June 27, 2017 Show with Nathan Pickowicz on “The Key to Revitalizing Post-Christian America”

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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 Arns.

Good afternoon, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on

the planet Earth, listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arns and your host of Iron Sharpens Iron, wishing you all a happy Tuesday on this 27th

day of June 2017, and I'm very excited to have for the very first

time on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Nate Pikowitz.

He is pastor of Harvest Bible Church in Gilmanton Ironworks, New Hampshire, a writer for

Entreating Favor and Servants of Grace, and he's the author of a number of books, including

a book we are going to be discussing today, Reviving New England, the Key to Revitalizing

Post -Christian America.

And it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to, welcome you back, I'm sorry, welcoming you to the first, for the very

first time ever, to Iron Sharpens Iron, Nate Pikowitz.

Hey, thank you for having me on.

I appreciate it.

I guess since I was speaking to you off the air before the show started, I immediately went to welcoming you back.

That's all right.

That's okay.

And I'm also excited to announce that, God willing, I will be attending the

Fellowship Conference New England in Portland, Maine, where I will have an exhibitor's booth to

promote Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and God willing that is.

And I'm looking forward to meeting our guest, Pastor Nate Pikowitz, in person.

He is one of the speakers for this conference, and we'll be talking more

about that conference later.

But just to give you a little taste, Pastor Don Curran is one of the four

speakers.

He's the Eastern European Coordinator with HeartCry Missionary Society, which is the organization founded by Paul

Washer.

My dear friend, Pastor Mac Tomlinson, who is pastor at Providence Chapel in Denton,

Texas, and the author of a number of books.

And I'm going to repeat my prayer request to you in the listening audience, to please pray that

my brother John, my oldest brother, who is 72, I believe now,

he lives 10 minutes away from Pastor Mac Tomlinson.

He is not a believer.

And Pastor Mac has contacted him, trying to invite him to lunch, and he has hemmed and

hawed and delayed the meeting.

And I just ask of you to pray that my brother John gives in and meets with Pastor Mac, because my brother

John has critical stage emphysema, and he even knows that the Lord could take

him any moment, although I don't know if he would phrase it that way, because he's not a believer.

But I appreciate your prayers in that regard.

And also, speaking at the conference, the Fellowship Conference New England, is Pastor Jesse

Barrington of Grace Life Church in Dallas, Texas, the sister church of Grace Life Church in

Lake City, Florida, who has a radio station that airs this program, Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, every

day in a pre -recorded fashion.

And last but not least, our guest, Pastor Nate Pickowitz, that will be the 3rd through the

5th of August in Portland, Maine, and we'll give you more details about that later.

But Pastor Nate Pickowitz, I would like you, before we get into any of the background of the

church where you pastor, or even our topic at hand, I want our listeners to know what

providential circumstances that our Sovereign Lord used in your life to draw you to himself and

save you.

What kind of religious background were you raised in, if any?

And describe that way that the Lord

enabled you to discover his gospel and to finally believe in his gospel.

Sure.

I was raised in a Christian home.

My parents both went to Lever at a younger

age, 13, and the

next 10 years, I just wandered around.

I even had friends of mine in college that were praying for me, they were Christians, they were praying that I would get saved.

So I don't know if I was a false convert at a young age, or if I backslid, I'm not really sure exactly, but

when I was about 23, I met my woman, who is now my wife, and my father, who had

wandered away and came back to the

Lord.

We both heard the gospel and

continued to hear the gospel, and she was Roman Catholic, and

Jesus Christ was drawn back to the Lord.

A lot of the things I'd already known as a kid, but now it became real to me.

So I can't pinpoint an exact date during that time, but it was at

least possibly cultural, I'm not really sure.

But yeah, it was right around 2003, and we got active in that church, and then that church

kind of sort of wandered away toward the secret sensitive movement, and

soon that's where we

grew the most, and I believe on

Christ and the

gospel, and that's kind of some of my history right there.

When did you realize that you had received the call from God to become a pastor?

You know, I think that was sort of 2009,

that I really began to

read my Bible just as an obligation, something I sort of had to do, but was never

really in tune with what the Bible had to say, it was just a smaller discipline.

But right around 2009, it was actually December of 2009, I

started to really read hundreds of sermons and just began

to learn my Bible, study my Bible.

I began to do

men's ministry, and

somewhere shortly after I started doing these things

and sort of brought me into different varying degrees of leadership.

It was men's ministry, then worship ministry, and then leadership went on.

So if I had to trace it back, I would say somewhere around 2009,

learning the Word of God, just understanding who God was.

Judging from your last name, the spelling of your last name, I'm going to guess you're.

Polish, am I correct?

That's actually very good, because most people think I'm either Jewish, we do have

some Austrian heritage.

Most of my family does come from Poland, we think.

We lost a lot of the records, I'm not really sure, but it's definitely not Irish, I'll tell you that.

Well, my mother's side of the family are from Poland.

My grandparents, who have long left this earth, long ago

left this earth, they actually snuck out of Poland after the

Nazi occupation and they wound up here in the United States.

And my mother and her sisters were the first generation Americans

from the family.

And it's interesting that you mentioned Austria, because I have heard that my mother's

father may have originally been from Austria before moving to Poland, but

their name was Husak, H -U -S -A -K.

