In the decrees of the Council of Trent: Canons on Justification, Roman Catholics proclaim a curse (anathema) on anyone who affirms the loss of free will after the fall. In Canon 5, it declares:
"If anyone says that after the sin of Adam man's free will was lost and destroyed, or that it is a thing only in name, indeed a name without a reality, a fiction introduced into the Church by Satan, let him be anathema."
Thomas Brooks farewell address to his people is peculiarly adapted for usefulness. Brooks ends with giving his people some hints of advice, which he calls legacies, hoping they might be of use to them in the perusal when he had not the advantage of speaking to them in public.
1. Secure your saving interest in Christ. This is not a time for a man to be between hopes and fears. Take not up with an outward form, crying, "The Temple of the Lord."
2. Make Christ and Scripture the only foundation for your souls, and for faith to build upon.
by J. C. Ryle
Assurance is to be desired, because of the present comfort and peace it affords.
Both moral and immoral individuals are alienated from God and are offensive to Him. This may be counterintuitive, but moral people may be lost due to their "goodness." Why? It is often the case that goodness keeps people from God. In fact, many people avoid sin and Jesus in an attempt to become their own saviors, justifying themselves. However, the gospel is not about moralism or relativism and is equally offensive to both the moral and the irreligious. Christ calls us to repent of both our good and bad works, for we have no righteousness of our own.
"The Spirit quickens [regenerates], the flesh counts for nothing...that is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me grants it." John 6:63, 65
In the same context Jesus declares, "All the Father gives me will come to me..." - John 6:37
"All", not some. All the Father gives the Son will come to Him. And the "giving" of the Father to the Son precedes their coming to faith in Him.
The words "grant" (v 65) and "give" (v 37) are the same Greek word.
“We must realize that the Reformation world view leads in the direction of government freedom. But the humanist world view with inevitable certainty leads in the direction of statism. This is so because humanists, having no god, must put something at the center, and it is inevitably society, government, or the state.” ― Francis A. Schaeffer
"Statism is the natural and ultimate enemy to Christianity because it involves a usurpation of the reign of God." R. C. Sproul
God has recently given us the opportunity to discuss some theological issues with other Christians who believe differently than we do on a number of points, most notably the doctrines of grace.
by Jim Elliff
You may disagree, but I believe biblical history and subsequent Christian history demonstrates that radical internal holiness, godly enthusiasm to follow Christ, and courageous truth-inspired faith in him regardless of the societal externals or the diffidence and even hatred of those around us, do more to accomplish the will of God in the world than the seating of any government over the people.
Spoke with some Mormons this morning. Met at a cafe.
Went through the Isaiah passages and Revelation 4:8.
God is incomparable. He never learned. He has no ancestry. He’s the first and the last.
He never was tutored toward godhood.
He never was mentored toward divinity.
by Kevin DeYoung
Q. What do you understand by the providence of God?
A. Providence is the almighty and ever present power of God by which he upholds, as with his hand, heaven and earth and all creatures, and so rules them that lead and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty—all things, in fact, come to us not by chance but from his fatherly hand (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 27).
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