Some Interesting Links . . .

Here's a great response to the New Atheism from Ken Samples.  Click here: Today’s New Reason To Believe » Blog Archive » The “New Atheism” Phenomenon, Part 1 (of 3)

White Horse Inn producer Shane Rosenthal was a recent guest on Issues, Etc. with Todd Wilken.  The topic, "The Emerging Church movement."   Click here: KFUO Home

He's back . . .  Jim Bakker has new digs in Branson, MO.  People say Bakker's new facility looks like Disneyland.  That's a surprise.  Click here: STLtoday - News - Missouri State News

The local Baptist pastor (Wiley Drake, from my home town of Buena Park, CA) is calling down fire on Americans United  and the ACLU.  Vote for Huckabee or else!   Click here: Pastor again asks prayers for demise of group's leaders - Los Angeles Times

Can't wait for Hillary (or Obama) care.  If Uncle Sam pays for the treatment of your goiter, you might be making a deal with the devil.  Already, private insurers want your doctor to rat you out about pre-existing health conditions.  Just wait to our friendly, "we have your best interests at heart" government gets involved in health care!  You ain't seen nothin' yet.   Click here: Insurer asks docs to report on new patients with pre-existing conditions - On Deadline - USATODAY.com

Academy Lecture -- "Amillennialism 101" -- Posted

The first lecture in my new Academy series, "Amillennialism 101," has been posted.  The lecture is entitled "What is Amillennialism?" and can be found here:  Click here: Christ Reformed Info - MP3's and Real Audio (of Academy Lectures)

I've also posted all of my Academy lectures dealing with eschatology on the sidebar to the right under the heading "Amillennialism 101 -- Audio Resources."

Who Said That?

"For the believer of Reformed convictions, there is a strong allegiance to historical roots and continuity, especially insofar as the historic Reformation is concerned, distinctly emanating from Wittenberg, Geneva, and  Westminster. . . . Such claims call for a response that clearly exposes the shameful legacy of historic amillennialism,  which  is really the eschatology of Roman Catholicism."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches! 

Update on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at 07:39PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is from Barry Horner's book, Future Israel (148).  Horner quotes from my book, A Case for Amillennialism, and then launches into the screed quoted here.  Instead of dealing with the substance of the argument, Horner stoops to equating Reformed amillennialism with Romanism.  Come on Barry, you gotta do better than that!

Part Three of My Interview with Roger Overton from the A-Team Blog

Here's the third (and final) installment of my recent interview with Roger about Reformed amillennialism.  We continue to discuss my book, The Man of Sin--especially issues related to both "full" and "partial" preterism, as well as how one's eschatology can impact their political perspective on events the Middle East.

Please make sure that you are not eating nor taking a swig of coffee when you click on Roger's blog.  You'll be shocked! 

The interview can be found here:   Click here: The A-Team Blog :: Interview with Kim Riddlebarger, Part 3

Thanks, Roger! 

New Academy Series Begins Tonight -- "Amillennialism 101"

For those of you in So Cal, our next Academy series (at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim) commences tonight!  The series is entitled "Amillennialism 101" and is an introduction to Reformed Amillennialism.  Throughout the series, I will be concentrating upon the biblical evidence in favor of amillennialism, especially in contrast to both "pre" and "post" millennialism. 

The opening lecture is entitled "What is Amillennialism?" and in it, I will describe what it is that Amillennarians actually believe!

Academy lectures begin @ 7:30 p.m. and are free of charge.   There is a time for discussion following the lecture, and refreshments are served.

Textbooks for this series include:  Kim Riddlebarger, A Case for Amillennialism (Baker, 2003), The Man of Sin (Baker, 2006) and Michael Horton, God of Promise (Baker 2006). 

For more  information, Click here: Christ Reformed Info - Schedule of Academy Classes and Author's Forums

What a Glorious Day!

This is a glorious day for baseball fans everywhere.  After the doldrums of your team losing out on a World Series title (its been seven years since the Yanks have won), after all the free agent drama (A-Rod) and trade talk (Johan Santana), after all the nonsense from Congress (Clemens and Pettitte) . . .

The big day is finally here.  Pitchers and catchers have reported to spring training!  The Yankee blogs will spring to life, and the pre-season games will finally begin on March1.  Opening day is just around the corner!  The first item of business is that the Yanks announced that "Legends Field," their home in Tampa, has been renamed "George M. Steinbrenner Field."  It's good to be the king!

In honor of this glorious occasion, I'll fire up John Fogerty's "Centerfield" as part of my i-Tunes rotation today.  Might even listen to it twice!

The Canons of Dort, First Head of Doctrine, Article Eleven

Article 11: Election Unchangeable

Just as God himself is most wise, unchangeable, all-knowing, and almighty, so the election made by him can neither be suspended nor altered, revoked, or annulled; neither can his chosen ones be cast off, nor their number reduced.

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As the Canons point out, God is immutable (unchanging) in both his being and his purpose.  Therefore his decree of election is likewise unchanging.  We know this because election is based solely upon God’s good pleasure and purpose, and occurs, as Paul says, “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).  This means the full number of the elect is unchangeable. 

This is an important point because it means that God does not change his mind once his decree is executed in time and space.  God does not add to the number of the elect when he sees someone doing something good he did not expect!  Nor does God subtract from the number of the elect when one of those whom he has chosen happens to fall into sin.  All of God’s elect will come to saving faith in Jesus Christ.  This is God's purpose in Christ (Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 8:28-30).

The knowledge of this should give us great comfort because it means that no one who is presently numbered among the elect can fall away and be lost.  This is what Jesus means when he says “all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).  God is not capricious nor does he change his mind.  This means that if we are truly in Christ at this moment, we can be assured that we will die in Christ, because he will never leave nor forsake us.  We cannot simply slip through his fingers. 

As Paul reminds the Philippians, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philppians 1:6).  Indeed, the good shepherd reminds us, "my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.  I and the Father are one” (John 10:27-30).

Just think of where we'd be if God's decree was not immutable . . .

Part Two of My Interview with Roger Overton from the A-Team

Here's the link to part two (of three parts) of my recent interview with Roger Overton from the A-Team blog.  The discussion shifts to my book, The Man of Sin.

Click here: The A-Team Blog :: Interview with Kim Riddlebarger, Part 2

Process Crimes -- Another Argument for Limited Federal Government

I caught just a bit of the congressional hearing on performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in baseball.  The whole thing is frightening.

Roger Clemens may or may not have used HGH.  Andy Pettitte admitted to using HGH.  Brian McNamee claimed to have supplied HGH to both.  Who is telling the truth?  There's no way to tell.  It all comes to down to "he said--he said" accusations based upon conversations years ago with no witnesses present.  How do you unravel that?  You really can't.

This is reminiscent of the "rock, scissors, paper" game that kids play.  In my mind, Pettitte's testimony clearly trumps Clemens'--everyone believes Andy.  Clemens  is more believable than McNamee, since the latter admitted to the congressional committee that he had lied to them on a number of occasions.  But Pettitte had to admit that McNamee's claim was correct.  Rock (Pettitte) beats scissors (Clemens).  Scissors (Clemens) beats paper (McNamee).  Paper (McNamee) beats rock (Pettitte).  The whole thing is a sordid mess.

As for the baseball world, anyone caught using a PED becomes a pariah and subject to the dreaded curse of the asterisk.  They are perceived as "cheaters."  Whether Clemems used PEDs or not, the very perception that he did so started a raging debate among the sportswriters and bloggers about Roger's lasting legacy.  Is the greatest pitcher of our time really the greatest pitcher of our time?  If Clemens cheated, well then, he gets his just recompense--he'll be banned from the Hall of Fame (the baseball equivalent of excommunication or being deposed from office). 

To be fair, Clemens is taking McNamee to federal court with a defamation suit, and Clemens has made himself hoarse proclaiming his innocence. 

But the fact is HGH use is not illegal, and it wasn't illegal when Pettitte and Clemens (allegedly) used it.

Enter Congress.   When Roger Clemens raised his hand and testified under oath before that congressional committee, everything changed.  If Clemens lies to Congress, he is apt to be slapped with a perjury charge in which he could do serious time in a federal pen.  The crime, mind you, was not taking HGH.  The crime is lying to Congress.  This is a process crime, plain and simple.  This is what happened to Scooter Libby, and a host of others (whose names escape me) all because Congress uses its power to create a potential crime when no underlying crime was even present.  This is political "gotcha" with horrific consequences to the victim.  Both political parties do it, and it is absolutely shameful when they use these committees to conduct vendettas and create crimes that were not there before the committee called for hearings.

And just why is Congress involved in this matter in the first place?  In the words of North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry.  "This isn’t a hearing, it’s a show trial. . . . And it is another reason why people are fed up with Congress. We’re facing huge challenges in housing, government spending, taxes and illegal immigration. Congress would be better served to focus on any of those issues instead of inserting itself into a name-calling, finger-pointing, school-yard brawl.”  Amen!

Roger Clemens may go to jail for lying because Henry Waxman (D), Tom Davis (R), and all the rest of the members of their committee want their pompous-ass mugs on camera.

If the consensus among the baseball world is that Clemens used HGH, he'll suffer the consequences.  His reputation will be forever tarnished and the greatest pitcher of the modern era might not be elected to the Hall of Fame.  The punishment fits the crime.

But to create a situation in which a man who did not commit a crime now does so, is criminal.  If process crimes are not evidence as to why we should do everything in our power to reign these guys in, then I don't know what is.
 

Eschatology Q & A -- My Interview With Roger Overton from the A-Team

My  friend, Roger Overton over @ the A-Team blog (yes, I can be friends with an avid Red Sox fan) is posting a recent interview he conducted with me (in three parts) in which we discuss a number of issues associated with amillennial eschatology. 

You can find the first installment here of that interview here, which primarily deals with my book A Case for Amillennialism.   Click here: The A-Team Blog :: Main Page