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Series on Calvinism: Parts 10 -11

Valerie Basham

October 30, 2016

I’m a tad bit behind on sharing the sermons from my husband’s series on Calvinism, so I am posting the last two messages in one post. Here are the final sermons, and a final word from me.

Perseverance of the Saints – October 9, 2016

Misunderstanding Grace – October 2, 2016

Previous sermons in this series:

Overview of Calvinism (the TULIP acrostic) – July 17, 2016

Total Depravity – July 24, 2016

Deeper Into Depravity – July 31, 2016

Unconditional Election – August 7, 2016

Unconditional Election, Part 2 – August 14, 2016

Objections to Election – August 21, 2016

Limited Atonement – August 28, 2016

Irresistible Grace – September 19, 2016

The study of the doctrines of grace is not for the faint of heart, especially if you grew up under the doctrinal system that I did. If you are of a strong spirit, a courageous heart, and an open mind, then click on the links above. In this series you will hear the Doctrines of Grace explained from the Bible by a preacher who is not blind to the faults of any “system” of theology. He’s also just a really great guy.

May the Lord bless you in your study of theology. Thanks for being here!

Safety is of the Lord

Valerie Basham

7 comments

October 29, 2016

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord. – Proverbs 21:31

Saturday, October 22, 2016, started out as all Saturdays do for us. We slept late, the kids played and did their weekly chores. I have regular work to do: laundry, ironing, lesson planning, menu-and-grocery-list-making, housework and Sunday school prep. Last week, we were blessed to have Pastor Mark Langley with us from Topeka, Kansas, to preach on Sunday, so we had a few extra things to do for that. I was sitting at my desk working on lesson plans for the coming week when Mitch asked if he could go on a bike ride. He does this almost every day. I said yes. I cautioned him to be careful and told him what time he should be home. I made sure he had Terry’s phone with him, like I always do. I got back to my work. A few minutes later, I heard the blaring of not one, but several sirens. They were close by. But I often hear sirens. Our town has 100,000 people. Sirens are normal, just like the bombing at Ft. Sill. I kept working. A few more minutes passed and I got a phone call from Terry – well, it took me a sec to realize that it wasn’t Terry, Mitch had Terry’s phone. I had already forgotten that Mitch had left for a bike ride. I remembered it was Mitch and figured he’d fallen or his bike chain broke. His first words were, “Mom, calm down.” (Odd. I was calm.) “I’ve been hit by a car.” (Not calm anymore.)

I asked him where he was and he told me the street name. “Next to that brown house,” he said. What brown house? I thought. Finally, “Just drive like you’re going to church and you will find me,” he said. We hopped in the car and did that. Around the corner from our home were two police cars, a fire truck and an ambulance with the stretcher out. No wonder I heard the sirens so loudly…and they were for my own son. Mitch was seated on the curb talking to paramedics. I leapt out of the car and rushed to him. I did my best to remain calm. I’ve been in enough of these type of situations to have learned the hard way that panic never helps, nor do tears. I did feel choked up and misty-eyed as I saw my boy. He was scraped and bruised, clothes torn and asphalt-colored grime all over one side of his body. He complained of wrist pain and scrapes on his arms. The paramedics said they could take him to the ER or we could, but either way, we should have him checked out. We signed a paper releasing the paramedics and loaded him and his bike into the van.

Police explained to Terry on the scene that the driver who hit him had fled. Mitchell came to with a man and woman asking him if he was all right. They helped him out of the road, called 911 and remained on the scene to give police the license plate number of the driver who hit him, as well as the description of the events. Terry and I were so shaken up at the scene, that neither of us had the presence of mind to inquire as to who the witnesses were or if they were there. We would have liked to thank them. We hope to be able to do that when the police complete their investigation. That’s right, it’s an ongoing investigation as they try to find the person who hit Mitchell and left him in the road, unconscious. The witnesses said Mitch went up on the windshield of the car, maybe up over the car, and the driver stopped to let him roll off and then sped away. I am so grateful that there were people who cared enough to get involved, to help a complete stranger. I will be forever grateful to them, and to the rapid response of our police and paramedics.

