Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar’ Category

Mather to ministers: barter not the Lord’s day for men’s!

Posted in New England Puritanism, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Worship, True & False on December 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“Since in Religion you are not Servants of Men, in true fidelity to Christ you must in your Places peaceably oppose and refuse whatever Innovations, Injunctions, or Traditions of Men. 48 4.1919. Would any change the Lord’s Day for another Day, or command other Feasts to be equally regarded; or forbid you to sanctifie the Lord’s Holy Day, or suppress the Use of his Holy Word; or set up another Rule of Faith and Judge of Controversies? do they devise new Modes of Worship, or mingle their own Fancies with his Institutions? For Conscience sake, receive them not, but obey Christ above all Men, Mic. 6.16 But still preserving the Honour due to the Persons of Superiors, and to their Authority in all all other matters, Rom, 13. 1. Faithful Magistrates will ask no more, and humble Bishops dare no more equal their Canons to His, than Apocryphal Stories to Divine Scripture. When Corruptions grow general, its time for them that are on the Lord’s side, to shew themselves for him, Exod. 32. 26.”

Read Full Post »

Cancel Christmas . . . or Christ

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Sacred & Secular, Secularization, Worship, True & False on December 14, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Cancelled services this ‘Christmas’ should be more than enough proof. Proof that Christmas observance and faithfulness to the pure worship of the one true and living God are mutually exclusive. That Christmas will, at least in part, be the death of us. And that, barring an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and a massive reformational purge of all the inventions of men in the worship of God, the West will soon be a paganized, secular wasteland.

Christmas and Christianity have admittedly coexisted for the better part of Christendom, except of course for the great Puritanic ‘pause’ from the 16th to the 18th centuries in much of English-speaking Protestantism. But how can what is fundamentally “not of heaven, but of men” (Luke 20:4), of unarguably ancient heathen and syncretistic Roman Catholic origin, ever live in peace with the Gospel of God? “And what concord [alliance] hath Christ with Belial? . . . And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols” (2 Cor. 6:15-16)?

(more…)

Read Full Post »

“Pure, Primitive Devotion” (video)

Posted in New England Puritanism, Psalmody, Psalmody in Culture, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, The Church in America, Worship, True & False, WPE Audio on December 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Read Full Post »

“Pure, Primitive Devotion”

Posted in New England Puritanism, Psalmody, Psalmody in Culture, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Worship, True & False, WPE Audio on November 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[video now posted here]

Watch by FacebookLive, or tune in at linktr.ee/prcofri

Read Full Post »

Taxonomy of Sabbath positions

Posted in Catechesis, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Theological Diagrams on July 26, 2022| 1 Comment »

The following chart gives a kind of basic taxonomy of various positions on the Sabbath within Christianity. This very helpful piece was designed by my elder, Brad Snyder. Well done, sir!

[Note, this was designed for our catechism class, which focuses on the education of our young people. Some parts could require more elucidation and explanation for adults.]

Read Full Post »

My debate over Christmas

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Worship, True & False on November 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Somehow I was voted into it. Last year, on December 24 no less, I was invited by Les Lanphere to debate Rev. Joseph Spurgeon on the lawfulness of Christmas. (Other platforms.) Joseph was for, while I was against; and Les did a great job of moderating. I thought it went really well, and I came away feeling that I did a service to this unpopular position. I also endeavored to be as charitable as possible. Perhaps I overshot things by being so affable; but I’d rather fall into that error than the other way, lest folks think that being against Christmas is somehow a function of a grumpy predisposition. After all, I consider myself the merriest neo-Puritan I know. Ask my kids!

Read Full Post »

Witchcraft today?

Posted in Gospel Proclamation, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Spiritual Warfare; the Occult on October 26, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I paused from my morning series on the Gospel of Luke to preach a topical sermon on the subject of witchcraft. I seek to answer from the Scriptures whether witchcraft is real and whether it is a real threat in the modern day.

Watch the message here.

Following the sermon, we had a youth discussion time, in which we watched the this video that illustrates the allure of contemporary ‘neo-paganism’ and then discussed it critically from Scripture.

While the sermon was not primarily an expose of Halloween, I have preached directly as well as written on that topic in the past.

Read Full Post »

Distinctives of the Presbyterian Reformed Church

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Church of Scotland, Church Order & Discipline, Confessional Subscription, Establishments, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Free Church of Scotland, Free Offer of the Gospel, John Murray, Practice of Piety, Psalmody, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Sacraments, The Free Offer of the Gospel, The Godly Prince, The Lord's Supper, Vital Godliness, Worship, True & False on October 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The following is a series of messages given to lay out the distinctives of the Presbyterian Reformed Church, a denomination organized through the instrumentality of Professor John Murray in 1965, committed to the principles of historic Scottish Presbyterianism in doctrine, worship, government, and discipline, as enshrined in the original Westminster Confession of Faith (1646).

(Note: The title “Our Testimony” is merely thematic, and does not refer to a supplementary ecclesiastical document besides the Westminster Standards as is done among Reformed Presbyterian brethren.)

Original Series

Our Testimony, Part 1: Psalm Singing

Our Testimony, Part 2: Instruments in Worship

Our Testimony, Part 3: Presbyterianism

Our Testimony, Part 4: Holy Days, True & False

Our Testimony, Part 5: Confessionalism

Our Testimony, Part 6: Experimental Religion

Our Testimony, Part 7: The Free Offer of the Gospel

Our Testimony, Part 8: Religious Establishments #1

Our Testimony, Part 8: Religious Establishments #2

Our Testimony, Part 9: Head Coverings

Our Testimony, Part 10: Liberty of Conscience

Our Testimony, Part 11: Our Communion Practice

Our Testimony, Part 12: Frequency of Communion

Additional Messages

One Table, One Cup, One Bread

Read Full Post »

Winter Cleaning in July

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Transgenerational Faith, Worship, True & False on July 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Classic Presbyterianism has been enjoying a small renaissance. It seems like every day I’m encountering new people and pastors embracing the “regulative principle of worship,” singing psalms exclusively, removing instruments in church, and objecting to holy days of human origin, such as Christmas. Sacred cows are a-falling, or at least are being questioned.

With respect to Christmas, then, it’s been reassuring to see more and more voices pointing out its pagan origins, and more and more being willing to cross the personal Rubicon … and not looking back. I rejoice in these things and thank the Lord for any and all Reformation gains. But I am concerned that for some, even good fathers and brothers in the faith, certain concessions are made that I fear leave a weed in place to grow back in full force. In other words, I respectfully express my concern about the informal retention of Christmas while officially going on the record as against it.

(more…)

Read Full Post »

My Very Kosher (Non-) Christmas

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Calling of, Mission to the Jews, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, The Visible Church, Thomas Boston, Worship, True & False on December 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

I once read somewhere that one of the Puritans recognized they were very odd ducks. As I recall, the term was “speckled birds.” Who likes being the outsider, the stranger in a strange land?

Kids can have an especially nasty way of tapping into this instinctual longing for inclusion and reinforcing herd-conformity. As a boy, I distinctly remember a time when a group of my friends and I took a break from our game of street baseball. Somehow it came up in discussion that one boy’s family didn’t observe Christmas. “What!” Replied another. “You don’t observe Christmas? Man, if I didn’t observe Christmas, I’d kill myself!” Oof. Of course, it was adolescent hyperbole; and we were soon back to the diamond. But I must confess, I also was on the shocked side. Not having Christmas? Not having the stockings hung by the chimney with care? Not waking up at dark-thirty to wake up the parents? No giddy, vulture-like descent on the presents? I mean, come on! My quirky friend felt the sting. He was not one of us! He might as well have had three eyes.

Then about seven years later, I swam the Tweed. After my evangelical conversion, I eventually found Calvinism (or Calvinism found me!). And after Calvinism, I found Puritanism; and after Puritanism, I found Presbyterianism. But not just any kind, mind ye! No, I’d say it was full-on “Scottish Old Believer” Presbyterianism. And that, among other things, meant no Christmas. Right. Just like my crestfallen boyhood buddy. Who would have imagined!

(more…)

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »