The Binary Choice Deception - Cessationism Vs. Charismania, Both are Equally Wrong - By Anthony Wade

 Found here. Our comments in bold.
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It's been nearly three months since we've critiqued a Rev. Wade article. It's been a welcome respite from his typical flaming-throwing offerings.

But unfortunately we're back today, hoping that he's finally going to explain something. Here he's supposed to set us straight about what's wrong with each side of the cessation/charismatic debate. But he uses over 2100 words to tell us nothing about the Bible regarding these two sides. Nothing.

Rev. Wade posted this as a devotional. But he doesn't quote or even reference a single Scripture, except for the irrelevant opening Scripture. He doesn't tell us about any Bible precept, holy principle, or anything about the faith. Nothing. Yet it's a devotional. Hmm.
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The Agenda - all you need to know about the Left

On this blog we have critiqued many times the motives and techniques of the political Left. They prolifically disseminate their doctrines, their talking heads are amazingly consistent in their language (almost to the point of being verbatim), and they are doggedly persistent in their objectives. 

This post is to explore some of the inner workings of the Left, and to offer solutions to negate their pernicious influence.

Little known bible characters 3 - Trophimus - by Elizabeth Prata

Excerpted from here. Our comments in bold.

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We have not had occasion to comment on Ms. Prata for some time, something that gladdens our hearts. This could only mean that she has maintained a degree of sensibility. 

Up until now.

This excerpt is an aside she inserted into her article, unrelated to the topic she was writing about. But because the desire to refute charismatics is always present, she take a tangent to make sure we know she doesn't believe in the gift of healing.

Ms. Prata asks a legitimate question, why Paul didn't heal Trophimus, but she didn't ask it to gain information. Cessationists like Ms. Prata don't like the idea that the Holy Spirit would move supernaturally in our contemporary churches. So they create doctrines out of thin air based on speculation about what the Bible doesn't say.

Resurrecting the Common Good: A Civic Education for All - Chapter 9 of the Common Good - by ROBERT REICH

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This is a long and obtuse article. Dr. Reich presumes his false premises and builds upon them until the whole rhetorical structure totters. 

This man is supposed to be an educator, but he is nothing more than spouter of agitprop. He doesn't intend to explain, inform, or clarify. Nothing here is designed to be logical or factual. Dr. Reich is simply putting out the Narrative, the leftist bumper sticker slogans promulgated by Central Command. 

The Narrative is for the sole purpose of The Agenda, which is the dismantling of the system. The system is the structures, institutions, and philosophies of the American culture and way of life. These things are repugnant to leftists like Dr. Reich. They must be done away with.

That's why we always hear about systemic racism, income inequality, and the super rich. These are represented as the result of the current system. Thus, take down the system. Lie about the founders. Mock those who want to live their own lives free from unnecessary dictates and government burdens. Silence those who disagree. Deplatform dissenters. 

The system must come down.

Now, Dr. Reich makes noises about things like the common good, democracy, and educating voters. The average person would accept these ideas for their common meaning. That is what Dr. Reich hopes, that the casual reader would agree. 

That is the nature of agitprop. The Narrative is only about The Agenda. Agitprop is only about The Agenda. Dr. Reich and everyone like him are only about The Agenda. It's pernicious, deceptive, evil, and based on half truths and modified history.

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IS CESSATIONISM HERETICAL? - Lovesickscribe

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author doesn't quote a single Scripture. Not one. She will mention the Bible many times, but does not ever quote it. Astonishing.

In fact, she will many claims without any sort of documentation, biblical or otherwise. We must designate this article as Bad Bible Teaching.

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Heaven's Perspective on the Cross: Substitute - by John MacArthur

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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We recently commented upon another article from this series written by John MacArthur.

Dr. MacArthur's doctrine regarding Jesus' sacrifice is largely based on the misunderstanding of a single word, "for," which is found in several of his cited verses, like 2 Corinthians 5:14:

One died for all.

The Greek word is huper, which means on behalf of, for the sake of. It does not mean instead of. 

Jesus died for our benefit, not in our place. In fact, the whole idea of Jesus substituting Himself in our place for punishment is preposterous. No courtroom would accept the idea of an innocent party volunteering to be punished in the place of a guilty party.

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Bad Worship songs - King Of Kings - by Brooke Ligertwood, Scott Ligertwood & Jason Ingram

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a good worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned? We think an excellent worship song should contain as many as possible of the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Scripture quotes or coherent allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness

Further, a worship song should not:

• contain lyrics that create uncertainty or cause confusion
• be excessively metaphorical
• be excessively repetitive
• imply that Jesus is your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with today's song, King of Kings.

