Theology Network - Luther - The Freedom of the Christian
Beza's Motto
15 hours ago
Martyred for the Gospel
The burning of Tharchbishop of Cant. D. Tho. Cranmer in the town dich at Oxford, with his hand first thrust into the fyre, wherwith he subscribed before. [Click on the picture to see Cranmer's last words.]
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
A Review: Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative by Carl Trueman
A Review: Republocrat: Confessions of a Liberal Conservative by Carl Trueman
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Charlie
I have not read Carl Trueman's book but judging from this article I would not agree with his position that abortion is simply a side issue. I do agree that we ought to listen to Fox News with the same critical ear we apply to the more liberal media outlets. Also, we ought to be wary of compromise as a way to draw more heathens with culturally relevant views. That's already a problem with the church growth movement. The trouble is when you water down the Gospel, the Law and ethics/morality so more liberals will join your church you wind up with more liberals than conservatives on the theological issues and eventually you wind up with a grassroots apostasy movement that is out to undermine your church, make gay rights and abortion something the church should accept and other such nonsense.
Of course, Carl Trueman is right that no political party is Christian. With that in mind we ought to throw both parties out and instead stick to what is RIGHT, not what will appease sinful rebels who might otherwise join our church. Trueman is only half right. From my perspective Trueman is an idealistic idealogue with visions of a church utopia on earth, something that will never happen. The Bible in fact predicts a great falling away in the end times and that seems to be what is in fact happening in the Anglican Communion and other mainline Protestant denominations worldwide. What we need is not more liberals in our church but more born again Christians who can distinguish between political loyalties and loyalties to Christ. Trueman seems to want to promote loyalty to the party that is more immoral than the other one.
Of course, Carl Trueman is right that no political party is Christian. With that in mind we ought to throw both parties out and instead stick to what is RIGHT, not what will appease sinful rebels who might otherwise join our church. Trueman is only half right. From my perspective Trueman is an idealistic idealogue with visions of a church utopia on earth, something that will never happen. The Bible in fact predicts a great falling away in the end times and that seems to be what is in fact happening in the Anglican Communion and other mainline Protestant denominations worldwide. What we need is not more liberals in our church but more born again Christians who can distinguish between political loyalties and loyalties to Christ. Trueman seems to want to promote loyalty to the party that is more immoral than the other one.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Charlie
Monday, October 18, 2010
Rand Paul and the Influence of Christian Reconstructionism | Religion Dispatches
Rand Paul and the Influence of Christian Reconstructionism | Religion Dispatches
Rand Paul and the Influence of Christian Reconstructionism
Post by Julie Ingersoll
Rand Paul is a Reconstructionist? The problem with the Theonomy/Reconstructionist point of view is that it has a tendency to confuse the judicial/civil laws of the Old Testament nation of Israel with the moral law. While the ceremonial/sacrificial laws of the Old Testament law have been fulfilled in Christ and the civil/criminal laws of the Old Testament nation of Israel passed away with the passing of that nation, the moral laws of both the Old Testament and the New Testament are still binding upon all men. Christians are not put in right standing by keeping the moral law but by believing in Jesus Christ alone, apart from good works. However, Christians are obligated to live a Christian life that is guided by the Ten Commandments and other moral laws stated in the Bible. No one keeps the moral law perfectly, thus the only way to be justified before God is by the perfect obedience and faithfulness of Christ and by His substitutionary death on the cross in the place of His elect people. Although the following article is posted at liberal/progressive "christian" site, I thought the critique of theonomy/reconstruction was fairly accurate. I do not endorse the theological liberalism otherwise espoused at that site.
Charlie
Rand Paul and the Influence of Christian Reconstructionism
Post by Julie Ingersoll
In April 2009, Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul spoke to the Campaign for Liberty rally to end the Federal Reserve, in front of the Federal Reserve building in Minnesota.
