The PuritanBoard - Blogs http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/ A forum for the discussion of Reformed Theology and the historic Christian Faith en Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:39:48 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.puritanboard.com/images/retro/misc/rss.jpg The PuritanBoard - Blogs http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/ <![CDATA[A Closer Look at the Glendale, AZ Stabbings...Eminem's Lyricas DO effect you]]> http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/400-closer-look-glendale-az-stabbings-eminems-lyricas-do-effect-you.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:53:00 GMT 23Who Influences You? Jun A Closer Look at the Glendale, AZ Stabbings by Tony Palacio Ephesians 6:12 states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this... 23Who Influences You?
Jun
A Closer Look at the Glendale, AZ Stabbings

by Tony Palacio

Ephesians 6:12 states,

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

On May 30th, 2009, just before 4:00AM, 29-year-old Michael Miller of Glendale, AZ stabbed his wife and 10-year-old daughter to death after screaming Eminem lyrics. He also proclaimed to his victims, “Here comes Satan, I’m the anti-Christ, I’m going to kill you.” His 4-year-old son survived being stabbed 11 times. Miller told detectives that he was possessed and that he visualized his wife, Adreanna, as a demon.

Ironically, Miller told police that he had tucked his son into bed the night before, and they said a prayer together asking God to keep them safe.

1 John 4:4 tells us “the One in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Who is “the One” in every Believer? The Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 states that a Believer is controlled by the Spirit of God. And 1 Corinthians 3:16 states that God’s Spirit lives in every Believer. For Miller to have been truly possessed by a demon, then the Holy Spirit could not have been present in Miller.

In our Rockumentary “They Sold Their Souls for Rock n Roll”, we take you behind the scenes to discover the power of music and the deceptive agendas of many popular artists, in their own words, and reveal just how Satan is using popular entertainers to destroy the moral fabric of society. Eminem is just one in a long list of artists who are influencing not only our youth, but apparently adults such as Michael Miller as well.

When one reads the lyrics to Eminem’s “3AM”, they are strikingly similar to the events which happened in the Miller household on May 30th. (Read the lyrics here.) While the exact words “Here comes Satan, I’m the anti-Christ, I’m going to kill you” are not found in “3AM” or any other Eminem lyrics, there is no doubt that an evil “spiritual force” is behind many of his lyrics, which are directly from the pit of hell. There’s also no doubt that Satan wanted everyone to know who was behind these brutal murders, apparently speaking through Miller as he stabbed his family.

Consider the lyrics in “Kim” (Warning: Explicit Lyrics), another in a long list of songs by Eminem in which he sings about murder (”Kim” happens to be about killing his wife). Here is yet another example of how Satan is using artists to glorify murder. Rolling Stone Magazine once stated, “Eminem’s violent acts are a scene worthy of ‘Slim Shady’”. According to a Spin Magazine cover story on Eminem (The Devil & Mr. Mathers), they refer to the “spirit of Slim Shady” that Eminem encountered while in the bathroom. Apparently Eminem is allowing an evil spirit, which identifies itself as Slim Shady, to channel perverse lyrics through him, which would explain the consistency with which violent acts and murder seem to follow after Eminem and his music.

Watch an Eminem video clip from “They Sold Their Souls for Rock n Roll”:
Video Exposé on Eminem

Read the full written article on Eminem:
Good Fight Article on Eminem

Colossians 3:8 tells us,

“…you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

If we are allowing artists such as Eminem, who is no doubt filled with “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language”, into our lives or our children’s lives, then we are making it increasingly more difficult on ourselves to follow God’s word in Romans 12:2, which tells us to,

“be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 also states,

“…let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”

Colossians 3:5 further states,

“Therefor consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”

One thing is for certain, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against… “spiritual forces of evil”.

This is why it is so important to guard ourselves and our loved ones from influences which pull us away from our Lord, grieve the Holy Spirit, do not honor or glorify God, and which also could allow Satan to get a foothold in any area of our lives. Philippians 4:8 admonishes,

“…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

It is our prayer that Michael Miller’s son makes a full recovery, and that both would fully submit their lives to Jesus Christ.

May you walk in the light of our Lord, holding fast to what you have (in Christ) until He comes. (Rev 2:25)

Read the full Michael Miller stabbing story here:
Fox News Phoenix ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/400-closer-look-glendale-az-stabbings-eminems-lyricas-do-effect-you.html If you seek amy...song by Britney Spears...COVER YOUR CHILDRENS EARS! http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/399-if-you-seek-amy-song-britney-spears-cover-your-childrens-ears.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:52:00 GMT “If U Seek Amy” Oops she did it again! After Britney Spears spent time working herself back into the good graces of unsuspecting parents who had grown weary of her descent into darkness, and decided they weren’t going to let her take their... “If U Seek Amy”

Oops she did it again! After Britney Spears spent time working herself back into the good graces of unsuspecting parents who had grown weary of her descent into darkness, and decided they weren’t going to let her take their children down with her, she’s at it all over again! Like a snake that has recoiled and regained its equilibrium after striking its victim only to strike again, Britney has served up more toxic venom for millions of unsuspecting parents and children. Allmusic described her new song, If U Seek Amy, from her latest album Circus, as an “exercise in crass commercial carnality”, a “trashy stomper” and “nakedly vulgar”. Allmusic further acknowledged that Britney, “never was this explicit” before, and that her new single, If U Seek Amy, is a “Katy Perry-styled” song. Katy Perry, whose own suggestive song, “I Kissed a Girl”, incidentally is believed to promote lesbianism among young girls.

In her newest hit, If U Seek Amy, Spears employs a cheap play on words when singing the part of the chorus that repeats the title of her track. When she sings “If U Seek Amy” she sounds as if she is deliberately and emphatically spelling out the “F” word. Thus phonetically, “If U Seek Amy” becomes “If=F… You=U… see=C… kA=A… my=Me. Tragically, when singing those words with the rest of the line, she is literally singing, “All of the boys and all of the girls are begging to F—*—*—*—me.” What she is doing is telling the potentially millions of children who will listen to the song, that “all” of the boys and girls are begging to have sex with her whether it is heterosexual or lesbian. Add to this the fact that multitudes of little children are going around singing those words and applying it to themselves!

This is another sad case of the music industry playing a major role in dragging God’s beautiful gift of sex into the gutter and contributing to the downfall of morals in America and throughout the world. How many children have been destroyed by Britney Spears, Madonna, and hundreds of other artists, who often care more about money, fame and power than they do about polluting the hearts and minds of children?

In reference to Britney’s new single, USA Today spoke of the “downward spiral of celebrities”. Sadly they are bringing a lot of naive children down with them as Entertainment Weekly predicted the song will “be a middle-school sensation”.

The blame, though, does not belong to Britney Spears and the music industry alone, but the greatest blame really belongs to us! One of the biggest reasons children get caught up in this kind of music, and end up in a Britney Spears-like free fall, is because parents aren’t parenting anymore! Parents fail to be the stewards of the children whom God has entrusted to them and will be judged accordingly. They fail to take the time out that is required to examine what their children are watching or listening to. They fail to give moral guidelines and then follow up by doing the best to lovingly enforce them. Rolling Stone Magazine, which has done plenty in corrupting children, quoted shocked parents saying things like:

“I was astonished and totally taken back when I heard my 5 and 7 year old kids walking around the house singing ‘F-U-C-K’… When I asked them what it was, they told me it was Britney Spears. I was horrified.”

– Rolling Stone,
December 5, 2008
How many of us who are parents are shocked at what our children are listening to or watching? The reality is that we live in an evil world with the forces of darkness arrayed against our families (Ephesians 6:10-18) and seeking our destruction (1 Peter 5:8). We as parents are the ones who need to wake up. We need to take the responsibility of raising our children to know God and His word. We dare not allow our children to meander aimlessly through the spiritual minefields that threaten to blow their innocent lives into little pieces.

Britney Spears is considered tame by much of the fallen world’s standards, however studies have demonstrated that those who listen to secular pop music are far more inclined to engage in sexual sin than those who do not. God’s word warns us “avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness.” (2 Timothy 2:16). If you are a young person you need to know that God wants you to realize that He not only loves you but gives you Godly counsel in His word so that you will have a life that pleases Him and be truly blessed! He also wants you to know that He is holy and righteous and therefore must judge sin and evil.

If you are a parent, you need to know that if we allow the worldly and godless chatter of Britney Spears and other pop icons to freely pour like a sewer pipe into the hearts of our children the net effect will eventually be garbage in and garbage out!

Even worse than the legendary sirens of old, who targeted sailors with their seductive songs only to dash their ships on the rocks and lead their souls down to Hades, Britney’s seductive songs of destruction are unconscionably directed at children. Solomon, who was the wisest king of his day, wrote the book of Proverbs under the inspiration of God to instruct his children. He did this so they could be mature in the wisdom of God and wise to the wicked ways of the world. Solomon spent a considerable amount of time warning his children not to fall in with a seductress and further warned his son that her ways would lead him to destruction (Proverbs Chapters 4-7, etc). He warned his son not to be deceived by the flaunting of her eyes or the seductive words that flowed like oil from her mouth. He warned his son that if he were to fall into her trap that he would be like an ox led to the slaughter and end up being destroyed! With one in every four teenagers acquiring at least one sexually transmitted disease today, including HIV/AIDS, what caring parent would withhold such godly counsel from his or her child?

I believe that we need to ask God for forgiveness in the areas where we have come short in protecting and teaching our children. Let us ask God to give us the love, courage and patience needed to instruct our children in His righteousness. If we are parents, let us determine in our hearts to be examples and not hypocrites, to show our children the love and life of Jesus Christ in our daily walks with Him. Let us keep our guard up and not allow Britney Spears, Madonna, Marilyn Manson or anyone else to raise our children for us. That is a job God has given to us! Confessed Satanist, Marilyn Manson, actually gave some great parenting advice when he said, “Raise your kids better or I’ll be raising them for you.” ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/399-if-you-seek-amy-song-britney-spears-cover-your-childrens-ears.html THIS IS IT, an expose of Michael Jackson http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/398-expose-michael-jackson.html Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:46:56 GMT Michael Jackson and the Moral Decline of America With the film release of “Michael Jackson: This Is It” on October 28, 2009, the King of Pop is still receiving idolatrous praise by many in the liberal media, despite the preponderance of evidence... Michael Jackson and the Moral Decline of America

With the film release of “Michael Jackson: This Is It” on October 28, 2009, the King of Pop is still receiving idolatrous praise by many in the liberal media, despite the preponderance of evidence suggesting that he was a child rapist. Tragically, as we have learned through the Roman Polanski saga, if you have been anointed by the liberal media and have even a modicum of talent, they will give you a free pass to rape America’s children.

Stacy Brown, co-author of “Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask,” illustrates how even fans who acknowledged Jackson’s guilt seemed to give Jackson a pass because he could sing and dance. Brown admits, “Let’s face it, I’m not one to believe that Michael was innocent of molesting children, but he was never convicted.” However, despite her belief that Jackson was guilty of child molestation, the star-struck Brown praises Michael Jackson as “Elvis, the Rolling Stones, Frank Sinatra, and the Beatles all rolled into one.” Should we place OJ Simpson on a pedestal because of his incredible running ability and conclude, “Let’s face it, I’m not one to believe that OJ was innocent of murdering people, but he was never convicted?”

The fact that so many Americans can easily ignore the horrific crimes that “stars” commit against our children is symptomatic of a culture that has been increasingly jaded by Darwinism, moral relativism, and Hollywood propaganda. While millions of dollars was enough to quiet parents whose children claimed that Jackson had molested them, many in the popular media cashed in by ignoring his alleged crimes and glorifying his bizarre persona.

New York Congressman, Peter King, sought to set the record straight and asked what glorifying a pervert like Michael Jackson says about us as a country. King said that Jackson, who is believed by most Americans to have been a child molester, is being glorified “day in and day out” while society completely ignores the efforts of teachers, police officers, firefighters, and veterans. “Let’s knock out the psychobabble,” King said, “he was a pervert, a child molester; he was a pedophile. And to be giving this much coverage to him, day in and day out, what does it say about us as a country?”

While one would expect some in an increasingly godless society to exalt a man who was known to sleep with young boys, it is tragic when those who claim to be spiritual leaders, ignore Jackson’s perverted lifestyle and speak of him as though he is now entertaining angels by doing the ‘moonwalk’ in Heaven. David Pack, a Grammy-award winning artist, music director, and a member of Saddleback Church, wrote in the Purpose Driven Connection, “One of the greatest artists of our time is now moon-walking along the gold paved roads of heaven, where streets have no name, with a broad smile on his face…”

This picture becomes even more disheartening when we consider the fact that Michael Jackson had a penchant for simulating sex on stage before thousands of boys and girls. When Oprah Winfrey asked Jackson why he repeatedly grabbed his crotch while on stage, he claimed that he had no control over his actions. If Jackson had a hard time controlling his sexually deviant inclinations under bright stage lights before tens of thousands of children, how could anyone in their right mind assume that he controlled himself in private with young boys in his bed?

To make matters worse, Jackson used his vast resources to transform Neverland Ranch into a magnet for children and a pedophile’s paradise. The entire ranch was designed to allure countless children onto his property and into his bed. Beyond the testimony of molestations by children Jackson shared his bed with, and the millions of dollars he gave these families to settle their lawsuits, there are other deeply disturbing facts as well. Michael Jackson also had an elaborate, specialized alarm system that alerted him anytime someone was near his bedroom, lest someone enter his room and interrupt his personal time with unsuspecting boys he found attractive. Add to this, the fact that investigators found risqué books in his room with pictures of naked boys and the picture becomes alarmingly clear.

Moreover, Jackson was known to have had homosexual relationships with other adult males as well. Ian Halperin, Jackson’s biographer, who authored Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson and claimed that Jackson had only six months to live, last December, stated, “In the course of my investigations, I spoke to two of his gay lovers, one a Hollywood waiter, the other an aspiring actor. The waiter had remained friends, perhaps more, with the singer until his death…. He had served Jackson at a restaurant, Jackson made his interest plain and the two slept together the following night.”

Halperin states that he was shown evidence of Jackson’s sexual relationship with the waiter, which included photographs of the gay lovers together. Halperin further stated, “When Jackson lived in Las Vegas, one of his closest aides told how he would sneak off to a ‘grungy, rat-infested’ motel – often dressed as a woman to disguise his identity – to meet a male construction worker he had fallen in love with.” (Online Source)

The absurd picture of Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk in heaven before the thrice-holy God, becomes even more insidious when we realize that Jackson engaged in Black Magic in an effort to murder several people that made his enemies’ list. In our Rockumentary, They Sold Their Souls for Rock and Roll, we document how Michael Jackson claimed that he was in touch with spirit entities and that he used a special room full of mirrors to commune with these spirits. Jackson claimed that he sought their guidance in regard to using their music. He even went so far as to claim that music was audibly communicated to him through dreams and that he was merely the messenger bringing these songs into the world.

In 2000, Vanity Fair reported that Jackson went so far as to bathe in blood and have a number of animals sacrificed so he could put death curses on Steven Spielberg and others. In the article, it was reported that Jackson attended a voodoo ritual in Switzerland, and a witch doctor named Baba sacrificed 42 cows as part of the death curse ceremony. Jackson ordered his former business adviser, Myung-Ho Lee, to wire $150,000 to a bank in Mali to cover the cost of the ceremony. The witch doctor promised Jackson that Spielberg, music mogul David Geffen, and 23 other people on Jackson’s hit list would die…but ironically, it was Michael Jackson himself who would end up dying a premature death! (Online Source)

As further evidence to Jackson’s occult practices, Michael claimed that a “force” that he referred to as a “spirit” would seize control of his body while he was performing. When we consider the fact that this “spirit” repeatedly compelled Jackson to grab his crotch before his young, adoring and impressionable fans, that he was involved in perverse behavior with children, and that he sought to harness dark spiritual forces to commit mass murder, it becomes evident that the destructive dark spirits that Jackson relied upon to influence the masses had nothing to do with the Holy Spirit of the Living God.

As the liberal media and Hollywood elitists continue to parade sexual deviants and drug addicts before our children and chip away at the moral foundation of our nation, it is imperative, now more than ever, that wise parents teach their children how to discern the difference between good and evil and train them up in “the way” they “should go.” (Proverbs 22:6) ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/398-expose-michael-jackson.html Just a few more words / FV http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/397-just-few-more-words-fv.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:50:34 GMT Just a few words. I find it amazing that one of the central issues concerning Covenant Theology is rarely addressed in this discussion. Maybe it is something that I hold too dear to. But I absolutely love the doctrine of the Covenant of Works... Just a few words.

I find it amazing that one of the central issues concerning Covenant Theology is rarely addressed in this discussion. Maybe it is something that I hold too dear to. But I absolutely love the doctrine of the Covenant of Works and the Bi-Covenantal system of understanding our Bible. I include the Covenant of Redemption in the Covenant of Grace. Sorry if that bothers some of you. Well, not really.

The Federal Vision advocates hate this system of theology. Now they will acknowledge some form of the CofW but all of them that I have known of hold to a monocovenantalism which teaches only one Covenantal structure of grace for understanding the workings of God in historical redemption. This simply amazes me. This is so far from being Confessional that it ought to make the Confessional Church rise up and cry against it. It totally changes the Work of Christ and what He did. John Coloquoun made a great observation concerning this issue.

John Coloquoun
Quote:
Although eternal life was, in the covenant of works, promised to Adam and his posterity on condition of his perfect obedience, and that only, yet a man is to be counted a legalist or self-righteous if, while he does not pretend that his obedience is perfect, he yet relies on it for a title to life. Self-righteous men have, in all ages, set aside as impossible to be fulfilled by them that condition of the covenant of works which God had imposed on Adam, and have framed for themselves various models of that covenant which, though they are far from being institutions of God, and stand upon terms lower than perfect obedience, yet are of the nature of the covenant of works. The unbelieving Jews who sought righteousness by the works of the law were not so very ignorant or presumptuous as to pretend to perfect obedience. Neither did those professed Christians in Galatia who desired to be under the law, and to be justified by the law, of whom the apostle therefore testified that they had "fallen from grace' (Galatians 5:4), presume to plead that they could yield perfect obedience. On the contrary, their public profession of Christianity showed that they had some sense of their need of Christ's righteousness. But their great error was that they did not believe that the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone was sufficient to entitle them to the justification of life; and therefore they depended for justification partly on their own obedience to the moral and ceremonial law. It was this, and not their pretensions to perfect obedience, that the apostle had in view when he blamed them for cleaving to the law of works, and for expecting justification partly on their own works of obedience to the moral and ceremonial laws, they and the apostle informed them, were fallen from grace; Christ had become of no effect to them. And they were "debtors to do the whole law" (Galatians 5:3-4). By depending for justification partly on their imperfect obedience to the law, they framed the law into a covenant of works, and such a covenant of works as would allow for imperfect instead of perfect works; and by relying partly on the righteousness of Christ, they mingled the law with the gospel and works with faith in the affair of justification. Thus they perverted both the law and the gospel, and formed them for themselves into a motley covenant of works.

A Treatise on the Law and Gospel
pp. 18,19
John Coloquhoun
Published by Soli Deo Gloria
http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/pu...w-neither.html

Here is what Federal Vision advocate Douglas Wilson says about the Covenant of Works.

Quote:
Furthermore, because the first covenant with Adam was a gracious covenant, coming from a gracious God, with the condition of the first covenant being the covenantal faithfulness of Adam, not merit, FV proponents suggest that believers should recognize the essential unity of the covenants from Adam through Christ. They are all basically the same with the same condition, covenant faithfulness. In addition, FV writers unanimously reject the concept of merit under the covenant of works: “God did not have an arrangement with Adam in the garden based on Adam’s possible merit. Everything good from God is grace. If Adam had passed the test, he would have done so by grace through faith". Douglas Wilson, “Beyond the Five Solas,” Credenda/Agenda 16/2:15
I also discussed this with Dr. R. Scott Clark whom some of you might or might not like. He responded to a similar question concerning Wilkin's that I had asked him so I just used it as a response to the Doug Wilson quote.


Here is Dr. Clark's response.

Quote:
The classic Reformed folk tended to use the expressions "covenant of works" and "covenant of life" and "covenat of nature" (and the like) interchangeably.

Works refers to the terms.

Life refers to the goal.

Nature refers to the setting.

It's not that complicated.

Wilkins clearly denies the substance of the covenant of works. According to W. the prelapsarian covenant is legal-gracious and the post-laps. cov. is gracious-legal.

To admit a purely legal prelapsarian covenant does profound damage to the covenant moralist scheme because it entails the sort of law/gospel dichtomy which they abhor and which the Protestant faith embraces.

