This is an excellent interview with Rosaria Champagne Butterfield. Mike Horton does a great job.
WHI-1194 | An Interview with Rosaria Champagne Butterfield – White Horse Inn Blog.
Month: February 2014
History Lecture Monday 3rd March
Just a quick reminder that Gary Brady (Childs Hill Baptist) will be speaking this coming Monday night on the subject:
“The Samuels Petto (1624-1711) and Peto (1809-1889)”
How Gary will weave these two biographies together we have yet to find out. There could be a bookstall (courtesy of Bethel Bookshop – Wigston) and we hope that you’ll be able to join us – or listen later.
Details of this and other meetings are available on The Bulkington Church Website<bulkingtoncongregational.org/
Audio will be available a few days after the lecture
The UK Floods, The Judgement of God & Same-Sex Marriage
Well, it had to happen. I heard the comment, not first hand I admit, but via a good source from someone I know well. That disastrous floods in the UK are the judgement of God because of the Government stand on Same-Sex Marriage. I realise by now that a UKIP councillor, David Silvester, also made the link. Mind you, he got panned for it. UKIP suspended him for failing to keep his views to himself. (For US readers: UKIP is a political party) Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, according to The Telegraph said: this ‘is real extremism and nastiness’. So much for Free Speech then Nigel. I was going to vote UKIP as well, it turns out they are just that same as all the other Godless political parties. No surprise there I guess.
Is it True?
Without entering into a rant over Free Speech, there’s only one question worth asking. Is this true? Not a question we are allowed to ask any-more. Were the floods a judgement from God? It could be so. In truth, I have no idea and neither has anyone else the foggiest clue. One things for sure though, any mention of Judgement from God will be seen as nutty, nasty and nonsensical. It’s nothing new: we read in 2 Peter 3:3-4
‘… scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”
So despite mankind’s supposed advancement, they were saying exactly the same thing. Nothing new there then! There’s no doubt that Homosexuality and all its associated manifestations is sinful before a Holy & Righteous God. The Bible clearly says so and in several places. So it’s no good arguing that one. But the floods the UK experienced; a direct result of Same-Sex Marriage? Unlikely, to say the least.
If that is the case, why hasn’t there been a judgement over adultery, spoken against far more in the Bible. And in scathing terms. And what about the pornographic industry? And then there’s the abortion holocaust, so easily forgotten. Not forgetting all the lying, thieving, self-righteousness and a host of other ‘sins’ worthy of judgement falling upon us. The law of God is devastating not just for homosexuals, but for us all: James 2:10 ‘For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all’. And so we are all guilty, all of us, Romans 3.23
At the root of such connections as the flooding is a misunderstanding of the judgement of God as it pertains to today. To my mind the UK (and the West generally) is without doubt under the judgement of God. Same-Sex Marriage is a part of it. But it’s not what many people, even many Christians, think. Like the good councillor, it’s normal to think of judgement in term of disaster. [As do the climate doom-mongers – those guys can’t get enough of it!] It is a disaster, of unbelievable proportions, but not the one you might think of.
And we know this is a judgement of God because the Bible clearly tells us it is. And it’s happening right now.
Any talk of the Judgement of God is a serious matter and not to be taken lightly. But in Romans 1 we have the clearest and most terrifying statement of its reality. Pay especial note to the highlighted text in verses 24, 26 & 28. Also note on the part of the sinner (again, that’s all of us) a deliberate suppression of the knowledge of God. Here are the verses:
God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-32)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, 21 because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, 25 who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting (please note the following list); 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality,[c] wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, 30 backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,[d] unmerciful; 32 who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
If you have got this far you will notice this handing over is not some form of catastrophe or disaster but is a giving up, a handing over of people to what they want to do. You say, what sort of Judgement is that! But here’s the thing, doing those very things that God condemns are the things people want to do, and if not actually do, approve of. So the government approve and make legal these very things. In fact, it’s now frowned on to disprove of the things God condemns. So as the country moves further and further away from its Judeo – Christian foundations the worse it will get. The light will dim as people prefer the darkness of a world without God. Be assured this is not a good thing.
And Yet there is Light in the Darkness
And yet, all the while the Grace of God is held out in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We all should be thankful the full and final judgement of God has not yet come upon us and we still live in the day of Grace. When the law of God pierces the heart and conscience of the sinner how precious is the sacrifice of the Son of God upon The Cross. Why will you perish O sinner? Turn & repent that you may live.
Bring on a real King Canute
Sir Robert Winston during Question Time last night used King Canute to exemplify, as he sees it, David Cameron rushing around the flooded areas of the country like a man who doesn’t know what he’s doing. That may be so but like so many Sir Robert has it all wrong about the famous, or infamous, King.
David Cameron, and Sir Robert are just like the Insurance company I called a little while ago. While waiting to be put through had to endure their ‘Green Credentials’ propaganda. The phone message spoke of how they were going to prevent the impending disaster brought about by Climate Change. I suppose the floods will ‘steel up’ the Climate Doom Mongers with enough stories of gloom to last through till the next ‘record breaking’ weather event.
