Watch this! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!

Listen to this!!!

Or read this:
http://www.bibleword.com/rfyl.htm

PASTOR CARTER CONLON
CO-PASTOR, TIME SQUARE CHURCH - New York City

Street Witnessing before Easter

Last Saturday before Easter, I met up with Jon Speed of LostCauseMinistries and Ron Martinez. Being my first time out, I watched and observed and prayed. Most of the people they approached took the gospel tracts they handed out and some even stopped to talk about Jesus. It was very stirring to see some of the folks really listening to them, soaking in the gospel.

Some Christians tend to think of this style of witnessing is bad and possibly detrimental way of spreading the gospel (even though Christ and the disciples used this method) but when Jon and Ron spoke they showed nothing but love and respect and to be honest some of the folks probably weren't used to that. This is a quote from Jon's blog that I found interesting, "In DFW, the only ones who seem to get offended are either professing Christians or atheists who once claimed to be Christians."

Jon Speed
Lost Cause Ministries

Ron Martinez
Gospel to the Perishing

Rotting Corpse CD Review with mention of a Chick tract

I was looking on the Internet for a certain review of my band's CD from a couple of years ago. I found it. You have can follow the link and then you have to scroll down a bit because he reviews several bands before us but I also have it pasted at the bottom of the page.

The reviewer, named Todd, takes exception to my including a Chick tract in with the promo package I sent him. The seeker sensitive crowd would have a problem that I used a Chick tract and not a new hipper style of tract that's more tolerant. But if Todd read the tract, he read the gospel and that's what's important even if he didn't accept Christ on the spot. He's sarcastic but I think he also having a hard time believing that a member of Rotting Corpse would send him a Chick tract. And it's funny he calls me ex-Rotting Corpse bassist even though we were playing shows at the time apparently wanting to distance me from the band. I remember reading this and glorifying God that he mentioned the tract in the review because most people I send tracts to act like I never sent them. It's almost like the crazy uncle that the family pretends isn't doing something weird.

When I sent this tract several years ago, I only sent them with people who weren't paying customers so I sent several to web 'zines and magazines (promo material). For over the last year, I send them to whoever I mail material too. It's easy to fall into the "I don't want to offend" mode but what's important is sharing the message of the gospel.

For the 3 people that ever read my blog, please say a prayer or two for Todd.

His review:

Rotting Corpse - _The Demos_ (F*ck It Records)

Rotting Corpse emerged in the heyday of the Texas underground, churning textbook thrash alongside more notable acts like Devastation and noted for a founding member going on to form Solitude Aeternus. This disc (now in its third print) compiles each of the group's four demos, starting in 1986. While not too distinct from the Bay Area sound in general, this collection remains a fairly enjoyable and quality recorded with a slightly "tinny" production to offset the energetic riffing. There's trivia here as well, as the group's second demo was produced by Vinnie Paul Abbot. An eight-page booklet includes lyrics as well as tons of photos and show flyers plus a sticker and pin. My copy was actually mailed with a Jack Chick tract, which always cracks me up -- even more so after I found out that ex-Rotting Corpse bassist Steve Murphy truly does care about my soul's final abode in the great hereafter. Parties still interested may want to request a better companion piece by Mr. Chick, perhaps the more appropriate "Angels" or "The Sissy"?

Todd DePalma

The Chapel prepares for Easter Sunday service

Members of The Chapel who meet at the YMCA in Coppell prepared the area to the southeast of the main campus Saturday morning for an outside Easter Sunday service. In this area is an outside worship area with an old rugged cross. Church members cleaned the area and scrubbed benches in preparation of the Easter service. The service will be held at 10:20 am on Sunday, March 23, 2008. John Nieder, pastor of The Chapel, will lead the service. The service is open to anyone wanting to attend. The Chapel is a relatively new church which stresses Biblical beliefs in a small group environment.

For information or directions please check out: The Chapel

What is Deconstructionism? Postmodernism?

