John Clift

@TNTJohn1717 Respect your view but I’ll be teaching the opposite at church bible study .

respond, cannot hear, cannot believe, cannot receive, cannot come, and therefore must be regenerated before he can believe. But the Bible uses spiritual death to describe separation from God, guilt in sin, and helplessness apart from divine grace. It does not mean the lost man is a corpse with no ability to hear words, be convicted, be drawn, be reproved, or be responsible to believe. If spiritual death meant total inability to respond to God’s word in any sense, then all the Bible’s invitations, warnings, rebukes, and commands to lost sinners would become a strange performance directed at men who cannot respond until secretly regenerated first. Ephesians 2 says lost men are “dead in trespasses and sins,” and every Bible believer says amen. But that same Bible shows dead sinners hearing, resisting, being reproved, being convicted, being commanded to repent, being commanded to believe, and being held accountable for unbelief. Jesus said in John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” Notice the order. They would not come that they might have life. He does not say, “Ye do not have life, and therefore cannot come until life is first given apart from coming.” He charges them with refusing to come. The life is in Christ, and they will not come to Him to have it. That verse is poison to the Calvinist order. The Calvinist says, “A dead man cannot believe.” The Bible says, “Hear, and your soul shall live.” The Calvinist says, “A dead man must be regenerated before he can respond.” The Bible says the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” The issue is not whether man can save himself. He cannot. The issue is whether God’s word, preached by the Spirit’s power, can bring a lost sinner to faith in Christ. Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing the word of God. If faith comes by hearing the word, then the Calvinist cannot place regeneration before faith by claiming the word cannot be heard unto faith unless the man is already born again. That turns Romans 10 on its head. Chapter 2. John 1 Puts Receiving and Believing Before the New Birth John 1:12-13 is one of the clearest passages in the Bible on this subject. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born…” The order is not difficult. As many as received Him. Those are identified as the ones who believe on His name. To them He gave power to become the sons of God. Then verse 13 explains that this birth is not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The new birth is of God. Nobody denies that. But the persons born of God in the passage are those who receive Christ and believe on His name. The text does not say, “As many as were born of God, to them He gave power to receive Him.” It says the opposite direction. This destroys the claim that faith before regeneration makes the new birth man-made. John 1 does not say the new birth is of the will of man simply because receiving and believing are mentioned. It says the birth is of God, while also saying the ones who are given power to become sons of God are those who receive Christ and believe on His name. That is the biblical balance. Faith does not manufacture the new birth. Faith receives Christ, and God gives the new birth. The Calvinist cannot preserve John 1 by shouting, “But the birth is of God!” Of course it is. The question is not whether God regenerates. The question is whether God regenerates unbelievers before they receive Christ, or believers who receive Christ. John 1 answers that. If a man wants to be sharp in debate, this is the question to ask: In John 1:12, who receives the power to become the sons of God? The answer is, “as many as received him,” even those who “believe on his name.” Then ask: does the verse say they received Him because they were already sons, or were they given power to become sons because they received Him? The words

Faith Before Regeneration: Why the New Birth Comes Through Believing the Gospel Main Point: Regeneration is God’s work, but the Bible connects the new birth with receiving Christ and believing the gospel. Faith does not earn regeneration; faith receives Christ, and God regenerates the believer. Calvinism puts the new birth before faith to protect a system, but the KJV puts hearing, believing, receiving, and then new birth in their proper order. Introduction The question, “Which comes first, faith or regeneration?” sounds innocent until you realize what is usually hiding under the hood. A sincere Bible reader may ask it because he wants to understand the new birth, the work of the Holy Ghost, and how a dead sinner comes to life in Christ. That is a good question. But when a Calvinist asks it, he is often not asking it from the plain words of Scripture. He is asking it from inside a theological machine that already decided the answer before the Bible was opened. In that system, a lost man is so dead that he cannot believe the gospel unless he is first regenerated. So they place the new birth before faith. They say God must make the sinner alive first, and then, because he has been made alive, he believes. That sounds spiritual to many people because it magnifies man’s inability and God’s sovereignty. But when you compare it with the words of God, a serious problem appears. The Bible repeatedly connects life, sonship, sealing, and the new birth with hearing, believing, receiving, and trusting the gospel. Calvinism has to rearrange the order to protect the system. The King James Bible does not. The Bible does not teach that faith is a work that earns regeneration. That is the false setup Calvinists often use. They will say, “If you believe before regeneration, then faith becomes something you produced in the flesh, and that makes salvation partly of man.” That sounds clever, but it is a trick. Faith is not a meritorious work. Romans 4:5 says, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.” Notice the contrast. Believing is put opposite working. The man who believes is the man who “worketh not.” Faith is not the sinner performing a deed that purchases the new birth. Faith is the sinner receiving Christ. It is the empty hand taking the gift. It is the guilty man believing the record God gave of His Son. It is the lost man trusting the finished work of Jesus Christ rather than himself. God does the saving. God does the regenerating. God does the begetting. God does the sealing. But the Bible says He does that in connection with the sinner believing the gospel, not before the sinner believes it. This matters because the Calvinist order creates a strange creature the Bible never presents: a regenerated unbeliever. Think about that. If regeneration comes before faith, then a man is born again before he believes on Christ, before he receives Christ, before he trusts the gospel, before he is justified by faith, before he is a child of God by faith, and before he is sealed after believing. That is not Bible order. That is system order. The Bible says, “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” It says, “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” It says, “ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” It says, “after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.” It says we are begotten “with the word of truth” and born again “by the word of God.” That is not complicated unless a man has a theological system to defend. The Spirit convicts. The word is preached. The sinner hears. Faith comes by hearing. The sinner believes on Christ. God regenerates the believer. That is Bible. Chapter 1. Calvinism Creates the False Problem by Redefining Spiritual Death The Calvinist argument begins by defining spiritual death in a way the Bible itself does not require. They say a dead man cannot

@EssexPR Thank you Kier

Oh boy…

@MatthewStadlen @MattCon90191238 Starmer is below that bar

@MattCon90191238 Ed Miliband is a very low bar.

