If you receive emails from this site, follow it on WordPress, or disinterestedly read at irregular intervals, I would love your advice on the new location, look, and objective. The above link should take you to the site: I’m still fooling around with the header.

So, is the Blog dying?

turinsblog. I made up that name in 2007, when I was in the midst of a Tolkien craze. That was back when blogging was still cool, and people read what each other was saying even if it were more than 140 characters. As time moved on, and as we evolved more into the world of smartphones and tablets, it just became more convenient to packet small amounts of information in readily accessible formats as we absorbed ourselves in the social world: Twitter for thoughts; Flickr, Instagram, Tumblr, and the like for photos; things like the emerging “Pinterest” for sharing things; Facebook for a rough combination of the above (sorry, Google+. Everybody’s just about forgotten you).

I used to be completely engrossed in the blogging world: I loved writing, and I loved reading how other people expressed themselves. But even this has fallen into disuse; something I don’t like, even though I’ve participated.

But moreso, some of the wonderful topics which have been considered on this site and others deserve more exposition than 140 characters. Such topics as, the beauty and glory of nature, the silent mercies of family, the closeness of friendships, and the Holy and High banner of Christ that flies over every one of these things in the lives of those that love Him. We can express these things in a status update; but by writing and reading about them in depth, we do more than express: we cultivate. We want to enjoy the storms, the tea cups, the books and the friendship more.

Turinsblog has seen better days of the authors writing, better days of readership and better participation before. And I’m grateful for what it has been, I’m grateful for the goofy mistakes along the way. But, maybe it’s time has come and gone. Maybe, after 4 and 1/2 years, it’s time for a fresh start…and maybe you feel the same: I don’t know.

A Fresh Start…One with which I want help…

So, from here, where do I go? If you’re still a dedicated reader, you’ll remind me that I have unfinished series. I’m getting to that. But for now, I’ll say this: I want to set up a multi-author site, or a least another blog in which I ask other people to contribute. It will follow along the same lines as this one, but won’t hopefully be centered around moi. Because we’re never meant to be the center. “It’s not about me…it’s about HIM.”

So, I’m starting under a new name. The other authors are….well, that’s where you come in. Hopefully, if I can make a new site the site that this used to be, it’ll be more than one person at the helm. I’ve thought of a few people to ask, but if you know any aspiring writers, or if you are one, let me know!

Revamp…

As I get the new endeavor underway, I’m going to cheat a little. To those who have been reading for four years, some of the content may seem a little familiar. I’m going to take the highlights of the last several years, (or the posts that I liked) and give them a little makeover. The first reason for this is to give fresh life to old writing, and improve upon it; the second is I may be too busy with school to write a whole lot of full length stuff at the moment…

So, if you’ve been a faithful reader, I want to know what you think….What are some blogs that you’ve been influenced by? What do you like/dislike about this particular site? is another one worth the effort?

We shall see.

Protection: With the expansion of internet availability, the amount of access to tens of millions of disreputable webpages has expanded as well. While there is no fool-proof way to guard ourselves throughout our life from all forms of immorality (like not going to Walmart), we don’t have to leave unnecessary channels open. There are several secure browsers out there made specifically for iOS, such as:

Bsecure

SafeEyes

Covenant Eyes (both of which require paid accounts).

Of course, the problem is, if your used to using Apple Safari on your phone, the aforementioned browsers seem like what they are: unspeakable junk. To remedy this, I do a lot of my browsing through independent applications. Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, The Gospel Coalition, and WordPress (so I can access my blog administration) are just a few examples. Even though there is a sacrifice involved, in the end it’s better safe than sorry.

Why? 1) because a heart filled with forbidden things has little room to be filled with Christ. The fact that Christ demands that we stay away from lust is stand alone incentive to cut off the channels through which it seeks to enter, even if we have to put up with a slow, low-tech mobile browser.

2) Because the a young woman out there, somewhere, that God intends for me. I want to do my best at loving her as Christ loved the Church now, by protecting what should be saved for her.

