Absolute Dominion

Hiatus

2009-12-21T17:53:00.001-08:00

I'm on an extended hiatus from active blogging. Please enjoy browsing through my prior posts!

Morning and Evening

2009-03-10T19:33:00.001-07:00

As part of my daily devotional time each day I read excerpts from C.H. Spurgeon's excellent little tome entitled "Morning and Evening", and I found today's portions to be particularly applicable to the uncertain times in which we live, especially as the faith of so many in their temporal "security" so-called, be it financial, physical, or otherwise, is being shaken to and fro by God.

I earnestly pray that it may be by God Almighty's holy hand of providence that many deceived souls who are presently caught in the demonic web of the false health,wealth, and prosperity man-made systems of self-esteem, self-help, and "Your Best Life Now" might have their eyes opened to the truth, and that we might rejoice to see a great host of those spiritual mega-brothels which masquerade as churches utterly collapse under the weight of their own sins and trespasses; the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the sinful pride of life. If the Lord were ever pleased to hear an imprecatory prayer then I for one am fully persuaded that His true children ought to be praying down holy wrath upon these prophets of Baal and the evil that energizes and speaks through them; the powers, principalities, and spiritual wickedness in high places that exalt themselves against the knowledge of Christ.

I further pray that Spurgeon's ever-timely insights from Holy Scripture will speak to the gentle reader's heart today, as they spoke to mine.

MORNING MARCH 10

"In my prosperity I said I shall never be moved" - Psalm 30:6

Moab is settled on his lees, he hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel. Give a man wealth; let his ships bring home continually rich freights; let the winds and waves appear to be his servants to bear his vessels across the bosom of the mighty deep; let his lands yield abundantly; let the weather be propitious to his crops; let uninterrupted success attend him; let him stand among men as a successful merchant; let him enjoy continued health; allow him with braced nerve and brilliant eye to march through the world, and live happily; give him the buoyant spirit; let him have the song perpetually on his lips; let his eye be ever sparkling with joy - and the natural consequence of such an easy stat to any man, let him be the best Christian who ever breathed, will be presumption; even David said, "I shall never be moved;" and we are not better than David, nor half so good. Brother, beware of the smooth places of the way; if you are treading them, or if the way be rough, thank God for it. If God should always rock us in the cradle of prosperity; if we were always dandled on the knees of fortune; if we had not some stain on the alabaster pillar; if there were not a few clouds in the sky; if we had not some bitter drops in the wine of this life, we should become intoxicated with pleasure, we should dream "we stand"; and stand we should, but it would be upon a pinnacle; like the man asleep upon the mast, each moment we should be in jeopardy.

We bless God, then, for our afflictions; we thank Him for our changes; we extol His name for losses of property; for we feel that had He not chastened us thus, we might have become too secure. Continued worldly prosperity is a fiery trial.

"Afflictions, though they seem severe, In mercy oft are sent."

EVENING MARCH 10

"Man...is of few days, and full of trouble" - Psalm 30:6

It may be of great service to us, before we fall asleep, to remember this mournful fact, for it may lead us to set loose by earthly things. There is nothing very pleasant in the recollection that we are not above the shafts of adversity, but it may humble us and prevent our boasting like the Psalmist in our morning's portion. "My mountains standeth firm: I shall never be moved." It may stay us from taking too deep root in this soil from which we are so soon to be transplanted into the heavenly garden. Let us recollect the frail tenure upon which we hold our temporal mercies. If we would remember that all the trees of the earth are marked for the woodman's axe, we should not be so ready to build our nests in them. We should love, but we should love with the love which expects death, and which reckons upon separations. Our dear relations are but loaned to us, and the hour when we must return them to the lender's hand may be even at the door. The like is certainly true of our worldly goods. Do not riches take to themselves wings and fly away? Our health is equally precarious. Frail flowers of the field, we must not recon upon blooming forever. There is a time appointed for weakness and sickness, when we shall have to glorify God by suffering, and not by earnest activity. There is no single point in which we can hope to escape from the sharp arrows of affliction; out of our few days there is not one secure from sorrow. Man's life is a cask full of bitter wine; he who looks for joy in it had better seek for honey in an ocean of brine. Beloved reader, set not your affections upon things of earth; but seek those things which are above, for herethe moth devoureth, and the thief breaketh through, but there all joys are perpetual and eternal. The path of trouble is the way home. Lord, make this thought a pillow for many a weary head!

An Uncomfortable Christmas Card for Unbelievers Comfortable at Christmas

2008-11-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

HT: Reformation Theology
by: Rev. Charles R. Biggs

Each year at this time, I think about how I would like to remind my unbelieving friends and loved ones of the glorious gospel and hope found in Jesus Christ. Seasons like Christmas give us another great opportunity to make the good news of Jesus known to the whole world, and especially to those closest to us.

Sadly however, when Christmas comes and we gather with our unbelieving friends and family, we Christians look into the eyes of our unbelieving friends and family members excitedly telling them of how God has greatly blessed us, and what the true meaning of Christmas is about, only for these glad tidings to be received at best as a nice sentiment that spiritually falls flat in their response to us, or at worst it is received as divisive and ignorant, and a subject to be avoided in our Christmas conversation (for instance: “Happy Holidays!”).

This year I decided to write a letter to those friends and loved ones who love me, but who do not love Christ; this is a letter to friends and family who do not believe. I decided to write an uncomfortable Christmas card for unbelievers comfortable at Christmas.

No one should ever be too comfortable with the truths of Scripture any time of the year! I think it is important for the truths of Scripture to keep believers all uncomfortably ever-depending upon Jesus Christ alone for our righteousness throughout the year (one of the purposes of gospel preaching). I especially think it is good for unbelieving friends and relatives to be uncomfortable this time of year when we celebrate God becoming flesh in order to save those who believe. When unbelievers become comfortable this time of year, it is time to ask ourselves as the Church whether we are speaking and proclaiming the gospel in clear, pointed, penetrating ways as Jesus, John, and Paul preached it.

If you find this letter helpful, and would like to use it yourself in order to send to those whom you love and desire them to know Jesus, I invite you to use it as often as you would like, and to send it to as many as you would like.

Merry Christ,

Pastor Biggs

Dear Friend or Loved One Who Loves Me, but Does Not Love Jesus Christ:

This Christmas, I eagerly and affectionately desire to write to you a different kind of Christmas message. I long to send you good tidings of great joy, and high hopes that your Christmas and New Year will be cheerful and full of good things, but I also want to write to make you as uncomfortable with the Christmas message as possible.

“Why would I do that?” you may ask. “Why would you want someone you love to be uncomfortable by the Christmas message?” Well, Christmas is about more than eating together, mustering up good feelings, enjoying a restful winter holiday, giving and getting presents, and singing songs around the Christmas tree (even when we don’t feel like singing). Christmas is much more than that! Now understand me, you can have a holiday anytime of the year if you want, and if you want to take a holiday at Christmas time, then that is your prerogative, but please don’t feel comfortable with Christmas and Christmas things.

The gospel message of Christmas should greatly frighten all who do not believe and love Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Great and Powerful God and Maker of the universe became flesh and dwelt among us; this is the message of Christmas. This great God who made us all, and to whom we will all be accountable, became one of us in order to make himself fully known. If you want to know God, you find him and understand him in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ; Jesus is the one who reveals God or makes him known in all of his attributes and righteousness (John 1:14-18).

This Christmas, I want you to consider three very special Christmas Bible verses, and I want you to feel very uncomfortable each time you read and hear them until by God’s grace you know the Lord Jesus Christ himself as your Lord and Savior.

These three verses will be found this season in great number on church signs, songs you hear sung, and in Christmas cards sent by others to you. In hoping to make you feel uncomfortable, I am not doing this to be mean, or to be angry, or to cause you to be unnecessarily upset with me. I am doing this because I believe your eternal destiny is at stake for not believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, and I take it very seriously because I love you very much! The Bible says in John 3:18 and 3:36:

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God….John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

There are only two kinds of people at Christmas: those who believe in the Christmas message, and those who do not believe the Christmas message.

Those who do not believe in Christ the Son, who was sent by God to save sinners, are already condemned. This means that if you are an unbeliever, or one who rejects Christ outright, or merely accepts Christ on your own terms as a good religious teacher, you abide under God’s wrath for your sins at this very moment (John 3:18, 36), and this is not something to take lightly- -but fearfully and uncomfortably until you find your sins forgiven and your rest in Jesus Christ alone.

My hope as you read further is that you would feel greatly uncomfortable and convicted by your sins against God and man, and that the powerful Holy Spirit of God would reveal your need, hope, and ultimate and eternal comfort to be found in Christ alone!

With that said, may you never think the same comfortable, mere sentimental “Christmas” thoughts about the following Biblical passages! I am taking three familiar passages, two from Isaiah the Prophet (Isaiah 9:6-7 and Isaiah 40:1-5) and one from the Gospel of Luke. Let’s read together Isaiah 9:6-7:

“For Unto Us a Child Is Born…”
Isaiah 9:6-7: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

This prophecy of Isaiah that is quite familiar and quoted very comfortably during the Christmas season is about the manger ultimately. This prophecy is about a child being born and a son being given for sinners. Notice how this child, this son is described: 1) He shall be a great ruler over all governments (“the government shall be upon his shoulder”); 2) He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace; and, 3) His great rule will increase so that peace will cover the face of the earth and his Kingdom will extend throughout the earth and throughout eternity. He will rule with justice and righteousness forever.

This should only comfort you if you believe upon Jesus Christ, the child, the son who is given for us. Otherwise, this prophecy should greatly threaten your comfortable existence. The first way he is described is a great ruler over all governments. Do you bow before him in service and worship as your king? Do you treat this Jesus Christ as a King, a great and mighty ruler? Do you understand that even though you might not recognize his sovereign rule, he does indeed rule? In fact, the risen ascended Christ has authority over heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:19-21). If you do not obey and serve Christ as King, you are guilty of cosmic treason against the King, and he will judge you for your unrighteous trespassing on property that has been claimed by him as his own, and over which he rules and reigns even now.

Secondly, Jesus is described as Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Do you long for someone to guide you through this dark world of sin and misery, giving you a sense of purpose and understanding of who you are and who God is? HE is the Wonderful Counselor to guide and teach you. Do you listen to his counsel; or do you reject it; or are you disinterested in his counsel to you through the Bible?

Jesus came to make known the true God and he said that salvation was a knowledge of the True and Living God found in himself (John 17:1-3). Is he your wise and great Counselor, or do you live life on your terms, your way, according to your puny knowledge?

