Not just fried frog-legs

Somebody said: “If you eat a live frog in the morning, nothing worse will happen to either of you for the rest of the day.”

Well, it was this guy: W. G. T. Shedd (1820-1894).

I gotta thank Reid Ferguson at Responsive Reiding. Reid has posted a review of William Young's The Shack HERE.

How nice, the Nicene

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; Who proceeds from the Father and the Son; Who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; Who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Pactum Salutis, indeed! O to Grace, how great a debtor......!

I do not have a particularly active imagination, but, upon reading the following paragraph, I immediately conjured a picture of a giant steam-roller. It represented the 'job' that the contemporary evangelical church, in cahoots with post-moderns, is performing* on the glories of God's electing and redeeming purposes - clearly revealed in scripture. I copied and pasted from Martin Downes' Against Heresies. It's a quote from:

David Van Drunen & Scott Clark on the covenant of redemption:

In Reformed theology, the pactum salutis has been defined as a pretemporal, intratrinitarian agreement between the Father and Son in which the Father promises to redeem an elect people. In turn the Son volunteers to earn the salvation of his people by becoming incarnate...by acting as surety of the covenant of grace for and as mediator of the covenant of grace to the elect. In his active and passive obedience, Christ fulfills the conditions of the pactum salutis...ratifying the Father's promise, because of which the Father rewards the Son's obedience with the salvation of the elect. And because of this the Holy Spirit applies the Son's work to his people through the means of grace.

Covenant, Justification and Pastoral Ministry, p. 168

*Trying to perform

Here is an article that Martin Downes wrote for the UK version of Table Talk: 'The Emerging Church and the Cultural Captivity of the Gospel'.

Don't ask, I don't know! Naturally irradiated?

I know that it is an original. I shot the photo through a small
kaleidoscope. I don't know how the lighting effect occurred.

Now I don't wish dire cat-lamity on felines in general. It's just that I would cast each one, individually, before his own bar of justice, each in his own turn. That should save me from any spurious accusation of being catophobic. Thanks to Martin Downes for this cartoon. It's on his Against Heresies blog.

2008 Fall Festival

This video slide-show will remain available for a limited period of time. It will be deleted, in favor of other material, or it will pass into the blog archive.

Review of Christless Christianity

There's a great preview/review of
Dr. Michael Horton's new book,
Christless Christianity,
at Tim Challies'
Discerning Reader.

Tim Challies writes: In Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church Horton laments the 'silliness' of many Westerners' approach to the gospel. Horton is sounding alarm bells reminiscent of Francis Schaeffer's warnings of 'accommodation' and C.S. Lewis' caution against 'weightlessness.'

Trinity Psalter and Little Boy with big(?) fish

Reformation Day - Luther high-jinks!

These 'songs' are from Chris Arnzen at Iron Sharpens Iron. They offer a funny 'convergence' of Reformation Day, and Halloween. I suspect that this is a pretty accurate representation of Martin Luther's tone and temperament.

You can click on the X in the upper-right corner to stop the audio.

On a far more serious note, Dr. Carl Trueman, a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, does a three-part lecture series on the life of Martin Luther. The lectures are somewhat long, but are well worth listening to; they provide a wealth of historical perspective on the Protestant Reformation, and on Martin Luther, specifically. Carl Trueman is one of the principal contributors on the Reformation21 blog.

Baptist pastor Doug VanderMeulen has, on his blog, an article: On Being a Theologian of the Cross. It is from Lutheran Seminary theology professor Gerhard Forde.

Flexibility is key!

Many have seen this, I hadn't. A friend sent the URL to Marilyn. It may prove to be a bit long, but it's quite interesting.
HalfTime Basketball Creighton University Omaha Nebraska

"Fireproof" the movie

A few days ago, I posted about the movies, with some links to articles that I thought might 'inform' the issue. Well, The Sacred Sandwich has a rip-roaring dialogue between THE TWIN THEOLOGIANS: “Fireproof” Is Not About Asbestos Underwear, that does nothing, if not mis-informs the issue. It's a rollicking read. Haven't seen the movie. Won't see the movie, unless, or until, it 'comes out' on DVD.

Mower coffee, anyone?

Red Green Show -Lawn mower coffee

Keeping correct categories

To the extent that it is ever a part of the debate that 'swirls around' the Emergent 'conversation', I think that Reformed and Baptist provides a very significant caution: The Danger of One-Man Ministries. A couple of short(?) quotes:

"...warn the reader of marks that their church and/or pastor was becoming emergent. Good motive, and good warning, most of it....." And then "...put a dispensational premillenial position on eschatology on a par with such key doctrines as the sufficiency of scripture and the centrality of Christ

Thus among the many accurate indications of an emerging tendency, such as less emphasis on the authority of Scripture, and a greater dependence on man centred techniques for church growth instead of keeping Christ in the centre, we were told to watch out when

“The teaching that Jesus Christ will rule and reign in a literal millennial period is considered unbiblical and heretical.”

“More and more emphasis is being placed on building the kingdom of God now and less and less on the warnings of Scripture about the imminent [my emphasis] return of Jesus Christ and a coming judgment in the future.”

“The teaching that the Book of Revelation does not refer to the future, but instead has been already fulfilled in the past”

“The teaching that the church has taken the place of Israel and Israel has no prophetic significance is often embraced"”.

Seen any good movies lately?

