BONO

I have to admit I'm really sick of hearing U2 music in churches.

Why do Christians glorify Bono? Before I came to Christ in 2002, I was a fan of U2 and have seen them twice in concert during the 90s. And from knowing their lyrics and even how they portrayed themselves in concert, there wasn't much Christian about them that I ever witnessed.

This video takes a hard look at U2's lyrics and the songs they choose to cover. This is a must see for anyone who thinks "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" is a Christian song or is glorying Christ:








Matthew 7:15-16
15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

What is the Emergent Church?

I have mentioned the term "Emergent Church" to several Christian friends and they are not familiar with term so I thought it's important to define it. Quite a few churches now are experimenting with some of the practices of the emergent church movement which at first come across as good ideas but can be very deceptive. You often hear people like Rick Warren say they want to change the way we "do" church. This is a good warning sign that you're about to hear some Emergent teaching mixed in with good teaching. The more liberal teachings of the emergent church I find are more deceptive, dangerous than a Marilyn Manson or Slayer because you know where they're coming from.

Definition: (from Encyclopedia) : "a label that has been used to refer to a particular subset of Christians who are rethinking Christianity against the backdrop of Postmodernism....

VOTM radio Todd Friel interviews John MacArthur about Brian McLaren's social gospel, one of the leaders of the emergent movement. MacArthur points out how the more liberal emergents believe that Jesus came to fix the world (Liberation Theology), and how they want to move away from teaching of sin. As Todd Friel has paraphrased them, "We can spend all our time making the world a better place so they can go to hell from." And another disturbing aspect to some emergents is that they do not accept the Bible as absolutely true. This is a must listen!

Recently I read an article on the web by Brian McLaren where he basically doesn't answer question posed to him on his church's stance on homosexuality and then tries to make the reader feel guilty for even wanting to know his answer. This guy is slick. When he later reveals that the couple who asked the question has a parent who is now gay and they want to know if the father and his partner can come to a wedding if they hold it there, it's almost like he's triumphant at this point attempting to make us feel guilty. You can't even tell if he answered their question from this article. He seems to imply people might come to Christ if we're wishy-washy tolerant.

Taken from that article:
"Perhaps we need a five-year moratorium on making pronouncements. In the meantime, we'll practice prayerful Christian dialogue, listening respectfully, disagreeing agreeably."

The last thing we ought to do according to this emergent guru is go to the Bible and actually see what God says. Now if McLaren went to the Bible he'd most probably pull out something like "The Message" so he can manipulate the meaning into the nothingness he's shooting for.

This is very similar to Joel Osteen - they doesn't wan to offend people. Jesus never offended anyone, did he? They put him on the cross because he tickled their ears? But they think things are different now in this crazy modern world? Their view is that we need to modify how we teach Christianity to be effective.

This is the kind of mindset many leaders of the mega-churches want to embrace as they throw old seeker sensitive methods on the dung hill and look for the next big thing. Six Flags over Jesus hasn't worked well for them. Now they turn to affirming, non threatening, kind and never state anything definite on the big questions just like a big teddy bear.

I was in a grocery store the other day and I witnessed an older white gentleman get mad at the cashier and manager because something wasn't working the way he wanted it. He stormed out and those minimum wage workers just shook their heads. And I thought you know that's bad when a Christian acts like that in public (I'm not saying this guy was or wasn't). But what I believe the emergents have allowed themselves to be formed by our postmodern society into thinking is that they don't want to be like the rude Christian in public when asked hard questions the Bible is straightforward in answering. I have no clue how it helps people to hear a sugar coated the message of the gospel, it certainly doesn't challenge them to repent, turn from their sins. And the tough questions can be answered in love without malice but there will be times that people hearing those answers will not be happy with the answer. Now McLaren in this article goes one step further by not even answering the question and then wants you to believe he's brilliant with his zen-like tolerance. Oprah would be clapping, "You, go girl!"

Here's an interesting quote from Mark Driscoll, founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
"In the mid-1990s I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church and spent some time traveling the country to speak on the emerging church in the emerging culture on a team put together by Leadership Network called the Young Leader Network. But, I eventually had to distance myself from the Emergent stream of the network because friends like Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt began pushing a theological agenda that greatly troubled me. Examples include referring to God as a chick, questioning God's sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, denial of the substitutionary atonement at the cross, a low view of Scripture, and denial of hell which is one hell of a mistake." – Mark Driscoll

Mark Driscoll discusses the emerging church.

