Chicken Little Evangelism

The sky is falling- and you better repent, or it's gonna fall on yo head!

Deuteronomy 13:1-4: Any and all "prophecies"- either in the sense of foretelling or that of forth-telling- must square with the Word of God or they do not even warrant examination (though they may warrant the death of the prophet).

Deuteronomy 18:15-22- the test for prophecy is retrospective.  This has implications for how we speak about God's leading in our lives- "I know this will happen" vs. "I think the LORD will do this; we'll see; at any rate, He wants us to do this *right now*".

A good example of this, from Doug Wilson's "Her Hand in Marriage", is the young man who comes a'courtin' and tells the young lady in question "I *know* you're the one God has for me.  God told me we were supposed to get married."  This is, for a number of reasons, not the right approach, but in light of this principle, the young man should be focused on walking in the Will of God now, and letting The LORD make evident His Will for the future.

My Dad has been a good example of this, as well, on multiple occasions- from telling us that The LORD was going to do something big on his 40th birthday-  Legacy Baptist Church met for the first time the day after Dad turned 40- to telling us that we were going to have another boy and name him Malachi.  In each case, he stated these things in this manner: "I think The LORD is telling me this... but it could just be my head-noise," at once believing and heeding the Voice of the Spirit and acknowledging humbly the human aptitude for error.

Scripture doesn't call us to predict the future or to discover it at any rate faster than 24 hours per day.  We need to concern ourselves with walking in obedience to God *now,* not with figuring out the results.  We can leave those to Him.

Making wise observations, "knowing the times," having eschatological convictions, and listening to the Voice of the Holy Spirit- these are different, and necessary, and good.

However, an eschatological position that predicts the specific time or temporal window of The End toes this line dangerously; to use those humanistic projections as reason to disregard and disobey written Revelation is to leap over the line glibly.

To use our prophetic conclusions as evangelistic billy-clubs rather than standing on the Truth of the Word of God trades the Gospel for a mess of scare-tactic stew.  Further, it does for the authority of the Church what counting to twenty does for the authority of the parent.

God will indeed judge everyone, eventually.  If we are faithful to proclaim His Lordship, it will not be necessary to stamp a scary-sounding expiration date on the globe.  Every knee will bow at the Name of Christ one day- and the bowing part is a lot more important than the one day part.

Lessons, Providences, and Tomorrow

I guess I blinked.

I'm almost 20 now.

I have 6 little siblings... becoming progressively less little.

When the clock strikes 12 tonight, another year will have melted from the life ahead of me into the life behind me, trickling at the rate of 24 hours a day through an hourglass that will never be turned upside-down.

It wasn't long ago that I wrote about the runner's two greatest fears, as we began the race of 2013.

Tonight, we will all cross the finish line of that race, and the starting line of a new one.

We have the opportunity to, at once, remember, through the bittersweet lens of hindsight, the great and remarkable providences of God in our lives, and to set forth with the wide-eyed excitement of a faithful child on a new adventure.

Scripture repeatedly exhorts us to pass on landmarks to our children; to remember the great providences of God to the next generation (Deuteronomy 6).  Here, I'm going to chronicle a few of the signal providences God worked in my life throughout 2013.

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This year I began participating in obstacle races, building great memories with friends and my Dad along the way.  God also used one of my obstacle racing experiences to teach me about marriage.

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This year I had two life-threatening experiences.  God's mercies were made abundantly evident in each case; the lessons to be learned were equally evident.  You can read about the first one here.  The second happened just last week; returning from helping a family remove sheet metal from an old building, I was driving a friend's car at a speed that was unwise on the dirt road we were traveling.  Three overcorrections, two seconds, one turn-too-late, and in little more than the time it took me to wonder "is this really happening?", the car was on its side spanning the ditch on the side of the road.

I never considered myself the immature, foolish teenage guy that is the paragon of youthful short-sightedness.

I guess that was the problem.

There are a few lessons to be taken from this experience for me which I hope to communicate to all my readers- especially other young men like myself.  The first, and most obvious, is- always wear your seat-belt.  This may sound trite; let me tell a bit about my experience and you might see just how important that decision was in my case.

