WHAT IS ARMINIANISM AND CALVINISM

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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on August 23, 2010 at 3:48am

Sis Maggie,

>>giving a gift requires 2 people

Beloved when explaining spiritual things with human examples we must keep in mind that they fail to fully capture some of the biblical truth scripture teaches. A human giving another human a gift does not accurately represents the dealings of God with His creation.

Romans 19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" (a deadly blow for those among us that believe that God can not overcome our will, who can resist is! Scripture teaches ) 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory.

If you find the above verses offensive, then is Paul a false teacher too. What if God has chosen to show His wrath and make His power known to the people He would save while baring with Great patience, becaue every breath an unbeliever takes is by the mercy of God, those objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction.What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory. If by justly judging some He shows His immense mercy and gets praise and glory from those that are saved by him, is that wrong? I dare not tell God He is unjust because He chose me and not another. I do praise Him and give Him all glory for the faith to freely believe in Him was a gift.

A human being can never give the gift of salvation to another. God is not offering the gift. He is not saying would you please take faith to believe. I am God, but I have to respect your will in order to be just and not be called unjust by the very creation I made. Nope - God is choosing to save some from His righteous wrath. His gift is not dependant on men to take it. You and I in our fallen state would never take God. Yes! Fallen humanity wants the benefits of salvation, but not the surrendering. We want the peace and prosperity of the soul without the dying to self and life before Christ works in us. But Christ apart from your decision, one day came into your live and worked in your heart in such a way that you repented freely, you freely (Since for the first time ever you were enable to choose God) chose to follow Him. Some among us believe that they chose God from their own initiative and I suppose that is ok, is not a big deal if they want to think that, because they did freely choose Him, but why did they choose God? Could you have resisted the internal called of God? I know I was not able to. I freely chose Him once He had regenerated me and giving me the gift of faith. He gave me the gift without me working for it or deciding to take it. He called me and I answered.

People do resist the outer called of preachers. But no one that is called internally by the effectual call of the creator (the owner) can resist that calling. Yes a human can resist a gift from another human, but God's word does not come back void, it accomplishes what it set out to do. That is what Paul is teaching and what I believe. What the Reformers die to teach and what the Apostle wrote. The outer calling goes out through the whole earth, the offer is on the table and Jesus death certainly is enough to pay for the sins of anyone who has ever lived and will believe, but who can believe apart from God working in them not just to give them a choice to believe, but enabling them to believe. Humanity already has a choice, but men exchange the knowledge of God and rather worship the creation.

A wise builder counts the cost before he starts to build and I am not saying that I am a wise builder, but I was aware that some of my beloved family would react as you have to this correct interpretation of Scripture, but I find that the truth is worth any unfortunate consequence. I am not in a popularity contest; I am called to teach the truth. And the God I see in scripture is good and loving, merciful and patience and not desiring that any be lost. But his desire that none be lost does not mean that millions will not go to hell. This only shows His will of disposition, which describes God's attitude. It reveals what is pleasing to Him. He takes no pleasure inthe death of the wicket. He has provided a way for all the humans that ever live to come to him, but none would come unless He calls them internally. To me you will remain a beloved sister. I have no issue with those who chose to believe they chose God. I am happy they are saved. And I do agree that they chose God once God had called them and gifted them with faith. For as long as I live I will preach that Christ died for the world and for our sins and anyone who believes in Him will be saved.

Roman 3: 21But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

I started this discussion not to convert people into Calvinism or Arminiansim. But with hopes that we all grow in His grace towards God's people as we understand the differences of interpretation. So we do not fall into unnecessary nasty disputes. Jesus died for the world (for His church/sheep are all around the world), but the world wants nothing to do with Him. Including his elect.

Romans 3:
10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know."
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Tell me sis have you even prayed about this issues? Or you feel you do not have to because you are so set in what you believe that when confronted with scripture is not necessary to asked God for guidance? I believe you are a woman of God and though it is not pleasent to be called a false teacher, i understand your motives to be sound in doctrine. I have loved you with the truth as I understand it to be and have given the scriptures to back it up. I have done what i am called to do, the increase is not up to me. So I rest in my Lord and pray you do too.

I am confident in what I have believe to be true, but I am always willing to learn and grow, so if anyone can enlighten me with scripture to see the word differently please do not hesitate to bless me.

