Tuesday, November 30, 2010

PAGAN NATION

‎"America...is not a Christian nation. It is pagan to the core." - R.C. Sproul

RUBBISH

Dr. Luther's thoughts about Erasmus "eloquent" defense of free-will: "I feel an indignation against the matter also, that such unworthy stuff should be borne about in ornaments of eloquence so rare; which is as if rubbish, or dung, should be carried in vessels of gold and silver;

"Does it follow from: 'turn ye' that therefore you can turn? Does it follow from "'Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart' (Deut 6.5) that therefore you can love with all your heart? What do arguments of this kind prove, but the 'free-will' does not need the grace of God, but can do all things by its own power...But it does not follow from this that man is converted by his own power, nor do the words say so; they simply say: "if thou wilt turn, telling man what he should do. When he knows it, and sees that he cannot do it, he will ask whence he may find ability to do it..." 164

ONLY CHRIST

"Ministers may set the food of the word before you, and carve it out to you; but it is only Christ can cause you to taste it"(Watson, Gleanings , 93).

ALWAYS CARRY

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:10

Monday, November 29, 2010

LIVE IN THEE

‎"Lord, as formerly I lived without Thee in the world, so now let me live without the world in Thee. If we did but love God as well as a worldly man doth love his wealth and riches, we should be so taken up with the love of God as quite to forget the world; for the world makes them forget God"

- unknown Puritan

Sunday, November 28, 2010

LOOK BEYOND

"We shall never be fit for service of God, if we look not beyond this fleeting life"-John Calvin

DISHONOR AND HONOR

In Christ you can't lose. You have the joy of losing your honor as you are scorned by scoffers, so that you can dispaly that the honor of Christ is the most important aim of your life.

(Dishonor me if you must, I am immaterial. Honor Christ, He is paramount. Dishonor me, I am expecting. The Cross of My Master, was a scorn to the world, and it is in His Cross I boast.)

Why do I (we) think the Christian will take up his cross, and yet be given esteem or attention or an audience by the world, media, government, society? How often does 'Regis and Kelly' host interviews on Charles Manson, when he is a person of scorn. How often do politicians make platforms and policies by quoting Charles Manson, when He is a person of scorn. The Cross was a place of Scorn. Christ was hated. He was not esteemed. Yet we are puzzled and boggled that the church is not given a proper voice in the nation and culture. Do not be surprised. (John 15 and 16 and Matthew 10)

Congregations stoop to absurd levels to make the cross appealing. Come to our skeet shooting event, the Cross will follow. Come to our ski trip, beach trip, mountain trip, lock-in, concert, cookout, barbeque, cowboy church, Race-track church, flip-flop church, bagel, cream cheese and coffee church....the Cross will follow.

Saturday, November 27, 2010

NEVER TO HEAVEN

Free-will carried many a soul to hell, but never a soul to heaven.

Charles Spurgeon

Friday, November 26, 2010

ALL HIS OFFSPRING

Romans 4:13-16 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be *guaranteed to all his offspring*--not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all...

Does this not smack of particularity? I mean, the promise resting on grace as a GUARANTEE to ALL of Abraham's offspring? Hmmm :) Well, the particularity being seen more in that the promise is guaranteed to all his "offspring."

-- good point by good FB friend, Andrew Johnson

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

OT ATONEMENT SERIES PART 1

Neither God nor the Priests were waiting for the altar, house, or Holy Place to "exhibit faith" for the atonement itself to be "applied"; rather, it is conveyed that to make the atonement is to effect the atonement without being dependent on the faith of the altar, house or Holy Place.



1. ALTAR: Exodus 29:36-37 and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar, when you make atonement for it, and shall anoint it to consecrate it. [37] Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.



2. ALTAR: Leviticus 8:15 And he killed it, and Moses took the blood, and with his finger put it on the horns of the altar around it and purified the altar and poured out the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it.



3. HOUSE: Leviticus 14:48-53 (KJV) And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. [49] And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: [50] And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: [51] And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: [52] And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: [53] But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.



4. and 5. HOLY PLACE AND ALTAR: Leviticus 16:16-18 Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. [17] No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. [18] Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.



