The Reformed Evangelist

2012 Plans for study

2012-01-23T01:18:00.000-08:00

Study is work, treat it honorably

This year many of your have decided to settle in and gain a greater knowledge of the things of God. I wanted to offer some helpful hints that help me in the evenings when I settle in to begin reading or study of Languages, Theology or Apologetics. It takes dedication and a vision for prolonged self-education. For those of you who need some encouragement I have some to offer.

God cares that we study, he loves us and hovers over us. Some of us know God see's all, but in some sense its always negative, where God knows your sin, my sin, our thoughts and temptations. But God knows too that we sit down to read his precious word, to pray and seek him and to avail ourselves in opening the pages of sacred books to read men and women who God has gifted to minister to the body of Christ. I believe God is pleased by such study, I believe God is pleased in the sacrifice of time, expense and the effort to discipline ourselves to shut out the entertainment-minded culture and immerse ourselves in Godly thinking.
I believe God will reward his disciples with understanding, wisdom, education and insight that the Spirit of God will draw upon at a later time in order to glorify Christ with Godly speaking, praying, witnessing, evangelism, apologetics, compassion and obedience. The human mind is made to glorify God in knowing and loving. Lets be about our Father's business and do it with peace, knowing the Spirit of God will empower us to accomplish his will in our lives.

Here are some bullet points that help me.

· Pray often, pray in the morning, spend time getting away at your prayer site and seek God to worship him, love him and let him speak to you.

· Be at peace with yourself, guard yourself from sins that will distract you, get your mind in a state of concern for what is eternal and what is important to Jesus Christ.

· Be disciplined, mix your studies, and don’t overdo Greek or Latin at the expense of bible reading or reading theological works without getting in your language exercises. Scripture is priority over all other readings.

· Believe that God loves your diligence, your study and your effort to gain understanding of him and his word. It is highly honorable what you’re doing, therefore accept this honor with care to hold on to it with diligence; do not let your sacrifice become trivial or second class.

· Focus on the goal at hand, which is the salvation of the lost. Make your studies a sacrifice and service to the body of Christ in which you are training in order to training, learning in order to teach, hearing in order to speak, and loving in order to show compassion.

· God is glorified in your dependence. Depend upon God to lead you through your studies, reveal to you what he wants you to be and then do in time.

· Do not procrastinate, it causes you uneasiness in your spirit and it leads you away from diligence, not for lack of doing, but robs your heart of willingness because it steals your hope of change.

· Be practical, dress comfortably, don’t allow yourself that fire-fighter mentality where you are always ready to jump up and leave the house. Have a drink of tea or wine with you, settle in and make this time a time with you and God together.

Your investment in scripture study as well as language, theology, apologetics or maybe something altogether different will yield its fruit in time.

Enjoy yourself and enjoy God's provision whereby you can grow in Christ.

The Motive of God in Salvation

2012-01-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

The Motive of God.

EZEKIEL 36:16-32

Eze 36:22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

Eze 36:23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

In preaching the gospel to the Filipinos, the question is asked, “how do you contextualize the gospel to them, seeing they are not of the same culture, nor do they have the same understandings of religion, ethics, and morals that Americans have”?
The answer is simple, I proclaim the universal truth about all men, That all men are sinners, that all men attempt to appease their conscience by means of religious works and in doing so they are dead in sins and trespasses against God because they have not glorified Him.

· In order to bring the gospel message that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, they must believe they are sinners that need saving.

In Romans 3 Paul says…
Paul said that the man who sins thinking he can do evil that good may come deserves condemnation. But the sinner who sins for his own pleasure is no better off.

Rom 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,

Rom 3:10 as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;

Rom 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.

Rom 3:12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

Rom 3:13 "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."

Rom 3:14 "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."

Rom 3:15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood;

Rom 3:16 in their paths are ruin and misery,

Rom 3:17 and the way of peace they have not known.",

Rom 3:18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Rom 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

The problem with Filipinos and Americans are that they are very religious. He has worshipped many kinds of gods, attended in some cases different kinds of churches, served religious traditions, sacrificed, money, effort, time, food, wages, children, and wives, all for the sake of appeasing the conscience that is fearful that their gods are not pleased, nor have they kept their own code of morals or religious instructions. They have failed in all these attempts as well.

A) They have sinned against the Creator God

B) They have sinful consciences because they fail their own indigenous religions.

· The job of the Evangelist is to present to them their own sinful character, their own sins, their own deceptions that keep them in bondage to falsehoods and therefore ever-increasing sinful lives. In short, I come to proclaim to them the complete failure of religious work-systems and self-approval religious systems. I come to proclaim God is judge, God alone is Holy and He vindicates His holiness with Salvation.

· I am preaching against sins that religious people do not consider sins which are religious pride, selfishness, humanism.

This is not a joking, story telling time of sharing a few anecdotes about Christianity, this is a time where they are literally being told that God has come to remove from them all that they have formerly believed about themselves, because they cannot save themselves. If God is going to save them, He will do so without their help. He refuses to admit into heaven the Christian or the heathen that is on a religious self-saving career.
It must be understood that the American is no different. There are multitudes of ways to enlist in self-saving religious activities; every one of these ways is false, it’s a lie and the followers of these religious activities are dead even while they live.
There is no fundamental difference between the Filipino, the African, Japanese, Thai, American, European sinner.

· The question is then asked “But this doesn’t sound like good news, it sounds like horrible news, as bad as it gets. Youre telling them they are all under wrath and that they are doomed”?

The answer is Yes,
The sinful heart of man is a chameleon, it will form many shapes and colors to blend itself into what will benefit the carnal nature but still stay alienated from God. Israel was happy to serve Baal and God both. God forthwith cast them out.
This same judgment will occur to any congregation that combines the worship of false gods, self-saving religious hearts and religious activities that are formed to earn a good standing in their own estimation of God’s good graces. The sinful heart of man is predisposed to continually look for ways to earn from God what will only be given by free unmerited grace.

· The Sinner must know that God refuses all human effort in outward actions by good works or morality so that the sinner thinks he has a part to play in being reconciled to God.

· The Evangelist must depend upon the Spirit of God to bring conviction of sin, righteousness and judgment. He must depend upon the Spirit to regenerate the spirit of man and create a new creation in Christ.

· The Evangelist must put his full dependence upon the grace and mercy of God to be poured out upon the people to whom he was sent.

· Insofar as you find Churches that are full of followers who serve God based on a works-earn-salvation system, you can rest assured they do not have the gospel preached to them. They are listening to lies.

The confident expectation of the gospel.
God has called an Elect people to himself, he has chosen them in Christ Eph 1:4 before the foundation of the World. God determined to save a numberless multitude of people by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ his own Son. Satisfaction has been made to God in order that the Law of God would be honored, God vindicated himself in demanding such a high and holy standard for men; finally in due time
God’s righteousness to forgive sinners and birth them into God’s own kingdom could be proclaimed through-out the whole world.
TEXTS THAT INITIATE FAITH.

A) 1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

1Co 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,

1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1Co 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

B) 1Co 1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

1Co 1:27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

1Co 1:28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,

1Co 1:29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1Co 1:30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

1Co 1:31 Therefore, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Important points What the World despises, God chose.

God chose 4 different times to express to the Christian their weakness is the way in which God will obtain glory.

Their foolishness-God shames the wise for his glory
Their weakness-God shames the strong for his glory
Their lowliness and despised condition-God brings down the proud for his glory.
Their nothingness-God will bring to nothing what is supposedly something in our eyes to his glory. God is the source of our Life in Christ.

· Because of this Atoning work of Christ, the Evangelist can look forward to God answering him in validating the gospel message by regenerating the human heart and turning men towards God in faith and repentance.

