On 4000

OK, another day, another milestone. For what it is worth, this is the 4000th article to appear on this site. As I have often said, if you want someone to fix your car, I am not your man. If you want someone to tend your garden, look elsewhere. But if you want a thousand word article in under a half hour (normally), I am at your service!

Writing articles (and books) is of course not all that I do with my CultureWatch ministry, but it is a large part of it. That is one of the gifts I have been blessed with, so I will use it for God’s glory. It is hoped that the content can be used for Christ and the Kingdom.

For those who like numbers, here are a few: I started CultureWatch eleven years ago. So with 4000 articles, that works out to around 365 articles a year, or – as is not too hard to determine – around one a day. I am guessing that the average article length is around 1400 words. That means I have 5.6 million words on CultureWatch thus far.

If nothing else, all this has kept me off the streets for over a decade. As far as I know, no one has read all 4000 articles except for two people: me, and a wonderful proof reader in Perth who has graciously looked at all of them. If anyone else has laboured through all 4000, let me know – you deserve a medal!

As is always the case with these milestones, I usually seek to give a bit of a rationale for what I do. So here it is. It is obviously about sharing truth in the public arena, since so much of our mainstream media is so very selective in what it shares.

And because I make no apologies for being a Christ follower, I have many pieces which are simply spiritual or theological in nature. Many are just pieces of commentary without any religious language or references being employed. But the biblical worldview informs all that I do here.

So we have all sorts of articles found here. Whether Scripture is expressly presented and/or quoted from, or whether I simply offer analysis of current events without biblical terminology, all my pieces reflect a basic Christian and conservative point of view.

Of course we all have presuppositions or worldviews that we operate from. I happen to be up front about mine, while others may not be so open. So not everyone will like where I am coming from. That’s OK, I don’t expect everyone to. But as long as I have the freedom to write and share, I will do so.

Not only does not everyone like what I do, but I receive almost daily reminders of this fact. Receiving nasty hate mail is a regular part of this ministry alas. As usual, those who carry on the most about tolerance and acceptance seem to be the least tolerant and accepting, and they make this perfectly clear in their foul, ghoulish and hate-filled remarks they constantly bombard me with.

So why keep on doing all this? Despite all the hate and abuse, some people are benefitting from this ministry. They have told me so. I have been told that people have become Christians as a result of what I do. Many have said they are being taught, discipled, encouraged and being edified by this site and the other things I do.

For those reasons alone it is worth continuing. If one soul ends up being plucked from the flames of hell then it has all been worth it. And I suspect that one day when this life is over, I may find many more folks who have been positively impacted by the work I am called to do.

I may not hear so many of these stories now, but I believe there will be many more stories to come. So that is why I keep on keeping on, despite all the resistance, opposition and horrific abuse that gets thrown my way. Let me mention just two such encouraging stories.

The first concerns a recent piece I did on the meaning of Christmas. It seems an atheist has been helped by it, as he wrote on his own site:

This year, I started to explore various meanings of Christmas. I should say: By this time in life, I’m a lapsed atheist. I still discount the truth of religious doctrine, but I don’t discount the value of faith. My exploration was helped when I read this piece by Bill Muehlenburg, who seems to take his Bible straight up. He says Christmas is about incarnation and redemption. Now here are ideas I can wrestle with. I mean, Christmas is also about finding light in the darkest hours, and it is about fully experiencing joy, and while it is not a given to achieve either of those things, I don’t question their value, or the value of trying. But incarnation? The existence of God in human form, who walks (or walked) among us, like an ordinary man? I need to think harder about that….

Please pray that this fellow, Dan, does indeed come to find the real meaning of Christmas thanks. My second story involves a piece I did some time ago on “The normal Christian life: A growing awareness of sin”. I received this comment from a fellow who had read it:

Hello – great article! I have recently been coming back to the Lord after battling with drug and alcohol problems – I’m not entirely clean but progressing nonetheless – which is how I discovered article (I was researching articles on progressive sanctification). Anyway, your last few lines really made me think – typically when I sin (use drugs), I feel guilt and shame and disgust over consequences – so upon reading this, I realized that I need to know why I feel that way – for me or for God? Thankfully it is ultimately for God, and my inability to serve him fully if I am constantly sinning.
God bless your ministry!

This in part is why I do what I do – to see non-believers come to Christ and Christians strengthened in their faith. Probably only when I get to heaven will I find out just how much good I may have achieved by God’s grace in this regard. But it is my Christian calling, and with God’s help I will fulfil it the best I can.

So as always, I need to thank all of you for all that you do to make CultureWatch possible. I must thank you all for your many years of support. Many of you have contributed financially so that this faith ministry can keep going. Many of you have passed on my stuff, shared my stuff, reprinted my stuff, and helped to get the word out even further.

And many of you have prayed for me and this ministry. That means more to me than you can ever imagine. And that is my main request here: that prayer, intercession and spiritual warfare on my behalf continue. Without your spiritual firepower there is no way I could do what I do.

So, many thanks for all your support, especially your prayer support. Please keep it coming. It is my lifeline. God bless you all.

And I guess I will see you all again when I get to 5000!

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