6. ALTAR: Ezekiel 43:20 (ESV) And you shall take some of its blood and put it on the four horns of the altar and on the four corners of the ledge and upon the rim all around. Thus you shall purify the altar and make atonement for it.



7. ALTAR: Ezekiel 43:26 (ESV) Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and cleanse it, and so consecrate it.



8. This should be a clear example that the people were not in a state of "faith to God" while the atonement was made, applied, and effective in staying the plague.



******Numbers 16:46-50

And Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun." [47] So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed. [49] Now they that died in the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, beside them that died about the matter of Korah. [50] And Aaron returned unto Moses unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and the plague was stayed.

FLESH WILL FAIL

The arm of flesh will fail you. In justification, sanctification, and regeneration. Ye dare not trust your own;

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, Were not the right Man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He; Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

John 6:63 (KJV)
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

John 3:6 (ESV)
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

UTTER DESPAIR

For when man through repentance has come to the knowledge of himself, he finds nothing but utter despair. Hence, wholly distrusting himself, he is forced to take refuge in the mercy of God. But when he has begun to do that, justice makes him afraid. Then Christ appears, who has satisfied the divine justice for our trespasses. When once there is faith in Him, then salvation is found; for He is the infallible pledge of God’s mercy.

– Ulrich Zwingli

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

BLANK ATHEISM

ACCOMPLISHMENT

Our first postulate is that because God is God,He does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases; that His great concern is the accomplishment of His own pleasure and the promotion of His own glory; that He is the Supreme Being, and therefore Sovereign of the universe.

AW Pink. Sov. of God. page 13

BLANK ATHEISM

How different is the God of the Bible from the God of modern
Christendom! The conception of Deity which prevails most widely today,
even among those who profess to give heed to the Scriptures, is a
miserable caricature, a blasphemous travesty of the Truth. The God of the
twentieth century is a helpless, effeminate being who commands the
respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular mind is the
creation of a maudlin sentimentality. The God of many a present-day pulpit
is an object of pity rather than of awe-inspiring reverence.f1 To say that
God the Father has purposed the salvation of all mankind, that God the
Son died with the express intention of saving the whole human race, and
that God the Holy Spirit is now seeking to win the world to Christ; when,
as a matter of common observation, it is apparent that the great majority of
our fellow-men are dying in sin, and passing into a hopeless eternity: is to
say that God the Father is disappointed, that God the Son is dissatisfied,
and that God the Holy Spirit is defeated.

We have stated the issue baldly, but there is no escaping the conclusion. To argue that God is “trying His best” to save all mankind, but that the majority of men will not let Him save them, is to insist that the will of the Creator is impotent, and that the will of the creature is omnipotent. To throw the blame, as many do, upon the Devil, does not remove the difficulty, for if Satan is defeating the purpose of God, then, Satan is Almighty and God is no longer the Supreme
Being.

To declare that the Creator’s original plan has been frustrated by sin, is to
dethrone God. To suggest that God was taken by surprise in Eden and that
He is now attempting to remedy an unforeseen calamity, is to degrade the
Most High to the level of a finite, erring mortal. To argue that man is a free
moral agent and the determiner of his own destiny, and that therefore he
has the power to checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of the attribute of
Omnipotence.

In a word, to deny the sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path which, if
followed to its logical terminus, is ....to arrive at blank atheism.

AW Pink, Sov. of God. page 17

ROME WITHOUT A POPE

Arminianism is Rome without a Pope. -- The Reformers. (via Dr.James White)

YOUR CHILDREN

Matthew 23:37
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered YOUR CHILDREN together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

>>Arminians reword "your Children" to "you".

Monday, November 22, 2010

FINE FREEDOM

Why all this boasting about free-will and the power of a man, about the natural ...light of reason? What is but blindness and darkness. Can it do anything than fight against the true faith and Gods word. This is why I reject and condemn as nothing but falsehood every doctrine that lauds our free will. For since apart from Christ, death and sin are our master and the devil is our god and prince, there can be neither power nor might neither wit or wisdom, by which we may prepare our selves for righteousness and life or search for them. On the contrary we are bound to be blinded captives of the devil and slaves to sin, to do and to think whatever our master satan wishes and is opposed to God with his commandments. Ah, what a fine freedom that is!

