July 9, 2015 ISI Radio Show with Nancy Almodovar on her book “Prayers of Comfort: Daily Petitions from the Heidelberg Catechism”

Live from the historic parsonage of 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron, a radio platform on which pastors,

Christian scholars and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs 27 verse 17 tells us, Iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed whom we converse with and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next hour and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

Now here's our host, Chris Arnton. Good afternoon

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth, listening via live streaming.

This is Chris Arnton, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron, wishing you all a happy Thursday on this ninth day of July 2015 and I am very happy to welcome back onto Iron Sharpens Iron a guest who at least several times was on Iron Sharpens Iron in the old days between 2006 and 2011, not that long ago, but it was the old days for Iron Sharpens Iron and I'm so glad that this is the first time that she is on the new version of Iron Sharpens Iron and Nancy L.

McDovar who is an author, a Christian counselor and the wife of an ordained minister and we are going to be discussing her new book today,

Prayers of Comfort, Daily Petitions from the Heidelberg Catechism and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron and welcome you for the first time to the all -new

Iron Sharpens Iron, Nancy L. McDovar. Hi Chris, I'm so glad you're back on the air and thank you for having some time with me today.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it and as you know, once in a while I feel compelled to have a female voice on Iron Sharpens Iron, otherwise the

FCC might shut me down. I know you are not a token female speaker on my program.

You are a very gifted and wise and learned young woman and I'm always impressed with what the

Lord brings to your heart to put down in writing and I'm very impressed with this new book of yours,

Prayers of Comfort, Daily Petitions from the Heidelberg Catechism. Before we even go into the book, tell us something about yourself for our listeners who may be discovering you for the first time.

I know that you ran for a number of years a women's counseling ministry called

Silent Cry Ministries. Perhaps you could tell us something about that and also your theological journey that you've experienced over the years out of the

Word of Faith movement into the Doctrines of Sovereign Grace, also known as Reformed Theology, and obviously the abbreviated version because that's not the topic today.

Right, well as you know, I grew up in a Pentecostal home and my dad was the first one to introduce me to any of the

Reformers and back in the mid -80s when the Lord converted me, he gave me

Dr. Lloyd -Jones' series on Romans. That was my first introduction to Reformed Theology, but I didn't pay attention to it.

But in the early 2000s, around 2003, was when the

Lord began to correct both mine and my husband Bobby's theology and understanding of the

Scriptures, and I believe you put it once this way, that we were on the speed bullet train to Reforming.

And within probably two, three years, we were out of Pentecostalism and Charismatic Deliverance Ministries and into Reformed Church.

And as you know, we attended West Sayville for many years. West Sayville Reformed Bible Church, which is a congregation in,

I guess, central Suffolk, Long Island on the South Shore, and it's a part of the United Reformed Church of North America denomination.

Correct. And when the Lord enabled us to move out here to Idaho, we were able to find a solid

Reformed Church up in Boise, Dayspring Reformed Church, again, part of the

United Reformed Churches of North America. And Pastor Jonathan Van Hoogen is a solid

Biblical pastor and preacher, and we've just been learning more and more since we've been out here.

We did, when we were in New York City, run a counseling for women in crisis, and we utilized the scriptures as our guidebook to counsel them.

Since I've been here in Idaho, I am a professor of world religions, both online and on the

Air Force Base here in Mountain Home. So it's been a joy to come out here, miss our

New York friends, and miss you. But God has graciously given us new friends and family out here, and just continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our

Lord Jesus Christ. Well, please, I don't know how often you still stay in touch with Pastor Drew Enegenberg over at West Sayville Reformed Bible Church, but please send him my regards.

Let him know that we're back on the air with Iron Sharpens Iron, and that I'd love to have him back as a guest.

I'd also like to extend that invitation to your new pastor at some point. I will do that.

