- Dec 13, 2015
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Okay so my wife and I were watching a sermon last night and the pastor in it was saying that when John wrote 1 John he left for us a "complete list" of what having the Holy Spirit would entail (Despite Paul talking about the Proofs of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 & several other parts of his writings and not one of them said anything that John wrote in 1 John.). So he made a "test" for Christians to take to tell whether or not they possessed the Holy Spirit and therefore were saved.
First of all, I don't interpret 1 John that way. Least, I never did before. Should these things be present in every Christians life? Yes. But not all at once. I think 99.9% of Christians and New Christians wouldn't completely pass Johns so called salvation test. That's at least not the way I encountered MY salvation. I virtually completely passed the "test" (I forget which one I had to admit I only partially possessed so I guess I only have 99.9% of the Holy Spirit or I need to go repent again to get "resaved" *eyeroll*) but back when I first got saved I would have failed about 90% of it maybe more. I wasn't a Trinitarian at the time. I thought that you had to fulfill the Law to be saved. My theology was in noodles and I barely knew even the basics of what being a Christian was about. All the more proof that my salvation was purely by God's grace and by God choosing me from before the foundation of the world because, I was a mess. But, thanks to God unhardening my heart that would have been hardened for forever (trust me. I did not play even the slightest role in my salvation it was 100% God). I wouldn't have completely crucified my old life and dedicated myself to a lifelong dedication to Jesus. I was happy being a conartist, thief, liar, hating the world around me and everyone it contained, angry, bitter, murderer (Just because I was angry. Never killed anyone.). Like Paul I consider myself to be the "Chief of sinners" but, I've improved in SO many ways now 7 years later.
I'm angry because, I knew at that time that I possessed the Holy Spirit as of that very night of my conversion without a doubt in my mind. Why did I know I possessed the Holy Spirit? I'm not going to get into that detail. I think God mostly wanted me to reserve that story for my later evangelizing and I don't think I'm just supposed to talk about it with fellow Christians as if I'm somebody extremely important or "High and Mighty". I'm no different than any other Christian who believes in Christ. God just chose me in a different way than he did other Christians to make an impact on the world.
Just about the only thing I did when I first got saved was God started me out with giving to Charity. Something that my flesh didn't want to do because I had literally never given to Charity before but it was something that God told me to do, and I did it. God then over the last almost 7 years I've been a Christian changed me into the Christian I am today. I've made massive strides in both Theology and in Holiness. He got me over inappropriate contentography and masturbation (My wife also and I was stuck in those sins ever since I was about 5 years old and her ever since she was in college. It seemed like we never would get out of that sin but yet somehow we were able to conquer it on our own power? Bullcrap. We had the Holy Spirits help. I was so far gone in that sin that there was no help for me on my own. I needed God's intervention and help.). He got me over a lot of sins and has solidified my theology into what it is today. I don't claim to contain all knowledge but I do believe that I'm in the EXACT point where God wants me at this EXACT time.
This particular YouTube pastor who I'm not going to name because If you're Calvinist or Reformed, odds are you've heard of him or seen one of his sermons and videos and I don't want people calling him a false prophet because he does most of the time have solid theology and he is NOT a false pastor. He has a pretty large following and is well known and well respected in the Calvinist/Reformed world. He just likes to be extremely cruel and is to the point with a lot of his teachings. Which I'm usually fine with because his teachings are usually spot on except this time. My largest beef with him last night and with the apostle John for saying these things was that I saw them pretty much completely shatter what little hope that my wife had about being saved. My wife has had faith since as far back as she can remember. Let me think.... that's one sign that she has the Holy Spirit. Because one wouldn't and can't endure in the faith for well over 25 years UNLESS they have God living within them. If she didn't have the Holy Spirit than why have I seen my wife take strides in her walk of Godliness? Why do I see many of the evidences in her life that the Apostle PAUL said would be evident in her life if she had the Holy Spirit? Love, Patience, Understanding and many qualities that even I don't have despite passing 99.9% of this jerks "saved" test and KNOWING that I was given the Holy Spirit all those years ago?
Yes, she's depressed yes, she's barely confident in her salvation and I have to constantly remind her of what scripture says about her salvation state, but doesn't John/This Pastor know that each and every Christian grows in different ways and sometimes it can take a lifetime for a Christian to become "Completely Holy and Pure?" and potentially even possess all of these "bare requisite qualities?". Idk why, but right now I'm angry at John and I'm angry at this pastor whom my wife and I have loved listening to up until this point.
