Life Blog

This was asked in one of my discussion groups in Facebook: How is one born again? The proponent of that question was swift to answer. He said, we don't know. But it is clear from Scripture: Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. and 1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. And they also speak a lot about regeneration so I looked up "regeneration" in my Bible and found this verse: Tit 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Notice the phrase "by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit." This immediately tells me that regeneration is separate and distinct from the ministry of the Holy Spirit which is renewing. I believe regeneration is a ministry ...

I asked: How do you know that when you die you will be with Jesus? Somebody said: 1Jn 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And WHAT are these who believe... 1Jn 5:1 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God... And what shall become of those who believe... Joh 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. I said: Yes, sure the Bible tells us that, and our Pastors tell us that. But how are you so sure that indeed you have eternal life? And again he says: Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also GLORIFIED. This is the glorious future of those whom the Father foreknew. Again I s...

God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth (Gen 6:12) . God is not the one responsible for all the troubles in the world. Man is. He has corrupted his way upon the earth. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God  (Gen 6:8-9) . The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted (Gen 4:6-7) ?" God has not changed and God does not change. He is the same to people today as He was with Cain. If you do well, will you not be accepted? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law  (Rom 9:32-33) . By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testif...

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 ...

I believe in Christ. But before I came to believe in Christ, there were people who constantly ministered and witnessed to me that indeed Jesus Christ is real. During that time I had many questions. I had doubts. And it was a struggle in me of whether I will believe these people. Although I attended the Bible studies, my heart was not really in it and I was telling myself, anyway this is for God, and if these people are in error then let God have mercy upon me and rescue me from their hands, because I was staying in my brother’s Flat and I had no choice but to constantly attend the Bible study at his place and go with them to Church every Friday. Worship services here in the Middle East are held on Fridays as do the Muslims. And so that went on. But as for me, I continued with my personal reading of the Bible as I used to in the past. As time went on, things started to change. The songs they played in Church started to move me to tears. The lady Pastor went around during the Praise an...

Col 2:12  Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. The word operation was translated from the Greek:   G1753 ἐνέργεια energeia en-erg'-i-ah From G1756; efficiency (“energy”): - operation, strong, (effectual) working. This gives us an idea of what goes on in the spirit realm when a person comes to Christ. The Scripture says, we are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God... the energy... the effectual working of God.  Here is what happens in the spirit realm, believers are risen from the dead by this energy - the effectual working of God. And it is made to pass through the faith of this energy. Now, this clearly tells us that this is not Man's faith, it is God's faith.  Notice the first part of this Scripture. It says, Buried with Him in baptism. This is where Man's faith is in operation. Baptism is the answer of a good conscience toward God. The a...

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...