My Perspective on Calvinism

 I don’t know if you’re a Christian or not but if you are you may have had an encounter with a sect called the Calvinists. They’ve been around for about five hundred years and their mentor Jean Calvin was one of the reformers who started a revolution in the Roman Catholic Church. The result of which became the Protestant movement and among other things allowed clergymen to marry and released the bible into the hands of the average person in his or her own language.

Now the folk who call themselves Calvinists believe that a person can do nothing to bring themselves salvation in Jesus Christ. Believers are predestined from the beginning of time to be saved as are the lost predestined to be lost to the fires of hell. In this vein they have mnemonic called TULIP which states that mankind is Totally Depraved; That the believer has Unconditional Election; Christ’s work on the cross is only for the elect not all men. Thus, Limited Atonement; God’s grace is irresistible and therefore the believer cannot resist it. Thus, Irresistible Grace; Perseverance of the Saints. The believer can’t lose their salvation

The folk who are most noted for opposing Calvinism are the followers of a Churchman by the name of Jacob Arminius. Arminius was a contemporary of Jean Calvin and largely opposed Calvin’s teaching on predestination of the believer and in particular the believer’s lack of choice in receiving God’s grace in Jesus Christ.

There are acronym’s for Arminianism as well. One of which is ROSES which is described as follows: Radical Depravity. Man is damaged by the entrance of sin at the Fall but we are made in God’s image and are not totally evil; Overcoming Grace. God accomplishes Salvation of the believer but not in a mechanical or deterministic way. Grace allows the believer to respond to God’s calling / choosing; Sovereign Election. Those He foreknew he predestined. God Sovereignly elects those he knows will accept his call; Eternal Life. This is rather than Perseverance of the Saints through personal ongoing works; Singular Redemption. Christ Jesus’s redemptive work was sufficient for all but is efficient for those who repent and believe.

For most of the last five hundred years there has been a wide-ranging debate, which has at times become a running battle, over the Predestination theological issue. It is fair to say that people have died for believing one way or the other. Calvinism is also intrinsically wound into a greater theology called the Reformed Tradition and so disputes over issues like baptism have also been prominent in the debate. For instance, Anabaptists who believed in immersion baptism of adults were put to death by Calvin’s followers back in the day. The Puritan’s persecuted Arminian faiths in the early colonisation of North America.

Today the battle is showing no signs of abating with theologians on both sides writing lengthy tombs to put forward their perspectives. Barely concealed abuse is not uncommon and with the advent of Social Media curses and death threats against opponents are sadly not unusual. If this state of affairs continues then Christian’s may soon be back in the unenviable position in which the Reformers found themselves. Once again being persecuted by the Church. In this case for their views on Calvinism.

Personally, I find this all patently ridiculous. The arguments are now so contrived that even to say “This dispute over Calvinism is irrelevant because the Christian needs only to be a bible believing Christian,” is not a tenable defence. Calvinists call people who use this defence “Believists” and decry them as members of congregations under Arminian statute.

The reality is that when you begin to write one thousand-page books about how to interpret the bible from a particular perspective then you are in a bad place. As the Pharisee’s were in Jesus time so are these Calvinists and Armenian theologians of our time. They know a lot about the Bible and Christianity but they have lost sight of God and the life of the Spirit Filled Believer.

The irony of this argument is that you are looking at the mechanism of Salvation not the attainment of Salvation. A person has still attained Salvation regardless of which camp they are in regarding the mechanism. Most Calvinists believe that the Arminian is still a believer and vica versa. What they get so hot under the collar about is the idea that Grace entails God making a decision for the believer or the believer making a decision for themselves as to whether to accept Christ’s Redemptive Work on the Cross.

Don’t get me wrong it matters. Not least because if you believe that God makes the decision then it doesn’t matter if you obey the Great Commission of Matthew chapter twenty-eight. It won’t make a difference to how many people get saved because those who will are predestined. Conversely, if you believe the sinner has a choice then you need to obey the Great Commission because there is a need to convince people to make that decision.

However, the argument is highly theological and tends to generate more heat than light. Many believers have lived their lives in ignorance of Calvinism and Arminianism and haven’t missed them. As Jesus said in Matthew 9 verse 37 "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…” NASB so we need to get on with getting the gospel out to all of those folks who need to hear it whether they are predestined or foreknown.

Reference List

Roses (An Alternative to TULIP) Gibbons T. https://nleaven.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/roses-alternative-to-tulip-by-timothy-george/ 18/11/2020

Laurence M. Vance, The Other Side of Calvinism (2007: Vance Publications). Washington. USA

A Question of Faith?

