I've always been drawn to the composition of things. When I watch a movie, it is mostly for the color, and the costumes. If a movie has a bad storyline, it is the best way to keep myself entertained.

Two of my favorites are Atonement and Marie Antoinette. In the latter, the costumes are so gorgeous and elaborate - it makes me want to wear petticoats and corsets. The former, however, has beautiful angles. Instead of the bigger things making the movie, the little things do.

Besides that, the typewriter music was ingenious.

I saw this painting in my mind more than 2 years before I began painting it. I was reading I Peter 1:18-20:

"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days."

I got a vision for a painting of God holding a lamb, both loving him, but also knowing He had to let him go. The lamb, of course, is Christ. We are also all biblically like the lamb in the painting, and God is our shepherd who loves us.

The Models

The first thing I felt like I needed to do was to find someone who raised sheep. I live in Brentwood, TN, and this was no easy task. After calling multiple farms only to find out that there were no places nearby who still did this, I put my search on hold. Then, a year and a half later at an art show, a lady came to me and asked if I could design a business card for her sheep breeding business. I couldn't believe it! I should know by now not to be surprised that God would work like this, but I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, it was October and lambs aren't born until the spring, so the wait continued.

The Bearded Gentleman...

The next obvious thing that I needed to do was to find a bearded man to agree to help me. I was on the lookout! One Sunday, a friend called to invite me to lunch after church at Panera. I showed up only to find out that no one was there. But before I left, I saw a man who was perfect for my painting. He was eating with his family, but I just went right up to him and gave him my card, explaining what I wanted to do and would he help me? He was a Christian and was thrilled to help. He plays Santa at Christmas, and he said he could probably wait until spring to shave his beard.

The Perfect Lamb... Unbelievable!

January 1, Paul called me and said that his wife was really tired of his beard, and wanted to know exactly when the lambs were due to be born. I still thought it would be several months, so I was a little nervous that he wouldn't be willing to wait. I called the breeder immediately and she said "You won't believe this, but a little white male lamb was born on Christmas Eve completely out of season. We're bringing all of the animals in tomorrow - can you come then? They grow really fast." My jaw hit the floor... this was coming together better than I ever could have hoped, and it was becoming obvious to me that what was happening was far bigger than my little vision for a painting.

My Amazing Photographer...

Until then, I had only worked with one photographer that I trusted to understand my artistic vision and capture it on film. His name is Riley Spiller, but unfortunately he lives in Missouri and rarely comes to Nashville. I had to have a talented photographer that I trusted, and I was willing to beg and plead for him to come to Tennessee the next day. I called him and, again, God amazed me in his provision. Riley had another shoot to do that weekend (in Nashville) and had just pulled into town! He said tomorrow morning was free and he was happy to do the shoot on a moment's notice. By this point, I was on cloud nine. Within an hour, everything had come together for a painting that had been on my heart for the past two years. It was about to be a reality.

The Photoshoot...

I picked up everyone and we made the hour and a half drive to the ranch. I met the star (we named him Christopher), and we found a good place in one of the barns to take the photos. Paul asked how I wanted him to act with the lamb. I said, "just love him." He was a natural :) I wasn't sure how the young lamb would act away from his mother. I had visions of him trying to kick his way out of Paul's arms the whole time, leaving us with only one or two decent shots. Instead, he just melted into Paul's chest for the whole shoot and quietly let out a little "baaaaa" every now and then to his mother who was in a nearby stall. We took over 200 photos that morning.

The Hidden Cross...

I can't explain how it felt that day, seeing my vision being captured on camera. When I came home and selected the photo to work from, I noticed that part of the barn door behind Paul looked like a cross! I ended up adding a nail with a hint of red near it for added symbolism on this area. The entire process took only 2 1/2 weeks, which is almost unheard of compared to how long I typically spend on large paintings like this. I hope that it will continue to touch people who see it, and that it will always bring God glory instead of me. I think you'll agree after reading that this one was truly out of my hands from the beginning.

Thanks so much for reading.

Mark Baker recently spoke at the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches’ annual new pastors’ credentialing and orientation event April 30 – May 2, at MBBS ACTS Seminaries in Langley, B.C., Canada.

One of Mark Baker's many essays has been published in a controversial but not highly popular book called Stricken by God? which was endorsed by Brian McLaren, as well as a few prominent Mennonites. Mark Baker’s essay appeared in Chapter 13 of this book. In the essay (which has been reviewed and found wanting, as you can read here), Mark Baker refers to his book Recovering the Scandal of the Cross which has also been reviewed and found to be severely lacking in truth. Click on the following links to read these biblical reviews:
http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_1.html
http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_2.html
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/scandal-cross.htm

A blog called Words of Grace (gracewords.blogspot.com) also mentions Mark Baker’s book:

Today the attacks on the cross are widely embraced. So statements like the following (from the worst book — Proclaiming the Scandal of the Cross — I've read so far) are considered acceptable:

"It will not do, therefore, to characterize the atonement as God's punishment falling on Christ…or as Christ's appeasement or persuasion of God."

"…ethically, this model [penal substitution] has little to offer.…In the end, a penal satisfaction presentation of the atonement can too easily lead to a situation in which we might conclude that Jesus came to save us from God."

"…[the] penal satisfaction theory…has significant problems and does not cohere well with biblical teaching on salvation."

The misunderstanding of the meaning of penal substitution — that through His death, Christ bore our sin, pain and death, enduring and satisfying the wrath of God in our place — is evidenced throughout the various contributors to Proclaiming the Scandal.

-Book Review: Pierced for Our transgressions
http://gracewords.blogspot.com/2008/02/book-review-pierced-for-our.html

(In contrast to Mark Baker’s worst book ever read, the blog author of Words of Grace recommends instead a biblical book on the atonement called Pierced for our Transgressions which can be found here: http://www.piercedforourtransgressions.com/)

Here is another item of concern. Mark Baker has also participated on an emergent website called Emergent Village with emerging church leader Tony Jones which can be found here:

The Friday We Call "Good" -- Atonement Contest Results

http://www.emergentvillage.com/weblog/the-friday-we-call-good-atonement-contest-results
Posted Mar 21, 08:45 PM
By Mark Baker and Tony Jones

This was a “Lent contest” in which...

“we asked people send in alternate metaphors for the atonement, different from the ones we often grew up with”

Mark Baker was one of the judges of the contest which was called Atonement Metaphors.

You can listen to Mark Baker talk to Tony Jones about the atonement here:

Thinking about the Atonement
http://www.emergentvillage.com/podcast/thinking-about-atonement

This is quite a shocking to see an MB Seminary professor in the same equation with Tony Jones and the emerging church, redefining the meaning of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Mark Baker + Tony Jones x emergent village = bad news

Read about what Tony Jones believes and teaches here:
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/tonyjones.htm

Read about the emerging church here:
http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/emergingchurch.htm

As shocking as all this might sound if you are a first time reader here, this is nothing new. Here is an older Roll Over Menno article about Mark Baker:

Mennonite Seminary Professor Debunks the Gospel

So here we have a SEMINARY PROFESSOR who is not only RE-EXAMINING the foundation of the gospel, but teaching ANOTHER GOSPEL to future pastors. As you can see, the fruit falling from the MBBS tree is looking very bad.

How long will poor Menno need to keep rolling over in his grave? Where are the Mennonites men with spines?

ROM Index: High

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. 2 Peter 2:1

 Well first I want to address what it means to be a Christian.

Being a Christian has nothing to do with you, or me. It has everything to do with the cross and Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. We are all horrid (I love that word and I don't know why) sinners that have done something wrong. We have all committed high treason against a holy and perfect God so therefore we all deserve to die. That may seem harsh, but it's the truth. I deserve to die and rot in hell, as do you.

