Reformed Blogging

It's no secret that I actually hate the Christmas season. I don't get excited about Christmas coming any time soon compared to the celebration of the Reformation. Is it because of some alleged pagan influences and because the great Charles H. Spurgeon as well as other Puritans condemned it? No. My stand is not based on the Puritans. I don't condemn anyone who thinks about having Christmas celebrations to commemorate the Birth of Christ but take note of this fact:  Jesus was not born on December 25 . Jesus' date of birth is not even recorded in history and Christmas was once celebrated on January 6 by Pope Julius I. Again, more popery and deceit involved isn't it? I could talk about the stupidity of the Christmas season maybe it's best called XMas season. Christmas is probably the most hypocritical time of the year aside from the 40 day Lenten season. It's very easy to put a good boy/good girl face during Christmas but we ought to do what's right for

It's annoying to say that it doesn't matter what your belief system is as long as your principles matter. But here's a question I'd like to throw on their faces, "Where's your basis for your principles?" I would agree some atheists are morally good but what's the basis of their morality? If truth is relative and we must have complete tolerance then why get mad when somebody's point of view disagrees with yours? We have homosexuals who demand for complete tolerance but they get mad when a person refuses to bake a cake. Homosexual bakers even have the right to deny a Christian couple their cake but the reverse isn't allowed. Where's the complete tolerance? Here's the problem with sinful man. Sinful man wants to decide on the "truth". 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 warns of this very powerful truth about sinful man: "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of t

Studying the Greek and what it stands for is absolutely important. What I found out is that Roman Catholic apologists may either nicely point out or rudely point out that the word "kath holEs" appears in the Greek text which is translated as "done whole" and the words "eklEsiai" which means "called out". The word eklesia where we get the word "Iglesia" means church or called out assembly. In due fairness, they're right that the word "kath holEs" is found in the Greek but I'd like to point out what's wrong with the argument. Let's tackle on what the word "Catholic" means. Older versions of the Apostle's Creed (which was named as such to summarize the beliefs of the apostles but not written by the apostles themselves) called the church "Catholic". Catholic is simply a synonym for universal yet the early believers in Jesus Christ were not called Catholics but CHRISTIANS in Antioch (Act

Back then, I remembered having read the book "Babylon: Mystery Religion" written by Ralph Woodrow. The book itself had an informative side. Years later, I wanted to personally get a copy of that book only to find out he's written "Babylonian Connection?" which somewhat made sense. But what disappointed me was that Woodrow himself fell into ecumenism. But while reading his book, it did expose some of Alexander Hislop's logical fallacies such as the frequent use of guilt by association. Here's another issue that I have with many Christian publications with their anti-Catholic literature. Exposing Roman Catholicism is also a must but they don't bother to refuse Roman Catholicism in a scholarly way. While books like "Catholics and Evangelical Beliefs Compared" and "Truth Encounter" are very scholarly but "The Two Babylons" isn't. When I decided to read the book myself there's just a lot of contradictions which c

Let me ask the question to my readers. Do you know what repentance means? If not, I'd like to tell them that repentance is from the Greek word metanoneia which means a change of mind  which results in a change in purpose and behavior. What I'm angry with right now is that people have distorted the meaning of repentance. Many think to repent is to do penance. As a former Roman Catholic, I used to think repentance and penance were the same thing. No, it's not the same thing. Repentance is not about lighting candles, saying prayers in vain repetition and praying to various dead people like Mary the earthly mother of Jesus. I'm afraid but this is a real problem that penance is nothing more than self-punishment. It's just like the wicked King Ahab sitting on the dust with sackcloth but his heart was not truly repentant. It was nothing but show business. This my friends is a distorted repentance. I believe that it's this twisted definition of repentance that ha

Here's a clip from the movie "God's Not Dead". Atheists say that it's one sided and biased but look who's talking. I always gave a thought on this stressful truth. Look, I already spent all my time gathering evidence even from former atheists. I started gathering for more evidence that life is no accident and science provides it but why do atheists want to continue in their rebellion and insist that God doesn't exist? The video above shows the timeless truth that atheists really hate God but they don't want to readily admit it .  What does the Bible say about this and why do atheists want to discredit the Bible? The Bible knows everything about our sin. Here's what the Bible says about atheism and it speaks so true about them: Romans 1:20-32 - "For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excu

Idolatry is really lucrative and profitable business. But just because something is profitable and popular doesn't mean it's good or bad. The problem with idolatry is not about it being profitable and popular but because it goes against God's Law. Here's some verses about idolatry that I find to expose such stupidity: Isaiah 44:17-18 - " And the residue thereof he maketh a god , even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god. They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand." Jeremiah 10:3-5 - "For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they mu

