Prodigal God Plug

Wednesday morning I had the pleasure of hearing Tim Keller preach a message at LifeWay headquarters in Nashville and then got to meet him and get my free copy of his latest book "The Prodigal God" signed. I won't go into detail about the sermon but will leave you with a link to a interview that followed the sermon by LifeWays own Chris Turner on a special edition of Inside LifeWay.

"One of the signs that you may not grasp the unique, radical nature of the gospel is that you are certain that you do." —Tim Keller

Trail Hitters

2 Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"

"The “falling away” is evidenced on every hand. Not only are many of our Seminaries cesspools of spiritual corruption, not only are hundreds of our pulpits now filled by traitors to the cause they profess to champion, not only is every cardinal doctrine of the faith attacked and denied by the very ones paid to defend them, but the evil effects of such teaching from our religious leaders have influenced multitudes of souls committed to their care. The man in the pew, following the lead of his teachers, has lost faith in the Bible as a Divine revelation, and in consequence, no longer submits to its authority. Hence it is that there is such a “falling away” in the number of genuine conversions — we say “genuine” conversions because there are multitudes of those who come forward to shake some popular preacher by the hand, multitudes of card-signers, “trail-hitters” etc., etc. Hence it is that there has been such a sad and such a wide-spread “falling away” from the old time family worship. Hence it is that we now witness such a lamentable “falling away” from the mid-week prayer-meeting. Hence it is that there is such an awful “falling away” from the observance of the Holy Sabbath.

Hence it is that there is such a fearful “falling away” from the moral standards of former days. Hence it is that there is now such an evergrowing “falling away” from Sunday School attendance all over the land.

Yes, the “falling away” has commenced and is already far advanced...

The “falling away” which characterises our day was referred to by the apostle when he said, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they, heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” ( 2 Timothy 4:8,4). That time has arrived! Church-goers today will not endure “sound doctrine.” Those who preach the total depravity of man, who insist upon the imperative necessity of the new birth, who set forth the inflexible righteousness and holiness of God, and who warn against the Eternal and conscious torment awaiting every rejector of Christ, find it almost impossible to obtain a hearing. Such preachers are regarded as puritanical pessimists, and are not wanted. In these degenerate times, the masses demand that which will soothe them in their sins and amuse them while they journey down the Broad Road. The multitude is affected with “itching ears” which crave novelty and that which is sensational. They have ears which wish to be “tickled,” ears which eagerly drink in the songs of professional and unsaved soloists and choiristers, ears which are well pleased with the vulgar slang of our modern evangelists." —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)

Excerpt taken from "The Redeemer's Return" by A. W. Pink ( 1886-1952)

Give Me a Break

With all the excitement this week of the new President taking the reins and many Christians standing tall having one of our (so-called) own deliver the Inaugural Prayer. I doubt that very few noticed the very subtle but devious push toward an all inclusive faith.

“I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS), who taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” --Rick Warren, from inauguration prayer

This prayer deeply offends me as my lost child who is a practicing Muslim and who believes in the Koran and the false Jesus it calls Isa. I would just like to ask Mr. Warren how I am supposed to reconcile the Christ of the Bible with the christ (aka Isa) of the Koran which he prayed too, to my oldest son now that he has seen a Southern Baptist preacher endorse both before the entire world?

Titus 1:16 (New American Standard Bible)
“They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

New Things

Haven't posted in sometime now due to a major computer malfunction that left me with little choice of going without a PC or to purchase a new one so I broke down and got a new Dell, so far so good it's fast and pretty. I am having to learn some new things due to getting Vista but I like it so far. Anyway I should be posting more now that I am back in the groove!

Sickly Sentimentality

"The attributes of God have been perverted by a one-sided presentation thereof. The justice, the holiness, and the wrath of God have been pushed into the background, and a God that loves everybody thrust into the foreground. In consequence, the masses of church-goers no longer fear God. For the past fifty years the vast majority of pulpits have maintained a guilty silence on Eternal Punishment so that few now have any dread of the wrath to come. This logically follows from the former, for no one needs to stand in any terror of One who loves him. The repercussions have been unmistakable, drastic, and tragic. Sickly sentimentality regulated the pulpit until it dominated the pew and this evil leaven has so spread that it now permeates the whole nation." —A. W. Pink (1886–1952

(HT) Jono Sims

Getting Bent

"I do not deny that in conversion man himself wills. In everything that he does, thinks, feels, he of necessity wills. In believing he wills. In repenting, he wills. In turning from his evil ways, he wills — all this is true. The opposite is both untrue and absurd. But while fully admitting this, there is another question behind it, of great interest and moment: Are these movements of man’s will toward good the effects of the forth-putting of God’s will? Is man willing because he has made himself so; or is he willing because God has made him so? Does he become willing entirely by an act of his own will, or by chance, or by moral suasion, or because acted on by created causes or influences from without?

I answer unhesitatingly that he becomes willing because of another and a superior will — God’s, that has come into contact with his, altering its nature and its bent. This new bent is the result of a change produced upon it by Him who alone, of all beings, has the right, without limitation, to say in regard to all events and changes, “I will!” The man’s will has followed the movement of the Divine will. God has made him willing. God’s will is first, not second, in the movement. Even a holy and perfect will depends for guidance upon the will of God. Even when renewed it still follows, it does not lead. Much more an unholy will, for its bent must be first changed. And how can this be, if God is not to interpose His power?" —Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

Excerpt taken from "Truth and Error (The Opening of the Scriptural Truth of the Doctrines of Grace) by Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), p16-17 Pietan Publications 1998