Anyone with an email address knows that there are people out there who try to scam you out of your money. Even the best of us get caught sometimes.

Here’s one that takes the cake. Follow this link to an NPR story and listen to the audio report of what some scammers are now doing to get money from unsuspecting victims. Don’t be one.

If you are planning to go watch the new movie The Golden Compass after it comes out next week, a warning is in order.

While it has several parallels to C. S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia, the spiritual teachings are polar opposites.

The author, Philip Pullman, said in an interview, “I suppose technically, you’d have to put me down as an agnostic. But if there is a God, and he is as the Christians describe him, then he deserves to be put down and rebelled against.” At another time he said unashamedly, “My books are about killing God.”

I won’t say “Don’t go watch it”, but I will warn you to make sure that you understand what it is you are getting into; it’s more than just a cute story.

However, I will say “Don’t let a child watch it,” for the very simple reason that Mr. Pullman is intentionally trying to spread this blasphemy to children.

For more information (and sources for those quotes), see Focus on the Family’s review here.

I don’t spend a lot of time on Youtube so I don’t see these right away. My brother sent this link to me today.

You might have already seen this, but if not, this is an excellent response from Mike Huckabee regarding his belief in creation over evolution and why that is/is not important to his being selected as the next U.S. President. He is dead-on.

I can’t say it enough – I like this guy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-BFEhkIujA

I know I haven’t posted for a couple of weeks – I’ll get back to it soon.

But today I saw a couple of my favorite public people in a short video ad together – and it ROCKS!!! I hope it’s real, and not just a joke.

Check this out – go Huck and Chuck!

Those of you who know me understand that I don’t put a lot of stock in titles.  Unless I’m talking to minors or people not yet familiar with me or the church (bulletin announcements, web site, etc.) or legal stuff, I don’t typically use titles like “Pastor Daniel” or “Reverend Goepfrich”.  We also don’t have a denominational tie in our church name.

However, when I do use a couple of phrases or key words to describe my theological position, I like the words in the title: conservative, evangelical, fundamental.  They describe me (and maybe you, too, if you’re willing to admit it).

I know, I know – they’re loaded words.  But all titles are.  And eventually you’re going to have to take a stand and describe yourself.  People who really want to know don’t want you to beat around the bush; they deserve an answer.

Now that we have that out of the way, the “biggest problem” has nothing to do with titles; they just give us a common starting point and define who we are talking about.  But, Dr. Charles Wood (former pastor of Grace Church in Granger, IN) has written an excellent article on this big problem.

Although he couldn’t pick me out in a crowd (listen to this message to understand), I met Dr. Wood years ago, and I really appreciate what he was willing to do at Grace and how much God has done through them.

Anyway, read his article and let me know what you think about his take on “the biggest problem in conservative evangelicalism and fundamentalism.”