I will do that. And being in the Dutch Reformed tradition, you folks utilize the three forms of unity, as they are known, which are the confessions and catechisms of the

Dutch Reformed branch of the Reformation. We have the Heidelberg Catechism, the

Canons of Dort, and the Belgic Confession are part of the three forms of unity, and the Heidelberg Catechism is the source from which you drew your book, the

Prayers of Comfort. Now, tell us how on earth this came about. Were you trying to lull yourself into a coma by reading the

Heidelberg Catechism? No, no, actually... I'm just kidding, by the way.

I know, sometimes people think theology is boring, but if you realize, it's just talking about God and the things of God.

How can that ever be boring? But when we were at West Sayville, that was our real first introduction to the three forms of unity, and specifically the

Heidelberg Catechism. In the Dutch Reformed tradition, Sunday nights are the teaching service, and the pastors go through the catechism with the congregation each week.

I believe they have to do it once every two years or so, and so we began to learn more and more by studying the catechism, which are simply questions and answers about our faith.

So when Bobby and I moved out here, because he was now retired and I was working online, we had more time at night, and we began to go through at our evening family worship after dinner.

We decided, let's go through the Heidelberg. We would do one Lord's Day each day instead of just, you know, going for a

Lord's Day each week. We decided we'll do a Lord's Day each day, and as we were reading it and then reading the answers, looking at the scriptures that they got the answers for the questions on, we were praying afterwards, and I noticed, whether it was

Bobby praying or myself, that we were integrating the answer to the questions in our very prayers.

And I looked at it and I thought, what a marvelous way to help those who are coming out of, again, out of bad theology, whether it's

Anabaptism or it's Arminianism or it is

Pentecostalism or Deliverance Ministries. This way they could learn to pray those very answers, asking the

Lord to make them real in their hearts, but also incorporating the scriptures into those prayers.

And a friend of mine who is an Anglican minister, he said to me, this is equivalent to the

Book of Common Prayer, what they did, and he was glad to see this particular style.

Some of the women who have read it have been utilizing it at their family devotions, and, you know, it's so full of scripture that if you read the prayers, it's pretty much reading the scriptures, mostly in the

King James or ESV version. And we began to do that at night, and I just thought, this might be another useful tool to help them grow in a better understanding of God's Word and the doctrines of grace, because they're trying to unlearn the bad theology.

And I just want to take this time, before I forget, since they are a sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron, Solid Ground Christian Books has in stock for you the

Three Forms of Unity, books about the Three Forms of Unity and the

Heidelberg Catechism specifically. And they also, I don't even know if you're aware of the existence of this,

Nancy, but there is a Heidelberg Catechism for Reformed Baptists, just like the 1689

London Baptist Confession is really the Westminster for Baptists. It's almost identical with some differences.

There is a catechism called an Orthodox Catechism, the particular

Baptist version of the Heidelberg Catechism by Hercules Collins, and you can get that and other books at solid -ground -books .com.

That's solid -ground -books .com. And you could also order

Nancy's book and many other books at one of our other sponsors' locations, which is

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, who are also supporting Iron Sharpens Iron, and they are located right here locally within about a 10 -minute walk of where I'm sitting right now.

And they also deal globally with books and DVDs and so on, coming from the

Reformed tradition. And their website is cvbbs .com. C -V for Cumberland Valley, bbs for Bible Book Service dot com.

So what specifically in the Heidelberg Catechism motivates you not only to pray but to receive comfort from these prayers?

I think for me, it's Lord's Day 9 and 10, that those two days deal with God as creator, sustainer of His world,

His universe, and of His children, His Church. For me, when

Bobby was diagnosed with prostate cancer, it was Pastor Andrew Einigenberg who encouraged me to get my head into Lord's Day 9 and 10, and also

Belgic Article Number 13. These deal with God's providence. And when

I came to realize in studying it and reading the Scriptures that every single thing that crosses the path of the believer is ordained by God for their good, whether it's cancer or, as I later developed, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, whether it's those physical struggles or financial struggles, that God had ordained them for our good.

And I received comfort from those two days specifically during the time of trials.

And I know everyone only says, Lord's Day 1, because it asks, what is your only comfort in life and death?

But for me, it was Lord's Day 9 and 10, and specifically the part where in Lord's Day 10, where He says that whether it's green leaf or brown leaf, whether it's fruitful or barren, that all these things come from your

Heavenly Father's hand. And I can find no greater comfort than that everything for the believer is done for our good, to make us more like Christ.

And by the way, I want to mention my email address if you have questions for Nancy. This is a live program, so the email address to send your questions is

ChrisArnzen at gmail .com, C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com.

So the Reformed faith is really the faith and the systematic theology innate to it that really more than any other branch, if you will, of Christendom really conveys that notion the clearest, that God is in control of every single thing, and if He loves

His children, then therefore no matter what happens to His children, comes from His hand, and yet even if it causes us misery temporarily on this earth, it is really meant to be a precious gift in some way to us that we may never really understand on this earth, but we can really grasp onto that and hold on, you know, steadfast to it, that it is a promise, and I've quoted

Romans 8 28 many times on this broadcast, but all things really do work together for the good for those who love

God and are the called according to His purpose. And that's not a promise for everybody though, is it?

No, that's a promise to the called. It's a promise to His elect, to those who have, as the

Reformers said, received Christ by the empty hand of faith, not by anything we've done, not even by our faith, since that too is a gift from God, but it's

He works it out for good for His children, for those He has called, and that's where the comfort lies, that He, as the

Heidelberg emphasizes a lot, it's by His fatherly hand, and that denotes love and care and sustenance.

When you talk of your father, you know, protector and supplier, that's who

God is for the believer. So no matter what we go through in life, the comfort comes from knowing it all comes from our

Heavenly Father's hand, and I find nothing more comforting in this world than to be able to call

God Almighty my Heavenly Father. Amen. And it's still a mystery to me, and I believe it always will be a mystery to me, how anyone who professes the name of Christ, who believes they are a

Christian, and yet seeks comfort in thinking that God was not in control of horrible occurrences in their lives, because what other conclusion would you have, that Satan was in control of that, or that God just left this up to chance and haphazardness, and stood by and passively watched while you went through this misery?

I don't even understand how people find comfort in that, because what happens is you have a trial and sorrow and pain and grief and agony that has no purpose.

Exactly. And to understand that God has a purpose behind, and what

I love is how the Heidelberg gives three of those purposes. One, to be patient in adversity.

Two, to be thankful in prosperity. And then the third is that we understand that in all things, no matter what happens to us, we can place our firm trust in God the

Father. Amen. So there's that building up of our faith to trust

Him even more, as we're learning in each trial to trust Him through that.

It's not easy. You know, I remember crying to my pastor when

Bobby got hit with cancer, and he just said, we're here for you, but get your head in Lord's day nine and ten, because that will carry you through when you understand

God has a purpose for you and Bobby. And in fact, one of the elders joked around that there was even a purpose for the

Church to help us, to build us up, to strengthen us, to hold us up.

And in that way, the local congregation was benefiting from it as well.

And it's hard to understand when you're in the midst of something, but if you don't have the anchor to hold on to, you will just get tossed to and fro on every wave of emotion that hits.

Amen. Amen. And some people, especially evangelicals, who are very leery of Roman Catholicism, perhaps they have come out of Roman Catholicism and they hear catechism, and it just strikes a sour note with them.

It brings back a memory of their being involved in a religion that they eventually fled from, but all of that, a catechism is just an instruction manual with a summary of beliefs that poses questions and answers to help teach people on the main principles of the faith, correct?

That's all that it is. Exactly. It's a teaching tool. Just as you teach your children the

ABCs, you sometimes do it by song, you might do it by visuals, the catechism is a visual to teach you the basics of the faith.

The Heidelberg begins with the Gospel message, what is your only comfort in life and death?

The answer is that I belong to Christ, you know, because of His life and death, and it gives the whole

Gospel in that very first answer. From there, it takes you through our misery, which is the sin of Adam, imputed to everyone, we're all sinners in the sight of God, and it brings us through our, quote -unquote, misery, but then it brings us to the

Gospel again, and each part of the Gospel. One of the key things that I've been studying on my own at this point, because we live in Idaho, it is the second largest

Mormon community, so I've been looking more at the Incarnation of Christ in the Heidelberg, to study it better, to know it better, to know the verses that back this up better, and that's what the

Heidelberg does. It enables you to study each of the teachings of Scripture in a more systematic way.

