It was announced yesterday that Dr. Mohler (President of Southern Seminary) would be nominated as the next SBC President. (HT: JT) So, guess what Mohler's blog post is about this morning? That's right, you guessed it...Life in the Cellular Age.

Erik Raymond, the Irish Calvinist, has an excellent article on Expository Preaching. His contention is that while we are heralding a call to return to expository preaching few of us are actually doing it. Here is his conclusion: "Men need to preach the word, not about the word but the word (2 Tim. 4.2). If we are going to keep having conferences that are supposed to center on expository preaching and speak about the need for expository preaching then the men need to preach expositionally or give some type of disclaimer so that folks don’t get confused and the term doesn’t get redefined and lost in our excitement about our “movement” and our contemporary Calvinist super-heroes."

Old Truth has re-posted an article on "Accepting Christ as Personal Savior". The author says some pretty strong things; it will certainly be offensive to proponents of easy-believism. Here are two of his most striking statements: "to [tell] sinners that they can come to Christ whenever they agree to accept Christ as their personal Savior is to deceive and bolster them up in a false "way of salvation". And quoting A.W. Pink, "Man, with his invariable perversity, has reversed God's order. Modern evangelism urges giddy worldlings, with no sense of their lost condition, to 'Accept Christ as their personal Savior'".

Thabiti Anyabwile is dedicating this year to reading and studying evangelism. First on his list is Spurgeon vs. Hyper-Calvinism. It's a great book. I read it last year along with Murray's Forgotten Spurgeon. Today he includes a great quote about Evangelism, Conversion, Revival and Prayer. I pray that this dear brother might be blessed in his study this year.

I never knew he did this. I do not follow very closely the ministry of Pat Robertson but apparently he gives his Nostradamus predictions at the beginning of the year. If Robertson were a baseball player, and his predictions were his average, he'd barely be above the Mendoza line. In 2007, he said the U.S. would be hit by a “major terrorist attack… The Lord didn’t say nuclear. But I do believe it will be something like that.” Robertson said God told him during a recent prayer retreat that major cities and possibly millions of people will be affected by the attack, which should take place sometime after September. In 2006, Robertson said the coasts of America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, will be lashed by storms. 2006 was unusual, say scientists, in that no major hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. In general, it was a very slow year for storms. In 2005, Roberts said:”What I heard is that Bush is now positioned to have victory after victory and that his second term is going to be one of triumph, which is pretty strong stuff.” Bush’s approval ratings hover at less than 30 percent; I haven’t seen any great triumphs yet. You? (HT: Tim Ellsworth) Pat should be glad he is not living in Ancient Israel...he would have been stoned.

Also yesterday Josh Harris posted his final message on Affluenza.

We will close out chapter one today (p10-12). Burroughs goal in this section will be to show us that true Christian contentment aims to take charge in every condition. We see this in three regards.

1. Submitting to God in whatever kind of affliction befalls us. Everyone says that they should be content in every circumstance. But "there is a great deal of deceit in general statements". We like to say that we are content always but there are certain things that we have a more difficult time bearing. Some who are stricken in their marriage would wish that God had taken their finances. Others who are stricken in their finances wish that God would have taken their health. Those who are of ill health might wish God had struck them in another place. "But we must not be our own carvers." True Christian contentment should, "be not only to any condition in general, but for the kind of the affliction, including that which most crosses you."
2. Submitting to God regardless of the time and continuance of the affliction. "We must not be our own disposers for the time of deliverance any more than for the kind and way of deliverance". Even if this be a soul-affliction. Even if it appears that God has withdrawn his face from us and we must travail for years, we must seek him all the more. Burroughs then gives the example of Noah and Ezekiel who had to wait upon God before coming out of their difficult mission. "We should not be willing to come out till he comes and fetches us out".
3. Submitting to God regardless of the changes in our condition. It is very rarely that one affliction comes alone; commonly afflictions are not single things, but they come upon the neck of another". In other words when it rains it pours. It is more difficult when one affliction follows another, nevertheless, we must persevere in our contentment.

Burroughs has been showing us today that we must be content regardless of the circumstance. I am reminded of prisoner Paul in the book of Philippians who appears to be quite content and even joyful. His reason? It appears to be his passionate love for Jesus that sustains him. "Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection of the dead". In other words Jesus is such a precious treasure that I consider everything as nothing compared to him. If Christ is not our treasure then we will not learn Christian contentment.