But whenever I see a fellow Pole, I like to extend my greetings,

even though I don't speak a word of Polish, although I do love Polish food.

And before we even go into the subject at hand today, well,

actually, before we even do that, I'd like to have you tell our listeners about

Harvest Bible Church in Gilmonton Ironworks, New Hampshire, and I'm hoping I'm

pronouncing.

Gilmonton correctly.

That is correct,

actually.

Gilmonton Ironworks, two halves of the same town, they have different zip codes and everything.

I don't know why, it's just

I always knew, living here as churchgoing people, that we didn't want to stay in town,

there wasn't much gospel witness in town.

So we'd always go away, we'd get

ministry opportunities.

The idea came about trusting the

church before, I'd never planted a church before, but it just seemed like this was the right thing to do.

And so I came back to the town I was raised in, and we planted a church,

and just began to minister there.

And so

just trying,

there's been so much liberalism, and so much of the UCC

denomination has just

ruled and reigned up here.

Nothing flashy, people just get together, have fellowship, hear the gospel, learn the word of God,

by God's grace, raise

up leadership.

Now, would

you describe it as a Reformed church,.

A Reformed Baptist church?

Is it confessional?

Is it none of those?

How would you describe it?

I know that a lot of people don't like to use labels, but I'm just curious how you would.

Describe it theologically.

Sure.

Well, we are an EFC,

formed in

my theology,

but over

time, I don't,

the terms, they oftentimes, they know.

Calvinist and a Reformed theology is a bad thing, a lot of people.

Certainly, I'm never going to shy away from

it.

I teach the

Scripture on chapter 6,

coming in, but, and my hope,

my goal

is that

the times see,

really do desire, and that I believe that I write

theology.

So, but we are Baptists.

And you mentioned Master's Seminary, for those of our listeners who are unfamiliar with Master's Seminary, that is the seminary

founded by John MacArthur, who is one of my modern -day heroes.

And it was so nice to share some fellowship this past week.

I was in New York City for a few days, two of those days, for the

Foundations Conference, the conference run by Sermon Audio.

And Phil Johnson was there, Executive Director of Grace to You, John MacArthur's

television, radio, and literary ministry.

And a dear friend of mine from Long Island, New York, Chris Pandolfi, who's a

graduate of Master's Seminary.

And I have, although I've never been to seminary, I've never even visited the campus of Master's Seminary, I

have very high regard for the faculty there.

I've interviewed some of the faculty, I've interviewed Dr. John MacArthur himself, I've interviewed Phil Johnson many

times, and look forward to interviewing more of the faculty from Master's Seminary

in the future.

And tell us about entreating favor and servants of grace, where you write occasional

articles.

Yeah, so entreating favor, there's.

Probably a longer story that would take up most of your program.

But in essence, about two years ago, I was contacted by Landon Chatman, who runs

entreating favor, and he had been a blogger for in contact

with me.

And it immediately became a very, very kind of

beyond that we became very good friends.

I talked to him just about every day when we're not too busy.

But the goal of entreating favor, critical content,

articles that are edifying for the body, we don't do much in the way of polemics, if you will, we

don't do much in terms of headlines, what's going on.

It's really just trying to identify things that are going on in the scriptures, you know, things that,

and sort of right from that perspective, you know, right now I'm in the midst of restarting,

I go through and I, one book of the Bible and try to make

a case for why that is the best book in the Bible.

Now, there's 66 of them, everybody has a different opinion about which one that is.

And so the goal is really just to try on why each book is

display the magnificence of the teaching with that site.

And then another friend of mine, Dave Jenkins, has invited me to write for him.

I don't give him as much content as I'm sure he would like, but I've tried to maintain the same thing, just

write, write biblical

content, write, it's kind of my

heartbeat.

Great.

Well, I'm going to give our listeners our email address now.

If you'd like to join us on the air with a question for Nate Pickowitz, our email address is chrisarnsen

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

Before we go into the current topic that we are discussing today,

reviving New England, I want to give a little teaser to our audience about your new book coming

out.

It's not even in print yet, but Why We Are Protestants, An Introduction to the Five

Solos of the Reformation.

If you could tell us a little about that, although the title is self -explanatory, perhaps you could

tell us perhaps what would make this different than other books in the five solos.

And the printing in the background artwork of your book cover, a very

attractive book cover, but it's so microscopic I can't read it.

Is that the 95 Theses or what is that?

I can't.

Read it.

That is the 95 Theses.

Yeah, of course.

That's the work of my friend Steve Melanson, he's

Austin

Peters.

In New

England,

there's a

large...

I

sort

of came up

with

the

idea...

Yeah, so when we get off the air after our interview today is over, I definitely want to schedule another interview with you

on that book.

So make sure that you hang on the line after our discussion is over for today.

But for those of our listeners who keep hearing the phrase solos and they don't know what our guest is

talking about, that would be the watchwords of the Reformation, the pillars of the

Reformation, that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone,

in Christ alone, underneath the authority of the scriptures

alone, to the glory of God alone.

Did I miss any of the solos?

I wasn't counting.

Yeah, yeah.

Sola Scriptura is scripture alone,.

Sola Fide is faith alone, Sola Gracia is by grace alone, Christ alone, and

Sola...

And in our day and age, tragically, you will have evangelical churches

trying to have a ecumenical relationship with

Rome that is not based on truth, unfortunately.

