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Friday, December 28, 2012
State and Marriage
Why the State Must Regulate and Define Marriage.
The Fifth Commandment forbids adultery. Adultery is a sin and should also be a crime in the state
for it destroys the family.
How can you discipline for adultery if people behave like dogs and rabbits? What is cheating? and
how are innocent people to be protected from being trampled on by rutting animals?
Then there is the matter of children. Fathers are to bring their children up in the Lord, and this is a
matter for both state and church. If fathers do not civilize and support their children, then the state
and the church or other members of the family must, because civilized societies do not allow
children to die in the street. A man that does not support and provide for his children has denied
the faith and is worse than an unbeliever, Scripture says.
Strict laws concerning adultery are not cruel and inhumane. Slack laws are inhumane to children,
society, and innocent spouses who want to live godly in marriage. Marriage is also a contract in
which each partner makes vows, and each is in a position of trust and obligation. The state must
enforce civil contracts if the state is to be civilized.
Anyone who has been through a divorce, or knows someone who has been [who hasn't?] through
one knows the horror, the cruelty, the poverty, the bitterness that ensues because someone was
unfaithful to the vows: not only guilty of sin against the 7th Commandment, but also sin against the
3rd Commandment. Persons not only sin physically against they spouse, but also against God and
their spouse by taking God's name in vain by not keeping their vows.
When fathers do not discipline and civilize and support their children [with the help of mothers],
they have committed a crime against their family, their church, their state, laying additional burden
upon the resources of these biblical institutions. If there are no laws defining marriage, then all is
confused and a mother may have children by three or four or more "partners" like animals in the
wild.
She and her partners are irresponsible in their sexuality, making it impossible for the children to
live in families after a godly order: different sets of grandparents, confusion of family members,
confusion of fatherly responsibility to the home; If one father tries to be responsible, he ends up
footing the bill for other people's kids, and sometimes he just throws up his hands and disappears.
If the children live with the father, the same situation ensues, or perhaps even worse.
If fathers do not discipline and civilize their children. If they do not provide for them, and that also
should be a matter of discipline in church and state for the state and church must provide for them.
Hence, it is necessary to determine which kids belong to which fathers. Otherwise, complete
confusion.
Then there is property. A spouse has rights to property gained during a marriage, and so do the
children. Rights of inheritance are involved.
This is why the homosexuals want marriage "rights" because they want to play house, get the
bennies, while breaking God's law. There is more, but I spare you.
A man gets a deed when he buys a house, signifying that it is his and he has rights connected
with ownership. A spouse has even more rights in a marriage and the state and church must
protect those rights, or the state will fall apart.
The Independent Establishment of Religion.
Bud: the adherents of the Reformed churches of America bought into the
dispensational baptistic culture and have abandoned its cultural to the kingdom
of Satan. One of the best books put out by the Tyler, TX crowd was the issue of
the Reconstruction Journal: "The Failure of the American Baptist Culture." It's
motto was "You do not polish brass on a sinking ship." --from Vaughn Edward
Hathaway, Jr.
There have also been many voices raised against this culture, but the American people
went whoring after their individual gods and experiences and surrendered their state,
their schools, their political system to emotionalism, revivalism, and irrationalism.
Independency replaced covenant.
A similar culture of emotionalism and pietism surrendered with hardly a murmur to the
Nazis in Germany. Hitler showed the way to overcome and brush it away. So was fulfilled
Isaiah 59: "We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we
stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men...." Isaiah was
speaking of Israel in his day, but something similar could be said to the church today.
dispensational baptistic culture and have abandoned its cultural to the kingdom
of Satan. One of the best books put out by the Tyler, TX crowd was the issue of
the Reconstruction Journal: "The Failure of the American Baptist Culture." It's
motto was "You do not polish brass on a sinking ship." --from Vaughn Edward
Hathaway, Jr.
There have also been many voices raised against this culture, but the American people
went whoring after their individual gods and experiences and surrendered their state,
their schools, their political system to emotionalism, revivalism, and irrationalism.
Independency replaced covenant.
A similar culture of emotionalism and pietism surrendered with hardly a murmur to the
Nazis in Germany. Hitler showed the way to overcome and brush it away. So was fulfilled
Isaiah 59: "We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we
stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men...." Isaiah was
speaking of Israel in his day, but something similar could be said to the church today.
It was not the fault of the prophets that Israel was in this condition. Israel had the law and
the prophets; they had the writings, but turned away from them. Our nation is filled with
bibles that are unread or read without understanding if they are read, because they are
read without faith and submission. They are read to see what it says "to me," not "to us."
So we contend and fight and beat each other up, ignore the creeds and confessions,
disregard the work of our fathers, and contend for money and power and advantage.
They are read to provide proof texts to support sinful attitudes, doctrines, unbelief, and
rebellions.
But God will not serve our ambition and lusts. Every homosexual knows what the Bible
says about his sins. Every crooked politician knows what the Bible says about their kind.
Every whoremongering minister who adulterates the Bible and perverts it to his own self-
worship knows what the Bible says, but claims "liberty" in the "Spirit" to ignore its plain
teaching.
No American is exempt from knowledge of the horror of the abortion industry. The Baal
worshipers of old were amateurs when it came to sacrificing their children to their gods of
pleasure and power.
Every adulterous fornicating wife or husband knows what the Bible says about their sin,
but they claim freedom from "judgmentalism" and they "trust in lying words, that cannot
profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto
Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this
house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?"
Jeremiah 7.
worshipers of old were amateurs when it came to sacrificing their children to their gods of
pleasure and power.
Every adulterous fornicating wife or husband knows what the Bible says about their sin,
but they claim freedom from "judgmentalism" and they "trust in lying words, that cannot
profit. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto
Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this
house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?"
Jeremiah 7.
But he that knows to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. --James 4:17. It is true
that God works in his people, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, which means
that I am to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling [Philippians 2:12, 13].
The fact that you can work it out is proof that He has worked it in. If He hadn't worked
it in, you couldn't work it out. If the key to your prison is in your own hand, quit praying
for an earthquake and an angel.
When Moses stood before the Red Sea holding the rod of God in his hand, God rebuked
him: "Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it...." [Exodus 14:
15,16] [I can see Moses blink, look at the rod in his hand and think, "O, yeah, why didn't
I think of that? Am I stupid, or what?"]
that God works in his people, both to will and to do of His good pleasure, which means
that I am to work out my own salvation with fear and trembling [Philippians 2:12, 13].
The fact that you can work it out is proof that He has worked it in. If He hadn't worked
it in, you couldn't work it out. If the key to your prison is in your own hand, quit praying
for an earthquake and an angel.
When Moses stood before the Red Sea holding the rod of God in his hand, God rebuked
him: "Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it...." [Exodus 14:
15,16] [I can see Moses blink, look at the rod in his hand and think, "O, yeah, why didn't
I think of that? Am I stupid, or what?"]
Warehousing the Children
Ephesians 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in
the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Children were given to families to rear in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by their
churches, their fathers and mothers, and other godly people.
They are not given so that parents can decide whether or not to keep them, abort them,
or ??, and certainly not as "resources" of the state to be warehoused in government re-
education facilities to provide cannonfodder for a new world order. The day will come,
perhaps, where it will be safer to send your children unattended to the mall that to public,
or maybe even private schools. How many policemen, national guards, and drones will it
take to protect the resources of the state? How many barbed wire fences?
"Well, well, well" the humanist whines. "Look at the mess of the families. The public
schools are just doing what the families are failing at." Yes, the families are failing because
you guys have been doing your thing for a number of generations. You tax away family
wealth; you teach that fornication, adultery, homosexuality is perfectly normal and must
not be judged. You undermine the authority of mothers and fathers, and mock the Christian
faith.
You tell men and women that "relationships" should be easy on the mind. You liberalized
divorce so that no one has to keep their vows or their obligations to the kids, who are then
taught to look to the state. You ridicule Bible believers and tell the kids they came from
monkeys or from monkey cousins, and then try to reeducate them to behave like model
socialist citizens.
the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Children were given to families to rear in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, by their
churches, their fathers and mothers, and other godly people.
They are not given so that parents can decide whether or not to keep them, abort them,
or ??, and certainly not as "resources" of the state to be warehoused in government re-
education facilities to provide cannonfodder for a new world order. The day will come,
perhaps, where it will be safer to send your children unattended to the mall that to public,
or maybe even private schools. How many policemen, national guards, and drones will it
take to protect the resources of the state? How many barbed wire fences?
"Well, well, well" the humanist whines. "Look at the mess of the families. The public
schools are just doing what the families are failing at." Yes, the families are failing because
you guys have been doing your thing for a number of generations. You tax away family
wealth; you teach that fornication, adultery, homosexuality is perfectly normal and must
not be judged. You undermine the authority of mothers and fathers, and mock the Christian
faith.
You tell men and women that "relationships" should be easy on the mind. You liberalized
divorce so that no one has to keep their vows or their obligations to the kids, who are then
taught to look to the state. You ridicule Bible believers and tell the kids they came from
monkeys or from monkey cousins, and then try to reeducate them to behave like model
socialist citizens.
You fooled us for a while, but we have now caught on.
The amazing thing after all these generations of tax supported subversion of churches, homes,
and parents that the home has survived at all. The efforts of so many faithful mothers and
fathers, Sunday School teachers, and obscure ministers have raised a standard against perversity
and blasphemy.
So be warned, all you satanic hordes. You have tried this before and you have failed, because
you have never, and never will, be able to overcome the saints who always triumph over your
master "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death." Re 12:11
Zec 4:6b "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
Ephesians 6:12 [This is for fathers and mothers especially]: "For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God...."
2 Corinthians 10: 3 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a
readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
The amazing thing after all these generations of tax supported subversion of churches, homes,
and parents that the home has survived at all. The efforts of so many faithful mothers and
fathers, Sunday School teachers, and obscure ministers have raised a standard against perversity
and blasphemy.
So be warned, all you satanic hordes. You have tried this before and you have failed, because
you have never, and never will, be able to overcome the saints who always triumph over your
master "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death." Re 12:11
Zec 4:6b "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
Ephesians 6:12 [This is for fathers and mothers especially]: "For we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God...."
2 Corinthians 10: 3 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong
holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a
readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Love Without Dissimulation
Meditation and Prayer on Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Dear God and Father, this command seems so far above us: “Let love be without
dissimulation.” How insincere we often are, Lord, especially in the matter of love.
For love is not blind, nor deaf, nor amoral. Dear Lord Jesus, You said “If You love
me, keep my commandments.”
