Jewish question

Der Stur mer- May 7 1942 Report in IMTN- "It is not only a European Problem! The Jewish question is a world question! Not only is Germany not safe in the face of the Jews as long as one Jew Lives in Europe, But also the Jewish question is hardly solved in Europe so Long as Jews Live in the rest of the world" Satans gasp to change History and the final outcome

The Faith Of Cameron Townsend

Reporting on interview between Jiménez Borja an assistant to the Peruvian Minister of Education at the 25 Wycliffe Anniversary and Cameron Townsend

"I remember the Day Mr. Townsend came into my office in 1945. He presented the most ridiculous plan I had ever heard. He wanted to go into the jungle with a group of linguists. They were going to learn the languages of the people, form alphabets teach the people how to read and translate the Bible into those languages. He wanted my blessing on this impossible project. Our conversation went like this: Mr.Townsend, who is going to do all this work? It will be done by trained linguist- young men and women with college degrees who are willing to spend their lives among the indigenous peoples. This is a difficult task. How many are willing to go? None yet. But when I go back to the U.S . and challenge them, many will volunteer. The jungle is impossible. How will you get those people out to the villages? I plan to use airplanes to land on the rivers and airstrips that can be cleared in the jungle. How many planes do you have? None, But when I share the need, God will give us enough planes. Who will fly these planes? Hundreds of young people, seasoned pilots and mechanics will volunteer. How many pilots and mechanics do you now have? None, but god will send them along. There is much disease in the jungle who will you stay healthy? We'll have clinics staffed by doctor's and nurses. How many doctors and nurses do you have? None, but God will supply them. Who will finance all this? The U.S. government? A wealthy foundation? No. I'll go home and tell the people of the United States about this plan. God will supply. All the workers will raise their own support. At this I stared at the strange man and told hime, When all that comes to pass, come back to me and I will bless you. He got up, gave me a big hug, and said I'll be back soon. "when Mr. Townsend walked out of the door, I turned to my secretary and said, "allá va el gringo más loco que jamás he vito' ( there godes the craziest gringo I've ever seen in my life.) Those Crazy Gringos; Bernie May, 2002/ 1945 Jaars/ Wycliffe

