R.C. Sproul with a brief intro to the reformation

Paul Washer - Shocking Message (full length)

Jonathan Edwards - Michael Haykin

A Reminder For Me 3-15-2007

Preparing To Enter Glory (Part Two)
Advanced Care Directives Are Needful


Christian Brothers and Sisters An Advanced Care Directive is Needful! Have You Completed One?

In 1983 I was blessed to be a member of Pinellas Park Presbyterian Church in Pinellas Park Florida with an excellent young pastor the Rev. Joe Easterling. He taught a series in the adult Sunday School class “On Death and Dying” This was perhaps the best class I ever attended. I still have the notes from that class and have used them over the years as I have gone through deaths of family and friends. This class taught what why we die, how we are to approach death, Christ’s conquering death, the need of planning my funeral, etc.Therefore, it is quite natural for me to “pen” this blog in order to remind you to give advanced medical care directives[1] since sickness and death happens. Now, I cannot begin to tell you how important it is that you give your family and medical care professionals your directions for health care in case you lose the ability to communicate. You have the opportunity to give directions now if you just fill out and file a health care advanced directive form. If you don’t make those health care decisions known rest assured someone will make those decisions for you. If someone decides your care it may not be even be what desire. It may even cause excessive stress on your family and could turn into a legal matter. Remember Terri Schiavo?

My desire here is to prompt you to get this done!Now it is understandable that this can be an emotional thing to do. But to make those decisions now is the responsible thing to do. In completing the form brings peace of mind that you will be taken care of in a dignified manner. Fulfilling this responsibility is the best for you, your family and for your medical care professionals.

It is best for you since you know your health care goals, what is important to you and what is in line with your values. It is good for your family and medical care professionals since they are relieved of the extra burden placed upon them.The choices you make are completely yours. You do not need to consult anyone before filling out your advanced care plan. However in most cases, probably all, it is wise and helpful to consult with close family members or others as needed.


So, if you’re uncomfortable and think you need to consult with family, doctor or an attorney it is ok! After all the Bible says “… in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Pro 11:14). Call and set times to meet and discuss your values, needs and set you plan.

I set down many years ago and wrote out my basic desire concerning what I wanted in different medical situations. As simplistic as it is it did help me think through possible issues and circumstances and the role of the church and biblical principles in case of medical extremes. I found writing out what I really wanted helped me in filling out the formal directive form. And I attached it to my form since I have discussed it with both family and my pastor. You may find the following useful as well:



I, (Name)___________________ on (Date) ______________do declare my wants known to my family, church and health care providers who may medically treat any condition of which may be found. I declare my wants and desires in three areas, the first being that of a nature which is found in accident and injury. The second found in the nature of a terminal illness and thirdly the nature of old age and life just drawing to a close.Whereas I believe God is the giver and sustainer of life and reserves the right to take it and that the family has the biblical authority to make final decisions if I am not able make my own and that the church has spiritual oversight for care and counsel I, ask that any and all final decisions be made for me in the proper order by the family[2] and if need be seeking wisdom and counsel from the elders of a Reformed Conservative Presbyterian Church, preferably the one I would be currently attending[3].Believing that death is not the worst thing Christians must concern themselves with and believing that this present life has significance and is to be lived to its fullest and not abandoned because of suffering and death faced with realism and with readiness I desire these wants fulfilled as follows:


A. IN CASE OF ACCIDENT

In case of accident and injury there can be advanced medical technology used to support my life while I am recuperating. If however it is determined that I cannot survive without these extreme measures and I am in a comatose or vegetative state after prayers and anointing of oil[4] by the elders of the church and then without healing I desire that my family have me taken off the extreme devises. Please be advised that under no circumstances am I to be given pain medications that do more than is necessary to reduce pain because as much as possible I desire to see, know and communicate with family and friends.[5].


B. IN CASE OF TERMINAL ILLNESS


In case I am found to be diagnosed as terminally ill I desire to be given medications either by injections or orally. In the case of cancer I will want chemotherapy and radiation treatment and acceptance of any other medical advancement of these types. I want all to know that I want to be with family, friends and church family as much as possible. I desire no pain medications which do more than is necessary to reduce pain because as much as possible I desire to fellowship with, see, know and communicate with family and friends. If such a time comes where I need extreme measures to continue my life for “just a few more days”[6] I want this not to be done since it is clear the Lord is calling me home.


