Bible

In celebration of Reformation Week, Dr. R.C. Sproul’s ministry — Ligonier Ministries — is giving away the Reformation Study Bible for a gift of any amount.

From the ministry’s web site:

Widely considered one of the best tools available for Bible study and previously only available in the New King James translation, The Reformation Study Bible has been updated to the readable and accurate English Standard Version (ESV). This foundational resource was created by more than fifty scholars and features thousands of in-depth study notes, 96 theological articles, 19 in-text maps, and 12 charts to help you understand the Bible better.

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I was reading the book of Habbakuk, and when I came to chapter 2 I was amazed at how applicable it is to the world today (as it was to the world then) when the Lord responded to the prophet’s lamentations:

I will stand on my guard post
And station myself on the rampart;
And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,
And how I may reply when I am reproved.

Then the LORD answered me and said,
“Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

“Behold, as for the proud one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the righteous will live by his faith.

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Coming soon: another “we have to make God’s Word relevant and ‘less scary’” Bible to “capture the attention of modern readers”, titled Bible Illuminated: The Book.

According to the report, the publisher — Swedish ad man Dag Soderberg who himself insists that he is “not particularly religious” — the motivation behind the new “Bible” is to “make the Bible more accessible”. So, instead of the usual Bible format of just words but “somewhat lacking in celebrity portraits”, Bible Illuminated: The Book will feature, get this, passages written in “magazine-style format and accompanied by striking images” including those of Angelina Jolie, Mahatma Gandhi, U2 front-man Bono, and Nelson Mandela to “illustrate the importance of doing good deeds”.

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I’ve been giving this some thought myself — with the release of quite a few Study Bibles in the past few months including the NLT and the one from the folks at ESV to come in just a few more days, will we see more and more of a centralization of Christian thought and interpretation based on the work of scholars and not based so much on the guidance of the Holy Spirit?

Are we, in fact, ourselves appointing a “magisterium” of sorts?

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My good brother Samuel at A Lion Has Roared wrote this thought of his down which also gave me much to think about.

I have often said: “He who thinks little of God in his time thinks very little of God in his heart”; I still hold to that tenaciously. However, I would today, reiterate it with greater potency. Indeed, he who thinks little of God in his life, that is, he who does not pray but now and then; who does not read the Word of his acclaimed Father but under compulsion; who does not ponder the Truth on a daily basis and humbly surrender himself to It; he is a man who will not merely think of God less often than he could, but one who will not consider God correctly when he most desperately needs the God he knows so inconsiderably.

How can I honestly claim a Friend, Father and Savior to Whom I seldom speak, and worse, to Whom I never listen?

That man is me on so many occasions…

HT: A Lion Has Roared.
Photo by massdistraction.

I’m reading Thomas Watson’s The Godly Man’s Picture, and am sharing this passage (abridged), in particular points (f) and (h), because it very much spoke to and inspired me.

A godly man shows his love to the Word written:

(a) By diligently reading it. The noble Bereans “searched the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11). Apollos was mighty in the Scriptures (Acts 18:12). The Word is our Magna Carta for heaven; we should be daily reading over this charter. The Word shows what is truth and what is error. It is the field where the pearl of price is hidden. How we should dig for this pearl! A godly man’s heart is the library to hold the Word of God; it dwells richly in him (Col. 3:16). It is reported of Melanchthon that when he was young, he always carried the Bible with him and read it greedily. The Word has a double work: to teach us and to judge us. Those who will not be taught by the Word shall be judged by the Word. Oh, let us make ourselves familiar with the Scripture! What if it should be as in the times of Diocletian, who commanded by proclamation that the Bible be burned? Or as in Queen Mary’s days, when it spelled death to have a Bible in English? By diligent conversing with Scripture, we may carry a Bible in our heads.

(b) By frequently meditating on it: “It is my meditation all the day” (Psa. 119:97). A pious soul meditates on the truth and holiness of the Word. He not only has a few transient thoughts, but leaves his mind steeping in the Scripture. By meditation, he sucks from this sweet flower and ruminates on holy truths in his mind.

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My thanks to Pastor Brian for pointing this out.

If you want to get deeper into God’s Word, Blue Letter Bible has an institute (BLBi) that lets you study the Bible in-depth for free!

You can choose to take a course as an audit or for a grade, and a certificate is offered when you’ve completed the course (I’m not sure if you need to pay for it since there doesn’t seem to be any information on this issue at the site, or I might be blind, which is more likely).

