Stamp worthy

I found this comment at the end of a story about a church using the movie "Star Trek" as a sermon theme for a series addressing parenthood.

"Do you think that this lame attempt at relevance will pack unbelievers into church or convince them that Christians are pathetic in their attempts to 'be relevant'?"

Someone turn this into a rubber stamp because this same question can be applied so often to so many of the things churches are doing today that it seems a waste to have to re-type it over and over again.

Jakes on "can people of other religions go to heaven?"

T.D. Jakes on whether salvation can be found in other religions. His answer is identical to Osteen's. Weasel.

By the way I just checked and you can buy his books at Lifeway- including "Hope for Every Moment: 365 Inspirational Thoughts for Everday of the Year."

Just in case you don't recognize sarcasm, I am not actually endorsing his books but only pointing out, with incredulity, Lifeway's ridiculous decision to carry his stuff.

Understanding better why we do and don't

Read this, listen to the clip, and understand a little better why Ekklesia does what it does and doesn't do what it doesn't do.

And if you don't attend Ekklesia, pass this on to your pastor and ask him to think seriously about this.

Mark Dever interview of J.I. Packer on his intro. to “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ.”

Mark Dever conducted an interview with J.I.Packer in which he discusses the introduction he wrote to John Owen's book "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ." You can find the full interview at www.9marks.org.

In it they discuss true preaching of the Gospel and the problem of false conversions when the full Gospel is not preached.

I had transcribed a portion of the interview for my own edification, but since the guys are going to start working through Owen's book "The Mortification of Sin" I thought this was a good opportunity to share it with you.

Enjoy!

MD- You note the change that has happened in the presentation of the Gospel- you were writing this in the late 50’s I think….”

JIP- Right

MD-You say “From this change of interest has sprung a change of content, for the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message in the supposed interests of “helpfulness.” Accordingly, the themes of man’s natural inability to believe, of God’s free election being the ultimate cause of salvation, and of Christ dying specifically for His sheep, are not preached. These doctrines, it would be said, are not “helpful”; they would drive sinners to despair, by suggesting to them that it is not in their own power to be saved through Christ. (The possibility that such despair might be salutary is not considered; it is taken for granted that it cannot be, because it is so shattering to our self-esteem.) However this may be (and we shall say more about it later), the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth. Thus, we appeal to men as if they all had the ability to receive Christ at any time; we speak of His redeeming work as if He had done no more by dying than make it possible for us to save ourselves by believing; we speak of God’s love as if it were no more than a general willingness to receive any who will turn and trust; and we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence “at the door of our hearts” for us to let them in. It is undeniable that this is how we preach; perhaps this is what we really believe. But it needs to be said with emphasis that this set of twisted half-truths is something other than the biblical gospel. The Bible is against us when we preach in this way; and the fact that such preaching has become almost standard practice among us only shows how urgent it is that we should review this matter. To recover the old, authentic, biblical gospel, and to bring our preaching and practice back into line with it, is perhaps our most pressing present need.

I trust you remember writing those lines?

JIP- Yes, I do and if you are wondering, I agree still %100 with everything I wrote here. I don’t believe anything has changed here over the last 40 years I think that still too frequent altogether that people diminish God by suggesting that he is not sovereign in the conversion of us sinners and i think it is all too frequent that we exalt the human individual and think of him or her as having much more power, including the power to respond to God’s gospel, than, in fact, any of us have. I think that the biblical gospel sends us down lower in our own extimate- humbles us lower- and raises God higher in our estimate- exalts Him more- than is usually appreciated by preachers or by writers and so the true impression is not given.

MD- Jim, if people are hearing some other gospel than this, are they being converted truly to God by some other gospel than this?

