This section is not going to be about all the trials and persecutions I might have endured in the tropics, even if I was in the vicinity of Vietnam and I was able to befriend a Viet-afro girl. I have produced a music compilation which I made a album cover for, showing my resolve for peace in war torn parts of the world. Rather, I hope to encourage and strengthen the volition, determination, or will power, of any of you who would endure the Christian Pilgrim's journey to the divine destination of eternal peace. Wether you go to the tropics on your way yourself or not, you might in fact be stretched to the other extreme, because the Lord Jesus Christ's command to take the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth might require you to venture into some icy cold polar regions! Salvation is a means of acquiting the wrongs in our lives and of putting the past behind us. So even if we do endure the firey Apocalypse of the final days the earth exists in, when we reach that celestial city of gold, we will be able to say with releif that the apocalypse happened yesterday.

However, there are many trials currrently at task, which I beleive I should object to and seek the solution for in God's Word. After all, it is prophecied that there will be a false religious system set up claiming to be Christian and will hail a false messiah who will claim himself to be the Christ, as seen in 2nd Thessalonians 2. I can only hope to warn against his delusions and plead you to see God's truth. 2nd Corinthians 11:23 says that even Satan pretends to be an angel of light, so it is no wonder that his human servants fake their discipleship as being from the Lord Jesus.

Now I am not being divisive when I try to discern who might be in the wrong. The book, "Understanding Leadership," by John Marshal, says in its introduction that some church members have tried to propose certain teachings and have been forced out of the congregation under charge of being devisive. But then they continued on in their Christian walk in other social circles to encourage other legitimate denominations. This was obviously the case for such historical Church figures as Martin Luther, John Wesley, and William Carey. 1st Corinthians 11:19 explains this explicitly, saying that there no doubt has to be differences among believers to see which of them have the truth. Even if it is in the context of those who eat the Lord's Supper in the wrong way, the principle still stands in the statement given on its own, and even implies that there would be divisions on other matters. When I come to this sort of delimma, I know that it is God who will ultimately be the judge, so there need not be any anger or infighting between opposing parties of differing opinions, as we can only be grateful to God for any wisdom seen.

J.I. Packer points out an apparent antinomy, a division that seems logical on both sides of the argument and yet doesn't agree. The sovereignty of God is addressed in his book about evangelism under God's rule, seen to obstruct the evangelist's role in the salvation of others by making their role negligible or futile. He concludes though, that God's sovereignty doesn't have to mean that our duty in evangelism will be impeded or restricted by His overuling. Rather, it should give us more confidence and boldness to know that the right people will be saved by God wether our preaching is effective or not. We are only requested by God to serve him in trying our best to convey the gospel's truths to others, even if not listened to. J.I. Packer gives the example of William Carey who proposed that the millions of Asians should be evangelised, to which his superior replied, "Sit down young man! When God is pleased to convert the heathen he will do it without your help nor mine!" Of course William Carey still tried, and proved to be in God's will.

The Wesleyan/Calvanist debate is not so much about evangelism though, as it is about continueing the Christian walk after conversion. J.I. Packer points out that Charles Simeon was able to make John Wesley see that his Calvanism was merely in the fact that his faith in Christ gives every aspect of salvation and obedience. However, it cannot be denied that under God's sovereignty he gives us freedom of choice in his courteous befriending, and integrity as the saviour of all mankind, not wanting any to perish (2Peter3:9). What's more, it is clear that the fruit of the Spirit includes Self-control, so even if Christ supplies all the knowledge to have faith in and all the ability to obey, it is still left to our resposibility to choose to serve him or not.

John Calvin was a Reformist theologian of Switzerland who furthered the Protestant Reformation preaching Salvation by grace. However, the Calvanist viewpoint claims that it is only God's choice alone that decides who can be saved and that they are then permanently forced to be saved no matter what they do from the time of their conversion. It is thought that if a person does not demonstrate that they have persevered in their Christian journey, it is because they could not have believed in the first place. Calvanists appear so determined to uphold this view that they twist the meaning and context of such parables as the 'sower of the seeds' (Luke 8:11-15), 'the vine and the branches' (John 15:1-17), and do not acknowledge their place as being ingrafted into God's people Israel, with risk of "being removed just as the unfruitful natural branches were" (Romans 11:17-24).

