Details at Christian Research Net.

Over at The Crux blog of Midwest Christian Outreach Ron Henzel, Christian apologist and Senior Researcher at MCO, continues his look at the cardinal Christian doctrine of the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Christ on the Cross.

Henzel opened the series with Behold The Lamb and has continued with The Lamb That Was Slain and Losing Sight Of The Lamb. As he begins this very well-researched article Henzel reminds us why it is that something so clear as the vicarious atonement would eventually become lost in the shadows:

there is a darkness that no one alive today remembers. There was a time in European history when the light of ancient learning and culture from the glory days of Greece and Rome seemed all but extinguished. It seemed to be, as William Manchester (1922-2004) put it in the title of his bestselling book, A World Lit Only By Fire.

At least, that’s the way it has seemed to many who have looked back on it. Depending on which historian you read, however, actually identifying that period can be like trying to nail Jello to a wall. For a while virtually the entire medieval period—the Middle Ages, which may be roughly defined as the years ad 500 to 1500—was referred to as “the Dark Ages.”…

The beginning of the Middle Ages was not only a bad time for Roman culture, it was a bad time for the church… The atonement is the subject I have actually been dealing with up to this point, as you can see from my previous articles, and we have followed the history of this doctrine up to the beginning of the Middle Ages. But once we come to that point, it is as though we come to the edge of a cliff…

You can read Henzel’s article in its entirely by clicking here.

Over at The Crux blog of Midwest Christian Outreach Ron Henzel, Christian apologist and Senior Researcher at MCO, continues his look at the cardinal Christian doctrine of the vicarious penal substitutionary atonement of Christ on the Cross, which he began in Behold The Lamb and The Lamb That Was Slain.

In this edifying and well-researched piece Henzel brings out:

I like things to be simple. I like them to be clear. What can I say? I’m a simple guy. I prefer bullet points to paragraphs, illustrations to explanations, and maps to directions… I get irritated when people make things more complicated than they need to be. I become especially annoyed when Christians hide the light of the Gospel under the bushel of sophisticated theological jargon…

But, alas, simplicity has its limits… I play lead guitar for my church worship band. When it’s time to set up I go into our equipment closet and some of the first things I reach for are my amplifier cables… Amp cables appear to be the simplest things on Earth, but they’re tricky little guys. If you lay one on top of the other you can have a tough time separating them…

So what should be a quick and simple process is regularly complicated by—well, by procrastination and neglect. The same thing happens with the teachings of Scripture. If we neglect them, over time they become difficult to untangle. It’s not the Bible’s fault. It does not change over time and somehow become more complicated in itself. The problem is with us…

This is what happened to the most foundational truth within the doctrine of salvation, Christ’s atoning death on the cross. Over time the church neglected it, and it became tangled up with unbiblical ideas. Untangling it became a complicated process that could only be resolved by paying close attention to Scripture…

You can read Henzel’s article in its entirely by clicking here.

Some additional commentary in this missive with a link to a piece where Dr. Mohler shares the correct perspective concerning sin, including homosexuality.

A short devotion concerning sin and church discipline by J. Randall Easter, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church of Briar, Azle, TX.

Regardless of what you might think of the operation of spiritual gifts—whether all of them, some of them, or none of them are operative today—we should be aware of the new spiritual gift on the block; the gift of “spiritual director.” As one spiritual director remarks, “I continue to be amazed at the richness of this gift to the church, whether it is experienced individually or in groups.”[1]  But just what is this gift?

Alice Fryling says that, “Spiritual direction is a way of companioning people as they seek to look closely, through the eyes of their hearts, at the guidance and transforming work of God in their lives.”[2]
 
Spiritual director appears to mimic the role of an eastern religious guru who tries to affect the spirituality of others in either one-on-one or small groups settings. As Fryling states, “People throughout the Christian church, including those of an evangelical orientation, are experiencing again the gifts that God gives to his people through the loving listening and the gentle guidance of spiritual directors.”[3] So what is the Bible believing Christian to think of this so-called gift?