I wear glasses, as a general rule, when I'm driving; so I was during the crash.  The windows of the car were open.  About fifteen minutes after the accident, the young man who was riding with me set my glasses case in the trunk as he was cleaning up the mess inside the car, and I realized- my glasses were no longer on my face.  We found them sitting on a rock near the crash site; I can only conclude that they flew off of my face and out of the window in the incident.  That gives a good gauge by which to judge just the kind of condition I would have been in if I had not been wearing my seat-belt.

A wreck like that could easily have had severe consequences; it is by the mercy of God that I'm typing this while sitting in an office chair and not a wheelchair.  In God's providential kindness, my friend and I both walked away from the scene.

The bigger lesson from this ordeal, however, is the need for young men like myself to heed instruction; to gain "grandpa wisdom at daddy age," as my father says.

We had already fishtailed; I had already lost control on a different turn and bumped off of the dirt bank on the side.  A wiser man would have said "if there were a ditch rather than a bank, the consequences would have been much more severe; we should slow down."  I was not that wiser man.

I have been warned repeatedly about the dangers that come with young men who fail to ask themselves "what could happen if..?"  Yet when push came to shove I was one of those young men, and I only recognized it in myself after the fact.  Oh, God, I pray- let me learn my lesson now!  Let me remember this and not put You to the test again!

Perhaps the greatest irony of the event was that my friend and I had been meditating on Proverbs during the drive to the location in the morning, and again on the trip home that resulted in this crash.  We were mulling over the very Scriptures that we were violating in our unwise roadway behavior.

God is merciful.  I am grateful.

Please.  Please.  Learn from me.  Don't learn like me.

Oh, and the glasses?

Not a scratch.

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We got to host the Jost family on their tour this year; made a movie together with them; had some good ol' manly fun together with the guys.

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Attended the inaugural Arizona Patriot Academy.

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I made an adjustment to my brand, going from clean-shaven to a light beard.

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Attended the final San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival (final for now, at least) with my dad and my sister; that was an incredible experience.  So many friends; so many Providences; so many stories.

While there, got to meet with a lot of great musical friends from the Rhapsodize Music Network.

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Speaking of the Rhapsodize Music Network... get yours on iTunes, AmazonMp3, Spotify, and elsewhere!  Let me know if you want a physical CD.

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Went on my first mission trip to a hospital in Mexico, helping to get it fully-functional.

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Last week, Dad preached a great sermon on time stewardship.  Got me fired up to set goals for 2014.  

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." - Eph. 5:15-17

Thusly, I have set goals for 2014; praying for the grace of God to grant me a warrior's mentality to accomplish them.  I'm not going to list them all, but I'll list a few, and you're welcome to check in on my progress, as well as share your goals in the comments.

- Read "The Institutes of Biblical Law" by R.J. Rushdoony

- Learn Spanish to the level where I can converse, read, and write fluently

- Learn First-Aid

- 25 pull-ups 

- 50 push-ups

- 5 muscle-ups

- Cold showers 3x/week

- Go to bed at 9:30 and wake up at 5:30, and start preparing for bed at 9, M-F

- Don't go to social media sites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) unless I have content to post

May 2014 feature the sounds of cheering and laughter and the gates of hell groaning and cracking and crumbling to dust.  May the giggling voices of a thousand babies be born into Kingdom households; may the tearful joy of a thousand souls reborn join the chorus.  May the Word of Christ pervade our land as the waters cover the sea.  May we be faithful to turn every breath we are given into a song or a step for the glory of our King.

EXALTATION: A Cinematic Christmas Collection

I had the immense pleasure of working with seven other composers on an album of music celebrating the birth of The Lord Jesus Christ in a cinematic style.  This album presents a musical take on Christmas not quite like anything you've ever heard before- and I think that's a good thing.  You can hear a bit of one of my contributions to this project below, and check out the album on iTunes, find it on Spotify, and look for it in the near future on many other online music stores like AmazonMp3.

Is Rock Music a Sin?

"Is rock music evil?"

This question, or variations on its theme, comes up often in conservative Christian circles (within which I am proud to swim).

Before presenting the answer to this question, a few things must be established:

1. Music is not neutral; it is both an art and a science, and both elements of music must be submitted to Christ.

2. The Bible is the Standard by which all things are to be judged. (2 Tim. 3:16)

3. There are some areas of life which Scripture does not explicitly address; this does not remove those areas from the purview of Christ's Lordship, but it does make diligent searching necessary. (Proverbs 8)

I believe that music is one of those areas; while there are Scriptural principles that apply, there is no dissertation on musical theory between "in the beginning" and "amen".

