What is Total Depravity?

Highway Robbery at the Pump

Well, if finally happened. Gas went over four bucks today. I went to fill up this morning and paid $4.12 per gallon. Just two years ago, the price per gallon was $2.13. Think of the consequences if everything we have to buy increased at that percentage.

I keep thinking of all those people who claimed we invaded Iraq for oil. So, why didn't the price go down with all the oil we stoled from Iraq?

Of course, if the government (Federal, State and City) would just ease up on the gas taxes, it would help. But, in the meantime, here are a few hints from http://www.gasbuddy.com/ to conserve fuel:

Avoid High Speeds
As your speed increases, your aerodynamic drag increases in an exponential fashion. Driving 62 mph (100 km/h) vs 75 mph (120 km/h) will reduce fuel consumption by about 15%.

Do Not Accelerate or Brake Hard
By anticipating the traffic and applying slow steady acceleration and braking, fuel economy may increase by as much as 20%.

Keep Tires Properly Inflated
Keep tire air pressure at the level recommended by your vehicle manufacturer. A single tire under inflated by 2 PSI, increases fuel consumption by 1%.

Use A/C Sparingly
When the air conditioner is on it puts extra load on the engine forcing more fuel to be used (by about 20%). The defrost position on most vehicles also uses the air conditioner.

Keep Windows Closed
Windows open, especially at highway speeds, increase drag and result in decreased fuel economy of up to 10%.

Service Vehicle Regularly
Proper maintenance avoids poor fuel economy related to dirty air filters, old spark plugs or low fluid levels.

Use Cruise Control
Maintaining a constant speed over long distances often saves gas.

Avoid Heavy Loads
Remove the sand bags from your trunk in the spring and pack lightly for long trips.

Avoid Long Idles
If you anticipate being stopped for more than 1 minute, shut off the car. Restarting the car uses less fuel than letting it idle for this time.

Purchase a Fuel Efficient Vehicle
When buying a new vehicle examine the vehicle's rated fuel efficiency. Usually choosing a small vehicle with a manual transmission will provide you with great fuel economy.

Don't Go Anywhere

Just kidding, I added this in. Of course, gas had to go up just when the speed limit finally increased on the interstate!

Very insightful sermon by Francis Chan about living for Christ. It is rare to hear a pastor admit that wealth and comfort are a snare for his soul.

A Biblical Response to Ravi's Excuse

Dr. Gregory Allen responds to Ravi Zacharais' explanation of why it was 'ok' not to pray in the Name of Jesus. Below is an excerpt of his article. The entire article is well worth reading here at Slice of Laodicea

"If any form of persecution, estrangement, exclusion, or barring of Ravi Zacharias’ ministry would have resulted from the stance I believe he should have taken with clarity, the words of Jesus in Jn.15:18-25 would have come into view. The civil powers (including Shirley Dobson under the thumb of government mandate) that set the rules and the tone for the observances, would have rejected Ravi had he prayed in the Name of Jesus, and judged him guilty of “forcing his personal beliefs down the nation’s collective throat” at the government’s expense. He would have been “crucified” in the secular press as “taking advantage of a momentary platform for his own agenda and purposes; surely condemned for something “unethical” in the world’s eyes. The war cry of “Separation between Church and State” would have been heard from sea to shining sea, and shouted from “purple mountains majesty” around the world. But after the world would have laid Ravi to rest in his figurative “grave,” hand dug by their pens of prominence, God would have performed a resurrection! Listen then, to John 15:19-22, and watch how God would have brought beauty out of those ashes:

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, ‘The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for MY NAME’S SAKE BECAUSE THEY DO NOT KNOW HIM THAT SENT ME. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but NOW they have no cloke for their sin. HE THAT HATETH ME HATETH MY FATHER ALSO.”

The Father Jesus spoke of is Ravi Zacharias’ “Holy Father.” So while I appreciate Ravi’s response and the reasonings that he felt led him to his decisions, I refuse to invest my “okay” with his decision. It’s not okay! The fact that he took to “shying away” from the name of Jesus for politically correct purposes is a denial of the call of Christ to endure the persecutions the world smites us with for the high crime of being His chosen servants. If the God haters of this land react to a Christian speaker’s disobedience to civil authorities by seeking to do away with the National Day of Prayer, so be it. Since they’d need an Executive Order from the President and/or an act of Congress to remove it from the land, “let them alone” (Matt.15:14). When Jesus dealt with the hypocrisy of religious people in His day, who had “a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom.10:2); choosing their tradition (Matt.15:6) over the Words of God, He quoted these verses from Isa.29:13-14:

“Because this people draw near with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote…the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their men shall be concealed.” (NASB)"

Contending for the Truth

It is amazing to me what lengths Focus on the Family's Shirley Dobson is running to defend ignoring Jesus at the National Day of Prayer. She can't have it both ways. Her insistence that NDP has been mischaracterized cannot be accurate because what they did is a FACT that is verifiable. Do they honestly think they can spin their way out of ignoring Jesus Christ?

