Spotting a Counterfeit Part 2

While going about reading some blogs and all-the-while still thinking on what I posted Saturday, I realize that there is a bit more I want to clarify regarding the previous posting, hence the part 2....and it may go on to part 3 and part 4 because there is so much that is jumbling about in my head that I hope I can convey  it in such a way where I can take it point by point rather than jumping all around it and making it more confusing for everyone, including myself, as I often tend to do.

I'll begin with what happened recently on my Facebook page with an ardent ANTI-Calvinist who was set on converting me to seeing how evil John Calvin was, and how all Calvinists today do not follow Jesus but have John Calvin and their leader and pope. We went round and round, I brought up the scriptures that "prove my point" and as he got uglier and uglier in his accusations against me, someone he doesn't know except for what he sees on Facebook, and against my husband when I would bring up something he has said to me, our conversation never came to our agreeing on anything. I hoped the best for him as I "unfriended" him because I just didn't want to continue such a dialogue, and even to myself my words of "I hope someday you get it, that the Lord will open your eyes" sounded mean and condescending.

Is this Anti-Calvinist misled on the topic of Calvinism? Truly he is, I saw it from everything that he said that he didn't do his own research and has only gathered information from those who are rabidly set against it so much so they have exaggerated and distorted pretty much everything they say about it. Was John Calvin perfect? No. He was a human being and therefore just as prone to error as any of us are. There are things that I have learned about John Calvin that I disagree with him on 100% such as his position that he had on the death penalty. 

John Calvin was a product of his time. In his day it was legal to be sentenced to death for heresy. John Calvin supported that legislation, and had Servetus (a Semi-Pelagian -- he held to several unBiblical heresies that would even today raise the eyebrows of anyone who knows their Bible) captured and it led to Servetus being executed by being burned on the stake. It would be the equivalent of today's Christians who support the death penalty for unrepentant murderers, because in John Calvin's day they viewed the murdering of souls more terrible than the murder of a mortal body. I don't support the death penalty, the Lord will end each life at the time appointed to him or her, so I don't agree with John Calvin on this point and neither do I agree with Christians today who want to see anyone executed for their crimes against humanity.

This futile conversation was just another example to me of the futility of arguing over these things. Neither of us was convincing the other of the truth and superiority of our position, and in fact, only brought a sense of further mistrust and dislike of the opposing position. My husband rightly pointed out that I only wanted to prove I was right, and then proved nothing to those who might have been following that conversation and who knew nothing of "Calvinism" or "Arminianism" or "Semi-Pelagianism", and if anything, might have thought less of Christianity if they were indeed unsaved and looking at us Christians fighting over.....who knows what. He pointed out that we have Catholic and unsaved family members who would give up on listening to anything about Jesus from my husband and I, who would simply look at us with an eye of suspicion, if not confusion. 

My husband's final nail in my coffin was this fact: 

There are probably MANY Arminians that are saved but just are a little confused or misled on the sovereignty of God issues, and my arguing with them won't convince them, only the Lord opening their eyes will convince them....exactly my words to my Arminian antagonist on Facebook that was said by me in condescension, yes of course it is true we know nothing unless the Lord reveals it, but my saying so was wrong. At this time we still see through a glass darkly. None of us have a perfect understanding of how all of this fits together, and the Calvinist issue of who chose whom"chicken or the egg" argument we know that God created both the chicken and the egg, and that is the point the Calvinist will make, yet the argument still is one that the answer can only come from God Himself showing us the answer, so why do I have to "Lord it over" others who do not quite understand it? If the Lord revealed it to me, can He not reveal it to them IN HIS TIME? If He revealed it, why do I act as though it was something I in my wisdom was able to gain and now have to try to pound it into other people who don't "get it"?

So, like I said in part 1, my husband reminded me: "Just point people to Jesus, Susan, He will bring them into all true understanding".

Amen, so true. 

In Part 3 I want to touch on the topic of the Charismatic movement...and that might be divided into a Part 4 as well, we'll see how it goes....