Really good apps: Not wanting to write only on a negative note, there are a lot of really positive ways in which our smartphones can be of help to us. Besides begin able to keep up with old acquaintances, submit words against your friends, and Tweet that insight that you no the world couldn’t live without, you can carry in your pocket unprecedented opportunities of education, study, and all the normal useful tasks. Maps. Poynt, and News are obvious. But there are literally thousand of free eBooks, good books, that can be read on the go, or in those long sittings in the waiting room. There are,

Bibles. OliveTree bible software is a wonderful app for in depth study, casual reading, and storage of all your favorite commentaries and Christian books. Blue Letter Bible gives you access to an enormous online database, and YouVersion lets you share the Scriptures through texting and social networks while you read.

I use my phone to practice through Mounce’s wonderful and expensive flashcard app: there are no limits on what you can do to heighten your efficiency in ways that matter, if you resolve that your PDA, smartphone, or Tablet belong to Christ and should be used to His glory.

1) Courageous This year’s offering from Sherwood Pictures has, in character, exceeded all of it’s predecessors on every front. Achieving the goals of well-roundedness in storytelling and clarity that so easily evade Christian films, Courageous is not only enjoyable but uniquely challenging. While you can’t possibly divorce this film from a clear presentation of the Gospel, it does present us with the need for courageous fatherhood as an indispensable adornment to sound doctrine.

2) Hugo It is an extremely rare thing to leave a film with a breath of satisfaction, realizing that the that with which you are entertaining yourself is a genuine art work. Hugo was just that. While the 3D photography was so gorgeous as to make men like James Cameron turn head, and the acting of especially the young stars is compelling, it’s the cultural setting and depth of  character that gives this picture it’s unique charm. (A minor role of Christopher Lee’s portrays a bookkeeper that rather reminded me of Richard Owen Roberts, on a side note). Though it has acclaimed director Martin Scorsese at the helm and has the advantage of an abnormally large budget for a family film, this movie is free of most of the flack that  fills the mindless action films that often turn the eyes of us, the numbed audience. Film has always been a sophisticated way to portray art and story, and only becomes bad when people misused it: and we’ve reached a time now when our multiplexes reflect our lack of depth by feeding us almost nothing but shoot-em-up sequels and scores of R-rated “comedies”. In the midst of that, however, the story of an orphan boy living in a Paris train station in the 1930s, trying to eek out an existence, escape from the station inspector, and uncover a message from his father shines out with a rare beauty. I can’t over-recommend it.

3) Thor While seeming pretty lackluster after the first two offerings,  Thor is an easygoing summer action film that chooses to stay away from the cliff of inappropriate content and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Probably the best super-hero flick I’ve seen (with the ever-present exception of Pixar’s The Incredibles) you can read my more comprehensive review here.

4) The Adventures of TinTin: Secret of the Unicorn

Again, almost unapologetic in it’s lack of depth, to anyone who might have wished that Speilberg’s Indiana Jones films were more appropriate for all audiences, Tintin, by the same director, really delivers. Motion capture technology, the computer technique that captures the movements of  real-actors and converts them to CGI, found great early expression in characters such as Jar-Jar Binks and Gollum, and was highly acclaimed in movies like Avatar and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Speilberg takes that even further in using this as the photography choice for a full-length feature. The only other films I know of like this are The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol; but neither one touches the life-like clarity of this movie. Beyond that, this film can’t be called ground breaking: story and character development and pleasingly sacrificed to the altar of almost non-stop action and humorous dialogue that would make Indy jealous. It avoids the non-stop swearing of the Harrison Ford counterparts, and the lack of explicit content is a given with the total lack of female characters. At all.

5) Kung Fu Panda 2 it is an unheard of thing: Pixar and DreamWorks release competing sequels, and I like the DreamWorks better. Kung Fu Panda 2 did the impossible. Funny. Action-packed, in it’s own way. And yes, even touching. This film manages to outpace it predecessor on every front, and does so while presenting a thought-provoking picture of what it means to be adopted. That, as well as the presence of Eastern mysticism throughout, give something to be seriously spoken of–after the laughing has ended with the credits.

