Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
A timely message from Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones:
In Acts 2, what did the Christians come together for? Here were these people who had come out of the world to join the group of people called disciples, and they formed the first church, but what is the Christian church for? What does she do? What does she provide? Do Christian people come together for socials, dances, raffles, dramatic performances, lectures on politics, literature, and sociology? There was nothing like that in the early church. It is not my objective to denounce these things. But I do want to show how far removed they are from the Christian church. You can get all that in the world, and you can get it very much better there. The Christian church makes a fool of herself when she attempts these things–she does them so badly. If you want activities like that, then go and get them organized professionally. But that is not the Christian church. It is a travesty. …Read More!
So imagine the theological police round you up in a dark street corner and as they breathe down your neck and one asks you,“so, little helpless brat are you a Calvinist?” With the microphone firmly planted to your upper lip say, “You decide. Here is what I believe . . .”
I believe I am so spiritually corrupt and prideful and rebellious that I would never have come to faith in Jesus without God’s merciful, sovereign victory over the last vestiges of my rebellion. (1 Corinthians 2:14; Ephesians 2:1–4; Romans 8:7).
I believe that God chose me to be his child before the foundation of the world, on the basis of nothing in me, foreknown or otherwise. (Ephesians 1:4–6; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29–30; 11:5–7)
I believe Christ died as a substitute for sinners to provide a bona fide offer of salvation to all people, and that he had an invincible design in his death to obtain his chosen bride, namely, the assembly of all believers, whose names were eternally written in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. (John 3:16; John 10:15; Ephesians 5:25; Revelation 13:8)
When I was dead in my trespasses, and blind to the beauty of Christ, God made me alive, opened the eyes of my heart, granted me to believe, and united me to Jesus, with all the benefits of forgiveness and justification and eternal life. …Read More!
One of my favorite theologians, the ever witty Dr Jim West has just been going through his King James Bible (KJV) and realises that:
I John 2:2 declares ‘And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world’ (KJV). There’s just one problem with this translation: ἱλασμός doesn’t mean ‘propitiation’, it means ‘expiation’.
When you ‘propitiate’ a deity you do the same thing as the natives do when they trundle up a volcano and toss a virgin in it to stop the angry god from destroying you and your fellow islanders.
When ‘expiation’ occurs you do the same thing as the Israelites did when they put their hands on the scapegoat and sent it off into the wilderness. That goat ‘bears your sins away’ where they can’t harm you anymore and their effects are ameliorated.
This is why accurate translation matters. The difference between rendering ἱλασμός propitiation and expiation is the difference between pagan ritual and revelation. …Read More!
I know this is a very common question. In fact Matt Slick does agree that….
This is a difficult question to answer. How do we reconcile the idea that our prayers influence God as James 5:16 implies, yet God knows all things as 1 John 3:20 says?
James 5:16, “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
How is it possible for us to influence God who has always known all things from eternity? Does God interact with us in some sense of knowing what we will do and decides to do things in response? Or, does God decree whatsoever shall come to pass including our prayers, so that all our prayers are ultimately within his will? The debate within Christianity is deep. However, Scripture is clear. We know that God works “all things after the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). This means that he includes our prayers in the counsel of his will – from all eternity. But, does God look into the future to see what we are going to pray and then decide what to do based on that? This can’t be, because it would violate the sovereignty of God who does not react to man’s desires and offer “a backup plan” when he “changes his mind.” Furthermore, looking into the future to see what would happen would imply that God was learning — which contradicts 1 John 3:20 that says God knows all things. Furthermore, our prayers come from our hearts and the Bible tells us that God “moves the heart of the king where He wishes to go,” (Proverbs 21:1). …Read More!
It is often said that the nature of the atonement defines its extent. The atonement is simply coextensive, as far as its saving effects are concerned, with the number of true believers. This should have been the last word, and indeed would have been, were it not for men who, being driven less by religious convictions than by speculative tendencies, deemed it necessary to extend the atonement to all men alike. Today we shall look at the four basic universalist theories:
A. The thorough-going theory of universal salvation; that is, the belief that in virtue of Christ’s work, all men will ultimately be saved. The only good thing that can be said about this theory is that it carries its presuppositions through to their logical consequences. It affirms that the actual restoration attained by Christ is coextensive with the actual ruin of the race. It overlooks justice simply falls back on a fuzzy idea of Divine benevolence. Though it is completely and utterly unscriptural, it is at least self-consistent.
B. Arminianism is the second universalist theory. …Read More!
Transgender is the state of one’s “gender identity” (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) not matching one’s “assigned sex”. Though a precise definition for transgender remains in flux. Transgender issues are usually very sensitive and rightly so. Legal procedures exist in some jurisdictions allowing individuals to change their legal gender, or their name, to reflect their gender identity. The world’s religions display great diversity and their interpretations of and reactions to transgender people demonstrate equal diversity. This week it was an Evangelical community in India that began it’s conundrum:
CHENNAI: Shunned and traumatized as a youngster, 25-year-old Bharathi now preaches to a congregation of 45 respectful parishioners, including 14 families, as India’s first transgender pastor.
Bharathi, who completed her bachelor’s degree in theology last April, has been a pastor at the Evangelical Church of India (ECI) branch in Chengalpattu, on the outskirts of Chennai, for the past eight months.
The pathbreaking move by the ECI, which has more than 100,000 followers across India, coincides with evangelical denominations in other countries, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, deciding to allow transgenders as pastors. …Read More!
It’s usually said if you want two see to lads play endless theological ping-pong, start a Calvinism vs Arminianism debate and title it “Does man have free will?” You will literally have to drag one of them apart…kicking and screaming. But I must say these theological debates do achieve their own edification in various unseen ways. They are strenuous and it always seems as though the other guy is just playing dumb like Balaam’s donkey. But when you come to finally hear your proverbial nemesis drop his daisies and grab hold of a bunch of graceful Tulips, doesn’t it just warm your heart? (sorry couldn’t resist the pun ;)) This is an excerpt from an article written by Mark Ketchum– on discovering God’s Sovereignty in election, salvation and transformation of a sinner dead in sin:
…We are not able to seek Him or turn to Him unless He first intervenes to soften our hearts. Are we capable? …. Are we able? No, our hearts are seeped in sin and our depravity makes God undesirable…
Romans 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
I have struggled with this concept for a long time. Ever since the concept of election was brought to my attention, I have fought against the idea of the inability to seek God on my own. During the sermon today at Faith Bible Church, it was as if a light bulb went on for the first time… God does choose us… we do not and cannot choose Him.
My salvation is not because of anything I have done, but because of what God has done to and through me.