John Davis of Superdrag

John Davis is the leader singer and guitarist for the power pop band, Superdrag. I was lucky enough to see them play at The Galaxy Club in Dallas around 1995. A friend had dragged me to see an industrial metal band but all I can remember from that nite is Superdrag who opened the show. They dressed and sounded very much like a heavy Beatles and the lead guitarist looked like Roy Obison's little brother. The audience consisted only of apathetic goth kids who Davis berated and finally stomped off the stage in disgust because of lack of participation. To be honest he came off looking like a fool more than cool. I have no idea why they were on the bill and wonder if that show inspired Davis to write "Do the Vampire" for the next Superdrag album.

A year later I would borrow their first album "Regretfully Yours" from Dan, a friend at work, and listened to it nonstop for a long period of time. It took me a while to figure out they were the band I had seen opening for the industrial metal band.



I quit following the Superdrag till 2000 when I found them on the internet and discovered that the band with a new bassist, Sam Powers, had written an incredible album, "The Valley of Dying Stars," a power pop epic. I saw them live again a couple times in Dallas at Club Clearview.

A few years later, I was surprised and pleased to hear that John Davis had become a Christian. He had grown up strict Baptist but had fallen away from the faith in his teenage years. During his Superdrag resurgence in 2002 he had been drinking quite a bit and one day while driving his car felt the Holy Spirit hit him pretty hard. So he sobered up and quit doing Superdrag. He released a self-titled album in 2005 and in 2007 Arigato! Both dealing with Christian themes. I feel a little kinship to him since I came to Christ in 2002 as well.

Currently, he's touring with Superdrag again with original bassist, Tom Pappas. When I checked his myspace page to help with the writing of this blog, I don't see any mention of Christ and I hope he hasn't chosen the coolness over proclaiming his love for Christ because I know from my own experience acting cool does not bring people to the Lord.

His web site
( ( (( superdrag.com )) ) )

The Cult of Oprah & her New Age teachings

Panthesism (definition) is the view that everything is an all-encompassing, immanent abstract God.

Oprah's always pushing the cutting edge of the feel-good self-help gurus and once she places her approval on their book or DVD, it sells like hotcakes. Unfortunately, most of the stuff she endorses is deeply rooted in New Age teachings. What's scary is many of her fans call themselves Christians. Is she helping to program people to view Christians who view the Bible as the absolute Word of God as fringe fanatics? Since many post modern Christians believe they have salvation and can act and do pretty much what they want unless they slip and kill someone, they aren't spending too much time reading in their Bibles. Why read that old book when Oprah's going to give you something that feeds the flesh and doesn't make you feel guilty?

I have been looking for a good Biblical study on the subject and thanks to a heads up from my neighbor, Judy, I found a sermon by Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas from last Sunday, April 20, 2008.



Below is a clip from a Sid Roth show in which the testimony of a New Age yoga guru, Mike Shreve, who came to Christ is presented. At the end Mike describes very clearly what the New Age beliefs are as opposed to a belief in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The New Age description is strikingly similar to what Oprah professes to believe.



Here's another video on this:



Please be careful there is a lot of deception out there these days!

2 Timothy 4:2-5
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned to fables.
5 But watch in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry.

North Korea

This is a powerful and sobering account of the atrocities that occur in North Korea. Please pray daily for these people as well as the persecuted church around the world.



Taken from video description on Godtube:
PRAY UNTIL SOMETHING HAPPENS: There are 23 million people in this atheist State with a heavily fortified 250 mile border to the South with South Korea. NK is widely recognised as the most secretive nation in the world dominated by the Kim family, and today by Kim Jung-Il the ruling despot. The thoughts and writings of his father, Kim Il Sung control all of society and stand in direct conflict with the freedoms of the Gospel. There is widespread abuse of believers, extensive famine in rural areas, a moribund economy and zero toleration of criticism

This is another video that tells the story of a North Korean man named Kim Chul Min. OpenDoorsUSA has a great website striving to help and inform about the persecuted church.

Voice of the Martyrs is an organization that attempts to help the people of North Korea.

Memorial speech for my dad 2006

This is the email I sent out two years ago:

I’d like to thank everyone that came out to my dad’s memorial yesterday. He would have been pretty overwhelmed by the response, I know I was. I’d also like to thank everyone that has been there for my mom as well.

Below I’ve included the speech I tried to get out yesterday- that was one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do. I’ve also included the lyrics to the song I wrote about him in 1991. My mom told me that after she played it for him- he cried. Still brings a tear to the eye when I think about that.