This is far from begin along the lines of what I normally post, but it is a topic worthy of slight investigation, more to be of help than to stir controversial. The man Charles Spurgeon, the ministry of whom was so blessed by the Lord, has been cited as a “confused” man in his theological views. This man was so gentle and Christlike in his approach to issues of controversial nature (much more, I fear, than the author which you now read) that every camp desires to have some claim on him. In a book which I am browsing upon request, the author (an avid open-theist, Arminian, dispensationalist, &c) readily confesses to this man adhering to that form of doctrine known as “Calvinism”, but he reasons that he was against the view of definite atonement (“Limited” as its incorrectly called to fit the acronym TULIP). He used this quote  to support this claim:

I know there are some who think it is necessary to their system of theology to limit the merit of the blood of Jesus: if my theological system needed such limitation, I would cast it to the winds. I cannot,  I dare not, allow the thought to find lodging in my mind, it seems so near akin to blasphemy. In Christ’s finished work I see an ocean of merit; my plummet finds no bottom, my eye discerns no shore…having a divine Person for an offering, it is not consistent to conceive of limited value: bound and measure are terms inapplicable to the divine sacrifice.

And to this may all say Amen! It simply makes no sense to say that one as infinite a spring of life as Christ would have small sufficiency in His sacrificial death (this will have been brought home recently to Christ Church attenders, through Dr Snyder’s sermon on John 1:3. Those who were not treated to this delightful talk, ask me where to get it).

However, Spurgeon’s words are only those of every honest Calvinist. We assert that Christ”s sacrifice, because of the infinitude of His divine nature, could not be limited in its sufficiency, but limited in it efficiency: Christ had a specific people who He came to rescue. This is best summarized by another quote by Spurgeon:

The Arminians say, Christ died for all men. Ask them what they mean by it. Did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of all men? They say, “No, certainly not.” We ask them the next question–did Christ die so as to secure the salvation of any man in particular? They answer, “No”. They are obliged to admit this if they are consistent. They say, “No, Christ has died that any man might be saved if–” and then follow certain conditions of salvation. We say, then, we will just go back to the old statement–Christ did not die so as beyond a doubt to secure the salvation of anybody, did He? You must say “no”; you are obliged to say so, for you believe that even after a man has been pardoned,  he may yet fall from grace, and perish. Now, who is it that limits the death of Christ? why, you….You are welcome to your atonement; you may keep it. We will never renounce ours for the sake of it.

You see, a non definite atonement makes the words of Christ of none effect:

28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

Or,

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

In essence, Christ didn’t fail. It was all about Him and His Father! If Christ came to save all men, then indeed we must say that He has lost the multitudes which are now in Hell. This is about Christ fulfilling the mission to which God sent Him. (John 17:9; from one of the most important passages on the relationship between the Father and the Son.) Acts 20:28, Ephesians 5:25-27, Isaiah 53:10-12.

Now, some people love the doctrine of ‘universal atonement’ because they say it is so beautiful. It is a lovely idea that ‘Christ should have died for all men’; it commends itself, they say, to the instincts of humanity; there is something in it full of joy and beauty.

I admit there is; but beauty may be often associated with falsehood.

There is much which I might well admire in the theory of ‘universal redemption’ but let me just tell you what this supposition necessarily involves. If Christ on His cross intended to save every man, then He intended to save those who were damned before He died; because if this doctrine (that He died for all men) is true, He died for some that were in hell before He came into this world, for doubtless there were myriads there that had been cast away.

Once again, if it were Christ’s intention to save all men, how deplorably has He been disappointed! For we have His own evidence that there is a lake that burns with fire and brimstone, and into that pit must be cast some of the very people, who according to that theory, were bought with His blood!

To think that my Savior died for men in hell, seems a supposition too horrible for me to imagine. That He was the substitute for the sons of men, and that God having first punished the substitute, punished these same men again, seems to me to conflict with any idea of justice.