I also believe that unless we seek God wholeheartedly on this issue He will allow us to be swayed by our own prejudices and lusts.

One other note; throughout this post I will be generalizing with glib impunity.  I trust my readers to give me the benefit of the doubt; I know that not all rock music is head-banging and backbeat-heavy; I know that not all classical is melodious and intelligently complex; I'm using the terms to connote the broad idea behind the genre or style without having to launch into a detailed explanation on every point.

Now, back to the original question.

"Is rock music evil?"

No.  I don't believe that rock music is evil.  I believe that rock music says evil.

Is there ever a time for something that says evil?  Absolutely.  Throughout the pages of Scripture we see many tales told of evil deeds; rebellious sons, abusive men, seductive women- God's Word doesn't hide us from our own depravity.

Even so, in the stories that we tell, there is a place for evil.  It must be handled in a God-honoring and lawful way, but it must be present in our stories, because it is present in God's Story.

So if there is a movie which honors God and which lawfully presents the struggle between good and evil, there may be a need for music which says evil.

However, to make a steady diet of music that says evil is a decision not to be taken lightly.  There may be a time for a Christian to act the role of a murderer, but to take that role on as a way of life is opening a door to dangerous consequences.

And so with every form and style of music.  The Pride and Prejudice soundtrack is beautiful and calming, but it certainly doesn't say the right thing to motivate me during an intense workout.  Bach's Brandenburg Concertos have a level of technical excellence buried within that warrants years of study, but they would not make a fitting backdrop for the bullet-dodging escapades of Jason Bourne.  An epic, swashbuckling Hans Zimmer theme may narrate a battle scene or inspire my run perfectly, but it doesn't belong in the background of an intimate heart-to-heart conversation.  A Chopin Nocturne would fit a gentle goodbye far better than scenes from the apocalypse- unless, as a storytelling tool, the calmness of the music is intentionally contrasted with the chaos and destruction.

To scream "Jesus loves you!" over a distorted power chord and a heavy backbeat is to tell two different stories simultaneously- and the result is chaos, which is contrary to God's nature.  This could be used appropriately as a storytelling tool, but it must be recognized for what it is; it may be appropriate, but it isn't beautiful, and we shouldn't pretend that it is.

Those power chords might exactly match the message of someone reveling in the pleasures of sin- and that would be a lawful and skillful and fitting use of that music, provided that the story is resolved in a God-honoring way.

So instead of asking whether the music is good or bad, let's ask what the music says- and how well it says it- and whether what it says is being used in a proper and God-honoring way.

The communicative power of music is obvious; there is a reason that directors pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a John Williams score instead of knocking on their neighbor's door to inquire about their teenage son's garage-band.  There's a reason that a country singer wears a cowboy hat, a rocker wears a mohawk, and an orchestra looks like a gathering of penguins.  Flames and neon lights don't fit the story of Handel's Messiah, but AC/DC is right at home in that setting.

Why?  Because music says something.  So does lighting.  So does color.

When we depart from the binary "good/bad" approach to analyzing aesthetics, things become more difficult.  Life is easy when we have a list of legalisms to check ourselves against- "Don't watch R-rated movies, don't ever drink alcohol, don't listen to rock music, don't play card games."

Scripture calls us, however, to press beyond the milk and into the meat- to seek wisdom. (Hebrews 5:14)

May God guide us in this search.

Recommended listening: Some excellent talks on music by Ken Myers

BOUND

Do you like LEGOs?  Do you like LEGOs that move and talk?

I had a blast scoring the Kickstarter promo for this film which shows just that.  I got to talk to the Tull siblings at the last SAICFF and let me tell you, the vision that they have for this film is a little bit mind-blowing.  Check out the trailer below, and please prayerfully consider supporting the film financially.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1350609618/bound-fun-animated-brickfilm

What's a Guy to Wear?

My sisters and I have been discussing male style.  Guy fashion.  It's quite the interesting topic.

"Culture is religion externalized."
Art is culture.
Therefore art is religion externalized.

Art is religion externalized.
The way we dress is a form of art.
Therefore the way we dress is an externalization of who we are on the inside- our religion, our worldview, our presuppositions.

