Hither and thither 4/29/11

Here you go, friends and neighbors.

• So, I've finally found a graphic way to sum up the way my first ~16 years as a Christian look to me in retrospect:

• (For subsequent years, just begin intermittently slowing... the... playback... verrrry... gradually....)
• At my house, my efforts last week were met with a two-word review: "No Legos." So... here:

• Doubling down: looking far ahead to Father's Day? Lego Star Wars cufflinks. (thx martin Pitcher)
• And now, with that out of the way....
• At Pyro, I told you yesterday about Chris Anderson's upcoming Uganda trip. Here's some update; praise God, and God bless you who were able to help. If you're just learning of it, check it out.
• Pastors: without delay, check this list of urban pulpit legends from Trevin Wax, before it's toooo laaaaaaate. (h-t Justin)
• It's good to be prepared. Reader Susan found a list of strange questions asked in actual job interviews. (Is that why unemployment is high?)
• On the other hand, comedian Stephen Wright shows that two can play at that game. (Warning: one bad word... but it's one of my favorite Wright moments.)
• Hunh.
• The comic was born in America, grew to fame in America, is known for the titular character's commitment to "truth, justice, and the American way" — but Superman now renounces his American citizenship. Yawn. How droll. (thx Chris Carney)

• And the reference above to Serenity segues so nicely to...
• The few, the proud, the Firefly / Serenity fans will enjoy this:

• Barbara Jackson sends us the kind of news we like to get: like coffee, bacon is a health-food! Well, maybe. Sorta. In certain ways. In mice. With diabetes.
• Reader Dwayne Warren found confirmation of suspicions: drummers' brains are different. Ayup.
• Political-wisdom-wise, in Franklin Graham I'm not being sure that the apple has fallen that far from the tree. (thx Aaron)
• Surprise! ObamaFriend on the wrong side of Romans 1:25. (Thx Robert Sakovich)
• Why the busy important guys endorsing my books are and will remain Mas Macho than I:

• Have not been to Disneyland (any) since about 1990. A source who's a very frequent visitor says that the Japan Disneyland is incredibly more exquisite in its detail.
• Still with photos, David Miller found us some photos reminiscent (in one way) of the paintings in the Harry Potter world. And then, for those who've seen one particular movie, a particularly creepy one.
• I had reported to you about the Mississippi judge named Joe Dale Walker who'd issued an order demanding a listing of all the homeschooling families in his district. Julie brings the good news that his order has been overturned.
• Of course, the real news in that story is that HSLDA contracts with someone named Sharkey Burke.
• Some churches need to take this sign down?

• Beloved longtime reader CR notes that the "birther" movement wasn't birthed by conservatives or Republicans.
• Hm. Don't remember this scene....

• I couldn't watch... and I couldn't stop watching. (Thx Anthony Forsyth.)
• Robert Sakovich round a dismal column explaining what, I think, our biggest moral/economic problem is: we have bought into the notion that "charity" is defined by the government increasingly confiscating the production of the productive to increase its control of an every-growing dependency-class. And, unfortunately, those people vote. Perhaps if we suspended the voting privileges of anyone who accepts government aid, until they're off the dole?
• Talk about "having skin in the game." A judge isn't supposed to.
• Now here's an Old Spice commercial that is 'way, 'way outta there.
• The SBL Greek New Testament is online, textual apparatus and all. (h-t Denny Burk)
• True dat:

• Recently I linked a vid of a cat's amazing prowess in bringing down a bird on the wing. Here, the cat is bested... and there's no bloodshed.
• And now, in closing, a symbolic representation of an oxymoron in action: "GOP leadership":

• Leading inexorably to these:

The usuals apply

Rushed randomness

Howdy, gang!

I have a training class today in Windows 7 and Office 2010, so I'm unsure of how much access I'll have to The Intrawebs. Here's a quick set of random thoughts for you:

• On the one hand, August 1 seems close... and, on the other, faaaaar awaaaayyyyy....
• So why did the kid in 2 Kings 4 sneeze seven times? What's the significance of that detail?
• Be sure to read about Chris Anderson's mission today at Pyro.
• I had my review of Lange's Commentary ready for Pyro, but (A) that item pushed it out of the way, and (B) didn't really want to do two book-reviews at Pyro in one week.
• You know something I realize I'm loving about life right now? Though I'm not in fulltime ministry of the Word (don't love that), I do get the privilege of encouraging and strengthening pastors, to some small degree. I love that.
• I agree with my Tweet about Obama's birth certificate.

