Tsunami

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Romantic Panentheism: A Review of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

If I have a joint of meat on my table of which the smell and the taste at once convince me that it is putrid and unwholesome, should I show discretion by eating the whole of it before giving my judgment that it is not fit for food?

One mouthful is quite enough, and one sentence of some books ought to suffice for a sensible man to reject the whole mass. Let those who can relish such meat feed on it, but I have a taste for better food.

Keep to the study of the Word of God. If it be your duty to expose those evils, encounter them bravely, with prayer to God to help you. But if not, as a humble believer in Jesus, what business have you to taste and best such noxious fare when it is exposed in the market?  ~C H Spurgeon (source)

I posted this article almost a year ago, well it is time for a re-post. Please also read An Open Letter To Tim Challies

Romantic Panentheism,

 a Review of One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

By Bob DeWaay

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We live in a theological age (postmodern) where the rational and cognitive are questioned and replaced by the sensual and mysterious. Many churches promote the idea of worshipping God with all five senses. Feelings trump clear Biblical exegesis, systematic theology, statements of faith, and any other rational approach to Christian theology. Into this milieu comes a book that takes romanticism to a new level, using sensuality to invoke religious feelings and ostensibly true devotion. The book is One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, a Canadian farmer’s wife. Continue reading →

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John MacArthur on Spiritual Formation, the Holy Spirit, Rock Star Pastors and Christian Discernment Ministries

By John MacArthur

 Spiritual Formation:  “It’s very dangerous, the spiritual formation. It’s a pagan approach. It’s more like Hinduism than Christianity.”

 The Holy Spirit:  “(W)hen God the Father’s honor is under attack, everybody rises to defend Him…….. When Christ is attacked as to His deity or as to the nature of the cross, we get a movement like Confessing Evangelicals, we get documents responding to ECT [Evangelicals and Catholics Together] on the Gospel. We get T4G, The Gospel Coalition. We get everybody mounting a massive effort to protect the integtrity of the Gospel, Christ, the cross and His vicarious substitutionary atonement. But the Holy Spirit is just being slaughtered everywhere and where is the outrage?”

 Rock Star Pastors:  “(Rock Star pastors) don’t want to ask anything of anybody. Just superficial, name Jesus and rock and roll with us and you’re going to Heaven.”

 Christian Discernment Ministries:  “The Apostle Paul named names all through the New Testament: good, bad and indifferent. There are times when the Church has to be warned when something is dangerous, that’s part of spiritual responsibility…… I think there are times to name names. I have a rule about that and that is, I will respond to anyone who has published something, but nothing that is private. And that’s fair.”

Erin Benziger’s interview with Dr. MacArthur can be read in its entirety here.

 Additional Resources 

John MacArthur: “Who would have thought that John Piper would have Rick Warren at a Desiring God conference?”

John MacArthur: “Don’t Go To A ‘Flat Screen Church’.”

Charismatic Chaos (by John MacArthur)

 

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Tsunami, Japan, March 2011: Why the suffering?

Grant Swart

The past week’s catastrophic events in Japan, brought about by the massive earthquake and resultant tsunami, has no doubt once again caused many unbelievers to pose the question as to why, if God exists and is an all loving God, He would allow suffering on such an enormous scale. It is a popular question which is often posed to apologists and to those who contend Biblically for true Christian faith.

This question has received some wonderful answers through the years, as the subject of numerous good books, articles and discussions. I certainly do not wish to emulate these great intellectual works by offering a new way of answering the question, but merely to address the subject in the light of recent events of global interest.

On a foremost TV channel, an American commentator asked of an unbelieving world, while reporting on the tsunami in Japan: “Now, where is Godzilla in all of this?” Continue reading →