A common sentiment, but....

A fellow blogger says:

"My dear friends, if the use of instrumental music will send a Christ-follower to hell, then we're all going to hell. Over something. We're all wrong about something!!"

Through the years, I've noticed that when someone disagrees, one trick they use to try to make the opposition look bad is a statement about "going to hell." Judgment does not belong to us; it belongs to God. We are not in the place of God (Gen. 50:19), even when we deal with the guilty.

It is a smoke screen to pull out the "going-to-hell" complaint. One could just as easily apply this common complaint to any number of subjects. I remember hearing the same complaint from any number of people who objected to the Biblical teaching on the church, baptism, or various moral questions. Such statements are designed to make the person who is saying something is sinful to appear judgmental and thereby hypocritical.

Another complaint I've heard is the "Jesus didn't die over....." whine. Any time I hear that one, I know the person is stinging over the matter and has no other answer.

A more realistic understanding of the instrumental music issue or any issue is this: does such a belief, behavior, or practice violate an instruction of God? We must determine first whether something is a sin. If indeed the matter violates the instructions of God and is thereby sinful, then it can potentially be a salvation issue. Any sin can be a salvation issue.

That we are all imperfect, having imperfect knowledge and living imperfect lives, is not under question. What is under question is if ignorance is a license to self-made religion. Are we to assume that we can (because the water is presumably muddy) act on our own initiative? Do we really think that ignorance grants us the right to presume upon the grace of God?

Now I can perceive a novice or babe in Christ being judged less strictly. The disobedient who did not know the master's will will be beaten with few stripes rather than many. What of the church leaders who, departing from a unified view, presume to embrace out of a supposed uncertainty the right to self-made religion? Will not teachers incur a stricter judgment (James 3:1)? Will not leaders who grant permission to go beyond the instructions of Scripture be held accountable? Can people plead endlessly they lack certainty (all the while acting without evidence from the New Testament)? Do people never have to repent of self-made religion? Can they knowingly continue to practice their presumptuous ways?

Paul said, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15).

One must wonder if God's will is so hard to understand that a passage like Ephesians 5:15-17 is itself impractical and impossible. Do we believe we can obey it? "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." You'd think to hear some talk that we can't understand anything. To hear some talk, there is no such thing as damnable heresy. To hear some talk, we should never admonish the factious (a divisive heretic) man. To hear some talk, self-made religion is as salvific as the revealed will of God.

In the end, the "going-to-hell" argument is designed to hush up the Truth, to bully away anyone who reminds us of right and wrong. When people can't find evidence to support an unauthorized practice, they resort to complaint and fault-finding. The point of the complaint at the top of this post is to make it appear that anyone who thinks instrumental music is wrong is arrogant and judgmental. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It is said, "we are all wrong about something." There is a difference between being mistaken through human weakness and in willfully driving a wedge in the body of Christ by pushing a divisive practice and making fun of anyone who disagrees.

Well, Phil, do you think you know everything or that you are always right? Of course not, I am a fallible sinner saved by the grace of God, dependent upon His mercy for salvation. I understand what it means to be saved, since I cannot save myself. But in all my weakness, I do not suppose that I can presume upon the grace and never need repentance.

The blood of Jesus can certainly cleanse those who walk in the light. Walking in the light is not sinlessness, because no one is capable of sinless perfection. But people can fool themselves, thinking they are in the light, when they are not (1 John 1:6). Sand theology does not yield the same results as rock theology (Matt. 7:21-27). Sand theology is when people build where they want rather than heed the words of Jesus. Self-made religion and innovations are sand theology. Those who plant their own plants will find themselves uprooted (Matt. 15:14). That's what Jesus says about it. That is how He feels about such things. I take that view because He has expressed His will in the matter.

think, think

Phil

Myopic Judgmentalism

We live in a strange age that hates any kind of negativism or judgmentalism. That's the real taboo of our day--saying anything negative about anyone. If anyone says something is wrong or sinful, he opens himself up to all kinds of attacks, slander, and abuse. And there are plenty of judgmental people ready to pounce on the person who dares to be judgmental. It escapes their notice that they are doing the very thing they condemn (Rom. 2:1-3). Their thought is: "it's all right for me to condemn you for condemning someone or something, but don't you condemn anything or anyone." These folks become judges of judging-- or what they perceive to be judging.

You see their definition and perception of a judge is often out of line with God's will. To listen to them speak of the grace of God, there is no such thing as sin or heresy. Now should anyone bring up the fact that God says something is wrong, and POW! this person (in their mind) is "judgmental" and deserves to be attacked, abused, and slandered.

But what if he out of love toward God and neighbor is right and obligated to warn another that such an act or belief displeases God and is sinful. Is it judging to warn? Does the Christian have no obligation to warn of the consequences of sin? (Rom. 1:14-16; Ezek. 3:18ff.)

Why then, do people today punish the person for doing the will of God? The myopia (short-sightedness) of our culture is its bullying against Christian morals. It does not realize how morality is needed today. To bully people who mention something is sin is to take up the cause of sin against God.

You can't mess with God like that. When you tell Him to shut up and bully those who speak for Him, you end up having to face Him. He will step into the picture. You don't want that. God is loving, but He won't take being ignored or dismissed for long. Failing to listen to God is neither full of love or grace. When people dump God's teaching for their own desires, they are dumping the only hope they have. They are insuring their lives will be more and more filled with fear and misery. Amorality is no blessing.

Myopic judging is when people give themselves the freedom to beat up on anyone who warns people to follow God's will and leave sinful practices. They do not see their own sin.

Think, think, think
phil

Seeking true unity--assessment of a review

Bobby Valentine recently reviewed my chapter in Seeking True Unity. Here is my response to his review:

I appreciate Bobby. He cares about the Lord and His church. I told Bobby in the beginning I felt that he was not an unbiased jury member but rather a witness or advocate for the defense. Reading his response to my chapter confirms that.

Some important points:

1. Being a member of the church and being in fellowship with God are two different things. One may by error lose fellowship with the Lord and His church and one’s salvation.
   
