Have a Martin Luther Christmas

Phillip Ryken shares some neat thoughts about how Martin Luther preached and wrote songs about Christmas.

From the article:

We might be tempted to think that if we had been in Bethlehem, we would have given the baby Jesus the welcome he deserved. “If only I had been there!” Luther imagines us saying. “How quick I would have been to help the Baby.” And yet, said Luther, “You only say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at that time you would have done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Why don’t you do it now? You have Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor in need you do to the Lord Christ himself” [p. 31 from Martin Luther’s Christmas Book].

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Johnny Cash- Temptation and Redemption

Here's a great video from Mars Hill Church about the temptation and redemption of Johnny Cash.





You can view more biographical videos of saintly songwriters here.

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John Wimber

DG Blog shares some thoughts that Sam Storms wrote about Charismatic-meets-doctrine pioneer John Wimber, who passed away 10 years ago today.

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John Bunyan- God's Tinker

I once heard someone (sadly, I can't remember who) say that every Christian should pick a "Christian giant" from the past and learn about that person, read everything that person had written, and essentially become a student of that faithful Christian.

I think that person for me is going to be John Bunyan.

John Bunyan was born in 1628, near Bedford, England. He's best known for writing Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory about the Christian life that he authored while in prison for preaching about Jesus. It has been suggested that Pilgrim's Progress is the world's greatest selling book aside from the Bible and it has been translated into over 200 languages!

But Mr. Bunyan was no one hit wonder; he was in fact a prolific author who wrote 58 books, ranging from allegory to exposition to poetry to polemic.

I first read Pilgrim's Progress as a kid, probably around 11 or 12. Bunyan's vivid images made a deep imprint that have stayed with me to this day. But it wasn't until I read Bunyan's autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, that I truly began to appreciate what a testimony of God's grace he was.

Since then, I have been saving my pennies and last week I bought Banner of Truth's 3 volume set of the Complete Works of John Bunyan. It arrived Tuesday and from my cursory perusal, it seems that picking Bunyan is a good idea. John Bunyan is a man I want to be like. His passion for Jesus and his enduring trust in God, even in the midst of tremendous trial and fearful circumstances, are both a radical challenge and a helpful example to me.

I encourage everyone to find a copy of anything that Bunyan has written and follow his gaze as he points to Jesus.

See the works of Bunyan at Project Gutenberg.

Get the works of Bunyan in txt, rtf or pdf.

Read, download, or listen to John Piper's biographical sketch of John Bunyan.

A great Bunyan resource.

Get a free audiobook of Pilgrim's Progress.

See WTS Books page of Bunyan's books.

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Happy Reformation Day

On this day back in 1517, Martin Luther changed the world (and that's not an exaggeration) by tacking up 95 objections to the Roman Catholic church. Tony at the Shepherd's Scrapbook has a good quote regarding the Reformation:

“… we need to realize that the Reformers saw nothing less than the gospel at stake. We sometimes forget what Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and others risked in taking a stand for the gospel. They risked their very lives. Regarding the Reformers’ work as nothing more than sowing seeds of unfortunate division shows both little knowledge of and little respect for what they did. They were human, and they had their faults and shortcomings. They sinned, sometimes greatly. But they also, like the imperfect characters of the Bible, were used greatly by God. In other words, the church should be grateful for the Reformation. And in this age of religious pluralism, theological laxity, and biblical illiteracy, perhaps the Reformation is needed more than ever before.” - Stephen J. Nichols, The Reformation: How a monk and a mallet changed the world (Crossway: 2007) p. 21

Sam Storms has a great post entitled "Celebrating the Reformation: A Lesson on God's Sovereignty over Human Sin"

In his post, he shares some great thoughts about Thomas Cranmer and it piqued my interest. I found a great audio biography of Cranmer presented by Jim Hamilton at the 2007 Bunyan Conference.

You can listen to that biography here.

As always, Tim Challies has his Reformation Day Symposium up.

*Added on 11/01/07- Read or listen to John Piper's biographical message on Martin Luther.

We ended the day by taking the kids (dressed as adorable CareBears) out for some treats and hanging with some friends. On to November!

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