Do Not Give Your Strength to Women – Pastor Toby Sumpter
Two Religions: Oneism and Twoism – Dr. Peter Jones
Q&A and Discussion – Dr. Peter Jones and Pastor Toby Sumpter
Tales from the Front Lines – Dr. Joe Boot
Higher Education and the Next Generation’s Culture War – Dr. Ben Merkle
Enraging the Culture: Winsome Tartness – Pastor Douglas Wilson
Q&A and Discussion – Dr. Peter Jones, Pastor Douglas Wilson, Dr. Joe Boot, and Pastor Toby Sumpter
Manifesto – Pastor Douglas Wilson
¡Hola, hola! Friends, we are here, this is our last week of the first round of our Bible Reading Challenge! Praise the Lord! We thank God for each one of you and for the work of His Spirit in your lives. The testimonies we have heard have been really encouraging, and as I mentioned in some other email, the common thing in all these was hearing how much His Word changed you and sustained you through the hardest seasons you went through. This is wonderful to hear because we see again and again that God’s Word is alive and working in us, feeding us, sustaining us, transforming us. We can say with assurance that we never read our Bibles and pray in vain.
We have walked a long trail with some easy parts and other harder parts, and now we have arrived at the top of the mountain and can see the most amazing view: God’s grand redemptive story laid before us. From Genesis to Revelation one main story line, “the reconciling of all things to Himself, whether things on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of Jesus’ cross” (Col.1:20). And this makes us not only know the Lord more and understand our place in the story even better, but we also love Him more.
But as rich as these past eight months have been, we cannot live by what we got from being in the Word these past months. Our lives depend on the Word of God as much as we depend on oxygen and water to live. So we will not stop here. We will take the Book of God and read it, and meditate on it, and pray it, and continue to be transformed by it. We don’t know what lies ahead of us, but we now Who is ahead of us, and we know how our Father works all things together for our good and the glory of His name. So we take courage and do not lose heart, but take our two sleeved habit and wear it every day: reading and praying the Word.
This Summer we will continue reading the word and praying, but will also pay attention to the seam that binds this habit we now love to wear: meditation (memorization). Our summer plan (which starts on Monday, June 4) includes a passage that you will be memorizing (or meditating) starting on Monday of each week and reviewing on Saturday. You can print the passages and carry them with you in your purse, your pocket, and read them 5-6 times a day meditating on them, praying over them, considering them carefully. We really hope you can join us as we dig in deeper into the New Testament this summer. All the information can be found here. (Also, we will not have webinars during the summer, but the weekly emails will continue to be delivered to your inbox.)
This week we will be reading ten psalms and finish with Psalm 119 (the Psalm with which we started), and I trust that you will find it a joy to read and will see how much more the Lord has increased your love for His Word these past months. You will, I am sure, read it with more delight than when we started this challenge.
On our last day, we will read Romans 8 (bonus reading is Romans 1-10). This chapter is a fantastic one to meditate on as we close our Bible Reading Challenge. The chapter shouts good news: “No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” In Adam we fell, we died, we were condemned, the Law was given to show us our desperate need for a Savior and our impossibility to save ourselves. But God always comes to seek and save the lost, so He became man and came, and dwelt among us and being humbled to that point, He died on the cross to redeem His own and deliver us from the condemnation that was upon us. His grace – irresistible grace – broke the yoke and through grace by faith we have been set free, free from all sin, free from all guilt of sin, free from the punishment of sin, free! Free to love God and our neighbor, free to serve Christ and His church, free to proclaim the good news to all, free to live in joy, free to ground our identity in Christ and not in our achievements, failures, neither sins we have committed or sins that have been committed against us. We are free! Free indeed by the blood of the Lamb!
May our prayer this week be, “Father thank you for the freedom we have in Christ, we pray now, give us the assurance we need to boldly proclaim in the midst of our circumstances that nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Important end note: Since Monday I will be traveling back home form the other side of the Atlantic, I will be recording our last webinar today, Friday, May 25 at 10:00am, maybe you can join me live?
Under His sun and by His grace,
Becky Pliego and the team of Ladies Fellowship from Christ Church
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).
“And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration” (Rev. 17:1–6).
After the last bowl had been poured out, one of the angels who had had one of the bowls came to John and talked to him. He said that he would show him the judgment of the great whore, the woman who sat upon many waters.
To help us keep things straight, I will begin with how I identify the figures in this passage. I take the harlot as the apostate city of Jerusalem, the one under judgment. This has been the great theme of the book of Revelation, and it would be odd to change the subject at this late point. I take the beast that she is sitting on as the beast from the sea, introduced to us in chapter 13. So I believe we are talking about both Rome and Jerusalem, but Jerusalem as riding upon, dependent upon, the imperial city.
Some reasons for identifying this harlot as Jerusalem can be quickly summarized. The central point of Revelation deals with things that will “shortly” take place (Rev. 1:1). The fall of Jerusalem fits this description, while the fall of Rome occurs centuries later. In terms of literary structure, we are being introduced to the contrast between the harlot and the bride. Because the bride, descending out of Heaven, is the New Jerusalem, it stands to reason that the harlot is the Old Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called that “great city” earlier (Rev. 11:8), which is how “Babylon” is described in this section. The use of the word harlot fits with the Old Testament usage by the prophets. Harlotry presupposes a covenant relationship with God that was violated by spiritual adulteries (see Is. 1:21; 57:8; Jer. 2:2, 20). And the central charge made against her was that she was guilty of the blood of the prophets, saints, and apostles ((Rev. 17:6; 18:20, 24). This was not yet true of Rome, but it had been true of Jerusalem for generations (Matt. 23:35-36).
This said, what are we told in this passage? Instead of being a light to the Gentiles, Jerusalem had led the kings of the earth astray, not to mention the inhabitants of the earth. They all had been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. The angel then led John into the wilderness, a fitting place for a revelation of this nature. It was not a heavenly vision, but rather a vision given in a place of owls and jackals. The woman was sitting on a scarlet colored beast. The color given is new, but in every other respect, the beast is same as before (seven heads, ten horns). The woman riding on the beast is distinct from it, and she was arrayed in scarlet and purple. She was decked out with gold, gems, and pearls, clearly given over to ostentatious and luxurious living. She had a golden cup in her hand, exquisite on the outside, and full of filth on the inside (Matt. 23:25).
She was a wanton, and her name was emblazoned on her forehead. The first thing about her name is that she was a mystery. How was it that the people of Israel, delivered by Jehovah so many times, had now come to this? This is the vision that Ezekiel had seen. When God had first seen Israel, she was nothing, polluted in her own blood (Eze. 16:6). But it was not long before she was seduced by her own beauty (Eze. 16:14), which was what led to her becoming seductive to everyone else. She was also identified as Babylon the Great. We have already considered how that epithet readily applied to Jerusalem, in much the same way that the names of other older pagan entities did—e.g. Sodom and Egypt (Rev. 11:8). She is the Mother of Harlots, as well as the Mother of Abominations on the Earth.
When John saw her, he was amazed. The woman was regal, clothed in royal splendor, covered in jewelry, but her behavior was that of a slattern. She was drunk. Not only was she drunk, but what had made her drunk? She was drunk on the blood of the saints, and on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. A moment before we had been told that her golden cup was filled with abomination and filthiness of her fornication (v. 4), and earlier it had referred to the wine of her fornication (v. 2). Putting all this together, her abominable lusts appeared to focus on the deaths of the saints—which are precious in the sight of the Lord (Ps. 116:15), and prized by this harlot for a completely different reason.
¡Hola, hola! Welcome to week 37 of our Bible Reading Challenge. As I type this, I cannot thank the Lord enough for the many ways in which it has pleased Him to bless this endeavor. He has been so kind to us in drawing us to Him, and in drawing Himself closer to us. Since the very beginning of the BRC, I have mentioned (especially in the webinars) how God wants to be known, and has made Himself known to us. And now as we come close to the end of this challenge, we can attest that by the help of Holy Spirit and after being intentional and diligent in reading the Word of God, we know Him more than when we started. And this, my friends, is a true gift. From His fullness, we have indeed received grace upon grace.
Summer is right around the corner, and we are ready to jump into our summer habits, we are eager to wear pretty, warm colors every day and put cheerful flowers on our tables to brighten our homes. And in the same way we must start planning our summer bible reading and praying habits. The Ladies Fellowship of Christ Church has been planning a summer reading plan that we trust will be a huge blessing to you.
The plan for the summer is to read through the New Testament and focus on a few passages for memorization or meditation each week (“M-Days”). The plan begins on June 4th and runs through August 31. There are two options for reading pace – four or six chapters a day. The four chapters a day will take you through the entire NT and the six chapters will mean reading several epistles three times. There is no assigned reading on Saturday (M-day) so that you can have more time to review the verses you worked on through the week. And on Sunday, we don’t assign any readings because we all go to Church to read the Word with the body of Christ and receive it as our own pastors preach from it.
We hope you will join us and will share this with other women you know! Click here to find more information.
This week we will be reading only Psalms, and I think it is very appropriate to finish these last weeks of the BRC this way. Most of these Psalms are not Psalms of lament, but psalms that celebrate the reign of our Lord. These psalms exalt God’s character and warm our hearts to praise Him fervently. As you read them, find what they teach us about God’s character and see how knowing His character helps us to pray better and worship Him more.
You can choose to divide this week’s readings in three parts, so that you can read two psalms in the morning, two at midday, and two at night. Read them, pray them, sing them. Our God reigns, let us praise His name!
Note about this week’s webinar: Because I am traveling overseas I will record the webinar for week 37 today, Friday May 18, at 8:00AM PST. I know it is too early for many and maybe you will read this email after that hour, but remember that you will be able to find the webinar ready to be watch at your most convenient time on our website. Thank you for your understanding!
May our prayer this week be, “Our Creator, Redeemer, and King, we ask you to give us soft hearts as we read your Word this week, deliver us from reading your Word and hearing your voice and hardening our hearts in response. May we be humble to receive your Words of encouragement and correction. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen” (Psalm 95:7-9)
Under His sun and by His grace,
Becky Pliego and the Ladies Fellowship at Christ Church
¡HOLA, HOLA! Can someone please explain to me how did we get to week 35 in a breeze? YAY! Maybe, after all, this daily wearing of our habit truly became our daily habit. I hope you feel comfortable in it, and I trust that all those around you can see how well it looks on you. We know that habits cannot be hidden for too long, all become visible at one point or another, and so it is the same with the habit of Bible reading and prayer. Be encouraged, Sister. Every time you read your Bible, the Word of God is at work in you!
I want to share with you something that puzzled me this week. I listened to a Podcast in which a renown author was being interviewed on how he read the Bible. To my surprise, he said that he didn’t necessarily have a plan. In fact his approach was that, if he didn’t feel like he was getting much from, let’s say I Kings, he would happily skip to his favorite passages somewhere else. Now, the question we must ask ourselves is this: do we really need to have a plan to read the Bible? (And I know that this question is an odd question to add when we are almost done with our Bible reading plan! But we always need to be thinking about what we are doing and why we are doing it.) Well, no, not necessarily, but if you choose not to have a plan, you must build some sort of structure (a plan? Ha!) so that you will not only read your favorite passages, but read all the Bible. We need all of God’s Word to feed our soul, edify us, and transform us. We need to read all the Word of God to
begin to understand all the Word of God. This leads us to say that yes, having a plan laid out is a wonderful thing to help us get to our destination on time and without missing anything as we go. And we have already seen this, right? We have been encouraging one another to keep walking, to keep turning pages, because we all want to get to our destination, we all want to stand together at the top of the mountain and be amazed at the wonderful view, to see the whole Story of Redemption laid our before us in all its glory!
So, Friends, get ready: our plan will continue! We are already working on the Summer Bible Reading Challenge, the reading plan is done, and now we are working on the graphics and design. And we can’t wait to start a new journey with you!
This week we will finish reading Zechariah, and then we’ll read 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Philemon, and we will start Revelation and 2 Corinthians along with Psalms 81-84 and Proverbs 31. We have a catch-up day on Thursday in which I recommend you read 2 Peter.
Remember what we said in our last webinar: Read as you pray and pray as you read. Don’t skim over the harder passages. And those things you do understand, take heed and apply in your daily life. God will bless your coming to His Word this week too!
May our prayer this week be, “Lord, direct our way to you and make us increase and abound in love for one another, so that our hearts may be established blameless in holiness before you, our God and Father.” (I Thess. 3:11-12)
Under His sun and by His grace,
Becky Pliego and the Team of Christ Church Ladies Fellowship
Christ Church
Douglas Wilson