Okay, One More ...

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(Update September 2021: I'll be adding new random posts over at my other blog, https://heathersgardenandhome.blogspot.com.  And I'll have new ones about Calvinism until the end of 2021 at https://anticalvinistrant.blogspot.com.)


Dedicated to all my brothers and sisters in Christ, the faithful few, in these crazy, uncertain times:  

Eyes on the Prize  (from the movie Greencard)

Listen to the words.  Hear the message.  And hang in there.  It's gonna be okay.


Psalm 121:1-2: “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Joshua 1:9: “Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Deuteronomy 31:8: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Isaiah 26:3: “You will keep in perfect peace he whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Psalm 40:1-2, 31: “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.  He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.... But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Psalm 91:1-2, 5-7, 9-12:  "He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.' ... You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.... If you make the Most High your dwelling - even the Lord, who is my refuge - then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."

Psalm 118:5-6, 8, 13-14:  "In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and he answered by setting me free.  The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid.  What can man do to me? ... It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man.... I was pushed back and about to fall, but the Lord helped me.  The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."

2 Kings 6:16: "Don't be afraid... Those who are with us are more than those who are with them."

Psalm 107:13-14:  "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.  He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains."

2 Chronicles 14:11: "'Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty.  Help us, O Lord, our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army.  O Lord, you are our God; do not let man prevail against You.'"  

Lamentations 3:22-26:  "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.  The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Philippians 3:13: “… Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead.  I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

2 Timothy 4:18:  "The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.  To him be glory for ever and ever.  Amen."

Psalm 23: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.  You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

(Pray these verses.  Memorize them.  You won't be sorry.)


And for when you need hope and encouragement in a world that's falling apart (some of the songs I go back to again and again to help me breathe a little easier):

Oh, What Love (City Harmonic)

Praise the Lord (City Harmonic)

Secret Ambition (Michael W. Smith)

When the world is shaking and nothing seems stable, set your eyes on Jesus.  Plant your feet on Him.  He is the only sure, stable foundation there is, the only thing that can hold you up when everything else is falling apart.

Psalm 9:9-10: "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  Those who hope in your name will trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you." 

Proverbs 30:5: "Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."


(For more great, hope-filled songs, click here.  And for when you really just need to relax and de-stress, watch any video of Bob Ross painting.  This guy is awesome.  And so relaxing.)

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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Why Is It So Hard For Calvinists To Get Free From Calvinism?

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This was originally on the end of my post "If Calvinism is true, then God is a liar."   But I think it deserves its own post (I recently updated it a little bit, March 2021): I read something once about how very few people end up freeing themselves from the clutches of Calvinism because of the strong hold it has on people.  I think this is partly because ... 1.   We (I am talking as if I were a Calvinist here) would have to admit that we were misunderstanding Scripture this whole time, and no one wants to admit they could be wrong. 2.   Calvinism appeals to us prideful intellectuals.  (And prideful intellectuals have the greatest aversion to admitting we could be wrong.)  It makes us feel special, like we alone understand the "deeper, hidden meanings of Scripture," while the simple-minded Christians can't understand it.  Calvinism (with all of its contradictions, word play, round-about reasoning, and multiple layers of meaning for verses) gives u...
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Is Believing in Jesus Considered "Working For Salvation"?

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Calvinists define "believing" as a "working for salvation" thing.  And since we can't earn or work for our salvation, they say we can't choose to believe in Jesus on our own because that would be "working for salvation."   (This is why they say the elect have to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit first,  before  they believe, so that they  can  believe.  Essentially, in Calvinism, the elect are chosen for salvation first, before the beginning of time, then they get the Holy Spirit and He regenerates them so they can believe, and then they believe in Jesus.  So they are saved before they get the Holy Spirit, and they get the Holy Spirit before they believe in Jesus.   They are saved before they believe!  So very backwards from what the Bible says!   "Oh," they say, "but the Bible says faith is a gift God gives us, meaning He only gives it to those who get saved, the elect."  But is that really  what the Bible...
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When Calvinists say "But predestination!" (shorter, basic version)

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[I'm interrupting the Alana L. series for the much-shorter version - I said shorter, not short😉 - of my "But predestination!" series.   The longer version - full of many more Calvinist comments, my Calvinist ex-pastor's sermons, and my replies to them - can be found by  starting here .  But in this simplified version, I'm simply sharing the basics.  And I'll do a tiny version soon too, cutting out almost all quotes and memes.  But, oh, they add so much that it's hard to cut them out. ] At the heart of Calvinism is predestination and God's sovereignty (among other things, like "total depravity"), which according to Calvinism essentially amounts to:  "God preplans and controls everything, even sin and evil and all our decisions, and so He pre-picks who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.  He causes the 'elect' to believe in Him and be saved, but He made sure the 'non-elect' have no chance or ability to believe and be sav...
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Songs About The Rapture and Heaven