What’s the difference between an audit and a grade? According to the FAQ:

The audit option is designed for those students who are not concerned about their grade so much as learning the content for personal enrichment. They may still take the exams, and they will receive a grade on the exams, but the completed course may not be used to complete any academic program or transfer credit.

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Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine; Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and Thou art exalted as Head above all

1 Chronicles 29:11

The Sovereignty of God is an expression that once was generally understood. It was a phrase commonly used in religious literature. It was a theme frequently expounded in the pulpit. It was a truth which brought comfort to many hearts, and gave virility and stability to Christian character. But, today, to make mention of God’s Sovereignty is, in many quarters, to speak in an unknown tongue. Were we to announce from the average pulpit that the subject of our discourse would be the Sovereignty of God, it would sound very much as though we had borrowed a phrase from one of the dead languages. Alas! that it should be so. Alas! that the doctrine which is the key to history, the interpreter of Providence, the warp and woof of Scripture, and the foundation of Christian theology should be so sadly neglected and so little understood.

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Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. (Source)

Personally, I use Twitter to update my friends and acquaintances on the going-ons in my life. Since some events simply just don’t warrant a blog post or even an email to said persons, tools like Twitter and even Plurk are perfect for doing so. Besides, it’s easy to know what your friends are up to since you can easily “follow” them on their Twitter (yes, stalking has gone digital. I kid! I kid!).

In fact, Twitter has become so pervasive that some ministries now have their own Twitter presence! Ligonier Ministries (R.C. Sproul) just got on, and I also discovered that John Piper’s Desiring God is there too, along with Mark Driscoll.

For those who enjoy his blog and book reviews, you can “follow” Tim Challies of Challies.com on Twitter too.

And, last but not least, if you would like a daily verse with your Twitter feed, you can choose to “follow” the ESV Bible’s daily verse tweets.

If you have a Twitter account, consider adding them to your feed, and if you like, stalk “follow” me on mine as well.

William Tyndale

Somehow I was reminded of William Tyndale today reading this post by a good sister Berean Wife, and how God had him do His will to translate the Bible and put it in our hands that we who today enjoy freedom to practice our faith might have full access to God’s Word. We are blessed that we live in such free environments, yet many take it for granted — their Bibles only sit pretty on the bookshelf while gathering dust as the minds of their owners grow dull from a lack of true meat (Hosea 4:6).

In fact, there’s no point mentioning Sola Scriptura when many who fall for false teachings and other heresies don’t even read the Bibles for themselves.

“Coincidentally”, I found the following video series on Tyndale’s life over at YouTube so I thought I’d share it. Consisting of 8 parts, the series is taken from the 1986 movie God’s Outlaw.

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I received an email on an interesting seminar organized by First Evangelical Reformed Church (FERC) that I thought might interest some of you here in Singapore:

A Seminar On The Christian Man And The Christian Woman

Topic: The Christian Man & the Christian Woman (Part 1: Biblical Masculinity; Part 2: Biblical Femininity)
Speaker: Pastor Chris Coleborn*
Date: 26 Jul 08 (this Saturday)
Time: 4 - 6 pm
Place: FERC, 652, Yio Chu Kang Road.

Admission is FREE. If you are keen to attend, just email bengkui [at] pacific [dot] net [dot] sg by 24 Jul, Thursday, indicating your (1) name; (2) church; (3) number of persons attending.
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* Pastor Chris Coleborn is a minister of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia. His theological training was in both the Reformed Theological College of Geelong and the Collegiate of the EPCA. He served in the EPCA in Tasmania for 5 years, in Brisbane Queensland for 20 years and has been a minister in Cohuna, Victoria for 12 years. His wife of 29 years is Christine and they have been blessed with 7 children – 6 on earth and 1 in heaven. He is now semi-retired, but still active in preaching and teaching ministry.

My wife and I will be attending. If you are keen and have registered as well, drop us a note here; perhaps we can have some fellowship after.

This information is passed on with full permission from Beng Kui.

Many times I have been impressed by pastors and other well-learned Christians (by well-learned I mean so steeped in the Word of God that they can recall a verse at the snap of a finger or tell you what to read regarding the problem you’re facing) who can so easily link this or that account in the Bible to another in some other book and highlight how it was a shadow of things to come or make some other connection.

And I really love it when such folks point out these (what I call) “light-bulb moments”. I’d usually go “oh, wow, I didn’t see that!” and truly marvel at how God has laid out His Word.

On the other hand, I would think to myself just how much I’d love to have that wisdom that these folks do. In other words, you can say that I do covet that gift.

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I quite like this picture…

Matthew 7:13-14

HT: End Times Prophetic, Prophecy, Visions, Dreams, Revelation, Christian Blog.

