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Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jun 2007

‘I am the Law’

Rochelle and I have now lived in America for seven years. In that short space of time we have been sued twice. I’m not sure if this is a remarkable regularity for Americans, but given that in my entire existence in England previous to that I had never been sued at all, it does seem somewhat astonishing to us.

On one occasion, a driver, without a valid license or registration for his vehicle, was in an accident with ours and proceeded to sue us subsequently for damages to his jacket and tie. It was raining. We stood outside in the rain together. We actually sheltered under the same umbrella which had been kindly donated to us by a member of the church who happened to be passing. The legal procedure was dropped in the end. I know someone has sued for slipping on a back porch because it was wet when it was raining. I ask you: do people have nothing better to do with their time?

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jul 2007

On Sunday June 3, eight of the Presidential hopefuls for the Democratic Party lined up for a publicly televised debate on CNN out of Manchester, New Hampshire.

On Monday June 4, the three ‘first tier’ candidates (Clinton, Obama, Edwards) lined up for a publicly televised event broadcast by CNN out of George Washington University in Washington DC. This time they talked about their faith.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Feb 2007

This week I highlight three diverse stories from the American continent, which in different ways indicate the growing confusion besetting the evangelical movement.

Politics?

First, there is the story running in the Colorado Springs Gazette, published on January 7 2007, concerning the new situation for evangelicals in Colorado Springs. For years, the city has been dubbed ‘the evangelical Mecca’ or ‘the evangelical Vatican’, host to the massively influential ‘Focus on the Family’ ministry of Dobson, and the, until his recent moral demise, charismatic ministry of mega-church leader, Ted Haggard. Last summer, Ted Haggard sat in his book-lined office at New Life Church, smiled, and said: ‘It’s happened. My whole vision has happened.’ But now, as reported in EN, Haggard has been discredited, and the political connections of the evangelical elite with the Republican Party have suffered a trouncing at the polls. Dobson travelled far and wide in support of Republican candidates, but the Democrats took control of Congress. Dobson blamed the party; pundits blamed social conservatives like Dobson. But the real story is that the evangelical-Republican alliance looks shaky.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 May 2007

In the last week, America has been gripped by two very different news events.

Most recently the college campus of Virginia Tech has been rocked by the sudden and unexpected violence of one of its own. A student went on a murderous rampage, killing dozens of fellow students, and eventually (as is all too predictable in such grim farces) committed suicide. This has deeply shocked a nation, for university campuses are still viewed to some extent as havens of learning and reason, and the carnage explodes the myth. As a member of the Yale community I received a forwarded message from Yale’s President Levin expressing the deep condolences of Yale towards the terrible happenings in Virginia.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Apr 2007

What do a US Army General and a left leaning New York magazine have in common? Answer: They both hate torture.

In a fascinating story that spans issues related to the influence of popular media, the actual versus the perceived views of top military brass, the survivability of extreme conservatives even in Hollywood, The New Yorker ran a story this last month that described how the head of West Point (= Sandhurst) confronted the makers of 24 (the hit US drama) about their romanticisation of terror.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jan 2007

First he denied it. Then he confessed it. Now the dust has settled we need to consider it.

What would make Ted Haggard, President of the National Association of Evangelicals, Senior Pastor of New Life Church, a 14,000 member charismatic success story, with the ear of the President of the United States, at only 46 years old a respected member of the evangelical dynasty, what would make him engage in homosexual activity with a male prostitute over three years and take crystal methamphetamine?

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Mar 2007

JONATHAN EDWARDS
The Holy Spirit in Revival
By Michael Haykin. Evangelical Press. 228 pages
ISBN 0 85234 599 2

Michael Haykin’s Jonathan Edwards: The Holy Spirit in Revival is a fine piece of writing indeed.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Mar 2007

It’s been coming for some time. But now it’s here (or thereabouts). Yes, you’ve heard right: in Pennsylvania (a state in America; not China, or North Korea, note!) 75-year-old Arlene Elshinnawy and 70-year-old Lynda Beckman were arrested for sharing their faith on the public sidewalk.

They faced 47 years in jail for spreading the gospel because of a Pennsylvania ‘hate crimes’ law. This law is, I’m told, nearly identical to HR 254, the ‘hate crimes’ bill reintroduced in Con-gress and apparently on the ‘fast track’ in the House Judiciary Committee.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Dec 2006

Halloween, just past, is an American institution, with its kid-friendly ‘Trick or Treat’ tradition, in a way beyond what we experience in England.

Some churches respond to what children’s books call ‘my favourite holiday’ by putting on alternative Halloween events, a Harvest Festival for instance, with sweets and games, where children dress up as they would at Halloween. Other churches, apparently, stage ‘Hell Houses’. These are similar to Haunted Houses but depict with frightening intensity the woes of sins like drugs or alcohol or extra-marital sex and the terminal destination with Lucifer.

It is a privilege to share something of what I have learned about the life and legacy of William Wilberforce. I am of British descent through my mother’s family, and I treasure my ancestral ties to Britain.

America and Britain have always shared a special relationship, one of which William Wilberforce was very well aware. They were, as he saw it, ‘two nations, who are children of the same family, and brothers in the same inheritance of common liberty’.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Oct 2006

‘Jonathan Edwards is my homeboy’ may not carry quite the same ring as Sola Fide, but as a rallying cry for the faithful it blazoned on a recent front cover of Christianity Today. Inside, the leader told the story of an emerging network of young, restless and Reformed Christians. What’s going on?

For some while now, John Piper (http://www.desiringgod.org) has advocated a passionate return to Reformed principles through his now well-known mantra of ‘God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him’. A self-styled ‘divine hedonist’, Piper has appealed to a whole new generation of evangelicals through the Passion conferences that stoke the flames of ardour for God, within a classically biblical (and Jonathan Edwards influenced) framework.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Nov 2006

On the one hand, it’s a small story. It only relates to 50 students or so. Other than a cameo appearance in Love Actually, Wisconsin is not a name brand state.

On the other hand, this is the third in a row. First it was Rutgers University in New Jersey. Then it was Georgetown University. Now the University of Wisconsin has ‘De-recognised’ the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship group. On October 2, IVCF filed suit.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Sep 2006

It was not that long ago — though it seems an age — when Yasser Arafat and Clinton and Co. were touting the latest round of peace initiatives.

With cosy pictures in print, editorials eagerly trumpeting a new day, it was appealing to believe that we were on the verge of a solution to the most troubled of troubled places on the earth. Since then the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has not only dragged on, it has flared into new entrenched hostilities. The ‘two-state’ solution to the area appears intractable. I’m reminded of a British Foreign Office report on the area from much earlier in the 20th century that simply calculated that no political solution was possible because the claims of the peoples were directly competitive.

Following the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989, the work of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) has blossomed remarkably in many countries.

As he comes to the end of his tenure as General Secretary of IFES, Lindsay Brown reflects on some of the marvellous stories of how God has been at work in the lives of students worldwide.

To mark such a special anniversary, a booklet has been produced which outlines this wonderful history. Compiled by IMM’s Hon. General Secretary, David Shillitoe, this testament to God’s work among the mining community makes very encouraging and inspiring reading. The extract below selected by Alicia Felce gives an example.

Having begun in a truly miraculous way with the conversion of a 70-year-old wealthy mine owner, the Mission has moved on to working in challenging situations to bring the gospel to dark places.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jul 2006

I was recently alerted to a rather surprising clause in an application for missionary funding from a major denomination in the United States.

As all large sending agencies, this denomination admirably desires to ensure that its missionaries will be exemplary witnesses to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then there is the surprising clause.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Aug 2006

Several times now I have come across people in a pastoral context whose perception of their experience of God has become dangerously skewed. Some have even thought he was telling them not to eat.

