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Archives for March 2008

by on 3.24.08

the ant and the grasshopper – maple leaf version

A parable for my American friends…

The ant & the grasshopper … Classic Version!

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

The End

The Maple Leaf Version (i.e., The Canadian Version) [with appropriate footnotes to explain things for my non-Canadian friends, eh?]

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. So far, so good, eh?

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Filed Under: Canada, Fun and games
by on 3.22.08

the vocabulary of compromise

Speaking of my education, I have long thought it might be interesting to reproduce some of my notes from Church History class while in seminary. The area of interest is my notes on fundamentalism and the new evangelical compromise. My professor for this class was Dr. Panosian, but my notes should be no reflection on him! Some of them are direct quotations, but I take full responsibility for any errors.

Dr. P was famous for lists. The first lecture notes I’ll blog for you is called ‘The Vocabulary of Compromise/Infidelity’. You’ll no doubt recognize some of these terms. My sub-header says “words that must be clearly defined for our own use”.

Here we go:

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Filed Under: Church History, Fundamentalism, New Evangelicalism, Separation
by on 3.22.08

are you a ‘born fundamentalist’?

I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine. We were in school together. We sat in many of the same Bible classes. We learned ‘the second heavenly language’ [Greek] from the same teachers and know the same mnemonic devices for keeping our linguistic facts straight.

But we don’t remember everything the same way. He says that we were not systematically taught the fundamentalist philosophy in our classes and were less prepared to put our philosophy in practice than we should have been. I am surprised by his assertion, for it was in those same classes I learned my fundamentalist philosophy. I have never been intimidated by the need to justify (even to myself) why I take the positions I do.

On hearing this, I wondered why we who shared so much have such a different perception of our training.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism
by on 3.19.08

an encouraging sign

We concluded our annual Northwest FBF fellowship this evening with another fine message by Chuck Phelps, president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College.

Chuck preached / taught us on five occasions through two days here. His ministry to us was a real blessing. But more than that, personal conversation with him was a great encouragement to me for the future of fundamentalism.

Chuck became the president of Maranatha just this last summer. MBBC is one of the key institutions for Baptist fundamentalism. His ministry there will make a real mark (for the good) on future generations of young men coming out of that institution. He almost makes me want to go back to school again!

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Filed Under: Education, Fundamentalism, Pastoral Theology
by on 3.18.08

blessed fellowship, fearful responsibility

I am enjoying the fellowship of a group of friends at the Northwest regional Fundamental Baptist Fellowship meeting. Our featured speaker is Dr. Chuck Phelps, president of Maranatha Baptist Bible College. Chuck has been great, we had him going three times today. [He was delayed by the airlines who thought there was a blizzard out here yesterday … there are lots of flakes around, but they all walk on two legs.]

But my thought for you today is from Pastor Tom Nieman, longtime pastor of Galilee Baptist Church in Kent, WA, now retired and serving in pulpit supply and Bible conference ministry. He was rejoicing in the meeting tonight about the joy of fellowship with so many pastors from five states and two provinces. He reminded us of the days when he led his church out of a denominational association because of compromises he couldn’t countenance. Some of his people were reluctant because they would have no one to fellowship with.

Dr. Nieman said, ‘You know, they were right. If we left, there was no one else to fellowship with in those days.’ His joy tonight was in the wide fellowship that God has given as other men followed his lead and still others have moved into the area to pastor or plant and pastor like-minded churches.

Galilee Baptist withdrew from its association with a 94% vote. It cost them friends.

Here is what anyone who is willing to take a separatistic stance must realize. Separation means you will lose friends. It might mean you will have to rebuke friends.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism
by on 3.17.08

wiser in their generation . . .

Luke 16.8b…

for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

Something for you to ponder: do associations matter?

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Filed Under: Dever, Driscoll, MacArthur, Piper, Separation
by on 3.16.08

why are we surprised?

Bob Bixby thinks he is disappointed with John MacArthur, but he hopes not. Why?

Because John MacArthur is going to preach at the Billy Graham Pastors Institute at the Cove in North Carolina. Bob is surprised, disappointed, but holds out some hope…

Will MacArthur’s visit be affirming to the BGEA? Of course. Unless, of course, John gets prophetic as he is sometimes known to do.

