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Thoughts and Meditations

 

Personal comments made by David F. Reagan unless otherwise stated

 

OCTOBER, 2004

 

 

 

 

October 29, 2004

 

Bible Reading Not Enough – “Why then is the Bible read only—not meditated on? Because is it not loved. We do not do to it, as the hungry man to his food, as the miser to his treasure. The loss is incalculable. Our superficial knowledge has no practical influence. It is only as we ‘search,’ that we ‘know it for our good.’ (Job 5:27). –from An Exposition of Psalm 119 by Charles Bridges (p.120).

 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Russian dissident rejected by the liberals. Article tells of his defense of the Russian Jews.

 

Real Men and Women of God – In “every age there have been men who so prized the truth, so reverenced the Word of the living God, that they would rather face death, in its most appalling forms, than to depart one hair’s breadth from the narrow line laid down by the authoritative voice of their Lord and Master.” –from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.57).

 

Purpose Driven Life Examined - Popular book and program analyzed by T. A. McMahon. Notes and comments.

 

Stay Hungry – “Always rise from the table with an appetite, and you will never sit down without one.” –from William Penn (1644-1718).

 

October 28, 2004

 

Do You Love Him? – “True Christians are differenced and distinguished not only from all heathens and infidels, but also from all bare nominal Christians, by their love to Jesus Christ. It is the property of covetous persons to love worldly wealth and riches. It is the property of ambitious persons to love worldly honor and dignities. It is the property of voluptuous persons to love sensual pleasures and delights; and it is the property of true Christians to love Jesus Christ, whom they have never seen.” –from The True Christian’s Love to the Unseen Christ (p.11) by Thomas Vincent (1634-1678).

 

Speak a Word for God – In commenting on Psalm 119:43 (“And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth…”), Charles Bridges states: “Oh! Let not the word of truth be taken utterly out of our mouth. A stammering confession is better than silence. If we cannot say all we want of, or for our Saviour, let us say what we can…And a word spoken in weakness may be a word of Almighty power, and a present help to some fainting spirit. In our connection with the world, many occasions will unexpectedly occur, if the heart be but wakeful and active to improve them. The common topics of earthly conversation often furnish a channel for heavenly intercourse, so that our communications with the world may be like Jacob’s ladder, whose bottom rested upon the earth, but the top reached unto the heavens.” –from An Exposition of Psalm 119 (p.107).

 

Immutable Principles – “It is well to bear in mind that there are certain great truths—certain immutable principles—which underlie all the dispensations of God from age to age and which remain untouched by all the failure, the folly and the sin of man. It is on these great moral truths, these foundational principles, that faith lays hold, and in them finds its strength and sustenance. Dispensations change and pass away, men prove unfaithful in their varied positions of stewardship and responsibility, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.” –from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.53).

 

October 27, 2004

 

Do What You Can – Margaret Deland said, “A pint can’t hold a quart—if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it.” Of the woman who anointed Him, Christ said, “She hath done what she could” (Mark 14:8). Give yourself to the Lord, trust completely in Him, and do what all that you can. It will always be enough.

 

Sanctified Wholly – 1Thessalonians 5:23 states, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thomas Vincent (1634-1678) in The True Christian’s Love to the Unseen Christ (p.6) adds, “True Christians are sanctified wholly, in their whole man, though they are not sanctified thoroughly. They are sanctified in every part, though they are not sanctified in the highest degree.”

 

Revival in the Last Days – In speaking of the biblical revival of Josiah in the last days of the kingdom of Judah, C. H. Mackintosh writes in his Miscellaneous Writings (p.49): “And first, then, as to the fact—so full of interest and encouragement—that at the very close of Israel’s history there should be one of the brightest moments that Israel had ever known. What does this teach us? It very manifestly teaches us that in darkest times it is the privilege of the faithful soul to act on divine principles and to enjoy divine privileges.”

 

October 26, 2004

 

Unction – The word unction only occurs in the King James Bible one time: “But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1John 2:20). Unction is used in this verse by Wycliffe in 1382, but the word is usually changed to anointing in modern versions. The word does refer to an anointing but it is related to the word unguent which means a salve or ointment. By extension, an unction is a fervent or earnest quality or manner of speaking or behaving as concerning spiritual matters; a spiritual influence acting on a person. Richard Hooker, in Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Politic (1597), said, “There is no other way how it should grow but either by the grace of union with deity, or by the grace of unction received from deity.” Bishop John Cosin in Veni Creator (1627) states, “Thou the anointing Spirit art;…Thy blessed Unction from above, Is comfort, life, and fire of love.” May the Lord bless us today with His unction.