Quick reminder for those who haven’t managed to grasp recent history. Ed Miliband was the Labour leader who lost to David Cameron, thereby helping to open the door to Brexit - and the chaos that followed. He is less charismatic than Starmer. Andy Burnham was hammered by Jeremy Corbyn in the 2015 Labour leadership election.

@AnnieMM_M @johnmcdonnellMP Meanwhile on the other side of the political spectrum , we love it !!

@johnmcdonnellMP This is our Labour Party and Labour Govt - and you are revelling in making trouble. We have waited 14 years for a labour govt. Where is your loyalty to the party, to us as members and to the country? I am a member of 40+ years. You disgust me. Support our Labour Govt & PM

Just a thought. Wes Streeting owes his political status to the support he’s received over years from Peter Mandelson & Morgan McSweeney at Labour Together. He wouldn’t make a move against Keir Starmer without Mandelson’s say so. So look on this as Mandelson’s & Morgan’s revenge.

@JustinBerkobien Jesus saying "I am the way the truth and the life , no one comes to the Father except through Me" ,declares every other religion wrong .

Jesus didn’t disparage other religions. Christians shouldn’t either.

@JasonUnsworthAA @CarolynEley2 @Conservatives @UKLabour Love it !!

14 years of @Conservatives and now people want to bring down a 2 year old @UKLabour government! Complete utter Madness!!!

@TheFLZone Bristol City , dont really know why

Which team do you dislike the most that ISN'T a local rival?

@benonwine A bad smell

What’s easier to remove than Keir Starmer? Get creative everyone.

@bbclaurak Pass the popcorn

All moving very fast tonight … keep up here 👇🏼 bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1m2…

@TedUrchin Classic post from a salty leftie starmer fan boy

If Farage was a Labour MP, the right wing press in the UK would be all over him like a rash and relentlessly baying for his blood. But no. Why? Because they are on his side. Remember this if you are so ridiculously thick as to buy a Mail/Express/Sun/Telegraph etc. You need shit for brains to even pick a copy up.

@samm50647 @franceshinde Starmer fan girls can't handle that he lost big

@franceshinde Only a third of councils in England were up for election. Do keep up. And don’t mention Wales 😂

As of today 154 UK Councils are led by Labour, 12 led by Reform. Anyone seen any coverage of that?

@ToryWipeout @LaindonFEMINIST Only in Labourland is losing 1316 seats considered “nowhere near as bad “

No where near as bad as predicted.

@martindvz @GeorgeFoulkes Deluded and in denial

Ignoring UK media lies, it’s been a disaster for Reform Only 3 councils are in Reform's control and Starmer is still Prime Minister Less than 25% of the population supports Reform, reduced from 34%. Complete and utter disaster.l for Farage and the billionaires that fund him

@lukeakehurst Blah Blah Blah

For the avoidance of doubt, I am completely opposed to Labour having a leadership challenge and will support Keir Starmer if there was such an election. I don't think there will be one in any case. We do need to listen to voters on speeding up delivering change, especially on the cost of living. Following the Tories down the path of constant coups against PMs would make the country politically and economically weaker and less stable at a time of intense strategic danger. Labour moving to the left would have exactly the same disastrous results as every other time we tried it.

@Anniepop2027 @SkyNews @BBCNews Nurse !!

Let’s be clear Labour vote UP 4% this year Reform vote DOWN 6% at least this year. Reform have LOST. Despite the media push to get them out to vote. 74% did not vote Reform This is hyperbolic nonsense - Labour did well considering the media onslaught @SkyNews @BBCNews

@MatthewStadlen Love a salty leftist

Early signs that Reform underperforming? Number 10 a distant prospect for Nigel Farage.

@LabourShearer @LaindonFEMINIST @MertonLabour Crumb of comfort

**LABOUR GAIN** 🌹 Delighted to have been elected a @MertonLabour councillor, gaining a seat and seeing off ReformUK!

@jeremycorbyn @RedbridgeIndys Pincer attack from left and right

Taxi for Labour.

@GeorgeFoulkes @bbclaurak @Keir_Starmer Blair and Thatcher local elections were nothing like the scale of defeat that’s awaiting Starmer . Also the loss of Wales is disastrous for Labour .

Oh dear! Soorpuss @bbclaurak on 10 o’clock news can’t help drooling over fake news that local elections will mean @Keir_Starmer is in trouble. Maybe she should study history & look at 2004 where Labour did badly under Blair then won a famous 3rd victory in 2005 General Election

@BritWeatherSvs @GeorgeFoulkes Labour will be trounced in Wales , beaten into third place in Scotland and lose flagship councils in England . Starmer confirmed as the most despised politician in Britain

A wild stab in the dark prediction: 1. Starmer will still be PM on Friday & thereafter. 2. Sadiq Khan will still be London’s Mayor. 3. Fagash Farage will still be on the back benches, counting his undeclared 5 mill. 4. Tax dodger Tice will still be dodging Anyone?