Men Only! Why Porn is So Alluring…

OK, this is a restricted post. Men only, means men only! We're probably all telling ourselves: "Yeah right, like THAT'S going to happen!" I think virtually every man is tempted by lust and pornography is just one possibility. But why does porn have such a strong influence on us?

Well here is the post. Al Mohler comments on a book he's just read called Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain.

Here is a quote from the book that I found very helpful, because it was very true:

"The simplest explanation for why men view pornography (or solicit prostitutes) is that they are driven to seek out sexual intimacy," he explains. The urge for sexual intimacy is God-given and essential to the male, he acknowledges, but it is easily misdirected. Men are tempted to seek "a shortcut to sexual pleasure via pornography" and now find this shortcut easily accessed.

Here is the whole thing on Al Mohler's blog

What are we listening to?

Just thought I'd tell you what I've been listening to lately. To stay spiritually "fit" (or not get disqualified) I read my Bible, try to commune with God, listen to people that contagiously make me want to know God more deeply and tell the world about the supreme worth of Jesus.


Here are the people that help me. If you click on their name, you'll be able to listen to and download the most recent sermon I've heard:


John Piper  (Excellent sermon on "Going out of the camp"
CJ Mahaney (This man has the gift of encouragement)
Mark Dever  (Does God give second-chances? The message of Zachariah)
Francis Chan (Holy Anguish)
Matt Chandler (This is particularly good for anyone that listens to a lot of sermons, attends a lot of conferences and reads a lot of books)
Mark Driscoll (This isn't the most recent I listened to, but the 1st of an excellent series)

It may look sophisticated, but its still idolatry

Millions watched MJ's funeral last week. I didn't, but would have certainly watched a bit if I'd thought of it. Tim Challies writes a good post on the topic. He compares Indian religion and the funeral. Thought provoking. His conclusion:

"Yesterday we saw idolatry of a whole different order yet idolatry that is so similar to what I saw in The Story of India. There are some who, in their idolatry, bow low before gods of wood and stone and burnished bronze. There are others who, in their idolatry, live vicariously through celebrities and who bow low before the spirit of the age. Michael Jackson’s funeral, where God’s name was invoked and where Jesus’ name was supposedly held high, was as vivid an expression of idolatry as was the footage of hordes of Indian Hindus dancing with joy and veneration before their statues. One is a base idolatry, the other is sophisticated and proper. Both are the same ancient sin, the same ancient rebellion against the one true God."

Read it all here

John or Joan? The Good News for Transgendered

I thank God for Justin Taylor's blog. Several times this year I've been led through it to think about deep and important things about God and His Gospel. Yesterday he posted a link to Russell Moore's blog. The topic was assigned in a Christian Ethics examination. Here is the very real scenario I've just copy-pasted from JT's blog.

Here's the "ethics dilemma" Russell Moore presented to his ethics class for them to answer for their final:

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?”

For Dr. Moore's insightful answer, see

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4
• Part 5

Here's the conclusion:

You see, the scenario about “Joan” isn’t really all that hypothetical. Chances are in your town right now, there are people in that situation. Why don’t they show up in our churches? Is it because they doubt if our gospel is really addressed to them? Is it because we doubt it too?

If Joan comes to your church this Sunday and hears the gospel, if “she” decides to throw away everything “she” knows and follow Christ, will your church be there to love him, and to show him how to stop pretending and to fight his way toward what he was created to be? Maybe it would take a Joan at the altar call to make us question whether we really believe what we say and what we sing. Is there really power, wonder-working power, in the blood of the Lamb? Is our gospel really good news for prodigal sons, even for sons so lost they once thought they were daughters?

Update: The posts are now collected in one printable PDF.

Joel Osteen? Isn't He The Sweetest Thing?

Just passing on an article by Michael Horton about Joel Osteen and the prosperity gospel . If I were to summarize the article in one sentence, I think it would be:


Joel Osteen = An example of prosperity gospel gone mainstream


But you don't have to believe me. Check out the article and check your Bibles. Remember that book that Osteen waves about at the start of every service? Yup, thats the Bible.


