Already Dead?

Pat Robertson’s cruel answer to a question regarding a man having an affair was that if he’s going to do anything, he should divorce his wife who has Alzheimer’s. When asked by his co-host about marriage vows till death do us part, Pat Robertson said that essentially, since she already had Alzheimer’s, the wife was already dead.  Already dead?  The sheer stupidity of that answer is shocking.  

A better, biblical response is given by another Robertson...

So how should we respond to Pat Robertson?

Randy Alcorn

When Christian leaders, who someone has no private access to, make public statements that aren't minor or secondary errors but which undercut something as basic as the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage, it is not only appropriate but necessary to speak up.

The "judge not, just pray" approach some have advocated in the comments sounds virtuous. But in fact either what Pat Robertson said—heard now by 10s of millions of people in the network prime time news broadcasts—was true or it was not. It was either important or not. If it dishonored Christ, then my first obligation is to defend the truth of Jesus, not to defend the man who spoke a cruel and terrible untruth.

I am all for praying for Pat Robertson, and I have prayed for him. I have also prayed for those around him that they will step up and correct him and refuse to go along with this and other unbiblical statements he makes, even if it means losing their jobs. This is the loving thing to do for everyone, including Pat, because as Jesus said “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken” (Matthew 12:36).

To not speak up against what Robertson falsely spoke as a so-called representative of Christ would be, in my opinion, moral cowardice. I speak against a brother's words only with great sadness, but the alternative of silence is unacceptable, because silence connotes approval. And if by our silence we approve of the notion of a man divorcing his wife because she becomes mentally disabled, then God help the church.

Christians who care little about keeping sacred vows "for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, till death do us part" have nothing to offer the world or each other.

see full article here...

Angry Calvinists?

“When we Calvinists are ungracious, unnecessarily combative, proud, and arrogant, we are not being true Calvinists. We are posers.”

Ed Stetzer interviews Joe Thorn on the topic of “Angry Calvinists”.  It is a good read for all who love the doctrines of grace.  Come to think of it; it is a good read for “Anti-Calvinists” as well.  There are, after all, some equally “Angry Anti(s)” out there as well...but that’s another post for another day!

Check out the interview here...

Are you still here?  Click the link, it’s ok...go ahead...click it.

What is Beautiful?

Jen Smidt

What is beautiful to Jesus won’t make the cover of Vogue.

Let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. - 1 Peter 3:4

Beauty has a cost. Between potion for wrinkles, serum for age spots and cream for gray hair, my cart runneth over with beauty products I can’t afford. Inner beauty has a cost also. As I get older and the battle for beauty becomes pronounced, I find myself asking questions about beauty. What does it mean to be beautiful? Who defines beautiful?

Redefine Beauty

Men, what is beautiful to you? At what point does a pretty lady that catches your eye become old or worn enough to lose that label? Husbands, is your wife becoming more beautiful to you as you see her emulate Jesus? Beauty does not begin and end with mere age, dress, or ability to appeal to the senses.

“A heart made alive by Jesus is a beautiful thing indeed.”

Consider the woman who is, in her beauty, more like Jesus than a Cover Girl.  If God lovingly instructs women to beautify themselves from the inside out, you certainly should consider a woman’s beauty as originating and emanating from her heart.  A heart made alive by Jesus is a beautiful thing indeed. 

Read the rest...

HT / Z

The Sermon On the Mount

HT / JT

In My Seat

Slow Down...Stop and Think...Behold

There is something about moments that I'm sure we're meant to wonder over.  Not wonder as in, "what's going on" so much as wonder as in, "WOW!"  Today, I dropped my son off for his first day of High School.  To fully appreciate this fact, you need to know that he has been home-schooled since the second grade.  

I am not quite sure what I'm feeling right now.

But, one thing I keep coming back to is the gospel.  In my concern, Jesus loves me...wow!  That fact, is enough to bring me to worship - to simply allow worry to fade and to trust the Saviour.

What do you do in the moments?  Where do you turn? Whom do you trust?  Take the time to slow down, to stop and think, to "behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the children of God."  How often we hear these words of Scripture and simply just fly over them...

“In order for Jesus to suffer and die,
He had to plan way ahead of time
because he couldn’t die.

Immortal, He didn’t have a body
And yet he wanted to die.
For you.

So, He planned the whole thing
by clothing himself with a body,
so that He could get hungry
and get weary
and have sore feet.

The incarnation of Jesus is the preparation
of nerve endings
for the nails,
the preparation of a brow
or thorns pressed through.

He needed to have a broad back
so that there was a place
for the whips.

He needed to have feet
so that there was a place
for spikes.

He needed to have a side
so that there was a place
for the sword to go in. 

He needed to have fleshy cheeks
so that Judas would have a place to kiss
and there would be a place for the spit
to run down that the soldiers put on him. 

He needed a brain and a spinal column
with no vinegar and no gall,
so that the exquisiteness of the pain
could be fully felt."

"So I plead with you, when you’re reading the Bible and you read texts like: “He loved you and gave himself for you,” you wouldn’t go too fast over it. Linger, linger, linger, and plead with Jesus that your eyes would be opened."

(from the end of song by Json based on a sermon by John Piper)

HT / Challies

Dancing in the Minefields

It was 15 years ago today that Jennifer and I began our dance.  Thankful to our Lord for his grace toward us.  Thankful to Andrew Peterson for this song as well.

Awe"struck"

I like many people I know love to watch storm cells when they near.  There is something about the raw power that I find simply stunning and beautiful while at the same time frightening and terrible.  It becomes for me a time of worship.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God - but - only by falling into His hands can you truly know the living, loving God.

HT / Alex Johnson (#fb video)

Only Then

“Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression?  The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past.  Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ.  Never look back at your sins again.  Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the blood of Christ.’  That is your first step.  Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you.”

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression (Grand Rapids, 1965), page 35.

HT / Ray Ortland

"Stunningly Gospelicious" by John Calvin

A big hat-tip to Justin Taylor for pointing this one out.  And for giving me such a SWEET title!

From a stunningly gospelicious preface John Calvin wrote for Pierre Robert Olivétan’s French translation of the New Testament (1534)

“Without the gospel everything is useless and vain; without the gospel we are not Christians; without the gospel all riches is poverty, all wisdom folly before God; strength is weakness, and all the justice of man is under the condemnation of God. But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinner justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free. It is the power of God for the salvation of all those who believe …” 

“It follows that every good thing we could think or desire is to be found in this same Jesus Christ alone. For, he was sold, to buy us back; captive, to deliver us; condemned, to absolve us; he was made a curse for our blessing, sin offering for our righteousness; marred that we may be made fair; he died for our life; so that by him fury is made gentle, wrath appeased, darkness turned into light, fear reassured, despisal despised, debt canceled, labor lightened, sadness made merry, misfortune made fortunate, difficulty easy, disorder ordered, division united, ignominy ennobled, rebellion subjected, intimidation intimidated, ambush uncovered, assaults assailed, force forced back, combat combated, war warred against, vengeance avenged, torment tormented, damnation damned, the abyss sunk into the abyss, hell transfixed, death dead, mortality made immortal. In short, mercy has swallowed up all misery, and goodness all misfortune.

For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit. If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation [life] is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things. And we are comforted in tribulation, joyful in sorrow, glorying under vituperation [verbal abuse], abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death. This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father.”