I wrote a blog not long ago talking about Christian literature and had a link to a review on the very popular Christian book The Shack. Here is another review with many warning about this book:  http://opc.org/os.html?article_id=149

I Timothy 6:12 – Fight the good fight of the faith.

I am definitely not a righteous man, well at least not by my own works. I have sinned horribly. I have betrayed my God hundreds of times. God has broken me in so many ways… I mean He has crushed me and torn me to shreds. God has revealed my dark heart and shown me my wicked ways. There is salvation in God and Jesus’ blood can cover all my sins, but there is a cost of discipleship. One day in heaven there will be complete peace, but right now here on earth there will be suffering and hurting. The health and wealth gospel is a sham. Jesus did not present to us an awesome life on earth as one of His disciples. He told His disciples the world would hate them, that they would be persecuted, He told them to take up their cross and follow Him. I believe these things that the Bible teaches about the present suffering of the Christian, but really I still want that health and wealth. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that a Christian has to suffer, but a Christian shouldn’t expect satin sheets and leather seats. I also don’t believe a Christian has to run towards the lions. But when the lions attack and they begin ripping your skin and gnawing on your body don’t turn to Rome for relief. I started this blog with Paul’s teaching on fighting the good fight and here’s where all this ties in. I’ve noticed way too many “Christian” friends throughout my life who just can’t handle even the roaring of the lions in their cages. They are tired of putting up with the constant fear of being eaten. They don’t want to fight anymore. Life is supposed to be easy and happy and if you don’t fight you don’t hurt. Yet remember what Peter has said (I Peter 5:6-11):

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Things aren’t so great in this life. Temptations are hard to resist. Some temptations gnaw on you like a lion and after a while you just don’t want to hurt any more so you cry out and say “I GIVE UP! I want peace NOW not LATER.” Satan offers all the pain to end if you just give up on God. Paul asked God to take the thorn in the flesh away from him and yet God replied no and said that His grace was sufficient for him. But who was the bringer of this thorn? Paul says it was a messenger of Satan. I bet if Paul just turned his life over to Satan the pain would  have gone away. I mean, not turning his life over to Satan and becoming  a devil worshiper but giving up on this painful mission God had called him to.

Following God is rough. It ain’t smooth sailings. You tell this to people and I’m sure you’ll get a whole bunch of converts… yeah right! But maybe if we did tell people the truth and the cost of being a disciple of Christ we would generate genuine converts. When the rich ruler asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life Jesus tells him to sell all of his possessions. Wow! Jesus didn’t say just come and follow me, no he told the man to sell all of his possessions. Following Jesus requires sacrifice. It means you don’t have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness… at least not in this life. Of course these things aren’t wrong to desire, but they just aren’t a guarantee.

Can we abuse “God is Love” any more? I mean, the God of the New Testament is the same God of the Old Testament. People used to shake in their boots when He was around. All of the sudden Jesus comes along and God become one big teddy bear. Let me make this clear before I go on, yes, I do believe Jesus is our advocate and that He shields us from the Father’s wrath… that is if He really is your shield. But God is still a holy and righteous God and should still be respected and feared. He should be worshipped in reverence and awe. God still frowns upon sin, but Jesus ended up taking the penalty for those sins rather than His children. Obedience is still a requirement not just a suggestion when living in covenant with God. Man’s chief end is not to be saved, but man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (WSC Q.1). This means that the ultimate goal of man is not just to pray the sinner’s prayer but to have a relationship with God. Salvation is the only means of achieving this goal, but it isn’t the chief end.

Romans 6:1-4 - What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

Don’t give up my brothers and sisters. We are pilgrims in this land. We are going to face many hardships and Satan is going to try his best to trip us up. Just remember fear no evil when you walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death for Christ is with you even if you can’t see  Him.

Proverbs 3:5-8 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

I thought this article by Chuck Colson was very good: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/april/10.72.html?start=1

Doctrine is very important to the Christian faith. Without doctrine Christianity becomes nothing but man’s imagination. Titus 1:9 gives this instruction to elders: ^“He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” This is not something that should be held only by elders but is important to all believers. In order to fight the good fight we must hold on to the foundational doctrines of the faith which are eroding in this present age. No longer do people in the church care about rock solid doctrine. The Bible has become something completely obscure and the meaning is defined by the reader rather than the Holy Spirit. They might attribute their interpretation to the Spirit but if they were to test their doctrine by the light of Scripture they would quickly see their doctrine as false.

This article brings up some great points:  http://opc.org/os9.html?article_id=138

Debating over theology is not something that is wrong. Yes, we often end up feuding over doctrinal views, but that doesn’t mean we should shy away from debate. Proverbs 27:17 says, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” Healthy debate helps sharpen doctrine; it helps you defend your position, strengthen your position, or even change your position.

So many people talk about theology as putting God in a box. But it isn’t putting God in a box if used rightly. Theology is there to help our pea brains comprehend the infinite God, at least the things He has revealed about Himself. Theology is not meant to limit God but to limit man to what he is to believe about God (WSC Q.2 & 3):

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
A. The word of God, which is contained in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.

