Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Who can identify this one:

I lost my mind so long ago
I wanted everyone to know
I wanted everyone to see
My broken heart belong to me

I go beyond the thought of you
And a broken heart was nothing new
I wanted everyone to see
My broken heart belong to me

And now as autumn fills the air
I feel your spirit every where
Now my fears are coming true
My broken heart belongs to you

And now as autumn fills the air
I feel your presence every where
Now my fears are coming true
My broken heart belongs to you

Now my fears are coming true
My broken heart belongs to you

Monday, February 27, 2006

Another reason to eschew
CCM in preference to your garden variety hymn of yesteryear:

Lead on, O King eternal,
The day of march has come;
Henceforth in fields of conquest
Thy tents shall be our home.
Through days of preparation
Thy grace has made us strong;
And now, O King eternal,
We lift our battle song.

Lead on, O King eternal,

Till sin’s fierce war shall cease,
And holiness shall whisper
The sweet amen of peace.
For not with swords’ loud clashing,
Nor roll of stirring drums;
With deeds of love and mercy
The heavenly kingdom comes.

Lead on, O King eternal,

We follow, not with fears,
For gladness breaks like morning
Where’er Thy face appears.
Thy cross is lifted over us,
We journey in its light;
The crown awaits the conquest;
Lead on, O God of might.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

Here is a quote:
"From the first, therefore, I have always said to myself, "if the battle is to be fought with honor and with a hope of victory, then principle must be arrayed against principle; then it must be felt that in Modernism the vast energy of an all-embracing life-system assails us, then also it must be understood that we have to take our stand in a life-system of equally comprehensive and far-reaching power. When thus taken, I found and confessed and I still hold, that this manifestation of the Christian principle is given us in Calvinism. In Calvinism my heart has found rest. From Calvinism have I drawn the inspiration firmly and resolutely to take my stand in the thick of this great conflict of principles."

This statement of Calvinism being a dominating principle may confuse some who only think of Calvinism in a context of TULIP, or Calvinism as a doctrine of salvation. But in actuality, Calvinism is not just "one man's opinion" about salvation but the dominating principle that in the widest possible cosmological sense, the Triune God is Sovereign over the whole cosmos, in all its spheres and kingdoms, visible and invisible.

The funny thing is that just as this battle was being won, the enemy changed uniforms. It is now not modernism that is arraying its forces against truth, it is post-modernism that we battle. In post-modernism (definitely I am no expert) the idea is that truth is variable and, as it relates to scripture, the text contains no inherent truth but it becomes true, variable, for each person, uniquely, as he encounters the text in his own way and time.This next quote seems to suggest that this approach to scripture is bankrupt from the start:
"For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world- to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice."