THE CRUCIBLE OF GRACE...where God takes the dross off the silver to make His servants fit for His use

"Every wise workman takes his tools away from the work from time to time that they may be ground and sharpened; so does the only-wise Jehovah take his ministers oftentimes away into darkness and loneliness and trouble, that he may sharpen and prepare them for harder work in his service." -ROBERT MURRAY MCCHEYENE

THE OLD GOSPEL COMPARED WITH THE NEW...discerning what it means to be a true follower of Jesus

Adapted from J. I. Packer - on the gospel according to John Owen

Introduction:
by S.J. Camp

The debate of late has been on the content of the gospel and the call of the gospel. Some want to make the assumption that any kind of gospel presented is acceptable no matter how lacking in substance of message for God will use anything in bringing salvation to lost people. One writer claims that a beloved evangelical leader was converted by one obscure verse from the book of Ecclesiastes. Listen, no man is converted by such whimsical, romantic notions or casual verse reading that have nothing to do with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says, "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation..." It must be the gospel proclaimed -unadulterated and unfettered - to bring Christ to men. "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ..."

We have a charge beloved to proclaim the gospel by the whole council of God and that we must. Fear no man; pay homage to no man, be swayed by no man; but let your conscience and heart be governed by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Let not your tongue be muzzled by those who seek to control you, rather than serve you. The Word of God is like a fire... and here, it will not be quenched. The Word of God is also a hammer; and may we pound it aloud for all to hear!

The gospel of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ humbles itself to no one. The issue of the gospel is not how do we get sinful men to a holy God; the issue of the gospel is how does a holy God come to sinful men without violating His holiness and His justice. And the answer is the cross. Here mercy and justice kiss; here saving grace triumphs over wrath; here His electing love conquers our emnity; here holy God is satisfied and depraved man is justified.

Do not be impressed with surfboards, sentiment, scenary, and style. Be humbled at the love of God come through the propitiatory work of the Son. Be awed at the regenerating ministry of the Holy Spirit. Be rejoicing because we serve a risen, reigning, glorious Lord Jesus whose name is above every name. And be confident in the power of the Word of God to pierce and convict men's hearts, to bring them to their knees in repentance which God alone can grant. Be offended by those who seek to picture God as a lover begging on one knee for any sinner to take His engagement ring proposing as a nervous man to his girlfriend; and then waiting as an impotent Divine who can only observe what man may accept and decide.

Implore sinful men to be reconciled to God, to bow the knee before the holy dread Sovereign of Glory; to tremble at His Word; to repent of their sin crying out for forgiveness that God may grant them saving faith and take away their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Warn them of the wrath to come. Plead with them to not harden their hearts while today is still called today. God is not asking for decisions or looking for converts; God is seeking for true worshippers--disciples that will deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him. He is seeking to save that which is lost. The Hound of Heaven is on the move--think not your little inventions add one thing to the soul in need of redemption. It is His gospel alone which transforms lives--we are but its stewards. And may we be found faithful!

"Let goods and kindred go
This mortal life also
The body they may kill
His truth abideth still
His kingdom is forever."

To that end, let us begin.

The Free Offer of Salvation:
The old gospel of Owen, first of all, contains no less full and free an offer of salvation than its modern counterpart. It presents ample grounds of faith (the sufficiency of Christ, and the promise of God), and cogent motives to faith (the sinner's need, and the Creator's command, which is also the Redeemer's invitation). The new gospel gains nothing here by asserting universal redemption. The old gospel, certainly, has no room for the cheap sentimentalizing which turns God's free mercy to sinners into a constitutional softheartedness on His part which we can take for granted; nor will it countenance the degrading presentation of Christ as the baffled Saviour, balked in what he hoped to do by human unbelief; nor will it indulge in maudlin appeals to the unconverted to let Christ save them out of pity for His disappointment. The pitiable Saviour and the pathetic God of modern pulpits are unknown to the old gospel.

The old gospel tells men that they need God, but not that God needs them (a modern falsehood); it does not exhort them to pity Christ, but announces that Christ has pitied them, though pity was the last thing they deserved. It never loses sight of the Divine majesty and sovereign power of the Christ whom it proclaims, but rejects flatly all representations of Him which would obscure His free omnipotence.

Electing Love to Sinners:
Does this mean, however, that the preacher of the old gospel is inhibited or confined in offering Christ to men and inviting them to receive Him? Not at all. In actual fact, just because he recognizes that Divine mercy is sovereign and free, he is in a position to make far more of the offer of Christ in his preaching than is the expositor of the new gospel; for this offer is itself a far more wonderful thing on his principles than it can ever be in the eyes of those who regard love to all sinners as a necessity of God's nature, and therefore a matter of course. To think that the holy Creator, who never needed man for His happiness and might justly have banished our fallen race for ever without mercy, should actually have chosen to redeem some of them! and that His own Son was willing to undergo death and descend into hell to save them! and that now from His throne He should speak to ungodly men as He does in the words of the gospel, urging upon them the command to repent and believe in the form of a compassionate invitation to pity themselves and choose life! These thoughts are the focal points round which the preaching of the old gospel revolves. It is all wonderful, just because none of it can be taken for granted. But perhaps the most wonderful thing of all - the holiest spot in all the holy ground of gospel truth - is the free invitation which "the Lord Christ " (as Owen loves to call Him) issues repeatedly to guilty sinners to come to Him and find rest for their souls. It is the glory of these invitations that it is an omnipotent King who gives them, just as it is a chief part of the glory of the enthroned Christ that He condescends still to utter them. And it is the glory of the gospel ministry that the preacher goes to men as Christ's ambassador, charged to deliver the King's invitation personally to every sinner present and to summon them all to turn and live. Owen himself enlarges on this in a passage addressed to the unconverted.

"Consider the infinite condescension and love of Christ, in his invitations and calls of you to come unto him for life, deliverance, mercy, grace, peace and eternal salvation. Multitudes of these invitations and calls are recorded in the Scripture, and they are all of them filled up with those blessed encouragements which divine wisdom knows to be suited unto lost, convinced sinners.... In the declaration and preaching of them, Jesus Christ yet stands before sinners, calling, inviting, encouraging them to come unto him.

Passionate Appeal - Warning and Invitation:
"This is somewhat of the word which he now speaks unto you: Why will ye die? why will ye perish? why will ye not have compassion on your own souls? Can your hearts endure, or can your hands be strong, in the day of wrath that is approaching?... Look unto me, and be saved; come unto me, and I will ease you of all sins, sorrows, fears, burdens, and give rest unto your souls. Come, I entreat you; lay aside all procrastinations, all delays; put me off no more; eternity lies at the door... do not so hate me as that you will rather perish than accept of deliverance by me.

"These and the like things doth the Lord Christ continually declare, proclaim, plead and urge upon the souls of sinners.... He doth it in the preaching of the word, as if he were present with you, stood amongst you, and spake personally to every one of you. He hath appointed the ministers of the gospel to appear before you, and to deal with you in his stead, avowing as his own the invitations which are given you in his name, 2 Cor. v.19,20,"

These invitations are universal; Christ addresses them to sinners, as such, and every man, as he believes God to be true, is bound to treat them as God's words to him personally and to accept the universal assurance which accompanies them, that all who come to Christ will be received. Again, these invitations are real; Christ genuinely offers Himself to all who hear the gospel, and is in truth a perfect Saviour to all who trust Him. The question of the extent of the atonement does not arise in evangelistic preaching; the message to be delivered is simply this - that Christ Jesus, the sovereign Lord, who died for sinners, now invites sinners freely to Himself. God commands all to repent and believe; Christ promises life and peace to all who do so.

Furthermore, these invitations are marvelously gracious; men despise and reject them, and are never in any case worthy of them, and yet Christ still issues them. He need not, but He does. "Come unto me… and I will give you rest" remains His word to the world, never cancelled, always to be preached. He whose death has ensured the salvation of all His people is to be proclaimed everywhere as a perfect Saviour, and all men invited and urged to believe on Him, whoever they are, whatever they have been. Upon these three insights the evangelism of the old gospel is based.

It is a very ill-informed supposition that evangelistic preaching which proceeds on these principles must be anemic and half-hearted by comparison with what Arminians can do. Those who study the printed sermons of worthy expositors of the old gospel, such as Bunyan (whose preaching Owen himself much admired), or Whitefield, or Spurgeon, will find that in fact they hold forth the Saviour and summon sinners to Him with a fullness, warmth, intensity and moving force unmatched in Protestant pulpit literature. And it will be found on analysis that the very thing which gave their preaching its unique power to overwhelm their audiences with broken-hearted joy at the riches of God's grace - and still gives it that power, let it be said, even with hard-boiled modem readers - was their insistence on the fact that grace is free. They knew that the dimensions of Divine love are not half understood till one realizes that God need not have chosen to save nor given his Son to die; nor need Christ have taken upon him vicarious damnation to redeem men, nor need He invite sinners indiscriminately to Himself as He does; but that all God's gracious dealings spring entirely from His own free purpose.

Biblical Gospel Evangelistic Preaching - No Surfboards Allowed:
Knowing this, they stressed it, and it is this stress that sets their evangelistic preaching in a class by itself. Other Evangelicals, possessed of a more superficial and less adequate theology of grace, have laid the main emphasis in their gospel preaching on the sinner's need of forgiveness, or peace, or power, and of the way to get them by "deciding for Christ." It is not to be denied that their preaching has done good (for God will use His truth, even when imperfectly held and mixed with error), although this type of evangelism is always open to the criticism of being too man-centered and pietistic; but it has been left (necessarily) to Calvinists and those who, like the Wesleys, fall into Calvinistic ways of thought as soon as they begin a sermon to the unconverted, to preach the gospel in a way which highlights above - everything else the free love, willing condescension, patient long-suffering and infinite kindness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Without doubt, this is the most Scriptural and edifying way to preach it; for gospel invitations to sinners never honour God and exalt Christ more, nor are more powerful to awaken and confirm faith, than when full weight is laid on the free omnipotence of the mercy from which they flow. It looks, indeed, as if the preachers of the old gospel are the only people whose position allows them to do justice to the revelation of Divine goodness in the free offer of Christ to sinners.

Then, in the second place, the old gospel safeguards values which the new gospel loses. We saw before that the new gospel, by asserting universal redemption and a universal Divine saving purpose, compels itself to cheapen grace and the Cross by denying that the Father and the Son are sovereign in salvation; for it assures us that, after God and Christ have done all that they can, or will, it depends finally on each man's own choice whether God's purpose to save him is realized or not. This position has two unhappy results.

The first is that it compels us to misunderstand the significance of the gracious invitations of Christ in the gospel of which we have been speaking; for we now have to read them, not as expressions of the tender patience of a mighty sovereign, but as the pathetic pleadings of impotent desire; and so the enthroned Lord is suddenly metamorphosed into a weak, futile figure tapping forlornly at the door of the human heart, which He is powerless to open. This is a shameful dishonour to the Christ of the New Testament.

The second implication is equally serious: for this view in effect denies our dependence on God when it comes to vital decisions, takes us out of His hand, tells us that we are, after all, what sin taught us to think we were-masters of our fate, captain of our souls-and so undermines the very foundation of man's religious relationship with his Maker. It can hardly be wondered at that the converts of the new gospel are so often both irreverent and irreligious, for such is the natural tendency of this teaching. The old gospel, however, speaks very differently and has a very different tendency. On the one hand, in expounding man's need of Christ, it stresses something which the new gospel effectively ignores - that sinners cannot obey the gospel, any more than the law, without renewal of heart. On the other hand, in declaring Christ's power to save, it proclaims Him as the author and chief agent of conversion, coming by His Spirit as the gospel goes forth to renew men's hearts and draw them to Himself.

God Must Give What God Commands:
Accordingly, in applying the message, the old gospel, while stressing that faith is man's duty, stresses also that faith is not in man's power, but that God must give what He commands. It announces, not merely that men must come to Christ for salvation, but also that they cannot come unless Christ Himself draws them. Thus it labours to overthrow self-confidence, to convince sinners that their salvation is altogether out of their hands, and to shut them up to a self-despairing dependence on the glorious grace of a sovereign Saviour, not only for their righteousness but for their faith too.

It is not likely, therefore, that a preacher of the old gospel will be happy to express the application of it in the form of a demand to "decide for Christ," as the current phrase is. For, on the one hand, this phrase carries the wrong associations. It suggests voting a person into office - an act in which the candidate plays no part beyond offering himself for election, and everything then being settled by the voter's independent choice. But we do not vote God's Son into office as our Saviour, nor does He remain passive while preachers campaign on His behalf, whipping up support for His cause. We ought not to think of evangelism as a kind of electioneering. And then, on the other hand, this phrase obscures the very thing that is essential in repentance and faith - the denying of self in a personal approach to Christ. It is not at all obvious that deciding for Christ is the same as coming to Him and resting On Him and turning from sin and self-effort; it sounds like something much less, and is accordingly calculated to instill defective notions of what the gospel really requires of sinners. It is not a very apt phrase from any point of view.

To the question: what must I do to be saved? the old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it mean to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners, [and who was resurrected bodily from the grave for our justification]; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon Him for pardon arid peace; and exchanging one's natural enmity and rebellion against God for a spirit of grateful submission to the will of Christ through the renewing of one's heart by the Holy Ghost.

And to the further question still: how am I to go about believing on Christ and repenting, if I have no natural ability to do these things? it answers: look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself on His mercy; ask Him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith; ask Him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write His law within you, that you may never henceforth stray from Him. Turn to Him and trust Him as best you can, and pray for grace to turn and trust more thoroughly; use the means of grace expectantly, looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to draw near to Him; watch, pray, read and hear God's Word, worship and commune with God's people, and so continue till you know in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being, a penitent believer, and the new heart which you desired has been put within you. The emphasis in this advice is on the need to call upon Christ directly, as the very first step.

"Let not conscience make you linger,
 Nor of fitness fondly dream;

All the fitness He requireth
 Is to feel your need of Him"

So do not postpone action till you think you are better, but honestly confess your badness and give yourself up here and now to the Christ who alone can make you better; and wait on Him till His light rises in your soul, as Scripture promises that it shall do. Anything less than this direct dealing with Christ is disobedience of the gospel. Such is the exercise of spirit to which the old evangel summons its hearers. "I believe-help thou mine unbelief": this must become their cry.

Bringing Christ to Men:
And the old gospel is proclaimed in the sure confidence that the Christ of whom it testifies, the Christ who is the real speaker when the Scriptural invitations to trust Him are expounded and applied, is not passively waiting for man's decision as the word goes forth, but is omnipotently active, working with and through the word to bring His people to faith in Himself. The preaching of the new gospel is often described as the task of "bringing men to Christ " - as if only men move, while Christ stands still. But the task of preaching the old gospel could more properly be described as bringing Christ to men, for those who preach it know that as they do their work of setting Christ before men's eyes, the mighty Saviour whom they proclaim is busy doing His work through their words, visiting sinners with salvation, awakening them to faith, drawing them in mercy to Himself.