God bless,
Steve


JFM Memorial Speech by his son – April 23, 2006

Jim F Murphy passed away 12:30 am on April the 21st. He was peaceful, they had him on morphine so I don’t think he suffered. Tough thing to watch someone die let alone your own dad, but he had made his peace and went to his reward. As Coach Fergie said, “It’s a hard thing.” Dad had everyone around him he loved and had had time earlier in the day to say goodbye. I told him I loved him which up until yesterday was something I had never said in person to him.

He had suffered quite a bit in these last six months with his battle with cancer, but I’m here to tell you he fought until the end. He was really a FIGHTER. It was amazing to watch him even at the end. When I die I can only hope for a portion of the courage that he displayed going through this. And although it was tough on him, he had time to be around his loved ones and let them tell him how they feel. He also renewed his faith in Christ in this period of his life. I think he was lucky in that over the past two years he knew things were serious, and he had time to reflect on the afterlife. I really think that was a blessing which most of us can’t be guaranteed that luxury. We’re moving at lightning speed, and we don’t realize that life is but a second. And now, knowing that my dad’s gone, kicks me in the head in a way that can only scream – every moment in your life is precious. And all I’m saying is that if you aren’t sure about where you’re going when you die, make the time because tomorrow is not guaranteed.

Looking back on my dad’s life, I can see the many friends he worked with. I remember one story about him at JYC, and they were doing a wastewater controls project. Another project manager, Weldon, was having trouble with one of their clients “the city of whatever”, he told them he was going to have to send Murphy in if they didn’t get their act together. The customer, looking horrified at the prospect of my dad coming in, said “Not the Sidewinder!” He played bad cop quite well.

He was also a great manager. It’s sad that today most people seem to have lost this art. My dad was a stand up guy who went to bat for the people who worked for him. People loved to work for him and remember him years and years after he worked for them. He was also amazing how he could get the best out of the people who worked for him and get them to be more productive than before. Now don’t get me wrong, if things didn’t work out, he would send in the Sidewinder. I worked with my dad at Team Controls as engineering aide in 1995. This was my first experience with computers and over the 3 years he helped get several of my friends to work there who eventually went to somewhat better things – Microsoft for them and my own company for me.

My dad’s passion in life next to his family was baseball. Man, he loved baseball. All the way back to Sulphur, Oklahoma, in the 50’s while he was still in high school, he dreamt of playing in the majors and getting picked up by a farm team for the pros. That life didn’t happen, and he went on to become an engineer. But he always kept that love, and I know he loved watching and coaching Todd and I play when we were young. Todd played catcher in high school when Coppell went to state, which I know meant the world to him. In later years, he would help coach select baseball teams around the area. Last week, I have one cherished time when we watched Pedro Martinez win his 200th game. He was dozing off, but after every inning, I would wake him by telling him what was going on. Another great memory is when he and I took a trip to Chicago, and we saw a Cubs day game at Wriggly Field so many years ago.

My dad was always the provider. He was there for us and always took care of things and didn’t want us to worry. He never would let me pay for meals but if you ask some friends like Rick, he’d say I didn’t want to pay. And that was true when I was younger, but now I want to pay because what he gave me as a son is beyond words. He was a great dad in a world where a lot of people don’t have that privilege.

My dad’s main love was his family. I know he loved to spent time with his grandbaby, Molly, and was excited about Lily’s and my new arrival this fall -- Moo Goo Gai Pan Murphy. The last thing I said to him was that Lily was going to make a boy, so she’s working on that. And I know he truly loved my mom - - the love of his life. Even though he didn’t always tell her how he felt and could get grumpy like all men, he truly loved her, and she knows that. And I think he was pretty proud of his boys, both of whom owned their own businesses and married some pretty special girls who can deal with the Murphy mystique.

My dad wouldn’t want us to be too sad right now. I know him pretty well, because in a lot of ways, I’ve become him. I inherited his humor, his Irish temper, his love of food that’s bad for me and an intense love of cursing loudly. His birthday is one day after mine and I know this year, when December 5th rolls around (his birthday,) I will miss him just like I am now. He was a great guy, and we’ll miss him.


Admission

And the days go by so mercilessly
I thought I was wise to the ways of man
People and places, work of the world, to make those demands
I’ve seen changes and life in unto me.

