From SNU "Merry Christmas" in many languages

"Merry Christmas" in many languages "Good news of great joy that will be for all the people" -- Luke 2:10 Here's how to wish people "Merry Christmas" in more than 80 languages. The original version of this list appeared in Brigada. Afrikaans - 'n Geseende Kersfees en 'n voorspoedige Nuwejaar Afrikaans - Een Plesierige Kerfees Albanian -- Gezuar Krishtlindje Arabic - I'd Miilad Said Oua Sana Saida Armenian - Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand Azeri - Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun Basque - Zorionstsu Eguberri. Zoriontsu Urte Berri On Bengali - Bodo Din Shubh Lamona Bohemian - Vesele Vanoce Breton - Nedeleg laouen na bloavezh mat Bulgarian - Tchestita Koleda; Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo Celtic - Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda Chinese - (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun (Hong Kong) Kung Ho Hsin Hsi. Ching Chi Shen Tan Cornish - Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth Cree - Mitho Makosi Kesikansi Croatian - Sretan Bozic Czech - Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok Danish - Gladelig Jul Dutch - Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar English - Merry Christmas Esperanto - Gajan Kristnaskon Estonian - Roomsaid Joulu Puhi Farsi - Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad Finnish - Hyvaa joulua French - Joyeux Noel Frisian - Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier German - Froehliche Weihnachten Greek - Kala Christouyenna Hawaiian - Mele Kalikimaka Hebrew - Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova Hindi - Bada Din Mubarak Ho Hungarian - Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket Icelandic - Gledileg Jol Indonesian - Selamat Hari Natal Iraqi - Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah Irish - Nollaig Shona Dhuit Italian - Buon Natale or Buone Feste Natalizie Japanese - Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto Kala - Khristougena kai Eftikhes to Neon Etos Korean - Sung Tan Chuk Ha Latvian - Priecigus Ziemas Svetkus un Laimigu Jauno Gadu Lettish - Priecigus Ziemassvetkus Lithuanian - Linksmu Kaledu Manx - Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa Maori - Meri Kirihimete Marathi - Shub Naya Varsh Navajo - Merry Keshmish Northern Sotho - Matlhatse le matlhogonolo mo ngwageng o moswa. Norwegian - God Jul Og Godt Nytt Aar Pennsylvania German - En frehlicher Grischtdaag un en hallich Nei Yaahr Papiamento - Bon Pasku i Felis Anja Nobo Pig Latin - Errymay ristmaskay Polish - Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia Portuguese - Feliz Natal Rapa-Nui - Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua Romanian - Craciun Fericit Russian - Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva i s Novim Godom Samoan - La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou Serbian - Hristos se rodi Scottish - Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ur Serbian - Hristos se rodi Singhalese - Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa Slavonic - Christos Razdajetsja! Slavite Jeho! Slovak - Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok Slovene - Vesele Bozicne. Screcno Novo Leto Spanish - Feliz Navidad Swahili - Krismasi Njema Swedish - God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt Ar Tagalog - Maligayamg Pasko. Masaganang Bagong Taon Tamil - Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal Thai - Sawat Dee Wan Kritsamas Turkish - Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun Ukrainian - Srozhdestvom Kristovym Urdu - Bara Din Mubarak Ho Vietnamese - Chung Mung Giang Sinh Waray - Maupay nga Pasko ngan Mainuswagon nga Bag-o nga Tu-ig Welsh - Nadolig Llawen Zulu - Nginifisela inhlanhla ne mpumelelo e nyakeni.

