Born of God

“Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). To be born of God. What an amazing thought. Does this idea of being born of God not take us back to Genesis 1 and 2? Can we possibly consider being born of God without Genesis 1 and 2 coloring our understanding of John’s words? Absolutely not!

The only way we can understand this idea, as fully as human minds can understand it, is to draw upon Genesis 1 and 2. God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life (Gen 2:7). Adam, and subsequently Eve, was not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God, born with a sinless nature. Only God can create such a creature. Praise God he will create such creatures again, which is why we must be reborn of God and not of flesh and blood. So we may one day stand in the presence of the sovereign God our creator and live with Him as sinless creatures. Live as a part of the new creation, the redeemed creation, and the children of God, born of God. How glorious is our God!

Born of God

“Who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). To be born of God. What an amazing thought. Does this idea of being born of God not take us back to Genesis 1 and 2? Can we possibly consider being born of God without Genesis 1 and 2 coloring our understanding of John’s words? Absolutely not!

The only way we can understand this idea, as fully as human minds can understand it, is to draw upon Genesis 1 and 2. God formed man and breathed into him the breath of life (Gen 2:7). Adam, and subsequently Eve, was not born of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God, born with a sinless nature. Only God can create such a creature. Praise God he will create such creatures again, which is why we must be reborn of God and not of flesh and blood. So we may one day stand in the presence of the sovereign God our creator and live with Him as sinless creatures. Live as a part of the new creation, the redeemed creation, and the children of God, born of God. How glorious is our God!

What Do You Say?

“And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God" (John 1:34). John the Baptist said these words. It is John’s confessional testimony of Jesus divinity and Messiahship. The question for all of us, and especially me, is will we testify to this same truth? Will we bear witness that Jesus is the Son of God, with all the messianic implications this title carries? Will we say “Jesus is the Son of God,” or will we try to weasel through this life straddling the fence? “Jesus was a son of a god,” will that be your lukewarm testimony? One motivated by a desire not to ostracize yourself from either the popular notions of the culture today or the fellowship of “church.” Make no mistake though my friends, such a lukewarm confession will be met with the lukewarm response, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:16).

Will the fears of men and the persecutions of this world motivate you to say, “I cannot tell if Jesus is the Son of God or where he came from.” Such a non committal answer may win the praise of men, but it will not win the favor of God the Father. “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,” (Matt 10:32).

My brothers and sisters, only one confession, one testimony, one declaration of what we believe and who we put our faith in will suffice for the God of all heaven and earth. The witness from our own mouths must be that Jesus of Nazareth, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16), and “My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28). To stand with John the Baptist and unashamedly say, “this is the Son of God.” May nothing else ever be upon our lips. May nothing else ever be in my heart.

The Privilege

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,” (Heb 10:19-20). This truth that Paul explains to us must be a great comfort. It must also be a great joy and excitement, because we have the privilege of walking into the Holy of Holies, the very throne room of God because of Christ’s work on the Cross. When we enter our private prayer room we enter into the throne room of the eternal God. When we join in prayer with one or more of our brothers and/or sisters in Christ, we have an audience with the High King of Heaven. The one Paul calls “The King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim 1:17). All because Christ broke the power of sin on the Cross and tore the curtain that separates man from God. We now know an intimacy with the God, a freedom of entering His presence, which men and women of the OT could not even imagine!

Oh my brothers and sisters do not let us squander such a precious and dear gift by being to busy to pray. Whenever we feel the rush and hurry of life, let us not be controlled by it so that we do not avail ourselves of an audience with the King. All the more so when we feel the weight of the world on our shoulders from life’s challenges and burdens, let us exercise our prerogative of a hearing with the Sovereign of time and space. Always remembering it is because of Christ work on the Cross and in His name that we are so favored.

The Light

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). What a joyous statement to meditate upon this day, the day after Resurrection Sunday. Jesus came into the darkness of a sin oppressed world, one in which the Spirit of God was seldom seen or experienced. The darkness of sin and Satan came against Jesus, especially on the Cross. Yet Jesus defeated sin completely on the Cross and then He defeated death completely at the resurrection. Darkness could not overcome the light of Jesus. Darkness still rages against the light. However, this time darkness is fighting as a defeated foe in its last gasp for some semblance of victory.

We cannot read this passage without connecting it to 1 John 1:5-10, where John talks about the light and walking in the light. When we read the two passages side by side we begin to get a picture of what it means to walk in the light. We are to walk in the light of the truth, truth of sin defeated and Jesus as Lord. It is more though than just walking in truth, it is walking in The Truth, The Light of the world (John 8:12). We are to walk in Jesus by Him living in us. The glorious wonder of our walking in the light is not just that Jesus is in us; it is also that darkness cannot overcome us! Specifically that we do not live like children of the devil and we love our brothers (1 John 3). We can walk in the light, because The Light dwells within us who believe in Jesus Christ the risen one.

He Died For ALL Our Sins

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6). Somehow our going our own way is a source of iniquity. We sin against God when we go our own way, when we go astray. A sheep was to stay on the trail or in the meadow the shepherd led them on or into. A sheep would see something that looked appealing to its eyes and wander towards that thing. A greener spot, a less rocky path, whatever the item the sheep would go there against the shepherd’s desire.

We see a bigger house, a better spouse, a more comfortable position and decide that is where we will go. However those actions are against God the Father’s will. He has another plan for us, one explicitly in His word, or communicated to us through the Holy Spirit for our particular life calling, or even in the prompting of the Holy Spirit to call someone. However, we turn to our own way, and iniquity is born. When iniquity is born someone must bear it.

This is why Jesus suffered and died on the Cross this Good Friday, because God the Father “laid on Him the iniquities of us all.” Iniquities are created when we go our own way in the big and the small. When we measure the big sins in our eyes, adultery, idolatry, coveting, the punishment Jesus bore for us is humbling and grieves us. When we realize Jesus also had to die for the little sins in our eyes, not calling someone we were supposed to, walking on in a hurry when we were supposed to sit for a “chance” meeting with someone God had planned for us, our grief and shame is all the more magnified. Jesus had to die for my lusting after another woman, and He had to die because I was too busy to make a phone call. He had to die for all my sins.

A Godly Appearance

“For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa 53:2). The immortal, the invisible, the only God (I Tim 1:17), veiled in human flesh had none of the characteristics of royalty or divinity in his appearance. This was the invisible God taking on human form and he did not even take the time to give himself a gorgeous body! He gave Saul handsomeness and stature (1 Sam 9:1). He gave David handsomeness, beautiful eyes and ruddiness (1 Sam 16:12). He gave Stephen the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). However, the creator of man and physical human beauty would not even take on human beauty. How condemned we must be in our pursuit of physical beauty. How shameful our assessing value and worth of humans based on their physical appearance. The only God was not handsome or beautiful according to Isaiah’s prophecy. Are we going to challenge this biblical truth and deny his “homely” appearance as it is given to us in Scripture?

Upon meditation and contemplation, this should not surprise us. God knew and still knows our deference to the outward appearance. God knew that we focus on what is on the outside of the cup and not what is inside the cup. God knew we would be looking for and expecting a physical specimen of humanity to bear the Messiah, the Son of God. Because he knew, that we would always focus on the wrong thing, he chose to come in a “homely” body, one that had “no form or majesty that we should” notice Him. “Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart" (1 Sam 16:7). It was our first and best clue as to what to expect.

Because Jesus came with no special appearance, His appearance itself is a sign, a flag, reminding us and drawing us back to what is important in God’s mind, the attitude of the heart (Luke 6:45). In Jesus’ physical life on this earth it was his heart, a heart given over completely to obedience, that made Jesus special, not his appearance. It is neither our Easter costume, nor our going to Church on Friday and Sunday that will be what God measures, those are all outward appearances. The only thing that God will measure us by this week is the attitude of our hearts. With this humbling and convicting truth upon our minds, let us resolve to spend more time this Holy week dressing-up our hearts instead of our bodies.

FIRST-PERSON: Concerning alcoholic beverages - (BP)

While I do not use alcoholic beverages for a number of reasons, I have always struggled with what is the proper understanding of its use by the Christian based on the Bible. This article by Dr. Paige Patterson, President of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is the best and most clear explanation of abstinence from good biblical exegesis. It is important to note the different uses condoned according to the biblical text explained in Dr. Patterson's article. I encourage all Christians to read this excellent work by Dr. Patterson and use it in determining what their use of alcohol should be.

FIRST-PERSON: Concerning alcoholic beverages - (BP)

Calif. Court OKs Teens' Suit vs. Christian School | Christianpost.com- Christian News Online , Christian World News

In what has been raised as an issue of concern by many evangelicals, a court case is now making its way through the legal system in California. The article below at Christian Post.com explains the lawsuit brought against a Lutheran School for expelling to students involved in lesbian activities. What makes this significant besides the cultural aspects, is the constitutional issues. Ultimately it will come to this, do state anti-discrimination laws trump the First Amendment? Sooner or later the US Supreme Court will take up one of these cases, if not this one then another.

If standing on biblical grounds for behavior is declared discriminatory by the courts, evangelical Christians will be faced with difficult choices. Will we capitulate to the culture or stand against the civil authorities in favor of biblical truth? Every Christian, every church and every Christian organization should begin to wrestle with this question now and be ready with an answer when it is brought to the forefront of our nation.

Calif. Court OKs Teens' Suit vs. Christian School Christianpost.com- Christian News Online , Christian World News

Episcopal Church Exodus

The fall out from the actions last week at the Episcopal Church USA general assembly have begun. While action from the Worldwide Anglican Church is yet to be known, local congregations are taking action. The Episcopal Church in Plano Texas mentioned in this article has been at odds with the National Leaders for a number of years. Expect other local congregations to follow. After a meeting of conservatives at the end of July don't be surprised if even more congregations break away from ECUSA. One key point in the number of congregations that will break away is where they can go. If the Archbishop of Canterbury grants congregations the privilege of associating with another branch or diocese of the Episcopal Church it could create a flood. The article is linked below.
Christianpost Article

The Slippery Slope of Nontraditional Ordination

The Los Angeles Times made a trek into an area often avoided. On the editorial page they published an editorial on the link between those advocating ordaining women into the Clergy and ordaining Gays. What makes this interesting is it affirms an argument I have made for some time in private conversations with friends and relatives, some of whom favor ordaining women. The choice of accommodating one group leads to the the accomodation of the other. Why is this so?

For over 1,950 years the interpretation of scripture on who was qualified to hold the office of Bishop, Pastor, Elder and Deacon was men only. This interpretation was challenged in the 1970s and then discarded by some denominations. The challenge of this interpretation was not based on new biblical evidence from sound scholarship; it was the changes in our society, the emergence of feminism. The Episcopal Church USA, Presbyterian USA and some other denominations chose to take this route: to experiment with scriptural faithfulness.

The results are now complete. To accept ordaining women requires a disregard for the instructions for scripture. To do so will lead to disregarding scripture for other qualifications. We see that as a truth now in the ECUSA, PC USA and the United Methodist Church. Even though the majority of the rank and file laity do not accept gay ordination in these denominations, the leaders and governing bodies have. The LA Times even affirms this. From the editorial:

Yet the election of a female presiding bishop for the Episcopal Church is a reminder that many, though not all, members of that faith have accommodated themselves to what was once seen as a heretical idea, without compromising what they see as the essentials of their faith. That experience can only give heart to advocates of other kinds of inclusiveness in the church's ordained ministry.

The key phrase is: members of that faith have accommodated themselves to what was once seen as a heretical idea. The accommodation of once heretical ideas comes from a disregarding of scripture where scripture speaks. This is how it went from men only to women also, to divorced and remarried several times to now homosexuals ordained as ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It does not end here either. In the near future the desire of individuals with behavior now deemed inappropriate for ministers will be debated and accepted. Why? Because they have no standard to base their "rejection" on. Mark my words. The ordination of polygamists and others with outlandish lifestyles is soon on the horizon for these denominations.

The Movie Is Worse than the Book!

According to information being released about the screenplay adaption of the book, The Da Vinci Code, the attacks against the church and Christianity in the movie are far more serious than he ones made in the book. Of significant is where the claim is made that the Church is a murderous group, killing to keep their secret, "As long as there has been the one true God there has been killing in his name" says the character Teabing. This is a new accusation not made in the book. Dr. Albert Mohler, President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, classifies this as an attack against monotheism. It appears the movie has moved from attacking just orthodox Christianity to attacking monotheism, meaning Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

The Beginning of a New Trend: American Bible Society Tackles Hot Issues In First TV Series

In what is to become a new trend in evangelical television, The American Bible Society has launched an issues based TV Series. Most evangelical religious broadcasting is a preaching/teaching format. With the debut of American Bible Society Presents, a new format sorely needed in evangelical television has begun. You should expect this new trend to quickly grow.

