Archive for the 'History' Category

Outstanding!

Josh February 17th, 2007

I have given this plug before, but I must do so again:

Pastor Joe Morecraft III, of Chalcedon Presbyterian Church in Cumming, GA, has done all those interested in History an outstanding service. By following this link to Sermon Audio, you will arrive at his History of the Reformation series of audio lectures and sermons. I cannot express well enough how illuminating, enlightening, and invaluable these sermons are. In fact, at my Church right now, we’re having a Sunday School series of the Reformed Faith in American History, and I have to say that this is a most valuable pre-supplement to it.

I am particularly fond of his several lectures on John Knox and the Scottish Covenanters. Also to be indulged, are his ones on Oliver Cromwell, a most controversial figure of the Reformation in England. Hearing about the godly lives of these men is a great encouragement in the faith, and is likely to help kindle the fire so already passionately lit by Scripture reading, prayer, and subsequent obedience. Not only are these pictures given by Pastor Morecraft a retelling of the godliness of the Reformation’s leaders, but they are full of suspense, mystery, and much more action than Hollywood is able to give.

I heartily (and when I say heartily, I mean heartily) recommend this 48 sermon series. No, this does not mean you (or I) will agree with everything Pastor Morecraft says, or that Pastor Morecraft is infallibe (as he certainly wouldn’t claim to be), but it means that I believe this is a contribution of great richness given by him and his church. These lectures are free, but after having heard them, I must say they’re worth paying for. Enjoy!

Katrina: Over a Year Later

Josh October 1st, 2006

I was going to start my series on Biblical Roles of Men and Women this evening, but I didn’t have things organized quite the way I wanted. However, I was doing some searching and found an old blog entry that believe was overlooked when I changed domain names. This was an entry I wrote after Katrina hit last year: Continue Reading »

Fairies, Homemakers, and Helpmeets: What’s the Problem?

Josh September 30th, 2006

You know, there are just a few things that I’m sick and tired of seeing/hearing/experiencing in this world. And even more particularly amongst self-professing evangelicals. Now, when I use the term evangelical, I use it very loosely, as I, myself, don’t know if I’m comfortable using it to describe myself. More and more, I’m leaning toward the Reformed label in a historical sense, but we shall see.

Anyway…

I have had it with feminism. I have had it with the whole selfish, infantile, screamings of women who are tired of being “oppressed”, “restricted”, ________ (fill-in-the-blank). It’s ridiculous. But you know what I hate even worse? Can you guess?

Within evangelicalism, feminism has had its way, admnistered its poison, and spineless jellyfish of…ahem….men have allowed it to happen, even within the church. I’m sorry, guys, but its our fault. It is time to be men. It is time to cherish the woman for the role that God has given her. This means a return to the godly, biblical, chivalrous exaltation of the role a woman plays in being a wife, a mother….a helpmeet.

No longer should we sit idly by and allow this bastard world define equality between men and women. No longer should we acquiesce to the mundane montras like, “well, in today’s world, a household needs two full-time incomes to make ends meet…that’s just how it is.” It is time to, in the words of the Apostle Paul, by inspiration of God Himself, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” This is not some call to hollywood John Wayne machismo (Cuz to be honest, I like Eastwood better). This is a call to strong-minded, determined, biblical godliness and masculinity in a world that is so saturated, pervaded, and perverted with the cancers of effeminate male-passivity, and godless feminist tendencies.  

It is my desire to undertake some blog entries examining the biblical roles of men and women (particularly husbands and wives) in the church, in the home, and in society. In doing so, I’m sure I’ll be labeled a dogmatist, a chauvenist, a paranoid alpha-male, and the like. The truth is, however, our sisters in Christ deserve better leadership than they’re getting. They deserve better treatment than they’re getting. And God knows, He alone is worthy of men acting according to His revealed, prescribed roles as He has set them forth.

Just as through one man, sin entered the world, and not through the woman who actually was the first to sin chronologically…just as Adam was held responsible and culpable for abdicating his headship over Eve….men, it’s time that we take back the reigns of responsibility and relieve women of a burden that was not given to them. We are the burden bearers of family responsibility. We are the ones held accountable for familial spiritual welfare, life, and well-being. It’s time to stand up, Gentlemen. Stop being so selfish and brace yourself like men.

We are to be faithful to our Creator. May it be so.

 

God’s Redemption in the Life of Josh Hicks

Josh September 14th, 2006

JoshTo this day, I am a wretched man plagued with unrighteousness and inconsistency. I find myself battling with myself. I find my heart devising ways to indulge in wickedness. I find my mind too easily distracted from the things of God.

But you know what? I’m so thankful to be in a position which leaves me able to recognize these things. You see, it’s understood that the closer we, as finite, sinful men, grow to our Lord, the more we grow sensitive to the ungodly things about ourselves.

My interaction with God has been for as long as I can remember. You see, even if men have no exposure to the Gospel, Romans 1:20 says this (my emphasis added):

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly percieved, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

But God, in His providence, made sure that I was exposed to the Gospel for all of my life. I remember going to “Sunday School” from the earliest age. Reading about Moses in his basket, floating down the river. Joseph gettin’ thrown into a pit, and then later sold as a slave. And, of course, Ole’ Joshua breakin’ down the walls of Jericho. All of these things were placed in my heart, though they meant nothing other than good stories at the time of their absorption into my mind.

I remember watching “Where the Red Fern Grows” when I was 8 or 9 and not really understanding it too well. I think that somewhere in the movie, the little boy is praying to God and asks God to help in some form or fashion…in a miraculous way, etc. At least, this is how I remember it. Anyway, after the movie was over I remember going outside to play in the woods. It must have been wintertime, because I recall having gloves on and probably a warm hat. To give an example of my “interaction” with God, I remember being amongst the trees and asking God to make a tree shake. What a silly boy. I distinctly remember saying at one point, “God, if you’re real then please, Lord, PLEASE make this tree shake.” I kid you not.

But you see, the crazy thing is this: I knew God was real, and yet I didn’t know God. Sure, I’d been to Sunday School all of my life, I even could sing those hymns nicely, all by heart. But I was not converted per se. So, for me to try to get a sign from God was really futile, when I already knew He was real. Funny thing is, just months later (Thursday, June 16th, 1988) I was brought to the end of myself by the light of God’s glorious Gospel and I broke under His conviction and was freed from the dominion of sin. Do you want to hear the Irony now? I’m a Calvinist now, but I was converted at this little Freewill (literally, the name of the denomination) Baptist church. Yep, God saves Whom He wants, when He wants to do so. 

Why So Shy?

Josh July 19th, 2006

You know, there are many folks who shy away from labels because of the many misinterpretations that come with those labels. Not only terminologies, but symbols of heritage, and other things are shied away from all under the guise of not wanting to be misunderstood. I certainly think that’s folks’ right to do so if they wish, but they needn’t look down upon the people who still hold on to these labels, or symbols of heritage, etc. Nor should they expect others to follow suit in their semi-sensitivity-to-what-others-think behavior.

Calvin

One such term can be “Calvinism”. Being associated with the name seems to be a bad taste to some who may be subscribers to the doctrines of grace but want to distance themselve from the man John Calvin because of misconceptions concerning the death of Servetus, or paedobaptism, etc. I’ll read or hear someone say something like, “Well, I’m not a Calvinist, because I don’t believe everything Calvin taught.” Just today I read, “Having not always been Sovereigntist (the preferred term in our household, as we are not followers of Calvin, but of God)…” I believe, for the most part, this is due to ignorance (not stupidity, mind you, but ignorance) on the part of the fine folks who say such things. Or, even better, because they don’t want to deal with the many strawmen people assert when talking about the Biblical doctrine of soteriology. I think, though, this is a bit misguided in that:

1) People are going to bring the strawmen on AND the name, person, and life of John Calvin when speaking about election, predestination, etc., whether you wear the label “Calvinist” or hold to “Calvinism” or not.

2.) Simply by being called a “Calvinist” or holding to the system known as “Calvinism” you are NOT saying that you believe all the beliefs of John Calvin, or even necessarily most. Rather, you believe in his well-known articulatin of God’s sovereignty over all things, particularly the salvation of men.

I can say that I proudly wear the label “Calvinist” (not in a sense of “hey, look at me”, but in a sense of “Hey, I believe that God has the freedom to save sinners Whom He has so chosen and is not bound by the captive wills and manipulation of sinful men) because it immediately identifies me in the eyes of others as “one of them.” There’s no doubt. No fishing around to see if this guy believes that God is in complete control or not. Yes, the strawmen will come. Yes, the misunderstandings will ensue, but that’s all the more opportunity to educate others on the true teachings of Scripture and what great soul-winners like Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards, Judson, Carey, et al. believed from the demands and dictates of Scripture. So be the confrontations! So be the strawmen! I will gladly pour the gasoline to his neck and light the match myself to clear up the understand! So be it all to the glory of the Sovereign God Who was free to condemn all men to hell, yet in His abundant mercy He saved some! Blessed be His Name! And now a few quotes from that quotable Baptist, C.H. Spurgeon:

I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, ‘It is Jesus Christ.’

If anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, ‘He is one who says, Salvation is of the Lord.’ I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. ‘He only is my rock and my salvation.’ Tell me anything contrary to this truth, and it will be a heresy; tell me a heresy, and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rock-truth, ‘God is my rock and my salvation.’ What is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of something to the perfect merits of Jesus Christ—the bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in our justification? And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer?…I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

Confederate Battle FlagAnd, simply in conclusion, an example of shying away from a symbol of heritage I am reminded of the Confederate Battle Flag. What a misunderstood, abused, and hated symbol which is, in my humble opinion, a symbol of heritage for the Southern cause, as known in the first half of the 1800s. More has been done to demonize the South and exalt “honest” Abe (who was a socialist tyrant, trampling upon the Constitution to put his thumb of oppression on the dissenting North and the free peoples of the South) than I care to admit. I grew up thinking such inaccurate things about my own culture and used to think that the Confederate Battle Flag was a sign of hatred. Now, no doubt, there are some “backwoods”, ignorant, racist people who would use it to their advantage, and do fall prey to the caricatures which man place on the Southern people and Southern history, but that is, by no means, an admission by me or any other proud Southron that we should do away with the flag and for what it once stood.

Anyway, I’m just letting you know that I’m proud to be a Calvinist and I’m proud to be a Southerner and I’m proud of being proud of being both.

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