15 Key Bible Passages from SNU

15 key Bible chapters
These are not necessarily the "15 Best Loved" chapters of the Bible. They may not even be the "15 Most Well Known" chapters. One hesitates to even call them the "15 Most Significant" chapters.
These are 15 chapters with key scriptural events and themes. At Southern Nazarene University, we think a beginning student of the Bible should be familiar with them.
Old Testament chapters
Genesis 1-3: Creation, Fall, first promise of a Redeemer
"In the beginning"
Genesis 12: Abraham's call, a giant step toward fulfilling the promise
"Through you all peoples will be blessed" [ Was having Abraham move to the Promised Land a "strategic move" by God? ]
Exodus 20: Giving of the Ten Commandments
"I am the Lord your God"
Joshua 24: The "line in the sand"
"Choose you this day"
Isaiah 53: The "suffering servant" passage that looks to the coming Messiah
"The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all"
Psalm 23: The Shepherd's Psalm
"The Lord is my shepherd" [ Devotional thoughts on Psalm 23 ]
Psalm 51: David's prayer for forgiveness and cleansing
"Create in me a clean heart, O God"
Proverbs 31: Ode to a virtuous, godly woman
"Far more precious than jewels"
New Testament chapters
Matthew 5-7: Sermon on the Mount [ Devotional thoughts ]
"Blessed are you . . ."
John 17: Jesus' High Priestly Prayer
"Sanctify them" [ more info ]
Acts 2: Holy Spirit's coming on Day of Pentecost
"All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit"
Acts 15: Jerusalem Council: Must one become a Jew to be a Christian?
"He has made no distinction between them and us"
1 Corinthians 13: Love chapter
"The greatest of these is love"
Hebrews 11: Hall of fame: heroes of the faith
"By faith . . ."
Revelation 7: The Grand Finale
"A great multitude that no man could count"

Mission Quotes - Traveling Team

100 World Christian Quotes

"Must you go to China? How much nicer it would be to stay here and serve the Lord at home!" She made it plain at last that she would not go to China."            - J. Hudson Taylor's new ex-girlfriend

"You can do something other than working with God in His purpose, but it will always be something lesser, and you couldn't come up with something better."            - Steve Hawthorne

"I have seen, at different times, the smoke of a thousand villages - villages whose people are without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world."            - Robert Moffat

"The command has been to "go," but we have stayed - in body, gifts, prayer and influence. He has asked us to be witnesses unto the uttermost parts of the earth... but 99% of Christians have kept puttering around in the homeland."            - Robert Savage

"While vast continents are shrouded in darkness... the burden of proof lies upon you to show that the circumstances in which God has placed you were meant by God to keep you out of the foreign mission field."            - Ion Keith-Falconer

"I wasn't God's first choice for what I've done for China... I don't know who it was... It must have been a man... a well-educated man. I don't know what happened. Perhaps he died. Perhaps he wasn't willing... and God looked down... and saw Gladys Aylward... And God said - "Well, she's willing."            - Gladys Aylward

"Brother, if you would enter that Province, you must go forward on your knees."            - J. Hudson Taylor

"The man... looking at him with a smile that only half concealed his contempt, inquired, "Now Mr. Morrison do you really expect that you will make an impression on the idolatry of the Chinese Empire?" "No sir," said Morrison, "but I expect that God will."            - Robert Morrison

"Here am I. Send me."            - Isaiah

"And people who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives... and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted."            - Nate Saint

"Jehovah Witnesses don't believe in hell and neither do most Christians"            - Leonard Ravenhill

"Had I cared for the comments of people, I should never have been a missionary."            - C.T. Studd

"Young man, sit down: when God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine."            - said to a young William Carey

"Oh, that I had a thousand lives, and a thousand bodies! All of them should be devoted to no other employment but to preach Christ to these degraded, despised, yet beloved mortals."            - Robert Moffat

"We must be global Christians with a global vision because our God is a global God."            - John Stott

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."            - Jim Elliot

"A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story."            - K.P. Yohannan

"I have but one passion - it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ."            - Count Zinzindorf

"God's work done in God's way will never lack God's supplies."            - J. Hudson Taylor

"He must increase, but I must decrease."            - John the Baptist

"If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."            - C.T. Studd

"The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner."            - William Cameron Townsend

"Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes."            - Robert E. Speer

"The saddest thing one meets is a nominal Christian. I had not seen it in Japan where missions is younger. The church here is a "field full of wheat and tares."            - Amy Carmichael

"I used to think that prayer should have the first place and teaching the second. I now feel it would be truer to give prayer the first, second and third places and teaching the fourth."            - James O. Fraser

"It is just as proper, maybe even more so, to say Christ's global cause has a Church as to say Christ's Church has a global cause."            - David Bryant

