Resource: The Briefing with Al Mohler

The Briefing bills itself as a “Daily worldview analysis about the leading news headlines and cultural conversations.” Or as the host Al Mohler puts it, a daily analysis of the news and headlines from a Christian worldview.

In a time of unprecedented change and moral decline the world over, all Christians need to be pointed back to the Bible again and again to help us know how to think and respond to the latest news and legislation going on in the world around us.

Dr. Albert Mohler is a Christian speaker and author of no small repute. He is currently the President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a theologian with almost 25 years of experience. As we say in Ghana he is no “small boy” mouthing off about every current event but rather a mature Christian teacher who helps listeners make sense of the news and events going on in the world today.

Listening to The Briefing will help you articulate what exactly is behind that feeling of “But that’s wrong” you get when you read so many headlines today. Abortion, euthanasia, LBGTQI issues, war, natural disasters and all the other issues all require critical Christian thinking and responses. You’ll be able to make sense of these issues from God’s perspective and get the encouragement of knowing that His Word and His standards never change no matter what else does.

Through Al Mohler’s insightful analysis of the media and news articles of the day also comes in handy whenever you watch anything on the TV or radio, as you will quickly come to realize that there’s no such thing as agenda-free media. Every advert, every podcast, every movie, every broadcast has a message behind it that the discerning Christian would do well to listen to.

What I appreciate most about The Briefing is that it led me to realize that the Christian worldview is the only one that can stand up to the evil forces behind the so-called “moral revolution” sweeping the world right now. Everything else will crumble to the pressure eventually.

Tradition and culture? They change all the time.
Legality? Changes even faster, especially in the past 10 years.
Practicality? Just because something works or does not work doesn’t affect the morality of that thing in God’s eyes. It’s only the Christian worldview that lets you say “I’m going to do the right thing regardless of the consequences because God said so.” Whether you succeed or fail in the eyes of this world does not matter as long as you fulfill your ultimate purpose on this earth, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

It really helps you know how to engage with unbelievers on these issues so you can keep bringing God’s timeless truths to bear on recent matters. Dr. Mohler is especially good at pointing out the many contradictions and hypocrisies that attend this “revolution” – though at the end your goal is not to see unbelievers squirm but to bring them to the light of Jesus Christ.

There’s only one major drawback to The Briefing: it mainly addresses news and affairs in North America and Europe. I’ve been listening every day for almost a year and haven’t heard Africa mentioned yet, much less Ghana. No news is good news, eh? It’s only natural for Dr. Mohler to deal with what concerns him. We should make our own local version of The Briefing to cover Ghanaian matters. Economic issues. The media. Tragedies like the Circle fire, road accidents, tragic murders. The recent spate of acrimonious ‘celebrity’ divorces. We can’t expect someone outside to cover things we could be covering ourselves.

And a minor drawback: it’s too short! 30 minutes isn’t nearly enough time to cover every single news items I would like him to cover. But that’s just me being greedy.

Check out The Briefing on weekdays on its official website here. I’m sure it will soon become part of your daily routine.

Psalm for the Week – 25th September, 2017

PSALM 1

1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

 

This psalm has been a cherished one for many of the saints of God over the centuries and millenia and God has used it mightily in my own life. I find myself coming time and time again back to this simple but profound psalm. It is a beatitude and speaks of blessing or happiness. God pronounces the means by which a person will know true spiritual blessing.

Firstly, it starts by stating the negative. No one is blessed who walks in ungodliness (anything against God’s character and word) and it is interesting to note the progression here. You see it starts with walking, then standing and finally sitting. The world has its own wisdom and counsel and to be blessed, we must be far from that or else very soon we will find ourselves standing and then finally partaking.

On the other hand, the truly blessed person is one who finds his counsel in the law of God (His revealed will, the Scriptures) and He meditates or basically delves deeply into His word. This is not the casual attitude of grabbing a quick 5 minutes read here and there because we are too busy to make time but rather a deliberate attempt to know what God desires and making it our goal to conform our lives to this. How often do we seek God’s will in every aspect of our lives. How we work, how we use the gifts He has given us, how we seek a spouse, how we treat others, how we evangelize, how we forgive, how we give to His work, how we run our home. Indeed everything should be brought to His word and humbly and faithfully applied and in that we can know that God’s blessing is upon us.

The psalmist then contrasts the end of the righteous (those living like above) and that of the ungodly who refuses to be ruled by God’s word. Do not fret Dear Reader when it seems like by the world’s standards, the ungodly are doing well or prospering. God will vindicate His own at the due time. There is eternity ahead. Have a blessed week. Go serve your King!!!

What is the Gospel?

 

This is the most important question that any person no matter the time in which we live can hope to ask. In an age of so much confusion and sinfulness, what we know of the gospel will

determine where we spend our eternity.

So let us take it a step at a time.

Gospel means ‘Good News’ taken from the old English word ‘godspel’ which means ‘god'(good) and ‘spel’ (story/message). This is analogous to the Greek ‘euaggelion‘, from which we get our English words evangelist, evangel and evangelical. The gospel is, broadly speaking, the whole of Scripture; more narrowly, the gospel is the good news concerning Christ and the way of salvation.

Let us consider what the bible has to say concerning it:

“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” (emphasis mine)

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 NASB

http://bible.com/100/1co.15.1-4.nasb

For the good news to be appreciated, we first need to appreciate the bad news. The fact of the matter is that man is sinful and by this I mean all men, women and children. God clearly states in His word that “there is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). From the moment that Adam sinned, the entire race fell into sin and because of that sin, God cursed the entire race to die because He God is holy and just and will not abide sin. The death here was both physical and much more devastating spiritual which refers to eternal separation from God and a fearful expectation of judgment and hell once this physical existence is over.

Oh, men try to clean up their act and do many things thinking that God will have to forgive them because of their good deeds. Unfortunately, we do not realize just how holy God is and just how sinful our sin is. Isaiah 64:6 makes this abundantly clear when it states, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”

So to summarize the situation, we are born into sin and as a result are dead spiritually and all attempts to remedy the situation through our own efforts will ultimately not satisfy God nor help us.

Now comes the good news!!!

God is holy and just and He is also love. Therefore God in His great mercy, looked at our helpless situation and provided a way out for us in order that we might not be condemned forever because of our sin. At the right time, He sent forth His Son, Jesus Christ, who came to this earth in the form of man, lived a perfect life without sin and ultimately paid for our sins with His own life on the cross. With this act, God punished our sin on the sinless one and on the cross, Jesus drank the full cup of God’s wrath that you and I deserve. He is our substitute. Through that God satisfied his justice and wrath on Him and at the same time was able to express His love for sinful men.

Having said this, there is only one way to appropriate the death of Christ and that is through repentance and faith in Him. No matter who you are and what you have done, God promises forgiveness of sins if you will acknowledge that you are a sinner, being broken over your sin and confessing them and then trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross on your behalf.

Looking at the verse above, you will notice that Christ did not remain buried but was raised up and that resurrection is a powerful proclamation that His sacrifice on our behalf was accepted by God the Father and therefore we can have confidence that in Christ our sins have indeed been forgiven. (1 Corinthians 15:17-22)

Have you heard anything better than this? Good news truly. Indeed the very best! Have you responded to Christ Dear Reader?

 

Lessons from the fall of UT Bank and Capital Bank

He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. (Proverbs 11:28)

This past Monday (14th August 2017), Ghanaians were stunned to hear that UT Bank and Capital Bank, two seemingly successful banks, had been shut down by the Bank of Ghana and taken over by Ghana Commercial Bank for non-performance and undercapitalization among other issues. In this time of uncertainty, it is right for us to pray for those affected by the upheaval, particularly the staff and suppliers who are suddenly facing the very real prospect of unemployment in the near future. At the same time, as Christians, we shouldn’t miss the lessons to be learned from this kind of news.

  1. There is no such thing as a truly safe investment on this earth.

    Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6:19-20)

    As far as we know, all deposits in those two banks are still safe. But the sudden news of their demise must come as a reminder to bank customers that anything can happen to your finances on earth at any time. You may trust in the bank to keep your money safe, but the bank is a human institution with weaknesses and failures of its own. Only riches stored up in heaven can never be lost.

  2. In light of the above, while the Bible does call us to be good stewards of our earthly resources, they are not to be our ultimate source of hope.

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17)

I believe this warning goes to all of us, rich or poor. If God has blessed you with material wealth, your mindset should be “Thank you God for this rich blessing” and not “Sweet! Look at all this loot!” And conversely if you are in a tight situation, don’t deceive yourself and think that everything will be perfect once you have a little more money. Trust God for His provision at His timing, knowing that the same Lord gives and takes away (Job 1:21).

3. Someday this world and its riches will all disappear in a flash.

In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin! (Revelation 18:17a)

The book of Revelation tells us one of the things that will accompany the end of the world is the destruction of the world’s financial systems in a brief period of time. Just as we woke up one morning to discover two banks gone, so also we might wake one day to hear tales of a complete financial collapse around the world. If it sounds impossible, just remember that on Friday 11th August, most Ghanaians thought all was well with UT Bank and Capital Bank.

We don’t know for certain what the future holds, but there is One who does. God, who knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). If you are going through a financial crisis at present or if you have been affected by the sudden closure of the banks, I leave you with these words of comfort from Matthew 6.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:25-34)

Trust in the Lord and He will see you through to the end.

Wretched Radio (Christian radio and video series)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things (Philippians 4:8)

Instead of watching the latest music videos and viral marketing broadcasts, why not check out something edifying on Youtube for a change?

Wretched Radio is a Christian video/radio series that has been running since 2005 on streaming radio and video with Todd Friel as its frontsman and spokesperson.

The program covers just about every salient topic pertinent to Christian life today, from salvation to marriage to death to thinking correctly about current events, with a focus on providing godly, Biblical bases for our beliefs while pointing out error in a loving way. Best of all, most (video) episodes are only 5-10 minutes long, perfect for a quick watch when you want to brush up on a certain topic. Todd Friel is always amusing and lovable to watch while never compromising on the truth of God’s Word.

But don’t take my word for it, try some episodes from their official Youtube channel here: Wretched Network. Browse through their uploads and you’re bound to find something that piques your interest or addresses a situation you may be dealing with. Topics like these:

And all that is just from a cursory glance at their page. As you can see some of the topics are fairly controversial in Christian circles today, but what I like about Wretched is that they don’t run from even the touchiest of topics – all backed by scripture. Even if you don’t agree with everything Friel says, the Biblical basis makes Wretched videos a good place to start when gathering info on any subject. Highly recommended whenever you have the time, and at under 12 minutes for most videos, you have no excuse!