Pop Goes the Gospel- June 2009 Edition


'Pop Goes the Gospel'

'Pop Goes the Gospel'

Welcome to the June 2009 edition of “Pop Goes the Gospel.” I am a day late getting this up on the net because I was away this weekend. It was nice to be away and not having to think about my “TO DO” list but like all vacations they come to an end and the “TO DO” list has become a “DID NOT DO” list. So the first on my “DID NOT DO” list was to post the latest edition of “Pop Goes the Gospel” so here it is. Enjoy!

Feature Post

This month’s feature blog post was submitted by Robert Minto. Robert has submitted in the past and as usual has great things to say. His article is well written and contains plenty to makes us pause and reflect.

Robert Minto presents Identity & “The Good Shepherd” posted at The Veil Away, Robert relates the Film “The Good Shepherd” with our identity in Christ. What does our identity say about us? Does keeping our identity a secret bring with it consequences? I choice this post to feature this month because it was well written and addressed an important question. Who are you, really? Nice job Robert and congratulations on being chosen this month’s feature blogger.

In Media

Justin Allison presents Influence of the local church posted at Old Testament Ecology.Justin asked and answered the question: “What impact does the Gospel have in people’s lives in comparison to the impact media, the government, the workforce, or life in general have?” His conclusion: “To sum up, the local church which I am a part of has much more influence in my life than taxes, government, or media.” Read the rest of the story to find out how he arrived at this conclusion.

In Church Life

Fiona Veitch Smith presents The Cyber Church posted at Fiona Veitch Smith, Fiona makes a compelling case for “cyber-church meeting places. Her rationale would seem to flow that with the ever increasing use of the Internet for everyday activities shouldn’t church attendances be considered along with shopping and information gathering? Is the cyber community disconnected from real life? Read this post and decide for yourself. Comments are always welcomed. Let the poster know you were there.

andriel presents The Basis for Salvation: Man is Sinful posted at ReturningKing.com, Andriel a regular contributor to this blog carnival is never shy about tackling hot button issues and once again he tackles a biggie; sin. Read his post on this touchy subject and see for yourself.

In Culture

Aaron M. G. Zimmerman presents Mockingbird: U2: Seekers to Saints to Sinners to Saved (by Grace)–Part 1 posted at Mockingbird, saying, “This is the first of a four part series on U2’s interaction with evangelical Christianity. It tracks them from their early fervent piety, to their struggle to reconcile their faith with the demands of legalistic Christians, to their prodigal years, and finall to their recent re-discovery of grace as the beating heart of the Gospel. It comes from the Mockingbird blog, a site whose constant purpose is to find connections between pop culture and the Gospel of God’s one-way love for sinners. The blog does this with humor, a bit of irony, and a ton of grace.”

Keith Tusing presents How to Partner with Parents and Protect Kids in Our Culture posted at CM Buzz.Keith offers a basic how-to for a churche’s ministry to children. He cites the need for a church’s cultural input into a child’s life. He suggests the need for more “voices speaking truth and wisdom” in a child’s life considering they are immersed in a sea of cultural corruption daily.

Kiesha presents Don’t Let Your Fears Talk You Out of Success posted at Highly Favored.Kiesha shares some personal stories of missed opportunities in an attempt to encourage everyone to not let opportunities pass you by because you are too afraid to act upon them. Take a chance and let God make up for your inabilities with His ability. This is a good read.

In Education

Shannon Christman presents The Christian College Porn Star: How Should Christian Schools Handle Students’ Sin? posted at The Minority Thinker, Shannon asks a tough question, and I believe she did not mean for it to be rhetorical so she welcomes other’s input on the subject. What should a Christian do when he/she sees a brother/sister in Christ overcome in a sin? The bible says Brothers and sisters, if a person gets trapped by wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should help that person turn away from doing wrong. Do it in a gentle way. At the same time watch yourself so that you also are not tempted. Gal 6:1 (GW)  What say you? Take some time to answer Shannon’s question. Spark some dialog.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Pop Goes the Gospel using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Lego Jesus



A statue of Jesus Christ made entirely out of Lego construction bricks
stands in a church at Vasteras, Sweden, April 12, 2009.
The 1.8 metre (5.9 fet) tall statue, a copy of Thorvaldsen’s “Resurrected Christ”,
has taken parishioners 1.5 years to construct out of
30.000 tiny plastic pieces. (AP Photo/Jonas Ekstromer)

The journey of a 30,000 Legos begins with only one. I had a hard time building the designs that came on the actual box of Legos when I was a child. I would have never thought about doing anything like this. Isn’t it amazing what can be done if someone just gets a vision for it?

