12.31.07
Posted in Bruce at 12:12 pm by ebenezer
Left for Louisiana Wednesday AM - Cold & Frosted windshield. Arrived PM - raining & cool. Thursday mild | Friday nice (70’s). Left Louisiana late Saturday AM - mild & sun shinning. Arrived that evening in Atlanta - cool & raining. Sunday morning - cool & pouring down rain. Church was dry - unfortunately Dr. Stanley was out of town. Left Atlanta - still cool & pouring rain. Finally in Tennessee rain stopped. Arrived Salem PM - cold & frost settling in on the windshields. Woke up this AM - cold & frosted windshield | full circle. All in all it was a great trip. God was gracious in all of our travels. Tomorrow is a new day and a new year.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Bruce
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12.25.07
Posted in Bruce at 12:20 pm by ebenezer
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
HAPPY 2008!
Bruce & Cindy
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12.22.07
Posted in Bruce at 3:22 pm by ebenezer
What do you base your faith and practice upon? Is it upon men’s traditions or upon God’s infallible and inerrant absolute truth. In this post-modern world we live in we too often agree with them (just to avoid conflict): “you believe what you want and I will believe what I want” - w/o any regard for the truth. Do not allow yourself to do that. Examine what you believe and judge it in accordance to God’s Scripture. We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 - Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. I would encourage you to do that daily not to prove your position but to see what the word actually says and then making application in your life accordingly. Engage in the Truth War - the battle is raging!
Bruce
John MacArthur writes:
The Truth War is, after all, war. Warfare is always serious … and therefore it requires of us the utmost diligence.
What we desperately need today are “shepherds according to [God’s] heart, who will feed [believers] with knowledge and understanding” (Jeremiah 3:15; Acts 20:28-31). But it is every believer’s solemn duty to resist every attack on the truth, to abhor the very thought of falsehood, and not to compromise in any with the enemy, who is above all a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).
—– [The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007, p. xviii (adapted)] —–
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12.21.07
Posted in Other Noteworthies at 12:20 am by ebenezer
John L. Dagg
As intelligent beings, we may contemplate the omniscience of God with devout admiration; and as guilty beings we should fear and tremble before it. He sees the inmost recesses of the heart. The hateful thoughts which we are unwilling a fellow-worm should know, are all known to him, and every thought, word, and deed, he remembers, and will bring into judgment. How terrible is this attribute of the Great Judge, who will expose the secrets of every heart, and reward every man according to his works, though unobserved or forgotten by man!
But with all the awe which invests it, this attribute of the Divine Nature, is delightful to the pious man. He rejoices to say, Thou, God, seest me. He prays, Try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me into the way everlasting. Gladly he commits himself to the guidance of him who has all knowledge. Conscious of his own blindness and darkness, he knows not which way to take, or what is best for him; but he puts himself, with unwavering confidence, into the hands of the omniscient God.
—– [Manuel of Theology, Harrisonburg: Gano Books, 1982, p. 73-74] —–
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12.19.07
Posted in Quotes - Some Famous | Some Not So Famous at 12:10 pm by ebenezer
John Broadus
From the divine side, we see that the Scriptures teach an eternal election of men to eternal life simply out of God’s good pleasure.
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12.18.07
Posted in Other Noteworthies at 1:01 pm by ebenezer
John MacArthur
Character. It has an old-fashioned sound to it, like a faded relic of the Victorian era. We live in a materialistic culture where prestige, prosperity, and popularity are valued more than genuine integrity. In fact, personal character hardly seems to matter very much at all nowadays - at least in the realms of mass media, entertainment, politics, and pop culture.
Only a few select moral qualities are still prized by society at large. They are chiefly liberal community values such as diversity, tolerance, and broad-mindedness. Sometimes they are even called virtures. But when traits like those are blended with hyprocisy or employed to justify some other iniquity, they become mere caricatures of authenic virtue.
Meanwhile, genine individual virtue - the stuff of true, timeless, praiseworthy character is made - has been formally relegated to the sphere of “personal” things best not talked about openly. …
According to the Bible. God designed us to be men and women of exemplary character. He repeatedly commands us to pursue what is virtuous and shun what is evil. From cover to cover in Scripture, iniquity is condemned and virtue exalted.
Clearly, we are supposed to be men and women of excellent character. We’re commanded to “hold fast what is good [and] abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22). …
Truly excellent character is actually a reflection of the moral nature of God Himself. For that reason, all virtures are interdependent and closely related. And all of them are the fruit of God’s grace.
—– [The Quest for Character, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2006, p. 12-13] —–
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12.14.07
Posted in Other Noteworthies at 9:48 am by ebenezer
Dr. Mohler’s Blog
Richard Dawkins appears quite comfortable with his status as the world’s most influential apostle of atheism. He can rest his atheist laurels on the reputation of his best-selling book, The God Delusion, and his incessant advocacy of atheism in the media worldwide. To date, Professor Dawkins has demonstrated a take-no-prisoners approach to pressing his case, arguing that parents who inculcate religious beliefs within their own children are guilty of a form of child abuse.
And yet, it seems that Dawkins now wants to call himself a “cultural Christian.” The BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation] reports that Dawkins now wants the traditions of cultural Christianity and plans to sing Christmas carols this season “along with everybody else.” Now, why would an atheist want to sing Christmas carols?