Let me hazard a guess. Proly not! Well, maybe so, if you can use discernment. My difficulty has always been that I just don't have the mental acumen and sophistication to formulate the filters through which I should always evaluate the movies that I watch. It's not an easy task; it involves more than a simple decision to view a particular movie. I'll save the more cogent explanation for this: There is an excellent article on the Reformation 21 blog, in which the writer does a fine job of helping the reader develop the guidelines and worldview filters that are needed simply to allow oneself to indulge in the viewing of Hollywood produced movies. The article is Watching Movies to the Glory of God.
Also, here is a highly pertinent article by Guy Davies, The Exiled Preacher. Post title is Spider-Man Theology.
Expanding the concept a bit, Young Puritan has an article by Dr. Joel Beeke that asks, and answers, Is TV Really So Bad?

Psalm 103 - Scottish Psalter 1650 (ACapella)

NOW, I know!

My male pattern baldness has a wonderful scientific name: androgenic alopecia. I didn't know that. It also has a "highly genetic origin. Heritability accounts for 80 percent of cases". It's in my genes, so, why sweat it, huh? Why should I care, so long as I can grow hair on my face? Well, I'm not so sure that that's all that positive. I am sure that you will want to pursue this whole concept, so, here is the link to a news article. Amazing, what? Such an imaginative title: Hair today, gone tomorrow -- and this is why

How rivetingly interesting!

Words

People who know me, know that I am too much a stickler about words. I enjoy words; I like to play with words. I like a good 'play on words'. I suppose it began with my fascination, when I was a kid, with The Reader's Digest section, Increase Your Vocabulary, as well as Toward More Picturesque Speech, in the same magazine. Anyway, that affinity for words resulted in a fairly extensive vocabulary that was the sole reason that I tested in the 96th percentile, in the state of Missouri, in 1958. The test was the Ohio State Psychological Examination, and was administered to all high-school seniors, or juniors (I don't recall). I did not have commensurate math skills, and I had no exposure to foreign languages. Despite the test results, and an accompanying scholastic scholarship, I did not 'matriculate to an institution of higher-learning'. Okay, I didn't go to college! I was a totally green behind the ears farm boy, with scant social skills - or so I thought. Also, my parents provided no motivation for continuing my education - you may be able to detect a clue as to some of the reasons, as I near the end of this post.
Over the years, or, through-out the intervening years, I have taken many a chide from my siblings, and others, regarding my failure to just speak plainly. I would very much like to do that, on the appropriate occasion, but, it is not necessarily true that those 'precious people' have always known when, or that, it is/was appropriate at any given time, to "speak plainly". I suppose it is appropriate when the words that are used are 'over the head's of the hearers, but, it could be an opportunity for them to Improve Their (own) Vocabulary. After all, didn't we all eventually learn a few words more than we knew when we were toddlers? When did we all decide that our cup of words was full enough? The key is to "work with me"! Don't despise the opportunity to learn. Much of my vocab. has been simply the result of 'osmosis'. There were, for sure, some mistakes, but, for the most part, words were learned from reading, and deriving a lot of the definitions from the context - not necessarily the best way.
The congregation at a church we were attending - well, I had effectively skedaddled that scene, but was in attendance on this particular occasion - was informed that "the Partons are word-smiths". The worship-leader was searching for a specific word, which I provided. My suspicions are that he had read an eight page letter that I had written to the senior pastor, high-lighting a number of concerns I had with the tone and direction of the church; they were in the big-middle of trying to transform the church into a Toronto Blessing lookalike, thus, his perception of me as a "word-smith". It was, I think, thinly veiled sarcasm.
From my early fascination with words, fast forward nearly 50 years. I recently became aware of a long forgotten personality. That person is an evangelist, name of Ralph Woodrow.
A couple of years ago, as I was browsing the monergism,com website, I sighted a couple of articles by one, Ralph Woodrow, I immediately did a slight double-take. Hey, I recognize that name. Well, further investigation revealed that he is indeed the person I suspected. He had come, as a visiting evangelist, to a small full-gospel church that my family was attending - it was, I think, in nineteen-sixty-two, or sixty-three. The church was in Cameron, Missouri. He was, at the time, in his early twenties, and was a pianist as well as a preaching evangelist. Certainly, I do not recall the content of his preaching. Anyway, he, along with his wife Arlene, has a website.
I have not done a thorough investigation, but I think that the articles that are posted on the Monergism website are non-dispensational in content and eschatological perspective.
Ralph Woodrow has a rather eclectic mix of material on his own website, but, briefly stated, here is the reason for this article: there is, in my opinion, an immensely interesting pdf article by Ralph Woodrow: WORDS. Check it out. I presume that you'll need Adobe Reader, which is available, for free, at the Adobe website.
Unfortunately, in the case of my own word useage, I am able to recognize the words, but they are no longer readily available for use in conversation. Many of the words have fallen through the cracks in my mind. My memory loss is, I think, most acute in the area of ready recall of words. Words fail me - work with me! Did I say the same thing twice?

Can it be? Could it be? Is it true? Say it ain't so!

Now, we're getting a bit too theological. The implications of a 'mere' promotion are staggering, if they might be taken seriously. Here's what Martin Downes here says about Steve Levy's book, BIBLE OVERVIEW: The book should stir up some debate on important issues, not least of which is the content of the faith of Old Testament saints. One wonders whether liberal theology and higher critical Old Testament scholarship eviscerated evangelical confidence that David knew that Christ was his Lord, that Israel grieved the Holy Spirit in the wilderness, and that the Church in the Old Testament wasn't Unitarian.

"Church in the Old Testament"? "Wasn't Unitarian"? "David knew that Christ was his Lord"? It better be convincing! It better provide some serious hermeneutics, some solid exegesis. Psst, I bet it does! Somehow I just don't think that reading this book would bode-well for the on-going health, or survival, of my inner-dispensationalist - and I haven't even read the 'kiver'!

