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A vehicle for venting on philosophy, religion, and the general state of things. Proprietor: C. W. Powell

Saturday, November 03, 2012

TULIP Prayers



The following are prayers for the real Calvinists who know that the famous 
TULIP was not devised as a weapon to beat others on the head, but as a 
goad to the godly to consider his own helplessness before God, to seek 
salvation from Him alone, and to hope only in Him. The holy doctrines of 
the famous Five Points put a restraint upon our natural self-righteousness 
and pride.

There are five sections to the prayer; each of which comprises a prayer in 
itself.


Section One

Total Depravity

I believe and confess, O Most High, that man was created good in all of his 
faculties. Though made of the dust of the earth, he was given the breath of 
life from Your own Spirit so that he could serve You in knowledge and 
wisdom, praise and thanksgiving, and be head over all the things that You 
made.

The only condition for this high and exalted place was that he love You with 
all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, for the ability to love was the chief of 
Your gifts, and man was not tested until he was given a helper fit for him, 
one that he could love and rejoice with in the abundant riches that You 
provided for them. But man did not abide in that blessed state and lost his 
inheritance and even the life that You had given him.

This man was Adam, O Just and Holy God, and he was my father and the 
father of every person upon this earth. Sin entered the world through this 
one man, and we were all born in his likeness, under the curse of sin and 
death that came upon him. He and his seed were alienated from Your good 
Presence and driven from the paradise that You had prepared for them. A 
horrible fate came upon them, for they could not have fellowship with You 
without being holy, and they could not be holy without having fellowship 
with You.

Their dilemma is my dilemma that I confess to You, My Creator. A horrible 
curse rests upon Adam’s children, of which I am one. It is a just and holy 
curse for You are just and holy and worthy of all praise and obedience. 
Because of our alienation from You, we are born in sin and iniquity, and 
all of our faculties of body and soul are under Your curse. Even before 
we are grown enough to know good and evil, we are fixed in our own 
desires and our own ways, strive with our playmates, using even our 
immature members as instruments of sin.

I confess, O Most High, that there is not a member of my body that has 
not been an instrument of unrighteousness. My mouth has spoken 
uncleanness, lies, and wickedness. My tongue has utter deceit, harsh 
and unkind things. I have listened to slanders and wickedness, foul 
jesting, and vulgar speech. My ears have been stopped to the truth. 
My feelings have been dead toward You and Thy Truth, O Most High, 
and I loved sin for its own sake and fled from the way of peace which 
I did not know.

My feet have wandered in the ways of sin and death; my hands have 
done wicked things; my heart has loved idols and vanity. My whole 
body, soul, and spirit has been given over to the course of this world, 
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works 
in the children of disobedience. I was by nature a child of wrath, like 
everybody else of Adam’s seed.

The sweetness and savor of godly prayers and praise, redounding to Your 
glory and praise before the world, were not pleasant to me, but I panted 
after the favor of the world. My eyes beheld evil and longed after wicked 
things, to indulge lust and envy and idols. My mind corrupted Your truth 
and sought after vanity; my will rejected Your good and rushed after the 
vanity of the world; I loved the world and not You, O my Heavenly Father, 
to my shame and disgrace before all the holy angels of God and the blessed 
Triune God.

I was proud and haughty and thought to travel my own way. I rejected Your 
Rest and created turmoil and strife. I rebelled against Your servants that rule 
in Your kingdom; I did not listen to the good counsel of my mother and 
father; I often burned with anger and malice; my inward thoughts were 
impure and unfaithful to You my lawful spouse; I did not use my talents 
for Your honor and praise but often embezzled them for myself; I was not 
always faithful to the truth; my heart burned with unlawful desires.

When I confess this, O God, I fully understand that my sin can in no way 
be charged to You, for You made man upright and good. Although I am 
a sinner, I am not therefore inhuman, for I still retain so many marks of 
what man once was. I can do many things that are good, when I compare 
myself to other people, but not before You and Your holy law. Man has 
so many wonderful gifts: to be self-conscious, to reason, to seek after 
unseen things, to worship and praise, to make moral decisions, to know 
that there are differences between things and ideas, to love, and so many 
other wonderful things. But all of these gifts are contaminated with sin, for 
they were not given to me to use apart from You, for I am Your image, and 
find my meaning and righteousness only in You. None of these gifts could 
save me, for my light was overwhelmed by the darkness of my enmity to 
Your law. Your gifts were hijacked by my sin and used in independence, 
selfishness, and pride.

