Big kudos go out to that little private university in New Haven, Connecticut called Yale University. They have created 
a web site for The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University. When you link there, among the many resources you will find a sermon index, a multimedia library, an Edwards Wiki, online courses, and an online journal where you can submit your own material related to Jonathan Edwards.
The Jonathan Edwards Center at Yale University
HT – Tony Reinke
Today, as the snow falls here in Nebraska, (they are forecasting 5 to 8 inches) I have become acutely aware that I have been lax in my 
blog postings lately. I have also fallen behind in my music reviews, so today I will review an album that was given to me by a good friend who also plays guitar. The artist is a common favorite of ours and a popular guitarist in the minds of many who appreciate killer guitar compositions. The artist is Joe Satriani. If you have never heard of him and you like great guitar then you have been living under a hard rock all your life. I first heard the riffs and screaming guitar sounds of Joe Satriani, or “Satch” as he is known in more appreciative circles, from a guitarist who was teaching me lead guitar many years ago. When this teacher found out that I was a Randy Rhoads (original Ozzy guitarist) fan he turned me on to “Surfing With the Alien” by Joe Satriani. The jaw dropping reaction I experienced after hearing this incredible guitarist was much like my reaction in 1978 after seeing and hearing the hammer-on and pull-off storm known as “Eruption” performed by Eddie Van Halen at St. Johns Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Who is this guy?
Since that blessed day I have been listening to the music of “Satch”. Among his guitar playing he has also found the time to help instruct others in the art of axe wielding. He helped create the talents of axemen such as Kirk Hammett of Metallica, Larry LaLonde of Primus, Marty Friedman of Megadeth, and David Bryson of Counting Crows who are now great guitarists in their own right. But they can’t compare to the master Satch. In 1995 Satch came up with an awesome idea to put together something of a guitar festival which became known as the G3 tour. Along with Satch, the tour has included many guitar greats like Steve Vai, Yngwie Malsteen, Eric Johnson, John Petrucci (Dream Theater) and Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big). Satch has become notorious for odd song titles like “Surfing With the Alien”, “The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing”, “Flying in a Blue Dream”, and “Is There Love in Space”. Along these lines comes the new album released by Satch.
The post heading is from a children’s song we used to sing in Sunday School. If you are not familiar with it you can 
learn about it here. The song teaches children basic Christian discernment while also teaching them anatomy by pointing to the parts of their body they need to be careful with, such as ears, eyes, and mind. As I was thinking about the words to the song, it occurred to me just how deep they really go. We are to be careful with what we hear, see, think about and so forth. But do we carry it too far, or not far enough?
I was prompted theologically to write this post based on some past comments presented on this blog. I have also petitioned some of my fellow bloggers and church elders concerning this subject matter. Since I write about music as much as anything else culturally on this blog, I will focus on that medium in this post. In past discussions I have participated in with other Christians concerning the secular medium of connecting culturally, the basis of discernment has surrounded Philippians 4:8.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.(ESV)
But are we using this verse correctly? We have a tendency as Christians to want to create a list of dos and don’ts. Much like filling in the gray area not covered by the Ten Commandments. Like a fellow believing blogger, I would say the scope of this verse and context is much broader. Is Paul instructing us to only consume the medium labeled “Christian” as many folks have thought? Should we not watch sporting events like football of hockey then? Should we only listen to hymns and Contemporary Christian music? Should we only read Christian publications? I don’t think Paul is instructing us this way. I believe, as do many others I petitioned, that Phil. 4:8 is more of a list of exhortations rather than a list of things to avoid. But there are other passages in scripture that do deal with what we consume.
1 Corinthians 6:12 tells us:
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything.(ESV)
I’ve been singing the praises of The Answer on Facebook lately, so I decided to introduce them here on my blog. I 
was introduced to the band by fellow blogger Rob Rockitt @ Hard Rock Hideout a few weeks ago. Until then I had never heard of them. I downloaded their UK hit “Never Too Late” from their album release “Rise” and loved it right away. So I downloaded another, loved it, and another, and another, each time thinking that the taste to hear more would flatten out. It never did. I have since found out that their only release in the United States came last year in the form of an EP. They have a new release for the U.S. coming March 31st called “Everyday Demons”. I am looking forward to that.
The Answer is a hard rock blues band from Northern Ireland. They are Cormac Neeson on vocals, Paul Mahon on guitar, Mickey Waters on bass, and James Heatley on drums. The band has many influences, but their biggest influences have come in the form of such classic blues rock greats as Humble Pie, Free, and Led Zeppelin. Many kudos have been heaped on this Northern Ireland quartet; but the praises that weigh greater are not from peers, but from already crowned rockers like Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Joe Elliot of Def Leppard, who are also fans.
