Reformed Blogging

Malachi is the book that often brings my thoughts on the tithes and offerings. However, we're not under the age of tithing but cheerful giving. The Jewish priests in Malachi were getting condemned with Malachi in the following verses: Malach 1:6-14 6 A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name? 7 Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible. 8 And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts. 9 And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? sait...

I remember the time I had my slow transition from fundamentalist nutjob (like Jesus-is-Savior and Chick Publications) towards a more reformed view. Take note that I don't consider all fundamentalist Baptists to be nutjobs. I don't think all King James Version Only or KJV Only are belligerent like nutjob Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church. One of the authors I started to embrace is James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries. White is a Reformed Baptist pastor and the author of many books such as "Sola Scriptura" and "The King James Only Controversy". I used to think debates are useless. The context of 1 Timothy 2:16 is to shun profane babblings - it doesn't mean that formal (and professional) discussion isn't allowed. A formal debate can be helpful in helping see the truth. White has had Catholic apologists in his show every now and then. One of them is Catholic apologist Trent Horn (who is part of Catholic Answers) whom he's had some ...

I was thinking about it that I should never put any pastor above the pedestal. Pastor John F. MacArthur himself has decided to reopen in the midst of the crisis. Worse, the local service itself has put others who are aged (including MacArthur) in danger. An act of faith? I think not and it's the responsibility of everyone in the Body of Christ to rebuke the error of their fellow Christians. I think MacArthur needs to be rebuked as a brother-in-Christ. I feel this is very wrong for a number of reasons. I remembered reading Spurgeon.org's article " Spurgeon and the Cholera Outbreak of 1854 ". I'm really thinking that MacArthur may have ignored this warning written by his colleague: Pastors need to exercise wisdom when it comes to gathering as a church, especially when the health and lives of people are at stake . Certainly, adjustments will need to be made and priority will have to be given to only the most important aspects of our gatherings. But when such gatherin...

While I usually go to Ligonier.org for apologetics - I can't deny the contribution of Pastor John F. MacArthur's sermons to that same ministry and his own. I admit that I used to have a wrong view of him since I didn't fully understand lordship salvation. Thank God I finally stopped subscribing to the paranoia-fest known as Jesus-is-Savior. The more I check MacArthur's definition of lordship salvation - the more I agree with it especially with what he said about eternal security. Now, in these times of pandemic, one can't deny that church meetings have been temporarily suspended. Aside from Bible reading and reading some Christian books by MacArthur (which my favorite book is "Fool's Gold") - why not listen to his sermons on the Grace to You application? I prefer the King James Version (KJV) while I embrace non-KJV-Only Christians as brothers and sisters in Christ. I'm still struggling with Calvinism while I can consider Calvinist Christians a...

I'm not enjoying the pain of the epidemic. Rather, I'm enjoying the presence of God as I endure the epidemic. The big issue is having to be self-quarantined isn't going to be easy. However, I do weigh myself more fortunate than the people during the London Cholera Outbreak of 1854. Towns under quarantine had no way to listen to Charles H. Spurgeon's sermons in the town that was providentially not under quarantine. I can't imagine how Christians under quarantine in other towns felt having to stay home at that time. The Internet doesn't necessarily have to be the tool of the Devil. Science itself in the right hands can be used for the greater glory of God. Internet today would allow me to listen to the sermons of dead godly men even after they've long entered into glory. Right now, I think one of the ways to enjoy the quarantine is to spend time listening to sermons of the late R.C. Sproul Sr. on the Internet. I haven't listened to Sproul's sermo...

I'm aware Valentine's Day is a controversial issue especially due to February 14 is associated with the feast of lust. However, Reformation Day hits on the same day as Halloween does, right? Right now, I think some fundamentalists have gone too far without knowing what Valentine's Day is and who the Christian martyr Valentine was. Here's what Got Questions reveals about Valentine the Christian martyr: The history is somewhat murky as to how Valentine’s Day has come to be what we now know and celebrate. Saint Valentine served in third-century Rome. Emperor Claudius decided that single men made better soldiers. Therefore, Claudius banned soldiers from being married. One version of the story is that Valentine continued to perform the weddings of young soldiers who were in love, and Claudius had Valentine imprisoned. While imprisoned, Valentine reportedly fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. Valentine sent her a card and signed it, "Love, your Valentine....

There is the question, "What's the difference between a pastor and a teacher?" Ephesians 4:11 spells out that there are pastors and teachers. A teacher is not necessarily a pastor while a pastor is a teacher. How is that possible? A teacher is not necessarily leading a pulpit. A Bible teacher is not necessarily a pastor. I can teach Sunday school to a bunch of children all the while God hasn't given me the authority of a pastor. A pastor is someone who works as the shepherd of his flock. The office of teacher is inseparable from the pastor's list of duties. Attending a worship service involves praise and worship. There is the singing of songs, there was the Sunday school an hour ago then what does the pastor do? He preaches and teaches the Word of God at the same time. He proclaims the Word of God at the same time he teaches the congregation how to apply the Word of God into their lives. He preaches and teaches the Bible to the entire flock as both pastor and...

I was thinking about how some Baptist preachers are indeed quack preachers. I remembered Steven Anderson actually dared to pray that Barack Obama would die and go to Hell. But this is not what the Bible says about how we should approach authorities.  Romans 13:1-7  Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for con...