It is this older gospel, which Owen will teach us to preach: the gospel of the sovereign grace of God in Christ as the author and finisher of faith and salvation. It is the only gospel, which can be preached on Owen's principles, but those who have tasted its sweetness will not in any case be found looking for another. In the matter of believing and preaching the gospel, as in other things, Jeremiah's words still have their application:

"Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." To find ourselves debarred, as Owen would debar us, from taking up with the fashionable modern substitute gospel may not, after all, be a bad thing, either for us, or for the Church. More might be said, but to go farther would be to exceed the limits of an introductory essay. The foregoing remarks are made simply to show how important it is at the present time that we should attend most carefully to… what the Bible says about the saving work of Christ.

AN ENCOURAGING WORD TO RED LETTER CHRISTIANS...any social cause must first be addressed and understood from the world of Scripture

The excerpt below was taken from a six part series that Dr. Mohler is doing on the issue of abortion. But as only he can so powerfully state, the burden that we as Christians might rightly have for any social issue facing us in our culture coupled with the sincere desire to see society reform and change on those same issues, must begin from the context of God's Word and not the context of the passion for the social issue itself in fighting the cultural wars.

This is where the Red-Letter Christian liberals of our day have erred. Truth must always remain central and the nexus of all causes that pull at our hearts and souls. I invite you to drink deeply from the well that Dr. Mohler has offered for us this day. Given President Obama's liberal views on abortion and his desire for FOCA to become the governing norm on this issue, this series is a must read. 

Please visit Dr. Mohler's website to read the entire article and to follow this important six part series on the crucial issue of abortion vs. life for all unborn children.

Choose Life,
Steve
Matt. 5-7

The excerpt featured below is taken from the introduction to the article: What Makes Abortion Plausible? What Makes Abortion Unthinkable?, Part One

By Dr. R. Al Mohler

I invite you to turn to the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah, and to look with me at these introductory words to Jeremiah’s prophecy.

We need to turn to Scripture even before we turn to the issue of abortion. We must not attempt to think about urgent moral issues of our day without first turning to Scripture. We want to think clearly so that we are prepared to convince, to speak, to intervene, and to articulate - for we are responsible to have an answer. But there is a grave danger if we begin without first going into the world of the Bible to get our bearings. When we turn to the Scripture we come to understand that every single issue we confront is connected to every other issue and every truth is connected to every other truth. Therefore, we actually do injury and harm to our argument if we just take one thread of the garment and try to talk about it without understanding the whole.

When we reenter the world of the Bible and gain our bearings, we find both the explicit statements of Scripture and also the grand narrative of the Bible. This narrative begins with creation and ends with consummation. All of human experience, all of human history, and everything we know now makes sense. We understand that after creation came the fall, and so we come to understand that we live in a sinful world. We understand that creation represents God’s perfect purpose, but that human beings brought sin into the world. Thus, everything we experience about the world now is what we know about a fallen world. And in a fallen world, it is not just that people do bad things. In a fallen world, every single atom and molecule of the entire cosmos is crying out for redemption. Things are not now as they are to be, as God would have them to be, and as He will make them to be.

In entering the world of the Bible, we come to know God’s plan in a way that makes all of human history understandable, putting everything in a larger frame of reference. The story is not just about the creation of a universe that was declared good by its creator, nor is it just about the fall and the catastrophe that took place so that nothing is right or exactly as it should be. We ourselves understand falleness to be our own experience. We look in the mirror and see the evidence of the fall.

We come to understand that the purpose of God was to bring glory to His name through the redemption of a people who would be known by His own name, saved by the blood of His own Son. We come to understand that redemption is the great theme of the Bible. From beginning to end, all things point toward a Cross and resurrection, and the Gospel becomes the magnificent display of God’s glory. In the Gospel, God shows Himself to be even more glorious than had he merely been Creator, because He is now Creator and Redeemer.

We also understand that history has purpose – history is headed toward something. God was its beginning as the Creator, and God will bring all things to His perfect end. And because Jesus Christ Himself is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, history is headed towards someone.

Therefore, as we reenter the world of the Bible, we find not only that the Bible reveals to us very clear precepts and teachings, but it also reveals a set of theological assumptions that are a part of God’s merciful revelation to us.

PROCLAIMING THE WHOLE COUNSEL OF GOD...Him we proclaim... teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ

"If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefields besides, is mere fight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." -Martin Luther

HT: Ken at AM

THE PLAIN UNVARNISHED TRUTH...Obama isn't qualified to be President

Iraq Veteran to Obama: "you disrespected us..."

To all Hollywood pretentious types: "shut up and act..."

PHILOLOGY...the branch of knowledge that deals with the structure, historical development, and relationships of a language or languages

On a much lighter note today...

Lately I have been addressing the rude, crude, ribald, scatological, feckless speech of maverick Bible teachers and preachers who fail to adhere to the axiom that words really do mean something. And though some disagree, they actually have meaning in and of themselves. It is a matter of vocabulary; and the etymology of language will reveal a word's inherent meaning. Contrary to the emerging, pomo, culturally pragmatic jackanapes that "feel" words primarily obtain meaning by someone's individual intent or fluctuation of tone - vocabulary is primary and foundational.

So here is an entertaining and educational segment on five very interesting words featured recently on The Factor with Bill O'Reilly. Bill's guest is a woman named Marina who was born in Russia and a highly educated philologist (don't let her pulchritudinous image fool you). She addresses one of the words that I used in an article last week which I was criticized for called "pinhead." You might be surprised at its actual meaning. I hope you will have fun learning the meaning of this word, and others, which in turn will assist in raising the bar of the nomenclature that we use everyday. Who knows, maybe our vocabulary will be lifted to such heights that the "s" word will come to be known as "sesquipedalian" rather than the one more ordure.

So this is my gift this week to all the emerging/emergent, postmodern, pseudo-reformed, young and reckless popinjay's who are more prone to see the vocabulary and etymology of language as floccinaucinihilipilification. 

So remember, a rich, engaged vocabulary can really help one communicate more effectively. But we must be careful, for we do not want the mere learning of words to puff up or create a pecksniffian attitude. Let's use them wisely; for there is no greater duty for the Christian in general (and pastor/teacher specifically) than to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, teach His Word, and give the sense of it to the people (1 Cor. 9:16; 2 Tim. 4:1-5; Neh. 8:8).

VIVAT!
Campi

NOW THIS IS A PASTORAL PRAYER BEFORE POLITICIANS THAT PLEASED GOD AND FEARED NO MAN

This event actually happened in the Kansas House (not Senate) in Topeka on January 23, 1996. Joe Wright is the pastor of Central Christian Church in Wichita and was guest chaplain that day. He prayed a prayer of repentance that was written by Bob Russell, pastor of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky. According to an article in the Kansas City Star from January 24, 1996, his prayer did stir controversy and one member of the legislative body walked out. Others criticized the prayer. The controversy didn't end there. Later that year in the Colorado House, Republican representative Mark Paschall angered lawmakers by using Joe Wright's prayer as the invocation. Some members there also walked out in protest.

Paul Harvey did air the story and the prayer. He got such a large response that a phone number was set up to handle the calls. He's aired it a couple more times since.

A real example of the story as it has been circulated:

Thought you might enjoy this interesting prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

Heavenly Father,

We come before You today to ask Your Forgiveness and seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, ''Woe to those who call evil good,'' but that's what we've done. 

We've lost our Spiritual equilibrium. We've inverted our values. 

We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word in the name of moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. 

We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. 

We have exploited the poor and called it a lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. In the name of choice, we have killed our unborn. In the name of right to life, we have killed abortionists. 

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it taxes. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. 

Search us, O God, and know our hearts today. Try us. Show us any wickedness within us. Cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of the State of Kansas, and that they have been ordained by You to govern this great state. 

Grant them your wisdom to rule. May their decisions direct us to the center of Your Will. And as we continue our prayer and as we come in out of the fog, give us clear minds to accomplish our goals as we begin this Legislature. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

The response was immediate. 

A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India, Africa, and Korea.

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on "The Rest of the Story" on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

OBAMANATION: SOME EVANGELICALS WANT THIS MAN AS THEIR PRESIDENT?...aggressively supporting the death of unborn children IS a deal breaker beloved

UPDATED:
Here is The Born Alive Infant Protection Act that Barry Hussein Obama opposed. This just isn't a matter of a difference of opinion on public policy; this is the degenerate, depraved, deep-seated beliefs of an unprincipled man. This is barbarism.

Consider this as you consider this:

For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
-Psalm 139:13-16

HT: James White
Obamanation Picture/Graphic by Carla Rolfe

THE PASTOR AND HIS PRAYER LIFE - AND, NO CAUSE TO BLUSH...by John Owen & Charles Spurgeon

"a minister may fill his pews, his communion roll,

the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees

in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more."

-JOHN OWEN

by C.H. Spurgeon

Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed.

(Isaiah 54.4)

We shall not be ashamed of our faith. Carping critics may assail the Scriptures upon which we ground our belief, but every year the Lord will make it more and more clear that in His Book there is no error, no excess, and no omission. It is no discredit to be a simple believer; the faith which looks alone to Jesus is a crown of honor on any man's head and better than a star on his breast.

We shall not be ashamed of our hope. It shall be even as the Lord has said. We shall be fed, led, blest, and rested. Our Lord will come, and then the days of our mourning shall be ended. How we shall glory in the Lord who first gave us lively hope and then gave us that which we hoped for!

We shall not be ashamed of our love. Jesus is to us the altogether lovely, and never, never, shall we have to blush because we have yielded our hearts to Him. The sight of our glorious Well-beloved will justify the most enthusiastic attachment to Him. None will blame the martyrs for dying for Him. When the enemies of Christ are clothed with everlasting contempt, the lovers of Jesus shall find themselves honored by all holy beings, because they chose the reproach of Christ rather than the treasures of Egypt.

GAY SEX BOOK LEFT OPEN AND IN FULL DISPLAY...read about this shocking and unfortunate incident and what you can do about it

But understand this, 

that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.

-2 Timothy 3:1

UPDATE: 

A MUST LISTEN TO RADIO BROADCAST

BY BRANNON HOUSE ON THIS ISSUE 

FEATURING AN EYE WITNESS (MOTHER OF THREE)

TO THIS INCIDENT. 

Brannon House is a dear friend of mine and colaborer in the Lord for the gospel. I appreciate him greatly and him taking a stand on this issue. Read the following report he gives and then be encouraged to take some positive steps he is providing to help minimize this kind of thing from happening to you and your child in the future. As a disclaimer: if the book left open would have been of a heterosexual couple engaging in sex acts, I would be just as outraged.  Though homosexuality is not at all condoned biblically, the issue being represented here is not a gay-bashing or homophobic concern.  I have worked off and on pertaining to the AIDS issue since 1987 and have participated and produced many events where the gay community was also invited. So the main concern here is one of propriety and decency concerning what our children are exposed to when going to a family book store chain like Barnes and Noble.

From Brannon Howse at Christian Worldview Network:
On June 5th, my eleven year old son joined me in a visit to our local Barnes and Noble Bookstore. I was horrified at what my son saw. Open on a table was a very large, full-color, picture book displaying a man in full frontal nudity. The cover was two men kissing with the title GAY SEX. This book was filled with full-color pictures of gay men doing what they do.

The assistant manager told me that this was the second time that night this book had been laid open in the store. She also informed me that such books were regularly found in the men's room. she said a young boy had been sexually assaulted in the bathroom at this store and the man was never caught. The assistant manger walked me to where the book was normally kept. Was it behind a counter? No, it was on the top shelf of a bookcase that any 13 year old could reach. Welcome to the 21st Century where being gay is mainstream and celebrated as normal in a family bookstore. Listen to find out what I am going to do. (Download or listen to the MP3 - click here). (Right click and select "Save Target As")

After sharing these disturbing stories with me, the assistant manger walked me to where the book was normally kept. Was it behind a counter? No, it was on the top shelf of a bookcase that any 13 year old could reach. Welcome to the 21st Century where being gay is mainstream and celebrated as normal in a family bookstore. Click the link at the bottom of this article and listen to my national radio program to find out what I am going to do.

I returned to the Barnes and Noble the next day to document the placement of their pornographic books. I have three places where books that included pictures of either homosexual porn or heterosexual porn were placed throughout their bookshelves. One section of books was low enough that my five year old could have pulled them from the shelf. Collierville, TN does not have an ordinance that requires this type of material to be behind a counter out of reach of children or moved into a restricted area that requires a person to be 18 or older to enter. 

To read the entire story click here.


Here are some helpful thoughts from blogger Carla Rolfe speaking as a Christian wife and mother of seven.

Laws governing sexuality explicit material. 

Of course I don't live in TN but I was under the (ignorant?) impression that it was a rather common law in the states, that such material available in books, magazines, videos and dvd would be restricted to 18 and older customers. It wasn't that long ago that in our society that material wouldn't even be found in a mainstream bookstore. To find that material, you had to go to the "other side of town" to that little building that was unamarked, but that everyone knew what they sold. While in terms of time it really wasn't that long ago, it does say a lot for just how much our culture has changed in such a short period of time. There's a convenience store in town that Kev had to stop shopping at, because their hardcore porn magazines are on full display at the front of the store. It was impossible to avoid them in the store, so instead he chose to avoid the store. Bearing in mind we're in Canada, where the laws pertaining to these things are far more liberal than those in the states, and especially in the southern, "Bible Belt" states.

The Campaign to Normalize Homosexuality. 

It has apparently become so "normal" to accept the gay lifestyle as just another lifestyle, that the fact that this material is sold at Barnes and Noble, hasn't appeared to really upset anyone all that much. It bothers me, that this doesn't bother more Christians. It makes me wonder which kind of pure wickedness will be next to be accepted as "normal". It makes me grieve for the next generation.

Guarding our Eyes (and those of our children). 

I have never seen the kind of material that Brannon Howse's son was exposed to last week, and I hope I never do. I have friends in law enforcement who have as part of their field, had to investigate child pornography. They will say that the images of unnatural acts they have seen are burned into their memories, forever. Some of them need ongoing counselling to deal with just having those images in their minds, and these are adult men and women.

I know that many will disagree about the damage that images can cause, but the testimonies of countless adult men and women who are addicted to porn, or who were formerly addicted to porn, should be enough to give us all pause for thought as to the potential for harm of placing things before our eyes, that should not be there. This caution goes quadruple for children, that aren't even close to being old enough to process what they see from a mature, discerning worldview. I have read (as I'm sure others have as well) testimonies from former porn addicts (and violent criminals as well) who often say that being exposed to "adult" images as children, is what began their life in that arena. I can't prove that there is a connection between "adult" images seen by children and a sinfully wicked lifestyle as an adult, but it sure seems obvious to anyone really paying attention. (There may be statistics that bear this out, I haven't researched it to know). Based on what I just said, how do "homosexual adult" images have any bearing on the mind of a child? I cannot begin to guess for certain, but I suppose it just deepens the damage - especially considering the culture we live in that shoves this lifestyle in our faces and fully expects us to embrace it.

