Memorial Service Update: Click here for photos and a description of Larry’s funeral/memorial service. The service was held at 10:00 AM on Saturday, March 1st at The Church on the Hill, 2707 Maranatha Ct., Turner, Oregon, just south of Salem. Here is a mapquest link. For more information, contact Charles Norman at charles@slackertone.com
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Christian musician Larry Norman passed away at 2:45 this morning. Larry was a huge influence on me as a young Christian, and I am grateful for his life and ministry. Please keep his family in your prayers.

Here is the message from Larry’s brother, Charles, at Solid Rock Records:

MESSAGE FROM SOLID ROCK:

Hello everybody.

Our friend and my wonderful brother Larry passed away at 2:45 Sunday morning. Kristin and I were with him, holding his hands and sitting in bed with him when his heart finally slowed to a stop. We spent this past week laughing, singing, and praying with him, and all the while he had us taking notes on new song ideas and instructions on how to continue his ministry and art …

Yesterday afternoon he knew he was going to go home to God very soon and he dictated the following message to you while his friend Allen Fleming typed these words into Larry’s computer:

I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God’s hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.

My brother Charles is right, I won’t be here much longer. I can’t do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help.

My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you.

I’d like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.

    Goodbye, farewell, we’ll meet again
    Somewhere beyond the sky.
    I pray that you will stay with God
    Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.

Larry

Thank you to all of you who were so nice to my brother over the years. Kristin and I will post funeral information in the next day or two. Right now we’re not able to function very well, but the whole family is here … our mother Margaret, our sisters Nancy and Kristy, Mike Norman and his new wife Tiffany, and Silver.

We miss him beyond words. Thank you for everything.

Peace to you all in Christ,

Charles Norman

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Feel free to share your memories of Larry in the comments.

Related posts:

• Larry Norman Funeral Video Montage
• Larry Norman’s Funeral/Memorial Service
• Larry Norman on NPR
• Some Larry Norman Videos
• My Tribute Song to Larry Norman
• Larry Norman Sings Goodbye Farewell
• Larry Norman Concert in New York City (1)
• Larry Norman Concert in New York City (2)

Binary decoder. “The binary number system (aka base 2) represents values using two symbols, typically 0 and 1. Computers call these bits. A bit is either off (0) or on (1). When arranged in sets of 8 bits (1 byte) 256 values can be represented (0-255). Using an ASCII chart, these values can be mapped to characters and text can be stored. It’s not magic, it’s just math!”

Ray Pritchard offers some advice to the discontented. “You are where you are right now because God wants you there. You may be happy about your current circumstances or you may be miserable. Most likely you are somewhere in between. It doesn’t matter. You are where you are at this moment because God wants you there. How do I know that? Because if God wanted you somewhere else, you’d be somewhere [else], and when he does want you somewhere else, that’s where you will be. If God is God, that must be true.”

Thabiti Anyabwile expresses appreciation for Samuel Rutherford’s ministry as described by Andrew Bonar. “The parish of Anwoth had no large village near the church. The people were scattered over a hilly district, and were quite a rural flock. But their shepherd knew that the Chief Shepherd counted them worth caring for; he was not one who thought that his learning and talents would be ill spent if laid out in seeking to save souls, obscure and unknown … Anwoth was dear to him rather as the sphere appointed him by his Master, than because of the fruit he saw of his labours.”

Mark Dever shares wise counsel concerning the bondage of guidance. “The way many Christians practice seeking God’s will before they make a decision amounts to spiritual and emotional bondage. Christ has died to give us liberty and freedom (Rom. 6; Gal. 5; I Peter 2). We can only know the truth about God’s will by what His Spirit reveals to us. He has revealed God’s mind authoritatively in His Word. We should give ourselves to study what He has revealed. Personal reading, meditation, sermons, friends and books are all available to us to help us to better understand God’s revealed will.”

Bryan McWhite quotes Jerry Bridges on disobedience vs. defeat in the Christian life. “It might be good if we stopped using the terms ‘victory’ and ‘defeat’ to describe our progress in holiness. Rather we should use the terms ‘obedience’ and ‘disobedience.’ When I say I am defeated by some sin, I am unconsciously slipping out from under my responsibility. I am saying something outside of me has defeated me. But when I say I am disobedient, that places the responsibility for my sin squarely on me. We may, in fact, be defeated, but the reason we are defeated is because we have chosen to disobey.” (Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, pp. 80-81)

Old math. Scientists have finally figured out how a 2,000-year-old mechanical computer salvaged from a Roman shipwreck actually works. The ancient device with 80 pieces of gear wheels, dials and clock-like hands was used to track the precise positions of the sun, several heavenly bodies and the phases of the moon. Computer scans show that the machine used a differential gear, which was previously thought to have been invented in the 16th century.