If God has written Ichabod over the door of a house, John, why enter it unless you’re going there to preach in such a way that you will be absolutely sure that you are never invited again?

If possible, I’ll order the recording just to see.

Don’t bother, Bob, if you’ll check the rest of the schedule, you’ll see your hopes are unlikely.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, MacArthur, Separation
by on 3.15.08

more excellent stuff on culture

By Kent Brandenburg … check it out here: Culture Decay—But Who Cares? part one.

Since this is part one, I assume there is more to follow. A key paragraph:

Like I said, we knew self dominates the world, but what’s different is that now Christians are also about self. A lot of terrain on the Christian blogosphere is dedicated to defense of selfish pursuits. They have staked out their love of booze, the movie theater, dance, rock music, dating touching, and a casual dress philosophy. These are all activities, which have historically been rejected by Christians, but not anymore.

Lest anyone misunderstand the emphasis, be sure to note this paragraph also, commenting on critiquing worldly externals:

So yes, the insides matter the most, but his outsides are also wrong. They conform to the world. His externals haven’t been transformed by the renewing of his mind. His body isn’t a living sacrifice and isn’t acceptable to God. In addition to his spiritual feebleness, he’s also not fashioning himself in a godly manner.

Good stuff, Kent, keep it coming.

don_sig

Filed Under: Culture, Separation, Worldliness
by on 3.12.08

conflict is not the same as chaos

So says Walter Russell Mead in a column today found at ChristianityToday.com. Entitled “Why Culture War May Never End“, the article argues that there is liberty and safety in humanity when there is freedom for conflict. Here is the concluding paragraph:

Conflict is not the same as chaos. It may be that in a fallen world, we need the excesses of each party to be held in check by the other parties. The idea that the imposition of a single perfect program on the state and on government, on the country, is the way to perfect happiness for mankind is an old and constant dream in the world. Given that human beings are fallen and that our reasoning processes can be skewed, our understandings of justice distorted, it may be that this kind of open society, which is one of competition and contestation, may over time be the best way for human beings.

Conflict isn’t easy. For those not directly involved in the conflict, it is often seen as unnecessary. Those most stridently involved are often seen as the culprits in the exchange, even if they are reacting to real error.

Mead is making his point about the benefits of conflict in an open society especially for the cause of individual liberty and freedom. I would like to make an application to the world of Christendom.

Consider, for example, the Fundamentalist/Modernist controversies of the 1920s.

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Filed Under: Culture, Fundamentalism
by on 3.11.08

our new look and summaries

After months of tweaking, our new church site is up at our old location. For our sermon summaries, I’ll just send you a link to our podcasts there. To explore the whole thing, start here:

Grace Baptist Church of Victoria

Let me know if you find any errors! I am sure there are some, I am quite klutzy. I would say my keyboard is depraved, but we all know that would be a lie.

We hope to have more on the site as time goes on. You will see some sections are still a little sparse. We have plans for them, but now I can finish my next project, our evangelism website. I’ll let you know when that is live and ready to go.

Now for the 3.9.08 sermons:

To Everyone who Believes (Rm 1.16c)

Since God’s power for salvation is available to everyone who believes, it is essential that we know what it means to believe. What kind of belief constitutes saving faith? What assurance will we have as we look honestly at our own works, whether the degraded works of the flesh or fleshly pride of moralism, if we do not know the one cure to both?

The Interpretation of the Bible (supplement) (Mt 2.18, Jer 31.15)

Last week I felt I was a little unclear. I left us all confused about the difference between direct prophecies and typical prophecies. So before concluding our lesson on The Interpretation of the Bible, I offered a little supplement dealing with Matthew’s remarks on the killing of the infants in Bethlehem (Mt 2.18) and Jeremiah’s prophecy which Matthew says is fulfilled in this incident (Jer 31.15). How can we say that Jeremiah is fulfilled in Matthew when the two passages are clearly talking about two different events?

The First and Hardest Lesson on Prayer (Mt 5.44; Lk 6.28)

Putting the Lord’s teaching on prayer into chronological order reveals a startling beginning. Lesson 1: “Pray for them that despitefully use you.” What? Couldn’t we work up to that? But this is where the Lord starts his teaching as recorded in the Sermon on the Mount. This is the way of spiritual life and it is a key to godliness.

~~~

All right, that’s it for now… back to php and web-site tweaking…

don_sig

Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
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