Lessons from the Gulags – Part 1

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Introduction

Apart from books on theology and Christianity, no book has had a bigger impact on me than The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The author was a decorated soldier in the Russian army who was later sentenced to eight years of hard labour in the Russian gulags. His great life’s work, The Gulag Archipelago, documents the atrocities of Communist doctrine applied to the people of Russia. His three-volume work brought the Soviet Union to its knees and made the label communist a slur among all reasonable people.

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Westminster Confession of Faith 1.7 – Perspicuity of Scripture

Today we continue our walk through the Westminster Confession of Faith. Over the last month or so we have looked at the first section of the Confession which is focused on the Scriptures. In our most recent short post on the Confession, we highlighted that Scripture does not need adding to either with the traditions of men or ‘inward illumination’. We also discussed the concept of the sufficiency of Scripture and identified some important implications of these doctrines. Today we look at the perspicuity (or clarity) of Scripture.

VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

The first thing that the framers of the confession note is that all things in Scripture are not equally easy to understand. Peter himself points out that Paul’s writings contain some difficult concepts (2 Peter 3:16). The book of Revelation seems to defy its own name, with Christians who have a high view of Scripture disagreeing as to its interpretation. It’s important to make a distinction at this point. God is a good communicator – the best in fact, since language comes from Him. So God speaks clearly in His Word, but that does not mean that no doctrines contained in Scripture are not difficult. Scripture teaches the concept of the trinity clearly, but this is not an easy thing to understand. Williamson in his book on the Confession puts it this way, ‘The clearest possible expression of Einstein’s theory of relativity does not make it “simple.” ‘Added to this is the complication that we are fallen, and there are even ‘ignorant and unstable men’ who twist and distort what God has said in his Word.

Secondly, we are informed that the things pertaining to our salvation – what we must know, believe and do, are so clearly expressed in Scripture, that even unlearned people who appropriately use ‘ordinary means’ can gain sufficient understanding. How we are saved is abundantly clear from Scripture. An ordinary layperson can determine this from Scripture. We do not need a special class of Christian to teach these things to us. This doesn’t mean that gifted teachers are unhelpful, but that the Scriptures, when read carefully, thoroughly and regularly, are sufficiently clear that ordinary men can read them and with the Spirit’s enabling understand the way of salvation and be saved.

One important phrase in this statement is “in a due use of the ordinary means“. There is a call for us here to be diligent in the reading and studying of and meditation on the Scriptures. I have been encouraged to continue my efforts in reading through the breadth of God’s Word with my family in our evening and morning Bible times rather than just sticking to the well-worn paths in Scripture.

The Resistance – Unholy Dualism – Part 3D – Conclusion

Statement 7: On the Authority of the Church

We have all grown up in times where it is assumed that the church has authority in the spiritual realm and the state in the physical realm. This is a misunderstanding. Yes, the church’s authority is a spiritual authority, but we misunderstand spiritual if we presume it means non-physical. The church’s spiritual authority has effects in the physical world. When an adulterer is excommunicated he is excluded from the Lord’s table and from the fellowship of believers until such time as he repents.

This misunderstanding of ‘spiritual’ has caused an unhealthy spiritual/physical divide. The church now has abdicated its authority in the material world to such a degree that when the state government orders it to close for months because of a virus, it complies. Without even a whimper. There seems to have been no widespread outrage at the state presuming it has the authority prevent Christ’s church from gathering.

Now part of this of course is fear. Anyone in New Zealand who is even half aware of what’s going on will realise that we have not been led by particularly courageous men in these times. (I do not write this because I am courageous. I’m not and would be no better if I were a leader in the church.) We know there would be public outrage against us if we decided to flout these man-made rules. So there has been barely a whisper on the closure of the churches. So let’s not berate our leaders too much. Most of us laity too have been cowed in these times. We need to assist them and help them develop courage. They need to know we the laity are behind them. We need to encourage them. So encourage your pastor, minister or priest. Ask them about standing up to this seemingly endless shutdown of the gathering. We are, after all, the ecclesia, the church or the gathered. It’s somewhat ironic that we aren’t gathering.

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The Resistance – Unholy Dualism – Part 3C – In the Church

It’s been a week since we began our third part in The Resistance series. We are focusing on how Christians and the church have been captured by dualism. Today we are looking at statements 5 & 6 from the original article. I’ll post them here again to refresh your memories before we take a machete to them.

Statement 5: The pinnacle of service to God is full time paid Christian ministry because saving souls is the most important business on this earth. Our job in this world is to seek to see people saved from hell – worrying about society is like polishing the brass on a sinking Titanic. We are heaven bound. Earth is important but doesn’t matter as much

Statement 6: For those who are laity, their most important service of God is found in personal evangelism and doing things for the local church institution. This is what the works of service spoken about by Ephesians 4:12 is talking about – welcoming visitors to the Sunday service, playing in the music team, making cups of teas and running the AV desk.

In evangelical circles, dualism has spread to such an extent that the pinnacle of service to God is seen as full time paid Christian ministry. While many pastors and church leaders would perhaps not express the concept in such a stark manner, the implication is there in much of the church’s current practice.

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Are you Affected by the Vaccine Mandates?

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As a result of our recent guest post, My Line in the Sand, we have been inundated with views and comments.

To follow up on this, we at The Sojournal, are trying to collect and publish stories from people who are affected by the COVID vaccine mandate. We are keen to publish respectful articles or videos that address your personal situation. If you wish to remain anonymous, that is fine too.

If you would like to be involved, please use the contact form and we will get back to you. If you know of someone affected, please alert them to our plans.

Let’s show our overlords that we are free and principled people.

Tenacity and Intransigence

In the golden era of the Roman Empire, Pliny the Younger advised Emperor Trajan that Christians should be executed solely for their tenacity and intransigence. “Whatever the nature of their admission, I am convinced that their stubbornness and unshakeable obstinacy ought not to go unpunished.”…

Would we be convicted today for being stubborn, tenacious, unbending and obstinate? It is surely undeniable that only rarely in Christian history has the lordship of Jesus in the West been treated as more pliable or has Christian revisionism been more brazen, Christian interpretations of the Bible more self-serving, Christian preaching more soft, Christian behavior more lax, Christian compromise more common, Christian defections from the faith more casual, and Christian rationale for such slippage more spurious and shameless.”

Os Guiness in Impossible People

A Diagnostic Test for Deity

What is the functional god of a society? This struck me as I was driving somewhere recently. The news came on, and every single item in the bulletin related to the state. I was informed that the government was doing this or that, or in a few cases told what the government ought to be doing but was currently not doing.

This got me thinking. News bulletins are a reflection of what is considered newsworthy. What is newsworthy is a reflection of what a culture considers to be important. What a culture considers to be important is indicative of its worship – or its functional idol if you will. In our case, as I have argued previously this is the state.

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My Line in the Sand

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GUEST POST – Scott Kennedy

I am not an emotional person. In the last 20 years of life, I believe I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I have wept. Not that I think this is a virtue, it just seems part of my temperament. But twice in the last week, I have been so upset – distraught even – that I have wept.

Vaccine mandates. Our government went back on its word and has issued a vaccine mandate for all teachers. This is my line in the sand. But drawing this line is crushing me for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I have worked as a teacher for a decade in a full-time capacity and many more years than that in part-time roles. I am totally invested in the school that I work for and have given my time, my energy and even my money to help that school thrive and flourish. While I am not perhaps the most inspiring, interesting or creative teacher, I love my students, and I think they know I am committed to them and desirous of their success. My ex-students keep in touch. This is the area of life that God has gifted me in. I can teach. I can’t build. I’m not physically strong. I’m not able to do techy things. I’m pretty ordinary really. But teaching I can do. And the government with one edict from their Lectern of Lies has taken my livelihood away from me.

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