An Allegory

A recent conversation on Facebook on the topic of "Calvinism" went like this:

image link

From an Arminian "friend" :)

A man having 100 dogs took them to the far end of a long driveway. Having placed 96 of them in a cage he attached a long rope to the remaining 4 and went to the opposite end of the driveway. Once there he called, with a general call, to all of them. None of them responded. The ones in the cage of course could not and the others could not understand the meaning of the call. Taking the rope in hand the man proceeded to force the 4 to come willingly. (force to come willingly, this is the exact statement used in the book “The Five Points of Calvinism to describe the actions of God the Holy Spirit.) The 4 the man now called elect and born again. These were to be showered with treats and happiness forever. On the remaining 96 he poured flammable liquid and set them afire with a flame that would burn forever because they had not responded to his call.
All of this was to demonstrate the love and mercy of the man and show forth his glory.
I much prefer the allegory of the man walking down a long road when on the side of the road he sees a door over which is a sigh which reads “Whosoever will may come”. He steps through the door into a glorious wonder world. Looking back at the door that he just came through he sees another sign that says, “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world”.
If the allegory of the man and the dogs is not an accurate picture of Calvinism please correct me. If it is accurate then please join me by passing through the door, which is Christ, and receive Him by faith as the Lord of your life.

My reply:


Your allegory fails because all of the 100 dogs that are to represent all of mankind would have to be in the cage  because creation is less than perfect, only God is perfect, God had made all of creation good at creation however it isn't perfect because only God is perfect. To make your allegory line up with scripture, the dogs would have to ALL be in the cage, and then it is God who opens the cage door and drags a few of the dogs out that are actually content to remain in a cage that is destined for eternal fire...
....and to make your allegory even more correct with the Bible, the dogs have to be blind, lame, and actually in every way dead, and then God takes only some of them, according to His purpose, revives them back to life, gives them sight, and ability to walk as He drags them unwilling and unable to come by their own ability, He drags them out of their terrible situation, and only THEN do they realize with amazement (after they have been dragged out)  what  they have escaped.

What Are You Celebrating This Week?

Since the Lord's saving me I've never felt right about celebrating a demonically inspired pagan "holiday". I know we have freedom in Christ, however we are also cautioned to not use our freedom as a license for sinning.  Putting a "Christian Face" on it by dressing Trick-or-Treaters as Esther or Jesus doesn't get my vote either, because it attempts to Christianize a pagan festival no matter how you slice it.

Some think the answer is having a "harvest festival" at church, so that the children can have fun in a safe environment and thereby won't be deprived of candy, fun, and games, as if those were the most important things children should learn to base their lives on, not that I'm against "fun" or "games", etc., but how many Christian families even know that the day we celebrate as "harvest festival" or "Halloween" , on the 31 of October in 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 thesis protesting the abuse of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church?

To celebrate this pivotal time in history, let's not "celebrate" with pumpkins and ghouls and witches, but instead turn our hearts in prayerful remembrance of what the reformers went through to bring light to the world that was darkened by an almost Christian religion.

R.C. Sproul has an excellent series on this topic. I hope you will have the wisdom to take the time to listen to these lectures. These videos are packed with information, including some facts about Luther that surprised me, and helped me let go of some popular myths about this wonderful man.

The embeded link below will continue through all 10 videos, but if you desire to watch them separately, you can find them here:

Youtube link to Luther and the Reformation

Powerfully Saved

So much has been happening in the news lately, of course the much anticipated Supreme Court decision is being talked about everywhere, many on Facebook are altering their profile pictures to show their support of the same sex marriage decision...I was considering altering my profile picture on Facebook to have a Bible or a cross or perhaps an open tomb, but decided to keep my profile pic the way it is. I don't want to cause people to jump to conclusions from a picture before hearing me out, and it all seems like a childish "whose side is bigger" game to me. It doesn't matter what people (including Supreme court justices) decide or do, it is what God has done, does, and will do that matters most.

