Self-Righteous Alert

On By TimothyIn Biblical Truth2 Comments

It was pointed out to me that one of my posts, Ten Commandments Destroyed in Arkansas, was a bit on the self-righteous side. It is. Therefore, I have marked it private, along with the latest one.

I really don’t wish to ever come across as self-righteous, but do from time-to-time. Given that, a dear brother let me know, and I’m repenting of that attitude and hiding the posts. I think I tend to be a bit more self-righteous when I’m not at peace about things, and clearly, I’m not right now. So dear readers, please forgive me.

Sincerely,

Timothy

An Open Letter to Sting, of the Police

On By TimothyIn Biblical Truth, Entertainment1 Comment

Dear Sting,

It has been some time since you released your song, O My God, on your album, Synchronicity. In fact, as I write this, it’s been 34 years. You are probably as shocked as I am at how time flies. But it does fly and I wanted to write to you a response to that particular song.

Please note that when you first released the album, I bought it on cassette tape and listened to it over and over on my Walkman, and eventually by Teac Cassette player, with Kenwood amp and Klipsch speakers. Synchronicity was one of my favorite albums and I believe, your Magnum Opus with the Police. So know that the words are burned into my conscious, which is frustrating on one level.

Continue reading “An Open Letter to Sting, of the Police” →

Free-Will Christians Are Beginning to Reap What They Have Sown

On By TimothyIn Biblical Truth

One of the reasons that so many in the church are having trouble with gay marriage, and the idea of a gay Christian, is because they have set their hearts on the idolatry of free will. Since they are the ones who made a decision for Christ, on their own terms, then how can they say that the gay man or woman who comes to Christ and yet remains gay despite this being contrary to the gospel, cannot come to the gospel on their own terms as well. In other words, the believer in free will is dictating the terms of the gospel. So too is the man or women trapped in the abominable sin of homosexuality. They are doing the same thing as those who declare it is their free will that led them to a decision in Christ.

Thankfully, there are those of us who clearly see that both positions are flawed. We don’t get to set the terms of our salvation. If we come to Christ, we must do so on His terms, not ours. That means we must be born again, made new creations in Christ, and have union with Him. This being the case, there is no room for holding onto any other identity. If a gay man or woman trusts in Christ, then they must die to the identity and that sin, just as the rest of us must die to our own identities and our sin. We are no longer of the flesh, but are called to walk in the Spirit and live in light of the new creations that we are in Christ.

All this to say, the free-will approach is now reaping what they have sown and this is why men like Andy Stanley in Atlanta are openly accepting gay marriage. The true believer, the new creation in Christ, sees this for what it is, a false conversion of someone who is no more a Christian than a Muslim.

The Covenant of Grace Has No “Ifs” and “Buts”

On By TimothyIn Quotes

From Charles Spurgeon’s sermon The Blood of the Everlasting Covenant, preached October 2nd, 1859. 

Nothing which man has made is everlasting, because he cannot ensure it against decay. But as for the covenant of grace, well did David say of it, ‘It is ordered in all things and sure.’

…There is not an ‘if’ or a ‘but’ in the whole of it from beginning to end. Freewill hates God’s ‘shalls’ and ‘wills,’ and like man’s ‘ifs’ and ‘buts,’ but there are no ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ in the covenant of grace.

…Almighty grace rides victoriously over the neck of freewill, and leads it captive in glorious captivity to the all-conquering power of irresistible grace and love. It is a sure covenant, and therefore deserves the title of everlasting.

Furthermore, it is not only sure, but it is immutable. If it were not immutable it could not be everlasting. That which changes passes away. We may be quite sure that anything that has the word ‘change’ on it, will sooner or later die, and be put away as a thing of nought. But in the covenant (of grace) everything is immutable. Whatever God has established must come to pass, and not word, or line, or letter can be altered.

Legalism and Antinomianism

On By TimothyIn Biblical Truth

From Michael Horton and the White Horse Inn, dealing with antinomianism:

The danger of legalism becomes apparent not only when we confuse law and gospel in justification, but when we imagine that even our new obedience can be powered by the law rather than the gospel. The law does what only the law can do: reveal God’s moral will. In doing so, it strips us of our righteousness and makes us aware of our helplessness apart from Christ and it also directs us in grateful obedience. No one who says this can be considered an antinomian. However, it’s not a matter of finding the right “balance” between law and gospel, but of recognizing that each does different work. We need imperatives—and Paul gives them. But he only does this later in the argument, after he has grounded sanctification in the gospel.

The ultimate antidote to antinomianism is not more imperatives, but the realization that the gospel swallows the tyranny as well as the guilt of sin. It is enough to save Christians even in their failure and not only brings them peace with God in justification, but the only liberation from the cruel oppression of sin. To be united to Christ through faith is to receive everything that we need not only to challenge legalism but antinomianism as well.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales — A Review

On By TimothyIn Entertainment, Family, Humor

Last Saturday, I had the opportunity to take my two boys, Andy and Joey, to see the movie Pirates of the Caribbeans: Dead Men Tell No Tales. There are so few movies that I want to see, I was hopeful that this one would be agreeable to all three of us. Well, let’s just say that I was duly disappointed. I felt like it was just one rehashed scene after another. However, the ending was quite satisfactory and gave the impression that Disney would be letting the series lie dormant for the near future. That might be a good idea and give the writers a chance to… rediscover their creative juices, so to speak.

But given that I was rather bored with the movie, I thought I would have Andy and Joey write a review for those of you who have not yet seen the movie. I had both of them write what they liked and didn’t like about the movie. Remember that they are 12 and 10 respectively, so their discernment when it comes to movies is lacking, along with much of their spelling. We’ll have to work on both of those as they grow and mature. Realize that Andy is dyslexic, so his spelling is atrocious. But I love what he writes because it makes more of a statement about the movie that he realizes. Spoiler alert, he revels something about the ending. Here are Andy’s thoughts:

I’m Andrew H. and I saw the pirits of the cairedeian. The first thing that I liked was the add (advertisement about) spiderman! It looked so cool and I encerig (encourage) you all to watch it. What I didn’t like was the fack (that) some guys came back from the dead to kill someone that kreeps me out! It also had Captain Barbosse die wiche relly disterb me! I geus the ending was good but that’s about it!

Just that fact that he loves the preview of Spider-Man tells you something about the movie we paid to see. Here are Joey’s thoughts:

Today I watched a cool movie about piraites called “piraites of the caribian” (4th movie) I liked many part in it one of the parts was at the begining where Jack Sparro (A.K.A Johnny Depp) and his crew took horses and hooked them all together connected to a safe (1T) in  a building, but the safe would not come out of the building so they ended up pulling a bank accross town. I didn’t really have any dislikes in the move and thats what made it a good movie.

The parenthetical thoughts are Joey’s not mine. In Andy’s, they were mine. I’m not sure what Joey meant by (1T).

All this to say, Joey gave it a thumbs up, and Andy gave it a thumbs sideways. I think anyone who has yet to see it should save their money and wait for it to come out on Netflix. You don’t have Netflix? Well then, you are blessed indeed, because you are now under no obligation whatsoever to watch the latest edition of Pirates of the Caribbean (actually the 5th… and hopefully, last installment).

One last addition: Joey gave me an illustration for his review.