· Jesus Christ died and was raised again to purchase a people for himself, God has sent us with the gospel message to harvest like wheat the many peoples whom God has determined to save.

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

Eph 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

Eph 1:6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

God chose a people for Himself “IN Christ” before the foundation of the world….God has a people that will hear the Evangelist.
God has chosen what He will make of this people, a Holy People, a blameless people.

God has predestined this same people to be adopted through Christ….according to the purpose of His Will.
This Sovereign declaration of God is the foundation upon which effective evangelism is performed.
Salvation declared in Election, promised in Gods faithfulness, secured by Gods indwelling Spirit creates the operative faith for the evangelist to faithfully proclaim the message, entreat his hearers, lay down his life in love to God and men without fear of failure.
Evangelism is a Theological construct, not an institutional construct. Evangelism is done where ever the message of the gospel is proclaimed, the street, home, diner, church or special meeting. But Evangelism is seen in scripture as a proclamation of the gospel of Christ and not consisting of special songs, meetings, miracle prayers and an altar call of financial giving.
Therefore the gospel message will accomplish what God has designed it to do, it will save those who come to God by it. The American sinner is just the same. God has determined to save many from this people and culture that we live in and we must be diligent to proclaim that same gospel, that same testimony of God that mans heart is wicked and must be removed by God and he must receive a new heart and a new spirit.
Paul calls the preaching of the gospel the preaching of the Cross. Many men claim to be preaching the cross of Christ, but they do not reveal the purpose of the cross is bound together with preaching about the sinful condition of men. Their treatment of the subject of sin within men and the holiness of God is so poor a great disconnection is made between Christ crucified and sinful mans condition that required Christ be crucified upon that cross.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Isa chapt 53

Isa 53:2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.

Isa 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

This is sinful mans attitude towards the Son of God. He was despised by sinful men because they couldn’t recognize God at all. His death was due to mans inability to distinguish God, to believe God and to accept God’s way of living.

Isa 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.

Isa 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

God revealed Himself through His Son. But more than send His Son, God sent His Son to a cross to reconcile Him to sinful men; Jesus Christ bore our punishment, He was made a sin sacrifice for us. God crushed His own Son in order to bring us peace.

Isa 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Isa 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?

Isa 53:9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Jesus Christ was put to death. Not by the artifice of skillful tormentors, not by the false claims of Jewish leaders, but by the determinate plan of God. It is God’s plan to redeem men, it was men’s plan to kill the redeemer. Mans greatest sin of murdering the Son of God was used by God to put to death the power of sin and justify God to acquit the guilty who were under the penalty of sin.

Isa 53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Isa 53:11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Isa 53:12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Gods will was the crushing of His own Son, putting Him to grief, yet out of that intense grief Jesus Christ saw the spoil, He was joyful to obtain the salvation of transgressors by being numbered with the transgressors. His joy is the redeemed sinner, His joy was the reconciliation of man with God. His enemies will now become his devoted followers, his crucifiers will become like himself, dying to self and living unto God for the sake of others.

So How do I preach to the other Nations?

1. By proclamation of the truth about themselves, by proclaiming the truth about Gods holiness and his absolute refusal to admit sinful men into relationship with Himself without first applying the blood of His Son to their sins and reconciling them to himself.

2. By proclaiming that God justifies a man through faith in Jesus Christ.

3. By proclaiming that God gifts sinful men with righteousness, pure holy perfect righteousness that is Christ’s righteousness.

4. By proclaiming that Jesus Christ has purchased with his own blood everything that is necessary to secure a mans relationship with God.

5. By proclaiming that God births a man into His kingdom and thereby slays the enmity within man and fills that same man with the Holy Spirit of God so that he is now able to cry out to God Abba-Father.

THE MOTIVE OF GOD

1. Is the revelation of Jesus Christ as the final goal and great reward of those whom he saves. Eze 44:28 And it shall be unto them for an inheritance: I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in

Israel

: I am their possession.

2. The revelation that God shows His glory in saving those who cannot save themselves because of the power of sin has mastered their will and holds them in bondage to darkness. In love Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ,

3. The revelation that holiness unto God is for fellowship and unbroken abiding love and joy, experienced daily in the believers life. Heb 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Heb 10:15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,

Heb 10:16 "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,"

Heb 10:17 then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more."

4. The revelation that God had determined to live with men forever in everlasting love.

Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

Rev 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

The Evangelist proclaims the necessity of New Birth, the call to repentance, the gift of righteousness to those who believe. Those who believe by the working of Gods mighty power will obtain all that God has prepared for them in heaven.

Book Review: CHRISTLESS CHRISTIANITY by Michael Horton

2012-01-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

Christless Christianity

Author Michael Horton PhD.
Publisher Baker Books 270 pgs

I really enjoy the writings of Michael Horton. I'm in the middle or reading his Christian Faith single volume systematic theology. I find it full of great insights and solid theology. I found this book Christless Christianity to be enjoyable and maddening at the same time. I agree with much of what Dr. Horton says and at other times I am wondering if he was in a hurry or needed to just push through the topic, I don't know, but in some cases it read like a garbled message. What I mean by that is when Dr. Horton was finished with a tremendous explanation for the 'therapeutic deism' that he finds in evangelical circles, I cant tell if its a problem with the Church or maybe the lost, or maybe its just a watchmen giving alert to UN-seen but oncoming enemies? This and several other instances in Chapters Your own personal Jesus and Delivering Christ left me wondering why no balance. I didn't understand why Michael didn't pull back with those broad-brush statements to exclude teachers preaching error because they were in error and those who preached error because they were markedly not true sheep let alone true ministers of the gospel? I kept waiting for the balancing corrective to appear that biblically deals with the individual salvation of people. Dr. Horton doesn't subscribe to corporate election where the believers are elect simply because the Church is elect and thereby share the same title. No, according to Dr. Horton individuals are elected and called and regenerated, then converted and justified....as the Ordo Salutus states. Why then tear down the individuals relationship to God through Christ as if it doesn't appear in scripture or as if its a manufacture of errant doctrine? Its one thing to 'make a Jesus of my own' and another to imply that individual Christians should not relate to God on an individual level. I don't get it. Maybe I missed what Dr. Horton was saying and Ill be happy to hear a corrective if my conclusion is wrong.

I Thought Dr. Horton's teaching about the Legalism-lite errors of Joel Osteen to be spot on. I think that his evaluation of Joel's books and preaching to be very close to my own. I especially liked his sniffing out the Gnosticism that appears from time to time in evangelical circles. I appreciated that confirmation of my own 'sniffer' that has detected Gnostic influence under the well-meaning messages of teachers that I've listened to over the years.

In his chapter Turning good news into good advice, Dr. Horton very eloquently laid out how the gospel is back-staged for legalism lite to take center stage and turn the whole meeting into a self-improvement lesson.
Jesus becomes a therapist instead of redeemer, a coach instead of Lord, an adviser instead of the Word of life. I wanted to shout Amen Amen to such good insights about the travesty of taking Jesus and demoting him before the eyes of the people and promoting human effort to effect transformation. What a shame and what a disgrace, but its out there and Dr. Horton as a faithful watchman see's it clearly and has sounded a clear alarm.

Overall the book is a great eye-opener to the current 'spiritual attacks' that the Church is facing. Dr. Horton is not squeemish about confronting the dangers facing pastors and congregation that are 'turning off their spiritual radar' and compromising with pragmatism in its various 'seeker sensitive' forms.
My Christian readers, you cannot read this book without watching out for Dr. Horton's overstating his case, or maybe another way of looking at it would be his un-willingness to sort through the 'Katrina' of Gnostic and moralism errors and guide the sheep while gospeling the lost. He seems to make no differentiation, or at least I wish he made some kind of caveat instead of folding in the lost and saved into the same lump. The leaven if I can state it that way is leaving the reader to broad-brush in the same manner. I think Dr. Horton can do better. I got the feeling along the way that Dr. Horton 'makes the whole world Presbyterian by instituting Presbyterian policies'. But the Body of Christ is not Presbyterian, his narrowness shows up as a kind of bias feeling toward those outside of his camp.