Video link.

Heaven's Perspective on the Cross: Sacrifice - by John MacArthur

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Dr. MacArthur wants to correct a misconception about Jesus' sacrificial death. Apparently this is a grave doctrinal situation. He makes a big deal out of the distinction between Christ's death for us and what His death meant regarding the Father. 

But he commits several crucial errors. He never tells us why the distinction is important. He misrepresents the OT sacrifices. He selectively quotes Scripture, leaving out parts of verses that contradict him.

This is unfortunate considering his reputation as a stellar Bible teacher.

The question we always consider when reading a Bible teaching is, what is the relevance to the Christian walk? If a teaching has little or no bearing on holiness, service, worship, maturity of faith, fellowship, or generosity, then it is simply an empty intellectual exercise. 

That is the case for this article. Ordinarily we would deem such a thing "bad Bible teaching," but we think that "irrelevant Bible teaching" is more applicable.

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10 Things You Should Know about the Holy Spirit - by Fred Sanders

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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It's nice that someone wants to discuss the Holy Spirit. He seems off limits by so much of Christendom so this is very refreshing. However, the author can only bring himself to quote a single Scripture and a small snippet. This should not be so, if one wants to represent one's self as a Bible teacher.

More importantly, he has ten points he deems important, but the ministry of the Holy Spirit (2Co. 3:8) doesn't even make the list. This is a glaring omission. 

We shall do the author's work for him. 

He convicts:

Jn. 16:8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt...

He made it possible for Mary to conceive Jesus:

Mt. 1:18 ...she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus baptizes us with Him:

Mt. 3:11 I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

He anointed Jesus:

Mt. 3:16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.

He speaks through us:

Mt. 10:20 for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Blaspheming Him is serious:

Mk. 3:29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.

He circumcises men's hearts:

Ro. 2:29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit...

He dwells in our hearts:

Ro. 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

He makes us sons:

Ro. 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.

He intercedes for us:

Ro. 8:26 ... but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

He helps us understand the things of God: 

1Co. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

He gives spiritual gifts:

1Co. 12:4, 7 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit... 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

He helps us bear spiritual fruit: 

Ga. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

We have only scratched the surface of what the Holy Spirit does. The author overlooks all of this for less important things.

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1967 Pontiac Lemans budget build - episode nine, floor pan and rockers, part two (updated 2/9/24)

Lemans #2 Episodes start here.

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Episode one, introduction.

Episode two, trunk panel install part one.

Episode three, trunk panel install part two.

Episode four, door rust repair.

Episode five, tail light panel and rear crossmember.

Episode six, passenger quarter panel.

Episode seven, driver's quarter panel.

Episode eight, floor pan and rockers, part one.

Episode nine, floor pan and rockers, part two.

Episode ten, frame repair and prep, body drop.

Episode eleven, radiator core support and miscellaneous rust repair.

Episode twelve, trunk repair and more miscellaneous rust repair.

Episode thirteen, fender and inner fender repair.

Episode fourteen, panel prep and block and prime.

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Now it's time to install the outer rockers. Here's the new pieces:

.

I purchased these from Amazon for $104.99 for the pair. They are made of a heavy enough gauge of metal. But they're are not complete stampings, they're more like skins. This AMD piece looks better, but because it's twice the price I bought the others.

Of course, as I mentioned in another episode, sometimes cheaper is not cheaper. 

1967 Pontiac Lemans budget build - Episode ten, frame repair and prep, body drop - updated 02/05/24

Lemans #2 Episodes start here.

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Episode one, introduction.

Episode two, trunk panel install part one.

Episode three, trunk panel install part two.

Episode four, door rust repair.

Episode five, tail light panel and rear crossmember.

Episode six, passenger quarter panel.

Episode seven, driver's quarter panel.

Episode eight, floor pan and rockers, part one.

Episode nine, floor pan and rockers, part two.

Episode ten, frame repair and prep, body drop.

Episode eleven, radiator core support and miscellaneous rust repair.

Episode twelve, trunk repair and more miscellaneous rust repair.

Episode thirteen, fender and inner fender repair.

Episode fourteen, panel prep and block and prime.

-------------------------

So just to bring the reader up to speed, we've gotten a little out of order. In the previous episode I noted the body had been dropped back on the frame in order to finalize the floor pan positioning and passenger rocker so as to weld them in. Which means today's episode has already happened. 

I couldn't do the final welding on the underside until the main welding was done on top. So that means the body had to come off again, both for the welding as well as the undercoat. I'll cover that as well. 

That will be body drop number two, this time for good. 

As I mentioned in another episode, the rear crossmember had been yanked backwards and twisted, probably by a tow hook. Plus it was rusty enough to justify buying a new crossmember. Here's the old and the new:

I had to straighten the old crossmember enough to get at the mounting bolts. So even though it looks kinda ok in this pic it is really wacked out. 

With the bumper brackets removed and the old crossmember out of the way we can see the driver's rear frame rail had cancer:

I marked out the cut line and fired up the grinder, which yielded this result:

Bad worship songs - Speak the Name - by Koryn Hawthorne

From time to to we examine the lyrics of worship songs. Our desire is not to mock or humiliate, but rather to honestly examine content with a view to calling forth a better worship expression.

With the great volume and variety of worship music available, none of us should have to settle for bad worship songs. We should be able to select hundreds or even thousands of top notch songs very easily.

What makes a song a good worship song? Is it enough to contain words like God or holy? How about vaguely spiritual sounding phrases? Should Jesus be mentioned? We think an excellent worship song should contain as many as possible of the following elements:

• A direct expression of adoration (God, you are...)
• A progression of ideas that culminates in a coherent story
• A focus on God, not us
• A certain amount of profundity
• A singable, interesting melody
• Scripture quotes or coherent allusions to Scripture
• Doctrinal soundness

Further, a worship song should not:

• contain lyrics that create uncertainty or cause confusion
• be excessively metaphorical
• be excessively repetitive
• imply that Jesus is your boyfriend

It's worth noting the most worship songs contain at least something good. That is, there might be a musical idea or a lyric that has merit. Such is the case with today's song, "Speak The Name."

Video link.

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Souls are not to be won by music - by the wanderer - Jeremy Walker

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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This short and entirely scriptureless presentation wants to refute something no one has claimed. The author quotes Spurgeon issuing an imperative, a thing that we apparently must not do: "Souls are not to be won by music." This prohibition implies that someone thinks the converse, "souls are to be won by music," but no one has suggested such a thing.

Maybe it's an issue of archaic language? Is the real statement in modern language something more like, "souls are not won by music?" That would make a bit more sense. But such a statement presumes we know what God can use to save a man. God can do this thing, but He cannot do that thing. 

Though he doesn't really say it, the author is probably referring to the spectacle that infects some churches, that those church services are entertainment productions where there is little or no biblical preaching. But that is an entirely another issue. The author's intent is not to examine matters of faith and church practice. He simply wants to drop a rhetorical bomb as if that's all that needs to be said:

"Souls are not to be won by music."

If this is true, then Christian music that contains lots of biblical truth, the Gospel message, or a call to repent cannot affect the soul. Which means songs like

• Rock of Ages - Augustus Toplady
• This is Amazing Grace – Phil Wickham
• Just as I am, without one plea - Charlotte Elliott
• At the Cross (Love Ran Red) – Passion, Chris Tomlin
• Mighty to Save – Hillsong Worship
• O Come to the Altar – Elevation
• The Mercy Seat - Don Moen
• This is My Surrender - New Wine Worship
• Song of Repentance – New Wine Worship
• O come to the mercy seat, needy one, come - William Stevenson
• God Would You Forgive Us – Here Be Lions
• Lord, I Need You – Passion
• Give Us Clean Hands – Charlie Hall

are never used by God to save someone. The Holy Spirit would not use these songs to call forth a sinner into the Kingdom. Even the adoration and praise in a worship service would not cause a sinner to repent. 

But is there any real difference between preaching the Gospel and singing it? Can the Holy Spirit convey sufficient information in a song so that salvation is effected? Or will God only use the spoken word?

The author doesn't bother with any of this.

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What Does It Mean That God Is Sovereign? - by R.C. Sproul

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Dr. Sproul uses the terms "sovereign" and "sovereignty" a total of 24 times but never defines them. Read the article carefully. It never happens. He sort of hints at what might be included in God's sovereignty, but as far as telling us what His sovereignty is, he never does it.

The dictionary definition is:

1. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as.
2. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
3. A national governing council or committee.

In the NT we find the Greek word despotés, a lord, master, or prince:

Ac. 4:24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them.