2. One who willfully and persistently adds to the teaching of God and leads other men to do so has sinned against God and cannot remain in the fellowship of faithful Christians.
3. When McGarvey left the Broadway congregation in Lexington, he did not leave because he no longer considered them brethren. He left because they introduced an error, which he could not participate in or approve or fellowship. When H. Leo Boles spoke in Indianapolis in 1939, he did not speak from hate or treat those in the Christian Church as anything but brethren. He used the words “brother” and “brethren” throughout the speech. Like McGarvey, he could not fellowship “brethren,” because they had left the truth and needed to come back to the truth.
4. When people leave the Word to practice unauthorized forms of worship, they separate themselves from the will of God. They may think they are disciples, but they are not truly disciples (John 8:31). When people go beyond the teaching of Christ, whether on the subject of Christ’s nature, or a host of other essential topics, they lose their relationship with God (2 John 9-11) and are not to be welcomed or supported.
5. When men venture into the practice and teaching of error, they leave God. They divide themselves from God. They cannot have unity with God unless and until they repent and leave their error. The Restoration leaders pledged to leave the errors of men and to return to the truth. In Revelation 2:18-25, Jesus distinguished between those who held to the teaching of Jezebel and those who did not. He rebuked them for tolerating that woman and her teaching. The church at Pergamum also held false teachings and practices. Jesus threatened them and called them to return to Him. Repentance is returning to the Lord by ridding ourselves of error and practicing the truth.
6. The unity God desires from His people is not a loose confederation of people who ignore their errors. The unity of the body of Christ is to follow after the model of the unity between the Father and the Son. Can you imagine the Son following after his own initiative? Can you imagine the Son not following the instructions of His Father? Jesus’ very identity as the Son arose out of His dogged and exact devotion to the will of His Father (John 8:28-32; 12:48-50; 14:31). In like manner, our identity with Christ arises from our remaining, continuing, and dwelling within the words Jesus spoke. When people cease to hear God’s will, they cease to have an approved relationship with the Lord (James 5:19-20).
7. Faithful Christians must shun those who teach false doctrine and adopt humanly-devised practices that split the church (Rom. 16:17-18; Tit. 3:9-11).
8. Just because people claim to be Christians does not mean they have a positive relationship with Christ (Matt. 7:21-27). Men do not get into heaven by inventing their own means and doing things their own way—that is “Sand Theology.” Campbell and others required immersion because sprinkling is not baptism. They required faith before baptism, because the Bible does. Unlike Woodmont and Oak Hills, which grants brotherhood and gives fellowship to sprinkled infants, the Bible only recognizes one baptism—that of a penitent believer who understands what and why he is being baptized. One may believe he is right with God and even argue with Christ at judgment, but that does not make him right.
9. Unity is possible only when people serve and obey the same Lord. If they hear voices in addition, they will be hybrid Christians not true disciples. If they practice what the world clamors for, they will be children of their age not true Christians.
10. In John 17, Jesus prayed for His people to be sanctified in the truth (God’s word which He gave them) before He prays for them to be one. Jesus’ prayer for unity was not a prayer for the unifying of truth with culture but for keeping the disciples already taught and sanctified in the truth unified. The idea that we are supposed to drop truth and righteousness to accommodate error was never in the intent of this prayer.
11. I do not plead for narrowness on our part as if we good make one hair white or black. I plead for devotion to the narrow way of Jesus. I have no misgivings about my own emptiness. I realize that only Jesus has the way, the truth, or the life. When I hear people (who ought to know better) recommend that we loosen up to the false practices and beliefs of those who teach another gospel, another body, and another baptism, I do not see that as restoration. I see that as compromise and rebellion. One wonders if Bobby read the Kelcy quote on page 18. I have only one Lord. I was not baptized in the name of Campbell, and Lipscomb was not crucified for me.
12. As to inferences, Campbell must have inferred Proposition 6 of his Declaration and Address. Campbell infers and binds that you must not infer and bind. What right has he or any other man to say that some which is God’s truth is not to be bound on anyone? Now Bobby here calls me sectarian for my thinking about thinking. It is quite postmodern to put down thinking, unless you are the supporting a postmodern agenda. (“thinking correctness”) If you agree with him (that Campbell is right to infer and bind that you should not infer and bind), it’s all right to think; but the person who reasons from the evidence of Scripture by inferring what the Scriptures imply is sectarian and narrow.
13. My assignment was not to prove instrumental music was wrong. My assignment was to discuss the restoration plea: the need to come out of error and to return to God’s word for our beliefs and practices.
14. My reference to 1 Timothy 4, 2 Timothy 4, and 2 Peter 2 (et. al.) on page 18 had to do with the early church and its fall into error. Restoration has to do with that which has been corrupted. To suggest a different context shows weakness in your skills, Bobby.
15. Did Paul fellowship those in error? Yes, for a time. He taught and admonished them, expecting them to repent. In the cases where false teachers did not repent or were harming the church, Paul disfellowshiped them (Rom. 16:17; Titus 3:10-11). Do you not recall Hymenaeus and Alexander and Philetus (1 Tim. 1:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:17-18)? Jesus did not put up with Jezebel or the Nicolaitans; and he rebuked the churches for doing so.
16. I realize the immaturities and weaknesses at Corinth, but do you recall 2 Corinthians 13:1-4? Paul expects to spare no one who sins (neither the immoral nor the rest). Yes, God can forgive a weakness; but to suggest something other than “go and sin no more” is presuming upon the grace of God. Paul could overlook their error due to their immaturity, but he does not tolerate continued error or disobedience. There is an end to patience with error in Paul, and just because he is patient early on does not mean he will remain so.
17. Bobby, I think makes more of the dish illustration than is warranted. I was illustrating a meaning of the word “restoration” in the physical sense.
18. I highly resent the suggestion that I have bound my “opinions” as a test of fellowship. The fact the early church sang is clear in Scripture. The fact that we are to remain in the words of Jesus and not add or subtract to them is also clear in Scripture; both facts are evident. Atchley must make the water muddy to give his opinion guess (we can use IM) credibility. He believes in his guess so strongly that he is willing to split the church further to practice it. We were unified before he pushed his guess (an opinion is a guess in the absence of evidence) to the making of conflict. Now, who is binding opinion—the fellow who guesses or the fellow who sees evidence?
19. Did Paul use his worship as a Jew in the Temple as a basis for bringing the instrument into the church? Did Paul worship in the church with an instrument? Paul understood the difference in covenants, that what was appropriate in one was not appropriate in the other. Did Paul offer animal sacrifices at church? Ridiculous.

