A little levity - on comb and paper

This deserves a caption that I personally do not have the nerve to post - language fails me here.

Merry Christmas, again

May this be a 'heads-up' (warning), to my vast and varied viewer-ship - both of you, keep a sharp eye out for an impending (threatened) posting, on Youtube, of my public musical debut. It's a world-class-less rendition of a couple of Christmas carol snippets - on the extremely challenging musical instrument: comb and paper.
View the 'still' of said instrument; anticipate the YouTube debacle, er, debut!

Lights-out Church of all nations - perhaps!

Click to view CNN's Lottery lures more to church video.

$$$$$$$$$$
I wonder how the per capita $take$ is holding up.
$$$$ Can they, with a straight face, say: $$$$

"It is more blessed to give than to receive"?
$$$$$$$$$$

Do not seek the treasure - this isn't it! But, it may be good for a few grins.

http://www.glenn.tapley.us/MC.swf

You can render (reindeer) the Claus figure inanimate, by clicking on his ample person. That also silences the organ. Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear!

Who needs a Wii,

______________
__________
______
___
_
when you can go interactive

in this more nostalgic style?
_
____
_______
_________
____________

Re: Matt Chandler - pastor at The Village Church, Denton/Flower Mound,TX

Click on the title, to go to Christianity Today's article: When the Pastor Suffers .
The video by Matt Chandler is HERE. It calls to mind Rachel Barkey's 'address'

MERRY CHRISTMAS, and

GOD is every-where to be found - not no-where!



There's something about micro-creation that just seems to 'dwarf' macro-creation, if that were possible. Together, they provide clear evidence for THE God who is outside, and above, all His creation - that is, all that is, outside (apart from) Himself.

A baby, born to a Jewish peasant girl who was a virgin? Not a problem for this God.

Fresh and Enjoyable!

Some really nice Advent and Christmas hymns from High Street Hymns:

s'pose to be falling snow - it's a gif file!

case you didn't catch it

at Kevin DeYoung's blog for The Gospel Coalition:

Gather 'Round, Ye Children, Come

Appropriate to the season

B'sides, I like the sound. It's mildly, and pleasantly, sensational.

And I'll never know.....

I suppose that I am 'about' to 'out' myself, as an absolute pinhead. I, for reasons, some of which may be unbeknownst, even to myself, continue to be uncomfortable with the verbal appendage to the song Here I am to Worship. In the first place, I do not particularly appreciate the song itself - as it is written, and as it is sung, in the context of corporate, or congregational, 'worship': Oh God, in case you hadn't noticed, "here I am to worship". Don't you know the effort I expended to haul myself to this place, and aren't you just so impressed? Aren't you just so lucky that I made this supreme effort? I really would, at this point in my life, just like to emphasize where I am at this precise moment, and what I'm doing. Anyone up there taking note of this? Didn't I say "pinhead"?
Well, the song could be made somewhat more palatable with a simple alteration. We could easily swap-out the word "I", for the word "we", to allow it to more accurately reflect a corporate emphasis - but that would not address the issue of the inane, incongruous, and incomprehensible appendage, "and I'll (we'll?) never know how much it cost, to see my (our) sin upon that cross".
I know that it is quite 'not impossible' for us to make some sense of that portion of the lyrics, but why the necessity of performing mental gymnastics? Why the necessity of having to un-twist this grammatically tortured linguistic pretzel? Let's take a look at what I, in my often, admittedly flawed perceptions, see as problematic, at best.
First of all, the conjunction 'and' endeavors to conjoin two broadly divergent trains of thought (for want of better terminology). Think of it this way: "here I am to worship, and I'll never know how much it cost......". It's like trying to swim in two streams (rivers) at the same time, or, maybe, alternately swimming upstream and downstream. That may be a frivolous observation, but hardly begins to deal with the real problems: what does it mean, to say that I'll never know? Does that intend to create in me an eternal dissatisfaction with my less than omniscient state?
What did it cost to see my sin upon that cross? Let's try that, with the emphasis on the word 'did'. What did it cost? Now, let's read it with the emphasis on the word 'cost'. What did it cost?
Now, let's advance to the concept of, "to see (seeing) my sin upon that cross". What does that mean? Might I suggest that it cost(s) nothing "to see my sin upon that cross"? It's a false paradigm - when we exchange an inane "to see" for an eternally substantive "to be". Seeing what is is apart from, and different from what actually occurred "upon that cross". The cost, of which I (we) will never have full comprehension, was paid, was experienced. The infinitive 'to see' is abysmally inadequate to even minimally comprehend the implications of the cross.
Besides which, who is the song referring to, in terms of the one who is, rightly, the one who is doing the seeing? Is God the One whom we have diminished to this conjectural "to see"? An objective "to be" should be greatly preferable to an incomprehensible "to see", in this instance. "To see" muddies the waters of intelligibility. Seeing my sin pales into insignificance, in light of being my sin, my sin-bearer. You say, well, that's what it means. That's my point; it doesn't say what it means - unless it means nothing more than an unintelligibly garbled, non-sensical 'filler' for a song that is problematic in its about me (I) emphasis.
Oh, not to mention, among whom the song is (has been) wildly popular! As I recall, PC&D , (they of non-trinitarian proclivities) has an album featuring this song as the title 'offering'.
Didn't I say "pinhead"?
Okay, okay, so it did cost God His Son, but it wasn't really about seeing, per se, so much as it was about the being and the doing. And I'll never need to know, but I'll ever need to embrace the person who bore my sin upon that cross. I really can know how much it cost - I will know in much greater measure, but it's not true that I'll never know, and if not, it'll be because I will never need to know. The song obfuscates the issue, and that I know right well!