The first and great commandment is to love You, our Creator and God, with all our
hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and all our strength. What hateful things
we sometimes do in the name of love. You have shown us the way, “Abhor that which
is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
Wickedness puts on a cloak of love and loves evil and hates the good. The minister is
considered loving if he does not rebuke sin and reprove ungodliness, thereby despising
Your commandment. He sells his God for the love of the world. This is not love, O God,
but how hard it is to be faithful.
Abhor that which is evil. All kinds of evil. Evil ideas, evil doctrines, evil attitudes, evil
posturing, evil hypocrisies, evil speakings, backbiting, slandering, evil gossippings, evil
deeds against Your commandments forbidding disobedience to godly authority, murder
and hatred, adultery and other sexual sins, thefts of all kinds, destroying reputations, and
even the evil desire for such things.
You abhor such things, dear Lord. You loath them. You hate them with every fiber of
Your holiness. We have no word strong enough to express Your hatred of them, but we
see Your hatred of evil in the awful sufferngs in the soul and body of Jesus Christ. Your
wrath came upon Him and He suffered the punishment that Your justice requires for
transgression of Your holy law, a coming short of the glory of God.
Grant us Your Spirit, not to dull our senses and obscure our moral natures, but to sharpen
them and invigorate us, for He is given to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and
judgment. We love in truth by abhorring evil, for that is the meaning of the sentence; we
also love by cleaving [sticking to, and being glued to] that which is good. How faithful
You are, Dear Lord. You not only tell us to love, but You tell us how to love.
“Reprove” means 1) to convict, refute, confute 1a) generally with a suggestion of shame
of the person convicted 1b) by conviction to bring to the light, to expose 2) to find fault
with, correct 2a) by word 2a1) to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove 2a2) to
call to account, show one his fault, demand an explanation 2b) by deed 2b1) to chasten,
to punish.
You, O Lord, abhor the evil because You cleave to that which is good. You know how
much better we would be if we would repent and turn from our evil ways and evil thoughts
and false doctrines and proud thoughts.
You hate what we have become by turning away from You, the fountain of goodness and
truth.
How we hate this in the flesh, dear Lord. Every fiber in our being rises against reproof and
rebuke. We rebuke the rebuker and reprove the reprover. This is right when men rebuke in
ignorance or to avoid the cross, but so evil when we resist truth and counsel. We dissimulate
and pretend to be wronged and add slander to our offenses against each other.
We sin either in tyranny, seeking to exercise lordship; or we sin in truancy, refusing to love
our neighbor as God has commanded us. We do evil in the name of love, and we know to do
good and do it not in the name of love. And so we dissimulate and our eye is evil, and we do
not see God. Men praise our foolishness which is horrid in Your pure eyes, O Most High.
Grant us forgiveness and repentance, O Lord, that we might be salt and light in the world for
Your glory and praise.
Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Pr 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Pr 24: 24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse,
nations shall abhor him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing
shall come upon them.
Pr 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
But how deceitful is my heart, dear Lord. We reprove and rebuke, not out of love, but from
spite and ill will, pretending love. This is why we need Your Spirit so desperately, so we do
not play the fool and sow strife and hatred in the name of love.
Give me a humble heart to receive instruction, and meekness and boldness of Spirit to speak
truth plainly. How hard it is to be obedient in this, O Lord. May I be filled with goodness and
knowledge and so be able [capable, strong, effective] to admonish others in obedience to You,
having examined my own heart and life. May I love the good and the godly people and cleave
to them and support and defend them. May I abhor evil thoughts, doctrines, habits, practices,
attitudes, with my whole soul, as You do, O Lord.
Precious, Lord Jesus. How You loved us. You took upon Yourself our horrid sins and bore them
and received the punishment of Your Father for them as He withdrew His sweet presence from
You in the darkness of that day that You were hanged on a tree, a cursed thing, so that we might
be freed from the curse and received into favor.
Stir up my heart and soul, Dear Father. Renew Your image in me through the blood of the Cross
that I may abhor all evil in myself and elsewhere, and cleave to the good, whether the work of
Your Spirit in me, or in others by Your grace. For You are the fountain of life and from You
all blessing flow. May I love people without dissimulation enough to seek their good in all
things, as did Your Only Begotten Son.
In the Name of You my Savior, Jesus Christ, for You “loved righteousness and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows….”
Heb. 1:9 Amen and Amen.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.
Dear God and Father, this command seems so far above us: “Let love be without
dissimulation.” How insincere we often are, Lord, especially in the matter of love.
For love is not blind, nor deaf, nor amoral. Dear Lord Jesus, You said “If You love
me, keep my commandments.”
The first and great commandment is to love You, our Creator and God, with all our
hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, and all our strength. What hateful things
we sometimes do in the name of love. You have shown us the way, “Abhor that which
is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
Wickedness puts on a cloak of love and loves evil and hates the good. The minister is
considered loving if he does not rebuke sin and reprove ungodliness, thereby despising
Your commandment. He sells his God for the love of the world. This is not love, O God,
but how hard it is to be faithful.
Abhor that which is evil. All kinds of evil. Evil ideas, evil doctrines, evil attitudes, evil
posturing, evil hypocrisies, evil speakings, backbiting, slandering, evil gossippings, evil
deeds against Your commandments forbidding disobedience to godly authority, murder
and hatred, adultery and other sexual sins, thefts of all kinds, destroying reputations, and
even the evil desire for such things.
You abhor such things, dear Lord. You loath them. You hate them with every fiber of
Your holiness. We have no word strong enough to express Your hatred of them, but we
see Your hatred of evil in the awful sufferngs in the soul and body of Jesus Christ. Your
wrath came upon Him and He suffered the punishment that Your justice requires for
transgression of Your holy law, a coming short of the glory of God.
Grant us Your Spirit, not to dull our senses and obscure our moral natures, but to sharpen
them and invigorate us, for He is given to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and
judgment. We love in truth by abhorring evil, for that is the meaning of the sentence; we
also love by cleaving [sticking to, and being glued to] that which is good. How faithful
You are, Dear Lord. You not only tell us to love, but You tell us how to love.
“Reprove” means 1) to convict, refute, confute 1a) generally with a suggestion of shame
of the person convicted 1b) by conviction to bring to the light, to expose 2) to find fault
with, correct 2a) by word 2a1) to reprehend severely, chide, admonish, reprove 2a2) to
call to account, show one his fault, demand an explanation 2b) by deed 2b1) to chasten,
to punish.
You, O Lord, abhor the evil because You cleave to that which is good. You know how
much better we would be if we would repent and turn from our evil ways and evil thoughts
and false doctrines and proud thoughts.
You hate what we have become by turning away from You, the fountain of goodness and
truth.
How we hate this in the flesh, dear Lord. Every fiber in our being rises against reproof and
rebuke. We rebuke the rebuker and reprove the reprover. This is right when men rebuke in
ignorance or to avoid the cross, but so evil when we resist truth and counsel. We dissimulate
and pretend to be wronged and add slander to our offenses against each other.
We sin either in tyranny, seeking to exercise lordship; or we sin in truancy, refusing to love
our neighbor as God has commanded us. We do evil in the name of love, and we know to do
good and do it not in the name of love. And so we dissimulate and our eye is evil, and we do
not see God. Men praise our foolishness which is horrid in Your pure eyes, O Most High.
Grant us forgiveness and repentance, O Lord, that we might be salt and light in the world for
Your glory and praise.
Amos 5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Pr 9:8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Pr 24: 24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse,
nations shall abhor him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing
shall come upon them.
Pr 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.
But how deceitful is my heart, dear Lord. We reprove and rebuke, not out of love, but from
spite and ill will, pretending love. This is why we need Your Spirit so desperately, so we do
not play the fool and sow strife and hatred in the name of love.
Give me a humble heart to receive instruction, and meekness and boldness of Spirit to speak
truth plainly. How hard it is to be obedient in this, O Lord. May I be filled with goodness and
knowledge and so be able [capable, strong, effective] to admonish others in obedience to You,
having examined my own heart and life. May I love the good and the godly people and cleave
to them and support and defend them. May I abhor evil thoughts, doctrines, habits, practices,
attitudes, with my whole soul, as You do, O Lord.
Precious, Lord Jesus. How You loved us. You took upon Yourself our horrid sins and bore them
and received the punishment of Your Father for them as He withdrew His sweet presence from
You in the darkness of that day that You were hanged on a tree, a cursed thing, so that we might
be freed from the curse and received into favor.
Stir up my heart and soul, Dear Father. Renew Your image in me through the blood of the Cross
that I may abhor all evil in myself and elsewhere, and cleave to the good, whether the work of
Your Spirit in me, or in others by Your grace. For You are the fountain of life and from You
all blessing flow. May I love people without dissimulation enough to seek their good in all
things, as did Your Only Begotten Son.
In the Name of You my Savior, Jesus Christ, for You “loved righteousness and hated iniquity;
therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows….”
Heb. 1:9 Amen and Amen.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Avoiding the Cross: Be Nice.
Isaiah 3:10 "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat
the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward
of his hands shall be given him."
Isaiah must avoid two snares: Demoralizing the righteous and enabling the wicked.
He is to comfort the one and discomfort the other.
Hence, Isaiah has to know which are which. It will be well with righteous people;
it will not be well with wicked people, because God is in heaven and He knows the
difference between them and He knows their destiny. So should the minister know,
but his knowledge is not specific as is God's, but general. He knows the marks of
ungodliness, but cannot know an individual's final state. God does, of course.
The minister speaks in general as to the condition of the righteous and ungodly;
the Holy Spirit takes the Scripture and make it specific to the conscience.
Ministers, to avoid the cross, often sooth those who should not be soothed and
make sad those whom they ought not to make sad. Sometimes it is in ignorance,
but the effect is the same. It is a great responsibility to preach the gospel of Christ,
for the minister does not have his own message; he is bound to the Scriptures.
Ezekiel said of the false prophets of his day, Eze 13:22, 23 "Because with lies ye have
made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened
the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising
him life: Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will
deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD."
Paul said to Timothy: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." --2 Tim. 4:2.
Philippians 3:18, 19 "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell
you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is
destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind
earthly things."
the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward
of his hands shall be given him."
Isaiah must avoid two snares: Demoralizing the righteous and enabling the wicked.
He is to comfort the one and discomfort the other.
Hence, Isaiah has to know which are which. It will be well with righteous people;
it will not be well with wicked people, because God is in heaven and He knows the
difference between them and He knows their destiny. So should the minister know,
but his knowledge is not specific as is God's, but general. He knows the marks of
ungodliness, but cannot know an individual's final state. God does, of course.
The minister speaks in general as to the condition of the righteous and ungodly;
the Holy Spirit takes the Scripture and make it specific to the conscience.
Ministers, to avoid the cross, often sooth those who should not be soothed and
make sad those whom they ought not to make sad. Sometimes it is in ignorance,
but the effect is the same. It is a great responsibility to preach the gospel of Christ,
for the minister does not have his own message; he is bound to the Scriptures.
Ezekiel said of the false prophets of his day, Eze 13:22, 23 "Because with lies ye have
made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened
the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising
him life: Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will
deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am the LORD."
Paul said to Timothy: "Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine." --2 Tim. 4:2.
Philippians 3:18, 19 "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell
you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: Whose end is
destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind
earthly things."
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Moth, Rot, Lion, Bear
The major theme of the Word of the Lord that came to Hosea for Israel was
God's condemnation of their syncretism. Israel was compared to Hosea's
unfaithful wife and Israel's idols to the lovers of the unfaithful wives. Israel took
God's corn, oil, wine, gold, and silver and offered it to Baal. [Hos. 2:8]. Of
course, the devil has no corn and wine or anything else, for everything belongs
to God. God's people are to seek them from none other but God the Creator,
the God of the Bible and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is compared to a jealous husband, but that is not the only comparison.
He also compares Himself to other things.
MOTH AND MOLD: Hos. 5:12 "Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a
moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness." Their nation would rot away
and waste as a garment eaten with moths, because God would take away His
protection from them and evil forces would consume them
LION: Hos. 5:14: "For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion
to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and
none shall rescue him." God's protection would be removed so that the fierce
nations around them would rip and tear away huge chunks of their possession
and there would be nobody to help them.
BEAR, Ho 13:8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and
will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild
beast shall tear them.
Hos 6:5, 6: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by
the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I
desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt
offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they
dealt treacherously against me."
They behaved exactly like Adam, our first father, who rebelled against his Creator,
though to seize the inheritance for himself, and involved us all in his ruin. They
refused to repent but thought they could fine a savior other than God, so they
went looking for other lovers, for they would not have God to rule over them.
If God nothing but sweetness and light, why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem?
God's condemnation of their syncretism. Israel was compared to Hosea's
unfaithful wife and Israel's idols to the lovers of the unfaithful wives. Israel took
God's corn, oil, wine, gold, and silver and offered it to Baal. [Hos. 2:8]. Of
course, the devil has no corn and wine or anything else, for everything belongs
to God. God's people are to seek them from none other but God the Creator,
the God of the Bible and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is compared to a jealous husband, but that is not the only comparison.
He also compares Himself to other things.
MOTH AND MOLD: Hos. 5:12 "Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a
moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness." Their nation would rot away
and waste as a garment eaten with moths, because God would take away His
protection from them and evil forces would consume them
LION: Hos. 5:14: "For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion
to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and
none shall rescue him." God's protection would be removed so that the fierce
nations around them would rip and tear away huge chunks of their possession
and there would be nobody to help them.
BEAR, Ho 13:8 I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and
will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild
beast shall tear them.
Hos 6:5, 6: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by
the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth. For I
desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt
offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they
dealt treacherously against me."
They behaved exactly like Adam, our first father, who rebelled against his Creator,
though to seize the inheritance for himself, and involved us all in his ruin. They
refused to repent but thought they could fine a savior other than God, so they
went looking for other lovers, for they would not have God to rule over them.
If God nothing but sweetness and light, why did Jesus weep over Jerusalem?
Monday, December 10, 2012
Worthy Is the Lamb - SermonAudio.com
There is much to be done before the Last Adam enters into the inheritance
that Adam lost. Man was created to put the world to come under his feet,
but Adam in awful rebellion brought sin and death instead of life and peace.
There are many things to be done before mankind, the world, and all things
are reconcile to God in Jesus Christ, and it may be a long time yet as many
parables of the Lord indicate. Suffering is an important part of the
redemption of the world and the sufferings of Christians are a participation
in the cross of Christ. But the Lamb is worthy—His character is commiserate
with the value of the Kingdom. There is no other worthy, though many try
to usurp His kingdom. They will fail, Babylon is fallen, and Christ is All.
Amen.
Worthy Is the Lamb - SermonAudio.com
that Adam lost. Man was created to put the world to come under his feet,
but Adam in awful rebellion brought sin and death instead of life and peace.
There are many things to be done before mankind, the world, and all things
are reconcile to God in Jesus Christ, and it may be a long time yet as many
parables of the Lord indicate. Suffering is an important part of the
redemption of the world and the sufferings of Christians are a participation
in the cross of Christ. But the Lamb is worthy—His character is commiserate
with the value of the Kingdom. There is no other worthy, though many try
to usurp His kingdom. They will fail, Babylon is fallen, and Christ is All.
Amen.
Worthy Is the Lamb - SermonAudio.com
Ethical Larceny
Ho 2:8 "For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and
oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal."
Baal doesn't have any corn and wine. No idol does, for idols are
imaginary gods who are dead things who created and create nothing.
Idols don't have any oil or silver and gold. Any offering made them
must be taken from the gifts of God who created all things.
A woman who would take a fine gift given her by her husband who
loves her and present it to her adulterous lover will be counted foul
and corrupt. It would be theft of the highest order, base, and repulsive.
So is the one who seeks to endow his idols with moral values. There
is no one more morally dishonest than the atheist who claims to be
moral. Where do moral values come from? From himself? What of
the woman above who might pretend that the fine gift was not given to
her, that she did not receive it from her husband? Does that make her
gift moral?
Moral sense is one of the finest gifts that the Creator gave to the man
He created. The fact that some faint signs of this are seen in the
animals does not erase the fact that God is the Creator of them, and
leaves some traces of Himself in them, too, that man might learn.
When men turn from their Creator they will do things that even dogs
won't do. A penguin will show signs of missing her dead chick, but
men will kill their offspring without remorse. There is no natural
affection where there is no supernatural, from which it is received.
Can the atheist love his wife? Of course. But he does not know, or
admit, that his love is a gift from God that he misappropriates and
gives no thanks. He will expect his wife to appreciate his love,
however, even though it is stolen goods. Even Solomon, wise in
everything but wives, knew that a good wife is from the Lord. A
devout honest man loves his wife because she is a gift to him from
God. 1Th 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Most of all, we should thank God for conscience, without which
man is capable of horrors. 2Sa 22:29 "For thou art my lamp, O
LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness." Pr 20:27 "The
spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward
parts of the belly." The man with a thankful heart to His Creator is
capable of good deeds that even Greek gods could not do.
The withholding of thankfulness to the God who created us sears the
conscience and is the acid that destroys morality and decency.
Rom. 1:21 "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not
as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened."
Jas 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning."
There is much ethical larceny in the modern idolatrous world, as there
has always been. We even teach our children nowadays [check your
public school] that the first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated
because the Pilgrims wanted to thank the Indians for the harvest.
It is ignorance, of course, but culpable ignorance, ignorance of the
devout nature of the Pilgrim who knew that God was the source of
all their blessings, and were not ashamed of giving Him thanks.
oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal."
Baal doesn't have any corn and wine. No idol does, for idols are
imaginary gods who are dead things who created and create nothing.
Idols don't have any oil or silver and gold. Any offering made them
must be taken from the gifts of God who created all things.
A woman who would take a fine gift given her by her husband who
loves her and present it to her adulterous lover will be counted foul
and corrupt. It would be theft of the highest order, base, and repulsive.
So is the one who seeks to endow his idols with moral values. There
is no one more morally dishonest than the atheist who claims to be
moral. Where do moral values come from? From himself? What of
the woman above who might pretend that the fine gift was not given to
her, that she did not receive it from her husband? Does that make her
gift moral?
Moral sense is one of the finest gifts that the Creator gave to the man
He created. The fact that some faint signs of this are seen in the
animals does not erase the fact that God is the Creator of them, and
leaves some traces of Himself in them, too, that man might learn.
When men turn from their Creator they will do things that even dogs
won't do. A penguin will show signs of missing her dead chick, but
men will kill their offspring without remorse. There is no natural
affection where there is no supernatural, from which it is received.
Can the atheist love his wife? Of course. But he does not know, or
admit, that his love is a gift from God that he misappropriates and
gives no thanks. He will expect his wife to appreciate his love,
however, even though it is stolen goods. Even Solomon, wise in
everything but wives, knew that a good wife is from the Lord. A
devout honest man loves his wife because she is a gift to him from
God. 1Th 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of
God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Most of all, we should thank God for conscience, without which
man is capable of horrors. 2Sa 22:29 "For thou art my lamp, O
LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness." Pr 20:27 "The
spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward
parts of the belly." The man with a thankful heart to His Creator is
capable of good deeds that even Greek gods could not do.
The withholding of thankfulness to the God who created us sears the
conscience and is the acid that destroys morality and decency.
Rom. 1:21 "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not
as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations,
and their foolish heart was darkened."
Jas 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning."
There is much ethical larceny in the modern idolatrous world, as there
has always been. We even teach our children nowadays [check your
public school] that the first Thanksgiving in America was celebrated
because the Pilgrims wanted to thank the Indians for the harvest.
It is ignorance, of course, but culpable ignorance, ignorance of the
devout nature of the Pilgrim who knew that God was the source of
all their blessings, and were not ashamed of giving Him thanks.
Sunday, December 09, 2012
The Covenant
of Grace in the Old and New Testaments
Acknowledgement: Some material from
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, III,
p223
Note 1: “Covenant of Grace” means the way the
Gospel of Christ is administered upon the earth. By
“Old Testament” we mean the time before the Cross and Resurrection of
Christ; by “New Testament” we mean the time after the Cross and Resurrection
of Christ. It might be considered the footprint of the everlasting Gospel upon the earth.
Note 2: Neither the Covenant of Works nor the Covenant of
Nature is considered in this chart.
We view them as an essential aspect of the Creature/Creation
relationship, and are binding upon all creatures in all ages, for it is
always sin to disobey God’s Commandments which are summarized in the First
and Great Commandments. We must love the Lord our God with all our Hearts,
with all our Souls, with all our minds and our neighbor as ourselves.
