The Treasure and The Pearl

Watts on Wednesday: Hymn 75-- All Beauties in My Beloved Shine

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:25:00 +0000

This hymn captures my own feeble attempts to describe the beauty of the Lord Jesus and my love towards him. The first verse describes something I think people who look at me who don’t know Jesus often wonder--“Why should I love my Jesus so: ‘What are his charms,’ say they, ‘above The objects of a mortal love?’” Here is but a brief description, wonderfully articulated, of the nature of the object of my deepest affection--Jesus.

Hymn 75: All Beauties In My Beloved Shine (title mine)
Sol. Song v. 9-16

The wond’ring world inquires to know
Why I should love my Jesus so:
“What are his charms,” say they, “above
The objects of a mortal love?”

Yes! my beloved, to my sight
Shows a sweet mixture, red and white:
All human beauties, all divine,
In my Beloved meet and shine.

White is his soul, from blemish free;
Red with the blood he shed for me;
The fairest of ten thousand fairs;
A sun amongst ten thousand stars.

His head the finest gold excels;
There wisdom in perfection dwells,
And glory like a crown adorns
Those temples once beset with thorns.

Compassion in his heart are found,
Hard by the signals of his wound:
His sacred side no more shall bear
The cruel scourge, the piercing spear.

His hands are fairer to behold
Than diamonds set in rings of gold;
Those heav’nly hands, that on the tree
Were nail’d, and torn, and bled for me!

Though once he bow’d his feeble knees,
Loaded with sins and agonies,
Now on the throne of his command
His legs like marble pillars stand.

His eyes are majesty and love,
The eagle temper’d with the dove;
No more shall trickling sorrow roll
Through those dear windows of his soul.

His mouth, that pour’d out long complaints,
Now smiles and cheers his fainting saints;
His countenance more graceful is
Than Lebanon with all its trees.

All over glorious is my Lord;
Must be beloved, and yet ador’d;
His worth if all the nations knew,
Sure the whole earth would love him too.

Watts on Wednesday: Hymn 37 -- Proclaim Unparalleled Love and Arm With Heavenly Zeal

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:44:00 +0000

In Ephesians 5:15-20, Paul exhorts the saints in Ephesus to be “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Therein he gives them commands on ways in which one does waste the time, then gives positive examples of ways in which ought to use their hours in these evil, finite days. One of the major ways that Paul commands us to “redeem the time,” and work out our having been filled with the Spirit takes up the entirety of verse 19. Here he lists an expression of being filled with the Spirit as “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,...”

Many of us, unfortunately, only engage in this activity of worshipping God on Sunday morning or Saturday evening. “The time,” Paul refers too is ALL the time--everyday. Therefore we ought to be engaged in the activity of worship on a daily basis, not just in the other forms of worship the Bible refers to (reading the Word, taking care of widows and orphans, preaching the gospel to the lost, prayer, etc.), but also as commanded here in Ephesians--singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart.

With that in mind I am going to try something new here. Every Wednesday I am going to post one of my favorite hymns from Isaac Watts. I have been including “The Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts” in my daily readings/worship time for awhile now and have found doing so to truly lift my heart in love for God. Here is one I read today that put a “perma-smile” on my face. Watts’s hymns are only numbered not titled, and this particular hymn comes in two parts. If I were to give the first part of this hymn a title it would be a rephrasing of the first line of the third verse--“Proclaim Unparalleled Love.” The second part of the the hymn I would make a separate hymn out of and would give it the title “Arm With Heavenly Zeal” which is taken from the second line of the second verse. The scripture references below each title are the same Watts has listed as his inspiration for the words of the hymn.

Read the lyrics slowly and be conscious of the presence of God as you do so, making them a song of praise to Him, even if your mind isn’t capable of generating a melody to go with the verses. Saying them out-loud is also a helpful way to really make the force of the lyrics come to life. I pray that you are as blessed by this practice as I have been, and that they cause you to see the diverse excellencies of God more clearly and so worship Him more appropriately and make “the best use of the time.”

Proclaim Unparalleled Love (Part I)
Phil. 2:8,9; Mark 15:20, 24, 29; Col 2:15

The mighty frame of glorious grace,
That bright monument of praise
That e’er the God of love design’d,
Employs and fills my lab’ring mind.

Begin, my soul, the heav’nly song,
A burden for an angel’s tongue:
When Gabriel sounds these awful things,
He tunes and summons all his strings.

Proclaim inimitable love:
Jesus, the Lord of worlds above,
Puts off the beams of bright array,
And veils the God in mortal clay!

What black reproach defil’d his name,
When with our sins he took our shame!
He whom adoring angels bless’d
Is made the impious rebel’s jest.

He that distributes crowns and thrones
Hangs on a tree, and bleeds, and groans!
The Prince of Life resigns his breath,
the King of Glory bows to death!

But see the wonders of his power,
He triumphs in his dying hour;
And while by Satan’s rage he fell,
He dash’d the rising hopes of hell.

Thus were the hosts of death subdued,
And sin was drown’d in Jesus blood;
Thus he arose, and reigns above,
And conquers sinners by his love.

Who shall fulfil this boundless song?
The theme surmounts an angel’s tongue:
How low, how vain are mortal airs,
When Gabriel’s nobler harp despairs!

Arm With Heavenly Zeal (Part II)
Matt 5:16

Do I believe what Jesus saith,
And think his gospel true?
Lord, make me bold to own my faith,
And practise virtue too.

Suppress my shame, subdue my fear,
Arm me with heav’nly zeal,
That I may make thy power appear,
And works of praise fulfil.

If men shall see my virtue shine,
And spread my name abroad,
Thine is the power, the praise is thine,
My Saviour and my God!

Thus when the saints in glory meet,
Their lips proclaim thy grace;
They cast their honours at thy feet,
And own their borrow’d rays.

Are we the soldiers of the cross?
The followers of the Lamb?
And shall we fear to own his cause,
Or blush to speak his name?

Now must we fight if we would reign
Increase our courage Lord!
We’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
Supported by thy word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
Shall conquer, though they’re slain;
They see the triumph from afar,
And shall with Jesus reign.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
And all thy armies shine
In robes of vict’ry through the skies,
The glory shall be thine.

Do You Truly Love Jesus?

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:27:00 +0000

In his short, yet quite potent book “The True Christian’s Love to the Unseen Christ” Thomas Vincent asks the eternally vital question “How may we know whether we have true love to Jesus Christ?” As an answer to this question Vincent suggests four ways in which we prove the truth of our love to Jesus:

1) By your desires after Christ’s presence
2) By your prizing and frequenting those ways wherein Christ is found, and seeking Him therein
3) By your love of Christ’s image
4) By your obedience to Christ’s commandments

Much could be said about all four of these proofs of our love for Christ (as Vincent himself does), but one particular section stood out to me as being deserving of particular and immediate attention--3) By your love of Christ’s image. In this section the wise-hearted Puritan states that the medium wherein we primarily view the image of God is His Word. It seems apparent, then, that the other three proofs hang on this proof, as we neither learn about the promise and nature of Christ’s promise but by this Word, nor can we obey His commands unless we know them, which comes by reading His Word. And certainly the major way “wherein Christ is found, and seeking Him therein” that is to be prized and frequented is God’s Word.

Yet what is so large in God’s Word that it truly magnetizes our affections, pulling us with an irresistible and massive gravity? Is it not Christ, from beginning to end? Vincent says it in his own, well articulated and thorough Words:

“Do you love the image of Christ on His Word? As Caesar’s coin bore Caesar’s image and superscription, so the Word of the Scriptures, which is the Word of Christ, bears Christ’s image and superscription.

Do you love the Scriptures because of Christ’s image which is upon them?

Do you love the Word of doctrine in the Scriptures because of the image of Christ’s truth and wisdom upon it?

Do you love the Word of precepts in the Scriptures because of the image of Christ’s holiness upon it?

Do you love the Word of threatenings in the Scriptures because of the image of Christ’s righteousness upon it?

Do you love the Word of promises in the Scriptures because of the image of Christ’s goodness, grace, and love upon it?

You have Christ’s Words in your Bibles, and sometimes sounding in your ears, but does the Word of Christ dwell in your hearts? You receive Christ’s word in the light of it; do you receive His Word in the love of it?”

