Reformation Day

It is amazing to me how few Christians know anything about Reformation Day. Those who do often play down the significance or even denounce the celebration of such, because it is divisive and elitist.

As for me and my house, we had a special worship service at home on Sunday that included a selection of hymns and spiritual songs that focused on the power, priority and preminence of the Word of God. I gathered the children around and told them the vivid story of Martin Luter's confrontation with Pope Leo and the Catholic rulers of his day. Then we did a Bible study from 2 Tim 3.16... looking at five really good reasons to study the Bible.
1. It is God's very word "God'breathed"
2. It tells us what God expects us to do "doctrine"
3. It tells what God forbids "reproof"
4. It tells how to be sanctified "correction"
5. It tells how to do the hard work of living holy "training in righteousness"

I trust as Christians, we will never downplay the significance of a man who was so passionate about the Truth of God's Word, that he staked his entire reputation and even his very life on the line for the defense of it... in so doing, changing Christendom and the World forevermore. Praise the Lord for the legacy of Martin Luther and may we have such courage.

May we all say "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel!"

Please take a moment and share how you celebrated Reformation Day by voting in the poll to the right and them sharing your experiences in comment!

Grace to You!

Why Should We Pray?

“The spectacle of a nation praying is more awe inspiring than the explosion of an atomic bomb. The force of prayer is greater than any possible combination of man made or man controlled powers, because prayer is man’s greatest means of tapping the infinite resources of God.”

Guess who said that? J. Edgar Hoover! That's right! The 48 year Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations. I never would have guessed that as a source, but the last thought is very profound... "prayer is man's greatest means of tapping the infinite resources of God."

Isn't that an amazing thought. God has "blesseds us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ." (Eph 1.3) The means by which we appropriate those infinite blessings is the intimacy of prayer. See James 4.2 "You have not because you ask not!" God tells us to ask in the name of Christ and we will receive. When we ask God for His will, we can be confident that we are going to find it. We ask GOd for His blessings on His terms in His time and he showers them upon us! As Pastors, we might wonder why our church doesn't grow. As Parents, we wonder why we struggle with our children. As Sunday School teachers, we wonder why our students are not growing and appropriating the Truth. How much do we pray for these things. You ever wonder why people don't come to the Lord in faith and repentance? How much do you pray for God to work a miracle of rebirth in the lives of people? Prayer is the means by which we tap the infinite resources of God.

How much have you tapped into the resources God has stored for you? Prayer is an earnest discipline of pouring your heart out to God and seeking His face and His will in the issues of life. It is not vainly repeating some prayer found buried in the an Old Testament geneology. It is honest and passionate. It is heartfelt and mind driven. What a privilege we have to enter into the presence of Holy God and pour out our requests to Him in confidence and boldness.

Grace to You!

Blame it on the Brain!?

An recent article at Fox News reporting the recent delcarations by the National Institutes of Mental Health that 46 % of all Americans will development a mental illness, caused me to once again ponder the issues of sin, psychology and Biblical answers.

Where do I even begin? When I was an elementary student in the early 1980s, the school counselor recommended that my parents put me on a regular intake of Ritalin. It seems I was not performing up to par. I was easily distracted and could not stick to a task for very long. Now I am 31 years old ... I am still not the most disciplined person. It takes a lot of work to excerise discipline and self control, especially for an 8 year old boy who had an overactive imagination. Did I need drugs to control by chemically "imbalanced" brain? Did I need someone to help me discipline myself for life?

Please don't misunderstand me! I understand that there are some situation in which legitimate, physiological concerns must be addressed by qualified medical professionals. However, this does not change the clear meaning of God's diagnosis and subsequent prescription for what ails the human condition.

What God has called sin, modern "doctors," have labeled sickness, disease, and (when they have no quantitative evidence) disorders. See for example:

Stealing (Eph 4.28)= Kleptomania
Worry Phil 4.6,7 = Anxiety
Laziness (Ecc 9.10) = Attention Deficit Disorder
Homosexuality (Rom 1.26,27) = Sexual Orientation
Fear (1 John 4.17,18) = Phobia
Selfishness (Rom 12.3-5) (Phil 2.3,4) = Depression
Drunkenness (1 Cor 6.9-11) (Eph 5.18) = Alcoholism

And so on and on the list goes. There are of course many dangers in creating excuses for sin. The greatest danger, as I perceive it, is the failure to offer any real solutions, a lack of hope. For example, when a drunkard is told he has a disease and will always have this disease, there is no hope. Sure, he is relieved from responsibilty, he is released from the consequences of his actions, and is given a formula to attempt to control the disease. But in reality, he is left with no hope.

