The 9 Marks Ministries eJournal is a journal published by 9 Marks ministries in Washington, D.C. This ministry is headed by Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church.

This month’s eJournal is about missions. There are book reviews of several major missions books. There are a couple of missions books that fall into the not so recommended mission resources that are interesting:

Book Review: Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World, by David Garrison
Reviewed by Ed Roberts

Book Review: The CAMEL: How Muslims Are Coming to Faith in Christ, by Kevin Greeson
Reviewed by Doug Coleman

Recommended Resources:

Book Review: An Introduction to the Science of Missions, by J.H. Bavinck
Reviewed by Andy Johnson

There are others and you can access the entire journal at: http://www.9marks.org/CC_Content_Page/0,,PTID314526|CHID598016|CIID,00.html

Last month I posted a link to the final exam question from Dr. Moore’s Christian Ethics class. Here is the question again:

Joan is a fifty year-old woman who has been visiting your church for a little over a year. She sits on the third row from the back, and usually exits during the closing hymn, often with tears in her eyes. Joan approaches you after the service on Sunday to tell you that she wants to follow Jesus as her Lord.

You ask Joan a series of diagnostic questions about her faith, and it is clear she understands the gospel. She still seems distressed though. When you ask if she’s repented of her sin, she starts to cry and grit her teeth.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t know how…I don’t know where to start…Can I meet with you privately?”

You, Joan, and a godly Titus 2-type women’s ministry leader in your church meet in your office right away, and Joan tells you her story.

She wasn’t born Joan. She was born John. From early on in John’s life, though, he felt as though he was “a woman trapped in a man’s body.” Joan says, “I don’t mean to repeat that old shopworn cliché, but it really is what I felt like.”

Joan tells you that when she was twenty she began the process of “transitioning” from life as a man to life as a woman. She underwent extensive hormone therapy, followed by extensive plastic surgery—including so-called “gender reassignment surgery.” She has lived for the past thirty years—physically and socially—as a woman.

“I want to do whatever it takes to follow Jesus,” Joan tells you. “I want to repent…I just, I don’t know how to do it.”

“I am surgically now a woman. I’ve taken hormones that give me the appearance and physical makeup of a woman,” she says. “Even if I were to put on a suit and tie right now, I’d just look like a woman with a suit and tie. Not to mention the fact that, well, I am physically…a woman.”

“To complicate matters further,” Joan says through tears, “I adopted my daughter, Clarissa, when she was eight months old and she’s ten years old now. She doesn’t know about my past life as…as a man. She just knows me as her Mom.”

“I know the sex change surgery was wrong. I know that my life is twisted. I’m willing to do whatever Jesus would have me to do to make it right,” she says. “But what would Jesus have me to do?”

Joan asks you, “Am I too messed up to repent and be saved? If not, what does it mean for me to repent and live my life as a follower of Jesus? What is right for me to do?”

Dr. Moore’s answer to this question can be found here:
John or Joan Part 1
John or Joan Part 2
John or Joan Part 3
John or Joan Part 4
John or Joan Part 5

I am thankful for professors like Dr. Russell Moore who require us to think through difficult, real life, issues before we graduate. It would be easy to teach an ethics class with two columns. Everything in column one is good, everything in column two is bad. Dr. Moore tried to push us past this simplistic way of viewing the world and force us to make decisions using wisdom. Wisdom is a gift from God that can only be enhanced through knowledge and application of God’s word in everyday circumstances. Pray that Bui and I would be prepared to make wise decisions over the next few years as we prepare the ministry.

Don’t be deceived into thinking that the world is becoming overpopulated. Many developed nations have discovered that their nations are not becoming overpopulated, but underpopulated.

This video is very eye opening:

Last semester I took Introduction to Christian Ethics with Dr. Russel Moore. The final exam for this class was a case study. Here is a link to the case study:
http://www.russellmoore.com/2009/05/04/christian-ethics-this-years-dilemma/

The question was about a man who had a sex change operation many years earlier who wants to repent and trust in Christ. What does his repentance look like?