Jesus is called Mighty God. Do you recognize Jesus Christ, born in a manger of a virgin, from the little town of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem to be God himself for us? Jesus Christ was born as man to reveal God in all his greatness and power to us! Jesus called himself the Great “I AM”, making himself equal with Jehovah God. Jesus claimed to be very God of very God, that is, equal with God.

The Apostle John opens his gospel with these words (speaking of Christ as ‘The WORD’): “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Do you acknowledge him as God and Creator of all things? Think of how a Word describes and communicates something. John is saying that Jesus Christ was God’s communication of himself “The Word made flesh” to make his love and grace known (John 1:14).

I beg of you who think of Jesus as a merely another sentimental Christmas icon (along with Frosty and Santa), don’t come to the manger to peer in and fondle God’s Son unless you are coming humbly as a sinner to bow to him as Lord, to serve and worship him! Do not come to Jesus merely thinking of him as “baby Christmas Jesus”, or merely a good teacher, or a nice man who lived and made a bit of a difference in the world.

Jesus witnessed of himself, and other Scripture writers witnessed of him that he was the Mighty God; he is nothing less and will accept nothing less than your obedience and worship as God.

Jesus is called Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. As Everlasting Father he shows to us eternal love and care. No matter how much hardship we have endured, no matter how far we have gone from the love of God, and how much we have sinned again him, he receives the humble and repentant back as his children. He has come to save his own, not to condemn those who believe! Do you believe you have sinned against him as a naughty and sinful child of the Creator? Do you believe he is a forgiving Father (despite what kind of earthly father you had, or did not have)? Jesus says he came specifically for the sinners, not the righteous; he came to seek and save the lost! Are you lost? This “Everlasting Father” full of grace and truth has come to heal your wounds and forgive you your sins.

As Prince of Peace, Jesus has come to bring peace with God so that guilty consciences can be silenced by God’s grace and love. Do you long to know the peace with God that only Jesus can bring in reconciling you to the Father through his bloody death? Romans 5:1 says of believers that we receive reconciliation with the Father through Jesus Christ alone. Why? Because Jesus died as a sin offering, taking the wrath of God that sinners deserve upon himself, so that we could have peace with God.

Do you want this peace of God that passes all of your understanding? Not some fragile, temporal and idyllic peace of the world where everyone just “tries to get along” (the impossible!), but an eternal peace with God the Father and with those who are called by his name.

Do you understand that accepting this peace causes you to be at enmity with those who do not believe? Jesus brings peace with God for those who believe, but he also divides families in the process. Jesus said that father and son, mother and daughter, and other members of one family will be divided because of the peace he offers. Some will give their all to him, and some will despise him in the same family- -but he comes to bring the eternal peace with God that truly matters and makes us members of his own family.

Jesus’ Kingdom is spoken of as extending throughout the world and throughout eternity. Are you a member of that Kingdom through belief in Jesus Christ? If you do not believe, as part of the display of his righteousness and justice, he will punish eternally in hell those who deny him. The only way and hope for salvation is found in Jesus Christ. Since he is the Great God and King, he calls the shots! If he says that there is only one way to receive eternal life and it is found in him, then he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6).

If this great God and King says that those who oppose and deny him will be eternally punished and cut off from the grace and mercy of God, then this will occur because the mouth of the Lord has spoken. The Book of Revelation says when he returns it will be as a Mighty Warrior and as God Almighty to save and redeem his own of this world of sin and misery and to punish with fire those who do not believe (Revelation 19:11-16). This is not a picture of a baby in a manger, but of a warrior on a white horse full of the righteous and just wrath of Almighty God!

Repent now before it is too late. But please, stop merely thinking of Jesus as just another nice religious teacher, and baby Jesus as another American Christmas icon, and accept him as Lord and Savior. We shall now look at another popular text of Scripture from Isaiah 40:

“Comfort, Comfort My People…”
Isaiah 40:1-5: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

This is another famous portion of Scripture that has been made famous by Handel’s ‘Messiah’, but I beg you not to get too comfortable with it. Rather, heed and hear its message! It is good to be uncomfortable in God’s presence in order that perhaps through the work of the Holy Spirit and humility, you might seek after God in the face of Jesus Christ and find true and lasting comfort in his saving and loving arms- -but do not reject him!

Notice how this prophecy of Isaiah begins with words of comfort. This seems to be the opposite of what I am trying to do in my Christmas letter you might think. But notice something important: the comfort that God wants Isaiah to speak is address to his people. God says to comfort “my people” and to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and from this Old Testament perspective, to speak to Jerusalem, meant to speak to those who were confessing to be God’s people.

The sad news is that Jesus came to his own in Jerusalem, but many did not receive him. Those who received him in Jerusalem and in other parts of the worlds were saved, and were called sons of the living God, and were those to whom words of comfort could be spoken (John 1:9-12).

God, the living God, Creator of Heaven and Earth speaks through his Scripture. There are no more prophets like Isaiah, but Isaiah’s words are still in the Bible for us, and when we speak or declare these words, it is God speaking to us (Heb. 4:1-11). Is God speaking tenderly to you through these words? Do you find comfort in these words?

For these words were written as preparatory for those who confessed faith in God to be eagerly awaiting and eagerly watching for a voice, one calling in the wilderness to prepare the way of the LORD, in order for the LORD to come and make his glory manifest all over the earth. The voice that was prophesied in Isaiah was John the Baptist (Matthew 3), and John testified and witnessed to Jesus, who was God come in the flesh. The words of comfort here were for those eagerly awaiting and anticipating the arrival of God in the flesh, who were those who believed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believe in God’s Christ can truly take comfort as his people.

Do you believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ who has come (“Joy to the world the Lord is come?!”)? Do you await the Lord Jesus’ coming? Then you should be uncomfortable in the presence of God and His Christ. This passage in Isaiah goes on to say that the glory of God shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it. The Apostle John writes in John 1:18 that we have “beheld his glory” that is, the glory of God was revealed in the face of Jesus Christ (John 1:14-18).

Do you see God’s glory in the testimony of Jesus Christ found in the Scriptures? Jesus says that blessed are those who saw him and believed, but even greater blessings await those who do not see yet believe (John 20). In the Bible, we see the glory of God (that is all of who and what God is) in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is your only hope of comfort and source of joy in this present evil age, as well as in the world to come. Do not make this prophecy a prophecy that is just part of the make up and background music of Christmastime. Let this prophecy make you feel greatly uncomfortable, and seek comfort in God alone. God speaks comfort to HIS PEOPLE- -those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ—not those who reject him selfishly.

And for those who are part of the Christian Church, who confess Christianity as their religion. Do you hope in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation? Are you comforted by Christ and something you have done for him as the basis or source of your salvation? Only in Christ alone will you find the righteousness of God that God requires in order to be saved and redeemed from death, hell, and the devil.

Remember also for those who are outwardly Christian in name. This comfort was written for those in Jerusalem who confessed their belief in God. When Christ came however, many of them rejected him because he was not the Savior they desired. Do you long for Christ’s return as the Christ that is revealed in Scripture?

Do you believe in Christ alone not trusting merely in the fact that “Jesus is just alright with you” and that perhaps the Christian religion seems the best option or choice for you among many good religious out there? Or, is belief upon Jesus Christ your only hope of eternal life, the very revelation of God’s glory and righteousness, and the one you hope in daily in order to be saved from hell?

“Would Someone Tell Me What Christmas is All About?!”
Finally, we shall turn to Luke 2. Growing up as an unbeliever, I was thankful for the opportunity every year to hear Linus Van Pelt in Charles M. Schultz’s ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ broadcast on CBS, to hear the gospel good tidings of Jesus born in a manger. If you remember the cartoon, Charlie Brown the main character, while unsuccessfully trying to direct a Christmas play, yells out in great frustration: “Would someone please tell me what Christmas is all about!”

His friend Linus asks the lights to be dimmed, and steps forward into the spotlight, to declare the gospel of hope for all those who would believe. I remember believing sentimentally in what Linus was saying when I was a child, but it was not until later that I truly believed the truth of what Linus (and Luke) were saying in Luke 2! May you also come to understand this as more than a quotation from ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and a sentimental Christmas wish- -and come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the babe in the manger!

Luke 2:8-16: And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" 15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

Notice in this passage that when the angels appeared with this great and glorious news it caused sinful shepherds to quake in their boots at this vision in the dark night sky. The angel of the Lord tells them (and the entire world) not to fear because they bring glad tidings, or gospel good news from God himself! In order to find peace and hope they were to go to a manger, and in that manger they would find eternal hope in a baby. He was a Savior and was Christ the Lord.

What does this mean? It means that the little baby in Bethlehem’s stable was a Savior of sinners and an Anointed One full of God’s Spirit to save and renew those enslaved by sin and misery. A savior is one who can redeem, or purchase back from slavery, and Jesus said that he came to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). Jesus as Savior came to save his people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). As an Anointed One (which is the translation of ‘Christ’ from a Greek word; Christ is not his last name!), Jesus is one full of the Spirit of God, able to save the lost, able to renew them by His Spirit, able to lay down his life in order to take it up again for them in resurrection, and able to take away all the guilt and pollution in them because of their sins and unrighteousness.

This was great news but it was not for everyone, and so once again please stop merely sentimentalizing this passage, and remember to whom it is addressed specifically. Don’t get me wrong, this message should be proclaimed to the whole world; this message of this baby in the manger is God’s only hope for peace, hope, and love for mankind, and this is to be declared to as many as possible.

But the actual point of this message, that is, the message as a message that makes a difference for a weary world as far as the curse is found, is the message addressed to those with whom God is pleased (Luke 2:14). There have been other translations of this passage, but this is the best one. God is saying that there is peace on earth and goodwill toward men in Christ alone! Please do not lie to yourself (or God), and pretend to think that this message of good tidings and cheer, and peace on earth is for those who would deny and reject the Lord Jesus Christ!

God is saying through the angel here that there is true peace found among those whom he is pleased. God is pleased when men and women no matter how wicked their sins, or how hopeless their lives, believe upon the Son he sent to be Savior and Christ, who came to dwell with man, being born in a manger.

Jesus is the one who came to save us and deliver us from our sins. Do you know of the hope that only Christ can give? Do you long to know how to be right with God and the world? Are you tired of each Christmas getting a glimpse of what it is all about only to find yourself rejecting him once again?