On Martin Burnham a glorious entery into eternity

By Stefan J. Bos ASSIST News Service June 17, 2002 Crosswalk.com News Channel - A memorial service was held June 14 for American missionary Martin Burnham, who was shot and killed a week ago during a gun battle between government troops and Muslim militants in the jungle of the Philippines, according to reports monitored by ASSIST News Service. A Filipino nurse, Deborah Yap, was also killed during the partially failed rescue attempt by the Philippine army on June 7. The ceremony for Martin (42) was conducted in the Central Christian Church in Wichita, Kansas, where residents had prayed around the clock for him and his wife since they were kidnapped last year by Abu Sayaf Group rebels. Martin's 43-year old wife Gracia, who survived but is still in a wheelchair because of a bullet wound, and their three children Jeff (15), Mindy (12) and Zach (11) were among the thousands of people that attended the emotionally charged service. Also present were representatives of the Bush Administration, former senator Bob Dole, Senator Sam Brownback, Rep. Todd Tiahrt and the Philippine Ambassador Albert del Rosario, according to news reports. Outside the church, the staff of nearby stores stood on the street, paying their respects by holding flags and sympathy cards as police directed traffic, eyewitnesses said. Alex Branch of The Wichita Eagle newspaper described the church service as a "joyous memorial" being held by friends and family, the Religious Media Agency said. "The family's poise impressed all those who have tried to imagine themselves in the family's place," he was quoted as saying. Martin Burnham went to the Philippines with his missionary parents in 1969. Less than two decades later, he and his wife began working for the New Tribes Mission (NTM) in 1986. He soon became known as a dedicated pilot for missionaries, delivering their mail, supplies and encouragement. Martin was often heard praying and singing during the one-year hostage ordeal that began when the Burnhams were kidnapped after celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary at the Dos Palmas beach resort near the island of Palawan. Four days earlier on May 23, 2001, he reportedly remarked at his farewell meeting: "I wasn't called to be a missionary. I wasn't called to the Philippines. I was just called to follow Christ; and that's what I'm doing." During the Memorial Service, much of which had been planned by Martin, the Rev. Galen Hinshaw read letters written by the children. Mindy told of her father singing to her, "playfully inserting her name into the song's lyrics." The 12-year-old wrote: "Even though we weren't a rich family, any time I would want or needed anything, he did his best to get it for me." And their 15-year-old son, Jeff, told of a father who would always make time for him and planned to teach him to fly. "I'm going to miss our times together," he wrote. The Rev. Oli Jacobsen, chairman of the New Tribes Mission executive committee, spoke of Martin as being "kind and gentle, but he was no weak person." NTM has reported that since the kidnapping, 5,000 people have registered to receive updates by e-mail and 1,000 checked the website for the latest information. Martin had told his wife prior to his death that, if he should die, he wanted his funeral to have a sermon by Rev. Clay Bowlin, a Kansas City pastor at Northwest Bible Church and a fellow student with Martin at Calvary Bible College in Kansas City, Missouri. Bowlin described how a hungry Martin and Gracia shared their food during captivity with the younger members of the Abu Sayyaf, many of whom were only children - children with guns - "because they were hungry, too." Roxana Hegeman, an Associated Press Writer noted that Bowling told how people around the world prayed for the Burnhams' release. "Gracia told him that He (the Lord) brought her home by helicopter and brought Martin by angels' wings." His family believes that he is now in the heavenly home of Jesus Christ, who Martin Burnham considered to be his Lord and Savior. Residents, friends and family have set up a Martin & Gracia Burnham Benefit Fund for donations to help Gracia and her children. Donations can be send to: Martin & Gracia Burnham Benefit Fund, C/O: Rose Hill Bank, P.O. Box 68, Rose Hill, KS 67133. Burnham Family Trust C/O: Valley View Bank, 7500 W. 95th Street. Family e-mails can be sent to New Tribes Mission at ntm@ntm.org. The title on the Article was "Bush official pays respect" But why is this relevent in any way?

Enviornment or Genes

Jim Lewis and clerical worker Jim Springer, Identical twins separated five weeks after birth, they were raised by families 80 miles apart in Ohio. Reunited 39 years later, they would have strained the credulity of the editors of Ripley=s Believe it or Not. Not only did both have dark hair, stand six feet tall and weigh 180 pounds, but they spoke with the same inflections, moved with the gait and made the gestures. Both loved stock car racing and hated baseball. Both married women named Linda, divorced them and married women named Betty. Both drove Chevrolets, drank Miller light, chain-smoked Salem's and vacationed on the same half-mile stretch of Florida beach. Both had elevated blood pressure, severe migraines and had undergone vasectomies. Both hit their nails. Their heart rates, brain waves and IQ's were nearly identical. Their scores on personality tests were as close as if one person had taken the same test twice. ... Studies of twins have produced an impressive list of attributes or behaviours that appear to owe at least as much to heredity as to environment. It includes alienation. Extroversions, traditionalism, leadership, career choice, risk aversion, attention deficit disorder, religious conviction and vulnerability to stress. one study even concluded that happiness is 80 percent heritable C it depends little on wealth, achievement or marital status. Another study found that while both optimism and pessimism are heavily influenced by genes, environment affects optimism but not pessimism

