Tony Evans: A Challenge to Higher Standards

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Since we left our home church last year because of its Calvinist theology, we have been doing church at home, watching videos online.  And my all-time favorite pastor is Dr. Tony Evans.  Hearing him preach these past many months has been so healing to my starved soul.  (I could actually feel my soul suffocating and drying up while we sat under the Calvinist pastor.)  

Anyway, this is the sermon we watched today as a family and - Wow! - was it a great one: A Challenge to Higher Standards!  (If these links don't work anymore, search for the titles of these sermons online.  Someone should have a video or podcast of them.)

It's so relevant to today's culture and so important for Christians to keep in mind, especially since it seems like the end times are fast approaching.


We've also watched these sermons from the same series:

A Challenge to Prioritize Your Priorities

A Challenge to Greater Convictions

A Challenge to Faithfulness

And if you're looking for a great home church, even if you can only attend online, like me, here is Tony Evans YouTube channel.  Watch some videos and be challenged, convicted, and inspired!


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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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Alana L. on how to recognize (and defeat) Calvinism (series intro)

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Introduction I'm starting a series of posts on a great new video from Alana L.:   5 Signs Your Loved One is Becoming a Calvinist    I've been wanting someone to make a video like this for awhile now - to help people recognize Calvinism when they hear it, to help them realize it's a big deal that they should take seriously and research, and to help them know why it's wrong and how it spreads. Those who've studied against Calvinism know how very tricksy it is.  But those who  don't know anything about it, or how to recognize it, or how it takes over, or how it sounds like it's teaching one thing when it's  really  teaching something totally different, or how it twists or misinterprets Scripture... well, they  are sitting ducks, fish in a barrel who become easy targets for a Calvinist pastor (especially a stealth Calvinist pastor) who slowly and strategically indoctrinates them into this twisted theology, before they ever see it coming, like boiling...
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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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Predestination Does Not Mean "No Choice"

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(These next four posts are reposts of my original, long, unbroken-up posts on predestination vs. free-will.  The previous posts on predestination all come from these posts, so you don't have to read these long ones if you don't want to.  For more on this issue, see "Links To Other Anti-Calvinism Posts." )             Imagine that I walk into your church and say, “I am taking a group of people on a mission trip with me.   We are leaving sometime soon, and you have to decide which group you’ll be part of: the one that goes or the rest that stay behind.   I have a destination picked out, a way to get there, I’ve already paid the price to take a group with me, and I’m now asking for those who want to go.   It’s up to you if you want to come or be left behind.   And if you do not deliberately choose to come with me, you will be left behind.”   This, in essence, is the way I view the whole “predestination or free-will” deba...
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Too Funny - Alyssa Milano's Sex-Strike

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So there's an article out about Alyssa Milano calling for a sex-strike until anti-abortion laws get changed.  She is saying that women shouldn't have sex until they get more abortions rights. Ha-ha-ha!  Yes, please do that!  Please!   It's a win-win-win for everyone else but the women striking.  First off, it's exactly what we need to have lower abortion rates.  It will also help stop the spread of diseases.  It will prevent the rabid feminists from passing their views on to any children they might have decided to keep if they had gotten pregnant.  And the men these women are withholding sex from might just go out and find a decent, respectful woman who won't use sex to control and manipulate the men into giving them what they want.   A win for the unborn, for the next generation, for the sexual health of our country, and for the men who the feminists are trying to control! So ... yes, Alyssa ... please get as many feminists ...
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The Holy Spirit and "Dead People"

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(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) Maybe y ou've wondered this ... "Isn’t it the Holy Spirit’s job to convict people and draw them to God?   Aren’t we 'dead people' before the Spirit wakes us up, unable to even think about God or seek God because “dead people” can’t do anything?   And so we need the Spirit to make us become believers?   Isn’t there a verse about Him opening people’s minds so that they can understand God’s truth?   So if He doesn’t draw someone and doesn’t open their minds, then they cannot become saved?   Isn’t it His job to save people? I would answer this way:  Yes and no. I used to think this was the case - that if the Holy Spirit didn’t open your eyes, you would not be able to come to God.   That basically, the Holy Spirit decided who to “enlighten” and who to leave ignorant of God.   And I guess, then, that if you wanted someone to become a Christian, you would have to pray, “Lord, make so-and-so b...
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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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So hell isn't real?

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So there's this popular preacher who says that hell isn't real , that it's a fantasy. It's no wonder he's popular. Do you know who wasn't popular? Jesus and those who were faithful to Him! Because people don't like being told the truth when it infringes on their lifestyle and on the things they want to believe.   The Truth is offensive ... but it's the Truth that saves! I wonder what Bible that preacher is reading!  Because it's not the one I have.  Want to know what mine says about hell? Matthew 10:28:   "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Matthew 25:41, 46:   "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.' ... Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." 2...
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Just Gotta Say I Feel Good Today

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I just gotta say that I feel pretty good today.  It's been awhile since I've felt so ... relieved, I guess.   And I think it really helped to vent the other day .  To complain a bit.  To not have to try so hard to filter everything I say.  (And yet, I did filter.  I was careful.)  But it felt good to be honest.  As honest as I could be. And it helped that an eye visit for two of my sons (right after I wrote that post)went well.   Given all the "waiting for the next pummeling" that I tend to feel every day, I have a really hard time handling some of the most basic things that other people can easily handle.  Last minute changes in plans throw me for a loop.  Too many things scheduled in one week (say, 2-3 things) stresses me out.  Being asked "How are you doing?" makes me want to activate my cloaking device.  Allowing the kids to drive in a car with anyone other than me or my husband freaks me out.  (I used to be...
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#10: I Just Want To Finish Well, August 2017 (repost)

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(Actually written in 2014, but reposted in August 2017 because it still totally applied.  And since it fit how I was feeling in 2017, I am including it in this numbered "after my panic attack" series.  This is one of the last posts in that series.  Maybe one or two more to go.) Once again, I found myself in an emotional funk (this is a repost from 2014, yet it still seems to be where I’m at in 2017), feeling like I can’t accomplish anything.   Can’t give any one thing the effort and time it needs.   I am so stretched-thin in places.   The housework never gets done.   This house will never be "finished."   My cooking has seen better days.   There’s not enough time to do everything I want to do when it comes to taking care of my family.  I'm just one person, trying to do too much.  There's not enough "me" to go around.    I was feeling a little panicked that things were slipping away from me too fast, that I c...
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