Bert Craft Personal Blog

ABSOLUTE BIBLICAL ORDER IN BAPTISM

Bert Craft — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:18:43 GMT

God is not the author of confusion, but of definite, particular order. That order is divine order. That is order is Biblical order. That order is to be obeyed by all of God's regenerate people. ALL things are to be done decently and in Bible order (1Corinthians 14:33-40). Although the application of that truth may not have reached all areas of our lives, we still must believe that God's order must be respected, honored, and submitted to.

Biblical order in the ordinance of baptism is of serious importance. The Biblical requisites must be met if one's baptism is to be according to Biblical, divine order. Any baptism that does not fulfill Biblical order is defective, alien, and not God-honoring. Defective baptism is baptism of man: recognized, respected, and accepted of men......but not of God. "The baptism of John, was if from heaven or of men? Answer me" (Mark 11:30). At the same time remembering the words of our Lord Jesus, "....for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Luke 16:15). Our approbation and acceptance must come from God and that will only take place when we do things according to His dictates and order, not our own (2Corinthians 10:18). Biblical order concerning baptism has four essential, Bible-based points:

1. CORRECT CANDIDATE--A Spirit-wrought, regenerate, believing disciple of Jesus Christ evidenced by spiritual, palpable fruit.

2. CORRECT MODE--The complete and total immersion in much water symbolically and accurately declaring the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. CORRECT MOTIVE--The proper motive is not for salvation or the obtaining of the pardon of sin, but rather to declare publicly and pictorially Christ's redemptive work and the true Gospel, to declare one's death to sin and resurrection unto righteousness, and to unite or be added to a New Testament church.

4. CORRECT AUTHORITY--The only Biblically-authorized administrator of the ordinance of baptism is a properly constituted church that holds to the apostolic faith and practice.

In the case of the pastors that I referred to in the state of XXXXXX, the one was baptized under a false Gospel by a church that I am unaware of. The other was baptized by a church that baptizes unconverted people....adults, not children.....with the hope that they will be converted at a later time.

The prostitution of the ordinance by the church in XXXXXX, XXXXX, was something that was done for expediency sake. For personal benefit and gain, they deemed unimportant the baptism of the members they received. They did not follow Biblical order and thereby became disorderly themselves.

I hope that this short explanation will satisfy your understanding. As we have talked extensively in time past, historic Baptists are a zealous people for divine truth and Bible order. In that the ordinances are symbolic of Christ, His person, and His redemptive work, to modify or alter them, as the Catholics and Protestants have freely done, is to declare an impure Gospel at best or at worst declare a gospel that is totally perverted.

***This was a portion of an answer to a question that I received via email concerning our practice of baptism on the mission field. The "XXXXX" are the intentional blotting out of proper names in respect of the involved parties. I trust that my sharing of this email correspondence will bring blessing to others and eternal glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!

FAULTY AND DESTRUCTIVE MISSIONARY PRACTICES

Bert Craft — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 13:42:50 GMT

A MISSIONARY DILEMMA

--this article was written by Fred Nimmo, former Baptist missionary to Alaska: "This paper is written at the request of many pastors, friends, and missionaries. It is not meant to be a complete work covering all mission fields. It is, however, my observations from several years in Alaska, and it does not necessarily reflect other mission fields.

I am not criticizing because I have made most of these mistakes myself and have learned by experience. However, after talking with other missionaries and pastors, and consulting many books, I find that some of the same problems are true in other areas as well."

Jesus Christ was a church builder. So was Paul and all his team. Christ died for the churches as we read in Acts 20:28. If this be so, then all of his present-day missionaries should be doing the same. How did Christ build his first ekklesia? We must find this out and duplicate His methods.

As we look at present-day missionary methods, we can see that so little is happening around the world; and especially in North America. There are hundreds of missionaries, but it seems that indigenous churches can be counted on one hand after 250 to 300 years of Gospel ministry. I began to ask myself, "Why?" I wondered why my ministry was not any more productive than the ministry of those of the past. After much careful research and a restudy of the Bible, I have come to the conclusion that there are so many things that have become a hindrance to building indigenous churches. It is no wonder that there are virtually none among the native inhabitants in this part of the world. Below, I hope to enumerate some of them.

There is a basic change that takes place from the classroom to the foreign field. It is subtle. I suppose all the Bible schools teach the missionary methods of Paul; but they are not practiced on the field. I believe I know why this happens.

1. There is a definite lack of trust of the native people and native Christians on the part of the missionary, and the missionary society. (It is not a lack of love, concern, or zeal for his soul.) This causes them to keep the native people, Christian and non-Christian alike, at a distance.

2. There is usually a lack of understanding of the people to be reached.

3. There is a failure to treat them as an equal, or to properly respect them. There is a failure to recognize the good qualities of their culture. We can learn so much from them.

4. A missionary almost without fail, goes in among the people independent of them rather than being dependent on them. The missionary and the people are almost invariably worlds apart financially. By this I mean that he goes in fully supported, buys his goods, food, clothes, etc., from the outside world and brings in loads of items which makes him look super-rich in the eyes of the people. This results in building a "little America" in a foreign land. It may be a necessity to protect the family, but it is a hindrance in the long run. When crisis comes, he leaves. Always his strong permanent ties are with home and family elsewhere. This makes the native people feel uncomfortable. It says to the native man, "You don't like my food. You don't like my clothes. You don't like my way of life. You don't like my country; therefore you don't like me." "Therefore, I don't like you, I hope you get out of my land!"

5. There is a lack on the part of the missionary of understanding that he is in a foreign land, even though he might be in Alaska, Navajo land, Canada or Greenland, etc. The missionary should learn to play down his own culture.

6. Feeling sorry for them, because of their background, culture, or economics.

7. Becoming an over-indulging parent to the people. This results in oversupplying their needs, and actually perpetuating a covert type of rejection. The people can feel this but are not able to explain it. They know that it is there. This is paternalism.

8. Never permitting them to stand on their own two feet. This cheats them out of exercising the faith God has given to them, even as you and me. This creates a dependency factor in the people and causes them to look to the missionary, society, and the U.S. in an improper fashion. This keeps them babes in Christ and denies them many basic tenets of the Bible. This causes the missionary to be the Christ, instead of Christ being the Provider as He said He would do. All the missionary has to do is supposedly say a prayer to God, write home in his monthly letters, state numerous needs, get the churches and pastors to provide them, and the people don't have to do a thing. The new reading of Philippians 4:19 is "But my missionary shall supply all my needs according to his riches in the headquarters by the mission board." Then we wonder why they say it is the "white man's religion."

In this instance, it is. It surely is not his own. He has made no investment into it. The missionary handles the offerings, signs all the checks, handles all the legal papers, so he becomes the boss, pays all the bills, pays men to preach for him, doles out the food, clothes, medicine, and other services. He becomes the religious welfare agent. What is almost universally practiced in Alaska and the north, is a Christianized, Socialistic, Religious Welfare System. I can see no basic difference in this and what the government is doing. Overgiving and destroying their initiative is the end result. The people should handle their own finances, and the missionary should put his tithes and offerings in his home church that sent him out. This would eliminate loads of problems and financial difficulties on the foreign field if this method were practiced.

9. As you can see, all the foregoing sets up a foreign element in the city or village, and also a foreign religion. Naturally the people resent this. I can understand and sympathize with their feelings. Of course, this requires a foreign agent to handle all of its affairs.

10. Another problem is that the church that is started in this manner is never their own. It is always controlled by a source outside the city or village; whether it be controlled by a bishop, another country, or a religious organization. They are never independent and on their own. This sets up an episcopal type of church government instead of the Theocratic and congregational type. This is something Baptists have always rejected, but somehow they enthusiastically support it on the foreign field. How many times have you heard someone say, "I have so many churches that I oversee." "They are in my care," says the modern missionary. Is this what the Bible teaches? Is there a double standard?- one for independent churches in the U.S. and another for the foreign field?

