Reformed Blogging

The final godly king of the earthly Davidic Dynasty was Josiah. We could read of the cycle from David down to Jehoiakim to how the kings acted. When we think about it - only a few of the kings ever repented or ever did great. Some kings had a good start but a bad end like Joash the boy-king and Uzziah who later died as a leper. Other kings in David's lineage were just plain wicked like Jehoram, Ahaziah, Ahaz, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah, and Jehoiachin (Josiah's grandson). A similar pattern can be seen with Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah (righteous reformers), Jehoram and Manasseh (sons who countered the reforms of their fathers though Manasseh repented), Ahaziah and Ammon (two wicked kings that didn't rule long), and Joash and Josiah (both made king at a very young age). Sadly, Josiah would be the last righteous king in the earthly Davidic Dynasty. What do we read of Josiah? 1st Kings 13:2 says that Josiah will one day rise. 2nd Kings 22-23 and 2nd Chronicles 33-35 tells us of...

  The history of the Davidic Dynasty proved one thing - good fathers can sire bad sons and the other way around. Just because the father is great doesn't mean that the son wouldn't be a fool. Just because the father is a fool doesn't mean the son wouldn't be great. Such is the case of Hezekiah. You can examine the Davidic Dynasty and see how the cycle went: David was a king after God's own heart even with all his mistakes.  Solomon was a  righteous king but had a half heart. His sinful pluralistic marriages led to the division of the kingdom after he died. Rehoboam was easily influenced but repented later on after Shishak's invasion. Abijah ruled only for three years and the cause of his death is unknown. From Asa down to Jehoshaphat were righteous kings. However, Jehoshaphat's ungodly alliance with Ahab caused a ripple effect down to his son (Jehoram) and his grandson (Ahaziah). Jehoshaphat had his son Jehoram marry the wicked Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and...

There's the statement that just because the Bible records it and speaks of it, doesn't mean that God approves of it. The Old Testament doesn't only talk about polygamy but also its consequences. Jacob ended up having up to four wives and it wasn't a happy family. Abraham had to get rid of Hagar because one wife is enough. Elkanah's two wives, Hannan and Peninah, can't even get along just like Sarah and Hagar. Eventually, David himself, while a man after God's own heart, made the serious mistake of having a polygamous lifestyle. At first, I wondered why polygamy was the norm but God never intended it. Even back in the Garden of Eden - Adam only had one wife and that was Eve. God didn't create Eve plus more women for Adam.  You can think of how David's woes can be caused by a polygamous lifestyle. I think he should've just dropped the offer to marry one of the daughters of the godless Saul. True, Jonathan was a godly man but the same can't be s...

If there's one reason why I'm hostile towards feminism is how often it looks down on the housewife. While doing my Bible study - I was thinking of the role of women in Ephesians and Colossians. Both letters by the great Apostle Paul required women to submit to their husbands and husbands to love their wives. Whether those feminists like it or not but housewifery is biblical. If there's any book that liberals love to attack - it's the Bible. Some even lie that the Bible supposedly "supports" wife-beating when it doesn't.  Today, we've got a destructive post-modern mindset towards biblical values. The modernistic mindset focuses on science rather than God, on the desire that man should pursue rationalism and science in the desire for "unlimited human progress" for a better life. Unfortunately, modernism's idealistic approach has done more harm than good. One of them is the attack on the housewife. Today, modernism has attacked authenti...

While doing my study on Ephesians - it just struck my cord at how authority figures are conveniently ignoring some verses. Ephesians 6:1-9 are verses that talk about give and take relationship. Even a heathen philosopher like Confucius demanded people not to do unto others what you don't want others to do unto you. Jesus stated it as do unto others what you want them to do unto you. Now, let's consider the verses in their proper sequence: Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. 2 Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; 3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.  4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.  5 Servants (actually slaves, emphasis mine ), be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; 6 Not with eyeservice, as menpl...

I remember one of the greatest areas I deal with my life was lust. I remembered as a teenager that it shocked me to learn that certain heroes of the Old Testament were polygamists. Jacob had four wives, Elkanah had two wives, David had eight wives, Solomon had 1,000 women in total and the rest went on. It left me wondering why the New Testament affirms one man to one woman while the Old Testament somehow "allowed" polygamy to happen. I even wished I was born in the Old Testament so I could have more than one wife - never mind that the stories of the Bible showed how polygamy did more than good to those who practiced it.  I was thinking of the late Vernon McGee's "Thru the Bible Commentary" which says that just because the Bible records it doesn't mean it's approved of. I remembered how a Bible teacher mentioned how polygamy wrecked the home of Jacob, caused David's family to spiral into chaos, and caused Solomon to be lead astray. Yet, part of me ...

I have heard of situations where people say that religion doesn't matter in marriage or does it? It reminds me of how I remembered the example of a Roman Catholic woman who was dating a Muslim man. Both families were against it for this reason - religion always plays a part in getting married. Amos 3:3 says can the two walk together except they are agreed? If unbelievers can understand it then Christians too should know it better than to marry an unbeliever. If a Muslim can get mad at his son for dating a non-Muslim then it's a shame if Christians don't get mad if their children date non-Christians.  A really good reason why I have to turn down marriage invites from unbelievers even if I want to get a wife already is because God comes first. I was thinking about how I was advised before to date the daughter of a family friend of ours. However, she was an unbeliever so that's obviously a no-no. She may have a good personality and a cute face but she's still an unbe...

The Song of Solomon is a book where there's some debate on interpretation or even if it was even inspired. The author is obviously Solomon. One interpretation is the three-character interpretation where they call Solomon the villain who's trying to woo away the Shulammite country girl from her shepherd lover. So far, some scholars have insisted that Solomon is not the man the story. They say that Solomon represents Satan, the Shulammite woman is the Christian and the shepherd lover is the Lord Jesus Christ. The problem with the three character view is that where does the separation even kick in? Also, Solomon's falling into further philandering happened when he was much older. He looked like he was very young and active in the Song of Solomon. The Song doesn't seem to be just about the marriage evening but the marriage life as well.  Before Solomon became king he may have gone out dressed up as a shepherd. Ecclesiastes 2:7 said that he owned many flocks maki...

Those who oppose traditional marriage says, "That's Old Testament!" to my face. I remembered how advocates of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender (LGBT) communities say that I have no right to tell them that they're wrong if I keep eating bacon and shrimp. Others have their tendency to say "Love is all that matters." never mind that 1 Corinthians 13:8 says that love doesn't rejoice in wrong but rejoices in the right. Why do I still support traditional marriage? It's because God said it and He has good reasons to give those rules. I'm not going to stop there but I'm going to talk about several stuff in the Old Testament that's still relevant to the New Testament. If the Old Testament were obsolete so why do some people still follow the Ten Commandments? If the Old Testament were obsolete then stuff like incestuous relationships should be tolerated. Now I'd talk about the biblical standard of marriage vs. the sexual immora...