Confidence in God

Over the past few weeks I have been in an ongoing debate with a friend of mine who is heavily indoctrinated by the Church of God of Prophesy, the denomination that my friend Rhett has come from. My friend Luther (surprisingly named after Martin Luther) is an avid supporter of conditional security. I keep showing him passages about the promises of God, and he always responds with, "It's all about free will!" I am not lying. He says this so seriously. His emphasis on free will necessitates his belief in conditional security. If my confidence lies in my own will, then I would affirm conditional security as well. But praise God! My Confidence is in God alone! Read the following verse:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful and He will surely do it. ~1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

These verses proclaim that even our sanctification and holiness is dependent upon the faithfulness and the promise of God! Yes, it is our responsibility to pursue holiness, but our responsibility lies in the power of Almighty God! He will surely do it! My confidence is in God!

Quotable Quote

"If you want a Reformation preach it! Don't hide it! Make it clear! And let God work!"

-Dr. R.C. Sproul

Isn't this Ironic?

In America the best selling Christian books seem to be full of fluff and self-help psycho babble. Almost without exception, whenever I hear Christians raving about some new book, it always ends up being full of aberant teachings or it's something written by Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, or the like...

Compare what we see going on in American Christian publishing to the fact that in China, a University in Peking is actually publishing Christian literature "as long as it reaches a certain level of intellectual and academic respectability."

They are publishing books by Ravi Zacharias and R.C. Sproul!

What? No books by Joel Osteen?!! No Purpose Driven Church in Chinese? Ahh! Those terrible Commies! It's almost as if they want their people to THINK or something!

Seriously though... Let's continue to pray and thank God for what He's doing in China! I believe this is going to result in something great!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Here's the press release from Ligonier Ministries.

Update

The members of the Mafia have been extremely busy lately therefore our blogging has been at a minimum... Lord willing, we will be back soon.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Rhett

Questions for Arminians

I have heard numerous Arminians ask questions such as, "If God has predestined people to be saved, why evangelize?" More specifically, "If God has predestined some for salvation, and others for damnation, why evangelize the non-elect?" We answer, we do not know who the elect are, and God has given us a command to preach to everyone. We preach because God commands it. We preach because it is the method he has chosen to bring about salvation. But anyway, through a recent conversation, I have discovered the Arminian cannot answer similar questions either. Granted, the Arminian does not believe in predestination. They do believe that God forknew who would repent from sin and receive Him, and who would reject Him, before he even created the world. So, I have some questions for Arminians:

1. Why would God create someone knowing the person would never choose him, thus creating him knowing his eternal destiny was hell?
2. If God knows someone will reject him, before he creates them, why would he send Jesus to die for that person anyway?
3. If God knows someone will reject him, why would he send the Spirit to "woo" him, even though he knows that this person will reject Him no matter what?
4. If God knows someone will reject the gospel, before he even creates them, why preach the gospel to them? The answer, so they have an opportunity to choose does not suffice, for God knew before creation what the choice would be.
   

Although the Arminian likes to through questions to the Calvinist, they do not have sufficient answers for their own questions either. As I was conversing with a friend, he was asking me these questions, that he doesn't have an answer to. He then went on to say he doesn't know how to interpret the predestination and election passages, and yet he feels called to be a pastor! My friend, if you disagree with the reformed view, then you cannot simply neglect the passages that discuss predestination and election, but you must face them, and develop some exegesis of those passages. Ignoring Inspired Scripture, and claiming that you simply don't understand it doesn't work. If called to preach, it is your duty, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to study those passages and to be able to feed them to the flock. The Arminian tries to ask questions of the Calvinist that he himself cannot answer. IF there are any Arminians who read this blog, I challenge you to sufficiently answer the above questions, and offer a solid exegesis of the predestination and election passages!

The Cost of Reformation

Would you like to see the Church lay down "Your Best Life Now" and commit itself to the teachings the Holy Scriptures and truly live for Christ? Do you want to see a move of God that brings true revival and renewal in our sin plagued nation?

Do you want Reformation?

If so, are you ready for what it may cost?

I have a booklet entitled Reforming a Local Church. In the booklet Ernest C. Reisinger identifies five things Reformation may cost a young pastor today:

1. Denominational popularity and public approval. The work of reformation is not the way to climb the denominational ladder.
   
2. They will, at times, be in that awful task of tearing down some false super-structure that has been built without a doctrinal foundation. This super-structure was built by cheap, shallow,man-centered evangelism.


3. They may have to suffer at the hands of a large, unregenerate church membership, and especially, from unregenerate and religiously ignorant deacons and leaders.


4. They may also have to suffer the pain of being misunderstood by the church leaders, fellow ministers, and more painful still, sometimes by their own loved ones (wives who do not understand their husband's position).


5. Sacrifice financially, especially in some cases where carnal and ignorant church leaders will use money as a threat to drive preachers from the pulpit.
   

Reformation has always come with a cost. It cost Luther, Calvin, Tyndale, the Puritans, and a host of others. Some endured persecution; some even paid the ultimate price.

In the mid-1500's, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were condemned for Protestantism during the reign of Queen "Bloody Mary." They were sentenced to die by burning at the stake. At their execution, they were both fastened to a stake with a bag of gunpowder tied to their necks. When the fire began to burn, Latimer called out to Ridley:

"Be of good comfort Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out."

Dear Reformers, nobody is threatening us with being burned at the stake. No one is burning our homes and torturing our families. I doubt any of us are living with a bounty on our head. Therefore let us study earnestly, work charitably, and pray fervently that God will fan the flames of Reformation in our day!

Soli Deo Gloria!

(picture: Latimer and Ridley execution from Foxe's Book of Martyrs.)

Must Have Resource for Reformers!

I have promoted this item on Rhett's Rants, but if you don't have the Amazing Grace DVD, I highly recommend you get it!

I bought this DVD not long after I moved into the Reformed camp and it was a great help to me in understanding the Doctrines of Grace (and the Bible) better. Below I am posting a 10 minute You Tube clip from the video's introduction. If you have not seen this video, please take a few minutes to view it.

I promise you won't regret purchasing this DVD for your library. I find I am always lending it out to folks. A friend of mine (and his wife) have even become Reformed from watching this video!




http://www.amazinggracedvd.com/


Soli Deo Gloria!