evelyn staalsen

[Kangmin Lee | 이강민 @kangminlee]

Today, as a Korean-American Christian, I voted for Donald J. Trump.

I voted against:
• Killing babies in the womb for all 9 months of pregnancy for whatever reason
• Sexualization of children
• Gender confusion
• Sexual deviancy and perversion
• Men in women’s locker rooms and bathrooms
• Endless, meaningless foreign wars
• Massive government spending for foreign countries but giving Americans pennies
• Open borders and illegal immigration to curb crime, trafficking, and drugs
• Censorship and compelled speech
• Denigration of traditional masculinity and femininity
• Media lies, manipulation, and deception
• Evil being good, and good being evil
• Hatred for the Christian principles and ethics that defined this nation

I voted for:
• Protecting babies from the evil of abortion
• Protection of parental rights
• Protecting women’s spaces from predatory men and allowing men to be men
• Free speech
• Christian liberty in regards to family, sexuality, and marriage
• Cutting the federal bureaucracy
• Peace on the Korean peninsula and around the world
• Ending discrimination against Korean and Asian-Americans in higher education and workplaces
• Self-protection and the 2nd amendment
• Booming economy
• Safer cities and reduced crime
• Border security
• Law and order over chaos
• Food and medicine reform making Americans healthier
• Fairer justice system

Jesus is never on the ballot. The reality is we are always, to a certain degree, choosing between the lesser of two evils because no one has been perfect except for Jesus. The two candidates both have major character flaws both today and in their past. But personality will fade, policy will last even after the 4-year presidential term is over. My vote isn’t a full-fledged endorsement of everything a candidate has ever said nor everything on their agenda. The question is, which candidate enables and promotes evil more? Which candidate will best keep evil at bay?

I have been discouraged with the leftward shift of Trump and the GOP. They have compromised on so much because the Overton window shifted so far to the left. Voting Republican is not a sufficient bulwark against the onslaught of moral insanity. The Republican Party today is not as morally insane as the Democrat Party, but it’s not exactly sane either. So I know Republican victories are only a way of buying us time, not fixing the problem entirely.

I voted for Trump because I believe his presidency would best promote good and restrain evil to help advance the cause of Christ and love our neighbor well. Kamala and the Democrat’s vow to enshrine abortion into federal law, adherence to insane gender ideology, and love for foreigners and violent criminals OVER law-abiding citizens are reasons enough for Christians not to vote blue. I pray that his administration, if he is to get into office, would be more authentically rightwing and God-honoring than his campaign would’ve suggested.

In the end, God wins. And Christ is King. Never lose hope no matter who becomes the winner of this election.

God bless America! Make America Great Again. 🇺🇸

[Uriesou Brito @uribrito]

In the 19th century, the evangelist Charles Finney, known for creating the invitational system, changed how music was sung in Church. Music was no longer in praise of God but a means to draw individuals to the front to make public professions. This model has become the predominant means of worship in the Church today.

Finney observes the following:

To produce a spirit of renewal and revival, “God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them, before he can lead them to obey.” He argued, “There must be excitement sufficient to wake up the dormant moral powers.” (ST, Finney).

Music was utilitarian for Finney. “How can I draw people to God through their emotions and tears?" rather than “How can we adore the Triune God?” There is a fundamental difference.

One recent theologian was perplexed by how modern Americans read their Bibles. Instead of asking, “What does the text mean?” we ask, “What does it mean to me?” We have become self-interpreters. We have become fascinated with the way something affects us. And if it doesn’t fit my style, I will find something else.

We have divided the evangelical church into “Traditional vs. Contemporary.” In other words, if you are between the ages of 20 and 45, you are encouraged to visit our contemporary service, and if you are older, please attend our traditional service at 11.

We have segregated the evangelical church into preferences.

Now, there are things preferential in the Church: the color of chairs, curtains, bagels, etc. Nevertheless, we have applied that principle to issues the Bible has already spoken. Worship must be regulated according to God’s holy word. This applies especially to the place our children play in worship.

When the contemporary church asks: “Why do our children suddenly decide to worship elsewhere when they are older instead of mom and dad’s church?” The answer is that we have segregated our children for so long that they logically want to be separated from us. They have grown accustomed to worshiping apart from us. We have treated children as if they are a separate corpus. Thus, we have relativized the role of music. Church music is for the whole man. It's for the equipping of the complete man from infancy to the aged.

History is made up of happy major chords and sad minor chords. It is a story of joy and sorrow. Therefore, our music must reflect the vitality and the deep anguish of the Scriptures. Biblical Church music should be reverential, joyful, exuberant, shout-worthy, mournful, lamentable, and war-like. Music dresses us in priestly garments (Eph. 6:10-20).

It ought to shape our way of thinking about everything. Church music ought to appeal to you and your children. In Psalm 8, God says I have declared my praise from the mouths of infants. You should sing a hymn and then say, “I am more aware of who God is because of what I have just sung.” You should have Psalms 2, 98, and 110 going through your minds as you work from Monday through Friday. They communicate God's plans for his people and his promises to deliver them from evil.

God’s hymns need to take you back to when you were ill, and God rescued you, when a loved one was diagnosed with cancer, and God poured grace and mercy. God’s music needs to take you to his works on your behalf. You need music that elevates the power of God from a magical figure to the magnificent creator of every star and planet, God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

There is a distinctness to corporate worship music. In other words, what you sing with God's people on Lord’s Day worship should sound very different than workout or wedding reception music.

In the Temple, Yahweh God made its worship entirely different from anything outside. This was one way God kept Israel separate from the other nations.

Music is not preferential. It is God-rendered. We sing; therefore, we are what God wants us to be.

[Matt Kennedy @lambeth981]

...with the confidence that, whatever a person’s medical condition or mental state, darkness is not dark to Him and his light is as bright as the day." From an article I'm writing on funerals and people who you're not sure are Christians when they die 5/5

[Peter Leithart @PLeithart]

Creation begins with the Creator's "let there be." It will end with the song of the whole creation.

A spoken Word lies at the foundation of the world, but the end is music (Jenson).

Or: Creation begins as solo and ends as universal chorus.

[mol @heymoll]

They will never be Him

[evelyn staalsen @evelynstaalsen]

@JupiterExcharge @JupiterExchange @armaniferrante this project's absolutely a rhythm renaissance

[evelyn staalsen @evelynstaalsen]

@JupiterExcharge @JupiterExchange @armaniferrante absolutely they're The cosmic Conquerors 💥