ELEMENTAL BOOKS

01 HOLY BIBLE, AV1611
02 DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE - GIBBON
03 ON WAR - C. von CLAUSEWITZ
04 WEALTH OF NATIONS - SMITH
05 PLUTARCH - LIVES
06 HOMER - ILIAD & ODYSSEY
07 OVID - METAMORPHOSES
08 FOURTH WAY - OUSPENSKY
09 THUCYDIDES - HISTORY OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
10 HUMAN NATURE IN ITS FOURFOLD STATE - BOSTON
11 MANUAL OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE - BERKHOF
12 RUSSIAN NOVEL (primarily TOLSTOY, DOSTOEVSKY)

An email on Packer's great article the Plan of God

That Packer essay that I linked (below) on the Plan of God is not run-of-the-mill. It bears repeated reading. Especially if you are having difficulty and doubting faith. It's a deep-themed biblical article. A true overview of the faith, yet surprising in what he focuses on. I have it in my read again and again folder. - C.

On May 25, 2016, at 2:31 AM, c. t. wrote:

I've sent this before, but Packer is unusually lucid when writing on such a topic. Worth having handy anyway:


http://www.the-highway.com/plan_Packer.html

Understanding the powerful level of experiential understanding of doctrine

Recovering Experimental Religion
Sherman Isbell

Experimental religion, which once was a vital part of the Reformed tradition of preaching and spirituality, has in a large measure been lost sight of in our day. Even use of the term experimental in connection with religion is no longer customary, it being more commonly associated with the natural sciences, where a method of probing and investigation leads to an understanding of reality. The older Reformed writers used the word to indicate that we not only read and confess what Scripture teaches, but also are enabled by the Holy Spirit in our own experience to prove and enter into those truths. The propositions of Scripture are true regardless of our experience of them. But in those who belong to Christ, there is a work of the Holy Spirit to persuade them of those truths, so that they taste and feel the power of them in their own souls. To tremble when we discern our guilt before God, and to be driven to seek covering in the blood of Christ, is to gain an experimental knowledge of realities revealed in Scripture. Such experiences are not like the groping of the heathen, who reflect on the mystery of their own hearts, trying to understand themselves, and pondering what God might be like and how he might relate to the world. Experimental religion in the Reformed tradition entails an experience which arises from being confronted with the testimony of Scripture, and in which the prime mover is God the Holy Spirit, driving home to heart and conscience the truths of the Word of God. John Elias, preaching in Wales in the early nineteenth century, describes such experiences of biblical truth: “To have an experimental knowledge of something means to try it, to possess it, and to enjoy it ourselves. You must not merely read or hear about it. . . . You may read many a sweet chapter about Christ, and no doubt you have heard many a faithful sermon about Him, and yet, you may be without a saving knowledge of Christ. But an experimental knowledge of Him is to prove, see, and feel what you have read and heard about Him.”

Anthony Burgess, a member of the Westminster Assembly, speaks of the knowledge that a man may acquire about foreign countries by looking at a map. But map knowledge cannot compare with actually going to the country, climbing its mountains, swimming in its rivers, and walking the streets of its towns. “Or as the Queen of Sheba, who had heard rumors of Solomon’s wisdom, when she came to have an experimental knowledge of it, then she was astonished, and said, All that she had heard was nothing to that which she saw. . . .But how is it to be feared, that many have seen godliness but in the map only, they never had experience of the thing itself. How many are there that talk of conversion or repentance, as men do of bringing forth a child, who never had the experience of the throbs and pains that then are endured. Paul, what a long time did he live in a road of religious duties, but when he came to have an experimental work upon him, he died, whereas he was alive before, that is, he became sensible of the
damnable and dangerous estate he was in, whereas he had great confidence of his good life and salvation before. And thus it is with every man that hath gotten experimental knowledge; alas (saith he) I was alive once, I thought myself somebody, when I could pray, write sermons, dispute so understandingly, but now I see I did not know what that faith was, or godliness was, that I did argue so much about, I never knew anything of God, or of his gracious works till now, will that soul say.”