In short, there was nothing in me of substance or strength that could raise 
me up to You, O God. None of my ladders would reach unto You, O Most 
High, and I must miserably perish in my sin and iniquity if You had not 
reached down to lay hold on me. When there was no help for my soul, 
then You had mercy upon me, and Your mighty Voice that called the light 
out of the darkness: called the light to shine into my heart and I rose from 
my helplessness and death to life and light.

And yet, all of the children of Adam bear some remnants of Your Image, 
O Father of All. How noble is the ruin of man! He is capable of so many 
great things, of so many noble deeds, of so great imaginations and dreams. 
 He can scale the heights in the power of his poetry and song. But he is 
weighted down with sin and misery and cannot reach unto You or Your 
heaven. It is too high for us, O God, and our poor rags of our own 
righteousness only bear witness to what we once could have been, and 
what we can be, if You do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Because of Your mercy in showing me my sin and misery, I can pray with 
all of Your people: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy 
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive 
our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For 
Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”


Section Two

Unconditional Election 

Because there was no strength, no health, no life in me, O Lord, the cause 
of my salvation, health, and life must be found in You, O Mighty and 
Gracious God. Because You dwell in eternity and not in creation. Time 
and space can only bear witness to You and cannot be the cause of Your 
love and grace. In You we live and move and have our being.

This is a wonder that I cannot enclose in my own mind, O Gracious One 
Whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. Your kingdom is an 
everlasting kingdom for You dwell in eternity. You are good; and Your 
mercy is everlasting; and Your truth endures to all generations. You knew 
me before the foundations of the world.

There was nothing of health in me that I should choose You, for Your 
ways are higher than my ways and Your thoughts higher than my thoughts. 
 I acknowledge with Thy holy Apostle Paul the truth that is according to 
the faith of God’s elect, the truth which is after godliness; in hope of 
eternal lie which You, who cannot lie, promised before the world began. 

This truth was in due times manifested through preaching which was 
committed to Your holy Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself 
being the chief stone of the corner. This truth is the foundation of the 
church which is the pillar and ground of the truth, that Jesus Christ, 
Your everlasting and only begotten Son, was appointed from the 
foundation of the world to be the Mediator who would save His people
from their sins. I do confess this holy truth, O Heavenly Father.


Blessed be Your wonderful Name, O gracious God of all peace and 
grace, for You have blessed me with all of Your people with all spiritual 
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, for You have chosen us in Christ 
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without 
blame before You in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of 
children by Jesus Christ to Yourself, according to the good pleasure of 
Your will, to the praise of the glory of Your grace, by which You have 
made us accepted in Your beloved people.

The riches of Your grace has abounded to me in all wisdom and 
prudence, for You made known unto me the mystery of Your will, 
according Your good pleasure which You purposed in Yourself.

This wonder did not arise independently in my soul, for this mystery 
is beyond my capacity. This mystery was revealed by the holy prophets 
and apostles and came to us by the Holy Scriptures. No man could 
have invented this wonder.

There were no works of righteousness which I could do that could 
raise me up to You, Most High and Eternal God, but You saw my 
helplessness and bondage to the world, the flesh, and the devil. I, 
bound and helpless, could not choose You, O God, but You chose 
me. For what reason I do not know and will not know until I see Your 
beloved Son face to face, but it was for Your pleasure and according 
to Your own will, and not mine.

I only love You because You first loved me. I do not know why I was 
chosen, but I know that the reason is hidden in Your own being, and 
not in mine, for I was without strength, ungodly, seeking my own way 
and pleasures. This I do confess with all your people and with all my 
heart.

Because of this, I can now pray with all Your chosen ones, “Our Father 
which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 
will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not 
into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom, and 
the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

Section Three

Limited Atonement

O the depths of Your wisdom and grace, Almighty and Most Wise God! 
 Because of the greatness of Your love for wretched and helpless sinners, 
in the great wisdom, power, and righteousness of Your hidden counsels, 
You conceived and designed salvation for Your people.

Because there were no works of righteousness that we could do that 
could raise us up to You, You came to us. From the very beginning of 
our race, You gave us hope, a hope secure and certain because You 
cannot lie. This promise was hidden in Your eternal counsels before the 
world began, but was revealed through the preaching of the Gospel, 
according to the faith of Your elect who are called to acknowledge the
truth that conforms to Your holy nature as God.

