Racism, Piper, and the Gospel

For those of you who have not heard of John Piper, he is a pastor in Minneapolis and an excellent exegetical preacher. You can check out most of his work at: Desiring God.

Below is a video preview of his new book, Blood Lines. In it, the ugliness of Piper's racism, sin, and depravity are bared, and yet God still captures the his heart, changes it, and sets him free. If you have the time, I suggest that you watch this short film. It is both disheartening and uplifting at the same time, for it shows man's sins and the wonder of Jesus' redemption.

Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

You can check out Piper's book here. I haven't had the chance to read it yet, but judging by the preview and the other Piper books I have read, it will be well worth your time.

Adell Pt. 3

(Continued from part one and part two)

Adell, my darling," the King replied, "I love you more than you could ever fathom. Come with me and be my daughter.”

“No, leave me alone!” Adell cried, and she started to run.

Then the King grabbed Adell and carried her in his arms. Adell kicked and screamed, she tore at the King's robes, and beat him as hard as she could, she spit in his face, and slashed his back. As she beat him, the King's clothes began to change, into rags and tatters that were brown and coarse, itchy and uncomfortable. Adell's clothes began to change too, from uncomfortable and itchy to the smoothest silk, smoother than butterfly's wings, soft and comfy; from rags and tatters to a long flowing gown, with golden threads; from brown and coarse to the deepest purple with a blue sash.

After a whole hour of beating the King's back, Adell's eyes were opened and she began to see what was happening to her clothes and to the King's clothes. She realized that though she had laughed and played, danced and twirled about, her soul had slowly been dying, her true self had become part of the Dark Forrest. Then she thought of all the times that she had turned down the King's offers, and how she could have been the King's daughter, so much happier than she ever was in the Dark Forrest. These thoughts were too much for Adell to bear, and her hazel blue eyes were welling up with tears, one large tear drop ran down her nose and fell to the ground behind the King.

As soon as that tear drop fell, a curious thing began happening: a shaft of pure light sprung from the ground where the tear drop fell and spread out, enveloping the forest in a warm light. Every place the light touched, the darkness vanished and green grass sprung up. Some of the trees disappeared, others were swallowed up by the light and became the kind of trees that makes a young boy want to sit down in its shade and read a book, or climb as high as he can in order to look for the ocean and for the end of the world.

Adell, however, saw none of this for she was too busy watching the King: while the King carried her, he sang; he sang of the great love he had for Adell and for the others who were trapped in the Dark Forrest.

“The King has such a beautiful voice,” thought Adell, “How could I have ever thought it sounded screechy?” She did not say this out loud because she was scared that the King would stop singing.

The King soon brought Adell to the clearing that the axe-men had made. While the King was away, the axe-men had gone back to work: in the clearing they had made a large cobblestone road. On this road was a golden carriage, drawn by two pure white stallions: with hair braided and tied up with blue ribbons and hair brushed so thoroughly that the coats shone. A man in a top hat and tuxedo swung down from the top of the carriage and opened the door for Adell and the King. The High King sat Adell down in the carriage and smoothed out her dress. Then Adell felt the King place something on her head, she felt her temple and found a tiara, studded with many precious jewels. The King stepped into the carriage and the man in the top hat took the reins again, spurring the horses off to the castle.

It was then that Adell looked back and noticed that the Dark Forrest was no more, and instead had become a beautifully manicured forest, with welcoming trees and soft grass. With a contented sigh, Adell turned back to face the King and was astonished to find that the King's clothes had been changed from the rags and tatters, into a cloak, robe, and shirt even more glorious than ever before. A light radiated from him, and Adell had to look away, but she was glad, for somehow she knew that all was now good, that she would have an even better time than she had in the Dark Forrest, and instead of her soul being destroyed, it would be built up, becoming better and better; because she was loved by the King who had conquered the Dark Forrest.

The End

I hope you enjoyed reading my little story, I certainly enjoyed writing it.

Adell Pt. 2

(Continued from part one)

Then The King said to his servants, “Send for a hundred axe-men. Bring me my finest robe. Call for the carriage driver and have him bring the gold carriage reserved for special occasions. Call together the fauns and centaurs, have them prepare the greatest feast this castle has ever seen. Today, I shall make Adell my daughter.”

The King's group set out for the Dark Forrest. When they reached it, the axe-men started cutting down the trees, and light reached parts of the forest where light had not reached since the beginning of time. Dwarves shrieked and minotaurs bellowed. Fairies and elves darted away shouting, “The Evil one is coming!” (You see, they did not like the King at all.)

