Welcome to the weekend!  It’s Master’s Weekend, and you can find the realtime leaderboard here, and online streaming here.

Speaking of the Masters, if you’re following things then you know that one of the meltdown stories was Ernie Ells 9 on the very first hole of the tournament – here’s the video.  My four top pics for Master’s dominance are heading into the weekend in decent shape: Rory, Spieth, Day, and Rose.  I’m hoping for a Jordan v. Rory Sunday special!

Politically speaking, we’re heading into a part of the campaign season that focuses more and more on winning over the delegates headed to Cleveland for the GOP convention.  Politico took a national survey of their insiders – folks who work in the business of politics – and found that 90% of them think a contested convention is likely. I just post that because I’ve had a few folks ask me this week if I thought it was possible – yes, it’s possible, in fact, its probable. What this kind of scenario means is that campaigns must woo the people heading to Cleveland, and/or get local supporters elected as delegates in each state’s convention process – something that differs across the map. This makes things, well, complex!  Team Trump seems to be unprepared for this style of political battle, and reports were out today about a recent example of issues on this front (here’s another story on this front as well). The conventional (no pun intended) wisdom seems to be that Trump needs to win on the first ballot – at least that’s his best shot for taking the nomination. The next two ballots will likely play to Cruz’s strength, and ballots 3, 4, 5 etc. play more into Kasich’s strength – there’s a reason why Cruz and Trump want Kasich stopped prior to this point – also see: Trump, Cruz Work to Block Kasich From Ballot at Open Convention.

Another question I got this week was, “What in the world is all this talk about Paul Ryan being put into nomination?”  Anyone can be nominated at the convention. You don’t have to win any primaries to win the convention and be the nominee. But the likelihood of a “white knight” coming in to steal the show is very unlikely. It’s not unprecedented, but in the modern era, it hasn’t happened.

The next question I keep getting goes something like this, “Why is there a convention at all – why not just let people vote and be done with it? Aren’t we a Democracy, after all?” The shorthand on this (with some background) is this: We are not a Democracy in the strict sense. We are a Republic. The wheels of government in America were designed to move slowly and cautiously, and you might say that the same goes with our elections. Therefore, in a way, the American idea of politics is at root very similar to that of how its government was designed. The latter was built to check the power of one federal branch, the former to check the passions of the populace. Remember, the founders lived through the French Revolution, which left that government destabilized and left the country at the mercy of idiotic (and bloody) popular whims for decades. Even after the formation of the American Government, the founders did not have an easy time of it. Thousands of people were rioting in front of the President’s residence in Philly during Washington’s Presidency over a proposed trade deal with France. Jefferson secretly funded anti-federalist (anti-Washington) newspaper run at arms length by Madison – all the while serving as Secretary of State to Washington (you think SuperPACs and Glenn Beck are out of control, the vitriol during these years was untamed)!  What I’m getting at is this: craziness in the press, dangerous riots of the populace, and high flung rhetoric from rival politicos is nothing new, in fact, I’d say that we could be reverting back to the days of our founders and the wild west of American politics. At least that’s a working theory…

On similar matters….A while back Politico Magazine did a sort of hit piece on John Kasich entitled, ‘How Kasich’s Religion Is Hurting Him With Conservatives’. I thought it was a pretty interesting piece, though not very flattering. The intersection of politics and religion have always shaped the history of the worlds. This is the case for every religious military and political leader since time began. So paying close attention to how these men speak about their faith is important. Learning about their upbringing is significant.  For instance, Kasich’s faith was formed as a boy growing up in the Catholic Church, but was later informed and forever cemented by the tragic death of his parents. Ted Cruz grew up around faith. He made an early profession of faith (as this article describes), but he grew up in a type of church that seems closer to televangelism than a mainstream evangelicalism.  Trump does not have a faith background, but champions the cause of Christians on the stump.  All of these things matter, they are all factors that go into the making of a man/woman, and help paint the portrait of the next leader of the free world.

On the Democratic side, I found a post today over at WaPo extremely interesting.  They detail how Bill Clinton was getting shouted down by a Black Lives Matter protestor this week, and how he responded. The complaint seemed to be that his Crime Bill (from the 90’s) has incarcerated tons of black Americans, and has gone too far – maybe there is some truth to this, which even Clinton acknowledged. But the protestor was holding a sign with an old Hillary quote that was supposedly damning, but that old fox defended the quote, and did so very well. While Bill Clinton certainly ranks as one of the most immoral political figures of the late 20th century, his political skills are still very sharp.  Key Quote from Clinton’s defense:

Clinton pointed to the signs. “This is what’s the matter,” he said. “I don’t know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-olds hopped up on crack and sent them out onto the street to murder other African American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didn’t! …You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter! Tell the truth! You are defending the people who caused young people to go out and take guns.”

Now, on to other items…

There’s an important piece in the Columbus Dispatch about a new church document released by the Pope. The document address several social issues, and the biggest headliner from the theological treatise is that church members should follow their consciences rather than strictly stick to church rules. From what I could tell, this was aimed especially at matters of birth control and allowing divorced members of the church to eventually be allowed to take the sacrament again. The language is very gracious, but what comes screaming off the page of this story is this question: to what are the consciences of these church members bound? If they are to follow them so closely, what is informing them if not church rules? It is the consciences of men that MAKE church “rules/traditions” – and this is nothing short of an accidental admission that church rules aren’t sacrosanct in every single situation in life. What is missing from this is the role of SCRIPTURE. This is what started the Protestant revolution hundreds of years ago. Crisis points in life came, the church had their own rules, and valued them so highly that they couldn’t change them, so they allowed the conscience of church leaders to stomp out objections. But Scripture must be our guide as Christians – it is what binds our conscience! It is the ultimate authority – not a parallel authority to the church, which has just tacitly admitted its own imperfection. I hope my Catholic friends see this amazing story and realize how significant it is. I’ll leave you with the words of Luther when he came to the crisis point before the Council of Worms:

Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason – I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other – my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.

