Rappin’ With Rick

Last month I told you that Matt and I were going to attend the Touchstone conference, Something Wicked This Way Comes. The subtitle of the conference was “Diabolical Fantasies & the Mystery of the Real”, and it was indeed a fantastic conference that exposed the mystery behind the all too real challenges we face in the world today.

The schedule included nine thought provoking papers and presentations that examined occult, technology, philosophy, family, literature, law, politics, ethics, and culture. The first session made it clear that the rise in occultic practices that was witnessed in the 70s and 80s has not disappeared. It has simply gone mainline and is no longer noticed.

Next we were warned how technology has made possible a new totalitarianism that seeks to remove everything that doesn’t fit the progressive world-view. We then learned how the proper use of hierarchical structures lift people up, while a push for egalitarianism leads to oppression by those in power. This was confirmed by the demise of families, and foreseen in literature that was written 100 years ago.

An interview with Jack Phillips, who was at least partially vindicated by the Supreme Court for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex marriage, was a testimony to the danger facing those who refuse to celebrate sinful behavior. And the heresy of identity politics was revealed as an attempt to rid ourselves of a debt of guilt, something only Christ can do.

Carl Trueman, the author of the excellent book we are studying on Sunday nights, demonstrated from history how evil is made to look good. And Rod Dreher, who has sounded an alarm for the need to prepare for future persecution, challenged us to find encouragement by constantly looking for God’s activity in the world today.

It is true that wickedness is all around us, and we’ve got to be ready to deal with it. But it is also true that God is still on His throne, and if our security is found in the cross of Christ we will be secure for all eternity. And, by His grace, we still have much to be thankful for. Even now.

God Bless, Rick

Last month I wrote about discovering a literary gem on the ski slopes of Colorado, told how it had been received as miraculous by one of the first persons I gave a copy to, and said I had a couple of copies if you wanted one. The day after the article was published I received a phone call from an elderly friend who said she wanted to buy a copy. I told her I wanted to hold on to the copies I had until after Sunday so I’d have one if you asked for it. She said after what I had written everyone would want one. I told her she was more optimistic about that than I, but assured her I’d get a copy for her. When no one even mentioned the book, or the offer, I took her a copy on Monday.

I do hope the lack of response was due to the poetic nature of the book, and not my track record of recommending movies that few seem to enjoy as much as I do. The response to our Sunday night study of Strange New World does give me hope. I was encouraged to keep trying by your willingness to tackle a book that, while not as scholarly as the book from which it originated, is still not easy to wrap our heads around. I really think Carl Trueman understands what has happened to our culture, and his observations will enable us to more effectively address the problems that surround us. In fact, Matt and I are going to hear him speak at a Touchstone Conference in Chicago next week, Something Wicked This Way Comes.

It’s with mild trepidation that I’m going to plunge ahead and recommend another book. Duane gave me another winner, Living Life Backward by David Gibson. It’s the best book I’ve ever read that gives insight and understanding to a book few seem to comprehend or understand. And no, I’m not talking about Revelation. It’s subtitled “How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us To Live in Light of the End.” One copy has already gone to Wisconsin on a fishing trip. There’s only one left.

God Bless, Rick

It’s a Strange New World indeed, and we’re going to try to understand how it became so strange on Sunday nights, beginning September 18th at 6:30.

I’m not sure how I discovered the writings of Carl Trueman, but you never know where you’ll find a literary gem. I found another one on the ski slopes of Colorado in July.

Marilyn and Linda were exploring the gift shops and Wendell and I were sitting in the shade watching kids ride bikes down the ski trails. An elderly lady in sunglasses was sitting near us, and since I couldn’t make eye contact, I thought I’d just say something. I asked if she was waiting for her grandchildren, and that opened the gate to a delightful conversation.

Before long her grandchildren and their parents joined us, and it didn’t take long for us feel like old friends. When they started to leave she handed me a note and said she too was a Christian, and that she had written a book of poetry that was available on Amazon. I’m really not into poetry, but before she was out of sight I had ordered a copy. I wasn’t sure why, until I got it and started reading.

The book is MY JOURNEY THROUGH IT ALL Hopeful Perseverance. It’s a collection of poems and thoughts that Ann Roberts wrote throughout the course of her life, focusing on how her faith kept her on course.

When I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. It touched me deeply, and before long I started thinking of others who might benefit from poems such as Change in Life that begins:

This life we had was beautiful.
Then one day something came.
That changed our lives forever.
Dementia was its name.

I gave Lucy a copy, and she said she “miraculously” went right to that poem. She now uses it in her daily devotions. I can’t promise it will be miraculous for you, but I do have a couple of copies if you want one.

God Bless, Rick

The Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes, “Be warned: the writing of books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.” That warning might seem irrelevant in a day of Twitter and sound bites, but some things demand a deeper look, and books fill that role. Only one book is essential, but if we would be salt and light in a dark world we should be willing to put on our thinking caps and risk being wearied a bit.

I’m guessing that’s not the best way to encourage you to join me in a study of a book that Kevin Lasley said would be required reading if he were still teaching in the university. But don’t worry, that’s not what I’m about to do. Instead, I’m going to try to convince you to join me in a shorter more accessible version of that book.

When I read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self I had to keep a pencil in hand. I don’t think I’ve ever done as much underlining in a book. Calling it “perhaps the most significant analysis and evaluation of Western culture written by a Protestant during the last fifty years” is probably true. The problem I had was understanding the background of everything he was saying, and knowing how to share it. Now that problem’s been solved.

Carl Trueman accepted the challenge to turn a 400 page scholarly book into a book of less than 200 pages that everyone could read and understand. His new book is entitled Strange New World and is subtitled “How thinkers and activists redefined identity and sparked the sexual revolution.”

He introduced the first book by stating, “The origins of this book lie in my curiosity about how and why a particular statement has come to be regarded as coherent and meaningful: ‘I am a woman trapped in a man’s body.’”

How we got there and how we should respond is something we should all be concerned about. Let me know if I should order you a book.

God Bless, Rick

This world is not my home,
I’m just a-passing through.
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue.

We’ve sung the hymn, but do we live as if we really believe it? That’s a question that Alistair Begg addresses in a wonderful little book entitled Brave by Faith, and subtitled “God-sized Confidence in a Post-Christian World.” He introduces the book with the above words of the hymn, and then gets right to the point.

“The fact of the matter is that it has always been true that we are strangers in and to this world. It has just been clouded, obscured by the size and influence and legal protection of the church in most of the Western world. But this world is not actually our home. We’re not supposed to be treating this life the way other people treat it, as if this is the be-all and end-all of everything, or as if as Christians we can have a comfortable, respectable, prosperous life here and look forward to even more of those things in eternity.

“Secularism pushes back again and again against what the Bible says about sexual ethics, about salvation, about education, about the role and reach of the state, or about matters of public welfare. Public opinion has turned against Christians.

“Suddenly, as a minority group within an increasingly secularized nation, we are finding out how it feels to be outsiders. And we don’t like it. We’re not used to it. And it’s easy to become bewildered, angry, defensive, or defeated.

“So the question is, what does it look like to live as a Christian in a society that does not like what Christians believe, what we say, and how we live? How are you going to live in this new world?”

Alistair takes us to the book of Daniel to find the answer. And, as we noted on Wednesday nights, Daniel and his friends were cast into a pagan culture, given pagan identities, and educated in pagan schools, but remained faithful by depending on God, and by trusting in His providence.

We can do nothing less today.

God Bless, Rick