Free Republic

Imagine if we had lost the war and not achieved our independence:

There would be a Ruling Class and Peasants;
We would have a tax system that those in the ruling class could take advantage of;
We would have a leader that would issue edicts of his own will;
We would be told when, how, and where we could practice our faith;
We would be restricted in our ability to protect ourselves from tyranny;
Private property rights would be violated;
Information of how our leadership acts would be restricted and/or edited before it was disseminated to us;
Speaking out against that which we deemed wrong or inappropriate would be met with disdain and contempt, possibly with legal ramifications;
Political representation would be non-existent or corrupt at best;

Yep...just imagine what life would be like right now...

uptoolate

Thanks John for putting a smile on my face today!

:-)

The Harbinger...

I agree. I needed to be offended. I was raised with the notion that I had all the “necessary” steps covered. I belonged to the right church and jumped through the appropriate hoops...at the appropriate prescribed time/age periods.

I thank God He sent me a girl who was unwilling to compromise and was willing to be straight and true to the Gospel.

“The anticipation of death is worse than death itself - Mason Storm/Hard To Kill

Looks like the judge has watched too many movies.

The question itself shows ignorance in what the Gospel is, what it does, whose Church it is, and how and by whom the Church grows.

BINGO!

Thank you...

The system is set up that by rejecting a people, no matter what the grounds, those who reject will be made to appear heartless. I say turn the tables.

I see 2000 children at the border who have been “given up” by their parents. They should now be classified as orphaned. Eligible for adoption...by God-fearing conservative families. What an opportunity we have to adoptive future souls for the kingdom, raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, train them to be hard working responsible citizens, assimilate them into Americans, and future conservative voting patriots.

The liberals are doing this because they see future voters, and thus a chance to turn red states blue. I say the adoption of these kids into conservative homes would stop the flow very quickly. Just a thought.

He’s still on FMLA from his elected surgery.

Yeah, you got it...neutered.

“allowed” and “state supervision”

I can’t tell you how offended I am at those words.

But I am grateful that prayers are being answered, progress is being made, and peace for the family is just around the corner.

http://www.archives.gov/records-mgmt/toolkit/pdf/ID317.pdf

I believe John 3 and Romans 9-11 (particularly 11) are NT passages that support a restored Israel. We must remember that Jn 3 was given by the Messiah to an Israelite, before the rejection of their Messiah. Yet Jn 3 is how the Gentiles are saved, the Remnant is saved, and according to Romans 11, how ALL Israel (at that particular time) will be saved. THAT is what Ezekiel 36 is about...the grafting of Israel back into the Root.

Ezekiel 36

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. ***DOES MAN, JEW OR GENTILE GET SAVED ANY OTHER WAY? THIS IS JN 3)*** 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. 30 I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

33 “Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. 34 And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. 35 And they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the Lord; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.

37 “Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock. 38 Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

My story would be the same as the both of you as well. The Sovereignty of God is the hinge pin. Ez 36:22-32 in my search was the real eye opener. I started circling the “I will”s and underlining the “you will”s. I realized that what is this if not a description of Jn 3? I realized never once in the passage does the Lord say, “If you want...or choose...or desire...” Instead, He does...and we will. It was then I realized that if He did not take the initiative to take out my heart of stone and give me a heart that would respond to Him, I was lost for eternity due to my total depravity, for nothing in me desired Him, apart from Him.

The “5” are not independent of each other. They rest upon one another. Remove one, and you ultimately have none. It was when I understood these concepts that I saw my need to remove the last part of my posterior off His throne, and fall completely at His feet in utter dependance. Realizing the true slave that I was, became the most joyful freedom I have ever experienced, next to my heart changing salvation day.

For once when I thought I was free to will, it turned out I was only a slave to my depravity.

I thank the Lord for men like John MacArthur and his Doctrines of Grace series, Dr. Voddie Baucham and his journey through Romans, R.C. Sproul for his works on Double Imputation vs. Infusion, and John Piper as well.

Actually chapter 11 takes us on Shem’s lineage,at the age of 100, using the same method as Gen 5 all the way up to Abram.

So we know how many years it was from the creation of Adam to Abram/Abraham.

1,556 from Adam to the birth of Shem, and 390 from the birth of Shem to Abram.

Adam to Abram = 1,946 years.

The method used in Genesis 5 isn't susceptible to the missing generations theory. You are starting with a birth, and then you get a number of years until another birth. Doesn't matter who, how many, or even if in the same family. I've charted Gen 5 to show the years from Adam to Noah.

