-Winston Churchill
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
"...and the books were opened." Daniel 7:10
Monday, July 30, 2007
The most natural agents
Some more on parenting and motherhood from C.H. Spurgeon
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years 1834-1860 Volume 1
By Charles Spurgeon / Banner Of Truth
Some inexpensive family entertainment
Where is the man for the day?
Here’s a good word from the past to our fickle generation of men with no principles, convictions or backbone. What kind of Church and country are we leaving to our children?
“We admire a man who was firm in the faith, say four hundred years ago ... but such a man today is a nuisance, and must be put down. Call him a narrow-minded bigot, or give him a worse name if you can think of one. Yet imagine that in those ages past, Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, and their compeers had said, 'The world is out of order; but if we try to set it right we shall only make a great row, and get ourselves into disgrace. Let us go to our chambers, put on our night-caps, and sleep over the bad times, and perhaps when we wake up things will have grown better.' Such conduct on their part would have entailed upon us a heritage of error. Age after age would have gone down into the infernal deeps, and the pestiferous bogs of error would have swallowed all. These men loved the faith and the name of Jesus too well to see them trampled on …...
It is today as it was in the Reformers' days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day?..... Look you, sirs, there are ages yet to come. If the Lord does not speedily appear, there will come another generation, and another, and all these generations will be tainted and injured if we are not faithful to God and to His truth today.”
C.H.S., SERMONS, 1888, 83-84
Taken from The Forgotten Spurgeon
By Iain H. Murray / Banner Of Truth
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
New at Pol'-e-store
Biographical
The Confessions of St. AugustineBy St. Augustine / Baker
This book is one of the most moving diaries ever recorded of a man's journey to the fountain of God's grace. Writing as a sinner, not a saint, Augustine shares his innermost thoughts and conversion experiences and wrestles with the spiritual questions that have stirred the hearts of the thoughtful since time began. Starting with his childhood in Numidia, through his youth and early adulthood in Carthage, Rome, and Milan, readers will see Augustine as a human being, a fellow traveler on the road to salvation. Though staggering around potholes and roadblocks, all Christians will find strength in Augustine's message: When the road get rough, look to God! Previously released in 1977, this book invites readers to join Augustine in his quest that led him to be one of the most influential Christian thinkers in the history of the church.
The son of these tears
For those of you who have not read The Confessions of St. Augustine, it’s a fascinating sort of autobiography in the form of a prayer to the Lord. Augustine (354 A.D. – 430 A.D) recounts to the Lord the sins of his youth, the wickedness of his heart, the struggles that led to his conversion, his conversion experience and many other great things that the Lord had done in his life; all the while praising the Lord for His goodness, might and wisdom. It is truly one of the great books of Church history!
Friday, July 27, 2007
A Good Mother
As the old saying goes; “The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the World.” Here are a few words from Charles Spurgeon concerning the role of his mother in the early religious impressions that eventually led to his conversion.
“I cannot tell how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother. It was the custom on Sunday evenings, while we were yet little children, for her to stay at home with us, and then we sat round the table, and read verse by verse, and she explained the Scripture to us. After that was done, then came the time of pleading; there was a little piece of Alleine's Alarm, or of Baxter's Call to the Unconverted, and this was read with pointed observations made to each of us as we sat round the table; and the question was asked, how long it would be before we would think about our state, how long before we would seek the Lord. Then came a mother's prayer, and some of the words of that prayer we shall never forget, even when our hair is gray. I remember, on one occasion, her praying thus: "Now, Lord, if my children go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the Day of Judgment if they lay not hold of Christ." That thought of a mother's bearing swift witness against me, pierced my conscience, and stirred my heart.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon Autobiography: The Early Years 1834-1860 Volume 1 By Charles Spurgeon / Banner Of Truth
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Got Gas?




Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Is there a cure?
Children are more of God
Verse 3.—"Children are an heritage of the Lord." Hence note, 'tis one of the greatest outward blessings to have a family full of dutiful children. To have many children is the next blessing to much grace. To have many children about us is better than to have much wealth about us. To have store of these olive plants (as the Psalmist calls them) round about our table is better than to have store of oil and wine upon our table. We know the worth of dead, or rather lifeless treasures, but who knows the worth of living treasures? Every man who hath children hath not a blessing in them, yet children are a blessing, and some have many blessings in one child. Children are chiefly a blessing to the children of God. "Lo, children are an heritage of the lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward." But are not houses and lands, gold and silver, an heritage bestowed by the Lord upon his people? Doubtless they are, for the earth is his, and the fullness of it, and he gives it to the children of men. But though all things are of God, yet all things are not alike of Him; children are more of God than houses and lands.
