Here is what I got

• Spectacular Sins
• The Gadarene
• Finally Alive
• Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

So $4 books for $10 means that each book is just $2.50. Getting a resource that strengthen your faith for less than the cost of your lunch.

I was floored by how cool the graphic novel is.  Here is piper on it:

Everyone knows how I feel about the Christian and the life of the mind. Here is piper on the book I just got for $2.50!

I commend this set from desiring God to you and plead with you to read GOOD books that increase the wonder of your heart and sharpen the think of your mind and inform the action of your life towards a singular focus: Love of God

Click here to view this set.

Click here to view the whole sale.

One truth is that when the gospel takes root in our souls it impels us out toward the alleviation of all unjust suffering in this age. That’s what love does! The other truth is that when the gospel takes root in our souls it awakens us to the horrible reality of eternal suffering in hell, under the wrath of a just and omnipotent God. And it impels us to rescue the perishing, and to warn people to flee from the wrath to come (1 Thess. 1:10). I plead with you. Don’t choose between those two truths. Embrace them both. It doesn’t mean we all spend our time in the same way. God forbid. But it means we let the Bible define reality and define love. – John Piper

A Christian can defeat himself in two ways: one is to forget the holiness of God and the fact that sin is sin. The Bible calls us to an ever deeper commitment in giving ourselves to Christ for him to produce his fruit through us.

The other is to allow himself to be worn out by Christians who turn Christianity into a romanticism. The realism of the Bible is that God does not excuse sin, but neither is he finished with us when he finds sin in us. And for this we should be thankful.

- Francis Schaeffer, No Little People (HT:WAX)

I find that I am at times troubled and defeated by both. The First is easier to see in retrospect when I go back and look at my heart and my actions and why I fell for the sin in question. The second is much harder to detect. Lord guard us against them both!

1) The Truth of the Cross – R.C. Sproul
2) Christ For Real: How to Grow Into God’s Likeness – Charles W. Price
3) Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life – Donald S. Whitney
4) Finally Alive – John Piper
5) The Treasury of David (Volume 1 only) – Charles H. Spurgeon
6) Christ’s Call to Discipleship – James Montgomery Boice
7) Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
8 ) The Fruitful Life – Jerry Bridges
9) The Beauty of Holiness: The Book of Leviticus Simply Explained – Philip H. Eveson
10) Daily Readings from the Life of Christ: Volume II – John MacArthur
11) The Holiness of God – R.C. Sproul
12) Encountering God in the Psalms – Michael E. Travers
13) The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB)
14) Morning by Morning and Evening by Evening: A New Edition of the Classic Devotional Based on the ESV Bible – Charles H. Spurgeon (edited by Alistair Begg)

THIS IS A GREAT GROUP OF BOOKS! All you have to do is comment here.

Piper speaking about the gospel driven, gospel focused movement.

It is good that war is so horrible, or we might grow to like it.

As I think on the constant Forever war in Afghanistan and the “winding down” in Iraq, while at the same time i think abou the kind of life I lead and the almost thoughtless, passing thoughts I and most of my fellow citizens give to the war, I see such a tremendous disconnect between the two. We are not living as a people at war. there is no rationing, there are no real costs to me as a citizen. The cost of the conflict is being paid by a very small circle of those serving in the armed forces. I often reflect on the following words of the great poet Yeats, who was a pilot during world war one. He writes in his poem, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death, the following:

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate,
Those that I guard I do not love;
…No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public men, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

I can very easily agree with Yeats if I was a vet. I have made a habit as a poltical sciencist to thank any vet I come across. I’ve study war, I’ve study policy. They have been the business arm of that policy. I have fond them guarded at first, but as the conversation goes one they will at some point say something along the lines that no one they don’t know has  ever thanked them before. The words of Yeats haunt these conversations.

I encourage you to use one of the following means to prove to our troops that we care:

Pray for them; both safty and that they find peace with God on the plan of battle

Pray for their familes and for peace.

Write them right now at the USO webpage.

Write them a physical letter they can read.

Send them a good Christian book that can lead them to the cross.

Write, email or call your congressmen and let them know you want them working towards a meaningful solution.

I will leave you with only one thought in regard to the fallen:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. -Abraham Lincoln

Regardless of your view on the war, these photographs are sober reminders of the conflict that grows older day by day. I was so moved that I wrote my new congressman to work hard to find solutions to the conflict so that we can leave at peace with our fellow man. It is not that I am anti war, I support the war in Afghanistan. It is just that I am so much more pro human and pro life than I am pro war. I desire with tears to find a meaningful peace in Afghanistan. I also understand the complexity of the conflict and am aware that there are no easy solutions. I ask that you would join me in asking The LORD for peace both here on earth between combatants and in the souls of the combatants on both sides. God will render all acounts paid; on the cross or in Hell. War and death are weighty things.

Here’s what the Grace to You website has to say about the study:

Every Sunday morning at Grace Community Church (and throughout the week), small groups of people gather together around this manual for ‘Fundamentals of the Faith’ classes. Thirteen lessons blend basic biblical truths with personal obedience and service. Many young believers take these classes to grow in their understanding of biblical truths.

With topics ranging from the character of God to church participation, it’s an ideal study for discipling new believers or returning to the basics of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Here are 13 sermons from John MacArthur that supplement the study. They are a great resource for understanding what scripture teaches. I would recommend them to anyone.

http://christianaudio.com/dwyl

Okay lets look at the numbers; it looks like every midterm during the first term in the last 40 years with the exception of the 2002 election ( 9/11 explains why bush gained seats) has the new president losing a number of seats. This election is less historic as it is desperate. The mode of the country is one of desperation. But the seat losses are not without a record. People, this is normal. It happened to Clinton in 1994. Remember, contract for America and Newt? This is normal.