Looking around on youtube on the topic of LGBT I found a wonderful testimony by a former lesbian activist. She has many insights into the "lifestyle" and the LGBT movement, how they infiltrate, the truth about LGBT tactics, and the difficulties that plague those caught in this way of life from behind the scenes, and how the Lord saved her and changed her "ministry".

Charlene is not a pastor, but she does mention a woman pastor that spoke words of life to her. I hope you won't get sidetracked on the woman pastor issue.  True that the office of pastoral leadership should not be held by women, however I also know from scripture that God can even use a donkey to keep a person from heading for destruction.

Also she mentions that it was her choice to allow Jesus to save her, yet she mentions  that the Lord saved her when she was 12 years old...the Lord obviously had a plan for Charlene's life and He brought it to completion. It doesn't matter if we think we chose Him, what makes anything we do real or not is if God ignites and infuses His Spirit into whatever decisions we make. Many think man's power to decide is what saves us and of course we can do nothing unless the Lord first grants us the ability to see that choice and then give us His power to choose the right thing. She might be a bit confused about who chose whom, but I can see that she has been powerfully saved by the Lord truly intervening in her life.

This video is about 25  minutes in length. Please have a very uplifting and inspirational coffee break time out with Charlene:

Can We Lose Our Salvation?

 

 

http://ayay.co.uk/background/art/danish/the-tiger-arrives-at-the-two-martyrs/

Perseverance of the Saints

Perseverance of the Saints is a doctrine which states that the saints (those whom God has saved) will remain in God's hand until they are glorified and brought to abide with him in heaven. Romans 8:28-39 makes it clear that when a person truly has been regenerated by God, he will remain in God's stead. The work of sanctification which God has brought about in his elect will continue until it reaches its fulfillment in eternal life (Phil. 1:6). Christ assures the elect that he will not lose them and that they will be glorified at the "last day" (John 6:39). The Calvinist stands upon the Word of God and trusts in Christ's promise that he will perfectly fulfill the will of the Father in saving all the elect.

 http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html

Many believe you can "lose" or "give back" salvation, a sort of cosmic abortion, if you will. Does that even make sense? If God begins something, He completes it (Phil 1:6) so if you "become" unregenerate, you were never His to begin with. (1 John 2:19)

It is possible to torture the text to make it confess all sorts of things... true, I see it all the time. The ones most guilty of such butchery are the ones who are most convinced that they can lose their salvation and that they chose God in order to be saved. God didn't leave such important work in our own hands to mangle, to  manipulate salvation out of Him, and then later toss aside saying "I can decide to do whatever I want because God gave me that choice". My husband says: "If you have the power to choose to be saved, you also have the power to lose it." (see John 10:29) 


" All the angels, and Adam, received from their Creator holy natures; yet our first father and the fallen angels show that they could totally fall away into sin. No one in himself is absolutely incapable of sinning, except the unchangeable God. Converted men, who still have indwelling sin, must certainly be as capable of falling as Adam, who had none. We believe that the saints will certainly stand, because the God who chose them will certainly hold them up." Link

Do we really believe we are better than Adam and Eve and the holy angels of God to keep our own salvation secure? In the gospel of John chapter 6 we see many who followed after Jesus turn away from Him and follow Him no more (John 6:66) after He told them

 John 6:65  And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (KJV)

This is one of the most comforting aspects of the fact that it is God who saves us and God who keeps us saved....so why do so many reject Jesus at His word?

 
 John 6:63  It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 6:64a  But there are some of you who do not believe."(KJV)

ohhhh.....yes, I see.

Read the links for more indepth study:

 http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html
 http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/dabney/5points.htm

A couple of posts ago I stated I would talk about our Total depravity (the "T" in TULIP)....I forgot....so I'll go into that next time :)

Does "All" Really Mean All?

 The last two posts I have been touching on the topic of "Calvinism". If you aren't familiar with this subject, or even if you are, it would be good to read the previous posts in order. The first is an introduction, the second explores one of the areas of debate on this topic:

 http://susanflutterbys.blogspot.ca/2015/02/choices-and-faith.html

http://susanflutterbys.blogspot.ca/2015/02/chosen-by-god.html

The L in the Calvinism TULIP stands for Limited Atonement. This blog post will not cover all of the finer points of both sides of this much passionately debated issue, but I give it an overview with links for your further study. On face value, the term Limited Atonement (or also called Particular Atonement) sounds offensive and heretical. 

