plunder the goods

A party

2011-05-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

The Kimyal people of Indonesia receive the New Testament in their own language! Treasure God's Word! The Kimyal People Receive the New Testament from UFM Worldwide on Vimeo.

Escape from Death Row

2011-04-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Has anyone ever explained the Gospel to you? Has anyone ever told you the real deal truth? That the devil is your master; he's deceptive and cruel and he's abusing you Has anyone ever explained the Gospel to you? Has anyone ever told you why you need to be free? That you're rotting in a prison cell that you're keeping neat and clean You see he blinded you when he caught you, now you cannot see

Another Testimony to God's Promise That If You Seek, You Will Find

2011-04-18T21:32:00.001-07:00

Song - Undivided Heart

2011-04-09T08:46:00.001-07:00

I got this one while showering this morning.

Reaping What We Sow: Rewards, Consequences, and Proportionality

2011-04-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

The Bible says you'll reap what you sow (Galatians 6:7.) You should realize, however, that the return on investment will not necessarily be proportionate, in both positive and negative cases. In some cases the disproportionality will be staggering. In the parable about the vineyard workers recruited at different points during the day, we see that the master paid them each the same, even though

The Story of Kamal Saleem

2011-03-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

This man cried out to God with a desperate desire to truly know Him. To his surprise, Jesus answered. God will introduce Himself to you, too, if you ask Him sincerely, with your whole heart. This is the God I serve.

What Jesus Did for Me

2011-03-26T03:46:00.001-07:00

II beg you to consider the state of your own soul. I'd like to pose a few questions to help you do that and then share my story. It won't take more than a few minutes.How did you come into existence? Does your origin have anything to do with your conscience? Are you doing what your Creator wants you to do? Will you be held accountable for that? How will you stand up under scrutiny?I don't know

An aside on economics

2011-03-24T06:58:00.001-07:00

Somebody wrote an article saying there was a "silver lining" to the recent tsunami in Japan. Another person criticized that on Facebook. I wrote this in response:One of the downsides of industrialization and technology is that those who specialize in doing work that gets taken over by machines can become underemployed. Then the profits for physical production increasingly go to those who invent

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand

2011-03-01T16:24:00.000-08:00

Stop doing things you know are wrong, and start doing what is right. Change your thinking. Stop always thinking about ways you can please yourself and start thinking about how you can please God. Just try. God sees even the feeblest of efforts and rewards them. No matter how many times you fail, He will pick you up if you continue to set your heart on obeying Him. For more specific

The Primacy of Love

2011-02-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

Love is ill-defined. It's not easy to pin down. But something inside most people tells them that love has something very central to do with the meaning of life. People near death regret their self-centered pursuits in life and wish they had spent more time with family. Even violent criminals who reject all decent human relationship are grasping at a feeling of power to fill the void left by

Do you want to know God?

2011-02-27T07:14:00.000-08:00

Do you really want to know the answers to the big questions? If you're like most people, the answer is "No way!" The unifying ethic of your life is to follow what makes you feel good. As a successful person, you value delayed gratification, but it's really only on a scale of days, months, or even years for the most disciplined. The practical agnosticism of popular American culture has

Test post

2011-02-17T21:38:00.001-08:00

I just downloaded an app for my iPod touch that will let me post on the blog, so here goes.

Luke 6:3 - Situational Ethics?

2010-12-01T03:14:00.000-08:00

I got home from flying around midnight tonight, a little earlier than expected due to some Automatic Flight Control System problems. Still energetic from my pre-measured caffeine dose, I decided to take the quiet time at hand to read the Bible and pray a bit. I started with a little Bible roulette and opened right up to the Sermon on the Mount in Luke 6. I only got as far as the first few

It's been a while

2009-03-02T23:06:00.001-08:00

Hey there, friends. Probably no one checks this blog anymore, because it's been a year and a half since I've blogged. Where have I been? At work and at sea. I'd like to make a comeback, not that there was any fanfare before or that I desire any now, but rather I'd like to start thinking again. Again, not that I stopped thinking, but... it's been a while.How about we start with some questions.