That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards, some of those very men should be punished for the same sins which Christ had already atoned for, seems to me, to be the most marvelous monstrosity that ever could have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, aye, to the god of the Thugs, or the most diabolical heathen demons!

God forbid that we should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise.

The death of Christ is the foundation of the Christian’s hope. But those believing in a general redemption cannot possibly fully enjoy that blessed hope in Christ. They claim to believe in a redeemer who is not completely successful in redeeming the lost; an atonement that falls short of achieving its purpose; thus believing that the death of Christ must be joined with freewill in order to save. Fortunately, Jesus is a Redeemer who does deliver His people from sin; not just tries to deliver His people with the possibility of losing some of them. His grace is thoroughly efficacious in saving the elect, for whom He died. And one elected by the grace of God is bound to come to Him, for it would be then natural for him to do so.

–CH Spurgeon (Sermon, “The Mission of the Son of Man”)

Whatever your particular beliefs (no pun intended) are on this subject, I hope Spurgeon’s have been clarified.

As I said, there are at least two clear answers in Scripture that show us why God in particular has chosen to adopt us. The second helpful one is drawn from Ephesians 1, where it reads:

“having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (vs 5 & 6, ASV)

These words come to us in the midst of one of those passages which first come to mind when we think about Adoption: but the words about adoption which are found herein are in the midst of a passage in which Paul begins exulting in the praise and glory of God displayed through the Gospel. It’s as if before ever diving into anything else, he wishes to slingshot our minds all the way up to heaven. And in the midst of this, he touches especially on Adoption, Predestination, but most important of all, our union with Christ as believers. But just like everything else in Salvation, none of these are stand alone concepts, but they all reach out into each other to form the facets of this one great Jewel which we call the Gospel. Our union with Christ and adoption is such a matter as deserves separate treatment, so it’s on my list: but the reason for all these things -or for this one thing, our Election to Adoption by virtue of Union after “being accepted” (i.e. Justified)- is spelled out so clearly in verse 6: “To the praise of the glory of His grace.”

To say “having foreordained us to adoption through Christ” implies that there is something to follow. Our Adoption finds its root in God displaying the glory of His free, unasked, unsought, so often rejected Grace whereby He takes children of darkness and transforms them to the Kingdom of His dear Son so that through adoption that Firstborn might not be ashamed to call us brethren. Just as God promised that He would defer His anger and show mercy for His name sake (Isaiah 48:9-11), so this entire matter of our Adoption is all for the praise of their glory of God’s grace.

To look at horizontal adoption in a proper manner, we must look at vertical adoption in a proper manner: and to dig into the doctrine of our vertical Adoption into the family of God almighty, we must not divorce our thinking from this overarching reality that God’s glory in predominant in our Salvation: Christ not losing one that the Father had given Him is for God’s glory; God granting to Christ all the full rewards of His sufferings is for God’s glory. And as our adoption so plainly shows us, God’s undeserved love being lavished upon sinners is for His glory. If we -if I- am not impressed by God’s glory in adopting sinners, then my view of salvation must be deficient. Is this our view of adoption? if not, why bother searching it out? no other reasons are sufficient. God grant that we should see…

That adoption is the manifestation of God’s matchless love, in that He has taken us, who were sinners, to be His sons. This is the highest privilege that any man could imagine, in that we are become Sons of the Father, Brethren of Christ, and wards of the Holy Spirit. Show me, I demand, a higher privilege that has been given any man, be he poor or rich, be he a pizza delivery boy being elevated to the Presidency, show me. Silence. For there is not one.  Who for all the globe would spurn such a prize? yet you and I do so daily, by estimating something as worth more attention than the God who has made us heirs.

That adoption is by no means the result of our actions. It is wholly an initiative of God which we did not deserve. If it were deserved, would it not be something conferred to Angels before men? Yet the fallen angels have had no mercy held out to them, and even those which still sit in the courts of heaven long to look into these things. Moreso, the very fabric of the Gospel is beautified throughout the Holy Scriptures in that its benefits are conferred to sinful men.