11. Calling in another missionary when he leaves, or goes on furlough, thus telling the people that they are not capable of handling their own affairs or making decisions for their future. The native people reject this.

12. Never commending them to the Lord on whom they believe. See: Acts 14:21-23. Commend means to take them out of the care or bank account of the starting church and missionary, and depositing the new baby church into the account of God who alone is able to take care of them. Then the missionary's job becomes one of encouraging, praying for, writing letters to, visiting them occasionally and building them up in the faith.

This makes a church indigenous, or self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating. Because Christ is now its head, it has a pastor from the native people and they can pray directly to God. He is all they need. Just as we feel here in the states and sing the song "He's
All I Need;" so can they. We never permit churches on the foreign field to become Bible Believing Baptist churches making their own decisions. There is one native church in Alaska that has made their own decision concerning buying and selling land by the natives themselves and a purchase of a $600.00 printing set. Not a dime was asked, expected, or received from the missionary. They are also considering a Bible school and sending out missionaries themselves.

13. Not leaving at God's appointed time. A missionary should go into a place with the people expecting him to leave shortly. They are immediately geared to the idea that they must take over, and that the missionary won't be there to do it for him. Many missionaries stay on and on, and thus become the added element (or cancer) that hinders or possibly destroys the church he started by never turning it over to native leadership.

14. This point is closely related to point 13. Many missionaries consider never leaving their field, or going with the philosophy that I will die there. God never intended this; for if we follow the plan of the apostle Paul; he went on to other cities preaching the Word. So the missionary of God must move on to other places.

15. Owning the property of the church on the foreign field is a great hindrance to them. They have a built-in resentment of this. We have disdain for the financial institutions who hold the mortgages of properties in our country. It is multiplied in the minds of the native baby Christians in other lands of someone in the U.S. owns and has legal title to their property.

It means that if that new church doesn't go along with the owners at home they can be evicted from their churches. That is why we have the independent Baptist movement. This actually happens all the time among the Indians and Eskimos of North America. Some headquarters, somewhere, thousands of miles from the native people own what the native people should own. The churches on the field should pay for, build, and operate their own buildings. But the hangup comes when the property is owned by a foreign missionary society; then the outside element has to pay for the building. The native people will not and do not see the need of paying for or taking care of someone else's building. Another great hindrance is overbuilding.

The money is raised in the states and pays for "their" building; which is usually too large, too elaborate, too much of a western style and not fitting into their own background and the type they could and would care for.

16. Therefore, I believe one of the best things we can do for a new native church in a foreign culture, is to operate on the "don't give them a dime" theory. This way, they expect no handouts and immediately become dependent on Christ and not on the missionary. This builds a self respect which is so badly needed among the native of North America.

17. Building a church on a denomination, idea, philosophy and/or on the missionary instead of on Christ and the Bible. I Corinthians 3:11.

18. Pushing a system on the people that they do not want. They usually get more than the gospel. They get provincialisms from all parts of the states and Europe: holidays, christmas trees, traditions, dogs, cats, bugs, hangups, diseases and ideas they don't need; all in the name of Christianity.

HAVE MODERN CHURCHES BECOME A DEN OF THIEVES: Robbing Christ's Headship

Bert Craft — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 00:44:48 GMT

We continue with our series on "Have Modern Churches Become A Den Of Thieves." According to our first article, we believe that some modern churches have become a den of thieves because, from the pulpit to the pew, they have robbed God of His matchless glory. They have taken what rightly and exclusively belongs to God and heaped it upon themselves or other men, or in some cases, on their programs, their methodology, or other aspects of their ministry. These have been accredited for their results and success. The Scriptures speak clearly to this abominable human thought in 2Corinthians 5:18 when it states that "ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD" so that all of the glory will be completely His. Success is never due to human instrumentality or ingenuity, for God alone is truly the one that gives the increase (1Corinthians 3:7).

We also believe that many modern churches have become a den of thieves because they have robbed Christ of His headship. We firmly believe that Christ and Christ alone is the only head of all true, Biblically-constituted, divinely-ordered, doctrinally and practically sound, New Testament churches. He is the only head because He has been so designated by the heavenly Father. He is not head over some falsely-interpreted, Protestant-contrived, nebulous, universal, and invisible body called the "universal, invisible church," but rather Christ is the active, governing, overseeing, and administrative head over all of His local churches throughout the whole world. As in holy matrimony, every man is the only head over his own wife, so Christ is the only head over each one of His local, visible churches (Ephesians 5:23-24).

Ephesians 1:20-22: "Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places....and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church."
Colossians 1:18-19: "And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell."

As head over the church, Christ is the final determinater of all that is done in a New Testament church. Christ is subject to no one. Christ's will cannot be checked or called into question. He has the final say in all matters. He is the only, absolute authority in a church. Christ is the only boss. No pastor, counsel of elders, or denominational hierarchy outside the confines of the local church are to take the place of or usurp Christ's sole headship and government in the New Testament church. All who would do so, are thieves robbing Christ of His headship.

This brings us to a sacred cow of many: namely that the church is a democracy. The idea that the church is a democracy robs Christ of His headship. In a democracy, the majority rule and their will is carried out. As Thomas Jefferson, the third U.S. president and author of the Declaration of Independence, stated: "A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine." To the outsider, yes, the internal workings of a New Testament church appear to be a democracy as each member has a vote in the church's business meeting. But to those of us who know the yoke of Christ, and His absolute and sovereign right to rule, we do not deem the church to be a democracy, but rather a theocracy....God ruling over His people by Christ and His Word. Furthermore, the late J.R. Rushdooney stated that a democracy is the enemy of theocracy, the rule of God. A New Testament church is not to be mob ruled, but Christ ruled. Christ's rule is the rule of God through the Word and a democracy form of church government is the enemy of divine headship. Let us not be found to be a den of thieves robbing Christ of His headship.

The church's business meeting is a time when the church members unite their hearts and minds to discern the will of Christ over His church. The church business meetings does not serve as a sounding board for personal opinions, personal bias, and personal preferences, but rather is a concerted, disciplined, and spiritual exercise to determine the will of the church's Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. The accompanying vote is not a vote of the expression of my personal desire or will, but rather a time to manifest my agreement with the expressed and discerned will of Christ, to promote a sense of submission to Christ, and also to solidify a sense of unity with others who heartily love Christ, His church and His perfect will.

Let's be honest, most of us know so little about this kind of humble spirit and practice. Most of us want to be heard and taken into consideration. Many of us want to have preeminence. Many of us, through pride, fight with the spirit of Diotrephes, if not with his practice. We have too long been robbers of Christ's sovereign headship in His church. In many churches, there are no business meetings to discern Christ's Word and will in church matters. If there are church business meetings, they are often dominated by schisms, disunity, and divisions. Some pastors and elder-rule assemblies do not involve the church membership in the process of church matters. How many have grossly robbed Christ of His headship in His own church. Old fashioned, God-fearing, family men do not like when someone tries to interfere with their headship in their home and their divinely-appointed responsibility to govern their family for Christ's glory. Christ is infinitely more zealous of His heavenly Father-appointed responsibility to be the head over all things in the church.

We are not against elder leadership and pastoral rule in a New Testament church. Spiritual leadership, guidance, wisdom, experience, and godly counsel is a great blessing. In the New Testament, the passages that refer to the ruling elders of the church use the Greek word "proistemi" which consistently signifies to preside over, to watch for, or to be vigilant in care of. Wise elders of a New Testament church will be diligent to watch over and care for the souls that are under their spiritual jurisdiction. Similarly, the godly husband is equally exhorted in the Scriptures that he rule his house and children, not as a Lord, master, or boss; but rather as an exemplary, spiritual guide, watching and caring for each one's needs, education, training, and spiritual instruction.

