Below is the testimony of Sunday Nache Achi from the July 2007 issue of the Voice of the Martyrs magazine.

While studying architecture, Sunday Nache Achi served as president of the campus ministry of the Evangelical Church of West Africa. Despite the tension between Muslim and Christian students on the university grounds, Sunday continued his ministry and Bible studies.

It was during one of his campus meetings on December 9, 2004, that men forced their way into Sunday’s dormitory. His roommate, Idakwo Ako Paul, was the only one there at the time. He stood face-to-face with three Muslim students dressed in traditional Muslim “jihad” clothing demanding to know where Sunday was.

When Sunday returned to his dorm, Paul warned him of the threats. But Sunday refused to run. He knew the risk and was determined to continue his ministry.

Later that night, the three Muslim students returned. They dragged Sunday from the room at gunpoint. Paul screamed for them to let him go, but to no avail.

The next morning Sunday’s body was found next to the mosque. His neck was broken from strangulation and bruises covered his body. His friends wept at the death of their friend and leader. One of the students remarked on Sunday’s faithfulness and declared:

“Evangelism is something we must be prepared to die for. I see in the Bible examples of many who had to lay down their lives for the sake of the gospel. Why not me?”

As I read this testimony, I thought about how Christians in America are afraid to share their faith or to go out on outreach visitation. Why? Because we are afraid of being ridiculed? Worse yet, we are afraid of losing friends. We might even be passed over for a promotion because of our stand for Christ. In rare situations we could even lose our jobs for this.

When Sunday knew that his life was in danger because of his evangelistic activity, he did not run. He took a stand for his savior, looked danger straight in the face, and paid the ultimate price for his faith in Christ. Will you take a stand for Christ in your life? What will it cost you? Will you take that stand anyway or will you cave in because you cannot bear the consequence? I thank God for testimonies and examples like that of Sunday Nache Achi.

Some time ago on Sunday morning after Sunday School my 7 year old asked, “Daddy, are we going to big church?”  He was referring to whether or not he was going to worship with the adults or going to ‘children’s church.’ 

It is interesting to note that at the church where we are currently members there is no children’s church.  However, until we joined the church November my son had been accustomed to going to children’s church on Sunday morning.  Sunday night was the only time he would go to ‘big church.’  Although we had been at our new church for almost 6 months I guess my son had forgotten that there is no children’s church.

When he asked me the question, “are we going to big church?” I answered and reminded him that there is only one worship service at this church and everyone (except for those in the nursery) worships together.  At the same time I was thinking to myself how thankful I am to be in a church where families worship together and how glad I am that there is no children’s church.  I am a big proponent of families worshipping together with children even as young as my 5 year old who is in worship with us every week.  Here are my reasons.

1. By being in worship with their parents, children can observe their parents singing praises to God and can listen to the exposition of God’s Word.  Children learn by watching Mom and Dad and observing that they enjoy praising God.  They learn that Mom and Dad value and honor God’s Word by listening attentively to the preaching of the Bible.

2. By being in worship with their parents, children lose the opportunity to play and not pay attention.  Of course children are children and they cannot focus and understand all that is being said.  However, in children’s church there is typically a handfull (at best) of adults with a roomfull of children.  Children fidget, whisper, and laugh and do not have to pay attention.  By sitting in worship with their parents the opporunity for playing and goofing off is curtailed greatly.  This is probably why children’s churches so often utilize videos to keep the children’s attention.  This brings me to my third point.

3. By being in worship with their parents, children are taught that God’s Word and the exposition of it is the most central part of worship.  I am sure that not all children’s church programs use videos.  However, the use of videos does not teach that God’s Word is central.  Discussion about what the children think about a particular passage or talking about their upcoming family vacation does not teach them that the Word is a central part of worship either.  I do believe that talking about family events and discussing Bible stories is good but Sunday School is the more appropriate context for this to take place.

4. By being in worship with their parents, children are taught great hymns and worship songs of the faith.  I am not saying that children do not learn good songs in children’s church because they do.  However, the songs that can be sung in children’s church are greatly limited by the fact that children of that age have not learned to read yet.  By being in worship with Mom and Dad children are exposed to a greater variety of songs and although the children may not be able to read yet, they learn the words by repetition and hearing the songs sung over and over.  My 5 year old knows words to many songs just because she has heard them so many times.  A by-product of this is that this is a good opportunity for children to develop their reading skills by following along in the song book.

