Phil Johnson: A Biblical Assessment of Christian Nationalism

Ken Ham on the Curse of Ham

God Does Not Worship Us

There are some Christians who think that worship with a transactional event where we worship God and He worships us. I would like to know what Bible they are reading from because it is clear it's not God's Word.

The idea that God worships us sound like some form of self-esteem philosophy. God does not sing about us nor are we worthy of worship. God is worthy of worship for He created us, gave us life, gave us His provisions for us to live on this earth and gave us eternal life through His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

What makes us worthy of any kind of worship? To be honest, nothing. We are not good and fall short of the glory of God according to Romans 3. In fact, if you read that whole chapter, you will see why we are not worthy of any kind of praise but deserve condemnation from a holy God.

The fact that I have to make a post like this is really disturbing, but given the current church climate today, we really should not be surprised. Christians have become undiscerning and elders are not protecting their flock as they should which speaks volumes to their spiritual maturity. 

Church, if you hear your pastor that God worships you, get up and leave. Pastor, if you are preaching that nonsense, repent and/or resign. 

God is worthy of our worship. We are not worthy. We are undeserving of nothing from God except Hell. 

A Discussion Exposing the Orthodox Church's False Gospel

In this episode of the Redeeming Truth Podcast, Jon Benzinger is joined by Hal Hays in exposing the false teaching of the Orthodox Church.

Recommended Resources:

I highly recommend Hal's book, Are You (Biblically) Orthodox?

Discussions Centered Around Thomas Aquinas

I am sure by now you have heard a man who once held Reformed Theology has become a Roman Catholic whom he gave credit to the writings of Thomas Aquinas, a well-known Roman Catholic scholar. There have been many Protestants who have embrace Aquinas's teachings without cross over to Roman Catholicism which is very concerning. 

There have been discussions on the matter, and I want highlight three from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio:

Dr. Jeffrey C. Waddington on “The Debate Over Retrieving Thomas Aquinas for Reformed Theology”

Jeffrey D. Johnson on “A Critical Appraisal of Thomas Aquinas”

David Reece on “One Reformed Pastor’s Critique of the Rising Alignment with the Theology of Thomas Aquinas”

Mike Gendron: Do Catholics Have an All-Sufficient Savior?

Is God an Unsatisfied Redeemer?

In Acts 17:25, it says that God is not "served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things." We see in Philippians 1:6 "that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." God does not need us, and He is completing His good work in us till the day of Christ. Does this mean that God is unsatisfied with the work He is doing in our lives?

You might be asking where is there coming from? This is actually from Paul Tripp's devotional New Morning Mercies. Tripp began with this statement:

If you are not full formed into the image of Jesus, your Redeemer is neither satisfied nor finished, and neither should you be.

I understand that meaning of us want to grow in our sanctification, but the idea that God is not satisfied means He is left wanting to do more or His is not sufficient in all of His work. Does need to accomplish the good work in us? No. Yes, He did promise, but He would have been content with leaving us in our sin, yet God is not ungracious. He did promise a Messiah to redeem from our sins and since we are saved, we are being conformed into the image of His Son. This does not mean God is unsatisfied. 

Tripp continues:

Your Redeemer is zealous for one goal- the final renewal of all things. Ultimate salvation from all that sin is and all that sin has broken is his unrelenting pursuit. He will continue to unleash his power to accomplish redemption and he will not be satisfied until the last enemy is under his feet and the final kingdom has come. Yes, there is great and eternal hope for you in the dissatisfaction of your Redeemer.

This makes it sound like God is all about us. Our salvation was to the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:3-14). Does this imply that God has needs and He needs to be satisfied to complete His good work in us. When God created the world, he saw that it was good (Genesis 1) not He was unsatisfied. 

Tripp indicating God is an unsatisfied redeemer means that He is a God who is lacking. A God who is in need of us which we all know is not biblical. God has no unsatisfaction because He is self-sufficient. 

