I have lots of blog posts back logged… so here we go.
November 4th, 2008 was an important day. It’s the day Michael Crichton died after a private fight with cancer. Most people probably remember him for his famous book turned movie Jurrasic Park. Next on the list would probably be his creation of the TV show ER. He was a well studied individual in many respects. He was even a medical doctor who went to Harvard Medical School. To be honest, I didn’t really know anything about him until recently.
The one aspect I want to talk about is his political science views. In 2004 he wrote a techno-thriller called State of Fear. Having not read the book, only articles about it, I can’t give you a good review. What I can do is point out that everyone agrees the book was about how public opinion, policy, and social order are controlled by a belief in global warming that cannot be backed up by science – even though sceintist claim it is.
In 2003 he gave a speech at the California Institute of technology were he said he was concered about the, “emerging crisis in the whole enterprise of science-namely the increasingly uneasy relationship between hard science and public policy” (http://www.crichton-official.com/speech-alienscauseglobalwarming.html). He set out to argue for the seperation of politics and science. His thesis was that scientist were creating something and stating it as fact in order to control the general publics behavior. And he had lots of facts to back it up.
Now I don’t know of, and I highly doubt, that Crichton ever carried his ideas over to invistage evolution. The reality is that the same arguments that are used to state man made global warming as fact are the same that are used to teach evolution (i.e. scientific conesis, in other words a lot of scientists say so, is that it is true, therfore it is true). I believe that when Americans, and others, wake up and realize they were being lead off by Honest John and Gideon (e.g. scientists) to Pleasure Island (a Pinocchio referrence for those of you who don’t have kids watching Disney movies all the time) they will have to logically reject both ideologies. The question is will America wake up before they all become donkeys? The election of our most recent leaders does not give me a whole lot of hope at the moment.
Caleb O’Hara
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
I'm Back!
OK… so I’ve taken a blogging break for the last few days (ok… months). There has been a lot going on that I won’t bore you with. The good news in we are homeowners now! Moved in, but not quite settled. The blog will be updated on a semi-regular basis again. So keep your eyes open!
Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara
Sow the Seed,
Caleb O’Hara
Sunday, July 27, 2008
10 Years Today
Recently I have been preaching a series of sermons on the gospel message. The lessons the last two weeks were on the response to the Gospel and the necessity of the Gospel to make a Christian. A couple weeks ago I decided I would preach the very first sermon I ever preached, today. It was a sermon on Romans 1:14-17 – The Responsibility of the Gospel.
There is one really interesting piece to me preaching this sermon today. As I was going back through my brain last night I realized that it was exactly ten years ago today that I preached my first sermon – this sermon! I was sixteen years old and a babe in Christ by only a couple months. The only reason I remember the date is because it was the last week in July when Merced went to Yosemite Bible Camp. That Sunday night I preached in Merced because their preacher was already up at camp (my cousin Jake took my up after evening worship in my grandpa’s Chevy S10). It was a special day for me and the sermon was special to me too.
Wow… TEN YEARS! I really am starting to feel old. It’s hard to believe that God has enabled me to preach the gospel for ten years now. If the Lord wills, I’m looking forward to the next ten. There is no greater responsibility then to be faithful with the faithful message.
Preach the Word,
Caleb
There is one really interesting piece to me preaching this sermon today. As I was going back through my brain last night I realized that it was exactly ten years ago today that I preached my first sermon – this sermon! I was sixteen years old and a babe in Christ by only a couple months. The only reason I remember the date is because it was the last week in July when Merced went to Yosemite Bible Camp. That Sunday night I preached in Merced because their preacher was already up at camp (my cousin Jake took my up after evening worship in my grandpa’s Chevy S10). It was a special day for me and the sermon was special to me too.
Wow… TEN YEARS! I really am starting to feel old. It’s hard to believe that God has enabled me to preach the gospel for ten years now. If the Lord wills, I’m looking forward to the next ten. There is no greater responsibility then to be faithful with the faithful message.
Preach the Word,
Caleb
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Are You Seeking to Become a Disciple?
For some time now I have been slowly following the Emerging Church Movement. Time and space are not sufficient here to give a thorough evaluation of what it is, and the whole movement is based on being “vague” so they hate being defined. A man by the name of Brian McLaren really is the top spokesman for this movement (whether he or anyone else would admit it).
McLaren has created lots of disciples from people who have grown up around and/or been associated with the churches of Christ. McLaren has become a keynote speaker at many of our universities and lectureships that are ran by men saying the church has to “change.” How fitting that McLaren wrote a book called, “Everything Must Change.”
I don’t believe I could do justice in explaining the wide impact that McLaren and the Emerging Church Movement have had on the Lord’s church. But there is one area that I want to address. Notice this quote from a blogger who was commenting on a lecture he heard by Brian McLaren:
“Now, notice that [McLaren’s] not calling for isolation from the ‘denominations,’ but engagement. Rather than pull up our tents, we go out into the wider Christian world and call not for a restoration of the forms of the first century church, but for a restoration of a community of people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” (http://jphilwilson.blogspot.com/2007/10/brian-mclaren-churches-of-christ-and.html)
The area I really want to emphasis is this, “people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” Phrases like we are just “seeking to become disciples of Christ,” or “we are seeking to understand the Kingdom of God” are commonly heard by the emerging church folks.