And now, the poem which, unfortunately, accurately captures the Christian landscape today…
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The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.

Psalm 19:7-9

John MacArthur expands on our understanding of these three verses about Scripture (emphasis added and slightly edited to make it easier to read):

… But more importantly and savingly, God has revealed Himself in Scripture.  There is His unwritten revelation and His written revelation.  And when you come to verse 7, the transition is made from God revealing Himself in nature to God revealing Himself in Scripture… in Scripture.

The structure of these verses from verse 7 through 9, notice it there, is a series of parallel statements, verses 7, 8 and 9.  Here there are six titles for Scripture… the Law of the Lord, the testimony of the Lord in verse 7.  In verse 8, the precepts of the Lord and the commandment of the Lord.  In verse 9, the fear of the Lord and the judgments of the Lord. 

Six titles for Scripture.  Scripture is Law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear and judgments.

There are also six characteristics of Scripture.  Notice, it is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean and true.

And there are six benefits of Scripture.  It restores the soul, makes wise the simple, rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, endures forever and a final one, produces comprehensive righteousness.  That’s what it means when it says righteous all together.  It converts, it makes wise, it brings joy, it enlightens, it purifies, it is relevant in every time, it endures forever and it produces comprehensive righteousness.

This is magnificent.  Here you have God in His inimitable way speaking the vast glories of Scripture in brief sentences.  In a few words He captures the magnitude of the full sufficiency of Scripture.

John MacArthur
God’s Own Defense of Scripture, Part 1

Amen!

You can read the entire transcript of the sermon, or purchase the DVD at Grace To You dot Org.

John MacArthur expounds on how important doctrine is — a personal conviction of mine — and shows how, while we look for practical applications of the Word of God, it follows after getting a right understanding of doctrine in God’s Word, not the other way around.

If I may connect this view to a real-life scenario, it would be akin to learning how to write computer programs — you first have to understand what each function and call in that language does before you can even apply those to actually writing computer programs that work.

What Does It Mean “To Me”?

by John MacArthur.
First published at Pulpit Magazine.

That’s a fashionable concern, judging from the trends in devotional booklets, home Bible study discussions, Sunday-school literature, and most popular preaching.

The question of what Scripture means has taken a back seat to the issue of what it means “to me.”

The difference may seem insignificant at first. Nevertheless, our obsession with the Scripture’s applicability reflects a fundamental weakness. We have adopted practicality as the ultimate judge of the worth of God’s Word. We bury ourselves in passages that overtly relate to daily living, and ignore those that don’t.

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Dr. Robert A. Morey addresses the question if God does indeed love everyone. He also gives an exposition on how it is not Biblical to say that God “loves the sinner but hates the sin”, which to my knowledge is a saying coined by Mahatma Gandhi and is not found in the Bible at all.

Is there anywhere in the Bible where God specifically said that He loves someone but hates another? Is the concept of election or pre-destination Biblical?

What’s your opinion?

Heard this just this morning on Way of the Master Radio.

Todd Friel (TF): “The pope (John Paul II) might be beatified and canonized and become a saint. Made me think of a Bible verse. Dave is in Texas, on KDKR. Dave? Can you name that verse, sir?”

Dave: “I’m thinking it’s John 11:35.”

TF: “Which is?”

Dave: “Jesus wept.”

TF: *Uncontrollable laughter* “Well, Dave, perhaps a more appropriate verse than mine, but no!”

I’m sorry but I suspect that I, too, have a weird sense of humor, and I am laughing a little too hard now to write more…

Goliath was a celebrity binge drinker, and Adam was obsessed with Eve’s naked body — according to a retelling of traditional Bible stories by an Anglican vicar.¹

The Must Know Stories, written by the Rev Robert Harrison, feature a reworking of the top ten Bible stories, which were chosen in a poll by the Christian charity Scripture Union.

In the book, the tale of David and Goliath is retold from the perspective of the giant, portrayed as a “depressed alcoholic” who is hung over on the day of his fateful encounter with David.

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It’s true that we all need a superhero because it’s just in our subconscious that we all need a Savior. That’s why comics like Superman, Spider-man (my childhood favorite) and even Wonder Woman, with their celluloid enactments pull in so many millions both at comic stores and at the box-office.

But to put the Lord Jesus Christ as the main character in a manga (or comic done Japanese-style), and portraying Him as this dark, silhouetted, brooding and kick-ass stranger in town is just taking it a bit too far in my opinion!

Yeah, that’s the manga-ized Jesus you’re seeing in the picture.

