Tag: Idolatry

By micoots
02/01/2017 0

Saying No to Church = Divorcing Christ from His Bride (Murray)

“We cannot think of Christ properly apart from the church. All the offices he exercises as head over all things, he exercises on behalf of the church. If we think of the church apart from Christ, or transfer to the church prerogatives that belong only to Christ, then we are guilty of idolatry. But if we think of Christ apart from the church, then we are guilty of a dismemberment that severs what God has joined together. We are divorcing Christ from his only bride.”

Some people today believe the..

By micoots
30/12/2016 0

When God Fights Idolatry with Unconventional Weapons

A better way to read the bizarre story of Elisha and the bears.

Three times last year I asked a Christian audience this question: Which story in Scripture bothers you most? There are numerous candidates—the flood, the destruction of Sodom, the Passover, the conquest of Canaan—most involving large numbers of people being killed. But each time, I got the same answer: the passage about Elisha and the bears (2 Kings 2:23–25, ESV used throughout).

It is certainly a bizarre story. Elisha is heading ..

By micoots
27/12/2016 0

What Does The Bible Say About Patriotism?

Does the Bible say much about patriotism? If so, is it wrong or is it right?
Our True CitizenshipOur truest citizenship is not in the nations we live in but the Kingdom of God, which is why the Apostle Paul wrote that “our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil 3:20). Even the Old Testament saints understood that they were simply sojourners, traveling to a new and better place (Rev 21:1-5), so “These all died in faith, not having received the things..

By micoots
26/12/2016 0

WCF 15: Repentance Unto Life

Concerning how we understand repentance, Bible-believing Christians should be wary of at least three major errors. First, the Roman Catholic Church has turned repentance into a sacrament, where in the sacrament of penance, it is believed that penance is actually a meritorious work by which sinners make real satisfaction for their sin (add to the work of Christ). Second, and similarly, Arminianism believes that repentance is a work on the part of the individual that is a necessary precursor to re..

By micoots
24/12/2016 0

God Hates Sexual Immorality

Those who love must also hate. Those who love what is good, what is beneficial, what is honorable must hate what is evil, what is harmful, what is deplorable. We are defined by the things we love as well as the things we loathe. And what is true of us is true of God as well (or, said better, what is first true of God is subsequently true of us). For God to love he must also hate.

The Bible tells us of many things that God hates, sometimes by right-out saying “God hates this” and other times by describing such things with words like “abominable” or “detestable.” When we put it all together we find there are eight broad categories of things he hates. We have already seen that God Hates Idolatry. Today I want to show that God hates sexual immorality.

God Hates Sexual Immorality
Human beings are sexual beings. We are far more than that, of course, but we are not less. Our sexuality is a part of who and what we are, a good gift of God given to bind together a husband and wife and to expan..

By micoots
24/12/2016 0

The Christmas Present in Lot’s Cave

“When you trace back the lineage of Jesus you come through Lot’s cave. And the stench of sin in that cave is overwhelming; just as the stench of sin throughout the Old Testament is nauseating. However, the long-awaited Son of David was born to bring salvation to the nations. Here is the bouquet of grace! The sweet scent of the gospel that lifts our spirit!”

The cave seemed like the perfect hiding place, but soon it became the setting for one of the most heinous scenes in all of the Bible. But e..

By micoots
21/12/2016 0

Homosexuality and Spiritual Friendship

In addition to William Loader’s rigorous reading of texts about same-sex relations in the Bible in their Jewish context — and he does so in a strong, traditional manner (though he doesn’t think that teaching is normative) — and Megan DeFranza’s careful reading of the texts more in line with exploitative relations, while not discussing consensual, monogamous same-sex relations, Wesley Hill, a NT professor and fellow Anglican, proposes to read the texts in light of a biblical theology that he find..

TLG Prayer
By micoots
21/12/2016 0

Extinguishing Evil

PassageColossians 3:5-17
PrayerDear Father,Help me put to death certain things in my life that are earthly – inward evils ranging from impurity to covetousness.Most of all, may I be rid of covetousness, wanting the applause and possessions of this world, which is really idolatry.May I extinguish all outward evil ranging from anger to slander and foul talk.Keep me from everything that is false. Don't let a lie come to my mind or my lips.In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Devotional provided by Hear..

By micoots
17/12/2016 0

Hate What God Hates

God is love. We love that God is love, that he is the never-ending source of love, that he is the one who always acts in loving ways. Even those who reject the Christian faith still like to imagine and believe in a God who is love.

But God is not only love. The God who loves must also hate. The God who loves all that is good and pure and holy must hate all that is evil and defiled and perverse. And, not surprisingly, the Bible tells us of many things that ignite the wrath of God. Sometimes he tells us plainly as in Proverbs 6:16: “There are six things the LORD hates…” Sometimes he tells us of things that are an abomination to him or things that are detestable in his sight. As we compile them we arrive at a list of more than 40 things that God expressly hates. They range from abhorrent sexual practices to pagan forms of worship to acts of grave injustice.

Today I am kicking off a series that will examine the things God hates, for what God hates we must hate as well. I have distilled t..

By micoots
09/12/2016 0

The Bible’s (Six?) Principles of Economy

To study what the Bible “says” about the economy and about finances is to enter into a field fraught with two major challenges: first, the radical difference between those economies in the Bible times (we are dealing here with possible two millennia, and one must at least ponder whether what is said to a covenant based people, Israel, is for non-covenant based people) and ours (Western history of capitalism and free market, with not a little influence from the so-called Protestant work ethic) an..