 That leaves us pretty depressed right? I know it leaves me feeling empty and scarred and yicky. But there is good news, it's called the gospel. The gospel is just what I said: good news. This good news is that someone paid your debt for you. Someone died your death for you, and his name is Jesus. 2,000 years ago Jesus died a horrible death and bared all your sins, just so that YOU could live. And or course, he didn't just stay dead, he came back to life, then went into heaven.

 Now I want to be clear. You are not saved by ANYTHING you did. Not even praying a prayer saved you. ONLY the death of Jesus on the cross is what saved you and him choosing you to receive eternal life. ONLY! I can not stress this enough! I know plenty of people that have taken out "fire insurance" (get it, hell, fire, lol) yet they have not been impacted by the holy spirit. It is the holy spirit's work in us (for those of you who don't know, the holy spirit is the helper that Christ has sent to Christians. Part of the trinity, it is truly the spirit of God in us.) that allows us to accept Christ. If someone has been truly saved, if they truly understand that they needed to be forgiven and they were forgiven, a life can not stay the same.

 A Christian is no longer "Part of this world" (2 Corinthians 5:17). They now have Christ living inside them. I want to clarify something. The second you become a Christian, the second Christ lives in you, you are 100% saved and forgiven. (I talk about this on my post "Out of Goats") There is nothing more you can do to make him love you more. NOTHING. That is truly amazing. We are loved totally by Christ. I know my love doesn't work that way. I love my sister more when she actually closes the door after barging into my room without asking. Or when she leaves me alone. So thankfully I am not God. His love is FAR beyond human capabilities.

 I assume that most of you know what has been said. If not, please contact me! I would love to talk to you more about this! I am ALWAYS available!!! If you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and would like to know more about Jesus' death and about being a Christian, please talk to me. The next post will have some advice to new Christians. I'll start that soon. And just to let you all know, I don't know how much time I will have to post. I am working on writing a script and have some other story ideas waiting to get out. Also my grandma is coming for my baptism this weekend (I am going to be the first person my dad EVER baptises!!!). Also I am going to camp and so I will be posting, I just don't know how frequently. Soli Deo Gloria

In Christ Alone,

Nobody <><

Filmen Atonement (eller Om Forlatelse på norsk) er tett opp til det jeg vil kalle et mesterverk. Filmatisk er den vakker, historien er utrolig sterk, uforutsigbar og rørende, og fortellerteknikken rå. Men mest av alt imponerer denne filmen meg i en scene - som gav meg en følelse av deltagelse jeg ikke kan huske å ha hatt på lenge.

De som ikke har sett filmen - gå og gjør det nå. Og vent med å lese denne posten til du har gjort det.

Scenen det dreier seg om er når Robbie og hans soldatvenner kommer tuslende ned til stranda i Dunkirk for å forsøke å komme seg ut av Frankrike. Samme ideen har over 300.000 andre soldater hatt. I klippet under kan du se hvordan det stranden viser seg for dem - men det er etter ca 45 sekunder av dette klippet magien starter. Da begynner nemlig en over 4 minutter lang, uklippet sekvens der en fotograf fanger opp kaoset på stranda. Sett deg ned å nyt.

En fotograf får festa en steadycam-rigg på seg, og følger hovedpersonene i deres forsøk på å gjøre seg kjent på stranda. Vanligvis er jeg en tilhenger av å klippe sekvenser - for å fortelle mer effektiv - og for å spare seeren for unødvendig informasjon. Men etter dette tror jeg at jeg må revurdere litt hva jeg mener om dette.

For jeg kan knapt huske at jeg noensinne tidligere har følt slik tilstedeværelse i en film - og det er denne scenen som gjør det. Den tar meg med inn i en uforståelig verden - og gir meg en nesten poetisk tolkning av et sted som jeg uansett ikke fatter. Den lar meg skjønne og føle på det uforståelige Robbie og de andre opplever.

Dette er kunst, rett og slett.

Pierced for Our Transgressions page >>>

“Lucky mud?” Is that all we are? Many of you, as college student, have likely encountered the innumerable unbiblical opinions expressed concerning who we are and what we are doing here. Richard Pratt, in his book Designed for Dignity tells the true story of a young woman who had left her husband and two children for another lover. The lover had recently thrown her out of his place, so alone in a hotel room, despairing the events that had led her to where she now was, she shot herself in the head with a .38 caliber pistol. The note she left on the nightstand simply stated, “Don’t cry for me – I’m not even human anymore.” Ironically, just two floors down in that very hotel was a New Age convention. The gunshot couldn’t even be heard above the din of the crowd, who were all chanting, “I am God! …I am God! …I am God!”

Sometimes we hear such rhetoric from the very same individual, such as when a non-Christian professor pokes fun of traditional religion and proclaims us masters of our own fate, yet at the same time believes that we are no more than the product of chance and law, so called “lucky mud.”

Even as Christians many of us have accepted the subtle lies of the culture around us, rather than the words of the very God who created us. We believe that we are entirely sovereign over our own destiny. We believe that work is merely a chore to be put up with and is only for the sake of sustenance. We believe that sensuality is the end all of everything, and that a marriage relationship that doesn’t bring us happiness is one to be abandoned, for surely our own happiness is God’s highest priority. In some cases, Christians even believe that we can abandon the Biblical story of Adam and Eve altogether, the very story that serves as a corrective of the many things we tempted to believe concerning who we are and what we are here for, and on which Christ’s very work as our redeemer, the second Adam, stands.

I. THE CREATION OF MAN

Genesis 1:26-30

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

Genesis 2:8-17

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground--trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

Central to the whole of Scripture is the idea that human-kind is in some sense “the image of God.” Some speculate that our image-of-God-ness is that as God is three in one, so are we. As God is Father, we have our soul or mind, which is the basis of our intellect, will, feelings and identity. As God is Son, in Jesus Christ, we have a physical body. As God is Spirit, so also we have a spirit, although it is by nature dead because our sin and is cut off from God. As there are three persons making up the one revealed God of the Bible, so also we are three in one as well, and without any one of the three, we cease to be essentially who we are as a human. But more importantly, we are God’s vice-regents, or representatives here on Earth.

Richard Pratt, again in Designed for Dignity, goes into great detail on how the idea of an “image” was understood in ancient thought. In Biblical times Kings marked their territory with images of themselves, often made of precious metals or stone, but sometimes merely clay. By placing these images in important intersections and other high traffic areas they served as a reminder of whose land you were tending, and who you served. In this same sense, God has created US as his images; it should humble us that we are ALL descendants of a man made from dirt, and as any clay image, are in some sense replaceable. However, we should feel great dignity in the fact that it is no mere King we represent, but rather, the one true God – sovereign over the entire Universe. This is why what you do, even to the least, you do unto God -- defacing the image of a king is an action against the king himself. There is humility and great dignity in being made in the image of God.

Building on their role as His image on earth, he commands Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it”. This is sometimes translated, “multiply and have dominion.” Understood correctly as Kingdom imagery, this is God’s way of saying, “spread my Kingdom.” We tend to want to think of “be fruitful and multiply” as a command meant only for Adam and Eve ensure our propagation and survival, however the terms “be fruitful, multiply and have dominion” reappear in one form or another at least 17 times in the Old Testament right up through the book of Jeremiah. God tells Adam to multiply and have dominion. God tells Noah to multiply and have dominion. God tells Abraham that he will MAKE him very fruitful. God tells Jacob through Isaac to multiply and have dominion.

A particularly relevant passage to this discussion, however, is Jeremiah 23:1-6;

"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!" declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: "Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done," declares the LORD. "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the LORD. "The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.

Here is prophecy concerning the ushering in of the Kingdom of God by the coming Messiah. Notice what happens as a result of this coming kingdom; the remnant will be fruitful and increase in number – essentially, they multiply and have dominion. The Messiah will begin a movement of God’s people that will further God’s kingdom – His image will be multiplied, and His rule will extend as well.

