Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms

Oct 31 , 1517 a little known monk by the name Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Church at Wittenberg. It was a treatise against all the corruption and heresy within the Catholic church. It began a reformation and revolution . If you gathered today in a protestant Church , you have Luther to thank . Unfortunately how many people today have even heard of the 95 Theses or the fact that the Catholic Church still preaches a gospel that is no gospel. In your Church this morning was any honor paid to Martin Luther . How many youth if you say Martin Luther , think of only Martin Luther King Jr. the black activist in the 60's. Sad really.

The reformation is far from over for the primary doctrines that drove the division between Protestants and Catholics still remain (contrary to what Chuck Colson thinks) . May the great truths of the reformation be declared with a new passion and thunder. Happy Reformation day .

Word Of God Speak - MercyMe

                                          

How many have said , if God would only speak , then I would believe . But He has spoken . We have an amazing book that is God's word to man that reveals Himself and mans problem. The problem with man is he is dead in sin and trespasses . He has no ears to hear,no eyes to see ,until God by the power of the Holy Spirit , opens the tomb of our hearts and the we hear the word say repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

What a blessed thing to do each day , to open the Bible and hear God speak . Do you tremble , you should .

Petra , A Rock of the Ages

Today the contemporary Christian music scene is a flood of numerous musical styles . From heavy grind core sounds of Demon Hunter to the pop styles of a Matthew West. Numerous artist regularly debut albums in the top ten secular charts like Third Day ,Mercy Me ,Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin. Then you have long time artist who have sold millions of albums like Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W Smith. But all these artist might have not had the success they have had , if not for a few trail blazers.

One I think rises above them all and that is Petra. They emerged out of the Jesus movement in the early 70's but had more of a rock sound. There initial albums had a bit of Eagles and English Rock sounds blurred together. But it was clearly Christian based with lyrics that spoke of Jesus and used bible references all through their music. By the third album Washes Whiter Than , the style of music had moved a bit rockier in the vein of Styx,Kansas and Foreigner , which fit the vocalist at that time Greg X Voltz. Bob Hartman the founding member and guitarist , was the main force. They continued to forge their own sound and by Beat the System in 1984 , they were selling out arena's and selling really well. But at this time for personal reasons Greg X Votlz decided to leave. This marked a bit of a change in direction again.

With the new vocalist , John Schillt , who had more of a vocal style between Steve Perry of Journey and Lou Gramm of Foreigner , they began a more 80's melodic rock sound with Back to the Street in 1986. From there they truly hit their stride , forged a new rock sound and after 2 more releases , This Means War and On Fire , they hit what many fans consider the pinnacle of Petra , Beyond Belief. The song above was one of the hits from the album . They continued on having success till about the mid 90's , when the style of rock they were doing , kinda fell out of vogue. They have continued releasing albums and tour . They did do a farewell tour but have since recorded a new album with Greg X Votlz back in  the band .

What they did was open doors for the acceptance that rock as a music medium, could be infused with blatant Christian lyrics. They did meet opposition from many churches , who thought rock is of the devil foolishness.But they championed on . The music evolved over time but one thing did not was the clear Christian messages in the music. Unlike today in the Christian music scene that often the messages are blurred , Petra stood for the gospel of Jesus Christ. After becoming a Christian , I thought it was so cool to discover a band that rocked hard , had great ballads but exalted the Lord. Plus they always had scripture references , and I always looked them up as I listened to the song.

They where indeed trail blazers. Selling over 10 million albums on the way . So when I listen to Chapman,Tomlin,Third Day today , I always pull out my Petra once in a while and am thankful for the doors they opened for those artist that are finding success today.

Fav Albums: More Power To Ya,This Means War ,Beyond Belief , Jekyll & Hyde

Doesn't It Say Narrow

As I approach 50 in a couple of years ,  I have been to my share of funerals. Something that breaks my heart . It is never an easy thing to bid farewell to someone you loved or to watch someone you know go through the pain of loss. But it is appointed one day for all of us to face that last barrier .