All I have time for right now. More, actually.

Discuss!

HT tomorrow, DV.

You can be a Christian. Just not, you know, out loud. Or in public.

Atheists (and other similars) have the muzzy idea that "tolerance" is good, and "diversity" is good. So they say they believe in both. After all, they certainly wish to be tolerated, to say the least.

But then — as we've seen in metas right here in BibChr City — those same people turn around and tell Christians they shouldn't actually say what they believe, right out loud, in public. They surely shouldn't vote it, do it, live it, let it be heard in the public square. And as the dialogue continues, one gains the impression that they're really not comfortable even with allowing the thinking of such contrarian thoughts as the Biblical worldview creates.

So, as I've said: go be a Christian in church, in specially-marked neighborhoods, at low decibels.

Just not in public — as Robert Knight further documents.

Foot-stompin' feminists

In a thoughtful essay titled Like nothing so much as a children's play group, "The Brave Lass" Kamilla says this of religious feminism:

Lip service is paid to serving a hurting world, but the nature of the beast turns in on itself, keeping women needy and in need in order to perpetuate the revolution. Only by taking women's eyes off a life lived in service to others, a life in which we only truly find ourselves by giving ourselves away - feminism tells us we must turn inward and serve ourselves or we cannot serve others. The problem is, as the class offerings show, that even the wealthiest and most well-educated women on the face of the planet are so very needy and oppressed we need constant counseling, guidance and spiritual direction to find ourselves!

It's the perpetual infantilization of women, making them out to be nothing so much as a needy toddler who stomps her little foot when she doesn't get her way. No, you can not be a priest. STOMP. I WILL be a priest! And you can't stop me or I'll tell on you!!

It makes feminism look like a kindergarten and all those classes as nothing more than play groups. Is this what feminism has brought us to? Is this what we bought when we were told we would be lifted up to social and legal equality with men? Is this the holy life Christ calls us to? Yes, this is the end product of embracing life as a "class", a special interest group. This is what happens when we forget our identity in Christ and look to the world to define our "Authentic Self". This is the natural end when we look to the world to tell us who we are. This is what happens when we succumb to the lie. It's Eve all over again. The promise of the precious fruit and its enlightenment results in death and endarkment.

(h-t Tim Bayly)

I want a new bug

Got one.

Monday music: "Saw Lady" Double-header

First, perfect for some of our readers:

Then a number specifically composed for the saw:

If you'd like to know more about the Saw Lady, she has a web site.

Happy Resurrection Day! "See, What a Morning!"

Loved it last year; loving it again this year.

Wonderful, stirring celebration of the Resurrection.

Lyrics (guitar chords):
See, what a morning, gloriously bright,
With the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,
As the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"
See God's salvation plan,
Wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ, the Man,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping, "Where is He laid?"
As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
It's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years,
Speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us,
Will sound till He appears,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days,
Through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise
To the King crowned with pow'r and authority!
And we are raised with Him,
Death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him,
For He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

(Written by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend)

Good Friday/Easter video and shared thoughts on the Cross

Blessed Good Friday, friends.

Here's how we'll put our minds there. First, enjoy this video suggested by reader Susan:

Second, share what verse in the Bible is standing out in your mind at this moment as most revealing and meaningful to you concerning Christ's work on the Cross that Friday. We won't hold it to you as your here-I-stand position-statement on the most important verse in all of Scripture; just share what is standing out now, as you sit before your monitor.

Warming up to the topic: my surrface thought is actually a carol. "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight" is sung of Christ's birth, in "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It occurs to me that this applies richly to Easter as well.

The Scripture I go to is Ephesians 1:7 — "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace." I think of that verse a lot; I often reflect on it as I partake of the cup in Communion.

The redemption rests on the truth that I was born a slave to sin, unable to obtain my own freedom. By nature, thought and choice, I was sold over to rebellion against God. I was a captive, willing and helpless, miserable of my bondage but wanting no part of the real God. It took a miracle to liberate me.

The blood reminds me that my salvation is objective and external, in this sense: it did not rise from within me. It was not improvement, enlightenment, a new leaf. It was conceived, bought and paid for by the Son of God. It was not a philosophy or a program of moral improvement that He taught. It was Him dying, Him pouring out His personal life in His blood, that purchased my release. My release was not secured by, and is not retained by, my feelings of piety or deeds of holiness. It was in spite of both. It was secured and is maintained by the infinite value of the blood of the Son of God.

