Thoughts from a 90 year old saintly woman

I have known Jeanette for about 15 years, ever since I came to this church. She had been there for years already. She is known in the church for her memorization of Scripture. She loves to play cards with friends, and is the main door greeter for Sunday mornings, despite her increasing difficulty to stand.

It seems we are inevitably attracted to the attractive, articulate, clever, and charismatic personalities. Christians seem to gravitate to the talented and the outgoing. But one lesson I have learned from the Lord is to never underestimate or minimize the background people in the church. The awkward, the elderly, the ignored, the introverts, the weird ones, the rejects and the cast offs. No one really pays attention to them.

Like Jeanette.

There is a gold mine of wisdom, insight, and perspective in these people. But few of them have opportunity or outlet. Yet they remain faithful, year after year. So, I am so blessed that Jeanette chose to write down her thoughts and asked me to share them on my blog. I hope you are blessed as well.

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The Cross is proof of God’s grace - by Mike Ratliff

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Calvinists are quick to talk about Calvinism. They never teach the Bible, per se, they teach Calvinism. They explain it. Go over it over and over. They never depart from chronicling the tiniest nuance of Calvinistic doctrine.

But Calvinists never explain the Bible.

The author is a Calvinist, so he believes that long ago God chose those who would be saved. This means that since these chosen ones get saved at the exact moment God ordained, they are bystanders in the transaction. They don't make a decision to agree to salvation. They are not participants. They do nothing at all.

Further, most Calvinists will say that God ordains all of existence, that our day to day lives, events, circumstances, and decisions have already been laid out. From these ideas come a whole host of problems, like

• If God chose the saved for heaven, He must have chose to send the lost to hell
• Human choice is an elaborate illusion
• Neither the saved nor the lost have any reason to lead virtuous lives
• Life itself is fake

Now to be sure, Calvinism has developed explanations for all these problems, some of them quite elaborate, others tortured. This is what Calvinism does: It creates problems that need workarounds.

Thus the author has an undocumented presumption: Everything is pre-ordained, including salvation, everything in the salvation process is a actuated by God: Grace, forgiveness, new life, even faith. It's all from God. 

Oddly, he never demonstrates this from the Bible. 

One last thing: It's irrelevant. Whether the saved are predestined or not doesn't matter. It changes nothing. People will get saved every day. Does it matter somehow that they were chosen or not? Nope.

Calvinism is a useless intellectual exercise.

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Contract For American Renewal 2026 - By John Rachel

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Way back in the mid 1990s a group of Republicans introduced the "Contract with America," an eight point economic plan intended to bring some sanity to the massive government budget. They were roundly mocked by the Leftist media and the Democrats at the time.

Fast-forward a few decades and now the Left has its own contract. The difference is, while the Republican contract was reform-oriented, the below "Contract for American Renewal" is more of the same thing the Left has already been implementing for 100 years. 

It's truly amazing how the Left recycles the same failed ideas day after year after decade as if this time they will finally work.

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8 Questions About Predestination - by: Joel R. Beeke, Paul M. Smalley

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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We've spent a lot of time in this blog examining the Reformed/Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, because it seems to be the lynchpin of this branch of Christian theology. Today we review the explanation of these credentialed men to ascertain if there's reason to believe in universal predestination.

The authors do quote some Scripture, which is an all-to-rare occurrence among so-called Bible teachers. Unfortunately, they do not quote certain Bible references, and when we go to read them we find that the verses do not say what the authors said.

Therefore, we must consider this Bad Bible Teaching.

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Spiritual Gifts Are for Service, Not Personal Fulfillment - by Matt Emadi

Found here. 

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A very good article and a sober reminder that our spiritual gifts are not indicators of superior spirituality and do not entitle us to a position.

On the flip side, a savvy church leadership will endeavor to discover the spiritual gifts of their congregants, and seek to install these people in ministry as they discern it to be appropriate. Thus the church has an obligation to perform its function as well by identifying, training, and releasing people into ministry. This happens to have a side benefit of mitigating the issues the author will bring forth below.

Therefore, a healthy church is one where the leadership brings to maturity its people, and where the people embrace the discipline and eventual release into ministry within the body.

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A Wealth Tax that Will Work - How we build a better future despite Trump and his Republican lapdogs (Part 1) - by Robert Reich

 Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Dr. Reich spouts the Leftist line with facility. It rolls off his word processor like so much effluent. He perfectly parrots The Agenda (the decades-long effort to overthrow The System), while pretending to embrace "equality," "democracy," and "fairness." In actual fact, the Left is actually intent on causing more and more problems, with the idea that finally people will be ready for a different system. 

That's the goal of people like Dr. Reich. And that's the purpose of his article today. So nothing you will read here is intended for telling the truth. It's for manipulation and distraction. It's to get you riled up at the horrible injustice of people having a lot of money while other people suffer and die.

