Here's a Fun Surprise

And that surprise is....there are still a few non-violent, non-disobedient options open to us as American citizens that have the potential teeth in their heads to really beat back the encroaching tyranny that is taking over this Obamanation.

Read about them here.

Then come back and let me know what you think.

Note: I said the options didn't involve violence or law-breaking. I didn't say I could really see them being exercised, although I'd love it.

An Illustration of the Ordo *

We affirm loudly that salvation is by grace alone, and that there is nothing a sinner can do to earn it. You can't perform some task, or series of tasks, to insure your salvation. Christ has done it all.

Okay, so then the argument sometimes comes at us like this:

"Oh yeah? I've heard you say a million times that a sinner has to trust in Christ and turn from his sins in order to be saved. Sure sounds to me like you think there's a couple of tasks there that a sinner must do to insure his salvation! So you don't really believe sola gratia, grace alone, do you? You believe in salvation through repentance and faith."

Well, no, that's not right, but I can see how you might need the process to be explained to you a bit more fully. Try this illustration:

Let's say I buy my college-bound girl a car. She's not been employed at a job for a day in her life. Never earned a single penny of legitimate income. She doesn't contribute a slim dime to the purchase of the car. I do that for her. I do it because of a small host of motivations within me.

When I spring the suprise on her, and hand her the keys, I expect that she will react in a certain way. Specifically, I expect her to be very excited. Ecstatic, even. And, it might be nice if she was genuinely thankful and promised to drive defensively and all that.

Let's say that she does all those things, in spades. She has done what was appropriate, considering the news and the gift she's been given.

But, here's the crucial part: Her good reaction does nothing to pay for the car. That bill will still come addressed to me. My anticipation of her reaction is not why I bought the car, either. I knew we, as a family, needed the car, and she especially needed reliable transportation to school and back.

Now, like all analogies, this one can be stretched too far, or in an illegitimate direction. But the point is, as touching the original argument, this is much like the relationship of faith and repentance to evangelical, saving grace.

When you respond appropriately to the news of salvation in Christ's work on your behalf, you do not thereby add anything to the merit of His sacrifice and resurrection. Your faith and repentance do not contribue a whit to His payment of your debt. And, they are not the reason He decided to pay it.

Your appropriate response to the Gospel is just that, a response. Faith and repentance result organically from the work of Christ in your life, not the other way around. Just like my daughter's thankfulness.

---------------------
* What's the Ordo? Wasn't he that shape-shifter from Deep Space Nine?

No, the Ordo spoken of here is the Ordo Salutis, or the Order of Salvation. It refers to the attempt to specify which acts and events in a man's salvation come first, and in order to the last. The illustration is meant to show how we can believe that faith and repentance are necessary if a man is to be saved, while at the same time affirming that they contribute nothing to his salvation. Salvation is of the Lord!

On Giving Your Testimony, part 1

One tradition that has developed especially in conservative Baptist circles, is that of Testimony Night. It's customary on that occassion for folks who are not normally preachers or teachers, or even pulic speakers, to rise and "give their testimony." The theory is that as we come together to share "what Christ has done for me" then this re-telling of our individual conversion story serves as a vehicle for spreading the Gospel. Meaning, when people hear our testimony, and how Jesus came and set us free, they themselves will be induced to be converted to faith in Christ.

Before we begin to analyze this practice of "testifying" in the light of the Scripture, let me say at the outset that I absolutely love hearing the stories of how people came to saving faith. I find it terribly thrilling and encouraging. In fact, my favorite Christian radio program ever is one that we heard routinely when we lived in Idaho, but sadly have not been able to find again since. It was called "Unshackled," and the concept was to create radio theater, complete with actors and sound effects, to dramatize real-life conversion stories.

I find that each conversion story from a genuine believer is like a fingerprint that says, "God has been here." Conversion stories (done rightly, as we'll discuss below) are like snowflakes. At one time, they are uniquely individual, and yet they share enough in common that they are all unified in kind. Each snowflake differs from snowflake, but they're all easily recognizable as snowflakes. There are common elements that demand we group them together.

What gets me thinking about Testimony Night specifically these days is the sad, nay, frankly depressing, story of Ergun Caner, the former President of Liberty University, a Southern Baptist seminary that has enjoyed something like celebrity status since its founding by the late Moral Majority honcho, Dr. Jerry Falwell. I will not go into details of the story here, but any internet search will make these available to you instantly.

Basically, the incontrovertible evidence is that Ergun Caner invented a fictional former life for himself, for the apparent purpose of making his own conversion story seem more robustly dramatic. This is reminiscent of the case of Mike Warnke back in the 80's. Warnke made a name for himself, and raked in quite a load of cash along the way, by also inventing a conversion story. Warnke spun a tale that had him completely immersed in the shadowy, enigmatic world of secret Satanic occultism and witchcraft. His mythology was eventually uncovered, and the name of Mike Warnke is now only invoked as the modern model of the Hyper-Inflated Testimony. When somebody invents an outlandish "back story" for the purpose of duly impressing folks on Testimony Night, they're doing what Warnke did. And now, they're doing what Ergun Caner has done. Warnke falsely claimed to be Satanist. Caner has claimed (but only after the events of 9/11, note well) that he came to America as a teenager, having been fully trained as a muslim Jihadist, and prepared to prosecute acts of terror on American soil. All of which is patently false. He came to America at the age of 3, and though his non-custodial father did his best to raise Ergun and his brothers as muslims, the evidence is that they actually lived pretty normal, boring American lives in Ohio.

Why would a man do this, invent this sort of story? I think the answer is pretty easy. Within the Christian world, an exciting conversion story can take you places, if that's what you want. It can sell books, and get you invited to speak at conferences all over the place. It can even get you employed as the President of a seminary, in spite of the fact that you may demonstrate merely the most tenuous grasp on Bible doctrine.

But we do this. We, Christians, who enjoy Testimony Night and find conversion stories rightly thrilling and inspiring. We set this environment in place. We make it possible, and even easy, for a charlatan to come up with a piece of pulse-pounding fiction and get fame and fortune for his trouble.