—Joseph Caryl.
Explanitory Notes and Quaint Sayings
From Spurgeons The Treasury of David
Psalm 127:3
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Jesus loves everybody and has a wonderful plan for their lives!
I was reading Pink’s Studies in the Scriptures November, 1943 when I ran across this complaint:
“Few words have been employed more inaccurately and loosely in recent years than has “love”. With a great many people it is but a synonym for moral laxity (and) weakness of character…”
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19, 20
The Law of God imprisons us in our sin, so to speak(Galatians 3:22), showing us that we have no hope of escaping the bar of Gods justice in and of ourselves . The Law of God teaches us to look at ourselves in utter dismay and abandon all hope; but in so doing it also becomes a beloved teacher prodding us to turn away from ourselves and look to Jesus Christ for the salvation that we cannot accomplish (Galatians 3:24).
In a day and age when people have thrown out the Law of God in favor of a lawless “grace”, we should only expect that a perverted view of the love of God will prevail and that true and lasting conversions will be few and far between.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Justification Audio Links
Audio Links
- Justification #6: What Does 'To Justify' Mean in the Bible?
Albert N. Martin -Video - Justification #7: An Act of God's Free Grace
Albert N. Martin -Video
Woship, Singing
John Price Old Light on New Worship
"Singing is not a secondary or inconsequential ordinance of worship that carries no edifying benefit in itself. Christ has given singing a most vital role in the instruction of His church. It is a ministry that He has entrusted to the entire congregation. Whenever we stand to sing, we must be conscious that we are fulfilling a teaching ministry of the Lord Jesus to His church. We are teaching and admonishing ourselves and our brethren by the Word of Christ that we sing."
John Price Old Light on New Worship"It is in singing that our worship on earth comes closest to that of heaven. We enter into the work of angels. John Wells expressed the Puritan view of singing when he wrote, "There is not a great resemblance of heaven upon earth than a company of God's people singing a psalm together."; "In singing of psalms the gracious heart takes wings and mounts up to God to join with the celestial choir." Singing is the only ordinance of the church that shall continue for eternity in heaven. When we see Him lace to face, preaching, prayer, and the sacraments shall all be done away with. But singing is an eternal ordinance and shall continue forever. Our singing now is just the tuning of our hearts and the beginning of our singing the everlasting songs of heaven."
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Singing in the Spirits strength
Woship, Singing
"Singing is not something we can do in our own strength. We must see our complete dependence upon the Spirit. No ordinance of worship has life in itself without the power of the Spirit. Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing" (John 6:63). We expect the preaching and prayers of the church to be done in the power of the Spirit. We should expect nothing less with singing. We often pray for the presence of the Spirit in the preaching of the word. We should pray for the presence of the Spirit in the singing as well. Without the aid of the Holy Spirit, singing will never accomplish the exalted purposes Christ intends. This places the highest demands upon every member, and this involves the labor of prayer. Every member must earnestly pray for the presence of the Holy Spirit before worship. And every member must come "filled with the Spirit" with a melody in his heart rising upward to the Lord. Only then will singing be what Christ desires. It is when we gather with other believers who are also filled with the Spirit that there is a mutual stirring up of one another in the singing of praise. Each believer brings the coals of his own heart and builds the spiritual fire of the church. So pleasant was the corporate singing of the church to the Puritans that Thomas Manton wrote,
All the pleasures of the carnal life are not comparable to it. Surely, if there be anything pleasant in the world to a gracious heart, it is the praises of God that flow from a believing and loving soul. . . The unanimous conjunction of such souls in praising God in their assemblies is the heaven that we have upon earth."
The New New Atheism
- The New New Atheism
Attacking "God" has become a lucrative book business.
BY PETER BERKOWITZ
The Opinion Journal
Ancient Chinese Proverb:
"Where the cash cow grazes
thou findest much manure."
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Arrows or Firecrackers?
Modern American Christianity seems to have the firecracker mentality when it comes to our children; we light the fuse to get them started and then we run away and hide while they blow-up.
- Arrows must be skillfully, carefully and patiently fashioned; they start out as sticks and will remain sticks unless carefully acted upon.
- The warrior must be skilled in the use of his arrows or they are no good to him. A quiver full of arrows which are not used with any skill or wisdom are little more than a burden and a distraction.
- This picture of the warrior with arrows implies vision in regards to his target and guidance in regards to the arrows. The target must be looked upon, fixed on, and aimed at. The arrow must be pointed at and guided towards its destination.
- Arrows are not shot without thought, purpose and intention. Shooting arrows in any other manner is dangerous and bound to hurt somebody.