There is a memorable passage in which J.C. Ryle presses on his readers the distance between belief that there is forgiveness and the believing reception of that forgiveness. “You believe perhaps, there is forgiveness of sins. You believe that Christ died for sinners, and that he offers a pardon to the most ungodly. But are you forgiven yourself? . . . What does it avail the sick man that the doctor offers him a medicine, if he only looks at it, and does not swallow it down? Except you lay hold for your own soul, you will be as surely lost as if there was no forgiveness at all. . . . There must be actual business between you and Christ.”

Therefore we preach not only what Christ once did in his death and resurrection to accomplish our redemption, namely what he did outside of us, but also how Christ now works within our hearts by his Holy Spirit to apply that redemption. The Spirit brings us to appreciate Christ as the pearl of great price. He puts down the opposition of our hearts and carries us forward in repentance. In the resulting conflict, struggle and upheaval in our experience, the Spirit progressively conforms us to Christ. All of this touches the realm of our conscience, our desires and choices, our affections, joys and sorrows, and things felt and experientially known.


Full article in PDF here.

Thomas Boston's Human Nature In its Fourfold State, for the record, is a classic work of experiential doctrine.

Clerics still bowing the knee to the devil

Again, it is striking - if not, unfortunately surprising - to see so many self-identified Reformed Christians reacting to Trump like neo-cons who took out a third mortgage the day before Trump announced his candidacy.

They obviously have no discernment for good and evil. They don't understand the world or how the devil operates in the world.

They're also obviously (and fecklessly) indoctrinated by the cultural Marxism of the day.

They seem to have no defense on the spiritual battlefield.

This is what thinking ritual water baptism regenerates and/or treating the Bible like a critical text theorist does to a person.

Both cut one off from the Spirit and truth of God's revelation.

List of 'great divides'

This is an email based on that last post. It's got a good list, so...

___________________

http://electofgod.blogspot.com/2016/05/simple-yet-clarifying.html

The article linked is short and well worth reading. It reminds that amidst the seemingly multi-various splash of parts there is a simple whole. The Great Divide mentioned in the article, which I excerpted, is a very good one to know. I made a list of these 'divides' long ago. I even called them divides. Such as the Creator/creation divide. OK, I'll look right now for it ---------

Here it is:

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The 4 Great Divides & Two Great Practices:

I. Worshiping the creation rather than the Creator

II. Seeing Jesus as merely a great teacher rather than Lord and Savior

III. Thinking one can be justified and made righteous by one's own works rather than by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ in His life and on the cross (self-righteousness and self-justification vs. the righteousness of Christ and justification by faith alone in Christ)

IV. A Personal vs. an Impersonal Universe


[and now add the linked article great divide above, though #3 above might get at that]


Two Great Practices:

Act now as if you're in the Kingdom of God now, with gratitude always for everything, and God can trust you.

Do the two conscious shocks [that is Work, or Fourth Way language, Ouspensky side of the school] as the means to being in covenant with God.

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See? I even called them 'Great Divides'... - C.

Simple, yet clarifying

To be specific, this determinative high ground is one’s theology of God, man, and salvation. This is the highest of all thought, and it divides all doctrine into two schools. Historically, these two ways of thinking about God and His saving grace have been called by various names. Some have identified them as Augustinianism and Pelagianism. Others have named them Calvinism and Arminianism. Still others have defined them as Reformed and Catholic, while others have used the terms predestination and free will. But by whatever name, these streams are determined by the Continental Divide of theology.

That's from this article.

I came to see doctrine as armor of God. Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, the five solas, is the real armor of God.

Seeing that in the perspective of the 'Great Divide' that article speaks of is clarifying. The Bible ultimately is simple like that. The Devil, for instance, goes by many names and guises, but it all is simply evil vs. God's good. Two kingdoms, Kingdom of God, Kingdom of Satan. And you're either God-centered or you're man-centered.

I know what this person is talking about

"I have experienced a "full" sleep paralysis episode (with entities) and its no "walk in the park"..."