Phil Sanders

The Problem of Patternism

For some patternism is a problem. We must wonder why...

The earth travels around the sun in a pattern. The moon travels around the earth in a pattern. Day and night, the seasons, seedtime and harvest, and the seven days of a week all happen in a pattern.

Every one of the trillions of cells in my body has a specific DNA pattern. My teeth, fingerprints, retina, bones, and muscles follow patterns. I remain amazed at my fearfully and wonderfully made body with its respiratory, circulatory, nervous, reproductive, and digestive systems. I thank God for my skin with its nerves that measure heat and pressure. I thank God for my balanced eyes and ears and nostrils. My brain (and yours) is the single most complex structure in the world with connectors between its billions of cells. Amazing.

In my yard I have oak, elm, maple, apple, and redwood trees. Did you know that every leaf on each of the trees has an identical vein pattern with every other leaf?

God's creation is full or order, design, and pattern. Everything God ever made, He made with intention. Everything is by His design and functions according to His will and glory. It is incredulous to me that some are suggesting there is a pattern in everything God ever made except God's family, God's kingdom, God's vineyard, Christ's body, the church.

Rigid patternism is to some heresy, legalism to the extreme. They prefer to speak of the body of Christ, the bride of Christ, as a nebulous, undefined organism made without order and capable of re-design in the re-maker's image. In their thinking it is a piece of clay that never quite takes form.

While the New Testament never debates baptism, the progressive non-patternists believe that any mode of baptism can be straightened out by a little prayer. While the disciples of the New Testament only baptized those old enough to believe, progressive non-patternists see little reason to disturb the peace of those baptized as infants. While the New Testament speaks of unleavened bread and fruit of the vine in remembrance of Jesus, progressive non-patternists feel no need to limit this memorial meal to bread and wine. While women in the New Testament did not assume preaching or leadership roles, progressive non-patternists see little need to remain within that culture. (Perhaps Eve came first?)

You see, rigid patternism means that we may have to confront our religious friends who didn't follow that pattern and ask them to correct an error. For the progressive non-patternist, it is much easier to ignore the Scripture and assure the person in error of God's grace anyway. After all, getting along and not offending is more important than anything--God won't mind... Or will He?

Are we not supposed to remain in the Lord's Word to be true disciples? (John 8:31-32)
Are we not supposed to handle God's Word accurately? (2 Tim. 2:15)
Is there not one faith handed down for all time? (Jude 3)
Is there not one body, one gospel, one baptism, and one faith? (Eph. 4:4-6; Gal. 1:6-9)

Am I not supposed to love the Lord enough to keep His commandments? Am I not supposed to avoid conforming with the world? If there are no patterns, how can I know anything?

Non-patternism is fuzzy thinking, muddy water, and self-contradictory. It doesn't represent the truth, because it is too busy chasing the changing cultural with all its relative truths.

Isn't the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus a pattern? (Rom. 6:3-7, 16-18)

think, think

Phil

To Whom Are You Listening?

We are all listening to something, and it is worth our time to think about what we are hearing. If we desire to please God, we must think about what we are feeding our souls. To what are you listening?

If you are listening to (or watching) less than wholesome media, don't be surprised when you think or say less than wholesome things (1 Cor. 15:33). If you spend your time with angry people, you will learn their ways (Prov. 22:24-25). If you flirt with gossip, you will damage yourself and others. To what and to whom are you listening?

If you persistently read the works of people who believe false teaching, it is more likely that you will find sympathy with what you read. You may even lose sight or fall victim to Satan's persuasive ideas. He may even steal the Word of God from you (Luke 8:11ff.)

Christian unity arises from listening to the Lord Jesus and serving Him alone. It doesn't come from blending the world in with one's Christianity. It doesn't come from being distracted by the world's thinking and values. It doesn't come from the world's techniques. The world will always try to convince us that it has a better way than the Lord. To whom are we listening?

Paul said, "but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, ⁴in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. ⁵For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:2-6)

The devil would love nothing more than to adulterate the word of God with his own thinking, so that he might blind people to the truth.

The real cause of disunity among those who name the Name is the devil. He leads people to listen to a gospel blended with culture and popular thinking. Then when those who love truth call attention to the error, he vilifies them for it. He is a maligner of the Truth and those who believe it. Make no mistake.

If we listen to his lies and to his maligning of the righteous, we will not see things in the true light. We must continue to listen to the Lord, in whom is only Light and goodness. We must bring every thought captive to Him.

kindly,
Phil

In the culture but not of the culture

I recall all the talk of Woodstock and my generation. I graduated from high school in 1969. I recall the first heart transplant was that year. I'll never forget seeing on television Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon: "One small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." I cannot take such memories from the vault of my mind. I understand that.

But I didn't go to Woodstock, didn't take drugs, never liked hard rock, and never grew long hair. I didn't oppose everything about the Vietnam war (since I had two brothers serving in the Navy). I didn't go to Canada to avoid the draft.

Many of the features people say dominated my generation really didn't affect everyone. Fulfilling the instruction of Paul in Romans 12:2 to be not conformed but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds is possible and obligatory. People can live above their culture. Christians have done it for centuries.

The men of the restoration movement broke from the denominational mindset to return to Scripture for their faith and practice. What they did arose out of their commitment to the Lord and the instruction of Scripture more than anything else. They had read passages such as Jeremiah 6:16; 2 Thess. 2:15; John 8:31-32; and 2 John 9-11. They knew they were not to add or take away from the teaching of Christ. That was not culture telling them that--it was the Word they read and studied. They did not conform to the sectarians of their day; they transformed by the renewing of their minds. And so should we.

Were they right about everything. Of course not. That is why we all have the responsibility of renewing our minds and transforming our lives into conformity with Christ. There is a Biblical norm (call it culture if you like) to which we can and must adhere.

I am not a Campbellite, Lipscombite, or McCordite. I was not baptized in the name of Cambell. Campbell was not crucified for me. Nor Lipscomb, nor McGarvey, nor Lewis, nor McCord, nor Kelcy--though I may listen to them all. I know Whom I have believed. Only He is Lord and Savior.

So while some would accuse us of capitulation to the culture of restoration, we continue quoting the Scriptures and pointing out the humanity of restoration leaders. Perhaps that is why I don't preach from the King James Version, the Living Oracles, or the ASV.