From Steve Camps Blog On church Growth

August 11th 2005 which one are we known for in America today? Taking some license with Stephen Covey's best selling tome, "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People",here are three very different, but apt descriptions of church models that exist today. These lists are not exhaustive... and they were written with a broad brush strokes, intentionally, to include a wide variety of church "experiences" in each category. In fact, I would like to know what would your lists comprise of? Read Ephesians 4:11-16 to get a glimpse into the church that glorifies God. Seven highly effective habits of the Contemporary Church that almost always guarantee church growth with very little spiritual impact: 1. Go political, not biblical 2. Go pragmatic, not theological 3. Go psychological, not discipleship 4. Go anthropocentric, not Christocentric 5. Go postmodern, not transcendent 6. Go share your story, not all for His glory 7. Go sickness, not sin; go disease not, disobedience Seven highly effective habits of the Traditional Church that almost always guarantee church stagnation with very little spiritual impact: 1. Go traditional, not spiritual 2. Go legalistic, not grace 3. Go corporate, not community 4. Go count converts, not make disciples 5. Go pastoral/elder ruler, not shepherd/servant leader 6. Go more information, not Christlikeness 7. Go programs, not prayer Seven highly effective habits of the Biblical Church that almost always guarantee Gods blessing and spiritual impact: 1. Go supremacy of God and His glory in worship 2. Go sola fide, sola scriptura, sola gratia, solus Christus, Soli Deo Gloria 3. Go The Great Commission and the Two Great Commandments 4. Go take care of the poor, the widow and the orphan 5. Go discipline of sin 6. Go pray without ceasing 7. Go equip the saints for the work of the ministry

The Paradigm

Many definitions float around in society and clusters of people who have common interest or purposes to interrelate. The sociological anthropological field is no different. What needs to happen within these bodies then is for an official body to standardized terms. Sometimes this body just becomes a well-respected author. Paradigm is one such word. In the non-anthropological world the word is defined by the Oxford Dictionary by a Apattern or example." While the dictionary of anthropology says Aparadigm to a theoretical model to explain of social behaviour. Paradigm refers to that part of the culture that defines the culture. It is the essence of the culture. Parts of the Paradigm might be exhibited in other cultures but only one culture one culture that exhibit all of the characteristics of the paradigm. A paradigm might be delineated by behaviour and worldview. If we delve deeper into the aspects of behaviour and world view we would find that different parts of the culture inter mingle so that the behaviour is not separated from the world view. The behaviour in various ways creates the worldview and conversely the worldview establishes what the behaviour is. It would appear wonderful to have a hierarchical listing of behaviour, worldview, or location that forms the worldview but culture does not delineate within itself to decide that certain aspects of it are less necessary than others. Certain cultures emphasise different aspects of the paradigm model but all the aspects would be found in a culture, and all of them lead in creating the Paradigm. The different factors that create the worldview are concept of the individual, patterns of behaviour, assumptions about the world and the way people should behave

What is the Doctrine of the Trinity?

What is the doctrine of the Trinity? Is the Trinity contradictory? What is the difference between essence and person? What are some applications of this doctrine? The doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons--the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Stated differently, God is one in essence and three in person. These definitions express three crucial truths: (1) The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons, (2) each Person is fully God, (3) there is only one God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons. The Bible speaks of the Father as God (Phil. 1:2), the Jesus as God (Titus 2:13), and the Holy Spirit as God (Acts 5:3-4). Are these just three different ways of looking at God, or simply ways of referring to three different roles that God plays? The answer must be no, because the Bible also indicates that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons. For example, since the Father sent the Son into the world (John 3:16), He cannot be the same person as the Son. Likewise, after the Son returned to the Father (John 16:10), the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit into the world (John 14:26; Acts 2:33). Therefore, the Holy Spirit must be distinct from the Father and the Son. In the baptism of Jesus, we see the Father speaking from heaven and the Spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove as Jesus comes out of the water (Mark 1:10-11). In John 1:1 it is affirmed that Jesus is God and, at the same time, that He was "with God"--thereby indicating that Jesus is a distinct Person from God the Father (cf. also 1:18). And in John 16:13-15 we see that although there is a close unity between them all, the Holy Spirit is also distinct from the Father and the Son. The fact that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct Persons means, in other words, that the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father. Jesus is God, but He is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God, but He is not the Son or the Father. They are different Persons, not three different ways of looking at God. The personhood of each member of the Trinity means that each Person has a distinct center of consciousness. Thus, they relate to each other personally--the Father regards Himself as "I," while He regards the Son and Holy Spirit as "You." Likewise the Son regards Himself as "I," but the Son and the Holy Spirit as "You." Often it is objected that "If Jesus is God, then he must have prayed to himself while he was on earth." But the answer to this objection lies in simply applying what we have already seen. While Jesus and the Father are both God, they are different Persons. Thus, Jesus prayed to God the Father without praying to Himself. In fact, it is precisely the continuing dialog between the Father and the Son (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; John 5:19; 11:41-42; 17:1ff) which furnishes the best evidence that they are distinct Persons with distinct centers of consciousness. Sometimes the Personhood of the Father and Son is appreciated, but the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is neglected. Sometimes the Spirit is treated more like a "force" than a person. But the Holy Spirit is not an it, but a He (see John 14:26; 16:7-15; Acts 8:16). The fact that the Holy Spirit is a Person, not an impersonal force (like gravity), is also shown by the fact that He speaks (Hebrews 3:7), reasons (Acts 15:28), thinks and understands (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), wills (1 Corinthians 12:11), feels (Ephesians 4:30), and gives personal fellowship (2 Corinthians 13:14). These are all qualities of personhood. In addition to these texts, the others we mentioned above make clear that the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Personhood of the Son and the Father. They are three real persons, not three roles God plays. Another serious error people have made is to think that the Father became the Son, who then became the Holy Spirit. Contrary to this, the passages we have seen imply that God always was and always will be three Persons. There was never a time when one of the Persons of the Godhead did not exist. They are all eternal. While the three members of the Trinity are distinct, this does not mean that any is inferior to the other. Instead, they are all identical in attributes. They are equal in power, love, mercy, justice, holiness, knowledge, and all other qualities. Each Person is fully God. If God is three Persons, does this mean that each Person is "one-third" of God? Does the Trinity mean that God is divided into three parts? The Trinity does not divide God into three parts. The Bible is clear that all three Persons are each one hundred percent God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all fully God. For example, it says of Christ that "in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Colossians 2:9). We should not think of God as like a "pie" cut into three pieces, each piece representing a Person. This would make each Person less than fully God and thus not God at all. Rather, "the being of each Person is equal to the whole being of God."[1] The divine essence is not something that is divided between the three persons, but is fully in all three persons without being divided into "parts." Thus, the Son is not one-third of the being of God, He is all of the being of God. The Father is not one-third of the being of God, He is all of the being of God. And likewise with the Holy Spirit. Thus, as Wayne Grudem writes, "When we speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together we are not speaking of any greater being than when we speak of the Father alone, the Son alone, or the Holy Spirit alone."[2] There is only one God. If each Person of the Trinity is distinct and yet fully God, then should we conclude that there is more than one God? Obviously we cannot, for Scripture is clear that there is only one God: "There is no other God besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me. Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:21-22; see also 44:6-8; Exodus 15:11; Deuteronomy 4:35; 6:4-5; 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Kings 8:60). Having seen that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are distinct Persons, that they are each fully God, and that there is nonetheless only one God, we must conclude that all three Persons are the same God. In other words, there is one God who exists as three distinct Persons. If there is one passage which most clearly brings all of this together, it is Matthew 28:19: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." First, notice that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinguished as distinct Persons. We baptize into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Second, notice that each Person must be deity because they are all placed on the same level. In fact, would Jesus have us baptize in the name of a mere creature? Surely not. Therefore each of the Persons into whose name we are to be baptized must be deity. Third, notice that although the three divine Persons are distinct, we are baptized into their name (singular), not names (plural). The three Persons are distinct, yet only constitute one name. This can only be if they share one essence. Is the Trinity Contradictory? This leads us to investigate more closely a very helpful definition of the Trinity which I mentioned earlier: God is one in essence, but three in Person. This formulation can show us why there are not three Gods, and why the Trinity is not a contradiction. In order for something to be contradictory, it must violate the law of noncontradiction. This law states that A cannot be both A (what it is) and non-A (what it is not) at the same time and in the same relationship. In other words, you have contradicted yourself if you affirm and deny the same statement. For example, if I say that the moon is made entirely of cheese but then also say that the moon is not made entirely of cheese, I have contradicted myself. Other statements may at first seem contradictory but are really not. Theologian R. C. Sproul cites as an example Dickens' famous line, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Obviously this is a contradiction if Dickens means that it was the best of times in the same way that it was the worst of times. But he avoids contradiction with this statement because he means that in one sense it was the best of times, but in another sense it was the worst of times. Carrying this concept over to the Trinity, it is not a contradiction for God to be both three and one because He is not three and one in the same way. He is three in a different way than He is one. Thus, we are not speaking with a forked tongue-we are not saying that God is one and then denying that He is one by saying that He is three. This is very important: God is one and three at the same time, but not in the same way. How is God one? He is one in essence. How is God three? He is three in person. Essence and person are not the same thing. God is one in a certain way (essence) and three in a different way (person). Since God is one in a different way than He is three, the Trinity is not a contradiction. There would only be a contradiction if we said that God is three in the same way that He is one. So a closer look at the fact that God is one in essence but three in person has helped to show why the Trinity is not a contradiction. But how does it show us why there is only one God instead of three? It is very simple: All three Persons are one God because, as we saw above, they are all the same essence. Essence means the same thing as "being." Thus, since God is only one essence, He is only one being--not three. This should make it clear why it is so important to understand that all three Persons are the same essence. For if we deny this, we have denied God's unity and affirmed that there is more than one being of God (i.e., that there is more than one God). What we have seen so far provides a good basic understanding of the Trinity. But it is possible to go deeper. If we can understand more precisely what is meant by essence and person, how these two terms differ, and how they relate, we will then have a more complete understanding of the Trinity. Essence and Person Essence. What does essence mean? As I said earlier, it means the same thing as being. God's essence is His being. To be even more precise, essence is what you are. At the risk of sounding too physical, essence can be understood as the "stuff" that you "consist of." Of course we are speaking by analogy here, for we cannot understand this in a physical way about God. "God is spirit" (John 4:24). Further, we clearly should not think of God as "consisting of" anything other than divinity. The "substance" of God is God, not a bunch of "ingredients" that taken together yield deity. Person. In regards to the Trinity, we use the term "Person" differently than we generally use it in everyday life. Therefore it is often difficult to have a concrete definition of Person as we use it in regards to the Trinity. What we do not mean by Person is an "independent individual" in the sense that both I and another human are separate, independent individuals who can exist apart from one another. What we do mean by Person is something that regards himself as "I" and others as "You." So the Father, for example, is a different Person from the Son because He regards the Son as a "You," even though He regards Himself as "I." Thus, in regards to the Trinity, we can say that "Person" means a distinct subject which regards Himself as an "I" and the other two as a "You." These distinct subjects are not a division within the being of God, but "a form of personal existence other than a difference in being."[3] How do they relate? The relationship between essence and Person, then, is as follows. Within God's one, undivided being is an "unfolding" into three personal distinctions. These personal distinctions are modes of existence within the divine being, but are not divisions of the divine being. They are personal forms of existence other than a difference in being. The late theologian Herman Bavinck has stated something very helpful at this point: "The persons are modes of existence within the being; accordingly, the Persons differ among themselves as the one mode of existence differs from the other, and--using a common illustration-as the open palm differs from a closed fist."