 

God’s Word by Many an Other Name – Psalm 119 refers to the word of God with no less than ten different titles: way, law, judgments, word(s), statutes, commandments, precepts, testimonies, righteousness, truth.

 

October 25, 2004

 

ABC's of Raising Children - A is for Accountability. B is for Boundaries. C is for Consistency. The devotion continues through the entire alphabet.

 

Horse Baptized in South Africa - Reverend Deric Derbyshire of St Peter's Congregational Church did a scripture reading and a prayer and then sprinkled a thoroughbred racehorse "Running Reverend." Running Reverend will now be raffled for 200 Rand a ticket to raise funds for church buildings and an old age home.

 

Twisted Thinking - The American Psychologists Association has stated to media that homosexual lifestyle is normal. Now, the Roman Catholic Church is seeking to retrieve its money spent on molestation cases. They weren’t molestation cases after all. It was just a bunch of priests doing what comes naturally — normally, that is.

 

October 24, 2004

 

Is America Losing Its Edge? - America is beginning to lose its lead in inventing and developing new technologies. Asian countries are catching up fast.

 

Handling the Word - "There is a loose mode of handling the Word of God, which is at once dishonoring to Him and injurious to us. Passages which apply distinctly and exclusively to Jerusalem and to Israel are made to apply to the spread of the gospel and the extension of the Christian Church. This, to say the least of it, is taking a very unwarrantable liberty with divine revelation. Our God can surely say what he means, and as surely He means what He says; hence, when He speaks of Israel and Jerusalem, He does not mean the Church; and when He speaks of the Church, He does not mean Israel or Jerusalem." --from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.39), originally published in 1898.

 

October 23, 2004

 

Global Warming - The climate in the tenth century was warmer than it is today. Here are some facts about global warming.

 

The Cross of Freedom - Those who do not know persecution for their faith still have a cross to carry. How will they deal with the lessened presence of God that comes from their freedom and comfort?

 

Now a Minority - Christians have become a minority group in the Netherlands.

 

Let There Be Light - Experiments by Thomas Edison 125 years ago led to the electric light bulb. God simply said, Let there be light.

 

Religious Persecution - An Iranian minister who converted from Islam risks the death penalty for apostasy.

 

What's Wrong With It? - A defense of the American Electoral College System.

 

Teaching Islam in US Schools - Our government no longer allows the Lord's Prayer to be said at the start of the school day but now encourages the teachings of Allah.

 

October 21, 2004

 

Alternative Spirituality - While Alexander technique, Buddhist groups, herbalism, reiki, tarot card reading and yoga flourish, traditional church-going declines in Britain. Spirituality does not mean what it used to mean.

 

Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher - "The grand business of the evangelist is to bring the soul and Christ together; the business of the teacher and pastor is to keep them together." --from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.37).

 

Palestinian Authority Schoolbooks - In the new schoolbooks used by the Palestinian Arabs, Israel does not exist, Jerusalem has always been an Arab city, and jihad is exalted as ideal. Even more strange, these books are paid for by Western democracies and liberal Jewish organizations.

 

Signs of More Freedom in China - China plans to allow more autonomy to religious groups. Limiting state authority over religion is a revolutionary concept in Chinese history.

 

October 20. 2004

 

Pray for Vietnam - House Church Leaders in Vietnam seeking prayer concerning new set of laws governing religion set to take effect on November 15th.

 

Bible Reading in China? - Some middle schools in Shanghai, China are suggesting the Bible for spare-time reading.

 

Original Languages Not Necessary – Pioneer Virginia and Kentucky Baptist preacher John Taylor said, “Nothing is more absurd than to way that a man cannot understand the Scriptures, but by a knowledge of the original languages in which they were written. This is some of the doctrine of those Theologians, by which they would destroy our confidence in all translations, and thereby take our Bible from us.” –from Pioneer Baptist Church Records of South-Central Kentucky (p.44).

 

Project Thessalonica - Southern Baptist church maps out five steps to reaching a city for Christ. First Baptist of Powell, Tennessee, reaches out to a city in India.