Note 3: The
Gospel is the promise of Grace in Jesus Christ, wherein God reconciles
sinners to Himself by fulfilling the Covenant of Works for them and
ultimately in them, to His glory and praise forever. The Covenant of Nature made with Noah
providentially provides for a restraint upon evil and direction of mankind
toward its appointed end. It too
operates throughout history and serves as a foundation for the Covenant of
Grace.
Note 4: The Law
is prominent in the Old Testament from the very beginning, and all of the Ten
Commandments are shown to be known in the book of Genesis. The precept, because of the hardening of
sin and the increase in numbers of the human race was written on Tables of
Stone, signifying the hardness of the hearts of Israel who could not look on
the glory of God [2 Cor. 3]. Moses, revealing
only the back parts of God, could not give Israel a true temple, sacrifice,
or mediator, but only a promise that Grace and Truth would come in the
appointed time. Precept and Promise exist side by side throughout the Old Testament. The law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. When Christ came, the child hidden in the
womb of Israel comes forth into the light for a people prepared for Him.
|
||
Scripture
|
How the Old Testament and New
Testament Agree
|
|
Genesis 3:15: The
Promise of Redemption, with sacramental signs.
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The Old, written by Moses in the Penteteuch, re-iterated and amplified the Promise with sacraments and signs pointing to
Christ [ I Cor. 10:11] and the fullness of the Promise. Moses also wrote of the law so that sin my be exceedingly sinful. The New fulfilled the Promise in Christ
with the old sacraments and signs passing away, replaced by new ones looking
back to Christ and looking forward to the fullness of the Promise.
|
|
One Covenant of
Grace. Luke 1:68-79; Acts 2:39; 3:25
|
Moses saw only
the hinder part of the glory of God, but it was the glory of Christ, none the
less. Because the glory of God was
obscured by the veil on the heart, the Covenant of Works was more prominent
that the world might understand the bondage of sin. The Glory of God is
revealed in the face of Jesus Christ. The Covenant of Works is seen as fulfilled in the active and passive
obedience of Christ, leaving the believer to obey God in joy and
thankfulness, freed from the bondage of sin and death.
|
|
One Gospel:
Romans 1:2; Gal. 3:8; Heb. 4:2, 6; 2Tim. 3:15.
|
Those in the OT
who believe in Christ [as coming] are justified as Abraham was. Those in the NT who believe in Christ [as
having come as Jesus of Nazareth] are justified as Abraham was.
|
|
One Mediator:
Christ: John 1:1, 14; 8:58; Rom. 8:3;
2Cor. 8:9; Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:6. Etc.
|
He exercised His
office (John 8:56; 1Cor. 10:4; 1Pet. 1:11; 3:19; Heb. 13:8). He is the only mediator for all humans for
all time (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1Tim. 2:5).
|
|
One way of
salvation: Faith.
|
Matt. 13:17; Acts
10:43; 15:11; Rom. 4:11; Gal. 3:6,7; Heb. 11.
|
|
Same promises and
benefits of God’s communion:2 Cor. 6:16; Rev. 21:3
|
Forgiveness,
justification (Acts 10:43; Rom. 4:22); Eternal Life (Matt. 22:32; Gal. 3:18;
Heb. 9:15; 11:10; etc.). The road they
walked on was the same, but the light was different.
|
|
How the Old Testament and the
New Testament Differ
|
||
Old
Testament
|
New
Testament
|
|
Acts 13:32; Rom.
1:2
|
Promise
|
Fulfillment
|
Col. 2:17
|
Shadow
|
Substance
|
2 Cor. 3:6ff
|
Killing
Letter
|
Living
Spirit
|
Rom. 8:15; Gal.
4:1ff; 22:ff; Col. 2:20; Heb. 12:18ff.
|
Servitude
|
Freedom
|
John 4:21; Acts
10:35; 14:16; Gal. 4:4,5; 6:15; Eph. 2:14; 3:6
|
Particular
|
Universal
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Saturday, December 08, 2012
Neither One Nor Many: but Covenant
This is not the last word on this subject; I am too stupid to know the
last word.
Of course the Constitution of the United States is an attempt to devise a
pragmatic solution to a centuries old conundrum facing the Church. What
is the proper form of the government of a people? There must be
government or the strong will bully and oppress the weak. Even the
heathen know that, and all peoples have government.
Aristocracies, or Oligarchies, were pragmatic institutions where the strong,
by right of birth or conquest, would claim to be acting for God for the
good of the people, to protect them from the "other" and ordained of God
to do so. They often trampled on the liberties of the people. In Christian
lands they sometimes cited the Scriptures as giving them this "divine right."
The British crown claimed descent from the "lost tribes" and gave rise to
the heresy of British Israelism that is still promoted by a few madmen in our
day.
The church used these pragmatic arguments to find shelter under the rule of
kings and emperors and in return taught the king's "divine right" and told the
people to submit. A form of theonomy has been around for a long, long time.
As a result there were burnings, hangings, the rack, torture, and Inquisitions.
The United States, made up of immigrants who had fled such governments,
tried another solution, based upon a different religious philosophy. The result
was neither theonomy nor wicked individualism, but covenant, a civil
covenant not imposed by God, but by the free choice of the people. The
choice was made by representatives of the people. The founders built upon
the "divine right" of a people to enter into civil contracts, into covenants that
were based upon the transcendent power of the Third Commandment. This
was not a new concept, for all kings required oaths of allegiance and
claimed the favor of God by being anointed for their office.
It was a pragmatic solution that Israel wanted when they demanded a king.
They wanted to replace humanistic anarchy [Everyone did right in his own
eyes] with humanistic tyranny [Give us a king]. This king would be the
pragmatic institution that would deliver them from all their enemies. That
idolatry never left them. Even in the days of Joash, after the death of
Jehoiada the priest, the elders of Judah came to Joash and persuaded
him to return to idolatry, resulting in the persecution of the prophets and
the assassination of Joash.
Amaziah followed the same pattern. During the days of the kings, the nation
only returned to God temporarily under imposition from the top, and when
the godly king died, the nation reverted swiftly to idolatry and wickedness.
There were brief "revivals under Hezekiah and Josiah and complete apostasy
came very shortly after Josiah was slain by Pharaoh Necho. Humanistic
tyranny is never a solution for humanistic individualism. Though they had
rejected God from being their king, He did not reject them as His people
during all that time.
One of the great issues that brought about the American War of Independ-
ence was the desire of Britain to "protect" the colonies after the French and
Indian War. They sent soldiers who were even "quartered" in the homes of
the colonists, and the taxes on tea among other things were designed to pay
for these soldiers and other "necessary" defense measures.
The colonists said, "No thank you, we have been defending ourselves and
doing just fine. Go home and take your tea with you." It was precisely the
arrogance of "Christian" kings that brought about the War. Royalists like
John Wesley, who didn't like reformed theology or biblical covenants that
bound free will, hated the American War for Independence. As a result, the
influence of the Methodists and Anabaptists retreated in America until their
revival in the Second Great Awakening and Finney's denigration of cove-
nant and exaltation of "free:" will. The result of the revivals was American
State Religion and the Pelagian State. Covenant, and the Constitution,
retreated into the background.
Israel didn't really need a king, but their government under God only
"worked" when they obeyed the voice of the Lord. That obedience could
not be imposed by a king [Even David and Solomon lapsed into tyranny
and murder and their crimes resulted in disruption in the state], but could
arise only in the individuals, families, and tribes. Salvation could arise from
any of these if they would turn to the Lord. The book of Judges records
these many periods of liberty that came to the nation when people turned
to the Lord and He raised up a savior, sometimes from the most unlikely
places.
It is true that, according the covenant made with Noah, God used magis-
trates to judge the wicked, but he also punished those same magistrates
for thinking they were "gods" as He did Herod in smiting him with worms.
Rulers pretending to be sovereign is precisely the evil to be avoided that
drove the presupposition behind both the Declaration and Constitution.
Sovereignty is denied to men, both individual and collective sovereignty,
because in the multitude of counselors there is safety. The representatives
of the people could be replaced by the people if they presumed too much.
But what can a minority do if the majority of the people want wickedness?
That is the question. Shall the Christian magistrate impose the will of God
on a rebellious people with hangings, burnings, torture, etc. The answer of
the New Covenant is a resounding NO.
There is no institution, "secular" or otherwise that can bring about salvation:
that comes only from Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, which is not of
this world. Jesus said it was necessary that He [the King] to go away, so
that the Spirit would come, and He would be given to the Church and her
officers [Ephesians 4]. Sovereignty to His Kingdom over the "secular" affairs
of life was specifically denied to the church [Romans 12-14], for man was
free to make decisions for himself concerning his time, his meat, his occupa-
tion, his associations, as a man free in Christ: a prophet, priest, and king
before His God.
The footprint of the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth is the church and her
sacraments and her officers. But there is not a single hint in the New Testa-
ment of the church seeking or ordered to establish a secular government to
bring heaven to earth. On the contrary they were commanded to submit to
the secular magistrate, honor him, and obey his laws. The wheat would
grow up with the tares and only the angels were fit to separate the two and
decide which were tares and which were wheat.|
The question I would ask, and it is a deathly critical one. At what point in
the preaching of the Gospel does the church decide that it is time to establish
this "non-pragmatic" transcendent kingdom [Yes, it has been tried before:
Constantinople, Rome, England under James I, France under Louis XIV,
Sweden, Norway, the Puritan Congregationalists in America, even in post-
Calvin Geneva, etc], and everyone of them ended the same way] in religious
persecution and alienation of the ruling class from the people.]?
When is it time for the king to say, I am a Christian and non-Christians will
be expelled from the kingdom? They WILL have to be expelled, you know,
or given the Mohammedan choice: Say the Creed, becomes a permanent
underclass, or die? Are you willing to use the sword to compel obedience
to the First Table of the Law? That is the choice.
If you compel the confession, then the next decision will have to be: "Is the
confession genuine." Do the Jews who are baptized in Spain really mean
what they say? Will you consent to torture to get the "truth"? Which of the
Christian creeds must the magistrate confess: Lutheran, Roman, Orthodox,
Reformed, or Anabaptist?
In America, because of the influence of revivalism and individualism, the
implicit confession is Anabaptist by default, but that is another subject, for
the Anabaptists deny that even a human contract was binding on them and
will not even submit to the government of Christ in the officers of the church,
but multiply "independent" churches ad infinitum and build a wall of separa-
tion between themselves and all human government.