The post below is from slice. Ingrid has been tracking this since the day the Jesus-less prayer by Ravi Zacharias was made public. The spin from NDP and FOF has been shameful considering it is coming from professing Christians. Is there any excuse in the world to deny Jesus Christ publicly? They have fallen in love with the world.

Ingrid writes:

"Focus on the Family is reportedly planning a two-day program series on the National Day of Prayer on May 13 and 14. They are sending out emails claiming that what everyone has heard is inaccurate about Shirley Dobson and the NDP Task Force. I stand by all that we have said. The facts speak for themselves.

1. Dr. Ravi Zacharias, 2008 Honorary Chairman of the NDP, by his own admission, conformed to government demands that there be a non-sectarian, Jesus-free prayer. That prayer was on the Task Force website for the public to read, and we have posted it at this site. There is no Jesus in that prayer. There was also no inclusion of the name of Christ at Ravi’s White House prayer on the National Day of Prayer.

2. Fact 2 that has already been established is that the National Day of Prayer Task Force sponsors interfaith prayer services that they call “Judeo-Christian”. They have gotten away with it for years and that is why they are shocked that anyone would bring this up now. This “Judeo-Christian” prayer service is what resulted in a liberal, Reform rabbi, Rabbi Bruce Lustig, getting up and opening Dobson’s event by claiming that all religions are equal before God in prayer. Shirley thanked him and the event opened on that footing. This is indisputable, and we have posted the audio online.

Further, while we welcome a wider audience’s awareness of these issues, it will be a major mistake for the Dobsons if they choose to get on the air and reference what we have written and said. Why? Because it will simply introduce many of their listeners for the first time to the reality of what happened. This will not help their cause with born-again Christians in their audience who still care about biblical truth. It will also be ironic if they choose to do this because the Dobsons have steadfastly refused to do any programming of any kind that would warn listeners about the dangers of the false teaching flooding into the church. They don’t like to offend and name names unless they’re talking about liberals in Congress. The evangelical church is off limits. Ryan Dobson is a big fan of Rob Bell, and he told a broadcaster friend of mine that in writing. Bell is the one who told Christianity today that he and his wife were excited to discover that the Bible was not the product of “Divine fiat” but rather a “human product”.

If the Dobson family refuses to warn their millions of listeners about men like Brian McLaren showing up at Willow Creek Community Church–a man who rejects the doctrine of hell, the substitutionary atonement and the literal Second Coming of Christ–and in fact have featured Dr. Tony Campolo on their program in the past without ever clarifying that they no longer support him—it will be most interesting to see them warning about Bible-believing Christians by name just because they had the gall to oppose something being promoted by Focus on the Family’s subsidiary, the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

If they choose to go that route, the public will be reminded once again of what the exact issues were regarding the official National Day of Task Force prayer and Dr. Zacharias’s decision, because we will be obligated to make any distortions of the truth plain as widely as possible.

Our True "Identity"

"If you are a believer, your value and identity is settled because of Jesus. May you learn to act toward others out of your own fullness"

-Jeff VanVonderen

"In Jerusalem Christianity became a religion, in Rome it became a law, in Greece it became a philosophy, in Europe it became a culture, in America it became an enterprise."

-A.W. Tozer

Judge Pressler- "I Am Several Different Persons"

The Pragmatic National Day of Prayer.

From Slice of Laodicea

Ingrid had this to say about responses she is receiving on the Jesus-less National Day of Prayer:

I have never had quite so much email on a subject. This National Day of Prayer issue really touched a nerve among Christians. Yesterday I was asked to speak by phone to a group of top evangelical leaders of large ministries who were meeting in Florida. By speaker phone, I was questioned about the National Day of Prayer’s official prayer leaving out the name of Jesus Christ for pragmatic reasons. I did the best I could to succinctly explain that it is wrong for evangelical leaders who are so fond of battling for the right to pray in Jesus name, to discard that same name in public on the National Day of Prayer.

These leaders are on the horns of a dilemma. If they say anything, they risk alienating themselves from the National Day of Prayer Task Force and the Dobsons. If they don’t say anything, they realize they are Scripturally in the wrong. Now they do know about it, and they are responsible for what they know. I will let you know what, if anything, comes out of this group of men. Unfortunately, courage, the willingness to be unliked, the willingness to lose something for standing up for the Lord Jesus, is in extremely short supply. I have had so many “Nicodemus” leaders call or email me—they come to me by night—saying, “Go, Ingrid! What you’re doing is right. We think it’s great. Go, Ingrid, Go.” But you will never see them take a public stand. They’re all hiding in the tall grass while a woman takes the flak for a position that they know is right. I must take a stand, but I’m going to say this bluntly—it’s to the shame of these men that I have to do this with so little support.

Ingrid, I can completely relate. Been there, had that happen, too. I am reminded that the Christian life can be lonely as Martin Lloyd Jones wrote.