Posted on 01/06/2004 6:08:05 PM PST by P-Marlowe
I used to play guitar and sing there when the band didn't show up. Little Country Church on the edge of tow-ow-own, do do do 'n dooo da do. I was the standby band. :-)
Which time? :)
Seriously, I had an awakening in early 1983. I said the sinner's prayer all throughout the summer of 1983. But, I had no teaching on holiness and no power over my sin. It was not until I was delivered from demons in January, 1986. That's when I totally surrendered all and, real demons were cast out of me. I'll never forget it. I was sanctified within another week and got the Holy Ghost right after that. Oh Hallelujah!
It is a joyous and fearful thing to witness reality and not just have religion.
Calvinism for Dummies (Cliffs Notes version)
God is sovereign.
He foreknew and predestined it all.
His Plan. His Will. His creation. The Fall. His Salvation.
The Messiah. The Elect. The Damned. The End. Eternity.
Yes
Man’s destiny is not of his own choosing.
Man’s destiny is irresistible – heaven or hell.
God’s Sovereign Plan and His Sovereign Will dictates and predestines man’s end.
I doubt that even you believe your destiny is 100 your choice. Our destiny is dependent on the environment and the family we are born into and both of those things were determined by God..as was our race, gender, sex and IQ
God sovereignly made you and placed you into the circumstances . He placed within you a set of preferences that would bring you to where His plan would be assured
Thus, to sin is in God’s Sovereign Plan and Will for man.
God hates sin..we sin because we are in fallen flesh..but God knows what sin will attract us and what circumstances will attract us..but it is always our choice and we will do what we will to do yet our sin works into the plan of God
How then, is sin an act of disobedience? It is God’s Will and Plan.
And yet it is still our choice to sin . We have been told what God sees as sin (as well as the law in our heart. ) When we choose to sin it is our choice and yet it is Gods plan .
Man is incapable of stopping his sinning even after being saved.
That is true , but the word incapable implies that you do not have the ability not to sin..and of course we do , we just do not choose to
Thy Will be done. On earth as it is in heaven.
Every thing that happens on earth and in heaven is His will.If you pray for an event it will only occur if it is within Gods will
This is a dreadful doctrine. No Hope.
It sounds like a variation of reincarnation.
Nothing can be done to alter your beginning, middle or end.
Hard. Cold. Unmovable. Preprogrammed. That’s just the way it is.
It is indeed a terrible doctrine if your hope is in yourself
Lam 3:24 The LORD [is] my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
It is nothing like reincarnation ..
We can not change most of those things that give you your choices can you? If you have an IQ of 100 , you can not be a brain surgeon . If you were born to black parents you can not change your race. If you become depressed and jump off a building you can not change your mind half way down .
We can only make free choices in accord with our situation and the laws of nature. So you should not be indignant that the God that loves you have a plane to bring you to himself .
Your belief that God owes men a shot at salvation implies some worth in you. That some how we are worthy to be saved ,so God should give us a change to choose him.He has no choice in the matter he has no free will . We want for our selves what we would like to deny Him . it is satan that whispers into the ear of men that it just is not "fair", that we are entitled to choose to be adopted . It is satan that tells us that God loves us because we loved him first. "Ye shall be as gods"
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
Rom 9:22 [What] if God, willing to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
I just can’t imagine putting God in a box like that. Where am I wrong?
It is not Gods Box that concerns you it is yours.
My Pastor explains it this way .Draw a large circle on a piece , then draw within it a small circle
That small circle is human liberty , it is the choices that God allows man to make..who to marry , where to live or go to school, what kind of work to do. We make these choices or ones like them every day ..and we know that we make them freely . Yet notice that the free agency choices are all located within the will of God. We have most surely made them , yet in some way they are the plan that God has had for your life and His eternal plan
Ex, We are not God.we need to allow him to be God and not attempt to usurp that which is His alone
Good finally a Scripture (Wow)
Would you explain how LOVING it is to allow someone to preach a false or compromised gospel when eternity is at risk? Peter understood that
Act 3:12 And when Peter saw [it], he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Act 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let [him] go.
Act 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
Act 3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
Act 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;
Act 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, [even] by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
Act 4:11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Act 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Act 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John.....
That was Love not false promised and false expectations ..
Well what we have seen so far it is without scripture and full of compromise.
You have not seen me angry or self righteous..you have seen me tell you what you have presented here, and it is not the gospel of Christ ..it is a gospel of self righteous compromise .
If you want to see self righteousness it is as close as your mirror.
You have made no attempt to prove what you say is true.You just give self serving platitudes .
As my daddy used to say ..put op or shut up. Prove that we error in scripture or stop asking prayer for us beg for it for yourself.
He was sure that we had irreconcilable differences..what we found was near perfect agreement on them.
To us (Calvinists) this is not a small matter. It is about being God honoring and giving Him all the glory to which He is entitled .It is not about the last word it is about the purity of the gospel . God is God and Man is man. He owes us nothing, if one says that God had no choice in the matter..man had to or has to choose Him..it is no longer grace or mercy ..
When I told my pastor how much I loved that sermon and illustration he said to me with a straight face. " You know I have a degree in fine arts and I like to use it every opportunity I get" . I wanted to roll on the floor laughing and he stood there with a straight face.
Have you brought you cousin?
And my OPC did withdraw from "community Christian fellowships" when Mormons and other non Christian groups were invited. Not a flame, but an observation.
I asked it before - maybe you'd take a shot
is a retarded mormon is somehow different spiritually than an infant?
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