Obama's Diplomacy: "You Can't Come to my Cookout!"

In brilliant display of diplomatic prowess and soft power, the Obama administration rescinded an invitation to Iranian diplomats for a 4th of July Celebration next weekend. As if this story were not funny enough, the rescinded invite came after none of Iran's foreign service officers RSVP'ed!

Sanford Admits Affair

And we all thought he was a possible GOP contender for 2012... Another one bites the dust. Any politician want to step up and be faithful to their wife? Anyone?

WORLD's Best Reads of the Last 2 Years

This week in WORLD Magazine, editor Marvin Olasky writes on his "2009 Book of the Year," as well as some of his favorite reads from the last two years. Some of the list toppers include:

Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels (InterVarsity, 2008)

Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Eerdmans, 2006)

Alain Besancon, A Century of Horrors: Communism, Nazism, and the Uniqueness of the Shoah (ISI, 2007)

Phillipp Blom, The Vertigo Years: Europe, 1900-1914 (Basic, 2008)

Arthur C. Brooks, Who Really Cares? The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (Perseus, 2006)

John Carroll, The Wreck of Western Culture: Humanism Revisited (ISI, 2008)

Caroline Cox and John Marks, This Immoral Trade: Slavery in the 21st Century (Monarch, 2006)

Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling (InterVarsity, 2008)

Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam, Grand New Party: Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream (Doubleday, 2008)

Eric E. Ericson Jr. and R. Alexis Klimoff, The Soul and Barbed Wire: An Introduction to Solzhenitsyn (ISI, 2008)

Thomas Farr, World of Faith and Freedom: Why International Religious Liberty Is Vital to American National Security (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Robert George and Chris Tollefsen, Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (Doubleday, 2008)

Gary Haugen, Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian (InterVarsity, 2008)

Arthur Herman, Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age (Random House, 2008)

Michael Horton, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church (Baker, 2008)

Al Janssen and Brother Andrew, Secret Believers: What Happens When Muslims Believe in Christ (Revell, 2007)

Michael Jones, Leningrad: State of Siege (Basic, 2008)

John Kekes, The Art of Politics: The New Betrayal of America and How to Resist It (Encounter, 2008)

Timothy Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (Dutton, 2008)

Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Dutton, 2008)

Alister McGrath, Christianity's Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution (HarperOne, 2007)

Gerald McDermott, God's Rivals: Why Has God Allowed Different Religions? (InterVarsity, 2007)

Steven Mosher, Population Control: Real Costs, Illusory Benefits (Transaction, 2008)

R. Albert Mohler Jr., Desire and Deceit: The Real Outcome of the New Sexual Tolerance (Multnomah, 2008)

Charles Murray, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality (Crown Forum, 2008)

Patrick Nachtigall, Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization (Warner, 2008)

Michael O'Brien, Island of the World (Ignatius, 2007)

Tom Oden, How Africa Shaped the Christian Mind (InterVarsity, 2008)

Meic Pearse, The Gods of War: Is Religion the Primary Cause of Violent Conflict? (InterVarsity, 2007)

Hugh Ross, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is (Baker, 2008)

Herman Selderhuis, John Calvin: A Pilgrim's Life (InterVarsity, 2009)

Amity Shlaes, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression (HarperCollins, 2007)

Sun Shuyun, The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth (Doubleday, 2006)

Harry Stout, Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War (Viking, 2006)

Richard Swinburne, Was Jesus God? (Oxford University Press, 2008)

Mark Tabb, How Can a Good God Let Bad Things Happen? (NavPress, 2008)

Robert Webber, Who Gets to Narrate the World? Contending for the Christian Story in an Age of Rivals (InterVarsity, 2008)

David F. Wells, The Courage to Be Protestant (Eerdmans, 2008)

N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (HarperOne, 2008)

PETA Sends Obama a Gift

After the President's fly swat during an interview with CNBC, PETA, or "People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals," sent Obama a "humane fly swatter," proving why the majority of Americans don't take this "animal rights" group seriously...

Skillful Ministry

I have worked several jobs in which I come into very regular contact with people. Throughout such experiences, and through one's desire to continue to do a job with greater excellence, it is a relatively simple and sometimes systematic thing to grow in skill socially. We learn how to read others; we learn what to say and what not to say; we learn when humor may lighten a situation and when a serious word is called for.

These skills are good. However, when improvement in them takes primacy in our life or our job (something I find I too easily fall into), we are not living the life of faith and dependence on God to which we are called. Ministry can, it seems, too easily become something in which those who minister seek greater skill, but neglect seeking a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit in their lives. I know I speak for myself in this. A salesman may appear friendly, amiable, and good-natured--all attributes which may well reflect his or her skill in relating to others, rather than a genuine attitude of care for others.