We should know first of all, that in the lists of gifts in the New Testament (Romans 12:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 4:9-10), there is no spiritual gift of spiritual director.

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Dr. Alan Cairns preaches on the glory of Christ and the danger of neglecting Him in this sermon.

 I received this letter today from Pastor Larry DeBruyn of Franklin Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis. He has given me permission to publish it. Christians today are so obsessed with the moral squalor of the heathen in Sodom that they are missing the squalor within the Church. It appears that nakedness, in the cause of conservatism, is A-OK. (Concerned Women for America today joined many other conservative groups in holding up Carrie Prejean as the newest conservative hero.)

Ingrid,
I feel compelled to share my thoughts regarding the hullabaloo presently going on about Miss California and the Miss USA beauty pageant. Desperate to have their concerns about traditional marriage espoused in a public forum, evangelical Christianity, rapidly becoming marginalized in our society’s mainstream, is groping for almost anyone to give a voice for the traditional institution of marriage, one I fully endorse (marriage should be a covenant commitment between a man and a women for life).

      The irony of this whole business is that here was a scantily clad woman—this of course can provoke lust in men (Matthew 5:27-29)—who was asked about marriage by a judge who supposedly isn’t even attracted to women. She gives the politically incorrect answer and in doing so, alienated the politically correct judges, and forfeited possible victory in the beauty pageant. By giving a correct answer to a loaded question about marriage, and by doing so without hardly any clothes on, Miss Prejean has now become the cause célèbre amongst conservatives and evangelicals for her affirmation of biblically correct marriage.

      Admittedly, I at first joined the admiration society of the Miss USA contestant for boldly standing up for her beliefs in a hostile and prejudiced environment, until I realized my disconnect, until I began to think biblically about the whole matter, and recall the scriptural passages condemning nakedness. Instinctively, Adam and Eve covered themselves after sinning (Genesis 3:7). Correspondingly, they became conscious of their sin and their nakedness (By the way God covered Adam and Eve too, Genesis 3:21.). I think of Noah’s two sons who saw his nakedness (Genesis 9:18 ff.). I think of the High Priest who was commanded not to ascend the altar lest “his nakedness” be exposed (Exodus 20:26). In other words, in reverence to God the High Priest’s leg was not even to be exposed. I think of the Leviticus passages that command, “thou shalt not expose the nakedness thereof . . .” (Leviticus 18).” And women are to dress modestly that their prayers be not hindered (1 Timothy 2:8-9).

      The parade of naked or semi-clothed bodies in our culture indicates our society’s desensitization to, if not outright denial, of sin (Remember, when Adam and Eve first discovered they were sinners, they instinctively covered themselves.). Years ago in the middle of the previous century, I had a friend who was a missionary amongst the Stone Age people of the territory then known as New Guinea. On one of his furloughs in the states, he remarked to me one day that all the while—for reason of the Gospel’s penetration into their hearts—the natives were putting clothes on, we in so-called “Christian America” seemed to be taking them off!

      I recognize that I am not the last word on the subject. I grew up on the sandy summer beaches of Lake Michigan, and was on the high school swim team. During my teen age and young adult years in the 60s, I witnessed the girls’ swimsuits become skimpier and skimpier. I recognize God uses sinners. But I am aware that we sinners can also attempt to use God. I have no pretension of being a self-righteous prude. I have had, as with most all other men, a problem with lust, something Jesus pointedly warned about. So what really disturbs me as a pastor is observing how easily we Christians accommodate our values to the culture’s, to the system called the world, and seemingly without any tinge of conscience. As Christians, we are to use but not abuse the world, and God will be the judge of whether we were users or abusers, won’t He?

      I can only go by the Word, the Holy Scriptures. It seems to me that one aspect of worldliness involves “the lusts of the flesh” (1 John 2:16). Furthermore, the Bible says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lusts” (Romans 13:14). After their conversion, Paul reminds the Ephesians that, “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Ephesians 2:3). And the Apostle Peter pleaded, “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11).

