Another Defense for the Family

Family worship is a biblical and much needed concept in our churches today. Our fathers need to take their pants back from their wives and do the job God has given them. Wives need to submit to their husbands as to the Lord and perform the role God has given them to the best of their abilities. And children need to be trained to obey and follow the Lord. This is what we need. We know it. Now, who will do it?

C'mon Rick!

For some reason I always cringe when I see Rick Warren on TV. I'm always afraid that he will make a fool out of himself or Christianity. I don't want to see it happen but it usually does. I'm not saying that I'm perfect but I hope I wouldn't wuss out on TV when someone asks me about my faith. Watch this and you'll see what I mean.




Here is the man that wrote the book on what God's purpose is for your life and he fails to answer basic questions concerning the faith. It's a sad day.

The Reformed Pastor

The Reformed Pastor
Richard Baxter
Edited by William Brown

Banner of Truth Trust
PO Box 621, Carlisle, PA 17013
Reprinted 2005
ISBN: 0-85151-191-0

The Reformed Pastor is a most extraordinary performance, and should be read by every young minister, before he takes a people under his stated care; and I think, the practical part of it reviewed every three or four years; for nothing would have a greater tendency to awaken the spirit of a minister to that zeal in his work, for want of which many good men are but shadows of what (by the blessing of God) they might be, if the maxims and measures laid down in that incomparable Treatise were strenuously pursued. Philip Doddridge.

When I first held this book in my hands I thought about the fact that I was about to read something that the Prince of Preachers, Charles H. Spurgeon, used to have his wife read to him all the time. I figured that if this book was good enough for him it would probably be out of my league. This is where J.I. Packer's introduction comes in to ease our sense of inadequacy. Packer does remind us that Baxter was a great in the area of personally shepherding his flock. History shows us that well. However, he made some big errors in his theology. So, though we may never live up to Baxter's pastoral ability we are assured that he was just a man and gifted in certain ways and not in others.

After making your way through fifty pages of introductory material you arrive at the text like a roller coaster at the top of the hill. Baxter quickly plunges any pride or self-esteem to the depths of your soul as he explains how a pastor ought to have oversight over himself. He leaves no room for any man to think too highly of himself as he lays out clearly, and sometimes with harshness (though rightfully so) the need for pastors to be right with God before and while he ministers to his flock. “If you see not yourselves, and all things, as living, and moving, and having being in God, you see nothing, whatever you think you see,” (59).

In the second chapter, Baxter explains the nature of ministering to a flock. While explaining that a pastor is to take care of all people that are under his care he diligently reminds us of the importance of church discipline, which is sorely needed in our world today. Baxter also tells us how this work should play out in several areas including families, the sick, etc.

The third chapter is the application chapter or his argument for the catechizing of households. Baxter's main thrust for his treatise is that a pastor ought to visit all of the members of his flock in their home using a catechism to discern where they are spiritually and to encourage spiritual growth. Anticipating objections to this, Baxter lists several complaints and then refutes them. One objection that he raises is the idea that if what he suggests is followed a pastor would burnout. Baxter's answer to this is: you are a sluggard! Being physically and mentally spent is the job of the pastor. Try and find that in most modern day pastoral books.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking the ministry or already in it. Baxter words, though strong and demoralizing are good for all of us to hear. The one question that must be answered after reading this book is how do you implement Baxter's ideas in today's culture? Can you go house-to-house catechizing your people? Or, is there another way to have real personal relationships with your flock that not only allow for friendship but spiritual growth? Of course, the answer is up to you.

A Store Name Revisited

I was thinking that the store name is good enough. Besides, it means a lot of work to go back and change everything that I've done before including links from other sites. So, nevermind, but thanks anyway.

A Store Name

Also, if you have a name for the store, let me know. The Apostate Arminian Store seems pretty lame to me now. I think it needs an identity of its own, don't you? So, if you think of anything, let me know and I'll consider it.

