May 21, 2018 Show with Don Linblad on “A Praise Report in the Midst of Tragedy: A Family Who Booked A Flight on a Private Plane in Havana, Cuba, Cancels Their Plans the Day Before Their Scheduled Flight Which Proved to Be Fatal for 110 Passengers” AND Michael A. Gaydosh

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.

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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 Arntzen. Good afternoon

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arntzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Monday on this 21st day of May 2018.

Officials say that 113 people were on a charter passenger jet hired by Cuba's state -run airline when it crashed this past Friday in the rural outskirts of Havana, killing all but three on board.

Among the people that were supposed to be on the plane was a Christian named

Jotniel Perez and his family, but they were not on that flight due to the providence of God because they merely changed their plans the day before since Jotniel's family was enjoying their stay in Cuba too much and they wanted to prolong their stay.

But today we are going to be addressing a praise report in the midst of tragedy and to discuss our topic today we have for the very first time ever on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastor Don Lindblad of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Kirkland, Washington.

He's also one of the co -founders of the Reformed Baptist Mission Services and the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America also known as ARPCA.

He's been a trustee of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies and he is a frequent flyer to Cuba for ministry and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you for the very first time ever to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Pastor Don Lindblad.

Thank you Chris, it's a delight to be with you. Amen. Well, usually when we have a first -time guest on this program we have them give a summary of their own salvation testimony, what kind of religion you were raised in if any, and what were the providential circumstances that our

Lord used in your life to draw you to himself and save you. So if you could start with that before we go on with our topic today.

Well, I'm born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Kirkland is a suburb of Seattle and I'm back in this area after having served churches in Ohio, but I've been back here for now a little over 30 years.

I was raised in a God -fearing home in a suburb of Seattle. I was raised in a

Lutheran context, fairly liberal, not knowing that at the time of course.

My parents were God -fearing people and my mother especially was a very strong Christian, having been raised in a

Lutheran context, but a very small ethnic -oriented context,

Norwegian Lutheran church. And I grew up fearing

God, but not really knowing him. When I graduated from high school, somewhat directionless,

I decided to attend a local Christian college actually, which had a very,

I suppose, larger perspective on students coming in and went as a

God -fearing student, but not really much interested in certainly personal faith.

But I met a Christian. We became good friends. He and I spent a lot of time together, began attending his church, and was converted in that context, a small fundamentalist

Baptist church. Came to faith in Jesus Christ, genuine faith in the

Lord Jesus, when I was about 18. My pastor was somewhat of a country pastor, very simple perspective on things, but he loved his people and he loved me and began giving me things to do.

The short version is that in time, I believe I was called to the ministry, and he was largely influential in that.

So I was about 18 when I came to faith in the Lord Jesus. And when did you realize and how did you realize that God had placed a call upon your heart to become a pastor?

Well, I think the church has a lot to do with that, and my convictions now are reformed, which they weren't at that time, but I still even then saw the importance of the church, and especially my pastor, and he began giving me things to do.

In addition to that, I felt something of the inward call, but I think the church had a lot to do with my call to the ministry.

And so it was about a year or so after I came to faith in Christ and then began, with the encouragement of my pastor and others, began to change my major and began taking courses that would prepare me for going off to seminary.

Well, now you could tell us something, if you would, I should say, about Trinity Reform Baptist Church in Kirkland, Washington.

The church is about 25 years old, and I had moved back to the area to help care for my parents, and a body of the

Lord's people had heard about me and asked me if I'd come and preach, and they wanted to establish a reformed

Baptist church. And so in January of 1993, we began meeting with about 30 people or so, and in something of what

I might call a glorified Bible study, we didn't organize as a church for about a year, wanting the dust to settle and to see how many of us were still on the same page, which we were.

And so in January of 1994, we constituted as a church.

Well, praise God. Well, we'll be giving our listeners contact information for Trinity Reform Baptist Church in Kirkland, Washington later, but just in case

I forget, you can look this up later. This is the URL, Trinity Reform Baptist Church.

I'm sorry, trinityreformbaptist .com. There's no church in the URL. Trinityreformbaptist .com,

and you can find out all the information that you need about that. Well, also now tell us about the

Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America, which you were a co -founder.

Our career began formally in 1997, but there was a predecessor organization called

Reformed Baptist Mission Services. And we began,

I was a pastor in Ohio at the time, and there were a to be doing more for missions, but we're also uncomfortable with a model, which was the only existing model, that a large church or a major church, a church with greater resources, acted as kind of a de facto mission board.

And so those of us who were pastors of smaller churches interested in missions would funnel what funds we had to them.

They were more uncomfortable. That is, some of the larger churches, one in particular, was more uncomfortable with that than, say, we were in the sense that at least we were doing something for missions, but believed that they pretty much became a de facto mission board, as I said a moment ago.

And so there was a meeting to explore what could be done in the fall of 1984, and there were 14 churches that emerged from that meeting that determined that they would work together by forming a mission service agency, not to take away from the local church calling and having authority over particular missionaries, but working together to service missionaries in the various parts of the world.

So 14 churches constituted Reformed Baptist Mission Services in 1985, and that existed until 1996, in which, in looking at historic documents, our

Confession of Faith, 1689, and history in terms of what had been done, determined that it was both legitimate, that is, it was legitimate and biblical, to establish an association of churches, again, not to take away from the biblical authority of a local church, but looking at particular texts and seeing how churches, even in the

New Testament, cooperated and worked together. And so in the spring of 1997, the

Association of Reformed Baptist Churches was formed, and I'm probably going to have my date wrong here, but about two years later,

Reformed Baptist Mission Services was folded into that. And so ARPCA has a four -pronged emphasis, and one is ministerial training, and the

Institute of Reformed Baptist Churches, excuse me, the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies was formed.

The idea was birthed in 97, 98, IRBS was begun.

And then secondly, home missions, and then foreign missions, which was

RBMS, and then publications. So we cooperate together in those four areas.

And the websites for ARPCA and the IRBS Theological Seminary, which is the new seminary that is starting,

God willing, in September, as a result of the Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies being in existence for a number of years, now a freestanding, on -site seminary of their own will begin this

September. But ARPCA is ARBCA .com. ARBCA .com

is their website. And the website for the IRBS Seminary is

IRBSseminary .com. That's IRBSseminary .com

and make sure when you type, I'm sorry, dot org, IRBSseminary .org,

IRBSseminary .org, and make sure you put two S's in there because IRBS is right next to seminary.

So a lot of times when there's two letters next to each other, people forget one of them. Well, we will repeat that information later,

God willing, later on in the program. But a part of your life and your passion for missions and for the spread of the gospel, and even more specifically, the spread of the doctrines of sovereign grace, has been your passion for Cuba, and you have made frequent trips to Cuba, over 20,

I believe. Tell us about that, because that has direct relevance to what we are talking about today.

Yes. In 2002, if I remember correctly, a

Cuban pastor came to our General Assembly, which was held in Texas that particular year, and we became acquainted.

He had had a connection with RBMS for a number of years.

As a Cuban pastor, his name is Daniel Perez, it's Jotniel's father, and Daniel was attending graduate school off -site from the denomination where he was a member and been a pastor for a number of years.