Now, having said all of that, I repeat: I love hearing conversion stories!

But here is where we have gone wrong. We have lost sight of the true miracle it is, when God turns the heart of any sinner to repent of their sins and trust in Him. That's become commonplace and frankly boring to us. And the reason for that, demands a whole 'nother post; but, it hinges on the Evangelical obsession with the lie of Decisional Regeneration. We have dumbed down the Gospel so much, and found so many ways to manipulate and steer our listeners, that getting people to make a decision for Jesus is no miracle at all. Deciding for Christ is no longer a case of a rebellious, poisonous God-hating heart being miraculously raised to new life: it's about convincing this rebel that he can have Jesus (or, really, all the benefits of Jesus) without inconvenient things like genuine repentance getting in the way; and, having raised his hand during the Revival Meeting, may walk out of said meeting completely unchanged, and yet completely assured of a glorious eternal life in heaven.

"Getting saved" has become an anti-climactic event in many Evangelical circles, therefore. So we look for something more, something that still has the power to thrill and entertain us. Satanic High Priest, you say? Wow! That's great! Childhood victim of Ritual Satanic Abuse? Marvelous! Mafia enforcer? Cool! Former Presidential cabinet member, privvy to the inner workings of government? Nice. Islamic radical bent on destroying America! Well, praise God!

We see this sort of thing on a smaller scale in our own, local Testimony Nights. Hopefully no one's making things up, of course, but still, you find many Christians who are convinced their testimony is too boring to share with anyone. They were pretty normal before Jesus saved them. Or, they were even a goody-two-shoes. How lame!

We have come to despise the miracle of being Born Again through the sovereign grace of God in Christ.

Brethren in Chains

Dr. James Galyon is an internet friend of mine, and a chaplain in the US military. He is always rightly concerned about the persecution of Christians worldwide.  He has three short articles up on his blog today. Here is the latest. You ought to read it and the two that came just before it.

We like to think that we are radical, counter-culture Christians because of our bumper-stickers; and we fail to share our faith because we'd hate for people to think that we are some sort of religious fanatics. Your brothers and sisters around the world are being harassed, raped, sold into slavery, and executed for no reason other than their faith in Jesus Christ. Please pray for them...and for us.

Because I Said So, That's Why

In this insightful post at the Pyro blog, Dan P. makes the point that everyone believes in innerrancy, in some form or other.

Okay, we probably need to define that. He means that everyone, not just Bible believers, holds onto something at the very base of everything he or she believes, and ascribes to that something supreme authority, and the perfect ability to determine right and wrong, or decide spiritual truth, etc.

We believe in Biblical Inerrancy. For us, we put that right and authority on the Word of God, and that's that.

But folks who don't believe the Bible, still ultimately appeal to some ultimate source of authority, which source they trust implicitly.

This is very much the sort of thing I've been discussing with our youth in Sunday School. We've been learning how to analyze arguments logically; how to spot logical errors, etc.

One of things I've been trying to show them is that everyone appeals to something, and they do so even before they being to look at the "evidence." That's right. Your source of authority is what it is because you say that it is. And that fact lies at the very base of everything else that we think, especially when we start thinking spiritually or morally.

The Bible is my source of authority.

You ask, Why?

I say, Because it's always right.

That's circular reasoning! you exclaim.

Okay, fine with me. Now, if you'll just realize that your own source of ultimate authority is that source for you in precisely the same way, then maybe we can talk.

You presuppose, that is, regard as true before the evidence is considered, that your brain functions reliably and correctly; or that your senses tell you the truth; or that your mom and dad were right; or that the church you've always belonged to is right; or, that the high-priests of modern science are always right; or, a multitude of other whatevers. And the reason you believe that? Because you do. You assume. It has not been proved, but you trust your source to always tell you the truth, regardless. And then, even when they fail, you're willing to overlook that and move on.

We are a Calvinistic Church? Huh?

You don't have to be a Christian for very long before you start bumping up against ideas like Calvinism and Arminianism. For a lot of folks, the issues involved either seem too complex to devote any time to, or else they seem irrelevant to anything. Both these ideas are wrong.

If you were not aware, Immanuel Baptist Church holds to the New Hampshire Baptist Confession of 1833. That means that we believe that document is an accurate summary of Bible teaching, and we require ministers to preach in accordance with it.

The New Hampshire Confession is a Calvinistic document. The Calvinism of our confession is very mildly stated: we're not out to argue with anybody about it; and we're not hoping to pick a fight about it, but we are willing to state it plainly and stand behind it.

If you are new to some of these issues, here is a short book review that presents an overview of the issues involved.

In addition, here is a link to a conference presentation by one of the best Bible scholars of our day, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, in which he provides a helpful background and overview for beginning to think about these things.

On Assurance

A big thanks to everyone who helped and ministered at the Ute Lake Camp Meeting last weekend. If I get time later, I have a few thoughts I'd like us to consider as we look forward already to next year's version.

In the meantime, here are some good words from Dan Phillips on the topic of Assurance. Do you know you're saved? Why? How? Or, maybe for some, Why Not?

The Chiastic Structure of Zechariah's Visions

The Greek letter Chi (rhymes with "eye") is represented with a character that looks like our English X.

One of the literary devices that the Bible uses repeatedly is referred to as a "chiasm," with reference again to that X. What is a chiasm, or a chiastic structure?

Basically, it is a word-picture that forms the X in terms of its structure and parallels. Often, it is a string of phrases or ideas that are structured so that the first is parallel to the last; then the second is paralllel to the next-to-last; and so on, until the parallels meet in the middle (so to speak.) Whatever that thing is that is at the middle, that is the idea that the writer is seeking to emphasis by employing this structure.

Chiastic structures are often pictured with the following sort of diagram:

1. Idea A
       2. Idea B
               3. Idea C
                      4. Central thought
               5. Idea C'
       6. Idea B'
7. Idea A'

You see how this forms one half of the X.