While answering this question I did some research on sex change operations. I wasn’t surprised to discover that Thailand has the highest number of sex change operations per year, but I was surprised to discover which country was number two. The number two country is Iran. Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, punishable by death. But, a homosexual can live life as a homosexual if they have a sex change operation. According to one reporter these operations are not undercover, they are done openly and legally. “It’s a very public phenomenon,” she says. “These sex changes are legal and are endorsed by the leading clerics. It’s embraced. I asked for a press permit before I went. After a month, I was given the OK. Officially, I was allowed to do what I needed to do. It’s not like I was doing a film on nuclear strategy — they don’t see it as an openly political issue. The rest was what you have to do with any documentary: spend a lot of time gaining trust.” (Iran’s Gay Plan - Accessed May 29, 2009)

The world is confused about gender and gender roles. The only place we can find answers to these questions is in Scripture. Christians must be ready to answer difficult questions that are posed by our society.

Paul was no slouch when it came to languages. His knowledge of Hebrew and Greek allowed him to communicate the Gospel to many more people than he possibly could have if he had only known Hebrew or Aramaic. His knowledge of Greek allowed him to speak with the centurions who arrested him (saved him) while the Jews attacked him. His knowledge of Hebrew allowed him to defend himself before his countrymen and share the Gospel with them. Paul’s speech in Acts 22 could not have happened if Paul had been too lazy to study while he was sitting at the feet of Gamaliel.
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?” 39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:
Acts 21:37-40 (ESV)
The Hebrew language could actually be translated Hebrew dialect, which would mean Aramaic. Paul was fluent in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew. Why are we as a church scared of knowledge? God used Paul’s knowledge to accomplish great tasks. I pray that the Lord would keep me from laziness as I study Greek. I study Greek, not so I can have a better quiet time and read the New Testament in the original language. But, I study Greek so that one day I can teach pastors who have no access to a seminary education how to read God’s Word in the original languages. Education is not for ourselves, but for the people we serve.

My good friend Carlton has finally gone international. He is with a team in Mexico preaching and doing one on one evangelism. Pray that the Lord will use him during this trip.

http://www.exploringtruth.org/2009/03/15/mexico-mission-trip-post-2/

During this last winter term I took a counseling class here at The Seminary. The Seminary’s counseling program is based on Nouthetic Counseling. Jay Adams was an early pioneer in Nouthetic Counseling and he recently turned 80. Dr. Adams blogs regularly and recently wrote a short blog entry about turning 80. Here is a short excerpt

I know one! Prepare for old age. True, you may never make it; there are former students of mine who have died already. If you don’t have some activity that you can engage in for the Lord, you will probably end up a sour and regretful old person. There’s always something one can do so long as he has control of his basic faculties. If he is bedridden, he can pray. My son, Todd, is in a wheelchair with MS, but he studies Greek and Hebrew and writes. He’s a man who, when he’s old, will have not only a legacy, but also something worthwhile to do in the Lord’s service…..Inwardly, I don’t think of myself as old. I just think, “Here’s another day—what shall I make of it? How shall I use it to honor God, and how can I be a blessing to someone else?” So long as I can continue that orientation, I think I’ll be able to carry on reasonably well for another few years. If God wills. We’re all immortal until God is through with us—as I said in the previous blog.

Read the entire article here: http://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=700

I can remember talking to Uncle Paul about aging on his 91st birthday. He said, “Inside I feel like I’m 19, but my body feels 91. Time is funny, it feels like God ripped the rug right out from under me. One day your 19 and the next day your 91.”

What are you going to do with the time God has given you? I pray that the Lord would help me to be faithful with every day and at the end I would be able to say that by God’s grace I finished well.

Below is an article about animism in the United States. The lucky four leaf clover and buckeyes used by John Kerry seem innocent, but when we trust in objects like this we are showing that we really don’t trust in God. If we really trust in a sovereign God who controls all things that happen on this earth, then we wouldn’t worry about things like luck. Christians shouldn’t even use the word luck, we should be talking about providence. We serve a God who providentially controls all things that come into our lives. Let us praise the God we serve by throwing away any of the charms we trust in.