Calvin excoriates this in his treatment of human government, but he also
rejected the Roman/Orthodox solution that required the magistrate to
submit to the church in order to be legitimate. He even opposed Knox
on his rejection of women rulers of Europe, saying that some had inherited
their thrones [Elizabeth of England] and ruled by right from God, not by
permission of the church. Calvin was a most "pragmatic" theologian and
said there was no "right" government that was good for every nation.
Calvin knew that once you insisted that the magistrate must confess the
creeds in order to be legitimate, you deprived not only kings of their
authority, but also elected officials, fathers, and "masters" of all kinds
and created perpetual revolutions and insurgencies.
He ended by saying that masters were to rule by the universal law of
equity that is in the heart of every man by reason of his creation, which
was self evident: the strength of your desire for every man's interest
should be as strong as your desire for your interest [Matthew 7:12].
Kings that do that were to be honored. This would secure the liberty
of ministers to preach the gospel and the liberty of the church to worship
and treat each other with compassion and decency.
By establishing the state on the law of Creation, Calvin rejected, in my
view, both the theonomic state and the Anabaptist state. The church
would exist in the state as the soul would exist in the body. The kingdom
of Christ would rule the heart and the conscience; the state as the natural
order [of which God is still the universal king beside whose throne Christ
sits in David's seat] would rule the body.
Some say that this denies Chalcedon and divides the Person. The answer
is that it saves Chalcedon by not confusing the natures. According to the
fleshly nature, Christ is descended from the fathers; who is over all, God
blessed forever. Romans 9:5. It is not God who sits on David's throne
with respect to His divine nature, but Jesus the Son of David according
to the flesh, the last Adam. We must neither divide the Person nor confuse
the natures. There are not two kingdoms; nor is there one kingdom. God
is Lord over all kingdoms and all these kings will become the kingdoms of
the Son, but not yet, for they have not yet become His footstool.
Liberty dies when the church seeks to rule the body in meats and drinks and
time; or when the state seeks to rule faith, hope, and charity. It would be
Antichrist who would in the church seek to prohibit the use of creation: "Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking
lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding
to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created
to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received
with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."
The kingdom of God is not in meat or drink, in physical things. The state may
regulate and tax and forbid and permit in physical things, but not the church.
But in such things, the state must adopt a pragmatic, sensible rule. For
instance the state may regulate the use of medicines, alcohol, how food
is marketed, etc., for the safety of the body in terms of love for life. But
this is not the jurisdiction of the church, although it may discipline for drunken-
ness, theft, and other crimes, but then the discipline is only spiritual and may
not exceed excommunication from the Table. The church has authority in the
soul, but not over the body.
Some of his writing was backward looking and led his followers into
persecution and tyranny, without question, as in Congregational New
England Puritanism, and led to the denigration of Calvinism and it's
rejection very early, in New England Theology and the birth of Unitarianism.
But Calvin looking forward saw that the government of the church by the
Mediator on David's throne is not identical to the reign of the Creator in
nature. It is not Two Kingdoms, per se, for there is but one God, the
Triune God, including the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, but it is
two administrations per accidens.
Hence, Christ delivers his kingdom up to the Father when all his enemies
are made his footstool, but he does not send kings out to do that. That is
His work alone. The church has a message for the whole world; she does
not have a government for the whole world to usurp the government of
Creation by the Triune God, for Scripture affirms that the magistrate holds
his government from God, even if he is "froward."
The church can warn kings to kiss the Son lest they perish from the way,
but the church cannot compel them to do so though it has sometimes tried,
to the destruction of peace, nations, families, churches, and the souls of men.
Neither can the magistrate compel the church to deny Christ, though they
have shed blood attempting to do so and have been successful in a great
many cases, to their own damnation.
Even the unbelieving husband or wife is "sanctified," by being married to
a believer, but the unbeliever does not lose natural authority by being an
unbeliever. The believing spouse can bear witness, but cannot compel, nor
are they "loosed" if the unbeliever wants to "stay." Salvation is not escape
from creation, but the redemption of creation.
The church errs by making the Kingdom of God to consist of meats and
drinks and keeping of days, for time is of creation. The state errs by seeking
to control creeds, sacraments, excommunications, ministers. The state may,
however, require safe buildings and adequate parking and the abatement of
nuisances [Loud speakers in parking lots that disturb the peace], or riotous
assemblies or criminal activity in the church [pedophilia, embezzlement].
Jesus, to Pilate who inquired into these matters, "My kingdom is not of
this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight,
that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from
hence."
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou
sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I
into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is
of the truth heareth my voice.
The Mediator is King of a different realm than the kings of the earth. His
realm is truth and righteousness, and He is not on the earth, for these things
are transcendent. But the Mediator is NOT an absent King, for He dwells
in His church which is the pillar and ground of the truth. He dwells in His
people, in His word, and in His government, and in His sacrament.
He cannot be silenced in any state, no matter how pagan or how corrupt,
for where the church is, there is Christ the King, and His kingdom spreads
as leaven--not by revolution. The law of nature permits and sometimes
requires the sword; the law of Christ does not. The state may punish the
body even to death with the sword; the church has only the sword of the
Spirit, the word of God. The weapons of creation are carnal; the
weapons of the Mediator are not carnal.
So I would say a pox on both houses: those who would rend the Person
of Christ, or confuse His natures and separate the Kingdom of Christ from
the Providence of the Creator.
I believe I also have the Westminster Confession with me, for those divines
place the authority of the magistrate, not in the Mediator, but in the Creator.
It is an important distinction and underlies the Constitution of the United
States of America and the Declaration of Independence.
last word.
Of course the Constitution of the United States is an attempt to devise a
pragmatic solution to a centuries old conundrum facing the Church. What
is the proper form of the government of a people? There must be
government or the strong will bully and oppress the weak. Even the
heathen know that, and all peoples have government.
Aristocracies, or Oligarchies, were pragmatic institutions where the strong,
by right of birth or conquest, would claim to be acting for God for the
good of the people, to protect them from the "other" and ordained of God
to do so. They often trampled on the liberties of the people. In Christian
lands they sometimes cited the Scriptures as giving them this "divine right."
The British crown claimed descent from the "lost tribes" and gave rise to
the heresy of British Israelism that is still promoted by a few madmen in our
day.
The church used these pragmatic arguments to find shelter under the rule of
kings and emperors and in return taught the king's "divine right" and told the
people to submit. A form of theonomy has been around for a long, long time.
As a result there were burnings, hangings, the rack, torture, and Inquisitions.
The United States, made up of immigrants who had fled such governments,
tried another solution, based upon a different religious philosophy. The result
was neither theonomy nor wicked individualism, but covenant, a civil
covenant not imposed by God, but by the free choice of the people. The
choice was made by representatives of the people. The founders built upon
the "divine right" of a people to enter into civil contracts, into covenants that
were based upon the transcendent power of the Third Commandment. This
was not a new concept, for all kings required oaths of allegiance and
claimed the favor of God by being anointed for their office.
It was a pragmatic solution that Israel wanted when they demanded a king.
They wanted to replace humanistic anarchy [Everyone did right in his own
eyes] with humanistic tyranny [Give us a king]. This king would be the
pragmatic institution that would deliver them from all their enemies. That
idolatry never left them. Even in the days of Joash, after the death of
Jehoiada the priest, the elders of Judah came to Joash and persuaded
him to return to idolatry, resulting in the persecution of the prophets and
the assassination of Joash.
Amaziah followed the same pattern. During the days of the kings, the nation
only returned to God temporarily under imposition from the top, and when
the godly king died, the nation reverted swiftly to idolatry and wickedness.
There were brief "revivals under Hezekiah and Josiah and complete apostasy
came very shortly after Josiah was slain by Pharaoh Necho. Humanistic
tyranny is never a solution for humanistic individualism. Though they had
rejected God from being their king, He did not reject them as His people
during all that time.
One of the great issues that brought about the American War of Independ-
ence was the desire of Britain to "protect" the colonies after the French and
Indian War. They sent soldiers who were even "quartered" in the homes of
the colonists, and the taxes on tea among other things were designed to pay
for these soldiers and other "necessary" defense measures.
The colonists said, "No thank you, we have been defending ourselves and
doing just fine. Go home and take your tea with you." It was precisely the
arrogance of "Christian" kings that brought about the War. Royalists like
John Wesley, who didn't like reformed theology or biblical covenants that
bound free will, hated the American War for Independence. As a result, the
influence of the Methodists and Anabaptists retreated in America until their
revival in the Second Great Awakening and Finney's denigration of cove-
nant and exaltation of "free:" will. The result of the revivals was American
State Religion and the Pelagian State. Covenant, and the Constitution,
retreated into the background.
Israel didn't really need a king, but their government under God only
"worked" when they obeyed the voice of the Lord. That obedience could
not be imposed by a king [Even David and Solomon lapsed into tyranny
and murder and their crimes resulted in disruption in the state], but could
arise only in the individuals, families, and tribes. Salvation could arise from
any of these if they would turn to the Lord. The book of Judges records
these many periods of liberty that came to the nation when people turned
to the Lord and He raised up a savior, sometimes from the most unlikely
places.
It is true that, according the covenant made with Noah, God used magis-
trates to judge the wicked, but he also punished those same magistrates
for thinking they were "gods" as He did Herod in smiting him with worms.
Rulers pretending to be sovereign is precisely the evil to be avoided that
drove the presupposition behind both the Declaration and Constitution.
Sovereignty is denied to men, both individual and collective sovereignty,
because in the multitude of counselors there is safety. The representatives
of the people could be replaced by the people if they presumed too much.
But what can a minority do if the majority of the people want wickedness?
That is the question. Shall the Christian magistrate impose the will of God
on a rebellious people with hangings, burnings, torture, etc. The answer of
the New Covenant is a resounding NO.
There is no institution, "secular" or otherwise that can bring about salvation:
that comes only from Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven, which is not of
this world. Jesus said it was necessary that He [the King] to go away, so
that the Spirit would come, and He would be given to the Church and her
officers [Ephesians 4]. Sovereignty to His Kingdom over the "secular" affairs
of life was specifically denied to the church [Romans 12-14], for man was
free to make decisions for himself concerning his time, his meat, his occupa-
tion, his associations, as a man free in Christ: a prophet, priest, and king
before His God.
The footprint of the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth is the church and her
sacraments and her officers. But there is not a single hint in the New Testa-
ment of the church seeking or ordered to establish a secular government to
bring heaven to earth. On the contrary they were commanded to submit to
the secular magistrate, honor him, and obey his laws. The wheat would
grow up with the tares and only the angels were fit to separate the two and
decide which were tares and which were wheat.|
The question I would ask, and it is a deathly critical one. At what point in
the preaching of the Gospel does the church decide that it is time to establish
this "non-pragmatic" transcendent kingdom [Yes, it has been tried before:
Constantinople, Rome, England under James I, France under Louis XIV,
Sweden, Norway, the Puritan Congregationalists in America, even in post-
Calvin Geneva, etc], and everyone of them ended the same way] in religious
persecution and alienation of the ruling class from the people.]?
When is it time for the king to say, I am a Christian and non-Christians will
be expelled from the kingdom? They WILL have to be expelled, you know,
or given the Mohammedan choice: Say the Creed, becomes a permanent
underclass, or die? Are you willing to use the sword to compel obedience
to the First Table of the Law? That is the choice.
If you compel the confession, then the next decision will have to be: "Is the
confession genuine." Do the Jews who are baptized in Spain really mean
what they say? Will you consent to torture to get the "truth"? Which of the
Christian creeds must the magistrate confess: Lutheran, Roman, Orthodox,
Reformed, or Anabaptist?
In America, because of the influence of revivalism and individualism, the
implicit confession is Anabaptist by default, but that is another subject, for
the Anabaptists deny that even a human contract was binding on them and
will not even submit to the government of Christ in the officers of the church,
but multiply "independent" churches ad infinitum and build a wall of separa-
tion between themselves and all human government.
Calvin excoriates this in his treatment of human government, but he also
rejected the Roman/Orthodox solution that required the magistrate to
submit to the church in order to be legitimate. He even opposed Knox
on his rejection of women rulers of Europe, saying that some had inherited
their thrones [Elizabeth of England] and ruled by right from God, not by
permission of the church. Calvin was a most "pragmatic" theologian and
said there was no "right" government that was good for every nation.
Calvin knew that once you insisted that the magistrate must confess the
creeds in order to be legitimate, you deprived not only kings of their
authority, but also elected officials, fathers, and "masters" of all kinds
and created perpetual revolutions and insurgencies.
He ended by saying that masters were to rule by the universal law of
equity that is in the heart of every man by reason of his creation, which
was self evident: the strength of your desire for every man's interest
should be as strong as your desire for your interest [Matthew 7:12].
Kings that do that were to be honored. This would secure the liberty
of ministers to preach the gospel and the liberty of the church to worship
and treat each other with compassion and decency.
By establishing the state on the law of Creation, Calvin rejected, in my
view, both the theonomic state and the Anabaptist state. The church
would exist in the state as the soul would exist in the body. The kingdom
of Christ would rule the heart and the conscience; the state as the natural
order [of which God is still the universal king beside whose throne Christ
sits in David's seat] would rule the body.
Some say that this denies Chalcedon and divides the Person. The answer
is that it saves Chalcedon by not confusing the natures. According to the
fleshly nature, Christ is descended from the fathers; who is over all, God
blessed forever. Romans 9:5. It is not God who sits on David's throne
with respect to His divine nature, but Jesus the Son of David according
to the flesh, the last Adam. We must neither divide the Person nor confuse
the natures. There are not two kingdoms; nor is there one kingdom. God
is Lord over all kingdoms and all these kings will become the kingdoms of
the Son, but not yet, for they have not yet become His footstool.
Liberty dies when the church seeks to rule the body in meats and drinks and
time; or when the state seeks to rule faith, hope, and charity. It would be
Antichrist who would in the church seek to prohibit the use of creation: "Now
the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking
lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding
to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created
to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received
with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer."
The kingdom of God is not in meat or drink, in physical things. The state may
regulate and tax and forbid and permit in physical things, but not the church.
But in such things, the state must adopt a pragmatic, sensible rule. For
instance the state may regulate the use of medicines, alcohol, how food
is marketed, etc., for the safety of the body in terms of love for life. But
this is not the jurisdiction of the church, although it may discipline for drunken-
ness, theft, and other crimes, but then the discipline is only spiritual and may
not exceed excommunication from the Table. The church has authority in the
soul, but not over the body.
But neither does the state have jurisdiction in the church. It cannot compel
creeds, the form of worship, excommunications, licensing of ministers, what
they preach, or whom they preach to. In America the "pragmatic" covenant
was to forbid Congress from making ANY law concerning speech and
religion. Until the Civil War and Amendments 14-16, the Bill of Rights
applied only to the National Government. States adopted their own
constitutions [covenant] and most of them came to have provisions similar
to the national covenant.
creeds, the form of worship, excommunications, licensing of ministers, what
they preach, or whom they preach to. In America the "pragmatic" covenant
was to forbid Congress from making ANY law concerning speech and
religion. Until the Civil War and Amendments 14-16, the Bill of Rights
applied only to the National Government. States adopted their own
constitutions [covenant] and most of them came to have provisions similar
to the national covenant.
All human covenants are based upon transcendent law, the Third Command-
ment. Jesus said that our Yea and Nay binds us. It doesn't matter whether
we swear by God or by our head we are still bound by our oath. Covenants
made by fathers bind the children if such is the covenant. The Constitution,
being a national covenant, binds all the states and their governments, but it
can be amended as a human covenant. Non Christian kings rule by the
authority of God and the nature of their rule is by the covenant they have with
the nation they rule.
Their authority is defined by God whether they recognize it or not. Even Jesus
told Pilate that Pilate had authority over Him that was given to Pilate from
above. [John 18:29ff] It was very wicked of the rulers of the Jews to seek to
use Pilate's God-given authority against the Son of God, but the Son of God
did not deny that Pilate had the authority, only that the sins of the rulers of the
Jews was worse than the sin of Pilate. Even Pilate's authority was based upon
the transcendent power of God, although Pilate didn't recognize it, or even
recognize the transcendent nature of all truth.
God's covenants cannot be amended, for God is God. Marriage is established
by God and is a human covenant only in the sense that a man and a woman
can choose whether or not to get married. Once married they are bound to
the law of marriage which is a creation ordinance, not a church one, for they
are binding whether performed in church or not, by a minister, by a judge, by
a ship's captain, or even by common cohabitation in some states.
It is true that there is Calvin looking back as well as Calvin looking forward.ment. Jesus said that our Yea and Nay binds us. It doesn't matter whether
we swear by God or by our head we are still bound by our oath. Covenants
made by fathers bind the children if such is the covenant. The Constitution,
being a national covenant, binds all the states and their governments, but it
can be amended as a human covenant. Non Christian kings rule by the
authority of God and the nature of their rule is by the covenant they have with
the nation they rule.
Their authority is defined by God whether they recognize it or not. Even Jesus
told Pilate that Pilate had authority over Him that was given to Pilate from
above. [John 18:29ff] It was very wicked of the rulers of the Jews to seek to
use Pilate's God-given authority against the Son of God, but the Son of God
did not deny that Pilate had the authority, only that the sins of the rulers of the
Jews was worse than the sin of Pilate. Even Pilate's authority was based upon
the transcendent power of God, although Pilate didn't recognize it, or even
recognize the transcendent nature of all truth.
God's covenants cannot be amended, for God is God. Marriage is established
by God and is a human covenant only in the sense that a man and a woman
can choose whether or not to get married. Once married they are bound to
the law of marriage which is a creation ordinance, not a church one, for they
are binding whether performed in church or not, by a minister, by a judge, by
a ship's captain, or even by common cohabitation in some states.
Some of his writing was backward looking and led his followers into
persecution and tyranny, without question, as in Congregational New
England Puritanism, and led to the denigration of Calvinism and it's
rejection very early, in New England Theology and the birth of Unitarianism.
But Calvin looking forward saw that the government of the church by the
Mediator on David's throne is not identical to the reign of the Creator in
nature. It is not Two Kingdoms, per se, for there is but one God, the
Triune God, including the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, but it is
two administrations per accidens.
Hence, Christ delivers his kingdom up to the Father when all his enemies
are made his footstool, but he does not send kings out to do that. That is
His work alone. The church has a message for the whole world; she does
not have a government for the whole world to usurp the government of
Creation by the Triune God, for Scripture affirms that the magistrate holds
his government from God, even if he is "froward."
The church can warn kings to kiss the Son lest they perish from the way,
but the church cannot compel them to do so though it has sometimes tried,
to the destruction of peace, nations, families, churches, and the souls of men.
Neither can the magistrate compel the church to deny Christ, though they
have shed blood attempting to do so and have been successful in a great
many cases, to their own damnation.
Even the unbelieving husband or wife is "sanctified," by being married to
a believer, but the unbeliever does not lose natural authority by being an
unbeliever. The believing spouse can bear witness, but cannot compel, nor
are they "loosed" if the unbeliever wants to "stay." Salvation is not escape
from creation, but the redemption of creation.
The church errs by making the Kingdom of God to consist of meats and
drinks and keeping of days, for time is of creation. The state errs by seeking
to control creeds, sacraments, excommunications, ministers. The state may,
however, require safe buildings and adequate parking and the abatement of
nuisances [Loud speakers in parking lots that disturb the peace], or riotous
assemblies or criminal activity in the church [pedophilia, embezzlement].
Jesus, to Pilate who inquired into these matters, "My kingdom is not of
this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight,
that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from
hence."
Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou
sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I
into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is
of the truth heareth my voice.
The Mediator is King of a different realm than the kings of the earth. His
realm is truth and righteousness, and He is not on the earth, for these things
are transcendent. But the Mediator is NOT an absent King, for He dwells
in His church which is the pillar and ground of the truth. He dwells in His
people, in His word, and in His government, and in His sacrament.
He cannot be silenced in any state, no matter how pagan or how corrupt,
for where the church is, there is Christ the King, and His kingdom spreads
as leaven--not by revolution. The law of nature permits and sometimes
requires the sword; the law of Christ does not. The state may punish the
body even to death with the sword; the church has only the sword of the
Spirit, the word of God. The weapons of creation are carnal; the
weapons of the Mediator are not carnal.
So I would say a pox on both houses: those who would rend the Person
of Christ, or confuse His natures and separate the Kingdom of Christ from
the Providence of the Creator.
I believe I also have the Westminster Confession with me, for those divines
place the authority of the magistrate, not in the Mediator, but in the Creator.
It is an important distinction and underlies the Constitution of the United
States of America and the Declaration of Independence.
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
The Key of Knowledge.
Lu 11:52 "Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the
key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered."
If there is no knowledge and fear of God in a man's soul, he has
no access to anything but an appearance, the painted face of
knowledge: Clouds and wind, no rain. Pr 25:14 "Whoso boasteth
himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain."
He can only look on the outward appearance, and judges
according to appearances, and cannot judge righteous judgment.
Joh 7:24 "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge
righteous judgment."
His pretensions of knowledge will only impress those who are
wandering in the same darkness as he is; those who will be hindered
by him. Pr 1:7 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:
but fools despise wisdom and instruction." He drags other down
with him.
Those who truly seek to know, seek the fear of God. Proverbs
2:3-6 "Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice
for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for
her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the
LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth
wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding."
Men will not find the fear of the Lord as long as they are not
humbled, for God resists the proud: Pr 15:33 "The fear of the
LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility."
Hence, those that seek wisdom and understanding must seek
them in the One whom God has appointed to teach man wisdom:
Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Isa 11:2 "And the spirit of the LORD
shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the
fear of the LORD;"
1Cor. 1: 27-31 "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the
world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised,
hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to
nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us
wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in
the Lord."
Joh 1:18 "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him."
Monday, December 03, 2012
Prayer and Meditation on John 1:1-5
As we come to You at the beginning of this Advent
Season, O Lord God, we acknowledge that we do
believe that Jesus of Nazareth is Your Only Begotten
Son and is truly Lord and God of all Creation and
One with You, the Father, and The Holy Spirit as
One God and One Lord.
We believe that the Lord Jesus is the eternal Word and Wisdom of God and was with
We further confess and believe that all things in heaven and earth that are and were
O Lord God, all life comes from You in Your Word and Wisdom. This vast earth
All living things in heaven and in earth You have made in wisdom and power for
This light that shines in all that You have made--this light of Your Word and
This light shines in the darkness of our minds and souls but we cannot see it for
We believe that Your Only Begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth, was born of the
This is our only hope and trust, but it is a solid one, because You have promised
We believe that the Lord Jesus is the eternal Word and Wisdom of God and was with
God and was God. You have never been without Your Only Begotten Son, O most
High God, for You cannot be without Your Word and Your Wisdom.
We further confess and believe that all things in heaven and earth that are and were
created are the works of Your eternal Word and Wisdom by the Holy Ghost and in
Your Word and Wisdom all things consist and remain. There is nothing created that
is not the work of Your hands, O Lord God, in wisdom and power.
O Lord God, all life comes from You in Your Word and Wisdom. This vast earth
with its continents and seas are the works of Your hands and the life that we see all
around us is sustained and beloved of You. You are also the life of the beings that
we do not see that inhabit the heavens and the earth, the angels, the principalities
and powers, for good and evil, are created by You and have their life from You.
All living things in heaven and in earth You have made in wisdom and power for
the good and holy pleasure of Your will, which cannot change. You have made our
Lord Jesus, Your eternal wisdom, to be unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. We rejoice in You, O God, and believe in Jesus
Christ Your Only Begotten Son and our Redeemer.
This light that shines in all that You have made--this light of Your Word and
Wisdom--appears to all men. Our very life is the light that would show us the way
if we were not blind and deaf to You and Your Wisdom.
This light shines in the darkness of our minds and souls but we cannot see it for
we are bound in sin and iniquity until You set us free by the mighty power of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord and by the power of the Holy Spirit calling us
out of darkness into the light of Your grace and mercy.
We believe that Your Only Begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth, was born of the
Virgin Mary precisely because You prepared Him a body in which He could
offer up Himself to You as a sacrifice for our sins. His blood turns away Your
wrath from Your people so that You could show to us the abundance of Your
mercy and grace in putting away our sins, reconciling truth and grace, that You
might be just and the justifier of all who believe the Gospel.
wrath from Your people so that You could show to us the abundance of Your
mercy and grace in putting away our sins, reconciling truth and grace, that You
might be just and the justifier of all who believe the Gospel.
This is our only hope and trust, but it is a solid one, because You have promised
and sworn that all those who believe the Gospel will be saved. We praise and
love Your Holy Name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Name in which we were
baptized. In the Name of our Mediator and God, the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Saturday, December 01, 2012
It's Ethics, Stupid.
It's Ethics, Stupid.
The problem is always ethics. America's problems are at root
ethical ones, and we have been flirting with the precipice for
decades. Ethical standards are scoffed at in every area of our
public life: government, economics, science, education, and
religion.
Michael Polanyi taught us that only the scientific guru is qualified
to know where the data should lead; no wonder the science is
bogus, from evolution to global warming, to homosexuality, to
alcoholism, to vaccination for measles that doesn't cause autism,
to bogus flat earth allegations, etc. Pseudo-Calvinists taught the
church the same thing; that careful scholarship is not necessary;
we know where the truth is and circular reasoning is the norm.
"Why listen to anybody or take counsel and advice? I have a good
heart; I cannot be wrong. The result is proof-texting to support the
opinions I already have. I am secure in my box. Now, if I can just
find a smaller one to crawl into."
Economics is based on greed and political influence, no matter
who is in power, for favors are shown to political allies and
cronies. Public education has become a public lobbying institution
for sorcery and socialism. Government service means hiding the
faults of your supporters, a double standard for your enemies,
and spending the public treasure to advance personal agendas
and corrupt social experiments.
The problem is always ethics. America's problems are at root
ethical ones, and we have been flirting with the precipice for
decades. Ethical standards are scoffed at in every area of our
public life: government, economics, science, education, and
religion.
Michael Polanyi taught us that only the scientific guru is qualified
to know where the data should lead; no wonder the science is
bogus, from evolution to global warming, to homosexuality, to
alcoholism, to vaccination for measles that doesn't cause autism,
to bogus flat earth allegations, etc. Pseudo-Calvinists taught the
church the same thing; that careful scholarship is not necessary;
we know where the truth is and circular reasoning is the norm.
"Why listen to anybody or take counsel and advice? I have a good
heart; I cannot be wrong. The result is proof-texting to support the
opinions I already have. I am secure in my box. Now, if I can just
find a smaller one to crawl into."
Economics is based on greed and political influence, no matter
who is in power, for favors are shown to political allies and
cronies. Public education has become a public lobbying institution
for sorcery and socialism. Government service means hiding the
faults of your supporters, a double standard for your enemies,
and spending the public treasure to advance personal agendas
and corrupt social experiments.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Empty and Alone
fixed principle. Because of that he judges
according to appearances and is a sucker
for every sales pitch.
He is described in Eph. 4:14: "That we
henceforth be no more children, tossed to
and fro, and carried about with every wind
of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait
to deceive...."
"Sleight" refers to the casting of dice;
"cunning craftiness" is the ability to present false wisdom, things
that sound good. They are constantly seduced from the way by
those on each side of the path, lying in wait to deceive.
These are like "wandering stars," planets with no fixed place
in the heavens. Here, there, everywhere. Fluttering here and
there and sipping at this and that, never satisfied, never certain.
Because they have refused to embrace the truth and grapple it
to their hearts, they are ever learning and never able to come
to the knowledge of the truth.
Isa 57:20 "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it
Isa 57:20 "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it
cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt."
2Tim. 3:7-8 "Ever learning, and never able to come to the
2Tim. 3:7-8 "Ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood
Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds,
reprobate concerning the faith."
It is their minds that are corrupt, blasted by God, destroyed for
It is their minds that are corrupt, blasted by God, destroyed for
lack of knowledge, knowledge rejected and cursed by them,
turning good for evil and defending evil as good.
Hosea 4:9-11 "And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I
Hosea 4:9-11 "And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I
will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit
whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off
to take heed to the LORD. Whoredom and wine and new
wine take away the heart."
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Flapping Wings
First Published Tuesday, December 30, 2003. The Following link
will not work at this late date.
We're all supposed to be dead by now - The Washington Times: Pruden
'According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
After all, the world is a stinking place, and the only way to postpone
We're all supposed to be dead by now - The Washington Times: Pruden
on Politics: " Here's what my Internet correspondent reminded me of
(and if you see it on the Internet, it must be so):
'According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
were kids in the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s probably shouldn't have
survived. Our mothers put us in cribs covered with bright-colored
lead-based paint.
'There were no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets,
and when we rode our bicycles into traffic (bike paths were unheard
of), we had no helmets. If we didn't feel like pumping a bike up the
hills, we could always hitch a ride with strangers. There were no seat
belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day
was particularly special.
'We drank water from an old garden hose, not from a bottle. One
bottle of bellywash could be shared with up to four friends, drinking
from the bottle, and no one died.
'We gorged on cakes, pies, candy, bread and butter, and anything
we could find with lots of sugar in and on it, and we were never
overweight because we were always running through the 'hood. "
I can add that I have lived through the frights over nuclear holocaust
I can add that I have lived through the frights over nuclear holocaust
with backyard bomb shelters [a must item in the 60's], fears over the
coming ice age cause by global cooling, the Red Scare focusing on
Ike who was a conscious member of the communist conspiracy
according to Robert Welch, the dread of a silent spring where no
birds would sing because they would all be dead by pollutants in
the air and water, overpopulation so that there would be no room
for us to stand on this cold and polluted and starving planet, global
warming evidenced by snowstorms and hurricanes so that we would
all fry, and worry about lesser matters like meteor or planetoid
crashes into the earth or the sun burning out or exploding.
Guns were an especially evil and needed to be confiscated--or
at least licensed and tightly controlled before they ganged up on
humans and spread death and misery everywhere. But the scares
sold newspapers, magazines, and provided jobs for people who
couldn't find anything useful to do except scare people.
The scare-mongers wanted a monopoly on the scare business so
they warned about preachers who spoke of divine judgment and
hell fire. The scare-mongers only feared personal hells, not
collective ones. In the churches the trouble was with the organs
and long sermons--these were replaced by guitars and women
giving "devotionals." After all, doctrine divides good human beings
and brings war and hatred. Let's see who can show the most love
by believing as little as possible.
After all, the world is a stinking place, and the only way to postpone
the Horror, the Horror, is to catch a little love somewhere and to
have someone who is easy on the mind. It wouldn't matter where
you found the love, because true love will be willing to let the bird
go, so you can have her if you can catch her. The greatest fear of
all is to entangle your life with "commitments" for they just drag you
down and get in the way of what you might want to do. How can I
be true to myself if I constantly make commitments to others?
