Careless with Fire

God forgive me.

(HT Justin Taylor) - Doug

I Go to Prepare a Place for You

A.W. Pink
"God never has, and never will, take His people into a place un-prepared for them. In Eden God first "planted a garden," and then placed Adam in it. It was the same with Israel when they entered Canaan: "Deuteronomy 6:10-11  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,  And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full." And what can we say of the grace manifested by the Lord of glory going to prepared a place for us? He will not entrust such a task to  the angels. Proof, indeed, is this that He loves us "unto the end."

A Pedigree Without a Horse

 Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. - 1Timothy 1:4

BH Carroll from An Interpretation of The English Bible:

"Later, these fables grew into the Talmud, which may be likened to a "continent of mud," or, on

account of the dryness of the matter, to the "Sahara Desert minus its oasis. It is as unpalatable as sawdust bread. Its diet is as void of nutritive properties as the sick soldiers's soup, according to his own hyperbolic description "A piece of blue beef held up between the sun and a pot of boiling water, so as to boil its shadow.

Old Testament genealogies had an intelligent purpose till Christ came, for they located Him. After that they were of no value, and when they were arbitrarily spiritulized they became vicious.

In a political race in McLennan County one of the candidates devoted an hour to the tracing his honorable descent from illustrious families. The other won the race by a reply in one sentence "I would rather be a horse without a pedigree than a pedigree without a horse."

Book Review: The Full Armor of God

The Full Armor of God:

Defending your life from Satan’s Schemes

Larry Richards

Bethany House Publishers, Chosen Books

Christians are in a spiritual war. The Full Armor of God, by Larry Richards is an attempt to help Christians understand the battle and use the resources God has provided to endure to the end. Richards uses the book of Ephesians as the outline to instruct the believer in “spiritual warfare”.  Unfortunately, I believe that the book fall short in what it sets out to accomplish.

There are some helpful aspects to the book, but I would not recommend this book. The book is a combination of the Biblical text with affirmations of self worth. Not in every case, but I did notice a theme that the “demons” were bad feelings over a bad childhood. The Christian does have the answer to emotional issues, pain, and struggle -- satisfaction in Jesus Christ. He is where you find peace, love, and forgiveness.  Richards seeks to apply worldly salve to a spiritual problem. For example, in the chapter on “Putting on the Helmet of salvation” one part of the application is to “Tape a picture of yourself as a child on the bathroom mirror. Each time you see the picture, bless the child that you were, and remind her or him of how deeply she or he is loved by Jesus.”  This kind of worldly wisdom cannot free a person from the true pain that they receive. The Bible is sufficient to teach and guide, these exercises are not.

There is a chapter on casting out demons. It is three pages long. Half of the three pages are dedicated on how to cast demons out. Five paragraphs. First, let me say that I do believe in demon possession. Secondly, I do believe that Apostles and the early churches had the power to cast out demons. Thirdly, I believe these gifts ceased.  The Bible does not teach us to go about and cast demons out of things, and the Bible does not teach us how to recognize demon possession, so in a chapter to instruct, there should be a theological foundation, and Biblical instruction. There wasn't, and there is a reason for the absence.  The rest of the chapter was another plug for the “Freedom Workshop”.

From the start, I felt like the book was a advertisement for his Freedom Workshops that he teaches all over the country.  Through the book, we are reminded of the Workshop and given an appendix of exercises to be done in group settings, in “Live Free” sessions -  not what one would expect when purchasing a book on spiritual warfare.

I’m very grateful Bethany House Publishers and Chosen Books for sending me this review copy. Though I did gain some from the book, I would not recommend this book.

Tender Majesty

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. John 14:1

The twelve were sitting in the upper chamber, stupefied with the dreary, half-understood prospect of Christ’s departure. He, forgetting His own burden, turns to comfort and encourage them. These sweet and great words most singularly blend gentleness and dignity. Who can reproduce the cadence of soothing tenderness, soft as a mother’s hand, in that ‘Let not your heart be troubled’? And who can fail to feel the tone of majesty in that ‘Believe in God, believe also in Me’?

Alexander MacLaren