July 31, 2010

Book Review: The Revolutionary Paul Revere by Joel J. Miller

Known primarily for his "midnight ride" in the primordial days of the American Revolution, Paul Revere actually had led a full and influential life, of which the event immortalized in Longfellow's poem is but a small part. Patriot, innovator, industrialist, Freemason, soldier, father, husband--Paul Revere stands as one of the giants of early American history. In The Revolutionary Paul Revere, author Joel Miller sets out to give us a more complete picture of the great man. In this he is largely successful.

Miller's writing style is simple, quick-paced, and attention-grabbing. He spices up the narrative with unexpected turns of phrase, and the lengthy, purposefully wordy chapter headings give the book an eighteenth-century feel. I was easily drawn into the story, and came away with a much deeper knowledge of Revere and the times in which he lived.

Did you know, for example, that Paul Revere made the copper fixtures used in the USS Constitution? Or that he also supplied copper for the steam engines of one Robert Fulton? Or that when he died in 1818 (at 83 years of age) many of the bells that tolled in Boston were of his manufacture? I knew none of this until I read The Revolutionary Paul Revere.

One of the parts of the book I appreciated most was Miller's insistence on putting Revere's life and actions into the context of the things going on around him. Also, while obviously an admirer of Revere, he does not shy away from recounting some of the less-than-attractive events of his life. I appreciate an author who can write an admiring biography without feeling the need to make his subject the very paragon of every conceivable virtue.

If you are interested in American history, and want to learn more about Paul Revere, this book should be on your list.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Talk back to the missionary: Any interesting facts about Paul Revere? Share them with us in the comments section.

Was this review helpful to you? You can find more here.

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July 30, 2010

The Exotic Wildlife of...Lakeland, Florida

Our oldest son has been amazingly patient and tolerant of our chaotic lifestyle over the past month. He has tolerated the packing up of our household, the giving away of his dog, the bohemian living...all because of the promise that when we arrived in Florida he would get to see the animals at our pastor's house.

Finally the day arrived, and Mikey was in seventh Heaven.

Mikey holds a baby gator.

Mikey used to chase these iguana's in Brazil. Here he finally got to hold one.

Not to be outdone, Nathanael also had to have quality time with the iguana.

Talk back to the missionary: How would you like to have these animals in your back yard?

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July 28, 2010

The Return of the Andrew and Max Show

Not Missionary Max, but Max the puppet. Daniel and I took this routine on the road back in 1993 when I was raising support to be a short term missionary. We revive it now for the VBS at Fellowship Baptist Church in Lakeland, FL.

Enjoy!

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July 24, 2010

Brief Update

We are in the US. A family in our sending church has provided us with a wonderful house to live in. Internet access is spotty, so updates here may not be as frequent. Don't go away, however, as there is much more Missionary Max to come, as well as updates about our own adventures on furlough.

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July 20, 2010

Father-Son Time

Mikey and I got to spend some quality time in Belem on Sunday, visiting the botanical gardens (which also have large collections of animals) and other attractions of the city.

By far Mikey's favorite animal. The chameleons were quite entertaining.

They were dwarfed, however, by this huge gator.

A special treat was this sloth, which entertained us by climbing down this tree in slow motion.

Alert readers may remember this statue from before.

Mikey and I man the brakes of a (parked) railway car/ice cream emporium.

This will most likely be our last post before arrival in the US on Wednesday for furlough. See you all there!

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July 18, 2010

Respect

Snapped this shot this morning while at one of Belem's zoos with Mikey. It was just begging to be made into a motivational poster, so here you go.

Talk back to the missonary: Anybody have any better captions for this picture? Let me know in the comments section, and we may do another poster!

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Belem Boat Ride

We arrived in Belem this morning. Belem is our final destination before boarding our plane to the US. Our hostess here took us on a boat that cruises the coast of the city. Here are some pictures:

This is the Ver o Peso market. Scenes like this here in Belem and in São Luís have been the inspiration for the city of Santo Expedito in the Missionary Max series.

Here is a tower from which can be seen most of the city of Belem. It is on the list of places to visit tomorrow.

A seedy, waterfront neighborhood very similar to the one where the Green Monkey tavern is located.

Our cruise also included live entertainment featuring traditional music and dance from the state of Para. At one point they went around and asked all the foreign tourists where they were from, and the band played a song from that country. When they got to me they played New York, New York.

The funniest moment was when they found a tourist from Argentina. After playing a song from that country, they asked if there were any German tourists--a reference to the drubbing Argentina got from Germany during the World Cup.

Alert readers will remember that I visited Belem back in 2007. You can still read various posts about that visit, like:

The Fort
The Bosque
The Mansion
The Zoo

Talk back to the missionary: What is your best tourist experience? Share with everybody in the comments section.

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July 15, 2010

Hellish Prophets

True Story #1

Nina Rodrigues is a little town in the interior of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. It is small, but very well kept. The populace is traditional—mostly Roman Catholic, but there are also a few Charismatic churches. In one of these Charismatic congregations not too long ago a boy of about twelve years began to prophesy. The credulous people—conditioned as they are to receive any and all prophecies at face value, listened to what he had to say and obeyed his injunctions. This of course encouraged the lad, who began to make more and more bizarre proclamations.

The situation came to a head when he commanded all the men of the church to get their firearms and go to the top of a hill, where Satan himself was supposed to appear in the form of a serpent. The men obeyed, and the sound of gunfire alerted the police. Only after a denominational leader came in from the capital city was this nonsense stopped.

