Gospel. Culture. Technology. Music.

Month: December 2006 Page 1 of 2


Saddam Execution – Reporter a Bit Too Excited

… And got all “choked” up … eh oh!!




Don’t get me wrong, I feel sorry for her, but man, kinda funny.

A Defense of Calvinism – “Salvation is of the Lord”

A Defense of Calvinism – C.H. Spurgeon

A very important, foundational introduction as to why any of us are believers in Christ. This is Spurgeon’s classic writing of why he was a Calvinist and his defense of the doctrines of grace. All of the Bible’s revelations concerning redemption can be summed up in the one verse in Jonah 2:9 where Jonah states in the belly of the fish, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Calvinism simply expounds upon this one central truth: salvation is started from and finished by God and it is all for His glory. Salvation is about God, not man, though we get to be involved in and caught up to and satisfied by His glory forever! There is no greater gift! “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) From the first inkling of faith in sinners’ hearts created there by God, to the final glorification of the saints when we who have believed shall receive redeemed bodies and be forever joyful in the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Salvation is of the Lord. If He is the Alpha and Omega over all things for all time, that is the Beginning and the End, how can we not say He is Alpha and Omega in our salvation? Salvation is of the Lord, made known in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the story of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Excellent read, not long either.

Why is Secularism Exempt from the Separation of Church and State?

“Why is Secularism Exempt from the Separation of Church and State?” by John Hendryx. This is a very interesting debate between a self-proclaimed post-modern secularist and Hendryx concerning the fact that post-moderns more often than not state their views are neutral. But Hendryx exposes the secular world view as being just as intolerant as any other he claims are so exclusive. This isn’t a debate attempting to convince the secularists that Christianity is right, but rather Hendryx is very simply showing him that his views are not neutral at all. He does an excellent job of being kind while pointing out the blatant hypocrisies within this world view. Very interesting …

The Names of Jesus Christ in Scripture

Something that has come to my attention recently is that unfortunately within our culture, the name Jesus has been cheapened and made so common that the name almost doesn’t convey that which is true about Him, namely that He is the Son of God, fully God and fully man, God Himself having intervened in history to redeem whoever would believe in Him through His perfect work, death and resurrection from the dead. I have taken this list of names from this site http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/jesustitles.htm. So look these up and reacquaint yourself with Jesus and all of His descriptions as spoken in the Scriptures.

