Monthly Archives: June 2016

Miscellaneous Quotes (107)

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quotes“If private revelations agree with Scripture, they are needless, and if they disagree they are false.” – John Owen

“So when the Devil throws your sins in your face, and declares that you deserve death and Hell, tell him this: I admit that I deserve death and Hell, what of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God. Where He is there I shall be also!” – Martin Luther

“Unless, by the grace of God, you are willing give up all hope in yourself, all trust in your own morality, all pride in your own goodness, all trust in your good works, your praying, church attending and bible reading then you do not yet know Christ, nor have you experienced forgiveness from God. It is only when the Spirit grants a sinner such a sight of the holiness, beauty and majesty of God that he immediately despairs of all hope in himself … such that he flees out of himself and he trusts, rather, in Christ alone … he is the one who experiences the pardon of God. For Christ alone is worthy, righteous, and died in the place of all sinners who trust in Him.” – John Hendryx

“Do you think Jesus Christ is only for little sinners? Is He a doctor who only heals finger-aches? Beloved, it is not faith to trust Christ when I have no sin, but it is true faith when I am foul, and black, and filthy; when during the day I have tripped up and fallen, and done serious damage to my joy and peace—to go back again to that dear fountain and say, “Lord, I never loved washing as much before as I do tonight, for today I have made a fool of myself; I have said and done what I ought not to have done, and I am ashamed and full of confusion, but I believe Christ can save me, even me, and by His grace I will rest in Him still.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“The saving power of faith resides thus not in itself, but in the Almighty Savior on whom it rests. It is not faith that saves, but faith in Jesus Christ. It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves, but Christ that saves through faith. The saving power resides exclusively, not in the act of faith or the attitude of faith, or the nature of faith, but in the object of faith. We could not more radically misconceive it than by transferring to faith even the smallest fraction of that saving energy which is attributed in the Scriptures wholly to Christ Himself.’ – Benjamin B. Warfield

“Two of the rarest sights are a young man who is humble and an old man who is content.” – J.C. Ryle

“Hell is eternity in the presence of God. Heaven is eternity in the presence of God with a Mediator.” – Roderick A. Finlayson

“God speaks through the Scriptures. He speaks with the Word, through the Word, and never against the Word.” – R. C. Sproul

The Stunning Wonder of Creation

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The three short films posted here (below) are simply stunning. Using the phenomenon of time lapse photography, they reveal the full breathtaking drama of the heavens. Personally, a visual encounter of sorts.

Two scripture passages immediately come to my mind. The first is Psalm 19:1, which says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

The second passage reveals the reasons for God’s wrath against humanity in sin. He has revealed enough of Himself in creation so that, concerning His Divine power and nature, humanity is entirely without excuse. God does not believe in atheists.

Romans 1:18-23 declares, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

I will allow Terje Sorgjerd (of TSO Photography), the maker of these films, to introduce these very dramatic short videos. – JS

This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide. Spain´s highest mountain at 3718m is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April (bit.ly/​g3tsDW) and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.

The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

Continue reading →

Who Saves Whom?

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Michael Horton3Who Saves Whom? by Michael Horton

“God casts His vote; Satan casts his, but you must cast the deciding ballot”?
©1992, 1999 Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals

The touchstone question in the running debate between Jesus and the Pharisees, Paul and the Judaizers, Augustine and Pelagius, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, the Reformers and the medieval Roman Catholic church, and the Calvinists and Arminians is this: Who saves whom?

In this article I want to offer some brief scriptural responses to the common objections concerning the doctrine of election. If one does not believe in the doctrine of unconditional election, it is impossible to have a high doctrine of grace. As Luther told Erasmus, ignorance of this great truth is in a real sense ignorance of the Christian gospel. “For when the works and power of God are unknown in this way, I cannot worship, praise, thank, and serve God, since I do not know how much I ought to attribute to myself and how much to God.” This distinction is essential, he added, “if we want to live a godly life.” Further, “If we do not know these things, we shall know nothing at all of things Christian and shall be worse than any heathen.”1 As Luther pointed out in his debate with Erasmus, this issue of free will and election is essential in maintaining the doctrine of justification by eliminating any element of human decision or effort as a foothold for merit. Therefore, let’s take a brief survey of the biblical support for this important doctrine by considering one of the principal passages: Romans chapter nine.

The Covenant

Running throughout the Old Testament and into the Gospels is the concept of covenant. Although God is the sovereign ruler of all creation and, therefore, quite capable of ruling merely as a dictator, he nevertheless condescends to enter into a covenant with fallen creatures, binding us to him, and himself to us. Continue reading →

Handel’s Messiah

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(New upload, Full HD 1080p) High definition video with high quality audio

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

? Messiah, HWV 56 (1752 version)

Lynne Dawson, soprano
Hillary Summers, alto
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
Alastair Miles, bass

The Brandenburg Consort — Roy Goodman, leader

Crispian Steele Perkins, trumpet

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge

Stephen Cleobury

1993

Mary, According to Rome

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vatican-Dr. Sam Storms – “10 things you should know about what the Roman Catholic Church believes about Mary” – article (original source here)

In our continuing series on 10 things every Christian should know, we turn our attention to the Roman Catholic Church and its beliefs about the Virgin Mary.

(1) Rome believes that when Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother she was preserved and protected from the taint of original sin. This is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This dogma was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1854. We read this in the Catholic Catechism:

“Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace’ through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854 – ‘The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin” (CC, 491).

(2) The RCC also teaches that “in consequence of a Special Privilege of Grace from God, Mary was free from every personal sin during her whole life” (Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 203; this view was endorsed by Augustine). Again, the Catechism declares that “By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long” (CC, 493).