I first heard Todd Friel discuss these terms when WOTM was in Europe last year (2007). Many of the people in Europe they ran into tended to hold postmodernist beliefs.

So what is deconstructionism anyway?

A philosophy coined by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in the 1960s that interprets history by trying to determine the meaning from what is left out of the text or ignored or silenced by it. This philosophy is an extending the philosophical excursions of Nietzsche and Heidegger.

The example that Todd used was George Washington. He was a slave owner, therefore he's a bad person (even though history doesn't record this and actually shows him to have treated the slaves as family members). Therefore, everything he made contributions to (being a devout Christian who wanted his government to reflect his beliefs) is called into question and doubted, although there is no proof of it. A deconstructionist maintains these assumptions because they can't see or experience something in the past. They don't care if they have no proof of their assumptions. They interpret history by adding their prejudices and assumptions to history. They assume, based on these prejudices and assumptions, what has been left out, ignored or silenced in historical writings.

How does this effect us as Christians? When we talk about our Christian heritage in the building of the United States of America, they deconstruct it by finding faults in the founding fathers, as in the example above.

So when witnessing, be ready for this!

If your head isn't spinning enough already... How about postmodernism?

From an article by James Beverley in 2002:

"Postmodernism is a term of recent vintage, but the seeds of postmodernism hearken back to thinkers like Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Martin Heidegger who raised radical questions about the intellectual, cultural, and political ideologies of their day. Though none of these thinkers were postmodernists, per se, each saw that powerful elites use "reason" and "logic" and "truth" to hold humans in captivity in some form."

Postmodernism: "There is no single world view that captures reality, no master story (or meta-narrative) that underlies humanity. Reason is to be distrusted because there is no way to know which person's reason is reliable. There is no such thing as objectivity. There is no "truth" to appeal to for understanding history and culture. There are no moral absolutes. The West, with its colonialist heritage, deserves ridicule. Texts, whether religious or philosophical or literary, do not have intrinsic meaning. Ideas are cultural creations. Everything is relative. We need to be deeply suspicious of all ideas since ideas are used as tools to oppress and confine humans."

So a postmodernist has trouble knowing whether or not he is alive for sure...

How to witness to a postmodernist\deconstructionist?

When trying to witness to a postmodernist, they might counter with, “Christianity was created to control the masses.” They might also suggest that nothing can be known for certain; such as the fact that Christ was the Son of God who came to earth for our salvation.

When witnessing, obviously we don't want to stay in these arguments long because you will make no progress arguing with the intellect. Instead we might ask them, “Is there absolute truth?” If they say no, ask them when it is right for someone to rape someone else? Maybe from there, state that there are absolutes in life and then take them into the moral Law, the Ten Commandments.

This is a good article on witnessing to postmodernist.

Below in quotes was taken from this article and are good to keep in mind when witnessing to a postmodernist or someone with these leanings. To sum up below I think he's saying we've got the truth of God (positive) as opposed to the negative view that postmodernism tends to create within a person (when they are being open and honest).

"Our reasons for optimism include the power of God, the loneliness of postmodern culture, postmodern nihilism, and a vacuum of truth."

"By discovering the presuppositions of others and gently leading them to discover the problems with their own views, we can thaw the dogmatism of postmodern consensus and ceate a new openness to alternatives."

***I'd like to thank Jon Speed of Lost Cause Ministries for helping me with this article.

Bleach - a Christian rock band

One day as I pondered whether I had made even a tiny difference in anyone's life to accept Christ as their savior, my thoughts went back to the people who helped plant a seed with me. I had one friend who didn't share the gospel but did share his enthusiasm for the church he had been going and even invited me to a service. I attended once.