5. By being in worship together, parents are better able to develop teachable moments using the sermon from Sunday morning.  Since Mom and Dad are not in children’s church with their children they do not know what their children were taught.  All they have to go on is what their children say they learned.  By being in worship together, parents know what was taught in the message that their child heard.  Parents can draw on the sermon’s teaching throughout the week as they teach their children obedience to God’s Word.  Mom and Dad can say during the week, “do you remember what the pastor said on Sunday morning about what the Bible teaches about this?”  This becomes a teachable moment where the parent can draw on the Word and the worship experience to teach the child about God’s character, our obedience, etc.

I am so thankful to be in a church where the pastor believes in expository preaching and the children are in worship with us.

Here is a side note.  One Sunday each year the children help lead in worship.  My 9 year old was an usher and helped collect the offering.  He told his Sunday School teacher that collecting the offering was his favorite part of the service.  To that comment his teacher responded, “I hope the preaching will be your favorite part one day.”  Amen to that!

As I think about Father’s Day there are so many thoughts that come to my mind. First, I think of my heavenly father who, by his grace and for his glory, sacrificed his son so that my sins could be forgiven and I could be counted as righteous in his eyes. It is so awesome and humbling to think that God condescended to me to save me from my sins so that his name may be made great. All of us who call God our heavenly father can identify with what I am saying.

Second, I think of my earthly father. I have a great dad who loves the Lord with all of his being. He taught me to love God’s Word. He taught me how to have a quiet time. He taught me what it means to confess Jesus as Lord. He was the one who baptized me in Tokyo Bay. He helped me memorize scripture. He mounted a basketball goal on the roof of the house right above his study and tolerated our noisy banging (because every time the ball hit the goal it caused vibration and noise in his study) while he was working and studying and doing sermon preparation. He spent time with me. He was calm. I cannot remember him ever raising his voice at us. He is a great dad. I hope that one day my children will be able to say the same about me.

Third, I am reminded of my role as a father to my children. My journey to fatherhood was a long and sometimes painful journey. God gave us children through the miracle of adoption.

I can remember our journey to adopt our first child and I vividly remember the first time I held our daughter. She was so small and so afraid. After visiting her for a couple of weeks she became more attached to us. She became extremely attached to my wife and wanted nobody else on the trip home to America. Anyway, I can remember the moment I became a father and I can remember the first time being called ‘dad’ right outside the courtroom in Almaty.

My wife, who is much better with words than I, recounted the experience that day. Here is what she said about the court experience that made us parents.

Today was a great day for our family. At about 10:38 am this morning, Friday, Feb. 15th, the court officially approved our application to adopt DD. So, we are now mom and dad!!

The court experience was very different than expected. I know everyone’s prayers were heard and favorably responded to because other couples have had to go through two hour grilling sessions. However, our experience was easy! We went to the court building which was just another building among apartment complexes–nothing like our courts here. There, we went into a small room–I am talking about a room that is about the size of a dorm room in college, and met with the various officials and the judge. The judge read our petition, asked me in one long question—why Kazakhstan, why DD, and how long we had been in contact with her…The head doctor of the child house then spoke–a very kind lady. She said she approved our petition, that we were very kind and loved DD and that DD loved us and that we could financially care for her medical and educational needs. Then another lady stood up from the Department of Education and said they approved our application and that we had all the necessary paperwork in order. She talked about me a little and then about Excogitating Engineer’s “impressive” education and said she just wished for us to love DD and to give her an education as good as EE had. Then the judge asked the prosecutor if she had anything else because it looked like everything was in order to her. She said no, she approved also and we were officially made parents. We did, of course, have a translator.

That capped off a long journey of praying, tons of paperwork, and traveling to a country most Americans have never heard of. Five years later we did this again in Ukraine from which we brought two boys into our family. God has been gracious to us and our children in blessing us with each other.

So this father’s day I am reminded of the fatherless and the childless and how he brought the two together to make our family.  I am blessed to be able to say that the way in which he brought our family together illustrates what he has done for his elect by adopting us. I am also reminded of my own dad’s godly influence on my life. I don’t think I will ever be the man of God that my father is but I hope that by God’s grace that I will be able to teach my kids to love and fear God and love his holy Word.