Most other mediums of television broadcasting have had news magazine style shows for years, for whatever reason evangelical organizations have never recognized the importance of this format. Programs like the new ABS show have been need for many years now to compliment the preaching/teaching programs in religious television.
The importance of these shows is not just to counter the secular and liberal bias of most programs in the mainstream media, but to equip believers to engage the culture on issues relevant to our society. Of course believers have always been able to participate in the debate on issues, but often we have been ill prepared to do it with a Christian Worldview and bring biblical principals into the discussion. Christian radio has been the only way believers could get this type of information, and has been invaluable because of it. As excellent as issue based Christian radio programming is, most everyone will agree that the medium of sight and sound that television brings is more powerful in conveying the biblical principals and thinking necessary to engage our culture in a helpful way.

I whole heartedly affirm the importance of the traditional preaching/teaching format of religious broadcasting. I also expect this format to be around for a long time, as it should be. Nonetheless, this new venture by the American Bible Society is a welcomed entry to the issues based news magazine format of broadcasting, and for evangelicals an oasis in the desert of secular humanism currently dominating television.

The article from Christian Post.com can be found here

The American Bible Society Presents web site is:http://www.abspresents.com/

How Should the Church Respond To "The Da Vinci Code"

In a recent article on The DA Vinci Code at Christian Post.com, Tom Hanks was quoted from Entertainment Weekly. Tom Hanks, who stars in the film, said, I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job," Hanks told Entertainment Weekly. "If they put up a sign saying, 'This Wednesday we're discussing the gospel,' 12 people show up. But if the sign says, 'This Wednesday we're discussing The Da Vinci Code,' 800 people show up. Now we must be intellectually honest here, In all probability Mr. Hanks is correct. A sign saying the church will have a discussion on The Da Vinci Code will attract more people than a sign at the same church saying we are going to discuss the gospel.

The question though is should the local church use such a tactic to attract people. In my mind the answer is yes, as long as the centrality of the cross and the veracity of the gospel is resoundingly affirmed. If one the other hand it is a discussion where the principals and the possible truths of The Da Vinci Code are massaged and the gospel is not presented and ardently defended defended then no. Recognizing that "hot topics" in our culture will attract people to our Church and addressing them is not abandoning biblical truth; but that in addressing the issues people, both believers and nonbelievers, are grappling with in their lives and illuminating clear biblical truths and how to apply these biblical truths to their lives is what the church and the preacher are about.

The full article at Christan Post.com.

The power of the US Supreme Court

Do you still believe that 9 individuals wearing black robes cannot thwart the will of the people? Consider some of the facts from a recent article at USA Today on abortion access if Roe v Wade was overturned today. Some of the conclusions of their research and polling:

•Twenty-two state legislatures are likely to impose significant new restrictions on abortion.
•Sixteen state legislatures are likely to continue current access to abortion.
•Twelve states fall into a middle ground between those two categories.
The result, according to this analysis, would be less a patchwork of laws than broad regional divisions that generally reinforce the nation's political split. All but three of the states likely to significantly restrict abortions voted for President Bush in 2004. All but four of the states likely to maintain access to abortion voted for Democrat John Kerry.

In his blog Deeply Divided Over Abortion? USA Today Maps a Post-Roe America, Dr. Albert Mohler said this: If nothing else, this analysis indicates once again that virtually unrestricted access to abortion is the law of the land only because of the unilateral action of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Court usurped the democratic process and acted in a manner that, even thirty years later, still does not reflect the convictions of the American people.

While much still lies ahead in the abortion debate, this clearly highlights the challenges both sides face if access to abortion was given back to the voters.

The USA Today article can be read here
Dr. Mohler's Blog is:
URL: Deeply Divided Over Abortion? USA Today Maps a Post-Roe America

The Resurrection and Our Loved Ones

The below text is the Eulogy I delivered at my grandmother's funeral on Saturday April 15, 2006. I have posted in case some of the family members wanted a copy of my remarks. It is a long post.