Steve Levy is the pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church – a thriving city centre church in Swansea, Wales.

BIBLE OVERVIEW is published by Christian Focus. The publisher's release date is November 9, 2008. Order it from Amazon.com

Oh, do I love this!

Caution, long, and opinionated sentence ahead: In the course of my advocacy of serious and intentional singing of psalms, not necessarily exclusively, but, in contra-distinction to the mere recitation of brief snippets from The Psalms, and in utter preference of the smarmy offerings of so many of the frail, and failed, CCM attempts at (IMO), authentic p&w, I share these two excellent adaptations from Psalm 139:

Psalm 139 (Were I to cross from land to land)

I Cannot Hide From You (Psalm 139)

Oh, let's go ahead and make it three!
How Precious Are Your Thoughts, O God! - Psalm 139

You may ask, what is the difference between these, and the bulk of contemporary p&w songs? Content, dear one, CONTENT! No rocket science here. See if you can discern the origin of the material, though it may not precisely quote, or mimic, the text. Pretty obvious, huh? It stays on course with the scripture from which it is derived. To put it plainly, it remains strapped to the text. That should be attraction enough. Really, isn't there enough God-breathed material that we could dispense with a ton of material that contains, or is, questionable content, focus and emphasis? Just my own 'mental meanderings'!

Classical piano recital - Andrew Sheffield

This video was recorded in a somewhat impromptu manner, therefore, is not of the greatest quality, in terms of camera placement, and audio fidelity, but I was delighted to find that Andrew Carroll had preserved it, and made it available from his account with Ustream. I don't have a 'play-list' available at this time, but, it's an example of the piano artistry of Andrew Sheffield, who is scheduled to become the director of (music) worship at Faith Community Church in May, 2009. Andrew is expecting to graduate UMKC Conservatory of Music, following the spring semester. The announcement was made by Pastor Tim Juhnke prior to his sermon this morning, and was concurrent with the announcement that Pastor Jim Spencer, the current Pastor of Worship and Evangelism will be accepting an appointment as a missionary.

Andrew Sheffield - Classical piano recital
Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

Christless Christianity

Until October 31, 2008, the book is available as a 1/2 off Pre-order special HERE.

Christians have always had their differences, but never in church history have there been so many statistics indicating that many Christians today are practicing what can only be described as "Christless Christianity." Christless Christianity guides the reader to a greater understanding of a big problem within the American religious setting, namely the creeping fog of countless sermons in churches across the country that focus on moralistic concerns and personal transformation rather than the theology of the cross.
Michael Horton's analysis of the contemporary church points believers back to the power of a gospel that should never be assumed.

Christless Christianity - Dr. Michael Horton

Is it possible that we have left Christ out of Christianity? Is the faith and practice of American Christians today more American than Christian? These are the provocative questions Michael Horton addresses in this thoughtful, insightful book. He argues that while we invoke the name of Christ, too often Christ and the Christ-centered gospel are pushed aside. The result is a message and a faith that are, in Horton‘s words, "trivial, sentimental, affirming, and irrelevant." This alternative "gospel" is a message of moralism, personal comfort, self-help, self-improvement, and individualistic religion. It trivializes God, making him a means to our selfish ends. Horton skillfully diagnoses the problem and points to the solution: a return to the unadulterated gospel of salvation.

These, ya gotta see!

I really do think that a clear distinction should be made between music that is acceptable in the public arena, and what is acceptable in the context of the corporate worship of the people of God. That virtually should 'go without saying', but it is so obviously apparent that that distinction is seldom observed. It's so easy to say, so what? but that 'so what' is symptomatic of a carelessness that is rampant in the contemporary church.
Some Thoughts on Contemporary Christian Music (1/2)

Some Thoughts on Contemporary Christian Music (2/2)

Does the Reformation matter? OR, watch

Dr. R. Scott Clark on:
Why the Protestant Reformation Matters

Fathers of the Reformation

Reformation Study Bible

Video Clips by Dr. James White

Dr. James White is a primier christian apologist. He has, for many years, defended and debated historical orthodox christian issues with a broad array of opposing apologists. Many clips from these debates have been posted on YouTube. Dr. White has a 'channel' from which the YouTube videos can be accessed and viewed here.

DISSING GOD, ala Lakeland

DISSING GOD

RAPPORT, RAPPORT
THEY'RE ROLLING ON THE FLOOR.
THE 'holy spirit' LIKE A DOVE
IS CAUSING THEM TO ROAR.

THEY SWAY AND SLAY
EACH OTHER IN THE 'spirit'.
BUT IF THE TRUTH OF GOD WERE PREACHED,
THEY WOULD'T STAND TO HEAR IT.

AT FIRST THE WORD OF GOD'S ENOUGH
TO GUIDE OUR HEART'S DEVOTION.
BUT SOON WE'RE TOLD THAT FAITH DEMANDS
A FLURRY OF EMOTION.

THEY LAUGH AND STOMP AND HOOT AND JERK.
THEY OINK AND BARK AND SOAK.
THEY'VE MADE A MOCKERY OF GOD,
THE WORLD THINKS HE'S A JOKE.

