She Broke the Box

“She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.” (Mark 14:8, KJV)

The other night I read the account of the woman who came to Jesus while He reclined at table, broke her alabaster box of costly ointment, and poured it on His head. I’ve been thinking about it ever since and felt compelled to dig deeper into this passage.

I thought I would share the fruit of my study.

Mark 14:3–9 records the event in unforgettable terms. While Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman entered the room carrying an alabaster flask of pure nard, very costly. She broke the flask and poured it over His head. Some of those present rebuked her sharply, accusing her of wasting what could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor. But Jesus silenced them, saying, “She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.”

The woman is unnamed in Mark and in Matthew’s parallel account, but John identifies her as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus. She appears three times in the Gospels, and each time she is at Jesus’ feet—listening to His teaching in Luke 10, weeping for her brother in John 11, and here anointing Him in John 12 and Mark 14. She seems to have perceived something about Him that others missed. Perhaps it was her habit of being at His feet that gave her spiritual clarity the others lacked.

The alabaster flask itself is a detail worth noticing. Alabaster is a fine-grained white stone, soft enough to be carved and polished into beautiful containers for precious ointments and perfumes. These flasks were sealed to preserve the contents and were not designed to be opened and closed again. To get to what was inside, you broke the neck of the flask. Once broken, it could not be sealed again. That is exactly what she did. She didn’t measure out a few drops and save the rest. She broke it, poured it all on Him, and gave everything.

The ointment, pure nard, was imported from the Himalayan mountains of what is now India and Nepal. It was rare and exceedingly costly, worth about three hundred denarii—nearly a year’s wages for a laborer. A single drop was strong enough to perfume a person for hours. Its fragrance was earthy, musky, and sweet. When she poured it all out, it filled the entire room. In that culture the smell of nard was associated with wealth and extravagance, with weddings and intimate devotion, and also with death. It was often used in burial rites to honor the deceased and to cover the smell of decay. That is why Jesus said, “She is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.”

Her act was prophetic, even if she didn’t fully understand the weight of it. Jesus was just days from His crucifixion. This act took place during His final week, likely on Wednesday, before Judas’ betrayal and before the Passover. The scent of the nard likely lingered on Him as He was arrested, mocked, and crucified. Even as He stood before Pilate and as the soldiers stripped and beat Him, He may well have carried the fragrance of her love and devotion.

The men in the room, even His own disciples, rebuked her. They saw only the monetary value of what she had given, and they resented what they saw as waste. But Jesus saw her heart. “She hath done what she could,” He said. That is a remarkable commendation. She gave everything she had in that moment, unashamed and unreserved, and Jesus received it as beautiful.

Her act is even more profound when viewed against the backdrop of the Old Testament. Priests were anointed with oil when consecrated for their holy service, as Aaron was in Exodus 29. The oil would run down his head and beard and garments, just as Psalm 133 describes: “It is like the precious oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments.” Kings were also anointed to signify God’s choice and blessing, as David was in 1 Samuel 16. The very word Messiah means “Anointed One,” and her act—whether she realized it fully or not—publicly acknowledged Him as King and High Priest.

The anointing oil of the tabernacle and temple was not ordinary oil. It was carefully prepared, fragrant, and sacred. Exodus 30 describes its unique composition and explicitly forbids using it for ordinary purposes. It filled the holy place with its aroma, symbolizing the presence and holiness of God. What Mary poured out that evening was also rare and reserved for something sacred, and it filled the house like incense fills a sanctuary. Her gift pointed to the beauty of holiness and the costly devotion required to approach God rightly.

Song of Solomon adds another layer of significance. In 1:12 the bride says, “While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.” There, nard expresses the language of love and intimacy. Mary’s act showed her deep love for her Lord, unashamed and pure. Isaiah 53 speaks of the Suffering Servant pouring out His soul unto death. Just as she broke her flask and poured it all out on Him, He would soon be broken and poured out for the sins of His people.

Her breaking of the flask is important to understand. It was sealed and whole. To open it meant to destroy it. There was no taking it back, no closing it again. That is what made her act so powerful—it was final, extravagant, and total. She did not hold anything back, and in that way her act foreshadowed the cross itself.

This woman’s devotion challenges us. True worship costs something. She did not hold back. She did not calculate. She did not wait for a more convenient time. She broke what could not be put back together and gave it all to Him. How many of us still clutch our sealed alabaster flasks, unwilling to break them, unwilling to give Him everything?

This passage not only reveals Christ’s worthiness but also honors the devotion of a woman who saw His glory and gave Him all she had. This is a testimony to every woman who pours out her life for Jesus Christ, who loves Him without reserve and worships Him at any cost.

Break the flask. Pour it out. Fill the room with the fragrance of a life wholly given to Christ.

Norman Harold Patterson Jr

A Reformed Critique of Peterson Toscano's Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible

Sound hermeneutics—and the sound exegesis that must arise from it—has been a love of mine ever since I first read Toward an Exegetical Theology by Walter Kaiser while attending Asbury Theological Seminary in the 1980s. That love deepened through my study of the Westminster Confession of Faith, and was sealed by the teaching and writing of Drs. Cornelius Van Til, R.J. Rushdoony, Greg Bahnsen, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I have long been convinced that the Bible is the self-authenticating Word of God, and that its truths are clearly, authoritatively, and sufficiently revealed to the people of God through careful, Spirit-led exegesis using the analogy of faith, not through imaginative speculation.

What has prompted this writing is deeply personal. A former friend and seminary classmate—once a co-laborer in the gospel—has now abandoned the faith. He is currently in a sodomite relationship with another man who is a so-called pastor in the United Methodist Church. This former friend, now an apostate minister, left his wife for a man and has since continued to serve multiple churches in rural United Methodism. Years ago, when we were both serving near one another, he made homosexual advances toward me. I rebuked him, called him repeatedly to repentance and faith in the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and pleaded with him to walk in obedience. He has hardened his heart.

I too have walked through the valley of marital failure. I am divorced. But by God’s grace, I have repented of the sin of divorce and have been restored to Christ through the faithful rebuke and correction of godly men in the spirit of Galatians 6:1–2. My sins were real, but so is the power of the gospel to cleanse, redeem, and restore those who come to the light (1 John 1:9).

When I saw this video by Peterson Toscano—Transfigurations: Transgressing Gender in the Bible—I was grieved. Toscano is not merely entertaining ideas; he is actively indoctrinating congregations with doctrines of demons (1 Timothy 4:1). His theatrical reinterpretations of Scripture are being used to deceive congregations into embracing lies that contradict the gospel and the created order of God (Romans 1:24–27). This is not harmless creative theology—it is destructive heresy.

I. Down-and-Dirty Refutation of Toscano’s Claims

1. He Begins With a Transgender Premise

“I asked the question: Who in the text is transgressing and transcending gender?” (0:40)

This is eisegesis from the outset. Toscano does not begin with Scripture. He begins with a modern category and searches the Bible for people to fit into it. This violates the command to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

2. Deborah and Jael

He claims they “transcend gender” by being strong, decisive women.

Refutation: God raises up women to lead when men fail (cf. Judges 4:9). Strength, courage, and prophecy do not redefine gender. Scripture never presents Deborah or Jael as gender-nonconforming, only as instruments of God’s justice.

