• O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?
  Who shall dwell on your holy hill? (Psalm 15:1 ESV)

Charles Spurgeon commentary:

“Impertinent curiosity frequently wants to know who and how many will be saved. If those who ask “who may dwell in your holy hill?” would make a soul searching inquiry, they would act much wiser. Members of the visible church, which is God’s tabernacle of worship and hill of eminence, should diligently prepare their hearts to be residents of God’s house. Without the wedding dress of righteousness in Christ Jesus, we have no right to sit at the communion banquet. Without an upright walk, we are not fit for the imperfect church on earth, nor are we ready to enter the perfect church above.”

 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
(Psalm 15:2-3 ESV)

Continue Spurgeon:

“The Lord, in answer to the question, informs us by His Holy Spirit about the character of the man who alone can dwell in His holy hill.

In perfection, this holiness is found only in the Man of Sorrows, but in a measure, the Holy Spirit works it in all His people. 

Holiness of Christ: 1Peter 1:14-16; 1Peter 2:9;

Set apart in Christ: 1Thess 5:23; Gal 2:20; John 17:17; Romans 6:6;

“Faith and the graces of the Spirit are not mentioned because this is a description of outward character…Where fruit is found, the root may not be seen, but it is there. Observe the accepted man’s walk, work, and Word.”

<………………………………………………………………>

Who may dwell on the holy hill of the Lord? He who walks uprightly. He who works righteousness. He who speaks the truth in his heart. Jesus is our savior and is holy; we are being saved and we are wholly set apart in him. We are being conformed to the image of Christ presently:

… ”Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
(John 17:17-26 ESV)

Grace and peace,

FullTulip

“… For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart…” - (Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

       The words of Scripture, the clearly spoken gospel, the whole counsel of God are our only hope as to remain wholly in Christ. Not that we would lose our salvation otherwise, but what’s the point of being a Christian if one loses commitment to the very one he serves and loves and who’s word he believes to be true? That’s what I’m getting at. We have to keep in mind that the very words of scripture are what brings us to a right understanding. A right understanding is the key to everything godly, being that all sorts of miserable things are rooted simply in a wrong understanding: depression, anxiety, envy, strife, sin, etc, etc that list could go on. So if a slew of misery can enter the mind, body, and soul, through a wrong understanding, our only hope is to resolve to fix our thoughts on the truth of God. God’s word literally fixes us, keeps us and renews to a right understanding of who God is, his power, authority and who we are, etc. We know and have hope in Christ solely on the fact that God’s word tells us so. We have to immerse ourself in the Word and stay sharp in our faith in what we believe to be true.

“… I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect…” - (Romans 12:1-2 ESV)

“… For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit…” - (2 Peter 1:16-21 ESV)

“… For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ…” - (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV)

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” - (2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV)

“…Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me…” - (Psalm 51:10 ESV)

Grace and peace,

-Full Tulip-

• Prophet: One who speaks the will or truth/doctrine of God; …the vanishing of material sense to give way to the conscious facts of spiritual truth.
• Zeal: Enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance.

To believe Scripture is the Christian’s top priority. First, because it is where we learn and see the gospel clearly spelled out. Second, it is the only source we have for a proper understanding of sound doctrine. Third, it is where we receive grace and truth unto a saving faith. These are by no means exhaustive statements. If you see a better refinement please do not hesitate to respond below.

(Proverbs 4:1-2 ESV)

The Christian who has faith in Jesus, who places hope in the only true gospel, we have an outstanding obliged duty to seek proper understanding from the Scripture, humbly and joyfully hold that truth for what it is -the treasure that is God’s word- and duty bound to truthfully and humbly speak that truth – rightly divided and in love. In short, we are to be zealous prophets; learners and speakers of God’s revealed grace, truth, and will. All of which is derived from sound doctrine given to us in the Scriptures. It’s nothing short of a miraculous gift of eternal significance – the all-encompassing Gospel of God revealed in is very own Word.

If you are zealous make sure that you are not zealous for error. We are not the means to convince a proper understanding in believers or unbelievers. We are merely quickened clay vessels that contain the Word/power of God and the Holy Spirit is the means to making our purposes effectual. We are called by God to rightly and zealously divide the word (study it deeply) and pray for understanding, that the Holy Spirit would open the eyes of our hearts unto that inspired Word and we are called to speak that truth with all boldness and humility.

(Job 12:13-16 ESV)

Be careful to not “work magic”, per se, in getting zealously fancy w/ antics, or even big words, but let men stay humble in their learning and speaking sound doctrine, and let the holy spirit guide us all unto edification.

(1 Timothy 4:11-16 ESV)

-Full Tulip-

One of the errors being taught today is that we are Justified by Jesus resurrection in stead of his death.

John Robbins.

The key verse used for this teaching is, Romans 4:25

ESV. Romans 4:25
who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Now here are a couple of translations that read a little different.

NKJV. Romans 4:25who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

NASB. Romans 4:25He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.

When I was listening to the message that John Robbins was teaching he stated that you would be hard presses to find another verse that stated anything like this teaching, and that the word “for” was ambiguous, this kind of teaching is common to the Roman Catholic Church blurring the lines of the teaching on justification.
He also stated that in the finished work on the Cross of Christ and the shedding of His blood, there was satisfaction for the just demands that the Father required for sin.

For the wages of sin is death.

1 Corinthians 11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Notice the imperative in the last part of the verse.
…”you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

Dr. Robbins wanted to be clear that in no way, did he want it to sound like he was denying the resurrection.

It was mentioned in the last post that if Christ was not raised that we are still in our sins, and thats right, but it really doesn’t apply to what we are talking about here in trying to clarify what exactly the Bible says about Justification. In 1 Corinthians there was apparently a denial of the resurrection that Paul was dealing with there, I want to be clear that’s NOT what is being said here, we’re looking directly at the basis for our justification, biblical answers.

The resurrection is not The basis for our Justification.

Romans 5:9
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Check it! … we have now been justified by his blood…

Colossians 1:20
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

“making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Here again the blood being the basis for redemption.

And there are dozens more ill just show a few.

Romans 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

If your not sure what the bible teaches about sacrifice I would urge to read
Leviticus 1… the whole chapter talks about the sacrifice is a pleasing aroma to the lord.

Where do people get the idea that we were justified by His resurrection?
Romans 4:25 is the single text that people appeal to ; to say that people are justified by His resurrection.

The NASB and the NKJV get it right.
He wasn’t raised to accomplish our justification, He was raised because our justification was accomplished. Again, the word “for” is ambiguous and if you take it in the wrong sense, you get the wrong Doctrine.

In Isaiah 53. It’s the death, obedience and the suffering, theres no mention of the resurrection.

Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

This is worship that occurs in Heaven, you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your Blood.

Through out eternity people will be praising the lamb who was slain, because it is the death of Christ that is the basis of our salvation/justification.
-Not the resurrection.
-Not when He ascended.
As important as those Doctrines are, to say that those things accomplished salvation or the satisfaction of the fathers justice, is to misunderstand the doctrine of Christian Salvation all together.
His justice demanded death, because the wages of sin is Death and it is in Christ death that paid our debt.

Revelation 7:9-14
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”
14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Revelation 12:11. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Revelation 13:8. and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.

