Baxter's advice to Pastors

Advice to Pastors

Richard Baxter

1. The ministerial work must be carried on purely for God and the salvation of souls, not for any private ends of our own.
2. The ministerial work must be carried on diligently and laboriously, as being of such unspeakable consequence to ourselves and others.
3. The ministerial work must be carried on prudently and orderly.
4. Throughout the whole course of our ministry, we must insist chiefly upon the greatest, most certain, and most necessary truths, and be more seldom and sparing upon the rest.
5. All our teaching must be as plain and simple as possible.
6. Our work must be carried on with great humility.
7. There must be a prudent mixture of severity and mildness both in our preaching and discipline.
8. We must be serious, earnest, and zealous in every part of our work.
9. The whole of our ministry must be carried on in tender love to our people.
10. We must carry on our work with patience. We must bear with many abuses and injuries from those to whom we seek to do good.
11. All our work must be managed reverently and use not holy things as if they were common.
12. All our work must be done spiritually, as by men possessed of the Holy Spirit.
13. If you would prosper in your work, be sure to keep up earnest desires and expectations of success. If your heart be not set on the end of your labors, and you long not to see the conversion and edification of your hearers, and do not study and preach in hope, you are not likely to see much success.
14. Our whole work must be carried on under a deep sense of our own insufficiency, and of our entire dependence on Christ.
15. We must be very studious of union and communion among ourselves, and of the unity and peace of the churches that we oversee.

Name this Heretic

Here are some quotes from someone that the "Christian" world adores. Can you name this person:


“We never try to convert those who receive [aid from Missionaries of Charity] to Christianity but in our work we bear witness to the love of God’s presence and if Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, or agnostics become for this better men — simply better — we will be satisfied. It matters to the individual what church he belongs to. If that individual thinks and believes that this is the only way to God for her or him, this is the way God comes into their life — his life. If he does not know any other way and if he has no doubt so that he does not need to search then this is his way to salvation.”

This was asked the following in regards to the Hindus they worked with, “These people are waiting to die. What are you telling them to prepare them for death and eternity?” She replied candidly, “We tell them to pray to their Bhagwan, to their gods.”

“I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic”

“I love all religions. … If people become better Hindus, better Muslims, better Buddhists by our acts of love, then there is something else growing there.” Or in another place, “All is God — Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, etc., all have access to the same God.”

”When the priest is there, then can we have our altar and our tabernacle and our Jesus. Only the priests put Jesus there for us. … Jesus wants to go there, but we cannot bring him unless you first give him to us.

Who is this heretic?  Mother Teresa

These quotes are taken from an article by Tim Challies. You can read the whole article here.

In conclusion:  Doing "righteous" deeds can not make a person righteous or in a right standing before God.  All of the works of both Hitler and Mother Teresa leave them each equally condemned before God.  This is what the Gospel is about.  That is why Jesus needed to come and reconcile us to God.  This is why we need the imputed righteouness of Jesus applied to us.  Our best efforts send us to Hell. 

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus name 

Would you have murdered the Jews if forced to by Hitler?

Waiting for a vision to know God's will? Read the Sciptures instead.

For the last 4 or 5 months I have had the opportunity to talk to so many people about discernment.  It seems that everyone that I run into is struggling with finding out what God wants them to do.  I always hear the red flag warning phrases like:  "God told me" or "I had a dream" or "I feel that God is leading me" or "I want to do this but I don't know if it is God's will" and on and on.

These feeling based assumptions cause more problems in people's lives than anything.  Instead of reading the Scriptures to understand how the will of God works, people wait for an angel to come down and direct them or for a dream or vision or open door.  When people say that, "God told me" or they are waiting for an answer, they are really basing their decisions on their own feelings.  They are trusting in their own deceitfully wicked heart to feel what is the right thing to do. 

God gives us freedom in making decisions.  If your motivations are pure and the decision is not sinful in any way, we really have a lot of freedom to make choices.  Should you move to another state?  Well, ask yourself why you want to move.  Is the reason sinful?  Will it help you grow spiritually?  Use biblical discernment to make your decision and then, if everything checks out, get off your butt and do something.  Otherwise you just sit around in a dumb stupor doing nothing but wasting your life.  Like the man that really wanted to go to China to proclaim the gospel.  He struggled because he just didn't know if it was the will of God.  He prayed about it for 30 years and then died.  If he would have understood biblical discernment then he would have jumped on a plane 30 years ago. 

There are some things we don't have to pray about because God has already revealed His will in the Scriptures.  Should I share the gospel with my neighbor?  Yes.  Should I help the widow across the street?  Yes.  Should I take revenge on my enemy?  No  Should I sue my ex-coworker who is a Christian?  No.  God has already revealed His will in the Bible and if we read it then we will discover it and be able to make decisions much easier and with more confidence.  For all of your decisions that are not black and white in the Bible, use biblical discernment.  Look at your motives, look at the benefits to glorifying Christ and your own sanctification, and look at any potential for sin and then make your decision.

There is so much more I could say about God's providential will and His revealed will and more on biblical discernment but instead of me writing 200 pages why don't you just read these great books.

Two great books on biblical discernment that I highly recommend if you are confused about what you are supposed to be doing are:

1)  Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will, or, How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Impressions, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky by Kevin DeYoung

2) The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies

Paul Washer - Quenching the Spirit

Open-Air preaching at Helena street party.

So much has been happening that I have been too busy to blog but we have got to share the gospel with so many people lately. Amazing things happened when I was in Sidney, MT for a week. My missions blog tells the story here.  My friend Brandon come over from Sidney to hang out and do some street evangelism for a few days before we leave the country.  We hit alive at 5 with TJ and got to share the gospel with a ton of people.  Some conversations went very well and some did not but the gospel was proclaimed. 

Brandon was so burdened that he stood up amongst several hundred people and open-air preached.  The band wasn't playing yet but there was a lot of noise and commotion until Brandon yelled, "Can I have your attention" in a voice like Whitefield.  Everyone in the place stopped and turned to us.  Brandon began to speak about the fact that everyone would die one day and he asked them where they would go when they died.  Some people mocked.  Brandon kept going into the gospel.  At this time the band found out what was going on and they cranked up the speakers that were playing the radio about as loud as they could go in order to drowned out Brandon's voice.  He spoke louder but eventually had to quit because the music became deafening. 

When you go into the devils dark territory and begin to send out a great light, he will do whatever it takes to send you back to where you came from.  And this night the devil had many of his slaves ready for action.  But greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  Brandon opened his mouth for the Kingdom of Christ to be advanced and hundreds of people heard a short gospel message.  This is more lost people than the average Montana church preaches the gospel to in a year.  This is the means that the Kingdom of Christ has always been advanced.  Praise God for the boldness that He gives us and may He give His servants a renewed sense of boldness today and that they take this new boldness and proclaim that gospel to anything that breaths.

Matt Chandler - Horrified

All I have is Christ

The Spirit of God is still working on the street!

It had rained for 3 days straight but when I called TJ to see if he still wanted to go share the gospel at the “Alive at 5” street party, he was all for it. Alive at 5 was, of course, cancelled so we just hit the walking mall. TJ shared the gospel with a whole bunch of teenagers that mocked him the whole time. I almost can’t stand witnessing to a group of 13-17 year olds. Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and kids today have no fear of the Lord, they are very stupid. Most of them are not capable of having a conversation about anything but a cell phone or iPod. I guess I am ranting a little but I want to find their derelict parents and slap them around for giving their 13 year old kid a cell phone and some cash and turning them loose to run the streets all night.

We gave out a lot of tracts to the surprising amount of people walking around in the rain. The first person that I shared the gospel with was an older lady with some meditation beads which is what I used to start off the conversation. She told me all about them but didn’t really know much. We talked for a while about different beliefs and what she thought happened when a person died and then I swung to the Scriptures and the Law which brings the knowledge of sin. She now was not a happy camper and advised me, in a daring command, that she wasn’t the person I wanted to talk to about this stuff. I took it as a challenge. We went through the law and I was able, by the grace of God, to share the whole biblical gospel with her. She admitted to breaking God’s law but said she was going to heaven because she wanted to. Everyone wants to go to Heaven, they just don’t want the God of the Bible there with them. She finally got sick of talking and stormed off.

We got out of the rain at Starbucks and tried to start up a conversation but there was none to take it. Some of the punk kids that TJ witnessed to early were there. One of the kids, too loudly, told his friends that the Jesus freaks were here. I stood up and asked the kid what he had said and he got scared and said we were the people that talked to them about Jesus. As we left, they mocked us more. Again…derelict parents to blame.

I next found a man in his 50’s that did have alcohol on his breath but we had a great talk. He grew up Catholic like me and also saw the hypocrisy in the church. I shared my testimony and then we talked about God’s justice and the necessity of God punishing law breakers. He thought he would go to heaven because he believed in his heart that he would because he was good. That changed after we went through the law. God began breaking the man down in the pouring rain. He admitted his sin and the state of his soul. I gave him the good news and explained Jesus as our sin-bearing substitute to satisfy God’s justice. It seemed to make sense to him. He was very convicted as we parted ways and he said he had a bible at home, which is where he was heading.

I tried to share the gospel with some “ultra runners” but these people have their own culture that is centered around themselves. They openly mocked me and Christianity and showed their indignant hatred of Christ.

That last two people that I shared the gospel with is the type of God-ordained encounter that we always hope for. The couple was in their late 20’s and they both grew up Catholic. The guy was actually kicked out of the Catholic church when he was in his teens because he asked too many questions about the Bible that the priest couldn’t answer. The two questions that the priest couldn’t answer and that he still had never found an answer to were very common and simple questions to answer for anyone who actually knows the Bible. He wanted to know if the Bible talked about dinosaurs and why incest was deemed good when Adam and Eve first started populating the earth. I answered both questions and then went into the law. The guy actually went as far from Catholicism as he could and now believed in reincarnation. He soon admitted he had no basis of his beliefs other than it sounded good. As we talked about sin and the justice of God with many illustrations both the guy and his wife had a change of countenance on their face as God was beginning to reveal to them their sin and break them down. I explained the glorious cross and they stared at the ground, realizing the predicament they were in but didn’t really know how to take this substitutionary atonement. I explained repentance and urged them to believe. They knew they would die one day like the rest of all the living. We shook hands and parted ways to let the Spirit of God continue to work in them.

Are you encouraged by these stories? Do you know what will happen if you don’t share the gospel? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. You will never see God work in these glorious ways. God will continue to fulfill His purposes and God will continue to raise up His obedient servants to proclaim the gospel to the perishing but you will suffer loss. You will never experience God in this way. If only you would die to yourself and get out of your easy, comfortable lifestyle and do something. When you see God working in people before your eyes, you become so revived and on fire that you can’t imagine wasting your life doing anything else. The world stops. Your priorities change. The world fades away. Do something, do something, do something for the glory of Christ and the advancement of the Kingdom.

Are you striving to retire?

Wake up call = Paul Washer

Names and Attributes of God 2011 Conference



Jeff Smith from Denver, CO preaching

The Wolf Creek Men's conference on the Names and Attributes of God took place last weekend.  It was such a great conference and we all had great fellowship, building new friendships and strengthening others.  Some amazing things happened at the conference and we could see God in it.  It is a very amazing thing to get a room full of men together singing and worshiping God.  We had great music thanks to Fellowship Baptist Church of Sidney supplying their men to lead us.  One of the funniest things that happened was when Tim Killillay prayed over John Wallace that if John never glorified God in his preaching that God would strike him dead and preach through his corpse.  This is Mr. Killillay.  We all understood what Tim meant but we all joked about it the rest of the weekend.  I do believe that in the conference, God was glorified, the burden of others were carried, Christians were fed spiritually to overflowing, new friendships were made, and the Spirt of God was present.  Here are some pictures.




Fellowship Baptist Church Worship





We never starved at the conference



Michael Saville from Helena preaching



Myself preaching on Jehovah Jireh



Good Conversation



Surprise, Surprise, Jordan Hall preaching on the Wrath of God



John Wallace of Big Timber



A few of the Wallace boys



I was also ordained on Sunday, which was a great honor.  Leo, Rob, Jeff, John, Matt and Jordan prayed over me and commissioned me to a life of misson work in Peru.





When Providence Knocks

God has been giving me a lot of opportunities to share the gospel lately so I thought I would share a few of them.


The Miners

In Big Timber there were a bunch of hard-bitten, wretched miners waiting for the mine bus to take them to the Stillwater mine where they are enslaved. These guys vile, almost as bad as me. I walked up to the group and handed out tracts. One guy, the most outspoken and obnoxious man started in on me right away. He mocked the tract with a string of cuss words that he cleverly wove together. Once I started talking to the miners about death and where they would go when they died, the obnoxious man jumped in and told me to leave and that this was no place to be doing what I was doing. He asked if I was scared and I said that I wasn’t scared at all. He then backed off so I was able to share the gospel with the rest of them. They were hardened but the seed was planted. Some of them ripped up the tract in many pieces in front of me, without reading them.

The mystics

Around the corner I ran into a couple guys and a girl. I struck up a conversation and we ended up debating about the things of God for a long time. They had no logic to their arguments and were stuck on the bizarre idea that they could make their own truth.

The canoeist

I ran into a guy that was canoeing from three forks on the Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. He said he was going on the trip to lose himself and be out of the world. He said he used to be a Christian but when he was walking down the street in Vegas, God pulled him away and brought him into judgment and then put him back on earth. His said he is now condemned and the Bible is not true. We got into quite a heated debate. He said he used to be an apologist but he must have been a bad one. He was totally closed to the gospel and would not let me explain the cross.

The tattoo man

I talked to a man that had naked women tattooed all over his body and of course he was wearing a cross and proclaimed he was a Christian. I asked what he thought it took to get to heaven and he said to be your true self. All I could think of is that we are all depraved, vile beasts who deserve Hell so if that is all we have to do to get to heaven then we are all in.

The Tramps

TJ and I witnessed to these two tramps, which the name they called themselves. They were just your typical traveler, homeless guys, one young and one old. The old man knew everything, just ask him, but the young Indian kid grew up under the care of a father who was a pastor but he knew nothing. They tried to take us down many rabbit holes but we stuck to the gospel. We talked and looked over Scripture for over a half hour and then a cool thing happened. The Indian kid who could barley even read started reading passages of Scripture. I thought this was glorifying to God because here was a huge wretch that was desperately lost and he was reading the very words of life. Praise God.

The Sikh

I saw a guy with a turban on so I went over and talked with him. He was a Sikh from India. I asked him a lot of questions and just let him dig holes. We talked about the consciousness and what is was and where it came from. We talked about the god inside of you and the point of life and reincarnation and a bunch of other eastern thought. His wife came and pulled him away before we could get into the gospel though. I guess you don’t need to go to India to find a Sikh, they are here too.

The nations are here! But who will go there? How will those in India hear the gospel without a preacher? How will the preacher get there if no one sends him?

What are your retiring from?

So what are you retiring from?  I have heard of pastors retiring but I am not sure why and from what.  I'm still reading George Muller's autobiography and am continually amazed.  God used Muller for so much.  Not only did God use Muller to pastor a church of 1200 people, start schools that taught over 123,000 students, distributed publications by the millions, support numerous missionaries, to build 5 buildings in his orphanage and care for 10,024 orphans before he died, God also brought in 75 million pounds by prayer only and answered 50,000 requests which 30,000 of them were in the same hour or day that they were asked.

Now this is amazing enough but Muller surprises me yet again.  He actually started his overseas mission work at the age of 70.  Most people retire and die soon after at this age but no Muller.  God, by His grace, allowed Muller and his wife to be missionaries from the age of 70-87.  He traveled over 200,000 miles and to 42 countries by boat, horse, foot, wagon and other various means as an elderly man.  Some of the countries include:  England, Scotland, Ireland, America, all over Europe, Canada, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Greece, Germany, Russia, Poland, India, Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, In his old age in the mission field, he preached 5-6000 times in many languages.  Now that is a good retirement.  All was possible only by the sustaining grace of God but when you have Godly desires to advance the kingdom of Christ, God provides the grace and means to accomplish them.  Retirement should be going to work full time for God.

The advancement of the Kingdom of Christ

Sometimes I feel that if I don't tell someone about the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ, I will die.  This fire has been kindled lately. 

I was traveling down the road and came to the town of Big Timber so I stopped by my friend, John Wallace's church/coffee shop to visit.  It was raining out but I saw two guys standing in the rain smoking so I asked them if they were ever taught to get out of the rain and then gave them a gospel tract and started up a conversation.  One grew up Catholic and the other Lutheran and both were lost.  We talked about sin and the justice of God.  They started getting uncomfortable and justified their sin.  They said they were going to take my first point of advice and get out of the rain and into their car away from me.  I told them that I never got to tell them the best part.  I tried to explain the atonement of Christ on the cross but they had no interest and got into their car.  Oh to be surrounded by the gospel and openly reject it.  It would be better to have never been born than to know the gospel and reject it. 

Oh how I weep for the countless sinners that I talk to that are just like these guys.  We would all be the same if it wasn't for the unfathomable grace of God that was given to us.  Oh that the grace of God would be poured out like rain on a bunch of Hell deserving sinners like us and the kingdom of Christ be advanced.  Brothers, we should be crying out to God for His Kingdom to be advanced for His own glory.  We should weep when the name of Christ is not glorified like He deserves.  Come Lord Jesus, quickly.

The Marriage Song - very funny

Mariology, part 7

The Rosary

Beads that represent prayers. There are 5 sets of 10 prayers that are dedicated to praying to Mary and there are 5 beads in between each set of 10 Mary beads that are to be prayed to the Father. So when doing the Rosary, Catholics pray 50 prayers to Mary and 5 prayers to God. The 50 prayers are “Hail Mary” and the 5 are “Our Father”


This un-biblical and blasphemous act of praying to Mary would totally disgust Mary if she ever knew about it, but she doesn't. Mary has never heard a single prayer from anyone because she was a mortal human that sinned and needed to be saved by Jesus Christ and is now in Heaven where she worships her Son like the rest of Heaven. She can't hear a single prayer from anyone, anymore than your dead grandma can't hear your prayer. Praying to dead people is cultic.

Mariology, part 6

The Perpetual Virginity of Mary


The perpetual virginity of Mary means that the Catholic Church believes that Mary was a virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ. In the official catechism of the Catholic church from the Vatican, which can be found here , In part 1, section 2, chapter 2, article 3, paragraph 2, number 499 they state this belief.
499 The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary's real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ's birth "did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it." and so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos, the "Ever-virgin".

They also claim in number 501:

501 Jesus is Mary's only son.

The Bible clearly teaches that Mary had children with Joseph after Jesus was born.

After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. (John 2:12)

4While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (Mathew 12:46-50)

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. 2Not the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. (John 7:1-3)

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and) his brothers. (Acts 1:14)

18Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (Galatians 1:18-19)
Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56And are not all his sisters with us? (Matthew 13:55-56)

It is quite odd with all the references to Mary having other children, and now the Bible is naming them, that the Catholic Church holds to the doctrine of Mary as a perpetual virgin.

To justify these verses of Scripture that clearly state Mary had other children after the birth of Jesus; the Catholic church invents new doctrine in number 500 of their catechism:

500 Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, "brothers of Jesus", are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls "the other Mary". They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression.

Notice how they can’t defend their doctrine using Scripture so they use the tradition of the Catholic church, which is exalted higher than Scripture. They ignore what the Bible says and stand on how the Catholic church has always understood these passages. Sometimes the Catholic church will say that “brothers” and “sisters” were general terms that really could refer to any kind of kinsman, including cousins. This is true in the Hebrew language. However, the New Testament is written in Greek, which is an extremely precise language. It makes a clear distinction between the words used to describe family relationships.

Mariology, part 5

The assumption of Mary

The assumption of Mary means that Mary did not die but directly ascended to heaven in the same way that Jesus did.

We again read in the Catholic Catechism of 1997, Part 1, section 2, chapter 3, article 9, paragraph 6

974 The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son's Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body.

Of course the Catholic church has no Scripture to back this claim up and they even admit it. Father William G. Most tells us concerning this doctrine:

There had been a problem of how the Pope could define the Assumption. There seemed to be nothing in Scripture on it, and what things there were in the Tradition of the Fathers seemed to come not from an apostolic origin, but from some apocryphal stories that circulated chiefly beginning in the fourth century. A Pope is not required to specify precisely where in the sources of revelation he finds a given doctrine.

The Catholic church admits that their doctrine of the assumption of Mary is not in the Bible but was made up by the Pope's. The Catholic church puts the value of the Pope's inventions equal with the Scriptures, which is another problem that we will deal with later. When anyone puts the words of a sinful man above the Scriptures, you can only form heretical doctrine.

Mariology, part 4

Mary - The co-redemptrix with Jesus

Not yet official because of ecumenical fear but in the 1990's, 4.4 million Catholics from around the world signed a petition to dogmatize this doctrine. In the saint Peter catechism it states:

Question: Did God will to make our redemption and all its consequences depend on the free consent of the blessed virgin Mary?
Answer: God willed that our redemption and all its consequences should depend on the free consent of the blessed virgin Mary.

In the Catholic catechism, number 511, they do claim that Mary co-operated with God in the salvation of men.

511 The Virgin Mary "co-operated through free faith and obedience in human salvation" (LG 56).

This is heresy. Acts 4:12 says that salvation is found in no one else, there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must saved. If Mary is co-redemptrix then Acts 4:12 is a contradiction and should read that there are two names under heaven given to men by which they must be saved.

In Catholic theology, Mary does indeed save those who will honor and worship her. Catholic theology says that Jesus redeemed us with the blood of His body and Mary redeemed us with the agonies of her heart, suffering in her heart what was lacking in the passion of Christ.

In the Constitution on the Church of Vatican II, P61 in says:

"... in suffering with Him as He died on the cross, she cooperated in the work of the Savior, in an altogether singular way, by obedience, faith, hope and burning love, to restore supernatural life to souls."

This same doctrine is found in every Pope from Leo XIII up to and including John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II said that Mary participates in the redemption achieved by her Son and all graces are granted only through her intercession with her Son.

Again in the Catholic Catechism of 1997, Part 1, section 2, chapter 3, article 9, paragraph 6, it says concerning Mary as Mediatrix as well as prescribing other attributes of God:

969 "This motherhood of Mary in the order of grace continues uninterruptedly from the consent which she loyally gave at the Annunciation and which she sustained without wavering beneath the cross, until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect. Taken up to heaven she did not lay aside this saving office but by her manifold intercession continues to bring us the gifts of eternal salvation . . . . Therefore the Blessed Virgin is invoked in the Church under the titles of Advocate, Helper, Benefactress, and Mediatrix."


Of course there is not even a hint of the idea that Mary was the co-redemptrix with Christ in the Scriptures. This is a flat out invention of the Catholic church. Do you see the consequences of this doctrine? This is putting Mary equal with Christ in regards to redeeming man-kind. This is heresy and will send anyone who believes it to Hell. If you are trusting in Mary for your salvation then you can't be saved. It would be just as useful to trust in your grandmother for your salvation.

Again in the Catholic prayer, The Regina Caeli, salvation is granted through Mary.

The Regina Caeli

O God, who through the resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, did vouchsafe to give joy to the world; grant, we beseech you, that through his Mother, the Virgin Mary, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus Himself says this about obtaining salvation:

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(John 14:6)

And the book of Acts says that no other name but Jesus is given for men to be saved. Not even Mary.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
(Acts 4:12)

Mariology, part 3

Mary - The Queen of Heaven

The official worship of Mary started in 431 AD and prayers to Mary were started in about 600 AD.

This worship of Mary can be traced back to Pagan goddess worship. The idea of the Queen of Heaven has been around long before Mary. The book of Jeremiah, which speaks of the future punishment of Judah which came to pass in the Babylonian captivity. Some of the sins that they committed were told of in Jeremiah 7:18:

The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

Heaven has no Queen but only a King, Jesus. Making Mary the queen of heaven is paganism and is the same sin that Israel was punished for. In verse 20 we see the response of God to this worship of the queen of heaven:

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.

The queen of heaven appears again in the book of Jeremiah in chapter 44. The Jews were so stubborn and rebellious against God in their devotion to the queen of heaven that they responded to Jeremiah in obstinate rebellion. Chapter 44 and verse 17 says:

But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster.

The Jews superstitiously credited the queen of heaven for their prosperity in the same way Catholics credit Mary for any good thing that happens in their lives. In the same way that the Jews thought that stopping the worship of the queen of heaven brought disaster on them, the Catholics also believe that if they turn their back on Mary then they will face the same demise. This is the bondage that the Catholics are entrapped in. Verse 18 tells of this:

But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.

If a devout Catholic ever denounced the worship of Mary they would be declared an anathema and condemned to Hell. But God is the judge, not the sinful Pope. God responded to the Jews obstinacy in verse 26-27:

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, 'As the Lord GOD lives.' Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them.

God punished Judah for their unrepentant worship of the queen of heaven because they choose to worship a false idol instead of the living God. The worship of Mary is pagan goddess worship and it robs God of His glory, of which He will share with no one. You cannot worship the True God and Mary, it is demonic and blasphemous. Mary has never answered a prayer nor has the power to do so. She does not operate on her own, nor give mercy, nor forgive sins, nor give grace. Mary worship is pagan idolatry ingrained into Catholicism. Mary worship is no different and no less blasphemous than Baal worship. Can the Roman Catholic church escape God's judgment? Did Judah when they worshiped the queen of heaven?

Mariology, part 2

This is part 2 of Mariology of the Catholic church which deals with Mary as perfectly holy.

Mary the all holy one

According to the Roman Catholic Church, Mary is all holy, just like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From a book called True devotion to Mary, chapter 6 says:


There is no darkness in Mary, not even the slightest shadow since there was never any sin in her. She is a holy place, a holy of holies, in which saints are formed and molded.

This seems quite bizarre since Mary, in her song, calls God her Savior. If you are perfectly holy then what do you need to be saved from?

The necessity of Mary in sanctification is also required by the Catholic church. Without Mary you can work really hard but Jesus will only be slightly seen in you.

If Mary, the Tree of Life, is well cultivated in our soul by fidelity to this devotion, she will in due time bring forth her fruit which is none other than Jesus. I have seen many devout souls searching for Jesus in one way or another, and so often when they have worked hard throughout the night, all they can say is, "Despite our having worked all night, we have caught nothing." To them we can say, "You have worked hard and gained little; Jesus can only be recognized faintly in you." But if we follow the immaculate path of Mary, living the devotion that I teach, we will always work in daylight, we will work in a holy place, and we will work but little.

Not only is Mary claimed to be perfectly holy but completely sinless as well, which is what being holy is. Again, they state this in their Catechism, number 508.

508 From among the descendants of Eve, God chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of his Son. "Full of grace", Mary is "the most excellent fruit of redemption" (SC 103): from the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.

No where in the Bible does it even hint of this. Romans 3:10-11 says:

None is righteous, not one; no one understands; no one seeks after God.

All through the Bible we read of Man’s depravity. In fact in Romans 6:23 the Bible says that the wages of sin is death. This means your death is proof that you have sinned. The Bible says that everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23), there for all must die and then the judgment. This is why the Catholic church had to invent the doctrine of the assumption of Mary, which means that Mary did not die but directly ascended to heaven in the same way that Jesus did.

More verses on the sinfulness of all men include:

Mk 7:21-23, Jer 17:9, Rom 6:20, Rom 3:10-12, Mk. 10:18, 1 Cor 2:14, Eph 2:15, Eph 2:3, Ps 58:3, Jn 3:19, Gen 6:5, Isa 64:6, Ps 14:3, Ps 143:2, Gen 8:21, Jn 8:44, Eph 2:12, Jn 3:36, Ps 5:5, 11:5, Job 15:16, Ps 53:1-3, 1 Kg. 8:46, Ecc. 7:20, Gal. 3:22, 1 Jn. 1:8, Ps. 51:4

The simple fact that Mary, in her song, calls God her Savior should be enough proof that Mary was not holy and sinless or she would have no need to be reconciled.

In the Catholic prayer called the Regina Caeli, Mary in her perfect holiness, earned the right to give birth to Jesus.

The Regina Caeli

Queen of heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
The Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia,
has risen as he said, alleluia.
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia!
For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

In Catholic writings they say that Mary can be called the savior of the world.

Mariology

I grew up Catholic until God saved me and ever since I have studied more about the doctrine of the Catholic Church.  Many of the Catholic doctrines are closer to paganism than Christianity and I will expose a few of them in the next several posts.  It is important to understand what is being taught and performed in the Catholic church to avoid the error of thinking that the Roman church is just like any other church.  Most Catholics don't have a clue of what goes on during a mass or what Catholic doctrine even says, they just show up on Sunday, repeat their memorized prayers, kneel down, stand, sit, take the bread and wine and go to Denny's.  It is tradition and they don't know why they do the things they do.  On the other hand, the priests, bishops, cardinals, pope, they all actually do know what their doctrine is and what they are teaching and they are either blind or purposefully deceiving.  They will be held accountable for exalting tradition, Mary, the Pope, saints and everything else above the Scriptures and what they say.  So I will start this off with a series on mariology.  I used many resources in this research but you can find all the facts yourself on the Vatican's website here and the Catechism of the Catholic church.

The Worship of Mary

Mary is worshiped by Catholics as God. Some cathedrals have a statue of Mary at the top with God the Father and Jesus below her and offering their crowns to Mary. People kiss her image, her statue, her picture. People pray to her continually using the rosary. Mary is believed to hold the Sovereign authority of God.

Catholics believe that as the Queen of Heaven she posses the right to the whole kingdom of her Son. She can dispense anything in the kingdom to whom she wants. There are just as many creatures serving Mary as there are serving God. Mary has dominion and power over all creation. Jesus is King of justice but Mary is queen of mercy. Basically they are saying that it is hard to get mercy out of Jesus so you must go to Mary, who will get the mercy from Jesus because apparently Jesus can't resist his mother. Mary determines who gets mercy, who God saves, and who is helped.

This is blasphemy against the nature of God and the character of Christ our compassionate savior.

Mary the intercessor

She also shares holiness with God. Nothing can resist her power. Jesus takes delight in glorifying her and grants her every perfection as if He were paying a debt. Catholics believe that Jesus listens to all Mary says and grants her wish. If a Catholic loves Mary, they believe that they will receive what ever they want. Mary lifts people out of sin when they repent to her. She reconciles sinners to God. Mary basically has all the attributes of the Trinity and performs all the same duties. The salvation of all depends on Mary and her intercession.

Catholics refer to her as “God bearer” and say she gave birth to God and because of this she should be worshiped and adored.

This is a huge misconception. She gave birth to Jesus in his humanity. She did not give birth to God, God was never born.
In the Catholic Catechism of 1994, paragraph 2677, it says:
“By asking Mary to pray for us, we acknowledge ourselves to be poor sinners and we address ourselves to the mother of mercy, the all holy one.”

The Self-Esteem Nightmare

What is self-esteem?  The word explains the definition, we are to esteem ourselves.  Does this sound biblical?  Far from it.  The opposite is actually true.  We should see our utter helplessness and depravity which drives us to utterly depend on God alone and esteem Him for His goodness and not ourselves.  The self-esteem movement has become rampant in this age.  Here is an example from Joel Osteen's book, "Your Best Life Now":

He writes, “Every moment that we go around with that weak worm-of-the-dust mentality, we’re eating more cheese and crackers….It’s time to step up to God’s dining table. God has prepared a fabulous banquet for you, complete with every good thing imaginable. And it has already been paid for. God has everything you need there—joy, forgiveness, restoration, peace, healing” (84-85).

Just doing an Internet search on "Christian self-esteem" I found countless resources on how to improve your self-esteem.  Here is just one:

There is nothing negative about God. So doing what you can to eliminate the negative stuff in your life will go a long ways toward improving your Christian self esteem.  God has a specific plan for your life, but in order to start moving in the right direction, it's necessary to start focusing on positive things that will make you feel better about yourself.  Building Christian self esteem isn't as simple as just going to a website, reading the material, and presto....you instantly feel better about yourself and everything in your life. Unfortunately, it's a lot more complicated than that.

The reason it is complicated is because "Christian" self-esteem is unbiblical and demonic.  See the problem here?  Now compare this non-sense with a prayer of a Puritan:

Lord Jesus,
I sin --
Grant that I may never cease grieving because of it, never think I can reach a point of perfection.  Kill my envy, command my tongue, trample down self.  Give me grace to be holy, kind, gentle, pure, peaceable, to live for thee and not for self, to copy thy words, acts, spirit, to be transformed into thy likness, to be consecrated wholly to thee, to live entirely to thy glory.

See the difference?  Which is more biblical?  I think it is obvious.  Kill your self-esteem and esteem God alone, for He will share His glory with no one.  Here is a video of Paul Washer on self-esteem.

What is your motivation for the things you do?

Cult of the month - Rastafarianism

Halie Selassie

Founded by Halie Selassie

• Former emperor of Ethiopia, crowned in 1930 and died in 1975. Reined for 45 years.

• This is not his real name but he took this name which means the power of the trinity. He also took names like: king of kings, lord of lords, the conquering lion of Judah. His actual name is Ras Tafari Maconan.

• Always decked out with many medals.

• He claimed to be 225th in a line of Ethiopian Kings descending from a union between Solomon and the queen of Sheba. He actual said that Psalm 87:4-6 predicted his coronation. It says:

Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush-- "This one was born there," they say. And of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will establish her. The LORD records as he registers the peoples, "This one was born there." Selah
(Psa 87:4-6)
• Now there are over 1 million people that worship him as god.

• He is believed to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ.

• His worshipers are called Rastafarian’s.

• Rastafarians only believe in the King James version of the bible.

• If you are in the religion then you must have a personal relationship with Ras Tafari.

• They say he never died and he is coming back on the day of judgment to Africa.

• They only believe ½ the Bible has been written the other half was stolen from Africans by white people and is now hidden in the Ark of the Covenant.

• They believe that devout believers will not physically die.

• They believe that Ras Tafari is god the father and god the son and his followers are the holy spirit.

• During a Rastafarian service the worshipers smoke maharaja, singing, dancing, reading the bible and listening to their greatest prophet, Bob Marley.

• Bob Marley took the Rastafarian system and developed it into a form of music called Reggae.
• Dreadlocks are also associated with Reggae and Rastafarianism and they are the idea of going back to nature by never taking care of your hair, which is a play on the Nazarite vow.

This is a satanic religion that worships a dead Ethiopian that is now in Hell.

Paul Washer - Warning for Bloggers

Child-Sacrificing Incas vs Baby killing Americans

I thought this was interesting because it is about the Inca people of old in Cusco, which is where we are moving. I found this on Desiring God’s blog

The remains of seven children apparently killed in a ritual, and buried beneath a 500- to 600-year-old building in Peru’s Cuzco Valley have given scientists new glimpses of the sketchily understood Inca practice of sacrificing select children in elaborate ceremonies.

The children were buried at the same time, apparently after having been killed in a sacrificial rite that honored Inca deities and promoted political unity across the far-flung empire, say anthropologist Valerie Andrushko of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and her colleagues.

Chemical analyses of the bones indicate that at least two of the children came from distant parts of the Inca realm.

The findings lend credence to the accounts of Spanish conquistadors that described how children were selected for sacrifice from all across the empire, based on their physical perfection. We shudder at such brutal backwardness.

Today, using prenatal screening, we scour the empire for children with physical defects and sacrifice them to ourselves. 

Peru Video

Here is a short, 5 minute, video of our scouting trip to Peru. For the more of this trip go to our Mission blog and you can see our journal and longer video.

Do you love the world or Christ?

The Atheist and the Ethiopians

I hit the streets on a cold day last week. It was -22F at my house in the morning but warmed to a toasty -6F out witnessing. I ran into an atheist in the walking mall and we debated for a long time. I forgot my coat in the truck but a fire was kindled inside. Whenever I run into one of these Atheists who know "everything," I like to convert them to an agnostic. This guy was too illogical to be converted. He had many complaints against God (that he doesn't believe in) and the Bible and proceeded to tell me all of them. They were nothing that I have never heard before and are easily answered. He knew the truth but suppressed it. He had an answer for everything and it didn't matter to him if his answers were logical or not. He proceeded to tell me that God was evil because he got cancer and almost died when he was 17 and that he knew a 3 year old girl with cancer. It is funny how an Atheist, who doesn't believe that God exists, blames God for evil. An atheist should be happy when people die because it is survival of the fittest and natural selection is working. The weak are dying off and the strong live. An atheist should enjoy when people die because that means more resources for themselves. Do you see how illogical and wicked Atheism is. This atheist and the 100's of atheists I have talked to all deny the existence of God but admit that if God does exist then He is responsible for all evil in the world and that man is by nature good. We ended the conversation when he said we have irreconcilable differences and walked off.

I met Matt at his house and we walked downtown. We ran into on crazy man I tried to witness to but he got in my face when I asked him what he thought it took to get to heaven. He pressed his finger on my head and chest and mumbled something bizarre and then walked away.

We next hit Starbucks because it is always a good place to find lost people on a cold day. There were a couple foreigners there so I asked where they were from. They were from Ethiopia and were here on business. One was a Greek Orthodox and the other a recent convert to Christianity but very new. I shared the whole biblical gospel with them. The Christian knew all the answers and said he was a hell deserving sinner and Christ is the only way to be saved. The Greek Orthodox was lost and didn't seem to be too convicted. It seemed to be God's providence though because I encouraged the Christian to read his bible, which he was neglecting, and find a church in town. I told him about Calvary Baptist in Helena, which is a great church. The Christian Ethiopian said that we met for a reason today and thanked us for the conversation. God is good. Even on a freezing day, He brought us someone to share the gospel with. There are never any excuses not to get out and share the gospel.

Paul Washer explains Election

Slave

If you are a Christian then you are a slave to Christ.  We have been bought with a price.  Spurgeon said this:

"Where the Authorized Version softly puts it "servant" it really is "bond-slave."  The early saints delighted to count themselves Christ's absolute property, bought by Him, owned by Him, and wholly at His disposal."

John MacArthur's new book called "Slave" just came out. Check it out.

The Baptist Down-Grade Controversy all over again in 2011

There is nothing new under the sun. When we look at the Baptist church today and the direction that it is going all we need to do is look back into history to see how history repeats itself. Charles Spurgeon battled for truth and sound doctrine with the Baptist church in the same way as the remnant of good Baptist churches battle with the Conventions today. Read about the down-grade controversy within the Baptist church in the late 1880’s and see if it relates to today.

“By the late 1800s, there was an insipid falling away from God’s Truth that infected many churches, including the Baptists. Some ministers openly preached against the infallibility of the Bible, the deity of Christ and eternal salvation. Those few were censured by the Baptist Union. But many others did so more surreptitiously. In the light of great scientific discoveries, these learned men began to question portions of Scripture or elements of the Trinity. They cast themselves as progressive and modern. Some found a new understanding in the theories of Charles Darwin, and pointed to what they felt were contradictions between Scripture and science – choosing science as their guide. Their congregations followed.

A blind eye was turned toward this apostasy within the Baptist Union and other denominations. It became known as the “Down-Grade” controversy. Spurgeon at first thought it was an exception here and there. But he soon began to see a rapid spread of these ideas and was alarmed at the sudden infusion within his own denomination. Spurgeon was a very sick man by this point, and in fact, was only a few years from death. He likely knew it. And so there was no personal gain for him to enter into such a burgeoning fray at the end of his life. In fact, it probably taxed his failing strength.

Nonetheless, he felt compelled to defend the Gospel. After a number of private conversations and correspondences with men he thought were reducing Scripture, and with S.H. Booth, the secretary of the Baptist Union, he brought the issue into the open in an 1887 Sword and the Trowel article. In the magazine, he issued a general warning to readers of the defection from the Truth that was riddling the Nonconformist churches.

Spurgeon laid out three charges: 1) The infallibility of Scripture from God was denied, 2) the way of salvation through Christ was not preached, and 3) hell was denied, as was any eternal punishment.

It went right to the heart of the Gospel. Many in the camp of science vigorously attacked Spurgeon over religion. He was also attacked through Christian publications and even the pulpit. And shockingly, at the next annual meeting of the Baptist Union, the issue was ignored. There was complete silence.

After repeated attempts to get the Baptist Union to confront the issue, Spurgeon felt he had no choice. He withdrew from the union. By unanimous vote, the congregation of the Tabernacle followed him.

The censure passed by the Baptist Union was a deep wound for Spurgeon. But he had set out his path of defense of Scripture and would not turn back. He was absolutely militant about God’s Word.” (Taken from Spurgeon Gold, p.199-201, compiled by Ray Comfort)

Today most Baptists are not arguing about evolution but we have definitely seen a denying of the infallibility of Scripture. One of the biggest problems we see in the Baptist Church today is the removal of the solid biblical doctrine that the Baptist church was built on and stated in the London Baptist Confession of 1689. Man-centered theology and worldly marketing and business strategy has infiltrated the church leaving Biblical theology and simply relying on preaching Christ and Him crucified at the back door. How desperate do the pulpits of the Baptist church need to be reformed. How desperate do we need to put away man-centered methodologies and return to Baptist roots of reformed theology. Montana pulpits must be reformed before the church becomes insignificant and deader than it already is.

Reformation Montana

Reformation Montana

Baptists are the heirs of a rich tradition of renewal and reformation among Christ’s Church. Written in part by the blood of Baptist martyrs, history gives witness of the devotedness of Baptists to particular doctrines that are today long forgotten among our brethren in contemporary times. As with our Baptist forbears of four centuries past, Baptists of this age who defend God’s sovereign nature find ourselves calling for repentance that we may turn our eyes to God and His Scripture and away from the irreverent religious myths of our day. Baptists in agreement with this Declaration of Reformation do not believe that our denominational ties should be strained by our convictions. Just as our first Southern Baptist forbears widely accepted the Doctrines of Grace in such documents as The Abstract of Principles and yet led their fledgling denomination in unity and toward a more-evangelistic future, we desire to do the same. Even concerning those who hold man’s choice and assumed good nature as key to his own salvation, there is more that unifies us than separates us – and it’s around these similarities that we will continue to coalesce.

Check it out Reformation Montana and if you are in support and want to join email fbc.sidney@gmail.com

Contact information:

Reformation Montana Temporary HQ
2181 W Holly St
Sidney, MT 59270
Reformation Montana Phone: 406-433-4004

The Names and Attributes of God Conference

This is the Wolf Creek Baptist Church 7th annual Men's conference.  It will be on May 20-21st at Camp Child in Eliston, MT.  All rooms and food are free.  We have room for 100 people.  Send me an email or comment on this post if you are interested in coming and I will reserve your room. 

Matt Davis has a new blog

My friend Matt Davis has just started a good reformed blog. Check it out. He is giving away a free John MacArthur study Bible if you win the contest. It is a quess the quote contest. His blog is called I am not ashamed.

Street Preacher...A Day in the Life

Paul Washer - we are losing

How the English Language has developed over time.

As I learn Spanish I have been curious as to how languages have developed and changed over the years.  The English language was so different only 500-600 years ago that we could never understand it.  Below is the Lords Prayer from Matthew 6.  It shows how the English language has changed over the years.  The translators of the 1611 KJV were very wise to translate the Bible into modern English.  This shows that the Bible must be translated and read in the modern language so we can understand it.  The KJV folks are so afraid to translate the Bible into 21st century English and away from Old English of the 1600's but they should look at their mentors, the translators of the 1611.  The translators of the 1611 rightly translated the Bible into new English so the people could understand it.  As the English language continued to change and develop the translators of the KJV again came out with a revision of the KJV in 1769 to adapt to the changing language in order for the people to understand.  Now I don't think that we should translate the Bible into slang but we should revise the translation of English in the Bible if the English language changes enough that people have a hard time understanding it.  The KJV is an outstanding translation and has been a pilliar of Bible translation for 400 years but since 1611, the English has changed enough that people have a hard time understanding Old English.  I know when I read the original 1611, I have a harder time trying to figure out the English than what the passage is saying.  Here is a short history of how the English language has developed over time.

The Lords Prayer

(Matthew 6:9-13)

Late 9th century: Þū ūre fæder, þe eart on heofonum, sīe þīn nama gehālgod. Cume þīn rīce. Sīe þīn wylla on eorþan swā swā on heofonum. Syle ūs tōdæg ūrne dæghwāmlican hlāf. And forgief ūs ūre gyltas swā swā þē forgiefaþ þæ¯m þe wiþ ūs āgyltaþ. And ne læ¯d þū nū ūs on costnunge, ac ālīes ūs fram yfele.

Late 15th century: Oure fadir, þat art in heuenys, halewid be þi name. Þi kingdom come to. Be þi wile don ase in heuene and in erþe. ʒiue to us þis day oure breed ouer oþer substaunse. And forʒiue to us oure dettes, as and we forʒiuen to oure dettouris. And leede us not into temptaciouns, but delyuere vs from yuel.

The Year 1611: Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen. Giue vs this day our daily bread. And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters. And lead vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill: For thineis the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer, Amen.

The Year 1769: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Denver - Day 2

Killillay and I headed back downtown to share the gospel.  The first guy I talked to was an agnostic.  I pointed to a building and asked him if the building had a builder.  He said yes so I asked him how he knows the building had a builder.  He gave the correct answer and said the building is proof there was a builder.  This lead me to my point of proving the existence of God.  I told him if he looked at the complexity and design of creation he would have to see that there was a designer.  I argued that the designer was God.  We went through the law and gospel.  He said that it made sense that Jesus became our substitute in order to satisfy justice.  We had a good talk and he thanked me for the conversation and I thanked God for it.  This first picture is of the conversation.  Killillay was talking to another guy so I gave out some tracts and found a man from France who could barley speak English.
The Frenchman was an agnostic and thought his beliefs negated reality.  I tried to get him to understand that just because he didn't believe in God doesn't mean that God doesn't exist.  We went through the Law and he gladly admitted to breaking the law but said it didn't matter because he didn't believe in God.  As soon as I said the name of Jesus, he stopped me and said he did not want to talk to me anymore.  I thanked him for the conversation, shook his hand, and left.  the picture below is of him.

We moved to Starbucks and I found a guy reading a book at a table so I started up a conversation with him and then swung into the things of God.  He was Jewish and was into his faith.  We got into a long, deep, philosophical conversation.  He was well educated but wouldn't admit that there was objective truth or the fact that if a man broke a law then the man was guilty of breaking the law.  I finally shared the whole gospel with him and challenged him to read the New Testament and spend some time trying to figure out if what Jesus said and did was truth.  This Jewish man was tolerant of all religions but hated Jesus and had no problem putting Jesus down. We moved on down to a Catholic church that they built a skyscraper around.  There was mass going on so we went in and saw the usual rituals and idols.  A woman was reading passages of Scripture that were good but the people had no clue what they meant.  This shows that man can't come to Christ on his own but only God can draw the man and open his eyes to the truth.  These people had the Scriptures but couldn't understand them.

We jumped on a bus next and got people in a enclosed space so that they couldn't escape.  We gave out tracts and Killillay started in on a guy next to him.  We got off and walked to Union Station where Killillay got into a good talk with a Mexican that was cleaning the floors.  We walked back toward the car and ran into a Mexican who just got off work from the cheesecake factory.  He only spoke a little English.  We struck up a conversation and then I took him through the law and gospel in Spanish.  He had questions and was fearful of going to Hell which he admitted that he was going there.  He asked what he had to do to escape Hell and I explained the cross and salvation again.  He said he had a Bible but it was in Old Spanish, kind of like the KJV Bible in Old English.  We told him what Spanish Bible to buy at the bookstore and I told him to start reading El Evangelio de Juan.  He was very interested and said he was going to do it.  He thanked us so much for talking to him about the things of God.  Gloria a Dios for His providence.  It would have been so easy to have gotten this man or many of the people we talked to,  to pray a prayer and proclaim him as "saved" like the Pope does, but that would be insane.  We explain the biblical gospel and let God save the people.  Our motive is to proclaim the biblical truth of salvation and let God get the glory of saving people.  I pity the people who go out evangelizing to try to get "decisions"  and then go home and brag of all the people they "saved".

Taking the gospel to the streets of Denver

Matt Davis and I took a road trip to Denver to see Killillay and hit the streets.  We got into Denver at 8:00 and hit the streets at 9:30.  We went to the downtown business district on 16th street.  I shared the gospel with a couple that were from the area.  It seems that everyone in Denver has their guard up because whenever I did a card trick for them or gave them gospel tracts they either thought I was going to rob them or that I was going to try to get them to give me money.  The man was a proclaimed Christian but sometimes went to the Catholic church.  The woman thought you had to believe in God to get to heaven and the man thought you had to love God and people.  I asked them why Jesus had to come then.  We talked about the things of God and the cross for a while and then parted ways.  They were grateful for the conversation.  The picture is Killillay talking to a Mexican.

We gave out tracts and tried to talk but not a lot of people wanted to, even though there were a lot of them. I saw 4 men in uniform so I stopped them with a card trick and asked them what they thought it took to get to heaven.  They all said works but one kid said Jesus.  I took them through the law and they were all humbled.  The one kid was a Christian and knew where I was going.  I explained Jesus and the cross.   They were polite and said it made sense.  Seeds planted.  The Christian kid and the Chinese kid thanked me for the talk and shook my hand.  The good thing about sharing the gospel, even if the people reject it, is that before the night they were not thinking about their souls and where they would spend eternity but after we talk to them, they have to ponder it.  God is so good in providentially directing us to the people that He wants us to talk to.

Next I finally found a man that could not speak English but only Spanish.  I totally botched my Spanish and drew complete blanks.  I followed him down the street for blocks as I fumbled through the gospel.  He was Catholic and was arguing but I couldn't understand him which drove me crazy and was so frustrating.  This makes me want to study Spanish twice as hard as before.

At the end of the night, Killillay talked with a kid forever on a park bench.  The kid had many questions and Killillay spent an hour answering them.  You can read about it at his blog.