3. Jacob and Esau

Toscano casts Jacob as effeminate and Esau as masculine.

Refutation: These contrasts are covenantal and moral, not gendered. God chose Jacob according to His sovereign will (Romans 9:10–13). There is no biblical warrant for gender speculation.

4. Joseph’s Robe as “Princess Dress”

“It was a princess dress.” (20:07)

Refutation: Joseph’s robe (kĕthonet passîm) signifies royal favor, not femininity (Genesis 37:3). Toscano builds a fragile argument on one obscure phrase and ignores the broader context of Joseph as a type of Christ (Acts 7:9–10).

5. Man Carrying Water (Luke 22:10)

“Only women and children carry water. So if a man’s doing this, something’s off.” (56:00)

Refutation: This is pure conjecture. The text says nothing about this man’s gender identity. Toscano invents a backstory to create a transgender figure out of silence. Proverbs 30:6 warns, “Add thou not unto His words, lest He reprove thee.”

6. Ethiopian Eunuch as Gender-Variant

“Is this a savior... or is this my story in the Bible?” (48:00)

Refutation: Acts 8:35 says Philip preached Jesus from Isaiah 53. This is about Christ, not the eunuch’s identity. Toscano again replaces the gospel with a narrative of self.

7. Eunuchs in Esther’s Court

He embellishes their roles to make them queer-coded.

Refutation: The Hebrew saris refers to castrated officials, not to gender variance. Toscano projects modern sexual politics onto ancient bureaucratic titles.

II. A Call to Repentance

To my former friend: You once professed Christ. You once opened your Bible to preach truth. But now you feed your flock with poison. You have traded the Word of God for theatrical fables. You are no shepherd—you are a hireling (John 10:12–13). You are leading souls astray.

To your congregation: The man who stands in your pulpit is not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is preaching a lie that cannot save. Come out from among them and be separate (2 Corinthians 6:17). Return to the true Christ of the Bible—the One who calls all sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32), who died to redeem the ungodly (Romans 5:6–9), and who delivers from sin, not affirms it (1 Corinthians 6:9–11).

To Toscano and those like him: You are not prophets—you are storytellers in rebellion. Repent. There is still mercy. The blood of Christ is sufficient even for you. But you must come to the cross with contrition and faith, not pride and applause.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears...” (2 Timothy 4:3)

The time has come. But so has the call: “Repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Let the church return to the Word. Let the pulpit be reclaimed by men of conviction. Let Christ be exalted—not reimagined. The gospel is not affirmation—it is transformation. And that truth will stand long after the smoke of false doctrine has cleared.

Soli Deo Gloria.

What I Studied in 2022!

Books 2022

The Cry of a Stone by Robert Cushman

Andrew Patterson, of Stratford, Connecticut and the First Four Generations of His Descendants (1892)

New Testament Church Dynamics by Stephen E. Atkerson

The Law of the Covenant James B. Jordan

Truth or Territory: A Biblical Approach to Spiritual Warfare by Jim Osman

The Bible (ESV)

Pushing the Antithesis by Greg Bahnsen

By This Standard by Greg Bahnsen

Victory in Jesus: A Bright Hope in Postmillennialism by Greg Bahnsen

Van Til and the Limits of Reason by R. J. Rushdoony

By What Standard by R. J. Rushdoony

God’s Plan for Victory by R. J. Rushdoony

End Game by Frank Brady

Assassin by Doug Casey, John Hunt

Only Believe by Paul F. Taylor

George Whitefield by Arnold A. Dallimore

Real Dissent by Thomas E. Woods Jr

Lies the Government Told You by Andrew P. Napolitano

Permanent Record by Edward Snowden

El Evangelio de Cristo Jesús by Paul Washer

Westminster Confession of Faith

Westminster Larger Catechism

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Catechimo Meyor y Menor De Westminster (1648)

The Forgotten Founding Father by Josuah Kendal

Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophy by Voddie Bachem

Why I Believe in God by Cornelius Van Til

Torahism by R. L. Solberg

So You Want to be a Street Preacher by Jimmy Hamilton

How Life Imitates Chess by Garry Kasparov

Gospel Truth Pagan Lies by Dr. Peter Jones

Summary of The Real Anthony Fauci by Robert F. Kennedy

The Real Anthony Fauci by Robert F. Kennedy

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Only Two Religions by Dr. Peter Jones

Strange Fire by John MacArthur

Charismatic Caos by John MacArther

The Immortal Game by David Shenk

The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Mattias Desmet

Of Plymouth Plantation by Willian Brandford

Speed Read Anything by Peter Hollins

The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin

The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief by Dr. James White

The Last of the Mohicans Audio Book

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rigns Series on Audio Books

Memorized Questions 1-60 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism

Sermons and Audio Teaching

Study of Revelation by Greg Bahnsen (over 63 hours)

Law and Grace by Greg Bahnsen (3 hours)

Why am I Postmillenial by Greg Bahnsen (3 hours)

Modern Tongues by Greg Bahnsen (3 hours)

Greg Bahnsen on Pentecostalism and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (6 hours)

YouTube Videos

La Doctrina de la justificación by Paul Washer

Santidad - Qué es Y Como se practica by Paul Washer

El Carácter del Cristiano Tremenda by Paul Washer

Paul Washer - Predica al aire libre, 2009

To preocupación más inminente by Paul Washer

Estas Haciendo La Voluntad de Dios? O La Tuya by Paul Washer

America is Under God’s Judgment by Paul Washer

El Poder de la Oración by Héctor Urzúa

False Teachers Exposed: Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel

Bahnsen vs Sproul: Deep Dive Debate Review Parts 1 and 2

The Righteous Judge! By Jimmy Hamilton

But God! (Ep 2:4) by Jimmy Hamilton

The Street Preacher’s Arrest! By Jimmy Hamilton

Christ the Sinless! By Jimmy Hamilton

The End of the World (7) by Jimmy Hamilton

Comfort in Distress! By Jimmy Hamilton

The Way of the Ungodly by Jimmy Hamilton

The Lord is Nigh! By Jimmy Hamilton

The Fragility of Man! By Jimmy Hamilton

Attend Unto My Cry! By Jimmy Hamilton

The Knowing of God! By Jimmy Hamilton

Dead in Sin! By Jimmy Hamilton

They That Trust in the LORD! By Jimmy Hamilton

The Covenant of Grace! By Jimmy Hamilton

Truth & Righteousness Equals Redemption! By Jimmy Hamilton

El Caracter del Cristiano by Pastor Adrian Rogers

How to Resist the Devil, Part 1 by John MacArthur

How to Resist the Devil, Part 2 by John MacArthur

How Can Christians Prepare for Persecution by John MacArthur and John Piper

The Most Hated Christian Doctrine by John MacArthur

The Uniqueness of our Resurrected Bodies by John MacArthur

Defeating Discontentment by John MacArthur

The Pope and Catholocism by John MacArthur

The Idolatry of Mary Worship by John MacArthur

Joseph: Because God Meant It for God by John MacArthur

America Will Fall! By John MacArthur

Prayer: The Highest Form of Worship by John MacArthur

Sanctification: The Honorable Obsesson by John MacArthur

Sesson 1: Telling the Truth in a Post-Truth World by John MacArthur

Why Sunday Is the Lord’s Day by John MacArthur

To Speak or Not to Speak by John MacArthur

How to Listen to the Lord by John MacArthur

We Must Obey God Rather Than Man by John MacArthur

The Perversion of Love by John MacArthur

Who Is Jesus by John MacArthur

Why We Believe the Bible is Truth by John MacArthur

Becoming a Better You by John MacArthur

Question and Answers by Lawson, MacArthur, and Sproul and Ligonier Ministries

Beg, Horton, Lawson, Mohler, and Sproul: Question and Answers by Ligonier Ministries

