Not such an old fuddy-duddy now, am I!

-

Most Popular Posts of the Week:

Tony Evans Preaches on the End Times

-
I posted this on another blog in 2018, but it seems like a good time to repost it.  I haven't listened to all of these yet (and there may be repeated info in some of these), but here are some "prophecy and end times" sermons from Tony Evans, my favorite pastor to listen to.   Prophecy & End Times The End Times, the Rapture, and the Church The Coming Tribulation part 1 The Coming Tribulation part 2 Prophecy and the Rapture The Second Coming of Christ part 1 The Second Coming of Christ part 2 The Great White Throne Judgment The Millennial Kingdom What Happens When We Die? The Agony of Hell part 1 The Agony of Hell part 2 What is Heaven? The Glory of Heaven part 1 The Glory of Heaven part 2
Read more

Be Wary Of The Christian Post

-
(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...
Read more

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

The Calvinist Gospel Project? (their podcast/the gospel)

-
Image
Since I added this update late to the end of my post " The Gospel Project: Calvinist or not? ", I figured I'd repost it here too (with some additional information), in case you missed it: Update: Here's something from Lifeway about (from?) The Gospel Project, answering the question  "How do human actions and God's plans work together? ":   "... God is in complete control over all things. This is what Christians mean when they call God 'sovereign.'...  the Lord’s plans go forward through the choices of human beings as moral agents, including our freely chosen sinful actions!   Everything we do is what we want to do, while also being a part of God’s plan. They are what we want   and   what God wants." To me, this is Calvinism.  It's a little veiled, but it's Calvinism.  It's  saying that all our actions - even our "freely chosen" sins - were wanted, preplanned, caused, controlled by God.   You see, in Calvinism, ...
Read more

Is God Drawing Lines in the Sand (repost)

-
(R eposted from a few years ago, updated slightly.  Part of the "End Times" series.) It’s amazing and disturbing how brazen our society is in attacking everything about God and everything He created:  marriage, monogamy, sex, family, sexuality, the scientific reality of gender, morality, modesty, the value of a person, the right to life, the existence of "right and wrong," the Bible, Jesus, and Absolute Truth.  Not to mention God Himself, His very existence. We are destroying everything associated with Him (except nature – we worship that), and then we call ourselves "progressive." But you know what I think about it all?   I think that God is letting it happen because He is drawing lines in the sand.  Through all these divisive issues and all the immorality, God is saying “Pick a side!  I am forcing you to decide which side you want to be on ... because I am coming back soon to take My people out of here.  So I need you all to decide: ...
Read more

Calvinism's Heart-Breaking Destruction

-
Wanna see some of the real-life destruction that Calvinism does to hearts, souls, and faith?   Here are some comments (warning: bad language ahead) from a Reddit post called  "Calvinism is disgusting" , showing how people - who don't realize that Calvinism is NOT biblical - have been hurt by Calvinism and have ended up rejecting God altogether instead of just rejecting Calvinism.  Sadly, it's because they don't know that there's a  big difference  between the God of the Bible and the god of Calvinism, between the Bible's hope-filled gospel and Calvinism's sick, hopeless, twisted half-gospel. The reddit post starts out with this comment (I added punctuation to make it easier to read):  "I had a discussion with a Calvinist last night and it's more gross than I thought.  After questioning him for over an hour, it basically boiled down to the dude admitting that god predestined innocent children to a life of suffering and then hell, and that same ...
Read more

My Everyday Prayer (part 3)

-
            “Pour out on us Your love, grace, and mercy, for we are bankrupt without these.   Protect us from evil and surround us with Your Heavenly angels, for we are desperate for Your care and protection.   We cannot fight this battle without You!”             I have a hard time praying that God pours out His blessings on us, like the “prosperity gospel” preachers teach.   Instead, I am learning to pray that He helps me be content with the life He has given me, to notice the blessings that are already there.   To find Him in it.
Read more

Unearnable Love

-
Image
One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn in my spiritual life (and in my earthly life) is to let myself be loved by someone . . . by Someone.   I come from a very dysfunctional home.   A biological-dad and two step-dads by the time I was 8.   And then another step-dad (after a very messy divorce) when I was in my late-20’s.   I didn’t grow up with my bio-dad or his family.   I didn’t even really meet them until my teens.   And then after that, I’d see my grandparents, uncles, and cousins about once or twice a year, sometimes less.   And I’d see my dad and half-siblings once every several years or so.   I never really felt like I belonged to a dad or had a place in my extended families.   And this feeling carried over to my relationship with God. I didn’t know it earlier in my Christian life, but my relationship with Him was based on fear, not on love.   I desperately wanted to please Him ... not because I loved Him and value...
Read more

Napoleon's Comment about Jesus

-
  I love this quote from Napoleon: "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires.  But on what did we rest the creations of our genius?  Upon force.  Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for him."  Sadly, I think many Christians are more willing to die for Him than to really  live  for Him.  Dying for Him is usually theoretical, but living for Him would require a lot of actual, real-life changes. Will you be counted among the faithful ones?  The ones willing to die for Him  and  live for Him? I know I share these songs often, but they're worth it:   Oh, What Love  and  Sweetly Broken .    And how about one more: Fearless . (repost)
Read more