While John is capable of going to college and graduating with a good degree, he is not able to accomplish this because of his laziness.
Scripture tells us that we cannot come to Jesus unless we are compelled or drawn by the Father (John 6:44). Jesus also spoke to us via Parable in Luke 14:16-24, explaining that the Father sent His servant Jesus to compel people to the banquet because nobody would come on their own… they were filled with excuses.
I do believe in free will, however, now I see that free will is and will always be limited by ourselves. My free will allows me to jump off a roof with my arms a flapping, but I will never be able to fly on my own accord without assistance.
My free will allows me to choose to murder, but thankfully I never will because that is not in my heart. The same goes for salvation. My free will allows me to choose God, but in my/our depraved state of sinfulness, I never will because it isn’t in my heart… unless God first softens my heart and changes me. Then and only then am I able to have the faith that offers repentance and salvation. …Read More!
A.W Pink’s classic book The Attributes of God is available free of charge here. (Mobile phone downloads here). One of the first chapters is “The Solitariness of God”. Did you know that…
“In the beginning, God” (Gen. 1:1). There was a time, if “time” is could be called, when God, in the unity of His nature (though subsisting equally in three Divine Persons), dwelt all alone. “In the beginning, God.” There was no heaven, where His glory is now particularly manifested. There was no earth to engage His attention. There were no angels to hymn His praises; no universe to be upheld by the word of His power. There was nothing, no one, but God; and that, not for a day, a year, or an age, but “from everlasting.” During a past eternity, God was alone: self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied; in need of nothing. …Read More PINK!
With all the frenzy these days of a fresh revelation and a little pinch of Lectio divina to help hear a new voice of God speaking to us again. Why not go back to square one….
We all want to hear from God. Now you can share the secret closely guarded by our forebears in the faith. This simple yet ancient formula will enable you to experience the voice of God speaking directly into your life:
- Get hold of a reliable translation of the Bible, such as the NKJV or the ESV. (Sorry, no, The Message doesn’t work for this spiritual discipline.)
- Open it.
- Read.
Simple. Uh? …Read More!
Dr. Asahel Nettleton (1783–1844) is considered one of America’s greatest forgotten evangelists. He was a contemporary of Charles Finney and while Finney was conditioning converts and churning out spurious conversions with the anxious seat and altar calls, Nettleton believed this pragmatic “decisionism” was very superficial. In fact, Nettleton was the main opponent of Finney and the “new measures”. He did not seek for quick responses to an open invitation to “come forward” as Finney and his followers did.
It’s said Nettleton’s conversions lasted and bore fruit. For example, of the 84 converts in an 1818 revival atRocky Hill,Connecticut— according to their pastor’s report 26 years later — all 84 had remained faithful. Similarly, only three spurious conversions out of 82 professed commitments were noted by another pastor in his report on revival services held inAshford,Connecticut. What accounted for this success?
William C. Nichols, modern publisher of Nettleton’s sermons, reported that:
Asahel Nettleton
Nettleton was a thorough student of the human heart. He understood the windings and turnings of the depraved heart and knew how to expose its deceits to awaken the sinner to the desperateness of his lost condition. You who do the work of evangelism today: Are you such a student of the human heart? Do you understand how the unconverted heart operates? In his sermon on “Gospel Warfare” Nettleton said, “Preaching mere external morality will never bring one soul to Christ. That preaching which does not aim at the heart will never bring one soul to Christ. That preaching which does not aim at the heart, and take hold of the conscience, never attacks the strong holds of Satan.” Read More…
I will tell you how I used to spend the last day of each year. Yup, we would spend it in church quoting Jeremiah 29:11. We would affirm: “This new year I will be prosperous! This is my year of divine destiny! This is my year of health, wealth and prosperity!”
But Voddie Baucham in this clip explains something very important. How I wish I had come across such teaching on exegesis and rightly understanding scripture in context.
Jeremiah 29:11 is just one of many mis quoted verses. …Read More!!
By Todd Friel of Wretched Radio
The music weeps, the preacher pleads, “Give your heart to Jesus. You have a God shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it.” Dozens, hundreds or thousands of people who want to get their spiritual life on track make their way to the altar. They ask Jesus into their heart.
Cut to three months later. Nobody has seen our new convert in church. The follow up committee calls him and encourages him to attend a Bible study, but to no avail. We label him a backslider and get ready for the next outreach event.
Our beloved child lies in her snuggly warm bed and says, “Yes, Daddy. I want to ask Jesus into my heart.” You lead her in “the prayer” and hope that it sticks. You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it. Puberty hits and the answer reveals itself. She backslides. We spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.
Telling someone to ask Jesus into their hearts has a very typical result, backsliding. The Bible says that a person who is soundly saved puts his hand to the plow Read More
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There was once at time when the deepest urge of a Christian was to be like Christ. To imitate Christ. The coolest thing about Christianity was Christ and for you to know him you must have first stumbled past a bloodied cross. Gone are the days when it was preached that for our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him Jews and Gentiles might become the righteousness of God. Read More
Apparently there are 5 main heresies. Know the five and you will be able to identify any wayward world view teachings and track them back top their original flawed concepts. Here is a picture survey [Click image to enlarge]:
…Read More!
If you thought indulgences for the dead ended in the 16th Century with Johann Tetzel think again. Tetzel is remembered for making a lot of money off from naive congregants for the ongoing reconstruction of St. Peter’s Basilica by using the draw string “as soon as a coin in the coffer rings; a soul from purgatory springs”. Well guess what, the Roman Catholic church just made an announcement with a door to absolution…
The announcement in church bulletins and on Web sites has been greeted with enthusiasm by some and wariness by others. But mainly, it has gone over the heads of a vast generation of Roman Catholics who have no idea what it means: “Bishop Announces Plenary Indulgences.”
In recent months, dioceses around the world have been offering Catholics a spiritual benefit that fell out of favor decades ago — the indulgence, a sort of amnesty from punishment in the afterlife — and reminding them of the church’s clout in mitigating the wages of sin. …Read More!
So what does Ephesians 2:1-5 say and how does it apply to me?
“Seeing then that we are so corrupted in our souls and that there is neither thought nor affection which is not utterly perverted, let us not think it strange that God with his own mouth pronounces us dead, despite the fact that through our own foolish pride we imagine that there is some life in us. And that is the very thing that St. Paul deals with now in saying that the Ephesians were partakers of the above-mentioned grace, though they were dead through their own sins and iniquities. …Read More!
One would think this is a question posed by a weak, lip quivering Corinthian brother who has just bought a pound of pork or beef from the local temple butchery. needless to say it seems some Americans are revisiting that “to eat or not to eat” debate this Thanks Giving. They are now saying…
As you sit down with your family on Thanksgiving and consider offering a prayer of gratitude, be aware the turkey at the center of the table may have already been “blessed” – in the name of Allah.