Advocate (1 John 2:1)
Almighty (Rev. 1:8; Mt. 28:18)
Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:13)
Amen (Rev. 3:14)
Apostle of our Profession (Heb. 3:1)
Atoning Sacrifice for our Sins (1 John 2:2)
Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
Author and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:2)
Author of Salvation (Heb. 2:10)
Beginning and End (Rev. 22:13)
Blessed and only Ruler (1 Tim. 6:15)
Bread of God (John 6:33)
Bread of Life (John 6:35; 6:48)
Bridegroom (Mt. 9:15)
Capstone (Acts 4:11; 1 Pet. 2:7)
Chief Cornerstone (Eph. 2:20)
Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4)
Christ (1 John 2:22)
Creator (John 1:3)
Deliverer (Rom. 11:26)
Eternal Life (1 John 1:2; 5:20)
Gate (John 10:9)
Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11)
Faithful Witness (Rev. 1:5)
Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 3:14)
First and Last (Rev. 1:17; 2:8; 22:13)
Firstborn From the Dead (Rev. 1:5)
Firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15)
Gate (John 10:9)
God (John 1:1; 20:28; Heb. 1:8; Rom. 9:5; 2 Pet. 1:1;1 John 5:20; etc.)
Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)
Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20)
Great High Priest (Heb. 4:14)
Head of the Church (Eph. 1:22; 4:15; 5:23)
Heir of all things (Heb. 1:2)
High Priest (Heb. 2:17)
Holy and True (Rev. 3:7)
Holy One (Acts 3:14)
Hope (1 Tim. 1:1)
Hope of Glory (Col. 1:27)
Horn of Salvation (Luke 1:69)
I Am (John 8:58)
Image of God (2 Cor. 4:4)
Immanuel (Mt. 1:23)
Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42)
King Eternal (1 Tim. 1:17)
King of Israel (John 1:49)
King of the Jews (Mt. 27:11)
King of kings (1 Tim 6:15; Rev. 19:16)
King of the Ages (Rev. 15:3)
Lamb (Rev. 13:8)
Lamb of God (John 1:29)
Lamb Without Blemish (1 Pet. 1:19)
Last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45)
Life (John 14:6; Col. 3:4)
Light of the World (John 8:12)
Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5)
Living One (Rev. 1:18)
Living Stone (1 Pet. 2:4)
Lord (2 Pet. 2:20)
Lord of All (Acts 10:36)
Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8)
Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16)
Man from Heaven (1 Cor. 15:48)
Mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9:15)
Mighty God (Isa. 9:6)
Morning Star (Rev. 22:16)
Offspring of David (Rev. 22:16)
Only Begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 1 John 4:9)
Our Great God and Savior (Titus 2:13)
Our Holiness (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Husband (2 Cor. 11:2)
Our Protection (2 Thess. 3:3)
Our Redemption (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30)
Our Sacrificed Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7)
Power of God (1 Cor. 1:24)
Precious Cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:6)
Prophet (Acts 3:22)
Rabbi (Mt. 26:25)
Resurrection and Life (John 11:25)
Righteous Branch (Jer. 23:5)
Righteous One (Acts 7:52; 1 John 2:1)
Rock (1 Cor. 10:4)
Root of David (Rev. 5:5; 22:16)
Ruler of God’s Creation (Rev. 3:14)
Ruler of the Kings of the Earth (Rev. 1:5)
Savior (Eph. 5:23; Titus 1:4; 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:20)
Son of David (Lk. 18:39)
Son of God (John 1:49; Heb. 4:14)
Son of Man (Mt. 8:20)
Son of the Most High God (Lk. 1:32)
Source of Eternal Salvation for all who obey him (Heb. 5:9)
The One Mediator (1 Tim. 2:5)
The Stone the builders rejected (Acts 4:11)
True Bread (John 6:32)
True Light (John 1:9)
True Vine (John 15:1)
Truth (John 1:14; 14:6)
Way (John 14:6)
Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24)
Word (John 1:1)
Word of God (Rev. 19:13)

The Incarnation of Christ – More From Athanasius

“There were thus two things which the Savior did for us by becoming Man. He banished death from us and made us anew; and, invisible and imperceptible as in Himself He is, He became visible through His works and revealed Himself as the Word of the Father, the Ruler and King of the whole creation.

There is a paradox in this last statement which we must now examine. The Word was not hedged in by His body, nor did His presence in the body prevent His being present elsewhere as well. When He moved His body He did not cease also to direct the universe by His Mind and might. No. The marvelous truth is, that being the Word, so far from being Himself contained by anything, He actually contained all things Himself. In creation He is present everywhere, yet is distinct in being from it; ordering, directing, giving life to all, containing all, yet is He Himself the Uncontained, existing solely in His Father. As with the whole, so also is it with the part. Existing in a human body, to which He Himself gives life, He is still Source of life to all the universe, present in every part of it, yet outside the whole; and He is revealed both through the works of His body and through His activity in the world. It is, indeed, the function of soul to behold things that are outside the body, but it cannot energize or move them. A man cannot transport things from one place to another, for instance, merely by thinking about them; nor can you or I move the sun and the stars just by sitting at home and looking at them. With the Word of God in His human nature, however, it was otherwise. His body was for Him not a limitation, but an instrument, so that He was both in it and in all things, and outside all things, resting in the Father alone. At one and the same time—this is the wonder— as Man He was living a human life, and as Word He was sustaining the life of the universe, and as Son He was in constant union with the Father. Not even His birth from a virgin, therefore, changed Him in any way, nor was He defiled by being in the body. Rather, He sanctified the body by being in it. For His being in everything does not mean that He shares the nature of everything, only that He gives all things their being and sustains them in it. Just as the sun is not defiled by the contact of its rays with earthly objects, but rather enlightens and purifies them, so He Who made the sun is not defiled by being made known in a body, but rather the body is cleansed and quickened by His indwelling, ‘Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.'”

