Is Hurricane Sandy evidence of global warming and a reason to vote for Mr. Obama?  That’s what Jennifer Granholm claimed on CNN tonight.

This Wall Street Journal article debunks such a view:

Roger Pielke: Hurricanes and Human Choice

Sandy was terrible, but we’re currently in a relative hurricane ‘drought.’ Connecting energy policy and disasters makes little scientific sense.

In studying hurricanes, we can make rough comparisons over time by adjusting past losses to account for inflation and the growth of coastal communities. If Sandy causes $20 billion in damage (in 2012 dollars), it would rank as the 17th most damaging hurricane or tropical storm (out of 242) to hit the U.S. since 1900—a significant event, but not close to the top 10. The Great Miami Hurricane of 1926 tops the list (according to estimates by the catastrophe-insurance provider ICAT), as it would cause $180 billion in damage if it were to strike today. Hurricane Katrina ranks fourth at $85 billion.

To put things into even starker perspective, consider that from August 1954 through August 1955, the East Coast saw three different storms make landfall—Carol, Hazel and Diane—that in 2012 each would have caused about twice as much damage as Sandy.

While it’s hardly mentioned in the media, the U.S. is currently in an extended and intense hurricane “drought.” The last Category 3 or stronger storm to make landfall was Wilma in 2005. The more than seven years since then is the longest such span in over a century.

Flood damage has decreased as a proportion of the economy since reliable records were first kept by the National Weather Service in the 1930s, and there is no evidence of increasing extreme river floods. Historic tornado damage (adjusted for changing levels of development) has decreased since 1950, paralleling a dramatic reduction in casualties. Although the tragic impacts of tornadoes in 2011 (including 553 confirmed deaths) were comparable only to those of 1953 and 1964, such tornado impacts were far more common in the first half of the 20th century.

Read the entire article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204840504578089413659452702.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

by Monergism.com:

Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31st or the last weekend in October in remembrance of the Reformation.

Martin Luther posted a proposal at the doors of a church in Wittenberg, Germany to debate the doctrine and practice of indulgences. This proposal is popularly known as the 95 Theses, which he nailed to the Castle Church doors. This was not an act of defiance or provocation as is sometimes thought. Since the Castle Church faced Wittenberg’s main thoroughfare, the church door functioned as a public bulletin board and was therefore the logical place for posting important notices.  Also, the theses were written in Latin, the language of the church, and not in the vernacular.

Nonetheless, the event created a controversy between Luther and those allied with the Pope over a variety of doctrines and practices. While it had profound and lasting impacts on the political, economic, social, literary, and artistic aspects of modern society, the Reformation was at its heart a religious movement.

The Reformation was the great rediscovery of the good news of salvation by grace through faith for Christ’s sake. For centuries, the Roman Catholic Church had been plagued by false doctrines, superstition, ignorance, and corruption. Since most ordinary Christians were illiterate and had little knowledge of the Bible, they relied on their clergy for religious instruction and guidance. Tragically however, monks, priests, bishops, and even the popes in Rome taught unbiblical doctrines like purgatory and salvation through good works.

Spiritually earnest people tried to justify themselves by charitable works, pilgrimages, and all kinds of religious performances and devotions, but they were left wondering if they had done enough to escape God’s anger and punishment. The truth of the gospel — the good news that God is loving and merciful, that He offers each and every one of us forgiveness and salvation not because of what we do, but because of what Christ has already done for us — was largely forgotten by both clergy and laity.

The Holy Spirit used an Augustinian monk and university professor named Martin Luther to restore the gospel to its rightful place as the cornerstone doctrine of Christianity. Martin Luther and his colleagues came to understand that if we sinners had to earn salvation by our own merits and good works, we would be lost and completely without hope. But through the working of the Holy Spirit, the reformers rediscovered the gospel — the wonderful news that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again to redeem and justify us.

As Luther wrote in his explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

This is most certainly true. On Reformation Day, we glorify God for what he accomplished in 16th century Germany through His servant, Dr. Martin Luther — the recovery of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith for Christ’s sake. We also earnestly pray that God would keep all of us faithful to the true gospel and help us to joyfully declare it to the world.

Read the entire article here:

http://www.monergism.com/directory/link_category/MP3-Audio–Multimedia/Holiday-Sermons/Reformation-Sunday/

Kevin DeYoung (in The Hole in our Holiness) discusses the crucial importance of recognizing that some sins are more sinful than other sins:

As R. C. Sproul puts it, “The idea of gradation of sin is important for us to keep in mind so we understand the difference between sin and gross sin.” All our sins are offensive to God and require forgiveness.