I can work at gaining ministry "skill," but having this skill does not itself mean that I have a heart for those whom I serve as a Christian. And if I do not truly love those I serve, then I believe that such service--though skilled--can easily become a mask that I put on. It does not then reflect my true desires, and such service can, it would seem, easily become burdensome and devoid of the joy of serving others in love.

Skill in important in ministry, but without a heart for service, I would hold that it is hollow. So how do we build a heart for those we serve? Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will show us the love of Christ, and allow us to love others. Then will ministry be something that engages our heart, and not simply our head. Genuine love--what is at the heart of true ministry--is not something that can be gained simply by systematic study or human effort; it begins with the love of God. So let us seek His love and the empowerment of His Spirit, that we may serve Him truly.

Generous

Proverbs 11:25 says "A generous man will prosper; / he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." (NIV)

I have recently, through the example of a friend, had the privilege of better learning the joy and freedom of generosity. It is freeing to realize that our possessions are not our own, but that they belong to God. And trusting in His provision as we seek Him, it is a wonderful thing to begin to see the freedom we find as we loosen our grip and freely give. I do not believe the amount we give and the amount we have are a zero-sum game. In other words, giving does not simply subtract the amount given from the giver. Yes, we will have to sacrifice if we let God form us into generous people, but I believe that it need not feel like we are simply losing something. We may experience reciprocal generosity, and we will see more of the peace of being able to trust in God as our generous provider. "He who refreshes others will himself be refreshed."

Driscoll on 2 Peter 1:3-4

1 Peter 1:3-4 (ESV):

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire."

Here's Mark Driscoll's take on this passage from a sermon last May in his sermon series on 1 and 2 Peter:

“When anyone tells me that Christianity is a great religion, I freak out. I absolutely blow a gasket. I can barely remain in my own skin. It’s not another religion. Religion is about control, religion is about fear, religion is about punishment, religion assumes all you have is this evil, rebellious, sinful, hard-hearted, stubborn, stiff-necked old nature. We have to control you, we have to intimidate you, we have to manipulate you because deep down, the longings of your heart, the desires of your soul, the appetite of your will is just only evil, continually, all the time. Regeneration says absolutely not. You have the Holy Spirit, you have a new nature, you have brand new, fresh, passionate, free desires. What’s happen is this. Some of you will say ‘But I’m tempted.’ There are lesser desires, what he [Peter] calls ‘sinful desires’ in the world. Your flesh and the world will conspire to tempt you to settle. Some of you, that word desire, you’re like ‘that’s right, desire is bad.’ No, it’s not. Desire is the answer to sin, not the cause of it. When you sin, it’s because you have too weak of desires. When you sin it’s not because you are passionate, it’s because you are not passionate enough! You’re settling—sex, food, money, gambling, alcohol, fornication, adultery. Christ, passion, joy, freedom, happiness, enthusiasm, are so much better than these little temptations, these petty pleasures, these wicked temptations that want us to settle for something or someone other than Jesus. See some of you come here and you come from these religious backgrounds and say ‘Don’t have passions, don’t have desires, don’t get excited, you’ll get into trouble.’ No, you won’t, you’ll get into worship, and that will keep you out of trouble.”

Amen! Here's the video of the entire sermon if you've got a little spare time:

CODE Pink in Cairo: Pledges to Deliver Hamas Letter to Obama

The Politico has a video of CODE Pinks recent theatrics in Cairo, including a pledge to deliver a letter from Hamas to the President. Outrageous beyond belief...

Great Books Excerpt of the Day

From Alexis de Toquevile's Democracy in America, Volume II, Section IV, Chapter 6: "What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear."

"It cannot be absolutely or generally affirmed that the greatest danger of the present age is license or tyranny, anarchy or despotism. Both are equally to be feared; and the one may proceed as easily as the other from one and the same cause: namely, that general apathy which is the consequence of individualism. It is because this apathy exists that the executive government, having mustered a few troops, is able to commit acts of oppression one day; and the next day a party which has mustered some thirty men in its ranks can also commit acts of oppression. Neither the one nor the other can establish anything which will last; and the causes which enable them to succeed easily prevent them from succeeding for long; they rise because nothing opposes them, and they sink because nothing supports them. The proper object, therefore, of our most strenuous resistance is far less either anarchy or despotism than that apathy which may almost indifferently beget either the one or the other."