PS: For more info, watch this Video about the prosperity pseudo-gospel. By the way, let me say again that the prosperity gospel is NOT the gospel.

PPS: After a comment seemed to still not make clear the heresy of the prosperity gospel, here is a short video explaining Joel Osteen's error.

UPDATE: CNN has done a post on Osteen's view of money. He even revises Jesus' view on money!

The Red Envelope Project (due the 31st of March)

Have you ever wanted to write to the president of the United States? Well here is your chance. My mom (how cool is that!) just pointed out a website that I thought worthwhile to send to you.

We live in France, so we cannot participate in the Red Envelope Project, but you can. So use the freedom you have to write to Barack Obama and send your letter before the end of March (tomorrow).

Red Envelope Project FAQ

God's Wonderful Plan for Your Life

Someone just pointed this out to me, so I'm passing it on:


"Many people like to talk about “God’s Wonderful Plan forYour Life.” I think that’s a great thing! Yes! God has a Wonderful Plan for your life! I was recently granted an interview with the Apostle Paul and asked him about just that very thing.
+++
ME: Paul, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this blog interview. I know you have a lot going on so I’ll cut to the chase: Can you tell us about God’s Wonderful Plan for your life so far?"

Continue reading…

Source:  Berry

The Prodigal Sons a Tim Keller Sermon

I listened to a sermon by Tim Keller this weekend. Its entitled, The Prodigal Sons. I was on the train returning home from the TV interview. Its really good, simple yet profoundly gospel-centered. I recommend it. I'd never heard of Tim Keller until a few weeks ago but I will be listening to more. He's a pastor of Redeemer Church in New York.

So I suggest you right click here and download the sermon, listen to it and tell me what you think. I'm definitely the Older Brother, how about you?

Will the Church be the Church for Homosexual Christians?

This article by Wesley Hill is thought provoking. Wesley is a Christian with same-sex desires and he explains the greatest need of homosexual Christians within our midst. I'm still not sure what to think about it, but I give it to your appreciation.

Source: JT

New Arrivals on the Kapi Farm

Spring is in the air and, as on any farm, great things happen. You can read about the newest inhabitants of the Kapi Farm on the family blog, by clicking here. As you see on the photo, everyone was excited to hear the news...

http://fermekapi.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-arrivals-on-farm.html

 

The God Who Is There (by DA Carson)

In an essay entitled “Do Christians Have a Worldview?” Graham Cole begins with the following lines as his opening paragraph:

He took the blade. It was bright silver. He loved the way it glistened. It felt good in his hand. He cut deep into her chest again and again. He showed no emotion, no recognition of her humanity. She lay motionless, her life gone. He made no attempt to cover the body. Later that night over a beer he openly talked to a stranger in the bar about what he had done. The stranger felt ill.

What does the paragraph mean? If the words refer to a serial killer boasting about his latest savage triumph, the sentences are pretty ghastly, and the man in the bar should call the police. On the other hand, if the words refer to a forensic pathologist who talks about his autopsy of a particularly interesting corpse, there is no criminality (though there may be a lack of professionalism in talking like this to a stranger). How you interpret the quoted lines depends entirely on the context...

Read the rest of the article. 

La Ferme des Kapi

You've got to check out the photo of the snowmen on our family blog. It doesn't snow here like we'd like it to. But my brothers and sisters seem to have no problem doing the best with what God gives…

50 Remarkable Sermons by Charles H. Spurgeon

While attending a gathering in Switzerland, I visited their second hand book section. I found it rather interesting, although it contained no French books worth reading. Instead, I found old books from authors that have gone to be with Jesus, many years ago.

In the end, I only bought one book (because I'd come by train), but I think it is a rare find, a treasure. A collection of 50 Remarkable Sermons by Charles Spurgeon, printed in 1908. I bought a hundred year-old book of Spurgeon for just over a dollar! I love second-hand books!

