Praying for Japan

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You have rejected us, O God, broken our defences and burst upon us. You have been angry with us; now restore us to Your favour. You have shaken our land and split it open. Now mend its fractures and seal the cracks, for the land is quaking. You have been very hard on us and shown Your people desperate times. – Psalm 62:1-3 combined NIV NLT translation

Last night Japan experienced the biggest earthquake in its recorded history. The enormous tsunami that followed (20 feet high and traveling at 500 mph) was extremely devastating, consuming all in its way. Authorities are saying that there are possibilities of additional earthquakes and tsunamis for the next month.

There is warning of a large radiation leak and many other huge issues facing the nation, even as they seek to rescue those still trapped in the wreckage. Japan has issued a state of emergency at a second nuclear power plant after its cooling system failed as thousands evacuate from the area near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with radiation levels surging to 1,000 times their normal levels. THE NEXT FEW HOURS ARE ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL!! These power plants have to stabilize or else there will be further mayhem and disaster.

A mammoth relief mission is swinging into action in north-east Japan. Hundreds are already confirmed as dead with the number expected to rise dramatically as more information is gathered. Tens of thousands are still missing.

Please pray for the people in the Sendai area, and that God will use this to somehow point Japanese hearts to Christ. We know that He is sovereign, “sustaining all things with His powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3). He has a plan in all of this to use it for His glory and the eternal joy of the Japanese – we need to be prayer warriors for this right now.

The best up to the minute coverage seems to be found at the bbc world news website here.

Back in 2004, after a major tsunami, Dr. John Piper wrote the following article entitled “Tsunami, Sovereignty, and Mercy” which has great relevance to what is taking place here. It is only very slightly adjusted, as references to the specific 2004 disaster have been removed. Continue reading →

Amazed By Common Grace

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Common Grace. It is a term used in theology to describe the grace God gives to every living person on planet earth. It is called “common, but because everyone alive gets it.

Grace by definition can never be demanded. God gives grace, not because He has to, but because He decides to. The scripture says that God “makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45).

How gracious this is of God. God doesn’t discriminate against the non-Christian in sending His rain, but gives it freely to saint and sinner alike. That should amaze us. It should take our breath away in fact. Yet the concept of common grace doesn’t usually do that for us. We’re very much accustomed to it, because it is so common, but we must always remember that God is exceedingly gracious in dispensing this kind of grace on people. The point being, He in no way has to.

Through the use of a short story, I’d like to give you a glimpse into why common grace should amaze us.

The story concerns a young Christian lady of 18 years of age in York, England. Born in Malta, of Irish parents, she was engaged to be married to a bright young man in the British military. The plan was that after the war was over, they would both serve the Lord as missionaries together, wherever He would lead them to go.

Sent over to France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, the young man was thrust into the battle for the city of Caen in Normandy, France. Tragically, just weeks afterward, on July 10, 1944, he was killed by one of the enemies’ bullets.

On hearing the news of her fiance’s death, the young lady was obviously devastated. Grief filled her heart. In attending church services in York, for the next several months she would hear dramatic testimonies of Divine protection, as loved ones returned back home recounting the stories. All of these returning soldiers were protected from imminent danger. Many of these soldiers were extremely conscious of the Lord’s direct intervention in keeping them alive, and yet, the young lady had to live on knowing that the man she loved was not coming home. Continue reading →

Clever Deceptive Speech

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John Charles Ryle (1816 – 1900) was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool, in the Church of England. Before his conversion to Christ, he was an athlete who rowed and played Cricket for Oxford.

He became known as an warm hearted and engaging defender of the Christian faith; a writer, pastor and an evangelical preacher. In reading his material, it is amazing how relevant his insights seem to be for our own day.

“J. C. Ryle Quotes” is an online treasure store of quotes from the great man. Here is one regarding the characteristics of false teachers and the clever, deceptive traits of false doctrine. We should always remember that deceived people, deceive people:

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.

1. There is an undeniable zeal in some of the teachers of error: their “earnestness” makes many think they must be right.

2. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge: many fancy that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe guides.

3. There is a general tendency to free thought and free inquiry in these latter days: many like to prove their independence of judgment, by believing novelties.

4. There is a wide-spread desire to appear charitable and liberal-minded: many seem half ashamed of saying that anybody can be in the wrong.

5. There is a quantity of half-truth taught by the modern false teachers: they are incessantly using Scriptural terms and phrases in an unscriptural sense.

6. There is a morbid craving in the public mind for a more sensuous, ceremonial, sensational, showy worship: men are impatient of inward, invisible heart-work.

7. There is a silly readiness in every direction to believe everybody who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, and a determination to forget that Satan often masquerades himself “as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14).

8. There is a wide-spread “gullibility” among professing Christians: every heretic who tells his story plausibly is sure to be believed, and everybody who doubts him is called a persecutor and a narrow-minded man.

All these things are peculiar symptoms of our times. I defy any observing person to deny them. They tend to make the assaults of false doctrine in our day peculiarly dangerous. They make it more than ever needful to cry aloud, “Do not be carried away!”

~ J.C. Ryle

Warnings to the Churches, “Divers and Strange Doctrines”, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1967], 76, 77.