That is part of a comment on the PuritanBoard on the subject of whether there is alien life on other planets. I think the best answer is there is a lot of demonic activity that can manifest to our senses in various ways, but it has to be pointed out (and nobody at the PuritanBoard pointed this out): since about 2010 there have been over a billion cell phones with easy to activate and use cameras everywhere in the world, and no one has captured images or video of UFOs or anything of a similar nature. In fact, in seems that such sightings, or claims of such sightings, have decreased with the ubiquitous presence of cell phone cameras (add dashboard cameras as well which constantly film a large swathe of sky).

As for full sleep paralysis (with entities)... I like that he said "with entities" because in my case I could only refer to them as that as well.

Full sleep paralysis can happen when you have been awake for an unusual number of hours (40 hours in my case), and then lie down flat on your back. What happens is your body goes into a normal sleep mode, yet your mind is still awake. It is a terrifying experience. You try to scream for help ("mom!!!" in my case, even though I was living in a distant city in my 20s), but your mouth doesn't move because your body is in full paralysis. What I saw when in that state was numerous 'beings' looming over me as if I was being operated on by several doctors. They were in white with faces that had no real characteristics to describe them other than they all seemed to look the same. I was struggling the whole time to come out of the paralysis, and finally did. I wasn't frightened after-the-fact, i.e. I didn't think there were 'beings' in the room or anything like that. Once I had physical control back it was all over.

This happened at a time when I was in an interval going from semi-aggressive non-Christian to reading the Bible and becoming a Christian. I was in conflict with the few people who knew me in that locale and who were angry I was drifting into the Christian realm. For instance, one person who had been in my apartment (actually a section of an old Victorian house) had snatched at a covered book and opened it to find a Bible like they'd caught me in a crime.

Over the years I concluded that what I saw were demons (define demons as you will...fallen angels, the souls of dead giants, whatever). I also experienced good angels in a car wreck that I was saved from. I didn't see any beings during that event, though it was no less real.

Christians need to check themselves when they feel a strong desire to debunk such testimonies because it usually is evidence of a lack of belief in the supernatural in general. Naturalism (materialism, ultimately atheism) can infect one without us realizing it since it is everywhere around us.

Why did God create evil?

I like hard doctrine. Biblically on-the-mark hard doctrine. It is the armor of God. This is hard doctrine. Scroll down to page 10. It is only two and a half pages long.

The soul of Europe

Just read an article in which Pope Francis was quoted as referring to Brussels as "the soul of Europe."

A comment under the article: "So Brussels is the 'soul of Europe'. Must be a coincidence that it is over 25% Muslim now."

J. I. Packer defines the Puritans

J. I. Packer, defining the Puritans (taken from Beeke's Meet the Puritans):

"By a definitive embodiment of New Testament Christianity I mean a body of beliefs and a style of life that combined on the grand scale the Trinitarian objectivism of the Fathers, the knowledge of self and sin set forth by Augustine, the knowledge of Christ, of the cross, and of justification by faith that the magisterial Reformers had and shared, and the universal Christian passion for the glory of God in the worshiping life of the Church, with the insight into regeneration, sanctification, and the inner life of the self that was the Puritans’ distinctive contribution. I mean a body of beliefs and a style of life that was intensely practical, experiential, conscientious, determined, vigorous, hopeful, hardworking, and visionary in its struggle to achieve and maintain sanctity in all circumstances, walks of life, personal states, relationships, and life activities, and to establish that sanctity everywhere..."

This is pointedly shallow

"Racism is nothing more than collective narcissism: I love my group above all others because I love myself." —Michael Horton

Open Letter to Anti-Trump Christian Conservatives

So you think of yourself as a Christian conservative, and you also really hate this whole Trump thing. You can't stand that so many stupid people could so stupidly vote for such a stupid person; and it all makes you want to punch a whole in the wall, but your mom would get angry if you did that, so you refrain and just sit in the middle of the floor fuming. Why just the other day you heard that Louis C. K. is against Trump, and he's a successful comedian and stuff, and those guys are like really smart and almost like wise men in our society and stuff; and yet Trump succeeds.

