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.