A weatherman on a local television station was having a bad year. Although he was a qualified meteorologist, week after week his predictions failed until he became a laughingstock. Finally, the station fired him.

After some time off, he decided to look for work in a part of the country where his past would not be known, and try to get a fresh start. Filling out a job application at another station, he came to a line that said, “Reason for leaving previous position.”

He wrote, “The climate didn’t agree with me.”

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

The Glory of God in Christ
by Ralph Erskine (1685-1752)

ll nature spreads, with open blaze,
Her Maker’s name abroad;
And every work of His displays
The power and skill of God.

But in the grace that rescued man,
His brightest glory shines;
Here on the cross ’tis fairest drawn,
In precious bloody lines.

Here His whole name appears complete:
And who can guess or prove,
Which of the letters best are writ,
The wisdom, power, or love?

Justice and mercy, truth and grace,
In all their sweetest charms,
Here met, and joined their kind embrace,
With everlasting arms.

—from Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

Psalme 106 (Geneva Bible)

1 Prayse ye the Lord. Prayse ye the Lord because he is good, for his mercie endureth for euer.
2 Who can expresse the noble actes of the Lord, or shewe forth all his prayse?
3 Blessed are they that keepe iudgement, and doe righteousnesse at all times.
4 Remember me, O Lord, with the fauour of thy people: visite me with thy saluation,
5 That I may see the felicitie of thy chosen, and reioyce in the ioy of thy people, and glorie with thine inheritance.
6 We haue sinned with our fathers: we haue committed iniquitie, and done wickedly.
7 Our fathers vnderstoode not thy wonders in Egypt, neither remembred they the multitude of thy mercies, but rebelled at the Sea, euen at the red sea.
8 Neuerthelesse he saued them for his Names sake, that he might make his power to be knowen.
9 And he rebuked the red Sea, and it was dryed vp, and he led them in the deepe, as in the wildernesse.
10 And he saued them from ye aduersaries hand, and deliuered them from ye hand of the enemie.
11 And the waters couered their oppressours: not one of them was left.
12 Then beleeued they his wordes, and sang prayse vnto him.
13 But incontinently they forgate his workes: they wayted not for his counsell,
14 But lusted with concupiscence in the wildernes, and tempted God in the desert.
15 Then he gaue them their desire: but he sent leannesse into their soule.
16 They enuied Moses also in the tentes, and Aaron the holy one of the Lord.
17 Therefore the earth opened & swallowed vp Dathan, & couered the companie of Abiram.
18 And the fire was kindled in their assembly: the flame burnt vp the wicked.
19 They made a calfe in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image.
20 Thus they turned their glory into the similitude of a bullocke, that eateth grasse.
21 They forgate God their Sauiour, which had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wonderous woorkes in the lande of Ham, and fearefull things by the red Sea.
23 Therefore he minded to destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stand in the breach before him to turne away his wrath, least he shoulde destroy them.
24 Also they contemned that pleasant land, and beleeued not his worde,
25 But murmured in their tentes, and hearkened not vnto the voice of the Lord.
26 Therefore hee lifted vp his hande against them, to destroy them in the wildernesse,
27 And to destroy their seede among the nations, & to scatter them throughout the countries.
28 They ioyned themselues also vnto Baalpeor, and did eate the offrings of the dead.
29 Thus they prouoked him vnto anger with their owne inuentions, and the plague brake in vpon them.
30 But Phinehas stoode vp, and executed iudgement, and the plague was staied.
31 And it was imputed vnto him for righteousnes from generation to generation for euer.
32 They angred him also at the waters of Meribah, so that Moses was punished for their sakes,
33 Because they vexed his spirite, so that hee spake vnaduisedly with his lippes.
34 Neither destroied they the people, as the Lord had commaunded them,
35 But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their workes,
36 And serued their idoles, which were their ruine.
37 Yea, they offered their sonnes, and their daughters vnto deuils,
38 And shed innocent blood, euen the blood of their sonnes, & of their daughters, whome they offred vnto the idoles of Canaan, and the lande was defiled with blood.
39 Thus were they steined with their owne woorkes, and went a whoring with their owne inuentions.
40 Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people, and he abhorred his owne inheritance.
41 And hee gaue them into the hande of the heathen: and they that hated them, were Lords ouer them.
42 Their enemies also oppressed them, & they were humbled vnder their hand.
43 Many a time did hee deliuer them, but they prouoked him by their counsels: therefore they were brought downe by their iniquitie.
44 Yet hee sawe when they were in affliction, and he heard their crie.
45 And he remembred his couenant towarde them and repented acoording to the multitude of his mercies,
46 And gaue them fauour in the sight of all them that lead them captiues.
47 Saue vs, O Lord our God, and gather vs from among the heathen, that we may praise thine holy Name, and glorie in thy praise.
48 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel for euer and euer, and let all the people say, So be it. Praise yee the Lord.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the left-hand column under you will see a group of links under The Gospel of Judas. If you want the scoop on the latest flash-in-the-pan “big deal,” there it is. First of all, I want to say that this is no big issue. It is something we should be aware of, but nothing to hyperventilate over. I just have an observation that I’m not sure has been stated yet, so here is my $.02 worth, which I offer at no charge.

