Ronnie W. Rogers
At times, someone will quip that he is only interested in going to heaven and not in rewards. However, it will be a tragically sad day for a Christian to stand before his Lord Jesus with no rewards for faithfully obeying Christ’s Word, using the gifts he has been given, or sacrificing in even the…
Read MoreJohn Calvin is unabashed in his defense of his views and says, “Many professing a desire to defend the Deity from an invidious charge admit the doctrine of election, but deny that any one is reprobated. This they do ignorantly, and childishly, since there could be no election without this opposite reprobation. God is said…
Read MoreJesus was and is loyal beyond measure, and please don’t ever forget His promise to you and me, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Remember, He knew the pain of disloyalty, for His loyalty had been repaid with disloyalty just as the Psalmist predicted, in reference…
Read MoreLoyalty that runs deep in our soul, so that we are not just a friend to others but rather a treasured friend indeed, will be tried in the fires of disloyalty. Disloyalty is suffered most often and most heartbreakingly by loyalists. Deep anguish is the sometimes lot of the loyal friend. To be sure, the…
Read MoreWithout love, our humanness evanesces. Wrong is wrong and sin is sin. Neither love nor anything else can make a wrong right or a sin sinless, but love can hide sins. This Christian love is not blind to the sins and frailty of others, but neither does it require others to measure up before Christians…
Read MoreCalvinists take solace in the claim that they believe salvation is totally a work of God (unconditional election, man’s passiveness until selective regeneration, regeneration prompting faith, etc.), while oftentimes either implying or explicitly accusing those who make salvation conditioned upon man exercising faith (exercising faith in response to hearing the gospel prior to regeneration or…
Read MoreBeing Christian means to be like Christ, not just partly like Christ. The person of Christ reminds us that strength, power, knowledge, righteousness, and that even knowing what is the right thing to do in every situation does not necessitate brutishness, arrogance and being uncompassionate. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for…
Read MoreChurch discipline visibly demonstrates the seriousness of sin as well as both the holiness and love Christ calls His church to live (Matthew 18:15-20). When church discipline is first implemented, the immediate fallout may appear to be all negative. However, in time the church will benefit by having honored God with obedience, and the credibility…
Read MoreJohn Piper said, “The book of life represents God’s free and unconditional election. In the New Testament the book of life is synonymous with the list of those who are elect and predestined for eternal life.”[1] John Calvin said, “Those, therefore, whom God passes by he reprobates, and that for no other cause but because…
Read MoreChristians can feel free to cry at a funeral. While we do rejoice that our loved ones who know Christ as Savior go to be with Jesus, death is still a sorrowful time. Jesus did weep at the death of Lazarus (John 11:35). We are not like those without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13), but as…
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