Sanctification and Reformation

Free Will? I recently watched as two outdoors men attempted to free an adult bull elk from a mud pit.   These are enormous animals.   His entire rear half was submerged and the mud was so think he had no hope of getting out.   This was going to be the bull’s final resting place. The men approached cautiously and began to try to free the huge animal.   However, as soon as they got close, the elk would swing his rack at them. The elk didn’t want them there, didn’t understand why they were there, and was actively attempting to defend himself with his antlers. The elk was simply operating freely according to his elk-ish nature. They are by nature wild animals and humans are an unwanted presence. The elk wanted to be freed from his muddy chains but he only wanted rescue on his own terms.   The men did not abide by the elk’s wishes but worked together using various implements until the elk was rescued from its pit of despair.   This was n...

Every denomination has an explanation for predestination. However, they all fall into one of three categories: Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism, and Augustinianism.   Some today would object to those categories but they’re accurate in where they came from historically.   Today we call  Semi-Pelagianism  = Arminianism and we call Augustinianism = Calvinism. In the next few posts I will undertake the doctrine of biblical predestination/election, give some portion of its history through the NT church age, what it consists of and means, and why it matters.   This is by no means exhaustive. So, let’s begin with how the debate began. The church underwent a great many trials in the fourth century and the staunch defender of the faith who arose was Saint Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century. This was in Hippo Regius which was located in modern-day Annaba, Algeria. After some time, a British monk by the name of Pelagius was appalled by the moral laxity ...

My daughter has a beautiful singing voice and recently attended a concert by Tauren Wells, former lead singer of the band Royal Tailor.   He’s a dynamite vocalist and can float through scales effortlessly.   In one of his songs “Known” he writes the following lyrics, “It's so unusual it's frightening - You see right through the mess inside me - And you call me out to pull me in - You tell me I can start again - And I don't need to keep on hiding - I'm fully known and loved by You .” I love the song and the words.   Without sounding like a dictionary, Wells defines what being known means – and that is something far more significant than knowing things about someone.   Celebrities and pro athletes have relayed the challenges of being famous, having millions of adoring fans, but feeling entirely alone.   This is evidenced further by the suicides of famous people like Heath Ledger, Chester Bennington, Chris Cornell, and many others who are surround...

On August 2 nd , 1939 mathematician Albert Einstein wrote a personal letter to then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.   Einstein could see the writing on the wall as he reviewed research being conducted by German scientists.   In the letter he warned the United States President that if German research continued, they would develop a process by which a “nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium” would result.   In other words, an atom bomb. He did not understand the gravity of his words at that time but it was those very words that caused the president to immediately demand the US take action.   The next actions resulted in the Manhattan Project, the development of our own atomic bomb, and the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 which castrated Japan and Germany ending World War II.  Albert Einstein’s letter is the way many people believe New Testament writers wrote the scriptures.  Many people mistakenly believe that when th...