The BBC reports that Professor Dawkins’ comments came in response to accusations by a Member of Parliament that the nation was avoiding references to Christmas due to political correctness.
From the BBC report:
Prof Dawkins, who has frequently spoken out against creationism and religious fundamentalism, replied: “I’m not one of those who wants to stop Christian traditions.
“This is historically a Christian country. I’m a cultural Christian in the same way many of my friends call themselves cultural Jews or cultural Muslims.
“So, yes, I like singing carols along with everybody else. I’m not one of those who wants to purge our society of our Christian history.
“If there’s any threat these sorts of things, I think you will find it comes from rival religions and not from atheists.”
The thought of Richard Dawkins singing any carols with explicit Christian content is difficult to hold — unless the Oxford professor intends to sing of a faith he does not profess.
Dawkins expanded on those comments in an article published December 13, 2007 by The New Statesman. In this article Dawkins explains that Christmas is a part of his nation’s history and culture, and thus to be acknowledged, if not celebrated, by all.
He even threw some barbs toward the United States, suggesting that political correctness and a fear of offending anyone’s sensitivities was leading to a denial of the cultural significance of Christmas. All this is unnecessary, he insists:
For better or worse, ours is historically a Christian culture, and children who grow up ignorant of biblical literature are diminished, unable to take literary allusions, actually impoverished. I am no lover of Christianity, and I loathe the annual orgy of waste and reckless reciprocal spending, but I must say I’d rather wish you “Happy Christmas” than “Happy Holiday Season“.
Now, don’t believe for a moment that Dawkins has gone soft on Christian claims about Christmas. He devotes the greater part of his article to an effort to debunk the biblical claims about Christ and Christmas. He argues:
Most but not all scholars think, on balance, that a charismatic wandering preacher called Jesus (or Joshua) probably was executed during the Roman occupation, though all objective historians agree that the evidence is weak. Certainly, nobody takes seriously the legend that he was born in December. Late Christian tradition simply attached Jesus’s birth to a long-established and convenient winter solstice festival.
Well, the claim that Jesus was born in December is indeed a legend — a claim not found in the Bible. The claims that actually are found in the Bible, starting with the virgin conception of Christ and His birth in Bethlehem, are central and essential to the Gospel storyline and to the Christian faith.
We can only wonder which Christmas carols are Richard Dawkins’ favorites. The sight of an avowed atheist joining in the Christmas chorus is a bit hard to imagine. At the same time, there is something comforting about the idea that even the world’s most famous atheist will move his lips to the songs that celebrate Christ’s birth. Perhaps those words will move from his lips to his head and his heart. We should pray that it might be so.
Merry Christmas, Professor Dawkins.
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12.13.07
Posted in Bruce at 12:52 am by ebenezer
2 Corinthians 5:17
If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things hve become new.
1) One of the most notable characteristics about Christianity is that people change.
2) What makes the alcoholic quit drinking?
3) What makes the abuser stop being abusive?
4) What makes the woman (some cases - young girl) dressing provocatively begin to dress modestly?
5) What makes the blasphmer cringe when they hear God’s name taken in vain?
6) What makes the one sold out to the world now commit totally to God?
7) What made you change from your old ways to following Jesus Christ?
[**] What? What was It? The answer I would give = Being born again! - Where are you with that? - What are you doing concerning that? - How are you addressing that issue?
I think the only anwser to these questions is Jesus Christ - I wonder what you think?
Bruce
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12.11.07
Posted in Noted Magazine Articles at 2:55 pm by ebenezer
Leadership Journal, Fall 2007
Why Many Young Adults Quit
One in four young Protestants has walked away from the church.
About three-fourths of young people quit church. “Tell me something I don’t know,” you say.
Well, Lifeway Research (Southern Baptist) says they know the reasons why 70 percent of 18-year-olds who attended church regularly in high school quit by age 23: they don’t like it. And by age 30, 34 percent still have not rebounded. That means one in four young Protestants has left the church.
On their laundry list of reasons: they wanted a break (27%), church is too judgmental (26%), they moved away to college (25%), busy with work (23%).
On the positive side, the 30 percent who kept attending church cited solid spiritual reasons, including: “it’s vital to my relationship with God” (65%) and church “helps guide my everyday decisions” (58%).
Lifeway’s Ed Stetzer blames the losses on sorry youth ministry: “Too many youth groups are holding tanks with pizza,” Stetzer said. “There’s no life transformation taking place. People are looking for a faith that can change them and be part of changing the world.”
“Unless religious leaders take younger adults more seriously, the future of American religion is in doubt,” said Bowling Alone author and sociologist Robert Wuthnow, whose new book, After the Baby Boomers, was published in September.
The proportion of young adults identifying with mainline churches is about half what it was a generation ago, and evangelicals have barely held their own, Wuthnow said.
Posted in the USA Today newspaper on August 6, 2007.
Copyright © 2007 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
Fall 2007, Vol. XXVIII, No. 4, Page 15
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Posted in Quotes - Some Famous | Some Not So Famous at 12:13 pm by ebenezer
Where the gospel is fully and powerfully preached, with the Holy [Spirit] sent down from heaven, our churches do not only hold their own, but win converts; but when that which contitutes their strength is gone - we mean when the gospel is concealed, and the life of prayer is slighted - the whole thing becomes a mere form and fiction. For this our heart is sore grieved.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon
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