* - 1 Green Menu Taco Bell's New Green Menu Takes No Ingredients From Nature

Taco Bell's New Green Menu Takes No Ingredients From Nature

Tony Bennett: "The Way You Look Tonight"

This song was written by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields. i just purchased the CD "Oscar Peterson plays the Jerome Kern Song Book" Oscar does his version of this song but I couldn't find it so here's the song sung by Tony Bennett. I have always loved this song.

How Cable News Covered This Past Week

"But That's Just Your Interpretation"

Anybody ever raise that objection when you're explaining the gospel? "But what you're getting from the Bible -- it's just your interpretation. Why should I or anyone else believe that?"

This objection aims to dismiss your truth-claims as overrated. It's a strategy for leveling out all assertions as no more than mere personal opinions: "You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to."

Here are some things to keep in mind.

One, stay focused on what C. S. Lewis called "mere Christianity" -- the core truths of the gospel that are super-clear in the Bible. Avoid pet doctrines and denominational nuances. Your unbelieving friend might be throwing this objection out there because you really are advocating just a personal hunch.

Two, validate the objection, then neutralize it. "Sure, there's interpretation in what I'm saying. But no one can know anything without interpreting it, without running it through the sieve of personal understanding. It's like the sunlight shining through a stained-glass window. The colors show up, but the light is still real and the sun is really out there. So okay, you're getting the gospel through me, and I'm not very good at this. Big deal. The point is, it isn't JUST my interpretation. There is truth in what I'm saying."

Three, make the truth personal, and offer it personally to your friend. "I always have to watch myself, to minimize the distortion-factor in my thinking about Christ. So, thank you for reminding me of that. But here's what I can't get away from. As I read the Bible, the reality of Christ comes storming through to me so clearly I just can't dismiss that power as an 'interpretation.' I have to deal with him, because he's dealing with me. If you'd rather keep it safe, at the level of 'interpretation,' I don't blame you. He is totally rocking my world. But here's where I come down. I'd rather have him messing with me than lose him by treating him as an abstraction. His love is the only good thing in my life I'll keep forever. Want to talk about that? Want to talk about what he can mean to you too?"

Fractured Fairy Tales Staring S.C. Governor Mark Sanford

Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue - Bootleg Series Vol. 2 - 18

How The Press Covers Obama

Simul justus et peccator

[sim’-uhl yoos’-tuhs et peck’-aw-tore]

(Latin simul, “simultaneous” + Latin justus, “righteous” + Latin et, “and” + Latin peccator, “sinner”)

At the same time righteous and a sinner. The phrase was coined by 16th century German Reformer, Martin Luther. In his Lectures on Romans, Luther put it this way, “The saints in being righteous are at the same time sinners; they are righteous because they believe in Christ whose righteousness covers them and is imputed to them, but they are sinners because they do not fulfill the Law and are not without sinful desires. They are like sick people in the care of a physician: they are really sick, but healthy only in hope and in so far as they begin to get better, or, rather: are being healed.”

God Wants to Work Through You

A.W. Tozer:

Unbelief says:

Some other time, but not now;
some other place, but not here;
some other people, but not us.

Faith says:

Anything He did anywhere else He will do here;
anything He did any other time He is willing to do now;
anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!

With our

feet on the ground,
and our head cool,
but with our heart ablaze with the love of God,

we walk out in this fullness of the Spirit, if we will yield and obey.
God wants to work through you!
The Counselor has come, and He doesn't care about the limits of

locality,
geography,
time
or nationality.

The Body of Christ is bigger than all of these.
The question is:
Will you open your heart?

Eric Clapton - Everyday I Have the Blues

Have you seen Jesus lately? - - by Charles Spurgeon

"But they did not know who He was." Luke 24:16

The disciples ought to have recognized Jesus, they had heard His voice so often, and gazed upon that marred face so frequently, that it is amazing that they did not know Him. Yet is it not so with you also? Have you seen Jesus lately? You have been to His table--and you have not met Him there. You are in a dark trouble, and though He plainly says, "It is I--do not be afraid," yet you do not recognize Him. Alas! our eyes are blinded! We know His voice; we have looked into His face; we have leaned our head upon His bosom--and yet, though Christ is very near us, we are saying, "O that I knew where I might find Him!"

We should know Jesus, for we have the Scriptures to reflect His image. Yet how frequently we open that precious book--and have no glimpse of our Well-beloved! Dear child of God, are you in that state? Jesus walks through the glades of Scripture, and desires to commune with His people. Yet you are in the garden of Scripture--but cannot see Him, though He is always there!

Make it your prayer, "Lord, open my eyes--that I may see my Savior present with me!" It is a blessed thing to desire to see Him. But oh! it is better far to gaze upon Him! To those who seek Him--He is kind; but to those who find Him--He is precious beyond expression!

Is This Not A Happy Business

"Faith does not merely mean that the soul realizes that the divine word is full of all grace, free and holy; it also unites the soul with Christ, as a bride is united with her bridegroom. From such a marriage, as St. Paul says, it follows that Christ and the soul become one body, so that they hold all things in common, whether for better or worse. This means that what Christ possesses belongs to the believing soul, and what the soul possesses belongs to Christ. Thus Christ possesses all good things and holiness; these now belong to the soul. The soul possesses lots of vices and sin; these now belong to Christ. . . . Now is not this a happy business? Christ, the rich, noble and holy bridegroom, takes in marriage this poor, contemptible and sinful little prostitute, takes away all her evil and bestows all his goodness upon her! It is no longer possible for sin to overwhelm her, for she is now found in Christ and is swallowed up in him, so that she possesses a rich righteousness in her bridegroom."

Martin Luther, quoted in Alister E. McGrath, Christian Spirituality: An Introduction, pages 158-159.

Arminianism

(ahr-mih‘-nee-uhn-iz’-um)

A summary of teachings that are attributed to 17th century Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius. Arminian theology took issue with the teachings of John Calvin on 5 points, articulated in the Five articles of Remonstrance of 1610. The doctrines can be summarized as universal (prevenient) grace, conditional election, unlimited atonement, resistible grace, and uncertainty of perseverance. This eventually led to the Synod of Dort of 1618-1619, which resulted in the State church upholding what later became the 5 Points of Calvinism, while condemning Arminianism. Arminian theology later received official toleration by the State and has since continued in various forms within Protestantism.

Doyle Bramhall ll - Oh Death - Crossroads Guitar Festival 2007

ShamNow - Goverment Health Care

Hope In A Decadent Age

"All that is meant by Decadence is 'falling off.' It implies in those who live in such a time no loss of energy or talent or moral sense. On the contrary, it is a very active time, full of deep concerns, but peculiarly restless, for it sees no clear lines of advance. The loss it faces is that of Possibility. The forms of art as of life seem exhausted, the stages of development have been run through. Institutions function painfully. Repetition and frustration are the intolerable result. Boredom and fatigue are great historical forces."

"Behold, I am making all things new." Revelation 21:5

See Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life, 1500 to the Present, page xvi.

A Tortured Existence - Thoughts About Michael Jackson

So the king is dead. What a sad end to a sad life; a pathetic end to a pathetic life (by which I mean to use pathetic in its true sense as “arousing pity and sympathy). I don’t know that I have ever seen, in one man, such a combination of self-love and self-loathing, shocking narcissism combined with equally shocking self-hatred. Truly Michael Jackson was unparalleled.

Andrew Sullivan offered a few interesting thoughts.

There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.

I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours’ and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.

I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again.

From beginning to end, Jackson led a tortured life and he led much of it in full view of the public. As much as he was secretive, being whisked about behind masks and tinted windows, the sheer volume of cameras and the unending interest in his life meant that his every step was recorded. We saw him change his skin color, change his face, and almost change his gender. Through it all, we gasped at his obvious self-loathing, expressed in his desire to change everything he is and was and manifested in his increasingly bizarre behavior. He was a tortured soul and I doubt we can even imagine what was going on inside that increasingly twisted heart, that increasingly conflicted mind.

Michael Jackson was in so many ways a product of this sick celebrity culture (that he helped create) that will never rest satisfied until it has both created and then destroyed the newest celebrity. We want our celebrities to start strong and finish weak, to begin with a bang and then fizzle, pop and sputter, all for our enjoyment and entertainment (Susan Boyle stands as the most recent example of this). Jackson gave us so much to talk about, so much to enjoy. More than any other celebrity he embodied the “vanities” of Ecclesiastes. He was at one time known for what he did so well and then was known for being a freak; he was at one time fantastically wealthy and then utterly broke; he was once loved and then despised. He had it all and yet, it seemed, he had nothing. All of it was meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Andrew Sullivan ended his reflection on Jackson by saying, “I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life.” I hope the same. Truly, I do. I never cared much for Michael Jackson. I listened to his music occasionally in life but, after losing my childhood collection of 45’s, I didn’t ever buy one of his songs or albums. But it was impossible to miss him completely as even decades after the peak of his fame, his face was often in the news and even a simple skim of the headlines would show that his strangeness was increasing year-by-year. Through all of this I haven’t ever hoped for much on his behalf. But I hope now that he has finally found peace. Sadly, though, his life showed no evidence that he had found the One who is peace, the one who offers true peace. And if that is the case, the true horror of it all is that Jackson will spend all of eternity in the same twisted mind that tortured him for most of the fifty years he was given here. Those fifty years seemed to drive him to the brink of utter insanity; the thought of an eternity in that state is too horrific to imagine. We may like to think that death inevitably brings peace to a tortured existence. But Scripture gives us no reason to find hope except in the One who offers hope by saying “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” May you find that rest today so you can enjoy that rest eternally.

By Tim Challies

Why Changing The Outside Is Not Enough - Some Thoughts About Michael Jackson

What Jackson did to himself is what we all do to ourselves outside of Christ. The difference is that Jackson's failed attempts were all worn obviously, in public view, on the changing tapestry of his face, while we may mask ours better.

As you shrink from the Frankenstein shock of Jackson's visage, reflect: mankind was created in God's image (Genesis 1:26-28), and still bears that image (Genesis 9:6). But in seeking to take God's place and make themselves gods (Genesis 3), our foreparents did to their whole beings what Michael Jackson did to his face: they horridly disfigured themselves and all of us, leaving a repulsive mockery of what we were meant to be.

The only solution for us is not a succession of endeavors to remake ourselves. Each attempt leaves a worse spectacle than the previous, and moves us further from what we truly need.

The only solution for us is the solution to which Michael Jackson never submitted himself, as far as is known: to be born anew, under the good hand of our Creator. We do not need new faces. We need new natures. We need the miracle of regeneration, not the tragedy of manmade makeovers.

And this can only come through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anonymous people from at least six continents pass through these pages every day. My prayer for you, whoever you are, is that you will take your hurts and brokenness and crimes against God to the only place when you can find forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation: to the Lord Jesus Christ.
By Dan Phillips, ToRead The Rest

' I'm So Glad ' SKIP JAMES (1931) Delta Blues Guitar

Repel Fleas And Hereticks - Frontline Plus

How To Avoid Being Shallow

"Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys."

C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, chapter 8.

I believe the Lord takes every one of his children to this place of bare trust in his Word. Without it, we would remain shallow. Through it, we emerge more deeply surrendered to God as God, more deeply settled and quietly certain and surprisingly satisfied.
I also believe that many of us are in that place of intense pressure right now.