The worship throughout eternity is of the Lamb who was Slain and is worthy because He was the Lamb who was slain.

I do realize that this is a little tough to swallow but the more you look at it in A biblical perspective, instead of a traditional frame work it really falls together, while all of the presuppositions fall off in layers and you find yourself naked before the throne again.

I know that I run the risk of running off the only two people that read this regularly by posting this… I just feel its worth taking Good look at it to see if we’re thinking rightly about these things that should be rightly divided.

To give props to the person that inspired me to wright this, is the teaching of Dr. Robbins of the Trinity Foundation, I like their stuff!

Thanks, and I hope that you are edified by this, for His sake…

http://www.trinityfoundation.org

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Big thanks to Full Tulip!

A quick ramble on the depth and majesty of the book to the Ephesians written by Paul the apostle. We read chapters 1-3 and then discuss some points. Give a listen and let us know what you think!

Full Tulip

James Garriss Apr 2007

Elyse Fitzpatrick

To understand what it means to be who you are in Christ, you need to understand two concepts in Scripture: the indicative and the imperative.

The indicative informs us of an accomplished fact; it is what has already been declared about you. For example, “God in Christ has forgiven you.”

On the other hand, the imperative is a command or direction. In Ephesians 4:32, Paul gives us this command: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another.” The New Testament is filled with the imperative: we’re commanded to live changed lives.

THE MOTIVATION: WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE
The beautiful balance between the indicative (who you are in Christ) and the imperative (who you’re becoming in Christ) is perfectly demonstrated in the verse we’ve been considering. The entire verse reads, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

The imperative, “Be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving,” is firmly anchored in the indicative: “you’re forgiven in Christ.” This verse demonstrates a beautiful synergy that not only tells us what to do, but also plants within our souls the only motive that will empower God-pleasing compliance: what God has already done. We’ve already been forgiven in Christ.

KNOW WHO YOU ARE
In some cases, the New Testament writers couple indicative statements with both negative and positive imperatives; commands to stop doing one thing and to start doing another. For instance, because such-and-such is true about you (the indicative), you should put off this kind of behavior (the negative imperative) and put on this kind of behavior in its place (the positive imperative). Colossians 3:1-5, 12-13 provides an example:
If then you have been raised with Christ [the indicative], seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above [a positive imperative], not on things that are on earth [a negative imperative]. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory [the indicative]. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you [a negative imperative]. . . .Put on then [a positive imperative], as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved [the indicative], compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other [a positive imperative]; as the Lord has forgiven you [the indicative], so you also must forgive [a positive imperative].

So many of us cavalierly gloss over what he has done and zero in on what we’re to do, and that shift, though it might seem slight, makes all the difference in the world. Our obedience has its origin in God’s prior action, and forgetting that truth results in self-righteousness, pride, and despair.

As you study Scripture, remember that the imperatives are always rooted in the indicatives. God calls you to become who you already are in Christ.

Let’s briefly examine each system in turn. Empiricism is based on man’s fallible observations and hypotheses. Man takes what he has observed and experienced and uses that as a foundation from which to proclaim what he believes is truth. However, Karl Popper, who is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential scientific philosophers of the 20th Century, exploded the idea that man’s experience can provide us with truth. Popper wrote: “All scientific statements are hypotheses, or guesses, or conjectures, and the vast majority of these conjectures … have turned out to be false. Our attempts to see and to find the truth are not final, but open to improvement; … our knowledge, our doctrine, is conjectural; … it consists of guesses, of hypotheses, rather than of final and certain truths.”

Rationalism is predicated on man’s ability to reason his way to truth. Rationalism is not based on man’s observation and experience, but rather on his deductive reasoning ability. Can man deduce infallible truth? In just the last 70 years, man has reasoned himself to the Holocaust, the gulags, and the killing fields.

The problem with both of these man-centered epistemologies, empiricism and rationalism, is that you can never know with any certainty that your beginning point is inerrant, infallible knowledge of the truth. As Popper said, our “knowledge” is conjectural at best.

By contrast, God’s propositional revelation is not prone to inconsistencies and the changing opinions of man. You are beginning with truth itself! His Word is absolute truth.

Now, I fully understand that some readers disagree with that last statement. You are to be congratulated! You are obviously men and women of both curiosity and integrity; in spite of being confronted with an opinion with which you disagree, you are still reading and considering and thinking. I’m proud of you! If you’re interested in pursuing this subject, I’d like to suggest my book, Untapped Potential. You’ll learn a lot about business strategies, but you’ll also learn how and why I adopted the worldview of propositional revelation.

Thinking and Choice

My beloved friend and mentor, Dr. John Robbins, wrote that “Choice requires thought, and thought necessitates choice.”[2] If you have been reading these posts with anything more than cursory attention, you have been either affirming or denying the philosophy that I have espoused here. You have, as John said, been thinking and making choices.

The impetus behind this series on choosing the best president springs out of my deep care and concern for our nation and for the future of civil and religious liberties for all Americans. I wanted to write something that might cause all of us to think more seriously about the direction in which America is headed . . . and then make the appropriate choices.

If we, as a people, do not demand that our political leaders govern from the epistemological basis on which this nation was founded, then we are inevitably headed toward a post-Constitutional, godless, totalitarian society. In 1688 William Penn succinctly warned, “If man is not governed by God, he will be ruled by tyrants.” Consequently, I implore you to think very seriously, in light of the philosophical questions that I have posed in these articles, and then make the best decision for whom you will elect as our next president. We are entrusting this new president with the lives of our children and grandchildren.

Our freedoms—including the freedom we enjoy to cast our vote without fear of reprisal on November 6 in a free and fair election—were bequeathed to us through the sacrifice of the lives and fortunes of our founders. For the last 230 years, men and women have defended our nation against our enemies, many of them making the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. Let us not throw these liberties away or tell our children that those who died defending our freedoms died in vain.

Whom Will You Serve?

Some 3,500 years ago, Joshua, the man who had led the people of Israel in their conquest of the Promised Land, stood before his people. He was advanced in age, and he knew his time on this earth was just about at an end. But he had one final message to deliver to the people he had led so faithfully: “Choose this day whom you will serve.”

I would respectfully issue a similar challenge to you: Choose this day whom your mind will serve. I said in an earlier article that epistemology controls all thought. What will be your source of truth? What will control your thinking? Will you choose the Word of God? Or the words of men?

Our freedoms, ultimately, do not rest in the hands of a government body, but in the minds of individual men and women who make a conscious decision about whom their minds will serve. I urge you to make your mind a servant of the unwavering truth of God’s Word. If you do, we will continue to be a constitutional republic that stands as one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. For as the inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God declares, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

Jack H. Lannom
November 5, 2012

[1] John W. Robbins, “The Scientist as Evangelist,” The Trinity Review, January/February, 1986. Online, http://www.trinityfoundation.org/PDF/The%20Trinity%20Review%200048a%20TheScientistasEvangelist.pdf Viewed 11/2/2012

Have you ever felt like you are just too incompetent to be a Christian?

There is assurance for the man who falls short of God’s glory.

First of all, we all do, and second, Jesus did not.

He was put on the cross to receive our punishment and ultimately redeem us from our incompetence, our shame and our sin.

