Chasing 120 - Silver Medal 2015 Illumination Awards!

February 26, 2015 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Plain Truth Ministries is pleased to announce that Chasing 120, by Monte Wolverton, has won a silver Medal at the 2015 Illumination Book Awards, in the general fiction category. The Illumination Awards are designed to honor the year’s best new titles written and published with a Christian worldview. About the Book In Chasing 120… author, artist and syndicated cartoonist Monte Wolverton tells a fascinating story reflecting many of his life experiences. It’s a page turning tale that speaks to the shattered dreams of so many who have experienced their house of pseudo-religious cards falling around them.  For more book information, video overview and endorsements, please visit:www.ptm.org/120  To view an interview with the author, click here: https://www.ptm.org/uni/resources/images/interviewChasing120.htm  To purchase a copy of Chasing 120 – A Story of Food, Faith, Fraud and the Pursuit of Longevity, click here: www.ptm.org/120

Christianity Without the Cross - Zack Hunt

Tony Campolo tells a story about a parent-teacher meeting he once had while a professor at Eastern University.

A father of one of his students had demanded a meeting with his son and Tony because he was upset about some of the things Tony was teaching his son about what it really means to be a follower of Jesus.

What Tony was teaching was simply too radical for this father. He was incensed that his son had taken the gospel literally, given up everything he had, and was now out on the street serving the poor in his community.

“I don’t mind being a Christian…up to a point!” the father shouted to Tony.

“And what point is that, dad?” replied the son.

“The cross?”

I was reminded of that punch-to-the-gut anecdote this week as I read through some of the responses to my posts (and other articles across the Internet) about ISIS, Islam, and how we as Christians our called to love our enemies.

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The Suffering Judge - Greg Albrecht

… If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.—Romans 8:31-34

You probably have heard of honor killings. An "honor killing" is the term used to describe a practice in which one or more males murders a female relative who, according to their perspective, dishonored the family. 

Honor killings are usually inspired by cultures whose values are based on shame and honor. Based on our scriptural foundation in Romans 8:31-34, we're going to talk about shame and honor in The Suffering Judge. 

One of the most profound questions we humans can ever ponder has to do with the question of atonement. Given our complicity in hurt and pain, what does it take for us to find healing, forgiveness and peace? 

How can—how DOES—the Cross of Christ atone for the ugliness of our lives and make it right?

Human society has generally seen the problem of sin, guilt and shame being resolved by the shedding of blood— usually the blood of the perpetrator, the person who is deemed to have brought shame to the family or community. 

How can we find healing, forgiveness and peace? God provides an answer that is at odds with human ideas. While God offers a Christ-centered answer, religion, over the years, even within Christendom, has corrupted the love and mercy God offers. 

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Massacres in the Name of Religion - Monte Wolverton

It had been some twenty years since I visited France, so when I was invited to the 33rd annual St. Just le Martel Cartoon Festival, I had to find a way to go. St. Just le Martel is a village east of Limoges, about four hours south of Paris by train. I traveled with four other American editorial cartoonists, plus spouses and significant others. Every year the village hosts hundreds of cartoonists, most from France, many from around the world. The entire town volunteers, with a sense of community that I have rarely seen elsewhere. A troop of chefs (French, of course) prepare amazing meals, served in a big tent by the village teenagers (with astonishingly cheerful, cooperative attitudes).

Many residents house cartoonists in their homes. My friend Steve Sack was hosted by one such retired couple, Irene and Michele. We spent hours in their living room one day, enjoying a delicious lunch and eroding the language barrier with a translation app on my iPhone.

The next day Michele asked if some of the Americans would like to visit the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, where, in 1944, a company of German Waffen SS had massacred 642 inhabitants, because they had allegedly captured an SS officer. SS soldiers rounded up the residents, shot and burned the men, and burned the women and children alive in a church. Later, the SS discovered they had the wrong village. The grim details of this event can be found on the Internet at Wikipedia. Today, the preserved ruins of the village cover many acres, including a cemetery, an interpretive center and an underground memorial where the names of victims are etched in granite. Personal effects are displayed in glass cases. SPRING 2015 23 This was a neck-wrenching change from the high spirits of the cartoon festival. We walked the abandoned streets of the village in a daze. Crumbling buildings still display signs for dentists, bakeries, cafés and grocery stores. Burned-out hulks of 1930s and 40s cars sit exactly where they had in 1944. In the church, the rusty steel frame of a baby buggy melts into the stone floor.

My first thought was—how could God allow this to happen? Of course this was only a tiny sample of the atrocities and suffering that took place in World War II—and atrocities that continue today all around the world. My second thought was—what were the men of the Waffen SS thinking and feeling as they shot and incinerated the villagers?