Piece of Mind

We all have memories of Grandmother. Many of them we share, like her biscuits; they were the best you could ever eat. Also her banana pudding was absolutely the best. Even today I can’t eat banana pudding in a restaurant. I’m afraid I’ll embarrass myself and my family by taking one bite, spiting it out on the table and blurt out, “Good God, that’s awful!”
The memories that all of us who knew Grandmother will carry with us (and most of us will agree are the most profound and long lasting) are the ones where she gave us a piece of her mind, which was any time you talked to her. Do you remember the last time she gave you a piece of her mind? I do, it was on the phone a couple of weeks ago when she had gotten her “peacemaker.” With grandmother you always fell into one of two groups, the person she was aiming her piece of mind at, or the adjacent splatter zone. This particular time I was in the latter group. She was letting me know that, “no matter what them doctors say about an operation, it’s always worse than they let on with ya.”
I began to think about how, that one second after she crossed from this life to the next she had a perfect mind, able to understand all the fullness of the Holy God of all time and space. How she, in one second, knew more about God than all of us in this room can amass in our whole lifetimes together. Then it occurred to me. As often as she gave all of us a piece of her mind, can you imagine how much of a piece of her mind she had saved up in 89 years of living to give God? I also realized that in her perfect mind that all those things she wanted to tell God became irrelevant and not worth saying the moment she had her perfect mind. I don’t think it is fair that God didn’t have to listen to her like all of us did. I have to admit though that it does show the divine brilliance of our creator. Don’t want to listen to Grandmother give you a piece of her mind? No problem, just give her a perfect mind and make it a nonissue.
If that is the end of how we view her death then we have fallen short of a right perspective of this moment in our history. How do we view Penola Smith’s death? There are two very different attitudes we can take. One is expressed by Dylan Thomas in his poem Do Not Go Gently Into That Good Night.

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight, And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way, Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height, Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

The second is expressed by Sarah Edwards. She was the wife of Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest minds and theologians ever produced by America. He was one of the leaders of the Great Awakening in the early 1700’s and became the President of Princeton College in 1758. He died suddenly only one month after achieving what many would call the greatest achievement of a lifetime, the Presidency of a College when Colleges where few and highly prestigious. On the day he died Sarah Edwards wrote their daughter to tell her of her father’s death. This is what she wrote.

My very dear Child, What shall I say! A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands upon our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had [your father] so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. O what a legacy my husband and your father has left us! We are given to God; and there I am and love to be. Your affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards

Grandmother was not a learned woman. She may not have been able to articulate it the way Sarah Edwards did; but Grandmother, given the choice, would have cast her lot with Sarah Edwards and given Dylan Thomas a piece of her mind. The reason she would have stood with Sarah Edwards on her view of death is because she believed in the promise given to all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ: the promise given by the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians.

I Thess. 4:16-18
16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Jesus had a Friday, but He also had a Sunday. Grandmother had a Thursday, but she’s gonna have a Some Day! Some Day Jesus will return and she will be resurrected just like the Bible promises. How do we know this? Because Jesus promised it himself. In John 11:23-26 he said to Martha when her brother Lazarus had died;

John 11:23-26
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Do you believe this? We all are going to have a One Day. The one day we cross from this life to the next. If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection you will also have a Some Day. If not, make today Your Day to put your faith in Christ before it is your One Day.

So where does this faith in Christ leave us with understanding Grandmother’s death? With the understanding this is not the end but only the beginning. We are not separated from her forever, but we will be reunited with her again because of the promise. We will be with her again, but instead of getting a piece of her mind we will join her in singing praise to the Holy God of heaven and earth!
For my devotional each day I read Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers of all Christian history. Yesterday this is what I read:
The verse of mediation was Isaiah 3:10 “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him.” Spurgeon writes, “It is well with the righteous always. If the prophet had said, ‘Say ye to the righteous that it is well with him in his prosperity,’ we would be thankful for so great a blessing. If the verse had been written ‘It is well with him when under persecution,’ we would be thankful for the sustaining assurance because persecution is hard to bear. Since no time is mentioned, however, all time is included. From the beginning of the year to the end of the year, from the first gathering of evening shadows until the morning star shines, in all conditions, and under all circumstances, it will be well with the righteous. He is well fed because he feeds upon the flesh and blood of Jesus. He is well clothed because he wears the righteousness of Christ. He is well housed because he dwells in God. He is well married for his soul is knit in bonds of marriage union to Christ. He is well provided for because the Lord is his Shepherd. He is well endowed for heaven is his inheritance. It is well with the righteous - well upon divine authority. The mouth of God speaks the comforting assurance. Even if ten thousand devils declare our circumstances to be hopeless, we will laugh them all to scorn. Praise God for a faith which enables us to believe God when the circumstances contradict Him. It is at all times well with you, the righteous one. If you cannot see it, believe God’s Word instead of your sight. The one whom God blesses is blessed indeed.”
I’m with Spurgeon. These circumstances say, “Rage, Rage against the dying of the light.” God’s promise says, “We are given to God; and there I am and love to be.” I’m with Sarah Edwards and Grandmother, not Dylan Thomas. By God’s grace and faith in Jesus Christ, we all who have faith in Christ’s work on the cross, will be with her again! And that’s a piece of my mind.

