THE FAITH PURE, BOLD, PRACTICAL
Fear God,
it is the
beginning
of wisdom.
When you
fear only God
you don't
fear man
(and man's
opinion
of you),
which enables
you
to pursue
wisdom.
What are the conditions of admission into Christ's Kingdom? Simply practical recognition of the authority of the sovereign.
- A. A. Hodge
Carla... Carla, Carla, Carla... I'm not calling you away from your family, Carla... Just to a new level of understanding... The fearing only God level... I'm not an anabaptist, Carla... Carla... Oh won't you come out to play - eh- eh -aaay... The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful, and so are you, dear Carla...won't you come out to play...
Start with not fearing language. A clear sign one is still in the bondage of the fear of man is when you fear language... - C.
Five solas, doctrines of grace, covenant of redemption (Covenant Theology is not the servant of infant baptism), Traditional Text, King James Version only; doing the two great commandments of Christ at the practical level (i.e. actually doing them); and recovering by degree the full image of God. This is the foundation I stand on and build upon.
ESSENTIAL I ~ II ~ III ~ IV ~ V ~ VI ~ VII ~ VIII ~ IX ~ X ~ XI ~ XII ~ XIII ~ XIV ~ XV ~ XVI ~ XVII ~ XVIII ~ XIX ~ XX ~ XXI ~ XXII ~ XXIII ~ XXIV ~ XXV ~ XXVI ~ XXVII ~ XXVIII ~ XXIX ~ XXX ~ XXXI ~ XXXII ~ XXXIII ~ XXXIV ~ XXXV ~ XXXVI ~ XXXVII ~ XXXVIII ~ XXXIX ~ XL ~ XLI ~ XLII ~ XLIII ~ XLIV ~ XLV ~ XLVI ~ XLVII ~ XLVIII ~ XLIX ~ L ~ LI ~ LII ~ LIII ~ LIV ~ LV ~ LVI ~ LVII ~ LVIII ~ LIX ~ LX ~ LXI ~ LXII ~ LXIII ~ LXIV ~ LXV ~ LXVI ~ LXVII ~ LXVIII ~ LXIX ~ LXX ~ LXXI ~ LXXII
STICK DRAWINGS & DIAGRAMS 1 (Note on 1) ~ 2 ~ 3 ~ 4 ~ 5
--Fuse the Word of God into Memory, Will, and Understanding Prayer and Fasting -- (of --) Acute Warring of the Holy Spirit with the carnal spirit -- (storms struggled through; extending limits to glorify God by doing it when it's most difficult) |
(Short Essay On My Reading History)
The practical, experimental level of the faith (the Puritans called it experimental Calvinism) is for those ready to leave off laying the foundation over and over and begin building the house (see Calvin's commentary on Hebrews 6:1).
Psalms 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path...
"God examineth with trials, the devil examineth with temptations, the world examineth with persecutions."
- Henry Smith
"The word of God . . . is the light to our paths, the key of the kingdom of heaven, our comfort in affliction, our shield and sword against Satan, the school of all wisdom, the glass wherein we behold God's face, the testimony of his favour, and the only food and nourishment of our souls."
- Geneva translators, 10 April 1560
"When the heart is cast indeed into the mould of the doctrine that the mind embraceth - when the evidence and necessity of the truth abides in us - when not the sense of the words only is in our heads, but the sense of the thing abides in our hearts - when we have communion with God in the doctrine we contend for - then shall we be garrisoned by the grace of God against all the assaults of men."
- John Owen
"Where the Puritans excelled was at bringing this high view of God
down to the level of ordinary life. One Puritan woman - the wife of a
soldier in Cromwell's army - defined Christianity as
'that universal habit of grace which is wrought in a soul by the
regenerating Spirit of God, whereby the whole creature is designed up
into the Divine will and love, and all its actions designed to the
obedience and glory of its Maker.'
By defining the Christian faith in this way, she was making a
connection between the doctrines of grace and daily experience."