R.C. Sproul: What Is Evil & Where Did It Come From? By Ligonier Ministries

How to Study the Bible by R.C. Sproul

The Church of Christ vs. The Prostitute State Church by Peter Kershaw

Peter Kershaw - Church Incorporation

Gary Demar #1 Presentation on Eschatology

The Nation of Islam by Voddie Baucham

Wrath of God Revealed by Voddie Baucham

The Debased Mind by Voddie Baucham

God Gave Them Up by Voddie Baucham

The World, the Flesh, and the Devil by Voddie Baucham and Ligonier Ministries

It’s Time to Move On by Chris Floret

Proof that Justin Peters is a False Teacher

Justin Peters: How to hear God’s voice today?

Clouds Without Water by Justin Peters

Spiritual Shipwreck of the Word-Faith Movement by Justin Peters

Calling Out False Teachers by Name by Justin Peters

Spiritual Warfare & Sufficiency of Scripture by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Armor of God: Spiritual Warfare by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Demon Possession & Sanctification by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Carnal Weapons: Spiritual Mapping by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Carnal Weapons: Binding & Rebuking by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Carnal Weapons: Hedges & Hexes by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Spiritual Warfare: Truth or Territory by Justin Peters and Jim Osman

Trips to Heaven by Justin Peters

Strange Fire Conference by Grace to You

The Case for Cessationism by Tom Pennington

Is there a Baby in the Charismatic Bathwater? By Phil Johnson

The African Import of Charismatic Chaos by Conrad Mbewe

Calvin’s Critique of Charismatic Calvinists by Steve Lawson

An Appeal to Charismatic Friends by John MacArthur

Undervaluing Pentecost by R.C. Sproul

An Appeal to Charismatic Pretenders by John MacArthur

Paul Cain Only Believe 1953

Does HOW We Do “Church” Matter? Steven Atkinson

Praiseworthy Gatherings by Steve Atkinson

Communion: Original Strategy for Community, Unity by Steve Atkinson

Are We Living in the Last Days? Debate David Hunt vs Gary DeMar

Are We Living in the Last Days with Gary DeMar by Hank Hanegraaf

Walk from Grace 01 by about Mike Warnke

Jubilee Worship 11-20-2022 by Tom Penning

Prophetic Word Ezekiel Vision/Christ Body by Sister Lubulwa

Unedited Sermon Review of Greg Locke by HonestYouthPastor

Street Debate w/ Mormon Missionaries by Apologia Studios

Mormon Tells Durbin to Repent by Apologia Studios

Pastor Debates College Students on Campus by Apologia Studios

Street Preaching Jesus at LGBT Pride Parade by Preach the Word Evangelism

Tips for Street Preaching & Personal Witnessing by Ray Comfort

Greg Bahnsen’s Final Sermon - For To Me, To Live Is Christ by Greg Bahnsen

Noah Webster: A Forgotten Founding Father by Fellowship Church

False Teaching (Crazy Train)

Deadliest Roads Mexico by Free Documentary

The Puritan Commitment to Sola Scriptura by Steve Lawson

Gospel Suffering: Rejoice in the Lord by Steve Lawson

10 Pitfalls of the Open Air Preacher by Kerrigan Skelly

Go Stand Speak: The Forgotten Power of the Public Proclamation of the Gospel by The Potter’s House Church

Marx’s Ontology of Man and the Telos of History by James Lindsey

The Fracturing of Faith by Michael O’Fallon

The Trojan Horse: Radical Subjectivity Ep 2 by Soverieng Nations

The Trojan Horse: Deconstructing Communities by James Lindsey and Michael O’Fallon

Hegal and the Dialectic by James Lindsey and Michael O’Fallon

Fabian Gradualism by Sovereign Nations

Deconstructing Disney Part 1 by Sovereign Nations

Social Justice and the Gospel by Sovereign Nations

White Priviledge: The New Original Sin by Dr. Thomas Ascol

Brave New Religion: Intersectionality by Josh Buice

An Exegetical & Historical Examination of the Woke Church by Dr. James White

Defining Social Justice by Dr. Voddie Baucham

Introduction to the Social Justice & The Gospel Conference by Sovereign Nations

The Road to Serfdom by Rod Martin

After Light, Darkness by Sovereign Nations

The Cause of Things by by Sovereign Nations

The Rise of Global Fascism, Public Occurances by Sovereign Nations

Global Holodomor by Sovereign Nations

The Progressive Shift of the Evangelical Church by Sovereign Nations

Woke Hermeneutics by Sovereign Nations

The Southern Baptist Convention by Sovereign Nations

The Only Way Forward by Thom Ascol

The Eye of the Beholder by Sovereign Nations

The New Fundamentalists by Sovereign Nations

Encrouching Totalitarianism by Sovereign Nations

Marxism: A Religion by Sovereign Nations

Entryism by Sovereign Nations

Henry Gruver - Died, traveled through space, resurrection by MTM

Reasoning with Unbelievers by Dr. Greg Bahnsen

Presuppositionalism Applied to Islam by Revealed Apologetics

Debate: Is the NT Evil? White vs Silverman

Presuppositional apologetics in action by Dr. James White

Seventh-Day Adventists by Phil Johnson

A Short Angry History of Modern Schooling by John Taylor Gatto

Peter Jones: A Gnostic Gospel by Ligonier Ministries

Onism & Twoism by Dr. Peter Jones

Confronting Sexual Chaos by Truth Community Church

Don’t Talk to the Police by Regent University Law School

If My People…

I have a sense, and I know I am not the only one, that our country is in deep trouble. Something has changed and shifted. I believe we as a nation have crossed a line. What that line is, many cannot precisely tell, but we sense in our spirits or our intuition that something fundamental has changed.

Perhaps all the reasons I could list are but symptoms of a deeper disease, rather than the lines themselves. The past several years have been surreal to say the least, and I do not think that the people in our country even realize the trauma the entire world suffered as a result of the pandemic, whatever it was.

I think we are seeing national, even global PTSD. The wounds go deep and the devastation is real, be it in deception, the loss of life, the loss of rights, the loss of wealth, and the loss of basic human dignity as our elderly died alone, or the only human contact they had was with vinyl gloves, and the only faces they saw were shielded eyes and smiles covered with doubled masked faces. I cannot even imagine the trauma that our children suffered going to school and struggling to breathe all day through a mask.

The Churches were closed and the worship of God was silenced, and that, I believe, was the greatest tragedy of all.