But over and over the Bible teaches that some sins are worse than others. 

The Mosaic legislation prescribes different penalties for different infractions and requires different sacrifices and payments to make restitution.

Numbers 15 recognizes the difference between unintentional sins and those done “with a high hand” (Num. 15:29–30).

Here’s the problem: when every sin is seen as the same, we are less likely to fight any sins at all. Why should I stop sleeping with my girlfriend when there will still be lust in my heart?

Why pursue holiness when even one sin in my life means I’m Osama bin Hitler in God’s eyes? Again, it seems humble to act as if no sin is worse than another, but we lose the impetus for striving and the ability to hold each other accountable when we tumble down the slip-n-slide of moral equivalence.

All of a sudden the elder who battles the temptation to take a second look at the racy section of the Lands’ End catalog shouldn’t dare exercise church discipline on the young man fornicating with reckless abandon. When we can no longer see the different gradations among sins and sinners and sinful nations, we have not succeeded in respecting our own badness; we’ve cheapened God’s goodness.

If our own legal system does not treat all infractions in the same way, surely God knows that some sins are more heinous than others. If we can spot the difference, we’ll be especially eager to put to death those sins which are most offensive to God.

DeYoung, Kevin (2012-08-07). The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness (Kindle Locations 1060-1066). Good News Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Abner, the Secretary of War for the beheaded King Saul, had mounted an offensive against David at Hebron (2 Samuel 2:12f).  Poolside rough-housing had sparked a bloody battle between Abner’s and David’s mighty men.  Getting the worst of it, Abner and his boys retreated.

David’s nephew Asahel, who was known for his speed (“as swift-footed as the gazelles” 2:18), spied Abner running in the distance.  “A golden opportunity,” he thought.  “If I can make a decapitation strike by running down and killing Abner, the whole body of resistance against David will go limp.  It will make me a legend.  Just as the women have sung, ‘David slew Goliath,’ now they’ll sing, ‘Asahel slew Abner!'”

Soon, the wing-footed Asahel (probably around age 20) caught up with the older, thicker, barrel-chested, battle-tested man-of-war Abner (probably around age 40).  This was like a World War II North African scene of a swift jeep with a mounted swivel machine gun closing on on a lumbering German tank.  Asahel was taking a great risk.  In the mighty man pecking order, he was no match for the champion Abner.  “But Asahel didn’t turn to the right or left” (2:19).

The kid was relentless — intoxicated with his own abilities and with the opportunity for fame.  He felt bullet proof and invincible!  Abner heard heavy breathing and shouted:  “Turn aside, why should I strike you to the ground” (22)?  Asahel ran on.

Wily, Battle Tested Abner made quick work of Asahel.  Running full throttle, Abner somehow came to a full stop!  He planted his spear, impaling Asahel.   Maybe Abner spied a tree near the path, and just when Asahel was bearing down on him, he jammed his spear-head into the trunk, leaving the sprinting Asahel to collide.  “Abner struck him in the belly with the butt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back.  And he fell there and died on the spot. And it came about that all who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still” (2:23)

Passersby were stunned and staggered that such a promising youth was no more.

Any lessons here for young people?

1. Beware of a Fast & Furious pace of life.  You think: “I can handle it!  I’ve got quick wits and reflexes.  I know what I’m doing.  I’m street smart.  I’ve proven myself capable of taking care of myself!”  But beware of a zeal without knowledge.  Matthew Henry wrote: “See how we are often betrayed by the accomplishments we are proud of.  Asahel’s swiftness, which he presumed so much upon, did him no kindness, but hastened his fate.”

This has countless applications from car driving, to text messaging, to beverage drinking, to romance rushing, to decision-making, to risk taking, and beyond!  Speed kills.

2. Beware of the Nearness of death.  Matthew Henry: “How often death comes upon us by ways that we least suspect.  Who would fear the hand of a fleeing enemy, or the butt end of a spear?”  You may feel right now that you’ve got the world by the tail.  You’re cruising along about to make a name for yourself.  But in a heartbeat, you could be wallowing in your blood, gasping out your last breath!

The headline read just this morning in the local newspaper:  “Teenager, 17, Killed in I-96 crash at US 131 Near Grand Rapids”  Running around West Michigan, there are spears stuck in trees all over the place!  “The Pontiac Grand Am was slammed by an eastbound semi-truck.”

Stand still and just stare for a moment at Asahel wallowing, and ask yourself, “Am I ready for that?”

Right now, with all the speed you’ve still got, run to Christ, like a red-handed criminal would run to a City of Refuge (Numbers 35:11).  Young, strong, and swift as you now are, you can’t boast of tomorrow.  You’ve got to be ready today!  Run to Christ now.  Speed not only kills, it saves.  Christ can make you really bulletproof and really invincible.  Get going!

