Review Over at Puritanical

Hey friends, I have a book review on Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will up over at Puritanical, the review outlet of Graeme Pitman and myself.

Check it out here or at the link above.

Also, if you are a decent writer, please tell me and I will ask you to do a review of a theological book. We need writers who are actually interested in reading and then writing about what they are reading! Duh!

Lovin' books with you all,

R.D. Thompson

Aug/Sep Photos

A Humorous Old Testament Write-Up

Every week at Emmaus, the school which attend, in my Old Testament Survey class, we're required to turn in a written report on a question pertaining to the text we read that week. My beloved professor posed this question:

" Write a personal response to Psalm 15 as it gives instruction for your life as a student at Emmaus."

I, being the unfortunate Puritan influenced smart aleck that I am, responded as follows:

"How indeed shall I remain steadfast and ere immovable at this the swan song of my Emmaus sojournings? Further still, how ought I indeed to dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord? How indeed shall I ever rest in His holy mountayne? Or, to put it simply, how shall I thus enter heaven? Psalm 15 answers these basic inquiries with a most sure and certain response. As I have long tarried ere on the Emmaus properties I have surely found a most troubling thing: when I act in the secret counsels of life in a way aberrant to the holy Scriptures (and the holy handbook) my bed is oft drowned in tears for the pains which I do indeed suffer at mine own hands. For this reason doth David exclaim that, “he that walketh uprightly,” shall be the man who doest enter into the Lord’s holy Tabernacle. I shouldst likewise infer, he that walketh uprightly with the Holy Scriptures as they pertain to the holy handbook firm in his mind shall be a happy man. He that doeth all in accordance with the Law of Glock in his secret counsels, and worketh towards holiness in working righteousness while attending this beloved institution, and alway sayeth the truth of God to himself in his dailie doings shall be a happy Emmaus student, or so thus I have found in my various experiments and thus I believe shall carry me onwards to the end of, not only my Emmaus sojournings, but to the end of all life and breath. But David dost not only address the outward positive workings of righteousness but also the outward ceasing of sin. Indeed, while tarrying at Emmaus I have found that those who, “slandereth with the tongue,” behind the backs of their acquaintances oft come to a nasty end. This simply shall not do for a devout saint of Christ or Emmaus attendee. To graduate, or truly to enter heaven, one must not, “doeth evil to his neigbour,” for indeed this shall thus prove us finally vain and outside of the Tabernacle and holy mountayne. Finally, David doth give the most wise counsel to wisely endeavor in choosing those who shall be with you al the days of his (Emmaus) life. We shall not, sayeth David, commend that most evil and profane man who walkest not in the counsels of the Almighty. Rather, sayeth he, we shall giveth our honour, affection, and acquaintance unto the godly who “feareth the Lord.” One must not, likewise, squander one’s finances upon that evil gayne of gambling and trifling with the wanton pleasure of robbing his fellow man from a bet. Not only is this contrary to the Law of the Lord but it is a most vile abomination of the Law of Glock and, shouldst one deign to invest in such an unwise endeavor, he shall thus rightly find himself before that most feared committee of student judicial affaires.

Thus shall the student of Emmaus dwell and prosper."

My wife's exact quote was,

"Wow, it's sure a good thing that he knows you!"

"Wow" is right...

Enjoying the serious moments and the humorous ones with you brethren,

soli deo gloria

R.D. Thompson

Calvin on Satan

I sure do love Calvin's Institutes and they have been a balm to my soul and a sweet pleasure which I have been delightedly getting college credit for! How awful is that?

I love to share what I read, it is probably my number one "ministry," primarily for the fact that I am in no way original in my theology and could certainly not articulate these things as well as my predecessors or as well as our fathers.

So, like a hungry man leading another man to bread, let me share with you Calvin's Scripture saturated view of God, Satan, and the believer's assurance of victory:

"Satan is clearly under God's power, and is so ruled by his bidding as to be compelled to render him service . Indeed, when we say that Satan resists God, and that Satan's works disagree with God's works, we at the same time assert that this resistance and this opposition are dependent upon God's sufferance. I am not now speaking of Satan's will, nor even of his effort, but only of his effect. For inasmuch as the devil is by nature wicked, he is not at all inclined to obedience to the divine will, but utterly intent upon contumacy [a stubborn refusal to obey authority] and rebellion."