Happy Father’s Day!

I recently read a post on spiritual heroes by Randy Alcorn at his Eternal Perspectives Blog.  As Randy said on his blog, “I have only one Lord, but many spiritual heroes.”  I am listing some of my spritual heroes below.  I would love to hear about yours.

1. My Dad.  He taught me to love the Scriptures.  He and my mom instilled in me the truthfulness of God’s Word and its infallibility and inerrancy.  He taught me the discipline of having a quiet time.  He also modeled for me how to be a good father but I have not lived up to that model.

2. Albert Mohler.  I sat under his teaching for my two foundational theology classes.  His lectures and his teachings which were always tied to and based on the Scriptures opened my eyes to my responsibility as a believer to better exercise my mind which had all but atrophied into jelly.  He continues to challenge me through his blog and radio program.  I am thankful that Southern Baptists have someone like him as a person of influence.

3. Alistair Begg.  There was a time in my life when I attended a church that did not have strong expository preaching.  During this time I would listen to Truth of Life on XM Radio every morning going to work.  Although he was not my pastor, Alistair Begg gave me a lot of spritual meat to chew on during those years and I will always love his ministry and teaching.

4. John Piper.  He is nothing less than a gift to our generation.  I love his books, his preaching, and his passion for missions.  Of the books being written today, which ones will continue to be read in 100 years?  Without a doubt the works of John Piper.  Not only has he been influential in the realm of passion for missions but he also has helped open many young people’s eyes to the doctrines of grace.  I believe that Let the Nations Be Glad should be required reading for all believers.

5. John Bunyan.  There is something special about the writings and the life of John Bunyan.  Everyone knows about Pilgrim’s Progress which is without peer in the world of fiction.  His theological works are clear and rich.  For John Owen to be willing to give up his intellect for the passion of Bunyan says a lot about this tinkerer turned preacher/prisoner.

6. Jonathan Edwards.  By all accounts he is the greatest preacher to have lived in North America.  He is also the greatest scholar and theologian ever produced on this continent.  Many also consider him the godliest man to have lived in North America.  Regardless, he stands head and shoulders above all intellectually and his works are a gift to Christians which will continue to be read for centuries to come.

7. Persecuted Christians.  My list would not be complete if I did not include believers around the world (even today) who are persecuted for their faith.  They stand strong in the face of this gift from God called persecution.  God uses them to spread his kingdom in the face of opposition.  These are the ones that I pray for often but I also pray that my faith would be the kind of faith that they possess.

So these are some of my heroes.  I have many others but this is my short list (and it was hard to narrow it down).  Would you care to share yours?

Those of you who personally know the Excogitating Engineer know that he was born and raised in Japan.  A white (or ‘whitish’) person living in rural Japan sticks out like a fly on a wedding cake.  This was especially the case in the days of the Excogitating Engineer’s youth.  It was common for Japanese children to try to practice their “Engrish” on Excog by saying words like “Hallo” or “Is this a pen?”  They would point at Excog from a distance telling all of their friends that a Gaijin had been spotted.

Gaijin is Japanese for foreigner or outsider.  It literally means outside person but is a shortened form of Gai-koku-jin which literally means outside country person.  A Gaijin is a foreigner or an alien (not the kind from outer space, silly).

I bring this up in order to bring up a point.  In Thessalonica, Paul and Silas were referred to as “men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).  In John 15:19 Jesus said, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

As believers in Christ, we are not to be of the world although we are in it.  Should we not be easily recognized by the world as aliens or those who are not of the world?  Shouldn’t those of the world recognize us just as easily as Japanese youngsters recognized Excog as being different?  Shouldn’t our attitudes, behavior, and spirit be so different from that of the world that we would be easily identified as being different?  What are your thoughts?

I ask the question, “are we really different or are we living as if we are of the world?”  When someone finds out that you are a Christian, is their response, “Really?  I had no idea!” or would they say, “I already know that.  Tell me something I don’t know.” 