God will keep us.

Thanksgiving

“He who loves not wine, woman and song is a fool his whole life long." Martin Luther

"Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving." 1 Timothy 4:4

No Country for Burly Men

How feminist groups skewed the Obama stimulus plan towards women's jobs.
by Christina Hoff Sommers
A "man-cession." That's what some economists are starting to call it. Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men. Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan, characterizes the recession as a "downturn" for women but a "catastrophe" for men.

Men are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis because they predominate in manufacturing and construction, the hardest-hit sectors, which have lost more than 3 million jobs since December 2007. Women, by contrast, are a majority in recession-resistant fields such as education and health care, which gained 588,000 jobs during the same period. Rescuing hundreds of thousands of unemployed crane operators, welders, production line managers, and machine setters was never going to be easy. But the concerted opposition of several powerful women's groups has made it all but impossible. Consider what just happened with the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Last November, President-elect Obama addressed the devastation in the construction and manufacturing industries by proposing an ambitious New Deal-like program to rebuild the nation's infrastructure. He called for a two-year "shovel ready" stimulus program to modernize roads, bridges, schools, electrical grids, public transportation, and dams and made reinvigorating the hardest-hit sectors of the economy the goal of the legislation that would become the recovery act.

Women's groups were appalled. Grids? Dams? Opinion pieces immediately appeared in major newspapers with titles like "Where are the New Jobs for Women?" and "The Macho Stimulus Plan."
Read The Rest

Tombstone - Doc Holliday "I'm your Huckleberry"

Bob Dylan - Ring Them Bells

Does Your Church Still Exist?

"Jesus Christ warns them that if they disobey his commands, and do not repent, their church's existence will be ignominiously terminated. 'I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent' (Revelation 2:5). No church has a secure and permanent place in the world. It is continuously on trial. . . . Many churches all over the world today have ceased truly to exist. Their buildings remain intact, their ministers minister and their congregations congregate, but their lampstand has been removed."

John R. W. Stott, What Christ Thinks of the Church, page 33.

American shoppers misled by greenwash, Congress told

98% of supposedly environmentally friendly products in US supermarkets make false or confusing claims, campaigners say:

More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products on US supermarket shelves are making potentially false or misleading claims, Congress has been told. And 22% of products making green claims bear an environmental badge that has no inherent meaning, said Scot Case, of the environmental consulting firm TerraChoice.

The study of nearly 4,000 consumer products found "greenwashing" in nearly every product category – from a lack of verifiable information to outright lies.

Even the experts are confused. Case, whose firm runs its own Ecologo certification programme, admitted he had bought a refrigerator only to find it failed to meet its claims of energy efficiency.

Read the rest

I believe that we have another case of "A sucker is born every minute"

C.S. Lewis on Seeing Everything Your Enemies Do As Bad

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 118:

"Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out.

Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible?

If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything — God and our friends and ourselves included — as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred."

This certainly applies in politics, doesn't it? When George W. Bush was President, he was demonized daily by those who thought virtually everything he did was utterly scandalous and terrible. And now many conservatives--including, ahem, many Christians--are returning the favor with President Obama.

Kurt Warner On The Best Part Of Being A Proffessional Football Player

"Kurt, as a professional football player, what aspect of your vocational calling gives you the most joy in life? What is it about the 'job of football' that you love the most?"

His answer came instantly and unequivocally:

"Without question, the greatest joy about my calling as a professional football player is seeing the barriers it breaks-down in giving me the opportunity to talk about Jesus."

He elaborated on this by noting how all the privilege and all the status and all the fame simply serves to give him access to people and places to talk about the Lord that he otherwise would not have had. In essence he made it clear that, to him, the job is an amazing platform from which he gets to steward his main joy in life--telling people about the Jesus.

A Life Well Lived - Bob Bosworth

In memoriam...

Around 4 pm Friday, 05 June, Bob Bosworth left this earth to meet his heavenly Father. Linda and her sister, Debbie, arrived in South Africa the following day. The funeral, conducted on Thursday, 11 June, was marked by joy and music for Bob's homecoming. Please pray for Stella, Linda and Debbie during this time of loss.

---

A life well lived...

All For God's Glory. Together with Stella, his South African-born wife, Bob served the Lord for 55 years in Africa and internationally, reaching thousands upon thousands for Christ. While Bob was an accomplished missionary, his greatest legacy was as a Christian, a husband and a father.

Bob and Stella began pioneer work in remote areas of Africa in 1952. His large evangelistic efforts in urban areas resulted in many churches being planted, most notably in Zimbabwe. Those churches are still thriving today. Bob also planted Bible schools, trained evangelistic teams, began the MorningWatch ministry for early morning prayer, and carried the message of prayer to over 60 countries at a time of great renewal and worldwide missions activity. Recently, Bob and Stella became burdened for financially helping destitute pastors in Third-World countries. Bob is survived by his wife, Stella, and his two daughters, Linda and Debbie

I was blessed to have known Bob, and while he was not in the States very much his life had quite an impact on me. In your lifetime you can count on one hand the number of great men that have crossed your path, Bob was one of those men.

Eric clapton - layla (live)

You Do Matter

"His view of death and his own death was having confidence that life matters and that the world matters. . . . Because of that you fight to live, and because of that you need to go out and carry on the good fight. You do matter, and God does exist. So you put your hand to the plow, you work and you struggle -- you do what you can in all different areas, with passion. You don't sit in a corner somewhere and wait to die. . . . What you look forward to is not death but the Second Coming. You are longing and working for that. Contrary to what people say -- that you can't take anything with you -- yes, you do take your work with you. It's a biblical teaching, that what you do matters and will continue on into eternity."

