Faithful, Fruitful, and Forgotten
I suspect that not many of us will be famous men or women. Our labors will go largely unnoticed, and our names will likely not live on beyond our families. Oh, but may God use us in mighty ways. May we be “some men” and “some women” who preach the word and see large numbers turn to the Lord. May we be faithful, fruitful, and forgotten, while our Lord is lifted high.
Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
Acts 11:19-21
Stephen was martyred, the church was scattered, and circumstances seemed pretty bad. Yet, even in the midst of persecution, the early church went out and preached the gospel wherever they went. And you would think that God would highlight the lives of these brave Christians who went out preaching the word boldly in the face of opposition. We’d know their stories, and our children would be named after them. They’d be venerated and their fame would spread through the church. But God doesn’t do that. Instead, we get this sentence: “But some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene…” That’s it. No fancy titles, no family lineage, not even a name. Just some men preaching the gospel, and a great number believe. And in an odd way, I find this incredibly encouraging.
Faithful Without Fame
Here are men who are faithful. And they are faithful for God’s sake alone. They didn’t get fame. No biographies of those men exist. But still they were faithful.
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Is the Bible the Word of God and Does it Have Authority?
Sacred Scripture is the voice of God in the world. It is authoritative in that it has the right to command because its author is God Himself. God’s people walk the difficult, narrow path, which takes them to meet their Saviour face-to-face in eternity, by submitting their thoughts and moral standards to God’s Word. Many Reformers lost their lives because they labored to get the printed Word of God into the hands of their people. In our day we take the Word of God for granted and, as we said earlier, many so-called Christian leaders today actually denigrate it in the eyes of those they lead.
12 There is a way which seems right to a man,But its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12 (LSB)
Several yeas ago I posted “Is there a war going on between God and His forces on one side and Satan and his forces on the other?” In that post I mentioned a link sent to me by a friend to a post on another blog called The Emergent Village. On that blog I could not help noticing a link to another post by another writer there titled “The Bible is NOT the WORD OF GOD: a polemic against Christendom“. What that fellow had to say is the centerpiece of “Christian Liberalism.” Denying The Bible as the Word of God, a gift from God to His people is the first step into apostasy. Once that step is taken all other truths are no longer held as absolute.
Without that God-given anchor into His absolute truth all else is up for grabs. Those like the fellow who wrote that article and those who agree with him are those who also have a problem with what Orthodox Christianity holds as the gospel, the sovereignty of God, election, the exclusivity of genuine discipleship, et cetera. Because of this “liberalism” they also force a man-centered perspective on God’s Word in one form or another. These same people lean towards a form of Christianity that is almost all experiential. Since their view of how the gospel works and how God works with Man is wrongly focused and the Word of God contains clear teachings about the sovereignty of God, these people conceive of their entire “Christian” paradigm from a philosophical and existential base rather than on the authority of Sacred Scripture. They have to do this since they deny that what we call Sacred Scripture has any authority.
The Christian principle of the authority of Sacred Scripture is centered on the truth that God is its author and He has given it to direct the belief and behavior of His people. Instead of conceiving of God, His ways, and our conduct from a man-made, philosophical base, these understandings should be measured, tested, corrected, and enlarged according to God’s Word. The sad state of the 21st Century Church did not come from God’s people diligently adhering to this principle. No, the man-focused free-for-all we see all around us now with the doctrines of demons being preached from pulpits of very large churches, is the product of this principle being largely and deliberately ignored.
The main reason this has taken place is that the church leadership has been deceived with the lie that God’s word does not have the right to command. Part of this delusion came from the philosophies of men, which teach that there is no absolute truth. When these leaders threw off the yoke of adhering to God’s Word as the ultimate authority they instead took on the yoke of the social gospel as they gleefully proclaimed the mantra of liberal theology, which is that Christianity is all about the person rather than all about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit-their glory, their honor, not the glorification of Man.
My brethren, God has chosen to exercise His rule over us through His written Word, which is the embodiment of His truth and wisdom. Sacred Scripture is the instrument of Christ’s lordship over the Church. We see a working example of this principle in Revelation 2 & 3, which are the seven letters to the seven churches.
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Conservative Presbyterians Lay Out Why Mainline Cousins Are Losing Members: “Supernatural Battle”
The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)…made headlines in October when its Office of General Assembly announced that it would be adding a “nonbinary/genderqueer” option to its official church statistics in a push to be “inclusive,” according to a press release. The mainline denomination is theologically liberal and ordains women as well as practicing members of the LGBTQ community.
The largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S. has hemorrhaged membership in recent years, which several conservative Presbyterian clergy members attribute, in part, to its departure from its own historical teachings.
“I believe that the lampstand has been removed, that Christ has removed his blessing from the PCUSA and the end result of that will be just fading into oblivion,” Presbyterian pastor Zachary Groff told Fox News Digital, referencing the second chapter of Revelation.
The Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA), which is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S., made headlines in October when its Office of General Assembly announced that it would be adding a “nonbinary/genderqueer” option to its official church statistics in a push to be “inclusive,” according to a press release. The mainline denomination is theologically liberal and ordains women as well as practicing members of the LGBTQ community.
The PCUSA boasts 1.1 million active members and 8,813 member congregations, but it has been rapidly losing numbers during the past decade. It reported having about 700,000 more members and 1,400 more congregations in 2012. More than 51,000 members have left since 2021, according to its most recent annual report.
Rick Jones, director of communications for the PCUSA’s Office of General Assembly, attributed the diminishing numbers to factors such as aging congregations, the COVID pandemic and an increasing skepticism toward institutions generally.
Jones also told Fox News Digital that many have left because of “the denomination’s understanding of the Gospel and how it compelled us to take more progressive stands on gay marriage as well as issues like Israel/Palestine or divestment from fossil fuels.”
“The PCUSA is not alone in that nearly all mainline Christian denominations have seen a decline in membership as less and less people in this country see themselves as Christians,” he added.
“An Issue about Theology”
Groff, who pastors a church near Greenville, South Carolina, is now a member of the conservative Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), but said he grew up and found his faith in a PCUSA church in Pennsylvania. He mentioned that his home church was one of the congregations that ultimately departed from the mainline denomination over doctrinal issues.
Issues of sexuality and gender have sowed discord not just among Presbyterians, but among all Protestant denominations in the U.S., Groff said, though he traced the root of “the current woes” in churches to deeper disagreements on the authority of the Bible.
“All of this goes back to not even an issue about sexuality directly, but an issue about theology and what we believe about God and His Word,” he said, adding that Protestant clergy’s confidence in the Bible’s teachings has been steadily eroding since theological liberalism swept into U.S. seminaries from Europe during the 19th century.
Groff believes that the growing rifts among Presbyterians and Americans generally are manifestations of “a spiritual and supernatural battle.”
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This Is My Father’s World
The church has a high calling to bear witness to the Father’s glory throughout the entire world, which ultimately belongs to him. “This Is My Father’s World” is no ordinary hymn; it’s a powerful reminder of God’s sovereignty and the goodness of his creation. Unlike many of the kitschy and theologically anemic songs of today, it has earned its status as a timeless treasure.
In the world of hymns, there are those that stand the test of time, touching the hearts and souls of generations. “This Is My Father’s World” is undoubtedly one of these timeless treasures. Its profound theological message resonates as much today as when it was published more than a hundred years ago.
Written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock, an American Presbyterian minister, and published posthumously in 1901, “This is My Father’s World” packs a theological punch.
Unpacking the Hymn’s Lyrics
The opening line, “This is my Father’s world,” sets the tone for the entire hymn. It is a declaration that everything in the world ultimately belongs to God. In the beginning, God called forth something from nothing and then, in a successive series of moments, shaped that something into the awe-inspiring world which we now inhabit.
Thus, Babcock’s hymn makes a profound statement about the natural world as a signal of God’s goodness and beauty. As the Psalmist declared, the heavens “declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). As the apostle Paul wrote, the natural world teaches humanity that God exists and should be worshiped (Rom 1:18-22). Indeed, the world’s majesty and beauty point us to God’s magnificence and glory.
The hymn continues, “I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas; His hand the wonders wrought,” emphasizing that the tangible aspects of God’s creation should be seen and cherished for what they are—gifts from God. Notice that Babcock isn’t longing for God to take him away from this world; he is expressing gratitude that he gets to live in this world.
The hymn also addresses the oft-misunderstood relationship between Creation, Fall, and Redemption: “O let me ne’er forget that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.” In other words, Satan doesn’t have the power to make bad what God has made good. God’s created world remains structurally good even though the Evil One twists and misdirects it toward bad ends.
Babcock’s original four-stanza song of praise ends with a reaffirmation of God’s kingship. “The Lord is King; let the heavens ring! God reigns; let the earth be glad!” Thus, the hymn comes full circle.
Applying the Hymn to Our Lives Today
More than a century after its composition, “This Is My Father’s World” continues to hold a special place in the hearts of many—and for good reason. It serves not only as a doxological prompt but also shapes what we believe and how we live.
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