Hither and thither, back and forth, hustling and bustling, screaming and bellowing, creatures of the Dark Forrest were running everywhere.

Adell stood among them not knowing what to do, then an elf said to her, “The King is coming, run if you wish to stay and dance with us.”

Adell ran as fast and as far away as she could. She ran into the shadows of the dancing trees, to a huge rock, beneath that rock was a hollow just big enough for Adell to fit. In that hollow, Adell shook with fear as she listened to the sounds of the axe-men cutting down the trees, and the dwarves screaming as light reached their eyes for the first time.

The King kept calling her name, “Adell, Adell, where are you?”

"What a terrible screechy voice he has,” thought Adell.

“Adell,” He called out, “Adell, where are you my daughter?” At last he came to the place where Adell was hiding. He took a deep breath and with a mighty shove, he pushed back the rock.

Adell screamed and backed away, “Stay away from me you evil man. I hate you! Leave me alone!”

Will Adell Manage to stay away from the King? You shall find out next week, in part three.

Adell Pt. 1

Here is a story that I wrote for church; I hope that you will all find it as fun to read as it was to write.

In a land not accessible by plane, train, or automobile, but only by magic, there lived a little girl named Adell. Her father was a famous knight renowned for his deeds of chivalry; her mother was a beautiful lady. When Adell was a baby, a tragic thing happened: her parents grew sick and died. Thus, Adell grew up as an orphan with no one to love her. Her home was a large castle surrounded by a thousand gardens filled with orchids, lilies, and roses. Even though she lived in such a grand castle, she was sad and lonely for no one there loved her.

At the edge of these gardens was a dark forest that spanned the entire length of the kingdom. Beyond this forest was the Field of Dreams and Fears. The High King had forbidden all from entering the Dark Forrest. It was decreed that anyone who entered the Dark Forrest would lose his citizenship in the Highlands.

If one stands long enough at the edge of the Dark Forrest and listens very carefully, he can see green and blue lights dancing in the blackness of the forest, and he can hear the sounds of dwarves and minotaurs bellowing and laughing as they throw parties and dance to the sound of dark, enchanting music. Many afternoons, and sometimes late into the evening, Adell would stand at the edge of the Dark Forrest looking long and hard into the trees watching for the green and blue lights and listening to the party sounds of the dwarves and minotaurs.

One evening, Adell was watching and listening as the sun dipped beneath the horizon. When the last rays of the sun turned red and grew dark, the green and blue lights grew brighter and more intense, the music became louder and Adell could see the shadows of dwarves and minotaurs.

Faintly at first, a voice grew louder, “Adell, Adell, come play with us.... Adell, dance with the dwarves ... swim with the mermaids ... make music with the minotaurs... Adell, we will teach you to fly! ... Adell, Adell, Adell.”

“What is that sound?” Adell thought. “Are those fairies? I think they're calling my name. . . Was that a splash? Maybe it's a mermaid! . . . Imagine, a man's body with a fish's tail!”

Before Adell knew what was happening, she found her feet walking deep into the forest: step after step, further and further from the bright highlands, walking, until she could see the sun no more.

Parties, laughter, and the company of dwarves filled Adell's days for many years; but deep beneath her skin something was happening, something that Adell did not know: the Dark Forrest was rotting her soul. She was having the best time she had ever had, but it was killing her, eating her soul from the inside out. Her clothes began to change, just like her soul was, from a light blue cotton dress into rags and tatters that were brown and coarse, itchy and uncomfortable.

To find out what Adell's fate will be, tune in next week for the next instalment!

Update: Part two and part three are now up!

The Definite God

I recently read a quote from C. S. Lewis in a book that I'm reading for school and it inspired me to blog; thus, I shall quote C. S. Lewis and then add a few of my own thoughts. Also, look out for the story of Adell, which I shall post next Monday (I might post it in two increments.)

