Ken Silva

[injeralover]

3. God is merciful and doesn't want to punish us. 1 John 4:8b God
is Just and must punish our sins.Ex. 34:7b

This makes it sound like there is division and conflict within the nature of God. God always wants to punish sin since it is a violation of His nature. Mercy and love deal with the fact that He took that punishment upon Himself. Isah. 53:10 says it was the LORD's will to crush him. Just a point of clarification.

[lovePsalm40]

I don't think there is a point of seeming conflict in the way those two statements were worded. God, in His infinite mercy and compassion, does not wish to see us suffer, but He knows it is necessary in order to bring repentence. Just like a good parent, we don't want to have to punish, but we must. Justice demands it. God's infinite justice and holiness cannot allow sin to flourish, that doesn't mean He is relishing in that.

Anyway, that isn't why I wanted to post. I want to thank the OP for sharing all of this. It is a blessing. I've got many Calvanist friends and the spectrum of where they fall is highly varied. Few are full TULIPS really. Just wanted to add that even though KS doesn't seem to be Calvanist. His website might have a lot of that sort of material b/c they are some of the soundest teachers/preachers out there, and I am very definitely NOT a 5pt Calvanist. That might not be the reason there is Calvanist material on his site, just a point to consider. I link to some Calv. preachers on my blog b/c they stand rightly on homeschooling or are just very serious, literal teachers that folks can gain from--not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[lorenei]

If you do a google search on Pastor Ken Silva you will also find that he has been "pastoring" a church in New Hampshire for a number of years. The congregation went from over 100 down to 8. Make your own inferences. A good question to keep in mind is "Who is watching the Watchers?"

The church shrank to 8 before he became a pastor there, by the time he joined the church it was already only 13 people:

“I am also pastor of Connecticut River Baptist Church (CRBC), which is a small church of about 8 members that is currently meeting in the home of one of our members. This church was once a fellowship of some 100 members in the 80’s that had shrunk to 13 or so by the time I was called a little over a year ago [c. 2004]” (KEN SILVA, “A Humble Appeal,” Oct 1, 2005, apprising.org).

“CRBC had gone through a nasty split before they called me to pastor about 2 years ago and since the 80’s it had dwindled from some 100+ down to a Sunday morning coffee social gathering of about 13 by then” (KEN SILVA, “An Interesting First year for AM,” July 15, 2006, apprising.org).

[lovePsalm40]

So helpful, thanks for all this info. Reading Apprising Ministries statement of faith he doesn't sound clearly Calvinist IMO, and most of them come out sounding it...unless we want to say the total depravity wording, but that can align with all of our thinking as well, depending on how you use the wording. Anyhoo, thanks and I'm glad to get a personal testimony!