Letters on the Mountain!

Record: 3887
Date: Friday, December 5, 2014, 4:15 55 Sec. PM
Subject: Thank You!
Name: Dwight Coffman
City: Liberty     State: Ky
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    I just discovered your site today as I was studying covenant and new covenant theology. Very well done! I owe you a great debt of gratitude for the work that you have made available. I am 58 years old and have been in “full-time” ministry since the mid 1980’s. The early years of my Christian life were in Southern and Independent Baptist churches. Needless to say, I received a heavy indoctrination in “Scofieldism” and dispensational teachings. My journey has been long and tedious. I came to see the doctrines of grace as I studied the scriptures. By God’s providence a book by A.W. Pink came into my hands as I browsed a bookstore many years ago. It was his Gleanings in Exodus writings. Many of my brothers in the Lord began to caution me that he was a “hyper-calvinist” (their term). At the time, I didn’t know what the term even meant, nor did they.

The teaching of a “secret rapture” bothered me but who was I to disagree with Scofield and Darby. Little by little the Lord brought me to see how wrong this teaching was. As you can imagine, many of the men I had known for years began to disassociate from me because of these things. The high pressure evangelism and altar call methods left me cold and with a feeling that emotions were being manipulated. This was especially true where school age children were involved in the services.
I have been studying eschatology again and trying to figure out what is the scriptural teaching and what I really believe the bible teaches about these things. Your site has been a goldmine. I have several volumes in my library on the subject but have bookmarked your page for easy access.

I didn’t mean to write anything this lengthy, but certainly did want to thank you for being a vessel used of our Lord to help this servant in my ongoing search for truth. May His hand of Grace continue to be upon you and all involved in the upkeep of the website. Thanks again!
A fellow servant of Christ,
Dwight Coffman
Liberty, KY

Record: 3886
Date: Thursday, October 23, 2014, 3:41 13 Sec. PM
Subject: Reformed Theology
Name: Danisa
City: Pretoria     State: Gauteng
Country: South Africa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    Hi,
I am Afrikaner, and this country was once (generally speaking) reformed in our christian theology. That is no longer the case. But I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across your site and read such wonderful old school reformed christian teachings. I am very impressed with the look and feel of this resource. Great opportunity for outreach!

Record: 3885
Date: Tuesday, September 9, 2014, 10:47 51 Sec. AM
Subject: Apostles Creed
Name: Karen Salstrom   KarensMusic@aol.com
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    Nice try on your discussion of the word 'Catholic' in the Apostles Creed. Since it was written and referred to by the early Church Fathers in the 300's, the only church that was Christian WAS the Catholic Church. So the tearing apart of the church via the 'Reformation' (a misnomer, as to reform something one must stick around and work through it) created 33,000 Protestant denominations/non-denominations to date.

We can't all be correct, can we. But at least be intellectually honest and speak to the fact that Catholic was the only Christian church around at that time.

 

Reply:     Actually, they did reform the church as well as stick with the church--but it was the true church whose authority was God, not the Roman church under the authority of men. Sorry, but to be perfectly honest, real intellect demands that we testify that the Apostles and the early church were decidedly "not" Catholic in the sense that the church of Rome uses the word. Indeed, Catholic is a coined word usurped from the old Greek kata'holos, meaning "of or according to the whole." It is made up of two Greek words, [kata] meaning "according to" and [holos] meaning whole. Thus, the whole or universal Church. In short, the word Catholic simply means universal, and one would have to dabble in intellectual absurdity to deny that. It is a word not found within God's Word, but was originally used in the early Church to illustrate the whole or universal Church, as depicted in scripture. e.g.: Romans 16:23 "Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you. Erastus the chamberlain of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother." Those words "whole Church" are the Greek words [holos ekklesia] or universal Church. Yes, of course we all know that a particular denomination has today usurped the word Catholic/Universal many years ago and now claims it as their own, however it is an undeniable fact that the word existed long before the Roman Church usurped it. It originally was applied to all Christians in the early 2nd century to emphasize they are all are part of the whole or universal church as members of one Body of Christ. Thus it appears in the Apostles Creed illustrating that the true Universal Church has nothing whatsoever to do with denominations, councils, man made authorities or a Roman hierarchical system.

Record: 3884
Date: Sunday, August 31, 2014, 8:33 28 Sec. AM
Subject: Reformed Eschatology
Name: Mark Baldwin
City: Auburn     State: Maine
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    Greetings friends,
I'm a Pastor of an independent Bible church in Maine and found your site by searching reformed eschatology. This is quite a good library of sound articles and biblical resources. I have to agree that eschatology is a neglected subject, beside from the evangelicals poor understanding of it. I am so encouraged to find such a resource filled with such knowledgeable students, ministers and theologians teaching reformed theology from a sound system of interpretation.

Pastor Mark Baldwin
Independent Bible Church
Auburn, Maine

Record: 3883
Date: Friday, July 18, 2014, 4:25 51 Sec. PM
Name: Zachrey Helmberger   zachrey_ca@yahoo.com
State: New Mexico
Country: United States
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    Thank you for the is website!

I came across your teaching "Logic and Scripture"
A few questions...

1)
Does Mountain Retreat consider the Law of YHVH (the Torah) that was handed down to Moses to be given to the Israelites, relevant for today? In light of the incomprehensible work that Jesus the Messiah did for us on the cross, is one blessed for obeying the Torah or cursed?

2)
How does one love YHVH with all their heart and all their soul and all their strength?

