The Rise Of The Politically Mentally Ill

In the words of Gary DeMar:

The Bible describes the civil magistrate as a “minister of God” for our “good” (Rom. 13:4). The Greek word diakonos is used, from which we get the words “deacon” and “servant.” This service is not for the ultimate good of civil government and those who serve in a governing capacity but for the people. Civil governors are obligated to serve under God for the people.

In addition to establishing civil government (and family and church governments), God limited its jurisdictional authority and powers. There are only a few things that civil government has the legitimate authority and power to enforce. Our founders understood this principle; that’s why they created a governing document of “enumerated powers” only. Over time, however, civil ministers believe they should assume the role of benefactors, using their power and authority to dole out favors to the populace in order to stay in power, of course, all in the name of “the good of the people.” Power begets power. The more political favors they dispense, the more popular and powerful they get. In time, these entrenched politicians believe they know what’s best for us, and they will see to it that we know it too. In order to force their better judgment on an unwilling public, they override the established laws and create a new set of laws. . . .

Modern-day American politicians, on both the Left and the Right, are like the German Marxists who “coined the dictum: If socialism is against human nature, then human nature must be changed. They did not realize that if man’s nature is changed, he ceases to be a man.” Those who protest the latest government programs of this administration must be reprogrammed because they can’t be right. Any protestation of the government’s policies is treated as a malady, a mental illness.

Continue reading. . . .

Noah Webster On Education, Government, And Christianity

Noah Webster

Noah Webster was an educator who was called the “Schoolmaster to America.” He also served his country as a Revolutionary War soldier, Judge, and Legislator. His views on Christianity, government, and education may be found in the following three quotes:

“[T]he Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children under a free government ought to be instructed. No truth is more evident than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.”

“The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society – the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men.”

“[T]he Christian religion… is the basis, or rather the source, of all genuine freedom in government… I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of Christianity have not a controlling influence.”

The Breakdown Of British Universal Health Care

In The Words of British physician Theodore Dalrymple:

“The question of health care is not one of rights but of how best in practice to organize it. America is certainly not a perfect model in this regard. But neither is Britain, where a universal right to health care has been recognized longest in the Western world. Not coincidentally, the U.K. is by far the most unpleasant country in which to be ill in the Western world. Even Greeks living in Britain return home for medical treatment if they are physically able to do so. The government-run health-care system — which in the U.K. is believed to be the necessary institutional corollary to an inalienable right to health care — has pauperized the entire population. This is not to say that in every last case the treatment is bad: A pauper may be well or badly treated, according to the inclination, temperament and abilities of those providing the treatment. But a pauper must accept what he is given. Universality is closely allied as an ideal, ideologically, to that of equality. But equality is not desirable in itself. To provide everyone with the same bad quality of care would satisfy the demand for equality. … In any case, the universality of government health care in pursuance of the abstract right to it in Britain has not ensured equality. After 60 years of universal health care, free at the point of usage and funded by taxation, inequalities between the richest and poorest sections of the population have not been reduced. But Britain does have the dirtiest, most broken-down hospitals in Europe. There is no right to health care — any more than there is a right to chicken Kiev every second Thursday of the month.”

Read more. . . .

The First Priority

Quoting President Ronald Reagan:

“Governments that set out to regiment their people with the stated objective of providing security and liberty have ended up losing both. Those which put freedom as the first priority find they have also provided security and economic progress.”

John Calvin On The Necessity Of Hope

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? –Romans 8:24

In the words of John Calvin:

Wherever living faith exists, it must have the hope of eternal life as its inseparable companion, or rather must of itself beget and manifest it. Where it is wanting, however clearly and elegantly we may discourse of faith, it is certain we have it not. For if faith is (as has been said) a firm persuasion of the truth of God-a persuasion that it can never be false, never deceive, never be in vain-those who have received this assurance must at the same time expect that God will perform his promises, which in their conviction are absolutely true; so that in one word hope is nothing more than the expectation of those things which faith previously believes to have been truly promised by God. Thus, faith believes that God is true; hope expects that in due season he will manifest his truth. Faith believes that he is our Father; hope expects that he will always act the part of a Father towards us. Faith believes that eternal life has been given to us. Hope expects that it will one day be revealed. Faith is the foundation on which hope rests; hope nourishes and sustains faith.

