"Knowing God" free audio download

Yes, that's right--you can download J.I. Packer's classic Knowing God in audio format (mp3, etc.) for free, during the month of January.  Find out about it here.
You will be asked to register, and you will receive monthly emails from christianaudio.com.  But I have been signed up for these for many months, and have not been upset by further emails or spam from them.  I highly recommend this, especially if you have any kind of commute.  Present your mind to truth like this (Rom. 6:12).

Christopher Hitchens, R.I.P (or not?)

Noted atheist Christopher Hitchens died yesterday. Maybe you have heard about him. He was a strong proponent of what many people are too timid to say publicly: that Christianity (and all other religions--but especially Christianity) is bad for the world. Well, a few years ago he did a series of debates with Doug Wilson, who like Hitchens is a contrarian--though Wilson's contrariness goes in a better direction than Hitchens. Wilson has written a fine obituary of Hitchens on the Christianity Today web site--it is well worth a read. You can find it here.

Reading in the News--again

Reading was on the PBS Newshour on Monday, in case you missed it. The Reading Eagle has a report here, including a link to the Newshour video. This report is about the correlation between Reading's highest-in-the-nation poverty rate, and Reading's low graduation rate.

Want to Know More?

If you were in the Sunday School hour at Covenant this past Sunday, you heard about some amazing things from some places on the other side of the world. Here are two articles that tell a little more of the story: this one from the Washington Post, and this one (Sept. 2009) from Fortune Magazine. Very fascinating stuff.

Reading's Poor

According to an article in yesterday's New York Times, the city of Reading now has the nation's highest rate of people living in poverty. If you think these are hard times, you are right....

Why Reading of the Law, Confession of Sin and Assurance of Pardon?

Carl Trueman has written an excellent essay about one part of the church service: the reading of God's law, corporate confession of sin, and the assurance of pardon from God's word. During my sabbatical I visited a number of evangelical-ish churches in the Reading area--and in none of these was this part of the service. Which left me somewhat disappointed, frankly--and I don't say this to be an "ugly Calvinist," nor to judge these churches. I say that only because I need it. If I cannot hear of God's pardon for my sin, then nothing else really matters. All the advice in the world, all that anyone can tell me that I ought to do, even that God demands of me, is useless to me if I cannot go anywhere with all my failures to do what I am supposed to do. Confession of sin and assurance of pardon is the most basic outcome of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Well, read Carl Trueman's article. He said it better than I can.

"The God Who Is There" by D.A. Carson

Here is a good, 14-part series done by D.A. Carson, as an introduction to the gospel. Not short, but worth perusing, and passing on, particularly to those who do not know what Christ is all about. The main web page for the series is here.

Below is embedded the preview for the first part. All of the videos (and audio) can be viewed or listened to for free.

The God Who Is There - Part 1. The God Who Made Everything (Preview) from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Kenhorst Dairy Queen in the "Gray Lady"

Here is something different: an article in the New York Times about a Dairy Queen in Berks County. Check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/us/17land.html?ref=global-home