Theologically Sound Politics

In light of the upcoming election and the fact that I've kinda struggled over whether or not I felt right about voting at all, I wanted to go ahead and post a thought that I had after reading an old Baptist confession from 1644.

Keep in mind that the men who wrote this confession didn't have the privilege that we in America have to take part in the process by which our leaders are appointed. They also had much more to lose than we do if the wrong person came to power; they had to worry about their lives while we worry about much more self centered things. This being said, they still had a Biblical attitude and outlook on the situation no matter who got in the office.

My questions when sharing this are:
1. Do we have the same attitude?
2. Do we believe that God is totally sovereign in the whole process?
3. Will we be content with whatever God brings about in this election?
4. Do we trust God with the outcome?
5. Will we submit to the authority (when it doesn't compromise our obedience to our God)?
6. Will we pray for the salvation of our leaders and our safety when they get there?

Well, here's the section of the confession that inspired me to write this. I really pray that we can have the same mind that they did on Wednesday morning no matter what God gives us...

XLVIII.

That a civil Magistracy is an ordinance of God set up by God for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well; and that in all lawful things commanded by them, subjection ought to be given by us in the Lord: and that we are to make supplication and prayer for Kings, and all that are in authority, that under them we may live a peaceable and quiet life in all godliness and honesty.

XLIX.

The supreme Magistracy of this Kingdom we believe to be the King and Parliament freely chosen by the Kingdom, and that in all those civil Laws which have been acted by them, or for the present is or shall be ordained, we are bound to yield subjection and obedience unto in the Lord, as conceiving ourselves bound to defend both the persons of those thus chosen, and all civil Laws made by them, with our persons, liberties, and estates, with all that is called ours, although we should suffer never so much from them in not actively submitting to some Ecclesiastical Laws, which might be conceived by them to be their duties to establish which we for the present could not see, nor our consciences could submit unto; yet are we bound to yield our persons to their pleasures.

L.

And if God should provide such a mercy for us, as to incline the Magistrates' hearts so far to tender our consciences, as that we might be protected by them from wrong, injury, oppression and molestation, which long we formerly have groaned under by the tyranny and oppression of the Prelatical Hierarchy, which God through mercy hath made this present King and Parliament wonderful honorable, as an instrument in his hand, to throw down; and we thereby have had some breathing time, we shall, we hope, look at it as a mercy beyond our expectation, and conceive ourselves further engaged forever to bless God for it.

LI.

But if God withhold the Magistrates' allowance and furtherance herein; yet we must notwithstanding proceed together in Christian communion, not daring to give place to suspend our practice, but to walk in obedience to Christ in the profession and holding forth this faith before mentioned, even in the midst of all trials and afflictions, not accounting our goods, lands, wives, children, fathers, mothers, brethren, sisters, yea, and our own lives dear unto us, so we may finish our course with joy: remembering always we ought to obey God rather than men, and grounding upon the commandment, commission and promise of our Lord and master Jesus Christ, who as he hath all power in heaven and earth, so also hath promised, if we keep his commandments which he hath given us, to be with us to the end of the world: and when we have finished our course, and kept the faith, to give us the crown of righteousness, which is laid up for all that love his appearing, and to whom we must give an account of all our actions, no man being able to discharge us of the same.

LII.

And likewise unto all men is to be given whatsoever is their due; tributes, customs, and all such lawful duties, ought willingly to be by us paid and performed, our lands, goods, and bodies, to submit to the Magistrate in the Lord and the Magistrate every way to be acknowledged, reverenced, and obeyed, according to godliness; not because of wrath only but for conscience sake. And finally, all men so to be esteemed and regarded, as is due and meet for their place, age, estate and condition.

LII. [sic]

And thus we desire to give unto God that which is God's, and to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to all men that which belongeth unto them, endeavoring ourselves to have always a clear conscience void of offence towards God, and towards man.

...and thanks to Phil Johnson for having this confession readily available on his blessing of a website, http://www.spurgeon.org/. Go check it out!

Lookin for Great Resources?

Ya know, I'm not sure why I haven't mentioned it before, but while I was perusing through The Forgotten Trinity by James White I noticed that he had written about the fact that Jesus was shown to be Jehovah Almighty in John 12 long before I had come across this and pointed it out to the JDubs or written it on my blog. This caused me to wonder why I haven't recommended James White's resources already.