– Martin Luther

IDOL OF FREEDOM

Great quote, "My god was freedom, my God was not Christ; I made an idol out of freedom." The person continually failed in sanctification with this approach;;; {Seeking elusive freedom will not bring you to Christ, but being granted Christ will bring you to freedom.}

Friday, November 19, 2010

OBSCURITY

"The Church is always tempted toward a church of glory, whether that takes the form of grand buildings, political influence, global structures, charismatic personalities, or megachurches. But an approach to the church consistent with the gospel of Christ crucified and discipleship shaped by the gospel is an ecclesiology of the cross. That means power in weakness, wisdom in folly, and glory in shame. It means we must put our confidence in Christ's little flock and the sovereign rule of God. It means we must put our energies into the church of the cross even if that means obscurity."

Total Church by Chester and Timmis

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

VARIES NOT

‎"To know that while our feelings fluctuate, and our frames vary, and our experience ebbs and flows as the tide, yet our righteousness varies not, changes not, and that we are not justified one moment more really, more freely, more completely than another, is a mercy unspeakably great." ~ Octavius Winslow

THE BEST OF MY DUTIES

"Not only the worst of my sins but the best of my duties speak me a child of Adam." William Beveridge

FACE TO FACE

Make sure to face Jesus in His Word, prayer, and song, then go face the lions of this world.... via Greis Vllahu‎:

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

THE BATTLE

"Prayer is not preparation for battle. Prayer is the battle."

Sunday, November 14, 2010

NO MAN

‎"The extent of man's fall is so great and extensive that no man by the exercise of his own will or understanding can ever save himself or become a Christian."

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Exposition of Ephesians

Friday, November 12, 2010

NEVER KNEW

‎"I never yet knew anybody repent who gloried in his power to repent; I never yet knew a man heart-broken for sin who boasted that he could break his own heart when and where he pleased."

~CH Spurgeon

Thursday, November 11, 2010

A FOE DWELLS

What a treacherous foe dwells in our bosom!
We live in a dangerous world--a world lying in wickedness!

And when we remember what a treacherous foe dwells in our bosom, ever prompting us to evil--we need to cry mightily to God to save us from Satan, and from our own selves! "Hold me up--and I shall be safe!" Psalm 119:117

I have lately had a very sweet humbling view of my own hateful self--and a soul-melting view of the wonderful and over-whelming goodness of God, in loving and saving one so vile! "Christ died for the ungodly!" Romans 5:6

(Mary Winslow, "Words of Loving Counsel and Sympathy")

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

GIVE ME A HEART

"O for a better heart! O for a heart to love God more; to hate sin more; to walk more evenly with God. Lord! deny not to me such a heart; whatever thou deny me: give me a heart to fear thee, to love and delight in thee, if I beg my bread in desolate places." ~John Flavel

JOY OF THE ANGELS

If two angels were to receive at the same moment a commission from God,
one to go down and rule earth’s grandest empire, the other to go and
sweep the streets of its meanest village, it would be a matter of entire
indifference to each which service fell to his lot, the post of ruler
or the post of scavenger; for the joy of the angels lies only in
obedience to God’s will. - E.M. Bounds

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

EPHESIANS 1 v4

Our crooked tempers, fretful peevish minds, rebellious thoughts, coldness,
barrenness and death, our alienation from good, and headlong proneness
to evil, with the daily feeling that we get no better but rather worse,
make us think that God views us just as we view ourselves...

And this brings on great darkness of mind and bondage of spirit, until we seem to lose sight of our acceptance in Christ, and get into the miserable dregs of SELF, almost ready to quarrel with God because we are so vile, and only get worse as we get older.Now the more we get into these dregs of SELF, and the more we keep looking at the dreadful scenes of wreck and ruin which our heart presents to daily view, the farther do we get from the grace of the gospel, and the more do we lose sight of the only ground of our acceptance with God. It is "in the Beloved" alone, that we are accepted, and not for any good words, or good works, good thoughts, good hearts, or good intentions of our own.And a saving knowledge of our acceptance "in the Beloved," independent of everything in us either good or bad, is a firm foundation for our faith and hope, and will keep us from sinking altogether into despair.