So it's kinda important.

As Christians, from a modesty standpoint, we talk a lot about the way girls should dress.

As far as style goes- I think girls naturally talk about that enough on their own.

I tease, I tease;  it's good to analyze style for men and women from a Biblical worldview.  The Botkin sisters' recent "Reclaiming Beauty" webinar was a great resource for this very thing, specifically focused on beauty and style for girls.

But what does The Bible say to us guys about the way we dress?  Or can we just go through life looking like we were dressed by a tornado so long as we have good character on the inside?

Isn't it interesting that the culture around us is very serious about men's style?

What messages does the masculine (or maybe just "male") fashion in America send?

Before We Get Into That

I would like to start off by mentioning something that I think is a serious problem: stylistic apathy.

I suspect that for a lot of us guys what we wear is simply accidental.  Thoughtless.  We don't really consider the messages we're sending through the clothes that we wear.  Yet our clothing and grooming habits are another area of our lives over which Christ claims lordship, and they make up an important part of how we represent our King to the world.

Biblical Principles of Clothing and Style

Before I get into the guy-specific and practical part of the post, I want to look at the general, universal Scriptural principles that should apply to the clothes we wear- and how we wear them.

- Clothing should cover, not reveal the body.  The initial purpose of clothing was to cover shameful nakedness (Genesis 3); therefore, all clothing worn publicly should serve this purpose.

- Clothing should reflect gender distinctions (Deuteronomy 22:5).

- Clothing should not draw attention (1 Timothy 2:9+10) unless it's for a good reason (Galatians 1:10).

- Physical appearance is secondary to the condition of the soul (1 Timothy 4:8, 2:10, Proverbs 31:30).

- The condition of the soul should manifest physically (Mark 5:15, 1 Timothy 2:9, John 14:15).

- The physical will reflect the spiritual (Matthew 7:16).

- We are ambassadors for Christ; it is our responsibility to represent Him well (2 Corinthians 5:20, 1 Corinthians 10:31).

Clothing is not a neutral or morality-free subject (Matthew 28:18, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Genesis 1:28).  This is a crucially important presupposition without which not only clothing but all manners of artistic expression become meaningless.  Just because God's Word does not specifically address something doesn't mean that He therefore has nothing to say about it; we are responsible to "get wisdom" (Proverb 4:7) and to seek the "meat" (Hebrews 5:12).  When we discuss things like music, photography, or clothing, there are myriad principles which we can draw from Scripture which apply, not because they were explicitly applied by Scripture to the specific subject, but because the specific subject is a part of a universe governed by the principles of Scripture.  So when we discuss aesthetics, we should be looking for ways to reflect Godliness that we see elsewhere in Scripture or in nature; principles like those of order (1 Corinthians 14:33) and contextual propriety (Jeremiah 6:26, Revelation 21:2) will take us far beyond simply discussing "how short is too short."

What Does It Say?

When discussing aesthetics it is immensely helpful to ask "what does [the art in question] say?"  Instead of going with the easier, less Biblical routes of either legalistically writing up man-made black-and-whites ("syncopation is bad, pants are bad") or throwing off all restraints and embracing antinomian anarchy ("God has nothing to say about my music or my mini-skirt"), we must seek wisdom to understand the principles that God has woven into the universe, how our art reflects those principles, and what those reflections say.

Disclaimer

Yes, there is subjectivity to this.  I contend that there is also objectivity.  I am about to make vicious, sweeping generalizations.  You may disagree with my specific applications; I beg you not to allow that to detract from the broader principles.

In the list below I am going to list some things that I believe that a given outfit communicates.  I do not believe nor do I mean to insinuate that because a man looks respectable, he must be respectable, nor that because a man looks less masculine he therefore is less masculine- etc.  I agree that the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.  I desire to go beyond the heart to the hands; if you would like to do the same, then let's seek wisdom together.

So... what does it say?

- Disciplined
- Dignified
- Buisinesslike
- Considerate of others
- Masculine
- Self-controlled
- Organized
- Well-groomed
- Respectable
- On-purpose (the man takes life seriously)

- Metrosexual (i.e. girlie-man; switch out the guy model for a girl model and it would look totally normal to me.  Note the skinny jeans and the slender cut of the whole outfit.)
- Hip
- Cool
- Easy-going
- Well-groomed

Notice how it's not just a matter of "this one is good" and "this one is bad."  Overall, I don't like this outfit, but it does reflect a man who takes care to make himself presentable.  He obviously thought about what he wore that day.  That's a good thing!

