
• “90 Minutes in Heaven” tells the true story of a Baptist preacher named Don Piper who died in a car accident, spent 90 minutes in Heaven, and then came back to life miraculously after a passerby saw the accident and prayed for him.

And the movies are releasing back-to-back, the first one, “90 Minutes in Heaven,” releasing today (which, by the way, is on the 14th anniversary of 9/11). The second one (Captive) next week.

All of that, to me, is profoundly encouraging. I can’t help but wonder if God is sending a message of His grace to America, and He is artfully using two movies to say one thing: “where sin abounds, grace abounds more” so, because of that grace, “be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer.”

What a powerful and timely message for America.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1L73PfI
via IFTTT

Is Your Faith an Adventure or a Quest? The Difference Between the Two

Our culture loves admiring (from a safe distance, mind you) the glory of quests. We love watching them in movies and reading about them in novels, but in actual practice, we much prefer adventures over quests. In fact, our Western culture, despite all the lip-service it pays to them, tends to avoid quests with the same fear that it avoids death.

Why?

While listening to a Timothy Keller sermon (from a podcast called “Real Security and the Call of God,” posted on iTunes 2/10/10) he explained something striking about adventures and quests.

An adventure, at least in the world of literary analysis, is a “there and back again” journey. You leave your home – your comfortable world, whatever/whomever/wherever that is – you go somewhere dangerous and adventurous, and then you return home and continue living your life just as you did before, but with the added benefit of having that adventure alive and shimmering in your memories. Bilbo Baggins went and faced the dragon, survived a great battle, then returned home and lived a happy life just as before but with new treasures added to his comfortable Hobbit hole. “There and back again.”

But with a quest you don’t return home.

You either die in service to the quest or you return home so changed from the quest that you can never return to your old life or live it quite the same way. A part of you has died in service to the quest, even if your body has survived, and you come back unrecognizable to yourself – maybe even to others.

In the Gospels, when Jesus said to “take up your cross and follow Me,” He was making it clear what kind of faith He meant. He was announcing a quest. But we reject Jesus’ call and re-shape Christianity into an adventure. We like the excitement of following Jesus, but we want a “there and back again” experience. We want to return to our earth-centered delights and comforts undisturbed when the Sunday service has ended or when our monthly outreach event comes to a close or when we exit the prayer closet.

Of course, we do return to our hobbit holes of comfort with a little fire in our hearts flickering from the recent spiritual experience, but we only tolerate the little flame as long as it serves to enhance, not threaten, our stable routine of comforts. If that flame begins to grow too large, and if it threatens to consume us and our comforts, we snuff it out. We remind that little flame, “Excuse me, little flame, but, if you recall, it is there and back again. You must always allow me to return home to my world of comforts undisturbed when I am finished with our adventures.” In the grand scheme of things, we may love our faith, our church life and the spiritual happiness it all brings, and we may love the upper case Cross – the one that Jesus died on for us out of His fierce love – but we want nothing to do with the lower case cross, the one that Jesus requires His followers to “take up.” We do not want death or irrevocable transformation.

We want Adventure Christianity. We do not want Quest Christianity.

Frodo went on a quest. His journey to Mt. Doom brought severe wounds to him – so severe that he could not return home. Instead, after the quest was complete, he set sail from the Grey Havens and went far from Middle-Earth into the Undying Lands far over the ocean in the West with the elves. It was his only chance to find healing, both for his body and his spirit. He lost everything because of the quest. Yet Sam begged him to not go with the elves. Sam just wanted to go back home to the comforts and simple happiness of the Shire and eat dinners with his best friend Frodo at the pub again and laugh and enjoy life as they had always done. But Frodo said this to Sam in reply:

“But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”

It is a broken moment. It hurts to read it. The world is saved, yes, but, somehow, all is still lost.

But then the far-off longing comes, that stab-of-joy desire that C.S. Lewis wrote about in "Surprised By Joy” – some strange desire for a home we’ve never seen wells up – and we hear a voice of hope in the blackness. This voice says something that reminds me of this line from “Return of the King”:

“For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”

…light and high beauty forever beyond the the reach of the Shadow.

And even for those who are allowed to return home after the quest, they can never be the same again. They lose a part of themselves. Yet, even in such deep, heart-rending transformation, an Unseen Hand pulls treasures from the dark – treasures that we could have never imagined.

Again I turn to "The Lord of the Rings.” After the war ends, the king, named Aragorn, comes to the houses of healing to visit the wounded. There he finds the hobbit named Merry. Merry has been grievously injured both in body and spirit, and he is unconscious, but he will survive. The king says this about Merry’s suffering:

“His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.”

Timothy Keller points out in his sermon called “The Two Great Tests” that nothing tests our faith and refines our spiritual wisdom more than two things: great suffering and great success. Both whip around us as white hot fires, and their flames have consumed far too many to number.

But, whatever tests and fires may come, if we can accept that we are on a quest and not an adventure, and if we stay close to our True Companion on this quest, our grief will not darken our hearts.

It will teach us wisdom.

FREE ebook of Kevin’s short story “The Night Elvis Presley Met C.S. Lewis – A (Possibly) True Story” when you sign up for Kevin’s email list.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1JlHztS
via IFTTT

The Future Needs a Big Kiss

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1fFZjaN
via IFTTT

A Song in the Night Seasons (Psalm 77)

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1Igd4nc
via IFTTT

Jesus' Lesser Known Miracle for Guitarists

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1UcEAJh
via IFTTT

How WAKE UP DEAD MAN Helped a Troubled Youth (Part 1)

The secrets of our deepest longings – those stabs of joy, bittersweet pangs of homesickness for a home we’ve never had, are locked in ordinary moments. But they are also locked in moments of suffering. Moments of disaster. Moments of mournful longing.

Here’s a story about this very truth – the story of a troubled youth who finds a spark, like electric arrows from Heaven pointing to God, in the least likely place: a rock album called “Pop” by a certain Irish band.

This troubled youth once became a high school drop out for a day when he walked out of class in a panic without saying a word to anyone and walked right off campus (which was not allowed, of course). He then experienced (what he later learned) was a symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Symptom (something that doctors would diagnose in him a few months later). After he ditched his classes and ran away from his high school he wandered aimless and alone. The terrors and sorrows of certain troubles in his life had stalked him day and night, and finally they found him and sank their sharpest fangs in. That day the youth ended up in an ambulance when something akin to a panic attack paralyzed him (and he thought perhaps it was a heart attack).

As he lay in the ambulance, out the back window he could see stacks of white clouds billowing and drifting like air ships. A sting hit his heart, and he thought of his parents, and he grieved about what the ambulance ride would cost them. He wondered what would happen to him. Was he going to die? He seemed to be feeling better even as the ambulance reached the hospital.

They released him the same day. No one understood what was wrong. It wouldn’t be for another few months until a doctor zeroed in on what was happening. (PTSD.) 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something usually associated with combat veterans, but it is more common than people realize in other situations that aren’t necessarily on the battlefield.

So it was not a physical battlefield. But it was an unseen one – a spiritual battlefield. 

He was promptly removed from school that year, his junior year, and he spent the year in home study – i.e. where a student completes all of their school work at home. No attending classes. No school trips.  Very little contact with peers. Often alone.

Yet not alone.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." 

In that solitude the love of God came like a warm memory, and, with the lion-like fierceness of Aslan, that Voice of love made a promise to the youth: "I will make these nightmarish stories unravel and turn back until they are untrue, and I will turn back the poison and siphon the night from your lungs so you can breathe again. Just wait patiently. Wait for me.”

And in that dim light of waiting, music came, and it was an Irish tenor singing, “Wake up dead man." 

In Part 2 I will tell you what happened to the troubled youth when the story came to an end. 

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1UcEAJb
via IFTTT

How WAKE UP DEAD MAN Helped a Troubled Youth (Part 1)

The secrets of our deepest longings – those stabs of joy, bittersweet pangs of homesickness for a home we’ve never had, are locked in ordinary moments. But they are also locked in moments of suffering. Moments of disaster. Moments of mournful longing.

Here’s a story about this very truth – the story of a troubled youth who finds a spark, like electric arrows from Heaven pointing to God, in the least likely place: a rock album called “Pop” by a certain Irish band.

This troubled youth once became a high school drop out for a day when he walked out of class in a panic without saying a word to anyone and walked right off campus (which was not allowed, of course). He then experienced (what he later learned) was a symptom of Post Traumatic Stress Symptom (something that doctors would diagnose in him a few months later). After he ditched his classes and ran away from his high school he wandered aimless and alone. The terrors and sorrows of certain troubles in his life had stalked him day and night, and finally they found him and sank their sharpest fangs in. That day the youth ended up in an ambulance when something akin to a panic attack paralyzed him (and he thought perhaps it was a heart attack).