The sense of doom still lingers in the air, and we all are on edge because we know that it all can return in the blink of an eye. We now know that the government and the Karens will do what ever it takes, and those who question the narrative can and will be silenced, censored, and ridiculed.

The truth is that our country is under the judgment of God. Though the world denies His existence, and His sovereignty over all the world, that does not change the reality of His judgment. In fact, it confirms it. As God withdraws His blessing on our nation, the restraint of evil is lessened. His judgment is, and always been, to give us what we want, which is autonomy from His Law. We have, indeed, gotten what we want.

Traditional Christianity is not going to cut it anymore. Gone are the days of comfortable churchgoing. As pastors continue building their enterprises and ignore the fact that we as a nation need to get on our faces before God and repent and plead for Him to spare us from what can happen at the drop of a hat or a cough in public.

Our country is at a crossroads, a crisis. So is the Church. And heaven is watching to see what we will do about it. Will we continue on as before? Or will the people of God who are called by His name step up and kneel down in humble adoration and humility and truly turn from our wicked ways with true repentance before Him?

God only knows.

A Street Preaching Manifest

There is a cycle all throughout the Bible. First, God revealed His word, His Law, and the way of salvation through faith in His promised Messiah.

Great blessing accompanied faith and obedience to God.

With this blessing came national prosperity.

With this prosperity came ease and loss of recognition of God.

With this ease and loss of recognition of God came idleness and opportunity for sin.

With sin came apostasy and idolatry.

With apostasy and idolatry came the judgment of God.

With the judgment of God came tyranny, financial ruin, violence, pandemics, and war.

With these people once again cried out to God.

With crying out to God came repentance, both national and individual.

With repentance came faith in the Messiah, and obedience to the Law of God.

And the cycle starts all over again.

Here we are in modern America, a nation that, for the most part, believed in Christ and obeyed the Law of God. Now we are a nation that spits in the face of God and “waives” the phallic branch in the face of God. (Ezekiel 8:17)

We once enjoyed great prosperity, now we are starting to feel the winds of financial change.

Revolution is in the air by both the Cultural Marxist and those who oppose their agenda.

We are experiencing the cycle explained above, and unless we repent of our violations of the Law of God, cry out for mercy, obey, and put our faith and worship in Jesus Christ, we will experience the national judgment of God in our lifetime.

I have decided that I will be part of the Voice that calls our national to repentance. He is raising up more and more people who are sounding this call. You can ignore us, berate us, slander us, try to shut us up, block us, imprison us, torture us, even kill us, but we will not keep silent because we do not answer to you, a church board, or any other human institution. We answer only to God. Kill one and God will raise up 100 in our place.

While I disagree on some issues with John Wesley and George Whitfield, men like them were not welcome in the pulpits of England. The established church did not welcome them in their pulpits because they preached the pure word of God. I respect them for taking it to the streets.

The difference between England and the bloody revolution of France was because of the faithful street preaching of men like these.

It is the true remnant of God that stands between us and total judgement of God.

I have begun to wonder if God is not calling me to this same ministry. I think it is perhaps time for me to join Wesley and Whitfield, and men like them, and do my part to call this national back to God. The Lord knows I am not welcome in the pulpits, perhaps this is His way of telling me it is time to take it to the streets.

Perhaps He will use fools and rejects like me to stem the tide of judgement that is here and the worse that is coming.

Does Morality Change?

How do we know what is right and what is wrong, what is okay and what is not?

Is it at the whim of the times?

Is it what is popular?

Is it what once was considered sin, but now has become acceptable in modern times?

Is it determined by a legislative vote by representatives, signed into law by a governor or president, and duly tested at the Supreme Court level?

Is morality a fickle thing, ever-changing and never fixed?

Is it what feels right to one person, though another may find it offensive?

Is it something that one person or group of people decide to do as long as it does not hurt anyone else?

These are all good questions, but is any one of them objectively sufficient to determine what is sinful or what is holy? For, in the end, right and wrong, good and evil, what is okay and what is not okay, boils down to the question of what is sinful and what is holy.

I ask my reader to consider this answer. The question comes down to “who is the ultimate authority?” All of the questions above have one thing in common; they seek the answer within humanity. In other words, the answer is a subjective opinion that is not fixed in any objective reality,

Always, the question we must ask is, “How do we know?”

Some will point to a supposed holy book, but there is only one Book that claims within its pages to be the self-authenticating revelation of the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).

I challenge my reader to show me any other written text that claims ultimate divine authorship and authority within its pages, one that does not need outside validation to prove its authority.

Only the Bible claims to be that authority because it claims to be the word of the Lord, infallible and inerrant in all it asserts.

The answer to the question of “how we determine what is right and wrong?” is to seek the answer in something objective and not subjective. The only objective standard we have is the Holy Bible.

If anything or anyone or any action contradicts the objective standard of morality set forth in Scripture, that action is sinful and unholy. Otherwise, it is simply a matter of opinion, and if a matter of opinion, those with more power will impose their opinion upon you, or you will be eliminated.

This is the result of humanistic evolutionary philosophy. It is encapsulated in the phrase "survival of the fittest" and "might makes right."

Welcome to where ungodly regimes have gone in the past and where our country and our world are heading in the near future.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, as set forth in the Bible, is the only thing that stands between us and the wannabe Hitlers and Stalins of the world or the tyranny of the mob that tramples those standing in the way.

It is “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” or it is the hellish will of a tyrant, whichever form this tyranny may take.

Which would you rather have, objective morality as defined by the perfect self-existing Creator of the Universe or ever-changing definitions of morality defined by fallen and fallible human beings?

As for me, I will choose Christ every time!

To My UMC Brothers and Sisters - It’s Time To Leave!

To Christians in the United Methodist “Church”:

Are you disgusted with the direction the denomination has gone in over the last several decades? Are you sick of the denomination not only tolerating sin and sinful lifestyles, but promoting them?

Have you had enough of the heresy, bad theology, downright paganism of the clergy and bishops?

Are you tired of the denomination taxing your churches through apportionments and using that money to pay out-of-touch “bishop” administrators who are bent on destroying what is left of your church? Have you had enough of them appointing pastors who, not only are ill-prepared, but have no clue of the wants, needs, and history of your local church?

Have you had enough of Critical Race Theory jammed down your throats by administrators who use your apportionments money to pay people like Robin Diangelo and her ilk to indoctrinate you with the cult of Cultural Marxism?

Are you prepared to have homosexual pastors rule over your congregation, because that is next on their agenda? If you stay, I promise you, it is only a matter of time before they are appointed to your local church.

Are you disturbed the Methodist franchise has stolen your property and buildings and now claim them as their own? At what point are you going to realize those in power do not give a damn about you or your local church?

Are you sick of a corporation denomination run by MacBishops whose vision is so bland and so lacking in imagination that their goal for all UMC franchise “churches” is to be a religious form of MacDonalds where anyone can go into any given MacChurch on any given Sunday morning and eat the same MacMethodist happy clappy meal?

Here is the solution.

Leave!

Every last one of you who love Jesus Christ and His Church need to leave. Let the dead bury the dead. Since when did God call His people to stay in an apostate denomination because you do not want to lose your property?

The denomination is beyond redemption and is under the judgment of God, and so are you if you choose to stay.

