Puritan Corner - That Omen

“It is a very ill omen to hear a wicked world clap its hands and shout
“well done” to a Christian man.” 

by Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)

 

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

 

The Back & Forth with Huss at the Stake

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Daniel 7:25

"Lured to the Council of Constance under the promise of safety, Jan Huss was immediately thrown into prison for six months, given a mock trial, and ordered to recant — which he refused. 

In July 1415, he was stripped, adorned with a dunce hat painted with devils and labeled “Arch-Heretic”.....They then led him past a burning pile of his books and chained him to the stake. 

 

In response to being chained up like a dog, he said, “My Lord Jesus Christ was bound with a harder chain than this one for my sake, so why should I be ashamed of this rusty chain?” 

They told him once more to recant, but he refused, proclaiming, “What I taught with my lips I will now seal with my blood.” And that he did.

 

As the flames climbed higher, he sang. The secretary of the council pronounced, “O curse’d Judas, because thou hast abandoned the pathways of peace, and hast counselled with the Jews, we take away from thee the cup of redemption.” 

Thankfully, the Catholic Church did not have the authority to take the cup of redemption that day."

 DesiringGod

Thoughts around the Jack-o’-Lantern

*The Question here to ponder is how did supposed "Christians" in
Ireland come to still hold to pagan myths from their distant past, blend them into the warped thinking that a carved turnip (later Pumpkin) can be used for scaring away spirits?

I'm guessing those spirits aren't afraid of a carved squash of any kind...just saying...  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12

Q: Where were the shepherds of the flock all those centuries this was forming? 

A: Oh, that's right...there were teaching massive errors on "hell", state of the dead and so-called purgatory.

"The tradition of carving Jack-o’-Lanterns originated in Ireland using

turnips instead of pumpkins. 

It is allegedly based on a legend about a man named Stingy Jack who repeatedly trapped the Devil and only let him go on the condition that Jack would never go to Hell. 

But when Jack died, he learned that Heaven did not want his soul either, so he was forced to wander the Earth as a ghost for eternity. The Devil gave Jack a burning lump of coal in a carved-out turnip to light his way. 

Locals eventually began carving scary faces into their own turnips to frighten away evil spirits." HeatherThomas

Grebel's Contribution to the Reformation

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Matthew 3:6

 

"Conrad Grebel (1498-1526) was one such preacher. ‘The Father of the Anabaptists’ had actually been led to faith in Christ thanks to Zwingli’s ministry in 1522; nevertheless, the following year he

began to feel that his pastor was not carrying out a full-blown reform at his church at Zurich, especially due to Zwingli’s willingness to compromise with the State over the question of abolishing the Mass.

 

Two years later, Zwingli and Grebel met for a final showdown. They were to debate publically upon the controversial theme of infant baptism. After the debate, Zurich’s authorities officially endorsed Zwingli’s stance, so Grebel and his faithful followers decided to leave Zurich in order to preach their newfound faith, baptizing men and women who responded to their Gospel preaching. From that moment on, Anabaptism (which literally means ‘rebaptism’ or ‘baptism again’) was to become an independent movement, separate from the Swiss Reformation.

 

As can be imagined, the civil authorities were incensed at Grebel’s re-baptizing antics. Therefore all of the Anabaptist preachers were sentenced to death by drowning. Grebel’s close friend Felix Mantz was the first to die in January 1527.

Grebel himself had been arrested in October 1525 and handed a life-sentence, however, his friends helped him to escape some five months later. But all to no avail. The young Grebel was to be struck down by the plague that very summer. 

Notwithstanding his relative youth, Grebel was to prove instrumental in the development of a Protestant alternative to the mainline thought of Luther, Zwingli and Bullinger." FreshBreeze/WillGraham

Catholic Church Takes Credit for "Halloween"

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 2 Corinthians 6:17

"Although Halloween has been embraced by the secular world, its

foundations are firmly rooted in Catholic tradition. Dr Malcolm Brown of the Alcuin Institute for Catholic Culture explains the significance of All Hallows’ Eve. 