God is basic Fact or Actuality, the source of all other facthood. At all costs therefore He must not be thought of as a featureless generality. If He exists at all, He is the most concrete thing there is, the most individual, 'organized and minutely articulated'. He is unspeakable not by being indefinite but by being too definite for the unavoidable vagueness of language. The words incorporeal and impersonal are misleading because they suggest that He lacks some reality which we possess. It would be safer to call Him trans-corporeal, trans-personal. Body and personality as we know them are the real negatives—they are what is left of positive being when it is sufficiently diluted to appear in temporal or finite forms. Even our sexuality should be regarded as the transposition into a minor key of that creative joy which in Him is unceasing and irresistible. Grammatically the things we say of Him are 'metaphorical': but in a deeper sense it is our physical and psychic energies that are mere 'metaphors' of the real Life which is God. Divine Sonship is, so to speak, the solid of which biological sonship is merely a diagrammatic representation on the flat. (Lewis, C. S. The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics. 1st ed. New York, NY: HarperOne, 2007. 381.)

So often I have been guilty of thinking about God as some sort of floating spiritual "thing", slightly vague with aspects of love and mercy that are not quite like our love and mercy. But as C. S. Lewis points out here, God is the real thing, realer than our own reality. When the Bible speaks of God's mercy, or God's justice, we think of them in our terms, in terms of judges and parents who punish their children who have disobeyed. While these are not always wrong, they are in many ways inadequate: for the God of the Bible is the very nature upon which our mercy and justice is based. Consider a painting of water: to us it is not really like water at all, it is dry, thin, flaky, made of un-water substances, and certainly not refreshing to drink. This painted water, is however, based on our "real" water. Even though this is not real water for us, it is certainly real water for the painted man, and this allows the painted man to understand our water in some small way. Likewise, our understanding of God's justice is like the painted man's understanding of water: limited and finite.We must keep in mind that the reason God's love is not like our love, is not that our words are analogies or metaphors of God's, but rather that our love is based on God's. Like a model of the Solar System cannot really compare to the grandeur of the real Solar System, so our ways cannot compare to God's ways.

As always, God says it best:

As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

-Isaiah 55:9

The Blindness from God

There are many things which God does; all of them to his glory. His creation: the stars, moon, mountains, streams, hippos, and people. Their very existence shows that God is marvellous. There are, however, other things: pain, suffering, evil, sickness, and death. Do these bring glory to God? How can they, for they are the result of man's disobedience to God (Gen 3, Rom 5:12, 8:19-22).
Still Jesus declares, "Yes! All these are for my glory and the glory of my Father. I made you deaf, I made you blind, I made you mute and I will use you for my glory." (consider Exodus 4:11 and 2 Corinthians 12:9)
When Jesus and his disciples came across a man blind from birth Jesus said, "This happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." (Jn 9:3b) Jesus was saying that the reason this man was born blind was so that God might be glorified!
God is Sovereign. He will bring glory to himself. Be it through evil or good, suffering or pleasure he will receive the glory that is due him. The Lord Almighty hardened the heart of Pharaoh that he might display miraculous works and that Israel would know that the Lord is the One True God (Exodus 10:1-2). He will glorify himself in suffering (1 Peter 4:16) and in death (John 21:19). Let us glorify him in life: in all we do (1 Cor 10:31). For his is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Further reading: Why Was This Child Born Blind? -John Piper

Polycarp

Last night I read "The Martyrdom of Polycarp". [I highly suggest reading it.] Polycarp was a bishop in the second century AD, he studied under the Apostle John (yes, he who wrote Revelation), and was martyred in his late-eighties. I find stories of martyrs to be very encouraging: to continue on in the Lord through the easy times and the tough times.
When the proconsul demanded that Polycarp deny Christ, Polycarp answered, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" Those who were to put Polycarp to death tried to threaten him with many forms of death, first death by wild animals: Polycarp replied, "Call them then." Then death by burning: But Polycarp replied, "Why do you tarry? Bring forth what you will." Polycarp died glorifying God and praying this prayer:

O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of You, the God of angels and powers, and of every creature, and of the whole race of the righteous who live before you, I give You thanks that You have counted me, worthy of this day and this hour, that I should have a part in the number of Your martyrs, in the cup of your Christ, to the resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and body, through the incorruption [imparted] by the Holy Ghost. Among whom may I be accepted this day before You as a fat and acceptable sacrifice, according as You, the ever-truthful God, have foreordained, have revealed beforehand to me, and now have fulfilled. Wherefore also I praise You for all things, I bless You, I glorify You, along with the everlasting and heavenly Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son, with whom, to You, and the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and to all coming ages.Amen.

O Lord, if such a day comes for me, give me strength to stand against the plans of the Devil. We should always strive to glorify God in all; even amid a volley of flaming arrows from the Evil One. (1 Cor 10:31)