C. ELDERLY END OF LIFEIn coming to the end of life as elderly person I ask that these things be followed. If needed place me on extreme measures only to help in recuperation, but if there is no recuperation I am to be taken off the extreme measures and let God bring my life to a close. I also desire that family, friends and church family be able to be in my company at my last days and hours before death.


Footnotes:

[1] The forms can be obtained at you local doctors office, or nearby hospital. I also point you to the following website for information on advanced care directives and an excellent form http://cbhd.org/.[2] Proper order is immediate family member if possible and a second one as alternate.[3] (Name of Church and Elders) __________________[4] In all cases prayer for healing is expected.[5] In times like these I have seen closure in otherwise stressful relationships accomplished.[6] A “few more days” may translate into more pain and increased burden and cost on the family.

DID GOD DIE ON CALVARY?

by Rev. Professor-Emeritus Dr. F.N. Lee

Did God die when Christ,Who is God, died on the cross? Does God Himself have blood, and
did He suffer pain when Christ shed His blood for the expiation of the sins of His elect?
After the decision of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 A.D., explains Berkhof in his book The
History of Christian Doctrines (Eerdmans, 1959 ed., pp. 111-13), there was "a lengthy and rather unseemly struggle between the different parties.... They were divided into several sects, of which the names alone, says Dr. Orr, ‘are enough to give one a cold shiver.’ There were the
Theopaschitists, who emphasized the fact that God suffered; the Phthartolatrists, who...were said to worship that which is corruptible; and the Aphthartodocetists, who represented...the view...that the human nature of Christ...was endowed with divine attributes and was therefore...incorruptible."


Wesley the Arminian later resurrected Theopaschitism. A few ill-chosen lines in his
otherwise great hymn And can it be?, reveal this heresy. Here are those lines. (1) "Amazing grace! And can it be - that Thou, myGod, shouldst die for me?"; (2) "’Tis mystery all! The Immortal dies"; and (3) "Emptied Himself of all but love."


The fact is, however, it was not God but Wesley who died! God did not die - because He
cannot die (First Timothy 1:17 & 6:14-16). To claim withWesley that "the Immortal dies" - is likeclaiming thatGodWho is Light could become darkness (contra First John 1:5b). And though Christ indeed ‘emptied Himself’ (Philippians 2:7), He certainly did not at Calvary - as Wesley claims He did - empty Himself of His immortality and His omnipotence etc. and of "all but love."
As with Arianism, heresy gets sung before it gets preached. Arminianism leads to Atheism.
For if God died when Christ died, not just "one-third" but rather all "three-thirds" of God then died - so that no God at all could have remained to resurrect Jesus. For Paul infallibly states that in Christ "dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead." Colossians 2:9.


Note, we did not say thatWesleywas an Atheist! Indeed, we believeWesleywas a dedicated
Christian - because predestinated to be saved in spite of his own atheizing tendencies such as his
rejection of divine election! But we do say thatWesley’s is an atheizing system. And we certainly
call for the rewriting of his influential hymn, by the deletion of the above-mentioned offensive words and their substitution by Calvinistic terminology - such as "that You, my Christ, should die for me"; and "It’s mystery all! The Saviour dies"; and "Emptied Himself, in His great love."
Back in the time of the Protestant Reformation, the Lutherans’ 1530 Augsburg Confessionwas
acceptable to Calvinists. But, after Lutheranism entrenched its militantly Anti-Calvinistic
Consubstantiationism over the next decades - the battlelines becamemarked. This led to theGnesio-Lutheran viewthat afterHis resurrection and especiallyHis ascension,Christ’s human nature became omnipresent - and hence present also in the elements at the Lord’s Table. This is the erroneous view "that each of Christ’s natures permeates the other, and thatHis humanity participates in the attributes of His divinity" (Neve’s Lutheran Symbolics, p. 132).


-
Now this Lutheran-Wesleyan aberrationmust sharplybe distinguished from theReformed view
that the properties of each of Christ's two natures are ascribable to His Person. Thus the
Westminster Confession 8:7, cf. the Larger Catechism (37-40 & 48-49 & 54-55).
"Ah," retort theAnti-Calvinists, "but does not Paul himself declare thatGod bought theChurch
with His Own blood (Acts 20:28)?" No, Paul does not! Actually, Paul says the HolyGhost would
have Pastors feed God's Church - which He [Christ] purchased with His Own blood." Does the
bodyless HolyGhost have blood? Or is Paul not here trinitarianly teaching the HolyGhost says the Son in His humanity with His blood purchased the Church of God the Father?