I have so many emotions flowing through my mind as I write this. Because we had a busy weekend ahead of us, I had to compartmentalize these events and move forward to the next thing. I’m usually the type who pauses to process my emotions, it’s just how I handle life. I cry, usually in private, then I get up and move on. I have not cried, not really. But as I sit down and write about these events, I can feel the tears coming to the surface. All of the “what ifs” come to mind: What if he had died? What if he were in a coma? What if he couldn’t see or walk? And to each of those “what ifs” come a resounding reply from my heart, “Thank you, Heavenly Father!” I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the Lord’s protection. My mother often quoted Proverbs 21:31 to me as I was growing up. Its truth was illustrated to me in living color last week.

Well, we got home and had Mitchell shower and change clothes. He was a bit disoriented and pumped-up on adrenaline at first. In his confusion, he put on the same clothes he had worn in the accident after his shower, so we had him change. He wanted to go out to eat as we had planned to do that night, but now he had to go to the hospital to be examined, so the meal was put on hold. He was unhappy about that. He couldn’t remember the accident and he felt like it was his fault, but we don’t know. We told him it didn’t matter whose fault it was, he was alive and we were so thankful. We decided to take him to the MedExpress Urgent Care Clinic in town and avoid the ER. They took an x-ray of his wrist and told us it was just a bad sprain. They gave him a support splint for it. They said to check him every two hours for the next 24 hours for a concussion by having him stick out his tongue straight, asking him questions like, “when is your birthday?”, having him close his eyes and touch his nose, checking his pupils and things like that. We had a very long night on Saturday checking him. Terry and I took turns waking him through the night.

Needless to say, it has taken me a while to recover from that one day as I have tried to keep going with our normal routine: Co-op on Monday, school work through the week; on Tuesday, we found out Lauren would have her wisdom teeth cut out the very next day – Wednesday! That went well, praise the Lord, but has involved a long recovery process for her. She is still on pain medicine and only eating soft foods. Yes, it was a long week, but a hugely blessed week.

Here are a few photos of Mitch the day of the accident:

Here he is on Tuesday, October 25:

Wednesday, October 26:

His bruises have continued to heal even more and his black eye is less swollen and dark today. He has more range of motion in his wrist after wearing the support for a week. I knew the pain in his wrist was bad when I didn’t have to make him wear the support. Today is his first day without it; today is one week since the wreck. What a week!

I am thankful that, while I do all that I can to be a good mom and prepare for the worst, ultimately, safety is in the Lord’s hands.

And I trust His hands.

With love,

Theological Term of the Week: Regeneration

Valerie Basham

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October 24, 2016

This week’s term: Regeneration – That aspect of salvation which describes the infusion of life into the dead soul. It is the aspect of salvation which is referred to by Christ as being “born again” (John 3:3). It is also the aspect of salvation which is illustrated by the resurrection of Lazarus.

Last week’s term: Calling – The work of God in summoning or bringing men to Himself. This is revealed to us in scripture in two basic senses:

The gospel call, (general call) which goes forth in the Word of God and which is conveyed to men by preaching. This may be regarded as a general call which is issued to all men who hear and potentially issued to all men everywhere.
The Spirit’s call, (effectual call) which goes directly to the hearts of God’s elect, and which the effect is regeneration. This is not a general call but a personal and effectual call. It is actually the determining as to whether the general call ever takes saving effect, and is always finally obeyed. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)

Theological Term of the Week: Calling

Valerie Basham

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October 17, 2016

This week’s term: Calling – The work of God in summoning or bringing men to Himself. This is revealed to us in scripture in two basic senses:

The gospel call, (general call) which goes forth in the Word of God and which is conveyed to men by preaching. This may be regarded as a general call which is issued to all men who hear and potentially issued to all men everywhere.
The Spirit’s call, (effectual call) which goes directly to the hearts of God’s elect, and which the effect is regeneration. This is not a general call but a personal and effectual call. It is actually the determining as to whether the general call ever takes saving effect, and is always finally obeyed. (1 Corinthians 1:23-24)

Last week’s term: Imputation – The act of imputing or crediting to one’s account. It carries three basic senses in the Bible

The sin of Adam being credited or imputed to all offspring.
The sin of the elect of Adam’s fallen race being imputed to Christ.
The righteousness of Christ being imputed to the believer or the elect of Adam’s race.

My Book Bag: The Real Lincoln

Valerie Basham

4 comments

October 11, 2016

I love history. I loved it in school. I believed that I was familiar with the Civil War. However, when I read Clouds of Glory, a biography of Robert E. Lee, I began to question what I had been taught in school. I realized I had never read an account of the war from the South’s perspective. It became clear that my history textbooks, while written from a Christian world view, were also written from one point of view: Lincoln’s.

