November 27, 2009
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Now, while in the process of writing this blog entry, I was directed to a comment left by Frank Beckwith, revert to Rome, criticizing John MacArthur’s statement on [The Manhattan Declaration]… But given that Dr. Beckwith has become exceptionally active promoting and defending Romanism on the web over the past few months, I think it proper to provide a response. Dr. MacArthur’s point seems to have been lost on Dr. Beckwith, who has made it clear that even during his time away from Rome, he was never truly gospel-centric. He never saw Rome’s gospel as a false gospel, and hence did not trust in the imputed righteousness of Christ as his sole hope before a thrice holy God. So it is understandable why he would think that his re-presentation is somehow relevant. Dr. MacArthur does not believe, of course, that the gospel is about “merely getting people into heaven.”
Such a representation says more about Beckwith’s journey in “evangelicalism” and the wide range of churches he was a part of than it does MacArthur’s comments. The point is that the only real answer to any of those issues, whether the radical redefinition of marriage, homosexuality, the murder of unborn children, rape, incest, torture or theft, lies in the changing of the hearts of men. And it is just here that Rome’s gospel fails to be able to do this very thing! Surely man’s religions can bring about a surface-level moral reformation, if there is sufficient reason offered to the reprobate sinner to change for his own self-interests, but true change, the exchange of the heart of stone for the heart of flesh, is the divine work of the Spirit of God, not the work of the alter-Christus, the baptismal font, or the never-ending cycle of Masses and confessionals. Calling men to recognize the sovereign and holy God of Scripture, bowing the knee before the all powerful Lord of all men, Jesus Christ, is a powerful (and uniting) thing, but when men’s traditions have so encrusted those truths as to rob them of their power and meaning, what are we to do? Stand apart, of course, identify the perversions of the truth, and trust the Lord to guard His people and build His kingdom through the Word and the Spirit. This is what the Apostles did when false teachers arose amongst them, and we must follow their example.
Beckwith speaks of seeking to see young people live holy lives. Rome has been particularly notable in its utter failure to do this very thing, has it not? By reducing God’s grace to the sacramental system, by teaching people they are in a “state of grace” outside of actual repentance and change, by confounding justification and sanctification, robbing men of a finished work of Christ—in other words, through the entire “gospel” of Rome, unchanged, unrepentant, unregenerate people are called “Christians,” resulting in the constant denigration of the faith on the part of Muslims, atheists, and others, who take Romanism as the very definition of “Christianity.” Rome’s gospel produces worldwide nominalism, does it not? And does this not illustrate the main point of what has come above? Theology matters. The gospel forms the faith, and if you do not have the right gospel, you can call what you have Christianity all you want—it isn’t. Without the gospel, you have one of man’s religions, and men’s religions will never have the power to change the heart, and hence the society. (Further Thoughts on the Manhattan Declaration and a Response to Frank Beckwith)
James White
See also:
THE MANHATTAN DECLARATION OF CHRISTIAN CONSCIENCE
JOHN MACARTHUR ON THE MANHATTAN DECLARATION
JAMES WHITE: TROUBLING ASPECTS OF MANHATTAN DECLARATION
DR. FRANCIS BECKWITH: “MY RETURN TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH”
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH PREACHES A DIFFERENT GOSPEL
HAS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH REALLY CHANGED?
THE HOLY AND CATHOLIC CHURCH IS NOT THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
November 27, 2009
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Here is video #5 from the Youtube archive for this week.
“Defining and Defending Authentic Christianity”
“For the Christian, defending the faith isn’t an option. It’s a solemn responsibility.”
“It should be obvious if you think about it. Claiming to be a Christian doesn’t make you a true follower of Christ anymore than calling yourself a vegetarian makes you one regardless of what you believe or do. In order to be a Christian, you must submit yourself completely to Christ and believe the Bible and its teachings.”
- Eric Holmberg
The Apologetics Group
November 27, 2009
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Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. (Romans 1:24-27)
As A Perversion Of God’s Created Order The Sin Of Homosexuality Is Idolatry
Apprising Ministries warned in Christian Soldiers Standing Up For Jesus? there are very rough spiritual waters dead ahead because of the now widespread acceptance of the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church, which is a cult of postliberalism—now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC), within mainstream evangelicalism. And an important agEnda for these rebels against the final authority of God’s Word is to convince us that having sexual relations with another of the same sex i.e homosexuality is fine for the regenerated Christian.
But the absolute Truth is that in Romans chapter one we are informed that the LORD God Almighty’s patience will (and possibly now has) run out concerning issues like this. In verse 26 we read — Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. It should be obvious enough we are being told here that what we will read next would be considered shameful lusts by the Creator. And notice that this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with a particular culture may think, but rather, with what God Himself as Creator judges universally to be shameful lusts.
The b part of verse 26 — Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. The logical question that should arise now is: What are these natural relations women exchange here for unnatural ones. God the Holy Spirit anticipates this question, and then provides our answer through His inspired vessel Paul in Verse 27 — In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. James Edwards now adds the following insightful comment:
Paul illustrates the consequences of idolatry by turning to the errors pf lesbianism and homosexuality…homosexuality illustrates the theological error he has been expounding since verse 18, namely, the exchanging of something authentic for something counterfeit.