These chiasms are all over the place. I would contend that very few of them were deliberately created by the human author who wrote them. My bet is that they were unaware of this underlying structure that the Holy Spirit was installing in the text. When you are reading along in the Scripture and find repeated ideas in a short space of text, you might be dealing with a chiasm.

One example can be found in the eight "night visions" of Zechariah. I stumbled upon this when I was preparing our recent, single-night overview of this book. I am not aware of anyone else proposing this idea concerning these visions and their organization, but I would seriously doubt I am the first. I just don't have the right commentaries...:)

First, here is a very, very short summary of Zechariah's visions, which occupy the first half of his book.

1. (from 1:7-11) A vision of multi-colored horses among the myrtle trees, angelic entities who patrol the earth, making us mindful of the multi-colored four horsemen of the Revelation.

2. (Ch. 1, vv. 18-21) Four horns and four craftsmen. Horns being symbolic in scripture generally of human authority and power, these four are the empires which had historically harassed God's people up until this point. Probably Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, and Persia. God is judging these horns by means of the four craftsmen. My pick for best-guess about these is that they reference the coming Grecian empire, which split early in its history into four sub-kingdoms. The four perennial harrassers would find themselves put under the thumb of this coming empire.

3. (2:1-5) An angel measures Jerusalem with a measuring line, reminding of events in Revelation 11. This is the holding of God's people to a fixed standard of evaluation, and almost certainly has to do with comparing God's covenant people to the law of God, the Scripture.

4. (3:1-5) The high priest, Joshua, stands accused by Satan before the Lord. God in His grace commands that Joshua's filthy garments be replaced with new, clean attire, symbolizing the removing of his iniquity (3:4.)

5. (4:1-14) A complex vision, involving Zerubbabel, Joshua's "partner in ministry" at the time. Two olive trees represent them both, along with lampstand symbolism, pointing to the first 3 chapters of Revelation. (#4 and #5 feature these men functioning as proto-messiahs, if you will.)

6. (5:1-4) A flying scroll, containing God's judgments against sinners. Probably a reference to God's faithfulness to His own Scripture in dealing with His people.

7. (5:5-11) A woman in a basket, who is named Wickedness, is shipped off to the land of Babylon/Shinar, where she will evidently be enshrined and worshipped there. The wicked woman is an oft-repeated prophetic symbol for false and/or apostate religion, most famously appearing in Revelation 17-18. Whereas the "horn" of Babylon had long plagued the people militarily (as in #2 above), this woman is the more insidious Babylonian plague, in which the people are seduced into joining themselves to Babylonian religion and idolatry. God in His grace is removing her influence from His people, and transporting it to a more permanent home elsewhere.

8. (6:1-8) Four chariots (angelic or heavenly vehicles) carrying God's judgment, pulled by multi-colored horses.

Okay, I'm proposing that the thematic content of these four visions can be arranged chiastically, without unduly "stretching" anything for the sake of making it all fit. The chiasm would look like this:

A. Multi-colored horse/angels

        B. Dealing with the oppression of Babylon (among others)

                 C. Holding God's people to the standard of the Word

                           D. Joshua prefigures Jesus

                           D'. Zerubbabel prefigures Jesus

                 C'. God's Word judges sinners

         B'. Dealing with the oppression of spiritual Babylon

A'. Multi-colored horse/angels.


Now, if this seems reasonable, then we shouldn't stop there. We should find the "crux" idea that fits between D and D'.

I suggest that idea is found in the prophecy of Zechariah 3:7-10. I won't type it all out here (because my fingers are already hurting) but the text is a powerful promise of the coming BRANCH, the Servant of God, and the fact that God will, "remove the iniquity of that land in one day." (3:9) Jesus, the Messiah, is coming to deal once and for all with the sins of God's people. See the first half of the book of Hebrews if you need that explained to you.

Now it Oughta all Make Sense

I really liked this letter to Chuck Colson, whose testimony and whose founding of Prison Fellowship ministries have made him a sort of Christian statesman in modern Evangelicalism.

The writer does a better job than I can of expressing my own heart.

If you've wondered what it is that makes me tick as a pastor (and I know some of you have!) it is in this article. My passion and heart's desire is to do the very sort of work the writer is commending.

Kick-ball with the AntiChrist

This is not a church-y sort of post, not Bible-y either. I just need to voice a conspiratorial suspicion here.

Here's the thing. I am quite used to the Mainstream Media taking it upon themselves to tell me what to think. They routinely tell me how I should consider every event they report on. They tell me what I should think of every politician that crosses the stage. They tell me what movies and music I should like. They tell me whose private lives I should be interested in.

Okay. I get it. That's what they do. I'm used to it. I expect it.

But now, I really think they've gone too far.

Now, it seems they're trying to tell me which sports I should like. I mean,

What in the stinkin' world is with this huge push to try and force Americans to give a rat's behind about Soccer?

Frankly, I'll tell you, it's part of their overall nefarious scheme to de-nationalize the world and make us all one under the futbol-loving Antichrist.

Well, I for one am not going along with it. Count me as a Bible-reading, gun-owning, Constitution-loving Christian American who will not be led quietly into the dark night!

I count my extreme distaste and hatred of the coma-inducing boredom-fest that is soccer as a measure of my American patriotism.

No to the New World Order. No to the Bilderburgers. No to the Global Warming Fascists.

And no to Soccer, the most brainless team-sport ever invented. Heck, I'd rather watch Olympic Curling!

Rant complete. You will now be returned to your original program.

Oh....and P.S. Go Dallas Cowboys!

A Taxonomy of Idolatry

Zephaniah, chapter 1, lists several species of idolatry.

1. In 1:4 we have outright idolatry, the worship of false gods. Included here is specifically Baal. The worship of Baal was the ultimate in "seeker sensitive" worship. Everything the uninformed visitor might hope for: lots of wine, lots of grilled food, and, lest we forget, orgies.

We evangelicals don't set up statues and ritually fornicate in front of them. But that doesn't mean we are not idolators all the same.