Spiritual elders, centered on Christ and His Word, will encourage Christ-centerdness in the church and a consuming passion for the glory of God through the seeking out and fulfillment of His will. This is a great need in our day: spiritually, Christ-consumed men who live the blessed motto of John the Baptist: "He must increase, but I must decrease," and promote this same spirit within their congregations so that Christ rules over His people effectually for the glory of God and is evermore recognized as the only governing Head in the New Testament church.

May the Holy Spirit grant repentance to the acknowledging of the truth in this matter of robbing Christ's headship. To God alone be all the honor and glory forevermore is my most earnest prayer!

HAVE MODERN CHURCHES BECOME A DEN OF THIEVES: Robbing God's Glory

Bert Craft — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:19:09 GMT

By way of my missionary travels, I have been in, or in contact with, probably more than a thousand churches in the last twenty-five years. These churches have been in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Chile, Cuba, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Spain, Canada, and, of course, the United States of America. It has been my privilege, in the providence of God, to meet some of the most godly men and spiritual churches upon the face of the earth. My personal life, my family, and the ministry to which the Lord has called me, have been greatly enriched by these experiences.

However, in my travels and ministry, I have been awakened to a number of churches, ministries, and pastors, who instead of being the salt and light of the earth, are more like a "den of thieves" as Jesus coined the term. Jesus referred to these evil men as He made His way into Jerusalem and the temple in the final days of His life. Upon seeing those who bought and sold and misused the temple as a way to obtain personal gain, He zealously overthrew their tables and chairs. He drove them out, declaring, "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves."

I have often wondered if Jesus were to come to modern day churches, what would be His reaction? Would He see modern day churches, like those of the first century, praying, beseeching, fasting, and interceding? Would He find them ever conforming to and obeying the commands and purposes of our Lord Jesus Christ? Or would He find them to be a den of thieves? I believe there are modern day churches that are a den of thieves. They have altered the purpose for the house of God. They have modified the original intent of the church of God. Whether in ignorance or willful intent, they have robbed God.

As I write this, I hear the murmuring criticism of some, like in the days of Malachi, who question: "Wherein have we robbed Thee?" What have we stolen from Thee? Wherein have we defrauded Thee? These questions strike deeply at the spiritual ignorance and rebellion of our day. We are ignorant of our sins, because we are ignorant of God and His Word! We are ignorant of our imperfections, because we are ignorant of His perfections! May God grant us grace to recognize how we as modern day churches have robbed God and become a den of thieves.

We have robbed God and become a den of thieves because we have stolen His glory. All glory, without exception, belongs to God. "Unto HIM be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages" (Ephesians 3:21). "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Romans 11:36). "Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11).

God does not share His glory with anybody or anything. "I am the Lord: that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images" (Isaiah 42:8). "...I will not give my glory unto another" (Isaiah 48:11). God is eternally zealous concerning His own glory. He will not permit another to receive the glory that only belongs to Him. In fact, God curses those who will not glorify Him solely and exclusively. "If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings, yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart" (Malachi 2:2).

How rare to find a modern church that breathes, exists, and pants after the glory of God. A church that prays for God's glory. A church that longs to see God exalted and Christ magnified. A church that denies itself personal comfort and ease so that God will be glorified. We have stolen God's glory by time watching during the sermons, and by our many personal demands and exigencies. We have turned our churches into man-centered and man-praising institutions. We are quick to give the praise and honor to a man rather than to God. We pat ourselves on the back as if we have done it, not recognizing the font from Whom all blessings flow. Yes, sadly we have robbed God of His glory.

We have sung the praises of men so long, that we do even remember how to properly from the heart praise God and give Him all the glory. We have lauded men with honorary doctorates and so many different worldly-esteemed titles, that we fail to recognize that without God, we can do nothing. We have overlooked the reality that God has chosen the foolish things of this world, the weak things, the base things, the despised things, and the things that are not, to destroy the wisdom of this world, to remove all vain glory and boasting, and to promote the glory of God. We glory in our pastors, in our programs, and in our ministerial success to the point that God is just an afterthought. We sing, "To God Be The Glory," but we in turn give all the verbal praise and recognition to men. We have forgotten the apostolic admonition, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1Corinthians 10:31).

Man's ego is always in competition with the glory of God. Spiritual politics, ladder climbing, and religious hierarchy is always a disastrous threat to the glory of God. Where men are considered of utmost importance and value, where men are placed upon pedestals, where there is spiritual jockeying for position, fame, or opportunity, you can be sure that God's glory has been trampled upon and, almost, totally forgotten. These are abominable practices of our modern churches that rob God of His eternal glory. It has well been said that success has ruined more in the ministry than hardship and difficulty. Why? Because men have tried to take credit for what has been done. God will not share His glory with anyone, not even a big-named, famous, and successful preacher or church!

Many of our strong, local church, Historic Baptist men, have stooped so low as to glory in the church rather than in the church's Lord. We have gloried in her unbroken perpetuity without giving praise to Him who preserves her in utmost faithfulness through every storm and trial from Palestine to the present. We have caused men to admire the church and her virtues instead of her Head and Saviour from whom she obtains her reflected beauty. What is the church apart from Christ? What beauty does she have apart from Christ? What perpetuity does she have apart from Christ? What lasting impact upon our world does she have apart from Christ? What privileges does she have apart from Christ? What eternal glory as the bride does she distinctly possess apart from Christ? The church is nothing, absolutely nothing, an eternal nothing without the particular, redeeming, and sanctifying love and purpose of her Lord and Saviour! We must not glory in that which He created, even if it is created with great honor, but we must glory in Christ alone. He alone is all in all. We are complete in Him. We are saved and redeemed by Him.

In following, I hope to suggest some Biblical counsels, I trust, based on the Scriptures alone, for making a church a God-glorifying institution:

1. Make all aspects of the church Christ-centered, Christ-preeminent, Christ-focused, and Christ-exalting. Eliminate anything that draws attention away from Christ, from His character, His will, His work, His Word, His glory, His honor, and His praise. The church was never founded so that we might admire and glory in the apostles or other godly men. The church was founded so that in ALL things Christ might have the preeminence. The church was not founded to honor heroes, military men, missionaries, pastors, or any other human beings. The church was not founded to honor the state, state officials, or local authorities. The church was founded to honor and glorify Christ alone. Who has the right to introduce into church worship of the Lord Jesus Christ a practice that was not started by Christ in His earthly ministry?

2. Develop the church with a complete equality amongst men and women, rich and poor, master and slaves, and educated and ignorant. The church must truly not have any respect of persons. All men must be seen and accepted as equals. Christ is the only Head and Legislator. While men honor, esteem and promote one another, Christ will never have His rightful place. Only as men humbly submit one to another as equal brethren, will there be the capacity for Christ alone to be glorified and have the preeminence.

3. Establish the church so that it is identified with Christ alone and not with some human personality. By that, I mean, a church should not be known by a "Diotrephes" (3John 1:9), by a "Jezebel" (Revelation 2:20), or by some other famous singer, preacher, or other important public personality. The church should never be recognized as the church of the Apostle John, or the Apostle Paul, or of Dr. Hot Stuff. The church should publicly and privately be identified with Christ.

4. Make the church so that she is recognized as having only one Head and Legislator. To say this is a convention church, an associational church, or a certain fellowship church is to rob God of His glory and His headship and authority over His own church. The church must be recognized as having only one Head in all things.

5. Make the church so that there is no competition in titles, responsibilities, or in spiritual gifts. God has sovereignly granted to each member his spiritual capacity and participation in the body. There should be a zealous effort made to make each member recognize this fact so as to avoid all jealousy and envy. As Paul stated, "I am what I am by the grace of God." Each member participates in the church body life as God has sovereignly gifted him. Each member should be wholly thankful for His own gifts and ministry, and equally thankful for the spiritual gifts and ministry of others.

6. Teach the church constantly that the supreme motive in all things is the glory of God. The glory of God is more important than mens' reputations, pastoral careers, numerical growth, and the applause and accolades of men. The church body must be taught the first point of the Baptist Catechism: "What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

May this article cause us to reevaluate our church life, bring repentance to where there is sinful deviation from God's will, and instill in our hearts a renewed love and appreciation for the great and eternal glory of God who alone is worthy of all honor and praise. To Him alone be all the glory now and forevermore. AMEN!

WHY GOD ALLOWS SICKNESS & WEAKNESS IN HIS MINISTERS

Bert Craft — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 09:41:20 GMT

Mysterious are the visitations of sickness. When the Lord is using a man for His glory, it is remarkable that He should suddenly smite him down and suspend his usefulness. It must be right, but the reason for it does not lie near the surface.

The sinner whose every act pollutes the society in which he moves is frequently permitted year after year to spend unabating vigor infecting all who approach him. No sickness removes him even for an hour from his deadly ministry. He is always at his post, energetic in his mission of destruction.

How is it that a heart eager for the welfare of men and the glory of God should find itself hampered by a sickly frame, and limited from its best usefulness by attacks of painful disease? We may ask the question (as long as we do so without murmuring), but who shall answer it for us?

Would it be good for us to have all things so ordered by God that we could see the reason for His every arrangement? Could the scheme of divine love be so supremely, infinitely, wise if we could measure it with our limited powers of reasoning? And would we not be as foolish and conceited as spoiled and over-petted children, if all things were arranged according to our judgment of what would be right and proper?

Ah, it is good to be thrown out of our depth and made to swim in the sweet waters of mighty love! We know that it is supremely blessed to be compelled to cease from self, to surrender both desire and judgment, and to lie passive in the hands of God.

It is of the utmost importance to us to be kept humble. Self-consciousness and self-importance make a hateful delusion, but one into which we fall as naturally as weeds grow on a dunghill. We cannot be used of the Lord, but that we also dream of personal greatness. We think ourselves almost indispensable to the church; pillars of the cause, and foundations of the temple of God!

We are nothings and nobodies, but that we think otherwise is very evident, for as soon as we are put on the shelf, we begin anxiously to enquire, 'How will the work go on without me?' The fly on the coach wheel may just as well enquire, 'How will the mails be carried without me?'

Far better men have been laid in the grave without the Lord's work having been brought to a standstill, and shall we fume and fret, because for a short season, we must lie upon the bed of languishing? If we were laid aside only when it was obvious that our services could be spared, then there would be no jolt to our pride, but to weaken our strength at the precise moment when our presence seems most needed is the surest way to teach us that we are not essential to God's work, and that even when we are most needed, He can easily do without us. If this be the practical lesson, the rough schooling may be easily endured, for surely it is desirable beyond all things that self should be kept low and the Lord alone magnified.

May not severe discipline fall to the lot of some to qualify them for their office of under-shepherds? How can we speak with consoling authority to a situation which we have never known? The complete pastor's life will be an epitome of the lives of his people, and they will turn to his preaching, as men do to David's psalms, to see themselves and their sorrows, as in a mirror. Their needs will be the reason for his griefs.

As in the case of the Lord Himself, perfect equipment for His work came only through suffering, and so must it be for those who are called to follow Him in binding up the broken-hearted, and loosing the prisoners.

Souls still remain in our churches to whose deep and dark experiences we shall never be able to minister till we also have been plunged in the abyss where all Jehovah's waves roll over our heads. If this be the fact - and we are sure it is - then may we heartily welcome anything which will make us fitter channels of blessing. For the elect's sake, it shall be joy to endure all things, and to bear a part of - 'that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church'.

It may be, alas, that there are different and far more humiliating causes for our bodily afflictions! The Lord may see in us that which grieves Him and provokes Him to use the rod. 'Show me wherefore Thou contendest with me', should be the prompt petition of the believer's heart. 'Is there not a cause?'

It can never be superfluous to humble ourselves and institute self-examination, for even if we walk in our integrity and can lift up our face without shame in this matter concerning great sin, yet our shortcomings and omissions must cause us to blush. How much holier we out to have been, and might have been! How much more prevalently we might have prayed! With how much more unction we might have preached! Here is endless room for tender confession before the Lord.

Yet it is not good to attribute each sickness and trial to some actual fault, as though we were under the law, or could be punished again for those sins which Jesus bore in His own body on the tree. It would be ungenerous to others if we looked upon the greatest sufferer as necessarily the greatest sinner. Everyone knows that it would be unjust so to judge our fellow-Christians, and therefore we shall be very unwise if we apply so erroneous a rule to ourselves and morbidly condemn ourselves when God condemns not.

Just now, when anguish fills the heart, and the spirits are bruised with sore pain and travail, it is not the best time for forming a candid judgment of our own condition, or of anything else. Let the judging faculty yield to good sense, and let us with tears of loving confession throw ourselves upon our Father's bosom, and looking up into His face believe that He loves us with all His infinite heart. 'Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,' shall be our one unvarying determination, and may the eternal Spirit work in us a perfect acquiescence in the whole will of God, whatever that may be.

--by C.H. Spurgeon, edited by Bert Craft, taken from an article entitled, "Laid Aside--Why?," out of the book, "The Suffering Letters of C.H. Spurgeon," published by Wakeman Trust, London.

DYING TESTIMONY OF A PRESENT DAY BAPTIST PREACHER

Bert Craft — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:35:41 GMT

I recently received the following email from an Independent Baptist pastor that I met several years ago while vacationing with my elderly parents in South Carolina. Since then, I have received frequent emails from him sharing dying testimonies of saints and sinners, and also devotional readings by C.H. Spurgeon. I thought you might find blessing in his faith as he confronts a very imminent death and makes preparations. Please pray for him and his family as God puts them on your heart.

Dear Friends,
    There are times in our lives that we experience new things that bring us great pleasure and satisfaction. Sometimes it is something we have learned or accomplished that fills us with exceeding great joy and or happiness. I wish to share some wonderful news with you. I hope you will rejoice with me.
    For 36 years now I have been deeply interested in the next life. I am speaking about the life of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ; the Christian. I have read hundreds of stories that tell of the experiences of people as they are dying. It is clear that there is a spiritual world around us that we do not see until the very last.
    I have been fascinated with the thought of Heaven ever since Christ saved me in 1971. My Daddy asked me to promise him that I would meet him in heaven just a few days before he died in 1964. I was a 14 year old boy and I made the promise, but I didn't know how to go to heaven until Pastor Glenn Hill explained it to me in 1971. It was on a Wednesday night, February 3 that the Lord Jesus Christ saved me and changed my life. For the first time in my life I experienced real abiding joy and peace. God gave me a reason to live and called me to preach His Gospel. For several years now I have had an intense desire to go to heaven. I cannot explain it, but my wife will back up my words that I have been telling her I had a gut knowledge that my departure time was drawing near.
    I got back home from the VA Hospital in Charleston, SC on Friday. I have several malignant tumors in my brain. They say I have from three months to a year to live, but they are not in charge; God owns every ounce of me and when He says time is up I will leave this world and not until then. Please pray that the pain will go away and stay away. Also, please ask the Dear Lord Jesus to give me grace to face this trial like a good soldier. I want Him to receive glory and honor out of this, because He deserves it. I am the blessed one. I get to go to heaven and live with God in a place that is as perfect as God could make it. It is going to be so good and Christ has paid for everything. I love you, my dear friends. It will not be long before our Heavenly Father will gather all of us together and we will never have to say good-bye again.
    I am not afraid; Jesus has given me great peace. This is going to be the greatest experience of my life. I will be with Jesus and it doesn't get any better than that. Please pray for my wife and family because this is going to hurt them immensely. If you really want to do something to help me, then please help my wife to get by emotionally and financially. Some of you have already helped and I do thank you from the bottom of my heart. Those of you who have helped in the church services will be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ.


