1. Discrimination against people because of their genetic composition.
2. My first name plus the initial of my last name: GENIS Misola
3. Filipino Reformed Charismatic in Vancouver
Okay, this is a first. Somehow I stumbled accross a Joel Osteen video on YouTube and yes, I have to admit that it blessed me. Why? Well, the title of the video was "God is in control." So, me being the good Calvinist and loving God's sovereignty happily clicked on the video. It didnt take long, around 2 seconds before I figured out it was a Joel Osteen video. But, when I analyzed this video, it was actually comforting to me. Why? Because I know that all things work together for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to his purpose and glory. And, I needed that message today.
Now, just to be clear, this is far from becoming and Osteenian (hehehe) since part 2 and part 3 of this video almost threw me into a theological frenzy. But hey, eat the meat and throw away the bones.
Two weeks ago I read John Piper’s Contending for Our All . It was an historical outlook on the lives of three defenders of the faith and the challenges they faced. I study History and I thought Piper did an extraordinary job presenting his argument which was more or less academically seasoned with salt.
Athanasius was the bishop who was against the whole world. He lived in a time when the heresy of Arianism that taught that Christ was a lesser god that the Father much like present day Jehovah’s Witnesses. While everyone in his time seemed to be flocking towards the camp of Arianism, he defended the truth of that Christ was indeed God-incarnate of the same essence and substance as the Father. As a result, we have today the Nicene Creed.
John Owen was a Puritan preacher in England contending for the truth of holiness and God’s sovereignty against the resurgence of “free-willism” as a result of the Remonstrance. He was heavily involved in the political life although his personal life was continually ravaged by the consecutive deaths of his children.
John Gresham Machen was the founder of Westminster Seminary. He battled against the heresies of Liberalism in the 20th Century. There were those who denied the Virgin birth, the Resurrection and the miracles of the Bible.
Today, there are many in the church that would sacrifice doctrinal truth for the sake of unity. There are those who do not want to offend. But the lives of these three Contenders teach us that truth is such a precious jewel that we cannot simply kill it in the streets for the sake of unity. Here’s a few quotes from the book.
When you believe that soul-saving truth (our all) is at stake in a controversy, running away is not only cowardly but cruel. These men never ran. pg 20
For Owen, virtually every confrontation with error was for the sake of the contemplation of Christ...He held the view that such contemplation and communion were only possible by means of true views of Christ. Truth about Christ was necessary for communion with Christ. pg 21
Bibliography: Piper, John. Contending for Our All. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006.
Arminianism is not something hidden under a stone, but lives in full view, and in direct opposition, to the Gospel. It is a deceiving doctrine of demons wrought up from the pit of hell, where, in the consummation of the age, it will be cast for all eternity with the devil that spawned it and the false teachers who propagated it.
Now, that's a bit exaggerated hehehehe. While I do disagree with Arminians on certain points in Soteriology, I do believe that they are indeed Christian and I think the quote above is lacking in brotherly love. No wonder Calvinists are always thought of as negative...tsk tsk tsk... Continuously check out my blog and JIGS II's blog as I'm sure many subsequent posts will revolve around our contention on the issue of the extent to which God is Sovereign over one's salvation.
Eze 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. Eze 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Eze 36:27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Eze 36:28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God ... Eze 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations.
Like the hymn-writer said, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound/That saved a wretch like me!" Today, I lament the fact that the Gospel of God's grace has been watered down, washed down for the sake of not offending unbelievers. I only remember what the Apostle Paul said that the Gospel is FOOLISHNESS to the Gentile and a STUMBLING BLOCK to the Jews. But to those, like me, a wretch like me, who are being saved...IT IS THE POWER OF GOD! I will not be ashamed of the scandal of the Cross of Jesus Christ. Many will shout: hypocrite! judgmental! mean-spirited! But to those who will hear and listen, let them repent and be saved unto the glory of God.
Below is the Nicene Creed in Latin. The song however was sung in a Catholic Mass.
In English: We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
I'm doing my paper on Byzantine women right now but I found this little video by Paul Washer and his commentary on Facebook. I don't know how to respond to it as most of my time on the internet is spent on email, facebook and youtube. Ouch! You have to understand Bro Paul though, he has the tendency to make simple points seem like boulders ready to crush you over the head, or like harpoons striking through your internal organs. Nevertheless, he makes a very good point.
I found this video on YouTube and I found it very interesting. I thought Bob Kauflin was just going to provide some conjecture that because we sing and we are made in God's image, therefore He must sing. That of course would be a fallacious argument. But, I was blown away by this.
Look at what Zephaniah 3:17 says:
The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Isn't that amazing? God sings! And, He sings in rejoicing over His people. That, makes heaven all the more glorious. Imagine, imagine...what would God's singing sound like? He must be better than all the Pavarottis in the world. His voice must be so sweet and yet so powerful. Wow! What a wonderful God!
I don't hide the fact that I believe and rejoice over the Doctrines of Grace (i.e. TULIP/Calvinism). I believe they are not only true, biblical and logical but they are humbling. So, I joined this group on Facebook that-by the title itself-it is more or less cheeky. It's called: "Calvinism: the Group that Chooses You."
