NEW BLOG

This is the 559th, and final post on [RETRO] EVANGELICAL.

I'm moving to www.matthewwesterholm.com for my new web site.

Come on over. There's a blog, and resources for all the songs I've written.

How will the new blog compare to the old blog? Well . . .

. . . if you took the old blog and broke it into 10,000 pieces
and you took each of those pieces and planted them in the ground;
sun rain sun rain sun rain sun rain sun rain sun rain sun rain sun rain
up from the group emerges “blog plants.”
Now — quick — harvest the “blog plant fruit”
placing each juice-filled morsel into a gigantic wooden basket.
Pile these baskets into dozens of towers - each a mile high.
===============================================
That’s what the new blog will be like.

New Threadless shirts! Big sale.

For $15 and less, you can get some pretty great shirts from Threadless.com. I love 'em. Here's my favorite.

Communist Party


Also, Despair's DIY helped me make this:


The original threadless shirt.

Worship Vote!

Go to Worship Leader Magazine and vote for their praise awards!

I voted for Psalms, from Sovereign Grace Ministries for "best worship compilation."
AND Meredith Andrews for "breakout artist of the year".

Who did you vote for?

Huh? Talk louder?

Chinese girl gets 'kiss of deaf'

Couples are advised to "proceed with caution"

A young Chinese woman was left partially deaf following a passionate kiss from her boyfriend.

The 20-something from Zhuhai in Guangdong province arrived at hospital having completely lost the hearing in her left ear, said local reports.

The incident prompted a series of articles in the local media warning of the dangers of excessive kissing.

"While kissing is normally very safe, doctors advise people to proceed with caution," wrote the China Daily.

The doctor who treated the girl in hospital was quoted in the paper explaining what had happened.

"The kiss reduced the pressure in the mouth, pulled the eardrum out and caused the breakdown of the ear."

The chorus of warnings was echoed by the Shanghai Daily, which wrote: "A strong kiss may cause an imbalance in the air pressure between two inner ears and lead to a broken ear drum."

The young woman is expected to regain her full hearing within about two months.

Christmas Music: Cheap Download!

You can get the whole Charlie Brown Christmas Album from Amazon.com for $1.99.

You are welcome.

[ht: vitZ]

From Wikipedia:

A Charlie Brown Christmas is an album by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, released in 1965 as the soundtrack to the CBS Christmas television special of the same name. It is among the most popular holiday music albums of all time. There was also a book-and-record set featuring music, dialogue and stills from the Christmas special released in 1977 on a 45 RPM vinyl record by CBS Records. The song "Christmastime is Here" would later be covered by the rock band Stone Temple Pilots.

Gospel Remorse

“Legalistic remorse says, ‘I broke God’s rules,’ while real repentance says, ‘I broke God’s heart.’

Legalistic repentance takes sin to Mt. Sinai, gospel repentance to Mt. Calvary.

Legalistic repentance is convicted by punishment, gospel repentance becomes convicted by mercy.”

- Timothy Keller, Church Planter Manual

[ht: O'1stI]

Colbert: Catholic, Jane Austin, and Comic Books

Classic Colbert. Prepare to laugh. . .

Shai Linne: Storiez - GET IT.

It is the first album that rhymes the name "Carolyn Mahaney." Will it be the last? Only time will tell.

FOCA Petition

From B2W, Fight FOCA.

Consider signing the Fight FOCA [Freedom of Choice Act] Petition.

No matter your political persuasion or feeling on the role of politics, it's a simple thing you can do to help fight against this legislation, which would:

eradicate state and federal laws that the majority of Americans support, such as:

• Bans on Partial Birth Abortion
• Requirements that women be given information about the risks of getting an abortion
• Only licensed physicians can perform abortions
• Parents must be informed and give consent to their minor daughter's abortion

FOCA would erase these laws and prevent states from enacting similar protective measures in the future.

Haunting song

Drummer defends himself from hundreds of "hand jivers"

Tim Keller: Hints for Preaching Christ In The Old Testament

I've been finding a series of lectures by Tim Keller and Edmund Clowney very interesting and beneficial. The topic of the lectures is "Preaching Christ In A Post-Modern World." You can find the lectures on ITunes for free.

The topic I listened to most recently was on preaching Christ from the Old Testament, and Keller was answering the question "What commentaries present a redemptive-historical orientation on the Old Testament?" Keller answered with this gem:

Sometimes the New Testament scholars today are more sensitive to the Old Testament backgrounds than the Old Testament scholars feel free to move forward...

I do think the most recent commentators on the gospels are feeling very free to look back, and they recognize the enormous number of allusions that are really there. Look in the scripture index in the back of your New Testament commentaries when you're preaching on Isaiah or Exodus or Chronicles.

We have a tendency to say "Okay, I'm preaching on Chronicles" and you look at your [bookshelves] "O gosh, I don't have any commentaries on Chronicles!" You order some, you go to the library.

Maybe you better look in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- all your commentaries on the gospels -- and look back for allusions to your passage in 2 Chronicles. And to your surprise, you'll find sermon-breaking comments: exegetical insights that just break open the whole thing for you as a preacher on your Old Testament texts in your New Testament commentaries. I do that all the time.

What is a retro-evangelical?

Here's an email that I recently sent to a kind pastor who asked "What is a retro-evangelical?"

Hi Pastor!

A retro-evangelical is a person who is saddened by the current direction that evangelicalism is taking, and longs to return to the roots of "the evangel" -- or gospel.

A retro-evangelical fully embraces the fundamentals of the faith

• The inspiration and innerancy of the Bible.
  
• The virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
• The doctrine of substitutionary atonement.
• The bodily resurrection of Christ.
• The historical reality of biblical miracles.

A retro-evangelical, while rejecting modern liberalism, and preserving a doctrinal focus on the Bible, also rejects the legalistic rigidness and social disengagement of Fundamentalism.

The blog contains biographies of heroes of early Evangelicalism, such as Carl Henry, Machen, Kantzer, and Schaeffer. I find kindred spirits within the Together for The Gospel group and The Gospel Coalition.

I hope that helps!

<><
Matthew Westerholm

cheap new music

New Keane album is $2.99 on Amazon. Sounds like they've made some progression from the first two albums. Is that good? You decide.

Thanks, Z.

Do It Yourself Demotivator

I'm having a lot of fun with the free DoItYourself Demotivator. Try it for yourself, and leave your best work in the comment section.

Just to get us started, here's two easy jokes that came to me during my constant commute back and forth from Chicago to Grand Rapids!

Upcoming Music: Shai Linne, "Storiez"

The release date for new album from Shai Linne has been bumped back to November 18th.

Check out this preview:



Shai's most recent project, The Atonement, has been on heavy rotation for me since it first came out. Well, that's an understatement. I've played it for everyone who's ridden in my car for the past 6 months.

It's ON . . .

like Donkey Kong.

Authentic Jesus Yard Sign Information

Special ITUNES visualizer secrets!

Do you use ITUNES?

Then you'll love this.

You're welcome.

ESV Study Bible is coming . . .

Videos from The Gospel Coalition

From John Piper



Tim Keller:


Josh Harris:


And this guy :-):