JIP- Only God knows. God blesses His truth to the conversion of souls. There is no conversion- that is to say there is no regeneration or new birth , no change of heart issuing faith’s response to the message apart from truth that God blesses to that end. And when the truth is mixed up with error or distorted with error, it is beyond us humans to say what is or what is not happening in individuals under the ministry of that muddled message. So, I’m not surprised, and I’m not bothered when I hear, as I do from time to time and I’m sure that you do as well, that this or that preacher that preaches the modern gospel rather than the authentic or biblical one has been widely used in the conversion of souls. That may well be true. But that doesn’t alter the fact that what God blessed to the conversion of those people was the truth, not the error- not the mixture as a mixture- but the truth that was there which God caused to lodge in the mind, the memory, that matter of thought and the catalyst of realization which brought people to the reality of conversion, where I think you can say conficdentaly that in every single case the person will be at the end of their own personal tether they will, in a relative sense, at the end of themselves, tey will know that there is no hope for them, save as they respond to the God through Chrsit who is coming to them , calling them telli that they are lost and hopeless and helpless, and they bleive that and, then saying ont that basis Christ does say to tour hearst, “Recieve me and the forgiveness and the new life that I bring.” That is the Holy Spriit at work. And that is the best way to preach the Gospel is the way that leads people to coming to the end of themselves and their own natural hopes in that way and focusing most directly on teh Chrsit who comes and in His Sovereign Lordship says, “LEt me bring you the new life.”

MD- Let me ask, sort of, the other half of the question. Lets say the Gospel is being fairly faithfully preached. Do you think it is common, in Evangelical churches to have false conversions- that is people who appear to be converted but who genuinely aren’t?

JIP- I think that is a commoner effect than one would like to admit. Because to the extent that the Gospel is falsified or distorted in the preaching, to that extent you are creating possibilities of misunderstanding and, experience I thikn shows that God doesn’t always overrule that and cut the errors out of what people hear. I mean by that is that what lodges in people’s minds is precisely the error- and then they act on the error and it goes something like this in many cases- the preacher says, mistakenly, “If you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins, you will be forgiven, justified and saved. The hearere says “Oh, well then that is what I have to do.” Then teh preacher offers him the wording of the sinners prayer and he prays it and he goes out of the church believing he is a Christian and nothing has been said to him about repentance, nothing has been said to him about saying goddbye to the old life of self centered self indulgence, nothing has been said to him about the fact that, henceforth, he has a new life, given him by the Lord and he belongs to the Lord who has given him a new life by the Lord and he belongs to the Lord who has given him a new life- he’s bought with a price, he is not his own- and therefore, his whole business in life (I say he, but I mean she as well) is to glorify God in the way that they live their life day by day. Where those things are not said you have an in adequate presentation of the gospel and you are simply asking for false conversions, that is people believing that they have become Christians when, in fact, they haven’t. No one becomes a Christian who hasn’t repented. No one becomes a Chrsitain who isn’t conscienteiously saying goodbye to the old life and welcoming the new one.

MD- So what should a poastor do if he is concerned about false conversions growing up like mushrooms in his congregation?

JIP- Take great care to preach the whole of the real gospel which involves a lot of preaching calculated to…I was going to say to drive people to dispair, but that is not the way quite to put it, at least to humble them with the awareness that they cannot save themselves, and that nobody is saved that is not actually brought into a new life through a change in heart. And then, with that, the reality of regeneration itself, that is the new heart, the new life the must be preached about and taught in a way that nobody can miss the radical quality of the change. Andmcuh must be taught abou the way in which Jesus Christ, through Holy Spirit comes to people ,presents himself to people and draws out of them by his grace, the response of faith and repentance both. In the technicalities of theology, its faith that channels the power to repent, that is- it is those who have received Christ, who then find that they are able to turn from the old life to the new life, just as now they know that they are bound, they’re obliged, they’re required to turn from the old life to the new life.

MD- It is only because Abraham perceived God’s promise that his foot could go toward the promised land, that faith, that perception of the promise had to be there before the action.

JIP- I believe that is so.

The (Now Here) Evangelical Crisis Cont'd

I was listening to a White Horse Inn interview between Michael Horton and Carl Trueman which they entitled "The Wages of Sin." Listen to it here.