True Story #2

Another city in the state of Maranhão—Pinheiro—is the scene of our next, even more sinister, tale. A pastor in his sixties received a vision from and angel. The heavenly being supposedly told him that he was to have many children who would save Brazil. In order to do this he would have to impregnate many girls.

The girls he chose were all under age. At this writing two of them are pregnant. The “pastor” is in jail, still claiming that he was obeying a divine edict.

The Point

There are many men whose ministries I admire who are not cessationists—in other words, who do not believe that the revelatory gifts have ceased with the completion of the canon of God's revealed word. These men would probably disagree robustly with what I am going to say next, but it must be said: when you allow for extra-biblical, special revelation you open the door for abuse.

It is no coincidence that both of the cases mentioned above happened in Maranhão. While Brazil as a whole is saturated in non-cessationist teaching, the churches of this state are completely dominated by it. In the neighborhood where I am staying now there is a “Protestant” church on virtually every corner. All but one of these churches are driven by the special revelations received by their leaders. Some of the pastors even go so far as to call themselves “prophets”. The name on the door of one of the churches closest to where I am writing this reads “The Prophetic Church of the Restoration”.

With such a cacophony of “revelation”, is it any wonder that understanding of the Bible is at an all-time low? After all, why spend time in the Scriptures when your pastor has a direct line with the Almighty.

The sign on another nearby church reads “Come here on Sunday to have your curse broken.” The non-cessationist teaching has given birth to an ignorant, shallow, superstitious version of Christianity that barely resembles anything found in the Scriptures.

Confusing

Granted, not every non-cessationist is a wacko like the ones mentioned above. As I mentioned at the beginning, many godly men whose work I admire hold to this view. One of these is John Piper. His books and sermons have edified me tremendously over the years. When he writes a new book it immediately goes on my wish list.

Yet his view on extra-biblical revelation makes me cringe. Here is a quote from a recent interview:

I will give you one that is from a prophetic word given to me yesterday—take it or leave it. I'm cautious when people come to me with these kinds of things. But this rung true, and you can see that it is true without making a claim to special divine authority.

If it is biblically true (and the rest of the interview—which is about the dangers of making theology God instead of God—is outstanding), why on earth is there a need for a special “prophetic word”? And did the person who made this prophecy to Piper really claim divine authority? If so...scary.

If it is a “take-it-or-leave-it” kind of thing, and if he is cautious about it...shouldn't he just stick with the infallible, inerrant Word of God? Then he could offer this very sound advice without attaching the caveats.

Clearly Piper cannot be compared with the “hellish prophets” of the first two examples. This is not my intent. Rather, I want to point out that when we compromise on the sufficiency of the Scriptures, we do indeed open the door to such craziness.

Back to the Diet

Be it here in Brazil or in the US, it boggles my mind that the heirs of the Reformation would be so quick to fudge on Sola Scriptura.

In 1521 Martin Luther appeared before the ecclesiastic authorities at the Diet of Worms. Like the non-cessationists of today, these men claimed to have a corner on communication with God which trumped the Scriptures. Martin Luther's ringing cry needs to be re-engraved on the heart of all who use the name “Protestant”:

Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of the popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen.

Oh that the conscience of the Brazilian church—and, for that matter, its American counterpart—would once again be captive to the Word of God!

Talk back to the missionary: What are your thoughts regarding the cessationist/non-cessationist debate? Let us know in the comments section.

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Ten Years Ago Today...

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July 13, 2010

Weekend in Chapadinha

Confession time: I am a hillbilly at heart. Even though it appears as though our next term of ministry will be in a Brazilian city of over a million people, I love the sticks. More specifically, I love the Brazilian sticks--or mato as it is called here. The laid-back pace, the friendly, hospitable people, the peace and quiet...

For this reason the past weekend with Itacyara's family in the interior town of Chapadinha was just what the doctor ordered. Below are some pictures--taken on a cell phone so the quality is not that great.

One of the great things about the interior of Maranhão--as opposed to the rest of the Northeast--is the abundance of water. Hence, it is easy to find water holes. Here Itacyara and I posed just before I jumped into the water hole behind us.

Another cool thing about the interior--animals! Mikey was especially thrilled with this paca.

As well as this arara.

Nathanael was fascinated by the arara.

Of course the best part of the week was the family time. Here are Mikey and Nathanael with a few of the their cousins--affectionately known as netos da Maura--or Maura's grandkids.

Talk back to the missionary: So what about you? Country cousin or city slicker? Let us know in the comments section.

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July 11, 2010

Humor Amidst Heartache

clipped from charges.uol.com.br

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July 6, 2010

Happy Birthday, Nathanael!

Three years old today!

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July 5, 2010

We're Alive...

Much has transpired since our last post. To recap:

1. Brazil was unceremoniously sent home from the World Cup by the Netherlands.
2. Argentina was also sent home...in a much more spectacular fashion, let the records show.
3. We packed up all our earthly belongings and shipped them to São Luís.
4. We subsequently shipped ourselves to São Luís, where we are currently enjoying time with Itacyara's family (while at the same time recovering from a massive cold virus).

I will leave you with this, a video made for us by the students in the dorm and shown at a surprise going-away party they had for us.

As you can see, the first part is dedicated to Itacyara. She developed a special bond with the girls and was a counselor to several of them. The second half is about me, with several scenes showing me in particularly Brazilian situations. The song that accompanies it repeats the phrase "I'm a Brazilian".

They couldn't have paid me a better compliment.

One of the greatest privileges we had in our entire first term was that of working with these outstanding young men and ladies.

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