Before we go too far, however, let’s return to the Garden and continue with Adam and Eve.

II. THE FALL

According to the opening chapters of Genesis, when God made Adam and Eve as His images on Earth, He gave them the maximum freedom, authority, and dominion possible. They were, in a sense, to rule Earth for God. The only restriction they were given was that they were not to eat the fruit of one tree; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Many have speculated about what kind of fruit it was that they ate, but it is just that -- speculation. The important thing is this; God placed this restraint upon them to remind them that in spite of their great freedom, they were nevertheless God’s – it was to remind them that they were not God, but were responsible to him.

Genesis 3:1-7;

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, `You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, `You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'" "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The temptation of Satan was 1.) To doubt God’s goodness and therefore his word “did God REALLY say?”, and 2.) To be like God)

James Montgomery Boice in his Foundations of the Christian Faith said the following;

“Adam and Eve did eat of the forbidden tree, and they did die. Their spirits, that part of them that had communion with God, died instantly. Their spiritual death is clear from the fact that they ran from God when God came to them in the garden. Men and women have been running and hiding ever since. Further, the soul, the seat of intellect, feelings, and identity, began to die. So men and women began to lose a sense of their own identity, to give vent to bad feelings and to suffer the decay of their intellect. Describing this type of decay, Paul says that, having rejected God, people inevitably ‘became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles’ (Romans 1:21-23). Eventually even the body dies. So it is said of us all, ‘You are dust, and to dust you shall return’ (Genesis 3:19).”

Think for a moment about the woman who had committed suicide in the hotel room; do you see how her darkened mind exchanged the glory of God for that of an animal, seeing herself as no longer even a human being and as therefore disposable? Or those present at the New Age convention – do you see how they doubted the one true God and sought to put themselves in His place? Apart from Biblical Christianity, either one or the other of these, or both, will always be the tendency.

These examples make it very clear – we are no longer God’s perfect images – in Adam we have all fallen and that image has been marred. But in time God did something, and is STILL doing something, to change that.

III. Redemption -- Adam and Jesus;

Romans 5:12-19;

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Notice that in the same way the “many” descended from Adam, which is all of humanity, were affected by the one in Adam’s fall, so also the “many” which have become Christ’s, all believers, are affected by His obedience.

Now, all of us are descendants of Adam by natural birth, and are therefore affected by his actions. Those of us who are born-again into Christ and the family of God are now God’s children and reap all of the benefits of Christ’s work on our behalf. 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 address a similar topic, and verses 48-49 say, “As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have been born the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.” Because both Adam and Jesus were the “head” of their race, their actions had results for the rest of their kind.

Not only was Jesus, like Adam, created the perfect image of God (see 2 Corinthians 4:4, and Colossians 1:15), and the head of his own people, but Christ came, like Adam and all of his seed, to “multiply and have dominion”. Matthew 28:18-20a says,

Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

The Great Commission, a call to evangelism and discipleship, is a call to multiply and have dominion – to spread God’s image, creating a people who will live like Christ, and submit to God’s rule in this world.

To help you understand this image, I’d like to use an analogy from the C. S. Lewis’ Narnia Chronicles. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the evil white witch had turned any who opposed her into stone. After Aslan the Lion has been raised from the dead, the following took place.:

“He had bounded up to the stone lion and breathed on him. Then without waiting a moment he whisked around – almost as if he had been a cat chasing its tail – and breathed also on the stone dwarf, which was standing a few feet from the lion with his back to it. Then he pounced on a tall stone dryad which stood beyond the dwarf, turned rapidly aside to deal with a stone rabbit on his right, and rushed on to two centaurs. But at that moment Lucy said,

“Oh, Susan! Look! Look at the lion.”

I expect you’ve seen someone put a lighted match to a bit of newspaper which is propped up in a grate against an unlit fire. And for a second nothing seems to have happened; and then you notice a tiny streak of flame creeping along the edge of the newspaper. It was like that now. For a second after Aslan had breathed upon him the stone lion looked just the same. Then a tiny streak of gold began to run along his white marble back – then it spread – then the color seemed to lick all over him as the flame licks all over a bit of paper – then, while his hindquarters were still obviously stone, the lion shook his mane and all the heavy, stone folds rippled into living hair. Then he opened a great red mouth, warm and living, and gave a prodigious yawn. And now his hind legs had come to life. He lifted one of them and scratched himself. Then, having caught sight of Aslan, he went bounding after him and frisking round him whimpering with delight and jumping up to lick his face.

Of course the children’s eyes turned to follow the lion; but the sight they saw was so wonderful that they soon forgot about him. Everywhere the statues were coming to life.”

Because of Adam’s fall, we all are like those statues without Christ – we retain something of our form, but we are not REALLY ourselves – we are merely statues of ourselves. But when Christ comes and breathes his Holy Spirit into us, we are born anew, and the image of God again begins to overtake the stone statue that we had become.

Now – how do we APPLY this? I have three applications – 1 very practical, and 2 that are devotional;

1. The first application that I come to is to REMIND our selves of the importance of the great commission and to see how it affects EVERY AREA OF OUR LIVES. It is NOT a new idea – it has been the heart of God for us to multiply his image from the beginning of Creation and it brings Him great glory. For one, be reminded that your children, when and if you have any, are your primary ministry of discipleship – not only should we desire to reproduce physically, but work hard at raising them in the Lord, so God might have dominion in their lives. Also, in the area of Evangelism – sometimes we get tired of looking like “dumb Christians” by evangelizing – I admit, it’s a real struggle for me to be forward about the gospel. But when we realize that the King has summoned us, and given us the special task of making images for him, then also to keep them, protect them, mold them, and make them beautiful so that all can see His glory, evangelism and discipleship take on a different light. Who cares what the world may think when you have the approval of the King? Secondly, the King has summoned us each into his throne room, and he is distributing property and jobs – he says to us, “Take this portion of my kingdom – I am making you my steward over your office, your workbench, your kitchen stove. Put your heart into mastering this part of my world. Get it in order; unearth its treasures; do all you can with it and for it. Then everyone will see what a glorious King I am.

2. My second application is this – be who you ARE! Know that you are of GREAT value to God, for you are not only his fallen image by birth, but you are his redeemed image through rebirth in Christ. No longer are we merely servants of the great King, but we have been adopted into his family as his children. Let us all live as children of the King.

3. And lastly, be confident in your salvation. Notice how tight the correspondence is in Romans and Corinthians between Adam and his descendants in the flesh. In Adam ALL died – not some, not only the one who were REALLY bad, but ALL. Likewise, in Christ, all of his descendants (those who trust in Him) gain the benefits of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. When you encounter the promises of God to his children in the Scriptures, those are written to you. Be encouraged – fight the good fight, for the King we serve has already won the battle, and is ensured to win the war.

The question is: Who wrote that about Jesus? Click on that question and submit your guess in the comment section.
[Hint: 1) It's the author of a soon to be published MB book. 2) It's someone who teaches at MBBS.]

Can anyone guess who it is that is soon to be exposed for being a wolf in sheeps clothing at the old MB Corral?

1. Justin Says:
July 4, 2008 at 4:33 pm edit
Islam will provide no shelter for you as a sinner. Have you ever told a lie, stolen something, or looked with lust? Then you would be guilty. See http://www.livingwaters.com/good to take the “Good Test”. Perhaps you could ever write a blog post about this test and what you think.