In the OT we find this:

2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

This is "Adonay Yahweh," simply, Lord YHWH. 

English does not really have an equivalent term. 

So what does it mean to be sovereign? It means the unlimited possession of all power to do with as one wants. The King owns everything in the kingdom with no limits. We see the scope of lordship power and ownership in David's conversation with Araunah. Araunah rejects David's desire to buy his threshing floor: Araunah gives all this to the king. (2Sa. 24:23)

This was quite proper. Araunah knew the power of the king and knew his place. The king could simply take it because it is already his. However, David had a different idea:

2Sa. 24:24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”

This is an astonishing display by David, very unking-like. This could very well be one of the reasons David was called a man after God's own heart. 

So a sovereign stands alone in the magnitude and scope of power, knowing no limits and recognizing no other authority. Yet a Lord can still do as he pleases, even if it seems to violate his own sovereignty. David did that, and God can do that.
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Bozeman book lovers, public libraries celebrate Banned Books Week - by Patrick Bouman Chronicle Staff Writer

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This is another sad example of journalism. The Bozeman Chronicle has been bleeding subscribers for years, partly due to the changing nature of the way people obtain news, and partly due to the Chronicle's substandard reporting due to leftist bias.

The below article commits several errors:

• Accepting the premise of the issue as presented by advocates
• Accepting the magnitude of the issue as presented by advocates
• Accepting the characterization of the opposition as presented by advocates
• Interviewing no one from the opposition
• No statement by those who were quoted (all of them advocates) was questioned or challenged

Because of these errors the article comes off as a puff piece, or even an advertisement.

Lastly, if the reader wants to see that these challenged books are hardly innocuous, there are many youtube videos with people reading the content out loud in front of school boards. These school boards don't like it one bit when it's revealed that what's really contained in these books is porn.

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Holy Spirit or Dopamine Trip? Emotional Manipulation in Charismatic “Worship” - By Publisher

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The unnamed "Publisher" can barely be bothered to quote the Bible. He manages only two snippets of Scripture, neither of which come to bear on any of his fevered speculations. He constructs a Straw Man and lumps every charismatic Christian into the pot and turns the heat to high. 

But he has nothing to offer. Nothing edifying. No insight into the Bible. No teaching. No encouragement. Not even correction. Nothing. His only achievement is to insult and demean his Christian brothers and sisters. Even if the subjects of his wrath weren't Christians, no one deserves to be treated this way.

It's a truly despicable presentation.

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Strange Fire Revisited: Providence Is Remarkable - by Matthew Tebbit

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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For some reason the author finds it necessary to reminisce about the glories of the Strange Fire conference, held over ten years ago. It seems the sole purpose of the conference was to mock and denigrate charismatic Christians, and the author is more than happy to join in.

We have examined a few of the conference presentations in these pages (here, here, here, and here) and have not found any of them to be biblically compelling. 

So the author wants to talk about nameless charismatics doing all sorts of egregious things. He goes on and on, with each accusation getting more and more fantastic. It's what people do when they are completely unacquainted with the other side.  

The author uses the term "providence" nine times but never directly defines it. We shall do his work for him. Providence is

God omnisciently directing the universe and the affairs of humankind with wise benevolence.

This is also known as as "ordinary providence," where God uses the mechanisms and circumstances of the natural world He created in order to effect His will. This is in contradistinction to miracles (or "extraordinary providence"), which is God working
directly, and without the secondary causes.

So quite simply, providence is when God uses the created order to get His things done, while miracles are His direct interventions. 

It only took us a handful of words to describe these concepts. Hopefully this will help the reader.

Our initial reaction to the issue providence versus the miraculous is that it is a distinction without a difference. All of God's work is miraculous. Everything He does is an exercise of His power. So why would cessationists like the author press the issue? What is he trying to prove?

Our answer is that the author is so offended by charismatics that he is fixated on them. Further, he doesn't believe in a "supernatural" church. His doctrine as a cessationist is that miraculous gifts have ceased. God no longer empowers Christians with gifts of healing, prophecy, or tongues. therefore, in our present day He only uses circumstance and the elements of His creation to work out his purposes.

Providence, then, is the workaround to the miraculous, and a handy bludgeon to beat down his theological adversaries. 

Further, the author manages to quote but a single snippet of Scripture. How can people like this consider themselves Bible teachers is beyond us.