You're angry, we Trump supporters understand. Why can't we just see clearly like Jon Stewart and Bill Maher and stuff? I mean, the entire Democrat party is mocking Trump too, and stuff. We understand. The Pope, you scream. The Pope! Even he hates Trump! Yes, we understand you're confused. We understand.

It's like this, #antiTrump bumpkins. We are voting for a guy who will punch you in the face. Yes. You, even. People like you who run up multi-trillion dollar deficits. People like you who allow Muslim Brotherhood to sit in the Pentagon and draw up rules of engagement designed to get our troops killed and injured. People like you who fear the world and man to the degree that you'll allow the world to rape our nation with your support for Satanic open border ideology and your obsequiousness to political-correctness.

The list could go on, but what's the point. You have no discernment for good and evil.

Run along now, #antiTrump bumpkin. I hear your mom calling you. /ct

How to read treason

Al Mohler has now given himself away as a cuck engaged in treason against this nation. In an article where he pretends to merely set out what is going on he writes this: "Traditionally, the Republican Party has established its reputation by standing for the principles advocated by the American Founders—limited government upheld by the health of society’s primary institutions such as marriage, family, and community. Yet Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party, represents virtually everything the Republican Party has typically defined itself over against."

Mohler knows this is a lie. He knows the demonic establishment wants all its followers to repeat down-is-up lies like that over and over. This is what tyrannies do. They distort reality by repeating lies over and over.

My guess is Mohler's institution and its network of churches is making money hand over fist from the human trafficking being orchestrated out of Washington, D.C.

Definition of a Puritan

How to define the Puritans (historic and modern)?

1. Bible oriented. Bible-believing, Bible-focused, Word of God valuing Christians.

2. They understand the fact and reality of supernatural regeneration by the Word and the Spirit.

3. They understand the difference between fearing the world and fearing God alone. They feared God alone.

4. They took a spiritual warfare approach to the faith. They understood and experienced the spiritual battlefield. For them this made biblical doctrine actual armor of God. They wanted real armor, hence they had no problem with 'hard truth' biblical doctrine (Calvinism), because it re-oriented them inwardly to being God-centered rather than man-centered or, in other words, being conformed to Christ.

5. They were practical with the faith (or "reduced to practice" the Christian faith). A soldier on a battlefield is a practical individual. Life and death is on the line constantly. For Puritans the Word of God and biblical doctrine is not merely philosophical or theoretical, but as practical as a spade, a weapon, a fox hole, or a good pair of boots.

6. Puritans are anti-establishment; or just by their nature outside any and all establishments. They are separated out from the world. They tend to be political targets of religious establishments and objects of mockery to the establishment.

7. Without being academic in the usual shallow ways (while still being willing to exploit any and all influences and sources of on-the-mark teaching, and being grateful for the effort to produce it, while producing it themselves as well) Puritans sought a complete understanding of the faith. They sought parts-in-relation-to-the-whole understanding of the Bible and its doctrine. They knew a Christian is to be a prophet, priest, and king, and that the bar is raised high to be that, yet the Holy Spirit enables the Christian to meet and exceed that bar. For Puritans learning is active, and individual (we face death and our judgment, ultimately, standing solely on our own two feet).

8. They had a strong doctrine of sin and the very real wrath of God. They knew their own state. Tyndale's metaphor of the venomous snake described the Puritan understanding. We are snakes with poison in us, and we can't get the poison out of us. Only God can. And even if we don't strike with our fangs, it is nevertheless our nature to strike. So from birth, due to original and then active sin, we are by our very constitution unable to be in the Kingdom of God. It takes an act of God to change us, give us a new heart, and recognize the righteousness of Christ in us which we appropriate by faith in the life and death of Jesus Christ. In other words we can't improve ourselves enough to get into the Kingdom of God. The leopard can't change his spots. Only God can change us. And until He does, by an act of pure grace, we are children of wrath fit for the lake of fire. This stark realization Puritans came to know at an experiential level.