>>siily talk

This talk is not silly at all. It has been extremly beneficial. You know more about the body of Christ now then you did before. Now you know that your interpretation of scripture is not the only way one can believe. That is good. As i stated to you before your view of scripture in this subject is also known as "heresy," but I do not believe that to be true. I call it an erroneous view of scripture. Now you know that. So is not silly. You have gain a great deal. You are also afforded the opportunity to take this before the Lord and ask for Him to guide you on how to proceed.

>>in your previous statement you agreed there is salvation for all, now you sing a different tune. which is it?

We have all been saying this all along. I have said it to you a couple of times. There is salvation for all who would believe. Is it not true that you can speak to someone until your face is blue about Christ and how to come to him, but to no avail? However when the Lord calls them (for the increase and the souls belong to Him) who can resist it. Our privilage is that often God works through us to add folks to the church. Now that is our crown to the praises of God.

Blessings to you and yours. :)

Permalink Reply by Carla on August 22, 2010 at 8:49pm

Margaret, Here's another article:

Question: "How are predestination and election connected with foreknowledge?"

Answer: Certainly, since God knows everything, it would have been possible for God to base His predestination and election of individuals upon His foreknowledge of the future. In fact, that is the exact position that many Christians believe, as it is the Arminian view of predestination. The problem is that it really is not what the Bible teaches about predestination, election, and foreknowledge. In order to understand why the view that “God made His choice based on merely knowing the future” is not what the Bible teaches, let’s first consider a couple of verses that speak to the reason God elected or predestined people to salvation.

Ephesians 1:5 tells us that God “predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.” According to this verse, the basis of our being predestined is not something that we do or will do, but is based solely on the will of God for His own pleasure. As Romans 9:15-16 says, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.” Similarly, Romans 9:11 declares regarding Jacob and Esau, “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls.” Then again in Ephesians 1:11 we see that people are “chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” From these and many others passages, we see that Scripture consistently teaches that predestination or election is not based upon something that we do or will do. God predestined people based on His own sovereign will to redeem for Himself people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. God predetermined or predestined this from before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) based solely on His sovereign will and not because of anything that He knew the people would do.

But what about Romans 8:29 where it says that those “He foreknew, He also predestined”? Doesn’t that seem to say that predestination is based upon the foreknowledge of God? Of course, the answer is yes, it does teach that predestination is based on the foreknowledge of God. But what does the word foreknowledge mean? Does it mean “based upon God’s knowledge of the future,” meaning God simply looks down through the future and sees who will believe the gospel message and then predestines or elects them? If that were the case, it would contradict the verses above from Romans and Ephesians that make it very clear election is not based on anything man does or will do.

Fortunately, God does not leave us to wonder about this issue. In John 10:26, Jesus said, “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep.” The reason some people believe is that they belong to God. They were chosen for salvation, not based on the fact that they would one day believe, but because God chose them for “adoption as sons in Christ Jesus” before they ever existed. The reason one person believes and another person does not is that one person has been adopted by God and the other has not. The truth is that the word foreknew in Romans 8:29 is not speaking of God's knowing the future. The word foreknowledge is never used in terms of knowing about future events, times or actions (God’s omniscience). What it does describe is a predetermined relationship in the knowledge of God whereby God brings the salvation relationship into existence by decreeing it into existence ahead of time.

The word know is sometimes used in the Bible to describe an intimate or personal relationship between a man and a woman. In a similar sense, before God ever created the heavens and earth, and a long time before we were ever born, God knew His elect in a personal way and chose them to be His sheep, not because they would someday follow Him but in order to guarantee that they would follow Him. His knowing them and choosing them is the reason they follow Him, not the other way around. The issue really is not whether or not God knows who will believe, but why some believe and others do not. The answer to that is God chooses to have mercy on some and others He leaves in their sinful rebellion.

The following quote by John Murray is excellent in dealing with this issue: "Even if it were granted that ‘foreknew’ means the foresight of faith, the biblical doctrine of sovereign election is not thereby eliminated or disproven. For it is certainly true that God foresees faith; He foresees all that comes to pass. The question would then simply be: whence proceeds this faith, which God foresees? And the only biblical answer is that the faith which God foresees is the faith He himself creates (cf. John 3:3-8; 6:44, 45, 65; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29; 2 Peter 1:2). Hence His eternal foresight of faith is preconditioned by His decree to generate this faith in those whom He foresees as believing."