When we call rebellious action what God calls it - sin - there is a solution, there is hope! Jesus came to "save his people from their sins" (Matt 1.21). "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Tim 1.15). There is an answer for sin. It is repentance and faith in Lord Jesus Christ. When we simply seek to mask the evidence and reality of sin, we are blocking God's call of repentance to the individual. When we tell a homosexual struggling with the guilt and shame of his sin that his lifestyle is a result of an innate sexual orientation, we are redirecting his God-given sense of guilt and shame away from the path of real hope, namely repentance and forgiveness.

By the definitions provided by the National Institutes of Health and the American Psychological Association, all humankind has a variety of mental disorders. I prefer simple recognize the problem of sin and declare the only true prescription, repentance and faith in the Lord!

Grace to You!

Further Resources
Articles from the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors
Blame it on the Brain, by Ed Welch

(I anticipate the response to this post will be varied and emotional. Let's try to interact on a rational, biblical level)

Isaiah 8.11-22 - Fear God; Heed His Word

I am using the London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689 for my personal Bible Study time. Chapter 1, "Of the Holy Scriptures," has provided much for my musing these last couple of days. Of particular interest to me was the opening phrase "The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience." A footnote here references, among other passages, Isaiah 8.11-22. Here Isaiah has just prophecied the coming Assyrian invasion. Even in the midst of the pending threat and sure overwhelming force and influence of the Assyrians, God tols the people not to walk in the ways of these people or take counsel from them. Isaiah declared from God, "And when they [the Assyrians] say to you, "Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter," should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?" (v19)

In other words, God knew the temptation to seek counsel, wisdom, truth from sources and resources other that through His declaration through the prophets would be powerfully tempting. He reminded them in verse 20, "If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn." They have "no dawn;" there is no light in them; they have no understanding! Truth, all truth, comes from God alone. Truth is not discovered, experienced, developed... it has once for all been delivered.

We are probably not prone to turn to "mediums and necromancers" (unless your an avid Harry Potter fan - had to take that shot, sorry) to discover truth. God clearly condemns that! We, however, are prone to seek truth in other places: our experience, our feelings, science. The temptation to interpret Scripture in light of our experiences (i.e. "I know this works") or through the lense of our emotions ("it feels like the right thing to do") is great. But we must remember the truth with which our Baptist forefathers opened their confession: "The Holy Scripture is the only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience."

Praise the Lord that He has declared to us all we need to be all that He wants us to be (John 17.17; 2 Tim 3.15-17; 2 Peter 1.3)

Grace to You!

Back to the Grind

Praise the Lord for a great vacation. We had a tremendous time as a family. I survived even though ...
... I haven't turned my laptop in 9 days (I am on my home PC tonight)
... I haven't had Starbucks in nearly two weeks
... I haven't stepped foot into my office in over a week

Seriously! The Lord did provide for us a much needed and very pleasant family vacation. Some highlights...
... swimming in Lake James with my daughters
... "hiking" with Jonathan
... sitting by the fire with Crystal after the kids were tucked into their tents
... the "Nature Center" at Pokagan State Park, specifically the film celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
...reading The Little Pilgrims Progress by flashlight with the family sitting around the fire

Also, it appears that I picked a good week to be gone from the blogosphere. Phil Johnson had a quiet week, Steve Camp simplyrepublished articles I already read at Audience One (though I did enjoy the comments), and my dear friends Curtis Richardson and John Babri still haven't updated their blogs (they must have real jobs). I am looking foward to getting back into the swing of this, catching up with the regulars at World Mag Blog, PyroManiac, Camp on This and a new favorite (the cleverly named) Jeremy Weaver's Blog.

I am especially looking forward to being at my home church tomorrow! I really don't like to miss a service at Emmanuel (last week was the first service I missed since I started my ministry their a year ago). I appreciate the exposition of my Pastor, Philip DeCourcy. You too can enjoy his ministry thanks to the wonders of the web - visit our homepage for Pastor's current series or for his archives.

Anyway, more on Monday! Have a great worship this Lord's Day!

Grace to You!

Much needed get-away

Blog activity here at Mullins Musings as been slow the past few days. Vacation time has finally come for the Mullins family. We spent the weekend with some dear friends in Cuyohoga Falls (Akron), Ohio. We had a great time. We enjoyed church this morning at First Baptist Church of Green (Akron), where my Father-in-law Pastors. Great message on "Resurrection Realities" from John 11. What confort we have in the return of Christ and our promised resurrection! Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow (Monday) we leave for a few days in the wilderness. We will be tent camping at Pokagon State Park in Angola, Indiana., This will be a special time.

Here are a few of my Vacation Goals (I am not allowed to take my laptop):

1. Kids Time. I want to be sure to spend the majority of the daylight hours with my three kids. They need some daddy-time. We will hike, fish, ride bikes, swim, build sand castles, read and just relax, tickle and laugh together.

2. Wife Time. My wife (who is six months pregnant - hey, she IS excited about camping! Don't worry, we have an air matress.) and I need some alone time as well. The closest we will get will be after the kids are tucked away for the night. I intend to spend some time discussing our goals and plans for the coming school year. We will be homeschooling one daughter and partnering with the Chrisitan School our church operatesfor the other. We need to think about educational and spiritual goals for the kids (particularly the girls).

3. Reading. I am hoping to finish (or at least make significant progress) The Soul Winner , by C.H. Spurgeon. I am also taking along Family Man, Family Leader, by Philip Lancaster, published by the Vision Forum.

Pray for us as the Lord puts us on your hearts. Looking forward to catchng up with you all when I return.

Grace to You!

Preachers that Influence You

I am still working on my list of "must read" books for every Christian. The list is way too long and I am trying to find a good way to categorize and edit it.

In the meantime, in my way too time-consuming hobby of surfing the blogosphere, I have recently discovered Adrian Warnock, a blogger from the UK. He has some helpful insights. In a recent post he asks for your most favorite, well known preachers. The responses are very interesting, and fun. In this spirit, I suggest as similar discussion here.

Let me ask you to do the impossible. List your five (only five - that's the hard part) favorite, modern-day (whatever that means to you) preachers. Give their name and place of ministy if your can.

Here is mine (for now anyway):

1. John MacArthur from Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, also of Grace to You Ministries.

2. Dr. Al Mohler, President of Southern Seminary.

3. Alistair Begg from Parkside Church in suburban Cleveland, also of Truth for Life Ministries.

4. John Piper, Pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, also of Desiring God Ministries.

5. Iain Murray of Banner of Truth Trust, a reformed publishing ministry. Dr. Murray focuses more on historical theology than exposition. Find his sermons/lectures at SermonAudio.com.

Now it is your turn. Give honor to whom you believe honor is due!

Grace to You, my blogging friends!

Good Reading for Christian Boys

A brief scan of this blog's archives will clearly indicate the high value I place on reading. I have commented on great value of reading Christian biographies, the effect reading has on Pastor's and subsequently, churched, and most recently I expressed some concern over fiction. Regarding the reading of Harry Potter, I have a very unformed opinion. (Which is quite amazing, since I usually land soundly on an opinion and argue vehemently, often to my own detriment.) My gut pulls me away from embracing the series, simply because (although fictional - believe me, I have read the arguments) of the glorification of what God has condemned. I do not feel strongly enough to make a case for or against the acceptance of this series or anything like it.

Although, my Pastor made a great point Sunday morning. Six million people stood in line to anxiously buy and read the latest installment from Rowling. How many people were lined up at the front door of the church to get in and hear the next installment of their pastor's exposition? He made absolutely no value judgement on Harry Potter; rather, he pointed out the difference in how the world passionately embraces their stories, which are mere fiction, and how the church embraces our stories, which are historical, life-changing facts. Interesting!

Regarding Harry Potter, again I would direct your attention to Phil Johnson's thoughtful comments. Though I largely agree with Phil's assertions, I still contend that there must be better stuff available for young Christians to read. Things that will allow them to "let the Word of Christ richly dwell in [them]."

My boy, Jonathan, is going to be 3 in a couple of weeks. My two girls LOVE to read. Statistics indicate that boys are far less inclined to reading. Though I cannot substantiate this claim, there must be some relationship to a boy's lack of interest in reading and the lack of good, imaginative, well written fiction for them to read. Most of what the publishing industry aims at young boys (and girls for that matter) is drivel with no substantive plot, no interesting character development, and usually a contrived, spiritualized ending. Put that stuff up against Harry Potter and the young wizard will win everytime.

I found (actually my wife found) a very interesting selection of exciting, well written books for young men. The Vision Forum is an organization dedicated to restoring the vision of a the biblical family. They have a decidedly reformed bent and desire to bring the Word of God to bear in the life of the Americal Family.

Happy Reading... and Grace to You!