A recent discussion with a dear brother raised an important question for me as a Christian. We were discussing events happening in America, Trump, and in the World currently. I am open to many possibilities and explanations to explain life as I see it. However, as a Christian I always seek to base my perspective in scripture and bible prophecy.

My friend is a scientist and he seeks explanations backed by empirical and verifiable evidence. This is based on the four scientific research protocols. The steps of the method are: 1) make an observation that describes a problem, 2) create a hypothesis, 3) test the hypothesis, and 4) draw conclusions and refine the hypothesis.

Two key words in this debate are Empirical and Verifiable.

The definition of Empirical is:

empirical /ɛmˈpɪrɪk(ə)l,ɪmˈpɪrɪk(ə)l/ adjective - adjective: empirical based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic. "They provided considerable empirical evidence to support their argument"

The definition of Verifiable is:
verifiable /ˈvɛrɪfʌɪəb(ə)l/ adjective adjective: verifiable able to be checked or demonstrated to be true, accurate, or justified. "an easily verifiable claim"

The apostle Paul spoke about empirical and verifiable evidence in the bible at Romans chapter 1 verse 20 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse...” I think Paul is saying here that we all know, if we are honest with ourselves, that we only need to look at the natural world to find observable evidence of the creation and the Creator.

If we look at the natural world in more detail we find verifiable evidence of intelligent design. When we look at the cell which is the building block of natural life and which Darwin insisted would have to be very simple so that life could evolve. Instead of simplicity we find irreducible complexity. DNA which contains a programming language far more sophisticated than even the most complex digital languages of our time. We find DNA as a potential storage device far superior than any designed by man and capable of storing 700 terabytes in a single gram. We find protein based machines which manufacture the requirements of the cell at a rate of thousands per second. A power molecule attuned to the food sources available in the Earth ecosystem. We find that single cell is comparable to a city but at a microscopic level.

If we look at the young Earth science included in Creation Science. One of the absolute catastrophe’s of recent years for evolution is the discovery of the existence of cellular tissue in many dinosaur fossil bones in various sites in the United States of America. This astounding discovery confirms that dinosaurs didn’t live millions of years ago but probably no more than thousands of years ago. Scientists have acknowledged that biological tissue could not survive more than a maximum of 22 thousand years in the fossil bones. But of course this discovery controverts the narrative of evolutionary science and is dismissed as the rantings of misguided creation scientists and is decried as being pseudoscience. Despite the fact that fossils with biological material that is not fossilised are relatively common at sites like the Western Montana bone beds.

Of course, the scientific community does not accept any of the arguments mentioned in the preceding paragraphs. And if you look into the arguments put forward by scientists that support intelligent design or creation science. You find the atheists and the evolutionary scholars are in lock step on their refusal to accept any argument which includes Yahweh or a Creator as a part of the origins of the natural world. You certainly won’t find anything about creation science or intelligent design in the news media. That is unless it involves an evolutionary scientist decrying the work of a scientist whose research is in field of creation science or intelligent design and contradicts the evolutionary narrative.

The real issue here is one of support, numbers and control. Those supporting atheism and the evolutionary narrative have garnered support in the universities and governments around the globe. They have gradually educated subsequent generations away from belief in God and into the belief in atheism, science and secularism. It has been a battle for the hearts and minds of our youth with the ultimate goal being to subsume the place of Christianity in Western Society and in the long run the World. Now they control the government, the media and the dominant discourse. Once you obtain that level of power and control in society then you have the means to shut down your opponents before they can raise a single objection. The average punter has been conditioned to accept everything the media and government feeds them as gospel.

Christians, creation scientists and supporters of intelligent design are pilloried in the media and portrayed as weak minded and a little sad. Those brave enough to attempt to attack society on a moral level are shown to be intolerant and potentially dangerous crackpots. Hence hate speech legislation and the current move to silence conservatives through out the West.

I guess in the final analysis none of this really matters. Those responsible for all of this atheistic mayhem will have a short lived period of triumph. They will do as their ilk often do and celebrate their successes somewhat ahead of schedule only to find that their worst fears are to be fulfilled once more. These are the last days of this age and the End Times are upon us. God is going to show up and rain on their parade. Entrance Revelation 14:6 “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people...”

Those who have faith in Jesus Christ need have no fear. God will honor His promises and keep his people safe. Those who have faith in atheism or evolution already know that their theory of origins is far fetched and that as much as they hate the idea of their being a Creator. The likely hood is that there is one. They have faith in their religion of Atheistic Evolution just as Christians have faith in God. Without faith in their theory of the origins of the Universe they are in no better position than the Christian who doubts Yahweh is the Creator of the Universe. It’s about Sin and a Savior and Salvation and a Creator that so loves His creations that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but will inherit eternal life. I believe personally we have not long to wait until the events of the end times come to pass.

Reference List

Dictionary https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/empirical 17.17.20

Dictionary https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/verifiable 17.07.20




Harvard Cracks DNA Storage, Crams Seven Hundred Terabytes in a Single Gram https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/134672-harvard-cracks-dna-storage-crams-700-terabytes-of-data-into-a-single-gram 22.07.20

A World Without Borders

As a Christian I have followed Bible Prophecy closely for over forty five years. As a part of that interest I have tried to establish links to what the bible describes with real time World events. In the Old Testament the prophets Daniel and Jeremiah prophesied that God’s Judgement would come upon the World in the End Times.

Jeremiah 30:7 calls this the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. Jacob refers to the nation of Israel and the scripture reads as follows "Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" KJV

Daniel 12:1 speaks of the the same event “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” These prophecies are directed at the nation of Israel specifically but are also global in nature and thus apply equally to people living at the time of these events.

I’m completing this article a few days later than I started to write it so my thoughts have moved on a somewhat. I suppose the question to ask is “Is this the time of Jacob’s Trouble?” Well it’s been two thousand years since Jesus ascended into heaven and if we read his statements in Matthew 24. The events of this era starting with the return of the Jews to their homeland and the establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948. I would have to say that this is very likely the time the bible also describes as the End Times.

I realise not everyone values the bible or its prophecies. Some people say they prefer not to wallow in negativity. Quite a lot of folks choose to ignore religious commentary as unscientific and irrelevant. However, to those who do follow bible prophecy then starting with the return of the Jews to Israel. This period of time seems to jell with the events described in God’s word. Scripture says “As it was in the days of Noah so will it be when the Son of Man returns.” Well in Noah’s time the population of the World is estimated to have been in the billions. The people’s focus was entirely on self and not on God at all. Evil seems to have been as prevalent in that epoch as it is today.

The apostle Paul spoke of the activity of what he called the Mystery of Iniquity in his time. Today their are rumoured to be a number of somewhat covert groups that would meet the description of the Mystery of Iniquity in our time as well. I elude to the Illuminati, The Bilderbergers, The Society of Jesus, The Knights Malta, The Trilateral Commission, The Club of Rome, The Round Table, The Fabian Socialists and the The Freemasons. All of these shadowy organisations are involved in the establishment of a Global Super State and the education of the tier of bureaucracy required to operate and govern it. A world without borders.

Now many bible eschatologists understand the borderless society that is being ushered in by the New World Order to be an attempt by the Mystery of Iniquity to re-establish the situation that existed at the Tower of Babel. A society of people joined together speaking the same language, all a part of the same system and worshiping as one religion. This has not been possible until this present era. We now have the technology to enable this to happen. I speak of travel, communication and inter-connectedness.

We are seeing a series of global events that are going to rapidly change the world as we know it. The global furor over climate change has forced a shift in thinking as we seek to replace dirty technology with cleaner more and sustainable technology. It is becoming increasingly obvious that borders need to dissolve in order to enact a global solution to the challenges of Climate Change in the future.

As the United Nations strives to implement a raft of strategies to reign in Climate Change by 2030. It seems to me that we are going to see substantial change to our global society and lifestyle in the next nine years. Their will be a shift away from the use of land to grow food. Much of the farmland will be retired and people will move into the cities in a way we have not seen in the past. I believe there will be a move to drastically reduce the human population.

Of course, we now have the challenge of a global pandemic in the form Covid 19 and once more it has reinforced the concept of the urgent need for a global government stronger and more effective than the United Nations and the World Health Organisation. I am not suggesting that Covid has been released on purpose to create this situation merely that it has conveniently underlined the inadequacy of government at a global level to successfully gain control of a health emergency of this kind

.

This situation has given governments around the world to practice the implementation of global civil defense rules and regulations that amount to a massive claw back of personal freedoms. It is looking increasingly that this will be the new normal as even in New Zealand we cruise along at level 1 of the Covid response plan. One genuinely wonders if this is the beginning of an increasingly Big Brother style Orwellian global regime. Where we are told by the media what to think and how to act.