This Christmas receive the Lord Jesus Christ. As Savior of sinners he does not require you to be righteous first (he will make you righteous later)! All that he requires is that you believe and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your only Savior and hope.

This is the message of good tidings of great joy that shall be to all people throughout the earth who believe! Jesus came to be born for you, to live the law of God perfectly for you; Jesus came to die a terrible death on a heinous cross for your sins, and he came to be raised for your justification (or your being declared righteous and no longer condemned before God!).

Do you believe?

If you do not believe, you have every right to be uncomfortable this Christmas! The wrath of God abides on you; you are in serious danger. You should not be comfortable at Christmas or any other time of the year! Repent of your sins! And believe the good news of Jesus!

Hear the words of Jesus (and I pray with every fiber of my being that you can hear):

“Come to me, all of you who are burdened by the commands of God, and of the uncomfortable feeling found in sermons about Jesus and sin, and who feel like a world of trouble and sin is on your shoulders and that it is killing you…

Come to me, and I will give you rest!
Come to me, and I will give you rest!
Come to me, and I will give you rest!

My burden is easy, and my yoke is light!” – Jesus says.

This means that belief upon the Lord Jesus Christ will give you the peace for which you so desperately long, and the good news and glad tidings of Christmas will be truly yours. But don’t seek comfort until you believe and bow before the babe in the manger in worship and obedience because you have recognized that he is God with us, and if God is with us, he is for us who believe!

Merry Christmas, and with great and affectionate love,

Charles Randall Biggs
www.aplacefortruth.org
www.sermonaudio.com/kcpc

Christianity Astray

2008-10-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. (James 3:1)

The professing church is brimming over with hirelings. What is a "hireling" you might ask, and how is it relevant to the question of the condition of today's church? I'm glad you asked. Let's see what the Lord Jesus has to say of the hireling:

I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. (John 10:11-13)

As you can see, the Lord isn't impressed with the hireling, in fact He disdains him and heaps contempt upon him. So what does it say about the state of the church when today's denominational pipelines and seminaries are cranking out hirelings nearly as fast as Mattel cranks out Ken and Barbie? And isn't there a parallel here between the plastic Christianity of these hirelings and their plastic toy counterparts? Why yes, yes there is; they're both completely fake and without true life.

True life is the life imputed by the Lord of Hosts and is a thing which no man can attain to, it is the gift of God lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Yet today's plasticized Christian leadership equipped with their plasticized crosses shill for a plasticized, corrupted gospel that is powerless and ineffectual for salvation. These blind leaders of the blind send countless myriads of deceived followers home each week singing of a heaven they'll never see apart from the change of heart, submission, and faithful obedience to Christ that are foundational to true salvation.

But believer beware! These hirelings and their faithful pulpit worshiping followers become simultaneously defensive and aggressive when their ear tickling meal-ticket appears to be threatened. If one dares question the status quo of their Nicolaitane constructs, rest assured that fiery darts of false accusations are sure to fly his way. All bets are off and all the stops are pulled when the hirelings are exposed to the bright light of inspired scripture. As they quickly scurry from the light they and their enamored followers will erect false defenses, twist scripture, and resort to absurd claims of spiritual authority or "contextual ambiguity" in their desperate attempts to maintain their deception at all costs. Not unlike the miserable, feeble old man hiding behind the curtain while pretending to be "The Great and Powerful Oz", the spiritual charlatan will attempt to continue his masquerade even when the truth is standing in his presence and staring him squarely in the face. A particularly amazing example of this form of blind idolatry seems to surround Mark Driscoll.

Even when Driscoll muses about homo-erotic encounters taking place with Jesus Christ in heaven and shamefully imputes sinful sexual desire to the Risen Lord and Savior he is nevertheless tenaciously defended tooth and nail by his misguided apologists. It's simultaneously stunning and saddening to me that professing Christians would mount a vigorous defense of a PASTOR, and UNDER-SHEPHERD OF THE LORD who employs scatalogical and vulgur language from the pulpit, who makes homosexual allusions to the ascendent KIng of Glory Jesus Christ, and who claims that the Righteous and Anointed One, the Eternal Son and second Person of the Trinity "wanted" (i.e. desired) to have "intimate relations" (i.e. sexual relations) with His own creations. Beloved this well established pattern of despicable behavior is shameful and ought not even be named among the church of Jesus Christ which he purchased by the shedding of His own, pure, sinless blood and His agonizing, humilating death upon a cruel Roman cross.

Sadly hirelings and their hangers-on are guilty not only of propagating error from within, but because they are no true shepherds they fail to fulfill their duty as under-shepherds of the Lord and defend their flocks from outside attacks as well. In such a miserable estate there is all manner of spiritual corruption, chaos and confusion. Such bitter spiritual fruit is inevitably manifest in the lives of those who draw close to the Lord with their mouths while their hearts are far from Him.

Thanks to pastors like Mark Driscoll and his erstwhile hangers-on, sycophants and shameless and/or clueless defenders - not to mention the high profile support, encouragement, speaking engagements, and platforms he receives from his big name, sin-enabling buddies like John Piper (who incidentally teaches the insidiously blasphemous lie that Jesus Christ was damned upon the cross) this is where much of modern “Christianity” (so-called) is headed folks; right down the gutter and straight into deepest cesspool of the lowest pit of hell itself.

Of the hireling A.W. Tozer well said:

A Hireling; No True Shepherd
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

"It is doubtful whether we can be Christian in anything unless we are Christian in everything. To obey Christ in one or two or ten instances and then in fear of consequences to back away and refuse to obey in another is to cloud our life with the suspicion that we are only fair-weather followers and not true believers at all. To obey when it costs us nothing and refuse when the results are costly is to convict ourselves of moral trifling and gross insincerity….

Again, the pastor when facing his congregation on Sunday morning, dare not think of the effect his sermon may have on his job, his salary or his future relation to the church. Let him but worry about tomorrow and he becomes a hireling and no true shepherd of the sheep. No man is a good preacher who is not willing to lay his future on the line every time he expounds the Word. He must let his job and his reputation ride on each and every sermon or he has no right to think that he stands in the prophetic tradition." SIZ, 146-147.
(A.W. Tozer; Tozer on Christian Leadership)

May the hirelings of our day quickly find themselves out of work and broken and repentant before the Triune One True and Living God, the infinite Creator and Judge of the universe.

CAMPONTHIS: THE GUARDIAN OF GRUNGE AND SEATTLE-SLUDGE...Driscoll uses the Lord Jesus Christ again as his punch-line. It's not funny anymore - repent.

2008-09-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

CAMPONTHIS: THE GUARDIAN OF GRUNGE AND SEATTLE-SLUDGE<br>...Driscoll uses the Lord Jesus Christ again as his punch-line. It's not funny anymore - repent.

In Bed Together

2008-08-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

HAT TIP: Watcher's Lamp

The Death of a Church

2008-08-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

"Death (of a Church) occurs when unbelievers are allowed to take over ministries in the church. It happens when a church becomes more concerned with form and liturgy than it is with life on a spiritual level. Death occurs when a church becomes more concerned about welfare and social ills than it is about salvation. It happens when a church loves systems more than it loves Jesus Christ. And it happens when a church becomes more concerned with material things than spiritual reality. That's how a church dies. It all is a result of sin.

Sin--in any form that the church tolerates, whether it is in the members or the leaders. Tolerance of sin begins the cycle; then comes the tolerance of unbelievers in the church until no one cares who is a believer or an unbeliever. The end comes when the man who runs the church isn't a believer. Sins of commission and omission kill a church little by little. When that happens, Christians become carnal. Soon afterwards, unbelievers come into the church, and then a total tolerance for sin exists. The church begins to die, and the people who really love Jesus Christ leave only to be replaced by people who don't know Him." — John MacArthur

HAT TIP: The Bororean

A Few Words on Richard Abanes and Repentance

2008-08-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

Richard Abanes says: “Ken Silva's stubbornness is to blame.”

Richard Abanes says: "Taking sides” is to blame.

Richard Abanes says: "Everyone else" is wresting scriptures to "advance an agenda".

Richard Abanes is presently engaged in a vain attempt to justify his reprehensible, unjustifiable and un-Christ like behavior all around the Christian blogosphere.

Richard Abanes is in denial.

Richard Abanes is in desperate need of repentance.

I'm sorry but the hubris on display by Richard Abanes (RA) in the present "Abanes/Silva Dust Up" is simply breathtaking. Do such a statements as those quoted above strike anyone else as sounding eerily familiar? To me it sounds exactly like the first resort of the red-handed - namely blame shifting.

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:12)

For those who may be unaware of the present situation one Richard Abanes - Saddleback apologist and PDL insider - violated scripture in a self-centered, flesh pleasing effort to have an article that personally offended him removed from the website of one Pastor Ken Silva of Apprising Ministries. Much has been said and written on this sorry situation and a simple Internet search of Abanes/Silva" should give the interested reader plenty to chew on.

It's unfortunate that in his self-professed "final word on the issue" RA has willfully (and not so skillfully) chosen to ignore and evade the fundamental question "What did Ken Silva say in the offending article 'A PASTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES' that was deemed so libelous?"

And perhaps even more importantly why does RA – his scriptural gymnastics to the contrary notwithstanding - continue to stand defiantly and unrepentantly in violation of 1 Cor. 6:1-8? Oh, that’s right! RA simply issues a statement flatly denying that he’s in violation of 1 Cor. 6:1-8 and that’s that! Thus saith Richard Abanes! Move along folks, nothing to see here…but wait! There is something to see here – in fact there’s MUCH to be seen here.

In my opinion the bitter fruit born from the poisonous root of the Purpose Driven Paradigm is evident for all to see through the simple observation of RA's shameful, self-centered, and flesh-gratifying actions throughout this whole sorry episode. Interestingly enough RA's well established pattern of generally un-Christ like comportment is the whole point behind Ken Silva's missive “A PASTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES”.

RA has frequently demanded for his “detractors” to show him where his theology or doctrine were challenged by the offending Silva article, yet the article wasn't concerned with his theology or doctrine; it was concerned with the bitter fruit produced by the Purpose Driven Paradigm of which one Richard Abanes was (and is) "Exhibit A". In point of fact Ken Silva’s article makes much more sense now than it did when I originally read it because RA has verified the veracity of Ken's claims by demonstrating his well established pattern of behavior throughout this ordeal.