What! God's sacrifice for our sins is in no way limited!!! 

True...so let us explore what this sound bite is actually talking about.

 Jesus died only for the elect. Though Jesus’ sacrifice was sufficient for all, it was not efficacious for all. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect. Support for this position is drawn from such scriptures as Matt. 26:28 where Jesus died for ‘many'; John 10:11, 15 which say that Jesus died for the sheep (not the goats, per Matt. 25:32-33); John 17:9 where Jesus in prayer interceded for the ones given Him, not those of the entire world; Acts 20:28 and Eph. 5:25-27 which state that the Church was purchased by Christ, not all people; and Isaiah 53:12 which is a prophecy of Jesus’ crucifixion where he would bore the sins of many (not all). http://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm

Sufficient for all, but not efficacious for all...in other words the sacrifice itself is sufficient to save every person ever born on this earth, but it does not do so. It is not efficacious, effective, in everyone's lives. On that point everyone that calls themselves Christian will agree. So why is this such a disagreeable assertion for many?...I personally think that people get stuck on the shortened for TULIP's sake title of LIMITED atonement.

Everyone agrees that not everyone  "gets" saved, or all Christians would also be universalists. Something has to happen. Jesus said: "You must be born again" John 3:3

The idea that one can will himself to be born again was discussed in the last post, so this is a continuation on that idea. The fact that the Lords atonement is  not effective for everyone is accepted by most Christians whether they call themselves Calvinists or not. The problem lies in the fact that those who are not Calvinists accuse Calvinists of saying that God forces some to be saved, and forces others to be not saved by the fact that He determined when He made us whether we would be one of His or not. I had one semipelagian call the God of Calvinists a "rapist god", because He forces some to love Him. The problem is we cannot love Him unless He causes us to, changing our hearts and minds and lives in conformity to His will for us...but we tend to think in human terms so such a thing would be a limitation on our freedom and ability when in actuality it is the opposite: God frees us to be able to love Him (remember...the truth sets us free).

But the Bible tells us in John 3:16 that God so loved THE WORLD, and that all who believe on Him will be saved...yes...

Act 13:47  For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, "'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'"
Act 13:48  And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.


Not everyone receives it. Not everyone is *ignited* by the truth of it. Some might be able to fake that for a while and fool a whole bunch of people into thinking they were born of the Spirit...but eventually the truth will bear it out whether they truly were transformed by the choosing of Gods saving Spirit who knows who are His...and who are not chosen.

I have heard many say "But that is not fair!!!!!"

True. Fair would send everyone to hell. Grace saves some that had no desire or ability to be good enough to be eternally with God. We do not want "fair", we desire grace.

Then I have heard from objectors: "When God said ALL He meant ALL...when Jesus said WHOSOEVER He really meant that for ALL"

Here is a link to a short article that goes into this a little further:
http://www.calvinistcorner.com/john316-anyone-can-believe.htm

If that makes you uncomfortable, take it to Jesus, confess your need for His Spirit to transform you by His power. He is not obligated to give you what you ask, but He does keep His promises, and one of His promises to us is that He gives liberally to all who ask of Him (James 1:5). However He does it in a way that we know and ultimately acknowledge the fact that it is His choice, not ours, that saves us out of the destiny we all would have been headed for, hell, which we all deserve (whether we want to think so or not, the truth is we all deserve hell)...and that it is GRACE that keeps some of us from going to what we all deserve.

Next time: Perseverance of the Saints

Chosen by God

Yesterday's post about the reformation and what we now call Calvinism barely scratched at the surface of the issues regarding how we regard God's sovereign rule over us. Before reading this offering please read the previous post, and links provided would also be a good read in preparing to approach the topics that I hope to touch on.

