Life of Washington Tour Update

A look back since I haven't been able to post much:

Day 1:

 Holiday traffic...

Next stop Jumonville Glen, starting place of the French and Indian War:

Then on to Fort Necessity:

End of Day 1...

America's Historical Artifacts - the New Idolatry

2 Kings 18:4 - "He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan."

Life of Washington Tour Day 1

Wow. I have been up since 2:45 yesterday morning and have traveled to near Philadelphia, PA. We had our opening breakfast with an overview of the trip and various aspects of the events surrounding George Washington's life, visited his office in Winchester, visited Jumonville Glen where the French and Indian War - the true 1st World War started, and finally went to Fort Necessity where Washington was defeated by the French and Indians. Here are a few pictures from the day:

 On the road...

Life on the bus.

Breakfast stop.

Singing Psalm 2.

George Washington's cannon used in 1758.

Plaque on Washington's office in Winchester. 

Cannon abandoned by General Braddock in 1755.

Inside Washington's office.

Claimed blood stains on the office floor from the War of Northern Aggression. 

My neighbor Abby...

Barry Daming...

Miss Breagy...

My neighbors the Dohms...

Juan Ruiz the Camera Man...

George Washington...

Juan again....

Mr. Horn delivering a message on George Washington...

Isaac...

Heidi...

Noah and Ted...

Mr. Daming trying to burn down Winchester.

Mrs. Horn...

 Tommy Vestal...

Mrs. Vestal and Abby...

Abby again...

Samuel...

My neighbor Bekah... 

Isaac...

Another Isaac...

Young Mr. Vestal....

Stephen...

Madalyn, Raquel, Adam, Nathanial....

Juan and Patrick...

Wes...

Food line servers....


Going to bed now. More later.

Hath not God Made Foolish the Wisdom of the World?

Stephen Hawking is said to be one of the most brilliant men in the world. And the news is piping up about his new book The Grand Design. In it, the "most brilliant man" says that gravity can and will create the world - out of nothing.

LONDON (Sept. 2) -- Entering the ongoing debate between faith and science, renowned British scientist Stephen Hawking claims that modern physics has now proved that God played no role in the creation of the universe.

In a new book -- "The Grand Design," co-written with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow -- the theoretical physicist sets out to demolish Sir Isaac Newton's claim that an "intelligent and powerful Being" must have shaped the universe, which he believed could not have emerged from chaos. Hawking and Mlodinow rule out the possibility of divine intervention, saying that new theories have made the idea of a supernatural creator redundant.

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing," the pair write, in an extract published in today's London Times. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going."

See the article here. The absurdity of such a thing is so profound that I cannot even express it. Gravity only exists in the presence of something –or more specifically, in the presence of matter as God created it. Technically speaking, matter could exist in a different form and not have gravitational pull (think of the random universe that would be), and thus the law of gravity would no longer be a law. In other words, the law of gravity is relative. It is not an independently existing law that is in operation no matter its surrounding, but rather it is created by one specific surrounding – matter as God created it. In nothingness then, gravity not only ceases to exist but actually cannot exist as there is nothing to produce it. So if we asked Mr. Hawking the question, Which came first the chicken or the egg? His answer is that the chicken hatched from the egg it itself laid. Mr. Hawking’s view is impossible for the plain reason that he has the creation making its own creator - gravity is created by matter but is said to create the matter that creates it. A chicken really cannot hatch from its own egg. Just doesn’t work. My heart aches for this man who's physical body is wasting away yet he is now dedicating the end of his life to proving that God does not exist and grasping at the most absurd theories to do it. He is willingly suppressing the truth in unrighteousness and having know God he has become vain in his imaginations, professing himself to be wise, he has proven himself a fool and has not glorified God.

1Co 1:18-21, 25-29, "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe...Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence."

The Fruit of Arminianism

Recently, we went through a book in our elder discipleship class which presented the Arminian view of the work of Christ with the disciples. I think there were some good observations in the book which we could learn from, but there was a lot of Christ demeaning error as well, though most certainly unintentional. The book, The Master Plan of Evangelism, was written by Robert Coleman and claims to have sold in excess of 2 million copies and is endorsed by men like Billy Graham, Bill Bright, and Chuck Swindoll. Yet the statements made in this work reveal a not commonly seen side of Arminian thought. (Sorry about not having the page numbers below. I got the quotes from two different layouts of the book and I didn't have time to get the page numbers from just one.)

If coming to saving faith depends entirely on the free will of man and not on the sovereign grace of God working through the gospel, we should not pray for the salvation of sinners because God has already done everything He is going to do and now salvation is in the hands of man. Unless we can convince people of their need of a savior, they won't get saved. In the Arminian view, the focus of salvation is not the working of the grace of God producing life giving repentance and faith (Acts 11:18 and Rom. 12:3) but rather on man winning other men since that is where salvation is now left - in the hand of man. Coleman states it this way:

"There is no use to pray for the world. What good would it do? God already loves them and has given his Son to save them. No, there is no use to pray vaguely for the world. The world is lost and blind in sin. The only hope for the world is for laborers to go to them with the gospel of salvation, and having won them to the Savior, not to leave them, but to work with them faithfully, patiently, painstakingly, until they become fruitful Christians savoring the world about them with the Redeemer’s love." 