 

Preaching From a ChairA History of Kentucky Baptists: Volume 1 by J. H. Spencer tells this story of John Hightower and his toughness as a frontier preacher (p.323): “In 1798, he gathered Sulphur Spring Church in Allen County, of which he became pastor. During the Great Revival, which began two years after this, his great zeal so carried him away that his feet were severely frost bitten. From this circumstance he was unable to walk for about a year. But as soon as he was able to sit in a chair, he made appointments for preaching at his house, and continued preaching with much fervor, sitting in his chair, till he was able to walk again. He was badly crippled in his feet the remainder of his life, but continued to preach with zeal and faithfulness, till the Lord took him to himself, about the year 1823.”

 

October 19, 2004

 

Population Shortage on the Way - New book challenges overpopulation myth. Our real problem? We are at the beginning of a major decline in population.

 

Truth or Fiction – “We are told that the famous Garrick was once asked by a bishop how it was that he produced far more powerful results by his fiction than the bishop could by preaching truth. The reply of the actor is full of force. ‘My lord,’ said he, ‘the reason is obvious: I speak fiction as though it were truth, whereas you speak truth as though it were fiction.’” –from Miscellaneous Writings by C. H. Mackintosh (p.37).

 

Fallen Soldier was Baptist Preacher - Spc. Daniel P. Unger, 19, was a licensed Baptist preacher and left a testimony for God.

 

Techno-Human - Conference to discuss the future as post-human. Emerging technologies have the potential to change what it is to be human.

 

Too Much Reading – Though we live in an age of far too little reading, the following comments about too much reading might help some of us keep a balance. They come from The Works of John Newton: Volume 1 (p.236): “It is far from my intention to depreciate the value or deny the usefulness of books, without exception: a few well-chosen treatises, carefully perused and thoroughly digested, will deserve and reward our pains; but a multiplicity of reading is seldom attended with a good effect. Besides the confusion it often brings upon the judgment and memory, it occasions a vast expense of time, indisposes for close thinking, and keeps us poor, in the midst of seeming plenty, by reducing us to live upon a foreign supply, instead of labouring to improve and increase the stock of our own reflections.”

 

October 17, 2004

 

Angels Galore - It seems that the more we turn from God, the more popular angels are becoming.

 

Christians in Vietnam - Vietnam sees its Christians as a hidden enemy. Persecution continues in the land.

 

Apocrypha Not the Bible - Interesting Power-Point presentation on why the Apocrypha is not included in the Bible. (Takes a little while to load.)

 

Third Longest Pontificate - Pope John Paul II celebrates his 26th year as Pope. Statistics on his reign.

 

October 16, 2004

 

Loss of Modesty - What is modesty? What do you mean we have lost our modesty? Article carefully explores this subject.

 

Knowledge Without Life – “Oh it is an alarming condition for a Christian man, when the heart contradicts the judgment, and the life belies the profession! -when there is more knowledge of the truth than experience of its power, -more light in the understanding than grace in the affections, -more pretension in the profession than holiness and spirituality in the walk! –from Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul by Octavius Winslow (p.15).

 

Origins and Meaning of Halloween - Halloween may have more meaning than you thought. For more, check out the links at the bottom of this page.

 

Qualities of a Maturing Believer – John Newton in his Works: Volume 1 (p.209) describes three levels of maturity in Christians matching the three classes in 1John 2:12-14: little children, young men, and fathers. He tells of the maturing process in the young man. He “is trained up in a growing knowledge of himself and of the Lord. He learns to be more distrustful of his own heart, and to suspect a snare in every step he takes. The dark and disconsolate hours which he has brought upon himself in times past, make him doubly prize the light of God’s countenance, and teach him to dread whatever might grieve the Spirit of God, and cause him to withdraw again. The repeated and multiplied pardons which he has received, increase his admiration of, and the sense of his obligations to, the rich sovereign abounding mercy of the covenant.”

 

Stem Cell Research - The complexities of this issue. An emotional issue brought on by people such as Christopher Reeve, who died two days after Kerry used him as an example in his debate with President Bush.

 

October 15, 2004

 

Summer Camp for the Kids - Welcome to Camp Quest, a summer camp for atheists and free-thinkers.