For as no man can expect any thing from God without previously believing his promises, so, on the other hand, the weakness of our faith, which might grow weary and fall away, must be supported and cherished by patient hope and expectation. For this reason Paul justly says, “We are saved by hope” (Rom. 8:24). For while hope silently waits for the Lord, it restrains faith from hastening on with too much precipitation, confirms it when it might waver in regard to the promises of God or begin to doubt of their truth, refreshes it when it might be fatigued, extends its view to the final goal, so as not to allow it to give up in the middle of the course, or at the very outset. In short, by constantly renovating and reviving, it is ever and anon furnishing more vigor for perseverance. (Day by Day with John Calvin)

Look To The Redeemer

From the pen of Charles H. Spurgeon:

Two learned doctors are angrily discussing the nature of food, and allowing their meal to lie untasted, while a simple countryman is eating as heartily as he can of that which is set before him. The religious world is full of quibblers, critics, and sceptics, who, like the doctors, fight over Christianity without profit either to themselves or others; those are far happier who imitate the farmer and feed upon the Word of God, which is the true food of the soul. Luther’s prayer was, “From nice questions the Lord deliver us.” Questioning with honesty and candour is not to be condemned, when the object is to “prove all things, and hold fast that which is good;” but to treat revelation as if it were a football to be kicked from man to man is irreverence, if not worse. Seek the true faith, by all manner of means, but do not spend a whole life in finding it, lest you be like a workman who wastes the whole day in looking for his tools. Hear the true Word of God; lay hold upon it, and spend your days not in raising hard questions, but in feasting upon precious truth.

It is, no doubt, very important to settle the point of General or Particular Redemption; but for unconverted men, the chief matter is to look to the Redeemer on the cross with the eye of faith. Election is a doctrine about which there is much discussion, but he who has made his election sure, finds it a very sweet morsel. Final perseverance has been fought about in all time; but he who by grace continues to rest in Jesus to the end, knows the true enjoyment of it. Reader, argue, if you please, but remember that believing in the Lord Jesus gives infinitely more enjoyment than disputing can ever afford you. If you are unsaved, your only business is with the great command, “Believe!” and even if you have passed from death unto life, it is better to commune with Jesus than to discuss doubtful questions. When Melancthon’s mother asked him what she must believe amidst so many disputes, he, knowing her to be trusting to Jesus in a simple-hearted manner, replied, “Go on, mother, to believe and pray as you have done, and do not trouble yourself about controversy.” So say we to all troubled souls, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.” (Sword and Trowel Tract 4)

How To Destroy Religion And Culture

Bill Donohue is the author of a new book, “Secular Sabotage: How Liberals are Destroying Religion and Culture in America.” The following is columnist Brent Bozell’s review of Donohue’s book:

“Secular Sabotage” is serious business. Donohue insists the United States should be considered unequivocally a Christian country. Eight out of 10 Americans consider themselves as such. Indeed — and I didn’t realize this — the United States is the most Christian country, in quantitative terms, in the world. “In fact,” states the author, “the U.S. is more Christian than Israel is Jewish.” And yet if this is so, why can’t we celebrate Christmas? Why can’t our children pray in school? How did we just elect a president who insisted the United States ought not to be considered a Christian nation?

The popular culture’s hesitation to acknowledge the truth of this country’s Christian identity is a direct measure of the success a tiny minority of Americans has enjoyed in thoroughly intimidating the majority. While Donohue discusses secular sabotage, he is clear that these ought not to be considered simple secularists existing alongside the faithful. They are nihilists out to expel Christianity not just from the public square but from the public conversation entirely. And they are powerful enough to be succeeding.

The Christian nation has at its core the nuclear family. Erase the notion of the nuclear family and you’ve destroyed the Judeo-Christian identity of America. The secular saboteurs know this, which is why the author writes they “not only seek to destroy the public role of Christianity, they seek to sabotage the Judeo-Christian understanding of sexuality.”

Continue reading. . . .

The Example Of One Christian Leader

George Washington was the first President of the United States and is known as the “Father of his Country.” He also served as a Judge, member of the Continental Congress, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, and president of the Constitutional Convention. The first quote below is from a message to his troops during the Revolutionary War. In the second quote we find an example petition from Washington’s practice of prayer:

“The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary but especially so in times of public distress and danger. The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.”

“I now make it my earnest prayer that God would… most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of the mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion.”

