The Doctrine of Double Predestination

The Doctrine of Double Predestination: There are only two words as options for the answer to the question "Who's there": Orange and Banana. Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. Banana who? Knock, Knock! Who's there? Banana. BANANA WHO? Knock, Knock! WHO'S THERE! Orange. Orange who? Orange you glad I didn't say banana!

In the same way as I picked banana to receive wrath and orange to receive glory, God picks some to receive eternal wrath in hell and some to receive eternal glory with Jesus by faith. It doesn't matter if I just not choose banana for glory, because there are only two options, therefore by default I have selected it for wrath.

My Translation of "The Letter from Judas" otherwise known as "The Book of Jude"

The Letter from Jude/Judas

¹Judas/Jude Christ Jesus’ slave, and brother of Jacob—to those who have been loved in/by God the Father and who have been kept in/by Jesus Christ, the called—²May mercy be caused to be multiplied for you and peace and love!

³Loved ones, when I was making for myself every effort to be writing to you about our common salvation I had necessity to write to you to you for the purpose of urging [you] to struggle for the faith that was once for all handed over to the holy people/saints, ⁴because some men SNUCK IN, those who long ago have been prescripted for this judgment, who are impious, who changed our God’s grace into unrestrainedness and who are denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵But I want to remind you, because you know all things that the Lord after having saved His people once from the Land of Egypt the second time destroyed those who didn't believe, ⁶and angels, the ones who didn’t keep their own rule but who deserted their own dwelling He kept in eternal chains under nether-gloom for judgment on the great day, ⁷like Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them having engaged in excessive sexual indulgence in like manner as these and having gone after other flesh, are exposed as an example of eternal fire by undergoing the punishment of the just penalty.

⁸In the same way to be sure also these who are dreaming defile flesh on the one hand, but on the other hand they reject Lordship and slander glories. ⁹But Michael the Archangel when disputing with the devil he was arguing about the body of Moses didn’t dare to pronounce a slanderous judgment, but said “The Lord rebuke you!”                   

¹⁰But these people don't know what kinds of things they are slandering, and what kinds of things they are acquainted with instinctually like thoughtless animals, by these things they are destroyed. ¹¹WOE to them! Because they walked on the path of Cain and they pour themselves out to the deception of the wages of Balaam and they are destroyed by rebellion of Korah!                    ¹²These people are the ones who are fearlessly feasting together with you at your love feasts as hidden reefs/stains[1], who are shepherding themselves, waterless clouds being carried away by the wind, fruitless, late-autumnal trees that are twice dead because of having been uprooted, ¹³wild waves of the sea that are causing their own shameful-deeds to foam, stars that are wanderers for which the gloom of the darkness has been kept into an age.

¹⁴But also the seventh from Adam, Enoch, prophesied about them by saying, “LOOK! The Lord came with His holy myriads ¹⁵to accomplish judgment against all and to convict every soul concerning all their impious actions which they acted impiously and concerning all the harsh things which the impious sinners spoke against Him.

¹⁶These are grumblers who are complaining about their lot in life who are going because of their own desires, and their mouth speaks pompous things, who are complimenting people for the sake of personal benefit.

¹⁷But you, loved ones, remember the spoken-words, the ones that have been proclaimed ahead of time by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ¹⁸that they were saying to you upon the last section of time there will be mockers who are going according to their own desires for impieties.

¹⁹These are the people who are inciting division, who are fleshly, who can’t possibly have the Spirit!

²⁰But you, loved ones, by building yourselves up on your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit[2], ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God with the result of welcoming with anticipation the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ resulting in eternal life.

²²And for some who are at odds with themselves, on the one hand, you should show mercy, ²³and for some you are saving from fire by yanking them away, but on the other hand for some you should show mercy in fear hating even the tunic stained by the flesh.

²⁴Now, to the One who is able to keep you stumbling-free and cause you to stand right in front of His Glory blemish-free with extreme-joy, to the Only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord—glory, greatness, sovereignty, and authority, prior to every age and now and into all the ages, Amen!

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[1] The Greek word σπιλαδες here can either mean hidden reefs or stains, but the given that both are fitting to the context, it is likely that Judas/Jude meant for both meanings to be understood.

[2] FYI, while praying in the Spirit certainly includes the speaking in tongues Paul defines in I Cor. 14, it by all means is not exclusively talking about speaking in tongues, although it by all means includes it. Rather the point is that the Holy Spirit should be driving your prayers in whatever manifestations that it can take, whether silent, verbal, in tongues, songs, rap, poetry, prose, accompanied with dance, not so accompanied, with fasting, etc. the point is Spirit-Driven Prayer keeps you in love with God.

The Doctrine of Substitutionary Atonement

The Doctrine of Penal Substitutionary Atonement: Blood for blood the Laws say. There's a murderous Rebel and a Prince in at room. But according to the Plan arranged between the King and His Son, the King executes His Son with an ax, not the Rebel. His blood gushes all over the Rebel as He dies. Life for life. The King is satisfied; the Rebel's crimes have been paid by the Son's Blood. 


In the same way, Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rebellions against God, thereby paying the just penalty for our crimes in our place, according to the Plan of Yahweh, the Holy Trinity, so that now we are able to go free having been covered in the Son's blood. Jesus took out punishment by dying in our place. All of us who believe in Him do not get the ax, because Jesus got it for us. 

