For the last 6 years I’ve been dreaming about getting the PowerBook/MacBook Pro!  I did have a 12″ PowerBook G4 for 2.5 years which was great, but wouldn’t run the Windows Bible software I rely heavily upon.  Finally made the big decision - ditched all the PC hardware I had, gave my wife my MacBook and went to the Apple Store in Braintree, MA!  It is a great computer - worth every penny of the $1799 (with educational discount) that I spent!

Due to serious concerns about what kind of blog one would reach clicking on the “next blog” link over at blogspot.com, I have made the move over to the superior WordPress!

Some of the most exciting stories in the Bible present situations where God’s people had their fortunes totally reversed in a very short time - like over night or in one day. In the Book of Revelation (NOT “Revelations” - but that is another post) God destroys the Babylonian worldwide government and economy in ONE DAY (Rev. 18:8). In the Old Testament (II Kings 7) there was a severe famine. The Syrians were coming to destroy Israel, things looked bleak! But then four lepers decided to enter Samaria as they reasoned there was nothing to lose by doing so (II Kings 7:4). They entered, found everything that the Syrians had left, and immediately Israel went from famine to plenty!

What does that have to do with “No More iPhone?” One week ago I was joyously using my beloved iPhone as I had since June 29 (see posts below). On Wednesday evening after church I logged on to the AT$T website to see about upgrading my wife’s phone. Strangely, the link to upgrade was not present and I was offered the magnaminous option to “upgrade with no contractual commitment” which in plain English means “pay full price” for the new cell phone! So I called AT$T and found out they wanted to get rid of me! We were using too many “off-network” minutes and they determined I wasn’t making enough money for them. My monthly cell phone service bill, with unlimited data transfer on the iPhone, was $110-120.

To make a long story short, after three calls and 2 hours on the phone with AT$T customer service, they offered to buy back my iPhone (which I paid $499.95 for, now sells for $299.95, another post!) at full price and cancel me out. I could see the Lord’s hand on this as I am trying to cut back on expenses, so I went for it. Saturday I got set up with T-Mobile at the Costco kiosk with two free Razrs and much cheaper service. I heartily recommend ALWAYS checking with BJ’s or Costco if you are getting anything. The deal there was much better than elsewhere. The Razr I bought is usually $149 or more with a $50 rebate after. I paid $0.00. No rebate needed!

On Monday (September 10) I received my refund from the local AT$T store minus a 10% restocking fee which later on was refunded to me via a helpful AT$T customer service rep.

So, no more iPhone! I loved using it, but the Lord bailed me out of $500 spent and $30-35 per month extra on the cell bill each month. In a matter of 48 hours I went from thinking I’d be using it for 22 more months to not having it at all!

Isaiah 45:3 “And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.”
It is my fear that there is nothing missing from Christian lives today more than a real, daily walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you meet with the Holy Spirit to commune with God the Father and God the Son every day?
Psalm 91:1 “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”
I use this illustration: A husband says of his wife “we never talk except for when there is a problem or a great need! We have a great marriage!” NO ONE WOULD SAY THAT IS A GREAT MARRIAGE, NO ONE! Yet, isn’t this exactly how most Christians treat our precious Lord? Do you only use God as a “genie in a bottle” to run to when the going gets rough? I am afraid most do!
Now to go from preaching to meddling! If you are a pastor or a missionary (or both!) and you are reading this, I have a question for you: Do you meet with God every morning before you do anything else? If you don’t, you are disobeying the Lord Jesus Christ and dishonoring the very ministry you claim to love!

David wrote in Psalm 55:16-17 “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.”

The great Christians have always been men of prayer — it is impossible to be a “great” Christian without it!
As you read the biographies of well-known Christians such as John Wesley, George Whitefield, Charles Finney, D.L. Moody, Charles Spurgeon.
Let me quote Spurgeon from his “Lectures to My Students” (p. 41) “If, in the future, you shall be called to sustain pastorates, large or small, if you become lax in SECRET DEVOTION, not on will you need to be pitied, but your people also; and, in addition to that, you shall be blamed, and the day cometh in which you shall be ashamed and confounded.”

A few pages later he quotes from David Brainerd’s diary: “Lord’s Day, April 25th–This morning spent about two hours in sacred duties, and was enabled, more than ordinarily, to agonize for immortal souls; though it was early in the morning, and the sun scarcely shone at all, yet my body was quite wet with sweat.” (p. 45)

He quotes John Knox who “wondered how a Christian could lie in his bed all night and not rise to pray.” (p. 46)

He refers to a Joseph Alliene who “did constantly arise before four of the clock, and would be much troubled if he heard smiths or other craftsmen at their trades before he was at communion with God.” He would say “How this noise shames me.
Does not my Master deserve more than theirs?”

When should a Christian meet the Lord each day?
There is no better description of this than in Mark 1:35 “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

In 1884 Spurgeon preached a sermon “Before Daybreak with Christ.” Here are a few of his comments:
“If I could impress my heart on every syllable and baptize every word with my tears, I could not too earnestly entreat you to be above all things earnest in prayer. I delight to think of our Lord as praying before He did a great thing. It was His custom to do so. Perhaps the early morning prayer of our text preceded the Sermon on the Mount.”
“He rose up that weekday morning early and retired to a solitary place to pray, to teach us not to keep out religousness for Sabbath days or retain our prayerfulness for one day of the week.”

To draw a few analogies –
In baseball they used to say that throwing to the base BEHIND the runner is like locking the barn after your horse is stolen!
It is so much better to do things right the first time around than to have to fix them later on.

Now I am going out on a limb here! I know that some of you may not agree, but I truly believe that the time to meet with God is first thing in the morning BEFORE you do anything else!

Psalm 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee.”
I believe that it is vital for a Christian to rise early and have a designated place to go and meet God — ALONE.
I even schedule it on my computer and phone!

Spurgeon wrote in the same message “Before Daybreak with Christ” — “You observe that in His prayer He desired very much to be alone.” (Mark 1:35 departed to a solitary place).
“Secret prayer is the secret of prayer, the soul of prayer, the seal of prayer, the strength of prayer. If you do not pray alone, you do not pray at all…the less prayer is observed on earth, the more it is observed in heaven. That which is carefully concealed from men is seen of the Father (Matt. 6:6 - “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”)
Spurgeon went on to say: “’Oh,’ says one, ‘I live in the spirit of prayer, and therefore I do not need times and seasons for prayer.’ And do you think that Christ did not live in the spirit of prayer?”

William MacDonald writes: “Jesus rose a long while before daylight and went out to a place where He would be free from distraction and spend time in prayer. The Servant of Jehovah opened His ear each morning to receive instructions for the day from God the Father (Isa. 50:4, 5). If the Lord Jesus felt the need of this early morning quiet time, how much more should we! Notice too that He prayed when it cost Him something; He rose and went out a long while before daylight. Prayer should not be a matter of personal convenience but of self-discipline and sacrifice. Does this explain why so much of our service is ineffective?”

Only God can transform your life — the Christian life is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
I believe that every Christian should desire to be right with God — if not, there is a serious spiritual problem.
All of you want the results of a secret place meeting with God every day, but probably few really are willing to do what it takes!
Start tomorrow morning by getting up 15 minutes early, praying and spending time in God’s Word, communicating with Him — it is worth it!

Every year Dr. Clarence Sexton hosts The Pastors’ College at Crown College in Powell, Tennessee. This was a blessed time as Dr. Sexton taught us on the need to multiply through discipleship. The teaching, fellowship, question and answer sessions and atmosphere in general were all working together to encourage and equip the 200 pastors who attended to serve the Lord Jesus Christ with a greater fervor.

Here is Dr. Sexton and a guest at The Pastors’ College!

Crown College has a tremendous bookstore with many hard to find and precious works. It is the first college bookstore I ever went to where I truly believe a pastor could have every book he truly needed just by buying what is in there. I can’t say enough about the spiritual atmosphere at Crown College and Temple Baptist Church. Pastor Sexton likes to say “it all begins with God” and he is right! The Christian’s obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ is continually stressed. If you are looking for a godly independent, fundamental, separatist Baptist college to train your young preachers there is no better place than Crown College.

Wednesday evening we attended Temple Baptist Church and had the special blessing of hearing Pastor Sexton preaching to his own people.

Crown College & Seminary and the various ministries associated with Temple Baptist Church have the hand of God on them. It is vital that we make disciples who can stand for the old paths. Pay them a visit at http://www.faithforthefamily.com or http://www.thecrowncollege.com.

Pictures will be posted here in a few days: http://photos.faithforthefamily.com/Site/Gallery%20Links.html.

NOTE: This article by Al Mohler makes some very good points. When it comes to the eternal destiny of the souls of men, women, boys and girls we must be sure of what we believe. For years The Roman Catholic hierarchy has muddied the waters, trying to hide their true beliefs, using a methodology known as religious syncretism where they “blend into the woodwork” like a chameleon does. The new pope is boldly proclaiming his beliefs, which are the real Romanist dogmas, and the liberal protestants are crying foul!

