2009-08-03

Phillips writes, “when the liberal Huffington Post runs a piece titled Saving the Islamic World's Christians, it catches my eye.” Especially with this opener: “Here's a good question. Why do the majority of American Christians remain so oblivious to the increasingly bitter fate of their fellow Christians in the Islamic world?” Christians are being persecuted right now by Muslims and Communists around the world. Totalitarian governments have, as a rule, seen Christians as a threat. Persecution of Christians by Muslims, communists- good topic for congregational and personal prayer

Kauflin writes about the extent to which a national holiday should affect our worship services. i) God’s kingdom is not of this world. ii) The church is under no obligation to highlight a national holiday. iii) God’s word sets the agenda for worship meetings. iv) One country’s holiday may have values confronting those in other country, or may not line up with Gospel values. v) On the other hand, it allows opportunity to help a congregation think biblically about such things. But a holiday doesn’t define or govern decisions about worship. vi) Holiday can be expressions of common grace and this should be recognized. Should July 4th Affect Our Sunday Planning-

DeYoung posts a number of responses that he’s received to the question, ''why do you love your church?’'. Should July 4th Affect Our Sunday Planning-

Spurgeon: “We are very apt to regard the apostolic saints as if they were “saints” in a more especial manner than the other children of God. All are “saints” whom God has called by His grace, and sanctified by His Spirit; but we are apt to look upon the apostles as extraordinary beings, scarcely subject to the same weaknesses and temptations as ourselves. Yet in so doing we are forgetful of this truth, that the nearer a man lives to God the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart; and the more his Master honours him in his service, the more also doth the evil of the flesh vex and tease him day by day.” Let’s not regard ancient saints with mystic reverence. “Called to be saints.”

Carson notes the increasing respect for the ‘feeling’ of things, and the disturbing trend of the younger to leave solid biblical teaching and preaching for excellent worship music, who allege it’s ‘better worship.’ You cannot find excellent corporate worship until you stop trying to find excellent corporate worship and pursue God himself. Some things are not merely attained by direct pursuit. The one who loses himself finds himself. You do not forget yourself and magnify God by simply singing about it, but by actually doing it. That something is lively does not mean it is good; it may be shallow. Shallowness leaves sheep hungry, so feed the sheep (John 21). If you wish to deepen the worship of the people of God, above all deepen their grasp of his ineffable majesty in his person and in all his works. We expect our mechanic to fix the car, not to expatiate on the wonders of his tools. He must know how to use them, but we dare not focus of corporate worship mechanics to the exclusion of their goal. Worshiping Worship

Spurgeon: Don’t be swept off your feet regarding the doctrines of the Gospel no matter what sort of excitement of revival there may be. Keep to the Old Truth

Engwer recommends Trusting The New Testament by J.P. Holding. It covers four topics: oral tradition, New Testament textual transmission, New Testament authorship, and the New Testament canon. Engwer notes that Holding points out a few contradictions with Christianity’s critics. i) Textual critics who assault the Bible show that ‘we do not know’ is not the philosophy they employ in practice, no matter what they say, for they use the source materials. ii) It is 250-300 years before external testimony directly grants authorship to the Annals of Tacitus. iii) Philo’s later works show broader vocabulary than his earlier ones. Engwer then notes his minor disagreements with the book. A Review Of Trusting The New Testament

Payne writes, “Christians are arguing about emotions and passionate outpourings. Some exalt in these experiences, and see in them the revival of true and authentic Christianity; others decry the emotional hysteria of easily manipulated crowds, and assert that rational, mature Christianity needs to rise above such gross displays of experientialism.” This is the context for Edwards’ Religious Affections, and Payne goes on to summarize this. What matters in the Christian experience is not emotions or intellect ultimately, but the affections, which are the inclinations or love or hate of the heart, not merely the strong states of feeling that arise in us. Affections have to do with what we perceive as good, beautiful, attractive, desirable. There can indeed by false affections. But a true convert’s affections have been fundamentally altered to point to God and His word. It is a reorientation of the centre of our being. This frames such debates in a new light, for both sides described above can have their experiences apart from true affections for God. A Christian's ‘vigorous and sensible inclination of the will’ is now towards God and his word, and away from the devil and his lies. Thinking about emotions (Part II)

Phil Johnson writes about Acts 27, and the revelation that none on the ship would die, and the fact that unless everyone stayed on the boat the passengers could not be saved. There is no contradiction: “Not one soul on that ship was going to die, because God had decreed it. Yet unless the crew stayed on the ship and brought it aground on the island of Malta, the passengers could not be saved.” God decrees means and ends. God’s sovereignty is the grounds for their responsibility. God works many things through secondary causes. The whole thing was done by the appointment and the decree of God. It was also accomplished by voluntary action on the part of the centurion and the sailors. Both things are true, and there is no difficulty whatsoever, if you understand that God ordained the means as well as the end. This is exactly what Calvinism says, and against which so many rail. Indeed, many claim that God’s sovereignty nullifies our duty to evangelize. But our duty is to proclaim forgiveness and repentance and plead with people to be reconciled to God. And these are the very means God uses to save those whom He draws to Christ. (2 Cor. 5:11; Rom. 10:14-15) He doesn’t save apart from His appointed means. Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility. Again

Piper on Twitter: ““The devil’s main American M. O. is soil three not soil two (Luke 8:23-24)”” Burk expands on this, commending Piper’s use of Twitter as a platform for the Gospel: both trials and prosperity can choke the gospel out of one’s life. Soil number three consists of those who trade-in the gospel for “riches” and the “pleasures” of this life. American Christians live in danger of soil 3 more than anything, because they have relative peace and prosperity and a lack of trials by persecution. This is a devastating word to the idolatrous heart. Soil Number Three