2. paarsurrey Says:
July 5, 2008 at 12:00 am edit
Hi
I admit, even witout writing this test, that I am a sinner. My question is who prepared this test and similiar other tests I have seen? Did Jesus prepare this test for the sinners? I don’t think he prepared it for me or you. If you are not a sinner; I congratulate you, I am not jealous of you. Now what should a sinner like me do or an innocent person like you should do? Kindly quote from Quran, OTBible or NTBible separately in this connection. The cure from sin is very important, I do agree with you.
Please don’t mind.
I love Moses, Jesus, Mary and Muhammad.
Thanks
I am an Ahmadi peaceful Muslim

While my friend has asked me to write a blogpost on sins.

My humble submission is that it is Paul who invented the theological philosophy that Jesus was an accursed person- a sinner, who died on Cross, for the atonement of the sins of the CatholicsProtestants and other Christians; never realizing the inner obvious contradictions lying hidden under this doctrine. Jesus would never say such a thing; it is a pure sinful imagination of Paul in my opinion. The sins of a person have no direct relationship with dieing of another person.

This was a cocept of the Christians for centuries; till such time that the PromisedMessiah 1835-1908 pointed it out and rescued Jesus from it and proved that Jesus never died on Cross and he could not die as Jesus was an innocent person, not an accursed person who would have died on Cross. I give hereunder an argument given by him for the benefit of our Christian friends and brothers:

"Apart from this, it was necessary that he should escape death on the cross, for it was stated in the Holy Book that whoever was hanged on the wood was accursed. It is a cruel and an unjust blasphemy to attribute a curse to an eminent person like Jesus, the Messiah, for, according to the agreed view of all who know the language, la'nat, or curse, has reference to the state of one's heart. A man would be said to be accursed when his heart, having been estranged from God, becomes really dark; when, deprived of divine mercy and of divine love, devoid absolutely of His Knowledge, blinded like the devil, he becomes filled with the poison of unbelief; when there remains not a ray of divine love and knowledge in him; when the bond of loyalty is broken, and between him and God there arises hatred and contempt and spite and hostility, so much so that God and he become mutual enemies; and when God becomes weary of him and he becomes weary of God; in short, when he becomes an heir to all the attributes of the Devil -- and that is why the Devil himself is called accursed.

It is clear that the significance of the word Mal'un, viz. accursed, is so foul that it can never apply to any righteous person who entertains love of God in his heart. Alas! Christians did not ponder over the significance of a curse when they invented this belief; else, it were impossible for them to have used such a bad word for a righteous man like Jesus. Can we say that Jesus' heart was ever really estranged from God; that he had denied God, that he hated Him and had become His enemy? Can we ever think that Jesus had ever felt in his heart that he was estranged from God, that he was an enemy of God, and that he was immersed in the darkness of unbelief and denial? If, then, Jesus had never been in such a state of mind, that his heart was always full of love and the light of Divine Knowledge, is it for you, wise people, to ponder whether we can ever say that, not one, but thousands of curses from God had descended upon the heart of Jesus with all their evil significance? Never.

Then, how can we say that he was, God forbid, accursed? It is a pity that once a man has given utterance to something, when he has taken his stand upon a particular belief, he is not inclined to give up that belief, however much the absurdity thereof be exposed. Desire to attain salvation, if grounded upon true foundations, is a praiseworthy thing, but where is the sense in having a desire for salvation which kills truth and which countenances, regarding a holy prophet arid a perfect man, the belief that he had as it were passed through a state in which he had been estranged from God, and in which, instead of unity of heart and unity of inclination, there had been produced a strangeness and aloofness, enmity and hatred; and, instead of light, darkness had surrounded his heart?

Let it also be noticed that this not only detracts from the prophethood and apostleship of Jesus (on whom be the peace of God) but it is also derogatory to his claim to spiritual eminence, holiness, love, and knowledge of God, to which he has repeatedly given expression in the gospels.

Just look through the Bible; therein Jesus clearly claims that he is the Light of the world, that he is the Guide, and that he stands in a relation of great love towards God; that he has been honoured by a clean birth, and that he is the loved Son of God. How then, in spite of these pure and holy relations, can a curse, with all its significance, be attributed to Jesus? No, never.

Therefore, there is no doubt that Jesus was not crucified, i.e., he did not die on the Cross, for his personality did not deserve the underlying consequence of death on the Cross. Not having been crucified, he was spared the impure implications of a curse, and no doubt it also proves that he did not go to heaven, for going to heaven formed part of this whole scheme and was a consequence of the idea of his having been crucified. Therefore, when it is proved that he was neither accursed, nor did he go to hell for three days, nor did he suffer death the other part of the scheme, namely, that he went to heaven, is proved to be wrong."
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/jesus-in-india/ch1.html

accursed-death
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I once had a cute little crush,
I was too shy so I always stayed hushed.
Another took her, great was my woe
my joy was stillborn within my soul.

I pondered and asked, love why so cold?
wilt thou shun me till I'm old?
"Stillness, peace joy to to you soul!"
"Heartbreak", the Lord said," too did I know."

He said to me:
"There was a woman that I did love,
with great passion and caring of
I made her, gave her all of my joy.
My treasures she played, just like a toy
(Gen. 1-3)

Sin I hate, my wrath was upon her!
I stripped her, naked before her lovers
Silly, brutal a stiff necked nation
hearts set on each new sensation
(Hosea 1-4)

But the love I have could not be contained
nor could her sin still yet remain
I contrived a way hoping against hope
that my lover and I once again may elope
(Psalms, Genesis, 2 Samuel)

I wrestled in the Garden drops of blood in my sweat
sorrow to death, my love had been set.
Her sin I absorbed, Crushed from above
is this not the evidence of love?
(The Gospels, Isaiah 53)

I loved her with my undying love,
I loved her with my dying love.
My Bride! she's mine, I rejoice!"
This He told me with his own voice
(the Gospels, Ephesians, Revelation)

Brothers, Sisters, can we loved as he did?
We are more fickle than we'd like to admit.
So before you go off on your romantic search,
remember, twas Christ who first loved the Church

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
(Ephesians 5)

This point, that if there is no Jesus’ death on cross, there is no resurrection from the dead and divinity of Jesus gets falsifiedis well established by the following website:
http://www.allaboutjesuschrist.org/resurrection-of-christ.htm

And we quote:

“Resurrection of Christ - Establishing the Importance
The resurrection of Christ is the linchpin of the Christian faith -- the historical event upon which Christian doctrine stands or falls. The apostle Paul makes this clear in his first letter to the Corinthians: But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. … For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone (1 Cor. 15:13-14, 19).”

The things were like this till GodAllahYHWH revealed the truth on Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Quadiani 1835-1908 that Jesus son of Mary had died and that he was the PromisedMessiah. The Second Coming of Jesus has taken place in his person metaphorically, and no one else would be coming literally and physically.

With this he was informed of the arguments of Jesus not dieing on Cross; from Quran, NTBible, History, and Medical etc. The evidences already existed in these scriptures only these were hidden from the eyes. The PromisedMessiah 1835-1908 brought them into the light and now everyone could see them. In fact this is the doctrine on which rests the peace of the world. Jews, Christians and Muslim have stakes in it.

The PromisedMessiah 1835-1908 has explained himself the importance of Jesus not dieing on Cross in his book “Jesus in India”:
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/jesus-in-india/index.html

I have written this book, so that, by adducing proofs from established facts, from conclusive historical evidence of proved value and from ancient documents of non-Muslims, I might remove the serious misconceptions which are current among Muslims and among most Christian sects regarding the earlier and the later life of Jesus (on whom be peace) - misconceptions, the dangerous implications of which have not only injured and destroyed the conception of Divine Unity, but the unwholesome and poisonous influence of which has for long been noticed in the morals of the Muslims of this country. Spiritual maladies, i.e., want of good morals, evil thoughts, callousness, want of sympathy, are spreading among most Islamic sects, being the result of beliefs in unfounded stories and anecdotes of this kind. Human sympathy, pity and love of justice, humility and humble-mindedness - all good qualities - are disappearing day by day, as if they will soon bid a last farewell to this community.

