Byzantine Prayer

Serene Light, shining in the
Ground of my being,
Draw me to yourself,
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
Out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words,
That I may discover
The Signified
The Word Unspoken
In the darkness
That veils the ground of my being.


Amen

Byzantine Prayer

Serene Light, shining in the
Ground of my being,
Draw me to yourself,
Draw me past the snares of the senses,
Out of the mazes of the mind,
Free me from symbols, from words,
That I may discover
The Signified
The Word Unspoken
In the darkness
That veils the ground of my being.


Amen

Holy Communion for Communion

There are other understandings of the Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist than what has been suggested by Joseph Prince. I will look at four other views.

First, the view of the Roman Catholic Church, which is called transubstantiation. In this view, the bread becomes the real body of Jesus and the wine becomes the real blood of Christ when the bread and wine was eaten and drank during the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper). The main argument against this view is that it implies that Jesus’ physical body be present during the Eucharist which cannot be. Jesus is now in heaven (John 16:7, Acts 3: 20-21, Philippians 3:20-21, 1 Corinthians 11:26).

Second, the Lutheran view, called consubstantiation. This view says that when Jesus' was glorified, His physical body became omnipresent. Thus means that Jesus is physically present in the bread and wine in the Holy Communion. However, unlike transubstantiation, the bread and wine do not become the real flesh and blood. Luther believed that Christ's body and blood were present in the sacrament "in, with, and under" the elements of bread and wine. Furthermore, he viewed the sacrament as a means of grace by which the participant's faith is strengthened. This still signifies a 'physical' presence of Christ in the Supper, but not in a 'bloody' way. The problem with this view is that Jesus' glorified body is not omnipresent. It is still a localized resurrected human body now with God (Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 10:12-13, Acts 7:56)

Third, the Zwinglian view (Memorialism) states that the bread and wine are just symbols. The bread and wine are just symbols to remind us of the sacrifice of Jesus are his broken body and blood. The problem with it is that the New Testament teaches that we can have a real communion or fellowship with the real body and blood of Jesus through the communion service (1 Corinthians 10:16). The Zwinglian view does not take into proper account the powerful work of the Holy Spirit through the communion service. There is more at work here than our imagination.

Finally, in John Calvin's view, the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Jesus. They do not in any way become the literal body and blood themselves. But when we partake of the Lord's Supper, the Holy Spirit uses the symbolic message that Jesus is our spiritual nourishment, to strengthen our faith in Jesus. And faith is the human experience of our mystical union with Christ (see question 170 of the Westminster Larger Catechism). How do we have this mystical union with Jesus in His humanity if Jesus is now at the right hand of God and is not returning to earth bodily until the Second Coming?

The Holy Spirit accomplishes this in a way beyond our understanding, not through Jesus' coming down to earth at this time, but through our mystically ascending to heaven. The Christian's identification with the risen Christ is so real and significant that there is a genuine sense in which the Christian is now where Christ is. The Christian is seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:4-6). The Christian has come to the heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus and His blood (Hebrews 12:22-24). We are where Jesus is through the mystical union effected by the Holy Spirit.

Our subjective experience of the mystical union grows as our faith grows. The Holy Spirit uses the communion service to increase our faith, to strengthen our faith, to confirm our faith. Thus through the communion service, we can have communion with the total person of Christ, including His body which was broken and His blood which was shed for our salvation.

The Reformed and Presbyterian churches based much of their understanding of the Holy Communion on John Calvin’s view. The Holy Communion is a communion with the risen Christ and is a spiritual experience. Holy Communion in the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions does not teach that the sacrament of the Holy Communion is for healing, physical wholeness or anti-ageing.

John Piper on The Lord’s Supper

Martin Luther on The Lord’s Supper

John Knox on The Lord’s Supper

John Calvin on The Lord’s Supper

More on Reformed Confessions on The Lord’s Supper

Soli Deo Gloria

picture credit

Holy Communion for Communion

There are other understandings of the Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist than what has been suggested by Joseph Prince. I will look at four other views.

First, the view of the Roman Catholic Church, which is called transubstantiation. In this view, the bread becomes the real body of Jesus and the wine becomes the real blood of Christ when the bread and wine was eaten and drank during the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper). The main argument against this view is that it implies that Jesus’ physical body be present during the Eucharist which cannot be. Jesus is now in heaven (John 16:7, Acts 3: 20-21, Philippians 3:20-21, 1 Corinthians 11:26).