Too many times we compromise and live our lives in such a way that we indistinguishable from the world.  If that is the case, we should repent and get saved or we should start living obedient lives to the Lord.  Let us live our lives, all of it, obedient to God’s calling on us even when that causes the world to hate us.  May we stick out like a sore thumb and give God the glory that is His by being light in this dark and fallen world.

I am a Southern Baptist and I will be the first to admit that we, Southern Baptists, are very weak in theology and church history.  If someone mentioned Luther Rice, I am sure that many Southern Baptists would wonder whether he was related to Martin Luther or MLK.  Some might need to be told that Luther Rice was not the person who invented Rice Krispies.  Not really.  Few would know what he did and how he impacted Baptist life and modern missions.  Here is the Excogitating Engineer’s attempt to tell you a little about Luther Rice.

Luther Rice was one of the great trailblazers of Baptist missions and denominational life. He was an influential figure in conceiving the idea of a Baptist denomination as well as the first appointed Baptist missionary. Rice was an outstanding preacher about whom it has been said, “the Lord saw fit to raise such a one as Luther Rice.” William Broadus once stated, “He doubted whether Rice, as a minister of the gospel, had been equaled in the United States .”

The Rice family had been living in North America since they first landed at Boston Harbor in 1638 and played a part in the formation of the United States . In fact, there were at least 427 people from the Rice family who fought in the American Revolution. Luther’s own father, Amos, was a minuteman from Northborough , Massachusetts , who marched on Lexington on that day which marked the beginning of the Revolutionary War. However, it was not until after the war (March 25, 1783) that Luther Rice was born as the ninth child of Amos and Sara Rice.

Luther grew up in the church singing in the choir with his brothers but it was not until he turned eighteen that he desired to be a Christian. He was very troubled about the issue of becoming a Christian and the fact that he attended worship and that he prayed regularly only caused him to be more disturbed. He spoke to his mother about his feelings and she referred him to the minister at the Northborough Church . The pastor, Mr. Whitney, did not understand how Luther could have such intense feelings of guilt, but he granted Luther membership to the church at the age of nineteen. This still did not satisfy Luther’s inner desire for peace in his life. He struggled inwardly with this issue for three years until he completely surrendered to Jesus as Lord. On September 14, 1805, Luther went to his room and prayed as recounted in his journal, “I did then on my bended knee give of myself to the Eternal Jehovah, soul and body, for time and eternity to be dealt with as He should see fit.” This was no nonchalant dedication to which Luther Rice had surrendered. He was committed to lift the Lord up and do whatever God called him to do.

At this point in his life, Luther Rice determined that he needed to prepare himself for college, so he enrolled in Leicester Academy . Upon graduation from Leicester, he forewent Harvard, which was the college of choice for most men in his area, for the more distant location of Williams College .

In the spring of 1806, about a year and a half before Luther enrolled at Williams College , Samuel J. Mills, Jr., entered Williams College . By the summer of that year there was a group of freshmen led by Mills who were involved in prayer meetings twice weekly. These meetings began to include discussions about the unevangelized around the world and how the East India Company had opened up much of Asia , previously considered a closed continent. One Saturday, during the meeting that was going on in the meadow, thunder and lightning came and the group was forced to find shelter under a haystack. They continued to meet in the meadow until it grew cold and the weather forced them inside.

When Luther Rice entered Williams College in the fall of 1807, Mills was one of the first people he met. Mills noticed Rice’s passion for missions when they met. Thus, Mills sought to enroll him in the prayer meetings. It didn’t take much convincing, however, and Rice threw himself into the group’s activities wholeheartedly. The following fall, in 1808, the members decided to make the group “a more formal organization for the promotion of missions” and, thereby, a society was born. As Rice’s biographer put it, “it was a mustard seed beginning with only five men signing a pledge to effect a mission to the world’s teeming millions in foreign lands.” This society was known later as the Brethren, and its purpose was “to effect in the persons of its members a mission or missions, to the heathen.” Rice recounted that he considered it a great honor to be part of the Brethren when he later wrote, “I esteem it the happiest point in all my life to have been one of the original members.”

The Brethren were unique because instead of seeking only to promote missions, the members prepared to go to the foreign mission field. There were not a large number of students in the Brethren, but the members were marked by their high quality. Before being welcomed into the Brethren, each candidate for membership was “screened by at least two members who weighed the candidate’s character, situation, and ability to bear an assignment.” A member of the Brethren could not have any encumbrance which would inhibit their ability to go overseas. It should be no surprise that only five joined in the beginning: Samuel J. Mills, Ezra Fisk, James Richards, John Steward, and Luther Rice. Only Mills and Richards were from the famous “haystack” prayer meeting. It was during this time that Rice began to feel led toward Asia .

Many of the Brethren, including Luther Rice, entered Andover Seminary after graduating from Williams College . At Andover , Adoniram Judson replaced Mills as the leader of the Brethren. Judson had such a desire to go to Burma that this desire permeated the group causing all of the Brethren to decide to go to Burma . This marked the beginning of Rice’s attempt to go to Burma , and take an active role in starting an organized missions movement in North America .

During his final year of seminary, Luther fell in love with Rebecca Hasseltine, the sister of Adoniram Judson’s fiancée Ann Hasseltine. They courted and seemed to be a perfect fit for one another. Even their friends thought highly of their relationship. They seemed to be so perfectly matched that in 1810, they became engaged. However, during his final months in seminary, Luther Rice came to the realization that Rebecca was not willing to commit herself to working on the mission field with him. Rice encountered a dilemma: he had committed himself to missions and he had also committed himself to Rebecca who clearly would not commit herself to missions.

Around the same time, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions met and voted to appoint Adoniram Judson, Samuel Nott, Samuel Newell, and Gordon Hall “as missionaries to work in Asia, either in Burma or Surat, or possibly Prince of Wales Island or elsewhere, as in the view of the Prudential Committee anywhere Providence might open the door.” Luther Rice was not among those appointed because of the predicament he was in regarding his engagement to Rebecca. It was a difficult and heart-wrenching decision for Luther Rice, but later that year both Luther and Rebecca agreed to break off the engagement. As the departure of the four appointed missionaries drew closer, Luther came to the decision that he desired to go and that he desired to go with the four appointed missionaries. Rice went before a committee and presented his case, but the committee could not make a decision to support him without the support of the entire Board. Therefore, they told Rice that he would have to raise his own support until he could be appointed officially by the Board.

On February 24, 1812, Gordon Hall and Luther Rice departed from Philadelphia aboard the ship, The Harmony, towards the Far East . Due to the resistance to Christianity by the East India Company and their ban on allowing missionaries to travel directly to India , many European missionaries had to travel to America before going to India . Therefore, there were many missionaries from Europe aboard The Harmony including missionaries John Lawsons and William Johns of the English Baptist Society. It was during this Trans-Atlantic voyage that Rice, a Congregationalist, entered into serious discussion with the Baptists, particularly William Johns, about the issue of believer’s baptism. Although there were no Baptist churches in Northborough during the days of Luther Rice, there was a growing movement of Separatists in Massachusetts , many of whom were friends of Rice. Therefore, Rice had a favorable disposition towards Baptists, but he was not convinced of the Baptist position on believer’s baptism by immersion. The discussions aboard the ship between Rice and Johns were often heated and Johns did not convince Rice of the Baptist position on this voyage, but he did persuade him to reexamine certain points of his position. On August 8, Rice and Hall arrived in Calcutta , India , and were reunited with fellow America missionaries Judson, Nott, and Newell.

After arriving in Calcutta , the group was joined with William Carey and later with Carey’s partners at Serampore, William Ward and Joshua Marshman. It was on August 28 that Rice learned of Adoniram Judson’s intention to be baptized. Adoniram’s wife, Ann, was adamantly against believer’s baptism, but after the study of the issue they both became convinced of the Baptist position. Ann Hasseltine Judson later wrote, “I have been examining the subject of baptism for sometime past, and contrary to my prejudices and my wishes, am compelled to believe that believers’ baptism alone is found in Scripture…if I ever gave up myself to the inspired word, I have done so during this investigation.” Therefore, the Judsons informed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions that Adoniram could not abide by their directives to baptize “credible believers and their households.” The following month, Judson preached a powerful sermon on the issue of believer’s baptism entitled “Christian Baptism” which Carey commented was “the best I ever heard on the subject.” This had a tremendous influence on Rice because of his great respect for Judson formed during their meetings of the Brethren at Andover Seminary.

