I hope you enjoy

An odd combination of Reformed theology posts, Bob Dylan out takes, gluten-free recipes, thoughts of mine, and anything else I find interesting on the interwebs. I hope you enjoy.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Calvinism

"Calvinism has been criticized for putting a lack of emphasis on prayer and evangelism. In fact, because the Reformed faith emphasizes God's sovereignty by proclaiming that He has determined everything that will happen and who will be saved, some say Calvinism makes praying and evangelizing pointless.

This criticism is based on a misunderstanding. The truth is that Calvinism teaches that prayer and evangelism are crucial aspects of the Christian life, and that there are numerous good reasons to do both."

~ Craig R. Brown, The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism

God is under no obligation

"God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life, or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the Mediator of the covenant". ~Jonathan Edwards

Monday, June 29, 2015

The Truth

"Some people complain that there is only one way to God instead of a number of ways. Often, the people who make this complaint don't like the ostensible arrogance. But it's not arrogance because certain concepts (such as truth) can't be arrogant—only people can. If it is true that there is only one way to God, then it's simply true—nothing more, nothing less. Just possibly, we might be arrogant by denying the truth."
       -   John Ankerburg

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Predestination

"Some have argued from Romans 8:29 that predestination is based on God's foreknowledge in the sense that God looked down the corridors of time and saw who would freely choose to believe, and then predestinated them. This position assumes that foreknowledge here only means "knows in advance." In the Bible, however, knowledge is often used in a sense of personal intimacy, as when Adam "knew" Eve and she conceived a son (Genesis 4:1). God's foreknowledge is linked to His foreloving. We see in Romans 8:30 that everyone who was "foreknown" was also "predestined, called, justified, and glorified."
Does God glorify everyone? Does God justify everyone? No. Clearly then, in terms of what this passage is dealing with, God does not call everyone, does not predestine everyone, and does not foreknow everyone. In Romans 8:29-30, "foreknowledge" must have the sense of intimacy and personal calling, and can refer only to God's elect. God's predestination does not exist in a vacuum, and it is not simply for the purpose of saving us from sin. Verse 29 shows us the goal or purpose of salvation: that we might be conformed to the likeness of His Son. Ultimately, the reason God has saved you and me is for the honor and glory of His Son, "That He might be the firstborn." The goal in creation is that God would give as a gift to His Son many who are reborn into Christ's likeness."
R.C. Sproul, Tabletalk, 1989.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Being young, and getting older

"But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them"
         -   Time in a bottle , Jim Croce

When you are young it appears that you have all he time but no idea what to do.
Once you figure it out, your out of time.

Once you get close it seems like the time is gone. Frustrating for me. But I don't regret anything,
A tme for everything under the sun.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, things I know now would influence my decisions I made back then.                                                            I would go back, but only if I knew what I know now. I'm thinking mostly of college, and the few years past that.  I've always wanted to be associated with Reformed theology. I always believed those things, but didn't know what to call it. I was Reformed, and I didn't even know it. Actually,  I am a lot more Reformed now than I was when I was a student . I guess it's a process, and I wasn't quite ready for it all yet.
When I was a student,  Reformed theology was the same as it is now.                       None of it has changed. I just didn't understand it like I do now. And I told my daughter, that she is light years ahead of where I was at that age. I had to battle against 20 years of Arminianism and free will teaching, that it took me 30 years past that to get to this point, each church we went to on our journey, brought me closer to the Truth. Each church on different points on the spectrum. God has used the Holy Spirit, advice from others, questions and answers, research, books, and sermons.
And now, I find myself hopefully able to discern false teaching and get to the Truth.   Hopefully, understanding more, growing closer, sanctification being the process involved.
And it is a journey, and it will always continue, as long as we are on this earth.
So, to the young folks here, just getting into being Reformed, I am so glad God has opened your eyes to the Truth, and just give it time.                                                            And to the older folks, be patient with the others, they may not have the benefit of experience, but they have the excitement that we all need sometimes.
They have wide eyed newness that I see on the campus. We all need that shot of energy and be reminded of why we are all here.                                                                 To Glorify God and do His will.                     To make disciples and preach the gospel.
To go to the ends of the earth, and to go across the street.
And do all this for His glory.

               -  T. Meiers June 2015


Armed with Scripture

"A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it".   - Martin Luther

Saturday, June 27, 2015

A Blind Man can see

"A blind man must have his eyes opened before he can see, and yet there is no interval of time between the one and the other. As soon as his eyes are opened, he sees. So a man must be born again before he can "see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
Seeing the Son is necessary to believing in Him. Unbelief is attributed to spiritual blindness-those who believed not the "report" of the Gospel "saw no beauty" in Christ that they should desire Him.
The work of the Spirit in "quickening" the one dead in sins, precedes faith in Christ, just as cause ever precedes effect. But no sooner is the heart turned toward Christ by the Spirit, then the Saviour is embraced by the sinner."
~ A. W. Pink.....

I dont know it all

I never want to come across as a know it all. I am always learning, searching for truth, wherever it leads. The truth has always been; important to me, not just in theology, but in all aspects of life. Get down to the nitty- gritty strip away pretense and show and what is really true.
Truth, what is it really? Is it what society says it is? Or is it what  the unchanging, infalalable word of God says it is?
I believe it is what God says, contrary to society. We can know, in our limited way, an absolute truth of right and wrong.
And, the recent Supreme Court's definition of marriage will not change my position at all. I will still use the definition from the Bible, God's infallible Word, which is a life time commitment between one man and I e woman.
           -  T. Meiers

Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

I have heard John MacArthur say "The problem is not the seed, it's the sower"
Its the unreceptive, fallen, deceitful human heart, that must be changed from stone to flesh. Paul is saying I will not manipulate the message to seem more appealing or change it to be more popular. God's message does not change, and despite my feeble and flailing efforts, His word will not go in vain. I will proclaim Christ and Him crucified, and not water down the message for the sake of being popular or being liked. I don't expect popularity, and neither should you. Paul certainly didn't. He knew that the Gospel message would be offensive to the natural man. Unless God performs a miracle in someone's life, he will never come to God on his own accord. It's impossible. They are slaves to sin, like it says in Romans.
Paul knew the power of forgiveness, he had sought out Christians to kill them. He was there when they stoned Stephen, the first martyr. He was holding the coats. Imagine after they killed Stephen he was standing probably close by, approving and probably thinking justice was served. And then after Stephen was dead, handing everyone their coats back and going on with their lives, going back to their homes.
Little did Saul know at the time, but he was headed for a supernatural encounter with the true and living God on his way to Damascus. If God can forgive Paul,  and change his heart, how much more so can he forgive you and me. What freedom that is to us. It is true that the truth shall set us free.
                       -  T. Meiers

