A Short Road to Heresy
2009-06-27

I started an entry yesterday evening, but I had to stop because it was time to go to our Murder Mystery Dinner Theater at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine. We had reservations with Rachel and Justin, and the doors opened at 7pm. It was 6pm, and I was less than halfway through my entry. I saved part of it and will carry on from there this morning.

I had started off with some comments about the events of Thursday, but I'm not going there today. If you're my friend on Facebook, you can read my thoughts in a note I published Thursday night (or Friday morning...I can't remember). If you aren't my Facebook friend and want to be, contact me, and I'll tell you who I am there.

Ok, on to what's really important.



Here's a prayer request for today from the PPT site.

Missionary killed by Al-Qaida. Al-Jazeera TV reports Al-Qaida's North Africa branch is claiming responsibility for the killing of an American aid worker who was shot dead this week in Mauritania's capital. The group says 39-year-old Christopher Ervin Leggett was killed for allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.

How much longer, Oh, Lord?



Psalm for today: 78:8-37

Heaven forbid they should be like their parents,
bullheaded and bad,
A fickle and faithless bunch
who never stayed true to God.

9-16 The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth,
ran off when the battle began.
They were cowards to God's Covenant,
refused to walk by his Word.
They forgot what he had done�
marvels he'd done right before their eyes.
He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents
in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan.
He split the Sea and they walked right through it;
he piled the waters to the right and the left.
He led them by day with a cloud,
led them all the night long with a fiery torch.
He split rocks in the wilderness,
gave them all they could drink from underground springs;
He made creeks flow out from sheer rock,
and water pour out like a river.

17-20 All they did was sin even more,
rebel in the desert against the High God.
They tried to get their own way with God,
clamored for favors, for special attention.
They whined like spoiled children,
"Why can't God give us a decent meal in this desert?
Sure, he struck the rock and the water flowed,
creeks cascaded from the rock.
But how about some fresh-baked bread?
How about a nice cut of meat?"

21-31 When God heard that, he was furious�
his anger flared against Jacob,
he lost his temper with Israel.
It was clear they didn't believe God,
had no intention of trusting in his help.
But God helped them anyway, commanded the clouds
and gave orders that opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down showers of manna to eat,
he gave them the Bread of Heaven.
They ate the bread of the mighty angels;
he sent them all the food they could eat.
He let East Wind break loose from the skies,
gave a strong push to South Wind.
This time it was birds that rained down�
succulent birds, an abundance of birds.
He aimed them right for the center of their camp;
all round their tents there were birds.
They ate and had their fill;
he handed them everything they craved on a platter.
But their greed knew no bounds;
they stuffed their mouths with more and more.
Finally, God was fed up, his anger erupted�
he cut down their brightest and best,
he laid low Israel's finest young men.

32-37 And�can you believe it?�they kept right on sinning;
all those wonders and they still wouldn't believe!
So their lives dribbled off to nothing�
nothing to show for their lives but a ghost town.
When he cut them down, they came running for help;
they turned and pled for mercy.
They gave witness that God was their rock,
that High God was their redeemer,
But they didn't mean a word of it;
they lied through their teeth the whole time.
They could not have cared less about him,
wanted nothing to do with his Covenant.

Serious question here...how are we, who are centuries removed from the stories of the Bible, expected to be faithful when the people who were right there when all those miracles happened forgot so quickly and forsook Him??? I'm just sayin'...

"The fathers were not faithfully and stedfastly devoted to God, although they had solemnly sworn allegiance to him. The Papists make use of this passage as an argument to prove that man has the power of bending his own heart, and directing it either to good or evil as he pleases; but this is an inference from it which cannot stand examination for a single moment. Although the prophet justly blames those who have not directed their heart aright, his object is not expressly to speak of what men can do of themselves. It is the special work of God to turn to himself the hearts of men by the secret influence of his Holy Spirit. It does not however follow from this, that they will be exempted from blame, when their own lust and depravity draw them away from God."

"In the first place, we must lay aside all obstinacy and take his yoke upon us; and, secondly, we must clothe ourselves with the spirit of meekness, bring the affections of the heart to the obedience of God, and follow after uprightness, and that not with the fervour of a mere transient impulse, but with unfeigned and unwavering stedfastness."

(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)


Tabletalk Magazine

"Marching Orders"
Weekend Reading

Q. What are the outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption?

A. The outward and ordinary means whereby Christ communicateth to us the benefits of redemption are, his ordinances, especially the Word, sacraments, and prayer; all of which are made effectual to the elect for salvation.
(Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q&A 88)

"Communicateth??" Egad.

"Presbyterian and Reformed churches are ruled by elders." Presbyterian comes from the Greek word presbyteros, which means "elder." These churches are ruled by men whose duties are spelled out in Paul's "Pastoral" epistles, as well as in James and 1 Peter.