OK, calm down now, just a little piano diversion!

Tim is my receding hairline, under 40 (briefly) nephew. He is the pianist for Legacy Five - those 'keepers of the flame' for The Cathedrals. This is some southern gospel - he sorta tickles the ivories, and is immensely popular among those whom he is among. Tremendous talent!
In my heart, there rings a melody (a melody rings).

We will get our Psalms singing - if only rarely!

This 'has got to be' a top-three fave o' mine. What a fantastic message it is! I've got a notion that, when sung in "spirit and in truth", it truly rejoices its inspire-or.

Psalm 130 (From Depths of Woe)

1. From the depths of woe I raise to Thee
The voice of lamentation;
Lord, turn a gracious ear to me
And hear my supplication;
If Thou iniquities dost mark,
Our secret sins and misdeeds dark,

O who shall stand before Thee?
(Who shall stand before Thee?)
O who shall stand before Thee?
(Who shall stand before Thee?)

2. To wash away the crimson stain,
Grace, grace alone availeth;
Our works, alas! Are all in vain;
In much the best life faileth;
No man can glory in Thy sight,
All must alike confess Thy might,

And live alone by mercy
(Live alone by mercy)
And live alone by mercy
(Live alone by mercy)

3. Therefore my trust is in the Lord,
And not in mine own merit;
On Him my soul shall rest, His word
Upholds my fainting spirit;
His promised mercy is my fort,
My comfort and my sweet support;

I wait for it with patience
(Wait for it with patience)
I wait for it with patience
(Wait for it with patience)

4. What though I wait the live-long night,
And ’til the dawn appeareth,
My heart still trusteth in His might;
It doubteth not nor feareth;
Do thus, O ye of Israel’s seed,
Ye of the Spirit born indeed;

And wait ’til God appeareth
(Wait ’til God appeareth)
And wait ’til God appeareth
(Wait ’til God appeareth)

5. Though great our sins and sore our woes
His grace much more aboundeth;
His helping love no limit knows,
Our upmost need it soundeth.
Our Shepherd good and true is He,
Who will at last His Israel free

From all their sin and sorrow
(All their sin and sorrow)
From all their sin and sorrow
(All their sin and sorrow)

©1997 Christopher Miner Music.

Listen to a sample of this excellent Martin Luther adaptation HERE.

I much prefer Andrew Sheffield's rendition, especially for 'corporate worship' - doesn't have the disconcerting echo effect, IMO.

Is it wrong to lust?

A few months ago, Andrew Sheffield, our chief musician, introduced an old, new song into the congregational singing at Faith Community Church. In part, the song says "My Lord, I did not choose you, for that could never be. My heart would still refuse you, had you not chosen me".

If I were an arminian, that would be absolutely scandalous. There is, however, a clear biblical precedent for such an assertion. No less an authority than Jesus made that precise statement to his earthly disciples. He assured them that they were not following him out of their own motivation and desire, but rather, because he had selected (chosen) them from among all of Adam's fallen race - to be his followers. He opined(!), "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you ....". Well, it was more than an opinion. For sure, he also chose Judas, who would be the God ordained betrayer, but that's another issue, with its own implications.
I know this doesn't 'set well' with believers in libertarian (un-fettered) free-will, but it seems to be a true representation of the works and purposes of God.
Therefore, when we sing "My Lord, I did not choose you .....", I do so lustily, with gusto. I know myself to be a child of unmitigated free grace - otherwise, I would be a life-long, and throughout eternity, child of the devil.
As C. H. Spurgeon so eloquently postulated, salvation is ALL OF GRACE. Another way of putting it: Salvation is OF THE LORD.

My abysmal non-polymath(ical) stature! Could have gone without saying!

