My New Blog: Nordic Preacher

Just a quick note for those who might be interested. I will likely not be updating this blog anymore, but instead be writing every now and then on my theologically focused blog Nordic Preacher.

www.nordicpreacher.com

Vankka perustus - New Christian blog in Finnish

A couple of months ago I started a new Christian blog in Finnish that I update once in a while. Check it out if you're interested: www.vankkaperustus.blogspot.fi

The Nature of Science

Great short video animation (part of the Check This Out mini-video series produced by Answers in Genesis) explaining the nature of science and how it relates to the Bible and the evolution vs. creation discussion.

What would Jesus say about your church?

Here's a recent video of Art Azurdia preaching at The Master's Seminary. Great and convicting sermon about orthdoxy in theology and love toward God and people.

"Loving God First" Revelation 2:1-7.

Allegorizing Israel - J.C. Ryle

Here's a very good quote from J.C. Ryle, protesting against the habit of some Christians to allegorize Old Testament prophecies and plain sayings concerning the future history of the nation of Israel.

“What I protest against is the habit of allegorizing plain sayings of the Word of God concerning the future history of the nation of Israel and explaining away the fullness of their contents in order to accomodate them to the gentile church.”

Ryle held to premillennialism and to a distinction between Israel and the Church, strongly criticizing the views that would seek to allegorize the Scriptures to say that the Church is the 'new Israel' or that this present age is the kingdom of Christ (amillennialism).

I highly recommend reading Ryle's book 'Coming Events and Present Duties', especially the chapter 'Scattered Israel to be Gathered' for a more detailed exposition on the matter.

The book is available for free online:
http://futureisraelministries.org/j_c_ryle.html

Was Darwing Wrong?

Great video that completely refutes the National Geographic cover story 'Was Darwin Wrong?' (Nov. 2004) The real answer: YES. The evidence for evolution is weak and pathetic!

Mikael Agricola Day

Today (April 9th) is the day when Finland celebrates the life of Mikael Agricola, the founder of the written Finnish language. Agricola was also a protestant reformer and he played a crucial role in bringing the Bible into the Finnish language as he translated and  the whole New Testament and parts of the Old Testament into Finnish.

The Finnish embassy has a short and informative article about the life of Mikael Agricola. Here's a paragraph that describes his literary work:

Creating religious literature in the Finnish language became an entire life-work for Agricola, as according to the principles of Luther, everyone was entitled to the ability of reading the Bible in their own language. Agricola started to translate the New Testament into Finnish already in Wittenberg and it was published in 1548 under the name ’Se Wsi Testamentti’. Five years prior to that, he had already published the first book in the Finnish language, ‘Abckiria’, which consisted of the basics of reading and the Christian doctrine. A grand goal of Agricola was to translate the entire Bible into Finnish but he has no funding for it. He, however, translated various parts of the Old Testament in a number of books and he also wrote church manuscripts for the church services.

It could be said that what William Tyndale is for the English language, and Martin Luther for the German language, that is what Mikael Agricola is for the Finnish language. As a Finnish Christian, I am very thankful for his life and legacy.

What is the Gospel?

 
“In the beginning, God created…” Genesis 1:1

This is where it all begins. The Bible tells us that God has created you and me, the universe, and everything else. Because God is our Creator, he has the right to tell us how to live. He created us to love, serve, and enjoy being with him forever. God is perfectly holy and righteous, which means he is completely pure and hates all evil. (Read it in the Bible: Genesis 1-2, Psalm 89, Revelation 4)

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves” 1 John 1:8

Instead of seeking God and loving him, we have all rebelled against him and done wrong. This places us in danger of eternal punishment, which we rightly deserve because of our sin against our Creator. One day we will all die and be held accountable for our every evil thought, word and deed. (Read it in the Bible: Romans 5, 2 thessalonians 1, 1 John 1)

“There is salvation in no one else” Acts 4:12

Here comes the good news — the gospel — that even though we are sinners who deserve hell, God in his great love and mercy has provided a saviour so that we can be forgiven. God sent his Son the Lord Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, and died on the cross taking on himself the punishment for the sin of all those who will turn and trust in him. Three days later he rose from the grave, conquering death itself. (Read it in the Bible: John 10, Matthew 28, Acts 4)

“Repent and believe in the gospel” Mark 1:15

How does this apply to us? God commands us to turn away from our sin and to trust in Christ alone for our forgiveness and salvation. If we turn toward God and have faith in the Lord Jesus and what he has done, we are saved and born again into a new and eternal life with God our Creator. Now that’s good news indeed! (Read it in the Bible: John 3, Acts 17, Ephesians 2)

Order tracts from:
www.reformedgospeltracts.com

Back at the Blog

It's been almost a whole year since I've last updated the blog, so it's about time I do something about that. I've been busy working, studying and starting/running my own graphic design business, CreatedSIGN (www.createdsign.com). I have also started another side project, called Reformed Gospel Tracts (www.reformedgospeltracts.com).

Since my last blog post almost a year ago was photos from our wedding, that of course means I've now been married for almost a year! Married life is a great blessing, and God has been very gracious toward us.

I'm now planning to start updating this blog more often again.

Our Wedding Photos

You can see our wedding photos on my Flickr page.

Photos from Graz (October)

See more photos on my flickr page.

Photos from Austria

As many of you know, I'm currently doing my exchange studies here in Graz, Austria. Here's some photos that I've been taking so far, you can see the rest of them here on my flickr page.

Engaged to Alison

As most of you probably already know, we just recently got engaged with Alison, and are now making plans for the wedding to be held in Wales, sometime during April or May next year. Here's a couple of photos of us and the engagement rings, you can see the rest of the photos here on my flickr page. For anyone wondering about the rings, we did it Finglish style ;) Explanation: The woman gets the diamond ring (English tradition), and the man also gets an engagement ring (Finnish tradition), therefore we combined the two and started the Finglish style tradition.

Atonement '11 Bible Conference (Poster and info)

Here's the poster I made for an upcoming Bible conference in Jakobstad, Finland. The main speaker will be Don Currin from HeartCry Missionary Society. I would highly recommend you to make the effort to be there, I'm sure it's gonna be a blessed time of Bible teaching and fellowship.

Check out this Facebook event page for more details, or contact Pastor Kyle McCartan (kyle.mccartan@hotmail.com).

Marriage and Family Counseling Course

Next sunday we are starting a new DVD course at our church, this time on the subject of marriage and family counseling. Here's the poster I made for the course. It's gonna be held every sunday afternoon from 13.00 to 14.30, starting August 28 through December 4. For more info, check www.ibctampere.org.

Trip to Wales

See the rest of the photos on my flickr page.

Rainbow and Sunset

KOLM3 Webstore and Video

As some of you may already know, I have just started my own clothing company called KOLM3. The Finnish webstore will be opening next monday (2.5.2011). Check it out @ www.kolm3.com

Here's a new video that I made to introduce the brand by showing some of the different stages of screen printing.

Springtime Sunshine

Propaganda and the G.O.S.P.E.L.

I highly recommend you watch this great video by rap artist Propaganda, where he presents the G.O.S.P.E.L. in the form of spoken work poetry. Biblical truth communicated through the creative use of words, sound and video. ‎"It's the full story of life, crushed into four minutes. The entirety of humanity in the palm of your hand, crushed into one sentance. Listen, it's intence right..."

Propaganda and Odd Thomas also recently released an album called "Art Ambidextrous", which is now available for free download at the Humble Beast website. Here's the promo video for the album.