The Tulip Driven Life

By: Thomas Fletcher Booher The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16). Those who crucified Jesus were cut to the heart after Peter told them that Jesus was Lord and Christ, which prompted them to ask Peter what they should do, to which he replied, "repent" (Acts 2:37-38). When we were saved, it was because we heard the gospel, and understood that we were sinners, and we felt guilt and shame. We saw the sinfulness of ourselves, and we didn't want the stain of sin any longer, so we received the good news of the gospel with gladness and trusted in Christ for salvation.  My question is one of sanctification. If we are saved by first responding to the gospel with conviction of sin, with feelings of guilt and shame, only to have it all washed away by Christ, shouldn't we return to this again and again in order to grow as believers? Surely the more we feel in our hearts the sins our hands commit and our minds conceive the more we w...

By: Thomas Clayton Booher The Protestant Reformation and the Doctrine of Justification Our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), has its theological roots in the Protestant Reformation of the 16 th century, which essentially began when Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses (points of dispute) on the castle church door in Wittenberg , Germany on October 31, 1517. It was common to post such notices for public viewing. Luther’s theses were directed primarily against the Church’s practice to sell indulgences for the dead. An indulgence , it was said, satisfied the temporary punishment of purgatory [1] so that a departed loved one could be released and enter the glory of heaven. The sale of indulgences was actually a scheme to fill the coffers of the church to fund lavish building projects. Pope Leo X (1475-1521) needed money to rebuild St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome . The Pope made John Tetzel the commissioner of indulgences for Germany . Tetzel’s marketi...

By: Thomas Clayton Booher Luther and the Epistle of Straw – Part 1 The rediscovery of justification by faith in Christ alone (without works) was so paramount in Luther’s experience that he began to look at the whole Bible from that single perspective. There was an advantage to that. The principle of justification by faith alone in Christ alone opened up the New Testament to reveal many things that were hidden before. In the very moment of his ‘Tower Experience’, Luther tells us how this insight into God’s justification of the sinner instantly affected his understanding of the rest of scripture. Immediately I saw the whole of Scripture in a different light. I ran through the Scriptures from memory and found that other terms had analogous meanings, e.g., the work of God, that is, what God works in us; the power of God, by which he makes us powerful; the wisdom of God, by which he makes us wise; the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. ...

By: Thomas Clayton Booher 2 Pet 1:3 A s His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue . Salvation is from sin. Since man fell, all of God’s work in relation to him has centered around the saving of the soul from sin. A. W. Pink may have been the one who popularized the tri-faceted nature of our salvation by describing it as deliverance from the penalty, power, and presence of sin. His observation serves to keep the whole matter of salvation in perspective. Often as a child, the preaching that I heard stressed only how God saves us from hell. Not from my pastor, Clayton Howard Gray, who was the greatest pulpit preacher I’ve ever heard. Such preaching did not come from him, but others. I remember one speaker at a youth camp located in Erie , Pennsylvania . He preached this way. Granted, there were several in our midst who were interns of George Junior Republic (we...

By: Thomas Fletcher Booher I have been a Calvinist for about four and a half years now. I grew up in a little PCA church, and have a Dad who graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Despite this, I wasn't reformed, because neither the church nor my Father taught me Calvinism. The Christian school I went to was not Calvinistic, it was your typical say a prayer to get saved type of Christian school. I was influenced by them, but got just enough from my church and Dad to know that was a suspicious way of evangelizing and discipling. In short, it wasn't until I heard a sermon by Paul Washer (The Shocking Youth Message) in my first semester of college that I became a Calvinist and specifically understood the issues of the Christian school that I graduated from. I was angry, righteously and probably somewhat unrighteously as well. I went on the charge on Facebook against the Christian school I went to from K-5 through high school. I talked with th...

By: Thomas Fletcher Booher I am privileged in so many ways. I have the privilege of studying books on theology and the Bible itself in a Bible college. Right now, studying the Bible and learning theology is my job. I have family and a wife who is helping provide food, shelter, and clothing. Yet even I, the one who believes he is called to be a pastor, doesn't read his Bible enough. Why is this? Well, it is because I, and most of us, don't put Bible study at the top of our priority list. What do we put ahead of that? Usually work. Why do we put work ahead of Bible study? For some it may be because they love their job more than their Bibles, but for most it is because they think if they don't make work the top priority they won't be able to provide for themselves and/or their families. After all, doesn't Paul say he who does not work shall not eat (2 Thess. 3:10)? Indeed, he does. But the question is not whether or not we should be working at all. Certainly,...

In conjunction with the CSFF Blog Tour, I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. Purchase The Orphan King here and The Fortress of Mist here . REVIEW: 3 OUT OF 5 STARS FOR EACH I have decided to review both of these books together since they belong together. I remember Sigmund Brouwer from when I was a kid. He had a snowboarding book out that I think I owned. Now, he has over three million books in print. Clearly he is an established author who has had success.  I can understand why from these books. I will break my review down into sections.  The Story: The story is good and super fast paced. Do I find it altogether believable? No. Do I think it hits the ball out of the park every time it swings for the fences? Not by a long shot. But Brouwer seems to be a cleanup hitter, spattering several doubles and a few home runs in his story at the cost of some strikeouts.  I think the pacing is great for someone who is wanting...