It contained the following exchange:

We have massively downplayed the idea of the corporate worship in the church. We have emphasized the whole of life as worship, and I don’t have any problem with the whole of life as worship. But then they have relative-ized the corporate gathering of the saints which has become nothing more than to “have the Bible explained to us” rather than to understand the worship service as God speaking to us through His Word, speaking through His preacher, and the people responding in words of prayer and words of praise. I think the loss of the theology of the worship service has done a lot of harm in evangelical circles.

Do you think that is one of the reasons why there is such a reaction against preaching among some younger Christians? You know, “let’s just drop the preaching”…?

I think rubbish preaching has a lot to answer for. I also think that there is a loss of understanding of what is going on when the preacher preaches….when the preacher preaches, God is speaking in and through Him. Too many go to church thinking that what is going on is a one man Bible study – somebody standing up front explaining to me what this passage means. I don’t think preaching is ever less than that, but I do think it is more, it is much more than that. I think the Old Testament prophets are the analogy of the modern preacher. They are declaring the Word of God and when the Word of God goes out, Isaiah 55, it will not return to God empty. We don’t go to church expecting the Word of God to go forth with power any more. I think for too many people it is just a transfer of information, not a confrontation with the living covenant God.

Whether or Not You Recognize Authority, I'm it.

For Ed, Kate, Patrick, Travis and all the other Trekkies out there.

Classic Lines between Capt. Kirk and the lead hippy:

Hippy Dude: "We recognize no authority save that within ourselves."

Capt. Kirk: "Whether or not you recognize authority, I'm it on this ship."

This campy episode of Star Trek contains those great lines whose application to the rule of God is obvious and if we did videos on Sunday morning, I might have been tempted to use this one.

I'm diggin' it Herbert!

Great Movies a Defense Does Not Make

I know this is off the usual topics but this whole thing is just despicable. It is concerning the support that Roman Polanski is getting from Hollywood. If you don't know anything about this story, read this article and if this doesn't prove that most Hollywood elites are hypocritical, self-serving, immoral, scum-bags, then I don't know what does. And people idolize these guys? Sheesh.

The (Now Here) Evangelical Crisis

During the time of my first church plant in another state, we had a statewide meeting of church planters during which a representative of the North American Mission Board provided us with some software that would help us with the administration of our churches. The software included membership tracking, time management helps, etc.

But also included in the software was a collection of sermons.

The representative explained (I'm paraphrasing): "As church planters you know you are busy doing the work of church planting and have no time to prepare sermons. So I have included sermons here for you to use."

How many of my fellow planters utilized this gift I'm not sure.

During my second church plant in the same state, I was attempting to discuss a theological question with a fellow planter and he refused to engage me in the question explaining "I don't read. I hate to read. My giftedness is more in evangelism than teaching."

These experiences and many more (i.e., I once had a pastor who was celebrated within our state convention for his many baptisms tell me about an upcoming baptism service they were conducting. With a smile on his face he told me: "We have 11 baptisms scheduled, but we'll see how many of them actually show up...you know how that is")caused me to lament the state of the church and to temper my confidence in this new found excitement centering on church growth through church planting. Church plants are great only in as far as they are actually teaching and modeling true Christianity. Let me repeat that so as not to mis-interpreted. Church plants are great. But they are great only if they are teaching the truth. Now, there are many which do teach the truth, but, let's be honest, there are many which don't. This leads me take all the church planting/church growth stats with a grain of salt.

Over at the website "Never Thirsty," they warn of this situation by reminding readers of a book written in 1996 called "The Coming Evangelical Crisis" writing:

"They (the authors of the book) warn that the teaching of the Bible is being minimized in order to please people, increase church attendance, and obtain larger followings. The goal for some is no longer the honor of God and the spiritual education of those who are in Jesus Christ. As a result, those who seek to know God and to follow Him are being taught simplistic, basic, sugar-coated spiritual truths devoid of meat and substance. As a result of weak preaching and teaching of the Bible - the book of truth - doctrinal error is rapidly increasing. The alarm rang loudly and clearly throughout the book and it still resounds today."