The word laugh is found only five times in the canonical Gospels, and only once is it a good thing (Luke 6:21). In none of these places is Jesus the one who is laughing. In the Gospel of Judas, which is a little more than 3000 words (you have probably read longer blog posts), laugh is found nine times in four places where Jesus is laughing. In each case, he is laughing at the disciples or Judas, in each case he is asked why, and in each case he gives a lame answer akin to, “I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you!”

Read it yourself and see if this Gnostic Jesus bears any resemblance at all to the Jesus of Scripture.

Today is my wife's birthday.

Since I never withhold anything she desires, it becomes more difficult every year to get her something she doesn't already have. I pretty much let her go to the store whenever she can give me a couple of iron-clad reasons why she absolutely has to. So I made a list. Then I went down the list, hoping to find something, anything, that was lacking:

House - check.

Car - check.

Extra set of every-day clothes - check.

A Sunday outfit, complete with those silly shoes - check.

A couple of do-dads for when she wants to look extra-pretty - check.

Do you see what I mean? What am I supposed to do? Well, I came up with something. I mean something good. I knocked the mark-up on all the fine, doctrinally sound Thirsty Theologian merchandise down to 0%. I'm going to let her pick out anything she wants and buy it for cost. I'll probably leave it marked down like that for the rest of the month so she can take her time, because I know it will be tough to choose.

Happy birthday, Honey! Nothing's to good for you!

From Albert Mohler's blog:

"I have friends who I am quite sure are Christians who do not believe in the bodily resurrection," says the Right Reverend N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham. . . .

"Marcus Borg really does not believe Jesus Christ was bodily raised from the dead. But I know Marcus well: he loves Jesus and believes in him passionately. The philosophical and cultural world he has lived in has made it very, very difficult for him to believe in the bodily resurrection.

"I actually think that's a major problem and it affects most of whatever else he does, and I think that it means he has all sorts of flaws as a teacher, but I don't want to say he isn't a Christian.

"I do think, however, that churches that lose their grip on the bodily resurrection are in deep trouble and that for healthy Christian life individually and corporately, belief in the bodily resurrection is foundational."

. . . Bishop Wright does affirm the bodily resurrection of Christ. Indeed, he has published one of the most significant treatises on the resurrection of our times. Nevertheless, if he is genuinely to defend the resurrection of Christ against its denial, and if he is to affirm the faith as handed down by the Apostles, he must defend the resurrection of Jesus Christ as essential, and not merely as foundational.

read full article

What is the difference between essential and foundational? Having a background in construction, and having built houses, I can testify to the essential nature of a foundation. Houses that don't have solid foundations don't stand over time.