~Philpot

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (all three via @Marissa)

Monday, November 8, 2010

BUILT IN CHRIST FOREVER

Grant me grace to bear Thy will without repining, and delight to be not only
chiseled, squared, or fashioned, but separated from the old rock where I
have been embedded so long, and lifted from the quarry to the upper
air, where I may be built in Christ forever.

~Valley of Vision

1 Chronicles 29

1 Chron. 29:10-19 (ESV)

Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: "Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. [11] Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. [12] Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. [13] And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.

[14] "But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. [15] For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. [16] O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. [17] I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. [18] O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. [19] Grant to Solomon my son a whole heart that he may keep your commandments, your testimonies, and your statutes, performing all, and that he may build the palace for which I have made provision."

REJOICE ALREADY

Helpful note to self, (to follow): What will it take from God to make you praise Him and rejoice in Him, that He has not already done. (and by the way, our praise and rejoicing should be first in WHO HE IS, and moreover what he has done); faulty barriers follow:

Before you rejoice and praise God, It will take that God, either:
1. Save a sinner. (see external fruit in evangelism).
2. Mature the sheep. (see external fruit in discipleship).
3. Purge the goats. (see external fruit in discipline.)
4 Help you financially or occupationally?
5. Enlarge your congregation. (repeat #1).

How foolish am I to murmur against God or impose on God some task of my own petty mind; Nay, dear self, God is already worthy of your fullest praise and rejoicing because of who he his and because of that Scripture testifies to His work, grace, and glory.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

FRANKLY THEY CAN'T

The gospel commands dead men to rise, dead men to believe, dead men to
understand, dead men to repent. The gospel commands dead people to do
what frankly they can't do. John MacArthur

Thursday, November 4, 2010

ARMINIAN IDOL

If God knows every detail of the future with infallible certainty, then (by definition) the outcome of all things is already determined. And if things are predetermined but God did not ordain whatsoever comes to pass, then you have two choices:

1. A higher sovereignty belongs to some being (or beings) other than God. That is idolatry.
2. Some impersonal force did the determining. That is fatalism.

Therefore if the thinking Arminian wants to avoid both fatalism and idolatry, he or she must deny God's foreknowledge, thereby nullifying God's omnscience—in other words, they essentially undeify God. That is of course blasphemy. But that is precisely the road Open Theism takes.

WORD FAITH KIN

In large part, Altar-Call/Hand-Count Arminianism is just the Word-Faith movement with a focus on salvation instead of financial prosperity. via Lane Chaplin

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Valley of Vision

‎"There is no comfort in anything apart from enjoying thee and being engaged in thy service; Thou art All in all, and all enjoyments are what to me thou makest them, and no more."

~ Valley of Vision;

" Christian,
you have no King but Jesus. Do not place your hope in any leader or any
party, for they will perish, when the storm comes. Christ and Christ
alone is worthy to have your complete allegiance. So serve His Kingdom
as an exile on this earth, and realize that your true citizenship lies only in heaven." -- Aashik Rao

"All that Jesus does for lost sinners--He does freely, out
of pure pity, kindness, and love. Yet we are always looking for something in ourselves--to encourage us! On the other hand, we tend to look at some sin
...committed by us--which discourages us. Whereas we
should look only to Jesus."

-- James Smith;

Monday, November 1, 2010

BOETTNER

To mention predestination before some is like shaking the proverbial red flag before an enraged bull. It arouses the fiercest passions of their nature, and brings forth a torrent of abuse and calumny. But because men have fought against it, or because they hate it is no reasonable or logical cause why we should turn the doctrine adrift.

Loraine Boettner in "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination."

WHY ALL THIS

Why all this boasting about free-will and the power of a man, about the natural light of reason? What is but blindness and darkness. Can it do anything than fight against the true faith and Gods word. This is why I reject and condemn as nothing but falsehood every doctrine that lauds our free will. For since apart from Christ, death and sin are our master and the devil is our God and prince, there can be neither power nor might neither wit or wisdom, by which we may prepare our selves for righteousness and life or search for them. On the contrary we are bound to be blinded captives of the devil and slaves to sin, to do and to think whatever our master satan wishes and is opposed to God with his commandments. Ah, what a fine freedom that is!

~ Martin Luther