"What Do You Mean By That?"

What do I mean when I profess to be a fundamentalist?
I mean I believe in the fundamentals of Christian doctrine. These include:
"The canons of Scripture is divine in origin, accurate in representation (of knowledge & understanding), authoritative in doctrine & complete in revelation" (this is often stated as "inspired", "infallible", "inerrant" & "closed");
"The Sovereign Lord God Almighty, eternal, unchanging, righteous, holy, just, having mercy on whom He will have mercy & pouring wrath on whom He pours wrath, is revealed generally in creation & specifically in Scripture";
"This God is revealed in Scripture as Father, Son & Holy Spirit: distinct persons of one essence";
"This God is alone to be worshipped (to be accounted worthy of devotion)";
"Devotion to God is reflected in compassion & benevolence toward men";
"God created man to worship Him & in Adam, man sinned & became unable to worship Him naturally;"
"Of his own nature, man will worship anything (or everything) other than his Creator;"
"God took upon Himself man's nature (of flesh, not of sin) & in Christ, completed the salvation (deliverance from the wrath of God & the enslavement of sin) for all who are being saved."
... I could keep going, but this is supposed to be a short post. I would point to the early creeds of the Apostolic church, the confessions of the reforming church (primarily the London Baptist Confession of Faith) & the Abstract of Principles (SBTS 1858) for a fuller description of "Fundamentals".
Because of certain elements in modern assemblies, I must state: I do not believe the King James Version is the only, clearest or most authoritative interpretation of the original languages into English. It is often useful, particularly when studying the Puritan, Pietist, Presbyterian & Anglican writings of 1500-1800 ... but it is only one tool. For the same reason, I do not use a singlular Greek/Hebrew to English dictionary & grammar, but draw on each resource I have access to that I may grasp the clearest understanding of Scripture in light of Scripture. Because man's mind (reason, memory, understanding) is as depraved due to the Fall as his flesh, it is reasonable to look with scepticism on "denominational" translations, unsubstantiated personal interpretation ("This means to me that ...") & language manipulation driven by market forces. Even the best scholarship should be laid side by side for the purpose of clarity - & not for the preference of the reader.

What do I mean when I profess to be "reformed"?
I mean I hold to what is commonly referred to as the 5 Solas in opposition to the doctrines promoted by the Roman See. The Solas are drawn primarily from Ephesians 2:
(from) Scripture Alone - doctrine is known in light of Scripture apart from tradition & the Magisterium.
(by) Grace Alone - doctrine & salvation are the unmerited favors of God to undeserving man according to His purpose & pleasure, not according to the "benevolence" of the Roman See (or any other human authority)
(through) Faith Alone - Faith in the faithfulness of Jesus the Christ, our Lord, is the sole mechanism by which the grace of God abounds in mercy to degenerates apart from any work of the flesh to attain to righteousness.
(in) Christ Alone - It is Jesus our Lord who is the Annointed, the Savior & none other of all creation.
(to the) glory of God Alone - ALL praise, worship, thanksgiving & supplication are His because He alone is worthy.

What do I mean when I profess to be "Calvinistic"?
I mean I hold to a view of salvation which is communicated clearly throughout Scripture & was expounded through the canons of Dordt in the English acronym T.U.L.I.P.
Total depravity of man - there is nothing good in the natural man which obligates God to save him.
Unconditional election - God determined to save particular individuals according to His pleasure & purpose before the foundation of the earth, not according to their merits.
Limited atonement - God fully satisfied all necessary efforts to save those whom He determined to save & for no one else.
Irresistable Grace - God will save those whom He has determined to save.
Perseverence of the Saints -  God cannot fail to save each one of those He has determined to save.
I do not mean I agree with all which John Calvin (or any of the reformers) published, though there is much in their writings which is instructive.

What do I mean when I profess to be a "separatist"?
I mean I hold to the understanding that false teachers are not the cause of "falling away" but the result, therefore assemblies which are perpetually led by or embracing of false teachers & teaching are not Christian & should not be referred to as such by Christians. Christians (defined as those in whom the Holy Spirit dwells) should be encouraged to part ways with false teachers & to seek sound teaching. As a separatist, I do not see it as my role to convert a false teacher, though I may confront him. Rather, it is my role/duty/office to refute the false teacher to brothers & proclaim sound doctrine that they may grow in faith, wisdom, knowledge & understanding; that they may be comforted in times of tribulation; that they might demonstrate love for the brethern. To those who are outside Christ, I have been given only the message of "Repent!" ... though this may again include refuting the false teacher, to address every deceptive word which proceeds from the mouths of the children of the Father of Lies would be to address every word proceeding from them. Even when they speak "Truth", it is with the hellish purpose of deceiving (even Satan quoted Scripture to Jesus in the wilderness ... & though Jesus refuted him, He did not seek to convert him).

What do I mean when I profess to be a non-dispensational premillennialist?
I mean my studies of the works of Darby, Scofield & others has convinced me of several flaws in that particular systematic of theology, but Scripture has convinced me of: God's ability to preserve His righteous & pour out judgment on the wicked; God's declaration of promises to Israel through Abraham which have not yet been complete; and His certainty in "declaring from the beginning the end" because of His sovereignty. The principle flaw of dispensationalism is its failure to embrace covenantal concepts when Scripture declare such (this is also the princple flaw of covenantalism, for it fails to embrace dispensational concepts with the same alacrity to pursue its philosophical constructs).

Thanksgiving Day Thoughts

I have one motivation in life: that the Sovereign LORD God Almighty be glorified. This is a particularly easy motivation in one respect - His glorification is His work. He is glorified because He accomplishes it. Nothing I do (or don't do, for that matter) profits, improves or enhances Him. He is God, therefore He surrounds (robes) Himself in His glory ... & nothing I do diminishes His willingness or ability.

So like clay drawing its form from the tools, fingers & hands of the potter, I am aware He is shaping me into whatever form He pleases for whatever purpose(s) He chooses ... and this is enough. The awareness of His immediacy in the formation of who I am & why I am permits me to REST from all the anxiety of despair because I know what I am.

I know my imaginations ... no, you do NOT want to go there. I know my delusions - narcissistic megalomaniacs have nothing on ...... hmmm, proved that one, didn't I. I know my past actions, both the "rational" (with excuse) & the "irrational" (without excuse). I know the death & corruption which creeps steadily through my frame, reminding me of all the stupidity I thought was "a good idea" at the time.

Yes, I know what I am ... & when the evaluation is complete, the fact is I am but a lump of clay & each day is His exertion to form me into precisely what He requires, when He requires, why He requires. Romans 9:8-32 (especially vs.20-24)

The passage speaks of two types of vessels ... those of wrath & those of mercy. There is an evidence that you are one or the other, for what you cannot be is "both". Just like you would not store foodstuffs in a grungy garbage can (or garbage in a cookpot) ... for that would foul the foodstuffs, God does not pour mercy into vessels of wrath or wrath into vessels of mercy.

You might say "But life has been hard", & while that may be true ... it has not been hellish torment separated from the benevolence of God - which is the ultimate destiny of wrath.

You might say "But life has been blessed", & while that may be true ... it has not been eternally worshipping in the presence of the thrice Holy, which is the ultimate destiny of mercy.

So what is the evidence, if not the circumstances of this life? Galatians 5:16-6:10 would seem to answer that an evidence is the contention of the Spirit (with holy desires) against the flesh (with self-centered desires). 2 Corinthians 1:22 teaches the Spirit is given as a guarantee - so only those with the guarantee *of the promise of mercy* have the Spirit ... & no one who has the Spirit is held guilty & under judgment (Romans 8:1, 12-17).

This would indicate that ALL who do not have the Spirit (& therefore do not have the promise of mercy) are vessels of wrath ... except there was a time I didn't have the Spirit (Ephesians 2:1-3). All those who "end" as vessels of mercy began as "by nature, children of wrath" ... clay!

Then those glorious ... GLORIOUS ... words "But God ...". I am clay by nature & cannot do anything to change that. I began my days as a child of wrath & .... God changed WHAT I am, for His glory & by His grace.

He changed me & He can change you. Perhaps as you read this, something "called" you to desire He change you ... perhaps you think if you pray "sincerely" enough, He'll be obligated to change you. Park that idea now. If He has caused you to desire Him, He has already begun the work of transforming you, but He does it according to His will & not yours ... for His glory & not yours. Instead of trying to obligate God, seek to know Him ... read His revelation of Himself through Jesus His Christ, pray (as a peasant who is addressing his king) ... give Him thanks - start with the fact He created you & has given you breath. Begin resting in the understanding that you cannot fail to be what He has decreed you to be because HE IS GOD. Once you get past "Thank you, God, for making me ME", it is my prayer you would begin to thank Him because He has revealed Himself as God ... & what it means to be God. That He is God gives purpose to pain, strength for enduring, hunger for righteousness, source of holiness ....

It is late ... or rather early ... so here is a start on my Thanksgiving Day thoughts.

........... "you may be blessed because He was accursed"

One Year

This last year, I have led a Bible study two nights a week which began with the Epistle to the Galatians, an epistle noteworthy because Paul did not commend the Church in Galatia for any attribute: faith, hope or love. Galatians is a defense of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ by the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
Upon concluding that study, we moved to the character & nature of God revealed in the Gospel presentations of the Book of Acts. We began with the later presentations: Paul at Athens, before Felix, before Festus because the presentations to the Gentiles were more foundational. Paul started from his audience's ignorance & brought them through the judgment of God to the hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We are wrapping the early presentations of the Gospel, the presentations by the Apostles & deacons, which were first to the Jews & the God-fearing Gentiles, those who already had the foundation of Moses & knew the judgment ... & the promises ... of God to His own.

In 2 days, it will be the first anniversary of meeting to embrace the Gospel for ALL of life ... so what is the Gospel?

• God is sovereign over all creation. Creation is HIS! Every person is HIS! Every everything is HIS. It exists because He appointed it for (to reveal) His glory ... & because He is the Almighty, everything & everyone will fulfill its role in His revelation of His glory.
• God created Adam, ideal in flesh & spirit, innocent (without sin) but not perfect (incapable of sin). When Adam sinned, every person descended from Adam participated in sin & became guilty before God of rebellion against HIS eternal & infinite sovereignty. The righteous judgment of God against the guilty is eternal damnation, but God was merciful & gracious in that He withheld the judgment which Adam was due from the moment Adam was guilty. Why? Because the appointed revelation of God's glory included His kindness toward those who do not deserve it.
• Because every person is conceived guilty & continues from there to accumulate guilt, no person descended from Adam can provide a sufficient satisfaction of God's righteous judgment for himself, or anyone else.
• God, the Son of God, Jesus the Christ from Nazareth, was born of the virgin Mary in such a way He was not descended effectively from Adam. Before you balk at such a birth, for a God who created heaven & earth and all which is in them, for a God who raised the first Adam from the dust of the earth, such a thing is small. What is enormous is the infinite God clothed in a finite man.
• Born without sin, living in perfect harmony with God the Father in the presence of natural men, Jesus proved by obedience His capability to be the sufficient satisfaction of the wrath of God against the guilty. Before we get into the question of "all the guilty" or "some of the guilty", let us grasp that Jesus alone in all history could satisfy the wrath of God against the guilty. When Jesus died, He suffered, according to God's plan, the torments of man but much more importantly, He suffered the righteous wrath of the just God against the guilty so that the guilty could be at peace with God.
• Now, we have the issue of "for all" or "for some". If it was "for all", then all are at peace with God. Yet we know from Scripture, some will be cast out from God's presence, therefore all are not at peace with God. If Jesus Christ's death was "for all" except for the sin of unbelief, then it was "for some" sin rather than "for all" sin.
• Consistent with the body of Scripture, Jesus died to satisfy the entire wrath of God against the guilty He appointed from before creation to be the revelation of the glory of His kindness.
• Jesus Christ did not just live & die. He was buried &, as Scripture testified He must, rose from the dead glorified and physical. His resurrection has caused us who believe to be born again to a living hope ... a hope which is founded upon the certain promise of life beyond death, a life in the glory of the kindness of God toward those who do not deserve His kindness or His life.
• Jesus Christ did not just live, die & rise from the dead but He ascended to heaven where He serves as the Mediator for His own before the Father, from Whom was sent the Holy Spirit to those appointed to Life to bring them from death to life, from darkness to light, in whom He plants His Word which germinates as faith in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ accounted by God as righteousness, to produce belief in His Word resulting in trust of His character & nature bringing us to repentance, a turning from all which opposes God (including our own selves) unto the God who made us that we could praise Him in His revelations, thank Him in His gracious provision & declare our dependence upon His merciful ordination.
• That you are His by the fact of creation & a rebel according to your nature demands you repent at His command. THIS is the invitation of the Gospel. Repent! Glorify God & give Him thanks! Beg mercy from the Only Judge because God has appointed Jesus Christ as Judge and a day when He will judge the earth.
• Do not get tangled in "are you of the some?". If you are able to receive the Gospel, believe in Jesus Christ, trust His promises & repent, do not fear but believe!