Boycotting Blatant Ungodly Businesses & Business Practices. 

Well there's a big ole can of worms. Does it work? I don't know, some will say yes and others say no. I think it's really more of a matter of conviction. Does ABC business sell trash? Yes, and I don't shop there. Does XYZ utility company support some anti-God, anti-Christian organization or association? Yes, many of them do, but that doesn't mean we're going to shut the lights, phone, cable, sat, water & gas off, just to not be connected to them in some way. We all have to make choices all day long based on our Christian convictions. Where we shop, what we watch on tv, sites we visit on the internet, what we read offline, etc. If in this case, Barnes and Noble refuses to change their policy regarding their homosexual porn literature (and I can't see why they would), then it's up to individual Christians to make the choice on whether or not to shop there. Bearing in mind, pretty much every other mainstream bookstore carries the same stuff, so no matter where you shop for books & such, you're going to run into this to one degree or another. Welcome to living in a fallen world where sinners act like sinners. God's grace and mercy on those sinners is what changes them - not boycotts...

Thank you Carla.

The following link below is one way that you can help be salt and light in our decaying society; a way to visibly demonstrate love for your neighbor.  It is a petition you can fill out and it will take you about one minute to do so.  May I encourage you, as I have already done, to sign this petition that Brannon is spearheading to let your voice be made known to the good folks at Barnes and Noble and to the leadership of the city of Collierville.  This is a legal, Christ-honoring way to express your views as a believer on this issue.  As a father of five teenage sons and daughters this was a must moment for me to do.

Please continue to pray for Brannon in his effort to be a Christian voice representing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ right where he lives in this matter.  It is a good example for us all to follow.

Thank you in advance for your participation.

Live out Loud...

Steve

2 Cor. 4:5

Help Protect the Children in Your City and State 

By Signing the Petition to the Barnes and Noble Executives

QUOTE OF THE DAY...by Thomas Watson from, "Heaven Taken by Storm"

“Truth is the most glorious thing; 

the least filling of this gold is precious. 

What shall we be violent for if not for truth? 

Truth is ancient; its grey hairs may make it venerable; 

it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. 

Truth is unerring; it is the star that leads to Christ. 

Truth is pure (Psalm 119:140). 

It is compared to silver refined seven times (Psalm 12:6). 

There is not the least spot on truth’s face; it breathes nothing but sanctity. 

Truth is triumphant; it is like a great conqueror; when all his enemies lie dead, 

it keeps the field and sets up its trophies of victory. 

Truth may be opposed, but never quite deposed…

When the water in the Thames is lowest, a high tide is ready to come in. 

God is on truth’s side, and so long as there is no fear it will prevail.”

The Velvet Covered Sword...where are the Christian men more concerned about the truth than niceness?

"Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 

Let all that you do be done in love." 

-1 Corinthians 16:13-14

There is a feminization going on in evangelicalism today that has recently spilled over to the blogosphere.  It has manifested itself by saying things like,

"All you truth-detectors and discernment watch-dogs are just so nasty all the time... Can't we all just get along? Just be nice; make nice; play nice; and OOZE nice? I don't think it is loving to criticize others. You're all just a bunch of big 'ol meanies.  You think you know it all.  If you say anything negative, I'm just going to ignore you. Tissue please... it's just too much to bear..."

These toy-soldiers carry what I call "a velvet covered sword."  It's lightweight, easy to wield, isn't designed for battle, takes little strength to lift it, looks inviting, and won't cut too deep for fear of offending too greatly.  It's like reading the ESV or NASB; and then one day you pickup up a copy of The Message thinking that it too is a Bible; when all that it is, is just a velvet covered sword. 

Speak the Truth in Love
To "speak the truth in love" beloved does not mean to be non-confrontational, passive, soft, or simply 'nice'.  No question, Christ-like love is the godly compassion behind speaking the truth in an uncompromised and unadulterated way.  

As Paul said in warning of false teachers to Timothy and the church at Ephesus,

"the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."  -1 Timothy 1:5

"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." -Acts 20:26-32

It is out of this unmerited, undeserved, self-sacrificial, unfailing agape love that comes the courage and the boldness to contend for the faith, to instruct in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict, to preach the Word in season and out of season, to guard the trust, and to defend the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is precisely because of this love for the Lord and for the truth, men of God have and will unwaveringly say,

"I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."  -Acts 20:24

Ephesians 4:15 in context is that standing for the truth of Scripture as central to ministry within the local church guards against people being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and by craftiness in deceitful schemes; and against the savage wolves that propagate such error.  

The result:

"we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

And that is a most loving thing to do.