Recommended Reading:

God Doesn't Try by Jim Osman and Dave Rich

Gary Gilley on Lent

Lent is the word used to denote the forty-day fast preceding Easter. In modern times it is usually observed from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday (approximately six weeks). Its traditional purpose is to prepare believers for Easter through various forms of prayer and sacrifice. During Lent, many will participate in selective fasts or abstinence from luxuries or some types of food. (Joan) Chittister covers Lent in her chapter (from the book, "The Liturgical Year") entitled "Asceticism" and says, "Lent revolves around sacrifice.... We must be prepared to give up some things if we intend to get things that even are more important. Lent draws from the asceticism of early monasticism:

Ardent Christians, monastics, left the cities where narcissism held full sway to live as solitaries in the desert in order to do battle with the enemies of the soul. They practiced harsh penances and purged themselves completely of all worldly pleasures in order to witness to a life beyond this life, a life beyond the gratification of the body to the single-minded development of the soul.

Chittister is happy that the extremes of asceticism are a thing of the past; nevertheless, she applauds the goal of the ascetics which is to conquer themselves and develop their souls.". Asceticism is the idea that by putting our physical bodies through deliberate suffering and hardship we will master our inward passions. It is "through acts of asceticism, we learn the most difficult thing in life: we master the gift of self-conquest. We are no longer prey to our own excesses. Now we are in control of the most difficult material we'll ever confront—ourselves." The problem with asceticism is both that it doesn't work and more importantly, it is unbiblical. Paul clearly torpedoed the whole ascetic movement when he wrote in Colossians 2:20-23:

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Deliberate asceticism, harsh treatment of the body and abstinence from acceptable activities, actions, and food, may have the appearance of spiritual activity but have no effect on our souls, nor do they enhance our spiritual development. Lent is a hold-over from ascetic practices of the past that have no direct spiritual value.

Adapted from Out of Formation: The Infiltration of the Spiritual Formation Movement and Its Impact on Evangelicalism by Gary E. Gilley

Jonny Ardavanis on Purgatory

Steven Kozar's Video on Francis Chan Endorsing NAR

Keith Foskey on Why John 6 Does Not Prove Transubstantiation

Justin Peters Speaks with a Bethel Insider

MacArthur on the Roman Catholic View of Justification

Roman Catholicism blends its doctrines of sanctification and justification. Catholic theology views justification as an infusion of grace that makes the sinner righteous. In Catholic theology, then, the ground of justification is something made good within the sinner—not the imputed righteousness of Christ. The Council of Trent, Rome’s response to the Reformation, pronounced anathema on anyone who says “that the [sinner] is justified by faith alone—if this means that nothing else is required by way of cooperation in the acquisition of the grace of justification.” The Catholic council ruled “Justification . . . is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace, and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just.” So Catholic theology confuses the concepts of justification and sanctification and substitutes the righteousness of the believer for the righteousness of Christ. 

This difference between Rome and the Reformers is no example of theological hair-splitting. The corruption of the doctrine of justification results in several other grievous theological errors. If sanctification is included in justification, then justification is a process, not an event. That makes justification progressive, not complete. One’s standing before God is then based on subjective experience, not secured by an objective declaration. Justification can therefore be experienced and then lost. 

Assurance of salvation in this life becomes practically impossible because security can’t be guaranteed. The ground of justification ultimately is the sinner’s own continuing present virtue, not Christ’s perfect righteousness and His atoning work. Those issues were fiercely debated in the Reformation, and the lines were clearly drawn. Reformed theology to this day upholds the biblical doctrine of justification by faith against the Roman view of justification by works/merit.

Adapted from The Gospel According to the Apostles by John MacArthur

Is Polygamy Permissible?

Over at Protestia, we see a story of a pastor who said he had two wives and claims polygamy is biblical. If you are the Old Testament, you see many men had multiple wives. So, the question is this, is polygamy permissible? To answer that question, here is Robby Lashua addressing this issue in his article, Polygamy in the Bible Is Not Prescriptive:

The ugly truth is that many of the heroes in the Old Testament were polygamists. Jacob had two wives and Esau had three. King David, the man after God’s own heart, had at least eight wives. Solomon, not to be outdone, had a staggering seven hundred wives (1 Kings 11:3).

These examples from Scripture are perplexing because God used these men to do great things for his name and his people. Would God use men who were living in sexually sinful lifestyles to fulfill his purposes? Was polygamy permissible for these patriarchs, and if it was, is it permissible for us?

To answer these questions, we need to determine one thing. Are these passages about polygamy prescriptive or descriptive? Are they prescribing how we are supposed to live, or are they describing events from the past?

Many passages in Scripture describe events God doesn’t condone. Lot’s daughters getting him drunk and having sex with him comes to mind (Gen. 19:32–36). But many passages of Scripture prescribe how we are to live as followers of God, such as when Jesus prescribes loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind (Matt. 22:37).

Is polygamy prescriptive? The short answer is no. Here’s why. God never commands or condones polygamy in Scripture. The opposite is true.

The first mention of polygamy in Scripture says, “Lamech took to himself two wives” (Gen. 4:19). We are then told that Lamech, a descendant of Cain, boasted to his wives about murdering a boy (Gen. 4:23). Lamech was a bad man, and polygamy is something he practiced.

Not only does God never command or condone polygamy, but he also condemns it. In Deuteronomy 17, God gives instructions for the future kings of Israel, and he specifically condemns taking on many wives. “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away” (Deut. 17:17). In other words, God wasn’t okay with David and Solomon having multiple wives, and they disobeyed his commands.

What does God prescribe for marriage? Monogamy. From the very beginning, God said marriage was one man and one woman becoming one flesh for one lifetime (Gen. 2:24). We can deduce this from the fact that God only gave Adam one wife, not multiple. We can also see that marriage comes with the command to be fruitful and multiply, something that only requires one male and one female.

Monogamy was also Jesus’ view. When asked a question about divorce being permissible, Jesus argued that God intended marriage to be lifelong and monogamous (Matt. 19:8). He didn’t base his understanding of marriage on what the Law of Moses said about divorce; he went back to God’s original intention for marriage: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate” (Matt. 19:4-6). Two become one flesh. Polygamy is not prescriptive; monogamy is.

Since polygamy is not prescriptive, then it must be descriptive. But what exactly does Scripture describe about polygamy and its results?

In short, polygamy is described as having devastating consequences for those who practice it and for those born as a result of it.

Jacob’s firstborn son, Reuben, by his first wife Leah, had sex with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine (Gen. 35:22). David’s son Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar and was then killed by Tamar’s full brother Absalom (2 Sam. 13). Absalom then tried to usurp the throne from his father David and had sex with David’s concubines (2 Sam. 16:22). Solomon “had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away” (1 Kings 11:3). These descriptions are sad reminders that polygamy is sin and has destructive consequences.

So, how should we view the patriarchs of the Old Testament who practiced polygamy? First, we must recognize that polygamy is described as something they practiced but never as something God prescribed. We should view these men as they are described, flawed human beings, who sinned immensely, that God still loved and worked through. This should encourage us because we all are sinners. I’m glad God works with flawed people like you and me, but make no mistake, polygamy is not and has never been intended by God.

Justin Peters and Fred Butler Address Michael Heiser's Controversial Beliefs

From Todd Friel: It’s Time to Take a Stand Against Catholicism’s Push for Unity

Justin Peters and Mike Gendron Discuss the Catholic Church's Pope Problem

A Discussion of the Fall of the Catholic Church with Todd Friel and Nathan Busenitz

Justin Peters on the Ruinous Ruse of Rome

Todd Friel and Justin Peters Discuss Deliverance Ministries