If one were to say in a word what the condition of being a samurai is, Its basis lies in the seriously devoting one’s body and soul to his master.

In a way all Christians are samurai, in the book, Nowak states that the word samurai literally means “one who serves”. He also gives a brief, yet very meaty history of the samurai which I found very interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone who is wanting to find out how and what to do to serve our Lord. Nowak has my thumbs up.

-Providence Presbyterian Church Website

Nothing I can really add to this…

-Acts 2:42-47

Now look at today’s Church. See a difference?

As long as we accept contradictions such as belief in the intermediate state, yet still believe in the judgment on the last day; that death is a curse, yet we are immortal; that Christ went to heaven for three days after his death, yet paid the full punishment for our sins, any attempt to know our Lord better will be performed in vanity.

 This quote stood out to me because it just shows how extremely conterary the intermediate state is to the rest of Orthodox doctrine.

This is an amazing song, it gives me horrible chill-bumps everytime i listen to it. I can relate to ever single word that he sings simply because its what I need. The lyrics are below, hope you enjoy it...

Worlds Apart

By Jars of Clay 

I am the only one to blame for this
Somehow it all ends up the same
Soaring on the wings of selfish pride
I flew too high and like Icarus I collide
With a world I try so hard to leave behind
To rid myself of all but love
To give and die

To turn away and not become
Another nail to pierce the skin of one who loved
More deeply than the oceans,
More abundant than the tears
Of a world embracing every heartache

Can I be the one to sacrifice?
Oh, grip the spear and watch the blood and the water flow

(To love You)
Take my world apart
(To need You)
I am on my knees
(To love You)
Take my world apart
(To need You)
Broken on my knees

All said and done I stand alone
Amongst remains of a life I should not own
It takes all I am to believe
In the mercy that covers me

Did you really have to die for me?
All I am for all you are
‘Cause what I need and what I believe are worlds apart

And I pray
(To love You)
Take my world apart
(To need You)
I am on my knees
(To love You)
Take my world apart
(To need You)
Broken on my knees
On my knees
(Bridge)

I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nail that still remains
More and more I need you now,
I owe you more each passing hour
Battle between grace and pride
I gave up not so long ago
So steal my heart and take the pain,
And wash my feet and cleanse my pride
Take the selfish, take the weak,
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
My sin-soaked heart - make it yours
Take my world all apart,
Take it now, take it now
And serve the ones that I despise
Speak the words I can’t deny
Watch the world I used to love
Fall to dust and blow away
I look beyond the empty cross
Forgetting what my life has cost
And wipe away the crimson stains
And dull the nail that still remains
Steal my heart and take the pain
Take the selfish, take the weak
And all the things I cannot hide
Take the beauty, take my tears
Take my world apart
Take my world apart
And I pray, and I pray, and I pray
Take my world apart
Worlds apart


 ”Genesis starts off by revealing to us the fact that God must be undstood not as a vague force for good, but the absolute monarch of heaven and earth.”

How often do you think of God being absolute monarch over everything? Millions of people, even Christians live their life everyday  without acknowledging that there is an absolute monarch over them, one who controls every aspect of the world.

When do people look to God? I even find myself looking to God when i I am in desperate need of something. It’s almost as if we think of God of more of a welfare other than the absolute monarch over our lives. How often do we take time out of our day to worship him for being the higher monarch, or to think him for every day he allows us to have by his mercy? Or even for stepping out of his comfort zone, taking on flesh, and suffering the death that we justly deserve so that we may one day be holy and righteous before him on the great day of judgement?

This view of God as a welfare figure is extremely dangerous, yet so common in even myself.

I look back and see that it is pure rubbish that people say that. Honestly, if someone was to say that the federal vision messed with justification by faith at all I would have to say they have not looked into it at all, but remained in a state of “willful ignorance”. No disrespect or anything, but I have really gotten tired of staying on TULIP all of my life, after about 2 months of reading different books on the doctrines of grace and gaining a good biblical defense for it, I got dead tired on the issue.

Every Calvinist has heard of the term hyper-Calvinism. Well I would like to redefine that from a Calvinist who feels no need to evangelize;to a Calvinist who overlooks the beauty of reformed theology as the awesome world-view that it is, to a narrow, more anti-intellectual life-time student of TULIP.

With all due respect hyper-Calvinists, if you do not want to further your theology anymore, at least leave us who do alone. I am of course referring to the PCA’s adoption of that rubbish report on the FV, which the writers did not even come close to cracking the shell of what the FV is.

