8/12/2019 2004 Issue 3 - Imaginary Ideas From Augusta National Golf Club - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Imaginary Ideas from

Augusta National

Golf

Club

Ina Manly Painter

Phil Mickelson, on national television, partially

attributed his winning the Augusta National Masters

to his deceased grandfather whom he believed gave

the ball a bit

of

a nudge, causingbim to win the 2004

Championship.

It

seems

tome

that we are hearing these

kinds

of

"sentimental" ideas more and more. Just a few

years ago we were unfamiliar with

the

idea of the dead

giving assistance to the living Could it be that we are

tolerant

of

such notions, and

at

the same time intolerant

of

anyone who would dare spoil these "sweet" moments

ith references to Scriptural truths?

my father died someone suggested, "Your dad

be

pulling for you, putting in a good word." I knew

friend was showing compassion, but her concept

n this postmodern world

we

are

truth--anything goes. The

not

say any deceased

man

or

woman has

or

bring us into harmony

e. "For there

is

one God, and one mediator

God

and men, the

man

ChristJesus"

I

God could have said He

is

God and

is

the mediator and left it at that; however, He

we

and the

man

Christ

says

that

He

is

the one and only God. This' means

e shares His Godhead with no one. This one God,

is

present with

us ps. 46:

I), therefore we have

reason to think He

is

far away, up in the clouds

ving left us without a helper--a mediator

advocate--to span the distance There

is

little belief

is

sovereign over everything or anything, even

Christians. Because many

folks

are repulsed by

God who has foreordained power OVer everything

h:4: I, II), they are left with a god who has no

Apart

from God,

what could they possibly rely upon except their own

imaginations (Rom. I

:21)?

In

every century Satan has contrived all manner of

s h e ~ e s to rob the world

of

the truth

of

Christ's priestly

duty representing sinful man Qefore a holy God.

Simple truths have been obscured,as

i f

there was no

high priest in Heaven to bring God and man together.

Scripture clearly says that Christ Jesus

is

the one and

only mediator. This means He appeased the just wrath

of God against our sins by sacrificing His life on the cross

in our place and has forever secured

our

relationship of

reconciliation with God our Father. Because Christ

is

the one mediator, it

is

impossiQI, for anyone

else to

offer

mediatorial functions before God for us. Only Christ

holds out Hjs hand to

us

like a brother, having joined

Himself to

our

nature, that

we

might not wander around

in

uncertainty but approach God

in

Him

for everything

we

need.

To say that .Christ

is

0llr mediator,

our

advocate,

is

not to

say that He is the. ,advocate of choice

or

that it is impolite

to depend upon someone other than

Him

Every

individual

t

has ever lived, except Adam and Christ,

was born

WIth

a thoroughly rotten sin nature, in need

of

Christ's advocacy,

and

unable to approach God on their

own. Christ

is

the only one person on whom we may

rely and the only one person through whom

we

have

access to God. Everyone, including those who arrogantly

set themselves above Godas earth1yPriests, the VIrgin

Mary, the Pope himself, and the Papists dead Saints

is

like

us-frail

sinful and incapable

of

approaching God

except through ChristJesus.

Today, Christ's sacrifice continues to

be

under attack

as it has been for centuries. These attacks have largely

proliferated from the Roman Church who would have

the world believe the Virgin Mary--a woman, angels,

and departed saints have ability to plea before God. It

is as

if common individuals are inaccessible to God and

need someone else's merits to work for them. Society at

large

is

embracing this error more and more. It

is

not

uncommon to

hear those outside Catholicis';' making

statements about the dead interceding for the living

or that some medium, such

as

birds or spiders, etc.,

communicate certain supernatural messages. nly

Satan could misuse God's glorious creation by devising

such wicked "spiritualizations". At a funeral recently

a minister encouraged the grieving family to look for

8/12/2019 2004 Issue 3 - Imaginary Ideas From Augusta National Golf Club - Counsel of Chalcedon

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in mediums

as

the wind, the sunset or in d,e spirit of doves

of God's love, He became like us, not as a

as

the man ChristJesus, paying for our

life

and

deadl

satisfied the divine demands of the Law, on our

life with all it's blessings, not

st for heaven someday but for

life

on earth, here and

everyday. Because He has already accomplished

just

making redemption possible,

is real.

It is

not a hope-so,

t is

the reality of a

hope, to being able to rush

of looking

d relatives to meet our needs, we are able to fasten

will never leave us or

us away empty handed (Matt. 1 1 28,29; Heb.13 :5 .

idea that the glory of l l l ~ s t s priesdy office can

transferred

to

a circumstance or person, to be used

e a superstitious good luck charm, is a blasphemous

of power belonging to God alone.

Departed

us

great places to shop,

ist in winning championships

bring

us

into God's favor. Trusting in anything or

ne, apart from Christ,

is

a sad

and

eventual painful

is

neither

life

nor health

in

detouring

and

direction

of

Scripture (ps.42:11).

f

d,e truths of God set us free (John 8:32), lies can only

Painter@espe com

Christ is a

l11 st

preciolls commodity, he is betler

thanl'1lbies or the most o s t ~ v pearls: and we

I11Ust

art

wilh

1lr

old

gold, with ollr shining gold, ollr

old sins, our

1110.1 1

shining sins,

or

we m1lst perish

: Christ is to be sought

m1d

bought with any

pains, at any price: we can not buy this gold too

dem: He is ajewell170re worth than athol sand

world,', as all kl10w who have Him. Get Him, al1d

get all: miss Him

and

miss all . Thomas Brooks

UNANSWERED PRAYER

David Feddes

The Back to God Hour

www backtogod net

I cry to you for help, 0 Lord; in

d e morning my

prayer

comes before you. Why, 0 Lord, do you reject me?

Psalm 88:13-14

A woman with a husband

and

two children recendy died

of cancer. I can't figure out why God allowed an awful

disease to cut down a precious

person

in the

prime

of

her life. I don't know why God allowed her husband and

children to lose someone

so

dear to them, or why her

parents, brothers, sisters,

and

friends

had

to go through

crushing grief I don't know why she got sick

and

died. I

do know

that

it wasn't due to a lack

of

prayer.

My friend's sister prayed

many

times for healing. Her

husband

and

children prayed.

Her

brothers

and

sisters

prayed. Her parents prayed.

Her

friends prayed. Entire

congregations prayed. Many,

many

of us prayed and

. prayed

and

prayed

that

she would

be

healed.

At

times

it even looked like the prayers were being answered in

a thrilling

way.

There were encouraging reports, and

our hopes rose. But those hopes were dashed by cruel

cancer, and she died.

Why

did so

many

prayers bring

such a crushing result?

How

could

God not

give healing

and long life in response to so many prayers for such a

beloved person?

A single woman longs to find a good man, get married,

and have children. She's lonely and would

rad er

not

be

single any more. She's the sort

of

wise, gende person

who would make

an

excellent wife

and

mother. She

prays earnestly for

God

to bring the right man. She

prays this way year after year, waiting and hoping. But

the only

men

who show

an

interest

in

her don't share

her

faith

and her

moral standards. She's

met

some decent

guys too, but they always end up marrying someone else.

She's getting close to

d e

age when she'll never

be

able to

have children, and still God has not granted her repeated

request for a husband and family.

Why

not? She remains

committed to God,

but

she can't help wondering why

God doesn't answer her prayer.

A man works hard and handles his finances honesdy but

loses his

job and

can't

pay

his bills.

He

prays for God

to meet his needs,

but

his financial hole keeps getting

deeper.

Why

doesn't

God

answer his prayers

and

ease his