~

(2 Corinthians 5:21-6:13 ESV)

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.”

~

Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.” Romans 1.

If you believe that Jesus was crucified on behalf of you, in that you were the one that deserved the punishment; he rose from the grave because of your justification, my friend, rest, because you are indeed saved from the mire of your incompetence, sin and shame.

Jesus rose from the grave because of the justification he provided by his blood…

He defeated all death, all shame, and lifts us up out of our incompetence.

I pray that we are encouraged to be conformed to the image of Jesus by the reading of the Bible and prayerful submission to the Holy Spirit; bold we name the name of Christ and his gospel to all.

The power that Paul was talking about in Romans 1, I believe, is absolutely directed also toward our sanctification, knowledge and walk in Christ.

The gospel is a simple message.

Just believe and be changed.

This is my prayer for myself and all those who profess the name of Jesus.

- Yours, in Christ.

Chris

2 He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh in his uprightness.

Let the surrounding context of the word “uprightness” fuel it’s meaning, not what you think the word “uprightness” means. Isaiah 57 – please read first.

The use of the word “upright” is clearly contrasted with a stark imagery of the powerful spell casting deception and reality of the serpent, of which we know does not walk “upright”. It is a very, very simple concept that will take us to the heart of our own selves and what we are. Another very important thing to remember is that God is speaking directly to us, prior to salvation, but really the whole of humanity for we are all born of Adam, born into falsehood, born into a lie. Further, what does it mean to be a “son of a sorceress” from the current text at hand, or “fitted to destruction” in Romans 9

except that your are physically born of a false seed, born of falsehood, born into a lie, and actually controlled by a false, lie telling spirit? Is that not the implication of the Ephesians passage? Think of the implications of being birthed into death. It’s such a profound complexity, but nonetheless, simply, we are born of Adam, slaves of destruction and ruin, all because we are under the authority of a deceiver –  John 8:44 <scary. Nobody wants to be deceived. We all understand this.

It is of the utmost importance to understand the power of an idea (what one believes. More importantly what one convinces others to believe). The idea, by itself, is the pivot that separates our perception and understanding of negative and positive, dark and light, hot and cold, good and evil, true and false… We all give meaning in between those extremes, though the importance is that we truly think on very basic strict principles= Up, down, left, right. In, out, through, between, etc… 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9, and then we repeat, forever, negative and positive. Do you see? When we are deceived we are effected in ways that I think we can hardly understand. It should shock us a little, or a lot… It should, anyway.

So you must think rightly, better yet, “uprightly” in order to be redeemed. This is an implication of the text. It is not about a man who walks with broad shoulders and head held high, but a man who “thinks” uprightly, not as the serpent who’s lies and deceit force it to slither the earth deceiving who it may. Likewise the imagery of the serpent’s lies leads to a direct imagery of who man is. He is literally from birth, physically and mentally, a man of lies. I cannot stress properly how important this is to understand. I would beg you to read Isaiah 57 for yourself and see the beauty in it. It is there.

In this imagery we are cohesively and wholly fitted for the serpents own will, lust and evil. The will, lust and evil of the serpent will be the proper understanding of our own deception and will, purpose, and desire. We will see the restoration when we see our miserable ruin in the light of redemption, how God fixes us: He heals the deceived heart. He reverses the curse of the serpent’s lie. A cursed serpent when enflamed with rage, calamity, and lies, lusts for your own suffering agony and death.

And to the crux of it all: his power is just a simple lie.

It takes a breath to remove the dust of a rock, but a steady breeze will make the rock disappear. It is of weak stature that the serpent must lie, as weak and vain as it is, it does eat away a mans soul. It kills him.

“For the wages of sin are death” Romans 6

Was not the serpents word a seed unto lies? Of course. Unto death? Yes. The physical entropy and decay of the universe and matter itself, is just a slight expression of the reality of the inward crookedness, perversion, recoiled good truth into a vile death ridden lie as it were, and madness that deters a man from “uprightness”. Following this line of thinking it has to be concluded that even the basic movements of a man are wholly corrupted by the sin and rebellion in him. He moves wrong, he has become cursed as the snake, as the land. Just as the flower withers up and dies, so his movements and mannerisms must be done “wrongly”, not “upright”, per se.

Something in man, in his mind, in his will, in his purpose and drive, will always lead him to slide on his belly hissing curses and lies if followed. It is sad, but it is true.

We must remember that though the serpent is more aware than a man not quickened to the knowledge of God, he is still deceived by his own idea, belief, or existence, I am not sure which, maybe all of in the same sense that we are deceived from birth. I do not claim to know the details. Every man has the potential to be a writhing snake that bites and injects it’s poison in every living thing around it. It is a vividly haunted picture of the reality of evil, and ourselves. It says to men, “why do you stick out your tongues toward God?”

It speaks of an internal “lust and enflamed evil” that naturally makes us raise our heads to God as if to bite him and cripple him to choke him, until breathless. Is it not a sign of what we did to Jesus? Was it not the “evil jest” of the serpent who’s lust, wholly undivided, was thrusted upon Jesus with eternal fury and weight? Oh, thus it is evil that killed Jesus, but compared to evil, the weight of God is greater. It is his mercy. The mercy of God was hanging on Jesus, it is a smarter trick, thus the blood drenched dirt around the cross screams of drowned lies and breathless misery.

Never forget the serpent is more aware than you are. But just as the serpent sees, the one quickened by God to understand the mystery of the Gospel, and the knowledge and wisdom of Scripture sees just as clearly; he has been given the mind of Christ. The one who walks in perfect uprightness. It’s a concept. It’s deep.

The serpent knows how to play tricks on a little ignorant baby, though you are grown, do your habits seem to be taking you lower to the ground, to dark places, hiding behind trees? We are all of the serpent fashion, we mostly wish to be our own and so we walk… We slither, we lie, we bite, we choke, we kill. We die.

But from the very seed that breeds destruction God gave perfection, perfect will, perfect truth, eternal life, the heal that crushes the serpents head- Jesus, who did conquer death. Who rose from that saddened state of black death.

To be redeemed is to be stood back up by God through Jesus Christ and his offering on the cross. It was not because Jesus chose to do good that his sacrifice was made acceptable, it was because he was upright, he was good, He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Forever powerful, God Almighty. What a grand worship we owe to our God. Long live the King of Truth…

A lie is more powerful than we could ever imagine.

But then again, the truth is more powerful than any lie.

Be warned, you may be killed speaking the truth,

For a snake roams looking to kill perfect and true understanding.

How profoundly simple is it that a whole world of thought can be given to the concept of truth and lie?

Do not deceive yourself in saying, “I am not interested in these things.” It is who we are… There is absolutely no way around this… It must be considered.

Isaiah 57:6 “…..Shall I relent concerning these things?”

The following is an excerpt from the book Captive To Reason by Vincent Cheung available as a free download from his website.

John 1:1 refers to the pre-existence of Christ the Logos, and his relation to God the Father and to creation. It is possible that John is declaring that Christ is the fulfillment of the Logos of Greek philosophy – that is, the principle of Reason that structures and regulates the whole universe. Of course, John is not saying that Christ and the Greek Logos are the same thing, but it is possible that he is taking the word or concept to fill it with Christian meaning.