Thanks!!!

Apostate Arminian Store

Hey, have you checked out the AA store lately? I've been doing a lot of work on the store to offer more items of my old designs and have added a few new ones.

My latest creations are the M&C's pub and the agnostic quote by Spurgeon. I'm planning to add more Spurgeon stuff because a lot of his quotes are very witty and often times hilarious.

An item I recently bought for myself is the 1517 ash grey t-shirt. So if you know me, you'll be seeing this shirt on me soon.

The design that seems to be selling the most is the Sola Scriptura. Out of the five solas this seems to be the people's favorite. With the attack on Scripture from the New Atheists and the disuse of the Bible in our pulpits, Sola Scriptura is as relevant today as it was 500 years ago.

Thanks to all of our patrons for your support.

The Worst Things Work for Good

A couple posts ago, I wrote about Thomas Watson's book All Things For Good, which is about Romans 8:28, in which he described how all good things, obviously, work for our good. This time I would like to comment on the flip side, namely, the worst things in our life.

Watson mentions how afflictions, temptations, desertion of God, and even our own sins work for our good. This is exactly why James can tell us to give thanks in all situations because even the worst that happens to those that love God is for their own good. What is even more amazing is that even the bad situations that we get ourselves into because of our sin, God orchestrates for our own good.

When I was contemplating this great truth, my mind went back to an article I had written a long time ago about losing salvation. I raised the question concerning what was left in the believer that would cause him to lose salvation. The conclusion I came to was that there was nothing. I think that this verse sums it all up. All things work to the good of those who love God.

Now, one might argue that is true if you keep on loving him, but once you stop then God stops. But, I ask, how can this be? If I truly love God right now, everything that I do and happens to me is working for my good, that is what the verse says, isn't it? That means that the very same sins that people claim would cause me to cease loving God and lose my salvation are actually working for my good. If the outcome of said sins is the loss of eternal glory, then who dropped the ball? I never promised that everything that I do will work for my good. If I did, then I lied. No, God promised it. If I do lose salvation it is because God failed at working all things together for my good or I never really loved him in the first place. There can be no third option. Either all things work for good or they don't.

This is one positive statement that the supporters of losing eternal life cannot make into a conditional statement. If you try it becomes illogical. Just for fun let's see what happens

The Bible says:
Romans 8:28 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

A conditional rendering might read:
And we know that for those who love and keep loving God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Now, who is the emphasis on in the Bible? God and his working. How about the conditionalized statement? Man and his loving. Of course, this is the point of all those that believe you can lose salvation because they believe it was man's to grasp in the first place. If we let the verse say what it does then we know that God works all things together for our good. If we don't let the verse say what it does then things may or may not work for our good, that depends on us.

Again, I think that it is impossible for Christians to lose their salvation. If it were up to me to keep loving God and thereby keeping my salvation, I would have been lost the day after I was regenerated. But I thank God that all along he has been making everything work to my good.

The "Bread" of Life

The other day, I was going over the catechism with my daughters. They were flying through the answers, reciting each verbatim. We came to the questions about how God gave men not only bodies but souls.

Kailie (age 5) asked me, "What is a soul?"

"What do you mean? Like, what is it made out of?" I asked.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"It's from bread," Emma (age 3) piped in from across the room. "It's bread!"

With a puzzled look on my face I inquired, "What?"

"Yeah, it's from the bread," Emma said nonchalantly.

"Are you saying breath?" I said trying to decipher her words through her three year old accent.

"Yes, the breath!"

I paused for a moment, and then it dawned on me. "Are you talking about when God created Adam?"

"Yes, you know, the breath."

After talking with both of them, it was apparent that they both already understood the basic ideas about our souls.

I always say and will continue to say that it is amazing what a child can learn, especially a child, whom, I believe, is regenerate. It is true that these things are spiritually discerned and God only knows what he has taught the souls of our little ones.

Thank God that he gives us a faith like a child and our children faith!