Wilkins is advocating a "trust and obey" scheme before and after the fall. The Westminster Confession doesn't. Neither do the rest of the Reformed confessions. They have it that Adam was righteous, holy, good and able to obey. He chose not to obey. He sinned. He fell and we with him. (The truth is, Adam) He didn't fall from grace. He broke the law. The Wilkins account confuses law and grace. Of course, the Apostle Paul has no such problem.
http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/pu...ry-1689er.html

This off base doctrine of monocovenantalism and teaching that the Covenant of Works is a gracious covenant is unconfessional and should be dealt with. Christ fulfilled the law on our behalf. He fulfilled what the first Adam failed to fulfill. If he didn't then the justice of God was not met in Christ's sacrificial atonement. There is no propitiation. The person and work of Christ is demerited by these men who teach this unconfessional and very unbiblical doctrine. ]]> PuritanCovenanter http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/397-just-few-more-words-fv.html When Bible Translations Affect Doctrine http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/rodericke/396-when-bible-translations-affect-doctrine.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:47:47 GMT Are all Bible translations created equal? More than just a discussion over dynamic or formal equivalence ( ), is the simple question of whether a translation can dramatically affect a person's doctrine.

For example, two translations mentioned were "The Message Bible" and the "NIV".

Let's start with an example from "The Message Bible", Mt 18:15-17 concerning how to deal with a Christian who has sinned against you. Most should know this passage; about going to the offender privately, then taking two witnesses, next take it before the church, then finally, a writing off of the person as a "heathen or tax-collector" if the person doesn't repent. Look how "The Message Bible" renders this passage:

Quote:
"If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you've made a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won't listen, tell the church. If he won't listen to the church, you'll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God's forgiving love." -- MSG
Notice that it DOESN'T conclude with an "excommunication", but rather endless appeal, how "niiiiice" of them. ("start over from scratch"). That is NOT what the text says and perhaps is the reason why so many who claim to be Christian often find cutting off offenders as "mean", "hateful", "divisive". Compare several translations of Mt 18:15-17

Oddly enough, I believe the MSG does a fairly good job at relating 1 Cor 5 to a contemporary audience. After what was done with Mt 18:15-17, I would have thought MSG would have watered down this chapter, but it didn't. Compare 1 Cor 5


Now an example from the NIV, we look at 1 Cor 6:9 where we see who will NOT inherit the kingdom; specifically as it addresses homosexuality. The NIV renders it:

Quote:
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders" -- NIV
Notice it calls them homosexual offenders, as if being homosexual is not offense enough. As if it is okay as long as the homosexual doesn't act on his inclinations -- I've actually heard people make this kind of defense.

This wording could lead people to maintain some really strange doctrines. But the MSG is even worse at rendering 1 Cor 6:9:

Quote:
"Don't you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don't care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don't qualify as citizens in God's kingdom." -- MSG
First, yes abusing the purpose of sex is wrong but the MSG completely blots out the fact that this passage is directly addressing homosexuality. Further, the MSG sneaks in environmentalism, saying that people who "use and abuse the earth" don't qualify as citizens in God's kingdom. Compare 1 Cor 6:9 in several translations.

So, you see it really does matter what translation we're reading. It could dramatically affect how we practice our faith. One of the first things a cult does is make a new translation. The JWs did it with the "New World Translation" and the Mormons just out and out created an entirely different book called, "The book of Mormon".

Be on the look out for people who advocate "new" interpretations, whether in a book or in their day to day communication. God didn't send Christ to found the Church by merely spitting out words to any ole person to interpret however they'd like, but Jesus hand-picked apostles and taught them for 3+ years. Then He sent them the Holy Spirit to "guide them into all truth" (inspiration) and Jesus intended and planned for the Church to have structure and continuity in doctrine. Christians are SUPPOSED to be part of a community, not lone-rangers. ]]> RoderickE http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/rodericke/396-when-bible-translations-affect-doctrine.html John Wesley, False Apostle of Free Will http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/395-john-wesley-false-apostle-free-will.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:54:07 GMT *John Wesley, False Apostle of Free Will* Rev. Angus Stewart (Slightly modified from an article first published in the British Reformed Journal) John Wesley, A Biography Author: Stephen Tomkins John Wesley, False Apostle of Free Will

Rev. Angus Stewart

(Slightly modified from an article first published in the British Reformed Journal)


John Wesley, A Biography

Author: Stephen Tomkins

Oxford: Lion Publishing, 2003

Paperback, 208 pp.

ISBN 0 7459 5078 7

In 24 short chapters, Stephen Tomkins has given us an interesting and readable life of the heretic, John Wesley (1703-1791). This book is all the more valuable because it was written by one who is sympathetic to Wesley and his “gospel” of man’s free will.

Wesley was a remarkable man by any standards, “a man of rare ability, passion and commitment and unique energy” (p. 199). In his 87 years, he rode over 250,000 miles to preach over 40,000 sermons (p. 199). He was a man of indomitable will, rising at 4 a.m. each morning and braving foul weather and hostile crowds. One reads of his escapes from angry mobs with wonder (pp. 110-120). Tomkins writes that in his last few years he was widely received with “veneration;” indeed he was “almost a national treasure” (p. 183). In 1790, there were 61,811 Methodists in the United States and 71,463 in the United Kingdom (p. 190). Today, there are some 33 million Methodists worldwide. Last 2003 was the tercentenary of Wesley’s birth and accolades poured in from all over the world, with some of the most effusive coming from purported Calvinists. Surely then John Wesley was a faithful servant of God, owned and honoured in the cause of Jesus Christ?

The Reformed believer is not dazzled by a man’s popular acclaim. Instead, he “judgeth all things” in the light of “the mind of Christ” (I Cor. 2:15-16) revealed in sacred Scripture and summed in the Reformed confessions. We bear record of John Wesley that he had a zeal for God, but was it according to knowledge (Rom. 10:2)? We marvel at his endurance: riding from London to Bristol, Wales and Ireland in the west; and to Newcastle and Scotland in the north. But we also remember another who is even more assiduous, ever “going to and fro in the earth” (Job 1:7). Wesley studied extremely hard, even reading when on horseback. But the Scripture speaks of those who are “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (II Tim. 3:7). And did not our Lord call down “woe” upon the scribes and the Pharisees for travelling across “sea and land to make one proselyte” because they made him “twofold more the child of hell than” themselves (Matt. 23:15)? The question is this: What was the gospel that Wesley preached? Was it the true gospel (with some weaknesses, perhaps) or was it “another gospel” “which is not another” (Gal. 1:6-7)? Tomkins’ book alone provides enough information to answer this question. Wesley even quotes Whitefield as saying that the two of them “preached two different gospels” (p. 94).

Wesley’s gospel was the false gospel of salvation by the free will of the sinner. Free will, for all his talk of God’s grace, was the deciding factor in salvation. In loving free will, Wesley hated predestination calling it “blasphemy.” He declared, “It represents the most holy God as worse than the Devil, as both more false, more cruel, and more unjust” (p. 78).

However, the Canons of Dordt state that the “decree of election and reprobation” is “revealed in the Word of God” and “though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest [it] to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls [it] affords unspeakable consolation” (I.6). Where does this leave Wesley? Not with the “holy and pious souls,” but with the “men of perverse, impure and unstable minds” who “wrest” the truth of predestination “to their own destruction.”

In its “Conclusion,” the Synod of Dordt “warns calumniators to consider the terrible judgment of God which awaits them.” Wesley certainly belongs in this category for he is guilty of the sins that the “Conclusion” proceeds to enumerate:

bearing false witness against the confessions of so many Churches [including the Church of England in which he lived and died] ... distressing the consciences of the weak; and ... labouring to render suspected the society of the truly faithful.

Remember that Wesley was not simply a church member but a church office-bearer and that his church’s creed (article 17 of the Thirty-Nine Articles) taught election. Moreover, he was a founder of societies (and eventually a denomination) and he saw himself as a restorer of primitive Christianity! If church teachers shall receive a greater judgment (James 3:1), where will this leave Wesley? A false apostle of free will.

With his faith in free will, not only predestination but also the doctrines of total depravity, particular atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints had to go (pp. 71, 96, 171), contrary to articles 9, 15 and 17 of the Thirty-Nine Articles. At the 1770 Methodist Conference, Wesley’s doctrine of justification by free will led him to espouse an even more crude heresy: justification by works (pp. 171-173). Briefly, Wesley dropped the formula that the conference had approved but “almost immediately afterwards” he printed a defence of the original minutes (p. 173). Tomkins makes no reference to the controversial subject of Wesley’s denial of the imputed righteousness of Christ in justification.

Wesley’s corruption of the will of God in sovereign grace fits with his misunderstanding of the will of God in providence. Wesley believed in opening the Bible at random for guidance at critical junctures (pp. 54, 78), as did his brother, Charles (pp. 68-69). He also resorted to lots (pp. 54, 75, 78), dreams (p. 133) and intuitions (p. 71). This unscriptural understanding of divine guidance led him into further trouble.

Wesley and Whitefield had reached a truce on God’s decree, agreeing to “let sleeping dogmas lie,” as Tomkins puts it. But one day, Wesley “found himself inwardly called to speak out against predestination” (p. 71; italics mine). Tomkins continues, “After making the point at length, [Wesley] prayed aloud (again on divine impulse) that if he was right God would send a sign.” People began to fall down and cry out (pp. 72-73). To Wesley, Almighty God was “stamping Divine approval” on his message (p. 73). “On one occasion,” writes Tomkins, Wesley even ascribed his recovery from illness “as a reward [from God] for preaching against the Calvinists” (p. 98)!

While mysticism led him to preach against predestination, the casting of lots brought him to publish against it: “he resorted to pulling God’s will out of a hat and was told ‘Print and preach,’ which he did” (p. 78). What are we to make of this? The Lord “put a lying spirit in the mouth” of John Wesley (I Kings 22:23) and He willed, in His sovereignty over the lot (Prov. 16:33), that Wesley’s lies be printed for the deceiving of the reprobate (II Thess. 2:10-12) and the testing of the elect. Not content to attack the truth of predestination merely in his preaching and his books, Wesley also used “hymns,” as did his brother, Charles (p. 93).

Wesley’s doctrine of entire sanctification by the free will of man fits with his teaching of justification by the free will of man, though not with articles 9 and 15 of the Thirty-Nine Articles. He was already teaching perfectionism in the “Holy Club” at Oxford University in 1733 (p. 38). By 1739-1740, through a dispute with the Moravians, he reached the point were he would “castigate any who denied perfection as antinomians who were happy to accept their sinfulness” (p. 88). This was a doctrine in which Wesley “passionately believed” (p. 156). Tomkins sees perfectionism as a great “preoccupation” of Wesley’s, “the very heart” of his “spirituality.” “Faith, Wesley said, was the door of religion; holiness, ‘religion itself’” (p. 197). Thus he “preached” entire sanctification and “fought for it at length” (p. 156).

Wesley’s free will theology also carried over into his view of the church. Though an ordained minister in the Church of England, he organized a connexion of societies (along side the institute church) governed by his rules and regulations, i.e. his free will (e.g., pp. 166-167). Methodist laymen were being used of God (p. 81), Wesley thought, so in 1739 he “gave his permission” for them to continue preaching (p. 82), contrary to articles 23 and 36 of the Thirty-Nine Articles. When a Methodist lay preacher administered communion in 1755, Charles states, “John was not greatly troubled” (contra article 23 of the Thirty-Nine Articles). Wesley “suggested that this was the logical conclusion of appointing lay people to preach: ‘We have in effect ordained already’” (p. 150). This is the slippery slope of disobedience, for if an unordained person may preach (the greater thing; cf. I Cor. 1:17), how can he be stopped from administering the sacraments (the lesser thing)?

Women preaching followed in the 1760s (pp. 159-160) with Wesley giving them rules (p. 167). Sarah Crosby “travelled nearly 1,000 miles a year, speaking at over 200 public meetings and 600 class or band meetings” (p. 175). Mary Bosanquet, another woman preacher, “married Wesley’s close friend and defender John Fletcher in 1781, and the couple operated virtually as joint ministers in his Madeley parish” (p. 190). As Tomkins says, Wesley “was a pragmatist;” this was “his deepest instinct” (p. 160). Remember too that when Wesley was a boy, his mother, Susanna, “led in prayer and discussion and read sermons” and missionary stories to 200 members—including men—of her husband Samuel’s congregation in their crowded parsonage on Sunday afternoons when he was away at Convocation (p. 16).

Wesley and the Methodists also corrupted God’s worship with their “testimonies” (p. 81) and hymn singing. The apostle of free will further attacked the Psalms by his “censored” version of them in the liturgy he drafted for the American Methodists. Tomkins writes, “He bowdlerized the Psalms, finding the honesty of biblical worship ‘highly improper for the mouths of a Christian congregation’” (p. 187). In other words, Wesley’s free willism could not survive the naked truth of God’s absolute sovereignty and the terrible imprecations upon the wicked set forth in the Psalms.

Both John and Charles wrote hymns, with the latter penning between 4,000 and 10,000 (p. 95). John published America’s first hymn book in 1736 (p. 51). Tomkins writes,

These hymns were of vital importance to Methodism. They were used to gather crowds for outdoor preaching, they were a popular part of the societies’ worship, and they wrote Methodist teaching in the memory of the singers and in their hearts too ... They were also weapons in the war over predestination and perfection, and much of Charles’s sectarian propaganda survives in hymns sung all over the world today (pp. 95-96; italics mine).

Tomkins adds, “John was not above stopping the congregation halfway through to ask them if they really meant what they were singing” (p. 96). What about that for a way of catching a congregation in an Arminian, perfectionist trap! Write “exuberant and emotional,” anti-Calvinist hymns (p. 95); lead those assembled in the singing; then explain their meaning; and the people are snared. Ulster fundamentalist, Ian Paisley, once stated that he could derive all five points of Calvinism from the hymns of the Wesleys. John and Charles would turn in their graves!

Methodist revivalist meetings were attended with charismatic phenomena. There were people crying out (pp. 65, 71, 105, 108) or laughing (p. 157), with children often playing “prominent parts” (p. 175) in both the wailing (p. 155) and the laughing (p. 157). Some fell down prostrate (pp. 72, 79, 105, 156-157) and others had visions and revelations (p. 156).

Was this a rare thing? No, Tomkins writes, “this kind of thing happened almost daily” (p. 71).

But did this occur where Wesley himself was preaching? Yes, his preaching provoked the “charismatic phenomena” (p. 65), including the “wailing and convulsions” (p. 103). Thus his preaching was a “noisy event” (p. 72). Tomkins writes that “charismatic phenomena ... were to surround Wesley throughout his life” (p. 39).

But did not Wesley oppose these things? No. He was “impressed,” “delighted” and “wholly positive” regarding the charismatic phenomena (pp. 73, 157) viewing the outbreaks “most favourably” (p. 105). Wesley “championed ... charismatic gifts” (p. 195) and “embraced” dreams and visions “unreservedly” (p. 65).

Of course! For not only other Methodists (pp. 60, 102, 123, 161), but also Wesley himself had dreams (p. 133). He also held to miraculous healing (pp. 162-163) and evidently believed that on one occasion he raised the dead or at least one “dangerously ill.” Concerning the latter, Wesley issued the challenge: “I wait to hear who will either disprove this fact, or philosophically account for it” (p. 106).

Tomkins traces Wesley’s belief in the paranormal back to his teenage days. While John was at Charterhouse School in London, his family thought that Epworth rectory, where they lived, was being visited by a poltergeist whom they named “Old Jeffery” (pp. 18-20). The ghost stories were passed on to John who was “fascinated” (p. 19). Tomkins writes,

John was utterly convinced. He evidently had an innate taste for the supernatural and Old Jeffery brought it to the surface. Intrigued by his family’s accounts, he later collected and published them … His letters home often repeated other ghost stories he had heard. When he next went home, he wrote an account of the haunting from Samuel’s diary and the family’s recollections … In later years, he was to welcome the paranormal manifestations his preaching provoked in a way that upset even his closest colleagues (p. 20).

Other “bizarre religious phenomena of Methodism” include the man “who had the gift of preaching in his sleep.”

He would sing a hymn, recite a text and then preach a six-point sermon, sometimes breaking off to dispute with a clergyman who came to interrupt him (p. 144).

Then there was the Wesleyan lay preacher who spoke in tongues and the demon-possessed girl who recovered before Wesley was able to make it to her house (p. 144).

Tomkins sums up the role of charismatic phenomena in Methodism:

The importance of Methodism’s willingness to embrace the miraculous and charismatic has not always been recognised, but it was crucial. It was, though by no means uniformly, a religion of dreams and visions, healings, convulsions, ecstatic worship, exorcisms and messages and guidance from God. Such phenomena were exciting for participants and drew many spectators. They were also often decisive in Methodist conversions and played an ongoing part in their spiritual lives (p. 85).

Tomkins rightly sees Wesley and his Methodism as a forerunner of the Pentecostal movement (pp. 196, 198-199). This is where his free will gospel was to take many of his followers in years to come.

Moreover, the fusion of free will and emotionalism in modern Pentecostalism has much in common with Wesley who stressed “look[ing] within” and “feel[ing]” God’s love (p. 66) and who “put such store on his feelings as proof of his soul’s state” (p. 62). John Wesley’s love of the medieval mystics and his indebtedness to the “emotional” Moravians (p. 46) comes in here too. They placed a lot of “emphasis on experience and feelings in the spiritual life.” There is a lot to be said for Tomkins’ reckoning: “Moravian spirituality ... [had] an incalculable impact on the shape of Methodism” (p. 46).

Tomkins concludes that Wesley “certainly” was a “web of contradictions” (p. 195) whose accounts of his life and work contain “a dizzying degree of spin” (p. 196). This applies to his religion, spirituality, churchmanship, politics and even his relationships with the opposite sex (pp. 195-197).

In 1751, Wesley wedded Molly Vazeille, but their marriage was “distant and unhappy” (p. 167). In a chapter dealing with the period 1759-1763, Tomkins states,

Wesley’s private life was far from perfect at this time. He saw little of his wife and received no letters from her. He gave her the benefit of his plain speaking, writing to her with a list of the faults he wanted her to mend and wishing her ‘the blessing which you now want above any other—namely, unfeigned and deep repentance’ (pp. 158-159).

The unhappy couple spent so little time together that, in 1771, Wesley recorded this in his journal: "I came to London and was informed that my wife died on Monday. This evening she was buried, though I was not informed of it."

Tomkins writes of Wesley’s “romantic debacles” (p. 196) with women both before and after his marriage to Molly. His conclusion is that Wesley’s

personal relationships with women were, even according to admirers, an ‘inexcusable weakness.’ He was surely not—with all due respect to Molly Wesley—an adulterer [in the sense of actual sexual intercourse with other women] … However, he suffered from a failure to discern between the romantic and pastoral, which blighted his romances and cast a shadow over his pastoring (p. 197).

Wesley plagiarised an anti-slavery work written by a Quaker and a book by Samuel Johnson in support of the British taxing of the American colonies (pp. 177-178). Augustus Toplady “publicly decried his disgraceful fraud” and “trumpeted Wesley’s intellectual bankruptcy in The Old Fox Tarr’d and Feather’d” (p. 179). Tomkins writes,

Wesley was a serial plagiarist and simply saw nothing wrong with regurgitating other people’s work. As a writer, he inserted other people’s writings into his own as happily and as unannounced as he inserted his own into other people’s as an editor (p. 178).

Wesley also engaged in the same shameful practices in the field of theology. Tomkins writes,

Protesting his hatred of controversy, Wesley entered the ring in March 1770 with an extraordinary blow, even for him: he condensed and distorted Toplady’s 134-page book Absolute Predestination into a 12-page tract, ending with these words:

The sum of all is this: One in twenty (suppose) of mankind are elected; nineteen in twenty are reprobated. The elect shall be saved, do what they will; the reprobate will be damned, do what they can. Reader believe this or be damned. Witness my hand, A- T- (p. 170).

Tomkins states, “Now this fraud had proved [Wesley] a criminal worthy to be transported to America if not hanged” (p. 170). Wesley did not respond to Toplady, and this “was just as well, as it is hard to see what he could have said in his defence” (p. 171).

Tomkins quotes at length “a most extraordinary letter [from John Wesley] to Charles in 1766” in which “he bares his soul in the most bleak and moving way:”

In one of my last [letters] I was saying that I do not feel the wrath of God abiding on me; nor can I believe it does. And yet (this is the mystery), I do not love God. I never did. Therefore I never believed, in the Christian sense of the word. Therefore I am only an honest heathen … And yet, to be so employed of God! And so hedged in that I can neither get forward nor backward! Surely there was never such an instance before, from the beginning of the world! If I ever have had that faith, it would not be so strange. But I never had any other evidence of the eternal or invisible world than I have now; and that is none at all, unless such as faintly shines from reason’s glimmering ray. I have no direct witness (I do not say, that I am a child of God, but) of anything invisible or eternal.

And yet I dare not preach otherwise than I do, either concerning faith, or love, or justification, or perfection. And yet I find rather an increase than a decrease of zeal for the whole work of God and every part of it. I am borne along, I know not how, that I can’t stand still. I want all the world to come to what I do not know (p. 168; italics mine).

What are we to make of this bizarre letter of confession? Here, the apostle of free will, now in his sixties, confesses that he does not love God, believe or have the direct witness of divine sonship or even of things invisible or eternal; and that he never did. “I do not love God. I never did … I want all the world to come to what I do not know” (p. 168; italics mine). And can it be that Wesley never gained an interest in the Saviour’s blood?