It's always fascinating to me that those who fancy themselves the most kind, the most gracious, the most sensitive, and the most endearing are usually the same ones who are most critical against those who champion the faith, yet seldom champion it themselves. Once again, we do need to speak the truth in love beloved –  but speak the truth we must.  We need to always ask the Lord prayerfully, that He gives us the grace-filled balance of courage and compassion; the prophet’s piercing voice and the prophet’s burning tears; the boldness of a Lion and the benevolence of a Lamb.

But in our day, postmodern evangelicalism would have us place tone above truth, demeanor above doctrine, feelings before faith, and embrace the comfort of the retreat rather than the campaign of the battlefield.

Where Are All the Men of God Today?

• Where are the men of God that are willing to contend for the once for all delivered to the saints faith? 
  
• Where are the men of God who are willing to instruct in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict? 
  
• Where are the men of God who won't tolerate a scatological mouth in the pulpit and will guard the integrity of the sacred desk?
  
• Where are the men of God who will preach not themselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord?
• Where are the men of God who are biblically discerning, armed with the sword of the Spirit, and in the power of the Spirit will abandon themselves to nothing save Christ and Him crucified? 
  
• Where are the men of God who will say no to the world and yes to Christ - leaving behind career, fame, and the promise of fortune for the sake of the gospel? 
  
• Where are the men of God today who consider it more a joy to bear the reproaches and insults of men for the glory of Christ, then seek after the praise of men for the glory of themselves? 
  
• Where are the men of God who love God more than they fear man?
  

Where are these kind of men of God today?

Martin Luther said it best: 

"I would rather preach the truth with too great a severity, 

than to ever once act the hypocrite and conceal the truth!"

May the Lord give us men like that once again; men who will leave behind the velvet covered sword of today's evangelical, postmodern world and take up without shame, the sword of the Spirit wielding its truths with love, courage and biblical resolve.

"I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." -2 Timothy 4:1-5

HOW WIDE IS THE NARROW ROAD AT LAKEWOOD CHURCH?...Pastor Osteen believes Mormons are Christians too

"[The Pastor] must hold firm to the trustworthy

word as taught, so that he may be able to

give instruction in sound doctrine

and also to refute those who contradict it."

-Titus 1:9

Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, TX was on Chris Wallace's excellent news broadcast this morning: Fox New Sunday with Chris Wallace.

Once again, Joel speaks sentimentally about spiritual things, but shies away from speaking clearly and biblically about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And more importantly, speaking against the unorthodox beliefs of those who represent a false gospel dressed in Christian rags - such as Mormonism.
.

This interview represents the tragedy of unbiblical compassion... resulting in a distortion of the truth, an acceptance of a different gospel, and an ecumenical accommodationalism that defects from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

This interview is disappointing on three levels:

1. Joel is a pastor and failed to speak biblically as a pastor on an essential of the faith: what is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and do Mormon beliefs pass the test of orthodoxy according to the standard of Scripture?

2. Because of Joel's large TV audience (especially among nonbelievers) many folks will surely come away from today's broadcast thinking that Mormons are truly Christian when in fact they are not at all.

3. Mitt Romney, though a fine politician, is now further confirmed in his unbelief and his heart a bit more calloused against the biblical gospel because of Joel's words.

This is serious beloved. What Joel affirmed is nothing short of a compromised gospel worthy only of eternal damnation. Mormons believe a different gospel than the biblical gospel and cannot be considered as part of orthodox Christianity under any circumstance (here is an excellent apologetic site that has numerous detailed articles about Mormon beliefs and doctrines.)

In the wake of this unfortunate interview, my prayers today are twofold:

1. that Joel Osteen would daily study to show himself approved unto God as a workman unashamed by handling accurately the word of truth. Eight years is a long enough time beloved for any man in pastoral ministry (seminary educated or not) to be thoroughly acquainted with the essentials of the faith - especially the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and to clearly represent its truth.

And 2. that the Lord would bring truly saved men and women into the Romney household to proclaim to them the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; warning them to flee the wrath to come; compelling them to be reconciled to God; commanding them to repent of their sins; and calling them to deny themselves, take up their cross, and by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone... follow Him as their Lord and Savior.

Below you will find a section of the transcript of the broadcast. The video can be watched here or read the entire transcript can be read here.

WALLACE: And what about Mitt Romney? And I've got to ask you the question, because it is a question whether it should be or not in this campaign, is a Mormon a true Christian? OSTEEN: Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so, you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are. (emphasis mine). And so, you know, Mitt Romney seems like a man of character and integrity to me, and I don't think he would — anything would stop me from voting for him if that's what I felt like. WALLACE: So, for instance, when people start talking about Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and the golden tablets in upstate New York, and God assumes the shape of a man, do you not get hung up in those theological issues? OSTEEN: I probably don't get hung up in them because I haven't really studied them or thought about them. And you know, I just try to let God be the judge of that. I mean, I don't know. I certainly can't say that I agree with everything that I've heard about it, but from what I've heard from Mitt, when he says that Christ is his savior, to me that's a common bond.