I might point out that those who holler the loudest about the error of drawing doctrines from inferences practice that very thing. Campbell included.

Phil

Jury member?

In 2006 Dale Jenkins, Jeff Jenkins, Steve Higginbotham, Mike Green, Mike Baker, Wayne Hatcher and I embarked on a project to produce a book entitled, Seeking True Unity. The book has done very well, and only a few copies remain for sale. Brethren have appreciated the book and have even invited some of us to speak on the topics of the book.

Recently a blogger friend has set about the task of reviewing the book. He is a brother and acquaintance of mine. He said some nice things about the book. Bobby Valentine and I have exchanged views several times and find ourselves only occasionally agreeing. Our book dealt with the issues surrounding the 1906 division between the Christian churches and churches of Christ.

Among Bobby's comments on the book, I found this one interesting and somewhat misleading:

Thus as I read and reflected on the prosecutions arguments, as a member of the jury, it occurred to me that what I was actually hearing was actually an apology for the status quo .For division. I kept hearing, through the testimony, why it is good for “us” to remain basically as “we” are. We are told that some “refreshing changes” are being made but we never find out what they are.

Knowing Bobby, I am not surprised at his assessment of making the division for the split our fault for maintaining the status quo. Bobby would like to cast himself in the role of a jury member. In point of fact, he is more like a witness for the defense.

I have little inclination to defend anything but what he calls the status quo. We are, after all, to hold to the apostolic traditions (2 Thess. 2:15). It was the introduction of an innovation, the unauthorized or strange worship (among other matters), that caused the estrangement. They left us. We did not leave them. We could not go with them into their error.

Truth unites, and that is the meaning of seeking true unity. Forming a union with error, compromise, and innovation is not the unity for which Jesus prayed. The path to unity is when all men set aside their own opinions and remain under the headship of the one and only Lord. To have unity we must all conform to His will, not suspend it so that we can permit innovation.

So Bobby, we look forward to your further installments. As for freshness, being committed under the leadership of Christ, rather than capitulating to culture, is the freshest thing I know.

Phil

If we silence God

I'm quite concerned about the 2008 election. One radio commentator I hear often was complaining about not letting the extreme left or the conservative Christians make the policy of our government any longer. The people should make the policy.

While I quite grant that I hope the extreme liberal left (with its policies of political correctness and socialism) will have no voice in our government, I believe it is utter foolishness to push God out of the thinking of our country. The particular commentator, whom I respect, said that the founding fathers never envisioned conservative Christians making policy in this country.

I was astounded at his reasoning. He apparently did not know the staunch views of our founding fathers. They believed that the freedom we enjoy came from those same conservative views. Many of the views people today regard as "right wing radical" were the norm of other generations. We have become in many respects what would have been unthinkable to them.

President Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence and is credited with suggesting a separation of church and state, offered this National Prayer of Peace on March 4, 1805, the day of his second inauguration:

"Almighty God, Who has given us this good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners."

While Jefferson detested those who abused and corrupted Christianity, he believed very strongly that the way of Jesus ought to be followed.

President George Washington addressed the General Committee representing the United Baptist Churches of Virginia on May 10, 1789. He said:

"If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it;
...I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against...every species of religious persecution."

In his National Day of Thanksgiving Proclamation in New York City, October 3, 1789, Washington said:

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations too acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor..."

Among other things in this proclamation, Washington urged that "we may then unite... to promote the knowledge and practice of the true religion and virtue...."

On March 11, 1792, Washington wrote in a letter to John Armstrong:

"I am sure that never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence of that God who is alone able to protect them."

In his Farewell Address, Washington said:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citizens....
"Let is simply be asked where is is the security for prosperity, for reputation, for life, if the sense of the religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in the Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded t the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government."

That our country's founding fathers saw little link between faith and government is a modern and postmodern notion. The fathers themselves would have been utterly shocked at such an absurdity.

Phil

I am a citizen of heaven

With all the political talk in the wake of next year's presidential race, it is easy to lose sight of our real loyalty. I am an American, true. My family has been in this country since well before the revolution. My forefather on my dad's side, Nahum Sanders, signed a pledge in 1778 to fight King George for North Carolina. My forefather on my mother's side, Patrick Henry, was at one time general of the army of Virginia in opposition to the crown and led a very successful raid on a British armory. As governor of Virginia and a friend to George Washington, Patrick sent once and again to the soldiers who wintered at Valley Forge. In fact, among his other statements, Patrick Henry is credited with the first public declaration, "I am an American." I am proud of my country.

When I was a boy, I asked my father about our nationality. Some of our ancestors came from Ireland, England, France, and Holland. Dad said, "Son, you're an American; and that's all you really need to know."

But as proud as I am of my country and its Christian roots, I am a citizen of heaven. Paul said in Philippians 3:20-21, "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." Citizenship in heaven is by far the most valuable possession I have. Nothing else compares.

In my lifetime, I've lived in twelve houses that I can remember. I bought my first house in Franklin some twelve years ago. Though it is a nice house, it is temporary. The place Christ has reserved for me (John 14:1-3; 1 Pet. 1:3-5), however, is eternal. Once granted, it is mine forever. Jesus is preparing it, and God is furnishing it. It will be more glorious and more lavish than anything I can imagine.

I have always treasured the promise of Ephesians 2:6-7. God "raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." My Father in heaven wants to lavish his love and grace on me in eternity. I can hardly imagine what all He has in store to bless me.

If heaven is my home, I need to think more about it (Col. 3:1-4). I need to let the values and the ways of God be far more influential on my thinking. If I am citizen of heaven, I need to live like one. If I am a person in God's household, I need to live like one of His family. I need to put away the offensive and live with love. My life ought to glorify God, not seek self-glorification or self-gratification.

There is no greater privilege than to have the right to be a citizen of heaven. I must not forget that.

humbly,
Phil

A couple of projects

In coming days I will complete the second of two projects I've planned for this fall. About two weeks ago, I taped a 65-minute CD presentation for Focus Press on Marriage. The publisher is working on the cover and the reproduction now. It is composed of six 10-12 minute messages to help married folks live more happily.

I am now teaching and working on a CD dealing with parenting. We should tape it later in the fall. Focus Press will also make these available. I don't know everything about marriage or about parenting, but there will be lots of information on these CDs to make them worth your while. To get the best out of them, you may want to listen to them more than once.