The Doctrine of Unconditional Election: The Awesome Artisan

The Doctrine of Unconditional Election: An Awesome Artisan chisels out 10 statues from the same slab of marble that resemble the Artisan. The people of the town are all impressed by the 10 statues. The are very valuable and do resemble the Artisan very well. The people are all looking at the statues and studying them. They can't tell any difference between them. Even on the molecular level, they are totally the same! Then the Artisan picks 4 of the statues to take into His house to make them even more like Him, so that everyone sees how Awesome the Artisan really is. The people are confused. "Why only 4? Why those 4?" they ask Him. The Awesome Artisan responds, "Because I wanted those to be like Me more and to show Myself more within." "But they are exactly the same in every possible way!?" "True. But I loved those 4 for My house, not the other 6." "But why those 4?" "I didn't want the others." "But WHY? What is so special about those 4?" "Nothing. They're exactly the same. But I wanted those 4, so I picked those 4." "But there has to be something different about those 4 that would make you pick them!" "No. They're identical in every way, inside and out. The only difference is that I wanted those 4 and not the other 6. The difference is with which ones I want not with what they are like."

In the same way, God picks who He picks to be saved because of WHO HE IS, not who we are. We are all exactly the same. Nothing makes us worthy of being chosen. But God chose us and He chose us by grace and not by what we are like or what we would be like or what we do or would do. His pick was unconditional. There way not some condition that we met that made God choose us or want to chose us, He just chose us on His Own, because of WHO HE IS. He is the Gracious God Who chooses, so He graciously chose us. (see Rom. 9-11)

Jesus Cares and Intervenes for the Widow (Luke 7.11-17)

A devotional thought: In Luke 7.11-17, Jesus had just healed a servant of a gentile when He wasn't even near the servant. He is just now arriving with His disciples and a crowd of people at the town called Nain. Jesus sees a crowd coming out of the city. But unlike other times, this is not a crowd coming out for Him or even to Him. No, this crowd has different, more gloomy destination: a grave. It is the grave for the son of a mother who had only one son, a mother whose husband is already dead. This woman has gone through the pain of death--the hardcore pain and upheaval of the death of her husband, her lover, her provider, her protector. That was hard, but at least she had still had a son to care for her, provide for her, and protect her. But now, he too had died! Death had her again in bitter tears. She no longer had a son, she no longer had anyone who loved and cared for her, who would provide and protect her. She was as alone and as vulnerable as you could get, even though she is surrounded by the crowd of mourners leaving the city. We often feel that alone and helpless and vulnerable from all sides, even though there are others around us, we feel bitterly alone. But Jesus sees this woman. Jesus cares for and loves this woman. Jesus wants to provide and protect this woman. His insides are churning with intense emotions of compassion and love and shared-pain for her. So then Jesus takes action! Jesus does the unthinkable! He speaks. His voice is full of emotion, and He says two words to this alone and helpless widow: "Don't weep!" The words are paradoxical--crazy! Who could not help but cry in that situation? But Jesus still uttered that command: "Don't cry!" Why? Because Jesus' compassion has moved Him to take action! The crowd is confused and chatter is rippling back and forth about how Jesus just told the mother of the dead son to stop crying. Some are saying, "does He care?" "How could He say/do that?" Then Jesus takes a step towards the casket and reaches out a hand and touches the coffin! He touches it! The people caring the casket just stand there, halted from continuing their journey--the Rabbi is touching the box with the dead guy in it! Then something amazing happens that no one saw coming, Jesus speaks again, but this time He's talking to the dead guy! "Young man, I say to you, be awake!" Then every chattering voice is cut down by the young man sitting up in the casket and starting to speak himself! So Jesus gives the young man to his mom. Then fear grabs hold of everyone and they erupt in to praise and glory for God! They see in this that God still cares about His people! So the people can't shut up about it; and the message spreads to the whole area and all the places around it! They praise God because they see that the widow again has a son who will love her, care for her, provide for her, and protect her, but she also has The Son loving her, caring for her, providing for her, and protecting her! In the same way, the Lord Jesus sees our situation and all that we are going through! He feels for us! He cares for us and loves us and is seeking our best! I can't  foresee what Jesus will do, but I do see in the text that Jesus can reverse even the most bitter and hopeless of situations with just a couple words! I see that He is compassionate and loving! I see that He is more powerful than even death! So yes it looks like our youth group and church at deaths door, maybe even already on the way to the grave, but we also worship the God of Victory over Death! We Worship the Jesus who bled even death itself out when he bled out for us! We may look as good as dead, but we worship Jesus and we trust in Jesus who not only raises the dead, but who also raise from the dead Himself! There is hope for us! Jesus has the power and the concern and the empathy! The question is when and how and will we even be able to see it. We know Who Jesus is, so let's trust in Him as we trust Him to be Himself! Jesus can raise the dead with a few words, so He certainly can save our youth group and church! Take courage my youth group. I love you and am praying for you, and Jesus has our back!

Grace and Peace and Hope and Love in Jesus Christ our Lord
Pastor Anthony

TULIP

T -- Total Depravity (Gen. 3; Ps. 51; John 6.44; Rom. 3, 5-6; Eph. 2.1, 5)

U -- Unconditional Election (John 6.44; Rom. 9-11; John 15.16; II Tim. 1.9)

L -- Limited Atonement (Mark 10.45; John 10)

I  -- Irresistible Grace (Titus 3.3-8; John 6; I Cor. 1-2) [this is more of a corollary from the fact that He is God]

P -- Perseverance of the Saints (James 1.12; Rom. 8.28-30; I John 2.19)

The Doctrine of Total Depravity

The Doctrine of Total Depravity: A woman bakes a rich devil's food cake and covers it in frosting. At the end of the day, this is a rather rich cake, perhaps not as rich as it could be because the plan was not to make it that way, but it is still completely a cake and a rather rich one at that (i.e. humans are 100% sinful, messed up by the Fall, but God does not plan for everyone to be as sinful as possible).