The Father chose a fallen race
In his good pleasure, redeeming sons
To show the glory of His Grace
Adopted children, thy voices raise,
Praise the Father’s choosing grace.

Some of you may remember the poem I wrote entitled “A Trinitarian Adoption”; it tried to encompass the glorious view of adoption that was contained in some of the more obvious passages of Scripture on the subject. I think we can relate in some small way to being involved in adoption advocacy, but we also know from the ministries we follow and the books that we read (for example Adopted For Life by Dr Russell Moore) that it is impossible to divorce a right approach to horizontal adoption from a biblical view of vertical adoption. As in every other “advocacy” issue, the Gospel is crucially preeminent. With this in mind, I set out to knock on the door of what the Scripture said about adoption: the reason i did this study was that a family with whom I am extremely close was considering adopting, and there youngest son was rather adverse to the thought. I wanted to at least in some measure be equipped to explain to him, as well as other young Children, what was the real root and foundation of why Christians desire to adopt.That work hasn’t yet come to fruition, but looking in some measure at what was the length and breadth and height of God’s love displayed through adoption is something that I know I and any other believer need constantly.

What comes out so clearly through the Scripture, and what Dan Cruver brought out so well in his little book Reclaiming Adoption, is that our Adoption into the family of God is accomplished through and to the glory of, the Trinity. Take away the work of one member of the Holy Godhead, Three in One, and our adoption would not be realized. Were this great act of adoption not planned by the Father (Eph. 1:ff.) accomplished by the Son (Galatians 4) and applied by the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:23), we would still be lost in darkness. We also can’t afford to not look at one aspect of this glorious work: we have to look at the entire work in order to really give God all the glory He’s due and to live fully upon the truths of what we’ve been given.

The work of Adoption is even more glorious when looked at in the entire context of Redemption: to consider ourselves as adopted Children of the heavenly King is blessed: it is even more blessed to remember that we were enemies, and that in order to be acceptable as Children we had to have our entire status as rebels against our Creator changed. The parable of the Prodigal Son is a good illustration, but it is just that: a parable. Truth is, we walked away from God as a race (Romans 5:12ff), and each of us lives our entire lives in foolish excess, dead and trespasses and sins. And when our Father saw us coming down the road, we were children of the world, running a Hell-bound race, and we were not only received but adopted, made sons and daughters of the heavenly King.

So, maybe we can begin in some small measure to obey the heavenly injunction to Behold God’s love in adoption, which to us is given in 1 John 3:1 (I talk about that injunction last: we’ll work on fulfilling it now). Our glorious God spoke Creation into existence, but as Lloyd-Jones has been so clearly explaining, because of His character, He could not just speak our redemption and adoption into accomplishment. Somethings had to be done. A work had to be thought out, and then accomplished, and then brought to bear upon us.

Let inquire into what it means to be made children! Let all of God’s children come around the Scripture, admit that we are not as smart as we think ourselves to be, and ask some questions of God’s word as to this great mystery.I want to do this simplistically, coming mainly from my own old notes, so I’m not claiming I’ll tackle any of the subjects in their full length and breadth, but I hope that we are all driven into further inquiry into our Redemption.

1) Why?

Let us first ask the Scriptures, Why? what is it that makes the despised father run down the road with opened arms to receive the Prodigal? what is it that causes the Eternal, Transcendent, completely self-sufficient God to Pursue worthless sinners and place them into His perfect family? Their are two clear answers, which at a glance seem contradictory, but both ought to stir our hearts to warmth, and then indeed flames of love: our adoption proceeds from the free, boundless, glorious love of God which He has lavished upon us.

1 John 3:1a “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.”

The words of this simple little verse are more phenomenal then all the tens of thousands of words I’ve ever written combined. John is jumping on a soapbox, he is standing in the streets as a town crier, and he yelling to believers, in the midst of all his warnings and injunctions to righteousness, “Look! Look at the Love of God to sinners!” How can we deny this cry? Our adopted is wholly effected by His benevolence to sinners.