She might not possess much of what John was talking about in his epistle but, she is growing each and every day just like I was when I was a young. I've seen my wife change and grow over the 6 years that I've known her. She's been grasping and becoming knowledgeable in the theology that I've been teaching her. SHE could make better topics on theology than I can! (But ofc she won't but I will be showing her this topic to see if I can't brighten her mood up even a little)
I'm mostly angry because if this particular pastor was really a good Calvinist and not so arrogant he would have believed along the lines of other Calvinists. That salvation is purely 100% a work of God, that those God wants to save will unharden their hearts or sometimes in the case of my wife they'll get saved when they're at a very young age if not even birth. He would believe that every Christian that has the Holy Spirit WILL have works because the Holy Spirit causes works in us and tells us what he wants us to do.
Tell me, if my wife doesn't have the Holy Spirit and isn't saved. Why does she deep down in her heart want to obey God and not the ways of the world (One sign in his test that she did have.), Why has she not wanted to live in sin and practice sin since pretty much as far as she can remember? When I first met her she was a goodie little two shoes to me and it took me a while to learn to love her. But then again, I was growing in my faith too and the time and had converted less than 3 months before I met her.
I mean, there are so many evidences that my wife has the Holy Spirit. But, just because she doesn't possess every single quality of what John said yet in her Christian walk she all of a sudden needs to repent and get "resaved"? Is he freaking serious? Our Salvation is PERMENANT and if he were a true Calvinist (Or Protestant for that matter) he should be teaching that! Once we're saved we're ALWAYS saved! I don't think the pastor was trying to put it in that way but, he sure made it sound like his video last night was teaching along those lines. Idk... I'm just angry and I probably shouldn't be. But I don't enjoy my wife being bashed into a corner and causing her to doubt her salvation and go down the same road she was in months ago that I had JUST gotten her out of by the truth of scripture. Just when she was starting to improve and get better. I regret ever clicking on his video because I was curious about what he had to say about salvation. Yet, after all this and all this doubting. SHE STILL HAS FAITH! So... OBVIOUSLY SHE HAS THE FREAKING HOLY SPIRIT IN HER YOU DUMB FOOL! Especially when as a Calvinist you teach and should be teaching Preservation of the Saints. I need to wait for the replies before I completely lose my top and get banned. I need to cool down for a while...
First of all, I don't interpret 1 John that way. Least, I never did before. Should these things be present in every Christians life? Yes. But not all at once. I think 99.9% of Christians and New Christians wouldn't completely pass Johns so called salvation test. That's at least not the way I encountered MY salvation. I virtually completely passed the "test" (I forget which one I had to admit I only partially possessed so I guess I only have 99.9% of the Holy Spirit or I need to go repent again to get "resaved" *eyeroll*) but back when I first got saved I would have failed about 90% of it maybe more. I wasn't a Trinitarian at the time. I thought that you had to fulfill the Law to be saved. My theology was in noodles and I barely knew even the basics of what being a Christian was about. All the more proof that my salvation was purely by God's grace and by God choosing me from before the foundation of the world because, I was a mess. But, thanks to God unhardening my heart that would have been hardened for forever (trust me. I did not play even the slightest role in my salvation it was 100% God). I wouldn't have completely crucified my old life and dedicated myself to a lifelong dedication to Jesus. I was happy being a conartist, thief, liar, hating the world around me and everyone it contained, angry, bitter, murderer (Just because I was angry. Never killed anyone.). Like Paul I consider myself to be the "Chief of sinners" but, I've improved in SO many ways now 7 years later.
I'm angry because, I knew at that time that I possessed the Holy Spirit as of that very night of my conversion without a doubt in my mind. Why did I know I possessed the Holy Spirit? I'm not going to get into that detail. I think God mostly wanted me to reserve that story for my later evangelizing and I don't think I'm just supposed to talk about it with fellow Christians as if I'm somebody extremely important or "High and Mighty". I'm no different than any other Christian who believes in Christ. God just chose me in a different way than he did other Christians to make an impact on the world.