This callousness and this immorality make many a Muslim appear no better than the beasts of the jungle. A Jain or a Buddhist is afraid of and avoids killing even a mosquito or a flea, but, alas! there are many among us Muslims who, while they kill an innocent man or commit wanton murder, are not afraid of the powerful God, who rates human life higher than that of all the animals.

What is this callousness and cruelty and want of sympathy due to? It is due to this - that from their very childhood, stories and anecdotes and wrong views of the doctrine of Jihad are dinned into their ears and inculcated into their hearts, the result being that gradually they become morally dead and cease to feel the heinousness of their hateful actions; nay, rather, the man who murders another man unawares and thus brings ruin to the murdered man's family thinks that he has done a meritorious deed; or rather, that he has made the most of an opportunity to win favour with his community.

As no lectures or sermons are delivered in our country to stop such evils - and if there are any such lectures they have an element of hypocrisy in them - the common people think approvingly of such misdeeds. Accordingly, taking pity upon my own people, I have compiled several books in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, in which I have stated that the popular view of Jihad prevalent among Muslims, that is, the expectation of a bloody Imam, full of spite and hostility for other people, is a texture of false beliefs inculcated by shortsighted Ulema; otherwise, Islam does not allow the use of the sword for the Faith; except in the case of defensive wars, or in the case of wars waged to punish a tyrant or to uphold freedom.

The need of a defensive war arises when the aggression of an adversary threatens one's own life. These are the three kinds of Jihad permitted by the Shariat, and, apart from these three kinds, there is no other kind of war which is permitted by Islam for the propagation of the Faith.
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/jesus-in-india/intro.html

jesus-death-on-cross

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after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Jesus “sat down…”  The imagery of this is of a victorious king who has returned home after the defeat of his enemies.  The sitting symbolizes that the victory is final and decisive.  And indeed, we who have received the benefits of that victory can and do rejoice in the wonderful victory of our King!  Oh, the peace and confidence that come from knowing that our Lord reigns unopposed.

Yet, with this in mind, there are several observations that must be made from this clause.  The first observation is that this victory took place at the cross.  “After making purifications for sins,” this passage begins, Jesus sits down in victory.  Beloved, Jesus’ victory over the devil and sin is not something that has yet to take place, but it has already taken place at the cross.  Indeed, the devil still rages against believers.  Indeed, sin still haunts our lives and the effects of sin still surround us.  But these things are the death throes of a defeated enemy and we can rejoice in knowing that the attacks we endure have lost their sting (1 Corinthians 15:55-56) for the law has been satisfied by the work of Christ (satisfaction is another aspect of the atonement—see above).  The devil is dead and he knows it, he is simply thrashing about to do as much damage as he can to God’s people for as long as he is able.  Indeed, there is a time when our Lord will once again leave his throne and enter into our world in final judgment, casting the devil and his servants into the eternal lake of fire, but for now, our Lord reigns victorious while he brings the entirety of his elect church to himself.

The second thing that we must note about this passage is where our Lord takes his seat.  It is at the right hand of God the Father in all of his glory.  Now, we know that this is metaphoric imagery.  We know that God the father does not have hands and we know that God the Father and God the Son (as well as God the Holy Spirit), while three persons, are one God, so to make too much about designation and location is inappropriate—there is no real subordination, for example, within the Godhead (though, we can argue that there was an economic subordination in the sense that certain members of the Godhead primarily focused on certain tasks in redemptive history, but all-the-while knowing that God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are present when God the Father is working, etc…).  All of this having been said, we must note that the right hand was symbolic in ancient cultures of the hand of power and authority.  In other words, sitting at the right hand communicates that all of the power and authority of God are at the disposal of the one to that side.  It is the side given to the honored guest, brought into the fellowship of one in authority (note that we retain some of this imagery in our modern culture when we extend the right hand of fellowship to another in a handshake).  The symbolism of the right hand is seen as a confirmation that Jesus’ completed work of atonement has met the full satisfaction of God the Father and nothing more needs to be added.  Jesus’ work is complete; his sacrifice never needs repeating.  God’s justice and honor has been satisfied and his wrath has been meted out in terms of the elect—there is no more work to be done for the redemption of God’s people.

Loved ones, let that sink in a bit.  Jesus’ redemptive work is complete.  We neither need to nor are even able to add to it on a saving level.  Jesus successfully accomplished what we could not accomplish for ourselves.  Jesus’ merit was sufficient to satisfy the righteous law and his sacrifice was sufficient to satisfy the justice of his Father—what more is there left but for us to adore him!  Oh, loved ones, when we speak of the “Cessation” of the Son’s work, we are not suggesting that he puts his feet up on a celestial ottoman and sips divine lemonade for all eternity, no, he lives to make intercession for his people (Hebrews 7:25)!  Yet, in terms of the work necessary to redeem his people, that work was fully completed on the cross—we are just going through history while that redemptive work is slowly realized in the lives of the elect (2 Peter 3:9).  Believer, rejoice in the knowledge that your Lord and Savior sits in such  a place of honor and privilege in the grand scheme of God’s great plan, yet, for those who may not believe and have a relationship with Jesus Christ, be afraid, for the one you reject is the one who has the Father’s ear and who promises that none will come to the Father save through the Son (John 14:6).

To God be the glory, great things He has done;

So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,

Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,

And opened the life gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the earth hear His voice!

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

Let the people rejoice!

O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,

And give Him the glory, great things He has done.

-Fanny Crosby

Without (most of us) being Jews, we can nevertheless apply these words to ourselves today in many ways. Especially in the USA, we venerate the independent man who "pulls himself up by his own bootstraps." This is a ridiculous picture and an impossible feat. Likewise, the idea of somehow being "good enough" to get to Heaven is a ridiculous idea, yet how many times have you heard (or thought) "I've lived a pretty good life. I'm better than a lot of people, and I think I'll make it okay"? Thanks be to God, we don't have to make it on our own. Nor can we.

Read the passage, Romans 3:21-31, and then see what you think of my commentary. I'd love to hear your opinion, good or bad or so-so. You can see loads of other commentaries on this passage by going to the Blogger Small Group and checking out the links. Or join up yourself and give your take.

Verse 21

God revealed His righteous requirements in His law, but He reveals His actual righteousness apart from the law. The law itself predicts and foreshadows this righteousness, as do the prophets.

Verse 22

The righteousness God offers us comes through faith in His Son, and it comes to everyone who believes. There isn't some special allowance to be made for Jews, as some think, and again, Gentiles don't become righteous by being "pretty good".

Verse 23

We need this righteousness offered by God, as all of us have sinned. This is the big thing people overlook so easily. We've all sinned. We've fallen short. We're not eligible to be in the presence of God, nor could we survive it in our sinful state.

Verse 24

God has made a way to "fix" us, so that we can once again enjoy fellowship with Him and He with us. (Imagine that--GOD wants to hang out with you! That should make you feel like a part of the "in" crowd.) Grace means the working of God in our lives. God works in our lives by buying us back (redeeming) us with His own blood. He took on our sins, took us into Himself, and died. We died with Him, for God put us "in Christ".

Verse 25

God counts our faith in Christ's blood as righteousness (and it is He who gives us the faith) just as He counted Abraham's faith as righteousness. The death of Christ not only paid for the sins of His followers at the time and those who would follow after, but for those who went before. For those who died before the atoning death of Jesus, God passed over their sins, looking forward to the sacrifice that would be made. Thus, the atonement was also necessary to justify His mercy toward those sinners who trusted Him before Jesus came.

We sometimes wonder why God doesn't just forgive sin without a penalty being paid. Couldn't He just pass over it? No. God is righteous and cannot ignore sin. That would be wrong. It would be unrighteous. So the death of Christ was not only needed to justify us and redeem us, it was needed to justify God's merciful treatment of sinners from the beginning of the world.

