Underground Exiles

As I’ve read The Mortification of Sin, I’ve certainly been humbled.  While John Owen is ponderous and weighty as a theologian, his pastoral heart shines through this particular work.

And God has been especially gracious - I’ve been given grace to mortify a particular habitual sin three times in just one week!  This just proves to me that today’s grace is sufficient.

So now I go a little further on into Owen’s work, and find this:

“When God stirs your heart about the guilt of your sin, concerning either its root and indwelling, or its breaking out, be careful you do not speak peace to yourself before God speaks it.  Listen closely to what He says to your soul.”

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So as I continue reading The Mortification of Sin by John Owen, I find my self struck by this statement:

You cannoy mortify a specific sin that is troubling you, unless you are seeking to obey the Lord from the heart in all areas!

Let me be frank; that statement hurts.  When I first read it, it was like a hard punch to the stomach.

In reality all John Owen is doing is being plain about what is apparent all throughout the Gospels.  Jesus is absolutely ruthless about going after the heart, and anything less just isn’t on His radar.

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The Tombstone of the great Jonathan Edwards

Right now I’m reading the Complete Works of Jonathan Edwards, published by the Banner of Truth Trust in 2 volumes.

Volume 2 contains an interesting work of Rev. Edwards called An Humble Attempt To Promote Explicit Agreement And Visible Union Of God’s People In Extraordinary Prayer For the Revival of Religion And The Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom On Earth.  I just love titles from the eighteenth century; they certainly don’t leave you guessing on what the author intends to say.  I think the words of Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones are significant and bear reading on the subject of Jonathan Edwards:

“In my early days in the ministry there were no books which helped me more, both personally and in respect of my preaching, than this two-volume edition of The Works of Jonathan Edwards…I devoured these volumes and literally just read and read them. It is certainly true that they helped me more than anything else. If I had the power I would make these two volumes compulsory reading for all ministers! Edwards seems to satisfy all round; he really was an amazing man.”

So for the next posts on undergroundexiles.com, I’m going to blog my way through Edward’s call to extraordinary prayer and post my thoughts as I read this amazing work.

Edward McKendree Bounds

What do SBC Churches in the 21st Century Need Most in Order to Fulfill the Great Commission? [Part One] With Insights from E. M. Bounds’ Classic, Power Through Prayer «.

This link has nothing to do with my ongoing doses of weirdness from the world wide web.  Instead, it is a subject a little closer to home for me.

I was raised in a Southern Baptist church, and have seeen the fruits of the Conservative Resurgence.  It’s an amazing thing; nonetheless, the world is moving forward, and my Southern Baptist brethren are going to have to move forward with it.

Several years ago I bought a one volume compilation of all of E.M. Bounds work on prayer, and thought it was amazing!  It really help jump start my prayer life, and I’ve recommended it widely.  I think the author of the above article is right on track - the Baptists in the 21st Century would do well to head what Rev. Bounds had to say about prayer and power in the church.

Warring monks threaten destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Times Online.

So, while monks fight over access to the roof, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is falling apart. A recent article from the Times Online contains this gem. “The church has been vigilantly managed by six competing and often fractious Christian denominations — Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian — since an agreement reached under Ottoman law in 1757. Rival denominations often battle for access or space and the congregation at the annual Easter service sometimes resembles the terraces of a boisterous football match. The keys to the main entrance of the church have been held by a Muslim family since the 12th century because the Christians do not trust one another.”

Once again…you just can’t make this crap up!  Amazing…