Reformed Blogging

It's Good Friday and I think about what Charles H. Spurgeon had said in his sermon where he said these meaningful words: The Lord of life and glory was nailed to the accursed tree. He died by the act of guilty men. We, by our sins, crucified the Son of God.  We might have expected that, in remembrance of his death, we should have been called to a long, sad, rigorous fast. Do not many men think so even today? See how they observe Good Friday, a sad, sad day to many; yet our Lord has never enjoined our keeping such a day, or bidden us to look back upon his death under such a melancholy aspect.  Instead of that, having passed out from under the old covenant into the new, and resting in our risen Lord, who once was slain, we commemorate his death by a festival most joyous. It came over the Passover, which was a feast of the Jews; but unlike that feast, which was kept by unleavened bread, this feast is brimful of joy and gladness. It is composed of bread and of wine, without a t

It's Maundy Thursday and I think about Peter's backsliding and denial of Jesus aside from the importance of the Lord's supper to show the Lord's death until He comes (26:33-35, Mark 14:29-31, Luke 22:33-34 and the John 13:36-38.). Now it was after the Lord's supper and Peter was having a heart-to-heart talk with Jesus.  I think about this talk He had. Perhaps he remembered the time he gave his declaration if faith in Matthew 16:16-18. He confessed his faith. But now this was where Peter had a rude awakening. He soon boasted, "Lord even if everyone leave you - I will not forsake you." Did Peter forget that Jesus had rebuked him as an instrument of Satan in Matthew 16:23? Peter had good intentions when he said, "Lord you don't have to suffer." Jesus reminded him that he must suffer all those things. Now, Peter may have forgotten what Jesus had told him. Luke 22:31 has it where Jesus warns Peter saying, "Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath

As today is Maundy Thursday, I want to think about the time of Jesus' remaining days before He would be crucified. Before that, He preached two doomsday chapters namely Matthew 24 which describes events on the last days and Matthew 25 which tells us of the parable of the virgins, the parable of the talents and the final judgment. This is a very grim picture which He left before He would be crucified. I believe this was done to get people ready because His earthly ministry was coming to an end. He didn't want His followers to be left unprepared to face the last days which was soon about to commence the moment after His ascension into Heaven.  Matthew 24 is a glimpse of the Book of Revelation   Daniel was already the glimpse of Revelation in the Old Testament. Jesus would give an idea what would happen in the last days. It's not a very good picture. We see the disciples with Jesus in the Olivet discourse where He discussed the very topic of the End of the World. I re

As this week is Holy Week, I really want to reflect on how sad it is that Roman Catholics are under the bondage of the Pharisees that they blindly serve. The more I read about Jesus' last four days of his ministry prior to His crucifixion - the more I'm reminded of the hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic priesthood in so many ways. Did you remember the very first thing Jesus did after the triumphal entry to Jerusalem was to clean the Jewish Temple during His time (   Matthew 21:12-17, Mark 11:15-19, Luke 19:45-48 and John 2:13-16? ) ? I couldn't forget the words which can be summarized as, "Make not My House a house of merchandise." which quotes Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. It's talking about just how the house of worship has become a den of robbers. The people were making merchandise out of worship. The whole place was full of cheating and dishonesty. Instead of selling the clean animals within reasonable districts - the Pharisees have turned it into a ma

Today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of the holy week. I want to throw more dirt at the Papal superstitions associated with those so-called blessed palms and to focus on the lessons as recorded in the accounts of Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, Luke 19:28-44, and John 12:12-19. This is the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 which prophesied of Jesus' triumphal entry. He entered on a lowly colt instead of a grand horse. Here I reflect on the Lord Jesus and how He had entered into Jerusalem where He had a triumphal entry but this was all going to chance in a few days later. People were praising Him as the Son of David. But here's the ugly truth about Palm Sunday. A lot of people who shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the LORD: Hosanna in the highest." would soon scream which may be on Friday (Roman time and not Jewish time), "Let Him be crucified." or "Crucify Him!" This was a huge turn of events. Jesus

As the start of Passover 2018 hits on a Good Friday this March 30, 2018 - I just want to think about one important event called the Exodus. As I was reading Exodus, I wanted to think about one topic that always nagged me namely the Pharaoh of the Exodus having a hardened heart. Surely, there was more than what may be a young Pharaoh facing two old men in their 80s. I think about what God said in Exodus 4:21 saying: When thou goest into Egypt, seest hat thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go."  That always made me think why would a holy and righteous God harden the heart of an evil king or allow it to happen? God already told Moses that He will harden the Pharaoh's heart - but told him to go anyway. That seemed absurd but we can read these reasons from the Bible. Exodus 7:3-5  And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land

I was looking at the calendar and I soon found out that Easter Sunday will fall on April 1, 2018 of all the days of the year! It's not the first time it happened as it historically happened in 1923, 1934, 1945 and 1956 and it won't happen again in 2023 assuming the Lord hasn't returned. But I feel this may be a sign of the times and this would be another blow to the face of atheism. This is the real mind-blowing thing about atheism. I have read various speculations without substance of Jesus' resurrection. I even remembered how an atheist blogger even wrote that Jesus probably just rolled away the stone in the grave and then He finally died. Others even said He just swooned on the cross. Others have the robbery theory. But all these theories don't make sense for many reasons. Simple science and history would show how atheism falls flat and the Bible is true. The Romans were pretty much experts. Both blood and water flowed out when the Centurion pierced Jesu

The New Testament commends Abraham for his act of faith in these verses: Hebrews 11:17-19 - By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure. James 2:21-23 - Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. This story can be found in Genesis 22. When the King James uses "tempt" it means God tested Abraham. This was going to be a big challenge for the old man. God gave Abraham the promised son Isaac at his old age of 100. At this point. Isaac was

Life can be so frustrating especially when God's blessings are delayed. While it's easy to memorize that God has a purpose for His delays but the application is very difficult. Such is the case of Sarah, she got so impatient that she did the absurd. In Genesis 16, we read how Sarah did something so immoral as to get a young Egyptian slave girl to serve as a surrogate mother for Abraham and Sarah. Just because it was legal didn't make immoral act as moral. It could be time to consider that this was a violation of God's intended rule for marriage in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:24. It was one man and one woman. But Abraham did it anyway which was because they didn't rely on God's promises. Sarah was soon mocked as a result. Sarah didn't think of the consequences of getting a younger woman to bear them a son. If you know biology as long as a man's reproductive system remains intact then he can have babies even at the age of 85. This has me thinking

As I was reading the Bible today, I want to focus on yet another important issue as I've reached the story of Lot in Sodom. I remembered reflecting early on the problem of Abram and Lot in Genesis 13. both of them had too much property and they had to split. Lot chose the best land in the plains of Jordan and he pitched his tent towards Sodom. It wasn't long that Genesis 14 revealed that Lot soon went from pitching his tent towards Sodom that he entered that sin city. So how bad was Sodom? The Bible describes them to be exceedingly wicked (Genesis 13:13). I think about how it must be very sickening for any archaeologist to land into the remains of those sites. The word sodomy didn't just come from the name Sodom for nothing. Some want to dismiss it a myth yet sites at Mt. Usdom had evidence of sulfur and brimstone raining on where Sodom and Gomorrah used to be. Even some archaeologists may be too disgusted to find the ancient sex religion of these people. Just thinking

As I read through Genesis, it's easy to see how the post-Flood world wasn't any better either. This reflection will cover from Genesis 12-14. This would be the story that involve Abraham back when he was called Abram and Sarah when was once called Sarai. Hebrews 11:8-10 that it was by faith that he obeyed God's command. I thought about the whole promise that God said in Genesis 12:2-3, "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." This is a serious command. God doesn't play games when He says things. This was the covenant that was made with Abram. If God blesses a person then you ought not to go against God's hand! Every person who is made right in God's sight is a beneficiary of this covenant.  Galatians 3:7 says that anyone today can be consider

I have no doubt that we're in the Last Days but I don't know how many last days have been left. Ever since Jesus ascended into Heaven - it was already the start of the Last Days. The prophecies concerning wrongful persecution of Christians and dwindling immorality. Then it comes into my mind what Jesus said about the days of Noah in Matthew 24:37-38 and Luke 17:26-27. People today are really so wicked that it brings me back to Genesis 6-9 where we see a pattern. We could think about how the Creation led to the Fall. The fall of man was so well-detailed in Genesis 3. All it took was for Adam and Eve to break one simple rule - by eating the tree of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Ever since then, the world suffered and they were paying the consequences. Now we have the two lineages - one of Cain and the other of Seth. After Abel died, Seth became the new head of the godly line and out from Seth came today's mankind. But what's so sad is that we're all

As I reread Genesis for the nth time - I want to really do my thoughts on Cain's offering vs. Abel's offering. There's some debate on why Cain's offering wasn't accepted and why Abel's was accepted. Genesis 4 tells us the whole story of both brothers who were the first two children born of sin. It's not Abel was necessarily having "good works that exceeded Cain's" as some may suggest. Nothing seems to suggest that Cain offered rotten vegetables. But what was the real problem? There could be the heart problem with Cain. Maybe, the problem wasn't entirely based on the offering as some may suggest. Hebrews 11:4 tells us that by faith, Abel offered a far more excellent sacrifice. With that in mind, maybe Cain didn't give his best to the LORD though it may be possible God already commanded a sin offering. We do read grain offerings in Leviticus 2:1-2 but remember this was before the Law was written. So it's highly possible that God co

How often Jesus has warned about the leaven of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6-12, Mark 7:1-9, Luke 12:1). Here's the question that I want to ask right now, "Am I guarding my heart from the leaven of the Pharisees?" It's so easy for me to criticize the Roman Catholic clergy to be like the Pharisees or the Pope to be a modern day Caiaphas but the question is am I sharing certain bad traits that the Pharisees have? If so, then I would find myself in a situation no better or no different than any modern-day Pharisee I may be criticizing right now. It's so easy to be self-righteous in a world gone wrong. The Pharisees were pretty much separatists in their own way. You can see how strict they were in following a strict moral code. But the problem of the Pharisees was how often they looked down at others. I decided to write a self-evaluation that I struggle with the leaven of the Pharisees. The struggle with sin has no exemption. If the Christian men struggle against