9. Which gets back starkly to the Bible. The word of God. Puritans knew regeneration was solely an act of God, we can't effect it. Yet the word of God, the living, quickening language of the Bible, is the wild card. God says in His Word, several times: move towards Me, and I'll move towards you. The Puritans knew we move towards God not by ritual or physical buildings, but by reading and getting understanding of the Word of God and by prayer.

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So, to put is starkly, or plainly: what distinguishes a Puritan from other types or schools of Christians is a hyper focus and leaning on the Bible; an experiential knowing of the wrath of God, sin, and of regeneration; a spiritual warfare approach to the faith, rather than an academic or any other accented approach to the faith; a true fear of God alone and not the world or man; a practical approach to the faith; an anti-establishment stance regarding the faith; and a desire to get complete parts-in-relation-to-the-whole understanding of the faith, and not disdaining terminal understanding of the basics once arrived there.

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An email on the subject:

There is some confusion among Reformed academics - theologians and church historians - as to how to define who was and who wasn't a Puritan and whether there was any such thing as Puritans at all to begin with (some actually wonder this).

I see it this way: my observation that there is an academic approach to the faith and a spiritual warfare approach plays into this problem they have. The academic types can't see the spiritual warfare types or their approach.


The Puritans are defined as Reformed (Calvinist) believers who took (take) a spiritual warfare approach to the faith. This is why they are seen as practical and "reducing to practice" the Christian faith; because when you take a spiritual warfare approach you are like a soldier on a battlefield (the spiritual battlefield), and there is no more practical individual or group of individuals than a soldier on a battlefield. They need real things, no arguments. And doctrine becomes the real armor of God. They don't care that real doctrine is "hard" or insults their fallen nature. They are on a battlefield facing real enemies. They don't care if some people's feelings are getting hurt by the existence of real unwatered-down doctrine, that is what they need to survive.


The Puritans (then and today) understood regeneration and how it puts one on a real spiritual battlefield; and how doctrine becomes real armor of God.

People who take an academic approach to the faith - God bless them, we all benefit from their work (some of their work anyway) - can't see the seriousness or even reality of the spiritual battlefield and what soldiers on that battlefield need, hence they have difficultly even seeing those soldier or sometimes even admitting they exist at all.


Another difference between Puritans and other Reformed types is Puritans tended to be outside the Establishment of their time. In fact they were often fleeing the law and even their home countries.


When John Owen met John Bunyan we saw the two types together; and notice who it was who admired the other with more respect and awe. If you don't know it was John Owen who expressed his respect for John Bunyan, and you can feel that in the anecdote as it's come down to us. Owen may actually have been more Puritan than his position allowed him to be. Gurnall would be another who felt the tension of being a Puritan by type yet who hadn't crossed the divide from Establishment to outsider during his life and career. - C.

An adult showed up at National Review Online

Sobranist • 2 days ago

If only he could, I bet W F Buckley would lament the illogical stubbornness of editors allowing such mindlessness to fester. "We detest Trump, because as a thick-fingered, vulgar, low class, buffoonish, low-brow, stupid, white trash detestable, name-caller - - he has no business running for President." Because Ladies and gents at NRO - That is EXACTLY what you say every stinkin' day!

Lorenzo • 2 days ago

Sobranist, once you begin thinking of National Review as a country club with a printing press, the Trump detestation you describe makes sense.

Sobranist • 2 days ago

I see it less as a Country Club and more like a frat house... Country Club types know more about the world than this crew of Buckley wanna-be poseurs, they have read all the right books and strike conservative poses - but have demonstrated a tone-deafness that must come from a shallow core. My dad did business with Trump and hated him. But I think he would love to see him as president. Why? Because he may be a jerk but has "gonads." America needs "gonads" after Obama (and, also, the Yale Cheerleader.)

Lorenzo • 2 days ago

"Frat house" might be a better analogy than "country club". The swells running the typical country club, being businessmen or professionals of some sort, at least have to deal with the real world that the frat boys are insulated from.