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Posted by Charlie
In Reply to: A question for the unies and calvinists posted by #####
: Do you even understand how the "gift of faith" is demonstrated in the parable of the talents?: Specifically, can you see how each used the gift differently and got different results?
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Hi #####,
Yes, for a long time, like the bad servant of that parable, I "knew" that God was an exacting and impossible-to-please tyrant. So in paranoia I buried my talent in the ground, rather than running the risk of trying to make it multiply--and then failing. Yikes! What if I FAILED and "God, the relentless Taskmaster" came after me with his "eternal" blowtorch!?
So... I wound up in the "outer darkness" with all of the "pagans", weeping and grinding my teeth at night. But that doesn't mean that the *REAL GOD* gave up on me and abandoned me to the darkness "forever." :-)
Overnight on April 30, 1996 He saturated my heart with the revelation that He was NOT a cruel and exacting taskmaster and that He had created "all things", yourself and myself included, for His pleasure--His "desire." I then KNEW--not only that He "desires" all people to be saved--but that He works "all things" after the counsel of His "desire." (Rev.4:11, 1 Tim.2:2-4, Eph.1:9-11)
That was my miraculous turn-around. And boy! Was I in DIRE NEED of a miracle, too. I woke up on May 1st singing, "Thou Art Worthy" with a new understanding, and I am still singing it to this very day. If you'd like to read my testimony it is contained in three short booklets called, "Daddy What If", "Heavenly Dog" and "Absolute Assurance in Jesus Christ" on our webpage--
Yep. The wrong picture of God will put us in the outer darkness every time. But when the Real God shows up, the darkness HAS to flee!
Yours in His Unfailing and Committed Love,
Charlie