The Minister Knows Not The Elect

Quoting Elishia Coles (17th Century English Pastor and Theologian):

“In Acts 17:1-4, you have Paul preaching the same doctrine at Thessalonica. The same doctrine was propounded to all indefinitely; and it must be so, for the minister knows not the elect from other men; but the Holy Ghost, who searcheth the deep things of God, and hath the management of this work committed to him, he knew the elect by name (John 10:3) and accordingly took them: ‘gathered them one by one’ (Isaiah 27:12) each one in his proper time, ‘and opened their ears to discipline’ (Job 36:10) making them what they were chosen to be.” (“God’s Sovereignty in Effectual Calling,” SGU 1948 p.193)

If Congress Can Do Whatever It Wants. . . .

James Madison

Quoting James Madison:

“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one.”

The Gospel Of Satan

From the desk of Arthur W. Pink:

Satan is the arch-counterfeiter. The Devil is now busy at work in the same field in which the Lord sowed the good seed. He is seeking to prevent the growth of the wheat by another plant, the tares, which closely resembles the wheat in appearance. In a word, by a process of imitation he is aiming to neutralize the Work of Christ. Therefore, as Christ has a Gospel, Satan has a gospel too; the latter being a clever counterfeit of the former. So closely does the gospel Satan resemble that which it parodies, multitudes of the unsaved are deceived by it. . . .

The gospel of Satan is not a system of revolutionary principles, nor yet a program of anarchy. It does not promote strife and war, but aims at peace and unity. It seeks not to set the mother against her daughter nor the father against his son, but fosters the fraternal spirit whereby the human race is regarded as one great ‘brotherhood.’ It does not seek to drag down the natural man, but to improve and uplift him. It advocates education and cultivation and appeals to ‘the best that is within us.’ It aims to make this world such a comfortable and congenial habitat that Christ’s absence from it will not be felt and God will not be needed. It endeavors to occupy man so much with this world that he has no time or inclination to think of the world to come. It propagates the principles of self-sacrifice, charity and benevolence, and teaches us to live for the good of others, and to be kind to all. It appeals strongly to the carnal mind and is popular with the masses, because it ignores the solemn facts that by nature man is a fallen creature, alienated from the life of God, and dead in trespasses and sins, and that his only hope lies in being born again.

In contradistinction to the Gospel of Christ, the gospel of Satan teaches salvation by works. It inculcates justification before God on the ground of human merits. Its sacramental phrase is ‘Be good and do good’; but it fails to recognize that the flesh there dwelleth no good thing. It announces salvation by character, which reverses the order of God’s Word. . . .

The apostles of Satan are not saloon-keepers and white-slave traffickers, but are for the most part ordained ministers. Thousands of those who occupy our modern pulpits are no longer engaged in presenting the fundamentals of the Christian Faith, but have turned aside from the Truth and have given heed unto fables. Instead of magnifying the enormity of sin and setting forth its eternal consequences, they minimize it by declaring that sin is merely ignorance or the absence of good. Instead of warning the hearers to ‘flee from the wrath to come’ they make God a liar by declaring that He is too loving and merciful to send any of His own creatures to eternal torment. Instead of declaring that ‘without shedding of blood is no remission,’ they merely hold up Christ as the great Exemplar and exhort their hearers to ‘follow in His steps.’ Of them it must be said, ‘For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God’ (Rom. 10:3). Their messages may sound very plausible and their aim appear very praise-worthy, yet we read of them–’for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves (imitating) into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore, it is no great thing (not to be wondered at) if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works’ (2 Cor. 11:13-15). (“Another Gospel”)