Bio

Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, the author of Truthspeak and his new book, The Gospel of Grace and Truth: A Theology of Grace from the Gospel of John," both available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing to Dr. Halsey at michaeldhalsey@bellsouth.net and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

Comments may be addressed to michaeldhalsey@bellsouth.net.

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582

Friday, September 10, 2021

CHOOSE TODAY

 In Joshua's farewell address to Israel, he made an iconic statement that continues to echo down the millennia of human history: "Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve:. . . as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 

And just who is this Lord? We find the answer in the Bible:

  • Psalm 36:7. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
  • Psalm 109:26.  Help me, LORD my God; save me according to your unfailing love. ...
  • 1 Corinthians 13:13.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
  • 1 John 4:9-10.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ...
  • Zephaniah 3:17. The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. ...
  • John  3:16: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  
  • Romans 5:8: But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
  • I John 1:19: We love because He first loved us.

What kind of love is God's love? The New Testament defines it: "Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. 5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, 6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (I Corinthians 13)

Then we find that God is merciful:

Ephesians 2:4-5: But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead [a]in our wrongdoings, made us alive together [b]with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

 Deuteronomy 4:31: For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.  

Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

The upshot of all these verses is that God loves the human race so much that He would rather die than condemn a person to hell. And that's exactly what He did.

Now let's compare all those verses with another choice--Calvinism's God: Calvin said  "Now...he [God] arranges all things by his sovereign counsel, in such a way that individuals are born, who are doomed from the womb to certain death, and are to glorify him by their destruction." 

From this we would conclude that in some mysterious, secret way, somehow God is "glorified" by condemning people to hell before they were ever born who had no  choice in the matter, who were doomed from the womb, and who were born so spiritually dead that it was impossible for them to understand the gospel. And this God is glorified by torturing those billions and billions of  people in hell forever? One author asked, "What kind of love is this?"

Let's use an analogy: a person raise puppies for the sole purpose of torturing them. Let's say he decides that he's going to torture four out of every five of them. He'll keep one out of every 5 for his preferred pet. Before they are ever born, he's decreed, decided, and determined that such is the purpose of all but one of every five. 80% are foreordained to such a fate. In what way does that glorify him? Is it any wonder that the description of such a God as that has led people into atheism? 

Which description of God sounds like it comes right out of the Bible? Does Calvin's portrayal? The answer is so obvious, there's no need to insult your intelligence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what 


  • If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ...

    1 John 4:19 ESV / 8 helpful votes

    We love because he first loved us.

 


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)