      The prevalence of nudity and semi-nudity in our culture may help explain—there is no excuse for terrorism—why fundamentalist Muslims, whose women dress in burkhas (i.e., loose garments with veiled holes for the eyes), detest the west (See http://www.frbaptist.org/bin/view/Ptp/PtpTopic2002-01-14).

      This whole beauty pageant controversy provides a sad commentary on both the state of the culture and to some extent, the values prevalent amongst Christians today. We have been, and are being, desensitized to nudity. Miss California may be the newest heroine amongst a desperate conservative sub-culture that sees our society sinking into a moral abyss, but this whole business ought to remind Christians of how the prevalence of human nakedness indicates our having been removed from God’s righteousness. 

Respectfully,

Pastor Larry DeBruyn

“It is God who justifies.”
(Romans 8:33)

“Behold the eternal security of the weakest believer in Jesus. The act of justification, once passed under the great seal of the resurrection of Christ, God can never revoke without denying Himself. Here is our safety. Here is the ground of our dauntless challenge, ‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies.’ What can I need more? What more can I ask?

If God, the God of spotless purity, the God of inflexible righteousness, justifies me, ‘who is he that condemns?’ Sin may condemn, but it is God that justifies! The law may alarm, but it is God that justifies! Satan may accuse, but it is God that justifies! Death may terrify, but it is God that justifies! ‘If GOD is for us, who can be against us?’ Who will dare condemn the soul whom He justifies?

How gloriously will this truth shine forth in the great day of judgment! Every accuser will then be dumb. Every tongue will then be silent. Nothing shall be laid to the charge of God’s elect. GOD Himself shall pronounce them fully, and forever justified: ‘And those He justifies, He also glorifies.’”

—Octavius Winslow

HT: Thoughts on the Way Blog

A Slice salute today for Dr. John MacArthur who has shown true Christian leadership as a pastor in addressing the shameful speech of Mark Driscoll on the subject of sexuality. While many other Reformed leaders remain silent and complicit in this, and while young believers (and some not so young) are caused to stumble by Driscoll’s conduct, MacArthur has been willing to give clear biblical teaching on this. It’s like the bright beam of a lighthouse in the dark. Thank you, Dr. MacArthur, for speaking authoritatively on this issue. When Christian women such as Deborah Dombrowski, Cathy Mickels, myself and others have had to bear the burden of exposing this stuff,  it is a relief to have a nationally known Christian leader speak the obvious. Women are tired of having to fight truth battles that godly men ought to be fighting.

Here are the additional parts to this series from Dr. MacArthur.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

This conclusion of the series is so important as it answers questions critics have posed and shows the arrogance of Mr. Driscoll on this issue when confronted. If you are fed up with Driscoll’s conduct on this and the silence and excuse making from those in the Reformed world who ought to know better, don’t miss reading what Dr. MacArthur has to say. 

The failure of churches accross the country to teach sound doctrine is bearing just the fruit you would expect. Not only are Christians ignorant of the gospel and sound doctrine, they are ignorant of the importance of the most fundamental teachings of Christianity. The Christian Post reports.

O mystery great and glorious,
That mortal flesh should conquer death,
And all our human pains and wounds
The Lord should heal by bearing them.

Behold how man, though crushed by death,
Now does arise and live with Christ,
While death, repelled and robbed of might,
Dies from its own malignant sting.

Ambrose–4th Century

This moving article by Berit Kjos articulates what the Christian life is all about. I want to share it with you today.

A short video clip featuring John MacArthur.

CrossTV

Here’s the video of the lecture Phil Johnson gave at the recent Shepherd’s Conference discussing “contextualization” as well as other things. Thanks to Phil Johnson for allowing me to host this on my Youtube account.

Here is the mp3 of Phil Johnson at the Shepherd’s Conference this last week as he biblically addressed the trend of pastors with dirty mouths.

Here is a link to the summary of Phil Johnson’s presentation this morning at the Shepherd’s conference going on right now. Thank you, Phil Johnson, for shedding biblical light on the current trend of coarse and vulgar speech by pastors desperately seeking relevance. I praise God for Mr. Johnson’s clarity at a time when such confusion is being generated by today’s hireling pastors.