"If you are sick, fast and pray; if the language is hard to learn, fast and pray; if the people will not hear you, fast and pray, if you have nothing to eat, fast and pray."            - Frederick Franson

"What are we here for, to have a good time with Christians or to save sinners?"            - Malla Moe

"I tell you, brethren, if mercies and if judgments do not convert you, God has no other arrows in His quiver."            - Robert Murray Mc'Cheyne

"It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit."            - Clarence W. Jones

"Two distinguishing marks of the early church were: 1) Poverty 2) Power."            - T.J. Bach

"Do not think me mad. It is not to make money that I believe a Christian should live. The noblest thing a man can do is, just humbly to receive, and then go amongst others and give."            - David Livingstone

"From my many years' experience I can unhesitatingly say that the cross bears those who bear the cross."            - Sadhu Sundar Singh

"I pray that no missionary will ever be as lonely as I have been."            - Lottie Moon

"All my friends are but one, but He is all sufficient."            - William Carey

"How little chance the Holy Ghost has nowadays. The churches and missionary societies have so bound him in red tape that they practically ask Him to sit in a corner while they do the work themselves."            - C.T. Studd

"I have always believed that the Good Samaritan went across the road to the wounded man just because he wanted to."            - Wilfred Thomason Grenfell

"The more obstacles you have, the more opportunities there are for God to do something."            - Clarence W. Jones

"Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God."            - William Carey

"God's part is to put forth power; our part is to put forth faith."            - Andrew A. Bonar

"All the resources of the Godhead are at our disposal!"            - Jonathan Goforth

"I feel now, that Arabia could easily be evangelized within the next thirty years if it were not for the wicked selfishness of Christians."            -Samuel Zwemer

"The Indian is making an amazing discovery, namely that Christianity and Jesus are not the same - that they may have Jesus without the system that has been built up around Him in the West."            - E. Stanley Jones

"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come."            - Jesus

"All roads lead to the judgment seat of Christ."            - Keith Green

"Obedience to the call of Christ nearly always costs everything to two people- the one who is called, and the one who loves that one."            - Oswald Chambers

"Christians don't tell lies they just go to church and sing them"            - A.W. Tozer
"I have said that there is nothing in the world or the Church, except it's disobedience, to render the evangelization of the world in this generation an impossibility."            - Robert Speer

"I will lay my bones by the Ganges that India might know there is one who cares."            - Alexander Duff

"Today Christians spend more money on dog food then missions"            - Leonard Ravenhill

"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home."            - J. Hudson Taylor

"We talk of the second coming, half the world has never heard of the first."            - Oswald J. Smith

"God cannot lead you on the basis of facts that you do not know."            - David Bryant

"And thus I aspire to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named so that I would not build on another man's foundation."            - Paul

"Why do we insist on building the largest and most impressive structures in our city when people on the other side of town are hungry, jobless and worshipping in storefronts?"            - K.P. Yohannan

"If every Christian is already considered a missionary, then all can stay put where they are, and nobody needs to get up and go anywhere to preach the gospel. But if our only concern is to witness where we are, how will people in unevangelized areas ever hear the gospel? The present uneven distribution of Christians and opportunities to hear the gospel of Christ will continue on unchanged."            - C. Gordon Olson

"I spent twenty years of my life trying to recruit people out of local churches and into missions structures so that they could be involved in fulfilling God's global mission. Now I have another idea. Let's take God's global mission and put it right in the middle of the local church!"            - George Miley

"God provides the men and women needed for each generation."            -Mildred Cable

"Oh dear, I couldn't say that my church is alive and I wouldn't want to call it dead. I guess it's just walking in its sleep!"            - Church member

"When he landed in 1848 there were no Christians here; when he left in 1872 there were no heathen."            - said of John Geddie

"I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard."            -William Burns

"At the moment I put the bread and wine into those dark hands, once stained with the blood of cannibalism, now stretched out to receive and partake the emblems and seals of the Redeemer's love, I had a foretaste of the joy of glory that well nigh broke my heart to pieces. I shall never taste a deeper bliss, till I gaze on the glorified face of Jesus himself."            - John G. Paton

"Save others, snatching them out of the fire."            - Jude

"The evangelization of the world in this generation."            - Student Volunteer Movement Motto

