We have now navigated through three of the four topics that constitute our “Theology for Dummies” seminary course in some detail (not too much because we are, after all, “Dummies!”). What common idea has run through each topic so far? Here is a brief review: 1.) God is absolutely sovereign; 2.) Man is absolutely sinful, 3.) God relates to man absolutely by Grace alone.  Even we, who must qualify as theological dummies to get credit for this course, can see that the common thread…

I concluded last week’s posting about the utter, absolute wickedness of man with the following statement: ”One would think a clear and expanding divine revelation of such personal wickedness, as defined by God Himself, would be very discouraging, if not devastating, to me, particularly after a full life-time of ‘pursuing God. and His work.’ But, strangely enough, I am finding myself REJOICING, and literally bursting with what I am learning! Next week I’ll tell you specifically WHY I feel that way.” So, now it’s…

Yes, we are all theologians because we all have ideas about God; does He exist, and if He does, what is He like? We are in the process of looking at the four, cornerstone theological truths that I call “Theology for Dummies.” We saw last week the first of these cornerstones is 1.) God is absolutely sovereign. We saw that this theological point, if true (and we saw a number of verses that left us with no doubt that the Bible teaches that He…

In 1518 Catholic monk Martin Luther presented to his Augustinian Order a clarification and amplification of the shockingly critical 95 theses that had been famously nailed to the Wittenberg Church door a year earlier. These 28 statements are called the Heidelberg Disputation, and they are the source of many of the ideas we have been discussing in this blog. This includes the idea that God’s will is naturally, spontaneously and  unconsciously (NSU) performed in us by the Holy Spirit. In the Heidelberg Disputation, Luther…

We saw last week that the two irreplaceable factors for me to live as a Spirit-led believer who is “living by faith” are 1.) living as a little child who 2.) walks in the light with my brothers and sisters about my sin. It takes God’s divine revelation in my heart in order to see this truth experientially. This is, as we saw last week, ginosko (experiential) knowledge, and not simply eido (intellectual) knowledge.  However, I firmly believe that once He has this for…

In our previous posting we emphasized an amazing truth of which much of the church is unaware—we are all ADDICTED to the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! When Adam ate of that fruit in the Garden, the whole human race was dramatically and permanently altered. We, as Adam’s future descendants who were “in him,” moved permanently away from simply trusting that everything God told us was true, right, and unquestioningly obeyed. Instead, in that act of independence…

We concluded our last blog posting by recognizing our addiction to the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil In the Garden of Eden. That addiction grips us all, because we all very naturally are driven to be “good” and not “bad,” “right” and not “wrong,” in the particular life system we have chosen to adopt. That may be Christianity, Islam (Sharia Law), Marxism, the law of my gang, or just “what is right for me.”  However, just as…

Our investigation of the Ship of the Kingdom has been a study of the revealed Law of God for us on the earth—as expressed through God’s three, ordained institutions of family, church and civil government. However, John tells us “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).   In other words, this verse tells us that just keeping the Law of God, even perfectly, is NOT the Truth of God. God’s Law and God’s Truth are…

In about 600 B.C., God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah with what I am sure appeared to his people, the Jews, words that were incomprehensible and mind-blowing: “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.   No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man…

“Andrews, your blog postings are sounding more and more like the rantings of a crazy person. Why should I waste my time even opening this drivel? Certainly anyone who floats the idea that our U.S. Constitution violates the biblical pattern for civil government and needs to be changed after 250 years, needs to be written off and ignored.” I understand this feeling completely, because I once had it myself—over the whole idea of a theocracy vs. pluralism! Obviously, the U.S. is a religiously pluralistic…