Recommended Resource: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J.I. Packer.

www.gotquestions.org

Permalink Reply by RoyW on August 17, 2010 at 7:33pm

Praise our Lord!

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on August 17, 2010 at 8:16pm

The Five Arminian Articles of Remonstrance

I.That God, by an eternal and unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ His Son, before the foundations of the world were laid, determined to save, out of the human race which had fallen into sin, in Christ, for Christ's sake and through Christ, those who through the grace of the Holy Spirit shall believe on the same His Son and shall through the same grace persevere in this same faith and obedience of faith even to the end; and on the other hand to leave under sin and wrath the contumacious and unbelieving and to condemn them as aliens from Christ, according to the word of the Gospel in John 3:36, and other passages of Scripture.

II.That, accordingly, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that He has obtained for all, by His death on the cross, reconciliation and remission of sins; yet so that no one is partaker of this remission except the believers [John 3:16; 1 John 2:2].

III.That man has not saving grace of himself, nor of the working of his own free-will, inasmuch as in his state of apostasy and sin he can for himself and by himself think nothing that is good — nothing, that is, truly good, such as saving faith is, above all else. But that it is necessary that by God, in Christ and through His Holy Spirit he be born again and renewed in understanding, affections and will and in all his faculties, that he may be able to understand, think, will, and perform what is truly good, according to the Word of God [John 15:5].

IV.That this grace of God is the beginning, the progress and the end of all good; so that even the regenerate man can neither think, will nor effect any good, nor withstand any temptation to evil, without grace precedent (or prevenient), awakening, following and co-operating. So that all good deeds and all movements towards good that can be conceived in through must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But with respect to the mode of operation, grace is not irresistible; for it is written of many that they resisted the Holy Spirit [Acts 7 and elsewhere passim].

V.That those who are grafted into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby been made partakers of His life-giving Spirit, are abundantly endowed with power to strive against Satan, sin, the world and their own flesh, and to win the victory; always, be it understood, with the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit, with Jesus Christ assisting them in all temptations, through His Spirit; stretching out His hand to them and (providing only that they are themselves prepared for the fight, that they entreat His aid and do not fail to help themselves) propping and upbuilding them so that by no guile or violence of Satan can they be led astray or plucked from Christ's hands [John 10:28]. But for the question whether they are not able through sloth or negligence to forsake the beginning of their life in Christ, to embrace again this present world, to depart from the holy doctrine once delivered to them, to lose their good conscience and to neglect grace--this must be the subject of more exact inquiry in the Holy Scriptures, before we can teach it with full confidence of our mind.

Permalink Reply by RoyW on August 18, 2010 at 5:17am

I do understand that this is the position of many. However, I see that the conclusion of this is a weakened Savior. This puts the weight of salvation right back on the individual to perform at a high enough level to be considered worthy to be a child of God. For instance the following excerpt from the above:

those who through the grace of the Holy Spirit shall believe on the same His Son and shall through the same grace persevere in this same faith and obedience of faith even to the end;

And what is the conclusion of this statement following? Has it been resolved? The authors here don't want to go as far to completely deny the Word of God that Jesus is the Savior and we are the saved so they just leave this one up in the air:

But for the question whether they are not able through sloth or negligence to forsake the beginning of their life in Christ, to embrace again this present world, to depart from the holy doctrine once delivered to them, to lose their good conscience and to neglect grace--this must be the subject of more exact inquiry in the Holy Scriptures, before we can teach it with full confidence of our mind.

The question is not whether or not you are good enough, the question is whether or not you believe. If you believe, you will be saved - no matter how good you get or how good you don't get.

The children of God are just that - not only have they been saved from wrath, they have been born into His family. It is more that just an adoption thing even though it is sometimes presented in that fashion. You are actually born into His family. You are His precious child. You have been forgiven of all sin, all slothfulness, all negligence, everything. There is nothing you can do or fail to do fall from this grace. He is completely sovereign in your life. He is the master of your soul. If you are too negligent, He will whip the daylights out of you.

I love my beloved Armenian friends but what I get from the above is ME, ME, ME, ME. IT IS ME! What I want to hear is the GOOD NEWS! IT IS HIM, HIM, HIM. HE SAVED ME FROM MYSELF. I think what happens sometimes is some get confused by those who are only into some kind of religion whether it be a Christian religion or something else. The child of God will surprise all when we get there. He has children you know not of. There are those that belong to Him that you think don't and there are those who don't belong that you think do.