Deborah Schaeffer Middelmann, regarding her father Francis Schaeffer, quoted in Colin Duriez, Francis Schaeffer: An Authentic Life, page 203.

Kenosis

[kuh-noe’-sis]

(Greek, “emptying”)

Describes the “emptying” of Christ at the incarnation. The Greek word kenoo (”to empty”) is found in Phil 2:6-11 where Christ humility is described through the incarnation. Debate exists concerning the meaning of the Kenosis. Did Christ lose divine attributes and thus “empty” himself, or did he give up rights for the independent use of his divine attributes, without actually giving them up? Most theologians would opt for the latter, believing that if Christ “lost” divine attributes he would no longer be divine; indeed, he would never have been divine in the first place considering the essential divine attribute of immutability (the inability to change in essence).

Truth

Motivational Posters for the post-evangelical chaos

Disease of Conceit - Bob Dylan

Atheist Bus Campaign

This couldn't be more wrong. The only way to stop worrying and enjoy life is by knowing and believing there is a God and that in his great mercy he sent his son Jesus to die on the cross and take your sin and give you the gift of eternal life.

The Most Oppressive Tyranny

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be 'cured' against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals. But to be punished, however severely, because we have deserved it, because we 'ought to have known better,' is to be treated as a human person made in God's image." (C.S. Lewis in "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment")

U2 - Get On Your Boots Live at Fordham University

Jim Gaffigan - Bacon - KING BABY

This Infinite Fountain Of Love

"There, in heaven, this infinite fountain of love -- this eternal Three in One -- is set open without any obstacle to hinder access to it, as it flows forever. There this glorious God is manifested and shines forth in full glory, in beams of love. And there this glorious fountain forever flows forth in streams, yea, in rivers of love and delight, and these rivers swell, as it were, to an ocean of love, in which the souls of the ransomed may bathe with the sweetest enjoyment, and their hearts, as it were, be deluged with love!"

Jonathan Edwards, "Heaven is a world of love," Charity and its Fruits, pages 327-328.

Open House

Saturday was a busy day, we had my daughter Jessica's Graduation open house at my sister Sally's house, in South Lyon. After a night of monster rain we had a beautiful muggy day with plenty of sunshine and a nice breeze.That's my mom who just turned 85, then Jessica and on the right is my sister Sally.

No Degrees of Deadness

The company is not doing well this quarter. Sales are down. Potential customers are not buying. The sales team manager needs to get things moving. Someone has to make a sale and quickly. What is the sales team leader to do? Well one thing he could do is to send his team down to the morgue and have his sales team get some sales amongst the dead, selling their nasal sprays, their foot massager machines and their electronic toothbrushes. But sadly, things don't go too well. The dead seem to have no interest in anything the sales team has to say, in spite of the positive smiles and highly developed and well rehearsed sales pitch.. Even at the morgue, no sales are made; for one simple reason, the dead are, how shall we say it? ... errr.. dead!

A silly scenario? Yes, of course! But lets think about this as it relates to man's condition outside of Christ. He is not vibrant and healthy; nor merely under the weather a little, and not just extremely sick about to breathe his last breath. God says that man is actually dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). The Greek word for dead here is necros, meaning dead like a corpse. There are no signs of spiritual life. It is a hopeless case.
Continue reading "No Degrees of Deadness" »

Miracle Hair Tonic

Glad - Steve Winwood & Eric Clapton

Filling Voids

"All sins are attempts to fill voids." Simone Weil

We might try to fill the voids we so deeply feel by doing bad things or by doing good things. When we salve the ache in our hearts, which only God himself can satisfy, by doing good things, we then feel proud and think God owes us and we get angry when he doesn't fork over. When we salve the ache within by doing bad things, we feel shamed and think God despises us and slink away from him in bitterness and cynicism. But we are the ones complicating our souls.

Filling the void with anything but God is a sin. Sin can involve doing a good thing, or sin can involve doing a bad thing. But only God can comfort us. Only God can fill our souls with the magnitude of the One we long for. And he does, freely, on terms of grace. "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." 1 Peter 3:18

To be empty and disappointed and brokenhearted does not disqualify you from God. It means God is near, if you'll have him.
Ray Ortlund

Eric Burdon - Forty Days and Forty Nights

The Best Fears of Our Lives

Russell D. Moore on the Good Father’s Quiet Desperation

Somebody please help me. I’m really, really depressed, and I don’t know what to do. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know I was depressed until a new study came out, and I’m at high, high risk. An article by Vanderbilt and Florida State sociology professors, based on data from the National Survey of Families and Households, has concluded that parents are more susceptible to depression than non-parents.

According to the Sacramento Bee’s report, “Parents experience significantly higher levels of depression than grown-ups who don’t have children.”

I still thought I was okay, since I’m a reasonably happy man. That is, until I saw the definition of the problem. According to the Bee: “The researchers suggest that worry is a lifelong cost of having children.” And don’t think it gets better when they leave the house: “Parents of grown children (whether they live at home or have moved out) and parents without custody of minor children exhibit more signs of depression than other parents.”

To read the rest go Here

Atheism

The Almost Impossible Thing

"The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self—all your wishes and precautions—to Christ."

"[The natural life] knows that if the spiritual life gets hold of it, all its self-centredness and self-will are going to be killed and it is ready to fight tooth and nail to avoid that."

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

Milt Jackson - People Make The world Go around

One of my favorite songs, Milt Jackson on Vibes, Herbie Hancock on Piano, Ron Carter on Bass, Billy Cobham on Drums, and Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet.

