Do Christians Believe in a Sovereign God or Not?
By Editor | November 13, 2008
One thing a crisis has always been able to do, is to reveal the weaknesses in a person’s life, whether in their character or their beliefs, and it will show up in their conduct. The recent election of Barack Hussein Obama to the presidency of the USA has been treated with every possible dire prediction imaginable. Now, I am not saying I like his policies. From what I have read and heard, I most certainly do not.
But there is something that seems to literally jump off the pages of various Christian / fundamental and even Reformed web-sites and blogs. The collective sigh of so many Christians makes one wonder just how real is the faith of those - especially in the Reformed camp - in the doctine of God’s sovereignty.
Did God fall asleep in the days leading up to the election? Or worse yet, is He dead? Of course not! But to read the despair emanating from the keyboards as the end-time prophets click away at their messages of doom and then post them on their websites, (which were ostensibly established to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ), one could be forgiven for thinking that not only is the end of the world here, but so is the active working of Almighty God!
Our confession of faith (1689 LBC) states this about God.
“God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree.”
Now either we believe that God is sovereign or we do not. And if God is not sovereign, then He really isn’t God. Christians need never cease to rejoice because contrary to this ever-changing world, we have an unchanging God who is absolutely sovereign over all His creation … and yes that includes presidential elections in the United States. America may consider herself a super-power, but God holds and exercises supreme power.
And Psalm 75:6,7 says “promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. but God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another”. If the American voters have chosen to put another man in the presidential office, then let us never forget it was God who oversaw the election and thus there are reasons, known only to Him, as to why this was part of His sovereign will.
Personally, I can see a lot of good coming out of Obama’s election. I think the open hostility towards Christians will serve several positive purposes.
(1) It should drive the Christian church to earnest, Christ-honouring prayer, (very little prayer today is that)
(2) It should move the Christian church to do some earnest soul-searching and bring it to repentance,
(3) It should take the focus of the Christian church from a worldly-minded focus to a heavenly-minded one,
(4) It should fill the hearts and minds of the Christian church to pray for revival,
(5) It should make Christians much more earnest and fervent in their personal witnessing and desire to see sinners brought to Christ,
(6) It should make the Christian church look to the Lord and His Holy Spirit to accomplish the work of building the church, rather than relying on worldly programs and sinful practices.
Now if anything could bring all this change about in the Christian church of Canada and the U.S., then surely we can see the hand of the Lord in it! Let us never forget, that “Elijah’s God still lives, and answers still by fire!” Let us pray and labour, serve and love the Lord with all our heart, soul and might.
And when Obama has fulfilled what God has purposed for him, God will put him down and set up another. And all the glory will be the Lord’s. And the all the praise will be to His sovereign grace.
Topics: Prayer, Serving The Lord, Uncategorized, Victory in Christian living | No Comments »
Quote - Peace through Prayer
By Editor | November 12, 2008
Oh! how happy is that man, who feels and knows that when trouble comes, he cannot be bewildered and confused by the stroke, no matter how heavy it may be. Sorrow-stricken he will be, sorrow-sticken God may intend him to be, but he has his resource, and he knows it, and will avail himself of it. His is no vague theory of the general sympathy of God for man; his is a knowledge of God, as a personal and feeling God; he says with the Psalmist, “Unto Thee will I cry”. (Philip Bennett Power: 1822-1899)
Topics: Prayer, Quote of the Week | No Comments »
Quote - How Character is Lost
By Editor | November 8, 2008
“Character is always lost when a high ideal is sacrificed on the altar of conformity and popularity” (C.H. Spurgeon)
Topics: Quote of the Week | No Comments »
Every Christian Is Called to Serve God
By Editor | October 23, 2008
The following is a great quote by William Booth:
“Not called!” did you say? “Not heard the call,” I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help.
Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father’s house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. Adn then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.
Topics: Quote of the Week, Serving The Lord | No Comments »
Quote - Avoid a Sugared Gospel!
By Editor | August 13, 2008
Avoid a sugared gospel as you would shun sugar of lead. Seek that gospel which rips up and tears and cuts and wounds and hacks and even kills, for that is the gospel that makes alive again. And when you have found it, give good heed to it. Let it enter your inmost being. As the rain soaks into the ground, so pray the Lord to let his gospel soak into your soul. [C.H. Spurgeon]
Topics: Quote of the Week | No Comments »
What Do I Think of Parachurch Groups?
By Editor | July 29, 2008
“What do you think of parachurch groups?” I was recently asked this question. It wasn’t the first time, and it most likely will not be the last! If I were to rephrase the question this way, and ask myself, “Do you think parachurch organizations are good or bad, beneficial or harmful, a blessing or a curse?” My answer would be a resounding, “YES!” (What a perfect political response that would be).
But seriously, parachurch groups can have all the above qualities. And if they do not actually manifest them, they often inherently possess them. That is because they usually are a result of concerned Christians seeing a lack in some area of activity in the local church. While it is commendable that Christians see that, and want to do something about it, (that’s good!) the danger is that far too often parachurch organizations tend to become ‘issue-oriented’ and often it is ‘single-issue-oriented’ (that’s bad).
God’s purpose in this world is to be worked out in and through His Church - the local church. And while I would be in total agreement with those who believe that many, many churches have departed from biblical doctrine and practice (and it usually goes in that order), that does not mean that God has given up on His church. Just because there is a high divorce rate in our society, does not mean we give up on the institution of marriage; and so it ought to be with the real and perceived problems with local churches.
The Church is mandated to proclaim the “whole counsel of God”. It cannot be single-issue focussed without abdicating its responsibility to its Head - Jesus Christ. Let me give two examples:
(1) A local church cannot focus on evangelism and neglect the discipling of new converts. Many “evanglistic” parachurch organizations only “do evengelism” and almost totally ignore the equally important ministry of discipleship.
(2) Neither can the Church focus only on doctrinal teaching / apologetics and not give equal attention to practical teaching that gives down-to-earth practical helps for its members to put those great doctrines into practice. Parachurch organizations tend to do one or the other.
Briefly then, while I thank God for the good that does come from those few parachurch organizations that understand their own limitations, are accountable to the elders of a local church, and do not in any way detract from the authority and mandate of the local church as God’s chosen way to carry on His work in the world, I am also very concerned that due to the over-emphasis of ’single-issues’ by parachurch organizations, that many well-meaning Christians are unwittingly undermining the real work of God, and in fact, may be doing more harm than good. And one of the saddest manifestations of this is that, all too often, Christians often show more loyalty and zeal towards parachurch groups - which are created by fallible men and women, and take their involvement in them more seriously, than they do to the local church - which was instituted by God. And that can never be good.
Topics: Parachurch organizations | No Comments »
Quote - Unafraid and Unashamed
By Editor | July 29, 2008
“Let every Christian be unafraid of the consequences of being unashamed of Christ.” [JET]
Topics: Quote of the Week | No Comments »
Living for Christ Means Opposition
By Editor | July 24, 2008
There is a fallacy that has woven itself into the evangelical Christian mindset today that was simply not there years ago. It is this. To live the ‘perfect’ Christian life means you will have no enemies. That was not the way of the heroes of faith in the Bible, nor was it the way of our spiritual forefathers - especially the reformers - and it assuredly was not the way of Christ, our Great Example! To live your life and have no enemies, means you did not live your life as Christ meant you to. The Lord Jesus Christ himself said, “Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26).
If you expose error, then the one in error will likely become your enemy except God gives him grace to repent of that error. I think this idea is likely expressed best by the Scottish journalist, Charles Mackay (1814 - 1889). The following are lines from one of his poems.
You have no enemies, you say?
Alas, my friend, the boast is poor;
He who has mingled in the fray
Of duty, that the brave endure,
Must have made foes! If you have none,
Small is the work that you have done,
You’ve hit no traitor on the hip,
You’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip;
You’ve never turned the wrong to right,
You’ve been a coward in the fight.
Topics: Serving The Lord, Victory in Christian living | 1 Comment »
Christianity, Free Speech and the Internet
By Editor | July 22, 2008
I was sent this article earlier today from a friend of mine. It has to do with proposed changes to the way the internet is controlled. While I am certainly one that strongly believes in the responsibility of each one to exercise self-control (that is a biblical concept and command), I am always wary when it comes down to having a government - however well-meaning and well-intentioned it might be - exercising control over the ability to share freely our thoughts and convictions.
In a nutshell, the article suggests that the major internet providers in Canada (Bell and Telus) are going to change the internet over to a system like signing up for cable TV. In other words, you sign up with different ‘packages’ and pay to visit certain sites which would be included in that. If this idea is indeed in the works, then it will have serious ramifications on Chrisitan websites, and especially individuals like myself who post their viewpoints on the net to disseminate the gospel, denounce false teaching and teachers, and to distribute material that may be helpful to those who otherwise may not be able to access it.
If any of you reading this can shed some more light on the subject, I would love to have your comments.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
New Covenant Theology
By Editor | July 15, 2008
Reformed churches across the North American continent are increasingly faced with having to deal with a doctrinal teaching that is finding its way into many churches (especially Reformed Baptist), called “New Covenant Theology”.
The proponents of this theology (men like Tom Wells, Fred Zaspel, John Reisinger, Steve Lehrer, etc) make the claim that this view of biblical interpretation is found in historic Baptist thinking. They are quick to claim C.H. Spurgeon as on “their side” (as one man put it to me), as well as a host of the reformers, including John Calvin.
What they cannot deny, and even admit is that this is a relatively new way to interpret the scripture and certainly New Covenant Theology (NCT) is a relatively “new kid on the block” as far as theological systems go.
I hope to analyze and critique the teaching over the next few weeks and have written some of the leaders of the movement to recommend some books to me (just 1 or 2) in order to be able to look at this theological viewpoint from the position of those who hold it. Stay tuned!
Topics: New Covenant Theology (NCT) | 1 Comment »
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