Furthermore, even without my knowledge of construction, I can read Jesus' illustration in Matthew 7 of the difference between a foundation of rock and one of sand, and it is apparent that Jesus considered a foundation to be essential.

Dr. Mohler is correct to say that the bodily resurrection of Christ is essential; but he is incorrect to distinguish between essential and foundational. Wright's definition of foundational is deficient.

Nathan Casebolt, a sharp fellow from Montana, student at the Master's Seminary, and a newlywed to boot, has also written an astute post on this subject. In fact, he writes such consistently good material that I'm blogrolling him. Call it a wedding present.

This is kind of cool. Make a map of where you've been worldwide or within the U.S., Canada, or Europe. Here's mine (click map for a larger view).

OK, I confess. I haven't been anywhere. These are the countries that visitors of this blog have come from.

This is where I've been within the U.S. (click map for a larger view). Add two Canadian provinces to that, and I'm a real Cosmopolitan.

(HT: На Даче)

Joe’s dog Sport was getting old, and one day Joe noticed that Sport wouldn’t even come out of his dog house. His wife suggested, “I think you’d better take ol’ Sport to the vet.” So Joe put Sport in the car and drove across town to the veterinary clinic. As the vet laid the limp dog on the examining table, he pulled out his stethoscope and put it on Sport’s chest. After a moment, the vet shook his head sadly and said, “I’m sorry, but old Sport has passed away.”

“What?” protested Joe. “How you can tell? You haven’t done any tests, you haven’t tried anything! You just stand there and say he’s dead! Do something!”

With that, the vet turned and left the room. In a minute, he returned with a droopy-eared old bloodhound. The bloodhound went right to work, checking the poor dead dog out thoroughly. He sniffed Sport all over from head to foot, with emphasis on the hind end. Then the hound sadly shook his head back and forth and whimpered, “Woof.”

The vet led the bloodhound out of the examining room and next brought in a big orange tomcat. The cat looked the old dog over from head to foot: he glared with his big yellow eyes into the dead dog’s eyes and ears; he looked at the dog’s paws, and examined the dog’s coat. He then turned to the vet, sadly shook his head, and curtly said, “Meow.” Then he arched his back, hissed, jumped off the table, and dashed out of the room, glad to be done with that nasty business.

Finally the vet brought in a big black Labrador retriever. The Labrador pawed at the dead dog for several minutes and barked loudly directly into Sport’s ears. Giving up, he too turned to the vet, shook his head sadly, emitted a simple, “Growl,” jumped down, and walked out of the room.

The vet shook his head and said, “Sorry, Joe. There’s nothing I can do. He’s dead.”

After he cleaned up, the veterinarian handed Joe a bill for $500. Joe was livid. His face turned beet red and he shouted, “Five hundred dollars just to tell me Sport’s dead! That’s outrageous!”

The vet shook his head sadly and explained. “If you had only agreed with my initial diagnosis, there would have been no charge. But with the blood test, the cat scan, and the lab work…”

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

GOD HONOURED

O God,

raise waiteth for thee, and to render it is my noblest exercise;

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

Psalme 113 (Geneva Bible)

1 Prayse ye the Lord. Prayse, O ye seruants of the Lord, prayse the Name of the Lord.
2 Blessed be the Name of the Lord from hencefoorth and for euer.
3 The Lords Name is praysed from the rising of ye sunne, vnto ye going downe of the same.
4 The Lord is high aboue all nations, and his glorie aboue the heauens.
5 Who is like vnto the Lord our God, that hath his dwelling on high!
6 Who abaseth himselfe to beholde things in the heauen and in the earth!
7 He raiseth the needie out of the dust, and lifteth vp the poore out of the dung,
8 That he may set him with the princes, euen with the princes of his people.
9 He maketh the barren woman to dwell with a familie, and a ioyfull mother of children. Prayse ye the Lord.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, I know you all read Challies before coming here, so you already know this. So humor me. Tim Challies, the World's Most Famous Christian Blogger®, has purchased discerningreader.com, and launched the new site today. Read all about it.
I'm going to claim bragging rights as the first to link to Discerning Reader. Using inside information, I had my link typed and my finger on the "publish" button. The minute the Discerning Reader appeared on the page, I published my blogroll.