Customer service representatives from Butterball, one of America’s most popular Turkey brands, confirmed to WND that the company’s whole turkeys are – without being labeled as such – slaughtered according to Islamic “halal” standards. Read more of this post
When I came across the doctrines of grace I was utterly humbled. I was deep into word of faith and prosperity theology and the cross and gospel were a distant memory. My eyes were refocused but today I would like to feature a testimony that has been a blessing. Speaking about refocusing our eyes there’s no one who has been sounding the alarm louder than Holly D. Dye of Refocusing Our Eyes. You see….
For the last 2 years, [Holly says] since leaving the Word of Faith movement, there have been erroneous assumptions, by people of that camp, that I have left the Faith. However, nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, I have become more solidified in Christian truths and more passionate in my service to God than ever before. I trust that through this 2-part article, God would grant me the ability to “make a defense to those who have asked a reason for the hope that is in me and that I may be able to do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3.15).
In this discourse, I have no intention of “sowing strife”, as is commonly asserted by WoF[1] leadership toward those who resist their teaching. Although it is certain, offense will surely come, I will attempt, by the grace of God, to present my beliefs within the landscape of scripture and by the brush of simple reasoning. …Read More!
FREE AGENCY
1. Are all men both saint and sinner free agents? If so, is not the sinner as free as the saint?
2. If a sinner cannot come to Christ of his own free will, is he a free agent?
3. If all sinners possess will and power to come to Christ, why did Christ say (John 6:44), “No man can come unto Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him?”
4. Has any man the power to refuse to come to Christ when the Father draws him?
5. Are those characters free agents that shall do wickedly and none of them shall understand? (Dan. 12:10) …Read More!
Can we trust the historical accuracy of the Bible? Is the text reliable? How can we know for sure?
Im currently reading about puritans (and wow) it is challenging to learn about their high view of God. More so how they lived their lives. Here is a quote from Richard Baxter about parenting:
Parents! Your example and life are a continual and powerful sermon, which is always seen by your children! Parents! Your children have an everlasting inheritance of happiness to attain–and it is that which you must bring them up for. They have an endless misery to escape–and it is that which you must diligently teach them. If you don’t teach them to know God, and how to serve Him, and be saved, and to escape the flames of hell–you teach them nothing, or worse than nothing. It is in your hands to do them the greatest kindness or cruelty in all the world! Help them to know God and to be saved, and you do more for them than if you helped them to be kings or princes. …Read More!
It is not uncommon to go to an average church and not even hear the name Jesus Christ. However even in churches where the name is mentioned, it is used as a draw string to a rich and lavish lifestyle. No, I am not kidding. Well, you see…
Jesus can give you a new house like this one...
From the pulpit of his modest Spring City church, Pastor Michael Wilkerson delivered electric sermons on God’s desire to shower down riches upon his faithful adherents. And with a Lexus and Escalade in its garage, his $1.7 million Schwenksville home seemed convincing proof. How else but by faith, his congregants wondered, could a man raised on Pottstown’s urban streets have risen to such heights? …Read More!
Conservative Christian values are very despised these days in Evangelical circles. Its no wonder that anything passes for Christianity these days. Its not uncommon to see pets taking Holy Communion, motor cycles being ridden in the sanctuary instead of preaching, essential doctrines being challenged (like the doctrine of Hell), re-introduction of ancient heresies (like modalism) and the list goes on. It therefore didn’t come as a surprise when I heard that…
A Kentucky Baptist association denied membership to a church after a credentials committee found its confessional statement too Calvinistic, according to a report in the Western Recorder.
Daviess-McLean Baptist Association voted 104-9 to deny membership to Pleasant Valley Community Church in Owensboro during its annual meeting held Oct. 17-18, the Kentucky Baptist Convention news journal reported in its Oct. 25 issue.
“Our concern in the initial stages of our investigation revolved around the fact that Pleasant Valley Community Church’s confessional statement is one that (is) Calvinistic in nature,” the newspaper quoted from a recommendation by the association’s credentials committee. “It affirms the doctrine of election and grace.” …Read More!
Here is a humorous video (with awesome royal marching music in the background) illustrating a number classic errors that are frequently used by opponents of Calvinism.
HT Turretin Fan
Imagine a book authored by James Emery White (an intelligent spokesman for many of the seeker movement’s ideas) and (not to be confused with the Reformed Christian apologist James R. White) he is also the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church, a megachurch in Charlotte. The same book is endorsed by people like Geoff Surratt from Saddleback, Jim Mellado from the Willow Creek Association, and Marshall Shelley from Leadership Journal. The Foreword is by (wait for it, yup) Perry Noble and includes blurbs from Bill Hybels and Rick Warren.
James Emery White’s latest book, What They Didn’t Teach You in Seminary: 25 Lessons for Successful Ministry in Your Church (Baker 2011) will teach you a couple of therapeutic moralistic things to do to enhance your church experience but a review of it by Kevin DeYoung succinctly noted that:
1. Theology felt strangely irrelevant throughout the book. It would not be at all fair to say White or other seeker church leaders don’t care about theology or that they don’t affirm orthodox theology. They do, on both accounts. But it feels assumed at best and a necessary nuisance at worst. In his introduction Noble explains that he dropped out of seminary because he didn’t want to spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars on something that didn’t really equip him for ministry in the real world. No one cared about TULIP, Noble observes, or Christ’s impeccability for that matter, or fancy theological words or lectures on church history. I don’t doubt that many people in many churches don’t give a rip about theological terms or concepts. But just because they don’t doesn’t mean we shouldn’t. Maybe our people fall asleep when we wax on about justification or imputation because we are frankly bored ourselves. Maybe we haven’t been gripped by the great doctrines of the faith. Maybe we haven’t done the spade work in the text and in our hearts to see how the doctrine of Trinity or the incarnation or limited atonement is massively relevant.
I sometimes wonder if seeker church pastors have heard theology presented so badly and seen it applied to real life so poorly that they’ve concluded that theology is the problem. …Read More!
Just a humorous picture I came across. I know it will get both Premillennialists and Amillennialists doubled over in stitches…and some Post Millennialists and Preterists too.( Okay plus partial Preterists as well…but not Atheists) 🙂 Read More
This short article may be taken to be very difficult to swallow. In actual essence it simply contains the basic instructions of the Christian faith and doctrine. When we neglect the preaching of the word (and resort to carnal means of church growth) we inadvertently pander to base activities that on the surface may draw multitudes but profit little to bring sinners to repentance. …Read More!
