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Jun 16, 2010

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IO 68: Standing on the High Dive

I have never stood on a ten meter high diving tower (the thought makes my head spin) but it must be like what I feel, standing on the threshold of one of the most important weeks of my life. There is no going back. We must take the plunge.

On Thursday and Friday, June 17–18, at the massive Rock Church in San Diego we hold our first Exchange: The Truth and the Lie conference. We have done our advertizing, but have also begged the Lord to send exactly those people He wants to be there. We believe that those who attend will be the ideal audience, both in number and make–up.

In His grace, God has sent us a group of renowned speakers from very different backgrounds and significant ministries–speakers who have never worked together before. From various angles, we will address the spiritual battle of One–ism (the Lie) and Two–ism (the Truth) that is raging in modern culture. Here is the dizzying variety of subjects, to be given non–stop over two days:

Pastor Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Seattle:
The Truth and the Lie in Marriage
The Truth and the Lie in Parenting
The Truth and the Lie in Evangelism

Rev. Kevin DeYoung, Pastor, University Reformed Church, East Lansing, MI
The Truth and the Lie in the Contemporary Church

Pamela Frost, Researcher, San Diego
The Truth and the Lie in Mystical Trends

Joel Pelsue, Arts & Entertainment Ministries, Hollywood, CA
The Truth and the Lie in Hollywood

Rev. Francis Chan, Pastor, Simi Valley, CA
The Truth and the Lie in the Contemporary Church

Linda Harvey, Mission America
The Truth and the Lie in Public Education

Jeffrey Ventrella, The Blackstone Fellowship, Phoenix, AZ
The Truth and the Lie in Marriage Law

Peter Jones, yours truly
The Truth and the Lie in Contemporary Culture
The Truth and the Lie in Worship
The Truth and the Lie in Sexuality

This moment is crucial for such a public witness to the truth. A full–scale pagan worldview, based on the Lie, is intent on determining how we will live on a unified planet. Meanwhile, the church (which will suffer the most from a One–ist definition of life) seems ignorant of the onslaught and ill–equipped to face with truth and grace this growing, anti–Christian reality.

The video and audio of the entire conference will be professionally captured and beamed across the internet and the world. There is no going back, because, with this event, we are going public. We will doubtless meet opposition, so please cover this event with your prayers. The Lord has prepared the way for us:

  • The Rock Church has been marvelous in their cooperation
  • We have been able to secure interpreters for Spanish speakers and for the deaf.
  • Details have fallen in place, thanks to the hard work of our respective staff members.
  • Relationships among all parties are warm and encouraging.
  • Your generosity in supporting the ministry has allowed us to meet the $35,000 matching grant, graciously extended by the Maclellen Foundation of Chattanooga. THANK YOU!
  • My latest book, One or Two: Seeing A World of Difference arrived from the printer just last week, so we can give a copy to everyone who attends the conference. For others, the book is available in our store and on Amazon.

The One–ist agenda has never changed. From the Garden of Eden, to Paul’s Rome, to 21st century America, the issue is the same—One–ism (Nature and man are divine) or Two–ism (only God is divine and we, as fallen creatures, need His saving grace). Throughout history the beauty of God’s truth confronts the seductive perversion of the Lie.

We were warned.

Right from the beginning, the conflict was announced: hostility. God promised to put enmity between “the seed (that is, the people who follow the Lie) of the Serpent” and “the seed (Christ and his people) of the woman” who defend God’s truth (Genesis 3:15). The struggle is long, but we know the end of the story. The “heel” of truth will be “bruised.” Defending it will always take us through suffering, as it did Jesus, but we have the promise of eventual victory. The Serpent, the Father of Lies, will be the great loser. His “head” was mortally bruised at the Cross, and his Lie will be silenced definitively at the Final Judgment when Jesus makes all things new. Thus with optimism and faith we now engage in the historic defense of truth, doing our bit in our time, knowing that God’s truth is going forth throughout the world and will one day triumph for all to see, covering the whole earth as the waters cover the sea.

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