I remembered the one time I actually wanted to object to pastors being called as a reverend was because of this passage from the King James Bible: Psalm 111:9  He sent redemption unto his people: He hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is His name. One pastor I met named Pastor Armando C. Borja of the Christian Church in Cebu objected to anyone calling him as a reverend. He says that the title should be for God and God alone. Reverend appears once in the King James Bible. The Strong's Concordance says the Hebrew word is "yârêʼ". Strong's definition is as follows: A primitive root, to fear; morally to revere, causality to frighten: - {affright} be (make) {afraid} dread ({ful}) (put in) fear ({ful}{fully}-ing) (be had i) reverence ({-end}) X {see} terrible ({act} {-ness} thing). The Hebrew word actually means, "to fear; morally to revere; causatively to frighten". The Hebrew word wasn't always translated as reverend. ...

I was reading through Arthur W. Pink's books and one of the best books is Eternal Security . It shakes away the idiotic ideas of Arminianism and Antinomianism. Yet, I also stumbled upon one book called The Antichrist . He rejects the view that many Reformers held that the Antichrist is a dynasty of Popes (I too, reject that view although the Pope is indeed an antichrist himself). Instead, he holds the view of the Antichrist as one person who will come to rule the world someday. The book The Antichrist  said that the Antichrist is Judas reincarnated. At first, I thought he was guilty of doctrinal error. It turns out that his phrase "reincarnated" isn't a literal reincarnation in relation to the heresy that a person can be reincarnated from the dead. Instead, he's talking about this is what he meant by Antichrist will be Judas "reincarnated": The relation of Antichrist to Israel will be precisely the same as that of Judas to Christ of old . He will po...

While I was second second thoughts on A.W. Tozer because of his tendency to profusely quote from selected  Roman Catholic mystics such as Francis of Assisi's prayer - yet he condemned the doctrines of Roman Catholicism to be false. This had me alarmed but I thought that I do have the tendency to quote words of wisdom from unsaved men and women. Sometimes, some people quote Confucius (who was obviously an unbeliever) and some Christian academies celebrate Teacher's Day on the same day as the philosopher's birthday. It had me thinking that Dr. John F. MacArthur had mentioned Tozer in several of his books. I remembered reading the latest edition of "The Gospel According to Jesus" and Tozer was mentioned. Here's one of the quotes that I love to quote from Tozer himself: The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command. He will not divide His offices. You cannot believe on a half-Christ. We take Him for what He is - an anointed Saviour and Lord who is Ki...

I remembered back then when all I had learned about Dr. John F. MacArthur was based on slanderous accusations from a Hylestic website that has a lot of heresies that you may have not noticed since it's one huge site. Later I realized something was pretty wrong with the Hyles Foundation especially with one cover-up after the other (though many of the articles there are still useful but I soon figured out Jack Hyles himself taught a watered down repentance) and I apologize to him and his organization for that. The sites accusing Dr. MacArthur of this and that were taking things straight out of context or misrepresenting him. Then I started to analyze Grace to You myself and found out that the first edition of "Hard to Believe" had an erroneous statement made which was later revised. Thank God that the old copy of "Hard to Believe" is gone.  Some of the critics of Dr. MacArthur believe that he's teaching works salvation. But the more I read through his b...

Years back, I remembered I was more of an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist, I was sort of allergic to Calvinism and had a severe misunderstanding of what Lordship salvation really meant and how the term has been lost in confusion all these years. After reading through Theopedia and some of Dr. John F. MacArthur's articles on Grace to You, I soon ran into who I may consider my favorite apologists and preachers - Robert Charles Sproul Sr. or R.C. Sproul Sr. for short. I may be a King James Onlyist but I still have respect for this man. It saddens me and makes me glad at the same time he's gone. I'm sad because I won't be hearing any new sermon any time soon. I'm glad because it's time to be present with the Lord. Although I have never met him in this life but I'm glad for all the sermons that he has prepared. The moment I shifted from fundamentalism to Reformed was a big shift in my life. I remembered picking up some of his books namely Now That's A G...

  I heard a few days ago that Bro. Paul Washer had a heart attack . I was wondering is God done with this pastor yet? But there's one thing that I can be certain is that the man of God is not shut down unless God says so. Looks like God hasn't decided to bring Bro. Washer yet. Maybe he wanted to be home already but it's not yet time. He's still got his family to take care of so God may have providentially said, "No, it's not yet time! You've got lot of work to do!"

Two days ago, I missed it that it was his 77th birthday. I remembered the time I thought he taught "works salvation" until I did a thorough study his article called  "An Introduction to Lordship Salvation" . I started to read it and found out why the controversy was there to start with. Today people want a soft and easy message. But the Bible is hardly soft. It condemns many who think they're once saved always saved but their lifestyles prove they aren't saved. I really feel bad to why I believed the misrepresentations done against him. I read Fool's Gold, The Gospel According to Jesus, The Jesus You Can't Ignore, Hard to Believe and recently Worship: The Ultimate Priority. Each book has a lot of meaty discussions that I can't ignore. After I'm done reading one book I just can't resist reading it all over again. Then I want to read another but there's so many of his books that I want to read. The book Worship: The Ultimate Priori...

Since today is Father's Day, I want to give my thoughts on priestly celibacy by the Roman Catholic institution in contrast to what God required for both the Old Testament priest and the New Testament pastor. Roman Catholics tend to appeal to the Old Testament whenever its convenient then they end up saying, "It's just Old Testament." when it comes to issues like death penalty. The Old Testament priesthood didn't demand celibacy. Yes the priests wore miters and robes but that doesn't make the Roman Catholic priesthood biblical. The priests of Dagon wore miters and robes like the Levites but they were priests to a pagan god. Let's take a look at what the Bible requires for Biblical priesthood which I'm taking from the Good News Translation for Roman Catholics: Leviticus 21:7 says, "A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy."  1 Timothy 3:1-7 says, "This ...