As a Christian believer the hard thing for me is coming to grips with the fact I have never been to a funeral were the departed one was not "in a better place". Now I say this with the utmost restraint , that simply cannot be.If the Bible is true(it is) , then we have a big problem.

     [13] “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. [14] For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
(Matthew 7:13-14 ESV)

These are the words of Jesus . Talking about eternal life , heaven . Jesus states bluntly that few will find it. Why? First there is only one gate . Jesus himself . He is the way ,the truth and the life , no one can enter His Fathers presence but through Him.That the way is hard . Which means following Him will cost. It will cost the praise of men and the world. The way being easy is the thought that all is good , we don't need a Savior . We are all basically good and decent people .

So heaven is attained by death . As Theologian RC Sproul put it , we are justified by death. There is no need to give account for our sins , no need for a perfect Savior who died and rose again that one might be justified before a holy God. No sir, just drop dead , and you go directly  to heaven.

But the truth is this . If Christ had to come and atone for the sins of all who will repent and believe , then what should we say to those who are in a delusion of heaven for all . This must be dealt with with the utmost care .

It serves no purpose to go in guns blazing. To tell someone that their whole concept of an afterlife is a lie will do more harm than good. Plus it shows little respect concerning the situation. Also we must be careful to let God be God concerning the person who dies. Perhaps there was a last minute confession and cry out to the Lord. But lets be honest , this is a rarity and should not be an excuse not to bring the truth to bare on this eternally important subject.

The first thing one should do is offer no response when someone says , they are in a better place. Be silent. Place your concern on the living . Pray for them , offer emotional support. Let them talk . Listen and be slow to respond. Let grief work its opening . There is a reason the word of God tells us its better to be in the house of mourning than merry. Death awakens the heart to lofty questions. Is there life after death?Is there a God? What of heaven?

Pray God will give you a time to respond . To share the gospel . But don't make the deceased person the context. Place the person whom you are talking with at the center . There is no question that the idea that their  loved one is in hell according to the message of gospel could arise. Be loving but firm that apart from trusting in Christ , the wrath of God abides on all who will not repent. Those will never be easy words but who will we be , God pleaser or a man pleaser.

In a very practical way I deal with this issue each day. My Dad , who is 70 , has never turned to Jesus . In fact as sad as I'm to say , he uses His name in blasphemy not praise.I love my Dad dearly and pray for his soul . But I make no illusions that unless he repents and believes that he is a sinner , that Jesus , the Son of God , came to die for his sins , rose again for his justification , then he will die in his sins. He will stand before a holy God , a wretched sinner , and for his hatred of God , hell will be just .

That may sound harsh but I'm under no delusion of a better place apart from Christ.  The gate is narrow , may we seek to show others that truth .

Random Thinking

Just thought about a few things today as I scanned the news. So without further ado , here they are.

In an article on teen sexuality , it was revealed that teens are practicing many very unsafe sexual habits. In truth ,there really are no true safe sex habits but celibacy but that is another story . What surprised me was that a couple of the educators featured seemed quite shocked by this . Of course the solution put forth was better information. But my thought was , if you are going to tell kids they are nothing more than evolved animals , teach sex in a vacuum without any real objective moral standards , then why are you shocked? Then if a girl gets pregnant at a young age just get rid of the "cell's". Evidence of society in love with its sin.

So it was announced today that Bert and Ernie are not gay. Well is that a shocker . You can tell the effects the gay culture has had in contemporary thinking when this was only a issue in the late 90's . The same time gay rights started to become very militant.Sad to even to have to enter into this foolishness. I was just a tad too old to enjoy Sesame Street but my sister and brother did. Ernie and Bert were just two close friends , that's all . Its sickening to see how far we have fallen in society accepting a lifestyle that the word of God calls a perversion. Let me say this very clear , sin is sin . We are all sinners  and have our weaknesses  but God's word should not be shackled. Just as any form of sexuality outside the bonds of marriage is sin , and punishable unless one repents , turns to Jesus for forgiveness and strength to fight the sin within . But I fear the time will come it will cost to call a spade a spade , even if its done in a loving and compassionate way . Hey , I admit right here that I'm a wretch , deserving of God's wrath . I'm no better . But I needed someone to tell me I was hell bound sinner . The grace offered to me is the same to all . We need to speak the truth in love concerning this issue and be not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power unto salvation.