The Wall Street Journal has a good piece on the continuing Clinton Email probe. Here’s a key excerpt, “The judges have taken unprecedented steps to resolve this case. It is exceedingly rare—almost unheard of—for a judge to allow discovery in a FOIA proceeding. This is a testament to how grave Mrs. Clinton’s email problem is.” This is a painful reminder to the Clinton Machine that this problem isn’t going away – and it isn’t simply the figment of a partisan group of GOP conspirators.

This one is kind of silly, but some good points pervade the writing, “Sheep Tragi-Comedy #1,317: ‘The Draad Kruiper'”

Jon Bloom has a good piece this week over at Desiring God called, ‘How to Resist Temptation’s Mirage Moment’. Good insight here, “Satan manipulated Eve’s God-given desire to be happy and used it against her.”  Then, “Don’t allow your passions to be your dictators (Romans 6:12). Remember, emotions are gauges, not guides. They are indicatives not imperatives. They are to be directed, not to be directors.”

Interesting: ‘LaCroix Bubbles Up in Sparkling Water Brand Competition’ – if you’re house is like mine, then you don’t even have pop/soda stocked on your shelves. Instead, we have LaCroix, and a variety of other like-products. Guess we’re just part of a larger trend…

I’ve tried to be more regular in my updates of what books I’ve read this week in addition to the articles and blogs. Only have two for you this week as I’m in the midst of some larger works that are taking more time:

1. The Passionate Preaching of Martyn Lloyd-Jones – Steven J. Lawson – I really enjoyed learning more about Lloyd-Jones, but whether or not this was the best rendering of the Llyod-Jones story, I’m not so sure.  I’ve enjoyed Lawson’s other works a great deal, but felt this wasn’t his best work. It was a bit repititious, and I would have loved to see Lawson dig deeper into the personal details of the great man’s life. The focus, of course, was specifically on the Llyod-Jones’ preaching, and the book certainly maintained a lazer-like focus on that topic. However, some more context about who the man was, including his personal experiences, and interactions with friends and family would have provided me with more appreciation for his life as a whole.
2. When I don’t Desire God – John Piper – I’ve been wanting to read this book for several years now. It’s been on my shelf staring down at me, and I have often averted its gaze, putting off what I hoped to get done “soon”. Well, it was worth the wait!  More direct and refined in style than ‘Desiring God’, Piper has done something really special here. Not only does he summon the right Scriptures in the right way in the right places, but he also brings luminaries from 2000 years of wisdom to bear on his topic. The topic is really the desires of the Christian, and how to “fight for joy” in everyday life. So very practical is this book, and so very well done, that I would whole-heartedly recommend it to any seasoned Christian. You will find perspective, and practicality in these pages, all supported by the weight of Scripture, and the wisdom of a man whose walked the trails of this life for decades.

That’s it – enjoy your weekend!

PJW

Welcome to the weekend!  I read a lot of articles, see a lot of videos and news reports on everything from theology to politics. Because I work in politics and study theology, two years ago friends have asked me to compile what it is exactly that I read throughout the week…here’s your weekend reading…

Front and center in the Wall Street Journal land weekend was gigantic article called ‘ The Challenge of Easter’.  The fact that these kinds of articles can still be written in major newspapers these days is really encouraging.

Speaking of the WSJ, they had an interesting article called ‘It’s Time to Rethink the Bucket List Retirement.’  What they’ve stumbled on here is that humans were never designed for the kind of retirement Americans often picture. Now hundreds of interviews with retired couples have led to the same conclusions that could have come by simply reading the Bible a little more closely…and perhaps listening to some Piper. 

I was interested to see that Tesla’s new ‘Model 3’ will be half the price of its last design.  I have conflicted feelings about the company – they basically subsist on government tax credits (otherwise they’d go belly up) – but I’m intrigued by the concept, and love their designs.

Tim Challies linked to this discouraging little item: Andy Stanley’s Problem with the Bible. For those who have not read much about Andy Stanley, or maybe read a book of his in passing, the sum of his situation is this: some of his earlier stuff is find, but the more he’s done ministry, the less he’s relied on the Bible for his “preaching” and teaching. Sad situation.

Viral Video of the Week: SAD BEN!  I haven’t yet seen the Batman v. Superman movie, but some of you might recall that Snyder’s Superman (to which this is a sequel), had many a pastor lapping up the Hollywood produced Sunday School curriculum – no, I’m not kidding.  On its own merits that movie was, okay.  It was a lot of action, and not a lot of character development. When I saw SAD BEN was going to be cast in the role of Batman, well, let me just say I wasn’t surprised that critics have been harsh.

Top article that I didn’t get to read this week: Has Ken Ham embraced Evolution? 

And I LOVED this article from the Journal on how to tame ‘The Email Beast’ – I’m all about finding ways to be more productive!

On to politics…

The President met with the  Frenchy Prez this week, and the White House must have been taking its editing queues from SAD BEN because they hacked up what that foreign dignitary had to say….oh ya, the topic? Radical Islamic extremely bad terrible terrorists and their terrorism.  Did you ever read 1984? Because….

On the Presidential front, when I evaluated all that I had read this week, I realized that the candidates talked about very little that was substantive.  Here’s a summary: Trump’s Campaign Manager was arrested for battery, Kasich incorrectly ate NY Pizza with a fork – then explained it was scalding hot, Trump said that women should be punished for having abortions – in an imaginary world in which abortion was illegal, even Ann Coulter his biggest superfan was aghast, then he walked it back, then got crucified on local Wisconsin radio (Trump had a bad week). Cruz spent the week talking about how Kasich won’t be eligible at the convention, but RNC rules committee peeps tell a different story saying they’re likely to scrap the 8-state rule, and the shadow campaign for delegates continues which prompted the RNC to put up a little website explaining the convention process, which might be helpful for those of you scratching your heads at all this process-oriented news.

