Belgic Confession

Article 33: The Sacraments

We believe that our good God, mindful of our crudeness and weakness, has ordained sacraments for us to seal his promises in us, to pledge his good will and grace toward us, and also to nourish and sustain our faith. He has added these to the Word of the gospel to represent better to our external senses both what he enables us to understand by his Word and what he does inwardly in our hearts, confirming in us the salvation he imparts to us. For they are visible signs and seals of something internal and invisible, by means of which God works in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. So they are not empty and hollow signs to fool and deceive us, for their truth is Jesus Christ, without whom they would be nothing. Moreover, we are satisfied with the number of sacraments that Christ our Master has ordained for us. There are only two: the sacrament of baptism and the Holy Supper of Jesus Christ.

This is an excellent talk you will benefit from regardless of your position on baptism.

https://youtu.be/cro_Wi8IyXE?si=skgRdUDuIziNJsjZ

A blessed Dobbs Rememberance Month to all -- May God continue to bless the church's faithful opposition to abortion.

Find a Faithful Church near You

Below are directories/locators for faithful, conservative denominations.

PCA - Presbyterian Church in America
OPC - Orthodox Presbyterian Church
CRC - Christian Reformed Church
URCNA - United Reformed Church in North America
RPCNA - Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America
CREC - Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches
RBN - Reformed Baptist Network
ACNA - Anglican Church in North America
LCMS - Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
WELS - Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod

Please feel free to post further resources in the comments.

The Federal Vision is about recovering consistent historic Reformed Presbyterian doctrine and practice.

Phrased negatively, it is about digging up that root of Southern Baptistic bitterness and being done with its altar calls, introspection, pietism, decisionism, anti-natalism, individualism, and other traditions of men.

What Does the Rainbow Mean in the Bible?

It was a promise before it was a perversion. After punishing the world for its gross sin, and essentially recreating the world afresh,

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (Gen. 9:12-13).

The New Bible Commentary Revised observes:

My bow translates qeset, the usual meaning of which is the weapon. Thus, the recurring rainbow imposed on the retreating storm by the shining again of the sun is God's battle bow laid aside, a token of grace staying the lighting shafts of wrath.

There is also a self-malediction involved: the bow is stretched towards the heavens, towards God himself and away from us. God swears by His own name and ultimately bears the curse for us. As one medieval poem put it:

My bow between you and me
in the firmament shall be,
by true tokening that you may see
that such vengeance shall cease....

The string is turned towards you
and towards me is bent the bow,
that such weather shall never show
and this I promise thee.   

It should come as no surprise that the token of God's promise to limit his wrath is used as a way to further provoke it. But make no mistake; God will exact judgement as they store up wrath for the final day.

How should we as Christians view the rainbow? We should thank God for every appearance we see, and remember his faithfulness. St. Peter tells us baptism is the antitype of Noah's salvation through the flood, so we should also remember our baptism and our new washed life in Christ.

Ecclesiology from Ephesians:

1) Paul addresses the entire church as elect. Following him, our operating assumption should be that faithful members of the visible church are God's elect and not attempt to pry into God's secret decrees (Deut. 29:29, cf. Canons of Dort, Article 12; Heidelberg Cat., Q54).

2) Children are understood to be a part of the church, present and participating, as implied by Paul's adressing them specifically.

3) As the Nicene Creed affirms, the church is:

One: "There is one body and one Spirit... one hope... one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all" (4:4-6)
Holy: "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (1:4)
Catholic: "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (2:19)
Apostolic: "Built upon foundation of the apostles and prophets" (2:20)

The PCA General Assembly occurs this week. Regardless of your denominational membership, please take a moment to pray for conservative victories in what is by far the largest Reformed body in North America. Below is an article on some of the hot items at this year's GA.

https://americanreformer.org/2024/06/the-pcas-2024-general-assembly/

“How can Christian pastors hope to feed their flock on a well-balanced spiritual diet if they completely neglect the 39 books of Holy Scripture on which Christ and all the New Testament authors received their own spiritual nourishment?” - Gleason Archer (“A New Look at the Old Testament,” Decision, August 1972)

Another prime example of why we still need the creeds.

Christians Have Always Opposed Abortion:

Very early, the church condemned abortion (Didache, 2.) The Apostolic Constitutions (canon par. 3) stated,

Thou shalt not slay the child by causing abortion, nor kill that which is begotten; for everything that is shaped, and has received a soul from God, if it be slain, shall be avenged as being unjustly destroyed, Ex. 21:23.

Tertullian (Apologeticus, chap. 9) stated the Christian stand clearly:

To hinder a birth is merely a speedier man-killing; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in its seed.

-- R. J. Rushdoony, Institutes VI.6

Men Can't Legislate on Abortion?  (Rushdoony's Response)

When a group of young women invaded a New York legislative hearing... ‘What right do you men have to tell us whether we can or cannot have a child?’ shouted one of the women.”

The logic of this position is revealing: the women held that men cannot legislate with respect to childbirth, because they do not experience it. The test of legislative validity in both the law and the lawmakers is thus experience. By this logic, it can be held that good citizens cannot legislate with respect to murder, since the act of murder is outside their experience.

Here's to you, dads. The very image of Christ to your families, working hard every day to protect and to provide.
Cheers.

"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him"
Ps. 103:13

Every generation which has believed itself to be the last has thus far been woefully wrong.

The statistics are not in your favor, my pessimistic/dispy/premil friends.

Take heart, Christian. God is actively crushing Satan beneath our feet today.

We Christian Nationalists are claiming this nation for Christ; it's always been Christ's. It belongs to him and not to you. So bend the knee and kiss the Son, or perish in the way.

https://youtu.be/z2P2hYLJyf8?si=pqWEzydqAUbx2hOk