Or, as some say, John has in mind the Wisdom of Jewish literature. But this makes no difference to our question. Then, some say that John is advancing a Christian concept that cannot be absolutely traced to a Jewish or Greek background. This also makes no difference to the view that Christ is Reason. It remains that John 1 declares that he is the creator and sustainer of the universe. That said, “Reason” and “Logic” are probably superior translations to “Word.” At least we can say they are not wrong translations. Sometimes I refer to “Reason” with a capital “R” in my writings. And when I do, this is what I have in mind. I am speaking of Christ, who is Reason personified – to reject him is to reject rationality itself.

There is no legitimate exegetical reason to forbid translating “logos” as “Reason” or “Logic” in John 1:1. People shrink back from it probably due to an anti-intellectual prejudice.

Now that is some deep thinking… But I have come to believe that we don’t have any excuse not to think deeply. Most people recognize that the human brain is nothing short of a super computer. I would say that it is a super computer of some transcendent form. According to the paragraphs above and John 1, that strict logic and rationality that we have is Christ himself – God himself – it is the image of God that we all have.

Have you ever wondered why we are so amazed at artificial intelligence? It is indeed a trivial muse of ours. What sense does it make for a superior logical creature to look at AI as if impressed? We all are awed at the Machine that won the Jeopardy competition, we stand perplexed at cars and phones that talk to us and “understand” when we speak to them, we watch movies where AI slowly become “aware” and take over the world, etc.

I ask, why?

Why are we so amused at this concept? I believe one reason is that we have taken for granted what it means to be a self-aware logical creature. Are we not more logical that any super computer? Well we are more logical in the sense of self-awareness, which is of the most importance. Now I want to bring up a point. If a robot, as portrayed in the movies: The Matrix, I Robot, The Terminator, etc, in our day in age, really did gain self-aware logical consciousness why would we stand in awe of it? Well I said it before… We take our own logical self-awareness for granted…

This must be true of our relationship to God. When we ponder God it would do us good to realize that He is but perfectly and logically self-aware, just like the machine that we would fear if it rose to the same logical and self-aware stature as our own minds. Those movies are tapping into something very deep that should strike home with us, Christians especially.

“I am speaking of Christ, who is Reason personified – to reject him is to reject rationality itself.”

Full Tulip

We all want to travel into this faded past because we all know the reality of darkness. We all know who we are and we all understand that the world, in it’s most darkened caverns, is evil. We are not so fooled to think that those desolate caverns don’t ease themselves up to cover the mountain tops eventually… Are we?

A child gains understanding and he sure enough believes exactly what he has been taught. This is not trivial, but an example that shows all that we know and understand about ourselves, others, and God. Since knowledge and understanding is the essence of life the following becomes priority: There was an instance where we abandoned being taught by God. It is similar to a small child who cannot handle its confusion and so it cries as it tries to understand the darkness that surrounds it’s whole of reality, all the while safely by its parents side. The child may only be hungry in his crib half asleep, but it gropes as though it’s very life is being ripped from it.

We are similar to the crying child, for there is a serpent and we have given his name to be Love: His wonder has changed us, and thus confused, we now see the angel dressed in false light. Oh! To who do we afford our respects for being taught! We love brokenly because we know not true love, but that of a broken and weak hope that will never truly define us or make much of anything. And so to prove it true, just as it appears strong, we reach for it and hope we are pulled out of this pit of weak truth and perverted countenances. What else is it to believe an angel dressed in false gospel attire? It is broken and darkened love indeed, for light is what breaks darkness, not darkness light, and we all have a dark counseled mind from birth. The man struggles with his learning just as a child does, but the man has a choice to move further, the child must learn, he cannot choose not to. We may indeed be the source of those old forbidden caverns of which the earth’s evil was born out of… Do you see light? — Ask God to reveal himself to you so to learn if there is an idol near your mind that shines between you and Him. As adults we tend to think that we are above a child’s understanding, but it is in the innocence of ignorance that the child pleads his case, what of ours? It is to me simply defined astute confusion… Like a hawk flying into a piece of glass…

We love because we are loved, not for what we have become to know,  but it is because of who we have become we know who we are. You know what you have seen, more importantly, you have understood and seen, because you have been taught of God, just like a child his parents. You, born again of God, go learn Him that you may understand everything. Nothing is wasted, not even one thought. We must be taught by God to grow as Christians… It is a fact not an option… What option does the child have? He must learn from his guardian, he must accept their countenance, and he must learn by their words and example. Does it not follow that he who is born of God must learn from Him? I say it’s true, well at least it makes logical sense, but what of logic? Does a child understand strict logic? Well he is made in the image of God so it would be an injustice to the complex learning of a child to label it as lesser or inferior to an adults thinking. Is the moon inferior to the sun because the moon shines the sun’s light? No and neither is a child inferior to and adults thinking, because learning is the essence of life from child and so on to adult. We learn because we are capable of doing so. So just as the moon to the sun, both the child and adult owe their complex learned logic to God, for he is the source of every complete and unbroken truth or thought for that matter. Thus I beleive the apostle Paul would not object that the “renewing of your mind” be of priority. We have to be taught by God as the child learns, we must learn from God and so on onto adults. “You must be born again.” Jesus was speaking to a full-grown man.

It can’t be totally void of this interpretation. Any thoughts are welcome.

Chris

Chris, I know that you dont like it when I do this so you will just have to fix it later… LOL

What Would I Do If My Daughter Told Me She Was Gay?

by Stephen Altrogge

My oldest daughter, Charis, is four, so hopefully we’re a little while away from having any sort of sex talk. But at some point in the future I’m sure I’ll be talking to Charis, along with the rest of my kids, about sexuality, and there’s the possibility that one of my kids will experience homosexual attraction.

What would I do if Charis told me that she was experiencing homosexual attractions?

The first thing I’d do is give her a giant hug and tell her that nothing, nothing, nothing can ever change my love for her. She’s my precious little girl, and nothing is ever going to change that. I’d thank her for telling me about her feelings and tell her that she can always tell me anything, no matter how big or small. I want my kids to feel comfortable telling me anything, and to know that I won’t get angry with them no matter what they tell me.

I’d tell her that God loves her even more than I do. He created her in his image, and because of that, she is precious to him. He sent his son to die for her sins, which also proves that she is precious to him.

Then I’d tell her that if she follows Jesus, her sexuality is not her identity. Her identity is rooted in Christ. She is a child of God who has the Holy Spirit dwelling in her. Her fundamental identity is not her sexual desires, her fundamental identity is as a forgiven sinner, united to Christ, full of the Holy Spirit. That’s what Paul was talking about in 2 Corinthians 5:17 when he said:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

I’d say, “Sweetie, if you follow after Jesus, your identity is as a new creation in Jesus. These desires that you’re experiencing don’t define who you are. Jesus defines who you are. You are his. You belong to him. That is your identity. It’s who you are.”

Then I’d gently take her hand and say, “Charis, following Jesus is really costly. Jesus even said that we have to die to ourselves. He said we have to take up our cross and follow him. That means submitting every facet of our lives to King Jesus, including our sexual desires. If you’re going to follow Jesus, you’re going to have to submit these desires to Jesus. You can’t give in to them because the Bible says that any sexual expression outside of a marriage between a man and a woman is wrong.”