Verse 26

God proved His righteousness by taking the penalty for our sins and those of the patriarchs and all who had already died trusting in His promise. He did this in the person of His Son. Had He failed to do as He promised, He would not be able to both be righteous and also declare righteous those who looked to Him for mercy though we deserved wrath.

Verse 27

We have no reason to boast, whether we are Jew or Gentile or Barbarian. God has done everything to bring us back, and we have done nothing. We could do nothing. We were hopeless without Jesus and we still are. Our only true boast is in Him.

Verse 28

Faith, not the works of the Law, saves us. The works of the Law cannot save us because we cannot keep the Law. The Law shows us our sin.

Verse 29

God is God of all, not only of one people, but of all peoples.

Verse 30-31

We all, whether Jew or Gentile, are justified by faith alone. Circumcision symbolizes the works of the Law, which cannot save us. We must become, through faith in Jesus, the sorts of persons who naturally keep the Law, but without Him, this can never happen. Thus, the Law is upheld because God has redeemed a race of people, a kingdom of priests, who keep the Law which is, at its foundation, the Law of Love. This can happen in no other way than that we be given a new nature--the nature of Christ. We have become and are continually becoming new creatures--creatures on whose hearts the Law of Love is written.

I'd just like to give a few quotes about this doctrine which should help define it a little better.

"The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again. "
Wayne Grudem from Systematic Theology ( pg. 788 )

"If our religion be of our own getting or making, it will perish; and the sooner it goes, the better; but if our religion is a matter of God's giving, we know that He shall never take back what He gives, and that, if He has commenced to work in us by His grace, He will never leave it unfinished. "
C.H. Spurgeon

"For non-reformed theologies..."at the end of the day, the security of the believer finally rests with the believer. For those in the opposite camp [Reformed], the security of the believer finally rests with God -- and that, I suggest, rightly taught, draws the believer back to God himself, to trust in God, to a renewed faith that is of a piece with trusting him in the first place."
D.A. Carson

Theres a lot of Good we can pull out of all of those statements. But I'm all too keenly aware that these statements do not carry the authority of scripture.

When we speak of “once saved, always saved,” we are not taking into account the full scope of salvation. We have been saved (justification), are being saved (sanctified), and we will one day be saved (glorified). You cannot claim to have been “saved” (justified) unless you are being sanctified. Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord." (Putting the Amazing Back into Grace pg. 171)

I feel He hit the nail on the head there. We certainly need to be educated on what the different terms mean. Salvation can occur in three stages. There is a present salvation, then a process of being made holy, our lives being transformed by the truth, and then a final salvation where we go to be with Jesus and receive new resurrection bodies.

The point of contention of this doctrine is whether a true Christian can fall away and be eternally lost. Arminian doctrine specifies that it is not that the believer falls away by some by some external force, but rather by their own choice they voluntarily refuse to repent or they decide no longer to accept the gift of salvation. This is where the real points of contention come in - can someone truly walk away from God? I will of course argue that this is not possible, and that those who appear to walk away were not regenerate beings in the first place. But it is a question seriously worth noting.

We need to make it clear from the outset that both sides can present a strong arguement from scripture and I will try to cover some of the Arminian objections from scripture in another post.

Scriptural support for the doctrine is plentiful:

Romans 8:30 "Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
Romans 11:29: "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."
God predestined these people and called them to himself. Those whom He called He justified. Not those who responded in faith, not those whom God knew something about, but those whom God chose and called were justified. Now we need to note the link between justification and glorification, that is that there are no conditions placed on justification that the believer must meet to go from a state of justification to a state of Glorification. There is nothing that the believer themselves adds in between that process. Its also worth noting that a logical conclusion of being justified is glorification. If Arminian doctrine is true and some can walk away it would need to say those whom God foreknew would excercise faith in Him he called, those whom He called he allowed them to chose whether they would follow him or not, those who chose right he justified, those who remained faithful and didnt reject the justification he glorified, all others fell away. 

Romans 8:1 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."
There is a bit of contention about the translation of this verse. Some translations add a bit to verse 1 (NIV, and KJV, NKJV) but others delete it saying it was a double up of verse 4 (NASB). A but of textual criticism gets rid of the addition. That said we see from this verse that those who are in Christ Jesus are free from Condemnation - that is the condemnation that was once going to be rendered to them has been passed onto Jesus who bore the weight of Gods wrath against sin. We now as Christ followers live under another law system if we would. The law of Christ which leads to life everlasting, as opposed to the law of the flesh which leads to death. When you see these different laws you need to see at the fundamentally basic level that Life or Law of the spirit refers to a life fashioned after Jesus and Life in the Flesh or Law of Sin refers to a life fashioned after Adam. The reason this relates to perseverance is because if one could fall away from salvation willingly or by some external force that would imply, explicit or implicit, that there was something that Christ did not pay for on the cross. That somehow his sacrifice was not sufficient for that persons sin. But again we see that people are not condemmed to hell for their rejection of Christ but for their sin.

John 6:37-40: "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me."
This is a great verse that should give comfort to all believers out there. Here we see the Father heart of God. He has given a certain number of people to Jesus and everyone that has been given to Jesus will come to Jesus. There are no conditions attached there! Isnt that wonderful news? Taking this verse in isolation one could possibly draw the conclusion that someone could walk away from God. While it is Gods will never to "cast" anyone out it does not stipulate that someone could not walk away willingly.
But we need to take this verse in context of the rest of the verses.

"And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."From these verses I find it hard to draw any other conclusion that those who believe that Jesus is Lord can fall away. The will of the Father and the will of Jesus will not allow it. Jesus himself said the will of God is that He would lose NOTHING of all that he has been given. That removes the chance of someone "walking away" from the faith because that would mean that Jesus would lose something the Father had given Him. If the Father has given something to Jesus it implies ownership, that God has the right to chose to do what he wants to do with His possessions. If the Father has given Jesus something he does not want Him to lose anything, can we say that God's will is made of no effect? Of course not, God's word does not return void but accomplishes that which it set out to do. Again this passage is to give us hope that no matter how bad things get or how lost we feel we are held securely in Christ. Does this mean we go out and sin like mad? Of course not, if you can discern that then, as Lloyd Jones said, "you have no spiritual life in you at all".

John 10:28-29: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."
Again this is a wonderful passage to show the hope the believer has. God is the giver of eternal life and the controller of the destiny of the believer. It is not the believer who choses eternal life, it is God who gives it freely to the elect. Again there are no conditions attached to the gift. No conditions attached to the statement "They will never perish". If Jesus has said that those whom He gives eternal life to will never perish how can we add any conditions to this? Nowhere in this verse or any of the preceeding verses is Faith or remaining faithful a condition of eternal life. Clearly from this verse we see that eternal life, and the assurance of salvation lie solely with God and not with ourselves.

The Arminian arguement here is that no external force can snatch a person out of God's hand, but I can certainly walk away if I chose to. While the verse does not explicity differentiate between internal and external forces, it is clear that no one can snatch the believer out of the Fathers hand. The simplest reading of the text is to say "no one" means no person or force internal or external can snatch the believer out of Gods hand. The problem with differentiating between internal and external forces is that it equates mans ability with Gods. If man is equal to God in that respect, man does not need a saviour. We open a very slippery slope if we want to differentiate.