(3) Rome also believes in the perpetual virginity of Mary. The dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary was proclaimed by the Council of Trent in 1545-63. The Catechism affirms the following:

“The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth ‘did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.’ And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the ‘Ever-virgin’” (CC, 499).

(4) When Protestants object to Mary’s perpetual virginity by pointing to those texts that refer to the brothers and sisters of Jesus (Mt. 12:46-50; 13:55-56; Mark 6:3; John 2:12; 7:1-5,10; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19), Rome responds in this way: Continue reading →

A New Family

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boice_1_2Author – James Montgomery Boice held a B.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Theology from the University of Basel in Switzerland. He was the pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and was the author of many books, including three volumes in the series, “Foundations of the Christian Faith”. This article is taken from volume three of that same series, entitled Awakening to God.

In the opening pages of A Place for You, the noted Swiss psychologist Paul Tournier tells of a young man he once counseled. He grew up in a religious home, but it was unhappy. Eventually there was a divorce. This produced unfortunate psychological symptoms in the young man’s life. He developed an acute sense of failure, first in not reconciling his parents, then in his studies, then in an inability to settle down and achieve in any area of life. At last he came to see Tournier. They talked, and on one occasion, as if summing up his thought, the young man explained, “Basically, I’m always looking for a place—for somewhere to be.”1 The need for a place is virtually universal. On the human level the principle is easy to discern. “The child who has been able to grow up harmoniously in a healthy home finds a welcome everywhere. In infancy all he needs is a stick placed across two chairs to make himself a house, in which he feels quite at home. Later on, wherever he goes, he will be able to make any place his own, without any effort on his part. For him it will not be a matter of seeking, but of choosing.” On the other hand, “when the family is such that the child cannot fit himself into it properly, he looks everywhere for some other place, leading a wandering existence, incapable of settling down anywhere. His tragedy is that he carries about within himself this fundamental incapacity for any real attachment.”2 On the spiritual level, the problem is detected in the alienation from God we feel as a result of the Fall and of our own deliberate sins. Saint Augustine once wrote, “Thou hast formed us for thyself….” That is our true place. But he added in frank recognition of our dilemma and sin, “And our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.”3

God has dealt with this great problem of alienation through adoption, taking a person from one family (or no family) and placing him or her in a new family—the family of God. Sometimes adoption has been thought of merely as one aspect of justification or as only another way of stating what happens in regeneration. But adoption is nevertheless much more than either of these other acts of grace. “Justification means our acceptance with God as righteous and the bestowal of the title to everlasting life. Regeneration is the renewing of our hearts after the image of God. But these blessings in themselves, however precious they are, do not indicate what is conferred by the act of adoption. By adoption the redeemed become sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty; they are introduced into and given the privileges of God’s family.”4

Only adoption suggests the new family relationship which is ours in Christ and points to the privileges of that relationship. “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:14-17). Continue reading →

TULIP – by Dr. John Gerstner

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T – TOTAL DEPRAVITY

When man first sinned he died (Genesis 2:17). Now man is spiritually dead, not well, not sick, not even terminally ill, but dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). His depravity pertaining to all aspects of his personality is total. This is not to be confused with UTTER depravity, for there is room for deprovement. Consequently this slave of sin (John 8:34), exploits every opportunity to sin in every area of his being: in thought, word and deed, by commission and omission, and even his good works are bad (Genesis 6:5). Total depravity is our one original contribution to TULIP. We are the dirty soil in which God plants His flower, and from our filth, produces a thing of divine beauty.

U – UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
If man is as depraved as the Bible says he is, his divine election to salvation would have to be as unconditional as the Bible says it is (Rom. 9:15). How could totally depraved persons exercise faith in a God they hate, or behave virtuously while averse to virtue? If it were a matter of foreseeing, what would God foresee but sin and unbelief unless He elected to rescue some of the deservedly perishing? The election to salvation is absolutely unconditional, but the salvation is not, faith being its prerequisite and good works its post-requisite.

L – LIMITED ATONEMENT
The atonement is the means by which God brings totally depraved but unconditionally elect persons to Himself without violence to His own inexorable holiness. His mercy constrains Him to save and His holiness restrains Him from saving unjustly. So God became man in Christ that He could pay the price of sin and remained God. He did not empty Himself of deity when He became incarnate so that the purchase was infinite in value. Thus the atonement was unlimited in its sufficiency, as in its offer, and limited only in its specific design, for those who believe (John 3:16). Those who believe are the elect (Rom. 8:30). “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy” at once explains the unconditional character of election and the limited-ness of the atonement.

I – IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
The infinitely precious atonement would be of no value because totally depraved persons even though elect, are utterly hostile to God unless something was done to them in grace that corresponded to what was done for them in the atonement. Saving grace need not only to be provided but applied by means of union with Christ and regeneration. This divine grace is irresistible or efficacious because it mercifully changes the depraved soul. When a person is born again from above by the Spirit, he, as a new creature finds it as natural (that is irresistible) to come to Christ as in his depravity he finds it natural (that is irresistible) to flee from Him (John 3:3-8). Grace is irresistible not by being against man’s will but by recreating his will.

P – PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
The purpose of God would still fail if the last one of Christ’s sheep were not brought and kept within His fold (John 17:20, 21; 2 Pet. 3:9). So the saints must be persevering and this could only be possible or certain by God’s preserving. Having put His hand to the plow God never turns back (Phil. 1:6). Because He does not, neither do His saints (Phil. 2:11, 12). The perseverance by the saints is the consequence of the preservation of the saints. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus on whom our faith depends from beginning to end (Heb. 12:2).