Today on Reformed Forum...

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., May 6, 2016 - we're going to be talking with a good friend about an article he has written for the North American Karl Barth Review regarding what do we make of Barth's Christology vis-a-vis his unique view of inspiration in light of his support for Stalinist genocide. [Moderator note: we've deleted all mention of Stalinist genocide from this interview after many complaints from some very good and important Reformed Barth scholars, many of whom are our good friends and brothers in the faith.]

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., May 13, 2016 - we're going to be talking to just an excellent Reformed scholar about his new book on Declension Static Traumatizing String Theory Translation Algorithms and how this new practice is revolutionizing the translation of the Bible for new generations and making it possible to get the word of God right without having to even access any manuscripts. Praise God.

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., May 20, 2016 - we're going to be presenting highlights from our last two shows.

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., May 27, 2016 - we're going to be talking with Carlos Montoya, a really cool graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary, on his thesis that dichotomy was not the reigning belief in OPC churches in western Pennsylvania surprisingly until really the middle of the last century. He's done a lot of important investigative work on this subject, and we will explore this important topic on Reformed Forum, Christ the Center.

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., June 3, 2016 - I will review the new version of Scholax Software, and, with great joy, focus on their new 20th century Roman Catholic theologians modules. Here's a hint: there's joy in Mudville, because they hit it out of the park...

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., June 10, 2016 - we're going to be talking with church historian Len Dulles (pronounced Dull-ass) regarding the very exciting new finding of a cache of pastor's diaries from the 1950's in a storage unit in Milwaukee three years ago. The diaries have been collated and put into a new multi-volume book by Len and cast a very important light on the relation between Milwaukee pastors and their congregations during the historic Eisenhower administration years. One thing Len has dug up from this find is the extensive use of catechisms for vetting church administrators and not just teachers. That's an important find and gives a great new insight into our faith and the history of God's plan of redemption. Praise God.

Today on Reformed Forum - Fri., June 17, 2016 - we're going to be talking with a good friend about Karl Barth. How do we see Barth's take on regeneration? Barth said that regeneration was like giving allegiance to the Communist Party. Is this helpful for our understanding of Reformed doctrine? How can we incorporate it and learn from it. What did Barth say about Reformed churches taking money from the government to help settle Muslim refugees in our small town? Should we become Muslim? Is there a difference? What would Barth say? Why am I talking softly? Am I a soft-talking scholar? Are my blank eyes a symptom of some sort of unknown-to-me indoctrination I've received from institutions that don't really believe the Bible to be more than some Ancient Near East text document, with its supernatural baggage and talk of sin when I'm a pastor in good standing with a wife and kids, i.e. sinless and soft-talking and blinking mindlessly with my blank eyes, following the rules laid down by all the authority figures that must be obeyed including their decrees about gender and abortion and bathroom access for men into girls bathrooms and Satanic-pedo ritual everywhere including rightfully in churches where pastors in good standing teach the faith and exercise a lot? Does the Bible say suicide sends you to hell, not that I care because I'm enjoying life...

Today on Reformed Forum...

A good, short book on Reformed, amillennial end-times doctrine

I just read a little book (booklet) on end times doctrine titled The ABCs of the Prophetic Scriptures by George H. Clement (available for free download here).

I recommend it highly because there doesn't seem to be a single quirk in it. I mean, if you already are amillennial, Reformed, and hold no allegiance to Dispensationalism then you'll find this concise little book to, in an on-the-mark and clear way, sum up end times doctrine.

It's a difficult subject, and bigger books can overload, so to get to the point in a simple, on-the-mark way this is a good book to read through.

Studying war for the three-front battle

Here's how you fight the three-front battle as a Christian:

1. The battle with the Devil is fought by knowing the Bible in the parts-in-relation-to-the-whole way; and knowing sound doctrine which is five solas, doctrines of grace, covenant - federal - theology.

2. The battle with the world is fought by studying worldview analysis and getting understanding and perspective on just how and why the Christian worldview is transcendent and correcting and all-encompassing of every worldview fallen man has ginned up.