The great sadness in this is that there is now a world for which prayers are not being offered and this is in direct contradiction to the will of God who will have prayers be made for the salvation of all men: 1 Timothy 2:1, "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth." And not only that, but Paul prays for the lost: Rom. 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." We can pray for the salvation of lost men because God is directly involved in men coming to faith in Christ. This is not a denial of the use of man as the instrument of God. God has decreed to save men by the foolishness of preaching. Paul said that he became all things to all men that he might win some. But Paul's trust was in God who gave the increase and his efforts were not dependent upon the wisdom of words (1 Cor. 1:17, 2:4) but upon the sovereign work of God - for to those who are the called, the Gospel is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18, 24). 1 Cor. 2:4-5, "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

If all things are not accomplished through the outworking of God's will, then all things must depend upon man in the end. The very accomplishment of God's plan of salvation becomes dependent on men's free choice rather than God's decree. Coleman explains:

 "His [Jesus'] whole evangelistic strategy - indeed, the fulfillment of his very purpose in coming into the world, dying on the cross, and rising from the grave - depended on the faithfulness of his chosen disciples to this task."

Rather than the plan of salvation being the outworking of God's sovereign grace, the plan of salvation becomes a response to human experience, Christ's confidence in the future not a confidence in God but a confidence in man centered strategy, the success of the plan based not in the sovereignty of God but the free will of men:

"The Master...had confidence in the future precisely because he lived according to that plan in the present...He could not afford to take a chance. Weighing every alternative and variable factor in human experience, he conceived a plan that would not fail." "Everything depended on their faithfulness if the world would believe in him 'through their word' (John 17:20)." 

But God says that all men were gathered together against Christ to do what God had determined before to be done and all men who the Father gives the Son will come to Him. Men are God’s instruments, but the carrying out of the plan of God is not dependent on man's free will. God will accomplish all things he has determined and man will freely go along with it. 

What happens in this man centered view? The work of Christ in salvation is made equal with the work of men. Coleman writes:

"Jesus went on to show his disciples 'that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name unto all nations, beginning from Jerusalem' (Luke 24:47). And for the fulfillment of this divine purpose, the disciples were no less a part than their Master."

Yet God says that man plants and man waters, but it is God himself who gives the increase. Also, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Thus while God uses men to preach the gospel and they are the instruments of the communication of the good news to the lost, Christ is the Savior, and it is Christ who preaches through men (Christ came and preached peace to you who were afar off), and it is the grace of Christ that works in us (yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me). Our part is not equal with the part of Christ. An integral part in the preaching yes, but the servant is not above or equal with his Lord. Apart from Christ, our preaching is vain. Christ is everything in the preaching of the gospel. He get's all the glory in the the work of the ministry. Salvation is of the Lord: 1 Cor 1:30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."

Again declaring that the plan of evangelism was determined not by God's sovereign choice but rather by a response to the natures of men, Coleman says:

"Jesus was a realist.  He fully realized the fickleness of depraved human nature as well as the satanic forces of this world amassed against humanity, and in this knowledge he based his evangelism on a plan that would meet the need.  The multitudes of discordant and bewildered souls were potentially ready to follow him, but Jesus individually could not possibly give them the personal care they needed.  His only hope was to get leaders inspired by his life who would do it for him." 

Here we are presented with an incapable Christ who is not sure of the sovereign work of His Father but who is hoping that He can get some guys out there to do what He cannot. God uses men because He chose to, not because He needed help. Our hope is in God and so was Christ's - not some fallen humans. The great error here is that Christ is again degraded and glory is not being given to Him. The success of Christ is not by the power of the Father, but by man. Thus man can receives the glory for its success. Instead of Christ increasing and man decreasing, Christ is decreasing and man is increasing. In this view, Christ is sinning against His own Word: "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man," Psalm 118:8. "He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man," Psalm 147:10. "Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!" Isaiah 31:1.

The denial of election even taints the way we see Christ's earthly ministry and the ministry of the disciples:

"But Jesus did not leave it at this.  He went on to tell them who to see first.  'Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel' (Matt. 10:5,6).  It was as though Jesus was telling his disciples to go where they would find the most susceptible audience to hear their message." 

Yet Jesus said that they were to go to the Lost sheep of the house of Israel because he was sent to them and not the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5-7 w/15:24). They were beloved for their father’s sakes.

Anyway, that is just a sampling of quotes that shows some of the ramifications of Arminian thought carried out. Whenever we fall off the Bible on one side or the other, there are ramifications. If we deny the sovereignty of God's grace working salvation in men, we will not pray for the salvation of the lost and we will not give God the glory due His name. If we deny the responsibility of men to believe (through preaching) and say God simply saves whom He wills without men, then we will not preach the gospel. Both are contrary to the revealed will of God. Both are outworkings of the thinking of men and not the love of Christ.

So brothers, love Christ and love His Word, trust in the work of God not the legs of a man, preach the word, being instant in season and out of season, and be ready always to give an answer of the hope that lies within you in meekness and love.