The Tulip Driven Life

I remember having sword drills in elementary school. This is where you are given chapter and verse of a book in the Bible, and then on cue, you search for it. Whoever finds it first gets a point. It was fun, and it might have helped me flip to particular passages more quickly, but it didn't really teach me what the verses actually said. Sometimes we may have read the verses we looked up, I do not remember, but even if we did, the point wasn't really to elaborate on the verse and what it meant, the point was simply to find it. Then I remember going to AWANA'S, or whatever it was called, like twice as a kid. You got points which I think could be redeemed for prizes for quoting verses that you memorized. Of course, we did that in school too. So I still remember the little jingle for, say, Ephesians 4:32. "And be ye kind, one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you you you, Ephesians 4 and 32." I thi...

This is my paper for Church History class on the development of modern liberal theology and Arminian/ free will theology. It had to be written in a letter format, so I thought it would be neat, and fitting, to write it as a letter from B.B. Warfield, near his death, to Machen, regarding his concerns for Princeton, which was beginning to slip into liberalism around the time of his death in 1921. REFORMATION BIBLE COLLEGE LETTER PAPER PASSING OF THE TORCH CHURCH HISTORY BY THOMAS BOOHER SANFORD, FLORIDA APRIL, 2012 My dear friend and colleague,                 There is a churning in the pit of my stomach. My bones grow weak, and as I approach seventy years of age, I cannot help but wonder with fear and trepidation what the next seventy will hold. I write this letter as a passing of the torch from me to you. Read carefully and ...

I first became a big fan of R.C. Sproul, perhaps surprisingly to some, through his apologetics teaching series "Defending The Faith," which aired on the NRB network. I was working at a Cracker Barrel at the time in the dish room, and would use the opportunity to talk about God and proclaim the gospel to my co-workers. One guy in his early 40's said he was going to be a pastor and briefly attended SEBTS, but had fallen away from the faith. He questioned the goodness of God, since God was supposed to be all-powerful, all knowing, and yet evil existed. I gave my best answer to that, which I felt was fairly satisfactory, but he had another tactic ready. "Well who made God then?" He asked. I didn't know how to answer that one. For me, that was like asking why ice is cold. God by definition is unmade. I told him that, but he said that wasn't possible, that that didn't make any sense. I realized I had always accepted that God was unmade, but didn'...

I was flipping through the radio stations as I drove over to McDonald's. On 107.3 I heard a booming, vaguely familiar voice, speaking about holy living. I turned back to the station and quickly realized this was none other than James MacDonald, of The Elephant Room fame. I never heard of MacDonald until I heard about the Elephant Room controversy. So he started off on the wrong foot with me. But after hearing him preach for about five minutes, it is evident the man is a great preacher. I mean, he actually preaches. He brings one under the Word. By that I mean, he isn't merely teaching (though he is doing that too) but within the teaching is integrated a pastoral care, a shepherding. He sounds like he has authority over me and is trying to lead me into the way of righteousness, into the way that Scripture calls us. Not simply right doctrine, but right practice. A holy living, not merely a holy thinking. My disgust with non-Calvinist churches was their general negl...

Christina Grimmie Singing "In Christ Alone." I'm a fan of Christina Grimmie. I was a fan of Grimmie before she was well known. And when she becomes a household name (which she undoubtedly will be) I'll remind everyone that I was talking about her before most people knew about her. I like Christina because she likes Zelda first and foremost. A girl that digs Zelda, I dig. She is also a great singer, with a voice not unlike Christina Aguilera.  Most importantly, however, she claims to be a Christian, and for once I actually believe it. Many young female singers have come claiming a Christian faith, had Christian parents (can you say Katy Perry?), and started out innocent enough. But through the magic of Disney, they have all become corrupted. Or maybe not. Maybe when the Bible says that no one is righteous and no one does good (Rom. 3), it really means it. Maybe when God says that the heart is deceitful above all things, what He says is true (Jer. 17:9)...

Romans 10: 14  How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  15  And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, [ h ] Who bring glad tidings of good things!” It's easy to decry the state of the Church here in America. Chesterton has spoken of an inner joy for the Christian that is shrouded by an outer sorrow, and an outer joy that conceals the true inner despair of the unbeliever. But what scares me are the large number of Pastors and teachers who mask a morbid delight with a "concerned" bemoaning of the "imminent" destruction of our sinful, rebellious nation. The glee and delight comes from the prospect of persecution. I find this both repulsive and arrogant. To hope for our destruction so that we, the elect, can shine forth like the sun wh...

I struggled naming this blog post. I wanted to make it longer but felt that would lose some people. Some are probably lost already by the use of the term "monergism." So, I will allow an excerpt from an article from monergism.com by John Hendryx to explain the term "monergism."  Very simply, then, monergism is the doctrine that our new birth (or "quickening") is the work of God, the Holy Spirit alone, with no contribution and without the cooperation of fallen man, since the natural man, of himself, has no desire for God and cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor 2:14, Rom 3:11,12; Rom 8:7; John 3:19, 20). Man remains resistant to all outward callings of the gospel until the Spirit comes to disarm us, call us inwardly and implant in us new holy affections for God. Our faith comes about only as the immediate result of the Spirit working faith in us in the hearing of the proclamation of the word. But just as God does not force us to see against our will...