Caustic Comment on Calvin’s Commentaries

I found the following interesting but inflammatory disclaimer at the front of the “Associated Authors and Publishers Inc.” edition of Calvin’s Commentaries:

“Let us detain you but another moment on the porch, before you enter this house full of rich treasure, while we give you a warning … Publishers being responsible to print the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, we who are Baptists on the publishing staff must warn readers that we consider the views of Calvin on baptism, and on church polity, to be at variance with the Scriptures.”

Let’s see if we’ve got it right: Whatever Calvin (in his Bible Commentaries and elsewhere) says he thinks the Scriptures say about Baptism and Church Polity are untrue – “at variance with the Scriptures”!

This kind of sectarian nonsense has been dividing the Lord’s Church on earth for centuries now! Calvin wrote prolifically against such (Ana)baptistic divisiveness! It is one thing to say that we disagree with another’s understanding of Scripture. But for Baptists to be involved in publishing a document (such as Calvin’s Commentaries), which they obviously consider to be full of lies, ie, not “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”, is bizarre to say the least!

As condescending as it sounds, it is such a pity that baptistic Christians (Brethren, Churches of Christ, Pentecostals, Baptists – they are legion) allow their baptistic presuppositions to blind them to certain truths when they read the Scriptures!

I remember the whole new vista that was opened up to me when the Lord allowed me to catch a glimpse of things through the eyes of Calvin and Calvinists as opposed to the baptistic take on things I formally had. Eg, all the baptistic denominations have a Dispensational view on the Sacrament of Baptism. In other words, regarding Baptism and Church Polity they fail to see that the Lord’s Church is one Church, always has been, and always will be.

All believers are children of Abraham (which includes Adam, Noah, as well as Moses, David etc. and ourselves today). Christ does not have two brides, ie, an Old Testament bride and now a New Testament bride. He has one bride, the Church, made up of all His elect from all ages. We are one people, one in Christ. Therefore we have not been Dispensationally or Baptistically “cut off” from our father Abraham (Gen. 17:14).

Abraham’s household (including infants) had the sign and seal (Rom. 4:11) of God’s Covenant of Grace (ie, the Gospel Promise) affixed to them in the Old Testament Sacrament of Circumcision. Like the Passover it promised Christ, in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. With the coming of Christ the Passover became the Lord’s Supper and Circumcision became (water) Baptism as Paul illustrates in Colossians 2:11f.

Circumcision and Baptism mean the same thing, ie, the former was a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace or Gospel Promise centred in Christ, and the latter is the sign and seal. Yes two different administrations of the sign and seal of the Covenant Promise, but administered to one people, ie, God’s people. Thus the Church in our father Abraham’s day had Circumcision and the Church today has Baptism. One Church! One Bride of Christ! That is what Calvin believed the Scriptures to teach when it comes to Church Polity and Baptism.

The Covenant Community or Church is made up of many churches scattered throughout the earth, and comprises of all believers and their children. Baptists, of course, unlike Calvin, deny that the children of believers are part of the Church and therefore withhold the sign and seal of Baptism from them. To be consistent the Baptist living at the time of Abraham would have withheld circumcision from infants. But not so with Calvin and true Calvinists. Inflammatory? If you wish to see inflammatory then reread the Baptist statement at the beginning of this blog!

 So, the Promise, the Covenant or Gospel Promise? Baptistic presupposition causes them to miss it throughout the Old Testament and therefore not only is Baptist Church Polity found wanting, but so is their Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, ie, the Promise of the Father!

How did John Baptize Jesus? Think a for a moment about the mode here. Then, think about how Jesus baptized His Church. What’s the connection between water baptism and Spirit baptism? Well, you might miss it if you are thinking like a Baptist and not like Calvin! The former is a sign and seal of the latter. The latter is promised in the former. The water signifies the outpouring of the “Promise of the Father”.

In other words, “the promise is to you and to your children” just as it was to Abraham and his children. “Therefore [Jesus] being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you see and hear … Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” Acts 2:33; 38-39.

