C.H. Spurgeon - The People's Preacher

Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification.

In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.
Spurgeon's printed works are voluminous, and those provided here are only a sampling of his best-known works, including his magnum opus, The Treasury of David. Nearly all of Spurgeon's printed works are still in print and available from Pilgrim Publications, PO Box 66, Pasadena, TX 77501.

http://www.spurgeon.org/aboutsp.htm

Thou Shalt Not Judge? Part 1

We are told by the world that Christians are judgmental and narrow minded. Many Christians will also quote the bible in Mathew 7, that we are not to judge.

These gentlemen do an excellent job of expositing the text and show that not only should we judge, but that everyone MUST judge!

Is Atheism Reasonable? William Lane Craig

Dr. Craig demonstrates why Atheism has no grounds for morality and also shows why determinism fails!

Open Theism Debate

Dr. James White debates John Sanders on the issue of open theism.

What is Open Theism?


by Matt Slick

Open Theism, also called openness and the open view, is a theological position dealing with human free will and its relationship to God and the nature of the future. It is the teaching that God has granted to humanity free will and that in order for the free will to be truly free, the future free will choices of individuals cannot be known ahead of time by God. They hold that if God knows what we are going to choose, then how can we be truly free when it is time to make those choices --since a counter choice cannot then be made by us, because it is already "known" what we are going to do.1 In other words, we would not actually be able to make a contrary choice to what God "knows" we will choose thus implying that we would not then be free.

In Open Theism, the future is either knowable or not knowable. For the open theists who hold that the future is knowable by God, they maintain that God voluntarily limits His knowledge of free will choices so that they can remain truly free. 2 Other open theists maintain that the future, being non existent, is not knowable, even by God.3 Gregory Boyd, a well-known advocate of Open Theism says,

"Much of it [the future], open theists will concede, is settled ahead of time, either by God's predestining will or by existing earthly causes, but it is not exhaustively settled ahead of time. To whatever degree the future is yet open to be decided by free agents, it is unsettled."4
But open theists would not say that God is weak or powerless. They say that God is capable of predicting and ordaining certain future events because He is capable of working in the world and bringing certain events to pass when the time is needed. Therefore, God could inspire the Old Testament writers to prophesy certain events and then He could simply ensure that those events occurred at the right time.

Furthermore, open theists claim that they do not deny the omniscience of God. They, like classical theologians, state that God is indeed all-knowing. But they differ in that God can only know that which is knowable and since the future has not yet happened, it can not be exhaustively known by God. Instead, God only knows the present exhaustively, including the inclinations, desires, thoughts, and hopes of all people.

In Open Theism God can make mistakes because He does not know all things that will occur in the future. According to them, God also takes risks and adapts to the free-will choices of people. They claim biblical support for their position by citing scripture where God changes His mind (Exodus 32:14), is surprised (Isaiah 5:3–7), and tests people to see what they will do (Genesis 22:12).

Finally, Open Theism tends to portray the God of orthodoxy as distant, controlling, and unyielding while promoting the God of openness as involved, adapting, loving, interacting, and caring for humanity.

To read the rest of this article please visit http://carm.org/what-is-open-theism

From Bloodlines to Bloodline

"The title of this message is “From Bloodlines to Bloodline”. It is has a double meaning. And both meanings are a longing and a prayer. The first meaning is the long and the prayer that God would take all of us from our various racial and ethnic bloodlines and lead us to the one bloodline of Jesus Christ — a bloodline born at the cross where he shed his blood to form one new people, one new bloodline, from every people and tongue and tribe and nation.

The second meaning of the title, “From Bloodlines to Bloodline,” is a reference to the book I wrote called Bloodlines: Race Cross and the Christian, and the prayer is that God would use that book to lead people from Bloodlines, the book, to the one bloodline of Jesus Christ, where the racial and ethnic suspicions and dislike and disrespect and hostilities are overpowered by the unifying blood of Jesus."

Defending the Faith

In his first epistle, Peter informs believers that we are to be always prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us. In this day and age, the number and kinds of questions that arise are astounding, but this does not give us an excuse to give up the fight. In this lecture, Dr. R.C. Sproul reminds us that apologetics is the duty of every Christian in every walk of life.

Who is Jesus?

When people ask questions about Jesus, for instance like the JW's, we must make sure we parse the question. For instance, if Jesus was God, then why did He did not know the hour of His own coming {Matt. 24:35-36}? This and other questions of this type are answered actually very easily and when you understand this concept MUCH confusion disappears!

In John 1:1 we are told: "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word WAS GOD" and then in John 1:14 we read: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us".

