Life Blog

That I have been introduced to two individuals now who strongly subscribe to John Calvin’s doctrines has got me thinking seriously about this subject. And so for more than a couple of months now, my reading of the Scriptures has been greatly influenced and directed towards the subject of election and predestination and God’s exercise of His absolutely sovereign  will. The book of genealogies never appealed to me and I never really got any significance from it. But today as I read through those genealogies again, something hit me really strongly. The book of genealogies actually is evidence of the move of the mighty hand of God to preserve a people for Himself. In Genesis chapter 5, at verse 4 it says: “The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters.” I asked myself: What about the other sons and daughters were they not significant to God? The answer came rather quickly. They were all significant, but Seth was more significant because ...

A message I sent to a friend who is quite inclined towards Calvinism. : ) I was recently introduced by a friend to this guy who is new here in Qatar. I invited him to church and it turned out that he was a Primitive Baptist. Primitive Baptists also adhere strongly to the doctrines of Election and Predestination and we had quite a lengthy discussion on this topic already. It is not that I don't adhere to the doctrines of election and predestination, but the differences lie in how we see the manner it was carried out. And it seems to me that the Calvinist view is that the Lord hand picks His sheep. I don't see it that way and I don't think it has Scriptural basis. I believe it is just an assumption from Scripture. How one becomes a sheep I believe is not by hand picking. It is illustrated in the verse below: Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed wit...

Ephesians 1: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, --- If you are bent on predestination and election, you would be quick to pick up the passage above. But mind you, the Apostle Paul's explanation about us being predestinated does not stop at verse 11 but continues through to the end of chapter 1. So who are them that are predestinated? Verses 12 and 13 could not be any clearer that it is them who first trusted in Christ. And indeed predestination unto the adoption as sons of God cannot be had without first trusting in Christ. If it was so, then Christ' death would have been in vain. And so a...

I just looked up "foreknowledge" in my e-sword and these 2 verses came up. Act 2:23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: 1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. Acts 2:23 clearly speaks about the Lord Jesus Christ and 1Pe 1:2 talks about election. Notice how, that as pertaining to the Lord Jesus it is by the "determinate counsel and foreknowledge." There are two elements, the determinate counsel of God which means His determinate will, and the foreknowledge of God which is God's ability to look into the future. But as pertaining election, it is according to the "foreknowledge" only, without the "determinate counsel" of God. Andrew Wommack explains predestination in this light: ...