How did Jesus (and the Father) baptize His Church? By pouring the Spirit on His Church! How did John baptize Jesus? By pouring water on Him! How is the Church baptized? By the pouring of water and the Spirit! The former signifies the latter. As John the Baptizer said, "I indeed baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" Mark 1:8. Jesus did not dunk His Church in the Holy Spirit, neither did John therefore dunk Jesus!

Who is the Father’s Promise of the Spirit given to? In other words, Who is/are the Church? Believers and their children! (1 Cor. 7:14)! Why? Because this is the Covenant Community, ie, the Church. Are all elect? Are all regenerate? Only God can tell that for sure. But do believers and their children qualify to receive the sign and seal of God’s Covenant or Gospel Promise? Yes! But you'll see this only if, instead of donning Baptist blinkers, you follow the Scriptures as does Calvin!

I know a blog of this size has no hope of changing the mind of the dyed-in-the-wool baptistic Christian. Only God the Holy Spirit can do that. However, He works with the Word when He does this. Therefore, may Calvin’s Commentaries help us to understand Church Polity and Baptism (not to mention the work of the Holy Spirit).

Therefore my dear Baptists brethren please stop the needless sectarianism. Be humble! Instead of trying to put people off Calvin and thus divide the Church, learn from this man who was faithful to the Scriptures.

THE UNDERGROUND

Read original article:
Author writes book about his conversion from Freemasonry to Christianity

A former Freemason who is now a Presbyterian minister wrote recently a book about his spiritual journey and his conversion to Christianity.

Neil Cullan McKinlay, author of From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice documents his travels to Scotland, Australia and Canada, and also detailed his spiritual journey from having no faith to joining the Freemasons, and then converting to Christianity, BlogCritics.org said.

McKinlay has been an ordained Presbyterian minister since 1998. He lives in Brisbane, where he works part time as an army chaplain. He writes as much as he can. His book, From Mason to Minister, is described as “Neither an apologetic nor a polemic,” Nordskog Pulbishing said on its website.

The book tries to correct a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Freemasonry, including its alleged relationship with mysticism and the occult. WordJourney Magazine said the book shows how Freemasonry is actually a “fraternal organization” that follows a moral code and uses symbols that are derived from the bible to contain its beliefs.

“Godly values are taught, but God is missing from the equation,” WordJourney Magazine said. In its review of the book, WordJourney notes that McKinlay comes to see that more than a moral code, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the “more excellent way.”

In an interview that was featured in BlogCritic.org McKinlay said his first bible was actually given to him by the Freemasons. It was “an expression of thanks for the Masonic research papers I had been writing and presenting. These papers came as a result of my reading of dusty tomes in Masonic libraries in my search for God. I then searched the pages of Scripture by and with which God revealed Himself to me in Jesus Christ.”

McKinlay told BlogCritic.org that his book talks of “Christ Moments,” where “Christ and His Kingdom is flashed before us in even the mundane activities of our daily lives.” Even, he said, while doing rituals in the Masonic Lodge. He adds, “After meeting Christ I left the Lodge and went on to study for and became a Christian Minister.”

McKinley also told BlogCritics.org that his book has subplots regarding “Solomon and his Temple, two predominant themes in Masonry. I posit the idea that, in the Bible, Solomon’s Temple, the Garden of Eden, though historical and real, pose as pictures of Christ’s Kingdom which is to come.”

The subtitle, “Through the Lattice” in McKinlay’s book is taken from the Song of Solomon 2:9, WordJourney Magazine said. The verse says, ““My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice.”

McKinlay likens his own spiritual journey in this way, believing that at every stage of his life, God was always watching him, WordJourney Magazine said. The book is deemed highly inspiring. It is considered a useful piece for pastors, and is lauded for being very informative about the inner workings of Freemasonry.

http://www.amazon.com/Mason-Minister-Through-Lattice/dp/0982707479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313790214&sr=1-1

THE VALE OF LEVEN

I grew up in the 60s and 70s in a place called the Vale of Leven. The Leven is a fast-flowing river that meanders through the valley emptying Loch Lomond at Balloch into the River Clyde at Dumbarton. I learned to swim in the Leven at the “Pan Lade” down from Napierston Terrace where we lived in the 60s. I remember as a lad fishing just up river from the Lade and being told by the Water Bailiff that there was no fishing on Sundays. I was thankful that he told me this from the tow-path on the opposite side of the river, otherwise I might have been clapped in irons or something!