Jesus has 2 natures: one is 100% Human, the other 100% Divine. Many think that Jesus stopped being God when He came to earth, but this is false. Instead of "subtraction", think of it as "addition " Jesus ADDED a human nature to Himself. In fact we are told in

Philippians 2:6-8 "who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

The Greek word here for "emptied" means that Christ laid aside His divine attributes and chose not to use them at certain times; however, there are times when He does use them. For instance, in Matthew 12:25 we read: "And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand." This is a example of Jesus demonstrating His omniscience {All- Knowing }. Another example is when Jesus is in the boat with the disciples. We read in Mark 4:38-40: "But Jesus was in the back of the boat, asleep on a cushion. So they woke him up and asked him, "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to die?" v-39--And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Hush, be still." And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. -v--41--They became very much afraid and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?"

This is a great example of Jesus being omnipotent by calming the wind and the waves, yet He is in the boat sleeping. We know that God doesn't sleep, and man can not control nature, so what we see is Christ's dual natures.

This is how you answer the question: did Jesus know all things? In His human nature "no", but in His divine nature "YES"! Consider the following when you are asked a question about Jesus.

JESUS' DIVINE NATURE:

Uncaused

Unchanging

Knowledge is INFINITE

Necessary Being

All-Powerful

Simple Being {Not composed of parts}

INDEPENDENT


JESUS' HUMAN NATURE:

Caused

Changing

Knowledge IS finite

Limited Power

Composed Being

Dependent


This hopefully will help clear up much of the confusion. Let us sit in awe and wonder of our amazing and great God as it was Him and Him ALONE who sacrificed His Son, the Second Person of the Trinity so that we may live!!!

The God Who Justifies!

The God Who Justifies!

Colossians 3:1: Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

What a marvelously powerful scripture! I would like to take a minute to dissect this scripture and pull some of the riches out in this verse.

In Verse 1 we read that we have been "raised" up in Christ. To be more precise, we see that it is the believer who is raised up- that is the one whom has surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and has embraced Him as Lord and Master. This is the one who is raised up.

I chose my words carefully. Notice that I did not say the person who "makes" Jesus Lord. And that is because Christ IS LORD over all as Philippians 2:9-11 says "For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

We do not "make" Jesus Lord; He is Lord. The question is whether or not on this side of eternity are we willing to bow the knee and embrace Him as Lord.

Colossians 3:1 says that we are "raised" which means we are resurrected with Christ. Because Adam willingly sinned in the garden of Eden, man has been separated or is spiritually dead as Romans 5:12-14 tells us. Because of this, man is sinful and wicked to the core. Romans 8:6-8 states: "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God".

Sin has affected man in every area of our being. We sin everyday in word, thought and deed. Because of this, man left to himself would never seek for God, as we read in Romans 3:10-12: "As it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

However our Great and Glorious Saviour out of His mercy and goodness did something about it. Every other religion entails man "reaching up" to God or man "cooperating" with God with good works- trying to pull himself up by his bootstraps to please God.

Christianity is the only religion where it is said that Jesus paid it all, and all to Him I owe. Scripture is crystal clear, that even though man is made in God's image, man can do nothing to earn God's grace or favor {Ephesians 2:8-9}. Man has nothing to offer God but his sin. But because God is gracious to sinners, He saved us as we read again in Romans 5:6-8: "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us".

In Colossians 1:13, we read: "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son".

Next were told to "seek the things above, where Christ is seated".

Far from the anti-biblical teachings we hear coming out of todays pulpits by preachers such as Joel Osteen, the Christian life is not about "self esteem" but SELF DENIAL.

We are told in the Sermon on the Mount what kind of people inherit the kingdom of God, where Christ is seated, and what it is that we should be seeking. Some excerpts out of Matthew 5 that we read are: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (verse 3). "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted(verse 4). Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (verse 6). "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy (verse 7). "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (verse 8). 9 "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (verse 9). 10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (verse 10).

How comforting to know, that among life's troubles and trials, we have been "raised" up with Christ. Unfortunately, our condition as fallen people means that we will still sin, but our position is that we have been justified by the God Who justifies as Romans 4:5 tells us: "But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,"

Because of this, instead of being consumed with the here and now, we can keep on seeking the things above, where King Jesus is seated!

Who was Jesus?

Dr. John Macarthur gives this lecture at a Ligonier conference.

Hidden truths behind the Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormonism) LDS

What is mormonism? Who is Joseph Smith? Are Mormons Christians?
Dr James White shares his take on this episode of Renewed Mind.
Renewed Mins is a TV program produced and owned by CMP (Christian Media Productions) www.facebook/christianmediaproductions
Dr James White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona.

An Analysis of T.D. Jakes

Ryan Turner of www.carm.org examines the teachings of T.D. Jakes. An article version is available from: www.carm.org/td-jakes.

RC Sproul - What to say about bible contradictions

What to say when people ask you about the contradictions that are in the bible.

Why did Christ die?

Why Did Christ Die?

The atonement of Christ is one of the most magnificent parts of Christian theology, and Anselm’s work is one of the most famous works dealing with it. The satisfaction theory gets to the heart of the atonement.

From the series: Foundations: An Overview of Systematic Theology
www.ligonier.org