For example the following quote is taken from Silva's offending article:

From where I stand, it has now become clear to me that Mr. Abanes feels anyone who disagrees with him is simply wrong, no matter what evidence may be presented to him. It is my sincere prayer that the following might cause him to come to a position where he will at least show some semblance of respect for others in the family of Christ with whom he does not agree. Perhaps he might wish to consider Philippians 3:15 – Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you (NKJV).

And in another quote taken from “A PASTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES” Ken Silva points towards RA's less than charitable and very personal attack on Dr. John MacArthur who is himself on record exposing the bitter and rotten fruit of the man-centered, flesh pleasing Purpose Driven Paradigm:

From Tim Challies’ rather revealing interview with Mr. Abanes, we will see an arrogance emerge as he “attacks” (personally?) Dr. John MacArthur. Whatever one may think of every area of Dr. MacArthur’s theological positions, the fact remains that he is widely acknowledged as one of the finest Bible teachers we have in the Christian Church today. Further, MacArthur is also a man who is a senior pastor–and an elder–if you will, within the Evangelical church at large.

And yet, instead of showing Dr. MacArthur the respect his venerable position within Christ’s church would entitle him to, Mr. Abanes says with insolence:

As for John MacArthur, he simply does not know what he is talking about and has shown himself to be a loose cannon when it comes to Warren, The Purpose Driven Life, and Saddleback . I am not sure who is feeding him information, but it is false. But perhaps MacArthur just doesn’t care enough about truth to be careful in his own research. Therefore, I fault MacArthur for either: a) not doing his own research; or b) not doing his own research carefully enough before falsely accusing ChurchWarren of things that Warren has never taught. (http://www.challies.com/archives/001175.php)

These are strong words against Dr. MacArthur from RA.

They’re personal words.

They’re incendiary words.

In fact prior to Ken Silva's writing of “A PASTOR’S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES” RA had also expressed his obvious disdain for Silva's "research skills". Interestingly enough there is somewhat of a controversy surrounding RA's own "research skills" as can be easily found online by those who are curious enough to spend a few moments using their own research skills.

Is RA guilty of blame shifting and unrepentantly avoiding his personal responsibility as a professing Christian in the matter before us? Does RA stand defiantly in rebellion of Matt. 18:16-18 and 1 Cor. 6:1-8? I think the facts speak for themselves.

After an absolutely gripping and heart wrenching Biblical plea from Steven J. Camp (SJC) for peace and reconciliation in the matter in the combox over at his blog (posted at 19:32) the best RA could muster was to pick out one sentence, laugh at it, summarily issue the cyber-equivalent of the New York State Bird, and then dismissively walk away! Folks the cavalier, flippant and haughty attitude on display by RA herein is simply stunning.

It really is.

To be honest it was difficult for me to put into words what I felt as I typed a response to RA’s drippingly derisive comment in SJC’s meta, but as I said there it was somewhere between pity and righteous indignation. Look, I'm not taking a secondary offense for Ken Silva or SJC anyone else here. I'm simply in shock at the continuing display of indifference, defiance, and stiff-necked rebellion against God's Holy Word and the high handed snubbing of a Christ-centered God honoring appeal for reconciliation from one professed brother in the Lord (SJC) to another professing believer (RA).

Behold the bitter fruit of the Purpose Driven Paradigm!

THIS my friends is what Ken Silva's original article, "A PASTOR'S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES" was about in the first place.

THIS exact and well established pattern of un-Christ like, self justifying, fast and loose spin-doctoring by one Richard Abanes is what Ken Silva's original article, "A PASTOR'S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES" was about in the first place.

THIS bitter fruit, born from the womb of the Purpose Driven Paradigm in the person of Saddleback apologist Richard Abanes is what Ken Silva's original article, "A PASTOR'S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES" was about in the first place.

Throughout this ordeal RA has done nothing if not MAKE KEN SILVA'S CASE FOR HIM!

SJC appealed to RA in the light of scripture and admonished him to go to his brother (Ken Silva) - and I applaud him for his heart felt efforts - but to be quite frank based on RA’s open letter to SJC and his behavior throughout this dust up it isn't clear to me whether or not RA actually considers Ken Silva to be his brother in the Lord. In fact I've never actually seen RA clarify this point.

I must confess in the Lord that I'm personally appalled by RA's copious uncharitable responses thus far which, in the light of scripture, clearly originate from the flesh and are therefore worldly and carnal which things are displeasing to the LORD.

I'm particularly struck by the Biblical fact that a regenerate heart will be unfailingly demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit which is peace, love, longsuffering, etc. Certainly true, regenerate, born-again Christians can - and frequently do - fall into miserable sin or react suddenly from the "old man" in the flesh, yet this is not to be the pattern of one's life conversation as is evidently the case with Richard Abanes. To the contrary, a heart that's truly devoted above all things to the glory of Jesus Christ and which is being sanctified by the Holy Spirit from glory to glory will be found, as a pattern of life, to be obedient, submissive, teachable and humble to His instruction, rebuke, and reproach.

It truly grieves my heart to say that I have seen none of these characteristics in RA's responses here or anywhere else where this subject is under discussion. To me this is no light matter because the scriptures teach that not only individuals, but entire congregations can possess all the trappings, appearances and credentials of Christianity - being students of the scriptures and being impressively outwardly religious all while being inwardly lost and without hope (i.e. see the church of Ephesus in Revelation). To call Jesus “Lord, Lord” but then reject and disobey His commands is not evidence of belief but of unbelief. Isn’t the responsibility of a Christian to be a witness to Christ in the world as opposed to seeking to secure his perceived “rights” in the world? Isn’t it indicative of a divided loyalty (i.e. being double-minded) to find or manufacture excuses for why we don’t obey the commands of scripture? Aren’t Christians to be obedient to Christ on His terms and not our own? If we find ourselves to be in such a sorry estate do we not have good cause to question the reality of our faith?

Where is the love?

Where is the humility?

We must always be sensitive to the possibility that we're dealing with unbelievers in our midst and therefore we are commanded to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves as we lovingly correct those who do err in the faith. If through this process we win our brother, or restore one who stumbles because he is weaker in the faith then Christ is glorified, and if through this process we cast out one who scorns correction and spurns discipline then the spiritual health and purity of the church is protected and Christ is glorified. Of course the purpose of proper, Biblical discipline is always restoration, not ostracism.

Now PLEASE understand that I'm not judging RA's heart here or suggesting that he is an unbeliever - only the Lord knows his heart - but the church is called to judge behavior and how one's behavior lines up with the scriptural profile of a Christian and in my view of scripture RA's behavior thus far has been absolutely reprehensible and has brought shame to the Name of the Lord.

And so is this sorry situation to end where it began? Is this sad episode to simply fade away into the cyber-waste bin like so many other various and sundry dust ups? Is it acceptable for those of us in the Body with an acute awareness of this matter to simply "Let go and let God"?

If so, then in my mind such thinking represents a monumental abrogation of our Christian duty and an utter failure to be faithful and obedient to the Master's clear cut, objective, and eminently forthright scriptural commands.

If so, then the sad result of all the original posts, subsequent comments thread discussions, and all the other various and sundry related articles strewn around the 'net are in fact full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

If so, then we have proven to ourselves and the world that we are, in fact, all talk and no action.

I for one am not okay with this.

"Then what's next?", you might ask. "What are we to do?" I'm glad you asked, and I'll gladly tell you.

I'll tell you what I've already told you. I'll tell you that I don't believe Ken Silva could have scripted a response for RA to follow that could have done more to actually make Ken's original case for him than RA has done through his own unwitting tactics which he has literally plastered all over the blogosphere for all to see.
I’ll tell you that perhaps most amazingly to me RA seems to be completely unaware of the fact that his actions throughout this ordeal have served to vindicate and prove the case made against him by Ken Silva in his offending article "A PASTOR'S ASSESSMENT OF RICHARD ABANES".

I’ll tell you that given RA's pattern of self-justifying, stiff-necked, rebellious, and un-Christ like comportment throughout this ordeal in the light of his clear violation of Matt. 18:16-18 and 1 Cor. 6:1-8 and his ongoing defiance of Matt. 5:23-24 I am compelled to arrive at the Biblical conclusion that RA must be treated as a Gentile and a publican until he publicly repents and humbly seeks reconciliation.

And I’ll tell you that I now call on others within the Christian blogosphere to carefully examine the totality of this situation and prayerfully consider the "conversation of RA's life" and his personal conduct as it relates to this matter in the light of scripture and I exhort you to join me in calling upon RA to repent of his self-justifying and prideful resistance to loving scriptural rebuke and correction in this situation.

I realize that these are strong words. I recognize that these are strident comments. But upon examination this is the only Biblical conclusion at which I can arrive and therefore I encourage likeminded Christian bloggers to pick up this clarion call and trumpet it forth until there has been full and public repentance and reconciliation in this situation to the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ alone.

‘Til He returns or calls me home,
CD

A Call to Discernment with Justin Peters: Parts 1 - 4

2008-08-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Justin Peters dissects the heretical Word of Faith false gospel in this four part series.

PART 1

PART 2

PART 3

PART 4

Jesus Christ the Damned?

2008-08-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

Something serious seems to be happening right now with John Piper and CJ Mahaney regarding an unsettling position that they've evidently both taken on Christ's atoning work on the cross.

Steve Camp has posted a disturbing expose on this subject over at his blog in a piece entitled "THE SCREAM OF THE DAMNED...was Jesus really damned by God for our salvation?" that resulted from a pair of sermons that were delivered at the 2008 RESOLVED conference by Piper and Mahaney. Here is how Camp begins his post:

"I have listened now several times to two messages from the 2008 Resolved Conference by CJ Mahaney and John Piper. The shocking phrase they both chose to use to describe Jesus' finished work of redemption on the cross for the elect was, The Scream of the Damned. No, they are not referring to unregenerate people in hell, or the weeping and gnashing of teeth from perdition's flames, but using this to describe the sinless, holy Son of God as our divine Substitute. The Lord Jesus Christ the Righteous now called: The Damned. This is unthinkable. Those words not only stunned me, but it did stir my interest afresh to go back and study again the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross with those provocative words in mind."

I began listening to “God’s Wrath: Vengeance is Mine, I Will Repay” by John Piper tonight after carefully reading through Steve Camp's post and the comments meta and lo and behold what did I discover but that John Piper has evidently been teaching this doctrine for years!

My discovery prompted me to leave this comment in Steve's meta:

Steve,

Since I don't believe in coincidences I must believe that God's providence brought me to the following piece from John Piper dated February 27th, 2005 which is entitled "God's Wrath: 'Vengeance Is Mine, I Will Repay,' Says the Lord".

I was researching this piece because it was linked from another blog as a resource for defending the Biblical truth of the doctrine of hell over and against the myriads who despise and reject this doctrine, but I was shocked to hear Piper make the statement near the beginning of this sermon that Jesus Christ was damned on the cross.

Now you'll need to listen to the audio because the statement didn't make it into the sermon transcript, but beginning at about the 1:18 mark Piper makes the statement; "Jesus Christ perfectly righteous and perfectly damned on the cross in our place".

As I mentioned in my prior quote I'd never heard about this matter until today and suddenly I've stumbled across it twice now.

I pray that this matter will be earnestly and prayerfully resolved with all gravity.

This is no light matter my friends! Let us fervently pray that the One True and Living God and His Christ would be glorified as the details of this issue are sorted out in the light of inspired scripture.

Watchman or Gossip?

2008-07-20T20:01:00.000-07:00

[Love] “does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth” (1Corinthians 13:6)

Herescope asks some penetrating questions on the subject of Watchman or Gossip?

How do we react to the news of the fall of Christians, or to the rumor of the latest heresy that comes out of the camp of the false teachers? Do we take delight in pouncing on the latest tidbit of scandal and spreading it as wide as possible? Or do we react like David and Samuel did?

This article is a must read for those who value Biblical discernment while desiring to maintain our Christian resolve toward charity - both of which are admonished by scripture. May we who are called by the Name of the LORD be ever mindful that we are sinners saved by grace and that even God's truth can be professed without love and without balance.

Continue reading "Watchman or Gossip?" here.

Ten Effects of Believing in the Five Points of Calvinism

2008-07-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

by Dr. John Piper
(April 20, 2002)

These ten points are my personal testimony to the effects of believing in the five points of Calvinism. I have just completed teaching a seminar on this topic and was asked by the class members to post these reflections so they could have access to them. I am happy to do so. They, of course, assume the content of the course, which is available on tape from Desiring God Ministries, but I will put them here for wider use in the hope that they might stir others to search, Berean-like, to see if the Bible teaches what I call "Calvinism."

1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true God-centered worship.
I recall the time I first saw, while teaching Ephesians at Bethel College in the late '70's, the threefold statement of the goal of all God's work, namely, "to the praise of the glory of his grace" (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14).

It has led me to see that we cannot enrich God and that therefore his glory shines most brightly not when we try to meet his needs but when we are satisfied in him as the essence of our deeds. "From him and through him and to him are all things. To him the glory forever" (Romans 11:36). Worship becomes an end in itself.

It has made me feel how low and inadequate are my affections, so that the Psalms of longing come alive and make worship intense.

2. These truths help protect me from trifling with divine things.
One of the curses of our culture is banality, cuteness, cleverness. Television is the main sustainer of our addiction to superficiality and triviality.

God is swept into this. Hence the trifling with divine things.

Earnestness is not excessive in our day. It might have been once. And, yes, there are imbalances in certain people today who don't seem to be able to relax and talk about the weather.

Robertson Nicole said of Spurgeon, "Evangelism of the humorous type [we might say, church growth of the marketing type] may attract multitudes, but it lays the soul in ashes and destroys the very germs of religion. Mr. Spurgeon is often thought by those who do not know his sermons to have been a humorous preacher. As a matter of fact there was no preacher whose tone was more uniformly earnest, reverent and solemn" (Quoted in The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 57).

3. These truths make me marvel at my own salvation.
After laying out the great, God-wrought salvation in Ephesians 1, Paul prays, in the last part of that chapter, that the effect of that theology will be the enlightenment of our hearts so that we marvel at our hope, and at the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and at the power of God at work in us – that is, the power to raise the dead.

Every ground of boasting is removed. Brokenhearted joy and gratitude abound.

The piety of Jonathan Edwards begins to grow. When God has given us a taste of his own majesty and our own wickedness, then the Christian life becomes a thing very different than conventional piety. Edwards describes it beautifully when he says,

The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires: their hope is a humble hope, and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is humble, brokenhearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior (Religious Affections, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959, pp. 339f).

4. These truths make me alert to man-centered substitutes that pose as good news.
In my book, The Pleasures of God (2000), pp. 144-145, I show that in the 18th century in New England the slide from the sovereignty of God led to Arminianism and thence to universalism and thence to Unitarianism. The same thing happened in England in the 19thcentury after Spurgeon.

Iain Murray's Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), p. 454, documents the same thing: "Calvinistic convictions waned in North America. In the progress of the decline which Edwards had rightly anticipated, those Congregational churches of New England which had embraced Arminianism after the Great Awakening gradually moved into Unitarianism and universalism, led by Charles Chauncy."

You can also read in J. I. Packer's Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 160, how Richard Baxter forsook these teachings and how the following generations reaped a grim harvest in the Baxter church in Kidderminster.

These doctrines are a bulwark against man-centered teachings in many forms that gradually corrupt the church and make her weak from the inside, all the while looking strong or popular.

1 Timothy 3:15, "The church of the living God [is] the pillar and bulwark of the truth."

5. These truths make me groan over the indescribable disease of our secular, God-belittling culture.
I can hardly read the newspaper or look at a TV ad or a billboard without feeling the burden that God is missing.

When God is the main reality in the universe and is treated as a non-reality, I tremble at the wrath that is being stored up. I am able to be shocked. So many Christians are sedated with the same drug as the world. But these teachings are a great antidote.

And I pray for awakening and revival.

And I try to preach to create a people that are so God-saturated that they will show and tell God everywhere and all the time.

We exist to reassert the reality of God and the supremacy of God in all of life.

6. These truths make me confident that the work which God planned and began, he will finish – both globally and personally.
This is the point of Romans 8:28-39.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7. These truths make me see everything in the light of God's sovereign purposes – that from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever.
All of life relates to God. There's no compartment where he is not all-important and the one who gives meaning to everything. 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Seeing God's sovereign purpose worked out in Scripture, and hearing Paul say that "he accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11) makes me see the world this way.

8. These truths make me hopeful that God has the will, the right, and the power to answer prayer that people be changed.
The warrant for prayer is that God may break in and change things – including the human heart. He can turn the will around. "Hallowed be thy name" means: cause people to hallow your name. "May your word run and be glorified" means: cause hearts to be opened to the gospel.

We should take the New Covenant promises and plead with God to bring them to pass in our children and in our neighbors and among all the mission fields of the world.

"God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give him a new heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19).

"Lord, circumcise their hearts so that they love you" (Deuteronomy 30:6).

"Father, put your spirit within them and cause them to walk in Your statutes" (Ezekiel 36:27).

"Lord, grant them repentance and the knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

"Father, open their hearts so that they believe the gospel" (Acts 16:14).

9. These truths reminds me that evangelism is absolutely essential for people to come to Christ and be saved, and that there is great hope for success in leading people to faith, but that conversion is not finally dependent on me or limited by the hardness of the unbeliever.
So it gives hope to evangelism, especially in the hard places and among the hard peoples.

John 10:16, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also. They will heed my voice."

It is God's work. Throw yourself into it with abandon.

10. These truths make me sure that God will triumph in the end.
Isaiah 46:9-10, "I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand that I will accomplish all my purpose'"

Putting them altogether: God gets the glory and we get the joy.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org.
Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.

A False Gospel Leads to Damnation

2008-07-19T13:12:00.001-07:00

HAT TIP: CrossTV

The Insufficiency of the Simplicity of the Gospel…

2008-07-08T21:17:00.000-07:00

...or "When Did the Church Lose Faith in Grace?"

I've been amazed and saddened by the all out attack on the simplicity of the Eternal Gospel of Grace that's been launched over the past several days because one Ray Comfort, a well known, orthodox, and faithful bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ has accepted an invitation again (and much to the chagrin of some) to preach the foolishness of the cross at an upcoming Word of Faith conference. Ray Comfort is an evangelist who, as far as I can tell, faithfully presents the uncompromised and eternal gospel of grace whereby God is pleased to supernaturally and miraculously convert deadened, hell bound sinners into lively stones fitly joined together.

Maybe I'm just terribly dense on this matter, and perhaps a loving brother or sister in the Lord out there can help me to understand, but I’m still looking for ONE scriptural precedent wherein ministers of the gospel EVER placed preconditions or caveats upon the faithful proclamation of the eternal gospel of grace under ANY circumstances; or perhaps for ONE scriptural case wherein any believer or group of believers are exhorted in the scriptures to place certain “in advance” demands or prerequisites upon another believer prior to his ministering of the gospel. It seems to me that something this important wouldn’t have been overlooked in the Bible say, for example, when the Lord Jesus Christ gave the Great Commission. Bravo to those who are willing and able to boldly stand on the infallible Word of God and faithfully proclaim His pure and eternal gospel of grace at every opportunity and especially in the face of opposition - whatever its source - for they are being faithful to King Jesus and His Great Commission to the praise of His glory alone forever and evermore. For men to add preconditions or caveats to another man's faithful presentation of the pure gospel is simply without biblical precedent.

I’m also still a bit confused as to why some sovereign grace Christians apparently seem to believe that the Lord God Omnipotent is so powerless and thoughtless that He would miraculously regenerate His elect through the faithful proclamation of His eternal gospel of grace and then simply abandon His child to “drink spiritual poison” allowing them to languish underneath false teaching thus becoming unfaithful to His promise to finish the good work that He has begun (Philippians 1:6). Can someone help me out here? What love is this? What happened to sovereign grace?

Why has the conception of the absolutely sovereign One True and Living God of the Holy Bible become so small as to think that the power of His eternal gospel of grace needs a little help from sinful men to REALLY get the point across because, well, you know, people are REALLY deceived by Satan?

When did the church begin believing the lie that Satan’s power of deception is greater than the One True and Living God’s gospel power of salvation? Our God is God. Our God reigns. He sits in the heavens and does as He pleases (Psalm 115:3). When did the church begin ascribing God’s attributes to the enemy?

The power of the eternal gospel of grace is more than sufficient to overcome all the wiles and deceits of the enemy by God’s power alone. Have faith! May those who are called by the name of the Lord of Glory never be found standing in opposition to the faithful proclamation of His Eternal Gospel of grace!

The eternal gospel of grace faithfully presented is more than sufficient and it is in fact God’s chosen means whereby sinners are supernaturally and miraculously converted to faith in Jesus Christ by grace through faith in Him alone. God’s power to save His elect from every kingdom, tribe, tongue and nation is omnipotent and is able to save His chosen to the uttermost.