I recommend the book, and I believe it will offer the discerning reader a great deal of information on how to spot the 'counter-biblical' influences upon the message and the ministers of Christ.
Though I disagree strongly with some of Dr. Horton's statements and I dislike even more what I believe will cause addition im-balance to un-learned readers; I take great pleasure in reading and evaluating book such as this one. I am greatly blessed and edified by its existence and even more-so that God see's fit to give me understanding of spiritual truth.

D 3
P 3

Summa Contra Saeculum Mundum

2011-10-18T23:10:00.001-07:00

I agree with RC Sproul when he said that we don't need another Summa Theologica (contra gentiles), we need a work against the secularism that has stepped in to fill the void left by the Christians. Now its unfortunate that I have to say that but it appears that is exactly the case.

Due to Dispensationism or Rapture teaching or wrong teachings on the Christians role in his community or maybe misguided attempts at sanctifying government through electing born-again leaders, Im not sure, but this and alot more from earlier decades has left a void in the political landscape. Now, the Christian has little voice in public matters and when we do speak up its handled like its an 'inconvenient truth' that religious people can speak on matters that affect them too.
The Spirit behind it all is what I call "Secularism" which is an ideology that proposes solutions to the needs of people by vacuuming out anything that requires faith, belief in God, dependence upon Divine providence or trust in scriptural decrees. To fill the void it injects humanism, naturalism, the current trendy philosophy of the day admixed with a contempt for anyone that would question the concoction. So, I know that the human heart that is devoid of the Spirit can only offer these things and I know that when I read of the leading scientists claiming this or the Dr. So-and-so prescribing that, I don't need to get myself uptight because it has happened.

I think that maybe you're alot like me, its not that you don't expect the ungodly to offer solutions that openly reject biblical truth; its the fact that when all is said and done the ramifications of their solutions will damage more people and they will make the problem worse if not fatal in all cases. Its only when God providentially intervenes to steer the hearts of these leaders toward some kind of goodness that any real beneficial effect is obtained.

To me, its all too clear that when the Christians of decades past determined to abandon the political arena, the university teaching podium the scientist post, the editor at the newspaper and more that the Christian worldview was abandoned with it. The influence of Christian morals, Christian spiritual thinking, Christian truths, Christian ethics, Christian attitude were all flushed down the proverbial toilet. I remember the call to revival, the prayers and the necessity for long hours interceding for America, long prayers for leaders, pastors and congregants to be helped by God with the election of 'hero's of the faith that would lead America out of its dismal economic, criminal, greedy self into a welcoming open-armed Church just waiting to pray sinners-prayers with them. Well, as of now, that didn't get answered like we thought.

In different countries or different governments it may not be possible for the common citizen to affect the outcome of their community by means of political activism, or entering a career that has no hope of speaking because that voice has been silenced by laws. But this government and this country is not like that yet, this country is not without opportunity or hope that many of our young people can enter fields that were abandoned by Christians of the past because they were considered "secular" and therefore were untouchable by the Christian lest he become corrupt and unclean by it.

This is just one little way that the Christian can affect positively the course of this country. This positive apologetic, one that lives, breathes and can be touched by the hands of others aught to be considered by some of you. The negative apologetic which I have been investing in now for years has its good and valuable characteristics which I believe God can and will use to edify Christians and offer the world a reason for the faith we cling to....even unto death. But negative apologetic is defensive and it cannot really be made positive and offensive (a first-strike) without the declaration and promotion of gospel truth. Without the aid of those in fields of service that are not enclosed in seminaries or chapel walls the Christian cannot positively offer the gospel and cannot offer a "positive apologetic" that contains the plans for a future and a hope simultaneously for the Church and for the nation. I say those outside the wall of the Chapel, because its in the court room, the board room, the kitchen, the senate floor, the oval office that needs to hear the "Christian hope" that God does have plans for sinful nations that don't demand fire and brimstone. Lets recognize that kind of judgment will be the default for rejecting truth and light, but lets not go down without a fight of faith, a passionate plea from within the university halls and within the governmental offices that there another way to approach the problems we face....and it excludes the secularism that demands God be omitted. Its a fight to speak and declare God has rational thinking without rationalism, he has evidence without demanding empiricism, he has
philosophy without giving place to debunked myths.

The scripture has salt in it to preserve the sinful nations that are sprinkled with it. We are salt, we are light, let us preserve, let us shine, let us declare that God is not the irrational crutch of unenlightened citizens, He is the one who can and will offer a way of escape from the bondage's and corruptions that we as a nation have made for ourselves. We have forged our own chains and we have made our plow-shears into prison bars. We didn't realize it was God that was going to throw us into that prison and connect us to those chains so that we might recognize our pride and arrogance. The Church is relevant and so relevant that it cannot be overstated. Without the Christian politician, businessman, CEO, professor, teacher, principle, sheriff I believe it will be a long time coming before any lasting changes are made. I hope that God raises up his people to take America toward freedom and loose us from oppression in all its various forms. My prayer is that God will not just raise up another Jonathan Edwards, but 10.000 with the same zeal for God where they influence their generation outside the walls of the seminary or the chapel.

May God make it so.

Sundry thoughts on Evolution and science

2011-09-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months I have been doing a lot of reading in the apologetic s area. My Christian faith is grounded in the word of God and because of that, I am free to investigate many areas that are attacked by non-Christian thinkers. One of those hot-beds has been the Genesis account. Genesis chapters 1-11 seem to be the front lines in terms of where the enemy of our faith seeks to undermine the validity of scripture testimony and scripture itself indirectly.

After reading Total Truth by Nancy Pearcy, Creation is six days by James B. Jordan and now reading
Creation and change by Douglas F. Kelly. Its easy to see that our evolutionist adversaries on both sides of the fence (saved and unsaved) must constantly reach into the bank-book of faith to hold to their beliefs.

I've had many a conversation over the internet with various atheist and Christian proponents of evolution. Each of these conversations usually runs a-foul when their boats cannot navigate the channels of their own under-lying philosophies. Meaning that these proponents usually don't see that their own scientific claims are not resting upon the empirical evidence they claim supports their theories. Instead it rests much more steadily upon the Philosophical naturalism that drives their claims. When the Christians (self professed) try to validate evolution and offer exegesis from Genesis 1 that the earth itself is the creating agent for plants and animals, I realize that I am not dealing with people who are proponents of truth, but instead are proponents of a deception that fits Deism into their evolutionary assertions. It appears they are so invested in removing the creative acts of God within the time-frame of 6 days that any theory, any assertion or any interpretation of scripture that mangles YEC in favor of Old Earth belief is to be preferred.

As I read Douglas Kelly's book, I find so much to laugh at, many of the scientific assertions are just so much extrapolation and guess work, you must dig deep into the check book of faith to write out large leaps of blind faith to hold such views. But, the adversaries would never word it as I do. These crafty unbelievers pile loads of science jargon on top of everything they assert so that in the end one must wade through many chapters and paragraphs of tedium to get to the conclusions that read like a bet at the horse races.

Look at this for a laugh. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15006647
Now the science community wants to back out of that asteroid claim, well, make sure to back out of the myriads of text books, colleges and high schools too. Should I ask for an apology for the travesty of poor and ignoramus speculation under the guise of 'science'? No, I wont bother asking.