- the Doctrines of Grace,
Boice/Ryken
"Previously, men had looked to the Church for all the trustworthy knowledge of God obtainable, and as well for all the communications of grace accessible. Calvin taught them that neither function has been committed to the Church, but God the Holy Spirit has retained both in His own hands and confers both knowledge of God and communion with God on whom He will."
- B. B. Warfield (from his essay Calvin as a Theologian)
A plain path puritan. That means the faith that is pure, bold, and practical. Five solas. Doctrines of Grace. Covenant of Redemption. Experimental Calvinism. No clericalism, ritualism, formalism, or moralism. The devil's nightmare.
Holy Bible, AV1611
Iliad & Odyssey - Homer
On War - von Clausewitz
Wealth of Nations - Smith
Fourth Way - Ouspensky
Lives - Plutarch
History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
"The fearful are in the forlorn of those that march for hell; the violent and valiant are they which take heaven by force: cowards never won heaven. Say not that thou hast royal blood running in thy veins, and art begotten of God, except thou canst prove thy pedigree by this heroic spirit, to dare to be holy despite men and devils."
- William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour
"As among all the doctrines of the gospel, there is none opposed with more violence and subtlety than that concerning our regeneration by the immediate, powerful, effectual operation of the Holy Spirit of grace; so there is not scarce anything more despised or scorned by many in the world than that any should profess that there hath been such a work of God upon themselves, or on any occasion declare aught of the way and manner whereby it was wrought... yea, the enmity of Cain against Abel was but a branch of this proud and perverse inclination."
- John Owen, A Discourse Concerning The Holy Spirit
The antithesis of vanity is: faith. The antithesis of worldly pride is: repentance. The antithesis of self-will is: descent-of-the-dove God's will.
5 Comments:
It's not what goes into you that defiles you. It's what comes out of your heart that can defile you...
You can choose to not use 'bad language' AND not fear language at the same time, by the way. It's just that when others use 'bad language' you have to not care. (It matters: because when you fear language at any level, of any kind, you cut yourself off from OTHER influences that are currently beyond you; beyond your current understanding and beyond your current interests.)
Don't be in bondage to the fear of man, little ones.
Keep yourselves from idols...
If you're going to have a man inside you, in essence, don't let it be Frank Turk. (Advice to Carla.) Let is be Achilles.
To get to the Holy City you have to have Achilles inside you. If not Achilles, then Odysseus. The one gets there through sacrifice, the other through suffering. Both, though, possess the ethic of boldness and perseverence and ability needed to get to the Holy City.
I'm a templar. I accompany people to the Holy City. I'll tell you right now, if you fear man, if you fear language, if you fear symbols, if you fear anything other than God alone you will be dead by the wayside...
The Word of God and on-the-mark doctrinal works top the list for a Christian, but after that there's no better work - or influence - a Christian can have in them (in understanding) than the Homeric epics. They are a complete language, and they give you, via powerful, higher visual language, the ethic and deep understanding a Christian needs to assault heaven.
Don't underestimate the knowledge of such influences as Homer and Plutarch the magisterial reformers had regarding their understanding of the faith (as well as their boldness in proclaiming and defending the faith).
A Christian who knows the Bible and Homer is in a different category.
Remember God's common grace inspired influences such as the Homeric epics. And the Homeric epics inspired, even made, the foundation of western civilization. It is influence in the very foundation of God's plan of redemption when you see it in the context of the historical and geographical and language 'cradle' Jesus Christ was born of the virgin into. In this sense Alexander of Macedon (who was not homosexual, by the way, modern forces who channel the devil put that forward because of Alexander of Macedon's connection to God's plan of redemption), as I was saying, Alexander of Macedon was integral in a direct way in God's plan in forming the historical and geographical an cultural cradle that was right for containing and then communicating the message of God throughout the world; and his main influence were the Homeric epics.
"Carla you-know-who is a good Christian woman, and you leave her alone!"
Here at Plain Path Puritan we don't make good Christian women, we make good Christian women better.
caroline, you are a freakin weirdo!
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