She might ask, “Will God take these desires away from me?”

“I don’t know,” I’d say. “But I do know this – he’ll give you the power not to give in to them. That’s the beauty of the gospel. Jesus forgives all of our sins and then gives us the power not to give in to our sinful desires. And it will be hard, and it will be costly, and there will be times when you will feel lonely, but Jesus is worth it. He is so worth it. When you hear Jesus say, ‘Well done good and faithful servant’, it will be worth it!”

“But why do I have these desires?” she might ask.

“Well sweetie,” I’d say. “Sin has distorted every person’s sexuality. Every time I’m tempted to lust after a woman, that’s a distortion of my sexuality. Every time you’re tempted to lust after a person of the same sex, that’s also distortion. See, you and I are the same. It just works itself out a little bit differently. We both desperately need Jesus. But the wonderful thing is, Jesus is in the process of repairing the distortions. He gives me power to not give in to lust, even though it feels really strong at times. He can give you that same power. And someday, when he comes back, everything sad and broken will finally be undone.”

Then I’d say, “You know what? We’ll keep talking about this, but right now, let’s go get ice cream.”

The purpose of this post is to prove false the following conclusion about knowing God: That the supernatural truth of God is so different from human truth that they do not coincide at a single point and not even omnipotence has the power to express it in human language; therefore the words, and the concepts are mere pointers to an unknowable object.

The following is a very focused objection to dialectical theologians who emphasize the infinite tensions, paradoxes, and basic ambiguities inherent in Christian existence (dictionary.com). Although directed toward those dialectical theologians this type of philosophy has, however ambiguously, invaded the church and plagued it with a very deadly intellectual disease.

Post developed from page 52 and 53 of The Johannine Logos, by G.H. Clark.

“Whoever receives his (Jesus’) testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he (God) gives the Spirit without measure.”  - John 3:33-34 ESV

In the science of Logic there is a distinction made between sentences and propositions. A proposition is the thought symbolized; the sentence is the symbol.

“Es regent”, “il pleut”, and “it is raining”, are three sentences, but they are one proposition. Any one of the three is a satisfactory symbol of the thought.

In the verses above (John 3:33-34) one notices that the emphasis is on truth. God is truthful. Therefore the divine Words/Thoughts/Wisdom/Logic (Logoi) of God are true, and the Son, who speaks those words, does so because God has given him the Spirit without limit. Here, the spoken words of Jesus, cannot be put on any level lower than the divine Logoi- divine Words, divine Thought, divine Wisdom, divine Logic. The proposition (the Word or Words of God) and the symbol (the audible spoken word of Jesus) are of one essence, divine.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.  - John 1:1 

The Word became flesh and dwelt among men.  - John 1:14

-FullTulip

All lyrics are unofficial. Just a quick lay down of what I heard. If you have a different take or feel the song post up! Best track Iv’e heard in a while… All rights to Humble Beast. Great hip hop artists and also everything is free so check that out and promote it. — @HumbleBeast —  @Th3oryHazit

-Chorus-

Being deceived by the father of lies

Doing things, slowly losing your life

First it was water. It’ll be fire next time

but it’s your life

-Verse 1-

Dear God,

Lord forgive us for following ways of Satan

Knowing he’s the father of lies and imitation

Deception, got us sightless

like when the pepper spray the eye

While we selling souls he fronts like he’s saving lives

and the only time we pray to you is when we facing odds

and even then it’s all bad because we blaming you.

We fall short of your glory, our cultures, our family, we even lie to ourselves and try to make it true.

Empty and afraid we aim to fix it by covering up mistakes and take it to the grave.

Lost in our own song lookin’ for the hook

let the cross be the bridge it’s your life that you gave

Playin’ with fire like Hell is a game

all people from all religions will be yellin’ your name

With their last breath fully aware with their half-step

Daredevils have become blind like Ben Affleck

We should be past that though…

-V2-

Sometimes I hear voices in my head they keep callin’ me

My mind plays tricks daily I feel like trouble follows me

Watchin what I’m tweetin’ is it God or is it demons

I’m caught between cops and fiegns, cut shots and scenes

of my own team plottin’ and scheming’ it’s like I’m on Elm Street and Freddy caught me street dreamin

Tryin’ to sleep away evil my reality is illegal transaction

trespassin’, Bill Paxton

Veil over my eyes man these cracked sails are produced by a tale told to most black males

Low self-esteem make me selfish full of greed as the devil succeeds by embellishing’ the peace

repeatedly fallin’ for traps

intrigued by the hustle I see through the struggle

????? is I’m seekin’ rebuttal

Now, countin’ my blessings I’ve had my share of losses I can see the devil for miles away when he’s walking – carrying double crosses…

Powerful lyrics and one of my favorite tracks of all time.

~Chris

Chris

This is the introduction – pt.1 – I highly recommend watching this and then watching part two afterward. He really gets into the topic in the 2nd one, but the intro he sets up for it is much needed for this kind of sensitive topic.

Pt.1

Pt.2

Reformed – For His Glory                     

Ep.6 Taking All Thoughts Captive Pt.2

Some say that God learned something about Abraham. In that God did not know in some sense the outcome of his command to Abraham to go sacrifice Isaac, Abraham’s son.

- Genesis 22:12

• English Standard Version (©2001)
  He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
• New American Standard Bible (©1995)
  He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”

A typical response to this verse might be: ”maybe God is so sovereign that He elected not to know?” So in light of this they are saying that God actually learned something… Think about that for a minute.

I have never felt right about this interpretation. I believe this is one of those slippery slopes that if we walk on there is no telling where we are going to end up. Likewise, with scripture. If we let assumptions creep in for interpretation, we can start doing this in other places and things can start to get out of control, and we can find ourselves very confused and frustrated, or content and assured by our assumptions.

I was listening to a teaching by John Robbins who is a student of Gordon H. Clark, and he mentioned this very verse (Gen 22:12), and to my surprise he stated that it, and many others like it, with a face value reading, would seem that God was looking down, as if to learn something. I’ve heard this before in passing but never payed attention to it until now. He said that this is what is called anthropomorphic language. I thought, man, I wonder what that means?? So I looked it up. And here’s what I found:

Anthropomorphic  – [an-thruh-puh-mawr-fik]
-adjective-
1. ascribing human form or attributes to a being or thing not human, especially to a deity.
2. resembling or made to resemble a human form: an anthropomorphic carving.

Wow you know what that means? The price is wrong Bob! God does know everything.

- 1John3:20

• English Standard Version (©2001) - for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
• New American Standard Bible (©1995) - in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

Please post some comments up if you have a view on this! This is just a thought provoking quick post, so feel free to do so!

I tell you something else about this verse that’s interesting and kind of beside the point, but nonetheless interesting… When God said, “you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” Didn’t Abraham have two sons?

• Romans 9:7  “…and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
  8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

- Just a thought I had while I was eating my lunch today.

On a side note I would highly suggest going through Israelology With Jim and the Folks at GCA – www.salvationbygrace.org - And you can be a Jimite too! Great Bible teacher that really loves the word! In the archives section look for the Romans teachings and go through that. There is a section on israelology that is the best. He also has a teaching called “Romans Israelology” that is separate from the above. It’s a sub section within the Romans teachings….. Start with the History of Israel it will blow your mind!

