DISCIPLE

Augustine held the pagan philosopher Plato (see Col. 2:8) in high esteem, constructing a “Christian philosophy,” as Warfield admits: “...largely out of Platonic materials.” [Benjamin Warfield, Calvin & Augustine , p. 319] Remember, Plato was an evolutionist and a polytheist who subscribed to the transmigration and reincarnation of souls. [Laurence M. Vance, The Other Side of Calvinism , p. 20] Augustine also thought highly of the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine. of whom he wrote:      God in his goodness... heaped worldly gifts such as no one would have dared to hope for on Constantine, who made no supplication to demons, but worshipped only the true God. And God even granted him the honour of founding a city. [Augustine, City of God , p. 220]   History shows, however, that Constantine was a compromiser who deliberately did not oppose the paganism of the Roman Senate, who worshipped the Sun to the day of his death, who only accepted “Christiani...

 He does not lead my year by year, Nor even day by day, But step by step my path unfolds; My Lord directs my way. Tomorrow's plan I do not know; I only know this minute; But He will say, "This is the way; By faith now walk ye in it." And I am glad that it is so. Today's enough to bear; And when tomorrow comes, His grace Shall far exceed its care. What need to worry then, or fret? The God who gave His Son Holds all my moments in His hand, And gives them one by one. author unknown

Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1       The languages of men are many. Most, but not all have the Word of God translated into their own tongue. How did all these languages come into existence? They are the consequence of God's judgement at Babel when "the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them..." (Gen. 11 :9). In Genesis 10:5 we read: "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue..." It is here that the word "tongue" first occurs in the Bible. The Hebrew word used is "lah-shohn" (Strongs No. 3956) and is translated tongue and language. The words used refer to ordinary speech. But what about angels what do they speak? If we suppose that they have a separate tongue, as some have deduced from 1 Corinthians 13:1, we may be sure that they would have only one language. Which of the angels were judged by God at the plain of Shinar? It ...

"Not Peace — but a Sword." Matt. 10:34 , 35 ; Luke 12:51-53 . J. A. Trench. Article 26 of 55 from 'Truth for Believers' Volume 2.     From the words of praise of the multitude of the heavenly host, the day that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, as given in Luke 2:14 , peace did certainly seem to have been presented to the earth in the Person of the Saviour. "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill" (or good pleasure) "in men" — as the last clause must be read. And if the object of God in His coming into the world was that a testimony of peace on the part of God should go out to the guilty rebel children of men — as Peter tells us it was ( Acts 10:36 ): "the word which He sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ" — could any embassy of peace have been more wonderfully devised, or better calculated to win men's hearts than that God should present Himself in Israel, as a babe, th...

Dr. David Livingstone (1813-1873), was a Scottish doctor, missionary and explorer in Africa. His legacy and impact on missionary vision and sacrificial labor for Christ is still with us. The following are quotes from him. “I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time or eternity."  “God, send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. And sever any tie in my heart except the tie that binds my heart to Yours.”  “All that I am I owe to Jesus Christ, revealed to me in His divine Book.” “There is one safe and happy place, and that is in the will of God.”  “The best remedy for a sick church is to put it on a missionary diet.”   “I have found that I have no unusual endowments of in...

"Perhaps the most enduring but unsubstantiated theoretical belief among therapists is the timeworn notion that difficulties in adulthood stem from childhood misfortunes. Almost all therapy approaches, from psychoanalysis and Imago therapy to the emotion-focused and sensorimotor methods, embrace some version of this dogma. Given its venerable pedigree, this belief in the potency of childhood events is one of the most difficult to deconstruct. Nevertheless, as a general clinical hypothesis, it's deeply flawed. "The simple truth is that a preponderance of the evidence mitigates [sic] against assigning any great importance to childhood experiences and memories- processed, unprocessed, or reprocessed. Martin Seligman, the former president of the American Psychological Association, puts it this way: 'Childhood events-even childhood trauma-and child rearing appear to have only weak effects on adult life. Childhood, contrary to popular belief, does not seem, empirical...