The reason I say this because it occurs to me that this could simply a flu type illness with a huge focus on infection and death rates by the WHO and the International Media. I realise this is quite unlikely and the more sensible statement is that Covid is a dangerous and previously unseen pathogen causing much higher infection and death rates than a normal influenza strain. Of course the pandemic and climate change are not the only major drivers for a borderless society. The political tension between East and West is also a major reason that proponents of globalism are calling for a New World Order.

The position of China and Russia in opposition to the West has the potential to be a major flash point. If a true borderless world society is to be established then an accord has to be ironed out between East and West. Personally I think that there is a war to be fought here and one is described in the bible. How the world will look after that war is moot. How much of mankind will survive that war should it occur is also an unknown. This situation alone tends to lead me to conclude that the bible’s description of the End Times fits best with our era. Jesus said of this time that if it were not cut short no flesh would survive.

If I am even close to being right about all of this then the proof will be in the pudding. The beginning of the End Times will see the New World Order roll into a town near you. Things will become increasingly less nationalist and more globalist. Climate Change and the Global Pandemic will continue to be issues of massive importance. Personal freedom will stay on hold with rolling lock-downs becoming the new normal. Some form of identification system will be brought in possibly based around vaccination for Covid. Life as we have known it will move from autumn to winter. A nee season of change will be upon us.

Remember that God so loves you that he gave his only Son, Jesus Christ, that if you believe on him. You will not perish but will inherit eternal life. A personal paraphrase of John 3:16

For the Love of God...

I heard a question recently where a person asked how to share the gospel with LGBTQ folk. As a teacher I encounter youngsters of the LGBTQ preference fairly often so I thought it might be somewhat illuminating to share my thoughts on the matter.

Before going into detail about how to witness to these somewhat challenging individuals I think we need to visit three foundation scriptures from the book of Romans. Now Romans 3:10 says “...as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one.” and Romans 3:22 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...” Finally Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Now so often we Christians go in to witness without acknowledging that we ourselves are loathsome creations in need of the grace of God. In fact we need his forgiveness  just as much if not more than the poor downcast creatures we seek to lead to our loving Savior Jesus Christ. 

So when we go in to witness we need to come from the position of the humble and lowly servant of Jesus Christ. Not the spiritually proud justified and sanctified saint who stands in judgement of these lowly sinners. Bear in mind that we are not righteous nor do we have the glory of God and if we reapt the wages of our sins, even now as believers we would die in our sins. But we have God’s freely given gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. In short when we look upon the lost in their fallen state and dead in their sins. “There go we but for the grace of God.” 

We often hear secularists espouse their doctrines of tolerance and the syllabus in public schools teaches this widely to all of our youth. However in reality our youngsters may preach tolerance but they often don’t practice it themselves. So our LGBTQ folk are used to the condemnation and lack of acceptance that comes from their peers and society as a whole. In general they are greatly troubled, often depressed and quite sad most of the time. This has been my own observation in any case.

Therefore if you as Christian want to reach these people you need to reach out to them in love as Christ Jesus did with the adulteress in John 8: 1-11. The adulteress was brought to Christ and presented to him as an adulteress caught in the act of adultery. Her accusers asked his opinion and sought to stone the woman. Jesus said “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” One by one her accusers left and in the end there was just Jesus and the woman. The bible tells us what finally happened. “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you? She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more”

So if you want to reach out to the LGBTQ person you need to approach them in love and without the slightest hint of judgment or disdain. You need to put aside all of your spiritual pride and ego and show them love in your actions. Sometimes this means putting aside sharing the gospel at first and developing a relationship with them as you have with Christ Jesus through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Let your actions demonstrate your walk with God. Accept them as you would any brother or sister in the Church. If you see they have needs then meet them. If they are sad encourage them. If you can help them in a meaningful way, do it. Show your life to them. Sing hymns as you go and speak of eternity. Pray for them extensively that they might seek Christ themselves and the God might provide opportunities for you to witness to them.

 

As I bring this piece to a close my dear brothers and sisters in our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’ll let the apostle John have the final say from his epistle l John 4: 7-14 “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world...”

 

Reference List

All scriptures reproduced from http://biblehub.com/ from the NASB Version of the Holy Bible.

Where in the World Are We...

OK so you don’t like conspiracy theories. You don’t want to hear about religion. You’re all about science now and you don’t need God. But this covid virus thing has got your attention. The environment is a bit of a worry and climate change is a big concern for you. Hopefully they’ll have a viable vaccine for Covid soon.