Wesley’s heretical theology revealed itself very clearly in his (doctrinally significant) abridgement of the Thirty-Nine Articles for the American Methodists (1784). Tomkins notes,

He left out 15 of the Thirty-Nine Articles, extensively abridging the remainder. The missing articles included ‘Christ Alone Without Sin’ [15], which denied perfection, ‘Predestination and Election’ [17], for obvious reasons, and most notably ‘Works Before Justification’ [13], which, with its overstatement [sic] of the contrast before and after justification, was maybe too much like hard-line evangelicalism for Wesley’s mature tastes (p. 187).

A further comparison of the Thirty-Nine Articles with Wesley’s American Methodist Articles of Religion (1784)—both found in Philip Schaff’s The Creeds of Christendom (vol. 3)—reveals other striking omissions. Gone is the confession of the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed (8), probably because of the “overconfident damnations” of the last (p. 187). More than half of the article on original sin (9) is removed, for it speaks of the inevitable conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. Article 18, “Of obtaining eternal salvation only by the name of Christ,” is gone, as is the second half of article 19, “Of the church,” which states that Rome has not only erred in ceremonies “but also in matters of faith.” The articles on ordination (36) and against lay preaching and lay administering of the sacraments (23) were omitted for obvious reasons.

Key phrases are dropped, for example, the denial of “passions” to God (1) and the eternal generation of the Son, “begotten from everlasting of the Father” (2).

A defence could at least be made of some of the other omissions. Christ’s descent into hell is not clearly explained in article 3. The homilies (35, 11), the Erastianism of articles 21 (“General councils may not be gathered together without the commandment and will of princes”) and 37 (the monarch’s “chief government” of “ecclesiastical or civil” affairs), and the English provenance of articles 35, 36 and 37, would hardly fit with the new American situation.

But the doctrinally significant omissions are a sure mark of the apostasy of John Wesley. His heresies finally resulted in his “gutting” the creed; such is often the case.

Tomkins writes that Wesley “was a founding father of evangelicalism, but for his last 20 years, he consistently retreated from its stark certainties” (p. 196). This is where Wesley’s free will theology took him! Of course! Free will, itself, is the end of the certainties of the evangel, and Wesley’s followers today are still retreating—ever more consistently—from the gospel! ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/395-john-wesley-false-apostle-free-will.html Isaac Watts (a.k.a. Heresy) Is he into Unitatianism? http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/394-isaac-watts-k-heresy-he-into-unitatianism.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:51:34 GMT Watts' Unitarianism

In this section we will deal briefly with the question, “Was Isaac Watts a Unitarian?” There is considerable evidence that Watts held Arian or Unitarian opinions. At the very least, as we have already noted, “Watts’ views on the Trinity were highly suspect.” This is confirmed by a number of independent sources. The root of many of these allegations against Watts’ orthodoxy with respect to the deity of Jesus Christ stem from his own writings. As one authority states it,

“His theological as well as philosophical fame was considerable. His ‘Speculations on the Human Nature of the Logos,’ as a contribution to the great controversy on the Holy Trinity, brought on him a charge of Arian opinions.”[1]

In other works as well Watts took essentially Arian positions.

“It is true that Mather's enthusiasm for Watts[2] was greatly diminished at a later date, when the latter published his Disquisitions. Mather's conservative soul was alarmed by Watts' theological liberalism, and on January 28th, 1726/7, he wrote to Thomas Prince, the then youthful minister of the Old South, denouncing Watts as ‘a very Disqualified person,’ and ‘too shallow’ to deal with theology, and warning Prince to beware of him. And, from his point of view, he was right, for in that work Watts took an Arian position and was headed straight down the road which led, a generation or two later, to early English Unitarianism.”[3]

“His attitude towards Christ may in large measure have reflected his own belief in the everlasting humanity of Christ. Nowadays in studying his hymns we may perhaps not realize that he entertained peculiar views on the Glorified Humanity of Christ. For the most part, his original ideas on Christ and the Trinity never reached a wide public, and because he became known as a writer of hymns and psalms, his dangerous tracts were conveniently forgotten.”

“In The Glory of Christ as God-Man, Dr. Watts hazarded the opinion that ‘Michael is Jesus Christ, because he is called…the first of the princes, that is, the prime archangel.’[4] Watts ‘confirms this sentiment’ that Christ and Michael are the same beings from Revelation 12:7. He continues, ‘Perhaps this Michael, that is Christ the King of the Jews, is the only archangel, or prince and head of all angels.’[5] A little later he ventures the opinion that ‘Jesus Christ was that angel who generally appeared in ancient times to the patriarchs and to the Jews.’[6]

“According to Watts, God constantly resided in this angel (Christ-Michael) and influenced this angel.[7] God has now given this archangel, or prince and head of all angels, dominion and power over all things. ‘This government of Christ is frequently represented as a gift and a reward, and therefore must belong eminently to the inferior nature [of Christ], which alone is capable of rewards and gifts from God.’[8] It is because God has exalted Christ to be intercessor that Christ can particularly assist man, and not because Christ can himself ‘bestow effectual succour and relief.’[9] In keeping with the spirit of his century Watts proposes to give ‘A rational account how the man Jesus Christ may be vested with such extensive powers.’[10] Christ, he declares, does not now know ‘every single thought, word, or action of every particular creature,’ but does know ‘all the greater, more general, and more considerable affairs and transactions of nations, churches, and particular persons.’[11] Christ's human soul is ‘the brightest image or copy of the divine nature that is found among mere creatures.’[12] Watts supposes that ‘it belongs only to the omniscience of God himself to take in with one infinite, simultaneous and extensive view all the shapes, sizes, situations and motions’ of every atom of the Universe, and Christ who is ‘mere creature’ does not share this prerogative. Christ, in the analogy of the author, is like a general watching a battle from an elevated position; he knows the way the battle is going, but ‘cannot know every sword that is drawn, nor hear every groan.’[13] Not even the ‘glorious created mind of Christ’ can share the infinite knowledge of God."

“Watts, because he thought of Christ as a glorified angel now exalted to the highest dominion in heaven, was once asked why he did not alter some passages in his early hymns in order more exactly to suit them to his matured theological views; his reply is worth quoting:

"I freely answer I wish some things were corrected. But…I might tell you, that of all the books I have written, that particular copy is not mine. I sold it to Mr. Lawrence near thirty years ago, and his posterity make money of it to this day, and I can scarce claim a right to make any alteration in the book which would alter the sale of it."

"John Wesley, whose opinion of Watts's Divine Love poems has been given, threw out a penetrating view on Watts's theology: ‘Some years since,’ comments Wesley, ‘I read about fifty pages of Dr. Watts's ingenious treatise upon the “Glorified Humanity of Christ.” But it so confounded my intellects, and plunged me into such unprofitable reasons, yea, dangerous ones, that I would not have read it through for five hundred pounds.’ ‘It led him [Watts] into Arianism. Take care that similar tracts (all of which I abhor) have not the same effect upon you.’[14]

“At the last, Watts, in one of his more passionate out*bursts, found himself still absolutely baffled ‘and un*satisfied with respect to the God he was to worship.’ In a paroxysm of despair he cried out, ‘Surely I ought to know the God whom I worship, whether he be one pure simple being or whether thou art a three-fold deity…’[15]

“Bewildered and beset with the scourge of temptation 'to give up thy word and thy gospel as an unintelligible book, and betake myself to the light of nature and reason,' he then prayed: 'I entreat, O most merciful Father, that thou wilt not suffer the remnant of my short life to be wasted in such endless wanderings, in quest of thee and thy Son Jesus, as a great part of my past days have been…'[16] This was the end of the journey for Watts; at the end it was "De Profundis.[17]"[18]

It is worth examining how Watts became a "Unitarian." Watts was as much a product of the Enlightenment as he was of the Reformation. He was highly influenced by both reason and Scripture and most of his controversial writings were attempts to reconcile the two. For instance, although he professed to be a Calvinist, he used reason to so modify and explain away the alleged "harshness" of Calvinism that he certainly can not be regarded as orthodox in that respect. In his book Ruin and Recovery Watts redefines Calvinism as follows…

"But Ruin and Recovery is an interesting treatise in other respects. When Watts discusses the 'recovery' of mankind, he falls into some peculiar beliefs. In explaining some of the Calvinistic dogmas through the light of reason, he succeeds in explaining them away. Take, for example, his explication of the doctrine of election. It is logical, he feels, that God should guarantee through election that a certain number be saved to partake of His grace; but on the other hand, there is no reason 'why the strictest Calvinist should be angry, that the all sufficient merit of Christ should overflow so far in its influence, as to provide a conditional salvation for all mankind, since the elect of God have that certain and absolute salvation which they contend for, secured to them by the same merit;…'"[19]

Watts thus redefined the Calvinist doctrine of election to include the Arminian doctrine of an unlimited atonement providing a conditional salvation for all. He then goes on to further redefine Calvinism to make it more acceptable to Arminians and rationalists.

"We see Watts in this work clinging to the forms of Calvin*istic dogmas but explaining away their harshness. There are elect, he says, but there is also a conditional salvation for all; the infants of the unregenerate cannot expect to be saved, but they will not suffer eternally, for God will mercifully anni*hilate them; the virtuous heathen will be treated gently…Watts could not conceive of God as being cruel, unfair, or unreasonable. When first considered, some of the tenets of Calvinism seemed to make Him so. But, Watts asserts, if one examines these tenets in the light of reason, one will find that the true meaning need not necessarily be the commonly accepted meaning of such dogmas. Watts was a product of the rationalistic spirit of the eighteenth century as well as of the believing spirit of the seventeenth. In Ruin and Recovery he tries to reconcile the two."[20]

Watts was clearly attempting to resolve the controversy over Calvinist soteriology by redefining it so that its detractors would find it acceptable. And just as clearly his redefinition transmuted it into something that no orthodox Calvinist would be likely to accept. And this is a model for how Watts handled the Trinitarian-Unitarian controversy of his day. Just as he styled himself a Calvinist he styled himself a Trinitarian. Yet he was just as prepared to redefine the Trinity as he was Calvinism in the interest of resolving the conflict. That he would attempt to reconcile the two is in itself amazing enough. His initial problem, as one biographer put it, was that Watts was "broad even to the point of admitting Arianism and Socinianism to the family of accepted sects."[21]

The eighteenth century was an age of reason when rationalistic Unitarianism made great inroads into the English churches. This resulted in increasing controversy and led to the Salter’s Hall controversy of 1719 where a group of alarmed orthodox nonconformist ministers sought to impose the Athanasian Creed on all dissenting clergy. This was Watts’ point of departure for entering the public debate and seeking to reconcile the two parties by proposing mediating positions. This was not only because, as noted above, he saw both sides as included within the pale of Biblical Christianity, but because he personally had had from an early age sympathies with Unitarianism. As Davis notes, as early as 1696 Watts "wrote to his friend, Pocyon, 'sometimes I seem to have carried reason with me even to the camp of Socinus.'"[22] Watts was confessing that reason was already leading him to consider the opinions of the Italian Unitarian, Socinus, who taught that Christ was mere man.

Davis then extensively traces the development of Watts thought, or at least his public expressions of it, for the next few decades.[23] Repeatedly Watts would defend Trinitarianism by redefining the doctrine of the Trinity to make it more acceptable to Unitarians. As he came under fire from both sides he would make further adjustments to his arguments, these generally consisting of more concessions to the Unitarians, to seek to bridge the gap and bring them back into the Trinitarian fold. Basically, Watts seemed to have believed that all orthodoxy demanded was a belief in some "Trinity" no matter how it was defined. Watts specifically stated that "he could accept practically any explanation [of the Trinity] which did not insist on 'three distinct conscious minds.' This was contrary to reason and therefore could not be the explanation."[24]

Watts’ first attempt to reconcile Unitarianism by redefining the orthodoxy doctrine of the Trinity occurred when he published The Christian Doctrine of the Trinity in 1722. In it…

"Watts merely suggests that the Bible need not be taken in a literal sense when it refers to the persons of the Trinity. In one sense of the word, the Spirit may be an attribute of the Godhead personified in order to convey its functioning to the Christian reader. It need not be an individual apart from the Godhead. Concerning the Son, Watts is even more cautious. He hints an interest in the 'indwelling scheme,' and warns us that the scheme is not one to be 'rashly rejected.' The whole essay seems to be a straw-in-the-wind venture as well as an attempt to reconcile by means of redefinition the views of orthodox Trinitarians and those of Arians, Socinians, and Sabellians."[25]

Like most untenable compromises Watts was attacked from both the Unitarian and the Trinitarian side. Thomas Bradbury, a defender of orthodoxy,

"accused Watts of making 'the divinity of Christ to evaporate into meer attribute' and acidly reproached him… 'it is a pity, after you have been more than thirty years a teacher of others, you are yet to learn the first principles of the oracles of God…Was Dr. Owen's church to be taught another Jesus, that the Son and Holy Spirit are only two powers in the divine nature?' Watts' reply to this charge was that though the doctrine of the Trinity was a first principle, the particular mode of ex*plaining it was not."[26]

The Unitarian attack came from Martin Tomkins, "a dissenting minister who had been dismissed by his congregation at Stoke Newington for his Arian or Unitarian principles."[27] His critique had a telling effect of Watts and pushed him in the direction making further compromises with Unitarianism. As Davis puts it, "Watts was generous enough to admit the superiority of his opponent's treatise and to profit by the latter's arguments."[28]

Watts response came in 1724 when he published Three Dissertations relating to the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity. “The first of the three dissertations, The Arian Invited to the Orthodox Faith, was an attempt to show that the Arian belief concerning the ‘proper deity of Christ’ was not actually irrec*oncilable with that of the orthodox. The two were not so far apart as the average Christian supposed. In his proof of this contention, Watts made certain concessions to the Arian point of view which outraged some of his ultra-orthodox friends. In a letter to Thomas Prince, Cotton Mather expressed in no uncertain terms the attitude of this group:

"Sir,—Having first Expressed my Satisfaction on what you have written to Mr. Watts, I will freely, and in the most open‑hearted Manner, offer you a Little of my Opinion, about the Disquisitions, which that Man has Lately published.

"I take him, to be a very Disqualified person, for the Managing of the vast Subject he has undertaken;…He is not only too shallow for it: but also led away with a Spurious and Criminal Charity, for those Abominable Idolaters, the Arians,…whom to treat as a great part of the Dissenters are Wickedly come to do, is an High-Treason of a greater and blacker consequence than ever an Atterbury was charged withal.

"His complements to that execrable crew of Traitors (I mean, the Arians) are unchristian, and scandalous, and have a Tendency to destroy the Religion of God…Could his predecessor [Isaac Chauncy] once again take his pen into his hand, he would charge him with nothing Less than grievous Haeresies."

In spite of the controversy he was generating and the attacks on his orthodoxy Watts persisted. And he continued to rework his doctrine of the Trinity to accommodate Unitarian criticism. In 1725 he published a second group of essays on the Trinity entitled, Four Dissertations relating to the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity.

"In the preface Watts admits that his sentiments have changed concerning certain beliefs which he once held and which some of his earlier works expressed…In these essays, Watts goes deeply into Biblical scholarship to prove the preexistence of the soul of Christ. He makes the Spirit a literal divinity but a figurative personality. In short, by 1725 Watts had practically arrived at the position concern*ing the Trinity which he was to hold the rest of his life, but he was unwilling to assert it too definitely. He was not quite convinced himself." [29]

In short, Watts was developing the prototype of his eventual definition of the Trinity. In it the Spirit had been reduced to a divine attribute and with respect to the Son it is a redefinition of his original indwelling scheme. Christ is reduced to a pre-existent glorified humanity, semi-deified by a mutual indwelling with the Father.

Watts continued to publish his opinions on the issue of the Trinity through 1746 when he published Useful and Important Questions concerning Jesus the Son of God Freely Proposed and The Glory of Christ as God Man. Davis summarizes the teaching of the latter as follows…

"As The Glory of Christ was Watts's last Trinitarian treatise, it is time to summarize his belief. There is but one God, and the ‘Deity itself personally distinguished as the Father, was united to the man Christ Jesus, in consequence of which union, or indwelling of the Godhead, he became properly God.’ The human soul of Christ existed with the Father from before the foundation of the world; it was united of course with that of the Father before the Saviour's appearance in the flesh. As for the Spirit, it is God in being the active energy or power of the Deity, but it has no actual personal existence."[30]

To sum the matter up, Watts’ problem in this area was that he failed to see Unitarianism as a serious error, much less as a gross heresy. Watts simply viewed both Unitarians and Trinitarians as Christians unnecessarily divided over their differences. Watts’ speculations on the question of the Trinity need to be seen as attempts to reconcile their differences and unify Christians on the issue by seeking to synthesize the two positions. This would explain for instance the position he took in "Speculations on the Human Nature of the Logos," where he refuted every proof-text for the deity of Christ without ever explicitly denying it. As his mediating position came under attack from both sides he was progressively influenced by the arguments of more consistent Unitarians, until eventually he virtually became one. His problem was that, in seeking his middle ground, he compromised the doctrine of the Trinity so severely that he ceased to be a Trinitarian in any meaningful way. He had ceased to be orthodox.

Finally was Watts an Arian or a Unitarian? Strictly speaking not. He always considered himself a Trinitarian and his views never fully coincided with the standard definitions of either of those errors. However, his redefinition of the Trinity, although unique, basically constituted a new variant of Arianism/Unitarianism. By denying that the Spirit and the Son were not fully and eternally God in the same sense as the Father he was essentially Unitarian. By proposing that the Son was some kind of deified created being, and more than mere man, he was essentially an Arian. And by reducing the Spirit to nothing more than a divine force he was agreeing with both. No matter how you slice it, with respect to the Trinity, Watts was a heretic.

From the Gnostics to the Arians and through Isaac Watts and more modern Unitarians we have seen a succession of hymnists that have frequently been tainted with serious heresies including the very denial of the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus taught, "I and the Father are one" and they denied it. Jesus taught, "If you have seen me you have seen the Father" and they denied it. Paul taught, "God was manifest in the flesh," and they denied it. John taught "For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." Yet we take the words of these deceivers, of these deniers of our Lord, of these very antichrists, and we offer them up to God in praise! As James taught, "My brethren, these things ought not to be so." ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/394-isaac-watts-k-heresy-he-into-unitatianism.html Isaac Watts (a.k.a Heresy) view of Scripture http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/393-isaac-watts-k-heresy-view-scripture.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:50:41 GMT Watts & Scripture

However, just as serious as his handling of Scripture is Watts’ view of Scripture. At the very least he is blatantly guilty of denying the inerrancy of Scripture. And any doctrine of inspiration of Scripture that he could possibly hold would have to be virtually meaningless. Like some contemporary neo-evangelicals, the best construction of his views would be that he believes that the Holy Spirit inspired the authors of the Old Testament to faithfully reproduce the sinful thoughts of men. If he believes that David was inspired when he wrote the Psalms then he is blasphemously attributing “falsehoods” to the Holy Spirit. If he denies that David was inspired then he has subverted the Scriptures, the very foundation of our faith. Either way, the Bible as an infallible rule of faith and practice has been destroyed. His problems run far deeper than his dispensationalism. Watts is not even willing to admit that these “Psalms” were ever fit to be sung in the worship of God. As Bushell states it,

“The contrast between Watts’ estimation of the psalter and that of the Reformers …could hardly be more stark. It reveals an attitude in Watts towards the unity of the Scriptures which is wholly incompatible with a belief in their Divine origin.”[1]

Watts’ low view of the Old Testament text is amply demonstrated by how he handled it. He presumptuously arrogated to himself the right to review, edit, and censer the text to make it conform to his notions of New Testament Christianity. He is obviously treating it as the words of men and not as the word of God.

