Zoo Pic's

Yesterday I took my wife to the Nashville Zoo, it was a beautiful day as the weather was perfect. The Nashville Zoo has come along way and is really a nice visit. I was totally amazed at the giraffes, they are such graceful animals.

Quote of the Day

"The surest evidence and the greatest proof of genuine conversion is persecution." —Jonathan Sims

Edification and Comfort

"I must tell you what I believe. Some would have me now stand here and say, "All that are eminent preachers are most certainly truthful preachers." now, I cannot say it. If at any time I hear a man preach the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, through the merits of Christ, I give him my hand, and call him my brother, because he is right in the main thing; but when I do that I am long way from endorsing many other of his sentiments. It may be that he denies the effectual power of the Spirit in conversion; it may be he does not hold the doctrine of the entire depravity of the human race—does not insist upon free sovereign grace—does not hold forth and teach the doctrine of substitution and satisfaction through Christ. Now, I will not so befool myself as to tell you that wherein that man differs from the Word of God he is true. No doubt that man may be blessed for your salvation; but there may he a curse upon his ministry notwithstanding; so that while you may be saved by it, you may be all your lifetime subject to bondage through it, and you may go groaning, where you ought to have gone singing—crying, where you might have had a sacred burst of joy. You sit under such-and-such a man who has been made the means of your conversion; but he tells you that your salvation depends upon yourself, and not upon the power of Christ. He insists upon it that you may, after all, fall from grace and be a cast-away; he tells you that although you are saved, God did no more love you than he loved Judas; that there is no such thing as special love, no such thing, in fact, as Election. He tells you that others might have come to Christ, as well as yourself—that there was no extraordinary power put out in your case, more than in any others. Well, if he does not lead you to glory in man, to magnify the flesh, and sometimes to trust in yourself, or else lead you to distress yourself where there is no need for distress, I should marvel indeed, inasmuch as his doctrine is false, and must mislead you. It may be the means of your salvation, and yet it may fail in may points to minister to your edification and comfort." —C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Truth Wars

Pink on Holiness

"Herein we find proof for the Divine inspiration of the Scriptures. The unregenerate do not really believe in the holiness of God. Their conception of His character is altogether one-sided. They fondly hope that His mercy will override everything else. “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether as thyself” (Psalm 50:21) is God’s charge against them. They think only of a “god” patterned after their own evil hearts. Hence their continuance in a course of mad folly.... The fact is that nothing makes more manifest the terrible depravity of man’s heart and his enmity against the living God than to have set before him One who is infinitely and immutably holy. His own idea of sin is practically limited to what the world calls “crime.” Anything short of that, man palliates as “defects,” “mistakes,” “infirmities,” etc. And even where sin is owned at all, excuses and extenuations are made for it.

The “god” which the vast majority of professing Christians “love,” is looked upon very much like an indulgent old man, who himself has no relish for folly, but leniently winks at the “indiscretions” of youth. But the Word says, “Thou hatest all workers of iniquity “(Psalm 5:5). And again, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). But men refuse to believe in this God, and gnash their teeth when His hatred of sin is faithfully pressed upon their attention. No, sinful man was no more likely to devise a holy God than to create the Lake of fire in which he will be tormented for ever and ever." —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)

Excerpt taken form "The Attributes of God" by A. W. Pink

Fine White Linen

I heard David Miller (country preacher at large) quote this from memory and I don't know if he wrote it or if he quoted it from someone else but I wanted to share it, if anyone knows the source please let me know. I have tried to transcribe it the best that I could so it may not be exact, but what a wonderful picture of God's Grace!

Revelation 19:8 "Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear."

