Pester Brat's Saint and Sinner Hypocrisy Blog

Pending my fellow Elders' blessing, this will be put on the church website...PB Ten Reasons Why I Do Not Use the King James Version of the Bible By Bret M. Lovitz, Pastor and Co-Elder of Grace Fellowship of Mtn. Home, ID. Another one of those hot topics within professing Christian circles is which bible version Christians should use. I used the King James Version for the first seventeen years of my almost twenty years of Christian life. During that time however, I was never “King James Only.” Even today, when I cite verses of holy writ from memory, it is almost always in the King James. Having said that however, I also do not recommend or condone using just any bible version. I only recommend the more accurate and literal “word for word” translations, which is only several versions in my opinion. I have the utmost respect for many Christians who have stuck with the King James Version. Some of them are sovereign grace/reformed Christians. As with the other short articles in this “Te...

http://merf.woh.gospelcom.net Check them out and prayerfully consider supporting them. Bret

I had to punish him (Arthur Pink) "We are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world." 1 Corinthians 11:32 "Is not Israel still My son, My darling child? I had to punish him, but I still love him. I long for him and surely will have mercy on him." Jeremiah 31:20 O the bitterness of provoking Him to punish us, our best Friend; that One who poured out His life's blood for us; who endured the sharpest inflictions of justice to screen us; Him whose heart is love, and on the sense of whose love all our happiness depends! Yet, we forfeit all, and compel Him to restrain His lovely smile, put on instead a frown, take the rod in His hand, and chasten us for our folly! Then we cannot escape: smite He will. How long and how much, we must leave to Him. We are completely in His hands; His power over us is supreme, entire; resistance is vain, and will certainly increase the affliction. There is nothing to be done, but humbly to lie down before Him, and ...

Excellent blog article by Colin Smith on James White's Blog on the hardening of Pharoah's heart as it relates to Rom. 9. James White sets it up in the first paragraph. Did God Harden Pharaoh's Heart, or Did Pharaoh? Yesterday on the DL I mentioned the appearance on Roman Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong's blog of a brief statement on Romans 9. As much as I wanted to respond to it myself, I had to finish a project by last night (does a little after midnight count?). So I asked Colin Smith, who has written for this website before (you can find his articles in our apologetics sections) if he would be willing to put something together in response to Armstrong, and he was very kind to do so. Very fast movement...for a British fellow! So here is Colin Smith's response to Dave Armstrong on Romans 9 and the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Passages like Exodus 4:21 and Romans 9:17-18 have been a cause of discussion and soul-searching among Christians for centuries due to ...

We are no better than they (John Newton's Letters) Jesus, full of compassion and tenderness, wept over His enemies, and prayed for His actual murderers! A feeling of this kind seems essential to that new nature which characterizes the children of God; and where it is not in habitual exercise, it is a sufficient evidence that the soul, if truly alive to God at all--is at least in a lean and distempered state. When we look at the ungodly, we are not to hate them--but to pity them, mourn over them, and pray for them. Nor have we any right to boast over them; for, by nature, and of ourselves, we are no better than they. "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" 1 Corinthians 4:7 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ We have completed the publishing of volume one of John Newton's Letters. Some of the best letters include: Conformity to the world Blemishes in Christian characte...

Richard Baxter; "A Minister's self-examination": 1. You have heaven to win or lose yourselves....A holy calling will not save an unholy man. 2. You have sinful inclinations as well as others. 3. (You) have greater temptations than most men. 4. The tempter will make his first and sharpest onset upon you. If you will be leaders against him, he will spare you no further than God restrains him. 5. Many eyes are upon you, and therefore there will be many to observe your falls. 6. Your sins are more aggravated than those of other men. They have more of hypocrisy in them. 7. The honour of your Lord and Master, and His holy truth, doth lie more on you than other men. 8. The souls of your hearers and the success of your labours, do very much depend upon your self-examination.

The ablest minister (J. C. Philpot, "Meditations on the Preceptive Part of the Word of God") He is the ablest minister who is . . . soundest in doctrine, deepest in experience, most godly in practice. He must have also a gracious experience in his own soul of the truths which he preaches, in their savour, sweetness, and power. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ We have just published Philpot's insightful 134 page book "Meditations on the Preceptive Part of the Word of God" $7.21 Grace Gems (choice electronic books, sermons & quotes) Sovereign Grace Treasures (choice printed books)