P.J. O’Rourke on the New “Obamamobile”

P.J. O’Rourke talks about classic cars, government regulation, the takeover of GM and the forthcoming “Obamamobile.” Be ready to laugh out loud. Classic O’Rourke.

Is This Your Driving Experience?

Living in a Society of Possible gods and goddesses

"It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare."

C. S. Lewis in Weight Of Glory

Lost Money

Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues THP 1959

I watched a little of Walk The Line, the recent movie about Johnny Cash, the part where he did the concert at Folsom Prison. That promoted me to get the double CD and DVD containing both concerts Cash did at Folsom Prison and read through the booklet that came with it. That's why this song was on my mind today.

Little Moments Of Decision

"Your danger and mine is not that we become criminals, but rather that we become respectable, decent, commonplace, mediocre Christians. The twentieth-century temptations that really sap our spiritual power are the television, banana cream pie, the easy chair and the credit card. The Christian wins or loses in those seemingly innocent little moments of decision.

Lord, make my life a miracle!"

Raymond C. Ortlund, Lord, Make My Life A Miracle, page 151.

A Long Terrible Story

"All that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy."

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

Motorcycle Crash In Church - Youth Pastor gone wild

Wow heres how we can disciple kids lets hold stupid youth leader stunts!

Jessica Graduates!

This is my lovely daughter Jessica after her graduation ceremony, showing off her diploma that makes it official. Jessica is the baby of the family she has three older brothers, and is still thinking about what she wants to do in the future.

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee - Hootin' the Blues

Beer Proves Once Again To Be Deterrent To Crime

Alcohol has been the downfall of many ne’er-do-wells, but never quite like this. After a man stole Kayte Taylor’s wallet near a Santa Rosa, Calif., market on Saturday, the 28-year-old did what most women would — she grabbed a 12-pack of Miller Lite and shot-putted it at the thief.

The tasty beer missile hit its mark — knocking the man off of his getaway bike, where Kayte’s friends descended on him and retrieved the wallet. Boom goes the dynamite. It’s Miller Time.

From the SANTA ROSA PRESS DEMOCRAT:

Taking chase, Kayte reached the sidewalk to see the guy pushing and trying to mount a bicycle. It dawned on Kayte there was something useful in her hand. A 12-pack of Miller Lite — bottles. Her friends’ eyes widened as Kayte hoisted the box to shoulder height, reared back and shot-put the beer at the burglar maybe 12 feet away.

Pow. Down he went. Four women were on him like kids on a burst piñata. Kayte took back her wallet.

The police then showed up and were in a very arresty mood.

What onlookers failed to notice is that Taylor’s throw of 11 feet, 2 inches was a woman’s outdoor record for light beer (bottles). Be assured that the Chinese are assembling a women’s beer shot putting team as you read this.

A Gold Ring In A Pig's Snout

Bad news for those living in “Middle America.” Actress Megan Fox would like Megatron, the evil character from her new movie “Transformers,” to blow you up. Kat Giantis, of Wonderwall, reported the actress was recently interviewed by “Total Film UK.” Although nobody asked her who she would like Megatron to obliterate, she volunteered it anyway.

When asked how she would stop the ruthless Megatron from demolishing the world, Fox first said that she would “barter with him.” She then, however, went on to say, “... and instead of the entire planet, can you just take out all of the white trash, hillbilly, anti-gay, super bible-beating people in Middle America?"

How tolerant.

" Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion." Proverbs 11:22 ESV

Prayerline Mishap

The danger of misdialing P for Prayer.

Bob Dylan - Maggies Farm 1965 live This is Bob's first electric performance

This is Bob Dylan's first electric performance at the Newport folk festival, this broke the mold and stirred everything up. His band is actually the Paul Butterfield Blues Band minus Paul. Sam Lay is on drums and Mike Bloomfield is on lead guitar.

Thoughts on Evangelical Superstardom

Thoughts about the possibilities and pitfalls of evangelical celebrity culture, by Kevin Deyoung

1. We ought to give thanks for the men and women in our lives who have taught us the Scriptures and helped us see more of God.
2. I doubt church celebrities are new.There will always be famous people in the church (even if they are only famous in our circles) and we’ll never escape the dangers of hero worship and self-exaltation.
3. God works through great men and women.
4. We should pray for “evangelical superstars.” The higher they rise, the harder they fall.
5. Learning from a great teacher does not eliminate the need to think for ourselves.
6. Remember that famous people are still people. We all have clay feet.
7. While it’s true that God blesses godly, gifted, humble servants of Christ with fruitfulness in ministry, always keep in mind that becoming a ministry “success” is a weird deal.
8. Don’t let others’ passion be a substitute for your own.
9. Even with the proliferation of blogs, twitter, and iPods, the people in your life still need real live people in their lives. The most important pastor is the one in your local church.
10. This is my final thought, and maybe sums up all the others: don’t like someone just because others do, and don’t dislike someone just because others like him. Both are dangers in a celebrity culture.
These are the main points to read the whole article go here

Groaning The Blues - Eric Clapton

This is a perfect song as the people of Metro Detroit let out a collective groan, we are groaning the blues over the Red Wings loss.

Penguins 2, Red Wings 1 - A day Of Mourning In Detroit

Its a sad Saturday in Detroit MI, as a stunned city wakes up to the reality that the Wings lost the Stanley Cup. The NHL has what it wanted all along, Sid the kid has the cup. There is no joy in Mudville (Detroit) the mighty Wings have struck out.

Missile Defense Cuts

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers-Ramblin' On My Mind

Popular Pastor Cloned in Church Growth Experiment

In an attempt to combat a severe drop in attendance every time their popular preacher goes on vacation, Marina Bay Community Church made the shocking announcement that they have cloned their longtime pastor, Rev. Spencer Klagg. To make this possible, Marina Bay enlisted the help of RevClone, a new Christian cloning facility in Southern California dedicated to multiplying the current pool of dynamic preaching celebrities.

“As a cutting-edge mega church, we’re always looking for innovative ways to grow our church, and DNA duplication just seemed like a no-brainer,” explained church spokesman and elder, Clarence Ambrose. “Statistically our lowest Sunday attendance is when Pastor Klagg is on vacation and our associate pastor, Raymond Elliot, fills in. No offense to Raymond, but the people think Pastor Klagg’s monologue jokes are just plain funnier than Raymond’s prop comedy.”

By cloning their pastor, Marina Bay hopes to fill their 3,000 seat auditorium every Sunday, whether the original Pastor Klagg is in the pulpit or not. During those times when Klagg is taking time off, his clone will perform the pastoral duties in his stead, assuring the congregation of no interruption in enjoying their pastor’s unique spiritual gifts. “Not to mention keeping the weekly offering at the same high level as the attendance,” Ambrose added.

Not all church members, however, are pleased with the cloning of Pastor Klagg. Herm Tayback, a deacon for twenty years, is a vocal critic of the RevClone project. “Am I the only one creeping out over this? Last week the pastor was performing a wedding while his clone was back home mowing his lawn. I mean, are we gaining a spare pastor or giving Mrs. Klagg another husband to take out the garbage?” Tayback also worries about possible theological ramifications. “Hey, I’ve seen those science fiction movies where the clone slowly goes insane because of a missing chromosome. What happens if Klagg’s twin loses his mind and starts preaching on sin and repentance? Good grief, we could lose half the congregation! In fact, I’ve shared these concerns with Pastor Klagg. At least I think I was talking to Pastor Klagg… Ooo, did anyone else just get a chill down their back?”

Regardless of the criticism, RevClone’s head scientist Farnsworth Diddle is quite proud of his work with Marina Bay, and he envisions a wide application for this new cloning technology. “Just think… churches won’t just use Rick Warren’s teachings, now they can hire a Rick Warren clone as their pastor.” Deacon Tayback disagrees. “Don’t we have enough Rick Warren clones in churches already?”

All in all, Ambrose says Marina Bay is very pleased with the initial reaction to their new genetically-created pastor. “Attendance has never been better,” he reported happily. “But if we ever start losing folks, we’re not worried. Our contingency plan is to start cloning the congregation, too. Doesn’t science work in mysterious ways?”

From Sacred Sandwich

A Fountain Of Fresh Error

"Every uncorrected error and unrepented sin is, in its own right, a fountain of fresh error and fresh sin flowing on to the end of time."

From The Problem Of Pain by C. S. Lewis

How To Ruin Anything!

If you want to know how well the Government will run your health care just look at Amtrak and The Post Office, just look at the swell job they are doing with Gm and Chrysler and the Banks, you get the idea.

All Your Love --- John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton

Does Your Religion Make You Comfortable?

“I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

C.S. Lewis

America’s Christless Christianity

Back in the 1940’s Donald Grey Barnhouse, a Presbyterian pastor, asked the question, “What would it be like if Satan took over a city?”

Barnhouse speculated that if Satan took over Philadelphia, all of the bars would be closed, pornography banished, and pristine streets would be filled with tidy pedestrians who smiled at each other. There would be no swearing. The children would say, “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am,” and the churches would be full every Sunday . . . where Christ is not preached.

In his newest book, Christless Christianity, Dr. Mike Horton warns Evangelicalism in America that Barnhouse’s hypothetical scenario is quickly becoming a reality. According to Horton, the driving mantra of so many Evangelical churches today is, “do more, try harder.” Sermons are filled with seven or twelve step plans for having a happier marriage or better finances. Ironically, as a newer generation reacts against the harsh legalism of their parents, they are merely replacing it with a softer (but more sadistic) form of legalism. Famous TV preachers like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer victoriously proclaim that they have finally realized that Christianity isn’t about following a lot of rules. But they go on to tell their audience that it is only about “Loving God and each other.” The sixteenth century Reformer, John Calvin, heard similar sentiments coming from some of his Roman Catholic brethren (who were also reacting to the harsh legalism of their upbringing) and remarked, “As if that were easier!” According to Jesus Christ, loving God and your neighbor is the essence of the whole Old Testament Law. Loving God and your neighbor is in the hardest thing that anyone could ever ask you to do!
To read the rest go here.

Mere Christianity Study

Starting a summer book reading and discussion tonight with Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. The first meeting is at the Church, 16751 Middlebelt 1 block south of 6 mile at 7pm then we move to Rotary park on 6 mile Rd. between Merriam and Farmington Roads, in Livonia. Everyone is invited, grab the book and join us.

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers-Parchman Farm

by Mose Allison. "I'm sitting over here on Parchman farm. I'm sitting over here on Parchman farm. I'm sitting over here on Parchman farm, Ain't never done no man no harm."

Bible Study Raid

Coming up on a special episode of COPS: San Diego police close in on an illegal Bible study ring!

Bad Christians, Bad Christians, Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?

God's Megaphone

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
From The Problem Of Pain by C. S. Lewis

Our Failure To Practice What We Expect From Others

"This year, or this month, or, more likely, this very day, we have failed to practice ourselves the kind of behavior we expect from other people."
C. S. Lewis

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Texas Flood

Your Goverment At Work

Do you love God enough to merit eternal life?

One day an expert in the law approached Jesus and asked him, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered with a question, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" The man answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, love your neighbor as yourself." "You have answered correctly" Jesus replied, "Do this and you will live."

