By: Tom Lessing (Discerning the World)

Tom Lessing (Discerning the World) — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 12:26:29 +0000

In reply to Luis.

Hi Luis and thank you for your comment.

First of all, I must make it clear that I am not an Arminian, and neither am I a Roman Catholic or any other “ism.” I am a saved sinner washed by/in the precious blood of Jesus Christ. That’s it – nothing more, nothing less. Your statement “I realized that you don’t believe in water baptism” is rather disturbing. Jesus never said, “Believe in baptism.” He said, “believe in God, believe also in me.” (John 14:1). That’s it – nothing less, nothing more. I note that you quoted John 15:16 (You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you) without taking the context into consideration. Contrary to the practice in those days when disciples (followers) themselves chose a teacher, Jesus chose his disciples and not the other way around. Remember, Jesus also chose Judas tot follow Him. Therefore, this choosing cannot possibly be unto salvation and eternal life. Agreed?

By: Luis

Luis — Thu, 28 Jul 2022 08:35:27 +0000

Hi!
It was interesting to find this site by accident. And realize how the sectarian spirit exists everywhere. Exclusivism seems like it will never cease to exist in the world. But looking at your website I realized that you don’t believe in water baptism. It’s not the first time I’ve seen someone teach such a mistake. There had to be something wrong. Fact: whoever criticizes Calvinism is not a reference of orthodoxy. Note that the great sects are Arminian. Roman Catholicism is Arminian. But there are good things about this site’s declaration of faith, in fact. But Jesus commanded to be baptized. But you, from your temperament which I have observed, must already have an answer I suppose. But not all Arminians feel the same way as you do about this. BUT NOT ALL ARMINIANS ARE LIKE YOU. Wesley had as a friend the Calvinist Withefield. Arminian Wesley’s most beloved book was written by CALVINIST David Brainerd (David Brainerd’s diary). It seems to me by the Confession of faith that you believe in eternal security. But how to believe in eternal security and still be an Arminian, to be consistent? Jesus once told those who did not believe that he was the Christ that they were not of his sheep. JESUS GIVES HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHEEP. Which they hear his voice. LISTEN. They will never perish. John 10 refutes Arminianism, or one-point Calvinism (your kkk). As far as I know Freemasonry was started by Anglican pastors after Calvin. Do you use quotes from sites you don’t even agree with to denigrate Spurgeon by defaming him as a Freemason? Just because he was a Calvinist? I know an ARMINIAN who greatly admires Spurgeon. I’ve seen Calvinists speaking out against Wesley citing Wesley’s mistakes. Of course because he was ARMINIAN. It seems to me that it’s the same thing you’re trying to do, but in the opposite direction. Probably, even if you won’t admit it, the gospel possibly came to you because of something Calvin and Luther did in the past. But all glory be to God obviously. God used these men. Even non-exclusive, non-sectarian Arminians can admit this, and most possibly will. That is, you who are against baptism, who “nobody” knows who you are, who did not do the work of great men of God like Calvin and Luther, try to denigrate them (which the Catholic Church has always done). As if Abraham, Moses, David, Peter… had been perfect. Christianity is not just the dispensationalist fundamentalism you embrace, which is recent in the history of the Church, by the way. And not Calvinism. There are people saved by Christ in all Christian Churches and in all times since the foundation of the world. Unfortunately, I’ve seen Calvinists saying that there is no saved Arminian, but that’s not true. There are people who die in Christ without even forming an opinion about it. Did Huguenots who died on Saint Bartholomew’s night go to hell because they weren’t Arminians? An observation: I CONDEMN Freemasonry but the fact is that in Brazil it helped the traditional Churches to be established, more than 100 years ago, in the face of Catholic opposition (which does not justify a believer being a Freemason, of course). Maybe because it was a subject that divided (and divides) opinions, or maybe out of ignorance, many believers joined Freemasonry not seeing it as a religion, but it doesn’t mean that they delved into Freemasonry, it’s reasonable to assume. I believe, it is crucial for me to write, that all believers must abandon Freemasonry. But I also think that obsessively trying to find something that characterizes someone as a Freemason to the point of publicly saying that someone is a Freemason can be characterized as judgmental sin. Not all judgments that someone makes are right.
The triangle has been around much longer than Freemasonry. If any person anywhere in any way used the figure of a triangle before the beginning of Freemasonry, or after, it does not mean that such a person is a Freemason. It is ridiculous to interpret that it is necessarily so. The obsession with knowing if it is or the obsessive doubt doesn’t seem like a good thing to me.
Misguided methods of “warning” others against Calvinism seem to me to be attitudes of those who cannot refute it.
“YOU HAVE NOT CHOSEN ME, BUT I HAVE CHOSEN YOU.”
It pleased God to reveal his Son in Paul.
To those who are called both Jews and Greeks Paul preached Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Those whom he predestined, THOSE ALSO HE CALLED.

I’m from Brazil. I used Google Translate to translate what I wrote from Portuguese to English.

Comments on: Hijacked by Jesus

By: Tom Lessing (Discerning the World)

By: Luis