I have benefited from James White's ministry since before I got saved, and I think that I should at least recommend all his stuff to you all. I do mean all his stuff, by the way. Whether you will be in contact with Mormons or JDubs or Roman Catholics or Muslims you can learn much more about them and how to answer their false claims by checking out Dr. White's blog, mp3s, books, or whatever else he has to offer. Believe me, I'm not the only one that thinks so. I bought 3 books from his website, and I loaned The King James Only Controversy to someone and never got it back, and I have been asked to lend The Potter's Freedom out to someone, but I let my dad borrow that one first.


Anyways, I know that many of you that take the time to look at my blog are planning to go into some type of full time vocational ministry, so you're gonna need to not only be able to teach sound doctrine but also rebuke those who contradict it (Tit. 1:9). You can be sharpened in each of these areas by Dr. White's resources, and since we all would agree that we want to have the best resources for our itty bitty bankrolls we should add his stuff to our libraries.

And, by the way, Dr. White has some important debates planned for the next year that involves traveling around the US and overseas, and he is in need of support from those who do benefit from his ministry. I say this because I know the desire to get the best deals for your books by going to Amazon or some place else online, but consider supporting Alpha and Omega Ministries (Dr. White's ministry) in their continued efforts to equip the body by buying the books and mp3s (which I have the most of) directly from his website. It really doesn't help the cause of Christ or a relatively small ministry for us to buy these things from a large un-Christian company like Amazon, so consider going through AOMin.org. As a matter of fact, get on over there right now by clicking HERE!

A Pre-Review

Not Peer-Review, Pre-review. It could in no way be a peer review since I am in no way man enough to be considered a peer of the one to be reviewed. On the other hand, I want to give a review of a book that I haven't finished reading yet. As a matter of fact, I'm not completely finished with the introduction. The reason that I felt the need to give a review now is because of the quality of the book thus far and the importance of the material being presented in the book. I'm actually reading the first volume of three in the set, and after reading the first few pages I'm quite anxious to get to the rest of the material. If it weren't for this stupid schoolwork!.

The Set is called Holy Scripture: The Ground and Pillar of Our Faith, and I've been desiring this set for quite some time now. Just recently, the Lord used someone who I had not previously been acquainted with to supply me with this treasure. This person shall remain nameless due to the fact that I want to keep him safe from someone else attempting to mooch. Even still, thank you very much, sir, for your generosity. I pray that the Lord will produce fruit in and through me as a result of the knowledge that I gain from your (and your co-author's) contribution AND that he will continue to use you to bless others as you have been a blessing to me.

Now, let me bless you readers with a tidbit from the first volume…

From the start, the author (David King) shares a quote from a man who was a Protestant who converted to Roman Catholicism and back to Protestantism that was edifying. This quote had some insightful observations that I'm surprised others who are close to Roman Catholic (RC) teaching haven't been able to admit. It just goes to show you that the light must come from God. This man basically said that the RC Church had such a history of contradiction that anyone would have to be crazy to trust them as an authority for truth. He contrasted the absurdity of Rome with the unshakable reliability of the Scriptures. Can I get a Amen?!

Well, I only want to share one last thing to entice you to add this one to your library. The introduction recounts a tale of when John Calvin was attending a debate that his friends were having with some RC officials. His friend urged him to get involved, but Calvin declined because he knew that his friends had the other guys handled. Calvin apparently changed his mind when one of the RCs accused the reformers of mishandling the Church Fathers, and he quickly stood up and put them in their place by rightfully turning the accusation back at the rightful offenders. The most edifying quote from one of the accusing RC friars follows:

"It seems to me that the sin against the Spirit which the Scriptures speak of is the stubbornness which rebels against manifest truth. In accordance with that which I have heard, I confess to be guilty, because of ignorance I have lived in error and I have spread the wrong teaching. I ask God's pardon for everything I have said and done against His honor; and ask the pardon of all you people for the offenses which I gave with my preaching up until now. I defrock myself henceforth to follow Christ and His pure doctrine alone…"

I wrote in the margin next to this quote "!!!God is A-mazing!" I think that this one is a no-brainer for the personal library, and the best price I've found is for the whole set on James White's website. Here's the link: Click me! Go buy it now and thank me later.