Humorous Reformed Baptist Take on the Twelve Days of Christmas

I saw this over at the RBS Tabletalk blog and thought I would share it with this blog's readers as well. It is called "The twelve Doctrines of Christmas."

Final Reminder: The Journey Book Giveaway Drawing is Tomorrow!

This is the final reminder to the blog's readers that, as I announced on September 1, I am going to offer a free copy of two of the Journey books for Christmas this year to one of the blog's email subscribers. They will include the recent book, A Journey in Heresy, and the first book in the Journey series, A Journey in Grace. If you already have the first book, then I will allow the substitution of another from the series. Tomorrow, December 11, at 11:00 PM Central Standard Time, I will draw from the addresses included in the email subscriber list from FeedBurner. So, if you want to have a chance to receive these books, then make sure you sign up as an email subscriber to the blog using the Subscribe in a reader link on the right panel of this page. And make sure you click the "Get Reformed Baptist Blog delivered by email" option. When you receive a verification email, make sure you respond in order to verify your email address, because only verified email addresses will be eligible.

Current email subscribers are already in the running. I will send the two books to the first email subscriber drawn and that I can contact, so make sure that your email address is valid.

I suspect that once you have read a couple of the books, you will want to read more of them and will recommend them to others as well. As a pastor, I have found that folks have really been helped by them and have found them enjoyable reading as well.

And by the way, Dr. Belcher's latest book, A Journey in Dispensationalism, is in the works, and I will let the blog's readers know as soon as I hear that it is available.

Sermons by Dr. Belcher

I have been searching for online sermons by Dr. Belcher for my own edification and also to share with the blog's readers. I have come up with a list that I would like to share with you here. My goal is to collect as many links to his online sermons and teachings as I can all in one place. If you know of other sermons by Dr. Belcher online, I would ask you to please post a link in the comments here.

If you would like to hear some of his sermons, you can start by checking the Sermons page of Covenant Baptist Church in West Columbia, South Carolina (where he currently serves as pastor).

You may also want to check out Dr. Belcher's description of the way the Doctrines of Grace have impacted his own life and ministry in a series entitled "My Journey in Grace." This four part series is included on the Sermons page at the website of Southside Baptist Church in Denver, Colorado (just scroll down the page).

You can find a number of his sermons at SermonAudio.com here. These messages include "Defining and Defending Sovereign Grace," a "Biography of Adonirum Judson" (in narration and song), a two part series on "Sovereign Grace in the Book of Romans," a two part series on "Prayer, the Holy Spirit and Revival," and a ten part "Study of Job."

You can find a four part series on Jude at the website of Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Rio Rico, Arizona.

Again, if you know of other sermons by Dr. Belcher online, I would ask you to please post a link in the comments here. As you may have guessed, given previous posts on this blog and my joy at his joining the blog, my interest is also quite personal, since Dr. Belcher has been perhaps the one person God has most used to help shape my own theology and ministry.

Continuing Debate Over Baptist Usage of the Word "Reformed"

Back on June 26 R. Scott Clark wrote A Gentle Rebuke to Brother John criticizing John Piper for inviting Doug Wilson to the September Desiring God Conference. Although I agreed with Scott in his confrontation of John on this point, I did not agree with everything he said in that post. I especially did not agree with his criticism of Reformed Baptists for their use of the term Reformed as a a description of themselves. Here are the specific comments with which I took exception:

Calling a Baptist “Reformed” is like calling Presbyterians “Baptist” because they believe in believer’s baptism. The Reformed churches do practice the baptism of unbaptized believers but they also baptize the infants of believers. No self-respecting, confessional Baptist should accept me as “Baptist” and Reformed folk should resist labeling anyone who rejects most of Reformed theology as “Reformed.”

You can read my response to Clark's argument in the July 2 post entitled Why I Call Myself a Reformed Baptist. But I also wanted to point out some other reading that may be profitable, at least if you don't mind wading through a lot of interaction and debate in the "comments" sections of a couple of blogs.

To begin with, R. Scott Clark has written a couple of other Heidelblog articles in which he takes exception to Reformed Baptists using the term Reformed to describe themselves. The first was posted back on July 3 and is entitled A Baptist Reads RCC and Benefits From It. And the second was posted on November 27 and is entitled Post-Thanksgiving Cartoons: A Reply to James White. The reason I suggest both articles, by the way, is not because either of them is particularly good, but because in the "comments" section of each one there are some very good arguments offered by Reformed Baptists in their exchange with Scott and other Presbyterians. Most notable among the Reformed Baptist contributors to this discussion is Robert Gonzales, who ably defends our point of view. In addition, Gonzales has posted his own article updating the status of the debate over at the RBS Tabletalk blog. That article was posted on November 28 and is entitled May Baptist Churches Use the Adjective "Reformed"? The Ongoing Debate. It is well worth reading if you have any interest at all in the discussion/debate. But I would still recommend wading through all of those comments over at the Heidelblog!