“In the case of David’s Psalms, Watts cavalierly omitted as ‘unworthy of paraphrase’ a dozen psalms, and in order to make ‘David speak like an eighteenth century British Christian,’ so altered a score of others as to render them unrecognizable.”[2]

Such liberties with God’s word did not go unchallenged and as Stevenson records it,

“…there were, however, at least a few abroad who continued to prefer David to Watts. ‘Compared to the Scripture,’ wrote one conscientious divine, ‘they are like a little taper to the Sun; as for his Psalms, they are so far from the mind of the Spirit, that I am sure if David were to read them, he would not know any one of them to be his.’ And the same author continues: "Why should Dr. Watts…not only take precedence of the Holy Ghost, but thrust him entirely out of the Church? Insomuch that the rhymes of a man are now magnified above the word of God.”[3]



The bitter legacy of Watts’ treatment of the Psalms is still with us today. One merely has to examine a typical hymnal to confirm that. In the Trinity Hymnal for instance many of the Psalms are not metrical translations, but loose paraphrases in the style of Watts. That is they are frequently more hymn than Psalm. Would Christians accept a Bible where each chapter has been heavily edited? Would they preach and teach from a Bible where each chapter has many verses deleted and many more replaced with verses made up by the editors? Would there not be an outcry against taking such liberties with the very word of God? Yet if the Psalms are part of Scripture why do we tolerate their corruption by men who imagine that they can improve on the work of the Holy Spirit? It is high time that we confront these issues in the Church of Jesus Christ. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/393-isaac-watts-k-heresy-view-scripture.html Isaac Watts(a.k.a. Heresy) on Ethics http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/392-isaac-watts-k-heresy-ethics.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:49:54 GMT Watts' Ethics

Finally, we want to move on from Watts doctrinal views to his practice. That is we want to examine the ethics with which he prosecuted his campaign against Psalmody. Watts’ work truly constituted a revolution, and as such it occasioned strong opposition.[1] How did Watts deal with this problem? Did he deal with it openly, honestly, and forthrightly so that the issues could be debated and settled on their merits? Finding that hymns were for the most part not being accepted by the churches he issued a pseudo-Psalter entitled The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament. Bushell writes,

“Watts’ Psalter was in reality little more than a hymnal in disguise…and it is very difficult to avoid accusing him of conscious deception at this point.”[2]

As to the propriety of such tactics I quote R. M. Stevenson…

“His excuse was that he was forced to issue these hymns as Psalms. He wrote…’I must say that I imitated David’s Psalms, not as the fittest book that could be made for Christian worship, but as the best which the churches would yet hearken to.”[3]

“His Trojan horse technique had opened wide the closely guarded gates of the Christian system of praise; where previously the singing of the divinely appointed Psalms of David had formed the sole vehicle of congregational praise, his first poems masquerading as Psalms of David[4] where wheeled within the Christian walls, and then there had emerged a full flood tide of ‘hymns of human composure’”[5]

However, if Watts was guilty of deception the churches were in many cases more than willing to be deceived. If Watts was culpable in disguising his hymns as psalms the churches were happy to be able to sing hymns and pretend to be maintaining psalmody. As one author put it, “…this procedure enabled the churches to have their cake and eat it too.”[6] One is reminded of Jeremiah’s ancient complaint, “The prophets prophesy falsely…and my people love to have it so.”

Ultimately, one must concur in Bushell’s concerns about using Watts’ compositions, for only gross ignorance or supreme arrogance could induce a worshipper to enter into God’s courts and offer up his words as the sacrifice of praise. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/392-isaac-watts-k-heresy-ethics.html Isaac Watts(a.k.a Heresy) on dispensationalism http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/391-isaac-watts-k-heresy-dispensationalism.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:49:00 GMT His Dispensationalism There are several theological problems with Watts’ views. Three of the more serious ones are his dispensationalism, his view of Scripture, and his views on the Trinity. As Bushell states it, “It goes almost without saying... His Dispensationalism

There are several theological problems with Watts’ views. Three of the more serious ones are his dispensationalism, his view of Scripture, and his views on the Trinity. As Bushell states it,

“It goes almost without saying that Watts’ attitude towards the Old Testament permeates his hymns and Psalm imitations. This consideration, coupled with the fact that Watts’ views on the Trinity were highly suspect, and the fact that some modern day dispensationalists trace their views back to him, ought to cause even judicious hymn singers to question the propriety of approaching the throne of God with the words of Isaac Watts on their lips.”[1]

We will deal with the issue of Watts’ Unitarianism in the section on Watts' Unitarianism. His dispensationalism is repeatedly and emphatically manifested in his own statements. As Pollard documents it,

“Like some of his predecessors, Watts published his own version of The Psalms of David (1719), but in his case with an important difference indicated by the following words of the title ‘Imitated in the Language of the New Testament’. In the preface he wrote:

For why should I now address God my Saviour in a song, with Burnt Sacrifices of Fatlings, and with the Incense of Rams? Why should I pray to be sprinkled with Hysop, or recur to the Blood of Bullocks and Goats?…Where the Psalmist has described Religion by fear of God, I have joined Faith and love to it.”[2]

And…

“He denied in particular that the Book of Psalms was a canonical hymn book for the New Testament Church, or adapted to its use. It was a Jewish book rather than a Christian book. In Christian praise the gospel teaching must be supreme over that of the Old Testament psalms, some of which are even contrary to the spirit of the gospel.”[3]

Watts is so blind that he cannot see Christ in all the types and shadows of the old covenant. He sees only the works of the law and a religion of fear. Scofield, who stated that at Sinai Israel exchanged grace for law, would heartily concur. Heretical sects and erring Christians are very good at claiming, and frequently with sound basis, members of the pantheon of orthodoxy as their own. Small wonder then that modern dispensationalists trace their lineage back not only to Scofield and Darby, but on to Watts himself.

Watts’ extreme dispensational views are amply demonstrated by the way he adapted the Davidic Psalms to the “new dispensation.”

“In his endeavor to bring David up to date, Watts furthermore changed the psalms in order to harmonize them with prevailing economic attitudes of the eighteenth century. Where the psalmist had scored usury, Watts thought it necessary also to leave out the mention of usury, which though politically forbidden by the ,Jews among themselves was never unlawful to the Gentles, nor to any Christians since the ,Jewish polity expired.

“Watts, tactfully omitted the mention of those ‘temporal’ blessings which the royal psalmist repeatedly promised the righteous, because as he expressed it, he believed in discouraging a too confident expectation of these temporal things, . . . the positive blessings of long life, health, recovery, and security in the midst of dangers . . . so much promised in the Old Testament, and so little in the New.

“The happy land of Canaan in Watts's ‘Imitations’ becomes the British Isles. After omitting the Davidic promises of such personal blessings as long life, health, recovery, and security amidst dangers, because these promises do not appear in the New Testament, he then magnified stray hints of Canaan's blessings into huge prophecies of Britain's future greatness. His version of Psalm LXVII contained, for instance, the following lines:

Shine, mighty God, on Britain shine…
God the Redeemer scatters round His choicest favors here…
Sing loud with solemn voice,
While British tongues exalt his praise,
And British hearts rejoice!"

“He changed Psalm LXXV into a series of Anti-Jacobite invectives." The title read: "Power and government from God alone, Applied to the Glorious Revolution by King William, or the happy accession of King George to the throne." In another place he called King George II a "royal saint," and saluted him with the couplet:

'Tis George the Blest remounts the throne,
With double vigor in his son.

“Watts, in a version of Psalm C, wrote this stanza:

Sing to the Lord with joyful voice
Let every land his name adore;
The British Isles shall send the noise
Across the ocean to the shore . . . .

And Psalm CXLVII elaborated reasons for praising and trusting the Lord

O Britain, praise thy mighty God ....
He bid the ocean round thee flow;
No bars of brass could guard thee so.

Not content with justifying the ways of God to the British in England alone, Watts found a new title for the last part of Psalm CVII: "Colonies planted; or Nations blest and punish'd; A Psalm for New Eng*land." Two stanzas give an idea of the author's manner in this compliment to the New World:

Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey,
Or men as fierce and wild as they,
He bids th'oprest and poor repair,
And builds them towns and cities there.

Thus they are blest; but if they sin,
He lets the heathen nations in,
A savage crew invades their lands,
Their princes die by barb'rous hands.[4]

The historic fact is that no infidel higher critic and no rationalistic textual critic has presumed to take such extensive liberties with the word of God as Watts presumed to do in the guise of “Christianizing the Psalms.”[5] ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/391-isaac-watts-k-heresy-dispensationalism.html Isaac Watts(a.k.a Heresy): on Hymnody http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/390-isaac-watts-k-heresy-hymnody.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:48:12 GMT Watts' Hymnody

Isaac Watts is generally considered the “Father of English Hymnody.” Before his day Psalmody reigned virtually unopposed in the public and private praises of English Christians. In spite of some dissatisfaction with the current state of Psalmody sporadic efforts to introduce hymns had met with such limited acceptance that hymnody seemed doomed to perpetual failure. Religious poetry was popular and some of it was being turned into hymns despite the authors intention to the contrary. Yet most of this incipient hymnody was for private and personal use. To date hymnody had no place in the public worship of God. Watts is the person who changed all that. “For him it was reserved to overthrow the tyranny of Psalmody.”[1] It is therefore important to study not only the man, but also his times. The nature of his era is well articulated by Brawley.

“The early years of the eighteenth century were in England a period of materialism and compromise. A spirit of self-interest pervaded both church and state, and principle was subordinated to expediency. The day of Puritanism was over; complacency succeeded a great war of ideals; faith retreated before the sway of Deism…by the close of the seventeenth century the Psalters were losing ground.”[2]

It was in this cultural setting that Watts made his successful onslaught on Psalmody. Most people are familiar with how Watts (1674-1748) got his start in hymnody as a teenager.

“When Watts complained one day about the untuneful Psalm–versions that were sung in his father’s church, one of the church officers retorted, “give us something better, young man.” Watts was just in the mood to take up the challenge, and although he was quite young, he wrote a new hymn, “Behold the Glories of the Lamb.” Sung the following Sunday, it was so highly praised that the youthful poet decided to write others. In the next two years he composed nearly all the 210 hymns in his volume “Hymns and Spiritual Songs,” Published in 1707. This was the first real hymn-book in the English language.”[3]

It hardly inspires us with confidence that English hymnody got its biggest boost when a church flippantly turned the matter of its praise over to a discontented teenager. However, young as he may have been, Watts was no fool. He had a well thought out philosophy with respect to both the Scriptures in general and the matter of God’s praises in particular. It is to these views that we can attribute his lifelong campaign to replace the Psalms in the worship of God.

In the preface to his Hymns and Spiritual Songs Watts definitively and clearly sets forth his views with respect to the Psalms. The title itself is instructive in that regard. He has obviously not only rejected the historic view that the Biblical phrase “Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” refers to the contents of the Psalter, but he eliminated the Psalms while he was at it.
I have been long convinc'd, that one great Occasion of this Evil arises from the Matter and Words to which we confine all our Songs. Some of 'em are almost opposite to the Spirit of the Gospel: Many of them foreign to the State of the New‑Testament, and widely different from the present Circumstances of Christians. Hence it comes to pass that when spiritual Affections are excited within us, and our souls are raised a little above this earth in the beginning of a Psalm, we are check'd on a sudden in our Ascent toward Heaven by some Expressions that are more suited to the Days of Carnal Ordinances, and fit only to be sung in the Worldly Sanctuary. When we are just entring into an Evangelic Frame by some of the Glories of the Gospel presented in the brightest Figures of Judaism, yet the very next Line perhaps which the Clerk parcels out unto us, hath something in it so extremely Jewish and cloudy, that darkens our Sight of God the Saviour: Thus by keeping too close to David in the House of God, the Vail of Moses is thrown over our Hearts. While we are kindling into divine Love by the Meditations of the loving kindness of God, and the Multitude of his tender Mercies, within a few Verses some dreadful Curse against Men is propos'd to our lips; That God would add Iniquity unto their Iniquity, not let 'em come into his Righteousness, but blot 'em out of the Book o f the Living, Psal. 69, 16, 2'7, 28. which is so contrary to the New Commandment, of Loving our Enemies. Some Sentences of the Psalmist that are expressive of the Temper of our own Hearts and the Circumstances of our Lives may compose our Spirits to Seriousness, and allure us to a sweet Retirement within our selves; but we meet with a following Line which so peculiarly belongs to one Action or Hour of the Life of David or Asaph, that breaks off our Song in the midst; our Consciences are affrighted lest we should speak a Falshood unto God: Thus the Powers of our Souls are shock'd on a sudden, and our Spirits ruffled before we have time to reflect that this may be sung only as a History of antient Saints and perhaps in some Instances that Salvo is hardly Sufficient neither.[4]

Watts was not merely a well-known and successful hymnist. He was the man who introduced hymnody into the evagelical churches of the English speaking world. And his motovation was his hatred of the Psalms. His motivation was his dispensational rejection of the Old Testament in general and the Book of Psalms in particular. His purpose was to destroy the reigning psalmody and replace the inspired songs of the Spirit with the compositions of men, particularly his own. It is in this context that his lifes work must be seen and judged. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/390-isaac-watts-k-heresy-hymnody.html What or Who are the Illuminati? http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/389-what-who-illuminati.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:11:45 GMT ****A NOTE:Please pray before reading this article, also i dont endorse "everything" on here, and first and foremost important thing to remember is that God is in control (not to mention, nothing is going on secretly that God doesnt already know or have planned).****

***NOTE: also if you have children who listen to (which they should NOT be) to singers such as lady gaga, rihanna,jay z, etc....please do your research on them, music is dangerous.****


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Secret Order of the Illuminati
(A Brief History of the Shadow Government)

by Wes Penre, Nov 12, 1998 (Updated September 26, 2009)

Categories: The Shadow Government: Who Are They? | Articles by Wes Penre




Table on Contents:

Introduction

The Illuminati

Secret Societies

The Bavarian Illuminati

Cecil Rhodes and the Round Table

The Black Magicians

The Anti-Christ

The Bilderbergers

The Trilateral Commission

The Council on Foreign Relations

Where To Go From Here


Thoughts Aside

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Introduction

Wes Penre


T

his whole thing with the Illuminati and a Shadow Government may be unreal to many people, but stay with me for a while and give it a chance. I encourage you to read this introductory, over-viewing article before you read anything else from this website, unless you are already familiar with the Illuminati. Even then it would probably be refreshing to read it. This article is exactly just that - an overview.

The evidence and in depth discussions to support my information is not going to be provided in this particular article; it only summarizes what is discussed on the rest of my website. So after you have finished reading this overview, you need to look for references and evidence among the rest of the articles in this database, set up for you for your own further research. When finished reading this article, continue by going to the Site Map (in the left frame of this page) and choose a subject of choice. It is similar to laying a puzzle; you need to lay one piece at the time to fit it into the big picture. Sometimes you have to remove a piece because you notice it didn't fit 100% and replace it with one that fits better. This is the way to find your way through an overload of Media lies, cover-ups and half-truths. It is not an easy task, but if we have the willingness and a certain amount of patience we can do it. You will find out that it is "a game within games within games". We are the flies being stuck in a giant web of deceit. The question is: who is the Spider?

I believe you will have enough information on this web site to get the whole picture of what is going on and who is pulling the strings, so if you look at it with an open mind, I think that after a while you will have little doubt that the Shadow Government, a Global Elite, is trying to create a malevolent World Government above our heads, and they are just about to succeed!

These are not some paranoid conspiracy theories, like some people want you to believe, but facts backed up by evidence and even admitted by some of the people I am exposing as being behind the plot. Much of it is therefore already in the open if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

I am not trying to convince you that I have the whole picture to present to you, but I do say that I am very certain that an agenda to control the whole world and create a One World Government, an old goal for these people, is about to be completed, and it's bound to happen in YOUR lifetime.

Most of us agree that something is very wrong with this world. Civil wars, diseases, famine, ethnic cleansing, religious wars, different violations of human rights ... the list is long and it just goes on. Are all those bad conditions totally separated from each other, or do they have a common source?

All I ask from you is to think for yourself and have an open mind. Throw away everything "you've been told", things "you've learnt in school", what you've "heard on the radio", what you've "seen on Television", what "politicians have told you" etc. - just for a moment. Let's start thinking for ourselves for just awhile. It's not too often we have that opportunity when we on a daily basis are bombarded with information and propaganda wherever we are. We are constantly fed with opinions, bad news and lies, and there are tons of untold secrets. Life is hectic; we have to earn a living, and we are afraid to be laid off work. Our survival is threatened constantly, at least that's how it seems, and this is primarily occupying our thinking these days. So what is it that causes so much fear and uncertainty in our lives? Is life really this threatening, or is somebody creating a condition of fear and terror on purpose? Much of this fear and terror is spread through Media, which are owned by a few people at the very top of the society, whom I sometimes call the "Puppet Masters" or the "Brotherhood". And those people have their very own dark agenda.

The Illuminati (not to be confused with the Bavarian Illuminati; more about that later) is a very secretive group of occult practitioners who have been around for thousands and thousands of years and are using the Jewish Cabala as one of their guidelines to oppress the rest of the population. It is not a boys' club or a group of adults trying to get some excitement in life; this is something much bigger and much more sinister. It is an extremely well structured organization consisting of people in very High Places. Those people are the Super Wealthy, who stand above the law. Many of them don't even appear on the list of the wealthiest people in the world - they are that secret. What is driving them is power, money and control over life and death of others and themselves.

This web site has a certain purpose. First of all I will try to brief you on the current scene, especially the political one, in the world of today. This is the truth about politics and world affairs, which you will never know about by reading newspapers, watch TV or listen to the radio. I will try to comment on important things we are fed with through different Media outlets and explain or debate them. All this based on the facts I am going to give you soon. I will also try to present a solution in a specific section of my site. Secondly, I will try to show you what is the ultimate goal for these people and how to fight this evil in a very effective way, without using any violence or weapons of any kind. Yes, that IS possible and actually the only way! When you've studied this some more, you will understand too.

This web site will be currently updated as new information comes in. But to understand it all, you have to be briefed on what is going on behind the scenes on this planet and beyond, the version you were never meant to hear - the truth certain people don't want you to know.


The Illuminati




The word Illuminati means 1. People claiming to be unusually enlightened with regard to a subject. 2. Illuminati Any of various groups claiming special religious enlightenment. Latin illmint, from pl. of illmintus, past participle of illminre, to light up. See illuminate.

These definitions are taken from "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language".

Like the definitions tell us, any group which considers itself "enlightened" could rightfully call themselves the Illuminati. This is also the case! If you google "The Illuminati", you will find quite a few groups claiming this name. It can be confusing, so before we continue, I want to make very clear that the Illuminati we are discussing here is NOT a benevolent secret society who wants to bring peace and harmony to this world by helping to bring back freedom to the people. I know such a benevolent group exists and also happens to call itself "The Illuminati", so I apologize if some people will mix up the different groups. The Illuminati I am exposing here is the super-rich Power Elite with an ambition to create a slave society!

The Illuminati are the top players on the International playground, basically belonging to the thirteen of the wealthiest families in the world, and they are the men who really rule the world from behind the scenes (yes, they are mostly men, with a few exceptions). They are the REAL Decision Makers, who make up the rules for presidents and governments to follow, and they are often held from public scrutiny, as their action can't stand scrutiny. They are connected by bloodlines going back thousands and thousands of years in time, and they are very careful keeping those bloodlines as pure as possible from generation to generation. The only way to do so is by interbreeding. That is why you so often see royalties marry royalties, for example. Their parents decide whom their children should marry.

Their power lies in the occult, (magic rituals) and in economy - money creates power. The Illuminati own all the International banks, the oil-businesses, the most powerful businesses of industry and trade, they infiltrate politics and education and they own most governments - or at the very least control them. They even own Hollywood and the Music Industry.

An good example is the American election for presidency. It is no secret that the candidate who gets the most sponsorship in form of money and positive Media coverage wins the election, as this gives the power to "un-create" the opposed candidate and effectively promote the candidate who will follow the plans of the Illuminati. Media, knowing how to manipulate ignorant people, can easily steer an election in a desired direction so the candidate that's been selected by the Illuminati wins. More often than not, it is the candidate with the 'purest bloodline' and who is the most corrupt that will be chosen for the job. The Illuminati put in top positions people who they know have a dark past, so they can be easily controlled. If these appointed people, who are promised fame and fortune if they follow the rules, are breaking the same rules, the Puppet Masters can easily get them back in line by threatening to put their dirty laundry out to dry in public. If that doesn't help, the person will end up like John F. Kennedy and others.

More often than not the Illuminati sponsor both sides to have a game to entertain the ignorant public. They decide who will be the next president, and they see to that their man wins, even if they have to cheat like they did in Florida when President George W Bush "won" over Al Gore. Even if their pre-elected candidate for some reason can't win and the other candidate does, they just go to Plan B, which is very well structured and prepared before hand, should this happen. So basically, no matter which candidate wins the race, THEY win. They control both the Democratic and Republican parties. Most president campaigns are financed with drug money, which is understandable when you understand that the Illuminati run the drug trade industry as well (more about this elsewhere on this website). Elections are really not necessary, but they let us vote so we can have a game, and by letting us do so, they pretend to follow the Constitution. It gives us an illusion of choice.

But isn't the President running the game? Not the least. Think of the President as the CEO of big corporate America. He is the decision maker as long as he is following the polices of the company. If he should have own ideas how to change things, he needs approval from the real owners of America Inc., which is the Hidden Hand, the Illuminati. The power is not with the politicians, but with the Illuminati, whose top players, as far up in power as we can confirm, are mostly of a Sectarian Jewish Elite, who in modern time use Zionism as a tool to create a Jewish State in Israel with Jerusalem as their Capitol. Zionists are not to be confused with the common Jews, who have nothing to do with this treason against humanity. Soon enough you will see that you don't even have to be a Christian to realize that the Bible Prophecies anticipating an AntiChrist and the "End of the World as we now it" are actually unfolding right before our eyes!

