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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 3.17.08

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 3.8.08

a word on worldliness from the UK

Peter Masters, the pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, publishes the Sword & Trowel, a revival of Spurgeon’s magazine. I have subscribed for the last year and found spiritual benefit from every issue.

Just yesterday, I received the #3 issue for 2007 (I think Canada Post stores them for me). In an article entitled “The Holy War: Do we dodge enlistment?”, Masters says we are in a battle with demonic forces for the soul of the church. He echoes the concerns I regularly express concerning worldliness.

I’d like to share a couple of pertinent quotations for your consideration. They may not set well within certain circles.

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Filed Under: Quotables, Separation, Worldliness
by on 3.4.08

Anglican rift – a little hardball

A small Anglican church in Toronto has been locked out of its building in consequence of its vote to leave the Canadian diocese in favour of a more conservative South American one. One suspects that this church is singled out because it is small.

The whole scene is not entirely promising … note that the pastor of this small church is female:

Within days of the vote, their minister, Rev. Barbara Richardson, was suspended by the diocese. She later resigned from the national church and has been licensed as a priest with Venables’ church.

This battle looks to be getting uglier by the day.

don_sig

Filed Under: Anglicans, Separation
by on 2.16.08

Ezra and the world

The Jews were exiled to Babylon between 605 and 586 BC. The first deportation should have served as a warning to the nation, but their continued rebellion to God resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and final exile of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar in 586.

Seventy years after the first deportation, in keeping with Jeremiah’s prophecy, the Jews began to return. This return and the subsequent rebuilding of the temple occupy Ezra 1-6. In rebuilding the temple, the Jews were enticed to cooperate with the Samaritans, descendants of the remnants of Israel and intermixed with other nations who worshipped the true God and many false gods as well. The leaders of the Jews in the first return strongly rejected this entanglement, though it cost them years in rebuilding the temple:

Ezra 4:3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”

After 20 years, the temple finally was rebuilt. Another fifty-seven years passed. Now Ezra led a second return to the land. Did he find a holy people, separate from the world?

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Filed Under: Culture, Separation, Worldliness
by on 2.16.08

more on the anglicans in Canada

While encouraged by the decisions of some Anglicans’ willingness to separate themselves from direct association with their compromised Canadian diocese, still their efforts likely don’t yet take them far enough. In an article in today’s Globe & Mail, more news about other congregations considering a split is offered. But there is this:

Conservative Anglicans want to separate without cutting their ties with the majority of the Anglican Church that share their traditional views, Bishop Donald Harvey, moderator of the recently formed Anglican Network in Canada, said yesterday in an interview from Newfoundland.

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Filed Under: Anglicans, Canada, Church, Separation
by on 2.15.08

anglican turmoil – deeper than same-sex?

The largest Anglican congregation in Canada, St. John’s, in the exclusive Shaughnessy district of Vancouver, BC, voted last Wednesday to break ties with its diocese and to join with a ‘competing’ diocese, that of the Southern Cone, basically a South American parallel to the Canadian branch of the church. [I don’t pretend to understand how dioceses work or how they are organized.] This decision is full of risk for the congregation as it looks like the liberal Canadian diocese will mount a fight for the buildings and property of the congregation.

As a fundamentalist, I certainly applaud any resistance to the anti-orthodox establishment of mainline churches. The issue precipitating the split is the same-sex marriage debate, but it appears that more is at stake.

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Filed Under: Anglicans, Canada, Church, Separation
by on 2.13.08

two posts on culture you should read

My friend, Kent Brandenburg, has two posts on culture you should read. A few days ago, I put out a call for a theology of culture. The topic is a daunting one, but I’d like to commend these two posts to you. Unbeknownst to me, Kent was planning to write on this as I was writing my own piece. I think that was providential, whatever else some might call it.

I hope you will take a look at these. The Bible has a lot to say about culture and our relationship to it.

don_sig

Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Separation
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