Our churches are filled with folks who got their ideas about God from bumper stickers, and TV shows like "Touched By An Angel." (You don't believe in Providence? The Irish angel who always preached the false gospel at the end of the program was played by an actress named Roma! C'mon!!)

We haven't got carved images, but we have false images nonetheless, set up on their little stands in our brains. The most radical, threatening thing that could happen in some churches would be to have a guy stand up and actually read what the Bible says about the character and nature of God. Something like this would be a good start:

Psalms 5:5 "You hate all workers of iniquity."

What? Does that say what I think it said? Um, yes it does.

But I thought God hates sin and loves the sinner! An angel told me! Last Thursday at 7 PM.

What is called God in many, if not most, evangelical churches is a made-up notion, a fiction, a nice, sugary fairy story.

2. Then we have another species of idolatry, synchretism. Synchretism is the buffet-style approach to religion, where to take a little from here and a little from there.

In Zephaniah 1:5, this is seen in those who, "worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom."

We see this today in people who pick-and-choose which portions of the Bible they want to believe. Like buffet samplers. This here looks yummy, but this other stuff looks a bit questionable, so I'll leave it and move on. Oh, and don't get the yellow stuff whatever you do!

We see it in those who love Jesus, but don't want all the smart people they know to think that they are neanderthals, or snaggle-toothed snake-handling fundies, and so they also accept the pronouncements of the modern high-priests of Scientism, who assert based on nothing but faith that evolution is true and good.

3. Then we have another form of idolatry. In verse 6, it is Apostacy, or the "falling away" from the true faith.

"Those who have turned back from following the Lord." Etc, etc.

Of course, in the Southern Baptist world, we have no apostates. We only have sad instances of our failure to disciple genuine converts. (Please read the last two sentences aloud, with the heaviest possible inflection of sarcasm you can muster.)

Yes, we do believe that once you are saved, you cannot then be lost and going to hell again. However, salvation is not a Get Out of Hell Free Card that you can carry around with you in your back pocket, then whip it out in an emergency. It is a state that you live in, and are transformed in.

Ours in the SBC do in fact fall away. And they fall away at alarmingly high rates...I mean, rates over 90%. But when they fall away, when they apostasize from the faith, they are not losing something they once had: they are proving that they never had it. They were never saved to begin with.

4. The last species of Idolatry in Zephaniah 1 is Indifference or Apathy.

In 1:6, we hear of those who "have not sought the Lord, or inquired of Him."

They knew the true God...they just didn't care very much. And why not?

Because they were basically comfortable without Him. They weren't starving, they had clothes and houses and farms, they weren't under attack from foreign armies. Things were okay.

After a while, if your life doesn't completely far apart, even though you've never studied your Bible, or prayed very much, it's easy to get lulled into this sense that [speak with a whisper here] that stuff really doesn't matter a lot.

This is maybe the worst idolatry there is, where you know the truth and just couldn't care less. This is the lukewarmness that Jesus promises to spew from His mouth.

Don't let this be you. And if it is, repent of your gross idolatry and seek the Lord with your whole heart.

--------------

On the title of the post, What is Taxonomy?

Unballing my Fist

Doug Wilson nails it.....again.....in this article about how Christians are supposed to handle the little differences in scruples that we always seem to develop over issues that are not terribly important.

Pastor Wilson is so darn right about stuff all the time, it makes this ugly, prideful place inside of me want to punch a hole in something.

Bible Before CNN

Think back to the recent earthquake in Haiti. Do you remember the story of the 10 Baptists from Idaho who were arrested on charges of attempted kidnapping? They have all since been freed, with all charges against them dropped.

It seems that the news accounts that we were treated to in real-time as the story progressed were somewhat....ummm.....inaccurate? biased? calculated to make the Christians look like monsters? Take your pick, but they're all appropriate.

Here is the story from the Baptist Press, an interview with one of the folks who was involved.

The reason I'm posting this is because a couple days after their initial arrest, I was having lunch with a few local pastors, and one of them loudly proclaimed his disgust with the Baptist brethren involved. They obviously had no idea what they were doing. They were insensitive to local laws and customs. They were ignorant neophytes who had no business down there.

I was frankly shocked by this reaction. I said something to him like this (surely not a direct quote, but a summary,) "I think we need to wait a little bit. All we know is what the mainstream media is saying, and it's foolish to trust a single thing you hear from them. I mean, what kind of shape do you think the government is in down there in Haiti right now? I wouldn't be shocked to hear that the real reason they got arrested is because they ran out of money with which to bribe the official at the border, or something like that."

This pastor I was talking to is a prominent Southern Baptist pastor. I just couldn't believe he was so willing to swallow what the media was telling him.

Turns out, guess what? The Baptists were doing just fine, making friends with government officials on both sides of the Haiti/Dominican Republic border, and actually leading some to Christ, until a team from the United Nations showed up. Read the article. It's long but enlightening.

And you might consider finding a church to attend where folks believe the Bible before CNN.

Mad, Sad, and Convicted

This isn't anything you and I haven't already noticed (and been disgusted by) but at least someone nationally is starting to say it. The Muslim religion has become a protected class in the eyes of the Federal gummint. Where are all the loonies from groups like People for the American Way, protesting the fact that Islam is clearly on-track to become a government-endorsed, "established" religion in the USA? Being plagued with foolish and idiotic leadership is one of the most lamentable ways that God pours out judgment on a nation. We have met the enemy and he is....every ivy-league moron that holds power in America.

Also, here's a good (and brief) article from RC Sproul Jr and Ligonier Ministries, about how to deal with the phenomenon of Christians converting to Roman Catholicism.

Then, there's this short article here, spinning off of one foreign missionary's surprising experience of great laziness on the mission field by other American missionaries. I had never heard of anything like this before. It'll get your blood boiling...until the trap springs and your own foot is caught like mine was.

....and then You've Prob'ly Got some Work to Do

I'd like you to take a moment to read an article from Dan Phillips at the Pyromaniacs blog.

Before you do that, though, take this little quiz. How confident would you be if you had to stand up at church and give an answer to these questions?

1. Can you name at least half of the books of the Old Testament?

2. Can you name the books of the New Testament in order?

3. Can you even name the first five books of either Testament in order?

4. Can you name the Ten Commandments in order?

5. Failing that, can you name the two books in which they are given?

6. Where would you find the Sermon on the Mount?

I wonder how you think you would do? I wonder how many people at our little church would be able to avoid a failing grade on that quiz?

Now...go read the article.

Sugar in the Tank

As Mother's Day fast-approaches...hear the hoofbeats of a fell army hell-bent on fell deeds...you might want to read a very interesting 20 year-old article that appeared in Newsweek a-way back when.

It's titled "The Failure of Feminism," written by Kay Ebeling. At the time of the writing, she was a young, single mom upon whom it had finally dawned that the feminism she had embraced and encouraged actually put women like herself in a much worse state than might've otherwise been.

It'll do your soul good to read it, if you've ever been beaten about the head and shoulders by much smarter people than yourself (supposedly), who berrated you for staying at home to raise your children, or, conversely, for allowing your wife to do so.

The disturbing part of the article, though, is this: Ebeling does a nice job describing how it's all gone wrong for the erswhile feminists, but it is apparent to me that she had not yet pinpointed why it went wrong. I get the impression she might willingly hop onboard if feminism revamped itself, admitted that things have not gone as planned, and then launched out on the whole deal from square one again, with minor policy adjustments here and there.

It's as if somebody played a cruel joke on her by convincing her at some point that what her car really needed, to make it run better, is a couple cups of sugar in the gas tank. Now, broken down on the side of the road, she's gained a lot of wisdom from the school of hard knocks. Nobody's going to fool her like that again! But if the cruel joker comes around to her later with the following tact, she might just go for it.: "I'm so sorry. Did I say sugar? Silly me, I meant corn syrup, of course. Try some corn syrup in your tank once you get your whole engine replaced."

What Ebeling missed twenty years ago is this: Feminism didn't work because God is the designer of both men and women. He also designed.....drum roll, please......Marriage and Motherhood! Whether you try sugar or corn syrup in the tank, it will ruin everything either way because it wasn't designed like that.

Speaking of things that'll get the preacher run out on a rail...

These bullet points are taken from Thomas Vincent's 1674 work, The Shorter Catechism Explained From Scripture, on the smaller of the Westminster catechisms. I've retained Vincent's wording of the points below, and included the Scriptures he referenced in proof of each point.

[Biographical note on Thomas Vincent: He was a 17th Century pastor in London. The work in view here was endorsed by some of his contemporaries including John Owen and Thomas Watson, and 38 other signatories to Westminster. He endured harsh treatment for his faith and was noted for his courageous preaching in the midst of the suffering multitudes during the Great Plague of 1665.]

What are the duties of wives to their husbands?

1. "Love of them above all other persons in the world." Titus 2:4

2. "Loyalty and faithfulness, in reference unto the bed and estate, and any secrets intrusted with them." Hebrews 13:4, 1 Tim 3:11

3. "Reverence and fear of offending them" Ephesians 5:33

4. "Subjection unto them in all things lawful under Christ" Ephesians 5:22,24

5. "Care to please them, suiting themselves to their disposition, and all things to their liking." 1 Cor 7:34

6. "Helping them to bear their burdens, and in making provision for their families" Gen 2:18, Prov 31:27

7. "Giving ear to, and complying with, the counsels of their husbands, if good, for their souls' welfare; and endeavoring, with meekness and wisdom, with kindness and loving admonition, and a chaste, sweet conversation, to win their husbands over to the ways of God, when they are wicked." 1 Peter 3:1-2

[I'm thinking that preaching 5 and 7 will get you killed...]

What are the duties of husbands to their wives?

1. "Most endeared love to them, like unto the love of Christ to his Church" Eph 5:25

2. "Dwelling with them, and, according to knowledge, honouring them, and delighting in their company." Eph 5:31, 1 Peter 3:7, Prov 5:18-19

3. "Tenderness towards them, and careful provision of food and raiment, and all things necessary for them, as for their own bodies." Eph 5:28-29

4. "Fidelity to them in keeping the marriage-covenant, so as to forebear the use of any other besides themselves." Hos 3:3

5. "Protection of them from injuries, and covering of their infirmities with the wings of love." 1 Sam 30:18, 1 Pet 4:8

6. "Care to please them in all things lawful and fit, and praise of them when they do well." 1 Cor 7:33

7. "Prayer with them and for them, counsel and admonition of them, and every way helping them, especially in reference to their souls, walking with them in the ways and ordinances of the Lord" 1 Pet 3:7, Luke 1:6

[Note the encouragement for husbands to function in a pastoral role in 7.]

Churchgoer: Have you or have you not been born again?

Read these Eleven Evidences of the New Birth, taken from the book of 1 John.

But do more than read them. Look into them as you would look into a mirror. Stand yourself next to them as you would stand next to a measuring stick to check your height. Examine yourself to see whether you are really in the faith.

Note, though: The comments section on that article is less-then-helpful, as a baby-baptizer has gotten on there and thrown a lot of dust in the air that has nothing to do with the topic.

Spaghetti on the Wall

Albert Mohler is the president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as occupying an upper-shelf among Baptist scholars these days. Get to know him, grow to love him. Here is an article he posted today about the waning strength of the rabid pro-abortion people. Turns out, the abortion movement has voluntarily eliminated its own stock of younger voters and activists. Who knew?! Conversely, folks actually having babies tend to be pro-life, and guess what? They tend to raise children who share their beliefs. The irony is so thick you can eat it with a fork...but use a spoon to get every drop.

On another, somewhat less hopeful note, my favorite living writer, Doug Wilson, lists 7 Reasons Why Your Taxes Will Go Up in the near future. In another in a long parade of worthy things to read from pastor Wilson, here is why Christianity seems so political all the time these days.

On another completely unrelated note, consider this:

When faced with the Gospel testimonies, skeptics take one of two tacts (and then alternate between them as the situation seems to warrant.)

1. They say that the Gospels cannot be inerrant Scripture, because the writers include different details about the same event, sometimes in a manner that makes reconciliation of the accounts a serious task. Did the Centurion go out to Jesus in Matthew 8, or did he merely send servants? What's the order of the events on the day of Christ's resurrection? Etc.

or

2. They say that when the Gospels put the same events in the same order, and even use the exact same language and word order to describe them, well, then, that obviously means that Luke copied from Mark, or whatever.

At some point, these kinds of complaints begin to sound like what they are: grasping at straws in order to avoid the truth of the matter.

Either the Scripture includes too many disparate details, or it is in too much agreement about the details. Either way is good for the unbeliever. Any port in a storm.

"The Bible isn't inspired because the details vary!"

"The Bible isn't inspired because the details are the same!"

This is throwing every argument like a plate of spaghetti against the wall and desperately hoping something sticks.

How dumb would Matthew and Luke need to be, really, to copy large sections from Mark's gospel (which all the super smart guys think they did) but to then go ahead and leave some accounts of some things different? I mean, if they're copying in the first place, wouldn't that be for the purpose of making sure that they all got their stories straight? So why not go the whole nine and eliminate every instance of variance?

Hey Look! More Stairs!

I have been informed that a Presbyterian Church (USA) in our region is planning a special sort of service this morning.



One of the children of the congregation, a 10 year old girl, will be leading the entire service, including the performance of all the liturgy and preaching the "sermon." When asked what her sermon was going to be about, she responded, "Hugs." About the time you think that Christianity has become as irrelevant and trivial as it possibly could (and voluntarily so, by its own devices) we find more stairs leading downward.



Okay, I want to make it clear that I know this little girl and her family. They are all very likeable, very decent people. You would enjoy being around them.



So please don't hear me saying something overly personal about them in this.



I just want to point out that this incident, if it indeed happens (and I see no reason why it won't,) really shows the depths to which the PC(USA) has sunk. It's not that the little girl is a bad girl: as little girls go, she's quite nice actually. But she has no business in a pulpit, no business leading the corporate worship of God's people, no business preaching.



The sad thing is that the people at this church are ALL really nice folks. You'd enjoy their company.



But if they read or hear of this post, I will likely be a villain and a bad guy for pointing out that this is outrageous evidence that they have all "lost the plot," Biblically speaking. Just because a group of genuinely nice people get together and agree to do something in church, that doesn't make it right.



My issue here is not with who the little girl is, or who her family is: I happen to like all of them, and have been on friendly terms with them. My issue is with a church agreeing that being led in worship by a 10 year old could be a good thing, in any universe. However cute and adorable her talk about hugs will be, this will be true: the Gospel of Jesus Christ will not be preached there. God will not be glorified in it. The Word of God will be denigrated in it.



And all the nice folks will rave and gush about how adorable it was. Not one of them will have any twinge of Scriptural conscience nagging at them, to the effect that maybe something wrong is happening here. Maybe the corporate worship of the Lord Almighty ought to be about something a little more profound. Those thoughts will pass through no one's mind this morning in that place.



That's the tragedy.

Different Flavors of Faith

The Bible uses a family of fairly similar words to speak of sin: iniquity, transgression, wickedness, lawlessness, perversion, sin, etc. They are roughly equivalent terms, but with enough nuance and slight variation to warrant the separate expressions.

In the same way, the Bible also uses a number of related terms to give full expression to what it means to believe in God. As with the sin family above, these words are very close to one another, and yet varied enough to warrant different expressions.

I have found this a helpful way to think about how "faith" is related to its cousin-words in the Scripture. The different flavors of faith, if you will.

------------

When faith is confronted with the Word of God, it believes what it hears.

When faith hears the promises of God, it trusts.

When faith hears of the absolute holiness of God, it becomes the "fear of the Lord."

When faith hears of God's plans for our future, it hopes.

When faith hears of God's hatred of sin, it repents.

When faith toughs it out over the long haul, it's called perseverance.

When faith is finally confronted with the Object of its longing, it loves eternally.

Pushing our Doctrine out our Fingertips

As long as I've been preaching, it has not been my practice to publish my sermon notes. There are a lot of reasons for this, maybe the chief being that I can't stand reading other Pastors' blogs out there when they do publish them. YAWN!!

So please forgive me this one exception. I may have gone out of my mind, but I am convinced that you really need to grasp these truths, meditate on them and make them part of you, if you really expect to grow in grace.

Last night's message was titled Four Things You Need to Know to Grow in Grace. The subject was "sanctification," the Christian's practical growth in holiness, his gradual conformity to the image of Christ. The text was the whole of Romans 6, but a few verses in particular.

Specifically, I focused on places where Paul lays stress on certain things that we need to think if we expect to be separated from sin. The battle to be more sanctified day-to-day begins within, in the mind. We have to think like God tells us to think before we can hope to act like He tells us to act.

Here are those four places again, with meager suggestions for how they ought to begin to impact our thought-life.

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

The next couple of verses stress that in our conversion we have been united to Christ. Without this unity, there is no basis for sanctification. His death is our death. His resurrection is our new life.

Hopefully, you recognize that as solid Christian theology. But know this: you will not progress in daily, real-life sanctification until that particular bit of good theology runs through your veins just as surely as plasma.

The person you used to be is dead. That person was crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20.) This must move from being a confession of faith to becoming the very air you breathe.

2. 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."

You were a slave to sin. Just as there is a sense in which natural death has the power to "free" a person from a state of slavery, so your death with Christ has freed you from that particular master. You no longer have to serve that old one.

In the same way that Christ walked out of the tomb, proving that death no longer had dominion over him (Romans 6:9) so you have been empowered to walk away from the plantation on which you used to serve.

But none of this will happen if you don't get your mind right, and agree to really think that this is true: Your death with Christ has set you free.