The Bible is clear that there comes a point when it is sin to stay. Let us be honest, that point has come and gone long long ago.

I speak as one who was raised a United Methodist and was a fully ordained elder in the denomination. I could not and would not stay, and that was over 30 years ago.

It is time to leave. Go with your brothers and sisters in Christ and just leave. Meet somewhere else. Hire a new pastor. Or just start a home church fellowship until the Lord gives you clear direction. But whatever you do, it is time to go, every last one of you.

Many have already left. What are you waiting for?

The clergy and bishops are wolves in shepherds clothing not just fleecing the sheep, they are butchering them and leaving the carcass to rot. Any pastor who is a real pastor would lead you out, not try to convince you to stay.

It is time to go.

Just leave.

Feel free to share this with other United Methodists. I dare you.

The Four Main Challenges to the Evangelical Church

It is my opinion that there are four main challenges to the modern evangelical church. The first and most important is the loss of the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. Any time Christians seek the source or evaluation of truth in any other place than the self-authenticating Bible, error is soon to follow. This is true of Christians, who though are sincere, claim special revelation from God, to those who use anything other than the Scripture itself as their interpretive principle, i.e. exegesis.

The second error follows quickly on the heals of the loss of Sola Scriptura, and that is the blasphemous practice of incorporating the local church into the State. I am shocked that this sin is not on the top of the list of every popular and influential pastor in the United States of America. I have raised this issue with many intelligent and godly pastors only to be ignored or casually dismissed. The evangelical church will remain in bondage and under the judgment of God until this sin is repented of and corrected.

The third challenge is the adoption of many evangelical churches of worldly techniques and methods to attract and grow their church. This is the business-model, seeker-friendly, program-centered church. The cool pastor giving a Ted-talk like motivational sermon preceded by theologically shallow, but entertaining and emotionally stimulating mini rock concert, along with the presentation of easy-peasy churchianity that brings in the crowds but makes few cross-bearing and long-suffering disciples of Jesus Christ is destroying the evangelical church, while supposedly growing it.

The last challenge flows from the previous three and is perhaps the culmination of all that is wrong with the modern evangelical church; the infiltration of the church by cultural Marxism through critical race theory and the acceptance of sodomites and lesbians into the church without repentance. This insidious gnostic and paracytic cult infected liberal mainline churches long ago, but has recently entered the evangelical church through Black Lives Matter and lgbtq. 

Acceptance of either or both is, as Michael O’Fallon has so aptly articulated, a Trojan horse that contains the enemy that will entirely destroy evangelical Christianity as we know it. This is not necessarily a bad thing as Christ will continue to cleanse His Bride until He comes again.

The hour is late. If it was not for the words of Christ that the gates of hell will not prevail against His holy Church, I would be without hope, but because He spoke those words, I know the forces of darkness will not win. This, however, does not mean the God is not going to begin judgment with His house, and that the Bride will be spared the coming persecution that serves to cleanse a fat, lazy, and sinful evangelical church.

A Journey into Rainbow Land

While Christians decry the desecration of the rainbow by LGBTQ advocates, it is a pretty accurate symbol as far as it goes. The rainbow is the defusion of one ray of light into the various colors in the light spectrum.

If you have ever closely studied a rainbow or looked at light through a prism, it is fascinating to see how each color is distinct yet blends seamlessly into the next color.

I have always loved observing the transitioning colors between the more distinct standard colors we associate with red, yellow, green, blue, and so on.

Every color you can think of is found in the rainbow, and both sides of the rainbow fade into colors we cannot see with the naked eye.

I write all this to emphasize that the rainbow is an excellent symbol for the one-world religion that is asserting itself and infiltrating every aspect of society worldwide. It truly and accurately represents the one-world religion.

This one-world religion has been ever present since the first bite of the forbidden fruit by Adam and Eve. It is founded upon the question the Serpent asked in the Garden of Eden, “Did God really say…?”

This “God” is not the multiplicious god that expresses itself through a multitude of religions. No, this God is the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) who created the heavens and the earth, not out of Himself, nor using some pre-existent mother-matter-batter, but out of nothing (no-thing).

The rainbow religion is tolerant and inclusive of all the spectrum of faiths except one - Biblical Christianity. The one thing this one-world rainbow religion cannot stand nor tolerate is the one faith that has, in its core, the God who proclaims to be Light Himself with no darkness in Him, that is that there is no sin in Him whatsoever. Right and wrong are determined by Him, reflect His character, and are not up for reinterpretation or debate.

This true God ultimately revealed Himself in and through the self-attesting Christ of the infallible and inerrant self-authenticating Bible.

The one-world rainbow religion is nonbinary and understands light and the various expressions of color to be all one. It sees all matter and spirit as one. It understands all faiths, all genders, all moralities, all governments, all sexual practices, all behaviors, all, all, all as one. And all must conform to this oneness, and no deviation from the one can be tolerated.

The only religion this one-world rainbow religion cannot and will not tolerate is Biblical Christianity which has, at its center, the self-existing Trinitarian God who revealed Himself as being completely distinct from His creation. He demands total obedience to His Law. And if His Law is violated in the nature of the rebel and through the creature's thought, word, or deed, eternal separation is the consequence.

This same God made salvation possible by becoming a perfect man and dying a substitutionary death for His elect.

The one-world religion tries to stamp out Biblical Christianity through force, intimidation, and censorship. This religion will not rest until it brings all into one and will stop at nothing to accomplish its ends.

Biblical Christianity also seeks to conquer this world, not through force, but through the proclamation and practice of the gospel of Jesus Christ, through the demonstration of true love and not the counterfeit love offered through meaningless syllogisms such as “love is love.”

Now you understand, a little bit more, the difference between the one-world rainbow religion and Biblical Christianity. Even the nonbinary religion will acquiesce that there can be no compromise with Biblical Christianity, thereby self-contradicting the very heart of the nonbinary rainbow tolerance religion. But this does not phase the one-world religion since thinking is not at the heart of the rainbow.

God v Everything Else

Only those who have an objective fixed point of reference know where they are and can navigate in this crazy world. Therefore, the revelation of the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) given in His self-authenticating Bible is the "north star" for Christians.

Without this reference point, humanity is lost in a sea of relativism, subjectivism, and self-defeating narcissism. As a result, every attempt at discovering objective reality (metaphysics), knowledge (epistemology), and an understanding of what is right and wrong (ethics) is impossible. The very foundation of science (empiricism) and reason (rationalism) is undermined because neither can be a foundation for themselves nor the other. 

Even science is impossible because there is no justification for the sequence of events necessary for observability and repeatability. Atheism, agnosticism, nor any other religious system can provide an objective point of reference that humanity can use to navigate because the foundation of any other system collapses under close scrutiny. 

Only Biblical Christianity is the necessary foundation for proof itself because, in the words of Dr. Cornelius Van Til, “of the impossibility of the contrary.” Biblical Christianity must, of necessity, be true because if it is not, nothing can be proven whatsoever. Therefore, the Bible provides the necessary conditions for proof itself.

This is why the Bible is attacked so frequently and ferociously. The irony is that attacking the Bible, Biblical Christianity, and individual Christians proves the Bible's veracity. To disagree with the Holy Scriptures is to attest to the reality that there are such objective things as the laws of logic and that there is an objective right and wrong. 

There are only two systems of thought, Biblical Christianity and everything else. The "everything else" in the previous sentence manifests itself in countless ways, but they all have one thing in common, they are all based upon the lie of Satan first presented to Eve in Genesis 3 in the question, "Did God really say?" 

The problem is not that the Bible is unclear in what God asserts through its pages. Instead, the difficulty for unbelievers is that the Bible is sufficiently clear on who and what God is, what duties He requires of us, and what behavior is offensive to Him. If these things were so obscure, there would be no reason to attack the Bible or those who stubbornly adhere to God's revelation contained in its pages. 

Those who stand in the truth and refuse to waiver or compromise have always been the focus of attack. We alone stand in defiance of a humanity that insists on doing its own thing and refuses to submit to God, His Law, and the ultimate revelation of Himself to humanity in the Person of Jesus Christ.

Throughout history, we have seen instances where "everything else" rears its ugly head and attacks those who hold fast to Jesus Christ, as revealed in the Bible. Unfortunately, we are deep in a time in history when this cycle is repeating itself, and those who refuse to join the "everything else" will face persecution. The test is, and always has been, whether you, as an individual, will bend your knee and proclaim Jesus is Lord or whether you will bend your knee to the intolerant god of tolerance.

For me, my knee is literally and figuratively bent in homage and worshiping Christ to the glory of God the Father. To closet Christians, you can try to keep your faith hidden or pretend that what the Bible says about taking up your cross and following Christ does not involve a real cross or public humiliation. But be warned; the "everything else" and the demon head behind it is tirelessly seeking you out and will eventually find a way to make you blow your cover. If, at that point, you deny Christ out of fear or shame, you will know that you are not a faithful follower of Christ.

I know these are harsh words, but they are nowhere near as severe as those who refuse to bend their knee to Christ or are ashamed of Him, and His words, will hear on the day of judgment, "Depart from me for I never knew you." Why wait? Stop drifting and fix your eyes on Christ and stop compromising in your silence or in your sinful lifestyle that you know is out of line with God's Law.

Get right with God through Christ before it is too late because once you die, and someday you will die, it will be too late. Now is the time. The hour has grown late, and soon God will shut the door forever.

The Empty Parsonage

Because of the nature of my business, I drive through many towns and cities. I always take note of the churches; what flags are flying, the name of the pastor, the denomination, when the next chicken dinner or rummage sale is, and what message, if any, they choose to communicate to commuters. You can tell a lot from just driving by.

The other day, I drove by two parsonages I had been in when I was a boy. Both parsonages were once filled with the pastor and his family. They both were purchased or built for a mother and father and several children. One parsonage had a pastor, his stay-at-home wife, and three tall boys of Texas and Dutch descent. I slept over in that parsonage many times as I was friends with the youngest boy with the Biblical name of Thomas.

The other parsonage once had a family consisting of the pastor, his stay-at-home wife, and four vibrant children. I myself lived in several parsonages with my stay-at-home wife and my young children. 

Now, these parsonages, and most other parsonages, are either empty or house a single person with cats and dogs or an old couple without children or they are sold or rented out to help defray the costs of keeping a symbol of bygone times.

Psalm 127:3 states: 

Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

If you go into any number of churches on a Sunday morning, you, for the most part, will not see any children. That's because the congregation is filled with grey heads, or the seeker-friendly church strongly discourages parents from having children attending the worship service by providing “children’s church” or purposely holding Sunday school during worship. They say it is because the church wants the parents, if there are any, not to be distracted by their children. But the truth is that the pastor does not want to be interrupted by crying babies or fidgety children during his Tedtalk like self-help “sermon.”

When I was a boy, we sat with our mom and dad during worship. There were not a few times that we received a squeeze on our legs or a look that froze our blood from one of our parents if we got out of line during the service. Gone are the days when newborns were in church and scuttled out in full vibrato in the middle of the sermon.

The last church I pastored had a congregation of around forty people on a good Sunday, but most were children from newborns up to sixteen years of age. We were a family-integrated church, that is, we believed children should stay with the parents and learn how to worship God. No wonder there are hardly any teenagers in your typical church. What do you think is going to happen when you bar them from attending the service for their entire childhood? We had more children in our worship service than the largest churches in Connecticut. That is because we believed, practiced, and benefited from the blessing of Psalm 127:3.

The empty parsonage is symptomatic of the loss of God's blessing, not only here in the United States but worldwide. As our world rejects the one and only self-existing Trinitarian Christian God who revealed all we need to know for faith and practice in His self-attesting Bible, we are under the curses promised in Deuteronomy 28. We are seeing the withdrawal of God's blessing as He turns us over to depraved minds and fruitless sexual practices where procreation is impossible. 

In no time and place will same-sex couples ever be able to produce a baby. Every child born will be born in the primary way God has ordained them to be conceived. While same-sex couples can adopt, foster, and even artificial inseminate, the conception of children will always attest to the God of the Bible.

Then God said, “Let us make manin our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 1:26-28

Be as prideful as you like, the conception of babies attests to the only true God of the Bible. 

Contrary to popular belief, the population of the world is declining or soon will if we keep going the way we are. As infertility increases, the population decreases. More and more couples do not want to be inconvenience with children or are too afraid to bring them in to this troubled work. As the population decreases, so does the strength of a nation. China has learned the hard way over decades of the one-child policy and aborting baby girls for far too long. The United States is declining at an astronomical rate, both in terms of morality and economical blessing. 

Judgment has indeed begun in the house of the Lord and the empty parsonage is just the beginning. May God have mercy on us all!

Let’s Get Rid of that Old Time Religion

The largest religion in the world today is not the Roman Catholic Church, nor any of the religions that may come to mind. No, the largest is the old cult of Caesar worship, otherwise known as Statism, or Humanism. It is comprised of everyone who believes heaven can be achieved on earth through political means. 

It manifests in itself in our day in people’s obsession with the “gods” of the State who occupy political office, or the opposing political party desperately fighting to replace the ones in office with their own “gods.” Either way, the net result is the old religions dressed up in modern garb. 

We do not recognize it as emperor worship because this old religion has evolved and adapted into highly sophisticated political machines. But I assure you, this old religion is alive and well and embedded in our world. Every time you turn on any major news network or read the newspaper or political website, you are witnessing the emperor cults of old.

They evangelize with great fervor, and even have established State-sponsored indoctrination centers, known as tax-payer funded public “education.” Their creed is “In God, we trust” but the “god” is not the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God who revealed Himself in His self-authenticating Bible. No, their “god” is the collective will of the People seated in political offices.

All religions have their lawgiver and their law. Whenever a law is created by human beings and not based upon the Law of God found in the Bible, this is another sign of the State religion. 

One reason the adage that you should not mix or discuss religion and politics is they are two sides of the same coin. Adherents to this religion are just as dogmatic as the most rabid “fundamentalist” typically found in most major religions. We do not recognize them as such because they have political labels such as Democrats and Republicans in our country.

If you find yourself preoccupied with politics, the news, a particular candidate, the advancement of your political agenda, etcetera, perhaps you have unwittingly been inculcated with this religion. 