John Wesley was another Protestant preacher, although he initiated a further step in dissenting from the Anglican Church that had used Protestantism for worldly advantage. The Wesleyan viewpoint realises that God grants anyone the freedom of choice to accept the salvation he offers to everyone. Converts are then given opportunity to learn and grow in knowledge of Jesus whom they have declared as their Lord, increasingly serving him for his gracious reward. Otherwise they forfeit all this if they choose to fall away in the freedom God still respects them with. So a convert could have faith that he will be guaranteed eternal life by God's Spirit, but then decide their own interests are more immediately gratifying, and reject the guarantee, just as a merchandise service guarantee could be discarded. It is not a matter of relying soley on thier commitment to the guarantee, they still need faith to have God's Almighty power enable them to stay committed. In God's courtesy they still have the option to do as they please without being forced to follow him. The New Testament lists many points at which there is no return for some people, even if God is very patient with the unfaithful. This is perhaps why Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, required apostates from the ancient Roman persecutions to demonstrate a committed faithful repentance before admitting them into his congregation. Indeed, the parable of the patient fig tree keeper applies here(luke 13:6-8), or even the "Prodigal Son," (Luke 15:11-31).

It's true a Christian is not saved by his works, and serves God in gratitude of salvation, but I really do believe the 'Particular Baptist' Calvanistic view only flatters the Christian and causes complacence. I have had much difficulty in trying to counter-act this influence, and in fact, I believe it contributed to the weakness that first had me diagnosed as requiring medication. It is a real motivational issue that boils down to the basic need to either continue serving God, or leaving everything to him in misled expectation that we are saved no matter what we do, with no volition required on our part.

Nothing else in the world can separate us from the love of God, but it is only our continued faithful service to him that defines us as sheep rather than goats, as being on fire for Jesus rather than to be rejected as lukewarm followers Rev.3:16. If our faith is sure, then we are secure, as we believe that God will make us strong and steadfast, which 2 Corinthians 1:21&22 states, but then in chapter six of the same book, we are urged not to receive this grace in vain. The first letter to the Corinthians also says this in chapter fifteen, asking us to hold firmly to the word to prevent this. We do not want to fall away from faith as we are warned against this in Hebrews chapter six, and it appears that we have this responsibility then to co-operate with God, rather than expect to be puppets on strings, or horses led by bit and bridle (Psalm 32:8&9). We need then to persevere in maintaining our trust in him to help us serve him, although we do not revert to merely using our own efforts to maintain faith.

There needn't be any question of a person's position in Christ if they continue to faithfully care for God's creation and confess that their redemption is from His Son's sacrifice. The true test for a Christian is if they obey the Lord Jesus' commands and acknowledge that he is God's Son incarnate - or has become human to be our saviour. "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God," (Romans 8:13)who put to death their wrong doing by the Spirit's power.

My involvement with the Baptist church has been of help to me, and has emphasised learning the truth, but some aspects have disturbed me, although I acknowledge I might not have been that good a Christian to be deserving of greater blessing. It becomes clear, however, that people are not interested in the truth when they have disdain for people's emotional life, because character improvement is the sole purpose that God has for anyone to become a Christian for (1Cor13). Things get worse when they don't want to hear about their sinfulness or the warning of hell, because this shows that they are unbeleivers who think they have nothing to be sorry for, so at least the Anglicans emphasise confession of sin in eucharist. Further complications arise when the English word 'Love' can so easily be taken out of context against the distinct Greek classifications.

To top it all off, I see it is damning to classify a person as incapable of renewing character as I was under the diagnosis given me. Seeing as you all should have known of this, however, I deem you culpable of anti-christ false teaching, and at error for not beleiving in miraculous sanctification. None of you seemed very sincere to begin with, so is it any wonder you found me somewhat mentally unresponsive, a little like Jesus was on trial? I have restrained vengeful sentiments, but I am certainly distraught, and it has in fact been harder for me to accept that people I once thought were friends may actually be enemies!