Election Coverage


Yep, I think Dan Phillips covers all we need to know about election in this wonderful post over at Pyromaniacs.  Here’s an excerpt:

Today’s American election takes place (normally) every four years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November.

The election I’m thinking of took place once only, before the foundation of a world (Ephesians 1:4).

Today’s election involves votes cast by millions of people of wildly varying circumstances, characters, levels of intelligence, and worldviews.

The eternal election only had three participants: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each the quintessence of perfection in power, wisdom, holiness, and goodness (Ephesians 1:3-14).

Today’s election requires that I take into account the career, character, accomplishments, stated convictions, and proposals of the candidates. My vote must be earned, in my estimation.

The eternal election actually is not only irrespective of (Romans 9:11), but contrary to the deserts of its objects. It is an election “that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Ephesians 1:4). If that is the objective (or outcome) of the choice, then what were we before that choice, if not altogether unholy, and blameworthy?

Read the post in its entirety HERE

Day of the Reformed


Happy Reformation Day to one and all! This significant, yet overlooked holiday celebrates the historical relevance of the posting of a long list of grievances against the Roman Catholic Church by the Augustinian monk Martin Luther on October 31st, 1517 in the German town of Wittenberg.  Luther’s consternation centered around the repugnant practice of selling indulgences to the poor and naive populace in order to fund the construction of the lavish St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Two great theological issues Luther brought to light were the lost biblical doctrines of justification by faith alone and the authority of Scripture.  They are historically referred to as the doctrines of Sola Fide and Sola Scriptura. Luther, after much wrestling with the scriptures, discovered that man is justified by God’s grace through faith alone.  No human work of any sort contributed to his status before God.  Faith in the work of Christ already done on man’s behalf is the means by which he is declared not guilty before a just and holy God. This doctrine is based upon the belief that the scriptures are sufficient unto all life and godliness for the believer.  No pope or councils of Bishops and religious leaders can add or subtract one jot or tittle from the God-breathed scriptures. Upon this foundation Martin Luther made his stand.  Will we stand with him? God help us if we don’t!

On this occasion, the Day of the Reformed, let all of us who fall under the label of ‘Protestant’ rejoice that we have been delivered from the iron bonds of Romish traditions and damnable heresies. Thank God that he used a frail and thoroughly flawed man like Martin Luther to unveil once again his amazing grace to sinners everywhere through his son, Jesus Christ.

Failure to Communicate


My pastor preached on 1 Peter 4:7-11 this past Sunday expounding on the apostle’s exhortation to serve in God’s strength.  The theme of this entire month has been Serve.  Pastor threw out a tidbit of wisdom that struck my heart profoundly, and I thought I would share it with my readers as well. His third main point of the sermon proclaims that God supplies strength for us, based upon v.11 in the text where Peter states, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ…”

In conjunction with this profound truth, my pastor added this insight that spoke directly to my current situation.  He said (and I may not have this directly quoted) “We become stronger by serving, we don’t become strong so we can serve.”  Simple, yet stout enough to break the chains that bind.  It’s the same principle by which we sometimes explain coming to Christ.  We don’t clean up our lives so we may become worthy to follow Christ, we come to Christ just as we are, weak and helpless and his grace transforms us into new creations.  Why do some of us Christians believe that God’s grace is only sufficient for the act of coming to Jesus but somehow the rest of life is completely up to us? Continue reading →

My Peculiar Pilgrimage to Disney World – Part 1


The pilgrim is back!  I apologize to all my regular readers for my long absence from the blogosphere.  Oh, I’ve been around, but only as a lurker here and there, but now after a very eventful spring and summer I am ready to blog myself happy again.  From April through June I’ve been busy moving and adjusting to our new home.  Just last week our family took a second journey to that famous fantasy realm in Florida – Disney World. This trip was far more enjoyable than our last visit in 2005.  One reason is that our kids are all a little older and more independent.  They could enjoy the spectacle much more than they could 3 years ago.  Although it was the adults who had the most fun overall.  The teenagers were too old for Mickey Mouse and the young ones just weren’t feeling the magic.  That’s OK, I suppose, because the reason I had more fun this time around revolved around the fact that a large number of family members partook in this great adventure.  A grand total of 17 people, young and old packed their bags and made the journey to Orlando.  I enjoyed the company and a good time was had by all.  But as the patriarch of this clan commented at a final lunch gathering on the way to the airport: “We had to work real hard to have a good time.”  I couldn’t agree more.  Continue reading →