Phil

The Enemy

Before Andrew Jackson became the seventh president of the United States,
he served as a major general in the Tennessee militia. During the War of 1812
his troops reached an all-time low in morale. As a result they began arguing, bickering, and fighting among themselves. It is reported that Old Hickory called them all together on one occasion when tensions were at their worst and said, "Gentlemen! Let's remember, the enemy is over there." *

We have people in the church to the extreme left and right who have no clue who their enemy is. One periodical I received seems to think that the enemy is sound and balanced brethren. They figure that since the balanced brethren are not as extreme as they are, they must be compromisers and the "enemy." With their pens they bite and slander and condemn. They demand everyone toe their line. Diotrephes lives again. Their hateful approach feeds the fire of those on the other extreme who are always slapping the church.

On the other side are arrogant bloggers who can find nothing right with the church. They constantly harp on all the negatives, charging that the church is tied up in traditions. They can't see why we don't use instruments. They seem to want the church to become a bad imitation of the evangelicals. They alone understand grace and can't see why anyone would insist on baptism for salvation. Anomia lives.

In their thinking mainstream churches of Christ are the enemy. One might suggest they take a long look at themselves (Matt. 7:1-5). It is the extreme approach that is causing so much conflict and controversy.

The real enemy is the devil, who preaches false doctrines and splits churches. He does it through self-willed people who have to be first and through sin-ridden libertines who want to cast off the rule of the Lord. Yes, there is conflict; but the source of that conflict starts inside of arrogant men and outside the New Testament.

There is the opportunity for Satan to get into anyone of us. To warp our thinking with selfishness, pride, or sin. It is easy to begin finding justification for our desires rather than submitting to the Lord. It is easy to puff up and compare ourselves with others. When you start doing that, Satan is at work.

We must not forget who the enemy is that we are fighting. It is the world. We must learn to set aside our personal, petty issues of pride and get back to the work at hand--winning the lost!

Phil

My personal thanks goes to David Sargent for the above illustration. He puts out an excellent weekly e-newsletter, Living Water. I read it with eagerness. You can subscribe to this newsletter at

subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net

Archived issues of "Living Water" can be viewed and accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org

A rainbow

This morning as I drove into work I saw a beautiful rainbow. There wasn't any rain, and the clouds were thin. Remarkably, the sun was to the right and the rainbow to the left. I was facing east. Usually when you are looking at a rainbow, the sun is at your back; but not this time. The rainbow was not very large, but its colors were vibrant.

The rainbow reminds us that God will never again destroy the world with water. That is God's covenant with mankind. Rainbows stand for promise and hope.

God placed his bow in the sky after He saved mankind from the evil of itself. It must have broken God's heart to see that the thoughts of all men were only evil continually. The devil never missed a trick, and he still isn't missing any. Anything and everything he can do to cause men to forsake God and righteousness, he will try. Too often he succeeds.

Last night as Jackie and I drove to church, we passed by Centennial High School. The soccer field up on the hill was filled with players and spectators. Have they not forgotten that God's people worship on Wednesday evening? The devil doesn't miss a trick. The world is an evil place.

Evil is turning this world upside down. Postmodern thinking along with Schuller's New Reformation have declared sin an outdated word in our society. Schuller believes the worst thing you can do in evangelism is to call attention to sin or to people being sinners. He thinks the only sin is when an individual thinks low of himself. Obviously we have no desire to offend people; but no one helps

Schuller's way makes man into his own god. Our personal view of ourselves is important, but it is NOT the only sin. The God of Heaven is the One who defines what is sin. It is untrue that Jesus never recognized sin or that He refrained from calling a sinner a sinner. He said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." He constantly called the Pharisees "hypocrites." The message of John the Baptist, Jesus, and the twelve was "repent." Repent. Repent.

Noah preached repentance for one hundred years, but the people grew even more evil. God destroyed them for their evil hearts and lives. He wiped out the evil so that man could start fresh and clean from that evil environment.

There are times in our own lives when we must sweep out the ugly, so that the fresh and clean may live. Sweep out the immoral, the presumptuous, the false, and the hurtful. Let the good of God live on. Turn away from sin and turn to God.

God promised with the rainbow never to destroy the world with water. There is a destruction coming, but it will be fire (2 Peter 3) at the end of time. In the meanwhile, the blood of Jesus is at work, cleansing us from sin, and motivating us to live righteous lives.

The world is evil, but there is now hope in Christ. The love of God, the blood of Christ, and the truth of the Spirit all assure us that there is a better way than falling into destruction and ruin. We can live for God and love Him. We don't have to follow the easy path. We can make it into the ark of safety and live by following the Lord.

I was encouraged by the rainbow. It reminded me that God has a way of redemption for me.

Phil

James Garfield and singing

Thanks to Frank Walton for sending me this post:

From the Diary of Gen. James Garfield

James Garfield, later President of the United States, preached among the Disciples of Christ/Christian Churches. Here are his thoughts on attending Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle in London, England to hear Charles Spurgeon preach:

“At half-past eleven Spurgeon came in, and at once offered a short, simple earnest prayer, and read and helped the whole congregation to sing Watts' stirring hymn: There is a land of pure delight.

For the first time in my life I felt some sympathy with the doctrine that would reject instrumental music from church worship. There must have been five thousand voices joining in the hymn. The whole building was filled and overflowed with the strong volume of song. The music made itself felt as a living, throbbing presence that entered your nerves, brain, heart, and filled and swept you away in its resistless current.”

Published in the 1883 volume of Century Magazine, and is quoted in "Charles H. Spurgeon: His Faith and Works," H.L. Wayland, Copyright 1892 by the American Baptist Publication Society.

Set them apart in the truth

"Set them apart in the truth. Your word is truth" (John 17:17).

Jesus prayed that too, and He prayed it before He prayed for unity. We can have unity because we believe the truth about the Person. We cease to have a relationship with the Person of Jesus if we are unwilling to listen to His truth, if we depart from the truth, if we do not love the truth, or if we compromise the truth.

Trust (or faith) is inseparably intertwined with the Truth. Jesus, after all, is the Truth. He came to bear witness to the truth; He sets us free with the Truth; and grace and truth come by Him.