Second, the Lutheran view, called consubstantiation. This view says that when Jesus' was glorified, His physical body became omnipresent. Thus means that Jesus is physically present in the bread and wine in the Holy Communion. However, unlike transubstantiation, the bread and wine do not become the real flesh and blood. Luther believed that Christ's body and blood were present in the sacrament "in, with, and under" the elements of bread and wine. Furthermore, he viewed the sacrament as a means of grace by which the participant's faith is strengthened. This still signifies a 'physical' presence of Christ in the Supper, but not in a 'bloody' way. The problem with this view is that Jesus' glorified body is not omnipresent. It is still a localized resurrected human body now with God (Colossians 3:1, Hebrews 10:12-13, Acts 7:56)

Third, the Zwinglian view (Memorialism) states that the bread and wine are just symbols. The bread and wine are just symbols to remind us of the sacrifice of Jesus are his broken body and blood. The problem with it is that the New Testament teaches that we can have a real communion or fellowship with the real body and blood of Jesus through the communion service (1 Corinthians 10:16). The Zwinglian view does not take into proper account the powerful work of the Holy Spirit through the communion service. There is more at work here than our imagination.

Finally, in John Calvin's view, the bread and wine represent the body and blood of Jesus. They do not in any way become the literal body and blood themselves. But when we partake of the Lord's Supper, the Holy Spirit uses the symbolic message that Jesus is our spiritual nourishment, to strengthen our faith in Jesus. And faith is the human experience of our mystical union with Christ (see question 170 of the Westminster Larger Catechism). How do we have this mystical union with Jesus in His humanity if Jesus is now at the right hand of God and is not returning to earth bodily until the Second Coming?

The Holy Spirit accomplishes this in a way beyond our understanding, not through Jesus' coming down to earth at this time, but through our mystically ascending to heaven. The Christian's identification with the risen Christ is so real and significant that there is a genuine sense in which the Christian is now where Christ is. The Christian is seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:4-6). The Christian has come to the heavenly Jerusalem and to Jesus and His blood (Hebrews 12:22-24). We are where Jesus is through the mystical union effected by the Holy Spirit.

Our subjective experience of the mystical union grows as our faith grows. The Holy Spirit uses the communion service to increase our faith, to strengthen our faith, to confirm our faith. Thus through the communion service, we can have communion with the total person of Christ, including His body which was broken and His blood which was shed for our salvation.

The Reformed and Presbyterian churches based much of their understanding of the Holy Communion on John Calvin’s view. The Holy Communion is a communion with the risen Christ and is a spiritual experience. Holy Communion in the Reformed and Presbyterian traditions does not teach that the sacrament of the Holy Communion is for healing, physical wholeness or anti-ageing.

John Piper on The Lord’s Supper

Martin Luther on The Lord’s Supper

John Knox on The Lord’s Supper

John Calvin on The Lord’s Supper

More on Reformed Confessions on The Lord’s Supper

Soli Deo Gloria

picture credit

Holy Communion for Health and Wholeness

Joseph Prince, (2006), Health and Wholeness through the Holy Communion (Singapore: Media Pte Ltd).

Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church, a megachurch of more than 15,000 members in Singapore. In this book, Prince seeks to correct “misconceptions about the Holy Communion have robbed many believers of an important God-ordained avenue of healing and wholeness.” (backcover)

In his introduction, Prince notes that, “I have discovered that God ordained the Holy Communion not as a ritual to be observed, but as a blessing to be received – the blessing of health and wholeness” (p.6). To expand on that statement, Prince attributes different function to the wine (representing the blood of Christ) and bread. He writes that “the blood is for forgiveness” (p.24-25) and the “bread is for healing.”(p.25-32). Thus the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion “brings the double cure…in other words, Jesus bore not just our sins, but also our bodily weaknesses, sicknesses, and pains.” (p.32)

While most evangelicals will agree that the Holy Communion is a sacrament which is a blessing from God, they may have problem with the fact that partaking of the Holy Communion cures diseases and ill-health. The proof text used by Prince is 1 Corinthians 11:29-30.
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”

