Terry Pruitt's Blog

This is a reposting from my website which is going the way of all flesh. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is the main source of information for many in this post-modern generation regarding how the Bible developed. One of it's themes is that those who held power in the church choose the books of the Bible to support their power base. Browns charge against the church, though couched in a work of fiction, is serious. The Bible itself gives strong warnings against such power plays.1 Deuteronomy 4:2 says, "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you." And the book of Revelation "I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book," calls for faithfulness to the book. (Rev 22:18) The list of the books that rightly belong in the Bible is called the canon.2 The canon is not strictl...

This is a repost to my blog of content from my website. My website is being decommissioned. I will be putting several pages here in the next few days to preserve them as the Geocities pages get nixed. “This is a faithful saying, If we have died with Him, we will live with Him, If we endure, we will reign with Him, If we disown Him, then He will also disown us, If we are faithless, then He remains faithful. For He is not able to deny himself.” --Terry's Own Translation Paul is writing his young disciple Timothy to encourage him in his ministry and walk with the Lord. As he does, he encourages Timothy to remain faithful to the Lord during trials. Paul gives Timothy several examples which he is to follow in the first half of 2 Timothy chapter two. He first tells Timothy to emulate Paul's ministry by passing on to other faithful men the doctrines Timothy learned from Paul. Timothy is then to emulate a soldier who is able to suffer. The example of the soldier also shows how Timot...

Repost from my website which is going away. Tongues: Distinguishing Revelation, Ecstatic Utterances, and a Foreign Language Introduction A person receives the Holy Spirit when they place their trust in Christ as savior. The redeeming work of the Holy Spirit logically precedes a person's proclamation of faith. One cannot have true faith with out a transformed nature. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the church for the mutual benefit of the body of Christ, should not create a disorderly worship atmosphere and should not subvert our mental capacities in favor of emotional ecstasy. Human Experience Social scientists and linguists have studied the phenomena of speaking in tongues. The modern tongues movement is not actually the speaking of a foreign language, as seen in Acts chapter 2, but an ecstatic utterance. People in almost every religion practice some form of ecstatic utterance and it is a common human experience. I have heard unbelievers practice ecstatic utterances for...

Last night I was in seminary class. Someone was giving an informal testimony and said something to the effect, "We need to look in the Bible to find solutions because it is an answer book." Looking at the Bible through the eyes of what I call suffering I find the Bible is not so much an answer book but a book to tell me who God is. He is my answer. That may sound a bit trite but I think it makes a lot of difference.

I re-read Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster for my Spiritual Formation class at Capital Bible Seminary . The first time I read it I think I was looking for something that was not there. This time I just read it to see what God might want me to change. It was refreshing the second time. I think Foster's strength in the book is that he translates for the evangelical community the historical writings on the topic of spiritual disciplines. Most people who are reading the book want to hear from God. Foster's membership with the Friends, that values the mystical side of Christianity, helps him to take seriously listening to the voice of God in prayer and meditation. Foster handles the subject with depth and gives an accessible introduction to the historic practices of the disciplines. In other words, people are hungry to hear the voice of God and are looking for reliable answers from someone with sounds experiences that ring true. Sometimes Foster justifie...

This summer I visited two churches but I have decided to not review them as I usually do. The reason is that I have some highly negative thoughts about these two churches. I thought about not saying anything but I do want to address the issues. The first church I visited this summer was a world famous mega-church. The music was great. The people warm. The worship environment was creative and cool. The problem I had with the worship though was the sermon. The pastor gave a sermon on 2 Kings 5:1-15a. The Scripture reading stopped at a high point with the words of Naaman saying, "“Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel." The reading stopped at this point, half way through the sentence which was great since it emphasized whole point of the passage. I was excited with the prospect of such a great sermon. Then we got a message on baptism. I realize there are only so many texts on baptism, but why take this passage with such a grand theme and ...

Ken Myers once described an economy as a set of relationships, all the purchasing actions thought of as a single entity. While I agree with Ken Myers assessment that an economy is a set of relationships, I also see there are different sorts of economies. Subsistence farming, fishing, open source software production, much volunteer work, homemaking and do it yourself (DIY) home repair are generally not measured in our economy. All of these can have a significant economic impact on the persons receiving the benefit. In some ways, when we try to assist the poor, we tend to focus on helping them in the measured economy rather than the unmeasured economy. When we look at why people choose to run a business, we often think of the salary, benefits, and other measured economic benefits. But a person may choose to continue a business because of family tradition or personal power and prestige. I talked with a man recently who purposely did not chose to introduce business processes into hi...