I remember walking along that tow-path to become the biggest catch ever for a fly fisherman. I had to go up to the Vale hospital to have his fancy fly-hook surgically removed from my right earlobe. He almost tugged me into the river (I’m sure he wished he had, having destroyed a good fly!) In my teen years the old tow-path along the Leven was good for a romantic stroll with a girlfriend – not that I was much of a romantic!

It was great growing up in the Vale. We didn’t know what low-socio-economic meant. We just got on with it. If you needed a bicycle you went to the dump and raked around for an old frame and some wheels, and before too long, you’d be able to put together a bike. Mind you, I used to hate those “fixed-wheel” bikes that would send you over the handle bars a few times till you got the hang of it! I suppose having “fixed-wheels” was better than having no brakes as this would put a great strain on your plimsoles which would wear out with great rapidity as you applied your sandshoe to the rubber tyre as a primary stopping method. The object was to not put your toes in the moving wheel spokes!

Swimming in the Leven or up the Loch was brilliant! It was great when the paddle-steamer “The Maid of the Loch” was away sailing, for then we could show off by diving off the tin shed. My favourite party piece was the swallow dive off the shed and returning to the surface with a dinner plate that they chucked off the Maid instead of washing! Mind you, I still bear a scar where I badly cut my finger on a broken plate or a glass on the loch bottom! A couple of times the loch froze solid enough for us to skate on it in winter.

When we lived up the back of Tullichewan we’d build wooden sledges when it snowed. An old piece of copper pipe would be flattened and nailed on the sledge as runners. Death traps? Well, I remember we were up the “Half Mile” and someone gave me a shot of their fancy “bought” sledge. I lay on my belly and shot down the hill like ninety and was stopped at the bottom when my head hit the farmer's wire fence! I think I inspired Led Zeppelin to write “Dazed and Confused”.

What we called the “Half Mile” (now the Stoney Mollen Roundabout) was a wide open sloped field just up from the “Huddies”, a small wooded spot where we used play Cowboys and Indians. I used to shovel out the horse’s stables at the Glendale Boarding Kennels next to the “Half Mile”. I don’t know if I ever received any money for this, maybe I did, but I do remember the reward was getting to ride on the horses. Most of the time I was on “Billy” – a piebald pony with an angry attitude. I think I fell off Billy as many times as I fell off that fixed-wheeled bike I was telling you about. I guess I was always falling off of things when I was young.

I remember climbing up a rope-swing hanging from a tree. I was all alone at the time and as I reached the bough to which the rope was tied I noticed that its strands were snapping. I landed on my back. This was when I learned firsthand the meaning of the term “winded”. Try with all my might I could not draw a breath. I thought I was going to die alone, but my spirit or breath returned to me.

I did get a bike one Christmas. It was really hard to try it out in the snow! I remember flying over its handlebars too. Someone kicked an underinflated ball in front of me and I managed to run over it. The first point of contact with the road when I landed was my right knee. I had a bandage on for weeks after this. Mind you, it was about then that I noticed that females were attracted to boys with bandages, at least the lassies I went to Levenvale Primary with…

Och, I could go on reminiscing all day about the place where I grew up.

Check out the Vale of Leven website at: http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/

“Killers for Christ” or Bricks for Brains?

Killers for Christ is the title of an article written by the leftist zealot Phillip Adams in The Weekend Australian Magazine (August 6-7, 2011). http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/killers-for-christ/story-e6frg7fx-1226108967230

In this article Adams tries to convince the reader that Anders Behring Breivik (the nutcase that killed all those people in Norway) is a Christian! Sure, we understand that sensationalism sells newspapers, but what about the moral responsibility that goes with it? Shouldn't the Australian magazine's editors have advised Adams not to publish such a hate article?