Blogging and God’s Blessings


So, what does one have to do with the other? Well, you may have noticed that my post production has significantly decreased over the past few weeks. There’s good news and bad news associated with this trend. The good news is that my attention and energy has been diverted by the Lord’s tremendous blessings in my life. With a family of six members, we had grown exceedingly close – not devotionally, but physically, in our nice, yet modest sized home. Well, out of the blue 2 weekends ago, we received a phone call from a family member cryptically telling us we must look at this house for sale not too far from where we currently live. My wife and I exchanged puzzled glances, asking each other the same question – Why? We aren’t shopping for a new house. Reluctantly, yet somewhat curious we both drove out to the address and were astonished at the beauty of the home. We saw a sign that read ‘Open House – Sunday’. After church the following day we toured the inside of the home and fell in love with it immediately. It has so much more room than our current home. We were surprised at the very reasonable pricing. The square-footage is a major upgrade, but the neighborhood itself is not quite as nice as ours, as my wife duly noted. This probably contributed toward the fair pricing. However, the street itself is very nice and has a lot less traffic than ours. The backyard is smaller, but much better landscaped. (Less mowing, baby!) The home was reasonably priced, yet still beyond our means to purchase. The providence of God however, quickly put us into a position to buy the house. The next day a bid was put in and to make a long story short, the deal will be closed on April 30th!

UN-be-LIEVABLE! Continue reading →

My Conversion to the Doctrines of Grace – Part 4


Note: This is a continuation of a series I began in mid-2007. Sorry for the long delay. If you haven’t read any of the posts in the series you can start HERE.

Precisely two-and-a-half years ago, I began embracing the doctrines of Grace (also called 5-point Calvinism). It was a chaotic time, where both the deconstruction of my old theology and the construction of this new theology were taking place simultaneously in my mind and spirit. To complicate matters, an old friend, who had faithfully attended my now defunct weekly bible study for college students, came to my office one day and begged me to start up a new study group. She had come to a difficult point in her life and had a deep hunger for someone to bring her the Word. I had sympathy for her, but didn’t feel I was in any position to teach.

First, I could no longer teach much of what I had in the past. Many of those doctrines, like a house built on shifting sand, laid in a collapsed heap. I was in the process of bulldozing those aberrant beliefs right off my intellectual property. Second, I still did not know enough about Calvinism to be confident enough to teach it. Third, I still had not resolved all the points of Calvinism in my heart and mind yet. I readily accepted the T, the U, and the I but I wasn’t so sure about the L and the P. Odd, I know, if the U then the P should follow, right? I’ve never said I was the sharpest knife in the drawer!

Anyway, against my better judgment, I plunged ahead with the study and presented my understanding of sovereign salvation to that small audience. It all worked out for the good, though. The class constantly presented challenges that helped to sharpen me. In the end though, only one person from the group came to believe in the doctrines of Grace. She came to visit me in my office one afternoon last year and I asked her pointedly, “have you become convinced that the doctrines of Grace are true?” My friend gave me an unforgettable reply. In a humble and almost broken-hearted tone, she said, “Yes it has to be true, because I know my own heart.” Continue reading →

The Pressing Need of Today’s Church


“It is the studied judgment of this writer, and he is by no means alone therein, that doctrinal preaching is the most pressing need of the churches today”. “Doctrinal preaching is designed to enlighten the understanding, to instruct the mind, to inform the judgment. It is that which supplies motives to gratitude and furnishes incentives to good works”. “Doctrinal Christianity is both the ground and the motive of practical Christianity, for it is principle and not emotion or impulse which is the dynamic of the spiritual life”. “There is no doctrine revealed in Scripture for a merely speculative knowledge, but all is to exert a powerful influence upon conduct. God’s design in all that He has revealed to us is to the purifying of our affections and the transforming of our characters”. – AW Pink

The Material Principle of Modern Christianity


Chris Rosebrough of Extreme Theology has hit a home run with his latest article. He recently attended the Evolve 08 Conference in Cumming, Georgia. Church planters, cutting edge pastors and ministry leaders from around the country gathered together to share ideas. Chris interviewed and conversed with many of the participants to try and understand the CPM’s modus operandi of establishing and growing churches in postmodern America. He has rightly divided the word of truth, splitting asunder their foundation with surgical precision, exposing the central tenant of this dangerous movement. The CPM, according to Chris, has part of its roots planted in the sandy soil of the candy-coated Purpose-Driven Ungospel of Rick Warren’s brand of Baptist theology. I’ll let Chris explain further: Continue reading →

Book Review: The Bible


I promised to deliver book reviews to my readers, so here’s my first venture.

After thirteen years as a Christian I have finally finished reading the bible cover-to-cover. I completed the book of Malachi last week, thus ending my long journey through the Old Testament. So what took me so long? In February, 1995 I picked up the holy scriptures for the first time with a burning heart. Within a few months I had read through the New Testament. I began reading the Old Testament starting with Genesis. I moved fairly quickly through it and Exodus too, but hit a brick wall in Leviticus. I just flat stopped reading the bible through at that point. I didn’t cease from studying the bible, just from reading it like a novel. I couldn’t get a firm grasp on Leviticus, nor did I see any profit in attempting to understand it. I moved on to topical studies until 2005. My regular readers will realize this is the time when I had my personal reformation of belief. A new fire and passion for God’s word blazed through my heart and the scriptures have consumed my thoughts ever since. I picked up where I left off in Leviticus and raced through the the remainder of the OT with great zeal. Now that I have finished this epic quest, I’m off to do it again! Continue reading →