I am 68 years old. I am not "smarter than a fifth-grader". I am an intellectual pygmy, a real mental light-weight. I invite you to read THE LAST DAYS OF THE POLYMATH, and conclude that anyone you know is of that ilk. Not me, for sure, though, or since, that is the stuff of human progress, if, and only if, progress is defined by positive advances. I could wish, and have wished, to be one of those, but, due to my egregious indolence, as well as my innate lack of mental acumen, I'm not one - oh, am I ever NOT ONE.
Thanks to Shawn Mathis, himself, the Aspiring Polymathis, for the link to the article.

Denmon's first half buzzer beater!

The Missouri Tigers were on that night. They'll need a lot more heroics like this in the '09/'10 campaign. GO TIGERS! College BB rules, IMO.

Be my Guest, Edgar

The pics are of a little cloth-bound pocket-sized book that I picked up at a local church 'garage sale'. Cost me a paltry 50 cents (US!). The copyright date is 1921, and it appears to be a first edition. The book is in excellent condition, with only a muted mark on the front cover - otherwise, the corners are intact and undamaged, as are all the pages. Check HERE for some 'skinny' on Edgar Guest. Perhaps his most enduring, and popular, line from his poems is "it takes a heap o' livin' to make a house a home".
The book was a Christmas gift, as indicated on the inside 'fly-leaf', in 1926. Edgar Guest died fifty years ago, in August, 1959.

We don't have to 'go THERE', but we need to 'go there'!

Psalm Singing

Psinging Psalms Pstill Psuperior!

Step gingerly, the ground under your feet may explode!

Or, carefully choosing a safe path, or, Christ FOR us, or, CHRIST for us, or, Christ for US!


Or, continuing to take a perceived challenge to "grace alone, through faith alone" to task:


Guess he, or they, didn't hear this:

Or, is Paul Washer not hearing what Paul Washer is saying? Hmmm! See what I mean by suggesting that the terrain is well-strewn with theological landmines?

Why So Many Words in Worship?

Why So Many Words in Worship?

Posted using ShareThis

Carry on, ML.

Hang in there for the vocals, and the text - good stuff.

Martin Luther - O Lord, Look Down From Heaven, Behold

There's gonna be some tough sleddin'

The social engineering is 'buildin' up a head of steam'.

Read this!

From which comes this quote:

"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis

I'm Not Kidding

What we have here is a couple of cropped photos of a church 'marquee'. It's about a mile or so from where I live. Apparently this is the supposed result of their "Hell Night", an event that is the annual evangelistic 'out-reach' of that church, on October 31. So, this seems to represent the sum total of 'souls', out of whom the hell has been scared - which, being translated, means they have been "saved". I am confident that God has a decidedly different concept of "salvation". Salvation, in a true sense, defines a scenario in which "the hell" does not return. An actual count of "salvations" is impossible for anyone except God. I'm wondering, since these "salvations" largely occurred on Saturday night, how much the church attendance rolls were swelled on Sunday morning. Its not likely that attendance increased by 2474, but then, it is likely that a large number of lost souls were inoculated against the gospel. They, in a manner of speaking, got their ticket to heaven punched - so they're good to go.
Otherwise, they soon come to realize that they were emotionally manipulated to 'make a decision' that was simply born of that emotional manipulation. They soon realize that nothing enduring occurred, so they assume that there is no possibility that "salvation" can be a reality. So, so much for "religion" - thanks, but no thanks. Didn't do a thing for me, except temporarily 'scare the hell out of me'. Freddy Kreuger serves just as well, if you please.
Note that the number of supposed "salvations" was posted, without any necessity for giving evidence of true repentance and faith. Noses were counted, that's all. That river runs a mile wide and an inch deep. Well, maybe a half inch. Sad.
I'm reminded of the adage, "short term gain, long term loss." Also, "what you win them with is what you win them to".

A BIT NERDY

Dunno where I got this. It's obviously dated.

CLEVER STUFF - WORDS REARRANGED
Someone out there either has too much spare time or is deadly at Scrabble. (Wait till you see the last one)!

DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM

PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER

DESPERATION:
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES: !
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE:
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS

SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS:
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS:
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z'S

A DECIMAL POINT:
When you rearrange the letters:
I'M A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE

AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:

MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER

ML rocks (rocked).

Now, to quote the ubiquitous* (at this time of year) Martin Luther: It is better to be divided by truth than to be united by error.

Well, its all these quotes that render him 'all over the place', so to speak!

*just keeps showing up 'all over the place'

A Darned Dizzying Dilemma

Ultimately our economic security and stability are dependent upon the sovereignty of God. Gladly, He has provided some 'voices of wisdom', people who just seem to have a good understanding of the world's financial/economic forces.