Adams in the article says, “But to deny Anders Behring Breivik’s links to historic or contemporary Christian fundamentalism is as ludicrous as atheists ignoring the vast brutalities of Mao and Stalin.”

Adams is an atheist, but Breivik is no Christian! To my knowledge Breivik nowhere claims to be a Christian in any of his written ramblings – and he has written much! See e.g., http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/186020/20110725/anders-breivik-manifesto-shooter-bomber-downplayed-religion-secular-influence-key.htm

Indeed, like some in the West, Breivik prefers “Christianity” without Christ! By anyone's reckoning Christianity without Christ is not Christianity. And neither is anyone without Christ (such as are Breivik and Adams) a Christian!

Clearly Breivik does not want Christ. So what is Adams on about? Again, I think Adams is only being intentionally provocative to sell newspapers. But again, what about moral responsibility? Or doesn’t the atheist fundamentalist Adams believe in morals? Hasn’t the news media learned anything from the News of the World debacle in England?

A free press can only operate freely when it obeys the West's moral (i.e., Christian) code. Otherwise the people of these nations cannot trust anything their press writes.

Like the leftist zealot he is Adams tries very hard to draw associations between the loony Breivik and Christianity when Adams condescendingly says, “Yet when it turned out that the Norwegian assassin wasn't a Moslem fanatic but a Christian zealot Christians around the world, and particularly among the religious right in the US, would have none of it. Forget the cross on the cover of the killer's manifesto and the mystical nonsense about Christian Crusaders. He couldn't possibly be a real Christian. As pious patriot Bill O’Reilly put it on Fox News, Christians don't kill people.”

As with a cross on grave's headstone, a “cross on the cover” of a book of rants or a reference to “Christian Crusaders ” does not make a man a Christian. Only God can make a man a Christian, even Christ-hating men such as Adams!

Jesus says, “He that is not with Me is against Me” Matthew 12:30a.

In reference to the evil Breivik’s sinful act, Adams says, “Christians must speak out against such madness. Jesus would want it.”

It beats me how Adams thinks he knows what Jesus wants since he doesn't even know Jesus! But what all decent people must speak out against is the madness espoused by the loony leftist fundamentalists such as Adams. Christians appreciate the freedom of the press. It was Christianity that brought it to the West. But please, stop the hatemongering!

AUTHONOMY

I’ve spent the last three or four months playing around on a web site called Authonomy:

http://www.authonomy.com/ It is a “slush pile” for Harper Collins whereby budding authors get to post their “masterpieces” with the hope of rising to the top of the heap through means fair or foul and landing on the publisher’s desk.

Though I’ve since removed three, I had posted five unpublished manuscripts and received mainly spam comments which, rather than say anything useful about any of my books, solicited support for their work – if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. Backscratching is one way to climb to the top of the reams of posted manuscripts. I can’t say this appealed to my Christian sensibilities. I was happy merely to post my efforts and await unsolicited comment. These comments are supposed to help you hone your work. I received hardly any comments among which only one or two were helpful.

I found myself doing far more reading than writing as I sailed the ocean of potential books. Some material was clearly rubbish by anyone’s method of reckoning. Other samples took a bit more work before I was able to determine that I had wasted good time. I read various genres, but eventually found myself on a mission to back good Christian material regardless of genre. Invariably what seemed to me to have potential left me in a dilemma: should I back a book that had good solid Biblical material somewhere in it or should I reject it outright because it is tainted with pessimistic any-minute end-of-the=world Dispensationalism? Then there are the Theistic Evolutionist crowd with their attendant Theological Liberalism. They sometimes have some good things to say, but they pick and choose from the Bible as if it is they themselves that are infallible and not the Bible!