Paul cited libertarian icon Ayn Rand. But he drew on Christian Reconstructionist Gary North. He argued against centralized banking, explicitly not on the grounds that conservatives traditionally have (conspiratorially) but, instead, on the very grounds that North lays out in his book, Honest Money: Biblical Principles for Money and Banking.
In that book, North explains his view that the cause of the international debt crisis of the 1980s was the Federal Reserve System. The solution, he maintained, rested in eliminating that institution and moving to a hard money standard. It sounds familiar to Paul-ites, but for North it is all based in the biblical command to have “just weights and measures.” Paul, in very similar language, attributed our current debt and economic crises to the Federal Reserve and fractional reserve banking.
In the video of his Federal Reserve speech, a supporter behind Paul is holding a sign advocating a gold/silver money standard, with the title of North’s book.
North, the son-in-law of the late Christian Reconstructionist founder R.J. Rushdoony, worked on Rand’s father Ron Paul’s congressional staff decades ago, and remains a supporter of the former presidential candidate, whom he is encouraging to promote a home school curriculum.
The Pauls and North have connections to the Constitution Party, founded by Christian Reconstructionist Howard Phillips, also founder of the 1980s Christian right group the Conservative Caucus. Ron Paul has spoken at Constitution Party events and Phillips has spoken for Ron Paul in favor of his candidacy for president. Rand Paul went on to serve as the keynote speaker at a Minnesota Constitution Party event.
The stated goal of the Constitution Party is to reestablish America as a Republic organized around biblical principles and under the authority of Jesus Christ. An examination of the Constitution Party platform shows clearly the influence of this movement advocating not only positions on numerous issues that have long been developed and promoted by Rushdoony and his followers, but doing so in terms of the reasoning put forth by Reconstructionists.
It’s not only Reconstructionists who hold these views—they share them with the John Birch Society, the Libertarian movement, the Moral Majority, and others. And just because Paul has spoken at Constitution Party events doesn’t mean he supports every facet of Christian Reconstructionism. But Paul’s supporters like to claim he is a man of principle, whose principles are philosophically systematic, and who stands up for what he believes. There is an internal coherence to the positions taken by Reconstructionists and if Rand Paul shares some of their views, as well as the detailed framing of those views, it is worthwhile to better understand his wider belief system.
Reconstructionists criticize the “conflation” of spheres of government. They draw clear distinctions between various forms of government they believe to be delegated by God. There is self-government, and then there are three forms of institutional government: family, church and state. So when the Constitution Party platform uses the phrase “civil government,” it does so to draw a distinction between what the party sees as the mistaken idea that all government is civil government and its view that there are distinct biblical spheres of government—civil government being only one.
The Constitution Party platform opposes marriage and/or legal partnerships for gays and lesbians. No surprise there, but the plank regarding family articulates a notion of family as one of three governing institutions established by God. Likewise, the platform articulates support for Christian schooling and homeschooling. But it does so on the basis of Reconstructionist framing: the family is understood as a form of government, given by God, with a specific sphere of authority that includes the raising of children, without the interference of the civil government. Opposition to welfare, in the platform, is not based in more common conservative view, such as “welfare allows people to be lazy,” or “it’s unfair (or even inefficient) to tax productive people to care for those who are not.” Rather, it is based in the argument that welfare is more properly understood as charity and is legitimately within the authority of the church, not the civil government.
How can they be theocrats and libertarians? This has puzzled those of us who write on Reconstructionists who see evidence of both libertarian and theocratic tendencies. In other words, how can they advocate limited government and, at the same time, application of biblical Law?
An understanding of the subtleties of Christian Reconstruction is really helpful here. For Reconstructionists, the civil government’s authority is limited to protecting citizens from criminals. Family and ecclesiastical authority are established to uphold (and enforce) other aspects of biblical law. That’s not to say that any of these institutions are understood as functioning autonomously; all are under the authority of God and are to function according to biblical law. But each is independent of the others. So for libertarian Reconstructionists (as many of them are) limited government means limited civil government. Their form of libertarianism is distinct from the more libertine versions of libertarianism. They are much better described as theonomic than theocratic.