- Boyish
- Obviously immodest, with a sexy look thanks to the goofy belt-wedge
- Easy-going
- Not planning on doing hard things today

- Respectable
- Strong
- Outdoorsy
- Very masculine
- Well-groomed
- Disciplined
- On-purpose

- No comment

- Masculine
- Relaxed
- Not doing anything important at this point

- Outdoorsy
- Relaxed
- Ready to go hunting or grilling
- Masculine
- Concerned with more important things than his appearance

- Likes to show off his physique

I actually think Burton Guster of Psych is a great example of a guy who dresses respectably but appropriately for day-to-day city life.  Just because we're not going out somewhere special doesn't mean that we can throw off Biblical principles of clothing and look like slobs at home; Gus does a great job portraying simple, masculine, appropriate style in everyday contexts.

- Just got rescued from a desert island and had to borrow a (much larger) sailor's clothes OR
- Relaxed, vacationy, probably during a football game or something

- Combs his hair with a blender
- Passing out due to the constrictive scarf as we speak

So... Why Does It Say That?

Minor scales make darker music; three acts make a strong story; what makes these outfits say what they do?

These are just some general thoughts, observations, and pet peeves.

The world loves to push (and eventually destroy) the limits imposed by Christianity; thus we march from R&B to acid rock, from Monet to Picasso, from gender-segregated swimming to bikinis.

Notice the trend towards tighter and tighter clothing, both for men and women; this is an insidious way to reveal the body without revealing the skin.  Scripture, on the other hand, leads to covering the body; that doesn't just mean putting cloth on top of skin, but also hiding all the shapely intricacies of form and structure which tight clothing reveals.

Notice the trend towards gender-ambiguous (and usually effeminate) clothing for men:

- The strong, tough, firmly virile look is replaced with the slender, boyish look; skinny jeans, arm-
and torso-hugging shirts and jackets replace looser, boxier clothing- and thin, slim models replace robust, strong ones.  (Think in shapes: which is more masculine- an oval or a rectangle?  Which one does modern male fashion represent better?)
- A puerile smooth-faced look or the playful five-o-clock shadow replaces the purposeful facial hair or the simple, respectable, businesslike shaven face.
- The simple, practical, disciplined styles of short hair are cast aside for more garish and ostentatious blender-beaten styles.
- Scarves, jewelry, and other decorations replace practical, functional, dominion-task-focused manly attire.

So... What's a Guy to Wear?

I hope that this post has encouraged a more thoughtful approach to fashion and style; guys, we are responsible for what we wear, and what we wear communicates instantly and potently.  Ladies, I hope that there have been some principles here which might have edified you as well; feminine fashion is definitely a separate topic, and, indeed, even masculine fashion could warrant many more posts.

Let's start, though, by applying the things we know to the things we wear.  Our clothing should reflect the attributes of God and the principles of His Word, as well as the attributes of Godly manhood; for example:

- Love (is it really loving to others if I smell like something that's been in the refrigerator for too long or if I look like I really don't care what they think?)

- Order

- Dignity

- Gender distinctions

- Strength

- Humility

- Vision for Something beyond myself

- Etc.

Let's seek wisdom on how to reflect Christian culture in everything from the theology we preach to the way we cut our fingernails.

Dear Humanism

Dear Humanism,

Please stop being self-righteous about protecting children from the abuse of corporal punishment while actively encouraging the slaughter of babies in the womb.

Please stop pretending you're empowering women as you systematically destroy womanhood.

Please stop proclaiming that you care about the next generation- the generation that you are shackling with debt, murdering in droves, and educating into psychosis.

Please stop acting like you care about the prosperity of the nations you are enslaving.

Please stop marching forward the destruction of the family behind the facade of love.

Please stop preaching the bold lie that you're more scientific than The One Worldview that actually makes sense of reality.

Please stop selling tyranny as peace.

Please stop promising salvation through slavery.

Please stop telling people that they can listen to you and still expect life and reason to follow.

Dear Humanism, I'm not asking you to change what you are.

I'm asking you to stop pretending you're something else.