Reformed Journey

Are we instructed to sing the Psalms from the Old Testament in church?  Does Psalms mean the Psalms?  Some Christians teach that the bible commands us to sing the Psalms from the Old Testament in our church services. There are verses in the New Testament that instruct us to sing Psalms. Such as Ephesians 5:19, “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,” and its parallel text in Colossians 3:16, “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Is Paul teaching and instructing the Ephesian and Colossian churches, and us, to sing the Psalms from the Old Testament? First, let me say that singing the Psalms is obviously an excellent thing. Throughout church history, churches have sung the Psalms, not only as they flourished but also as they were persecuted.  In his excellent book, Worshiptainment, Dr Matthew Everhard gives three reasons for singing the Psalms in...

“Such a good reminder to stay the course; don’t quit hoping and believing. God will always be faithful to you (2 Timothy 2:13). Encourage a friend today by sharing this post with them.  This post, accompanying the attached picture with Andrew Wommack's quote, “If you don’t quit, you’ll eventually win,” was posted to the Charis Bible College Facebook page. Charis is the Bible College run by false teacher Andrew Wommack. Once again, we see Andrew Wommack twisting scripture by taking verses out of context to make people believe the Bible teaches that they will eventually get what they want. The implication is that if they keep 'hoping and believing,' then God will be faithful and they will win-i.e., they will get that promotion, that thing they want, that bill paid, etc.  To make this blatant greed seem biblical, the Bible College attaches a verse: 2 Timothy 2:13. However, is that what 2 Timothy 2:13 teaches? Does this verse teach you'll eventually "win" if you d...

“So when he created the first man, he just spoke him into existence and just like that, it happened. But after sin entered this earth, after we gave that dominion to Satan, God still had to speak the second Adam into existence, but he had to do it through people. And the reason it took 4,000 years after the fall of Adam and Eve for Jesus to show up was because he couldn’t speak directly independent of people, he had to speak through people, and there were just very, very, very few people who were in tune enough with the Lord to be able to hear these things and speak these things forth.”                                                                                                                    ...

Andrew Wommack changes Jesus' explicit teaching.  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/g1hdZtnCApc “All you’ve got to do to see you go from where you are to where you know God wants you to be is go to the book, go to the bible, find the seeds that promise the things that you’re needing and you put those seeds in your heart and you defend them. Satan will come and try to steal away the word, but if you will stand against the affliction and the persecution and if you don’t let other things enter in and choke the word of God, this seed will activate this supernatural born again life that’s on the inside of you and it’s just a matter of time until you see things come to pass.”  Hermeneutics is the discipline of biblical interpretation that helps readers and hearers of Scripture understand and apply the biblical text.  One key principle of Hermeneutics is that a particular passage of scripture has one meaning but may have multiple possible applications.  The Andrew Wommack quot...

Welcome. A little about me and this blog Welcome to my blog. I appreciate you taking the time to look around. Hopefully, you will find something useful as the Holy Spirit leads you into the truth of His word. "Why Reformed Journey?" you may ask. This blog is my way of expressing my frustration with the abundance of false teachings floating around today. It is also my journey from growing up in a very charismatic church to becoming a member of a biblical, orthodox Presbyterian church. (To be clear, the Presbyterian church we attend is not one of those very liberal, unbiblical Presbyterian churches you may have heard of. I hope this will become clear to you as you read through my blogs.) Also, I want to make clear that I don't believe that the Presbyterian Church as a whole is the only true Christian denomination, of course. We attend our church because 1. In our small town, there are few options, and 2. I have found that the Presbyterian church's underpinning belie...

  Andrew Wommack turns the gospel in to greed. This blog is taken from a short video on Andrew Wommack's YouTube channel entitled "You have to believe to receive." The Link is below.  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2jfqjVY9sU8 “He wants to supply our needs. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says ‘you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might be made rich.’” This is a common verse used by so-called ‘prosperity preachers’ such as Andrew Wommack. Wommack's short video focuses on money and how to obtain earthly financial gain. Is that what this verse teaches? Did Jesus become poor in the economic sense so that we could be healthy and get all that our flesh desires after?  2 Corinthians 8:9, ESV: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor so that you, by his poverty, might become rich.” In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul reminds his readers...

Jesse Duplantis twists Romans 4:17 This blog is taken from a video on Jesse Duplanits's YouTube page. The link is below. The quoted section below in italics is from timestamp 00:25-1:19. Please watch the video in its entirety to see that I have not taken him out of context.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiVNWGOXHbA&t=81s “Romans 4:17, For God said, I call those things that be not as though they were. Which means simply this: If I want a miracle, I don’t call it sickness. If I need money I don’t call it debt…..My point is simply this: calling those things that are not as though they were means you're not just throwing words in the air, you’re saying what you want instead of what you have. So many people have no problem telling God what they have. Oh Lord, I'm run down; oh Lord, I'm tired; he knows all that, he knows all that. Why are you telling him something he already knows? Tell him something he doesn’t know; tell him what you want.” Let's break this down i...