The alarm does indeed need to resound today for the consequences are dire.

Michael Horton says ". . . Apostasy begins harmlessly enough. First, we are told that we do not need creeds, confessions, and catechisms . . . The result is that the Scriptures go before long. Next, we are asked to tone down on our doctrinal distinctives and emphasize that which unites all religious people of goodwill. The result is the rejection of the gospel. Finally, we are told, “All we need is Jesus,” and we are left with a moral crusader. ( p. 260)

The "Never Thirsty" writer closes with an anecdote that I have personally experienced during several visits at Capitol Hill and which was the cause of a personal revival in my own faith in the church at a time when I was beginning to lose hope:

"The September 2006 issue of Christianity Today has a feature article titled, “Young, Restless, Reformed” by Collin Hansen. Collin indicates that a number of churches scattered across the United States are emphasizing the sound, solid teaching of the Bible. The churches have many young adults in their twenties and early thirties. One such church is Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington D.C. The pastor is Mark Dever. Collin visited the church and describes what he experienced,

I visited Capitol Hill Baptist in January. The church kicked off with Sunday school, which really should have been called Sunday seminary. Class options included a survey of the New Testament, spiritual disciplines, and a systematic theology lesson on theories of the Atonement. (Hansen, Collin. Young, Restless, Reformed. “Christianity Today.” Sept.. 2006. p. 38)

Collin explains that the pastor is serious in his study and teaching of the scriptures. The pastor’s sermons are 55 minutes long. Hymns are emphasized, and the church is packed out with the under 30 crowd. This story is being repeated in key parts around the United States. But it is the under-30 crowd that appears to be interested. The thrust of Collin’s article is that the new emerging under 30 crowd wants to know the Bible and doctrine. They are serious. They are hungry for truth - the Word of God. They are hungry for God. They want to know about God."

Amen.

I am blessed to be pastoring a church plant and have found that this same hunger is alive and well down here in Blacksburg, VA. I see it has my duty as a minister to feed that hunger to the best of my ability and I pray that other pastors will join me in that endeavor for the sake of their congregations and for the sake of Christ's church.

What are the greater implications?

I was sent the following video with the question: "What are the greater implications?" I'd be curious to hear what you think. My answer below.



Some brief thoughts:

As our demographics change, my question is, have we prepared Christians well enough doctrinally that they will persevere in the face of persecution when America is no longer a "Christian nation"? It sounds like a repeat of what was happening in Rome is around the corner and Paul and the writer to the Hebrews (one in the same?) were exhorting them to stay firm in their faith and admonishing them "you ought to be teaching but you are still on milk!"

What will happen to the believers today who are attending the First Baptist Tickle Your Ears Church that is large in number but shallow in teaching?

I shudder to think.

Maybe we ought to be rethinking what our goals in discipleship are. We tend to think of them simply as "growth in Christ" and being "ready in season and out of season" when in the work place or in school, etc.

Maybe we ought to be thinking more along the lines of equipping people in the Word with the goal of helping them to hold securely to their faith even when their lives may be threatened because of it.

That is a whole different paradigm than what we are doing now but it seems like that shift may need to be made in the near future.

Worship - out of the dark into the light

In the introduction to "Give Praise to God, A Vision for Reforming Worship," Philip Ryken describes how the late Dr. James Boice (who died in 2000, and in whose memory the book was written) was (rightfully) troubled by what he saw happening in the contemporary church. Ryken writes:

"Given the priority that he placed on honoring God in our worship, Dr. Boice understandably was troubled by the shift from God-centered to human-centered worship in teh contemporary church. Particularly in last years of his ministry, he believed that many (if not most) Christians had forgotten the meaning of true worship. In seeking to explain this unfortunate phenomenon, Dr. Boice observed the following connections between contemporary culture and the evangelical church: 1) Ours is a trivial age, and the church has been deeply affected by this pervasive triviality; 2)our is a self-absorbed, human-centered age, and the church has become, sadly, even treasonably self-centered; and 3) our age is oblivious to God, and the church is barely better, to judge from its so-called worship services.

