From Cage-Stage to Cage Fighter

From Cage-Stage to Cage Fighter: The Story of John Calvin Jones

Getty Images

John Calvin Jones was a cage-stage Calvinist who loved to argue about theology on the internet. He thought he had all the answers and everyone else was wrong. He was proud and arrogant.

But then he discovered MMA and became a cage fighter. He learned how to fight and how to humble himself. He realized that he was not the best or the smartest person in the world. He also realized that he loved fighting and wanted to make it his career.

He had a dream of fighting in the UFC, the biggest and best MMA organization in the world. He trained hard and fought hard. He won many fights and earned a nickname: The Reformer. He was offered a contract by the UFC and a chance to fight his rival, an Arminian named Jacob Arminius Smith. He even promised to give him a Bible study on Proverbs 20:30.

But before he could make his UFC debut, he suffered a terrible injury. He tore his knee ligaments and needed surgery. His doctor told him that he would never fight again. He lost his dream and his hope.

He became depressed and angry. He blamed God and everyone else for his misfortune. He stopped going to church and reading his Bible. He stopped caring about anything.

But God had not given up on him. God sent him an angel in the form of a pastor named Charles Spurgeon Johnson. Johnson was a former MMA fighter who had also been injured and had become a pastor. He reached out to Jones and shared his story with him. He showed him love and compassion. He offered him friendship and fellowship.

He also offered him a new dream: a dream of serving God as a pastor. He told him that God had a different plan for him, a better plan. He told him that God had given him gifts and talents that he could use for God's glory. He told him that God had given him a story of grace and redemption that he could share with others.

Jones was skeptical at first, but he decided to give it a try. He joined Johnson's ministry and learned how to be a pastor. He found a new purpose and meaning in his life. He found joy and peace in Jesus Christ.

He became a pastor like Johnson.

And he never looked back.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Comments

Dave Ramsey Flags Reformation Heritage Books as “Spiritual Treasure, Budgetary Trap”

Financial guru says the Puritans are great, but maxing out your credit card for a 12‑volume set on covenant theology is not a “baby step.” NASHVILLE — Personal finance icon Dave Ramsey has reportedly issued a pointed caution to Christians everywhere: Reformation Heritage Books is a spiritual danger to your budget, and one careless click on “Complete Works of John Owen” could slide you straight back into the “debt spiral” he has spent decades trying to prevent. According to sources familiar with the matter, the warning came during a segment on “biblically responsible spending,” when a caller asked whether it was wise to purchase a multi‑volume set of Reformed classics on a credit card. “Look,” Ramsey reportedly replied, “I love the Puritans. I love deep theology. I do not love you going into debt for a book you will read six pages of before you fall asleep.” Ramsey’s team is said to have flagged Reformation Heritage Books not because the content is bad, but because the catalog is long, ...

Father Warns Children Against Skillet’s ‘Monster,’ Accidentally Explains Doctrine Of Indwelling Sin

Teenager says he understood the song better after dad’s 40-minute lecture against listening to it. OAKDALE, USA — Local Christian parents Mark and Sarah Wilkins banned Skillet’s song “Monster” from the family car this week after learning that the track’s central theme involves the believer’s struggle against sin and the old self. “I had assumed it was merely loud,” Mark Wilkins said. “But then someone told me it is about the inner battle against the sinful nature. That is far too intense for our children.” Skillet is a Christian rock band, and frontman John Cooper has recently argued that hard-rock music is not inherently demonic simply because of its genre or sound. The Wilkinses said this was exactly the sort of distinction they preferred not to make. “Scripture may talk about putting sin to death, resisting temptation, and waging spiritual war,” Mark said. “But it does not use electric guitars, so we feel safer if those ideas are communicated only through a gentle acoustic song...

Church Sound Tech Gets Doom Running On Sanctuary Soundboard

Volunteer says the game is fully contained on the mixer’s tiny touchscreen and has not affected worship, apart from the pastor’s microphone now occasionally displaying “God Mode.” CEDAR GROVE, USA — A Reformed church’s sound technician briefly became the most popular member of the media team Sunday after successfully getting the original Doom to run on the sanctuary’s digital soundboard. The game remained entirely on the console’s maintenance screen, church leaders confirmed, and no imagery or game audio was played through the sanctuary speakers. The soundboard still delivered the sermon, psalms, Scripture reading, and announcements normally—provided nobody pressed the newly labeled button marked DO NOT ENABLE GOD MODE DURING CALL TO WORSHIP. Doom, released by id Software in 1993, became both a landmark first-person shooter and a longstanding target for technical hobbyists who enjoy making it run on improbable hardware. Digital audio mixers are also common in worship settings, whe...

The Calvinist Chronicle

Search This Blog