J. M. Pendleton: Twisting The Scriptures

Revived thoughts is a production of Revived Studios.

This is Troy Angel and you're listening to Revived Thoughts.

I cannot imagine how any man can be saved by Christ who does not rely on him as divine.

Christ must be divine to be competent to save.

Every episode we bring you a different voice from history and a sermon that they delivered today.

We're going back to the early 1800s to listen to a sermon in Bowling Green Kentucky by J.M. Pendleton.

Troy, how you doing?

I am doing great. We are in the middle of Ramadan here in Indonesia, which is always an interesting time.

If you can hear, I think the call to prayer did get a little quieter, but I know earlier it was very loud.

It's a busy time for us and at the end of a quarter, I am a teacher by day trade.

Do not make the big bucks.

In fact, do not make any money making this podcast so far.

It's just that very busy in the quarter of season, getting lots of stuff done, but it was cool.

I got on Wednesday to share a John Huss sermon, not yet.

We're working on getting recorded for you guys, but I shared it with my students.

It was really, really fascinating to see them respond to it to hear the story of John Huss and then read this.

Honestly, I am floored to get this sermon to everybody out.

It is a really cool one.

Yeah, just watching 11th graders pour over a sermon and come out of it being like, wow, that's really cool.

It was just, it was a pretty cool moment to see.

You don't think of 16 and 17-year-olds being like, give me that 600-year sermon, but they were on that day.

How are you doing?

I'm doing good.

I'm doing good.

Always an exciting, the first couple of months of every year is exciting because with our mission's videography work,

we're scheduling and planning trips and video projects.

March is looking to be exciting.

At the end of this month, we'll be filming in Alaska on Kodiak Island, which I hear there's a lot of bears,

but I hear they're like friendly bears.

You're going to have one on the podcast with us, so we're going to be able to get it on location with you and grizzles the bear.

Yeah, I'll try to get some roars.

They're not grizzly bears.

Thank you.

There wasn't Kodiak bears.

It wasn't that long ago, if I recall, where we had somebody who said they came to our channel from a bear hunting channel.

So the audience is interested in this episode.

Yeah, I'll see if I can get a picture of me and a bear, and we can post it on our socials.

Yes.

No guarantees, though.

Don't get eaten, of course.

Get that picture, but don't turn your back in a way that that's your final photo kind of thing.

Yeah, it's very strange because as a, I don't know, continental 40 continuous 48 state individual bears are often seen as things to be avoided and not to mingle with.

But from what I gather, they're, they're chill bears that are cool with people, and it's not uncommon for them to just be passing you on the road.

So we'll see.

This sounds like a trap.

But I don't know about you.

Chill bears.

I don't, I don't know about that.

This feels very sketchy.

The great thing about the type of work I do is I always have, like by nature of we're going there to film a missionary that's there in locations so that there's already somebody there that is very familiar with the situation.

We always have a guide.

We're never going in blind.

And that fills me with peace because it would be a different sentiment if I didn't have.

Sure.

Didn't have somebody in the know that is there to guide us.

So everywhere.

I think it's making it a month.

I went and I'll tell you.

I will.

Everywhere we've been overseas almost almost every single place.

Well, maybe one or two exceptions.

We didn't know anybody.

We were meeting there and we just went there and worked it out as we were.

So that's terrifying to me.

I don't think I've literally ever, I mean, I've been to like dozens of countries.

But every single time there's been someone there to meet me and tell me what to eat and what not to eat.

So it's literally best cases of countries.

I mean, some of us are still working on our second dozen.

Don't, don't brag a little too.

Okay.

But I'm just saying I've never experienced that sheer adventuring that you're doing.

You have me beat on that front, I guess.

Yeah.

Well, I don't think I don't think it's a competition.

And it certainly won't be much of one once you get the selfie with the bear.

All right, we got it.

We got it.

We got a role.

We have some comments that we wanted to read to you guys.

This one came over from pod bean.

I always like to encourage the pod bean listeners because they're not a very big group.

But on our exclusive Yann Huss forgiveness episode.

A fantastic episode on Yann Huss.

Many thanks guys.

If you are not aware and I would be surprised at this point.

If our audience wasn't, we have the very first translated into English sermons of Yann Huss.

By a listener named Evan who helped us use some AI materials within a whole long disclaimer.

I had one or a couple of emails come in like, hey, you know, AI can have mistakes.

We are well aware.

I actually have also lots of stuff going on the background to deal with that kind of thing

and work it out to the best of really weird.

We, I had recorded a very, very long AI disclaimer on that episode.

And Joel was like, it's a bit long.

It's killing the vibe of the episode.