Calvin comments on this verse: "There is nothing more absurd than to suppose that God is
corporeal or mortal.... By speaking like this, he [Paul] is commending the unity of the Person of
Christ. For in view of the fact that there are separate natures in Christ, Scripture sometimes
mentions separately what belongs to each in particular. But when it sets God before us, made
manifest in the flesh - it does not separate His human nature from His deity.... In this verse, Paulattributes [human] blood toGod, because theman Jesus Christ,Who shedHis blood for us,was also God. This figure of speech was called the communicatio idiomatum by the Fathers, because the property of one nature is applied to the other" within one and the same Person - and not, as in extreme later Gnesio-Lutheranism, because one nature is alleged interchanged with the other.



In his Institutes II:12:3, Calvin elaborates: "Our Lord came forth veryman, adopted the person
of Adam, and assumed his name - so that He might in his stead obey the Father; so that He might present our flesh as the price of satisfaction to the just judgment of God.... As God only, He could not suffer; and asman only, could not overcome death. He united the human naturewith the divine, so that Hemight subject theweakness of the one [the human nature] to death, as an expiation of sin - and, by the power of the other [the divine nature],maintain a struggle against death, [and]might gain us the victory.... Clothed with our flesh, He warred to death against sin."


At II:14:2-6, Calvin further explains: "God certainly has no blood [and] suffers not.... For we must put far from us the heresy of Nestorius who, presuming to dissect rather than distinguish between the two natures, devised a double Christ.... On account of His mother, He is called the son of David; so, on account of His Father, He is the Son of God [cf. Romans 1:3-4].... It is no less congruous to refer to His divine nature His being called the Son of God - than to refer to His human nature His being called the son of man."


In Calvin's 1541-45 Catechism of the Church of Geneva (being a Form of Instruction for
children in the doctrine of Christ), the Catechist asks regarding Christ: "But seeing He is God - how couldHe be seized with any such dread, as ifHewere forsaken byGod?" Towhich the Catechumenis to reply: "We must hold that it was in respect to the feelings of His human nature that He was reduced to this necessity; and, so that thismight be,His divinity for a littlewhilewas concealed - that is, did not put forth its might."



In its Articles XIV & XV, the 1559 French Confession of Faith of Calvin (and his student
Chandieu) declares: "We believe that Jesus Christ, being the Wisdom of God and His eternal Son, has put on our flesh so as to be God and man in one Person; man, like unto us, capable of suffering in body and soul.... In one Person - that is, Jesus Christ - the two natures are actually and inseparably joined and united; and yet each remains in its proper character.... The human nature remained finite, having its form.... We do not despoil Him of His humanity!"



In Article 19 of the Belgic Confession, we profess together with its author the Calvinist Guido
de Brés that "these two natures are so closely united in one Person, that theywere not separated even byHis death.... The divine nature always remained united with the human, even when He lay in the grave.... We confess that He is very God and very man: very God, by His power to conquer [not to succumb to] death; and very man, so that He might die for us according to the infirmity of His flesh."


In the 1563 Calvinistic Heidelberg Catechism, Question 16 asks about Christ: "Whymust He
be a true and sinless man?" The answer is: "Because the justice of God requires that the same
human nature which has sinned, should make satisfaction for sin; but no [mere] man, being himself a sinner, could satisfy for others." Question 17 asks: "Whymust He be at the same time true God?" The answer is: "So that by the power of His Godhead, He might bear in His manhood the burden of God’s wrath, and so obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life."



Especially in chapter XI of Bullinger’s Second Helvetic Confession is this great Reformed
Truth stated. "We detest the heresy of Nestorius, which makes two Christs of one and dissolves the union of the Person.... We do not teach that the divine nature in Christ did suffer.... We do neither think nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after His glorifying, or that it was deified and...put off its properties as touching body and soul.... Our Lord Jesus Christ did truly suffer and die for us in the flesh, as Peter says (First Peter 4:1).... He did not rise up another flesh, but retained a true body. Therefore, while His disciples thought that they did see the spirit of their Lord Christ, He showed them His hands and feet!... Luke 24:39."