That's what Dr. Reich wants you to think. Don't fall for it.

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Crushed, Stricken, Victorious - by Robb Brunansky

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author is intent on inserting a life lesson into Isaiah 53, that God is trustworthy, but this is simply not found there. Nonetheless it is the author's theme, for better or worse. And as we will discover, it is definitely for the worse. Rather than teaching about the substantial prophetic imagery here and showing us the power of this passage, somehow he seems to want it to be about something else. 

Jesus had precious little to say about trust. This is the sole example:

Jn. 14:1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.

"Trust" here is pisteuete, which means to have faith or believe, while "trustworthy" is pistoi, which means faithful, is found here:

Lk. 16:12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

It seems like the NT concept of trust is at variance with the author's understanding.

Further, the author also teaches the Reformist/Calvinist false doctrine that the Father punished Jesus for our sin. We will discuss that below.

Lastly, he writes over 1200 words, but aside from the tangential introductory Scripture only eleven words of Scripture are quoted. Astonishing. How is it possible to teach the Bible without quoting it?

We must consider this to be Bad Bible Teaching.

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Jack Hibbs: What the Bible Really Says About the Millennial Reign of Christ - By Abby Trivett

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Charisma Magazine has some pretty good articles, but also some truly off the wall stuff. And there's some stuff that is plainly wrong. Though we usually examine the follies of cessationist Reformists/Calvinists, we are not reluctant to take charismatics to task when necessary.

Today it's the latter. We are not acquainted with Jack Hibbs and have never heard his teaching before. So we have no dog in the fight. In the video below, Mr. Hibbs intends to explain the millennial reign of Christ, and he will make up things out of thin air, turn Scriptures on their heads, and make a big to-do about a topic that frankly has little relevance to the Christian walk. That's right. Knowing about the millennium has little to no benefit.

The below article is a actually another writer's summary of this video. It's is only 400 words but it looks a lot longer. That's an irritating feature becoming more and more common on the internet: Web pages are inundated with ads, recommendations for other articles, and all sorts of other filler material, making the article appear longer and more substantial than it really is. This also makes it difficult to read, distracting to the point where we are simply tending to avoid these sorts of websites altogether. 

The writer of the article apparently intended only to regurgitate Mr. Hibbs' presentation without critical evaluation, which suggests that she agrees with it. In addition, there's a frustrating lack of Bible references, which is a shortcoming reflective of the video as well. 

So. What does the Bible say about the millennial reign? Well, 8 verses: 

Re. 20:2 He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 

4 I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

5 (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.   

7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth — Gog and Magog — to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 

9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 

That's it. There are other verses thought to be about the millennium, for example, Isaiah 65:25, Zechariah 14:16, Zechariah 9:10, and Jeremiah 30:9, but this is speculative at best.

Lastly, we should note that though Mr. Hibbs employs the Bible, but he will rarely directly quote it. We must consider this Bad Bible Teaching.

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Is Elon Worth It? Is he a net positive for humanity or a net negative? - by Robert Reich

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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Dr. Reich never reveals his premise. He seems to think that he has the right, even the ability, to evaluate a person's value to humanity. Musk is involved in negotiating a compensation package for himself, and it's a big one no doubt. This is, of course, a private transaction involving consenting parties. The shareholders of Tesla may or may not approve. Is Elon worth it? That's up to them, not you, Dr. Reich.

In fact, Dr. Reich is sticking his nose where it does not belong. He's not a party to any of this. So why is he arrogantly assessing Musk's human worth? Because Dr. Reich is a Leftist, and Leftists think that they should be involved in other peoples' business. Well actually, they think they should be in control. Why?

Musk, by virtue of being rich, gained his wealth via exploitation. He strolled into the houses of poor people and help himself to their bank accounts. This means he's part of the bourgeois and needs to be taken down. Dr. Reich presumes himself to be part of the proletariat, the oppressed lower class that must rise up to overthrow the bourgeois. Yes, Dr. Reich is worth millions, but he's nowhere near as rich as Musk.

Maybe he's hoping the mobs will come for him last?

It's about class struggle; this is Dr. Reich's unstated premise.  The rich are evil. They are parasites on society. None of what they got was obtained without taking it from someone else. So it's very easy for Dr. Reich to amplify Musk's faults into him being a "hazard to humanity." Catch that? Musk is not simply a rich and successful businessman, he's been evaluated and condemned. 

Thus it is understandable, if not desirable, to terminate this menace.

This is Dr. Reich's moral compass. We should not dismiss him or other Leftists so easily. We should know by now what they're capable of.

