Theological Treatises

  Being Real With God Probably the  hardest  thing for us fallen sinners to do, is to be  truly  honest--with others, with ourselves, and (especially) with God.  The very  first  effect of sin on our souls, is to be  dishonest, deflecting, and insecure .  Once Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they, (and  we,  along with them), were seeking ways to hide from God, make excuses for sin, and race from bush to bush to seek to escape the gaze of the Holy One.   Before we begin to  beat ourselves up  too much over this, which tends to only  add  to our troubles, let us recognize that sin really  does  bring  shame;  and shame is an  appropriate  response (before our pristine Triune Deity).  So, the way to get "real" with God, is to deal with the "shame" issue.  It is a  real  problem, and it must be addressed.  And, the way...

  All Divine Miraculous Healing Is Through Christ When we read the four Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), we are  astounded  at the vast  numbers  of human beings that our blessed Lord Jesus Christ  cured  (of every kind of disease, etc.).  Galilee and Judea were largely made the most physically  healthy  places that the Earth ever saw, following the Fall of Man into sin.   One  could  argue that the hospitals, prompt care units, counseling centers, and (even) funeral homes were given a respite from their ordinary routines.   Myriads  of people-- all  sinners in Adam-- thronged  around Jesus, to be  relieved  of their blindness, sickness, deafness, dropsy, paralysis, kyphosis, epilepsy, fevers, withered limbs, muteness, leprosy, blood-flows, and demon-possession.  It is astonishing, to think about how  many  bodies and souls were  healed  ...

  Aliens and Strangers, Yes; But Owners and Stewards, Too Sometimes we hear a lot of good teaching on how the church's saints on earth are "aliens and strangers"; and how we do not really "belong" here, and how we do not "fit in" here.  All of this is pretty much true; and it is important that we know this and believe it.  But, I wonder if sometimes we do not take this concept  too  far, and draw conclusions that are not so savory/good/biblical?   The truth is, we *are* "sojourners and exiles."  The Apostle Peter makes this clear (in 1 Pet. 2:11).  But the true regenerate church also  "owns"  the earth.  It is  ours .  It has been  given  to us by our gracious Lord, King, and Master Jesus Christ.  We have "inherited" it (Matt. 5:5). . . . In reality, the non-regenerate people do *not* own this planet; and it is  they --not  us --who are "squatting" on it. ...

  Thomas Watson One of the great Puritans, Thomas Watson (c. 1620-1686), is recently getting some well-deserved attention.  Reformation Heritage Books has just published  The Works of Thomas Watson  in seven volumes.  All I can say, is that I think this is a wonderful development.   Like Dr. Joel Beeke (of Reformation Heritage Books), I  also  came to an appreciation of the Puritans  initially  through Thomas Watson; and, interestingly, also via Watson's  A Body of Divinity . . . . One September day in 2001, a member of the church I was serving unexpectedly showed up at the door of our house, and he handed me a used hard-copy of  Body of Divinity,  published by Banner of Truth.  I had no idea how excellent that book was, till I broke it open, and started reading it.  Since then, I have re-read it.  In my opinion, Watson's  Body of Divinity is the single best "layman's" theology...

  Delighting In Christ Here are  some  of the things that every true Christian is promised, in  this  life: persecution (2 Tim. 3:12); trials (Jas. 1:2-3); tribulation (Jn. 16:33); the necessity of bearing one's own cross daily (Lk. 9:23); the hatred of the world (Jn. 15:19); harassment from Satan (1 Pet. 5:8); and the nuisance of false believers (1 Jn. 2:19). . . .   So, someone is (probably)  rightly  asking, "If all this is true, then how can you speak of 'delighting in Christ'?"  This is a perfectly good question; and it deserves a solid answer.  True regenerate Christian churchmen may (and do) "delight in Christ" partly, because this delight has  nothing  (negativity) to do with all those troublesome dynamics we just mentioned (in the first paragraph).  "Delighting in Christ" may be done in a prison, a gulag, a concentration camp.  Wherever the Spirit of God dwells in a heart, the shining and ...

  The Weirdness of Religion/How To View People Religion is one of those  strange  things, with which we are all "stuck."  There is no way  around  it; and there is no  escape  from it.  It represents the very  best  in humans created in the image of God; and it also expresses the very  worst  in humans created in the image of God.   This little paper is designed to try to help us understand how we should view people--all of whom are, in fact, "religious."  At the same time, I intend to write about those who are "seriously" religious; and about those who are not.   Ironically, when it comes to religion, we want our unbelieving friends and neighbors, co-workers and fellow-students, et. al., to  *not*  be "serious" about their professed religious faith.  For instance, to use three examples, employing the three great "faiths": Christianity, Judaism, and Islam--we desire our reg...