Hello, again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus. The title of my post today is " 'A BELOVED TEAMMATE'—JUST LIKE RHYS HOSKINS!" It’s about recently watching the Cleveland Guardians play the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia, and the fact that now Rhys Hoskins plays for the Guardians, but he spent the first six years of his career with the Phillies. With an injury to his knee that sidelined him for over a year, the Phillies made a financial decision to go another direction and didn’t re-sign him. He spent some time with the Milwaukee Brewers, but another injury kept them from re-signing him. So, the Guardians signed him to a minor league contract this year, but he quickly proved his value and made the major league roster. The TV announcer reported that in Philadelphia, Rhys was “a beloved teammate” and a fan favorite. Rhys Hoskins was never a major star, but when the press interviewed him in his old stomping grounds, many Philadelphia reporters showed up around him, which showed their appreciation for him. Tears came to my eyes when the announcer said that Rhys was “a beloved teammate” in Philadelphia. What was it about his statement that touched my heart? I think it’s because I would like to be thought of as 'a beloved teammate' at some point in my life. Maybe the same holds true for you. The Bible tells stories of people who might be called ‘beloved teammates’, which shows that desiring to be one is not a bad thing. Here are some examples:
David was beloved by Jonathan, and vice versa.
John the Apostle was beloved by Jesus.
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were also beloved by Jesus. He showed his love for them by weeping over the death of Lazarus, before He brought Lazarus back to life. It was one of only three times the Bible reported that Jesus wept.
Paul, in a couple of his books, mentioned in his final greetings people that he had grown to love, like in both Ephesians and Colossians, he mentioned Tychicus, a “dearly loved brother”.
Paul called Timothy “my true son in the faith”, a term of endearment.
I know our value to God doesn’t depend on being ‘beloved’ by others. But I think if we admit it, most of us want to be considered a ‘beloved teammate—just like Rhys Hoskins!' See you next time.
Hello, again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus. The title of my post today is “CAN ACTS-LIKE ACTS HAPPEN AGAIN IN TODAY’S WORLD?” It’s about the actions of Acts in the Bible, and whether some form of those same actions can occur in today’s world. I was listening to the audible version of Acts this morning. If you ever get the chance to ‘listen’ to the Bible, I heartily encourage you to do so. I think it will open your eyes, at least a little, and enhance the stories told there. I was amazed by how focused the men and women were on God—and on each other in the book of Acts. How did they keep that focus? I think Jesus explained it in John 7:38. He said, “The one who believes in me (Jesus), as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” In that verse, Jesus referenced ‘one’ person who has ‘streams of living water (or God’s Holy Spirit) flow from deep within him’. Just imagine if many people gathered together, with the same streams of living water (or God’s Holy Spirit) flowing collectively from deep within them. It would be inevitable that God would act in an exponential way—just like in the book of Acts. So, what can be done in today’s world to bring about the same type of ‘acts’? I think it’s clear that we need the following:
We need to be made aware of those same ‘streams of living water flowing from deep within’ each of us. I think that we’re semi-aware of it, but not deeply aware of it.
Then we need to be educated about the great amount of power of God’s Holy Spirit flowing within each of us.
Then we need to be educated on the exponential greatness of the power of God’s Holy Spirit flowing within a large group of believers who are bonded together.
Lastly, we need to pray, sometimes in tongues just like they did in Acts, for God to manifest this power in, through, and around us.
Then, and only then, ‘can acts-like acts happen again in today’s world’. See you next time.
Hello, again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus. The title of my post today is "ARMINIANISM VS. CALVINISM VS. SIMPLE BELIEFISM”. It’s about the ‘isms’, and the schisms among Christian believers that ‘isms’ cause. Many believers these days hold beliefs that they try to impose on other believers. It often results in hurt feelings, confusion, and schisms among believers who hold different beliefs. They do it in the name of ‘rightness’. They want others to see how right it is to believe the specific ‘ism’ they believe. For most of my 48 years as a Christian, I didn’t know of any of the ‘isms’. The only thing that resembled an ‘ism’ I encountered in my early years as a Christian was a group of “King James Only” Christians living in my local community in Berlin, Ohio. At festivals and other events, you might see them standing in groups, praying for the people passing by. My concern was that if they had a convert, they would require that convert to also use only a King James Bible. When I married Dee in 1996, I became informed gradually about Arminianism, as she grew up in the Church of God, whose main offices were in Cleveland, Tennessee. Also, Dee attended and graduated from Lee University, a Church of God college. The Church of God held to the doctrine of Arminianism, which I will explain later. Then, in about 2008, Dee and I got involved with Mission to Amish People, and I hosted a Bible study in our home for young former Amish men. The leader and another older man, both wonderful brothers, believed in the Baptist doctrine of Calvinism. We discussed our differing beliefs cordially, and we didn’t try to convert each other to our own way of thinking. So let’s discuss the two different ‘isms’ that I have become acquainted with:
Arminianism: A Protestant theological tradition based on the teachings of 17th-century Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius, which asserts that God’s sovereignty and human free will are compatible. It emerged as a reaction against strict Calvinist predestination, emphasizing that salvation is available to all and that individuals have the free will to accept or reject God's grace.
