Category: Are you kidding me?

From NY POST

Angry relatives of 9/11 victims last night clashed with supporters of a planned mosque near Ground Zero at a raucous community-board hearing in Manhattan.

After four hours of public debate, members of Community Board 1 finally voted 29-1 in support of the project. Nine members abstained, arguing that they wanted to table the issue and vote at a later date.

The board has no official say over whether the estimated $100 million mosque and community center gets built. But the panel's support, or lack of it, is considered important in influencing public opinion.

Holding up photos of loved ones killed in the Twin Towers and carrying signs such as, "Honor 3,000, 9/11 -- No mosque!" opponents of the proposed Cordoba House on Park Place called the plan an insult to the terror-attack victims.

"That is a burial ground," said retired FDNY Deputy Chief Al Santora, referring to the fact that victims' remains were scattered for blocks.

Santora's 23-year-old son, Christopher, was the youngest firefighter to die that day.

"I do have a problem with having a mosque on top of the site where [terrorists] can gloat about what they did," said Santora, with his wife, Maureen, by his side.

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Of all things to build there.....a mosque.

Man, how sad is that?

How to be sure

From Street Fishing -

How tragic it would be if we went through life thinking we were saved and then woke up on Judgment Day to find out we were mistaken! But the Bible teaches that this will be the case with many people. Christ said, "Many will say unto Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matt.7:22-23).

However, we do not have to go through life without the assurance of salvation. In 1 John 5:13 the apostle says, "These things have I written unto you...that ye may know that ye have eternal life." How then can we have this assurance? This is the most important question we will ever face in life because our eternal destiny is at stake! The Bible teaches that those who remain unsaved will spend eternity in a place of perpetual torment (Matt. 25:46; Rev. 14:9-11). The reason for this is because their sin has not been paid for, and God's perfect justice requires that payment be made for sin (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, it is vital that we know the answer to this question. This is why the Apostle Peter wrote, "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (2 Pet. 1:10).

It is true that we must believe in Christ in order to become saved (Acts 16:31), but how can we be sure we have genuinely believed in Him? Certainly we cannot rely upon our feelings since feelings can be misleading. Some might suggest we can be sure by acknowledging the facts of the gospel or saying the sinner's prayer. However, the Bible indicates it is not possible to believe without being regenerated because by nature we are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1 cf. 1 Cor. 2:14). This is why Christ said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Therefore, we cannot know we have truly believed until we know we are born again.

But what does it mean to be born again? Is this some kind of emotional experience? No, the Bible teaches that being born again means our life is changed. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The Bible also tells us what changes will take place in our life when we are born again.

C.H. Spurgeon

Jury Duty

This past Monday I was supposed to report to my local Courthouse for jury duty.

This past Friday morning, around 8 am, I was received a call at work from my wife that went something like this:

Wife – Did you not have jury duty this week?

Me – Please tell me that card on the refrigerator says the 24th and not the 17th!!!

Wife – Umm, no, it says you are to report Monday the 17th at 9:00am.

Me – I’m so dead. Is there a phone number on the card?

Wife – Yes; 555-555-5555 (not actual number). Maybe you ca

Click - (me hanging up on my wife in the shear panic to call the number she just gave me).

I call the number and an assistant to the Clerk of the Probate Court answers the phone. I give a two minute explanation about forgetting all about the date.

Lady on the phone – Oh dear.

Oh dear? I’m so dead.

I find out that there is a $1,000 fine and possible time in jail for not showing up for jury duty.

I’m so dead…..with my wife now.

Going to jail may not be so bad…I can always witness to my jail mates, but the $1,000 fine is not going to be well received with the better half.

The lady on the phone says that she will give a message for the Clerk of Probate to call me later that afternoon. “It’s been a busy, busy week here because of all the court cases, but I’m sure she will get back to you today.”

No call that Friday.

All weekend long I expected the Sheriff’s department to show up at my house with a bench warrant for failure to show.

I imagined a sweaty, red faced judge angry at the long drawn out court cases and on top of that, he couldn’t wait to slam down the gavel at those who had the audacity to just flippantly defy the law and not show up for jury duty.

The weekend went by without badges at the door.

Monday morning at work the phone rings and I don’t recognize the number.

Me –Hello?

Lady on the Phone (LOTP) – Hello, this is Mrs. So and So. I am the Clerk of the Probate Court. How are you this morning?

Me – I’ll let you know in a couple minutes depending on what you’re going to tell me. How are you?

LOTP – (Laughing) I’m fine, thank you. I got your message and wanted to call and let you know that everything is Ok; you’re not in any trouble.

Me – Whew.

After a few minutes of talking to this very nice lady, she told me she could set me up for another shot at jury duty during the second week of July. That’s cool because I really do like jury duty. I’ve only served once when we lived in another county and really enjoyed the deliberation and the discussion afterward.

I know…I’m weird.

Lost Hymn of the Week - My Jesus, I love thee

My Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine;
For Thee all the follies of sin I resign;
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art Thou;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love Thee because Thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

William R. Featherston

A Reformation Refresher

From Street Fishing


The differences between Protestants and Catholics demonstrated by the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation:

by Rick Appleton (Braniac)


Sola Scriptura

Scripture Alone, knowledge of salvation comes from the Bible alone; it teaches all that is necessary for salvation and holy living. Scripture is the final authority on all matters of doctrine and practice. This is contrasted with the Roman Catholic view of Papal or Magisterial infallibility. This doctrine is violated when any authority is placed alongside or over the Scriptures.


Sola Fide

Faith Alone, salvation is through faith alone. Faith is the only instrument through which the benefits of Christ’s atonement are applied. This is contrasted with the Roman Catholic view of faith and good works. This doctrine is violated when any other instrument becomes necessary for salvation.


Sola Gratia

Grace Alone, salvation is by grace alone. Salvation is entirely gracious. Sinners are saved without any merit in themselves. This is contrasted with the Roman Catholic view of cooperation and merit. This doctrine is violated when anything is added to or taken away from the unmerited favor of salvation.


Solus Christus

Christ Alone, salvation is in Christ alone. Christ is the exclusive author and mediator of salvation. This is contrasted with the Roman Catholic view of the intercession of saints and mediation of priests. This doctrine is violated when any man or institution is made necessary for salvation.


Soli Deo Gloria

To God Alone Be the Glory, salvation is to the glory of God alone. Salvation, from beginning to end is exclusively the work of God. Therefore, the credit and glory belong to God alone. This is contrasted with the Roman Catholic view that God and man cooperate in salvation, thus giving credit or glory to both God and man. This doctrine is violated when any merit, value, effort, credit or glory is ascribed to any other but God.

Dose of Ravenhill

Asked why he was used of the Lord so greatly in China, Hudson Taylor replied, "God had looked long for a man weak enough, and He found me." He takes the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. Spiritual wisdom does not come with years; neither does maturity. The key to both is obedience. Whatsoever He saith unto YOU, do it.

Leonard Ravenhill

Quote of the Week -

Those who have had their “tickets punched” and have been assured, mistakenly, of their salvation solely due to something they did, a card they filled out, a prayer they recited, are some of the hardest people in the world to reach with the real message of repentance and faith.

James White


Hat Tip - Defending Contending

Lost hymn of the week - Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

1. Come, thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming love.

2. Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.

3. O to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it,
seal it for thy courts above.

Robert Robinson, 1735-1790

Human Inability

From Monergism

Permit me to show you wherein this inability of man really does lie. It lies deep in his nature. Through the fall, and through our own sin, the nature of man has become so debased, and depraved, and corrupt, that it is impossible for him to come to Christ without the assistance of God the Holy Spirit. Now, in trying to exhibit how the nature of man thus renders him unable to come to Christ, you must allow me just to take this figure. You see a sheep; how willingly it feeds upon the herbage! You never knew a sheep sigh after carrion; it could not live on lion's food. Now bring me a wolf; and you ask me whether a wolf cannot eat grass, whether it cannot be just as docile and as domesticated as the sheep. I answer, no; because its nature is contrary thereunto.

You say, "Well, it has ears and legs; can it not hear the shepherd's voice, and follow him whithersoever he leadeth it?" I answer, certainly; there is no physical cause why it cannot do so, but its nature forbids, and therefore I say it cannot do so. Can it not be tamed? Cannot its ferocity be removed? Probably it may so far be subdued that it may become apparently tame; but there will always be a marked distinction between it and the sheep, because there is a distinction in nature. Now, the reason why man cannot come to Christ, is not because he cannot come, so far as his body or his mere power of mind is concerned, but because his nature is so corrupt that he has neither the will nor the power to come to Christ unless drawn by the Spirit.

But let me give you a better illustration. You see a mother with her babe in her arms. You put a knife into her hand, and tell her to stab that babe to the heart. She replies, and very truthfully, "I cannot." Now, so far as her bodily power is concerned, she can, if she pleases; there is the knife, and there is the child. The child cannot resist, and she has quite sufficient strength in her hand immediately to stab it to its heart. But she is quite correct when she says she cannot do it.

As a mere act of the mind, it is quite possible she might think of such a thing as killing the child, and yet she says she cannot think of such a thing; and she does not say falsely, for her nature as a mother forbids her doing a thing from which her soul revolts. Simply because she is that child's parent she feels she cannot kill it. It is even so with a sinner.

Coming to Christ is so obnoxious to human nature that, although, so far as physical and mental forces are concerned, (and these have but a very narrow sphere in salvation) men could come if they would: it is strictly correct to say that they cannot and will not unless the Father who hath sent Christ doth draw them.

Charles Spurgeon

Full text here

How Do I Know I am Elect by A.W. Pink

"How may I know I'm elect?

First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced.

Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition.

Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope.

Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ.

Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it.

Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God's Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assurance causing the Spirit to withhold His witness.

Seventh, by giving all diligence to cultivate the Christian graces and using all diligence to this end. Thus the knowledge of election is cumulative."

- A .W. Pink, The Doctrines of Election and Justification [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974], pp. 140-41.


From Reformation Theology

Graham prays anyway

From MSNBC -

WASHINGTON - Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon Thursday after his invitation to a prayer service inside was withdrawn because of comments that insulted people of other religions.

Graham's invitation to attend an event inside the Defense Department for national prayer day was withdrawn two weeks ago.

But he arrived in the Pentagon parking lot just before 8 a.m. EDT — his party of a half dozen people forming a circle on the sidewalk and praying with heads bowed for about five minutes.

Nine years ago, Graham called Islam "wicked" and "evil."

He told an impromptu press conference Thursday outside the Pentagon that he prayed for the men and women of the armed forces and that he doesn't feel his statements about other religions have been offensive.

'I am who I am'
In an interview with Newsweek, Graham said he still believed what he had said about Islam, but added: "I don't go out and speak about it."

"I am who I am. I don't believe that you can get to heaven through being a Buddhist or Hindu," Graham was quoted as saying by the magazine. "I think Muhammad only leads to the grave. Now, that's what I believe, and I don't apologize for my faith. And if it's divisive, I'm sorry."

"I think yelling 'Allahu Akbar' as you're flying jet airplanes through buildings and killing 3,000 Americans — that was evil and it was wicked," he added. "And I've not heard one Islamic leader around the world stand up and say that was a terrible thing … If Catholics had flown into these buildings in the name of Catholicism, the pope would have been on TV that night denouncing them, saying this was wrong and what they did was sin."

"It would be nice if we could just all sit around and hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya.' It would be great, but that's not the world we live in," he told Newsweek.

Graham also said he had been "disinvited" from the prayer service "because of my faith and what I believe."

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Amen!

Bentley is back with a Banker Angel

Todd Bentley meets up with a Banker Angel to help bring you riches and glory!

Hat Tip - The Museum of Idolatry