Chorus:
And I’ll ways knew you were there for me
And I know it’s something to have some who cares
It’s always there being your son
It’s always there being

Still the days go by carrying me and my dreams
People and places, work of the world, to make those dreams
But I found the truth as you once told me of

Chorus:

Bridge-
The ways of the world we’ll never understand
The ways of the world diseased, refrain

And the days have gone and things that must be said are left until the end
People and places, work of the world, demands and more dreams
Are nothing compared to how I love you

Chorus

Note: If you read the lyrics to the last verse it’s pretty ironic how I wrote 15 years ago – “And the days have gone and things that must be said are left until the end.” I never told my dad in person I loved him till two days before he died.

John Nieder - a Man of God that I Know

I've had the privilege studying under John's teachings in my men's group (Men of the Word) for several years and he is truly an amazing teacher. In an day and age when many preachers are toying with dangerous "new ways of doing church," John focuses on Biblical teachings. Since the 80s he has been on the air with "The Art of Family Living" and for several years has had a weekly show on John DeBrine's Songtime about prophecy which I would highly recommend in the day and age we live in.

In 2007 he started a church in Coppell called The Chapel which has been another avenue I've enjoyed hearing his teaching. He has authored several books, including What You Need to Tell Your Child About Sex (Thomas Nelson Publishers), Forgive and Love Again (with Dr. Thomas M. Thompson, Harvest House Publishers) and The Marriage Maker (Harvest House Publishers), and The Wake-up Call, Hope for the 9/11 Generation (Xulon Press).

In November John had to be taken to the hospital and he was unconscious for a period of time. During this I remember crying out to the Lord, "You can't take him yet we need him." Since that time he's recovered fully and appears to me that he's stronger than before his time in the hospital. The Lord can makes us stronger when he's challenged us.

John's website
John's blog

Top excuses why people don't believe...

1 - Bible has mistakes.
2 - Bible was written by man.
3 - Hypocrites in church.
4 - Religion causes war.
5 - Evolution
6 - Hell is unreasonable.
7 - I don't believe in it therefore it doesn't exist.
8 - Jesus didn't exist.
9 - Jesus didn't really die on the cross.

How do you react when people say this to you?
***Taken this from a WOTM radio show in Dec 2007.

Don Piper in Lewisville Thursday nite

Thursday nite I went to hear Don Piper speak at the First Baptist Church in Lewisville on April 3, 2008. He spoke about his near death experience (NDE) and painful recovery from a fatal car wreck he had in a rural Texas area in 1989. Check his website for more detail.

It's an interesting story how I came across his. One weekend in 2007 I was watching my baby while my wife was at work. During this time it was just easier to stay home so I was switching through the channels on TV and I stopped on one because I thought the speaker looked like Grissom on CSI. And as I watched with the sound off, I could somehow tell it was a NDE story. Interested I turned up the volume. The weird thing was they kept showing this bridge that looked just like a bridge that I used to travel to get to my grandmother's house in rural Houston about 20 minutes east of Huntsville. When he said Highway 19 I knew exactly where he had had his fatal accident. I remember holding my breath more than once going over that bridge many years ago. After the show was over, I called my grandmother and asked her about it. She said she hadn't heard about it possibly because they had not moved to Trinity yet. I went out and bought his book and when done gave it to my grandmother who read it.

I would like to make the point you have to be very careful with stories about NDEs or out of body experiences because if they are not of God, they are of the enemy. Piper's story is very convincing and his brief experience in Heaven brings joy to the heart of any believer in Christ. Everyone who hears about these stories must ask himself or herself if it challenges you to the feet of your Savior or towards the world?

During his talk he gave examples of people that his book had helped. A strong theme running through most of his message urged people to get a "New Normal," that many people who have suffered tragedy needed to turn the page and ask God to help them get on with their lives. He can ask this as he is a walking example of a person who had had a lot of horrible things happen to him but God used his tragedy to spread the gospel and help people. Another point he made was he believed that if you aren't dead "the main reason we're here is to get people to Heaven." I was pleased to hear him make an appeal to share the gospel.

I found his speech to be solid Biblically. He stressed that not all roads lead to Heaven and stated that Christ was the only way to Heaven. He also asked people to pray more "We have not because we don't pray." He made the distinction that God can say No to our prayers and that this isn't "name or claim it." From his own experience he said that he had seen that prayer can still produce miracles.


We were in Trinity last weekend for a funeral and I took a picture of the bridge where Don had his accident. Driving through again made me remember how tense I used to get when going through. Good thing it's no longer the main bridge used.

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