“One who is full loathes honey, but to one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.” (Proverbs 27:7, ESV)

The disturbing migration of former “evangelicals” to Romanism in the past few years was spotlighted in 2007 when Francis Beckwith – once president of the Evangelical Theological Society stepped down from that position as he too re-embraced the Roman Catholicism of his youth. My own view is simply that when there is no real conversion to Christ and true regeneration – what is lacking in genuine spiritual reality must be replaced by something – which something many think they find in the flourishes of a ritualistic framework which mimics the true majesty of Christ with outward structure. If one does not have the real thing, the closest analog will be sought out. It is the very essence of the second thought in our text today – “to the one who is hungry everything bitter is sweet.”

My dear friend, Tony Bartolucci, Pastor of Clarkson Community Church and no mean expositor of the Word, himself disturbed by this trend sought to grasp the issues behind it and interact fully with Beckwith’s own account of his return to Romanism. The result is a 12 parts series of sermons which I have found extremely helpful. They are insightful, clear, challenging and above all – call us to examine not only this trend, but all of our reasoning to the authority of the Scripture.

I highly commend this series to you – especially if you have a loved one who may themselves be wrestling in this area. You can order the entire series on CD, or listen to them free on line BY CLICKING HERE OR THE LOGO. There is a crying need for us to face this current trend head on in this Biblical fashion. Get these!

” I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6, ESV)

The following is excerpted from From D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’ 1969 Lecture on the Puritans – The Puritans, Their Origins and Successors, pages 234-235. It is wonderful reminder of our need to major on the majors, and minor on the minors.

“In 1654 Oliver Cromwell – with his idea of Toleration – and the Parliament called upon the divines to define what should be tolerated or indulged among those who profess the fundamentals of Christianity. If effect they said, we have all these division and sects and groups; what are the fundamental of Christianity on which we can have fellowship together? So a committee was set up and the members of the committee were these: Mr. Richard Baxter, Dr. John Owen, Dr. Thomas Goodwin, Dr. Cheynel, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Reyner, Mr. Nye, Mr. Sydrach Simpson, Mr. Vines, Mr. Manton, Mr. Jacomb. As I said earlier, Baxter tried to short-circuit the whole proposal at the beginning by saying that nothing was necessary but the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Commandments. But that was rejected. Then they proceeded to work, and they produced 16 Articles which they felt stated the fundamentals on which, and on which alone, true fellowship is possible between Protestant Evangelical people. Here they are –

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