Another seed was planted by a Christian rock band that is now disbanded called Bleach. I first saw them late one Saturday nite on Christian television in 1998 with a video for "Children of Sod." They sounded like Weezer but even nerdyier. Even though I didn't accept Christ at that point, I bought their CDs and enjoyed the heavy rock music that had positive lyrics which I certainly didn't find in the lyrics of the other bands I listened to at the time. It's important to note that music was most definitely my god before coming to know Christ. I had played in bands most of life and whether happy or sad I turned to music to escape the cares of this world. I bought tons of CDs and downloaded music constantly looking for my next fix of good music.


original bleach

Bleach is an interesting band because they did two great albums with the original line up. By the 3rd album they lost the lead guitarist and bassist but produced I believe to be their best album. By the 4th album the band had only the rhythm guitarist, Sam Barnhart, and singer, Dave Baysinger from the original band, and the rest being new members. With the second blech they made 2 incredible albums and ended with a 6th final album called "Farewell old friends" in 2004. If you know anything about bands, this is a fairly incredible accomplishment but God apparently had his hand on their progress. I might be fooled but the members come across as amazingly humble and devoted to Christ. Don't fool yourself, not every band that calls itself Christian really gives a hoot about being devoted to Christ. This is still the music business, mind you.


second bleach

A funny story is that in the late 90's original bleach played in Dallas but I was afraid to go because I thought someone might preach to me. I didn't realize how much I need some preachin'...

I still listen to Bleach (orginal and second) quite frequently and recommend them to anyone that wants some heavier music but not with bad, nasty lyrics. I really don't listen to any other Christian bands at this time. Not that I have anything against them, I just have not heard anything that moves me.

They don't have a webpage anymore but there is a couple myspace pages for them:

http://www.myspace.com/thebandformerlyknownasmuffin

http://www.myspace.com/bleach717

original bleach

second bleach

Moral Relativity on your Television set?

Do you remember in the olden days when you would watch a show on television or the movies? By the end of the show you felt good about cheering for the hero and when he achieved his goal (catching the bad guys), you felt good about what you have just seen.

Don't see that much on TV anymore, do you? The heroes of today's TV are closer to Hannibal Lector than they are the Lone Ranger. One example that comes to mind is Grissom on CSI Vegas who is almost insect like. Today's characters tend to hold humanist postmodernist views on society rather than Jesus Christ is Lord.

This leads me to an observation that most story lines on TV today are crafted with moral relativity. What's that mean? In the story characters are put in situations where the lines of right and wrong are blurred, the characters are almost always driven by emotion with very little logic so they settle for a wrong decision and the writer builds in sympathy for the character in support of this decision (ex. pro-choice, gay lifestyle, vigilante justice, transexuals as victims). Viewers are desensitized by repeatedly seeing these shows and tend to believe there are times when you have to do what you do whether or not the situation is wrong.

Many times I finish watching one of these shows I feel like something is wrong, I feel unsettled. A friend pointed this out with the recent movie, "No Country for Old Men." He was reminded that this movie had bothered him when he read an article about Javier Bardem, the main antagonist bad guy. Bardem said that he wasn't quite right while playing this character and it even followed him until he started his next role. What would have happened if he had taken a year off?

An example of this is "Forrest Gump" when his mom has sex with the principal so Forest can go to regular school because of his low IQ. Not being a believer at the time I first saw this, I found it funny but somewhat shocking and it bothered me (my conscience). This is an example of moral relativity because Forest wouldn't go through all the wild wonderful things that happened in his life if his mom hadn't made this sacrifice for him. They want you to believe the ends justify the means. Without a good sense of right or wrong, young viewers are being taught that there are no absolutes. Confusing, yes, but you see it all the time on TV and movies. Ultimately, the enemy uses this to chip away at people's faith in a power greater than themselves.

We, as Christians, should be careful what we view and watch because Hollyweird isn't thinking the things of God when they make their TV shows, movies, pornos, etc. Something Mark Cahill once said has really stuck with me to the effect that if it's not of God, it's of the devil. And we tend to have trouble with this because we struggle with not being of this world, do we not?

So my advice is TURN OFF THE TV!!!