Pastor’s Blog

Here’s some good advice from Colin Adams of Unashamed Workman:

1.      Find an older Christian who will commit to discipling you on a regular basis.

2.      Attend church regularly.

3.      Make sure you understand the gospel. Clarify this before ‘moving on’ to other things. But don’t stay away too long! Learn to live a ‘gospel centered life’.

4.      Start bible-reading daily. Follow a plan (for example, ‘I will read 2 chapters of the New Testament each day’). If you have the time and desire to do so, be ambitious in what you read. However, don’t be discouraged if you can’t read quickly. And don’t expect to take in everything you read.

5.      Start praying daily. If it helps, meet with another Christian for a period to help get you started. Learn from how others pray, but don’t feel you must copy them. As a simple guide: praise God, confess sin and ask for things that you and others need.

6.      Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is a vital pathway to learning and growth. Naturally, you will have questions about countless things, so ask away!

7.      If you are ‘a reader’, consider getting hold of a Christian book that will help you learn more about the bible. Ask your pastor or mature Christian friends for recommendations.

8.      Tell others you are a Christian. New Christians make some of the best evangelists. Your first two years as a believer may be your most productive in reaching unbelievers.

9.      Be patient with yourself. You have the rest of your life to grow as a Christian!

Here’s a thought-provoking article by Carl Truman of Westminster Seminary titled, “Is the Reformation nearly over? Perhaps, but maybe not for the reason you think…”

Here and here are a couple of posts from John Piper on “the new calamity.” An excerpt:

“My sense is that we do not realize what a calamity is happening around us. The new thing—new for America, and new for history—is not homosexuality. That brokenness has been here since we were all broken in the fall of man. (And there is a great distinction between the orientation and the act—just like there is a great difference between my orientation to pride and the act of boasting.)

What’s new is not even the celebration of homosexual sin. Homosexual behavior has been exploited, and reveled in, and celebrated in art, for millennia. What’s new is normalization and institutionalization. This is the new calamity.

My main reason for writing is not to mount a political counter-assault. I don’t think that is the calling of the church as such. My reason for writing is to help the church feel the sorrow of these days. And the magnitude of the assault on God and his image in man.”

(posted 7/1/11)

Here is Al Mohler’s response to Harold Camping’s May 21 debacle. A sample:

Harold Camping has refused all correction and all efforts to persuade him to cease his false teachings. He left a major denomination and cast out on his own. He has received delegations of concerned theologians and major Christian leaders, but he has resisted all efforts and repudiated accountability to the church.

He is the classic example of a false teacher and a false prophet, about which the Bible has so much to say. And yet, some Christians have suggested that his errors should go uncorrected and his false teachings should be tolerated, just because he is an old man.

Mr. Camping will be 90 years old on July 19, but his false teachings are not a factor of old age. He began these teachings long ago. Furthermore, he bears all the signs of a false prophet. He claims to have a secret knowledge revealed only to him by God. He claims to have found a hidden code in the Bible. He rejects what he calls “literalism” and claims the right to a “spiritual” interpretation of the biblical text. He has rejected all correction from the believing church and persists in his false teachings. He has led thousands astray from the truth and has brought reproach upon the Body of Christ. He refuses even to concede that his prophecy was false. He and he alone is right.

(Posted 6/1/11)

You may know that Harold Camping of Family Radio has predicted that the Day of Judgment is this Saturday, May 21. Camping predicted the same thing for 1994, but this time he really, really knows he is right.

Here is a good response to Camping’s prediction from Al Mohler.

Make no mistake: the day Camping is announcing will come. My skepticism lies not with the reality of the return of Christ, but with Camping’s prediction and his confidence in it. If Judgment Day does not begin at 6:00 pm this Saturday, will Camping finally get out of the predicting business?

(posted 5/16/11)