Stay Away From The Evil Woman

Pro 6:23  For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
Pro 6:24  to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Pro 6:25  Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;
Pro 6:26  for the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life.
Pro 6:27  Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
Pro 6:28  Or can one walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched?
Pro 6:29  So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.
Pro 6:30  People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry,
Pro 6:31  but if he is caught, he will pay sevenfold; he will give all the goods of his house.
Pro 6:32  He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself.
Pro 6:33  He will get wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
Pro 6:34  For jealousy makes a man furious, and he will not spare when he takes revenge.
Pro 6:35  He will accept no compensation; he will refuse though you multiply gifts.

How Great Are Your Works. Fools Cannot Understand This.

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath. It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
Psa 92:2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night,
Psa 92:3 to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.
Psa 92:4 For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
Psa 92:5 How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!
Psa 92:6 The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this:
Psa 92:7 that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever;
Psa 92:8 but you, O LORD, are on high forever.
Psa 92:9 For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
Psa 92:10 But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.
Psa 92:11 My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
Psa 92:12 The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Psa 92:13 They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.
Psa 92:14 They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green,
Psa 92:15 to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

From Everlasting To Everlasting

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psa 90:3  You return man to dust and say, “Return, O children of man!”
Psa 90:4  For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
Psa 90:5  You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:
Psa 90:6  in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
Psa 90:7  For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.
Psa 90:8  You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
Psa 90:9  For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
Psa 90:10  The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Psa 90:11  Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?
Psa 90:12  So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psa 90:13  Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Psa 90:14  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Psa 90:15  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Psa 90:16  Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children.
Psa 90:17  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!

My Purpose Here!

I truly hope that this blog is a blessing to those who read it.  By looking at some of your comments it has been and I am grateful for that.  Obviously I am of the Reformed persuasion and believe it to be the best expression of biblical doctrine otherwise I wouldn’t be Reformed .  This blog is truly here to glorify God and for the edification of the saints everywhere.  This is my heart.  I also want to publish the source of hope to those looking for true answers in a world where anything goes.  God bless you all!

True Theology

The Study of Theology

By: Me

1. The Knowledge of God

A. The Origin of True Theology

The knowledge of God, according to true theology, emphasizes the centrality of knowledge itself, Who is God, That Omniscience One. Theology is that sound knowledge that can only come from God, the One and only true theologian. Without God revealing Himself to us, we would have no sound knowledge of Him. We would continue in our blindness because the glory of God has been hid from the eyes of man due to original sin. 1 John 2:20 teaches that every believer in Jesus Christ has this knowledge because they have been anointed by the Holy Spirit. He is the One that was given to the church 40 days after the ascension of Christ on the day of Pentecost. This is part of the New Covenant that is made to the Israel of God. God has stated in the prophets that He was going to remove the heart of stone in us and replace it with a heart of flesh. God was going to write His commandments on our hearts and give to us eternal life, which we had never before received in the age of the Old Testament church. It would remove the dead, lifeless, hard heart of stone that was powerless to please God and powerless to live out His commandments, and replace it with a heart of flesh that is now regenerated by the power of the Spirit God, enabling us to obey His commandments and to properly worship God through the last and ultimate sacrifice , the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. This new life is from the indwelling Holy Spirit, which is the anointing of God. Scripture teaches us in 1 John 2:20 that when the Holy Spirit is given to someone they are endowed with knowledge. This does not mean that we now know everything, but that the omniscience God dwells with us, making us one with Jesus Christ the head of His body the church. It is by the virtue of the Omniscient God living within us that we possess all knowledge because the possessor of all knowledge lives within us. In verse 27 of 1 John 2 this same anointing, the Holy Spirit, will teach us all things. This anointing abides in believers and we have no need for any other teacher. This does not mean that we do not need pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc., because they are the external ministers by which the internal minister, the Holy Spirit, ministers to the church. He gives the officers of the church authority, wisdom, and power to preach the Word of God, to distribute the sacraments, and to exercise church discipline. Ultimately it is still the Holy Spirit feeding us His Word through these men. He teaches us to abide in Christ our Lord through the gift of faith, as we draw strength and life from the Lord through the Holy Spirit. So it is the redeemed people of God who are the recipients of true theology. Were it not for the fact that God has redeemed the church through the Lamb of God, slain before the foundations of the world, our understanding of true theology would be, at best, tainted with the sin of idolatry making it virtually non-existent. It is man’s nature to take what they have known about the glory, majesty, and holiness of God through the innate sense that resides in us all, coupled with the testimony of nature itself, and corrupt it by exchanging it for the foolish invention and worship of the gods of their imagination. They invent the idols that they prefer to worship, while at the same time trying to please and appease God. Unlike the reprobate, the redeemed are given the one true Theologian, Who will guide us into all truth, or theology. He is the One the Lord has promised to us. It is he who causes us to grow in not only the grace of God, but in the knowledge of God which is true theology. True theology, when it embraces the heart of a believer, changes who they are. Man is incapable of obtaining this knowledge by any means, even a believer. It is not ours to take nor to give away. It is not ours to take because it belongs to God. It is the Spirit of God who searches, knows, and feeds us the deep things of God. And again, what man knows of God he distorts that knowledge and declares the distortion to be true of God.