Sadly, David Cameron is nothing like the eponymous King holding back the tide. What a stupid ‘un-scientific’ man King Canute was. At least that’s how Canute is mostly thought of – thinking he could hold back the tide at his command. What an idiot! Or was he? That’s not how we should think of King Canute. The point he (the good King) was trying to make has been completely lost on our current rulers, scientists and almost everyone else, which isn’t really surprising. His point was, though a King, he couldn’t prevent the tide from coming in. The ruler of nature is God.
The primary message of the floods is this: we should realise our helplessness in the face of an unstoppable force. And then realise our utter helplessness before God. This message isn’t just lost on politicians, it’s lost on just about everybody – including many Christians! The message is to Repent & Believe the Gospel. That’s the point. I’m not making a moral claim or a moral point. This weather is a microscopic demonstration of The Lord God – and it’s before Him on that great judgment day we must all stand. Remember Noah? The Ark is likened to safety from the judgement of God, safety is found only in Jesus Christ.
God’s Promise Is Not Slack
3 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us,[a] the apostles of the Lord and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,[b] not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3: 3-8)
Related articles – for a misunderstood view of King Canute
Brief Comments on the hymn ‘Trust and Obey’
We sang the following hymn at the service Sunday evening. Though well loved by many, I’ve felt uncomfortable about this hymn for a while so I’d like to briefly explain my problems with it. Let me just emphasise and underline that I have no problem with the command to trust and obey, these are entirely scriptural. It’s the setting of other aspects of the hymn and when it gets used in any Gospel context, any context. Period. It just didn’t sit well within the overall message. It was a good message, but with serious problems that demand another post – more later.
Here’s some of my problems with the hymn.
The overall concept it seems to me is to produce happiness. Of course there’s nothing wrong with being happy and only someone with serious problems would not want to be happy. We all want to be happy. And, it does to some extent depend on how many footnotes you put round the word. To be fair, the song speaks of being ‘happy in Jesus’ which may be an entirely different concept to a worldly description of just being happy per-se. A better word might have been ‘Blessed’ but that wouldn’t fit and is more positional than experiential.
When you look through the song it’s basically about me and my trusting and my obeying. There’s no objective truth about Jesus that might draw out from Christians a desire to Trust and Obey but the end result of happiness. Thinking back to the History lecture about Andrew Fuller, he suffered the terrible loss of his daughter and it completely rocked him. His diary entries stopped. Here’s an extract from the lecture concerning this period of Fuller’s life.
On 30th May 1786, Fuller’s daughter, Sally, died at the age of six and a half years. This was one of several deaths close to the man at the same period, but surely the most painful, and it is a measure of his sensitivity of soul that within a few days his diary entries dry up, only a few torn leaves indicating the heart trouble of the following months. The diary does not open again until 3rd October, 1789:
‘For above a year and a half I have written nothing. It has seemed to me that my life was not worth writing. Two or three years ago my heart began wretchedly to degenerate from God. Soon after my child Sally died, I sunk into a sad state of lukewarmness; and have felt the effects of it ever since. I feel at times a longing after the lost joys of God’s salvation; but cannot recover them. I have backslidden from God; and yet I may rather be said to be habitually dejected on account of it than earnestly to repent of it. I find much hardness of heart, and a spirit of inactivity has laid hold of me. . . . [After recording some sermon preached:] These subjects have tended sometimes to make me long after that joy and peace in believing which I have heretofore found. But joy of heart is a feeling I cannot yet recover.’
Jeremy continues; The climb out of this period of spiritual dullness and desolation was painfully slow and difficult, but the Lord was upholding and helping his servant.
This period of trial in the life of Fuller does not square with this hymn. Surely Fuller was not Trusting and Obeying sufficiently to be ‘Happy in Jesus’. And we should especially note the comment made by Jeremy Walker that the Lord was upholding and helping his servant. The hymn doesn’t tell us this at all. But I’m running a little ahead of myself.
The hymn I believe is damaging and destructive in the following ways. The tune is quite upbeat and almost triumphalistic and to the Christian that believes he is Trusting and Obeying it’s sung with great gusto – this could be a problem. But what about the Christian conscious of his sin or is walking through some fiery trial – this is anything but helpful. What would Andrew Fuller have made of the hymn? Given this biographical entry of Fullers I fail to see how verse 2 can be anything other than discouraging for one going through such a trial. This verse is just cruel to such a one. How Fuller and other suffering Christians need the Balm of Gilead pouring into their souls as they are indeed kept by the power of God and His loving kindness.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
The hymn concentrates on the ability of the Christian to do His good will and to therefore find that ‘He abides with us still, And with all who will trust and obey.’ Is this true? I don’t believe it is. Are we really to believe God only abides with us when we are ‘Happy in Jesus’ and ‘trusting Him still’. The Bible says ‘He will never leave us, nor forsake us.’ It’s to the praise of His marvelous Grace that He ALWAYS abides with us still. Even though the sense of His presence or the reality of the truth is not able to be grasped. Many years ago now at an Aberystwyth Conference Douglas McMillan was preaching through Romans 8. When he recited verse 28 ‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose’ he leaned over the pulpit and said ‘Sin included‘. Now that’s the Grace of God at work. We do not deserve any of it including when we are not trusting and obeying as we ought to be. The hymn is pure law. There’s no Grace in it at all.