Its been a long time since our President was truly picked at a convention – but this is the kind of thing that used to happen more frequently. There have been presidents who were picked without even showing up to the convention. So Americans need to start getting a better handle on how the process works. As things continue forward, you’re going to see more scintillating stories like this one: ‘Unbound Republican Delegates Could Decide Trump Nomination.’

A side note to my friends: Most of you know that I’m working for Kasich. But I know and see his flaws – my close friends understand this. If you know me well, then you also know I’m not the biggest fan of Ted Cruz and I feel strongly that Donald Trump is Nikabrik’s Candidate. That said, I have tried to be fair in my conveying of information to you, though I am not going to be unbiased and have zero obligation to be so.  My non-political friends always want to know my thoughts on politics, and my political friends often want good recommendations on theological/Christian reading. I appreciate the emails and the engaging notes and phone calls I’ve gotten on the Presidential race, and appreciate the correction and guidance of good friends!

In case you missed it, there’s a big battle going on in GA right now over religious liberty.  The battle lines are Corporations (and now the GOP governor) vs. the conservative statehouse and the people they represent. Here’s the NYT story. Here’s a poll my firm produced on that matter. Sort of a classic case of the evil corporations versus the will of the American people.

Straying away from politics now, you might have heard that Mother Teresa is on her way to sainthood.  What does that mean exactly? Tim Challies explains the interesting process here. 

Lastly, what books have I read/finished in the last week or so, and were there any worth recommending?  Here’s the list:

1. Carry on Mr. Bowditch – Jean Lee Latham – I read this with my kids, and really enjoyed it. It’s the true story of Nat Bowditch, often considered one of the founders of modern sea navigation. I especially liked how it instills a positive outlook on Math for the kids.
2. Humility: True Greatness – C.J. Mahaney – I read this with some good friends and truly enjoyed it. One of the best sections of the book was how Mahaney described sleep. Interesting stuff – you’ll have to pick it up for yourself!
3. Kidnapped – Robert Louis Stevenson – I’m trying to read more classics, and this was one of my favorites from childhood. It was equally enjoyable as an adult. I loved all the Scottish isms!
4. Homer’s The Odyssey: Christian Guides to the Classics – Leland Ryken – My daughter Chloe had been putting a report together on The Odyssey, so I picked this slender book up as a trial run of sorts. Ryken has a wonderful gift for showing how classical literature interacts with Biblical principles. It reminded me of how Tolkien always said that every good story reminds us of the Great Story. I would definitely recommend any resource from Ryken on literature.
5. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume III – Edward Gibbon – this was volume three in my quest to read through Gibbon’s legendary 6 volume history of Rome’s fall. This one was interesting because it included a lot of interaction between the famed Bishop Ambrose, and Justinian (the mother of the western emperor at the time). This is doctorate (or higher) level reading though. Every sentence is so chalked full of million dollar words that I find myself enjoying the reading simply for the language!
6. Beowulf – Tolkien translation – I must admit that this was tough sledding. There are easier english translations out there, but the great thing about this edition was the commentary Tolkien provides in the back. Very helpful.
7. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship – Colin Duriez – This book took me WAY too long to read, but that’s because I didn’t want to finish it too quickly!  For a nerd like me, it was like savoring a rich coffee or fine brandy – you don’t want to gulp it down. You want to let the flavors dance on your tongue a little. I found the writing here pretty good, and the interactions between Tolkien and Lewis helpful in understanding their literary worlds.

That’s it!  Have a great weekend!

PJW

Welcome to Easter Weekend!  If you’re new, or relatively new, to this email/blog then you’ll know this is coming a bit later than normal, so I apologize for that.  This is a very short post – I figure most people won’t spend a lot of time reading articles this weekend.  Nevertheless, I do hope these are helpful, and want to wish you a happy Easter!

Let’s get the politics out of the way first. You may not have seen the President’s comments in Cuba about Communism and Capitalism. He basically says they’re both pretty much the same, and encourages young people to just pick what works for them. Obviously this is a man who is, at the very least, intellectually disingenuous, and the worst he is negligent and guilty of gross inaccuracies.  Perhaps he has forgotten the tens of millions of people enslaved and killed under the communist system (including the many jailed and killed in Cuba!!).  As I read my daughter a book on WWII this week, I couldn’t just breeze past the final statistic re: the 70 million people killed during that war. The 20th century was the bloodiest of all the previous human centuries combined. Much of this killing was triggered and carried out by nations and dictators enforcing the failed system of communism. Of course capitalist countries contributed to the killing, but not as a direct result of their capitalist ideology, and not of their own people on such a mass scale. It was a reminder to me that we have a responsibility to pass along accurate information to the next generation and the President’s words were inaccurate and irresponsible.

On the campaign trail I was saddened to see the presidential campaign descend into the gutter. An Anti-Trump super pac (not affiliated with any campaign) took a shot at Melania Trump’s previous modeling – specifically her nude pose for GQ some (15?) years ago.  Trump used it as an opportunity to insult Heidi Cruz’s appearance, and tweeted out an unflattering comparison picture of Mrs. Cruz next to his (3rd) wife. It highlighted again the past comments that Trump had said about women, and saddened me for where the discourse has gone in this race.  I used to be concerned that Trump would be our next President, and it would degrade the office, and our country. But after a whole new battery of polling, I was reminded that Trump is likely to get clobbered in November. He’s down double digits to one of the most disliked and corrupt politicians in America. Cruz is within the margin – he’s down in some polls and up a few in others. Kasich routinely beats Clinton, but DC-types have spent the better part of a week trying to push him out of the race.  It’s sort of like a mutually assured suicide mission. People can’t seem to decide if Kasich is a spoiler (per Cruz), or if he’s actually helping stop Trump in northern and eastern states where Cruz gets clobbered. I’ll let you judge for yourself on that one. The Wall Street Journal describes the situation in ‘The Republican Predicament’. 