Some comments, and brief definitions:

RAPPORT: sympathetic relationship; agreement; harmony
DISSING: belittle-ing; deride-ing; reducing esteem for; discounting the value of; a real put-down - an attempt to diminish. May also apply (for our purposes on the positive side), as an abbreviation for: discerning, as in: to discern what is and what is not an action attributable (correctly) to the person and work of God, the Holy Spirit.
DISCERN: to determine the validity or authenticity of; to evaluate correctly; to judge accurately
Beyond doubt, it is true that we have an obligation to avoid dissing God - by dis-cerning His reality. His Word might prove to be an adequate resource to that end. While we may be inclined to invoke a dependence upon the Holy Spirit in our understanding of the works and ways of God, it should be noted that the Word of God and the Holy Spirit of God are ever and always in agreement. So complementary are they that it could be truthfully said that they function correctly (that is to say; to full purpose and effectiveness) only in harmonious union with each other. They are, in terms of the accomplishment of His will in the earth, God's "love and marriage, horse and carriage" duo.
They, the Word of God and the Spirit of God, are in full rapport.
I make no particular claim to inspiration in the writing of this poem. I am confident, however, that such a claim would be, at the very least, as valid as the vast majority of "thus saith the Lord" utterances in the church(es).
One pastor that I know (whose church I exited deliberately and intentionally) estimated, from the pulpit, that 85% of the extra-biblical utterances in the church are "not from God". It was interesting to note the tone and ego stoking nature of those messages that he thoroughly and heartily received.
In any event, after divulging his own skepticism, he shamelessly opted out of any obligation to assist the undiscerning in their efforts to determine which 3 out of 20, of those 'prophetic utterances' are/were valid (really from God). He stated that it was a matter of allowing the hearers to become mature – to grow up. It was as if he was saying, if the fire burns you or the poison kills you, you should have known better! You didn’t “grow up” quite soon enough, and I’m sure not going to help you! Of course, the real reason was that he, himself, didn't have a clue.
That ought to send us scurrying to The Word, as opposed to seeking "a word from the Law-wud".

Written by: Harold Spencer Parton
January 3, 1999

Who's your teacher?

Philosophy and religion both discard at once the very thought of (un-fettered) free-will; and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, "If any man doth ascribe aught of salvation, even the very least, to the free-will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright." It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free-will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that he gives both; that he is Alpha and Omega in the salvation of men. – C. H. Spurgeon

So you like quartets?

How about this one?
MVHY Stringfever History of Music
MVHY Stringfever Bolero

Marilyn's new hardware

Here's the pics of Marilyn's airport security alarm 'setter offer'. Oh well, we wouldn't have been doing much flying anyway. We've done quite a lot of that, but I've never been overly comfortable at 41,000 feet.

It seems like forever since I last posted. I've been busily contemplating some of the contemporary issues, what with the fiasco that was Todd Bentley's Lakeland Revival, etc.. Frankly, that whole circus was sub-contemptible. I hope to shortly post a hokey little poem that I wrote back in January of '99, as I opted out of a Toronto Blessing/Pensacola Outpouring leaning charismatic church. It's amazing that the emperor continues to gallop around sans apparel (naked). I appreciate the solidly biblical teachings and practices of our current home church.

If you get FamNet, watch Todd Friel's program, Wretched. He's properly in your face, as he exposes a lot of the contemporary goings-on in the church, etc.. The telecast is at 9:00 pm Central, 10 o'clock Eastern (USA), week-nights. Catch the WRETCHED promo at the FamNet website. Psst, I think he's real - a gem among clods, sort of.

We have no un-mediated access to God.

It is with tear-filled eyes, and praise to God, that I recommend these two successive posts by Martin Downes at Against Heresies: A sympathetic and merciful High Priest, and Approaching God. I especially appreciate how he describes flawed, and failed, attempts to approach God. I reprint them here, in the hope that Pastor Downes will not object, and in the expectation that you will navigate to his blog, for more great posts.

A sympathetic and merciful High Priest

When we are tempted dark thoughts come to us about how God views our temptations. We might begin to imagin(e) that he despises our weakness ("surely if I was a strong Christian I wouldn't have these thoughts"). Or we might think that he is angry with us. We probably are troubled by the thought that he is distant and aloof, that somehow his help is far away.These thoughts, however real they seem, are in fact a lie. Our Father reassures us that the Son of his love, whom he appointed as our Saviour, is able to help us when we are tempted.Christ has been set apart and sent to be a merciful and faithful high priest. He has made atonement for our sins, removing the condemnation that we rightly deserve. Not only is this so, but he also knows what it is like to be tempted (see Hebrews 2:17-18).It is not too much to say that he is full of sympathy for his tempted people. He knew the pressure of temptation in a way that we will never know.I once watched the effects of the storm tossed waves as they battered the sea wall at Scarborough. At one point the wall had given way due to the relentless force of the waves. Sadly that is our experience under the force of temptation. We give way to the pressure, wave after wave of it, and sin against our Lord. Christ, however, knew the pressure of temptation to a degree that we will never know. Unlike us he never gave way, never gave in, never collapsed under the force of temptation. But he knew the power of temptation crashing against his soul.As strange as it may seem, this sinless Son of God is the only one who can truly help us under the weight and power of temptation. He is filled with sympathy and mercy toward us, and he can help us (see Hebrews 4:14-16). When we do sin we need to know that he intercedes for us (1 John 2:1-2).We should go to him, and we should pour out our hearts before him. Will you do so when you are tempted? We are at times afraid of others knowing about the temptations that face us. We are afraid of what they will think of us, and of how they will regard us, we feel so ashamed. Don't be afraid to go to Jesus Christ. He is more holy than you can possibly imagine, and yet he is more merciful than your mind can take in. Know that God appointed him for you. Know that he is sympathetic, merciful, faithful, and able to save to the uttermost all who come to God through him because he ever lives to make intercession (Hebrews 7:25).You can't deal with temptation, but he can help you. You can't deal with your sin, but he can by his death. Come to Jesus Christ.