For when we were without strength, Your only begotten Son died for 
the ungodly. O Most High, how great is Your wisdom and grace! How 
far from us is this wisdom and power that ordained this great salvation! 
It could never have entered into the hearts of men or been devised by 
their fallen reason.

You sent Your Son, and named Him Jesus, for He came to save His 
people from their sins. This good news of salvation could only come 
from outside of us and be told to us by another, by messengers that 
You sent to us to tell us. This was also in Your plan.

Because we had lost all through the sin of our first father, Adam, You 
sent Your Son, born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. 
Truly God, for He is Your Son, Your Wisdom from eternity, but made 
flesh. He was made truly human--but without sin--in the body of the 
Virgin Mary by the creation of the Holy Ghost, that He who is God 
might truly partake of our humanity and offer Himself up to You, body 
and soul, to atone for all of our sins, and take them away, nailing them 
to His cross, removing our guilt from us forever. 

Your eternal and Only Begotten Son was made flesh and dwelt among 
us, and we called His name Immanuel, for He was God with us in our 
history. This One was Jesus of Nazareth who suffered for our sins, rose 
for our justification, and sits upon the throne of David in the Heavenly Zion.

He was not a sinner and never knew any sin, but You counted Him a 
sinner, so that You could count us righteous through faith in Him. Our 
sins were laid on Him, so that we could be counted innocent of them. 
He who was innocent was counted guilty, so that we who are guilty 
could be counted righteous.

Only immense wisdom and power could achieve this marvelous 
transformation, O Most Infinite and Mighty God, but He had this 
immense wisdom and power for He is Your Son, begotten from 
eternity before all the worlds were made.

I believe this heavenly and holy Gospel, O Father in Heaven, because 
You gave me faith to believe, renewing my heart and my mind through 
the blood of the Lord Jesus. I would never have believed if You had 
not sent Your Son to die for me, for He came to save those who were 
given to Him before the world was. You gave me to Him to be one of 
His people and so He died for me. Because You gave me to Him in 
eternity, in due time You gave Him to me to be a complete and gracious 
Savior. Not only to me, but to all who believe, according to the 
Scriptures, are crucified with Christ and rise with Him to walk in 
newness of life.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, O Lord God. I cannot reach 
to it, but can only believe, through Thy Power. You knew all about me, 
even when I was first conceived in my mother’s body, for You chose 
my mother and my father, the time of my birth, and the place where 
I would be born.

Because I was beloved of You [Oh! the mystery of Your marvelous 
grace!], You saw to it that I would hear the preaching of the Gospel, 
that Christ would be set before me, crucified for my sins, His body 
broken and His blood shed for me.

I heard and I believed, I know not how, dear Lord, but You said it 
was of Your Spirit. That too I believed when I came of age, although 
I was baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost while 
yet an infant. This, too, was of Your Divine Grace, that I would be 
included among the number for whom Christ died.

I receive with gladness, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the unique 
and special gift of Your mercy and grace to me, although I did not, 
and do not deserve the slightest bit of any of these gifts: not the gift 
of being chosen of the Father, being purchased by the Son, or 
renewed by the Holy Spirit, for I had no works of righteousness that 
I could do, but it was of Your mercy that You saved me, through the 
blood of the everlasting covenant.

I confess, O Lord God, and every day do receive the covenant of 
Your redemption in Jesus Christ. When there was no one to be a 
Mediator to make peace between You and me, O God, in the divine 
council of the Holy Trinity, You chose me to be Your child, You 
prepared a body for the Lord Jesus, Thy Holy Son, so He could 
offer Himself as a sacrifice to You for my sins when the fullness of 
the times had come, and the Holy Spirit was sent to order the events 
of my life so that I would be included in the number of the blessed of 
God.

I accept that, dear Lord, for You have revealed it clearly in Your Holy 
Scriptures, for my faith came by hearing the preaching of the word of 
God. This gift is to all Your people, the church that You purchased 
with Your own blood, the blood of Jesus of Nazareth. He was sent 
to declare Your righteousness for the remission of our sins, being 
foreordained of God to cover our sins through faith in His blood.

I do embrace and believe this with all my heart, Dear Heavenly Father.

How precious are the words of our Savior! He thanked You, O Father, 
that You had given us to Him from the foundation of the world. He did 
not pray for the world, but for those who had been given to Him by your 
loving providence and foreknowledge. He prayed that You would keep 
us, for no one could pluck us from His omnipotent hand. And You, Most 
High and Heavenly Father, who is greater than all and who gave us to our 
Mediator, are able to keep us for no one is able to pluck us from Your 
Fatherly hand.

