Live your theology.

Dear Fathers & Brothers of the Northwest Presbytery,

Please accept this letter as my request to be excused from the 2010 Fall Stated Meeting. Though I wish to be present, travel time and conflicts with work prevent me from doing so.

This year has felt somewhat transitional.

I have less than two years of seminary work left to complete. This brings back a certain sense of unrest… what next?

Save for a class or two, all of my theology and history classes are finished. I am currently taking Greek and Hebrew in residency and I am thankful that the Lord has provided me with the flexible and understanding employment that has allowed me to come in and leave early in order to attend these classes as my seminary tenure winds down.

I’ve been blessed to be able to serve the Church in Tacoma as Sunday School super intendant, Pastoral Intern, and Youth Director. Sunday School has gone well, but we are hard pressed to find people willing to teach. Your prayers are appreciated. Our Youth Group is slowly growing and incorporating young adults from the Olympia church. I’m very pleased to see these young Christians fellowshipping with one another, but I am also anxious to see them grow spiritually through discipleship. Again, your prayers are appreciated.

Since the last Presbytery I’ve had the opportunity to preach in Tacoma, Scappoose, and Olympia. This Sunday, Lord willing, I’ll be providing pulpit supply in Bonners Ferry. I’m very thankful for the trust the pastors and elders of those churches have placed in me and thank God for his provision in keeping me faithful to his Word. I feel like my ability to preach the Word of God has increased, though I’m too squeamish to go back and listen to any messages from when I first began preaching.

The Lord has continued to bless our family. My wife and I have begun home schooling or oldest child, Caleb (6) – he has begun the first grade and shows an affinity for math that mystifies his parents. Our other son Owen (4) and our daughter Holly (2 in January) are growing in wisdom and stature, for which we are thankful. Our fourth child is due on February 14th. We recently found out she is a girl and are excited for the level playing field and equal distribution of brothers and sisters.

Please remember me in your prayers during these coming months – for school, family, and for guidance and wisdom from the Lord regarding what the future holds.

Respectfully submitted in the love of Jesus Christ,

Jason Anspach

So now, you know.

This is a bulletin insert written by Western Reformed Seminary‘s professor of History Chris Lensch.  Enjoy your weekend (especially if it is of the 3-day variety).

“Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

Turning Point

The poem above is the fourth and final verse to our national anthem.  It was sketched on the back of an envelope by Francis Scott Key in the summer of 1814 during the Battle of Fort McHenry outside the Baltimore Harbor.  Mr. Key, who had been involved in negotiating the release of American prisoners, was being detained by the British invaders until after the attack since he had seen the strength of the English force.

For 25 anxious hours the young lawyer paced the deck of the British warship that held him and his companions, worrying and wondering whether the American fort could hold out.  The thunderous bombardment against Ft. McHenry lasted a day and a night.  The harbor air was streaked with rocket smoke.  Over 1500 cannonballs, some weighing up to 220 pounds each, were lobbed at the Americans; the fort took many hits, and one bombshell actually fell into the fort’s powder magazine and could have spelled the end — thankfully, it was a dud!  By night the English rockets illumined the American defenses, and in the morning, Key found inspiration in the sight of Old Glory fluttering defiantly.

Christian Faith

Francis Scott Key’s ultimate belief, however, was not grounded in mere ideals of American freedom and bravery.  His personal hope was in Jesus Christ!  As a devout Christian he led his household in prayer twice each day and ensured that those under his roof were at Sunday services.  A member of the Episcopal Church, he actively promoted the gospel message and methods of the evangelical “low church” wing.  For a while he even considered the ministry, but he remained an attorney, using his legal skills and vast connections to serve the cause of Christ.

As district attorney in Washington, D.C., he argued several cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, and he moved among the power-brokers of the nation’s capitol. When his political friend, John Randolph, was toying with atheism, Francis turned John’s thinking through a chain of correspondence that patiently and persistently “preached” the only hope of mankind.  As a Christian apologist, Key “attributed calamities to the wrath of God and believed in the unseen hand of the Lord at work to chastise the wicked and reward the worthy.”

One of his other poems captures Francis Scott Key’s devotion to Christ:

“Lord, with glowing heart I’d praise thee
For the bliss they love bestows,
For the pard’ning grace that saves me,
And the peace that from it flows;
Help, O God, my weak endeavor;
This dull soul to rapture raise;
Thou must light the flame, or never
Can my love be warmed to praise.

“Praise they Saviour God that drew thee
To that cross, new life to give,
Held a blood-sealed pardon to thee,
Bade thee look o him and live;
Praise the grace whose threats alarmed thee,
Roused thee from they fatal ease,
Praise the grace whose promise warmed thee,
Praise the grace that whispered peace.”

Conclusion

As we celebrate our nation’s freedom on Independence Day, let us thank God for Christian patriots like Francis Scott Key whose influence shaped the course of America’s Christian heritage. His stirring poem written in the midst of armed conflict became our national anthem in 1931. Only in 1956 was Key’s dream for a God-honoring national motto realized when President Eisenhower signed over-due legislation approving “In God We Trust” as America’s official motto.

A couple of years ago some anonymous person gifted me a set of Puritan Paperbacks.  I’ve been given books to help me with seminary (and a really nice ESV Journaling Bible, as well) far more often that I ever would have hoped.  They’ve been received as a provision from the Lord, a blessing to my family and an ally of our banking account.  The Puritan Paperbacks always stood out because it was the very first time someone said “what you’re training for is important, let me help.”  That little line has helped me to stay focused and keep things in perspective. This is important. It’s not something to do halfheartedly or presumptively. Yesterday I got the same message, this time with word that a kindle is on its way.

I’m humbled, and appreciative, and I don’t even know who you are.  Thank you.

Honest question (not trolling): Who were the orthodox proponents for continuation of spiritual gifts in the early church? I’m not seeing it.

From what I’ve read of Warfield, he doesn’t seem to think there were any either. I haven’t read the writings of the 2nd century so exhaustively that I can say anything definitively, but it does seem that the proponents of continuation weren’t generally the most sound people. The Montanists, Tertullian being the most famous alum, were strict ascetics who followed a former Phyrigian priest claiming to have a direct revelation called the “age of the Paraclete”. This was bolstered by the visions of “prophetesses” Priscilla & Maxilla who claimed to have been given revelation of the end times. They subsequently left their husbands to devote their lives to the church and taught that holding church offices was bueno for women. So yeah, not a lot of orthodoxy present, but a familiar picture when compared the founding of some modern charistmatic churches.

What’s my point? Well… my thinking is framing up issues like continuationism & credo-baptism (to a lesser extent) as ideas that are assumed as facts by their adherents. These are questions begged to a level I like to call “Well, duh. Of course that’s true.” But early proponents of continuationism all seemed to be theologically jacked up. The modern day rank & file, eager for a life reflective of the clear teaching of Scriptures are moving towards a Reformed & Covenantal theology (hooray!). But they’re bringing a few things with them and reinterpreting Scripture to justify themselves along the way. So I’m seeing continuationism not as a good apostolic teaching which has been faithfully carried on by those devoted to sound doctrine from the earliest NT church until now, but as an idea that came hand in hand with unorthodox teaching. Just like Isildur wouldn’t destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom after defeating Sauron, so modern adherents of continuing spiritual gifts won’t let go of “the precious” even though they’ve dropped the bad theology it rode into town upon.

Then there’s guys like this, who haven’t dropped the bad theology or the “precious”.

God’s plan for Salvation, according to the Scriptures, is characterized as being a Supernatural, Evangelical, Particular event per Benjamin B. Warfield’s excellent book: The Plan of Salvation.  Today we’re going to see just how particular B.B. means when he uses the word.

After showing that God’s saving grace is not universally administered (not all are will be saved), Warfield turns his sight on a group of Particularists holding a different view in regards to the operation of how men are to be saved.

“…the precise point [of the] issue comes therefore to be whether the redemptive work of Christ actually saves those for whom it is wrought, or only opens a possibility of salvation to them.“

In the corner of the the “possibility” camp are the Amyraldians, a group named after the idea’s formulator, Moses Amyraut.  Let me just say right off the bat that Moses is an awesome name & my wife should relent and let me name our next son Moses. Amyraldianism, however, is less awesome.  The idea is one of a hypothetical redemption.  Christ’s death on the cross secured salvation for no one in & of itself, but rather made salvation a viability by removing any obstacles that might have been in their way.  The actual salvation comes when the individual believes on Christ, which is achieved only through God the Holy Spirit giving them new hearts.

The understanding that Warfield ascribes to is what he would call consistent particularism – Christ’s work on the cross actually redeems and is in itself a saving act that actually saves, rather than a saving act that could save.

“If the saving operations of God actually save, then all those upon whom he savingly operates are saved, and particularism is given in the very nature of the case; unless we are prepared to go the whole way with universalism and declare that all men are saved.”

Any act, option, or possibility of salvation apart from Christ — solely and entirely, is in some way going to be making friends with universalism.  Any universalistic involvement is essentially a denial of Soli Deo gloria – Christ’s redemptive work cannot extend beyond those who are actually saved.

“It is God the Lord who saves; and in all the operations by which he works salvation alike, he operates for and upon, not all men indifferently, but some men only, those namely who he saves. Thus only can we preserve to him his glory and ascribe to him and to him only the whole work of salvation.”

My question to you is: Does holding the Amyraldian position, as opposed to the Reformed position,  make any difference in the life of a believer, from a practical perspective?