[4] Because each of these "forms of existence" are relational (and thus are Persons), they are each a distinct center of consciousness, with each center of consciousness regarding Himself as "I" and the others as "You." Nonetheless, these three Persons all "consist of" the same "stuff" (that is, the same "what," or essence). As some have explained it, while essence is what you are, person is who you are. So God is one "what" but three "whos." The divine essence is thus not something that exists "above" or separate from the three Persons, but the divine essence is the being of the three Persons. Neither should we think of the Persons as being defined by attributes added on to the being of God. Wayne Grudem explains: But if each person is fully God and has all of God's being, then we also should not think that the personal distinctions are any kind of additional attributes added on to the being of God . . . Rather, each person of the Trinity has all of the attributes of God, and no one Person has any attributes that are not possessed by the others. On the other hand, we must say that the Persons are real, that they are not just different ways of looking at the one being of God...the only way it seems possible to do this is to say that the distinction between the persons is not a difference of `being' but a difference of `relationships.' This is something far removed from our human experience, where every different human `person' is a different being as well. Somehow God's being is so much greater than ours that within his one undivided being there can be an unfolding into interpersonal relationships, so that there can be three distinct persons.[5] Trinitarian Illustrations? There are many illustrations which have been offered to help us understand the Trinity. While there are some illustrations which are helpful, we should recognize that no illustration is perfect. Unfortunately, there are many illustrations which are not simply imperfect, but in error. One illustration to beware of is the one which says "I am one person, but I am a student, son, and brother. This explains how God can be both one and three." The problem with this is that it reflects a heresy called modalism. God is not one person who plays three different roles, as this illustration suggests. He is one Being in three Persons (centers of consciousness), not merely three roles. This analogy ignores the personal distinctions within God and mitigates them to mere roles. Application Why is it important to understand what it means to worship a triune God? The Trinity is first of all important because God is important. To understand more fully what God is like is a way of honoring God. Further, we should allow the fact that God is triune to deepen our worship. We exist to worship God. And God seeks people to worship Him in "spirit and truth" (John 4:24). Therefore we must always endeavor to deepen our worship of God--in truth as well as in our hearts. The Trinity also has a very significant application to prayer. The general pattern of prayer in the Bible is to pray to the Father through the Son and in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). Our fellowship with God should be enhanced by consciously knowing that we are relating to a tri-personal God! Awareness of the distinct role that each Person of the Trinity has in our salvation can especially serve to give us greater comfort and appreciation for God in our prayers, as well as helping us to be specific in directing our prayers. Nonetheless, while recognizing the distinct roles that each Person has, we should never think of their roles as so separate that the other Persons are not involved. Rather, everything that one Person is involved in, the other two are also involved in, one way or another. Summary To summarize: 1. The Trinity is not belief in three gods. There is only one God. 2. This one God exists as three Persons. 3. The three Persons are not each a part of God, but are each fully God and equally God. Within God's one undivided being there is an unfolding into three interpersonal relationships such that there are three Persons. The distinctions within the Godhead are not distinctions of His essence and neither are they something added on to His essence, but they are the unfolding of God's one, undivided being into three interpersonal relationships such that there are three real Persons. 4. God is not one person who took three consecutive roles. That is the heresy of modalism. The Father did not become the Son and then the Holy Spirit. Instead, there have always been and always will be three distinct persons in the Godhead. 5. The Trinity is not a contradiction because God is not three in the same way that He is one. God is one in essence, three in Person. Notes 1.Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, (InterVarsity Press and Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), p. 255, emphasis added. 2. Ibid, 252. 3. Ibid, p. 255. While we believe this is a helpful definition, it should be recognized that Grudem himself is offering this as more of an explanation than definition of person. 4. Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, (Great Britain: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1991 edition), p. 303. 5. Grudem, pp. 253-254. Further Resources Augustine, On the Trinity Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, pp. 255-334 Edward Bickersteth, The Trinity. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, chapter 14 Donald Macleod, Shared Life: The Trinity and the Fellowship of God's People R.C. Sproul, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit R.C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, pp. 35-36 J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pp. 57-63. John Piper, The Pleasures of God, chapter 1 James White, The Forgotten Trinity Answered by the Desiring God Ministries Staff

