Hello I'm Simon. I'm the creator of this website that is dedicated to the truth of God's sovereignty.

Youth

I was raised as an Armenian Christian in Iraq, I was even an altar boy in our Church when I was young. I loved Jesus, I loved the Bible stories about Samson, David and Goliath, Moses, Jesus' miracles, etc... I'm very thankful to my lovely mother that she brought me up in the fear of the LORD. My father died when I was 5 years old and that was very hard for me. I believe that the death of my father effected me big time. I was kinda bitter toward God of why He would take him away for me.

Iraqi war and the Netherlands

Years went by, the 2003 Iraqi Invasion came and it wasn't safe for Christians to remain in places populated by Muslims, so we had to flee if we wanted to survive. And we did. Me, my mother and sister. We fled for refuge to the Netherlands in 2008. It is a great country that I love. I experienced freedom like I never had before. I could go out whenever I wanted and not feel insecure. I was at that time about 13-14 years old. I loved the freedom that I didn't have in Iraq.

After a while I met with an Iraqi Armenian Christian friend and stayed with him a few days. He saw that I wore a cross, but didn't pray or do anything else faith related. I didn't want to be 'religious.' So he confronted me about it and we talked about it and I saw my sin of denying God. I believe that that was the time when God started calling me by His Spirit. After that my friend gave me some programs to watch (Zakaria Botros' program was one) to learn more about the Christian faith and what Christianity actually believes. Because my notion of Christianity was mixed with some Muslim influence. Like if you are a good person you will go to Heaven, or your good works must outweigh your bad deeds and stuff like that. Typical religious stuff, do good and you'll be good, do bad and you will be bad.

After a while I started learning about God's grace and what the Christian faith really teaches. That we are saved by God's grace and that God loves us. A time went by and I wasn't that committed, I didn't read the Bible or go to church, but I used to watch Christian programs. I found a part-time job at a supermarket and I started hearing about evolution and the big bang as the explanation of existence. In all my life I haven't doubted the existence of God, because it seemed so obvious to me. I just couldn't escape it. But that made me to want to study these matters and study the Bible all the more, because that was the first time that I heard about evolution and the big bang theories.

Bible Study and Calvinism

In May/June of 2012 I started reading and listening to the Bible. I started studying the Bible with the help of the ESV Study Bible (my favorite study Bible). And by the grace of the Lord I haven't gone a day without the Bible. In 2013 I used the ESV Study Bible plan and in 2014 I'm using the NLT One Year Bible Plan with the ESV Study Bible among other Study Bibles that I have.

Sometime in May 2013 I was searching Facebook for Christian Meme pages and I came across Reformed Memes Daily I came across memes from passages like Romans 9 and I was like "Wow...what kind of teaching is this?" What I loved about the Calvinists is that they were very dedicated to the glory of God. They were like "Soli Deo Gloria" all the time. That seemed attractive to me. But the question of God predestining some to salvation and passing others by was hard (Usually misunderstood as God actively predestining some to hell). And the natural man still wants to have a say in his salvation and not leave it all to the grace of God to decide. I started investigating the Scriptures and read stuff about Calvinism. One sermon that helped me was Mark Discroll's Predestination. That was the turning point for me, I believe, from Synergism to Monergism. I also came across What does the Bible say about the Doctrines of Grace by Nathan Pitchford. That was a huge one for me. I just couldn't deny the Biblical evidence. And I had promised God that I would believe whatever His Word will teach, no matter how painful. And I've asked for His help through this, that He may lead me to what the truth is. If it was in the Bible I had to deal with it

Not long after this I became a very staunch Calvinist. I loved the Doctrines of Grace, I lived and breathed them daily. But I still wasn't a full Calvinist. I somehow believed that God was only absolutely sovereign in salvation and not the rest of life. That changed when I and my dear brother in the Lord Travis Lee, started thinking about the issue. I remember I would stay up to 5 and 6 in the morning discussing this stuff. We loved it. We were ready to obey whatever that Word of God had to say. After some study I became convinced that God was absolutely sovereign over His creation. He has determined whatsoever comes to pass. Then I read AW Pink's The Sovereignty of God. That was all I needed to be a full-fledged Calvinist, there was no denying or explaining away that Scriptural support for absolute sovereignty for me. Man, that book is epic! So down-to-earth style and filled with Biblical passages and exegesis. I loved it and I thought that I was very confident in my Calvinism and still I am. Because that is the consistent teaching of the Word of God.

I was and I am very committed the truth of God's absolute sovereignty, there is no doctrine so hated by carnal men and so loved by the soul that is humble and wants to believe whatever God has to say. So I started compiling verses that support Calvinism and putting them in a document. I compiled as many as I could. Then I started providing answer to "Anti-Calvinism" passages mostly by just quoting prominent theologians' commentaries, many of which are on this site in the Defending Calvinism section. I'm still adding stuff to it that I discover. The document as it is can be found here. Preferably, use this link to view the document so that when I update it you will see the updated version and not have an old version.

Praise

I'm so humbled by the fact that God the Father has predestined me to be conformed to the image of His Son. It's such a privilege to be a vessel in God's hand. That I'm His salve, servant, child. That God would save a wretch like me and make dedicated to God's truth. Oh, Amazing Grace. I'm eternally thankful to the Triue God. Hallelujah! Soli Deo Gloria. He alone is Savior and He saves His enemies and chooses whom He pleases. Praise God.
I'm so thankful to God the Son. The precious Lord Jesus who loved me so much as to die and take the wrath of God that was reserved for me. I love you Lord Jesus. You're my God and Lord. Glory to you O Sovereign King! He shall indeed save His people (Matthew 1:21) and shall not lose anyone whom the Father has given Him (John 6:39). I always pray for that when I will see the Lord Jesus. I will bow and worship and glorify Him for all eternity. I always pray for the glorious day of Philippians 2:9-11. When every knee will bow down and every tongue will shout "JESUS IS LORD!" I'm reminded by RC Sproul's comments about this event:

It is a profound political reality that Christ now occupies the supreme seat of cosmic authority. The kings of this world and all secular governments may ignore this reality, but they cannot undo it. The universe is no democracy. It is a monarchy. God himself has appointed his beloved Son as the preeminent King. Jesus does not rule by referendum, but by divine right. In the future every knee will bow before him, either willingly or unwillingly. Those who refuse to do so will have their knees broken with a rod of iron.

Glory to God the Spirit. The Eternal Sprit, Glorious Spirit, Loving Spirit. I'm so thankful to God the Spirit that He said "Simon come out!" at the time that the Father had appointed from all eternity. I'm so thankful that He has filled me with love and appreciation of the work of the Triune God and leads me always to the loving arms of Christ. I'm thankful that He has put the fear of God in me and I pray that He would put it all the more and that He would help me to slay my sins according to His will and for the glory of the Triune God.

Glory to the Father, Glory to the Son, and Glory to the Spirit.

SOLI DEO GLORIA