Prince infers that “He (Paul) was pointing us to one singular reason Christians become weak, sick, and die before their time…their failure to discern the Lord’s body.” (p.13) Apparently because they “did not know why they were partaking” or “they had no idea why they were eating the bread.” (p.13) so they became weak, sick and die. Prince further adds, “since truth is parallel, it means that if we do discern the Lord’s body, we will walk in His health and wholeness.” (p.13-14)

What is the correct way to discern the Lord’s body? Prince offers this answer, “And as you partake of His broken body, know that yours can be whole. When you partake in this spirit of faith, something happens to your body. You become strong, healthy and you will live long” (p.31). He further adds, “so healing like forgiveness, is not a promise. It is the blood-bought right of Christians!” (p.36)

Prince also advises, “But if you are sick, I would recommend that you have Communion daily. I know of people who are so radical that they take it like medicine-three times a day. And you know what? They get radical results.” (p.45)

And also an additional benefit, “The Holy Communion is God’s solution to offset the decay (ageing). And even your friends will see the results. They will ask you, “Hey, why do you seem to look younger and younger? You never seem to age!”” (p.58). Goodbye biotox.

.

Holy Communion for Health and Wholeness

Joseph Prince, (2006), Health and Wholeness through the Holy Communion (Singapore: Media Pte Ltd).

Joseph Prince is the senior pastor of New Creation Church, a megachurch of more than 15,000 members in Singapore. In this book, Prince seeks to correct “misconceptions about the Holy Communion have robbed many believers of an important God-ordained avenue of healing and wholeness.” (backcover)

In his introduction, Prince notes that, “I have discovered that God ordained the Holy Communion not as a ritual to be observed, but as a blessing to be received – the blessing of health and wholeness” (p.6). To expand on that statement, Prince attributes different function to the wine (representing the blood of Christ) and bread. He writes that “the blood is for forgiveness” (p.24-25) and the “bread is for healing.”(p.25-32). Thus the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion “brings the double cure…in other words, Jesus bore not just our sins, but also our bodily weaknesses, sicknesses, and pains.” (p.32)

While most evangelicals will agree that the Holy Communion is a sacrament which is a blessing from God, they may have problem with the fact that partaking of the Holy Communion cures diseases and ill-health. The proof text used by Prince is 1 Corinthians 11:29-30.
“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.”

Prince infers that “He (Paul) was pointing us to one singular reason Christians become weak, sick, and die before their time…their failure to discern the Lord’s body.” (p.13) Apparently because they “did not know why they were partaking” or “they had no idea why they were eating the bread.” (p.13) so they became weak, sick and die. Prince further adds, “since truth is parallel, it means that if we do discern the Lord’s body, we will walk in His health and wholeness.” (p.13-14)

What is the correct way to discern the Lord’s body? Prince offers this answer, “And as you partake of His broken body, know that yours can be whole. When you partake in this spirit of faith, something happens to your body. You become strong, healthy and you will live long” (p.31). He further adds, “so healing like forgiveness, is not a promise. It is the blood-bought right of Christians!” (p.36)

Prince also advises, “But if you are sick, I would recommend that you have Communion daily. I know of people who are so radical that they take it like medicine-three times a day. And you know what? They get radical results.” (p.45)

And also an additional benefit, “The Holy Communion is God’s solution to offset the decay (ageing). And even your friends will see the results. They will ask you, “Hey, why do you seem to look younger and younger? You never seem to age!”” (p.58). Goodbye biotox.

.

Areopagus or Mars Hill, Athens

Acts 17:19-23
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

The Areophagus is a hill that is sited between the ancient Athenian Agora and the plateau of the Acropolis. The sacred road or the "Panathenaic Way" or "West Road" ran through it from the port, through the Agora and all the wall up to the Temple of Athena in the Parthenon in the Acropolis.

The name of the hill is probably derived from Ares, the god of war or from Ares-Erinyes (arai:curses), divinities of punishment and revenge. It was on this hill that the Boule of the Areopagus (Council of the Areopagus) sat in judgement of murderers. It was also a cult place or sacred place where the sanctuary of Eumenides or Semnai Theai (the kindly ones) was located.

This view is from the Areopagus facing north. Beyond the edge of the cliff is the ancient Athenian Agora. The large building on the right is the restored Stoa of Attalos. In its time it would contained shops and shade, a regular shopping mall.