Christmas for the Poor

2007-04-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

The lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation is the greatest health problem in the world today. According to the second UN World Water Development Report, “… 1.1 billion people still do not have access to an adequate supply of drinking water and some 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation. These people are among the world’s poorest.” Without clean water, water-borne

Saving premature babies

2007-02-20T07:24:00.000-08:00

This morning, there was an article in the news about the earliest premature baby ever to survive; she was born at 21 weeks. There was a link to a related article about how some doctors appose the effort to save such premature babies. Ther was also a discussion board. This was my response:When I first saw the link to this discussion and the one below it about doctors who say these babies

Repsonse to an atheist's essay

2007-01-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

Washingtonpost.com had this feature where a bunch of prominent people shared an essay about their religious experience and then people were allowed to comment. I wrote this in response to Susan Jacoby.Unfortunately, some of these comments convey an attitude of mockery and hatred toward atheists from supposed Christians. This is lamentable. As a Christian, Jesus has saved me from my wretched

Sam Storms' book, Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist

2005-11-11T23:36:00.000-08:00

I just finished the book Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist by Sam Storms today.I've read through most of the comments on Tim Challies blog and the tilt therein seems to be toward the cessationist viewpoint. I am amazed at how brothers and sisters who claim to so adamently cling to the Scriptures so easily disregard what it says on the subject of spiritual gifts and just

Free and Fair Trade

2005-08-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

This blog is about evangelism, taking the gospel of the Kingdom of God to everyone in the world. In order to effectively preach the good news of Jesus, we as Christians must model Jesus' life and obey His commandments; otherwise, the world will see us as hypocrites and want nothing to do with the Savior. We are His ambassadors.Last night, I thought of two passages in Scripture that talk about

Jesus and the Old Testament

2005-07-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

I decided to go through the Gospel of Matthew and record all the references to the Old Testament. This might seem odd, but the reason I thought about doing this is that I was thinking about the debate over the interpretation of the creation account in Genesis. A while ago, I attended a panel at a church about creationism and evolution, and the basic view presented there was one of agnosticism

Blogdom of God

2005-06-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Adrian Warnock, in his UK Evangelical Blog, is compiling a big list of Christian blogs called the blogdom of God, so if you are a Christian blogger, check this out.

I'm Pretty Busy

2005-05-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

This is not a normal post, but since I haven't posted in over a week, I wanted to come on and let people know that I am pretty busy right now, since the quarter is winding down, and I have some research work to be finished before I move on. Also, we just finished a big event here at Stanford that I helped organize, a gathering sponored by most of the Christian groups on campus aimed at building

Cross Cultural Evangelism

2005-05-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

This blog is about evangelism, and Adrian Warnock over at his UK Evangelical Blog has a post entitled "How to share the gospel across cultures" that is worth reading. I want to particularly highlight that cross cultural communication is one idea that is attacked by postmodernmism, so it is important to understand what the Word says about the subject, so check out Adrian's post.

Demolishing Darwinism

2005-05-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

In the last post, I reported on Dr. Michael Behe's talk at Stanford and the angry response it invoked. Here is a link to an article written by Behe that briefly outlines one of the arguments against evolution. Here is an article in the Boston Review that blasts Behe's claims. Compare for yourself. The blindness and bias of the Darwinist camp is painfully evident. One of the arguments the

Veritas Forum/ Intelligent Design

2005-05-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

I am a graduate student finishing my MS in electrical engineering at Stanford University this Spring quarter. The Christian groups at Stanford are sponsoring a series of talks and discussions this week called the Veritas Forum; the Veritas Forum happens at colleges and universities across the country. Last night, I attended a talk by Dr. Michael Behe, professor of biochemistry at Lehigh

Drawn to Pleasure

2005-04-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

John Piper's book, Desiring God, is great, and you should read it. It seems that Piper's favorite saying is, "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." This is very true.The Lord has drawn me into the pleasure of knowing Him, and I want to help others know that same pleasure. It is what they are already seeking without knowing it. The other night as I sat down to pray, a