IMO, such a person is Brian Carpenter, who pastors Foothills Community Church, in Sturgis, S. D.. Maybe he, and I as a result, is/am deluded - read his astute sketch of the factors relating to imminent money matters in this post at A FIRESIDE CHAT.

On being somewhat 'counter-intuitive'

Quote from Martin Downes: "Being a Reformed Christian in the wider evangelical and Christian world is a bit like being the Tasmanian Devil. You are considered to be a rarity, a danger to livestock, and you can be easily caricatured".

Doubling up - From Aspiring PolyMathis (which see)

Again this year, with the rapid approach of Reformation Day:

LESSONS FROM THE REFORMATION
Shawn Mathis

What do ghosts and goblins have in common with Luther and Calvin? Both are celebrated on October 31st. Yet only one group had historical significance.

The Reformation of Luther and Calvin changed the West, leading to the creation of America. That is something to celebrate. But many today cannot celebrate it because so little is known—our children know more about the origins of blood-sucking vampires than the cultural life-force known as the Reformation. Yet many historians acknowledge the predominate influence of the Reformation on the formation of America (just Google the quotes below).

George Bancroft, founder of Annapolis Academy and one of the first American historians, asserted, “He that will not honor the memory, and respect the influence of Calvin, knows but little of the origin of American liberty.”

Historically, conscience-anguished Martin Luther found peace through faith in the person and work of Christ. Having nailed the 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg on October 31st, he blazed a path which John Calvin followed and expanded. Calvin’s theological system encompassed all of life, and his world view was carried to the new world: the French Huguenots of the Southern colonies, the Dutch colonists of Manhattan and the English Puritans of New England. Three key foundation-stones of early American culture were laid by the ideas of Calvin and others: church liberty, universal education and the right to resistance. Let the historians speak for themselves.

Yale historian George Fisher wrote: “How is it, then, that Calvinism is acknowledged, even by foes, to have promoted powerfully the cause of civil liberty? The reason lies in the boundary line which it drew between church and State. Calvinism would not surrender the peculiar notions of the Church to the civil authority. Whether the church, or the Government, should regulate the administration of the Sacrament, and admit or reject the communicants, was the question which Calvin fought out with the authorities at Geneva…” This idea was institutionalized in the Puritans of the Presbyterian Church and Congregationalist settlers on the shores of America.

Dedication to education was the hallmark of the Reformers and the settlers in America. A mixture of local schooling initiatives and laisser-faire education formed the basis of American education. Historian Bancroft again asserts: “We boast of our common schools; Calvin was the father of popular education, the inventor of the system of free schools.”

The right to resist unlawful government was furthered by the Reformers. Dave Kopel (of the Independence Institute) wrote in Liberty magazine, October 2008, “The [REFORMED]Congregationalist and Presbyterian ministers played an indispensible role in inciting the American Revolution.” The great statesman John Adams bluntly acknowledged the widespread influences of both the 16th-century French-Calvinist’s work Vindicus Contra Tyrannus and the English Calvinist work of Ponet (A Shorte Treatise of Politike Power); both books defended the right of the people to rise against tyrants. Modern historians such as Daniel Elazar (of Temple University) have made similar claims: “In all of the places where Reformed Protestantism was strong, there emerged a Protestant republicanism that opposed tyrants even as it demanded local religious conformity.”

In fact, most of the early American culture was Reformed or tied strongly to it (just read the New England Primer). Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, a Roman Catholic intellectual and National Review contributor, asserts: “If we call the American statesmen of the late eighteenth century the Founding Fathers of the United States, then the Pilgrims and Puritans were the grandfathers and Calvin the great-grandfather…”

“So what?” you ask. Well, if we are to avoid the errors of the past, are we not also to learn from the victories of history? The least we can do is understand what the Reformation was all about and what elements were so vital to the formation of America. And perhaps, just maybe, America can be renewed to her former glory.

And the link to: Aspiring PolyMathis

Gold, the Dollar, and the Markets

Somewhat dated now, with gold having since closed above $1060. an ounce, followed by a slight pull-back, you may find some food for thought at A FIRESIDE CHAT.

We'll see how it goes, but, in an earlier post, Brian Carpenter, The Happy TR, recommended the purchase of UNG, a natural gas ETF (Exchange Traded Fund). I bit - and swapped out of some Fidelity Magellan, one of my Rollover IRAs. With the proceeds, I bought a thousand shares of UNG, at $11.238 a share. It's obviously quite premature (utter understatement), but it was up $350.*, on the close, the next day after I bought. Like I said, we'll see. I expect it to be a medium term play.

*Total, not per share!

in lieu of content, intent

Why We Love the Church

You can purchase this book, by the authors of

Why We're Not Emergent.....,

at a nice discount,

HERE.