Approaching God

The litmus test of our understanding and application of the gospel is in our approach to God. It is only at this point that our true conception of the divine majesty and holiness, our own depravity and uncleanness, of God's justice in condemning our sin and the sole sufficiency of Christ's work to save us, is revealed.A diminished view of any of these truths, along with a diminished effect of them upon our souls, will leave us satisified to approach God on other terms than those of his gospel of free grace in Christ alone.How we actually answer the following questions reveals a lot about our grasp of the gospel. What do I believe is necessary for God to receive me? For God to hear me? For God to accept me?Stated positively, only the obedience and blood of Christ, the perfect sacrifice of himself in our place, can satisfy the demands of divine justice and reconcile us to God. Because of his perfect and sufficient sacrifice for sin (which we benefit from by resting and relying on Christ alone), we are assured that all our sins and lawless deeds God will remember no more. Through Christ we have continual access to God, and may approach him with boldness and confidence, with full assurance of faith.Stated negatively:

1. Moralism of any kind can never be the right way for sinners like us to approach a holy God. No acts of atonement that we make, no prayers or offerings, no repentance, can remove the guilt of our sin and reconcile us to God. It is Christ's sacrifice alone that brings us continually to God. In the words of the hymn "my guilty conscience seeks no sacrifice beside/his powerful blood did once atone and now it pleads before the throne"

2. Heightened emotional states are no safe basis for access to God. Music can have a powerful effect on our emotions, but it cannot form any part of our understanding of how we may draw near to God. Loose language about entering God's presence at this point is deadly. It makes us look to the acts of sinners in conveying the divine presence. If churches only understood the book of Hebrews and how it teaches us to draw near to God I'm sure that these errors would be swept away.

3. Mysticism is also a rival to the high priestly finished work of Christ for us. Mystical experiences are not to form the basis of our approach to God. In this way as techniques are offered for how to pray, the focus falls upon us and our actions and not upon Christ and his work.

The dangers of moralism, emotionalism, and mysticism, vie for our allegiance as the means by which we will approach God. They will always be more attractive and plausible to us in proportion to our own experiential grasp of Christ's person and work. To the extent that God has exposed to us our true moral guilt before him, and our utter inability to deal with our own sin, we will turn away from all human acts of morality, religion, techniques, feelings, music and mystical experiences as in anyway able to help us. Our only hope will be in Christ our great high priest, and in him we will find a refuge to make our hearts truly rejoice.

Dated, but relevant - perhaps

I just finished watching, for the first time, Jesus Christ Superstar. I can't make a whole lot of in-depth comments, so, will just say that it seems to have some implications that I would define as e-m-e-r-g-e-n-t. I could be wrong - it could be more of a matter of which came first. How do you spell u-n-b-e-l-i-e-f? I may not "know how to love Him", but I believe I have a pretty good handle on 'why I should, and do', love Him.

Oh, the website for The Holy Observer is back, up and running.

Mark Dever preferred, hands down, to Todd Bentley!

I really did have it in mind to post a couple of the Todd Bentley 'exposes'; you know, he of the hideous 'bizarre-ness' going on down in Lakeland, FL. Well, it's just gone utterly out of bounds - beyond the bounds of reason and reasonableness. Don't bother. I'm sure God (note upper-case G) is nowhere to be found, in that maelstrom of heretical carryings-on. I think we're back to the "short-term gain, long-term loss" scenario - even if, and I do mean if, the claims and postulations of the proponents are even marginally realized.

Instead, here's some markedly more sound material. Mark Dever is lucid, and vastly more to be emulated, in the how to do church category.

Mark Dever Interview with Ed Stetzer (pt. 1) - WhiteBoard

Mark Dever Interview with Ed Stetzer (pt. 2) - WhiteBoard

THE FIVE SOLAS

You may email me, and purchase these five graphics for the mere sum of US $29.95 each, or you can simply acquire them for free - my cost, your cost. Okay, they're too clunky to even care about! Have a wonderful day, whatever your opinion of my frail efforts!

Aint it the troot?

For Your Best Laugh Now, check out NEW-AGER HITS HEAD, LOSES CHRIST-CONSCIOUSNESS, at The Sacred Sandwich. Sommmmmebody call Dr. Phil!

Hands up, or hands down? Yes!

Go to THO for a humorous but thought provoking look at the problems associated with (obstructive!), hand-raising, in the music/singing portion of corporate worship. Am I 'against' it? Naw, but I don't think it's indiscriminately obligatory, nor is it particularly indicative of the true posture of the heart. Maybe so, maybe not! Sometimes so, sometimes no!

Do the scriptures fail to recognize the 'technological dilemma(s)'? Do we fail to see, or address, deficiencies that are intrinsic to some popular technologies? Is it at all possible, or likely, that some of the most popularly perceived worship enhancements are, in reality, impediments to undistracted, God-focused, worship? PowerPoint, and cacophonous instrumental accompaniment comes to mind. Even more egregious is the use of pre-recorded (canned) accompaniment. But I digress!

Anyway, clicking on the link to The Holy Observer will result in this message: Account for domain The Holy Observer.com has been suspended. I enjoyed the satire. Much of it was quite appropriate to real, and imagined, issues and situations that are worthy of intelligent parody.

Latin, anyone?