The leading candidates for Presidency are carefully chosen from the occult bloodlines of the thirteen Illuminati families, and if we research all the Presidents of the United States from the beginning and up to present time, we will find that almost all of them are of the same royal bloodline, and they are all "family"; related by ancestry and family trees. Royalty is equivalent to the Illuminati. We have heard a lot about this during presidential campaigns lately, where mass media have revealed the family ties between the candidates and also showed how a certain candidate is of royal blood.

The Illuminati have "six disciplines of training" within their Family. These are:

1. Military
2. Government
3. Spiritual
4. Scholarship
5. Leadership
6. Science

Each member is schooled extensively in all of them from early childhood. Like an Illuminati member said: "With the addition [to the above six disciplines] of a complicit Media machine and ownership of your Financial establishments, all bases are covered."

One thing I want to make clear here is that any person can join a secret society if you are accepted, but no one can join the Illuminati. You are born into it and have to be of the right bloodline. Greedy and evil people join their agenda for power and money, but they can't join the Illuminati itself. Important distinction.

So what is the true goal of the Illuminati? The main goal is to create a One World Government, with them on top to rule the world into slavery and dictatorship. George Bush Sr. and a few other major players like Mikhail Gorbachev and Gordon Brown have openly called for a New World Order, which is referring to this One World Government. In fact it's nothing new with the New World Order, it's the same Old World Order that has always been in place. The only difference is that now they want to put the crown upon the head of their World Dictator, and with that their mission is completed; the Battle of Planet Earth is won!

This is a very old goal of theirs, and to understand it fully, one must realize that this goal isn't of a kind that's supposed to be obtained within one lifetime; it has been a goal that slowly is to be reached over a long period of time. However, they have accomplished more in this direction during the last few decades than they have done in hundreds of years, due to the Industrialization and the Information Technology Era. Their immediate task is to lower the living standard of the developed countries, like the United States and Europe, to a low enough level so the government can more easily control us (you can see this happening). The living standard in the third world countries will then increase to the same low level that is planned for the developed countries, so that it all evens out. To be able to accomplish a "New World Order", the living standard must be similar all over the world - they want a uniform world to rule over. We can see this goal slowly being reached right before our eyes. The following article shows it clearly: Africa and Asia Push for 'New World Order'.

LuciferThis goal has been planned away from the public, in secrecy within Secret Societies. Most Secret Societies with secret grades of initiation are these days controlled by this malevolent Illuminati cabal, and Freemasonry is perhaps the best known of them all. Although Freemasonry and a few other secret societies were not created by the Puppet Masters, they have been infiltrated over time and there are very few unique ones left that are actually working against the Power Bloodlines. The Elite that controls the societies and the Illuminati are occultists and black magicians. They say their God is Lucifer, "The Light Bearer", and by occult practices they manipulate and influence the masses. Although branches of the Illuminati are Gnostic in nature and claim to acknowledge Lucifer as the Head of the Game, even that seems to be a deception. With time and after years of research, I've come to understand that Lucifer is not equivalent to Satan, but they are two different entities. The REAL power behind the Brotherhood is therefore not Lucifer, but Satan himself! Hence, it is correct to refer to this cabal as being Satanists and not Luciferian. It doesn't matter if you and I believe in this or not, as long as they do. And they take it very seriously.

It's a breath-taking thought that this planet, as a matter of fact, is run with Black Magic - a planet where magic is not supposed to exist at all in any shape and form, except in the movies and in books, and if somebody tells you it does exist, he/she will most certainly be ridiculed. After people have watched movies like "Lord of the Rings" they wish there was more magic in their lives; little do they know...

From the occult, science, mind control and Intelligence have developed. By taking over the Movie Industry, the Record companies, and by their control of the Fine Arts, they know how to influence the teenagers to dance to their tune and accept their kind of reality. This makes sense if you look at what kind of "entertainment" we are enforced to enjoy. If you doubt it, just look at what influence the modern music has on the kids; it's not uplifting and doesn't have love and compassion as its end product. It promotes darkness, not light. And I am talking about the overall effect, not individual artists, whom on rare occasions may release something positive.

In fact, the music the teenagers have to listen to is often totally without quality and lead many of them into "robotism", apathy, violence and drugs. It's also used for mind control, as we shall see later. Real quality music is rejected by the big record companies in favor for those with lack of talent. Since Black Sabbath in the beginning of the 70:s and the Rolling Stones before them, Satanism (magic and black magic) has been promoted through the music industry. Many groups followed on the same track and have always been Hard Sale and heavily promoted and distributed. Ozzy Osbourne is still going strong as is his buddy, Marilyn Manson. Some people dispute that Black Sabbath were into Black Magic, but were actually singing about God and condemning Satan. This is of course not true, but a playing with words. It doesn't matter how you present the lyrics when the vibration of the music is dark and gloomy. Tony Iommi, the guitar player in Black Sabbath, tuned down his guitar to create this low vibration in their music, something that the later Heavy Metal and Death Metal Industry adopted big time. Geezer Butler, bass player in Black Sabbath and the one who wrote most lyrics, admitted in public that Black Sabbath were into black magic.

The same thing goes with Hollywood, which is also controlled and created by the Jewish branch of the Illuminati and the Mafia (same Masters). The "E.T"-movies, Dooms Day films and catastrophe-movies all align with the purpose to influence us in certain directions, as we shall see later in this article. Occult movies have also been made popular by Walt Disney and others to influence our children. All to prepare for days to come. Still, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, there is a lot to learn from the Hollywood movies. The Brotherhood loves to put the truth out there in plain sight in form of symbolism and coded messages. Those with the knowledge to interpret it will be able to get the message. The rest of the population only see an entertaining movie played out in front of them. They miss the whole point.

I told you above that the men who control the Illuminati are members of thirteen wealthy families. Who they are has always been a well hidden secret, and the leadership has gone from man to man over generations. Nevertheless, no secrecy is kept forever, and sooner or later there will be leaks, so also in this case. Not many people knew who these families are exactly, but quite recently this has become known, due to people from the Illuminati who have left the Order and revealed the most remarkable information. So here are the names of the 13 families - the Secret Government (and here is another link, in case one of the websites goes down, and here is yet another one).

1. Astor
2. Bundy
3. Collins
4. DuPont
5. Freeman
6. Kennedy
7. Li (Chinese)
8. Onassis
9. Rockefeller
10. Rothschild
11. Russell
12. van Duyn
13. Merovingian (European Royal Families)

The following families are also interconnected with those above:

1. Reynolds
2. Disney
3. Krupp
4. McDonald

Also, in addition to those four families, there are hundreds of others that are more remotely connected to the main 13 Illuminati bloodlines. Although significant, they are not mentioned here; they are considered less powerful and less "pure" by the 13 Elite Bloodlines.

All the families above can be studied in much more detail in Fritz Springmeier's excellent book: "Bloodlines of the Illuminati".


Secret Societies


Click on the picture to enlarge

The Secret Societies have been present in the history of man for a very long time. It all started thousands and thousands of years ago with the "Brotherhood of the Snake", a secret society that goes back all the way to the time of Garden of Eden and old Sumer.

Most secret societies have been created with a purpose to keep hidden, spiritual knowledge away from the masses, to be shared only by a selected few of the Power Elite, who have generationally ruled over mankind behind the scenes since ancient times.

George Carlin, the late comedian, described it very well when he talked about an Exclusive Club ruling over us, and we are not in it. Don't think for a second that people who have reached the top in society, whether it is in science, politics, music and art, Hollywood, banking or whatnot, have done so merely because they were smart, had talent and/or high intelligence. No, they had access to hidden information that common people don't have access to. Einstein, Ford, Carnegie, Clinton, Bush, Obama - the list goes on - they all had help from one secret society of another.

Secret societies are also called Brotherhoods for a reason. Once you become a member you swear allegiance to the Brotherhood and promise to serve them before ANYTHING else. This is very important to understand, because it means that the President of the United States swore an allegiance to serve the Brotherhood BEFORE he serves the country. With other words, the Brotherhood owns him and ultimately decides what he should or shouldn't do. You are in the hands of the higher rank members of the secret society you're signed up with, and this becomes more obvious the higher up their ladder you climb.

One very important purpose with a secret society is to help other members and have an exchange of secret information - if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. On a very high level, from where the powers-that-be operate, various esoteric and powerful information is exchanged so that these "special" people, almost always of the certain 13 Bloodlines, can reach the goals that they decide for themselves and others. So much for the "American Dream" where we all are supposed to have a chance to become rich and powerful in the land of opportunities if we put our minds to it. This, of course, is just an illusion and will not happen unless you are "one of them" and go to the "right schools". Every once in a while, some "common person" slips through the crack and actually becomes something big on his/her own, WITHOUT help from the Brotherhood, but this is very unusual. Even if so, you are not very likely to keep your success if you in any way step on the feet of the powers-that-be. If you do, they will destroy you or your wealth. If you are considered "harmless" they may let you get away with it just to "prove" that anyone can make it in the United States. The truth is that this person of the people who actually made it, did it despite the efforts from the Brotherhood to make it almost impossible.

This is how the world is, and has always been, set up. A few people in power have access to some very secret spiritual (and other kind of) knowledge which gives them the privilege to step a hundred miles ahead of us "common people", to make sure THEY keep the power, and they keep it within their bloodlines.

Usually, "common" people are welcome to apply for membership in secret societies and are sometimes accepted, but 98% or so are just "foot people", a face outwards toward the society and never reach the top, where the true secret knowledge is taught for the "worthy". Therefore, it's just smoke and mirrors for most members, and on the surface the secret societies serve as charity organizations, or help organizations to show the world that they are indeed benevolent and there is nothing to fear. It's a perfect front, but now that front is breaking more and more as the real truth about these societies comes out in the open.

Also important to mention is that there are benevolent secret societies as well, that were created as opposed to the Brotherhood controlled by the 13 Bloodlines. These "friendly" societies were created to keep THEIR intentions and knowledge away from the 13 Bloodlines, especially during times when oppression has been severe, like in the Dark Ages for example. These benevolent secret societies still exist, but are now more and more coming out in the open due to the necessity to do so. We live in a very special time, and some of these more friendly oriented societies will come out and teach mankind some very important spiritual lessons. Keep your eyes and ears open and you will soon know about them!

Research points in the direction that an "Alien Agenda" is on the Government's table as one among many other options to ring in a One World Government and a One World Dictator. They want to create an 'outside threat', a fake Alien Invasion, so that the countries of this world will be willing to unite as ONE, to fight the 'threat' from outer space. If this succeeds, the Illuminati Goal is completed. This is what we are getting prepared for in mass media right now, where they report more UFO sightings than perhaps ever before. Although there is evidence of ET societies visiting us on this planet, both benevolent and malevolent in nature, their agendas are not what I am talking about here. The UFOs people see are a mix of both government vehicles and alien ships, but if there is an alien threat being presented by the government (including holograms of spaceships in the sky) we are not talking about an alien invasion, but an attempt to scare the world population into uniting so they can ring in the final step of their World Order once and for all.

For your information, I have a whole UFOs and Alien section on my website, and I hope some of those article will help you with your own research.

(NOTE: If you, the reader, have a problem accepting the alien part of this agenda, feel free to exclude it from the picture for now, and please continue to read. You will most certainly find the evidence overwhelming on this website with- or without the alien involvement. The information speaks for itself).

The Christian viewpoint on this is that the Illuminati in fact are descending from the fallen angels and the Giants that walked the Earth. Those Giants, according to the Bible, [Genesis, Chapter 6, verses 1 through 4], were the hybrid offspring of those fallen angels, who together with Lucifer were "cast out of Heaven" and came down to Earth. The fallen angels then interbred with mortal women here on Earth, and their offspring were the Nephilim, the Giants that walked the Earth. Thus, they were the results of a divine/mortal sexual union. The Nephilim are, according to the Bible, believed to be the ascendants of famous rulers, outstanding leaders and mighty warriors who lived here before the Deluge. My own research has taught me that this is actually true, but has been misinterpreted. And interestingly, the offspring of these beings are still here, walking this Earth! As this website will show, these beings ARE the top of the Ruling Class!

The truth is; in the background, throughout all history, secret societies have been working without most people being aware of their importance and influence! The original Brotherhood of the Snake soon split up into cults, when certain people on top were in disagreement with each other. Different powers of control developed, where they fought against each other internally (which still is the case today), out of sight from an ignorant population. They invented the different religions and sects and cults so man would be busy doing something else instead of looking into what the Brotherhood actually was doing. They put themselves in charge of the churches to entrap people and to spread conflicts between different belief systems. Most wars throughout history, like most people know, have been religious wars.

Out of the original Brotherhood, Freemasonry, the Rosicrucian's, The Knights Templar, Ordo Templi Orientis, Knights of Malta, Skull & Bones and more were created. Some people may object and say that Freemasonry, for example, is a charity organization and even a Christian society. Yes, that's what we're told and that is what most members of the secret society believe. The vast majority of people involved are good people, who are ignorant of what is practiced on the highest levels; unaware of that up there in highest places is worship of the dark forces, practiced in very dark rituals, including human sacrifice. Their God is Satan, Lord of This World (and perhaps this whole sector of the Universe), and their interaction and control are the keys to what is happening in the world of today.

There is a totally different struggle going on above people's heads than we are aware of, and this struggle affects our lives every day, and not in a good way, I may add. You can see the results all around you. Only because the human race is basically loving and caring, we still have decency in this world. But planet Earth has truly become much more negative than positive thanks to the powers-that-be and our own ignorance and inability to stop this from happening. Too many times we have looked the other way.

If you are a Freemason, 1° - 33°, and are reading this now, I strongly suggest you also read the article "Terminated! Freemasonry's Final Revelation" by Dr. Henry Makow, where he can tell you that being a Freemason is not the safest thing in the world. The top Masons on this planet are planning on terminating you together with most of the remaining population, until only about 500 million people remain. More about Depopulation Programs later in this article.


The Bavarian Illuminati

The Bavarian Illuminati is probably the most misunderstood secret society in modern history. Adam Weishaupt (1748-1811) founded this "new" secret society in the 1700s, but it was indeed not new at all; it's been around for thousands of years but under different names. During Weishaupt's lifetime, however, this organization was revealed in public. The Bavarian Illuminati in an earlier form created the Knights Templar and Freemasonry to safeguard ancient esoteric knowledge from coming into the hands of the Power Elite and was set up as an opposition to the powers-that-be.

The Freemasons, under the influence of the Bavarian Illuminati, started a new branch of Freemasonry - Freemasonry of the Scottish Rite with its 33 degrees (33°) of initiation where also the esoteric knowledge from the Knights Templar were intermixed. After had begun as a benevolent organization, it was soon infiltrated by the malevolent Brotherhood and eventually taken over by them. Today it is one of the most (if not the most) powerful secret society in the world, including members within high politics, religious leaders, businessmen and other for them useful individuals. As we speak, the head of Freemasonry worldwide is the Rothschild Banking Family.

The Illuminati had its own degrees aside from the 33 degrees of Freemasonry. Even persons who were initiated into the higher degrees of Freemasonry had no knowledge of the Illuminati grades - it was that secret. Weishaupt planned to take the power away from the malevolent Brotherhood and his main enemies were the Royal Bloodlines, and he made up distinct strategies to create a One World Government and a New World Order to counter the Power Elite. He had seen the oppression people lived under from the ruling Kings of the world and he wanted to put an end to it. Although stationed in Bavaria, Germany, the Bavarian Illuminati was a world-wide organization, working in secret with a secret membership clan.

At that time, the Bavarian Illuminati was a revolutionary organization and they are the ones behind the French Revolution, they helped with the Russian Revolution and was also the force behind the American Revolution in conspiracy with a still benevolent Freemasonry. Weishaupt was friends with both George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and other Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson, America's third President, was a member of the Bavarian Illuminati. All these three revolutions had one thing is common - they ended the oppression of the ruling Kings! The Bavarian Illuminati wanted to re-establish the old Greek and Roman Republics as a much more humane political system.

As we all know, Vladimir Lenin made Russia into a Communist country. At the time, the Bavarian Illuminati supported this particular political system as an experiment, but it went out of hand once Stalin took over. And if we look at America today, the vision of our Founding Fathers is totally destroyed! There is nothing left of the original American Republic. The republic has become a "democracy", which was never the intention of the Founding Fathers, and on top of that, it's an illusionary democracy where the people actually don't have any power, although they are told they do. The real power is back with the Elite. Instead of having a King overtly ruling over us (which is exactly what the Founding Fathers had fought so hard to avoid, breaking loose from King George's of England oppressive reign) we now have Presidents "elected" from the most powerful Elite Bloodlines on the planet, and if we look at their ancestry, we notice they are of the same royal bloodlines as King George and Luis XIV of France. So we are back where we started, and everything the Founding Fathers fought for has been destroyed, and the American people in their ignorance and laziness let it happen. Hence the mess we are in. The Power Elite infiltrated Freemasonry and took over the country from the Freedom Fighters and we, the people let America decline...

The Bavarian Illuminati was a serious threat to the powers-that-be and due to the success of the resistance, the malevolent Brotherhood suffered a major setback. So they had to be destroyed! A plot against them was created and this is assumingly how it was done:

The "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" were probably written by Lionel Rothschild and described in details how a certain Power Elite were planning to take over the world. Some people say these documents are a hoax, but they are not. It doesn't matter who actually wrote them, because if you read them you will see they are an amazingly accurate blueprint for the Power Elite Agenda, and everything in there has happened or is just about to happen! If a document shows you exactly what is happening, you can hardly call it a hoax.

However, the secrets leaked, intentionally or unintentionally! An emissary for the Rothschilds was allegedly struck by lightning when he rode over a field, carrying the Protocols, and they were found and revealed to the world. This was in the 1770's. Weishaupt and his Illuminati organization were falsely accused of having written them and plotted against manking, and Weishaupt and his co-conspirators had to flee and work underground, due to that their organization now was banned.

The Bavarian Illuminati, however, has survived to this day and is no longer a revolutionary organization, but is working on a spiritual level as well as a political, still in opposition to the Rothschilds and the powers-that-be. They even have a website where they are revealing, little by little, the truth about the malevolent Brotherhood, themselves and a possible future for mankind. Here is their website, and I assure you there is some interesting reading! I am not affiliated with them or any other organizations (I am working entirely on my own), but there is a lot of previously hidden and extremely important information on that website, which I strongly recommend you to take part of. You may or may not agree to their ideas of ringing in their own version of a New World Order, but in spite of what you think about them, they are opposed to the Power Elite and have always been.

Most researchers today call the malevolent Brotherhood "The Illuminati". You can see this term on numerous websites, in books and in videos and movies. This is unfortunate, because it's a mix-up, making us attack the wrong group. The malevolent Brotherhood never seriously call themselves "The Illuminati" when they refer to their network - the Brotherhood is a more accurate term to use. The Illuminati is, and has always been the "Bavarian Illuminati", who are opposed to the Evil Powers!

So how could his mix-up happen? Partly because the Bavarian Illuminati is totally misunderstood due to the attack it was under in the late 1700s. Most researchers are under the impression that the Bavarian Illuminati is equivalent to the Brotherhood, hence the most common term for the Power Network is now "The Illuminati". Then, of course, the malevolent Brotherhood has added fuel to this fire by officially sometimes referring to themselves as the Illuminati to further confuse the issue. They have also infiltrated the "truth movement" to spread disinformation about themselves and their opponents to make people confused and give up their investigations into the Power Elite. So be very careful when you do this kind of research. Don't take anything at face value without investigating it yourself and do your own research.

What can be established for certain is that there is a conspiracy against mankind that has been ongoing since ancient times and that the Shadow Government, the Power Elite, is for real and they are controlling the world from behind the scenes. The details, however, need to be carefully looked into to sort out what is true from what is disinformation. This axiom should be applied to this website as well. I will provide you with some truth, some evidence and proof, but also some speculations. A small part of the information herein may contradict itself and is almost certainly intentionally done by me to present more than one option where cases of uncertainty come into play. In addition, there may be contradictions due to pure oversight on my part, and if so I apologize. This is a very vast and complicated research and mistakes will be made. You are welcome to point them out if you find them. Go to my Contact Page to email me if you like.

Unfortunately, I have just recently come to the realization who the Bavarian Illuminati were/are. This website was created and named in 1998 when I thought the Bavarian Illuminati were part of the Power Elite as well, so it's a little too late to change the concept now once my website is well established. Therefore, I want to make very clear already now: when I talk about the Illuminati on this website, I am talking about the malevolent Brotherhood, not the Bavarian Illuminati, unless otherwise indicated!

Cecil Rhodes and the Round Table

Cecil RhodesAnother important agent for the malevolent Illuminati was Freemason Cecil Rhodes, who in the 19th Century tried to build a One World Government with the British Empire on top. This agenda was sponsored by the Rothschild's and it was also Rhodes who created the Round Table, a secret society in itself, named after King Arthur's Round Table, where the Brotherhood Elite is gathering to plot up to this day.

World War I and II were both attempts to take over. After the Second World War people were so tired of all the killing that they welcomed the United Nations when it was founded. The official policy of the UN was to safeguard the peace, so nothing like WW II would ever happen again. But indeed the UN was another important front organization for the Illuminati, to unite the countries of the world into one.

Here is a typical example of how the Brotherhood works: they use a modus operandi we call "problem-reaction-solution". By starting two world wars they created a problem. This in turn created a reaction from the population, who wanted a solution to the wars. So the Illuminati created a solution to the problem they themselves created by founding the United Nations; one step closer to a One World Government. This eventually led to the EU project, which anyone with eyes to see, will understand goes right towards the direction of the biggest fascist state known to man, where each country gets less and less power and sovereignty, and Europe is put under the reign of a few, in a centralized government. And who are running EU? The Freemasons and the Illuminati. Do the pieces start coming together now? But unfortunately, this is just the beginning:

Next on the Agenda are the North American Union, (which is already being built as we speak, thanks to George W Bush who was furiously working on erasing the borders between the U.S., Mexico and Canada and merge them into one, also starting to build a Super Highway running through these three countries), the South American Union, The African Union and the Asian Union. Finally, all these "Unions", including the European Union, will merge into one big Union, which will be run by a One World Government.

By creating galloping inflation, the International Bankers (read the Illuminati) have succeeded in making us believe that the only solution is a One Currency in Europe - the EMU. When that project is safeguarded, the Central European Bank (Illuminati) has all the power over the economy in Europe and can lead us in whatever direction they want. Some politicians are just ignorant and power hungry, while others are aware of facts and work for, and with, the Illuminati. The ignorant majority of the people, being deceived, are the ones who will suffer the most. This is a betrayal beyond comprehension. And now the financial meltdown, which creates such fear and uncertainty amongst the populations of the world, that soon enough people will welcome a world currency as a solution to inflation and further financial crises.

The secret societies and the Illuminati believe in the power of symbols. The world is full of their magic- and black magic symbols. However, we are so used to seeing them everywhere that we don't even think about them. The Illuminati believe that the more symbols around, the more magic power to them. The insignia of the Illuminati and the New World Order is the "Pyramid with the All-Seeing- Eye", which you can study on the back of the U.S. One Dollar Bill (some years ago this symbol was also on a series of stamps released from the Vatican). The All-Seeing-Eye is the Eye of Horus, which is the same as the Eye of Lucifer, and goes back to the Egyptian era. The One Dollar Bill was designed by President Roosevelt's administration, and the below letter from 1951 tells us that the President had a lot to do with its' design:

"In 1934 when I was Sec. of Agriculture I was waiting in the outer office of Secretary [of State Cordell] Hull and as I waited I amused myself by picking up a State Department publication which was on a stand there entitled, "The History of the Seal of the United States." Turning to page 53 I noted the colored reproduction of the reverse side of the Seal. The Latin phrase Novus Ordo Seclorum impressed me as meaning the New Deal of the Ages. Therefore I took the publication to President Roosevelt and suggested a coin be put out with the obverse and reverse sides of the Seal.

Roosevelt as he looked at the colored reproduction of the Seal was first struck with the representation of the "All Seeing Eye," a Masonic representation of The Great Architect of the Universe. Next he was impressed with the idea that the foundation for the new order of the ages had been laid in 1776 but that it would be completed only under the eye of the Great Architect. Roosevelt like myself was a 32nd degree Mason. He suggested that the Seal be put on the dollar bill rather than a coin and took the matter up with the Secretary of the Treasury.

When the first draft came back from the Treasury the obverse side was on the left of the bill as is heraldic practice. Roosevelt insisted that the order be reversed so that the phrase "of the United States" would be under the obverse side of the Seal... Roosevelt was a great stickler for details and loved playing with them, no matter whether it involved the architecture of a house, a post office, or a dollar bill."

– Wallace's letter to Dal Lee
February 6, 1951

Other common symbols are the pentagram (five-pointed star), the hexagram (six-pointed star - The Star of David), the Swastika reversed (the way Hitler used it) and the pyramid in general.


Hexagram (click on the picture)


Pentagram
Pentagram


The Black Magicians

The secret societies, controlled by the Illuminati, have secret grades of initiations - a pyramid structure where people on one level of the pyramid do not know what the people on the level above them know. The Pyramid originally symbolizes illumination with the majority of initiates at the bottom and the road to illumination becomes narrower and narrower the higher up you reach until you pass through the illumination of the sun to ultimate illumination on the other side.

Throughout history (although the rules have been less strict recently in an effort to recruit more members), in Freemasonry you can't just become a member; you have to be recommended by at least two persons who are already members, and the applicant should be examined of his record before he is able to join. If only one person in the council says no to membership, the suggested person will not be initiated. Each person is very carefully examined to determine if the Brotherhood may have any use for him. That doesn't mean that they are selecting only "bad" people, quite the opposite:

Black Magic RitualOfficially most societies are charity organizations. This, and the propaganda they spread that organizations like the Freemasons are Christian in nature, is why most people join, although Freemasonry accepts people from all religions as long as you believe in a deity of some sort. With other words, you can't be an atheist. These societies are instead extremely esoteric with secret grades of initiations, where each member has sworn loyalty foremost to the Brotherhood. This means, like I mentioned earlier, that if this person has a certain position in society (let's say President of some country), his first loyalty is to the Brotherhood and second to his duty as President. So he has in fact double loyalties and whatever the Brotherhood decides for him to do, he has to obey, even if it goes against the survival of his country and its citizens!

A Brother in good standing should always be protected and cared for, as long as he is useful to the organization and follows its rules. If he fails or doesn't keep the secrets, he will be made a horrible example of (sometimes even killed). It is extremely important that the secrets are kept. If not, the Brotherhood loses its power over the people and the whole pyramid falls apart. The Illuminati does not want publicity unless it suits the Agenda; they are afraid that the public will kill them in fury when they find out about their horrible crimes.

Many Freemasons at the lower levels are actually very pleased to be members. It is a tight "belonging-feeling" and they will learn a few secrets of this universe, which are not taught in school, and they are often enthusiastic and fascinated. One Freemason said: "Beside my wife, Freemasonry is the most important thing in my life ..." His wife, by the way, must never know anything about what her husband is doing within the society, as it is supposed to be kept secret, and women most often are not allowed into the societies (however, there ARE a few societies especially for women, like the Freemasonic "Eastern Star"). One can then speculate in how come that women are treated as being of lesser value in the society than men, with lower wages for the same job etc. It's a man's world - it's the world of the male-dominated Secret Societies.

With the purpose to create a positive front, the Brotherhood is actually very eager to recruit good people (celebrities and people in positions where they are admired by the population in general are extremely valuable to recruit) to speak good of the organization and defend it when necessary. And the less those people know about the real agenda, the more truthful this person will sound in his defense of the organization. This also goes for religious cults of any sort, as they too are connected to the network of secret societies in one way or the other.

Satanic altarWith time, some of the members (but far from everyone) will enter higher and higher grades within the secret society they belong to, until they reach the upper, significant levels. But up there, a very careful selection takes place. The initiate in Freemasonry, for example, will be "tested" for loyalty and can make two choices. If he makes the choice a normal, good-hearted person would, the Worshipful Master of the Order and the council will tell him he made the right decision and has showed his loyalty. However, that person will never be admitted into the highest grades. He will always be met with excuses from the council why he can't continue. On the other hand, if the initiate makes the other choice, he is considered trustworthy enough to be admitted to continue up the grade chart. He now has access to the "secret libraries", where the wisdom from long gone ages are gathered, and he is allowed to take part of it and the powerful magic rituals, based on the Jewish Cabala. He will be more and more involved in Black Magic and prepared for the "Big secrets", which among others are the following:

1. The purpose with the society is to create a One World Government with them in charge over mankind. To be able to control the population, they need to reduce us from 6 billion to approximately 500 million. This is done by creating conflicts, wars, inventing diseases and viruses and now as of recent, orchestrating a War on Terror and a financial meltdown (2008). On the top of the Illuminati Pyramid worldwide are mainly 13 royal bloodlines, who go way back in time. However, as this website will show, there is another Hidden Hand, or Hidden Power that is even higher up than the 13 bloodlines. I will not touch that subject in this particular overview article, though. The reader needs to learn more before he/she is ready to read about the absolute top of the Hierarchy and who they really are...

2. The way to control the masses is through mind control and occult power, used with the intent to manipulate. This also means that the occult idea of reality will be planted into the society through Media, music, Hollywood and otherwise (currently happening on a daily basis).

3. The reward will be power and money, in exchange for selling the soul to the above forces (click here to find out how Black Magic is practiced, written by Manly P. Hall, a famous 33° Freemason). Magic deals with controlling energy and the one who can control energy the best will have the most power.

You've heard the expression "selling your soul to the Devil". Although a person who is selling his soul is not doing so to any entity called "the Devil" per se, he/she is selling his/her soul to very dark energies from which he will not be able to escape once he joined. More about this and how it works in practice will be explained in other places on this website. The only catch in the contract is that by using all this negative energy towards the rest of us, which is required from him, the person has to face the consequences eventually; it's just how the laws of this Universe work. He finally creates his own Hell if you will, although I disagree with the Christian explanation of Hell. The reason for this will be obvious as you continue researching this website.

4. The upper echelons of the Brotherhood are practicing Satanists and not Luciferians. Due to that Lucifer and Satan are two different entities, people often mix them up. At some level, members of the Brotherhood believe they are Luciferian, meaning "Light Bringers", when this is just another front in order to confuse and keep the actual secret: Satan is real, he is the Lord of This World and probably this sector of the Universe, and he is the real Grandmaster of the Brotherhood!

In 1922 Lucifer's Trust was created in London, but later changed its name to Luci's Trust, as the first name was too obvious. The Trust is non-governmental and officially recognized by the United Nations. It is also an extension of the Theosophical Society, another secret society which influenced Adolf Hitler in developing his doctrine about the Aryan Super Race. Luci's Trust is sponsored by among others the occultist Robert McNamara (just recently diseased), former minister of Defense in the USA, president of the World Bank, member of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Thomas Watson (IBM, former ambassador in Moscow). Luci's trust sponsors, among others, are the following front organizations: United Nations, Greenpeace Int., Greenpeace USA, Amnesty Int., UNICEF. Luci's Trust has its only "religious" chapel, the Temple of Understanding, where Black Magic is practiced, in the UN headquarter in New York[1]. Interesting is the fact that Luci's Trust openly declares that a secretive group of illuminated, New Age notables is now running the planet from behind the scenes.


Manly P. Hall & Albert Pike

Below is proof coming directly from the horse's mouth that Freemasonry is not a Christian organization, in spite of what their lower grade members think, and the higher grade members say. These quotes are taken from

a) the works of Manly P. Hall, who was perhaps the most famous and important Freemason (33°) of the 20th Century, and frequently read especially on the higher echelons of Freemasonry;

b) Albert Pike, the icon of Freemasonry, also he a 33°, who wrote the book "Morals and Dogma", and yet a few other significant sources:

Manly P. Hall:
"Man is a god in the making. And as the mystic myths of Egypt, on the potter's wheel, he is being molded. When his light shines out to lift and preserve all things, he receives the triple crown of godhood." (Manly P. Hall, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, p. 92)

"European mysticism was not dead at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government for the signature of the mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the United states of America. Careful analysis of the seal discloses a mass of occult and Masonic symbols chief among them, the so-called American Eagle. ... the American eagle upon the Great Seal is but a conventionalised phoenix..."

"Not only were many of the founders of the United States government Masons, but they received aid from a secret and august body existing in Europe which helped them to establish this country for A PECULIAR AND PARTICULAR PURPOSE known only to the initiated few." (Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, pp. XC and XCI)

* * *

"Masonry makes no profession of Christianity.. but looks forward to the time when the labor of our ancient brethren shall be symbolized by the erection of a spiritual temple.. in which there shall be but one altar and one worship; one common altar of Masonry on which the Veda, Shatra, Sade, Zeda-Avesta, Koran and the Holy Bible shall at who's shrine the Hindu, the Persian, the Assyrian, the Chaldean, the Egyptian, the Chinese, the Mohammedan, the Jew and the Christian may kneel."
[ "The Kentucky Monitor" Fellowcraft Degree p. 95 ]

".... the literal meaning (of the Bible) is for the vulgar only."
[Albert Pike "Digest of Morals and Dogma," p. 166 ]

"What is True to the philosopher, would not be truth, nor have the effect of truth, to the peasant. The religion of many must necessarily be more incorrect than that of the refined and reflected few.. The truest religion would in many points , not be comprehended by the ignorant.. The doctrines of the Bible are often not clothed in the language of strict truth, but in that which was fittest to convey to a rude and ignorant people.. the doctrine."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 14th Degree, p. 224 ]

"The true name of Satan, the Kabalists say, is that of Yahweh reversed; for Satan is not a black god.. for the initiates this is not a Person, but a force, created for good, but which may serve for evil. It is the instrument of liberty and free will."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," Master Mason / 3rd Degree p. 102 ]

"Masonry is a search for light. That light. That search leads us back, as you see, to the Kabala. In that ancient and little understood (source book) the infinite will find the source of many doctrines; and (he) may in time come to understand the Hermetic philosophers, the Alchemists, all the Anti-papal Thinkers of the Middle Ages, and Emanuel Swedenborg."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 28th Degree p. 741 ]

"All truly dogmatic religions have issued from the Kabala and return to it; everything scientific and grand in the religious dreams of the Illuminati, Jacob Boeheme, Swedenborg, Saint Martin, and others is borrowed from the Kabala; all Masonic associations owe to it their secrets and their symbols."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 28th Degree p. 747 ]

"Though Masonry is identical with the ancient Mysteries, it is so only in this qualified sense: that it presents but an imperfect image of their brilliancy, the ruins of their grandeur .."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma Fellowcraft Degree p.22 ]

"Masonry, successor to the Mysteries (Babel, Mythras, Tummuz, Whicka,etc.) still follows the ancient manor of teaching."
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma Fellowcraft Degree p.22 ]

"These two divinities (Sun and Moon, Osiris and Isis, etc) were commonly symbolized by the generative parts of a man and a woman; to which in remote ages no idea of indecency was attached ; the Phallus (penis) and the Cteis (vagina), emblems of generation and production, and which, as such appeared in the Mysteries (I believe Masonry is the revival of these). The Indian Lingam was the union of both, as were the boat and mast and the point within the circle." (key Masonic symbols)
[ Albert Pike "Morals and Dogma," 24th Degree, p. 401 ]

"If your wife child, or friend should ask you anything about your invitation - as for instance, if your clothes were taken off, if you were blind folded, if you had a rope tied around you neck, etc, you must conceal.. hence of course you must deliberately lie about it. It is part of your obligation ..
" [ Ibid p. 74 ]

Question: "what makes you a Freemason ? Answer: My obligation."
[question and answer from the Entered Apprentice/First Degree]

".. binding myself under no less penalty that of having throat cut from ear to ear, my tongue torn out by its roots, and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea, a cable length from the shore where the tide.."
[ from the oath of obligation Entered Apprentice/First Degree ]

".. binding myself under no less penalty than having my left Breast torn open, my heart plucked out, and given to the beasts of the field and fowls of the air as prey."
[from the oath of obligation , Fellowcraft/Second Degree]

".. binding myself under no less penalty that of having my body severed in twain, my bowels taken out and burned to ashes, the ashes scattered to the four winds of heaven.."
[ from the oath of obligation, Master Mason / Third Degree ]

" .. in willful violation whereof may I incur the fearful penalty of having my eyeballs pierced to thru center with a three edged blade, my feet flayed and forced to walk the hot sands upon the sterile shores of the red sea until the flaming Sun shall strike with a livid plague, and my Allah the god of Arab, Moslem and Mohammedan, the god of our fathers, support me to the entire fulfillment of the same."
[ from the oath of obligation, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine ] ("Shriners")

"You must conceal all the crimes of your brother Masons... and should you be summoned as a witness against a brother Mason be always sure to shield him.. It may be perjury to do this, it is true, but your keeping your obligations."
[ Ronayne, "Handbook of Masonry" p. 183 ]

"We shall unleash the Nihilists and atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirit will from that moment be without a compass (direction), anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the pure light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view, a manifestation which will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time."
-Albert Pike, on a plan for world conquest, written in a letter to Mazzini dated August 15, 1871.

"..Thirty-third degree Freemason Albert Pike (1809-1891), the man destined to develop the Luciferian Doctrine for the Masonic hierarchy, could not accept the Lucifer and Satan were the same personality. While teaching his beliefs to a select few in the Supreme Council, Pike became the most powerful Mason in the world. Although an obscure general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, he was hardly inconspicuous in Freemasonry. From 1859 until his death in 1891, Pike occupied simultaneously the positions of Grand Master of the Central Directory at Washington, D.C., Grand Commander of the Supreme Council at Charleston, S.C., and Sovereign Pontiff of Universal Freemasonry. He was an honorary member of almost every Supreme Council in the world, personally receiving 130 Masonic degrees. Pike also was one of the most physically and morally repulsive individuals in American history. Weighing well over three hundred pounds, his sexual proclivity was to sit naked astride a phallic throne in the woods, accompanied by a gang of prostitutes. To these orgies he would bring one or more wagon loads of food and liquor, most of which he would consume over a period of two days until he passed into a stupor. In his adopted state of Arkansas, Pike was well known as a practitioner of Satanism, Portraits of his later years show him wearing a symbol of the Baphomet around his neck."
-Scarlet and the Beast, John Daniel, vol 1

"Masonry gives rogues and evil-minded characters an opportunity of visiting upon their devoted victim, all the ills attending combined power, when exerted to accomplish destruction. It works unseen, at all silent hours, and secret times and places; and, like death when summoning his diseases, pounces upon its devoted subject, and lays him prostrate in the dust. Like the great enemy of man, it has shown its cloven foot, and put the public upon its guard against its secret machinations."
-CAPT. WM. MORGAN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF MASONRY, 1827.

"Membership of secret societies such as freemasonry can raise suspicions of a lack of impartiality or objectivity. It is therefore important the public know the facts. I think it is the case that the freemasons said they are not a secret society but a society with secrets. I think it is widely accepted that one secret they should not be keeping is who their members are in the criminal justice system."
- Home Secretary Jack Straw, 1997 Home Affairs Committee England

"It is generally agreed that the biggest single influence in the modern expansion of ritual magic, and the occult explosion in general, in the Western world, was the Golden Dawn. This magical fraternity, founded by Freemasons at the end of the 19th century, developed a complex ritual system with ten degrees of initiation relating to the Cabalistic Sephiroth." (World renown witches, Janet and Stewart Farrar, authors of A Witches Bible Complete)
- Janet and Stewart Farrar, The Life and Times of A Modern Witch, Phoenix Publishing Company, p. 121[2].


The reason good intended people stay members of such destructive organizations is probably because of its non-democratic structure and chain of commands. The lower-grade Brother is not entitled to know what is on the grade above and curiosity drives him into the mystic. Also, the discipline and secrecy is very strict and punishment can be severe if one fails to comply. In this manner the very few evil men at the top can control the many ignorant people below. It is probably that simple, and of course a basic form of mind control. Any religious cult works in the same manner and has a similar structure.

It was Socrates who came up with the idea of Democracy. Personally I am sure that democracy is not the best option for a society. It has always showed to fail, as it requires political involvement from the public, who is supposed to be the real power. Groups of people have shown to be easily manipulated and controlled throughout history and made to believe they live in a democracy when in fact the real power has covertly changed to the favor of the politicians (or rather those who pull the strings on the politicians). The true definition of democracy is when politicians are elected and employed by the people to achieve the needs and goals of common man. The true meaning of democracy seems to have been buried and forgotten in the modern society. That's what manipulation is all about. A better political system would probably be Meritocracy, which supports each person's personal abilities and strengthens them so each of us have a very fair chance to become what we want with help from the collective society.

The United Nations is nothing else but the World police for the Illuminati, founded to be able to step in and take military control over a country or a region which is countering the Agenda. Don't think it is a coincidence that the Temple of Understanding is positioned in the UN headquarters.

Socialism is the political system the Black Order uses to enslave the people on Earth. The red banner is the private symbol of their biggest sponsors - the Rothschild's - and is actually their family-banner. This family has since the 1700's worked on bringing about socialism. The banker Meyer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812) was the first member of this family who worked for, and financed it. Today the Rothschild's own the F-U Central bank, but few people know that many of the European Banks were founded by the Rothschild's and owned by them. Central banks is a basic thesis for the upcoming of socialism.

The Rothschild's have invested plenty of money into the Environmental Movement to counter the nuclear-power industry, which wanted to build up its own free energy through nuclear power. National independency and sovereignty are things the Illuminati are up against. And when the oil resources come to an end, the nuclear power will replace the oil, and therefore the Rothschild's have bought 80% of the world assets of Uranium. This way they will have world control over energy, which means it will never be free ...


The Anti-Christ

As a part of the plan is the uprising of a new Anti-Christ. He is supposed to come as a "man of peace", but will show to be a false Messiah, and when he has convinced the peoples of different religions around the world that he is the one they have been waiting for, he will turn into being an oppressive dictator - the Anti-Christ in the Bible.