We are to love the truth and to buy the truth, even when it costs us much and makes us ugly in the eyes of the world. We must love the truth more than we love the wisdom of the world. Those who sell the truth to gain the praise of the world have their reward already. They can expect none from God. They have chosen what is important to them.

The truth should not automatically be identified either with the traditions of men or the latest notion. Truth is not determined by opinion polls, majorities, counsels, or loyalties. Truth is determined by what God says. Truth is not determined by what crafty people can do to read into the Scriptures what they prefer, but truth is determined by what we can draw out from the Scriptures. Scholars may observe a truth, but they cannot manufacture it.

The postmodernists are wrong: truth is not manufactured at all. Truth is revealed by God. Men may manufacture their customs and mores; they may insist on their creeds and canons. They may enforce their fiats and faiths. But men do not manufacture spiritual truth; only God can do that. Men can merely observe it, and most men have a hard time doing that. Most would rather blend it with their own biases.

"Thy Word is truth." It has the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The Word alone is our standard and measure. All else leads us into confusion.

If I could stand upon the highest place and shout, I would call men back to the Truth of God's Word. I would call them away from the postmodern lie that every view is as good as another, that every church is as good as another, that every faith is like all the others, and that everyone's subjective truth is as good as everyone else's. Only God's truth matters for eternity. The rest is illusion.

For the love of God's truth,
Phil

Family portrait Sept 1, 2007

These two portraits of the family were taken Saturday, Sept 1 at about 4 pm. You might notice that we have one more on the way. I am holding Haydn, Jackie is holding Louise. The top row from left to right: Josh and Chara Watson, Christa and Dewayne Bryant, John and Laura Wilson, and Tara Sanders. We number eleven today, but with God's grace twelve in October.

God is so good to bless us so richly.

Phil

Regions University and NSOP in full swing

The fall is a busy one!
I am teaching two courses at Nashville School of Preaching and Biblical Studies: Elementary Greek and Hermeneutics. They meet Tuesday nights after chapel at Crieve Hall Church of Christ in Nashville.
I'm also teaching four courses online: Christian Evidences, Survey of the Bible, The Passion of Christ and Establishment of the Church, and The Scheme of Redemption. It's never too late to get enrolled.

I hope and pray you are involved in a serious study of the Bible, whether on your own or with a group. The Bible continually amazes and enlightens.

Psalm 19:7-11 says:

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;

⁸ the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;

⁹ the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;

the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold;

sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

¹¹ Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

The Restoration Plea

In the early 1800s many church leaders grew weary with the strife and division among Christian denominations. They believed that the Lord wanted His people to be united, and all of the bad-mouthing and exclusiveness of the denominations shamed the name of the Lord. Their divisive ways caused people to fall away from Christ in disbelief (John 17:20-23).

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that 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. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, ²³I 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.

They believed the acceptance of human opinions, creeds, councils, practices, and names caused this divisive and hateful condition. They left Europe to find religious peace in America but found the same ugliness again. They wanted something better—a pure and true Christianity free from the stains of human opinions. If they could get away from the human and concentrate on what they knew was truly divine, they could find a basis for unity. They could have unity only by following the truth of God’s Word. This meant they had to cast off everything human and denominational and return to a Christianity that knew nothing of denominationalism.

They rejected human opinions and inventions, since these things find their authority not in God’s word but in men. They believed that “nothing ought to be inculcated upon Christians as articles of faith; nor required of them as terms of communion; but what is expressly taught, and enjoined upon them, in the word of God.” (Thomas Campbell, Declaration & Address, proposition 3). They said, “We speak where the Bible speaks, and we are silent where the Bible is silent.” They wanted unity in essentials, freedom in matters of opinion, and love in all things.

The true religion is built upon the rock; the rest are tossed upon the waves of time. (Francis Bacon)

“Loyalty to the restoration principle does not necessarily involve being loyal to the teachings of Stone, the Campbells, Walter Scott, John Smith or to any other man or group of men who have lived since their day. It involves only being loyal to the New Testament.” (Raymond Kelcy, “The Restoration Principle,” Abilene Christian College Lectures, 1954, 119.)

They believed the way to unity was through every person accepting the truth.

If the church was to please God, it would have to return to what God willed in the New Testament. Restoration is necessary, because repentance from error is necessary. One cannot remain in error and still please God.

James 5:19-20 My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

“It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills. It is not love and it is not friendship if we fail to declare the whole counsel of God. It is better to be hated for telling the truth than to be loved for telling a lie.” Adrian Rogers (Berean Call, Dec. 1996, 3).

By casting off manmade doctrines and practices, the church could restore the doctrine, worship and organization of the New Testament church.

The intent is not to start a new denomination, but to restore the church according to the ideals of the New Testament. Jesus built His church before any denomination existed. His church is not denominational, inter-denominational, or even non-denominational. The church Jesus built was undenominational. It could never approve of unifying the truth with error.

Churches of Christ strive to "do Bible things in Bible ways and call Bible things by Bible names." They believe they must “discard from their faith and their practice every thing that is not found written in the New Testament of the Lord and Savior, and to believe and practice whatever is there enjoined.”

The Restoration movement grew out of a conviction that the Bible is the complete and final authority. Just as a seed will produce only after its own kind, so the seed of God’s word will produce the same Christianity today it did in the first century (Luke 8:11).

The Bible is complete in that it gives us all of God’s revealed will for life and godliness.

John 16:12-13 “I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”

2 John 9-11 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; ¹¹for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

Some believe the primary goal of restoration is to unite all churches. They believe Jesus’ prayer for unity in John 17 means that all churches should embrace one another on the basis of the most fundamental things. In their minds there are very few essentials. Some feel as long as a person believes in and loves Jesus, he is right with God.

Before Jesus, however, prayed for unity in John 17:20-23, he first prayed for his followers to be sanctified or “set apart” in the truth (John 17:17). Christians are to buy the truth and not sell it (Prov. 23:23).

Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).

Christ did not pray for a unity that sacrifices or compromises the truth. Indeed, it is our faith in the truth that unites us. Christian unity is not ecumenism, where groups unite but maintain conflicting and contradictory beliefs and practices. To be faithful and true, Christians cannot ignore or approve error. Uniting with those who worship in error sells out the truth for compromise.

God has always expected His people to come out of sin when they learn the truth. Repentance means that one leaves sin and embraces the Lord’s will.

