John / John is on Nostr

Reformed Baptist, Single Dad of a tremendous 10 year old boy, USAF veteran, #Bitcoin, #Carnivore, Soli Deo Gloria!

Last Notes

2024-05-28 20:29:35 UTC

New article in the local paper by my pastor. Answering the internet: What about cremation?
https://www.qcsunonline.com/story/2024/05/29/opinion/answering-the-internet-what-about-cremation/25953.html
"The most popular Google search about the Bible is, “What does the Bible say about cremation?”
The short answer to that: Nothing.
When God decides not to give us a rule, this is because, either way, there is no harm done and we should not be in the business of making rules to govern non-issues.
The bottom line on cremation seems to be, what we do to deal with the remains of our lives is only a temporary solution.
The Bible teaches a future, general resurrection of the dead. It’s called general, because all the dead will be raised to life again. So, whatever we do with a dead body in the here-and-now, that’s a temporary thing.
Now, no one is ever honorably cremated in Scripture, and the burning of a dead body was often a public way of signaling the extreme displeasure of either God or the kings. For instance, a king tried to burn Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, quite unsuccessfully.
A character named Achan, along with his family, committed idolatry as soon as Israel entered Canaan. They were stoned to death and then their bodies were burned. The burning had the effect of scattering them to the wind, literally, so that they would have no place in the Promised Land. Burial had the opposite effect. It made sure you stayed in the land of your inheritance until Judgment Day.
In the millennia since then, millions of believers have had their bodies burned, after cruel tyrants murdered them in various, innovative ways. Or the burning was how they were slain. Either way, the Gospel hope in that situation is that God is fully capable of raising them from the dead on the last day, regardless of how their physical remains have been scattered or lost. Science suggests that a physical copy of your body could be produced from a single cell, by cloning. I bet God can do better than that.
Multitudes of Christians were devoured by lions in the Roman arenas. Their only burial was in the stomachs of the beasts. God’s intention to grant his people new life for eternity will not be foiled by any of this.
So, the issue of what happens to your body after you die is ultimately a non-issue. Again, God made no rule or law about it. What we see in the Bible about burial are human customs in action. They may be well-intentioned and even honorable customs, but they have no power to bind the conscience or make demands of you.
I, for one, will not counsel a grieving family that they must compound their loss of a loved one by now destroying their finances to pay for a burial because of “custom.” Cremation with a Christian service or memorial is just fine.
You came from dust. You will return there. The method or mode of your return, or the various intentions of those who dispose of your remains will not affect this outcome.
We ought to be far more concerned with this: “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27)."
Gordan Runyan is pastor of Tucumcari’s Immanuel Baptist Church and author of “Radical Moses: The Amazing Civil Freedom Built into Ancient Israel.” Contact him at: [email protected]
#faith #bible #christian

2024-04-23 13:33:04 UTC

From my pastor: MOST EMBARRASSING FAILED DISPENSATIONAL PROPHECIES, candidate five
"Antichrist Identification"
First off, even calling the End Times supervillain THE Antichrist is biblically shaky. "The Man of Sin" or the First Beast or the Little Horn would be more correct. (John describes "antichrist" as a spirit, not an individual man.) But Antichrist is easily the most marketable of those labels so we'll run with it.
The embarrassing bit I'm referencing is the cascade of wrong guesses that have flowed out, and continue to flow out, from believers who have the Revelation open, highlighter in hand, while watching Fox News.
I don't have a lot of memories before the 70's but I've been alive to see every President of the US, the USSR and Russia, and Israel since then; plus the Prime Ministers of every prominent European power, plus every Pope; plus anyone who achieved any sort of world-status in international affairs, identified as the Antichrist. In fact, just hours before I wrote this post, a FB friend suggested (I think seriously) President Macron of France. This paragraph has probably only scratched the surface of the constant stream of guesses that have all come up false.
At least, with guessing the timing of the Rapture, we have a warning from Jesus that no man knows the day. That doesn't stop those bad guesses, but I'm thinking it probably does curb them a bit. With the Antichrist, there's no such warning against trying to identify him, and so the wrong guesses fly like clay pigeons at a skeet shoot.
If this is what your interpretive scheme produces in every place it's taught, a non-stop avalanche of false warnings, don't you have to consider that the underlying problem is systemic?
#faith #bible #christian #endtimes