The name itself comes from All Hallow’s Eve – that is, the Vigil of All Saints’ Day, when Catholics remember those who have gone before us to enter our heavenly home. Immediately afterwards, on November 2, the Church commemorates all the faithful departed still detained in Purgatory, and prays in suffrage for them.

Vatican News spoke with Dr Marcel Brown, of the Alcuin Institute for Catholic Culture in Tulsa, about the Catholic roots of Halloween. “The feast of Halloween is one of those feasts on the Catholic calendar that is celebrated on the eve of a great solemnity”, he said.

The modern focus on the eerie or mysterious also has a Catholic aspect. “When we think of Halloween, I think we often think of ghosts and goblins, and ghoulish faces”, Dr Brown said. “But even these, in the Catholic tradition, are supposed to be reminders of death and of the last things”." 

VaticanNews

Hill Lesson Observation from Wycliffe

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil........Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Job 1:1,9,11,12

"The higher the hill, the stronger the wind: so the loftier the life, the stronger the enemy's temptations."  

John Wycliffe

Creation Moment 10/31/2022 - Image of God or Frankenstein?

"In a recent article on the Atlantic magazine’s website, there was a culture piece that looked at horror movie villains as “queer icons.”

.....the article— the author, Mary Retta, looked at several different “movie monsters,” and one association really stood out. 

She quoted another author, Susan Stryker, who in 1994 said this in regard to Frankenstein’s monster: 

“The transsexual body is an unnatural body. It is the product of medical science. It is a technological construction. It is flesh torn apart and sewn together again in a shape other than that in which it was born.”

-----Everyone is remade in one way or another. Either we “remake” ourselves in our own fallen and distorted image by surgery, addiction, hedonism, false religion, doing what is right in our own eyes (In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25), or some other panacea which excludes God. Or as Scripture teaches, we are remade in the image of Christ.

 

The development of the child in the womb is one of the wonders of the created world, wherein genetic material from the father and mother comes together to create a new, unique individual. Scripture rightly says that people are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). 

By contrast, Victor Frankenstein crudely sewed together his monster, hindered by the constraints of his abilities and tools. The resulting abomination is rejected in disgust by his creator.....Science is also co-opted for so-called “gender affirmative care” in which

biological males receive surgery and hormones to feminize their appearance and vice versa for women. However, there is no way to truly turn a male into a female or a female into a male. 

A man will never have the capacity to bear and nurse offspring as a mother does, and a woman will never father children. This sad imitation of manhood or womanhood robs them of their God-given femininity or masculinity that should be healthy and honoring for them as image-bearers of God. In this sin-cursed world, however, people are often confused, connived, or coerced into believing lies about their bodies, gender, or sexuality. 

 

Victor Frankenstein provides his monster with a horrific “new life” pieced together from previously dead pieces of corpses and electrified with lightning. 

People have always sought their own solution to the curse of death, and the monster could be seen as almost an “anti-resurrected” being. Instead of the body being gloriously transformed to a state suited to eternal life in the presence of Christ, Frankenstein’s monster has a cursed existence between life and death." AIG

Description of Destruction of Wicked Subversive of the Idea of Unending Life in a Consuming Fire

"The wicked are compared to the most combustible and destructible
materials, as chaff [Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matt.3:12], stubble [For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Mal.4:1] tares [As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. Matt.13:40], branches [If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. John 15:6], thistle-down [The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Isa.17:13, margin]; which would be utterly subversive of the idea of unending life in a consuming fire."  

Uriah Smith

Creation Moment 10/30/2022 - That Number Required Just Keeps Going Up....

 In the beginning God created.... Genesis 1:1 

"A huge problem for naturalistic evolution is how life with its

complex coded information could have arisen spontaneously in evolution’s very first living cell.

We have previously written about how scientists have attempted to determine the simplest self-reproducing cell. This hypothetical cell was said to require a minimum of 256 genes. 

The problem for evolutionists is that they cannot appeal to natural selection to explain the first cell. That’s because natural selection requires a living, reproducing cell to pass on any trait selected for! 

---Further research in 2006 increased this figure to 387 protein-coding and 43 RNA-coding genes.