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Zeros and Ones


blessed2c

010001000110111100100000011101000110100001100101001000000111011101101111011100

100110101100100000011011110110011000100000011000010110111000100000011001010

11101100110000101101110011001110110010101101100011010010111001101110100*

see end of article for translation of this binary string

Snowflakes!

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” a coalmouse asked a wild dove.

“Nothing more than nothing,” the dove answered.

“In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,” the coalmouse said. “I sat on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not in a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all. Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,471,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch–nothing more than nothing — as you say — the branch broke off.”

Having said that, the coalmouse ran away.

The dove, since Noah’s time an authority on peace, thought about the story for a while. Finally, she said to herself, “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come to the world.”

image Binary code is the language of computers. A series of instructions that tells the CPU how to handle the data stream. If you were to simply look at a binary code string you would see nothing more than zeros and ones. Unless of course you understood the basic language of a computer. 01000001 does not mean anything to the average person but in the hands of a computer programmer those ones and zeros spell out the capital letter ‘A’. To think a digital picture is simply a series of zeros and ones, on or off, yes or no, true or false. These are the basic instructions utilized by a programmer to get the desired output.

As Christians, we are part of a master plan much like those zeros and ones are a part of the binary code of a computer program. When lined up in the right sequence wonderful things can happen. What happens when one of those lines of computer code becomes corrupted? The whole program comes to a crashing halt. If a zero is supposed to be a one then instead of the predicted results you will get unpredictable outcomes.

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Just like one snowflake alone does not seem to make much difference when joined with other snowflakes, their combined weight of ‘nothing more than nothing’ can cause a pine branch to break. Zeros alone will not cause a computer to operate, but when you add just a single one you begin the journey toward a positive output.

As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist (be the one), fulfill your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:5

Timothy admonishes us to endure hardships, to put up with opposition, to withstand the storms and fulfill the ministry set before us. Each of us, who have been redeemed from the curse of sin and death, have been placed in the body of Christ to do our part. We have gone from a zero to a one. It might appear that by yourself you seem so small and unable to accomplish much, but together with the rest of the body of Christ you are able to accomplish greater things than you could have imagined. Evangelism is simply each “one” making another “one”. Each on fire Christian ignites another. Simply turn an off to an on, a zero to a one.

How could one person chase a thousand or two people make ten thousand flee? Their rock used these people to defeat them and the Lord gave them no help. Deut 32:30 (GW)

Where else besides binary code can 4 = 100 or 27 = 11011? In scripture we find similar arithmetic where God was able to route thousands of the enemy by a few men of God because he fought with them. In His math 2 = 10000. So you do not have to be many, just be a one in the right place and God can do great things through you. Now if we all line up in our rightful positions in the body of Christ and be ‘THE ONE’ we will see great things of God accomplished for and through us.

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. Revelation 3:15

God does not want you to be a ZERO but to be number one. To be number one you simply have to be “turned on”. God desires for us to be hot not cold. He wants us to be “on fire” for Him and the work He has set out before us. Be the “one” placed where God can use you and watch how much happens when we hold our ground as “one” in the binary code of life. Or do nothing and be a zero, a place holder, turned off, and tuned out. The choice is yours, choose to be a “one”.

* translation to above binary code string is: do the work of an evangelist.

Godly Persistance Produces Plenty


Keep Pushing Tender Sprout

Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out if they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.

William James

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 (NKJV)

A Franciscan Benediction


eagletail feather.gif (350x76 pixels)
“If then you were raised with Christ,
seek those things which are above,
where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
Set your mind on things above,
not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2)

May God bless you with DISCOMFORT …
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with ANGER …
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with TEARS …

To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war.

So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them And to turn their pain into JOY.

And may God bless you with enough FOOLISHNESS…
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can DO what others claim cannot be done. Amen

The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi

Gregorian Chants: The Franciscan Monks of Assisi

Gregorian Chant: Early Recordings