Not long after this time, Rice suffered from hepatitis and his doctor ordered him to stay indoors during the daylight hours. This allowed Rice time to study the issue of believer’s baptism from the Greek New Testament. Rice sincerely sought the Lord and studied the biblical evidence on this issue. After he concluded his comprehensive study on baptism, he wrote the Board and said that he had a “conviction, that those persons only, who give credible evidence of piety, are proper subjects; and that immersion is the only proper mode of baptism.” He then sent a letter of request for baptism to the Serampore Trio and was baptized on November 1, 1812, in Calcutta by William Ward.

Since the Judsons and Rice were no longer Congregationalists, they could no longer seek support from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Consequently, Judson wrote a letter to an American Baptist named Lucius Bolles as appeal to Baptists in America to form a missions society to support the newly baptized missionaries. William Ward and William Carey also wrote the Baptists in America to accept Rice and the Judsons.

The Baptists in North America did establish some small societies to support the missionaries but the funds were inadequate. Therefore, Luther Rice eventually had to return to the United States to raise funds. Rice embarked on his journey on March 15 and arrived in New York on September 7, 1813. Before establishing any relationship with Baptists, Rice spoke before the Board who had sent him and the Judsons to India regarding their doctrinal change to a Baptist position. It was a difficult speech and friendships were strained. The Board even requested Rice to reimburse the funds disbursed for him to make the trip to India . Rice didn’t see the need since they required him to raise his own money when he was appointed.

Luther did not waste any time from this point contacting Baptist churches and societies. He met with members of the Philadelphia Association, America ’s oldest Baptist association, who liberally funded the English Baptist work at Serampore. He also met with leaders such as Richard Furman, Jesse Mercer, Lucius Bolles, Judge Matthias Tallmadge, and W. B. Johnson, later an instrumental person in the forming of the Southern Baptist Convention. On May 18, 1814, at a meeting organized by Luther Rice, Baptist leaders from around the country met in Philadelphia . This was the first such meeting of American Baptists and “only one man, Rice, had met each delegate previously and knew something of the society he represented.” This group of leaders, or delegates, voted to form a body which was to be called “The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America , for Foreign Missions.” This convention, which was to meet every third year, came to be known as “The Triennial Convention.” One of the first actions taken by the convention was to appoint Luther Rice as its first missionary: “Mr. Rice be appointed, under patronage of this board, as their missionary to continue his itinerant services in these United States for a reasonable time, with a view to excite the public and more generally engage in Missionary exertions: and to assist in generating societies, or Institutions, for carrying the Missionary design into execution.”

Luther carried out his duties enlisting men to serve as missionaries and expanding the missionary enterprise. Rice tirelessly traveled up and down the eastern seaboard for the cause of missions. In March of 1817, Rice wrote that he had traveled 7,800 miles in the previous year. Later the same year, he recorded that he had traveled 722 miles during the days of August 20 through August 30 with 560 miles of that being on horseback. One of the results of his indefatigable work was an emphasis on home missions as well as foreign missions. Beginning in 1818, the cause of home missions was publicized through another project of Luther’s, the Latter Day Luminary, which was the first national Baptist publication as an official publication of the Triennial Convention.

Rice began to have a growing conviction in his soul in the early 1820s. This conviction was that “Baptists must think in terms of leadership – educated, competent leadership.” Luther Rice was not alone. Richard Furman, president of the Triennial Convention, believed that more attention should be paid to the education of young men who have been called to the gospel ministry. The constitution of the General Convention was modified to state that the Board should seek to institute a “classical and theological seminary” as soon as assets, aside from missionary funds, became available. The responsibility for raising this money fell upon the shoulders of none other than Luther Rice.

The fund raising went slowly at first but God’s hand was opening doors for this dream of an institution of higher learning. When the opportunity presented itself, Luther Rice purchased the property known as College Hill which “was 46 ½ acres in extent, located immediately north of the limits of Washington City and running from the Boundary north for about a half mile.” The theological institution came to fruition on February 9, 1821, when Congress granted “a charter to Columbian College in the District of Columbia , conferring upon it the traditional rights and privileges of an academic institution.”

