Semper Blog
Coffee in...pontification outThe Avengers; Infinity War: Thanos vs Thanotos
I recently watched the movie, 'Avengers, Age of Ultron'. I know, don't say it! I am late on the bandwagon. I don't spend a lot of time watching movies or television. I liked the movie, overall. It was descent; Many characters who I was not familiar with. My collegue,...
Westminster Larger Catechism question 85
Question 85 Death, being the wages of sin, why are not the righteous delivered from death, seeing all their sins are forgiven in Christ? The righteous shall be delivered from death itself at the last day, and even in death are delivered from the sting and curse of it;...
Welcome Aboard to Reformed Theology and Apologetics
It is with great pleasure I announce that Reformed.org has joined the Semper Reformanda family of websites. Mr. Ed Walsh was kind enough to pass the gauntlet down to myself and C. Matthew McMahon this weekend. Our goal is to take Reformed.org and create a family of...
Coming Soon!
"The Reformed Cooperative"
Jer 31 and the credo-a Facebook conversation
Ah yes, the lynchpin for the credo-Jer 31! In regard to when the NC began; JPH says, "At the Cross". HH says, "The benefits of the New Covenant were mediated to the elect before Christ's coming, but Jeremiah and the Hebrews author gave qualifying statements that...
What did some of the Reformers believe about Baptismal Regeneration?
Baptismal regeneration? Ch 28 I. Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting...
Faith is……
The Old testament saint understood covenant much differently that we do; their religion was intrinsically attached to their culture. Their relationship with God was not ever secondary. When God spoke to Abraham, it was not received with doubt. When God said to Abraham...
Calvary Chapel’s Altered Call
I attended Calvary Chapel, Fort Lauderdale for about 5 years. The altar call always concerned me. Here, let me at least innumerate that for you: When I attended, there were 3 Lord's day meetings, 2 on Wednesday night, 2 on Saturday. Thats a total of 7 meetings a week....
Reforming Rap Music
Can numbers, in and of themselves, be sinful? If not, how is it that a musical note can? I would imagine, based on superstition, that the numbers 666 can be seen as evil erroneously in the regenerates life; in the same way, sampling a string of beats used in an idol...
Quote from Aquinas
"a Deo docetur, deum docet, as deum ducit" Theology comes from God, teaches about God and leads us to God
Octavius Winslow on the OT indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Apparently, O. Winslow was dispensationally thinking in regard to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He writes: "Speaking of the legal dispensation, with which the temple prepared by David and built by Solomon was designed to harmonise, the apostle argues that it...
Judging our brothers
Is the church called to judge it's people? Think Matt 18; How would the church be a church if it didn't practice judgement? It would cease being a church. One of the three marks that make a church a church is discipline; discipline is a form of judgement. Is the...
On Halloween
The bottom line is that since we have Reformation day on October 31st, there is absolutely no logical reason to celebrate Halloween. We should all be having major blowouts on October 31st. We celebrate the 4th of July like there's no tomorrow for our...
Robert S. Rayburn on Covenant Succession
" Our doctrine has not been well taught in seminaries, in pulpits, or in books, whether written for ministers or laymen. Consequently, many ministers and congregations have only a vague notion of the theological substructure of the practice of paedobaptism, of the...
Horace Bushnell on ‘Christian Nurture’
"this is the Lords chosen way to perpetuate and extend His church. It is the growth from within, like the mustard seed.....The regular normal mode of increase is through the multiplication of Christian families, the blessings descending from generation to generation...
The Westminster Standards use “Covenant of Grace” and “New Covenant” interchangeably
The Westminster Standards use "Covenant of Grace" and "New Covenant" interchangeably Compare WLC 162 with WSC 92. Q. 162. What is a sacrament? A. A sacrament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ in his church, to signify, seal, and exhibit unto those that are...
John Owen on the tithe
John Owen on the tithe:"There is great inquiry usually made on this place, whether tithesbe due by the light of nature, or at least by such a moral-positivecommand of God as should be perpetually obligatory unto all worshippersunto the end of the world. This many...
Is your understanding in the flesh?
I do not know that I need say more concerning believing. I have often tried to explain it, I am afraid that I have not always made it as plain as I have intended. Only let me warn you not to say, “I understand the plan of salvation very well. Dear Sir, I am sure I do;...
Erroll Hulse on ‘Wrong Evangelism’
Wrong Practice in Evangelism TodayIndependent evangelists, some of whom set up their own evangelistic organizations, are popular today. Some churches which are far from dynamic and which have poor preaching; little, if any, discipline; badly attended prayer meetings...
William Perkins, Commentary on Hebrews 11.9-10:
The Book of Psalms was penned by David, Asaph, Moses and others, and in several ages and states of the church, and were appointed to be sung then, for the present state of the church in those days. It may therefore be demanded: Why then do we sing them...
Wise words from T. Watson
To glorify God is to set God highest in our thoughts, and to have a venerable esteem of him. Psa xcii 8. 'Thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.' Psa xcvii 8. 'Thou art exalted far above all gods.' There is in God all that may draw forth both wonder and delight;...
Joshua is told to hold to the law
Joshua 1:8 7“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on...
A fitting statement to our government from the third century
Cyprian (200-258), to Demetrianus: "It is little, in your account, that your life is stained with a variety of gross vices, with the iniquity of deadly crimes, with the summary of all bloody rapines; that true religion is overturned by false superstitions; that...