On Bob Dylan's 74th Birthday

I have been a Dylan fan from way back. I had Greatest Hits Vol. 1 on 8 track, and still remember the day I bought Greatest Hits Vol 2 on vinyl. They weren't playing many of his songs on the radio, so I had to buy the recordings to hear them. One of my favorite songs when I graduated high school liated in my yearbook was Positively Fourth Street, a song most people hadn't heard of. I was born in 1960, so I was too young to understand the political situation at the time. Too young to understand The times they are a changin.
Too young to understand the protest songs of the era, and how some people embraced them as their own.
I learned the guitar chords to Girl from North Country from the Rod Stewart version. Most people, like me, first heard All along the watchtower from Jimi Hendrix and still don't know Knockin on Heavens Door was written by Dylan.                         And at 74 years old, still touring, still coming up with new arrangements.
Been through high school and college listening to Dylan. Songs mean different things at different times, and  Dylan always had passion for what he was singing, he was believable.
He believed in the subjects of his songs, and he sang them with conviction. It meant something. Many musicians today play and sing what I call  "meaningless music." I always believed if a person was going to take the time to write a song and record it, it should mean something. Dylan's songs mean something, if only to himself.
So, no matter whether you think he can sing or not,  no one can deny his longevity.  The man has simply been around a long time.
And for that I am grateful.

God’s Word on Homosexuality: The Truth About Sin and the Reality of Forgiveness - The Master's Seminary

http://www.tms.edu/msj/msj19.2.1/

Preach the Gospel

"If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don't get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism but deception." – John Piper

Entreating Favor articles

http://entreatingfavor.com/the-daily-discovery-june-27-28-2015/

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Thoughts on 2 Peter 3:9

"Arminians have used the verse in defense of their theory of universal atonement. They believe that God willed to save every human being without exception and that something beyond his control happened so as to defeat his eternal purpose. The doctrine of universal redemption is not only refuted by Scripture generally, but the passage in question makes nonsense on such a view ... Peter is telling us that Christ's return awaits the repentance of certain people. Now, if Christ's return awaited the repentance of every individual without exception, Christ would never return ... This is no new interpretation. The Similitudes viii, xi,1 in the Shepherd of Hermas (c. A.D. 130-150) ... says 'But the Lord, being long-suffering, wishes (thelei) those who were called (ten klesin ten genomenen) through his Son to be saved.' ... It is the called or elect whom God wills to save" (I & II Peter [Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 1980], p. 71).

Gordon H.Clark (1902-1985)
(I & II Peter [Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 1980], p. 71).

Check out this blog

WWW.reformedspirit.blogspot.com

Free Will?

"If any man ascribes anything of salvation, even the very least thing, to the free will of
man, he knows nothing of grace, and he has not learned Jesus Christ rightly."

- Martin Luther

Election

"God chooses us, not because he foresees that we would choose him or that we would believe, but for the very opposite reason.He chooses us just because he foresees that we would neither choose him nor believe of ourselves after all.Election proceeds not upon foreseen faith in us, but unforeseen unbelief."

Horatius Bonar.

Shroud of Turin - interesting read

Doctrines of Grace

"The doctrines of grace humble man without degrading him and exalt him without inflating him."

Charles Hodge (December 27, 1797 – June 19, 1878) was the principal of Princeton Theological Seminary between 1851 and 1878. He is considered to be one of the greatest exponents and defenders of historical Calvinism in America during the 19th century.

Monday, June 22, 2015

True Gospel

"Those who do not repent of their sins and trust in Christ will spend eternity in hell. The Bible teaches that those who do not have faith in Christ will suffer God's wrath in hell for all eternity. Pastors must not soften this hard reality in the name of false compassion." -Sinclair Ferguson

Hell's Purpose

"Hell's primary purpose is to punish sinners. While that does not apply to believers, there are still at least two reasons to study the doctrine. First, the better we grasp the horrors of hell the more we appreciate God's grace. Second, such an understanding should motivate us to seek the lost. Make that a priority in your life." -R.C. Sproul

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Book Review

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/erikraymond/2015/06/18/book-review-the-pastor-and-counseling/

What the Arminian Wants

"What the Arminian wants to do is to arouse man's activity: what we want to do is to kill it once for all - to show him that he is lost and ruined, and that his activities are not now at all equal to the work of conversion; that he must look upward. They seek to make the man stand up: we seek to bring him down, and make him feel that there he lies in the hand of God, and that his business is to submit himself to God, and cry aloud, 'Lord, save, or we perish.' We hold that man is never so near grace as when he begins to feel he can do nothing at all. When he says, 'I can pray, I can believe, I can do this, and I can do the other,' marks of self-sufficiency and arrogance are on his brow." ~C. H. Spurgeon

Holy Spirit You Are Welcome Here Discernment

https://faithfulstewardship.wordpress.com/?s=Holy+spirit&submit=Search

And this is a good one, too

WWW.entreatingfavor.com

Check out this great blog

Faithful stewardship.WordPress.com

Charleston and the Age to Come | MOS - Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

http://www.alliancenet.org/mos/1517/charleston-and-the-age-to-come?utm_source=Mortification+of+Spin&utm_campaign=da43bf0dda-1517&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8878352885-da43bf0dda-119256209#.VYbhvSPD_qB

Calvinism

"The spread of Calvinism was unusual. In contrast to Catholicism, which had been maintained by civil and military force, and Lutheranism, which survived in becoming a religion of politics, Calvinism had, for the most part, only its consistent logic and its fidelity to the Scriptures. Within a generation it spread across Europe."
—Charles Miller

Saturday, June 20, 2015

John MacArthur on Miracles

" I believe that if God chooses to do something miraculous, He can do it. I am convinced that most of the miracle signs and wonders, if not all, being claimed today in the Charismatic movement, have nothing in common with what we know about Biblical miracles. They do not fit the Biblical criteria. And I am persuaded by both Scripture and history that nothing like the New Testament gift of miracles, noted in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 is operating today. The Holy Spirit has not given any modern day Christians miraculous gifts comparable to those He gave the apostles.

Now, in spite of that, many Charismatics are making quite remarkable claims. Oral Roberts, for example, speaking at the Charismatic Bible Ministry Conference in 1987 said, and I quote, "I can't tell you about all the dead people I've raised. I've had to stop a sermon, go back and raise a dead person." No less in authority than Dr. C. Peter Wagner, professor of church growth at Fuller Seminary, School of World Mission, believes such things do happen, and I quote him, "I too, now believe that dead people are literally being raised in the world today. As soon as I say that some ask if I believe it is normative. I doubt it would be normative in any local situation, but it probably is normative in terms of the universal body of Christ. Even though it is an extremely uncommon event, I would not be surprised if it were happening several times a year," end quote. John Wimber of the Vineyard lists raising the dead as one of the basic elements of any healing ministry.

Now, with the supposed large number of people being raised from the dead, you would imagine that somebody could manage to come up with one who could give testimony to the validity. But not one modern occurrence of raising the dead can be verified. Say, what about Oral Roberts' claim that he's raised many people? Well, he was challenged to produce the names and addresses of the people he raised, and he balked. Later, he recalled only one incident more than 20 years before when he had supposedly raised a dead child in front of 10,000 witnesses, "During healing service," he recalled, "a mother in the audience jumped up and shouted, 'My baby's dead.'" Roberts said he prayed over the child and, "It jerked, it jerked in my hand." Roberts conceded that neither that child nor others he said he had brought to life had been pronounced clinically dead. "I understand," he hedged, "there's a difference in a person dying and not breathing and a person being clinically dead." Well, what are we supposed to make out that confusion? It's certainly a far cry from Jesus raising Lazarus who had been four days in the grave. And if this Dr. Wagner supposes dead people are literally being raised several times a year, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect that he would bring one along so we could meet him or her. The truth is those who claim miracles today are not able to substantiate their claims. And like the miracles in the New Testament which were usually done with large crowds of unbelievers watching who would be skeptical, modern miracles typically happen either privately or in some religious meeting where there are a lot of people who are in a wild kind of frenzy expecting a miracle where it's a lot easier to fabricate one in the imagination.

And the types of miracles that are being claimed today are absolutely nothing like New Testament miracles, absolutely nothing like them. In fact, the types of miracles today could be distinctly seen as different than New Testament miracles. Jesus and the apostles instantly and completely healed people born blind, a paralytic, a man with a withered arm. All obvious and disputable miracles, even Jesus' enemies didn't challenge the reality of His miracles that He had the people there to verify them. He raised the dead, of course, as we well know. They never did a miracle that was slow, they never did a miracle that took time, they never did a miracle that was less than permanent. By contrast, most modern miracles are partial, gradual, temporary, sometimes reversed, and almost impossible to verify"
                   -  John MacArthur

What God Demands from us

"What God demands from us by his word he likewise bestows by his Spirit, so that we are strengthened in the grace which he has given to us." - John Calvin

From Spurgeon

"But I tell you what will be the best proof of that; it is the great fact that you never did meet a Christian in your life who ever said he came to Christ without Christ coming to him.
You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say; but you never heard an Arminian prayer-for the saints in prayer appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free-will: there is no room for it. Fancy him praying, "Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not-that is the difference between me and them."
That is a prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as that.
Ah! when they are preaching and talking very slowly, there may be wrong doctrine; but when they come to pray, the true thing slips out; they cannot help it. If a man talks very slowly, he may speak in a fine manner; but when he comes to talk fast, the old brogue of his country, where he was born, slips out.
I ask you again, did you ever meet a Christian man who said, 'I came to Christ without the power of the Spirit?' If you ever did meet such a man, you need have no hesitation in saying, 'My dear sir, I quite believe it-and I believe you went away again without the power of the Spirit, and that you know nothing about the matter, and are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity.'"
- Charles Spurgeon, Free Will -- A Slave (on the Puritan Hard Drive at http://ow.ly/fPY4o)

Prayer

"This first of the seven cross-sayings of our Lord presents Him in the attitude of prayer. How significant! How instructive! His public ministry had opened with prayer (Luke 3:21), and here we see it closing in prayer. Surely He has left us an example! No longer might those hands minister to the sick, for they are nailed to the Cross, no longer may those feet carry Him on errands of mercy, for they are fastened to the cruel tree; no longer may He engage in instructing the apostles, for they have forsaken Him and fled; — how then does He occupy Himself? In the Ministry of Prayer! What a lesson for us.
Perhaps these lines may be read by some who by reason of age and sickness are no longer able to work actively in the Lord's vineyard. Possibly in days gone by, you were a teacher, you were a preacher, a Sunday-school teacher, a tract-distributer: but now you are bed-ridden. Yes, but you are still here on earth! Who knows but what God is leaving you here a few more days to engage in the Ministry of Prayer — and perhaps accomplish more by this than by all your past active service. If you are tempted to disparage such a ministry remember your Saviour. He prayed, prayed for others, prayed for sinners, even in His last hours."
- A.W. Pink

Great Content from Falsified Ministries.com

http://falsifiedministries.blogspot.com/p/gospel.html?m=1

Friday, June 19, 2015

Repentance

"Repentance is the hand releasing those filthy objects it had previously clung to so tenaciously. Faith is extending an empty hand to God to receive His gift of grace. Repentance is a godly sorrow for sin. Faith is receiving a sinner's Saviour. Repentance is revulsion of the filth and pollution of sin. Faith is a seeking of cleansing therefrom. Repentance is the sinner covering his mouth and crying, "Unclean, unclean!" Faith is the leper coming to Christ and saying, "Lord, if You will, You can make me clean."~ Arthur Pink, "Salvation From the Penalty of Sin"

How Should A Christian Live In A Culture Given Over To A Depraved Mind? - Berean Research

http://bereanresearch.org/how-should-a-christian-live-in-a-culture-given-over-to-a-depraved-mind/

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Judge Not

"There's a place for judging. A few, in fact. According to the collective witness of Jesus, Paul, John, Solomon, and Jude, behavior, words, and doctrine can and should be judged.