Paul cites homosexuality (“homo” comes from the Greek word meaning “same,” not the Latin homo, “man”) not because it is a worse sin but because it exemplifies better than other sins the very nature of sin, which is the perversion of an original good, and hence idolatry.
His choice of terminology, natural . . . unnatural relations, is instructive. Homosexuality is a forsaking of a natural relationship instituted according to the purpose of the Creator, i.e., heterosexuality, for an unnatural relationship which reverses the Creator’s purpose.
Homosexuality changes something originally oriented to the opposite sex as a compliment and inverts it to itself, thus perverting the created order. Like all sin, it is a disorientation which leads to confusion. Thus, the dishonoring of God results in the disordering of human life. (New International Bible Commentary, 55)
We see then — In the same way as the women the men also abandoned — or exchanged — national relations with women for unnatural ones. So now from this passage of Scripture we really should understand that according to the created order, the LORD God Almighty—very the Creator of the universe Himself—has in fact defined “natural” sexual relations to be that which occurs between one man with one woman after marriage. As a result therefore the Bible then defines sexual activity between members of the same sex as being “unnatural.”
And this is also reinforced in the b part of verse 27 — Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Now we can put all of this together and come to the realization that according to Holy Scripture God refers to sexual relations between members of the same sex as shameful lusts. Homosexuality is also said to be abandoning natural relations and being inflamed with lust (a sin in and of itself) for a member of one’s own sex. Verse 27 lists this among indecent acts and clearly refers to homosexuality as perversion.
Men and women, there is just no way around what these texts are saying because this passage of the Bible concerns proper sexual conduct for men and women—period. Further, this is part of the created order itself, and so it would apply to all mankind regardless of the cultural mores of any generation. If we really do care about others then we’re going to tell them the truth; and if you actually love Jesus Christ then you’d respect His Word and teach to His creatures what He has said. So, when all is said and done, the question becomes: Why then all the debate?
See also:
GROWING GAY AGENDA IN EVANGELICALISM
PUTTING BRIAN MCLAREN IN HIS PLACE
ADELE SAKLER AND KEN SILVA
ROB BELL, PETER ROLLINS, AND QUEERMERGENT’S ADELE SAKLER
THE SIN OF HOMOSEXUALITY IS DIFFERENT
HOMOPRESSIVE AS JAY BAKKER
WHY NO CONDEMNATION FOR CHRISTIANS WHO ARE HOMOPRESSIVE?
November 27, 2009
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Need we be concerned about all of this [in Vatican II]? Ought we to be rejoicing that there is a new approach to Roman Catholicism? Should we not all be rejoicing in the fact that it is possible for us all to stand together as Christians over and against Communism? That is the question you have to face. For myself I do not hesitate about the answer.
This system is altogether more dangerous than is Communism itself, because this is a counterfeit, this dies it in the “name” of Christ… No, the Protestant Reformers were not just bigoted zealots, they were not just fools. These men had their eyes opened by the Holy Spirit. That is what happened to Luther, that is what happened to Calvin, that is what happened to Knox, that is what happened to all of them.
These men had their eyes opened, they saw it, they saw this horrible monstrosity depicted in the Bible in the warnings against it, and at the risk of even losing their lives they stood up and they protested. They said that it was not true. So they began to assert justification by faith, the supreme, final, adequate authority of the Scriptures, the universal priesthood of all believers and so on. They were ready to die for those truths, and many did die for them! (Roman Catholicism, 14)
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
See also:
HAS THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH REALLY CHANGED?
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH PREACHES A DIFFERENT GOSPEL
THE HOLY AND CATHOLIC CHURCH IS NOT THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
ROMAN CATHOLICISM: ANOTHER GOSPEL OF BAPTISM AND SACRAMENTS
SBC PROTESTANT PASTOR RICK WARREN DOUBLE-MINDED ON THE REFORMATION AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM
THE DECEIVERS OF ROMAN CATHOLICISM
THINK YOU’RE A ROMAN CATHOLIC IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE POPE; BETTER THINK AGAIN
November 27, 2009
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Church of the Apostles (COTA), which tells us they are a ”Creative, Emergent, Lutheran, Episcopal Church in Fremont (Seattle, WA)” sent out the following tweet the other day:
Hey check it out: http://vimeo.com/7804821 http://bit.ly/8zXizr (Online source)
For those who may not know, COTA has “Vicar and Abbess” Karen Ward as its “pastor” and, big surprise, she’s a leader within within the postliberal cult of the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church—morphing into Emergence Christianity. Who’d have guessed?
Apprising Ministries introduced you to this EC pastrix in Karen Ward On “Abbess Powers” And The “‘Theology’” Of Brewing Beer. Not that long ago Ward and COTA was featured in a program called The Holy Spirit by something called Mosaic Television. This comes to us from the nearly completely apostate Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, home denomination to a “queer inclusive” former “professional f**k-up” now “pastor,” Nadia Bolz-Weber.
You may recall from ELCA And Homosexuality that they recently sealed their fate by voting to ordain to the pastorate even those who are unrepentant in their sin of sexual immorality by having sexual relations with another of the same sex i.e homosexuality. In the aforementioned program the narrator tells us of:
a thriving congregation of young adults in the most unchurched neighborhood in the most un-churched city in the most un-churched region of the United States. Seattle’s Fremont District boldly calls itself the center of the universe….
The neighborhood is a magnet for artists, musicians and alternative lifestyles. he Church of the Apostles is a joint ministry of the ELCA and the Episcopal Church… Drawing on a medieval example, the members of Church of the Apostles themselves as an abbey, rather than a traditional congregation. (Online source)
Ward then explains:
To put an abbey, which is one of the most traditional Christian expressions middle of one of the most non-churched neighborhood makes absolute sense this place. This abbey is totally accepted now, by this neighborhood. And because it doesn’t fit, Fremont accepts things that supposedly don’t fit… I chalk all of it up to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has a sense of humor. (Online source)
As admirable as that is, the concern we need to start having in the Body of Christ as false expressions of the Christian faith attempt to infiltrate us would be: What message is it these neighborhoods like Fremont are hearing from these uber-inclusive EC purveyors. It’s not a move of the Holy Spirit, where as in the case of pastrix Ward, we are in violation of God’’s created order as He’s revealed in His Word—the Bible.
Not to mention the idiocy of yet another women claiming to be Luthern in direct defiance of Martin Luther himself. Now, a little food for thought, exactly how many churches of the Apostles had women as pastors? Answer: None.
COTA – A Community Worth Investing In – Part 1 of 4 from Jordan Rickard on Vimeo.
See also:
MARTIN LUTHER SAYS NO…TO WOMEN PASTORS
THOUGHTS ON WOMEN PASTORS
ELCA “PASTOR” NADIA BOLZ-WEBER AND TATTOO FAITH
THE EMERGING CHURCH HIGHJACKING EVANGELICALISM
THE NEW CHRISTIANS WITH CHRISTIANITY WORTH BELIEVING—NO SOLA SCRIPTURA: YES, WOMEN PASTORS AND QUEER CHRISTIANS
EVANGELICALISM BECOMING ANOTHER RELIGION ENTIRELY
CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS STANDING UP FOR JESUS?
November 27, 2009
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Here is a bit of a follow up on my post this past Wednesday.
Five qualities in the Gospel which command our confidence in its power to save:
1. Strictly speaking, proper gospel preaching is done “with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven” (1 Peter 1:12). Otherwise it come to men only in word, with no saving effect at all (1 Thessalonians 1:5). But where the Holy Spirit is operative, convicting men of sin, righteousness and judgment, there the gospel comes with power and with much assurance.
2. The gospel is the narration of historical facts, interpreted by God for us, to be embraced and kept. Since Christ truly died and was raised, therefore our salvation is in him alone; he is our hope. The gospel is the outworking of God’s eternal decree to save his elect. The same God who plans our salvation has also executed it. It must therefore be powerful and infallible in its purpose.
3. It is the gospel of grace, as Paul called it (Acts 20). Grace from beginning to end. We can be confident because the gospel does not depend on men’s capacities and goodness (for he is totally depraved); rather it depends on God; it is the declaration of what he has accomplished through his Son on Calvary. The mission is already accomplished. Man does not need to sign on the dotted line, as if the gospel depends on him for success. No! By grace, God himself gives us the gift of faith, to embrace His Son in all his saving efficacy.
4. It is the gospel suited for sinners par excellence. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. I came to serve and to give my life a ransom for many. The gospel addresses all as condemned sinners, under God’s wrath, but it goes us to speak of a way of escape. Sinners, who are made poor in spirit, will certainly realize how adapted the gospel is to them. It’s exactly what they need to hear. It is relevant to all in every age.
5. Preachers may be bound and beaten; but the Word is not and cannot be bound. God, in his sovereignty, send the gospel wherever he desires and to whomsoever he wishes, so that it accomplishes his purpose. God’s ministers are unto him “a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish; to the one we are the savour of death unto death, and to the other the savour of life unto life.” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). Even where it seems to fail, the gospel accomplished God’s wise and inscutable purpose.
Copyright Paul Mizzi www.tecmalta.org Used by Permission.
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November 27, 2009
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“I am sure there is no more delightful doctrine to a Christian, than that of CHRIST’S ABSOLUTE SOVEREIGNTY!
I am glad there is no such thing as ‘chance’, that nothing is left to itself, but that Christ everywhere has sway.
If I thought that there was a devil in hell that Christ did not govern, I should be afraid that devil would destroy me.
If I thought there was a circumstance on earth, which Christ did not over-rule, I should fear that circumstance would ruin me.
Nay, if there were an angel in heaven that was not one of Jehovah’s subjects, I should tremble even at him.
But since Christ is King of kings, and I am his poor brother, one whom he loves, I give all my cares to him, for he cares for me; and leaning on his breast, my soul has full repose, confidence, and security.”
November 27, 2009
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“For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,(as it is written, ‘A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS HAVE I MADE YOU’) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist.
In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, ‘SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.’
Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
-Romans 4:16-21, NASB