 For those who have no idea of what I am talking about, Traditionalism is the doctrine that is widly accepted in most Christian denominations that states that there is a part of us that is not apart of our body, but a “soul” or “spirit” like being that is immortal, and when one passes away their soul either goes straight to Heaven to be with God, or to hell into never-ending tourment for the rest of eternity. Conditional Immortality says that our “soul” is our body(check out the greek and hebrew) and the “spirit” is the breath of life that was breathed into man by God to live (Gen 2:7); and when one dies, the body sleeps in the dust of the earth untill the second coming of Jesus, then some will rise into everlasting contempt, and some into everlasting life (Dan 12:2).

A big question I have for all the Traditionalists out there is that if our “souls” go straight to heaven and hell, what would be the purpose of the final judgement?

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.  Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?  And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

                                                                                                                       -Matt. 25:31-40

If they havent been judged yet then how could they be off into their verdict? Will they be taken back from their everlasting paradise and everlasting tourment to be judged? It doesnt really make sense to me.

Paul was on trial because his hope rested on the resurrection of the dead (Acts 23:6). This hope seems to be lost, and replaced with a hope borrowed from a mix of Islam and Platonic thought, both of which not Biblical or Orthadox in anyway.

This is a piece of a debate between the Rational Response Team and the Way of the Master evangelical foundation. I’m not a big fan of these evangelicals, I think they could have done way better in there debate, or the Rational Response Team could have chosen someone else better to debate if they wanted a real challenge, but this is just a small rebuttal on what this woman says.
Watch this video.

The first thing she says is “intelligent design is not science precisely because it is impossible to test it that way”. Here is something to ponder: can evolution be tested in any way? She also says that the creator is no more likely to be YAWAH than a flying spaghetti monster. Here is something else: Is there an ancient book, written in the time span of a couple thousand years, by over 40 different people from all walks of life with no apparent contradictions at all written about the flying spaghetti monster and his relationship with his people? I don’t believe there is, if so, please tell me.
She talks about magic, which doesn’t make sense at all because no where in Christian theology is there any type of “magic”, only the Holy Spirit. She also takes something one of the Way of the Master guy’s responses and twists it around. He talked about how we have natural morals that most people have, even the most doubtful atheist would say that Hitler was an evil man, and what he did was wrong. He pretty much says that these morals come from God. Allow me to quote from R.C. Sproul…

Without God man has no reference point to define himself. 20th century philosophy manifests the chaos of man seeking to understand himself as a creature with dignity while having no reference point for that dignity. — R. C. Sproul

Of course this is a theological issue. If this woman would want to get into theological issues, I would tell her to Google the Christian doctrine of Total Depravity. She says that these morals are just something passed down from generation to generation, but she fails to define the origin of which these morals started, much like the concept of evolution.
She talks about other religions and why they could be just as true as Christianity, but I have already addressed this point with the flying spaghetti monster issue. She gets into the Old Testament laws, and she talks about how they are not really a big deal anymore, but she fails to debate Christianity on this one, she -for some reason- is attacking Judaism.
She juxtaposes how our morals have to come from an ultimate source, which what we believe to be God; and how democracy needs an ultimate source, and she said it was Captain America. America isn’t even a democracy lady, its a republic. Besides that, this issue it irrelevant to this debate.
Near the end she claims that in Christianity, morality itself is obsolete, and that the only thing that matters is belief in Christ, and faith. If she would study up on the people she is trying to bash, she would understand that the scripture says that good works come by faith. She brings up Hitler and how he was supposed to be catholic, and how if our “theory” was correct, he would go to heaven because he believes in God and Jesus. If he was a Christian, and he was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and he trampled the blood of Christ like he did and had such hatred in his heart the Bible claims that his punishment would be much more severer than if he wasn’t baptized…
Hebrews 10:29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve [Heb 6:6] who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?
Besides all of this stuff, this woman (other than her lack of love for God, which is pretty much alot more than anything else) is a perfect example of a beautiful creation of God. I don’t see how she thinks she there and the way she is only by chance.

47 “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” 48 Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”
-Luke 7:47-48

 I am a Christian. Christianity is not for perfect people. It is for people who are fallen, sinful, and sick. “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Mark 2:17). The blood of Christ has no power over those who do not need it. If I was supposed to be perfect, I would not need the sacrifice of Christ, and to say that I do not need the sacrafice of Christ would be blasphemous; but let me make this clear. I am in no way making an excuse to sin, this is just to all those people who think that in order to be a Christian you are supposed to be a perfect, outstanding person without blemish.