Too Many Parasites

Thomas Jefferson

Quoting Thomas Jefferson:

“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”

Christmas With The Pipers

Quoting John & Noel Piper:

What do you think of this paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 5:16: “From now on we do not know anyone or anything according to the flesh. Even though we once knew Christmas according to the flesh, we know it thus no longer”? Noël told me last week that she went to a store to find some Christmas decorations, but that in six long aisles only a couple small items related to Christ. All the rest was “Christmas according to the flesh.” How should Christians respond to the desecration of Christmas?

The answer that Noël and I give for ourselves is that we want as much of our decorating and festivities as possible to be explicitly Christ-centered and Christ-exalting. There are Christmas decorations that are explicitly Christ-exalting; there are decorations which are neutral and can become secular or Christian by their context; and there are anti-Christian symbols which function to divert attention from Christ and give Christmas a secular meaning palatable to our culture. In the latter category we put Santa Claus. The American Santa Claus is a far cry from the old German Saint Nicholas who came on December 6th. The development of the Santa Claus myth in our culture is precisely a substitute for and a diversion from the offensive Christian reality: “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” Therefore, Noël and I have never made Santa Claus part of our celebration and have taught our sons why we think this jolly old man is such a tragedy in our land.

In the second category of neutral decorations we put the Christmas tree, candles, holly, wreaths, bells, chestnuts, snow, colored lights, etc., etc. All of these can enhance our celebration beautifully if they are given a Christ-centered context. The rumor that the pastor is opposed to Christmas trees is mostly false (as are most rumors, thank God!). His real opinion is that in the Church sanctuary we should, if anywhere, be as explicitly Christ-centered and Christ-exalting as possible. The Christmas tree in our culture does not have that significance and therefore it is not as useful in directing us to Christ as some other things. But the pastor is not by any means opposed to your creative efforts to sanctify God’s creation and make your tree a beacon to the glory of Christ—both at home and at church.

But mostly let us outstrip the world in joy and celebration by filling our homes and our churches with as many explicitly Christ-centered symbols as possible. Let us decorate in such a way that guests and passers-by say: “These people must really believe the old myth is true!” Christmas is first Christ, second Christ, third Christ, and again and again Christ!

Continue reading. . . .

White House Seeking To Seize More Power From The Legislative Branch

From the pen of SusanAnne Hiller:

To achieve the goal of a universal, single-payer health system, the White House must secure the power it needs by amending the Social Security Act to transfer pivotal controls from Congress to the executive branch. This transfer of power would ultimately give the President and the majority party, in this case the radical left Obama White House and Pelosi-Reid led progressive Democrats, the authority to frame and manipulate new policy, coverage options, and reimbursements, ultimately reshaping the future US health care system into a something unrecognizable in this country.

The deliberate setup for the White House power grab is built into the each of the health care bills and, if they fail, little-known twin bills called “MedPAC Reform of 2009” are waiting in the wings. The bills, S.B. 1110 and H.R. 2718, craftily amend the Social Security Act and transfer the Medicare guideline and rule setting processes, from the legislative branch to the executive branch. These bills offer cover to one another in case one doesn’t pass the House or Senate, respectively. Remember, Democrats need to gain executive branch authority by amending the Social Security Act over Medicare regulations and physician fee schedules to transform the health care system in a single-payer, socialized system.

Continue reading. . . .

ObamaCare Votes Cuts Medicare Payments

Democrats voted Thursday to reject a GOP proposal by Sen. McCain to strip the package of nearly $500 billion in Medicare cuts, its most important source of financing. The amendment called for the Senate Finance Committee to revise Reid’s ObamaCare bill to exclude all spending cuts to Medicare.

Sen. McCain said that simply cutting the funding of one entitlement program to create another federal entitlement program would not constitute reform. Instead, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending will be added to the federal deficit.

Over the weekend, the Senate also cut a key Medicare service aimed at invalids in an attempt to find the money to pay for ObamaCare. On a 53-41 vote, Senate Democrats cut $43 billion from home health-care services. Democrats insisted that they were cutting waste and abuse, but the end result will be less care for seniors.

