Tag: Biblical Teaching

Are the Saints in Heaven Sinning When they Ask for Justice?

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 11 Comments

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:9-11)

We have heard all kinds of theological charlatanism when it comes to the application of what are called “imprecatory” prayers. An imprecation is a curse. Sometimes of course it can be a sinful thing. When someone uses foul language when we they are angry, we call it “cursing.” Uttering a “damnation” against someone unjustly is indeed a sin. And a serious one. Jesus said so —

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. (Matthew 5:22)

However, Scripture also shows us that there IS a proper and righteous prayer of cursing someone! This is called, once again, an imprecatory prayer. Here is an example:

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In My Father’s House: A New Book by Jeff Crippen

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 3 Comments

We have just published an illustrated book – only 34 pages in size – that is a presentation of the master theme of the Bible:

Lev 26:11-12  I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.

This book is a summation of our 16 sermon series (still at sermonaudio.com/crc) on the Temple.  You can find that series by the same title, In My Father’s House, at Sermon Audio.

We kept the size of the book brief because we want readers to get the big picture of Scripture without getting lost in details. Also, it’s size makes it a very useful tool to give to someone who has questions about the Bible or about Christ and the gospel.

The book is available here on Amazon*

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A False Gospel Always Promotes Abuse

~ Jeff Crippen ~ 1 Comment

Gal 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– (7) not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Gal 3:1-3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. (2) Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? (3) Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

As I preached a sermon series through the epistle to the Galatians, each week I became more impressed with its relevance to the roots causes of abuse.  Not only domestic abuse, but the abuse of power in general. Consider, for example, these statements Paul makes about the motives of the false teachers who infiltrated these churches:

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