"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring."            - Jesus

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't."            - John Piper

"His authority on earth allows us to dare to go to all the nations. His authority in heaven gives us our only hope of success. And His presence with us leaves us no other choice."            - John Stott

"Today five out of six non-Christians in our world have no hope unless missionaries come to them and plant the church among them."            - David Bryant

"Tell the students to give up their small ambitions and come eastward to preach the gospel of Christ."            - Francis Xavier

"Christ for the students of the world, and the students of the world for Christ."            - Luther Wishard

"We who have Christ's eternal life need to throw away our own lives."            - George Verwer

"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell, I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."            - C.T. Studd

"When I get to China, I will have no claim on any one for anything. My claim will be alone in God and I must learn before I leave England to move men through God by prayer alone."            - J. Hudson Taylor

"God has huge plans for the world today! He is not content to merely establish a handful of struggling churches among each tongue, tribe and nation. Even now He is preparing and empowering His Church to carry the seeds of revival to the uttermost ends of the earth."            - David Smithers

"The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity."            - Mike Stachura

"Answering a student's question, 'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved.'"            - C.H. Spurgeon.

    Twenty year-old John R. Mott walked in late to the meeting at Cornell while J.K. Studd was quoting,
     "Young man, are you seeking great things for yourself? Seek them not! Seek first the Kingdom of God!" He couldn't sleep all night. He finally got up and had the courage to meet with Studd. He later said that the meeting with Studd was the "decisive hour of his life". He went on to become the greatest missions mobilizer in world history.
     "There is something wonderfully misleading, full of hallucination and delusion in this business of missionary calls. With many of us it is not a missionary call at all that we are looking for; it is a shove. There are a great many of us who would never hear a call if it came."            - Robert Speer

"I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done."            - J. Hudson Taylor

"I love to live on the brink of eternity."            - David Brainerd

"The greatest tragedy to befall a person is to have sight but lack vision."            - Helen Keller

"'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. And 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."            - William Booth

"Here is a test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you are alive, it isn't."            - Richard Bach

"If God has fit you to be a missionary, I would not have you shrivel down to be a king."            - Charles H. Spurgeon

"The world is my parish."            - John Wesley

"Why doesn't your God speak my language?"            - Guatemalan Indian to Cam Townsend, founder Wycliffe Bible Translators

"I am willing to go anywhere, at anytime, to do anything for Jesus."            - Luther Wishard

"The 3.5 billion unreached people on earth would form a single file line that would stretch around the equator 25 times! Can you picture 25 lines of Christless people, trampling endlessly toward hell? Let that vision stay with you day and night."            - Larry Stockstill

"God does not have to come and tell me what I must do for Him, He brings me into a relationship with Himself where I hear His call and understand what He wants me to do, and I do it out of sheer love to Him... When people say they have had a call to foreign service, or to any particular sphere of work, they mean that their relationship to God has enabled them to realize what they can do for God."            - Oswald Chambers

"A little prayer, little power; no prayer, no power."            - A Chinese Christian motto

"When God's finger points, God's hand will open the door."            -Clarence Jones

"I will open Africa to the gospel or die trying."            - Rowland Bingham

"None but women can reach Muslim Women... So we have a solemn duty in this matter that we cannot shift. The blood of souls is on our skirts, and God will demand them at our hands."            - Missionary wife from the Middle East

"The church that does not evangelize will fossilize."            -Oswald J. Smith

"As long as there are millions destitute of the word of God and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, it will be impossible for me to devote my time and energy to those who have both."            - J.L. Ewen

"If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."            - Charles Spurgeon

"We have a God who delights in impossibilities."            - Andrew Murray

"Why do you need a voice when you have a verse."            -Jim Elliot

"The history of missions is the history of answered prayer. From Pentecost to the Haystack meeting in New England and from the days when Robert Morrison landed in China to the martyrdom of John and Betty Stam, prayer has been the source of power and the secret of spiritual triumph."            -Samuel Zwemer


Traveling Team Quotes

AN ENQUIRY WHETHER THE COMMISSION GIVEN BY OUR LORD TO HIS DISCIPLES BE NOT STILL BINDING ON US.