- To the warrior, the arrow is an extension of himself, used to go beyond himself to carry out his mission. A warrior with a little skill and some arrows can do a lot of damage from a distance. Used properly, the arrow can accomplish things well beyond the reach of the one shooting it.
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Centrality of the Home
One of the ways that I spent my extra time while out in
Sunday, July 15, 2007
But what good will that do me right now?
I was contemplating where the modern Church lost its biblical understanding of posterity when my thoughts naturally drifted to the story of Abraham. I began thinking: “How would the story of Abraham be different if God appeared to the typical 20th century church goer?” Maybe it would go something like this:
Undermining the Gospel
It was excruciating to listen to; a godly older gentleman patiently offering “proofs” of the existence of God to a younger fellow. The younger man had the same answer for everything: “That doesn’t necessarily prove that.” I don’t think anything was ever agreed upon.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Articles, Sermons and Other Writings
- God’s Way of Peace
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)
Chapter 6 The Person and Work of the Substitute
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Contempt shown to parents of large families
The contempt shown to parents of large families
by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
"A funny thing happened to me the other day when my wife and I had, thank God, another baby (a boy). Many of my friends didn't seem all that happy for me. Sure, they went through the motions of smiles and congratulations. But it was evident that many thought me insane. Why would a young man and his wife ruin their lives with eight children?......
How strange to live in a world where loving children casts one in infamy. Having a family with many children implies a backwardness and primitivism that is deemed unbecoming in the developed countries of the West. Large families, it is thought, exist only among religious weirdos or the teeming hovels of the Third World.
Rich countries, by contrast, prefer to increase their standard of living rather than the number of the living. Looking at Western birth rates for the year 2001, the United States averaged only 14.2 births for every thousand Americans, and the birthrate among white Americans is so low that the United States will soon lose its white majority. Indeed, one can go for days in a wealthy city like Manhattan without encountering a single pregnant woman. Riches and children have become inversely proportional such that the more of the former, the less of the latter.......
A Christian mother of six once wrote to me, "I find it troubling to worry about getting pregnant again ... because I don't want to face the criticism of friends and family. Why do people not see children as a blessing?" A fair question which deserves a fair response...."
To read the entire article at World Net Daily click here
How sad! We professing Christians aught to be utterly ashamed of our ungodly and wicked conformity to our culture in its dislike of children.
As Martin Luther put it:
"The purpose of marriage is not pleasure and ease but the procreation and education of children and the support of a family.... People who do not like children are swine, dunces, and blockheads, not worthy to be called men and women, because they despise the blessing of God, the Creator and Author of marriage"Martin Luther, as quoted in; (Christian History, Issue 39, p. 24)
Quotes- Children
Monday, July 9, 2007
Free Will @ Pol'-e-store
For anyone who's interested in the controversy over the Arminian view of the will of man and the Calvinistic view of the will of man, I would highly recommend this little article entitled The Myth of Free Will by Walter Chantry.
Sunday, July 8, 2007
"Christ will do!"
I love this quote from Horatius Bonar; if we could only get the simplicity of it through our heads and communicate it to the lost!
"That which makes it safe for you to draw near to God, and right for God to receive you, must be something altogether away from and independent of yourself; for, yourself, and everything pertaining to yourself, God has already condemned; and no condemned thing can give you any warrant for going to Him, or hoping for acceptance. Your liberty of entrance must come from something which He has accepted; not from something which He has condemned.
I knew an awakened soul who, in the bitterness of his spirit, thus set himself to work and pray, in order to get peace". He doubled the amount of his devotions, saying to himself, "surely God will give me peace. But the peace did not come. He set up family worship, saying, "surely God will give me peace". Again the peace did not come. At last he thought of having a prayer meeting in his house, as a certain remedy; he fixed the night, called his neighbours, and prepared himself for conducting the meeting by writing a prayer and learning it by heart. As he finished the operation of learning it, preparatory to the meeting, he threw it down on the table saying, "surely that will do; God will give me peace now". In that moment a still small voice seemed to speak in his ear, saying, "No, that will not do; but Christ will do". Straightaway the scales fell from his eyes, and the burden from his shoulders. Peace poured in like a river. "Christ will do," was his watchword ever after."
From God's Way of Peace Chapter 2- Man's Own Character No Ground of Peace
by Horatius Bonar
Justification at Pol'-e-store
- Justification at Pol'-e-store
By Jonathan Edwards / Soli Deo Gloria
Justification By Faith Alone: Affirming the Doctrine by Which the Church and the Individual Stands or Falls
By John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul et al. / Soli Deo Gloria Ministries
Justification Vindicated
By Robert Traill / Banner Of Truth
The Doctrine of Justification
By James Buchanan / Solid Ground Christian Books
Faith Alone: The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification
By R.C. Sproul / Baker
The God Who Justifies
By James R. White / Bethany
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Santa Claus Bunnett?

This morning my three-year old came to me with a suggestion for a name for the new baby; “Can we name the new baby Santa Claus?” she asked.
God’s Way of Peace Chapter 5
Articles, Sermons and Other Writings
- God’s Way of Peace
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)
Chapter 5- The Blood of Sprinkling
Friday, July 6, 2007
Indolence and carelessness is unacceptable
Woship, Singing
"The Lord Jesus has not only commanded us to sing, but He has exalted this ordinance to a most noble place in the worship of His church. We are under the highest obligations to give Him the singing He so earnestly desires. True singing is a labor that involves the exertion of spiritual energy on the part of every member of the congregation. Indolence and carelessness is unacceptable, and we should spare no pain to insure that Christ is honored in His ordinance."
John Price Old Light on New Worship
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Love to the condemned
Sinfulness of Man
Love of God
"Such is God's condemnation of man. Of this the whole Bible is full. That great love of God, which His Word reveals, is based on this condemnation. It is love to the condemned. God's testimony to His own grace has no meaning, save as resting on, or taking for granted His testimony to man's guilt and ruin. Nor is it against man as merely a being morally diseased or sadly unfortunate that He testifies, but as guilty of death, under wrath, sentenced to the eternal curse, for that crime of crimes, a heart not right with God, and not true to His incarnate Son."
Horatius Bonar from God's Way of Peace Chapter 1
Man has fallen!
Sinfulness of Man
Love of God
"Man has fallen! Not this man nor that man, but the whole race. In Adam all have sinned; in Adam all have died. It is not that a few leaves have faded or been shaken down, but the tree has become corrupt, root and branch. The "flesh", or "old man"—that is, each man as he is born into the world, a son of man, a fragment of humanity, a unit in Adam's fallen body—is "corrupt". The sinner not merely brings forth sin, but he carries it about with him, as his second self; he is a "body" or mass of sin (Rom. 6: 6), a "body of death" (Rom. 7: 24), subject not to the law of God, but to "the law of sin" (Rom. 7:23)."
Horatius Bonar from God's Way of Peace Chapter 1
God’s Way of Peace Chapter 4
Articles, Sermons and Other Writings
- God’s Way of Peace
Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)
Chapter 4 - Righteous Grace
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
The divine testimony concerning man
Sinfulness of Man
"The divine testimony concerning man is, that he is a sinner. God bears witness against him, not for him; and testifies that "there is none righteous, no, not one"; that there is "none that doeth good"; none "that understandeth"; none that even seeks after God, and, still more, none that loves Him (Psa. 14:1-3; Rom. 3: 10-12). God speaks of man kindly, but severely; as one yearning over a lost child, yet as one who will make no terms with sin, and will "by no means clear the guilty". He declares man to be a lost one, a stray one, a rebel, a "hater of God" (Rom. 1: 30); not a sinner occasionally, but a sinner always; not a sinner in part, with many good things about him; but wholly a sinner, with no compensating goodness; evil in heart as well as life, "dead in trespasses and sins" (Eph. 2:1); an evil doer, and therefore under condemnation; an enemy of God, and therefore "under wrath"; a breaker of the righteous law, and therefore under "the curse of the law" (Gal. 3:10)."
Horatius Bonar from God's Way of Peace Chapter 1
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
“what about………?”
I know I know “what about………?” Every time I bring up the subject of having children (Suffering for the sake of our posterity) someone brings up some of the most difficult scenarios possible to show that it’s entirely O.K. to stop having children, even if I didn’t say anything about them having more children.
But let’s be honest, many of these scenarios aren’t that frequent and most of us are willing to stop having children simply because it’s a little bit difficult or just inconvenient.
I’m not saying that we actively need to try to have as many children as humanly possible, and I’m not even saying that we always need to be wanting another child, but shouldn’t we at least be open to letting God give us more?
Monday, July 2, 2007
Suffering for the sake of our posterity
I just recently turned 40 years old. I also just recently found out that child number five is on its way.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
endless inventions of their own
"It is almost incredible how the vain mind of man is addicted unto an outward beauty and splendor in religious worship. Hence the generality of men, although professing the Christian religion, are quickly weary of evangelical worship, and do find out endless inventions of their own, wherewith they are better satisfied, in their divine services. Therefore have they multiplied ceremonies, fond superstitions, and downright idolatries, which they prefer before the purity and simplicity of the worship of the gospel."
-John Owen Works Vol.21