The Disciple’s Relationship to Eachother and to the World

John 15:12-27 (New American Standard Bible)

New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Disciples’ Relation to Each Other

12“This is ^(A)My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13“^(B)Greater love has no one than this, that one ^(C)lay down his life for his friends.

14“You are My ^(D)friends if ^(E)you do what I command you.

15“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for ^(F)all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.

16“^(G)You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and ^(H)bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that ^(I)whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

17“This ^(J)I command you, that you love one another.

Disciples’ Relation to the World

18“^(K)If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but ^(L)I chose you out of the world, ^(M)because of this the world hates you.

20“Remember the word that I said to you, ‘^(N)A slave is not greater than his master ‘ If they persecuted Me, ^(O)they will also persecute you; if they ^(P)kept My word, they will keep yours also.

21“But all these things they will do to you ^(Q)for My name’s sake, ^(R)because they do not know the One who sent Me.

22“^(S)If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

23“He who hates Me hates My Father also.

24“^(T)If I had not done among them ^(U)the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

25“But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their ^(V)Law, ‘^(W)THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’

26“When the ^(X)Helper comes, ^(Y)whom I will send to you from the Father, that is ^(Z)the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, ^(AA)He will testify about Me,

27and ^(AB)you will testify also, because you have been with Me ^(AC)from the beginning.

Honor Authority

Honor Authority

1 Peter 2:13-20 (New American Standard Bible)

13^(A)Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

14or to governors as sent by him ^(B)for the punishment of evildoers and the ^(C)praise of those who do right.

15For ^(D)such is the will of God that by doing right you may ^(E)silence the ignorance of foolish men.

16Act as ^(F)free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as ^(G)bondslaves of God.

17^(H)Honor all people, ^(I)love the brotherhood, ^(J)fear God, ^(K)honor the king.

18^(L)Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and ^(M)gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

19For this finds favor, if for the sake of ^(N)conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly.

20For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if ^(O)when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

Share The Sufferings of Christ

1 Peter 4:12-19 (New American Standard Bible)

Share the Sufferings of Christ

12^(A)Beloved, do not be surprised at the ^(B)fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13but to the degree that you ^(C)share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the ^(D)revelation of His glory ^(E)you may rejoice with exultation.

14If you are reviled ^(F)for the name of Christ, ^(G)you are blessed, ^(H)because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

15Make sure that ^(I)none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a ^(J)troublesome meddler;

16but if anyone suffers as a ^(K)Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to ^(L)glorify God in this name.

17For it is time for judgment ^(M)to begin with ^(N)the household of God; and if it ^(O)begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those ^(P)who do not obey the ^(Q)gospel of God?

18^(R)AND IF IT IS WITH DIFFICULTY THAT THE RIGHTEOUS IS SAVED, WHAT WILL BECOME OF THE ^(S)GODLESS MAN AND THE SINNER?

19Therefore, those also who suffer according to ^(T)the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.

