A Nun's Story (Interview)

Interview of ex-Catholic nun and monk, "A Nun's Story". Both express sadness and amazement at the heretical, tragic belief that souls can be saved by the suffering of others. (The implication of such dogma is that Christ's blood is not sufficient to save). Millions seek to find "sanctifying grace" apart from the Word of God, which only leads to misery.

Interesting at 20:10, where he starts discussing Catholicism's "joining hands" with Buddhism and Hinduism (contemplative spirituality) - and reads directly from Vatican Council II documents (1965) declaring acceptance of these false religions. The former monk (Richard) did a great job pin-pointing the New Age philosophy permeating RCC doctrine. (Jesuit priests teaching yoga? Why am I not surprised).

Praise God He removed the blinders from the eyes of these two and so many others who are coming to a saving faith in Christ alone. Parts of their stories of the monastic life are truly horrifying.

Random Thoughts and Scattered Sharing...

"The believer is unspeakably precious in the eyes of Christ, and Christ is unspeakably precious in the eyes of the believer."~Robert Murray M'Cheyne (quoted over at Puritan Fellowship, which has some wonderful material arguing against an extreme application of Limited Atonement from historical Christianity). Kevin, your sermons and the excerpts you post are a real blessing to many of us.

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Like this gem from Spurgeon on the love of Christ and abiding in Him. Well done.

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Ha! This morning's patient just canceled at work. Thus I can stay home and blog, send my proposal to agents....and maybe, just maybe, wash the kitchen floor. Oh, the joy.

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I need snow tires. Like now. It's mid-November, and in New England, that's really living on the edge with bald tires.

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To answer the question 3 of you e-mailed me about: NO. I am NOT the same Theogeek who is on Twitter. Different person. I have 2 blogs, 2 e-mails, a Facebook account, a job and 4 kids. Twitter is the one thing I don't do (but I'm sure with a name like that, he/she has some interesting Tweets).

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To my faithful reader in Colorado, who visits every day, wouldn't it be easier to just bookmark my blog? That way you wouldn't have to search "Theogeek" every time. Glad you're here and enjoying my posts. :)

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Here's a great idea for making Christmas more meaningful, especially if you have kids: The Salvation Army Online Giving Tree, hosted by JC Penney. You don't have to do this through a church/group program to participate. All you have to do is click on the link, enter your zipcode and e-mail, and choose a needy child by age and gender from your local Salvation Army's online registry. You will see his or her gift needs - usually a warm winter jacket; boots; a toy - and you will receive an e-mail with the child's identity number and address of the Salvation Army office where you may bring the donation.

For those who don't care to go to the mall, you can shop online - and JC Penney provides FREE SHIPPING if you purchase gifts from their site. However, this is a cool way to get your own children excited about Christmas - by involving them. Choose a child the same age and sex as your own child(ren), then bring them to the store with you. Let THEM pick out the gifts, and make a personal Christmas card for their "Angel Tree" friend.

My kids have been bugging me about going shopping, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. It's gratifying to see your children excited about surprising someone else for the holiday! The deadline for gift drop-offs is December 14th, I believe.

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I wish I had more time to read Ed Buckley's "Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology". I quoted him several times in my own book, but getting through the entire book seems to elude me. I have the attention span of a gnat. Hey - maybe I have Adult Onset Attention Deficit Disorder! Yeah, that must be it.

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One of the things I love most about God, on top of everything else I love about Him, is that He forgives instantly and repeatedly upon repentance of the believer. The tenderness of His love cuts right through the shame and the hardness that comes from self-righteousness. It's human nature to want to "run and hide", but His Holy Spirit invariably calls to mind a verse, a passage, a specific incident from Scripture that speaks directly to the sinner's current predicament.

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Difficult, unsaved relatives who you are dreading seeing during the holidays? Remember, the Lord Jesus had dinner with Pharisees who invited Him. It may be a challenge, but Christ wants you to go. He is faithful and will provide ample opportunities for you to be salt and light. (Psst...don't take the bait when they try to put you on the spot for being a Christian.) If you get into an apologetics debate, be sure you have the goods to back it up...just do so lovingly. Neil's blog has some great resources to help you brush up if need be, but most importantly stay in the Word and pray for those "Pharisees" in your life who are perishing.

Monergism for Dummies

"I prayed a prayer." "I asked Jesus into my heart." "I accepted Christ and came to the Lord." "I chose Jesus."

All of these cliche catch-phrases are ways you will occasionally hear people describe their conversion experiences. The problem is, as Paul Washer will famously point out, such phrases are neither biblical nor accurately describe regeneration, which is a supernatural act of God. Furthermore, such terminology and the easy-believism theology it promotes has never been part of evangelical doctrine until the last 50 or so years.

Being born again is not like getting a flu-shot. A one-time "decision", either based on intellectual assent or fleeting emotion, does not necessarily a true convert make.

This is not to say that an individual's conversion is on a continuum, is based upon performance, or that one can lose his or her salvation post-conversion. Once an individual is in Christ, he or she is saved indeed and is promised the Holy Spirit's indwelling presence. However, what is often overlooked in evangelical (and, increasingly, Reformed) circles is the fact that God does the drawing. (See John 6:37, 15:16; Romans 8-9). We do not "pick Jesus", notwithstanding a certain T-shirt's message. This is known as effectual calling and it means that unless God opens an individual's spiritual eyes, he is literally incapable of overcoming his natural hardness of heart and surrendering to Christ's lordship.

"But wait! Doesn't God call us to choose Him? Jesus continually invites ALL to come to Him. He gave us free will!" Yes, He did. The Bible says, "...those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Romans 8:30). It also says ""Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven," (Matt. 3:22), "...whoever believes in Him shall not perish..." (John 3:16), and records Christ's invitation to all who would follow Him, "Come to Me, all who are weary....".

And let's not forget the truth recorded in 2 Peter 3:9, most often used to negate the Calvinistic Doctrines of Grace: "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." How these truths work together is a mystery, but we can draw at least two conclusions from them: 1) It is God's desire that all men repent and be saved; 2) no one can repent unless the Father draws him.

Salvation is Entirely an Act of God

The problem with the evan-jargon cited above, besides the fact that it reduces salvation to a snap decision which leaves repentance out of the equation, is that it puts man in control of his own eternal destiny. "Well...wait. Don't we have that choice to make?" Sure. If you reject Christ, (which in essence you do if you believe salvation is by anything other than grace through faith), you will spend eternity in hell. No matter how you slice it, though, you cannot save yourself. Not even partially. The philosophy that salvation is brought about by co-operation between man and God is known as synergism, and it is wrong because it deflects some of the glory, or "credit" if you like, from God. HE and HE ALONG can regenerate the spirit awakened to Him. God alone does the saving.

Our faith in Christ, (which in itself is a gift), is the condition on which our salvation rests. That condition was graciously set by God. The faith itself could not be produced apart from Him, and it is only because of His mercy that Christ dwells within us. The faith is a prerequisite, but God is still the Savior (not the faith itself).

Frankly, one does not have to be a died-in-the-wool 5-point Calvinist to realize that monergism is the correct soteriological stance. You may disagree to some extent with Limited Atonement and see Irresistable Grace as saying more than the Bible does, yet still be a monergist. It really isn't rocket science. While it remains somewhat of a divine mystery how our will and God's election correspond, a high view of God prohibits us from taking any credit at all in our own salvation.

Think of it this way: if a man is drowning and someone puts a life preserver down into the water - or Jesus, as in the painting above, offers Peter His arm, can the drowning man say he helped to save himself? No. Did he "partially" save himself? No. The rescuer saved him. However, if he had refused to grab the other's arm, he would have drowned. That, perhaps, is where the "choice" lies. By no means, however, was the drowning man's rescue a joint effort.

Neither is your salvation. Yet you still need to grab the life preserver.

You Just Might Be a Hyper-Calvinist if....

I've been planning a serious post on monergism (and why you don't have to be a 5-pointer to embrace it) for some time now, but lately have been insanely busy between work and my book revisions. It will be forthcoming....as will the promised review of Don Kimrey's "God's Comeback Kids". Until such a time as we can ponder these gems of the Gospel and savor the riches of the Reformation, enjoy a little theo-geek humor...courtesy of the guys at purgutario.

Help! I'm Going Hyper!

25 warning signs that you might be obsessing about Calvinism:

1. For romantic occasions, you prefer to give/get

instead of

2. You hear some people talking about the new Johnny C. movie and you instantly think

not

3. You leave your Conservative Reformed Baptist Congregation to start a house church after hearing the Pastor use the word “Choose” in a sermon.

4. You have a picture of

on your

5. You know what a “remonstrant” is.

6. You used to love this guy, but these CDs are now in your “Do Not Play Until God Grants Them Repentance” box:

7. Without me giving last names, you still know who I’m referring to:

John
John
John
John
John
Jonathan
John
John
John

8. Whenever you try to persuade people about the “Doctrines of Grace” all they hear is a

-or-

9. When people tell you they’re “Four Pointers” you already know they are stuck on the

10. Every book you read is endorsed by:

11. You’ve seen this avatar repeatedly in the comment section on your blog:

12. Your yearly personal Bible-Verse Memory Program consists of Romans 9, again.

13. Someone tells you they go to

and you think they’re going

14. You attach an extra “Lord Willing” onto your original “Lord Willing” just in case.

15. The word “Puritan” appears as a required character trait in your profile on

16. You’ve vacationed at

17. You hear a news story about some criminals being “reformed” and your first thought is to wonder how many criminals are arminians.