Milena Minkova et Terentius Tunberg loquuntur

De tribus porcellis -- De 3 porcellis

Not because I have any knowledge or expertise, but, because I appreciate the concept that a large percentage of english language words are derived from latin. It's fun to see, or hear, the words, and recognize the corresponding word(s) in our language. It's evidence for the evolution of language. If anyone detects inappropriate language in De tribus porcellis video, please let me know; I'll delete the video from this blog.

Thanks to the HEIDELBLOG, which I highly recommend, for my first awareness of the latin videos. Spend some helpful time there.

Great God, I Own Thy Sentence Just

Great God, I Own Thy Sentence Just,
And nature must decay;
I yield my body to the dust,
To dwell with fellow clay.
Yet faith may triumph o'er the grave,
And trample on the tombs;
My Jesus, my Redeemer, lives;
My God, my Savior, comes.
The mighty Conqueror shall appear
High on a royal seat,
And death, the last of all His foes,
Lie vanquished at His feet.
Though greedy worms devour my skin,
And gnaw my wasting flesh,
When God shall build my bones again,
He clothes them all afresh.
Then shall I see Thy lovely face
With strong immortal eyes;
And feast upon Thy unknown grace
With pleasure and surprise.
-Isaac Watts

I want to see this printed on the inside cover of my funeral 'flyer'! Weell, you know what I mean! I hope someone will do me the small favor of swapping "your" for "thy". I leave it intact here, for the sake of 'authorial honor'.

Rankin 'right up there'

Gary E. 'put me onto' The Rankin Family. They have some good sounds; I'm not at all tuned into some of the theological implications of the lyrics in, for example, the song Rise Again. It promotes an unmistakable reincarnational theme. I suppose it makes no difference in 'instrumental only', or when the songs are sung in Gaelic!
The Rankin Sisters (Cookie, Heather and Raylene) perform Taladh Chriosda

Scottish Gaelic

Thanks to friend Gary E., who assures that the music in the last previous post is gaelic, and that Julie is a Scot, as is confirmed by Julie Fowlis' website. This is a short blurb from her homepage:

...she is somewhat of an enigma as she sings in a language only understood by around 60,000 people - which accounts for only approximately 1% of the population of Scotland. She sings in Scottish Gaelic and spends her time touring around the world bringing ancient songs form the Hebridean Islands to new audiences. She is an accomplished musician as well - playing Highland bagpipes, smallpipes, whistles, oboe & cor anglais and three waltzes on the one row melodeon.

Classy folk

I really like these sounds. The second video reminds me of Celtic Woman, but Welch, I think. Sure and I don't understand a word of it, but the sound's marvelous.
Julie Fowlis with Donal Lunny and Bruce Molsky

Julie Fowlis - Hùg Air A' Bhonaid Mhòir

A Coupla Faves

And can it be


El McMeen Be Thou My Vision and Amazing Grace


Love Divine All Loves Excelling

Can creativity be shy on "Gray matter"?

The Grays hold-forth in south Kansas City.

Regardless the humor, creativity, and subjective appropriateness of The Steve and Kathy Show, It is plainly evident, resulting from some further research, that the Grays continue in the mode of their nearly fifteen years old charismatic/charismaniacal extravagances.

I supply a pertinent example of their ongoing complicity with the charismatic fringe lunatic types (read: Word of Faith, name it – claim it):

This, from a 04/24/02 ‘release’:

Kenneth Copeland, speaking to an overflow crowd, dedicated the House of Hope and Healing at World Revival Church Friday, April 19th. "Momentous...faith building...historic..." were the words audibly spoken in the crowd as so many gathered to hear who most consider "an Apostle of faith." (bold type & color text mine)

In his introduction, Pastor Steve Gray voiced the sentiments of many when he said, "Kenneth Copeland, through the work of the Holy Spirit, has upped the ante in Christianity so that all of us get to live better....all of us get to live in the blessings of Abraham. He has turned the course of the river over the years so that it blesses all of us and has affected churches all over the world to understand the attitude that God has towards His children." (again, bold type & color text mine)

And this:

These three myths may be destroying your life!
1) More money will ruin you.
2) More power will ruin you.
3) You're okay right where you're at.
Sound familiar? "The success went to his head"…. "He was a great guy until he got rich"… "He should have just stayed where he was at!" These sneaky little myths are exactly what may be limiting the effectiveness of your life.
Here's the real truth of the matter: God is a God of INCREASE – not a God of the status quo. He is not holding you back from success because "it will ruin you." HE WANTS YOU TO SUCCEED AND INCREASE IN LIFE! What did God do at the very beginning of the world? He increased! He wasn’t happy with the status quo and so He created something. Light BE! Fish and animals BE! And He made man in His creative, increasing image. What was God's first command to Adam? INCREASE! MULTIPLY! Fill the earth! And that's what He's still saying to His people. God wants you to prosper, He wants you to flourish in your jobs, your relationships, even in your physical strength and vigor.
Still don't believe it? Still happy with the same old paycheck every week? The same family gatherings that leave you empty and regretting? The same old routine in church…where nothing ever changes and NOTHING ever happens? (bold, color text - mine)

God “increased”? So, now He’s bigger? What is the nature of the “increase” that God most desires in those who are His? Surely not $$$, surely not in life-style and material wealth. I’m thoroughly convinced that, at best, this kind of drivel is bound to produce nothing more than “short term gain – long term loss”. Maybe he should re-address the issue of the type of increase that God is most ‘complicit’ in. ”NOTHING ever happens” – in the God exalting, God glorifying ‘means of grace’ that God commands, that is, the regular gathering of His people, for prayer, praise, public reading of the scriptures, and for the preaching of His Word? Read again: Short term gain – long term loss.

