OK...moving my blog!

The few people who read my blog have not voted as to the name change, but I am changing the name of my blog to "Coram Christo." Today, my brother Jonathan Anderson (if he updated his blog, I'd link to it!) told me he liked that name, so I am changing it.

So...

Coram Christo

Coram Christo

I don't know what it is about us Reformed folks and Latin. You'd think we'd hate it because it smacks of Rome ;-) Seriously, I was thinking about the phrase "coram Deo" and thought of a slightly different term: "Coram Christo" (before the face of Christ)

2 Cor. 3:18- "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

2 Cor. 4:6- "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

Then, I started thinking, "Wouldn't that make a great blog title!" No one has taken it...

And I also thought that Carmen Christi (A Hymn to Christ) would make a great title as well. That is want my life to be...

Eph. 5:18-20 "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ."

I mean, the current blog title is fine, and I of course still desire to be taught and stable, but...what do you all think? Should I change my blog name?

Bunyan on Assurance

HT: Patrick Chan

Do these things characterize your life?

1. Are you burdened with your sin, recognizing it as an exceedingly bitter thing?
2. Do you run from your sin as you would a deadly serpent?
3. Do you recognize and flee from the insufficiency of your own righteousness in the sight of God?
4. Do you cry to the Lord Jesus to save you?
5. Do you see more worth and merit in one drop of Christ’s blood to save you, than in all the sins of the world to condemn you?
6. Are you tender of sinning against Jesus?
7. Is Jesus’ name, person, and undertakings more precious to you than the glory of the world?
8. Is faith in Christ precious to you (as a means to connect you to Christ)?
9. Do you savor Christ in his Word, and do you leave all the world for his sake?
10. Are you willing (with God’s help) to run in harm’s way for his name?
11. Are his saints precious to you?

1 Cor. 1:30-31 "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, 'LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.'"

Assurance of Faith Examined- James Williamson

The Love of Christ in the Gospel- Jim Savastio

1689 Confession of Faith (Chapter 18) Assurance of Grace and Salvation- Jim Savastio

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets...

"A three-foot high tablet romantically dubbed 'Gabriel's Revelation' could challenge the uniqueness of the idea of the Christian resurrection. The tablet appears to date authentically to the years just before the birth of Jesus and yet — at least according to one Israeli scholar — announces the raising of a Messiah after three days in the grave. If true, this could mean that Jesus' followers had access to a well-established paradigm when they decreed that Christ himself rose on the third day — and it might even hint that they they could have applied it in their grief after their master was crucified."

"This, in turn, undermines one of the strongest literary arguments employed by Christians over centuries to support the historicity of the Resurrection (in which they believe on faith): the specificity and novelty of the idea that the Messiah would die on a Friday and rise on a Sunday. Who could make such stuff up? But, as Knohl told TIME, maybe the Christians had a model to work from. The idea of a 'dying and rising Messiah appears in some Jewish texts, but until now, everyone thought that was the impact of Christianity on Judaism' he says. 'But for the first time, we have proof that it was the other way around. The concept was there before Jesus.' If so, he goes on, 'This should shake our basic view of Christianity... What happens in the New Testament [could have been] adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier Messiah story.'"

full story

Luke 24
18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered and said to Him, "Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?"
19 And He said to them, "What things?" And they said to Him, "The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people,
20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him.
21 "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.
22 "But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning,
23 and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.
24 "Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see."
25 And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
26 "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"
27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Acts 2
22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--
23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
24 "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.
25 "For David says of Him,
'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE;
FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.
26 'THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED;
MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;
27 BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES,
NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.
28 'YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE;
YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'
29 "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
30 "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE,
31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY.
32 "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses."

The Gospel of Acts

This morning, I started reading Acts 14, and verse 3 really caught my attention.

"Therefore they spent a long time there speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands."

You'd think an English major would notice something like this... Who in this verse was testifying to the word of His grace? It doesn't say WERE, it says WAS. The one testifying to the word of His grace and granting signs and wonders is the Lord Jesus Himself!

My pastor made an argument in his introduction to the book of Acts that has been confirmed over and over, both in the Word preached and in my own reading. It especially is clear to me in this verse. He said that the best title for the book is not the Acts of the Holy Spirit nor even the Acts of the Apostles. The best title would be the Acts of Jesus through His Apostles! After all, Jesus did not tell His disciples "you will build My church" but "I will build My church."

Now, I am not endorsing the emerging church, but I have to admit that calling a church-planting organization "Acts 29" is thought-provoking. If we thought of ourselves as continuing in the same mission that Christ gave in Acts 1:8 ("you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth"), there would be a lot more focus on Christ, His death and resurrection, and His current reign at the Father's right hand. Who needs gimmicks and games and entertainment when we have the powerful Lord Christ, who is building His church?

I am reminded of a statement pastor David King gave at a conference I attended: "The greatest crime of the pulpit is to withhold Christ from sinners." So true...

There is a hymn that is from Red Mountain Music's Gadsby Hymnal project that is pertinent here:

Christ, or Else I Die
Words - William Hammond, 1719-1783

Gracious Lord, incline Thy ear; My requests vouchsafe to hear;
Hear my never-ceasing cry; Give me Christ, or else I die.

Wealth and honor I disdain; Earthly comforts, Lord, are vain;
These can never satisfy: Give me Christ, or else I die.

All unholy and unclean; I am nothing but sin;
On thy mercy I rely; Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost freely save the lost; In Thy grace alone I trust.
With my earnest suit comply; Give me Christ, or else I die.

Thou dost promise to forgive all who in Thy Son believe;
Lord, I know Thou cannot lie; Give me Christ or else I die.

Pilgrim's Progress Audiodrama

When I recently visited the Creation Museum, I bought an audiodrama of Pilgrim's Progress. You can also buy it online here. I heartily recommend it!!!!

Even the Devil is God's Devil

I disagree with John Hagee in many areas, but as one who believes in the absolute sovereignty of God over His creation (and the absolute responsibility of sinful man before a holy God), I believe Hagee was spot on when he said that Hitler was fulfilling God's purposes. Unlike Hagee, though, I don't claim to know why God ordained the Holocaust to happen. Yes, Hitler was totally responsible, and yes, God was totally in control. Both truths must be upheld at all costs.

No wonder our society asks, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" when we instead should be asking, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" We have demoted God to a deistic being who is more the product of history than the Lord of history. We have also forgotten that all of us stand guilty before a holy God, and every one of our sins will be punished, either in Christ's death on the cross or in the sinner's eternal torment in Hell.

Here's a radical thought: the murderer or homosexual or moralist or liar or gossip who has not repented and bowed the knee to King Jesus will spend eternity in Hell, just like Hitler and Osama bin Laden.

I wonder who McCain thinks was ultimately in charge on 9/11?

McCain Backer Hagee Said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will
Unapologetic Hagee Says Hitler Statement Was "Mischaracterized"