I am not suggesting we should not be concerned with what is happening in the political realm. What I am suggesting is that we as a people must be aware of the temptation to put our hope and trust in the “gods” of the State, or fall into the mindset that the separation of Church and State means the separation of the State and God’s Law and His authority over nations, political leaders, and all humanity.

If you wonder where in the Bible I base my view, turn to Psalm 2 as a prime example of the battle between the “gods” of the State and the God of the Bible. It is time for God’s people to repent of Caesar worship and return to faith in Jesus Christ. Perhaps the place to start is for the Church in America to dissolve Her unholy marriage to the State through 501(c)3 incorporation.

Evidential Apologetics and the Decline of Western Civilization

Evidential apologetics is greatly to blame for the decline of western civilization because it presents the one and only self-existing Christian Trinitarian God and His self-authenticating Bible as a possible, though highly probable, source of truth rather than the necessity of them being so.

It has further aided to this decline by setting hostile fallen man as the judge of whether God exists and whether the Bible reveals ultimate truth or not by presenting evidence to prejudiced people who are, by nature and nurture, already enemies of God.

Presenting ultimate truth as a probability is the very essence of relativistic humanism, and seals the fate of Biblical Christianity in people’s mind by affirming the possibility that it may not be true to unbelievers. Ironically, evidential apologetics carry the seeds of the destruction of Biblical Christianity by suggesting Biblical Christianity may not be true.

Presuppositional apologetics is the only valid way to present Biblical Christianity because, in its very essence, it begins and ends with the necessity of its own truth, for in denying its self-attesting veracity, you undermine the very essence of proof itself. In other words, if Biblical Christianity is not true, you cannot prove anything at all which is exactly what relativistic humanism wants you to believe.

The Deification of the State

Today is the holiday called President’s Day. Lest anyone think I exaggerate when I say Statism is a religion, take note that the etymology of the word “holiday” (holi-day) is “holy day.”

In other words, the State declared today as a special Sabbath or day of rest to honor the gods of the State. In fact, the first “god” of the State, George Washington is enshrined in the Rotunda of the Capital in the painting by Constantino Brumidi in 1865, which depicts Washington “rising to the heavens in glory, flanked by female figures representing Liberty and Victory/Fame and surrounded by six groups of figures.” "Liberty and Victory/Fame" are actually the Greek goddess Eleutheria and Nike.

The painting is called the Apotheosis of Washington. Lest anyone think I exaggerate, the definition of “apotheosis” means “the elevation of someone to divine status; deification.” If you don’t believe me, go to Washington D.C. and look for yourself, or google it.

I am in the process of memorizing the questions in the Westminster Shorter Catechism that deal with the first command which strictly forbid the worship of any thing other than the one and only self-existing Trinitarian Christian God who has revealed Himself in His self-authenticating Bible.

Please join with me in repentance for the violation of the first commandment which states, “Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.”

A Sunday Morning Meditation and Reflection - 2/20/2022

Memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism 1647, is having a profound impact on my life, my theology, and my relationship with the one and only self-existing Christian Trinitarian God who has revealed Himself in His self-authenticating Bible. To think the Shorter Catechism is a simplified version intended for children to memorize affects me deeply.

I have received more benefit and more sound Biblical theology from this endeavor than in all the years of Seminary, and all the years of preaching and teaching of the Bible that I have done since starting my ministry in 1984, over 38 years ago.

It was a common practice for Christian parents to have their covenant children memorize the Shorter Catechism. Without television, electronic devices, games, and social media families routinely ate meals together, prayed before eating, read the Bible, and memorized the Catechism..

It strikes me as I write these words that people may think it extreme for children to be raised this way. Yet, I am thinking that no matter what, parents are “catechizing” their children. It may not appear to be so, but what a child learns or is exposed to regularly is a form of indoctrination. Whether it is the songs of Disney, Sponge Bob, Critical Race Theory, Nonbinary Gender Identity, Evolution, the Pledge of Allegiance, Covid-19 safety protocols, etc, and ad nauseam, our children are being catechized.

What we expose them to, and what we teach them regularly, divulges what is most important to a culture. All the aforementioned subjects are, in fact, deeply religious and connected to a modern, yet ancient “faith” of Statism, which is humanism personified.

Is it any wonder that our country, even the whole world, continues to slip into totalitarianism, when most pastors themselves, have become mere agents of the State in their 501(c)3 corporations rather than Shepherds who fiercely defend, diligently teach, and lovingly care for the Flock of Jesus Christ from all dangers within and without? That Pastors like Pastor Artur Pawlowski are the exception, and not the rule is a damning testimony of how far modern Christianity has fallen.

I hardly know what to write, especially since I myself am counted among the guilty concerning my own practice of being a pastor. Several years ago, I resigned as pastor of a church I planted and shepherded for over twelve years, abandoning the congregation. I so completely lost my way that I participated in shameful behavior which culminated in consented to the sin of divorce, which I wholeheartedly repudiate.

Even now, I am not part of a church community. This is now mainly due to the fact that, in my repentance and zeal, I cannot worship in a church under a pastor who is okay with being a State church through incorporation. And I wrestle with whether or not my past sin disqualifies me from planting a new unincorporated church, or helping an incorporated church untangle themselves from the tentacles of the State by dissolving their unholy alliance with the State.

I do not have an answer to these, and other internal conflicts with which I wrestle within my heart and mind. But I know this much: the Bible tells me that God knows the “thoughts and intentions” of my heart, and He requires me, to the best of my ability, to obey Him with a sound heart, a keen mind, and clean hands. And so I do trusting to the promises of Scripture such as Proverbs 3:5+6:

“Trust in the LORD, with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.”

Thank you dear reader for walking beside me in my ramblings of the last several paragraphs, and I ask that those who share my faith in Jesus Christ would take a moment and pray for me, as I have for you. Amen

The Spirit of Robert Cushman Lives On

I am so happy. I now have in my possession a book written by my multi-great grandfather Robert Cushman. As I read through this book, I am so encouraged. My and my brother Edward Patterson are not so different from our Great Grandpa Cushman. This encourages me a lot. I appreciate that his blood and passion run in our veins.

This quote is from the Introduction to The Cry of a Stone by Robert Cushman:

“The Cry of a Stone is important because it was the only known book written by a Pilgrim in 1619, close to the time of the Mayflower sailing. Robert Cushman indicated that he joined the Pilgrim Church when it was established in Leiden in 1609 and spent “ten yeerers in a society of as excellent Christians.” His book outlined solutions for establishing a Christian Church, explained how the Church of England was imperfect, clarified the need to establish a fellowship of Saints, criticized the strict separatists, and provided his eyewitness account of some of the practices of the Pilgrim Church in The Netherlands.

The short treatise was addressed to all Christians and included a call for them to separate or sequester themselves from the Church of England. These ideas were treasonous and Cushman would have been in danger of long imprisonment and perhaps death. Conceivably he intended to have the book published after he sailed to New England on the Speedwell and would be out of the reach of the authorities.” (Footnotes Excluded)

According to my Pilgrim Ancestry, written by a great great aunt Mary Patterson

“Robert Cushman and John Carver accordingly preceded to England and conferred with the London Company band - the above name “Robert Cushman” was the agent of the pilgrim band, who procured for them the Mayflower and the Speedwell…”

The Introduction to The Cry of the Stone further states

“Cushman had been involved in religious controversies since his early years in Canterbury., I 1603 he, with others, was convicted of spreading libels of “lorde have mercy upon [sic] us” by pinning them to Canterbury church doors. Perhaps they were intended as a protest against the Church of England. This case was brought to the attention of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the ecclesiastical commission.” 

