Translate

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Titus 3

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

C H Spurgeon - June 5, 1864

a small section on the heresy of Baptismal Regerneration:
(which I was also taught in the "Christian Church" aka liberal "Church of Christ")


I find that the great error which we have to contend with throughout England (and it is growing more and more), is one in direct opposition to my text, well known to you as the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. We will confront this dogma with the assertion, that BAPTISM WITHOUT FAITH SAVES NO ONE. The text says, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved;" but whether a man be baptized or no, it asserts that "he that believeth not shall be damned:" so that baptism does not save the unbeliever, nay, it does not in any degree exempt him from the common doom of all the ungodly. He may have baptism, or he may not have baptism, but if he believeth not, he shall be in any case most surely damned. Let him be baptized by immersion or sprinkling, in his infancy, or in his adult age, if he be not led to put his trust in Jesus Christ—if he remaineth an unbeliever, then this terrible doom is pronounced upon him—"He that believeth not shall be damned." I am not aware that any Protestant Church in England teaches the doctrine of baptismal regeneration except one, and that happens to be the corporation which with none too much humility calls itself the Church of England. This very powerful sect does not teach this doctrine merely through a section of its ministers, who might charitably be considered as evil branches of the vine, but it openly, boldly, and plainly declares this doctrine in her own appointed standard, the Book of Common Prayer, and that in words so express, that while language is the channel of conveying intelligible sense, no process short of violent wresting from their plain meaning can ever make them say anything else.

John Owen

"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect." 

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Does Christ have a special love for the Elect, over the rest?

In the Last days Christ says He comes back FOR THE SAKE OF the Elect.
Even though He has allowed Everyone Else to fall away.
Are you an Elect or an Everyone Else?

Matt 24: 22-31

The second Coming of the Son of Man


And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the Elect those days will be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the Elect.  
See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 
And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His Elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

o wondrous transformation!

He shall be lifted up, and extolled, and greatly exalted! Isa 52:13

This sure word of prophesy was literally and most gloriously verified, when the incarnate (God-in-human-flesh) Redeemer, after having finished the work which was given Him to do, was taken up into Heaven, and sat down on the right hand of God (position of importance) - with angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. We now gaze upon the throne on which He reigns!

That meek and lowly One, who had been despised and rejected - is now adored by all the Heavenly host!
That face, once covered with spittle, and furrowed with tears - is now gazed upon with transporting admiration!
That brow, once bound with thorns - is now encircled with a splendor before which suns turn pale!
Those hands which were nailed to the bloody tree - now grasp the scepter of universal dominion!
That ignominious cross - is exchanged for Heaven's highest throne!
That crown of thorns - is exchanged for a diadem (crown) of everlasting glory!

O wondrous transformation!

On His robe at His thigh was written this title : The King of all kings; the Lord of all Lords! Rev 19:16
God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! Phil 2:9-11

Sunday, September 4, 2011

The Originial 12!

Peter crucified upside-down Rome 64 AD
James, son of Zebedee beheaded 44 AD; first of the 12 to die (not counting Judas Iscariot)
John, son of Zebedee believed to have died in old age
Andrew, Peter's brother, crucified upon a X-shaped cross
Philip crucified 54 AD
Bartholomew (aka Nathaniel) flayed alive (skinned) then beheaded; at Derbend on the Caspian Sea
Matthew killed by an axe 60 AD
Thomas killed by a spear in Mylapore, Madras, India 72 AD
James, the son of Alphaeus, beaten to death with a club after being crucified and stoned (not the fun kind of stoned kids, the painful kind)
Jude crucified
Simon the Zealot crucified 74 AD
Judas Iscariot hanged himself after betraying Jesus; then later having decayed on the tree and when let down expanding gases and weakened skin burst open upon impact