I think you get the idea now. In verse 4 we read ‘But we never can prove the delights of His love, Until all on the altar we lay; For the favor He shows, … the joy He bestows, Are for them who will trust and obey. This is not good news. I only know of one person that has laid all on the altar. We read much of Burnt offerings & sacrifices in Leviticus. And in John 1:29 we read of ‘the lamb that takes away the sin of the world’. That’s laying all on the Altar! Only Jesus has done that, otherwise we wouldn’t need a Saviour! Otherwise we wouldn’t need to repent. This why we need Jesus the only one that has kept perfectly the law of God in every way. In thought, speech, deed, behaviour, inwardly, in every way trusting and obeying the law of God. Now THAT is Good News. Even though we are so dull and wayward in our sin and rebellion God gives the desire and the power to call upon the Saviour.
The Gospel really is THAT radical! We are all self righteous at heart. Surely there’s some little thing I can do? Nope. It’s all been done. All you have to do is come – and as I say He even gives the desire and the power to do that! What a Gospel! What a Saviour! What a Salvation!
I said it would be brief so I’ll leave it at that, though more could be said. The last hymn on Sunday evening was ‘Rock of Ages’. What a contrast!
Full Text of the Hymn :
When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Refrain
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
Refrain
But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Refrain
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Refrain
Jeremy Walker’s Andrew Fuller lecture – Audio available
Show me Thy Face – one transient gleam
I was reminded of this hymn at our home group Bible study & prayer meeting last evening. An interesting observation about this hymn is that God or the name of Jesus is not mentioned even once. And yet, to every true believer, it’s obvious who it is about – Jesus. 2 Cor 4:6. What an effect even a transient gleam of The Lord Jesus will have on the believer.
Show me Thy face! – one transient gleam
Of loveliness divine,
And I shall never think or dream
Of other love save Thine;
All lesser light will darken quite,
All lower glories wane;
The beautiful of earth will scarce
Seem beautiful again.
Show me Thy face! – my faith and love
Shall henceforth fixed be,
And nothing here have power to move
My soul’s serenity;
My life shall seem a trance, a dream
And all I feel and see,
Illusive, visionary – Thou
The one reality!
Show me Thy face! – I shall forget
The weary days of yore;
The fretting ghost of vain regret
Shall haunt my soul no more;
All doubts and fears for future years
In quiet rest subside,
And naught but blessed content and calm
Within my breast abide.
Show me Thy face! – the heaviest cross
Will then seem light to bear;
There will be gain in every loss,
And peace with every care;
With such light feet the years will fleet,
Life seem as brief as blessed,
Till I have laid my burden down,
And enter into rest.
Anonymous; from STOCKWELL GEMS
(Christian Hymns: 619)
Andrew Fuller Lecture
Last evening we were treated to an excellent lecture by Pastor Jeremy Walker on ‘Wrestling – The Life of Andrew Fuller (1754-1815)’. The lecture was full of appropriate illustrations from Fuller’s life, dripping in theological truth, an eye on the Glory of God and His Gospel and delivered with challenging clarity, concern for truth and with suitable emotion. Just brilliant! It was a real joy to once again meet up and have fellowship.
You really need to listen to the audio (Will post when available) as this brief post is a very poor substitute for the real thing. It was a privilege to be there and once again we are so grateful to extremely gifted, and not to say busy, pastors and teachers prepared to travel to a small, probably unknown, Church in the Midlands, UK.
‘Hyper’ or ‘High’ Calvinism
Andrew Fuller was raised in an atmosphere of ‘Hyper’ or ‘High’ Calvinism and in such an oppressive atmosphere the ‘free offer of the Gospel’ was not to be heard. Unless significant signs of awakening were to be observed or experienced there was no warrant to urge a sinner to call upon Jesus for salvation. This is such an important aspect of the lecture that I need to come back to this. Jeremy very kindly offered to send me his lecture transcript and when that arrives (assuming he remembers) I’ll deal with this more fully then.
Not an Imitator
One aspect that powerfully stood out was Fuller’s individuality. Early on in life he determined to literally ‘follow’ another man’s furrow. This was a disaster, Fuller’s furrow rather than being the straight furrow he anticipated was full of twists and turns. From this he determined never to be an ‘imitator’. This had great significance because in his determination not to be an imitator Fuller went directly to the Scriptures for his doctrine. This meant ‘wrestling’ directly with the text of Scripture rather than relying on another man’s ‘dividing of the truth’. This applied most directly to the preaching of the Gospel offer. Fully persuaded the Bible taught that all people should be urged to repent & believe the Gospel he preached Christ and Him crucified urging sinners to call upon Christ for salvation.