If you are honest with yourself you will admit that you do not love God 100% of anything. And you defiantly don't love your neighbor as if he were yourself. This man wanted eternal life and he wanted to know what he had to do in order to get it. Jesus said here's something to do, do it and you will live. If 100% is the standard for eternal life, let me ask you, how are you doing? There isn't one human being that loves God with 100% of their heart, soul, strength and mind, let alone loving their neighbor as they love themselves.

What the law expert quoted is commonly called the Great Commandment. I know of a number of Churches whose mission statement is to live by the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. What they are doing is inviting people to join them in keeping the law perfectly, which is not possible. There is nothing you can to inherit something, you don't work for an inheritance you receive an inheritance. You will never in this life even come close to loving God with 100% of your heart, soul, strength and mind.

There is only one person who ever fulfilled the Great Commandment and loved God and his neighbor 100%, and that's Jesus. God in his great love had mercy on us and saved us. We are spiritually bankrupt and are poor and have nothing, nothing of merit, nothing to recommend ourselves to God. "But God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved." Though he was rich for your sake he became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich by believing in him and by acknowledging Lord Jesus I am nothing, be my everything and by faith his righteousness is transferred to our account. What is the mercy of God? It is God bestowing spiritual riches on spiritually bankrupt people. Do you believe that?

Dogs Reading Scripture

The poker-playing dogs, immortalized in the famous paintings by Cassius Coolidge, announced last week that they have repented of their former ways and have replaced their Friday night poker game with a Wednesday night Bible study. Laddie (left), top dog of the study group, hopes that their new painting, “Dogs Reading Scripture,” will make them role models for other dogs caught in the vicious cycle of canine gambling. Says the collie leader, “Our next goal is to stop drinking out of the toilet.”

Sinner's Prayer - Eric Clapton

An Interview with Mark Noll about The New Shape of World Christianity

Mark Noll's latest book is The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith (IVP, 2009). Noll is Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at Notre Dame and among the most respected historians of evangelicalism working today. Below is a brief interview with him about his new book.

Why is American Christianity important for the world?

The argument of the book that it is of course important for many contacts between the U.S. and the rest of the world that can be measured in terms of "influence." But it is even more important because the U.S. pioneered a pattern of "Christianity after Christendom" that has become the main pattern for Christian expression in the rest of the world. By this I mean, more lay-oriented, less tied to government, more entrepreneurial, more charismatic, and less structured.

One of the main points of the book seems to be that the American form of Christianity accounts for America’s most significant contribution to this new shape of world Christianity. Can you give us a thumbnail sketch of the way in which American Christianity developed from its European predecessors? Are there historical precursors to what happened here in the 19th century, or was it a new form altogether?

Europeans looking at the U.S. in the early 19th century knew that Christianity could not flourish because the faith had always had the support of governments in Europe (at least since the 4th century, so for 1400 years). Amazingly, however, Christianity flourished in the U.S. with no government assistance (to speak of), with bottoms-up lay initiative, and through the use of voluntary societies. The missiologist Andrew Walls has written profoundly about the huge impact of voluntary societies on world Christianity. My book is, in a sense, only an extended footnote on Walls' very important insights.

For those unfamiliar with Walls's work, where should they start?

I'd start with The Missionary Movement in Christian History: Studies in the Transmission of Faith.

On The Road Again

It's Monday afternoon and I'm, sitting in a Starbucks in Anderson In. I have a hard time hearing the word Anderson without thinking of "Mr. Anderson" from the Matrix. I am on my way home from Mt. Vernon IL and am very tired. I had a great time this weekend, enjoying good fellowship seeing friends and making new ones. I spoke last night on how God changes people, and that he uses completely different approaches with different people, there is no one size fits all. I'm looking forward to getting home and I can't wait for Tuesday night's game between the Red Wings and the Penguins. In case you haven't noticed I am a huge hockey fan, ya got that you hockey puck! I have been listening to Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood's latest CD live from Madison Square Garden, it helps me to rock down the highway.

Eric Clapton : Driftin' Blues

Red Wings 5, Penguins 0

Great game 5 win for the Red Wings, its on to Pitsburg to win the cup.

On The Road

Its Sunday morning and I'm at Christian Fellowship Church in Mt. Vernon IL, the Church is pastored by my good friend Randy Sims. I spoke on leadership yesterday for about 3 hours and am speaking this morning and then tonight at another Church in town.

Labels

Frog Sunday School

Eric Clapton - I Shot the Sheriff

The Bible Dodge

04 June 2009

The-Holy-Spirit, not-the-Bible dodge (NEXT! #14)

by Dan Phillips

Challenge: Your stress on "the Bible alone" leaves no room for the Holy Spirit.

Response: Uh-huh. And the Bible was created by...?

On The Road

On the road in Tera Haute IN just stopped at a Starbucks for needed fuel. I'm on my way to Mt. Vernon IL Ive got a couple of hours to go. Teaching Saturday and Sunday and I hope I get to see the Wings game on Saturday night. Last night was a bummer, a fatal 6 minutes that cost us the game. hoping for better things tomorrow. Go Wings! I listened to some preaching that was very good, but for the last hour I listened to Dennis Miller on the radio, that was funny.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - Little Wing Live @ El Mocambo

Unreleased performance of Stevie Ray Vaughan playing Little Wing Live @ El Mocambo in 1983. What an amazing guitar player!