So that's, we thought about it and we decided the episode's too fun to put that disclaimer on.

But anyway, thank you super glad you are listening.

And I want to say to shout out to Evan, the guy who brought us this,

who put the work in to help this happen.

He also, I sent him the link.

I was like, hey, that episode you helped us create, it came out.

And he was like, I know my wife and I listened to it on our honeymoon because we just got married.

So that's amazing.

So shout out to Evan who just got married.

Thank you so much for helping us with that.

And we were wishing you all the best and what it bliss.

Brent over on, I think this is Spotify.

I should have written that one down my bad.

He says, love this episode.

And the idea of the preacher who punches makes sense in the time and place.

If he could not hold his own against these men, they would not have respected him or even listened to him.

A dandy, he said a dandy preacher.

I love that Brent.

I feel like that word comes straight from like the 1700s there.

A dandy city preacher would not have lasted 15 minutes among these men.

Now, I agree.

I agree.

If you listen to my episode a few weeks back, Frank Higgins episode, really cool.

A lot of you have sent in emails and messages as well saying you really enjoyed that episode.

I am blown away by some of the nice responses people have had to that one.

Really cool stuff.

But the thing that's funny to me is if you go Google a picture of Frank.

If you've had this picture, like in my head, I pictured like, you know,

a six foot six for my, you know, I don't know European listener.

Like a two meter tall guy full of muscles tattoo.

He's like a biker.

He doesn't look like that at all.

He's like five foot nine.

He's a little overweight and awkward looking.

Which I think makes it even more impressive that he was able to do all the things he did.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go listen to that Frank Higgins episode.

And then go look up a picture of that guy.

But yeah, I agree.

He was a cool guy.

The great upset.

And a really fun one to do.

Kitchrick says, going to share the Henry Whipple sermon with as many Minnesotans as I can.

Pretty sure they have no idea who the Bishop Henry Whipple building is named after.

There was apparently some protesting happening over in Minnesota in front of the Henry Whipple building.

And it's funny.

I'm glad Kitchrick you wrote this in because when I saw that news article,

all I thought to myself was the Henry Whipple building named after Henry Whipple,

the famous missionary out there in Minnesota.

Do people not know what that's about, right?

So I'm glad someone else was like, hey, we need to put them on revive thoughts

and let them know what that building, who that building was named after.

Because that was my immediate impression too.

Not the news story itself, but like, do you know why they named it the Henry?

What's that mean?

Where the guys like in the corner and everyone's having a fun party.

And he's like, do they even know what the Henry Whipple building's named after?

That was me when I saw that news story.

Finally, a group called Doha the Dawn.

They are a Christian band.

They're making music.

They liked our stuff and had been messaging with us.

And they wanted to ask you to listen to their stuff.

So if you like different Christian music,

I told them I'll tell people to go check out Doha the Dawn.

I listened to a couple songs thought they were nice there.

So if you're looking for some different Christian music,

check out these guys.

They're trying to get out there and make their name known.

All right.

You want to talk about Pendleton?

Pendleton.

I don't know who Pendleton is.

But yeah, I'd like to talk about Pendleton.

But down now you've got me doing a Pendleton.

Probably not the first time.

I'm probably going to switch the L and the D there.

But do you know anything about Pendleton?

So my wife is from Kentucky.

And when I said we're doing an episode on J and Pendleton,

she was like, oh, we're talking about those Pendletons.

But I love the lease of martyrs and missionaries.

My wife, but I couldn't tell on this one whether she was messing with me.

Like, oh, everyone in Kentucky knows about the Pendleton.

Or like it's just actually like a famous name she's run into.

Or what?

So could go either way.

But maybe people from Kentucky are aware of the Pendletons.

My wife, I'm going to go really obscure here.

But my wife and I have been married.

She used to, she was like, yeah, you know, in my hometown in Kentucky,

there were the four families.

And they're like these rich, powerful families.

And they like ran the town.

And I was like, that sounds so funny to me.

Like the four families.

And then we met a friend.

Like not a friend, but we met somebody else from Kentucky.

And they were a friend.

They are a friend.

They also listened to the show.

So your friend don't worry.

But I'm saying it wasn't like, you know, and we met them.

And they were, and I was like, oh, you know, you're from Kentucky too.

Do you know what the four families?

She's in a completely different part of Kentucky.

And she like dead serious looks at me.

She's like the four families aren't a joke.

Like that's the thing.

So now I'm like, okay, I don't, you know, I don't know what goes on up there in Kentucky.

So maybe the Pendletons are like one of the four families.

I don't know.

It just sounds pretty, pretty.

I'm just respecting distance on that.

Yeah, we need to spin off Kentucky lore show.