It seems to me that if one wishes to quote Jude 3 (as some have) as a proof text against those who would boldly and faithfully proclaim the eternal gospel to ANYONE, ANYWHERE then let’s please continue to read on down through verses 21-23 and then let’s be obedient to the WHOLE COUNSEL of God. The same goes for 2 Cor. 6:14-18 – I think all discerning, orthodox, Bible-believing Christians would agree the WoF cultists aren’t in the church so in its proper context this application fails the "proof text test" as well as this text is clearly referring to brothers and sisters inside the church who are living in sinful immorality and does not refer to those outside the church – even if they claim to be “true Christians” (i.e. Mormons and JW’s). Lastly 2 John 10-11 has exactly nothing to do with the situation at hand because the admonishment herein is to not receive such people into the church (and at the time of writing most likely admonished against receiving such into the house churches in a spirit of Christian hospitality and fellowship which cannot be applied to unbelievers) which is the exact reverse of faithfully going out into the world and preaching the gospel unto unsaved false believers (such as WoF cultists) with a bold and unflinching faith that God will save those whom He has elected by His sovereign grace and power alone.

It has pleased the Lord to draw His children, whom He has foreknown from the foundations of the world, by the foolishness of the preaching of the cross.

The eternal gospel is the answer to the WoF heretics.

The eternal gospel is the solution to culture.

The eternal gospel is God’s chosen means whereby sinful, wretched, hopelessly lost sinners are miraculously and supernaturally converted into lively stones fitly joined together. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes!

All the discernment in the world doesn’t matter a bit apart from the all-redeeming power of the glorious gospel of grace. Certainly the WoF’ers are ravenous wolves in sheep’s clothing and ought to be soundly and roundly rebuked by true Bible believing, blood bought Christians everywhere - HOWEVER - when in our sincerest moments we should find that we begin to place preconditions on the PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL then we find ourselves in a spiritual no-man’s land. In fact if we are ever to be found in such a sorry estate then we will also be found to be standing over and against the Great Commission of our glorious Lord and Savior. May such a thing never be named among those who believe on Him and Him alone.

Did Paul “give credence” to the unbelieving Jews when he preached the gospel from synagogue to synagogue or when he earnestly contended for the faith during his Mars Hill Discourse with the Athenian philosophers? Did his preaching there place the Athenian philosopher’s beliefs “on equal footing” with the eternal gospel?

Or what about Peter; did he “give credence” to the unbelievers to whom he preached the very first Christian sermon on the Day of Pentecost? Did his preaching there place his hearer’s false beliefs “on equal footing” with the eternal gospel?

Or how about the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; when he accepted invitations and ate with harlots, sinners, and tax collectors (without preconditions); did He “give credence” to their debauched lifestyles or did He share the good news of the kingdom of God with them? Is the Lord Jesus Christ guilty of putting their sinful lifestyles “on equal footing” with His own eternal gospel?

Again could someone please share just ONE example from scriptures where it seemed good to the Holy Spirit to refuse the proclamation of the eternal gospel of grace to sinners?

As men's souls are enlightened by God alone through the hearing of the true and faithful proclamation of the eternal gospel of grace alone then God and God alone will ensure that He finishes the good work that He has begun in His elect. This is the very foundation of the doctrines of grace - that salvation is God wrought meaning that our salvation, sanctification, and ultimate glorification is ALL OF GRACE!

It isn't up to Ray Comfort to correct the erroneous beliefs to which the WoF adherents hold - this ought to be crystal clear because according to the scriptures unregenerate sinners have no spiritual discernment! This is the work of the Holy Spirit’s power of regeneration by grace through faith which comes by the hearing of the Word of God. And how will they believe without a preacher?

What possible good could a clever oratory on spiritual discernment and the manifold heresies of the WoF heretics do for their deceived adherents who probably haven't even heard a faithful proclamation of the eternal gospel of grace and thus are dead in their trespasses and sins and spiritually blinded? NONE! God bless Ray Comfort and may the Lord grant that he present a faithful proclamation of the true gospel of the REAL Jesus Christ to those WoF'ers and let us pray that it might please the Lord to save some of His elect who are in attendance there from their present miserable estate of bondage and oppression by His Gospel power alone!

Sadly it seems that this matter with Ray Comfort began - and evidently continues - because some people seem to think that the faithful preaching and presentation of the WHOLE GOSPEL OF GRACE is in some way insufficient.

In fact this position has been articulated to me in private and it is also available for public view as you can see here in this comment: "Ray, You Have To Warn, Not Just Preach the Gospel". (You'll need to click READ MORE FEEDBACK and scroll down to read this comment in its entirety.)

...not "just" preach the gospel?!?

...not "JUST" PREACH THE GOSPEL?!?!

This is the real touch point where this whole controversy started, that somehow the gospel itself, properly and faithfully presented is INSUFFICIENT in some way which is, of course, a lie from the pit of hell. In fact it's hard for me to imagine a more man-centered and anti-christian sentiment than to say “the gospel just isn't enough”.

No, it's MORE than enough since it's the very means whereby God in His sovereign wisdom and good pleasure has been chosen to supernaturally and miraculously enable unworthy, sinful men not only get to go to have their sins forgiven, not only to get to go to heaven, not only to enjoy eternal life, not only possess the treasure of eternal joy away from the presence of sorrow and sin, but to possess the TRUE treasure of eternal joy beholding the unveiled and unspeakably majestic glory of the One True and Living God in the face of Jesus Christ forever and evermore.

To think that a faithful presentation of the pure gospel needs "just a little help"; or just a little “something more” from Ray Comfort - or any other sinful man or woman for that matter - is shockingly unscriptural and in my mind represents a pathetically low and unbiblical view of the omnipotent, omniscient, absolutely holy, just, righteous, infinite, only wise One True and Living God of the Holy Bible.

He and His gospel are more than able.

He and His gospel are more than enough.

He and His gospel are more than sufficient.

And, as any true believer would agree, His chosen method of converting sinners is the faithful presentation of His gospel of grace.

With this in mind let's join together and pray for Ray Comfort and all those who are willing to go anywhere and preach to anyone about the wondrous good news of the kingdom of God in fulfillment of Christ's Great Commission regardless of their reputations or whether or not they "get invited back again". The measure is God's glory as His eternal gospel is faithfully proclaimed, not the results or responses or opinions of wicked, fallen men and women.

In closing there is, however, at least one viable argument that could be made if one were to consider the fact that 2 Cor is a FOLLOW UP to 1 Cor in which case we can look back and see another possibility (one which I think may be in play in this whole dust up) which is that Ray’s attendance at the conference is causing his brothers and sisters who are weaker in the faith to stumble (1 Cor 10:27-28). In this case Ray’s appearance definitely is given scriptural grounds for pause, but in all other complaints that I’ve seen lodged thus far the charges are simply out of context non-sequiturs and unbiblical straw man arguments.

It would seem, therefore, that if one actually wanted to make a compelling case as to why Ray shouldn’t preach the gospel (or “appear with” or “share the platform with” or whatever) at the upcoming WoF conference then someone should write to him and tell him that they’re weak in their faith and it will cause them to stumble if he does so.

A Response to: "CONCERNING RAY COMFORT AND WORD FAITH WOLVES".

The Power of the Gospel

2008-07-06T13:18:00.000-07:00

"But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." - Exodus 7:12

This incident is an instructive emblem of the sure victory of the divine handiwork over all opposition. Whenever a divine principle is cast into the heart, though the devil may fashion a counterfeit, and produce swarms of opponents, as sure as ever God is in the work, it will swallow up all its foes. If God's grace takes possession of a man, the world's magicians may throw down all their rods; and every rod may be as cunning and poisonous as a serpent, but Aaron's rod will swallow up their rods. The sweet attractions of the cross will woo and win the man's heart, and he who lived only for this deceitful earth will have an eye for the upper spheres, and a wing to mount into celestial heights. When grace has won the day the worldling seeks the world to come. The same fact is to be observed in the life of the believer. What multitudes of foes has our faith had to meet! Our old sins - the devil threw them down before us, and they turned to serpents. What hosts of them! Ah, but the cross of Jesus destoys them all. Faith in Christ makes short work of all our sins. Then the devil has launched forth another host of serpents in the form of worldly trials, temptations, unbelief; but faith in Jesus is more than a match for them, and overcomes them all. The same absorbing principle shines in the faithful service of God! With an enthusiastic love for Jesus difficulties are surmounted, sacrifices become pleasures, sufferings are honors. But if religion is thus a consuming passion in the heart, then it follows that there are many persons who profess religion but have it not; for what they have will not bear this test. Examine yourself, my reader, on this point. Aaron's rod proved its heavengiven power. Is your religion doing so? If Christ be anything He must be everything. O rest not till love and faith in Jesus be the master passions of your soul!

This devotion was taken from "Morning and Evening" by C.H. Spurgeon

Exposing Error: Scala Santa

2008-06-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

I left the following comment over at DefCon after reading a post entitled The Idolatry of Rome - The "Scala Santa". Let's just say that the idolatry of Rome is so ubiquitous as to totally eclipse any and all claims their apologists might like to make towards their being anything even remotely akin to the historic, orthodox Christian faith. The Roman Catholic Church is a demonic caricature of the true church of Jesus Christ, the Body of Christ, the church invisible comprised of all those who have been purchased by His shed blood having received the indescribable gift of salvation by grace through faith in Christ and Christ alone - the REAL Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible, not the false christ of the RCC. Methinks the RCC is pretty much what the Mormons would look like if - by God's incredible restraint alone - their false cult were allowed to continue to evolve and metastasize for two thousand more years.

In response to the afore-linked article I wrote the following:

Abomination!
Blasphemy!!
Anathema!!!

The Romish whore and everything she stands for is fit for absolutely nothing but being cast back into the blackened pit from whence it arose.

I can scarcely imagine a more overt or perverse evil than the usurping of God’s glory of which Mystery Babylon - the fountainhead of all idolatry - is guilty of attempting with all her demonic power and cunning and shrewd deception every minute of every hour of every day! Hers is the very height and the distilled essence of Satanic hubris and wickedness for her aim is ever to exalt her throne above that of God Almighty!