In Dr. Boice's view, the result of God's dramatic disappearance from Christian worship could only be a catastrophic loss of divine transcendence, not only in our worship, but in every aspect of Christian life. The Cambride Declaration he helped to produce gave voice to his concern:

Whenever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distored, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God's and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God's centrality in the life of today's church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feel good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ, and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us."

These are concerns that we share at our church and it is lamentable that, as our contemporary culture has an ever-increasing influence on the way in which we think, such concerns are often dismissed as merely the thinking of those who are trapped in the archaic forms of the past and are not sophisticated or mission-minded enough to emerge from those "dark ages" and embrace the new wave of "true" worship.

The irony is that I firmly believe that the opposite is true.

Now on my third church plant, I have experimented with various church forms and worship styles. In past works I had read all the latest church growth books and tinkered with the latest fads. During corporate worship I have (I am now embarrassed to say) done the dramas, the comedy-style routines, the videos, the puppet shows. There were Sunday mornings in which I laughed until I cried over our antics and was under the impression that this was "good," this was "real," this was community lived out to its fullest.

But while what I gained was a "fun" church experience, what I lost was a vision for God's transcendent glory.

What I gained was what I wanted, but what I lost was what I needed.

And that is the tragedy. The more you spoon feed people what their itching ears want to hear, the less they want what they should want- and the pastors are right there with them. Suggest that there should be more prayer and more Scripture in churches today and many pastors, let alone congregants, recoil at the idea. But, please tell me, Scripturally speaking, what should we then have more of? And if the Scriptures aren't speaking to us in these matters, pray tell, who is?

And when you downplay Scripture, when you downplay prayer, when you substitute songs of theological depth with ditties that sound like a teenage lovers crooning to one another, when you are more concerned with entertaining people than glorifying God, then, I contend, you have now left the light and have entered the dark.

I've been there. And while it satisfies for a moment, it does not equip for a lifetime.

More on this later.....

You Don't Have A Problem With God Do Ya?

This interview is priceless. This CNN reporter doesn't know what to make of this good ol' country boy car dealer who is just talking circles around her. Good for him.

Jensen on Speaking in Tongues

Ask Phillip - Speaking in tongues today from Audio Advice on Vimeo.

Our Posture Before the Word of God

This comes from the latest Banner of Truth Magazine. Very Good- print it out and keep it in your Bible! (Sorry about the spacing, I've battled with it long enough- I give up.)

OUR POSTURE BEFORE THE WORD OF GOD
Tom Lyon

1. IF I FIND SOMETHING WITH WHICH I CANNOT AGREE, I AM WRONG.
‘Subjection to God’s will is not the destruction of man’s voluntariness,
but if it were, he would be obligated to come under it.
For God’s supremacy is of more consequence than any attribute
of a creature.’
W. G.T. SHEDD

2. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH I CANNOT UNDERSTAND, I
AM WRONG TO JUDGE IT ON THAT ACCOUNT.
‘You have a very small brain and you have a very poor spirit within
you; do not be surprised that you cannot understand.’
D. M. LLOYD-JONES

3. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH WOULD CONTRADICT THE
CLEAR TEACHING OF SCRIPTURE ELSEWHERE, I CANNOT BE
RIGHT.
‘When there is an appearance of repugnancy or contradiction in any
places of Scripture . . . the truth is to be learned, stated, and fixed
from . . . those places wherein it is the design and purpose of the
holy penman to declare it for its own sake, and to guide the faith of
the church therein’ [rather than dealing with some other matter].
JOHN OWEN

4. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH WOULD SLANDER THE
REVEALED CHARACTER OF GOD, I AM CERTAINLY WRONG.
CAUTION: That which is ‘unworthy of God’ is not decided by man.
Our Posture before the Word of God 17

5. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH BRINGS UP AN APPARENT
CONTRADICTION, I AM WRONG NOT TO FACE IT SQUARELY.
‘In religion, what damned error but some sober brow will bless it and
approve it with a text, hiding the grossness with fair ornament?’
SHAKESPEARE, The Merchant of Venice

6. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH LEADS TO A SUMMARY
PRINCIPLE, I AM WRONG IF I DO NOT FOLLOW IT TO ITS CONCLUSION.

7. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH DISTURBS MY SETTLED CONVICTIONS,
I AM WRONG TO DISMISS IT ON THAT ACCOUNT.
Beware of a straitjacket confessionalism which stifles fresh thought.
‘The Bible has been imprisoned in the cells of alien dogma; it has
been bound hand and foot in the graveclothes of human tradition; it
has been entombed as in a sepulchre by the systems of theology, and
the stone of human power has been rolled up close to its door.’
F. W. FARRAR

8. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH CALLS FOR DECISIVE ACTION
AND I REMAIN INERT, I AM FATALLY WRONG.

9. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH I DARE NOT FOLLOW IN ITS
PRACTICAL DRIFT, I AM DESTRUCTIVELY WRONG.
Beware of facts imprisoned, but not improved.

10 IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH OTHERS BLUSH TO ADMIT OR
STRUGGLE TO AVOID, I AM UNWISE TO FOLLOW THEM AT THAT
POINT.
‘The delicacy of those who affect an appearance of greater prudence
than the Holy Spirit in removing or resolving difficulties, is quite
intolerable.’
JOHN CALVIN
18 The Banner of Truth

11. IF I FIND SOMETHING UPON WHICH POPULAR RELIGION
FROWNS, I MAY PRESUME I AM ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
‘Be assured, there is nothing new in theology except that which is
false.’
C. H. SPURGEON

12. IF I FIND SOMETHING WHICH WOULD TEND TO HUMBLE
MAN AND GLORIFY GOD, I AM MOST PROBABLY RIGHT.
Say, Christian, wouldst thou thrive
In knowledge of thy Lord?
Against no Scripture ever strive,
But tremble at his Word.
Revere the sacred page;
To injure any part
Betrays, with blind and feeble rage,
A hard and haughty heart.
If aught there dark appear,
Bewail thy want of sight;
No imperfection can be there,
For all God’s words are right.
The Scriptures and the Lord
Bear one tremendous name;
The written and the incarnate Word
In all things are the same.
The thoughts of men are lies;
The Word of God is true;
To bow to that is to be wise;
Then hear, and fear, and do.
JOSEPH HART

Post-Rapture Pet Care

Fabulous! Sign me up!

You gotta hand it to them, these atheists are very astute marketers. My guess, however, is that these are Christians who are poking fun at their pre-millenial brothers and sisters.

Lacrea

Okay, so I'm not a big rap guy (the only rap album I have ever owned was a Run DMC from '85), but I got to tell you, this guy Lacrea is knocking my socks off.

My son Nathaniel saw him with some other rappers on their "Don't Waste Your Life" tour. I wanted to hear what it was that he was going to hear and I've had it playing ever since. Check this stuff out. If you know anyone who likes rap, get them tuned into this.

His myspace: http://www.myspace.com/lecrae

on church discipline

For a brief, but very good, overview of church discipline, do yourself a favor and listen to this 6 minute clip of an interview with Matt Schumaker of Capital Hill Baptist being interviewed on Moody Radio.

New sales pitch for churches...

from http://betweenthetimes.com/2009/04/23/front-cover-of-a-new-gospel-tract-published-by-sebts/

The Secret of Knowing God's Will

R. Scott Clark has a great article in the midst of a series on the will of God. You should read it and can find it here.

Here is my teaser to whet your appetite- he says that listening for the still small voice leads to a two-sided tyranny and comments:

The first aspect of this tyranny is the fear that “I haven’t heard the still, small voice of God.” This leads to paralysis. It also leads to doubt.

The logic is ruthless:
1. God still speaks outside of Scripture and gives direct guidance and revelation to Christians.
2. Christian X hasn’t received such guidance and revelation.
3. Christian X is either a) not really a Christian or b) doesn’t have sufficient faith or lacks the power of the Spirit etc.

Whatever the cause, the outcome of the logic is unhappy but what if the problem is not the second premise but the first? What if the first premise is flawed?

What Clark is getting into is a question that centers on the distinction between a "revelation" from God and the "illumination" of God's Spirit. We would affirm that the Spirit illumins our minds to understand Scripture better and how it applies to our situation, but would affirm that God's "revelation" was concluded with the closing of the Canon of Scripture- the Bible.

Check it out, read the comments below it for common questions and then, discuss it with some friends.

On Sunday Morning Worship

Those of us who have paid any attention to church history and ecclesiology are familiar with the debate that existed concerning what is and what is not permitted in worship. Martin Luther's take on it was "whatever is not condemned by the Scriptures is permitted." On the other hand, John Calvin's view (none now as the "Regulative Principle") was that "whatever is not commanded by the Scripture is forbidden."

Although Calvin's view seems a bit extreme, I feel that his argument has much to commend it.

Calvin, recognizing that his view was the "tougher" of the two, wrote:

"I know how difficult it is to persuade the world that God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by His Word. The opposite persuasion which cleaves to them, being seated, as it were, in their very bones and marrow, is, that whatever they do has in itself a sufficient sanction, provided it exhibits some kind of zeal for the honor of God. But since God not only regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates, whatever we undertake from zeal to His worship, if at variance with His command, what do we gain by a contrary course?

The words of God are clear and distinct:“Obedience is better than sacrifice.” (1 Samuel 15:22)“In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men,” (Matthew. 15:9.)

Every addition to His word, especially in this matter, is a lie. Mere “will worship” (εθελοθρησκεια) is vanity. This is the decision, and when once the judge has decided, it is no longer time to debate." (Humble Exhortation—The Necessity of Reforming the Church)

I suggest that you who have a charge over a flock (both planters and pastors) not dismiss this without taking the time to consider it and those who are members of a congregation come to appreciate it.

I did not appreciate what Calvin's point was until I really mulled over the fact that God did not accept whatever it was that people offered him in the name of worship. We need only consider the "strange fire" offered by the sons of Korah or the sacrifices offered by Saul which were condemned by Samuel and led to God's removing Saul from being king. Read the passages. Wasn't Saul only doing what he thought God wanted him to do?

I'm not talking here of worship that is mere action without heart- such as that condemned in the first chapter of Isaiah. I'm talking worship that the offerer thinks God will be pleased with, yet which receives rejection instead.

Doesn't that give us cause for pause?I have gained much from meditating on this and, in particular, a book called "Give Praise to God: A Vision for Reforming Worship." With contributors Baptist and Presbyterian alike, the book has been one of the most helpful to me in terms of forcing me to think through what it is that we should be about on Sunday mornings.

Some conclusions that I came to, and have posted on our church website are:

We worship according to what the Scriptures command, not according to our own innovativeness because.... (It is actually stated that we "Preach the Bible, Pray the Bible, Sing the Bible, and See the Bible)

1) Because we believe the dictums that "we become like what we worship" and "we become like Who we worship." The way we worship contributes to our grasp of the one true God and how we approach Him in all of life.

2) Because it keeps the focus on God and not on worship itself. Too often, the way in which a church worships takes precedence over the Who a church worships. And when that happenes, teh worship can actually change the message. The purpose of worship is not to draw attention to itself, but to aid the congregation in their communion with God.

3) Because it protects the congregation. God is the One who created us to worship Him as He has revealed. It is not the church's job to create new ways to approach Him. To require the congregation, during corporate worship, to do something God has not commanded them to do, could possibly force them to sin against their own conscience as they engage in acts which they do not believe the Bible requires of them.

4) Because it helps to keep us from idolatry. John Wesley, John Calvin, and Martin Luther all warned of our tendency to create God in our own image and end up worshipping ourselves rather than God. The only way to ensure that we worship the right One is to worship accordin to His wishes. As J. Ligon Duncan observes: "The whom of worship is, of course, central to true worship (John 4:22, 24). It is what the first commandment is all about. We aim to worship the God of the Bible, God as he reveals himself, for we cannot worship him as we ought unless we know him as he is- and we cannot know him as he is except insofar as he has revealed himself to us in his word. There is a god we want and the God who is, and the two are not the same. The only way to be sure that we have the whom of worship right is to worship according to God's written self-revelation."

Abortion Commercial

This is a commercial rejected by NBC for play during the Super Bowl, but which is getting air time on Black Entertainment Television

Jesus Came to Save Grimace and Hamburglar

Kevin DeYoung, one of the authors of "Why We're Not Emergent" responds to this McDonald's ad on his blog, taking a swat at today's hipster church culture in a way us country folk can appreciate:


"So much that passes for spirituality these days is nothing more than middle class, 20something coffee culture. If you like jazz, soul patches, earth tone furniture, and lattes, that's cool. But this culture is no holier than the McNugget, Hi-C, Value City, football culture that most people live in. Why does incarnational ministry usually mean hanging out at Starbucks instead of McDonalds?

Jesus came to save Grimace and Hamburglar too. "

I've never been into hip hop but....

...my dear brother Matthew has introduced me to some of what is going on in today's Christian hip hop scene. Here is a clip worth watching. It is Shai Linne- what he raps is good- but what is better is the sermon he preaches to the crowd after he is done. This should be a great encouragement to you no matter what style of music you like.

Check it out.
Spread it around.

Bush's Presidential Statement on the Sanctity of Life

Unfortunately I don't believe that we will be seeing anything coming out of the Obama Whitehouse resembling this any time soon.

[Issued January 15, 2009, The White House]

National Sanctity of Human Life Day, 2009
by the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

All human life is a gift from our Creator that is sacred, unique, and worthy of protection. On National Sanctity of Human Life Day, our country recognizes that each person, including every person waiting to be born, has a special place and purpose in this world. We also underscore our dedication to heeding this message of conscience by speaking up for the weak and voiceless among us.

The most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent. My Administration has been committed to building a culture of life by vigorously promoting adoption and parental notification laws, opposing Federal funding for abortions overseas, encouraging teen abstinence, and funding crisis pregnancy programs. In 2002, I was honored to sign into law the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, which extends legal protection to children who survive an abortion attempt. I signed legislation in 2003 to ban the cruel practice of partial‑birth abortion, and that law represents our commitment to building a culture of life in America. Also, I was proud to sign the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, which allows authorities to charge a person who causes death or injury to a child in the womb with a separate offense in addition to any charges relating to the mother.

America is a caring Nation, and our values should guide us as we harness the gifts of science. In our zeal for new treatments and cures, we must never abandon our fundamental morals. We can achieve the great breakthroughs we all seek with reverence for the gift of life.

The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women. On this day and throughout the year, we aspire to build a society in which every child is welcome in life and protected in law. We also encourage more of our fellow Americans to join our just and noble cause. History tells us that with a cause rooted in our deepest principles and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens, we will prevail.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 18, 2009, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.

GEORGE W. BUSH

Are Mormons Christians?

Here are two contrasting videos- one answering "yes," the other answering "no." I post the first video not to poke fun at Joel Osteen, but because I think that he represents the view of many Christians who do not know what to make of Mormonism besides what they have heard from the Mormons themselves. Mormons present themselves as a "Christian" faith and like to be referred to as the "Church of Jesus Christ." So, here you have Osteen confronted with the question: "Are Mormons Christians?" and he fumbles around a bit but answers "yes" based simply upon their saying that Jesus is their "Savior."

The second video is a short clip by James White who explains why Mormons are, in fact, not Christians at all. I hope this is helpful- particularly for those, like us here in Blacksburg, who are in areas where the Mormon population is large. I also hope that this will serve as an introduction to James White's ministry which is very helpful indeed.