NFL reverses call. The National Football League has decided that churches may show the Super Bowl on large screens after all. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league would no longer object to “live showings – regardless of screen size – of the Super Bowl” by religious organizations. Many churches across the country cancelled their planned Super Bowl gatherings this past year when the NFL cracked down on churches showing the game on screens larger than 55 inches.

Working your way up. In a test of the American Dream, Adam Shepherd entered a homeless shelter with only twenty-five dollars and the clothes on his back. His goal was to have a furnished apartment, a car and $2,500 in savings within a year. After ten months he had moved into an apartment, bought a pickup truck and saved close to $5,000.

This question came up in church last week:

How much did Jesus know about the cross? How much did he know about what would happen when he arrived in Jerusalem? Did he know about all the events that would take place between Palm Sunday and Easter, or did he just have a general knowledge that he was going to suffer and die?

The person asking the question felt that Jesus’ determination to walk the road to Jerusalem would mean that much more to us if we could say with confidence that Jesus knew everything that lay ahead for him.

It is an interesting question, and theologically delves into the mystery of the incarnation. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became fully man without ceasing at the same time to be fully God. Jesus possessed both a divine nature and human nature in one person. So how does one reconcile Jesus’ omniscience as God with his growth and development as a human being?

The Scriptures indicate that Jesus retained his divine omniscience even in the incarnation but chose not to exercise it at certain times. So where did Jesus get his knowledge of things to come? Some of his knowledge of future events may have come through his personal study of Scripture, some by direct revelation from the Father in prayer, and some by his divine attribute of omniscience. We find examples of all three of these avenues in Jesus’ life, and it may be that various combinations of the three contributed to his knowledge at different times.

As Jesus made his way toward Jerusalem and the cross, the Scriptures tell us that he knew many details of what lay ahead for him. He knew that he must suffer and be rejected, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Luke 9:22) He knew that he would be betrayed. (Luke 9:44) He knew that he would be handed over to the Gentiles and that they would mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. (Luke 18:31)

Many of these things Jesus could have known simply from his study of the Scriptures. But Jesus also knew other details that would have required a different type of knowledge. For example, Jesus knew from the beginning who would not believe and who would betray him. (John 6:64) Jesus knew in advance that Peter would deny him three times. (John 13:38) And when the soldiers came for him in the garden, John tells us that Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him. (John 18:4) He could only have known such things by direct revelation from the Father or by drawing on his omniscience as the Son of God.

So, how much did Jesus know about the cross as he walked toward Jerusalem? Did he know every single detail that would take place that week? Possibly, but we cannot say for sure. It is all part of the mystery of the incarnation.

But if we step back further in time, before his incarnation, Jesus most certainly knew every detail that would take place leading up to the cross. Drawing fully from his omniscience in his pre-incarnate state, Jesus knew everything that he would suffer in Jerusalem. Yet he still chose to come and die for lost sinners like you and me. He is “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8) How much did Jesus know about the cross? We may rest assured that when Jesus left the glories of heaven to come to earth, he did so with full knowledge of the cross and all that it would entail.

The Desiring God site has posted an excellent list of books on the theme of “Believing the Bible.” This is a list that John Piper put together for students in his Why We Believe the Bible seminar for The Bethlehem Institute.

The books are divided into the following three categories:

• The Canon of the New Testament
• The Reliability of the New Testament
• Responses to Recent Critics

I am familiar with most of the books on the list and would highly recommend them to you. Let me encourage you to check the list out and perhaps read one or two books from each category. You will most certainly grow in your faith and in your confidence in the Scriptures.

Related posts:

• Books to Help You Read Through the Bible
• 8 Great Books on Christianity, Culture, Creativity and the Arts

“The Moon glows orange as it is seen above the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City, during a total eclipse early Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008. The last total lunar eclipse until 2010 occurred Wednesday night, with cameo appearances by Saturn and the bright star Regulus on either side of the veiled full moon.” (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Click here for more photos of the lunar eclipse over at Yahoo Photos.

HT: BiblePlaces Blog

Click links below for more Moon related posts:

• Mississippi Moon (Great song about the June solstice moon!)
• Solstice Moon Illusion
• Full Moon Rising over Saguaro National Park

Click here for more Space related posts.

This is a follow-up to last month’s post: The Size of the Earth Compared to Other Objects in Space. The pictures in that post showed the relative sizes of the planets to each other (and the sun and beyond). But what about the actual distances in the solar system? Is there any way to visualize the vast amount of empty space between the planets and the sun? Here is a helpful illustration which reduces the sizes and distances involved by a factor of one billion (English and metric versions follow).