The Preface states:

“The primary principle is that there is only one form of true Christianity, revealed in the Bible in the practice and injunctions of the ‘primitive’ Apostolic Church. It was imperative that all true Christians acknowledge and obey these examples to the utmost of their ability, whatever the cost in worldly terms. 

A second principle is based on the doctrine of ‘predestination,’ that God had already made His choice as to who would be saved throughout history. Only the ‘Elect,” ( i.e., ‘Saints’ destined for salvation) could be members of and benefit from the devotions in a true Church. The unregenerate or unsaved multitude had to be excluded from fellowship in any voluntarily-gathered and covenanted congregation organized to New Testament precedent. As all international or national churches on the Catholic, Orthodox or Anglican models not only demand universal membership but also corrupted Christian worship with man-made modifications, they could not be considered true Christian Churches at all. It was therefore essential that the faithful separate or ‘sequester’ themselves out of these false institutions and institute true churches of their own.”

An Open Letter to my Grandson on Your 8th Birthday - 2/12/2022

I am writing this Open Letter because I cannot see you today, your 8th birthday. I write it in hopes that someday when you are old enough and able to make your own decisions, you will read these words and hear the truth about me, your Grandfather, and the rest of your family.

The last time I saw you was on June 25, 2020. I will never forget how you cried out, "Bopa!!!" and ran into my arms for a beautiful hug. You said, "I've missed you so much!" It broke my heart. You didn't see it, but tears were running down my cheeks because I knew that it would be a long time before I would see you again.

I am the pastor and Grandfather who baptized you many years ago. At the time, God affirmed His covenant with you in Christ, and I believe He will bring the promise of salvation to you through faith in Jesus Christ. In the end, that's all that really matters in this life.

I do not know what lies you may have been told about me, hopefully, none. But I assure you, if anyone has, with God as my witness, anything negative spoken about me are lies from the pit of hell, and those who told them or did not contradict them will stand before God and give an answer for this evil. I pray daily for the light of God's truth to shine forth to expose all falsehoods and lies.

The reality is that I love you more than you can know, and I grieve for our mutual loss and the time that cannot be recovered. I hope that we can come to know one another when you are older. Perhaps you will want to learn chess, juggling, or how to collect yellow jackets.

I want you to know that I often think of you and pray for you. But, I am not the only one who misses and prays for you. I know for a fact that others in your family miss and pray for you as well. Not seeing you is not our choice, and I know I speak for many others in your family when I say you are loved.

Perhaps, someday when you read these words, they will help you understand why we are not celebrating your birthday with you in person. Perhaps, this letter will help heal any grief and confusion caused by this loss.

Since I have been slandered on social media, I feel compelled to comment. No, we did not raise our kids in a cult. We believed and still believe in the Bible. The church I pastored had no association with Advanced Training Institute (ATI). We did, and I still do, believe in the theology put forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) that affirms a literal six-day creation, as well as the theology of the Reformed faith. If that is anyone's definition of a cult, they are deeply confused and deceived.

I pray that the breach of relationship will be healed before you grow into a man. By the way, I have for you several hours of home videos of your mom and her siblings from her baptism, well into her teens. So you can see for yourself that my children grew up in a good, healthy, godly, and nurturing home raised by two loving and attentive parents. Of course, we do not claim perfection. What parent can? But we raised our children in the Lord, in the Church, homeschooled them, and took time for daily prayer, fun family weekly outings, and yearly family vacations.

If I am dead and gone by the time you read this, I encourage you to seek out, talk to, and get to know the rest of your family. No one has shunned you or your parents. However, others have broken with the rest of the family by believing and spreading pernicious lies about me to the rest of the family. The videos I wrote about above testify to the truth of what I am saying. Your aunts and grandmother have copies for you to see for yourself.

It is sad for me to write these words knowing that you will not read them or understand them on your birthday. But I take comfort that you will someday have the opportunity to find out for yourself what is real and what is delusional fiction.

I love you, my dear Grandson. The entire family loves you as well. I trust God will rectify the injustice done to you and the rest of us and that those who have participated in the lies, deception, and delusion will repent of their sin and come into the Truth found in Christ alone.

Happy Birthday

With Love,

Grandpa Patterson, a.k.a "Bopa"

2/12/2022

P.S.

I hope those surrounding him will read this. I call upon you to repent of your sin. The Bible clearly states that God will harshly judge those who sin against children. (Matthew 18:6) I pray anyone involved will repent while you have time and before it is too late.

Wrestle with Demons and Contend with Evil People

I think Christians make a serious mistake in thinking that the wrestling with demonic forces and the putting on the whole armor of God means we are not supposed to contend with other human beings who are doing harm. The fact that Jesus Christ did not open His mouth at His trial reveals the reality of His total and complete innocence. For Christ to speak out in that instance, would have been to give credence to the false charges leveled against the only innocent Man that has ever walked the face of the earth. 

As I continue to read through the Bible many times, I believe God calls us to not only stand contrary to evil men and women, but, at times, to actively oppose them, if need be. To passively stand by as one murders another, including our own self defense, is to break the sixth Commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” To not actively protect and preserve life in the face of violence, is to tacitly agree with the aggressor against the potential victim. 

The Ephesians 6:10-20 reminds us that the source of evil can be found in the spiritual realm, but that doesn’t diminish the reality of fallen humanity in enmity against the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God who has revealed Himself in His self-authenticating Bible.

Follow the Fascism

If Benito Mussolini was right when he said that “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism, since it is the merger of the state and corporate power,” then perhaps Americans will begin to understand why those in the oil industry, big Pharma, the military industrial complex, bankers, and a whole lot more, occupy the most important political offices in the United States of America.

This is true of the Left as much as the Right. All you have to do to verify we have a fascist government is to apply the old adage, “Follow the money.” From there you can trace how and why America can never be great again until we all put on sackcloth and ashes and repent before the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God who has revealed Himself in His self-attesting Bible.

Chess Declares the Glory of God

If there is a purer game than chess, I have yet to find it. It is a game of sublime simplicity and confounding complexity. No other game better pits the wits of one human against another. It not only encompasses inductive and deductive logic but includes the whole array of human psychology and emotion; the thrill of winning and the agony of defeat.

You can tell a lot about a person in how they play the game. Do they attack with reckless abandon, or slowly constrict their opponent like a boa, move the pieces with the precision of a surgeon, or create incredible displays of imagination and beauty? All this and more are revealed for all to see in the 32 pieces and 64 squares.

Chess reveals the most profound philosophical questions mankind has ever known, such as the paradox of the one and the many, form and function, and praxis vs. theory. But, ultimately, chess manifests the glory of the one and only self-existing Trinitarian God who has revealed Himself in His self-attesting Bible Without the one true God, chess is impossible.