I remember a couple of years ago when a friend, Ryan (not his real name), came rejoicing to church. Another buddy of his had come to faith in Christ. This of course was greeted with the usual jubilance when a sinner comes to repentance. Then my friend said something that got me thinking. Ryan said now that Rooney (not his real name too) was saved, he needed to pray hard so that he could receive the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is given to all Christians. Actually no body can be saved without the work of the Holy Spirit in applying the preaching of the gospel in regeneration of a sinner. Pentecostalism teaches that the Holy Spirit is given to Christians after they believe in Christ –as an additional or second blessing. This implies then that there is a split-level church. …Read More!
David Murray has had the privilege of hearing many beginning preachers preach their first sermon. Sometimes, it’s stunning how God has gifted a person and you hope Seminary doesn’t spoil them! Usually, however, first sermons confirm the need for much further training. Here, David has graciously highlighted a few of the mistakes that keep recurring among budding preachers. I must of course add that though one can never deliver the “perfect sermon” it is good to learn how to communicate effectively:
1. Cramming: Squeezing all you have ever studied about the Bible over the years into 30 minutes.
2. Skimming: Taking too many verses and simply skimming over the surface of the text, teaching nothing that someone with average intelligence would not have derived from the text themselves.
3. Floating: The preacher says many things that relate to the text, floating or hovering above the text, but fails to show how they are anchored in the text.
4. Proof-texting: Including lots and lots of texts from all over the Bible, and sometimes diverting hearers by expounding the proof texts as much as the sermon text.
5. Quoting: Too many quotes from commentators, theologians, and other preachers from the past and the present. …Read more!
When you put Christianity and atheism side by side, you will realise that…
Christianity is defined by a belief in something — particularly, a belief in the God of the Bible. Atheism is defined by a non-belief in something — particularly, a non-belief in the God of the Bible.
Christians choose to be identified by that which they believe to be true. Atheists choose to be identified by that which they believe to be false.
The practice of Christian apologetics is based on defending a belief. The practice of atheist apologetics is based on attacking a belief. …Read more!
The next time you strut around like a rooster with your tattoos all emblazoned on your heavily biceped arm or six pack torso remember not to annoy the fashion police in Saudi. A BIG no-no is a Jesus tattoo (that is if you even know what he looks like). One soccer star lived to tell the story….
Saudi Arabia’s religious police have arrested a South American soccer star in a shopping mall in the Saudi capital for failing to cover up his tattoo of Jesus.
Juan Pablo Pino, 24, who plays for the An-Nasr professional team was wearing a sleeveless shirt while walking with his young pregnant wife in a shopping mall in Riyadh, reported Asia News.
“The tattoo on his left shoulder led to the insults of some local Muslims,” reported the Vatican Insider newspaper. “The incident attracted the attention of the so-called ‘police for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,’ who stopped the couple.” …Read More!
Interesting conversation here:
[HT Thabiti Anyabwile]
If you got a letter from me while in prison it would probably be full of me whingeing. I probably would complain how I’m missing three baths a day, missing day time Christian television game shows, missing the pizza parties on Sundays and movie sermon series. Oh yeah, you would get an ear full. Afterall we modern day Christians live in comfort and theology is just a by the way- a disposable means to an end. Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been in jail for the last 3 years. Has faced trial for apostasy and converting to Christianity and at this moment awaits execution by hanging. Despite many attempts by the authorities to quietly advise him to recant and renounce his faith in Christ he has remained steadfast. Here is an excerpt of his letter to his church members. See if you can hear his side of the story:
Dear brothers and sisters, Salam
In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am continuously seeking grace and mercy to you, that you remember me and those who are bearing efforts for his name in your prayers.
Your loyalty to God is the cause of my strength and encouragement…. …Read More!
One very good piece of advice would be to avoid a snake handing church service. But most people love impromptu adventure and will scale Mount Everest just to place chewing gum on the top of the mountain – because the bible verse for the day (which just happened to be John 13:27) said ‘what you are about to do, do it fast’. So…
How do you know if you have inadvertently wandered into a snake handling church? For one thing, every single congregation has several members who are badly maimed or disfigured. In the 40 US churches there have been over 100 fatalities. But if that doesn’t tip you off: If the greeter at the door looks genuinely surprised that you’ve come to visit; or if they ask for the offering in cash, check, or mouse. …Read More!
Things in Iran are quite amusing-especially if you are a Christian. The Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani (who was jailed 3 years ago and has recently been sentenced to death after trial by Iranian court) apparently has been going on rampage extorting and raping women. Well, did his trial mention this? Uh, no but…
Iran state media put out a stunning report Saturday claiming that imprisoned Christian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani is facing the death sentence for rape and extortion, not for apostasy and refusing to renounce his religion, as his lawyer, human rights groups and Western news media have reported. …Read More!
I have a riddle. This section of discussion is found some where in the blogosphere. With no clues (what so ever) as to who is being discussed I would like you to read with an open mind. Then I will ask you a question at the end. He is…
… a self-styled “bishop”—notorious for his love of money, who teaches a false prosperity gospel, who freely shills for every aberration on TBN, who was ordained in a Sabellian denomination, who has been confronted repeatedly about his anti-trinitarianism, who refuses to renounce modalism, who declines to embrace any standard expression of Trinitarian conviction, and who (on top of all that) is unclear on practically every doctrine germane to the gospel …Read More!
On a lighter note: I came across this witty chart and I still haven’t stopped rolling on the floor laughing. (ROFL for you tweeters who use 140 characters or less). See what you make of it:
[HT Zwinglius Redivivus]
It is always good to get involved in meaty theological discussion that challenges you to read more of the bible and flex your spiritual muscles. Imagine the excitement when one pastor went to meet up with his study class and found this question being discussed. Well I will let him tell the story….
Recently, in a leadership training class at our church, a spirited discussion broke out on whether sanctification is monergistic or synergisitic. No, this is not what every class is like at University Reformed Church. But this one was. I wasn’t there, but I was told the discussion was energetic, intelligent, and respectful. I’m glad to serve at a church where people know and care about this level of theological precision. …Read More!
Today I was reading Loraine Boettner’s classic book The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination (1932). Well, it wasn’t the first time I was tucking into it. It has always (okay over the last 2 years) been one of my favorite books. At this point I look at my small library and immediately shudder (yeah, its a very small library these days after I got rid of my word of faith, prosperity and purpose driven rubble).
So, who was Loraine Boettner? Where do we begin? Well…
Loraine Boettner
Loraine was born March 7th 1901 in Linden Missouri. He lived with his family; his father being a Christian school superintendent and his mother a housewife. Loraine attended his father’s church until he was 18. Then he joined his mother’s church–the Centennial Methodist Church; his mother was of a different denominational background than his father. …Read More!