We, with our American mindset, have an extremely easy time believing that God loves us. But when we understand who He is, and and subsequently who we are, the love of God becomes more and more a thing of wonder. Imagine, if you will, a man begin visited by an Isaiah-like vision of the Holiness of God in the face of Christ. There was none of the ridiculous familiarity that we see in our modern approach to God, and certainly none of the “If he moves to the left, i’ll move to the left…” dancing nonsense (on an unrelated note, if you were with me in New Orleans and participated in that flippant absurdity, shame on you). Isaiah was completely undone in himself, seeing His utter lack of cleanness before a righteous and Holy God. Now take that man, and bring him this proclamation of John. That what it would be like to have a proper understanding of God’s love to us. And it is from this free love that our reception springs.

Be honest with your self about your sins: do not hide yourself from the sight of them: those pangs of conscience, the regrets which you still harbor, and the distractions which you wrestle with every single day. “They that are forgiven much love much.” and we are forgiven infinitely more than we even understand. Be honest about yourself, but don’t stop there: the only thing that is more certain than your past sinfulness is God’s love and Christ’s sufficiency for salvation. God’s love is a little thing if we accept the widely embraced heresy that it is an expression of our value: but His love is expressed in this, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Christ’s death is the foundation of our adoption, as I will go on to explain, but Christ’s death on the Cross, as well as His perfect life, we by reason of God’s love.

Do your best to acquaint yourself with unworthiness as far as is necessary to glorify Christ’s work: but whatever you do, let nothing dim the wonder of God’s unmerited love for us, that we should be called the Son’s and daughters of God.

There is more to be said as to reasons: but more later.

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou hast at this time deigned in thy mercy to gather us to thy Church, and to enclose us within the boundaries of thy word, by which thou preserves us in the true and right worship of thy majesty, – O grant, that we may continue contented in this obedience to thee: and though Satan may, in many ways, attempt to draw us here and there, and we be also ourselves, by nature, inclined to evil, O grant, that being confirmed in faith, and united to thee by that sacred bond, we may yet constantly abide under the guidance of thy word, and thus cleave to Christ thy only-begotten Son, who has joined us for ever to himself, that we may never by any means turn aside from thee, but be, on the contrary, confirmed in the faith of his gospel, until at length he will receive us all into his kingdom. Amen.

John Calvin; Commentary on Hosea

The Lamb of God was slain,
As He cried and He suffered, God turned His face away
Jesus bled and died, He’s the living sacrifice
Lord take this heart of ice
And break it

Oh Lord, You stretched out the heavens
My God, You painted the sky
You set the land on the water
You sent Your only Son to die.

Jesus made our sins His own,
That this heart, once of stone, might full forgiveness know,
Mine the gain, His the pain, for His Father’s blessed name,
Lord, come and your captive claim,
Renew me.

As children of the King,
Clothed in beauty, not our own, Eternally we sing
To the glory of our Christ, He alone has satisfied
Eternity will cry
His beauty.

I recently had the privilege of being at the summer Youth Camp that my friend  Jason Storms puts on. In the midst of my busyness at Wheaton, it was a chance to get a lot of necessary reading and quiet time in, as well as an opportunity to be around some of my best friends on earth. The theme of this year’s camp couldn’t have been better:

Here I Stand!

We sand the song “Stand Up for Jesus” at every session, and had some nice accompanying t-shirts made for-us (I’ll discuss that later); but that theme originated, obviously, from the immortal words of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms when he stood on the truths of Jesus Christ against the entire world of organized religion. But therein came the disturbance: we watched the biofilm Luther together one evening, and when that famous line was used, the entire room (almost) burst out in unified surprise that he used the theme of our camp (here I stand) in his speech.