Consider, however, the Anti-Calvinism in Article VIII of the 1576f Gnesio-Lutheran Formula
of Concord: "From the above-mentioned controversy...between the sincere [Lutheran] divines of the AugsburgConfession and the [insincere?]Calvinistswho had...unsettled certain other theologians..., the[y]...have affirmed that the divine and human natures are in such wise personally united in Christ that neither communicates to the other really.... The union, say they, makes only the names common..., yet so that God has nothing common with humanity and...humanity has nothing really...commonwithDivinity.... We[Gnesio-Lutherans] believe, teach and confess [like incipient Pantheists?!] thatGod isman andman isGod.... We believe, teach and confess that it is not amere man only that has suffered...but aman such thatHis human nature has with the Son ofGod a union.... Wherefore the Son of God has truly suffered for us.... Now, not only as God but also as man He knows all things, can do all things, is present to all creatures.... Most easily can He, being present, impart His true body and His blood in the Holy Supper.... We repudiate therefore and condemn all the erroneous [viz. Calvinistic] articles...that the humanity [of Christ] alone suffered for us...; that the Son of God is present to us on earth...only by His divinity...; that, according to the humanity, He is not at all capable of omnipotence and other properties of the divine nature."



Worse yet are the Gnesio-Lutheran Hunnius's 1592 Saxon Visitation Articles. These reject
"the false and erroneous doctrine of the Calvinists on the Person of Christ" which denies "that God is man, and man God" - and teaches "that it is...idolatry to place...faith...in Christ...according to His human nature."



No wonder the 1647 Westminster Confession rejects these Gnesio-Lutheran distinctives! II:1
insists that "God...is...without body...or passions" and is "immutable"- and therefore not mortalizable even at the death of Christ. Also VIII:2-7 states: "The Son of God...did...take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof.... The Lord Jesus in His human nature thus united to the divine, was sanctified.... The Lord Jesus...endured most grievous torments immediately in His soul andmost painful sufferings in His body [but not in His divinity]..., each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet, by reason of the unity of the Person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture attributed to the [same] Person denominated by the other nature" - yet never attributed also to the other nature itself!



Finally, this is fleshed out yet more fully in the 1648 Westminster Larger Catechism. 37-40
state that "the Son of God became man by taking to Himself a true body.... It was requisite that the Mediator should be God, [so] that He might sustain and keep the human nature from sinking under the infinitewrath ofGod and the power of death.... It was requisite that theMediator should beman, that He might advance our [human] nature, perform obedience to the Law, suffer, and make intercession for us in our nature.... It was requisite that theMediatorWho was to reconcile God and man, should Himself be both God and man...in one Person, [so] that the proper works of each nature might be accepted of God for us and relied on by us as the works of the whole Person." 48-49 state that "Christ humbled Himself in His life by subjecting Himself to the Law which He perfectly fulfilled, and by conflicting with the...infirmities in His flesh, whether common to the nature ofman or particularly accompanying...His low[human] condition.... Christ humbledHimself in His death, in that...He laid down His [human] life an offering for sin - enduring [in His human nature] the painful, shameful and cursed death of the cross." And 54-55 state that "Christ is exalted..., in that as God-man He is advanced to the highest favour with God.... Christ maketh intercession by His appearing in our nature continually before the Father...in the merit of His obedience and sacrifice [when formerly] on earth."




So, then, against Gnesio-Lutheranism and Wesleyan Methodism, we must say with the
Reformed Confessions that God cannot and did not either suffer or die. For those Reformed
Confessions are based on the infallibleWord ofGodwhich in First Timothy 1:17&6:16 tells us that
God is "the King...immortal" and "He alone has immortality" alias unlosable life both from all
eternity past and unto all eternity future.


The above is no quibble. None of the world's billionMuslims will ever see the logic of either
Lutheranism or Arminianism. Calvinism alone can make the cross intelligible to them (or for that matter also to Torah-believing Judaists). In fact, the soonerWesley's theopaschitic hymn And can it be? gets replaced by the singing of Psalm 90 - the better for the health of Christ's Church!

GOD TRIUNE IN THE BEGINNING — AND FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

by Rev. Prof. Dr. Francis Nigel Lee

Queensland Presbyterian Theological College,

Brisbane, Australia

In Genesis 1:1, "God" translates 'Elohiym (PLURAL) — meaning: three or more Gods. It is used with the singular verb bara' — meaning: "He did create" (and NOT with the plural verb baru' meaning "They did create").


What that three-in-one God created, is said to be TWO "Heavens" (the DUAL Shamayiym) & ONE "Earth" (the SINGULAR 'Arets). That totals a THREE-IN-ONE universe, alias a "tri-universe" created by "God Triune." This is what one would expect such a God to create — if and when He might unnecessarily condescend to create anything at all.


God Triune Himself has never changed. From eternity, God the Father and the Son and the Spirit has always been an un-begun and a never-ending Harmony — Jehovah 'Elohiym. Gen. 1:1f; 2:4f; Ex. 3:14f; 6:3; Isa. 6:3; 11:2; 63:7-10; Mal. 3:6; Mt. 28:19; Jn. 17:1-5; Heb. 9:14; Rev. 1:4-6; 4:2-8; 5:6f; 22:16-19f.


