Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Any emphasis on social issues can lead to a departure from the gospel, or more bluntly: political and social activism are not a central part of the mission of the Church. Sorry, but that's exactly how it is. We help the widows and orphans (those who are incapable of helping themselves) as a part of being loving Christians, but that's not our theology. We are called to "make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you", not to become part of the political apparatus. 

God requires those who bear his image to live justly in the world showing appropriate respect to every person and giving to each one what he or she is due. Relativism, socially-constructed standards of truth or morality, and notions of virtue and vice that are constantly in flux cannot result in authentic justice. Because values borrowed from secular culture are currently undermining Scripture in the areas of race and ethnicity, manhood and womanhood, and human sexuality, the Statement on Social Justice was formulated to insure that we are not "taken captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." (Colossians 2:8)

Tacoma Megachurch: pastor has been fired for sexual harassment

A young Indonesian teenager adrift at sea for 49 days survives on fish and the word of God

The pope uses Mary to shove his borderless world theocracy down the throats of followers

Der Spiegel: the Pope "preaches mercy, but in reality he is an ice-cold, cunning Machiavellian, and, what is worse – he lies.”

Irish-Catholic Buffalo NY is in shock to find out that Bishop Richard J. Malone did not sanction priests accused of sexual abuse and concealed the identities of alleged "predator priests" from the public. The official list of 42 names may actually exceed 300

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò blasts that pope fellow over the papal cover up of perverted  Cardinal Theodore McCarrick

WWUTT Wednesday - Are You A Pharisee?

Have you ever been called a Pharisee? I have. Not too long ago in a Twitter "discussion" I was being called a Pharisee by someone who claimed to be a Christian but his talking points were straight out of the Mark Sandlin False Teacher Of The Year 2015 playbook, all that was missing was a promise to go get drunk with prostitutes because "that's what Jesus did".

My "sin" was to quote the bible and use the selected scriptures in context with the "conversation". My antagonist didn't appreciate that his argument did not jive with what Jesus actually said so to cement his argument he branded me a Pharisee, a title I promptly ignored but didn't forget. Did he even know what a Pharisee was, did, or believe? Apparently not

Ten Commandment Tuesday - the 10 Commandments: What You Should Know

I love the word of God and I really, really love learning the Old Testament from a rabbi, or at least a knowledgeable orthodox Jew who deeply understands the text. Studying the book of Genesis and the book of Ruth under the tutelage of a rabbi was a vastly important step in my walk with Christ. 

I originally took the class because I was enrolled in college under the GI Bill and was thirsty for almost any knowledge I could soak up. I was working full time and taking night classes when the opportunity to take The Bible As Literature arose. I took it because it fit my schedule. I expected a fluffy meaningless class that glossed over all the God stuff and waxed poetically on the Psalms. When the instructor put on his Tallit Gadol and unrolled the Sefer Torah I knew the class was going to be special, and it was! Not having a Rabbi handy we're going to have to settle for Dennis Prager to lead our study of the 10 Commandments, and that's like saying "Not having a Rolls Royce handy we'll have to take a Bentley." 

Source

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Have I mentioned Andrew Klavan? Yes I did, right here. Andrew is a very talented writer, a hilarious humorist, and deadly commentator on the political morass that the biblical fools of Washington are dumping this country into. But what truly endears Mr. Klavan to me is that he is a Jew who has accepted Christ as his savior. And he's a converted jew who has helped me pray. Over and over he insists that one must pray in a quiet place, alone, for 10 minutes, and pray aloud because praying aloud focuses your mind.

I was raised in the RCC church who prayed aloud but it was the relentless monotonous dronings repeated over and over until the meaning of the words is lost and the heresy is ignored (mother of God? Really?) Andrew is right, praying aloud in an non-repetitious manner focuses your mind on the conversation. For me the hard part is finding 10 minutes a day in a quiet place with no distractions. And Andrew may be right when he says, You Can Find God In 60 Days

Yes, there really are churches devoted to worshiping Marijuana, and they get busted just like the other drug pushers

Ever hear the term "there are no atheists in foxholes"? It's true

Dear Idiots, Helping the unfortunate is NOT justice, what you're calling Social Justice is actually a heresy called Rauschenbuschism

The folks that created surprise hits God’s Not Dead and I Can Only Imagine are finishing up their latest film; Unplanned which focuses on anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson, who spent years working for Planned Parenthood before switching sides

Random Bits

"I walk through this sinful world as a 

pilgrim in a foreign country" - CH Spurgeon

Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction (2 Thessalonians 2:3)

This verse has been swirling around in my head a lot lately, and not because of the mention of the man of lawlessness. It seems that a lot of people concentrate on that portion of the verse, but to me the apostasy stands out front and center although the man of lawlessness could be the cause or the head of the apostasy.

I personally believe that we are seeing the falling away happening right now and the hate and anger that is filling the airwaves is what happens when you take God out of our lives. Nature abhors a vacuum and the gap left when God is removed is filled with superficial superstitious nonsense and rage when that nonsense falls short of God's glory.

Once upon a time the Roman Catholic Church was a God centered entity, but with great power comes great corruption. The seeds of today's catholic implosion were planted in the second and third century when gnostics claimed that material things are evil and marriage was somehow a material thing. The roman church became God to the roman church, and they replaced God's natural desires with nothing. And now they're shocked when their little world reacts the same way the whole world reacts when you take away God?