Or, at Amazon.com

BTW, at Amazon, you gotta scroll down and read the reviews by
Paul Adams, Tim Challies, and Paul Manata.

GOD IS 'A' TRINITY (TRI-UNITY)

This quote is from a post by Exiled Preacher, and is attributed to Gregory of Nazianzus:

No sooner do I conceive of the One than I am illumined by the Splendour of the Three; no sooner do I distinguish Them than I am carried back to the One. When I think of any One of the Three I think of Him as the Whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking of escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of That One so as to attribute a greater greatness to the Rest. When I contemplate the Three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the Undivided Light.

As Promised! W or W/O the arm-waving, if in moderation!

Here's the link to
A Truly Pentecostal Church.
Assume a couple of obligatory white dove 'graphics'!
Sign me up for this!

A bit of 'Reformed Rap' - no doubt!

Don't y'all be lookin' for me to keep on postin' stuff like dis - it's just that this is one transcendent MSG.. Worth a listen, regardless your (our) musical styles and prejudices, don't you think? Somewhere in there, there must be some room to insert the name of the ubiquitous MJ - he of recent 'passing'.

Jesus is Alive - Shai Linne

A link to The (In)Scrutable One!

I am sure that, in no way does he intend to promote the idea that God is no longer in the 'business', or has the ability, of doing what God does, which is, being GOD.
Dave Ulrick is The In(scrutable) One. I don't know if he has effectively abandoned his blog, but he has not posted for several years. Several years ago, he and I were members of a Yahoo Discussion Group - which has since dis-banded.
Anyway, Dave has several interesting and insightful articles, having abandoned the charismatic movement after recognizing the failure(s) to achieve the claims - even those he himself readily made. The post that I link to (HERE) relates to the 'large picture' intention of God, relevant to the question of the 'early church', and whether or not the contemporary church has a mandate to operate in exact equivalence to that church. In other words, is there any true sense in which there is a God-intended cessation of sign-gifts? Dave contends (as do I) that God is now doing things in a way that 'had its infancy' in the 'infant church', but no longer remains to be the way in which He 'conducts church'.
I can already hear the loud and persistent protestations. I know the pro and con argumentation(s). The only 'dog' that I might have in this fight is that evidence for equivalence is scant to non-existent. I do not contend that Jesus Christ "is (not) the same, yesterday, today, and forever". God is not changeable. It is, however, incontrovertably true, that He does not manifest Himself in all ways, in all places, and at all times, in the exact same way - gazillions of TV charlatans to the contrary, notwithstanding.
I have no doubt that you could spend many profitable hours perusing articles such as the 'bottom' post (scroll to bottom of page) to Dave's March, 2005 archive: My theological journey (nutshell sized).
And, the, also bottom, post in the May, 2005 archive: Charismania is dangerous to your health.

I know that Word-Faith heretical distinctives do not accurately address the 'historical pentecostal perspectives'. For that, I hope to provide, as a corrective endeavor (:>), a link to an excellent sermon - perhaps tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Considering the hymns of Karolina Sandell-Berg

Day by Day


Also:


Children of the Heavenly Father--Plumb


And then, again, I found this by Plumb:

God Will Take Care of You!

some nitty-gritty about John Calvin

So relevant with respect to my last prior post:

Mark Talbot - Can Calvin contribute to our understanding of sin and suffering?

Sam Storms - What makes Calvin unique?

Doug Wilson - What makes Calvin unique?

Yes, Behind a frowning providence......

I'd never expect to read an entire book, though this is a short one, in one sitting. After dinner tonight, I sat and read it - took me no more than a couple of hours (I'm a slow reader). What a wonderful read!

Ligon Duncan is one of the more theologically precise, yet passionately pastoral and gracious, pastors of whom I am aware. The material in the book is 'worship-begetting' - of the God Who is 'worship-worthy'.

Nor am I at all 'off-put' by his (or their) contention that you were not "there when they crucified my Lord", regardless the implication(s) of the old spiritual. It is singularly refreshing to observe that the author(s) did not attempt to nuance the issue by saying "you were there in one sense, but, in our context, you were certainly not there". The context that was being projected was that it was in Himself, and by Himself, that Jesus Christ was bearing the consequences of sin (our sin, He had no sin): the wrath and abandonment of God. It is in this context that He was alone - we were no-where to be seen, except in the purpose and intent of His sacrifice, which is altogether another perception.

The book is especially relevant in light of the home-going of Rachel Barkey, Rachel died July 2. It's a repeat (I have it in an earlier post), but HERE is the URL for the video of the talk that she gave March 4. She probably did not read DOES GRACE GROW BEST IN WINTER?, but she could have written it - with the authenticity of experience.