As I glanced through the book, I found a wonderful sermon. I'd been longing to read it again, ever since a friend onboard the Doulos read it out loud to me in his Irish accent. The title of the sermon is: High Doctrine and Broad Doctrine (sermon #1762 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle). It is a gem of Bible exposition. To hear the scriptures preached with such force and beauty was a memorable occasion. You'd have to read it for yourself, but until you find the book, you can read the Bible and be amazed for yourself.

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37 (KJV as quoted in High Doctrine and Broad Doctrine)

A good weekend to all. Enjoy the extra free time to read your Bibles and be with God!

Meet a frenchman onboard the Logos Hope.

Two of my friends are onboard the Logos Hope since September 2008. They're from the city nearest to me, Valenciennes. I just found a short interview Ruben gave for the Logos Hope website and I thought you would enjoy it. Remember to pray for them and the small French church that supports them.

Happy New Year in the Bible! Let's Start Reading!

I won't comment on the year gone by. I haven't been writing simply because I've had better things to do. My habit has been to read through the Bible every year and every time several facts hit me in the face:


-My lack of discipline. I start so strong and finish having to read huge portions because I was unable to be regular and read EVERY day.
-My incoherence. I say the Bible is marvelous, what I read in it is marvelous and yet I struggle to read every day!
-God's greatness. That the very words of God could be put in a book so that I could know Him is simply unbelievable.
-God's plan of salvation for His children is clear throughout all the Bible.
-That the 66 books that make up the Bible have only one author. There is so much similarity despite the 2000 years that separate the first book and the last book, yet they are coherent with themselves and compliment each other in a way that must be divine.


I have many other facts about myself and about God that I observe every time I open the Bible, but it would form a very long list. My purpose was not to make a list, but to encourage each and everyone of us to pick up a Bible reading schedule/plan and resolve to read through the Bible again this year in a regular and ravenous manner. If you don't have a reading plan, there are hundreds on the web. Also you can click here and email me . Give me your address and your name and I'll send you the reading plan I'll be using this year.

All means are good to save some, that includes Manga-Messiah

Most of my French friends have grown accustomed if not annoyed with my enthusiasm for Manga - Messiah. Manga - Le Messie, is the french name of gospel in manga comics that BLF Europe has just completed. A japanese team of Christians are drawing the entire Bible in manga style. We simply did the French translation and some of the cover graphics. It is a tremendous gospel tool.

We must give credit to God for all of this. The project just fell in our lap and we took it up and went with up. We didn't have finances for the first print, but that was provided and Manga - Le Messie has been on the shelves since November 15th. In those short weeks, more than 3,000 copies have been sold and its only the beginning. I've been praying nearly everyday for all those that will be reading the book in the coming weeks. I have rarely seen such beautiful drawings and it presents the gospel with gorgeous simplicity. May God reveal Himself to many this Christmas!

Book Review: Out of the Black Shadows by Stephen Lungu

As is my habit whenever I read a captivating story, I must finish it in one reading. I have never learned anything about delayed gratification. It is no wonder then that I struggle so to fight sin with the future joy of heaven. However, with books I find it no fault, it only means that I sleep little and must fight sloth the next days.

This book is an account of the life of Stephen Lungu who grew up in what is present-day Zimbabwe. Abandoned by his father as a toddler, his mother also abandons him by the age of eight. Stephen is the eldest of three and must provide for them. Early on, he escapes his aunts who resentfully have been putting up with the three children. Stephen grows up on the streets, forming a gang in his early teens and eventually getting involved with the revolutionary party who is attempting to destabilize the government all forms of unrest, riots, petrol bombs, attacks etc...

On way to bomb a Christian gathering, God reveals himself to young Stephen, who repents and gives his life to God. From that day onward, Stephen Lungu is a different person and goes on to become an evangelist with a great heart of compassion for the lost people around him, as he himself was saved from a life of misery.

That is a very short summary of the book. There are good twists and some profound insights into God. While I would have liked to know more about his reading of the Bible, I appreciated the description of the men that shaped Stephen Lungu's life, especially Patrick Johnstone, the author of Operation World. I also benefitted from Lungu's humble account of the events in his life. I've never met him, but I'm led to believe that it isn't false modesty. Because of his childhood, Stephen was brought up to believe that he had no worth and that it was his fault that his parents abandoned the family. Only God's miraculous hand is able to heal his view of himself.