 

Sweet Comes First; Then the Bitter – In The Works of John Newton: Volume 1 (p.159-160), John Newton (author of Amazing Grace) tells about the awakening that often comes to those who have entered the ministry. According to him, “a distant view of the ministry is generally very different from what it is found to be when we are actually engaged in it…If the Lord was to shew us the whole beforehand, who that has a due sense of his own insufficiency and weakness, would venture to engage?” He further states, “The ministry of the Gospel, like the book which the Apostle John ate, is a bittersweet; but the sweetness is tasted first, the bitterness is usually known afterwards, when we are so far engaged that there is no going back.”

 

Same-Sex Marriages: What's Next? - Here comes the case for polygamy.

 

Swearing Jack – “John Waller (1741-1802) was born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Noted as a profligate youth, he was called ‘Swearing Jack’ and the ‘Devil’s Adjutant.’ When he became convicted of his sins, his anxiety lasted seven months. He was baptized in 1767 and was ordained three years later as the pastor of Lower Spotsylvania Church. During his ministry in the Old Dominion he helped to plant eighteen churches and baptized more than two thousand persons. The authorities of Spotsylvania, Caroline, Essex, and Middlesex counties kept him in their prisons for 113 days for preaching the gospel contrary to the law. He spent the last nine years of his life in South Carolina.”  –from Baptists on the American Frontier (p.89-90).

 

Election Voters Guide - Presidential Election 2004 USA: Where the candidates stand on the issues.

 

October 14, 2004

 

Nobel Prize: Prize For What? - Latest winner of the Nobel prize insists white scientists created the AIDS virus to eradicate the world’s black population. Another recent winner of the prize: Yasser Arafat.

 

Christianity in Scotland - In a recent survey, 11.2% in Scotland regularly went to church, compared with 7.5% in England and Wales.

 

Internet Used to Minister in Latin America - The Internet is widely acknowledged as the new missions front to be explored. And Spanish speakers are a fast growing language group. NOTE from learnthebible: Pray for us as we are beginning to look for ways to get our material into other languages.

 

Going Home Tomorrow – D. L. Moody worked with some of the greatest song directors and hymn writers of his time. Many have heard of Ira Sankey. Another music man was Phillip P. Bliss. He is the author of songs like “Look and Live,” “Hold the Fort,” and “Hallelujah, What a Saviour!” In the winter of 1876, Phillip Bliss, his wife, and two children “went to his widowed mother’s home in northern Pennsylvania for the Christmas holidays. A raging blizzard caused Bliss and his wife to leave their two children with a relative in Avon, New York. Because of their commitment to be in Chicago no later than New Year’s Eve, the couple sent…a telegram on December 28, ‘We’re going home tomorrow.’ On the 29th they took the train heading for Chicago. Late on Friday night, just outside Ashtabula, Ohio, an iron bridge gave way because of the weight of the snow and the train. The Pacific Express passenger train plunged seventy feet into an icy creek, where it was mangled and then burned. Nothing of their remains was ever identified.” –from A Passion for Souls: The Life of D. L. Moody (p.249).

 

Boys Wearing Dresses to School - The National School Boards Association has issued practical guidelines on when and how to allow boys to wear dresses to school.

 

Purpose and the Passion - Today’s church is experiencing two new and deadly influences: "biblical" marketing and "biblical" movies. Important article from The Berean Call.

 

October 13, 2004

 

Origin and Meaning of the Rosary - First rosary traditionally given to St. Dominic from the Blessed Virgin in 1214AD. You can check out the Catholic view of its meaning and origin or a detailed article on the rosary.

 

Blamable Curiosity – Do we strive to know more than God has revealed in His word? Should we be satisfied with not knowing some things? John Newton in his Works: Volume 1 (p.148) states, “It is the part of faith to rest upon the plain declarations of Scripture, without indulging a blamable curiosity of knowing more than is clearly revealed.” Perhaps this is part of the meaning of Deuteronomy 29:29 – “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”

 

Test-Tube Babies - What about the embryos that are not used to give birth? Our disposable society is disposing of them too.

 

Church-Planting in Virginia – “Samuel Harris (1723/4-1799) was born in Hanover County, Virginia, but settled early in life in…Pittsylvania County. There he served as church warden, magistrate, sheriff, commissary, and militia colonel. He was also a member of the House of Burgesses. Converted in 1758, he was baptized soon thereafter by Daniel Marshall. Almost at once he began to preach but was not ordained as a minister until 1769. By then Colonel Harris, as he was commonly called, had relinquished his political and military posts. Later his itinerancy carried him throughout Virginia, and he became well-known as a preacher and as an organizer of churches. He played a part in forming at least twenty-six congregations. No other man during his lifetime accomplished among Virginia Separate Baptists as much as did Harris, whom a contemporary described as ‘like another Paul among the churches.’”  –from Baptists on the American Frontier (p.89).