I saw a poor poor woman and clothed in rags was she
So full of dark uncleanness and foul impurities
With wounds and bruises grievous and sins of crimson red
A stench to God Almighty with interest passing death
Unrighteous sinful rags was all she had to wear

I saw the king of glory come from his home on high
To save her from her sinfulness and take her for his bride
Dressed in His robes of righteousness so pure and holy He
The joy of God His Father throughout eternity

A cruel crown of thorns was what He came to wear
The woman heard of Jesus and trembled in despair
She gazed upon her garments each gaping ragged tear
She wept in deep contrition and deep repentance too
It was her sin that clothed her soul and this the woman knew
Unholy, sin stained rags was all she had to wear

The King came to the woman and called her by her name
But she did weep and hide her face and hanged her head in shame
He told her of His love for her and how he came to die
To save her from her sinfulness and take her for his wife

Dear Lord, she cried in gratitude, why have you chosen me
To show my love and grace He said, throughout eternity
God's holy wrath for her was what He came to bear
But Lord, said she I am not fit, what of my sinful clothes
He said, put on my righteousness and you must give me those

I saw them on their wedding day, the morn of endless time
The poor poor woman shining bright in righteousness divine
What praises from the multitude like pills of thunder rang
The host of heaven cried aloud, this is what they sang

Fine linen bright and clean was given her to wear
Fine linen bright and clean was given her to wear
Fine white linen bright and clean was given her to wear

Re-evaluating Killinger!

I can't say for sure what the intentions of the Baptist Press were in reporting this story, either for a warning or for promotional value; either way the language coming out of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Memphis, is heresy at best, and apostasy at worst. I never thought I would ever hear a so-called minister deny the deity of Christ, and all but call Daniel a liar, but that is exactly what John Killinger has done. Shame on the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for allowing this man to speak at this event!

"Now we are reevaluating and we're approaching everything with a humbler perspective and seeing God's hand working in Christ, but not necessarily as the incarnate God in our midst,... the Old Testament book of Daniel "fibbed a lot." —John Killinger

Biblical Vaccination

1 Thessalonians 5:21 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."

It is a painful thing to watch as so many professing Christians in Lakeland, FL swallow doctrinal poison from such a spiritual quack. These people have lost their ability to "prove all things" they have either never learned Biblical discernment in the first place or they have completely lost the desire to know the difference between good and evil, they can not perceive the lie which is wrapped in Biblical language because the god of this world is working hard to blind the glorious gospel of Christ from the pulpit's of most church's with a heavy dose of Man-centered medicine that does nothing more than make the dying soul more comfortable and pain-free. A second symptom of an over dose of this manly medicine is that it leaves the spiritual immune system weak and prone to even worse spiritual diseases. These more harmful diseases or strands have accumulated in Lakeland, FL in the form of a revival which may turn out to be a world wide spiritual plague that will continue to spread across this land with devastating effects on the church; unless the vaccination of sound Biblical preaching is administered.

True Revival

"The church will never have a revival until it comprehends the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man, out of which true brokenness comes.... true revival isn't people saying, "We've arrived spiritually"; it's people being broken over the sense that they have not arrived. So if you wonder whether current trends in Christianity mark a genuine revival, ask yourself, "Does it mark itself by an overwhelming sense of the holiness of God, a comprehensive sense of the depth of sin, a spiritual experience that results in brokenness rather than self-congratulation? That's the stuff that makes for true revival. Because what you have in the church today is this incessant talk about love, acceptance, tolerance, self-esteem, and the presumption that God wants you healthy, wealthy, and happy, then you are really at the very opposite pole from the elements of genuine revival. And the reason for this is that the church, not understanding the holiness of God, doesn't deal with the sinfulness of sin and consequently never purges itself. —John MacArthur

Excerpt taken from a sermon preached by John MacArthur titled "The Discipline of God's Children (Part 3)"

The Danger of Lakeland!

"Every attempt at revival of religion which proves a failure,—and fail it must without the presence of God,—leaves the Church in a worse condition than it was before; because, if it should prove a failure, from the want of any stir at all; then God's people fall back into their former lethargy, with an excuse for continuing in it; or if a false stir be made, a reaction follows of a most injurious character. I suppose the worst time in the Christian Church is generally that which follows the excitement of a revival; and if that revival has had no reality in it, the mischief which is done is awful and incalulable. If no excitement shall come at all, the mischief is still as great; God's people, being disappointed, have little heart to listen to further exhortations to future zealous action, become contented with their Laodicean lukewarmness, and it becomes impossible to bestir them again. If a revival should apparently have success and yet God be not in it, perhaps this is even worse. The wild-fire and madness of some revivals have been a perfect disgrace to the common sense of the age, let alone the spirituality of the Church." —C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Little God's?

Spurgeon on Lakeland

With all the hoopla going on in Lakeland, FL; I thought it would be a good idea to present a biblical definition of what a true revival is; from the Prince of Preachers.

"If revival is confined to living men we may further notice that it must result from the proclamation and the receiving of living truth. We speak of "vital godliness," and vital godliness must subsist upon vital truth. Vital godliness is not revived in Christians by mere excitement, by crowded meetings, by the stamping of the foot, or the knocking of the pulpit cushion, or the delirious bawlings of ignorant zeal; these are the stock in trade of revivals among dead souls, but to revive living saints other means are needed. Intense excitement may produce a revival of the animal, but how can it operate upon the spiritual, for the spiritual demands other food than that which stews in the fleshpots of mere carnal enthusiasm. The Holy Ghost must come into the living heart through living truth, and so bring nutriment and stimulant to the pining spirit, for so only can it be revived. This, then, leads us to the conclusion that if we are to obtain a revival we must go directly to the Holy Ghost for it, and not resort to the machinery of the professional revival-maker." —C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Excerpt taken from the December 1866 issue of the Sword and Trowel article titled "What Is a Revival?" by C. H. Spurgeon

Fitted to Destruction

“On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The Divine law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him. Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty, infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of his people, so that, like Dathan and Abiram, they shall go down alive into the Pit? And what of apostate Christendom, where every possible form of sin is now tolerated and practiced under cover of the holy name of Christ? Why does not the righteous wrath of Heaven make an end of such abominations? Only one answer is possible: because God bears with “much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.” —A. W. Pink (1886–1952)

Excerpt taken form "The Attributes of God" by A. W. Pink

Spurgeon and Eschatology

"Salvation is a theme for which I would fain enlist every holy tongue. I am greedy after witnesses for the glorious gospel of the blessed God. O that Christ crucified were the universal burden of men of God. Your guess at the number of the beast, your Napoleonic speculations, your conjectures concerning a personal Antichrist —forgive me, I count them but mere bones for dogs; while men are dying, and hell is filling, it seems to me the veriest drivel to be muttering about an Armageddon...

I am no prophet, nor the son of a prophet; neither do I profess to be able to explain all the prophecies in this blessed Book. I believe that many of them will only be explained as the events occur which they foretell. Yet there are some things which are plain even to the most superficial reader. It is plain, for instance, that it is certainly foretold that the power of Antichrist shall be utterly and eternally destroyed, and that Babylon, that is to say, the Papal system, with all its abominations, shall be cast like a millstone into the flood, to rise no more for ever. It is also certain that the Jews, as a people, will yet own Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, as their King, and that they will return to their own land, "and they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the old cities, the desolations of many generations." It is certain also that our Lord Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, and that he will reign amongst his ancients gloriously, and that there will be a thousand years of joy and peace such as were never known on this earth before. It is also certain that there will be a great and general judgment, when all nations shall be gathered before the Son of man sitting upon the throne of his glory; and his final award concerning those upon his left hand will be, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment;" and concerning those upon his right hand, "but the righteous into eternal life." How all these great events are to be chronologically arranged, I cannot tell." —C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Positional Holiness

Sorry that it's been a week since I have posted but I have been real busy finishing up the touch's to our church's website, www.smbconline.com. Now that it's up and mostly finished, I should be able to post more again. So with that said I want to introduce my pastor's favorite preacher; Brother David Miller "Country Preacher at Large".