How Pornography works

“We are fast becoming the pornographic society. Over the course of the last decade, explicitly sexual images have crept into advertising, marketing, and virtually every niche of American life. This ambient pornography is now almost everywhere, from the local shopping mall to prime-time television.

By some estimations, the production and sale of explicit pornography now represents the seventh-largest industry in America. …”

– Albert Mohler looks at understanding how pornography works in the male brain – and how that knowledge can be used in the battle against sin.

Related: The Porn-free family – Tim Challies.

Australian Church Record — October 2013

The latest issue of The Australian Church Record is now out.

“Every now and again ancient institutions can be forgiven for indulging in a little public self-reflection.

On January 1st, 1914, the first issue of ‘The Church Record: A Church Paper for the Commonwealth, Catholic, Apostolic, Protestant, and Reformed’ appeared, sixteen months after a Sydney group first met to float a company to run a federal paper.

As the centenary of this issue draws nigh, it seems fitting to reflect a little on the Australian Church Record as it is poised on the edge of its next one hundred years.”

– as well, there are articles on the General Synod, GAFCON, Archbishop Welby, and there’s a tribute to Bishop Dudley Foord. Downloadable from their website.

And in a reprint of an article from 1972, Bishop Donald Robinson looks at the names behind The Record in the early days.

The Method is the Message

“It was in the early 1970’s and I wore my clerical collar as I approached her front door. The next-door neighbour had asked me to visit. I did not know the widow but the neighbour told me “She is dying and wanting to talk about it, but is afraid to ask for help”.

When she opened the door she panicked. It was not the World War I panic of seeing the minister with the telegram. But it was still panic. Before I spoke she launched into an apology, talking over her shoulder as she scurried back into the house, leaving me on the doorstep. …”

– Phillip Jensen writes about the legacy of the Wells organization’s Every Member Canvass.

‘Pastor of Pastors’

“That phrase is well understood in Church denominations that have episcopal government, and has in the last several generations become a standard description of the nature and role of episcopacy among Anglicans.

But what may it mean in our more immediate context? Below is a sketch of what the concept ‘pastor of pastors’ signifies historically and in much of contemporary Anglicanism, and of what it could mean for us. …”

– Dr Robert Doyle explores the meaning of an oft-used term, at The Australian Church Record.

A future for Anglicans?

“In October 2013 GAFCON II will meet in Nairobi. GAFCON (Global Anglican Futures Conference) might be described as the illegitimate brainchild of Rowan Williams when he was archbishop of Canterbury and it may yet turn out to be his most enduring legacy…”

– In his editorial in the Autumn 2013 issue of Churchman, Gerald Bray gives his take (PDF file) on GAFCON II and the future of the Anglican Communion.

When a private act sends a public message

“Former President George H. W. Bush and his wife Barbara attended a wedding a few days ago, and it made national news. …

The news coverage of the Bushes’ attendance at the same-sex wedding points to a reality that must be understood — and fast. Attendance at a wedding is not a neutral act. The history and context of the wedding ceremony identify all those present as agreeing to the rightness of the marriage and acting as witnesses to the exchange of vows. …

Declining to attend will come with undeniable relational consequences, but so would attending.”

– Albert Mohler on an issue many will face in one form or another soon.

The Greatest Entertainment Launch in History

“GTA V is significant in that movies allow us to watch violence and sexuality, but games allow us to experience and participate in these acts. We do not passively consume games, but interact with them and make choices that carry us through them.”

– Tom Challies writes about the hugely successful Grand Theft Auto V video game.

“Our People Die Well” — John Wesley

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Hebrews 13:7

“Who are your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you? Most of us have many. In our childhood we may have been privileged to have parents who taught us God’s word, or there were Sunday school teachers or youth fellowship leaders at our church, or ISCF/Crusader teachers at school. For many it has been the pastor of our church, or the Bible study leader. During the lifetime of a Christian we usually have a range of leaders, who teach us God’s word. There are some people whose leadership stretches well beyond personal ministry to affect whole communities with their teaching of God’s word.

They speak at conventions, write books and articles, and travel to speak at evangelistic gatherings and church conferences. They become well known to the community as a whole, as they influence the culture of church life. And as we consider the outcome of the lives of those who lead us personally, we also remember and consider the lives of these more public leaders.

Recently I have been caused to remember and consider two such men, as they came to the end of their earthly life to be welcomed into the presence of the Lord of eternity …”

– Phillip Jensen reflects on the ‘outcome of the way of life’ of Geoff Fletcher and Dudley Foord, as models for all who hope in Christ.

An Overview of the Anglican Communion Today – From Communion to Coalition

A presentation by Vinay Samuel, last Monday 16th September, at St. Mark’s Battersea Rise in London, to a pre-GAFCON 2 meeting –

“The Anglican Communion as it exists today is not a single communion – it is more a collection of coalitions.

The centre (Lambeth) has no meaning in defining the Communion. Archbishop Justin Welby has inherited a broken communion he cannot heal. The role of Lambeth has enormously diminished. The instruments of communion as the governing centre are irrelevant for dealing with communion matters. People will not accept a communion that promotes things that are heretical. Instead of Lambeth legitimation we need mutual legitimation. This leads to coalitions. …”

– Read it all at Anglican Mainstream. More on the meeting from Andrew Symes.

Can Evangelical Chaplains serve God and Country? — The Crisis Arrives

“The repeal of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, coupled with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, set the stage for this crisis. The full normalization of same-sex relationships within the U.S. military is part of the unprecedented moral revolution that is now reshaping American culture at virtually every level.

The crisis in the chaplaincy arrived with these developments. The presenting issue is clear: Can a chaplain committed to historic biblical Christianity remain in military service? Does the normalization of homosexuality require that all members of the military, including chaplains, join the moral revolution, even if doing so requires them to abandon their biblical convictions? …”

– Albert Mohler looks at an issue which will not stay confined to the US military chaplaincy.

Bad news and Good news in the Church of England

“First, the bad news. There are more examples of heresy in the hierarchy…”

– Andrew Symes of Anglican Mainstream writes for the American Anglican Council’s International Update.

Ten ways Gay activists shifted culture

“Whether you are a proponent of same-sex marriage, homosexuality or not, you have to respect the way gay activists have fundamentally transformed American society in one generation.

The plans and strategies of gay activism and how they went from being an oppressed minority to an elite protected status in mainstream culture is written in a book called After the Ball [published in 1990]…”

– from Charisma News.

What a Muslim teaches us

“Back in 1981, Christian hearts thrilled to see a mainstream popular film treat Christian conscience positively. The film was Chariots of Fire and the Christian conscience was that of Eric Liddell, the man who refused to run in the Olympics on a Sunday. It was just so different to see a man of genuine faith presented in a film as a hero instead of a moral failure or a narrow-minded hypocrite. …”

– Phillip Jensen writes in his weekly column “From the Dean”.

Religious freedom in America today — Bp David Anderson

“Sometimes, the battle you or I or some other Christian might face touches directly on our freedom of religion, and attempts to infringe or deny that to us because the exercise of our religion somehow offends someone else. At other times our freedom of speech is infringed or denied when what we say from a Biblical perspective is prohibited, punished or marginalized with the label of ‘hate speech.’ …”