Carey's "Enquiry..." Section 1 AN ENQUIRY WHETHER THE COMMISSION GIVEN BY OUR LORD TO HIS DISCIPLES BE NOT STILL BINDING ON US. In which the religious state of the different nations of the world, the success of former undertakings, and the practicability of further undertakings, are considered.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? - Paul 1792 Our Lord Jesus Christ, a little before his departure, commissioned his apostles to Go, and teach all nations; or, as another evangelist expresses it, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. This commission was as extensive as possible, and laid them under obligation to disperse themselves into every country of the habitable globe, and preach to all the inhabitants, without exception or limitation. They accordingly went forth in obedience to the command, and the power of God evidently wrought with them. Many attempts of the same kind have been made since their day, and which have been attended with various success; but the work has not been taken up, or prosecuted of late years (except by a few individuals) with that zeal and perseverance with which the primitive Christians went about it. It seems as if many thought the commission was sufficiently put in execution by what the apostles and others have done; that we have enough to do to attend to the salvation of our own countrymen; and that, if God intends the salvation of the heathen, he will some way or other bring them to the gospel, or the gospel to them. It is thus that multitudes sit at ease, and give themselves no concern about the far greater part of their fellow-sinners, who to this day, are lost in ignorance and idolatry. There seems also to be an opinion existing in the minds of some, that because the apostles were extraordinary officers and have no proper successors, and because many things which were right for them to do would be utterly unwarrantable for us, therefore it may not be immediately binding on us to execute the commission, though it was so upon them. To the consideration of such persons I would offer the following observations.

• FIRST, If the command of Christ to teach all nations be restricted to the apostles, or those under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, then that of baptizing should be so too; and every denomination of Christians, except the Quakers, do wrong in baptizing with water at all.

• SECONDLY, If the command of Christ to teach all nations be confined to the apostles, then all such ordinary ministers who have endeavoured to carry the gospel to the heathens, have acted without a warrant, and run before they were sent. Yea, and though God has promised the most glorious things to the heathen world by sending his gospel to them, yet whoever goes first, or indeed at all, with that message, unless he have a new and special commission from heaven, must go without any authority for so doing.

• THIRDLY, If the command of Christ to teach all nations extend only to the apostles, then, doubtless, the promise of the divine presence in this work must be so limited; but this is worded in such a manner as expressly precludes such an idea. Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the world.

