What Opened My Eyes to Reformed Theology

It seems more and more Christians are coming out as reformed or Calvinistic. I am not sure if some do because it's the trend or other reasons. Others have become reformed because their eyes were opened to the doctrines of grace as they study the Bible.

Before I became reformed, I knew very little about Calvinism. The only thing I knew was that Calvinists believe God chooses those who are saved and their teachings were based on John Calvin.

What opened my eyes to reformed theology was after a six month battle with cancer. On September 11, 2007, of all days, I discovered two lumps on my neck. The next day I went to my doctor and he referred me to a specialist who performed a biopsy to determine what were these masses. Two days later, I was dialogized with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. After meeting with my oncologist, it was determined that I was stage two because there were no cells in my bone marrow.

I went through six months of Chemotherapy with no radiation, which is by God's grace. On February 2008, I has a PET scan that showed the cancer was gone. I had to do one more month of chemo followed by monthly appointments. In December 2008, I was given the thumps up from my oncologist to have my infusa-port removed. By God's grace, I surpassed the five year mark in 2013 and have been given a clean bill of health ever since.

Following my last chemo treatment, I began to question my faith. Not questioning God, but what about the things I believed in Christianity. I was a youth pastor at Arrowhead Baptist and have seen students come to Christ, but they were acting like they only got saved for the "fire insurance" (if you are from a Southern Baptist background, you know what I speak of). Then I came across a post by Tim Challies, which I cannot find that exact post, that said Christians cannot live on a diet of Christian Living books. That struck me for some reason, which now I see was the Spirit of God working in me.

I started reading Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology followed by Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion as well as many other theological books that I can find.

One thing that I really needed to grasp more was on suffering. Why do Christians suffer? I thought God was punishing me by giving me cancer which turns out that was not the case. Jesus took my punishment in my place on the cross. God used my cancer to mold me and gave me my own reformation. Regarding election, God used R.C. Sproul's Chosen By God to open my eyes about this tough teaching. Sproul was talking to someone debating the issue of election by stating, do you know you are denying the word of God? The Spirit reminded me of these words told to me years ago, "If there is one thing in the Bible you do not agree with, then you do not believe in the Bible at all." Those words came from my father who died from lung cancer in 2003 and never blamed God for his illness.

This year will mark seven years since my last chemo treatment and seven years since I began my journey into reformed theology. I can tell you it is a joy to be on this journey especially now as I am planting a church in Wichita Falls with two other reformed brothers in Christ. I still have questions and struggles, which is okay. I remember John MacArthur saying he still have questions and struggle over election, which gives me great comfort.

I praise God for the journey He has taken me on. Opening my eyes to reformed theology was not the only thing God used my battle with cancer. He also made me realize how religious I was and not gospel-centered, which will be another post for another time.