Here’s a sermon on the theme:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=1021121540163

Marriage Missions International writes:

When Alzheimer’s comes into a marriage, the “for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness or in health” that so many of us vow to keep, from our wedding day forward, is challenged to the max!

How do you still love someone who changes in every way possible from the person you married? By the grace of God —and BECAUSE of God, it is possible! It says in the Bible that “all things are possible because of God.”

Seminary president Robertson McQuilkin found this to be true when his wife Muriel was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He talked about his journey in the book, A Promise Kept, published by Tyndale House. He talked of one incident that brought challenges and yet inspired others to reach higher to find a spouse with the type of compassion he gave to Muriel. He wrote:

“Taking care of Muriel was not only challenging when we reached our destination, it was equally challenging en route. I began to empathize with those young fathers you sometimes see in an airport, accosting perfect strangers who emerge from the women’s restroom. ‘Did you see a little six-year-old girl in there?’ Airline attendants watched in well-guarded bemusement as I crowded in with Muriel into the tiny cubicle that houses the in-flight toilet. I knew what they didn’t; if she ever got the door shut —unlikely as that might be —she never could have gotten it open again.

“Once our flight was delayed in Atlanta and we had to wait a couple of hours. Now that’s a challenge! Every few minutes, the same questions, the same answers about what we’re doing there, when are we going home? And every few minutes we’d take a fast paced walk down the terminal in earnest search of — what? Muriel had always been a speed walker. I had to jog to keep up with her!

“An attractive woman executive type sat across from us, working diligently on her computer. Once, when we returned from an excursion, she said something, without looking up from her papers. Since no one else was nearby I assumed she had spoken to me or at least mumbled in protest of our constant activity. ‘Pardon?’ I asked. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I was just asking myself, ‘Will I ever find a man to love me like that?’”

Read the whole article here:

http://www.marriagemissions.com/despite-alzheimers-till-death-do-us-part/

Calvin comments on Exodus 21:22-25:

“The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being (homo), and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”

“If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judges decide.  But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” (Exodus 21:22-25).

Brief video displays an amazing ability to expose secrets.

“He told me all the things that I have done” (John 4:39).

Note: Near the end, one can be heard to exclaim: “O my God!”  Prophetic!

The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.  Psalms 34:10

Mark Altrogge writes:

This is an unbelievable promise. Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.  Not some good things.  But NO good thing.

I would think that super powers would be a good thing. Of course, then I’d have to get a secret identity, buy expensive costumes, and spend lots of my time fighting crime.  Maybe super powers wouldn’t be such a good thing.  Super hearing would probably be really annoying when you’re trying to have a conversation with a friend in Starbucks and you can hear every conversation, slurp of coffee, and fly walking on the ceiling for 5 miles around.

But seriously wouldn’t a husband be a good thing for a single mom? And healing a good thing for a sick person? Wouldn’t wealth be a good thing for someone in poverty?

It seems like it would be a pretty good thing for God to take away every one of my trials.  Yet he doesn’t do that.  I’m asking God for a number of good things – at least they seem to be good things to me – that he hasn’t seen fit to give me yet.  So how does this square with his promise that those who seek him will lack no good thing?  Puritan David Clarkson says:

“A father who loves his child only keeps things from him for his good, because he loves him. You can conclude that if you lack something of enjoyment, it is withheld since it is not best for you.”

“Afflictions are far from being signs of Christ’s hatred. Many times they are evidence of his love (Hebrews 12:6-11). The people of God only lack what is bad for them. God has promised to withhold no good thing.”

If it seems like we lack some good thing, it is because we’re limited in wisdom. In his infinite wisdom and love, God knows what would be truly good for us and the best timing to give things to us.

Read Mark Altrogge’s entire blog post here:

http://www.theblazingcenter.com/2012/09/why-god-doesnt-give-me-super-powers.html

Cross country runner and team captain Holland Reynolds crosses the finish line on her hands and knees to win the state championship for her team and dying coach.

View the video, then read the comments below.

FINISH, because that’s the point!

The New York Giants did it — for a Superbowl crown.

Our Savior did it — for his bride, the church.  “He said, ‘It is FINISHED!’ And he bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30).

Paul did it — for an everlasting crown.  “I have fought the good fight, I have FINISHED the course, I have kept the faith, in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award me on that day” (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

Lethal testings, trials, and temptations stand between you and the finish line.  You know what I’m talking about.

Do what really matters.

FINISH, because that’s the point!