The usual way of arguing against one of the doctrines of grace is first, to misrepresent it so badly that no serious student of the Scripture would ever embrace it; then totally demolish it with arguments that have nothing at all to do with the issue. You have heard these straw man arguments before. Now we shall boldly look at them and debunk them one straw at a time. Some say the doctrine of total depravity (inability) cannot be true because:
1. The Bible teaches that all are responsible to believe and repent.
2.The Bible teaches that man has a will (choice). Man is not a robot or a puppet.
3. Every man does not act as sinfully as he is capable of acting.
4. Even wicked men perform acts which are good in the sight of other people.
Well…
1. The Bible teaches that men, controlled by a sinful nature, are not able to believe or repent. The person who believes in free grace has no argument with the truth that sinners are responsible. …Read More!
We live in a time and age where alot passes for Christianity that the early church would outrightly have called heretical or even pagan. A cross-sectional look at the state of the pulpit shows…
Churches today are suffering spiritually, both because of false doctrine and because of other doctrine, that is, ideas and activities which are far removed from God’s revealed will. So much of what we hear from modern Christian ministries is not necessarily wrong in itself, but a distraction from the core of the apostolic message, and to the degree it diverts us from the most important truths, it really is “contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:10). Ironically, in the name of relevance, Christian pulpits and presses and media spew forth many things completely irrelevant to the nature of God and man, the plight of sinners without Christ, and the way of salvation through Him. …Read More!
What are the common straw man arguments against Predestination also called the doctrine of God’s fore knowledge or Unconditional Election? It is argued that the doctrine of “Unconditional Election” cannot be true because:
1. Anyone who wants to be saved, can be. “Whosoever will May come.”
2. God does not delight in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), but desires that all men repent.
3. We should preach the gospel to everyone. If God has only planned to save some, why should we preach to and pray for all?
4.”Election” and “predestination” are terms contrived by the Calvinists to cause confusion, bring division, and excuse a lack of evangelistic zeal (The issue is whether election ever took place or not).
Well lets tackle each of these issues one straw at a time:
1. The true believer in free grace will never deny that God has extended a free offer of mercy, in Christ, to all who hear the Gospel. To deny that “Whosoever will may come,” is to deny the clear teaching of God’s Word. The real issue, however, is whether any will desire salvation (in God’s way and on God’s terms) unless God gives him that desire (Psalm 14:1-3; Romans 3:11; Psalm 58:3-5; John 3:14-21, 5:40). …Read More!
On his television show Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said a man would be morally justified to divorce his wife with Alzheimer’s disease in order to marry another woman.The dementia-riddled wife is, Robertson said, “not there” anymore. This is more than an embarrassment. Russell D. Moore was only too glad to set the record straight. Even if it meant going to CNN to say, “This is more than cruelty. This is a repudiation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Listen in:
Further more:
Few Christians take Robertson all that seriously anymore. Most roll their eyes, and shake their heads when he makes another outlandish comment (for instance, defending China’s brutal one-child abortion policy to identifying God’s judgment on specific actions in the September 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina, or the Haiti earthquake). This is serious, …Read Moore!
Postmodernism is one of the most prevalent belief systems among young people today. Lets see how Moe breaks it down:
On another lighter note: How many post modernists does it take to change a light bulb? …Read More!
Uh, I am not sure if this is the kind of prayer we should be making for our leaders. Some times God grants us the leaders that we deserve. (I wonder which country this church sign is from)
Is prosperity theology getting the better of most liberal Christians? I am still pondering on Pat Robertson’s flippant answer to Andreas.
Mark Driscoll is back in the headlines again. The voices are back. Mark had every one laughing (yup, even the cessationists) the other day when he said, “I start getting prophetic dreams. God’s showing me the future… but I can see somebody and I just know their story.” The non cessationist camp took it with a pinch of salt and dismissed him with a slap on the wrist. But this time will going to the naughty step alone remove the deep concerns after this latest tweet? :
Is Mark drifting from orthodoxy and pandering to fortune telling? Surely …Read More!
Revivals have been an elusive phenomenon in recent times. Pragmatism has hence has led men to wield the easy to achieve man-made winnowing fan of “revivalism” to substitute for the real outpouring. Speaking of modern day pragmatists who else can fill up a conference hall faster than Steve Furtick (who vehemently argues that Christians who attend his church searching for orthodox doctrinal teaching or expository preaching, discipleship and bible study are in the wrong place)?
Pastor Furtick’s “2012 Code Orange Revival” is being billed as the next big event. But the biggest surprise lies in the latest addition to the guest list (young, restless and reformed’s very own): Matt Chandler!
The rest of the list of speakers is quite interesting …Read More!
This may be the best 10 minutes you will perhaps spend on one verse this week:
Just stumbled on a very interesting post:
Not long ago I came across a newspaper story about a church that is trying to attract worshipers by imitating radio news programs that promise: “Give us twenty-two minutes, and we’ll give you the world.” Their 9:00 a.m. Sunday service is called “Express Worship,” and the hook is that church-goers can come in and be out in twenty-two minutes. In one service described by the newspaper, the pastor began with a greeting and a short prayer, followed by a reading from Luke 7:1-10. He then asked the worshipers to write down their thoughts on what constitutes authority in their lives. Finally, they sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and went out. The pastor described it as “a restructuring of the way we think of the service”. Not one person delivering the truth to you, but a shared experience. …Read More!
In recent years a new movement within the evangelical church has come into vogue, commonly referred to as “seeker sensitive.” Generally, this movement has seen a great deal of growth. Many “seeker” churches are now mega-churches with well-known pastors who are riding a wave of popularity in the evangelical world.
So, what is this movement all about? Where does it come from? And, most importantly, is it biblical? Basically, the seeker-sensitive church tries to reach out to the unsaved person by making the church experience as comfortable, inviting, and non-threatening to him as possible. The hope is that the person will believe in the gospel. …Read More!
Sometimes hunting for heresies behind every bush and under every stone does take away something from you. Especially if this goes on for so long with no balance in between. Believe me there is a need for warning and discernment. There are things we need to argue about. There are people we need to confront. There are unbiblical and dangerous positions that need to be obliterated with sound biblical argumentation.
That said, here are 10 real dangers of persistently defining ourselves by what we are against:
1. You’ll forget to talk about what’s good… especially about Jesus. The majority of Jesus’ discourses did not include “woes.” Paul wrote Colossians and Ephesians 1:3-13 from the same prison cell. Pointing out error is only part of the job of disclosing truth. At some point, after we wrestle the opponents to the ground, we must get around to the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ and his person. It’s okay to come off positive about Jesus. It’s acceptable – from time to time – to have no agenda other than loving Jesus and drawing attention to him. We are stewards of a mystery just as much as we are defenders of it. …Read More!