In debating with "anti-Calvinists" three things that irritate them the most come up, and I'll try to talk a little about them in separate posts. The three things are:

1. God not giving us the choice of being saved or not

2. Universal atonement vs. limited atonement

3. Perseverance of the saints (or what it has degraded into with "OSAS")

We'll start with #1.
Did God leave the saving power on our side? To choose or not to choose, that is the question....

I recently had a discussion over this with a couple of men who vehemently oppose Calvinism and promote the idea that John Calvin is a "pope of the Calvinists". One man boasts that he is very knowledgeable on the topic of evil Calvinism, stating that he has researched this for 40 years, yet in my discussions with him he acknowledged that he has never read anything written by John Calvin, or even Charles Spurgeon, stating that he doesn't want to poison his brain with such things. He said some other quite remarkable things that left me wondering why anyone was still giving his comments "likes" and calling me some kind of heretic for trying to tell others to go to the sources to read these things for themselves. I was going to share some of these characters' comments which reveal just how little they understand about this subject, but the one with the most ridiculous comments has deleted them all. Therefore we will look at what Mr. P has to say regarding unconditional election:

 First I'll start with a very brief overview of how God saved me in answer to his question:

Mr. P: "Susan did God force you to love him Or did you see God and run to him and love him because he first loved you"

Me:  "I was brought up "religious" in SDA, reading the Bible, asking and not receiving, yet God did it later after I went through all kinds of paganism and witchcraft, and He got me while I was on drugs and not able to help myself. That is grace"

Mr. P:  "I was brought up in catholics then I read the bible and saw the truth and make the free will choice to love my God who saved me"

 Me: "Believe whatever you want to Mr. P, I'll take God at His word in what He says in His word to me. He chose me and I take full comfort in it, you can thank yourself for choosing Him, I'll thank God for choosing me."

then he says

Mr. P: "Your God a raper and Calvinism just as bad as all the other false stuff you were in.. Susan get save ask Jesus to forgvie (sic) your sins he will .He ask you he does not force you to love him .He not a rapist .God seek ALL to be saved . Love does not force itself bible says plainly"

hmmm, alrightythen...yeah, I can see where Mr. P found THAT in scripture.

Me: "You choose to see a Sovereign God as a rapist because you still judge with the "eyes of the flesh", if you don't see it I cannot force you to understand things of the Spirit because you still judge by your lusts of your flesh. Take care, I'm done"

Mr. P:  "Susan did God force souls to go to hell . .God cannot judge someone he force to sin and force to reject him"

Me:  "the fall of man in the garden of Eden caused all to be destined for hell, but grace of God allows some to not receive justice instead receive mercy, gift, not earned through choosing, God chooses some, His word is everywhere but not all choose because most have not been given that ability, even many who hear the word preached cannot hear because the gift of hearing is not given, those who repent are given sight to see the truth about their utter depravity and are given the gift of repentance. We have nothing that hadn't been given to us by God."

The difference, bottom line, is that Mr. P thinks the person being saved is the primary object of importance, when in fact the Bible reveals that everything that happens is not for man's sake but to reveal the truth and mercy of God. The problem with most "Christians" today is they do not admit or understand what complete and utter depravity is. They believe there is still a little bit of their own innate goodness that gives them the freedom to choose God. The Bible reveals that we all are utterly hopeless and slaves to sin, worse than that, we are "dead in our trespasses" (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13) which is....well, dead is dead. Dead people don't make choices any more than Lazarus "chose" to come forth when Jesus called to the dead man Lazarus and said "Lazarus! Come forth!" (John 11:32-43)

So in the next episode I will explore the utter depravity of our natural condition prior to the saving power of God who transformed us by the power of His will.

Choices and Faith

A brief background: 
Arminians (those who argue that we have or lose our salvation by our choice) vs. "Calvinists" (only more recently attributed with this name, more accurately they should be named "Dutch Reform", but at the time of John Calvin they would have simply been called "Protestants" (protesting the Church at Rome) and "Christians".