Yes, folks, we are cutting edge.

I just had an interesting conversation with daughter #5 (5 years old).

"We can't go out naked," she informed me, as if I might be considering it.

"No, that's right, we can't go outside naked," I agreed. "We have to get dressed first."

"But cats are outside naked."

Yes, cats can, but people can't."

"'Cause then they would be all cold."

"Yes, they would be cold, but that's not..."

"In the Summer, they can," she replied, and ran from the room before I could answer.

I suppose I'll have to finish that sentence one day.

"[T]he world of blogs may be filling up with people who for the previous 200 millennia of human existence kept their weird thoughts more or less to themselves." Read more...

Hmm . . . sounds suspiciously like the Gospel, ham-fisted delivery notwithstanding.

OK, that’s not too winsome an approach, but it is a comic, after all.

It’s not his fault he doesn't read the Bible! He was poorly catechized!
I’m not sure how being correctly catechized the Catholic way would transform him into an avid Bible-reader, but as we continue, we’ll see that the catechism serves the Bible in bite-sized portions just right for proof-texting Apostolic succession.

He’s had it! He’s not going to take it anymore! He’s going to get out his Bible and show those . . . Oh, wait, I was putting myself into the picture. He’s not going to read the Bible, silly! That's too hard for Joe Catholic to understand! He might misinterpret it. Thank God the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church® has written the answers in the Catechism! Hey, there’s even a nifty magazine to guide him through it!

Wow, look at him now! Who needs a deeper understanding of Scripture when you can have a deeper understanding of Catholicism?

Duck! Incoming proof-texts ripped out of context! Devastating, I must say.
And how very clever to put a Chick comic in the hands of the already clumsy Protestant. What beautiful irony. Painting Protestants with the Chick brush is the same kind of ugly characterization that Chick does to Catholics (and everyone else). This is just another Chick tract!

Joe is the hero. Not only does he have a “masterful grasp” of the Catholic religion (not of Scripture), he gets the girl!
I guess he doesn’t want to be a priest.

Well, I’m sold! Go ahead, click the image at the top of the page. You know you want to.

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I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. (Psalme 122:1 Geneva Bible)

HYMN 5, C. M.
Submission to afflictive providences. Job 1:21.
by Isaac Watts
(1674-1748)

aked as from the earth we came,
And crept to life at first,
We to the earth return again,
And mingle with our dust.

The dear delights we here enjoy,
And fondly call our own,
Are but short favors borrowed now,
To be repaid anon.

’Tis God that lifts our comforts high,
Or sinks them in the grave;
He gives, and, blessed be his name!
He takes but what he gave.

Peace, all our angry passions, then;
Let each rebellious sigh
Be silent at his sovereign will,
And every murmur die.

If smiling mercy crown our lives,
Its praises shall be spread;
And we’ll adore the justice too
That strikes our comforts dead.

—The Psalms & Hymns of Isaac Watts. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book I: Collected from the Holy Scriptures (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

Psalme 120 (Geneva Bible)
A song of degrees.

1 I called vnto the Lord in my trouble, and hee heard me.
2 Deliuer my soule, O Lord, from lying lippes, and from a deceitfull tongue.
3 What doeth thy deceitfull tongue bring vnto thee? or what doeth it auaile thee?
4 It is as the sharpe arrowes of a mightie man, and as the coales of iuniper.
5 Woe is to me that I remaine in Meschech, and dwell in the tentes of Kedar.
6 My soule hath too long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
7 I seeke peace, and when I speake thereof, they are bent to warre.

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.