Last, but by no means least, this, from a post on Steve Gray’s blog:

…..“Maybe you didn't know that even God doesn't always get his way. It wasn't his will for sin to enter the world, but sin entered anyway through mankind's actions. Let's keep that in mind as our God is trying to do great things in the world to show himself strong and mighty to the nations.” (bold, italics, color text – all mine)

HUH!!? What a ‘TRY & FAIL’ god WE serve!!? I'm glad those words aren’t mine. You find the links if you want to pursue the Gray matter.

The Steve and Kathy Show!

It was 1980, I think. Marilyn and I attended a catered dinner at the Howard Johnson Motor Inn, in Kansas City North. The featured ‘entertainment’ for the evening was a singing group from Sedalia, Steve Gray and Jubilation.
Local radio stations had been playing the title cut from their 1979 record album, Promises – good sound, conservative contemporary. I bought, and still have, the ‘vinyl’. We enjoyed the evening, though it ended rather strangely: similar to an altar-call; anyone who was interested in remaining for further instruction in an enhancement to their holy spirit ‘relationship’ was invited to do so. I don’t know whether anyone did.
Fast forward to late ‘90s, my first re-introduction to the ministry of Steve and Kathy Gray was by way of news that a spiritual renewal was occurring in Smithton, Missouri, a few miles east of Sedalia. It was an on-going copy-cat event (the Smithton Revival) that purported to emulate, if not rival, the well known Brownsville Revival – aka the Pensacola Outpouring. I know nothing of what happened there (Smithton), but it wasn’t long until the principals, impetus, and emphases of this spiritual awakening migrated to the Kansas City area – the Grandview area, I believe. I also don’t know what became of the then current emphases on physical manifestations of the presence and work of the holy spirit, but I have a notion that some of the programs and video productions that are coming from their current ministry are much more helpful than those previous efforts. I can vouch for none of the underlying intentions, but I share some of the more obvious implied, or evident, evaluations of contemporary evangelicalism. Enjoy!
Real Preachers of Genius: Seeker-Sensitive Mega Church Guy

Sooo Dead, or picking up pocket change?

"In the movie The Princess Bride, Miracle Max pronounces the hero Westley to be “mostly dead,” and then continues to explain the difference between “mostly dead” and “all dead”:

Miracle Max: "See, there’s a big difference between mostly dead, and all dead. Now, mostly dead: he’s slightly alive. All dead, well, with all dead, there’s usually only one thing that you can do."

Inigo: "What’s that?"

Miracle Max: "Go through his clothes and look for loose change."

Note that the initial humor of Miracle Max’s declaration that Westley is only “mostly dead” is effective due to the fact that the viewer knows it to be ludicrous. “Mostly dead” is only funny because we know death to be a total state. Note also that for the narrative of The Princess Bride to continue with Westley as the hero, Max must assert that, “he’s slightly alive.” When we use the word “dead” in normal conversation (and when the Bible uses this word) we do not mean “slightly alive.” We may speak of someone having been beaten until they were “half dead,” but when we use this term, we only mean to indicate that the person was in serious danger of death. If we speak of a person being beaten to death, no-one hearing our words would expect the victim to recover. Once a person is pronounced dead by the doctor, it would be ridiculous to ask, “Well, Doc, how dead is he?”"

The preceding is part of a post at: Strange Baptist Fire

From-my-notebook, a short..

Guys, you're on your own as to whether you are anxious to share this with your wife. I hope mine doesn't see it. Ladies, you can make it your motto; it likely is - already.
Poor Richard would probably not be over-awed with my literary(!) license.

An idle mind is the devil's work.

Shop.

Don't 'take out' a loan, it'll get a lot higher!

An informative (seemingly unbiased) Q & A on the source, pricing, and production of gasoline is here. The info includes the fact that a barrel of oil (petroleum) will produce 19.5 gallons of 87 octane gasoline. There is also information about other products that are derived from crude oil.

The Father's Love - ...Problems...and a Case....

It's time to resume posting. I do so with these two videos. The first is a hymn from one of my favorite recording artists. I discovered it at Rebecca Writes. Rebecca is one of the very best bloggers, with many hymn lyrics, and some great articles and pictures. Tim Challies acclaims her as his favorite blogger. He would, being a fellow Canadian!

And, for anyone who has read, and has considered himself/herself to have been positively impacted by The Shack, here is an attractive PDF review of the book - by Tim Challies.

How Deep The Father’s Love – Fernando Ortega

A Few Problems With Arminianism and a Case For Calvinism - Bruce Ware

Young, Restless, Reformed

Subtitle: A JOURNALIST'S JOURNEY WITH THE NEW CALVINISTS
Buy the book! Read the book! I read it in two sittings.
Buy it at amazon.com. You can also purchase the book, and read the Prologue and the first chapter at Westminster Bookstore.

I couldn't recommend it more highly. I loved it.

Can God Be Trusted?

True to the blog's subtitle, Professor Paul Helm posts this: Analysis 11: The will of Calvin's God - Can God be trusted? It's the eleventh, in his on-going Analysis Series. Deep, but rewarding.

Read the article at HELM'S DEEP - Philosophical Theology

'How very minute a portion of divine wisdom is given to us in the present life’ - Inst. III.2.20

For more mind-stretching articles: HELM'S DEEP Home

Worldly Saint?

A man was being tail-gated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk -- even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. The tail-gating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do?' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk. Naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car."

Here is where I found the joke. You'll have to scroll down the page. It's at: Riddleblog Psst, He teaches and promotes amillenialism! No, that's not bad!

If you have a default audio player, you can listen to an introduction: Amillenialism 101 - What is Amillenialism?

How does He do that? Something to do with being God?

I suppose it's time for a brief post. I'll mention that the C. J. Mahaney quote on the side-bar, "Only God gets his to-do list done on a daily basis", could stand a little explanation: The common perception is that God does not get His to-do list done, either daily, or otherwise. The beauty of Reformed Theology is, in part, it's teaching that God really does accomplish His intentions - not just daily, but always and ever. Success, for God, does not get relegated to a contingency category. Failure is not one of God's attributes. He continually succeeds successfully. Any other concept of God is deficient, at best, and bears the seeds, if not the flower, of heresy.

I rejoice in the reformed understanding that God does not experience the frustration of inability.

Imputation - the Bible (God's) way! How God saves sinners!

Justification and Imputed Righteousness (R.C. Sproul)

IN THE FACE OF GOD

I recently had occasion to discover an additional copy of one of my favorite books, by one of my favorite authors, Dr. Michael S. Horton. It's well worth a read, and then, a re-read. Find the book at: Amazon.com - IN THE FACE OF GOD.

It would, no doubt, be quite helpful to read the reviews - the Customer Reviews, not the Editorial Review.

Gore - on color-blind!

Presidential candidate Barak Obama has proclaimed his intention, if he wins the presidency, to make Nobel laureate Al Gore a significant part of his administration. Here’s a sample of Gore’s theology-laced acumen:

"They use their color blind the way duck hunters use their duck blind! They hide behind the phrase and just hope that we, like the ducks, won’t be able to see through it. We see through your color blind! Amazing Grace also saved me! Was color blind but now I see! The Gospel of Luke tells us of Jesus’s reaction to people who willfully refused to see the evidence before their eyes… Ye hypocrites!"

Mark Driscoll describes a God I can love – a God I do love – The God you should love: good people & apple trees.
And then, he explains how, and that, perfection is unattainable, apart from grace, in: unobtainable prefection.
These are short sound clips that can be heard at: theology bites

Vigilance, small price to pay for freedom - and good eats!!

The Onion: Hungry FDA Official Orders Massive Pot Pie Recall

And, in the interest of 'protecting our primates',
Multiple Stab Wounds May Be Harmful To Monkeys

Theology bites. I recommend you spend the day. You could hardly do better than listening to the wealth of sound bites on this blog.

Some TomintheBox 'foolery'!

But, more than a grain of truth. Click on the link, to hear this 'magical' game between the giants of biblical truth, and their over-matched theological opponents:

First half of Superbox1

Found at: TomintheBox

I really don't know who gets the 'credit', or the 'blame', for this, but here are the lyrics to the song, (to the tune of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire".)

Click to play, right-click to download:
These are the Sons of Israel

Reuben, Levi, Simeon, Judah, Joseph, Zebulun,
Issachar, Dan, Benjamin, Gad, Asher, Naphtali.
Onan, Shelah, Perez, Er and Zerah, Hezron, Hamul,
Ram and, Carmi, Achar, Calcol, Dara, Ethan, Chelubai.

Shimea, Salma, Zeruiah, Joab, Ozem, Abinadab, Asahel, David, Raddai, Caleb, Uri,
Je-sher, Uri, Hur and Bezalel, Hezron, Machir, Kenath, Aram, Jerahmeel and Onam.

Chorus:
These are the Sons of Israel, no we didn’t write um and we can’t recite um.
These are the Sons of Israel, you can try to count ‘em but you can’t pronounce ‘em.

Bunna, Oren, Jamin, Ram, Jerahmeel and Abishur, Ahban, Molin, Nadab, Ishi, Sheshan, Eker, Jada, Appaim, Azariah, Peleth, Jarha, Shallum, Elesah, SismaiHelez, Ahalai, Elishama, Jerahmeel, Hebron, Korah, Tappuah, Shema, Raham, Jorkeam, Shammai, Ephrathah, Shobal, Regem, Jotham, Solom, Abijah, Elishama, Joram

(Chorus)

Japhia, Shenazzar, Malchiram and Pedaiah, Ohel, Neariah, Manasseh and Josiah,
Jezreel, Penuel, Zedekiah, Akkub, Koz, Anum, Zobebah, Families of Aharhel
Chelub, Shuhah, Mehir, Eshton, Tehinnah, Jephunneh, Iru, Tirih and Mered,
Jamin, Hammuel, Mishma, Mibsam, Ezem, Ziklag, Hormah, Jamlech, Joshah, Amaziah

(Chorus)

Jaakobah, Ziza, Jeshohaiah, Bilhah, Ishi, Joel, Mishobab and Etam
Pelatiah, Meariah, Hezekiah, Nemuel, Carmi, Janai, Meshulam, Abdiel
Ahi, Michael, Ahitub, Seraiah, Gershom, Haggiah,
What else do I have to say?

(Chorus)

Merari, Shimei, Samuel and Elkanah, Assir, Tahath, Ebishap, Kohath
Toah, Heman, Eliel, Elkanah and Mahath, Zerahiah, Amzi, Zuph, Ethni, Zerah, Hilkiah,
Libnah, Aaron, Zebulun, Hashabiah, Merari, Zadok, and, Bukki, and Mu-shi, Hilen, Ashan, Geba, Anathoth, Kohath, Ram and Bileam….Something…something...Something…something…

I can’t take it anymore!!!!

(Chorus)

I'm afraid that, despite being almost entirely scriptural, this would fall entirely into the category of performance, otherwise known as entertainment - unless one thinks that the instrumental accompaniment is worship, which I don't.