I recommend the book to everyone that enjoys a well written and exciting biography.

Pray More Than You Criticize

I felt rebuked by reading the notes of Marc Driscoll at the Desiring God Conference. I'm going through a more difficult time and I would like to shoot down several people that probably deserve it. So these words were good for me.
I perhaps didn't read them as I was intended to. I read them as if I were the shepherd and I examined myself to know if that was indeed a description of myself.

"Pray that they would have a thick skin. Pray that they would have a humorous outlook. That they would laugh at themselves, that they would have a tender heart toward Jesus and the sheep. That they wouldn’t be hammered, that they would keep a tender heart, that they would have a humble disposition, that when criticisms are true, they would repent. That they would look at a criticism for a kernel of truth to be sanctified by."

You can read the whole thing for yourself here

Books I've Read And Recommend

A while back a friend asked me for a list of books I recommended. I
wrote up this list for him and thought that I could include it to the
blog. I cannot encourage reading enough. It has changed my life. The
Bible is the one book that has had the great influence in my life and
I didn't include it into the list, because my friend and I both
consider the Bible to be a class of its own. The books on the list
are written by human authors, about the Divine Author.

Books I Recommend

I tend to favor authors, rather than the books themselves. So in the
list I'll mention Authors and their key books. Please don't take this
as the only good authors. I cannot recommend books I have not read,
so there isn't a big list. There are many other others I plan on
reading, but just haven't gotten around to yet. Also, if I liked a
book, that doesn't mean you won't like the others, we read books with
different needs at different times of our lives.

CS Lewis
Anything by him is good. God gifted him with words like I could only
dream. No one says it quite like Lewis. I would recommend starting
with Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters or A Grief Observed.
They are all amazing!

John Piper
I love Piper, but he is a better preacher than writer. His books are
heavy, full of Bible and therefore you must read them slowly. Start
with Don't Waste Your Life, an excellent book! Everything else is
excellent so start wherever you feel like it. His first and perhaps
most famous book is Desiring God.

Louie Giglio
I read The Air I Breathe: Worship As A Way of Life and absolutely
loved it! His other book is I Am Not, But I Know I AM, I've just
begun it.

Francis Schaeffer
This man is brilliant, but really deep! I didn't understand more than
5% the first time I read his book, The God Who Is There, but it
changed my life and gave me a heart for evangelism in a post modern
world. I recommend He Is There And He Is Not Silent as his greatest
and most accessible book. Start there.

Randy Alcorn
Great author. Read The Purity Principle and The Treasure Principle,
they are both great. I've not read the book Heaven yet, but I was
told it is excellent (One of Akira's favourites).

Spurgeon
I've only read sermons by him, but everything is good. I think Mark
B. would best recommend where to start with the best.

Stu Weber
He's written a few books, they're all right, but one is a modern
classic, Tender Warrior is a must read on Biblical Manhood.

Philip Yancey
I'm a biased reader. My favourite of his is Disappointment With God,
mostly because I read it at the perfect time in my life. God used it
a lot. However, several other of his books are good: The Jesus I
Never Knew and What is So Amazing About Grace? I appreciate his very
open and honest writing style. However it can get introspective to a
fault.

Joshua Harris
I love this guy's writing, but I understand that he is a bit too
radical for many. I think he stays away from legalism so that is why
I recommend him without any hesitation. I Kissed Dating Goodbye is
his first and famous one. Excellent! Boy Meets Girl is also great,
but my favorite is Not Even A Hint (it has a new name in the book
shop: Sex Is Not The Problem, Lust Is). It is an excellent book and
both men and women should read it. It is brilliant!

John Bunyan
The Pilgrim's Progress. A must read!

Those are the ones that come to mind first. Of course there are many
more, but there is no end to writing books, therefore there is no end
to reading them.

Enjoy your reading,

Stéphane Kapitaniuk

(Photo credit: Yi-An Neoh)