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.”