Standing on the Solid Rock in these troubling times!

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 I know I could use this song right about now.  How about you?

Solid Rock by The City Harmonic

What are you standing on right now, hoping that it holds you up when everything else is falling apart?

(Also see "Starting Your Own Relationship With Jesus")


Most Popular Posts of the Week:

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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I am Little Drummer Boy

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Merry Christmas and Happy New Year early.  (I've shared this before, but I'll share it again.) My all-time favorite classic Christmas song has got to be the Little Drummer Boy.   If I’m listening to this song and start to think too much about it, I start to well up with tears.  Every time. My sons occasionally ask me why this is my favorite Christmas song.   “It’s stupid and it doesn’t make sense,” they say. I answer like this: “This song is about a little boy who’s poor.  And he wants to bring Jesus a gift.  But he doesn’t have anything to give him.  And so he gives the baby Jesus the only gift he has to give – a song.  And this poor boy is drumming his little heart out for the Lord, because that’s all he has to give.  But it’s enough.  And the baby Jesus smiles.” Usually, I am trying to hold back tears as I share this with my sons.  But they simply reply that it's still stupid, before running off to play. But that’s okay. I d...
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Spiritual Warfare: Sword of the Spirit 4 (the sword)

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Okay now, onto the list of verses I shared with my family member for her to use in spiritual battles, when Satan's got us down and cowering in fear.  These were specifically chosen for comfort, encouragement, and strength (and I added a few extra here for different kinds of temptations or trials).  I suggest p rinting them out, reading them over and over again, writing them out, mem orizing some, taking a list with you wherever you go, etc.  Whatever it takes to get through the hard times. And when the attacks, temptations, or hard times come, turn them into prayers  (I'll share my own personal Scripture-based prayers in the next post)  or simply s peak out loud the ones that fit your particular struggle, trial, temptation, or fear.   Declare to yourself, to the struggle/temptation, and to the spirit world/the Enemy that "It is written ..." and then quote a verse that fits.  A nd let God's Word comfort and still your soul as the sword of the Spiri...
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Spiritual Warfare: Sword of the Spirit 5 (Scripture-based prayers)

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And finally, to end the "Sword of the Spirit" posts: When I was going through my worst, hardest times and was full  of anxiety, depression, hopelessness, and helplessness, there were a few things that helped give me some relief (herbal teas, herbal tinctures, homeopathic remedies, positive thinking, walks, mindless but relaxing TV shows, worship music, reading the Bible, saying verses out loud or writing them by hand, etc.).   But I could tell that my soul needed something more, something deeper, more powerful, more effective.   And so I decided to try something that I had always  been curious about: Praying Scripture back to God, turning verses into prayers, grabbing onto the truths and promises in Scripture that fit our need at the moment and praying them back to Him,  trusting Him to answer.   And when I did that, it calmed my anxious soul in a way that nothing else did or could.   Even just looking through God's Word for th...
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Avoiding Calvinist Websites

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(Excerpt from "How to tell if a church, pastor, or website is Calvinist" .  FYI, I added a note at the bottom of this post on May 5, 2021.) Did you ever wonder about the websites that pop up when you type a religious question into a browser?  Who are they?  Are they reliable?  Is the advice you're getting biblical and accurate?  What is their theological view? It's too easy to type in a question, find some "biblical" answer on a site, and think it’s the truth.  We, Christians, tend to be a trusting bunch of people, especially when someone uses a lot of Bible verses or when it's a popular website with big name theologians or authors.  And so we will probably not notice the Calvinist-bent that are found on many websites and blogs.      I wonder how many people have been led astray in this way.  Probably a lot, because many of the popular sites - the first ones to pop up when I type in a question - are Calvinist. Be ca...
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Help for Anxiety, Depression, and Suicidal Thoughts (repost)

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It's so sad to hear about all the celebrities who have recently committed suicide (or about anyone who has committed suicide, for that matter).  My heart breaks for them, for the pain they went through, and for the ones who love them, for the pain they are now going through.  It is truly a tragedy. To anyone who is hurting really badly, who is struggling with overwhelming anxiety or depression, who is considering taking their own lives ... I dedicate this post.  Please, take some time to look through some of the links here.  This is a round-up of some on-line resources or posts about dealing with anxiety or depression, particularly as a Christian. But first: Quick tips for help: If you are desperate for some immediate help and don't want to look through the links I have below, try some of these (or if it's really bad and you're afraid you might hurt yourself, call 911 or go to the emergency room): 1.   Put on a worship song right now.  Or sing a...
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Anti-Calvinism Links

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This is the last half of the post "What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views."   But I put it here in its own post so that it's easier to find. These are some links to posts which are against Calvinism, the belief that the Bible teaches God has predetermined from the beginning of time who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.  It's no secret from my writing that I strongly disagree with this view.  I believe the Bible clearly teaches that God offers us all salvation, that Jesus's death paid for everyone's sins, and that we have to decide if we will accept Him or reject Him.  And here is some of what others have to say about Calvinism: (FYI, I haven't read everything in all of these yet and I don't necessarily agree with every point they make, but I needed to link to them before I lost them online.  And for the record, I came to my belief about what the Bible says by reading the Bible, not extra-biblical books or articles...
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Calvinist Comments: Hiding "God Causes" Under Other Phrases

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I can't remember which Soteriology 101 post these comments are from, but read this exchange between Calvinists and non-Calvinists.  (I added my own notes in between.)  Note how convoluted the Calvinist view is, how he tries to cover up Calvinism's view of "God preplanned and causes and controls everything " with various words and layers, such as "God understands ... gives freedom ... permitted ... helps ... enables, etc."   But underneath it all (underneath every Calvinist attempt to sound like they believe in free-will, in our ability to make choices) is "God preplanned everything and causes exactly what He preplanned, causing man to do what he does, and no one can choose to do anything differently" - a very essential, fundamental Calvinist belief that they disguise with all sorts of "free-will" words and phrases.   First, a non-Calvinist (anti-Calvinist), BR.D. made this comment:   ‘For example – where Calvin’s god DECR...
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It's All About The Toilet Paper! (And other random things the Coronavirus pandemic is teaching me)

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(All memes are from here .  So you can make your own too.   Some of these memes are mine, and some were made by other people.) In no particular order: 1.   We waste a lot of things and take a lot of things for granted.  The old, almost-empty bags of cereal and chips and the nearly-expired cans of soup sitting in my pantry.  The large container of barley I bought but never really intended to use.  The frozen food sitting in the bottom of the freezer that I forget about until the power goes out for days and everything thaws. Normally, I would just let these things go bad and then toss them out, running out to the store to buy fresh food.  But due to the food shortage in some stores (the fresh bread and many canned goods and frozen vegetables are nearly gone) and concerns about how this pandemic will affect the future economy and food supply, I now see those ignored things as valuable.  Precious gold.  Insurance against future f...
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The "Elect Plate"

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  In our house, we have something we used to call "The Special Plate," a plate that was unlike any other one we had.  A one of a kind.  And when the kids were little and one of them did something noteworthy or just needed an emotional boost, I would give that person the "special plate" at dinner, and everyone else would have to say something nice about them. With four boys, though, that worked for all of just a couple years.  Before long, there'd always be one kid who could never think of something nice about anyone else, and another one who always gave out sarcastic, joke "compliments," and another one who got offended because no one would say anything nice about them. And so the "special plate" sat in the cabinet for a long time. Until it became the "elect plate."   Now, the joke is that whoever gets it randomly at dinner (they can't choose to get it for themselves) is the "elect one," the one chosen by God for salva...
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