Remembering those who protect us

According to the weather reports over-sea's, it is 122 degrees in Iraq right now - and the low will be 111! Our troops need our prayers for strength, endurance, and safety. Not only that but please pray for our President and the men & women who are counseling him, also on the local level, please pray for these individuals. Let us covenant to pray for those who lead and protect us!

Astronomers say Pluto not a planet

Leading astronomers have decided that Pluto is not a planet. What do we tell our children now? Honey... they took away Pluto.

The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World

Running September 29-October 1 in Minneapolis, it's theme is Above All Earthly Powers: The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World. Those attending will have the privilege of learning from John Piper, David Wells, D.A. Carson, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, and Voddie Baucham, and from two panel discussions concerning “practical expressions of Christian living in a postmodern world.”

According to Dr. Piper, the specific "aim of this conference is to call the church to a radical and very old vision of the Man, Jesus Christ—fully God, fully sovereign, fully redeeming by his substitutionary, wrath-absorbing death, fully alive and reigning, fully revealed for our salvation in the inerrant Holy Bible, and fully committed to being preached with human words and beautifully described with doctrinal propositions based on biblical paragraphs." Get the complete article from Piper here & check out David F. Wells, author of the book Above All Earthly Pow'rs, also an exclusive interview with David Wells here.

"Worthy are You"

I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. 2) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?" 3) And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4) Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5) and one of the elders said to me, "Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals." 6) And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7) And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8) When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9) And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10) "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." 11) Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12) saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." 13) And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." 14) And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen " And the elders fell down and worshiped.” Revelation 5:1-14

Applying the great truths of Scripture

2 Peter 1:2-7
2 Corinthians 3:3-5


God's eternally sovereign choice of certain ones to be conformed to the image of His Son. What is meant by "foreknowledge"? A.W. Pink answers in part "when used in connection with God, it often signifies to regard with more favor, denoting not mere cognition but an affection for the object in view"


This is merely an umbrella view of God’s Foreknowledge so with that in mind, take some time and look up the following passages.




Notice out how each passage shows God regarding with favor

OT: Ex 33:17; Duet 9:24; Jer 1:5; Hos 8:4; Amo 3:2
NT: I Cor 13.12,Matt 7.23; Jn 10.4; II Tim 2.19


1.The Foreknowledge of God should: Serve as a comfort; Rom 8.28
-God has always acted for the good of those whom he called.
Ex: look back into past days before creation, God foreknew and predestined his people to be conformed to the image of His Son;
Ex: look at the recent past you will find that God called and justified his people, the same people He had predestined;
Ex: now look toward the future when Christ returns you see that God has determined to give perfect, glorified bodies, to these who believe in Christ. Rom 6.5

Now think about our present circumstances? Do we respond to them as Paul eludes to his experiences in Rom 8.33-37.


2. The Foreknowledge of God should: Serve as a reason to praise God; Eph 1.5-6; I Thess. 1.2-4
- the reason Paul can give thanks to God for those believers was he knew God is ultimately responsible for their salvation and has in fact chosen them to be saved.
I Thess. 2.13; Paul is delighting and praising God for these believers, because he knew that their salvation was ultimately due to God's choice of them. When understood biblically the doctrine of election does increase praise for salvation and diminishes any pride that thought we were due the credit.

3. The Foreknowledge of God should: Serve as an encouragement to evangelism; II Tim 2.8-10
- we see from what Paul understood about God choosing some people to be saved, and he sees this as an encouragement to preach the gospel, even in the face of suffering, he was also confident that God's electing of some would render Paul some success for his evangelism, therefore he was also bold.


I pray that this would serve us not nessasarly to be merely an academic approach, although it’s highly important to be knowledgeable of the Attributes of God and to view them as a whole not separating one from the other; which is impossible. Let us apply these great truths unto obedience as we walk even as Christ walked, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.”

I've often heard the phrase that "most of the reformed communities in our country would go to great lengths i.e. drive across the plains or across the country to try to convert others to a reformed view of God and not even cross the street to share the gospel.” This rings with great conviction in my life as I ponder the times I have been guilty of this charge. Let us all the more be diligent to share Christ!

Vicious Dog Pack Kills Gator

Nature can be cruel, but there is a raw beauty and a certain justice manifested within that cruelty. The alligator, one of the oldest and ultimate predators, can still fall victim to the team work inherent in the tight-knit social 'pack' structure bred into canines. Note the photo below, where the Alpha dog has a muzzle-hold on the gator preventing it breathing, while the remainder of the pack prevents the beast from rolling.


Preview this privately to determine if the contents are suitable for children.

A Question posed by a friend...

This is a good series of questions to be pondered by all, namely the way we would repond to a potenial non-believer who may ask these kinds of questions. Do we respond arrogantly? no, but we need to take seriously the notion that, we are to "handle correctly the word of Truth" and this comes by communing with our God and the studying of His Word and prayer, ohh...that we would pray. This was very convicting to me. We are to combat today's issues, questions and struggles through the lens of Scripture alone. Often times I'm more apt to look to myself, especially when I have stored up head knowledge that has yet to be applied. How about you? Please take the time to read Mike's string of question's to us all.

Taken from Mike Lee's blog, entitled "Miracle Max And Depravity"

The following line was taken from one of my all time favorite movies, "The Princess Bride"-

"Well, it just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead." - Miracle Max

Mostly dead? Hmm.....Can someone be "mostly dead"? That leads me to the great question, "are unbelievers, their souls that is, MOSTLY dead or are they COMPLETLY dead prior to being born again?".

If a believer is MOSTLY dead prior to regeneration and is able to call out to Christ to save him, where did this ability to call out for salvation come from? Did it come from himself?

If a believer is not able to call out to Christ because he is ALL dead prior to regeneration, then how is He able to call out to Him?

Before you answer I encourage you to meditate on the following verse, from 1 Jn 4 "We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God", yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen can not love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command; whoever loves God must also love his brother.".... Just a little Humble Orthodoxy reminder :-)