The question is where in Scripture does it ever speak of “seeking to become a disciple?” You either become a disciple of Christ or you don’t. Jesus told His disciples (were they disciples or just seeking to become them?) to go and “make disciples.” Where did he ever go and tell His disciples (were they disciples?) to go and make people to be seekers of becoming disciples of Christ? Jesus says: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Did Jesus say to try and carry your own cross? Did Jesus say to seek to come after me? Did Jesus say to seek to become a disciple? What nonsense. You either are a self-denying, cross carrying, disciple of Jesus Christ or you are not.
Add to that Matthew 13:52, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven.’” Did Jesus say every scribe who is seeking to become a disciple, or every scribe who HAS become a disciple of the kingdom! This rhetoric about seeking to understand the kingdom and seeking to become a disciple just shows the shallow depths of this movement. How much further away from the teaching of Christ can you get? All this movement is is another excuse to be your own Lord and be a disciple of self!
Let me summarize it for you like this. This is the gospel according to McLaren, “Go therefore until all the world and tell the Buddhist, Muslim, and devote Pagan, to seek to become a disciple of Jesus while truly just being devout in whatever else you believe.” McLaren says, “If any Buddhist, Muslim, or Devout Pagan wishes to come after me let me seek to deny himself when we wants, take up the cross he thinks he wants to bear, when he wants to bear it, and come after me if you feel like it and to the degree you want to understand it.”
I have more respect for the Buddhist who flat out denies the deity and Lordship of Christ, than I do for these men who claim Jesus and then say that they are just “seeking to become His disciple.” It’s time to get real about this and address it. It’s time for people to stop being disciples of McLaren while trying to become disciples of Jesus, and just make the commitment and be a disciple of Jesus!
Sow the Seed,
Caleb
McLaren has created lots of disciples from people who have grown up around and/or been associated with the churches of Christ. McLaren has become a keynote speaker at many of our universities and lectureships that are ran by men saying the church has to “change.” How fitting that McLaren wrote a book called, “Everything Must Change.”
I don’t believe I could do justice in explaining the wide impact that McLaren and the Emerging Church Movement have had on the Lord’s church. But there is one area that I want to address. Notice this quote from a blogger who was commenting on a lecture he heard by Brian McLaren:
“Now, notice that [McLaren’s] not calling for isolation from the ‘denominations,’ but engagement. Rather than pull up our tents, we go out into the wider Christian world and call not for a restoration of the forms of the first century church, but for a restoration of a community of people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” (http://jphilwilson.blogspot.com/2007/10/brian-mclaren-churches-of-christ-and.html)
The area I really want to emphasis is this, “people who are seeking to become disciples of Christ.” Phrases like we are just “seeking to become disciples of Christ,” or “we are seeking to understand the Kingdom of God” are commonly heard by the emerging church folks.
The question is where in Scripture does it ever speak of “seeking to become a disciple?” You either become a disciple of Christ or you don’t. Jesus told His disciples (were they disciples or just seeking to become them?) to go and “make disciples.” Where did he ever go and tell His disciples (were they disciples?) to go and make people to be seekers of becoming disciples of Christ? Jesus says: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). Did Jesus say to try and carry your own cross? Did Jesus say to seek to come after me? Did Jesus say to seek to become a disciple? What nonsense. You either are a self-denying, cross carrying, disciple of Jesus Christ or you are not.
Add to that Matthew 13:52, “And Jesus said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven.’” Did Jesus say every scribe who is seeking to become a disciple, or every scribe who HAS become a disciple of the kingdom! This rhetoric about seeking to understand the kingdom and seeking to become a disciple just shows the shallow depths of this movement. How much further away from the teaching of Christ can you get? All this movement is is another excuse to be your own Lord and be a disciple of self!
Let me summarize it for you like this. This is the gospel according to McLaren, “Go therefore until all the world and tell the Buddhist, Muslim, and devote Pagan, to seek to become a disciple of Jesus while truly just being devout in whatever else you believe.” McLaren says, “If any Buddhist, Muslim, or Devout Pagan wishes to come after me let me seek to deny himself when we wants, take up the cross he thinks he wants to bear, when he wants to bear it, and come after me if you feel like it and to the degree you want to understand it.”
I have more respect for the Buddhist who flat out denies the deity and Lordship of Christ, than I do for these men who claim Jesus and then say that they are just “seeking to become His disciple.” It’s time to get real about this and address it. It’s time for people to stop being disciples of McLaren while trying to become disciples of Jesus, and just make the commitment and be a disciple of Jesus!
Sow the Seed,
Caleb
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