Eternal Destiny, Thoughts, and Motives: No
I can't see into anyone's heart. I can't read minds. Nor can I predict where someone will be in the future. For all those reasons, I cannot judge another person's eternal status, thoughts, or motives.

Granted, I can say with confidence, as John did, "He who hath the Son hath life; he who hath not the son hath not life." (I John 5:12) So I can assert to my unsaved friend, on Biblical authority, "You do not have life without Christ." But since I don't know where that friend will be tomorrow, much less ten years from now, I cannot say, "You'll never get into heaven." Likewise, when someone claims to be a believer and I find a contradiction between their behavior and their profession, I can say with confidence, "You're wrong." But I'm in no position to say, "And therefore you are not saved."

I likewise cannot take it on myself to judge another's motives. I may say a man is wrong in word or deed, but I'm in no position to say what motivates him. I don't know what he's thinking; I don't know what drives him. So I'm literally unable to make a proper judgement about something I can neither see nor measure.

Morally unable, too. If I see your sin and judge it as such, that's one thing. But if I conclude that you're a terrible sinner while I'm a terrific guy, then I'm the one Jesus had in mind when He asked why I would behold the speck in a brother's eye while ignoring the plank in my own. (Luke 6:41) That's hypocrisy, something deadly, and specifically hated by Christ.

As is self-righteousness, a sin He also railed against pretty hard. If I set myself above other people because they practice sins that I don't, that attitude generates a sin which is, I'm pretty sure, more repulsive to God than the ones I congratulate myself for not committing! Interesting, isn't it, that in the seven things God is reported to find abominable, the one topping the list is a proud look?
(Proverbs 6:17)"
                   -  Joe Dallas

Isolation

"Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Being young, and getting older

"But there never seems to be enough time to do the things you want to do, once you find them"
         -   Time in a bottle , Jim Croce

When you are young it appears that you have all he time but no idea what to do.
Once you figure it out, your out of time.
Once you get close, it seems like the time is gone. Frustrating for me. But I don't regret anything,
There is a time for everything under the sun.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, things I know now would influence my decisions I made back then.                                                         
   I would go back, but only if I knew what I know now. I'm thinking mostly of college, and the few years past that.  I've always wanted to be associated with Reformed theology. I always believed those things, but didn't know what to call it. I was Reformed, and I didn't even know it. Actually,  I am a lot more Reformed now than I was when I was a student . I guess it's a process, and I wasn't quite ready for it all yet. 
When I was a college student,  Reformed theology was the same as it is now.                     
 None of it has changed. I just didn't understand it like I do now. Not that I have it all figured out, but I am at a different level of understanding. I think that can be described as sanctification.                 And I told my daughter, that she is light years ahead of where I was at that age. I had to battle against 20 years of Arminianism and free will teaching, that it took me 30 years past that to get to this point, each church we went to on our journey, brought me closer to the Truth. Each church on different points on the spectrum.
And now, I find myself hopefully able to discern false teaching and get to the Truth.   Hopefully, understanding more, growing closer, sanctification being the process involved.
And it is a journey, and it will always continue, as long as we are on this earth.
So, too the young folks here, just getting into being Reformed, I am so glad God has opened your eyes to the Truth, and just give it time.                                                            And to the older folks, be patient with the others, they may not have the benefit of experience, but they have the excitement that we all need sometimes.
They have wide eyed newness that I see on the campus. We all need that shot of energy and be reminded of why we are all here.                                                               
  To Glorify God and do His will.                    
 To make disciples and preach the gospel.
To go to the ends of the earth, and to go across the street.
And do all this for His glory.
               -  T. Meiers June 2015

Bonhoeffer Quotes

On Silence

"Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act."

On Judging Others

"Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are."
― The Cost of Discipleship

On Gratitude

"In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others."
―Letters and Papers from Prison

On Injustice

"We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself."

On 'Defending' the Bible

"Do not try to make the Bible relevant. Its relevance is axiomatic. Do not defend God's word, but testify to it. Trust to the Word. It is a ship loaded to the very limits of its capacity."

On Real Morality

"The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."

On Spirituality

"When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh."

On Fellowship

"The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them." —Life Together

On Proof of God

"A God who let us prove his existence would be an idol"

"WE ARE NOT TO SIMPLY BANDAGE THE WOUNDS OF VICTIMS BENEATH THE WHEELS OF INJUSTICE, WE ARE TO DRIVE A SPOKE INTO THE WHEEL ITSELF."

On Peace

"There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross."

On God's Love

"God does not love some ideal person, but rather human beings just as we are, not some ideal world, but rather the real world."
— Meditations on the Cross

Isolation

"Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation. Sin wants to remain unknown. It shuns the light. In the darkness of the unexpressed it poisons the whole being of a person." —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Sympathy

"We must show sympathy to sinners, but not with their sins."
          -  Spurgeon

Trusting God

"I sympathize with those who find it difficult to trust God in adversity. I have been there often enough myself to know something of the distress, the despair, and the darkness that fills our souls when we wonder if God truly cares about our plight. I have spent a good portion of my adult life encouraging people to pursue holiness, to obey God. Yet, I acknowledge it often seems more difficult to trust God than to obey Him. The moral will of God given to us in the Bible is rational and reasonable. The circumstances in which we must trust God often appear irrational and inexplicable. The law of God is readily recognized to be good for us, even when we don't want to obey it. The circumstances of our lives frequently appear to be dreadful and grim or perhaps even calamitous and tragic. Obeying God is worked out within well-defined boundaries of God's revealed will. Trusting God is worked out in an arena that has no boundaries. We do not know the extent, the duration, or the frequency of the painful, adverse circumstances in which we must frequently trust God. We are always coping with the unknown."