And this blood secures both freedom and forgiveness. All my sins were atoned for by His blood. This includes my sin yesterday, and my sins today, for all my sins were future on that Friday; so all my sins were encompassed by His blood atonement.

All this is in Him, borne by His strong, immense shoulders, with the undergirding of His eternal resolve and His impeccable character. Apart from Him, nothing of lasting good. In Him, all good and blessing and hope and joy.

Hallelujah, what a Savior!

What Scripture stands out to you, and why, Christian friend?

Hither and thither 4/22/11

Busy, busy week, mostly in really good ways. Last read-through of World-Tilting Gospel before it's completely at the mercy of the printers. I really appreciate Kregel using a microscope on the manuscript. Inerrancy is hard! But if any mere mortal can achieve it, it's Dawn Anderson and her crew at Kregel.

I also worked a bit on gathering Proverbs-book endorsers. Also endorsed a good little book from Cruciform Press myself: But God, by Casey Lute. Check out the Facebook page, and the book's page.

New policy: to save space, instead of trying to come up with creative ways to say "thanks to ___ for the link," I'll just credit linkers bold in parentheses. Thus: "blah blah blah. (thx Rubeus Hagrid)"

It being Good Friday, this may be a bit smallish, but should still grow until noon PT. I plan to put up another post more appropriate to the day at noon, PT.

• Relative to The Giants of Blogdom, this is not a large blog... but I like to think it's effective. Like this crossbow!

• Parents: you remember when the doctors told you there was no pill to stall puberty a bit? They lied! Tempting to say it ought to be put in all the water in America... though certainly not for the reasons the article cites.
• Dang, good thing I was a kid while it was still legal. They later backed off for now... but they'll be back. (ths Aaron)
• At least scan this article, then entertain these two thoughts: (A) isn't that just like people?; and (B) does it make sense for anyone believing in evolution to strive for the preservation of this as a living language?
• "No Duh" Alert: all you have to do is read the title.
• So here's a Christianoid pastor-type who's unclear on clear things, and will "unfriend" you if you don't share his muddle. And he apparently has a defective Bible, lacking mark 14:21 and John 17:12. (thx Robert Sakovich)
• The movie Thor — whose earlier trailers looked uncomfortably like Flash Gordon, which is a very bad thing — has a pretty funny spot spoofing off of the Darth Vader Kid Super Bowl ad.
• Reader Aaron wants you to know that, if you have spare coin rolling around, you could contribute to the construction of a fully-functional AT-AT Walker.
• Ark Burger — two of every animal. On a bun. I want one. 

• And after lunch? (thx Laura Kelleher)
• Oh, wait. No you can't. Thanks, George.
• Al thinks this shifts into breathtaking at about 1:00. OK. I wonder how sure they were that no one was in the path of the avalanche, or whether they were just selfish jerks, like a lot of extreme sports types seem to be.
• Hunh. Evidently any ignorant tube can write a book about "God."
• Say... what are you looking at?
• Anyway, the link was from Robert Sakovich.
• Massachusetts taxpayer money going to advocate and simplify abortion access to young girls. (thx Robert Sakovich) More here. (thx Gil Sebenste)
• Cigar-smoker rights: I'm for dem. Apparently I'm sort of a Christian Republitarian.
• Trogdor has some proposals for addressing tax and budget malpractice and, as usual, he's right.
• From Joel Griffith, Denny's Baconalia. Borderline disturbing.
• Ever wonder why the emerg* movement is not big in regions ruled by "the Religion of Peace"? Do you? I don't.
• Perhaps only for Kay, but: 47 years of Dr. Who reviewed in 6 minutes.
• While I'm addressing my various constituencies here's one that Christopher Paolini fans (including my family) will care about: the fourth book of the Inheritance cycle (Eragon) finally has a title and a release date. The title is Inheritance, and the release date is November 8, 2011.
• Normally our family Game Night is first Sunday in the month. But this month has been so full, it may just get postponed until next month!

• Now these:

My political commercial: "I am rich"

Democrats and liberals are experts at using lies to tug at the heart-strings. Conservatives and constitutionalists need to learn to do the same with the truth.

Were I a political consultant working with the Club for Growth or the Cato Institute or the GOP, here's the commercial I'd throw out there.

Camera opens on a man who looks like he's dressed to work. He smiles and says,

"Hi. My name is Joe Schlabotnik, and I'm rich.