It sounds like there's content there.

But we're talking about Pendletons.

James Madison Pendleton born in the year 1811, 1811.

And I always try to emphasize the date that we're starting,

because it's how my brain contextualizes.

Everything that comes after it, 1811, we're going back.

Spotsylvania County is where he was born here,

named after James Madison, a detail that hinted

at the hopes that his family quietly held for his future.

His home was shaped by faith and hard work.

His grandfather had fought in the Revolutionary War,

and his father ran a modest merchant shop.

They were Christians who took their beliefs seriously,

not merely in words, but in daily life.

Eventually, the family sought new opportunity

and purchased a 300 acre farm in Kentucky.

Hoping the frontier would provide a fresh start.

Education began early for the young Pendleton.

See, I keep trying to switch that R in that.

A little bit of dyslexia creep in and I suppose.

At nine years old, he attended school

under the instruction of his own father,

looking back on his childhood.

Pendleton described it as generally happy,

but he did admit that he was,

he sounds like a bit of a brat.

He later confesses his temper was so bad in my boyhood

that when mad, the appearance of my face,

as I once happened to see in the glass, I was frightful.

Yeah, that he saw some mirror while angry.

He was like, oh, that's not a good face.

Yeah, yeah.

But what about that sentence structure?

My temper was bad in my boyhood

that when mad, the appearance of my face,

as I once happened to see in the glass, was frightful.

I'm going to start talking like that.

If you, you know, these are,

this is what all of our sermons look like when I first get them.

And I have to rearrange all the wording

to make it like listen and sound normal,

which is why Revive Thoughts is quite unique

in all of the podcasts.

Like there are other people who've made attempts here

and there to do it, but the one thing that they don't do

is take the time to line by line edit the sermons,

but it messes with you.

Like when I write questions for my students,

I now, like, because I read these kinds of things all the time,

I accidentally, like, word them that way.

And my students are like English second language learners,

and so they're looking at me like, what does that say?

And I'm like, what do you mean? What does that say?

From when stood where does someone so come?

It's, oh, oh, yeah, you know what I say?

I'll allow that does sound kind of weird.

Continuing with the sentiment that he acknowledges

and confesses that he was a very difficult child to work with.

He has his court races.

I richly deserved every weapon I got.

His health was fragile and sickness often interrupted his days,

but when strength returned,

he threw himself into play with all of his energy

among the boys in the town.

He naturally took the lead sports games, outdoor adventures,

filled all of the hours that he was able to enjoy.

He also remembered another scene from those years.

He says his mother praying earnestly for him

was something that embedded in his memory.

We see that time and time again, a mother's prayers

often are huge vital components of how these people,

it shapes their worldview, it really does.

Spiritual curiosity began to stir when he was about 15.

Still, it wasn't a part of his life until about two years later.

That's when everything changed at 17.

He often slipped away, alone into the woods,

to spend quiet moments near an old tree that he loved.

And in that stillness, away from all the noise and expectations,

he sensed God drawing near.

And it was there in those private encounters that Pendleton

would later say the Lord converted his soul.

Now, he grew up out in the country.

I wait and find out away from any big cities in pretty small area

his entire life, but he showed an interest in ministry soon afterwards

because in that part of the country, if we've covered episodes

in this kind of part, I've said it before,

the number of episodes we do from Kentucky,

when we do this show is actually kind of surprising to me.

Again, maybe if you're from there and you know the four families

are not surprised, but to me, it was at least a bit of a surprise

because it just, when I started my thoughts,

I wouldn't have assumed so many episodes would be coming out of Kentucky.

And any more than I would if they were all coming out of,

you know, anywhere else, it, Britain, I expect it,

but just not as many to come from with some, but just not as many.

And, but in this part, there wasn't as many good ministers.

They, so they quickly got him a license to preach.

And it would be about a year before he preached his first sermon

and reception was not warm because he'd grown up in a small area.

He didn't read that much. He wasn't much of a student at the time.

He got better, but so he just didn't have that much life experience.

And part of it was that he was untrained.

And part of it was he lived in that small area,

but his first comments he got after his first couple of sermons were rough.

If I can read the quote, it goes like this.

These preachers, Dr. Pendleton said,

we're not very complimentary and there are remarks about sermons.

One of them said, you certainly could do a lot better if you would just try.

Another said, you are scarcely earning your salt.

Another criticism he received was, you say some pretty good things,

but your preaching is neither adapted to comfort the saint nor alarm the sinner.

The last straw suited to break any other camel's back,

but didn't was a remark by a layman.

It was a regular guy who said, as God is an omnipotent,

he of course can make a preacher of that young man.