Another view from a slight higher elevation, facing south. The building with columns on the left is the Temple of Hephaisteion, devoted to the god of metal working and where the metal workers worked. On the right is the Church of the Ayioi Apostolioi (Holy Apostles), a Byzantine church built over the Roman Nymphaion, a fountainhouse, which in turn was built over the Athenian Southeast Fountainhouse where Paul would have taken a drink.

To the north is the imposing Acropolis. Restoration works is being carried out and the building with the scaffolding is the Prophylaia, the impressive entrance to the Acropolis. The smaller scaffolded building to the extreme left is the Temple to Athena Nike (nike means victory).

This is supposedly the site where Paul preached to the Athenians.

And a plague commemorating that occasion. Apparently a number of Athenians were converted. One of them was Dionysios the Areopagite. Dionysios became the first Bishop of Athens. When he died, he became the patron saint of Athens. A church/Basilica named after him was built on this site.

Areopagus or Mars Hill, Athens

Acts 17:19-23
Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean." (All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

The Areophagus is a hill that is sited between the ancient Athenian Agora and the plateau of the Acropolis. The sacred road or the "Panathenaic Way" or "West Road" ran through it from the port, through the Agora and all the wall up to the Temple of Athena in the Parthenon in the Acropolis.

The name of the hill is probably derived from Ares, the god of war or from Ares-Erinyes (arai:curses), divinities of punishment and revenge. It was on this hill that the Boule of the Areopagus (Council of the Areopagus) sat in judgement of murderers. It was also a cult place or sacred place where the sanctuary of Eumenides or Semnai Theai (the kindly ones) was located.

This view is from the Areopagus facing north. Beyond the edge of the cliff is the ancient Athenian Agora. The large building on the right is the restored Stoa of Attalos. In its time it would contained shops and shade, a regular shopping mall.

Another view from a slight higher elevation, facing south. The building with columns on the left is the Temple of Hephaisteion, devoted to the god of metal working and where the metal workers worked. On the right is the Church of the Ayioi Apostolioi (Holy Apostles), a Byzantine church built over the Roman Nymphaion, a fountainhouse, which in turn was built over the Athenian Southeast Fountainhouse where Paul would have taken a drink.

To the north is the imposing Acropolis. Restoration works is being carried out and the building with the scaffolding is the Prophylaia, the impressive entrance to the Acropolis. The smaller scaffolded building to the extreme left is the Temple to Athena Nike (nike means victory).

This is supposedly the site where Paul preached to the Athenians.

And a plague commemorating that occasion. Apparently a number of Athenians were converted. One of them was Dionysios the Areopagite. Dionysios became the first Bishop of Athens. When he died, he became the patron saint of Athens. A church/Basilica named after him was built on this site.

Why Do We Resist God's Sovereignty

A thought provoking post from John Piper's blog

There are two ways that the soul can resist the truth of God’s sovereign governance over all evil that is implied in Genesis 50:20—“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

#1. The soul can resist with an unbelieving and rebellious spirit that willfully resists God’s right and power and wisdom in “meaning evil for good.”

#2. The soul can resist with a humble mixture of love for God’s holiness, justice, and love, on the one hand, and mental perplexity as to how these could be consistent with God’s “meaning evil for good,” on the other hand.

#2 brings God’s patient, merciful displeasure, leading eventually to greater light.

#1 brings God’s punitive displeasure, leading eventually to death, if there is no repentance.

Why Do We Resist God's Sovereignty

A thought provoking post from John Piper's blog

There are two ways that the soul can resist the truth of God’s sovereign governance over all evil that is implied in Genesis 50:20—“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

#1. The soul can resist with an unbelieving and rebellious spirit that willfully resists God’s right and power and wisdom in “meaning evil for good.”

#2. The soul can resist with a humble mixture of love for God’s holiness, justice, and love, on the one hand, and mental perplexity as to how these could be consistent with God’s “meaning evil for good,” on the other hand.

#2 brings God’s patient, merciful displeasure, leading eventually to greater light.

#1 brings God’s punitive displeasure, leading eventually to death, if there is no repentance.

Confession and Commitment

Confession and Commitment
Renewal in Christian Service
Text: Nehemiah 9:1- 11:2

Sermon statement (Big idea)
Repentance and confession, commitment and recommitment are part of the Christian process of becoming, especially in Christian service

Introduction

An overview of the book of Nehemiah shows that Nehemiah wanted to restore not only the walls but also the people. The book is equally divided in two: chapters’ 1-7 concerns the walls and chapters’ 8-13 concerns the people.


