Is there any cross in your Christianity?

This is excellent...


"By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin." Hebrews 11:24-25

Is there any cross in your Christianity?

There is a common worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have--a cheap Christianity . . .
which offends nobody,
which requires no sacrifice,
which costs nothing--and is worth nothing!

But if you really are in earnest about your soul,
if your religion is something more than a mere fashionable Sunday cloak,
if you are determined to live by the Bible,
if you are resolved to be a New Testament Christian--
then you will soon find that you must carry a cross. You must endure hard things; you must suffer in behalf of your soul, as Moses did--or you cannot be saved.

The offense of the cross is not ceased!

God's true people are still a despised little flock.

True evangelical religion still brings with it reproach and scorn.

A real servant of God will still be thought an enthusiast and a fool by many.

If there is no cross--there will be no crown!

Moses left the ease and comfort of Pharaoh's court--and openly took part with the despised children of Israel. In fact, if ever a man seemed to be choosing pain, trials, poverty, distress, anxiety, perhaps even death, with his eyes open--Moses was that man!

Let us think how astonishing was this choice.

Flesh and blood naturally shrink from pain. We draw back by a kind of instinct from suffering, and avoid it if we can. If two courses of action are set before us, which both seem right--we take that which is the least disagreeable to flesh and blood.

But look here! Here is a man of like passions with ourselves, and he actually chooses affliction! Moses saw the cup of suffering that was before him if he left Pharaoh's court--and he chose it, preferred it, and took it up!

Faith told Moses that affliction and suffering are not real evils. They are . . .
the school of God, in which He trains the children of grace for glory;
the medicines, which are needful to purify our corrupt hearts;
the furnace, which must burn away our dross;
the knife, which must cut the ties which bind us to the world.

from gracegems

Are you listening to God?

They said to Moses, ’You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die’ `—Exodus 20:19

We don’t consciously and deliberately disobey God— we simply don’t listen to Him. God has given His commands to us, but we pay no attention to them— not because of willful disobedience, but because we do not truly love and respect Him. “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Once we realize we have constantly been showing disrespect to God, we will be filled with shame and humiliation for ignoring Him.

“You speak with us, . . . but let not God speak with us . . . .” We show how little love we have for God by preferring to listen to His servants rather than to Him. We like to listen to personal testimonies, but we don’t want God Himself to speak to us. Why are we so terrified for God to speak to us? It is because we know that when God speaks we must either do what He asks or tell Him we will not obey. But if it is simply one of God’s servants speaking to us, we feel obedience is optional, not imperative. We respond by saying, “Well, that’s only your own idea, even though I don’t deny that what you said is probably God’s truth.”

Am I constantly humiliating God by ignoring Him, while He lovingly continues to treat me as His child? Once I finally do hear Him, the humiliation I have heaped on Him returns to me. My response then becomes, “Lord, why was I so insensitive and obstinate?” This is always the result once we hear God. But our real delight in finally hearing Him is tempered with the shame we feel for having taken so long to do so.

from my utmost

A Defense of Calvinism

"The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox's gospel is my gospel. That which thundered through Scotland must thunder through England again."—C. H. Spurgeon



IT IS A GREAT THING to begin the Christian life by believing good solid doctrine. Some people have received twenty different "gospels" in as many years; how many more they will accept before they get to their journey's end, it would be difficult to predict. I thank God that He early taught me the gospel, and I have been so perfectly satisfied with it, that I do not want to know any other...


continue reading here...

The Beauty of the Lord

Do you ever think about what it will be like when we see God? Have you imagined what that will be like? I have, and this is what I have found...