    ~Pastor George W. Ray~
    Friendship Baptist Church
          October 29, 2007

UPDATE:

On Tuesday, February 20, 2008, I received my monthly mail package from my home church in which was included a "Thank You" card postmarked January 25, 2008, from the wife of Pastor George Ray. The following is the entire handwritten contents of the "Thank You" card:

"Mr. and Mrs. Craft,

I am writing to say thanks for the book and check. I have to tell you that Pastor Ray went to heaven on January 13th. I miss him very much but I know he is happy and wouldn't come back if he could...like the book says "All Things For Good." I know God has a reason for everything. Please keep me in your prayers. I will read the book. Thanks a lot.

Mrs. Ray"

PREACHERS SHOULD BE SONS OF THUNDER

Bert Craft — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 17:18:19 GMT

"When men don't preach much about the danger of damnation, there is want of good preaching...If sinners don't hear often of Judgment and Damnation, few will be converted...Ministers should be sons of thunder: men had need have storms in their hearts, before they will betake themselves to Christ for refuge....If they be but thoroughly convinced of their danger, that will make them go to God and take pains."

--Samuel Stoddard, predecessor of Jonathon Edwards, Northhampton, Massachusettes, 1723, as quoted in "Daniel Rowland And The Great Evangelical Awakening In Wales," by Eifion Evans

CONVERSION IS MORE THAN KNOWLEDGE OF DOCTRINE

Bert Craft — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:02:17 GMT

"With the heart man believes to salvation. Although a man has believed some body of divinity, unless those principles which he has believed in his head have taken root in his heart so that he loves God's Son, rejoices in His salvation, denies himself, takes up his cross, follows the Lamb through all manner of reproach, his knowledge only makes him boast. He is blind and cannot see far. He has never felt the authority of God's grace within, and how can such a person love the Saviour of the World?"

--taken from "Daniel Rowland And The Great Evangelical Awakening In Wales" by Eifion Evans

THE MOST EFFECTUAL AND IMPACTING MINISTRY EXALTS CHRIST

Bert Craft — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:56:56 GMT

"It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all remembrance, that the ministry which exalts Christ crucified most, is the ministry which produces most lasting effects." --J.C. Ryle

TRUE, EFFECTUAL PRAYER IN THE LIFE OF DANIEL--The Proper Spirit In Prayer

Bert Craft — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:44:55 GMT

Having defined proper and Biblical motivations for prayer, exemplified in the life of Daniel, I now turn to the proper spirit that must be maintained for true, effectual prayer. We cannot enter into God's presence flippantly. We must not be presumptuous. However, on the other hand, we must not be timid. We must seek to cultivate a proper spirit in prayer that is pleasing to God, that is not offensive to His nature and attributes, and that will be conducive to a favorable, divine answer. Daniel modeled a proper spirit in prayer as manifested by Daniel 9:3-4:

"And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep His commandments."

In regards to a proper spirit in prayer, first, I would manifest that there is a need for a spirit of joyful recognition and submission to the sovereignty of God and His will. In prayer, Daniel directed himself to the "Lord God" which literally in Hebrew is "Adonai Elohim." Verbalizing his prayer, he said, "O Lord (this is the divine name Adonai), the great and dreadful God...." The word "Adonai" is taken from a Hebrew root word that means to rule. The divine name, Adonai, is God's self-declaration that He is the absolute ruler over all things. God sovereignly declares the end from the beginning which means He brings to pass by His omnipotence all that He determined and declared He would to do from eternity past; and by this ability, distinguishes Himself as superior to all other gods and all of creation (Isaiah 46:9-11). God sovereignly acts according to the good pleasure of His will, according to that which He has purposed in Himself, and according to the counsel of His own will (Ephesians 1:5,9,11). God is sovereign in heaven, on earth, and in hell (Psalm 135:6). God sovereignly rules over all (Psalm 103:19). He rules over the angels, the wickedly heinous devil, and the hideous demons. He rules over nations, kings, and civil authorities. He rules over depraved, unregenerate men, His people, and His churches. He rules over all earthly circumstances without exception and governs in all the affairs of men. He sovereignly rules all of creation, visible and invisible, and there is none that can thwart, delay, obstruct, or impede the fulfilling of His sovereign, omnipotent, and all-wise will (Daniel 4:35).

Daniel sought the face of God in prayer with his heart set upon the Sovereign God and His immutable will. Prayer must never be AGAINST the will of God, but always in ACCORDANCE to His eternal, sovereign will. It has been said, "Prayer changes things." Yes, how gloriously true! Yet, prayer has never changed God, His eternal purpose, or His immutable will. Daniel's prayer to God was not that He would change His eternally-determined purpose toward His people, toward His beloved city, Jerusalem, or toward the glorious, Solomon-built temple where God in time past was truly worshiped according to the dictates of the Mosaic law. Daniel's pleading was according to the revealed, sovereign will of God as he read and studied in the book of Jeremiah 29:10-14.

God's people must seek God's face resting and trusting in Him: in His sovereignty, in His omnipotence, in His goodness, in His wisdom, and in His right to do and govern, to save and to destroy, to raise up and humble, to make rich and poor, and to give or withhold. The spirit of joyful submission to the sovereignty of God is not through lip service or saying certain words before the Lord in prayer. Rather, the spirit of joyful recognition and submission to the Sovereign God is birthed out of a God-wrought, Bible-instilled passion to seek the majestic glory of God in all aspects of life. "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do ALL to the glory of God" (1Corinthians 10:31). Daniel's heart was set on God's glory, not his personal relief, comfort, or well-being.

Secondly, in regards to a proper spirit in effectual prayer, we must learn to cultivate a spirit of earnestness and fervency in prayer. Daniel set his face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Prayer in Daniel's life, was a not a passive, nonchalant activity, but one for which he prepared his heart and soul. True, effectual prayer is not read, said, memorized, or emptily repeated. True, effectual prayer comes forth from the heart...not just any heart, but a heart that is inflamed with God, with His will, and with His glory. This is one of the great errors of modern, American Christianity--its lack of earnestness, fervency, and wholeheartedness. There is little heart preparation to seek the Lord. There is virtually no passion for the things of God. There is little self-humbling before the Lord. There is little earnestness in our intimate communion with God. There is little earnestness in the confession of our sins. There is little earnestness in our discerning God's will. There is little earnestness in the heart-exaltation of Christ. There is little earnestness in our worship. There is little earnestness in our praying. There is little earnestness in our preaching. There is little earnestness in our evangelism. There is little earnestness in our service. Our lives are not consumed with God and it shows in most areas of our lives and especially in our praying. May God grant us wholehearted and life-changing repentance!