Dr Rick Griffins of Singapore Bible College summarise the book thus:

The restoration of the walls and people in the land under Nehemiah record God’s faithfulness to His promise of restoration to encourage the remnant in covenant obedience rooted in temple worship in Jerusalem. (italics his)


read more


More of my sermons can be found here

Confession and Commitment

Confession and Commitment
Renewal in Christian Service
Text: Nehemiah 9:1- 11:2

Sermon statement (Big idea)
Repentance and confession, commitment and recommitment are part of the Christian process of becoming, especially in Christian service

Introduction

An overview of the book of Nehemiah shows that Nehemiah wanted to restore not only the walls but also the people. The book is equally divided in two: chapters’ 1-7 concerns the walls and chapters’ 8-13 concerns the people.


Dr Rick Griffins of Singapore Bible College summarise the book thus:

The restoration of the walls and people in the land under Nehemiah record God’s faithfulness to His promise of restoration to encourage the remnant in covenant obedience rooted in temple worship in Jerusalem. (italics his)


read more


More of my sermons can be found here

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce

By the late 18th Century, over eleven million African men, women and children had been taken from Africa to be used as slaves in the West Indies and the American colonies.

Great Britain was the mightiest superpower on earth and its empire was build on the backs of slaves.

The slave trade was considered acceptable by all but a few.

Of these, even fewer were brave enough to speak out against it.

With these few powerful statements began the movie, Amazing Grace (2007). This movie is a dramatic chronicles of William Wilberforce's 20 years struggle for the abolition of slavery in the British Parliament. Though it is a film about Wilberforce's faith in God, it does not come across as preachy or dull. In fact, I find it an emotional and spiritual experience as I watch the story unfolds. I would place this movie on par with Chariots of Fire which is also a Christian theme movie that I love.

The movies tells of the friendship between William Wilberforce and William Pitt (who will later become Prime Minister). It starts with Wilberforce in his garden realising that he was found by God. He then wonder whether he now serve God or be a political activist. "Be both," said one of his dinner guests. In his search for his calling, he visited John Newton (Albert Finney), a former slaver who turned to the Church to become a monk seeking redemption. Apparently John Newton taught William when he was a boy and also taught him the song, "Amazing Grace." Newton was struggling with his 20,000 ghosts, slaves that he have killed. However he did encourage Wilberforce to set forth in his crusade- one person against 300 MPs in the House of Parliament.

The movie started at the time after 15 years of Wilberforce's fight to pass a bill abolishing slavery. Every year, he proposed the bill and lost. At the start of the movie, Wilberforce was a broken man, having lost his youth and health to his crusade. He was also an opium addict. William Wilberforce had two main objectives, (1) to abolish slavery, and (2) to reform society. In reforming ssociety he had improved working conditions in factories, education, and community work. But in his first objective he had failed.

He met Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai) who inspired him to continue his fight and whom he married. With renewed energy he outwitted the opposition (will not give away the how) and began the slow road to victory. In the movie, the bill for the abolition of slavery was passed with Wilberforce in the Parliament while in history, he heard about it on his dead bed.

The movie unfolds at a steady rate without being too slow to be a drag or too forced and artificial as in many Christian movies. Wilberforce's Christian faith is evident throughout without it being mentioned repeatedly. Ioan Gruffudd gave a convincing performance as Wilberforce; a crusader who was obsessed by his crusade that all but destroyed him but was saved by a woman's love. It also show the teamwork and support by an itinerant preacher, a former slave Oloudaqh Equiano (Youssou N'Dour), activist Thomas Clarkson, and a seasoned politician Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon).

This is a must see for the whole family. The closing segment with the whole Scottish pipe band playing Amazing Grace is a truly musical experience.

What other says
Rotten Tomatoes

More of my reviews of other movies here

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce

By the late 18th Century, over eleven million African men, women and children had been taken from Africa to be used as slaves in the West Indies and the American colonies.

Great Britain was the mightiest superpower on earth and its empire was build on the backs of slaves.

The slave trade was considered acceptable by all but a few.

Of these, even fewer were brave enough to speak out against it.

With these few powerful statements began the movie, Amazing Grace (2007). This movie is a dramatic chronicles of William Wilberforce's 20 years struggle for the abolition of slavery in the British Parliament. Though it is a film about Wilberforce's faith in God, it does not come across as preachy or dull. In fact, I find it an emotional and spiritual experience as I watch the story unfolds. I would place this movie on par with Chariots of Fire which is also a Christian theme movie that I love.

The movies tells of the friendship between William Wilberforce and William Pitt (who will later become Prime Minister). It starts with Wilberforce in his garden realising that he was found by God. He then wonder whether he now serve God or be a political activist. "Be both," said one of his dinner guests. In his search for his calling, he visited John Newton (Albert Finney), a former slaver who turned to the Church to become a monk seeking redemption. Apparently John Newton taught William when he was a boy and also taught him the song, "Amazing Grace." Newton was struggling with his 20,000 ghosts, slaves that he have killed. However he did encourage Wilberforce to set forth in his crusade- one person against 300 MPs in the House of Parliament.

The movie started at the time after 15 years of Wilberforce's fight to pass a bill abolishing slavery. Every year, he proposed the bill and lost. At the start of the movie, Wilberforce was a broken man, having lost his youth and health to his crusade. He was also an opium addict. William Wilberforce had two main objectives, (1) to abolish slavery, and (2) to reform society. In reforming ssociety he had improved working conditions in factories, education, and community work. But in his first objective he had failed.

He met Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai) who inspired him to continue his fight and whom he married. With renewed energy he outwitted the opposition (will not give away the how) and began the slow road to victory. In the movie, the bill for the abolition of slavery was passed with Wilberforce in the Parliament while in history, he heard about it on his dead bed.

The movie unfolds at a steady rate without being too slow to be a drag or too forced and artificial as in many Christian movies. Wilberforce's Christian faith is evident throughout without it being mentioned repeatedly. Ioan Gruffudd gave a convincing performance as Wilberforce; a crusader who was obsessed by his crusade that all but destroyed him but was saved by a woman's love. It also show the teamwork and support by an itinerant preacher, a former slave Oloudaqh Equiano (Youssou N'Dour), activist Thomas Clarkson, and a seasoned politician Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon).

This is a must see for the whole family. The closing segment with the whole Scottish pipe band playing Amazing Grace is a truly musical experience.

What other says
Rotten Tomatoes

More of my reviews of other movies here

What Jesus Demands from the World

John Piper, (2006) What Jesus Demands from the World, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books

John Piper is the pastor for reaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Recently he received a gift of a five-month sabbatical from his church for serving as pastor in the church for 25 years. He spent the sabbatical in Tyndale House in Cambridge, England. Tyndale House with its excellent library resources and community of scholars and pastors is an excellent place to be. John used his time there fruitfully and wrote this excellent book on what Jesus demands from the world.

John is conscious that he is contributing to the ongoing quest for an authentic historical Jesus debate. He is aware that there have been three Quests for the Historical Jesus. Numerous scholars have tried to redefine our understanding of who Jesus is by using the most modern scholarship tools.

The first Quest period was arbitrarily started by Benedict Spinoza (1632-16770), Herman Raimrus (1694-1768), David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874), William Wrede (1859-1906) and ended with Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965). This ‘quest’ collapsed under its own weight as they realize that the reconstructed historical Jesus is not ‘the biblical Christ.’

The second Quest for the historical Jesus started in 1953 by Ernest Kasemann, a student of Rudolf Bultmann. However this second quest was heavily influenced by the social and psychological theories of the time. The reconstructed Jesus appears as an existential political figure (Milan Machovec) or as ‘collective process of consciousness’ (Niderwimmer).

The third Quest begins in the 1980s. Ben Witherington III observes that scholars involved in this third Quest are all in a hurry to say something ‘new,’ another product of our modern society where new gimmicks sells.

John Piper comes to the conclusion that “The growing conviction in me is that life is too short and the church is too precious for a minister of the Word to spend his life trying to recreate a conjectured Jesus.” (p32) To him, all that is required to know the real Jesus can be found in the four Gospels. That is truly a revolutionary yet simple statement. This he set forth in this book by revealing the real Jesus in terms of the demands or commands he gave to his disciples to observe and teach (Matt. 28:19-20). He resolved to use only materials from the four Gospels.

In this book, he has summarized the hundreds of Jesus’ commands into 50 and these are worth studying. Each demand is in a short chapter and hence can be used as a daily devotion.