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I'll be doing a short series on the "End Times" during the rest of August.   But how about we start with some music! First things first ... God's Not Dead  (by Newsboys). I assure you, He's not.   And Jesus is coming back again soon In The Sky  (by Bob Carlisle and others) I know that my family and I are ready. Are you? ( I Wish We'd All Been Ready ) My prayer:  Lord, please,  break open the sky   (by Toby Mac) ! I Can Only Imagine  (by MercyMe) what it will be like  on the day that we rise ( I Will Rise  by Chris Tomlin). How I long for that day ... when we finally make it  Home  (by Chris Tomlin)! We can't wait for the day  that we'll be singing Hallelujah  (by Newsboys)! And to all the scoffers:  Are you so sure He's not coming back again!?! Enough to bet your soul on it?   ( People, Get Ready  by Crystal Lewis)  Grab onto God's  Amazing Grace  (by Chris Tomlin)  while there's still...
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She hit the nail on the head! Amen, come, Lord Jesus!

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A neighbor just sent this link to me , a video clip (just a minute long) from a woman sharing how she is just done with everything, how she's on autopilot and just wants Jesus to come back again. I absolutely get everything she said and have felt the same way for several years now. Can anyone else relate? Here's a transcript of what she said (I think she voiced what a lot of us have been feeling, like we've been treading water, just trying to get by until the end):  "Does anybody else just ... I'm just, like, checked out of this planet.  I told God today, like, I'm ready.  I've been ready, but I'm like  ready ready.  I don't feel like there's anything that I care about anymore.  I just want to go home.  You know, I just want to be done.   I don't want to battle all of the little battles anymore.  I don't want to pay my taxes anymore - because I know where the money's going.  I don't want to go to the grocery store and spend $40...
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"But predestination!" (#5-6: Romans and sovereignty)

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In this series, I'm examining some things that Calvinists (especially my ex-pastor) say about predestination.   Here's the posts in the whole series:  the pastor's sermons  ("When Calvinists say 'But predestination!'"), and my comments  1-4 (election)  and  5-6 (Romans and sovereignty)  and  7-9 (depravity, Book of Life, predestine)  and  10-11 (shaming tactics, Feb. 2015)  and  12-14 (dead, regeneration, born again)  and  15 (total depravity, manipulation)   and  16A (God's Will, babies)  and  16B (sin, evil, suffering)  and  17 (double-speak and the gospel) . For the shorter "for everyone" version which has a lot less quotes and a lot less of my thoughts,  click here . Fifth:   Like this pastor does, Calvinists  constantly -  all the time, over and over again, in every sermon on this topic - quote  Romans 9:18:   “Therefore God has mercy on whom h...
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I Highly Recommend Soteriology 101

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If you want to know what Calvinism is and what's wrong with it, I highly recommend this blog - Soteriology 101 - written by a former 5-point Calvinist who is now speaking out against Calvinism. And I particularly recommend reading the comments section of each post if you really want to see how Calvinists think (and if you want to read some horrible quotes from Calvinist authors and theologians).   Dr. Flowers allows Calvinists, non-Calvinists, and anti-Calvinist to add comments to the comment section.  And these people are very educated and thoughtful.  All of them.  Calvinists, non-Calvinists, and anti-Calvinists alike.  So you get a really interesting, thoughtful, complex, eye-opening look at Calvinism.  And at Calvinist logic nonlogic in action.   When you read the comments by the Calvinist commenters (you can clearly identify them after awhile), you can see how they spin things, reword things, redefine things, ignore certain truths and ...
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"But predestination!" (16B: sin, evil, suffering)

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In this series, I'm examining some things that Calvinists (especially my ex-pastor) say about predestination.   Here's the posts in the whole series:  the pastor's sermons  ("When Calvinists say 'But predestination!'"), and my comments  1-4 (election)  and  5-6 (Romans and sovereignty)  and  7-9 (depravity, Book of Life, predestine)  and  10-11 (shaming tactics, Feb. 2015)  and  12-14 (dead, regeneration, born again)  and  15 (total depravity, manipulation)   and  16A (God's Will, babies)  and  16B (sin, evil, suffering)  and  17 (double-speak and the gospel) . For the shorter "for everyone" version which has a lot less quotes and a lot less of my thoughts,  click here . Sixteen B (I broke #16 up into two halves, so picking up where we left off in the last post...) And now, moving on from the bulk of my comments to the bulk of the Calvinist quotes, showing you Calvinism in its ...
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