3. The battle with the flesh (our fallen nature) is fought by learning a practical language which describes clearly the features of our fallen nature, and as well describes the psychology of what is possible and indeed normal for man no longer in the bonds of sleep, self-ignorance, and debilitating weakness.

[Good sources for the first category are numerous and summed up in the difficult word 'puritan.' It is called generally Reformed Theology, of which great individual authors are many. One great trinity would be Louis Berkhof's Manual of Christian Doctrine, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, and Thomas Boston's Human Nature in its Fourfold State. Good sources for the second category are James Sire, The Universe Next Door; David Naugle, Worldview: The History of a Concept; Nancy Pearcey, Finding Truth (and anything else by her). A good source for the unusual third category doesn't come from the mainstream, academic or otherwise. You have to go into the esoteric realm. Ouspensky's Fourth Way is a cache of raw material on this subject (get the paperback as eBook editions are horrible and missing much of the original). Take it from there...]

Related note: Christian books on spiritual warfare are attractive to a believer but ultimately unsatisfying because they lack the practical nature and necessary subject matter listed above. I mean, for instance, you can't do battle with the world and defend yourself against the onslaught of the world until you know the worldviews you're dealing with. And you can't get control of your fallen nature (if you don't control it, it controls you) until you can *see* it, and that requires language and method to accomplish. And you get nowhere in all this without downloading the living, quickening, supernatural word of God into you by dedicated, cover-to-cover complete readings, once, three times, seven times...

Real Puritans

Scripture-The only Rule

While we have Christ's Word for the things we do or refuse to do, we need not fear the threats of any vain men; neither be amazed at any vain titles of Church, Sacraments etc. For this we know, that their is no church that can excuse us for the breach of God's Law before that great Judge. [Henry Barrowe]

Some thoughts on the current scene in these end times...

Every Calvinist who knows better still goes soft on Roman Catholicism every now and then. It's a constant push and pull between recognizing evil vs. wanting to be fair and brotherly to actual Catholics themselves.

But then you're shocked back to reality. (Consider the current Pope. Enough said.)

I have always been one to defend Israel, to mention another similar subject. I probably know better, but there it is. Then you get shocked out of it by hearing that Israel is the world capital of human organ harvesting. OK.

There are four types of human trafficking.

1. The trafficking of children for sexual exploitation (and worse...Satanic Ritual Abuse).

2. The trafficking of of-age (usually) women for sexual exploitation. The so-called white slave trade.

3. The trafficking of humans for forced labor (otherwise known as slavery).

4. And the least known of the four: the trafficking of children and adults for the purpose of harvesting their bodily organs to be sold on international markets. It is big money.

All these networks are involved with each other. They call themselves different things, go by different names, wear different hats, but they are all unified in their Satanic intent and activity. Jewish networks, Roman Catholic networks, pedophile networks, Islamic networks, Marxist networks, media, political realms, entertainment, religion, academia, all relatively high level, able to - to a good degree - ride above the law. All with money, if only just enough to have the leisure to be involved in such activities to begin with.

Actually, of those four points above I could add a fifth: the trafficking of humans (so-called refugees, for instance) for the purpose of disrupting the polity of a nation or community and for the purpose of increasing a political party's voting rolls, etc., etc...

This is all Satanic activity. It is all activity motivated by the spirit of Satan in this world. You have to call a spade a spade. You can't go soft and have any - any - sympathy for the Devil in this world, on this journey towards the consummated Kingdom of God, New Heavens and Earth.

Without regeneration we called good evil and evil good. We didn't have discernment that comes from the Holy Spirit. Once regenerated we can discern good and evil. We know which way is up. But we have to constantly be internally vigilant that we don't allow the world to move us or influence us, or make us fearful of stating the truth, as difficult for others that that will be (and difficult for us due to the inevitable backlash of all kinds).

These evil acts are the price of admission to participation in the higher levels of this Satanic world structure. The level of evil is going to always be shocking. Astonishing. We will always be vulnerable to understate it. If not justify it away.

For the final sentence of this post I'm just going to say this: prayer is a weapon of a spiritual warrior as well as the armor listed in Ephesians 6:10-18...