I was appalled to read your plan to burn the Koran on September 11. While I celebrate your freedom as an American to express yourself however you wish (so long as it is civil), I suggest that you are about to do something very un-American. Ours is a land of freedom and tolerance – a nation founded on biblical principals and that sanctions no state religion – but instead offers freedom and refuge to all peace loving people. And while I agree that there should be no mosque built near Ground Zero out of respect for those who died on 9/11, I believe the method of your proposed protest to be entirely irresponsible, coloring Americans as spiteful and intolerant while endangering the brave men and women who continue to fight for the freedom we Americans so cherish.

But on another, far more serious, level I urge you to reconsider. You are not expressing yourself only as an American citizen, but as a Christian Pastor – an Ambassador of Christ. We pastors are called to preach Christ, not intentionally incite animosity and anger with insults. I propose that your plan to publicly burn the Koran has nothing to do with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope that you will ask yourself seven questions before proceeding:

1. As a result of the Koran burning, how many Muslim’s will hear and believe the truth that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son?
2. After you publicly desecrate what they consider sacred, will more Muslim’s or less be inclined to listen to the greatest news in all of life?
3. How does burning the Koran promote the truth and values that Jesus Christ taught his followers to observe?
4. How does burning the Koran demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit that Paul taught?
5. How does burning the Koran relate to the methods and example of the early church as recorded in the Book of Acts (think Mars Hill)?
6. How does burning the Koran relate to the Great Commission or Jesus’ prophetic charge in Acts 1.8?
7. Honestly, what biblical text has led you to believe that this is a good thing to do?

My advice to you, Pastor Jones, is simple: stop what you are planning and return to the true, biblical role of a pastor – enjoying, living, promoting and preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ – at home and among the nations.

In Christ, and for His Glory Among the Nations,

Mike Johnson

Our focus for the first part of the trip has been helping the church establish a children’s ministry. Maya and Clare have put in many hours preparing and presenting, and thus far the reception has been excellent. Today, they are training a new group.

We head to the village this weekend, where I plan to teach a couple of sessions on Saturday, and preach in a newly-planted village church on Sunday.  Next week, we plan to spend time with the leaders here, discussing how to establish an effective missions program in the local church. We expect God to do great things through all of these imperfect efforts.

My Russian is not as rusty as I thought it would be. It does drop off quickly when I get tired, but I think it always did that. I’ve been able to communicate fine, and we will see this weekend if I can still teach/preach in the language.

The kids have adapted fine. David’s language is coming back quick. They are really enjoying this part of their heritage.

Thanks for your prayers. We will keep you posted.

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More about the video at Worship Matters.

How to wreck your church in three weeks:

Week One: Walk into church today and think about how long you’ve been a member, how much you’ve sacrificed, how under-appreciated you are. Take note of every way you’re dissatisfied with your church now. Take note of every person who displeases you.

Meet for coffee this week with another member and “share your heart.” Discuss how your church is changing, how you are being left out. Ask your friend who else in the church has “concerns.” Agree together that you must “pray about it.”

Week Two: Send an email to a few other “concerned” members. Inform them that a groundswell of grievance is surfacing in your church. Problems have gone unaddressed for too long. Ask them to keep the matter to themselves “for the sake of the body.”

As complaints come in, form them into a petition to demand an accounting from the leaders of the church. Circulate the petition quietly. Gathering support will be easy. Even happy members can be used if you appeal to their sense of fairness – that your side deserves a hearing. Be sure to proceed in a way that conforms to your church constitution, so that your petition is procedurally correct.

Week Three: When the growing moral fervor, ill-defined but powerful, reaches critical mass, confront the elders with your demands. Inform them of all the woundedness in the church, which leaves you with no choice but to put your petition forward. Inform them that, for the sake of reconciliation, the concerns of the body must be satisfied.

Whatever happens from this point on, you have won. You have changed the subject in your church from gospel advance to your own grievances. To some degree, you will get your way. Your church will need three or four years for recovery. But at any future time, you can do it all again. It only takes three weeks.
Just one question. Even if you are being wronged, “Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Corinthians 6:7).

HT: Take Your Vitamin Z

Now, 20 years later, I am glad to say that most of the steam for the backward movement has run out. But there are still proponents, and the debate inches on. I have observed a few things over the years about the nature of this particular debate. First, most KJV-Only proponents have never taken the time to learn the original languages (I am aware of some that are scholars – but precious few). Thus, when they blast codices and textual families, they are speaking about documents that they have never read and cannot read. Since this is a textual debate at its core, this is highly significant (devastating?).

Second, most of the KJV-Only debates that I have observed or in which I have engaged eventually turned petty and unhealthy – with the KJV-Only proponents primarily resorting to ad hominem attacks and throwing out labels like “blind heretics” for good measure. Of course, this can happen to any good, spirited debate. However, at least in my anecdotal experience, it usually happens during a KJV-Only conversation.  Once, I told a friend to watch his watch and tell me how long it will take for my opponent to call me ‘stupid’ or the like while we began to reason the arguments and positions. It took a mere 3.5 minutes. That is also telling.

Third, and most significant, the best arguments undergirding the narrow KJV-Only position are extremly thin, circular and require massive assumptions. The position is just lacking in meat, plain and simple. And when its proponents feel threatened because of this, they resort to insult to make up for it.

And I know that I am painting with broad strokes and making no attempt to support my claims. That is because this is not my attempt to comprehensibly debunk the KJV-Only movement. Rather, I said all that to turn your attention to a great short piece on the subject by Daniel Wallace.

You can also read James White’s weigh-in on the matter in his book, The King James Only Controversy. Better still are the two cents that D.A. Carson offered in ’78 entitled, The King James Version Debate: A Plea For Reason.

That said, I appreciate Piper’s appeal for order.