English measurement version:

One way to help visualize the relative sizes in the solar system is to imagine a model in which everything is reduced in size by a factor of a billion. Then the model Earth would be about 0.5 inches in diameter (the size of a grape). The Moon would be 11.8 inches (about a foot) from the Earth. The Sun would be 5 feet in diameter and 500 feet (about a city block) from the Earth. Jupiter would be 6 inches in diameter (the size of a large grapefruit) and 5 blocks away from the Sun. Saturn (the size of an orange) would be 10 blocks away; Uranus and Neptune (lemons) 20 and 30 blocks away. A human on this scale would be the size of an atom but the nearest star would be over 25,000 miles away.

Metric version:

One way to help visualize the relative sizes in the solar system is to imagine a model in which everything is reduced in size by a factor of a billion. Then the model Earth would be about 1.3 cm in diameter (the size of a grape). The Moon would be about 30 cm (about a foot) from the Earth. The Sun would be 1.5 meters in diameter (about the height of a man) and 150 meters (about a city block) from the Earth. Jupiter would be 15 cm in diameter (the size of a large grapefruit) and 5 blocks away from the Sun. Saturn (the size of an orange) would be 10 blocks away; Uranus and Neptune (lemons) 20 and 30 blocks away. A human on this scale would be the size of an atom but the nearest star would be over 40,000 km away.

Source: An Overview of the Solar System

Related posts:

• The Size of the Earth Compared to Other Objects in Space
• Powers of 10 Video
• Our Place in God’s Creation (Psalm 8:1-8)
• Sunday Morning SoundBytes – 1/13/2008

Don’t miss the total lunar eclipse tonight. The entire event will be visible from North and South America tonight (Feb 20) and from Western Europe, Africa, and western Asia early tomorrow morning (Feb 21). You can expect the moon to change dramatically in color during the eclipse, from bright orange to blood red to dark brown and perhaps a very dark gray.

A lunar eclipse takes place when the moon passes through a portion of the earth’s shadow. A total lunar eclipse takes place when the earth blocks all direct sunlight from reaching the moon. A lunar eclipse can only take place when the moon is full.

Here is the schedule for tonight’s eclipse (Eastern Standard Time):

08:43 pm – Partial Eclipse Begins
10:01 pm – Total Eclipse Begins
10:26 pm – Mid-Eclipse
10:51 pm – Total Eclipse Ends
12:09 am – Partial Eclipse Ends

You can find more information on the eclipse plus a schedule for other time zones at the NASA Eclipse Home Page.

“The Messiah” is a new movie from Iran depicting the life of Jesus from an Islamic perspective. Unfortunately, the Islamic perspective changes some crucial details concerning the person and work of Christ. Here are some excerpts from an interview between ABC’s Lara Setrakian and Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh:

LS: What are the key differences between Jesus through Islam’s eyes and Jesus through the traditional Christian perspective?

NT: We are talking about the same beautiful man, the same beautiful prophet, the same divine person sent from heaven. In the Koran, it emphasizes maybe three main points: about the birth, about the fact that he was not the son of God, and then, that he was not crucified. The rest is [the same] Jesus … the sermons, and the miracles, and the political situation …

LS: While production on this movie was happening, Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” came out. What did you learn from watching that film?

NT: We were almost finished filming when Mel Gibson started shooting. I saw the film, and it’s the first time the Gospel of John has ever been depicted. It was nice. But it was the wrong story. In my film, I respect that common belief with all the good intentions the Christians have … according to what Islam says. Yet, Jesus, at the night of the last supper, ascends to heaven [without being crucified]. A beautiful man, a beautiful prophet. Why should he be bloodied that way?

LS: What kind of response have you gotten from Christians? What kind of feedback and interchange has there been since the movie was released?

NT: Many thought this film is a good step for serious inter-religious dialogue. Many of them liked it — seeing the Koran-based ending. And I was very happy that the practicing Christians were very happy with the film. I have never found one case among practicing Christians who are offended [by the movie].

I am amazed that Talebzadeh says he did not find one practicing Christian who was offended by his movie that denies two of the most central beliefs of Christianity: that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died on the cross for sin. Perhaps he needs to ask around a bit more.

HT: Neatorama

It is tax time here in the United States. So, for all of you who are trying to figure out your taxes for the year, here is a truly bizarre British tax law that is still on the books in the UK.

It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing.

How’s that again? And you thought the United States tax laws were confusing!

Note: Click here for other strange laws still on the books in Great Britain, including the following:

• It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament.
• It could be regarded an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen’s image upside-down.
• Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned. (!)
• The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen.
• It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour.