Bishop Richard Malone of Buffalo, New York not only refused to step down when confronted with documentation that he mishandled allegations of sexual abuse by his flock of pervert priests, he returned accused priests to positions that put them in daily contact with young children

The Vatican has known about Arch Bishop Theodore E. McCarrick's raping seminarians since the turn of the century and they not only did nothing about it, they covered it up. The Vatican promises 'clarifications' on the claims of a coverup at the highest office in the romish church

In New York, the state’s attorney general issued subpoenas to all eight of the state’s Catholic dioceses seeking any and all documents pertaining to allegations of the Roman Catholic sexual free-for-all that has become the pastime of that Pope's fraternity

Spurgeon Thursday - The Religion of Rome

The Religion of Rome

by C. H. Spurgeon
From the January 1873 Sword and Trowel

We welcome the publication of a volume entitled "The Religion of Rome." It consists of letters published in a Roman Journal, which have been translated from the Italian, by Mr. William Howitt. In these times, when liberality is the only popular virtue, and zeal for truth the cardinal sin, it is worth much to let the public know assuredly that Popery is not the angel of light it professes to be. "Distance lends enchantment to the view;" but, to the rightminded, to see Romanism is to abhor it. It is a system which is as dangerous to human society, as it is hostile to true religion. We would by no means abridge the civil rights of a Catholic, or a Mormonite, but whether in any community the confessional or polygamy ought to be endured is not a question with us. The system of confession to priests is the sum of all villanies. Murphy1 was martyred for speaking the truth about the confessional, and in his person the liberty of public speech received a serious blow.

The day will come in which that man's name and fate will be looked upon in a different light, and many will regret that he was given over as a victim to Romish bigotry, when they feel that bigotry burdening themselves. We have seen with our own eyes2 that which would make the blood of any decent man boil within him. In the confessional boxes in Germany and Italy, anybody may see for himself, exhibited in the compartment allotted to the priest, a list of the sins concerning which the confessor is to enquire; these include crimes which we will not pollute our paper by mentioning; he must be a hardened profligate who would dare allude to them in the presence of a young girl. Not in the pages of a folio reserved for studious eyes did we read the degrading memoranda of which we speak, but in the confessional itself, where every passer-by may see them if he will. True, the document is in Latin; but, unfortunately, such words as abortio, sodomia, and the like, need no translation. But we dare not trust our hand to write more,—the superstition of Rome is the worst of all the evils which have befallen our race; may the Lord arise, and sweep it down to the hell from whence it arose.

Wretched Wednesday - Which Bible Translation is Best for You?

The Trinity - Proven By Logic

There is a bit of a debate going on elsewhere in this blog regarding the doctrine of the Trinity. A reader, whom I assume based on his or her virulent anti-trinitarian stance is a worshiper of Joseph Smith, wants to know more about the "concept" of the Trinity. 

To begin with, a concept is an abstract idea, a general notion. To call the Trinity a concept not only demeans God but is calling 2000 years of study, prayer, and debate meaningless. The Trinity is a much more complex doctrine than simple questions such as "To whom did Jesus commend his spirit? Himself?" The answer is "Yes" and "No" at the same time.

Glenn Chatfield at The Watchman's Bagpipes did a great job explaining the Trinity using Logic:

 TheTrinity - Proven By Logic

There many cults who teach against the idea of a Triune God, often claiming the idea originated with the Nicene Creed. However, the Trinity is really mentioned often in the Bible, even though the term “Trinity” isn’t.

Several years ago I read a book (I don’t remember which one) in which a short logic exercise was used to demonstrate the truth of the Trinity. I thought it was such a good idea that I came up with my own logic exercise, which I am now posting here. 

Wretched Wednesday - Pastors who have affairs

I've been hammering pretty hard on the Roman Catholic Homosexual Orgy Church, but have faith, the liberal media is covering up the disaster for that Pope fellow, the news stories will soon dry up and the sexual disaster that the Roman Catholic church is now will soon disappear or worse, it will become the vanguard of a whole new attack by satan.

11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. (Ephesians 5:11-13)

It's not just the priesthood I'm calling out, yes I am incensed by their blatant orgy of sin, but we Protestants need to clean up our act also and I do call out pastors who dally when they hit the news. I once knew a pastor who boldly stood in front of his congregation and informed us that he always had his wife in the room with him when he counseled a woman, so that there's no possible way of any improprieties. Then again I'm pretty sure his wife wasn't in the room with him while he was sleeping with a member of the congregation. I think he drives for FedEx now. 

Dr. Awesome, Dr. Chicago, and He Who Heals

This is my one thousandth published blog entry! It's the one thousandth published entry anyhow. I have nearly a dozen more in the works but this it. To celebrate my 1K I had planned to go into length on my understanding of the rapture, but instead I had another run-in with Real Life and chose to write about it;

I'm not happy with 2018, I've had much better years - 60 better years by my count. My chronic back pain is still here, I've got an entire list of things I need to avoid doing just to avoid the pain. And my COPD and Pulmonary Hypertension is still here as are the occasional bouts of bronchitis, but I did get up to see the kids in North Dakota and had a wonderful week with them. On the downside there's been a lot going on behind the scene

First one of my sons smashed his leg on a remote mountain in Colorado and compartment syndrome, an incredibly painful condition, set in. That required long drives across Colorado to be with him and return to be with my responsibilities, not to mention the emotional toll this takes. 

Then, on the Ides of March, my mother passed away. It was a blessing, she went quietly in the depths of dementia thinking that she had happily spent her entire life in a Florida nursing home. The estate wasn't much but there were legal kerfuffles, this was sorted out but this too takes an emotional toll.

Then another son finally admitted that he was addicted to drugs. To be honest the only surprise was that he did admit it at the time he did. The was in that accelerating downward spiral where the addict starts more and more powerful drugs. At this point if you don't pull out, you're lost. We got him into rehab, scrambled to get the financing because his insurance fell far, far short, and did what we could to support his wife and kids. The emotional toll hit my wife pretty hard.