---In 2016, the minimalist genome was once again increased with the creation of a synthetic self-reproducing bacterium: this time, to 473 genes (531,560 ‘letters’), including 65 whose function are unknown but which were essential for the survival of the cell. 

---This is not much less than Mycoplasma genitalium (482 genes, 582,970 letters)—which itself is a parasite of even more complex organisms. 

Q: How then can evolutionists explain the origin of the very first self-reproducing cell? 

It is a mathematical impossibility for just one gene to have arisen by chance—much less 473." CMI

No Eternal Holy Laziness

And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve him. Revelation 22:3

"Frequently, Christians and non-Christians alike have a misconception about the nature of the coming life in heaven. 

 

We will not merely “go to heaven” and sit around in some semblance of holy laziness; we will be given jobs to do! 

Just what those jobs may be, or what they may require, is not specifically revealed to us, but it is abundantly clear that the kind of job, or the degree of responsibility." HMM III

Luther's Breakdown of Philippians 2:5-11 SERIES Page

 Luther's Breakdown of Philippians 2:5-11 SERIES Page 

 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

 

pt.1 

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/luthers-breakdown-of-philippians-25-11.html

pt. 2 

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/luthers-breakdown-on-philippians-25-11.html

pt.3 

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/luthers-breakdown-on-philippians-2.html

pt.4

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/luthers-breakdown-on-philippians-25-11_25.html

pt.5

http://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/luthers-breakdown-on-philippians-2_26.html

pt.6 

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/luthers-breakdown-on-philippians-25-11_27.html

Creation Moment 10/29/2022 - Big Bang Lost in Voids of Space

And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: Genesis 15:5

 

"Galaxies are gathered together in great chains and walls which curl

around vast regions of empty space known as ‘voids’.

But most cosmologists are still clinging to the hope that the universe is ‘smooth’ on large scales.

As the Professor of Astrophysics at Nottingham University acknowledges, once they accept that the universe is not uniform, ‘We’re lost. … The foundations of the big bang models would crumble away. We’d be left with no explanation for the big bang, or galaxy formation, or the distribution of galaxies in the universe.’" CMI

Luther's Breakdown on Philippians 2:5-11 SERIES: pt.6

Philippians 2:5-11: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

"Unquestionably, then, Paul proclaims Christ true God. 

Had he been mere man, what would have been the occasion for saying that He became like a man and was found in the fashion of other men? 

But our eyes are as yet blinded. We do not perceive him there nor recognize that all things obey His will. 

The last day, however, will reveal it. 

Then we shall comprehend present mysteries; 

--how Christ laid aside His divine form, was made man, and so on; --how He also laid aside the form of a servant and resumed the divine likeness; 

--how as God He appeared in glory; and how He is now Lord of life and death, and the King of Glory. This must suffice on the text."

Martin Luther

Huntington, Indiana Obituary Lesson: While "stealing"? [1900]

To day if ye will hear his voice, 

harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. 

For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  Hebrews 3:15/James 4:14

 

"John Case a cigarmaker of Huntington, Ind., was fatally injured at Largo, Ind., while stealing a ride on a freight train.

[The Pioneer express, September 07, 1900]."

IN the NEWS - NYT pushes Sunday Rest

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.... Exodus 20:10

"October 16, 2022, the New York Times published an article by

Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren titled: “How to Fight Back Against the Inhumanity of Modern Work.” 

The author of this article offers solutions on how to combat the inhumanity of the modern workplace cycle, which she says has been altered by digital technology.

Tish Harrison Warren describes how the modern worker has become a “limitless, sleepless, unemotional machine” thanks to the pandemic and the digital revolution, which has made it “more difficult to unplug from work.” She says that it is time to “reexamine what it means for work to be humane.” 

---Pay close attention to the solution that is being proposed in this New York Times article. They are calling us back to a “common cause” found in Sunday rest by law. The article went on to say:

• “In the early labor movement, a broad and diverse base of religious people found common cause around Sabbath laws. These laws (often called blue laws) are now usually seen as examples of antiquated, puritanical, even theocratic impulses: prim religious people running around trying to make sure no one enjoys a beer on a Sunday afternoon. Advocates of Sabbatarianism, however, saw their work as an act of resistance to greed and a fight for the laborer.” 