Not sure if there is work done like this from the birth of Noah's sons to an independently verified recorded historical point in time.

“These are people that are in our churches.”

1. Why? The Body of Christ is made up of regenerate believers. Unregenerate believers should never be invited to "yoke" with believers in a church setting...unless it is for outreach only, with the purpose of sharing the Gospel. Sunday morning is NOT that time. Everything that happens on The Lord's Day, can only be partaken of by people possessing the Holy Spirit. Praying - Spirit needed. Singing Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs to the glory of God - it is impossible for those without the Spirit to please God...by song, prayer, or otherwise. Communion - Spirit needed. Confessing sins one to another - maybe we don't do that enough because we sense unbelievers in our midst, waiting to pounce on that information. All this leads me to;

2. Our current thinking that man somehow is capable of "convincing" sinners to repent and believe has led us to a man centered gospel. Thus the attraction to "appeal" to the visual and audio senses. We think that by working a man's emotions, we can get him to make a decision...ala Warren quote, "In fact, on p. 219, he states, “It is my deep conviction that anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart . . . . The most likely place to start is with the person’s felt needs.”" - Link
It is God who draws. God who convicts. God who takes out the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. God who grants a man the ability to repent and believe. He will show mercy on whom He will show mercy. All this leads me to;

3. We have many who think they are saved, and are not, because THEY made a choice to come to God on THEIR terms. The pews need to be purged. This, Paul Washer, should be shown in churches all across America! When the purge happens, you will see this "softening" for sin leave. All which leads me to this;

4. Any regenerate man still sitting in a pew defiantly sinning in ANY sin, including but not limited to: homosexuality, murder, fornication, adultery, gossip, slander, fits of rage, drunkenness, disobedient to parents, etc...should fall to the biblical mandate of Church discipline...which the lack of in this post Christian culture has exacerbated our problem.

1. A Remnant, that He has always saved in each generation, will still only come by faith, by the preaching and hearing of the Gospel. We support missionaries whose children were to either sign up for military service to stay in the country, or leave. All three of his children signed up. Now they can speak freely to lead the Remnant to faith.

2. Grab yourself a copy of Voice of the Martyrs. There is a map of which nations of the world are hostile to the Gospel.

3. There is a list of countries (not necessarily in the VOM mag) that are hostile to the Gospel asking for prayer for missionaries in those counties...by 1st initial and last name. The list is in the hundreds of thousands.

Probably the best info I have heard on the subject of ECT.

Many are not aware of Colsen's regret and seeking guidance from D. James Kennedy. This discussion by D. James Kennedy, John Ankerburg, John McArthur, and R.C. Sproul is valuable, especially when R.C. gets to the discussion of "Imputation" vs. "Infusion" with regards to the righteousness of Christ and its part in Justification.

Irreconcilable Differences: Catholics, Evangelicals, and the New Quest for Unity, Parts 1-3

Before God removes the heart of stone and replaces with a heart of flesh, how free is the will of man? His thoughts are evil continually. He has no faith, and can have no faith of his own doing and therefor finds it impossible to please God. His will is bent towards sin, so much that it is said the he is a “slave to sin”. Not very free if you ask me.

But in the sense that man makes his choices based on his own desires, yes man is free. Just his “desirer” is corrupt.

I look at it this way, in a broken analogy. At 9:30 pm I’m watching a show on TV. A commercial comes on for a juicy cheeseburger. All of a sudden I make the freewill decision to get up and leave the house to go to that establishment and get a burger. I made a freewill choice...that resided inside a set of circumstances created by advertisers who have spent billions to get to know the inner me and what makes me tick.

In a similar way, God knows me so well, better than I know me, and can create the correct circumstances in my life to allow me to make the freewill decisions and yet still be subjected to His sovereignty and the working out of His will through His providence.

Pharaoh made every choice of his own freewill, and yet was directed by God to those decisions due to God knowing what it would take for Pharaoh to be hardened. To fit it in my analogy, the plagues were commercials, done by an all-knowing, always successful God.

Amen!!

I'm also reminded of the cultural practice of a father choosing a bride for his son, and arranging payment for her to her father. Once redeemed, the father presents the bride to his son.

The Father, before the foundation of the world, chose a Bride for His Son, and arranged payment for the Bride by the giving of His Son on the cross to redeem her from her master...sin...and her father the Devil.

Ephesians 1:4
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:(KJV)

John 17:6

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. (ESV)

John 17:20-23

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. (ESV)

We are that Bride!

I love the words to this song:
Casting Crowns--Wedding Day