3. Romans 6:11 "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

This is the same sort of language, the language of "imputation," that Paul belabors in chapter 4. It is a matter of what you are willing to write down on your own account balance, in a manner of speaking.

In justification, God has imputed righteousness to you, apart from your works. The perfect righteousness of Christ was laid to your account when you were, in point of fact, a flagrant sinner.

Now, you are commanded to do some reckoning yourself: reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God.

You must do this in the face, in the very teeth, of how it feels sometimes. You must do it in the face of how you perform at times.

You must do it for one reason: God says it is true. You don't do it because that is what it looks like. You don't do it because that's what your experience seems to tell you. But because the Word says it.

If you can't assimilate this truth, make it part of your DNA, kiss your sanctification good-bye.

4. Romans 6:16 "Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey...?"

Only once the above truths are really comprehended, can you make use of this priniciple.

That is, you must understand and believe your position with Christ, your legal standing in the courts of heaven, before you can make the right practical choices and actions for the right reasons.

If all we grasp in this chapter is this verse, this principle, then we will be left with merely a Christianly sort of moralism, where we strive very hard to use our "members" in the right way, outwardly at least. We will find ourselves right back under the law, where every misdeed and each transgression is a proof of alienation from God.

But, if we'll cling to the truths in 1-3 above, and really get them nailed down in our inner being, then when we come to this principle, it is a liberating joy. It becomes the practical principle of our freedom. I don't serve in God's fields of righteousness out of terror, but in thanksgiving for his inward deliverance (Romans 6:17.) The old taskmaster cannot drive me back into his fields, no matter how loud and threatening the crack of his whip. That guy he used to terrify is dead, and I know exactly where he is buried: I have the baptismal certificate to document it.

What a joy now to present my members as instruments of righteousness to a new and gracious Owner.

Why You Christians Should Never Sing "The Battle Hymn..."

Three months from now, The Battle Hymn of the Republic will be sung in churches everywhere.

Most people who sing it are completely unaware of its history (written by an unbeliever) and the horrible, gospel-denying theology that it presents.

Here is some information you need to know about it.

The vase, the servant, and the King

It is pretty common for people to imagine Judgment Day in this way:

You are standing before God. It is time to decide your eternal fate. Will it be Heaven or Hell? He takes, as it were, your good deeds and has some way of measuring them or weighing them in comparison to your bad deeds. Think of a giant, golden, two-pan balance, the original and ultimate Scales of Justice.

You have a lot of bad deeds on that balance, embarrassingly so. But...you also did a lot of good stuff.

It's a tense moment for a while as the scales tip one way and then the other. Finally, it comes to rest and the little pointer is visibly (if only barely) tipping toward the good side. Whew! You made it!

There is a hallelujah chorus sung by myriads of angels as the Pearly Gates open and you are welcomed inside.

That's a happy story, and it ends well. Too bad it's a made-up fantasy. Too bad it is not at all an accurate picture of what the Bible teaches about that Day.

Whether or not you receive eternal blessings or eternal torments has nothing to do with whether your good deeds outweigh your sins. That is a fiction. It is not the teaching of the Bible.

If those imaginary Scales of Justice are not an accurate representation of the situation, what would be?

Try this on for size.

Imagine that you are a servant in a great castle somewhere. The King is fantastically rich and powerful and has a reputation for ruthlessly keeping his word at all costs. Though he is not a person to be trifled with, he is good and kind and generous.

The King decides to go on a journey. Before he leaves, he gives out instructions to the servants. He comes to you and places a marvelous vase in your hands. It is very old, covered with gemstones and hand-painted artwork.

He says to you, "This is your most important charge while I am away: You must watch over this vase and keep it safe. That sounds easy enough, but be sure you understand how I feel about this particular treasure. I like you well enough, but this vase is worth many times your own life. Are we clear about this? Keep it safe until I return, and you will be richly rewarded. However, allow it to come to any harm, and your life will be forfeit. Farewell."

The King departs from the castle.

As you are carrying the vase to the safest place you can imagine, you trip and it slips out of your hands and smashes into a million pieces on the stone floor.

Now, you find yourself in a right bitter pickle.

What will you do? Repairing it is impossible. So is replacing it. You could run, but the King has all the resources he needs to find you. You are stuck and the outcome does not look good at all. Your fellow servants start to treat you as if you have leprosy. They don't want to look at you or talk to you: they know you are a walking dead person.

My dear friend, this little story is a much more accurate illustration of your spiritual situation, if you know right now that you are not saved.

Here is how:

The King, of course, is God.

The vase, though, what is that? It is God's law.

God gave the Ten Commandments and fully expects them to be kept.

When you dropped the vase in the story, that represents the first time you ever sinned.

What? you say, How can that be fair? A single sin and the whole thing is smashed?

I'm afraid so. The Bible says, in James 2:10, that "whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all."

Here's why. The Law of God is a unit, an organic whole. If you break one part of it, one time, the whole is broken.

Further, the Law is a reflection of God's character. His rules are not random, but rather they express His own perfect righteousness. He wants us to follow them, in order to be "godly," to immitate God in our lives. When we break even one law, even one time, what that proves is that we are not like Him, because He would never sin even slightly. We are not like God: we are ungodly. A single sin, even one we think is "minor," is enough to prove that.

Once that deed is done, just like the story of the vase, that which is broken is broken. Period. There is no putting it back together. There is no replacing it with some other Law. There is no paying for it with "good deeds." It's smashed.

And the King is coming back. When He does, He will look for you.

What about you? Are you holding the vase intact, or is it smashed at your feet?

Well, let's see.

The Ninth of the Ten Commandments tells us not to lie (because God is always truthful.) So how many lies do you think you've told in your life? If you're like most of us, you lost count long ago.

The Eighth of the Ten Commandments tells us not to steal (because God is generous and provides for all what He says they need.) So, have you ever stolen anything? It doesn't have to be big or valuable. That candy bar or stick of gum when you were little is enough: it's still stealing.