Daniel's fervency and earnestness in prayer are revealed in what accompanied his prayers, namely, his fasting, his covering with sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. Many of the Old and New Testament saints exemplified an earnest spirit in prayer with varying accompaniments. Their prayers were often accompanied with:

Shaving the head (Job 1:20-21)
Sitting in ashes (Job 2:8)
Sprinkle dust upon the head (Job 2:12; Joshua 7:6)
Wearing sackcloth (2Kings 19:1)
Tearing or renting garments (2Samuel 13:31)
Fasting (Deuteronomy 9:18)
Bitter crying (1Samuel 1:10)
Making a vow (1Samuel 1:11)
Strong crying and tears (Hebrews 5:7)
Smiting the breast (Luke 18:13)
Rending the heart (Lamentations 2:19)
Sweating profusely (Luke 22:44)

These accompanying acts to prayer did not give any more favor to their prayers before God. Remember that answered prayer does not depend upon personal merit, but on the merits of Christ. All of the spiritual blessings that we have and receive through prayer are in and because of Christ (Ephesians 1:3). God is impressed with the impeccable merits of His dear Son, not with anything that we could do in the flesh. However, these accompanying acts to their prayers were the manifestation of their sincerity, their wholeheartedness, and their earnestness before God. Prayer was not an afterthought. Prayer consumed their whole being. They were given over to prayer, and God delighted in answering them. This is the spirit we need in prayer today....prayer that consumes us, prayer that is preceded by preparation, prayer that involves our whole being, prayer that is passionate.

Thirdly, in regards to the proper spirit of effectual prayer, I would manifest that we need to cultivate a spirit of humility and contrition. Humility speaks of a proper concept of ourselves before God. Without the knowledge of God, we cannot have knowledge of ourselves. To know God is to know ourselves. As we know God, we are brought to see our finiteness, our unworthiness, our indignity, and our insignificance. "All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing" (Daniel 4:35). Without Christ, we can do nothing, we know nothing, we have nothing, and we are nothing (John 15:5). Humility also speaks of an utter dependence upon God. A spirit of self-sufficiency is the opposite of humility. We need God more than we know or understand. To depend upon ourselves is to perish in pride, but to depend upon God wholly is life everlasting. We must be weaned of self-confidence until we are saturated with God-confidence.

Further, a spirit of contrition speaks of brokenness or of being crushed. A broken and contrite heart God will not despise (Psalm 51:17). God works favorably for the one who is of a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 34:18). God dwells with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit (Isaiah 57:15). Blessed are they that are poor in spirit (Matthew 5:3).

Daniel clearly manifests a spirit of humility and contrition by fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. David, the sweet psalmist of Israel, said that he humbled his soul with fasting (Psalm 35:13). In regards to the sackcloth, which was a coarse garment of goat's hair, it was usually worn as a symbol of mourning and grief. Regarding the ashes, it was an ancient custom to put ashes on oneself as a symbol of extreme grief, penitence, humiliation, or sense or worthlessness. Daniel did not have a high or elevated spirit in prayer, rather a lowly, dependent, broken, contrite, and humble spirit.

Lastly, in regards to a proper spirit in true, effectual prayer, I would urge us to seek a spirit of reverence toward God. Intimacy is not contrary to reverence. The Spirit has been shed abroad in our hearts whereby we cry, "Abba, Father" (Galatians 4:6). We are to enter His presence boldly (Hebrews 4:16). Our familiarity with God and our intimacy with Him should never cause us to seek Him without a reverential respect. Daniel prayed demonstrating tremendous respect for Jehovah: "O Lord (Adonai),....the great and dreadful God....the Keeper of the covenant....the Possessor of mercy and forgiveness...the God of righteousness" (Daniel 9:4,7,9,14). He exalted the character and attributes of God as he humbly took his proper place before Him. Our prayers should be saturated with reverence and exaltation of God, His nature, character and His glorious perfections. As we exalt Him, we humble ourselves. As we praise Him, we show ourselves unworthy of praise. As we glorify Him, we show forth our own indignity. As we manifest His bigness, we declare our littleness. As we justify Him in all that He does, we accept responsibility for our sins and their consequences. May God grant us an ever-growing concept of His greatness, His majesty, His eternality, His incomparability, and His infinite holiness and righteousness, so that we might reverence His holy name now and forevermore.

True, effectual, life-changing prayer must have Biblical motivation along with a proper Biblical spirit. May God teach us to approach His throne in prayer with the proper, God-glorifying spirit (Jeremiah 30:21). Having learned how to approach Him in effectual prayer, may all the honor and glory be to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY!!!!!!!!

TRUE, EFFECTUAL PRAYER IN THE LIFE OF DANIEL--Motivation To Prayer

Bert Craft — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:48:10 GMT

True, effectual, heart-felt, life-changing prayer modeled by Daniel is something rare in America's popular, Christian culture. God's people and churches need to imitate the powerful and practical prayer life of Daniel of old. True Christianity is an absolute and total dependence upon Christ and His promises. Without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5)! With Him, we can do all things (Philippians 4:13)! Prayer--private or public, verbalized or silent, planned or extemporaneous, with head bowed and eyes closed or walking with head up and eyes open, is the life-blood, the only way that a Christian can truly exist on this earth. Many complain about prayer being removed from American public schools, and yet we find that a similar decree to outlaw prayer was made in the days of Daniel, and he continued praying. You cannot keep a true Christian from prayer. Because if you did, he would die. Our prayer life is not determined by our surrounding circumstances, rather by our union with Christ, our utter dependence upon Him, and our inability to persevere in the Christian walk alone. We need God at all times and in all circumstances. Oh, that our elevated and self-sufficient hearts would learn the reality of this truth. Oh, that our hearts would be humbled before our great and glorious God. Without Him we know nothing, we have nothing, we can do nothing, and we are nothing!

Though Daniel was an aged man (probably about 80 years old), an elderly statesman, a ruling prince, and a wise man in the Scriptures, Daniel was completely dependent upon his God, seeking his face faithfully every evening, morning, and noon (Daniel 6:10; Psalm 55:17). A divine vision in Daniel 8 revealing the world dominion of the Medes and Persians, the Greeks, and ultimately the Roman empire rule with all of their cruelties toward the Jewish nation, left Daniel troubled, faint, weak, and sick (Daniel 8:27). In Daniel 9, we see Daniel crying out to God for his beloved nation and the answer that God sent him. Though most commentators and commentaries give the major amount of attention to the divine, prophetic answer found in verses 24 through 27, the Spirit of God calls our attention to Daniel and his prayer by devoting virtually five times as many verses to his prayer than to the prophetic answer he received.

Notice carefully what motivated Daniel to seek the Lord in true, effectual prayer. First, he was motivated by the providential circumstances in his life. The Babylonians had been conquered. His Mede and Persian comrades sought to bring false accusation against him with the desire to remove him from his favored place of authority. He also received a new prophetic vision that troubled his heart. These were motivating factors to pray. The providential circumstances in our lives should bring about motivation to pray. You expectantly meet up with a childhood friend...that's motive to pray. Your community or state is hit with a supernatural act of God....that's motive to pray to seek God on behalf of the suffering and that through suffering hearts will be turned to God and His salvation. As the sailors of old read the skies, the child of God needs to read and discern the providence of God on a daily basis. Why has God allowed this to happen? What is God trying to communicate through these unusual circumstances? All of God's providential circumstances ought to move our hearts to true, effectual prayer.

Secondly, Daniel was motivated to effectual prayer through the study of the Word of God. No doubt, he was reading from the inspired writings of Jeremiah: "And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation...." (Jeremiah 25:11-12) "For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you..." (Jeremiah 29:10). All Bible study should lead us to a life of dependence and calling upon God. What we learn in the Scriptures, should be energized by heart-felt, effectual prayer that we may practice that which the Lord teaches us. Bible study reveals sin, unfaithfulness, wrong motives, and incomplete obedience. Bible study teaches us to walk in Christ´s steps, walk in the Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, to walk circumspectly, to walk in love, and to walk without offense. Whether Bible study reveals shortcomings in our lives or the necessary steps to spiritual maturity, it ought to drive us to our knees in earnest prayer.