It is often said that Charismatic/ Continuationist Christianity in Africa promotes either a pietist withdrawal from social and political concerns, or a preoccupation with gaining individual health and wealth (the prosperity gospel). Needless to say it is the fastest growing branch of Christianity on the continent. Following the recent debates in evangelical circles about Cessationism and Continuationism, Bwana Nathan Busenitz [Bwana means “Sir” or “Mr.” in Swahili] wrote an interesting article in which he took the challenge to respond in 100 words or less, to the question “Are you a Charismatic/Continuationist?”:
[No!] I am convinced that the biblical gift of tongues was the supernatural ability to speak in authentic foreign languages that the speaker had not previously learned; AND that the gift of prophecy was the accurate proclamation of authoritative, inerrant revelation that the prophet received directly from the Holy Spirit; AND that the gift (or gifts) of healing resulted in the immediate, undeniable, and complete recovery of a sick or injured person at the hands of the healer. …Read More!
This interesting street preaching clip has a harrowing truth in it (and also the gospel)! It probably carries alot more theology than may be heard in some churches these days. Listen in….
Ever wondered why evil men and regimes seem to prosper…
I believe that God allows the evil and the evildoers to have their fling; He allows them rope, licence, as it were, in order to make their overthrow more complete and sure. Biblical history is really an exposition of this principle. God seems to be asleep and the enemy rises. He blasphemes the name of God. Think of it in the case of Assyria. … They inflated themselves almost to the heavens … Then God suddenly pricked the bubble and the whole empire collapsed. ~Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Just a thought about the Holiness of God ….
The modern movement of worship is designed to break down barriers between man and God, to remove the veil, as it were, from the fearsome holiness of God, which might cause us to tremble. It is designed to make us feel comfortable. ~R.C Sproul
Its good to see young men asking profound theological questions and not just follow the entertainment band wagon that most churches and sunday schools adopt to kill time on sundays. A great clip of a young man asking interesting questions:
Many argue that a deep theological understanding gravitates Christians away from Christ. Don’t study too much, as it were. But this argument presupposes that more studying will find things that the person doesn’t like, effectively smashing the ideas they’ve created in their mind about how God should be. In effect, the opposite is true. For those who are called, more study and understanding leads us to more worship of the true God and more facets of Him to adore. ~Andrew Taylor (via Facebook)
I do not always agree with J. Lee Grady but this time (as a brother in the Lord) I like his honesty. This time he looks into the recent death of Pastor Zachery Tims and gives the charismatic community a heads up that I think we can all learn from…
Zachery Tims [is said to have] met Jesus and was saved from a life of crime and drugs. He and his wife, Riva, moved from Baltimore to Orlando, Fla., in 1996 to launch a church that aimed to restore families and pull teens out of trouble. New Destiny Christian Center grew fast, mostly because of Tims’ passionate preaching. He was soon a regular on Christian television.
But things unraveled in 2009 when Tims was caught carrying on a yearlong affair with a stripper he met in France. He admitted to an “indiscretion” and got a few weeks of counseling, but he didn’t take serious time off for rehabilitation. Riva divorced him for his infidelity. The billboards that once featured photos of the happy couple were changed. By 2011 the roadside ads featured a shot of Tims by himself, with this slogan: “A Family Church Meeting Family Needs.”This story did not end well. On Aug. 12, Tims was found dead–at age 42–in a New York City hotel room. His four children lost their dad, and his church lost their beloved leader. But while Tims’ family and friends are grieving their loss (and I’m not minimizing that because the pain is real), I’m also grieving over the fact that the wider body of Christ has yet another embarrassing religious scandal to explain. We can’t gloss over this.There are so many aspects of this story that should cause us to lament. How did a preacher get involved with a stripper? Why didn’t Tims put himself on the bench for at least a year after his sin was exposed? Why did Christian television keep him on the air after his affair became public? …Read More!
Frank Turk never minces his words; nor his food. Once he cooks food, he salts it very well and he loves his soup the way it should be -well salted too. But one thing that Frank never tolerates seems to be hypocricy. Inconsistency rubs him the wrong way. This time it’s renowned Arminian Theologian Roger Olson’s dabbling butter fingers that have poured the last proverbial soup into the fire. (Yes, all of it!). So, the food is all wasted and the party is now officially O-V-E-R!
And you know what that means? Yes, an open letter (from Frank himself)…
Dear Dr. Olson;
I thought I was going to be a fan of yours back when you published the level-headed IVP classic Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities in 2006. It helped me get over my own vestiges of cage-stage Calvinism, and it’s a fine discussion of the Arminian theology. I like someone who puts a little of his own fat in the fire when it comes to explanation and argumentation, so I appreciated that really, what you wanted was to engage some of the daffier calvinist apologetics and counter-apologetics with some salt and vinegar, and I say good on you.That, of course, doesn’t finally persuade me that you have the better systematics or even approach to theology, church and evangelism, but I credit you for being a sound in-house adversary for what you believe. …Read More!
We do the dumbest things when we think no one’s watching or when there’s an inkling that we could get away with it. Yes, in my minds eye I do see that heavily pregnant lady in the London riots who matched into an Argos store and looted goods with a toddler tucked under one arm and boxes of stolen goods in the other. Unfazed by the overhead CCTV, the young woman did not even bother to disguise her face as she calmly strolled out of the shop.
Sin makes us stupid. What’s more is I gleefully recently over heard that…
Distracted by Ducklings...
According to the FBI, most bank robberies are “Unsophisticated and unprofessional” crimes. Despite the ubiquity of all-seeing surveillance cameras, 76% of robbers don’t bother with a disguise, and 95% have no plan to conceal their spoils.
Case in point, Jack Shreiner. This criminal mastermind handed a New York City bank teller a note demanding money. She surrendered $7,791 in cash. After four days, our evil genius then decided the best place to stash his loot was in a savings account. The enigmatic part of his brilliant plan is that he selected the very bank he had just robbed. Perhaps he thought the teller had Alzheimer’s?
Another “unsophisticated” robbery allowed Detroit detectives to ferret out the villain almost instantaneously. This green hornet apparently believed strongly enough in …Read More!
Pharmacists and chemists in Britain seem to be in a spot of bother. It’s the morning after contraceptive pill again. You see…
Christian pharmacists who object to selling the morning-after pill are facing pressure from their professional regulator to recommend other outlets to customers.