Q. 3. What do the scriptures principally teach?
A. The scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.

Man should not be allowed to just believe what ever he wants to about God. People of other religions are not the only people guilty of believing things about God that are not true. Many people in the church today believe things about God and the Bible that are not found in Scripture. A lot of these beliefs are based on feelings rather than Scripture. While it sounds really spiritual to follow your heart when searching for God this is really dangerous. Our hearts have been corrupted by sin. Only through Scripture can we find the truth of God. One may feel free staying away from theology but they are really only heading for disaster and creating a faith invented by their own imagination. It may look like Christianity, it may sound like Christianity, but unless it is founded in Scripture it is not true orthodox Christianity.

Here’s a good article on the Resurrection by one of my college professors: http://www.opc.org/new_horizons/NH01/04d.html

Most churches around the world will be celebrating Easter this Sunday. It is a time to celebrate the resurrection. But be careful to not elevate this Sunday above other Sundays. Every Lord’s Day is a celebration of the Resurrection. There is nothing wrong with recognizing the church calendar as long as you don’t turn these days into more sacred days. This Sunday is not a more powerful Sunday.

I also urge pastors to not water down your sermons because there may be extra non-churched people in your congregation. Easter Sunday should still be seen as a day of worship for the sheep and they need to be fed. It is good to recognize that the volume of non-churched people will increase this Sunday and that this is a good opportunity for them to hear the gospel, but this is not their Sunday. This Sunday is the Sunday for Christ’s people like every Sunday.

Here’s a good review of the popular Christian book The Shack: http://byfaithonline.com/page/arts-culture/the-shack-what-god-should-have-said

I have not read the book myself. I probably won’t ever have time to get to it for there are much more worthy books out there I must dive into. Pretty much a rule for me is that if a book is on the #1 reading list I usually raise an eyebrow to it. It’s pretty safe to say these books are going to be weak in doctrine. I think Walter Henegar’s words are right on target as he says, “The Shack is spiritual comfort food loaded with theological trans fat.” You may read these popular Christian books and they might make you feel closer to God but when seen in the light of Scripture they have actually led you astray to believe things about God that are not biblical.

I just finished doing devotions in the Gospel of John. You want to read an amazing story that brings you closer to God this is a good one. And the greatest part is that this is not fiction at all and completely biblical because it is part of the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I think the greatest Christian fiction ever written is John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It is doctrinally sound and very beautifully written. There is even an updated verson called the New Pilgrim’s Progress. It’s the same story just put into contemporary English, in chapter format, and has footnotes explaining different parts that might not be quite as clear to a modern reader.

The OPC’s website now has the April issue of New Horizons posted which is focused upon the Sabbath. Here’s the link: http://opc.org/nh9.html
I especially like my elder and old professor John Muether’s article.

It’s been a while since my last entry. I really need to get back to writing blogs. Since I still hope to be in the ministry in some form I need to really begin struggling over issues that too many Christians tend to stay agnostic about. Some people just don’t want to decide what millennial view they adopt so they just take the pan-mill approach that it will all just pan out in the end… or pro-mill “I’m for the millennium.” Another issue I feel that we don’t wrestle with enough is how the church is to deal with the Lord’s Day in the New Testament era. So, this is something I’m going to dive into and hope to write some of the stuff I’m learning on here. The April issue of “New Horizons” (the magazine of the OPC) is focused upon the issue of the Sabbath. As soon as the OPC website is updated with this latest issue I will post the link. Until then here is a good read on the issue of Sabbath:  http://opc.org/GA/sabbath.html

This is a very interesting article addressing the AP report on Global Warming:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,468084,00.html

Lately I’ve been listening to a local college radio station down here in Orlando. They play a lot of good music, but the talk shows are very liberal. I like to listen to them just to hear the perspective of others. What’s interesting is to hear about stuff like bringing homosexuality and Christianity together. Hmmmm… isn’t this a problem seeing that God has forbidden homosexuality. But wait! They’ve found a way around that. All the negative stuff in the Bible is about control, all the good stuff is the true stuff we should take from the Bible. All the fuzzy warm stuff is the only stuff that is true. So, Jesus’ message about love is the true Jesus, but all that other stuff is just stuff made up by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and the other writers. Really, Paul’s stuff is just rubbish because he’s a sexist and homophobe.

The question I would like to raise to the Deconstructionist is how do you know what you have chosen from the Bible to be true and not the other stuff. What if the other stuff is what is true and all that love stuff isn’t the true stuff? Jesus said some pretty harsh stuff and at one point called a woman a dog! What if we are really just all doomed to hell and that all that salvation stuff is fiction? The Deconstructionist depends upon human autonomy as authority and have built their house upon the sand. They have no firm ground to stand on because their beliefs are all arbitrary and contradict themselves. I think of Mozart when I hear Deconstructionists argue. They deny the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture then begin to take out what they believe is false. Here’s what the Emperor said to Mozart about a piece of his work: “There are simply too many notes, that’s all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.” Mozart answers, “Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?”

There are plenty of things in Scripture I would love to cut out. There are sins that I am prone to do and would love the freedom to do them. But by what authority do I have to pick and choose what I don’t like about the Bible? The thing that really makes me glad to believe the whole Word to be true is that I don’t doubt all the good stuff found in Scripture. What kind of security does a Deconstructionist have? They have no reason to believe that they have the right passages… they could be wrong. For me, yes, the scary stuff found in the Bible is true, but what is equally true is that Jesus conquers the scary stuff and can rescue us from all the bad stuff. Jesus is not just some kind peaceful hippie… He is the Creator, King, Savior, Judge of this earth. Jesus is not just a role model, He is the one who can rescue us from certain doom and destruction and from deconstruction.