Please allow me a caveat. I love science and Ive been an armchair science buff every since I was 6. I do not quarrel with men who investigate, observe and experiment in order to understand the creation of God and all of God's wonders in nature. What I do quarrel with is those who pretend to offer science as a way to get rid of God. Namely those Darwinists and God-hating atheists that believe man has the answers for the ills of the world. More than that, those of us Christians who offer Christ and the Scriptures as the answer are spit upon intellectually and pushed back into the closet's of "feeling", "preference", "myth", "values", "ethics" etc etc These Darwinists and atheists pretend to offer "facts" when in fact they offer the blind faith of their own presumptions, then they use science as their validation.

Next time you hear from some evolutionist or Darwinist on how the earth and matter are eternal and that all life just "began" from this eternal matter, ask them to stop plagerizing Plato. Plato offered this philosophy approx 2300 years ago, what they are giving you is regurgitated Platonic philosophy modernized with 21st century terminologies.. The devil is just reusing the old ploy he used in times past to remove God from his creation. The difference of course is Plato was more honest about it, these pretenders to fact wont even concede their eternal matter theory is not even their own.

Please comment if you like.

A CAT AND DOG THEOLOGY

2011-08-15T14:36:00.000-07:00

Cat and Dog theology. Its a clever analogy to understand the difference between human importance and God glorifying lives. Ive not listened to all the various takes on this cute analogy, but this part is worth a listen and worth thinking about in relation to how we approach God and the bible. Pastor Bob Sjogrens has a Cat and Dog series that takes you through the dangers of Cat theology and the more God-glorifying Dog theology. It starts with who is the main character of the bible? That answer will determine alot about your Christian life.

BOOK REVIEW ERASING HELL: What God said about eternity and the things we've made up

2011-08-15T02:02:00.000-07:00

ERASING HELL: what God said about eternity and the things we've made up
Francis Chan, Preston Spinkle
David C Cook publishers.
192 pgs

I was hoping it was going to be a biblical and helpful volume that serves as a corrective to
Rob Bell's book Love Wins.
Well, it exceeded my expectations. Francis dealt with universalism, the Duration of Hell, the expressions of torment in Hell and the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles about Hell.

Chan is very open about his repulsion from teaching and believing hell exists, nevertheless he was faithful to scripture and declared in his book what can be known and understood in scripture. Chan directly challenged Bell's exegesis, interpretations, philosophy and the basic presupposition that "God cant be glorified in the damnation of sinners". He laid out a simple explanation derived from Romans 9 that served to remind us that "who are we to reply against God"? Francis intermixes his casual observations of humanity on the verge of Judgment and the declarations of scripture that decree fearful and horrific wrath is truly awaiting the unrepentant sinner. Francis battles the ambiguities of life seeing the laughing, loving and friendly sinners living their lives alienated from God and the stark reality that he may very well be seeing these same people entering an endless duration of punishment for their sins. We all wrestle with this.
The book was a quick read (about 200 pages) and you can do it in about 4 hrs. Francis has a light conversational style of writing that engages you as if you're sitting down drinking a latte with him.

Preston is said to have done the research for this book, well, I think Preston Sprinkle did a good job and guided Francis forward toward a modern and biblical treatment of the subject of Hell. Plenty of notes back to the greek language. Francis's sources were given for future study and the whole book was handled scholarly. You won't go into convulsions as I did when reading Rob Bell's handling of the greek and hebrew.

The book is not quite what his short 7 min video depicted. He spoke as if Francis Chan was going to look at hell as if he was a Tabula Rasa (clean slate).But instead what we really got was an apologist confrontation of the subject with correctives given against Universalism and dismissing hell altogether. I label this book an Apologists work and not a journal from the mindset of a Robinson Caruso landing upon something entirely new.

At the end of the book are numerous FAQ about hell. He answers them in a way so as to keep the book from becoming a large theological volume which would cut out about 99% of his readers.

Francis Chan's humility, self-evaluation, willingness to submit to change, desire to please God comes through with his many transparent confessions of human weakness/sinfulness. This flavors the whole book and adds a gentleness with a reverence toward God. Francis speaks about hell as if he really believes it exists and that many people are going there. He frequently warns his readers to not treat the subject as if its just an abstract theological argument. Francis loves people to much to trivialize such an eternal destination.

If you wanted to point a new convert to a fair handling of the Doctrine of Eternal punishment, Chan's book would be a great start.

I highly recommend the book and I found that Francis Chan is faithful to scripture.

D4
P3

HOLINESS BY WAYNE WATSON

2011-07-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

An old but beautiful song that is my hearts prayer for myself and my brothers in Christ.

Holiness from John Caccomo on Vimeo.

Francis Chan Erasing Hell

2011-05-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

THIS BOOK HAS BEEN REVIEWED, Please just hit the 'home' tab and it will come up.
I will be very interested in reading Francis's book when it comes out. Im hoping that Francis offers a biblical corrective to Rob Bell's universalism heresy. If Francis stays on track and brings a modern and biblical explanation of the Doctrine of Eternal Punishment the body of Christ will benefit from it.
As I view the short video it appears that Francis Chan is going to address Rob's book in his own style
and in his own way. May God be glorified from this work. May the Church be strengthened by Chan's ministry.

JUDGMENT TO COME IS STILL COMING

2011-05-24T15:54:00.000-07:00

Its been a difficult few days for Harold Camping and the Family Radio ministry. His claims of judgment and the rapture to occur on May 21st failed...as well it should. Let this be a reminder to all those prophecy buffs out there that cannot take the simple words of Jesus to mean exactly what they do mean. "No man knows the day or the hour.." Matt 24:36.

Its a shame that so many have another reason to mock and criticize the Church, but with absurd prophetic declarations like Camping's the public becomes hardened to the warning. So many mockers of Christ and Christianity are on par with Harold Camping. Camping foolishly and against biblical injunction set a date for the return of Christ and God's judgment. Now, another one is set for October 21st 2011. But the unbelievers also foolishly and against biblical injunction believe that this failed date-setting means that judgment didnt come and that it will never come. Camping's delusion is no greater than the unregenerate that tell themselves God will not judge the world in righteousness.
Camping was dead wrong in setting a date. Camping is dead right that judgment will come. The unbelievers are dead right that Camping was wrong and he cannot be trusted. The unbelievers are dead wrong in thinking that because Camping was wrong on the date that Camping was also wrong about the final judgment to come.
Those of us with sound theology and sound wisdom from God, let us preach the gospel, believe God to save and use this paradox in foolishness to warn the sinners that judgment will come and Christ will return to judge the world in righteousness.

FIGHT CLUBS by Jonathan Dodson

2011-05-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

FIGHT CLUBS
by
Jonathan Dodson
Publisher Resurgence

This short book is for those men who are looking for small group interaction with other Christian men.
This book will weed out the fakes pretty quickly.
Jonathan Dodson goes straight to the heart of the matter. In his book he counters what he considers legalistic on one end or license on the other end kind of accountability. His premise is that it is only the gospel that changes hearts and lives by focusing them upon Jesus Christ. He even goes so far as to promote a Jesus focus rather than an application focus to the group settings. His book which was written to direct the men who had begun small sub-groups within his congregation and elsewhere away from legalism and popish authority that crops up within men. He also steers them away from the weeping sin-accepting whimpy kind of group that confesses sin and yet leaves men with no hope to get victory over their sins.

This book is building upon a solid theology of cross-centered death to self and indentification with Jesus Christ as a forgiven and accepted son. Jonathan Dodson clears away the weeds and tangles of deficient mens groups that side-track way from devotion to Christ and onto moralistic or legalistic do's and dont's. The author actually believes Jesus makes all the difference, and focusing upon Jesus Christ as the empowering God who removes sin as well as enables a man to gain victory over them. He brings hope as you read this short volumn. I love his focus, its on what Christ has done and will do to give me victory in this world, rather than a human effort focus upon applying some 4 points or some formulaic method that fails after a weeks usage.

Jonathan not only seeks to engage man to man but expresses this warfare as a Church building, Church edifying and God glorifying means. He's countering the individualistic thinking of this culture that isolates men from each other. This book is all about fighting the good fight of faith and in this mode He teaches us to fight for joy, for victory, for life, for truth and real believing. He believes that our Christian walk is not about a passive obtaining of spiritual things through the intellect, but obtaining real lasting joy and victory by what Jonathan Edwards calls "religious affections". Those genuine religious affections being the real outworking of a regenerate man working out the salvation he has received in an every growing and ever transforming knowlege of Jesus Christ.

I say, start a fight club and get the book

D 4
P 4

Marvin

Return from the Philippines

2011-04-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Praise God for all that he did for the Filipino's. We held 3 days of crusades, each night hundreds and hundreds came to hear the gospel. The Lord put it in our hearts to preach in the City of Tondo, where what is called "Smokey Mountain" is located. Smokey mountain is a very large dumpsite that tens of thousands of squatters have located to. The government over the years have built large apartment buildings for these squatters. Of course with little to no money these areas become as dumpy as the squatter homes built of galvanized roof sheeting. You see almost every apt where they dry their clothes by hanging them out the windows, so the whole front of these 10 story apt buildings have clothes hanging from each apt window.

I preached the gospel with all the faith and heart I had, God had given me an excellent interpreter. When he preached it was tremendous, I wondered if he were preaching and I was the english interpreter? At the end of the night, many hundreds prayed to receive Christ. Now, I dont have 'pray along sinners prayers', but I do have time of silence where everyone that wills can pray and ask God forgiveness for sins and surrender their lives to Christ. Its strange, but during this time, most people are so used to being lead to say something or do something, they are taken back by such an expectation from the preacher for them to 'speak to God on their own'.

We also prayed for the sick. Some give testimony they they were healed during the message, (which were not sermons on healing). I praise God for ministering to the sick and afflicted. Various ones came forward and testified to God removing pains in their eyes, chest, joints, headaches etc. Praise the Lord for his mercies.

We also ran a medical dental outreach for one day some distance from these apts in another location. We had approx 400 that received services. Our medical and dental staff were tremendous and they treated their people well. As my wife and I watched all that was going on, we were both overcome with emotion and praised God for all of these people receiving help.

Overall the crusades were a huge blessing. Many hundreds made professions of faith and hundreds received clothes and medical supplies, rice and compassion with forgiveness of sins.
Since I do not give altar calls or require folks to repeat a sinners prayer, I cannot give accurate accounts of who surrendered to Christ or not. All I can give is a testimony that many hundreds responded in praying for forgiveness and remarking to others they had believed Christ.
Since we didnt preach at the same location each night, we only had a few that came from the previous crusade night.
We had one pastor who worked with us to receive the new converts, which we introduced after the meetings. He is a great blessing, dedicated to Christ and sacrificial in his dealing with his flock.

I thank the Lord for all that God did, and I thank my brothers and sisters in Christ who prayed for me and contributed to the outreaches. We pray that more and more will help us to help the Filipino's in Smokey Mountain escape poverty, ignorance, religious superstition and the power of sin's hold. A community of believers is growing there and they need my prayers and yours as well.

Marvin

Book Review Love Wins? Rob Bell

2011-03-21T14:44:00.000-07:00

Love Wins

Rob Bell

I was standing in my local Christian bookseller talking to the proprietor about all things theological as I am used to doing when she handed me my new book I ordered "The Christian Faith" by Michael Horton. This is Michaels new systematic theology hot off the press which I am eagerly looking forward to reading. But while I was standing there carefully opening the pages of this beautiful and sacred volume I looked at the floor behind her to notice Rob Bell's new book "Love Wins". I asked if I could see it. She handed it to me, and while I was placing it on top of my new Michael Horton book I couldnt help but wonder about how many need Michaels new book, and how many are going to buy Bell's new bird-cage liner aka Christian life read.
She told me she special ordered the book, that she would not put Bell's stuff on the shelves. I was relieved.

I opened the book to various chapters, and skim read several sections while it was quiet in the shop. I looked over Bell's horrible exegesis, his redefining of terms and his conclusions based off the new redefinition of hell, eternal, what glorifies God and what doesnt glorify God. Put together, I determined that this book is exactly what I had read from others reviews, it is exactly what I expected it to be. It is a book of deception written by a fiction writer masquerading as a theologian.

In the end God does get exactly what he wants, He gets every person Christ died to redeem. He gets glory for all that He does either in mercy or justice. God comes out of it with a perfect spot-less Son whom he sent to testify of what the Father is like. Bell, says almost exactly the same thing, but Bell means something entirely different. Bell means that Jesus died for everyone and that after this 'hell' on earth of getting somewhat less than your best life now, every sinner will find his way to heaven.
Bell as a universalist is at least consistent in that those whom Christ purchases Christ obtains in the end. He at least in his heretical way has Christ's sacrifice doing what any reformed Christian acknowledges "paying the penalty for the sins of the sinner". But the difference with Bell of course is that Bell has Christ saving the world without anyone going to an eternal hell. At best a purgatory but no eternal punishment. Regeneration and conversion are totally unnecessary to Bell's Love Wins. If 'love wins' meaning God gets everyone that has ever been born into heaven, all of this gospel preaching and schoolmaster law-work becomes hobbie-time because it carries no necessary effect upon the eternal destiny of sinners.

Bell's book leads you by question and not by proposition. Bell takes you forward in this book by asking "will you take the next step with me" as he leads you step by step away from orthodox biblical truth into heretical teaching cleverly presented as meaningful reasonable assertions (un proven assertions) but assertions all the same. These reasonable assertions of course do not home with proper exegesis, no, they fit into the puzzle that Bell creates and then reproaches. Bell asserts God cannot be glorified in the punishment of sinners. God cannot be glorified in the judgments of eternal punishment. God cannot be glorified if 'not all' are reconciled to him. So, God is set forth as a failure "unless" God really drops eternal hell and opts for a mere purgatorial time for some while grading sin on a curve for others; all this done because 'God must want everyone' in heaven. Bell is saying "God didnt make a literal hell". Bell being clever, uses induction not proposition to build his errors upon.
No one seems to ask Bell the important question. "If there is no literal hell and God intends to save all, why bother depicting sinners entering any hell to begin with?" There is no necessity of hell, no necessity of even coming close to it in the gospels or apostolic writings. There is no necessity of making the trials and hardships due to sin in this world "hell". Other terms are better than hell.

Bell doesnt answer the question of why warn sinful men of a "hell" to begin with. Its because of this unanswered question that one must step back from the book and wonder, then why all the fuss to annul the power and horror of hell which has been preached in the past? Because Bell is heretical, and by redefining terms, poor exegesis and unproven assertions he wants the reader to "dismiss" hell as any real threat to the sinner once he has died.
This is the devils worshop, this is a manual straight from the bench of Beelzebub. This is how Satan makes his kind of Christian, one that 'knows' God cannot be glorified unless the goodness of man is found, realized and eternally rewarded.