Many pharmacists – not just Christians – have moral objections to the morning-after pill because the drug can abort a conception.
And those with moral objections say there is little difference between being forced to recommend another outlet and being forced to sell it themselves. …Read More!
The Heidelberg Catechism is a Protestant confessional document taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It has been translated into many languages and is regarded as one of the most influential of the Reformed catechisms. This young boy in this clip goes through the first 16 questions and answers (with his dad, an ex sunni muslim). Watch this…
Now who says kids dont like theology?
My good friend and theologian Jim West has decided to draw the line in the sand on that issue of abstinence and pregnancy and where the moral line lies. So, shouldn’t the church be urging kids to abstain from fornication to avoid pregnancy and nasty sexually transmitted diseases? Well Jim raises the bar higher than that…
For Christians, for the Church, such a reason is totally inadequate and totally inappropriate. More correctly, teens and unmarried persons should abstain from sexual activity because such activity is contrary to the purpose and will of God and is in fact sin.
When we tell people to abstain in order to avoid pregnancy we make the commandment of God of no account. This is utterly inexcusable for Christians, theologians and the Church.
The ‘practical’ reason for abstinence, the avoidance of an unwanted child, is a reason completely foreign …Read More!
If you have just finished your breakfast, I will warn you that you may just be a few seconds from leaving it on your computer. In a post modern world, your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth….every thing is relative. With this philosophy in mind, a church in Iowa is pushing its luck in blasphemy. You see…
The Bible’s account of the night Jesus was born is noted for some well-known characters at the Bethlehem manger, including the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph and some shepherds …
Now a Christian church in America’s heartland is helping redefine the story, as its most-recent living Nativity scene in December featured two women instead of a man and a women starring as Joseph and Mary. …Read More!
The concept of growth groups, connect groups, care groups, life groups, fellowship groups, small groups and home groups seems to have sprung out of good intentions as Christians wanted to know their Bible more and have fellowship in small groups meeting either in homes or some times small itinerant settings. The concept seems to have caught on in many evangelical settings. But is there a problem with this concept so far?
Robert Truelove recently made an interesting observation (with recommendations too) …
I’ve recently attended a few cell groups from other churches in my area. This experience has reminded me why these cell groups are typically a bad idea. Don’t get me wrong, the social and relational aspects of a cell group are important and beneficial in the lives of many churches. When I say that cell groups are typically a bad idea, I am referring to they way we typically see Bible study done in these groups. …Read More!
Its hard to know all your 5 million or even 50 followers and friends on Facebook or Twitter or circled ones (on Google+) intricately. Once in a while I just love to read snippets that people write about themselves and their favorite quotations. Some are satirical, others philosophical and others profoundly theological. I really liked this one …
RATED R FOR REFORMED
IT IS GOD WHO:
– draws people to Himself (John 6:44,65).
– creates a clean heart (Psalm 51:10).
– appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48).
– works faith in the believer (John 6:28-29).
– chooses who is to be holy and blameless (Eph. 1:4).
– chooses us for salvation (2 Thess. 2:13-14).
– grants the act of believing (Phil. 1:29).
– grants repentance (2 Tim. 2:24-26). Read More!
An interesting look at the state of Christianity (in Africa). D.A Carson talks to Conrad Mbewe to find out if Christianity is still a mile wide but an inch deep in Africa…
[HT 5Ptsalt]
I struggle a lot with paraphrases. But what if I was stuck with Da Hawai’i Pidgin Bible on a desert island, would I still crack it open and read Psalm 23 (while sipping cocoa nut)? Or would I be lost in translation…
Da Boss Above, he take care me,
Jalike da sheep farma take care his sheeps.
He goin give me everyting I need.He let me lie down wea da sweet an soft grass stay.
He lead me by da water wea I can rest.He give me new kine life.
He lead me in da road dat stay right,
Cuz I his guy. (Songs fo God 23:1-3)
Dude, all of a sudden even though I don’t know Koine Greek or Hebrew …Read More!
So I have finally reached my wits end. I have decided to search out those dangerous passages in the Bible that flatten every adversary. Yeah, I want to “go nuclear” you assure yourself. But should I feel gleeful as I recite those “forbidden verses”, so to speak? Like…
O God send down fire...
Let death take my enemies by surprise; let them go down alive to the grave. (Ps 55:15)
O God, break the teeth in their mouths. (Ps58:6)
May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous. (Ps 69:28)
May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. (Ps 109:9)The question of the day: How are Christians to pray the imprecatory prayers of the Psalms? And even…should we pray the imprecatory Psalms? …Read More!
You have heard of people calling them selves three-point or four point Calvinists and others parading banners of the New-Calvinist fame. But in what context do all these variances arise? J.I. Packer makes a very interesting point:
“The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine of salvation] in the form of five distinct points (a number due, as we saw, merely to the fact that there were five Arminian points for the Synod of Dort to answer) tends to obscure the organic character of Calvinistic thought on this subject. For the five points, though separately stated, are inseparable. They hang together; you cannot reject one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which the Synod meant them. For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners. Read More
I am currently re-reading an old book. But straight up from the first few pages this testimony of one pastor jumps up at you:
I remember well the first time I stepped aside and allowed false teaching in my church. I was told that we had “quenched the Holy Spirit long enough” and that it was “now time to give the church back to the Holy Spirit”. I was told that the penance for ecclesiastical felony of “quenching the Spirit” was to include an “anything goes” time during the meeting. Order was to be set aside, and chaos was to be invited with prayers like, “Come, Holy Spirit!” This command to Deity was typically followed by a long period of waiting to see what the Spirit would do. A mounting sense of anticipation would grow as we waited for the “manifestations” to appear. …Read More!
There are many who say why emphasize sound doctrine? Why dont we just lay our differences aside, get along together and just love one another? Well, sound doctrine will divide and rightly so. It will seperate unsound teaching from sound biblical teaching. If you love somebody who is imbibing unsound doctrine you will alert him, rebuke him and earnestly point him to what is right. Depraved indifference urges us to keep quiet as our fellow man un wittingly drifts to their ship wreck and destruction. What would you do if you saw fellow Christians babbling in strange fires and delving in questionable practices? Would you love them enough to point them back to the bible or “love them” by leaving them to drift on? Charles Spurgeon said:
A religion which is all excitement, and has little instruction in it, may serve for transient use; but for permanent life-purposes there must be a knowledge of those great doctrines which are fundamental to the gospel system. I tremble when I hear of a man’s giving up, one by one, the vital principles of the gospel and boasting of his liberality. …Read More!
I hope this Theology quiz goes the distance to help you understand your Bible and appreciate that God is the author of salvation. He alone can sustain a Christian and will complete the work He started on the day He glorifies him.