Just about the only thing I did when I first got saved was God started me out with giving to Charity. Something that my flesh didn't want to do because I had literally never given to Charity before but it was something that God told me to do, and I did it. God then over the last almost 7 years I've been a Christian changed me into the Christian I am today. I've made massive strides in both Theology and in Holiness. He got me over inappropriate contentography and masturbation (My wife also and I was stuck in those sins ever since I was about 5 years old and her ever since she was in college. It seemed like we never would get out of that sin but yet somehow we were able to conquer it on our own power? Bullcrap. We had the Holy Spirits help. I was so far gone in that sin that there was no help for me on my own. I needed God's intervention and help.). He got me over a lot of sins and has solidified my theology into what it is today. I don't claim to contain all knowledge but I do believe that I'm in the EXACT point where God wants me at this EXACT time.
This particular YouTube pastor who I'm not going to name because If you're Calvinist or Reformed, odds are you've heard of him or seen one of his sermons and videos and I don't want people calling him a false prophet because he does most of the time have solid theology and he is NOT a false pastor. He has a pretty large following and is well known and well respected in the Calvinist/Reformed world. He just likes to be extremely cruel and is to the point with a lot of his teachings. Which I'm usually fine with because his teachings are usually spot on except this time. My largest beef with him last night and with the apostle John for saying these things was that I saw them pretty much completely shatter what little hope that my wife had about being saved. My wife has had faith since as far back as she can remember. Let me think.... that's one sign that she has the Holy Spirit. Because one wouldn't and can't endure in the faith for well over 25 years UNLESS they have God living within them. If she didn't have the Holy Spirit than why have I seen my wife take strides in her walk of Godliness? Why do I see many of the evidences in her life that the Apostle PAUL said would be evident in her life if she had the Holy Spirit? Love, Patience, Understanding and many qualities that even I don't have despite passing 99.9% of this jerks "saved" test and KNOWING that I was given the Holy Spirit all those years ago?
Yes, she's depressed yes, she's barely confident in her salvation and I have to constantly remind her of what scripture says about her salvation state, but doesn't John/This Pastor know that each and every Christian grows in different ways and sometimes it can take a lifetime for a Christian to become "Completely Holy and Pure?" and potentially even possess all of these "bare requisite qualities?". Idk why, but right now I'm angry at John and I'm angry at this pastor whom my wife and I have loved listening to up until this point.
She might not possess much of what John was talking about in his epistle but, she is growing each and every day just like I was when I was a young. I've seen my wife change and grow over the 6 years that I've known her. She's been grasping and becoming knowledgeable in the theology that I've been teaching her. SHE could make better topics on theology than I can! (But ofc she won't but I will be showing her this topic to see if I can't brighten her mood up even a little)
I'm mostly angry because if this particular pastor was really a good Calvinist and not so arrogant he would have believed along the lines of other Calvinists. That salvation is purely 100% a work of God, that those God wants to save will unharden their hearts or sometimes in the case of my wife they'll get saved when they're at a very young age if not even birth. He would believe that every Christian that has the Holy Spirit WILL have works because the Holy Spirit causes works in us and tells us what he wants us to do.
Tell me, if my wife doesn't have the Holy Spirit and isn't saved. Why does she deep down in her heart want to obey God and not the ways of the world (One sign in his test that she did have.), Why has she not wanted to live in sin and practice sin since pretty much as far as she can remember? When I first met her she was a goodie little two shoes to me and it took me a while to learn to love her. But then again, I was growing in my faith too and the time and had converted less than 3 months before I met her.
I mean, there are so many evidences that my wife has the Holy Spirit. But, just because she doesn't possess every single quality of what John said yet in her Christian walk she all of a sudden needs to repent and get "resaved"? Is he freaking serious? Our Salvation is PERMENANT and if he were a true Calvinist (Or Protestant for that matter) he should be teaching that! Once we're saved we're ALWAYS saved! I don't think the pastor was trying to put it in that way but, he sure made it sound like his video last night was teaching along those lines. Idk... I'm just angry and I probably shouldn't be. But I don't enjoy my wife being bashed into a corner and causing her to doubt her salvation and go down the same road she was in months ago that I had JUST gotten her out of by the truth of scripture. Just when she was starting to improve and get better. I regret ever clicking on his video because I was curious about what he had to say about salvation. Yet, after all this and all this doubting. SHE STILL HAS FAITH! So... OBVIOUSLY SHE HAS THE FREAKING HOLY SPIRIT IN HER YOU DUMB FOOL! Especially when as a Calvinist you teach and should be teaching Preservation of the Saints. I need to wait for the replies before I completely lose my top and get banned. I need to cool down for a while...