And that was the disturbing thing. Those words are part of the root of one of the greatest works of God in human history, and ignorance of them points to our greater ignorance of the Reformation. You might remember a post I wrote along similar lines several months ago: and I don’t push the issue because I think we need to deify massively flawed men such as Luther,  Beza, Calvin, Knox, or even their theological grandfather Augustine, but we need to recognize the wisdom of such words as “Those who do not remember history are destined to repeat it.” We desperately need to remember and recognize that for which men were willing to give their lives rather than embracing the idols of their day.

We don’t want to be good little Luthers and Knoxes; but it is imperative upon us to build on the foundation they laid five hundred years ago, standing upon the truths of the Majesty and sovereignty of God in salvation, man’s utter lack of goodness apart from the cleansing blood of Christ and His beautifying righteousness being imputed to us. We want to remember the Reformation because History is God’s story, the Church is God’s church, and we cannot afford to lightly handle the privilege we have of being members of that body, part of the that Bride, children of that family, which is our heavenly Father’s.

This is especially true of us as young people. Generation upon generation, we are called to be Luthers,  to stand upon the truth of God against the idols of our age, even within the Church, no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, if I use myself as the gauge, we are closer to switching sides so that we might save ourselves from harm, than to standing. And this we do in two ways:

First, We go over to the worlds way of thinking, and seek self-satisfaction in the little choices we make on a day to day basis. But when I say we are to be Luthers, I don’t mean setting out to stand against a persecuting world on huge matters of doctrine. We all want to do that. But to truly imitate Luther as He imitated Christ, we must say, “Here I stand” with our every waking breath, from our downsitting and our uprising, against Satan’s temptations, which are frequent, from the world’s allurements, which surround us, and from self’s demands, which are constant. Every choice we make is a choice either to die to self and live to Christ, or to die to Christ and live to self. To be Luther, we must say,

“Here I stand. I can do no other, God help me.” When Self says to run from being with and fellowshipping with God because there is no way we will be accepted as sons this time;

“Here I stand” when the world puts it’s little petty distractions from its movies and music in our hearts, and they knock on the door of the mind when we pray, when we work, as we live.

“Here I stand” when we wan to minister, or try to plan our lives, in a worry-filled, man-centred way rather than a faith-filled, God-ward way.

“Here I stand” when Self demands its way in our relationships, and we’re tempted to be stupid and wreck our emotions and other’s by our longing for immediate gratification.

“Here I stand,” when the Wal-Mart checkout stands say that a second glance won’t hurt,though we now that what we see will recall itself to our hearts when we know it shouldn’t be there.

And a host of other instances, where we have a choice between the golden halls of communion with the Triune God, which faith sees, versus the brass-plated rubbish heap which is apprehended by straying eyes and untamed emotions.We as young people, and we as adopted children smear the name of our Christ by our constant surrender rather than our stand. Our Lord is acquainted with our trails, for on all fronts He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, so that we may well say, “God help me.”

Secondly, we give way in that we know of Doctrinal error, we know of foolishness, we know of sin, of lostness, but rather than being like our Lord, who stood on His Father’s word and turned over tables, and stood between the stones and the adulteress, telling her to sin no more, we stand side and allow the church around to decline without our pleadings that she return. If we are the watchmen of Ezekiel 33, then surely the blood of many around us will be required at our hands if we do not sound the trumpet because we were content in our own righteousness, not remembering that all we are is of grace.

But it isn’t enough to identify problems: we must lay a foundation of truth on which build and with which to motivate ourselves, in order to run the race toward the prize and fight for the Kingdom as our Fathers have. With this in mind, I hope over the next several post to lay groundwork in our my heart and the hearts of readers drawing from the famous five points, the five Solas, of the  Reformation:

Sola Scriptura,

Sola Fide,

Sola Gratis

Sola Christos

Sola Deo Gloria

Succinctly, then, those five points can be summarized as by the Scriptures alone we obtain faith which alone lays hold of grace alone by which we are saved, flowing from Christ alone and all the Glory to God: Sola Deo Gloria, may that be the result of this writing.