The first music review for 2009 will be an album from a Christian musician I 
have been a fan of since the middle 70’s. The musician known as Phil Keaggy is also noted as one of the best guitarists in the world. To know Phil Keaggy is to also know some of the many urban legends created about him. Several rumors have circulated about Phil Keaggy and whether or not he had been observed by the guitar god Jimi Hendrix. The rumor begins with an interview of Hendrix on Johnny Carson or Dick Cavett where he was asked what it’s like to be considered the greatest guitarist in the world. The rumored response from Hendrix was “I don’t know, you should go ask Phil Keaggy.” Keaggy has stated that even though he did record with his old band Glass Harp at Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios, it was well after Hendrix’s death in England. Another rumor that has circulated about Keaggy is the one about the middle finger on his left hand. If you’ve ever seen Keaggy perform you would notice that half of this middle finger is missing. The wildest rumor supposedly occured prior to his conversion to Christianity. The legend says that in a drunken stupor he wanted to prove he was the world’s best guitarist and cut the finger off himself. There are many variations as to just how he did this finger execution. Keaggy busted all those rumors many years ago. I found this video the other day where he describes what really happened to his middle finger.
Phillip Tyler Keaggy began playing guitar at age ten in his parents small farmhouse in Hubbard, Ohio on a Sears Silvertone guitar. He has frequently been listed as the top 3 “fingerstyle” as well as “fingerpicking” guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine. I received my first exposure to this masterful virtuoso guitarist while listening to a live recording of The Second Chapter of Acts, a contemporary Christian group that consisted of Matthew Ward and his sisters Ann and Nelly. Phil Keaggy has recorded, by Wikipedia count, 47 records spanning over 35 years. When I purchased his 1978 album “The Master and the Musician” I was totally hooked on Phil Keaggy. Since then I have collected only a small portion of his many recordings.
In Dr. Albert Mohler’s first blog posting for the new year he brings to light a 
subject of vast importance. The subject is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the posting Dr. Mohler points to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and a newspaper column by “the visual Op-Ed columnist” Charles M. Blow in The New York Times. The report indicates that many American evangelicals reject the biblical claim that Jesus is the only way of salvation. According to the report, 52% of American Christians believe that “at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life.”
I would encourage anyone who desires to stand on the one true gospel of Jesus Christ to read this posting by Dr. Mohler and pass it on to others as well. Please follow the links in Dr. Mohler’s posting, they are very informative. The “new gospel” in many evangelical cirlces in one of a “goodness” theology. God surely won’t send “good” people to hell. I would expect this from Catholicism or Mormonism, but the study is from Christian evangelicals. As Dr. Mohler points out that this is:
precisely the kind of false gospel that the church is warned in the New Testament to detect and reject with clarity and courage.
Amen to that. We should indeed be courageous in holding fast to the gospel given to us by Jesus Christ, and preached to us by His disciples. (1 Cor. 15:1-11) A time is coming and is in fact here where a false gospel is being preached. Be faithful and love the true gospel. Hold it dear as a valuable treasure.
Soli Deo Gloria!
This morning as I read through chapter 4, “The Demands of Preaching”, from the book “Light and Heat : the Puritan 
View of Preaching” by R. Bruce Bickel, I came across some great tidbits. The Puritan preacher viewed his vocation as a demanding and convicting vocation. The demands being a natural result of their calling, their knowledge of who God is, and the office He had sovereignly given them. The Puritan view of God and His church gave them the awesome judgment that an unfaithful servant did more harm than good to the church.
With this high view and mindset of preaching to one’s own heart, the Puritan Richard Baxter proceeded to write his celebrated work, “The Reformed Pastor”. Concerning the pastor himself he wrote:
Take heed to yourselves, lest you should be void of that saving grace of God, which you offer to others, and be stranger to the effectual workings of that gospel which you preach . . . Many a preacher is now in hell, that hath a hundred times called upon his hearers to use the utmost care and diligence to escape it. . . . Believe it, brethren, God never saved any man for being a preacher; but because he was a justified, santified man, and consequently faithful in his master’s work. Take heed therefore, to yourselves first, that you be that which you persuade your hearers to be.
Charles Spurgeon, one of the last of the pure Puritan preachers, charged the members of the Pastor’s College, he founded or the purpose of equipping preachers, with this following exhortion:
If we are to pursue our holy calling with success, we need to be better men. Brethren, I do not depreciate you, far from it. But, personally, I feel that, as the times grow sterner, I must cry to God for more grace, that I may be more able to cope with them. Brethren, let it be a main business with us to ourselves more holy, more gracious, and therefore better fitted for our work. Let us not judge ourselves by others, and say, with deadening self-complacency, “We are getting on well as compared with our brethren.” Let us measure ourselves by our Master, and not by our fellow-servants: then pride will be impossible, but hopefulness will be natural.