Further,

"But because with the bridle of his power God holds him bound and restrained, he carries out only those things which have been divinely permitted to him; and so he obeys his Creator, whether he will or not, because he is compelled to yield him service wherever God impels him."

So what good does this to the Christian?

"As far as believers are concerned, because they are disquieted by enemies of this sort, they heed these exhortations: 'Give no place to the devil' (Eph. 4:27). 'The devil your enemy goes about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour; resist him, be firm in your faith' (I Peter 5:8-9), and the like. Paul admits that he was not a free man from this sort of strife when he writes that, as a remedy to tame his pride, he was given an angel of Satan to humble him (II Cor. 12:7). Therefore, this exercise is common to all the children of God."

And here is where it gets sweet and becomes laced with joy,

"But because that promise to crush Satan's head (Gen 3:15) pertains to Christ and all his memebers in common, I deny that believers can ever be conquered or overwhelmed by him. Often, indeed, are they distressed, but not so deprived of life as not to recover; they fall under violent blows, but afterward they are raised up; they are wounded, but not fatally; in short, they so toil throughout life that at last they obtain the victory."

It is as my friend (through his books, not in person) John Piper says,

"Satan can rough us up but cannot damn us. I do not take lightly the threats, but they are not ultimate. They are limited. You can always say, Jesus is superior in strength and he died so that no accusation can hold against his people. The great accuser, liar, murderer has been exposed. He has been defanged. He can hurt us by gumming us, but his poison is gone. We cannot die. We cannot lose the battle that God fights for us with the death and resurrection of his Son. All authority in heaven and on earth belongs to Jesus. Lay hold on him. Speak his sovereign name. Trust his power and mercy and blood and righteousness implicitly."

This is one of those startling, astounding, and beautiful truths of the gospel. Satan has a whole lot of power to beat on us, to hurt us, to maim us, and to just bully us around in general, but he cannot win.

Jesus won and now I'm ultimately safe and free from Satan in Him.

Hallelujah,

R.D. Thompson

Calvin on Providence

Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is a gold mine that I think we belittle and ignore too much. Just listen to Calvin on Providence,

"Yet, when that light of divine providence has once shone upon a godly man, he is then relieved and set free not only from the extreme anxiety and fear that were pressing him before, but from every care. For as he justly dreads fortune, so he fearlessly dares commit himself to God. His solace, I say, is to know that his Heavenly Father so holds all things in his power, so rules by his authority and will, so governs by his wisdom, that nothing can befall except he determine it. Moreover, it comforts him to know that he has been received into God's safekeeping and entrusted to the care of his angels, and that neither water, nor fire, nor iron can harm him, except in so far as it pleases God as governor to give them occasion."

People bash the doctrine of the sovereignty of God but I say that sovereignty is an eminently practical and wonderful doctrine to rest in because it means that ultimately God is genuinely in control. No Open Theist or Arminian (not equating those two don't worry) has this comfort so deeply or so joyously.

Loving Our Wonderful God With You,

R.D. Thompson

Who Hardens Whom?

There is a major debate over whether or not Pharaoh hardened himself or whether God hardened him. I think if you just read the Bible plainly it seems pretty obvious,

Exodus 3:19-20, "But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all of my miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go."

4:21, "The Lord said to Moses, 'When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let you go."

6:1, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for under compulsion he will let them go, and under compulsion he will drive them out his land.'"

7:3-5, "But I will harden Pharaoh's heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. When Pharaoh does not listen to you, then I will lay My hand on Egypt and bring out My hosts, My people the sons Israel, from the land of Egypt by great judgments. The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst."

7: 13, "Yet Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said."

7:22, "[A]nd Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said."

8:15, "But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the Lord had said."

8:19, "But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had said."

8:32, "But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go."

9:7, "Pharaoh sent, and behold, there was not even one of the livestock of Israel dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go."

9:12, "And the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses."

9:16, "But, indeed, for this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you my power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth."

9:34 - 10:1, "But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, just as the Lord had spoken through Moses. Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of mine among them."

10:20, "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go."

10:27, "But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he was not willing to let them go."

11:9-10, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.' Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the son's of Israel go out of his land."

14:4-5, "Thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.' And they did so. When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, 'What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?'"

14:8, "The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out boldly."

14:17-18, "But as for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen."

From the get-go, from 3:19, 4:21, 6:1, and 7:3-5, God made it plain that He was the one doing the hardening and that He would be the one making Pharaoh do stuff under compulsion. There really is no way around it, every phrase that says that Pharaoh "hardened his heart," is governed by the opening of the book. God told Moses he would harden Pharaoh's heart and that Pharaoh would let them leave only under compulsion before Moses ever left Midian.

Indeed, 9:34 - 10:1 is of greatest importance in understanding this. Who hardened whom? While it says that Pharaoh and his servants hardened their own hearts, it promptly responds, "Just as the Lord had spoken through Moses!" When did the Lord speak through Moses? Oh that's right, back in 3:19, 4:21, 6:1, and 7:3-5. Not only this but then the Lord claims responsibility for the same hardening that Moses attributes to Pharaoh only a verse earlier! For what purpose? "That I may perform My signs among them."

From first to last, the sovereign hand of God is wielded for one purpose and one purpose only, the glory of God. God hardened Pharaoh so that the nation of Israel and the nation of Egypt would not be in doubt as to who God was and is and so that those respective nations would throw themselves prostrate before Him in awe and worship.

Thus, the sovereignty of God in hardening Pharaoh's heart is eminently practical because it brings to a deep heart knowledge of God's greatness and His majesty and our smallness and depravity. It shows how little we can control anything and how little and weak and non-existent our so-called "will" is.

According to Exodus, this should lead to only one thing: Worship and adoration of the Almighty.

Indeed when all was said and done, Moses could only say in Exodus 15:11-13, "Who is like you among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them. In your lovingkindness you have led the people whom you have redeemed; in your strength you have guided them to your holy habitation."

Therefore, the purpose of the sovereign working of God in both believers and unbelievers, in working salvation and in damning to hell, in hardening and in softening hearts to believe and to work, in keeping all of Israel's livestock and in killing all of Egypt's livestock, in killing all the Egyptian firstborn and keeping all the Israelite firstborn, in leading Israel through the Red Sea safely and in destroying Pharaoh and his army completely in the Red Sea, indeed, in controlling both good and evil causes, is to the magnification of His majesty and the glorification of His greatness.

If our response be anything but worship it is a wrong response. The sovereignty of God in the power to harden and soften hearts is a terrifyingly majestic truth and it demands that we bow low to the King of the universe.

Would you do this? May I plead with you to bow to the almighty, soverign, ordaining, hardening, softening, merciful, wrathful, loving, prescient, ominpotent God of the universe rather than rebelling and saying such an untruth as, "God permitted Pharaoh to harden his heart." This is unbiblical and, dare I say, contrary to the whole point of Exodus 1-15.

God hardened Pharaoh so that you and I would worship. So let me plead with you, please worship this all-controlling and wonderful God!

Soli Deo Gloria

R.D. Thompson

Have We Come Full Circle?

There was once a day, a couple thousand years ago, when pragmatic relativism reigned. In the Roman Empire in the early days of Christianity it could have been said, though it may not have been coined quite the same way, "What's good for me is good for me and what's good for you is good for you."

Let us examine a brief testimony to this. In the early years of what would eventually become known as Christianity, many gods were worshiped by the Romans and many religions were allowed in the empire. There was indeed a god for everything. What is interesting is that you could have believed in any of these gods and worshiped in any form you desired and in fact held to any strange religion so long as you kept the peace, sacrificed to the local deities, and paid due respect the deity of the emperor. So long as you kept social peace and bothered no one you were an accepted part of society. You could have worshiped any god you pleased and practiced any religion you desired just as long as you kept to yourself about it and allowed society to run. This is why the Christians were persecuted on the odd charge of "atheism": because they refused to worship any but the one true and living God. In the Roman's minds they did not have enough gods. Indeed, for them to enter the cultural milieu of the Roman Empire and announce that there was indeed only one truth and that there was indeed only one way was a direct affront to the lackadaisical idea that one could worship whatever god one might choose so long as he worshiped the local deities and kept social peace.

Is this not the same position in which we find ourselves? Have we not in fact come in a full circle back to this point? Have the philosophers really come to a new form of thinking in postmodernism?

