Angelic movers...

If it is difficult to justify such statements on the basis of a careful reading of the
Institutes, it is surely impossible to make them once the commentaries are brought into
consideration, especially his last works, notably the commentary on Ezekiel. There
Calvin argues the transmission of motion from God as first mover to the angelic movers
of the spheres and thence to the nexus of temporal causes and effects. The words of the
prophet "And when the living creatures proceeded, the wheels went beside them . . ."
indicated to Calvin that "all the changes in the world depend on celestial motion" and
that "the living creatures represent to us angels whom God inspires with a secret capacity
{virtus), so that he works by means of their hands." It is thus by the "motion and
inspiration" of the angelic movers that "things in themselves motionless are borne
along."'00 Calvin's fairly frequent use of terms for the "celestial machinery" (orbis machina
and caelestis machina) ought probably, therefore, to be understood as references
to this transmission of motion from God as First Mover through the spheres to the
order of nature.101

Quite significantly, in these last lectures, Calvin has more positive recourse to the
concepts of a divine agency in the order of the cosmos and of the mediation of divine
willing through the agency of secondary causes than he had evidenced in his earlier
works.102 Calvin writes:

Whenever the confusion of our affairs urges us to despair, let us try to remember this
sentiment, that the spirit of the living creatures is in the wheels. And truly, when we
tremble in doubtful circumstances, what can we do but acquiesce in this doctrine—
namely, that the end of everything will be as God decrees, because nothing is carried
on apart from his will, and that there is no motion, no agitation under the heavens,
unless he has inspired it by his angels. . . . On the whole, the Prophet here says that
angels so move all things that are done under heaven, that no proper motion ought
to be ascribed to them. And why? because God presides over them and govern their
actions.103

Richard Muller, The Unaccommodated Calvin, pgs. 156-7

Written on the PuritanBoard

Update: Doug Wilson's name is now being invoked over at the PuritanBoard as a means to put me down. This can occur because Federal Visionists are as much a part of the Village of Morality as all the putative Reformed and Presbyterian (and Reformed Baptist) anti-FVists on the PuritanBoard are. That debate is a Village of Morality civil war. Christians on the Way - dangerous types who fear only God - are their common enemy.

That there is such a high percentage of contributors at the PuritanBoard who are pastors or in other roles of church leadership it is understandable that they would be negative towards God's elect like myself. They have a livelihood to protect. Children to feed. That will justify anything.

Unfortunately that is not what the faith is about. It's not about 'family.' Read Jesus on that subject. Take care of your family, yes, that is being a good householder. Basic responsibility. But don't turn the faith into that. The faith isn't about your family. Family is the most worldly thing there is. The easiest temptation and stumblingblock for repudiating the faith. A gigantic excuse and justification to stay shallow and snug and smug in the Village of Morality.

If you want the Spirit inside you prepare for battle, Christians. That means conflict with yourselves (your 'old man'), the world, and the spiritual realm (the devil and his kingdom and followers). You don't want that friction? Stay in the Village of Morality and pretend that the world and your vain, prideful, moralizing self is what the faith is all about. And the devil will also leave you alone. He doesn't need to bother with his tame slaves...

************

PLAIN PATH PURITAN

Is anyone familiar with this site? I've initially only read his words concerning KJV Onlyism but I'm just curious...

Check out the blog and illuminate me

__________

Crazy man. Keep away.

Whatever. I use language that shocks people, and if it freaks them out, so be it. I can't complain. But the situation is a bit mitigated by the fact that I'm not a resident in Bunyan's Village of Morality where the fear of man reigns over the fear of God, and which said fear of man is policed very tightly indeed.

And I'm not just a Calvinist, I'm a Calvinist who actually knows why I'm a Calvinist. We're rare.

I also don't get angry or start mocking when I hear the phrase 'born again Christian.' I know what it means. Which also is rare among Reformed Christians.

Oh, and I don't consider Arian/Romanist-corrupted manuscripts that liberal academics and spiritualists call 'critical text' to be the pure and whole Word of God. This causes the Village of Morality, man-fearing warriors of the Reformed world to call me crazy. So be it. I'm a big fool in this world. I can actually discern - and value - the Word of God...

Say no to formalism, ritualism, clericalism, and moralism...

The elect know

Stay away from the seminaries and the churches. The devil runs rampant in all of them. The battlefield is the only church of God in the end times.

Come on come on come on come touch me, babe...

Look how biblical themes sneak into pop songs, not just Messianic:

The Doors 'Touch Me':

Yeah!

Come on, come on, come on, come on now
Touch me, babe!
Can't you see that I am not afraid?

[the above is spoken by Adam to Eve after she's given him the forbidden fruit]

What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?

[this quick shift is God speaking to Adam when He came into the Garden and Adam and Eve hid from him; you see such sudden shifts of point-of-view and speaker in the Psalms themselves]

Now, I'm gonna love you
Till the heavens stop the rain.
I'm gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky
For you and I.

[the above is God speaking the Noahic Covenant, after the destruction of the flood, where he is saying I will never again bring such destruction, but the seasons will follow upon one another and so on until the end]

(then the lyrics just repeat, except for the 'stronger than dirt' coda which kind of is in the same theme, Adam-dust, Noahic Covenant-about the Earth and nature, etc...)

Come on, come on, come on, come on now
Touch me, babe!
Can't you see that I am not afraid?
What was that promise that you made?
Why won't you tell me what she said?
What was that promise that you made?

I'm gonna love you
Till the heavens stop the rain.
I'm gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky
For you and I.

I'm gonna love you
Till the heavens stop the rain.
I'm gonna love you
Till the stars fall from the sky
For you and I.

Stronger than dirt!

Artists that are tuned in to higher influences, or whose minds are numbed and who also are able to tap higher influences, or are just able to put words down without manipulating all the meaning out of them using their 'brain' tap into these universal themes. Also pop music lyrics lend themselves to such things because of the elliptic, non sequitur nature of the lyrics. In an interview of Jim Morrison and his bandmates (typically embarrassing moronic '60s stuff) they ramble but their theme is recovering Eden. That typical theme you see abused by communist and socialist movements, but also that you see just in the rambling ideals and beliefs of people like '60s youth culture.