Pelagians: (at the time of Augustine) did not believe in "original sin"
Semi-Pelagians: believed we are tainted by the "original sin" but not to the point that we are unable to cooperate with God to the saving of our soul.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Pelagianism.html

Today's Christian (professing to be Bible believing) churches have become tainted by the same arguments that plagued the reformers at the time of John Calvin. 

The Arminian argument presented to Synod of Dort:

1. election conditioned on foreseen faith;
2. universal atonement (that Christ died for all men and for every man, so that He merited reconciliation and forgiveness of sins for all through the death of the cross; yet so that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer);
3. the need for regeneration if man is to be saved (here they seemed to be orthodox enough, but, as it later appeared, this was understood in such a way as seriously to underestimate the depravity of human nature);
4. the resistibility of grace ('but with respect to the mode of this grace, it is not irresistible'); and
5. the uncertainty of the perseverance of believers (in respect of this article the Arminians shortly came openly to deny such final perseverance) 


compared with the "5 points of Calvinism" particularly the points of total depravity, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints (also called "once saved always saved", though this term does not give an adequate understanding, it muddies up the water of what perseverance entails) :

Total Depravity (Total Inability)

Total Depravity is probably the most misunderstood tenet of Calvinism. When Calvinists speak of humans as "totally depraved," they are making an extensive, rather than an intensive statement. The effect of the fall upon man is that sin has extended to every part of his personality -- his thinking, his emotions, and his will. Not necessarily that he is intensely sinful, but that sin has extended to his entire being.
The unregenerate (unsaved) man is dead in his sins (Romans 5:12). Without the power of the Holy Spirit, the natural man is blind and deaf to the message of the gospel (Mark 4:11f). This is why Total Depravity has also been called "Total Inability." The man without a knowledge of God will never come to this knowledge without God's making him alive through Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5).

Limited Atonement (Particular Redemption)

Limited Atonement is a doctrine offered in answer to the question, "for whose sins did Christ atone?" The Bible teaches that Christ died for those whom God gave him to save (John 17:9). Christ died, indeed, for many people, but not all (Matthew 26:28). Specifically, Christ died for the invisible Church -- the sum total of all those who would ever rightly bear the name "Christian" (Ephesians 5:25).
This doctrine often finds many objections, mostly from those who think that Limited Atonement does damage to evangelism. We have already seen that Christ will not lose any that the father has given to him (John 6:37). Christ's death was not a death of potential atonement for all people. Believing that Jesus' death was a potential, symbolic atonement for anyone who might possibly, in the future, accept him trivializes Christ's act of atonement. Christ died to atone for specific sins of specific sinners. Christ died to make holy the church. He did not atone for all men, because obviously all men are not saved. Evangelism is actually lifted up in this doctrine, for the evangelist may tell his congregation that Christ died for sinners, and that he will not lose any of those for whom he died!

Irresistible Grace

The result of God's Irresistible Grace is the certain response by the elect to the inward call of the Holy Spirit, when the outward call is given by the evangelist or minister of the Word of God. Christ, himself, teaches that all whom God has elected will come to a knowledge of him (John 6:37). Men come to Christ in salvation when the Father calls them (John 6:44), and the very Spirit of God leads God's beloved to repentance (Romans 8:14). What a comfort it is to know that the gospel of Christ will penetrate our hard, sinful hearts and wondrously save us through the gracious inward call of the Holy Spirit (I Peter 5:10)!

Perseverance of the Saints

Perseverance of the Saints is a doctrine which states that the saints (those whom God has saved) will remain in God's hand until they are glorified and brought to abide with him in heaven. Romans 8:28-39 makes it clear that when a person truly has been regenerated by God, he will remain in God's stead. The work of sanctification which God has brought about in his elect will continue until it reaches its fulfillment in eternal life (Phil. 1:6). Christ assures the elect that he will not lose them and that they will be glorified at the "last day" (John 6:39). The Calvinist stands upon the Word of God and trusts in Christ's promise that he will perfectly fulfill the will of the Father in saving all the elect.