I think I’m over Authonomy and will pull the plug on it soon. I’ve still got a library full of good solidly Reformed books at home to read, not to mention some novels and other works. Why should I get square eyes from reading stuff on a computer screen? Away with Authonomy I say! Mind you, it is kind of addictive – I may yet have another look…

SUMMARY OF FROM MASON TO MINISTER

http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/06/author-writes-book-about-his-conversion-from-freemasonry-to-christianity-16224/
A former Freemason who is now a Presbyterian minister wrote recently a book about his spiritual journey and his conversion to Christianity.
Neil Cullan McKinlay, author of From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice documents his travels to Scotland, Australia and Canada, and also detailed his spiritual journey from having no faith to joining the Freemasons, and then converting to Christianity, BlogCritics.org said.
McKinlay has been an ordained Presbyterian minister since 1998. He lives in Brisbane, where he works part time as an army chaplain. He writes as much as he can. His book, From Mason to Minister, is described as “Neither an apologetic nor a polemic,” Nordskog Pulbishing said on its website. http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-through-the-lattice.shtml
The book tries to correct a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Freemasonry, including its alleged relationship with mysticism and the occult. WordJourney Magazine said the book shows how Freemasonry is actually a “fraternal organization” that follows a moral code and uses symbols that are derived from the bible to contain its beliefs.
“Godly values are taught, but God is missing from the equation,” WordJourney Magazine said. In its review of the book, WordJourney notes that McKinlay comes to see that more than a moral code, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the “more excellent way.”
In an interview that was featured in BlogCritic.org McKinlay said his first bible was actually given to him by the Freemasons. It was “an expression of thanks for the Masonic research papers I had been writing and presenting. These papers came as a result of my reading of dusty tomes in Masonic libraries in my search for God. I then searched the pages of Scripture by and with which God revealed Himself to me in Jesus Christ.”
McKinlay told BlogCritic.org that his book talks of “Christ Moments,” where “Christ and His Kingdom is flashed before us in even the mundane activities of our daily lives.” Even, he said, while doing rituals in the Masonic Lodge. He adds, “After meeting Christ I left the Lodge and went on to study for and became a Christian Minister.”
McKinley also told BlogCritics.org that his book has subplots regarding “Solomon and his Temple, two predominant themes in Masonry. I posit the idea that, in the Bible, Solomon’s Temple, the Garden of Eden, though historical and real, pose as pictures of Christ’s Kingdom which is to come.”
The subtitle, “Through the Lattice” in McKinlay’s book is taken from the Song of Solomon 2:9, WordJourney Magazine said. The verse says, ““My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice.”
McKinlay likens his own spiritual journey in this way, believing that at every stage of his life, God was always watching him, WordJourney Magazine said. The book is deemed highly inspiring. It is considered a useful piece for pastors, and is lauded for being very informative about the inner workings of Freemasonry.

CLIMATE & COMMON SENSE

I believe it is simply Common Sense for everyone to have a Common Sense approach to the issue of Climate Change. Does this make sense to you?

Let’s apply Common Sense to the Climate and the current issue raised by the Climate Change Alarmists.

• Climate Change Alarmists are trying to cause panic.
• Climate Change Alarmists allege that the globe is getting warmer.
• Climate Change Alarmists also allege that the globe is getting warmer on account of Australians’ use of fossil fuels.  
• (Based on the previous three dot points): Climate Change Alarmists wish to punish Australians with a Carbon Tax to solve their perceived problem.

Let’s apply Common Sense to Climate Change Alarmists themselves.

• Climate Change Alarmists tried to panic the public back in the 70s with their “Global Cooling” mantra!
• Climate Change Alarmists are trying to panic the public today with their “Global Warming” hypothesis!
• Climate Change Alarmists today disagree with their fellow Climate Change Alarmists of the 70s.
• (Based on the previous three dot points): Climate Change Alarmists today debunk the hypothesis of the Climate Change Alarmists of the 70s as being Climate Change Cuckoos!

Let’s apply Common Sense to these two extremist views!

The 70s Climate Change Alarmists who (based on scientific study) alleged

Global Cooling

VERSUS

The contemporary Climate Change Alarmists who (based on scientific study) allege Global Warming.

The Common Sense approach towards these two EXTREMES alleged by these EXTREMISTS leaves us with the following:

• NO CLIMATE CHANGE PER SE!
• NO CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE OF USE OF FOSSIL FUELS!
• THEREFORE NO CARBON TAX!