It's more based on emotion.

And they will take the solos out.

They will keep the watchwords, but remove the word alone.

And when you remove the word alone, that turns a true gospel into a false gospel.

That's right.

The removal of that one word from all of those watchwords.

It's interesting, 1995 called for

1993, they had the evangelicals.

I think

that

needs to

be.

That needs to be the me, Jesus Christ.

Well, today, we are discussing a different theme, although I'm sure it is connected, obviously.

Reviving New England, the Key to Revitalizing Post -Christian America, which is the first book by our guest,

Nate Pikowitz.

And I want to read a couple or a few of the accolades that have been written

about this book by some folks that I have interviewed on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Mike Abendroth, who is a wonderful guest on this program, pastor of Bethlehem

Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts, and host of No Compromise Radio.

He says, biblical crisp, fast paced.

All these words describe Nate's assessment of and remedy for America's

spiritual tundra, commonly referred to as New England.

Reviving New England is both a and historical primer, written from the

perspective of a passionate insider.

As you read this book, you can feel Nate's heart burn for the salvation of souls

and the Lord's glory in the veritable graveyard of Christianity.

Whether you want the Lord to revive the hearts of people in New England,

or in your own hometown, Reviving lays out the biblical

elixir for God honoring change.

May Gilmanton, New Hampshire, be famous for three

things one day.

And I have to put, it's quite obvious, I have to put my glasses on because I was struggling reading that.

My old age is really creeping up on me faster than I care to admit.

But another listener that I've had on this program, who I

really enjoy interviewing, is Scott Christensen.

And he says, Nate Pickowitz has provided an insightful diagnosis of what ills New England churches.

He has also provided a potent antidote, revival, the sort of revival that took New England by

storm in the mid -18th century, known as the Great Awakening.

But this is no vain call without action.

Pickowitz lays out a careful biblical and practical plan for spiritual revival.

His remedies are needed not only in the unique environs of the

Northeast, but all across the North American continent.

The church desperately needs revival, and this book lays out the prescription for

it.

And last but not least, Todd Friel, who I've had on this program, really love Todd Friel.

In fact, it was great to see Todd Friel just recently at

the Foundations Conference in New York City.

And Todd Friel, what a wonderful brother he is, and not only a very funny man,

but a very biblically insightful man who I'm looking forward to

having back on this program as frequently as I can.

If Todd Friel, if his endorsement's on something, then you should

take it seriously, although you should not always take Todd seriously.

But Todd says, and I, let's see, wow, I am really out of it

today.

I just dropped my mouse here.

I'm gonna have to get back to Todd's endorsement because the computer just went to a different

page.

I was trying to grab my mouse here.

Today is not my day, I guess.

All right, that's okay.

But what was the cattle, I mean, obviously you grew up in New England, and I'm sure that after you

became a believer that one of the catalysts for writing this book had to be that you knew of the

rich Christian heritage of New England, you knew that this was the land of the Puritans, and that

even the churches that those very Puritans founded, some of them,

the buildings still exist and are being used.

Tragically, the denominations, like you said earlier, the United Church of Christ, once

before it became one of the most liberal and apostate denominations

within what is known as Christendom, these churches once

echoed with the thundering sermons of Puritans, and it's just totally amazing that this would happen.

If you could just describe in your own words how the burden on your heart

began for writing this.

Book.

Yeah, you actually hit it on the head.

I mean, when I was looking to get into ministry,

I would go

on to

do

their

other

learning

and

get

the

landscape.

Great.

We're going to be going to our first station break right now, and if anybody would like to join us, our email address is chrisarnsen

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

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

We already have several people waiting to have their questions asked and answered, but if you'd like to join them, our

email address again is chrisarnsen at gmail .com.

Don't go away, God willing, but we'll be right back with Pastor Nate Pikowitz and more of

Reviving New England.

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By the way, now I have Todd Friel's endorsement for reviving New England in front of me.

Is New England forsaken?

Certainly not.

The land of the Puritans can be revived, and Nate Pikowitz beautifully shows us how.

Nate Pikowitz, if you've just tuned us in, is our guest today for both hours on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, and we are

discussing his book, Reviving New England, and the subtitle of that book

is The Key to Revitalizing Post -Christian America.

And once again, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com if you have a question for Pastor Nate Pikowitz.

Were you saying something, Pastor?

What's that?

I thought I heard you saying something, but I guess I was mistaken.

Maybe it was just some background noise.

We're having a thunderstorm right here at my house, so we might hear some background noise, I'm sure.

Yes, and I would find it quite odd that it was just your house having the thunderstorm.

You live on 1313 Mockingbird Lane, where the Munsters used to live.

But it is heartbreaking, isn't it, to know that New England,

once so rich with the doctrines of grace, with Reformed theology, with biblical truth

known for its Puritan heritage, has seemingly vanished.

Can you give us some explanation how on earth that could possibly happen?

And the Ivy League schools along with them?

Yeah, so you have lots of different

causes.

When I was doing my research in the world,

in this

region, in a

nation, we

turn

away

from the Lord.

And again, I'm

not

talking about some

thing

that

happened

in Israel.

It seems

that the

first

drop

of poison

that began to pollute the entire water system,.

If you will, of Puritanism, was the very slow and gradual

toleration and then acceptance of Universalism.