Today's Bible believing churches that maintain some form of orthodoxy are either "Reform" or "Arminian" with some Pelagian or Semi-Pelagian doctrines in their mix. Even those members attending Reform congregations can hold to the false doctrines of Arminius and Pelagius. To understand these in full would take many many hours, days, and years of study and I'm only still at the beginning of that journey. There are websites and books available that can get one started on that road. I will provide links at the bottom of this post which I used to provide the information I give in this post.

One that I found very helpful is one that gives an overview of what happened at the Synod of Dort.
The concluding remarks given:


Yes, we should get excited about the Synod of Dort! Because of this Synod, the Reformed Churches received a valuable confession, an authoritative exposition of scriptural Calvinistic theology. In essence, the Arminian Controversy represented an attack upon the sovereignty of God in the matter of man's salvation, and exalted instead the role of man in his own salvation. The Canons of Dort acknowledged, reaffirmed, and glorified God's sovereign grace. If we truly understand what happened so long ago in that old Dutch city of Dort, we will do the same, thankfully acknowledging that it is our faithful Saviour who gathers and defends His church, in spite of all heresies. Then in thankfulness we will also live and abide by those confessions, to the praise of His glory. (emphasis and underscoring mine)

Let us carefully guard our true understanding of our terrible depravity prior to the Sovereign good and perfect will of our God to save us by His power and preordained will to save us who were so depraved in our slavery to sin that He had to heal our blind eyes, convert our stoney heart, open our deaf ears so He could draw us to His marvelous gospel of completely undeserved grace.  

 "I am a ten-thousand-talents debtor to God and have not a penny with which to discharge it, and therefore unless His sovereign grace takes pity upon me and gives me everything for nothing there is no hope whatever for me" - A. W. Pink

 http://spindleworks.com/library/vandergugten/arminian_c.htm
 http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html
 http://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm

Happy Reformation Day! :)

October 31, 1517 Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on Wittenburg's door. It marked the beginning of The Reformation. A much nicer greeting is available to us on this day than the world gives on this day.

Check out this link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/martin-luther-posts-95-theses

...and Happy Reformation Day!

The Information War

I love this series (Know Your Enemy) of Youtube videos. This segment gets into the translating of the Bible into the English language. It's interesting to me that the King James only people are so sure that the KJV of the Bible is "the only acceptable English translation" because at the time it came out, the Geneva and Tyndale Bibles were considered the acceptable versions and the KJV a new corruption backed by the Anglicans who were hostile to the Protestants. Lots of great info on this segment of the series:

Reform Theology

I enjoy Jim McClarty's views on "Calvinism", because he always goes to the Bible for the answers, not to his emotional whims and fantasies.

In this series Jim addresses the conclusions that Dave Hunt gives to his audiences...one of the conclusions Mr Hunt draws is that "Calvinists" are going to hell:

Persevering Grace

God finds us, saves us, regenerates us, grows us, and keeps us:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Mat&c=19&t=ESV#24

The "scary" portions of scripture that seem to indicate that we can "lose our salvation" are there to remind us that if it were left up to ourselves, we would definitely lose it indeed. Thankfully, God does not leave it there with our own faulty handling of things, but takes command of His own that are truly in Him. I've heard Him called a "benevolent dictator"...anyway, the point is He does it and does it completely. We cannot, and all the "scary verses" that point many people to attempt to do what Jesus says we cannot do, by trying harder to do what Jesus says we cannot, those will eventually burn themselves out... It's a vicious cycle that ends badly, but for those who are truly His, it eventually leads us to resting in His finished work.

If that weren't so, it would not be good news.

Rick Warren

 Rick Warren

I've never been one to follow Rick Warren, but I have heard alot of people speak up about his unbiblical teachings on various forums and blogs.

Lately Rick Warren has been showing up at Reformed conferences, and it is causing people to wonder if he has forsaken his former waywardness and taken up a more orthodox view.

This article says an absolute and resounding "NO!" , and that the lines between what is true and what is false are continuing to be more and more blurry. Please read it and decide for yourself.