To confuse the issue further, Rob Bell gives answers disconnected from orthodox Christianity, but he doesnt explain that disconnect. Namely, When someone asks Rob, "Do you believe we need the gospel to know Christ?". The answer of course will be yes. But what is left out is, Rob is disconnecting the necessity of the gospel to obtain salvation in Christ and remove ones self from the eternal punishment and wrath that rests upon them. So Rob can easily say there is no eternal punishment for sinners while affirming the gospel is necessary to know Christ. You see, Rob has butchered the Atonement doctrine which calls Christ a 'sacrifice' unto God. Bell thinks that God does not require Jesus sacrifice to satisfy the justice of the law which condemns a sinner. So, God according to Bell doesnt require Christ to 'reconcile' sinners to himself because according to Bell, God already loves them and will have them either now or later.
MY CONCLUSION
But again Bell is clever. Bell doesnt follow suit as I do recognizing the humanism veiled within such a line of reasoning. No, Bell goes this route. Bell is saying that the bible has "really good news" and that news does not contain an eternal punishment for sinners. Bell is saying that the really "good news" in the bible is God will eventually have everyone in heaven. "Love wins" means that in a negative sense those who preach about an eternal hell are preaching "love doesnt win" and that God is a failure and that God is not all powerfull and that God is not the love which he has been preached and spoken of in the bible to be. Bell is effect saying that warning men of an eternal hell is false because there is no eternal hell. Bell is in effect saying that we mis-represent God by depicting God as 'losing' some to Satan because of sin. Those reformed and Evangelical Christians who preach Eternal Punishment are what Bell is really after, he wants to depict them as the false teachers and the love-less ones mis-representing God and the Bible. To Bell, The Reformed and Evangelical orthodox Christians are offering the sinner "sin wins". His twisted and perverse conclusions manipulate the emotions of weaker and/or young believers against truth which in turn divides the body of Christ. But I say, it is Bell that has preached error and is guilty of heresy.

The more you read Rob Bell and listen to his You Tube video's you begin to see that Rob Bell has not only dismantled hell, but the atonement too. The gospel message is an interconnected message where all of its parts are connected to each other. If you break one, you have disconnected several other truths from each other. The reality of a slippery slope to multiple heresies becomes evident. If you inquire deep enough, you find that Rob Bell is not presenting just a slightly modified form of Christianity, but a very twisted representation of scripture meanings.

Dont buy the book, Dont read the book, Dont waste your money on this drivel.
Not because you cant, but because the truth is not found in this book. This book is a book of heresy.
Those who wrote their recommendations such as Eugene Peterson and Gregory Boyd on the dust cover should be questioned as to their own orthodoxy ( I already consider Boyd unorthodox) for his views on Open Theism. Not because of guilt by association, but because to call this mess a "masterpiece" as Boyd has done raises red flags in me. Those red flags go up because universalism effects soteriology which effects Christ's person.

Go Gem hunting

2011-03-17T15:06:00.000-07:00

I have made it a pass time and a necessary part of my Christian walk to visit used book stores.

I bee-line straight to the 'religous' section and see what they have. Many times Ive been disappointed, I see rows and rows of books, but its mostly fluff, trend books, self help volumes, fictional stories and an admixture of heterodoxy with orthodoxy.

But oh, there are those times when Ive walked upto a musty old row of books and found Gems. Real Gems.
I picked up New Testament greek bibles, Hebrew Lexicons, Beginners Hebrew study books. Ive found Metropolitan Tabernacle sermons by Spurgeon, Works by BB Warfield, A whole set of commentaries by Alexendar Maclaren. (Which I gave to a friend of mine for Christmas). An old book on Theology from the 1800's, books by Loraine Boettner, John Piper, Gresham Machen, Calvins Commentaries and many others.

Ive saved money, but thats not the real reason I go the used book stores, I go there because I enjoy finding something precious that someone else thought was useless or unworthy of having on their shelf.

On occasion I have used Alibra book sellers on line to locate a book. I picked one up "Hebrews" by Andrew Murray. Its an excellent volume and since I got a first edition it contained the 'removed' parts which Gloria and Kenneth Copeland decided to remove when they republished the work, but foolishly thought the comments on Christians suffering in their faith was unworthy of todays Christian.

That old "Theological book" I mentioned, well its Theological Institutes Vol II. By Richard Watson.
Nelson and Philips Press.
I has an autograph Cortes J Crossett dated Oct 31 1877. The signature written with a beautiful style in feather pen is precious.

I hope that you too will visit those old musty shelves of some used book store and see what you can find to increase your library and your mind for Christ.

Leaving soon for Manila

2011-03-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

The first leg of our trip will take us to Panama City Panama. We will meet with another pastor and with other workers who are seeking to minister to the indians. My dear wife has prepared a 'toy box' so to speak with gifts for the children when we arrive. Im sure that will be a big hit.
Our plans are to cement relationships so that in the very near future we can evangelize in Panama with the help of other Churches who are established all ready. I am praying for God to open the doors for us and for God to give us courage and faith to do all his will.

Our second jump will be into Manila. We are finalizing the crusade and medical dental outreach in Baseco/Tondo area. Hopefully we will be able to go down to the dumpsite and minister there as well.
I am praying for an outpouring of the Spirit of God to bring conviction and do his work of regeneration and make many new believers during the proclamation of the gospel. We will pray for the sick and lay hands on who ever wants Jesus to deliver them from their afflictions. We have seen many receive various healings and deliverance. One woman who was brought in, she was very infirm and had to be assisted by others to walk; she was prayed for and God gave her such blessing she jumped up and down and smiled and cried. She walked un-assisted with ease. Praise God. Another man was dying of tuberculosis, in this stage he was worn and very thin and could not get out of bed. After we prayed for him, a few days later he was walking, eating and his family was very surprised by God touching him.

In the past, hundreds have made confessions of faith, which we have funneled to the neighboring Churches that help with our crusades. So we will do again this time.

Our God is a God that saves and delivers.

Im asking that those of you who care about the proclamation of the gospel to the lost (even though they are religious) will you pray for the work of God to be done in the Manila streets? Will you pray that God saves sinners who are blind to their own sinful condition? Please do, I genuinely covet your prayers for myself, the crusade workers, the local pastors and especially for those who attend.

We are due to arrive in Panama April 9th and in Manila on April 13th.

Book Review: RADICAL by David Platt

2011-03-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

Well, before I start, I wanted to say, what a breath of fresh air in comparison to Rob Bell's new book.

David Platt has written what I believe to be a timely and necessary work called "Radical" Taking back your faith from the american dream.
Multnomah Press.

I compare it to Francis Chan's book Crazy Love

David is saying in a very articulate way that the 'american dream' has circumvented or taken over the faith of Christians in this 21st century and replaced it with a timid, self-serving, self-approving mindset that denies the words of Christ and the mandate of the great commission. I believe David is right, and not only right but absolutely right. I read the very readable book in 2 days, its a page turner and a heart convicter as well.
When you read the chapters 2 and 3 you come away knowing you just read reformed theology simply and clearly stated. I appreciated that. I appreciated all of Davids theology which he packaged to prove his points and to reprove many of their deficiencies in both gospel and faith.

Edited to add:
David spent some time compiling what I consider is a worthy and helpful correction to the "safe and sane" mentality of American Christianity. What I mean is that David pummels the idea that Christianity must be safe avoiding all hardships, trials, sacrifices, dangers, hungers, financial woes etc. Not only that but "sane", where if its not practical or reasonable to exert ones self, or place ones family or finances or career in harms way for the gospel its again avoided..and more than likely prayed against as if its the devil.

Secondly, Davids book is a good introduction to reformed theology without the hard-crust demands for various kinds of reformed terminology, or exacting definitions. The book carries a beautiful message of engaging the culture with the gospel, and 'dont be shy about it'. But it also engages the Arminian/free-will espousing Christian with evidence that the reformed believer is serious about evangelism and has a message for the world that doesnt contain the word 'calvin', 'predestination' etc. Though he does mention Calvin, its a quote and not a rebuke to Arminian Christians for not embracing Calvinism. I dont believe David's intention was to create an olive-branch reach out to Arminian/free-will evangelicals in the sense which Im speaking, but it sure looks like one from my perspective.