This deserves a more permanent, and prominent, 'lodging place', but...

Our fathers considered whether a ministry was sound, but now the question is – Is the man clever? - Charles Spurgeon

And then, Blessed Are the Green of Heart, by Alan Jacobs, at First Things.
I see no reason why this article should not evoke, at least, an occasional chuckle.

Sorry, I just gotta go with Calvin here! Compatibilism anyone?

Essentially Awesome - even if you don't care for the music, which is cool

Thanks to Bill W., who left us for the passionately persistent paradigm of 'Law and Gospel', in the LCMS. That is, some, or most, LCMS congregations. He's kind of an aficionado of things Jethro Tull.

Too good not to steal - with source credit

Under the post title, Hug me, I'm a false apostle, Martin Downes (Against Heresies) has this snippet from Philip Ryken's commentary on Galatians in the Reformed Expository Commentary series:

We cannot simply assume that we have the gospel. Unless we keep the gospel at the center of the church, we are always in danger of shoving it off to one side and letting something else take its place.

Martin Luther rightly warned that "there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take away from us the pure doctrine of faith and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions..." The good news of the cross and resurrection must be preached, believed, and lived. Otherwise it will be lost.

The church's greatest danger is not the anti-gospel outside the church; it is the counterfeit gospel inside the church. The Judaizers did not walk around Pisidian Antioch wearing T-shirts that said, "Hug me, I'm a false apostle."

What made them so dangerous was that they knew how to talk the way that Christians talk. They used all the right terminology. They talked about how they "got saved." They told people to "trust in Christ." They "presented the gospel." Only they did not have the gospel after all.

We should expect, therefore, that the most serious threat to the one true gospel is something that is also called the gospel. The most dangerous teachers are the ones who preach a different Christ but still call him "Jesus."

Ryken, Galatians, p. 21

So, then, how straight a line does the true gospel draw, and how narrowly focussed upon the person, and the cross, of Christ, is true saving faith. Those are not questions, they are affirmations, intended to be declarative statements.

Why Voddie Doesn't Like Youth Pastors:

I'm with the old guy. Iggie shouldn't have lasted as long as he did. Unfortunately, some people don't seem to be able to make, or allow for, solidly biblical categories.

I'm sure this is a parody on the youth pastor scene (culture), but so typical in many ways.

Death is not Dying

Rachel Barkey's address of 600+ ladies in Richmond, BC, Canada on March 4, 2009 - her hope is, must be, ours:

Death is not Dying



The pink link means what you probably think it means.

Re-visiting Julie Fowlis, et al

Julie Fowlis with Jenna Reid & Donal Lunny - Biodh An Deoch Seo 'N Làimh Mo Rùin
And:
Hector The Hero - Jenna Reid with Aly Bain

Don't ask irrelevant questions

This, from Kevin DeYoung:

Is there a command of Scripture we disobey more frequently, and with so little shame, as the injunction to sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16)? I mean, seriously, it’s right there in black and white. We are supposed to sing psalms. As far as I can tell, the exegetical debate is not about whether these three terms refer to something other than biblical psalms, but whether they might all refer to different kinds of biblical psalms. Either way, God wants us to sing psalms does he not?

Jesus sang the Psalms (Matt. 26:30). The early church sang the Psalms. The Reformers, especially in the tradition of Calvin, loved to sing the Psalms and labored mightily to restore them to the church. The Bay Psalm Book was the first book printed in America. The Psalms—150 God-breathed songs—have been the staple of Protestant (and especially Reformed) worship for 500 years. And yet how many of our churches sing a Psalm even once a month? I know there are exceptions, but by and large the evangelical church is bereft of Psalm singing. We might unknowingly stumble into one every now and again through Isaac Watts, but for the most part we don’t think about singing Psalms; we don’t plan to sing Psalms; and we don’t sing Psalms.

Assuming we haven’t started an irreversible trend, I imagine future generations will be puzzled by our avoidance of the Psalms. “Why did they give up on the Psalms?” they may ask. “Didn’t they know God wrote them? I suppose they were worried that no one would like singing Psalms. I guess they assumed young people wouldn’t stomach it. But why didn’t they try? Why didn’t they come up with new music for the Psalms? Why didn’t they teach their people about the emotional depth and Christological richness and the gritty honesty of the Psalms? And if they couldn’t think of any other reasons to sing the Psalms, why didn’t they just do it because the Bible told them to?”

You know, they ask pretty good questions in the future, if I do say so myself.

John Calvin was an advocate of singing.

Are you a church-man? Or, perhaps I should ask, are you a church-person? If you are, there should be no doubt in your mind what the role of singing is. By that, I mean congregational singing.

