"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are hungry wolves." -Matt. 7:15

"IF ANY PREACH ANY OTHER GOSPEL UNTO YOU THAN THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED, LET HIM BE ACCURSED."

"Here with great fervency the Apostle dares curse all teachers throughout the whole world, yes, in heaven also, which pervert his gospel, and teach any other; for all men must either believe that gospel that Paul preached, or else they must be accursed and condemned. Would to God that this terrible sentence of the Apostle might strike terror into the hearts of those who seek to pervert the gospel of Paul. ....

Here then is a plain text like a thunderbolt, wherein Paul subjects both himself and an angel from heaven, and all others, doctors, teachers, and masters, to be under the authority of the Scriptures: for they ought not to be masters, judges, or arbiters, but only witnesses, disciples, and confessors of the Church, whether it be the Pope, or Luther, or Augustine, or Paul, or an angel from heaven. Neither ought any doctrine to be taught or heard in the Church, besides the pure Word of God, that is to say, the Holy Scripture; otherwise accursed be both the teachers and hearers, together with their doctrine." -Martin Luther

Jesus died for sinners. He was made sin, and a curse, for us, the cursed. Mankind is cursed by God, and under God's righteous wrath. Paul tells us in his epsitle to the Ephesians that we are all "children of wrath". And then he writes: "But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by whose grace you are saved)."

The pure and simple Gospel is for sinners. Are you a sinner? Then there's good news for you. Jesus Christ's death paid for the sins of sinners, and for all who come to Him in faith and repentance, shall not have to answer to God for their sin and persih, but will be granted eternal life, and so become a child of the Almighty Lord of creation!

"I would rather feel contrition than know how to define it." -Thomas a' Kempis (The Imitation of Christ)

[Thomas à Kempis on Mount Saint Agnes (1569)]

Seems to me, in the Church at large today, people are looking for emotional shots in the arms. And that's not completely wrong. However, all religions, and even atheists do the same, don't they.

Seems to me the Church should be seeking God's kingdom and His righteousness first and foremost, and then our emotions will be satisfied in the right way; that is in truth and Spirit.

The Holy Scriptures, all 66 books that God has given to us His children, needs to be where we go to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. There's nowhere else we can find it really. If we do look in other places, then we will find a false kingdom, a tainted kingdom, and not Christ's kingdom of truth, grace, love, righteousness, and sanctification by our loving heavenly Father.

There's a religious mysticism going about in the Body of Christ in our day, and it can lead to a path of error and even destruction.

Jesus prayed to His Father, and our Father, for us to be set apart, or sanctified, by the truth. Jesus said, "Your Word is truth" (John 17:17). God sets us in His kingdom; in the light as Christ is in the light. The world is in darkness. We are to shine for Christ in this dark world, and so glorify the Father, and He will draw all those to His Son that are being saved. Those who hate the light, will retreat to the darkness, because they don't want their deeds exposed (John 3:20). And yet I was one of these in the dark, and Christ sought me out, and shone His light into my soul, and His mercy did expose my sin, and I repented and trusted Christ. And so there's hope for sinners as well. We need to exclaim the great news of Christ to all, and God will have mercy on whom He wills (Romans 9:18).

So, after simply rambling here, becuase it's a rainy day, and I'm home at my computer after driving about 100 miles as I did some service work for my builders, I think the bottom line for me is this.
We need truth and the Spirit, both in our hearts, minds, and lives. Both truth, which is the Holy Word, and the Holy Spirit, who feeds our souls with the truth, and also flows out of our bellies as a river as He fills us with joy, passion, sorrow, peace, and all the fruits of the Spirit, but most of all love (Romans 5:5).

Taxman -- George Harrison and Eric Clapton (live)

Here's an old Beatle's song quite appropriate for our nation's leaders, don't you think.

