ryan.the.calvinist

Acts 19:15-16 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?" And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. A lot has been going on within "charismatic evangelicalism" until recently with Todd Bentley . Supposedly, there was a revival in Lakeland, FL where the Holy Spirit was attributed for healing people and men were casting out demons in Jesus' name. Now, do I believe the Holy Spirit heals people of disease and illness? Absolutely. God is sovereign and does as he pleases. And can/does the Holy Spirit work through men to cast demons out of others? ... I refuse to limit God's ability to do such a miraculous act. Whether or not it actually happens in 21st century ... that is another story. Still, God can do this sort of stuff if he pleases and wills it. However, I think it is clear that Bentley's violent min...

Romans 7:7-12 (ESV) "What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." I am a Religious Studies major. But I am also realistic and I know such a degree has really nothing to do with the part of life that involves feeding myself or my (future) family. So, I also am in the process of getting my General Business minor. What will I do with a General Bus...

When I moved into the dorms here in Sunvilla Tower at Missouri State University, I decided to go online to www.biblegateway.com to add the search feature to a friend's Firefox 3.0 search bar. Upon the page loading, I was directed to the following page: I am unsure if this is some kind of sick joke... or if it was really submitted... or a combination of both. Did someone really go to this Malware Domains site and submit the BIBLE as DANGEROUS? I have emailed the Information Security Coordinator at Tech Projects: I do not understand how www.biblegateway.com -- an online Bible with MANY different translations in English and other languages, constitutes "a source of spyware or malware that could harm your computer." It's the Bible... is this some kind of joke, or merely an over site? I tried to click the Malware site to report biblegateway.com as genuine.... but I cannot find a page to report good sites. Again... it isn't a malware site. It'...

The following... I would LOVE to say I came up with. But alas, I did not. It was compiled by another individual and made public on CalvinistCorner.com. I hope to someday do an in-depth blog about the issue MYSELF... but right now, I am posting this more as... a resource... to others AND myself... on God's sovereignty. From where I stand... the issue of Calvinism boils down to this question: Is God sovereign, or is man? If God is sovereign... is he not also sovereign in the salvation of man? If man, not God, is the final determiner in salvation... then man's "free will" has been made sovereign over God's divine sovereign will. Because in the Arminian view, if God wants man to be saved... but the man decides ... "nah, I don't want that"... then ... will the person be saved? Not from the Arminian mind-set. Because after all, that view leads to a God who is unable to save unto himself a people he purchased on the cross of His own will... ...

I have been engaged in a "debate"/discussion on the Doctrines of Grace via Facebook mail now for the past 4 or 5 days or so with a gentleman whom I have never met... but we have some mutual friends.  And I can say... that after 4 or 5 days of this... I am drained.  Just wiped out.  SO tired from arguing these points... and we've only thoroughly looked at ONE scripture... 2 Peter 3:9 (which I did a vlog on the subject... available here )... though he's alluded to other passages (without citing their contexts) when it fits his purposes.  So many of his questions are just "why would God do ______?"  He seems unwilling to be able to accept any correction when the correction comes from the text of the Word of God... if it goes against his tradition, that is.  I am SO tired of this.  Whether these discussions are on MySpace... HisHolySpace (lol!)... Facebook... or whatever... SO SO often I go into a debate on these important issues of God's sovereignty and m...

Romans 8:28-30 (ESV) And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. This is an issue that seems to come up fairly frequently in my discussions of the Doctrines of Grace (Calvinism): What exactly does "foreknowledge" mean? The Arminian and the Calvinist have very different understandings on what this word proginosko ("to foreknow") means. The Arminian tradition sees this word as simply meaning foresight... their version of this "golden chain" is that God first looks down the tunnel of history to see what you are going to do... and if you of your own will choose HIM, then guess what-- He'l...