And so, O precious Father, with all those redeemed by the blood of Christ, 
I can pray, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this 
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”


Section Four

Irresistible Grace


What a mighty Voice is Your Voice, Dear Father. You who called the light 
out of the darkness has called the Light to shine into our hearts. Also, our 
Lord Jesus whose mighty Voice brought forth Lazarus from the dead, has 
called us from the deadness of our sin and misery into eternal life and 
blessedness. Yet, it was also your mighty Spirit who also breathed life 
into our deadness and called us forth from the kingdom of darkness 
into the kingdom of your dear Son.

We heard that Voice, the Voice of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, 
for the same Voice has been heard by all of your people. And I heard 
that Voice of love and grace and found it compelling; yea, I could not 
resist the Voice, O God. We all have heard Thy Voice in the preaching 
of the Holy Gospel which you have ordained as the power of God to 
save those who believe. The Voice has gone out to all the world, calling 
out a people, a special people who would be zealous of good works. It 
is Your Voice that is heard by Your people in the preaching of the Holy 
Gospel.

Your mighty Voice, O Most High Triune God, announced to the world 
redemption from all iniquity for those who believe, teaching us to deny 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live sober, righteous, and godly lives 
in the present world.

I heard that call, O merciful and precious God, and I was drawn to 
Your Blessed Son by a power not of my own. The message came from 
You, O God, for it did not arise in my soul, for the Gospel was preached 
to me and I heard your Voice.

Neither did I come to you by my own strength, Dear Lord, for no one 
can come to the Lord Jesus except he be drawn of the Father. How 
powerful were those cords of love that constrained me to come to You,

O precious Jesus; and how strong are those Hands who have protected 
and preserved me during all the years of my life.

I could resist, O Lord, the power of my conscience. I confess that I 
often resisted the power of my own reasonings and the evidence of 
your eternal godhead and power in the universe, but the power of the 
Gospel did not arise from within me or within creation. It was the Voice 
of the Mighty God who had ordained that the preaching of the Cross, 
though foolish to those who perish, would be the power of God to 
salvation to everyone who believes.

I could not resist that Voice that thundered in the Gospel. The Voice 
was truly a joyful sound and full of glory, O God, calling me to serve 
the Lord Jesus and follow Him through all my life.

The Voice, O Lord, was both death and life to me. It was a 
condemnation of Adam and his children, who die in their sins 
and misery, for the Voice called me to behold the Cross of Christ 
and see there my helplessness and sins and misery that had crucified 
the Son of God; but it was also a Voice that called me to newness of 
life, to put off the old man with his death and deeds, and to put on 
Christ who is risen from the dead so that I could walk in newness of life.

I rejoiced in my soul, and saw that the feet indeed were beautiful upon 
the mountains, the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and 
bring glad tidings of good things!

The Gospel is that effectual power that works in every part of Your 
church, dear Lord, working in those who believe by the Holy Spirit, 
overcoming the spirit that works in the children of disobedience, doing 
exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, for this is 
the victory that overcomes the world, even the faith that you have given us.

The Voice has echoed in my soul through all the years of my life. It is 
more compelling to me now than it was in my youth. Those who are 
the sons of God are led by the hand to the eternal mansions by the 
Hand of the Spirit of God. He works in us both to will and to do of 
His good pleasure, and He will perform this good work unto the day 
of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel Voice is sweeter now, but it is the same Voice, calling me 
to follow in the way of my Savior, the way of righteousness and truth, 
of faith, of hope, of charity. But if I get careless and occupied with the 
world, the Gospel calls me back to the first works of repentance and 
trust, so that I can continue on my journey. I still cannot resist the 
power of the Voice of the Gospel, the Call of God the Father and of 
God the Son and of God the Holy Ghost.

Because of Your Voice, O Heavenly Father, I can pray with all your 
saints, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us 
this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our 
debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For 
Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

Section Five

Perseverance of the Saints


And now, O Father in Heaven, what shall I say to all these things. If 
You are for us, who can be against us. If you loved us from the 
foundation of the world and sent your Son to deliver us from the 
bondage of Your curse upon the sons of Adam, and if the 
righteousness of your Son has become our righteousness, what 
can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus? Not our guilt, for 
that was laid on Christ—the very reason for His sufferings. Not our 
pollution, for His blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. Not our 
wicked unbelief, for grace has saved us through faith, not that of our 
own but that which is the gift of God, the substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen.