But oh how low shall she be brought when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords returns to earth in great glory and power rendering judgment and justice to the powers and principalities of this fallen, sin sick and corrupted world system! In that day there will be two camps and all will be divided into the sheep and the goats, and those hell spawned rebels, the sons and daughters of Satan who have worshipped the Baals and Ashterahs of their own depraved hearts will find themselves cast into the everlasting lake of fire as the heavens rejoice: “And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” - Rev. 19:1-2.

James Sundquist Open Letter to Rick Warren and Erik Rees

2008-06-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

In my view James Sundquist correctly handled Rick Warren's recent and duplicitous offer of a poison tipped olive branch by responding with an utterly devastating open letter to the Arch-Fiend and Heretic Rick Warren and his false prophet Erik Rees exposing them for what they are: Deceivers in desperate need of repentance!

I pray that you'll take a moment to read through Sundquist's letter and review his copious and verifiable documentation which exposes the shameful and deceitful tactics of the Purpose Driven Puppet-master Warren.

DON'T BE DECEIVED ANOTHER SECOND ABOUT RICK WARREN!!! HE IS AN APOSTATE FALSE TEACHER, A WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING WITH A CROCODILE'S REPTILIAN SMILE ON HIS FACE AND A SPRING IN HIS STEP AS HE MERCILESSLY GOES ABOUT RENDING CHRIST'S LITTLE FLOCK!!!

James Sundquist statement on Rick Warrens invitation

The Value of Exposing Error

2008-06-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

"Exposing error is most unpopular work. But from every true standpoint it is worthwhile work. To our Savior, it means that He receives from us, His blood-bought ones, the loyalty that is His due. To ourselves, if we consider “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,” it ensures future reward, a thousand-fold. And to souls “caught in the snare of the fowler”-how many of them God only knows-it may mean light and life, abundant and everlasting."

- Dr. Harry A. Ironside

See also: Dr. Harry Ironside: The Value of Exposing Error

HAT TIP: Slice of Laodicea

Signs, Wonders, Heresy and Love for God

2008-06-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

By John Piper - March 26, 2008

Does God have designs for deceptive signs and wonders? Does he have purposes for heresies?

From the time of Moses to the end of history, this has been and will be an issue. Jesus promised that “false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24). These are not little tricks. They are great signs and wonders. Great. But aimed to deceive.

Paul said that “the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). “Signs and wonders of falsehood” is a literal translation to show that the falseness of the signs and wonders is not that they aren’t real miracles, but that they lie about reality. They are real miracles, and they lead away from Christ.

Similarly, to the end of the history—especially at the end of history—false teaching and heresies will dog the church. “The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4.3-4).

At the other end of history, things have been this way from the time of Moses. And it is Moses who answers our two questions: Does God have designs for deceptive signs and wonders? Does he have purposes for heresies? Here’s the key passage:

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, “Let us go after other gods,” which you have not known, “and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 13:1-3)

Notice five things:

First, Moses tells us that signs and wonders in the service of heresy really happen. They are not tricks. “If a prophet . . . gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass. . . .” They really do come to pass. It is not smoke and mirrors. These are supernatural, but not in the service of truth.

Second, some miracle workers aim to draw believers away from the true God. “If he says, ‘Let us go after other gods . . .’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet.” In other words, some heresies (“let us go after other gods”) are endorsed with miraculous signs and wonders.

Third, God has a design in these deceptive signs and wonders, and he has purposes for the heresies they support. He mentions one of these designs and purposes: “For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” When temptation happens from man, a test is happening from God. This is God’s design in the deceptive signs and heresies.

Fourth, love for God is what God is testing. “Your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Fifth, I conclude from this that the heart that loves God sees through miraculous deception. Love for God is not based mainly on miraculous power. It is based on seeing through miraculous power to true divine beauty. Therefore, love for God is a powerful protection against heresy, even when it comes with miraculous confirmation.

Understanding these five things from Deuteronomy 13:1-3 helps protect us from deceptive signs and wonders and from heresies. But understanding is not enough.Love for God is both the aim of God’s testing and the means by which his tests are passed. Understanding awakens us to our need to love him. But love for God sees through deceptive signs and wonders to the falsehood they support and flees to Christ.Love for God sees through the heresy and holds fast to him. May God deepen our love to him so that it has this kind of penetrating, protecting power.

© Desiring God

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org

Rick Warren Says “Great Spiritual Awakening” Coming

2008-06-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

In the piece linked below Pastor Ken Silva unmasks the man-centered works righteousness quantum leap which Satan's premier mouthpiece, Rick Warren, has been plotting for untold years now. As though guided by an unseen demonic hand the the devil's most useful and eager puppet, tool, and dupe Rick Warren gleefully dances to the pied piper's siren song and in the process is leading countless thousands (millions?) of unsuspecting souls astray! I encourage you to take the time to thoroughly peruse the important and well documented information supplied by Ken Silva:

Dr. Tom Nettles, Professor of Historical Theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has rightly said:

Pushing aside important [doctrinal] differences makes the church more energetic about a moralism focused on man than true piety focused on God. This in turn creates a pragmatism, and eventually a relativism, that will destroy the love of truth and with it the sense of oughtness that gives perseverance to righteous action.

This article at Apprising Ministries will help you see that this is precisely the flawed man-centered methodology that Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren is currently pontificating. The latest PD Encyclical from Warren in “Ministry Toolbox” at his Pastors.com informs us that he believes, "A great spiritual awakening is on the horizon…[and t]he first reformation focused on what the church believed; this one will focus on what it does… As the church, we’re called to be the body of Christ – the whole body. "

But I have already shown you, e.g. in Rick Warren Reversing the Reformation, that Warren—in complete contradistinction to “what the church believed” in the Protestant Reformation—includes the apostate Roman Catholic Church in “the body of Christ” of which he is speaking above. And not only does Warren include apostate Roman Catholicism but as you can see in the AM piece Rick Warren and Jesus he also includes apostate mainline denominations long ago killed by what Southern Baptist Bible scholar Dr. Walter Martin (1928-1989) called The Cult of Liberal Theology.3

HAT TIP: Christian Research Net

The Love God Hates: Parts 1, 2 & 3

2008-06-13T19:51:00.000-07:00

"The Bible is clear that God is a God of love. I doubt that anyone familiar with Christianity would argue that point. The apostle John emphasizes God's love in his epistle. For example, in 1 John 4:7-8 we read, "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." Verse 11 says, "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." And verse 16 says, "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him."

Continue reading The Love God Hates: Part 1

"First John 2:12-17 discusses the subject of love. However, it isn't the kind of love that is honoring to God; rather it is a love that He hates. The apostle John says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (v. 15). The meaning of the term "world" in this context refers to the system of evil that dominates the earth. Christians are not to love that system because it is inconsistent with their love for the Father. First John 5:19 says that the whole world lies in control of the wicked one. It conveys the picture of a nurse cradling a child. The whole world is cradled in the arms of Satan. Christians are not citizens of this world; we are citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20). Although we exist in the Satanically inspired system that dominates man's society, we are not to love it because it is corrupt (2 Pet. 1:4) and godless (1 John 2:16)."

Continue reading The Love God Hates: Part 2

"The New Testament uses the term world in different ways. Originally the term had two basic meanings: the planet, and the people. But once man rebelled against God, he forfeited his right to rule the planet God gave him to rule. In effect, man sold the title deed of the world, which fell into the control of Satan. In his short-sighted desire to be an autonomous being, man sold his birthright to the world to Satan for the knowledge of good and evil, much like Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for something to eat (Gen. 25:27-34). Adam and Eve ate of the tree, following Satan's desires. At that point, Satan gained the rulership of the world, and the term world took on a third meaning: the evil system opposed to God that now dominates this planet. The system that Satan began will continue to develop up to the time period known as the Great Tribulation."

Continue reading The Love God Hates: Part 3

Is it well with my soul?

2008-06-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Is it well with my soul? As professing Christians we’d like to think so, and certainly the false religionists would like to think so as well. The hearts of sinful men are hopelessly and incurably religious so much so that even when men think themselves to be irreligious they are still found to hold to superstitions and vain imaginings of a religious nature deep within their heart of hearts. Sinful man is also a master of self deception. This self deception causes men to hold to various forms of the one false religion of human merit and achievement which stands over and against the one true and pure religion of God’s merit and achievement in Christ which is commonly known as Biblical Christianity.

Self deception is a frightening and spiritually fatal delusion and we can see from scripture that humans are found to be under its deadly sway both individually and corporately. In Matthew 7:21-23 we find the terrifying passage wherein the Lord is rebuking a group of humans who proclaim Him as Lord, but whom He denies having ever known. Clearly the Risen Savior’s omniscience isn’t in question here so it must be understood that He is not claiming to not know who these people are, rather He’s proclaiming that He never knew them in a personal, saving covenantal relationship as their Kinsman Redeemer. What are these lost souls guilty of? What has brought eternal condemnation upon them? In its context the passage tells us that they are guilty lawbreakers; in fact they are condemned as being lawless. “But”, the professing Christian might argue, “Christians are no longer under the law, we are set free of the guilt of the law in Christ Jesus.” This is true, but this truth only applies if the person claiming Christ is an actual true, regenerate, invisible church professing Christian as opposed to a false, unregenerate, worldly, carnal, convenient, cultural, visible church professing “Christian”. The former group is obedient to the commands of Christ and the latter group is disobedient. The difference herein is literally the difference between daylight and dark and inspired scripture teaches this stark and profound truth over and over again (Luke 6:46).

Corporate self deception is just as pernicious and deadly, perhaps even more so, than individual self deception. Unregenerate sinful mankind is in a constant state of fear and denial and he has discovered that “group think” often eases the guilty, nagging conscience that his Creator placed within him which ever wags an accusing finger in his face declaring: GUILTY! GUILTY!! GUILTY!!! False religion can indeed offer temporary solace, soothing the guilty conscience of sinful man. All the various streams of the one false religion offer the same empty promises to their deceived adherents – do this or that; follow this teaching or the other; keep the rules; be “moral” and “kind”; abstain from “evil” and do “good” that you might earn favor and enter into paradise as your reward. This is, as previously mentioned, the foundational premise of every form of the one false religion of human merit and achievement. It says, in effect, you can be good enough to merit rewards in the afterlife. And isn’t it interesting that even the false religions admit the afterlife; the Creator of man has stamped eternity in man’s heart and try as he may he simply can’t escape it! Of course Christians have few qualms about the deception running rampant outside the professing church, but inside the church? Surely not! Yet the One True and Living God tells us in His Holy Word that even so-called Christian churches that claim His name can be fraught with error and filled with self deception. In Revelation 3:1 we find that Sardis is DEAD and a little further along in Revelation 3:17 we discover that Laodicea, while thinking herself to be high and lifted up was in God’s eyes wretched, miserable, blind, poor and naked! These are frightening examples of corporate self deception run amok!