That there are cases in which even a divine command may cease to be binding is admitted - As for instance, if it be repealed, as the ceremonial commandments of the Jewish law; or if there be no subjects in the world for the commanded act to be exercised upon, as in the law of septennial release, which might be dispensed with when there should be no poor in the land to have their debts forgiven, Deut.15:4. Or if, in any particular instance, we can produce a counter-revelation, of equal authority with the original command, as when Paul and Silas were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Bythinia, Acts 16:6,7. Or if, in any case, there be a natural impossibility of putting it into execution. It was not the duty of Paul to preach Christ to the inhabitants of Otaheite, because no such place was then discovered, nor had he any means of coming at them. But none of these things can be alleged by us in behalf of neglect of the commission given by Christ. We cannot say that it is repealed, like the commands of the ceremonial law; nor can we plead that there are no objects for the command to be exercised upon. Alas! the far greater part of the world, as we shall see presently, are still covered with heathen darkness! Nor can we produce a counter-revelation, concerning any particular nation, like that of Paul and Silas, concerning Bythinia; and, if we could, it would not warrant our sitting still and neglecting all the other parts of the world; for Paul and Silas, when forbidden to preach to those heathens, went elsewhere, and preached to others. Neither can we allege a natural impossibility in the case. It has been said that we ought not to force our way, but to wait for the openings, and leadings of Providence; but it might with equal propriety be answered in this case, neither ought we to neglect embracing those openings in providence which daily present themselves to us. What openings of providence do we wait for? We can neither expect to be transported into the heathen world without ordinary means, nor to be endowed with the gift of tongues, &c. when we arrive there. These would not be providential interpositions, but miraculous ones. Where a command exists nothing can be necessary to render it binding but a removal of those obstacles which render obedience impossible, and these are removed already. Natural impossibility can never be pleaded so long as facts exist to prove the contrary. Have not the popish missionaries surmounted all those difficulties which we have generally thought to be insuperable? Have not the missionaries of the Unitas Fratrum, or Moravian Brethren, encountered the scorching heat of Abyssinia, and the frozen climes of Greenland, and Labrador, their difficult languages, and savage manners? Or have not English traders, for the sake of gain, surmounted all those things which have generally been counted insurmountable obstacles in the way of preaching the gospel? Witness the trade to Persia, the East-Indies, China, and Greenland, yea even the accursed Slave-Trade on the coasts of Africa. Men can insinuate themselves into the favour of the most barbarous clans, and uncultivated tribes, for the sake of gain; and how different soever the circumstances of trading and preaching are, yet this will prove the possibility of ministers being introduced there; and if this is but thought a sufficient reason to make the experiment, my point is gained. It has been said that some learned divines have proved from scripture that the time is not yet come that the heathen should be converted; and that first the witnesses must be slain, and many other prophecies fulfilled. But admitting this to be the case(which I much doubt [footnote: See Edwards on Prayer, on this subject, lately re-printed by Mr Sutcliffe.]) yet if any objection is made from this against preaching to them immediately, it must be founded on one of these things; either that the secret purpose of God is the rule of our duty, and then it must be as bad to pray for them, as to preach to them; or else that none shall be converted in the heathen world till the universal down-pouring of the Spirit in the last days. But this objection comes too late; for the success of the gospel has been very considerable in many places already. It has been objected that there are multitudes in our own nation, and within our immediate spheres of action, who are as ignorant as the South-Sea savages, and that therefore we have work enough at home, without going into other countries. That there are thousands in our own land as far from God as possible, I readily grant, and that this ought to excite us to ten-fold diligence in our work, And in attempts to spread divine knowledge amongst them is a certain fact; but that it ought to supersede all attempts to spread the gospel in foreign parts seems to want proof. Our own countrymen have the means of grace, and may attend on the word preached if they choose it. They have the means of knowing the truth, and faithful ministers are placed in almost every part of the land, whose spheres of action might be much extended if their congregations were but more hearty and active in the cause: but with them the case is widely different, who have no Bible, no written language, (which many of them have not,) no ministers, no good civil government, nor any of those advantages which we have. Pity therefore, humanity, and much more Christianity, call loudly for every possible exertion to introduce the gospel amongst them.

Free will

Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have met with will... But has either been led captive by sin or held in blessed bonds of grace." C.H. Spurgeon TABLETALK January 2000 No doctrine in the whole word of God has excited the hatred of mankind more than that truth of the absolute sovereignty of God. ? C.H. Spurgeon TABLETALK January 2000 Where a god who is totally purposive and totally foreseeingacts upon a nature which is totally interlocked, there can be no accidents or loose ends, nothing whatever of which we can safely use the word "merely." Nothing is "merely a byof anything else. C.S. Lewis; TableTalk January 2000 CH Spurgeon; Election, Evangelical Press "The Bible must be first and God=s minister must lie underneah it. We must not stand on the Bible to preach, but we must preach with the Bible above our heads. After all we have preached, we are well aware that the mountain of truth is higher than our eyes can discern; clouds and darkness are round about it summit, and we can not discern its topmost pinnacle; yet we will try to preach it as well as we can. But since we are mortal and liable to err, exercise your jugement, Atry the spirites whether they are of God;" and if on mature reflection on your bended knees, you are led to disregard election a thing which I consider to be utterly impossible B then forsake it, do not hear it preached, but believe and confess whatever you see to be God's word. I can say no more than that by way of exodium." "AAh, but say some, 'I thought it meant that God elected some to heaven and some to hell.' that is a very different matter from the gospel doctrine. he has elected men to holiness and to righteousness, and through that to heaven. You must not say that he has elected them simply to heaven, and others only to hell. He has elected you to be saved. If any of you desire to have salvation, you are elected to have it, if you desire it sincerely and earnestly. But, if yu don=t desire it, why on earth should you be so preposterously foolish as to grumble because God gives that which you do not like to other people?"

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?"