Romans 5:9-10: "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

If we have been justified by his blood that means that something must have taken place, something happened on the cross. Something effectual. Christ actually paid for our sins, he paid the price we would have to pay. We need to ask the question "Was the blood of Jesus enough for God?" Note the order of the words, if we have been justified we will be spared the wrath of God. Again I notice that there are no conditions apart from being Justified to be spared Gods wrath. People who end up in Hell are under the full weight of God's wrath, and the believer will never feel that wrath. The full weight of it that was due to us has been paid in full by Jesus on the Cross. Sometimes I think we've lost an appreciation for just how bad sin is in the eyes of God. I don't just mean the bad things we do sometimes, but the terrible vile nature of an unregenerate man. It is something so foul and displeasing to God that his justice and holiness will not allow Him to be in contact with it. God's justice demans punishment for sin and its a miracle that he justified anyone instead of destroying us all.

Another part of this verse that I love is that part that talks about us as enemies. The love of God is no better demonstrated than in his love for those who are his enemies and while were enemies of God we were reconciled to him through Jesus. Some people may be dragged into heaven kicking and screaming. C.S Lewis said it best:

 "You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England. I did not then see what is now the most shining and obvious thing; the Divine humility which will accept a convert even on such terms. The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet. But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance of escape?”Ephesians 4:30: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
Paul warns the Christians here not to grieve the spirit with outward actions that are not in line with what has taken place on the inside. If we are sealed in Christ till the day of redemption we need to give evidence of that to the world and the body of Christ. We need to deal with Anger and Bitterness. We need to talk in a wholesome manner. But again we can only do this because it is Christ who has sealed us by His blood.

Phillipians 1:6: "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
Not only is God the author of the good work which was begun in us, he is also the one who completes the good work. He has not left us to our own devices and said "maintain yourself" or else... He had begun a good work in us and will not let up until it is completed. This is a great hope because in times of trial or times when we may fall away it is God who is constantly renewing us, enabling us and encouraging us to go on and be a part of what he has done and is doing.

Jude 1:24: "Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy...."
God is the only one who is able to keep us from stumbling, our own effort will never remove the temptation and desire to sin. It is only Jesus through his work on the cross who is able to present us to the Father as blameless and spotless. Not only that He does it with Joy!

Phillipians 2:11-13 "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."
While we are responsible to work out our salvation in daily life, we are also keenly aware that we are not alone and it is Jesus who dwells inside us and walks alongside us to enable us to complete the task we have at hand.

Now there are a couple of things we need to note from this doctrine. First off it does not negate human responsibility in salvation. I think the above scriptures are clear in advocating that we are to show some fruits of being saved. I am always doubtful of the sincerity of some Christians who claim to be saved yet display blatanly un-christian lifestyles. E.g. A person cannot claim to be a Christian and openly profess to be a homosexual. This is clearly inconsistent with being a Christian. We would have to question the sincerity of their faith and honesty of their conversion.
While I do not doubt that some people struggle with these things from their past, the struggle they feel is indication enough to know that something is changing.
We need to be very careful to judge someone else who has fallen into sin as someone who has fallen away entirely. In doing so we may be eating and drinking judgement on ourselves.

I have friends on all sides of this arguement. I have friends who were the most vocal and involved at Churches I went to. They always spoke about how great their relationship with God was, and yet after they came back from an overseas holiday they decided to start dating and move in with an unbeliever, and stop going to church altogether. Now in that case I seriously doubt whether the person was saved in the first place.
I have friends who are so afraid that they may fall away that they have become so legalistic it frightens me. Where is the freedom that the Christian should have "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed" Where is the Joy and appreciation in life? I have other friends who claim to be Christians  but get drunk consistently. How you read this doctrine will certainly affect how you live.

We need to understand this doctrine correctly, it does not advocate sinning like there is no tommorow because God will love you regardless. That is a total rejection and misunderstanding of the Gospel. Shall we sin more so that Grace shall increase? By no means as Paul the Apostle said.

The Arminian perspective is to say that these people will be welcomed into heaven if they turn from their ways and repent, but that runs into problems with everyone. We all have uncofessed sin in our lives, and we will all die that way. Imagine someone looking lustfully at a semi naked woman on a billboard, crossing the road and getting hit by bus dying instantly. Are we to say that this person did not repent of their sin so they now are on their way to hell. Are we saying that what Jesus did on the cross did not cover that sin? Again we must be very careful to judge. The correct response to the Gospel is Gratitude and humility.

(...) 2. The Beginning of the Mennonite Brethren Church. As the groups of Brethren increased and became more united, they raised objections to certain practices and inconsistencies of conduct on the part of members of the church and insisted on church discipline. Since this was not carried out as they believed that it should be done, they requested that communion service be administered to them separately. This the church elders declined to do. Thereupon a group of the Brethren met in December 1859 and held a communion service among themselves. This event soon became known and caused a great turmoil in the church. Some of the Brethren were called before the church and were asked to apologize and to promise that they would refrain from this in the future. They, however, did not concede to this, but rather justified their action and claimed Scriptural ground for the step they had taken. Thereupon six members of the Gnadenfeld church were asked to withdraw from the congregation.

On 6 January 1860, a number of the Brethren met in the village of Elisabeththal, Molotschna, and took steps to form a separate church. They drew up a written statement addressed to the elders of the church, in which they declared themselves an independent church and stated their reasons for taking this step. They also stated their intention to remain within the Mennonite brotherhood of the settlement. This document was signed by 18 men. This event is regarded as the beginning of the Mennonite Brethren Church, and the 18 men as constituting the first congregation. (...)

Please read more about this here:

Mennonite Brethren Church
http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/contents/M4639ME.html

Who are the true “brethren” in Christ? Those who deny the atonement and enter into complacency and compromise with the spirituality of this world? Or those who love Jesus and His Word enough to remain true to Him? Is it time for repentance and personal revival in the Mennonite Brethren church and seminary?

If you don’t think so, browse the following articles on this blog and read about what is making Menno Simons roll over in his grave.

See how far the Mennonite Brethren have departed from their beginnings and their faithfulness to God...

The ‘new old spirituality’ of the US Mennonite Brethren

Contemplative Mennonite Retreats

MB Herald Promoting Error

Centering Prayer and Mennonites

More Mystics in the Mennonite Seminary

MB Herald promotes book that challenges the sacrificial atonement of Christ

***Canadian MB Conference - Top Five areas of concern

***Attention Mennonite Brethren!!!

 14. Can any mere creature make satisfaction for us? 

None, for first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man committed;¹ and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin ² and redeem others from it.

¹ Heb 2:14-18. ² Ps 130:3.

So far we've seen that the efficacy of divine institution of typological animal sacrifices, prior to the incarnation of God the Son, was dependent upon the coming fulfillment of those sacrifices in Christ.

The point of working through the meaning of the sacrificial system is to deal with the problem presented by the fact that it was not lambs and goats who sinned against God. It was human beings, image bearers, who violated the covenant of works (or life or nature). The consequence of sin was death, but it was not humans who were slaughtered in the Jewish temple. So what was happening in the Jewish cultus? God was anticipating the final, once-for-all sacrifice made by God the Son incarnate and the culmination of the once-for-all punishment of sin.

God was not obligated to save any. De potentia absoluta (regarding the absolute divine power) he might passed by or reprobated all humans fallen in Adam and he would have been just in doing so. Nevertheless, God in his mercy (not giving the punishment due) and grace (showing favor that is not due) willed to redeem a people for himself. Having willed to redeem a people for himself and because it was humans, and not lambs and goats, who sinned, the divine justice requires that the same class of beings who committed the sin should make payment for that sin.

Though it was humans who sinned and it is they who owe payment and positive righteousness they do have something in common with lambs and goats: they are all mere creatures. There is an ontological, categorical difference between the being which humans have and the being which God has. To begin, God is. That cannot be said of humans. God was, is, and shall be. His being is not contingent. He is simple, immutable, impassible, eternal, infinite, and immense. None of those attributes are true of any creature. No purely finite, temporal, passible, mutable, complex, and local creature could satisfy the divine wrath and, after the fall, accomplish positive righteousness.

