fundamentalism by blunt instrument
A couple of fellows from our local area found this monster from the deep blue sea washing itself up on the beach.
It’s a Pacific longnose lancetfish, usually inhabiting a depth of 1.8 km, one of God’s wonderful creations.
Read the whole story here.
Just thought that was kind of cool…
I’d like to draw your attention to the subject of Christian fellowship. In my view, the subject is largely misunderstood these days. Many mean ‘having coffee with my Christian friends’ (substitute any other kind of social activity for ‘having coffee’ — that works too).
Champ Thornton at EX vilis CATHEDRA stirred my thinking on this subject with his post: “Together for What?”. I prepared two Bible study lessons from that beginning which can be found by following the links here and here.
At the outset, let me say I have nothing against ‘having coffee with my Christian friends’. You can even leave out the ‘with my Christian friends’ part! I often tell people that coffee is a Baptist distinctive: “True Baptists drink coffee … confirmed Baptists drink it black.”
But seriously, the subject of Christian fellowship involves much more than social interaction (and can be devoid of social interaction entirely).
Today marks a new era in our church… we are fully digital in our recording. Hopefully this will make for better quality in the sound. We are also able to put the messages up much quicker than before. Our afternoon service let out just over an hour ago, and our messages are on the web. Now for a nap!
But first, here are our summaries:
Having come to the end of Rm 1.17, we gave this morning to review of our work through Romans this far. Six months of preaching, 24 messages, and 17 verses…
The central idea of this message is that you must accept the credentials and message of the apostle Paul in order to have the gospel at all. Paul introduces himself, his plan, and his message in these verses. For the content to benefit the Romans (or any one) in any way, the whole must be accepted by repentant faith.
In which we continue our look at Angelology, concluding last week’s study on the existence of angels and also discussing the creation of angels.
Our survey of the Lord’s teaching on prayer brings us to the Transfiguration. Luke tells us Jesus prayed as he was transfigured. The purpose of this prayer was a matter of training for the disciples, correcting their misapprehension of his new teaching concerning his death, burial, and resurrection. Our prayers are likewise a means of discipleship, as praying according to the Scriptures we are drawn closer to heaven and heaven is drawn closer to us.
In an earlier post, ‘stages in the history of visible church unity‘, I left off on the point noting the emergence of the World Council of Churches on the one hand and the International Council of Christian Churches on the other. What follows is a bit of an expansion on that, again from my 28 year old Church History class notes.
Edinburgh 1910 – World Missionary Conference
[From this also flowed two conferences…]
What is it?
Shall we try a few definitions?
in·flu·ence
Audio Help (?n’fl??-?ns) Pronunciation Key
n.
- A power affecting a person, thing, or course of events, especially one that operates without any direct or apparent effort: relaxed under the influence of the music; the influence of television on modern life.
- Power to sway or affect based on prestige, wealth, ability, or position: used her parent’s influence to get the job.
- A person who exerts influence: My parents considered my friend to be a bad influence on me.
- An effect or change produced by influence.
- … [astrological defs. deleted] …
I’d like to resume my notes from Church History class. I am taking a break from my break from blogging – largely related to working out my taxes… I hate doing taxes. Reality is so depressing! Far better to live in the imprecise haze of not knowing exactly where one stands! In Canada, our tax day is Apr 30, so we have a bit longer to dither than our USA friends. (Of course, if you don’t have to pay, they are in no hurry for you to get your refund!)
So a little R & R… blogging!
The lecture I am entering today comes under a header entitled:
Next comes a quote – may not be exact words, but something was said that struck me:
Be aware of the difference between my will, Satan’s wiles, and the Spirit’s wooing.
Now for the main lecture:
One of our members was promoted to heaven this week. Our musicians played her favourite hymn for the offertory this week: Great is Thy Faithfulness. She really knows the truth of that now!
Here are the summaries of our messages from our church website. Audio and pdfs are available there.
Some passages are known for what they mean … and some for what they mean and also for what they meant at significant points in history. Perhaps no passage is more significant in this regard than our text for today. Martin Luther was converted to Christ when he finally grasped the meaning of ‘as it is written, the just shall live by faith’. The meaning of this passage is an overarching theme of the Bible. It is interesting that Luther’s conversion experience happened after the Reformation ‘began’, that is, it wasn’t until two years after the posting of the 95 Theses that Luther found relief for his soul when he discovered that ‘the righteousness of God’ was righteousness from God, righteousness for living, the moment in which he himself was ‘born again’.
In which we begin a survey of biblical evidence concerning the reality, power, place and presence of angels throughout the Scriptures.
Our subject in this message is private prayer, an area where we all feel we fall down, I think. In this message, three principles are suggested to improve our private prayers: take much time for prayer, make specific time for prayer, and plan for your time of prayer. Thoughtfulness will increase fruitfulness in prayer.
I draw on a number of E. M. Bounds ideas in Power through Prayer for this message.
~~~
Our weather that is.
Here is a shot from the web-cam on the Malahat, our mini-mountain just north of town over which the highway up-Island travels:
I have a Google news alert that brings me news about a certain health topic. I thought I would share with you a good news alert from it:
Gleevec Pushes Advanced Melanoma Into Remission
Gleevec is a cancer drug, one that I follow in the news because it gives life to my wife. My wife has CML, chronic mylogenous leukemia. Gleevec has turned her condition into a daily routine, a pill she takes after breakfast … nothing more.
We know other cancer patients in the ministry. Their path is much more difficult, dealing with the ravages of strong chemical therapy or radiation treatments. My dad likes to say, “All doctors know how to do is cut, burn, and poison.” My dad is a cynic.
But for us, thankfully, cancer is just a chronic condition, one that is marvellously relieved by a modern wonder drug.
This news story isn’t about our situation, though. Someone else has experienced the blessing of Gleevec treatment, this time someone with an entirely different kind of cancer, melanoma. The lady who was taking Gleevec as an experimental treatment had four melanoma tumors.
Four weeks after the woman started therapy, there was dramatic reduction in tumor size and metabolism. Two of the tumor masses had vanished, and several others were much smaller. After four months, the tumors were still in check and, nine months later, the woman was still taking the drug and her condition remained stable.
Isn’t that interesting? It is to me, anyway. Some cancers are becoming more understandable to the medical community. We thank the Lord for giving wisdom and insight to the doctors involved.
It seems a long time since I have posted – and the fundamentalist blogosphere is quiet also, at least the part of it that I frequent. Maybe we are losing our energy for blogging? Perish the thought! I still have lots on my mind, just no time to say it all.
In our ministry, we are taking extra time with one of our senior saints just now. The Lord appears to be taking her home very quietly. Most of her family is unsaved (though some profess salvation). We are finding this time to be a precious occasion of ministry for us and our people as we gather around the hospital bed and visit with her family. May the Lord be glorified in this!
I would like to share with you our sermons from last Sunday. You can find the audio and notes on our church site.
The latest audio from the GBCvic
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