Paul cited libertarian icon Ayn Rand. But he drew on Christian Reconstructionist Gary North. He argued against centralized banking, explicitly not on the grounds that conservatives traditionally have (conspiratorially) but, instead, on the very grounds that North lays out in his book, Honest Money: Biblical Principles for Money and Banking.
In that book, North explains his view that the cause of the international debt crisis of the 1980s was the Federal Reserve System. The solution, he maintained, rested in eliminating that institution and moving to a hard money standard. It sounds familiar to Paul-ites, but for North it is all based in the biblical command to have “just weights and measures.” Paul, in very similar language, attributed our current debt and economic crises to the Federal Reserve and fractional reserve banking.
In the video of his Federal Reserve speech, a supporter behind Paul is holding a sign advocating a gold/silver money standard, with the title of North’s book.
North, the son-in-law of the late Christian Reconstructionist founder R.J. Rushdoony, worked on Rand’s father Ron Paul’s congressional staff decades ago, and remains a supporter of the former presidential candidate, whom he is encouraging to promote a home school curriculum.
The Pauls and North have connections to the Constitution Party, founded by Christian Reconstructionist Howard Phillips, also founder of the 1980s Christian right group the Conservative Caucus. Ron Paul has spoken at Constitution Party events and Phillips has spoken for Ron Paul in favor of his candidacy for president. Rand Paul went on to serve as the keynote speaker at a Minnesota Constitution Party event.
The stated goal of the Constitution Party is to reestablish America as a Republic organized around biblical principles and under the authority of Jesus Christ. An examination of the Constitution Party platform shows clearly the influence of this movement advocating not only positions on numerous issues that have long been developed and promoted by Rushdoony and his followers, but doing so in terms of the reasoning put forth by Reconstructionists.
It’s not only Reconstructionists who hold these views—they share them with the John Birch Society, the Libertarian movement, the Moral Majority, and others. And just because Paul has spoken at Constitution Party events doesn’t mean he supports every facet of Christian Reconstructionism. But Paul’s supporters like to claim he is a man of principle, whose principles are philosophically systematic, and who stands up for what he believes. There is an internal coherence to the positions taken by Reconstructionists and if Rand Paul shares some of their views, as well as the detailed framing of those views, it is worthwhile to better understand his wider belief system.
Reconstructionists criticize the “conflation” of spheres of government. They draw clear distinctions between various forms of government they believe to be delegated by God. There is self-government, and then there are three forms of institutional government: family, church and state. So when the Constitution Party platform uses the phrase “civil government,” it does so to draw a distinction between what the party sees as the mistaken idea that all government is civil government and its view that there are distinct biblical spheres of government—civil government being only one.
The Constitution Party platform opposes marriage and/or legal partnerships for gays and lesbians. No surprise there, but the plank regarding family articulates a notion of family as one of three governing institutions established by God. Likewise, the platform articulates support for Christian schooling and homeschooling. But it does so on the basis of Reconstructionist framing: the family is understood as a form of government, given by God, with a specific sphere of authority that includes the raising of children, without the interference of the civil government. Opposition to welfare, in the platform, is not based in more common conservative view, such as “welfare allows people to be lazy,” or “it’s unfair (or even inefficient) to tax productive people to care for those who are not.” Rather, it is based in the argument that welfare is more properly understood as charity and is legitimately within the authority of the church, not the civil government.
How can they be theocrats and libertarians? This has puzzled those of us who write on Reconstructionists who see evidence of both libertarian and theocratic tendencies. In other words, how can they advocate limited government and, at the same time, application of biblical Law?
An understanding of the subtleties of Christian Reconstruction is really helpful here. For Reconstructionists, the civil government’s authority is limited to protecting citizens from criminals. Family and ecclesiastical authority are established to uphold (and enforce) other aspects of biblical law. That’s not to say that any of these institutions are understood as functioning autonomously; all are under the authority of God and are to function according to biblical law. But each is independent of the others. So for libertarian Reconstructionists (as many of them are) limited government means limited civil government. Their form of libertarianism is distinct from the more libertine versions of libertarianism. They are much better described as theonomic than theocratic.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Welcome! - The Anglo-Reformed Movement
Welcome! - The Anglo-Reformed Movement
Charlie
It looks like the Reformation movement among Anglo-Reformed believers is gaining momentum. Hudson Barton has created a website for those interested in becoming part of this ministry for those who are more concerned with preserving the Gospel in the Anglican Communion. Click on the title above to check it out.
Charlie
Modern Roman Catholicism - ReformedForum.org
Modern Roman Catholicism - ReformedForum.org
This podcast discusses the changes that took place in the Roman Catholic Church after Vatican II and how there are as many factions within Roman Catholicism as there are in the Protestant/Evangelical side of Christianity. Postmodernism seems to be alive and well within the Roman Catholic Church, although theological conservatives in the RCC are not comfortable with this state of affairs. Incidentally, the Protestant Reformation and the Council of Trent are still in effect even though some Evangelicals and some Roman Catholics would try to gloss over the differences.
How Do I Know If I Am Elect?
How Do I Know If I Am Elect?
Stephen D. Doe
When people first begin to learn about the biblical doctrine of election, one question that often occurs to them is, “Am I elect?” And the more they think about whether or not they are elect, the more uncertain they become. So, if you believe in the doctrine of election, how do you know if you are elect?
The answer is really quite simple: You continue believing in Christ.
“But,” you reply, “you didn’t answer my question. I want to know if I am elect.”
So I will ask:
- Do you believe that you have offended the all-holy Creator (Rom. 3:10-18; Ps. 51:1-4)?
- Do you believe that your sins cry out to heaven itself for justice, and that you deserve to perish under the wrath of the God you have offended by your sins (Isa. 59:2-3; Ezek. 18:4)?
- Do you believe that you are, in fact, dead in your sins and unable to make yourself alive (Eph. 2:1-3; Rom. 8:5-8)?
- Do you believe that nothing you could ever do--no good deeds, no mighty acts of faith, no church attendance, no niceness of character will ever be sufficient to appease the wrath of your holy Creator against your sins (Mic. 6:6-7; Isa. 59:12-14)?
- Do you believe that God, the God you have offended by your sins, has himself provided the way of escape through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Titus 3:5-7; Col. 2:13)?
- Have you been united to Christ by faith, a faith you did not earn, but received as a gift from God? Do you believe that, having been savingly joined by faith to the Son of God, your sins are finally and fully paid for, and that you are forgiven and declared righteous, as though you had never sinned (Gal. 2:16, 20; Rom. 8:1-4)?
- Do you believe that, by the grace of God, having turned from your sins and turned to the Son of God to pay for your sins and to give you his own righteousness, you will be received by God as his own dear child, to be loved and blessed by him throughout eternity--that is, that you are saved by God’s unmerited grace (Rom. 3:21-28; 5:1-11)?
If you believe these things, you are exhibiting a key characteristic of the elect: the elect believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and continue in faith. The elect do not focus on their election, but rather on their Savior. The elect are saved from the wrath to come because God has chosen them to salvation through Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 5:9-10; cf. 2 Thess. 2:13). And that is what the gospel promises as well: the one who believes in the Son has eternal life and escapes the wrath of God (John 3:36).
Think back to the day of Pentecost. In Acts 2, we find Peter directing the crowds to consider, not election, but the Lord of glory whom they crucified. The elect will believe the gospel, but the reprobate will turn away from the gospel.
Paul points to the same truth in his great exposition of the blessings of election in Ephesians 1. But note what he says: “For he chose us in him [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (Ephesians 1:4-5). Paul talks about election with reference to Jesus Christ. And we know Christ through the gospel.
In his book God-Centered Evangelism, R. B. Kuiper uses a wonderfully simple illustration (on page 38). He compares election to the foundation of a house. The foundation is there, essential but unseen. We enter a house, not through the foundation, but through the door. And Jesus Christ is the door. If we would enter the kingdom of God and be saved from our sins, it must be through him (John 10:9). So the Word of God directs us, again and again, to Christ.
We make our calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10) by living in the faith that what God has promised to do for those who believe in Jesus, he will most certainly do for us (Rom. 8:28-39; cf. Gal. 2:20; 1 Tim. 1:15). The elect are enabled by the power of God to believe the truth of the gospel, live by its promises, and keep on believing them.
How do I know if I’m elect? Believe what the elect believe, the gospel of God’s saving grace. (Read the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 3, section 6; chapter 10, sections 1-3; and chapter 18, sections 1-2.)
Mr. Doe is the pastor of Covenant OPC in Barre, Vermont. Reprinted from New Horizons, December 1999. [This article was originally posted at the Orthodox Presbyterian Church website at New Horizons].
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Reasonable Christian Blog Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 1662 Book of Common Prayer
Reasonable Christian Blog Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 1662 Book of Common Prayer
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Chief Justice Roberts: Kagan Asked Court to 'Embrace Theory of First Amendment That Would Allow Censorship Not Only of Radio and Television Broadcasts, But Pamphlets and Posters' | CNSnews.com
Chief Justice Roberts: Kagan Asked Court to 'Embrace Theory of First Amendment That Would Allow Censorship Not Only of Radio and Television Broadcasts, But Pamphlets and Posters' | CNSnews.com
The Obama administration wants to silence Fox News and individual citizens who dissent from their views.
The Obama administration wants to silence Fox News and individual citizens who dissent from their views.
Friday, October 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Re: Top Ten Reasons Why I Am No Longer Pentecostal
Dear Jerry,
May God have mercy on your soul,
Charlie J. Ray
XVII. Of Predestination and Election.
On 10/13/2010 6:58 AM, Jerry Newingham wrote:
In response to your comment about my article, Top Ten Reasons Why I Am No Longer Pentecostal, just let me say that having some ecstatic experience outside of your control does not prove anything, since you yourself acknowledge below that you are no longer a "believer." So what is the point of claiming your "experience" was genuine when it has only driven you from Christ? Since nothing you have written below is of a personal nature, I am posting my response on the blog. Your diatribe against God and His Word deserves a response. Frankly, I am not in the least interested in hearing your "testimony" or "story" about your excuse for your current state of rebellion against God. The bottom line is there is no excuse.
Although I understand your frustration with man-made religion, I do not understand how you can translate this into your rebellion against God Himself. God is not a "religion". He just IS (Exodus 3:14-15). Religion is usually man's attempt to reach up to God through man's own sinful thoughts and ways. But true faith comes from God above and the true "religion" is revealed only in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Scriptures. All other attempts to reach up to God are just the ways of rebels who think they get to tell God what to do (Isaiah 55:9-11).
Moreover, Pentecostals in general have no clue as to what the Bible teaches about God's Law, which can only condemn us all as sinners, or the Gospel, which is God's promises to save the ungodly elect who deserve hell as much as everyone else does (Romans 4:4-5; Romans 5:6-10). Salvation is ALL of God's grace and nothing we "do" can save us (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7). Salvation is completely and totally a free gift. Even believing in Jesus is not something we do but is a gift given to us. Those who do not believe have not been regenerated and given that gift.
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4 ESV)You seem to think that you have more authority than the Bible since you, like all rebels, place more faith in yourself and your own experiences than in Jesus Christ or the Holy Scriptures. (Psalm 82:6-8). The Scriptures are THE standard by which we can know and understand God and His plan for the elect. If you reject Jesus Christ and the Scriptures, what more can I say to you?
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 ESV)
and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17 ESV)
Moreover, Pentecostals in general have no clue as to what the Bible teaches about God's Law, which can only condemn us all as sinners, or the Gospel, which is God's promises to save the ungodly elect who deserve hell as much as everyone else does (Romans 4:4-5; Romans 5:6-10). Salvation is ALL of God's grace and nothing we "do" can save us (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7). Salvation is completely and totally a free gift. Even believing in Jesus is not something we do but is a gift given to us. Those who do not believe have not been regenerated and given that gift.
That is not to say that you are fenced out of the Gospel. It just means that until you believe you cannot have any assurance that you have been born again and chosen by God to salvation.
If you think that I'm going to feel badly because you are an apostate from the Christian faith, you are mistaken. You see simply because you were hurt by the false religion of Pentecostalism is no excuse before God. All have sinned and fallen short of God's perfect mark (Romans 3:23). Even those who have never heard the Gospel at all are without excuse. Romans 1:18-21 says:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21 ESV)
If you harden your heart then it is simply God's judgment against you. If, however, God has mercy on you then He will open your eyes to the fact that the Law of God reveals you are a sinner in rebellion against God and you are His enemy and God is your enemy (John 3:36). Only when you realize that God owes you nothing but hell, then and only then can you receive the unconditional promises given to believers through the Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:20; Matthew 11:25-30). As long as you continue to make demands of God you remain His enemy and an alien from the citizenship of heaven (Philippians 3:20).
I do pray that God will have mercy on you and give you the grace to believe and to receive the reconciliation purchased for God's elect through the blood of Jesus Christ shed for sinners on the cross. Once you experience God's unconditional love for His elect, even while they are yet ungodly and in bondage to sin, you will be irresistibly drawn to saving faith (John 6:37-39, 44, 65-66). However, if you continue to refuse to acknowledge God's just condemnation of you as a sinner and if you refuse the plan of salvation for God's elect in Christ, then the only result of that is your own self condemnation and God's just condemnation of you as a rebel against God (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). The only thing God "owes" you is hell.
I do pray that God will have mercy on you and give you the grace to believe and to receive the reconciliation purchased for God's elect through the blood of Jesus Christ shed for sinners on the cross. Once you experience God's unconditional love for His elect, even while they are yet ungodly and in bondage to sin, you will be irresistibly drawn to saving faith (John 6:37-39, 44, 65-66). However, if you continue to refuse to acknowledge God's just condemnation of you as a sinner and if you refuse the plan of salvation for God's elect in Christ, then the only result of that is your own self condemnation and God's just condemnation of you as a rebel against God (Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23). The only thing God "owes" you is hell.
It might surprise you to know that having theological degrees does not translate into having a large church or a large income. I am quite humbly employed, though I do know the Scriptures since I have been reading the Bible since I was eight-years old. In fact, I cut my teeth on the King James Version. No one else in my immediate family is a Christian. I am the only one. My father died when I was twelve-years-old and left my mother a widow with seven children, of whom I am the eldest. If anyone should hate God and rebel, it is I. In fact, I did rebel for many years until I joined a Pentecostal church in my home town. When I discovered that the Pentecostals were charlatans and false prophets I could have returned to my rebellion. Instead I kept my faith in Christ and looked for a church that rightly preached both the Law and the Gospel. There are few if any Evangelical churches that truly "get it". But that has not stopped me from believing the Holy Scriptures, which are in and of themselves sufficient for salvation. A true church is one where the Gospel is rightly preached and the two sacraments (baptism and the Lord's supper) are rightly and duly administered.
I do pray that God will soften your heart and open your eyes to the truth (Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:18). If not, then the burden of your debt to God remains with you. I have no power to convert a soul or to save anyone. Only God can do that.
I do pray that God will soften your heart and open your eyes to the truth (Acts 16:14; Ephesians 1:18). If not, then the burden of your debt to God remains with you. I have no power to convert a soul or to save anyone. Only God can do that.
May God have mercy on your soul,
Charlie J. Ray
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1-7 ESV)
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (Ephesians 1:18 ESV)
PREDESTINATION to life is the everlasting purpose of God, whereby, before the foundations of the world were laid, He hath constantly decreed by His counsel secret to us, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom He hath chosen in Christ out of mankind, and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour. Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to God's purpose by His Spirit working in due season; they through grace obey the calling; they be justified freely; they be made sons of God by adoption; they be made like the image of His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ; they walk religiously in good works; and at length by God's mercy they attain to everlasting felicity.
As the godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feeling in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: so for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or into wretchlessness of most unclean living no less perilous than desperation.
Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture; and in our doings that will of God is to be followed which we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God.
As the godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feeling in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God: so for curious and carnal persons, lacking the Spirit of Christ, to have continually before their eyes the sentence of God's Predestination is a most dangerous downfall, whereby the devil doth thrust them either into desperation or into wretchlessness of most unclean living no less perilous than desperation.
Furthermore, we must receive God's promises in such wise as they be generally set forth in Holy Scripture; and in our doings that will of God is to be followed which we have expressly declared unto us in the word of God.
Reasonable Christian Blog Glory be to the Father, and to the Son : and to the Holy Ghost; Answer. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 1662 Book of Common Prayer
On 10/13/2010 6:58 AM, Jerry Newingham wrote:
I'd love to lay out for you what The Pentecostal Experience did for me, it was devastating to say the least. I've wished I had never had the experience..That experience started me on a long spiral downward.
Despite all your educational accomplishments and degrees, and your claim to be a former "Charismatic/Pentecostal" yourself, it's very clear to me what you and others posting on your blog have described as their "Pentecostal experience" doesn't in any shape or form, in ANY measure or fashion, even remotely resemble what the experience was for me.
Quite frankly, skimming through the comments on the subject, I seriously doubt those making the claim of having it, ever really did.
No offense meant, but that includes yourself. And I AM being objective and unbiased. I only have my own experience to measure against, and those experiences posted and mine don't line up at all.
I'm not the least bit religious today. There's just too much nonsense in the Bible taken literally, and it's insane. Too much of it doesn't add up. It isn't rational.
But that's a different subject.
I wish I could tell you my story, it's nothing like you would expect, but I noticed a neat little stipulation you've made regarding emails, "All e-mails to me are considered in the public domain. I reserve the right to post them on the blog with appropriate theological responses. Anonymous comments may or may not be posted at the discretion of the blog "
Now for me that's just sad..Because for years I've been trying to find an intelligent, unbiased person i could talk to, but it's just about impossible. Not when it comes to Religion. Religious people can't be honest from the get go, because they are functioning from the restricted parameters of their beliefs. Atheists, while far more rational and clear thinking, come up short in being absolutely positive God doesn't exist. Agnostics are just plain wishy-washy. I on the other hand KNOW there's a God, but I think he's insane on a level beyond imagining, comprehension.
I surely don't want what I share plastered on the internet for anyone and everyone to see. I'm looking for answers, nothing else.
I paused a moment to look back over your list of academic accomplishments. Now that I look further at your qualifications, I realize you're not that person. You're not someone I could talk to. Your beliefs are shaped and locked in to place. You've fenced yourself in with them, and can only filter anything I say to you through them.
I was going to delete this, but I'll go ahead and send it just so you know there's more to the subject of Pentecost, or "Charisma" (Sometimes I want to laugh out loud), with ramifications you haven't considered..
I'll add one more thing, when I had the experience, I didn't work myself into any semi-hypnotic state or suggestive state, or emotional state making me receptive for it to happen. If you want to know the truth, I was damned pissed off at the time. Pissed off, didn't want to be there, and the furthest thing from my mind was falling to the floor on my knees speaking in tongues.
But you ain't the guy for me to open up to, so don't bother responding. I'll keep looking or give it up. I hate dealing with religious people anyway.
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