So what is the Christian to do? If he can’t trust himself knowing the heart is desperately wicked above all things, and he can’t trust in church leadership since he might find himself in Sardis or Laodicea where can he turn? The simple and straightforward answer is the eminently objective and forthright Word of God, the Holy Bible in fervent prayer and all humility.

Many people read books but The Holy Bible is the only book in the world that reads you.

Many people mark their books but The Holy Bible is the only book that marks you.

True Bible believing Christians are to welcome God’s Word and be quick both to HEAR and to DO His word by faith. In fact true Bible believing Christians not only HEAR God’s Word, they RECEIVE it with all joy! True Bible believing Christians RECEIVE God’s Word by faith and they DO God’s Word by faith and the doing is the evidence of the receiving (James 1:22; John 14:23-24; John 15:14; 1 John 2:3-4). According to the Holy Bible we know that we’ve come to know Jesus Christ IF we keep His commandments! By this we can infer that if we profess to know Him and don’t keep His commandments then we make Him out to be a LIAR! This is the gross sin and damnable error of the aforementioned group we found in Matt. 7:21-23; they made Jesus Christ out to be a liar by practicing lawlessness which is against His commandment! This is no light matter. This is a matter of the utmost importance. This is a subject for deep, personal examination in the light of inspired scripture (2 Cor. 13:5).

The true, regenerate, born-again Christian will demonstrate – as a pattern of life – a radical Christ centered attitude that will reject this fallen world’s system with just as much zeal as it pursues personal holiness and purity. The true, regenerate, born-again Christian will exhibit an attitude of humble obedience to the Lord and the evidence of this humility will invariably be manifest in the DOING of His Word. In fact it can be argued from scripture that failure to DO the Word is evidence of not having RECEIVED the Word.

Let me interject something right here and now; I AM NOT ADVOCATING NOR HAVE I EVER ADVOCATED SALVATION BY WORKS! Salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and is the unmerited gift of God alone lest any man should boast. Salvation is of the Lord and Him alone. He alone seeks and saves undeserving and wretched sinners or else no one would be saved at all! The works I’m describing herein are the evidence and fruit of salvation; bearing fruit is the evidence of saving faith and it should never be thought of the other way around.

But what of the law? If Christians aren’t under the law, then why so much banter about the law, and lawlessness, and all that other stuff? What’s really going on with all these "obedience to commandments" passages and references to the law? The truth is that according to the Lord Jesus Christ not one jot nor tittle – literally the smallest pen stroke – of the law will by any means ever pass away. In fact the Lord claims that it would be easier for the world to pass away than for any portion of the Word of God to pass away. God’s Word is eternal, immutable and perfect. Everything He has declared will stand the test of eternity. God Himself created time and is outside time and stands uniquely, sovereignly, and preeminently over all things. His Word will by no means ever fail and His every utterance is an absolutely righteous and holy decree that will echo authoritatively throughout all eternity!

God’s Word speaks with an absolute authority to which all men are accountable. In the Bible the law of God is described as being “perfect”. True regenerate born again Christians are advised to diligently inspect the perfect law that we might, by God’s power alone, be conformed unto His perfect law which is for true believers the law of the liberty of Christ. In fact liberty in Christ is the perfect law (John 8:31-32) and in it is freedom from sin (John 8:34-36). He who is not found to be abiding in the Son is found to be enslaved to sin.

Friend, what is your estate today? The Holy Bible teaches us that it is possible to be self deceived about our true spiritual condition. Furthermore the Bible teaches us that it is possible for entire churches to be self deceived about the corporate spiritual health of the congregation, deacons, elders and even the pastor. Do you and your church manifest the change of heart that is evidence of a pure and undefiled religion, or is it a worthless religion of pagan idolatry? There are only two options since as we’ve demonstrated there are only really two religions. Which is your estate today? It’s so easy to underestimate the utter filthiness and wretchedness in our own lives and the gravity and seriousness of ALL of our sins and trespasses!

Are you separate from the world or are you friends with the world? Friendship with the world is enmity with God.

Do you by Christ’s power alone keep yourself unspotted from the fallen and perverse system of this sin sick and dying world or do you easily fit in?

Are you diligently on guard against the wiles and corruptions of the enemy, or do you fall in with the crowd and “go with the flow”?

Friend ask yourself if your religion is pure and undefiled because if it is not then you are likely self deceived and your religion is corrupted, worthless, empty and utterly futile and in the Lord’s eyes you are guilty of idolatry. Is it well with your soul?

A prayer: Lord teach us to be humble before you. Break us, shape us, mold us, make us oh Lord into your very image. Help us oh God to cling to the blood soaked cross of Jesus Christ and to be diligent to earnestly study, prayerfully receive and joyfully do your Word. Make us sensitive to our sin oh God! Reveal our hidden and secret sins that we might flee from them in holy terror and be found secure and at peace in Your everlasting arms of love. Amen.

Paul Washer: Declaring Truth

2008-06-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

Paul Washer addresses the psychological manipulation involved in the “altar call.”

Beloved

HAT TIP: Christian Research Network & DefCon

Creflo Dollar's "Angel Power Confe$$ion"

2008-06-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! 13 "But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High." - Isaiah 14:12-14

"And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth..." - Rev. 12:3-4

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," - Matt. 25:41

"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," - 2 Pet. 2:4.
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day," - Jude 6

"And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him," - Rev. 12:9

Not one to be outdone by the competition for filthy lucre from Todd Bentley and his ilk in the "Next Big God Thing" Lying Signs and Wonders Movement Creflo Dollar has ratcheted up his occult rhetoric by claiming that he too has the power to command angels! One can't help but realize that the occultist claims this exact same ability, but even the occultist is frequently honest enough to admit that his "angels" so-called are actually fallen and demonic beings instead of blasphemously pretending to have the ability manipulate and command God's holy and elect angels (1 Tim. 5:21)! This my friends is a testimony to the longsuffering and patience of the One True and Living God of the Holy Bible that He doesn't instantly consume and utterly destroy sinful men who publicly make such painfully wicked claims!

I'm constantly amazed by the games of spiritual one upsmanship that these spiritual hucksters play against one another and upon their meal tickets; their deceived itching ears adherents; fools who evidently simply can't be parted with their money fast enough just so long as they're told that they're "sowing a seed" so that they can "reap a harvest" of mammon - the master whom they truly serve.

There's a reason that inspired scripture teaches about men being driven about by every wind of doctrine because that's precisely what happens when sinful man chases after the lust of the flesh and the eyes, reveling in the pride of life; all while portraying a false humility which is utterly loathsome and repulsive to the One True and Living God who prefers obedience to sacrifice. The doctrines of demons buffet and drive these rudderless vessels that aren't stayed and anchored securely upon the Rock of Christ Jesus. These blind followers of the blind are driven, manipulated, bilked, duped, and destroyed in pursuit of earthly pleasures under the guise of "health, wealth, and prosperity" - so called. Of course the common retort is "Hey it works!" (to which I reply so does witchcraft), or "Touch not God's anointed" (to which I reply these false prophets should be thankful they're not living under the OT or else they'd be publicly thrown down and stoned), or "Abraham, David and Solomon were rich so if you don't want to claim your blessing that's fine, but I'm going to get mine!", (to which I'd reply, uh, yeah, so what does the Old Covenant have to do with the New Covenant in Christ? Nothing!) or perhaps my personal favorite self-righteous justification for chasing after the things of this fallen and corrupted world system, "You need money to be a blessing to others so the more money you have the more of a blessing you can be!". It's here that I usually simply point to Jesus Christ who had no place to lay His head and His apostles who (with the exception of the son of perdition and the beloved apostle John) were all martyred at the hands of the fallen world system the WoF'ers are busily chasing after; but then the WoF apologists will simply lie and say something asinine like "Jesus was so rich that He needed a treasurer!" Clearly some hearts are very, very hardened to the truth of the Eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ.

With this in mind P.J. Miller has an interesting piece on Creflo Dollar and "his" angels over at Sola Dei Gloria:

"It looks like angel invoking isn’t isolated to Todd Bentley alone. Creflo Dollar seems to think angels are slaves who are under service to us. Since when do we command angels to do such things as bring us wealth? Angels are God’s messengers, and operate under that authority. Yet, Dollar would have us believe that we can command them at will to bring us such vulgar things as earthly riches…filthy lucre…mammon.

Didn’t Jesus tell us not to strive for the bread that corrupts, but to strive for the bread that will not corrupt? Didn’t He tell us not to lay up for ourselves treasure upon the earth where moth and rust corrupts?"

Continue reading here.

Notable Quotes

2008-05-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

“The king also himself passed over the brook of Kidron.” - 2 Samuel 15:23

David passed that gloomy brook when flying with his mourning company from his traitor son. The man after God's own heart was not exempt from trouble, nay, his life was full of it. He was both the Lord's Anointed, and the Lord's Afflicted. Why then should we expect to escape? At sorrow's gates the noblest of our race have waited with ashes on their heads, wherefore then should we complain as though some strange thing had happened to us?

The KING of kings himself was not favored with a more cheerful or royal road. He passed over the filthy ditch of Kidron, through which the filth of Jerusalem flowed. God had one Son without sin, but not a single child without the rod. It is a great joy to believe that Jesus has been tempted in all points as we are. What is our Kidron this morning? Is it a faithless friend, a sad bereavement, a slanderous reproach, a dark foreboding? The King has passed over all these. Is it bodily pain, poverty, persecution, or contempt? Over each of these Kidrons the King has gone before us. "In all our afflictions He was afflicted." The idea of strangeness in our trials must be banished at once and forever, for He who is the Head of all saints, knows by experience the grief which we think so peculiar. All the citizens of Zion must be free of the Honorable Company of Mourners, of which the Prince Immanuel is Head and Captain.

Notwithstanding the abasement of David, he yet returned in triumph to his city, and David's Lord arose victorious from the grave; let us then be of good courage, for we also shall win the day. We shall yet with joy draw water out of the wells of salvation, though now for a season we have to pass by the noxious streams of sin and sorrow. Courage, soldiers of the Cross, the King himself triumphed after going over Kidron, and so shall you.

This devotional was taken from “Morning and Evening" by C.H. Spurgeon.