 

October 12, 2004

 

Gambling Grows in Popularity - Poker has become a favorite pastime for teen-aged guys. This often leads to more addictive forms of gambling.

 

Every Need Not a Call – In A Passion For Souls: The Life of D. L. Moody (p.157), author Lyle W. Dorsett speaks of one of the effects of Moody’s renewed dependence on the Holy Spirit in 1871. “Moody’s recent experience with the Holy Spirit set him free—free from the mania that sees every great need as a call. Time would reveal a liberated Moody. Every need could not be a call. Never again would he go off on his own to do kingdom work and ask God to support it. Instead, he would listen for the Lord’s call to him personally, and then he would go forth and obey those marching orders. In the past Moody had fallen into the habit of making decisions about kingdom work, and then in prayer asking God to back these plans. As an experienced Civil War missionary he had seen enough of war to know better. Soldiers do not arise in the morning, make plans, and then call upon their commanding general to provide supplies. On the contrary, loyal troops get up, receive the orders of the day, and then go out in obedience, assuming their needs will be amply supplied to accomplish the objective.”

 

Influence of William Tyndale - Though I would disagree with some of the conclusions here (most specifically the Bible chart), this is a good summary of the influence of William Tyndale on the Bible in English.

 

Automatic Responses: a Way to Avoid ThinkingInfluence: the Psychology of Persuasion (p.60-61) by Robert B. Cialdini, refers to the human habit of making new decisions on the basis of being consistent with earlier decisions. Like “most other forms of automatic responding, it offers a shortcut through the density of modern life. Once we have made up our minds about an issue, stubborn consistency allows us a very appealing luxury: We really don’t have to think hard about the issue anymore. We don’t have to sift through the blizzard of information we encounter every day to identify relevant facts…all we have to do when confronted with the issue is to turn on our consistency tape, whirr, and we know just what to believe, say, or do…It is not hard to understand, then, why automatic consistency is a difficult reaction to curb. It offers us a way to evade the rigors of continuing thought. And as Sir Joshua Reynolds noted, ‘There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labor of thinking.’”

 

October 11, 2004

 

Hebrew Calendar - Detailed article describes the Jewish calendar and its peculiar patterns. A good reference to keep.

 

University in France Tolerates Anti-Semitism - The University of Lyon III has Holocaust deniers on its staff. Involved in Holocaust revisionism.

 

Let the Name Whitefield Perish! – George Whitefield probably had more to do with the Great Awakening of the 1730’s than any other single man. Yet, his story has always been eclipsed by that of John Wesley and others. The reason is to be found with Whitefield himself. “Though he wrote Journals of his ministry during its first three years, he thereafter refused to take any steps toward making a correct knowledge of his life available. With his eye fixed on his accounting in heaven, he sought no justification of himself on earth. When urged by friends to reply to certain false accusations, lest he be lastingly stigmatized, he replied, ‘I am content to wait till the judgment day for the clearing up of my character. When I am dead I desire no epitaph but this: “Here lies G. W. What kind of man he was the great day will discover.”’ To his followers’ frequent demands that he perpetuate his memory by forming a denomination with himself at its head, he invariably answered, ‘Let the name of Whitefield perish, but Christ be glorified!’” –from George Whitefield: Volume 1 (p.6-7) by Arnold Dallimore.

 

Catholic Bishops in England - Conference of Catholic Bishops deals with the issue of bringing Europe back into the Catholic fold.

 

Baptists in Jail in America – “James Ireland (1745-1806), who was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, immigrated to northern Virginia, where he became a schoolmaster. By reason of his youthful vice, he entered a prolonged state of concern about his salvation but eventually obtained a hope for his soul. Almost at once he began to preach. In Pittsylvania County he was baptized by Samuel Harris and was ordained as an itinerant by eleven Separate Baptist preachers.

 

“His five-month imprisonment in Culpepper County, during the winter and spring of 1769-1770, stands out amidst the persecutions that Virginia county officials meted out to Separate Baptists from 1768 to 1778. While Jemmy Ireland was in jail, gunpowder was exploded under the floor, sulfur and hot pepper were burned beneath the door, and a scheme to poison him was plotted. When he preached through a small grating (maybe one foot square), some Negroes who listened were stripped and beaten, other persons were trodden under horses’ hoofs, and miscreants urinated in his face. After Lord Botetourt, governor of the colony, gave Ireland leave to build a meetinghouse in Culpepper County, the magistrates could no longer hold him.” –from Baptists on the American Frontier (p.88).