That denomination had requested from the government permission to send three of their men off -site for graduate school.

Daniel was very bright and talented and a gifted man, and was a pastor of one of their flagship churches.

So he had enrolled in the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica, and began to do some reading and encountered banner of truth literature.

He wrote to the Carlisle office of the banner of truth, Jim Eshelman, an elder in the

Grace Church of Carlisle at the time, who was also the business manager, and he passed on Daniel's information to David Straub, who was a coordinator for RBMS at the time,

Reform Baptist Mission Services. We had a contact,

Oscar Blois, who was a pastor of a church in Kingston, and David paid a visit to him and discovered that the

Caribbean Graduate School of Theology was literally across the street, and met

Daniel. Correspondence ensued as Daniel moved back to Cuba in time, moved to the eastern part of Cuba to establish a

Reform Baptist church back to the area that had been his home, and began a church and a seminary, a small seminary with a handful of students and an association of churches.

I met him in 2002. Interestingly, Arbca began in 1997.

His church and association began the same year. He asked me if I would come, and I was able to come and went twice, 2002 then 2005, and discovered that it was not possible to return without a religious worker's visa issued from the

Cuban government. I was able to secure one through his former association, or convention,

Los Pinos Nuevos, a convention of churches, became friends with a number of their leaders and their pastors, and they began inviting me, since Daniel could not invite me, his church is not a legal church, and does not have government approval, and was able to travel under the auspices of Los Pinos for a number of years, and now

I'm traveling twice a year. What has changed is that Jatniel's church is now a legal church, and he's able to secure visas for me and for others within our association, and so I travel on average twice a year to teach in the seminaries of Los Pinos Nuevos, but now most of my work is done with pastoral training, training pastors, men who have had some training and are in the ministry, but who need continuing education, and so it's a bit fluid what

I do some of it's seminary, I've done some young people's conferences, but I go about twice a year.

Now what makes a church worthy of being legal in Cuba, and what makes it illegal, especially when we're talking about churches that seem to have had identical theological makeup?

Legal churches historically have been those that were grandfathered in before the revolution in 1959, that the government decided that it would make those church legals, granting them or giving them certain privileges, one of which was to secure visas from the

Ministry of Justice, the religious affairs department. Fast forward a number of years later, the government allowed for the establishing of house churches, but those churches do not have the same privileges.

They're tolerated, and actually more than just tolerated, that sounds a little too negative, they're actually given the freedom to gather for worship, to do evangelism, and those sorts of things, but they don't have the same privileges.

And so the rules for that get a little complex in the sense that if a church had a building, and the church disbanded, and then someone else began the church again, began a church again in that same building, they may be granted legal status.

And something along those lines is how Hot Neal's church has become a legal church.

However, I should say that his church is also a part of the same association that his father started, and so there's a growing tolerance for churches in Cuba, and Hot Neal now has a seminary, and in time

I can tell you how that building came into being, and how the government is encouraging the building of that building, but that's another story.

Well, it's quite an amazing piece of news that, in fact, my congregation received this past Sunday, yesterday, during some of the opening announcements for our worship service.

Pastor John Miller, our new pastor there, let us know about the tragedy of where there were over 100 people, 113 people,

I believe, aboard a private jet in Cuba, which crashed in the outskirts of Havana, and only three of those folks survived.

Among those passengers were, if I'm not mistaken, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, 11

Nazarene pastors and their wives? Correct. Because there were some reports saying 10, so I'm assuming that has been updated to 11.

The numbers are a little fluid as they come out about some of these things, but that's ballpark, correct.

And we obviously want to ask of you, all of you listening, to pray for the families, the surviving families of those 11

Nazarene pastors and their wives, and their congregations. That's an enormous blow, not only for a single church, but for a denomination to have such a tragic loss all at once, instantaneously like that.

So do your homework and try to find out where those churches are, perhaps, and reach out to them, even personally, with letters of condolences and offering your prayers and even anything that you could do physically for the families and congregations of those pastors.

But amidst the tragedy, we heard this wonderful news, and it's always an interesting task when you are faced with rejoicing over something that is bordering on the miraculous, and in the midst of something that is really horrible and tragic, causing misery for others.

But it is still, nonetheless, a time for rejoicing that Jatniel Perez and his family were scheduled to be on that very flight that crashed, and just because,

I believe, and you could also give us more information, but Jatniel's wife and children just were enjoying themselves,

I understand, too much in Cuba, and they wanted to stay, so the flight for them was canceled.

If you could pick up where I left off there. Yes, well, just an added piece, if I may, from what you said moments ago, actually, all of those pastors

I learned this morning were from the eastern part of the island, so all of those

Nazarene pastors. So there was a whole piece of that denomination in which is in the east, and perhaps related provinces, two or three provinces around, all of those churches now are without their pastors.

Wow. So that's just, I just learned that this morning. I'm sorry.

No, go ahead. Jatniel is the pastor of a

Reformed Baptist church in Belasco, which is on the western side of the province of Olguin.

So the association takes up the western side of that province and the eastern part of Las Tunas province, which is right next door.

Jatniel has a larger -than -life influence among churches in Cuba today.

He's known throughout the island. He has a magnetic personality.

He is Reformed in his theology, and not only does he have an influence in the association along with his father, but beyond, all the way to the most western province,

Penardo Rio, in Cuba. There are churches who look to him for guidance and for leadership and for encouragement.

And so he travels a fair amount. In fact, the conferences that he arranges for me and other

ARP Command are held in various places across the island all the way to, again, to the far west.

There is a church in Matanzas, which is a province next to Havana, that has gone through some difficulty, and Jatniel has had a significant amount of influence with this now house church in that province.

And so he travels on occasion to other parts of Cuba, and he was traveling to Matanzas.

And ordinarily, because of expense and because of the church that he leaves behind and others who need to cover for him while he's gone, he normally goes by himself.

A lot of the travel is in the back of a truck, which is a common way to travel.

It's the cheapest way. It takes a long time to get to Havana. But a man without his family can do that.

This time, he had decided to take his family, which is a first, his two small children and a wife.

They were with him in Matanzas and had gone with him to Havana.

In fact, there was a picture of his family posted on Facebook the day before.

Jatniel was planning to stay, so he would not have been on that flight.

He was planning to stay, and his wife and two very young children were scheduled to be on that flight.

The day before, which would have been Thursday, they had decided together, look, this is so nice.

We're together. Let's just stay together through the weekend. So they canceled that reservation.

It was his wife, Angeli, and their two children, Daniela and Daniel, that were to be on that flight and were not.

Well, that is quite a remarkable providence. Immediately, my mind was transported to the tragic deaths of that hymn writer, author of It Is Well With My Soul, when the news was not so happy, when the children of that hymn writer, who was that again?

The name escapes me. No, it's a famous hymn writer whose wife survived, but the children perished in a shipwreck.

It escapes me, too, but I know what you're talking about. Yeah, but it immediately ushered my mind to that.

Well, when we come back, we're going to be talking about an appropriate response of a

Christian to events like this. And of course, this is the combined elements of a time for rejoicing and a time for mourning simultaneously.

So if you would like to join us on the air with a question of your own, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

chrisarnson at gmail .com. Please give us your first name, your city and state, and your country of residence if you live outside the

USA. And please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter.

Don't go away. God willing, we'll be right back with Pastor Donald Lindblad and more of our discussion on a

Christian response to tragedy. One sure way all

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Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said, Solid Ground Christian Books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the

Prince of Preachers to heart. The mission of Solid Ground Christian Books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to Christians in the present and future, and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world.

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Solid Ground Christian Books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. And if you stay tuned for the second hour, our guest will be

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Mike and his sponsorship of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, which has enabled this program to remain on the air.

And we cannot find words in the English language to express our gratitude to Mike and Solid Ground Christian Books for their faithful support.

In fact, folks, if you're looking for some information on the hymn writer

I just mentioned, why not go to solid -ground -books .com. I found out who it was. It was Horatio Spafford, a 19th century hymn writer whose family perished, his children perished, in a tragic sinking of a ship that they were on.

And his wife survived, but the children perished. And you can look up more information about that.

I would be surprised if Solid Ground Christian Books didn't have something that addresses that story, because it is a fairly prominent story in the history of hymnody, in the history of the

Christian church, especially 19th century Christendom. But we are back now with our guest today,

Pastor Don Lindblad of Trinity Reformed Baptist Church in Kirkland, Washington, who happens to be a friend and colleague in ministry with Jatniel Perez, a brother in Christ ministering in Cuba, whose family was supposed to be on the flight that crashed this past Friday, where 113 people were on board and all but three perished after the flight, after the plane crashed in the rural outskirts of Havana.

By the way, I was curious, Pastor Lindblad, I know it's very soon, but do they have any updates, credible updates, on what actually caused this plane to crash?

And I know, since it was hired by a

Cuba state -run airline, so I don't know how accurate the information will be, but if you could tell us what you know about that.

Um, thus far, nothing has emerged, or at least that I know of.

It was a plane actually owned by a

Mexican company. I think they have three planes, it's called

Air Global, and I believe, the last I heard was that the

Mexican government was sending investigators to determine the cause of the crash, but thus far

I know nothing more than that. And where were all these pastors and their wives headed for?

Were they going to a special conference of some kind, or do you know? They had been to a conference,

I'm assuming, but I don't know for certain that it was a denominational conference. The Nazarene Church has a presence in Cuba, but they were all from the eastern provinces, principally

Olguin and surrounding provinces. In fact, one of the pastors was from the same town as Hot Neal, and presumably he knew him.

The town is named Velasco. Well, if you could... They were in Havana for a conference and were flying back home.

Okay, and as we said earlier, 11 pastors and their wives perished, so that's 22 people.

Out of those 110 who perished were Christian couples, pastors, and their wives.

So once again, please pray for the surviving families and congregations of those pastors.

And if you could, also make sure you extend my greetings to Hot Neal Perez and let him know that I would love to have him on this radio program whenever he is available.

I don't know if it's possible for him to conduct it from Cuba, but whenever he's in the States or whenever he can get to an area where he can conduct a phone interview,

I would love to have him on the program. I will pass that on to him, and he would be delighted to be a part of this.

Great. Well, we have addressed this subject many times before.

Not, of course, involving this specific incident where we have this plane crash in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, but we have addressed the issue basically known as the theodicy, where you are defending the goodness of God in the midst of tragedy, suffering, sin.

It ranges from what we call or what news reports categorize as natural disasters, when there are fires and floods and hurricanes and earthquakes and tornadoes and volcano eruptions and mudslides and all that kind of thing.

But there were also things like school shootings, like we just once again had to witness the news reports regarding the tragic school shootings in Texas.

Our emotions have been seared,

I think, to a degree because we are no longer in shock and horror when we hear these things.

They have become too much a part of our regular life activities, hearing these things in the news.

And, of course, those that have personally experienced them, the families of those victims and the survivors themselves who escaped the near -death experience that they had, they are reacting in a different way than we are, who sit in the comforts of our home.

But because of the fact that this is a thing that we hear about every week, practically, in one form or another, we who are

Christians are constantly faced with answering the question, where was God in the midst of this?

And what is your first response as not only a Christian but a

Reformed Christian, and not only a Reformed Christian but a pastor, when you have that question presented to you?

Well, I suppose after having been in the ministry for almost 46 years, that one of the first things that comes to mind, to borrow the title of of John Flavel's book,

The Mystery of Providence. The Providence is a mystery. I think our confession, those of us that hold to a confessional perspective, and mine is the

Second Lenten Confession of Faith of 1689, that, you know, in Chapter 5 of Divine Providence, gives to us a perspective that, to use technical language, involves both first cause and second causes.

That to think, on the one hand, that God is an absentee landlord,

He's the God of the deist, gives us no comfort at all. That if God is not sovereign, to whom do we turn?

Where do we turn? Which at the same time doesn't negate the,

I think it's fair enough to use language like tragedy, those sorts of things, which doesn't negate the presence of those things.

That the scriptures, it seems to me, are extremely clear that God remains

God, God is God, and that He orders all things after the counsel of His own will, which is the perfect will, and at the same time involves what are called second causes.

You know, you have it in, you have it even in the death of Christ in Acts Chapter 2, where, you know,

Peter speaks of the Lord Jesus being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

It's pretty strong language. It's heaping up terms. And yet you by the hand of wicked men, lawless men, did crucify and slay.

There's a certain mystery in how all of that takes place.

I know that's not a complete answer, and you're going to ask further questions, but you know, there's a mystery here, the mystery of providence, and yet one in which we, to our own peril, exclude the presence of God, and the power of God, and the sovereignty of God, and the decree of God.

Yeah, well, the thing that those who are either atheists or agnostics, or they just choose to reject specifically

Christianity, or they might even be Christians who reject the doctrines of the sovereignty of God, which include the fact that God and His sovereignty decreed all things that come to be and came to be, they will say that for a

God to be actively involved in some way in His ruling authority over horrible tragedies, either those natural or those at the hands of wicked men, to involve

God in this gets Him rightfully in their minds accused of partaking in evil, and therefore being evil

Himself in some way. Not being at least completely good, and righteous, and holy.

That is the conclusion that they think, the group of folks that I listed, is inevitable if we are to say that a sovereign

Lord is not just sitting back and watching, or as Rabbi Kushner once tried to explain away this in his book,

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People, that these things happen because God is not omnipotent.

There are things that He cannot stop from happening. In His attempts to defend the goodness of God, He wound up robbing or stripping

God of His power. But if you could, how do you get around this as a

Christian, where God remains completely holy, and perfect, and good, in the something that He, according to our own theology, has decreed?

Well, I think that a couple of illustrations from the scriptures, and this may not answer entirely, or perhaps the direction that you're going, we can come back to it, but I think of Joseph, where in speaking to his brothers, that they intended evil, but God had intended good.

Now, Joseph had no idea what was going to take place, what the last chapter was going to be, what the end result was going to be.