As I read through John Gill's commentary in Numbers today my mind was struck with the thought of lazy people having lazy pastors. It's been a few weeks and I find myself slowing down my reading to savor the Word of God. I thought about how quack Baptist preacher Andy Stanley badmouthed expository preaching to be "lazy and cheating" but look who's talking. What pains me to think is that more people want out-of-context preaching because it's easier. I think such people are also too lazy to study their Bible.  Whenever I get into a discussion turned debate with someone on the Scripture that person is always taking things out of their context. I'm still reminded of my debate with some person who kept insisting that salvation doesn't necessarily bring forth sanctification. Even after I showed him every verse I could he still dismissed me and started playing dirty with me. It was a very frustrating experience. Plus, I'm not surprised that person hat

I'm getting tired of arguing with the "Easy Christianity" movement. They have all the nerve to slander me as a Pharisee or whatever false accusation they can give. Their malicious attacks launched with a lot of logical fallacies involved such as the strawman attacks (claiming to have beaten me), Ad Hominem, poisoning the well and Nom Sequitur attacks just to name a few. Worse, they have taken the Scriptures straight out of their context (which also drives me dizzy listening to it) and even if I show to them the Scriptures in context they still refuse to believe. They want to defend their damning doctrine of  carnal "Christianity". The doctrine of the carnal Christian says that one can have faith but that faith may never produce works. They say that these works aren't evidence of salvation. Honestly, where do you find that in Scripture? Doesn't Jesus already warn in Matthew 7:16-20 saying:  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes o

I'm not satisfied reading the Bible cover to cover and not getting to understand more of the Hebrew, the Greek and the context. I've already finished Matthew Henry based on Charles H. Spurgeon's advice that every minister must read it carefully at least once. It's now time for me to proceed to chew on harder meat. The John Gill Commentary is a pretty long verse by verse commentary with an exposition of the Greek and Hebrew. If devotionals were milk and reading the Bible cover the first time was meat, a comprehensive Bible study is tough meat full of tendons. Do you know some of the better tasting meat are chewy and full of tendons? Reading through Gill's commentary means I might be reading through just one to three chapters a day as opposed to me trying to read as much as I can. But slow reading means I'm reflecting on the exposition in such a level. As someone who loves expository preaching, I would say the whole sermon preparation is no easy task.

I'm just amazed at how many Jews until now continue to reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their only Messiah. You even have Pope Francis telling them that they don't need to be born again. I'm sorry but the Bible clearly states that whether you are Jew or Gentile that you must be born again (John 3:3). John 8:44 has Jesus calling the unsaved Jews as children of the Devil because they're not saved. By today's incredibly stupid standards anybody who speaks against the Jewish faith could be charged with anti-Semitism. By postmodern standards, Jesus can be charged with anti-Semitism. When I think of the possibility of a Third Jewish Temple, I just want to go on a Rapture hype. I want to start setting dates but I couldn't forget how December 21, 2012 four years ago was another false Rapture date. I guess some people expected the Trumpet to sound last December 21, 2012 and there was no Trumpet. I wished it happened last December 21, 2012 but that would nullify what Je

I remembered reading through "The Gospel According to Jesus", "Hard to Believe" and  listening to Ray Comfort's lectures "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversion". All these books present a non-watered down presentation of the Gospel according to Jesus. But there's one huge problem: no matter how much I present the Gospel and give evidence for my faith, some just refuse to believe. Somehow, I wish I could change people's minds from their unbelief to their belief. I really wish I could change people's minds whenever I tell them the truth or present the evidence of my faith. I could go ahead and gather all the evidence of all sciences to prove the Bible is real, I could study exegesis to get Scriptures into context than out of context and yet the person still doesn't believe. It's very easy to compare that the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Even after all the twelve plagues have hit Egypt he still refused to

It's very easy for me to say, "Lord, why do you not strike now?" whenever I'm injured. When I think of how often I say, "Lord why not now?" I also remember when the disciples asked for fire from Heaven in Luke 9:54. The response was that Jesus rebuked the disciplines for making such a petition. It's time to think about God's longsuffering. Arthur W. Pink said in "God's Long Suffering": God's Long Suffering    How wondrous is God's patience with the world today. On every side people are sinning with a high hand. The Divine law is trampled under foot and God Himself openly despised. It is truly amazing that He does not instantly strike dead those who so brazenly defy Him.  Why does He not suddenly cut off the haughty infidel and blatant blasphemer, as He did Ananias and Sapphira? (Acts 5:1-10).  Why does He not cause the earth to open its mouth and devour the persecutors of His people, so that, like Dathan and Abir

It can't be denied that militant atheists think that to be an atheist means to reach unlimited human progress. If that were true then why are people living in atheist governments in so much suffering and why are states where Christianity is allowed to flourish more progressive and orderly than the atheist states? I could start to raise the issue of atheism with some science. They may go ahead and dismiss me with Ad Hominem attacks saying that, "You're a Christian and you should shut up." Listen to what's being said and not to who's saying it. It's all about facts and not about the person relaying the facts. The atheist logic thinks that the robotic hand is intelligent design because it wasn't "waved by a magic wand". But they want to dismiss the complexity of the human to be merely coincidence rather than a result of intelligent design. Even if I tell them that there's no way that the human body is coincidence they still don'

"You're such a narrow-minded stupid person!" is one of the biggest insults that are hurled on to my face because I stand by the Bible. They say that I'm narrow-minded because I rely on the Bible as my only filter for right and wrong. Some people think that I read nothing but the Bible. For their information I don't espouse Solo Scriptura but Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura is the principle where the Bible serves as the standard for right and wrong. While I do encourage people to widen and deepen their mind but they must have the Bible as a measuring stick. Accept any idea that doesn't go against the Bible but go against every idea that doesn't agree with the Bible. People complain Christianity is narrow. Let me tell you this truth that Christianity is narrow. Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the g

I find it to be wonderfully assuring that God will never let any Christian live like the rest of the world. Hebrews 12:5-7 says, "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the L ORD, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the L ORD loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" I always worried about what if I fall into sin or what if I fall away. The blessed assurance is that if when a person is truly saved, God will always find a way to get the person back on track. Do you remember the analogy of the vine and the branches? John 15:1-11 shows the truth that while useless branches are thrown in the fire but fruit bearing branches are pruned. The word pruning means to start making some improvements so there will be more fruit. Matthew 7:11-120 says that

A good quote by Charles H. Spurgeon goes like this: "We must have no truce, no treaty with Rome. War! War to the knife with her! Peace there cannot be. She cannot have peace with us - we cannot have peace with her. She hates the true Church and we can only say that the hatred is reciprocated. We would not lay a hand on upon her priests; we would not touch a hair of their heads. Let them be free but their doctrine we would destroy from the face of the Earth as a doctrine of evils. So let it perish O God and let that evil thing become as the fat of lambs. Into smoke let it consume; yea into smoke let it consume away." It's really annoying whenever some Roman Catholics tell me that it's time for religious unity. They may tell me that the time for "healing" has come. But this all but false hope and false peace. As a former Roman Catholic myself, I can't help but say, "There's no way that Evangelicals and Roman Catholics can walk together.&qu

The more I read the Bible the more I don't want to put it down. The more I read the Bible the more I seek to understand it even more. The Bible gets to me and I can't put it down because it's the Word of God and I've been regenerated from hating it to loving it. I remembered how much I said that the Bible wasn't important. But the more I got into it after I got saved the more I couldn't put it down. Why do I want to put it down when it was the very book that revealed to me the ugliness of my sin and my need for salvation? People can go ahead and say I'm crazy for sticking by the Bible. They contradict themselves to say I can't trust the Bible because it was only written by man. Well who wrote their textbooks and newspapers? Don't tell me that atheist writers and religious figureheads aren't mere men? It's double standard stupidity with people who criticize the Bible but never question the writings of flawed men that disagree with the Bib

Atheists have their tendency to say, "I don't believe in God because I can't see Him." I would like to challenge the fallacy of their thinking by asking, "If you can't see God then can you see the air you breathe, the atoms that hold the Universe together, the ultraviolet rays that enter into the Earth's atmosphere... you can't see them but it's there. I guess you should stop believing in the reality of their existence." I could also ask them this, "You haven't seen evolution in action. You say that it can't be observed because it happened for millions of years. Tell me, why do you choose to refuse to believe in God because you can't see Him yet you believe in evolution which you provide no real evidence. These are just pieces of bones you don't even know where they came from. One skull, one tooth.. those aren't transitional fossils and many of those so-called fossils are just fake." I wonder if they'r

The stupidity of Roman Catholic apologists amazes me whether or not they're polite or impolite. It's something to think about that some Roman Catholic apologists now even say that the rich man is in Purgatory while others say he's in Hell. I'd like to still commend the fact some Roman Catholic apologist do get it right when they say that the rich man is in Hell. In Catholic doctrine, Purgatory is for anyone who's died and are in a state of grace but they must burn off some of their sins before they're truly worthy to enter into Heaven. It's not about giving a second chance for people who've died but it's all about purification for anyone who's died in a state of grace. But the problem is that offering Masses for deceased loved ones who died in a state of grace makes a mockery out of the finished work of Christ. Some Roman Catholic apologists use Lazarus' state in Abraham's bosom to be their defense of Purgatory's existence. Some of