3 Corinthians 12:1
3 Corinthians 12: 1 Paul, an ambassador of Christ; When your child loses his tooth, tell them to place it under their pillow for the pagan tooth fairy to retrieve and leave your child 2 denaris. Tell them that the tooth fairy came. In the same way, when you celebrate...
Wise words from John Bunyan
"there are always two ditches of error, one on either side of the road of truth."
I Don’t Need to go to Church
"I don't attend church any longer-I don't really need to go to church." Why do you not desire to be at church, with Gods people, under the oversight of a called man of God to watch over your soul, to sit under the means of grace, to Worship Him rightly, to partake in...
Test All Things…
Our goal as a believer should be to become more like the image of Christ, daily. How are we to know Christ? Through His word. He is truth as is His word is truth. To be conformed to His image is to be conformed to His word, the bible. To be conformed to the bible is...
On the Sabbath….
In regards to being dogmatic: The sabbath discussion will never go away this side of Heaven. The issue arises out of one's definition of essentials. The edges get a bit blurry for some folk, based on their personal views of said doctrine or the splattering of...
More on the Visible and Invisible church distinctive
If a group of believers meet at a local Starbucks over coffee and biblical discussion. Is it the invisible church meeting? We know that the above is not the local expression gathering, but what of the invisible? Isn't the invisible all believers over time? Yes it is;...
Is Calvinism the Gospel?
~Not all Calvinists are elect. ~Calvinism is not the gospel. ~The Gospel is truth-it is perfect. ~Calvinism is a biblical theory that can be flawed as men are flawed-it cannot be considered absolute truth. ~Upon entering glory, all the elect will know truth. C....
Thomas Manton on Conversion
God Must Work Conversion in Man The scripture…sets out man to be blind, hard, dead, obstinate, and averse from God. Certainly man contributes little to his own conversion…If scripture had only said that man had accustomed himself to sin, and was not born in...
Pink on the heresy of Arminianism
"Arminianism “A religion of conditions, contingencies, and uncertainties is not Christianity—its technical name is Arminianism, and Arminianism is a daughter of Rome. It is that God dishonoring, Scripture-repudiating, soul-destroying system of...
Tertullian on Idolatry-pagans days vs. the Lord’s Day:
Tertullian _On Idolatry_...pagans days vs. the Lord's Day: "To live with heathens is lawful, to die with them is not. Let us live with all; let us be glad with them, out of community of nature, not of superstition. We are peers in soul, not in discipline;...
Do you really understand Presbyterian polity?
"If a Presbyterian is able to leave a Presbyterian setting and sit under credo preaching and polity comfortably, he was never Presbyterian to begin with."
Balance between law and grace
There is a balance between grace and law that the believer must have hold of to deter error. Possession of one side or the other and you fall into either legalism or antinominaism. Gods grace and our liberty are not at odds with His law; they comfortably bookend each...
God will judge you in Christ
If you are under the idea that God will judge you upon your death bed by the good you have done in this life in contrast to the bad you have done, you are poorly mistaken and have been sold a bag of goods that are full of mens lies. If you are counting on God's favor...
God is eternal
God has no beginning and no end! "The best proof that He will never cease to love us lies in that He never began." - Geerhardus Vos Think about that for a minute: The Earth is but 6k years old. Could you place a number on Gods age? A million years? A billion, a...
Psalm reader; Open for Business-Come in and get your Psalm read!
I've thought about opening up a storefront business: *Psalm reader* We're open-c'mon in!!! Have your Psalm read! See the future and the past!!! ~An unregenerate comes in: Hi, can you read my Psalm? Sure. Do you believe in Christ? Uh, no....why? You want me to read...
The pursuit of perfection is impossible
Even if you were able to live a perfect life, i.e. you kept God's law perfectly, you still would perish due to the sin of Adam which has infected you prior to your living perfectly. Only Jesus was able to do this as He led a sinless life. The Covenant of Works was...
In regards to the Regulative Principle and the official call to worship
In regards to the Regulative principle and the official call to worship Firstly: The Fourth Commandment requires that the whole day be spent in exercises of public, private and family worship; see WCF 21. Second, public worship is to be preferred over...
The Great Commission
There is not one instance in scripture where the term 'preach' is used in regards to the layperson.
John Murray on pictures of Christ
Pictures of Christ by: 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...
The Heidelberg Catechism on images
Heidelberg Catechism? Question 98. But may not images be tolerated in the churches, as books to the laity? Answer: No: for we must not pretend to be wiser than God, who will have his people taught, not by dumb images, (a) but by the lively preaching of...
Wisdom from David Engelsma
No believer may belong to a false, or apostate, church for any reason whatsoever. No Christian may worship in or with a false church, whether as a member or as a mere "attender." To do so is to make oneself responsible for the extreme wickedness of the...
Prepare your hearts and minds accordingly……
On your way to the house of God, let your meditations, and, if you converse, your words be such as to prepare you the better for the solemnities in which you are to mingle; and when you pass the consecrated threshold, realize that you have come hither...
In regards to church hopping…..
"...it is a dreadful sin to depart from the church for the purpose of establishing one which is better, for the church is one, being the body of Christ. To separate ourselves from the church is to separate from the people of Christ and thus from His body, thereby...