But he said, God intended this for good. And yet, there was evil present, not to suggest that God is the author or actor, perhaps is the better term, in evil, but certainly it's somehow included for a good that nobody can see.

Again, you come back to the mystery of providence. I think of the Apostle Paul, in the latter chapters of the book of Acts, who endured a series of hearings before various political leaders who had been in prison, was about to be beaten before Lysias discovered that he was a

Roman citizen, and endured all of these hearings, all of these trials, one after another, and then is carried off to Rome.

Now, you could say, well, all of that is not at the same level of which we're talking of the loss of life, but none of that is good.

None of that is... What had Paul done? In fact, five times, it is said of him that he's innocent.

Everyone that weighs in, from Agrippa to Festus to Felix, all of the rest of the individuals, even the

Sanhedrin, we can find nothing wrong with them, but they send him off to Rome, where he stands before Caesar and his life ends.

And yet, it was God's will for him, in Acts chapter 9, where it speaks of his calling as an apostle, that he was to stand before and preach before kings.

And so there's this, if I could put it this way, there's this greater good.

There's a good that we can't see. We can't see the beginning from the... We can see the beginning.

We can see what happens. We don't know what the end is. We don't know what God intends to do as a good and a gracious, a good from this.

We can't see any of that. We're myopic, and so we look at it, and all we can see is an immediate event, and we conclude that the event is evil, and there are particular, certainly bad things about all of that, but we have absolutely no idea what

God intends the outcome for these events to be.

Now, there is debate amongst Christians on terminology, and the terminology is more than just semantical.

There are some theological differences behind the semantics. There are many

Christians, perhaps even most Christians, who would say that God allowed this plane to crash.

God allowed the massacre of those those poor children there in Texas, and God allowed the planes to fly into the

World Trade Center, and to crash in a field in Pennsylvania, and to crash into the

Pentagon Building, but there are others that are from our camp that are more specific.

In fact, some would even say God did much more than permit. It's somewhat of a misleading term, perhaps.

He decreed these things. Do you think that it is important how we phrase these things that have occurred, and do occur, and will always occur until we're in glory?

Because our view is the most likely to evoke disdain and an argument, perhaps, from those with whom we are speaking.

Again, I think it is important to use careful language and to be particular in the terms that we use, and again, to do so in a way that maintains the integrity of God.

I think that my greater concern in these sorts of discussions and debates is to maintain the biblical and confessional integrity of God.

That, after all, God is God, and we're but human, and so we attempt, again, if I could come back to the title of Flavel's book,

The Mystery of Providence. There's a certain mystery here, and to think that we can think as God thinks, apart from the revelation of His Word, I think there's a certain element of foolishness in that, and there's a place for us to come and to say,

Lord, I don't know, but I trust you. I can't go beyond my own finite mental capacities, but my trust is in you, and I fear that if we try to reduce things to our ability to process, that we may end up impugning the integrity of God.

I had a professor in seminary when these sorts of things would occur in a classroom context, and they always do, of course.

Students always want to sort everything out, and he used to say, he would sit back, look over the top of his glasses, and he would say,

Gentlemen, don't try to unscrew the inscrutable. And I think there's an element of that, and if I could come back to the

Confession again, Chapter 5 on Divine Providence, and my perspective is a confessional perspective.

I believe that the Confession, I subscribe to it entirely. I believe that it teaches truth, and there's a statement here in Paragraph 4 that says,

The Almighty Power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His Providence that His determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions, both of angels and men.

And then it says this, And that not by a bare permission, which also

He most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth, in a manifold dispensation to His most holy ends.

And that's what I was getting at a minute ago. God's holy ends. We don't know what they are, except in a general sense.

Then it goes on and says, Yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts precedeth only from the creatures, and not from God, who being most holy and righteous, neither author sin.

I think that's it. I think that's it. Brother, you're going to have to repeat your last sentence, because I think you're getting a phone call or something, and you cut out during some important words there.

Okay. Let me back up to, in a manifold dispensation to His most holy ends.

Did you get that? Yes. Okay. Yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts precedeth only from the creatures, and not from God, who being most holy and righteous, there's an affirmation, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.

Amen. God's ends, our holy ends, does not approve or act in matters of sin, and yet there are these holy ends which we cannot always perceive.

I grieve over what has happened. I think all of your hearers do.

I grieve over what has happened. It's a terribly sad thing, and at the same time,

I must believe that there is a God in heaven who orders all things, and all events are a part of His plan.

He does not approve of sin or of evil, and He has holy ends. What they are,

I do not know, and at some point, it seems to me, we have to say, we have to leave it in the hands of a loving and a holy

God, and we just don't know. Yes, and as Job said in chapter 13, verse 15, though He slay me,

I will hope in Him. Correct. And we are out of time, brother. I told you that our show goes fast, and you're probably saying, why did

I only elect to be on for one hour? I wish I'd said more.

Well, I would like you to come back in the future, and I will send you at some point today, God willing, a calendar of dates that you can return, and I want to make sure our listeners have the contact information.

First of all, the Trinity Reformed Baptist Church of Kirkland, Washington. That website is trinityreformedbaptist .com,

trinityreformedbaptist .com, and of course ARBCA, the Association of Reformed Baptist Churches of America.

That website is ARBCA .com, ARBCA .com. Thank you so much, Pastor Lindblad, for being on the show with very little notice, and we look forward to your return to Iron Troupe and Zion Radio.

Thank you for your kindness. Oh, my pleasure, brother. God bless. You too. And we are going to be joined for our second hour momentarily by Mike Gaydosh, founder of Solid Grand Christian Books, and I look forward to him joining us once again.

He always proves to be a wonderful guest. If you'd like to join us on the air with any questions for Mike Gaydosh, which you could also include the subject matter from the first hour on the theodicy or defense of the defense of God, his holiness and goodness and sinlessness in the light of tragedy and evil in the world, but you could ask on any question also in regard to Solid Grand Christian Books.

Our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com. Don't go away.

We'll be right back, God willing, with Mike Gaydosh of Solid Grand Christian Books right after these messages from our sponsors.

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Paul wrote to the church at Galatia, For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?

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forward slash iron sharpens today charles haddon spurgeon once said give yourself unto reading the man who never reads will never be read he who never quotes will never be quoted he will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves he has no brains of his own you need to read solid ground christian books is a publisher and book distributor who takes these words of the prince of preachers to heart the mission of solid ground christian books is to bring back treasures of the past to minister to christians in the present and future and to publish new titles that address burning issues in the church and the world since it's beginning in 2001 solid ground has been committed to publish god -centered christ exalting books for all ages we invite you to go treasure hunting at solid -ground -books .com

that's solid -ground -books .com and see what priceless literary gems from the past to present you can unearth from solid ground solid ground christian books is honored to be a weekly sponsor of iron sharpens iron radio welcome back and if you stay tuned the founder of solid ground christian books who was just mentioned in that ad uh they uh the founder mike gadosh is going to be on the program for the remaining hour so please stay tuned to the program but before we return to our discussion uh i have just a couple of very important announcements to make first of all the banner of truth u .s

ministers conference is being held uh coming up uh let's see that will be next next weekend uh the 29th through the 31st actually not weekend but in the in the uh week during the week itself the 29th through the 31st of may that is the tuesday through thursday of may uh at the elizabethtown college in elizabethtown pennsylvania i intend to be there so i'm looking forward to god willing meeting a lot of people in the iron trip and zion radio listening audience and if you haven't registered yet and you are able to get there please register and please make sure you make every effort to greet me there at the banner of truth u .s

ministers conference the theme is ministers of christ and the speakers include alistair begg johnny gibson mark johnston al moeller david strain and craig troxell if you'd like to register for the event go to banner of truth .org

banner of truth .org click on events and then click on u .s ministers conference make sure you click u .s

and not uk because they've already had some conferences in the united kingdom and if you click the wrong link you're going to be directed to information that's outdated go to the u .s

ministers conference link click that and you'll have all the information you need to register and please mention to banner of truth that you heard about them from chris arnzen and iron trap and zion radio last but not least uh the least comfortable or most uncomfortable portion of the program that i have to endure and i have to make you endure it more importantly is uh me begging you for money i dislike it intensely but it's something that needs to be done especially since a number of my advertisers who have kept this program on the air through their hard -earned money have urged me for quite a long time to make daily public appeals for donations because they want this program to remain on the air so therefore out of respect for them and also out of a knowledge of the very need that compels them to make their request to me to make these public appeals i am coming forward and have been for a number of months and hopefully will reach a day when i don't have to do this every day but uh if you love the show you don't want it to go off the air then and please go to ironsharpensironradio .com

and click support then click click to donate now and you could donate instantly by doing that through a credit or debit card uh please as i have tried to warn you every day never siphon money out of your regular giving that you're accustomed to to your local church where you're a member if you're not a member of a local bible believing church and you're not prayerfully seeking for one you're living in disobedience to god if you need help finding a local bible believing church to join i can help you i have lists of biblically faithful churches all over the world and i can assist you i have already assisted a number of you in finding local churches and some of you have joined those churches and i'm so delighted to hear from perth australia that one of our listeners has made plans to join a reformed baptist church in that area uh because of the fact that they heard about that church emmanuel reformed baptist church of perth australia through me so but uh please please uh contact me if you're having difficulty but never siphon money out of your regular giving that you're accustomed to to your local church and never put your family in financial jeopardy by giving to ironsharpensironradio those two things are commands of god and providing for my radio show is obviously not a command of god but if you're financially blessed above and beyond your ability to obey those two commands and you're looking for more ways to be benevolent and faithful to god and and be a good steward with the money god has given you and you think that this ministry or this radio program is a worthwhile thing to have uh to have it keep going and have it keep broadcasting if you love the guests and the topics that we provide if you share the free mp3s with family friends and loved ones if you're edified and educated and blessed and entertained and everything else under the umbrella of what makes a good radio show and you don't want it to go away then please go to ironsharpensironradio .com

click support then click click to donate now if you want to send in a check via snail mail the old way then there will be an address that pops up when you click support at ironsharpensironradio .com

and you can mail a check made payable to ironsharpensironradio to that address if you want to advertise with us whether it's your church your uh your your parachurch organization your business your professional practice whether you're a doctor a lawyer or a dentist whether it's just a special event you're having well please uh send me an email to chrisarnson at gmail .com

and put advertising in the subject line and we will help you launch an ad campaign as long as whatever you're doing is compatible with the theology we express on this program you don't have to believe identically with me but whatever it is you're promoting has to be compatible at least with the theology we express on ironsharpensironradio .com

and of course it could be something theologically neutral like a shoe store or a grocery store or something like that that obviously you will have more leeway regardless of what your theological perspective is but we would love to hear from you at chris arnson at gmail .com

and put advertising in the subject line because we surely could use your advertising dollars that's also the email address that you can send a question to mike gadosh our guest right now the founder of solid ground christian books and it is my honor and privilege to welcome you back to ironsharpensironradio mike gadosh thank you brother chris i appreciate it very much and i want to thank you personally for being so vitally important to the life of ironsharpensironradio through your own advertising and sponsorship without your help we likely would not remain on the air very long well it's my honor to do that and we've been getting a good number of orders that have been coming in on a regular basis over these past couple of years particularly and so it's been it's been a good it's been a good relationship personally anyway but also even business -wise as well well thank you for that and don't forget that their website we will repeat this of course but their website at solid ground christian books is solid -ground -books .com

solid -ground -books .com before we go into anything new that you want to highlight since we just came on the heels of a very important discussion involving a plane crash where 110 lives were lost and 22 of those lives were pastors and their wives what can you recommend that great men of the past and present have had to say that helps us more fully understand this kind of a tragedy in the midst of a of worshiping a holy and righteous and good god well i think that the any any book that addresses the subject of the sovereignty of god is a book that would be very helpful in dealing with this particular subject without a doubt and i think that if you can like for instance we have a book that we've done called um our sovereign god it's it's uh the addresses of the philadelphia conference of reformed theology and it's actually the first two or three years of the conferences that were held and the speakers were r .c.

sproul and j .i. packer and james montgomery boys and uh walter kuiper and many many others very roger nicole and several of the messages actually dealt with the sovereignty of god dealing with um tragedies and so that would be that would be one book that i think would be very helpful uh jerry bridges wrote a book trusting god even when life hurts he which deals again with very similar things as that we have a a book we've published called leaving dark land by a very dear friend of mine ed wallen and the book starts off with uh telling the account of the sudden death of his daughter a 12 year old daughter in a car accident and and the basically the loss of his even though his wife survived the accident she was never the same again and um it was almost as if she had died and um the book is just an excellent book dealing with all sorts of issues that you know the gift nobody wants is the opening chapter and that's the gift of god god's grace in the midst of terrible tragedies and suffering answers attitudes and actions stress failure discouragement depression impatience recognition persecution just a variety of subjects it's called leaving dark land and that would be a another book but any book that really addresses the subject of god's character the attributes of god by pink the book knowing god by j .i

packer really what we need when we deal with tragedies when we deal with things that are inexplicable and difficult for us it really is the knowledge of god that gets us through um you may remember and i've maybe even have shared this before but uh cory ten boom familiar with her hiding place in in the movie the hiding place there was a very powerful moment when betsy had betsy was the sister of cory and i believe was older and was much stronger in her faith at the time um than cory was and uh and betsy was very sickly and had been beaten that day and um and when they were gathered together in the in the uh in the the bunk house or whatever i don't know whatever it would have been called the concentration camp where they were um the unbelievers who were around her just kept asking her why would god allow such things to happen to you when you've been so faithful to him and her precious response was very simple when you know him you don't have to know why and i think that understanding that the our faith is truly tested our faith that is and our trust in god we are we are called to walk by faith and not by sight and whenever we go through difficult times dark times tragedies that occur in our lives or in the world what's happening right now in hawaii the shooting that took place in texas and and we understand that these are completely different kinds of events the the airplane crash the these are all very different providences that happen but when the lord jesus said looked at his disciples and said not a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of your father in heaven those words were intended to be comforting and the fact that not a sparrow falls to the ground obviously not a plane falls to the ground either and not a portion of lava would fall to the ground apart from the will of your father in heaven and so understanding that god is sovereign doesn't make everything easy in fact it makes some things very difficult because we recognize the hand of god in everything at the same time it helps us to understand that we are not in the hands of fate we are in the hands of the sovereign god remember warfield told the difference between sovereignty the sovereignty of god and fate when he said a young dutch boy was warned over and over again to stay away from the windmills because they swung down so low that if he wasn't paying attention they would just grab him up throw him and toss him to his death and one day he was playing near the windmills as he was warned not to do and and suddenly he feels this grasping of his of his coat and he's thrust up into the air into the arms of his father and warfield says that's the difference between fate and the sovereignty of god fate is you're in the hands of a blind machine that has no feelings about you and no concern the arms of the father those that grasp us and that's the difference between fate and sovereignty amen and it's amazing that a man like horatio spafford after hearing the news from his wife that their children had perished in a sinking ship in the 19th century that he could actually by the grace and mercy of god summon up the clarity of mind and the faith uh to write when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul it's it's one of those of powerful occurrences in the history of the church where people have uh been used of god in the midst of their own heart -wrenching experience to still bless the church at large and in the world with with something as powerful as that hymn yeah exactly and that was a man i my if my memory serves me i believe he also had lost almost everything in the chicago fire yes and that had happened earlier and um and so there is you know there is a there is a sense in which the lord does grant great gifts to be given to people during times of tragedy and um i'm sure you're familiar with stephen curtis chapman and the death of his young daughter yeah and um of course what made that even more tragic was that the death was caused by an inadvertent accident by his own son yes and um and they wrote a he wrote a beautiful beautiful song that has been a ministry to the hearts of many you know we believe in hope we and it's it's coming to grips with the fact that things don't work out the way that we always want them to work out and hot neil and his family were spared but what was it 20 21 22 pastors and their wives well actually it's 11 pastors and their wives making 22 people but but there were 110 people all in all that perished yeah only only three from the 113 passengers survived and and i think that to explain you try to explain why that was was it because hot nails theology was more sound well no i don't think that i mean the way that god deals with us is is inexplicable his ways are higher than our ways his thoughts are higher than our thoughts as high as the heavens are above the earth so much greater are his thoughts and our thoughts and his ways and we again we walk by faith not by sight not because we understand and that's true of all tragedies whether they be earthquakes tornadoes whatever it might be and we rest we rest in him our shield and our defender and that's all we can ever do and we are never in a safer place than when we rest there amen well i'm going to go to our final break of the show it's going to be a lot briefer than the last one we had and if anybody would like to join us on the air well there is still time if you have a question of your own our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com

chrisarnson at gmail .com please give us your first name your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the usa please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter don't go away god willing we'll be right back after these messages from our sponsors thrive in financial is not your typical financial services provider as a membership organization we help christians be wise with money and live generously every day and for the fourth year in a row we were named one of the world's most ethical companies by the ethosphere institute a leading international think tank dedicated to the creation advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics contact me mike gallagher financial consultant at 717 -254 -6433 again 717 -254 -6433 to learn more about the thriving difference we know we were made for so much more than ordinary life lending faith finances and generosity that's the private story we were made to thrive iron sharpens iron welcomes solid rock remodeling to our family of sponsors serving south central pennsylvania solid rock remodeling is focused on discovering understanding and exceeding your expectations they deliver personalized project solutions with exceptional results solid rock remodeling offers a full range of home renovations including kitchen and bath remodeling decks porches windows and doors roof and siding and more for a clear detailed professional estimate call this trustworthy team of problem solvers who provide superior results that stand the test of time call solid rock remodeling at 717 -697 -1981 717 -697 -1981 or visit solidrockremodeling .com

that's solidrockremodeling .com solid rock remodeling bringing new life to your home every day at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all of the above for details call long island youth for christ at 631 -385 -8333 that's 631 -385 -8333 or visit liyfc .org

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that's nas bible .com hi i'm buzz taylor frequent co -host with chris ironson on iron sharpens iron radio i would like to introduce you to my good friends todd and patty jennings at cvbbs which stands for cumberland valley bible book service todd and patty specialize in supplying reformed and puritan books and bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone since 1987 the family -owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available christian books and bibles at the best possible prices unlike other book sites they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly much of what is being printed is not worth your time that means you can get to the good stuff faster it also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic heretical and otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book their website is cvbbs .com

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that's cvbbs .com let todd and patty know that you heard about them on iron sharpens iron radio and you can call cvbbs .com

it's a toll -free number 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231 they man that phone line monday through friday 10 a .m

to 4 30 p .m eastern time if you mention chris arnzen and iron sharpens iron radio and you purchase at least 50 worth of merchandise you will get not only free shipping on everything but you'll also receive for free the book prayerful and powerful pulpits by e .m

bounds and make sure you mention chris arnzen and iron sharpens iron radio and while you're ordering from them uh why not order a ton of books from solid ground christian books because they carry solid ground christian books titles at cvbbs .com

so you can order books published by my guest today mike gadosh from cvbbs if you are making that order trying to reach that 50 mark and now we are back with our guest mike gadosh and if you'd like to join us on the air our email address is chris arnzen at gmail .com

chris arnzen at gmail .com and please give us your first name your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the usa and only remain anonymous if your question is personal and private we have a listener in avon lake ohio andrew and andrew says great topic today please ask mr gadosh if it is better for the average christian to read widely or to have a small collection of important books that are read and deeply understood and i guess the key issue is the average christian because you know there are people who devour books and easily read many volumes in a week but uh he's talking about the average person yeah yeah that's a good question i think that it's it's kind of difficult to answer that question i think in in many ways uh the average person would be wiser to find the best and to to become very very familiar with them for instance um now spurgeon obviously is not an average person to say the least but he read pilgrim's progress over 100 times and i think that that every christian should be reading pilgrim's progress on a regular basis however often that might be there are other books there are certain books that have had a significant impact on my life that i've turned to again and again books like knowing god by j .i

packer that have ministered to me through the years redemption accomplished and applied by by john murray is another one i think that the average christian really there's a sense in which he should do both there is a sense in which yes he should probably take his time to spend on the best on the very best and and you find out what the best are through looking to counsel from other godly men who have gone before us and and i think that necessitates reading older books as well as some of the newer books but but but being very careful and discerning about what you read at the same time i do think it's a good idea for the christian today to to read more widely as well and um and so i i think and and even looking at different kinds of books to read they're reading like for instance a daily devotional book would be a good thing to do reading books of sermons would be would be valuable to do reading biographies and biographies are good to read in in um in not spicing things up but but there is a sense in which by reading a biography you are you're involved especially a well -written biography and there and there are a lot of them that are out there um the biography of john peyton that um actually an autobiography is one of the one of the greatest missionary biographies ever and um he was a brilliant writer and so i i think that there is a sense in which you should read carefully of course but at the same time read widely in uh and and having it focused on for specific purposes for instance if you're studying through the book of ephesians it would be a good idea to get it get your hands on a couple of commentaries maybe a book of sermons on ephesians that that would allow you to be able to interact with the text through the eyes and by the help of several different writers i think that's about the best that i can do in response to that and you've already started uh to answer his andrew's second question and i don't know if you want to add to it but he said would mr gadosh be gracious enough to provide a short list of the essential key works that every reformed christian should read yeah i think i've just mentioned a few of those um i think that uh that there is um a book by uh by thomas watson complete body of divinity that we have published that walks you through the westminster shorter catechism very valuable work to have um you know there are several several books by james white again depending on what like his book the god who justifies critically important subject and a very valuable book the potter's freedom by by james white as well that deals with the sovereignty of god the freedom the freedom of god uh and then looking at some of the again standard theological works from the past that have stood the test of time calvin's institutes you can't really get better than that and many times people will read books about the institutes but not read the institutes themselves and to be truthful calvin is easier to read than many of the people who write about him the modern especially he really is he's and i found the same picture with luther much of luther's work is much easier to understand than than the so -called scholars who spend their whole lives studying their works and then trying to explain it to us sometimes i find it easier to just go to the first first hand and read read those works the bondage of the will every christian should read the bondage of the will every christian should read the institutes of calvin and so i think that older works and then also on top of that i might use this as an opportunity for an advertisement is um the three forms of unity in the baptist confession of faith from a baptist perspective the baptist confession of faith and the baptist catechism it's hard to do better than that and the three forms of unity the belgian confession the heidelberg catechism the canons of dort i just uh unloaded 1400 copies of the three forms of unity and bonded leather today and it turned out just beautiful chris arnzen actually has a copy on the way and as soon as he gets it he'll be boasting about how beautiful it is do some more free advertising for me as i sent him a copy and um the these these trusted works that have stood the test of time are the kinds of things that god's people should be reading again and again and again because what you'll find is books like the three forms of unity and the baptist confession of faith or if you're presbyterian the westminster standards those when you read those books and you read them over and get over again and you study the catechism and memorize the the answers and they will help you in reading and discerning the value of books that are being produced today you have to have something as a as a guide as it were and and it helps you to when you have a foundation that's been laid well it will help you to discern as you start reading books whether or not this is a book that is worth reading there you go well thank you andrew uh keep listening in avon lake ohio and spreading the word there and beyond and i'm sure avon lake summons up memories for you as well uh mike for for the years that you spent living in amityville that's right a different avon lake that's right a different avon lake we walked around it many times yes not exactly a place you want to go swimming or fish no now that i live in florida you don't have to worry about alligators in amityville a lot of things in amityville they don't have alligators well uh if you want to mention some new things coming up uh from the press of solid ground christian books but also make sure you highlight things that would be ideal for father's day because that's right around the corner yeah there's um there's a good book by john angel james that uh that was published by um my good friend don kissler and north hampton press on the christian father's gift to his children it would be a good book to get for a father um and i think that again any any book that um that speaks about god and about godliness is a good book to get for a father uh i don't think it has to necessarily be a book on on fatherhood um i think that that finding a good solid book uh that like the complete body of divinity again by thomas watson or depending on what your father is reading or studying of course we're talking about if he's a believer uh then you want to find him a book that that you know will minister to him where he is maybe it's a devotional book maybe he needs a daily devotional that he's maybe he's mentioned that to you we have a book called comey apart by jr miller which walks you through the gospels in a year all four gospels and it's a it's just a brilliant daily devotional book pastor sketches by ichabod spencer is another one that would be valuable to to get for a father if the father is again a believer um so i mean that that is obviously a lot to do with the kind of book you want to get for for your dad now if father is i'm sure you would agree uh an important role of a father should be the inclusion of devotionals with his family uh not only would even the the catechisms and the confessions that you have brought into print be useful tools and that kind of a thing uh because it would lead a family through subjects to study but also uh devotionals themselves that are that are packaged as devotionals if you could uh yeah i think that i think i haven't published it but i i wish i i had but um but i've been beaten to it by others and that's the expository thoughts on the gospels by jc ryle and this will make a perfect intro to something else i'm going to talk about in a moment but let me first mention that jc ryle's volumes on expository thoughts on the gospels are amongst the best possible family worship volumes for a father to read to his children and the reason why i say that is because ryle wrote those volumes intended to be read out loud by the head of the household their the length of them is very consistent and they are divided they're each of the each of the devotion or each of the expositions of that particular passage in the gospel whether it's matthew mark luke or john he always makes it a very practical time looking at the passage and he almost always has something of an evangelistic nature so that the father will be pressing upon his children the necessity of saving faith in jesus christ ryle is brilliant he was a brilliant writer he wrote very practically and um i mean i he's one of my favorite authors and so i would say that you couldn't do better than the expository thoughts on the gospels banner of truth i know cbbbs would be a place to go to to get to get those you can buy them one volume at a time uh matthew and mark i believe are individual volumes and luke has two volumes and john has two volumes and um and it's uh it's just invaluable absolutely invaluable it takes about 12 to 15 minutes to read one devotional for the day and it takes the passage of scripture quotes the passage and then goes through the passage and applies it to the hearts of the reader and you said that was going to be a segue into something else well thank you chris that was excellent paying attention and buzz isn't even there to applaud you or prod you make sure that you're listening to me uh you're exactly right i uh the reason why that's a significant thing is i just recently got um the book thoughts for young men i got a large quantity of those printed and um and one of the reasons i did that is because of the opportunity to be able to get that into the hands of the military and also what i would like to mention to your your listeners today is i just came from a ministry in a local prison it's not that local to where i live in florida but it's been an hour and a half south of me but i've been involved in a prison ministry and spent four days two weeks ago four days with a group of 30 prisoners in a pretty maximum security prison and we had quite a remarkable time together and i was able to spend a significant amount of that time with with six men around my table and a few of those men in particular and i got to go back after two weeks we got to go back yesterday and have some follow -up ministry with these men and we were very encouraged by how they're doing spiritually after our time with them and and i came away with the thought in fact i talked to the chaplain of the prison and i got permission from him to be able to try to get copies of thoughts for young men by jc ryle into the hands of as many prisoners as possible and and what i'm asking my customers and would ask your listeners to consider is after you've given money to your local church and after you've given money to the family and after you've supported chris arnson's ministry that you would consider two dollars will get a copy of thoughts for young men into the hands of a prisoner it's a remarkable book it is exactly what these prisoners need they have nothing but time on their hands and ryle cuts right to the heart of the matter and that particular book is a very special book as chris would remember that was the very first book that i published when i was pastoring his pastor in long island we began calvary press and we began by publishing thoughts for young men just originally a stapled together paper that's right turn into a beautiful book now and now yeah now we have a really beautiful book that has a cover on it of three marines from afghanistan and and it's a very manly cover and it is very attractive ryle is easy to read and so what i'm asking is people be willing to donate they can go to my website and go to the thoughts for young men you can see it online on on our home page and click on it and and if you if you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where thoughts for young men is it's there's an opportunity to be able to purchase it for two dollars apiece at any quantity two dollars apiece that will go as a gift we take care of getting the books to them it's just a matter of just a special offer for prisoners in south florida any quantity two dollars apiece no shipping charge it's a donation and we will deliver the book directly and so if you have customers that would be interested ten dollars will get us and we'll cover five obviously fifty dollars would get 25 prisoners etc so great and i know that uh my friend uh colonel jeffrey i'm sorry colonel kevin gerard uh a united states marine who's also a pastor in georgia uh he has now uh declared that your version of thoughts for young young men is his favorite version of all and he plans on exclusively ordering that book from solid ground christian books from now on oh great well tell them it's a great time to order because we've got them at an incredible price right now and we're offering we're offering a full case this is this is just for regular customers a full case of 80 copies is just uh two dollars or 228 dollars and um and that's the list price is 13 dollars and we're selling them if you get a case for two dollars and 85 cents the two dollar offer is just if if you're giving the money to us so that we can send the book directly to the prisoners we're also willing to do the same thing with the same amount of money for servicemen as well and but i i want to wait i'm not going to promote that yet i have to talk to some chaplains and make sure that i've got a place where these can be sent i've had some in the past and i have to make sure that in fact the reason why the cover is the way it is was because one of the chaplains reform baptist chaplain patrick joiner was serving in afghanistan and someone had donated money to them and uh they they had enough money donated where they could buy 200 copies of thoughts for young men for 200 marines in afghanistan and that's what inspired me to go back and say you know what we need a new cover for this that will be attractive to marines and so i found a picture of three marines from afghanistan one of whom is my own son my youngest son tim and uh and it makes the cover really really oh yeah looks like a professional photographer took that picture yeah i don't i don't know who i don't know who took it was somebody in somebody in afghanistan i i don't don't i doubt it was a professional i think it might have just been you know a friend of tim's that that just snapped the shot for them but um providentially came out that way yeah i did it did and it does it makes the cover really sharp it just stands out and we're very thankful for the opportunity of being able to get this book out not only to marines and other military but prisoners and it's a great graduation gift for both high school and college uh every father should make sure that his sons read the book in fact i've many people tell me that they not only give it out to to young men but they give it out to young women as well because much of what ryle says in this volume is just as applicable to a young woman as it is to a young man great we do have an anonymous listener who says can you suggest something to give to an estranged father for father's day that would not necessarily be on the subject of father's day i would not want to embarrass this man by giving him a book that was rebuking in nature of the fact that he failed as a father but something that still might be used of god to quicken his heart and save him and restore our relationship i think this might be a good way of breaking the ice for father's day what would your suggestions be wow i would really really need some time to ponder that well somebody could actually get back in touch with you later on yeah that would be fine because i'm i mean i my mind is circulating about you know a hundred different kinds of things but um uh you know i'm just not sure i think jerry bridges always has something very very practical and very good that is very helpful john blanchard has written several things i think that would be helpful in this area as well but yeah i would really need some time to think about that one that's a very that's a wonderful thought for a child to have to be able to send to an estranged father i think that um and it's tragic you know having been in the prison one of the things that i learned from my time there with these men working with these men is i don't know that any of them had a good relationship with their father in fact in most cases they didn't even know their father and of course the statistics are off the charts in terms of those who are in prison and and um and the fact that they did not have a father figure and you see this uh in the black community but it's not only in the black community it's it's in every community now uh absentee fathers and i think that it's very commendable that this uh that this child who i assume is probably an adult has a desire to be able to reach out to an estranged father but uh yeah give me give me a little bit more time on that one to to ponder what might be an appropriate book then if you want to get back to mike adash the website again is solid dash ground dash books .com

and there's contact information on there well before we run out of time i want you to have basically about four minutes to summarize what you most want our audience to remember about things that you have coming into print or or are already in print or whatever you'd like to leave our listeners with you know it's interesting chris that i've i've recently been pondering the way we address the lord uh and and i i wonder if in some cases the modern i i seem to hear a lot of young christians and even young pastors who seem to focus a lot of attention on the word jesus in a solitary way and it's interesting to find that when you study the new testament the name jesus does not stand alone very often in the writings of the new testament and i believe that there's a reason for that of course the name jesus he shall be called jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and one could say oh how could you possibly speak too much of that not so much speaking so much of that but the fact is the apostle paul when he spoke about jesus he spoke of him as the lord most times he's the lord jesus christ the lord the lord christ christ jesus our lord and i would encourage younger christians to be mindful of the use of terminology that it it sometimes i think that there is there's almost a too casual approach and and and just using the name jesus in a solitary way over and over again almost has a there's too much too much of a casual nature to that and also at the same time in our worship we are to worship the father through the mediatorial work of the son by the power of the holy spirit and and we need to make sure that our worship is focused on the god of the bible and the new testament focuses upon god as father son and holy spirit one of the things i appreciate about the hymns most of the great hymns when you go back and look at them they're trinitarian in nature and i think that james white's book the forgotten trinity is a very important book for our day we do not worship jesus only we worship the father the son and the holy spirit we worship god the father god the son god the spirit and when we speak of jesus he is our lord the lord jesus christ amen well uh let's see i'll take a couple more listener questions since we have time for them let's see here um we have another anonymous listener who says to follow up on that last question from the anonymous listener how appropriate is it to seek to connect once again with an estranged ex -wife when you want to extend to that person your heartfelt desire to be forgiven and you're looking for the right thing to send to that person not even knowing necessarily what kind of relationship that person may be in right now well these are really easy questions i um yeah i think that one would have to tread very carefully obviously uh in a situation like that if you if we're dealing with the subject of seeking forgiveness in other words if we are the one who needs to be forgiven because of our own sin if there's an estrangement that's happened because of our failure um and not knowing what their condition is is whether they're remarried whether they're you know in a relationship with somebody else um it makes it very difficult i think that one needs to tread very carefully very prayerfully perhaps um seeking from the lord wisdom and and even providentially um you know seeing seeing if there's somebody that would know the person the ex -spouse that they might be able to reach out to to find out information if that's possible to be done i think one has to examine their own motives and why they're doing what they're doing and not to cause more grief and pain i think if we're dealing with seeking forgiveness then are we talking about making confession and therefore asking forgiveness obviously that would be necessary to do if that's never been done before it's a very very complex situation i would say that something like this really necessitates and i'm i would even say possibly the previous question the anonymous question about what book to give i really think that these are questions that um that a pastor your pastor needs to be able to answer because he knows you and i think that because i don't know who you are and i don't know what all the circumstances are i would hate to give the wrong answer i think that maybe the best counsel to give is to seek the counsel of a godly pastor who knows you and they would know best how to respond to both of the questions that were just given they were excellent questions very heartbreaking questions in some ways but i do think that it would be most helpful to have a pastor a godly pastor who knows the scriptures and loves you to be able to help you to answer those questions and of course uh if the if the green lights are given in that person's life especially in regard to the the woman the ex -spouse of the man writing uh stepping heavenward seems to have been an enormously helpful book especially for women in your in your client base if you will your customer oh yeah absolutely yeah if we're talking about a book you know stepping heavenward to be given to a woman would be just extraordinary it's a great book by elizabeth prentice yes well we are out of time i want to make sure that our listeners have your your website it's solid -ground -books .com