  EXCUSES that will not stand the test  “And they all with one consent began to make excuse.”  Luke 14:18            Are YOURS among them? “What wilt THOU say when he shall punish THEE?” –(Jer. 13:21)     READER: Do not disregard this message. Read it carefully and thoughtfully. Though you may not be aware of it, your soul is in great danger if you have not been “born again” in God’s way. Upon which of the following excuses are you building your hopes of escaping Hell and reaching Heaven? Whom will you blame if like the rich man in Luke 16th chapter you die, are buried and in Hell you lift up your eyes being in torments?     YOU CANNOT BLAME GOD for “God is not willing that any should perish.” He would have all men to be saved, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”–(John 3:16)  ...

The following from the pen of Mr. H. A. Ironside, in his book: Lectures on Daniel , pages 47-50, “The special place given to the great orchestra is very noticeable; as much so as in large worldly religious gatherings at the present time. It excites the emotions, and thus, working upon the feelings, gives people a sense of devotion and religiousness, which after all may be very unreal. In the Old Testament dispensation musical instruments were used in the ornate temple services; but there is certainly no warrant for it in the New Testament. People may call it worship to sit and listen to a trained, and possibly unconverted, choir and orchestra rendering sweet and touching strains; but music simply acts upon the sensuous part of our natures, and has nothing to do with true adoration of the Father and the Son, which must be in spirit and truth to be acceptable to God. Those who plead for its use, because of the place it had in Old Testament times, should remember tha...

  A CNN headline today reads: How did Greece get into this mess? Why Greece's experiment with the euro ended in disaster The answers are, in short, bad decisions taken for convenience in the short term, without duly considering the consequences.  The people listened to the voices of those who misguided them. Free will was exercised, seeking satisfaction, but things didn't turn out that way. Their decisions and actions failed the test of time. And now, years down the road, what a mess! But the Greeks aside, we know pe ople who could be asking themselves that same question. "How did I get into this mess? Why is this experience, my life full of unhappiness and disaster?" Some are adult children who were lovingly and sacrificially raised in Christian homes, in the fellowship of a sound church, learning the Word of God, and yet, today their lives are in shambles. They may be living in an unequal yoke with an unbeliever. They themselves may be unbelievers. ...

  Bending the Bible It is obeying the Scriptures which really is the watershed. We can say the Bible is without mistake and still destroy it if we bend the Scriptures by our lives to fit this culture instead of judging the culture by Scripture. And today we see this happening more and more as in the case of easy divorce and remarriage. The no-fault divorce laws in many of our states are not really based upon humanitarianism or kindness. They are based on the view that there is no right and wrong. And thus all is relative, which means that society and the individual act on what seems to give them happiness for the moment.     Do we not have to agree that even much of the evangelical church, which claims to believe that the Bible is without error, has bent Scripture on the point of divorce to conform to the culture rather than the Scripture judging the present viewpoints of the fallen culture? Do we not have to agree that in the area of divorce and remarriage ...

"...It is important to note that, up until recent times, 1) belief in the inerrancy of Scripture (even when it was not practiced fully) and 2) claiming to be a Christian were seen as two things which necessarily went together. If you were a Christian, you also trusted in the complete reliability of God's written Word, the Bible. If you did not believe the Bible, you did not claim to be a Christian. But no one, until the past two hundred years or so, tried to say, "I am a Christian, but at the same time I believe the Bible to be full of errors."  As incredible as this would have seemed to Christians in the past, and as incredible as this may seem to Bible-believing Christians today, this is what is now happening within the evangelical world... The Ground Cut Out From Under     There are two reasons in our day for holding to a strong uncompromising view of Scripture. First and foremost, this is the only way to be faithful to what the Bible teaches about its...

    "Here is the great evangelical disaster - the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this - namely accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches - truth not only in religious matters but in areas of science and history and morality. As a part of this, many evangelicals are now accepting the higher critical methods in the study of the Bible. Remember, it was these same methods which destroyed the authority of the Bible for the Protestant church in Germany in the last century, and which have destroyed the Bible for the liberal in our own country from the beginning of this century. And second, there has been accommodation on the issues, with no clear stand being taken even on matters of life and ...