I have no problems with illustrations of Bible stories in general, but I have a serious problem with those that put a face to the Lord Jesus Christ if He is featured in the illustration — you know, the long blonde/brown-haired, blue-eyed guy a la Roman Catholic style?

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Losing A Taste For The World

My wife and I have just returned from a trip to one of the newest and largest shopping malls in Singapore — Vivocity — to turn in the set-top box and to cancel our cable TV subscription.

None of the shops there fascinated us at all, and nothing seemed to catch our fancies, save for buying three pieces of cake from a rather good confectionery called ‘Secret Recipe’ — tiramisu, chocolate-banana and another that has to do with chocolate as well.

In fact, my wife didn’t even bother to step inside her favorite shoe boutique because she said she just isn’t interested.

Consumerism no longer has a hold on us!

Grace To You Singapore

My wife was listening to some John MacArthur sermons this morning and we just found out that his ministry, Grace To You, has a presence in Singapore.

Yes!

Since hearing about it on Way of the Master Radio, we’ve been planning to get her the John MacArthur’s Study Bible, and we’ve decided to go with the leather-bound NAS version. It’s great since purchasing the same Bible from the United States would have cost S$2.50 more, and that’s before including shipping costs.

On The Downside…

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I get both really riled up and sad at the same time whenever I hear or read of those who profess to be serving God fleece gullible people out of their hard-earned money while giving them false promises.

Oh, you wolves in sheep’s clothing! Woe to you!

Just read about this poor woman — Cindy Fleenor’s a 53-year-old accountant, someone smart by academic standards anywhere in the world, and she’s been conned into writing so many checks to these wolves in the shape of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer and Paula White that she has to borrow money from friends and payday loan companies just to buy groceries!

And when the promises didn’t come about (of course they didn’t, because they are false!), she learned that it was because her faith wasn’t strong enough.

Is it any wonder that she’s now bitter and angry? And the worse thing is that this episode might just push her away from God and she loses the real promise — salvation — because of the misdeeds of these wolves!

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There are many who don’t believe that December 25 is the day on which Christ Jesus was born more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, Israel.

They are not wrong.

For even many discerning Christians recognize this, and know that Christmas was birthed out of a pagan winter observance.

So when was Christ Jesus’ birth?

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It appears that the Vatican has done it again, i.e. changed what is clearly stated in the Bible, God’s Word, to something else at their whim and fancy.

This time, it has to do with where our Lord Jesus Christ was at His birth.

Now, I don’t care much for putting up the Christmas tree or nativity scene during Christmas as I don’t really celebrate the festival as a Christian, but this piece of news piqued my interest because by doing this, the Vatican is in fact saying, “Let’s ignore both Gospel records and the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy!”.

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Have you ever been stumped and just left speechless by some of the ‘little’ nuggets of information and wisdom given to us by God in the Bible?

Here’s a confession: I often try to skip the genealogies in the Bible because, well, sometimes they can be a little dry. I did read the one in Genesis 5 and the one in Matthew 1 but that’s just about it.

However, I watched this little nugget of information presented by Steve Hadley, a pastor at Harvest Family Fellowship in Reno and when the punchline was presented near the end of the video, I was just simply floored.

Watch it, and I think you’ll be as amazed and simply flabbergasted as I am!

Our God is an AWESOME GOD indeed!

Halleluyah!

One of the many blessings my wife and I have received from my starting this blog is that today, she is again reading the Bible.

You see, as some of you might have known from my previous posts from way back, my wife comes from a Roman Catholic background but stopped believing in the church from a good time back.

So it was quite surprising that just last week, she told me that she’d like to start reading the Bible again and learn more. She also told me that she’d like me to lead in Bible study.

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For the past few weeks, I have been picking up the Bible and reading it again, starting with the New Testament at Matthew.

And I can honestly tell you that it’s a brand new experience when you read the Bible again with a closer relationship with Yahweh.

You see, I never considered myself to have read the entire Bible.

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Norski’s comment on my post on Christian marriage and how he converted to Roman Catholicism because of what he believed to be Peter’s primacy got me writing a post on this finally.

I’ve always intended to write something on the topic, seeing that I had rejected Roman Catholicism in my journey to Christianity, but it seems that even talking about it can get quite a few people all riled up. However, I feel it’s better to write about it than to keep quiet.

Before I continue, let me make it very clear that I have nothing against Roman Catholics — my wife’s family is Roman Catholic and I have many friends who are Roman Catholics and we get along really well. What I have a problem with is the Roman Catholic Church’s claim to have power over Christians worldwide because of the ‘legitimate’ power of the pope passed on from Peter.

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