"Well, I don't think I'm rich, but President Obama does, because I make $325,000 a year. He's targeting me and people like me, and seems to think he would do a better job with my money than I do. Sometimes I think he and Harry Reid think I hide it under my mattress and hoard it for myself.

"Well, I don't. I thought maybe you'd like to know what I do with my money.

"Like you, I use it to pay for my house, and to feed and clothe my family. So I support lending institutions, grocers, clothiers, department stores. Last year, I gave 13% of my gross income to my church, which serves God and people, and gives food and care to the needy. Frankly, I think it does a better job of it than government agencies.

"I also own Schlabotnik Hardware. Weird name, but I employ 13 people. That's thirteen people who have jobs, because of the money I make. People like Wanda Plummer, a single mom supporting three children. She's able to take night classes, thanks to the job I gave her. I think one day she'll be a manager. I think that's a good thing. And President Obama didn't give her that job.

"And people like Herman Munzner, who had retired, but he's using his thirty years of experience to help my customers in their projects. Our regular customer Greta James thinks it's great that Herman's here to help, don't you Greta? (Woman at counter laughs and nods.) I think that's a good thing. Harry Reid didn't give him that job.

"In fact, one more thing about Herman. I hired him last November. Do you know why? Because Republicans came to power, and I think many of them understand that the government doesn't make jobs. People like me make jobs. The GOP was going to call off the Democrats' war on job-creators. That freed me to invest.

"But now I'm worried again. You see, I'd like to open another store. More money going to carpenters and vendors, more jobs for my community. Except I see President Obama has me in his cross-hairs again. I guess he thinks he'd do a better job with my money, paying for abortions and windmills and fast trains instead of creating jobs for my community.

"I just think that's wrong. Serious people like Paul Ryan should be bringing sanity to the federal budget, and encouraging investors and job-creators instead of punishing them. Doesn't that make sense to you?

"Tell your congressman, tell your senator: stop penalizing people who create jobs.

"Because the only person who thinks I'm rich seems to be President Obama.

"Well... him and my grandchildren."

(Two little children run up, laughing, and hug his legs. Camera fades out with contact details.)

What do you think? I think it'd be a game-changer.

A whole drum solo on a snare drum: bo-ring?

Not if you're Carl Palmer, it isn't.

Thanks to reader Philip Priddy for the suggestion.

Now, for bonus points: why does this have me thinking, of all people, of Charles Spurgeon?

Get "Gospel Meditations for Women" in time for Mother's Day

This is a terrific little booklet, and I highly recommend it.

In fact... I highly recommended it!

Check it out HERE.

Very touching... commercial? Yep

The "commercial" part is well-nigh invisible, though. Watch this from Chick-fil-A. I tear up from about 1:20 to the end.

(h-t Challies)

Monday music: "Mrs. Moonlight," by Holly Kirby

Reader Barbara Jackson found us a cute little number:

Phil Johnson's experience: absolutely infuriating

I assume you know Phil Johnson. If not, welcome to Earth, we hope you enjoy your stay and please don't annihilate us.

I know Phil, and count him a dear friend. So when I step back and look at this bad and dangerous world, and then focus back in on the treatment Phil received at the hands of TSA thugs — not in Saudi Arabia or North Korea, but here, on American soil — I am very angry.

Then when you add in this CNN report on how the TSA doubles-down to punish free citizens' dissent... the needle goes well up into the "red" zone.

Bryan Preston is right. That isn't about terrorists. It doesn't target our enemies. It is about punishing dissent.

I know it's been said, I know it's cliché, I know it no longer deserves the status of deep insight — but it's true:

The terrorists have scored limitless victories on our freedoms post-9/11 without firing one shot or spending one dime.

And we state-indoctrinated sheeple just roll over and take it. What do we do? Some of us occasionally have to travel by air. We haven't the time or money to drive or sail or bus or use the trains.

Or go back to Phil, or Lig Duncan, or Don Carson, or John Piper, or John MacArthur. Should those brothers and mentors just stop attending conferences more than 100 miles from their homes, because they don't want to be — or don't want their wives to be — felt up by blue-gloved goons? Is that where we're heading? "Sorry to decline your invitation to speak, but I've decided to keep my privates private."

Who could blame them?