The New Shape of World Christianity by Mark Noll

Noll observes that "the Christian church has experienced a larger geographical redistribution in the last fifty years than in any comparable period in its history, with the exception of the very earliest years of church history. . . . More than half of all Christian adherents in the whole history of the church have been alive in the last one hundred years. Close to half of Christian believers who have ever lived are alive right now" [p. 21]. To give some teeth to these "mind-blowing realities," here are a few of the examples Noll gives, showing the magnitude of these recent changes:

• This past Sunday it is possible that more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called "Christian Europe." Yet in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China; only in 1971 did the communist regime allow for one Protestant and one Roman Catholic Church to hold public worship services, and this was mostly a concession to visiting Europeans and African students from Tanzania and Zambia.
• This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined--and the number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the umber in those other African countries.
• This past Sunday more Presbyterians were at church in Ghana than in Scotland, and more were in congregations of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa than in the United States.
• This past Sunday the churches with the largest attendance in England and France had mostly black congregations. About half of the churchgoers in London were African or African-Caribbean. Today, the largest Christian congregation in Europe is in Kiev, and it is pastored by a Nigerian of Pentecostal background.
• This past week in Great Britain, at least fifteen thousand Christian foreign missionaries were hard at work evangelizing the locals. most of these missionaries are from Africa and Asia. [pp. 20-21]

You can read online for free the Introduction and the chapter The New Shape of World Christianity (from which the above is quoted).

Sotomayor Has A Dream

Paid In Full

The ultimate King Jesus Christ looked down on us, not just knowing that we might cost his glory and power but that we would cost him his glory and power. And he came to earth and lived a sinless life and he died on the cross. The last thing that he said before he died was "It is finished" this is one word in the Greek, "tetelestai" and it means, paid in full, the transaction is complete, the debt is paid in full.

You have to look at what Jesus did for you; he didn't make you pay one bit of your debt. There was a debt that had to be paid and Jesus paid it in full himself. You will never be long-suffering; you will never have a forgiving spirit unless you see Christ suffering for you. You will never be able to pay down the debt for what other people have done to you unless you see him paying the infinite debt you could never pay.

You will never be able to pay all the little debts that other people owe you unless you see the infinite debt Christ paid for you. When you understand what he has done for you, you will say to yourself when someone wrongs you, "I'm almost glad for this opportunity to finally show him how much he means to me, by forgiving this that was done to me." This will change your heart and deal with your fears.

Eric Clapton: Groaning The Blues

Little Sins

In God’s Way of Holiness, Horatius Bonar wrote, “The avoidance of little evils, little sins, little inconsistencies, little weaknesses, little follies, little indiscretions and imprudences, little foibles, little indulgences of self and of the flesh, little acts of indolence or indecision or slovenliness or cowardice, little equivocations or aberrations from high integrity, little touches of shabbiness and meanness, little indifferences to the feelings or wishes of others, little outbreaks of temper, or crossness, or selfishness, or vanity—the avoidance of such little things as these goes far to make up at least the negative beauty of a holy life.” Jerry Bridges is astute in pointing out that “it is in the minutiae of life where most of us live day after day.” Few of us are regularly faced with the outright decision of whether or not to commit adultery, but each of us is faced each day with the temptation of stealing a single lustful look or allowing a single lustful fantasy to play out in our minds.

We may think we avoid evil by fleeing the sins we perceive to be greater. But Jesus dealt harshly with such thoughts. “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” Jesus gave no quarter to sin. He knew that sin begins in the heart and it begins not with a great act of sin, but with many small acts. Surely Cain first grumbled against Abel, and then plotted against him before finally murdering him. Surely David allowed himself to think lustful thoughts and surely he went to the roof of his palace knowing what he might see. Those little sins led to breathtakingly horrifying, ungodly acts of lust and anger.

To read the rest: Challies.com

homoousios

[hoe-moe-oo’-see-oss]

(Greek homo-, ”same” + Greek ousia, “substance” = “of the same substance” “consubstantial”)

This is the Trinitarian term that expresses a belief that Christ is of the same substance or nature as the Father. This word was central to the fourth-century debate between Athanasius and the Arians. Arius believed that Christ was of “similar substance” to the Father (homoiousios), but not of the “same substance” (homoousios). The two positions were separated by one letter in Greek, an iota. Thus the common phrase “it doesn’t make one iota of difference.” The Council of Nicea (325) believed that Christ shared in the exact same essence as the Father and therefore adopted the term homoousios to describe the relationship between the members of the Godhead. This concept was further developed by the Cappadocian fathers and further applied to all three members of the Trinity at the Council of Constantinople (381).

Which Are You?

The Law is for the proud and the Gospel for the brokenhearted
- Martin Luther

Acceptable to God Through Keeping the Law? by Phil Ryken

"When it comes to being accepted by God, observing the law is completely ruled out. Here Paul makes an absolute distinction between salvation by works of the law and salvation by faith in Christ. Law-keeping cannot justify anyone.

Not that there is anything wrong with the law itself, which comes from the righteous character of God. As Paul said to the Romans, "the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good" (Rom. 7:12) The problem with the law is our lawlessness! The reason we cannot be justified by the law is that we cannot keep it. Even if we could keep God's commandments outwardly, we break them inwardly. "No human deeds, however well motivated and sincerely performed, can ever achieve the kind of standing before God that results in the verdict of justification."

...we are acceptable to God - not by keeping the law ourselves, but by trusting in the only man who ever did keep it, Jesus Christ. The doctrine of justification can be stated in these general terms: we get right with God not by observing the law, but only by trusting in his Son...

There is no way to be made right with God except through faith in Christ. In Luther's words, "Now the true meaning of Christianity is this: that a man first acknowledge, through the Law, that he is a sinner, for whom it is impossible to perform any good work.... If you want to be saved, your salvation does not come by works; but God has sent His only Son into the world that we might live through Him. He was crucified and died for you and bore your sins in His own body."

- Philip Graham Ryken "Galatians: Reformed Expository Commentary - Chapter 5: The Battle for the Gospel (Galations 2:11-16) (p.63-65)