 

October 10, 2004

 

Watch and Pray – When one cleric came up on General Stonewall Jackson in the woods during the U. S. Civil War, he thought he was insane. “He had come upon the general…walking back and forth, muttering incoherently to himself. When Dr. William Brown visited Jackson at the Centreville encampment, he inadvertently learned the reason for his fellow minister’s conclusion. Jackson was in the midst of another, long conversation about faith when he suddenly told Brown, ‘I find that it greatly helps me in fixing my mind and quickening my devotions to give articulate utterance to my prayers, and hence I am in the habit of going off into the woods, where I can be alone and speak audibly to myself the prayers I would pour out to my God.’ He then added with unintended humor, ‘I was at first annoyed that I was compelled to keep my eyes open to avoid running against the trees and stumps; but upon investigating the matter I do not find that the Scriptures require us to close our eyes in prayer, and the exercise has proven to me very delightful and profitable.’” –from Stonewall Jackson by James I. Robertson, Jr. (p.275).

 

Moving On Up – In a discussion of the 18th century churches of Virginia, Beth Barton Schweiger in The Gospel Working Up (p.6-7) states: “The defining characteristic of eighteenth-century Methodist and Baptist congregational life was its alienation from the world. By the first decades of the nineteenth century, however, Methodists and Baptists began to recast the social customs of their belief, as the appeal of alienation from society was replaced by their desire to influence it…

 

“Pastors were particularly sensitive to what Nathan O. Hatch has called the ‘allure of respectability.’ They transformed themselves from self-educated stump-speaking revivalists, early in the century into professionals who valued seminary degrees and polished pulpits…Education and denomination building lay at the heart of this professional ethos…By the 1830’s, Virginia Methodists and Baptists had established colleges to educate their pastors. These were not primarily schools of theology, which most ministers believed was best learned directly from the Scriptures, but places in which young ministers might learn the genteel literary arts…

 

“Southern pastors filled pages of their publications with scorn for the old-fashioned and praise for new organizational strategies; they hungered after innovation and progress with every committee meeting, and each new brick church…The clergy’s long love affair with education shifted the focus of religious experience from the camp meeting to the classroom, eroding the importance of revivalism…”

 

October 9, 2004

 

Religious Books Galore - Religious books have become the biggest growth genre in the publishing industry. People are seeking for something, but what are they getting?

 

Jewish Homeland Okay With Them - Poll of Arab Israeli's show 77% in favor of constitution that considers Israel a Jewish state as long as they are guaranteed full and equal rights as a minority.

 

Driven to Appear ConsistentThe Psychology of Influence by Robert B. Cialdini (p.57) speaks of “our nearly obsessive desire to be (and to appear) consistent with what we have already done. Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment. Those pressures will cause us to respond in ways that justify our earlier decision.” Perhaps this explains why man is ever “learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2Timothy 3:7). Men will often hold on to doctrines and refuse to discard false teachings so that they may remain consistent with earlier stands. We must learn to put God and His word in the place of preeminence. I must never change God’s word, but I must always allow it to change me.

 

How to Get Wisdom – In The Works of John Newton: Volume 1 (p.141-142), we read, “The chief means for attaining wisdom, and suitable gifts for the ministry, are the holy Scriptures, and prayer. The one is the fountain of living water, the other the bucket with which we are to draw. And I believe you will find, by observation, that the man who is most frequent and fervent in prayer, and most devoted to the word of God, will shine and flourish above his fellows. Next to these, and derived from them, is meditation. By this, I do not mean a stated exercise upon some one particular subject, so much as a disposition of mind to observe carefully what passes within us and around us, what we see, hear, and feel, and to apply all for the illustration and confirmation of the written word to us.”

 

Praying About the Book of Mormon - Advice to those who are asked to pray about the truth of the Book of Mormon. But the truth is, there is not sense praying about something that is already clearly revealed in scripture. Would you pray about whether or not adultery was wrong? Only if you have already denied the truth found in the Bible. However, the Bible clearly teaches that anyone who preaches any other gospel than what has already been preached, he is to be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9). Also, Revelation 22:18 teaches that anyone who adds to this closing book of the Bible will have the plagues of God added to him.