Not the flesh, for we are taken by the hand by the Spirit of God Who 
preserves and comforts us and secures our inheritance for us in eternal 
glory. Not the sins that we fall into along the way, for our steps are 
ordered of the Lord. Though we fall, we shall not be utterly cast down, 
for the Lord upholdeth with His Hand.

We confess this eternal truth, O most High God that not the hardness 
of our hearts can separate us from You, for we are chastened as Your 
children, as evidence of Your love, that we would not be condemned 
with the world. Your Spirit works in us to give us new hearts, hearts 
that will love You and bow in humility and contrition.

Neither the accusations of the devil our former enemy and master, for 
our Lord in Heaven makes intercession for us constantly. If when we 
were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, 
how much more shall we who were made the friends of God be saved 
by the Life of His Son.

In short, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. 
It is God who justifies us by the blood and righteousness of Christ, so 
He will never leave us nor forsake us. Tribulation and trials cannot for 
we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Not the 
weakness of our prayers and devotions, for the Spirit makes intercession 
for us with groanings that cannot be uttered, and God knows the mind 
of the Spirit in us, who makes intercession according to the will of God, 
though secret to us.

Not even our sins, for we cannot sin the sin unto death, for your seed 
remains in us and you will revive us again. Nothing created can separate 
us from His love, not death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature.

Nothing in heaven and nothing on the earth and nothing in hell can pluck 
us out of that Hand that holds us, Your blessed Holy Spirit who is the 
Hand of the Father and the Son.

We are therefore not only secure, but by Your Power are willing and 
able to finish the course that is set before us, the way of eternal life, 
for our safety is of the Lord, our exceeding strong Tower and Refuge 
forever.

Because of Your Care, O Heavenly Father, I can pray with all your 
saints, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this 
day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.”

Effectual, Fervent Prayer...

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Every person who names the name of Jesus Christ must be in prayer these next few day. Do not go to sleep in Zion, resting in your ease.

Faith as a grain of mustard seed--even if it be so slight as this: "My Father, you said for us to call in the days of trouble, and we are calling, Dear Lord. We have enough faith to call. Have mercy upon our nation and guide voters at every level: county, city, precinct, state, federal. You would have delivered Sodom if there had been ten righteous--search out the righteous, dear Lord, not for our sakes, but for your glory, Dear Lord.

All of you who claim faith in the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, can pray. You dems repubs, Paulites, and everything in between, etc., pray earnestly, submitting yourself to the will of God. The Lord will clean up your prayers, for He is our kind and gracious Father who loves us in Jesus Christ. Enter into your closet and pray earnestly; do not trumpet it abroad. Speak to your Father as if to one who loves you and forgives your sins by the blood of Christ.

Am 6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion....


Or try this: http://tinyurl.com/9u86v5x  cut and paste into browser.  Google may not find it, the drips.

Thursday, November 01, 2012

Abortion IS Murder. Without a Doubt

"If men strive, and hurt a woman with child,
so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no 
mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, 
according as the woman’s husband will lay 
upon him; and he shall pay as the judges 
determine.

"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt 
give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for 
tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
Burning for burning, wound for wound, 
stripe for stripe."  Exodus 21:22-25

"Mischief" would have to apply to the "fruit" for the law against murder in general 
would apply to the woman. When I was a boy every man in the room would rise 
when a pregnant woman entered the room. This law that is denigrated as "eye 
for eye" is the most civilizing respect for life in the world: because you might not 
know whether a woman was with child you would treat them all with great respect. 
But with murder and hatred of the God of life, men have no compunction about 
ripping her life from her, and her wickedness aids and abets them. Abortion has 
reduced womanhood to monkeyhood, sexual objectivity and a slave of man's 
sexual perversity.

People's hearts are revealed by what they say. I respect people enough to take 
them at their word when they speak. If they don't mean it, they shouldn't say it. 
Words mean something.

Levi paid tithes in his great grandfather Abraham. God considered Levi a person 
even before he was born. Killing Abraham would have been killing, Isaac, Jacob, 
and the twelve tribes of Israel. Couldn't happen, for God preserved Abraham and 
all his seed in him.

