And Finally, Little Drummer Boy #4

-
And finally, this is Bob Seger's version of Little Drummer Boy.  I love this song.  And I love how he pours himself into it.  (But my favorite version will always be For King and Country.  I'm addicted to it!)

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

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

-
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 ...
Read more

Motherhood Matters To The Ones Who Matter Most!

-
Motherhood: It's not just something to do while you wait for a "real job" to come along. Motherhood IS the job - the job that matters most. Pour your heart into it.  Give it your all, your best.  "Just a mom" is an incredible privilege and a blessed responsibility.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Y ou might feel like you don't mean much to the world, but you can bet that you mean the world to your children! Make choices that honor their love for you, that show how much you value your children and your role as the only mother they have. I am proud to be a mother!
Read more

My "When Anxiety Strikes" Playlist

-
In the post "Getting through the 'broken' times," I said that I had made a CD to listen to when anxiety hits.  It has some of my favorite Christian songs on it.   Here are as many of the songs as I could find online, plus some extra.  Listen to some of them when anxiety threatens you.  It really does help to hear godly truths spoken out loud (and to speak them out loud yourself).  And personally, I think godly music helps repel evil, giving you some extra spiritual protection when you are most vulnerable.  They don't like to hear God being praised and Truth being sung! (FYI: Videos are constantly being removed from online.  So if the video is no longer available, type in the name and artist and see if you can find it.  I simply can't keep up with replacing links.) From The City Harmonic: Love, Heal Me  - The song that inspired the title of one of my blogs, Love, Heal Me - my heart's cry for the past year. Fell Apart  - One...
Read more

More Anti-Calvinism Memes #8

-
I think these are the last of the Anti-Calvinism memes for now.  When I get creative, I'll make more. Hmm!?! So you're a Calvinist? That would be great ... That face you make ... So let me get this straight ... See, nobody cares! Still waiting ... Calvinism:  One does not simply ... Look at this Calvinist world ... When A Calvinist Hears ... Tell me again ... The bookcase I told you ... WRONG! Santa Claus A "Secret" Will Hard To Swallow Pills How Calvinism Was Created and Two Calvinists Talking...   (Yeah, yeah ... I know ... they're childish and mean.  But I couldn't help it.  They basically wrote themselves.  If it makes you happy, you can choose to substitute "Free-Will" in there for Calvinism.  But I like these the way they are.  Makes me giggle.) Then why fight it ... . When it turns ugly
Read more

#3: My Panic Attack, June 2016 (repost)

-
[Reposted from June 2016.  Sometimes, just when you think, hope, and pray that things are finally going to start looking up for you, everything gets worse.  So much worse.  As seen in the last numbered post , I started off 2016 with the word "hope," thinking that maybe it meant the year would be better than the previous ones.  And then ... I had the worst summer of my life.  A real life-changer, heart-changer.  I guess maybe "hope," for me, was the kind in Romans 5:3-5 .  It's starts with suffering, which brings perseverance, which creates character, which develops hope.  Hope in what exactly?  I'm not sure.  Maybe just hope that God is always with you, no matter what.  Hope that He will work all the good into bad.  Hope that you'll make it through one more day .  And so here it is - my panic attack.  The terrible summer that came after starting off my year with "hope."  If you've ever had a panic attack, maybe...
Read more

A cool LOTR channel

-
I just found this YouTube channel that takes deep dives into The Lord of the Rings, and I'm really enjoying it (even if it is AI sound and images): The Sundered Age I've only seen two videos so far, but they are insightful, profound, and quite touching.  If you are a massive LOTR fan like I am, check them out and see what you think. Here are the two I watched: Why Galadriel Was the Most Dangerous Person in Middle earth | LOTR Lore Gandalf Would Have Been Worse Than Sauron! | LOTR Lore These videos aren't from a Christian perspective or anything (at least I don't think so), but it still relates in my mind, illustrating how wise and good God is to create people with free-will, instead of dominating everyone with His sovereign control.  (And at the same time, it illustrates how wrong it is for the Calvinist god to deny people true free-will, to control our wills so that we can only think and do what he decrees us to do.)  
Read more

War Rooms, Praying Scripture, and Spiritual Warfare (repost)

-
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 it - if we stick our heads in the sand, refuse to get involved, fail to put on our spiritual armor or to use the spiritual weapons available to us - we open ourselves up to deceptions, to defeat, to being very vulnerable to the strategies and attacks of the evil one.  You can't win a battle you don't even know you're in.  You can't defeat an enemy you pretend isn't there. What I have done here is compile a list of posts on spiritual warfare, on praying Scripture, and on creating a War Room (or War Journal). Have you ever seen  War Room ? You should.  It's a great movie.  And it is...
Read more

A Website Worth Visiting: Hoppers Crossing Christian Church

-
I recently found a good website that has lots of information about the dangers and errors of Calvinism:  Hoppers Crossing Christian Church .  (Also try this link for blog post.) I decided to leave a comment for them, telling them a bit about my church's experience with Calvinism and thanking them for speaking against it.  It's always encouraging to find others who have come to the same conclusion about Calvinism that we did, simply by comparing it to what the Bible says.   And they replied with a long, well-written response which I think should be out there for people to read.  They gave me permission to post their response here.  And so here is our brief exchange on Calvinism.      My comment to them: Thank you for taking the time to research Calvinism so thoroughly and for being bold enough to speak against it.  I am currently trying to do the same thing ( https://mycrazyfaith.blogspot.com ).  I'm sure my story is ...
Read more

When Faith Hurts!

-
            If there’s one thing I’ve learned over these past depressing years, it’s that faith is messy sometimes.  Faith hurts sometimes.  And we might get upset with “faith” because it’s not doing what we want it to do.             But the thing is … we don’t have faith in God because it’s fun or because it gives us an emotional high or because it makes life the way we want it to be.  We have faith in God because He is real .  Because He is good and faithful, even when life is messy and it hurts and when prayers don’t work.              And I think our faith becomes more real and strong as we face the hard times and trials.              It’s easy to “have faith” when life is going like we want it to....
Read more

Who Are Calvinists REALLY Worshipping?

-
Image
"... true worshippers will worship God in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.  God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and  in truth ."   ( John 4:23-24 , emphasis added) Calvinism teaches a different Gospel. 1.   The God of the Bible truly loves all people and truly wants all people to be saved ( John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4, Ezekiel 18:32 )   Calvi-god does not.   He only really loves the elect and only truly wants the elect to be saved.  Or as my Calvinist ex-pastor said, "The Bible says God loves people.  He loves  peoples .  But the Bible is clear that He doesn't love  all  people and that He doesn't love all people  equally ."  (Oh, it makes my job so much easier when they just come out and say what they really think, instead of sugar-coating it!)    But Calvinists will say Calvi-god still "loves" the non-e...
Read more