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Three Crosses; Two Sabbaths; One Empty Tomb: The Timeline Of Holy Week - by Dr. Thomas E. Rush & Pastor Nathan Rush

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Jesus said he would be in the grave for three days and three nights. The obvious problem is Jesus could not have been crucified on Friday if He was resurrected on Sunday, which is the traditional view. No matter how innovative the solution, there's just not enough time.

We stumbled on what we thought was a sensible and simple solution to this problem, which we proposed and posted here. But ever since we've been wondering if anyone else had also covered this ground. In today's article the authors echo our solution.

It doesn't completely agree with our calculation, but it's close.

We must note that the authors make several ancillary misstatements about Jesus' sacrificial death, which we corrected. In addition, these and other additions add unnecessarily to the length. This article could have been half as long.

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Universal reconciliation: conversation with a Faceborg friend

Posted by a Faceborg friend:

THE GOSPEL is not universalism based on ignoring sin — it’s universal reconciliation based on the finished work of Christ.

Me: A distinction without a difference, isn't it?

Friend: Universal reconciliation does not "ignore" sin. Rather, it confronts sin through the finished work of the cross; in that He made Him who knew no sin to BE sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Him! (Christ) 2 Corinthians 5:21

Me: But if everyone gets reconciled, sin is irrelevant since the result is is the same either way.

Friend: Because somebody's got to BURN!!! But that's NOT the heart of God, nor is it His will! 2 Peter 3:9 This isn't some sick game where some get to win, and the rest have to lose. Do a word study on the Greek word "pas" (all).

. . . and by the way, sin IS irrelevant, except for those Evangelicals who worship sin and hell more than they do the redemptive heart of the Trinity!!!

That's why the Finished work, on the cross is Good News!!!!!

Me: You brought up sin, not me. If sin is irrelevant, so is the cross.

A Sketch of the Premillennial, Pretribulational Rapture of the Saints - By David Huffstutler

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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This is a textbook example of how to fit a doctrine into the Bible. We have long had complaint with the pre-trib rapture teaching. Those who teach this doctrine are inevitably obtuse and confusing. But we had some hope the author would be able to supply a coherent explanation. Alas, he could not.

In fact, the crucial concept that the rapture would occur before the Tribulation is never biblically demonstrated.

We must regard this as Bad Bible Teaching.

In our view, the rapture is on the Last Day of the last days, the Day of the Lord.

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Download the Free Ligonier App - Ligonier

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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We found this to be extremely odd. Reformists/Calvinists are really big on Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone), contrasting this doctrine with the eevil charismatics who they say want to add to Scripture with prophecy and tongues.

But notice that this helpful new app from Ligonier doesn't seem to contain a Bible. But it's chock full of extra-biblical information. 

It continually amazes us that these folks don't see the irony of this.

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Letter to the editor: By not allowing a local sales tax, we are 'kinda stupid' - by Orville Bach

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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This letter writer supports more taxes, which is what a typical Leftist would do. But he goes farther and tells us we are stupid for not wanting more taxes. Specifically, a local option sales tax.

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Translations that don't improve the Bible - Colossians 1:21-22, TPT Bible

Introduction

There are a lot of Bible translations. A lot. Naturally, some are better than others. This can be "better" in word-for-word accuracy vs. "better" in the accuracy of the thought being conveyed. The word-for-word translations are highly accurate but can be difficult to read for those who tend not to be highly educated in theology, while thought-for thought-translations can flow more naturally for the casual reader, even though they cannot provide the same level of precision. 

It's an ongoing debate in Christians circles, one that we will not settle here.

A third category is a paraphrase, which places readability way higher in priority. Neither word-for-word nor thought for thought, paraphrases are story-based, more aligned with characters and the mood. These are the loosest in terms of accuracy, and generally thought of as not suitable to use for study.

The last category we want to mention is those translations that conform to one's preconceived doctrines. Such a translation comes with an agenda, like the New World Translation of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The NWT was written specifically to reflect the doctrines of the Witnesses. 

But even so-called "reliable" translations often have built-in biases themselves, particularly when it comes to Reformed/Calvinistic doctrines. It is not unreasonable to say that pretty much every translation carries some of the doctrinal bias of their translators. But generally, they are trustworthy and usable.

Given this, it shouldn't surprise us that The Passion Translation (TPT), by Dr. Brian Simmons, comes with its own bias. This bias is toward a particular brand of charismaticism that comes out of Bethel Church in Redding, California. Bethel is known for its sometimes spectacular claims regarding the manifestation of the supernatural. Some regard Bethel as a cult, while others consider it to be at the forefront of what the Holy Spirit is doing. 

This is also a debate we will not settle here.

There are notable connections between Dr. Simmons, Bethel church and its leadership, and Dr. Simmons' educational experience. So the main question we seek to answer is, does TPT carry a doctrinal skew based on its connections to a church? And, does Dr. Simmons have any formal, rigorous training in a recognized institution that would qualify him as a Bible translator?  