The following is another quote from Manly P. Hall, 33° Freemason; one of the greatest authorities on secret societies in general, and Freemasonry in particular:

'There exists in the world today, and has existed for thousands of years, a body of enlightened humans united in what might be termed, an Order of the Quest. It is composed of those whose intellectual and spiritual perceptions have revealed to them that civilization has secret destiny..

The outcome of this 'secret destiny' is a World Order ruled by a King with supernatural powers.

This King was descended of a divine race; that is, he belonged to the Order of the Illumined for those who come to a state of wisdom then belong to a family of heroes-perfected human beings.'

Manly P. Hall 33° Mason, The Secret Destiny of America[2]


The Bilderbergers

One of the most powerful front groups of the Illuminati, which also works as a secret society in itself, is the Bilderberg Group. This is a group which was created in the beginning of the 50's by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (former SS-officer) and the Polish socialist Joseph Retinger, one of the founders of the European movement. These two persons decided meetings on a regular basis for the European foreign-ministers.

Their first meeting occurred in Hôtel Bilderberg in the Dutch Oosterbreck between the 29-31 of May 1954, thus the name of the group.


The first Bilderberg conference in Oosterbreck, 1954

The core of the group consists of an Elite of people, counted to 39, called the Steering Committee. They are not elected and was originally led by Prince Bernhard, a close friend to the British Crown.

Since 1954, meetings have been arranged at least once a year on different locations each time - very secret. The members are around 120 persons from the high finance circles of Western Europe, the US and Canada. Although the meetings are very hidden and nothing, or very little leaks to the international media (which is natural, as most of the Media Moguls are Bilderbergers; so much for free press).

Invited are also political leaders from different countries. Their flight-tickets are paid by the Committee, and there is free food and drinks etc. The purpose of the group is a World Government by the year 2012 and a global army through the UN. The take-over is partly planned to involve computers.

The Bilderberg Group is also called the "invisible world government". Because of the character of the meetings it is clearly bribery on the behalf of the politicians who are taking part. Here they are suggested to betray their own countries by selling out their sovereign states to the EU and American Union against the Constitutions of the countries they represent, thus deceiving their own people ... This is what many of our elected politicians secretly are doing behind our backs - it is Treason at the best.

Information has occasionally leaked after these meetings. Insiders have reported what has been decided behind people's backs to destroy their countries. The credibility of these leaks are high due to that the information we have managed to receive in secret has more often than not showed to be accurate, because the events planned by the Bilderbergers have later happened, and the Media, which was present at the meetings, said nothing to warn us of coming events.


The Trilateral Commission


David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski,
also known as "ZBig" among insiders.

The Trilateral Commission (click here for membership list), a semi-secret society, officially founded in June 1973[3] by David Rockefeller (Illuminati) and Zbigniew Brzezinski, "ZBig", (Illuminati and Barack Obama's sponsor and advisor), was created because the already established organizations, like the UN, were too slow in establishing a World Government. This commission consists of the industrial and commercial giants of the "trilateral nations"; USA, Japan and Western Europe. The members are all of the Elite, coming from different branches of Freemasonry world-wide to give the Bilderbergers a broader political basis. The 200 members are permanent and in this case different from the Bilderbergers, who are invited, except for the Steering Committee.

The Trilateral Commission controls through the CFR members (see below) the whole U.S. economy, politics, military, oil, energy and media lobbies. The members are chairmen of different companies, bankers, real estate agents, economists, scientists, lawyers, publishers, politicians, union leaders, presidents of Foundations and newspaper columnists.

If you still don't believe that these people want a World Government and destroy America and sovereignty in general, please read David Rockefeller's Biography, Memoirs [2002]. In this book he says, among a lot of other interesting things:

The cover of David Rockefeller's book: Memoirs [2002]

"For more than a century, ideological extremists at either end of the political spectrum have seized upon well-publicized incidents to attack the Rockefeller family for the inordinate influence they claim we wield over American political and economic institutions. Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that's the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it [my emphasis]."

The Council on Foreign Relation (CFR)

This semi-secret organization was established in 1971 and the members of this secret society are exclusively Americans and Canadians. Today the CFR[4] holds a tight control over the countries of the Western World, with help from sister-organizations and its mother-organization in Britain, the "Royal Institute of International Affairs" (RIIA), with Queen Elisabeth II at the top, her being one of the top Illuminatus on Earth. The CFR is in its turn controlled by the Rockefellers and also works for a Global Government. The inner core is the dark Order of Skull & Bones, where George HW Bush and George W Bush. are members, as well as John Kerry, the two latter both admitting to it in public interviews. Just click on their names, respectively, and watch the video clips for proof.


Where To Go From Here

Now, when you have been briefed on the world situation as a whole, it is time to go into more details of the many issues mentioned above.

Illuminati News is a large database, where you hopefully will find the answers to many of your questions about life and how this world is run. It may be overwhelming to see all this information at first, but there is a strategy for this webpage. I suggest that you start by going to the Site Map. Then choose the part that intrigues you the most at the moment and start there.

Most of the sections of this website are structured similarly. If you for example choose to start with "The Shadow Government aka the Illuminati", you will see that the first sub-section will be "The Shadow Government: Who Are They?" So, by beginning with the first subsection you will get the most basic information for you to start with on the subject of your choice. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/389-what-who-illuminati.html Paul Washer: The Cross of Christ (article) http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/388-paul-washer-cross-christ-article.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:53:38 GMT The Cross of Christ By Paul Washer The Cross of Christ By Paul Washer:graduate: 1 One of my greatest burdens is that the Cross of Christ is rarely explained. It is not enough to say that “He died” - for all men die. It is not enough to say... The Cross of Christ
By Paul Washer
The Cross of Christ By Paul Washer:graduate:


1
One of my greatest burdens is that the Cross of Christ is rarely
explained. It is not enough to say that “He died” - for all men
die. It is not enough to say that “He died a noble death” - for
martyrs do the same. We must understand that we have not
fully proclaimed the death of Christ with saving power until
we have cleared away the confusion that surrounds it and
expounded its true meaning to our hearers - He died bearing
the transgressions of His people and suffering the divine penalty
for their sins: He was forsaken of God and crushed under
the wrath of God in their place.
Forsaken of God
One of the most disturbing, even haunting, passages in the
Scriptures is Mark’s record of the great cry of the Messiah as
He hung upon a Roman Cross. In a loud voice He cried out:
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My
God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”1
In light of what we know about the impeccable nature of
the Son of God and His perfect fellowship with the Father,
it is difficult to comprehend Christ’s words, yet in them, the
meaning of the Cross is laid bare, and we find the reason for
which Christ died. The fact that His words are also recorded
in the original Hebrew tongue tells us something of their great
importance. The author did not want us to misunderstand or
to miss a thing!
In these words, Jesus is not only crying out to God, but as
the consummate teacher, He is also directing His onlookers
and all future readers to one of the most important Messianic
prophecies of the Old Testament - Psalm 22. Though the entire
Psalm abounds with detailed prophecies of the Cross, we
will concern ourselves with only the first six verses:
“My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from
my deliverance are the words of my groaning. O my God, I
cry by day, but You do not answer; and by night, but I have
no rest. Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the
praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and
You delivered them. To You they cried out and were delivered;
in You they trusted and were not disappointed. But I am a
worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the
people.”
In Christ’s day, the Hebrew Scriptures were not laid out in
numbered chapters and verses as they are today. Therefore,
when a rabbi sought to direct his hearers to a certain Psalm or
portion of Scripture, he would do so by reciting the first lines
of the text. In this cry from the Cross, Jesus directs us to Psalm
22 and reveals to us something of the character and purpose
of His sufferings.
In the first and second verses, we hear the Messiah’s complaint
- He considers Himself forsaken of God. Mark uses
the Greek word egkataleípo, which means to forsake, abandon,
or desert.2 The Psalmist uses the Hebrew word azab, which
means to leave, loose, or forsake.3 In both cases, the intention
is clear. The Messiah Himself is aware that God has forsaken
Him and turned a deaf ear to His cry. This is not a symbolic
or poetic forsakenness. It is real! If ever a creature felt the
forsakenness of God, it was the Son of God on the cross of
Calvary!
In the fourth and fifth verses of this Psalm, the anguish suffered
by the Messiah becomes more acute as He recalls the
covenant faithfulness of God towards His people. He declares:
“In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered
them. To You they cried out and were delivered; in You they
trusted and were not disappointed.”
The apparent contradiction is clear. There had never been
one instance in the history of God’s covenant people that a
righteous man cried out to God and was not delivered. However,
now the sinless Messiah hangs on a tree utterly forsaken.
What could be the reason for God’s withdrawal? Why did He
turn away from His only begotten Son?
Woven into the Messiah’s complaint is found the answer to
these disturbing questions. In verse three, He makes the unwavering
declaration that God is holy, and then in verse six,
He admits the unspeakable - He had become a worm and
was no longer a man. Why would the Messiah direct such demeaning
and derogatory language toward Himself? Did He
see Himself as a worm because He had become “a reproach
of men and despised by the people”4 or was there a greater
and more awful reason for His self-deprecation? After all, He
did not cry out, “My God, my God, why have the people forsaken
me,” but rather He endeavored to know why God had
done so! The answer can be found in one bitter truth alone
- the Lord had caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him, and
like a worm, He was forsaken and crushed in our stead.5
This dark metaphor of the dying Messiah is not alone in
2
Scripture. There are others that take us even deeper into the
heart of the Cross and lay open for us what “He must suffer”6
in order to win the redemption of His people. If we shutter
at the words of the Psalmist, we will be further taken back
to hear of the thrice-holy7 Son of God becoming the serpent
lifted up in the wilderness, and then, the sin bearing scapegoat
left to die alone.
The first metaphor is found in the book of Numbers. Because
of Israel’s near constant rebellion against the Lord and their
rejection of His gracious provisions, God sent “fiery serpents”
among the people and many died.8 However, as a result of
the people’s repentance and Moses’ intercession, God once
again made provision for their salvation. He commanded
Moses to “make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard.” He
then promised that “everyone who is bitten, when he looks
at it, he will live.”
At first, it seems contrary to reason that “the cure was shaped
in the likeness of that which wounded.”9 However, it provides
a powerful picture of the cross. The Israelites were dying
from the venom of the fiery serpents. Men die from the
venom of their own sin. Moses was commanded to place the
cause of death high upon a pole. God placed the cause of our
death upon His own Son as He hung high upon a cross. He
had come “in the likeness of sinful flesh,”10 and was “made to
be sin on our behalf.”11 The Israelite who believed God and
looked upon the brazen serpent would live. The man who
believes God’s testimony concerning His Son and looks upon
Him with faith will be saved.12 As it is written, “Look unto
me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God,
and there is none else.”13
The second metaphor is found in the priestly book of Leviticus.
Since it was impossible for one single offering to fully
typify or illustrate the Messiah’s atoning death, an offering involving
two sacrificial goats was put before the people.14 The
first goat was slain as a sin offering before the Lord, and its
blood was sprinkled on and in front of the Mercy Seat behind
the veil in the Holy of Holies.15 It typified Christ who shed
His blood on the Cross to make atonement for the sins of His
people. The second goat was presented before the Lord as
the scapegoat.16 Upon the head of this animal, the High Priest
laid “both of his hands and confessed over it all the iniquities
of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all
their sins.”17 The scapegoat was then sent away into the wilderness
bearing on itself all the iniquities of the people into a
solitary land.18 There, it would wander alone, forsaken of God
and cut off from His people. It typified Christ who “bore our
sins in His body on the cross,”19 and suffered and died alone
“outside the camp.”20 What was only symbolic in the Law
became an excruciating reality for the Messiah.
Is it not astounding that a worm, a venomous serpent, and
goat should be put forth as types of Christ? To identify the
Son of God with such “loathsome” things would be blasphemous
had it not come from Old Testament saints “moved by
the Holy Spirit,”21 and then confirmed by the authors of the
New Testament who go even further in their dark depictions.
Under the inspiration of the same Spirit, they are bold enough
to say that He who knew no sin, was “made sin,”22 and He,
who was the beloved of the Father, “became a curse”23 before
Him. We have heard these truths before, but have we ever
considered them enough to be broken by them?
On the Cross, the One declared “holy, holy, holy” by the
Seraphim choir,24 was “made” to be sin. The journey into the
meaning of this phrase seems almost too dangerous to take.
We balk even at the first step. What does it mean that He,
in whom “all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form,”
was “made sin?” We must not explain the truth away in an
attempt to protect the reputation of the Son of God, and yet,
we must be careful not to speak terrible things against His
impeccable and immutable25 character.
According to the Scriptures, Christ was “made sin” in the
same way that the believer “becomes the righteousness of
God” in Him.26 In his second letter to the church in Corinth,
the Apostle Paul writes:
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”27
The believer is not the “righteousness of God” because of
some perfecting or purifying work upon his character that
makes him like God and without sin, but rather as a result of
imputation by which he is considered righteous before God
through the work of Christ on his behalf. In the same way,
Christ was not made sin by having His character marred or
soiled, thus actually becoming depraved, but as a result of imputation
by which He was considered guilty before the judgment
seat of God on our behalf. This truth however, must not
cause us to think any less of Paul’s declaration that Christ was
“made sin.” Although it was an imputed guilt, it was real guilt,
bringing unspeakable anguish to His soul. He took our guilt
as His own, stood in our place, and died forsaken of God.
That Christ was “made sin,” is a truth as terrible as it is incomprehensible,
and yet, just when we think that no darker words
can be uttered against Him, the Apostle Paul lights a lamp
and takes us further down into the abyss of Christ’s humiliation
and forsakenness. We enter the deepest cavern to find
the Son of God hanging from the Cross and bearing His most
infamous title - the Accursed of God!
The Scriptures declare that all humankind lay under the
curse. As it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide
by all the things written in the Book of the Law, to perform
3
them.”28 From heaven’s perspective, those who break God’s
Law are vile and worthy of all loathing. They are a wretched
lot, justly exposed to divine vengeance, and rightly devoted
to eternal destruction. It is not an exaggeration to say that the
last thing that the accursed sinner should and will hear when
he takes his first step into hell is all of creation standing to
its feet and applauding God because He has rid the earth of
him. Such is the vileness of those who break God’s law, and
such is the disdain of the holy towards the unholy. Yet, the
Gospel teaches us that, “Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the Law, having become a curse for us -- for it is written,
‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’”29 Christ became
what we were in order to redeem us from what we deserved.
He became a worm and no man, the serpent lifted up in the
wilderness, the scapegoat driven outside the camp, the bearer
of sin, and the One upon whom the curse of God did fall. It
is for this reason the Father turned away from Him and all
heaven hid its face.
It is a great travesty that the true meaning of the Christ’s “cry
from the cross” has often been lost in romantic cliché. It is not
uncommon to hear a preacher declare that the Father turned
away from His Son because He could no longer bear to witness
the suffering inflicted upon Him by the hands of wicked
men. Such interpretations are a complete distortion of the text
and of what actually transpired on the Cross. The Father did
not turn away from His Son because He lacked the fortitude
to witness His sufferings, but because “He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him.”30 He laid our sins upon
Him and turned away, for His eyes are too pure to approve
evil and cannot look upon wickedness with favor.31
It is not without reason that many Gospel tracts picture an
infinite abyss between a holy God and sinful man. With such
an illustration, the Scriptures fully agree. As the Prophet Isaiah
cried out:
“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save,
nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities
have made a separation between you and your God, and your
sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear”
(Isaiah 59:1-2)
It is because of this that all men would have lived and died
separated from the favorable presence of God and under divine
wrath unless the Son of God had stood in their place,
bore their sin, and died “forsaken of God” on their behalf. For
the breach to be closed and fellowship restored, “Was it not
necessary for the Christ to suffer these things?”32
Christ Dies under the Wrath of God
To obtain the salvation of His people, Christ not only suffered
the terrifying abandonment of God, but He drank down the
bitter cup of God’s wrath and died a bloody death in the
place of His people. Only then could divine justice be satisfied,
the wrath of God be appeased, and reconciliation be
made possible.
In the garden, Christ prayed three times for “the cup” to be
removed from Him, but each time His will gave into that
of His Father.33 We must ask ourselves, what was in the cup
that caused Him to pray so fervently? What did it contain
that caused Him such anguish that His sweat was mingled
with blood? It is often said that the cup represented the cruel
Roman cross and the physical torture that awaited Him; that
Christ foresaw the cat of nine tails coming down across His
back, the crown of thorns piercing His brow, and the primitive
nails driven through His hands and feet. Yet those who
see these things as the source of His anguish do not understand
the Cross, nor what happened there. Although the tortures
heaped upon Him by the hands of men were all part
of God’s redemptive plan, there was something much more
ominous that evoked the Messiah’s cry for deliverance.
In the first centuries of the primitive church, thousands of
Christians died on crosses. It is said that Nero crucified them
upside down, covered them with tar, and set them aflame to
provide street lights for the city of Rome. Throughout the
ages since then, a countless stream of Christians have been
led off to the most unspeakable tortures, and yet it is the testimony
of friend and foe alike that many of them went to their
death with great boldness. Are we to believe that the followers
of the Messiah met such cruel physical death with joy unspeakable,
while the Captain of their Salvation34 cowered in a
garden, feigning the same torture? Did the Christ of God fear
whips and thorns, crosses and spears, or did the cup represent
a terror infinitely beyond the greatest cruelty of men?
To understand the ominous contents of the cup, we must refer
to the Scriptures. There are two passages in particular that we
must consider - one from the Psalms and the other from the
Prophets:
“For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, and the wine foams;
It is well mixed, and He pours out of this; surely all the wicked
of the earth must drain and drink down its dregs.”35
“For thus the LORD, the God of Israel says to me, ‘Take
this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all
the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink
and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send
among them.’”36
As a result of the unceasing rebellion of the wicked, the justice
of God had decreed judgment against them. He would rightly
4
pour forth His indignation upon the nations. He would put
the cup of the wine of His wrath to their mouth and force
them to drink it down to the dregs.37 The mere thought of
such a fate awaiting the world is absolutely terrifying, yet this
would have been the fate of all, except that the mercy of God
sought for the salvation of a people, and the wisdom of God
devised a plan of redemption even before the foundation of
the world. The Son of God would become a man and walk
upon the earth in perfect obedience to the Law of God. He
would be like us in all things,38 and tempted in all ways like us
but without sin.39 He would live a perfectly righteous life for
the glory of God and in the stead of His people. Then in the
appointed time, He would be crucified by the hands of wicked
men, and on that Cross, He would bear His people’s guilt,
and suffer the wrath of God against them. The perfect Son of
God and a true Son of Adam together in one glorious person
would take the bitter cup of wrath from the very hand of God
and drink it down to the dregs. He would drink until “it was
finished”40 and the justice of God was fully satisfied. The divine
wrath that should have been ours would be exhausted
upon the Son, and by Him, it would be extinguished.
Imagine an immense dam that is filled to the brim and straining
against the weight behind it. All at once, the protective
wall is pulled away and the massive destructive power of the
deluge is unleashed. As certain destruction races toward a
small village in the nearby valley, the ground suddenly opens
up before it and drinks down that which would have carried
it away. In similar fashion, the judgment of God was rightly
racing toward every man. Escape could not be found on the
highest hill or in the deepest abyss. The fleetest of foot could
not outrun it, nor could the strongest swimmer endure its torrents.
The dam was breached and nothing could repair its
ruin. But when every human hope was exhausted, at the appointed
time, the Son of God interposed. He stood between
divine justice and His people. He drank down the wrath that
they themselves had kindled and the punishment they deserved.
When He died, not one drop of the former deluge
remained. He drank it all!
Imagine two giant millstones, one turning on top of the other.
Imagine that caught between the two is a single grain of
wheat that is pulled under the massive weight. First, its hull
is crushed beyond recognition, and then its inwards parts are
poured out and ground into dust. There is no hope of retrieval
or reconstruction. All is lost and beyond repair. Thus, in a
similar fashion, “it pleased the Lord” to crush His only Son
and put Him to grief unspeakable.41 Thus, it pleased the Son
to submit to such suffering in order that God might be glorified
and a people might be redeemed. It is not that God found
some gleeful pleasure in the suffering of His beloved Son, but
through His death, the will of God was accomplished. No
other means had the power to put away sin, satisfy divine
justice, and appease the wrath of God against us. Unless that
divine grain of wheat had fallen to the ground and died, it
would have abided alone without a people or a bride.42 The
pleasure was not found in the suffering, but in all that such
suffering would accomplish: God would be revealed in a
glory yet unknown to men or angels, and a people would be
brought into unhindered fellowship with their God.
In one of the most epic stories in the Old Testament, the patriarch
Abraham is commanded to carry his son Isaac to Mount
Moriah, and there, to offer him as a sacrifice to God.
“Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and
go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”43
What a burden was laid upon Abraham! We cannot even
begin to imagine the sadness that filled the old man’s heart
and tortured him every step of his journey. The Scriptures
are careful to tell us that he was commanded to offer “his son,
his only son, whom he loved.” The specificity seems designed
to catch our attention and make us think that there is more
meaning hidden in these words than we can yet tell.
On the third day, the two reached the appointed place, and
the father himself bound his beloved son with his own hand.
Finally, in submission to what must be done, he laid his hand
upon his son’s brow and “took the knife to slay him.”44 At that
very moment, the mercy and grace of God interposed, and
the old man’s hand was stayed. God called out to him from
heaven and said:
“Abraham, Abraham! ...Do not stretch out your hand against
the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear
God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son,
from Me.”45
At the voice of the Lord, Abraham raised his eyes, and found
a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. He took the ram
and offered him up in the place of his son.46 He then named
that place YHWH-jireh or “The Lord will provide.” It is a
faithful saying that remains until this day, “In the mount of
the Lord it will be provided.”47 As the curtains draw to a
close on this epic moment in history, not only Abraham, but
also everyone who has ever read this account breathes a sigh
of relief that the boy is spared. We think to ourselves what a
beautiful end to the story, but it was not the end, it was a mere
intermission!
Two thousand years later, the curtain opens again. The background
is dark and ominous. At center stage is the Son of
God on Mount Calvary. He is bound by obedience to the will
of His Father. He hangs there bearing the sin of His people.
5
He is accursed - betrayed by His creation48 and forsaken of
God. Then, the silence is broken with the horrifying thunder
of God’s wrath. The Father takes the knife, draws back His
arm, and slays “His Son, His only Son, whom He loves.” And
the words of Isaiah the prophet are fulfilled:
“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried;
yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for
our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are
healed... But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting
Him to grief.”49
The curtain is drawn to a close on a slain Son and a crucified
Messiah. Unlike Isaac there was no ram to die in His place.
He was the Lamb who would die for the sins of the world.50
He is God’s provision for the redemption of His people. He is
the fulfillment of which Isaac and the ram were only shadows.
In Him, Mount Calvary is renamed “YHWH-jireh” or “The
Lord will provide.” And it is a faithful saying that remains
until this day, “In the mount of the Lord it will be provided.”51
Calvary was the mount and salvation was provided. Thus, the
discerning believer cries out, “God, God, I know you love me
since you have not withheld your Son, your only Son, whom
You love, from me.”52
It is an injustice to Calvary that the true pain of the Cross
is often overlooked by a more romantic, but less powerful
theme. It is often thought and even preached that the Father
looked down from heaven and witnessed the suffering that
was heaped upon His Son by the hands of men, and that He
counted such affliction as payment for our sins. This is heresy
of the worst kind. Christ satisfied divine justice not merely
by enduring the affliction of men, but by enduring and dying
under the wrath of God. It takes more than crosses, nails,
crowns of thorns, and lances, to pay for sin. The believer is
saved, not merely because of what men did to Christ on the
Cross, but because of what God did to Him - He crushed
Him under the full force of His wrath against us. Rarely is this
truth made clear enough in the abundance of all our Gospel
preaching!
For more resources, sermon downloads, and information,
visit Home | HeartCry Missionary Society
© 2008 HeartCry Missionary Society
From HeartCry Magazine, Volume 55, Published
October 2007. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/388-paul-washer-cross-christ-article.html Pictures of Jesus? http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/387-pictures-jesus.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:41:37 GMT *PICTURES OF CHRIST* (Sorry pages ARE NOT in order due to how it was copied.......just dont be lazy and find the right page number) :-) Page 1 by J. Marcellus Kik “You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything... PICTURES OF CHRIST
(Sorry pages ARE NOT in order due to how it was copied.......just dont be lazy and find the right page number) :-)