The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” --Genesis 4:6,7 (ESV) Breaking It Down Cain's sin is iconic in that it is the first sibling rivalry, the first murder, and caused the first exile. He not only hated his brother with jealousy, but his hate gave rise to the shedding of blood. What is an amazing component of the story is that God gave a warning to Cain regarding his temptation to sin. God asked him the question, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?” The question is a use of parallelism. The first phrase “why are you angry” points to the emotional response in Cain that he feels an injustice has been committed against him. The second part of the question is basically a repetition of the idea with a little extra twist to draw attention to the fact that Cain is not only angry, b...

Note: I had to clear up some typos so this is a re-post since some of my sentences said the opposite of my intention. A common use of the Scripture 1 Corinthians 6:19 is as a smoking cessation verse. In some ways I agree that this can be deduced from the verse as an application, but the primary meaning being who we give ourselves to during sex. The context will show this. Sexual Immorality 12"Everything is permissible for me"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me"—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13"Food for the stomach and the stomach for food"—but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16Do you not know that he who...

Some of my observations from spending a few days in a small town in the Midwest. 1. There is a lot of kids just out and about in free exploration. There is nothing wrong so they don't need to be coraled. 2. There are a lot of small parks in the neighborhoods. The town expects kids to be out and about. 3. There are a lot of people out walking. It is a village. People can walk to the services that they need. (See points one and two) 4. There are A LOT of church and A LOT of bars. There is also a Masonic lodge, but I am not sure whether I should group that with the church or the bar. There is also an American Legion, I think that one gets grouped with the bars. 5. Every one waves. 6. Every one is genuinely friendly. They don't care that they don't know me. 7. Though there are several business properties that are unoccupied there seem to be a lot of healthy businesses. Even though there are only 4,000 people in the village, there is a car dealership. 8. There ...

Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio often speaks of Wendell Berry. I have begun to read some of the interviews referenced in the Wikipedia article on him. I was surprised the variety of topics addressed by just one man. Of course the interviewer is asking questions he or she perceives is of interest to the reader of that publication. That drives the subject matter and the tone. His assessment of Wal-mart's negative influence on American local economics may be one of the better known ideas I have heard touted often. However, I find more resonance in his thoughts on work. He describes how in days gone by small farmers produced their own food and that production helped people survive in hard times. Economic problems did not cascade into the family meals if the family produced their own food. I actually saw this in operation as my grandparents and great-grandparents raised their own food, cut their own wood and worked to produce what they also consumed. To a lesser degree this was ...

Text : Song of Solomon 1 Main Idea : Romantic love is ideally an enchanting relationship. Introduction The Ten Commandments gives us the basics for morality. There is a temptation to see all of life through the Ten Commandments in a way that only emphasizes the negative. This negative starting point has made some people believe that the negative aspect of ethics is all that is required. Our Lord and Savior however taught two things regarding the Commandments, that they are to be interpreted beyond the surface level and that they are summed up in positive acts. He shows the Ten Commandments are to be interpreted beyond the surface level when he says thing like that a man is guilty of murder by simply calling someone else names. (Matthew 5:21-26) He shows they are better summed up by a positive act when he says that the sum of the Law is to love God with all our heart, soul and might and to love our neighbor as ourself. (Matthew 22:34-40) Despite these interpretations, some thr...

Text : Ecclesiastes 12 Main Idea : We are to use all that is within us to serve and worship God. Outline of Ecclesiastes 12 1. Use Your Capacity to Enjoy by Worshiping God (Ecc. 12:1-8) a. Worship the Creator Before Pleasure Fades (Ecc. 12:1) b. Pleasure Fades In Old Age (Ecc. 12:2-5) c. Pleasure Fades Completely at Death (Ecc. 12:6-8) 2. Use Your Capacity for Wisdom by Being Discerning (Ecc. 12:9-12) 3. Use All Your Capacities to Live a Self-Examined Life Before God (Ecc. 12:13-14) Introduction As Christians we are often not that different from the world in understanding the meaning of life. The world sees the meaning of life is enjoying relationships, wealth or simply a good day on vacation Christians want to find meaning in life by enjoying Christian pleasure; Christian family life, Christian financial freedom, or an adventure on a missions trip. Sometimes these pleasures are more distinguished by demographic association rather than by something spiritually...

Text: Job 38 - 39 Main Idea: To understand suffering one must understand the wonder of understanding. Introduction Beauty is best described rather than defined. When we see a morning sunrise, we can predict with mathematical precision when the sunrise will occur. But a sun rise that is beautiful is better described as awesome, radiant or spectacular. Beauty is not limited to a sunrise; it is in all sorts of things, fish, a family picnicking at the park, rock formations, birds, cattle, volcanoes, clouds, and a host of other things have beauty. The beauty is not simply in the lines and form, but in the associated phenomena. The movement of clouds can have its own way of fascinating the mind and eye. Those things that are not beautiful are in someway not good, they cause pain, they are ugly. Suffering in this world come through the fall, that is the sin of the first pair of humans. When they sinned, they affected not only the human race. Suffering was multiplied on the human...

I just finished reading an article by Os Guinness reviewing the book by Frank Schaeffer "Crazy for God". Os goes toe to toe with Frank over the book and basically calls him a spoiled brat who never got it. Both are strong personalities. For this one, I am taking Os as the one I'm believing, Francis Schaeffer was a strong personality who loved God and people but was a flesh and blood human with many and asundry flaws. I do not beleive that he was a con man who conned himself.

My commute is okay. It means I do not work at home. That is okay. But I sometimes miss the farm life. Work and home are intermingled. I miss the connection with nature. I miss how life on the farm is integrated. It has its ups and downs. I think I miss both. However, on my commute to work I listen to Mars Hill Audio . Ken Myers loves Wendell Berry's writings. Before Ken Myers mentioned his writings, I had never heard of them. So I started searching to see what the constant references to Wendell Berry are all about. I found this poem today called The Mad Farmer Liberation Front . One of the lines in the poem says "Work for nothing". Believe it or not, I did a lot of work for nothing on the farm, but I still enjoyed it. I think I may have worked harder for nothing than I did for something at times. Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. Click here to read th...

Text: Job 2 Main Idea: You and I need to receive both good and evil from the Lord. Introduction Probably one of the most prayed for requests in the American church is the request for healing. Some churches are looking for dramatic healing each week. Other feel it is a good thing to do just so one show he is concerned for the other party. It is good because it shows symbolically that one cares. Whether a prayer for healing is offered with skepticism or faith does not negate the fact that some of the most common forms of suffering in America are health related. This sort of suffering shakes us to our core. Unless the Lord returns, chances are most of us we die from an accident or a disease that causes our health to fail. Some people suffer life long illness while others suffer just a little at the end of a long life. Our health will be an issue. Will it cause us to be bitter or will we be someone who flourishes spiritually as the physical man is passing away. I have a great-...

Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride: the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any; the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him. ---Proverbs 30:29-31 (ESV) Different creatures in nature have different glories. A rooster is a glorious thing to see. He is proud of his feathers and his position. A lion knows he is a beast to be feared. A rooster would be no challenge for a lion though. A he-goat is no challenge for a lion, though he also is proud of his position and strength. When we think of a lion we think of an animal dangerous and to be feared. But in a sense, a general (king) with his troops who are equipped for battle find no match in a lion. This is especially true if we are talking about a modern general with attack helicopters, snipers, artillery, tanks and well trained troops. We all have our own gifting and glory. The glory may be small or large. One may be a...

How to Reduce Your Risks: A Lesson on Proverbs 6 By Terry Pruitt If you use this lesson in a small group or Sunday School class please let me know. Texts: Proverbs 6; Rom 13:8; 2Th 3:10; Mat 12:36; Heb 5:14; Heb 9:1 Main Idea: There is a difference between someone who takes naive risk and someone who simply enjoys being evil; both will suffer consequences. Many people look at morality as simply rules to mitigate risk in our lives. Often these people would see the function of laws and etiquette is to bring order, happiness and prosperity. With this sort of thinking, rules of morality are functional in nature, they are to bring the most good. The authority of “Thou shalt not” becomes the suggestion stating “be careful if you do”. Morality becomes a way of expressing risk management. In this thinking, the exact cause and effect sequence of why are not always known, but the speaker knows that something might happen bad if one breaks the rule. Of course many Christians see...

God declares a new covenant thus making the old covenant with Israel obsolete. 8:7-13 The old covenant had many regulations but did not perfect the conscience of those under it. 9:1-10 Christ truly cleansed those under the new covenant with his own blood. 9:11-14 Christ established the new covenant through his death. 9:15-22 The new, heavenly covenant is superior to the earthly shadows in the first covenant. 9:23--28