Peace,

Brian

I tried to get as much as I could. If you got where the question marks are feel free to comment and help out… I just sat down and tried to get these lyrics down. I think this is def one of the best on the whole album… Big thanks to @AlexJohnson116 for posting some lines I couldn’t get!

Verse 1- Propaganda

Slang came from a land were they suffer from the effects of depravity like gang bangin’ and earthquakes.

Most famous no namers split a brain and plant a taste for the (King of kings?) I know it’s a strange concept.

Pedalin’ redemption boy what more can I say make me and Le-crae been trying to make Him famous since nine (tray?)

Fillin’ these 58′s with phrases that would deem us unfit to suck seed among these heathens.

It’s so crucial in the belly of the crucible that you would understand that stage like your morning (candle?)

It’s handin’ out cancer that’s why fame was never the aim and the back is the front – homie left side up!

That’s a concept

Misconception

Those deadly habits have me losin’ my cool…

It’s what your frame of mind has chosen.

I’ll leave your brain stimulated…

V2- Braille

So many mis…conceptions- missin’ the mark- mis-directed- drivin’ wreck- listen agressive

fueled by our false perceptions- our methods need corrections-

spittin venom in their face and violate the ones we should protect it’s an attempt to motivate

neglect our obligations place the blame on someone else point out the flaws in other people and take the focus off ourselves

Those who have an abused – view leadership as illegitimate so they don’t think it’s necessary to play by the rules or submit

They see authority as nothin’ more than a power-trip – they don’t want to be plugged into it

They’d rather see that power stripped – get it? Power strip… It’s unfortunate

disproportionate the door is wide open for false teachers to twist the truth and distort it

No examples left to follow left to automize actin’ foolish but can’t see it so we’re wise in our own eyes

The life and crucifixion of Christ is a beautiful depiction of service and submission – within a leadership position

V3- Odd Thomas

You probably have it all figured out, right? Like your the type that believes that if you act right then that just might make you righteous in God’s sight

You’ve been a really good person, you followed the good book as much as you could, you probably didn’t go to church as much as you should, but it’s all good

I mean you never really killed anybody, never really steal from anybody, you never lusted much, or did much, touching of any bodies.

You never use the Lord’s name in vain, and you respect you neighbor, you try to maintain peace, love your enemies and not hold on to anger

You really believe that you could receive God’s favor by your good deeds and right behavior

But your dead in your transgressions and need a savior

Cause you could never win God’s approval with the removal of sinful discretions – your righteous acts of removing God’s wrath is in fact the biggest misconception…

V4- Lecrae

Since my conception iv’e been riddled with deception

Televised lies devised to lead a blind insurrection

Against the resurrection —- and the greatest misconception the world believes the Christian is foolish without direction.

And they knock it they knock it but what does it profit a prophet to be socially ostracizing no we (they?) aint stoppin’ the mocking

But if there is anything I can do to raise the stock in the market for a Biblical worldview then there’s no longer an option

Here with the humble beast, aint no subtleties, aint no tongue cheek, this is what I mean, they don’t understand anything about the faith I believe, and they want to belittle me

But it’s cool though. They just know the pseudo, the fake faith, the false one, the western god that’s man made, not the Biblical Awesome

Toss em’ – Pick up the Reasons for God by Timothy Keller and read it, there is a God you should believe it and his name is Jesus…

That’s all I got… Probably the best song on the album if you ask me… if you got some info don’t hesitate to comment.

Peace,

@FullTulip

• “Yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture:
         “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
           a cornerstone chosen and precious,
           and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
  (1 Peter 2:5-6 ESV) 
• “…so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
  (Romans 12:5-6 ESV)

Adam and Christ in one body?

There are a few aspects of what it means to be “being built up” in Christ that I want to cover.

First, I want to ask what does it mean to be built up in Christ? It seems like an abstract concept that is very non-palpable. I believe that most Christians live in this sense of non-palpability and become content with not pursing their “growing in Christ” and therefore their growing with other believers as the body of Christ further. I want to stress the importance of what this means; we cannot effectually grow as an individual Christian and also together as the body if we have not somewhat grasped the concept of actually growing in Christ- “living stones” as 1 Peter says.

• “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
    (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV)

The way I look at this is from the verse above. To have union with Christ, to grow as a Christian, and to thrive in your personal union with him, one must consider and see what it is to “become the righteousness of God.”

New Life

Being made knew as the verse above tells us, we must consider the reality of what has become old, and not only old, but dead and worthless. 

• “The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
  (2Corin 5:17 ESV) 
• “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
    (Colossians 3:1-4 ESV) 

Being in Christ:

“you have been raised with Christ
so set your minds
on the things that are above; 
for you have died,
and your life is hidden with Christ in God;
when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will apear with him in glory.”

• Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
   
  Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.
  (Philippians 3:8-16 ESV)

We are becoming the righteousness of God because we have attained the upward call of God. By faith we have access to the Father, personal union with Christ and growth as the body of Christ, all this because Jesus has made us his own. “Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

This was just a quick brainstrom on these subjects… If you have something to add I would love to hear!

Thanks for reading,

Chris

Symptoms include: high fever that results in delirious incoherence of thought and speech; vomiting spasms brought on when anyone mentions “free will” or “asking Jesus into their heart” or the dreaded philosophy of Jacob Arminius; restlessness, especially during church services, when the sufferer goes more than an hour without hearing the TULIP’s five bells ringing in their ears; and diahrrea of the mouth, where uncontrollable spasms of verbal nonsense put everyone within earshot at risk.

The recommended treatment is complete isolation, restriction of movement and speech, until the symptoms pass. Unfortunately, this treatment is rarely sought by the afflicted person, so family and friends are often left to suffer silently. The only person who can reach the cage stage victim is a more experienced Calvinist, because the victim’s state of mind does not permit trust in any others. Please DO NOT attempt intervention without consulting an expert.

I trust this tongue-in-cheek definition will be helpful, leading to the early detection, treatment, and cure of this serious illness. As for myself, I do believe that there is life after Calvinism. It might be encouraging to hear from those who have recovered from the cage stage or those who have been able to help others through this personal crisis.

I can only say so much to convince someone of truth. If you are not a Christian I hope you are convicted of your rebellion against God and will pursue repentance from your rebellion and believe on Jesus for salvation. Yeah those are harsh words, but this is a Biblically driven site- go here for our philosophy on that. - it’s actually good news believe it or not.

“…and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” Luke 24:47

And now on to the heart of the matter. Now that we have laid a foundation of utter dependence on Christ we can move on. This next part will be quick.

What Are You Striving For?

If you claim to be a Christian I hope and pray that you (we), I include myself in this, would never move past what it means to be called by God and to stand in awe as we learn about Him in his word. If you cannot find any passion in your heart for what I am laying down here, I pray that you would soon realize what it means to be called by the creator of all the Universe- The God of all- The Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am sure that most people can muster up some sort of awe in that God would call them to be saved, into action, to follow him, etc…

Jesus said, “Follow me.” Matt 4:19

This is a huge statement and it has eternal ramifications- so we need not trivialize what it means to follow Jesus. It is a life long journey. We need hearts cultivated by God’s word to even begin to have a passion for this. Pick your Bible up and read it.

