One additional note, you should do some checking when a user’s local authentication fails, but they exist in your secondary web service or DB, in case their password has changed there.

/*
* See user_login_default_validators in user.module
*/
function MYMODULE_validators() {
return array(‘user_login_name_validate’, ‘user_login_authenticate_validate’, MYMODULE_authenticate_validate’, ‘user_login_final_validate’, ‘MYMODULE_final_validate’);
}

function MYMODULE_final_validate($form, &$form_state){
// DO SOME FINAL VALIDATION OR OVERRIDE DEFAULT LOGIN ERRORS
}

function MYMODULE_authenticate_validate($form, &$form_state){
// has the user failed local authentication?
if (empty($form_state['uid'])) {
$username = $form_state['values']['name'];
$password = trim($form_state['values']['pass']);
$user=user_load_by_name($username);

// DO SOME USER AUTHENTICATION AGAINST ANOTHER WEB SERVICE OR DB

$newUser= array(
‘name’ => $username,
‘pass’ => $password,
‘mail’ => $email, // get email from service or db
‘status’ => 1,
‘roles’ => $roles, // get roles according to rules against service or db
);
user_save(null, $newUser);
$form_state['uid'] = user_authenticate($username,$password);
}

}

My main lament is the idea that when we present our ‘wisdom’ in the public sphere, rather than functioning as spokesmen for a connected community that is demonstrating that wisdom from another age, we are perceived as mere individual conservative christian men sharing our opinions, for that is indeed all we are. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be doing that, but I see that as the bare minimum, and it is nothing that is particularly compelling.

if i feed myself on what god hasn’t done, it creates the environment for a spirit of offense to rise in my heart. if i feed myself on what god is doing, or has done, i cultivate awareness that has nothing but thankfulness, and joy, and celebration. it creates a context in which i can thrive.

if i filled my heart with what the church isn’t doing right, i become an embittered preacher, some would call me a revival preacher. i don’t know why the angrier a person is against sin, the more he’s considered to be a revivalist. we’ve got to have more to say than what we’re against. if i fill my heart with what the church isn’t doing, i’m offended over all the apathy, and all the prayerlessness… I’ve done that, I’ve filled my heart with that stuff before, it doesn’t have any good fruit in me, it doesn’t have any good fruit through me, i’ve tried it. you can try it if you want, but i can tell you i’ve tasted that pie, it’s no good, throw that one out.

when you feed yourself on what god is doing, you’re encouraged, when you feed yourself on what the church is doing right, you get encouraged. and not only do you get encouraged, you become a person that draws others into the privilege of experiencing his pleasure and his will.

if i stand up here and say ‘you know, there’s just not enough prayer going on in this house, if you guys don’t repent, i feel like god’s just going to judge us.’ oh, man, let’s seek god together, that makes me want to get hungry for god, doesnt it? what happens is i start warring against the courage that you brought into the house. the way you bring people into significance, is you speak to that god thing that’s in them, and you draw them forward, you say ‘here, come with me, we’re going this direction.’ you bring people with you, you don’t preach them into it. you may feel better at the end, because you got rid of your frustration, but you haven’t done a thing to change the world’s circumstances.

In the midst of the many intrinsically fascinating reasons why Old Testament study is so rewarding, the most exciting to me is the way it never fails to add new depths to my understanding of Jesus. I find myself aware that in reading the Hebrew scriptures I am handling something that gives me a closer common link with Jesus than any archaeological artefact could do.

For these are the words he read. These were the stories he knew. These were the songs he sang. These were the depths of wisdom and revelation and prophecy that shaped his whole view of “life, the universe and everything”. This is where he found his insights into the mind of his Father God. Above all, this is where he found the shape of his own identity and the goal of his own mission. In short, the deeper you go into understanding the Old Testament, the closer you come to the heart of Jesus.

– Christopher Wright

Critique of Jennifer Knust CNN Article on Homosexuality and the Bible

Followup Knust Critique From Robert Gagnon: Mixed Message or Consistent Message?