· When the church at Pergamum held to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, Jesus sternly warned them to “repent therefore or else I am coming to you quickly” (Rev. 2:14-16).

· Jesus further warned Thyatira not to “tolerate” Jezebel and her teachings but to repent (Rev. 2:20-23).

The work of restoration, then, is actually soul-winning, since it leads a lost soul out of sinful error and back into life. If this is true for an individual, how much more true it is for a group of individuals or a church.

Jesus anticipated the disciplining of whole churches in Revelation 2 and 3. If a whole church remains in apostasy, the Lord will remove its candlestick. It can cease to be in His grace. This is why churches must remain faithful to God and His word.

Let us determine to follow Christ and His word by loving obedience.

With love,

Phil

Gatlinburg was beautiful!

Last week Jackie and I visited beautiful Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the Great Smoky Mountains. For twelve years we had longed to see the vacation spot that everyone else had seen (including our children at one time or another). At last, my love and I traveled four hours to see the sights.

We saw nine deer (four bucks and five does), several turkey, and the bear in the picture. This picture was taken just outside our cabin. We were about 40 feet away from him. He looked at us like, "What do you want?", turned around and sauntered off into the woods. We were so excited to see him, we didn't have time to get scared. Jackie and I got very close to some of the deer. Jackie got within 15 feet of this buck, who ignored her and kept eating.

We saw several waterfalls and went up to Clingman's Dome, a hard half-mile walk up the hill.

It was a great experience to be by ourselves for a whole week and not answer the phone, see a computer, or get up early. Jackie and I worshiped at the Gatlinburg Church of Christ, where Rod Rutherford preaches. He is a kind man and had a meaningful lesson. I was glad I got to sit and hear this good man. John and Teresa Rutledge sat beside us (John is a deacon at Concord Rd., and they are dear friends. It was their anniversary!).

We went on quiet walks, soaked our feet in the shallow and rocky streams, read the Bible, prayed, sang a few hymns, and soaked in with great thanksgiving the world God had made.

We are glad to be home, but the eight days will remain with us forever.

glad,
Phil

Let's not punish?

Lutherans to allow pastors in gay relationships

Sat Aug 11, 2:00 PM ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Homosexual Lutheran clergy who are in sexual relationships will be able to serve as pastors, the largest U.S. Lutheran body said on Saturday.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution at its annual assembly urging bishops to refrain from disciplining pastors who are in "faithful committed same-gender relationships."

The resolution passed by a vote of 538-431.

"The Church ... has just said 'Do not do punishments'," said Phil Soucy, spokesman for Lutherans Concerned, a gay-lesbian rights group within the church. "That is huge."

The ELCA, which has 4.8 million members, had previously allowed gays to serve as pastors so long as they abstained from sexual relations.

My comments:
When I read the above Reuters story, I thought what a perfect example of postmodern thinking. We don't want to punish the wicked, because we can't say what they are doing is wrong anymore.

We must wonder why it is all right to perform an act of fornication just because the fornicators are in a "faithful, committed same-gender relationship"? If a pastor were living with a different gender person in a faithful committed relationship (but without the benefit of marriage), would it still not be fornication (a damnable sin according to Galatians 5:19-21)?

We do not understand what changes the fornication from sinful to sanctioned. Whether one is promiscuous with many or with only one, it is still sinful fornication.

Phil

A decision 40 years ago

Steve Bracken gave me an ASV New Testament on Saturday morning, August 2, 1967. I treasure that New Testament and keep it in my desk. That was the day I revealed that I wanted to be a gospel preacher. He inscribed on the presentation page, "To one I love so much." He always told me to keep smiling.

Those were good days. He preached the gospel with such tenderness and firmness. I wanted to do the same. Steve now lives in Seagoville, TX.

I decided to preach at age 15, the average age of most young men who decide they want to pursue life as a minister. While there have been many mountain-tops and valleys, I have never regretted being a gospel preacher. God has blessed me, and every day is an adventure of love.

I think that it is harder to preach in 2007 than ever before. Changes in our culture and in the commitment of the church itself makes the job harder. People are far more selfish and critical today. We live in a culture that feels privileged and eschews preaching against sin. This may be the reason we are losing some 600 preachers per year and only educating about 300 to take their place. We need gospel preachers, men of God, not comedians or socialites who will tolerate nearly any deviation from God's will. We really don't need any more high-sounding "theologians" who dismiss wickedness with a warped view of grace. We need some Elijahs and Jeremiahs. We need the courage of a John the Baptist. We need the wisdom of an apostle Paul. We need the encouragement of a Barnabas.

So many men had an influence in those early days: Ron Goodnight, J. D. Fredman and his son Dan, Howard Mitchell, Paul Garlitos, Richard Black, Cecil Roller, and Dewayne Thomas. My heroes have always been gospel preachers. These men encouraged me and opened doors to a young man who had a desire to preach.

I must mention the great influence of my parents, who always encouraged me to preach the gospel. I doubt I would be preaching, if it had not been for them. My uncle Hill also influenced me. I treasure the set of commentaries my aunt Alice gave me after his death. I still use them.

Some young man you know might have a desire to preach. Encourage and help him. Challenge him to love the Lord and to be faithful. Don't criticize him for doing what is right; support him. Help him to preach with love and firmness. We desperately need young men who will preach the unsearchable riches of God's grace and glory, men who will fearlessly speak the truth in love, men who will not compromise or play foolish games.

The church must recruit and train its preachers. We cannot leave that up to those who want to reinvent gospel preachers by making them into professionals who revel in religious uncertainty and play in "muddy waters."

Encourage that young man you know. May he give his life to a labor of love and a work of faith.

phil

What?

My friend and brother Steve Higginbotham sent this link to me with the question:

Want to explain this one?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16fqyp8UPaA

There are some things that are not laughing matters. I don't want to profane what is holy.

Phil

Very good information

I wanted to share a website with you that is a good idea to visit. It is www.familywatchdog.us

When you visit this site you can enter your address and a map will pop up with your house as the small icon of a house and red, blue, green, dots surrounding your entire neighborhood.

When you click on these dots, a picture of a person will appear with an address and the description of the crime he or she had committed.

This site was developed by John Walsh from Americas Most Wanted. Another tool to help us keep our kids safe.

What shall we do with the truth?

Therefore, O faithful Christian,

search for truth,

hear truth,

learn truth,

love truth,

speak the truth,

hold the truth,

defend the truth

till death.