In the past week, we also saw devastating terror attacks in Brussels. If you need a recap of the situation with charts and maps, then you can find that here. 

This was really neat, and its the best link of the week. It’s a slide show called ‘Stations of the Cross’, and will help you think through Jesus’ final 24 hours. 

Tim Challies just finished up a series called ‘The Character of the Christian’, and in his final post he describes one essential quality that (as someone in politics) I’ve wrestled with in the past: ‘Respected by Outsiders’

I appreciated this news story about a civilian who stopped a hatchet-wielding (terrorist?) man with his conceal-carry weapon. This guy saved many lives! (h/t mom).

I meant to link this a few weeks ago, its a blog post that’s taken from R.C. Sproul’s book ‘The Prayer of the Lord’. The post is called ‘Don’t Pray like a Pagan.’  I really enjoyed the book, and the post definitely has some items worth pondering.

Two items I didn’t get to read, but plan on reading this weekend: ‘The Root of Mental Health’ – by John Piper, and, ‘Is America Next’ – a politico piece on why Europe seems to get a lot of these terror attacks, but the US has had relatively few comparatively.

Finally, if you’re looking for a good read on the resurrection, one of my favorites (h/t Jack J.) is called ‘Rabboni’ by Geerhardus Vos.  I will leave you with an excerpt:

In vain does Calvary proclaim that the Lord is dead, in vain does the tomb declare that he has been buried, in vain does the absent stone suggest that they have taken him away—this threefold witness will not convince Mary that he has gone out of her life forever. And why? Because in the depth of her being there was an even more emphatic witness which would not be silenced but continued to protest that she must receive him back, since he is her Savior. Contact, communion with Christ had become to her the vital breath of her spiritual life; to admit that the conditions rendering this possible had ceased to exist would have meant for her to deny salvation itself.

Welcome to the weekend!  In the days since Tuesday’s major elections I think its fair to say that I’ve seen more ridiculous news coverage, more panic in the conservative media, and more idiotic theories on the outcome of the Presidential race than one brain is allowed to digest.  Nonetheless, there were some decent tidbits out there, and definitely some edifying non-political items I saw and read this week.  Here’s what I read – enjoy!

Let me get to this whole topic of a contested political convention because I’m getting a lot of folks asking me about it.  Yes, it’s going to happen. So who has the best chance? I think Cruz and Kasich (and no I don’t think Kasich is just blocking for Trump or being some kind of “spoiler”). Why? Well, read this story on the delegate problem Trump still has, and it will help you understand why its entirely possible – indeed probable – that either Cruz or Kasich will be the GOP nominee. Hence this story from Politico.  I won’t digress on the numbers and exasperate you, but the gist is that as much as we hear that it’s impossible for Kasich and unlikely for Cruz to get the nomination pre-convention (true), it’s equally as improbable that Trump wins at a convention – which is where we are headed. This is why: many people aren’t considering that on the 2nd or 3rd ballot, delegates to the convention will no longer be “bound” (forced by the rules) to vote for Trump. Those delegates are people – PARTY people who will likely vote for Kasich or Cruz. If Trump doesn’t do a good job getting his people sent to the convention (much of the process for delegate selection varies by state, but its organized by state parties and local parties whom Trump is apparently not working closely with from an organizational perspective), then there’s no mathematical way he will win the nomination because his high water mark will the the first ballot. This runs contrary to the media’s narrative of course – even the right wing media.

SIDE NOTE: I think its generally a good rule of thumb for pundits and journalists NOT to endorse candidates (duh). But some of those whom I’ve listened to and admired for years in the right wing media (Levin, Erickson, Beck et all) have violated that principle and with it they’ve sacrificed much of their credibility. I don’t mind promoting ideas and speaking glowingly about a particular candidate or two, but a lot of the rhetoric I’m seeing from these people (Ann Coulter doesn’t count as she’s never been part of the civil discourse) is just as vile as what we see from Donal Trump – seriously! Glenn Beck and Mark Levin are literally cursing John Kasich out for stomping on their dreams of a Cruz Presidency. They’re no longer behaving as principled thinkers commentating on the race from a conservative perspective. Instead they’ve become advocates for a particular person/candidate, with the indecent unprofessional rhetoric one might expect at a Trump rally, and not on the pages or airwaves of conservative intellectualism.

Team Trump is starting to realize some of this convention math (I think – at least on some level) and that’s why Trump is starting to say things like “I should just win automatically”. Of course he made MORE news by saying there will be “riots” if he doesn’t get the nomination. 

There are the facts as they stand now. It’s all math, and process at this point and it will be interesting to see how it goes down…

I could post a bunch of the outrageous stuff Trump has said this week (or done), or post stories about the close race in MO, or Kasich’s giant victory in Ohio or Cruz’s Romney endorsement ahead of the Utah caucuses, but I’m sure you’ve seen all that, right?  So on to other stuff!

This is really cool: King Tut may have shared his tomb, possibly with his stepmother

This was not:  More Ex-Gitmo detainees suspected of returning to terrorism

Okay – slight deviation into the political again…my good friend, and devoted Weekend Reading aficionado, Dave C. was interviewed last week about some research he did on the was in which Trump sells his message. I’m still reading this and pondering it, but I’m proud of Dave, he’s a brilliant guy and deserves a shout out!

Has anyone noticed that Kindle and Audible now offer this combined service where you can listen to your kindle book at the same time as you read it?  My friend Matt calls this ‘The Wenzel Method’ because I’ve been doing it for years – only with hard cover books (you know, those faithful friends who stare down at you from their lofty, and well-earned pedestals in your home).  I’m super excited to learn more about it…

Marshall Segal wrote this thoughtful article on Desiring God’s blog called ‘The Insanity of Self-Care’.  I definitely found it thought provoking.

AND!!!  The Read Scripture people have released their latest video – this one is on the book of Judges. These are so cool and I know you’ll enjoy this.

Speaking of interesting videos – I liked this one (I think Challies posted it maybe?) on where in the world Wingdings came from.

