Helen heard an infant crying, slid down to the river and found a newborn, an expendable pawn, abandoned to die and be washed away near a drain outlet. She wrapped the baby in her coat and then almost fell when the ground shook from the explosion while hearing Bill yell from above, “Helen, get out of there!” The water from the burst dam crushed her against vegetation on the bank as she protected the infant until her team reached them.
Bill and Rose adopted the child Helen rescued and invited Helen to stay with them indefinitely since she lived alone and could no longer take care of herself given her injuries which gave Helen days, months and then years to read to and guide Little Helen from her wheelchair.
When Little Helen was three years old a man gave her a permanent marker to write a message while Rose held her so she could reach the top of the casket. As she carefully made her marks she suddenly looked up with astonishment and proclaimed loud enough for all to hear, “Mommy, Auntie Helen is dancing with Jesus!“
Predestination is God’s plan for us for responsible service as slaves of Jesus and yet children of God (Matthew 6:9, 1 John 3:2). There is nothing more meaningful or fulfilling in one’s life than coming to repentance and accepting that destiny. He wills it for all of us (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4).
However, predestination is overshadowed within some traditions by adding on the notion of predeterminism. These traditions contain conceptions of the nature of God that pit our free will against God’s glory.
Starting at 28:00 for about 13 minutes David Pawson described two views of predestination, the Arminian and the Calvinist (Reformed) views.
This video is part of Pawson’s introduction to the Bible covering the books from Genesis to Revelation. After going through this series I began to see myself and those around me as living within an historical drama leading to a wedding the significance of which I had not appreciated before. The Christian worldview came to life. It is from within that worldview revealed by the Bible that I now consider issues such as predestination.
In section D6 of Election and Reprobation at Monergism, Wayne Grudem made summary observations that I agree with: “So in a Reformed system God’s highest value is his own glory, and in an Arminian system God’s highest value is the free will of man. These are two distinctly different conceptions of the nature of God….”
Given these two distinctly different conceptions of the nature of God, I ask myself: If God’s highest value were really his own glory, why the crucifixion? If God’s highest value were not the free will of man, how did sin and the resulting evil enter the historical narrative of the Christian worldview as revealed by the Bible?
The Reformed conception of God leaves me with too many unanswered questions. Thankfully there are alternatives to it. For more on these alternatives, Mike Winger provides a biblical argument clarifying what hardening of hearts means and why faith is not a work. He also provides an overview of Calvinism and Arminianism.
What do you think? You are welcome to set me straight or present your own views on predestination in the comments below.
Eventually Bill stopped giving Rafael excuses and entered the revival tent hoping his doubts wouldn’t dampen the effervescent joy in others should a miracle occur. He stood at the back where he met a missionary who had scars across her cheeks, lips, ears and nose. She explained that the militia overpowering her town a decade ago carried off the pretty girls for prostitution and mutilated the ugly ones or killed them, like her sister, to demoralize the surrounding communities.
Bill went back often and at one point disclosed to her as a warning that his work was dangerous. In turn she reminded him that she was one of the ugly ones.
She loved it when he called her Rose and they were married under the revival tent.
Mary Hood (tqhousecat) at mehflowers linked to MercyMe’s song I Can Only Imagine in her post, Wake Up Dreaming, contrasting it with John Lennon’s Imagine. What a contrast! I can’t even imagine what must have been going through Lennon’s mind when he wrote what he did.
This beautiful song has been around for some time, but it is the first time I’ve heard it. I am grateful to Mary for sharing it. I may never have heard it otherwise.
Celia’s boyfriend, Derek, with two of his friends helping, removed his things from her apartment the morning she met her father, Rafael, at the café. How did her father know Derek could not be trusted? Since the arguments with her mother she had not spoken to either of them. How did her father even know there was a Derek?
Rafael remained in the café for some time after Celia ran off and then decided to walk by the ocean before going home. He was wondering what their next move should be and how he would tell his wife that his meeting with their daughter failed when he heard footsteps running from behind and Celia shouting, “Dad, wait!”
The King James Version translates the last word, διψυχοι, as “double minded” which suggests to me a feel-good spirituality without repentance. Avoiding repentance is a sign that one hasn’t experienced the joy that such change provides when grounded on forgiveness. No amount of substitute sentiment can compare with that.