The image and presence of Christ is made manifest to our souls when we are born again (John 14:21), and from then on our souls see Him “face to face” as Moses did (Deut. 34:10) in some measure. At the same time it is by the Word of God that we come to see many of the infinite facets and the diverse excellencies of the one our souls have come to rest in. We know that we really love Jesus because the same Spirit that causes us to love His (Jesus’s) presence within us is the same Spirit that breathed out the Scriptures. The Spirit that first moved men to write is, in fact, Jesus Himself (Romans 8:9) and so we MUST love His Word as much as His presence.

The Word should cause us to love Jesus in us more, and Jesus in us should cause us to love His Word more till we are caught up in this endless cycle of love for our savior Jesus.

Hymns of Hosannah

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 13:32:00 +0000

Here are a few hymns from Isaac Watts singing hosannah (please help, save) to Jesus our King:

Hymn 89

Hosannah to our conquering King!
The prince of darkness flies;
His troops run headlong down to hell,
Like lightening from the skies.

There bound in chains, the lions roar,
And fright the rescued sheep;
But heavy bars confine their power
And malice to the deep.

Hosannah to our conquering King!
All hail, incarnate love!
Ten thousand songs and glories wait
To crown they head above.

Thy victories and thy deathless fame
Through the wide world shall run,
And everlasting ages sing
The triumphs thou hast won.

Hymn 42

Hosannah to king David’s Son,
Who reigns on a superior throne;
We bless the Prince of heav’nly birth,
Who brings salvation down to earth.

Let ev’ry nation, ev’ry age,
In this delightful work engage;
Old men and babes in Sion sing
The growing glories of her King

Hymn 43

Hosannah to the Prince of grace;
Sion, behold thy King;
Proclaim the Son of David’s race,
and teach the babes to sing.

Hosannah to th’ incarnate Word,
Who from the Father came;
Ascribe salvation to the Lord,
With blessings on his name.

Hymn 44

Hosannah to the Son
of David and of God,
Who brought the news of pardon down
And bought it with his blood.

To Christ th’ anointed King
Of David’s ancient blood!
Behold, he comes to bring
Forgiving grace from God:

        Let old and young
        attend his way,
        And at his feet
        Their honours lay.

Glory to God on high,
Salvation to the Lamb
Let earth, and sea, and sky,
His wondrous love proclaim:

        Upon his head
        Shall honours rest,
        And ev’ry age
        Pronounce him bless’d.

Jesus Cast A Look On Me

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:38:00 +0000

Here are the lyrics to a beautiful hymn written by John Berridge I was listening to today from an excellent arrangement by Red Mountain Church on their album “Depth of Mercy”:

Jesus Cast a Look on Me

1. Jesus cast a look on me,
Give me sweet simplicity
Make me poor and keep me low,
Seeking only Thee to know

2. All that feeds my busy pride,
Cast it evermore aside
Bid my will to Thine submit,
Lay me humbly at Thy feet

3. Make me like a little child,
Of my strength and wisdom spoiled
Seeing only in Thy light,
Walking only in Thy might

4. Leaning on Thy loving breast,
Where a weary soul can rest
Feeling well the peace of God,
Flowing from His precious blood

5. In this posture let me live,
And hosannas daily give
In this temper let me die,
And hosannas ever cry!

As The Sun is Full of Light

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:06:00 +0000

I love the Holy Spirit. I believe the Holy Spirit is the most overlooked and misunderstood person of the Trinity. Some ignore him altogether whereas others portray him in the most horrible and fanatical way. Most, who are Christians, seem to have him relegated to this passive, inactive presence that supposedly exists within them from the moment they profess Jesus to be Lord, but then are completely unaware and oblivious to his presence from then on. How it is possible to have the Spirit of God--the Spirit of Christ--living IN you and not be aware of him is completely beyond me. I dare say it is impossible.

Though much more can be said about the beautiful, glorious Holy Spirit whom Jesus said would be better for us to have than for himself to stay; I have been reading this prayer/poem from “Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions” that says it all very well:

O Holy Spirit,
As the sun is full of light,
the ocean full of water
Heaven full of glory,
        So may my heart be full of thee.
Vain are all divine purposes of love
and the redemption wrought by Jesus
except thou work within,
        regenerating by thy power,
        giving me eyes to see Jesus,
        showing me the realities of the unseen world.
Give me thyself without measure,
as an unimpaired fountain,
as inexhaustible riches.
I bewail my coldness, poverty, emptiness,
        imperfect vision, languid service,
        prayerless praying, praiseless praise.
Suffer me not to grieve or resist thee.
Come as power,
to expel every rebel lust, to reign supreme and keep me thine;
Come as teacher,
leading me into all truth, filling me with all understanding;
Come as love,
that I may adore the Father, and love him as my all;
Come as joy,
to dwell in me, move in me, animate me;
Come as light,
illuminating the Scripture, moulding me in its laws;
Come as sanctifier,
body, soul and spirit wholly thine;
Come as helper,
with strength to bless and keep, directing my every step;
Come as beautifier,
bringing order out of confusion, loveliness out of chaos.
Magnify to me thy glory by being magnified in me,
and make me redolent of thy fragrance.

No One Knows the Hour: Warnings Against Apocalyptic Predictions

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 20:19:00 +0000

“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
(Mark 13:32-37 ESV)

Over countless centuries seemingly innumerable Christians have used verses such as “There will be wars and rumors of wars...” (Matthew 24:6 and Mark 13:7) as a basis for interpreting current events of their times to indicate that the end is at hand. In every generation of the Church there have been those who have looked at the evil around them and supposed that it has never been worse. They point to the so called “glory days” of the church, lost values, etc. and begin to extrapolate that their days are quite a bit more evil than the better, more obedient years that have gone before and begin to state that because of this the judgment of God is drawing close.

What is worse than this, however, are those who state, apart from all of these facts, that God has revealed to them dates and times regarding the end of the world. A quick google search with the terms “failed end time predictions” reveals a multitude of people who have stated dates and times of either the end of the world or major catastrophes. One such site lists over 200 people who have predicted the end of the world and/or major catastrophes who were wrong. Many of these “prophets” go on to justify their failed predictions by flipping the script and saying that they misinterpreted God and that He only meant that something else that happened that year was the real thing God meant would happen. If they don’t resort to trying to backtrack on their story to not look like fools, they just change their predicted date and continue in their delusions.

Here is one such story from the 1700’s during the Great Awakening when many people truly thought that, because of so many people being born again, that the end was coming and the millennium was being ushered in:

“They also began to make much use of visions and dreams, and in 1763 [George] Bell went so far as to prophesy the end of the world and to set the date: February 28 of that year. The prediction was given wide publicity, and when it failed, the fiasco--since it was some of [John] Wesley’s people who were involved--caused embarrassment to Wesley himself.”

A footnote to this section also states the following:

“Thomas Maxfield says that Wesley was especially embarrassed by Bell’s prophecy since he himself had made a similar mistake. In 1682 Edmund Halley had calculated (or so it was believed) that the comet he had discovered would return toward the earth in 1759. As that date approached there was great excitement and many speculated that the comet would strike the earth. Maxfield says that Wesley preached ‘...from one end of the land to the other’ on the forthcoming catastrophe and prophesied the comet’s effect as ‘...scorching and burning up all the Produce of the Earth, &c, &c. Then, lastly, executing its grand Commission on the Globe itself, causing the Stars to fall from Heaven...’”

Now it must be noted here that John Wesley, the great revival preacher, had a practice of casting lots to “confirm” a Word from the Lord. On several occasions Wesley erred deeply with this practice of confirming visions and such that he thought he was receiving from the Lord. There were many others at the time who were predicting the destruction of England because of England’s “slump into godlessness” from it’s former “godly state.” Again this is much in err, as England had never had a stable history wherein there was holiness about the land, but as in all ages and in all places the land was filled with evil as the church struggled to proclaim the gospel.

Such is the case, also, with the current state of America. There has never been a period in American history where one (who reads history enough) could point and say “those were the glory days.” Even the first Great Awakening under Whitefield was soon washed away shortly after his death. Knowledgeable of this long history of reformations not lasting, the deist Benjamin Franklin even writes to George Whitefield stating “O that some method could be found to make them lasting! He who discovers that, will, in my opinion, deserve more, ten thousand times, than the inventor of longitude.”

The point is that good times never last in the history of the Church. Even during the “good times” there is distinct and widespread evil so much so that whatever good had been accomplished, in a short period of time it is undone. So all that is to say that looking at our current times and stating “Surely these are the end times, look at how far we have fallen!” is a serious error and presumption and is no doubt caused by demonic deception.

Careless people who do not know the Word and have not studied it well have been drawn away by so called visions and messages from God throughout all of history and have declared various passages of Isaiah, Daniel, Revelation and etc. to be fulfilled by certain current events that were unfolding at the time. But God does not clearly mean one thing in His Word then contradict Himself by a word or vision from the Holy Spirit that breathed His Word!

In D.A. Carson’s indispensable book on biblical interpretation entitled “Exegetical Fallacies” he states:

“Critical exegesis [biblical interpretation, drawing out the meaning from the text as opposed to putting it in] is opposed to merely personal opinions, appeals to blind authority (the interpreters or anyone else’s), arbitrary interpretations, and speculative opinions. This is not to deny that spiritual things are spiritually discerned, or to argue that piety is irrelevant; it is to say rather that not even piety and the gift of the Holy Spirit guarantee infallible interpretations. When two equally godly [which I, Joe, would personally add must be judged according to a biblical definition of godly] interpreters emerge with mutually incompatible interpretations of a text, it must be obvious even to the most spiritual...that they cannot both be right.”

There are many today, such as Harold Camping who predicts the return of Christ on May 21st, that have determined through their own interpretive methods, using biblical “data” that come to conclusions that are completely contrary to others who perhaps use more comprehensive and logical methods. Camping uses one statement in the Bible such as “a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day” and built an entire system that led to his prediction of Christ’s return date. Other more serious scholars (as Camping has no formal training at all; an unfortunate trend among predictors of the end times) who have more knowledge of biblical symbols, metaphor, literary devices, etc. would state vehemently that Camping’s prediction is complete and utter nonsense.

But Camping falls within a different “camp” (pun intended) than many predictors of end-time events. Most “doomsdayer’s” claim some special revelation from God. Sometimes this involved stating that God told or showed them something (a vision, dream or “impression”) and other times this special revelation comes in the form of God supposedly revealing the meaning of a text that was previously unknown to generations of Christians. The most common place for such people to find special revelation from the Holy Spirit is in Revelation. The interpretations that people have claimed to have from the Holy Spirit about the diverse imagery of Revelation are innumerable. Most of these people never question whether or not their interpretations or prophecies are from the Spirit and (as Wesley would do) perceived they had some divine, unquestionable confirmation. Of course a well versed and cautious Christian would know that Satan is a master of deception, whom the Bible says poses as an angel of light and knows very well that Christians seek “confirmation” for “words from the Lord.” In a book entitled “Conversations with God” a man even claims to have actually seen and talked with God and received supposed confirmations for his visions, but what he says God told him is in complete contradiction to the infallible Word of God.

As a footnote to D.A. Carson’s above statement, where he says that two contradicting interpretations of a passage can’t be right, he tells this compelling story:

“Almost twenty years ago I rode in a car with a fellow believer who relayed to me what the Lord had “told” him that morning in his quiet time. He had been reading the KJV of Matthew and I perceived that not only had he misunderstood the archaic English, but also that the KJV at that place had unwittingly misrepresented the Greek text. I gently suggested there might be another way to understand the passage and summarized what I thought the passage was saying. The brother dismissed my view as impossible on the grounds that the Holy Spirit, who does not lie, had told him the truth on this matter. Being young and bold, I pressed on with my explanation of grammar, context, and translation, but was brushed off by a reference to 1 Cor. 2:10b-15: spiritual things must be spiritually discerned--which left little doubt about my status. Genuinely intrigued, I asked this brother what he would say if I put forward my interpretation, not on the basis of grammar and text, but on the basis that the Lord himself had given me the interpretation I was advancing. He was silent a long time, and then concluded, ‘I guess that would mean the Spirit says the Bible means different things to different people.”

It is a tricky and dangerous thing to say “Thus saith the Lord” and in my time among Pentecostal’s, Assemblies of God churches and other more “charismatic” churches I have heard many people put forth prophecies of all kinds that they said the Holy Spirit revealed to them and confirmed in such and such a way. Unfortunately, none of their predictions came to pass. Some of these predictions, in fact, were aimed straight at me and did not come to pass. In his book “Counterfeit Revival” Hank Hannegraff catalogues a plethora of such “revelations” and “confirmations” that never came to pass as well, some from very prominent televangelsists and others from normal, everyday people.

When these people are challenged, it is usually a pointless endeavor. They typically respond by being very sure of themselves, state that you are being used by the Devil to try to get them to disobey or doubt God, and can’t for one moment think they are being deceived because if they allow that they think God will punish them for their doubt. I have learned the best thing for these people is to let them be, let their predictions fail then be there for them after such a failure to try to show them where they were in error.

The Bible is serious about false prophets and yet tells us not to despise prophecy. In all cases it tells us to test things and to test it by the Word. Isaiah says “to the Word and to the testimony, if they do not speak accordingly to this word it is because they have no dawn” (Isaiah 8:20). In the following verses from Isaiah (21-22), and in Deuteronomy 18:20-22 and Ezekiel 13:1-9, 22 serious consequences are stated for uttering words on behalf of the Lord that do not come from the Lord. Those who think they are messengers from God should know these passages well and be filled with a great deal of reverential fear on account of them.

A wise Biblical teacher once said that we must interpret the unclear parts of Scripture in light of the clear parts. The Bible is very clear that we will not know the day or the hour on which Christ will return and thus anyone wishing to make predictions relating to the end times should keep their mind focused on the clear parts of the Bible--the proclamation of the gospel, making disciples of all men and calling all to repentance from around the world. Because we do not know the hour, we labor hard because we do not know when our Master will return. Those who have an unhealthy interest in end times or claim to have visions from God typically get so obsessed that they begin to neglect these clear commands of God in the Bible. Though they begin to call out “repent” they do not truly preach the gospel in its glorious entirety and typically never tell people how they need to be born again, but simply that they should stop doing overt sins like drinking, swearing, watching certain movies, etc. and confess Jesus is Lord and they will be saved from the wrath to come. This lulls people into a false acceptance of Christianity.

I do say with the beloved John, writer of Revelation, “Come Lord Jesus, come” but I think it is a serious, distracting error to state that one has word from the Lord that contradicts God’s clear word that no one will know when the end will come, not even the angels. I also think, from a biblical perspective and from experience, that any people who claim to have words from the Lord are typically being deceived by demons and Satan posing as an angel of light. I pray God will show them the deception they have fallen into once their false visions and predictions have failed them and that they will then come to a deeper knowledge of God’s infallible, clear and sealed Word that never fails--The Bible.

The Life and Soul of True Religion

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 04:55:00 +0000

Lately much of my personal study time has consisted of studying the Great Awakening of the 1700’s. During this time many souls were awakened to the glory, majesty and beauty of God as well as the horrible, wretched and completely vile state of their sinful souls. Now, if the combination of these two compounds did not create an explosion large enough to shake the souls of men; the addition of the good news that such a holy, perfect, beautiful, and yet inexplicably offended God had sent His Son, Jesus, to forgive, and redeem such miserable creatures, deserving of wrath was the catalyst that resulted in a blast of emotions and change as had not been seen since the time of the Apostles.

Men of all ranks, genders, class and age began to sing themes of “Amazing Grace” before the song was even written, and such was their joy that many of the clergy of the time began to criticize the move of God’s Spirit as being the product of animal passions and mere enthusiasm. Though it is quite true that there was an ungodly, counterfeit faction at the time that delighted in fever-pitched, manufactured emotions rather than the legitimate affections and sorrow that are the natural fallout of such an explosion of God’s majesty, man’s sin and God’s grace; this was but a small faction.

