Tried With Fire

On July 19, 2017, the ABC network in Australia aired a program about domestic violence in the church. A few days later, 60 Minutes broadcasted two episodes ( part 1 & 2 ) interviewing a pastor's wife who was abused by her husband during their marriage. He is now serving time in prison. There has been a flurry of posts and articles supporting victims and further investigation into this issue. But sadly and not unexpectedly, there have also been those who would deny these claims, deny the statistics, and deflect attention from the specific problem of abused women in a Christian setting. A Cry for Justice has a post with links including a link to the original program.  They will be updating their post periodically as more stories are published. However, here are several posts worth considering: 'Submit to your husbands': Women told to endure domestic violence in the name of God  - This is the corresponding article to the ABC broadcast. It should be noted that the...

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst.” John 6:35.  Now, in eating we first put the food into our mouths. As a whole it goes into the mouth, and even thus, as a whole, Christ Jesus is received into our belief and trust. The food being in the mouth, we proceed to chew it; it is broken up; it is dissolved; our taste finds out its secret essence and flavor—and even in this way the believing mind thinks of Jesus, contemplates Him, meditates upon Him, and discovers His Preciousness. We see far more of our Lord after conversion than we did at first. We have believed in Him knowing but little of Him. But by-and-by we comprehend with all the saints what are the heights, and depths, and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Jesus becomes more comforting, and more delightful as we comprehend more clearly who and what He is. Our faith, which we placed implicitly upon Him, now see...

ht: Tom Gauld/You're All Just Jealous of my Jetpack

My first post for the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is up: "Is God simple or complex? My Sunday school teacher posed this question during class a few years ago. The question surprised me because the answer seemed obvious. If God is so far beyond my comprehension, how could he be simple? Therefore, he must be complex, right? Wrong. The teacher was not referring to whether God was easily understood but rather to the doctrine of divine simplicity ." Read the rest here .

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt?” Matthew 14:31 O child of God, little as your faith may be, yet if you believe in Christ you have faith most proper and justifiable, in fact, so strong is the ground of your little faith that the Savior even asks you, “Wherefore did you doubt?” As much as to say, “You have every reason for your faith, but what reason have you for doubting?” Oh, dear heart, if you do come to Christ and cast yourself on Him you are doing the best and the most right thing that you can do, and none can question your conduct. Yes, if you even swoon away upon the dear bosom of the eternal love, none shall tear you off; none shall separate you, even in your feebleness, from Christ. He has said that him that comes to Him He will in no wise cast out; who, then, can dismiss you from His presence? You are not presumptuous; you are not going beyond what is permitted you when y...

This book arrived yesterday, and I immediately started reading it. The following excerpt is from the preface. If underlining practically everything in the introductory section is any indication, there is much more good stuff to come... "I readily affirm that biblical theology has been a profound catalyst for improving and enriching our understanding of the progress of redemption. But it seems to me that biblical theology, with its unique focus on historical development and progress, is not best suited for the study of theology proper. The reason for this is because God is not a historical individual, and neither does His intrinsic activity undergo development or change. This places God beyond the proper focus of biblical theology. God is not changed by what He does - though what He does certainly brings about progress in history, creatures, and salvation. In an attempt to understand God as one of the historical characters in the narrative of redemption, many have fallen in...

"Always being on my phone gives me the thrill of being manically busy while I am actually wasting my time."

I'm post at Out of the Ordinary today: One of my favorite Christian books is  Pilgrim's Progress  by  John Bunyan . I first read an abridged version when I was young, and I was enthralled by Christian's journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. It was an exciting adventure complete with hair-raising escapes and evil villains. But it wasn't until I was an adult that I began to appreciate how much Bunyan drew from the Scriptures as he laid out the believer's journey from the moment of conversion to the final destination of heaven. I was naturally drawn to the main  characters  of Christian, Faithful who dies a martyr's death in Vanity Fair, and Hopeful who became Christian's new companion. These are heroic figures who persevere through affliction until they cross the river and are welcomed by the King of the city. But lately I've been encouraged by several of the minor pilgrims in  Part II : Mr. Ready-to-Halt, Mr. Feeble-Mind, Mr...

The following excerpt is from B.B. Warfield's Perfectionism. He is critiquing the work of William Boardman who was the author of The Higher Christian Life . According to Warfield, this movement took off where Oberlin perfectionism left off. One common point of all these perfectionist movements is the separation of justification and sanctification chronologically and the separation of Christians into two classes. Christians who are only justified or carnal Christians and Christians who have received the 2nd blessing or 2nd work of grace. Notice the problem here? So little is Mr. Boardman inclined to sink "the second experience" in the first, that his tendency is to exalt it above it. He speaks of it as "the second and deeper work of grace." He declares plainly that "the second is the higher stage, and more difficult too. It is really harder to overcome sin in the heart, than to break way from the world at first. And it is harder to come to the point of trus...

“Without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5. Down on your knees, bow your mouths in the dust, and say, “Lord, it is true! Without you we can do nothing, nothing whatever that is good and acceptable in the sight of God! We have not ability of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our ability is of God.” Now, do not speak thus, as if you paid a compliment which orthodoxy requires you to make—but from the deeps of your soul, smitten with an absolute self-despair, acknowledge the truth unto God. “To will is present with me, but how to perform that which I would, I find not. Lord, I am a good-for-nothing do-nothing! I am a fruitless, barren, dry, rotten branch without You, and this I feel in my inmost soul. Be not far from me, but quicken me by Your presence.” Next, let us pray. If without Christ we can do nothing. Let us cry to Him that we may never be without Him! Let us, with strong crying and tears, entreat His abiding presence. He comes to those who seek Him—let us never...

There have been so many advances in public health and medicine that we live longer and healthier lives. While this is a wonderful blessing from God, have we forgotten that we are mortal? Do we believe that we will always be as healthy as we were in our prime with no diminution of mind or physical strength because conventional medicine (or alternative therapies) can provide a cure for everything? As a result of this, have we lost the ability to walk alongside loved ones who face aging and dying? These are questions raised in Being Mortal by Atul Gawande. The author is a Harvard-trained surgeon who is on the faculty of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, so he knows of what he speaks. In his career as a physician, he has noticed the lack in the medical profession and even in society-at-large of helping people who face illness, disability, and death. These issues are treated solely as medical problems so the soul-care (my word) is absent when hard decisions need to be made. F...

Reformation Women: Sixteenth-Century Figures Who Shaped Christianity's Rebirth, Rebecca VanDoodewaard, Reformation Heritage Books, 2017, 152 pages. In three months, many of us will be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. We are familiar with Martin Luther (of course!), Philip Melancthhon, and Ulrich Zwingli to name a few, but what about women? Were they involved in the Reformation at all? The answer is, "Yes." and you can learn about some of these saints in Reformation Women by Rebecca VanDoodewaard. This book contains biographical sketches of 12 reformation women most of whom were unfamiliar to me. These women came from different backgrounds and stations in life. Some were queens and princesses. Others were former nuns. They were wives, mothers, and single women who served tirelessly in the church. Many were well-educated and theologians/scholars in their own right. But what these women had in common was their conviction from the sc...

“Like as a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them who fear Him. For he knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:13, 14. Remember that your brothers and sisters in Christ, with whom you find so many faults, are God’s elect for all that, and if He chose them, why do you reject them? They are bought with Christ’s blood, and if He thought them worth so much, why do you think so little of them? Remember too, that with all their imperfections, there are some good points in them in which they excel you. They do not know as much, but perhaps they act better; it may be that they are faultier in pride, but perhaps they excel you in generosity. Or if perhaps one man is a little quick in temper, yet he is more zealous than you. Look at the bright side of your brother, and the black side of yourself, instead of reversing the order as many do! Remember there are points about every Christian from which you may learn a lesson; look to their excellences, and imitate ...

“Underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:27 There are times in a man’s life when he has to come down. It is not a very easy matter to go down the hill safely. Some persons have proved that it is difficult to grow old gracefully, but to the Christian it ought not to be impossible or unusual to grow old graciously. Still, there are difficulties about that coming down the hill of life—coming down in a very material sense, perhaps, from competence to real poverty. Coming down as to your mental powers. Being conscious of losing your former influence over your fellows. Coming down in general repute, through no fault of your own, but through circumstances of which you are not the master. All this is very trying to human nature. You know that on the way to heaven there are many Hill Difficulties—and brave spirits rather enjoy climbing to the top of them! We like a craggy path, hard and rough, where we can keep on looking upward all the way even if we have to scramble on our hands ...