Adams thinks that “Cults are the unpaid bills of the Church.” What does that mean? Simply this—whenever the church of Jesus Christ fails to emphasize some truth, and becomes imbalanced in one direction or another, it leaves room for a cult to creep in and take over that area of theology which it has neglected. One Way Cults Begin

Turk agrees adamantly that leaving a church should never be done lightly. He lists a number of relevant passages cited in GTY’s opening statement regarding dealing with disagreements and false teaching, and observes that not one is written to the individual, but to the church, except for one directed to the pastor. Turk notes that Baptist soul competency isn’t the best principle upon which to make decisions, noting the emphasis on the collective approach to determining false teachers in the NT.  Not done lightly (1)

T-fan discusses the ‘430 year’ time-frame of the Israelites and how it relates to Egypt, the Law, and the promise to Abraham, and notes the errors in Camping’s chronology. i) The Israelites did not sojourn 430 years in Egypt (Ex. 12:40-41 doesn’t actually say this; cf. Gen 15:13). ii) Gal. 3 points out that the promise came to Abraham 430 years before the giving of the law. The 430 isn’t the time from the entry into Egypt by Jacob and his sons, but from the data of the promise. How then Four Hundred, Thirty Years-

Burk notes that Robert George has a must-read opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal. He argues that the Supreme Court should stay out of any effort to redefine marriage. The issue should be settled by democratic means, not by what has been called an ‘act of raw judicial power’. The supreme court is to blame for the aftermath Roe v. Wade culture war. Keeping the Courts out of the Marriage Debate

B2W recalls Piper’s “Don’t Waste Your Cancer,” and points to one of his friends, who models by God’s grace this powerful advice. Don't Waste Your Cancer- Matthew Hoskinson's Testimony

Swan points to yet another example of Romanist inconsistency, as a Catholic e-pologist corrects his priests by appealing to… Scripture. Scripture passages that lack an infallible interpretation. This all seems so downright Protestant. Akin- This isn't exegetical rocket science

Here’s the story of Great Is Thy Faithfulness. A Hymn for Ordinary Christians - Great Is Thy Faithfulness

“Islamic extremists today set ablaze more than 50 houses and a church in this town in northeastern Pakistan following an accusation of “blasphemy” of the Quran, leaving at least 14 Christians dead, sources said. (Other news reports say six were killed and another ten injured.)” Pray for Pakistan Christians

DeYoung has a massive sentence that describes the Emergent. Vacations, Emergent and Miscellania

Piper cites Lewis to the effect that hell has never been able to produce one pleasure. It only misuses the ones that God has created. This means that all the debased enjoyments of the world are echoes of the joys of heaven. Hell Never Produced a Single Pleasure

Phil Johnson notes that at the end of the day, everyone is a cessationist. Every charismatic holds that certain key features of the apostolic era are no longer operative. Scripture isn’t being written. No one can credibly claim someone to have been raised from the dead. The gifts aren’t of the same character. All charismatics are basically orthodox when it comes to the Gospel and the authority of Scripture. It’s a selective cessationism. i) Johnson responds to a challenge to the idea that if someone has the gift of healing, like the apostles did, he should be exercising it in hospitals. Christ and the apostles did seek out the sick, healing multitudes, and even healed every single sick person at times. Nothing like that is happening today. ii) As to the claim, ‘We’re just too Western’, Johnson notes that his ministry travels in the East have shown him that their charismatics have no better success rates – even though charismatics/mystics may be more credulous when it comes to believing outlandish claims. “Never once have I met a charismatic who took the opportunity on one of those train platforms to perform—or even attempt—the kind of miracle Peter did in Acts 3:6-7. The only "healings" I've ever seen charismatics claim in India are the same unverifiable back-straightenings, leg-lengthenings, and other non-visible "cures" you can watch every week on Benny Hinn's program… the most spectacular "signs and wonders" I have ever witnessed from charismatics in India are the same laughter and animal noises that were sweeping Western charismatic churches ten years ago.” Here’s the kicker - these are the same sort of phony miracles routinely claimed by almost every guru and mystic in Hinduism.  Continuationism and Credulity, East and West

Gerald Bray comments on Wright’s new book. “If he [i.e, Wright] chooses to write a book similar to Mr. Piper’s in length, then so be it—we need to hear the other side of the story in order to be able to evaluate which of them has the better case. Alas, it has to be said that Bishop Wright has let us down badly. He himself admits that he was rushed for time and could not do justice to his subject; he did not even manage to send his draft to Mr. Piper for comment, as politeness dictated, considering that Mr. Piper had shared his thoughts with him before presuming to publish them. The result is that the book bears all the hallmarks of hasty production. It is full of digressions, personal anecdotes which appear to have no purpose other than to win sympathy for the author, and random attacks against unnamed people who are supposed to be typical of popular modern Evangelicals. Whereas Mr. Piper is unfailingly gracious and sticks rigorously to his subject, Bishop Wright verges on the downright rude and wanders all over the place, with the result that it is often hard to know whether he is addressing Mr. Piper’s concerns or not (103-4).” Gerald Bray Reviews N. T. Wright's Justification

Dan Wallace will be on the Dividing Line on August 6. Dan Wallace on the Dividing Line August 6th!

Hays points to five useful books on inerrancy:

• - Gleason Archer, New International Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties (Zondervan 2001)
  - Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (IVP; 2nd ed., 2007).
  - Kenneth Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2003)
  - V. Philips Long, The Art of Biblical History (Zondervan 1994).
  - Robert Stein, Interpreting Puzzling Texts in the New Testament (Baker, 1997)