Greg Gilbert recently wrote a couple of interesting posts over at Church Matters on music and worship in the church. In the first post (facetiously titled “Against Music”) Gilbert voiced his concerns about churchgoers relying too much on music in their worship of God.

I’ve been amazed since becoming an elder in a local church just how dependent many Christians are on a certain style of music, or certain level of excellence in music. How many times have you heard someone say, for example, “I just can’t worship in that church.”? Or “I just don’t feel like I’m connecting with God there.”

Gilbert shares about his experience in college attending the Passion Conferences in Texas. He joined with thousands of students in worshiping God through modern praise music led by excellent, skilled musicians. Then he returned home to his small church in New Haven Connecticut.

The praise bands were gone, I didn’t have a group of people who’d gone with me and shared that experience, and the churches had a piano and thirty people singing Isaac Watts hymns. That forced me to learn how to stoke the fires of worship with truths and words, and not just with excellent music. I’ve learned how to be emotionally affected by the excellent words of hymns whether they’re played and sung “excellently” or not.

Gilbert then followed up with a second post ( “Some More Thoughts on Music”) offering the following ten questions to help us consider whether we’ve allowed our hearts to become too dependent on music for our sense of spiritual well-being.

1. Do you get bored when someone reads a longish passage of Scripture in your church? Do you start wishing they’d get on with the music?
2. Do you need music playing in the background for the reading of Scripture to affect your emotions?
3. Does a prayer seem too “plain” or “stark” to you if it doesn’t have music playing behind it?
4. Do you feel depressed a few weeks after a worship conference because you haven’t felt close to God in a long time?
5. Do you desperately look forward to the next conference you’re going to attend because you know that, finally, you’ll be able to feel close to God again?
6. If you’re in a big church with great music, are you able to worship when you visit your parents’ small rural church?
7. Do you ever feel worshipful in the middle of the week, at work, at school, etc. just because of thinking about God and his grace? Or does that only happen when the music’s playing?
8. Do you tend to feel closer to God when you’re alone with your iPOD than you do when you’re gathered with God’s people in your church?
9. Do you feel like you just can’t connect with other believers who haven’t had the same “worship experiences” that you have? Can you only connect with other believers who “know what it feels like to really worship?”
10. Is your sense of spiritual well-being based more on feeling close to God, or knowing that you are close to God because of Jesus Christ?

What do you think? How important are matters of style and excellence when it comes to worshiping God through music? Have we become too dependent on music for our sense of spiritual well-being?

Yesterday was the first in a new series of messages called The Road to Jerusalem. The message was called Roadblocks on the Road to Jerusalem, taken from Luke 9:51-62.

Luke 9:51-62 – 51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village.
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” (NIV)

The roadway of discipleship is the roadway of the cross. The main idea of the message was that we must overcome the roadblocks that stand in the way of our following Jesus in discipleship all the way to the cross. Here is a brief summary of the message:

I. The Roadblock of Rejection (51-53)

The people in the Samaritan village did not welcome Jesus, because he was heading for Jerusalem. The roadblock of rejection occurs whenever someone rejects Jesus outright and refuses even to consider walking the road of discipleship with him.

II. The Roadblock of a Judging Spirit (54-56)

James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans who rejected Jesus, but Jesus rebuked his disciples. You cannot walk to the cross with Jesus when you have a judging spirit. The purpose of the cross was salvation for man, not judgment. Jesus did not come to destroy but to save.

III. The Roadblock of Hasty Commitment (57-58)

This man boldly declared to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” But he failed to count the cost of discipleship. Jesus did not come to earth to live in comfort and luxury. He came to suffer and to serve. And he calls us to do the same.

IV. The Roadblock of Delay (59-60)

The roadblock of delay is the opposite of the roadblock of hasty commitment. When Jesus called this man to follow him, he asked if he could first go and bury his father. The roadblock of delay seeks to put off the call of discipleship until a later time. But the call of Christ takes precedence over all other things, even the solemn obligation to bury one’s parents.

V. The Roadblock of a Divided Heart (61-62)

When Jesus called this man to follow him, he asked if he could first go back and say goodbye to his family. Eight hundred years earlier Elijah had let Elisha go back and say goodbye to his family. But now one greater than Elijah was here. Once you have made the decision to follow Christ, it must be all or nothing. The person who starts out with Christ, but then looks back has a divided heart and is not fit for service in the kingdom of God.

CONCLUSION: When Jesus walked the road to Jerusalem, he was walking to the cross to suffer and die. And he asks you to follow him. That is the meaning of discipleship. What roadblock stands in the way of you following Jesus today?

Note: To read the complete message, go to the Sermons tab at the top of the blog.