Gracefortheroad wrote:

When I was 16, I got a purity ring.

And when I was 25, I took it off.

I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it — it wasn’t a statement or an emotional thing. I just slipped it off my finger that day and, before tucking it away in a box, ran my finger around the words on the familiar gold band.

“True Love Waits.” Waits.

What’s it “waiting” for, anyway?

*****

I had my reasons for deciding not to wear it anymore. Other people might have other reasons. It’s a graveyard of hearts, this place where single church girls crash into their late 20s and early 30s. Churches see the symptoms. They scramble to reach out to the ever-growing young adult singles crowd who feels alienated by family-oriented services.

But there’s something bigger behind it than that.

Much bigger.

There are a lot of girls out there who don’t know who God is anymore – the God of their youth group years just isn’t working out. Back then, that God said to wait for sex until they are married, until He brings the right man along for a husband. They signed a card and put it on the altar and pledged to wait.

And wait they did.

*****

And waited and waited and waited.

Some of them have prayed their whole lives for a husband, and he hasn’t shown up. They’ve heard the advice to “be the woman God made you to be, focus on that, and then the husband will come.” They’ve read “Lady in Waiting,” gotten super involved in church and honed their domestic skills.

And still they wait.

More than a decade ago, a youth leader handed them a photocopied poem in Sunday School written to them from “God” that said, “The reason you don’t have anyone yet is because you’re not fully satisfied in Me. You have to be satisfied with Me and then when you least expect it, I’ll bring you the person I meant for you.”

And the girls see it posted on their bulletin boards from time to time.

“You’re right, God,” they say. “We’re not satisfied in you yet. We will put you first and then you can bring us a husband in your timing.”

But many of them – if they’re honest – will tell you that time has passed, and it’s wrecking their view of God.

If this is who God’s supposed to be, then He’s tragically late.

So some decide to chuck “Lady in Waiting” out the window … and possibly their virginity with it. Church goes next. God might go next, too. If He doesn’t answer these prayers after they’ve held up their end of the bargain, why would He answer any others?

Whether it was the fault of the leaders, the fault of us girls, or both, a tragedy happened back then.

A lot of girls were sold on a deal and not on a Savior.

*****

I had that poem on my bulletin board all through high school – the one where “God” was telling me to fall in love with Him first and then I would be able to fall in love with a husband later.

Who wrote that poem anyway?

Pretty sure it wasn’t God.

When Jesus was here on the earth, the crowds would follow Him because they saw He gave good things. But that’s not what He wanted. He wanted their hearts for Himself. So He would turn to them and say things like, “If you don’t love Me so much that every other relationship in your life looks like hate by comparison, you can’t follow Me.” (Matthew 10:34-39, paraphrase)

That sounds a lot different from the poem.

Christ is the source of everything we need and the giver of all good gifts … but in telling people about Him, it’s possible we’ve sold them on a solution for life’s problems and not life itself.

What if we as girls had learned early on that having Him was everything, not a means to the life we think He would want us to have.

If we had learned we don’t abstain from sex because we’re “waiting.” We abstain because we love Him.

If I’d had on my bulletin board, “Fall in love with Jesus.” That’s it. Bottom line. That’s everything you need to know, to work toward, to put your hope in.

If I’d learned who He is, what He wants, how to give Him everything, not “wait” so that one day I could give my everything to someone else.

If I’d learned that it’s not bad to pray for a husband, but that my greater prayer should be for Him to spend my life as He chooses for His glory.

If we as believers make that our message, things could be drastically different for a lot of girls wondering why the God they think they learned to follow doesn’t compute. It doesn’t necessarily stop the desire for a husband or end all feelings of loneliness, but it does show a God who provides, loves and gives infinite purpose even to our singleness rather than a God who categorically denies some who pray for husbands while seemingly giving freely to others.

It shows that while marriage is good, He is the greater goal.

*****

Don’t think I’ve done this perfectly.

I’d be deceiving you if you thought that. I’ve had relationships where I made major mistakes. I’ve gone through angst-ridden phases where I met with friends to plead together with God to bring us husbands. I’ve planned major life decisions around possibilities.

I lived like I was waiting for something.

And that’s why I slipped off my ring that day. It wasn’t that I wanted to sleep with people – I haven’t. It wasn’t a slap to True Love Waits, or to anyone who wears a purity ring – saving sex for marriage is good and is His design.

I just didn’t want to wait anymore – didn’t want to live like I was waiting on anyone to get here.

I already have Him … and He is everything.

“Follow Christ for His own sake, if you follow Him at all.” – J.C. Ryle

http://gracefortheroad.com/2012/02/03/idontwait/