I was just thumbing-through a small collection, aptly named, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. It is published by Founder’s Press, and is edited by Joe B. Nesom. It's interesting to note that the first song in the sixty-three song collection is And Can It Be, which was written by Charles Wesley – he, along with his brother John, of the decidedly non-calvinistic ‘persuasion’. This song, however, has to be his most glorious contribution to the extollation (is that a word?) of the honor and glory of God, from among his hundreds of compositions. It would appear that he may have been almost unaware of what he was doing, in that the song appropriately serves to dispense with otherwise flawed perceptions of God, and resoundingly ascribes a glaringly Calvinistic perspective. That’s fine and dandy – no doubt, if, in heaven, one is able to recall his finest earthly achievements, Charles Wesley is lustily singing And Can It Be, albeit with appropriate revisions to reflect his own transition from the mortality of this present earth to the eternal realities of heaven. 

Oh, yes, that is absolutely one of my favorite hymns.

Anyway, my primary purpose for this post is to cite a short footnote from the book. The citation is from John Calvin’s Preface to the Genevan Psalter (1543):

The use of singing may be extended further: it is even in the houses and fields an incentive for us, like an organ, to praise God and to lift our hearts to Him, for consoling us in meditating upon His virtue, goodness, wisdom and justice, which is more necessary than can be expressed… Among all other things which are proper for recreation of man and for giving him pleasure, music is one of the first or one of the principal and we must esteem it as a gift of God given to us for that purpose.

FOR THE PRE-PUBLICATION PRICE OF $299.95, YOU CAN OBTAIN LOGOS SOFTWARE'S Calvin 500 Collection (97 Vols.).

It looks like it will be an absolutely awesome resource.  Oh, scroll down a ways, at the Logos website, to read some of the Praise for John Calvin.

Brogue-ing at its best!

Assuming the strong accent is Scottish, or Irish - my favorite foreign accents, and a quite good recommendation, to boot.

Need Calvinized? from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.
Calvinists don't evangelize, do they?
Why are so many pastors also keen fishermen? from Puritan Reformed on Vimeo.

Voddie rocks

Calling Calvin to Account

On this, the 500 year anniversary of John Calvin's birth, I note that Southern Baptist pastor Steve Lawson made this statement when asked this three word question, what about Servetus? Lawson was expecting this question, and was "loaded for bear." He fired this off like a 50cal:

"In 1553, the city fathers burned Servetus - Calvin did not. Calvin did not prosecute him, and had no powers of execution. Calvin wasn't even a citizen of Geneva at the time. Calvin was only an expert witness, and argued for a more humane death. The RCC had already condemned Servetus to death, and Servetus begged not to be sent back to their hands. Servetus was given the option to leave Geneva, and refused. Servetus was executed by civil authorities, not elders or pastors or teachers. The civil authorities were Calvin's enemies, not his supporters. They consulted other cities' leaders, and they agreed to put him to death. Servetus would have been executed, regardless. Servetus defiantly ignored a warning not to come to Geneva. He was the only heretic to be executed for blasphemy, as opposed to the hundreds of thousands martyred by Rome during the Inquisition."

It's interesting how the facts of history are made to bow to the insinuations and imaginations of a man's enemies - 500 years later, even. Servetus was an unwelcome, and uninvited, refugee from the Roman Catholic 'authorities', who were pursuing him. He was considered to be a heretic, by the reformers, and by the Roman church. Those were tremendously turbulent times. Servetus was a heretic. The times virtually mandated the results of his heresies. Doctrine mattered then, as it does now. The difference between then and now is that there was no space for a genuine 'safe haven'. He was a victim of his times, and of his heretical beliefs. It was a matter of, into whose hands he would fall, or commit himself. John Calvin advocated for what would have been the more merciful 'conclusion', in or out of Geneva. 

Smokin'

I don't advocate the smoking of cigarettes, but what I have here is a wreath made of cigarette packages. I haven't counted the packs, but this does represent a considerable amount of puffing.

You recognized it right away, didn't you?

The wreath was made by my long-since deceased ('78 or '79)
brother-in-law. Melvin was, I think, 51 years of age when he died. Anyhow, I played around with the photo - Above is the clunky result.

'Tis the season - I think

In praise of Matzah

With meatsauce, or meatballs, please!

I don't know if we have domestic growers, or if our entire spaghetti supply is imported. Check out this recent broadcast by the BBC - well, it was on April 1; the year was 1957: here, if you have the player capabilities.
I had to click on the play/pause button a couple of times to activate the video, after which it played without any problems.

Needs serious up-date! Nonetheless, compellingly relevant!!