I’m glad this pope is clearly defining what Roman dogma consists of - this makes our job easier!
–Roman Catholicism believes salvation is in a church, the Bible says it is only in Jesus Christ! (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
–Roman Catholicism believes sacraments are steps in a salvation plan, we KNOW that a man is justified by faith in Christ’s death for our sins, His burial and glorious resurrection according to the SCRIPTURES! (Romans 10:9-10; I Corinthians 15:1-4-the Gospel message)
–Rome says you must join their “church” — Jesus Christ says that you must be born again! (John 3:3, 7; I Peter 1:23; II Corinthians 5:17)

If (and I know they are not) Romanists are right, all “Christians” had better run back to Big Daddy at the Vatican. If we are right (and I KNOW we are), we should be warning every man (Col. 1:27-29) and preaching the gospel to all! — PLL

NOTE #2: I sent this to everyone in my address book. My prayer is that everyone who receives it will understand that my sacred and solemn duty is to preach the gospel of Christ to everyone out of love and concern. The Apostle Paul said in Romans 1:16 ” For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

No, I’m not offended
By R. Albert Mohler Jr.
Jul 13, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)–Aren’t you offended? That is the question many evangelicals are being asked in the wake of a recent document released by the Vatican. The document declares that the Roman Catholic Church is the
only true church — or, in words the Vatican would prefer to use, the only institutional form in which the Church of Christ subsists.

No, I am not offended. In the first place, I am not offended because this is not an issue in which emotion should play a key role. This is a theological question, and our response should be theological, not emotional. Secondly, I am not offended because I am not surprised. No one familiar with the statements of the Roman Catholic Magisterium should be surprised by this development. This is not news in any genuine sense. It is news only in the current context of Vatican statements and ecumenical relations. Thirdly, I am not offended because this new document actually brings attention to the crucial issues of ecclesiology, and thus it presents us with an opportunity.

The Vatican document is very brief — just a few paragraphs in fact. It’s official title is “Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church,” and it was released by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Defense of the Faith on June 29. Though many media sources have identified the document as a papal statement from Pope Benedict
XVI, it is actually a statement from the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith that was later approved for release by the Pope (who, as Cardinal Ratzinger, headed this Congregation prior to assuming the papacy).

The document claims a unique legitimacy for the Roman Catholic Church as the church established by Christ. The document stakes this identity on a claim to apostolic succession, centered in the papacy itself. As the document states, “This Church, constituted and organised in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him.”

Lest anyone miss the point, the document then goes on to acknowledge that the churches of Eastern Orthodoxy also stake a claim to apostolic succession, and thus they are referred to as “Churches” by the Vatican. As for the churches born in whatever form out of the Reformation — they are not true churches at all, only “ecclesial communities.”

Look at this:
“According to Catholic doctrine, these Communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial Communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery
cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called ‘Churches’ in the proper sense.”

Pope Benedict was already in hot water with the media because of his recent decision related to the (limited) reinstitution of the Latin mass, complete with a call for the conversion of the Jews. He was not likely to be named “Ecumenist of the Year” anyway. This latest controversy just adds to the media impression of big changes at the Vatican under the current papacy.

There have been changes for sure. Benedict truly is a doctrinal theologian, whereas his popular predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was more a philosopher by academic training. Those familiar with the current Pope know of his frustration with the tendency of liberal Catholic theologians and laypersons to insist that the Second Vatican Council (known popularly as “Vatican II”) represented a massive shift (to the left) in Catholic doctrine. Not so, insisted Cardinal Ratzinger as head of the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith. Now, as Pope, Benedict is in a position to shape his argument into a universal policy for his church. Vatican II, he insists, represented only a deepening and reapplication of unchanging Catholic doctrine.

Evangelicals should appreciate the candor reflected in this document. There is no effort here to confuse the issues. To the contrary, the document is an obvious attempt to set the record straight. The Roman Catholic Church does not deny that Christ is working redemptively through Protestant and evangelical churches, but it does deny that these churches which deny the authority of the papacy are true churches in the most important sense. The true church, in other words, is that church identified through the recognition of the papacy. Those churches that deny or fail to recognize the papacy are “ecclesial Communities,” not churches “in the proper sense,” according to the document.

I appreciate the document’s clarity on this issue. It all comes down to this — the claim of the Roman Catholic Church to the primacy of the Bishop of Rome and the Pope as the universal monarch of the church is the defining issue. Roman Catholics and evangelicals should together recognize the importance of that claim. We should together realize and admit that this is
an issue worthy of division. The Roman Catholic Church is willing to go so far as to assert that any church that denies the papacy is no true church. Evangelicals should be equally candid in asserting that any church defined by the claims of the papacy is no true church. This is not a theological game for children; it is the honest recognition of the importance of the
question.

The Reformers and their heirs put their lives on the line in order to stake this claim. In this era of confusion and theological laxity we often forget that this was one of the defining issues of the Reformation itself. Both the Reformers and the Roman Catholic Church staked their claim to be the true church — and both revealed their most essential convictions in making their argument. As Martin Luther and John Calvin both made clear, the first mark of the true Church is the ministry of the Word — the preaching of the Gospel. The Reformers indicted the Roman Catholic Church for failing to exhibit this mark, and thus failing to be a true church. The Catholic church returned the favor, defining the church in terms of the papacy and
magisterial authority. Those claims have not changed.

I also appreciate the spiritual concern reflected in this document. The artificial and deadly dangerous game of ecumenical confusion has obscured issues of grave concern for our souls. I truly believe that Pope Benedict and the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith are concerned for our evangelical souls and our evangelical congregations. Pope Benedict is not playing a game. He is not asserting a claim to primacy on the playground. He, along with the Magisterium of his church, believes that Protestant churches are gravely defective and that our souls are in danger. His sacramental theology plays a large role in this concern, for he believes and teaches that a church without submission to the papacy has no guaranteed efficacy for its sacraments. (This point, by the way, explains why the Protestant churches that claim a sacramental theology are more concerned about this Vatican statement — it denies the basic validity of their sacraments.)

I actually appreciate the Pope’s concern. If he is right, we are endangering our souls and the souls of our church members. Of course, I am convinced that he is not right — not right on the papacy, not right on the sacraments, not right on the priesthood, not right on the Gospel, not right on the church.

The Roman Catholic Church believes we are in spiritual danger for obstinately and disobediently excluding ourselves from submission to its universal claims and its papacy. Evangelicals should be concerned that Catholics are in spiritual danger for their submission to these very claims. We both understand what is at stake.

The Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, responded to the press by saying that the Vatican’s “exclusive claims” are “troubling.” He also said, “[W]hat may have been meant to clarify has caused pain.”

I will let Bishop Hanson explain his pain. I do not see this new Vatican statement as an innovation or an insult. I see it as a clarification and a helpful demarcation of the issues at stake.

I appreciate the Roman Catholic Church’s candor on this issue, and I believe that Evangelical Christians, with equal respect and clarity, should respond in kind. This is a time to be respectfully candid — not a time to be offended.
–30–
R. Albert Mohler Jr. is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
in Louisville, Ky.

© Copyright 2007 Baptist Press
Original copy of this story can be found at
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=26073

I’ve been using my iPhone since around 8:15 PM on Friday. I have to say that it is everything I expected and then some. My activation went great - had to download the new iTunes, then the phone was activated in about 5 minutes. The iPhone is tremendous! The email, SMS messaging and the phone function itself are all head and shoulders above anything else out there. The keyboard is also awesome! It takes a few days to truly get accustomed to it, but once one does get used to “trusting” the keyboard software it is really fast.

The Google maps are great also. Used them on visitation on Tuesday night and got right where I wanted to go more quickly than ever before.

Two things about the price: Since it includes an iPod, $199 for a 4GB Nano doesn’t have to be spent - and the Nano doesn’t have the video. which brings one up to $249 for the regular iPod. Throw in the fact that the unlimited data transmission via internet and email is only $20 per month (200 messages, $10 more for 1500, $20 more for unlimited text messaging) the price isn’t actually that high. The Blackberry packages that are similar are generally $40-50 per month extra. Not to mention it far and away has the best video resolution of any device like it.

I’d better get back to work! I have to say I’ve never been more pleased with a technological device than I am with the iPhone!

Eureka! Yes, I did buy an iPhone today! Only waited about 50 minutes at the Randolph, MA AT&T store! An incredible piece of technology.

Picked up the Zondervan Scholarly Bible Study Library for Macintosh® last week. Tremendous original language tools. I’ve been enjoying it! It uses the Accordance format which has lightning fast searches which are very accurate. I also have the QuickVerse Gold package which has bugs in the searching and doesn’t alway return all the correct results. Bad deal!

Here is the #1 Red Sox with his own team jersey from the nearby Lowell Spinners. For one day last year they became the “Mike Lowell” Spinners.