Nevertheless the whole movement was often held in disrepute by many of the ministers of the time. In response to such criticism of the raw affection and sorrow that was bubbling up both in America and across the pond in much of the UK, Jonathan Edwards wrote a work entitled “Thoughts on the Revival, &c.” In it he logically, scripturally and passionately (as such was his style) defends such affections in the following manner:

“There are many exercises of the affections that are very flashy, and little to be depended on; and oftentimes a great deal appertains to them, or rather is the effect of them, that has its seat in animal nature, and is very much owing to the constitution and frame of the body; and that which sometimes more especially obtains the name of passion, is nothing solid or substantial. But it is false philosophy to suppose this to be the case with all exercises of affection in the soul, or with all great and high affections; and false divinity to suppose that religious affections do not appertain to the substance and essence of Christianity. On the contrary, it seems to me that the very life and soul of all true religion consists in them.”

Simply put, Edwards is agreeing that not all affections or passions are the product of holy things, but all things that are holy are founded and grounded in great affections--love. Edwards continues with thorough and thunderous argumentation:

“Charity, or divine love, is in Scripture represented as the sum of all of all religion of the heart; but this is only a holy affection. And therefore, in proportion as this is firmly fixed in the soul, and raised to a great height, the more eminent a person is in holiness. Divine love or charity is represented as the sum of all the religion of heaven, and that wherein mainly the religion of the church in its most perfect state on earth shall consist, when knowledge, and tongues, and prophesying shall cease; and therefore the higher this holy affection is raised in the church of God, or in a gracious soul, the more excellent and perfect is the state of the church, or in a particular soul.

If we take the Scriptures for our rule, then the greater and higher our exercise of love to God, delight and complacency in him, desires and longings after him, delight in his children, love to mankind, brokenness of heart, abhorrence of sin, self-abhorrence for it; the more we have of the peace of God which passeth all understanding; and joy in the Holy Ghost, unspeakable and full of glory: the higher our admiring thoughts of God, exulting and glorifying him; so much the higher is Christ’s religion, or that virtue which he and his apostles taught, raised in the soul.”

The absence of such great affections and violent movings of love for God, the church and those who do not know him is the cause of much stagnancy in the church. As a result, many seek to stoke the flames of revival with increased theology on one side and so called “miracles” on the other. Both of these are attempting to accomplish something similar--a revelation of God. Unfortunately, however, what ends up happening is that the affections of many are fixated on theology and “miracles” and not God himself.

A true revelation of God must excite the affections of the soul towards God, producing satisfaction in him and him alone. When the gospel is preached in the power of the Holy Spirit, with a mind for revealing the beauty, majesty and holiness of God (displayed especially in Christ’s work of bringing man back into relationship with such ineffable splendor through the forgiveness and pardon of sin) then it is most certainly aimed at and will produce great affection as God works through us to reveal that glory. Words such as “beauty,” and “majesty” are words particularly aimed at invoking awe-filled affection.

If the church desires to see an awakening again in our time, it must understand that the souls of sleeping, dead men and women will only rise so far as our own affections for God rise. The life and soul of our entire faith, and the proclamation of it consists of an unfathomable love for and satisfaction in God through Jesus Christ and the indwelling Spirit.

Right Kind of Revival

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 19:25:00 +0000

For the decade or so that I have been born again I have fellowshipped with a wide variety of those who call themselves Christians from various denominations. I have seen the whole spectrum of Christian activity from hyper-conservative/fundamentalist, to “uber-charismatic” and everything in between. During that time I had pretty wide exposure to the charismatic side of the church and observed what they call “revivals.” What I always found most interesting about these events is that one could plan people repenting and being born again, but therein lies the problem.

What is a revival? What is being revived? Is “revive” even a correct term to describe spiritually dead people coming to life for the first time? Can you revive what was never “vived” to begin with? Much of the “revival” movement finds its roots back in what contemporaries of the movement called “the awakening.” This took place largely in the mid to late 1700’s starting in England and gradually flooding over much of the western world.

There is little debate amongst Christian historians that at the forefront of this amazing time period was a preacher from the Church of England by the name of George Whitefield. Whitefield was in his early twenties when he began to preach and was, at the time, the youngest “given orders” (allowed to preach in the Church) at the time. Whitefield, in his time, was the household name of the western world. Young George’s preaching drew thousands and thousands of people which resulted, generally, in many people weeping and being concerned for their souls and the glory of God.

Following Whitefield’s visit to Scotland, where he preached to ten’s of thousands, there awoke a deep desire in the Scottish people for the things of God and answers for questions about their eternal state. This deep awakening for a knowledge of the things of God and the Scottish people’s concern for their souls climaxed at a meeting in the small town of Cambuslang on February 18th, 1742.

During the preaching of the very devout and reformed minister Rev. William McCulloch (though known to be quite dull in his preaching; the opposite of Whitefield), those gathered became so concerned for their souls and God’s honor that great waters sprang forth from the rocks of people’s hearts, so to speak, and flooded down their sorrow stricken faces. These events continued for some time under the ministry of a man who had never seen such things before and was certainly not known for emotionalism. Skeptical, well respected ministers from all around came to observe what was happening in the little village to verify that it was, in fact, a work of God and not just manipulated enthusiasm. A report from one of these ministers,I think, should serve as a template for what true “awakening’s” or “revivals” ought to look like:

“I found a good many persons under the deepest exercise of soul, crying out most bitterly of their lost and miserable state, by reason of sin; of their unbelief, in despising Christ and the offers of the Gospel; of the hardness of their heart; and of their gross carelessness and indifference about religion...I heard them express great sorrow for these things, and seemingly in the most serious and sincere manner, and this not so much...from fear of punishment as from a sense of the dishonour done to God...”

Another report from one of the most respected, yet also most critical ministers, John Willison of Dundee, reads similarly:

“...some who had been very wicked and scandalous, but now wonderfully chang’d...very rude and boisterous before, they had the meekness of the lamb...Though I conversed with a great many, both men and women, old and young, I could observe nothing visionary or enthusiastic about them...Upon the whole I look on the Work at Cambuslang as a singular and marvellous outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”

It is important to note, in these most griping reports, that this followed not a ministry of miraculous healing, signs or wonders, but the faithful preaching of the Word of God and in particular the Gospel of Reconciliation! And what were the results? Not faintings and fits, but tears of sorrow, repentence, changed lives and a legitimate desire for the honor of God! Men and women more concerned for the dishonor and spite they had shown towards so loving and merciful a God than the state of their theretofore damned souls...oh how my heart explodes with a desire to see this right kind of revival!

My Guidelines for iPhone Use

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:12:00 +0000

About 2 weeks ago now I purchased and received an iPhone 4. As a long standing Verizon customer I had been waiting for this day to come and already had in mind all sorts of uses for it most of which had to do with productivity, Bible reading and other spiritual disciplines (or Joys as I call them). Despite my overwhelming desire to use the iPhone to the glory of God, I knew before I bought it that I, like everyone else, have a tendency to become easily distracted, especially by technology.

With that in mind, about a week or so before ordering my iPhone, I first prayed about it, then created a list of “10 Guidelines for iPhone Use.” I then read this list out-loud to my wife so that she would know them and hold me to them. Here is the list I came up with that I think covers everything. It is a work in progress, but it has already served me well and I can already see good habits forming for how I use this wonderful piece of technology. The guidelines, for me, are an application of 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Ephesians 5:15-16. Here they are:

IPhone Usage Guidelines:

1. Use for the glory of God in as many ways as possible including: spiritual disciplines such as prayer, scripture memory, bible reading, godly books, theological memorization (catechism), biblical languages, evangelism, etc. (1 Cor. 10:31).

2. Not to be used when on a date with Kendra unless it benefits the date/relationship

3. Games should only be played after praying first about it and only in circumstances where nothing more productive or godly can be done with the time.

4. Should not be used in the evening or morning when it is time to be with the kids and Kendra.

5. Should not be used when taking the kids out for one-on-one or during family outings unless necessary.

6. Only apps that help with godliness, edification of the saints, education, productivity and helping with daily life should be downloaded with the exception of rule 7.

7. Some apps for entertainment should be allowed but must comply with rule 3.

8. Use in church should be limited to Bible apps, note taking, prayer requests and other such things as are fitting use in God’s house. Playing games does not qualify, nor does internet usage that is not for the sake of helping others or answering a biblical question.

9. Common courtesy should be observed when using iPhone: no using apps, texting or emailing in situations where it could inconvenience, frustrate, be perceived as rude by, or threaten the safety of another person.