That's pretty mean, a pretty good burn on a young preacher.

Well, God's all powerful, so certainly a miracle can be worked.

Technically, I suppose it could happen.

Of course, God could do anything, but realistically.

That's rough, guys.

Thankfully, Jay and Pendleton here did not take it to heart.

He didn't let it get him down. He kept going.

That's my nightmare.

I get those comments back, and I don't know if I can keep going.

I appreciate that Pendleton took all of that and started.

After weathering early criticism and resistance, James Madison, Pendleton,

refused to step away from his calling.

He kept preaching.

He trusted that faithfulness mattered more than approval,

and in time, he accepted the pastorate of a church and bowling green.

It was there that his influence would truly take root,

and where he would spend his life's work contributing towards,

and that same season of life in 1837, he met a young woman named Catherine.

Catherine's first impression of him was not particularly favorable.

Nothing about him immediately captured her attention,

but within a day or two, circumstances placed him together on a long horseback journey

that was nearly 30 miles to visit an acquaintance,

and somewhere along that shared road through conversation,

and time since spent side by side, her opinion of him changed a bit.

And by the following year, they were married,

and she was ready to become his lifelong partner in ministry and in hardships.

Nothing like a road trip to cause you to fall in love.

We have a friend like that.

We have a friend like that who knew his wife for years without much romantic interest,

and then after a big long road trip, suddenly there's feelings,

and now they're happily married with two kids.

Wow, yeah, it's crazy to me.

Last time I saw them, they had one kid.

No, there you go.

It sounds bad.

Is the dating advice here, like if you're not,

if you're trying to get them to move on or take her on a long road trip,

it sounds a little kid-

Find a mutual acquaintance at least three hours away.

Find a chance to make it so she can't get away,

and perhaps she'll fall for you as kind of the goal here.

But it worked for Pendleton, and it worked for our personal friend,

so it might be, at this point, it might be some of your best shots.

Pendleton quickly became known as the preacher who didn't avoid difficult topics.

When war broke up between the United States and Mexico in 1848,

he spoke openly against it.

His position was not rooted in disloyalty to the country,

but rather his conviction that war inevitably brought death

and destruction of souls.

He believed that Christians should weigh such realities carefully,

rather than to celebrate conflicts,

which seemed to be a popular mentality that was going on around that time.

Even more controversial was his stance on slavery and the treatment of black people.

Shortly after arriving at his church,

he helped establish a service for black worshippers

so that they could attend and have a worship service.

And for that time in place, that was something that was very uncommon,

that was no small feat to organize and to make such a thing happen.

And beyond his local church,

he urged Kentucky and the entire broader south towards emancipation.

He wrote letters and delivered speeches and published pamphlets.

He contributed articles consistently arguing that slavery was morally wrong

and his voice was clear and public in these matters.

When the Civil War erupted, Pendleton and his family openly supported the Union,

a position that stood in sharp contrast

to much of his surrounding community.

He feared retaliation because he knew of other pastors that had threats and experience conflict.

But his congregation loved him deeply and so remarkably,

he doesn't seem to have any of these conflicts over his stance despite being in Kentucky during the Civil War.

But the cost of his conviction did reach his family at home, his son fought in the Civil War for the Union.

And tragically, was killed in battle, he passed away.

And so for the rest of the war, his family would travel north.

It sounds like I have an abundance of caution.

But through grief, uncertainty and tension, Pendleton continued forward,

steady in the belief that had guided him from the beginning.

Kentucky was a neutral state during the Civil War, although they had slavery.

So I do think there were a lot more abolitionists work in Kentucky than say,

I think he'd find more of these guys there than say places like probably Georgia at the time.

However, also the Southern Baptist seminary, they did move to that area because they felt like it would be pretty safe.

So it is a Southern Baptist, I should say.

So it's an interesting kind of thing they were working out over there.

I like Pendleton, I think he was a good guy.

We could easily do an entire episode on his involvement with the Civil War, emancipation,

and all the stuff that was going on there.

However, what originally brought his attention to my direction was not any of that.

But it was his fighting back against the group called the Campbellites.

This is an odd group, the followers of a man named Alexander Campbell.

They kind of are considered a part of the Second Great Awakening.

I think they're kind of an off branch of the second.

So people who don't like the Second Great Awakening will be like it's this Campbell group and Charles Finney.

People who do like the Second Great Awakening will go like,

no, the Second Great Awakening was a very large thing, had a lot of different branches to it.

And this group was kind of an off branch that kind of claims to be a part of it, but was it something?

No, there's one group you may have heard of that came out of this group, the disciples of Christ.

But there are many others, and the restoration movement would be considered this.