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"Why are Christians so ...?" - Brad Jersak

Ouch, eh?

I guess the most positive answer is that Christ has sought out, found and gathered the worst of the worst into his family of grace. If the family of God is truly open to the those most in need of grace, then don't be surprised if those most in need of grace (the angry, the annoying, the arrogant) show up.  

I guess the most negative answer is that having experienced that radical grace, we (the angry, annoying and arrogant) have not yet been transformed by it into gracious people. Why is this? Because we are an "already and not yet" people. Still ... 

How is it that Jesus could say, "Those who have been forgiven much, love much." Was he mistaken? Or perhaps our Christianity has been rooted less in a realization of the profundity of God's forgiveness and too much in how well he's met our consumer needs.

There's real resistance these days to saying the Jesus prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner," because we don't want to identify with the condemnation of that scary word. But in so resisting, maybe we've also lost sight of our need for mercy. Maybe we, like the Corinthians, have become too comfortable with strutting our identity in Christ as if we were kings instead of Jesus. "We are kings," they said. Paul replies, "If only you were."  

This needs more thought. But if we're not sure that Christians are still sinners, just do the google search.
And if we are very sure that we are 'sinners saved by grace,' then maybe that grace should show.

Sincerely,
A sinner hoping grace will do it's work.

Exclamation Point on God's Love: Greg Albrecht with Brad Jersak

The following is a transcript of a live interview with Brad Jersak by Greg Albrecht on the meaning of the Cross

Greg Albrecht: Hello everyone, this is Greg Albrecht. We're going to remember and discuss our Lord's ultimate sacrifice for us and reflect on his life, death, burial and of course the significance and meaning of his resurrection. Helping us with his insights and observations is Brad Jersak. Brad is Senior Editor of our magazines and a Christ-centered professor, speaker and author from Abbotsford, British Columbia. 

Brad, in one sense it seems to me that these two events, the crucifixion and the resurrection, are the crowning jewels in God's demonstration and revelation of his love for us. When I think of the resurrection specifically, I often think of it as the fulfillment of the new covenant. Jesus didn't come simply to make a new covenant with us, he came to be the new covenant. We might think of his resurrection as the final act in the life of Christ, the final part of his three-part revelation— his death, burial and resurrection. And this three-part revelation is a dynamic illustration of God's love, his very own nature. 

Brad, would you begin by talking about Good Friday, giving us some background about the cross of Christ and its relevance and significance to and for us in the light of the resurrection?

BJ: First of all, let's focus on the fact that the cross, and specifically the way Jesus experienced the cross and what he did on the cross, is a revelation of God. What you just said is right on—the cross reveals the central nature of God. That's such a good way to phrase it. In Christ God demonstrated his unsurpassable love. When we look at Christ on the cross, we are looking at God in the flesh. It's very important where we locate God on Good Friday. As we know, there are many within Christianity who virtually picture the Father punishing Jesus, crucifying Jesus, or being appeased by the torture and death of his Son.

But Paul tells us that God was in Christ on the cross reconciling the world to himself (Colossians 1:19-20). So if you want to find or locate God on Good Friday, he's on a cross. God is the Word made flesh even when that flesh was being wounded and pierced and crucified.

So when we look at Christ on the cross we're seeing something central to the very nature of God, and you've alluded to it already. What is it we find out about God when we look at the cross? We do not see that he was angry and had to get his wrath off his chest. No, rather we see self-giving grace, we see sacrificial love and we see radical forgiveness. 

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Love = No Fear - Greg Albrecht

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. —1 Corinthians 13:4-8 

1 Corinthians 13 is a chapter many have come to know as the "love chapter" of the Bible. 1 Cor. 13 is arranged in three separate sections, two of which we will briefly examine:

The first section, in verses 1-3, is about love as being indispensable. If you've ever been to college, you'll know that there are courses for which there are prerequisites. If a class has a prerequisite, you can't take that class unless you have already taken another, more basic, fundamental class. 

In this first section of 1 Corinthians 13 Paul is saying that love is the fundamental definition of a Christian. Love, for Christians, is a basic requirement—an absolute necessity, a core essential for our relationship with God and for our relationship, as Christians, with mankind at large. 

Martin Luther once gave a sermon about this chapter in which he contended that verses 1-3 of 1 Corinthians 13 are intended as what we would call today a reality check.
Of course Martin Luther didn't use the term "reality check"—he simply said that these first few verses serve to silence and humble haughty Christians, particularly teachers and preachers who become impressed with themselves. 

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