“BOASTFUL BEACH” – CAN HUMAN FREE WILL BE PRESENT IN BIBLICAL SALVATION? – Kerrigan Skelly

Posted on August 13, 2016 by Kerrigan Skelly

One objection Calvinists often pose to non-Calvinists regarding salvation is the involvement of free will in sinners being converted/made right with God. Calvinists would have you believe that the free will of man has absolutely nothing to do with salvation and that if it did, that the man would automatically be prideful or that salvation would automatically be “works salvation,” instead of “salvation by grace.”

In meditating upon this through the years, I have come up with a parable/analogy to show how silly these objections are. Man choosing to be saved does not mean that he is being prideful, nor does it mean that his salvation is now a “works salvation.” In my opinion, these silly objections simply consist in Calvinists engaging in the redefining of Biblical words. They define the terms in light of their theological system, instead of allowing the true definitions of Biblical words to define their theological system.

BOASTFUL BEACH PARABLE/ANALOGY

Two men were at Boastful Beach one day. They loved the beach, because it fulfilled the “lust of their eyes” as they looked at all the bikini clad women. They were enjoying their day basking in the heat of the sun and getting a tan in order to fuel their own “pride of life.” They both knew that in order to get a “hot girl,” they had to have a tan. One of them began to get a little too warm, so he decided to take a swim in the Sea of Sin.

Continue reading →

A Comparison: Christianity vs. Islam From the Bible and the Quran

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Kerrigan Skelly

Recently, a brother in Christ (and close friend) and I have had an increasing burden to reach out to Muslims more. We have created two gospel tracts in response to this burden. You can find them at the following links:

http://store.gospeltract.org/Muslim-Gospel-Tract-br-Islamic-Dilemma-br-Pack-of-50-Tracts_p_424.html

http://store.gospeltract.org/Islam-vs-Christianity-Comparison-Gospel-Tract-br-Pack-of-50-Tracts_p_485.html

The second link from above is the most recent one and the subject of this blog post. It focuses on comparing Islam with Christianity on 5 different topics (see below). We basically just gave quotes from the primary source texts from each religion, on these five different topics. Then, at the end of the tract we give a gospel presentation.

These tracts are good for just about anyone. They are good for non-Muslims in order to educate them on the difference between Islam and Christianity. They are good for Christians, to help them understand one of the greatest foes to Christianity at our present time. They are obviously good for Muslims because we want to reach them for Christ’s sake.

Here is the content of the tract, on the five different topics:

Muhammad Was A Sinner
Bukhari 8:319 Narrated by Abu Huraira: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying. “By Allah! I ask for forgiveness from Allah and turn to Him in repentance more than seventy times a day.”Bukhari 9:482 Narrated by Ibn Abbas: “…O Allah! Forgive me the sins that I did in the past or will do in the future, and also the sins that I did in secret or in public.”Surah 40:55 “So be patient, surely the promise of Allah is true, and ask forgiveness for your sin and praise with your lord’s praise evening and morning.”Muhammad’s Final Words…

Bukhari 5:724 “O Allah! Forgive me, and bestow Your Mercy on me, and let me meet the companions.”

Continue reading →

The Consecrated Communication of the Open Air Preacher (& ALL Christians)

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Kerrigan Skelly

As a Christian and as an open air preacher, I’m constantly trying to memorize and meditate upon more Bible verses/passages. Besides personal purity (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 119:9-11, Philippians 4:8), I do this because I want to be able to address the things that I see and hear in the open air, directly with the Scriptures. One thing that comes up quite often is the filthy speech of the sinner. Often times, they say a lot of gross sexually explicit things, that reveal the depravity of their hearts and that their minds are probably filled with porn. Their mouths are constantly pouring out cuss/curse words and taking God’s name in vain, as well.

So, I’ve been attempting to memorize more Scriptures concerning such things. Some of the passages that I have been working on are Matthew 12:33-37, Ephesians 4:29 and Ephesians 5:3-4 and Colossians 3:8. As I studied these passages and went to the Greek to get a deeper understanding of some of the words being used, I saw some things that are definitely applicable to those who preach in the open air. I want to share what I have found with you.

In recent years, it seems like the standards of speech for some open air preachers has “gone down the drain”…literally. All manner of things are said by some open air preachers and even if such things aren’t said by most individual open air preachers, many of the ones who aren’t saying such things justify those who are saying them. Or maybe the ones who don’t say such things just remain silent in correcting those who do, thinking that it’s not that big of a deal. Telling filthy, sexually explicit stories is supposedly ok for an open air preacher. Using curse/cuss words is supposedly ok for the open air preacher. What’s next? Will taking God’s name in vain be ok, as well?

Continue reading →

Bible Verse Memorization – Open Air Preaching Bible Verses

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Kerrigan Skelly

Throughout the years, I’ve had dozens of people ask me about Bible memorization in open air preaching. I’ve been asked questions about how to memorize the Scriptures (techniques) and what Scriptures to memorize. So, I figured I’d write a blog post on it, so that I have something to point people to when I’m asked this question in the future.

There are all sorts of methods people use, to memorize Scripture. My advice is to take part in as many techniques as possible. This way, you have a better chance of solidifying the Scriptures in your mind, that you are attempting to memorize. Here are some principles that I use, when memorizing Scripture:

1) Don’t overdo it – Don’t start out trying to memorize 20 verses a week. Such an extreme plan like that, typically leads to someone giving up, due to failure Start small, with maybe one verse/passage every two weeks. You could always increase how many verses you memorize every 2 weeks, later on. YET, If you are consistent with that plan (1 verse/passage every two weeks), you will have memorized 26 verses/passages in the first year. After 10 years of doing this, you’ll have 260 verses/passages memorized! Think long term, instead of short term. Be consistent and be faithful. The goal is not to be able to say, “Look at me, I have lots of Bible verses memorized!” The goal is to retain the verses in your memory, obey the verses and preach the verses.

Continue reading →

Calvinism, Free Will & God’s Expectations | Kerrigan Skelly

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Kerrigan Skelly

Isaiah 5:1-4 (NKJV) says, “Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. ²He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes. ³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. ⁴What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?”

Calvinism teaches that God predestines/ordains/decrees/causes all things that come to pass (whether sin or righteousness) and that God did this in eternity past. If this is true, then no one and nothing has “free will”, by any definition of that word. And no, I don’t need to add the term “libertarian” before “free will” to explain what I mean by “free will”. In fact, I refuse to. To do so, would be to give in to the Calvinist’s redefining of the term “free will”. I won’t put up with the linguistic revision of Calvinism. In fact, I have a series of videos that seeks to expose this facet of Calvinism, that is called, “Calvinist CONFUSION“.

The above passage simply can’t fit into a system that says that God has caused all things to happen, in eternity past. Passages like the one above, won’t fit with Calvinism, no matter how much you twist it. How could the “god” of Calvinism possibly have “expectations” that are contrary to what He ordained to happen, in eternity past? How could the “god” of Calvinism possibly be “disappointed”, when things don’t go differently than he decreed them to be? If the “god” of Calvinism predestined the house of Israel to be like this, how could he be upset with them and punish them for such actions (read on to Isaiah 5:5-6)?

Continue reading →