First, the last lower res pic from my riding phone—a new phone (still cheap enough to be taken on rides) with a 5.1 megapixel camera arrives today. This is eastbound on CareFree Highway at 5:43am, not quite half way through a 62.11 mile ride (fellow cyclists will recognize the distance: 100km, a “metric century”). Very odd weather we are having in Phoenix right now…it was 74 degrees out there! But, it is headed back to furnace status later this week. But I had to take advantage of the cool while I could (esp. since I leave Thursday for NY). What was I listening to? GK Beale’s We Become What We Worship. Tomorrow I will have Sproul’s The Holiness of God going.
On the “this is really weird” side of things, over the weekend a flood of Ergun Caner websites began showing up on Google searches. Evidently, someone (I sure hope it isn’t Caner himself!) has dumped at least $800 into hiring an online reputation firm. How do we know this? Well, the firm is so good, they tell you who they are! Note this reference. It was posted by “Udentiti Online Reputation Services.” Others are following up on this story with more zeal than I am, but it seems that it is a rather silly attempt to bury negative Google search results for Ergun Caner under a mountain of hits for the same article, which, as you will notice, was not written by a native English speaker. It is written in what is called Engrish, that wonderful language that flows from online translators and is often the stuff of greatly humorous labels and street signs. In this case, we learn that Caner is a Theologist, and, “Caner embrace as a Teacher and Theologian, being challenged and make each person to think and open their minds through his wonderful knowledge.” Umm, right. Here’s a list of some of the hits (compiled by none other than Jason Smathers), all obviously coming from the same organization, that have appeared over the weekend:
http://ergunmcaner.over-blog.com/
http://ergunmcaner.wordpress.com/
http://www.soulcast.com/ergunmcaner/
http://www.blogster.com/ergunmcaner/
http://ergunmcaner.livejournal.com/
http://ergunmcaner.busythumbs.com/
http://ergunmcaner.tumblr.com/
http://www.blogster.com/ergunmcaner
http://ergunmcaner.blog.co.in/
http://my.inube.com/profile/ergunmcaner/
http://ergunmcaner.blog.com/
http://www.thoughts.com/ergunmcaner/blog/ergun-caner-thetheologist-617317/
http://bignews.biz/?id=899891&keys=Ergun-Caner-God-Theology
http://www.articlesbase.com/spirituality-articles/ergun-caner-the-theologist-2931092.html
I don’t know about you, but could it get any weirder? I mean, you have people running around the web pulling down conference talks and sermons, while at the same time some organization of non-English speakers is posting nonsense articles in praise of Ergun Caner as a “renowned” theologian. All while Caner continues his silence, and his critics ignore the real issues (while engaging in the politics of personal destruction). Simply amazing.
Finally, heading to New York this weekend. I’ll be at Grace Reformed Baptist Church in the morning on Sunday, and Hope Reformed Baptist Church in the evening, both on Long Island. I am speaking Friday and Saturday for Jeremiah Cry’s conference, “Go Stand Speak: The Forgotten Power of the Public Proclamation of the Gospel.” I will be delivering a lecture on answering common objections to the reliability of Scripture (preaching in the Ehrman age), and then I will be preaching, as best I can, on the holiness of God. Just a quick trip, back on Monday (well, crossing the US and navigating JFK is never really accurately called “quick”). But, that means there will be no Thursday DL as I will be somewhere over Kansas about then I think.
Oh, one more additional note that I am adding after posting this. I just saw that Peter Lumpkins has demonstrated once again not only that he and honesty are strangers, but that there is no level to which he will not stoop to express his wild dislike of yours truly. He has produced an animated film that is, of course, nothing but a lie, as he well knows. Here is the link. Watch with amazement, then compare the thinking, behavior, and mindset, of Peter Lumpkins, Caner Defender Extraordinaire, with the truth, easily available to all:
I wonder how many more videos Peter Lumpkins will post documenting his dishonesty? One is left wondering.