~ Jerry Bridges, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts

Just Preach the Gospel

"I can never understand why Christians keep on debating, even to the point of getting angry with lost sinners, or trying to draw them by worldly carnal means. The Bible is clear; just preach the Gospel and let the Holy Spirit do His work." - John MacArthur

Monday, June 15, 2015

God Has Given us Life

"If anyone is ever saved, it is because God overrules all the normal natural inabilities. That's why we say salvation is all of God. It's not just all of grace, it's all of God. Now that is never apart from human will, it is never in violation of human will. The profound unsearchable reality is that no one would ever choose Christ if God had not first chosen him. We are saved and we have life because God freely chose to give it to us."
John Macarthur
The Doctrine of Election, Part 3

Grace

"God bends the hearts of men to obedience, so that they follow him voluntarily and willingly, being taught...inwardly by the influence of the Spirit, outwardly by the preaching of the word.".  -  John Calvin

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Failure

The following is a quote from John Keats: "Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, in as much as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid." Don't waste your time on fretting about failing. It won't matter. Just go out and do it.
       -  From www.allprodad.com

Proper Use of Anger

"I find nothing that promotes work better than angry fervor. For when I wish to compose, write, pray and preach well, I must be angry. It refreshes my entire system, my mind is sharpened, and all unpleasant thoughts and depression fade away."

~ Martin Luther

I don't know if it's necessary to be angry to be able to write and preach. However, I can understand how anger can inspire a person to a higher level of passion on a subject.    -  T. Meiers

Expository Preaching

"Expository preaching defines a certain kind of preaching. It is the kind of preaching that is prescribed in Scripture itself. The word 'expository' carries the idea of explaining the meaning of a text. The word 'preaching' describes the manner with which this instruction and explanation is brought. Expository preaching is the kind of preaching that begins with a passage of Scripture and explains the authorial intent of that passage, while making application with exhortation to the life of the listener." - Steve Lawson
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Saturday, June 13, 2015

Led By the Spirit

"The wayward child and the self-willed youth is guided by his own unsanctified and unsubdued spirit. The man of the world is controlled by "the spirit of the world." The wicked are governed by Satan "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2). But the Christian is to yield himself unto "the still small voice" of the Holy Spirit. Yet a word of caution is needed at this point, for in our day there are many fanatics and impious people who do that which is grossly dishonoring to God under the plea that they were "prompted by the Spirit" so to act. To be "led by the Spirit of God" does not mean being influenced by unaccountable suggestions and uncontrollable impulses which result in conduct displeasing to God, and often injurious to ourselves and others. No, indeed: not so does the Spirit of God "lead" anyone.
There is a safe and sure criterion by which the Christian may gauge his inward impulses, and ascertain whether they proceed from his own restless spirit, an evil spirit, or the Spirit of God. That criterion is the written Word of God, and by it all must be measured. The Holy Spirit never prompts anyone to act contrary to the Scriptures. How could He, when He is the Author of them! His promptings are always unto obedience to the precepts of Holy Writ. Therefore, when a man who has not been distinctly called, separated, and qualified by God to be a minister of His Word, undertakes to "preach," no matter how strong the impulse, it proceeds not from the Holy Spirit. When a woman "feels led" to pray in public where men are present, she is moved by "another spirit" (2 Corinthians 11:4), or if one claimed "guidance" in assuming an unequal yoke by marrying an unbeliever, 2 Corinthians 6:14would prove conclusively that it was not the "guidance" of the Holy Spirit."
~ Arthur Pink, "The Holy Spirit"

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Social Gospel

http://heidelblog.net/2015/06/the-gospel-is-not-social/

Sanctification

"All perfectionism is essentially a disastrous misunderstanding of how God works in sanctification. Sanctification is a process by which God—working in believers through the Holy Spirit—gradually moves them toward Christlikeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). That the transformation is gradual—not instantaneous, and never complete in this lifetime—is confirmed by many passages of Scripture.

As we noted earlier, Paul wrote near the end of his ministry that he was not yet perfect (Philippians 3:12). He told the Romans, "Be [constantly being] transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2). And to the Galatians he wrote that he labored with them "until Christ is formed in you" (Galatians 4:19). Sanctification will not end "until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). He urged them to stop being children, susceptible to error and trends. How were they to do that? By seeking a sudden experience? No, he wrote, "Grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:14‑15, emphasis added).

Likewise Peter instructed believers to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). He wrote, "Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation" (1 Peter 2:2)."
                 -  John MacArthur

Thoughts on 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

Problem not the seed it's the sower
Its the unreceptive, fallen, deceitful human heart, that must be changed from stone to flesh. Paul is saying I will not manipulate the message to seem more appealing or change it to be more popular. God's message does not change, and despite my feeble and flailing efforts, His word will not go in vain. I will proclaim Christ and Him crucified, and not water down the message for the sake if being popular or being liked. I don't expect popularity, and neither should you. Paul certainly didn't. He knew that the Gospel message would be offensive to the natural man. Unless God performs a miracle in someone's life, he will never come to God on his own accord. It's impossible. They are slaves to sin, in Romans.
Paul knew the power of forgiveness, he had sought out Christians to kill them. He was there when they stoned Stephen, the first martyr. He was holding the coats. Imagine after they killed Stephen he was standing probably close by, approving and probably thinking justice was served. And then after Stephen was dead, handing everyone their coats back and going on with their lives
Little did Saul know at the time, but he was headed for a supernatural encounter with the true and living God on his way to Damascus.
                       -  T. Meiers

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Total Depravity

"The Bible teaches the total depravity of the human race. Total depravity means radical corruption. We must be careful to note the difference between total depravity and "utter" depravity. To be utterly depraved is to be as wicked as one could possibly be. Hitler was extremely depraved, but he could have been worse than he was. I am sinner. Yet I could sin more often and more severely than I actually do. I am not utterly depraved, but I am totally depraved. For total depravity means that I and everyone else are
depraved or corrupt in the totality of our being. There is no part of us that is left untouched by sin. Our minds, our wills, and our bodies are affected by evil. We speak sinful words, do sinful deeds, have impure thoughts. Our very bodies suffer from the ravages of sin."
                           -  R.C. Sproul

In Response to an Arminian

"You may try and discredit Reformed Theology all you like, I only suggest you do it accurately. A question you should ask yourself is, if the Holy Spirit is working in all persons equally, why do some people respond to the gospel and not others? Are some people more naturally responsive to spiritual things? Why the desire for Christ in some and not others? Where did it come from? It is either God's grace that makes us differ or it is something in autonomous man. It seems pretty obvious that to believe it is ultimately up to man is to make God's grace penultimate and man's faith ultimate so that man can boast over another who does not have faith. Only as we recognize that we exercise faith because of God's mercy do we give him all the glory (Rom 9:16). What we cannot and will not do for ourselves Christ does for us."
                         -  John Hendryx

Predestination and Evangelism


"Predestination in no way hinders the zeal of the evangelist; rather the contrary. For as we know that God foreknows his own (though we have no idea who they might be) we can be sure that those (and only those) will finally believe and turn to Christ. For their sake the church is willing to preach the gospel far and wide. "For many are called but few are chosen." The call goes out to all and sundry, but the fact that many continue in unbelief is to be traced to their corruption and sinfulness. "For men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light..." ...As Calvinists present Christ to a fallen world they do not do so believing that people have power within themselves to turn to Christ. They do so because they believe in the power of the Spirit to resurrect dead bones and make them live (Ezekiel.). Their faith is in the power of God, not in the goodness of men...Men are unable to believe: "How can you believe who receive honour from one another and not the honour that comes from the only God?" (free translation). "Therefore I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (John 6:65). "A man can receive nothing, except it be given unto him from heaven" (John 3:27; cf. 1 Corinthians 4:7)...Because of original sin and all it entails, men are unable and unwilling to believe; but God can make them willing to believe. For what is impossible for men is possible with God!".         -   Paul Mizzi

The Reformed Doctrine of God


"Over the years, I've had opportunities to teach systematic theology in a variety of settings, from seminary classrooms to university courses to Sunday school classes in the local church. But no matter where I've taught systematics, the first place I typically start is the doctrine of God. Theology, of course, studies God and His character and ways, so it's appropriate to begin with a look at His nature and attributes before examining what the Bible has to say about redemption, the church, the last things, and the other categories of systematic theology.

Whenever I've taught the doctrine of God, I've started out with two statements that have seemed to fill many of my students with no small amount of consternation. It's been my practice to tell them that on the one hand there's nothing particularly unique about the doctrine of God confessed in the Reformed tradition of Christian theology. Presbyterians, Reformed Baptists, the Dutch Reformed, and other Reformed Christians affirm the same attributes of God that Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, the Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics all do. There's nothing radically different about our doctrine of God.

Yet, when those same students have asked me what's the most significant distinctive of Reformed theology, I've said it's our doctrine of God. Now, that does sound completely contradictory to my first statement, but I say that the Reformed doctrine of God sets us apart from other traditions for the reason that I know of no other theology that takes seriously the doctrine of God with respect to every other doctrine. In most systematic theologies, you get an affirmation of the sovereignty of God on page one of your theology text, but then once you move on to soteriology (doctrine of salvation), eschatology (doctrine of last things), and anthropology (doctrine of humanity), and so on, the author has seemingly forgotten what he said about God's sovereignty on page one."
                    -  R. C. Sproul

Post Below

From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine. Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: tabletalk@ligonier.org. Toll free: 1-800-435-4343.

The Reformed Doctrine of God


"Over the years, I've had opportunities to teach systematic theology in a variety of settings, from seminary classrooms to university courses to Sunday school classes in the local church. But no matter where I've taught systematics, the first place I typically start is the doctrine of God. Theology, of course, studies God and His character and ways, so it's appropriate to begin with a look at His nature and attributes before examining what the Bible has to say about redemption, the church, the last things, and the other categories of systematic theology.

Whenever I've taught the doctrine of God, I've started out with two statements that have seemed to fill many of my students with no small amount of consternation. It's been my practice to tell them that on the one hand there's nothing particularly unique about the doctrine of God confessed in the Reformed tradition of Christian theology. Presbyterians, Reformed Baptists, the Dutch Reformed, and other Reformed Christians affirm the same attributes of God that Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, the Eastern Orthodox, and Roman Catholics all do. There's nothing radically different about our doctrine of God.

Yet, when those same students have asked me what's the most significant distinctive of Reformed theology, I've said it's our doctrine of God. Now, that does sound completely contradictory to my first statement, but I say that the Reformed doctrine of God sets us apart from other traditions for the reason that I know of no other theology that takes seriously the doctrine of God with respect to every other doctrine. In most systematic theologies, you get an affirmation of the sovereignty of God on page one of your theology text, but then once you move on to soteriology (doctrine of salvation), eschatology (doctrine of last things), and anthropology (doctrine of humanity), and so on, the author has seemingly forgotten what he said about God's sovereignty on page one."
                    -  R. C. Sproul

Monday, June 8, 2015

The World's Theology

"The world's theology is easy to define. It is the view that human beings are basically good, that no one is really lost, that belief in Jesus Christ is not necessary for salvation."

- James Montgomery Boice
Foundations of the Christian Faith

The Divine Progression of Grace

-  Bob Santos
Blazing a trail to fruitful living. This book is all about grace. In the Preface the author asks "What you might wonder, does God's grace have to do with blazing a trail? Actually, a lot." And "Grace, by it's very nature, creates radical changes in our own lives and in the lives of those we touch with God's love."
It is essential to have a firm foundation to understand fully what grace is. And this book will help you understand that grace is active. God has given His grace to us so we can show others grace. Even in our fallen state, we can show grace to our fellow human beings, and therefore show them God's love.
The author is founder and president of Search Me Ministries.
In the chapter titled Empowered to Serve, the author tackles a tough issue in the church, cessationists vs. continuationists.
The author states he himself is a continuationist, and offers some argument for his position. Although I can respectfully disagree with his position, I appreciate his honesty.


Duties of Husbands and Wives

http://www.the-highway.com/familyduty_Steele.html

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Your Conscience

"It was Jiminy Cricket who said, 'Always let your conscience be your guide.' This is good advice if our conscience is informed and ruled by the Word of God. However, if our conscience is ignorant of Scripture or has been seared or hardened by repeated
sin, then Jiminy Cricket theology is disastrous."
-R.C. Sproul, Sr.