The Seventh commandment forbids adultery (because God is always faithful and keeps His promises.) Have you committed adultery, or had sex with someone you're not married to? If you said no, that doesn't let you off the hook, because Jesus taught that merely lusting after someone in your heart is a sin against this commandment. It is inward adultery, adultery of the heart. So, have you broken that command?

The Sixth command forbids murder. Even if you haven't physically killed anyone, Jesus also taught that hating your brother is the same sort of sin as murder.

That's four out of the Ten Commandments. If you're like the rest of us, that's more than enough to condemn you right there. Take my word for it: you'd fail the other six as well.

God will judge you for your sins one day. He will judge you for how you kept, or broke, His laws.

He has promised to punish all lawbreakers in the afterlife in a place of eternal torment called Hell. You are a lawbreaker.

You're in a right, bitter pickle, eh?

What will you do?

Stop racking your brain trying to think of a clever answer: There's nothing you can do. You are caught. You are found out. You are guilty. God promises not to let the guilty go unpunished.

And yet... even now there is still hope for you, the one who dropped the vase.

How? Because your King, the Lord God of all creation, is not only righteous and just, but He is also merciful, gracious, and kind.

In the story of the vase, imagine now that the King returns. He wants his vase. He hunts you down. All you can offer him is a sack filled with the tiny pieces.

Just as he is about to have his guards take you away to torture and death, his own Son, the Prince, interrupts.

"Wait, Father!" he says, "Please do this servant of yours no harm. The truth is that I am the criminal here. As soon as you left, I took the vase from this person and smashed it myself. This poor, trembling servant is not the one to punish: I am. Please let this one go free, and do to me as you will.."

You are stunned. Why would the Prince do this for you? At this point it hardly matters: what matters is that you have been set free. The Prince has begged to take the punishment that you deserve.

That is a lot like what the Bible says that God has done for you. You broke His laws. You are the guilty one. You deserve Hell.

But because God is rich in mercy, He sent His only Son (the Prince of Peace,) the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the perfect life you should have lived. He never broke a single law, not even once. And then, having done all the will of God, Jesus gave Himself as a substitute in your place. He was crucified and died, punished by God for your own sins, as if He Himself had committed them. The Bible says that God, "made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

On the third day, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and He was seen by more than 500 eyewitnesses.

Now, what God commands you, and all men, to do is Repent. That's an old-fashioned word that simply means, do a U-turn in your live. Turn away from your sins, hate them with all your heart, and turn to Christ in faith.

Cry out to this merciful and loving Prince who died in your place, and beg Him to forgive your sins.

Friend, this is truly your only hope. Cling to Christ now and be saved, "For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

SBC Superstar Caught in Huge Lies

Ergun Caner is the president of Liberty Universty, the school Jerry Falwell founded. That much we know to be factual.

For months now, rumors have flown on the 'net that Caner is not what he claims to be.

Here is some documented evidence that Caner has shamefully lied about his background/conversion story, for the apparent purpose of inflating himself within the Southern Baptist Convention.

It's no happy thing to post this stuff, but it is important for people to see that most Christians think this sort of thing is reprehensible. We want it out in the open, and we hope Dr. Caner will quickly repent and step down from his position. To date, his strategy has been to act like nothing has happened, and to let his friends and supporters demonize everyone who sees a problem with his blatant lies. That needs to change.

Provocative Thoughts

Read this Letter to an Obamacare Supporter at the American Vision website.

While you're there, take a moment to bookmark the site and return back there regularly to soak in some quality Bible teaching.

I look forward to seeing you all in church tomorrow. May the Lord be gracious to feed us with His word in profound ways, and may Christ alone be glorified in us. Amen.

Resisting Messianic Healthcare

I found an article I think most of you will find quite interesting.

It is about Obamacare and tyranny and the Christian's responsibility regarding both of them.

A Brief Ten Point Theology of Resistance to Tyranny.

Especially the first two points we need to grasp.

One, resistance to tyrants is not an option. It is a demand upon the righteous.

Two, therefore the question is not whether or not to resist, but how to resist.

If that makes you nervous....well, that probably means you're wired right. It should make a person nervous. But read through to the end. The last point is really the kicker.

Notes for 3/24/10

1. The folks setting up the Camp Meeting in June met here at the church this last Monday. Doyle has volunteered to be Dan Pearce's assistant camp director as we move forward. The most important item of business is that we moved the location of the camp from Conchas Dam to the lake at Logan. We've also, coincidentally, changed the name of the event to The Ute Lake Camp Meeting. It's still set for June 22-28. Some of those days are for setup and take-down. The actual Camp will run from Wednesday through Saturday.

We still need volunteers, especially in the area of publicity; and the logistics surrounding food and meals. Contact either Doyle or me to talk about this more.

Most especially, please commit to praying regularly for an outpouring of God's grace in Christ during this time. We want to see many people converted through the Spirit-empowered preaching of the Gospel. Please pray to that end, fervently.

2. Tonight at 6 PM, our overview of the Old Testament continues with the fascinating and largely misunderstood book of Daniel. I'm personally excited about highlighting the main themes of this book and I urge you to attend. Choir practice is scheduled to take place afterward.

3. Easter is nearly upon us. I trust you all are inviting people....?? The title of the sermon will be "Easter and the End of the World." It ought to be a pretty straightforward Gospel message, highlighting Christ's resurrection and the Judgment to come, so think of someone to invite, and then do it!

4. Thank you again to all of you who have been praying for me and inquiring about my minor health issues. The best thing you can do for your pastor is pray. I know, I know, everybody says that. But I mean it. The next best thing is to let him know, honestly, what God is doing in your life through the ministry of the Word. The third best thing is to buy him an occassional doughnut.

5. Vanessa and Marvin have had some rough days, health-wise. Please continue to pray for them as well.

6. I've started recording the messages and Bible studies. If you've missed something in the last few weeks, and would like to go back and catch up, let me know and I'll see if I can get it to you on a CD.

I am your servant for the sake of Christ our King,
Gordan