"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord"- Hebrews 12:14

To follow means to press toward, to pursue peace with all men; there should be no intentional discord sown by the true man/woman of God. We should not look for trouble, but avoid it at all cost. This peace requires an effort on our part as we pursue it; we are also commanded to pursue and press toward holiness, which is a state of purity. Here is a wonderful definition of holiness from Paul Washer’s sermon entitled ‘Regeneration and Self-Denial’ ~ “Holiness is to be separated unto God, to be immersed in God, to be passionate about God, to be wild about God, to think about God, to be God besought, to be consumed by God.” This requires a concentrated effort as we work towards Christ- likeness through prayer and meditating/studying God's word as well as the testing, refining and chastising that comes from the Lord. The regenerated heart should desire all these things, seeking diligently Christ-likeness so we may see the Lord. What does it mean to ‘see the Lord’?
To ‘see’ is to gaze with wide open eyes as at something remarkable, breathtaking, and absolutely awe-inspiring. This does not vividly describe what it will be like when we gaze upon the Lord; from Psalm 27:4 we get this beautiful passage, "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in His temple". The part of this verse I wish to bring out is 'to behold the beauty of the LORD'. To behold means to gaze at, perceive, contemplate with pleasure; what is it we desire to gaze at? His beauty, or splendor, grace, which is what the Hebrew word for beauty, 'noam', means; it stems from the root word naem, meaning ‘pass in beauty, be delight, be pleasant, be sweet'.
Psalm 96:6 states this about God, "honor and majesty are before Him; strength and beauty are in His sanctuary." Honor translates from the Hebrew word 'hod' meaning grandeur, an imposing form and appearance, beauty, excellency, glorious, and majesty. It gets better- majesty translates from the Hebrew hadar and means magnificence, splendor. When, one day, we lay eyes upon this Eternal Majestic being, we will be without words to describe what our eyes are taking in. That is why the meaning of ‘see’ is so exceptional; the eyes are flung wide open, in utter amazement, mesmerized by what they are taking in...a remarkable, breathtaking, never before seen sight; it is awe-inspiring, this grandeur, delightful, sweet, majestic God, in all His holiness, sitting exalted on His throne: our breath will leave us, our hearts will race, our eyes will be fixated on what we simply cannot describe and will not want to turn away from. We will be like quivering jell-o, falling at His feet, crying out praises, not wanting to ever leave His presence or take our eyes from Him. Is it any wonder Moses cried, “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.”- Exodus 33:18
The Lord’s response was this, “thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me and live” –Exodus 33:20. No one this side of heaven can look upon the face of the Lord and live, this prized privilege is reserved for God’s elect when we join Him in His kingdom. This should be an incentive to strive for holiness, so we may one day lay our eyes on the Eternal, Living God…

Rock of Ages

Christianity is a mess!

There is an article posted by Marsha West concerning damnable heresies invading the church; what I find interesting about this title is that it is similar to some concerns Dr. Boice had in his book, 'the Doctrines of Grace'. In this book Dr. Boice attributes the decline in Biblical Christianity to straying from these essential doctrines that were adhered to and brought to light by the Reformation. Calvinism is seen as unbiblical by most of today's professing Christians, and yet, most of today's professing Christians have no clue about the doctrines of grace. When you dumb down a society, you can manipulate them into thinking the sky is green and grass is blue, that is what we are seeing in so called 'Christianity'. You can be saved simply by going through a process, a procedure. There is little mention of sin and not much is made of the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Man's radical depravity is not touched on much, unconditional election is shunned and viewed as something a 'loving' God would not do {this view stems from a lack of understanding of radical or total depravity}. Particular redemption likewise is viewed as unbiblical and a false teaching by Calvin, even though the Bible teaches it, Calvin merely brought it to light. Irresistible grace is exchanged for free will, thus denying any sovereignty by God and making null and void verses like Ephesians 2:8-9, John 6:44, and others that I will not take the time to mention. The perseverance of the saints is questioned as verses are taken out of context and used to state one can lose salvation; misunderstanding salvation is not of human achievement but of the Lord.

Dr. Boice addresses the downward spiral of evangelical Christianity in stating this...

"The Gospel stands or falls by grace. The doctrines of grace, these words are shorthand for five distinct Bible teachings that were linked together in response to the theology that developed in Holland in the late sixteenth century. This theology was associated with the name of Jacob Arminius. Arminius and his followers stressed the free and therefore self-determining will of man, which led them by a logical process to deny John Calvin's doctrine of strict predestination, and especially the teaching that Jesus died only for the elect, those whom God has chosen. The Synod of Dort was called to respond to the theological deviations of the Arminians and from it cam the Canons of the Synod of Dort, containing the classical summation of the five doctrines of grace, known today as 'tulip'. Calvin did not invent them, nor were they characteristic of his thought alone during the reformation period.

The starting point for any system of doctrine ought to be the greater glory of God. This is why, in and of themselves, the five points are not the heart of Calvinism; they simply serve to explain distinctive aspects of Reformed soteriology. However, all five points do flow from the heart of Calvinism, which is a passion for God's glory. Each doctrine draws attention away from what human beings can accomplish, in order to declare, 'salvation is of the Lord' {Jonah 2:9}.


Arminianism initially appears in the form of pietism, with a warm personal devotion to Jesus Christ. However, unless pietism matures in the direction of Calvinism, so that there is a balance between heart and mind, it eventually gives way to liberalism, and ultimately, atheism.

When Divine sovereignty is pushed aside to make room for human ability, a theological dislocation occurs that inevitably leads to the abandonment of orthodoxy". - Dr. Boice, from his book 'the Doctrines of Grace'.



When you look around the wreckage we call 'Christianity', how can you deny what Dr. Boice saw years ago? It is coming, it is here, and we will face very dark days ahead if we continue to tolerate the distorted gospel of free will, which is a different and accursed gospel. Pray for God to raise up men who will defend the essential and precious doctrines His word teaches; we are in dark ages once again because there is a famine of truth in the land.

Man's Depravity

This is a vital message for our society, a society that sees itself as basically good; this message shows us how vile each of us are, all are under sin. Properly understanding man's depravity will bring about a right understanding on salvation and God's grace, not man's free will, which does not exist when it comes to spiritual matters.