It begins with guilt, Gospel, and the very end, it goes through the

Lord's Prayer, and brings from that the gratitude we should have.

It also does the Ten Commandments, but I love how it brings the Lord's Prayer out, and how by the

Lord's Prayer, we are really expressing gratitude for the grace that was given to cover our guilt.

Amen, and we do need that grace, because nothing else would cover that other than the blood of Christ.

Amen. And of course, the great confessions and catechisms of the faith never claim to be on the same par with the

Scriptures, or superior to the Scriptures. They are only a summary of the

Scriptures, and teaching aids to help you remember and absorb the Scriptures, correct?

Exactly. Think about the sermons you hear. You would never put those sermons on par, and at the same line with the

Scriptures, but your pastor is hopefully exegeting faithfully what those texts are teaching.

That's what the Catechism does. It takes the teachings of Scripture, and it breaks it down so we, humans who are frail, and sometimes stubborn, or thick -headed, or stupid, and it makes it easy for us to understand, so that we get it.

Amen. And once again, the email address, if you have a question for Nancy, is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

chrisarnson at gmail .com. One of the doctrines that is core to Reformed theology that sets it apart from other

Christian systematic theologies, or Christian doctrines, or those embraced by professing

Christians that Reformed people disagree with, but one of the core teachings that the

Reformed faith embraces is Particular Redemption, which is also nicknamed

Definite Atonement and Limited Atonement, and Substitutionary Atonement, which really only fits as a description when you're speaking about Definite Atonement, even though Arminians and those who reject the

Reformed faith often today use that term, Substitutionary Atonement. They really can't consistently and logically use it.

But this is a part of your Prayers of Comfort. You have a section on Particular Redemption, and why would this give you comfort?

And that is something that the non -Reformed person just cannot fathom and understand.

They look at this teaching as something horrendous and horrible and depressing and frightening.

And if you could let us know why you would find comfort in it. There's comfort knowing that what

Christ suffered and paid for was actually paid for.

Growing up in an Arminian church, there always seemed to be a few ripple effects of the teaching that you could lose your salvation.

One was that Christ's opponents evidently didn't really pay, or God was going to demand double payment for the same sins.

So you'd always have to be up asking God for forgiveness and rededicating your life and hoping that you were living a life that was pleasing.

But if you sinned and died right after that sin, you might lose your salvation.

And I remember asking one of the youth pastor at the church I went to back then,

I asked him, how many sins do I need to commit before I lose my salvation? How many sins have to pile up so high that God can no longer see me over those sins?

And he just looked at me and he went, no, it's just one sin that'll bring you back to hell.

And I thought, well, that can't be true, because that'd be a horrible way to live, because I know I sin all the time, whether in words, thought, or deed.

So that can't be right. But then as I read Scripture, and specifically reading that those who

Christ died for, the penalty, which was mine, that he took, is completely satisfied.

There's no more requirement for my sins.

Now, if Christ did that for every living being on the face of planet

Earth, from the time of Adam to the time he returns, then he can't require that payment again, otherwise he's an unjust judge.

So it has to be Christ died for, as Matthew 1 said, his name is

Jesus because he will save his people. Never says he will save the world.

He will save his people, and it's some from every tribe and nation and tongue.

But unless Christ actually paid for it and satisfied that law, we're still going to have to pay something to God for some sin not covered.

So being that Christ actually did pay the full penalty for his people, there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8 .1.

Amen. In fact, I'm going to go to a break right now. We're going to pick up after the break with some questions from our listeners.

And if you'd like to join us on the air, the email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com. chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Please provide your first name at least, your city and state of residence, and if you're not in the

United States, please provide your country as well. And we look forward to hearing from you with your questions, and we'll be right back after these messages, so don't go away.

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That's wrbc .us. Welcome back.

