Theological Treatises

  " Go, Do All That Is In Your Heart . . .  " The words of the title for this treatise (above) were addressed to King David; and they came from the lips of Nathan the prophet, as they are found in 2 Sam. 7:3 (as well as in 1 Chron. 17:2).  Nathan also  added  this  reason  (for David to "do all that was in [his] heart"):  " . . . For the L ORD  is with you."   On various occasions, during some of my sermons, I would preach  these  kinds of words to the faithful Christian church members gathered on those Sundays-- That,   "IF  you  believe  in and  love  the Lord Jesus Christ with  all  your hearts, minds, souls, and strength-- THEN,  you should,  'Do whatever it is you want to do.' "   I would explain, that what I  mean,  is that they could/should  "do whatever they wanted to do,"  because  everything  they  "wanted  to do" ...

  [Blanking] Well/Loving Even Better The issue of  hate  is an  uncomfortable  one; and one that should be handled carefully.  Still, every honest and intelligent reader of the Holy Scriptures easily discerns that there is a lot of teaching about hatred in its pages--and much of it emanates from the God of glory Himself.   The world is so  unnerved  by the subject of hate, that they have devised things like "hate laws," (and I am not here to universally condemn everything connected with these statutes and sentiments).   The usual efforts to "get around" the hate problem, is for religious people to say things like this: "Oh, we are to hate the sin; and love the sinner."  This is an  inadequate  response, to be sure--but it is not  completely  false.  The first part is sound; the second part needs some augmentation, (and we will try to do some of that in this short paper).   Part of our con...

  Trinitarian Belief Across The Testaments I believe that  all  the  regenerated  saints--in  both  the Old Covenant and in the New--are endued by the Holy Spirit with at least an inchoate knowledge of the truth of the Holy Trinity;  and  that, to the level of the gospel light they are able to receive and understand, they wholeheartedly  believe  in the existence of the Holy Trinity.   Along with regenerated sinners, who are all redeemed by Jesus Christ and His blood atonement, elect  angels  also know the truth of the Holy Trinity.  For them, this is not a difficulty--in that they are ministers (to the church)  of  these Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.   Adam and Eve, also,  before  their Fall into sin, clearly comprehended that God was Trinity; and their subsequent redemption was understood to require "The Seed of the woman," Christ Himself, the Second Pers...

  Fear-Mongering In The Religious World By "fear-mongering," I mean the intentional (or even unintentional) bringing about of consternation in the hearers or readers of a speaker or writer whose words would, under "natural" conditions, produce dread, alarm, or dismay.  Not all fear, of course, is bad, in that  all  people  are  to fear the One, True, and Only Triune God.  But all  other  fear is to be suspect.   Some religious fear makes all the sense in the world.  Adherents of non-Christian religions  should  fear, since they have  good  cause to.  As well, all non-regenerate Christians should fear even  more --since they (presumably) know the truth of the gospel, but do not embrace Christ in it, by faith.   It is my personal opinion and conviction that Christian fear-mongers send out their alarming and dreadful messages because they are not (really) trusting in Jesus Christ a...

  The American Revolution "The Presbyterian Rebellion"? If you are like me, you have shown some interest in Ken Burns' "The American Revolution" documentary.  Only two of the six parts have been shown so far (and I have not even seen  all  of them up to  this  point); but it will be very interesting to see if (or how) Mr. Burns presents the issues of religion (in his show).   Burns has not always been very sympathetic to those who exuded sincere Christian faith--which is evidenced by his deplorable and unfair treatment of the Presbyterian deacon Thomas ("Stonewall") Jackson, in his "The Civil War" documentary.   In reality, the role of Presbyterians (in particular) in the American Revolution was very key and primary.  So much was this the case, that King George III and many others in the British empire considered the American Revolution to be, in fact, "The Presbyterian Rebellion"--and they even called it that.   The reasons fo...

  The Absolute Necessity of The New Birth/The Will of Man I am fully-aware that the title of this treatise will immediately cause some people to have no interest in it--because they think they have heard enough about this subject already.  Since you have chosen to read it, I will do my best to make it worth your while; and we will, Lord-willing, have some intriguing discussion regarding the  will  (especially of man).   Most of us are probably very familiar with the words of our blessed and beloved Messiah, to Nicodemus, as they are recorded for us in Jn. 3:3.  Here is that verse:  "Jesus answered him, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,' "  (ESV).   Not "seeing" the Kingdom of God is analogous to not  knowing  the King of that Kingdom, Jesus Christ our Lord.  And not knowing Jesus in a salvific way, through faith in His blood atonement, is to be  remaining...

  Living Above a "Party Spirit" By, "party spirit," I mean a spirit that is  so  committed to  one  side of an organization or cause, that a person is both  identified  by it, and is  indifferent  (or blind) to the  other  side(s) (of these organizations or causes).   The more  important  one's outward position or call is in the world, the more critical it is  *not*  to be swept  into  and  up in  a "party spirit."  In this regard, I would address, probably more than anyone else, the truly-called gospel ministers of Christ's true, humble, and still imperfect church.   First of all, the avoidance of a "party spirit" does *not* mean that one does not have strong and firmly-held beliefs and convictions.  In fact, I will argue that only those who  *do*  have  true,  strong, and firmly-held convictions and beliefs are  *capable*  of *avoid...

  Twin Towers It  is my humble opinion,  that  the two greatest and most important books ever written, since the end of the closing of the canon of Holy Scripture, are Augustine's  City of God , and John Calvin's  Institutes of The Christian Religion .  Both of these tomes ( and  they are pretty  long ), took their brilliant authors  some  time to  finish  (Augustine), or  perfect  (Calvin).   Augustine started on  De Civitate Dei  in about 413 AD, and he finally finished it in 426 AD--some four years before his death.  Calvin began his work on  Institutio Christianae Religionis  in 1534 AD; and his final version of it was published in 1559 AD--some five years before his death.  So, we can perceive that  these  men  thought  of  these,  their magnum opuses, as  long -term and very  worthwhile  studies.  (All t...

  Pastors And Conflict This little treatise is  especially  designed for my fellow-ministerial colleagues; but the gospel, spiritual, and Biblical principles are applicable for  all  the true saints of Jesus' faithful church.   First of all, we ministers should  accept  that there will  always  be  some  level of conflict in and/or surrounding our lives, so long as we live in this fallen world.   This  acceptance will make dealing with it much more manageable.   In  this  regard, at the very least we will  always  be harassed here by Satan and his accusations against us.  These assaults are particularly-heartfelt, since not  everything  the old snake brings against us is (in itself) false.  Our flesh and the world, then, join forces against us, as well.   So the  first  thing the gospel minister needs to do with these internal "conflicts," is t...

  " Some Like It Hot " Hell is  never  a subject to be taken  lightly;  and this little treatise is in no way seeking to do this.  Still, the title of the 1959 movie, " Some Like It Hot " does, it seems to me, address the horrible situation of an eternal perdition in hell.   Anyone who has read Dante's  Inferno  knows that the great Italian poet viewed hell as having various  degrees  or descending  realms .  I agree with this overall interpretation (on the whole).  Dante even had the boldness to stick some particularly-nefarious popes near the bottom of the pit.   Heaven  also, I think, has its "levels," though everyone who is or will be there will experience nothing but perfect bliss, (whereas the exact opposite will be true for those in hell).   My point in this paper is to consider the people who self-consciously  do  what will appoint them the  lowest  place...