I project myself forward to the coming trip to England (DV). My dear wife already had a totally gratuitous, infuriating experience in an airport a few years back in my absence. It may be a blessing of sorts that I wasn't there. Dead-serious: I might have an arrest-record today, if I had been there. I will tolerate things done (or said) to me that I will not tolerate said or done to my wife or children or, for that matter, my friends. So, as God is my witness, when I consider the prospect of some smug operative beginning to invade, harass, and handle her... I'm afraid I wouldn't make my appointment.

What can we do?

So we stand by and watch the state-sanctioned sexual abuse of our friends, our wives, our children, ourselves. What can we do?

These gropebots have the sanction of the State. Plus, if we tick them off, they can fine us up to $10,000.

Or arrest us.

Let me put it to you: Phil is not a private, unknown quantity. There is zero percent chance that he poses a threat to national security or anything the TSA is supposed to care about. Yet he is singled out for this sort of punishing sexual molestation. Do you feel safer now? As you tuck your children in tonight, are you comforted by the thought that folks like Phil (and housewives and children and your wife and grandmother) are being felt-up for no rational reason, with the State's smiling approval?

Something has got to change. You'd think one of our prominent political leaders would stand up and do something.

But that would require a clue and a spine. Which may be asking too much.

Hither and thither 4/15/11

Cool week with, as you've read, various kinds of book action. And through it all, Dear Reader, my helpers and I collected a nice little passel of peculiarities for you. To wit:

• Let's begin with a very pleasant: a gent in Wales has constructed an absolutely gorgeous hobbit-home. The site has pictures, plans, the whole nine yards. Sigh.
• Yep. If I were to attempt basketball, it would go pretty much exactly like this:

• Reader Susan found a video sure to make us grateful for our spacious, clean, train-free marketplaces.
• But not too grateful. If you need to flex your your outrage-muscles, check out the TSA groping and then reportedly drug-testing a six-year-old girl. Far beyond ridiculous. Life in obAmerica. Then hear the parents tell a bit more, as a reporter does her best gently to dull the edges of the story and defend the government gropers. Apparently "patted down" is the new "felt up." The poor little girl broke down afterwards and wondered what she had done wrong. Isn't that characteristic of abuse victims? Pathetic, repulsive, indefensible.
• Meanwhile, you can see what one TSA official and atheist (surprise!!) does when he's not harassing innocent citizens and children.
• Reader Martin van Dooremalen alerts us to... the bacon brothers! (Check out the vests, and more, here.)

• You know, you keep hearing of revolutionary new car technologies (like this one, courtesy of my mother-in-law)... but nothing ever fundamentally changes.
• Name That Party. I think I saw even one of our readers echoing the "no difference" meme. So, which political party led its body to defund Planned Parenthood and passed a pro-life CR?
• To be clear: if someone says there isn't enough difference in every detail between the two parties, I'm right there with you. But no difference? Not much difference? That just tells me you're not following the news.
• Aw, c'mon! Where's your sense of adventure?

• Ever wonder what it might look like to have a government that actually reveres life? Wish we did. Chileans do, though, and it looks like this. (Thanks, DAOD.)
• Hate your job? It could be worse! (Thanks, Dawn Lewis.)
• You know, come to think of it... this actually does bother me. You? Not recent, either.
• From Thabiti:

• This is beyond ridiculous. Easter eggs don't even have anything to do with Easter (=the resurrection of Christ). Yet even the suggestion of the word is too much for one government indoctrination camp in Seattle, which requires that they be referred to as "spring spheres." (Link thanks to reader Sam Knisely.)
• Yeah, I pretty much can't, either:

• National Waste of Time/We're Doomed Alerts. A nice, right-principled man with the public personality and communication skills of a baked potato announces an exploratory committee. In bumbling his own announcement of a run, Pawlenty signals that he is (at best) not ready to beat Obama and the MSM. And perennial candidate, cultist Mitt Romney — who has only ever held office as a massive-government, big-spending, pro-abort enthusiast — is cluttering up the stage and distracting the conversation again. Tone-deaf and clueless as always, Romney made the announcement on the fifth anniversary of Romneycare.
• And, what's more, Donald Trump provides an answer to the question, "Who is the only living American who doesn't realize that Ross Perot was a self-serving egomaniac deserving of eternal membership in the American Hall of Shame?"
• But you know, Trump's a Christian, so... there's that. He says. Goes to church when he can. Sundays. Christmas, definitely. "When there's a major occasion." (Thanks, Joel Griffith.)
• I don't know who Michael Walsh is, but this essay is worth reading — if only for the phrase, "the audacity of mope."
• OK, now: having read and growled at all that bad news about the men who cannot save us, turn your minds to Prof. Jim Hamilton's meditation on the one true Hero who can save us.
• Yeah, I can do this. Just stand back. Further. Further. Further....