Do Not Love The World

1 John 2:15-17 (English Standard Version)

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Government (Public) Schools Are Religious. But How?

Schools Are Religious

By Robert R. Booth

Religion directs and controls our lives. It is not a question of whether people are religious, it is only a matter of which religion a person serves. This religious orientation is often not acknowledged in our day, yet God’s creatures cannot escape this fundamental truth of their nature. They may worship false gods, or they may worship the true God, but they will worship someone or something. Someone’s religion controls every school. Every religion vies for power and control of our culture.

One of the most useful tools in the quest for this power over the lives of men is found in the educational system. Kenneth Galbraith regards it as the successor to land and capital as the most important determinant of who controls whom. George Orwell observed in his novel, 1984, “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” Understanding that whoever has power over the mind has power over the culture, Orwell had one of his characters declare, “The Party is not interested in the overt act: The thought is all we care about. We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.” This is an excellent explanation for the increased centralization of government education. By the time the Roman Empire ended, its extensive system of local public schools was firmly under the control of the emperors. In our day we see the control of education being placed more and more into the hands of the government.

It was the purpose, from the beginning, for the government schools in the United Stated to be a moral and social force. One of the founders of compulsory public schools was Horace Mann. He saw the goals of public education as promoting the socialization of diverse peoples. Mann made the following prediction concerning the future of public education:

The common school [public school] is the institution which can receive and train up children in the elements of all good knowledge and of virtue before they are subjected to the alienating competitions of life. This institution is the greatest discovery ever made by man: we repeat it, the common school is the greatest discovery ever made by man. In two grand , characteristic attributes, it is supereminent over all others: first in its universality, for it is capacious enough to receive and cherish in its paternal bosom every child that comes into the world: and second, in the timeliness of the aid it proffers, – its early, seasonable supplies of counsel and guidance making security antedate danger. Other social organizations are curative and remedial: this is a preventative and an antidote. They come to deal diseases and wounds; this, to make the physical and moral frame invulnerable to them. Let the common school be expanded to its capabilities, let it be worked with the efficiency of which it is susceptible, and nine-tenths of the crimes in the penal code would become obsolete; the long catalogue of human ills would be abridged; men would walk more safely by day; every pillow would be more inviolable by night; property, life, and character held by stronger tenure; all rational hopes respecting the future brightened. [Common School Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Jan., 1841, p. 15.]

The perfectibility of men by way of universal and compulsory government education promised the naive a utopian future. “Give us your children and we will repair the world.” This clearly proclaims the religious goals of modern humanism and the government schools.

Even though the most enthusiastic opposition to any blending of religion and education comes from the supporters of government schools, no school of any kind can maintain such separation. Value-free education is a contradiction of terms, and any hierarchy of values constitutes a religious system. John Dewy, another public school guru from the past, supported public schools as “religious in substance” but in a way that did not come “at the expense of a state-consciousness.” He recognized that Christianity placed limits on the loyalty that one could have towards the state, but that the new religion of the schools did not.

Author Herbert Schlossberg observes that education is a series of religious acts partly because the power of assumption is so great. Assumptions are even more powerful than assertions because they bypass a persons critical faculty and thereby create prejudice. Government education assumes God to be irrelevant to the educational process when, in fact, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Such false assumptions by the government schools can then be combined with arguments that prove the truth of what is false. These false assumptions are particularly beguiling because they appeal to one of our worst instincts – the desire to be fashionable or at least to avoid being associated with the unfashionable or unpopular (Idols for Destruction, 1983, p. 210).

The assumptions of modern government education concerning the nature of man, the function of the state, the nature of truth, and so on, are such as to inculcate a set of presuppositions into our children that cannot escape being called religious. As Christians, we cannot allow our children to be sacrificed to this modern-day Molech we call public schools. This is a form of idolatry that many have thoughtlessly entered into. Can you imagine the ancient, faithful Jews taking their children to be taught by the Levites on the Sabbath and then handing those same children over to be educated by Canaanite schools the rest of the week? Remember, it is not a matter of whether our children will be taught religion in school; it is only a matter of which religion they will be taught.

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