Am I right about that?

Yeah, I

believe

so.

We had the

Midwestern

Baptist

Theological

Tenture,

trying to

get and trying

to

figure

out, we

can't, we

can't pass.

So what do you mean in your book by the title, Oh, Lord, give me New England?

What is meant by that very provocative phrase?

Just the fact that I

would like God

to give me New England, oh, Lord, oh, Lord,

in the 1800s, the

church was going away.

And he was content.

I mean, even in his own day, I mean, liberalism

was starting to cost them their own labor.

They had to give him New England and sort

of hiding out in small towns and

in their own churches, and they're praying for the same thing.

They're praying, Lord, give me New England, you know, return

this region revived

with every New England pastor.

Yes, in fact, the

second.

Chapter is titled Giving God His Pulpits Back.

That seems like a very optimistic thought.

Obviously, we must firmly believe in the sovereignty of God and the power of prayer, because

taking the pulpits back from those who centuries ago robbed them from

the Puritans and from those who were biblically minded and

God -centered and God -focused, either they were robbed from them, or they were fortunately

just given up.

But the thought of getting those pulpits back seems like a

vision that only the most optimistic post -millennialists could ever.

Dream would

ever happen.

Well, actually, it's

called Revival and

Revivalism.

Yes, it basically contrasts Finney, a false

revivalist, with Asahel Middleton, correct?

Yeah,

and

I think

it's

going to

happen in

the

heart

of where

we're leaving

the region.

I mean,

it's

on

the

Lord

to

do it

so

desperately.

Yeah, in fact, as you may be aware, there is a denomination that came

out largely of pastors leaving the United

Church of Christ, UCC, the most liberal of the so -called Christian

denominations.

I would think it'd be the most liberal, unless you want to count Unitarian Universalists.

But the Four Cs denomination, which are the

conservative Bible -believing congregationalists, was formed, I think, largely

because of men leaving the UCC.

So you have a whole denomination of people returning, and sometimes returning the very congregations

that were steeped in liberalism but had a rich heritage and deep

roots of Puritanism, having those congregations returned to their rightful place in a

God -honoring theological system with the Savoy Declaration and so on.

That's also a joy to see.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, again, as I've written the book, I do get letters and emails from people, and I've been

hearing stories.

And by the way, the Four Cs, in case some of our listeners are wondering what that means, that's the Conservative Congregational

Christian Conference.

And if you want to find out more about them, their website is cccusa .com.

We're going to be going to a break right now, and we'll be taking some of your questions.

We have a lot of people waiting to have their questions asked now.

And if you want to join them, if we have time to take your question as well, our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Don't go away.

We'll be right back with Pastor Nate Pikowitz in reviving New England.

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

Or am I trying to please man?

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Hi, I'm Mark Lukens, Pastor of Providence Baptist Church.

We are a Reformed Baptist Church and we hold to the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.

We are in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

We strive to reflect Paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how God views what we say and what we do

than how men view these things.

That's not the best recipe for popularity, but since that wasn't the Apostles' priority, it must not be ours either.

We believe by God's grace that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man, and to be

vessels of Christ's mercy to a lost and hurting community around us, and to build up the body of Christ in truth and

love.

If you live near Norfolk, Massachusetts or plan to visit our area, please come and join us for worship and fellowship.

You can call us at 508 -528 -5750.

That's 508 -528 -5750.

Or go to our website to email us, listen to past sermons, worship songs, or watch our TV program entitled,

Resting in Grace.

You can find us at providencebaptistchurchma .org.

That's providencebaptistchurchma .org.

Or even on sermonaudio .com.

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Welcome back.

This is Chris Arns.

And if you just tuned us in, our guest today for the full two hours with about an hour to go is Nate Pickowitz, pastor of Harvest

Bible Church in Gillington Ironworks, New Hampshire, writer for Intriguing Favor and

Servants of Grace, and author of a number of books, including Reviving New England,

The Key to Revitalizing Post -Christian America, which is our topic today.

If you have questions for our guest, our email address is chrisarnsen

at gmail .com.

Before I return to my discussion with Nate Pickowitz, I have some important announcements.

One of the conferences coming up features our guest Nate Pickowitz as a speaker.

And this is the aforementioned Fellowship Conference New England, which is going to be held August 3rd through the

5th at Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine.

And other than our guest today, Nate Pickowitz, the other speakers include Pastor Don Curran

of Don Curran Ministries and also of HeartCry Missionary Society, the organization founded by Paul Washer,

Pastor Mac Tomlinson, who is an author and pastor at Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas, and

Pastor Jesse Barrington, the pastor of Grace Life Church in Dallas, Texas.

If you'd like to register for the Fellowship Conference New England, go to

fellowshipconferencenewengland .com, fellowshipconferencenewengland .com,

and we hope that you can make it to that conference no matter where you live.

And God willing, I will be there as well.

I intend to be there and hope to be there.

So I look forward to meeting you in person if you happen to be able to get

there by God's grace.

It would be a joy to fellowship with many of the Iron Trip and Zion listeners out there,

many that I have not yet met, and many that I hope to meet for the first time.

It's been such a pleasure going to these different Bible conferences and meeting so many of you that already listen to the show, and then

meeting others of you who had never heard of the show and are excited to start

listening.