I'm an old Beatles fan, and Clapton fan as well. I like what George says in this song how the Taxman taxes everything you do: If you drive a car,
I'll tax the street.
If you drive to city,
I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold,
I'll tax the heat.
If you take a walk,
I'll tax your feet.

And it feels like that to me. I have to pay $2,500 to the IRS. I have never had to before, and I made a lot more over the years than I made last year. In fact, I didn't even work for 12 weeks. Amazing how this government is allowing it's citizens to be overwhelmed, and over taxed. It's a sin.

Here's what we need to get back to methinks: "No taxation without representation"

"The phrase "No Taxation Without Representation!" was coined by Reverend Jonathan Mayhew in a sermon in Boston in 1750. By 1765 the term "no taxation without representation" was in use in Boston, but no one is sure who first used it. Boston politician James Otis was most famously associated with the term, "taxation without representation is tyranny." ....Patrick Henry's resolutions in the Virginia legislature implied that Americans possessed all the rights of Englishmen; that the principle of no taxation without representation was an essential part of the British Constitution; and that Virginia alone enjoyed the right to tax Virginians."

A Magnificent Hymn!

"Go to dark Gethsemane,
Ye that feel the tempter's power;
Your Redeemer's conflict see;
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away;
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.

See Him at the judgment hall,
Beaten, bound, reviled, arraigned;
See Him meekly bearing all!
Love to man His soul sustained.
Shun not suffering, shame, or loss;
Learn of Christ to bear the Cross.

Calvary's mournful mountain climb;
There adoring at His feet,
Mark that miracle of time,
God's own sacrifice complete;
"It is finished!" hear Him cry;
Learn of Jesus Christ to die.

Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid His breathless clay:
All is solitude and gloom;
Who has taken Him away?
Christ is risen! He meets our eyes.
Savior, teach us so to rise." -James Montgomery (1771-1854)



"No proof of the fulness of sin, after all, is so overwhelming and unanswerable as the Cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and the whole doctrine of His substitution and atonement. Terribly black must that guilt be for which nothing but the blood of the Son of God could make satisfaction. Heavy must that weight of human sin be which made Jesus groan and sweat drops of blood in agony at Gethsemane and cry at Golgotha, 'My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?' (Matt. 27:46). Nothing I am convinced, will astonish us so much, when we awake in the resurrection day, as the view we shall have of sin and the retrospect we shall take of our own countless shortcomings and defects. Never till the hour when Christ comes the second time shall we fully realize the 'sinfulness of sin'. Well might George Whitefield say, 'The anthem in heaven will be: What hath God wrought!'" -Bishop JC Ryle

Pyromaniacs: Non Sola Scriptura: the Blackaby view of God's will — 2

Pyromaniacs: <i>Non Sola Scriptura:</i> the Blackaby view of God's will — 2

Check out this book review, and also, teaching, by Pastor Dan Phillips, where he exposes the real danger of the way Henry and Richard Blackaby of Blackaby Ministries International think how we need to hear from God.

I pray the Church would open her ears, to the Scriptures, and not to her own heart, and so become rooted and grounded, and not so easily blown to and fro by the hundreds of winds of false doctrines swirling about within the Body of Christ, which prey upon our emotions and minds. Amen.

"For ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28b

[Luther preaching at Wittenberg]

"...in Christ there is no difference of persons, but all are one. ...Christ should be set forth, that you should see nothing besides Him,...

So, if I would find comfort and life, when I am at the point of death, I must do nothing else but apprehend Christ by faith, and look at Him and say: I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who suffered, was crucified, and died for me; in whose wounds, and in whose death I see my sin, and in His resurrection victory over sin, death, and the devil, also righteousness and eternal life. Besides Him I see nothing, I hear nothing. This is true faith concerning Christ, and in Christ, whereby we are made "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones"; "In Him, we live, and move, and have our being" (Ephesians 5:30; Acts 17:28). Christ and our faith must be thoroughly joined together." Martin Luther, From his commentary on Galatians 1531.