Tuesday, September 19, 2006

3 Elders on the driveway, 2 Gospels, 1 True

As I met 2 LDS elders (who were considerably younger than this 35 year old elder ;) on my driveway yesterday and argued against "another testament of Jesus Christ" I was struck by a line from the new single by Jars of Clay, "Work"

Demons sound like prophets/I'm living out every word they say.


The day before in my sermon on Hebrews 1, I put our people on notice that in the finality of Christ's revelation, all previous true prophets were fulfilled and outranked by Christ. All previous and subsequent false prophets were vanquished and deemed irrelevant and irreverent by his appearance as Word of the Father, Perfect Prophet. I even named Mohammed and Joseph Smith as belonging to this category.

Ironically, as CS Lewis has pointed out, Islam is a Christian heresy. To that I would add LDS who even dares to call Jesus "Saviour of the World" and "Son of God." Heretics parse their words differently though they use the same vocabulary. Now is the time for the Creeds: Christ, very God of very God, Light of Light, is of homoousias of the Father. His deity is eternal, permanent, and he eternally proceeds from the Father. Mohammed and Joe Smith's authority comes from the Father of Lies.

Demons sound like prophets. Their spokesmen are walking up to your porch and dancing burning your flag and slandering your Saviour. Don't say I didn't warn ya! I'm just passing on what's been given to all the saints (Jude).

3 comments:

pilgrim said...

Interesting how all sorts of thing keep coming together for you that way--could it be, oh I don't know...providence?

Unknown said...

explain providence to me...maybe I should ask Nan...but I heard it in a song by Natalie Grant...I am confused as to it's meaning.
Thanks

nerdypastor said...

Providence is the name we give to the effects of God ruling all things according to his will, as our church's confession of faith says "The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in his providence" Whenever he shows his power, his wisdom or goodness in what comes to us or what he does in the world we call providence. I'm ashamed to say I don't know the origins of the word, but the concept is a great comfort and assurance as we live by faith in God who rules all things (Eph. 1).

A great treatment of providence and how God runs everything and does a good job of it can be found through the ministry of John Piper. A lot of his books are free at www.desiringGod.org.

Good to hear from you, neighbour to our south.

Feel free to ask more, or ask Nan. Her beloved Mac is in the shop! She'll be back soon!