The Incredible Health Care Illusion

John Stossel

Quoting columnist John Stossel:

“When you knowingly pay someone to lie to you, we call the deceiver an illusionist or a magician. When you unwittingly pay someone to do the same thing, I call him a politician. President Obama insists that health care ‘reform’ not ‘add a dime’ to the budget deficit, which daily grows to ever more frightening levels. So the House-passed bill and the one the Senate now deliberates both claim to cost less than $900 billion. Somehow ‘$900 billion over 10 years’ has been decreed to be a magical figure that will not increase the deficit. It’s amazing how precise government gets when estimating the cost of 10 years of subsidized medical care. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s bill was scored not at $850 billion, but $849 billion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her bill would cost $871 billion. How do they do that? The key to magic is misdirection, fooling the audience into looking in the wrong direction. I happily suspend disbelief when a magician says he’ll saw a woman in half. That’s entertainment. But when Harry Reid says he’ll give 30 million additional people health coverage while cutting the deficit, improving health care and reducing its cost, it’s not entertaining. It’s incredible.”

Read more. . . .

Raising Daughters “A Little On The Trashy Side”

In The Words of columnist Rebecca Hagelin:

“There is a pattern here and it will not change as long as we don’t recognize that our little girls are being used. The mass marketers of Hollywood hype know that today’s youth spend some 200 billion dollars a year of their own money on trinkets, music and all the accessories that go with it. They also know that pre-teen girls are easily manipulated and that more than anything else, want to be popular as they grow into young adults. So, they discover cute, talented young girls, make them superstars by playing on your daughter’s dreams of glitz, and morph the ‘wholesome’ starlets into trampy sex stars as they grow older, hoping to take the dollars of your girls with them. … History repeats itself. You know what happened to teen idol Britney Spears. America’s little girls and their moms swooned and spent millions on Britney fashions. However, just as the Britney wannabes reached critical mass, the star’s light started to short circuit. Her sexy ways quickly turned into bizarre behavior, drug problems and a raunchy attitude. Not to worry, High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens was there to take her place. But just as Vanessa hit her zenith in the eyes of our little girls, nude photos and other sexual revelations about her captured the headlines. Down came Vanessa and up went the posters of the twinkling, sparkly Miley Cyrus. Now Miley has made the transition to tramp too. And millions of preteen girls have, once again, been manipulated into believing that being trampy is not only normal, but is the only way to succeed. It’s time for moms to wake up and protect our little girls from being used. Find other moms who are sick of the abuse — it only takes a few friends to create your own sub-culture within the madness of the crazy pop culture. Finding allies is one of the most effective ways to fight back and win.”

Read more. . . .

In Whom Do You Place Your Hope?

Jonathan Trumbull was a close friend of George Washington. He was referred to by Washington as “Brother Jonathan.” Trumbull was a Judge, Legislator, and Governor of Connecticut. Trumbull spoke of his Christian faith in his last will and testament:

“Principally and first of all, I bequeath my soul to God the Creator and giver thereof, and my body to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian burial, in firm belief that I shall receive the same again at the general resurrection through the power of Almighty God, and hope of eternal life and happiness through the merits of my dear Redeemer Jesus Christ.”

The Sacred Rights Of Mankind

Quoting Alexander Hamilton:

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”

To Judge Or Not To Judge

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Quoting Martyn Lloyd Jones:

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves”. But how is that to be taken? I cannot beware of “false prophets” if I am not to think, and if I am so afraid of judging that I never make any assessment at all of their teaching. These people come in sheep’s clothing; they are very ingratiating and they use Christian terminology. They appear to be very harmless and honest and are invariably very nice. But we are not to be taken in by that kind of thing; beware of such people. Our Lord also says, “Ye shall know them by their fruits”; but if I am not to have any standard or exercise discrimination, how can I test the fruit and discriminate between the true and the false? So, without going any further, that cannot be the true interpretation which suggests that this just means being free and easy, and scripture can not be telling us to have a flabby and indulgent attitude towards anybody who vaguely uses the designation Christian. That is quite impossible. . . .

Go back to the history of Protestantism and you will find that the Protestant definition of the Church is, that “the Church is a place in which the Word is preached, the Sacraments are administered, and discipline is exercised”. Discipline, to the Protestant Fathers, was as much a mark of the Church as the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. But we know very little about discipline. It is the result of this flabby, sentimental notion that you must not judge, and which asks, “Who are you to express judgment?” But the Scripture exhorts us to do so.