2023-12-22 16:38:52 UTC

Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook (December 22nd)
Immediately Present
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble — Psalm 46:1
A help that is not present when we need it is of small value. The anchor which is left at home is of no use to the seaman in the hour of storm; the money which he used to have is of no worth to the debtor when a writ is out against him. Very few earthly helps could be called "very present": they are usually far in the seeking, far in the using, and farther still when once used. But as for the Lord our God, He is present when we seek Him, present when we need Him, and present when we have already enjoyed His aid.
He is more than "present," He is very present. More present than the nearest friend can be, for He is in us in our trouble; more present than we are to ourselves, for sometimes we lack presence of mind. He is always present, effectually present, sympathetically present, altogether present. He is present now if this is a gloomy season. Let us rest ourselves upon Him. He is our refuge, let us hide in Him; He is our strength, let us array ourselves with Him; He is our help, let us lean upon Him; He is our very present help, let us repose in Him now. We need not have a moment's care, or an instant's fear. "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge."
#faith #bible #christian

2023-12-19 12:57:37 UTC

Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook (December 19th)
Afflictions, but No Broken Bones
He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken — Psalm 34:20
This promise by the context is referred to the much afflicted righteous man: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." He may suffer skin-wounds and flesh-wounds, but no great harm shall be done, "not a bone of him shall be broken."
This is great comfort to a tried child of God, and comfort which I dare accept; for up to this hour I have suffered no real damage from my many afflictions. I have neither lost faith, nor hope, nor love. Nay, so far from losing these bones of character, they have gained in strength and energy. I have more knowledge, more experience, more patience, more stability than I had before the trials came. Not even my joy has been destroyed. Many a bruise have I had by sickness, bereavement, depression, slander, and opposition; but the bruise has healed, and there has been no compound fracture of a bone, not even a simple one. The reason is not far to seek. If we trust in the Lord, He keeps all our bones; and if He keeps them, we may be sure that not one of them is broken.
Come, my heart, do not sorrow. Thou art smarting, but there are no bones broken. Endure hardness, and bid defiance to fear.
#faith #bible #christian

2023-12-14 16:15:01 UTC

Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook (December 14th)
Nothing Old
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new — Revelation 21:5
Glory be to His name! All things need making new, for they are sadly battered and worn by sin. It is time that the old vesture was rolled up and laid aside, and that creation put on her Sunday suit. But no one else can make all things new except the Lord who made them at the first; for it needs as much power to make out of evil as to make out of nothing. Our Lord Jesus has undertaken the task, and He is fully competent for the performance of it. Already He has commenced His labor, and for centuries He has persevered in making new the hearts of men, and the order of society. By-and-by He will make new the whole constitution of human government, and human nature shall be changed by His grace; and there shall come a day when the body shall be made new, and raised like unto His glorious body.
What a joy to belong to a kingdom in which everything is being made new by the power of its King! We are not dying out: we are hastening on to a more glorious life. Despite the opposition of the powers of evil, our glorious Lord Jesus is accomplishing His purpose, and making us, and all things about us, "new," and as full of beauty as when they first came from the hand of the Lord.
#faith #bible #christian

2023-12-08 17:44:00 UTC

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His oneism and twoism stuff is great. It all boils down to that.

2023-11-27 13:21:17 UTC

Spurgeon's Faith's Checkbook (November 27th)
Rest in All Thy Goings
And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest — Exodus 33:14
Precious promise! Lord, enable me to appropriate it as all my own.
We must go at certain times from our abode, for here we have no continuing city. It often happens that when we feel most at home in a place, we are suddenly called away from it. Here is the antidote for this ill. The Lord Himself will keep us company. His presence, which includes His favor, His fellowship, His care, and His power, shall be ever with us in every one of our marchings. This means far more than it says; for, in fact, it means all things. If we have God present with us, we have possession of Heaven and earth. Go with me, Lord, and then command me where thou wilt!
But we hope to find a place of rest. The text promises it. We are to have rest of God's own giving, making, and preserving. His presence will cause us to rest even when we are on the march, yea, even in the midst of battle. Rest! Thrice blessed word. Can it ever be enjoyed by mortals? Yes, there is the promise, and by faith we plead it. Rest comes from the Comforter, from the Prince of Peace, and from the glorious Father who rested on the seventh day from all His works. To be with God is to rest in the most emphatic sense.
#faith #bible #christian

2023-10-08 00:35:44 UTC

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Specifically, dispensationalists. Their eschatology was made up relatively recently as far as church history goes, but they keep on setting dates for the rapture.