Rome and the Eucharist (Quote by William Webster)

"There are some present day Roman Catholic writers who deny that the Roman Catholic Church teaches that the mass is the re-sacrifice of Christ, but the words of the Council of Trent are quite clear in their meaning:

And forasmuch as, in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the mass, that same Christ is contained and immolated in an unbloody manner who once offered himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross . . . For the victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different. . . If any one saith, that the sacrifice of the mass is only a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving; or, that it is a bare commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross, but not a propitiatory sacrifice. . . and that it ought not to be offered for the living and the dead for sins, pains, satisfactions, and other necessities: let him be anathema.19

Trent teaches that just as Christ was the divine victim and was offered and immolated on the cross as a propitiatory sacrifice for sin, so in the mass, which is a distinct sacrifice in its own right, he is referred to as the divine victim who is again offered and immolated as a propitiatory sacrifice, just as he was immolated on the cross. The only difference, according to Trent, between the sacrifice of the mass and the sacrifice of the cross is that one is bloody and the other unbloody.

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Is Mormonism Christian?

There should be absolutely no doubt on this issue - Mormonism and Christianity are not in any way compatible. Though the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints use the same words as Christians, they use a completely different dictionary, hence the subtlety of the deception. Here's Dr. James White, author of the books "Is the Mormon my brother?" and "Letters to a Mormon Elder" with a 13 minute video on the subject:

Book Review: C. H. Spurgeon on Spiritual Leadership, by Steve Miller

Synopsis: Few preachers in the history of the Church have had as profound and lasting an impact as Charles Haddon Spurgeon, whose ministry in the Metropolitan Tabernacle was characterized by an amazing output in a vast array of ministries, and a worldwide influence for the cause of Christ. For this reason, perhaps, few lives have been as frequently recorded in biographies and as often used for exemplary inspiration as his. In Miller's book, which is not quite a biography and not quite a collection of themed quotations, but displays a little of both, the reader is introduced in a very manageable way, not just to Spurgeon, but to the very heart of the great preacher, and to his thoroughly Christ-centered and Spirit-dependent philosophy of ministry, largely in his own words. For anyone aspiring to the sacred call of the ministry, or for that matter, any believer at all whose heart-cry is simply not to waste his life, this book will be instructive and inspiring reading, everywhere suffused with the godly wisdom that came from a heart that rested always on Jesus alone, and strove always for the greater display of his matchless glory.

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Read through the Bible in 50 Weeks

There are many existing plans for reading through the Bible in a year. Some have you reading from four places in the Bible every day. Some go through the Psalms and/or the New Testament twice. This one is meant to give you weekends off, be late with that New Year's Resolution, allow for temporary backsliding, and take you very simply through the Old and New Testaments simultaneously. And if you absolutely must be legalistic about it, I even gave you checkboxes.

You can download the reading plan here.

Cheers!

Images of the Savior (39 -- The Red Heifer)

In the ninth chapter of the letter to the Hebrews, the author proclaims that Christ has made an eternal redemption for his people, by offering himself up, once-for-all, as a perfect sacrifice for their sins; and he goes on to prove his assertion by reflecting that, “if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, being sprinkled on them who were defiled, sanctifies unto the purification of the flesh, how much more does the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself up blameless to God, purify our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God?” (Hebrews 9:13-14). In this way, he makes clear the typological function of the red heifer, which Israel was commanded of old to sacrifice and burn, and to make of its ashes a water of purification, not as though there were anything especially salubrious in the ashes themselves, but that they were a foreshadow of the sufferings of Christ, which really did cleanse the conscience, and purify those who had been dead in trespasses and sins. As we look to the account in Numbers, in which this ceremonial action is commanded, we must immediately be struck with how many details and instances were perfectly adapted to show forth, in a figure, the perfect redemptive work of Christ, both in its execution and its purifying results, as we shall now observe.

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Responding to Common Objections to Calvinism

2 Timothy 2:24-26 says, "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."

Traditions - everyone has them and those most enslaved by them are those who don't think they have any. On this 20 minute video, Dr. James White responds to a number of questions from a gentleman who goes as far as to say that Calvinists are not even Christians. The false assumptions contained in the questions are abundantly clear to anyone who is in any way familiar with the issues. Some would say that the rhetoric in the questions would not be worthy of a response, but showing patience when seeking to provide answers may help a number of people who watch the video.

