"God has given us a new revelation not shared with our forefathers in the church."According to Fr. George Conger in an article written for Anglican Ink, this is what one bishop said about the move towards embracing same-sex marriage in The Episcopal Church.Regardless of where one stands on this matter, this is a striking statement to make. "A new revelation not shared with our forefathers."...
Wednesday, 1 July 2015
Sunday, 28 June 2015
Episcopal Church's Current Understanding of Marriage Supports "Sacramental Apartheid"
In a recent blog posting, I noted that an Episcopal priest at the 78th General Convention of the Episcopal Church compared the marriage rite in The Book of Common Prayer to the Confederate flag. According to this priest, just as the Confederate flag is a symbol of hate that must be taken down, so, too, the Prayer Book's marriage rite is a symbol of discrimination that must be jettisoned...
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Episcopal Bigotry: Prayer Book's Marriage Rite Compared to Confederate Flag
Even before the 78th General Convention officially started, things got interesting. According to a Living Church article entitled "Prayer Book Discrimination?", an open hearing of the Special Legislative Session on Marriage included some forceful comments in favor of clearing the way for gender-neutral language in authorized marriage rites. One speaker took aim at the Prayer Book's marriage...
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Gordon H. Clark Sermon: The Holy Wisdom of God
College will give one knowledge, but not wisdom. -- Dr. Gordon H. ClarkThe Gordon H. Clark Foundation posted this sermon at their site. The sermon was recently discovered in the Clark family archive of unpublished papers. Here is a quote from the sermon:Undoubtedly this passage from Job implies that the study of minerals, the study of geology, indeed all academic study is not ...
Tuesday, 23 June 2015
What Is a Parable? A Clarkian Analysis of Dr. Robert A. Traina's Comment
It may truly be said that the context of each term of a book is the book itself. -- Dr. Robert A. TrainaI never took any classes with Dr. Robert A. Traina. However, when I was a young Pentecostal and Arminian student at Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Traina's book on inductive biblical exegesis, Methodical Bible Study, was a standard textbook and still is today in many seminaries...
Monday, 22 June 2015
St. John Chrysostom: Living With Security
"Living With Security"Commentary on Matthew 7:24-27Whereas his teaching has up to now largely focused on the future kingdom, its unspeakable rewards and its consolations, now he shifts his focus to the present life, its current fruits and how great is the strength of virtue within it. What then is...
Sunday, 7 June 2015
12 Apostles Activity
Tomorrow begins the 'Apostles fast' in the Orthodox Church, and here's an activity to assemble the icon day by day until the feast on June 29/30. On the first day, the children will cut out and glue the icon of Christ in the center of the Tree, learning the memory verse, "I am the vine, you are the...
Saturday, 6 June 2015
Roger Olson Continues to Equivocate and Mislead
"It should be clearly understood that even faith itself is not the basis of justification." -- Dr. Gordon H. Clark"James Arminius was born in 1560, in Oudewater, the Netherlands. In 1582, he studied under Beza in Geneva, the successor to John Calvin. There he met Uitenbogaert, who would later become one of his staunchest allies and promoters of his heresy. When asked in 1591...
Friday, 5 June 2015
Pentecost Coloring Icon
The 12 disciples are seen in the icon of Pentecost gathered together waiting for the fulfillment of the promise of the Holy Spirit. The hymns of the Orthodox Church remind us that the Apostles are anticipating this moment with joy and gladness. "I am with you, no one can be against you." Kontakion...
Tuesday, 2 June 2015
Gordon H. Clark Quote of the Day: What Is Natural Liberty?
"Man's will 'is neither forced nor by any absolute necessity of nature determined.' These words were written to repudiate those philosophies which explain human conduct in terms of physico-chemical law. . . . Man is not a machine; his motions cannot be described by mathematical equations as can the motions of the planets." Dr. Gordon H. Clark Many semi-Arminians in the neo-Calvinist...
Monday, 25 May 2015
Gordon H. Clark: The Gospel Includes the Five Points of Calvinism
Now, what did Paul preach? He himself says, "I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." This includes the five points of Calvinism, the TULIP, . . . Dr. Gordon H. ClarkUnwittingly, many Evangelicals and even Calvinists have been duped into thinking that the Gospel can be reduced down to a few pet propositions or verses of the...
Thursday, 21 May 2015
What Do Reformed Christians Believe? Part 1
I have been negligent of late in writing for my blog due to my discussions and debates on Facebook. You can visit my Facebook groups at Reformed Anglicans for Scripturalism and Calvinism Defended Against All. That being said, I want to start a new series of articles where I will compare and contrast the Anglican Formularies (Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, ...
Friday, 15 May 2015
The Line in the Sand?
Dr. Paul Elliott has rightly said that the Presbyterian Church in America keeps erasing the line in the sand and moving it back a step. It's analogous to President Obama's continuing to erase the lines in the sand that he drew when Russia started its overt aggression against Ukraine. The problem with the PCA, as with the PCUSA and the Auburn Affirmation in the 1920s, is that it has failed to...
Wednesday, 13 May 2015
The Obama Administration's Anti-Christian Attack on Evangelicalism
�Within certain defined areas, opponents of gay rights will be unaffected by an embrace of same-sex marriage. But in others, the impact will be substantial. I am not optimistic that, under current law, much can be done to ameliorate the impact on religious dissenters.� -- Marc D. SternIt looks like everything I have been warning Christians about is going to happen as soon as the Supreme...
