Very soon,  I will start posting my top 25 Redone Hymns*. I will begin with #25 and post a hymn each day.  I will make a little youtube “video” that will have the music and lyricsfor each hymn.

I hope you enjoy the list. Feel free to comment about each hymn or the list in general.

See you tomorrow,

MT

*A Redone hymn is a pre-existing  hymn text that has been put to new music.

What you see above is a widget for a new website created, in part, by my friend, singer/songwriter Derek Webb. The premise of this site is simple. “Artists want to know, connect with, and be supported by music fans. Music fans want high-quality, free (or variably priced) music and to be rewarded, not punished, for sharing the music they love with their friends. We believe that if artists and fans work together, everyone can get what they want. ”

“A great record is its own best marketing tool,” says Derek Webb, singer/songwriter and Co-Founder of NoiseTrade. “All the marketing dollars in the world can’t accomplish what one great record can, especially if it’s set free to roam around and connect with the right people.” In 2006 Webb gave away his ‘Mockingbird’ record for free online, asking in return for a little information (name, email address, and postal code), and as part of the process, for fans to invite their friends to download as well.

In three month’s time Webb gave away over 80,000 full downloads of his record and collected valuable information for as many new fans. In addition, Derek has since seen many sold out shows and increased merchandise and record sales, including a curious spike in sales of the very record that was given for free.

It was the massive success of this experiment that inspired Webb, with the help of a few trusted friends, to start NoiseTrade. Now any artist can freely distribute their music online, via NoiseTrade’s remarkable and embeddable widget, offering fans the choice to tell 3 friends or to pay any amount in exchange for an immediate download.

“Who needs peer-to-peer when you can have artist-to-fan?” Derek concludes, “If artists and fans realized how they could help each other and started making direct connections, without a middleman, the whole industry would change overnight. It would start a revolution.”

SO go check out the site. Come on…trade the noise!

Oh my name it is nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I’s taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I’s made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

I’ve learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side.

In a many dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war.

“Any person who holds to five-point Calvinism will never be in any danger in this convention as long as he does not allow it to lead him to unscriptural conclusions–such as we ought not to give invitations and things like that. When he gets to that point, either implicitly or explicitly, it has now become a hindrance to evangelism and missions.”

These words, spoken by the previous President of the Southern Baptist Convention Paige Patterson,  ring true with many in that denomination. In fact these are common sentiments against anyone who claim to hold to the Doctrines of Grace.

Patterson added that he found no scriptural support for the doctrines of irresistible grace or limited atonement as espoused by Calvinists. “I’m easy to convince. I stand under the word (of God). Bring me the Bible and show me where it says grace is irresistible and if you’re the elect God’s going to pursue you like the hound of hell.”_

The Bible actually advocates “the exact opposite” of a belief in limited atonement, he asserted. “It says he died not only for our sins, but also the sins of the whole world. That is an unlimited atonement if I’ve ever read anything at all.”  No doubt Patterson who just quoted 1 John 2:2  would also lean on John 3:16 for his argument. But who really limits the atonement of Christ. If I ever met Mr. Patterson I would read John 12:19 to him

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Week 1: Chp 1 “The of Scope of the Parable”

 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’  But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.  (Matthew 25: 1-13)

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My friend Rae Whitlock posted a review of his new ESV Personal Size Reference Bible last week. It inspired me. I recently purchased a new ESV bible ad so I decided to post a review of mine. I will use the same categories as he did but instead of awarding a WIN/FAIL rating I will simply contrast his edition and mine.

1)Layout/Text
I went with the Wide Margin /Reference/Black Letter Edition (heretofore referred to as WMRBL). Rae’s Personal Size Reference Edition (heretofore referred to as PSR) has a single-column format which Rae likes for it’s “top-notch” readability.  While I agree with him in part, I like that my two column format has a lot of context on a single page. What can I say? I’m lazy and like to turn pages as little as possible .
But the major selling point for me was the Wide Margins. I always hate trying to cram any notes into the small margins on the other bibles I have.  Here is a shot of Jonah (the same section Rae showed on his review) to illustrate what the two-column, wide margin format looks like.

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Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force!

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security to yourselves in a free world.

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