From 313 A.D. forward the one true and living God was simply the assumed normative for thought. This came about, not only through Constantine's Edict of Milan but also through the strenuous and tireless efforts of men who were Christians who fought the cultural milieu and fought to establish a Christian culture instead. Men like the early apologists and later fathers. These men spoke into the vacuum of Roman society that there was a real tangible reality to be found in the gospel and that this reality defined all of life. These men worked so hard that eventually one day Rome became a Christian empire whether for the better or for the worse.

Is this not what we find ourselves moving towards? While all truth has truly in a sense been lost to the modernists who killed us and who killed all rational thinking which led to postmodernism it would seem to me that we have come full circle. Where there was little need for a whole generation of apologists from 313 A.D. to the Renaissance there has been a surge of great apologists speaking to a defunct and decadent society in which one may worship any god he so desires so long as he pays tribute to the gods of politics and does not disturb the social peace. This sounds terribly repetitive. Have we not trod this ground before?

My suggestion is that, just like the apologists of old and the fathers after them, we stick to our guns and stand for the absolute tangible reality of the biblical gospel and the absolute tangible reality that God is reality. The apologists made their arguments from all they had: the Bible. They were reasonable arguments, they were cogent arguments, and they were spoken into a confused and lost generation in which "the only heresy was to say that there was heresy."

We should not be surprised at the state of thought in today's world and we must not, indeed we dare not conform to it. It is as Solomon once said, "There is nothing new under the sun." The postmodern conception of truth, if indeed it can be called that, is nothing fresh. It is nothing fresh for the only "truth" to be that there is no truth. It is nothing fresh to exclaim, as did Pilate in his air of scepticism, "What is truth?"

For these statements to be uttered once more and these thoughts to be thought once more has rocked four generations of Christians back on their heels in confused surprise. Ignorant of the fact that this is nothing new there has been much condemnation and hiding inside of our calm little sects in Evangelicalism, primarily out of fear if I am correct, and this is a great sin. There has likewise been an extreme conformity to this "new" conception of truth and it is likewise just as dangerous a sin. We must, as the apostles, as the apologists, and as the fathers, speak of the absolute tangible reality of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To Pilate Jesus simply said, "For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth." To which Pilate asked, "What is truth?"

Truth is put into one simple verse by Christ Himself, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but by me." Christ himself is the truth. His birth, life, death, resurrection, current reign, and eventual theocracy are truth. His revealing of the almighty powerful and sovereign God is truth. His revealing the sin of man in a clear light is truth. His solution for that sin, the cross, is truth.

Have we not come full circle? In a world desperate for truth, though they may not look it, and as in the Roman Empire, we must do as the men of old and stand on the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ as inerrantly inspired in the Bible.

Let us do no other.

A lui sia la gloria in eterno,

R.D. Thompson

The Return

After many months away from this blog I have at last decided to return. For any who have been here before you may have noticed that I "slightly" tweaked my blog to be a bit more...attractive.

I have little to blog about right now but there shall certainly be more soon.

My sermons are now available on the right sidebar for download or just for streaming. I recommend downloading them.

A lui sia la gloria in eterno,

R.D. Thompson

Are The Emmaus Faculty Calvinist?

Over at Puritanical recently I received a question (in the comments section of a post) that I think it would be good for me to address. A certain Central Bible Chapel asked, "Do you see the faculty and leadership as a whole at Emmaus leaning towards calvinism and reformed theology?"

I answer below.

Central,

I understand your concern in asking this question. I cannot tell whether you are asking it hostile-like or just as a question so I will answer it just as a question.

I am well aware that this is a topic (unfortunately) of hot debate among the "Peculiar People". Before I came to Emmaus I was warned by some well meaning friends, "Don't go to Emmaus they'll just make you Calvinist!" This was always said with a grimace and gasps. I therefore came to Emmaus terrified that I would be indoctrinated into this awful system of Calvinism.

I tell my friends now that Emmaus had zero impact on my becoming Reformed in my Soteriolgy and I mean zero.

I think it is best to let our president speak for himself. President Kenneth Alan Daughters has recently said this, "Our teaching is moderate, falling in the spectrum between consistent Calvinism and Arminianism. Our faculty is not loyal to either doctrinal system. We seek to be biblical in our explanation of relevant texts, balancing all that God's Word says on the subject. We do not indoctrinate our students in a negative manner. We teach them to think critically, and equip them with the tools to exegete the biblical passages themselves. Our professors teach from their own perspectives and are respectful of the views of our students as we seek to understand the Scripture together. As a faculty we represent the range of beliefs found in North American assemblies."