Here is another story from a blog post by USA Today:

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/06/both-mccain-oba.html

In Albuquerque yesterday, Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama got to talking about the “good luck charms” he carries around in his pockets.

USA TODAY’s Kathy Kiely, who is covering Obama’s travels this week, reports that after 23-year-old Erinn Sanchez asked the candidate how he’s going to deliver on all his campaign promises, Obama said he’s committed to seeing them through because of the hard-luck tales he’s heard from people he’s met on the campaign trail.

“The people I meet, they’re working so hard. People are having such a tough time,” Obama said. “and people are so generous to me, investing their hopes in me. I carry around all these — I have all these things that people give me, all these little different good luck charms that I get handed.”

He talked about the eagle feather given to him by a native American woman, the lucky poker chip he got from a man. “They’ll hand it to you and they’ll say, I want you to be well, but I want you to fight for me,” Obama said.

After the event, he told Kathy that he has anywhere from 50 to 100 such keepsakes and that he picks out a couple to carry with him every day.

Republican John McCain’s penchant for carrying around lucky charms has been well documented, including in this story by CBS News’ From the Road blog. He too has carried around an eagle feather at times.

“I’m superstitious in the fact that I believe in good luck because I am the luckiest guy you will ever interview,” McCain said back in January, according to CBS. “I stood fifth from the bottom in my class in the Naval Academy.”

I read an interesting story in The Bangkok Post this morning. It is about the former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra. When I lived in Thailand he was deposed in a military coup and has been in exile, except for a short time, since then. Some of his loyal followers in his hometown have recently performed a ceremony to relieve him of his bad karma.

Here is an excerpt:
A Lanna-style religious ritual was staged Tuesday at Wat (temple) U-mong in Muang district of Chiang Mai, Thaksin’s hometown, by his supporters, the so-called Rak Chiang Mai 51. It was led by Mr Petcharawak Wattanapongsirikul and Ms Kanyapak Maneechak and attracted about 300 red-shirt loyalists. Former army chief and a cousin of Thaksin, General Chaisit Shinawatra, was invited to preside over the “life-prolonging” ritual for the ex-premier who is living overseas.

Two pig heads, three cooked chickens, rice, lao khao liquor, fruits and sweets were placed on a table for worshipping in front of a half-metre high Buddha statue with a statement written on its base which read “Chao Moon Muang and Chao Sin demand power to be returned to Chao Chai (prince) Sika. Let forgive one another.”

The ritual began with the abbot of the temple and eight other monks chanted prayers to bless Thaksin so he lives a long life. Since the fugitive could not attend the ritual in person, a huge portrait of himself was placed at the ritual site. The prayers was eventually followed by another ritual staged by a trance medium dressed in white, a red-shirt woman in her 50s. Apparent in trance, she announced to the audience Thaksin, in his past life, was Chao Moon Muang, a local king in the North several hundred years ago. She further said that Chao Moon Muang had committed karma by killing many Burmans and plundering their treasures. The karma has followed him to this life hence his sufferings now.

After the completion of the ritual, General Chaisit told reporters that he believed Thaksin, in his past life, was a warrior and he had killed many of his enemies and plundered their treasures. He said the ritual would absolve Thaksin of his past-life karma.

No trip to Thailand this August. Bui and I were both excited about going to Thailand to visit our brothers and sisters in Christ and helping translate for a medical clinic. But, I have to teach a class for Campbellsville University until August 10 and the Seminary’s classes begin on August 17th. I am grateful that I can attend Southern Seminary and I am grateful for the opportunity to teach as an adjunct for Campbellsville, but I really want to go back to Thailand. Since deciding we couldn’t go I have been obsessing about Thailand. I listen to Thai music, watch Thai movies and think about my friends in Thailand constantly the last couple of weeks.

Today as I spent my day reviewing Greek vocabulary and reading a book for another class I was thinking about how my studies might apply to cross cultural ministry in Thailand. I hope to learn Greek well enough to teach Thai pastors how to read the New Testament in the original language, if they so desire. Will the Lord allow Bui and I to return to Thailand? I don’t know, only time will tell. I would really like to return right now.