Totally cool!

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I just gotta share this one...

I have always LOVED watching baptisms (and even more so when people share their testimonies too).  It's a special once-in-a-lifetime moment when someone vulnerably stands up in public and declares their faith in Jesus.  And it's a moment we should all celebrate and feel honored to witness.

Well, today my neighbor - whom I've been doing Bible study with (along with her aunt) for the last few years after she became a believer in 2020 (see here) - decided (rather spontaneously) to get baptized during a church service at the beach.  

And not only did I, her aunt, my husband, and my son get to go with to support her, but I got to get in the water with her (in my jeans, because I didn't know this was going to happen), pray with her, and help submerse her in the water too.  

Totally cool!  And I am so honored and humbled to be a part of this amazing moment in her life!

(And now we keep praying for her husband.)

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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Updated: Alana L.: 5O (author vs author)

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[I redid Point #5 and #6 in the Alana L. series on my other blog (and re-lettered the posts).  But instead of going back and changing the already-posted points on this blog, I'll just add the posts in their own little "series."]   Point #5 still :   O:  "Sovereign, sovereign, sovereign, sovereign."       This is not technically a conflation (or maybe it is), but it's a sidenote triggered by this sentence in the last post: "[Calvinism]  truly makes God the author*/cause of all sin and evil, despite a Calvinist's insistence that it doesn't." *Bonus Note: Author vs Author When confronted by the fact that their theology makes God the author of all evil, the cause of all sin, Calvinists will inevitably refer to the Westminster Confession:  " God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass:  yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin ." [...
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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 many 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 saved bec...
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If They Mated ...

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I think I stumbled upon the perfect "If They Mated ..." scenario for who I look like and how I act.  (You know, when they take two people and morph their faces into one to show what their offspring would look like if they mated.)  I wasn't trying to figure this out or anything; it just came to me as I was watching The Hobbit recently.  And once I saw it in my mind, I couldn't unsee it.  Then after I thought about possibly sharing it with all of you, my mind won't let it go until I do.  And so here it is, much to my chagrin... I kid you not, if you mixed these three characters - their looks and their personalities - you would totally have me.   Frankie Heck from The Middle (Someone once told me I looked like her, when I was a lot younger.  Actually, it was when she was in Everybody Loves Raymond , but we're both a lot older now.  And I was told once I looked like Winona Ryder, for a split second.  Ah, to be young again!) Bard...
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My Response To A "Predestination" Post I Recently Read

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(Part of the "Predestination vs. Free-Will" series) I want to share my response to a post I read from our church.   The person who wrote the post (I believe it was our pastor) quoted Acts 2:23 : “This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross.”   The writer’s point is that God pre-planned Jesus’ death and chose to use wicked men to accomplish this.   I can agree with this.   However, the underlying point of his post is that God basically caused the men to be wicked (that He planned their evilness), to accomplish His purposes.   And yet God – even though He planned for and caused these men to be wicked – cannot be accused of doing evil or wrong.  This is a typical Calvinist view.     He also goes on to say that God also planned for Adam and Eve to rebel, to fall.   That it is for His glory that they fell.   The i...
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So Science Actually Affirms the Bible!

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Science has shown that the events of Sodom and Gomorrah could have indeed happened:   https://www.christianpost.com/news/scientists-superheated-blast-from-the-sky-destroyed-dead-sea-cities-pointing-to-sodom-in-bible.html And science has shown that all people came from 2 original people: https://www.christianpost.com/news/new-scientific-discovery-supports-bibles-adam-and-eve-story-science-writer-says.html And the world calls us crazy for believing that the Bible is true!?! Go figure!
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Links To Other Anti-Calvinism Posts

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Some of my thoughts and research on Calvinism (Why I believe it's not Scriptural!): Why is Calvinism So Dangerous? If Calvinism is true, then God is a liar! What's The Best Way To Make People Agree With Your Calvinist Views? Letter To Our Elders Regarding Calvinism Growing In Our Church Acts 13:48: Not As "Predestination" As It Sounds Sovereignty and Free-Will Working Together Anti-Calvinism Memes and Links Why Is It So Hard For Calvinists To Get Free From Calvinism? Can You Lose Your Salvation? Problems in John Calvin's  Institutes of the Christian Religion Are We Only Here For God's Glory? What About God's Love? So Job was a dimwit, huh? "Defend Your Calvinism" Challenge More Anti-Calvinism Memes.  Just for fun! Some of John Calvin's Contradicting Nonsense! How to tell if a Church, Pastor, or Website is Calvinist (extended version)  and the  (simplified version) You know what happens when you assume things!  A look at John Calvin...
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Okay, I've Got Some More Anti-Calvinism Memes

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  (All memes made with   IMGFLIP )   ME! What's Next? What is it again ... A Calvinist Hearing ... #1 A Calvinist Hearing ... #2 A Calvinist Hearing ... #3 How God Looks at Calvinists Hi, My Name's John Calvin Uhhh ... #1 Uhhh ... #2 Calvinist God Yelling Yeah.  Why? What Do You Mean ... Unelected "Jesus Loves Me" When a Calvinist Stands Before God ... It's right there ... "The World"
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Christian Testimony: Elizabeth - "How I Came to Jesus (depression and anxiety), Part 1"

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Here is Elizabeth's 13-minute-long testimony: "How I Came To Jesus (depression and anxiety), Part 1" . Of all the ones I've seen so far, hers is probably the most touching, deep, heartfelt one.  My heart breaks for her.  But it's a great testimony about how n o matter how hopeless life feels and how lonely you are, God is always there for you.   As she says, no matter what hard trials life throws at you, “God is real.   And He has me…. God cares.” She says that she feels like she's lived 30 lives already, and yet she's only 22.  Wow!  So much wisdom, heart, and goodness ... and in someone so young, too! And she not only has a beautiful, touching story to share, but she's also got a beautiful, touching voice too!   Beautiful worship songs. God bless you and your ministry, Elizabeth!  Thank you for opening your heart and life up to us!
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Does 2 Thessalonians Put the Rapture at Mid-Tribulation?

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A little while back, I wrote a series of posts on the "end times" (starting here ).  This post was an addition to one of those, but I wanted to give it its own page.  Thessalonians tells us a bit about the end times and the rapture and the Antichrist (AC) ... but I think it's easy to misread 2 Thess .  And this causes many Christians to place the rapture in the middle of the tribulation, instead of before the trib, as I believe. To sum up my view of what Thessalonians says about the end times, I believe 1 Thess tells us about the rapture ( 1 Thess 4:13-18 ), but 2 Thess is about the tribulation and when Jesus comes back again for Armageddon. The reason why this is important is because many people think 2 Thess 2:1-4 is saying that the rapture can't happen until the "rebellion" occurs (or "falling away" as some versions say) and "the man of lawlessness is revealed."   "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our...
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