When a couple Christian leaders read this book, they remarked to me how excellent it was, how 'radical' we ought to be and how the glorious gospel message contained in this book should be preached and believed everywhere. Of course these were Arminian/free-will believers..who when I told them that it is pure and simple reformed teaching as to the gospel, they were speechless. "Really?..I didnt know that" was the response.
What Im saying is when the 'controversial' terminologies are stripped away and the gospel is standing on its own, the non-reformed Christian easily received the message.

David's book strikes a cord within the true believer, its the cord of active devotion and love response to Jesus Christ. For those of you who want that cord struck, who want to be ignited and encouraged to live far beyond the 'safe and sane' Christianity which is preached and lived in his culture, David Platt's book is going to be a necessary read.

For my own response...
I am going to pray for the nations of the world, I havent been, but Im going too. Im going to make sure I read all of my bible in a year....I normally read most of it, and some of it several times, but, I want to make sure I dont leave out anything. All of God's word deserves our attention. 217 pages in the book are really not enough, if David were to write a second one on this subject and upon the mandates of scripture I would buy it immediately. (Edit to add:) Which I have, I read Radical Together and I loved it as well.

Oh how the gospel and the great commission are being left behind by many today, and oh how the gospel and the obedience to the great commission radically changes the lives of those who preach and live by the gospel. What a blessing to read, what an encouragement, what a hope filled volumn.

I highly recommend the book and think every Christian should read it, then talk about it....then do what it has told us....go into all the world and preach the gospel.

D 4
P 4

Scandalon by Michael Card

2011-01-11T13:13:00.000-08:00

This song was so convicting and has served to remind me that Jesus is a stone of stumbling, that all must stumble at him if they are ever to know him.

Friend of a wounded heart Wayne Watson

2011-01-11T12:57:00.000-08:00

This beautiful song about a compassionate Savior stirs my heart to worship. Oh how true the lyric
"he meets you were you are".

You are All in All 2nd Chapter of Acts

2011-01-11T12:51:00.000-08:00

This old 80's Christian song is one of my favorites. It carried me through many a dark night.

Metaphysical Naturalism, whats a Christian to do?

2011-01-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

Ive listened to a couple of Metaphysical Naturalists on YouTube, they really were engaging and interesting. I had to laugh at one young guy named Scott who has numerous videos where he confronts Christianity with his MN worldview.

To give a short definition of Metaphysical naturalism..

Metaphysical naturalism, or ontological naturalism, is a philosophical worldview and belief system that holds that there is nothing but natural things, forces, and causes of the kind studied by the natural sciences, i.e., those required to understand our physical environment and having mechanical properties amenable to mathematical modeling. Metaphysical naturalism holds that all concepts related to consciousness or to the mind refer to entities which are reducible to or supervene on natural things, forces and causes. More specifically, it rejects the objective existence of any supernatural thing, force or cause, such as occur in humanity’s various religions, as well as any form of teleology. It sees all "supernatural" things as explainable in purely natural terms. It is not merely a view about what science currently studies, but also about what science might discover in the future. Metaphysical naturalism is a monistic and not a dualistic view of reality.

Taken from wikipedia.

I confess when I listened to these atheists berate Christianity with such a cavalier attitude I had to pay attention to why it was they felt so confident in their assessments.

I did a little searching, watched numerous YouTube videos, read the comments by both Christian and atheist and thought about it for some time.
I did some of my own digging into my systematics and looked around to see if this sort of thing was a new convention or old one. Well, its not new in its foundation, that's been around a while, but its approval among white college folk seems to be its seed bed and that's whats new about it.

One of its proponents has been Daniel Dennett. I watched William Lane Craig debate Dr. Dennett and I listened carefully to Dr. Dennetts replies.
What I gathered was that when Dennett must step out of his abstracting hypothesis and into the world of time and event, Dr. Dennett has nothing to offer but illogical argument that is easily dismissed as it is unworthy of serious consideration. But, Dr. Dennett and such like him have wowed his audiences with philosophy and rhetoric that seems so plausible from such a deep-voiced nice old man.
I'm saying he never even dented...William Lane Craigs argument. Dr. Dennett didnt so much as cause a ripple in the water against Craig's points. Why? Because Dr. Dennett is unable to use the reasoning and rationale of everyday humans and must go beyond that into speculative thinking where no point is proven, but only hypothesis asserted.
Now in an arena where empirical evidence is the god of the MN subscriber, Dr. Dennett again offers nothing. So, I turned back to this college age guy named Scott and listened to him. He was much more bold and his youth carried him toward braver statements than Dr. Dennett.
Scott put forward a syllogism that went something like this
1. Matter is eternal
2. Matter never disappears, but only changes form
3. Therefore matter needs no creator and is an argument against the existence of God.

His syllogism professes to show that naturalistic evidence concerning matter is enough to prove that God need not exist because matter has not been created but has always existed.

Now, it isn't very hard to dismiss this kind of thinking with one simple question. How do you know for certain that matter always existed?
Since the MN cannot resort to empirical proof that matter has eternally existed, he must in the same way a Christian infers God, the atheist MN infers that matter has never had a beginning. So, the MN resorts to philosophy, he must use his brain cells (not mind) to conclude without empirical proof, that matter was not created at any time. That sounds like a 'belief' to me.

I did read several of their own arguments for why MN is true or 'valid' for them, and in short, its based upon a predisposition, a priori to infer that all that exists is what is natural and can be explained by laws and principles working in nature.

Metaphysical Naturalism is an ontology as it says in the intro, well that's right, but going farther it has asserted what it believes is 'truth' which has stepped out of the test-tube and on to the teaching platforms via Dr. Dennett and others. The assertion is that the only 'being' is nature itself in all its myriad forms.

But, here's another take on why the MN cannot seem to find God, he cant find very easily the spiritual or the soul. Ill show you biblically why the MN concludes that there is no God.
Its because of a very simple truth of scripture.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

A second reason like unto this one...
1Co 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1Co 1:19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart."
1Co 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
1Co 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

No matter what tactic the unbeliever uses to condemn Christ and his word, his seeking to attain truth and knowledge about God cannot come to him outside of God's prescribed method of delivering that truth.
God shuts them down so that faith and grace are never circumvented.

When you finish with Metaphysical Naturalism and you've heard their arguments, you know that all the intellect and dodging amount to nothing more than children playing in the streets. But, its put forward with the intensity of an atomic bomb and its logic and rhetoric stomp forward in scary marching formation.

The pretense of proving God doesn't exist is what I call the teen-ager stuck in his room.

A parent finds his teen-age son doing and saying things that are not right so he is sent to his room.
The teen is angry and will not believe he is 'in the wrong' so he closes the door, shuts the blinds, turns off the light and says to himself. If what Ive heard is true, then light will appear through that key-hole and through no other way. When it appears I will be able to weigh it, test it, and experiment with it, then and only then after I have decided it has passed my criteria will I admit to my errors.
But, the parent didn't followed the demands of the angry teen, just as God hasn't followed the demands of the irrational Metaphysical Naturalist. There is light all around them, but they wont see it, there is proof all around them but they wont accept it. They scream that no proof has been offered but God has declared to men that he has offered proof from his creation, those very material things they claim disprove the existence of a creator.

When the MN demands that spiritual things conform to the nature of material things, they are simply tying on their own blindfold. When they admit that spiritual things cannot be understood by the 'methodological naturalism' or the philosophy that only according to this method of empiricism and rationalistic conclusion can anything 'scientific' be known. They are admitting that their a-priori is to exclude from proofs anything but material things. Oh how the circular reasoning rolls on. Empiricism demands that experience validate material evidence and when they don't experience the light they pretend to all the world that the light cannot exist because to them and for them darkness alone exists.