What are you striving for? Facebook, Twitter, music, Tv, work, family, sex, drugs, rock n roll, etc, etc…. We all are guilty of letting these things take presedence over God and his word- “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

Take some time to read your Bible and contemplate those things that you obsessivly consume other than God’s word on a daily basis- those things that do not lead you to Christ. If it is, which all sin is, perverted sin, I hope the Holy Spirit drop kicks you right in the face, and gives you a heart for God and not your lusts and twisted passions. Also, like watching waaaaay to much TV, it keeps you from learning and teaching others about God’s word. We have to see the detriment of our souls in pursuing ourselves. Thats all I am saying. I am not calling any one person out, I am calling us all out. We all fall short of the glory of God. We all must pursue repentance from self-fulfilling endeavors and pray that God will give us a new found passion for his word and a new awe for what it means to follow Jesus.

Cultivate in your daily life a dependance for God’s word, and follow Jesus. As a Christian you need Jesus, not your self- “…faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17

For those who are not Christians, well, I hope you are convicted by God’s word and repent and believe on Jesus for salvation. It is the only way, for Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Believe the good news, believe on Jesus constantly, feed on God’s word. Your pursuits will not be in vain.

In Christ and for his glory,

Chris

What is your only comfort in life and death? —  ”That I am not my own, but belong body and soul,
in life and in death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

What is grace but that of the blood of Jesus pouring down to cover your sin.

Just wanted to remind you that you have no grounds to stand before the Father on your own merit. That’s what the righteousness of Christ is for- So flee yourself! — Salvation is Justification by faith alone in Christ alone, by Christ’s work alone- The life, death and resurrection of Jesus… Never forget that it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of your own doing- it is a gift from God. Run from self-dependence and turn to Christ for salvation and perseverance. Just a friendly reminder… :)

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(Php 3:7-16)

“… But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained…”

In Christ,

Chris

2 Timothy 4:1-5

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For 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, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵ As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones was a preacher of preachers.

This brilliant expositor of the 20^th century faithfully filled the pulpit of Westminster Chapel in London for many years. While lecturing on preaching at Westminster Theological seminary He stated the following statement that is perhaps even more relevant today than ever before.

“The most urgent need in the Christian church today is true preaching; and as it is the greatest and most urgent need in the Church, it is the greatest need of the world also”. 

“True preaching” is biblical preaching and biblical preaching is the faithful and accurate exposition of the Word of God. Nothing more, nothing less.

True preaching doesn’t duck and dodge certain texts.

True preaching is committed to “The Lord said…”.

True preaching is preaching with confidence in the transformational power of the Word.

True preaching is committed to preaching The Gospel as the “power of God unto salvation”.

Calvin wrote of preaching:

“Preaching is the public exposition of Scripture by the man sent from God, in which God Himself is present in judgment and in grace”.

Whew. 

But we must remember; the preaching of the Gospel is not some half-hearted religious exercise meant to entertain and amuse. This Gospel is a living-breathing force and movement of God that is meant to burst out of our local pulpits week-in and week-out and then continue to flow out into our congregations and then into our communities. From there, commissioned by and empowered with the power of the Gospel, we go forward into all four corners of the World with the transformational power of  Jesus on full display and proclaimed for all to hear!

The Urgency of The Gospel 

Romans 10:14

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

Can you almost feel the aching of Paul’s heart for the Gospel message to go forward from this verse? He is longing for its proclamation and the ensuing transformation of those that will hear and be saved by God.

This is the question: Do you long for the Gospel to be heard?

Almost 7000 people groups have yet to hear the Gospel.

That equates too roughly: 2.9 BILLION people according to the Joshua Project.

Preachers, ministers, missionaries, and all believers who have been saved by the grace of God: Will we heed the call to proclaim the Gospel to every living creature? (Mark 16:15)

Romans 1:16

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Will we rise up and plant churches that will faithfully preach and teach the Word here locally?

Will we go to the Ends of the Earth, fearlessly proclaiming the Gospel that is the “power of God unto salvation”?

Are we ashamed of the Gospel? Or, do we REALLY believe that the Gospel message really and truly is “the power of God”?

If we DO believe in the power of the Gospel my question is this: Why would we want to proclaim anything else? Why would we live for any lesser calling?

Let’s get to work brothers and sisters!

This is our call. This is our command: Preach the Word.

Chad Williams

http://www.resurgingreformation.com/

If your arrogant and you know it clap your hands….. If your arrogant and you know it clap your hands…… If your arrogant and you know it, then your words will surely show it, if your arrogant InYourPursuitOfGod’sWordInTheBibleWhichYouClaimIsAbsoluteTruth and you know it clap your hands…….

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing that I come up with things like that, it just happens… If I don’t act on some of my ideas I’m scared that I will eventually turn into a bitter old man, telling people how stupid I think they are for operating on extra-Biblical thinking while in my arrogance, uplifting my OWN nobility, of which is extra-Biblical… It’s a curse. Bare with me as I ramble.

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“Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.”
-Buddha

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.”
-Buddha

Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Acts 17:11

Our purpose here at Full Tulip is not to claim nobility in our pursuit for truth. We are a couple of wretches that have been brought to understand God’s word and have a passion for it. There is no self-acclaimed nobility in that, at least from our perspective anyways. The last thing we want is for people to think that we are a few self-acclaimed, Bible thumping smart-alecks… Though we sometimes have the tendency to have a smart mouth, we try to speak with as much humility as humanly possible. It’s hard… because we are indeed human…

The Bible is intentional in making it very clear that own your own, you are a wretch, your neighbour is a wretch, and so is your well-meaning white knuckled, (seemingly) morally sufficient, self-opinionated therapeutic diest Whoever- no offense. So neither you nor anyone else you know can claim “nobility”, much less an attitude of arrogance, based on your or their own actions, will, understanding, morality, passion, or anything else in pursuing truth. It’s a basic principle that may come across as arrogant, but we strive to speak what the Bible says, not what we feel. It’s actually more arrogant to derive your own opinions about what the Bible says apart from accepting what it actually says, and then, to top it off, accuse the people who accept what it says as harsh and offensive… It may very well be offensive… The advocate and teacher of Scripture should ALWAYS remove himself and his frustrations out of the picture and speak God’s truth and gospel objectively. That way the offended will stand against the gospel and God’s truth instead of standing against the arrogant dude with the Bible. Accurate judgment hurts, always. We are a broken people who have self-exalting pride. Only the gospel and truth of God revealed in the Bible has authority to crush that pride, not me, and especially not my arrogance.

This is a gospel centered, Biblically driven website. I would recommend not expecting anything other than conversations about what Scripture clearly says… Nothing more nothing less. Yes sometimes we all let our pride get in the way and get all fired up, but we make a conscious effort to strive in our pursuit for truth with all humility. When you go to Youtube what do you expect? Videos. When you login to Facebook what do you expect? Exactly… Status updates… When you visit FullTulip.com what do you expect? I’m not sure, but we love to talk about Scripture… Audible Scriptural musings I suppose…

Thanks for supporting our efforts~!,

We the people @FullTulip

Ep. 5 Bringing All Thoughts Captive – Pt. 1

                                                                                                                                           Exodus 15:11

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

I am convinced that the highest possible view of God is the only biblical view of God.