As he lay in the ambulance, out the back window he could see stacks of white clouds billowing and drifting like air ships. A sting hit his heart, and he thought of his parents, and he grieved about what the ambulance ride would cost them. He wondered what would happen to him. Was he going to die? He seemed to be feeling better even as the ambulance reached the hospital.

They released him the same day. No one understood what was wrong. It wouldn’t be for another few months until a doctor zeroed in on what was happening. (PTSD.) 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is something usually associated with combat veterans, but it is more common than people realize in other situations that aren’t necessarily on the battlefield.

So it was not a physical battlefield. But it was an unseen one – a spiritual battlefield. 

He was promptly removed from school that year, his junior year, and he spent the year in home study – i.e. where a student completes all of their school work at home. No attending classes. No school trips.  Very little contact with peers. Often alone.

Yet not alone.

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." 

In that solitude the love of God came like a warm memory, and, with the lion-like fierceness of Aslan, that Voice of love made a promise to the youth: "I will make these nightmarish stories unravel and turn back until they are untrue, and I will turn back the poison and siphon the night from your lungs so you can breathe again. Just wait patiently. Wait for me.”

And in that dim light of waiting, music came, and it was an Irish tenor singing, “Wake up dead man." 

In Part 2 I will tell you what happened to the troubled youth when the story came to an end. 

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1i0Xp6j
via IFTTT

Writing a Nonfiction Book Proposal? I’ve Got the Perfect Template for You

…

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1hdJOYK
via IFTTT

Do You See the Bride of Christ as Ugly? (What to Do When the Church's Beauty is Stolen From Us)

Perhaps one of the greatest problems in the Church is that we can’t get along with each other. In many cases, Christians get so tired of all the flaws of other Christians and the church, whether their local church or the global church, that they refuse to go back into one. They cut themselves off from the One whom Christ calls His beloved. The demons in C.S. Lewis’s book “The Screwtape Letters” knew all about this tendency in our human nature.

And their observations are stunning.

In Chapter 2, the elder demon is angered to find that the human target of his clumsy nephew has become a Christian. Without hesitation, the elder demon moves quickly to advise the young demon on how to pull the man back into Satan’s household. How? By repulsing the man with the flaws of other Christians:

“One of our great allies at present is the Church itself. Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread but through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans. All your patient sees is the half-finished, sham Gothic erection on the new building estate. When he goes inside, he sees the local grocer with rather an oily expression on his face bustling up to offer him one shiny little book containing a liturgy which neither of them understands, and one shabby little book containing corrupt texts of a number of religious lyrics, mostly bad, and in very small print.”

Lewis draws two pictures here:

1) the triumphant Church that Christ has labored to build day after day, year after year, for two thousands years since He rose from the dead

and 2) the unattractive, flawed, surface image of the Church, which finds its root in its most basic element: other human beings.

On the surface, the Church is full of unpolished, imperfect people who gather in imperfect church buildings and are not talented in running perfect services that perfectly edify everyone in the room in a perfect way.

Yet, this imperfect day-to-day, mundane, unattractive Church is the foundry where Christ does His most precious work. It is the quarry where He tirelessly mines and shapes His living stones for His Father’s temple.

That glorious triumphant Church does indeed exist in every individual Christian in a miniature form – like a miniaturized scale model of New York City in a snow globe.

But we have to look hard for it – in others, yes, but also in ourselves. We have to have eyes of the Holy Spirit, not eyes of the flesh. We have to see other people with heavenly thinking, not earthly thinking.

If we see as Jesus sees, we will see the breathtaking sparkle and awe-inspiring glory of His Bride twinkling in the eyes of every genuine Christian who carries the Spirit of Christ within his or her heart.

If we have this vision, stabs of joy will puncture our day-to-day lives on a more consistent basis – even when we’re knee-deep in sorrow and muck – because we will be seeing Heaven’s diamonds hidden and shimmering beneath all the grime of this world.

Lord, give us eyes to see that beauty in each other instead of eyes of criticism, disrespect, and consumer-minded thinking as if the Body of Christ were a consumer good that we could rate on Yelp.

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1MKcODg
via IFTTT