In 1826, Luther Rice faced what was probably the greatest disaster in his career. This disaster was the result of Rice’s poor business management skills and abysmal book keeping. A committee set forth by the convention investigated the finances of the college of which Rice was the overseer. The committee after the investigation found no corruption but decided that Rice was “too loose in all his dealing and guilty of abusing the high confidence of the Board whose sanction he felt could be easily acquired.” There was great division and controversy over the future of the college, and reorganization resulted with Luther Rice no longer being the principal figure. Today the institution is no longer under Baptist influence and has taken the name of George Washington University but college of arts and sciences still bears the name Columbian College.

On September 25, 1836, Rice died of appendicitis in Edgefield , South Carolina . His death was lamented by many that he influenced during his life. Several physical monuments have been erected in his memory. South Carolina Baptists raised funds to build a monument over his grave in Washington , South Carolina . A dormitory was named in his honor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a plaque was placed in his honor at the Lall Bazar Church in Calcutta where he was baptized.

While Luther Rice definitely had weaknesses as any person, his impact on Baptist life cannot be overstated. He had a vision for an organized national convention of Baptists. He had a vision for a national Baptist missionary society of which he was the first missionary. He had a vision for an educational institution for Baptist ministers. There are many that have dreams but Luther Rice chased those dreams with all of his might. Although he did not get to see all of his dreams come to complete fruition, he planted the seeds and trusted God to carry the work to completion. Evelyn Thompson entitled her biography of Luther Rice appropriately, Luther Rice: Believer in Tomorrow. Baptists must thank God that Luther Rice believed in tomorrow. Rice is remembered by more than physical monuments. Much of Baptist denominational life is the direct result of his work. Just as Luther Rice did in his day, Baptists today must work towards the dreams God plants in people’s hearts for tomorrow’s generation of Baptists.

This is something I wrote a long time ago on my previous blog.  I am reposting it because I thought Black Gold Stranglehold was a good book and any informed citizen should read it. I’m also posting it because I’m too lazy to write something original.

I just finished reading a book called Black Gold Stranglehold, by Jerome Corsi and Craig Smith, which among other things attempts to debunk the myth that oil is a fossil fuel. After World War Two, Soviet scientists determined that oil was not a fossil fuel. This was an idea that flew in the face of what most American scientists and the environmental alarmists have been preaching and teaching. The world did not take notice of the Soviet’s conclusion and Americans have continued to believe that oil is a fossil fuel. Over the past 50 years, since World War Two, the United States has gone from being completely oil independent to being dependent on foreign oil for 60% of our oil needs. Russia has gone from being oil-poor to the second most oil-rich country in the world following Saudi Arabia. Soviet scientists located large oil fields in Ukraine and Kazakhstan in areas where international scientists determined there was no oil due based on their belief that oil is a fossil fuel.

Black Gold Stranglehold also discusses the dangers of our dependence on foreign oil. The United States will not be able to defend its interests without international support if we are dependent on foreign sources of oil. Foreign nations who sell us large quantities of oil such as Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Mexico could keep us from defending our interests by refusing to sell us oil. Our military machine cannot operate if large sources of oil refuse to sell to us.

This book gives an alternative viewpoint to the Liberal Left’s mantra that we are going to run out of oil within the next 20 years. The authors bring up several alarming points that we should be concerned about regarding the future of our nation if dependence on foreign oil continues but the solution is not abandoning the use of oil. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be educated on an issue that will become the topic of more and more conversations as the price of gasoline continues to rise.

I’ve posted several bad song lyrics in the past (most have been deleted from this blog) where people have disagreed with me and some have said that the lyrics really are not ’bad.’  Many times people approve of the songs because they say the songs are ‘fun to sing’ or ‘young people enjoy it.’  Chuck Colson addresses this very issue in a Breakpoint article entitled Musical Mush: Are we harming our ability to think?  I encourage you to read the article.  Here is an excerpt from his article.

I am convinced that much of the music being written for the Church today reflects an unfortunate trend – slipping across the line from worship to entertainment. Evangelicals are in danger of Amusing Ourselves to Death, to borrow the title of the classic Neil Postman book.

I think he has a good point.  We need to be people who think critically and biblically about all issues and everything that we do as Christians.  We shouldn’t listen to or sing songs just because they are fun or have catchy tunes.  Let us sharpen our minds and excogitate about all aspects of our lives.