Election

http://the-highway.com/election3_Boettner.html

Unconditional Election

"The Doctrine of Election is to be looked upon as only a particular application of the general doctrine of Predestination or Foreordination as it relates to the salvation of sinners; and since the Scriptures are concerned mainly with the redemption of sinners, this part of the doctrine is naturally thrown up into a place of special prominence, it partakes of all the elements of the general doctrine; and since it is the act of an infinite moral Person, it is represented as being the eternal, absolute, immutable, effective determination by His will of the objects of His saving operations. And no aspect of this elective choice is more constantly emphasized than that of its absolute sovereignty
The Reformed Faith has held to the existence of an eternal, divine decree which, antecedently to any difference or desert in men themselves, separates the human race into two portions and ordains one to everlasting life and the other to everlasting death. So far as this decree relates to men it designates the counsel of God concerning those who had a supremely favorable chance in Adam to earn salvation, but who lost that chance. As a result of the fall they are guilty and corrupted; their motives are wrong and they cannot work out their own salvation. They have forfeited all claim upon God's mercy, and might justly have been left to suffer the penalty of their disobedience as all of the fallen angels were left. But instead the elect members of this race are rescued from this state of guilt and sin and are brought into a state of blessedness and holiness. The non-elect are simply left in their previous state of ruin, and are condemned for their sins. They suffer no unmerited punishment, for God is dealing with them not merely as men but as sinners."
          -  Loraine Boetnner

Do Not Be Afraid

"The one who formed you says: Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior!" (Isaiah 43:1-3).
He is indeed Emmanuel, "God with us." "The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46:11).
Is not our failure to realize the favorable presence of our divine Redeemer the main cause of our slackness in communion and carelessness in our walk? Does not that failure explain our weakness, irresolution, timidity? Christ is present to counsel, to direct our way, to shelter, to energize, to comfort. Then make use of Him: draw from Him, lean upon Him. Does He not say, "Don't be afraid, for I am with you. Don't be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand!" (Isaiah 41:10) Then conduct yourself accordingly, Christian reader."~ Arthur Pink, "His Presence"

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Emotions and Passion

"Sometimes we have really incredible emotional experiences, and we ride on their fumes for as long as they will last, and then we lose confidence, passion, and focus. We're like junkies, always searching for the new high, and we go to camps, conferences, worship services, all in an effort to get that high. It should be obvious to us that this cycle is very self-focused approach to our walk with God, but because of our flesh, it isn't. We make it all about us, but the essence of the Christian life is the polar opposite, it's about others; God first, our neighbor second. But what's more, our faith is tied to these experiences. If we don't feel good, maybe God doesn't love anymore. We want an experience as God's proof that he loves us, and that he forgives us, and that we are his children, but experiences aren't what God want's our focus to be on.
Our focus needs to be on the scripture. Now that might sound a little boring to you, but first of all, I'd say you don't understand how glorious God's word is, and secondly, why else didn't Jesus give these men an experience? This was a long walk they were on, and Jesus spent all of it talking to them about God's word. He wanted them to be focus on the revealed written word of God.
But why? The Bible is outside of us, it never changes. It says the same thing now as it did a thousand years ago and the same as the thousand years before that. God's word is the same whether we've had our full eight hours rest, or if we're pulling an all-nighter. Scripture is just as true when we are starving as it is when we are full. It's not affected by us and our fickle imagination. Jesus was showing these two disciples everything they should have already known and understood from the Old Testament. They weren't believing the scriptures, and without that, it didn't matter how many experiences these men had, their faith would always be on shaky ground.
Consider Romans 10:17, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Notice the absence of some super spiritual experience. God's gracious gift of saving and sanctifying faith comes to us through God's word. Peter says almost the exact same thing in chapter 1 verse 23 of his first epistle, "Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God." These men needed their faith strengthened, and Jesus thought it was important that their faith be built upon the solid rock of His word, rather than even a real, true experience. Peter was at the transfiguration event of Christ, a real experience, but even with something like that in his memory, he says, "and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed." Peter is not saying that God's word is more confirmed by his experience, as if its truthfulness was in question, but rather, he is saying that the scripture is more fully confirmed than even the most amazing spiritual experience man has ever known.
What about us? It's not a complicated application, and it's nothing new. Sola Scriptura, which is Latin for Scripture Alone. Scripture is what we base our faith and understanding of God on, and nothing else. We look To God's word as our source of faith, strength, and guidance. It is sufficient and efficient for these things. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."
May God grant us the grace to love his Word more and more.
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           -  Marshall Proctor from The Calvinist Lounge (used with permission)

Grace Alone

"When the Reformers spoke about "grace alone" they were saying that sinners have no claim upon God, none at all; that God owes them nothing but punishment for their sins; and, if he saves them in spite of their sins, which he does in the case of those who are being saved, it is because it pleases him to do it and for no other reason.

Today, large number of evangelicals undermine and effectively destroy this doctrine by supposing that human beings are basically good … if we are saved, in the final analysis it is because of our good decision to receive the Jesus who is offered to us."

       -  James Montgomery Boice

As a side note, I attended Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia when I was living there, around 1989 and heard Dr. Boice preach many times. I was always glad for that time in my life when I was able to learn what I could from his teaching.

The Thief on the Cross

"The thief on the cross had to be the luckiest man alive. He was nothing more than a low-life criminal, a loser. He had committed a crime. He was convicted for it, and he was crucified for it. So he had no future; he was going nowhere; or worse, he was going to hell. Yet of all the criminals, on all the crosses, on all the hills in the Roman Empire, he was crucified next to Jesus Christ."