So hopefully that will happen at the Fellowship Conference New England August 3rd through the 5th

at the Deering Center Community Church in Portland, Maine.

And again, go to fellowshipconferencenewengland .com.

That's fellowshipconferencenewengland .com.

After that, coming up in November from the 17th through the 18th,

the Quaker Town Conference on Reform Theology is being held in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania at the Grace

Bible Fellowship Church, and speakers include Kent Hughes, Peter Jones, Tom Nettles,

Dennis Cahill, and Scott Oliphant.

The theme is For Still Our Ancient Foe, a line from the classic Reformation hymn

by Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress.

And if you would like to join me at that conference, go to alliancenet .org,

alliancenet .org, click on Events, and then click on Quaker Town Conference on

Reformed Theology.

There's also quite a number of other events that the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals are hosting

other than this specific conference, but this happens to be the one that I, God willing, am attending and

having an exhibitor's booth where I will be manning that booth during the two days of the conference.

That's November 17th through the 18th in Quaker Town, Pennsylvania.

Alliancenet .org, click on Events, then click on Quaker Town Conference on Reformed Theology.

And then last but not least, January 18th through the 20th, the G3 Conference returns to

Atlanta, Georgia, and the theme is Knowing God, a Biblical Understanding of Discipleship.

Speakers include, God willing, Paul Washer, Stephen Lawson, Vody Baucom, H .B. Charles

Jr., Tim Chalies, Josh Bice, my dear friend of many years, Dr. James R. White of Alpha and Omega

Ministries, Tom Askell, Anthony Mathenia, Michael Kruger, David Miller, Paul Tripp, Todd

Friel, Derek Thomas, and Martha Peace.

If you would like to register for the G3 Conference, go to g3conference .com,

g3conference .com, and then click on G3 2018, and you can register

there.

And please, if you attend, please make it a point to greet me at the Iron Sharpens Iron Exhibitor's

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Now I have to do something that I'm not comfortable doing, and that's asking you for money.

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We are now returning to our subject at hand, which is reviving New England, the key to

revitalizing post -Christian America, with our guest, Nate Pikowitz, pastor of Harvest Bible Church in

Gilmonton Ironworks, New Hampshire.

And Nate, before we take the listener questions, I think it might be wise for you to contrast

something that you mentioned earlier, and that would be a contrast between revival and

revivalism.

When I was just at the Foundations Conference

in New York City, the conference run by Sermon Audio, one of the highlights there was a

remarkable young preacher named Armon Tomassian.

Armon Tomassian is a young man with extraordinary gifts.

And I tell my listeners, you heard it here first, that over the next 10 years, Armon

Tomassian is going to be a globally known figure, especially amongst Reformed Christians who care about what the Bible

teaches and who love powerful preaching.

This young man transported me back into time, I think during the Puritan era,

listening to him preach.

And if any of you, by the way, are looking for an excellent speaker for your own church or

your some kind of a parachurch organization that you're running, if you want to have a conference of some

kind, Armon Tomassian of Calgary Free Presbyterian Church

in Canada is an excellent choice.

I heartily recommend him and you can contact me for any information about him.

But during that conference, he had brought up the fact that

there are churches that will say, we are having revival tonight.

They think that they can manufacture on their own a meeting that would be adequately

or correctly described as a revival.

And this is not something that man.

Can

manufacture,

is it?

No, it's not.

I understand

that God is the

one who

Specifically says, are you so full to be God and you in the spirit

that just seems to me like it's trying to manufacture.

Beyond simply going to an event and experiencing, quote,

revival and obedience and faith

in Christian life, if there was religion, it would be on the rise.

If revival was really happening, people would be turning over their lives to God on a regular basis, not just when they show up to church

on Sunday or on some other day.

So if we want true revival, abiding in

Christ and we're obeying to be sanctified and

to see how you can have revival and that.

So yeah, I mean, again, I understand the tradition of it.

I understand where it comes from, but I think it's man -made.

I don't think it's...

Go ahead, I'm sorry.

I was just going to say,.

Aren't some of the marks of a genuine revival where either a church, a community,

or even a nation is swept, it seems like miraculously swept

with a wave of repentance and people

returning on their knees to cry out to God for forgiveness.

In mass, where there is cultural change, there is noticeable change going on

that is lasting, where the theology is

transformed from man -centered to God -centered, where pride and arrogance

and apathy are transformed into fiery

zeal and hunger for God.

Aren't these some of the marks of a true revival?

Like I've heard about the Welsh revival when that swept through Wales, at least certain

areas of Wales.

The coal mines were filled the next morning with the wheelbarrows,

the shovels, the picks, and the other tools that had been stolen previously by the miners because they were

repenting of their sin of thievery and so on.

But if you could give a little bit of a better explanation than I just gave.

Well, no, I think that's right.

I mean, in Jonathan Edwards' day, he wrote in the marks

of any base, but one

of them certainly is, you know, a

longing for the brethren.

I mean,

people say

in 1 John 1,

these are

all

markers.

In

Strangefire,

they

could

be

turning into

things that you

are talking about

are correct.

Well, let's take some of our listener questions.

We.

Have a first -time questioner, Alan in Perryville, Arkansas.

He says, I pastor in the Bible Belt, and it seems that usually what happens on the East Coast

eventually finds its way to us.