18. Your browser’s home page is set to the

19. On at least 4 different blogs, you end up in extended wars with arminians arguing about God’s Sovereignty. Your final comment always being a variation of

20. Over 75% of your personal library is published by

-and-

21. No matter what conference you go to one or more or all of these guys is/are speaking:

22. You’ve washed your little kid’s mouth out with soap for saying “iMonk”

23. You’re looking under your big kid’s bed and find

and you are way more upset then the time you found

24. All your kids can recite

25. You’ve just deleted PURGATORIO from you Blogroll

Can Halloween Be Kosher?

My position has always been YES, it's perfectly fine, both in terms of doctrine and praxis, to let your kids go Trick or Treating - provided we are not talking about any satanic or occultic costumes, and the kiddies are not compromising their witness by whipping eggs at the neighbor's houses.

Traditionally, the Jews have always gotten their crazy 'dress-up and act silly' day on Purim; why shouldn't we goys get in on the action? It's not as hard to "redeem" Halloween as our IFB brethren would have us believe.

"Whatever you do...do it all to the glory of God." (1 Corinthians 10:31). Don't think you can observe this traditionally dark eve while glorifying Christ? I beg to differ.

Rule numero uno is - be generous with the candy. Let no one bring a bad witness against you or profane the Name of Christ by aledging that Christians are stingy.

Secondly, while you are handing out teeth-rotting sweets, be sure and slip the Gospel in there as well. What more golden opportunity to witness to your neighbors than Halloween?? They're coming to YOU, hands open. Don't pass up this opportunity. However, a word of caution: make sure that the tract you are distributing is doctrinally sound, and presnets the whole Gospel (repentance and all). Avoid ATS (American Tract Society) like the plague -- their publications are so watered down they make Hillsong look good. One I recommend is "God's Bridge to Eternal Life", written by the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and distributed by majestic-media.com.

It should go without saying that you needn't waste your hard-earned money on those morbid, kitchy Halloween lawn decorations. God would probably prefer you save it so you can sponsor an Angel Tree child next month in celebration of His Son's birth.

Another way Halloween can be redeemed is by the simple act of greeting your neighbors - good, old fashioned friendliness as you make the rounds with your adorably-dressed tykes. (I am convinced we are actually doing our neighbors a great service by trotting out our costumed youngsters - they genuinely enjoy seeing them. This is especially true of elderly folks who don't get many visitors). John Macarthar discusses this in an extremely balanced, common-sense sermon entitled "The Christian Response to Halloween".

Have fun, and Happy Reformation Day to all you Milk-Dud loving believers!

Prayerlessness and the (my) Carnal Nature

The other night, I was reflecting on why, exactly, I've been finding it so hard to pray these last few months. I mentally ran through the possible excuses rationales reasons, and came to the earth-shaking conclusion that it's due to my inherently self-centered nature.

None of my pre-packaged excuses held up under scrutiny:





Rationale #1: I'm too busy. True, I work outside the home on average 3 days per week; regularly drive over 100 miles round-trip and am raising four children. It's also true that I co-lead a Bible study and have written a book for the Christian market (for which I am courting publishers), but all of that stuff depends on a dynamic prayer life. So....what am I saying to God? I can function and do "His work" independently of Him?

Rationale #2 (related to #1): There's just not enough hours in the day. Partially true; maybe that's why Jesus got up to pray in seclusion "while it was still dark outside" (Mark 1:35).

Rationale #3: I don't feel His presence. Right. Which is why we're told to pray by faith. A corollary of this is the fact that God's blessing and presence in our lives is conditional upon our obedience, which assumes a committed prayer life.

Rationale #4: I'm still scarred from my "journey into charismania" experience. It's been nearly three years now. Get over it already.

The real reason, or at least part of it which surprised me a bit, boiled down to self-interest. I'm not thinking as much as I should about praising and worshiping God because He is holy and has commanded it; I figure He's so great, distant and occupied that it doesn't matter much to Him if I pray or not.

Think about it. He's got over 6 billion people on earth, perhaps a billion of whom have been born again and thus can truly be considered His people. (That's an estimate; obviously I don't know the actual numbers). Does He really notice, much less care, if one inconsequential person like myself bothers with prayer?

Do I honestly think my spending time with Him does anything for Jesus?

I am trying to articulate the general impressions that I hold in my heart - of course I have never specifically reasoned it out so cynically, but this is the logical end result of my apathy. It's all about me. Why should I invest time with a God Who has so many other people to keep track of - I'm never going to be "special" to Him. Just a face in the crowd.

But do I not know Him? Doesn't my Father know the number of hairs on my head, and want me to know fellowship with Himself, the Spirit, and the Son (1 John)?

Several years ago, when I first started interpreting for Beth Israel Deaconess Med Center, I was required to attend new employee orientation. The CEO of the hospital, Paul Levy, attended the closing to warmly address us. Levy is a pretty famous dude in Boston - he's on the news all the time, and is very popular for managing to avoid staff layoffs at BIDMC. He shook our hands and said something like "welcome aboard" before we all went down the hall to get coffee and bagels. He's the big boss and technically I can say I've met him, but if I ran into Paul in the cafeteria or on Longwood Avenue, I guarantee you he would not know me from a hole in the wall. If I told him, "I work for you - I'm your hospital's only Bulgarian interpreter", that would certainly put it into context for him, and he might even recall seeing me hanging out in hematology on occasion. But that's about the extent of the interpersonal connection we would have.

Although it's a poor analogy, that's how I've been viewing God lately. I have this weird idea that heaven is going to be like this: I'm in the intake office filling out the admissions paperwork for what seems an eternity - there are so many people ahead of me. God is making the rounds, saying "hi" to His familiar servants; much like our friendly CEO often does. He sees me, and it takes Him a second, but He recalls my name.

Yipes. I can get so apathetic and cynical sometimes that I scare myself. Where is the flame that once burned so bright?

The point of prayer is to adore the God Who created and adopted us; to confess our sin, which disrupts our fellowship; to continuously thank and praise Him for Who He is and what He's done; and to intercede for others and present our petitions in Jesus' Name. I have gotten so off-track by making it all about me that I need to spend time in prayer just repenting - how is it that I often give up in prayer because I don't know what to talk about? Pretty obvious, if my eyes are on myself.

In "The Hidden Life of Prayer", David MacIntyre writes: "And yet, instinctive as is our dependence upon God, no duty is more earnestly impressed upon us in Scripture than the duty of continual communion with Him. The main reason for this unceasing insistence is the arduousness of prayer. In its nature it is a laborious undertaking, and in our endeavor to maintain the spirit of prayer we are called to wrestle against principalities and powers of darkness...there are times when even the soldiers of Christ become heedless of their trust, and no longer guard with vigiliance the gift of prayer. Should any one who reads these pages be conscious of loss of power in intercession, lack of joy in communion, hardness and impenitence in confession, "Remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works." (Emphasis mine).

Taking Comfort in Betrayal and Dying to Self

There is so much that can be said on the subject of pain, betrayal, and wounds that come our way, especially from a fellow Christian. Sometimes, I allow old hurts to affect my relationship with God, because the twin sins of self-pity and unforgiveness get in the way. We know that true humility means no thought of self; all in our lives is to be only for God's glory....which is easy enough when things are going great.

Why do problems with a stubborn child sap my spiritual strength?

Why is it so hard to forgive wounds inflicted in childhood, from non-Christian and unrepentant parents?

Why is it that my husband has yelled at me more frequently since starting "The Exemplary Husband" Bible study than ever before?

Why do I feel guilty even trying to talk to God about these burdens?

God's main concern for us is that we be conformed more closely to the image of Christ, not that we experience temporal happiness or have an easy life. The joy He offers through obedience is so much more than that, but it is so incredibly difficult to see when we're in the valley and just want to cry "fix it!"

Sheila Walsh writes,

"We always feel more comfortable believing that pain comes only from the hand of an enemy. It makes sense because it's what we would expect from an enemy. When a friend, particularly another Christian, inflicts pain, we feel as if we have been stabbed in the back, and it has pierced our hearts. But to take it further than that, to suggest that God Himself, our loving Father, our first and last defense against the world, could be the One Who allowed it and will use it to make us the women that we want to be? That is hard for us to welcome, but I do believe that God loves us so much that He wants us to be free from feeling like victims in this world and offer all of our lives, the joy and the pain, to Him.

I don't mean to make light of your pain or the betrayal you have suffered, but if for a moment you could take your eyes off the one whom you believe put you in this place and receive it as an opportunity to let God work in the deepest place of your heart, it will free you. One thief continued to curse, but the man who saw Christ told him to be quiet. He understood the bigger picture.

The mark of a true crucifixion is that it is never mentioned again. Gene Edwards points out that after the Resurrection, Christ never referred to the cross or the pain again. There were no words of vengeance, no regret, or no cutting words - just life, forgiveness, and love. Crucifixion is God's invitation to resurrection, to a new life where the old is dead and buried.

After His resurrection, Jesus never said to Peter, "I told you that you'd denyt Me!"

He never said to the disciples, "So where were you while I was dying?"

Jesus never sought out the soldier who drove the sword into His side or Pilate or any of the players on the stage of His death.

Thy will be done!

Your heart may be broken and your hands nail pierced, but will you bow down and worship and say, "Father, I welcome this crucifixion so that I might share in your resurrection"?

-- Sheila Walsh, "The Heartache No One Sees", pp. 165; 167.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:2-3)