And one thing I've noticed when I've interacted with some of these people from that movement is sometimes they have an issue of intellectual ascent to the gospel.

But not like a full, and then we'll say like not discounting their commitment to God or anything, but it's like they're, you know, I'm going to think I can do what I would like.

But their belief is Jesus is lowered over their whole hearts, the personal conversion experience.

It's sometimes been missing in some of the people I've met throughout that movement, just in my own personal life.

And I remember that we a long time ago, Joel, beginning this show, we covered an episode on a guy named Christmas Evans,

and he fell into a, a heresy, a thing called Santa Manianism.

It's one of the hardest heresies to pronounce in my opinion, but it's really important one.

Because it's basically this intellectual ascent, I believe Jesus is God.

I'm going to tell you I believe Jesus is God.

I'm going to go get baptized. I'm going to go to church.

But it's just like it's a works intellectual ascent. It's not a life of worship and prayer.

Like I'm going to give God parts of my life, but not my whole life.

And it's a very odd thing. And that's what Santa Manianism is.

It was from a guy named Robert Sand in Scotland who persuaded many, including Christmas Evans, great, great pastor for a time to believe in this kind of intellectual ascent.

And when he came out of it, he was like, it was one of the worst chains I ever did.

I believe someone God, but I basically squelched the spirit of God by choosing these kind of new tests and many works, but not the heart of it.

It's it's I think a thing that actually gets ahold of many churches today, where it's just your, you, yeah, Jesus is king.

Yep, I'm going to go get baptized and pray and be at church.

But no, Jesus isn't going to be God over over my life.

I'm going to still just kind of live how I want the rest of the time.

And I always thought that was kind of interesting that I felt like I understood that from people I'd met from these churches.

Turns out there's a reason Alexander Campbell, the guy who leads the Campbellite movement, went to Glasgow and studied under Robert Sand for a time.

So the reason that that group reminded me of this other movement was because their leader actually studied under the other guy's leader.

And that's what, that's where the piece connects. And I was like, wow, like a seven year mystery in my head solved.

You may not have been thinking that, but the reason this matters is the Santa Manians had this idea that the saving faith is just this, is just, here's a quote from somebody.

And a series of letters to James Harvey, the author of the Santa Manians, maintain that just by faith is a simple ascent to the divine testimony, differs in no ways from any other kind of like, hey, did you leave the light on? Yes.

Is Jesus God? Yes. Is that level of just, I've ascended Jesus is God. I don't have to live faith without works like James too would say.

This becomes a huge issue because now a bunch of people are basically, yeah, I said a prayer. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm good now.

And it doesn't change their hearts. And Pendleton will fight back against them.

Half the Baptist churches in Kentucky are going to kind of leave the Baptist movement and join the candlelight standing this time and start following these Santa Manians teachings that kind of break them away from God.

It has had a huge influence on Christian culture in America. And Pendleton was one of the earliest people to notice it happening while it was happening and to try and call it out and say, whoa, whoa, whoa.

These guys are are leaving a personal conversion experience with Christ, leaving a life filled with actions for the Lord and love and serving God and are turning that into just to check the box. Yes, kind of faith. That's not what we want.

There was far more to James Madison Pendleton than his pastoral ministry alone his life intersected with some of the most heated theological debates of his generation.

For a time, he was closely connected with the landmark movement before later distancing himself from parts of it. He engaged in public disputes with the Campbellites wrestled with controversies surrounding mission boards and navigated turbulent doctrinal arguments that shaped the 19th century Baptist life.

And these conflicts, they weren't small skirmishes. They were pretty defining battles over identity and authority and the future of the church. So he was kind of intertwined with a lot of pivotal moments, yet stepping back from these controversies, one simple truth stands out.

He had once been told he could not be a preacher and still he went on to influence the Baptist movement for decades, a kind of summary that captures some of the scope of his work. He served as a Baptist pastor for 46 years.

He taught theology at Union University for four years. He served as the editor for the Southern Baptist review for five years and co editor of the Tennessee Baptist for three years.

Over his lifetime, he wrote more than 700 articles for Baptist publications and authored 15 books. His voice reached far beyond any single pulpit.

In his later years, his personal world grew quieter and more tender. His beloved wife, Catherine, gradually lost her sight and would become blind, but still their bond seemed to only deepen.

On the occasion of their 50th wedding anniversary surrounded by family and friends, he spoke directly to her with words that we don't hear talking like this in today's day and age.

It's kind of sweet, but also in more direct, he says, quote, now, dearest one, it is fitting that I speak a word to you.

There is no earthly object so dear to my heart. You are not as you were 50 years ago, then with elastic step, you walked with me to the marriage altar and we pledged to each other our vows loyalty and love.

I do not recognize that elastic step now. Then your face was fresh and blooming and now the freshness and blooming are gone and the wrinkles have taken their place while gray hairs adorn your head.

In 46 years afterwards, the expression of your mild blue eyes was always a benediction. Now that expression is no longer seen for blindness has taken the place of sight.

But with these changes, you, my love, have not changed. Bodily affliction has not eclipsed the intellectual and spiritual excellence of your character.

You are the same to me and no kiss during a half a century has been more deeply expressed to my love than the one I give you now.

I think it is very sweet. It's a very sweet sentiment, but we often don't hear, I don't know, maybe when you're, they're close to 80 years old at this point.

Maybe you do say, you know, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're pretty old of there, but, but I still love you now more than ever before.

Two years later in 1891, Pendleton himself would pass away at the age of 80. He left behind the legacy of a faithful minister, a devout husband and a man who stood firm through seasons of theological turmoil and cultural conflict.

And now, as we turn to his own work, we hear the voice of a preacher who refused to stay silent when he believed scripture was being twisted.

The world is under infinite obligations to God for the Bible. It is the book of books. It gives light to those who sit in darkness.

It is a lamp for the feet of the traveler to find eternity. Those who are guided by its directions go safely to the mentions of glory.

Now since the Bible contains truth without error, it might be supposed that its doctrines would forever escape perversion. For truth should never be perverted.

But sadly, no, owing to their depravity, men sometimes pervert the word of the living God pervert it to their ruin.

They create poison from the bomb of Gilead. This is a dangerous process, and it is more common than many imagine. It is now proper to point to some scriptural truths which men twist to their own destruction.

First, the divinity of Jesus Christ. Divine titles and perfections are ascribed to Christ. He, while on the earth said, I am my father or one. All men are required to honor the son even as they honor the father.

The Redeemer never once declined receiving divine worship. It is true that the eternal word became a man, took on him the nature of man.

He was truly and properly a man, but he performed acts which proved him to be God, and also acts which proved him to be a man.

Men walk, eat, drink, sleep, etc. What does this tell us that they have bodies? They think, reason, etc. What does this prove that they have minds?

So Jesus Christ possesses a compound nature. Some of his acts are designed to show us his divine being. Others showed us his human nature.

There are persons, however, who attach a disproportionate importance to those scriptures which teach Christ humanity.

They overlook, in a great measure, those which assert his divinity. And so, handling the word of God deceitfully, they pervert the doctrine of the deity of Christ.

They persuade themselves that it is an untot doctrine, but they cannot do this without perverting the scriptures and the perversion leads to destruction.

Isn't it obvious? No man strictly speaking believes in Christ who does not believe in him as his character is made known in the scriptures.

And as faith in Christ is indispensable to salvation, it is obvious that, as he is a divine being, those who do not believe in him as divine must twist the scriptures, which speak of his divinity, to their own destruction.

I cannot imagine how any man can be saved by Christ who does not rely on him as divine. Christ must be divine to be competent to save, and he must be trusted in his true character.

Can he who believes that Jesus is a mere man or angel be saved by him? I assure you he cannot, but the importance of faith must arise from the importance of the truth believed.

Salvation is in Christ alone. Christ is God. It follows, therefore, that those who pervert the scriptures pertaining to his divinity do so to their destruction.

So awful is the perversion that it ends the possibility of salvation. Secondly, the complete nature of the Redeemer's death.

This topic is intimately connected with the proceeding. Those perverting either of the doctrines generally pervert the other. Jesus certainly died to make an atonement for sin.

The Bible cannot be explained on any other supposition. What is to be done with such passages as these? He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our niceties.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has lain on him the iniquity of us all.

Whom God has set out to be a perpetuation through faith in his blood. Once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

The scriptures do not teach more evidently that Christ died than that he died to expiate sin. His death was a sacrificial death. His agonies were atoning agonies. His blood was atoning blood.

The atonement of Christ furnishes the only reasons why God can forgive sins. Transgressions can be blotted out because the Savior was delivered for our offenses.

There can be a release from the penalty of the law because Christ was made a curse for us. All hope of a sinner's salvation is traceable to the cross.

The light that dawns on man's darkness comes from cavalry alone. Now, if men suppose that Jesus did not die to make atonement, or that God can forgive sins without respect to Christ's atonement, they must twist all the scriptures that refer to these points.

And they do so to their own destruction. Those who repudiate the idea of atonement of sin cannot rely on the atonement of Christ.

Nor can those who suppose that God can pardon sin irrespectively of the Redeemer sacrifice. God saves only through the atonement merits of his son.

Those therefore who pervert the scriptures pertaining to Christ's expiatory death secure their own destruction. The perversion is such as to cut off all hope of salvation.

A third twisting of scripture comes from the purposes of God. Jehovah is a being of purpose. It is his purpose to bring many sons to glory.

It is his purpose to punish with everlasting destruction all who do not know him and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But how often do we hear it said, if it is God's purposes to save me, I will be saved. If not, I will be lost. Therefore, I need not concern myself about the matter. This is horrible.

No sensible Calvinist, however strongly he may believe in election and predestination, adopts this view. For Calvinists say that God ordains means as well as ends.

God never decreed an end without decreeing the means for its accomplishment.

Another fact is to be taken into account. God's purposes are his rule of action, not ours. His word is our rule of action and we are not to trouble ourselves about his purposes.

It is clear that those who take such a view of the divine purposes as encouraging them to continue and sin, twist every scripture that has the remotest bearing on the subject.

There is no doctrine in the Bible whose legitimate influence is to make sinners satisfied in their condition.

The sinner who comes to the conclusion that because God has purposes and because salvation is of grace that therefore he will make no effort to secure his salvation is on the way to hell.

There is no hope for him while he continues in this state of mind. Let him be surrendered to this sentiment till death and his soul will be lost.

I aim not to enter into an explanation of the philosophy of the divine purposes here. I only mean to say that if any man justifies his inaction in the work of salvation by persuading himself that if he is to be saved, he will be saved and if he is to be lost, he will be lost and therefore will do nothing, he is twisting the scriptures to his own destruction.

The very passages which should act to so many as refreshers to effort are made by the perverting process to perform the office of depresence.

Oh, that they would twist God's word like this.

Fourth, the free agency of man. Salvation by grace is consistent with human agency, with free agency.

Both doctrines are clearly revealed. If I cannot reconcile them, it doesn't mean they are not both true. If I cannot explain how Jesus was delivered to death by the determinant council of God and yet that the Jews took him with wicked hands, crucified and slew him, still both facts are plainly taught in God's word.

Many pervert the doctrine of human agency. They suppose if they have anything to do in their salvation, that thing, whatever it is, must be works based.

If, say they, we cannot be saved without repentance, faith and lives of holiness, there must be merit in these things and we will rely and whole or impart on this merit for salvation.

Here they twist the doctrine of human agency. However actively we implore our free will, there is nothing meritorious in what we do.

We are unprofitable servants when we have done all we are required to do.

This fact utterly divest our best performances of all claim to merit. We must rely on grace from first to last.

He who finally stands justified, sanctified and glorified before the throne of the majesty on high will save with devoutist emphasis by the grace of God, I am what I am.

There is nothing in the doctrine of human agency, properly understood, to prevent but everything to induce reliance on grace for salvation.

Whoever takes the opposite view, twist and even caricatures the doctrine. Who does not see that if men persuade themselves that the scriptures authorize the dependence on works for salvation, they pervert the doctrine of human agency to their destruction.

Whatever keeps the sinner from surrendering himself unreservedly to Christ will infallibly secure his destruction.

So does it appear that a man's agency, clearly as it is taught in the Bible, whenever a misapplied and perverted leads to the ruin of the soul.

Twisting the scriptures has a fatal connection with destruction.

Fifth, the benevolence of God.

There is a numerous class of scriptures which refer to the love of God. They are precious portions of the divine record. They are full of consolation to the saints.

But many sinners twist them. They are ripped from their appropriate context and are allowed to exert a harmful influence.

Sinners have learned from the Bible that God is good, that he is merciful, that he is love, and they infer that he is too good to punish them for their sins.

They admit that they are sinners, but they think God is gracious and that they will not surely die.

What would be the point of the mercy of a king who would never allow a criminal to be punished? Would it not be regarded as cheap mercy?

Would it a proper care for all the interests of the country prop the adoption of a different course of action?

God is the supreme king of the moral universe. He could not fail to punish the guilty without injuring the best interest of his moral empire.

God, to be good, must be just, and to be just, he must punish the guilty. Those who deserve punishment.

And then too, if the guilty were not punished, the intelligent universe would never have an adequate conception of God's hatred of sin or his determination to sustain and vindicate the majesty of his law.

God governs his rational creatures by an appeal to their hopes and fears.

The everlasting bliss of heaven is an everlasting appeal to their hopes, and the doctrine of eternal punishment is an eternal appeal to their fears, the legitimate tendency of which is to deter them from sin.

So when sinners conclude that God is too good to punish the ungodly, they twist the scriptures which say, these will go away into everlasting punishment, will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.

Everyone can see that those who believe that God is too merciful to punish his creatures cannot be awakened to a sense of their danger.

They believe there is no danger. When worn to flee from the wrath to come, they are unmoved, for they say there is no wrath.

Believing there is no hell, they necessarily make no effort to avoid it. Those who consider the torments of hell as just temporary cannot feel the full power of the motives of the gospel.

Future punishment is neutered of most of its terror when disassociated from the idea of eternity.

Do you see that those who pervert the scriptures which speak of God's love to man, so pervert them as to deny his justice and twist those scriptures to their own destruction?

They strangely take encouragement to sin from those passages of the divine word which indicate how sin may be forgiven.

They make the gospel of salvation a gospel of indulgence. They make sin a trifle in view of the awful scenes of Calvary.

They pour contempt on the whole redemptive scheme of mercy.

Oh, what a twisting of the scriptures. What perversion of the word of the living God.

It is a master's stroke of scheming on the part of Satan to cause this kind of twisting of the scriptures.

He cannot accomplish a great deal in this age and in this part of the world by making bold and reckless atheists.

There is a general theoretical belief that the Bible is true. This belief is difficult to replace. What then is to be done?

Satan knows very well what to do.

He seeks to influence those who admit the inspiration of the Bible to pervert its truths, to twist its doctrines.

Accomplishing this, he then has secured the same purposes as he would do so by getting one to positively deny the inspiration of the scriptures.

Twisting the scriptures is a destructive process.

If I can add a few closing remarks, first, how valuable are the scriptures?

They are more precious than gold, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb.

On subjects most interesting to man, the word of God gives voice.

It teaches the sublime science of redemption, a science, the glory of which eclipses all other glory.

The book of divine truth deserves a high appreciation and respect. Those who love it, love it's author.

They assign its truth a place in their hearts and model them in their lives.

Secondly, the most valuable things in life are susceptible to abuse and perversion.

This arises from man's depravity. The scriptures are twisted. This is a very common thing. The process is going on in every part of the land.

God's word is perverted. It is handled deceitfully.

Nor is this confined to those who make no profession of Christianity. Oh no!

How many who call themselves the children of God are doing this thing?

How many a pulpit is desecrated because it's occupant, twist, the scriptures?

What heavy burdens are imposed on the press in this work of perverting the word of God?

Will it be said that those so engaged do not believe that they are twisting the scriptures?

Suppose they do not. Does this help the matter?

A man may believe he is not mixing poison with his food, but if he does it, the effect will be the same.

The utmost sincerity cannot prevent the damaging influence of error.

Third, destruction is a word of awful importance. Its meaning is appalling.

It comprehends all that is signified by the loss of the soul, the wrath of God, the torment of hell.

How many who will hear this sermon are by twisting the scriptures, working out their own destruction?

Poor sinners, be warned while it is called today.

Do not let a rich blessing given to you by the God of heaven prove an awful curse instead.

Do not let that word which should guide you to heaven be so twisted and perverted as to lead you to hell.

Do not let the source of light envelop you in darkness.

If you do, can you even imagine how great such a darkness would be?

Thank you for listening to Revived Thoughts.

City's sermon was narrated by Justin Scott Ray from North Georgia.

Thank you so much, Justin. We always enjoy having a more authentic accent on this show.

Thanks, Justin, for narrating another episode of Revived Thoughts.

Yeah, we would always try if it is possible to get accents to get as close to.

But obviously we don't always succeed at that because a lot of our speakers come from all over the world.

We have speakers from Australia and New Zealand, we've had speakers from across Europe.

And we've had lots and lots of American and Canadian speakers because if that's where we're located and a lot of our listeners are too.

But if you are interested in speaking, you don't have to have an accent.

And we definitely would not ask you to put on a fake accent.

But if you would like to speak on our show, we would be happy to have you.

You should reach out. We are always...

We have amazing people doing some amazing voice work for this show.

And we are extremely grateful to all of the volunteers.

But we always have people getting busy and always needing some new people to kind of step in and help fill in those shoes.

Whether you just want to do one episode with us, whether you're just a regular attinder at your church,

but you've been enjoying the show and think it would be cool to add your voice to the voices of history.

Or whether you're a professional, we have audios.

We have, you know, the audio guys who are good at this stuff, who narrate books and do voice overs.

We have pastors of 40 years who read for our show.

And we have just regular people who put a mic on and put up some episodes for us as well.

Everybody is welcome.

If you are able to and you have a microphone, somehow available to you, we'd be more than happy for you to do so.

Reach out at our email or five thoughts at gmail.com and help add your voice to the show.

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So thank you to all of those who are reading for us.

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This is Troy Angel and this is Revive Thoughts.