10. Must not be used during meals with other people present unless absolutely necessary.

My Soul Waits Only for My Exceeding Joy and My Expectation

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 04:16:00 +0000

I picked up a great little book for $1 recently; the words in it are worth far more. I traded a small sheet of paper for an entire mountain range of gold and precious gems. Trade whatever you have to hold to the truths below from Andrew Murray's Waiting On God:

"It is possible to be waiting continually on God, but not only upon Him. There may be other secret confidences intervening, and preventing the blessing that was expected. And so the word only must come to throw its light on the path to the fullness and certainty of blessing. 'My soul, wait thou only upon God...He only is my rock.'

...

"Yes, 'My soul, wait thou only upon God.' Beware of two great enemies--the world and self. Beware lest any earthly satisfaction or enjoyment, however innocent it appears, keep you back from saying, 'I will go to God, MY EXCEEDING JOY.' Remember and study what Jesus says about denying self, 'Let a man deny himself.' Tersteegen says: 'The saints deny themselves in everything.' Pleasing self in little things may be strengthening it to assert itself in greater things. 'My soul, wait thou only upon God'; let Him be all your salvation and all your desire.

Say continually and with an undivided heart: 'From him cometh MY EXPECTATION. He only is my Rock; I shall not be moved.' Whatever be your spiritual or temporal need, whatever the desire or prayer of your heart, whatever your interest in connection with God's work in the Church or the world--in solitude or in the rush of the world, in public worship or other gatherings of the saints, 'My soul, wait thou only upon God.' Let your expectations be from Him alone. 'He only is my [thy] rock.'

'My soul, wait thou only upon God.' Never forget the two foundation truths on which this blessed waiting rests. If ever you are inclined to think this 'waiting' too hard or too high, they will recall you at once. They are: your absolute helplessness; the absolute sufficiency of your God. Oh, enter deep into the entire sinfulness of all that is of self, and think not of letting self have aught to say one single moment. Enter deep into your utter and unceasing impotence ever to change what is evil in you, or to bring for anything that is spiritually good. Enter deep into your relation of dependance as creature on God, to receive from Him every moment what He gives. Enter still deeper into His covenant of redemption, with His promise to restore more gloriously than ever what you have lost, and by His Son and Spirit to give within you unceasingly, His actual divine presence and power. And thus wait upon God continually and only.

'My soul, wait thou only upon God.' No words can tell, no heart conceive, the riches of the glory of this mystery of the Father and of Christ. Our God, in the infinite tenderness and omnipotence of His love, waits to be our life and joy. Oh, my soul, let it be no longer needed that I repeat the word, 'Wait upon God,' but let all that is in me rise and sing: 'Truly my soul waiteth upon God. On thee do I wait all the day.'

10 Good and Bad Reasons to Become a Missionary

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:42:00 +0000

Bad Reasons:

You want people to think you are adventurous, courageous and noble
You are afraid of sharing the gospel with people of your own culture
You want to “civilize” other cultures, especially according to your own civilization
You have tried other things and don’t know what else to do
You think it will finally bring you the satisfaction and peace you have been looking for
Your parents were missionaries and you want to carry on the family business
You want to see the world
Your church is a really missional church and you don’t want to look unspiritual for not doing what everyone else is doing
You like to build buildings for people
You think it will make you righteous before God

Good Reasons:

You adore God with all your heart and are consumed by a desire to spread His glory to all peoples
You love sharing the gospel with the unbelievers around you and would like to do the same in another culture
You want to see God bring repentance and saving faith to a culture that is as wayward as your own
You have an overwhelming burden to preach the gospel and share God’s love in another country and friends who are mature in the Lord discern the same path for you
You have such joy and satisfaction in knowing Jesus that it can’t help but overflow in service to the lost around the world
God used your missionary parents to birth a love in you for God’s un-preached elect around the world
You want to see the world filled with God’s joy and glory
Your missional church has convicted you that your fear and self-centeredness is causing you to avoid your call to the missions field
You like to build discipling churches that teach and equip their own people for various services
You are right before God because of Christ and want to share this same extravagant truth with others

Unsatisfiable Affection

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:18:00 +0000

In his work entitled “The Life of God in the Soul of Man,” in a section regarding “The worth of the object to be regarded,” Henry Scougal says this about the nature of placing ones affection on God:

“Once the soul is fixed on that supreme and all-sufficient good, it finds so much perfection and goodness as not only answers and satisfies its affection, but masters and overpowers it too. It finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object, and is only sorry that it can command no more. It wishes for the flames of a seraph, and longs for the time when it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love; and because it can do so little itself, it desires the assistance of the whole creation, so that angels and men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those infinite perfections.” (The Works of Henry Scougal; pg 27)

There are many things to be said about such a rightly and beautifully worded passage such as this; there is one thing that really stood out to me. What a gorgeous, pure and powerful motivation for preaching the gospel! Those enraptured by a love for God are so overwhelmed with their finite ability to express their supreme adoration and devotion to God that they cannot help but set out to employ others in His praise! Some set out to preach the gospel out of duty, and others out of love for humanity, but there is still another rare breed who are so determined that the infinite worth of God be adored and declared that they will suffer all to recruit men for that very end.

“Come, sinner unworthy of the praise of so worthy an object! Come, be cleared of your guilt and join in the worship and love of the Majesty of Majesty for all eternity! Not only that, but this worthy object will give you the ability and worthiness to participate in so grand and undeserving a profession and save you from the horror of being robbed of worshipping Him forever!” This is the cry of these most odd lovers of God. They are unwilling that God not receive the praise He is due, because they perceive their affection for Him to be so insufficient, that they spend their days heralding His limitless worth that others may join them.

When we love something, do we not often spend a great deal of time trying to convince others of its worth as well? The more worthy we perceive the object to be, the more willing and zealous we are to prove it to others that they too might join in the praise of that thing or person. Developing an “unsatisfiable” affection for God’s worth is always a consistent and powerful promoter of an evangelistic (gospel proclaiming) mindset.

Invigorate this heart that cherishes God’s inexplicable worth with more frequent prayer (conversing with God in your thoughts all day), reading His extravagantly delicious Word (try studying the same passage at least three times a day) through regular worship (I listen to worship music when I work out and on my lunch breaks at work) and through resisting the lesser things this world has to offer (I watch very little TV these days, am fasting from reading the news and from looking at gadget things, and am being less distracted with aimless internet wandering). These practices, amongst others, have truly enlivened my love for God and in turn have made me anxious to enlist others in this unsatisfiable desire to declare the limitless worth of God.

Ridding Oneself of Sin Versus Restraining It

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:32:00 +0000

In an earlier post I mentioned I have been doing some research on the topic of sin. It was and still is my intention to systematically determine what the most concise, and root biblical definition of sin is. This topic has long been of great interest to me as I have perceived, I think accurately, that most people's definitions of sin are neither comprehensively biblical nor serious enough and therefore most people take their sin far too lightly. In doing some of that research I ran across this passage in one of C.H. Spurgeon's sermons that addresses ones attitude towards sin:

“In the next place, you will find it extremely useful if, in order to get rid of sin, you are not content with merely restraining it, but always seeking to have it taken clean away by the Holy Spirit. You know, mere moralists retrain their sins, like a river that has locks and dykes: the water is kept from flowing, but then it gradually swells upward, till by-and-bye it overflows with terrible fury. Now, don’t be content with mere restraining grace; that will never purge you, for the sin may be there though it break not out. Pray to God that your sin may be taken away, and that though the remnant and the root thereof remain, through the channel be there, yet the stream may be dried up like the stream of the Euphrates before the presence of the Lord your God.”

-C.H. Spurgeon; New Park Street Pulpit, Volume 4, Righteous Hatred, 347-348.

Perhaps you are now thinking "Joe, I have prayed that God would take a particular sin away and it is still there." To that I would respond by wondering what you would mean by the phrase "have prayed?" Perhaps that is the real problem, yes? Perhaps we do not pray enough and so find ourselves in reactive prayer versus proactive, perpetual prayer. But first we must believe that God does, in fact, respond to these sorts of prayers; we must believe that He desires to free us from particular sins, not just restrain it. It is true that temptation will never disappear this side of eternity, but that does not mean that God cannot rid us of a sinful desire that enslaves us day in and day out.

"He who did not spare his own, but gave him up for us all, how will not also with him graciously give us all good things?" (Romans 8:32)

What more "good" thing could we ask for then to be free from sin so that we would more glorify God? Let us pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) that God would rid us of the sins that keep us from glorifying God, being full of inexplicable joy and from loving others.

Are We Advocates For or Witnesses Of Christ?

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:10:00 +0000

I have often been rather astonished by the casual manner in which many Christians talk about Jesus Christ, especially some preachers. I don't quite understand how one could be confronted with the disgusting wretchedness of their sin and then be shown the great grace and glory of God in the forgiveness of those sins and not be completely undone by a barrage of both sorrow and joy.

How could one possibly handle the weighty reality of unmerited favor shown to us through the crucifixion of the One in whom "the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form" (Col 2:9) in the same way one might handle the daily newspaper? In fact it seems that many people recount a story from the daily paper with more passion than some pastors or Christians declare the good news of Jesus.

I have long had a hunch that underlying this whole problem for many Christians, and perhaps many pastors, is that either they are not truly witnesses to the great grace of Jesus Christ in their lives, or they have forgotten that their call is to preach and not to act as a defense attorney on behalf of the living God who needs no defense. In his book "Preaching and Preachers," Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones very well explains the essential nature of zeal in preaching (which I think is necessary even in everyday conversation regarding Jesus, not just in the pulpit):

"A preacher must always convey the impression that he himself has been gripped by what he is saying. If he has not been gripped nobody else will be. So this is absolutely essential. He must impress the people by the fact that he is taken up and absorbed by what he is doing. He is full of matter, and he is anxious to impart this. He is so moved and thrilled by it himself that he wants everybody else to share in this. He is concerned about them; that is why he is preaching to them. He is anxious about them; anxious to help them, anxious to tell them the truth of God. So he does it with energy, with zeal, and with this obvious concern for people. In other words a preacher who seems to be detached from the Truth, and who is just saying a number of things which may be very good and true and excellent in themselves, is not a preacher at all.

Let me put it this way. I remember reading years ago an account by a well-known journalist in Scotland of a meeting which he had attended. He used a phrase which I have never forgotten; it has often upbraided me and often condemned me. He had been listening to two speakers speaking on the same subject. He went on to say that they were both very able and learned men. Then came the devastating phrase, 'The difference between the two speakers was this; the first spoke as an advocate, the second as a witness.' That crystallises this point perfectly. The preacher is never just an advocate. The task, the business of the advocate, the attorney, is to represent somebody in the Court of Law. He is not interested in this person, may not even know him, and has no personal interest in him; but he has been handed what we call a brief concerning this man's case. The brief has been prepared for him, all the facts and the details, the legal points and the salient matters in this particular case. He is handed his brief and what he does is to speak to his brief. He is not involved personally, he is not really concerned. He is in a position of detachment handling a matter right outside himself.

Now that must never be true of a preacher [or of any of us when we speak about Jesus for that matter]. This is, again, one of the differences between the preacher and the lecturer. The preacher is involved all along, and that is why there must be this element of zeal. He is not just 'handling' a case. To do that is one of the greatest temptations of many preachers, and especially those of us who are combative by nature. We have an incomparable case, as we have seen; we have our systematic theology and this knowledge of the Truth. What a wonderful opportunity for arguing, reasoning, demonstrating and proving the case and refuting all objections and counterarguments. But if the preacher gives the impression that he is only an advocate presenting a case he has failed completely. The preacher is a witness. That is the very word used by our Lord Himself, 'Ye shall be witnesses unto me'; and this is what the preacher must always be at all times. Nothing is so fatal in a preacher as that he should fail to give the impression of personal involvement."

This truth is applicable to more than just the man who stands behind the pulpit on Sunday morning. To share the gospel is to talk about eternal life in Jesus Christ. In John 17:3 Jesus states that eternal life is to know the one true God and Jesus Christ whom this one true God sent. If you are preaching a good news about knowing God and you yourself are no firsthand witness to the saving and reconciling work of Jesus in your life, nor do you truly know God, then you will no doubt become a mere advocate defending a case.

Witnesses to the 9-11 tragedy no doubt speak about the incident with a tear that still pools up in the corner of their eye, whereas I (not a firsthand witness) may recount the story with eyes dryer than the Sahara. What's the difference? One has seen the horror, been covered by the ash, heard the screams and ran for their lives, the other has not.

Are you a mere advocate for Jesus Christ? Or have you seen the horror of your sin nailed to the bloody tree at calavary, seen the sky go dark and felt the earth and yourself shake as you hear your Savior cry out "It is finished." If you have seen the empty grave with your own two eyes (figuratively of course) then let it show in your voice and demeanor as you tell the world "He is risen!"

The Valor of Meekness

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:12:00 +0000

To anyone who actually reads my blog I first wanted to apologize for not having posted in quite some time. We all must make decisions in life that reflect our current, highest priorities. That said I have had other things that have taken up a great deal of my time and have thus rendered me incapable of keeping up with blogging. Hopefully I can get back on track here and find some new regularity in blogging.

So as my first blog entry in a long time I wanted to simply post a quote from a book I am currently reading entitled The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit by Matthew Henry. In the following quote Mr. Henry discusses the courageous nature of meekness. This book has more gold in it than the Lonely Mountain in the days of Smaug the Dragon. Here is just a little nugget of that gold:

"Meekness is commonly despised and run down by the grandess of the age as a piece of cowardice and mean-spiritedness, and the evidence of a little soul, and is posted accordingly, while most furious and angry revenges are celebrated and applauded under the pompous names of valor, honor and greatness. This error arises from a mistaken notion of courage; the true nature whereof is thus stated by the ingenious pen of Norris Miscell: "That it is a resolution never to decline any evil of pain, when the choosing of it, and the exposing of ourselves to it, is the only remedy against greater evil." And, therefore, he that accepts a challenge and so runs himself upon the evil of sin, which is the greater evil, only for fear of shame and reproach, which is the less evil, he is the coward; while he that refuses the challenge and so exposes himself to reproach, which is the less evil, he is the valiant man.

True courage is such a presence of mind as enables a man rather to suffer than to sin, to choose affliction rather than iniquity, to pass by an affront though he lose by it and be hissed at for a fool and a sneak rather than engage in a sinful quarrel. He that can deny the brutal lust of anger and revenge, rather than violate the royal law of love and charity, however contrary the sentiments of the world may be, is truly resolute and courageous; the Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor...

When our Lord Jesus is described in his majesty, riding prosperously, the glory he appears in is truth, and meakness, and righteousness (Psalm 45:4). The courage of those who overcome this great dragon of wrath and revenge by meek and patient suffering and by "not loving their lives unto death" (Rev. 12:11) will turn to the best and most honorable account on the other side of the grave, and will be crowned with glory, and honor, and immortality; when those that "caused their terror in the land of the living" fall ingloriously and "bear their shame with them that go down to the pit" (Ezek. 32:24).

Most people will choose to try to "defend their honor" while at the same time losing it by responding to situations and people with sinful emotions. The one who is truly courageous is the one who chooses harm to ones own reputation (and sometimes body) by choosing to entrust their honor to God while they do the right thing. In this meekness or humility there is true valor or courage because it is the proud, not the meek, who decide to sin in order to save themselves and their reputations.

I pray God will give us all the courage to be meek instead of the pride of the weak.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. (Heb 12:1-3)

New Blueprint for Blogging: Trivium + One

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:59:00 +0000

In an attempt to regularize my blogging and find my blogs purpose and groove; I am going to attempt to make weekly posts relating to four major categories of classical education. Three out of the four of these categories fall under the historical title know as the "Trivium." The word trivium is a Latin word meaning "three ways" or "three roads." This term was used to describe the foundational curriculum used in medieval universities and consisted of grammar, rhetoric and logic.

Having grown up in the public school system I found parts of this historical foundation of education to be either taught poorly or not at all. For example, I was never taught even a semblance of logic. Most of what is taught in public schools today is teaching kids what to think and not how to think or communicate what they are thinking in a reasonable and logical manner.

The trivium is like a three legged stool. Removing anyone of these legs, I think, seriously limits a persons ability to operate in this complex world where we are being fed billions of bits of information and hundreds of arguments everyday.

The trivium was preparatory work for a curriculum that would follow known as the "quadrivium" which, as you may have guessed, means "four ways" or "four roads." The four roads of the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy) were in turn considered preparatory work for the study of philosophy and theology.

Because so much of philosophy is grounded in logic, I will prefer to see the two together (the exception to this is studying the history of philosophical thought and theory over time). I mentioned a fourth area of classical education which, in my perspective, should be included alongside the trivium from the very beginning of a persons education--theology. Theology is both the ground that the legs of the trivium stand on and the seat that the trivium supports. The purpose of the legs of the stool (of the trivium) is to aid our understanding of God, and without God as the ground below; rhetoric, logic and grammar would fall to the ground in splinters.

Since the term quadrivium already describes specific areas of study, one cannot lump theology in with the trivium and call it that. Perhaps I will do some brainstorming and come up with a new term to describe the study of the trivium alongside of theology.

All that said, I still plan on completing the series on sin that I started as a part of the study of theology. Alongside that series I will post other theologically related things as well as things pertaining to logic, grammar and rhetoric. Don't be scared off if you think topics like grammar and rhetoric are irrelevant to your life. We all speak and read even if some of us do not spend a lot of time writing. There are applications to be found for understanding more about grammar and rhetoric in everyone's life. I intentionally left the subject of logic out of those last two sentences because EVERYONE can benefit from the study of arguments and thinking since we hear and use arguments, and think, all the time. Logic, also called "reason" by some, could well be argued to be employed in the study of grammar and rhetoric since we use thought processes to understand grammatical concepts and words that ultimately are employed in speech. Isaac Watts, in his book entitled Logic, says this about logic:

Now the design of Logic is to teach us the right use of our reason, or intellectual powers, and the improvement of them in ourselves and others. This is not only necessary in order to attain any competent knowledge in the sciences, or the affairs of learning, but to govern both the greater and the meaner actions of life. It is the cultivation of our reason by which we are better enabled to distinguish good from evil, as well as truth from falsehood; and both these are matter of the highest importance, whether we regard this life, or the life to come.

The pursuit and acquisition of truth is of infinite concernment to mankind. Hereby we become acquainted with the name of things both in heaven and earth, and their various relations to each other. It is by this means we discover our duty to God and our fellow-creatures; by this we arrive at the knowledge of faith in divine revelation, as well as to understand what is revealed. Our wisdom, prudence, and piety, our present conduct and our future hope, are all influenced by the use of our rational powers in the search after truth.

I do not claim to be a master of any of these four areas of study and fully expect to learn a great deal as I post and (hopefully) read your comments. Don't be afraid; I will try my hardest to communicate some of the seemingly more complex things in terms anyone can understand.

Copying and Journaling the Scriptures With the 17:18 Series From RHB

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:27:00 +0000

Early on in my new life in Christ I had started the practice of copying large portions of Scripture for the sake of study, meditation, memorization and devotion. At first I did this on simple notebook paper and kept the copies and notes in a three-ring-binder. This system never worked too well as when I wrote on the pages they would begin to tear from the binder. I then moved to regular notebooks, but found this to be cumbersome and eventually stopped the practice altogether though I had found it to be extremely helpful.

A couple of days ago I received the new catalog from Reformation Heritage Books in which I found a product that will, much to my delight, enable me to restart this old practice of copying and taking notes on the Scriptures. RHB now offers hard-cover, journal like books designed specifically for copying and taking notes on whole books of the Bible called The 17:18 Series. Here is their description of the formatting of the books:

Each book is organized so that you can write out your very own copy of Scripture.You will be writing the Bible text only on the right hand page of the book. This should make for easier writing and also allows ample space on the left page to write your own notes and comments. From time to time a question or word will be lightly printed on the left page; these questions are to aid in further study, but should not interfere with your own notes and comments.

Each book is very nicely labeled on the outside for easy storage and retrieval on any bookshelf. Right now you can purchase the Proverbs volume or the Galatians through Thessalonians volume for only $10 each! The catalog also shows that you can purchase volumes for John, Romans, 1 Timothy-Hebrews and James-Jude.

I highly recommend this resource and look forward to using it myself to the glory of God! I also think this would be a great thing to leave to your children someday if you have them.

The Best and Primary Argument for The Inerrancy of Scripture: The Gospel

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:32:00 +0000

Questioning or denying the inerrancy of Scripture is tantamount to attempting to remove the support structures from a large high-rise building while believing that the building will continue to stand unaltered. For centuries now the presupposition of the inerrancy of the Scriptures has been the foundation on which the salvation of innumerable souls, the continuance and form of the Church and western civilization was built. One cannot expect; therefore, that one can assault this vital substructure and not see the world as we know it come crashing down.

The attack on the inerrancy of the Scripture; however, seems to be only a proxy war being waged with a greater “enemy” in mind for those who have taken up arms against it. Efforts to undermine the inerrancy of the Bible with textual criticism and by pointing to seemingly apparent contradictions really are just a slight of hand meant to distract from the real, foundational premise used to assert the perfection or inerrancy of the Scriptures that is in the crosshairs—the one, perfect God is the author of the Bible and therefore the Bible is as perfect as He is perfect. The greater enemy of those who deny the inerrancy of Scripture is none other than God Himself. Arguments regarding the inerrancy of Scripture; therefore, lead (should lead) instantaneously back to the doctrine of whether or not the Bible is the word of God.

If God is indeed the primary author of the Bible, all facts and questions must be assessed in light of what that Bible makes undeniably clear about Him. Instead of subjecting the Scripture to the litmus test of flawed, subjective, often emotionally motivated human reason; we must look at every phrase, proposition, scientific and historical fact in light of the nature and character of God. The argument would look something like this: if God is, and God is X and God authored the Scriptures, then the scripture is (or isn’t) inerrant.

In my experience, arguments against the inerrancy of Scripture start from a primary motivation to either disprove that God exists at all or to argue against the holy and delightful perfection of His character. It is here, then, that all our manpower and weaponry should be employed; namely, in proclaiming the existence, perfection and greatness of God, thus proving the inerrancy of the Scriptures. This is where Jesus Christ and the cross come in, that is; this is where the gospel comes in, but I’ll return to that shortly.

Most of those who subscribe to the fact that the Scriptures are inerrant agree with Wayne Grudem’s definition of inerrancy from his Systematic Theology which states “The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact.” Those who scoff at this definition do so with rather illogical arguments. Many of these arguments are formed by attempts to demand of the Bible what no one demands of normal, acceptable speech and writing. Examples of these illogical arguments would include assaulting historical figures that appear to be inaccurate. When one says “140,000 people were killed in the tsunami” we do not take them literally. It would be rather amazing if exactly 140,000 people died in that tragic catastrophe. Normal conventions of speech allow for this sort of rounding as well as using what Grudem defines as “loose or free quotations.” As an example, Grudem says this:

Consider this sentence: “Elliot said that he would return home for supper right away.” The sentence does not quote Elliot directly, but it is an acceptable and truthful report of Elliot’s actual statement to his father, “I will come to the house to eat in two minutes,” even though the indirect quotation included none of the speaker’s original words.

Often an understanding of historical forms of written and verbal speech, especially in their original culture and language, can dispel many of these seemingly apparent errors in the Scriptures. Yet despite giving plausible and even convincing technical arguments for the inerrancy of Scriptures, especially in problem areas; those who deny the inerrancy of Scripture are most often left unconvinced and usually come up with new reasons to reject the Bible and the God of the Bible. If this is the case, and it often is, then perhaps there is a more base reason for why the inerrancy of Scripture is dismissed. The apostle Paul gives us the clearest reason:

But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him’—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:7-14)

The inability to accept the inerrancy of the Scripture traces directly back through these branch issues of grammar, semantics and statistics to the very root problem; if you do not believe God exists and is the author, then you will not know the author and you will not know His character. If you do not know His character, you will not understand how His absolute, sovereign and glorious perfection could never produce a work filled with lies or errors. Furthermore, not having the Author present to explain His work is sure to lead to not understanding the Scriptures and eventually to deciding that it is flawed. One then comes full-circle as the belief in a flawed work leads to either a belief in a flawed God or a God that does not exist at all. If one approaches the Bible with a desire to prove that God does not exist or is flawed, then that is certainly what they accomplish time and again. How, then, do we respond to those who reject the inerrancy of Scripture and therefore the inerrancy of God Himself? Once again, Paul provides us with an answer:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

What arguments will be most effective against refutations of the inerrancy of Scripture? I think it is clear. No matter how much we may try to prove plausibly and convincingly (that perceived errors in the Scriptures are not errors at all by addressing grammar and conventions of speech); at the end of the day the best and most effective argument for the inerrancy of Scripture is the cross of Christ—the gospel. In Paul’s day, what we call Scripture now was largely (excluding the Old Testament) the message he and others were preaching—Christ crucified. Backing up a few verses from those quoted above we see Paul saying this:

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

What men were refuting in Paul’s time regarding the inerrancy of Scripture was the very message of the gospel itself. On what grounds did they dispute the inerrancy of what we now call the (New Testament) Scriptures? Was it not on the grounds that God was not the author of this new covenant and that Jesus was not from God? Even today Jews will still ask for signs to prove that Jesus was the Christ and “Greek” (gentiles) will ask for wisdom, that is, convincing arguments. How shall we respond? “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.”

Both the existence and perfect character of God are most perfectly displayed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any other argument employed to prove the inerrancy of the Scriptures and, more importantly, the perfection of its Author will always fail in comparison to God’s supreme argument for His existence, goodness and supremacy. Paul knew this and resolved to not let the gospel become a sub-argument, but the primary argument. Though men may reject the gospel and therefore God and the inerrancy of His Scriptures, the fact still remains that the greatest and most powerful “argument” we have for the inerrancy of the Scriptures is still the gospel. This gospel is that Jesus Christ was sent by the Father to glorify God by dieing on the cross to forgive our sins and bring eternal life to mankind; namely, to know and find ineffable joy in God forever.

A Call To Self-Examination: Research In Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:21:00 +0000

Just wanted to let those of you know who are following my series on sin that I have not abandoned it. I want my conclusions to be accurate and thorough so I am currently in the process of gathering and sorting through texts relating to sin. I am hoping to post my first installment very soon. In the meantime stay tuned as I will be posting various other things that will hopefully be interesting, encouraging and perhaps sometimes a little bold and challenging.

For example, I plan on posting a little excerpt from a paper I am working on arguing that the primary purpose of the institution of the covenants is:

The glorification of God (the creator of the covenants) by means of us knowing, and thus enjoying Him, through union with Him forever by His grace in Christ Jesus.

Arise and Illuminate: Final Verse

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 05:32:00 +0000

I completed the final verse of the hymn. Here it is:

Illuminate, O Lord of all with glory undefined
Come manifest your Father’s name you had before all time
Arise to bring us grace and peace, deliver us from strife
To know you is our greatest joy, this is eternal life.

Arise And Illuminate

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 02:44:00 +0000

Here's an attempt I made at writing a hymn a couple years ago. The lyrics are inspired by Isaiah 60:1-3 and Colossians 3:1-3. I thought I had written a 4th verse but I think I didn't finish it and thus can't find it. My plan for the fourth verse was to have content in it inspired by John 17, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.

Arise, O’ heart of mine, from muck and mire and woe

Be done with worthless earthly things and hurry to the throne
For you have died and in him rest who dwells at His right hand
And there with Christ in heaven above you do already stand.

Arise, O’ sleeping flame, ignited by His call
From ash and dust burst forth again fed by the All in All
Shine brightly now upon a stand for everyone to show,
The glory of sufficient grace and heights within the lows.

Illuminate, O’ child of God, Christ’s radiance display
With unveiled face be now transformed into the light of day.
Though darkness reign o’er all the earth have faith and be not shocked
If all the nations of the earth and kings to you do flock.

Drowning In Abundance

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:49:00 +0000

I have recently been reading The Mystery of Providence by John Flavel. In chapter four Flavel discusses God's providence in relation to our employment/work in this world. There is an interesting subsection in this chapter wherein Flavel shows that God's providence is displayed "in making your calling sufficient for you." The essence of this section could easily be summed up with the words of Paul where he says "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me" (Php. 4:12&13).

What caught my attention most about this section was Flavel's warning regarding being consumed by your work:

And yet do not be so intent upon your callings [jobs] as to make them interfere with your general calling. Beware you do not lose your God in the crowd and hurry of earthly business. Mind that solemn warning: 'But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition' (1 Tim. 6. 9). The inhabitants of Oenoe, a dry island near Athens, bestowed much labor to draw in a river to water it and make it fruitful. But when the sluices were opened, the waters flowed so abundantly that it overflowed the island and drowned the inhabitants. The application is obvious. It was an excellent saying of Seneca: 'I do not give, but lend myself to business.'

Ultimately Flavel is making the point that we should be satisfied with the occupation that He has given us and not want more because more does not equate to better. On the flip side, don't desire a job with less work or that pays less because God's providence has placed you in it and He will provide you with the strength to accomplish the work and use the abundance rightly.

Abundance, argues Flavel, can drown out that which is most important to your joy--God. Work at your occupation giving thanks to God that He has given it to you so that you can help others, not starve yourself and so that you are not idle and therefore more prone to sin that often accompanies such idleness. Don't, however, work for abundance just for the sake of abundance or you may find yourself in the same position as the Oenoeans.

A Call to Self-Examination: Considering How To Arrive at a Concise, Biblical Definition of Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:11:00 +0000

As established in my introductory post; we have no lack of definitions of sin either amongst the theologians, the secular critics of the idea of sin, or among average people who haven’t given it much thought. The seriousness of these definitions varies widely. Some people’s definition of sin simply equates sin to spilled milk and nothing more than an accident that need not be fretted or cried over. Others define sin as a breaking of some list of agreed wrongs or evils, or not doing a list of good, that is, the breaking or not fulfilling of some code of law. Perhaps one of the most popular definitions of sin among modern, evangelical Christians describes sin as simply “missing the mark.”

Most of these definitions of sin are, regrettably, simply a matter of opinion or a regurgitation of what they have heard others define sin as being. Others attempt to define sin by looking at a few passages of the Bible and thus come to quick and incomplete or shallow definitions of sin. To come to a right, concise and most fundamental definition of sin; one must consider more than just the meaning of the word “sin” in the original Greek and Hebrew that the Bible was written in. One must also look at such things as: examples of people sinning, things that the Bible directly calls sin, what sin is contrasted with, penalties for sinning, Biblical prescriptions of how to deal with or respond to sin, any definitions that the Bible might give for sin (i.e. by saying “sin is” or “…is sin”), what causes sin, and examples of what has happened to people who have sinned. Moreover, how does what we know about the character and nature of God effect our definition of and response to sin?

Given the amount of information that must be considered in order to arrive at a right definition of sin; I will be presenting this data over multiple posts, since I know that no one reads blogs that are either long or contain an overwhelming amount of information and complex arguments. As a general format for these posts I will use the aforementioned list of things one must consider to come to a more comprehensive and concise definition of sin.

A Call to Self-Examination for the Sake of God's Glory: Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph Mancuso) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:49:00 +0000

Introduction

Sin. What is your first reaction to the sight, sound or thought of this word? Do you scoff at the term thinking it an antiquated legal term relevant only to the men of the past who drained the blood of bulls and lambs in an attempt to drain their own guilt? Perhaps you acknowledge that sin is "bad," and recognize that you need to deal with it, but feel that it is impossible to ever accomplish any significant victory over known, reoccurring sins and thus you have, to a large degree, given up on fighting it? Maybe you are of the sort that jokes about your sin as an attempt to show others that you are humble or "just like them?" When you see this word do you think of yourself first, or someone else? Does this word cause sorrow that leads you into self-centeredness and thus pity and depression instead of God-centeredness and thus victory, joy, hope and more faith?

At it's very root, what is sin and therefore how should we respond to it? In the following posts I would like to take a serious look at what the Bible clearly and vividly says about what sin is, and from that extrapolate how we should view and respond to the presence of sin in our life and the lives of others. In this series I hope to clearly and vividly show the serious, gross, despicable, vile nature of sin and why we should all take serious, Biblical and God enabled steps to rid ourselves of every semblance of it so far as God gives us the power to do so.

In the next post I will begin this discussion by answering the question, "What does the Bible most clearly teach that sin is?" In defining what the Bible says sin is, that will naturally, I hope, cause us to respond to it as we should and thus I will move into what the Bible says about how we must respond to sin. I hope you will join me in this discussion with your comments and questions.