But go ahead, kill your babies. What good can come from any of your godless 
seed? You deserve what you get. Murder your neighbor, too, while you are at it, 
and get rid of all his godless children that are not yet born. You will be doing the 
world a favor. [irony alert]

Of course, if there is no God, what does it all matter, anyway?
But because there certainly is a God, the true and living God of Scripture,
I know with out a doubt that it would have been impossible for any of my
forefathers to have died without children, for then I would never have been born.
It was no accident that I was born because my Heavenly Father had planned my
redemption from the beginning of the world.  How do I know that?  Because I
read in Isaiah 53:10 about my Savior:


"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."

The reason Jesus my Lord endured the cross and despised the shame was this:  
He saw His seed, His children that His death would purchase--He saw everyone 
of them, including me.  He did not see me as righteous or godly, but a sinner 
that He chose to redeem for His own purpose.  The will [pleasure] of God the 
Father in electing a people to eternal life prospered in the sacrifice of Christ 
and the love of God was revealed [Rom. 5:8] in that Christ died for us while 
we were yet sinners. 

Because of that, every elect person's birth is secured and his line is protected 
all the way back to Adam.  God has saved many babies from the knife of the 
murderous abortionist in ways that are almost beyond belief, because He was 
not through with that line yet.

This also applies to all the ones who, by God's grace, descend from me who are 
the elect of God. That's why I baptized my babies, because of the Promise of God 
to me and to all His children, a greater promise than that given to Abraham, for our 
promise is for a spiritual seed.  If some do not believe, that does not make the 
promise of God without effect.  The true children of God have always been those 
who believe.  But they have to be born before they can believe.

This is the reason God hates divorce, because He seeks a godly seed. It isn't 
just about you, you, you, and you, and your experiences. It is about the promises
of God to you and to your children, as many as the Lord our God shall call, which 
implies that not all the children of the flesh are called.  

The future does not belong to the abortionist, the lesbian, or the sodomite,
for they have no issue.  Their line dies with them unless they repent.  It does belong
to all those who believe, even the eunuch, for by his faithful witness he can bring the
lost into the kingdom of God.  But children are an heritage of the Lord; blessed be
the Name of Lord.  Amen and Amen

Amen and Amen.

Well, You Know, Sin is Sin

Perfectionism refuses to see the difference between things.
God expects us to know the difference between a gnat and a camel.
I have had a gnat in my soup and removed it. The soup was still
good and I drank it along with the myriad of unseen biological
creatures that infest everything we eat and drink. Don't seek to know
everything you eat and drink on a daily basis if you are a perfectionist.
It will drive you crazy.

God appointed Jehu king of Israel and used him to destroy Baal
worship, and rewarded Jehu with four generations of kings in his family.
This in spite of Jehu's continued worship of the golden calves at
Dan and Bethel, the evil of Jereboam I. He even names one of
his sons Jereboam who reigned as Jereboam II. Baal worship was
far worse than the golden calf worship for the nation and involved
human sacrifice. The calf worship was, at least in the beginning,
a pretense to worshiping Jehovah and did not involve the social
and legal decay that Baal worship did.

Jehu was a better man than Ahab, though neither of them were godly.

I have never had a camel in my soup, but I don't think I would
drink soup that had a camel in it. I have never swallowed a physical
camel, but I have swallowed some spiritual ones that I dearly repented
of. The principle is the same, it is the degree of invasion that counts.

People choke over some poor, weak, "hypocrite" in the church,
and swallow easily their disobedience to God in despising the church,
Christ's government of the church, and the regular preaching of the Gospel.

Well, "sin is sin," the perfectionist intones with hands folded and eyes
elevated to heaven. Well, duh. And false doctrine is false doctrine.
But God said that we are to judge righteous judgment. You should
pay your tithe of mint, anise, and cumin, but don't think a transgression
in mint is equal to a transgression in judgment, mercy, and faith.
The perfectionist is mired in the false doctrines of self righteousness
and cannot see clearly.

But the perfectionist thinks he has every obedience covered and is
secure in his pretense. He thinks, "When I pay my pinch of mint,
then I will have kept the law perfectly as a righteous man.
I got the gnat. Don't talk to me about the camel. I just swallered him."

But worst of all, the perfectionist, in treating every sin the same,
does not make small sins abhorrent, he only succeeds in trivializing
huge sins. So he loses the ability to evaluate anything: murder is the
same as petty theft; perjury before a church judicatory is the same
as complimenting a person for an ugly hat.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

God's Word in Your Heart

You will not find God's word in your heart unless you have put it there: 
Ps 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

The word is put in your heart by reading, meditating, asking God for the 

Holy Spirit to give you understanding. James 3:17, 18. 

