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Here’s a good article on Twitter from Al Mohler — Adventures Among the Twitterati — Why Use Twitter? He notes,

Twitter has changed my prayer life. More than any development in years, Twitter helps me to know what is going on in the lives of many friends and people far beyond. I have known how to pray in many specific ways. I have rejoiced with friends and have grieved with others. Priceless.

He also spoke about Twitter on his radio program today — you should be able to get the podcast of that here soon.

Follow me on Twitter if you like.

The elections are nearing. Quite a stir has been caused by John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as a candidate for Vice President. Likely the biggest reason for the static over the pick of Governor Sarah Palin is that she has taken a firm stand on protecting life. But the roller coaster financial situation is front and center news this week. There will likely be some other hot topic issue in a week or two.

Whenever we near key elections the question often posed by some believers is, “What issue or issues are most important to consider when deciding for whom I should cast my vote?”

But the question for me is not, “Who will do the most for the economy?” or “Who will bring our troops home the quickest?” The number one question for me when determining for whom I will vote is this: “Who will do the most to protect and preserve the lives of unborn babies?”

My concern when determining who gets my vote has less to do with the financial situation or the war on terror and much more to do with what God expects of us as a people — it has to do with how we as a nation protect or fail to protect the lives of unborn children.

This week Josh Harris shared correspondence on just this issue. Take the time to read this exchange Josh had with a family considering membership in the church he pastors. I think he has clearly and graciously stated the importance of considering the value of life over all other issues. Click here to read: “Correspondence on Abortion and Voting”.

Josh’s piece also reminded me of a brief article by John Piper I read a few years ago. Click here to read: “One-Issue Politics, One-Issue Marriage, and the Humane Society”.

And Al Mohler’s recent blog post on the issue of abortion is well worth your time as well. Click here to read: “Pressure to Keep the Baby? — The Descent Continues”.

I pray that believers will not stay home on November 4, 2008, but will cast their vote after they have prayerfully considered the abortion issue from a Biblical perspective. For me there is no issue of greater importance.

Update – Friday; October 17, 2008: Randy Alcorn shares why he will not be voting for Obama. Not Cool: Obama’s Pro-abortion Stance, and Christians enabling him

“So, does God care about who his children vote for? In many cases, with not much difference between them, I doubt it. But here’s what he says about the needy and afflicted who have no one to help them and are on the brink of death:

“For God will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight.” (Psalm 72:12-14)”

Al Mohler, in his “On Faith” article for the Washington Post last week addressed the question Sally Quinn raised as she wondered how Christian evangelicals can affirm a woman as President or Vice President of the United States and yet believe that women should not serve as pastors of churches. Dr. Mohler’s article is well worth your time.
Palin Can Serve Family and Country, by Al Mohler

I was asked about the book “The Shack” today and I thought it helpful to point to a few worthwhile reviews here.

The first I’d suggest is the audio Al Mohler’s radio program when he reviewed the book. Get it here: A Look at “The Shack”

The second review is Tim Challies review available on his site. He has two reviews — his first a bit shorter, his second a more thorough and available as a PDF to download and print.

Mohler caution’s readers to beware of The Shack’s “serious, even dangerous, theological deficiencies”.

Tim Challies says,

I urge you, the reader, to exercise care in reading and distributing this book. The Shack may be an engaging read but it is one that contains far too much error. Read it only with the utmost care and concern, critically evaluating the book against the unchanging standard of Scripture. Caveat lector!

We’re headed out for a week of camping in the morning but when I get back if I find other worthwhile reviews I’ll link to them here.

Update Monday; September 8, 2008

Gary Gilley reviews The Shack:

The Shack, while occasionally getting things right is, in the end, a dangerous piece of fiction. It undermines Scripture and the church, presents at best a mutilated gospel, misrepresents the biblical teachings concerning the Godhead and offers a New Age understanding of God and the universe. This is not a great novel to explain tragedy and pain. It is a misleading work which will confuse many and lead others astray.

Update Wednesday; October 15, 2008

Gerald Hiestand shares a worthwhile review of The Shack at the new Straight Up blog.

Young, in an attempt to wipe the blood off of God’s hands, ends up diminishing the transcendence and power of God. The best way to correct an unbalanced view of God is not by introducing an opposing unbalanced view of God.

Update Thursday; October 23, 2008

A very thoughtful review of The Shack by Stephen Yuille (via Tim Challies)

My worry is that many Christians will read The Shack, assuming it articulates sound theology. It doesn’t.

Update Sunday; March 1, 2009

Insight For Living shares this helpful review — The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, by Glenn Kreider. In his conclusion he says this:

I first read this book because it was recommended to me by several people I know and trust. Most significantly, I read Eugene Peterson’s recommendation: “This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!” (front cover). That is pretty high praise. I began reading with a great deal of optimism and enthusiasm. The story hooked me from the first couple of pages. Although my experience of suffering and pain is not to the same degree as Mack’s, I have many of the same questions he has. As I read this book, I waited with anticipation for the conversations with God to begin. As they did, I felt an increasing feeling of sadness in the depths of my being. This is not only not literarily comparable to the work of John Bunyan, it is even less worthy of theological comparison. This is a dangerous book. Its view of the Trinity is inadequate and its view of Christ is unorthodox. That is not good.

Update Monday; March 2, 2009

byFaith Magazine – “The Shack”: What God Should Have Said?

Though some parts roughly align with biblical teaching (and many others explicitly contradict it), the book’s overall attitude toward Scripture is persistently dismissive. Mack’s own disdain is conveyed early on: “God’s voice had been reduced to paper. … Nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in gilt edges, or was that guilt edges?” (p. 65-67).

Boundless Line: The Shack: Ramshackle Theology

Young’s ramshackle theology, unfortunately, is giving a lot of people an incomplete and false image of God. He is doing them no favors.

Update Tuesday; March 10, 2009

Thanks to Tim Challies for pointing to this interview with William Young (MP3). Tim notes: “Here is an interview with The Shack author William Young. In it he flatly denies the substitutionary atonement (which was one of the questions many people had as they read the book).”

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (45.0MB)

Update Friday; January 29, 2010

Al Mohler has also written a piece, The Shack — The Missing Art of Evangelical Discernment – AlbertMohler.com saying,

The popularity of this book among evangelicals can only be explained by a lack of basic theological knowledge among us — a failure even to understand the Gospel of Christ. The tragedy that evangelicals have lost the art of biblical discernment must be traced to a disastrous loss of biblical knowledge. Discernment cannot survive without doctrine.

Al Mohler on the urgency of Biblical preaching — From a Dying Man to Dying Men — Recovering a Bold Vision for Biblical Preaching

Al Mohler clarifies the danger of this “runaway best-seller”–It’s All About You? The Truth About “The Secret”. He says, “There is no real secret to The Secret. It is just the same old self-worship packaged for a new generation.”

Al Mohler weighs in on the Holocaust Denial in Iran.

Tim Challies and Doug McHone have the privilege of liveblogging the 2006 Shepherd’s Conference. I suggest you check out Tim and Doug’s blogs over the next few days for their perspective on the conference. Should be good–wish I could be there. Keynote speakers are John MacArthur, Albert Mohler, R.C. Sproul, Steven Lawson, Ligon Duncan and Mark Dever. Tim Challies says he’ll also be liveblogging the Together for the Gospel conference in April. Sounds like a nice gig.

It’s been a long week. It’s Saturday night. I just finished studying for tomorrow’s services. I’d usually like to be ready before now but an eye problem took me to the doctor today, then I couldn’t get the van started, someone called and wanted to see the truck we’re selling, we had a little birthday party for Zack tonight, then… well you get the idea.

It’s times like this I remind myself why I do this–I love to preach God’s Word–I love being a part of God’s work in preaching His Word to His people. And then there are guys like Al Mohler who shoot straight about what the church really needs that give a good shot in the arm too.

From Al Mohler’s blog…

“Preaching is so important that the preacher must be willing to suffer to advance the proclamation of the Gospel, he said.”Every single Christian pastor ought to be ready and willing at a second’s notice to say, ‘I can put up with virtually anything if I get to preach,’” Mohler said, adding that preachers should rejoice in sufferings when they open the door for preaching opportunities.One difficulty of preaching is that frequently it produces no visible response in the congregation, he said. But preachers should not become frustrated at a lack of visible response because the Word of God often works silently in people’s hearts in ways that are undetectable to the eye, Mohler noted.”The Word of God goes in and does surgery that the hearer does not even immediately recognize is taking place,” he said. “It’s in the mystery of the preaching of the Word of God, accompanied by the Spirit, that the believer is conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ in the silent, invisible surgery of the soul.”If you want quick results, you’ll be tempted to do something other than preaching. If you want instant gratification, you’ll look at some other form of programming or you’ll get excited about some other dimension of ministry at the expense of preaching. But if you want to build Christ’s church and if you want to see Christ’s people conformed to His image, preaching is the indispensable mark of the church.”

Now that’s encouraging.