The Final Word of God – Quotation by Athanasius

“God knew the limitation of mankind, you see; and though the grace of being made in His Image was sufficient to give them knowledge of the Word and through Him of the Father, as a safeguard against their neglect of this grace, He provided the works of creation also as means by which the Maker might be known. Nor was this all. Man’s neglect of the indwelling grace tends ever to increase; and against this further frailty also God made provision by giving them a law, and by sending prophets, men whom they knew. Thus, if they were tardy in looking up to heaven, they might still gain knowledge of their Maker from those close at hand; for men can learn directly about higher things from other men. Three ways thus lay open to them, by which they might obtain the knowledge of God. They could look up into the immensity of heaven, and by pondering the harmony of creation come to know its Ruler, the Word of the Father, Whose all-ruling providence makes known the Father to all. Or, if this was beyond them, they could converse with holy men, and through them learn to know God, the Artificer of all things, the Father of Christ, and to recognize the worship of idols as the negation of the truth and full of all impiety. Or else, in the third place, they could cease from lukewarmness and lead a good life merely by knowing the law. For the law was not given only for the Jews, nor was it solely for their sake that God sent the prophets, though it was to the Jews that they were sent and by the Jews that they were persecuted. The law and the prophets were a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the spiritual life for the whole world.

So great, indeed, were the goodness and the love of God. Yet men, bowed down by the pleasures of the moment and by the frauds and illusions of the evil spirits, did not lift up their heads towards the truth. So burdened were they with their wickednesses that they seemed rather to be brute beasts than reasonable men, reflecting the very Likeness of the Word. …

… What, then, was God to do? What else could He possibly do, being God, but renew His Image in mankind, so that through it men might once more come to know Him? And how could this be done save by the coming of the very Image Himself, our Savior Jesus Christ? Men could not have done it, for they are only made after the Image; nor could angels have done it, for they are not the images of God. The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the Image.”

Athanasius, On the Incarnation, Chapter Three, The Divine Dilemma and Its Solution in the Incarnation—continued

New Version of Tomato is Out for the WRT54G Series Routers

http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato
I highly recommend installing/upgrading to this version of firmware. It is Linux-based, has awesome firewall tools, access restriction rules, and great graphs for bandwidth monitoring. And best of all, you can boost the level of the wireless transmission to 251mw from the standard 22mw.

Who Has Known the Mind of the Lord? Who Are We to Question Him?

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. – Isaiah 40:12-17

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:33-36

Who are we O God, that we would ever question your will in our lives, either for blessing or for harm and trial? You are the sovereign King. What is man that he thinks he can give you wisdom or counsel? You invented these things, they are yours from eternity past! Who are we God but desperate sinners that have rebelled against You? Who did You consult when You decided to create, when You decided to save Your people through the blood of Christ? Absolutely no one but Yourself. Who has greater wisdom than the Ancient of Days? We are so foolish Lord, and ruined before You in our sin. Who am I to question Your authoritative hand, that can bring peace or permit harm? You have your plan marked out so as to bring about the most glory for Yourself and the greatest good for those who love You. How mighty is Your name and power, made known to us through Your final word, Jesus Christ. We may not understand Your will Lord, but who are we to question the infinitely wise master who rules the nations and all creation by the power of His word? And so you say to Israel and all who question why You do what You do in blessing some and permitting awful trials for others:

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40:27-31

And praise You God that we have this power fully revealed to us in Christ! What a magnificent work that through Your one and only Son, You would purchase those who through faith trust in You to remove their divine guilt and reconcile them to Yourself through the infinitely worthy and precious blood of Christ? O God, give us eyes to see and ears to hear You. We are blind, deaf, and dumb until You give us light that only comes from You and that cannot be mustered up within ourselves. O God turn our rebellion and questioning, defiant hearts from enmity with You to love and peace and reconciliation in Christ, through His perfect work in His life and on the cross. Turn away Your awful wrath that we have stored up for ourselves in our godless lives that live as if You don’t exist. Have mercy on us by granting us faith and repentance Lord. Enable me to believe the Gospel deeper Lord.

Enabling Multiple Remote Desktop Sessions in Windows XP

Origina Link: http://sala.pri.ee/?page_id=11

Link to the executable: http://www.kood.org/Termiserv_XPSP2_i386_1.0.exe

WARNING: USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! I HAVE NOT TRIED THIS OUT YET, SO IF YOU BREAK YOUR COMPUTER, DO NOT CALL ME.

Related: http://www.golod.com/2005/10/enabling-m … tion-2005/

———————————————————
Update 6/20/2008

Here is the new DLL for XP SP3 … the above program WILL NOT work on SP3. You must use these instructions:

(Original): http://alonbilu.wordpress.com/2008/05/1 … -included/
(Archived): http://www.westerfunk.net/archives/tech … 0XP%20SP3/

Christ in Christmas

I’m putting this out on the web now even though some of the days have already passed on the reading (it’s really not that much to read actually). This is really great to go through and meditate on the fact that it was foretold that Christ would come to deliver from hell, wrath and indignation, all those who would believe in Him for salvation. The Old Testament verses are speaking of the things to come that would be fulfilled (or filled full of meaning) in Christ. The New Testament verses speak of that which has historically already occurred. Praise God for His infinitely generous work in Christ, that He accomplished what we could never accomplish: He lived a perfect life without sin on our behalf, as our representative before the Father. And not only this, but He willingly, of His own sovereign power and truly free will, gave up His life on the cross, where He absorbed the wrath of the Father in Himself. And having completed His work on the cross, He gave up His life. Three days later, by the power of God, being that death could not legally hold Jesus, He rose from the grave and 40 days later ascended into heaven where He now sits at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for those who call upon His name to be saved. Christmas is the great window where all of the unbelieving world has a chance to hear rich, theologically sound words that speak of this great and merciful God who sent His Son to die and rise from the grave on our behalf. Read through these Scriptures and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus Christ to you. There is no one who satisfies the soul like the Creator of the universe. All He has created is amazing, but how much great is the presence of the One through whom all these amazing things came to be? And we can have our relationship with this great God restored if we trust the merits and work of His Son for us.

1st Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 9:2-6
A Child Will Be Born to Us

Monday: The Creator of Man – Genesis 1:26-31
Tuesday: The Fall of Man – Genesis 3:1-24
Wednesday: Promise of Redemption – Genesis 3:15
Thursday: A Prophet Will Come – Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Friday: A Virgin With Child – Isaiah 7:10-14
Saturday: A Righteous Judge – Isaiah 11:1-5

2nd Sunday of Advent: Matthew 1:18-25
The Birth of Christ

Monday: A Savior and Deliverer – Isaiah 19:19-25
Tuesday: The Sovereign Lord Comes – Isaiah 40:9-11
Wednesday: Behold My Chosen One – Isaiah 42:1-4
Thursday: A Servant Brings Salvation – Isaiah 49:1-7
Friday: A Man of Sorrows – Isaiah 53:1-12
Saturday: God’s Spirit is Upon Him – Isaiah 61:1-3

3rd Sunday of Advent: Luke 2:8-20
The Shepherds and the Angels

Monday: A Righteous Branch – Jeremiah 23:5-6
Tuesday: A Ruler Over Israel – Micah 5:2
Wednesday: Your King is Coming – Zechariah 9:9-10
Thursday: The Messenger is Sent – Malachi 3:1
Friday: The Birth of John the Baptist is Foretold – Luke 1:1-25
Saturday: The Announcement to Mary – Luke 1:26-38

4th Sunday of Advent: Matthew 2:1-12
The Birth of Christ

Monday: Elizabeth and Mary – Luke 1:39-56
Tuesday: The Birth of Jesus – Luke 2:1-20
Wednesday: Presentation in the Temple – Luke 2:21-38
Thursday: The Pre-Eminent Christ – Colossians 1:15-23
Friday: Worthy is the Lamb – Revelation 5:1-14
Saturday: The New Heaven and New Earth – Revelation 21:1-7

Christmas Eve: Luke 1:67-69
Celebrating the Visit of Christ

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