Joyce Meyer and several other preachers say that Jesus suffered in hell. My good friend Tim Prussic got stuck with the same question when going through the Apostle’s Creed in the Heidelberg catechism. So I decided to look for afew answers to this conundrum. So did Jesus go to hell or not? Well here is something to munch on (get your bible closer too)….
There is a great deal of confusion in regards to this question. This concept comes primarily from the Apostles’ Creed, which states, “He descended into hell.” There are also a few Scriptures which, depending on how they are translated, describe Jesus going to “hell.” In studying this issue, it is important to first understand what the Bible teaches about the realm of the dead. …Read More!
For many Reformed Christian friends who at one time were non-cessationists [and spoke in tongues as vibrant and enthusiastic charismatics] and later became cessationist, this is a very common question that always gets thrown your way. But like any answer to any question about any Christian practices we must always base our answers on what the bible says. So, do I still speak in tongues? Samuel Say answers….
No I do not and cannot speak in tongues. I use to practise what I thought was tongues, but by the grace of God I learned through prayer and biblical study that I was deceived. Here is my answer to a question I received about tongues several months ago:
1. Is the gift of tongues a spiritual language?
2. Is the gift of tongues a form of prayer?
3. Can man speak in tongues whenever he wants to? …Read More!
When I get to heaven by the grace of the Lord, I want to hunt down two Bible characters and let them know that their names were embedded in Holy writ for having a squabble. I truly wonder what Euodias and Syntyche (nice names, uh?) were in disagreement about (Phil 4:2). What do we do when we run against euodiasian or syntycherous views in church? Here is a little wisodm for life on how to draw a distinction between a debatable or disputable matter…
A debatable or disputable matter (Romans 14:1) is an area of behavior, doctrine or tradition on which Christians disagree because a specific biblical absolute does not regulate it. It is therefore a matter of personal preference not divine command. These matters belong to the category of Christian freedom or liberty. …Read More!
The tension between two great evangelical ministers can never be profound yet graciously loving than the public and personal tensions between George Whitefield and John Wesley. On one front one would easily have had the impression that these two would never even share a drink at a communion table. The most surprising twist was that George Whitefield actually asked Mr Wesley to eulogize at his funeral. But did that bury the proverbial hatchet? Did Whitefield eventually roll over and accept defeat to Wesley? Far from it. Iain Murray in this article rightly summarises this unique conundrum:
George Whitefield
The occasion and background of [Whitefield’s letter to Wesley] requires a few words of explanation. From the time of his conversion in 1735, Whitefield had been profoundly conscious of man’s entire depravity, his need of the new birth, and the fact that God can save and God alone. Describing an experience which occurred a few weeks after his conversion, he wrote: “About this time God was pleased to enlighten my soul, and bring me into the knowledge of His free grace . . .” Strengthened by his reading of the Scriptures, the Reformers and the Puritans, Whitefield gradually grasped the great related chain of truths revealed in the New Testament—the Father’s electing love, Christ’s substitutionary death on behalf of those whom the Father had given Him, and the Spirit’s infallible work in bringing to salvation those for whom it was appointed. These doctrines of “free grace” were the essential theology of his ministry from the very first and consequently the theology of the movement which began under his preaching in 1737. …There’s More!
We have always lived relatively sophisticated societies (unless of course you believe we evolved from some premeval soup left by some circumstantial science experiment bang). Yet even in the visible community there are many invisible associations and friendships and fraternities. Some overtly maintain the calm innocence of a sunday school toddlers group and others covertly subtle and far from innocent.
Syncretism is the word for the day. This is the attempted blending of irreconcilable principles. Needless to say religious syncretism is the attempt to harmonise the true religion with any of the many false religions of the world. This is the basis upon which many secret organizatons such as the Order of Freemasons (also called Masonic Lodge). And this brings us to the essence of the First Commandment and what the very commandment warns us about. …Read More!
A Christian friend of mine recently shared with me how they lost their first born child through a miscarriage and it’s distressing emotional impact on the family. As I pondered on this he threw at me the one question I had hoped he would not ask. Do you think babies go to heaven when they die? I said yes. But to try to explain, and reconcile total depravity with infant salvation, I thought I would end up sounding universalist. That night I decided I would search the scriptures and see what comfort God’s word offers in this delicate area. This article by Jeff Spry has been the biggest eye opener and may it lead you to understand the Sovereignty of God and also his grace in salvation of Adam’s helpless race….
Tragedy surrounds us. We hear of it every day on the evening news. We read about it in the newspaper and the internet. We witness it in the lives around us. Many, if not all of us, have experienced tragedy in our own lives. However, there is one tragedy that is profoundly heartbreaking – the death of an infant or young child. Ever since Adam and Eve found the limp body of their son Abel, this must be the greatest grief known to man.
For those who have not had to face this situation personally, many have been called upon to offer support for others. Perhaps you sat quietly with a grieving mother, who suddenly asked, “Is my baby in heaven?” Read More!
When America’s puritan fore fathers departed Europe on board the Mayflower in 1620 they were determined to set up this idyllic nation (America) that would be the land of the free with one nation under God. They then set up large institutions of education like Harvard and Yale and many others so that people would learn to read and write and study the word of God and live meaningfully to the glory of God.
Unfortunately America no longer espouses this so called “God” any more. The fickle leaven of prosperity has brought with it an unbelief in this God that borders rank paganism. Now a deem shadow of what the founding fathers ever envisioned, has this once great nation began its systematic deliberate decline into the cesspit of self destruction?
This recent news story clipping summarises the moral turmoil in America …
Signing the declaration of independence...
Atheist Michael Newdow has been pestering the courts to rule that the phrase “under God,” found in the Pledge of Allegiance, and “In God We Trust,” imprinted and stamped on our currency, are unconstitutional. In 2010, even the usually liberal San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Newdow’s legal challenges that the references to God are unconstitutional and infringe on his religious beliefs. On June 13, 2011, the Supreme Court refused to review Newdow’s challenge to the lower court’s ruling (also see here).
These court decisions don’t tell the whole story. There’s something sinister going on in our nation. Three times in one month in 2010, President Obama left out a very important qualification about the source of our rights when he cited a portion of the Declaration of Independence. He said that “each of us are [sic] endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The complete text of the Declaration includes the phrase “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” The use of “Creator” specifies to everyone everywhere that rights are not granted by the will of the majority or the legislative action of the government but are a gift – an endowment – from God. …Read More!
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 
A few good tips on Bible Commentaries and how to use them
David Murray has a list of 20 tips on how to use Bible Commentaries. Here are just 5 of them: