I used to get all of my books done early. That was a decade or more ago. Doesn't work that way anymore. Bethany House is expecting a book very soon, and I have a tremendous amount of work to do. So, instead of even wandering off into the web so as to experience the temptation of investing time in replying to folks, I'm going to just post little snippets of the work as I go along as a teaser....and as a means of keeping myself on track. One of the chapters deals
with the "gnostic gospels." It begins:

You have seen it as you stand in line at the grocery store. One of those scholarly journals with the picture of a space alien dressed as Elvis also has a big, bright headline that screams out, “Bible Scholars Discover Jesus Lived in India” or some other such wildly strange claim. If you are brave enough to actually pick it up, or if the line is moving very slowly anyway, you discover that these “Bible scholars” are basing their conclusions on all sorts of books you have never heard of before. You’ve never seen “The Gospel of Thomas” or “The Ascension of Isaiah” in your Bible! And when did the “Gospel of Mary” make it into the Bible?

TGE blew a fuse and came unglued because I dared to contextualize my comments in providing a calm, reasoned response to a point raised by Alastair (below). Compare what I said with this kind of vitriolic ad-hominem:

I think, rather, that you're just one more arrogant little Modern pretending to be better than everything and everyone who's come before you, and that your attitude toward those who disagree with you is one of the most un-Christlike things I've ever seen or heard on this Internet.

Hey, love ya Tim! I'll keep praying you'll regain your balance someday. I'll keep replying to Alastair as time allows (though I'm leaving next week), but you know what...all I have to do is let you vent your spleen like that, and it makes my points for me. :-)

Ol' [Pete] has dug up another conspiracy! While safely ensconced in his super-secret hideout in the wilds of Nova Scotia, he discovered that if you look for the new debate book with Dave Hunt, due out next month, you will find that it is a co-authored work, with my name, in the US and, of all places, Japan. However, if you look up this book in Canada, the UK, Germany or France via Amazon, Dave Hunt is the only author! Evidently he was debating himself. As Pete said, he's really looking forward to the upcoming Debating Spurgeon: One Quote, Two Meanings book.

Our less-than-brave (read "cowardly") mole seems to have constant access to his website:

Fight on O Great White Warrior! Lift your sword as we ride on and stand shoulder to shoulder to battle these great heresies and the wretched souls who will own them!

Why thank you, so much! I will do my best. However...how about having the, well, guts, to come out from behind your anonymity, and join me on The Dividing Line so that we can discuss these issues one-on-one? Seems your ilk...sorry, type, prefers monologues rather than dialogues. It is so much easier to blather on without having to worry about actually interacting with answers to your position. Perhaps you, who are obviously able to express yourself forcefully in print, would be able to engage the exegetical and theological issues, to the benefit of all who would hear? So how about it, Purist? Is there more to you than sarcastic bluster?

Hey, you know that show, "Celebrity Mole"? We have an IRC mole now. This morning a conversation broke out in channel about the importance of exegesis, the rules of hermeneutics, and eventually the entire concept of creeds, Scripture, inspiration, etc. Well, hardly any time later we find an anonymous blogger named "Purist" who is intent upon going after yours truly posting something that borrows directly from the logs of the discussion (or so it seems to us anyway). Whoever this guy is, he has a lot of less-than-repressed anger. See for yourself. Bring your asbestos gloves. Anyway, I do wonder what it is like to hide behind pseudonyms like that. Strange, very strange. :-)

For those waiting, interminably it seems, on Drawn by the Father, we have been promised it will arrive this week. Thanks for your patience.

Also...skip the DVD stuff as yet. All this silly -r +r stuff is driving us nuts. More work to do before we get that perfected (if it is perfectible). If you got a DVD and your player can't play it, we will send you a video to replace it. Every DVD we send out plays on ours, but, sadly, that doesn't mean a lot.

Oh, hey, for those of you who, like me, love tweaking the look of your systems (I use WindowBlinds on my XP desktop, and SilverScreen on my Tungsten T3), I found a real nice looking skin today for WindowBlinds...called "Smyrna." It not only looks nice, its biblical. :-)

Norman Geisler has resigned from ETS (Evangelical Theological Society) in light of the organization's inability to remove Dr. Pinnock and Dr. Sanders from its membership. Here are his reasons:

http://www.normgeisler.com/etsresign.htm

I noted on 12/29 that I had preached a brief sermon on the new Mel Gibson movie. I heard from John Piper that he has written a small book embodying the very concerns I voiced in that sermon. If you would like to get hold of it, you can see it and order it (when it comes out) at www.passion-book.com. I had realized the need for such a work, had considered trying to do something in a flash, and am very thankful someone else has far more foresight than I do!

Secondly, I have neglected to let folks know that the Reformed Baptist Theological Review is now accepting subscriptions. For details on this new publication, see www.rbtr.org. I will be contributing an article on the exegesis of Hebrews 8 to the second edition, due out in July. You might wish to subscribe for yourself, and then buy a second for one of your elders. I did!