I suspect the devil needs only half a heart to drag us all the way down. King David wanted nothing less than a newly created, clean heart when he almost lost it all with Bathsheba.
Being double minded is also like lighting a candle and putting it under a basket. Oneta Hayes tells us what will happen if we do that: the fire goes out.
Soon after the murder of his daughter, Timothy’s wife died in an accident brought on by the distraction of sorrow. Timothy sold their house and moved to a basement apartment of a building owned by the church to house members of their fellowship needing a place to live. Much of the money Timothy earned he donated to this church and they shielded him in the basement.
Although he didn’t feel at home anywhere without his wife and daughter, this was where he returned after Helen’s dispatch to the tunnel and the successful extraction of the trafficked children from the van.
He would be in that apartment for the next five years until the church, knowing his skills, asked if he could train prospective chaplains in defensive operations in a violent land. After being there a couple of years, one autumn day the group they were defending was attacked, and though they repelled the attackers, Timothy was hit and he found his way home.
For those curious about where I imagined Timothy was sent by his church see Wes Bentley’s sermon at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach describing Far Reaching Ministries and Sudan. As a warning for those few who might like to watch the sermon, Pastor Bentley’s description of the persecution and terrorism is explicit.
Mario Murillo described a woman who was once demon possessed and sold on the streets in “Mary Magdalene on the Day Jesus Died”. After Jesus cast out her demons she followed Him. Then came the crucifixion.
And then came the power of the resurrection.
In his Easter blog post this morning Mario Murillo wrote, “Easter is not polite. It is fire! It is not about bunnies or eggs, and it has no place among the other harmless religious holidays.”
The resurrection separates Easter from other religious holidays. That resurrection is the assurance of the coming judgement.
διοτι εστησεν ημεραν εν η μελλει κρινειν την οικουμενην εν δικαιοσυνη εν ανδρι ω ωρισεν πιστιν παρασχων πασιν αναστησας αυτον εκ νεκρων
Some agents went with Timothy to the east parking area near the second tunnel after getting Helen’s dispatch where they found a suspicious fifteen foot van and arrested the driver upon hearing screams from the back. Other fully armed agents stood ready anticipating hostile response. When the shootout started Timothy dropped behind a car with the child he was moving from the van shielding her with his body and the protective gear he wore.
A few days later Timothy saw that child reunited with her parents at the hospital. She pointed him out and her family approached. In broken English they thanked him and the child’s mother sealed it with an uncontrolled flow of tears, holy water: God be praised.
Jason Lisle is an astronomer who argues for biblical creationism and a young earth. I think he’s right. However, I suspect many Christians would not agree. They accept the deep time of evolution perhaps because they’ve been taught that’s just the way things are. To keep religion relevant, they add onto this a God who guides the mythical process of evolution. I know some Christians believe this kind of theistic evolution, because I’ve been there, done that and wish now I hadn’t.
The problem with theistic evolution is that no connection exists between that guiding God and Elohim (Yahweh) after theistic evolution trashes Genesis 1-11. If one doesn’t accept Genesis as an historical document, how can one make sense out of Easter except as one more myth? Don’t forget what’s at stake: 1 Corinthians 15:14.
There is plenty of scientific justification for a biblical young earth. Indeed, what is lacking is scientific evidence for the belief that deep time could ever be deep enough to make evolution work or that a big bang could randomly pop any ordered reality, let alone an orderly universe, out of a disordered quantum vacuum no matter how often it tries.
Here are a few sites I have found useful should you wish to explore this.
Walt Brown provides a survey of arguments for creationism along with his hydroplate theory of what happened during the flood in his book, In the Beginning.
John Hartnett describes the Anisotropic Synchrony Convention that Jason Lisle uses to solve the starlight travel time problem which answers the question how light from stars billions of light years away could reach the earth instantly on the fourth day of creation.
Easter is upon us. Many proclaim the resurrection of Jesusas historical fact. That’s the core of what matters.
Asserting the resurrection of Jesus as historical fact takes me back to creation as presented in Genesisalso as historical fact. If it is weren’t for Adam and Eve there would be no need for the death and resurrection of Jesus. From that beginning I go to the end times that prophecies assert will also be, some day, historical fact.
Here is a song I found on The Marshall Report appropriate for those last days which may be coming soon.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 