Presumptuous Professors and A Real Servant of God

"The presumptuous professor is filled with pride, and having a high opinion of himself, is quite sure that he has been saved by Christ. He disdains any searching tests, and considers self-examination to be highly injurious and destructive of faith. That preaching pleases him best which keeps at a respectable distance, which comes not near his conscience, which makes no scrutiny of his heart. To preach to him of the finished work of Christ and the eternal security of all who believe in Him, strengthens his false peace and feeds his carnal confidence. Should a real servant of God seek to convince him that his hope is a delusion, and his confidence presumptuous, he would regard him as an enemy."

~ AWPink, Studies On Saving Faith

Leadership, are you heeding this? Those who love the Truth are not the enemy: the goats posing as sheep ARE.

It is presumptuous to think that silence, friendliness, and time will cause a goat to become a sheep. That's a coward's way out of the responsibility assumed when taking the role of an elder.

God's Eternal Hatred of Sin

"Herein is the terror of the wicked: Those who defy Him, break His laws, have no concern for His glory, but live their lives as though He existed not, must not suppose that, when at the last they shall cry to Him for mercy, He will alter His will, revoke His word, and rescind His awful threatenings. No, He has declared, "Therefore will I also deal in fury: Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in Mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them" (Ezek. 8:18). God will not deny Himself to gratify their lusts. God is holy, unchangingly so. Therefore God hates sin, eternally hates it. Hence the eternality of the punishment of all who die in their sins."

~ Arthur Pink, "The Attributes of God-Immutability"

The Reason for the Season Video

My video, "The Reason for the Season". It's about why we celebrate the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took on flesh as a baby. It's not about Christmas. It's really about Resurrection Day ("Easter").  One day He is returning, not as a baby nor a lamb, but as Judge and the Lion of Judah.

Exodus The Movie: not biblical and therefore not an accurate historical and biblical portrayal

Less than a faithful telling of the event of the Exodus and events that lead up to it, is frankly, a lie.

"When Moses learns his true identity, he is reluctant to play the role of savior, and he finds a comfortable home in a remote village, where he marries and has a son. But his destiny calls when he comes upon the famous burning bush and is approached by God to lead his people out of slavery. Here is the film’s most controversial choice, for God appears to Moses as a fierce child. Although this may offend some devout viewers, it’s actually far more interesting than the booming offscreen voice that DeMille used in his version of the story. This divine child seems angry and vengeful rather than a benign Buddha figure, but one could argue that this is in keeping with the Old Testament God of wrath.

The film hits its peak in the sequence recounting the 10 plagues. The savage crocodiles were not in the Old Testament, but as they attack humans as well as fish, they turn the Nile blood red, which is at least an ingenious explanation of how the river might have turned to blood. Frogs, boils and locusts are truer to the text and are rendered in luscious visual detail."

~ Hollywood Reporter review

(Reminds me of "The Shack" book, where its god is a woman. This is reminicent of the RCC and it's eternal infant "Jesus" sitting on Mary and her throne.)

Deu 4:1 "And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Deu 4:2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.

Rev 22:18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

The God of Scripture is a precise God and we are never to handle His Word as trivial, as if it's just a textbook we can fiddle with, without consequence. To tell the true events of Exodus, one MUST stick to what the Bible ACTUALLY says, otherwise, it's untrue and mere imagination of men who hate Christ Jesus.

The Sin of Worldliness: you can't love the world and be a biblical Christian

'Worldliness: it involves love for earthly things, esteem for earthly values, and preoccupation with earthly cares. Scripture plainly labels it sin - and sin of the worst stripe. It is a spiritual form of adultery that sets one against God Himself.'

~ John MacArthur

'Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.'~ 1 John 2:15-17

Jas 4:4  You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 

Col 2:8  See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 

The Distinction of Yahweh, The God of Israel

One thing that strikes me as I read through Isaiah, especially in chapters 44-48 (so far, more to come of course), is that God sets Himself as DISTINCT as well as separate from all other gods. There is NO COMMON GROUND between the Holy One of Israel and all other gods (not even with "Allah"). Yahweh goes to great length and repetition to make sure people know that HE alone is Creator, distinct, sole, true, living Triune God. There is NONE to compare Him to; there is none that are like Him.

Isa 44:6  Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: "I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.
Isa 44:7  Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen.
Isa 44:8  Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any."
Isa 44:9  All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.

Isa 46:5  "To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?
Isa 46:6  Those who lavish gold from the purse, and weigh out silver in the scales, hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god; then they fall down and worship!

Isa 46:8  "Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors,
Isa 46:9  remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10  declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'

Isa 48:16  Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there." And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.

Trials

Our trials come in due season--and leave at the appointed moment. 

Our fretfulness will neither hasten nor delay the purposes of our sovereign.