Page 1
by J. Marcellus Kik
“You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you
shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children to the third and fourth generations of those
who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who
love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:4-6
In this second commandment we are forbidden to make any graven
image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. We are forbidden to
bow down to them or to serve them. Now the question has been asked
whether or not this commandment forbids the use of pictures of Christ.
Naturally the commandment forbids the bowing down before such pictures
and worshipping them. There can be no question of that.
But in many Protestant churches and in many evangelical churches
pictures of Christ are used in teaching and in the homes of Christians
pictures of Christ are hung up to remind them, I suppose, of Christ. Is
that Scriptural? Does it meet with the approval of God? Is it sinful? Is it
another way of breaking the second commandment?
No doubt, if I state that the use of pictures of Christ is unscriptural;
that it does not meet with the approval of God; that it is sinful; and that it
is a breaking of the second commandment—I will be considered as a fanatic,
a reactionary, and perhaps not quite normal. But before you have
such unkind thoughts please hear me out. If we are Christians our service
and worship will be regulated by the Word of God. The Bible is our infallible
guide in faith and worship.
Now here is the surprising thing. Nowhere in the Bible, either in the
Old Testament or New Testament, is there a physical description of
Christ. Isn’t that strange if God wanted to use the picture of Christ in
spreading the Gospel or in worship, that we are not told whether Christ
was tall or short, fair or dark, light or dark hair, blue eyes or brown eyes.
PAge 8
The Westminster Larger Catechism
Q. 108. What are the duties required in the second commandment?
Ans: The duties required in the second commandment are, the receiving,
observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances
as God hath instituted in his Word; particularly prayer and thanksgiving in the
name of Christ; the reading, preaching, and hearing of the Word; the administration
and receiving of the sacraments; church government and discipline; the
ministry and maintainance thereof; religious fasting; swearing by the name of
God; and vowing unto him; as also the disapproving, detesting, opposing all
false worship; and, according to each one's place and calling, removing it, and all
monuments of idolatry.
Q. 109. What are the sins forbidden in the second commandment?
Ans: The sins forbidden in the second commandment are, all devising,
counselling, commanding, using, and anywise approving, any religious worship
not instituted by God himself; tolerating a false religion; the making any representation
of God, of all or of any of the three persons, either inwardly in
our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature
whatsoever; all worshipping of it, or God in it or by it; the making of any
representation of feigned deities, and all worship of them, or service belonging
to them, all superstitious devices, corrupting the worship of God, adding to it,
or taking from it, whether invented and taken up of ourselves, or received by
tradition from others, though under the title of antiquity, custom, devotion, good
intent, or any other pretence whatsoever; simony; sacrilege; all neglect, contempt,
hindering, and opposing the worship and ordinances which God hath appointed..
Q. 110. What are the reasons annexed to the second commandment,
the more to enforce it?
Ans:The reasons annexed to the second commandment, the more to
enforce it, contained in these words, For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments;
are, besides God's sovereignty over us, and propriety in us, his fervent zeal
for his own worship, and his revengeful indignation against all false worship, as
being a spiritual whoredom; accounting the breakers of this commandment such
as hate him, and threatening to punish them unto divers generations; and esteeming
the observers of it such as love him and keep his commandments, and
promising mercy to them unto many generations.
-----------------------------------
Page 2
With all their love for the Lord you would think that Peter or John
would have given a description of Him, unless, of course, they were forbidden.
They wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Surely it is
significant that neither they nor any other of the Scriptures gave a physical
description of the Lord. Surely if God desired the use of pictures of Christ
to further the cause of Christ He would have had a physical description of
His Son in His Word. Why should we consider ourselves wiser than God
and provide what He has deliberately left out?
The second amazing fact is that in the first four centuries of the
history of the Church no picture of Christ was used. These were the
years when the Church made her most astonishing growth. These were
the years in which the Christians conquered Pagan Rome. It is so frequently
stated that we need pictures of Christ in order to teach people the
Gospel. The apostle Peter did not need pictures of Christ to instruct the
young or bring the Gospel to adults. The apostle John did not need pictures
of Christ to convert pagans and instruct the Church. The apostle
Paul did not need pictures of Christ to convert Barbarians and Greeks.
The early church did not need pictures of Christ to conquer paganism.
They accomplished it by preaching the Word in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
When pictures of Christ were first introduced they were opposed.
The Church historian Eusebius, who lived in the fourth century, declared
himself in the strongest manner against images of Christ in a letter to the
Empress Constantia who asked him for such an image. Amongst other
things Eusebius wrote: “Who can therefore counterfeit by dead and insensible
colors, by vain shadowing painter’s art, the bright and shining glistering of
such His glory? whereas His holy Disciples were not able to behold the same in
the mountain; who, therefore, falling on their faces, acknowledged they were
not able to behold such a sight.”
Here Eusebius touches on one of the reasons why it is impossible to
have a true picture of Christ. If you want a picture of Christ do you want
it as He was upon earth or as He is now in heaven? If you want a picture of
Him as He was upon earth you have quite a problem. There was no picture
of Him painted. The so-called pictures of Christ which are present
today are from the imaginations of the artists. That is why there are so
many different pictures. Not one of them is a true picture. So every time
you say this or that is a picture of Christ you are uttering a lie. You cannot
teach truth by a lie. Christ is the Truth and surely He would not want the
use of a false means to point to Him. Christ abhors lies and falsehoods.
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Page 7
picture a medium of worship. But since the materials for this medium of
worship are not derived from the only revelation we possess respecting
Jesus, namely, Scripture, the worship is constrained by a creation of the
human mind that has no revelatory warrant. This is willworship. For the
principle of the second commandment is that we are to worship God only
in ways prescribed and authorized by him. It is a grievous sin to have
worship constrained by a human figment, and that is what a picture of the
Saviour involves.
Thirdly, the second commandment forbids bowing down to an image
or likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth. A picture of the Saviour purports to
be a representation or likeness of him who is now in heaven or, at least, of
him when he sojourned upon the earth. It is plainly forbidden, therefore,
to bow down in worship before such a representation or likeness. This
exposes the iniquity involved in the practice of exhibiting pictorial representations
of the Saviour in places of worship. When we worship before a
picture of our Lord, whether it be in the form of a mural, or on canvas, or
in stained glass, we are doing what the second commandment expressly
forbids. This is rendered all the more apparent when we bear in mind that
the only reason why a picture of him should be exhibited in a place is the
supposition that it contributes to the worship of him who is our Lord.
The practice only demonstrates how insensitive we readily become to the
commandments of God and to the inroads of idolatry. May the Churches
of Christ be awake to the deceptive expedients by which the archenemy
ever seeks to corrupt the worship of the Saviour.
In summary, what is at stake in this question is the unique place
which Jesus Christ as the God-man occupies in our faith and worship and
the unique place which the Scripture occupies as the only revelation, the
only medium of communication, respecting him whom we worship as
Lord and Saviour. The incarnate Word and the written Word are correlative.
We dare not use other media of impression or of sentiment but those
of his institution and prescription. Every thought and impression of him
should evoke worship. We worship him with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God. To use a likeness of Christ as an aid to worship is forbidden
by the second commandment as much in this case as in that of the
Father and Spirit.

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Page 3
How would you like it if someone who never saw you painted a picture
and told every one that it was a picture of you? Certainly you would
resent it. And certainly Christ must resent all those counterfeit pictures of
Him.
But supposing you wanted a picture of Christ as He is now. The
Disciples had such a vision of Him on the mount of transfiguration. We
read in Matthew 17:2, “And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment
was white as the light.” This was the glorified Christ. No artist could give
us a picture of Christ which would show the glowing of Christ’s face as
the sun and his raiment as white as the light. They would only rob Christ
of His glory by miserably falling short of a true painting of Christ in His
present glory.
But someone will state that at least we can depict the humanity of
Christ as He appeared upon earth. But who are we to separate His humanity
from His divinity! The apostle John states in his Gospel, chapter
1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Notice that the apostle states that even while Christ was in the flesh they
beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. In other
words, they beheld His divinity as well as His humanity. This one cannot
paint. So one must behold His humanity as separate from His divinity.
Then one falls into the ancient error of Nestorius. He stated that Christ
consisted of two persons: one human and the other divine. There was,
according to Nestorius, a separation between the human and the divine
persons.
That was the ground on which the Council called by Constantine V
condemned paintings of Christ. You see this question of pictures of Christ
was the subject of controversy throughout the eighth century. So Constantine
called a council in 753 of three hundred and thirty bishops. Their
conclusion was this: “If any person shall divide the human nature, united to
the Person of God the Word; and, having it only in the imagination of his
mind, shall therefore, attempt to paint the same in an Image; let him be holden
as accursed. If any person shall divide Christ, being but one, into two
persons; placing on the one side the Son of God, and on the other side the son
of Mary; neither doth confess the continual union that is made; and by that
reason doth paint in an Image the son of Mary, as subsisting by himself; let
him be accursed. If any person shall paint in an Image the human nature,
being deified by the uniting thereof to God the Word; separating the same as it
were from the Godhead assumpted and deified; let him be holden as accursed.”
page 6
Without doubt the disciples in the days of his flesh had a vivid mental
image of Jesus’ appearance and they could not but have retained that
recollection to the end of their days. They could never have entertained
the thought of him as he had sojourned with them without something of
that mental image and they could not have entertained it without adoration
and worship. The very features which they remembered would have
been part and parcel of their conception of him and reminiscent of what
he had been to them in his humiliation and in the glory of his resurrection
appearance. Much more might be said regarding the significance for the
disciples of Jesus’ physical features.
Jesus is also glorified in the body and that body is visible. It will also
become visible to us at his glorious appearing - “he will be seen the second
time without sin by those who look for him unto salvation” (Hebrews
9:28).
What then are we to say of pictures of Christ? First of all, it must be
said that we have no data whatsoever on the basis of which to make a
pictorial representation; we have no descriptions of his physical features
which would enable even the most accomplished artist to make an approximate
portrait.
In view of the profound influence exerted by a picture, especially
on the minds of young people, we should perceive the peril involved in a
portrayal for which there is no warrant, a portrayal which is the creation
of pure imagination. It may help to point up the folly to ask: what would
be the reaction of a disciple, who had actually seen the Lord in the days of
his flesh, to a portrait which would be the work of imagination on the part
of one who had never seen the Saviour? We can readily detect what his
recoil would be. No impression we have of Jesus should be created without
the proper revelatory data, and every impression, every thought, should
evoke worship. Hence, since we possess no revelatory data for a picture or
portrait in the proper sense of the term, we are precluded from making
one or using any that have been made.
Secondly, pictures of Christ are in principle a violation of the second
commandment. A picture of Christ, if it serves any useful purpose, must
evoke some thought or feeling respecting him and, in view of what he is,
this thought or feeling will be worshipful. We cannot avoid making the
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page 4
This council points out the difficulty and indeed the impossibility
of painting a portrait of Christ. Christ is more than man. He is Godman.
It is impossible to depict by a painter’s brush the almighty power of
Christ; the glorious majesty of Christ; the infinite knowledge of Christ.
You cannot localize by a painter’s brush the everywhere presence of Christ.
One can only succeed in degrading Christ. When one considers the deity
of Christ it is no wonder that the apostles did not attempt a physical
description of their Lord and Saviour.
There is always, also, the danger of worshipping the picture of Christ
and attaching power to it. Even a Protestant publishing firm stated that
there is power in a picture of Christ. It stated: “When one plants deeply
and firmly in his mind the picture of Christ, it has a strong and powerful
influence in his life.” Thus instead of attributing this influence to Christ
and the Holy Spirit they attribute it to the picture they are trying to sell.
That is a breaking of the second commandment.
But can it not help in the saving of souls, it is asked. But how?
Looking at a picture of Christ hanging upon the cross tells me nothing. It
does not tell me that He hung there for sin. It does not tell me that He
hung there for my sin. It does not tell me that He is the Son of God. Only
the Word of God does that. And it is the Word of God that has been given
us to tell the story of salvation through the blood of Christ. It is not through
the foolishness of pictures that sinners are converted but through the foolishness
of preaching.
It is amazing how—slowly—unscriptural practices enter the Christian
Church. We must at all times go back to the Scriptures. The Bible is
our infallible guide. And if our practices and doctrines do not conform
with the teachings of the Scriptures then we must eliminate them. The
Bible instructs the Church not to make any likeness of Christ. The present
day pictures of Christ are false and no one would make a serious claim
that they resemble Christ upon earth. They separate His humanity from
His deity. They do not at all give us a glimpse of His present glory. They
are not condoned by the inspired apostles.
God has ordained the foolishness of preaching to evangelize the world.
He has promised to attend the preaching of the Word with the power of
the Holy Spirit. The so-called pictures of Christ are a hindrance and a
temptation to idolatry. Let us cleanse the Temple of God from them.
Page 5
PICTURES OF CHRIST
by
Professor John Murray
The question of the propriety of pictorial representations of the Saviour
is one that merits examination. It must be granted that the worship
of Christ is central in our holy faith, and the thought of the Saviour must
in every instance be accompanied with that reverence which belongs to
his worship. We cannot think of him without the apprehension of the
majesty that is his. If we do not entertain the sense of his majesty, then we
are guilty of impiety and we dishonor him.
It will also be granted that the only purpose that could properly be
served by a pictorial representation is that it would convey to us some
thought or lesson representing him, consonant with truth and promotive
of worship. Hence the question is inescapable: is a pictorial representation
a legitimate way of conveying truth regarding him and of contributing to
the worship which this truth should evoke?
We are all aware of the influence exerted on the mind and heart by
pictures. Pictures are powerful media of communication. How suggestive
they are for good or for evil and all the more so when accompanied by the
comment of the spoken or written word! It is futile, therefore, to deny the
influence exerted upon mind and heart by a picture of Christ. And if such
is legitimate, the influence exerted should be one constraining to worship
and adoration. To claim any lower aim as that served by a picture of the
Saviour would be contradiction of the place which he must occupy in
thought, affection, and honor.
The plea for the propriety of pictures of Christ is based on the fact
that he was truly man, that he had a human body, that he was visible in his
human nature to the physical senses, and that a picture assists us to take in
the stupendous reality of his incarnation, in a word, that he was made in
the likeness of men and was found in fashion as a man.
Our Lord had a true body. He could have been photographed. A
portrait could have been made of him and, if a good portrait, it would
have reproduced his likeness. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/387-pictures-jesus.html CRC responds to Exclusive Psalmody http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/386-crc-responds-exclusive-psalmody.html Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:34:24 GMT Answer from the ‘Bay Psalm Book’ Preface: (1640):book2: *Obj. 2. Ministers are allowed to pray conceived prayers, and why not to sing conceived psalms? must we not sing in the Spirit as well as pray in the Spirit?* Ans. First because... Answer from the ‘Bay Psalm Book’ Preface: (1640):book2:



Obj. 2. Ministers are allowed to pray conceived prayers, and why not to sing conceived psalms? must we not sing in the Spirit as well as pray in the Spirit?

Ans. First because every good minister has not the gift of spiritual poetry to compose extemporaneous psalms as he has of prayer. Secondly, suppose he had, yet seeing psalms are to be sung by a joint consent and harmony of all the Church in heart and voice (as we shall prove) this cannot be done except he that composes a psalm, brings into the Church set forms of psalms of his own invention; for which we find no warrant or precedent in any ordinary officers of the Church throughout the scriptures. Thirdly, because the book of psalms is so complete a system of psalms, which the Holy Ghost himself in infinite wisdom has made to suit all conditions, necessities, temptations, affections, etc. of men in all ages; (as most of all interpreters on the psalms have fully and particularly cleared) therefore by this the Lord seems to stop all men’s mouths and minds ordinarily to compile or sing any other psalms (under color that the occasions and conditions of the Church are new) etc. for the public use of the Church, seeing, let our condition be what it will, the Lord himself has supplied us with far better; and therefore in Hezekiah’s time, though doubtless there were among them those which had extraordinary gifts to compile new songs on those new occasions, as Isaiah and Micah etc. yet we read that they are commanded to sing in the words of David and Asaph, which were ordinarily to be used in the public worship of God: and we doubt not but those that are wise will easily see; that those set forms of psalms of God’s own appointment not of man’s conceived gift or human imposition were sung in the Spirit by those holy Levites, as well as their prayers were in the Spirit which themselves conceived, the Lord not then binding them therein to any set forms; and shall set forms of psalms appointed of God not be sung in the Spirit now, which others did then?

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Separation from the Dutch Reformed Church

The harsh conditions in the fledgling "colony" convinced Van Raalte to seek help from the Dutch Reformed Church. That church had been introduced to American soil over a century before, when Dutch Reformed merchants accompanying Peter Stuyvesant settled in New York, then called New Amsterdam. That line of communication between Van Raalte's Michigan churches and the Dutch Reformed congregations of New Jersey soon blossomed into a full-fledged merger.

In 1857 a small fragment of four churches, about 130 families, seceded from the new union. Among the reasons they cited were:

· a perceived lack of sound doctrinal preaching by American pastors;

· a perceived lack of piety and too much accommodation to American culture by these same pastors;

· the use of hymns in worship by the Americans - the seceders insisted on psalm-singing only;

· the practice by the American churches of "open communion," extending an open invitation to all believers to participate in the Lord's Supper;

· the perceived lack of solidarity on the part of the Americans with the secessionist cause in the Netherlands.

In 1857, the Christian Reformed Church was born.



1928

March 8 - Calvin College Library opened (Franklin Campus).

March 13 - American Federation of Reformed Men's Societies organized.

June 20 - Synod approved the appointment of a committee to select hymns to be included in the Psalter for use in worship services. ]]> proverbs31woman http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/proverbs31woman/386-crc-responds-exclusive-psalmody.html