All this is to begin to answer the great question posed by Anselm of Canterbury: Cur Deus Homo? (What the God-Man?) The short answer is that, having willed to redeem his elect, he could do so only in a way that is consonant with his justice. We know something about God's justice from revelation. There are rough but true analogies to divine justice in nature and clearer indications of it in the typological revelation, e.g. "eye for an eye." It is common to hear people mock the "eye for an eye." Ghandi is famous for having said, "An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind," and while that may be true on one level, that if we each go about seeking absolute justice for every wrong in this world we will destroy it, it's a poor account of God's justice. In fact God wills that his justice be satisfied. There's every indication in the typological revelation that God is completely intolerant of disobedience. The liberals can mock the "slaughterhouse theology" of the OT and of the historic Christian, substitutionary doctrine of the atonement but we may, in turn, call them Marcionites and Gnostics. They may like to think of themselves as having advanced beyond bloodshed and atonement but God has not and there will come a time when they shall wish with all they are that they had not been more clever than God.

covenant shadows

in chapter three of the book of genesis, God pronounced a series of curses on the serpent, the woman, and adam (3:14-19). then God shed innocent blood, made animal-skin garments, and covered the fig-leaf clad sinners with the new garments (3:21). this is the first shadow of the cross and substitutionary atonement revealed in the biblical narrative. finally, God banished adam and eve from eden's paradise until the serpent was crushed by the seed of woman according to the gospel (3:23).

covenant substance

in chapter three of the book of galatians, Christ became a curse for us by hanging on a tree (3:13). Christ became the Curse for us that we might receive covenant blessings---justification by faith and the promised Holy Spirit (3:14). God's son shed his own blood for our sins, made divine robes to cover our human rags, and clothed us with the righteousness of Christ (3:26-28). this is the reality of the cross and substitutionary atonement. finally, we are adopted as God's children through faith in Christ Jesus (3:26).

-------

note: adoption is attested and certified by water-baptism, a means of grace by which God strips away our prison-rags and clothes us in the princely-robes of Christ.

What would you say if you read the following:

“sometimes Jesus’ remarkable life–as prophet, miracle worker, healer, teacher, etc.--is thought to be result of some pre-incarnate status in the heavens. Yet the NT writers do not argue in this way. Instead, they are quite clear that:
The earthly Jesus does not come “trailing clouds of glory” from any preincarnate status;
nor is there a single one of his dignities which he is said to hold in virtue of a heavenly
origin. Through testing he became superior to the angels and inherited the loftier name
(Heb 1:4). And if we find this disturbing, the fault may lie in ourselves, not in our sources. (Caird 1994:295)

Another example: sometimes Jesus’ remarkable life is thought to be the result of being born to a virgin. Yet, only the infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke mention the virginal conception and no NT writer bases their conviction of Jesus’ divinity on the circumstances of his birth. In fact, Paul is clear that Jesus entered the world in the normal way (Gal 4:4; Rom 8:3; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 2:7) and that the new creation begins at Jesus’ resurrection (1 Cor 15:45-49; 2 Cor14 5:17). What then are the infancy narratives about?

[…]

While the NT writers did not use ontological categories of “essence” or “substance” to talk about Jesus, they did make statements about Jesus’ identity. Based on their experience both of Jesus’ life and resurrection, they were convinced that they saw “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

Furthermore, they were persuaded “that the man Jesus already possessed, during his earthly career, a life over which death had no power, an indestructible, eternal life, because he lived in such a close union with God that, without loss of identity, his human personality was taken up into the divine” (Caird 1994:298)”

Would you say this is the work of a Bible seminary scholar or teacher? Does this sound like it was written by someone who believes in the deity of Jesus Christ?

According to eighteen anonymous and extremely concerned men who have just started a brand new blog, this quote is JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING FROM THE MANUSCRIPT OF A SOON TO BE PUBLISHED MB BOOK written by someone who teaches at MBBS!

If this is a concern to you, you can find an excerpt of Chapter 8 of this soon to be published book at december1859.wordpress.com, here:

THE REASON WHY I CAN NO LONGER SEND MY YOUNG PEOPLE AND MY MONEY TO MBBS
The complete chapter 8.
http://december1859.wordpress.com/the-reason-why-i-can-no-longer-send-my-young-people-and-my-money-to-mbbs/

This is chapter 8 from a soon to be published book. The author has been teaching this for the last several years. He says that the book is the fruit of what he has been teaching our pastors in training. Basically it is his teaching notes written in the format of a book. I guess he has enough pastors taught to believe this falsehood that he feels confident in publishing it at this point. Who will stand up to his defense? A decade worth of graduates will.

Also note that in the Chapter 8 excerpt, the author quotes (twice) from Green & Baker, who together have written some very disturbing things regarding the sacrifical atonement of Jesus Christ.

See here for Mark Baker’s work on the atonement and the cross:

http://www.mbseminary.edu/baker/atonement
[See: Recovering the Scandal of the Cross: Atonement in New Testament and Contemporary Contexts by Joel B. Green and Mark D. Baker]

*For a biblical review on the work of Green and Baker, see here:

Recovering the Scandal of Liberalism:
Disdaining the Cross (Review)
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/04/scandal-cross.htm

And here:

A review of Recovering the Scandal of the Cross
Atonement in New Testament & Contemporary Contexts
Reviewed by David H. Linden
Part 1:
http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_1.html
Part 2:
http://www.grebeweb.com/linden/recovering_scandal_2.html

This is only one chapter excerpt, but it should make one wonder what else will be taught in such a book, and what else has already been taught to students by this seminary teacher. This departure from the foundation of the pure gospel should definitely be a grave concern for those who know their Bibles, love the Lord Jesus, and desire that students in a Christian seminary be trained up in the truth.

Those who want more information are encouraged to go to the blog and leave a comment and wait for one of the mysterious Eighteen Men to contact you.

ROM Index: RED ALERT!!!

Another book that has an epilogue that isn't truly needed (IMO) is one that I would usually refrain from criticising because of the deep respect I hold for the author and the love I have for all her books.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a magnificent masterpiece and even though the epilogue does answer some rather important questions, I could have lived without it.  I can't explain properly why I don't like it and feel like a traitor for even admitting it.  "All was well" does seem like a nice way to end the series but the bit just before the epilogue (Harry saying he's had enough trouble for a lifetime) was absolutely fine. 

Well, yeah.  And I don't mean to update this blog every day.

Text: 1^st Peter 3:18-22                                                     6/22/08 p.m.

Thesis: The cross proves it is better to suffer for what is right.

Intro: Tonight we tackle the phrases, “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead.

We will tackle these difficult phrases by tackling a difficult passage. Our passage is 1 Peter 3:18-22.

The first verse is simple, encouraging, and edifying. The following verses are complex, encouraging, and edifying.

Read 1 Peter 3:17-22

I) Christ suffered and died because of sins

a)      Some claim that nothing good can come from wrongful punishment.

i)        When the righteous suffer it is a senseless evil. Generally that means, “when I suffer it is a senseless evil.” But we couch that claim in pious theological terms.

ii)      But verse 17 blows the idea that nothing good can come from wrongful suffering out of the water.

iii)    It is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will than for doing evil.

iv)    It is more beautiful in the sight of God for you to suffer though you have done nothing wrong than it is for you to suffer for your own sins.

v)      Why is that?  Because Jesus has suffered for your sins.

vi)    Verse 18 says, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”

vii)  If there was ANY wrongful suffering it was the suffering that Jesus endured when he died on the cross.

viii)            He did not deserve to suffer but it was God’s will. It’s was God’s glorious plan to bring about your redemption and mine by the death of Jesus Christ.

ix)    The righteous One, the sinless One, the perfect One, the obedient One would suffer and died for the unrighteous, the sinful, the wicked, the disobedient.