Language

The phrase Cameron Townsend uttered decades ago is still relevant today, "If God is so big why doesn't He speak my language?"

The meaning of life

Finish Strong

"Moses was wounded, Churchill was wounded, and perhaps you are wounded." "The God who oversees and controls the events of history is overseeing your life as well. And He knows exactly what He is doing. You may have lost control of your circumstances, but He has not. He has enrolled you in a course you didn't sign up for. And if you remain teachable, He'll make sure you finish strong."(162?3) "God was far from finished with Moses. Although Moses felt God had removed His hand from him, nothing was further from the truth. God's hand was as firmly on Moses in the desert as it had been when he was a babe in the bulrushes. God was signing Moses up for a master's degree with a major in character development. While he was in the desert over the next forty years, Moses took four core courses: unemployment 101, advanced obscurity, remedial waiting, and intermediate loneliness." (163) FINISHING STRONG Finding the Power to Go the Distance Steve Farrar Multnomah Books, 1995, ISBN 1576730239

Die Daily

Ah, Darinka, to die would be a simple thing." He opened the curtains and the window. "But to die daily this is another thing."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

John Piper on the 5 points of Calvinism

These ten points are my personal testimony to the effects of believing in the five points of Calvinism. I have just completed teaching a seminar on this topic and was asked by the class members to post these reflections so they could have access to them. I am happy to do so. They, of course, assume the content of the course, which is available on tape from Desiring God Ministries, but I will put them here for wider use in the hope that they might stir others to search, Berean-like, to see if the Bible teaches what I call "Calvinism."
1. These truths make me stand in awe of God and lead me into the depth of true God-centered worship. I recall the time I first saw, while teaching Ephesians at Bethel College in the late '70's, the threefold statement of the goal of all God's work, namely, "to the praise of the glory of his grace" (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). It has led me to see that we cannot enrich God and that therefore his glory shines most brightly not when we try to meet his needs but when we are satisfied in him as the essence of our deeds. "From him and through him and to him are all things. To him the glory forever" (Romans 11:36). Worship becomes an end in itself. It has made me feel how low and inadequate are my affections, so that the Psalms of longing come alive and make worship intense.
2. These truths help protect me from trifling with divine things. One of the curses of our culture is banality, cuteness, cleverness. Television is the main sustainer of our addiction to superficiality and triviality. God is swept into this. Hence the trifling with divine things. Earnestness is not excessive in our day. It might have been once. And, yes, there are imbalances in certain people today who don't seem to be able to relax and talk about the weather. Robertson Nicole said of Spurgeon, "Evangelism of the humorous type [we might say, church growth of the marketing type] may attract multitudes, but it lays the soul in ashes and destroys the very germs of religion. Mr. Spurgeon is often thought by those who do not know his sermons to have been a humorous preacher. As a matter of fact there was no preacher whose tone was more uniformly earnest, reverent and solemn" (Quoted in The Supremacy of God in Preaching, p. 57).
3. These truths make me marvel at my own salvation. After laying out the great, God-wrought salvation in Ephesians 1, Paul prays, in the last part of that chapter, that the effect of that theology will be the enlightenment of our hearts so that we marvel at our hope, and at the riches of the glory of our inheritance, and at the power of God at work in us - that is, the power to raise the dead. Every ground of boasting is removed. Brokenhearted joy and gratitude abound. The piety of Jonathan Edwards begins to grow. When God has given us a taste of his own majesty and our own wickedness, then the Christian life becomes a thing very different than conventional piety. Edwards describes it beautifully when he says, The desires of the saints, however earnest, are humble desires: their hope is a humble hope, and their joy, even when it is unspeakable, and full of glory, is humble, brokenhearted joy, and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit, and more like a little child, and more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior (Religious Affections, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959, pp. 339f).
