Working Out Loud. - Comments (0)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 3rd March, 2007 @ 06:02:25 AM

The secular life is marked by compartmentalization.

One has his “spiritual life.” His “business life.” His “family life.” His “financial life.” His “private life.” His “personal life.” His “professional life.” Perhaps this carries on ad inifinitum.”

I’m reminded of a popular humorous television seires which once featured a character whose life was so dichotomous, he claimed: “You see, right now, I have Relationship George, but there is also Independent George. That’s the George you know, the George you grew up with — Movie George, Coffee shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.”

“If ‘Relationship George’ walks through this door, he will kill ‘Independent George.’ A George divided against itself cannot stand.”

While the humor in those remarks is rib-tickling, it is so because that is so much of the way we live our lives, masking our private person with a publc persona that is framed to favorably impact whoever we are attempting to impress.

The spiritual life, marked in the Bible, has no such distinctions of persona, no such compartmentalization, no such vanities of impression. God’s exemplary servant, {the chief or protos sinner … the pattern or hupo-tupos for the rest of us, |1Ti 1:15-16} for the rest of this dispensation.
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Disagreeing to Agree. - Comments (3)

Category: Applied,Articles,Roman Catholicism
Author: John Malone
Date: 24th February, 2007 @ 11:11:27 AM

Recently, I received a reply to some Scriptural exegesis that read:

I refuse to argue with you, John.

As far as I am concerned, I have the one true religion and you can try to convince me all you want and I will not falter in my own belief, just as you apparently will not falter in your own.

Here is where I believe as mature Christians we will disagree.

So no arguing please.

Obviously, this itself is an argument – one frequently used – which has as its aim to stop a discourse, in this case specifically, my discourse to a small, but heavily Roman Catholic audience.

Here’s the short version: Stop writing.

I’m obliged to answer, in this case.
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Why People End Up In the Lake of Fire. - Comments (10)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 17th February, 2007 @ 01:46:42 PM

Recently I experienced an exchange – about the way of salvation – get terminated by the pithy phrase “God loves all of us,” and “Can’t we agree to disagree.”

On the first count, God does NOT love all of us. I know that’s not cool to say, and seems to fly in the face of {John 3:16,|jo 3:16} but hold your horses. we have to cut straight the Scriptures. The Bible says {God “hated” Esau.|Rom 9:13}

On the second count, I just despise the statement. It smacks of complete insincerity. What it really means is this: “We disagree, let’s drop the subject.” If all disgreements resulted in dropping the subject, nearly no agreements would ever happen.

Disagreement – whether in agreeable or disagreeable form – is not an optin for believers. The Apostle wrote to the Corintians, and stipulated they be in agreement, {not only in mind, but in judgment.|1Cor 1:10}

God is not mockable. He cannot be worked. He punishes rebellion and disobedience. Those who quote John 3:16 as a proof text should read a few verses onward.

Sometime when watching a football game, I would like to see the {sign read John 3:15-21|jo 3:15-21} instead of 3:16. It would still fit on the screen, and I could still see if the field goal was good or not.

Maybe someone would even dare to put up {John 3:36!|Jo 3:36}
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Can My Infant Child Be Saved? - Comments (19)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 15th February, 2007 @ 09:29:59 AM

Some friends of mine have a tiny baby in critical condition. The thoughts of loved ones around them have gone to the eternal status of the child.

It’s interesting to me that many people wonder about the state of the child, but often overlook their own state!

But I though perhaps the consideration arises in the minds of many Christians, “Can this child be saved?”
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Rebuilding Babylon. - Comments (12)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 20th November, 2006 @ 12:54:29 PM

The Great 70 7’s Prophecy outlined in {Daniel Chapter 9|Dan 9:24-27} is perhaps one of the most sweeping and marvelous statements of God concerning the fabric of time which he has {woven|Heb 1:2} around the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It offers such a remarkably precise chronology leading to the first coming of the Lord Jesus that mockers and scoffers say the book must have been written much later, because no prophecy can be so accurate!

Those of us who have a reading knowledge of our English Bibles, and have known the Great Prophecy may yet underestimate its controversy and power in the minds of men. Nevertheless, the precision of the prophecies of the Lord’s First Coming pale (to us) in comparison to those remaining.

At the forefront of those prophecies these days may be the condition of the cities of Babylon and Jerusalem.
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The Lord’s “deposit” to you. - Comments (3)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 26th May, 2006 @ 03:20:30 PM

The Lord committed both a {dispensation|Eph 3:2-5;Col 1:25-28} and a {deposit|2Ti 1:12} to the apostle Paul.

Today we would call Paul a “driven man.” This is certainly not a pejorative, as we learn that immediatly after the Lord’s baptism, an Irresistable Force drew a willing Subject – Our Savior – {into the wilderness to be tested.|Mark 1:12}

Paul issues forth his {modus operandi|Phi 3:7-14} in a late epistle, and then claims that he is the {prototype follower|1Ti 1:15-16} of our Lord Jesus Christ, cutting a pattern (as tentmakers must do) for the rest of us to follow.

In his discourses, the apostle imparts an institutional form which churches should follow. There is not much to this form: a few ordinances {(traditions)+Traditions+the Lord’s supper, baptism, and the head covering of the woman}, {four symbols+Four Symbols+1. The head covering, 2. the cup, 3. the loaf, and 4. immersion in water}, and a lightweight {ruling structure+elders and deacons+Elders and deacons (ministers) were found both in Jewish synagogues, and Gentile city structures.} sanctified and borrowed from a commonality between Jewish synagogues and Gentile cities.
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An Addendum About Oil & Wine - Comments (3)

Category: Articles,Doctrine
Author: John Malone
Date: 1st May, 2006 @ 02:31:26 AM

Revelation 6:6 “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beats say, ‘A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine.'”

The previous article addresses these conditions more fully, but a few more thoughts may be helpful.
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