A person did not fear the disgrace if he was a liar, an adulterer, a
sodomite, or a prolific producer of bastard children. The f- word
gained respectability, but if a person used the n- word you were
dead, which you also were if you called a football player a little
monkey, a term used by Howard Cosell, a term which he also used
with respect to his grandchildren. The greatest fear was not to
conform to the prevailing standards of non-conformity and social
correctness, which imposed a societal strait-jacket worse than all
the landed gentry of Europe in the last five centuries.
The only thing we had to fear was fear itself, and there were a great
The only thing we had to fear was fear itself, and there were a great
many people who made careers by junk science and phony "studies,"
financed by government, to make us afraid of things we had never
thought of before. We wouldn't listen to our mothers who tried to
make us put our galoshes on, but we meekly surrendered to seat
belts and other meddling from the Nanny State. See my article on
the Nanny Church in the Nanny State.
Yep, it's a wonder any of us is alive. Some of us aren't. I remember
Yep, it's a wonder any of us is alive. Some of us aren't. I remember
a boy I went to school with who burned himself up about 50 years
ago while stealing gasoline from a farm vehicle. Another boy drank
himself to death. They didn't listen to their mothers or fathers, but
that generation seemed to surrender without a struggle to the Nanny
State, buying into the propaganda that bureaucrats know what is best.
They hated their mothers and fathers and surrendered liberty without
a peep to governments. After all, they were an enlightened bunch who
were assured that they were the first to walk the earth who knew what
was wrong with the world and that they would fix it up to be safe for
everyone, especially for those who didn't seem to care much about
the Ten Commandments.
Solomon said it best, Proverbs 12:10 "A righteous man regardeth the
Solomon said it best, Proverbs 12:10 "A righteous man regardeth the
life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." A
good man will be recognized even by the animals he owns, but the
tender mercies of the ungodly unhinge everyone around them. If we
have many more tender mercies from this crowd who are experts on
what we are to be afraid of, none of us will survive. Let us follow the
example of Nehemiah and "chase them from us." Nehemiah 13:28
Don't despise small things. That butterfly flapping its wings in Moldavia
Don't despise small things. That butterfly flapping its wings in Moldavia
might very well cause a hurricane in Miami. I, for one, will keep my
wings flapping as long as I can.
The Scourge of Innocent Blood
“And the LORD sent against
him bands of the Chaldees,
and bands of the Syrians, and
bands of the Moabites, and
bands of the children of Ammon,
and sent them against Judah to
destroy it, according to the word
of the LORD, which he spake by
his servants the prophets. Surely
at the commandment of the
LORD came this upon Judah,
to remove [them] out of his
sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that
he did;
And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled
Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not
pardon.” (2 Kings 24:2-4 AV)
“ Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a
murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely
put to death. And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that
is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again
to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. So ye shall
not pollute the land wherein ye [are]: for blood it defileth the
land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is
shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.” (Numbers
35:31-33 AV)
----------------------
The sin of murder is a horror in the eyes of the Lord. Murder
is the taking of innocent life, whether it is the slaying of a
neighbor who has committed no crime, an enemy who does
not deserve to die, or the murder of a baby in the womb, or
the slaughter of the old and dying.
Life is a precious gift from God alone and it is to be esteemed
as one of God's finest gifts to us. In despising men's lives we
are transgressing on the glory of God. It is no wonder that
life becomes cheap when it is thought to be the result of
impersonal processes in the slime and that man comes from
the lower animals.
A civilization can choose to believe that slimy story if he wants
to, but he has no choice about the consequences that come
from his acceptance of the story: laziness, fornication, adultery,
sodomy, theft, lying, and worst of all, the murder of innocents.
Only the blood of the transgressors can cleanse the land of the
blood of the innocents. If a nation does not punish murderers
and limit the assault on human life, then God will Himself bring
cleansing in the blood of the citizens of that land.
Abraham Lincoln understood this. In his second Inaugural
Address, Lincoln understood that the hand of God was in
the shedding of the blood of the American people: "Fondly
do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty
scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if
God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled
by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of
unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop
of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand
years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."
Will God require of us Americans again the price of blood?
Will armies again march across our beloved country, through
the fields of New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Kansas, Oregon and California until we have
been cleansed of the blood of innocents? In the hardness
of our hearts we have slaughtered innocents by the hands
of our doctors and medical profession for many years now,
millions and millions of babies have been thrown into the
garbage cans, their bodies dismembered, because they
were inconvenient and unwanted. We have sacrificed them
to our lusts, just as David sacrificed Uriah for his lust for
Bathsheba, and as Saul destroyed the Gibeonites.
In the Civil War, it was Americans shedding the blood of
Americans; who will God raise up to cleanse our land the
next time? Will he deliver us into the hands of Islamic fascists
who are implacable, cruel, and love slaughter more than we
can imagine?
Let us pray for our bleeding, suffering land. Let us pray that
God will cleanse us from our iniquities and transgressions,
that He will remember mercy and turn us again into the ways
of righteousness. That ministers will once more preach the
whole word of God and not the imaginations of their own
hearts.
It is the mercy of God that we so desperately need: the grace
that transforms the heart and changes the mind. This is the
work that Jesus came to do, as the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the
LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to [them that are] bound; 2 To proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance
of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of
righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might
be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:1-3 AV)
Jesus claimed its fulfillment in Luke: “The Spirit of the Lord
[is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book,
and he gave [it] again to the minister, and sat down. And the
eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on
him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears.” (Luke 4:18-21 AV)
“Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye
have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new
spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”
(Ezekiel 18:31 AV)
"O Lord God, do not to us sinful Americans according to
our sins and iniquities, but pour out thy Holy Spirit upon
our land, to turn us from murder and strife and iniquity and
uncleanness and restore unto us thy favor and grace. Raise
up faithful and true ministers and churches and families and
men and women who will love you and keep your
commandments. Set the Lord Jesus before our eyes, crucified
for our sins, and grant us grace to believe and cast our sins
behind us, O Lord our God. Take away our idols and false
religions from among us and give us faith to cast all idols
behind us and pray to you only, for you are the Father of our
Lord Jesus, and there is no other living and true God. Amen
and Amen."
Monday, November 26, 2012
I Cry with My Mouth, O Lord!
Psalm 66:17-20 Meditation and Prayer
O Lord God, you have created all things and all things are yours. You desire
that we present our bodies to you, that all we do is for the glory of God.
I cry to you with my mouth. I will take words and offer them to you; not my
words which are frail and useless, but words that are taught by thy Spirit and
are found in Scripture. These wonderful words lift you up when they are on
our tongues in prayers, singing, and exhortations.
You will not hear us if we regard iniquity in our hearts, but you have renewed
my heart so that you will hear me. How precious this is, because from the
heart come the issues of life, and from the heart come the words of the tongue.
I could not praise you with my mouth or had thy words upon my tongue,
if you had not given me a new heart as you promised. I have no praise, no
prayers, no petitions, no fervent longing after You, O God, except that
which You have given me. I confess dear Lord, that I could only love
Thee because You have first loved me.
Search me, O Lord, and try me. See if there be any wicked way in me.
Lead me in Thy life everlasting. Blessed, indeed, are You, O Lord, and
nothing is hidden from you. You have not turned away the prayers of
Your servants; nor have you taken your mercy from me.
You did not hesitate to offer up your body for me, Lord Jesus. Give me
Your grace that I do not withhold any of mine from You: that my heart,
my lips, my mouth, my tongue may carry your praises now and forever.
In the precious Name of the Son of God. Amen and Amen.
17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
O Lord God, you have created all things and all things are yours. You desire
that we present our bodies to you, that all we do is for the glory of God.
I cry to you with my mouth. I will take words and offer them to you; not my
words which are frail and useless, but words that are taught by thy Spirit and
are found in Scripture. These wonderful words lift you up when they are on
our tongues in prayers, singing, and exhortations.
You will not hear us if we regard iniquity in our hearts, but you have renewed
my heart so that you will hear me. How precious this is, because from the
heart come the issues of life, and from the heart come the words of the tongue.
I could not praise you with my mouth or had thy words upon my tongue,
if you had not given me a new heart as you promised. I have no praise, no
prayers, no petitions, no fervent longing after You, O God, except that
which You have given me. I confess dear Lord, that I could only love
Thee because You have first loved me.
Search me, O Lord, and try me. See if there be any wicked way in me.
Lead me in Thy life everlasting. Blessed, indeed, are You, O Lord, and
nothing is hidden from you. You have not turned away the prayers of
Your servants; nor have you taken your mercy from me.
You did not hesitate to offer up your body for me, Lord Jesus. Give me
Your grace that I do not withhold any of mine from You: that my heart,
my lips, my mouth, my tongue may carry your praises now and forever.
In the precious Name of the Son of God. Amen and Amen.
17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Add Virtue to Faith
[2 Peter 1:5]. This is not "adding" in an
arithmetic sense, but in an organic sense.
Virtue means "moral excellence" and is
already present in faith, for it is through faith
But morality is a demonstration of faith and
"Virtue" has the idea of being authentic, or genuine in a moral sense.
The virtuous man is manly, for he was created to be strong as a
Because faith is from God and unto God, faith will always direct the
that all things are given to us in Christ. The
tree is already in the acorn, but is "added"
organically.
But morality is a demonstration of faith and
authenticates it before the world. There can
be no real moral excellence without faith, for
whatsoever is not of faith is sin, but neither can
faith exist alone as if life had no evidence. Virtue
rests upon faith and authenticates it.
"Virtue" has the idea of being authentic, or genuine in a moral sense.
It means to be human in the sense of purpose. What were you and
I created for? to wallow in uncleanness and filthiness? No, we were
created as image bearers, male and female to bear the moral
excellence [as creatures] of their Creator.
The virtuous man is manly, for he was created to be strong as a
prophet, priest and king under God. The virtuous woman is womanly,
feminine, for virtue is to be what you are created for. It takes divine
strength and faith to fulfill the purpose that God has for us, and it will
not be achieved by diffident actions or lives lived in luxury and ease,
indulging the appetites and lusts.
This moral excellence is expressed negatively in the "Thou shalt nots"
This moral excellence is expressed negatively in the "Thou shalt nots"
of the Ten Commandments, so idolatry, blasphemy, desecration,
rebellion, theft, murder, adultery, false witness must put away from the
children of God. Expressed positively is means that we are to love
the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor
as ourselves.
Because faith is from God and unto God, faith will always direct the
soul unto virtue and a restoration of the image of God in man, putting
off the old and putting on the new. Without virtue faith is dead, not real,
not from God, for God is the true and Living God and does not make
fakes.
1Co 16:13 "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, be manly, be strong."
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