Also – Russell Moore tweeted (is that supposed to be in caps???) this video out about Heaven and Earth.  It dives into these two concepts – especially from a “spacial” perspective, and it explores some of the Biblical terminology involved in these concepts.  These guys have made some interesting videos – helpful for all ages I think, and worth bookmarking if you can’t watch it right away.

I meant to link to this last week, but Challies wrote a short and thought-provoking blog on the nature of justice. Mainly it was about whether it was just for a pretty decent person to spent eternity in Hell. We’re not talking about the Hitler’s of the world here, he’s talking about the average joe – a good guy/gal, yet one who never puts their faith in Christ. How are we to think of eternity as the punishment.  I don’t think Tim C. elaborates too much here, but he points in the right direction. I believe it was Anselm who originally got dove into this with gusto and gave the church the foundational reasoning that is used in this blog.

I appreciated this article on Tim Keller’s church ‘Redeemer Presbyterian’ in NYC and how they’re reaching out to religious skeptics through Q&A sessions. (h/t Olivia D.!)

BOOKS! — It’s time for an update on what I’ve been reading and can recommend to you. Here’s what I finished in the past week or so with some thoughts:

1. The Children of Hurin – J.R.R. Tolkein – this is a wonderful story in the tragic sense. For the more learned Tolkein fan, it will really fill in gaps from the Silmarillion.
2. Every Good Endeavor – Tim Keller – given to me by my mom, this is surely another classic! Really got at the purpose for working, and explored every facet of this topic without going too overboard. Wonderful, wonderful read.
3. The Knight’s Map – R.C. Sproul (for the kids!) – My buddy Matt got me this wonderful book by R.C. Sproul, and I read it with the kids this week. It is Sproul’s 100th book, and it’s probably one of my favorites from his children’s selection thus far.
4. A History of Weapons – John O’Bryan – this was a Christmas gift, and I was left laughing out loud (and nearly waking up Kate the other night) the entire time. It is…well, very crass! But if you can get past it, and if you’re interested in the history of weaponry, this is hilarious (not for kids).
5. The 4-Hour Body – Timothy Ferris (relevant sections) – I went back and read many of the sections in this book as I have decided its time to get back into better shape. The good thing about this book is how its tailored for people who don’t have a ton of time for nonsense. The bad thing is how worldly and self-absorbed Ferris is. I am hesitant to recommend the book in its entirety, but its probably one you’d profit from checking out of the library and skimming the best parts.
6. Do More Better – Tim Challies – A big “thank you” to Kate for this gift. Every year I try to read a book on being organized, and this book was a short primer on just that. It was enjoyable and helpful and has me tweaking my daily routine already.
7. The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to becoming a whiskey know-it-all – Richard Betts – a great (mercifully short) tutorial on whiskeys (I’m American so that’s how I spell it!). The downside is that the “scratch and sniff” parts aren’t very scented or helpful *sigh*.
8. Star Wars Storyboards: The Original Trilogy – J.W. Rinzler – even though this is a picture book for the most part, with constituent notes and footnotes, I studied it closely and spent a good deal of time using it to mimic the drawings, and learn more from the perspectives of the authors/artists. I really enjoyed this one!
9. Becoming Worldly Saints – Michael Wittmer – This book was fantastic!  It was mostly review, but it was GOOD review. It has a high quality about it, and its perfect for a Christian who might be thinking “can I be a Christian and still enjoy life???”.  Well researched, well written, downright hilarious in spots, I would recommend this unabashedly to anyone looking for a good read.

That’s it!  I hope you enjoy your weekend!

PJW

Good morning, and welcome to your weekend!  After over a week of traveling, I’m glad to be home, and want to share some of the best videos, articles, blog posts etc. that I read this week. I have also posted below a summary of my thoughts on the Trump candidacy.

My favorite blog this week was found over at ScribblePreach: 35 Totally Random Life Hacks. One of those “live hacks” was how to read a book a week (or something like that), and it was a link to this helpful blog (yes I went down the rabbit hole a bit here).

Thanks to Marty G. who sent along this helpful explanation of what the heck a “Franchise Tag” was. 

In case you missed it, Jerry Bridges died this week. Because Nancy Reagan also passed away, it could easily have gone unnoticed. After all, Bridges was a very humble man, though his work left an outsized influence on many people – including myself. The book that most affected me by bridges was ‘The Transforming Power of the Gospel‘.  This is one of the few books in my library that both Kate and I have underlined and marked up separately, so that the book now tells a tale in the margins of how impactful each sentence was to each of us. In honor of Bridges, here are a few quotes from that book:

Therefore, I believe that a biblical definition of grace is God’s blessings through Christ to people who deserve His curse.

The truth is, God’s approval does have to be earned. That is what Christ did for us.

Consciousness of one’s own sinfulness and assurance of forgiveness are the foundation of our love for God.

We all, having trusted in Christ alone for our salvation, have a tendency to revert to a performance-based relationship with God.

Justification means that in our standing before God, we are righteous in His sight.

God’s justice and God’s mercy met at the cross, and both are duly magnified.

…the gospel keeps us from discouragement as we see how continually and how far short we come in obedience.

…this is where spiritual transformation really begins – when we begin to see that even our best deeds on our best days are like a polluted garment before an infinitely holy God.

This transformation into the image of Jesus is much more than a change of outward conduct; rather it is a deep penetrating work of the Holy Spirit in the very core of our being, what the Bible calls the heart – the center of our intellect, affection, and will.

The bare Scripture by itself is of no avail apart from the Spirit’s applying it to our hearts.

If we are going to “preach the gospel to ourselves” each day, we need to memorize key gospel verses.

Godliness is basically God-centeredness. It means to live all of life in awareness of our absolute dependence on God and our accountability to Him in both the spiritual and temporal dimensions of life.

Reading Bridges definitely helped propel me down the path of spiritual maturity – which is the topic of this column that Challies linked to this week, and Derek S. brought to my attention: 10 Marks of an Immature Believer. 