Please read David's post on foreknowledge. He is hitting the nail right on the head. God foreknows those who are His. This is not just some premonition of their acts before they happen. This is God actually placing His precious love on those who are His.

I heard this kind of doctrine all my life. It sounds a little like grace but it is not grace. It is not by His grace; it is with the help of His grace. That is a huge difference. It is by His grace that you have been saved through faith and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. It is not by anything you do but by what He has already done.

I am confident that you will never hear the words from any soul that is in heaven anything like the following: "I am so glad I endured to the end. I am so glad that I, I, I, I did even though the others didn't." No, a thousand times no - it is because of His work and not our work. I do because He did not to get Him to do. The only good I can do is what He does through me. I am one dependent, helpless child out here. I need Him from start to finish. He started a good work in me and He will finish that work. He may have to be very rough on me but He will get me there. "Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever."

No credits needed for those verses for His sheep know them very well. Not only do they know them, they understand what He is saying. Please understand that was a murderer and adulterer writing those words. He probably was not one that had perfect attendance in Sunday School. He may have missed a few of our religious observances.

God bless you all and thank you Pastor Dave for enriching us.

Roy

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on August 18, 2010 at 12:03pm

You are a blessing Pastor Roy -



Praise God for what He does through us. ALL - I MEAN ALLLLLL GLORY IS HIS. I was minding my own business bro on that October 19, 1994. Thinking how am I going to break out of this place hahaha and then God stepped in, you know hahaha

Love you!

Permalink Reply by RoyW on August 19, 2010 at 5:22am

Beautiful, beautiful; the song says it all. I really hope everyone will play it over and over. The surrender takes place when the individual comes to the end of his rope and realizes he will never be able to do this on his own. He surrenders his life to Jesus and finally asks Him to do it for Him. Of course, Jesus is standing right there waiting on the individual explaining that He has already done it all. Yes, yes, yes All Glory is His. The ones who stand by and say that the one with this understanding don't feel they have to do as much for Him as those who are still working to attain and to keep their salvation, just don't have a clue. All one has to do is to read His commands and see that He has a lot of work for us all to do. The main difference is that you just don't go through life wondering if He is happy with you or not. You sense His joy in you. You sense Him laughing with you. Right now, in these early morning hours when I am going through some very tough times, I see Him smiling at me and telling me everything is going to be all right.

Yes, He is my Savior and Lord but He is so much more than that. He is my life. Now, when I get to heaven I am going to be able sing like the girl in the video.

Well, I am listening to the song again. It get's better each time. I know the author of that song. This is the way He wants us to think of Him. Lord, I surrender to Your ways. It's all about you, Jesus.

Great song, David. Thank you for this beautiful gift. I am so looking forward to heaven but this song is heaven right now. That cello player has to be anointed.

In the annals of His glory, God chose you and I to be a part of His wonderful plan. Yes, we do have to suffer in this world but those sufferings cannot be compared to the glory of His love and purpose. Our flesh is so proud, independent, selfish, etc., He must beat it down. The Apostles are beautiful examples of our walk with Jesus. I look to them for encouragement. They went through unbelievable trials to get this most beautiful Gospel to us. We are so blessed.

How do you picture Jesus looking at you? What does Jesus think about you? Have you ever wondered if He was happy with you or not?

Roy

Permalink Reply by RoyW on August 19, 2010 at 5:52am

For me the summer is over and I'm back to school. I hope to be able to listen to the debate but I have heard it before - maybe not this one but similar ones. I wish people could just let themselves go into Jesus. It's just so hard for some to see that God had a plan for their lives before He ever even laid the foundation for this world. We get so consumed with our own lives that we forget that He has a purpose.


Eph 1:3-10
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure , which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment — to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. NIV

When He mentions His good pleasure which He did in several places, He is talking about His extreme delight.

Mt 11:25-26

25 At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure . NIV

When Jesus said this He was full of joy through the Holy Spirit.

