What Real Encouragement Looks Like Sometimes!

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Who would've thought that "encouraging each other in the Lord" would take the form of two hours of telling each other, "Yep, that crap's hard!"?

- A text I got from a friend after a long conversation about the trials we've been through, the heartaches we've known, and how difficult life can be sometimes.  It made me smile!

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List of Calvinist Preachers, Authors, Theologians, Websites, etc.

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I  found a lot more names to add to my list of known Calvinists (found in my various  "How to Tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist"  posts).  But instead of adding this huge list to all those posts, I am going to put it here, and I'll just provide a link on those posts to this one.  [FYI: I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.] So here it is, a "master list" of known Calvinists to help you be careful and discerning about who you listen to and where you get your theology from.  There are plenty more Calvinists out there, but these are just the names that I ran across the most.   These are either definite, self-professed Calvinists or "most likely Calvinist," in my estimation.  (I haven't heard of most of them, but it's good to know their theology before I do.)   After finding these names in various places online, I looked up each person to see if they are Calvinist.  If they did not self-identify ...
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Praying Scripture: When Anxiety Strikes

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          Prayer for when Anxiety Strikes             Psalm 55:22:   “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.”             Philippians 4:6-7:   “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.   And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”             John 14:27:   “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.   I do not give to you as the world gives.   Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”             Lord, You say that we can present to You all of our concerns and needs. ...
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The Left-Leaning of The Gospel Coalition

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A little bit about the highly-Calvinistic "Gospel Coalition," behind the Christian front (for your discernment and information, to tuck in the back of your mind): I never realized how politically "left" The Gospel Coalition is (our ex-church was listed with their 'church search,' probably because of our new Calvinist pastor), until this article:  TGC Doesn't Want You To Vote For Trump.  WE GET IT!   And so I looked a little harder ... and found these (I'm sure I would've found more, but I only looked for a few minutes):   Evangelical Leaders: Tell Us to Vote for Clinton   [Personally, I think "But look what kind of a person Trump is, so we have to vote for Hilary" is a pathetic excuse Christians use to rationalize their desire to vote for someone who would clearly drag our country down even more into immorality and godlessness.  That's my own opinion.  And I'm allowed to have it.  But what in the world is a supposedly ...
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Giggle Translate #1: Random Facts About Me (Skydiving, Flashlights, and I'm a WHAT!?!)

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I'm bored.  So I've been running some paragraphs I've written through a bunch of randomly-chosen languages in a row with Google Translate and then back into English, just for giggles.  (I'm not serious, uptight, and a deep-thinker all the time.)  It's like a funny, terrible game of "Telephone."  (FYI: Bad word ahead.  Not my fault.  Blame Google Translate.  But I did bleep out a couple letters.)   Here are a few of the first ones I've done so far (the original writing was taken from my post  "Random Facts About Me, Just For Fun" ):
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Be Wary Of The Christian Post

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(Written 6/15/18)  Occasionally, I check in with the Christian Post to see what's going on in the world that specifically relates to Christians.  And generally, I've never really had any red flags go up about this website ... until now. A recent article by Stoyan Zaimov, with a title that starts "Christian Lesbian rock star ..." goes on to share this woman's story about being assaulted by a male priest when she was young.   However, I don't think the reason for this article is to talk about the abuse she suffered and her courage in speaking up.  I think this is a deliberate attempt to affirm Christian homosexuality.  The very fact that they put "Christian" and "lesbian" in the title makes it sound like it's indeed possible to be a Christian and a practicing homosexual who sees no need to change. And it seems to me that this article paints her in a heroic light, as though she is in the right and should be applauded and e...
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Links to "Some Carman Songs for Halloween" and Posts on Spiritual Warfare

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For some "fun" songs from my younger years: "Some Carman Songs for Halloween" And here is a bunch of links about Spiritual Warfare, from my post called "War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare": I strongly believe that there are angels and demons.  That prayer matters.  That there is a spiritual battle going on around us all the time ... and that we need to get involved in it, actively and consciously.  (Something I haven't been doing lately.)   Regardless of if we want it or not, we are constantly facing spiritual battles.  But if we don't acknowledge them - if we stick our head in the sand and refuse to get involved, to put on our spiritual armor, to use the spiritual weapons that are available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one. What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Ro...
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Feminism Nonsense (repost)

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(Oh, how we love nonsense in our country!) We women are fighting so hard to be like men, to downplay femininity, to be perceived as more masculine, to overtake any "men's realm" we find.   Because it’s “cool” and “progressive” and “strong.” But do we not realize that we are not “leveling the playing field” so much as we are destroying ourselves , the things that make women special? Women can be strong, too.   And they don’t have to be like men to do it.   Trust me, I know.  I've had four children, one by c-section and three by natural, drug-free homebirth (with over 15 hours of labor for each one).  And then I work in the home every day, all day long.  No pay.  No vacation time.  No weekends off.  No bonuses.  No overtime pay. But I do it because my family and I value my position, my role.  Even if the world doesn't. W e women can be strong and capable and accomplished in our...
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Is God Drawing Lines in the Sand (repost)

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(R eposted from a few years ago, updated slightly.  Part of the "End Times" series.) It’s amazing and disturbing how brazen our society is in attacking everything about God and everything He created:  marriage, monogamy, sex, family, sexuality, the scientific reality of gender, morality, modesty, the value of a person, the right to life, the existence of "right and wrong," the Bible, Jesus, and Absolute Truth.  Not to mention God Himself, His very existence. We are destroying everything associated with Him (except nature – we worship that), and then we call ourselves "progressive." But you know what I think about it all?   I think that God is letting it happen because He is drawing lines in the sand.  Through all these divisive issues and all the immorality, God is saying “Pick a side!  I am forcing you to decide which side you want to be on ... because I am coming back soon to take My people out of here.  So I need you all to decide: ...
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Christian Testimony about Spiritual Warfare (Jessica)

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I've linked to this woman's testimony before, about how she became a Christian after being an atheist ( click here to see it ).  But I recently stumbled across her YouTube channel again, and I saw that she had posted some videos on spiritual warfare, and so I watched them, and they're good.  And she speaks from experience - her sister and mother are practicing witchcraft, and it pours over into her life and family.  It's a shame that she had to put up some strong walls with her sister and mother because of it, but she is right in doing so.  For her own spiritual protection and that of her children.  [ Update : While I like and recommend her testimony video and the one on spiritual warfare, I am leery of the current ones she's posting about dreams and prophetic messages.  I am very wary about that kind of stuff, especially when it's about earthly blessings or opportunities.  Personally, I'd stay away from (or at least be very cautious and discerning abo...
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Why is Calvinism so dangerous? #9 (Love and justice)

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  [In this series, I'm breaking the long post   "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?"   into bite-sized pieces.] 9. The Bible says ...  God shows H is love and His j ustice by sending Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins. But Calvinism says ...  God shows His love by saving the elect (and by caring for the non-elect on earth)  and He shows His justice by damning  the non-elect to hell for their sins/unbelief. Calvinists know the Bible says "For God so loved the world ...", and so to appear biblical they say "Of course, God loves everyone."  But secretly, they believe in  two different kinds  of love: a "salvation" kind of love for the elect and a mere "kindness" kind of love for the non-elect.   He shows His l ove to the elect  by predestining  them to heaven, but He shows His "love" to the   non-elect merely by providing  for their needs while t hey're on earth (before sending them to eternal hell for being th...
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