Matthias (Judas' replacement) stoned and beheaded

These are the men we relate tales to our children about; these are the men we want our kids to emulate. Are you sure you're a Christian, sinner? Would you offer up yourself, or your children to follow Our Lord and Master the Christ Jesus? Do you love your life or theirs more than His? Then you are not yet His. Read your Bible, pray to Him for understanding, for Faith. Then, if He is gracious to grant you repentance; you may know what it is like not to fear death - like the cowards of this Worldly Age but to know what it is to be like Paul - as sinner - saved by Grace - and proud to be counted worthy to suffer for His namesake, to be mocked, persecuted, to be martyred. All for the One, who did not see it beneath Himself to be mocked, persecuted and martyred for your sake (for your sins). 

from the diary of James Smith Puritan

Aug 27th, 1857
If some of my congregation knew me better - they would love me less! Yet my Heavenly Father...knows me well, favors me much, and loves me wonderfully!
O how strange - that God should love a worm, a dung-hill worm - one who was bred in sin, felt at home in sin, and at times felt regret that he was debarred from some sins! O if God had left me to myself (if God were an Arminian) - what would I have been, and what would I have done! But by the Grace of God - I am what I am! 1 Corinthians 15:10

Surely, surely, I must say, that divine love and wisdom have planned my path - from first to last. I am... out of Hell, in the Way of Heaven, employed by God, useful to saints, and a blessing to sinners!
O how wonderful, how wonderful is this!


Friday, September 2, 2011

classic liberalism (that's theological, not political liberals)!

I've been listing to a lot of seeker-focused, purpose-driven, innovative vision-casting, glory-claiming, community-worshiping, man-centered Idolatry this week in various Charismatic, Emergent, Progressive Liberal non-Churches and I've got to say they are all starting to sound the same. I think Satan's loosing his touch, I mean I would bet money that I could gather up quotes from Early Church Heretics and mix them with Osteen, Bell, McLaren, and all the others from the Anti-disciples list and you couldn't pick out which was which.

They already know what they want you to believe, so let's crack open our Bibles (if their sermons even include the Bible anymore) and make some balloon animals. Too bad Bible twisting isn't an Olympic sport cause I know several Gold Medalists!

My prediction, within 5 years, is that the many of these "churches" will hold Bible recycling programs - hey we don't use them anymore & they're made out of paper so lets recycle them into something useful like another McLaren best seller.

Emergent Pastor's Sermon School

Hey guys, make sure you all look cool before coming out on stage
(not looking cool is a sin)

and make sure you hire a good band to play your intro music
(why- because goats join churches based on music)

Remember the first rule of Emergence - Seekers come first!

Make sure that when you're planning your message that you decide on
what you want to preach first,

then tell the elders and/or congregation that God/the Spirit or the
Universe has placed this issue/message on your heart,

then use a computer concordance to find verses out of context that
you can list, read or allude to during your sermon to make it
sound Christiany

then ask/encourage or demand that your congregation
volunteer (that's free staffing) and pay its tithes (easy profits!)

what is worst than a heretic?

Shane Hipps - Mars Hill Bible Church, Bob Rell's Co-Pastor 

Basically says all the religions of the world are sailboats that catch the wind of the spirit (not the Holy Spirit apparently but some spirit) so Christianity isn't the only boat that catches this wind but Christianity is just an efficient vessel.



"Shane Hipps, Teaches That All Religions Are Valid!

Shane Hipps, who is now Rob Bell's co-pastor at Mars Hill Bible church in Grand Rapids teaches that all religions are valid and that even Osama Bin Laden has the divine spark within him. NO KIDDING!

This is a VERY serious and troubling heresy that Hipps promotes and we at the Museum of Idolatry believe that Rob Bell is not only fully aware of Hipps' teaching but that he agrees with it otherwise Hipps would have never been called to be co-pastor at Mars Hill."

lean more here-
http://www.alittleleaven.com/2009/10/shane-hipps-teaches-that-all-religions-are-valid.html

Thursday, September 1, 2011

the Elect

John 6
But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.  It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

John 15
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Acts 13
And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,
“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” 
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Eph 1
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Total depravity?


Gen 6
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Gen 8
The Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.

Psalm 14
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.

Psalm 51
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
for I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
for you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Jeremiah 17
Thus says the Lord:
Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?

Romans 1
 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.  For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 8
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Ephesians 2
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

Colossians 2
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

I Corinthians chapter 1

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.