So this conspiracy theory thing. Hmmm... Now what do you think the future is going to look like? How are we going to fix the environment. You know stop the depletion of the worlds forests and clean up the oceans. Stop the mining and extraction of fossil fuels. Conserve the finite resources of planet Earth. Clean up all the pollution. 

 

You may not believe me but someone has a plan. Ever hear of the Georgia Guide Stones. They were erected at Elbert County, Georgia, USA in 1980 by Elberton Granite on behalf of one Robert C. Christian. They state the following: 

 

1. Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.

2. Guide reproduction wisely — improving fitness and diversity.

3. Unite humanity with a living new language.

4. Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.

5. Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.

6. Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.

7. Avoid petty laws and useless officials.

8. Balance personal rights with social duties.

9. Prize truth — beauty — love — seeking harmony with the infinite.

10.  Be not a cancer on the Earth — Leave room for nature — Leave room for nature.

 

Now, I bet you are asking what has this to do with anything and I would agree with you it just seems like mostly common sense reasoning. If you watch a bit of Star Trek the Guidestones aren’t too different. They seem to hope for a more peaceful and rational future where mankind gradually over time reduces the size of Earths population and establishes a more sensible interaction with the living world. Allowing nature to regenerate because a much smaller population will have much lighter demands on the planet.

The problem is that the impact of humanity on the Earth’s environment needs drastic and immediate intervention. If we believe the heralds of environmental doom, people like Al Gore. Then the planet and the environment are in peril and we don’t have time to gradually adjust humanity to correct the catastrophe that is about to descend upon us as a result of Climate Change.

In 1992 the global elite came together in Rio de Janeiro to form a global action plan to reshape human society to reverse the process of Climate Change and avert catastrophe. When they met in 1992 they hoped to have implemented that change by 2021. Over time it became obvious that they would need more time. It was initially decided to allow until 2050 but the elite meet again in 2015 and decided to push on with Agenda 21 renamed Agenda 30. They are  aiming to have it in place by 2030. Hence we now have Agenda 2030.

The changes will be substantial indeed. It is intended to reduce the World’s population to 500 million by the agreed deadline. The government structure will most closely resemble left wing socialism and the societal change will most resemble the Leninist USSR. In that private ownership of land will be done away with as will single family homes. As I understand it the vision for the United States of America is to reduce the population to 66 million in six cities of 11 million people. There will be no rural communities and the native forests will be allowed to regenerate out of bounds to humanity. Food for the population will be grown in five story sheds under orange light.

So we are talking about drastic change in the next ten years. If the Global Elite are to achieve a reduction of 7.4 billion souls in nine years. Can you imagine what they need to do to make that happen. If these people are to go through with this plan of theirs it will make Hitlers Holocaust look like a Sunday School Picnic.

Now I know you don’t believe in conspiracy theories. We’ve been through that already. But you can see that they have been getting things ready to roll if you just think about. We’ve got a global pandemic on our hands. One that has brought a global response coordinated by the World Health Organization. In very short order every country in the World has declared lock downs on their people and regional states of emergency. Exactly as the Georgia Guide-stones described it. “Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.” So the nations implement the global laws but have a mandate from the World Court or in this case the WHO.

Remember the killing spree by the lone gunman against Islam in Christchurch. How has that been handled by the Government. Well the Guide-stones say “Rule passion — faith — tradition — and all things with tempered reason.” The New Zealand government led by Ms Jacinda Ardern was compassionate and considerate toward the Moslem folk affected by the terrorist event. But one wonders whether the plan was based on a bigger picture to usher in state control of religion by depicting faith and tradition as the pursuit of the unreasoned. Christians and social conservatives certainly have had pause to wonder over the last few years.

What I’m pointing out to you is that there is actual global change a foot. It seems that events are pointing to the establishment of a World Government and that the statements chiseled on the Georgia Guidestones are central themes of the Global Elite. It is worth noting that many people are saying that the world will be the same again after the Covid 19 pandemic.

So where in the World are we? I think personally that we are in the time of birth pangs described by Jesus in the book of Matthew chapter twenty four or perhaps the early days of what the Bible terms the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. As you may have perceived, I am a bible believing Christian and my recommendation to anyone is that they repent of their sins and and ask Christ Jesus to come into their hearts. I believe it is time to get right with God friends. Something is in the Wind. Whatever you think most agree post Covid the World will have changed.

 Reference List

Agenda 21: Central planning on steroids: Global warming believers unmasked by Climategate

https://www.mtdemocrat.com/news/agenda-21-central-planning-on-steroids-global-warming-believers-unmasked-by-climategate/ 29.06.20

Georgia Guidestones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones 28.06.20