Letter from America
A shining sun
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Dec 2003
I recently went to hear Chuck Colson, the famed author of Born Again, once notorious as an insider in the political Watergate scandal. He was sent to prison. But in the midst of the maelstrom surrounding him, Chuck Colson became 'born again'. Ever since, he has been the highly regarded and influential leader of Prison Fellowship.
Colson was speaking about Jonathan Edwards. In his lecture he touched on a wide variety of contemporary themes and issues that are facing evangelicals. In particular, he suggested, the drift towards moral relativism was likely to face a turnaround as a result of September 11. It's hard, was the gist of what he was saying, to swallow the idea that there is no evil in the world when you watch airplanes on suicide missions colliding into buildings containing thousands of human lives.
Letter from America
Evangelicalism: a bright future?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Nov 2003
In 1951 Bill Bright and his wife, Vonette, made a simple sort of 'contract' with Jesus. They pledged all their resources to the spread of the gospel. Then they sold their food business and later an Oklahoma oil drilling company. And they used the finances thereby gained to help found Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC). Today CCC is perhaps the largest Christian para-church organisation in the world. It works in 191 countries, has a full-time staff of 26,000 as well as more than 225,000 trained volunteers.
On July 19 Dr. Bill Bright died. He may not be the last famous post-war evangelical pioneer to die in the next year or so. While wishing to avoid all reference to Mark Twain's famous quip about his prematurely reported passing ('Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated'), both John Stott and Billy Graham are, after all, in their 80s.
Letter from America
Vietnam reloaded
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Oct 2003
'This is our generation's Vietnam.' Such was the opinion of one person talking to me the other day about the war in Iraq. Is he right? We all surely hope not. But if George Bush's current request to Congress for US$87 billion for the war on terror is anything to go by odds are on for Vietnam Reloaded.
It all started with three digits and two towers. The destruction of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre on September 11 2001 ('9/11') set in motion a chain of events whose destination remains uncertain. Wherever we are going it is somewhere unpredictable. No longer do we hear talk of the New World Order. More like the New World Chaos.
Letter from America
What would he say to contemporary Christians?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Oct 2003
Jonathan Edwards is 300 years old on October 5 2003. He is dead. And yet he speaks, writes Josh Moody.
His works - ever a source of inspiration and fascination for Reformed evangelicals - have recently gained a much wider following. And his influence continues to grow with each passing anniversary.
Letter from America
When truth is no stranger to fiction
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Sep 2003
The New York Times does not always tell the truth. This may not come as a surprise to the critically minded. But the extent to which one New York Times journalist managed to foist fiction as fact is a shock. His stories not only stretched the truth, they were entirely made up. One particularly harrowing piece for evangelicals was about a so-called (and fictional) evangelical group engaging in some rather weird and wonderful worship practices.
Letter from America
An Englishman in New Haven
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Aug 2003
As an Englishman in New Haven, I couldn't help but notice last month's EN front page article about English preachers deserting England for America. I've met Ken Brownell once and know East London Tabernacle and was delighted with both experiences and interactions. I think Ken has a good point. Here's a different view.
The assertion, first popularised by Jim Packer, that American Christianity is a thousand miles wide but only two inches deep is intended as a perspective of the Bible belt. Actually, American Christianity as a whole is at least only 800 miles wide. That is, there are significant geographical and cultural pockets of America where gospel Christianity is a rarity. It's not that it's ephemeral or superficial; it doesn't exist. In particular, the North West of America and the North East of America are graveyards for gospel ministry.
Letter from America
Over-kill
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Jul 2003
Over-kill is the equivalent of using a hammer to crack a nut. To 'over-kill' in a particular situation is to go to an extreme, to 'over-react', in order to accomplish an otherwise commendable goal. Cracking a nut is fine; using a hammer might seem impressive but it is probable that the resulting innards of the nut will be either scattered to the four corners of the room or smashed to pulp.
It is my growing conviction that 'Over-kill' is setting in among conservative Christians in America. Perhaps you'll recognise the same phenomenon closer to home. While I presume that my theologically conservative credentials are assumed because I am writing for Evangelicals Now, it is perhaps nonetheless worth stating what to me and anyone who has heard me preach is obvious: I am a theological conservative. To say that I am somewhat right of Attila the Hun theologically speaking might not be a 'nice' way to put it, but you get the idea.
Letter from America
Freedom or Empire?
Josh Moody
Date posted: 1 Jun 2003
Perhaps the most surprising turn of events in recent months has been the re-surfacing (in a positive light) of the idea of 'empire.' A new book has come out assessing the history of the British Empire non-pejoratively and, indeed, daring to suggest that America should embrace 'empire' as its new manifest destiny.
Few agree. The history of empire, domination, however you cut it, by another power, has little innate marketing appeal. And as President Bush indicated in his recent speech atop a massive aircraft carrier, while some nations had stayed and conquered they had come and now they were going home.