Now, some may say that Calvinists are rather negative and hardcore serious. But the images below should expel those kind of ideas hehehehe. I think the best image is the first one. This basically outlines, although humorously, the teachings of the Doctrines of Grace. From the moment I was born-again to the moment I will be glorified, it is the grace of God that sustains me. He is the Alpha and the Omega of my salvation. Praise the Lord!
John MacArthur’s A Tale of Two Sons is provocative and somewhat soap-operatic. It is essentially an exegetical work on the Parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32 which MacArthur describes as “The Greatest Short Story. Ever” (3). At the onset of the book, he paints the picture of a parable that is not simply a good story or a good read but rather an intricate, complex and profound literary work.
MacArthur exposes the Parable in its context and as part of the greater Lucan narrative that pointed towards the eventual and climactic death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He also unravels the role of each of the character mentioned in the story, that is, the Prodigal son, the father and the elderly brother. He does this in such a way as to make the reader personalize the events that occurred in each of the character’s lives.
By reading the book, I was yet again reminded of my own sins and iniquities and the grace and mercy of Christ who took upon Himself my shame, my guilt and my sins on the Cross of Calvary. His death made me live again!
Furthermore, I was reassured of the true meaning of heaven’s joy in heaven. In Luke 15, Jesus was recorded telling three parables and in them the message was the same—that there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. But, what I did not realize was that the rejoicing in heaven was not rejoicing over the repentance of the sinner, but rejoicing over the grace and mercy that God gives to Him that repents. God does not need to be merciful to anyone and as a matter of fact we all have sinned and deserve the full extent of God’s wrath. However, in God’s infinite wisdom, He provided a way by which his grace and mercy may be glorified through the sacrifice of His own Beloved Son. Indeed, as Fanny Crosby has said:
To God be the glory, great things he hath done! So loved he the world that he gave us his Son, who yielded his life an atonement for sin, and opened the lifegate that all may go in.
Refrain: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice! O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, and give him the glory, great things he hath done! 1
But, that was not the end of the story. MacArthur's real focus was to be the elderly brother. This often neglected portion of the story was actually the real intention for why the parable was even said in the first place. To find out more about how and why, go read the book!
Words and music by Stephen Altrogge As recorded on Valley of Vision
Lyrics
You were broken that I might be healed You were cast off that I might draw near You were thirsty that I might come drink Cried out in anguish that I might sing
How deep is Your love How high and how wide is Your mercy How deep is Your grace Our hearts overflow with praise To You
You knew darkness that I might know light Wept great tears that mine might be dried Stripped of glory that I might be clothed Crushed by Your Father to call me Your own
I just finished reading, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J.I. Packer. Packer is one of the Professors of Theology right in my own backyard, that is Regent College in Vancouver, BC. The book was originally published in 1961 in the hopes of clearing up a few hot topics of the time. The main contemporary issue however was the weakening and generally unhealthy nature of evangelism(Packer 119). The blame of course was placed upon the resurgence of the doctrine of God's sovereignty. Many supposed that the emphasis on the sovereignty of God would diminish evangelistic efforts because it would lead to the idea that "when God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do it without your aid or mine." 1
Packer unfolds the Scriptures in order to show that there is an antinomy between God's Sovereignty and Human Responsibility, a seeming contradiction in the Bible but nevertheless two explicit truths Christians have to live by. Packer argues that Christians cannot pick and choose between these two truths but must live in continual balance proclaiming God as man's King, who is in control of his steps, and man's Judge, who holds responsible he that commits lawlessness (Packer 31). He further argues, by quoting Spurgeon, that the two truths are "friends" and friends do not need reconciling (Packer 43).
The most useful insight that I learned from this book is the idea of patience in evangelism. Because I believe that God is sovereign over all things, including man's salvation, I should not be impatient in evangelism. God has his own ways and his own timetable so that I should not be rushing to gather as much "decisions for Christ" as I can but that I should be rushing to proclaim the Gospel in the hopes that God might save some by it.
As Packer says,
The idea that a single evangelistic sermon, or a single serious conversation, ought to suffice for the conversion of anyone who is ever going to be converted is really silly. If [...] you meet a person who is not thus prepared, a person who as yet has no conviction of the truth of the gospel and perhaps no idea, or even a false idea, of what the gospel actually is, it is worse than useless to try and stampede him into a snap "decision." You may be able to bully him into a psychological crisis of some sort, but that will not be saving faith and will do him no good (Packer 130).
Please check out this page to purchase the copy of the book.
Footnotes 1. Glimpses of Christian History Presents Stories behind Famous Quotes: William Carey. http://www.chinstitute.org/lives_events/quotes/quote008.shtml
Bibliography Packer, J.I. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 2008.
Can we judge our evangelistic efforts? What fruit are we bearing? Are they hundreds of "decisions for Christ" that last for days and then wane away. And afterwards, we blame our discipleship efforts for not doing proper follow-up. See, it is actually hard--if not impossible--to disciple unregenerate people. Or, are we producing genuine repentance that lasts into eternity? Maybe, it is not our consolidation methods that we need to check. Maybe, just maybe it's our evangelistic efforts that need re-evaluation because the Bible says we need to be bearing fruit that will last.
Psalms 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The video above concerns a dream Joshua Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Boy Meets Girls etc..., had. It speaks of the infinite wisdom of God's love and design for our redemption. Please watch and comment.