• “A key issue in the burgeoning industrialist economy of the North was the preservation of time for worship, rest and family life to preserve the dignity of the worker. They looked to Sabbath laws, in part, to help achieve this.”

• “Keeping the Sabbath wasn’t merely a religious observance but served a civic function. It was a practical way, through time itself, to treat workers as valuable humans with whole lives to be lived.”

• “Sabbath rest” is necessary for both body and soul; that it preserves “health, wealth and the temporal happiness and prosperity of individuals and communities.” 

• “Take away the Sabbath and you destroy the most humane and democratic institution,” which is made particularly for “the man of labor and toil, of poverty and sorrow.” 

This is what is being advocated in the New York Times. With all this talk about the history of blue laws, the idea of mandating Sunday rest by law is being revived once again.

Then the author of the article goes on to explain how she keeps Sunday holy from Saturday night until Sunday night. That’s exactly how the blue laws used to work, and that’s the example she is giving to the public:

• “At the very least, workers ought to be able to completely shut off from work one day a week or more — no email, no notifications, nothing. My family attempts to avoid all digital devices from Saturday night to Sunday night, some weeks with greater success than others. This aids our goals for our Sabbath day: rest, play, worship and delight. This practice has shaped our family life, our work, our habits and our very bodies.” 

In spite of all the arguments for workers needing time to rest, this New York Times article is basically saying that our society is not keeping Sunday holy as it ought to be. 

All these statements and arguments plainly show that the real objective of the whole Sunday-law movement is to get people to attend church on Sunday in order to preserve worship."

AdventMessenger

Papal Notes - Calls for the 2 Beasts to Intervene

TEACHABLE MOMENT: Notice that the 2 powers the world calls upon, the U.S. (Land Beast of Revelation) and the Papacy (Sea Beast of Revelation) are, well, being called upon to unite to save Europe.

NOW NOTHING MAY COME OF THIS AT THIS TIME -- but in the future the 2 powers will collude to Lead the earth---if you know what I mean......And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Revelation 13:1,11,12

"French President Emmanuel Macron revealed in an interview
with Le Point that he urged Pope Francis in a meeting at the Vatican to attempt to arrange direct dialogue between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in an effort to make peace in Ukraine. 

"We need the United States to sit at the table to promote the peace process in Ukraine," Macron continued. "Joe Biden has a real relationship of trust with the Pope. 

The Pope can have an influence on him for American re-engagement in Haiti and Ukraine." 

Biden is the second sitting US president in history who is Roman Catholic, with the first being John F. Kennedy." 

 ZeroHedge

Creation Moment 10/28/2022 - Copying the Creator's Design

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing......

Genesis 1:24

"Busy bees. Dazzling dragonflies. Meddlesome mosquitoes. 

 

They all have the most amazing flying abilities. 

Q: How do they do it? 

A: We are happy to offer a new article about God’s marvellous creation which explains some of the secrets of insect flight, supplied to us by Mr. Martin Tampier.

Martin is a professional engineer and energy consultant in Laval, Quebec.

Martin concludes,

Research around insect flight is on-going and many mysteries still need to be solved. However, some of the complicated features of insect wings are already being copied for man-made technology, including the development of micro-aerial vehicles—ironically modeled after the ‘primitive’ flying of dragonflies.

So while they may not recognize insects as divinely designed, researchers are confirming that they are incredibly complex and use extremely sophisticated physical mechanisms. To date, even the most amazing modelling software is insufficient to properly show how they achieve all of their amazing feats." CWC

Luther's Breakdown on Philippians 2:5-11 SERIES: pt.5

Philippians 2:5-11: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

 

“Christ thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Now, at
first sight these words do not seem to refer solely to Christ, since even the devil and his own, who continually aspire to equality with God, do not think their action robbery in spite of the testimony of their conscience to the contrary. 

But with Paul the little word “think,” or “regard,” possesses a powerful significance, having the force of “perfect assurance.” 

---But the wicked cannot boast it no robbery when they dare take upon themselves the form of God; for they know, they are satisfied in themselves, that they are not God. 

---Christ, however, did not, nor could He think himself not equal to God; in other words, He was confident of his equality with God, and knew he had not stolen the honor. 

Paul’s words are chosen, not as an apology for Christ, but as a severe rebuke for those who arrogate to themselves the form of God against the protest of conscience that it is not their own but stolen."

Martin Luther

Calvin on Philippians 2:5-11 Series PAGE

 Calvin on Philippians 2:5-11 Series PAGE

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

 Philippians 2:9-11

 

vs.5 

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/calvin-on-philippians-2-series-vs5.html

vs.6

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/calvin-on-philippians-2-series-vs6.html

vs.7,8

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/calvin-on-philippians-25-11-series-vs78.html

vs.9-11 

https://master1844-dc.blogspot.com/2022/10/calvin-on-philippians-25-11-series-vs9.html

Creation Moment 10/27/2022 - Breaking News: Humans Procreated With... Humans

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27

"Over a century ago, evolutionists taught that Neanderthals were sub-human brutes.

But in the intervening decades, as more research and discoveries have been made, Neanderthals are believed to be fully human, able to interbreed with Homo sapiens. DNA analysis confirms this.

A recent news article stated,

A Swedish scientist [Svante Paabo] has been awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for his groundbreaking research that proved modern humans once procreated with ancient Neanderthals…. [Paabo’s] work is considered revolutionary because it introduced a new branch of paleontology called ‘paleogenomics,’ which looks to ancient DNA to unlock the mystery of how present-day humans came to be.

We could say humans once procreated with humans, since the scientific evidence has shown repeatedly that Neanderthals (and a human group called the Denisovans discovered from bones and a tooth found in Altai Mountains, Siberia) were 100% human.

In fact, an evolutionary paleoanthropologist stated, “The irony is that

the scientific community is going to have to come round to the acceptance that the Denisovans and the Neandertals also belonged to the species which we all call Homo sapiens.” Finlayson was correct.

If one wants to see what Homo neaderthalensis looks like, he simply looks at Nikolai Valuev, a member of the Russian parliament, who has enlarged brow ridges and a sloping forehead. Indeed, Homo sapien skulls come in all shapes and sizes, but they are all people.

Ancient DNA shows that Neandertals and Denisovans have always been people.

Researchers interested in unraveling humanity's past recently sequenced a female Neandertal's ancient DNA and published their results in Nature. The research included sequences that closely matched: Neandertal, Denisovan, modern man, plus an unidentified variation of man. The study authors suspected that these different groups interbred. Just as prior studies showed, this one confirmed that similarities between Neandertal and other human DNA sequences place "Miss Neandertal" inside human kind.

Then what happened to the Neanderthals? An evolutionary article states,

Modern humans are usually seen as superior in a wide range of domains, including weaponry and subsistence strategies, which would have led to the demise of Neandertals. This systematic review of the archaeological records of Neandertals and their modern human contemporaries finds no support for such interpretations, as the Neandertal archaeological record is not different enough to explain the demise in terms of inferiority in archaeologically visible domains. Instead, current genetic data suggest that complex processes of interbreeding and assimilation may have been responsible for the disappearance of the specific Neandertal morphology from the fossil record.

 

Q: What does humans procreating with Neanderthals have to do with the theory of human evolution? 

A: Nothing. Man and woman were created by God in the beginning—no sub-human ancestry." ICR

Luther's Breakdown on Philippians 2:5-11 SERIES: pt.4

Philippians 2:5-11: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” 

 

"The phrase “form of God” does not receive the same interpretation from all. 

Some understand Paul to refer to the divine essence and nature in Christ; meaning that Christ, though true God, humbled Himself. While Christ is indeed true God, Paul is not speaking here of His divine essence, which is concealed. 

The word he uses—“morphe,” or “forma”—he employs again where he tells of Christ taking upon Himself the form of a servant. “Form of a servant” certainly cannot signify “essence of a real servant”—possessing by nature the qualities of a servant. 

For Christ is not our servant by nature; He has become our servant from good will and favor toward us. 

For the same reason “divine form” cannot properly mean “divine essence”; for divine essence is not visible, while the divine form was truly seen. Very well; then let us use the vernacular, and thus make the apostle’s meaning clear. 

“Form of God,” then, means the assumption of a divine attitude and bearing, or the manifestation of divinity in port and presence; and this not privately, but before others, who witness such form and bearing. 

To speak in the clearest possible manner: Divine bearing and attitude are in evidence when one manifests in word and deed that which pertains peculiarly to God and suggests divinity. 

Accordingly, “the form of a servant” implies the assumption of the attitude and bearing of a servant in relation to others. 

--- For, as previously stated, the essence is concealed, but its manifestation is public. 

The essence implies a condition, while its expression implies action."

Martin Luther

Calvin on Philippians 2:5-11 Series: vs.9-11

Philippians 2:9-11. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

 

"Therefore God hath highly exalted. By adding consolation, he shews that abasement, to which the human mind is averse, is in the highest degree desirable. 

Now, that all are happy who, along with Christ, voluntarily abase themselves, he shews by his example; for from the most abject condition he was exalted to the highest elevation. 

Every one therefore that humbles himself will in like manner be exalted. 

Who would now be reluctant to exercise humility, by means of

which the glory of the heavenly kingdom is attained? 

Hath given him a name Name here is employed to mean dignity — a manner of expression which is abundantly common in all languages.

Every knee might bow. Though respect is shewn to men also be means of this rite, there can nevertheless be no doubt that what is here meant is that adoration which belongs exclusively to God, of which the bending of the knee is a token.

As to this, it is proper to notice, that God is to be worshiped, 

--not merely with the inward affection of the heart, 

--but also by outward profession.

 Is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It might also be read, In the glory, because the particle εἰς (to) is often used in place of ἐν (in.) 

I prefer, however, to retain its proper signification, as meaning, that as the majesty of God has been manifested to men through Christ, so it shines forth in Christ, and the Father is glorified in the Son."

John Calvin

IN the NEWS - Biden at odds with God's Design

GOD: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27

 

biden: "Biden claimed that states have no right to restrict transgender

“treatments” for kids, like sex change operations, calling such restrictions “immoral.” 

He also accused Republicans of resisting sex change operations because they are “frightened” of “what they don’t know.” 

Because there’s nothing terrifying about removing your eleven-year-old’s body parts." PJMedia

Creation Moment 10/26/2022 - Those Unique Endocast Patterns may be.....

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: Genesis 1:26

"Some of the differences between ape and human brains are reflected

in the bumps and furrows of the brain surface. And the overlying skull bone will reflect some of this pattern. So, without fossil brains to study, ‘human evolution’ researchers rely on casts of the inside of skulls (endocasts).

On this basis, Ponce de León et al. recently claimed the Dmanisi Homo erectus individuals “largely reflect a great ape pattern of frontal lobe organization” (in a part of the brain overlapping the human ‘language’ area). They also claimed frontal lobes in an older erectus specimen were more ‘primitive’ (less human) than later erectus specimens.

Creationists generally think Homo erectus fossils were fully human. Even some evolutionists think they are the same species as us.

Actually, there are membranes and fluid between the skull bone and brain surface, so skull impressions from the brain’s patterns will be very incomplete and variable. On the lateral frontal lobe surface in living humans, including the language area, these patterns vary widely, Similar variation likely occurred in erectus humans. Creationist brain expert Dr Peter Line says: “All this makes interpretation of endocasts exceedingly difficult. Claims of ‘primitive’ brains go way beyond the evidence.” Evolutionist Choi writes:

Much remains controversial about reconstructing the organization of ancient brains from skulls, cautions paleoanthropologist Bernard Wood … it can prove challenging deducing how the insides of fossil braincases reflected bumps and grooves on the brain’s surface … .

So, we don’t even know that these unique endocast patterns were actual brain markings. Even if they were, the Dmanisi skulls studied are some of the smallest of any erectus specimens (possibly from pathology). So rather than reflecting underlying ‘primitivity’,  

they may simply show the different way in which the developing brain folds within a smaller space." 

CMI