God Triune, at the beginning, created the tri-universe (two-heavens-and-one-earth). Gen. 1:1f. The first heaven is the air surrounding our earth, and an integral part thereof (Gen. 1:6). The second heaven is outer space, and the third heaven is the dwelling-place of God's good angels (II Cor. 12:2). All three, like the Three Persons within God Triune Himself, interpene-trate and overlap one another — which is quite what one would expect creatures of God Triune to do. Indeed, this is what Rev. Prof. Dr. Cornelius Van Til meant by "the one and the many." I Cor. 12:12-20.


This threeness-in-oneness or oneness-in-manyness can be seen throughout Genesis chapter one. Thus in this one creation account — within God Triune — there are clear inferences anent the Father, Word and Spirit (Gen. 1:1-3 & 1:26). There are two parallel series of three days each — on which God Triune respectively made light, and lights; the atmosphere/sea, and their inhabitants; and the dry land, and its inhabitants (Gen. 1:3- 31).


On day one — He made light, evening, and morning (Gen. 1:3-5). On day two — He made the firmament, the waters below, and the waters above (Gen. 1:6-8). On day three — He made the grass, the herbs, and the trees (Gen. 1:9-13). On day four — He made the sun, the moon, and the stars; and for days, seasons, and years (Gen. 1:14-19). On day five — He made water-monsters, sea-creatures, and things with wings (Gen. 1:20-23). On day six — He made reptiles, wild animals, and domestic animals; as well as men, as man and woman and child (Gen. 1:24-28). He then gave all of them three commands — to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill the Earth (Gen.1:28); and then gave man herbs, fruit, and fish etc. (Gen. 1:29). Finally, on day seven — He ended and rested in and blessed all the work of His hands (Gen. 2:1-3).


Thus God Triune made also a triune mankind (husband/wife/child) as His own triune image. Gen. 1:26-28. Epiphanius and Witsius recognized that Adam knew God is Triune. Indeed, there is an intimate connection between the One-and-the-Many — in the Triune

The Bible

This book contains: the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.

Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be saved, and practice it to be holy.

It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's charter. Here heaven is open, and the gates of hell are disclosed.

Christ is the grand subject, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, health to the soul, and a river of pleasure. It is given to you here in this life, will be opened at the judgment, and is established forever.

It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and condemn all who trifle with its contents.

John MacArthur

Calvinism: Dr. Gordon H. Clark lectures on Justification by Faith Alone

Bible : The Battle For Truth

A Brief on Creedal Need Within The Church of Christ

In May of 2006 the blog Doctrines of Grace did a 5 part writing on Sola Scriptura. within that reformed writing it is stated that Sola Scriptura pertains to both Doctrine and Practice.
Since creeds are a part of the scripturesthey then must be used in the church therefore, the church must use them! And as we all know history bears out that all churches do use creeds. Now they are only as authortative as the Bible if they are in line with the teaching of the Bible in Doctrine and in Practice.

The Biblical Function of the Leaders Within the Church Confirm That The Church Is and Must Be A Creedal and Confessional Church!

"Sadly some faith groups, many "pastors" and Christians reject the biblical practice of creeds and confessions however the reality is that throughout Biblical history God's people needed and used creedal and confessional statements. The Bible is the only rule of faith and practice. Confessions and creeds are a biblical practice and supports our beloved Scripture alone doctrine and never usurps the authority of the Scripture. It is a biblical tool used for the summarization of the major doctrines of the Bible revealing how the Church understands the Bible in such things as the Knowledge of God, Man, Salvation, Sanctification in redemption, the Church and Her function, the return of our Lord, etc..

There is a real need of the creeds and confessions to be used in the Church and in the practice of its members for several reasons.

• First, with them we can determine the principal doctrines guiding "faith and church groups".
  
• Secondly, they help in giving us a written defense of the faith so that we can stand against the ever shifting religious fads in our day.
  
• Thirdly, they direct us to the scriptures to further understand their teaching so that all of our opinions and actions can be directed and judged by them.
  
• Fourthly, the leaders in the Church are bound to the truth of the scripture that has been expressly set down in the creeds and confessions. It keeps them united and protects them from subverting the doctrines of the faith. And finally, they serve in showing a unified Church since they show that She shares a set of beliefs in the effort to defend the faith.