Granted, the Bible does encourage us to fast occasionally. Nonetheless, when the supposed command from God not to eat is taken to a dangerous medical extreme, it is not only legitimate to wonder whether the spiritual experience is genuine, but it is imperative to seek professional help. I have come across other even weirder messages purportedly received from God. The psychological difference between people who think God is telling them to cut their wrists and those who think they are Napoleon is not as great as we might wish.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Apr 2006

Readers of a certain ilk may recognise the reference to an album from the aged rock group Supertramp: ‘Crisis? What crisis?’ The picture on that album ironically captured a man sunbathing with icons of industrial waste in the background.

For many today, the American establishment’s refusal to act on warnings of global warming has a similarly absurd, ostrich-like head in the sand feel. It would be funny if it were not so tragic.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 May 2006

From an English perspective, American industrial might is something to be admired. But America’s giant carmaker General Motors (GM) is in serious trouble. A Peter Pan-like fantasy of forever extendable ‘financing’, or living on ‘the never never’, is taking its toll.

Detroit has long been the centre of the American auto industry; now, however, various factors are combining to make profitability in the Detroit area hard to find. One of the parts suppliers for GM, once itself a part of the GM group, is close to bankruptcy, an issue which will radically affect the profit margin of GM, through delayed or cancelled orders. In terms of business systems, several different issues seem to be involved. To begin with, the global economy, in particular cheap labour and parts from the East, are undercutting the American auto industry’s ability to maintain its market share. GM’s share of cars bought in the US has been slipping for sometime. Also, however, there appear to be archaic, and inevitably unprofitable, expectations in terms of salary from the workers. The much-vilified new president of the parts supplier quipped in one public speech that it was no longer economically feasible to pay $65 per hour for someone to mow the lawns.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Mar 2006

Each year 60,000 people cram into a stadium on a Sunday to watch the Super Bowl.

This year the Rolling Stones provided half time entertainment. Around the nation far more gather around the TV. There are ‘Super Bowl Parties’, events where friends gather to chomp on snacks and watch the game. Advertising for the commercial slots in between breaks in the game are at a premium. Companies pour millions of dollars into their few seconds of fame.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jun 2006

It is an interesting experience having lived for so long as a foreigner. Before coming to America, I lived for a year in the former Soviet Union, and before that for a year in Canada, but by and large most of my life was spent in England (a good ten years of it in Cambridge).

Having now lived for seven or so years in America, it’s becoming increasingly true that I feel the sense of being without home that, for the Christian, underlines the spiritual reality of this world not being our home but that we are ‘just a-passing through’.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jan 2006

A new list of the top ten highest paid Hollywood stars has recently been posted. Julia Roberts tops the bill earning a massive $10 million per film. Ex-Friends star Jennifer Aniston comes in last at a measly $9 million a movie (poor thing).

Statistics are notoriously unpredictable because their seeming precision belies a host of assumptions. Nonetheless these numbers above are pretty straightforward. They give me something of a shudder when I compare them to another statistic someone reported to me the other day: every minute 6,000 people die of hunger.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Nov 2005

Strange as it is may seem to environmentally minded Europeans, the fact remains that many Americans do not think much about global warming.

Could it not be, some wonder, that global warming, including its detrimental side effects like the shrinking polar cap, is merely the result of an unavoidable cyclical increase in global heat? If so rising temperatures are not ultimately due to gas-guzzling SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles), and similar industrial pollutants.

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Feb 2006

Driving back over the Appalachians from a family wedding in Canada we passed Stockbridge. This town was the lesser-known base of operations for Jonathan Edwards’s missionary labours. More famously, Edwards resided in Northampton, the central location for the dramatic revivals of the Great Awakening in New England of the 18th century.

Being something of an Edwards aficionado I was aware of the Edwards Stockbridge connection. I wasn’t cognisant of the even less well-known relationship between Edwards and McDonalds until, as we hurtled by Stockbridge in our minivan, we decided that the time had come to eat. And there and behold we did what surely would have surprised the famous evangelical leader: we picked up a Drive-Thru McDonalds.