Thirdly, Daniel was motivated to effectual prayer by the promises of God. God promised that the captivity would only last 70 years. God promised to visit His people. God promised to judge the Babylonians. God promised to bring His people once again to their native land. Daniel´s heart was cheered and encouraged by the promises of God. Daniel was praying according to the sovereign will of God in heaven that it would come to pass on the earth (Matthew 6:10). God´s great and precious promises are strong motivators to true, effectual prayer. It gives confidence and earnestness knowing that we are praying not to change God or His will, but we are praying in accordance with them (1John 5:14-15). True, effectual prayer transforms us so that we are completely centered and contented in the will of God and its coming to pass.

Fourthly, Daniel was motivated to effectual prayer by his own inability to change his circumstances to bring them in line with the promises of God. No matter how much we understand concerning God´s will, we are desperately unable to effect the changes necessary by ourselves or in the flesh. Our utter inability should cause to us to fall prostrate before heaven and earth's Potentate and beseech that He would intervene and change our culture, our nation, our family, our circumstances, according to His eternal will and for His glory.

May God motivate our hearts to true, effectual, heart-felt prayer. May we passionately enter into prayer as Daniel did of old. May all of the honor and glory be to Jesus Christ alone for teaching us to pray and to depend on Him more every day!

A PROBLEM POSED FOR BAPTIST PREACHERS

Bert Craft — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:57:05 GMT

There is no logical intermediate between Calvinism and Arminianism that is capable of combining both systems. It is impossible to say:

A. That man is both totally and partially depraved.
B. That election is both conditional and unconditional.
C. That regenerating grace is both irresistible and resistible.
D. That redemption is both limited and unlimited.
E. That perseverance is both certain and uncertain.

Nor can there be a modification of one by the other. One or the other of the above mentioned points must overcome the other. It is impossible to blend the two, which is requisite in order to a modification. History records such efforts in the past, but despite the efforts, the two will not mix, nor can they walk together in peace. Nor can those holding either system, force the other to their own view.

The endeavor by the Arminians in Holland, in the 17th century, to modify the Belgic Calvinistic Creed (the chief spirit of which was Calvin), and of the Calvinists to suppress the Arminian creed by the civil power, resulted in one of the most bitter conflicts in church history, and filled both parties with an unchristian spirit. Had there been no union of Church and State at that time, neither of these two theological divisions would have interfered, by civil and military power, with the doctrine and practice of the other, and mutual respect would have characterized both. Whenever the endeavor is made to mix the unmixable and to fuse two types of theology that exclude each other, hypocrisy and the pretense of being what one is not, are liable to prevail. A Calvinist is a dishonest disorganizer if he poses as an Arminian, and so is an Arminian if he pretends to be a Calvinist.

The above mentioned facts, and they are facts, pose a tremendous problem for Baptist preachers. Whichever system of theology be correct, or the nearest correct, is not my concern as I thus write. Here is the problem: every Confession of Faith of Baptists, all standard books on theology written by Baptists, all doctrinal statements of our schools, without exception (I am informed), confess, proclaim, and expound the great Calvinistic system. At the same time, a Calvinist is not acceptable in Baptist pulpits for the most part.

In both message and method, Baptists are more and more becoming Arminian. My contention is this: In order to be honest, new statements of faith, new confessions of faith, new doctrinal standards for schools, ought to be formulated and published. Baptists ought frankly to be told by their pastors and leaders that our forefathers were wrong and that what Baptists used to believe is just not so. The trouble today is that a present-day Baptist has nowhere to find out what a Baptist believes as to doctrine. If he goes to the books of theology or the old confessions of faith, he soon is informed that they are no longer held to be true.

To add to the dilemma, suppose by accident (?), a Calvinist comes along and preaches what he believes the Bible teaches; a fight is now started at once. The Calvinist is branded as a disturber and a non-Baptist. I know from twenty-five years of holding meetings for Arminian Baptist preachers, whereof I speak.

Is it not time, in all honesty, for Baptist preachers to return to the old paths (doctrinally) or formulate new statements of faith? I respect honesty demands one or the other of these.

It is high time that preachers ceased bragging about not being theologians. It is not a matter to brag about. This generation knows little of the character of the true God, nor of the condition and danger of mankind. We need some preachers who believe something, not just cheerleaders for a program.

I see no discernible hope that Baptist leaders will either come back to the old beliefs or honestly frame new doctrinal beliefs; but as for me, I am a Baptist who still believes in the doctrines and Christ of Sovereign Grace. If I could, I would call my brethren back to them.

We want no new convention or denominations, but we will not apologize for, in however poor way we are able, preaching the grand old truths that Whitfield and Spurgeon preached. If not in Baptist churches now constituted, we will preach them in tents and chapels and new churches. Thus, we earnestly solicit the prayers of every preacher who believes in the old truths once held by and preached by Baptists, and the many hundreds of God's dear sheep who hold membership in an Arminian Baptist church, who long to hear the old truths preached again! We say that such ought to support our small beginning and that without apology. We ought to support and bid Godspeed the preaching of what we believe to be the truth as it is in Christ Jesus.

Bible preaching is not that preaching which mentions a Bible, a cross, a Jesus, a Christ, a Saviour, a salvation; but, Bible preaching is when the Bible, inspired, preserved, and illuminated, is opened to the mind by God's Holy Spirit through the man of God setting forth all that is in the Holy Word and only that which is contained within the Word. Matthew Henry said: "We call it the Holy Book, because it was written by holy men, and indited by the Holy Ghost; it is perfectly pure from all falsehood and corrupt intentions; and the manifest tendency of it is to promote holiness among men. The great things of God's law and Gospel are here written to us, that they might be reduced to a greater certainty, might be spread further, remain longer, and be transmitted to distant places and ages more pure and entire than possibly they could be by report and tradition: and we shall have a great deal to answer for, if these things which belong to our peace, being thus committed to us in black and white, be neglected by us as a strange or foreign thing" (comments on Hosea 8:12).

The Gospel of God's marvelous Grace is presently being presented in thousands of places across our country; may each of God's true messengers take encouragement, for God is raising up His church in a mighty way in our day!

--by Rolfe Barnard (1904-1969)

***To read a brief, but delightful biography of Rolfe Barnard, click HERE.

THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL: "Why The Gospel Must Be Free," Part 4

Bert Craft — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:39:10 GMT

In our three previous posts relating to the freeness of the Gospel, we have stated that the Gospel must be free:

To be in accordance with the attributes of God
To be in accordance with the works of God
So that all of the glory, honor, and praise be exclusively for the Lord Jesus Christ

We now come to the last, great and convincing reason why the Gospel must be free. The Gospel must be free due to the extremely abject spiritual poverty of man. If there was a human obligation or requirement for man to save himself, what would he give for his own salvation? What does man have that he could give for his salvation? Natural man is morally bankrupt. He is absolutely broke in virtue, in the ability to save himself, or to help with his own salvation. Man is not only in zero with regards to his morality, but he is a great debtor. Man is not only morally without righteousness, and he is also in the hole. Spiritually speaking, he is in the red. He is without resources, without virtue, without morality, without goodness, without the capacity to do good, and without a natural desire to turn back to God.

Man's condition is horribly repugnant and distasteful. Very few ever come to see their true condition before the thrice holy God. The prophet declared under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). The only ones who truly understand and know their depraved condition before God are those to whom God has revealed it. Man is spiritually blind. Man is spiritually halt. Man is spiritually lame. Man is a spiritually paralyzed. Man is spiritually dead in His trespasses and sins. There is nothing a dead, unregenerate sinner can do to raise himself to life!

The Bible describes the lost sinner as clothed with FILTHY rags (Isaiah 64:6). These "filthy rags" mentioned here are those of pride, self-righteousness, self-justification, and of our own meritorious good works. Jesus describes natural man as "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:17). This is man's true and deplorable, impoverished condition before God. His condition is most loathsome, is to be pitied, is without spiritual riches and holiness of heart, is unrecognized and detected by his own sight, and is completely shameful. He is spiritually a down and outer. He is drunk with the wine of self-importance and self-righteousness. Before God, he is malodorous and disdainful in the stench of his own putrefying vomit.

