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Tuesday, December 24, 2013

God uses Guinnes to reduce drunkeness and extend the Gospel


God and Guinness?

To many, this juxtaposition may appear sacrilegious, if not rightfully awkward. But only those who know the story behind the Guinness family can fully appreciate the connection between the two; that is, how the national drink of Ireland became arguably the greatest instrument for propagating the Gospel.
Here are some interesting tidbits I gleaned in my study of the Guinness family:
  • The trademark thick foam head of Guinness is the result of the presence of nitrogen. This is why one should drink Guinness form a glass and not the can or bottle.
  • Hendry Grattan Guinness, the grandson of Arthur Guinness, was a contemporary evangelist whose name was often mentioned alongside the likes of D.L . Moody and Charles Spurgeon. His son married Hudson Taylor’s daughter.
  • Today, nearly ten million glasses of Guinness are consumed daily, nearly 2 billion pints a year.
  • Arthur Guinness, the founder of Guinness, founded the first Sunday School in Ireland.
  • In 2003, a researcher from University of Wisconsin concluded that a pint of a Guinness a day actually bolsters hear health and is infinitely better for you than the caffeine in coffee or the high fructose corn syrup in soda.
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Calling – Business as Mission
Arthur Guinness was a man of faith.  Born in 1724 in a family where his father was an archbishop, he embodied the words that were his family motto: Spes mea in deo (My hope is in God). His influence from the famous revivalist John Wesley inspired and enabled him to use his God-given talents in entrepreneurship as a vehicle to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. Wesley’s mantra which is known as the statement, “Make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can” profoundly impacted Arthur Guinness’ perspective in life and his wealth.


In mid 1700 in Ireland, there was a phenomena called “The Gin Craze.”  An overwhelming large number of people were drinking whiskey and gin as their primary beverage. Water was deemed unsafe due to the micro-organisms and mysterious diseases found in water unbeknownst to everyone. The parliament forbidded the importation of liquor in 1689, so the Irish and British began making their own. This led to excessive drunkenness resulting in a poverty-ridden, crime-infested time. Statistics show that every sixth house in English was a gin house.
Arthur Guinness was infuriated with this drunkenness. He constantly prayed to God to do something with the alcoholism on the streets of Ireland. In fact, he felt God calling him to “Make a drink that men will drink that will be good for them.” He then developed a dark stout beer called Guinness. Guinness contained so much iron that people felt full before they can drink more pints. During its creation, the alcohol level was lower than gin and whiskey.
Guinness truly was doing business as a mission instead of business for mission. With the preserving influence of the salt and penetrating influence of light, his life truly exemplified Lord’s mandate to be the salt and light of the world.

The Legacy of Guinness
If the story of the Guinness story ended with a man of Arthur Guinness, it would be a fairly small footnote in pages of history. Many of Guinness’ accomplishments were done in his family by teaching values undergirded in his biblical faith and relationship with Jesus Christ. He created a family culture that focused on giving generously and investing in his people.
The grandson of Arthur Guinness named Hendry Grattan Guinness became a foremost evangelist spreading the Good News. Another descendant of Guinness received five million pounds sterling for a wedding gift, but then moved his new bride into the slums to utilize his resources to eradicate the poverty in the land.
Another Guinness heir became Lord Iveagh as a member of the House of Lords due to his philanthropic efforts. In his new role, he brought wholesale changes in the legal system. In that time, people used to have dueling on the streets. Like you see in the movies, people would turn around and shoot each other whenever there was conflict. Lord Iveagh said you can’t do this anymore. The biblical principle said if you’ve got something against somebody, you need to talk to them; if they won’t change or refuse to listen, you will have a legal representation that will go to public court with a witness. This is how he embedded the biblical principles into the legal system.

Guinness – A Great Place to Work
If you think Google or Facebook has great perks, Guinness was one of them. A key belief that the Guinness family subscribed to were the belief that “You cannot make money from people unless you are willing for people to make money from you.” This starkly contrasts the traditional thinking of today’ corporation where they think of employees as a disposable resource instead of a unique human being created by God.
Guinness’s investment in their employees were impressive. If you had worked for Guinness in 1928, a year before the Great Depression, you would have had 24-hour medical care, 24-hour dental care and an on-site massage therapy. In addition to this, your funeral expenses were paid by the company as well as your pension all paid with no contributions needed to be made. Your education as well as your children and wife were all paid for. The company had libraries, reading rooms, athletic facilities and so on. Now, think again. This was 1928…not 2012.
The Guinness family was, by all accounts, a godly family and one the Lord used greatly in His service. What most fascinates me is not the novelty of utilizing beer as an instrument to spread the Good News but how a Christian businessman incorporated his faith so holistically in his business. Today, the world needs more people like Arthur Guinness.
Let me conclude this blog post with a departing question to you. What are you doing now that is giving glory to God. What tool are you using to maximize your God-given talent to advance the Christian mission? 
If this blog post piqued your interest, I highly recommended Stephen Mansfield’s book The Search for God and Guinness. It is a fantastic read even for those who don’t enjoy beer like myself. Mansfield ends the book, capturing the essence of the Guinness Way:
  1. Discern the ways of God for life and business.
  2. Think in terms of generations yet to come.
  3. Whatever else you do, do at least one thing very well.
  4. Master the facts before you act.
  5. Invest in those you would have invest in you.
  6.  
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The Philanthropists: Arthur Guinness

November 24, 2013

Arthur Guinness (1724 or 1725 – 1803) was the visionary, entrepreneur, and Christian philanthropist who founded the Guinness brewery business. Born into an Irish Protestant family, Guinness received £100 from his godfather Arthur Price, the Archbishop of Cashel, in the Church of Ireland. When he was about 30 years old, Guinness invested this money in building a brewery near Dublin, the capital of Ireland. In 1761, Guinness married Olivia Whitmore in Dublin and amazingly they had 21 children.

Like many others during his day, Guinness had numerous family members who brewed their own beer (Arthur’s father had, and three of his sons did as well). Alcohol was a safer alternative to drinking the disease-infested, unfiltered water of the time. However, since so many drank to great excess, some people began to brew beer which had a much lower concentration of alcohol. Guinness was among them.

His Conversion
As noted earlier, the Guinness’s were Irish Protestants. Therefore, Arthur grew up going to church. His personal motto was Spes Mea in Deo, which means, “My hope is in God.” He was a devout Christian who loved Jesus and shared his care for the weak and poor. This love led him to help those who were addicted to strong drinks like whiskey and gin, and to offer a healthier and safer alternative in beer.
Guinness had the opportunity to hear John Wesley preach at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. The revivalist made a strong impression on him. In response, he lived Wesley’s message: “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. Your wealth is evidence of a calling from God, so use your abundance for the good of mankind.” God indeed gave him great wealth and he was faithful to honor God and love others with what he had received.

His Contributions
A significant part of Guinness’s giving was his genuine desire to help people by brewing beer because of its lower concentration of alcohol compared to many other drinks (as we noted earlier). In other words, beer genuinely helped some people avoid the excesses of drunkenness. Similarly, because of Wesley’s influence and message, Guinness worked hard to start Sunday schools and, in fact, founded the ministry of Sunday schools in Ireland. He gave money to the poor, served on hospital boards, and sought to live a simple life despite being quite wealthy.

The legacy Guinness left is still felt today. In 2009, Guinness & Co. established the Arthur Guinness Fund (AGF), which offers people opportunities to help their communities. One of the main reasons his influence has lasted so long is that he invested a great deal of time and energy into his family. He taught his children the same values that he himself cherished and lived by. Thus, his children developed the Guinness Corporation into a strong, effective organization that is still widely known to this day. Much of the reason it has done so well is because the corporation has been very generous with its customers, with its own employees, and with those outside the organization. For example, during World War II, Guinness gave a bottle of their beer to every British soldier serving in the war. Through many other similar stories, Guinness sought the good of mankind and the praise of God.

Thursday, December 12, 2013

The Five Points of Reformed Baptist Churches

The Five Points of Reformed Baptist Churches

 
A brief out-line of our distinctive convictions

I REFORMATIONAL
A. Sola Scriptura  -  The Bible is the complete, closed and clear authority in all matters of faith.
B. Solus Christus  -  Our confidence is in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
C. Sola Gratia  -  Grace secured redemption without reference to works.
D. Sola Fide  -  We are declared righteous by God through faith alone(1).
E. Soli Deo Gloria  -  Goal of creation and redemption is God‘s praise.

II CALVINISTIC
A. Total Depravity  -  The fall of Adam affected the totality of man’s person(2).
B. Unconditional Election  -  Election is not based on foreseen faith or works(3).
C. Limited Atonement  -  Redemption was accomplished by Christ for elect(4).
D. Irresistible Grace  -  Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is efficacious for elect.
E. Perseverance of the Saints  -  God will, by grace, complete what He began in regeneration of the elect.

III PURITAN
A. Godliness in Worship  -  Regulative Principle of Worship(5), the Lord’s Day as a Christian Sabbath.
B. Godliness in Preaching  -  Primacy of preaching. Both exposition and application emphasized.
C. Godliness in Instruction  -  Confessional and catholic. Publishing what we believe the Bible teaches(6).
D. Godliness in Family  -  Parents are to instruct (catechize) and discipline their children in the Lord.
E. Godliness in Behavior  -  Maintaining a good conscience before God and man.

IV COVENANTAL
A. Unity of the Bible  -  Many parts yet one message.
B. Christ-centered interpretation  -  Jesus’ person, work and kingdom is the theme of the Bible.
C. Law / Gospel distinction  -  Law(7) commands and condemns. Gospel saves(8).
D. One way of salvation  -  Christ has saved all the elect throughout all the ages.
E. Optimistic view of history  -  Jesus Christ is now King ruling over all. He will soon come again.

V BAPTIST
A. Biblical Church Practice  -  Ordinances for believers only(9). Church discipline lovingly exercised.
B. Biblical Church Freedom  -  The state is not to intrude into matters of conscience.
C. Biblical Church Government  -  Elders and deacons. The local congregation chooses its leaders(10).
D. Biblical Church Growth  -  Gospel proclamation to the world. Repentance and Faith demanded of all.
E. Biblical Church Ministry  -  Priesthood of all believers(11).

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

THOU SHALT NOT QUESTION MARK DRISCOLL ?

If the Top Men take over, who will ask the hard questions?

Posted by
The controversy surrounding Janet Mefferd's interview of Mark Driscoll is interesting for a variety of reasons.  There is one aspect of it which has yet to attract comment as far as I can tell.  That is the way it brings out another aspect of the celebrity culture which has so corrupted the young, restless and reformed movement.

My interest here is not who was right and who was wrong.  That will no doubt be fairly easy to establish as the claims which Janet Mefferd made should be empirically verifiable.    I would only comment that, in my own interactions with Janet Mefferd, I have always found her forthright but fair.  I am concerned in this post only with what the reactions to the interview tell us about the culture of celebrity in the subculture that is evangelicalism. 

I have tried a number of times to make the point that being a celebrity is not the same as being a public figure.   Anyone who acts in public is, to a greater or lesser degree, a public figure.  Celebrity brings with it such matters as a culture of false intimacy with complete strangers and a charismatic authority rooted in the person not in an institution.  Thus, influence is often predicated on personality, not on the intrinsic merits of arguments etc.

The Mefferd-Driscoll controversy points to another aspect of celebrity culture: celebrities are routinely allowed to behave in ways which would not be tolerated in ordinary mortals.  For example, being drunk on the job and hurling abuse at an employer would make one unemployable in the real world.  Not for Charlie Sheen. A conviction for rape would be enough to have you characterized as a monster in the real world who had forfeited the right to sympathetic media exposure.   Not for Mike Tyson or Roman Polanski (just ask that champion of women's rights, Whoopi Goldberg).   In short, normal rules do not apply to celebrities in the same way as they do to others. 

The same is true in the celebritydrome of the evangelical subculture.   Driscoll is a classic case in point. For example, he has claimed that God gives him explicit images of the sexual sins of other people.  He has embraced prosperity teacher and denier of the Trinity, T. D. Jakes, as a brother. He has written an explicit book on sex. Most recently, he engaged in a cringe-inducing publicity stunt unworthy of a spoiled teenager. For most of us, any one of these things would have ended in church discipline and (in the Jakes' case) removal from office.  Yet in all of this, the fan base and those with a vested interest in capitalizing on his success grant him free pass after free pass. 

So the fall-out from The Janet Mefferd Show has been interesting even as it has been entirely predictable.  The fan base and those with a vested interest in Driscoll's reputation rally around their hero while excoriating Janet Mefferd.   In so doing, they ironically demonstrate why shows such as Janet Mefferd's can be so very important: if the conservative evangelical world continues to be increasingly dominated by one or two huge media-style organizations, the conversation will be corralled and controlled, the hard questions will not be asked, and the leaders of such organizations and those over whom they choose to extend their patronage will not be held to account.

If, in your quest to promote yourself, you ask to appear on a particular show, you should be tough enough to take whatever that show throws at you with equanimity. The intricate and risky dance between celebrities and media is part of the game you have chosen to play, indeed a large factor in what has made you famous and influential.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.  In such circumstances, you should also accept that Janet Mefferd's job is not to make you look good or to keep her comments within the accepted bounds of evangelical correctness as defined by you or by any other Top Man.  Her job as a radio journalist is to ask the hard questions and hold you, me or whomever she is addressing, to account.  

But you can still sleep easy at night knowing this important truth: blessed are the celebrities, for they will be rigorously held to a much lower standard of behaviour than the rest of us.  

Posted November 24, 2013 @ 3:24 PM by Carl Trueman

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Christian Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving-Brownscombe pilgrim puritan header indian
Eric Ayala:
As the Thanksgiving holiday comes again this year, we should remember the Thanksgiving meal that Christians celebrate all year long, the Eucharist. Apart from the theological prejudice that is heaped onto the term, Eucharist simply means “Thanks Giving.” We can see this aspect of the supper when Christ himself inaugurated his covenantal meal…

If all the Supper does is make us realize our sin and leave us in a self absorbed state because of the week’s failures, then we have missed a vital aspect of its proper observance.  When we properly understand the Lord’s Supper we should be moved to thanksgiving.

Unfortunately, when the issue of the Lord’s Supper comes up, the response many times is, “How often do we have to do it?” rather than, “Wow, we get to do it!”