Friday/Saturday/Sunday morning preaching.

[Prodromos]

An account of two Christians who were martyred in Italy on account of their religion, from Foxe's Book of Martyrs

1.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A young Englishman who happened to be at Rome, was one day passing by a church, when the procession of the host was just coming out. A bishop carried the host, which the young man perceiving, he snatched it from him, threw it upon the ground, and trampled it under his feet, crying out, “Ye wretched idolaters, who neglect the true God, to adore a morsel of bread.” This action so provoked the people that they would have torn him to pieces on the spot; but the priests persuaded them to let him abide by the sentence of the pope.

When the affair was represented to the pope, he was so greatly exasperated that he ordered the prisoner to be burnt immediately; but a cardinal dissuaded him from this hasty sentence, saying that it was better to punish him by slow degrees, and to torture him, that they might find out if he had been instigated by any particular person to commit so atrocious an act.

This being approved, he was tortured with the most exemplary severity, notwithstanding which they could only get these words from him, “It was the will of God that I should do as I did.”

The pope then passed this sentence upon him.

1. That he should be led by the executioner, naked to the middle, through the streets of Rome.

2. That he should wear the image of the devil upon his head.

3. That his breeches should be painted with the representation of flames.

4. That he should have his right hand cut off.

5. That after having been carried about thus in procession, he should be burnt.

When he heard this sentence pronounced, he implored God to give him strength and fortitude to go through it. As he passed through the streets he was greatly derided by the people, to whom he said some severe things respecting the Romish superstition. But a cardinal, who attended the procession, overhearing him, ordered him to be gagged.

When he came to the church door, where he trampled on the host, the hangman cut off his right hand, and fixed it on a pole. Then two tormentors, with flaming torches, scorched and burnt his flesh all the rest of the way. At the place of execution he kissed the chains that were to bind him to the stake. A monk presenting the figure of a saint to him, he struck it aside, and then being chained to the stake, fire was put to the fagots, and he was soon burnt to ashes.

2.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A little after the last-mentioned execution, a venerable old man, who had long been a prisoner in the Inquisition, was condemned to be burnt, and brought out for execution. When he was fastened to the stake, a priest held a crucifix to him, on which he said, “If you do not take that idol from my sight, you will constrain me to spit upon it.” The priest rebuked him for this with great severity; but he bade him remember the First and Second Commandments, and refrain from idolatry, as God himself had commanded. He was then gagged, that he should not speak any more, and fire being put to the fagots, he suffered martyrdom in the flames.

[Akar]

i was martyred for my religion once but it didnt take

[basics]

Akar,

Perhaps, but the cross you had to bear, was it the real one?

[Lord Thesaurian]

23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
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.
30 I and my Father are one.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.

[Akar]

Perhaps, but the cross you had to bear, was it the real one?

It was a metaphorical cross

[Prodromos]

4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

“We who formerly hated and murdered one another and did not even share our hearth with those of a different tribe..., after Christ’s appearance, live together and share the same table. Now we pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us.”

–Justin Martyr, First Apology (155–157 A.D.)

[basics]

It was a metaphorical cross

Akar,

Metaphorical or not it is the place that anyone should run to if they want to see the Light.

[Prodromos]

“Not only those with whom we have some connection are called our neighbors, but all without exception; for the whole human race forms one body, of which all are members, and consequently should be bound together by mutual ties; for we must bear in mind that even those who are most alienated from us, should be cherished and aided even as our own flesh; since we have seen elsewhere that sojourners and strangers are placed in the same category (with our relations) and Christ sufficiently confirms this in the case of the Samaritan.”