Calvinism: A Protestant theology named after the 16th-century reformer John Calvin that emphasizes the absolute sovereignty of God in all things, particularly in salvation. It teaches that humans are totally depraved and unable to save themselves, meaning salvation is entirely God’s work, initiated by His choice and secured by His power.
So, many disagreements and even verbal harm, hopefully not physical harm, stem from these two ‘isms’. I recently watched two documentaries about William Tyndale, an English Biblical scholar in the 15th century who suffered physical harm when he was strangled and burned at the stake because he translated the Bible for common people. Hopefully, something like this won’t ever occur because of differences in ‘ism’ beliefs. So I want to present an exponentially more important ‘ism’ that I came upon today. I call it “Simple Beliefism”. Long before the 16th and 17th centuries, when the doctrines of Arminianism and Calvinism were born, Jesus said the following in John 3:16:
“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
Then He said the following in John 3:36:
“The one who believes in the Son has eternal life . . .” John 3:36
Jesus didn’t say in verses 16 and 36, “whoever believes in ‘Arminianism and/or Calvinism’ should not perish but have eternal life.” He said, “The one who believes in the Son (meaning Jesus) has eternal life.” So, in conclusion, when other people try to force their ‘isms’ on us, let’s remember the ‘Simple Beliefism’ that Jesus taught us. See you next time.
Hello, again, I'm Arlen Yoder from the Soulwinnersr.us website. Remember—the angels in heaven rejoice when a loved one or friend gives their heart to Jesus. The title of my post today is, "THE DAY MY WORLD TURNED UPSIDE-DOWN!” It’s about when everything is going along smoothly, without too much chaos or difficulty, then something happens to rock your world, causing it to figuratively turn ‘upside-down’. Most of us have a deep set of beliefs and understanding of the Bible that seems to ‘get to the heart of the matter’, as my last post indicated. It gives us comfort to know that God is right there beside us, guiding us every step of the path in our journey. We also derive comfort when others walking beside us share the same beliefs and understanding. We’re walking, or perhaps even floating, along in our world in an upright position. Then, a person we trust and love, whom we think shares those same beliefs and understanding, suddenly one day does an about-face on one of them. To put it mildly, that day our world is literally turned upside-down. We try to reason with that person, but they won’t listen to our reasons for not wanting to go down the path they are on. They usually double down on their belief that their path is the absolute right path. They even indicate that those who disagree are flawed for not wanting to go. What do we do in our upside-down state? If you’re like me, you usually just bail. Getting away from the upside-down world seems the only solution to get some relief. But, as I used to tell my mental health clients, “the grass doesn’t usually end up being greener” by moving away from a location or situation. I’m a big fan of Western drama. Recently, I watched a Jimmy Stewart movie called “The Far Country”. A certain town was known for its wonderful people and good morals. But it was a gold town. And what usually happened in gold towns back then was that unsavory people moved in to take advantage of those hard-working people who were finding gold. The people in that town looked toward Jimmy Stewart to help them against the people trying to take advantage of others, because he was a strong-minded man who rarely backed away from trouble. At first, he was like me. He told Walter Brennan, his sidekick, that he wanted to bail, just like I usually do. He was his own man, and he didn’t want to interfere in other people’s affairs. But then they killed Walter Brennan, his old buddy, even as they were moving on. That was the last straw. He went back to the town, and the rest of the townsfolk rallied around him to drive out the unsavory people. I’m not saying my situation is even close to a matter of life and death like what Jimmy Stewart faced, or others really faced in the Old West that wasn’t just a fictional story. But the principle is the same. If someone is turning the world upside-down in a town or area, perhaps it’s better to stay and, at the least, not bail out on the ‘townsfolk’. I’m more of a ‘townsfolk’ person, and not a hero, like Jimmy Stewart was. But I want to band together with other townsfolk, if they want me to, to call on Jesus, our real hero, to help us to turn the world right-side up.