~ C.H. Spurgeon

God's Grace Does Not Encourage Anarchy In God's Kingdom

"Grace is never exercised at the expense of righteousness. Grace upholds rather than ignores our responsibilities toward God and toward our neighbor. The grace of God that bringeth salvation, teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:12)."

~ Arthur Pink, “Gleanings in Genesis” 

25 Ridiculous Arguments Disrespecting Dispensationalism and Dispensationalists

The article makes good points, although I don't like Dan Phillips' tone (which is why I don't like Pyromaniacs website). But he does deal with the common arguments put out against dispensationalism. I have noticed how snarky the former-dispies are in their new found amillenialism views, just like the former Arminians in their new found Calvinism. Folks, the fruit of your view should promote Christ above all and not a self-preservation, elitist, snobby attitude.

Here are a few that I think are worth reading:

#13: "Dispies are over-literal."

Have you actually heard a dispensationalist lay out his hermeneutic? People who offer "over literal" as a seriously critique of dispensationalism have seemingly never read a book dealing with hermeneutics, written by a responsible dispensationalist. Try this for an interpretive principle:

When the plain sense of Scripture makes good sense, seek no other sense. Therefore, take every word in its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning, unlessthe facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and fundamental and axiomatic truths, clearly indicate otherwise.

It's a totally dispensational hermeneutic, and it's an equally dandy Reformed hermeneutic -- or should be. There's quite the chasm between saying "Of course God isn't literally a 'rock',and saying "Mount Zion -- oh yeah. Has to be the universal Christian church!" Dispensationalists are what all Reformed folks would be, if they were consistent in their hermeneutics.

# 9 "It isn't a spiritual hermeneutic."

Gosh, this one's such a hanging curveball. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Where to start? First, take off that "Plato is my homey" T-shirt, so we can talk. Oops, didn't see that "The Docetists are my crew" T-shirt underneath. Off with that too. So, tell me: the resurrected body of Jesus -- carnal? Or spiritual? I'll play the Jeopardy music while you look up 1 Corinthians 15:44f. (Hint: God made matter. He's really okay with matter. Matter matters. Sin ruined matter, the regeneration will redeem it.)

Finally, if none of that helped you out of your decoder-ring quagmire, this thought: try not to be more "spiritual" than God, 'kay? When God said Messiah would come from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), He knew it meant "house of bread" -- but He meant the city anyway. I imagine what a CT would have done with that, before fulfillment: "What God is really saying would have been perfectly clear to the Jews. It was symbolic. Messiah would come from 'the house for bread,' from the storehouse of God's spiritual nourishment, and He would give life, as bread does. Those wooden literalists who look for fulfillment in an actual city are perverting the Word to their carnal imaginations."

Trying to out-spiritual God is really stupid.

#8: "You can't prove all those dispensational distinctives and prophetic features from the New Testament alone!"

Um, Bunky? Three words? "Plenary verbal inspiration." Dispensationalists do what all Reformed folks say they do: they believe in the whole Bible. Sort of got that idea from Jesus. So, just as no Reformed guy worth anything would accept such a demand as "Prove sovereign-grace election solely from 1 Chronicles 1:1," so no dispensationalist who believes in the principles of the Reformation should rise to the demand, "Prove every detail of your system from 1/3 of the Canon!" There is no passage that teaches everything that every other passage teaches. If so, God would have inspired a Bible with one verse.Or perhaps a better statement would be that God did inspire a Bible with one verse. It's just a really, really long verse. And so, no believer in Reformed principles should indulge in trying to impose such a faulty premise. It's simply not Reformed to do so.

End quote.

The Lordship of Christ Does Not Allow For Complacency

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Biblical doctrine is practical. That's why God gave it to us, so that we can know the truth and then live it so as not to sin against Him. If you biblical doctrine as mere theory, easily accepted or rejected without much or any consequence, you need to examine yourself to see if you are in the faith and have received a love for the truth.

True Love Speaks Out Against False Doctrine

True love for God, His Word, and His people:

1Ti 1:3  As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine,
1Ti 1:4  nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 
1Ti 1:5  The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 

2Th 2:10  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 

Rom 5:1  Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ....5  and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 

1Co 13:6  it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

Housekeeping and Caring For Family Is Quite the Controversy

"Much of the world would agree that being a housekeeper is acceptable as long as you are not caring for your own home; treating men with attentive devotion would also be right as long as the man is the boss in the office and not your husband; caring for children would even be deemed heroic service for which presidential awards could be given as long as the children are someone else's and not your own."

~ Dorothy Patterson

Yet God has ordained wives love and submit to their own husbands, to be workers at home, raising and loving their own children. Quite the controversy. But no big deal if it's all outside the home, say in an office or daycare or school.....

Think about it. 

Pentatonix, Sodomy, and Softening the Biblical Axe

Stand Up For The Truth has written an article on Pentatonix. Apparently, as talented as the groups is, they have two openly sodomites and one "Christian". The problem addressed in the article is about how professing Christians are embracing this group despite it's rebellion against God in their open perversion of sodomy. I agree, there is an  increasing tolerance for wickedness by "Christians" in the name of "love" (a disguise for acceptance and begging of the God-hating world to like them and not be mad at them). I'm glad to be made aware of this group. I've seen their name before but knew nothing about them.

There is something that bothers me about the article. Contrary to the writer's declartion,I do believe it is right to point out the sin in others as long as we are doing it from a biblical standpoint and not a hypocritical one (which was the point of Matt. 7). In other words we are to see sin for what it is and warn others of it when led by God. And if we're being led by the Spirit of Truth, He is already revealing to us our sin, so we should remain humble before HIM.  

We are to judge the world in the sense that we are to judge what they are doing, promoting, and believing is sin, rebellion, and wrong. What we can't judge is whether a particular person will get save, since we don't have the Book of Life (unless I suppose, they are unrepentant heretics or those who have turned away from repenting of their sin as in Heb. 6:4-6)). We are only called to tell people to repent of their sin (which requires judging their behavior and beliefs as such) and to point them to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom there is forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Let's not forget either, that the sin of sodomy is especially heinous. So heinous in fact, that God destroyed entire cities because of it and that sin is listed specifically as a sin that will keep a person out of Heaven if they do not repent of it(see 1 Cor.6: 9-11, Jude, Rom. 1, 1 Tim.1:10).

I guess I'm getting frustrated with all the qualifications before the biblical axe is brought down to bear upon sodomites and worldlings ("this brings me to a rather delicate point"..."The reason for writing/posting about this is not to point fingers at the world,"). I suppose I'm done with the guilt and "humility" (neither of which is real--with the 'humility" being nothing more than dancing around the issue, softening the blow that is about to come--the very thing the article was trying to address--so that they don't come off sounding like...well, like God.

As I walk through Isaiah again, I'm continually noting how often God is blatant with Israel for it's sin. Nor does God take a soft stand against the nations for their rebellion either. What He does is lay their sin at their feet, lays the charges against them clearly and boldly, then tells them to repent, and if they refuse, judgment will begin. 

Do You Suppose God's Wrath Against Your Sin Is Too Heavy?

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If there be a man before me who says that the wrath of God is too heavy a punishment for his little sin, I ask him, if the sin be little, why does he not give it up? 

~CHSpurgeon

So? Why don't you? You who call Jesus "Lord" yet remained married to your sin, yet you created a god in your mind that is far less holy than the thrice Holy God of Scripture who hates the wicked as well as their sin; Who says if you are guilty of breaking one point in the law, you are a completely law breaker (start with the greatest commandment: love God with ALL your heart, MIND, soul, and strength).

Hell

 “Shun all views of future punishment that would make it appear less terrible.”

~Charles Spurgeon

The Justice and Grace of God

The justice of God is made a motive for despair and His mercy an argument for sin! Wicked men will drown themselves in the rivers of the Truth of God as readily as in the poolsof error! He that has a mind to destroy himself can choke his soul with the Bread of life, or dash himself in pieces againstthe Rock of Ages. There is no doctrine of the Grace of God so gracious that graceless men may not turn it into licentiousness.

~Spurgeon

Error

Error is truth perverted, truth distorted, truth out of proportion.

~A.W. Pink

It takes a person who's mind and heart has been sharpened by Scripture to be able to discern the difference between right and ALMOST right.

To Denounce False Doctrine Isn't Divisive, It's Loving God and Others

'The dual role of the godly preacher and teacher is to proclaim and to defend God’s Word. In the eyes of the world and, tragically, in the eyes of many genuine but untaught believers, to denounce false doctrine—especially if that doctrine is given under the guise of evangelicalism—is to be unloving, judgmental, and divisive. BUT Compromising Scripture in order to make it more palatable and acceptable, whether to believers or to unbelievers, is not “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). It is speaking falsehood and is the furthest thing from godly love. It is a subtle, deceptive, and dangerous way to contradict God’s own Word. The faithful pastor must have NO part in it. He himself tolerates, and he teaches his people to tolerate, only sound doctrine.'

~ J. MacArthur

California Photographers Decide to Close Business Rather Than Shoot Same-Sex ‘Weddings’

Homofacism continues. Where's the tolerance and freedom for those who reject the sodomite lifestyle of sin and perversion? Hypocrites.

SAN FRANCISCO – A California couple has decided to shutter their photography business rather than be forced to shoot same-sex “wedding” ceremonies.

Nang and Chris Mai operate Urloved Photography–that is, until recently, when the couple announced that it was discontinuing its business due to harassment from homosexual advocates over making a referral rather than agreeing to shoot a same-sex ceremony.

~CN Network

Snowmen