When you walk into your local church what do the people around you look like? Are they white middle class Republicans? Are they white upper class Democrats? Regardless of who they are, in all likelihood they probably look like you. However, we do not live in an ethnically homogenous society. There are many different ethnicities in all around us. Are most of them (or some of them) represented in your local church? This brings me to the question I want to ask in this post: “Should churches intentionally pursue ethnic diversity?”

Some would say that we should not target any particular ethnic group when seeking to evanglize and bring people into the church. We should rather evangelize people with whom we have contact regardless of their ethnicity and attempt to bring anyone into the church. I identify with the people who would say this and agree with them in principle. However, when we look at local churches in America, they are rarely as ethnically diverse as the general population. That leads me to think that we are not evangelizing everyone or anyone we come into contact with. We are witnessing to everyone who we want to evangelize and that is usually people who we would want in our social circle. They are usually people who look like us and think like us.

It is interesting to note that John Piper and the staff of Bethlehem Baptist Church intentionally seek ethnic diveristy when filling pastor positions at their church. Here are their reasons in doing so.

1. It illustrates more clearly the truth that God created people of all races and ethnicities in his on image (Genesis 1:27).
2. It displays more visibly the truth that Jesus is not a tribal deity but is the Lord of all races, nations, and ethnicities.
3. It demonstrates more clearly the blood-bought destiny of the church to be “from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9).
4. It exhibits more compellingly the aim and power of the cross of Christ to “reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Ephesians 2:16).
5. It expresses more forcefully the work of the Spirit to unite us in Christ. “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Are these five reasons Bethlehem cites for ethnic diversity on their staff good enough reasons for all churches to pursue ethnic diversity? America is a melting pot of cultures and nationalities. We have failed in bringing them into our local churches. We live and work together but worship separately. Let us be intentional about reflecting the biblical truths above as we reach out to others outside of our local churches.

Lausanne World Pulse has a interesting artcile called Contextualization in the Islamic Context.  The author, Roy Oksnevad, describes contextualization as “taking the unchanging truth of the gospel and making it understandable in a given context.”  Contextualization is a tremendous challenge when ministering to Muslims.  There are many theological and pragmatic issues that arise.  Oksnevad does a good job in describing many of these issues in his article.  Here are some of the questions that he raises:

Are believers to be called just “Muslims” or “Muslims, Followers of Isa”?

Is mosque attendance to be allowed as a transition or to be encouraged as a strategy of permanence?

Does the convert pray his salat in exactly the same way as Muslims?

Do the converts verbally or by implication recite the shahadah affirming Muhammad as the prophet of God?

Is mosque participation encouraged only for MBBs or is it to be advocated for Christians as well?

Do Christians legally become Muslims?

Should Christians go on the Hajj?

These are some good questions that need to be addressed.  He sets forth principles to use when answering such questions but he does not specifically answer any of these questions.  These are the types of questions that any missionary working in a Muslim country has to consider.

If you are a Great Commission Christian who is interested in seeing people in Muslim nations glorify God through their worship of Him I strongly recommend you read this article.  I disagree with many presuppositions that many people have when coming to the table on this issue.  I’m not saying that the author of this article has these presuppositions.  I’m simply saying that many have these presuppositions. 

The presuppositions I am referring to are based on the fact that there are not many in Muslim countries who are coming to Christ and are part of the visible church.  There are not many Muslims coming to Christ because of the way Westerners are doing missions in those countries.  Therefore, Western missionaries must change they way they are presenting the gospel and contextualize it ‘better.’  There must be something wrong with the way the gospel is being presented because the visible church is not growing in great numbers in Muslim countries.

My bone of contention here not with the article.  You should read the article.  My bone of contention is with the presupposition many, not necessarily the article’s author, have. 

God saves people.  The elect come to Christ in repentance and God uses the witness of the elect to bring more people to Christ.  The elect do not come to Christ until they are regenerate.  God is the one who gives life to a spiritually dead body (Ephesians 2).  Changing the way in which we present the gospel cannot cause God to save more people.  We should do everything we can to present the gospel to as many people and present it in the clearest possible way.  However, God saves people.  We don’t.