1 Co 1:20-25
21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. NIV

This plan is not something man will be able to figure out to explain it to the satisfaction of human wisdom. Man attempts to make God measure to his ability to reason. Man's reasoning powers will never be able to figure this one out. It is beyond his ability. Man cannot perceive of God's plan since His ways are so different than ours. Here's an experiment for you. Figure out how you would do this (this is what man does anyway) and when you have it figured out the way you think He should do it, throw that plan away since I can guarantee that plan is wrong. It is through man's wisdom that we come to certain understandings. Why does man balk at the plan that He has presented? It is because it is certainly not the way he thinks it should be done. To them it is unfair. Man, your plan is wrong. He just didn't do it the way you think He should have. His ways are different than your ways.

Roy

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on August 19, 2010 at 7:18pm

Linda,

This was a great video. I had not seen/heard this one. Everyone interested on this topic should listen to it.

Roy -

I hope you find some time to stop by and continue to bless us.

Blessings

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on August 19, 2010 at 7:26pm

Luke 19

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "

8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."

9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Check this out familia :)

Zacchaeus was a bad guy. I mean the worst. He was a traitor and thief. He was very much hated. Just like our Lord to pick the sick. He wanted to see who Jesus was and maybe get some tax money from him hahaha No one knows why he was curious to see Jesus, but he was.

When Jesus reached the spot where Zac was kicking it up on a tree He asked him, may I stay in your house, no wait, He said look is cold and I am knocking at your door, would you please let me in? Nope, not that either.

Jesus did not ask him anything but instead commanded him to come down IMMIEDIATELY and said: I must stay at your house today. This is what the Lord of Lords does. We tell people to accept Him, but family He is God, He has done what He has done for the love He has for His creation, but He IS KING, HE IS LORD, He does not need my acceptance, He is God with me or without me. Is all for His Glory. We must believe in Him, but we believe when He give us the free gift of faith (Eph. 2:8-9). We must repent, but I repent when He opens my eyes through rebirth.

Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back.

Wow - talk about a regenerated man. Born again. Jesus was saving folks before His death. His death was certain; He came to accomplish the purchase of those His father would give Him.

Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Jesus could have chosen to go stay in an Inn but He chose to save this man among the hundredths. Why? Is He unfair?

Of course not.

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on August 20, 2010 at 3:19am

Good video for those in our family that align with the Arminian interpretation of scripture.

Enjoy :)

Permalink Reply by RoyW on August 20, 2010 at 5:21am

We are in a great battle virtually worldwide. It is not the Calvinists v. Armenians. It is Truth v. the Lie. The lie - that we are products of naturalism - appears to be winning. Do you realize that God has been replaced with an absolute lie in virtually every school classroom in America? Our former President, George Bush, made the statement that he felt that the idea of a possible designer in our universe should also be considered in the classroom. That idea met with such a firestorm, it was dropped. Our children are given an absolute lie to answer the great question of life - where did I come from? Evolution is no longer presented as nothing more than a theory by a bunch of atheists and reprobates who do not want to submit to a sovereign God. Today, our children are presented with this lie as the only plausible answer to the question - do I have a purpose?

When a child asks the question - are there absolute morals - he is told that man ultimately makes the decisions as to what is right and wrong. At one time in our country a Bible would be found on every teacher's desk. Today, a teacher would get into very serious trouble if they attempted to use a Bible in the classroom. Teachers are prohibited from telling students that the lie is nothing more than a theory.

Jesus once asked the question: "Will the Son of Man find faith on this earth when He returns?" Today, the latest statistics are that 70 to 80% of our children are walking away from the churches once they leave home as they feel the church has become irrelevant and most of those never come back.

Linda, may God's richest blessings be on you and Rod as you seek to train your children as God has instructed you. I pray you are enjoying this newfound freedom but you will soon see that the freedom doesn't mean that we don't have much work to do. When a parent understands that their children's education is their responsibility and not the state's, they are faced with an almost impossible situation. However, don't ever think He will ask more of you than what you can do. I have to remind myself of that every day.

God, please help us to make sure beyond any doubt that our children are among those You have chosen. If we don't believe that He has chosen then help us to make sure that we do everything we can to teach our children according to Your Word. May this blasphemous doctrine of naturalism cease to be the dominating teaching in their lives. May we wake up and understand that the enemy of our souls is seeking to devour our most precious possessions. He has a dominating position in their lives everyday in the school classroom and the media. While we are busy doing our things, the enemy is influencing our children with evil and he is succeeding. It is time for parents to rise and say, "You will no longer teach my child this blasphemous theory."

God bless you all and have a wonderful day!

Roy

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