–John Calvin's commentary on Leviticus 19

“For we must not look what every man is, nor what he deserveth: but we must mount up higher and consider that God hath set us in this world to the end we should be united and knit together: and that forasmuch as he hath imprinted his image in us, and we have all one common nature: the same ought to move us to succor one another. For he that will exempt himself from relieving his neighbors, must get him a new shape, and show that he intendeth to be no more a man: for so long as we be of mankind, we cannot but behold our own face as it were in a glass, in the person that is poor and despised, which is not able to hold out any longer, but lieth groaning under his burden, yea though he were the furthest stranger in the world. Let a Moor or a Barbarian come among us, and yet inasmuch as he is a man, he bringeth with him a looking glass, wherein we may see that he is our brother and neighbor. For we cannot abolish the order of nature, which God hath set to be inviolable. So then we be bound to all men without difference, because we be all one flesh, as the Prophet Esay avoweth: (Isaiah 58:7) Thou shalt not despise thine own flesh.”

–John Calvin's sermon on Galatians 6:10

[basics]

Yep, no matter which way you look at it we are all the one race and the only thing that separates us is our sin nature. Calvin was a smart guy.

[basics]

The question is simple. No wars, no disagreements, no jealousy, nothing but harmony, could you do it?

[Dismounted Feudal Knight]

While remaining Human, no.

[Akar]

lmao

[basics]

lmao

Akar,

Off what?

[Akar]

i have ass cancer so i was just reflecting on my impending loss

[Prodromos]

https://tavernhall.wordpress.com/201...erview-part-1/

I recently had the honor and privilege of asking Phil Johnson, a well-known and accomplished writer, blogger, editor and preacher, several questions about ministry, practical church issues, theological concerns etc. Phil was gracious enough to take the time to respond and interact fully with all my questions.

Let’s start at the beginning, when/how did you become a Christian?

April 15, 1971. I was 17 years old at the time, enthralled with politics, and disillusioned with the liberal religion I had been indoctrinated with all my life. I had grown weary of hearing Sunday-school teachers caution us not to take the stories in the Bible too seriously. It was hard as a 17-year-old to understand why anyone should go to church weekly to talk about the Bible if the Bible isn’t trustworthy. So as soon as I had freedom to choose for myself, I stopped going.

But after dropping out of church, I sensed a void in my soul. One night (a month before my high school graduation) I was feeling particularly depressed, or guilty, or unfulfilled, and I decided to read from the Bible. I opened my Bible at random, and it fell open to the first page of 1 Corinthians. I started reading, and the early chapters of that epistle demolished everything I ever thought about what it takes to please God: “It is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart’” (1:19). “Your faith [should] not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (2:5). “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God” (3:18-19).

When I reached chapter 12, I was feeling very lost and hopeless. But my mind was arrested by verse 3: “I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.” I didn’t really understand the context or grasp the reason Paul wrote that, but I knew it meant that Jesus is Lord, and I needed to yield to Him and relinquish my pursuit of human wisdom, social status, political clout, academic prestige, or popular fame. I knew I was sinful and lost, and I begged God to save me.

Within a week, several significant things happened to help me understand the gospel. The very next day, someone handed me a tract outlining the key points of gospel truth. (As far as I can recall, I had never before been handed a religious tract.) Later that week, a friend invited me to a large citywide evangelistic event where the preacher explained the atonement from Isaiah 53. I emerged from that week with a fairly sound grasp on the gospel, and a repentant, believing heart.

[Prodromos]

This passage kills the liberal theologian.

7 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

[basics]

Prodromos,

It's always the truth in the message that counts something that God alone distributes to a really broken and contrite heart. Truth comes by that power and power by that truth.

[Prodromos]

Cool psalm

Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.

1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from common human burdens;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
their evil imaginations have no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
with arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, “How would God know?
Does the Most High know anything?”

12 This is what the wicked are like—
always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
and have washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishments.

15 If I had spoken out like that,
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it troubled me deeply
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.

18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.

21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.

[basics]

i have ass cancer so i was just reflecting on my impending loss

Akar,

Is this a joke or is it real? Cancer is no fun to anyone discovering they have it anywhere in their body. To see the lack of any hope on the faces of carriers in all the wards I have been in is quite quite sad to witness especially if they haven't that personal connection to Jesus Christ.

[Akar]

It's a real joke, yes.