The Tulip Driven Life

  Having a faithful spouse, children, and church are three pillars without which we cannot flourish. A wicked government can hinder all three of these, or destroy them. But in truth, we have destroyed these from the inside out. Our sin, our apathy, our ignorance and false teaching telling us these things are "idols" or "unimportant" or that all we need is me, myself, and my Bible at home are lies straight from the pit of hell. You cannot be fruitful and multiply, you cannot rule and subdue, and you cannot be part of Christ's kingdom without a spouse, children, and a church. All three of these need to be rooted in reality and God's Word, otherwise they will be like a house without a firm foundation, which is dangerous and self-destructive. Christ says to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and He will take care of our daily needs of food, shelter, and clothing. So what does it look like to seek first God's kingdom and righteousness? For m...

Junius Max-ing here, from his preface in the Mosaic Polity. He does a great job detailing the place for magistrates and ministers, each in their own callings, to address the general nature of the moral law: "For my part, I am not ignorant of those boundaries that God has placed around my office as a theologian, or of the examples that the orthodox fathers supplied to the church of God, or of the authority that God has granted in this matter to prudent jurists and just magistrates, and I am thus free from audacious and gladiatorial feelings. Yet on this question, in my opinion, anyone who would judge with a just balance its nature, mode, and goal would judge that even some parts of this task are ours. As a matter of fact, the nature of this question has both a common part and a particular part. Its mode is such that a theologian describes part of its rules, and the magistrate applies his authority and force to his part of the rules. Finally, the theologian sets forth the goal for ...

  It is important to understand from Scripture that God's sovereignty works through His ordained means, which include His promises and our prayers. Yes, the Lord has predestined who shall be saved from before the world began. But He did not merely predestine the eternal destinies of each person, but has ordained that we arrive at our predestined ends through the means of everything that happens in this life. Some hold to a fatalistic view of predestination -- which is heretical and grossly unbiblical. It is as if we are not to plead with God, especially in line with His promises, to us and our children, for our nation and land, for His kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. No Christian should hold to such wickedness. While that is often straw-manned as the "Calvinistic doctrine of predestination", neither Calvin nor any other Reformer, Puritan, etc., held to such a position. Rather, along with Scripture, we recognize that we are to keep seeking,...

https://coreyjmahler.com/the-european-peoples-and-christianity/  *****EDIT: Some have said that they, or at least Corey Mahler perhaps believes, that the European religions were deviations from Christianity, believed by Noah and his sons. Over time, sinful man and demons twisted these European religions, which I think their argument is that it was originally Christian/derived from Noah and his offspring. Nordic paganism had the most in common with Christianity, even with Odin sacrificing himself on a tree, and therefore the Europeans were the most ripe and ready to embrace Christianity and continue to advance the cause of Christ more than other peoples/races/nations over the last 2,000 years since Christ.  To that I simply say, I appreciate the context given, but even if all that were true (maybe it is, maybe it is not), it doesn't change the fundamental points of my post below. Syncretism, Odinism, etc., even if it was somehow a distorted derivation flowing from the true...

  5 focal points on generational faithfulness at Heritage Reformed Presbyterian Church: [1.] God commands us to love Him and seek first His kingdom and righteousness above all (Matt. 6:33). Faithfulness to God is man's highest purpose, or as the Westminster Shorter Catechism Question and Answer 1 states, "What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever. (1) I Cor. 10:31; Rom. 11:36. (2) Ps. 73:25-28. [2.] God is a covenant making and keeping God, Heb. 9:15. The Gospel itself is the good news of His kingdom coming to us in Christ the King (Matt. 4:17), who now presently rules from the right hand of His Father in heaven over all things. Because Christ has all authority now, His kingdom is being built up on earth now, His Church is growing, through many trials and tribulations throughout the centuries/generations, as people from every tribe, tongue, and nation are baptized and taught. [Matt. 28:18-20] [3.] God's covenant and ki...

"Improve the baptism of your children as an obligation and encouragement unto you, parents, to endeavor the salvation of your baptized little ones. Of your children, you may say, with Jacob in Genesis 33:5, 'These are the children that God hath graciously given to me.' And will you not heartily give back to God those children once again? Their baptism is to be the sign and seal of your doing so. You generally bring your infant children unto the baptism of the Lord. I suppose you do so because you are satisfied that the children of believers were in covenant with God in the days of the Old Testament, and that the children of believers then had a right unto the initial seal of the covenant, and that in the days of the New Testament they have not lost this privilege. Well, but when you bring your children to the sacred baptism, what is it for? Oh, do not let it be done as an empty formality, as if the baptism of your children were for nothing but to formally and pompously put...

Cornelius is called devout in Acts 10, and he is devout with his household, in leading them, and undoubtedly leading them to know and serve the Lord as well, even as Joshua in the O.T. says “ choose you this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord ”, Joshua 24:15ff. Now we see that the pattern and expectation the Jews would have, and we should have when reading the New Testament and our passage here in Acts -- that God covenants with households, and the children are included in the covenant, signified in circumcision in the Old Testament/Covenant, but now signified in baptism, including the infant children. For all in the house of Cornelius, which included not only his entire household, his slaves and servants under him, but also those of his close friends and relatives, received the Holy Spirit and were baptized with water, as we saw at the end of Acts 10. Even infant children were to be removed from the Church/Israelites and regarded as covenant breake...

  These are my thoughts in light of this debate/discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsrThQp3KHA  I also have a video reply here:   https://x.com/ptomer/status/1821251772499009687 An Escondido Escapade: Christian Nationalism, Wolfe, Gordon, & Wilson 1.      This isn’t about postmill or amil or premill as much as it is what is reality in front of us, and is civil government/magistrates under God’s authority. a.      If it is, then should Christians seek the power of the sword of the magistrate to be used to punish evil and promote good, Rom. 13., 1 Pet. 2:13-17, etc. b.     Gordon seems to mostly say we must submit to God’s providence, implying that to try and bring reform to the civil realm is to pry into the secret will of God, to refuse to suffer for righteousness’ sake, etc. c.      Would he apply this standard to reform in the Church and its leadership/ministers? At...