Lets deal with second question first. Please bear with us as we cover some background information.

The Problem with Comer’s Cafeteria Approach to Spirituality - by Matthew Bingham

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This author as a Reformed/Calvinist makes his tradition the benchmark for evaluating John Mark Comer's book. However, Comer pulls from various traditions in formulating a different understanding of how to walk out the successful Christian life. This offends the author, primarily because Comer is violating the boundaries of denominations and theological schools of thought. 

Comer may be sensible and might have some good ideas, or maybe, he's off course and teaching falsehood. If the author believes the latter, he does not make a clear case. 

But either way, we certainly understand Comer's motivations. The Christian church, particularly in the Western world, is lukewarm, compromising, and increasingly irrelevant. To a substantial degree, it has lost its way. Therefore, though his approach may possibly be wrong, at least Comer knows there's a problem and wants to do something about it.

But the author wants to preserve his tradition in the face of supposed threats to it. Comer wants something else because he believes that traditional ideas aren't working. The author will try to make his case for possible heresy, but based on this article, we simply don't see it.

We should note, we are not here to defend Comer or his book. In fact, we don't really care for his ideas on Spiritual Formation. We are interested only in the author's presentation.

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Christians Must Not Share the Stage with False Teachers - by Dave Jenkins

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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It's not that we disagree with the author. It's possible that sharing the stage with a false teacher gives the false teacher credibility. It's also possible that a pastor who does so might end up compromised himself. 

But the author's treatment of the topic is superficial. We have these issues:

• What, precisely, is a false teacher? Is it someone who simply has a different opinion about certain doctrines? The Bible tells us a false teacher is an egregious, public sinner, adulterous and manipulative (2 Peter 2:1-22). We should therefore be careful to accuse someone of being a false teacher.

• Related to that is the idea that perfect, pure doctrine is a marker of a true church or a genuine Christian. But this is not God's standard, it's man's. 

• How might a pastor "share a stage" with a false teacher? Does it mean inviting a false teacher as a guest preacher? Does it mean attending a non-profit fundraiser where other pastors might be in attendance? Does it mean standing up on stage at the same time and being asked to affirm a false teacher? 

• Really, a typical local church is in little danger of doing this. Most local churches keep to themselves, even to the degree that it violates the call to Christian unity. A lot of pastors are territorial. They don't want other churches "stealing" their sheep. They are so concerned about differing opinions and different practices that they isolate themselves out of fear.

• Lastly, one might wonder how a church's pastor, solid in doctrine and mature in faith, leading a discerning, stable church, could end up enticed and compromised by a false teacher and wander off into error. We just don't believe this is very common. We do know that pastors fall with alarming frequency, but these are mostly moral failures where the pastor was unaccountable to anyone. Doctrinal compromise in this scenario is not terribly common.

We should also take note of the author's Scriptural documentation. Very little of it has to do with sharing the stage with false teachers. 

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Don’t Take the Supper at Youth Camp or Get Baptized in the Jordan - by Ben Robin

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author isn't here to explain the Bible, he's here to explain his tradition and church practice. He quotes some Bible verses and essentially inserts them into his pre-arranged doctrines. What comes out of that unfortunate combination bears no resemblance to what the Bible teaches.

Baptism is not a church ceremony, it is a statement by the one being baptized regarding his faith and commitment to Christ. It belongs to him, not the church. Anytime believers get together it is a manifestation of the church, and baptisms can occur.

Communion is not a church ceremony either. It's a community meal and fellowship time where the Blood and the Body is honored. Anytime believers get together to do this it is a manifestation of the church. Communion belongs to the those who gather, not the church.

In the end, we are not interested in the author's traditions. We are happy for him if he finds meaning in them. But we will not tolerate him misrepresenting the Scriptures.

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A Brief Theology of Preaching - by W. Tyler Sykora

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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The author makes a good effort to explain his topic, and does get some of it correct. However, his church tradition gets in the way. As a result he interprets Scripture through his Reformed/Calvinist viewpoint, and misses some obvious things.

Thankfully, he does quote a couple of relevant Scriptures, but supplies no Scriptural documentations for his primary thesis. This is unfortunate.

We're going to cut him some slack, however, because he's pointed in the right direction. We are hopeful he will be able at some point to examine the topic free from doctrinal preconceptions.

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They’re calling it a “Hate America” Rally - by Robert Reich

Found here. Our comments in bold.
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Dr. Reich perfectly parrots the Leftist talking points that are disseminated all over the media landscape. Those talking points inevitably accuse the Right of what the Left has been doing for decades. We will note such occurrences with "Irony Alert."

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