I’d like to conclude with something I have only learned myself over the past few years. I learned this from my pastor and it was also the character mark of the Puritans as well.
One who did not preach to his own heart could not preach effectively to others.
and as Richard Baxter also has stated:
If the work of the Lord be not soundly done upon your own hearts, how can you expect that he bless you labours for the effecting of ot in others?
Soli Deo Gloria!
Considering the classic picture of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, did you 
hear the buzz about Led Zeppelin reuniting for a tour? I guess Robert Plant doesn’t want to have anything to do with it. Let me digress a bit more. Lately I’ve been waxing nostalgic for the great rock bands and albums of by-gone decades. Some of the rock music albums released this year were really good, but not great in the classic sense. I even reviewed some of those new releases. Maybe it’s me, but why don’t I find any great rock music from bands like those of the 70’s. Bands like Rush, Yes, Foghat, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, or BTO? These bands were not flashes in the pan like most bands today. Some of these bands are even around today, and still making great music. Maybe those bands and their music just remind me of my youth? But I think something can be said of those great “classic” rock bands and the music they created. I run into teenagers and young adults (including two of our own) every day who are into those classic rock bands. Their music definitely has staying power. Enough said.
Initially formed at the turn of our new century, 10 Years is a unique 
exception to the American alternative metal genre. Raised on Axl and Slash, Mozart and Beethoven, the music of 10 Years is based on equal parts provocative lyrics and massive sounds. Their influences range from Nine Inch Nails and Deftones to Simon and Garfunkel and Tori Amos. The backgrounds of the bands five members, who hail from Knoxville, Tennessee, are as diverse as their musical influences. They include an artist, a tennis champ, a rich kid, an outcast and an introvert. I guess you will just have to get to know these guys to find out which one is which.
In a quote from 10 Years frontman Jesse Hasek, the essence of their music is as much to do with what they aren’t then what they are.
Humanity is slowly shutting down
as he points to the current rock scene as prime example.
Music is supposed to be about intensity and feeling, but there is no thinking behind the music that’s out there today. We want people to think, to feel emotions again. We’re always plugged in or connected to something, part of the machine. But the more we plug in the less human we become.
The current line up for 10 Years is Jesse Hasek on lead vocals, Ryan “Tater” Johnson on one guitar, Matt Wantland on the other guitar, Lewis “Big Lew” Cosby on bass guitar, and Brian Vodinh on drums and backing vocals. The band 10 Years is similar in style to the likes of Breaking Benjamin, Nickelback, or Chevelle. But don’t plug them in altogether with those bands. After the second or third listen you get the sense of a different texture and tone. Just try and put your finger on it.
Tonight while surfing the Internet and watching the nasty weather outside I came across a story on Foxnews.com that 
caught my eye. The headline read “Sinner In Love”, but it was the subheading that really caught my attention. It read “Church to expose Florida woman for ‘Immoral’ relations with boyfriend.” The story is about a woman who is involved in the process of church discipline. You know, the type of discipline hardly ever observed in the local church today. Except for the more faithful churches, this kind of discipline is deemed too harsh in most evangelical churches. God’s word teaches Christians to be holy as He is holy. God also teaches us in 1 Corinthians 7 that we should
cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Many years ago I first learned about church discipline from Dr. John MacArthur Jr. through his sermons on tape. To me it sounded so harsh and alien because I had never seen it practiced. At least not practiced correctly, and certainly not out of love and for the restoration of the one involved in sin. MacArthur’s church, Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and our church here in Omaha at Omaha Bible Church both believe that the church must enforce the standard of purity within the local church. We implement church discipline in that if someone sins, we confront him or her for their own good and the good of the church as a whole.
The article on Foxnews.com mentions the three steps involved in church discipline. The three steps come from Matthew 18:15-17. Does your church practice this necessary discipline in order to maintain the purity in the church? What do you do if you find out that someone in your congregation is living in sin with someone else? Do you confront them on love? If you do, where do you take it from there if they do not repent of this sin? The bible is very clear what should be done to preserve the purity of the church and for the ultimate restoration of the sinner.
Please be in prayer for this church in Jacksonville, Florida. Pray for the member to repent and for the leadership there. I emailed the article link to my senior pastor this evening and he replied back that the senior pastor is a friend and like him a graduate of The Master’s Seminary.
The article also mentioned above is linked here.
BarryDean4Christ Feed
Upon This Rawk 