Now, I realize that it is impossible to have a view of God that is “high enough”. After all we are finite and I Am is infinite. We can only grasp that which God has made “graspable”. In short; we can only know about God what He has chosen to reveal about Himself to us.

One of God’s attributes that is emphasized throughout Scripture is the total and terrifying “Otherness” of God.

There is simply nothing else like Him. No other “gods” compare. And He wants us to know it.

Unlike Other “gods”

    The altogether otherness of the God of the Bible is staggering in and of itself, but when we consider the nature and character of other gods worshipped in ancient times we find the differences are infinite. In his brilliant book: God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment, James Hamilton compares and contrasts the creation accounts of the ancient Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek creation myths with the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2. He writes:

“When compared with the other ancient creation accounts, the Genesis narrative is remarkable for its presentation of the purity and power of Yahweh.”

Dr. Hamilton spends the next section of his book describing the details of these pagan creation accounts. Each account depicts a collection of human-like gods, each in conflict with each other and creating the Earth out of a series of sexual relationships and violent interaction amongst themselves. He summarizes these gods:

“Seen against the backdrop of these perverse and brutal accounts, Genesis presents Yahweh in sovereign, dignified majesty speaking the universe into existence. No conflict and sexual perversion is to be found in Genesis 1. Yahweh needs no rival gods out of which He makes either the world or human beings. Instead, Yahweh does as He pleases, bringing creation into existence by His powerful word. The description of creation is orderly; key phrases are repeated with a regular, but uneven rhythm, such as “and God said”, “and it was so”.

This is the God we serve. A God whose name is a statement of self-existence: I Am.

We must proclaim the God of the Bible. We must cling to His otherness as God has proclaimed Himself in His Word:

Isaiah 45:5-7

 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
 I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the Lord, who does all these things.

 Here we find the ultimate purpose of God’s self-revelation: His glory proclaimed by His people! It is God Himself who desires that those “from the rising of the sun and from the west” know that there is “none beside Him”.

This is our message to the World: There is none like Him.

CHAD WILLIAMS – resurgingreformation.blogspot.com

Chris Fincher

Zombies and Wretches and Worms OH MY! ep.4

You Can’t Handle The Truth Ep.3

Calvinism Parody Music Intro

It’s important to consider these things… Don’t be deceived into believing that in-depth matters of theology don’t apply to you because they do. It doesn’t matter how much you don’t think they do, or how much someone has convinced you that they don’t. Matters of theology are your greatest responsibilities… Do you know God? If you say yes then take the time to dig in to Scripture and study about the God that you say you know.

I wonder who Jesus was thinking about when he was hanging on the cross, bearing the wrath of God? Was it the elect body or people of God, or was it the whole world, i.e. every person that has ever walked and will walk on the face of the planet from all times past, present and future? Was he making salvation a sure deal to all those who would ever believe, or did he also pay for the sin of those who would never believe? If the latter is true I want to know how God has personal love for a person but never brings them to salvation? Is God’s love not effectual? Think about it.

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 guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
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.
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.

Isaiah 53:10-12

I have studied the Scriptures for a while now and at one point I was the guy that would fight you over the five points of the TULIP. I like what Marc Driscoll said though, “it’s like most new reformed Christians just need to be locked in a cage for a while… Kind of like a period of going through puberty… all they want to do is debate and fight over the sovereignty of God and the five point TULIP.” I know first hand why he said this. I couldn’t even hold a conversation with someone without getting into a debate over election or predestination. But a lot of time has passed since then and Iv’e grown up a little, got a wife, bout to have a kid, and have learned that life is much heavier than a debate, and our first priority is to love people truthfully and Biblically with a gospel centered approach, not debate what we claim to be their ignorance.

I have learned that people are stubborn (myself included) and we don’t want to be told anything. Well, sometimes we do but most times we just don’t want to hear anything apart from what we think is right. Sometimes though if you have somebody arrogantly ranting and raving over something that obviously isn’t true I think you should humbly light into him with the truth of Scripture. When talking with folks about these kinds of things I think to agree to disagree is an okay ground to rest on, but healthy discussion should ALWAYS be an option for all Christians. Especially when discussing Scripture.

What I like to focus on in those types of conversations is not the five points of Calvinism; but the gospel, in particular the atonement of Jesus. What did He accomplish on the cross. Who did he have in mind, who exactly was justified, just like the Scripture says “He was risen because of our Justification.” Romans 4:25 — Yeah, it matters who was justified.

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” John 6:37

Did Jesus die for a person, or a potential person? The answer to this question will be cataclysmic in your view of the purpose in the atonement and what it means and what it means to be loved by God. And I think it’s very important to consider the implications of every Christian view and if it wholly lines of with Scripture. The Scriptures are clear; it is men who misconstrue them, whether it be a Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, or any other denomination you can think of…

“⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. ¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. ¹¹ And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5: 8-11

Consider and study Scripture, it is the sword of the Spirit.

“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Heb 4:12

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” John 8:57

Blue Collar Theology Ep. 2

Listen or download podcast in iTunes

Institutes - Christian Religion- Calvin: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/classics/calvin/institutes.shtml

All of Grace- Spurgeon: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/classics/allofgrace.html

Original Sin- J. Edwards: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/classics/jonathanedwards/original_sin.shtml

On the Christian Life- Calvin: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/classics/calvin.html

Pilgrims Progress- John Bunyan: http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/classics/pilgrims_progress.html

Thank you,

Brian and Chris

 The Ramble – All Things Full Tulip – Episode 1

Direct iTunes Link- http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/full-tulip-podcast-christian/id509892187 - Please give some feed back on our first blog!

Thanks for tuning in!

Please give some feedback. All is welcome!

Thanks,

Brian and Chris 

Full Tulip Dot Com

John 15:18 -“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” 

An important question is why would someone hate Jesus? Though most people will say, “oh yeah, he was a good teacher.”, or “yeah, he taught about love and peace.”, when you mention Jesus being the Way the Truth and the Life people literally hate it and will try to fight you, or kill you depending on what country your in. I understand why they are offended. The Christian claims an absolute truth that pretty much says to the offended one, everything you think you know is subservient to the truth of God in Christ Jesus, revealed to us in the Scriptures, so please shut your mouth, you speak lies. Now, I would never say that nor do I think that everything that is not Christian is false, but it’s in that tone where one is offended by the Truth of God. Yeah it can be abrasive, and we should speak the truth humbly, but the Scriptures speak the truth of God and so should we.

So do you read the Scriptures ready to learn the revealed truth of God? Can you make it more than one page without getting frustrated or filled with anger or hate? Can you lift your eyes to the cross and not turn away from the Savior, but kneel in the obedience of faith to his work alone for you?

Through faith in the gospel of Jesus, the dieing and raising from the dead, bringing us redemption and justification before God, we recieve the Holy Spirit being brought to new life by a regenerated heart, by the hand of God.

Just some thoughts to either offend you, provoke you to think, or to agree with you.

“Whoever believes in me shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Jesus – John 3:16

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” Jesus – John 8:51

Brian and Chris