• Beloved reader JTW pointed me to a pretty terrific essay on what's really wrong with America. Hint: it's Bibley. Everything the writer, Vishal Mangalwadi, says is true. Nonetheless, he misses one crucial thing. What is it? Hm?
• I think Marla Beale was the first to email me a link to a Chicago school forbidding home lunches.
• Meanwhile, what do California teacher's union "experts" find time to do? Affirm their support for a convicted cop-killer. (Thanks for the link, Robert Sakovich.)
• Oh, that, and now they'll have to find time to work positive lessons on the contributions of folks who indulge a cluster of sexual perversions. (Link from David Miller.)
• Judge Fail. No, seriously... Judge Fail.

• Julie Garrett found one of those robo-conversations, this time about teachers' unions.
• Julie also wants us all to know that where she lives is prettier than where we live.
• Biden: who can blame him?
• DAOD found us a slideshow of gas prices around the world. Note to self: next time, fill up in Venezuela!
• "Death penalty doesn't deter crime" alert. Evil man pursues, stalks, and finally murders ex-girlfriend. What decided him finally to pull the trigger? His research indicating that the state had abolished the death penalty.
• You know, if we're going to have "sightings," I prefer the secular kind.
• The only kind of  "vegetarian sandwich" I'd ever eat... well, except egg or PBJ:

• Not sure whether Pecadillo ever stops by, but just in case: here's his Bjork fix. (He's a huge fan.)

• Leaving only...

The usuals apply

Proverbs book: invitation for (more) endorsers

I don't think I've ever done a double-post (here and Pyro) before. But hey: (A) it's my blog; and (B) who knows? There might be three people who come here without visiting Pyro, and one of them might fill the bill. So, without further eloquence:

---

by Dan Phillips

Let me say in opening that, though I am here to ask for something, it isn't money!

HSAT: I'm in a happy dilemma. I just tapped about all the folks I know to amass endorsers for World-Tilting Gospel for Kregel. Wonderful folks responded (thank you, every one of you), and a number of gracious souls drawn from that number are currently reading with a view to endorsing it.

But now, guess what? My Proverbs project has been moved to the front-burner. This is absolutely terrific news to me, of course. But what it also means is that I get to go beat the bushes to find some more gracious souls to consider endorsing that lengthy tome. (Reluctant, you will understand, to impose on those already doing me a favor to add yet another, so soon!)

Thank God, I already have some absolutely terrific brothers who have generously agreed to read and consider endorsing the Proverbs book. All I need now is... more.

What you need to know: it's not short! And the deadline the publisher is looking at for endorsements is the end of May.

What I am asking: interested parties meeting these criteria —

1. If you are a published author, and/or you teach (preferably Old Testament) at some institution, and if you believe you can make the deadline, drop me a line.
2. If you don't meet either specification, but know someone who does, to whom you might commend my meager effort, ask him to drop me a line.

What it is: The working title of the book is currently God's Wisdom in Proverbs: Hearing God's Voice in Scripture. I am dearly hoping that it makes a unique contribution to Proverbs literature. Here are some of the book's singular aspects:

1. Written, and reaping benefits from, conviction of the Solomonic origin of the whole. (You'll be surprised to learn what a minority opinion that is among evangelical writers, and what difference it makes.)
2. Deals with the Biblical text both in its historical/canonical position in the process of unfolding revelation, and in its larger Biblical context.
3. Engages the Hebrew text; yet
4. Crafted with a practical/pastoral focus and broad appeal (i.e. any reader can read, learn, profit).

Topics include:

• How to read, understand and apply proverbs.
• What the fear of Yahweh is.
• How to find wisdom.
• A fresh, closer look at the real meaning of Proverbs 1:7; 3:5-6; 22:6 (among others).
• Wisdom for friends, singles, married couples, parents, children.
• ...and other good stuff.

Sound like fun?

Of course, eventually I hope it sounds like fun to all of you and many others as well, God willing. But right now I need it to sound like fun to some additional endorsers. Lord willing, you will all have access to it in just a matter of months.

So if you fit the bill above or know someone who does... drop me a line.

My email is, without the spaces: filops @ yahoo.com

That is all. Thanks!

PS — I'd be tickled if a WTG endorser wanted to read this, too. Two already are, praise God. I'm just reluctant to pile on!

---