Upon His Holy Mountain

"Hold it! I think I found an Easter Liturgy!" It's Holy Week! Palm Sunday...Maundy Thursday...Good Friday...Resurrection Sunday. Aren't you excited? If you are, there is little need to read this post unless you want some cannon fodder. If you are rolling your eyes at me and muttering "Papist" under your breath then by all means continue reading. I am appalled, stunned, outraged and disgusted with the "Holiday Gestapo" who love to point to the pagan roots of Christmas and Easter, the lack of Biblical grounds and generally tear down these two holidays. And these are Christians who do this! Generally, there are two objections, the pagan elements supposedly just oozing out of them and the hardcore application of the Regulative Principle. Since the Passion Week is more or less free from pagan influence (the name Easter is derived from the name "Ishtar"- a Babylonian goddess. However, most people do not think of Ishtar when they he...

The battered flag of Christendom still fluttered faintly in the breeze as her bedraggled army commanders assembled to determine their next move. A shiver ran up and down the spines of the assembly as the sound of a strange bugle blew off in the distance. Not to far away the Army of Humanism continued to march. Soon it would be upon the Christian Army. Seven officers- five men and two women- stood in a circle, awaiting the commanding general, Robert Henpecked, to start.  The general at last began the meeting. "What now, my comrades? Do we stand and fight? Or do we run and find better ground." General Hezekiah Cowpattie cleared his throat and replied, "We should wait and stand our ground but be ready to run again." "Again?" Quizzed Gen. Frogleg. "You said that last time." "I say we wait until the next election to give battle," offered Maj. Duckwaddle. "And you said that last time too!" Grumbled old Gen....

Random Arminian Friend: So you're a Calvinist? You (hopefully): Well, I believe that God predestines who will and will not be saved. Calvin also taught that so I am in agreement with, if that's what you mean. RAF: Yeah, whatever (Clearly confused) . Well, does that mean we don't have to evangelize? Like, if God's already decided all that, we don't have to do anything right? You (hopefully): No, because God tells us to spread the Gospel. We give the message and leave the results to God. RAF: Oh, Okay (Clearly still skeptical and confused) Isn't it awesome? God has charged us with the task of proclaiming His Gospel to "every creature" and promises to bring to Himself those who are His elect! Reformed Christians should be the most enthusiastic, determined and confident evangelist on the globe. After all, poor brother Bill the Arminian evangelist constantly worries about making the message more effective and more "appealing". We kno...

America is full of ghost churches. How often do we see or hear of churches that start off strong and fast, only to vanish within few decades? One has but to visit many congregations in the South particularly to find churches where the youth is missing and the inevitable fate of "ghost church" awaits them. How does this happen? That's a rather complex question and I'm only dealing with one aspect. Basically it comes down to this: What is church's goals and how do they plan to accomplish said goals? Secondly, I want to talk about "being outdated". Okay, so what should the goal of church be (and this should be determined at the outset). Now, I'm tempted to repeat a lot of what I said in  a previous post , but I'll try not to. The Church, as the body of Christ and the people of God, exist to proclaim His Majesty and provide light to the world around us. Our job is to spread that light (with God's help) until it engulfs the entire globe. T...

"Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship." If you really want to get me going, just say this phrase because this statement reduces the Christian Faith to a self help program with Jesus as your best friend or what have you. The Christian Faith is not a mere relationship. But what is it then? First off (and let's get this clear) Christianity is simply the body of thought about the Christian Faith. Christianity is an idea, in other words. Much like Theology is the study or thoughts about God, but Theology is not God. It is God whom we worship- not Theology. Instead of "Christianity", we should say "Christendom". Now, Christendom gives rise to many different connotations. Many Christians today would say "What? I have no clue what that means!". The more historically minded folks, such as myself, will think of Medieval Europe. Christendom simply means "the realm of the Christians" or Christ depending on the cont...

"The Bible is our Creed" This is the answer many Christians (e.g. Mennonites, Church of Christ, Baptist, Charismatic etc.) will give when asked about creeds. But is the Bible a creed? First off, what is as creed, exactly? Well, the word creed comes from the Latin word "Credo" meaning 'I Believe". So, could that work in the phrase, "The Bible is my creed"? Of course, I do indeed believe the Bible. It is the infallible, inerrant, inspired word of God, the book by which lives and nations should be governed. Without it, we would be lost. But the Bible is not a creed. A creed, basically is statement of faith. It's what you would say if I asked, "So, what do you believe?" Are you going to quote the entirety of the Bible to me? No, you'll concise it and explain in your own words what you believe based on the Scripture (I hope). The Bible is not, really, a creed. It is the substance on which creeds should be founded. Some sa...

I hope the title of this post hasn't frightened you but I do indeed ask that you avoid at all cost The Microwave. It is subtle and dangerous. Now I do not mean that apparatus whereby people in the modern culture obtain warm food at alarming and mind boggling speeds. I am referring to much more serious threat- The Biblical Microwave. A brief glance at most "through the Bible in a year" plans reveals something about the average American Christian- they think of the OT and NT as parallel books. You read X amount of the OT and Y amount of NT each day. And thus we run into the Microwave   (Begins the scary music and other equally disturbing sound effects.)  The Bible is a story. It a true story. It is story of the world, from the dawn of creation in Eden to the consummation of  all things with a new and restored Eden. It is amazing how much the beginning of the Bible is echoed in the final chapters. It also amazing how many Christians don't see it.  They compart...