A friend from my child hood is having a real tough time . I will not go into all the details but suffice it to say , health and job issues even with his wife , are taking a toll. They were burnt by a church and he is broken and hurt. A Church that did not really care. But my question , how many are like this . If you know of a family or single person in real need , do you respond. How do we look at the Church in Acts that tells us the brethren were sharing and giving to each other. Way too many people sit in the pew thinking , I did it , I'm successful why can't they? Just have a little more faith? Really ! How do you deal with scripture that clearly states that God raises up one and not another . Two men could have the exact same abilities ,business and know how but one could fail . I'm as guilty as any on this issue of what I call , spiritual frozen. You know , the type that just prays ( I think James had something to say about that). But I have been truly convicted over the last couple of years to change my ways .So what can one do ? Give a oil fill up , anonymous . Send grocery cards , anonymous . That way they will not feel ashamed or owing to you. Give out of a cheerful heart , build up treasure in heaven . Why do we clutch unto things so tight . We brought nothing into this world , we can take nothing out.Make Jesus your treasure and the pocket book starts to become a little lighter.

Well just some random thoughts from my mixed up brain today . Till next time .

Reformed Rap

I have become totally convinced that reformed theology best reflects the truth of the scripture. The five sola's that emerged from the reformation, Sola Fide,Sola Gratia,Sola Christus ,Sola Scriptura and Sola Deo Gloria  became the battle cry against Catholic dogma. What followed later are some of the best confessions of faith that have stood the test of time.

From the Westminster Confession of Faith , the London Baptist Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism,Belgic Confession, Canons of Dordt and a few others that emerged from the reformation , are staples of reformed teaching. They should never be put on a pedestal even close to scripture, but one thing they all have in common is a deep and total reverence for God's word, and a desire to explain it in a systematics way. If you read any of them you will encounter teaching about justification, imputation , expiation,propitiation etc...

So what does this have to do with rap? Now I confess that in general I'm no fan of rap . In the secular world rap music is crude,sexual and violent. It has no redeeming elements at all. But one thing I will say , its rhythmic and if its done well musically , you recall  the beat. Recently within rap/hip-hop a couple of Christian artist have started to emerge as stand out rappers. A couple of Blogs I read linked to their material  and being curious , I had to check it out.

The two artist I checked are Curtis Allen(the Voice) and Shai Linne (the artist featured above) . The reason I featured the song above is it raps like a confession . It is a rapping Catechism . What impressed me is its depth of understanding of the doctrines of grace but what blew me away was the use of solid doctrinal terms as mentioned above. Reformed theology is shaping these artist lyrical rhymes and what they are delivering are messages that are solid meat . Compare what is rapped about in the above song with much of contemporary worship songs or Christian pop music. No comparison.

The  medium of hip-hop or rap is nothing new in the sense many cultures would use a rhythmic use of words to recite stories or even scripture. The Rabbi's of Jesus day could recite the whole Torah in a chant. Singing or rhyming is known to be a better way to recall things then just spoken word. Hebrew and Aramaic are very rhythmic . So they would lend themselves to recitation that way.Rap lends itself to teaching scripture truths because like the chanters of the past , they are the new story tellers.

That is why it is so cool that these artist will be listened to by those who will probaly not rush out and buy any of the confessions that I mentioned. In general we know from poll after poll, the youth in the Christian community have a very shallow doctrinal understanding. So it is exciting to know that if these artist are listened to , it will be like being exposed to the great confessions in a fresh new way. Hopefully it will inspire those who check out both Allen and Linne to do some research on the doctrines they mention . So I just might get out my bass boost and discover my inner rapper . Rap on my Christian reformed brothers .

Something for a Laugh

Since it will be Halloween soon , and even though I'm not a big fan , I do like a good scary film. But as a kid , I liked a good laugh as well. This film is tailored made for such an occasion. Find it , rent and laugh .