This was a really funny little parody: Ease Your Conscience By Finding The Gospel Theme™ In Any Filthy Movie

DID YOU KNOW?: The Clocks at Grand Central Station Are Permanently Wrong

FINALLY someone has written on this: The Science Behind Why It Hurts So Much to Step on a LEGO

In an interesting opinion piece, The Wall Street Journal says that ‘Abortion Has a Market Problem.’

HILARIOUS: 100 Days of Trump

TEDIOUS but interesting: The Coming Trainwreck: Rules at the 2016 Republican National Convention

This Tuesday we’ll have another series of Presidential Primary elections. The two most consequential will be Florida and Ohio. There’s tremendous pressure on John Kasich and Marco Rubio to win their home states. In light of this important election, I’ll now repost some articles I already posted up on Facebook earlier this week, and others I just finished reading that were helpful.

First – Jon Bloom at Desiring God has written a piece just yesterday called ‘How to Recognize a Foolish Leader’. The picture on the piece is that of Trump, but no candidate is mentioned by name in the piece. He uses Proverbs to help us think through the difference between a fool and a wise man.

Catholic Scholar George Weigel has written a piece called ‘RESISTING THE DEMAGOGUE’, which is essentially a call to not vote for Donald Trump. This piece covers some of the basics (h/t Lisa W.), but I think a more substantial essay was compiled by a professor in Dayton called ‘Trump, Evangelicals, and the Road Ahead.‘ And much of the sentiment here was embodied in a previous article I had linked to called, ‘NIKABRIK’S CANDIDATE’, for those of you who love C.S. Lewis’ writing, this latter article will speak to you powerfully – especially if you’re like me and believe the Washington political cartel needs cleaned out.  In a much more virulent argument, the sometimes petulant and often irritating Erick Erickson has written this humdinger ‘The More a Person Follows Christ, The Less a Person Supports Trump‘. It’s hard to argue with him though.

Since I’ve been texted, called, emailed about this manifold times in the last week, let me offer my own thoughts briefly on the electoral situation on the Republican side – particularly as it relates to Donal Trump.  First, I would note that I am working for John Kasich. I’m no “homer”, I know and agree with some of the substantial problems with Kasich, but I know its an honorable thing to work for him as well, and think he’d make a good President. My concerns with Trump do not stem from my disposition toward Kasich.

I have a two-pronged concern with Donald Trump. First, on moral grounds, it is hard to choose him above the 3 others (Cruz, Rubio, Kasich) because he is an immoral man who brags about his foolishness and his sin. All of the candidates are sinners – there’s a difference though between someone who is a sinner, and one who wouldn’t acknowledge they are a sinner, nor seek forgiveness. This is not wisdom. Any man who doesn’t have this small amount of wisdom will not have the perspective to deal with large problems facing our country.

The second prong is political. I posted that article above about Trump being the ‘Nikabrick’ candidate because of the temptation we all feel toward picking someone who will do more than shake up the political and party establishment – we want a thorough cleansing of the cartel. Personally, though its important, I would have people not focused so much on the GOP/Party power brokers and what Trump would do to that structure, and more on how he would govern. What would he do with large departments that are hurting our economy and our country (EPA, Education Dept. et all), and how would he reform the Pentagon, while rebuilding our army etc. How would he deal with the corruption of the Federal Reserve? How would he work with Congress? How would he – practically and realistically speaking – achieve this immigration solution?  NO ONE KNOWS.  This is my issue with Trump. He appeals to the hopes – and mostly the fears – of Americans with zero specifics, only slogans. Slogans are an empty train that get filled up with corrupt policy compromises once one is elected. Like President Obama, Donald Trump is campaigning on zero specificity, zero substance, and the “hope” that once elected he will miraculously achieve all of these grand government-shrinking feats.

I would like to believe that Trump is able or even willing to do this. But politically, we can only go on what he has said, and done in the past. He has been a liberal his entire life, and given generously to both the GOP establishment and the leftist elites. He routinely changes his mind/positions are facts, issues, and opinions so as to make Bill Clinton look amateurish! The only thing we can conclude logically is that he will continue his nature as a deal making compromiser and compromise on major moral issues. Interestingly, one fear of conservatives in electing a Senator is that they will compromise on big legislative pieces when the time comes (because that’s how the Senate functions). The problem with Trump is that with a man who is morally bankrupt, the odds (and that is an important word in dealing with the reason people support Trump) are better that the compromises will not be insignificant or mere peripheral policy matters. Why? Because there are no guiding conservative worldview principles that tether him.

The reason people want to support Trump defies logic or realism. It defies Trump’s history and everything we know about him – even from this campaign alone. The reason people support Trump is that emotionally they want his rhetoric to be true. They are willing to play the odds that, despite what we know of him, a Trump Presidency will tear down both the Party/GOP established political class, AND get rid of the corruption and bloat in government…only to replace it with what? TBD…No one knows…

The inevitable question then becomes: If Trump wins the primary, will you vote or work for him over Hillary?  My answer is “YES”.  It is entirely possible that Trump will be as dangerous as Hillary to the economy and the stability of the world abroad – for entirely different reasons. But I will wager (here we go again with odds…) that even a “fool” who has guidance from conservatives will appoint better Supreme Court Justices than Hillary Clinton. Who the next President appoints to the Court will shape our country for a generation (or more) to come. That is reason enough not only to vote for Trump in a general election, but to work hard to get him elected – even if you’re just playing the odds that if he appoints 4 justices, 3 will be tolerable.

The case in point is that we know who Donald Trump is as a person, but we do not know much in the way of specifics policy-wise. What we do know from his rhetoric contrasts with his political history. Many of my friends feel like the odds are worth it. That if we don’t elect a radical now, we’ll have no chance to get the country on track in the near future.  My contention is that if you are looking at this purely as a matter of playing the odds in a high stakes game (which this is), then the odds on bet is actually that Donald Trump will govern more like he has behaved morally & politically in the past, and therefore be a disaster for the country. 