Christ loved the Church and gave himelf up for her

(From the sermon - For Whom Did Jesus Taste Death? by John Piper)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. - Ephesians 5:25-27

"There is a precious and unfathomable covenant love between Christ and His Bride, that moved Him to die for her. The death of Jesus is for the bride of Christ in a different way than it is for those who perish. Here's the problem with saying Christ died for all the same way he died for his bride. If Christ died for the sins of those who are finally lost, the same way he died for the sins of those who are finally saved, then what are the lost being punished for? Were their sins covered and canceled by the blood of Jesus or not? We Christians say, "Christ died for our sins" (1 Corinthians 15:3). And we mean that his death paid the debt those sins created. His death removed the wrath of God from me. His death lifted the curse of the law from me. His death purchased heaven for me. It really accomplished those things!"

"But what would it mean to say of an unbeliever in hell that Christ died for his sins? Would we mean that the debt for his sins was paid? If so, why is he paying again in hell? Would we mean that the wrath of God was removed? If so, why is the wrath of God being poured out on him in punishment for sins? Would we mean that the curse of the law was lifted? If so, why is he bearing his curse in the lake of fire?"

"One possible answer is this: one might say that the only reason people go to hell is because of the sin of rejecting Jesus, not because of all the other sins of their life. But that is not true. The Bible teaches that the wrath of God is coming on the world, not just because of its rejection of Jesus, but because of its many sins that are not forgiven. For example, in Colossians 3:5-6, Paul refers to "immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed," and then says, "On account of these things the wrath of God will come." So people who reject Jesus really will be punished for their specific sins, not just for rejecting Jesus."

"So, we go back to the problem: in what sense did Christ taste death for their sins? If they are still guilty for their sins and still suffer punishment for their sins, what happened on the cross for their sins? Perhaps someone would use an analogy. You might say, Christ purchased their ticket to heaven, and offered it to them freely, but they refused to take it, and that is why they went to hell. And you would be partly right: Christ does offer his forgiveness freely to all, and any who receives it as the treasure it is will be saved by the death of Jesus. But the problem with the analogy is that the purchase of the ticket to heaven is, in reality, the canceling of sins. But what we have seen is that those who refuse the ticket are punished for their sins, not just for refusing the ticket. And so what meaning does it have to say that their sins were canceled? Their sins are going to bring them to destruction and keep them from heaven; so their sins were not really canceled in the cross, and therefore the ticket was not purchased."

"The ticket for heaven which Jesus obtained for me by his blood is the wiping out of all my sins, covering them, bearing them in his own body, so that they can never bring me to ruin can never be brought up against me again - never! That's what happened when he died for me. Hebrews 10:14 says, "By one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified." Perfected before God for all time, by the offering of his life! That's what it means that he died for me. Hebrews 9:28 says, "Christ also, [was] offered once to bear the sins of many." He bore my sins. He really bore them (See Isaiah 53:4-6). He really suffered for them. They cannot and they will not fall on my head in judgment."

"If you say to me then, that at the cross Christ only accomplished for me what he accomplished for those who will suffer hell for their sins, then you strip the death of Jesus of its actual effective accomplishment on my behalf, and leave me with what? An atonement that has lost its precious assuring power that my sins were really covered and the curse was really lifted and the wrath of God was really removed. That's a high price to pay in order to say that Christ tasted death for everyone in the same way."

Contradictions?

"All Scripture is God breathed..." 2 Tim 3:16.

Christians through the ages have always believed in the inerrancy of Scripture and would affirm statements of faith such as, "We accept the Bible (the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament) as the written Word of God, the sole infallible rule of faith for all Christian life, practice, and doctrine. It leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Being given by God, the Scriptures are both fully and verbally inspired by God. Therefore, as originally given, the Bible is free of error in all it teaches."

Yet the attacks upon the Bible (in both its inerrancy and sufficiency) continue unabated in our day. The claim is repeatedly made that the Bible is full of contradictions. For example, many who have the attention of the media (Bart Ehrman, John Dominic Crossan and others) are teaching that the Gospel of Mark presents a very different portrayal of Jesus' arrest and crucifixion than that found in Luke or John. It is a common claim but is it one that is substantiated by the text of Scripture itself? In no way! Here is the Sunday morning sermon by Dr. James White at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church from yesterday (December 28, 2008) from Mark chapters 14 and 15.

Bad News: Santa Claus is coming to town

Images of the Savior (38 -- Korah's Rebellion)

Immediately after the account of Israel's failure to enter the land of Canaan, and her being cursed, therefore, to wander about in the wilderness for forty years, until that entire generation which disbelieved God's promises should be utterly consumed, excepting only Caleb and Joshua, who had a different spirit; God then immediately sees fit to set forth in summary the laws that Israel must obey when she had entered into the Promised Land, and the means of the forgiveness of sins committed in ignorance, through an atoning sacrifice. In this way, after so devastating an occurrence, he holds forth both a solemn warning and a certain hope, as we shall now make clear.

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