Lutheran Conservatives Fear Contextualization of Scripture

Anyone who considers themself an evangelical welcomes the idea of encouraging others to read the Bible. However, a denominational program geared to reading the Bible and providing resources to understand the Bible begs the question, "Which form of Scriptural interpretation will be used in these resources?"

Conservatives among the Lutheran Church are right to be concerned that the material provided will have a view of scripture that does not match that of Martin Luther and conservative evangelical orthodoxy. Pray for the development of these materials that they reflect an authoritative view of scripture not a modern contextual one.

The full article at Christian Post.com

Deciphering 'The Da Vinci Code'

For Christians in an uproar that the Da Vinci Code will cause a great disaster to occur in the Church, Dr. Mohler's commentary should calm your fears and restore some rational thinking to your minds. The most important thing to always remember when heresy raises its head, (after the Da Vinci Code ebbs away some other heresy will float to the top), is that the truth always wins. Even if the victory of truth must wait until Christ's return, truth will win. Remember do not rest in a temporal perspective, always keep the eternal perspective.

URL: Deciphering 'The Da Vinci Code'

God's Sovereignty & Human Responsibility

In my Sunday School class on Prayer this Lord's Day (4/9/06), we discussed the phrase in the Model prayer, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (I am leading the class in a verse by verse study of the model prayer Christ gave the disciples in Matt. 6:9-13.) The question becomes is God's will inevitable? Why should we pray for God's will to be done if He is sovereign? This is where the discussion began in class. In short this boils down to the issue of sovereignty and free will. Some individuals try to set this question as “is God sovereign OR do humans have free will?”

The simple answer is that the Bible teaches both. God is sovereign over all things and he has allowed humans to have the freedom to choose good or evil, obedience or disobedience. In Isaiah 14:24, 26-27 we see God is sovereign and His plan for the universe, Satan and sin will come about.
24 The LORD Almighty has sworn,
"Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will stand.
26 This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

This is clearly a biblical mandate for God's sovereignty. At the same time we see passages like Matt 4:17, From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. This shows an expectation on Christ part that individuals would choose to abandon disobedience and follow God’s laws. In our human logic we see God’s sovereignty and human responsibility as two irreconcilable ideas. However, they are two biblical truths we do not comprehend. In a recent article on Calvinism Dr. Daniel Akin articulated it this way. Is there a tension here? Yes. Is there divine mystery? Absolutely! Many believe this is what Paul felt when, at the end of his magnificent treatment of this subject in Romans 9-11, he concludes with a doxology of praise and says, Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments and untraceable His ways (Romans 11:33). If you find it a challenge to fathom the depths of this doctrine then you are in good company!

In this same article Dr. Akin quotes Charles Spurgeon on the subject of God’s Sovereignty and human responsibility.
"I see in one place, God presiding over all in providence; and yet I see and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his actions to his own will, in a great measure. Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act, that there was no precedence of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to Atheism; and if, on the other hand, I declare that God so overrules all things, as that man is not free enough to be responsible, I am driven at once into Antinomianism or fatalism. That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not. It is just the fault of our weak judgment. Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other. These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind that shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.... You ask me to reconcile the two. I answer, they do not want any reconcilement; I never tried to reconcile them to myself, because I could never see a discrepancy.... Both are true; no two truths can be inconsistent with each other; and what you have to do is to believe them both."

I am with Spurgeon on this.

Dr. Akin’s full article can be found at the site below.
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22970

A Right Perspective on The STEP study on Prayer

In an article published at Baptist Press Dr., Mark Coppenger, Professor of Apologetics at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, makes an articulate case for why the STEP study did not reveal a statical difference in the test subjects. His point is made quite well by asserting God would not cooperate with a study that undignified the Almighty. He says, God’s not a lab animal, subject to clinical trials. Neither is He an automatic secretion which can be triggered by one stimulus or another. He is a person with a sovereign will, with the highest dignity and honor, and experiments can be right undignified.

His closing paragraph gives a stark warning for the believer who would be guilty of the same mistake the researchers did, in the name of piety. I am just as confident that God is not amused at calls to perform healing feats on cue, and that He will ignore and resist the ringmasters, whether they wear lab coats or preacher garb.

The full article can be found at the web site listed below.
http://www.bpnews.org/bpcolumn.asp?ID=2202