Obviously there are more points to be made, more thoughts to flesh out, and more we will have yet to learn about all of these candidates. But these are my current thoughts, and hopefully they are helpful to you as you head to the polls on Tuesday.

PJW

Welcome to the weekend! Here are the top stories and videos and more that I read this week.  I fear this is going a “speed” version due to time constraints!

I enjoyed these 9 “zingers” from Justice Scalia and also this column from my old boss Ken Blackwell on Scalia’s memorial service, writing for Family Research Council.

PRESIDENTIAL: Speaking of FRC, they wrote up a scathing, and perhaps deserved, action alert against Gov. Kasich this week. I was disappointed by the lack of eloquence by the Governor on this issue, and wish he would have spoken more strongly in favor of our first amendment rights, even as he was trying to thread a delicate cultural needle.

MORE on the presidential front…Real Clear Politics co-founder made a great case for Kasich staying the race. Meanwhile Rubio had a very strong debate last night, even earning the endorsement of uber-conservative Red State editors. Much of their endorsement hinged on electoral arguments.

If you missed the debate, the Washington Post has a nice 3 minute summary HERE. 

Also, this interesting view from Bloomberg columnist Al Hunt on why Cruz isn’t out of the mix yet, and Rubio isn’t a shoo-in. During the debate last night, there was a very terse (and entertaining) back and forth between Trump and Rubio on healthcare. Here’s a story about it. Earlier in the week there was some drama in Cruz world – he had to fire his communications director (a senior position in campaign world).  Finally, Chris Cillizza argues somewhat convincingly that Trump has major math on his side. 

Hilarious: Donald Trump Clearly Doesn’t Understand How Dogs Work

Disgusting: Donald Trump Said A Lot Of Gross Things About Women On “Howard Stern” – NOTE: this definitely contains mature and disgusting content…if you click on this, ask yourself this: is this man worthy to be President of the United States?

Frightening: Donald Trump: We’re going to ‘open up’ libel laws

Read more: Donald Trump: We’re going to ‘open up’ libel laws

Well Said: Death of Antonin Scalia accentuates the importance of elections for American public and private life

NeRd AlErT: Delegate Allocation by State

Best Blog of the Week: Sex on the Silver Screen. If this doesn’t chill you to the bone, and make you rethink your casual viewing habits, then I don’t know what will.

Essential Reading: Socialism is Evil. Rick Phillips at his best. He says, “To students of such arcane history as the 20^th Century, the prospect of socialism is chilling.  There is a reason why some Americans want to erect a wall to keep illegal immigrants out, whereas socialist countries have built their walls to keep people in.”

Best Post I haven’t read yet: NIKABRIK’S CANDIDATE (h/t Adam J.)

Whose Surprised? While US Attorney General, Eric Holder Used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Birth Name as His Official Email Address

FOOT IN MOUTH DISEASE…

Spectacular! – Video of the week.

ICYMI: Ramón Castro, elder brother of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raúl, dies at 91…”and there was much rejoicing” – Monty Python

Best excuse for sin ever: A Brazil woman’s plastic surgery turned her into a kleptomaniac…guess this proves oxygen is a good thing…

Most interesting article of the week according to Challies, but it was actually sent to me from by my friend Dennis L….‘Research Has Spoken: This Is the Number One Predictor of Divorce’ —- Lots to digest here, and I’d say that there is a lot of truth to this one. Funny how many years it took researchers to figure this out scientifically, when all they had to do is open the Bible open and read a few verses…

Fantastic: The dangers of DIY spirituality.  Key graph, “Spiritually speaking, we’re like the stereotypical man driving around lost, refusing to ask for directions, unable to see that our pride only evidences our desperate need. Or in the more frightening picture offered by journalist Mark Vernon, we’re like participants in an extreme sport who take neither safety precautions nor seek coaching.”

Tim Challies helpfully writes this week on the spiritual disease that is ravaging this world. Here’s the best quote, “Satan specializes in transforming blessings into curses, and we see undeniable evidence of his handiwork in the world around us. Affluence is meant to be a blessing, not a curse. Wealth is meant to be a joyful responsibility that frees us to do good to others and bring glory to God. It is a curse only when it turns into full-blown affluenza, when we shift our allegiance from the One who gives the gift to the gift itself.”

That’s it!  Have a great weekend!!

PJW

Welcome to the Weekend Reading! Sorry this is so late in posting, I was up reading last night way too late!  But it does give me a few good book recommendations for you – if you enjoy a good sermon, if you are interested in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein and mythology and friendship, and if you’re interested in thinking through Biblical questions systematically with one of the most brilliant minds of the last 100 years.

Now to the stories I read this week…I’m going to jumble this up a little this week…enjoy!

Thanks to my buddy Parris for making sure I saw this TV parody that Ted Cruz put out this week. If you’ve ever seen The Office (the movie), then you’ll appreciate this one. (warning, some language here).

Speaking of language…the NYTimes (of all publications) wrote up an article on how despite the obscene language of Donald Trump, he still draws a significant percentage of the evangelical vote. Will it hurt him in South Carolina?

You may have noticed that scientists just may have proven (?) Einstein’s theory about relativity as it regards space. In other words – to paraphrase my brother Alex – “space is a thing, not just a nothingness…more like water than like air even.”  This obviously has implications – including the possibility that time is a thing, or can be got outside of or (add in smart point that I don’t understand yet).  Here’s a NOVA video I’m told I need to watch to understand this all more. Anyway, this is a big deal…

When you think of all the bowing and sucking up so-to-be-ex-president obama has done with Iran, this will make you absolutely furious. So don’t read it if you’re in a good mood…but still, its a must read at some point!

QUESTION: Should golfers be allowed to wear shorts on the tour? 