3)
Is it logical for the Apostle Paul to simultaneously uphold the Torah and say that it has been abolished?

YHVH bless you!
Zac

 

Reply:     1) The Law of God (The Bible) is timeless, and thus relevant for today--We are blessed by the obedience of Christ unto all good works, that we earnestly endeavor to obey the law. For all scripture (not just parts of it) is the law. Disobedience to any of it is disobedience to the law. 2nd Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2) We love God with all our heart and soul and strength only because God first bestowed upon us His Spirit and endowed us with grace unto obedience. As the Apostle so humbly stated, it is not I, but the Lord that dwells within me. God's love for us is the action unto obedience, so man cannot glory in his own volition. 1st John 4:19 "We love him, because he first loved us." 3) The Apostle Paul never simultaneously teaches upholding the law while declaring it abolished, as the Apostle is not the author of his scripture, God is! And God is not the author of confusion. Accordingly, the law obviously cannot present any condemnation of those who have been redeemed from the law. But that doesn't mean we violate God's law because we know Grace abounds (Romans 6:1-2). Rather, it means we have the obedience of faith. ergo, it is by God's blessed grace that we are moved to uphold the law, not by our own personal, egotistical, vain and futile efforts at keeping the law. In that sense only is the law both dead to us, and we live by it. Because we have the obedience of faith in Christ who kept the law for us perfectly. 1st John 2:4-6 "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." The earnest desire of Christians to keep God's law is not of their goodness, works or inherent morality, but of God's Spirit within them. And for that we humbly give thanks knowing that without it, we'd be just like all the rest who are in bondage, a slave to sin. -Tony Warren

Record: 3882
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014, 7:22 50 Sec. PM
Subject: The Truth About Purgatory
Name: McCaffery
City: Bostom     State: Mass
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a 'purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,' which is experienced by those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified (CCC 1030). So Reformed theologians are wrong because this clearly notes that this final purification of the elect is entirely different from the punishment of the damned (CCC 1031).

The purification of Purgatory is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27).

Record: 3881
Date: Sunday, April 20, 2014, 12:08 AM
Subject: Faith in or of Christ
Name: Russell Jones
City: Macon     State: Georgia
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    You're article the faith of Christ is sooooooo wrong on so many different levels. All of us want to be children of God, but it is our faith in Christ that leads us to actually become children of God. To tell you the truth, I'm deeply disturbed by the reformed view that we are not saved by our faith in Christ, but by an alleged faith of Christ. Because that is letting man off the hook of responsibility. Do you not understand that by saying this, you weaken people's faith? You're basically telling them that their faith is useless.

 

Reply:     Reference: Our Faith in Christ or the Faith of Christ On the contrary, I'm not telling them that their faith is useless, rather that they can rejoice because it is armor-plated and God authored. Which is the only reason they persevere (Hebrews 12:2) in faith. Moreover, if man was saved by his own faith or faithfulness, then no one would be saved. It is the faithfulness of Christ that saves us. If it is our own faith in Christ that makes us right before God, then it is self-evident that we are saved by works, which means it cannot be grace. As far as our view "letting man off the hook of responsibility," the fact is, responsibility is not what moves us to Christ, but Christ is what moves us to responsibility. We need to understand that saving faith means more than just man's own beliefs, convictions, knowledge or conscious assent. It is a God given influence of the Spirit. It is the favorable spiritual response to righteousness that we might receive and trust in that which we may not physically see. As it is written, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. -Hebrews 11:1." Faith then is by the faithfulness of Christ, a Godly belief or conviction that gives us spiritual assurance and confidence. 1st Corinthians 2:13-14 "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Meaning faith is a gift of the Spirit, which is considered foolishness to the unbeliever. It is the spirit of God in us to believe and to understand that God is faithful and true.

Record: 3880
Date: Thursday, April 3, 2014, 10:34 PM
Subject: Feedback
Name: Henry H. Mcauley
State: Belfast
Country: Northern Ireland
Found Site by: Just Surfed In

Comments:
    Dear friends

Having not long retired and surfing the internet for biblical study material I am pleased to have discovered your site. I have been saved by Grace and am reformed by conviction.

Thank you for the very helpful topics on your site, this morning I was especially helped on your comments on 2 Peter 2:1, 'denying The Lord that bought them'. Thank you again and your site is one that I shall visit often.

May The Lord bless your ministry, yours in Him

Record: 3879
Date: Mon Sep 30 13:43:58 2013
Subject: Feedback
Name: Myles Middleton
State: Pennsylvania
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Just Surfed In

Comments:
    Thanks for the helpful and insightful articles. What a blessing to stumble upon this website. I have always loved the Rev Herman Hoeksema, Prof. David J. Engelsma, and Dr. Kim Riddlebarger. In a world where mendacity is peddled from the pulpit in so many Churches, it is good to know that there are still fearless godly men preaching the historical gospel in season and out of season. It's rare to see the pretentious doctrines of Rome and the Popes so thoroughly biblically and scholastically refuted.

Rev. Myles Middleton
Trinity Reformed Church
Berwyn, Pa.

Record: 3878
Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2014, 7:22 50 Sec. PM
Subject: The Truth About Purgatory
Name: McCaffery
City: Bostom     State: Mass
Country: Usa
Found Site by: Search Engine

Comments:
    The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a 'purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,' which is experienced by those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified (CCC 1030). So Reformed theologians are wrong because this clearly notes that this final purification of the elect is entirely different from the punishment of the damned (CCC 1031).

The purification of Purgatory is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27).

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