Evangelicals on the Durham Trail
D.G.Hart

Why is it that, when evangelicals retreat from the public square into their houses of worship they manifest the same hostility to tradition, intellectual standards, and good taste they find so deplorable in their opponents in the culture wars? Anyone familiar with the so-called "Praise & Worship" phenomenon (so named, supposedly, to remind participants of what they are doing) would be hard pressed to identify these believers as the party of memory or the defenders of cultural conservatism. P&W has become the dominant mode of expression within evangelical churches, from conservative Presbyterian denominations to low church independent congregations. What characterizes this "style" of worship is the praise song ("four words, three notes and two hours") with its mantra-like repetition of phrases from Scripture, displayed on an overhead projector or video monitors (for those churches with bigger budgets), and accompanied by the standard pieces in a rock band.

Gone are the hymnals which keep the faithful in touch with previous generations of saints. They have been abandoned, in many cases, because they are filled with music and texts considered too boring, too doctrinal, and too restrained. What boomers and busters need instead, according to the liturgy of P&W, are a steady diet of religious ballads most of which date from the 1970s, the decade of disco, leisure suits, and long hair. Gone too are the traditional elements of Protestant worship, the invocation, confession of sins, the creed, the Lord's Prayer, the doxology, and the Gloria Patri. Again, these elements are not sufficiently celebrative or "dynamic," the favorite word used to describe the new worship. And while P&W has retained the talking head in the sermon, probably the most boring element of Protestant worship, the substance of much preaching turns out to be more therapeutic than theological.

Read the entire article here.

Also, from de regnis duobus: Preaching to the QIRE: Lewis on Liturgy

JOY is Java and YOU - with nothing between!

Psalms - to sing, or to recite little snippets! YES, both!

Admittedly, it advocates exclusive psalm-singing, but, here's an interesting article relating to that concept: Singing the Whole of the Psalter, Wholeheartedly.

Just to interject a bit of pot-stirring into the 'conversation', check out this, from House of Cards: What Regulative Principle?

Am I missing something here? Need 'the rest of the story'.

From Time Magazine:

10 Ideas

Changing

The World

Right Now

Note particularly, The New Calvinism.

What's Next

The global economy is being remade before our eyes. Here's what's on the horizon:

• Jobs Are the New Assets
• Recycling the Suburbs
• The New Calvinism
  
• Reinstating The Interstate
• Amortality
• Africa: Open for Business
• The Rent-a-Country
• Biobanks
• Survival Stores
• Ecological Intelligence
• P.S. Uhh, amortality? "It is appointed to man(kind).to die.......". Read that somewhere! S'pose they're looking for delayed judgment?
  

Nothing New - at all

March 19, on his A Classical Presbyterian blog, Toby Brown posted No Such Thing as 'New'.

The root of all heresies is the same impulse: Someone, somewhere in the name of Christianity says, "I have a new idea!".

This is to be expected. The human mind is a factory of idols. Always has been, always will be. The quest to find something new, something novel, something that will change everything is a part of our nature.

But, when it comes to doctrines in the Church of Jesus Christ, it's a part of our fallen nature. And that's the bad news. God gave Adam and Eve a perfect home, perfect health, perfect well...everything, and what did they do? They fell for the first new idea that was pitched to them: Has God said?

And so it has gone ever since for their descendants. We fall for everything that is packaged as "new".

"Now wait just one minute Classical Fuddy-Duddy!", You may say. "The whole protestant, reformed thingy you say you adhere to was just one big new idea in the 16th Century!"

And there, you'd be wrong. The Reformation was an unearthing and recovery of some very old ideas. Ideas and teachings as old as the One who laid the foundations of the world. Ah, for the days of the great Charles Hodge! He knew what the Reformed faith was all about: "There has never been a new idea taught at Princeton Seminary." What a man!

I'm thankful for new medicines, new software, new fishing lures and new ways of feeding starving people. I like new most of the time, really! But not in the realm of ideas. It's just shoddy argument to assert that your arguments/ideas/doctrines or plans for the church are new. It just shows that you're on the quick, wide and easy road to heresy.

Remember the New Testament word, "mystery"? It means something that was previously hidden, but that is now revealed. Like the coming of Christ to suffer and die in the place of sinners. This was the only way out of our fall into sin and death. Those who deserve the wrath of God for their unrighteousness, now--by the cross of Christ--receive full pardon and eternal life by grace through faith.

Jesus was not a new person. He was a very old person and the plan that He came to accomplish was as old as the foundation of the world.

Now, we forget that sometimes. I know I do. We forget, obscure, hide and seek to deface this fact from time to time. But when God allows the recovery of this "faith once delivered", what we are doing is not proclaiming something new. We are telling what God has given us to proclaim: News to us that is everyday reality to God.

So come with me friends! Let's grow old together!