Rare Happy Political Story: Forbes has a write up about Greg Gianforte in Montana. In the words of that great Sam Neil character from Hunt for Red October, “I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck… maybe even a “recreational vehicle.” And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?”

John Kasich won the runner-up status in New Hampshire this week, shocking a lot of politicos who might have been rooting on Chris Christie or something. WaPo had a story about his election night speech. The LA Times says that all the folks who did well in NH shared one quality: Authenticity.

During last Saturday’s debate, Ted Cruz got skewered for how his campaign put out notice (false notice) that Ben Carson had dropped out of the Iowa Caucuses. He then responded with a bunch of gobbledeguk (that is a technical term) essentially blaming it all on CNN…seriously. This is one of the reasons I can’t support this guy, he didn’t just fire those responsible and apologize. Instead you get this awkward “apology” followed by a bunch of excuses. Immediately CNN put out a story detailing how this was incorrect – the title of their story: Ted Cruz is Wrong about CNN’s Reporting.

If you missed the debate, here were Politico’s 11 most explosive moments.  

This was shocking to me: How Google Stole the Work of Millions of Authors. As convenient as Google is, I’d love to see their business crippled and people jailed for this. Hard to imagine such brashness at such a level meeting absolutely no check.

I sort of feel bad for Democrats this year. They’re trying to choose between a socialist and a soon-to-be felon.  The Wall Street Journal has a piece about the socialism of Sanders that I found interesting.

And since you can tell I read a lot of the WSJ this week, indulge me in two more recommendations. 1. Golfers in the Amazon and 2. Basketball’s Jump-Shot Revolution. 

Post-Super Bowl, Al Mohler dissected the outrage from NARAL over that hilarious Doritos commercial. He spends too much time on it, but you’ll get the idea after a minute or two.

During my Bible reading this week, I found this devotional helpful: The Sanctity of Truth.  

Worth a Skim: 5 Things You Can Give to God Every Day. 

Finally, here are three articles I didn’t read this week but will be on MY Saturday reading list!  1. What Ivy League students are reading that you aren’t 2. The Creepy, Mysterious, & Interesting History of Valentines Day 3. Why Did God Create the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

That’s it!  Sorry this was so late in coming, but I hope you enjoy your weekend. I want to leave you with some parts of the sermon from Martyn Llyod-Jones that I was reading last night. It is an exposition of 2 Corinthians 4:17-18…

The difficulty with us is that we are all so immersed in the petty problems of life that we do not see life as a whole. And what this Christian faith gives us is the capacity to see life steadily and to see it whole. I sometimes like to think of the Christian faith as something that takes people up in an airplane or up to the top of a high mountain and enables them to view the whole landscape, the great panorama. Christians have a complete, a perfect, a whole view of life…A Christian is a person who has been justified by faith and has peace with God, a person who stands in grace in Christ Jesus and rejoices in hope of the glory of God. The Christian is someone who has been given a glimpse of eternity.

Welcome to another cold and frosty February weekend! This is the weekend reading, an listing (with some commentary) of the most interesting and relevant articles, videos, blogs and more from this past week. So in case you were leading a normal life this week, you may have missed some of this, so enjoy a quick catch up…

A very interesting interview from December of 1970 with Martyn Llyod-Jones was sent my way this week, and is still pertinent today. He is addressing the “modern image of man” by a secular reporter. What follows is brilliance. (h/t to my mom!)

A very odd news story from the AP cropped up this week that had several of my friends shaking their heads – turns out that the government will pay you thousands of dollars to stay out of jail! (h/t Marty G.)

The Wall Street Journal has a helpful travel article on ‘The Surprisingly Easy Way to Score a Year of Free Flying’. 

On immigration…The Washington Examiner says, ‘We might as well abolish our immigration laws altogether’. 

For all of you Downton Abby lovers, you’ll enjoy – Downton Abby meets Star Wars

FYI – this month’s FREE Christianaudio.com title is ‘I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist’.  I haven’t read this book, but I have heard its very good. Although, theologically, I believe Geisler is soteriology backwards, I respect his apologetic abilities, and I hear this books is really interesting.

The one story I wanted to read but didn’t have time: Inside the Sneaker Industry: How NBA Shoe Deals Work. 

Now to the Presidential election, where there was plenty of activity…

HILARIOUS: Colbert has Donald Trump debate himself

NOT Colbert: Donald Trump rolls out the expletives at Portsmouth rally (this is the guy Jerry Falwell Jr. endorsed…still want to send your kids to Liberty?)

Big to-do over Ted Cruz’s “dirty” tactics in Iowa…this is rather unfortunate, it looks like the Cruz campaign deliberately deceived Carson supporters.  Cruz ended up winning the Caucus – results HERE.  I’m not sure how much his tactics really hurt Carson, who ended up actually over-performing his polling expectations.  Besides the Carson issue, Cruz sent controversial mailers in an effort to “shame” voters into turning out to vote on caucus day. 

The week already wasn’t going well for Carson: Ben Carson slashes staff as funds dry up

Turns out that Jeb Bush spent about $2,884 per vote that he received in Iowa...not a great ROI.

Pretty Funny: Top 10 Political Cliches 

Even Funnier –  Poor, Awkward Jeb Bush Is Giving People Secondhand Embarrassment

In the lead up to the New Hampshire primary election on Tuesday, Trump is resisting staff pleas for increased ground forces and data. Sort of an industry process story, but interesting.

And ‘Candidates try to avoid knockout in N.H.’ 

If you’re living in somewhere NOT named New Hampshire, then you may not have seen the candidate ads (I know, you’re missing out, right?!).  Here’s the best Bush ad (really good), here’s Kasich’s closing argument, Tim Scott on Rubio.  New Carson video on Cruz voicemails in Iowa…

Other items you may have missed…Kasich SNOWBALL FIGHT! AND…Rubio Iowa speech…AND this guy can’t stand Chris Christie!  Kasich: I’d be the worst VP ever!

And finally, some levity thanks to friends in Montana who sent this along earlier in the week: