(1) Outspoken atheist Christopher Hitchens died last night at the age of 62. A statement from Vanity Fair said that he died Thursday night at a cancer center in Houston of pneumonia, a complication of his esophageal cancer. Doug Wilson has written an interesting obituary here.

(2) Three quotes on Arminianism (not for the feint of heart):

“I do not serve the god of the Arminians at all; I have nothing to do with him, and I do not bow down before the Baal they have set up; he is not my God, nor shall he ever be; I fear him not, nor tremble at his presence… The God that saith today and denieth tomorrow, that justifieth today and condemns the next… is no relation to my God in the least degree. He may be a relation of Ashtaroth or Baal, but Jehovah never was or can be his name.” – C.H. Spurgeon

“They are Arminians to a man; they deny the absolute sovereignty of God, his eternal choice of an elect people, and that Christ bore their sins only. They deny the total depravity of man, for they insist that he possesses a free will and can accept Christ and besaved by a decision of his own; thus directly repudiating God’s word,as found in John1:13; 6;44; 8:36; Rom 9:16, and other passages. And where any teacher or preacher is unsound on these basic truths, no confidence must be placed on him on any other subject. If he is all wrong at the foundations, his superstructure is bound to be faulty.” – A. W. Pink, Letter to Lowell Green August 19, 1934

“A “god” whose will is resisted, whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated, possesses no title to Deity, and so far from being a fit object of worship, merits nought but contempt.” – A. W. Pink

Having said that, while the doctrines of Arminianism are to be rightly despised, maturity and balance is needed concerning how we view Arminians. See this article here, and this one here.

(3) Once again, Ligonier has some excellent deals today in this week’s $5 Friday sale. The online sale starts at 8 a.m. EST and goes on for 24 hours or until items are sold out. Check out the $5 Ligonier sale here.