Lastly, and most importantly, what present-day charismatics do or don't do is irrelevant to making one's case from the Bible. The author doesn't do so.
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Will there be a worldwide revival before the end times? - gotquestions

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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This article from gotquestions is built upon a particular eschatology (the study of the end times), known as pre-tribulation rapture dispensationalism. This means that the author's explanation will only make sense if you believe the Church will be raptured (taken up to heaven) before the Great Tribulation (the time of trouble before Jesus returns on the Last Day).

We do not adhere to this doctrine. We believe the Last Days began at Pentecost when Jesus ascended to the right hand of God and poured out the Holy Spirit on all people, and will end on the Last Day when Jesus will return to receive His Church and continue on to earth to execute judgment on evildoers. We cover this in more detail here.

Because we believe the Last Days is a continuous period (while pre-tribbers oddly believe the last week of Daniel is separated from the rest of the 70 weeks) we are therefore not burdened to assemble disparate Bible verses together in order to fix events and people at certain intervals. From Pentecost to now there has always been tribulation (Jn. 16:33) and persecution (2Ti. 3:12), there has always been antichrists (1Jn. 2:18), and there has always been apostasy (1Jn. 2:19). The world will not grow darker, because it has always been dark. It will be the Church that gets darker (1Ti. 4:1).

Despite the intruding darkness into the Church, revival is promised. Apostasy does not exclude revival. This is key. Apostasy and revival can both happen at the same time. Where there might be apostasy in one place there can be revival in another

Lastly, we note that the author tries to explain away revival by specifying it must be "worldwide." Localized revivals seem to be okay with him (at least at times), but not worldwide revivals. We would wonder where the author draws the line where a revival is too widespread to be biblical.

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How Libertarianism is a Poison that's Crept into America (Part 1) - By Thom Hartmann

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Mr. Hartmann apparently has nothing new to offer since large portions of this article are simply lifted from another article he wrote for this very same website in March of 2022.

As the reader will discover, Mr. Hartmann has no idea what libertarians believe. He doesn't understand the Reagan phenomena. He doesn't know anything about what motivates his ideological opponents. In fact, no where will he mention a single tenet of libertarianism. 

Despite him heaping all blame on libertarianism for the problems in the country, it has little influence on government. Libertarians numerically small. Virtually nothing in government happens according to libertarian principles. 

Further, libertarianism is not a governmental system, it is a philosophy regarding the exercise of power as it relates to personal liberty. 

Also, almost none of the people he will mention are libertarian. We haven't had a libertarian government for 150 years. Nowhere in the world are there enough libertarians in elected office to affect the processes of any government. So to blame our present problems on a philosophy that is a non-factor is puerile.

It's people like Mr. Hartmann who hold the power in our government. The Bidens, Pelosis, Schumers, and AOCs of government, the far Left, the extreme progressives, are the ones who are responsible for our current state. They are in the majority, and with brief exceptions, have been in the majority for the last hundred years.

They are to blame, not libertarians. They have made the decisions, cast the votes, and spent the money. They are the ones who emptied the nation's coffers, created unrest, fomented discontent, and pushed people into groups that are then pitted against one another.

Not libertarians. In fact, if there was a poison creeping into America, it would be Marxism dressed up in something called progressivism.

But the real problem here is that Mr. Hartmann is a doctrinaire leftist, using all the agitprop techniques he has at his disposal. His article is not written to inform, but rather to further the leftist agenda. That is his only goal, to manipulate opinion, to sway the minds of the uninformed, and to repeat the same bumper sticker slogans day after day.

Once we understand this, it all begins to make sense. With the blizzard of assertions and factoids, the average person simply cannot keep up with and refute each one. And tomorrow will be a new day, with the exact same blizzard of falsities and invented history repeated as if they're documented fact. 

So refuting people like him is a waste of time, because he'll wake up tomorrow morning, sit down at his computer, open up his copy of Leftist Talking Points and dutifully type them into his word processor, just like he did today and yesterday and the day before. In fact, he didn't even bother to rewrite today's slogans, he simply republished an article he had already written.

So, despite the futility we will rebut Mr. Hartmann for as long as we are able to hold up against the rhetorical onslaught.

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If Sin’s Penalty Is Eternal, Why Isn’t Jesus Still Suffering? - by John Piper

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Dr. Piper needlessly wrestles with a question that is based on several false premises, including

• Sin is punished
• Jesus paid the debt our sins
• Jesus was punished for our sin
• The length of punishment is connected to the length of suffering
• Jesus substituted Himself in our place

We will explain each in turn as we comment upon this truly terrible presentation.

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