This question of judging applies, also, in the matter of doctrine. Here is this question of false prophets to which our Lord calls attention. We are supposed to detect them and to avoid them. But that is impossible without a knowledge of doctrine, and the exercise of that knowledge in judgment. . . . How do you know whether a man is a heretic or not if your view is that, as long as a man calls himself a Christian, he must be a Christian, and you do not care what he believes? (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount)

Welcome To The United Socialist States of America

Quoting columnist Cal Thomas:

“This is how I see health care reform working: If you are a doctor who has spent a lot of money and time becoming a responsible and caring physician, the government will tell you how much to charge your patients and, in fact, whether you will be allowed to treat them at all. Bureaucrats, having given themselves the power of God, will decide whether a patient is worth the cost of treatment, thereby deciding who lives and who dies. Despite the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, somewhere down the line taxpayers will be forced to underwrite abortions in violation of the consciences and faith of the majority. This is the triumph of the humanistic, atheistic worldview. We are all to be regarded as products of evolution in which the fit and the powerful will decide our survival and worth. … The new breast and ovarian cancer screening guidelines may soon become mandatory as health care rationing kicks in. The unwanted, the inconvenient and the ‘burdensome’ could soon be dispatched with a pill, or through neglect. Great horrors don’t begin in gas chambers, killing fields, or forced famines. They begin when there is a philosophical shift in a nation’s leadership about the value of human life. … In our day, the consequences of government seizure of one-sixth of our economy and government’s ability to decide how we run our lives (it won’t stop with health care) are foreseen. They are just being ignored in our continued pursuit of personal peace, affluence and political power. … Welcome to the U.S.S.A., the United Socialist States of America.”

Read more. . . .

What Is A Christian Nation?

Contemporary post-modern critics (including President Obama) who assert that America is not a Christian nation always refrain from offering any definition of what the term “Christian nation” means. So what is an accurate definition of that term as demonstrated by the American experience?

Contrary to what critics imply, a Christian nation is not one in which all citizens are Christians, or the laws require everyone to adhere to Christian theology, or all leaders are Christians, or any other such superficial measurement. As Supreme Court Justice David Brewer (1837-1910) explained:

“[I]n what sense can [America] be called a Christian nation? Not in the sense that Christianity is the established religion or that the people are in any manner compelled to support it. On the contrary, the Constitution specifically provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Neither is it Christian in the sense that all its citizens are either in fact or name Christians. On the contrary, all religions have free scope within our borders. Numbers of our people profess other religions, and many reject all. Nor is it Christian in the sense that a profession of Christianity is a condition of holding office or otherwise engaging in public service, or essential to recognition either politically or socially. In fact, the government as a legal organization is independent of all religions. Nevertheless, we constantly speak of this republic as a Christian nation – in fact, as the leading Christian nation of the world.”

So, if being a Christian nation is not based on any of the above criterion, then what makes America a Christian nation?

Constitutional law professor Edward Mansfield (1801-1880) similarly acknowledged:

“In every country, the morals of a people – whatever they may be – take their form and spirit from their religion. For example, the marriage of brothers and sisters was permitted among the Egyptians because such had been the precedent set by their gods, Isis and Osiris. So, too, the classic nations celebrated the drunken rites of Bacchus. Thus, too, the Turk has become lazy and inert because dependent upon Fate, as taught by the Koran. And when in recent times there arose a nation [i.e., France] whose philosophers [e.g. Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, Helvetius, etc.] discovered there was no God and no religion, the nation was thrown into that dismal case in which there was no law and no morals. . . . In the United States, Christianity is the original, spontaneous, and national religion.”

Founding Father and U. S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall agreed:

“[W]ith us, Christianity and religion are identified. It would be strange, indeed, if with such a people our institutions did not presuppose Christianity and did not often refer to it and exhibit relations with it.”

Read more of this article by David Barton here. . . .

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story On Christianity

Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

Joseph Story was a US Congressman. He was appointed to the US Supreme Court by President James Madison. He is also known as the “Father of American Jurisprudence.” He expressed the following concern about maintaining the influence of Christianity upon society:

“I verily believe that Christianity is necessary to support a civil society and shall ever attend to its institutions and acknowledge its precepts as the pure and natural sources of private and social happiness.”

Cap, Trade, And Greed

Quoting columnist Burt Prelutsky:

“The president’s good friend, Al Gore, who stands to clean up, thanks to the Cap and Trade bill, has long campaigned for the greening of America. How long will it take people to wake up to the fact that his major concern is the greening of Al Gore? For good measure, the greedy oaf recently compared the battle over global warming to the war against the Nazis. And, to think, some folks thought PETA was over the top when they compared a chicken farm to Auschwitz.”