- Jan Hus

Peter--a Christian who found the truth

Last Thursday I met a most interesting man after I spoke at the Pasquo Church of Christ (southwest of Nashville). I did not get his last name, but his first name was Peter. Peter and his wife are immigrants from Ukraine. Peter (in his forties) grew up in the former Soviet Union as a Baptist. Many of the Christians (members of the church) in the Soviet block had to become Baptists in order to continue to worship, even though they did not desert their beliefs. Our campaign groups met several such people in Belarus and Ukraine. These brethren knew the truth long before evangelists from America arrived in the early 1990s.

Peter, however, did not know about us. When he came to the United States, he came as a Baptist. By providence, he was late one evening coming home. He decided to stop at the nearest church on his route, and the nearest place was Pasquo Church of Christ.

Peter heard the truth being preached. He knew it when he heard it. He left the place he was worshiping and identified with Pasquo. The Baptist churches of USA weren't preaching and practicing the things he had been taught growing up. With great joy he has been attending the Pasquo Church of Christ ever since. I was delighted to meet him. (Contact Joe Spann at Pasquo for more information.) I have urged them to write Peter's story down to share with others.

People can learn and know the truth just by reading the Bible. I have been so intrigued with people like Peter who studied the Book and knew the truth when he heard it!

One prominent preacher among us has argued that people just reading the New Testament would not come to the conclusion that instrumental music was wrong. John Price, who wrote Old Light for New Worship, has disproved that claim.

The perspicuity of the Bible needs to be taught once again. The Bible is clear about much.

• The Lord only built one church, and it is pre-denominational and undenominational.
  
• God's grace is abundant, but works only when people repent.
• Baptism is still a burial in water for those who have been taught and penitently believe, not for unbelieving infants.
• Salvation still follows baptism.
• Christians in the New Testament sang in worship.
  
• It is never right to add or subtract to the teaching of God's Word.

Well, I am thankful for Peter's example. One can learn the truth on his own by a study of God's Word.

kindly,
Phil

A. T. Pate's advice

A. T. Pate is one of my fellow-instructors at Nashville School of Preaching. He is a prince of a man, a good friend, a great encourager, and a soldier in the Lord's army.

He spoke to us last night about what we should tell ourselves when we speak to ourselves. Everyone, after all, talks to himself. What is important, then, is what one says. He suggests that when we talk to ourselves, we should tell ourselves these four things:

(1) I know who I am.
As Christians, we are sons of the King, children of God, royal priests, a person of God's own possession, saints, and workers in the vineyard. Knowing who we are sets our minds on how we behave.

(2) I know where I am going.
As Christians our destiny is heaven. The Father has an inheritance for us there. Jesus went there to prepare a place just for us--a place that is without spot or blemish.

(3) I know how to get there.
The gospel is good news and is very simple and practical. Anyone can go to heaven, if he will simply obey the gospel. God's grace is wondrous and open to those who will respond to His love by obedience.

(4) I will take someone with me.
Preachers are in the recruiting business. We recruit people to be children of God, so that they can live with God forever and ever.

This is excellent self-talk for the preacher or for any soul-winning brother or sister. We thank our godly and good brother, A. T., for sharing this mindset with us.

kindly,
phil

Seven Things I Wish to Accomplish by Age 65

1. I wish to have preached the gospel of Christ to one billion people, including people on every continent and in every state of the United States. I pray God will allow me to be a voice for Him to a corrupt world.

2. I wish to have the ear and the confidence of the President of the United States of America, so that a voice for God may speak.

3. I wish to overcome the sin in my life and develop the spiritual disciplines that keep me focused on God’s purpose and will.

4. I wish to see college students and young adults everywhere convicted with the truth and zealous to share God’s will.

5. I wish to see the Bible return as the most influential moral, doctrinal, and spiritual document of our time.

6. I wish to develop some ground-breaking tools for evangelism and spiritual growth, so that those who have not entered a church building might nonetheless hear the gospel.

7. I wish to train thousands of men who desire to preach the gospel.

The pope has made quite a stir

Benedict XVI has issued a new document this week claiming his primacy as pope and the primacy of the Catholic Church.

The new document -- formulated as five questions and answers -- restates key sections of a 2000 text the pope wrote when he was prefect of the congregation, "Dominus Iesus," which riled Protestant and other Christian denominations because it said they were not true churches but merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the "means of salvation." The commentary repeated church teaching that says the Catholic Church "has the fullness of the means of salvation."

"Christ ‘established here on earth’ only one church," said the document, released as the pope vacations at a villa in Lorenzago di Cadore, in Italy’s Dolomite mountains. The other communities "cannot be called ‘churches’ in the proper sense" because they do not have apostolic succession -- the ability to trace their bishops back to Christ’s original apostles -- and therefore their priestly ordinations are not valid, it said.

The document said that Orthodox churches were indeed "churches" because they have apostolic succession and enjoyed "many elements of sanctification and of truth." But it said they do not recognize the primacy of the pope -- a defect, or a "wound" that harmed them, it said.

"This is obviously not compatible with the doctrine of primacy which, according to the Catholic faith, is an ‘internal constitutive principle’ of the very existence of a particular church," said a commentary from the congregation that accompanied the text.

Ratzinger is feeling his oats. He is predictably standing for his traditions and asserting his place of primacy in the world of Christianity.

The truth is. The pope can't save anybody. He has no holes in his hands. There is only one Savior and one Lord, and that is Jesus. The idea that there is apostolic succession is a fallacy beyond credibility. For those who would like to know about Peter being a pope, apostolic succession and other such matters, please take a look at:

http://www.god-answers.org/Online_Tools/books/Roman%20Catholicism.pdf

Did you know that Peter was married? That celibacy was not demanded for 300 years? That no one claimed to be a pope until 606 AD? That Catholics did not honor the apocrypha until the Council of Trent? that several popes excommunicated other popes? that the popes called each other's doctrines heresies?

Jesus is the only and only Lord of His church and the one and only Savior of the church. There is no other. The gospel is God's means of saving mankind, and the Lord himself adds the saved to His church. The church does not control salvation; the church is the saved (not the Savior).

The church of the New Testament is certainly very different from the Roman Catholic church. For my part, I am pledged to the church I can read about there, not to any other.

phil