The Kingdom Come

BING.COM

Bing is a new search engine produced by Microsoft.  You would have thought they would have jumped into this business a bit sooner.  Bing makes claims of being different than say, Google in that Bing claims to be a "decision engine" not just a search engine of often disconnected facts.

We now go on to perhaps the meat of the issue, SCRIPTURE!  But what do we mean when we say Scripture?  Is it the 66 books considered the Bible by most Protestants or is it something else?  We can't really debate or claim we are merely using Scripture if we don't or can't define what we mean by Scripture.  Mathison tackles this issue.  For the issue among Christians ISN'T who is or isn't quoting Scripture, but what is Scripture and HOW is it to be interpreted.

I graciously just received a copy of the DVD, The Late Great Planet Church: The Rise Of Dispensationalism released March 2009.  I would like to give a bit of a review of the 2 hour video put together by Nicenecouncil.com.

Obviously, the title of the DVD is a play upon the famous 1970 dispensational book by Hal Lindsey The Late Great Planet Earth.

My first impression was simply with the quality of the DVD.  Many Christian DVDs seem to be low-grade, typically by the poor lighting & single angle camera shots.  This DVD makes good use of lighting & transition between scenes.

As the video began, it accurately presented the Dispensational view & it makes the typical claims against it.

Well, here's another one of my hodge-podge updates.  Here are the topics in case you are interested in any of them or just want to skip over this post.

1. Ford -- A REAL American company
2. World Alamanac Classifies JWs & Mormons as "Christian"
3. Files Over Miles (Peer-to-Peer File sharing)

A doctrine that is much misunderstood & often incorrectly mimicked is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.  It is often called the preservation of the saints or sometimes mimicked as "once saved, always saved", "eternal security", or "Lordship salvation".  Perhaps the misunderstanding of this doctrine starts with people who misunderstand who it is doing the persevering.  Being a part of Calvinistic or Reformed doctrine, it should be obvious that it is NOT the individual doing the persevering but that it is God's gracious hand that perseveres.

On a liberal "Christian" blog, I recently saw the following video posted.  The liberal "Christian" said: The sooner this crap goes by the wayside, the better", yet after watching the video you will notice there isn't ANYTHING in it that isn't part of the Christian message -- well, unless Christians no longer think premarital sex, rape, drugs, abortion & homosexuality is wrong.

Apparently the group of liberal "Christians" where this was originally posted either think it is wrong to call anything sinful or they think it isn't our place to call anything a sin.

What do you think?...that's a question for Christians, not pretenders.

Kingdom Commentaries Podcast was a monthly feature of thekingdomcome.com for over 2 years but this is the first one produced for 2009.  TKC Update 2009 is a summary of some projects I have going.  Listen to this 9 minute audio either via the Kingdom Commentaries podcast page or if you want to download it to your computer, ipod or mp3 device simply right click the following link and select SAVEAS.

thekingdomcome.com/kingdomcommentaries/sites/all/tkcupdate2009_mixed.mp3

SHOW NOTES:

Topics mentioned

1. Review of When Shall These Things Be?
2. PreteristBlog.com
3. Theology Today
4. Review of The Shape of Sola Scriptura
5. YouTube Videos produced by TKC
6. Radical Corruption video
7. Christian HipHop Forum (site not disclosed)
8. Multi-contributor Bible Commentary Project (in progress)
9. Commemortating John Calvin's 500th birthday

A new friend has been kind enough to send me some resources & materials that I am eager to share with TKC readers.  I also encourage you to look into obtaining these materials.

Amazing Grace - The History and Theology of Calvinismⁱ is the first video documentary that answers these and other related questions. This fascinating three-part, four-hour presentation is detailed enough so as to not gloss over the controversy. At the same time, it is broken up into ten "Sunday-school-sized" sections to make the rich content manageable and accessible for the average viewer. (DVD 4 hours, 17 minutes) WEBSITE: theapologeticsgroup.com

Calvinism, Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism: A Theological Primer by Drs. Kenneth Talbot and Gary Crampton -- Learn how the sovereignty of God does not relieve man from his duty or responsibility. Discover how the gospel can be shared without compromising God’s sovereignty. Finally, learn that Calvinism is more than five points of theology, but a world and life view that has great implications on how we are to live our lives, love our spouse, raise our children and disciple the nations. (Softcover book 157 pages) WEBSITE: nicenecouncil.com

Confirming Our Faith: A Reformed Covenant Theology of the Sacraments by Dr. Kenneth G. Talbot -- A clear, careful, and crucial study of Reformed sacramental theology as a response to the growing “Federal Vision” movement. Tragically, few today understand what all is at stake in the current debate. Though recent history has witnessed a resurgence of Reformation theology, ignorance of the sacraments has become a weak link in the Reformed Christian’s ecclesiastical faith and practice. (Softcover book, 160 pages) WEBSITE: nicenecouncil.com

SERMONS & STUDIES -- Dr. Kenneth Talbot

1. Justification (14 sermons)
2. Resurrection: The Christian Hope (15 sermons)
3. Hebrews: An Exposition (46 sermons)
4. The Book of Revelation (67 sermons)
5. Voices of the Prophets (16 sermons)
6. Roman Catholic Baptism
7. Rise and Fall of the American Republic
8. Duties and Attitudes of Church Membership (6 sermons)
9. Calvinism: The Doctrines of Grace (22 sermons)

LISTEN TO DR. TALBOT April 22, 2009 Interview on Covenant Radio (50 mins)