The word is sown in the heart from without, for even the field of the 
good heart does not have good seed until it is sown there by the Sower. 

Pleading inability to understand is no excuse, for that is your fault, 
and no one understands unless he cries out for understanding and wisdom. 
But God's word makes wise the simple and give understanding to the fool. 
But you must seek her as for hidden treasure.

God has words that you MUST receive from without. 

You will not find them in your heart which is a den of iniquity and lies:

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

You will have no wisdom to speak in your mouth if you have 
not hidden it in your heart. Ps 119:27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: 
so shall I talk of thy wondrous works

Only One Foundation

True faith is known only by God, for all its fruits can be faked.
It it is indeed true and from God, then God who alone sees the heart, 
has justified the sinner and all his sins are covered by the blood of Christ.

That being said, faith is witnessed to men ONLY by works, 
and can be revealed ONLY by works, beginning with a confession 
with the mouth that Jesus is Lord [not friend, good pal, easy on the mind] 
which has the idea of an oath and covenant, that He is my king and master. 
"Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?" 
Good question for the modern rebellious saint.

Ministers are to "reprove, rebuke, exhort..." what?? John the Baptist said 
"Bring forth the fruits of repentance." Pr 17:10 
"A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool."

Of course, no man can keep the law of God, for this Christ died. 
But He didn't die so I could continue to wallow in my sins. 
He provided a way for me to escape just as He did Israel. 1Cor. 10:6-13 and context. 
Those who despised Moses died without mercy, for God is master of His own mercy 
and dispenses it as it pleases Him. If we despise the way God has given for us to escape, 
we shall not escape a more severe penalty [Hebrews 2:1-3]

A duck is a duck and bears witness to its duckness in everything it does. 
It doesn't slander and despise other ducks when it is doing its duck thing. 
And neither does a Christian despise the visible church which is the 
pillar and ground of the truth [1Tim 3:15], no matter how much of a tickle 
he gets in his belly that he thinks is the Holy Spirit. Reformation is not rebellion 
and both Luther and Calvin and the other Reformers had a high view of the 
church and ecclesiology.

I suppose there are dozens of churches, both small and large, in Colorado Springs 
where people can be nurtured in the faith and grow in Christ for there are a lot of 
fine Christian people in this town. The churches are doing something good. 
There is a lot of foolishness, I suppose, too, for there is no church that does 
not need to heed the command to grow in the faith and to be conformed to Christ. 
Perfection is found only in Christ, and the faults of the churches are no excuses for 
those who profess the Name of Christ to submit to the rebukes and exhortations 
of the Word of God, even though spoken by earthen vessels. God would humble that in us.

1Co 14:36 and context; "What? came the word of God out from you? or came it 
unto you only?" This was written to correct the Corinthian error that the Holy Spirit 
was just jabbering away to everybody all the time--even in languages nobody understood--
so that in the church [what?] every body should sit down, shut up [especially the women], 
and listen to each other, doing things decently and in order.

The Ephesians had it right, for they examined those who claimed to speak for God 
and found them liars. [Rev. 2:2]. No one should publicly teach in the church that is not 
approved of the elders, ordained by the laying on of hands, for the most precious gift 
of Christ to the church is faithful teachers and preachers. If you despise them you will 
soon find a famine in your heart and in your life.

There were only 12 apostles and when they were finished with their work the foundation 
of the church was finished and everyone else was to build on their foundation. No other 
foundation can be laid than that which is already laid. [I Cor 3 and context, which was 
also written to those who were pretending new revelations.] Away with your new 
revelations and dreams! There is only one foundation for the church [Eph 2:19-22].

Acts 10: 41 Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, 
who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he commanded us to 
preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the 
Judge of quick and dead.

If you didn't get it from the Apostles, then you ain't got it.

1John 1:3-10 and context. The only way to have fellowship with the light of God is to walk 
in the light of the words of the Apostles. [verse 3] Salvation comes through the fellowship 
of the Gospel which was preached by the apostles. When we walk in that light, we have 
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sins. vs. 6,7.

1Peter 5:5,6 and context: Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with 
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves 
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time...

Thus saith the Lord: not Bud Powell, not John Calvin, not Martin Luther, not Gashmu nor 
Geshem the Arabian.

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