Bible Retreat

Hello. I'm Shawn. This is my blog.

Sorry, just thought I would re-introduce myself.

At any rate, I am not really going to be blogging much of anything right now. I am, instead, simply sharing a little bit about an exciting event coming up in another two weeks. We, in the Northern New England Conference, are going to be doing something that has, perhaps, not been done in any other conference for a few decades. I might be overstating it a bit, but I am excited about this awesome opportunity.

We are actually going to have a Pastors' Bible Retreat where we do nothing but study the Bible. Another pastor and I from the conference asked the administration if we could hold such an event, purely on a voluntary basis, and they kindly obliged. When the invitation went forth, the majority of the pastors in the conference responded by saying they would love to attend. A number of others also indicated that they would like to come, but schedule conflicts do not allow it.

This is exciting. It shows me that there is a hunger for the Word and things are happening.

After much prayer and deliberation, we have decided to study the book of Galatians. So we are going to spend two straight days unpacking this wonderful little book.

Please pray for us! I do believe that the Spirit will lead us in a mighty way. There is no way we can encounter the Word without being changed.

Below is the poster for the event.

Dial Daily Bread: What Will Grip Teenage Hearts Forever?

This, from Robert Wieland again:

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

A group of teenage students in a Christian school nearby were having a Week of Prayer. Their hearts moved, they lit a bonfire for their rock music CDs. They realized that some if not many of the popular rock lyrics are frankly the worship and glorification of Satan. The "great controversy between Christ and Satan" is raging right inside teen hearts. The struggle can be intense. The whole world is encapsulated in one human soul.

It's the modern counterpart of the revivals and reformations in ancient Israel when an occasional king like Hezekiah or Josiah would be moved to throw out the sex-worship gods and goddesses from the holy Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. Indignant against this seductive and alluring pagan worship, they did like the great Phinehas at Shittim in Numbers 25. "Israel ... began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab" and "joined himself unto Baal-peor." When Zimri, a most prominent "prince" in Israel, openly paraded "a Midianitish woman" into his tent right before Moses and "all the congregation," young Phineas followed him into the tent and "thrust both of them through. ... So the plague was stayed" (vss. 1, 3, 8). But often those "revivals" were short lived because they were basically Old Covenant in nature--all the way back to Mount Sinai.

Our widespread obsession with Satan-worship through music has gripped legions of Christian youth. Hypocrisy with boring lukewarmness in grownups has fueled and encouraged the deep-rooted apostasy. A harsh fear-motivated return to legalism cannot be a permanent solution. All egocentric devotion disguised as the worship of Christ soon becomes Baal worship again, as in ancient Israel, over and over. On and on we go, decade after decade, repeating ancient history, until we can come to grasp the New Covenant principles of the gospel. They alone grip teenage hearts forever. Do not despair. The pure non-Babylonian, most precious gospel is still the power of God unto salvation. It works!

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 8, 2002.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.

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The Church: Visible or Invisible?

This was today's devotional thought from "Dial Daily Bread" by my good friend, Robert Wieland. I thought it was relevant to my recent posts on baptism, indoctrination, and church membership. Please take a few seconds to read these few paragraphs and share your thoughts.

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Someone asks: Are we sure that the Bible teaches that God's "church" is a visible organization, and not an invisible number of scattered believers?

The only times we read that Jesus mentioned His "church" were twice--Matthew 16:18 and 18:17. He used the word ecclesia, which means "called out," a people designated and separated from the world, defined and denominated in a form that the world could recognize as an entity. The apostles called ancient Israel a "church in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38), and we read that Israel was a visible organization that the world could see as God's denominated people. In Matthew 18 Jesus outlined what should be done if a member in the church disgraces its name--he should be disciplined. Unless the church is organized, this cannot be done.

Paul thought of a beautiful illustration of what the church is--it's a "body." "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular ... in the church" (1 Cor. 12:12-28).

Possibly the reason for this person's question is the problem of apostasy and worldliness in the church, which is discouraging to a thoughtful, sincere Christian. Please think about Jesus: He is even more pained by this than you are. Be joined to Him by faith, share His heart burden for His church. It's the great crisis of the ages. He wants to lead her to repentance, not to ruin.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: February 25, 2005.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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Come, and See!

As many - if not all - of you know, I am a big fan of photography. It is a passionate hobby of mine. But that's all it is: a hobby. Yet my dear wife asked me if she could utilize my hobby for her gain. She has started a business venture, utilizing my free time to turn her a profit. Enter Brace Photography and www.bracephotography.com.



If you are looking for someone to shoot your wedding photography, or someone to shoot your senior pictures, or your fun family moments, check out the website and get in touch with her. Or if you'd like to purchase some classic New England art, check out the website as well.

I do hope you will have a look and get in touch with her (contact information is on the website).

The Sabbath in the New Testament

Somewhere along the line, Christians the world over have been led to believe that the Sabbath commandment is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated in the New Testament. I am not sure where this idea originated, but I am very intrigued by it. One need only do a quick Google search to realize this widespread concept being promulgated. See here and here as examples. (This is not to mention scores of other scholarly commentaries that propose this idea as well.)

But there is a huge problem with this. Simply put, it is completely untrue. In fact, quite the opposite is true - the Sabbath commandment is affirmed and repeated probably more than any other one of the Ten Commandments.

Furthermore, here are some other challenges to this supposed vacuum of support for the Sabbath commandment.

1. What one means by "repeating" a commandment seems rather arbitrary. In fact, when I read these various people and notice their evidence for the other nine, the "repeating" of the command seems rather liberal. Notice, for example, one of the evidences for the first commandment ("no other gods before me"). Exhibit A for these people is Acts 14:15, where Paul and Barnabas say, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God." While I recognize that this alludes to the first commandment, how, exactly does this "repeat" it?

And this is the case over and over again for the supposed evidence. The interpretation of what constitutes a "repeating" of the commandment is very loose.

Even by their own standards, when Jesus talks about Him being the "Lord of the Sabbath," (see Luke 6:5) wouldn't this be a repeating of the Sabbath commandment?

2. Though I have not done an exhaustive study on the subject, it is rather ironic that the Sabbath commandment seems to be the only one of the the commandments from the first part of the decalogue that is actually and literally "repeated" in the New Testament. It is even more ironic that the above passage (Acts 14:15), which is utilized to prove the first commandment, is actually an incredible endorsement for the importance of the fourth commandment. And, in fact, Paul and Barnabas quote part of the fourth commandment word for word! Notice: "We . . . preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them." The italicized part is a word-for-word quote from the Greek version of the Sabbath commandment.

Peter and John also utilize this exact same quote in Acts 4:24 and John repeats a part of it in the first angel's message of Revelation 14:6-7.

Talk about repeating the Sabbath commandment!

And yet, we are led to believe by so many well-meaning Christians that the Sabbath commandment is the only one of the ten that is not repeated - all the while it is repeatedly repeated!