-  James Montgomery Boice

Natural Man

It is really a myth that man in his natural state is genuinely seeking God. Men may seek a god, but they do not seek the true God for who He is, as revealed in the Scripture. Apart from the new birth, no one comes into the light of the true God but suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
The Bible, therefore, teaches beyond any doubt that we act or choose according to our greatest desire which is based on our natures. Jesus (as noted in Luke 6, Matt. 7 and John 3) teaches that it is impossible to do otherwise. Furthermore, as a consequence of physical death in Adam and his descendants (Gen 2:17) there are several other problems with man's nature in his unregenerate state including his inability to understand God (Psalm 50:21; Job 11:7-8; Rom 3:11); to see spiritual things (John 3:3); to know his own heart (Jer 17:9); to direct his own steps in the path of life (Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 14:12); to free himself from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:10); to receive the Holy Spirit (John 14:17); to hear, understand or receive the words of God (John 8:47; 1 Corinthians 2:14); to give himself birth into God's family (John 1:13, Romans 9:15-16); to produce repentance and faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9; John 6:64, 65; 2 Thessalonians 3:2; Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 2:25); to come to Christ (John 10:26; John 6:44); and to please God (Romans 8:5, 8, 9).
These consequences of Adam's disobedience on his descendants are what theologians often refer to as the 'total depravity' of man. Without a change of disposition, the love of God and His law is not the natural man's deepest animating motive and principle."
~ John Hendryx

Friday, June 5, 2015

Total Depravity

As John MacArthur explains, the term total depravity:

"Does not mean that unbelieving sinners are always as bad as they could be (cf. Luke 6:33; Romans 2:14). It does not mean that the expression of sinful human nature is always lived out to the fullest. It does not mean that unbelievers are incapable of acts of kindness, benevolence, goodwill, or human altruism. It certainly does not mean that non‑Christians cannot appreciate goodness, beauty, honesty, decency, or excellence. It does mean that none of this has any merit with God. . . .

Total depravity means sinners have no ability to do spiritual good or work for their own salvation from sin. They are so completely disinclined to love righteousness, so thoroughly dead in sin, that they are not able to save themselves or even to fit themselves for God's salvation. Unbelieving humanity has no capacity to desire, understand, believe, or apply spiritual truth: "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised" (1 Corinthians 2:14)."
                       -  John MacArthur

Total Depravity

Here's how John MacArthur responded to the notion of innate human goodness:

False belief systems always seem to downplay human depravity. Some even deny it altogether, insisting that people are fundamentally good. This is a tendency of nearly all quasi-Christian heresies, humanistic philosophies, and secular worldviews. Apostles of those religions and philosophies seem to think describing human nature in upbeat and optimistic terms somehow makes their viewpoint nobler. That fact alone perfectly epitomizes the blind illogic that goes hand in hand with unbelief and false religion. After all, humanity's moral dilemma should be patently obvious to anyone who seriously considers the problem of evil. As G.K. Chesterton famously remarked, original sin is the one point of Christian theology that easily can be proved empirically.

The fallenness of the human race is a profound, destructive, and universal predicament—inexplicable by any merely naturalistic rationale, but undeniably obvious. Wherever you find humanity, you see ample evidence that the entire race is held captive under sin's corrupting influence.

Total Depravity

https://www.gty.org/Blog/B150605

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Radical Feminists Agenda

"Gloria Steinem, editor of Ms. Magazine, quote: "By the year 2000 we will, I hope, raise our children to believe in human potential, not God." Satan's ideologies can't ever just stop with social issues, they always go to theological ones. It can't just stop on the social level, it's got to assault God because unless God is dethroned and the God of Christianity is eliminated from their thinking, they're going to have to deal with the Bible and that's a problem. So we get rid of God and everything supposedly attributed to Him. The Bible is out of the picture.
Radical feminist leader Sheila Cronin(?), and you've heard the name. I've heard it so many times. She says this, "Since marriage constitutes slavery for women, it is clear that the Women's Movement must concentrate on attacking this institution. Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage."
As far back as 1971 there was produced by these feminists a document called "The Declaration of Feminism." It says this, "The end of the institution of marriage is necessary condition for the liberation of women. Therefore it is important for us to encourage women to leave their husbands and not live individually with men. All of history must be rewritten in terms of oppression of women. We must go back to ancient female religions like witchcraft."
                 -  John MacArthur

http://www.dancogan.com/my-journey-away-from-contemporary-worship-music

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Are We All Sinners?

"Most people—including many believers—bristle at the notion that they are "sinners." They'd prefer to assign that term to only the most vile and corrupt offenders, and in the process soften their own spiritual diagnosis. But despite this postmodern age's soft view of biblical authority and truth, we don't get to decide who is a sinner, or which sins "count." Believers must conform to the testimony and standard of God's Word."
                     -  John Macarthur

Inadequacy of Our Works - Filthy Rags

"When I face the reality of the inadequacy of my works to merit God's favor, then I recognize that I must depend on his goodness and not on mine. At times this dependence is scary because it lifts control from me, but there is no other choice when I recognize the true character of my good works. According to Scripture even my best works are only "filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). There is too much of human imperfection and mixed motives in my best deeds to have them obligate God to do as I wish."

~ Bryan Chapell, Holiness by Grace

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Repentence

"There are ministers who never speak of repentance or self-denial. Naturally they are popular, but they are false prophets." -  JI Packer

Prosperity Gospel

"Someone needs to say this plainly: The faith healers and health-and-wealth preachers who dominate religious television are shameless frauds. Their message is not the true gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing spiritual or miraculous about their on-stage chicanery. It is all a devious ruse designed to take advantage of desperate people. They are not godly ministers but greedy impostors who corrupt the Word of God for money's sake. They are not real pastors who shepherd the flock of God but hirelings whose only design is to fleece the sheep. Their love of money is glaringly obvious in what they say as well as how they live. They claim to possess great spiritual power, but in reality they are rank materialists and enemies of everything holy." - John MacArthur

Arminians vs. Calvinists

"All the disputes between us and the Arminians can be reduced to these two questions: 1. Is God dependent on man, or is man dependent on God? 2. Is man a debtor to God, or God a debtor to man?"
~ Augustus Toplady (1740-1778)

Monday, June 1, 2015

http://theweek.com/articles/555603/who-killed-contemporary-christian-music-industry

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/when-our-career-plans-arent-panning-out

Repentance is. . .

"Repentance is a change of mind: one that goes much deeper and includes far more than a mere change of opinion or creed. It is a changed mind, a new perception, an altogether different outlook on things as they previously appeared. It is the necessary effect of a new heart. Repentance consists of a radical change of mind about God, about sin, about self, about the world."
~ A. W. Pink