What's the Big Deal With Astrology?

I am very concerned by how many people are into Astrology. I've even seen some sad attempts to justify it by Scripture. I think believer's should not mess with it at all. I think it's very dangerous, yet seems harmless - making it even more dangerous. The Bible is pretty clear on it too. People end up ordering their lives around something other than the Bible. People label and judge people because of astrology. People trust it rather than God. The list goes on and on. Here are a few links that might be helpful. Please don't be deceived by it's "harmless" allure.

http://www.gty.org/Resources/Questions/QA204_What-is-the-biblical-teaching-on-astrology

http://www.scribd.com/doc/26985817/Jesus-Christ-Versus-the-Occult-John-Piper

http://catholicism.suite101.com/article.cfm/horoscopes_god_and_you

Pray for me

Lots on my plate - and some of it seems important - or bigger than usual. I covet your prayers this week - and I expect attacks from the evil one. I should get some good time with my wife this week too - pray that it is very fruitful and beneficial for her.

A Biblical Worldview Doesn't Fix Everything

There are number of "important" christian leaders that stress the importance of having a Biblical Worldview. While I believe we should all be striving for that, it isn't really the core. It's very possible to have an amazingly biblical worldview and still be wicked as ever on the inside. It's easy for recovering legalists like myself to hold to a worldview without ever letting it effect our hearts. Sometimes when I read about worldview I think these people believe we just need to "educate" christians on worldview to fix our problems... but of course, that is humanism. Education won't cut it.

Does your Worldview work?

We all have a worldview - and it is shaped by too many things. The Bible must be our worldview shaper. Very few of us often reflect on our worldview. An important part of worldview is making sure it works in the real world. This link makes that clear.

How Should We Go About Making Disciples?

Discipleship is a key word, a popular word, and even Biblical (crazy, huh). Jesus never called us to make converts. He started his ministry calling people to follow him and fish for men. He spent 3 years pouring into 12 men, and 11 of them did really well. His last words were to go and make disciples. I want to be the kind of man that makes disciples who makes disciples that make disciples. But how do you do that? Ask 100 godly Christians how they got to where they are, and you'll get 100 different answers. My guess is that few of those answers will involve a Church program. I find it fascinating that there are no real, clear-cut formulas about Christianity in the Bible. We aren't told steps of methods for making disciples. We aren't even told exactly what the full "Gospel" is (1 Corinthians 15 has a simple summary, but other passages show us its much bigger than that). So how do we make disciples? I so easily want to answer that question with a program based on a bunch of doctrine. Yet much of discipleship is relationally oriented. Discipleship doesn't happen enough if we just wait for it to naturally take place. On the other hand, we can't force it. So how do you balance the challenge of organic discipleship verses intentional (maybe even programmed) discipleship? What are the core parts of discipleship (what common denominators would there be in the stories of those 100 Christians you asked about how they got discipled)? What are the key roadblocks? How can we do a better job of making disciples who make disciples?