The Word Of God Must Bend Us

A. W. Pink

From the pen of AW Pink:

As it is the work of the translator to convey the real sense of the Hebrew and Greek into English, so the interpreter’s is to apprehend and communicate the precise ideas which the language of the Bible was meant to impart. As the renowned Bengel so well expressed it, “An expositor should be like the maker of a well: who puts no water into it, but makes it his object to let the water flow, without diversion, stoppage, or defilement.” In other words, he must not take the slightest liberty with the sacred text, nor give it a meaning which it will not legitimately bear; neither modifying its force nor superimposing upon it anything of his own, but seeking to give out its true import.

To comply with what has just been said calls for an unbiased approach, an honest heart, and a spirit of fidelity, on the part of the interpreter.

“Nothing should be elicited from the text but what is yielded by the fair and grammatical explanation of its language” (P. Fairbaim).

It is easy to assent to that dictum, but often difficult to put it into practice. A personal shrinking from what condemns the preacher, a sectarian bias of mind, the desire to please his hearers, have caused not a few to evade the plain force of certain passages, and to foist on them significations which are quite foreign to their meaning. Said Luther, “We must not make God’s Word mean what we wish. We must not bend it, but allow it to bend us, and give it the honor of being better than we can make it.” Anything other than that is highly reprehensible. Great care needs ever to be taken that we do not expound our own minds instead of God’s. Nothing can be more blameworthy than for a man to profess to be uttering a “Thus saith the Lord” when he is merely expressing his own thoughts. (Interpretation of the Scriptures)

Dei Gratia

From the desk of Charles H. Spurgeon:

It is by the grace of God that ungodly men are preserved from instant death. The sharp axe of justice would soon fell the barren tree if the interceding voice of Jesus did not cry, “Spare him yet a little.” Many sinners, when converted to God, have gratefully acknowledged that it was of the Lord’s mercy that they were not consumed. John Bunyan had three memorable escapes before his conversion, and mentions them in his “Grace Abounding” as illustrious instances of long-suffering mercy. Occasionally such deliverances are made the means of affecting the heart with tender emotions of love to God, and grief for having offended him. Should it not be so? Ought we not to account that the longsuffering of God is salvation? (2 Peter 3:15.) An officer during a battle was struck by a nearly spent ball near his waistcoat pocket, but he remained uninjured, for a piece of silver stopped the progress of the deadly missile. The coin was marked at the words DEI GRATIA (by the grace of God). This providential circumstance deeply impressed his mind, and led him to read a tract which a godly sister had given him when leaving home. God blessed the reading of the tract, and he became, through the rich grace of God, a believer in the Lord Jesus.

Reader, are you unsaved? Have you experienced any noteworthy deliverances? Then adore and admire the free grace of God, and pray that it may lead you to repentance! Are you enquiring for the way of life? Remember the words DEI GRATIA, and never forget that by grace we are saved. Grace always pre-supposes unworthiness in its object. The province of grace ceases where merit begins: what a cheering word is this to those of you who have no worth, no merit, no goodness whatever! Crimes are forgiven, and follies are cured by our Redeemer out of mere free favour. The word grace has the same meaning as our common term gratis: Wickliffe’s prayer was, “Lord save me gratis” No works can purchase or procure salvation, but the heavenly Father giveth freely, and upbraideth not.

Grace comes to us through faith in Jesus. Whosoever believeth on Him is not condemned. O, sinner, may God give thee grace to look to Jesus and live. Look now, for to-day is the accepted time! (Sword and Trowel Tract 3)

 

Greenpeace Leader Admits Arctic Ice Exaggeration

Richard Stockton’s Advice To His Children

Richard Stockton

Richard Stockton was a Judge and one of the signers of The Declaration of Independence. He included these words of encouragement to his children in his last will and testament:

“[A]s my children will have frequent occasion of perusing this instrument, and may probably be particularly impressed with the last words of their father, I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian religion, such as the being of God; the universal defection and depravity of human nature; the Divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior; the necessity of the operations of the Divine Spirit; of Divine faith accompanied with an habitual virtuous life; and the universality of the Divine Providence: but also, in the bowels of a father’s affection, to exhort and charge [my children] that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, that the way of life held up in the Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state, [and] that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious either immediately or consequentially – even in this life.”