Gleanings 9-23-15

The church is no longer seen as the palace of the King of Kings, nor as the world’s law-center and mercy seat. It is a social center instead, ministering to human needs by a variety of sociological and psychological means. The church works to make people feel “at home” rather than in the presence of the King by His grace. RJR

How we use our tongue  is perhaps the clearest and most explicit measure of the value of our “religion” and our devotion to Jesus. - Sam Storms

 Herman Bavinck said in The Doctrine of God, “In the confession of the Trinity throbs the heart of the Christian religion. Every error results from, or upon deeper reflection, may be traced to a view of this doctrine.” Get the Trinity wrong and you get Christianity wrong.

Gleanings 9-21-15

Always respond to every impulse to pray. I would make an absolute law of this – always obey such an impulse. Where does it come from? It is the work of the Holy Spirit; it is a part of the meaning of ‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure’ (Phil 2:12-13). Such a call to prayer must never be regarded as a distraction; always respond to it immediately, and thank God if it happens to you frequently. --Martin Lloyd-Jones

Toleration has arisen not out of high-minded rational motivations but out of frustrated selfishness and self-interest. In a large republic, factions proliferate so much that no one faction can impose its fanaticism on everyone else. To protect their own interests, they all must, grudgingly, protect everyone’s. --Laurence Moore

Christendom - the infusion of the gospel into the cultural life of a people. --Peter Leithart

“As a Christian, I am committed to a worldview that comes from the Bible: God the Creator, the world as his creation, man made in his image, sin and its consequences as our predicament, Christ’s atonement as our salvation, his return as the consummation of all things.”--John Frame

Donald Trump has favored higher taxes, has opposed the ban of partial-birth abortion, has spoken favorably of socialized medicine, and has been an erstwhile booster of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton. So then, why, oh conservative would you even consider voting for the man?? He's a poser!

Gleanings 9-7-15

Our generation has bought into a big lie. That lie is this — that salvation is something you can have without a Savior. You can be lying on the bottom of the pool for an hour, and then suddenly you are wrapped in a towel, sitting in the sun, and no lifeguard that you need to thank. Thanking the lifeguard might land you in court. Some people don’t believe in lifeguards, and it hurts them that you do. Traditional believers have mysteriously come to believe that it is somehow possible for America to saved without her humbling herself and calling upon the Lord. And when I say Lord, I am not referring to some generic sky god, but rather to the Lord Jesus, the one who was born of a virgin and who rose from the dead.--Doug Wilson

If Kim Davis has a plausible legal right to ask for an exemption, why has her case become a cause celebre? Why hasn’t everyone taken a deep breath and looked for ways to accommodate her religious convictions? The answer isn’t difficult to determine. She must be made an example, because the fascist marriage regime can brook no public dissent. And for that reason too, we should stand with Davis, lest we end up standing with the bullies.--Peter Leithart

Kim Davis and the call to all Christian officials

Constitutional Attorneys Herb Titus and William Olson echoed this crucial point as well: “this case is not a matter of her conscience or her personal religious scruples. It is about her civic duty as a civil government official. She resists illegality not because her conscience is offended, but rather it is her conscience and religious beliefs that gives her the courage to stand against lawlessness.”

 http://americanvision.org/12425/kim-davis-and-the-call-to-all-christian-officials/

Gleanings 9-2-15

"Christianity is a life, not a doctrine"? Of course, Christianity is a life, but it is a life predicated upon a doctrine. The gospel is good news. To fill up that news with content is to immediately move in the direction of theology. If you want your Christianity to be about nothing but Jesus, you still have to answer the question: Who was Jesus and what about him are you all about? Positing an answer is going to require theology. --Kevin DeYoung

http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2015/08/31/10-counterfeit-jesus-christ-figures-we-should-stop-worshiping/37688

Art - The conscious arrangement of various elements reflecting a soul's perception of its world --Me

Congregational praise is a commanded duty that can be audibly discerned; we should hear congregational praise when it is sung, and nothing else (choir, organ, marching band, bagpipe) should be permitted to obscure the thing that is commanded. --T. David Gordon

Kim Davis is not just keeping herself from sinning, she is preventing Rowan County from sinning. That is part of her job. If just ten governors treated Obergefell the same way Kim Davis is treating it, that entire unrighteous and despotic imposition would collapse and fall to the ground. And if they did so, they would not be sinning against the United States. Rather, they would be preventing the United States from sinning.--Doug Wilson

http://secondnaturejournal.com/the-imminent-decline-of-contemporary-worship-music-eight-reasons/