This is Chris Arns. And if you've just joined us, we are discussing Prayers of Comfort, Daily Petitions from the

Heidelberg Catechism, the new book by our guest Nancy Almodovar.

And we were just talking about particular redemption and the other slogans or nicknames that that has, that doctrine has, are limited atonement and definite atonement and substitutionary atonement.

And one of the things that I found to be most beautiful about this teaching, which other people find repugnant and which

I even initially found repugnant to a degree, but when

I realized that when Christ was hanging there on Calvary's cross and he was having the wrath of his father poured on him and experiencing a torment that I will never know and no human will ever know, having his own father punish him on the cross for my sins,

I knew when I came to embrace this doctrine of particular redemption that Jesus Christ was not just hanging there saying,

I'm doing this for a faceless and nameless sea of humanity who may or may not benefit by this.

He was saying, Chris Arnson, I am purchasing your sins with my blood and I am definitely going to bring you home one day with me for eternity.

That whole concept made the cross a much more, an infinitely more personal and precious and glorious thing.

And I was wondering if you could comment on my own personal experience with that. Well, I think once you recognize that, you know, well, let me start it this way.

We always tell people, oh, God has a wonderful plan for you. Well, that's not necessarily true unless that happens to be one of the elect.

And then that statement becomes true because Christ then died for you personally.

You were on his heart. You were there, united to Christ while he paid for your sins.

And there's no greater comfort than knowing that your sins have been fully paid for.

That your sins from the moment you were conceived in original sin and iniquity to the moment you die, every one of those sins has been satisfied for by the death of Jesus Christ, by his life and his obedience to the law for us, as well as his penalty under the law for us, and his justification, which as Romans says, was, you know, the resurrection proved we've been justified from our sins and we have received

Christ's righteousness. If you think Christ died for everybody, you're never quite sure, well, did

I do enough to earn that? But if you understand that Christ died for his people, for his

Church, for the people of God, and I'm one of those people of God, then

I know no matter how much I may sin and I will sin, that's still been covered, too.

And it's it's the reason why Paul exclaims in Romans, you know, he's arguing against the person bringing the other side, saying, well, if grace is so great,

I can sin all I want. And he's saying, no, no, no, you've been justified, so now live right.

But unless you understand that you have personally been justified before God, and that it is

God's very own righteousness given to you, you will never be secure in your relationship with God the

Father. You will always doubt, there will always be in the back of your mind, ah,

I sinned. What if, you know, what if God doesn't forgive me for that? Or, you know, there will never be assurance.

The only ones who can have absolute true assurance are those who recognize that Jesus died for his elect, that he was a propitiation for them.

And that's where our assurance comes from, our security comes from, knowing that his penalty actually paid for us, and didn't just, you know, well, it might have, or we're not sure.

Pete Jesus didn't just make men redeemable, he redeemed them. Mary He actually paid for those sins.

Pete Yes. Mary They're paid, which means there's no more bill. Because it's been paid.

Pete Right. And just briefly, because I don't want the whole program to be on this subject, but particular redemption is referring to the fact that Christ died for a particular people, and definite atonement means that he definitely atoned when he died.

And limited atonement, people get hung up on that, but limited means that the atonement was provided for a limited number of people.

And Charles Spurgeon actually said that the Arminians are the ones that really have a limited atonement because it's limited in its power.

And because it doesn't save everybody that it intended, that Christ intended to save in their scenario.

But we do have a fellow Idahoan, I don't know if that's how you say it.

Mary Yes. Pete Okay, you do, we got it right, huh? All right, we have Debbie in Boise who asks, how would you encourage your non -reformed family and friends to read and get into the

Heidelberg Catechism? Mary Well, I would introduce it slowly, in conversation first.

As you're talking about the faith, be so well studied on the

Heidelberg and how it sections things out that you can recall it.

For example, if someone says, well, I saw someone who, when they were believers 30 years ago, and now they deny

Christ, you can then immediately recall the question on what is true faith.

And you can use that then in conversation first. And then if they say, oh, wow, that was a great answer.

Where'd you get that from? Now you've got an open door to say, well, this is the tool my church uses to help teach us.

You might not want to use the term catechism, might want to use like teaching tool or questions and answers that we hear in church, maybe

Bible study tool, something like that. And I only say not to necessarily use catechism, because as you said,

Chris, sometimes that brings up Roman Catholic Church, and people will go, oh, no,

I don't want any of that. But maybe saying the teachings of Scripture or the Bible study tool our church uses on Sunday nights and approach it that way, approach it more conversational first.

And then maybe give them a copy of it when they're leaving and say, this is the

Bible study tool my church uses. You can have a copy and hope and pray that they use it.

Yeah, well, the two things that jump out at me in regard to the value of not only the

Heidelberg Catechism or any good, solid, doctrinally faithful catechism or confession is that, especially if you were to present the

Gospel and the Scriptures to new converts, they don't really know, where do

I begin with this book that you've given me, this Bible? Am I supposed to just flip through the pages and stick my finger in it randomly?

How am I going to actually learn and study it appropriately in a systemized way?

And the catechisms and the confessions are summaries of the most vital biblical teachings that are salvific predominantly, and it helps guide people to know where to start.

And then, of course, it will hopefully, God willing, spawn the hunger and thirst for people to continue reading more in depth into the

Scriptures. And the other thing is, far as your specific book, as far as a prayer devotional,

I know even with myself, especially if I'm stressed out, had a long day, or I'm depressed,

I don't even know what to say to the Lord when I go to the throne of grace.

I'm speechless very often, and my mind wanders. And this kind of helps systematize it.

And systematize it, you shouldn't look at that an ugly word or a less -than -spirit -filled concept, but it's just a way to keep your mind focused on important things.

Am I right? Exactly. And one of the other things I noticed was that, because I focus my writing and my ministry towards women of the faith,

I noticed women, in particular, like devotionals.

They want something... they are so busy with family, house, maybe also work involved in that, you know, outside the homework, plus the housework alone, plus children, family, cleaning, cooking, you know, all of these things that a woman and a wife do at home, sometimes they want something very short, very quick.

Over the years, looking at other devotionals aimed towards women, there's no solid teaching in them.

It's a lot of fluff, and there's nothing rock -solid to plant your feet on and be able to say,

I can stand today. So the Heidelberg, in a devotional form, enables a woman to take something that's quick.

Most of these are two pages, maybe three at most, and it's the questions and answers they can go through.

So that gets the teaching of Scripture in their head. Then they can read the prayer, pray the prayer, and then go the day, or they can go back to the prayer throughout the day and ask the

Lord to instill these teachings into them. Because we have to know what we believe and why we believe it, otherwise our lives are going to go with every wave that is out there.

And the devotional format leans itself towards women who can just grab it and say, okay, this is what

I can read. And if it's a new believer, here's a way, using the daily petition from the

Lord, now you can gather your family around the table and say, here's the lesson for tonight, and then let us pray.

And it makes an easy, simplified way of actually learning what the

Scriptures teach, and then praying about those teachings, using the

Scriptures that have been intertwined through the prayers. Well, we're going to be going to our final break right now, and if you have any questions, shoot us an email at chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

That's C -H -R -I -S -A -R -N -Z -E -N at gmail .com. We've just got about 15 minutes left, so if you want

Nancy to answer your question on the air, of course, you only get about 15 minutes.

So we look forward to hearing from you and your questions for Nancy Almodovar. And prayers of comfort, daily petitions from the

Heidelberg Catechism right after these messages, so don't go away.

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Welcome back. This is Chris Arnzen. Before I return to our guest, Nancy Almodovar, and our discussion on her new book,

Prayers of Comfort, Daily Petitions from the Heidelberg Catechism, I just want to make some announcements as far as upcoming broadcasts.

Tomorrow, many of you were looking forward to hearing the testimony of Deborah Antignano, who is a former

Jehovah's Witness, and by the grace and mercy of God, is now a born -again believer and follower of the true

Christ of Holy Scripture, Jesus the God -man, the second person of the

Blessed Trinity, and she was going to discuss her conversion to Christianity from the cult of Jehovah's Witnesses, and we had to reschedule her because of something that I just asked you to pray about.

She just had a bit of a medical emergency, nothing life -threatening or anything to that nature, but she had a little bit of a medical emergency that she had to have taken care of, and so I ask of you to pray for her and pray for her family, and we are going to reschedule her to be on a future broadcast as soon as we can.

And we were very grateful that Joe Thorne, who is the author of Experiencing the

Trinity, the Grace of God for the People of God. Joe Thorne is a Reformed Baptist preacher in Illinois, and he also is the author of Note to Self, the

Discipline of Preaching to Yourself. Tomorrow he is going to be on our program with very little notice, and we are going to be discussing his book,

Experiencing the Trinity. This Monday, the 13th of July, we've got

Walt Chantry. Walt Chantry, who was one of the pioneers of the

Reformed Baptist resurgence in the United States in the middle of the 20th century, and Walt Chantry has been a blessing to the

Church at large, and one of his most well -known books was Today's Gospel, Authentic or Synthetic, and he is going to be discussing that book because it is timeless.

There are obviously aberrations and heresies that have crept into the

Church that were not dominant when Walt wrote the book back in the 70s,

I believe he wrote it, but it is still very practical and applicable to today's situation, and I look forward to having one of my heroes of the faith,

Walt Chantry, who is actually the former pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Carlisle, where I am currently a member.

And we have Carl Truman. Many of you know Carl Truman. He is going to be discussing

Martin Luther on July 20th, and last but not least, I want to remind you that August 31st, we got the word that Dr.

Al Moeller of Southern Seminary will be our guest on this program, and that will be the very first time

Dr. Moeller has ever been on Iron Sharpens Iron, and I'm very thrilled that he blessed us with that.

We do have an anonymous listener, Nancy, in Perry County, Pennsylvania, who wants to know, how do

I read a devotional such as yours when I am married to a man who is an unbeliever and I am trying my best to be submissive to him, and he is telling me he doesn't want me reading

Christian literature or the Bible, and it has been a struggle in my home, and I'm trying to obey

God by being submissive to him, but at the same time, I want to learn more about God.

I want to join a that really teaches the truth. I'm having this very serious dilemma right now.

How do you respond to that? That's a very serious question that could be several programs worth of discussion.

That could be a whole other program, Chris. Let's look at some of the women in Scripture who were not treated so nice.

One of them is Abigail. I often refer women who

I've counseled who are in abusive situations, but Abigail still did the

Word of God and still served God's people, even though her husband hated it.

And Peter reminds us that it's our quietness and piety that God can use to draw the unbelieving husband.

So, as a woman, you want to balance that carefully, but you don't want to not do what

God requires. One of the things God wants of his children is to study the

Scriptures so that they can give an answer to fellowship with other believers, because that is one of the ways and means that God uses to strengthen you in your faith.

It's through hearing the Word of God preached in the fellowship of believers, of partaking of the

Lord's Supper with his people. Those are the means God uses to strengthen you.

And as far as the devotional, use it for yourself first. And then,

I don't know if you have children or not, but maybe if they're young enough, you can sit with them and go through some of the questions with them, and the answers, and begin to teach them.

And at the same time you're teaching them, it's going to start getting into your heart. The more you know about the

Word of God and who your Savior is, who your Heavenly Father is, and how

His Holy Spirit works in you to strengthen you, and bolster you, and equip you, the more you'll understand how to live before God in front of your husband.

And using the prayers, especially the ones that are on, you know, true faith, and the salvation that Christ has brought us, using those to understand better who you are in Christ, but also then to explain it better to your husband.

A lot of times new believers get super, super excited, and we kind of want everyone around us.

But understanding, like Chris said before, in particular atonement, praying for your husband that perhaps he does belong to the

Lord and just hasn't come to that point in time yet. But you need the fellowship at church.

I know Chris can probably give you a list of solid churches in your area, wherever you are, and leading that quiet and pious life in front of them, but you won't know what true piety is unless you know the scriptures.

There's a whole bunch of false stuff, like, you know, the outward signs, but true piety comes from knowing your

God, and knowing His Word, and how He wants you to live where you're at.

Yes, and that is obviously a dilemma that a Christian woman married to an unbelieving spouse is often in, and we know of really horrible, tragic stories of husbands leaving their wives because of their faith, which always amazes me, especially if when the women come to faith, they become more submissive and loving wives.

So it's a mystery, but obviously that may not always be the case as well, because you have all kinds of Christians that are disobedient in their lives.

But I want to invite that woman. We have an anonymous group on Facebook.

It's a closed group, but it's called Old Paths for Today's Women.

We've had a number of women on Facebook who came to us first. Their husbands were either unbelievers or staunchly against Reform doctrine.

We have a closed group for women only. There are two other men in the group, both are ministers of God, and one is my husband, the other one is the minister of Reverend Paul Murphy from Messiah's Reform Church in Manhattan.

But it's all women only, and in there we discuss the doctrines of grace, we talk to each other, we share.

The women can encourage you. So if you're on Facebook, I encourage you to look for me first, and then

I can send you an invite into the group. So just look for my name,

Nancy A. Almodovar, and just look for me on Facebook, and I'll get you into the closed group.

Okay. And obviously, a woman, although she is to be submissive to her husband, should never allow her husband to compel her to commit sin.

Correct. So that's one thing that you have to always remember, that Christ is her head above her husband.

But we also have a listener who's an old buddy of yours who asks that we even give his last name,

Phil Veach from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. I don't know if I'm pronouncing

Lejeune correctly. He says, Nancy, give us the update on degree work to the present, but also current academic endeavors going forward.

And what's on your study on Paul's epistle to the Romans and any future projects?

But we only have about three minutes for you to do that. Okay. So real quick, I'm going to be attending

Covenant Theological Seminary beginning September. I will be working on my Master's of Theological Studies there.

On top of that, I am working on two projects. One is the

Book of Romans. I am currently teaching the Ladies' Bible Study at Dayspring United Reformed Church in Boise through the

Book of Romans using the Doctrines of Grace, the Five Solas and Tulips.

That will become a book, Lord willing, by spring 2016, if not sooner.

The other one is a more personal book. It is the prayers that my father wrote out over the last 15 years of his life as the

Lord was reforming him. And it's his studies of Scripture. It's kind of a more personal book, more for my family, but it will be also out there for public consumption.

Those are the projects I'm currently working on. Great. And we have one more anonymous listener who wants to know, does your guest believe that women are to be submissive in the church as well as the home, and does she believe in seeking ordination?

Well, I no longer believe a woman is to be ordained. I did make the mistake in era when

I was a charismatic and was ordained under the Assemblies of God International Fellowship.

However, that was soon taken back once I began to reform and understand that a woman should not be in the pulpit teaching.

And so a woman should not be ordained as a minister of and silent during the preaching.

And a woman should be submissive to her spouse and to Christ. And I endeavor to submit to my husband in all things, and as a sinner

I'm learning that process. And I submit to my elders and my pastor.

And like I said before, my focus is always teaching the women as a good

Titus woman, the older teaching the younger. And I can't believe I am at the point where I'm older.

But that's the position a woman should hold. Great. Well, we thank you for that question, anonymous listener.

And if you would like a copy of Nancy's book, she has several she's giving away, you can feel free to write back with your name and address, and we will announce that on the air if that makes you feel more comfortable.

But what's in just about 30 seconds, can you tell us what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners before we go?

To understand that God is their Heavenly Father, who is in absolute control over every part of their life, nothing happens in it apart from His will, and that they can draw comfort from the fact that He is their

Heavenly Father and Christ Jesus is their Savior. And it's because of the work of the

Holy Spirit regenerating them that they even know Christ as Savior.

And because of that, they can have comfort no matter what's going on in their life. And remember, you can order

Nancy's book through Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service at cvbbs .com. Thank you for listening, and I want you all to always remember that Jesus Christ is a far greater

Savior than you are a sinner. God bless, and we look forward to you joining us tomorrow. Thanks for joining us,