 

October 8, 2004

 

Jew, Gentile, Church of God – Bible teachers often go to 1Corinthians 10:32 to illustrate three major groups of people in this age: “Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God.” However, there is another way to distinguish this threefold division in the New Testament. Consider the following:

  • The “Uncircumcision” (Ephesians 2:11) – the Gentiles
  • The “Circumcision in the flesh made by hands” (Ephesians 2:11) – the Jews
  • The “circumcision made without hands” (Colossians 2:11) – the saints

 

Intolerance in Saudi Arabia - Government textbooks for fourth graders tells students that they cannot love Jews and Christians--even if they are their parents.

 

Fully and Wholly Consecrated – During his 1867 preaching trip to England, Dwight L. Moody met a West Londoner named Henry Varley. Varley was a butcher by occupation, but an evangelist and mighty prayer warrior by calling. When Moody returned to America, Harley’s parting words to Moody were, “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to him.” Moody determined that he would be that man. –from A Passion for Souls by Lyle W. Dorsett (p.141).

 

Fate of Unbaptized Babies - Roman Catholic Church is studying the destiny of unbaptized babies who die. Though Catholic doctrine requires baptism for salvation, no one wants to teach that the babies are condemned to hell. Limbo is being suggested as a possible alternative.

 

From Dancing Master to Preacher – “John Pickett (1744-1803), who was born in King George County, Virginia, was in early manhood a dancing master and a gaming enthusiast. He was converted in North Carolina under the preaching of a Separate Baptist in 1765. Back in his native colony, he helped to organize in 1769 in Fauquier County the Carters Run Church, the first congregation of the Separates in northern Virginia. Soon thereafter he became its pastor and continued in that post until his death. In 1771 he was kept in the Fauquier Jail for three months ‘for preaching contrary to act of Parliament,’ as the court order put it.” –from Baptists on the American Frontier (p.88).

 

October 7, 2004

 

Enclosed You Will Find a Check – Immediately after the First U.S. Civil War Battle of Manassas (1861), General Stonewall Jackson (who played a heroic and significant roll in the battle) sent a note to his pastor back in Lexington, Virginia. “A crowd eager for news of the battle thronged the town post office when the mail arrived. Dr. William S. White immediately recognized Jackson’s scrawl on the letter handed him. The minister cried out, ‘Now we shall know all the facts!’ A hush settled over the townspeople. White then read the letter. ‘My dear pastor, in my tent last night, after a fatiguing day’s service, I remembered that I had failed to send you my contribution for our colored Sunday school. Enclosed you will find a check for that object, which please acknowledge at your earliest convenience, and oblige yours faithfully, T. J. Jackson.’” –from Stonewall Jackson by James I. Robertson, Jr. (p.271).

 

What Do Muslims Believe? - Here is a good basic summary of the foundational beliefs of Islam. Nothing controversial here--just basis stuff.

 

Terror Dolls for Sale - Children's dolls depicting suicide bombers, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein are being sold in Paris.

 

He Gave It Up For God – Dwight L. Moody had the talents and ambition to become a man of fortune. Even after accepting Christ as His Saviour and serving Him seriously, he continued working his secular job and could have continued as a Christian businessman. However, when assured of God’s call on him to full-time service, he wasted no time. “Without informing anyone but his landlady, he gave up his Michigan Avenue room and board accommodations. He kept his whereabouts and lifestyle secretive because he wanted no one to know or feel pity for him. He apparently dined on cheese and crackers and took an occasional meal in a cheap restaurant. He also slept on benches in various hideaways, eventually taking a small room in a makeshift YMCA facility where he did some janitorial work and slept on chairs lined up under the staircase.” –from A Passion for Souls: The Life of D. L. Moody by Lyle W. Dorsett.

 

October 6, 2004

 

This Day in Baptist History - After being down for a time, this great daily reading about moments in Baptist history is up and running again. Please check it out. This is great material!

 

Take the NIV Quiz - Okay, do not take it if you are going to be offended by anything that questions the New International Version of the Bible. This is a quiz for the strong-hearted.

 

Atheism in Retreat? - New book by Alistar McGrath claims that atheism is a failure. Its philosophical teachings are empty deserts and its adherents are in decline.

 

American of Moslem Origin on the Day of Atonement - Interesting discussion of the Muslim culture and its refusal to repent or admit guilt. He states, "To admit one’s flaws and mistakes, to correct and repent, challenges a person of any nationality. In Muslim culture, however, it is inconceivable. To acknowledge one's shortcomings before first blaming others would bring deep shame and dishonor not only to the individual but to his or her entire family. Those who admit fault, even unintentional guilt, are regarded as foolish. If the mistake is a cultural taboo, one's reputation may be scarred for life and the perpetrator might end up brutally punished."

 

What Kind of Headache Do You Have? - Nothing spiritual here. Just a good definition of the different kinds of headaches and ways to determine what kind you have.

 

Chinese Filipino Immigrant Warns of Growing Idolatry in America - Delivered from the idolatry of Buddha worship he knew as a child, he sees the same idolatry coming to America.

 

Brief Life of William Marshall – Here is a sad but instructive story from Baptists on the American Frontier (p.87). “William Marshall (1735-1809), who was an uncle of Chief Justice John Marshall, was converted in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1768 under the ministry of Separate Baptists. When he began to evangelize, his preaching was like a ‘thunder-gust.’ Assemblies numbering ‘one or more thousands’ often heard him in the Great Valley of Virginia. In those early, itinerant years he invited all sinners to embrace Christ and to seek salvation. After he removed to Kentucky in 1780 and settled in Lincoln County, he changed his belief, having ‘found eternal justification couched in the doctrine of election.’ Later while serving the Fox Run Church…in Shelby (now Henry) County, he refused to preach the gospel to sinners. The congregation rejected his newly acquired dogma and eventually expelled him. He remained outside the church for the rest of his days.”

 

Should Christians Use birth Control? - Detailed study of the history of birth control and an interesting consideration of the pros and cons of birth control.

 

October 5, 2004

 

Tolkien Over the Bible in Germany - J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" is the favorite work of literature among Germans, beating out the Holy Bible.

 

Intercessory Prayer of Jesus – What follow are comments on the prayer of Jesus in John 17 from The Intercessory Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ by John Brown (p.1-3).

  • “The seventeenth chapter of the Gospel by John is, without doubt, the most remarkable portion of the most remarkable book in the world.”
  • “What a concentration of thought and affection is there in these few sentences!”
  • “All is natural and simple in thought and language—nothing intricate or elaborate; yet there is a width in the conceptions which the human understanding cannot measure—a depth in the emotions which it cannot fathom.”
  • “It was the last portion read to John Knox, by his own special request.”

 

The Feast of Purim - An explanation of the feast that was established by the deliverance fo the Jews as recorded in the book of Esther.

 

October 3, 2004

 

King James Bible Scrutinized - 1857 testimony to the quality of the King James Bible.

 

Euthanasia for Children - Some European nations are beginning to practice the mercy-killing of children. What's next? Ugly people?

 

Churches Building Labyrinths - New way to bring pagan practices into the churches. Even some Southern Baptists are building them.

 

Americans with Middle Eastern Origins - 76 percent of Americans of Middle Eastern descent are Christian. Less than one-quarter are Muslim.

 

Missionary to New Zealand - Brief biography of Samuel Marsden (1764-1838) who worked as a missionary in New Zealand and New South Wales.

 

October 1, 2004

 

In the History of the World – Men are not always ignorant of the importance of what they are doing. In Philadelphia during the July of 1776 at the time of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote, “We are in the very midst of revolution, the most complete, unexpected, and remarkable of any in the history of the world.” –from John Adams by David McCullough (p.127)

 

Where Will the Children Go? Barna poll gives insight on beliefs and 13 year olds in America and the need to train them while they are young. 90% believe in the existence of God but 75% believe that the devil is just a symbol. Half believe that Jesus sinned while on earth and that homosexuality is not condemned in the Bible.

 

Do We Understand the Meaning of Hope? - “When eighteenth-century Baptists used such expressions as ‘obtain hope of conversion,’ ‘obtain hope in the Lord,’ or ‘profess hope in Christ,’ they were referring to a personal experience of regeneration and conversion. They used the word hope to mean ‘a trustful expectation of eternal salvation.’ During the past two hundred years the noun hope has lost a good deal of its emphasis on certitude and has come to mean want or desire. But for early Baptist ‘to obtain hope’ meant ‘to lay hold on salvation with assurance and certainty.’ –from a note in Baptists on the American Frontier (p.86).

 

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