Monday, 11 May 2015
Christ Receiveth Sinners, Walter Marshall
Christ Receiveth Sinners by Walter Marshall 17TH CENTURY �Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool� �Isaiah 1:18 KJV We are not to imagine that our hearts and lives must be changed from sin to holiness in any measure, before we may safely vent...
Wednesday, 6 May 2015
Preparing for Pentecost
Christ is Risen! But then what?The story continues of course, with more exciting details and events to engage our young listeners. Christ spends the next 40 days displaying His physical Resurrection. He appears in the upper room to the Apostles twice when the doors are sealed shut, granting them peace....
Monday, 27 April 2015
Saturday, 25 April 2015
What is a Spiritual Father?
If the best doctors help to heal our physical bodies by knowing the "right" medicine, so even more does the spiritual father, who is enlightened by God, prescribe the much-needed healing for our soul. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous,...
Wednesday, 22 April 2015
Dr. Gordon H. Clark Quote of the Day: Is God Sovereign or Is God Subject to the Law?
"God establishes moral norms by sovereign decree." -- Dr. Gordon H. ClarkIn a recent exchange with another so-called Calvinist, I was challenged to show how God is not subject to His own nature as God. The presupposition being that the law of God is superior to God because God is by nature subject to a moral law. But as the late Dr. Gordon H. Clark pointed out, this is really the view of...
Jeremy Taylor: "We have a great work to do ..."
�For we must remember that we have a great work to do, many enemies to conquer, many evils to prevent, much danger to run through, many difficulties to be mastered, many necessities to serve, and much good to do, many children to provide for, or many friends to support, or many poor to relieve, or many...
Sunday, 19 April 2015
St George Skit & Coloring Page
While enjoying the light of Pascha for 40 days, don't forget that there are still many great Saints on the calendar to learn about! Coming up Thursday April 23rd is the great martyr Saint George, who bears the title trophy-bearer in English.The Dragon Traveling on a white horse (Saint Demetrios...
Friday, 17 April 2015
Can the Unconverted Elect Respond to the Gospel Call with Confidence?
Here's another example of the brilliant arguments against Calvinism that Arminians endorse:"Without realizing it, the Calvinist is finally saying that repentance and faith (as the gift of God in the salvation �package�) are being offered to all who will repent and believe, when in fact none can do so. This reduces to pure tautology and is no offer at all. (Grace, Faith, Free Will, pp....
Monday, 13 April 2015
Gordon H. Clark: Quote of the Day: Combat Semi-Arminianism
"It seems to me that a great many objections to specific Christian doctrines, objections to the propitiatory atonement or the Incarnation, arise from a non-Christian view of God's nature. The modernists object to a vicarious sacrifice because they do not think God is that sort of a person. Theirs is not the God of the early Christians. And my sincere conviction is that if we are to retain...
Friday, 3 April 2015
Good Friday Homily 2015
Sometimes the truth of the Gospel hits home at unexpected times and from unexpected persons. Take what happened a few years back at an Episcopal Church in downtown Atlanta [source]. It was Holy Week, and the congregation was staging a dramatic enactment of the Passion Gospel. After the reading was announced, the lights dimmed and red-robed participants moved into their places around...
Sunday, 29 March 2015
Lazarus - Arise!
This is a great way to involve your kids in the Raising of Lazarus! Wrap them in "burial" cloth and see who will be first to break free on your command!It's extremely significant that the Church places Lazarus Saturday exactly one week earlier than the Resurrection of Christ. The miracle teaches us...
Pascha Poem & Orthodox Craft Idea
With a long white piece of paper, we made three folds and created our very own accordion Pascha card with original poem to accompany the Passion and Resurrection of Christ icons cut out from Orthodox catalogs. This simple craft turned out to be a nice way to reinforce the meaning behind each day for...
Friday, 27 March 2015
Holy Week for Kids
Anyone with kids knows that Holy Week can be a challenging yet extremely rich experience! Although the night services postpone bed time, we try to remember, it's just for one week, and nothing else quite seems to matter. Yes, the services can be long, so this post is dedicated to the "something...
Thursday, 26 March 2015
Akathist from Alpha to Omega
This "poem" to Panagia has been lost in translation!Refresh your alphabet skills Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eeta, Theeta, Iota, Kapa, Lamntha, Mee, Nee, Xee, Omikron, Pee, Ro, Sigma, Tauf, Eepsilon, Fee, Xee, Psee....Omega!Go back, and re-look at your Greek versions for you will find...
St Mary Egypt Craft - Turn Life Around
The powerful story of repentance that we find in the life of Saint Mary of Egypt which was recorded by the monk Zossimos, can be a memorable one for teenagers and college students. For the younger children though that you might be working with, consider this Orthodox craft:1. Color two images of Saint...
Thursday, 19 March 2015
Pascha Basket
If you are looking for ways to keep "Christ" in your celebration of Easter, consider making an Orthodox Pascha Basket instead of the typical egg & candy overload! Each of the following traditional foods has a symbolic and spiritual significance. We focus on saying "Pascha" which is our spiritual...