Thomas DiLorenzo shatters the popular view of the Civil War and of the man, Lincoln.

Chapters include the following:

Lincoln’s Opposition to Racial Equality
Why Not Peaceful Emancipation?
Lincoln’s Real Agenda
The Myth of Secession as “Treason” (Don’t miss “Lincoln’s Spectacular Lie” in this chapter!)
Was Lincoln a Dictator?
Waging War on Civilians
Reconstructing America: Lincoln’s Political Legacy
The Great Centralizer: Lincoln’s Economic Legacy
The Costs of Lincoln’s War

After reading The Real Lincoln, I have a brand new view of this age old subject. This book carefully demonstrates with charts, newspaper articles, and quotations that the Civil War I thought I knew about was not the war my southern ancestors lived through.

For example, I’ve always wondered why the South didn’t try to negotiate with Lincoln, to find a peaceful solution? This is a good question. Eleven other countries had peacefully ended slavery prior to 1861, beginning with Argentina in 1813. (p.50). Mr. Di Lorenzo makes this valid point: “The man whom master historians would later describe as one of the master politicians of all time failed to use his legendary political skills and his rhetorical gifts to do what every other country of the world where slavery once existed had done: end it peacefully, without resorting to warfare. That would have been the course taken by a genuine statesmen.” (p. 52)

The South had every right to secede peacefully from the Union. Is this not what we had wanted from England in 1776, but could not attain? Our founding fathers never intended for the new government to become the colossal monstrosity that they themselves had fought against. Long before Fort Sumter, New England wanted to secede three times: 1803, 1807, and 1812. They ultimately did not do it, but at the time, their right to secede was never questioned, merely the reasons for it, which were varied. (pp. 93-100) Likewise, “Jefferson Davis appointed a peace commission whose mission was to travel to D.C. in March of 1861 (before the attack on Fort Sumter) and offer to pay for any Federal property on Southern soil, as well as the southern portion of the national debt. Lincoln refused to even see them or acknowledge their existence.” (p.121) The South was never allowed the right that New England had had in the early 19th century.

Lincoln put into effect many executive orders, much like modern Presidents have done. He closed newspapers that disagreed with him. He suspended the writ of habeas corpus (unconstitutional). He sent Union officers to imprison any northern Congressmen, like Mr. Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio, who had Southern sympathies. And the list goes on.

Lest you think Lincoln despised the mistreatment of blacks, think again. Lincoln said in a debate with Stephen Douglas on August 21, 1858, “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races…” “I…am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position.” (p. 285) Just imagine a politician saying this today! He would be hanged from the nearest tree! Yet, these are the words of “The Great Emancipator”.

And what about racism? I grew up in the South. I’ve had to hang my head in shame at being born into a former part of the Confederacy, the hated “slave-owning South”. Yet, interestingly enough, the “benevolent North” is a myth! Alexis de Tocqueville noted that racism was actually worse in the north than the south. (p.46) Hundreds of northern men fled to Canada or paid others to take their place in conscription after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Before this, men thought they were fighting to preserve the Union; the proclamation made the war about freeing the black man. They wanted no part of it.

The one good thing that came of the war was the end of slavery. But at what cost! “The monetary costs of the war alone would have been enough to purchase the freedom of every last Southern slave (and give each 40 acres and a mule.)” (p.275).

The highest price of the war? The shredding of states’ rights: “The loss of states’ rights is important because it meant that the people, as citizens of their respective states, would no longer be sovereign; the federal government would be.” (p.264)

Look around at our America today. The states get millions of dollars annually in subsidies from the Federal Government — as long as we’re being good. (Read: Doing what D.C. says) If we, the people in our respective states, decide to do something differently, then they threaten us with removal of their aid. The transgender bathroom issue? Out of our hands. Abortion? Not for us to say. Same-sex marriage? We must bow to the will of the all-mighty men in D.C.

And it all began with Lincoln.

People in both the north and south owe a debt to men like Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Longstreet, Davis and a host of Confederate soldiers who were willing to fight, not to keep their slaves, but to keep their rights. I wish they had succeeded.

If you love history, if you love the truth, you’ll read The Real Lincoln.

Theological Term of the Week: Imputation

Valerie Basham

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October 10, 2016

This week’s term: Imputation – The act of imputing or crediting to one’s account. It carries three basic senses in the Bible:

The sin of Adam being credited or imputed to all offspring.
The sin of the elect of Adam’s fallen race being imputed to Christ.
The righteousness of Christ being imputed to the believer or the elect of Adam’s race.

Last week’s term: Substitution – One thing placed for, or in the stead of, another: Christ, putting Himself in our place to suffer the just vengeance of God upon sin, and standing in our stead before God, offering the righteousness which is required of us, but which we cannot ourselves offer.

A Better Backyard

Valerie Basham

4 comments

October 8, 2016

This past summer, my husband and I repainted and redecorated the bedrooms and bathrooms. I have the before and after photos somewhere. They are either on my phone, on my hard drive, or…somewhere. I have been so swamped that blogging has been forced (against my will, mind you) to the bottom of the to-do list. However, I am going to try to share the photos of our hard work before the year is out.

Or before next spring.

I wanted to share our most recent project now, since those pictures were the easiest to find. We have had a little patio-thing in our back yard since we bought the house three years ago. It had lattice and a green fiberglass roof. I’m sure that in its hay-day it was lovely. That day is over. When we got the house, the wood was sagging and rotted, and the fiberglass had broken off in some places and banged against the timbers every time the wind rose up, which is often in these parts. It would slap-slap-slap loudly, so I always knew when the wind was strong. Some of it finally did brake off, blew into a tree and just hung there. Mitch climbed on the roof of the house and got it down. Yep, it was time for the old patio to go. So, a few weeks ago, Terry armed himself with a sledge hammer and a saw and his own brute force and tore it down.

Before:

After:

The pile of rubbish we carted off to the dump.

Slowly but surely, we are making our house a home. And I use “we” very loosely there, it’s mostly “he”. Thanks, honey, for all you have done.

Remember Me?

Valerie Basham

3 comments

October 5, 2016

Hi! My name is Valerie. Thanks for stopping by!

Life has been so busy lately that I almost feel like I need to introduce myself again and start over from scratch with this blog. I mentioned in a previous post that our family decided to throw caution to the wind and participate in our homeschool group’s co-op classes, which are held once a week. Co-op only lasts about three hours, but the toll it has taken on my schedule has been seismic. (I guess I didn’t realize how rigid I was in scheduling department. Oops.) The kids are loving their classes which include art, P.E., volleyball, and choir for the younger ones; computer science, knitting, and young entrepreneurs for the older ones. I help out in two classes. We just completed our fourth week and are finally adjusting to the change.

I have also been working part-time at our church as my husband’s secretary. I am responsible for packing and mailing the Watchman Press materials and helping to get them printed. I am currently typing four Sunday school lesson books written by Bro. Forrest Keener, a former pastor of Bethel who labored here for over 40 years. The books need updating, and that’s taking a lot of work. I am not a fast typist and I homeschool the kids every day, so my hours have been confined to a few days a week in the afternoons. I have completed one book. Yep! Only three to go. Between homeschooling, house work, and church work, I have been too tired to do my favorite hobby: blog!

In the few minutes I have right now between loads of laundry and supper time, I wanted to stop in and say hello and share a few photos of our school year so far. (Some of these pics are from as far back as August…I’m behind in everything these days.)

Matt with an art project.

Working hard. Definitely had to bronze this moment.

Laci did a little science project, demonstrating that “Everything Is Matter”.

Matt with two of his books for first grade. The book on the left was used by each of the kids. Lots of memories sitting beside them, helping them sound out words, fighting sleep. *sigh* Good times.

Here’s Mitch working on a science project.

Matthew has been learning some poems for first grade. He doesn’t always want me to video him, but he said I could for this most recent poem, “The Secret”.

Moments like these make homeschooling worth every minute.

I have also had less and less time for my second favorite hobby – reading. I have a few books to write about, and I do hope I can do that soon.

The dryer buzzed…gotta run. 🙂

THANK YOU for reading!

Theological Term of the Week: Substitution

Valerie Basham

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October 3, 2016

This week’s term: Substitution – One thing placed for, or in the stead of, another: Christ, putting Himself in our place to suffer the just vengeance of God upon sin, and standing in our stead before God, offering the righteousness which is required of us, but which we cannot ourselves offer.

Last week’s term: Ransom – Essentially the same as redemption; in fact, they are interchangeably translated from the Greek; to buy back, or to buy out of bondage. It is very akin to redemption and carries the idea of the price of a bond slave being paid by another, him thus being freed from his state of bondage. The analogies of ransom and redemption teach, not simply the payment of the required price of redemption, but the actual setting free of the one who is redeemed, or ransomed.