The Deafness of Man

This story speak for itself.

Pearls before Breakfast

The Bible and Alcohol

A great article explaining in full the Bible's teachings on alcohol and appplication for the church today.

Alcohol and the Bible

Dr. Ken Hemphill on the SBC

More follow-up from the former President of Southwestern Seminary on the baptism statistics- a bit different perspective.

Read it here.

I appreciate his call to Baptists of repentance- he's on target with that. I think we need to see broader application than just the areas Hemphill brings up. I just wish he would touch on the big sacred cows of things such as habitual non-attendance and ways in which the congregation acts as enablers to sins such as those instead of leading toward holiness.

Did we baptize enough folks last year?

Some are aware of former SBC President Bobby Welch's promotion to have the convention baptize 1,000,000 people in one year. The report just came out- it didn't happen- in fact, baptisms went down.

I am concerned that we are missing the point when we reduce baptism down to a statistical goal, and forgetting the means by which it takes place (the call of God, the inward work of the Spirit, the regenerated heart, faith in Christ).

Maybe this is why the doctrine of God's call to salvation has been rejected by so many professing Christians- it gets in the way of our statistical aims!

For some encouraging analysis on this (yes, encouraging), check this out here.

The reality of tragedy

The news of the recent massacre at Virginia Tech hits close to home for me. I nearly went there as a student- it was the first college to accept me as a high school senior. Being from Virginia, of course I had friends and family who went there, including my soon-to-be sister-in-law. And VT has been the only reason to get excited about Virginia college sports for the last decade or so. To see even a glimpse of this beautiful campus converted into an actual warzone with mass killing is still surreal to me. My heart goes out to all Hokies, past and present.

We are reminded today of the brevity of life (we are but a mist), the futility of self-sovereignty, and the reality of evil. 33 souls went to judgment today, and I hope a number of those were redeemed by the blood of Christ- that even one grieving family is sensing in part right now the glorification of a child who belonged to Christ, and though experiencing great sorrow, not grieving as those who have no hope. If so, then I praise God that there were those ready to meet Him.

Some may look at events such as these and ask, "Where was God?" He was the same place he has been for the trillions and trillions of evil acts that have been committed throughout human history- storing up wrath until the proper time on His throne. He will serve His justice, rest assured. This will not be an unpunished evil. What should amaze us today, is that God provides the common grace that prevents the world from being so much worse than it actually is (and could be).

No, I don't understand it all- none of us will. But let us be faithful in praying for and sympathizing with the hurting, for this is what honors and glorifies Christ. One day, we will see face to face, but for now, we see through a glass darkly. Faith is often trusting God though you don't understand how or why. This earth is not heaven. Let us continue to wait with hope....

The Illusions of Success in Church

My friend, do not read this title and lament. There are most certainly real successes in the church, Praise God! There are souls that are saved, relationships healed, forgiveness granted, faith evident, God's glory exalted. God is at work among His people to accomplish the great redemption of lost sheep. No one should walk away from what follows with sour discouragement. We can thank God as long as we have breath for the ways in which the Gospel is faithfully preached and souls effected by the Holy Spirit all over the world.

Yet we must also beware what often passes for "success" in local churches. The most common form of this is obvious- the number of people that were "saved." I remember going to an evangelism conference for youth where some form of invitation was given, and every single person who stood up for it was pronounced (prior to any counsel at all) "saved." Really? How would you know? How could you be so sure, when Matthew 7:21-23 gives the sternest of warnings against those that will claim to know the Lord, yet are eternally lost?

Perhaps this is most telling by common results after many revivals. People who 2 days or 2 weeks ago claimed to have been saved by God want nothing to do with the church. This is often not just a person here, a person there- in some cases, it has been reported to be an overwhelming majority of "saved" persons. How could a person truly be saved if they do not love the family of God? John wrote half a book of the Bible devoted to that one subject!

I am afraid this mentality exists in America today that every single person who ever takes one step forward in a sanctuary during an invitation or raises even one hair on the finger is, without a doubt, saved and secure for eternity.

As one person put it, we have turned the church into a birthing station (or perhaps, a pre-mature birthing station) and forgotten it is to be the lifelong mission and ministry center of all who claim to have received the new birth.

Even pastors who appear to have the most "success" in terms of #'s of baptisms and so forth are in many cases seeing steep drops in the attendance of their worship services- despite pulling out all the stops to have all the laser lights, instrumentation, and cutting edge music.

The bottom line: people we affirm as Christians are hardly being led, encouraged, or taught the disciplines of living a Christian life. And even worse, we are quick to affirm them as Christians even before we have talked to them to ensure they know and understand the Gospel themselves.

Most invitations today are void of talk of sin, hell, death, rebellion, or the cross. It is more of an invitation to try to live God's way or just feeling guilt over your life- it is a salvation of works.

The bottom line is this: you can know that you are saved, if you know how you have been saved. True salvation comes by grace alone, not religious gestures or magic prayer words. How can you know if you've been saved? Your heart has been changed and you are different! And that is a success I hope we will see more and more of as the Word is preached, and as God moves in our land. The greatest threat to the church is not secularism. It is a quite careless, selfish shadow of Biblical Christianity.

I am not God (you knew that!). I do not know, in the end, who is truly saved and who isn't. But I do know what God's grace is like in another person's heart, for I have experienced it myself. When such grace is absent, I can't help but strongly doubt (actually fear is the better word) that it was never there to begin with.