Reformed & Reforming

"I count myself one of the number of those who write as they learn and learn as they write." -Augustine/Calvin

“The Bible is the starting point for the true understanding of every subject it addresses and every area of truth that matters.” ~John MacArthur gty.org/sermons/90-260…

Yes! (via @WesleyLHuff) youtube.com/watch?v=DpNgxs…

@WonderWomaNinja @Bryan_Duncan 1. Fats Domino 2. Carmen 3. Deliverance 4. Phil Keaggy 5. P.O.D. 6. Dogwood 7. The Kry 8. Crystal Lewis 9. Dennis Agajanian 10. Phil Wickham

Introduce yourself with 10 bands/artists you’ve seen: 1. Jars of Clay 2. Skillet 3. Five Iron Frenzy 4. DC TALK 5. Carmen 6. Audio Adreneline 7. Creed 8. @Bryan_Duncan 9. The Katinas 10. Ray Boltz

@EmbracingTara This reminds me of an old Groucho Marx quote: "I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member." I know it's tangentially related, but there is a bit of a connection, I think.

To be a true artist you must first be free. To truly be free, you cannot depend on an audience. To not depend on an audience, you must be willing to lose them at any time. To be in a position to willingly lose them at any time, you shouldn't yoke your livelihood or your worth to an audience. That's why I don't yoke any of my income or my worth to an audience. Once you do that, you limit yourself because on some level you are always performing to keep the audience.

@jon_lewis_ @lysscordova Thank you for the work you are doing with @JeremyDBoreing. His new podcast is filled with rich Christian philosophy. It is very profitable for my soul! I've been recommending it to many friends.

There's no better strategist in the conservative movement than @lysscordova! Great to be back in the trenches with you and working together to build the future.

@lysscordova @JeremyDBoreing It's quite the venture you have joined! @JeremyDBoreing's podcast is great. Congrats!

Long overdue personal announcement: last month I joined @JeremyDBoreing full time as Executive Producer of The Jeremy Boreing Show! I started working for Jeremy at DW in 2021 and immediately knew he had a different vision, message, and strategy for the movement and the country than I had ever seen from the right. He took big risks and put more wins on the board than I had ever thought possible. I’m so honored to be part of this next adventure. I still believe the future of the country and the Movement is bright, but only if we all step up and make it so. I’m already so proud of this show and how much it’s inspiring people, and we’re only just getting started. There’s a lot hard work ahead of us, but as we say often around here: the future belongs to those who build it, and I hope you’ll join us in that endeavor.

A great discussion of textual variants between the Septuagint (LXX) and the Masoretic Text (MT): youtu.be/OGPvW1uk7kE?si…

@reformedhg Adam's descendants, born in sin...

People need to understand that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. No one is righteous, not one. The only sinless One is Christ. Stop obsessing over ancestry and other people’s sins while ignoring your own. You won’t answer to God for your ancestors’ sins, you’ll answer for your own unless you repent and turn to Christ.

@gab_joie @Daniel550990525 @WesleyLHuff @MikhailaFuller Clearly a bot

@Daniel550990525 @WesleyLHuff @MikhailaFuller Interesting…I like Wes Huff but this is an interesting comment

Seeing some response to my statement on @MikhailaFuller's podcast about speaking in tongues. Some potentially helpful clarification: First, I am not a cessationist (though I see myself being accused of it). I state in the interview that I believe that the spiritual sign gifts (tongues, prophesy, healing) still take place today, just not normatively like they were in the Apostolic era. Nonetheless, I hold to the standard exegetical position that biblical tongues refer to known languages. In Acts 2, the foundational instance, foreign speakers understood the disciples in their own native languages, establishing the clearest precedent for interpreting the phenomenon throughout Scripture. Secondly, while bliblical specialists and theologians debate whether tongues encompass human languages alone or include angelic speech, the consensus recognizes that a tongue functions as a language -- either immediately intelligible to hearers or requiring interpretation. The requirement that Paul places on interpretation in 1 Corinthians 14 indicates that tongues contain objective, propositional meaning subject to translation, and his statement that “every valid instance of tongues contains intrinsic, propositional meaning" reinforces this understanding. A prominent scholarly argument identifies glossolalia as “the miraculous ability to speak unlearned human and (possibly) divine or angelic languages,” with the most common usage of “tongues” referring to ordinary human languages. The term γλῶσσα throughout the NT carries two primary meanings: the human organ or a human language, and careful word studies demonstrate that it never denotes non-cognitive utterance. However, scholarly consensus isn’t absolute the core agreement across interpretations centers on cognitive content: tongues communicate meaningful, intelligible information rather than incoherent utterance. Third, the early church evidence after the Apostolic era is virtually unanimous: the Early Church Fathers consistently interpreted the gift of tongues as the capacity to speak the many languages used across the earth. Their writings indicate the gift served an evangelistic purpose enabling communication with non-Christian populations. The Patristics universally understood “tongues” in Acts and 1 Corinthians to refer to human languages, and ancient Christians understood the biblical gift of tongues as a miracle involving intelligible human languages. When the fathers described the phenomenon, they used concrete language: John Chrysostom wrote that believers “would suddenly speak in Persian, another in Latin, another in the language of the Indians or of some other people” (Homilies on First Corinthians, Homily 35), and Augustine stated that disciples “spoke in the languages of all the nations” (Sermon 269, Sermo CCLXIX. The most significant, and almost exclusive, early figure associated with ecstatic speech for tongues was Montanus, a 2nd-century prophet whose followers emphasized speaking in tongues; he was actually excommunicated (not necessarily for his position on tongues) around AD 177. By the late 2nd century, ecstatic interpretations of tongues were present but only in context of ecclesiastical concern. One interesting nuance appears with Philastrius in the 4th century, who understood angels as capable of conversing in all languages and believed the apostles received this same ability at Pentecost. However, this doesn’t represent a departure from the “knowable language” framework rather, the Early Church Fathers understood the gift of tongues as the ability to speak all languages spoken by people. The Church Fathers agreed the gift was the ability to speak all languages known to humankind, an ability they ascribed to angels, suggesting the “languages of angels” would not refer to a distinct heavenly language but rather to the capacity to communicate with anyone encountered. The historical record shows no discussion among the fathers of ecstatic utterances, unknown languages, or supernatural unintelligible speech. The gift remained firmly anchored to practical, learnable human languages throughout Patristic interpretation. So if you've stuck around this long, I think my position is both exegetically and historically sound.

An excerpt from a sermon I preached on 1 Corinthians 12 (in which I also introduced the content of chapters 12-14)… “Talking About The Gift Of Tongues” γλώσσα glossa (pronounced GLOW-suh) “Glossa” is used in the New Testament for “languages.” Hence, for example, the English word “glossary” is a list of words and what they mean in your language. So lexically, “tongues” and “languages” are synonymous in the New Testament. With regard to the gift given to the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, no one really disagrees. They were human languages. We know this because Luke, the author of Acts, listed the languages they were speaking. However, Paul also talks about “tongues of angels” in 1 Corinthians 13, and about “groanings too deep for words” in Romans 8. And in 1 Corinthians 14 he says that when you speak in tongues “people won’t be able to understand you.” In light of these references, and the interpretive framework they apply to these texts, Pentecostals and Charismatics, while not denying the viability of earthly languages as one possible expression of the gift of tongues, insist that these passages refer to a second expression – in the form of a language unknown to man. Sometimes they refer to it as a “heavenly language.” Sometimes they refer to it as a “personal prayer language.” And most Charismatics & Pentecostals maintain this second expression is not only available to all Christians, but can and should be practiced by every Christian. I think that argument is fatally flawed based on Paul’s rhetorical questions at the end of Chapter 12, but we’ll focus on that next week. I have personally heard thousands of people engage in tongue-speaking, or what is also called glossolalia. Speaking only for myself, what I have observed every single time was ostensibly the ecstatic utterances of the second category, and not an identifiable human language. How do I know? Well, I’ve been exposed to Greek, Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian, French, Vietnamese, German, and other languages. Additionally, we all intuitively understand the differences between, for example, jazz scatting and a full monologue in a different language. One difficulty for our Charismatic & Pentecostal friends regarding two different kinds of tongues has to do with dates. 1 Corinthians was written in 53 or 54 AD. When did Luke write the book of Acts? The early 60’s, 7 to 10 years after 1 Corinthians. And Luke – when he wrote Acts 25 years after the events of the book, and 7 to 10 years after Paul wrote 1 Corinthians – gave no indication whatsoever that the human language tongues of Acts 2 had ever been supplanted by one or more other varieties of heavenly or ecstatic speech. Another difficulty for our Charismatic & Pentecostal friends arises from Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 14 that the gift of tongues, and gift of tongues interpretation, was a sign to unbelievers. I grant that it is not impossible that what you hear in a modern Charismatic church is a sign to unbelievers. But it seems to me that identifiable, earthly languages, spoken and interpreted miraculously by Christians who did not previously know them, would be a much more effective sign than the tongues that are ubiquitous today. And the reason I say that is that ecstatic vocal utterances are not the sole province of Christianity. They have found homes in many religions over the millennia. Martyn Lloyd-Jones had, I believe, some rare and godly wisdom in the whole confusion of the last 120 year discussion of the baptism and gifts of the Spirit. Listen to his advice: "Let us together decide to beseech him [God], to plead with him to do this again. [“This” being as much of everything about Pentecost as God wills to grant us.] Not that we may have the experience or the excitement, but that his mighty hand may be known and his great name may be glorified and magnified among the people." I believe it is impossible to go wrong heeding this injunction from Lloyd-Jones. On issues like tongues, we have to admit we might be wrong. For those who believe tongues have ceased, they might get to heaven and hear Jesus say this to them: “You know what? When you thought that the gift of tongues ceased with the Apostolic age, you were wrong in how you interpreted my Word. But I stooped down in kindness to meet you in your human frailty and bathed you in my love because your heart was tender toward me and your desire to honor my name and my Word was genuine.” For those who believe the gift of tongues continues, and believe they are in possession of it, they might get to heaven and hear Jesus say this to them: “You know what? When you thought you were speaking in tongues, it was really just your flesh. But I stooped down in kindness to meet you in your human frailty and bathed you in my love because your heart was tender toward me and your desire to know me intimately was genuine.” Again, "Let us together decide to beseech him, to plead with him to do this again. Not that we may have the experience or the excitement, but that his mighty hand may be known and his great name may be glorified and magnified among the people."

@MikeWingerii Creepy!

I know this is weird but I can't be the only one who has heard the sound of a baby crying slowed way down. freesound.org/people/tomhann… I was innocently gathering audio for a video I'm doing and this thing popped up.

@aprilajoyr There is no conflict in these comments.

The hypocrisy/cognitive dissonance of MAGA Christians perfectly displayed by these two statements said within 24 hours of each other 🤦🏼‍♀️

As a Calvinist, I wholeheartedly affirm @JeremyDBoreing's defense of agency: youtu.be/ZR_7T6nNe_g?si…

Without telling me your age. What is the first video game you played? GIFS ONLY!!!

@WonderWomaNinja The mirror doesn't match.

Can you find what’s wrong in this picture? I asked chat gpt to style my bathroom and now I need stuff.

@pastorlocke Cover up culture continues.

Public Statement from Pastor Greg Locke: My Response to Mike Winger’s Recent Attack. In recent days, Mike Winger has publicly called me out regarding a video I posted four years ago addressing serious allegations against Kenneth Copeland and Joel Osteen. This situation has been public for years and could have been addressed by him at any time. It has only resurfaced now after I challenged his continual public exposures and interruptions within the body of Christ. I owe him—and the public—no further personal information or private meetings on this matter. Here is how we arrived at this moment. Several individuals approached my wife and me with grave concerns about these men and their ministries. Chief among them was a woman who presented what she described as detailed timelines, photographs, and firsthand accounts of alleged criminal activity. Importantly, none of this material was ever placed in my personal possession, forwarded to me, or stored on any of my devices. It remained their story to tell. We simply viewed what they chose to show us in those moments and did not take ownership of it. Believing these claims to be credible and urgent at the time, I spoke out boldly in that video. What followed was four years of careful, prayerful investigation. As we pressed for verification and sought legal counsel, the stories began to shift and unravel. Key details changed, commitments were withdrawn, and it became clear that my voice had been leveraged because of my public platform and reputation for boldness. I was not being given truth; I was being used as an amplifier. I have owned this publicly. On multiple occasions I have stood before our church and repented for speaking where I should have first verified. Privately, I have sought reconciliation with a number of the individuals and families involved. Twenty-two years ago I wrote a book sharply critical of Benny Hinn. A few years ago I sat with him face-to-face, apologized, and discovered a man far different from the caricature I had helped perpetuate. That same spirit of humility and pursuit of truth has guided my private efforts over these past four years. After prayerful counsel with my spiritual advisors, I have decided it is not wise to sit down with Mike Winger, despite my earlier public challenge on X to do so. Their unanimous recommendation is rooted in the fruitlessness of further engagement on a matter that has already been thoroughly examined, repented of, and largely resolved in private. My commitment remains the same today as it has been for decades: preach the gospel, protect the flock, and walk in integrity. Where I have been wrong, I have repented. Where I have been misused, I have learned. And where reconciliation is possible, I continue to pursue it quietly and sincerely. Grace and truth to all, Pastor Greg Locke Lebanon, Tennessee

"Temporary faith is not saving Faith." - Keith Foskey (@YourCalvinist) youtube.com/shorts/VdE_XJB…

@WonderWomaNinja I believe women's rights are human rights.

What would be something I’d post on my page and you’d immediately know I was hacked?

@5Solas2 The non-trinitarian polytheism of Mormonism is a damnable lie. That is not Jesus.

Mormonism is a cult.