I think it is good to be forthright: Emmaus has professors that lean Calvinist. BUT Emmaus also has professors that lean Arminian! Neither side predominates and neither side makes demands or fights with the other side. In fact, I almost speak as if we have a divided faculty and like this is an issue. I have been here 6 years and I would honestly say that among the spectrum of our faculty this is a non-issue!

I heard a girl at one of our DEW weekends say that she couldn't come to Emmaus because someone told her that the profs teach only hardcore Predestination here. I laughed aloud when I heard that. Sure we talk about Predestination and some teachers more than others, but even in classes the professors disagree with each other and the students debate it (though I can only remember 2 instances where the topic actually came up).

No, Emmaus faculty and leadership as a whole does not lean towards Calvinism. And to say that they did as a whole would be laughable. It would be like looking at Notre Dame and saying that because George Marsden and Mark Noll teach there Notre Dame must be a Protestant Presbyterian Reformed grad school. Which we all know isn't true since Notre Dame is a Catholic/Secular school and loudly professes to be so on their website.

So you may ask, how did I become Reformed? I had a friend who came to Emmaus a lover of John Piper and he introduced me to Piper. I have read and listened to Piper (and therefore Jonathan Edwards, Augustine of Hippo, John Owen, Francis Schaeffer and many many more) for years now and am convinced that the Reformed view of Soteriology is Biblical. I personally would love to see our assemblies embrace a passionate and graceful Calvinism (not the Dave Hunt kind, which is a gross misrepresentation of Calvinism) and would especially like to see our youth embrace a Reformed Soteriology. My professors may speak for themselves on this issue, some would agree, some would disagree, a great example of the spectrum of beliefs at Emmaus.

I'll tell what Emmaus did make me was a passionate Dispensational Pre-millennial and a passionate Biblicist! THOSE things are definitely weaved into every class at Emmaus.

soli deo gloria

RDT

Why Oh Why Does Ryan Always Wear Black?

For some reason people don't like it when I wear black, which I do often. They all need a reason for why I dress up and carry a generally somber appearance. Besides the simple answer that I do it because I respect the good doctors and authorities that are around me and the standard among them is to dress snappy and appropriately for a professional culture, may I add that there is little reason to dress and act like everything is great when hundreds and thousands of babies are mutilated at the whim of a mother's "freedom of choice". One day, when I'm heaven, I'll be happy to wear neon pink or happy green and lavender if thats what suits the purpose and the praise, but for now, lets realize that there is a somber world we live in and that while we take great joy in the realization that Jesus Christ is Lord, King, Substitute, and therefore Savior, that God is the Almighty Benevolent and Electing Sovereign of the universe, and that we have the incredible "hope of glory" in Christ Jesus, life is a somber ordeal. We are still weighed down with sin, we are still in our earthly bodies, we are not yet in heaven, we see hundreds of thousands of precious, sweet, little human lives taken in the name of our "freedoms".

What good is it to walk around like everything is wonderful when there is cause for groaning? Yes of course, I know there is also great cause for joy if you noted the above words. I think Johnny Cash would suit this situation beautifully,

Well, you wonder why I always dress in black,
Why you never see bright colors on my back,
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down,
Livin' in the hopeless, hungry side of town,
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime,
But is there because he's a victim of the times.

I wear the black for those who never read,
Or listened to the words that Jesus said,
About the road to happiness through love and charity,
Why, you'd think He's talking straight to you and me.

Well, we're doin' mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin' cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought 'a be a Man In Black.

I wear it for the sick and lonely old,
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold,
I wear the black in mournin' for the lives that could have been,
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men.

And, I wear it for the thousands who have died,
Believen' that the Lord was on their side,
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died,
Believen' that we all were on their side.

Well, there's things that never will be right I know,
And things need changin' everywhere you go,
But 'til we start to make a move to make a few things right,
You'll never see me wear a suit of white.

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black

Let us not be too foppish and cavalier about the gravity of the situation that surrounds us.

soli deo gloria

R.D. Thompson