The unconverted sinner is hopelessly poor. Like the truly poor in this world, the sinner is incredibly desperate. The poor know not where their next meal will come from. They know not where they will lay their head down. They know not when they will bathe again. They have nothing and, therefore have no way of determining their present or future circumstances. They are desperately needy, and so much so, they walk around begging for food, turning over garbage cans, and being avoided by the major part of society, with the hope of finding a crumb or a morsel. They are cold. They are exposed. They are helpless. They are dependent on mercy to survive. Such is the heinous condition of man before God in all of his spiritual poverty. Without mercy, without grace, the sinner will only perish. The sinner has nothing in his hands, in his pockets, or in his heart to bring to God. Before God, he is repugnant in his filth and stench. He is despicable in his sinful stupor. He is without hope. How awful and detestable is the sin-caused poverty in the human race.

Such is MY condition without Christ! Such is YOUR condition without Christ. We are hopelessly poor. We are wretches. We are repugnant. We are miserable. We are detestable. We are filthy poor. But, oh my dear reader, such was our human condition when Christ sought us out, redeemed us with His precious blood, and called us unto Himself. The Gospel had to come freely to us. Christ came to seek and save the wretched and sinful lost. Because of our spiritual poverty, the Gospel had to be extended and applied to us without money or without price. God, through the Gospel of His dearly beloved Son, freely justifies us by His grace. The Holy Spirit and the Lord's redeemed church say: "Come...and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). May God grant you grace to come to the crucified and risen Christ in whole-heart faith with your filthy, soiled, rotten, despicable garments of sin and self-righteousness, that you, like the wayward, hog-smelling, and repentant prodigal, may be clothed anew by your heavenly Father with the garments of salvation. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels" (Isaiah 61:10).

May Christ receive all the glory for freely saving such a filthy wretch as I through the glorious and free Gospel of grace!

QUOTE BY C.H. SPURGEON CONCERNING THE GOSPEL

Bert Craft — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 06:43:15 GMT

"When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the Gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed."

--C.H. Spurgeon

THE FREENESS OF THE GOSPEL: "Why The Gospel Must Be Free," Part 3

Bert Craft — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 17:06:43 GMT

The Gospel is absolutely, totally and unequivocally free. It is completely free in that it is the expression of the attributes of God which He freely exercises without any cause or impulsion outside of Himself. The Gospel is also free in that God's works are made manifest according to the good pleasure of His eternal will. Regarding God's attributes and works, He is immutably autonomous and independent, doing all things without any counsel, suggestions, or input from His creation.

The Gospel must also be free so that all of the glory regarding the salvation of man be exclusively for the triune God (Psalm 21:5; Revelation 7:10). God is the only one worthy of glory (Revelation 4:10). All things were created for God's glory (Romans 11:36). His glory is the supreme motive for all that the triune God has ordained, created, permitted, and done (Psalm 113:4, 148:13). God is very jealous of His own glory and will not share it with any one or any thing (Isaiah 42:8, 48:11). All of creation declares His matchless glory (Psalm 19:1). Man was created in the image and glory of God, though after his willful sin and rebellion against God, he became destitute of the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7; 1Corinthians 11:7; Romans 3:23). Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, came to this earth as the Brightness of His glory, a glory that was beheld by all that saw Him (Hebrews 1:3; Isaiah 40:5; John 1:14). Depraved man is hell-bent on robbing all of God's glory and giving it to whatever or whoever he deems worthy (Romans 1:19-25). However, when all of God´s redemptive purposes are complete on the earth, His eternal glory will prevail as the unbeliever bows his earthly-unbent knee and confesses with his earthly-blasphemous tongue that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11), and the Spirit-regenerate believer will eternally behold the glory of His Redeemer (John 17:24).

God is the effective author of the Gospel. God determined who would be the benefactors of the Gospel. God is the One who planned our salvation through the Gospel. God sent His Son to give His life a ransom for many. God imputed to Christ on the cross all of the transgressions of His people. God made Christ a penal substitute whereby He satisfied His own holy righteousness by pouring out His fiery wrath on Christ on the cross. God raised up His Son on the third day according to the Scriptures. God exalted His Son receiving Him in a cloud so that He could sit down at the right hand of the Father.

Christ is the effective agent of the Gospel. The eternally-glorious Christ willingly made Himself of no reputation and humbled Himself to become a lowly man. Christ, without fail, kept all of the law of God in thought, motive and deed. Christ as the good shepherd voluntarily laid down His life for His sheep. Christ alone effectually purged our sins, reconciled us to the Father, and has once-for-all put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. By the shedding of His blood, He obtained eternal redemption for His people. By His holy life and His vicarious, substitutionary death, Christ has been made our righteousness, our redemption, our life, and our only hope.

The Holy Spirit is the effective applicator of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit, like the wise and trusted servant of Abraham who was sent to find a bride for Isaac, is the one who effectually seeks out the chosen people of God the Father and those for whom Christ died. The Holy Spirit effectually does the human-heart work of the Gospel. He reveals to man his sinfulness, His entire corruption, and His inability to do anything in the flesh to come to God. He reveals and instructs His heart concerning the seriousness of His plight, his separation from God, his imminent danger of death, judgment, and eternal hell fire. He reveals to man's heart the sufficiency of Christ and His perfect sacrifice as the basis of redemption. The Holy Spirit effectually regenerates the heart creating a new creature in Christ Jesus whereby the mind comes into total agreement concerning the knowledge of God, the heinousness of sin, and the depraved nature of man; the affections are renewed so that one sincerely longs for and loves Christ from the heart; and the will is divinely-enabled to come to Christ, repent, and believe to the saving of the soul. The Holy Spirit effectually seals and sanctifies the repentant believer so that he is preserved and enabled to persevere to the end of his earthly pilgrimage.

Seeing that the triune God is the effective author, agent, and applicator of the Gospel, all of the glory for the free Gospel by which we are saved must be for God alone. The law cannot save us. Good works cannot save us. Baptism cannot save us. Our faithfulness cannot save us. The sacraments cannot save us. Growing up in a Christian home cannot save us. Reformation of life or character cannot save us. Religion cannot save us. Being a student of the Scriptures cannot save us. Our self-righteousness cannot save us. Prayer and fasting cannot save us. Turning over a new leaf cannot save us. Speaking in tongues cannot save us. Sabbath-keeping cannot save us. Loving our neighbor cannot save us. A sinner is saved and justified before God freely by His grace, apart from all and every human work (Ephesians 2:5-10; Titus 3:5; 2Timothy 1:9).

Salvation is all of grace. It is without human cause. It is without any merit in man. The finality of the free Gospel and salvation wholly by grace is that that all of the honor and glory for all eternity be completely and exclusively for our glorious, worthy and eternally-merciful God! The Apostle Paul anticipated the surprised reaction of man to salvation wholly by grace when he asked the question in Romans 3:27: "Where is boasting then?" If we are saved by all of God's work and none of man's, what glory is there for us? And Paul gives the inspired answer, "It is excluded!" Divine grace removes all human boasting and glorying. Divine grace requires us to fall on our face in gratitude and humble thanksgiving before our merciful and kind Lord. Divine grace replaces all of our arrogant and self-centered boasting with glory and praise to the Lamb who has redeemed us to God by His blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation!

The Gospel is entirely free so that all of the glory be for God alone. As the inspired, infallible Word declares: "...that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1Corinthians 1:29-31).

To God alone be eternal glory for free grace, for the free Gospel, and for a free salvation!