On Modern Culture

Greetings in the Name of our most sovereign and magnificint Christ:
May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all who, though you dwell on this terrestrial ball, groan and labor for Kingdom of our Heavenly Father who is blessed forver Amen.

I had a most odd experience the other day as I was standing in line at Victoria's Secret about two days before the Pagan festival of Christmas. I was in the store to by lotion for my mother,( she really likes a particular brand of vanilla lotion that only they sell) and I was waiting in a most extraordinarily long line. There was a group of people behind me that, I believe, were of teen-age years and were a mixture of both sexes. Their conversation, which was rather loud and one could not help but hear, was so trivial and vain that I thought I was standing in a 1980's Baywatch Convention. All of this vainity and frivolity provoked me to thing about a CNN special on how supermodel photoshoots take place. I looked at several of the displays and advertasments (I was not in the lingere section and hence the photos were not to seductive) and struck by the fact that not one of the women in the advertisment were what could be considered "Normal". By that I mean that the women were all in quite an extraordinary high level of make up and all looked like they had not eaten in about three days. Let me comment on this by saying the CNN special on modeling showed that, in order to produce the "super model" effect, it took several hours of make up and then the pictures were all "touched up" by computer modificatiaton. The end result is that the model really looks diffrent in the picture than she would in real life. At this point you might be wondering, "why is the reformer going on about all this girly stuff?" I say all this to point out that our culture has a skewed view of reailty. In stead of honoring the inner beautify of a woman, we have to improve the exterior. Instead of being proud of the man who works a double shift at a crap job to support his family, we honor the Donald Trumps and Hugh Heifners of the world as models of excelence. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate make-up(though I prefer women who don't use a lot of it), /i don't mind rich men(except when they shirk their God given respocibilities that comes with power). my point is that as Christians we must guard against having out tastes assimilated by the hedonistic and etxernalistic culture that is bent on gaining a monolithic secular society. Let us rather esteem and admire the beauty of the internal spirit that longs for God's Holliness. Let us use our money and presitge to further the Gospel and bear the burdens of our fellow citizens of the Kingdom of Christ.
Sola Fide,
The Reformer
(P.S. The next post will be on the importance of realizing the synonomous terms of the "Kingdom of Heaven" and the "Kingdom of God")

New World Order

I have been doing a lot of thinking about eschatology and the "One World Government". (I am not a Dispensationalist, and I do not believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture.) So, in looking through YouTube I found someone named the "Owl Man" who is all about exposing the anti-Chrstian cossacs in the Government. This shall be one of many new posts with videos that he and other like minded people have made. Enjoy the Schaefferian appraisment:

Limited Atonement and Evangelism

"I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things form the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one who the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:25-28)

Oh, that our pastor of this day and age would preach like this. There was once a time where such words were not uncomomn in Protestant churches, but now to make a claim like this is too call into question the goodness of God. Yet, are these not the words of our Lord? The quotation says, " You have hidden these things...for so it seemed good in Your sight." Surely Christ knew of His Father's actions and is quite able to speak of them clearly. The Gospel has the power to save the whole world, but it is intended for only the elect. The one whom the Father has not chosen will not will not come. So, logically Christ went on to give a list of who would come and speak only to them...no there is no logic in that at all. For Christ has clearly said, "Come to me, all you..." Christ left the command that we preach the Gospel to all men, whether we think they are reprobate or not. The question is not, "What is the Lord's most secret plan that He has not revealed"; but, "What has the Lord already commanded in His written word." Yes, some will come and the rest will not, but who are they who will come. In stead of trying to determine which of our audince is the elect and which is not, we should do as our Lord and speak to them all. The Bible clearly speaks of a definite atonement, but it equally commands the open proclaimation of the Word to all men. Oh, that this generation would proclaim the Gospel as Christ did!

Sola Gratia,

ReformationMan

Wine instead of Champaign; Bread instead of iced cake

Greetings fellow friends and theologians:

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged, and I truly doubt that anyone still reads this, but I shall press on anyway. The title might sound a little strange and that, I grant it, might be very true. I was studying for a paper on the ramifications of failure when I came across an article that struck me quite hard. The author thought it to be quite strange that as a society so much time is spent into making a wedding absolutely perfect. If we were to draw all conclusions about married life from the wedding ceremony, all marriage would be is one long romantic honeymoon with flowers and Champaign all over the place. However, the author thought this to be no nearer the truth than Bill Clinton is to the term “chastity”. Instead the author observed that, usually within twenty-four hours, there will be. “At least one good fight, and some really bad sex.” Now not all couple will experience both of these on the first day of their marriage, but I began to think of how this would be true for my own life. For a moment I will assume( and yes, I know what that means) that I will be married one day. (again, those of you who know me might be saying this assumption is a little to much, but bear with me here) Now I thought to my self that since my wife and I will not have had sex before the first time we have sex, the first time will probably not be that good. And as for the fight, anyone who is around me for more than 24 hours will get into an argument with me. So, how shall we now live? Should the entire marriage ceremony be destroyed? No, it should be reformed. Instead of Champaign and cake, why not Communion? Instead of the wedding feast, why not have a reminder that the only way two people can live together is throught the blood and flesh of Christ. Lest us do the following:1) forget the ornamental crap, have the wedding in a private house with close friends and family. 2) realize that married life is a gift from God, but man it can be hell on earth when two sinners live together till death do us part. 3) Remember that by Christ alone can the marriage work.
So, in conclusion I think this is what I want to do with my marriage. I don’t know how the future Mrs. Cook will respond to these Ideas, but my guess is that I probably wont marry a woman who demands an ornate ceremony any ways and that’s a ways off still. What will you do?


Sola Deo Gloria
Reformation Man