Perhaps we aren't the tundra yet, but it is the direction we seem to be heading.

What I notice is that the Bible seems to be appreciated in many places in the

South, but not prized, wholly trusted, or fully submitted to.

Would you agree that this is a familiar pattern that New England went through?

So as we in the Bible Belt are seemingly headed toward a spiritual climate similar to New England today,

do you have any further suggestions for revitalization here?

And that was Pastor Alan in Perryville, Arkansas.

Yeah, one pastor I was talking to a few years ago had said to me, because I was making the comment and making the assumption

that, you know, we've fallen off, and, you know, things are suffering, generally

speaking.

And he says, well, we're not, this is what he told me, we're not behind the rest of the church,

which continues on this trend to apostatize New England as their future.

And so if things in the Bible Belt, if people don't start preaching genuine gospel, if

the strategies and the man -made gimmicks, if they don't stop that and return

to the man -made opinions, if they don't stop,

New England is your future.

The book, and this is something I believe in

firmly, it really does begin with the preaching and the teaching.

You know, I would encourage any pastor, any preacher, if you're on the fence,

don't be, you know, innovative.

Certainly you can use God.

Learn how to teach the Word of God and trust Him.

I mean, expository teaching is an act

of preaching

the Word

of

God.

Faithfully

get

into

that.

Well, you'll also learn more about your question or the answers to your question

by the book, Reviving New England, The Key to Revitalizing Post -Christian America, because you've just won a free

copy of it, Pastor Alan.

Please give us your full mailing address there in Arkansas so that we can have Cumberland

Valley Bible Book Service ship that out to you.

CVBBS .com, who sponsored this program and who ship out all the Bibles and

books and DVDs and CDs and other things that our listeners win by submitting questions.

So keep your eye open for a return address on the shipping label that says

CVBBS .com.

And we thank you, Pastor Alan, for your question today.

We hope to receive many more in the future.

We hope you keep listening to Iron Radio and spreading the word about the program in Arkansas and

beyond.

And thanks to Pastor Nate Pikowitz for providing us with these copies of Reviving New England

to give away today.

And God bless your brother.

We do have another listener from Slovenia.

Joe in Slovenia says, Dear Brother Chris, Roughly two years ago, I drove from Georgia North all the way

to Canada.

Along the way, I was shocked to see many abandoned and dilapidated church buildings across much

of upstate New York and the north country, including Vermont.

There seems to be an emphasis growing, even among some reformed churches, to slowly abandon the

gospel in favor of social justice activities.

Please ask Brother Nate, is this a particular problem among churches in

New England?

Is social justice the modern day equivalent to the false doctrine, liberalism, and

materialism which crippled the church of previous generations in New England?

Thanks so much for focusing on.

New England, the cradle of our reformed

heritage

in North

America.

Yes, so which exists

to just

provide

or

undermine

their

entirety.

Yes, and

it is

a shame

that

there

has

been

throughout

history.

An either -or attitude with the church.

In other words, the church obviously should be first and foremost about

bringing praise, honor, and glory to God, and feeding

God's people with the word, and drawing the lost to Christ.

But we are not to abandon the physical needs of people or the social

justice that needs to be a part of our message.

It's a tragedy, for instance, that Bible -believing Christianity in

America basically gave away

the struggle for civil rights for minorities in this country to

the liberals.

The liberals have been known to be champions of that, especially in the 20th century.

You have heroes of the faith like Wilberforce and others who were abolitionists, of course.

But in the 19th century, you have, and even

the early 20th century, you have the liberals really leading the charge

for racial equality.

And you have Roman Catholics leading the charge for the pro -life movement,

where Bible -believing Christians were largely silent for many

decades in those areas.

And it shouldn't be an either -or.

In fact, the gospel and the word of God itself should be propelling Bible -believing

Christians and churches to overturn injustice and

to do good to those in need.

As we read in James's epistle, that faith without

works is dead.

So doesn't there need to.

Be both things going on there?

I mean, if you look at just the impact that the church has had on society over 20 centuries,

I mean, every single case, I mean, we've been learning.

We have, even just through Geneva, I mean, the missions movement in Geneva was huge, the missions

movement here, and money, and so

much good has come from believers working out the evidence

out there.

The thing is, when you try to say, well, I can do a bunch of

good and I don't have to hate

to moralism.

Anybody can be moral, but not everybody can be spirit -filled and born again.

So Bible -believing Christians, born -again believers, and again, that should be a redundancy,

but there does

need to be

a recovery of

the need for the...

Yeah, and that is not to become the message feeding the poor and fighting for racial equality and

opposing abortion.

That is not the message.

The message is the gospel.

The message is that sinners can be saved by a merciful, loving,

and gracious Christ, and that the only hope for eternal life is through his death, burial, and

resurrection.

That is the message, but those who believe in that message should be automatically

shining the light of Christ by demonstrating his compassion and mercy upon the world around us.

Amen. Amen. That's right.

And by the way, Joe in Slovenia, you have also won a free copy of Reviving New England, The Key to

Revitalizing Post -Christian America.

So please, oh, and we thank you, I should say, for providing for us an American address where your daughter lives in

Georgia, where we can send this book via our friends at

Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cvbbs .com.

It is much less expensive for them to ship out books to the United States than it is

to have them shipped overseas, so we thank you for the domestic address.

And by the way, I think I forgot to tell Pastor Alan just moments ago in

Arkansas, Perryville, Arkansas, not only did you win Nate Pickowitz's book,

Reviving New England, but you also won a free New American Standard Bible.

I don't think I told you that, Pastor Alan, but since you're a first -time questioner, you also won

a free New American Standard Bible, compliments of the publishers of the NASB, which that will be included in the package

with Reviving New England.

So keep your eye open for that, and we thank you very much for joining us today for the first time on Iron

Sherpa's Iron Radio.

We're going to our final break now, Pastor Nate, and

I'm going to, I already emailed you, I forwarded you an email from our

listener in Ben Salem, Pennsylvania, her name is Jenny, and she has three

questions that she wants to ask, and they're all good questions, so I emailed them so you could look them over

during our station break, but I'll read you the first of the three now, and then we could have you answer

all three when we return.

The contribution from the Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards in New England, among others, are inestimable

during the 1700s and 1800s.

However, during this last century, there has been a much decline and interest in Reformed Protestantism.

What factors contributed to the decline of Reformed Protestantism in the past?

And of course, we already mentioned some of them before, we mentioned Universalism and other things, but if you could

pick up where we left off when we return from our final break, and if anybody else wants to join us,

now is the time to do it, because we're rapidly running out of time, and our email address is chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Don't go away, God willing, we'll be right back.

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

Or am I trying to please man?

If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Hi, I'm Mark Lukens, Pastor of Providence Baptist Church.

We are a Reformed Baptist Church and we hold to the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689.

We are in Norfolk, Massachusetts.

We strive to reflect Paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how God views what we say and what we do

than how men view these things.

That's not the best recipe for popularity, but since that wasn't the Apostle's priority, it must not be ours either.

We believe, by God's grace, that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man and to be

vessels of Christ's mercy to a lost and hurting community around us, and to build up the body of Christ in truth and

love.

If you live near Norfolk, Massachusetts, or plan to visit our area, please come and join us for worship and fellowship.

You can call us at 508 -528 -5750.

That's 508 -528 -5750.

Or go to our website to email us, listen to past sermons, worship songs, or watch our TV program entitled,

Resting in Grace.

You can find us at providencebaptistchurchma .org, that's providencebaptistchurchma .org,

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Welcome back.

This is the conclusion of our two -hour interview today with our guest, Nate Pikowitz,

on the subject of reviving New England, the key to revitalizing post -Christian America.

If you'd like to join us now is the time to do it, because we're running out of time rapidly, and our email address is chrisarnson at gmail

.com, chrisarnson at gmail .com.

Pastor Nate, as I read to you before the break, Jenny from Ben Salem, Pennsylvania, says

the contribution from the Congregationalist Jonathan Edwards in New England, among others, are inestimable

during the 1700s and 1800s.

However, during this last century, there has been much decline in interest in Reformed

Protestantism.

What factors contributed to the decline of Reformed Protestantism in the past?

Yeah, so there's always kind of been this tension between

and to

teach

a name

under

Finney's

influence, but

we

want

to

think

it's

true.

You know, scriptures, and you look at it, you know, with a very, you know, clear

whether

that's by

an

Arminian

preacher.

I'm going to

rejoice with

anybody who

preaches.

Amen.

And going to the last part of the third question that Jenny has, what do you find encouraging

and discouraging in these difficult times concerning seminary students willing to.

Pick up the mantle?

Yeah, I mean, ministry is always going to be challenging.

I mean, there's discouragement no matter where you are.

You could

be in like

-minded brothers in

the

gospel who

are each

other in the faith

together.

Well, thank you, Jenny

in Ben

Salem,

Pennsylvania,.

And you have won a free copy of the book we have been discussing, Reviving New England, The Key to

Revitalizing Post -Christian America, so please make sure we have your full mailing address so that Cumberland Valley Bible

Book Service, cvbbs .com, can ship that out to you at no cost to you or to

Iron Trump and Zion Radio.

And again, we thank Pastor Nate Pickowitz for providing copies of his book today.

We have RJ in White Plains, New York, who asks, I have heard

that it is very difficult for outspoken evangelical Christians to adopt in

Massachusetts.

In fact, pastors, I have heard, have even the worst time because of the liberalism or,

should I say, the leftist totalitarianism that seems to have taken over the

culture in Massachusetts.

Has this been as bad in New Hampshire, and do you see any light at the end of the

tunnel for things like this being reversed?

Yeah, that's a great question.

Sadly,.

I'm not really as familiar with a lot of the legislation and adoption.

I know that it's

difficult.

I'm

not the

church

as

many, but...

And I

think also

of my

friend

Mark

Lukens,.

Who sponsors this program.

Providence Baptist Church there in Massachusetts has been a good friend of

Iron Trump and Zion for quite a long time.

And so, in fact, I hope that he can come to the Fellowship Conference

New England, and his son Stephen is also on fire for the Doctrines of Grace as well.

Amen, I'd love to meet him.

Well, thank you, RJ.

You have also won a free copy of the book, Reviving New England, the Key to Revitalizing Post

-Christian America.

And please make sure that we have your full mailing address so that can be shipped out to you.

Compliments of Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service, cvbbs .com.

And we have BB in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, who wants to know, don't

you think it would be a good approach if we who are in conservative Bible believing evangelical and

reformed churches, if we begin to make more of a vested effort

to reach out to liberal mainline pastors, no matter how repulsive

their theology and teaching may be, in an effort to evangelize them with the biblical gospel,

we seem to very often look at these people, both men and women in these liberal pulpits,

as impossible projects that will never come to Christ, and we

forget the wickedness out of which we were saved ourselves.

Don't you think this.

Might be a good approach to take?

Yeah, I actually

don't see either.

They don't want

encouragement in some way, but I think it's important to recognize that the mission that we're doing is

going to be, you know, we're not going to as a church get in and do ministry with

them, but I think you can still, you know, be a blessing to them, pray for them, you know, certainly

find ways to bring the gospel to them.

I mean, my heart is, I recognize that there is not going to be as many pastors and churches in New England that think

the way that I do about what the sentiments in my book, but I'm praying for them.

I'm hoping that they, if they're deceived and they're not saved, that they would get saved, that they would come to the knowledge of salvation,

and that they would turn things around, or if they're, that they

would turn around and they'd become bold and they would preach the word of God

and trust him.

I don't believe that any sinner is beyond salvation.

Right,

and I

don't

even think our

guest was

intending to imply that.

We have Christian fellowship with these people, but I think it's an excellent idea that we start having more

zealous efforts to reach out to them with love because they are the in the mission field, and if they

become saved, all these lost people that they have in their own congregations who may

have an open ear by God's grace and mercy to what they have to say after their rebirth

and so on.

In fact, look at Abraham Kuyper, one of the heroes of the Reformed faith.

He became a born -again Christian while a pastor.

He was already a pastor, and a member of his church, an elderly lady,

rebuked him and challenged him and gave him the gospel in love, and he converted.

Amen.

That's awesome.

And by the way, B .B., you have also won a free copy of the book that we are discussing, Reviving New

England, The Key to Revitalizing Post -Christian America.

Please make sure we have your full mailing address.

And now we have a question from a mutual friend of both of ours, Pastor Mac Tomlinson

of Providence Chapel in Denton, Texas.

What three books would you most recommend for readers newly interested in revival?

And I can't help but chuckle because who would ask a question like that other than Mac Tomlinson, or should

I say more than Mac Tomlinson, a man who lives and breathes good Christian books.

But if you could answer Mac's.

Question.

Yeah, well, I've

already alluded to it

again.

Ian Murray has written that

we've been reading.

There's actually a banner of truth on revival.

There's remarks of a work of a

Bible centrist.

Jonathan Edwards, when he was diagnosing what

was going on, because the accusation came, well, everything that's going on in your town is just fake, it's all

emotional, it's

really making a difference.

Yeah, I know

those

are books.

Amen.

And let's

not forget.

The Puritan Hope by Ian Murray.

Yes.

Excellent book.

And thanks, Pastor Mac.

And I look forward to interviewing you also again in the near future on Iron Sharpens Iron Radio to

further promote the Fellowship Conference New England coming up this August 3rd through the 5th.

Thank you for contributing the excellent question to our program, Pastor Mac.

And keep praying for my brother, John, and keep reaching out to him with the love of Christ.

And hopefully one of these days soon, his heart will be broken by the Lord and he will accept your

invitation to lunch and even more so will bend his knee to Christ in repentance.

I'd like you to summarize what you most want etched in the hearts and minds of our listeners today, Pastor Nate, before we run out.

Of

time.

Yeah, if

I could, anything I've

ever done or

written.

Amen.

And

one quick question I.

Think we have time for.

Ronald in Eastern Suffolk County, Long Island.

Do you think it's a good idea when evangelical congregations do not have their own buildings to

seek out the liberal mainline churches to rent their facilities and form friendships

with the pastors and those in leadership there, that some breakthrough might be made for the gospel?

Yeah, I think it's happening.

In a lot of entering into some of those relationships.

Again, you know, making sure that the mission is you cannot deviate from

all over the

place to just

try to get in.

It would be a viable thing to

get away from.

Yeah, I know that

some people almost have a superstitious attitude.

Towards the building and they do not want to have their worship services in a building that's typically

used by an apostate or liberal church, but I think that you can stretch that too far.

I mean, a building is a building.

As long as you are not having any kind of open ecumenical relationships with these people,

I think that the best building that you could get for the right price, as long as it's

not overtly something that's going to bring reproach upon the body of Christ, I think that's fine.

But I want to make sure everybody has your contact information, Pastor Nate.

I know that your church website is HarvestBibleGilmanton

.org.

HarvestBibleGilmanton, G -I -L -M -A -N -T -O -N .org.

Any other contact information you care to give?

Yeah, I mean, I'm on Twitter.

I mean, you can.

Follow me on Twitter at NateConnect on there, and

I also have a public ministry page on Facebook.

It's Nate Pickowitz.

You can just find that on Facebook.

I'm there, so they can find me anywhere,.

Really.

Great, and don't forget about the Fellowship Conference New England coming up August 3rd through the 5th,

where Nate and other speakers will be on the roster, and that website is

FellowshipConferenceNewEngland .com.

Thank you so much, Pastor Nate, and if you could hang on the line, I want to schedule you for an interview on your book,

Why We're Protestants.

Wonderful.

Thank you so much, Chris.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, and I want everybody to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you

are a sinner.