So, whats a Christian to do? Engage the A-theist in debate and deliver the gospel to him. Irregardless of his mentality to suppress the truth and resist every thing you say, stand firm and believe God to puncture his/her
little boat and pray that God shows them that emptiness and vain hope are all that human reasoning can offer.

Jesus Christ is greater than the contrivances of men and greater than the intellectual strongholds that are erected against him.

Upcoming Articles

2010-10-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

Im praying about writing an "apologists commentary" on the gospel of John.
Directing the exegesis as a polemic against the cults and heresies that have arisen against the orthodox teachings of the Church.

As well as these topics.

1. Christological controversies.
2. Philosophical controversies, apologetic answers to,
3. Liberal theology answered by refutation of philosophical platforms.
4. The epistemological faults with atheistic resistance to Christianity
5. Evolution confronted on the philosophical level, rebutted and the epistemic foundations refuted.
6. Postmodern/deconstructionism in emergent churches and the foundations of error propagated under evangelical terms.
7. Open theism controversy, rebutted and Classic theism presented upon historical grammatical hermeneutics.

Thats what Im praying God will help me with over the next few months.

I am preparing for another trip to the Philippines to do gospel crusades. Our hope is for God to pour out his Spirit upon the Filipino people and bring many of them to a saving knowledge of Christ. I am also praying for displays of God's power to heal and deliver the sick and afflicted among them. Your prayers for me are inexpressibly appreciated.

Steve Lawson Invisible War

2010-09-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Steve Lawson preaching on the Christians warfare.

Steven Lawson Great White Throne Judgment

2010-08-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

This is a tremendous sermon, well done and very well spoken.

Clothed with power

2010-06-28T21:57:00.000-07:00

While Paul is not Charismatic, nor Pentacostal; I would not call him behind when it comes to desiring to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to listen to this sermon excerpt in light of the my last post on Spiritual gifts. Paul is not speaking about spiritual gifts per-se, but he is not far from it when the Filling of the Spirit empowers a man and validates the gospel with manifestations of the Spirit described in 1Cor12.

What about the Gifts of the Spirit?

2010-06-28T16:26:00.000-07:00

There's always been a contraversy about the 'spirituals' or Gifts of the Spirit within certain circles. Well, I wanted to draw my line in the sand, not against my brothers but against error and pride that masquerades as spirituality and wisdom.

1Co 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.

No one argues about pursuing love or about living a life that displays the spiritual fruits, but when it comes to the manifestations of the Spirit very little emphasis is laid upon it. Now in some circles the only thing that is desired is spirituals. But I say they are just as off balance as those who have forsaken the exhortation of desire spiritual gifts. The are simply sitting alone at the other end of the teeter totter.

Pauls exhortation "desire spirituals"; lets desire them. Let not any one who wants to please the Lord be put off by the cessationist's unbelief and poor arguments against the manifestationn of the gifts. Now in all fairness to the cessationists they too believe God can heal, they too believe God can do a miracle. But what they catagorize those occurances under is a kind of extremely rare sovereign act of God independent of what is called 'charismata' in the scripture.
Why? Well because the cessationist for right and good reasons want to maintain the importance and supremecy of scripture authority. So, while the cessationist does have honorable reasons for questioning prophecy, gifts and words it has gone beyond scripture. The cessationist has gone beyond testing the prophetic word into despising the prophetic word. The cessationist has gone beyond refusing falsehoods and has received the falsehood of refusing the spirituals al-together.
So, while they reject Charis-mania they also reject charismata too.

Ive read the arguments for cessationism. Its my opinion that their argument stands or falls upon one simple item. That item is 'did paul mean the canon of scripture when he said "that which is perfect is come"? Ive not been remotely convinced that the Teleois = perfect is the canon, I tend to agree with Mathew Henry

"III. He takes occasion hence to show how much better it will be with the church hereafter than it can be here. A state of perfection is in view (1Co_13:10): When that which is perfect shall come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When the end is once attained, the means will of course be abolished. There will be no need of tongues, and prophecy, and inspired knowledge, in a future life, because then the church will be in a state of perfection, complete both in knowledge and holiness. God will be known then clearly, and in a manner by intuition, and as perfectly as the capacity of glorified minds will allow; not by such transient glimpses, and little portions, as here."

Since the church is what is being perfected (because its imperfections yet abound)
its the church that will 'know even as it is known" or individually "we shall know even as we are known". The imperfections being dissolved and the sins and stigma of corruptions, failures and falsehoods that accompany Christ's bride are forever removed.

Until that time dear ones, we must desire spirituals. We should be exhorting one another;

Heb 10:24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, Heb 10:25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

So, what about the Gifts of the Spirit? Instead of weakly seeking them out, let us pursue them like we should love. Let us excell in building the church, and desire to prophecy to her and make her strong. What is the subtext for such an exhortation as this? Its "God has something to say to her through prophetic ministry". The canon of scripture was meant to exist side by side with prophetic words where the canon judges the prophets and prophetic words so that the Church can be encouraged by fresh revelations of the Spirit from time to time. God is building, God is working and all the while overseeing his flock. The prophetic manifestation is a direct hands-on proof of God's power to transform and perform in our midst.

Yes we do have great teachers and great preachers. Yes we do have the full authorized canon of scripture to guide the church. But the reality is the Church, the whole body of Christ is the pillar and ground of truth, and she is to be built up by the prophetic ministry and all the other giftings within that same body so that it can fulfill its ministry and calling in the world. Viewed from such a vantage point let us pray in faith to receive the gifts of God's Spirit. Let us desire them, pray to receive them, operate in them, discern the good and the evil, purge ourselves from the evil and hold fast that which is good.

Its time to resist the rebellion and unbelief that pretends to biblical scholarship, when in fact it is nothing more than unbelief wearing scholarly robes. I know some great preachers that are cessationist, I realize I am telling you that they are wrong and in fact because of their errors are hurting the growth of the Church.

If you are reformed, then take a step forward away from 'only' seeking to validate the gospel and Christ by doctrine and pray for God to validate it with the empowerment of the Spirit. God validated the Church in the scriptures by full manifestations of power and miracles to a lost pagan generation. We need the same thing today. There is no scripture that teaches the church to stop asking for the miraculous, there is no scripture that enjoins the church to forsake operating and administering the spirituals to edify itself in love.

Allow me now to be so bold. What did Paul do when the corruptions, problems and excesses were common among the Corinthians? Did Paul tell them to stop?
Now we might do so, we might in our worldly wisdom say "Well youve abused prophecy, maybe you shouldnt ever speak again. Or youve prayed over and over for healings and nothing happened, shouldnt you stop this? The answer by most Christians often would be "Yes" they should stop what theyre doing. Pauls answer was different. Paul said
"desire spritual gifts", "seek to the excelling of edifying the church", "pray that you may prophecy", "do all things decently and in order", "take turns when one gets a word so that all may speak", "women dont interupt the services with questions or doubts about teachings or prophetic utterances". Pauls answer is instruction, training, teaching them to function in love and truth.

The answer is glaringly obvious right before our faces, operate in a way that demonstrates the love of God and desire spiritual gifts so that you may build the body of Christ.
Thats the answer to Charismania, to Pentacostal excesses to 3rd wave prophetic falsehoods.

When the reformed come along and tell the Pentacostals and Chrismatics that they are simply false and their teachings are false and their prophecies are false and despised its no wonder God has not honored that rebuke. The reformed just like the rest of the body of Christ need to take heed to do the will of God as the scripture has enjoined us.

Be at peace among yourselves and covet the best gifts, gifts that God will work through you to glorify himself and purify to himself a bride spotless and blameless in his sight.