Many people lose interest when we start talking about church government. But it is a major theme in the New Testament writings.

"Christ's church must ensure that the souls of God's people are cared for, that they are protected from heresy as well as from those who confess their faith in Christ but who still behave like pagans."

In Acts 15, we see the famous "Jerusalem Council," which met to decide what to do about growing problems surrounding Jewish-Gentile relations in the church. There were important decisions regarding promoting the cause of Christ and maintaining peace withing the body.

Jesus left the church with these final words: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." "Christ's church is to be about the business of preaching the gospel, teaching the nations all that He commanded, as well as baptizing in the name of the triune God. In fact, says Jesus, this is how the church is to make disciples."

Is it now? Is that what Jesus said? Personally, I think it's stretching the interpretation to say that Jesus said that the means of making disciples was baptizing them. The way I read it, it's a progression of events. We make disciples, we baptize them, then we teach them. And I reject the notion that just because this is the last thing Jesus said, it is automatically the most important. Let's go back to the question Jesus was asked earlier in his life on earth. What is the greatest commandment? His answer was not the "Great Commission." His answer was an almost verbatim quote of Deuteronomy 6. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." This relates to our individual worship of God and ties to the corporate setting as well. The second greatest command, "Love your neighbor as yourself," is the one that relates to interpersonal relationships, as well as evangelism and discipleship.

All that being said, we cannot neglect either one of those two great commands. But we, the Church, must get them in the right order!! Evangelism and discipleship are NOT the highest priority in the church! Worshipping and loving God are. There are many churches in our world that have this backwards. They may be growing in leaps and bounds, giving them the false appearance of being "successful." But I promise, if you look deeper, you find, ironically, no depth. You will find a bunch of shallow (if at all) Christians who have no idea what they believe, but, by golly, they are ok, because they are a member of (insert megachurch name here)!

*ahem* Sorry about that rant...but it's a topic that is near and dear to me. I'll step off my soapbox now and continue my reading...

Jesus instituted the "Lord's Supper" as a "sacrament" (is that word ever in the Bible??) on his last night with his disciples. He instructed them/us to do this "in remembrance" of him and his death until his returns. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11, summarizes this night and the practice of this Supper.

Once again, the author of this article gets it wrong. "The church's primary mission is to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments. This is how the church will make disciples of the nations."

And now, he borders on heresy! "In light of this, the Westminster Shorter Catechism summarizes the church's mission in question 88, reminding us that the ordinary way in which people become Christians is through the preaching of the gospel (which creates faith), the sacraments (which confirm and strengthen faith), and prayer (in which God is asked to bless the ordinary means of grace).

I'm not sure I have time to write about everything that's wrong with that paragraph! But I'll start with this: First of all, preaching the gosepl most definitely does NOT "create faith!" Only God creates faith. It really surprises me that this drivel escaped the editors of Tabletalk. This is not even proper Reformed theology, to think that preaching "creates faith!" And then, the context implies that faith, along with the sacraments, is how people become Christians! Could this be any more Catholic?? Let's not go down that path, people. It took us centuries to escape the heresy that we have to do any kind of "work" to be saved.

Wow. It's been a long time since I so vehemently disagreed with an article in Tabletalk. Oh, well. I'll move on to my prayer, now. I need it.



Father, I thank you for our minds that enable us to think about things. I thank you that you given me a heart to examine what I read, so that I don't just believe the "latest and greatest" thing that comes along. There is nothing greater than you, and there can be no improvement on your grace and mercy, no matter what men say or do.

I do pray for the person who wrote that article and for anyone else who might read it that they may not be taken in by what is surely almost heresy. Let us know and be firm in the fact that only you create faith in us. Yes, it is the preaching of the gospel that you have ordained as the means by which we hear of Jesus and, subsequently, believe on him. However, the faith is not created by this preaching. It is created by you and given to us by only you! I praise you for this truth.

Let us also not ever again fall victim to the teaching that sacraments are necessary for salvation! For one thing, you never even used that word. And there is no indication in Scripture that I must partake of the Lord's Supper for my salvation to be secure. I also praise you for that, Father. There is no "work" that I must do that seals my salvation. The only "works" that I need are those which make salvation evident! And I pray that, as your child, I would bear fruit that would be evidence of that sonship.

I also pray, Lord, based on the Psalm above, that I might lay aside any obstinacy on my part. Let me not be stubborn when it comes to obeying you. Let me clothe myself with a spirit of meekness, just as Christ did while on earth. Give me humility, and, as always, I pray that you would help me show more love to all who are in the Body of Christ.



May we all be diligent to study the Sciptures and know what they teach. I believe in the individual responsibility of every believer to know what the Bible teaches, in order to combat false teachings when they arise. Let us never just accept something just because the preacher says it. And, by the way, that is in no way to be taken against our pastor. I have found our pastor to be pretty well Biblically sound.

Grace and peace, friends.



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