Another McLaren Post

2005-04-24T04:12:00.000-07:00

I know this blog is supposed to be about evangelism - this is related. There's just so much wrong with Brian McLaren's teaching, and he's such a central figure in the emergent church movement that it merits refutation. I posted the following as a comment to an entry on 'one mo blog.'...In my finding out about the emergent church, it seems that it is necessarily postmodern in philosophy and that

Expose Brian McLaren

2005-04-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, everybody, I've got to warn you in the strongest terms: do not heed the teaching of Brian McLaren. Here is a good review of McLaren's book, The Story We Find Ourselves In, written by Barney Coombs at Salt and Light Ministries. There are plenty of dangerous teachings out there, but this one needs more attention, because so many Christians are being carried away with his teaching. Here are a

Servant Evangelism

2005-04-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Kande Wilson from the Cincinnati Vineyard has a good blog called the Outreach Chick Blog. This post from it is about some of the experiences of her church doing servant evangelism in Cincinnati.

Preaching Hell to Postmodern People

2005-04-22T11:50:00.000-07:00

In contrast to the errors of Brian McLaren and the postmodern/emerging church movement that seeks to minimize the doctrine of eternal condemnation and salvation in favor of a challenging-sounding, works-based philosophy, there is some great wisdom out there for preaching the gospel in a totally faithful, Spirit-led way that will make sense to postmodern people. Thanks to my friend Nathan

The guy on the bench

2005-04-22T11:31:00.000-07:00

I was on my way to Quizno's for lunch yesterday, planning to have a tasty sub and then sit down to do the class reading for the next day and go over my research data. I passed a guy on a sidewalk bench with a sign out asking for money. I don't usually give people money for fear of misuse, but this was a perfect opportunity. "Do you want a sandwich?" I asked, and he said he would. I sat down next

Brian McLaren Danger/ Review of "A Generous Orthodoxy"

2005-04-15T00:53:00.000-07:00

I've been researching the "Emergent Church" for about a month. The biggest figure in this movement is Brian McLaren, and his teaching is unbiblical and dangerous. But before I start on McLaren, let me say that lack of definition and central agreement is a hallmark of the emerging church and so everything by that name cannot necessarily be lumped together. Some people may mean something

Take Action: Pray, Write, and Give

2005-04-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Remember the prisoners as if chained with them - those who are mistreated - since you yourselves are in the body also. (Hebrews 13:3)On the right hand side of this web page, you will find links of various types; one category is labeled "take action." In this post, I'd like to highlight one of the organizations whose website is linked there. Voice of the Martyrs publishes information about the

Prayer and Evangelism

2005-03-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

Pray for the salvation of those you know. 1 Timothy 2:1 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men…”Pray that God would provide an opportunity to be a witness to those people.Romans 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who

Father Email

2005-03-25T09:28:00.000-08:00

My sister and brother-in-law, Suzanna and Othniel, live in Tacoma, WA, and had their first child, Ariel, last September. A few days ago, Suzanna wrote this and sent it out to the family along with a picture of little Ariel:We can’t get over the delight of parenting the little pumpkin pictured in the email. If anyone were to try to harm our innocent little girl in any way, it would take an army

The 'tract' (or essay) I wrote - "What is Christianity?"

2005-03-24T23:00:00.000-08:00

The following is the 'tract' that I wrote and handed out to people on the street (I referred to this in my last post.) Feel free to use and reproduce this for ministry purposes.****************************************************************It is NOT… …a political agenda or a vision for the optimization of the human condition, although it does speak about right and wrong, justice and

My Experiences Witnessing

2005-03-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

Twice in the last few weeks, I've gone out street preaching in dowtown Palo Alto, just a few blocks from my apartment. I really didn't know what exactly to do at first; I was nervous. I just knew that God was calling me to do something to step out of the comfort zone and be obedient, and He had placed a burning desire to see His power move and capture the hearts of the people for Himself.I

First Post

2005-03-22T11:53:00.000-08:00

Hello, whoever you are! This weblog is called "plunder the goods" in reference to Jesus' description of his actions in saving mankind in the Bible, in Matthew 12:29."Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, 'Could this be the son of David?' Now when the