4. These truths make me alert to man-centered substitutes that pose as good news. In my book, The Pleasures of God (2000), pp. 144-145, I show that in the 18th century in New England the slide from the sovereignty of God led to Arminianism and thence to universalism and thence to Unitarianism. The same thing happened in England in the 19thcentury after Spurgeon. Iain Murray's Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987), p. 454, documents the same thing: "Calvinistic convictions waned in North America. In the progress of the decline which Edwards had rightly anticipated, those Congregational churches of New England which had embraced Arminianism after the Great Awakening gradually moved into Unitarianism and universalism, led by Charles Chauncy." You can also read in J. I. Packer's Quest for Godliness (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 160, how Richard Baxter forsook these teachings and how the following generations reaped a grim harvest in the Baxter church in Kidderminster. These doctrines are a bulwark against man-centered teachings in many forms that gradually corrupt the church and make her weak from the inside, all the while looking strong or popular. 1 Timothy 3:15, "The church of the living God [is] the pillar and bulwark of the truth."
5. These truths make me groan over the indescribable disease of our secular, God-belittling culture. I can hardly read the newspaper or look at a TV ad or a billboard without feeling the burden that God is missing. When God is the main reality in the universe and is treated as a non-reality, I tremble at the wrath that is being stored up. I am able to be shocked. So many Christians are sedated with the same drug as the world. But these teachings are a great antidote. And I pray for awakening and revival. And I try to preach to create a people that are so God-saturated that they will show and tell God everywhere and all the time. We exist to reassert the reality of God and the supremacy of God in all of life.
6. These truths make me confident that the work which God planned and began, he will finish - both globally and personally. This is the point of Romans 8:28-39. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died- more than that, who was raised- who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
7. These truths make me see everything in the light of God's sovereign purposes - that from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever and ever. All of life relates to God. There's no compartment where he is not all-important and the one who gives meaning to everything. 1 Corinthians 10:31. Seeing God's sovereign purpose worked out in Scripture, and hearing Paul say that "he accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11) makes me see the world this way.
8. These truths make me hopeful that God has the will, the right, and the power to answer prayer that people be changed. The warrant for prayer is that God may break in and change things - including the human heart. He can turn the will around. "Hallowed be thy name" means: cause people to hallow your name. "May your word run and be glorified" means: cause hearts to be opened to the gospel. We should take the New Covenant promises and plead with God to bring them to pass in our children and in our neighbors and among all the mission fields of the world. "God, take out of their flesh the heart of stone and give him a new heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 11:19). "Lord, circumcise their hearts so that they love you" (Deuteronomy 30:6). "Father, put your spirit within them and cause them to walk in Your statutes" (Ezekiel 36:27). "Lord, grant them repentance and the knowledge of the truth that they may escape from the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:25-26). "Father, open their hearts so that they believe the gospel" (Acts 16:14).
9. These truths reminds me that evangelism is absolutely essential for people to come to Christ and be saved, and that there is great hope for success in leading people to faith, but that conversion is not finally dependent on me or limited by the hardness of the unbeliever. So it gives hope to evangelism, especially in the hard places and among the hard peoples. John 10:16, "I have other sheep that are not of this fold, I must bring them also. They will heed my voice." It is God's work. Throw yourself into it with abandon.
10. These truths make me sure that God will triumph in the end. Isaiah 46:9-10, "I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand that I will accomplish all my purpose'" Putting them altogether: God gets the glory and we get the joy. April 20, 2002

Rober Frost on the BRAIN

BRAIN
   " ROBERT FROST"
          THE BRAIN IS A WONDERFUL ORGAN,
          IT STARTS THE MINUTE YOU GET UP IN THE MORNING,
          AND DOES NOT STOP UNTIL YOU GET TO THE OFFICE.

                     "ROBERT FROST"