HERO: Available Now!

Praise God! HERO is now available for download from ResoundingMusic.com! It's been a long journey, and (largely thanks to my amazing web designer) a fun one. This album features 20 tracks, and clocks in at just over an hour.

You can learn more and download the album here.

Here are samples of the tracks:

The Story Begins - December 27

It's official!  God willing, HERO will be available for download from ResoundingMusic.com starting December 27th.  Here's most of the text I wrote for the Facebook event, if you want more info... it's best when read in an epic voice.  ;-)

HERO is an album of legends; a chronicle of journeys and of those who take them; musical tales of overwhelming odds, imminent danger, stubborn courage, and final victory; a point of departure for flights of imagination set for destinations unknown.

HERO invites the listener to take a daring trip; to set forth boldly through treacherous terrain and against insurmountable odds; to fight, to die, and to conquer. It is a journey fraught with turmoil but founded on hope, knowing that the just God Who reigns over all will be victorious in the end. It is a journey which roams from the wild west to the wild oceans, from city streets to ancient citadels.

It is the journey of heroes.

Here's a taste of the music:

These images are all different ways of saying the same thing- pointing people to my website- and they are for you to share, if you feel so led.  I appreciate the help with spreading the word.

Oh, and if you take away all the text except for the title and my name, you get the final album cover.  I happen to think it turned out pretty awesomely.  Praise God!

#CLASSY - (Another Political Post)

I love how the liberals' best argument isn't.

It is at once hilarious and heartbreaking that so often, instead of offering coherent and compassionate

reasons for their beliefs, they respond with vulgarities, angry name calling, and plenty of ALL CAPS.

Expletives instead of explanations.

This, of course, should win no one to their cause. Really, we should be happy that this is all that they

have to offer. The bankruptcy of their philosophical positions is made evident by their masterful use of

fallacies and their impotent use of pretty much everything else.

But I'm not writing this to the left- may they repent and may God open their eyes.

I'm writing to my fellow conservatives. You know who you are, you Chick-Fil-A eating, freedom-

loving, Bible-thumping, gun-toting, Constitution-quoting patriot. You understand that debt doesn't

make for good economic policy, that inflation is theft, that socialism makes everyone equally poor, that

babies have the right to live, that marriage is something that God defines, not the state.

And you're right. Your arguments are firmly rooted in truth.

But are you acting like it?

A few months ago, a video of an exchange between a Chick-Fil-A employee and a dissatisfied customer went viral. The video showed liberal activist extraordinaire Adam Smith oh-so-tolerantly berating the angelic Chick-Fil-A employee and her company. I say angelic because Rachel's poised and gentle response to the man's childish attacks were exemplary. The reactions of conservatism were far less so.

Adam Smith and his coworkers apparently were threatened with harm (!!!), while Smith was called every name in the book- and some names that aren't in the book. The cries for his apology were

(rightly so) loud and widespread.

Then he apologized.

What did Rachel say? “I forgive you.”

What did conservatism say? “Yeah, right. Whatever, jerk. [expletives]”

And suddenly, we sound just like the liberals.

The Adam Smith issue is just a poignant example of a searing inconsistency within conservatism- that

while sometimes we stand on truth and speak with compassion, truly desiring to see “them” come to

understand the truth, sometimes we drop the truth of the matter, jump in their sandbox, and kick sand

with the best of them. Like so many 3-year-olds.

When we do this, we validate the claims of the Left. We empower their criticism. Why would anyone

want to join a movement that can't accept an apology?

While I'm talking about Adam Smith, it is worth noting that I'm not suggesting that we naively embrace

Adam Smith as a repentant and remorseful prodigal son running into the arms of truth for a touching

reconciliation. We can be compassionate and forgiving without being doormats. Nor am I suggesting

that there is never a place for well-placed satire. The occasional well-placed “You brood of vipers!” is

never amiss.

My plea is that we continue to take the high road- to focus on and fight for truth.

Jesus said this, just hours before His death: “For this I have come to the world, that I may testify to the

truth.”

Of all the things that He could have said, moments before an agonizing death, this is what Christ gave

as His reason for coming to earth.

For those of us who are followers of Christ- isn't that what we aspire to?

For those of you who are conservative but don't claim Christ- what's wrong with you?

I tease. We can argue over that one later- you can yell at me through Twitter.

But in all seriousness, isn't this what we want to do? Testify to the truth? And if this is really about

truth, why are we relying on superior insults and more advanced mastery of curse words instead of

standing on the abundance of evidence that is piled around us?

Has this gone beyond a search for truth and into a matter of pride? Or have the liberals, by their

incessant flow of vitriol, finally worn us down to where we can't argue beyond our own frustration?

If we let them do this, they win. We become the haters.

Scripture commands us to “overcome evil with good.” We all know that this is the most effective

method of argumentation.

We have the truth to stand on. Reality is on our side. We can afford to represent a calm,

compassionate, confident conservatism to the world- and that is far more likely to win others to our

cause than kicking sand.

Let's leave the hate speech to the liberals. It's all they have.

As for us, let's be Rachels.

Not Adam Smiths.

Four More Years

The dust has settled. The 2012 elections are in the past. Barack Obama won. America reelected a president who left Americans to die in Libya, who supports the murder of children, whose policies are communistic, whose methods are tyrannical- indeed, a candidate who stands directly opposed to almost everything that made America great.

Were the elections really honest? Does America really want more of the hope and change that brought them 8% unemployment, $4.00 gas, and $6 trillion in additional debt? Is Obama America’s choice, or the choice of the man behind the curtain? The entire election process is certainly not beyond scrutiny. How much of this victory may be attributed to voter fraud is, at least for now, uncertain, but it is not uncertain at all that America’s political system is no longer trustworthy. It’s for sale.

Whether or not the election process was honest, the question remains: who is to blame for this electoral catastrophe? Is it the Paul-bots? The uncompromising conservatives, the principled third-partiers, the stubborn constitutionalists, the exclusivist Christians? Or is it the GOP? Does the blame rest with a campaign that failed to make Romney a rock star, a party that couldn’t attract the minority vote, a candidate who just wasn’t cool enough? Or maybe conservative principles are too old-fashioned for the New America. Maybe the only way for conservatism to survive is for conservatism to become… well… liberal.

The truth is that conservatism has become liberal, and continues to become liberal, to the point where the distinction between the two is often one of degrees and not of essence. Mitt Romney was not a conservative candidate- he was a less liberal candidate, and so it is with most of the solutions, selections, and salvations offered up by conservatism today. To be a conservative is to be a less-liberal. The basic principles of limited government have been thrown to the wolves. This year, America was presented with two bad choices. Most of conservative America went for the less bad choice, while some pled the third option and elected to vote for someone whom they could actually stand behind. Yes, the party was split, and the wishy-washy politicking of the GOP must be given some credit for this. The Republican establishment has proven to be ambiguous on the issues, untrustworthy in the political process, and, indeed, traitorous to any who do not play their game. After building a reputation like this, the GOP sealed their irrelevance with a kiss by nominating a moderate (read: liberal) as an alternative to Barack Obama.

But this does not go deep enough. The GOP’s impotence is a symptom, not a cause. For politics are only a large-scale representation of the most pervasive worldviews of the populace.

So the problem must be something else entirely. Maybe the blame for this political fiasco must be handed to a group which is, and must be, according to the cultural narrative, the least political institution on earth.

Yes, the blame for the reelection of Barack Obama must rest squarely on the shoulders of the Church.

It is the Church who was told to be the pillar and support of the truth. It is the Church who, as trustees of the word of God, holds in her hand the document which was the foundation for American liberty. It is the Church who allowed herself to be bound and gagged, who accepted permission for what was her right, who neglected to proclaim God’s Truth to every area of life. It is because God’s people have forsaken their place as the leaders of society that America is crumbling. It was the church that hesitated to condemn homosexuality as a crime and sin. It was the church that neglected to preach Scriptural principles of free market economics. It is the church who still fails to expose property and inheritance taxes as theft, public schooling as both unbiblical and unconstitutional, social justice as injustice. We cannot expect the blessing of God on our nation while we continue to walk in contempt of His Word, and we cannot expect secular America to accept this if the American church will not proclaim it. “We are all children of God,” and platitudes like it, may make Americas feel good. “In God we trust” and “God bless America” may give us a feeling of piety, of “God-is-on-our-side.” But, as Ronald Reagan said, the question is not whether God is on our side, but whether we are on His.

The God Who blesses nations and who brings them to their knees has told us in His Word what exactly it means to be “on His side.” Until we submit to His Law, we can expect nothing but judgment.

Act Like Men Soundtrack Available for Download

Praise God! The Act Like Men soundtrack is now available for download at BlueBehemoth.com.

Hear samples and purchase the album here.

The Godhood of God

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

- Proverb 1:7

How many paradoxes would be solved by a proper understanding of the Godhood of God?  What if, instead of acting as His judge, His peer, His critic, we truly understood our place as His creation?

Paradoxes like His sovereignty, His perfect blend of love and justice which requires both hell and the Cross, the presence of evil in the world, melt away into a vast portrait of infinite Perfection.

The question of whether, once we are saved, we can be un-saved becomes a non-issue when we realize that we didn't save ourselves in the first place.

When we really understand how vast and perfect God is- when we truly fear Him- so many of our questions and doubts will be eliminated.

Call Me Coach

"The glory of young men is their strength, And the honor of old men is their gray hair." - Pr. 20:29

If you've followed my blog for a while, you probably know that I'm into health and fitness, as well as theology, art, and music.

Just recently, this passion has turned into a possible avenue of production.  Beachbody, a nationwide health and fitness compcny, and the producers of such best-selling workout programs as P90X and Insanity, has started Team Beachbody- a way for people like me to get involved in the Beachbody business model as independent coaches.

So anyway, I'm now officially an independent Team Beachbody coach.  If you need someone to hold you accountable for the way that you're treating the body that God has given you, that's a huge part of my job description- and there's a growing group of people on Facebook who are ready to do just that.  If you know you need to be taking better care of yourself, but aren't sure how to start, let's talk!  If you want to lose weight, be stronger, faster, healthier, less prone to injury, wiser in your diet choices, or maybe even more energetic, then please take a moment to shoot me an e-mail.

(For those whom it may edify, here's an old post on this topic- Biblical principles of physical fitness.)

So there's an update on what I've been doing recently.  I certainly appreciate your prayer as I seek God's Will in this area.  I can see some great opportunities to share the Gospel as I get involved with people on a personal level- but there is also the ever-present danger of compromise, and the temptations that come with the underclothed culture of fitness communities.  Again, I covet your prayers!  If you have any questions about what this means for me or what it can mean for you or anything else, please ask- either in the comments below or by e-mailing me via the above link!